Work Text:
Click!
The sound of a smartphone’s skeuomorphic camera shutter alerted the training ninja to their teammate in red.
“Spending the day workin’ out,” Kai spoke out loud in time with the tapping noise his phone made when he typed. “Here’s all the #MCM #ManCrushMonday you could ever dream of, ladies. #Workout #Ninja”
As expected, Kai’s chatter was a perfect distraction for the other members of his team, who quickly gathered around the fire master.
“Ooh, are you posting us?” Jay said, peeking over Kai’s shoulder.
“Check it out. We look great.” Kai gave a proud grin and raised his phone, allowing the others to see his photo.
The centerpiece of the picture was, of course, the red ninja himself, holding up a sideways peace sign and giving a poor attempt at a sultry glare. Behind him was Cole, wiping his face with a towel in between reps during his core exercises. Next to Cole was Jay, who was facing a training dummy in a defensive position while preparing a strike with the Nunchucks of Lightning. And finally, Zane stood tiptoe on one of the raised balance poles, one foot on the ground and the other folded neatly in front of him.
“Is this going on your big account? I’m sure Jay would love the attention.” Cole said, ignoring the aforementioned ninja’s exclamation at his comment.
“Yup! All 10.5k of my followers are gonna see it.” Kai put his hands on his hips in a prideful gesture. “Hey, you want me to tag you guys?”
“Uh, yes!” Jay said, his tone excited.
“You’re blue underscore jay, right? With 3 Ys,” Kai said, typing in Jay’s handle. “Cole, what about you?”
“I don’t really use Ninjagram often, but mine’s Rockhead95,” said Cole, stretching his back and grabbing his water bottle.
“Rock… Head…. Ninety… Five.” Kai spoke as he slowly typed in the words. “And Zane, what’s yours?”
The master of ice hesitated for a second.
“I do not have one.” He finally said, speaking with his typical neutral tone.
“You still haven’t signed up? You’d be a hit over there!” Kai playfully elbowed his taller teammate. “The ladies love a smart guy.”
Zane tilted his head and furrowed his eyebrows. “Are ‘the ladies’ a large part of your following?”
Jay sighed and looked at Kai, his expression lighthearted.
“That’s Zane for ya.”
Kai directed his attention back towards Zane.
“You might not be on Ninjagram, but today’s the day we change that,” He said, putting a hand on Zane’s shoulder. “You got your phone?”
“It is charging in my room. Shall I get it?”
“You shall,” Kai teased.
A few moments later, the ninja in white returned from inside the monastery, holding an equally white phone. Kai motioned for Zane to join him and Cole, who were sitting on the steps going down to the training area. Judging by their relaxed demeanor, It was clear that they were not planning on finishing their training today.
Zane took a seat beside the one in red, looking at both of them before holding out his phone and navigating to the Ninjagram app.
Kai held out his hand and smiled at him.
“I can get you through the first parts, ‘kay?”
“That would be appreciated. Thank you, Kai,” said Zane, ever formal.
Kai grabbed the phone from Zane’s hand and begun tapping through some prompts.
“Alrighty. I need an email. You at least made that, right?”
“I was unable to,” said Zane. “I encountered… Difficulties.”
Kai and Cole looked at him with puzzled expressions. Before Cole could ask Zane what he meant by “difficulties,” Kai continued.
“…That’s alright, we’ll just use one of mine.” Kai returned to typing, before asking Zane yet another question. “What do you want your username to be?”
Zane hesitated for a second.
“Is a username normally similar to one’s own name?”
“It can be,” said Cole. “But you can also get creative with it.”
Zane’s brows knitted.
“I would like my username to be Zane.”
“That’s taken,” Kai said.
“Zane’s the type to want a professional sounding username. How about ZaneOfficial?” Cole suggested.
“I like that,” Zane nodded.
“A little boring, but hey, to each their own,” Said Kai, shrugging. “Here, you type in a password. Make sure it’s complicated, so nobody’ll guess it.”
Zane took his phone from Kai’s hand and began typing. Seeing that all fields were filled, he decided to hit the “create account” button and smiled as he prepared to finally be included in all the Ninjagram activities his teammates did.
“Tell us when you’re in so we can get you a good bio and profile picture,” said Kai.
Zane’s response was uncharacteristically distant.
“Yes,” he said, trailing off. “I’ll… be sure to do that.”
The ninja in white stood up and began slowly pacing around the training center, his eyes locked on his phone. His brows were drawn together in a look of intense focus as he brought the phone’s screen closer to his face and then far away, as though he was struggling to see the words on his screen.
It didn’t take long for Cole to notice something was up.
“Hey Frosty, is everything good over there?”
Zane blinked rapidly, seemingly surprised by his concentration being suddenly broken.
“I appear to be having the same problem as when I attempted to create my email account.” Zane’s attention quickly turned back to his phone, which was now playing a recording of a random sequence of numbers and letters. He narrowed his eyes and tapped the screen again, and the recording repeated.
“Come here, maybe we can help you figure this out,” Cole said, motioning to where the master of ice had previously been sitting.
Zane made his way over to the others, still staring at his phone screen. He finally broke his attention when he sat down on the rough, cobblestone steps.
“There is a puzzle of some sorts preventing me from continuing beyond this screen.” He looked up at the two ninja. “As much as I try, I cannot find the solution.”
Zane handed the phone to Kai, who brought it to where Cole could see.
The screen showed a box with a photo of some obfuscated (but still legible) text, with a smaller box beneath it for typing the text displayed in the image, and a button with a speaker next to it.
Kai looked at the phone, raised an eyebrow, and looked back at Zane, and Cole shortly did the same.
“It’s just a CAPTCHA,” said Kai.
“You know the solution?” Zane raised his eyebrows.
“Yeah, of course. I’m more surprised you don’t,” Cole interjected.
“Is that strange?”
“Uh, yeah!” Kai said. “Cause it means you’re a robot.”
Cole laughed.
“Hey, it was a hard one. I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt, Icebox”
“It wasn’t hard at all!” Kai said, elbowing the ninja to his right. “Maybe you’re the robot, Cole.”
“Beep boop, I do not understand your query,” Cole said, mimicking a monotone voice and robotic movements.
Zane looked between the two, trying to make sense of their words.
“I… do not believe either of us are robots, Cole.”
“Oh, uh, right. Sorry. Jokes.” Kai awkwardly scratched the back of his head. “We’re joking, obviously none of us are robots.”
“I dunno, I think I did a pretty good robot impression just then,” said Cole, his voice playful.
Zane kept his puzzled expression as he moved the phone into Kai’s field of vision. “Could you read the solution out loud so I can type it in?”
“Sure thing, Mr. Roboto.” Kai teased the white ninja, giving him a nod and playfully elbowing him in case he wanted to join in on the joke.
“Oh, yes. Of course.” Zane said under his breath, before mimicking Cole’s earlier motions. “…Beep boop.”
The two ninja at his side laughed, and despite his prior confusion, Zane couldn’t help but smile at their reaction to his successful joke.
He’d understand his brothers one day.