BruiseShipping

Bruiseshipping is the slash ship between Jay Walker and Cole from the Ninjago fandom.

Canon
Jay and Cole were apart of the original four ninja in the monastery during Season 1 respectively, before Lloyd and Nya had joined the team. Back then, it was established that the two were friends, but would often bicker. This was usually friendly banter however, for example, Cole would make an insult towards Jay, which would be laughable for them both. Despite their quips aimed at eachother's expense, they were still established good friends, and worked well together in combat. Notably, Jay and Cole's powers are complimentary, as Jay is the master of lightning, a natural phenomenon, with Cole being the master of Earth. This dynamic continues through season two, Legacy of the Green Ninja.

Rebooted
In season three, tensions arise between Jay and Cole that go beyond their usual level of banter. This is because Nya, who Jay openly has a crush on and has gone on dates with, starts to believe she is more attracted to Cole after a love machine told her that the two of them are more compatible. Cole played along with this, seemingly showing interest in her as well, much to the upset of Jay. He feels betrayed, because him and Cole have been very close up until this point, and now he feels like he has stolen his girlfriend. This results in an ongoing rivalry between the two of them that is not settled for some time. This bickering becomes so irritating, that even Nya suggests that Cole and Jay seem like a perfect couple, and should get with eachother after all.

Tournament of Elements
This rivalry carries through until season four, the Tournament of Elements, where the ninja travel to Master Chen's island. In the opening episodes of this season, Jay and Cole are very bitter towards each other, and gets irritated with Lloyd when he forces them to meet. There is a moment where Neuro, who has the ability to read minds, informs each of them that they are thinking of eachother sourly. This pent up anger exemplifies when the two are paired against each other in the tournament and are forced to fight in an elimination round. However, instead of this fight becoming aggressive, it actually is where the two realise their arguments have been pointless, and they really just want to be friends again. Jay even stated he was more upset about losing Cole in his life than he was losing his girlfriend, suggesting just how close they really are. This fight is ended by the two of them agreeing that Cole should move forward, as Jay suggests he is more powerful and will last longer. However, Cole bluffs Jay and sacrifices himself, throwing the jade blade into Jay's arms allowing him to safely move forward. After this, Jay was determined to save Cole, and his other friends, from the island.

Skybound
Season 6 is another season that is heavily focused on Jay and Cole, and their relationship, specifically. It is noted that Cole is a focus character for Skybound soley because of his connection to Jay. Cole is able to tell that Jay isn't telling everything he knows about Nadakhan, picking up on his sudden acquisition of a new home, which he had told the Ninja he saved up for. Cole insists that he knows Jay too well for him to lie to him, and is the only one who was able to realise that Jay wasn't telling the truth. Jay then cracks and opens up that he has met Nadakhan, made a deal with him, and discovered he was adopted and inherited money from his birth dad, Cliff Gordon, who had passed away. He then reveals that he lied about his reflection too, and he saw himself and Nya together in his future, so he wished for money to impress her. Jay refers to Cole as his best friend here, pleading him not to tell the others. Right as he's saying this, a quake hits the house, and the lights turn on to reveal Jay has jumped into Cole's arms, and he laughs nervously as he gets off of him.

When Jay has been taken prisoner by Nadakhan, and is in a bad way, Cole is the one to find him. He rushes to his side, asking if he's alright. He assures Jay that he's going to rescue him off the ship, and Jay replies that he's glad to see him. This is followed by an apology from Jay: he expresses that he's sorry for keeping things from him, but he is interrupted by Cole, who assures him that he should've been a better friend to Jay.

Nadakhan enters the room at this point, so Cole hides Jay inside a closet, assumedly because he is too weak to move fast on his own, and then attempts to cover Jay's tracks. Once Nadakhan has left the room, Cole puts his arm around Jay and helps him flee the boat.

Quotes
"I was upset about losing Nya, but I was more upset about losing you."

- Jay to Cole; Tournament of Elements.

"Save your strength. We can laugh about this when it's all behind us."

- Cole to Jay; Skybound

"Maybe its you two who should be together!"

- Nya to Cole and Jay; Rebooted

Fanon
The name Bruiseshipping has been given to Jay and Cole as their respective colours, black and blue, are typical colours of a bruise. It is also called Bruise for short. This name was first coined on A03 in 2015. Whilst there is no clear documentation for this, it can be assumed that Bruiseshipping is also the most popular slash ship out of the main 5, due to results seen across polls created by fans throughout the years.

Bruiseshipping is popular due to the close friendship that Jay and Cole have established through years of Ninjago airtime, favoured particularly by those who enjoy tropes best friends to lovers, or childhood friend romance. Similarily, their personalities are compatible; where Jay is quick-witted and full of energy, Cole is much more grounded and laid back with the way he carries himself. The two compliment eachother, Jay being Cole's energy, and Cole being his rock. Despite previous altercations and arguments, both Jay and Cole have stayed best friends, arguably the closest friendship within the ninja team that isn't a couple, the closest rival to this being the relationship between Kai and Lloyd. Alot of fans jokingly see their tension and bickering as homoerotic, more specifically their fight in season four, and their argument in the love triangle in season three. Even Nya canonly plays at this gag when she expresses that Jay and Cole should be together, instead of any other outcome involving her. They are often compared to that of a married couple, who argue, and behave like domestic partners together (when they live on the bounty, ect.)

While Jaya is likely the most popular ship involving Jay as they are canonised and have been since the shows initial seasons, Bruiseshipping is one of, if not the most popular ship involving Cole. Rivalled to Lavashipping, between Kai and Cole. This could be due to the resounding lack of a love interest for Cole until Master of the Mountain- in which we are introduced to Vania, who shows clear interest in him. However, these feelings are canonly not reciprocated, with Cole overtly telling people he sees her as a friend. There is even a scene at the end of Crystallized of Cole ignoring Vania, and hugging a male ally instead, where the rest of the ninja are with their respective canon love interests. Whilst Jay's sexuality is up for debate, it is often believed that Cole could be gay, or somewhat on the LGBT spectrum, due to his lack of interest in woman in general. This leads to fans believing that it's possible Cole has liked Jay romantically at some time or another, some even suggesting that during Skybound, it hurt him to learn that Jay and Nya were going to be in eachothers future. This is only a headcanon, but a popular one within the fandom. With the release od Dragons Rising Part Two, where it is revealed Cole is with an implied male love interest (specifically by the writers of the episode), it is now even further believed that Cole is an LGBT character, which goes on to support Bruiseshipping headcanons.

Fandom

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Trivia

 * Michael Adamthwaithe (Jay) posted a video on Twitter of him saying that he loves Cole. He then says the words 'I love you, Cole.' in the voice of Jay, and asked fans to send in Bruise fanart and memes, as they made people smile.
 * Similarily, in an interview with Brent Miller, Michael has also said he belives Cole is Jay's closest friend.
 * Cole and Jay are the only male ninja to have inherited their spinjitzu powers from their mothers, where Kai, Lloyd, Zane inherited theirs from fathers.