Chapter Text
Lloyd came home with Kai and Nya on Friday for a sleepover. His mom was out of town on some research trip, and while the boy could survive the school week without anyone at home, the two siblings didn’t trust him to survive a whole weekend. The timing was perfect because Kai needed his two best friends (yes, his sister was his best friend, no judging) to hear about the week that he had. They had both heard bits and pieces, but Kai had so much to say.
They didn’t have soccer practice on Fridays unless there was a weekend game, so as soon as school ended, the three piled into Kai’s beat-up car and were quick to escape the school parking lot. Nya filled the two boys in on the gossip she had collected from her other friends throughout the week. Apparently, Griffin had asked out some girl in the middle of class and had been thoroughly rejected. Kai was sure the boy would have been bemoaning it all of practice if not for the fact it was Friday.
The drive from the school to the Smiths’ house was short, so it wasn’t long before the three were hustling out of the car and into the house.
“What’s for dinner?” Lloyd was already asking.
“Pizza,” Nya replied as she always replied when Lloyd stayed over.
“Ooh, I love pizza!”
Nya and Kai rolled their eyes at each other.
Their backpacks were dropped into a pile near the entryway, and the three quickly found themselves pressed together on the couch, the Wii already booting up.
The cry of Mario signified the starting up of New Super Mario Bros. Nya was Mario (because she never let Kai be Player 1), Kai was Luigi, and Lloyd was Yellow Toad. On this save, they were on World 4. It was their third time replaying the game together.
They talked aimlessly for a couple of levels. Lloyd had overheard Skylor talking to her friends about Kai during study hall two days ago, Nya caught Griffin nearly kissing a frog they were going to dissect in biology. Nya got up for snacks, bringing back Hot Cheetos and Veggie Straws. Lloyd couldn’t handle Hot Cheetos.
“She still wants you, Kai,” Lloyd tried to convince him.
Rolling his eyes, Kai replied, “I really don’t think she does. I know she’s been with at least two other guys since we broke up, and I don’t want her.” He jumped on top of a Goomba’s head.
“See, that’s what you are saying, but I’m not too sure that’s what you’re really thinking. Don’t you miss her jiaozi?” He fell off the map and was shaking his remote aggressively to make his bubble come onto the screen. Kai purposefully avoided popping it.
“I miss her jiaozi!” Nya exclaimed. She took pity on Lloyd and popped the bubble. “And her homemade ramen and her sesame chicken and-”
“We get it, Nya. You’re a fatty. I’m not going to get back with Skylor—who let me remind you, was so toxic—just because we miss her cooking for us.” He was pushed into a Wiggler by Nya and died just as the flag pole came onto the screen.
He tossed his remote to the side and stuffed his hand inside the bag of Hot Cheetos. A large handful was pushed into his mouth, and he chewed noisily as Nya jumped onto the top of the pole.
Nya huffed. “Well, I think that’s a pretty good reason.” A bubble carrying Luigi drifted across the screen.
“I liked when I could eat the leftovers,” Lloyd added, jumping on just behind Nya. “Nya, why don’t you just get with her?”
“Well… she is a jerk.” The screen went black as the level finished.
Kai groaned. There was no winning this argument.
“Why can’t we talk about all the girls that are after Lloyd? His love life is looking much more interesting than mine.” An elbow was jammed into his side, and he glared at his sister.
Lloyd looked confused. “Who?”
Nya and Kai rolled their eyes. “Don’t worry about it, greenie,” Kai sighed in defeat. “I’m just teasing.”
In what seemed to be an attempt to steer them away from the subject, Nya wondered, “So who are we playing in football tonight?”
Kai shrugged, applying a Fire Flower to Luigi before they started the next level.
“You’re wasting our power-ups,” Lloyd told him. They had thirteen Fire Flowers. “Do you really not know, Kai? I feel like the only thing that’s been on your mind lately has been Jay. I’m shocked you don’t know who they’re playing.”
He shoved Lloyd off the couch, and the boy latched onto his arm as he fell, bringing Kai down on top of him. It didn’t take long for Kai to maneuver behind Lloyd and get him in a chokehold.
Up on the couch, Nya had paused the game and was smirking down at her brother. “Oh?”
“That’s not true!” Kai cried, tightening his arms around Lloyd’s neck as the younger boy tried to tear them off of him. “Lloyd’s exaggerating.”
In a moment of weakness, Lloyd pulled Kai’s arms off of his neck and rolled away from him with a cough. “You were texting him during lunch!”
“And?” Kai tried crawling after Lloyd, but Nya had grabbed his ankle, holding him in place. “I’m allowed to text my friends whenever I want!”
“I seem to remember seeing something about spending study hall together!” He was out of breath, but firmly out of Kai’s reach. Lloyd took a sip of his Mountain Dew sitting on the table beside the couch.
Kai knew that scheming little brat was sticking his nose where it didn’t belong.
“Oh?” Nya teased again.
Kai glared at her. “We were helping each other with our homework,” he stressed as he tried to free his ankle from her unyielding grip. He kicked at her knee with his free leg, and Nya’s nails dug into his skin in retaliation.
Nya sighed and released him. He fell back and whacked his head on the hardwood floor. Lloyd cringed. “Come on now, Kai. At least make up convincing lies.”
“I’m serious!” He pushed himself up and rubbed at the back of his head. “He was talking about not understanding the book in English class and asked me to help him. Lloyd heard him,” Kai insisted.
“Lloyd?”
Across the room, the younger boy shrugged. “I never heard him ask for your help, but I don’t not believe you, Kai.”
He heaved out a heavy sigh as he stood in defeat. “I’m serious…”
Nya pushed herself up from the couch and patted his shoulder. “It’s okay, Kai. I’m sure we’ll believe you someday.
“And now that I think about it… I think we’re playing Jamanakai.”
Kai groaned. “I think it’s time to order pizza.”
“Ooh!” Lloyd cheered. “Sounds good.”
He stepped into the kitchen to place the order. The other two had decided to keep playing (Luigi was stuck in a bubble being dragged around by the edge of the screen) and were talking and laughing loudly in the living room. He couldn’t focus enough to place the order without getting distracted.
He ordered two pizzas. One had pepperoni, sausage, and bacon along with extra cheese. That was his because he was scared of the toppings that the other two liked. The other had ham and pineapple on one side and sausage, banana peppers, olives, and onion on the other. Lloyd’s half was the lesser of two evils, but still pretty awful by Kai’s standards.
He shuddered as he let his dad’s credit card details autofill into the app. Kai had to order that pizza every time Lloyd came over, but it never got any easier.
“Pizza’ll be here in half an hour!” he called into the living room.
“Come here, Kai!” Nya yelled back. “We’ve got some questions for you.”
Wearily, he poked his head around the corner. “What?”
Lloyd and Nya were grinning at him. He was getting increasingly nervous.
“We’ll even play Wii Sports while we talk!” Lloyd exclaimed, like that would entice Kai. “Boxing.”
Seconds later, he was holding a Wii Remote and Nunchuck between his two hands and stood in front of the TV. Boxing was quite enticing.
Lloyd stood across from him. On the TV, their Miis were standing in a boxing ring. Nya lounged on the couch, spread across it like a tiger lying in wait.
Why would he ever want to spill his thoughts to these two?
“Let’s hear it from the beginning,” Nya said. “We need a recap.”
“ROUND ONE. FIGHT.”
On screen, Kai’s Mii nailed Lloyd’s in the face. His pie decreased by one.
“Beginning of the year: I’m… not speaking to—”
“Or looking at, or being in the general vicinity of—” Lloyd butted in as he nailed Kai in the stomach. Both of their pies had one piece missing.
“Are you telling this story or am I?” Kai wondered. He struck Lloyd in the face again, followed quickly by a punch to the other Mii’s side. “Jay and I are not on good terms. The year before, we played soccer together, and I had to hear about his ridiculous—” Lloyd hit him in the face “—crush on my sister all the time. And then, he goes and dates Nya at the end of the year, and they end it after three weeks. We don’t talk at all over the summer and… it stays like that once school starts.”
By this point, both boys had landed a couple more punches on each other, but Lloyd was ahead. Kai was down to three pie slices, and Lloyd had four.
“Partly because he quit soccer,” Nya added helpfully.
Kai gritted his teeth. “Yes.” He pounded Lloyd twice more. Two slices left. “This goes on for—what?—a month? I don’t know what today is.” Kai loses another piece. “And Nya’s nagging me about making up with Jay because she’s been hanging out with him all the while and is convinced he’s depressed because I’m not talking to him.”
One rant later and—
“DOWN. ONE. TWO. THREE.”
But Kai’s character is standing back up and regaining his pie slices.
“FIGHT.”
“Y’know Kai, this story has an awful lot of Nya slander.”
“Yeah,” Lloyd agreed because he’s an asshole who refuses to take his best friend’s side ever. “Would you be making up with Jay if not for her?”
“I’m telling the story!” he yelled.
Now, Lloyd’s down, and the three hear the same mantra drone from the console once more. It was still only the first round, and Nya’s laughter was obnoxious from behind him.
“Anyway. This random ass woman is fucking telling me what to do, and then I fucking cave.” The cackling behind him only gets louder. “And I may or may not have a minor crisis one day and decide to talk to Jay the next, but that’s nobody’s business!”
“That’s the day you wore jeans to school!” Lloyd exclaimed, like he’d just discovered the meaning of life. At the same time, the timer runs out.
“ROUND TWO. FIGHT.”
Kai continued begrudgingly, “I talk to Jay, it goes well, and we eat lunch together. He also asks me to help him with English during study hall and agrees to help me with chemistry in exchange.”
“Really?” Nya sighed. “I’m glad.”
“Actually, the next day—”
“You don’t sit with him at lunch because you’re scared of Cole Brookstone!” Lloyd blurted in something like triumph. He quickly loses three pie pieces after that.
“Shut up!” Kai whined. “I am not! In study, he helps me reorganize my backpack and stuff. It was…” Lloyd landed a punch to Kai’s Mii’s face, IRL Kai has an almost dopey grin on his face. “It was really sweet. Unexpected. He was pretty great the whole hour, actually, but now I’ve got to go to the football game next Friday.” He frowned.
“Huh?” Lloyd wondered, turning to him and allowing Kai to land two more hits on his Mii. He’s quick to focus back on the screen. “Why?”
Kai groaned. “Because I agreed to it…” Nya mumbled something behind him, but he couldn’t tell what she said. “It’s fine though!” He quickly said. “I’ve got to do something in return. I don’t want to be in Jay’s debt.” He shuddered, and Lloyd got a gut punch in.
“Fair,” Nya replied.
Kai’s Mii is knocked down.
“DOWN. ONE. TWO. THREE. FOUR. FIVE. SIX. SEVEN.”
And he’s back up again.
“So I walk him back to class.”
“This is getting awfully romantic, Kai,” Lloyd commented. He nailed Lloyd in the side, but the other was getting more serious and landed several more hits on Kai before he could finally dodge again.
“It wasn’t!” Kai denied. “I was headed the same direction.”
He heard a disbelieving “uh-huh” from behind him, but he managed to score another jab to Lloyd’s stomach, knocking him down, so he didn’t retort.
It’s not long before Kai’s knocked down again though.
“DOWN. ONE. TWO. THREE. FOUR. FIVE. SIX. SEVEN. EIGHT. NINE. TEN. KNOCK OUT.”
Kai sank to the floor, groaning the whole way down, as Lloyd cheered beside him. A gold and white “You win” ran across the screen with a joyful Lloyd lookalike behind it.
“This isn’t fair,” Kai complained, laying down on the floor. He stared up at Nya, still leisurely taking up the whole couch. “I have to spill my life to you guys, and Lloyd beats me in boxing?”
“You wanted to tell us about your week,” Nya said, correctly. “Don’t deny it.”
In contrast, Lloyd was still cheering. “I haven’t beaten you in boxing in three months!” he cried out gleefully. “We’re 40-263 now!”
Kai nearly felt bad for Lloyd—he had been destroying the kid in Wii Sports Boxing for years now—but then he recalled how absolutely mean Lloyd had been to him over the past week and felt no remorse.
Oddly, he felt light. His feelings were all out of whack this week. He didn’t want to think about it.
“When’s that pizza going to get here?” he sighed, looking for something to say.
Kai dragged a hand through his hair and pushed himself off the floor. He flopped over Nya’s legs on the couch, and she immediately began pushing at his side. He pulled her feet into his lap, and she settled quickly.
Lloyd was updating his score in his Notes app and probably posting about his win on every social media he had. His fangirls would be so happy for the update, Kai was sure of it.
Kai was nearly happy for him.
“I’m done with games until after dinner,” Kai decided as Lloyd tossed his phone onto an armchair.
The two complained, but quickly agreed to the break, deciding to instead fight over what movie they should watch over dinner.
“Kai, we don’t want to watch your dumb, sappy movies,” Nya insisted. “They’re boring.”
“Which is why we should watch Karate Kid,” Lloyd added.
“I never get to watch movies that I like,” Kai groaned. He held the remote, but he knew that if he put on Titanic like he wanted to, he’d get it taken away immediately. A deal would have to be made, a concession.
“‘Cuz they’re bad. But that reminds me, Jay likes bad movies, too.”
Kai perked up. “Actual bad movies or like what I like?”
“Like chickflicks,” Lloyd said. “I figured you’d know that.”
“If you haven’t noticed, Kai’s a narcissist. I want to watch Godzilla. Lloyd got to pick last time.”
He tried not to wince. Everyday, it became more apparent as to how much of a dick he had been toward Jay. Kai would be better this time. No matter what. He’d stay.
“That’s not true! You forced me to pick what you wanted. Not that I didn’t want to watch Batman, but I’ve been wanting to watch Karate Kid for weeks at this point.”
“Do you have to do it with us?” Kai wondered. “We’ve seen it three too many times. I think you have an obsession. And I think I’ve found a happy medium.” On the TV, he began to type in the search bar.
“Scott Pilgrim vs. the World? Seriously?” Nya sighed. She didn’t hate the movie, Kai knew, but she did have a complex about not getting her way. Nya was a serious control freak.
“Lloyd hasn’t seen it!”
“He hasn’t? Then I suppose we can watch it.”
Internally, Kai was cheering. It wasn’t often he was able to choose a movie, and it wasn’t often that they watched a movie all three of them hadn’t already seen. New movies were impossible to watch at their sleepovers. They could never agree.
“This better be at least as good as Karate Kid.”
“It is,” the Smith siblings groaned in unison.
They didn’t start the movie yet; it didn’t take much longer for the pizza to arrive. Lloyd dimmed the lights as Kai paid the delivery man and brought the pizzas into the living room. Nya started the movie once they were all settled on the couch. The two pizza boxes made a home on the coffee table, and the three ate over napkins, hoping that no sauce spilled on the couch.
The pizza was gone, the bags of Hot Cheetos and Veggie Straws were empty, and Kai noticed a distinct lack of fruit in the fruit bowl when he got up to throw the pizza box into the trash. In the living room, the credits were rolling.
Lloyd ended up enjoying the movie, and Nya talked through the whole thing. She made goo-goo eyes at Brie Larson and sang along to “Black Sheep”. She very well could have been one of the exes. Nya was crazy enough.
It was okay though. When Nya was talking through movies, she couldn’t complain about Kai chewing too loudly, which he did not do. Nya was just sensitive.
He crammed the box into the too-small trash can. Kai could feel the bag pulling and stretching around the sharp corner of the box. He winced and stopped touching it, that would have to be a problem for Nya to deal with.
Kai heard the video game music from the credits abruptly stop, and he was soon joined in the kitchen by the other two. Nya got water from the kitchen sink, and Lloyd carried the rest of the trash. The two siblings watched as he looked at the trash can and sighed before wrestling with it. When he managed to separate the bag from the can, the pizza box had torn a hole in the plastic bag, and Nya wordlessly handed Lloyd a new trash bag while Kai stuck his whole head in the freezer, ignoring the plight behind him. He heard the door slam and whipped around to face Nya.
The two grinned. They hated taking out the trash.
Lloyd returned a minute later with a disgruntled look on his face. Kai pretended to be surprised.
“Thanks, Lloyd. I didn’t realize the trash had gotten so full,” he said, like a liar. “You’re a life-saver.” He put a new liner in the bin.
“Anytime,” the younger boy muttered, his eyes distant and still.
Nya grumbled from where she was digging through the cabinets. “This house has no food. We need to go grocery shopping,” she told them, as if they hadn’t just eaten all of the food they had in the house.
“Let’s go get ice cream,” Kai decided, as if they hadn’t just eaten a twelve-course meal.
And within seconds, the three of them found themselves in Kai’s car instead of the kitchen.
Not even halfway down the road, Lloyd was wondering, “We’re going to Heavenly Delights, right?”
Kai saw Nya roll her eyes out of the corner of his eye. “Obviously.”
“Are you paying?”
“I have Dad’s card.”
There was a quiet cheer from the backseat.
It was about a ten-minute drive to Heavenly Delights from the Smith’s house, made longer by the broken stereo system. Kai begged Nya repeatedly to fix it throughout the drive, and he could tell it was starting to get onto her nerves, too. A little more, and she’d wear down completely, but any more mention of it that day and Kai would end up with a fist to the face.
Nya and Kai stood with their ice creams in hand. For Kai, a simple chocoholic waffle cone with peanut butter cups on top. Nya ordered a crunchy scotcharoo shake.
“Can we hurry it up here, Lloyd?” Nya sighed. “These people would like to go home at some point today.”
Lloyd stood in front of the menu, hemming and hawing over what he should order. Kai waited impatiently with his dad’s credit card in hand.
“I don’t know…” the freshman whined indecisively. “There’re so many options…”
“If you don’t hurry up, I’m not paying for you, and we’ll probably leave you here,” Kai informed him.
“Fine, fine!” he cried. “I’ve decided. Can I get a large bowl of lemon bar, birthday cake, and cotton candy with marshmallow and nerds on top?”
The worker looked ready to murder Lloyd, but they dutifully followed his directions. Kai about threw up in his mouth.
“That,” he spat out, “is what you’re ordering?”
Lloyd looked about ready to cry. “I couldn’t decide!”
Kai turned to pay, disappointed in the fact that he was friends with Lloyd. Nya just ignored the younger boy completely. At least Lloyd was willing to take out their trash. They had to count their blessings somewhere.
The foul bowl of ice cream was passed over the counter, and the three left the shop. Kai was thankful that they were the only ones in there; he didn’t want anyone else to suffer having to see the monstrosity piled into Lloyd’s bowl. The kid smiled down at his sweet treat dopily, like he had just won the World Cup or something.
Kai was worried about him.
They climbed into the car.
“Spill any of that on my seats, and you’re dead to me.”
The car ride home was quiet.
Nya and Kai finished their treats while they were driving home, but Lloyd was still working on his bowl when they finally pulled to a stop in front of their house. Kai opened the house door; they hadn’t bothered locking it when they left.
They went back to playing video games, but Lloyd wasn’t allowed to play while he was finishing his dessert, so Kai and Nya played Guitar Hero II.
“You should invite Jay over after the game next week,” Nya told Kai.
Kai frowned. “Do the cheerleaders not do something after games?” he wondered.
Lloyd answered, “They do, but it’s not mandatory for them to go. I think Jay goes over to Cole’s house after games pretty frequently. He lives a lot closer to the school than Jay does.”
“Then I don’t want to take Jay away from that.”
Nya rolled her eyes. “It’s fine, Kai. Just invite Cole, too. We can make it a whole thing or something. Yeah! Let’s throw a party. We’ve never done that before, and Mom and Dad are always gone.”
He shot a look at his sister. “You throwing a party? Are you really Nya? There’s no way you’d chance getting in trouble like that.”
She shrugged and chose a new song. “New year, new Nya.”
“It’s September,” Lloyd deadpanned.
“I’m down to throw a party. Is there alcohol?”
“If we can get some.”
“Nya, did you have a secret relationship end recently?” Lloyd wondered.
Nya groaned loudly, missing several notes on the game. “No! Can’t a girl have a little fun sometimes?”
“What if you have homework over the weekend?” Kai said. “We’re just worried that you’re going to regret this. This is a big step in Nya World. Are you sure you can handle throwing a party when you might have homework due at the beginning of the next week? You also won’t be able to tell Mom or Dad.”
She paused the game. “Yes, guys! I can handle this…”
“Okay, I guess we’re throwing a party next weekend. Who’s invited?”
“I don’t know.”
“I’ll make the guest list!” Lloyd suggested from farther away than he had been a minute ago. It seemed like he had finished his ice cream.
“Who said you were invited?” Nya countered. “You’re a baby.”
“I’m making the guest list. I’m invited.”
Nya didn’t protest.
“Don’t invite randos. I want everyone out of the house by 2 AM,” Kai replied. “This is the problem with hosting; you have to clean up and deal with the aftermath.”
“Kai,” Lloyd said gently, “you’re probably going to fall asleep before the party even ends.”
Much later—but not too much later because Kai needed his beauty sleep—they were pulling blankets and pillows into the living room from all across the house. Nya got the couch as a common courtesy, but Kai and Lloyd would be sleeping on the floor.
They had been discussing the logistics of having a party since the idea was suggested, and it was looking more promising by the minute. It was 10 PM though, and Kai was dropping off. His eyes would slip closed for more than a couple of seconds, and he’d jolt awake to the sound of Lloyd yelling at him for getting attacked by a Koopa (yeah, they had gone back to New Super Mario Bros). It didn’t take long for the other two to get tired of the slipping, and they decided to call it a night.
Once they were all wearing pajamas, the three brushed their teeth together in the bathroom. Kai watched the other two through the mirror with drooping eyelids. The repetitive motion and noise was relaxing. Nya stopped him once she had finished, and he was shuffled out of the bathroom. Lloyd shut off the lights behind them, and soon, Kai was laying on a pile of blankets, and the only light still on was the lamp beside the couch.
“G’night,” he mumbled, rolling onto his side and pulling a blanket over his head. “See ya in the mornin’.”
“Goodnight,” Nya answered.
“Sweet dreams, Kai!” Lloyd replied with more cheer than should have been possible at 10 PM.
He could tell that the lamp was shut off from the soft click of the knob and the shuffling of Lloyd beside him, getting comfortable. Kai heard Nya’s soft sigh from above his head as she eased underneath her blankets.
As he slipped closer and closer to sleep, invisible swirls moved across his vision, but his eyes couldn’t follow them. Sleep only drew closer.
Just as he was about to drift off, he heard murmurs from beyond his cocoon.
“Do you really think throwing a party is a good idea?” Lloyd whispered.
“I don’t see why not,” Nya responded just as quietly. “It’ll be fun.”
“Shuddup,” Kai demanded, half-coherent. “I’m sleepin’.”
He slept.