S1|SFW|Fluff

Kai yelped when the cane hit his head. It was worse than Sensei Wu's stick.

"This is worse punishment than Wu's 5AM training," Kai complained.

But the man beside him tapped his cane on the ground, silencing him. He fixed Kai's bowtie and twirled his moustache. "Dancing is no joke, Kai."

Kai groaned. "Cole, I thought you told your dad no more dance lessons. Spin Harmony is over, broken up, gone off solo!"

Cole huffed, equally frustrated as he followed the steps scattered on the floor. "I promised one last dance lesson, come on. It's the least I can do for him."

"And you had to drag us into this?"

"Thank you, Cole," said Lou, stepping away from Kai. He smiled warmly at him. "Thank you, truly. It means a lot to me that you would do this."

"It is our pleasure, Mr Brookstone," Zane said behind them with an innocent smile. "Dance is said to be one of the best exercises for the body, so I think it will greatly benefit us in our further training."

"What he said," Jay added.

The music continued to play on and each of the ninja followed their exercises. Zane followed the steps with poise albeit an air of stiffness, Kai became all the more frustrated with each failure, and Cole became all the more dizzy with all the turns and twirls that followed. Jay attempted to get a good grip in his balance, but ended up falling every few steps, far too impatient to retain his posture.

The sound of the doorbell saved them. Once Lou turned his back, they collapsed onto the ground. When he left the room, they groaned in pain.

"Let's never do this again," said Kai.

Zane, the only one left standing, shrugged. "I find it quite enjoyable."

"You're a robot, you don't get tired."

"Nindroid," Jay corrected him.

"Zip it, zaptrap."

The door opened and they rushed to get back into place. Not one, but two figures appeared on the other side. Jay's gaze was glued to the second one.

Next to Lou was Nya. But she wasn't in her usual cheongsam or Samurai X armour. No, instead she was wearing a white dress that reached her calves alongside her usual red flats. The dress itself was covered with subtle red flower patterns that matched its red belt. Out of all of that, the thing that was the most striking in Jay's mind was the light red lipstick that replaced her usual cherry chapstick. He was certain it would leave a mark if she kissed him.

She smiled at him, though tried to avoid his gaze for the colour of her cheeks matched his.

"You've gotta be kidding me," Kai said. He grabbed her shoulders, his hat almost falling off. "Not you too!"

She rolled her eyes, pushing him away. "Mr Brookstone called me here to help. It sounded like fun."

Kai crossed his arms. "Since when do you know how to dance?"

"I don't, but... Dancing is nice."

"Nya here came fully prepared," Lou stated. "You even made sure to match the aesthetic, I applaud you for that. Consistency is key when working with a group."

She did a fake bow with her dress, making Cole and Zane chuckle. "Thank you, Mr Brookstone."

"Wait," Kai said before Lou could speak. "Who's watching the Bounty?"

But before she could open her mouth, Kai quickly stood up and rushed past her. "I'll go!"

She clenched her fists. "Kai!"

"What, I won't unlock my True Potential while dancing, Cole already did that!" he said. "Defending the Bounty from a huge attack is worthy of a True Potential!" He slammed the door and left, dropping his hat

Nya shook her head and sighed. "Glad I don't have to deal with that..."

Lou placed his hand on her shoulder. "The arts continue to remain underappreciated..." he said. "So, Nya, I've already picked out your dance partner."

"I thought we were dancing in a group?"

"Yes, but this one is a special case." He raised his voice slightly. "Jay?"

His voice cracked. "Yes?"

"Your movements are too finicky. Dance takes patience, passion!" he said. "And what better way to practice that than with having to teach a partner."

Cole grinned. "For once dad, I agree with you."

"Cole!" Jay pouted.

"Come on, remember when I was trying to teach you frontflips? You drained all my patience that day."

Lou pulled Nya across the room towards Jay, bringing her to a stop in front of him.

Nya looked at him awkwardly. "I thought we were a group?"

"Yes, but that doesn't mean each of the members individually should not retain harmony," said Lou. He rubbed his chin in thought. "In all fairness, I could've taught him with any of the other boys, but I needed him to be the lead and you are the only one who doesn't surpass him in height."

Jay stifled a laugh and Nya stepped on him discreetly, making Cole and Zane chuckle in turn. Lou shook his head and clapped. "Off to practice now. You two will do a simple box step waltz. And remember Jay, be slow and patient."

As he left, Jay was left with the girl of his dreams right in front of him. Cole and Zane were too busy being instructed by Lou. They were left alone.

He cleared his throat. He didn't really know how to greet her. They never formally decided that they were girlfriend and boyfriend after their disastrous first date, and yet they didn't resist in acting like a couple.

He cleared his throat. He knew one thing he could comment on. "You look..."

She chuckled. "Fantastic?"

"More than that."

"You don't look so bad yourself," she said, leaning in to adjust his bowtie. "You look really cute."

"Thanks." His voice cracked again. Maybe talking wasn't a good idea.

"So... the waltz?"

"Oh, right!" His hand traveled down from her hands to her wrists, gently guiding them to his shoulders. His hands hovered over her hips and he glanced at her slightly. She nodded, almost as flustered as him, and he raised his hands, placing them on her waist.

"Alright, so... I'll take one step forward, you'll take one step back. My left, your right. Okay?"

She nodded. They did it.

He continued. "Alright... Now we bring the other foot next to the first, then close the gap by bringing the first foot to the other one."

With some effort, they did that as well.

"Okay, now other foot back, first foot diagonal, and we return to our original position."

Surprisingly, they did it. He smiled at her, and he squeezed his shoulders in excitement. She came closer to him.

In the next cycle of steps, his mind was elsewhere. This was easy. He was a good teacher. Lou was just trying to mess with him. He had all the patience in the world. He got to be close to his love. Perhaps he could try to be bold and twirl her in the air like in the movies, or maybe dip her and have them share their first, most romantic kiss—

"Ow!"

"Sorry!" she said, retracting her foot. "Still getting used to it..."

Despite how certain he was that she had broken at least three of his toes, he smiled. "It's okay. We can do it again."

And so they started over; only for her to mess it up again. She confused the steps, almost tripping over her own feet. He caught her just in time.

"Sorry," she said again.

They did it another time. Somehow, she managed to step on both his feet that time. He didn't even tell, swallowing his pain.

He taught her the dance again. She kept forgetting the steps. He showed it again. She messed up the last step almost every time.

He loved her dearly, even if he hadn't told her yet. She was the most amazing, beautiful, smart, breathtaking person in Ninjago.

But she had two left feet, it seemed. Electricity soared through his veins, begging him to move or take it faster than the snail's pace they were going at. But he had to take it as slowly as he could, so carefully that she couldn't possibly mess it up...

She stepped on his shoe again.

He was starting to get the lesson about patience.

♡♡♡

He found her at the porch Lou's house, sitting down on the stairs. She was playing with the fabric of her admittedly lovely dress, her posture slightly slumped.

He had already grabbed his casual clothes when he noticed her outside. So, with his jacket, shirt, and jeans in hand, he stepped outside to join her.

"Hey," he said.

She turned around. "Oh, hi." She got up, but he gestured back towards the floor.

He laid down his jacket on the porch, guiding her back down. "It's a white dress, it'd be a shame to get it all dirty."

She happily accepted, sitting down atop of it. He plopped down next to her, taking off his hat and fiddling with it.

"How come you aren't inside changing like the others?"

He waved his hand dismissively, an arrogant smile on his face. "Eh, you know, ya end up liking the outfit once someone calls you cute." He winked at her and she grinned.

But it wasn't long before she hugged her knees and a guilty look appeared on her face. "Sorry about the waltz," she admitted. "I thought I would have been a little better at it. Hope I didn't crush all your toes..."

"That? Pfft, I didn't feel a thing!" She wasn't exactly buying it. "But really, it was worth the price. We got to be close for two hours straight."

"Yeah," she admitted, red creeping up her cheeks. "I really liked that."

"I really liked that too," he said. "Let's hold off on the dancing thing on now."

"Maybe we can try it in the future." She looked far into the distance, trying to make him see her vision. "I can already see it; Ninjago's best dancing duo."

"I heard the arcade will debut some new dance machines in a few years. Who knows, maybe I can improve my dance skills there and actually teach you a thing or two."

"Sounds fun." She scooted closer towards him. "I think you're a great teacher."

Their faces were oddly close. He didn't let himself get flustered that time.

He put his hat on her, tipping it down so that it covered her eyes. She laughed, and before she could pull it back, he rushed to peck her the corner of her lips.

Her smile was shyer once she took the hat off, and she put it back on him with a chuckle. As she was pulling away, she leaned back in to plant a kiss on his cheek. She held back a laugh once she saw his face.

He knew that thing would stain. But he placed his hand over the red mark on his cheek, loving every second of it.