"Love is friendship that has caught fire. It is quiet understanding, mutual confidence, sharing and forgiving. It is loyalty through good and bad times. It settles for less than perfection and makes allowances for human weaknesses." -Ann Landers

"Everyone ready?"

"Lloyd, there's only three of us." Kai huffed impatiently as he and Cole stood a few feet away from the green ninja.

Although the plan was to summon the Enchanter and ask for him to remove the spell still lingering inside of Cole, both parties agreed it would be best to keep the deal from Sensei Wu. No doubt if they told him, the master would be certainly ban them from attempting any contact with the deity. Thus, their party dwindled down to Cole, Kai, and Lloyd who were now standing on the outskirts of Ninjago City once again. All signs of the earlier dispute between ninja and Enchanter had been mysteriously wiped away, but not a single person made any move to comment on the phenomenon.

"Alright. Let's do this." Lloyd swallowed thickly and flipped through the Magicians Handbook until he reached the Enchanter's page. "The Enchanter is summoned through his name, one that is able to pierce the boundaries between deity and mortal to-"

"Summon the being from his haven to the speaker's location. Yes, I am well aware of the parameters of my own power." The Enchanter interrupted as he strode forward and stopped just before Lloyd.

This time around, the green ninja made no move to back down, choosing instead to stare at the ethereal being. A pleased grin spread across the deity's face as he observed Lloyd carefully, then chuckled.

"My, my. Someone is eager to prove himself against a god. And I see Little Red and Cole are back once more. How do you do, darlings?"

Kai pushed past Lloyd and right up into the Enchanter's space without a second of warning. Cole and Lloyd both lunged to stop Kai from attempting to attack the Enchanter, but the white haired man held up his hand to stop their advance. A tense stand-off between Kai and the Enchanter lasted for a few moments before the ninja finally spoke.

"Remove the spell from Cole. All of it." He demanded with a tone more akin to ice than fire.

"The spell?" For once, the Enchanter appeared thrown off his omnipotent advantage long enough to show confusion. It lasted for only a second before irritation wiped the look from his face. "Are you dull, or did the last encounter fail to prove that the infatuation spell had already been removed?"

"Bullshit! Cole is still under it's effects!" Kai snapped as he grabbed the Enchanter by his crisp, white lapels and yanked the taller being down to his height.

"Kai, stop it!" Cole commanded as he grabbed the younger ninja by the shoulder to pry him off the Enchanter.

Said deity merely scoffed and turned his head with a huff. "He is not. Whatever feelings your friend may have are genuine and no amount of spellcasting can undo feelings born of a pure heart."

"What? Stop speaking in riddles, dammit!" Kai demanded as he gave the Enchanter a shake which seemed to make the ethereal being more annoyed than anything else.

"He. Loves. You. It's rather frustrating to see how blind you are to that fact. Or, could it be-?" The white haired man grinned and tilted his head to the side as he watched Kai closely. "You're so deep in denial that you resorted to blaming me for Cole's feelings?"

Kai's hands shook as he let the Enchanter go, stepping back quickly and putting his hand on the hilt of his sword, as though he meant to fight. Instead, Cole grabbed the fire ninja's wrist and pulled it away from his sword before shaking his head.

"Stop it. You're losing your control." He said calmly, despite the cutting pain of having his feelings exposed like a salted wound.

Cole wasn't sure if he should be so happy that the feelings he harbored were real, or terrified because of how close of a 'brother' Kai was supposed to be. Granted, they weren't blood related, none of them were, but to change your mindset about a person after training and fighting beside them for a couple of years would not be so easy.

The Enchanted laughed as he smoothed out his lapels and turned to face Cole. "Don't let Little Red worry his head off. If this is all you wanted, I'll be leaving now."

In a gust of white sand, the Enchanter had vanished into thin air and left Lloyd, Cole, and Kai behind on the edge of town. As far as plans had gone, it wasn't the most terrible and Cole was glad the Enchanter was in a good enough mood to forgive Kai yanking him around. He had seen and felt enough of the bastard's power to understand how much danger they could have been in. Kai didn't seem the least bit pleased by the outcome.

"He was lying, wasn't he?" The fire ninja asked Cole as the two of them remained linked by the leader's hand around Kai's wrist. When Cole didn't respond, Kai tried again. "Cole? Come on, you can't be-that's..."

"What if it's true, Kai?" Cole asked him as he slowly released the ninja's wrist and let his hand fall back to his side. "If he's telling the truth, then I...I do like you more than anyone else be met."

Kai stepped back once, eyes frozen on the leader's somber face as his heart beat furiously in his chest. He didn't know what to do. All this time, Kai was sure Cole's strange attraction to him was strictly from the Enchanter alone, but reflecting further on the subject proved that idea wrong. It started longer ago than that. More smiles from the usually serious leader. Cole offering to train with Kai every chance he got. The two of them hanging out by themselves after a successful mission. The signs had existed long before the Enchanter appeared, hiding just beyond Kai's reach in his everyday life.

"Are you going back to treating Cole's feelings like a danger, Kai?" Lloyd asked coldly as he watched the two ninja fight their own inner battles. "You told Nya the incident in the training room didn't bother you, but that's clearly a lie, isn't it?"

"Shut up, Lloyd. This doesn't concern you." Kai snapped back.

"Yes, it does. It was my fault Cole had that spell cast on him in the first place, but now you're going to act like none of his feelings toward you matter? That they're all fabricated from a spell?" Lloyd prodded Kai's chest as the two ninja stared each other down.

"This never would have happened had you just protected him in the first place!"

"I didn't see you fighting the enchanter!"

"He is my brother and it's wrong!"

"We're not even blood related!"

"You-"

"Enough! Both of you, just be quiet!" Cole screamed as he shoved Lloyd and Kai apart. His whole body was shaking as he slowly lowered his arms and tried to catch his breath from shouting so loud at the two arguing ninja.

Silence rested heavily between the three ninja as they stood stone-still without another word. Lloyd was the first to move as he tucked the Magicians Handbook under his arm and turned away from Kai and Cole.

"I'm heading back to the Bounty. If you two aren't back half an hour after me, I'm bringing the whole crew around to get you." He instructed. There was no room for discussion as the green ninja walked off and left only Kai and Cole standing in the open air of Ninjago city's borders.

Seconds ticked by into minutes and neither one of them said a word. Lloyd had been the only buffer between Cole and Kai, but now that he was gone it was up to the two of them to resolve their issues.

"I...you really have...feelings for me?" Kai asked in a hushed whisper as he finally found the confidence to look at Cole.

The earth ninja blushed and nodded." How many times are you going to make me repeat myself? It's embarrassing enough saying it once..."

"Sorry. I never thought-I mean, I knew people who like the same sex were out there but I never thought it would be someone-"

"Like me?" Cole interrupted with a sad smile.

Kai's throat clammed up and the ninja simply nodded in response. "I don't hate you, Cole. This doesn't make us any less of friends."

"I know. It just doesn't make us more. I can't blame you for that, considering what terrible things I did to you only a week ago." The leader's smile melted into a pained scowl as the events concerning the infatuation spell came to light once more.

"I'm not upset about that either! I told you, I-"

"Kai." Cole shook his head to stop the fire ninja from continuing. "This argument is over. Let's go back to the Bounty."

As Cole turned to leave and go back to a normal life where he as Kai were nothing but brothers in combat when Kai's hand shot out and grabbed onto the leader's wrist so tightly, it actually hurt to move. Cole staggered back the moment his wrist was immobilized and glanced over his shoulder at Kai. The young man was gripping Cole's wrist as though his life depended on it and his face was stone still, as though he were wearing a mask.

"Don't...don't leave." Kai's voice cracked as he slowly released Cole's wrist.

"Kai-"

"Just listen, okay? I'm sorry I was a dick and I'm sorry I treated your feeling like they didn't matter! Maybe it was because I was scared, I don't know, I just hated to think of you dying because of some stupid spell and I guess I overreacted afterwards because I was *scared* and I-I..." Kai began losing steam halfway through his rant as his hands trembled and tears slipped from the corners of his eyes, down his cheeks.

Cole approached the fire ninja carefully, one step at a time, until he could reach out and brush the tears away from Kai's face with his thumbs. The gesture was foreign and unusual, but if Kai didn't know better, he wouldn't have thought the soft touch belonged to Cole. Slowly, Kai lifted his right hand and held tightly to Cole's larger and much warmer one. The leader couldn't help but smile and shake his head before brushing his one free hand through the spiky expanse of Kai's hair. Said fire ninja whined just the tiniest bit as his hair was smoothed back, but said nothing else. It wasn't the best moment for Cole to be romantic, but he figured it was as good as a time anyway to ask. He had never been one to read the mood of emotional situations correctly in the first place.

"Kai, would it be alright if I kissed you?" Cole asked quietly as his free hand nervously brushed the fire ninja's hair back.

If the two of them had left to summon the enchanter earlier in the day and not closer to sunset, Kai's blush would have stood out from the tips of his ears and all the way across his face. "S-sure." He stammered before closing his eyes and keeping them shut tight.

Kai had expected something akin to the kissing in the training room a week before, but he was instead greeted with a tender brush of lips against his forehead as Cole lingered for only a moment and pulled back with a quiet apology. It baffled Kai for a moment before he realized that Cole was trying to be affectionate and not forceful. He could see how scared Kai was and backed off as much as he could. It must be painful to hold back so much, Kai realized, as Cole let his hands slip from their places on the fire ninja's head.

"We should go back. Lloyd will bring everyone over if we don't hurry." Cole insisted again as he tried to divert the situation from his awkward feelings to the responsibility of a ninja.

Kai refused to leave without having everything laid out and all confusion and hurtful assumptions squashed beneath the real truth. He grabbed hold of Cole's gi and pulled the earth ninja towards himself as he pressed his face against the dark cloth covering the leader's shoulder. Time felt very slow to Cole as Kai embraced him, but with a sigh and a quick prayer that whatever he did wouldn't have serious consequences, Cole wrapped his arms around Kai and held him back tightly.

"I love you. Even if you don't love me back, I-I can say for certaint now that I love you." Cole's heart felt both relieved and scared stiff as he finally confessed what he had been hiding for nearly a whole year. He was scared to hear Kai's response, but he had to be brave. It wasn't the end of the world if Kai said no. They were still friends. At least, Cole hoped Kai meant it when he said they would always be friends.

"I...I can't say for certain yet." Kai spoke against the fabric of Cole's gi with a muffled tone. "I like you a lot. Maybe I just need some time before I'll know for sure." It was his honest answer and nothing else rang as true as those words.

For Cole, it wasn't a no and Kai's answer couldn't have made him happier. He was getting a chance to be with Kai and however small the possibility could be, they could still have a future together as more than just friends or brothers. Cole gave the fire ninja another tight squeeze before letting him go and grinning from ear to ear.

"That sounds great, it really does." With a glance upward, Cole caught sight of the now disappearing sun and sighed. "Let's go, Crybaby. Lloyd is going to get us in trouble for taking so long."

"Crybaby? Who are you calling a crybaby?" Kai indignantly huffed as he followed beside Cole. "I'm not the one making mushy love confessions."

"Mushy? Please, my confession was pure gold."

Kai snickered and shook his head; the two ninja laughing and joking like normal once again as they headed back to the Bounty.

"Did I not tell you to stay away from the Enchanter? He could have killed you both!"

Kai and Cole both bowed their heads while formulating separate plans of revenge on the green ninja who had not only tattled on them, but had the nerve to convienently take himself out of the story. He was certainly in for an ass-kicking next time they had group practice.

"We're sorry, Sensei. We shouldn't have snuck out like that." Cole apologized as he and Kai bowed to their sensei.

The old man sighed and rubbed his aging temple. "No harm came to either of you or the city, so I suppose there is no reason to be highly alarmed. Neverless, I don't want any of you attempting such a reckless act in the future. Am I understood?"

"Yes, Sensei." Cole answered.

"Yes, Sensei." Kai mimicked.

As they both stood back up and Sensei Wu continued on with his lecture, the old man decided not to comment on Kai and Cole's gently intertwined fingers. He'd leave that for another day.

There you have it. Currently, Lovely Magics will be having a sequel called 'Split Screen' and possibly a four-part series. I thank everyone for taking their time to read my stories and wish you a wonderful day.