Author's Note: Sorry, the next part will definitely be the last part, my pretties! Enjoy! Also, I saw you guys gave me some more ideas in your reviews. I'll be sure to look over them and see which ones tickle my fancy!

Ninjalogy

By: Mad Betrayal

Chapter 24 ~ The Wonders of Eggnog (2)

Mistletoe…? Mistletoe my ass! Cole thought hotly as he watched in consternated shock as Jay fled from the room and disappeared around the corner. That had been the lame excuse he'd muttered to Cole after pulling the ninja leader into such a passionate kiss.

Cole's lips still tingled, his heart still hammered, but he quickly shook the effects off. Jay was drunk, that much he was able to ascertain from the experience, the bitterness of the alcohol still on his tongue passed from Jay's bold dance with his own.

While some of the students witnessed the display, most of them were still gawking at Zane hanging from the archway, and Kai trying to coax him down with a large candy cane. Deciding to let Kai handle his inebriated boyfriend, Cole frowned and stepped around a couple of sloppily kissing juniors and followed after Jay.

A hard tug to his arm halted his advance, however, and he was met face to face with Lloyd, his crimson eyes narrowed and moving forward to block his path.

"What're you gonna do?" He demanded, obviously protective.

Cole cocked a thick eyebrow. "I think I deserve an explanation," he said plainly. "Was it just an act of drunkenness? Or was there something real behind it?"

"Does it matter?" Lloyd challenged, and Cole took a moment to think about it.

To be frank, no it didn't. He wasn't gay, so no matter what Jay's feelings were he knew he couldn't reciprocate them. He voiced this to the blond with a slipshod shrug.

"No, not really."

"Then what's the point of you going to him?"

Starting to feel frustrated at Lloyd's badgering, Cole's frown deepened. "Because I'll get everything I need to know from him. Not you, Lloyd."

Lloyd averted his gaze from Cole's with a grimace, looking indecisive and torn. He knew Lloyd and Jay were close. But whatever the green ninja knew, he'd much rather hear it from the source. But also…

"Jay's my friend too, Lloyd. I care about him."

Crimson eyes shifted back to emeralds and the two stared at each other, looking to compromise. But soon, both of them were turning their attentions to Kai at the red ninja's alarmed shout. Kai caught Zane when he fell and celebratory whoops and claps sounded loud in the room. And while Zane looked blissfully tuckered out and content, Kai looked as if he lost three years of his life to the whole fiasco.

Both Cole and Lloyd sighed.

"Make sure they're okay," Cole said, and once again moved to follow Jay. But a plastic cup to his chest stopped him again.

"He needed some water," Lloyd murmured, standing abreast of him now, his sullen gaze on his other two friends. "Give this to him, and…don't hurt him." And he stepped away.

Cole looked down at the cup briefly before continuing on, following Jay down the corridor he last saw him enter when he fled. Quite a number of people were standing around either chatting or smoking or both. But Cole bypassed it all and looked to the closed doors lining the hallway.

He could picture Jay wanting to put as much distance between the party and himself, so trekked further before taking a chance and opening one of the doors…

And immediately slammed it closed when he did.

God, did he not need to see a naked, flabby Dareth fucking the shit out of some poor, delusional girl! Ugh!

Cole hurriedly backed away from the door with a disgusted grimace, even going as far as to wipe his hand on a forgotten napkin he found on the floor. Luckily, he didn't drop Jay's water, but he lamented the fact that he couldn't gouge out his mind's eye. That repulsive image was definitely going to haunt him for the next week or so.

"Yo Cole, you lookin' for somethin'?"

Definitely not that! With one final shudder, Cole turned to voice. Raymond Stouts, a fellow music lover and football player, leaned casually against the wall to Cole's right, sipping languidly from a crystal cup of blue eggnog. Sporting a lettermen jacket and a head full of cornrows, Raymond's clear, brown eyes peered at Cole expectedly over the rim of his cup.

"Yeah. Did Jay run by here?"

Raymond lowered his cup and eyed Cole incredulously. "What you talkin' bout, man, my brother ain't here."

"No. Walker," he clarified and emoted, gesturing to his face. "Blue eyes. Freckles."

"Oh yeah, yeah." Raymond nodded further down the hall. "Ran by a lil' while ago. Looked distraught as hell. He went through the last door on the right."

Cole nodded. "Thanks, Ray."

The bass of the techno music wasn't as migraine-inducing the further Cole walked from the main room, and as he stopped in front of the door Jay had supposedly entered, the music receded to a much more tolerable volume.

Seriously, Dareth's choice of music sucked.

"Could've at least found some decent dubstep," Cole muttered as he knocked and opened the door. "Jay…?"

Jay sat solemnly at the edge of some bed in the room, but lifted his head when called. He didn't look as wasted as Cole originally thought, which could only mean…

"Cole…?"He blinked once before lowering his gaze back down to the cream-colored carpet. "You didn't have to come. You can leave. I think I'd much rather be by myself for awhile."

His trademark frown back in place, Cole slipped into the room and closed the door. Jay went from solemn to miserable at this and fidgeted with one of the long tails of his orange scarf. Calm and collected, the ninja leader strode the few steps to his friend and offered the cup of water.

"Lloyd wanted me to give this to you," he explained when Jay looked confusedly at the cup. "Said you needed it."

"Oh." Taking the cup, he downed it in a single gulp and set it down on the ground. Cole took a seat beside him. "Thank you."

"You can thank Lloyd when you see 'im."

"Right."

It was quiet for a time between them, just the echoes of bad music and white noise from their peers permeating from a distance. Cole sighed. If Jay wasn't going to start, he might as well get the ball rolling. For the sooner he cleared this up, the sooner he could get back to the party. There was one short-haired blonde girl that looked good to him.

"So what was that, Jay?"

The lightning ninja turned his head away. "I told you," he began softly, "mistletoe—"

"Oh bullshit," Cole snapped irritably. Though it would probably be easier to go along with any excuse Jay wanted to throw at him, within their clan—their brotherhood, they had promised to always be up front with each other. Honor and integrity were their virtues. "You don't kiss someone like that under the mistletoe. Not a friend anyway."

Jay shook his head. "I'm sorry," he said eventually. "I knew it was foolish before I even went over there. I know you don't feel anything for me other than friendship."

"If you knew then why? Help me understand."

A noticeable tremor went through Jay's frame and Cole got worried upon seeing it, afraid he had said something wrong. But then he turned and faced him, a small albeit sad smile on his lips.

"I…I thought it would help me…get over you. To let go. Since going cold turkey didn't seem to be doing anything besides making me more miserable."

"And did it?" Cole asked earnestly.

"…It…" Jay struggled. He bit his bottom lip and closed his eyes. Cole waited patiently. "…It…" Deep blue sapphires steadily revealed themselves and freckled cheeks flushed a different shade of crimson. "…It did." He smiled the same sad smile. "A little bit. But it should be enough. I should be okay the rest of the way."

"A little bit, huh…"

Cole leaned back; unaware he had gotten closer to his friend's face. Or maybe Jay did. He didn't know. Regardless, though, his calculative mind was hard at work in trying to find ways to mollify his friend. After all, he didn't want Jay to hurt needlessly, especially not over him. He could easily find someone better. If anything, he was a hindrance on Jay's heart.

Jay just has a wayward crush… he thought logically. So if he could just get me out of his system…

The idea came to Cole smoothly, and given his trust and friendship with Jay, he even felt relaxed about it.

"I'll give you fifteen minutes."

Jay's head snapped up, blues eyes wide. "What?"

Cole looked at him seriously. "I'll give you fifteen minutes to do whatever you want to me."

Jay just stared, flabbergasted, and Cole smiled.

"I trust you Jay. You're not just my friend but my brother-in-arms too. I'd trust you with my life…as…long as it didn't involve choosing between me and ice cream. Everybody knows you're kinda nuts about the stuff."

That got Jay to grin and blush. Cole placed a hand on his shoulder. "I just wanna help. And if you think this will help you get over me faster, then I'm all for it. For you, Jay."

Honestly, he was sort of surprised at how quickly Jay answered. "Okay. For fifteen minutes…I get to do whatever I want to you."

Cole blinked, feeling his heart start to pound out of nervousness. Perhaps he shouldn't have allowed the no-holds-barred. But fuck, he wasn't going to get cold feet and renege just because Jay agreed faster than he expected him too. There was also a look in those deep blues that Cole couldn't quite fathom.

Oh well… Time to follow through…

Clearing his throat, he looked down at his watch to set it. "Okay, um. Starting…right…now—mmmph!"

Not as soon as the word left his mouth, were Jay's lips upon his own. Sure, he was expecting a kiss, but holy shit! Jay didn't waste any time, did he?!

The kiss was as firm as it was before and just as passionate without getting too deep. Cole kissed back out of pure instinct. Maybe if he closed his eyes, he could imagine that blonde girl he had scoped out earlier.

So he did.

The bed creaked as Jay shifted. And soon, Cole's eyes were snapping back open for he felt, not at all, a dainty weight settle onto his lap. Jay was all long limbs and wiry muscles—a swimmer's build, and long legs bent at the knee on the bed and straddled his hips.

Cole opened his mouth out of sheer surprise, but Jay took it as an invitation and slipped his electric tongue inside the earth's ninja's wet cavern.

And just as quickly as it came, the image of a female melted away.

A calloused thumb caressed his cheek, formed by years and years of practicing with nunchuku and kursari-gama.

Oh God… Oh shit…

Half-lidded emeralds peered up at Jay in a daze. And for the first time he noticed…just how long, full and dark Jay's eyelashes were. How the sprinkle of freckles along his fine and fair cheekbones looked like a constellation of summer stars against a creamy galaxy.

But Cole, for the life of him, didn't understand why he was noticing such things now.

A tongue touched his, and Cole helplessly closed his eyes as a new sensation caressed him from the inside out. Jay's tongue slid and lapped lovingly against his, causing a pleasant, unexpected shiver to trickle down the ninja leader's spine.

There was the lingering bitterness of alcohol, but also…something else. A sweet taste that, at first, intermingled with the bitterness, but soon trumped over it. It was like fresh fruit, maybe berries topped with honey. Well whatever it was, it sparked a wanton hunger in Cole. One that made him participate willingly in the dance of tongues just to get as much of the sweetness as he could.

Of its own volition, one arm had wrapped around Jay's waist, while the other trembled and fisted the sheets behind him in an effort to balance himself. Cole's heart pounded thunderously in his chest, his cheeks burned with a flush of arousal.

He couldn't think. He felt his control had been flung out the window and into the nearest dumpster. Was that him moaning? Or was it Jay? He hoped and prayed that was Jay and not him. Because he was straight. He liked girls, not guys! And he was doing this for Jay's benefit!

Not… Not his own…

Jay…

Jay…

He was thrust back into coherency when Jay smoothly pulled back. He stayed within close proximity, in which Cole blearily opened his eyes. Deep sapphire eyes locked amorously with his smoldering emerald stare, striking another revelation into his mind.

Jay's eyes…were they always so blue…? Were they always so peerless and beautiful…?

Did… Did he really just think that…?

Why couldn't he conjure up an image of a girl anymore…?

He needed to stop this. He would apologize to Jay later, but he felt he was beginning to lose himself to this…whatever it was.

He was just about to open his mouth to tell Jay to stop, but was silenced by his friend's next maneuver. Jay swiftly ducked his head and planted a kiss to Cole's throat. But he didn't stop there. Baby pink curves gently latched on to the sinewy, olive column and suckled gratuitously.

Cole's breath hitched and he swallowed noisily, canting his head away from the sight of his friend sucking on his neck. But also, perhaps unwittingly, granting the blue ninja better access.

His neck had never been particularly sensitive, for he had had numerous girls latch on and suck greedily as if they were kittens suckling for their mother's milk. And he had never felt much of anything. Plus, he didn't bruise easily, so none of them had ever been able to mark him.

But…would Jay be able to…?

And why did Jay's mouth feel so different? And so…good?

A quick nip of teeth to his pulse caused a strangled moan to escape his lips. And he angrily gritted his teeth to stop another from spewing forth.

He couldn't take anymore… He really couldn't…

"Ja…Jaaay…"

Was that his voice?! Why the fuck did he sound so aroused?!

Cole was really starting to regret his decision, alternating between cursing and moaning in his head, because he sure as hell didn't trust his mouth say anything remotely helpful. And all the while, Jay contently marked him, his ministrations not at all desperate or needy.

They were just…Cole couldn't find the word.

When Jay pulled back a second time, Cole couldn't help but blush when the lightning ninja languidly licked his lips. Meanwhile, Cole's breath came out in ragged pants. And it irked him just a little bit (meaning a lot) that Jay seemed just so calm about all this.

His smile was soft and meaningful, and his hands rested on Cole's shoulders. Deep blues roamed over his face in a languid manner. Then…a certain shine came about them, a certain clever, red fox glint, and he promptly ground and rocked his hips against Cole's lap.

The fire of pleasure that burned him was petrifying and he cried out because of it. The arm wrapped around Jay's waist tightened even more, desperate to stay him. He didn't know what expression he was giving Jay, but it had the other tilting his head and stopping his movements.

Cole was thankful for the mercy.

Long, gentle fingers readjusted the headphones around his neck.

Long, gentle fingers combed through his hair, thusly removing the hair tie and placing it in his hoodie's pocket.

Jay's expert hands proceeded to massage his scalp, grinning amorously down at him all the while. And it helped soothe the ninja leader's nerves somewhat, though the heat in his loins still pooled.

And then, Jay was hugging him, his arms wreathed around his neck and his face in Cole's black, shaggy hair. Cole heard him shakily inhale.

"Jay…ah…"

Jay nuzzled him, and then pulled back just enough to kiss him again. And Cole kissed back, helpless to do anything else. Nothing but sweet berries topped with honey imbued Jay's tongue now and Cole lapped and sucked greedily on it.

He couldn't get enough.

But unfortunately, the timer on his watch sounded. And Jay pulled away. He reached for Cole's hand and stopped the chiming himself, and kissed the back of it. Then the palm.

Cole stared, awestruck. Everything about Jay was striking.

Kiss swollen, baby pink curved formed another breathtaking smile and gentle, calloused hands touched his neck before taking his headphones and putting them over his ears.

"Listen to your music," Jay whispered, the first words he said since the fifteen minutes started. "It calms you. Helps you think."

Then Jay's body along with his warmth, left Cole as he gracefully detached himself and got up. And he didn't look back once as he left the room, closing the door softly behind him.

Cole stared at the closed door with wide, disbelieving eyes, his heart hammering, his blood thrumming. How could Jay just leave him like that?! Couldn't he see that he didn't want him to—

Wait…

Wait…

Wait…

"This…was supposed to happen," Cole said in an odd voice to himself. "This…was agreed upon. I wanted this… Right…?"

Cole shivered and looked down at himself, at the obvious bulge in his pants. He blinked at it, turned away, and ran a hand over his face. His cheeks still felt warm. He probably looked a mess. His clothes felt a bit a disheveled, his hair mussed…

He needed music.

Jay was right. He needed music.

He pressed the button on his mp3 player and slumped back down onto the bed, staring dazedly at the ceiling.

He needed to calm down and think. And when the lyrics of the song Whataya Want From Me by Adam Lambert filtered through his phones, Cole couldn't help but sigh at the ironic truth of them.

And what Jay wanted, Cole wasn't sure he could give.

Author's Note: Again, one more part, I promise!