A/N: Ah yes, ye ol' one blanket trope.  Either Nya is completely oblivious or knows what she is doing.  Jay might have a nervous breakdown regardless.  Send help. Set after season 6.

Happy Birthday Dissmisery !

The shoji paper door slid open with an awkward creak, matching the trepidation knotting in the pit of Jay's stomach.  His elemental power fluttered under his skin and jittered through his bones.  He couldn't tell if it was going haywire or it was simply his nerves. 

This had to be some sort of cruel cosmic joke. 

Or a test. 

Jay couldn't decide which one was worse.

"Looks nice," Nya said from behind as she pushed him into the room.  He did his best not to flinch.

His mind was screaming at one hundred miles per hour, trying to catalogue the series of events that led up to this moment:

1. Wu sent them on an intel/spying mission.

2. He and Nya got separated from the others and caught in a thunderstorm.

3. They found shelter at a secluded ryokan inn . . . that only had one room left.

4. They shivered slightly at the front desk, cold and soaked to the bone from the storm. The obaasan behind the desk insisted they head straight to the hot spring baths as she prepared their room.

Nya padded lightly over the tatami mats.  "We should go to ryokans more often! Look at this feast!" She gestured towards the table with an elegant spread of food and a lovely flower arrangement with a card that read "congratulations".

Jay pinched the bridge of his nose.  He was a hot mess of bundled nerves. "Did you really have to tell the obaasan that we were newlyweds?"

"Did you see the side-eye she gave us when I said we would take the one room left?  It reduces suspicion.  Plus, our marks might be staying here, it's better to have a cover story," Nya replied.  Unfortunately, Jay couldn't disagree with her logic.  The obaasan reminded him too much of Mystaké, and upon hearing that they were "newlyweds," all her suspicion and haughty looks flew out the window.

"Come on, let's eat!  I'm starving after our long day."  Nya kneeled down next to the table and looked up at Jay with doe-eyes and a sweet smile.  He gulped involuntarily, pulling at the thin yakuta he received after his visit to the hot springs. 

Dinner was normal, filled with jokes and giggles and Jay living up to his title as the Master of Blabber.   It was nice.  Since their debacle with Nadakhan, they hadn't gotten much time to spend together.  It was non-stop mission after mission, or crazy adventure. Also, they had just gotten back together and were still in the honeymoon phase of rekindling their relationship.  Even though Nadakhan put them through hell, Jay was grateful for the growth.  They upgraded as individuals and as a couple.

The conversation came to a natural lull and Jay felt his elemental power spike sharply, trembling with his thundering heart.  He was putting off processing in his mind what exactly it meant to share a hotel room with his we-just-got-back-together girlfriend. 

He finally admitted to himself that if she pushed for more, he wouldn't deny her.  They were tittering on the edge of restraint.  He wanted things to go further, knowing he wouldn't be able to stop himself if things snowballed, and knew that he had been ready for a long time, patiently waiting for her.  But right now, she was sending him a flurry of mixed signals.

He didn't want things to get weird.

Except, Nya was making it weird.

He couldn't tell if she was completely oblivious or doing it on purpose.  He wasn't sure which freaked him out more. 

Nya pulled her arms over her head, stretching with a blatantly loud yawn.  Jay averted his eyes as a light blush dusted his freckled cheeks.  The yakutas provided by the inn left little to the imagination. 

Raindrops pounded on the rooftop, accentuated by the distant rumble of thunder, amplifying the apprehension simmering under his skin.

"Let's see if we can get our communicators to work.  The storm keeps interfering with the signal," she suggested as she stood up to clear the table of their dinner.

Oh yes, that is exactly what Jay wanted: to announce to everyone, including her brother, that they were spending the night together in a hotel.  Add that to Jay's list of Things That Are Not Fun. 

Another two hours passed of small talk and minor reflection of their Nadakahn adventure, and Jay absolutely failing at trying to avoid thinking about their impending sleeping arrangement.

"Ok, I give up," Nya sighed as she tossed the communicator across the room and flopped on the tatami mat. 

Jay furrowed his brow. "I don't think there is anything we can do until the storm passes."

"I don't know about you, but I am ready for sleep.  This day was fun, but exhausting."  She got up and headed towards the cupboards, pulling out the futon. 

Jay forced himself to maintain a poker face, knowing full well his blush was growing deeper.  Nya wrestled with the mattress, arranging it nicely on the floor then grabbed the blankets.  Of course there was only one futon, and it would raise suspicions of the little old lady at the front desk if they asked for another.

Jay rolled his shoulders back, then casually cleared his throat.  "You take the futon and I will sleep on the floor over there," he squeaked. Squeaked! So uncool.

Nya turned towards him, slowly, eyebrow inching upwards in curiosity and mild amusement.  She crossed her arms as her eyes narrowed into slits. "No.  You take the futon and I will sleep on the floor over there," she gestured towards where he was pointing, tone sarcastic and borderline mocking.

"No," he tried.  He didn't miss the flash of anger in her eyes.

"I don't need your macho sentiment," she huffed.

What?

His jaw ticked.  "No," he said more forcefully.  "A gentleman lets the lady take the bed."

Her nostrils flared as she bit her tongue. "Fine. We both take the bed."

"Wait—"

"What's wrong? We've shared a room before."

"Yeah, but other people were there too," Jay pointed out, holding back the sass that threatened to bark out.

Nya tightened the hold on her crossed arms.  "So? I've shared a bed with Kai plenty of times. Don't be a weirdo only child."

Jay stopped himself from snapping.  His shoulders went stiff with indignation. "I'm your boyfriend, not your brother," he muttered under his breath.

Nya either didn't notice, or didn't care.  "So either we both take the bed or we both take the floor."

The lightning ninja pursed his lips in a thin line, realizing he wasn't going to win this battle.

"And I know you won't let me sleep on the floor," her arm delicately gestured towards the futon, like a saleswoman pointing to an enticing display, "so we both share the bed."

Jay.exe has stopped working.

So . . . was this her roundabout way of saying what he thought she was saying?

He almost let his brain short circuit, but recovered quickly, trying a different approach. "I might zap you in my sleep."

"And? I might soak you in my sleep."

Jay bit his tongue and grimaced.  He threw out his last line of defense. "I'm a sleep hugger," he admitted, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck.  "I don't want you feeling uncomfortable if I grab you in my sleep."

A genuine smile bloomed across her face. "I'm a ninja. I know how to handle myself."

Well that was clear as mud. 

Perhaps this was a test. Some grand scheme cooked up by Master Wu and Kai.  Maybe the rest of the team was hiding somewhere and spying on them, having a grand old laugh at the funny guy.

He sucked in a deep breath and steeled himself, slowly placing one foot in front of the other, drawn to her like a moth to a flame.  A million questions for her jumbled together into a tight knot in his throat.  He swallowed them down, along with his pride.

After an awkward rearrangement, they laid side by side under the covers.  The silence was excruciating.

Nervous laughter skittered out of his lungs.  He had lost the advantage of romance the moment he stepped foot into this room.  There was no inoffensive way to say it, so he finally asked, "So, are we just going to sleep . . . or . . ."

She knit her fingers through his, grasping his hand tight.  There was a tentative pause and a slight hitch in her breath. "Ummm—"

Ah. So that was why she was utterly confusing him with mixed signals. She didn't even know what she wanted.  He squeezed her hand back.  He was both relieved and disappointed.

"Goodnight my waterbug."

Relief wafted out of her lungs as well. "Goodnight Zap Trap."

Jay smiled into the darkened room, cheeks ablaze. He had waited for her for this long, he can wait a little longer.

A/N: Just wait until morning when she has to Indian Jones her way out of that crushing bear hug. 😂