Jay sighed in relief, resting his head against the door. His ankle throbbed, a sharp reminder that he wasn’t exactly in the clear. But as long as Kai didn’t find out, it wouldn’t be a big deal. He just had to keep playing it cool.

"Alright, Jay, just act normal," he muttered to himself. "Walk like nothing’s wrong, don’t wince, don’t limp, and definitely don’t—"

A knock on the door made him freeze.

"Jay?"

His heart nearly leaped out of his chest. Kai.

Jay scrambled to his feet, biting back a groan as pain shot up his leg. "Uh, yeah? What’s up?"

Kai’s voice was suspiciously casual. "You tell me, man. You were acting weird back there."

Jay forced a laugh. "Weird? Me? Pfft, nah, I was just… excited to, uh, get some alone time. You know, for meditation! Yeah, gotta center my inner lightning and—"

Kai didn’t wait for the excuse to finish. The door handle turned.

Jay barely had time to panic before Kai pushed his way inside, arms crossed, eyebrows raised. "Meditation, huh?"

Jay grinned awkwardly. "Yup! Super important ninja stuff. You should try it sometime."

Kai scanned the room, eyes narrowing as they landed on Jay’s foot. Jay instinctively shifted his weight to the other leg.

Kai's gaze snapped up to his face. "Alright, spill it. What’s wrong?"

"Nothing!" Jay said quickly, a little too quickly. "I mean, what could be wrong? Everything's fine, totally fine—"

Kai didn’t buy it for a second. "Jay. Walk."

Jay blinked. "Excuse me?"

"Walk across the room," Kai said, crossing his arms. "Now."

Jay hesitated. "Why would I do that?"

Kai smirked. "Because I know you’re hiding something, and if you don’t walk, I’m going to assume the worst."

Jay swallowed hard. He could either limp across the room and expose himself or refuse and let Kai’s overactive imagination go wild. Neither option was great.

"Fine," Jay muttered. He took a deep breath and took a step.

Bad idea.

The second his weight shifted, a jolt of pain shot up his ankle, and he wobbled, nearly toppling over. Before he could recover, Kai lunged forward, grabbing him by the arm.

"Woah, okay—yeah, you’re definitely hurt."

Jay groaned. "Dang it."

Kai sighed. "Sit down."

Jay opened his mouth to protest, but one look from Kai shut him up. Defeated, he slumped onto the bed. Kai crouched down, gently taking Jay’s foot in his hands.

Jay flinched. "Hey, hey, I don’t remember signing up for foot massages!"

Kai rolled his eyes. "Relax, I’m checking for swelling." He pushed up Jay’s pant leg and scowled when he saw the bruising. "Jay, what the heck?"

Jay winced. "Okay, so maybe I twisted my ankle last week—"

"Last week?!" Kai gawked at him. "And you didn’t tell me?!"

"Well, I was gonna," Jay said sheepishly. "But then you were all, ‘Jay, don’t be reckless!’ and ‘Jay, stop almost dying!’ so I figured, you know… I’d keep this one to myself."

Kai pinched the bridge of his nose. "Unbelievable. And you’ve been walking on it this whole time?"

"More like hobbling when no one’s looking," Jay admitted.

Kai exhaled sharply. "Alright. You’re done. No missions, no training, no anything until this heals."

Jay groaned. "Come on, it’s not that bad!"

Kai raised an eyebrow. "Not that bad? Jay, you almost face-planted just walking across the room."

"Okay, fair point," Jay muttered.

Kai stood up, cracking his knuckles. "Stay put. I’m getting the ice pack, and when I come back, you better still be sitting there."

Jay sighed dramatically. "Fine, but only because I love ice packs."

Kai smirked. "Yeah, yeah, keep telling yourself that."

As Kai left the room, Jay flopped onto his back with a groan. "Well… that could’ve gone worse."

From the hallway, Kai called, "Oh, don’t worry, we’re definitely talking about this later!"

Jay groaned louder. "Fantastic."