"Welp," Jay sighed, trying not to cough from the smoke assaulting his lungs, "the engine is completely shot. Overheated and then some." He stepped back, waving the smoke out of his face as Nya joined him. "We will have to rebuild the engine block when we get back to the cave at the Monastery."

"Yay for us. Now what?"

Jay kicked some sand and glared at the rising sun. "Now we wait for someone to get off their butt and answer our distress call."

Nya tentatively put a hand on his shoulder, knowing how much he hated being stranded in the desert. "She might not move, but we can still check on the backup generators. I'd rather chill inside with air conditioning and video games."

Jay eyed her incredulously. "You will play video games right now?" He watched as her lips quirked into a smug smile.

"Unless you have a better activity in mind," she cooed, then abruptly turned on her heel and headed inside.

Jay stared at her retreating form, momentarily stunned, then forced one foot in front of the other, chasing after her.

oOo

"No."

"Yes."

"No!"

"Yes!"

"NO!"

"YES!"

"NOOOOO!"

"Ah hahahaha! Eat lead, cretin!" Nya gleamed as she landed a finishing blow to Jay's avatar.

He glared at the screen and the words 'BlueJay1337 killed by xX~nya~nya~Xx' glared right back. The controller slipped from his grasp as he rolled his head back in annoyance. "That was a cheap shot and you know it!"

Nya cackled. "You are being a sore loser and you know it."

Jay crossed his arms and pouted at the ceiling. Unusual sounds from the game turned his attention back to the TV.

"Hey wait— Don't—" His eyes grew wide as he watched Nya's character run to his dead body and crouch up and down near the head. "Ugh. Don't teabag me," he groaned, the words vibrating in his throat with annoyance. It only made Nya giggle more.

"Where did you even learn that?" he asked, suspicion creeping into his voice, unsure if he wanted to know the answer to that question.

"Please. You five play video games all the time," she tilted her head to the side, shooting him a scathing glance, "I have eyes."

"And also thumbs that can apparently whoop my butt," he grumbled, rolling his head on the back of the couch cushion to meet her eyes. "Have you been playing behind my back?"

Nya's grin grew wider. "No— I must be a natural."

Jay's eyebrow shot up, unbelieving of her words.

"Ok fine, you got me," she shrugged her shoulders and let the controller slip from her hands. "Remember that time you, Kai, Zane and Cole got stranded in the Forest of Nightmares?"

His face paled at the memory. "Ugh, don't remind me."

"While we were waiting for you, and before we knew you were stranded, I lost a bet so I had to play Fist2Face 2 with Lloyd. He showed me the 360 no scope."

"He did not!"

"Did too!"

Jay rolled his eyes, doubtfully. "You can't do that move in Fist2Face 2. If you are going to make stuff up, at least make it believable," he said on the tail end of a fake yawn as he stretched his arms over his head. They came down slowly and laid across the back of the couch.

"Round ten?" Nya asked, picking the controller back up and tracing it over her cheek. Jay tried to remain indifferent at her extremely cute gesture.

Instead, he chose to puff out his chest with another stretch. "Mmmmm, it's not fun if you are going to TKO me again."

Nya stuck her lip out with a pout and gave him puppy-dog eyes. He side-eyed her, ignoring the slight hitch in his own breath as he walked his fingers over to her shoulder. His hand rested gently on her slender frame. It took two blinks before Nya finally realized what was going on.

She observed the hand on her shoulder, then turned back to face him. "You did not just pull the yawn-stretch-arm-wrap move."

"Oh, but I did."

"I'm not sure what to be more fascinated by: the fact that you feel the need to pull that move after all of our years of dating, or the fact that you successfully pulled that move without me noticing."

"Be in awe of both."

Nya chewed her lip, tasting the words in her mouth.

"In case you haven't noticed, I am a ninja," he informed her. His voice dipped low with a bite of seriousness, but Nya could detect the playfulness hidden underneath.

"What are you going to do next, Mr. Stealthy Ninja? Unhook my bra?"

Jay impressed himself by not turning into a stuttering mess. He smiled at her instead. "Not possible, you went for the sarashi today." His fingers traced up and down her back, slightly feeling the cloth wrapped around her chest under the fabric of her gi. "Nothing a kunai couldn't fix."

Nya pulled away, almost out of reach. "Don't cut my sarashi! You have destroyed too many clothes lately!"

Jay grinned unrepentantly. "Totally worth it for the prize underneath." Nya opened her mouth to retort but he cut her off. "Besides, you steal all my clothes as compensation."

The Water Ninja snapped her jaw shut with a huff. She tried to wiggle out of his grasp but he stopped her with a light shock from his hand on her back, sending her flying into his chest with a yelp.

"Hey!" she protested as she moved her hands onto his chest to pry herself off. His arms swung around quickly, enveloping her in a crushing bear hug.

"You're not going anywhere," he murmured. Nya still struggled, her pride not allowing her to be outclassed, feeling his elemental power thrum against her own. The tiny hairs on her arms started to stand on end as she felt a tingling surge prick her skin. The jerk was going to shock her again.

She stopped withering and looked up at him through her lashes, giving him the sweetest, most innocent doe-eyed expression she could muster. If he was going to play with dirty tricks, she would too. She could almost feel his heart skip a beat as it thundered beneath her. Taking advantage of his momentary distraction, her hands slid down the hard plane of muscles of his chest and stomach, finally coming to a rest at his sides.

Nya mirrored Jay's sly grin, both daring each other to make the first move. His grip on her torso remained firm as his fingertips trailed up her spine and found the sensitive spot between her shoulder blades. Her fingers twitched. His grin grew wider.

"Are we at a stalemate?" she asked, voice even and smooth, matching the gentle hum of her elemental power.

Jay chuckled, his chest lightly jostling her about as laughter vibrated through his frame. "How is it that every time cuddling devolves into tickling— you lose?"

Nya felt a vein pop in her head. "Because you cheat by using your powers.'' Her nose wrinkled in indignation but she resisted the urge to dig her fingers into his unprotected sides.

"All is fair in love and war." His freckle dusted cheeks glowed with amusement. Nya briefly wondered how Jay had managed to flip the situation from her destroying his ego at video games to him antagonizing her with an impending tickle fight. Jay, the Blue Ninja, Master of Lightning and also the Master of Pushing-All-Of-Her-Buttons.

Her patience was wearing thin, fingers itching to win.

"Your move, Water Lily." She could hear the smugness in his voice and it was all she needed to push her over the edge. Her fingers curled around his sides, wiggling up and down to his hips. A raspy grunt fluttered out of his lungs. He flinched and giggled, but his grip on her remained firm.

"I'm gonna TKO you like I did to your avatar!" she shouted as a battle cry over his laughter.

"Does that mean," he paused to giggle more, "winner gets to teabag the loser?"

"Wait— what?"

He took advantage of her momentary confusion to drive his fingertips into the sensitive flesh between her shoulder blades. She arched her back and gasped in surprise. In the split second that she was stunned, Jay grabbed both her wrists and pinned them behind her back in a reverse straight jacket hold.

"Hey, how did you—" she withered and bucked in anger, trying to break free. Her muscles bulged as her arms pulled tight, trying to brute force her way out, but his hold on her wrists was unyielding.

Throughout their struggle, Jay had slid down the couch and was now laying flat on the cushions. Nya paused in her quest to break free, flopping her full weight on top of him.

"Give up yet?"

Her nostrils flared as she forced air through them in an exasperated huff. She craned her neck up as best she could to glare at him. "I still have one more trick up my sleeve."

His eyebrows shot up in mild curiosity as she inch-wormed her way up his torso until she could slam her mouth down on his neck. She blew out the loudest, most obnoxious raspberry her lungs would allow. Jay's laughter was instant, sharp and bright, matching the spike in his elemental power, but his tight grip on her wrists didn't budge.

"Wow there," he panted out between giggles, "you just earned yourself a new nickname: Master of Slobber."

Nya briefly contemplated biting his neck, but thought better of it, opting to blow another loud raspberry on his face.

"Oh, gross," he wheezed, shaking his head back and forth to avoid another attack. "That's enough of that," he finally said, the timbre of his voice pitched low with command. He yanked on her arms and her whole body raked across his. Nya face planted into his chest, annoyed that he still had the upper hand.

"Give up yet?" he antagonized her as he tried to wipe the spit off his face with his shoulders.

"Never!" Her words were muffled and barely audible as she spoke into his pecks. "Ninja never quit!"

There was a long pause before Nya struggled again. Jay's original hold of twisting her arms behind her back and grabbing her wrists was surprisingly solid. Nya groaned into his chest, accepting defeat as she bent her knees and flopped her feet down like a spoiled brat.

"I accept your silence as surrender," Jay gleamed. She could hear the smile in his voice and it made her blood boil. The grip on her wrists was gone as he raised his arms above his head, stretching and trembling his body, then folded his hands under his neck with elbows jutting out. Cool air swirled around her as she hastily sat up, bracketing his torso with her thighs.

She crossed her arms and tried not to seethe. "How did you win the tickle war without zapping me?"

"By making you mad." The cavalier grin returned to his face, "Shocking, I know!"

Nya gave him an extremely unimpressed look. "And exasperating me with your lame jokes"

"You say that like it's a bad thing," he sassed, "but I know deep down you love all my jokes. I'm an acquired taste, remember?"

Heat crept up the sides of her face and her elemental power fluttered. Jay was being abrasively sassy, but it was endearing. Nya couldn't help but swoon.

It was as if Jay could read her mind, because one second later he enraged her with, "If you are still irritated, I have something you can take your anger out on— OW!" he grunted as Nya punched him in the ribs and narrowed her eyes. Jay remained unfazed from her not so playful jab and kept pushing.

"I'm just saying, if you want to slobber all over me, I've got another part of my bo— OW!" she wedged two fingers under his solar plexus and pushed down. "Ok! Ok! Point made!"

She eased up the pressure from her hand, but kept her fingers in place under the junction of his rib cage. She could see the glint in his eye, as if he were formulating a new plan of attack and it fanned her flames.

"I see that look on your face," she informed her yang.

"What look?"

"The one that means you are up to no good."

"I'm always up to no good." He stretched again and yawned lazily, not taking his eyes off her, "Such is the curse of the funny one: in a perpetual state of scheming."

Nya clucked her tongue in annoyance. "What a burden."

"Oh but it is," he responded with equal sarcasm, lip quivering and trying not to break character.

Her eyes swept over him with unrestrained interest as she debated calling his bluff. His smile only grew wider and she resisted the urge to sucker punch him again. She chose to cross her arms instead.

"Are you pouting?" he asked, not missing the way her back tensed.

"No, I—"

Instead of giving her a chance to flounder, he cut her off with, "There is something you neglected to learn from spying on the boys club playing video games."

She raised her eyebrow and tightened her grip on her crossed arms. "Oh?"

"If you are a girl playing video games with a guy and you teabag him, expect retribution to come back to you, tenfold."

Nya felt her heart drop into the pit of her stomach. "Are you finally going to beat me in the next round? Kind of a hard sell after losing nine times in a row."

His breath hitched in annoyance but his smile didn't waver. She was pretty sure he saw through her façade. His hands found the soft flesh of her hips as he sized her up.

"No," he drawled, almost yawing, "I'll continue to win at what I am king at."

He didn't even give her a split second to be confused.

Her world flipped. Her stomach twirled. Before she could even blink, Nya found herself pinned to the couch with Jay's heavy weight hovering over her. Then his face slammed down onto the exposed skin of her chest as he returned her aggressively obnoxious raspberry.

She wiggled and rasped. "S— stop!" she tried. He didn't let up.

"Had enough?" he asked as he pulled up, taking a moment to catch his breath.

"I'll never surrender!"

"Good."

He leaned down again, this time tentatively brushing his lips against hers. A spark raced through her veins like a bolt of lightning. Her eyes fluttered closed as her elemental power thrummed in resonance with his.

His lips ghosted over hers again as anticipation shivered down her spine. She couldn't stop the soft little mewl that escaped her lungs. Jay seemed to like that as light chuckle escaped his own. He finally found the sweet spot on her jaw and laid a barrage of kisses down her neck.

Nya shuttered into him, snaking her arms around his neck and pulling him flush against her. A low grade shock greeted her where every point of her body met his and she sucked in a sharp breath. His lips found hers again, and this time he kissed her properly.

Her irritation was slowly receding, being replaced by a sea of bliss. Her ego could take a backseat. She was OK with this kind of losing.

His tongue swept delicately across hers, his elemental power spiked sharply, and the ability to think slipped from her grasp. Instinct was edging in, wanting more, more, more.

"Jay! Nya! Come in! We got your distress call!" said P.I.X.A.L. over the comms, voice distorted and crackling with static.

Jay reluctantly pulled back, breaking the kiss and snapping Nya back to reality. She whimpered at the loss of his warmth.

"The engine is fried," Jay responded, trying to hide his breathlessness, "we need a replacement or a tow back to the monastery."

"Message received. Help is inbound. ETA in eight hours."

"Thanks Pix! You're the best!"

Jay returned his attention to his yang, enjoying the light dust of blush on her cheeks and twinkle in her eyes.

"Eight hours? Whatever are we going to do with all that time?" His smile was more blinding than lightning racing across a stormy night.

"I can think of a few things," Nya replied, her smile as bright as his.  

A/N: IDK about you, but Seabound destroyed me.  :(