The air has a particular chill to it that made the hair on the back of Clay's neck stand up. Goosebumps prickled his skin, an his eyebrows furrowed hard beneath his longer bangs of golden hair. One blue eye could be seen, smouldering with a gentle anger that threatened to crack the Earth beneath his feet. Clay could feel the soft vibrations of an Earthquake already; he didn't know if it was from him, as if he was losing control of his element, or something from far away.
Maybe he was losing control, maybe he deserved to. Clay was always so stable, the unmovable force, the mountain that stood still. The stable ground, the rock of the team.
Well, even rocks get eroded after time, and for Clay, that meant finally letting go. As far as the cowboy was concerned, he had nothing else to loose now; so why not let the Earth grumble, why not bite back.
Clay may not have the element of fire at the fingertips, but he sure as Hell was going to fuel it.
Fingers curled into fists, bones cracking as Rai took a low shot towards Jack,
"Don't call my boyfriend a girly boy."
He put emphasis on that word, boyfriend, making it as clear as water just what Jack is to him. His boyfriend, his partner, his lover. And if he's going to scold Jack for calling his friends, well ex-friends at this point, losers - he was going to snip at Raimundo for calling Jack a 'girly boy'.
Clay hates the way Raimundo insults Jack. Hates the way he had to smile and play along for so long.
That wouldn't be happening anymore; he knew where he stood. Xiaolin on the surface, in love with the enemy at his core. Unfortunately, for the rest of the monks, love would always win out. He'd let them hate him for who he was, for the fact he dated another man, that he's dating Jack Spicer.
His dad was right, their homophobic victual always in Clay's mind. Looks like the World really was against him, that's how it felt right now. He was unaware that Raimundo had family in the same community as him, that this was all due to Clay being with Jack Spicer.
It wouldn't change anything, even if Clay did know. It's not like his heart chose Jack to spite the people around him. The tattoo on his chest burned with the reminder of a hundred needles permanently marking him. He lifted a hand, thumb moving to his nose; he had learned to effortlessly flick the septum piercing out of hiding whenever he was alone.
The metal shone in the low light of the moon.
Crossing his arms, Clay gave out a soft huff towards Rai's comment; he could taste the venom behind their words,
"Oh, t'weren't nothin'," He responded casually, "I always was good 'bout returnin' home after seein' Jack."
He had nothing to lose, might as well burn the bridges while he had the chance.
"Y'all sayin' that? Richer than oil really," Clay muttered, "Las' time I checked, I aint the one that had a tantrum, an' ran off too Wuya cause I aint got a promotion," He casually brought up, "Sure, I was kissin' my boyfrien' whenever I coul', but I still brought home Wu, I aint Heylin, aint ever been Heylin - unlike some vermin in this temple."
Clay was always the one they trusted without doubt, the one that was the rock of the team. There was something cathartic, about watching everyone's reaction to feeling the ground beneath their feet crumble, and cave in. He held onto every insult thrown his way, every betrayal. He always bit his tongue, kept it all in, but he was done.
Clay wasn't willing to be lectured by Raimundo considering they had ended the World, all Clay did was fall in love.
Of course, Raimundo kept running his mouth, throwing a thousand of questions Clay's way. The cowboy was aware enough that this is all coming from a place of hurt; a place of upset. It all seemed pretty ironic to him. Clay quirked his mouth, letting Raimundo have his moment, until the final word was spoke.
A beat of silence passed, and Clay cocked his head,
"Oh? Y'all finally done?" He questioned, "Sorry, couldn't be sure considerin' how good y'all are at runnin' ya dang mouth."
He knew he was being petty, knew he was waving a large red flag in front of an already raging bull.
For once, Clay didn't care.
"Plan was to stick with my partner 'till the cows come home," Clay claimed, "Maybe we were plannin' to get married, elope, run off to a place to call out own with the white picket fence an' all."
People did do crazy things when in love,
"An' maybe I am delusional, maybe I do hope Jack woul' join us an' stay on our side," Clay admitted, "Or maybe I shoul' follow our good ol' leader an' turn Heylin - least I'd be doin' it outta love, an' not cause I didn't get something I aint deserve cause I fucked up an' didn't follow Master Fungs orders."
Clay was forcing old wounds to reopen, just so he could rub coarse salt into them.
"Though I guess that aint fair, really, I shoul' be thankin' y'all for all'a that; if Wuya aint taken over thanks to y'all, Jack would've never helped us, an' in turn, never suggested we go out for ice cream on his dime after."
Because that's where it all started, after Raimundo had turned Heylin, after Wuya was forced back into the puzzle box for about ten minutes.
But Clay was avoiding the final question, because he felt the answer as to why he had kept this hidden was obvious. Then again, considering Raimundo couldn't even put two and two together, Clay supposes he shouldn't be surprised,
"Dang Raimundo, I knew ya'll dumb enough to not be able to pour liquid outta'a boot when the instructions are on the bottom, but I still thought you' figure out why I kept this hidden."
Clay couldn't help but throw another shot Rai's way, simply because he could at this point,
"It's cause I knew this woul' happen," Clay pointed out, gesturing with one hand, "I knew y'all all get mad, knew y'all all freak out like this."
Which was a fair response, but Clay didn't bring that up.
"An' it aint like I wanted to stay hidden for all this long, aint like I wanted to keep up all the lies, but it jus' got harder an' harder as time wen' on," Clay claimed, voice softening, "I did wanna tell y'all, I tried before this whole mess started, on the roof...when I pointed out I was seein' someone, but the en' of the World got in the way, an' y'all all foun' out in the worst way."
Because Clay had wanted to tell Raimundo, he truly did. He wanted to sit and talk it through, and had a million apologise planned. Things had changed though, drastically, and now emotions ran the gambit.
Clay was no saint, but neither was Raimundo. Maybe that's why it made him so pissed off, maybe that's why Clay was being petty, proven as he let his own vitriol lace his words,
"So, got any more questions, leader?"