Before we start, another thank you to EmphaKat! I seriously didn't know what currency to use for this story so I just went with her own; NinjaStuds!

In this story they work the same as Euros (aka everything till 2€ is in coin form, the rest in paper bills) so yeah!

Hope you enjoy!

Jay's POV

Present Day

Gosh darn you Cole and your stupid veggie shakes. "It will help boost your immune system," he said, "it's better than coffee," he said. I think he forgot to add "it will cause your stomach to ache all night" in there.

I rolled over in my bed, glaring at the bottle of medicine from last night. So much for that temple body, huh Cole?

I tucked myself in again, trying to catch those sweet extra five minutes. And the best thing about it? No lectures on Sunday.

I closed my eyes again, only to hear a sound.

Next thing I know someone is shaking my shoulder, chanting my name repeatedly.

"Come on ZapTrap, we don't have all day!" Cole's voice said. "Wake up you dumbass!"

"Cole, that language is highly inappropriate when at a guests' house," Zane corrected him.

"Hey, Kai owns this apartment too and he curses all the time!"

He was right in a way. Although the apartment was small, it wasn't that small. College dorms could barely fit one person, let alone two, so my only other option was to find someone else renting it.

The best thing is, I got a sweet deal with Cyrus freaking Borg! Zane knows him since he's his girlfriend's father, but I never got to meet him and he's like my idol!

Anyways, he offered me to manage one of his small shops (which isn't a huge accomplishment since I'm the only other employee there) in exchange for a deduction on our rent. I don't think I've landed a better deal since, well, ever!

"I'm awake..." I groaned, interrupting their bickering. I stretched, making my way to the closet and taking out basically what I wear every day; a white or blue T-shirt under my signature blue and white-striped jacket, dark blue jeans and black sneakers. Talk about being non-fashionable.

Just when I started taking my shirt off, another figure barged into the room and I quickly dropped my arms and let it fall over my torso again.

"Don't you know what privacy is?" I yelled at Kai.

"Oh please, you're literally changing in front of Cole and Zane."

Well, he was right here. How have I not kicked them out already?

"Will you go anywhere?" he asked us.

"We might go to Chen's later today," Zane told him.

"Great," he started to leave. "Give Sky a kiss from me if you see her, alright?"

My hands reached for my shirt again, but Kai found a way to interrupt us.

"A blowing kiss. From far, far away," he showed up at the door, glaring at all three of us.

Skylor would probably beat me to death if I tried to do anything anyway.

Just then, the doorbell rang. My eyes widened a little as I sloppily changed into my clothes, heading for the front door with the others following behind me.

"It must be Fist2Face 3!" I told them a little too excitedly. I had pre ordered it like a week ago and its supposed to come out in like three days! These delivery men are about to get the biggest tip a college student can give!

...Which is probably the 2 NinjaStuds I found under the couch pillow but let's not talk about that.

I grabbed the handle, swinging open the door—

But when it opened, I was the only one without a smile on my face.

Kai walked past me, pulling his sister into a hug. "See, I knew you'd find the right street! You're not that bad at navigating!"

"I guess," her sweet voice whispered, muffled in her brother's chest.

Is this a fever dream?

When they pulled away, I just... stared at her.

I didn't want to notice, and it wouldn't be the most 'gentleman' of me to notice, but my gaze shifted towards what she was wearing.

A grey shirt under a black, long-sleeved leather jacket, dark jeans and black sneakers.

That was fine, I mean, everyone changes their style from time to time, but what really got me was what she was wearing on her neck.

A choker.

I know that it's not a big deal, but a choker? Every, and I mean every time we passed by a jewelry store, she would always complain about them. Saying that they always looked so good on other people, but that on her they just looked like a dog collar.

Now, I'm all up for confidence boosts (and Nya wearing any kind of jewelry doesn't seem that bad either), but that choker definitely looked like a dog collar. It wasn't one of those cute, laced ones, heck, it even had these small, stereotypical spikes on it.

"I hope you didn't spend that much money on a bus this time," Kai told her.

"Actually—"

Another figure came into view. As expected, he was taller than me.

He was dressed in the same style as Nya, but he was far from sweet. His skin was pale and dead and his eyes were hidden behind dark sunglasses. Meanwhile, his hair was short and black like Nya's, with only a green streak differentiating them from hers.

She looked at me with the corner of her eye... unsurely? Almost with fear in her gaze.

"This is my boyfriend. Morro."

I knew this was coming, but I was still just as shocked to hear it. The whole room fell silent for a bit.

"Come inside," Kai said as Morro walked past him, dragging Nya's luggage with him and eventually leaving it by the couch.

While I was focused on him, the others were all over Nya.

"We missed you, gremlin!" Cole said as he trapped her in his strong arms.

I always hated that nickname. Well, I hate Cole's nicknames in general. Yeah, Nya was short (I mean, she was even shorter than me for crying out loud) but she is not a gremlin. She's more like... a pixie?

How could they even be so comfortable hugging and welcoming their ex? Especially after a year of not seeing her? Maybe I was the only one who didn't see her, now that I think about it.

Instead of greeting her, I went to the kitchen, helping Kai set up the table. Thank the FSM he remembered to cook today.

I put the plates down, brought our desks chairs from our bedrooms so we could all sit and finally, served the food.

"Lunch is ready," I said with a shaky voice.

And of course I had to sit in front of her. To be fair, I wanted to keep an eye on her.

As we began eating, I couldn't help but notice something was off. Nya didn't dare to look up above her plate.

"So how did you two meet?" Lloyd asked a question I was already toying with in my mind.

"On the bus," Nya said rather blankly as she caught me with the corner of her eye. She continued messing with her food, not taking one bite.

Oh no. Oh no. Big nope. Red alert. Oh no. Nope, nope, nope—

I dropped my spoon, only then realising that everyone was looking at me. I quickly picked it up and cleared my throat.

After a few more minutes of uncomfortable silence, I heard a voice.

"Salt," Morro said rather quietly, like it was only for Nya to hear.

"Oh, right. We have some in the cabinet. Just let me get it for—" Kai said but was cut off immediately.

"I didn't ask you," he said, fixing his sunglasses. "I asked her."

With only one glare from him, Nya got up and started searching through every cabinet rather frantically. Her movements became more and more swift as she still couldn't find it.

Sighing, I got up, opened the bottom cabinet and gave it to her. She didn't even spare a glance at me.

I frowned, plopping back onto my seat.

That guy waved his red flags with pride, honestly. He said like two things during his entire visit, and both of them sounded off.

"Would you like to stay the night?" I blurted out and everyone looked at me.

"She's got classes tomorrow," Morro answered for her.

I waved my hand dismissively. "No worries, I miss my classes all the time, they're usually posted on the college's website the next day."

I exchanged a look with the others. At least I wasn't the only one seeing red flags here.

"Yeah, I mean, you rarely ever visit. Think of it as a sleepover," Kai told her.

"We can stay the night too!" Lloyd, Cole and Zane said. I could tell that Kai wanted to glare at them, but he managed to keep his cool for once.

"Fine," Morro said. "We'll just sleep on the couch."

Together?

"Well, since you came here, I'm assuming you've checked into your hotel, right? You wouldn't want it to go to waste," I blabbered.

He raised an eyebrow. "It's one or the other."

I pondered for a bit. "Okay, then how about she stays here for the night and tomorrow you get to have the rest of the day to yourselves?"

I knew very well I wasn't going to let that happen, but it was worth a shot.

"Whatever."

"I'll take that as a yes," I smiled.

I looked at the others and gave them a thumbs-up under the table as I continued eating my lunch.

I looked at Nya one last time with a single thought floating around my head.

What have I done to you?