Chapter Text
The last one to make it to the deck, and the only one Lloyd seemed not to decline the touch of, was Jay. The only reason Jay had arrived late was that he lost his lantern somewhere, then found Zane, the nindroid was face down on the wooden floor, and for a moment he had feared the worst.
Until, upon further inspection, his eyes found the -stained with chocolate fingertips- energy panel. He felt so calm after discovering Zane was just in suspended mode.
But that had left an uneasy feeling for the rest of the search, the kid had gotten rid of the best looker, and considering how Zane swore it was 8:35 in place of almost 10, it had been from the very start.
“No, there is no way you just agreed to that” Cole seemed a little less exasperated now to when they came up the deck, now he was only annoyed and unbearable, the difference was there if you squinted really hard.
“To be fair, Kai has a point, even if i don’t see the problem with adding a little more to our morning exercises, it is of teams interest not to” Thank the FSM for Zane, because out of them all, Cole seemed to be listening more to him, still it wasn’t enough.
“What is a little exercise to dealing with THAT” Cole pointed to the now vacant table and rails of the ship, they had heard Cole’s version already, and probably would for the next few weeks but that didn’t stop Kai from laughing a little, earning a killing look from the raven haired “Oh what is so funny Kai? I bet if it was one of your magazines, it wouldn’t be so funny? Would it?”
Kai turned red as his gi, and Jay wondered if it was what he thought about, he hoped not, that would be weird to know, “What magazines?” Lloyd asked, still bouncing on the blue ninja arms but now seemingly showing more interest in the conversation.
“Magazines about wha--” “COLE YOU’RE JUST EXAGERATING” Nya was promptly cut by her brother, who seemed to boil, literally, under the questions of the two younger members, Zane retracted from asking the same.
Cole had a smug expression after that “Oh am i? What if Lloyd were to see that they are under--” Kai launched himself at Cole, cutting him off on a flat sound.
Is not that Jay thought Cole was exaggerating, or maybe only a little, after all, Lloyd seemed inoffensive in his arms, and lifting him was so easy when he was so small and light, only bouncing a little when he got over-excited during most of the conversation, but it was bearable and the kid’s sarcastic comments were funnier when the sugar took advantage making him talk fast and badly paced.
Zane jumped in the middle of the fight in which Kai was only launching random punches at a wall, and Cole dodged as if he was wrestling a noodle, which honestly would be an accurate description of the complexion, but not the moment to compare.
Mostly because Wu choose that moment to appear, he seemed to have the same problem as them in the dark because he probably followed the thumping sounds of Kai being pressed on the wood like a loser who needed to lower his position and start using height to his advantage.
“What happened?”
Cole’s head perked up, and even before Zane can say something or move he gets up from Kai’s back “I have a--” On a shot of opportunity, Kai, on an act of stubbornness he would be remembered for, stood up, first thing putting his hand over the earth ninja’s mouth, making his complaint go into muffled words, and after the younger realized a very clear “ hey!” got out, and second, screaming an answer himself “NYA WANTED TO DO SOME SHIP REPARATIONS, AND IT WAS DARK SO WE CAME UP HERE” Kai stopped with a huff, he had just wrestled the guy with better arm muscle on this ship give him a break.
Wu seemed, reasonably so, taken aback by the sudden scream and how Kai had practically dragged Cole to the back of the teenager circle, so he turned to Nya, who was very hardly and so obviously trying to contain her laugher “Nya, is this true?”
She looked nervous to be put on the spot but her composture came back faster than the boys “Yes, sort of? I’m sorry we didn’t tell you sensei, it was supposed to be fast, they’ll be back soon, no worries”
Wu nodded, taking one last look at his students, waving back a little awkwardly to Lloyd before he went downstairs and it took Nya a second to remember that she was the one putting the lights back on.
“GROSS YOU LICKED ME”
“WHY DOES YOUR HAND TASTES GREASY?!”
How could they let themselves forget about that, Nya seemed to think the same, because she stopped dead in her tracks towards the energy room.
“No it doesn’t! Does it?”
“Can we solve this already? I really need to go turn on the lights” While Kai tried to fight himself on whether to lick his own hand or not, she was a little more worried over the fact that Lloyd had actually managed to damage something.
Cole pointed at Nya, he seemed to take her lack of patience as a helping sign “See? Let’s just tell Wu”
There was a collective groan, the second of the day, that was a record.
“Dude, it was, eventful, yeah, but is no reason to quit?” Kai said, now calmer, he still cleaned his hand on Cole’s shirt, but at least the comforting shoulder touch was there. And it was not fair that he was using the new ninja saying Wu taught them, both him and the older man seemed to be fans of that one when it was convenient.
“Also, we are five against one, on a democratic vote, this would have the same outcome” Zane had the fame of saying crude words sometimes, but the comforting “it’s ok” face he mastered months ago was enough to cover from his data and random politic facts.
Cole rolled his eyes, hands on his pockets on the remnants of a small pout, everyone realized the discussion ended and started leaving “Hey Zane, Why are you counting Lloyd? he has no age to vote!”
“You neither” Zane reminded him.
“And i don’t need to vote to know your tastebuds suck!” Lloyd added.
In Jay’s honest opinion, it had been a funny situation, being in the dark playing detective following sounds and the prank he had done to Cole made him giggle a little.
It had been an elaborated, a little mean, minimal prank, a food-wasting one, but a good one.
He made the mistake of telling the kid.
“You thought it was funny?!”
Jay answered with an embarrassed laugh, but Lloyd stopped trying to reach his action figures to give him full attention. He didn’t remember Lloyds eyes ever looking that green and shiny, almost like radioactive fluid, he shook his head, creepy thoughts about the child later, right now he had to make sure this prank ended up like the worms one -repeated, over and over again for weeks-
“Well yeah, only a little tho, you should never do it to someone else! I don’t think it would give, you know, the same effect” Good save he thought, it had been horrible.
Lloyd scanned him as if looking for a lie, eyes narrowed and scrunched nose, and Jay made the calmest and truthful face he could master, then as if it never happened Lloyd went back to bouncing around and touching Jay’s stuff.
It was alright, Jay was sitting on the edge of his bunk, staying far away from the window and the light while trying to be less suspicious, his head was heavy, but he wouldn’t admit that when Lloyd stumbled or some improvised toy fell from the kid's hands he flinched.
Jay already had the start of a migraine, maybe that’s why he was a little grateful for the moment the lights turned off the first time, the sudden darkness gave him time to put his head in order from being woken up by a loud bang to scared to death twice, but he still could feel it lingering on the back of his head all morning, and right now it was growing uncomfortably stronger.
It was alright, it would get better with time, and for when it was over Lloyd would go back to stay put and not trying to see how high he could jump to try and knock out one of Zane’s libraries. Making a little too much noise for his liking, but it was alright , it would get better.
That had been half an hour ago.
And now there was only one, minimal problem.
He was not getting better.
“Lloyd, can you stop?”
The child’s head turned around way too fast for it to be healthy, but Jay made no comment on it, only grateful that he had stopped reconstructing and demolishing a tower of books, “Sorry”
Jay wanted to say “It’s ok” except the sole taste of his voice had been enough for another half hour of solitude silence, Lloyd didn’t seem to think the same.
Lloyd had taken a seat in front of him, he had a lollipop on his mouth but the lighting ninja wasn’t going to take it away, not when Jay hadn’t moved at all in half an hour, he couldn’t even if he wanted, on fear of stumbling or moving too much would make it worse.
The kid started talking, something about a new cartoon with pokemon slugs or just the newest Max Steel episode, Jay would normally be grateful for the conversation, heck even happy that Lloyd talked about cartoons with him, he loved talking, just maybe not right now , not when his head was pounding with each word and he felt like it was melting under the touch of his hands over his shirt.
“LLOYD” He did not mean to scream, he just wanted silence, and now Lloyd looked scared “No- i, just be silent ok? Can’t you just do that? For once?” Suddenly Lloyd stopped looking scared, his eyes narrowed on a defensive stance, as if ready for a fight, he stopped, but Jay was too centered on his own pain to notice the way LLoyd looked about to bold or take a fist to his face, maybe both.
After a while, in where the child got his hands on someone's notebook and took out pages in place of drawing, Lloyds legs started bouncing, he hit the wooden frame once, and after hitting on accident two times more it became repetitive, his feet made a knot sound. Over and over and over again, Jay’s head pounded in protest with each knot.
“Can you stop that?” Jay didn’t intend the dry tone, but again, did he intend anything right now? Lloyd hadn’t even noticed. The kid stopped launching paper balls to the garbage can for a second, but resumed shortly after, putting the whole lollipop on his mouth without even turning around and slamming harder . His feet met the wood harder each time and Jay felt his brain recoil to the noise.
Jay was about to say something, scream, but he saved himself remembering that you’re not supposed to be angry when things hurt, he was supposed to do like his ma’ did when her own brain wanted to claw its way out of her head; he missed the way Lloyd looked disappointed at his calmness and in a foul opportunity, had gotten his sticky hands on a phone, Jay’s phone.
Then chaos ensued.
So he may have not dealt with the kid taking his phone in the best way.
Jay wasn’t even using it, he tried, but the light was too strong so it ended up being left a little further on the bed, but it was his, and Lloyd was touching it, and Jay would normally leave at just a funny look and fast hand movement but that was normal, this wasn't normal.
“Lloyd give it back!” He was surprised none of the team had arrived at the dorms already, he was stomping pretty loudly on the wood tiles, or maybe it sounded loud to him, everything did right now.
The little devil only let out giggles as an answer, slipping like butter every time Jay came a little closer. It was alright, just maybe the lightning ninja wished that the movement didn’t make his center tumble and make him trip over his own feet, but curse the headache he wanted his phone back.
Jay didn’t know what type of balance training Kai was teaching the kid, but if he was able to jump on the walls like a cat, he really needed to ask Kai for a lesson or two.
On a bad turn, his foot slipped on the bed cover that they managed to undo that send Jay’s nose into colliding with a bang into the wall, Lloyd’s footsteps slowed down for a second, enough so Jay turned around and tried to catch him with all his strength, Lloyd seemed to take that as an “I’m fine” sign because he went back to dodging, oblivious to the pain that magnified on Jay, phone in his hands blasting “bang bang” that sounded way too loudly and cheery for the situation.
At some point, during the run Lloyd managed to drop the phone, the music from it waved for a simple second and Lloyd picked it up before Jay could even take a step closer, then when the kid was about to say something and Jay was getting ready to just glare with all the strength he had left a loud shriek filled the room; the sound reminded him of the scraching of a tire against the pavement, the crash of a car and at the same time the sheer amount of coldness from when Scales hissed, making him feel his nerves all over his body, even Lloyd recoils from it, launching the noise source -the goddamn phone- to the other side of the room, but it doesn't shut up, the music blasts even stronger and Jay is reminded of the modification he did on the phone so long ago.
It wasn't finished, he needed to turn it off for it to stop, so he needed to move, move towards the phone who had the decibel level of an industrial megaphone and sounded as bad, but his legs felt glued to the ground and his arms became heavier, the crack on his brain extended into a canyon so fast and he just wanted it to stop.
It felt too loud.
“Jay?” Lloyd called for him, he needed to answer because he was alright, everything was just fine and he wasn’t answering why wasn’t he answering, Lloyd called again, and Jay was just angry now, because why would he keep talking? Why did he never listen? What was he doing? He didn’t want him here, he should leave, leave forever with his evil dad to where he could do evil things in place of damaging here, in his home. To Jay, the words repeated on his mind, way too jumbled aloud, but Lloyd was used to silent words against him, to gritted teeth saying his name with anger, Lloyd listened to every word while Jay looked seconds to pass out.
The smaller one, nothing but a confused kid, walked backward, away from the too loud noise, away from Jay. And he still called, because the phone stopped the loud music to screech every few seconds and it started to be scary, Jay started to be scary “J-Jay?”
“SHUT UP”
Lloyd did.
The noise kept going anyway.
Banging on his ears.
His heart pumps faster, he can hear it inside of his head too.
Jay hasn’t always been like this, or maybe he has and the junkyard was just quiet a good comfortable quiet; but he remembers the storm nights, where the trailer walls crashed on his ears and outside the sound of water pounding only drew him more stressed, the loud of the car horns whenever he pulled the wrong cable, alarms blaring and tears forming on his eyes from the pain, his brain feels far away, his coherent thoughts silenced with cotton around them, way too muffled by the loud music, only leaving space for the annoying noise that broke through, it was only a headache he could deal with it, he had before, he always did, but it was loud.
His name was being called, at the start on a frantic childish laugh, or maybe a nervous squeal when Lloyd, scared for his life, wanting Jay to just punch him or scream again so they could play once he wasn’t angry, tried to touch him and Jay’s skin gave him a shock, Lloyd’s response sounded like a dog being kicked, a yelp, which had been also loud.
Too loud .
He tries putting his hands on his ears to lessen the sound.
But it kept being loud.
So loud.
His name is said various times again accompanied by small nervous steps that Jay isn’t sure where they come from.
The song feels like it is about to end and the melody of the next slipping on the speakers, distorted by his brain.
The steps get lost in the sea of sounds and he doesn’t feel the way they become more frantic.
But even if this one is slower the pain in his head doesn’t go away.
His heart is on his ears, he wishes it to stop.
Stop the sound.
Even with his hands on the way he can hear the melody of electric love playing in the background, still loud, too loud, his thoughts run faster and he just wants silence.
The fast steps came to a stop. There was a thumb and a crash. And then
Silence.
The music starts to fade away, together with the other sounds, everything is quiet and it’s when Jay catches in his own shallow breath that he focuses on slowing it too.
The silence lingers around, and Jay can feel the ache softening after a while, maybe in minutes or an hour his brain feels palpable again and his body lets go of the tenseness, his heart still feels a little fast but is not loud, not compressing anymore. His hands lower, and slowly, his eyes try to pry open again.
Lloyd is sitting next to him, but the lights are bright and his headache hasn’t gone completely so his eyes close again; the sound of a package crumbling makes him flinch, he can sense Lloyds effort to move slower, the energy of the kid’s body insists that he moves faster, he wants to ask questions, to ask Jay if he was ok, but not now, not ever probably, right now, he gives Jay a blue tootsie fruit roll that reminds him of electric, like Jay’s element.
They stay in silence for a while, just the two of them, Lloyd’s legs began bouncing again but he was not kicking the wood this time, just the two of them, Lloyd hears a mumble come out of the ninja and he fetches the little white tablets from in between the spices on the kitchen -that in reality were in the counter, but Lloyd wasn’t going to tell Jay-, fast and without being seen; when he came back, Jay had laid down in the bed and Lloyd takes that as a sign that he should leave, he almost makes it off the bed before the blue ninja opens his arms, his eyes now open under the shadow from the upper bed, looking up, not at Lloyd, and he is unsure if it is an invitation or an exasperate sign of tiredness.
He risks getting told off and takes place in Jay’s arms.
The protest never came.
Jay wasn’t sure why they were cuddling at all, yet neither of them made an effort to separate, not even when Jay had to sit down in order to drink his pills, the kid never left his arms, when Lloyd started to get bored, he began whispering -Jay was eternally grateful for that- about dragons and how cool it would be if they talked, when no one told him to shut it he started making the small figures of what he assumed were dragons with his hands, moving them around, his whispers were fast and slurred but understandable enough to know that somehow, Fritz Donnegan was now fighting dragons and he was losing, dang.
“Look, don't take this in a bad way, but I’m pretty sure he would not make a double kick spin into a dragons tail, it doesn’t sound like him”
Lloyd startled a little, they had been just laying there for a while and these were the first words to come out of Jay’s mouth, a critique on his flawless story.
“Of course he would, he is awesome”
“It’s just, that’s just a dumb move to make against a dragon ”
“No, it’s not”
“Yes it is, what is he going to do next? Shoot at their paw? Just dumb move”
“It’s not a dumb move, that you don’t get it means that you are dumb”
Jay pretended to be insulted “But on its butt? If I’m that dumb and i know that’s useless, there is no way he would think that, you said it, he is awesome”
Jay had a point, Lloyd didn’t see that, it was definitely right tho.
“He is not dumb, he is just, testing”
“Testing what?”
“The dragon”
Jay chuckled, losing character, “Why would he need to test a dragon?”
Lloyd looked at him as if he was stupid on his usual “why don’t you get it” expression, nose scrunched and eyes narrowed, chin down, trying to find if Jay was playing or blatantly ignoring what seemed obvious to the child’s mind; Lloyd did that face a lot, Jay had always considered himself a smart person -he had almost finished a flying suit- but he sometimes started to doubt based solely on this interaction and the thousands of times before he had seen that face plastered on the minor.
Then Lloyd talked with all the seriousness a seven year old could master, which was surprisingly a lot, eyes so cold that the green that normally reminisced of big clears and spring woods seemed deadly, electrifying, sending nervousness running through every bone on Jay’s body with narrowed eyes and a furrowed brow.
“To fuck the dragon”
Jay had to make an effort to stop wheezing, his lungs deflated and he actually felt like he could choke, the lightheadedness afterward a reminder of his headache, he had to remind himself, in between raspy breaths and soft giggles, that the kid didn’t mean it like that, it had just been poor wording, but such a good choice of words at the same time; Lloyd returned to look at him weird but seemed satisfied with seeing Jay laugh when he resumed his game, the blue ninja, once the laugh calmed down and he could breathe again, made a point of ignoring the curse for the sake of comedy while he put the candy in his mouth.
After a while of seeing Fritzz Donnegan plan bad strategies, Jay tried small talk again, now in a less hushed tone “You just want him to lose”
Lloyd let out and strangled noise, his gasp was the most exaggerated Jay had ever heard, if any of the ninjas were here they would say it sounded like Jay, he would deny it “Don’t act so surprised, you were probably planning on ripping off his head”
“Of course not” The child had the audacity to look even more indignant, but his voice squeaked on an obvious lie, Jay was at least grateful that his Fritzz figure -that Lloyd at some point got from Jay’s bunk- would not end up decapitated “It’s easier to clear ashes, that's why the dragon will melt him”
Jay realized he preferred decapitation to whatever was the kid planning on doing, knowing Lloyd, it would be real fire that melted his figure.
The discussion died there, and they were both back to silence. Jay found it calming, but Lloyd was waiting, eyes adverting to the figure next to him, calm before the storm Lloyd recalled and he was almost ready to just end it. Why was Jay taking so long?
“Jay” Lloyd’s voice stumbles as much of a whisper, soft tone carefully practiced to soothe the heavy hand of teachers, fearful enough but soft on the edges.
“Yeah?” Jay says without thinking because he honestly wasn't paying attention, feeling relaxed in the silence of the evening.
“Are you angry?” Do you hate me? Goes unsaid, and Jay knows he has all the right to be angry, he can hate Lloyd, and he can choose to be wary and offended, it was the normal thing to do, Lloyd had hurt him, but Jay also did not tell anyone he was feeling horrible, or that he could barely stand more than hushed whispers at least one hour ago; with another person Jay would still not admit it, but that would be if it was someone else, this was Lloyd , and they had made the mistake to hate him once, when the kid had just tried to eat, to survive, they hated him once, twice and thirds for the cruel jokes and Lloyd had been hated for so many other people before. Jay had seen himself as the downcast child that people judged for the place they came from, a junkyard or a bad father.
Everyone did.
He had hated Lloyd before, but they were children, for more than Kai said he was the strongest and older, or that Cole swore to be the most mature after Zane, at the end of the day all of them were children barely scraping the teen title, adults always said that sorrow and bitterness slipped past their minds, opening eyes for a change, a better tomorrow without scary snakes, evil lords, or erupting volcanoes, so Jay, at fourteen while feeling like he had seen everything and revived it on the sorry sorrowful eyes of a child younger than him, settled for “Will you do it again?”
“Never”
And Jay believed him. He took a moment to giggle, wash away the sad regretful face on a child that wasn’t supposed to be scared of a teenager being angry at him, and just laughed with him, hugged and wrestled the worn down Fritzz Donnegan toy Jay had since he was nine.
He asked Lloyd if he was ticklish and for someone who swore he wasn't, he laughed way too much to just being touched near the ribs.
At the sound of laughter, Zane backed off from the door to the shared dorm, he had listened, he had judged, and he would lie if he said that he was for a moment afraid to intervene; time ago the loud howl from the shattered phone on the hallway had called for everyone, but Nya was busy checking on the ship just in case, Cole and Kai had only shared worried glances and then looked at Zane, far from mediators who knew that if they just barged in there half an hour ago, things wouldn't end in a sweet way.
So when Zane came in and found that crowding Jay at that moment would be a bad idea, he stayed on the door and moved when Lloyd crashed against a wall in the search of medicine that the eldest had already left on the counter, the kid left and went way too emerged in his sole task to notice the nindroid behind the open door. Zane found he felt little at peace now, maybe it was the fact that things hadn’t escalated, or just hearing the laugh of his little brothers filling the room was enough, but he left with a small smile and secured a thing like that would not happen again.
The next activity had been doing paper crowns, an activity surprisedly suggested by the minor. It wasn't, to put it simply, the most successful, Lloyd at some point got tired of trying, touching his limit when the small aggressively colored green crown seemed to do everything but keep it together.
So, as Lloyd did best, he settled for cutting random bits of paper on different colors and launching it everywhere, calling it “confetti doom”, it was surprising how much the child antics seemed less annoying and more endearingly funny when Jay didn’t felt as if his brain was in the middle of an implosion, sucking in every emotion except anger.
The crown Jay designed at first had been too small for his head, he used to do this with his mother years ago and used the same steps, so it made sense that when he tried the blue and white mess of paper, it didn’t made it past his annoying curly hair.
“It's ugly” At first, Jay was sure Lloyd was just being mean from jealousy, but when he looked up he discovered that Lloyd’s gaze was actually far from his second crown attempt, now painted on a more royal blue and with tiny crooked stars that Lloyd added when he thought Jay wasn’t looking, the blonde was actually looking at his own jumble, or what was supposed to be a crown minutes ago.
Jay knew that was the moment he was supposed to say something reassuring and really brotherly-like, but all he could think of was that the mess of cut paper and lose bits actually looked really unpleasant, so he agreed on a firm nod and an “It is”
Lloyd looked at him for a second, nose scrunched and chin down like he did when he had a complicated thought, after a second he simply returned the nod on the same professional firmness “is really, really ugly”
“Ugly ugly”
“Real ugleness”
Jay almost snorted “Ugleness?”
“The worst ugly”
“I must agree then, the most ugleness”
They held each other glances for a while, the challenge clear, whoever laughed or looked away loosed, a hard competition considering that the word “ugleness” threatened their straight faces into seconds from breaking away into grins and laughs, Jay used that, he scrunched his nose and held out his tongue, chin up and narrowed eyes on a funny face and Lloyd started giggling only for the sound of his hand landing with a ‘clap’ into his own mouth, a surprised face the brunette would cherish forever.
And then, not even a second later, they were laughing, Jay had heard thousands of times before that bickering and fights between kids, between family , never lasted and he had thought that a sweetened up fact of family, but hearing the snorted laugh Lloyd gave and how he tried to get away in playful pushes from Jay’s hair ruffle the freckled one had been a victim of many times now -it happens when you live with someone so touchy as Kai- how could he stay angry?
“One”
Jay separated his hand letting himself breathe to properly listen to the rest of the words he didn't quite catch.
“Two...” Lloyd had a funny expression, between mischievous concentration and a sincere smile, no thought behind his eyes other than pure joy.
Jay was a little confused now, but he laughed anyway “What are you counting for?”
Lloyd filled himself with determination, sucking in a breath and saying “3!” with far too much excitement, and he launched.
“Wait! Don’t- Lloyd wait!” The in training green ninja collided on Jay's stomach letting our gremlin giggles, trying to reach the star/lightning bolts designed crown from the oldest. They both landed on the ground and Jay shrieks something between “treason!” and “stop!” in between more laugher and soft pushes, still, the blonde one had far too much strength for someone his size and he was pushed downwards on the pillow mess they had used as seats moments ago.
Then he felt his arm being caught on between milk teeth and wet, he let out an “AUGHT ” sound in surprise and met Lloyd’s pride -because of course , he was proud- face with a baffled smile mixed with questioning eyebrows, the bit wasn’t hard or hurt at all and Lloyd knew that, because his grin extended and “no no NO-!” Lloyd took his other arm and Jay felt nervous, the type of nerves that make you laugh and tickle on your stomach, he was having fun but it was gross “Lloyd wAIT”
His other arm suffered the same fate while he wrestled, carefully trying to not actually hurt or punch the kid, out of the mess that was the bedroom floor, but Lloyd, who had reduced himself on a dog position caught on his leg and forced him back to the improvised nest all while Jay was struggling out of breath on his laugh attack.
“I OFFER A TRUCE” His manly, not at all a squeal offering, got the child’s attention because green eyes stopped trying to look for the next place to bite and focused directly at the wheezing teenager centimeters away; Jay’s own eyes squirmed around, there had been one only problem with the plan, he wasn’t sure what would be the elements of the truce.
Bingo.
His eyes stopped on the perfect exchange item, a paper royal blue crown, a little crunched now, sitting on top of a pillow ready to be taken or just thrown away as one of many art projects Jay did when he was bored.
Just when Lloyd was getting ready to attack again, realizing that there was, in fact, nothing Jay could offer, the crown was right on his face, little starts drawn by himself smudged, with lightning bolts overlapping some and wrinkled on the spikes; the blond kid looked at Jay, then at the crown looking for something, noise scrunched and narrowed eyes.
Jay felt his offer wasn’t enough to appease the demon “We can do a new one, this one is a little… beaten”
Lloyd shook his head aggressively and Jay was reminded that this Lloyd, or at least his personality, was the product of artificial flavors and sugar, he seemed to realize he wasn’t saying anything and voiced, on a serious tone for a child “This one”
Jay chuckled at the security of the words, “all alright, kneel down please” Lloyd did as told, letting Jay stand up with the colored crown in his hands, upright pose as he had seen movies do it before “Right here, right now, on the Destiny’s Bounty, our home, i pronounce you, uh, prince”
“Of what?”
“Uhhh-” He hadn’t thought of that, yet, but while the ninja thought Lloyd opened his eyes and looked up, excited expression taking over the past fake seriousness.
“Candy!”
“Candy it is” Jay placed the improvised crown on the wild blonde locks, and Lloyd raised with a wild look, feeling as excited as when he woke up on a mountain of packages and with candy in his pockets.
He seemed to forget of Jay’s existence, practically vibrating on happiness and energy, the kid sprinted out of the room and Jay accepted his fate of picking up the remaining mess, he actually got to separate a few things before Lloyd stumbled back in, looking on every corner with a scared face.
Jay actually considered something wrong happened before Lloyd’s eyes landed on the brunette, and his smile returned as it never left, he ran towards the ninja and gave him a hug.
Jay would lie if he said he felt like he wouldn’t melt right there. At that moment, Lloyd tugged at his shirt, the older got it, squatting next to Lloyd to be at his level “Something wrong?”
Loyd didn’t answer for a second, thinking his words, then he leaned closer to Jay’s left ear an wet airy whispering tone invaded Jay, but he supposed it had to be good if Lloyd felt that it needed to be said this way.
“Don’t tell them”
What?
“What?”
Lloyd scrunched his nose, repeating the phrase and making sure he pronounced correctly each word, but Jay had heard it right the first time, who was them.
“Who?”
There it was again, the narrowed eyes and nose scrunch, Jay had started to considerer giving it a name just for these situations where Lloyd wasn’t clear at all.
“Just don’t tell them”
“Ok i won't, but who? ”
Lloyd seemed to realize he needed to give an explanation, so he leaned closer again, tone even more silent “your parents”
Either Jay was missing something or was just dumb, Lloyd’s giggles at his confusion even after being clarified as to who , seemed to point to the second option.
“Don’t tell them what?” Is at this point where normally Lloyd would have given up, realizing that there was nothing to hide if the victim didn’t even remember, so Jay was grateful for the sugar high because the kid only giggled further and leaned to try again.
“That i bit you”
Oh.
Jay voiced his only thought in a long "Oooooh" It did make sense, a weird request on a weird day, but it came for the same weird kid that seemed to be high, so Jay took it.
“I’ll go tell Nya of my crown!” The kid ran off before Jay could make another comment, and he just laughed, a confused unbelieving laugh at what just happened.
This day was so weird.
He loved it.
Now, where was his phone?