#i figured i owed you a bit of a return piece eheehe

[weekend-whip]

Jesse + D!

D. Subtle Kindness (Legacyverse, but a bit to the left...based on this)

(Send me a letter and a character and I’ll write a small fic!)

AO3 Version 

. . .

Jesse Marvell takes a deep breath as he absently taps his pencil against the desk in his Language class. It’s hard to pay attention when you’ve realized the new kid in school is also an Elemental Master, and you were also in charge of making sure they’re starting to get into the swing of things. Preferably quickly, and preferably with as little incident as possible. Jesse totally understands that. 

Jesse already knows he wants to keep a close eye on the guy–partly for safety, partly for curiosity, but just the same...

He watches the new kid sitting in the chair beside him, Jamie, disconnect from the class via popping some earbuds in and taking off into their own head through music (a habit they seem to share with Cole). The desks on the other side of Jamie are notoriously empty, as the other students are perhaps too intimidated by their height or their neutral-faced stare. Or maybe it’s the blue-and-yellow ponytail Jamie sports catching others off-guard. 

But it’s already Jamie’s fourth day of being at Ninjago City High, and no one seems to be willing to approach him. Good, because hey, that’s less people to catch onto the bizarreness of having white pupils. Bad...because Jesse, too, knows what it’s like to struggle to make a good first impression, and finding common ground with others. 

Especially when most people don’t believe in the Elements...or, in magic. 

. . .

“Jamie’s in mine and Nya’s grade—we got introduced to him during Geometry the other day,” Antonia Sawyer explains, meeting Jesse at their lockers between classes. She’s on her phone, editing away at a potential story for the school newspaper, yet multitasking by talking to her best friend. “His ~special hobby~ is that he’s pretty into photography, and he claims he’s even gotten a photo of the Ninja in action—I’ve actually thought about inviting him to the Newspaper Club. We can always use some fresh faces!”

“Well, keep me posted if he says yes. The school secretary left me in charge of making sure he’s fitting in around here,” Jesse sighs, blowing his bangs out of his face. Antonia gives him a questioning look, jabbing a thumb over her shoulder. 

“You could always invite him to eat lunch with us, you know.” 

“I could, but...there’s already a lot of us crammed at that table, and I’d hate to immediately overwhelm him, or make him uncomfortable.” 

Jesse squirms in place, unable to present the real issue of potentially accidentally outing the Secret Ninja Force if he were to introduce Jamie to them. He doesn’t know how much Jamie is aware of the truth about eye colors, or the Elemental Compass, or their own Elemental Inheritance, or if they even know what their own element is...because if Jesse can’t even figure it out, then the odds are even slimmer than he could have imagined.

The Ninja could try to pressure Jamie for answers Jamie might not even have, in all their usual impulsive glory, or the Shark Army might swoop in to try and recruit Jamie to their side, as they once did for Nya and Lloyd (although Jesse still hasn’t sussed out just how and why the army’s got a connection in the school of all things–)

But, giant life-changing consequences aside, there’s a part of Jesse that wants things to go well just because he wants them to go well. Better than anyone else, he knows how quickly a pleasant surprise can sour into a nasty one, and if Jamie is anything remotely like Jesse at all...well, someone at this school deserves a good experience, at least. And Jesse’s determined to make it a good one for this kid. 

“...well, I guess my advice to you would be, what do you normally do when you want to reassure someone?” Antonia asks, pocketing her phone to look Jesse ini the eye. “You’ve always been good at providing support—that’s why you make such a great student council secretary! Just talk to him, and offer to do what you can, like you usually do.”

The bell rings, signaling the end of their conversation. Antonia grabs her books and bids Jesse a ‘see ya later!’, taking off down the hall. Jesse, meanwhile, puts a hand to his chin and thinks thoroughly on what Antonia said. 

“What I normally do, huh...?”

Jesse snaps his fingers, making a few pink and white sparkles dance into existence, and he smiles to himself. 

. . .

Jamie hums to himself as he organizes his books at the end of the school day. He taps his hand against the door to the beat of the song currently blasting from his earphones. Today had been a rather quiet day—he didn’t approach a lot of people, and a lot of people didn’t approach him, but that was okay. Making too many connections could be...costly. Especially when connections were so easy to break. 

...grumbling a bit, Jamie shuts his locker door. He immediately finds that weird student council guy waiting behind it, and launches himself into a series of screams. Jesse wails and waves his hands around in a way that makes Jamie believe he’s about to take off and fly. Jamie’s screams turn into more of a startled chuckle at that point. 

“I’m so sorry!” Jesse keens, putting his hands together and begging for forgiveness. “I swear, I was just about to say something and then you moved—by the Master–why do these things only happen to me–?!”

But Jamie’s less mad about being startled and more amused at how absurd things have become, laughing until Jesse calms down and joins him in chuckling too. When both of them have calmed down, Jamie hoists his backpack higher upon his shoulder.

“You...your name was...Jesse, right?”

“Yep! And you’re Jamie! I mean, it’s not too hard to remember—they’re almost the same name, and we’ve gotta the same initials on top of that, ahahaha...”

“Riiiiight...” Jamie clicks his tongue. “...soooo, why were you creeping around my locker in the first place?”

“I wasn’t—! Honestly, I just...wanted to check in with you, see how your first week of school has gone.” Jesse coughs, glancing away. Jamie shrugs, as there’s really not much to tell on that front. 

“It’s been fine, I guess. School is school...” Jamie pouts to himself, thinking that Jesse deserves at least a bit more than that. He’s been the only one to really talk to him, after all. “I...have thought about joining the photography club.”

“Oh, cool!” Jesse perks up like a flower, and Jamie finds the ends of his mouth curving upwards again. How rare. “They work closely with the newspaper club, and my friend Antonia is a part of it! Maybe you two could get talk some time? Antonia would definitely have a few connections in her back pocket.”

“...I’ll keep that in mind,” Jamie assures. Jesse grins, proceeding to elbow Jamie in the arm. 

“And who knows, with those mad photography skills you’ve already got, maybe one day you’ll be lucky enough to snap the elusive Fuchsia Ninja,” Jesse teases, wiggling his fingers around as he does. Jamie snorts, shaking his head.

“I doubt it, a lot of people are convinced he doesn’t even exist.” Jamie blinks, curious, as he suddenly finds Jesse’s eyes rather...intriguing, for a moment. They’ve always reminded him of his sister’s eyes, vibrant in both iris and pupil color, but unlike the infinite space his sister’s were filled with...Jesse’s eyes make him want to believe in magic, in the good things coming, in the idea life might just surprise him one day, and remind him that things aren’t always bad forever. 

But, that’s silly. A guy like him...wouldn’t be so lucky, right? 

And it’s like Jesse must be able to sense the lack of cheer in Jamie in that very instance—Jamie swears Jesse’s eyes spark a bit, but the moment’s missed as Jesse brings his hands up. He claps them twice, and then straight from his sleeve...he pulls out a single yellow daisy. It’s a bit bigger than a normal daisy, but Jamie chokes on air at the sight of it. 

That shade of yellow–his sister—he’d just been thinking of...how did this guy...?

“I’m a magician,” Jesse says with a wink, proving he must be able to read minds or something at this point. He present the flower out to Jamie with a shy shrug. “...and this is a trick I like to do for my friends, that’s all.” 

“...friends...?” Jamie whispers under his breath. Jesse nods, passing the flower off to Jamie. Jamie takes it like it’s made of gold. 

“Yup! Yellow flowers generally detonate a sense of friendship anyway, but this daisy in particular...is representative of the specific happiness that comes from building relationships with others.” 

Jamie’s jaw hangs open in shock. He stands there, just gaping at the daisy in his possession. Jesse snickers to himself, always reveling in the stupefaction of the targets of his tricks. It’s the best part of being the Master of Surprise.

“I just wanted to show you that, even if things are a bit of struggle right now, it won’t be long before you find people who you’ll be able to connect to...”

Jesse grins, winking once more.

“...and if I happen to be the first one of many, then, well, lucky me!” 

Suddenly overwhelmed with embarrassment, Jesse coughs, and somewhere in the midst of his sputtering he bids Jamie goodbye. Jamie snaps out of his daze at last, but in the time it takes him to blink, Jesse snaps his fingers–

–and he’s gone as quick as he appeared.

...heart racing, Jamie holds up the daisy once again, hard pressed to deny the warmth that’s currently blooming in his chest. It’s been a long time since he’s had such a simple, quirky, small act of kindness imposed upon him, to the point that it feels so foreign, and yet...it’s nice. Very nice. 

And unbeknownst to him, Jamie’s eyes start to glow a faint shade of pale yellow from joy.