Chapter Text
It's been three weeks since Kai made the biggest decision of his life that could have also ruined it and he has never felt better. A decade under that arrogant asshole and he's finally free. All it took was three months of planning and scheming with the help of Skylor to get away from Chen.
And he even managed to get a whole new forge owned by him, Chen the sucker, didn't even realise he got swindled by him and his daughter. The only negative about this whole debacle is that Nya and him had to move in order to remain under the radar just in case Chen got a tad bit unhappy about Kai leaving.
It's not that bad, it's just that with Kai being the only one who cooks and cleans unlike Nya and him having absolutely no free time at all means that they're still not fully unpacked. He's not going to blame his sister for that though, she's busy with university and all that. He's grateful enough that she only threw a small fit when he made them move during one of her group projects where her partners were all "useless". Her words, Kai's just repeating it.
He's still so proud of her, she was the best in high school and now she's getting a degree. It's enough to make all those years stuck working with Chen feel worth it. Even that one time when he was given a bulk order of sixteen swords, twelve daggers, and three battle axes and was expected to have them all ready by Monday.
Kai still managed to finish the order but by the end, he had run on nothing but pure fumes and crashed for the rest of the day. Nya had been so worried when he collapsed, but he got her to calm down when he woke up. But no more!
He can finally work on his own terms now, no more all-nighters and no more unrealistic expectations. Kai will have a strict system of when to accept orders and when he'll work on those orders. All he needs to do now is open up his new forge and start unpacking some of the boxes in their apartment. Then everything will finally be better, for both Kai and Nya.
Right now, he's throwing out their trash. Going up and down the stairs is a pain since the walls are quite narrow and he has to take the garbage bags one at a time in order to fit. Although that might just be because Kai hates taking out the trash and he's pushed it off for quite a while which has led to these huge bags.
Walking back up the steps, he noticed there was someone hovering over a door. Are they a robber? If so, they've got something coming to them, Kai hadn't spent all his time with Chen forging weapons. He spent quite some time fighting.
His inner monologue was interrupted when the robber turned around and started screaming. Confused, Kai stepped back unintentionally which was a blessing in disguise because the robber nearly bitch-slapped him.
"What the-"
"Stay back! I'm trained and I'm fully capable of fighting back." The maybe robber shrieked.
"Excuse me?" Kai managed to get out before taking in the whole situation.
The robber who's likelihood of being a robber was decreasing by the second was huge. The guy had muscles the size of balloons and normally those types of people try to be intimidating but this guy? He looked more like a kicked puppy trying not to cry, which he's failing at.
"Is this like your first robbery or something?" He laughed.
"Wha- I'm not a robber!"
"Then what are you? Some guy who likes to stand outside people's doors for no reason?"
"No- No, I just- Look, I- I may have locked myself out."
Kai raised his eyebrows at that. The other guy started sputtering when he did.
"Just break the door down, why else ya got all those muscles?" He interrupted.
"I don't wanna break my door."
Seriously? Normally, Kai would've just ignored him and left by now but something about this guy just keeps drawing the brunette towards him. Maybe, it's that weird-looking scar on his forehead that reminds him of his own scar. Although, Kai's scar is much more grotesque and goes right from his eyebrow to his lip effectively making him half-blind, he's surprised the guy didn't react all that much when he saw it.
Letting out a sigh, he pushed past the poor dude and took out one of his bobby pins before bending it into a line reminiscent that of a lock pick which is what he wants. Ignoring the small gasp from behind him, Kai got to work.
It didn't take long before a click went through the air and he twisted the handle opening the door. Might even be a new record, pretty good since he hasn't had to lock pick in quite a while. Turning around, the jaw gape almost made Kai laugh, though all that came out was a slight smile.
Shoving his hands back in his pockets and whistling, Kai walked over to his door which was right next to the door he just unlocked. Huh, cool. He's got a neighbour he's never met before, that's probably his fault though. He's been pretty busy with getting his new forge ready.
"Wait- Um, could you tell me your name?" His new neighbour asked.
"Hm." Kai turned around and walked right to the guy. First Spinjitzu Master, this guy is tall, Kai literally has to lift his head up slightly to make proper eye contact.
"Kai, Kai Smith."
The other guy visibly swallowed at that, does he know him? Kai is pretty famous in both the underground and rich worlds, something about him being a good blacksmith and all that. So this guy is either a criminal, rich boy, or both. The last two ones are unlikely, why would someone rich live in an apartment in a part of town that's right between the underworld and the safer part of the city?
It's great for him because it gets him more business but Kai can't understand why anyone else would want to live here. Fights break out every day between thugs and cops here.
"I'm Cole, Cole Brookstone. It's nice to meet you."
Huh, the last name sounds fancy. Kai could be wrong though, whatever. Smirking, he walked back to his door and made sure to keep eye contact with Brookstone the whole way.
"Well, fun getting to know you but I got things to do."
He waved at Brookstone before going inside and shutting the door. Because of that, Kai wasn't there to see the stuttered goodbye and small wave nor the explanation for the many next crashes that echoed across his walls.
Turning his head to the wall separating them, Kai really hopes he did not just let an actual robber inside someone's home. Noticing the trash bags again, he also realises that he'll have to go back down and up the stairs to get rid of them. Kai lets out an audible groan at that, he also waits for a while to make sure that Brookstone won't see him going out after the outro he just did.
In the meanwhile, Cole's just took care of one of Chen's goons and currently rummaging through their stuff while thinking about a certain brunette with dazzling eyes, stunning hair, and a breathtaking smile.