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Kai blinked the grog out of his eyes, it's early and he shouldn't be driving and Lloyd should not be in the passenger's seat. There should be a law against this: You can't be out driving to McDonald's at 2AM with the Green Ninja in your car after you literally just woke up after a nightmare, it's dumb and you could probably die. Kai only remembered 1% of the entire Driver's Handbook. (Not that he bothered to read it anyway).
What's that? Why are Kai and Lloyd going to McDonald's so stupidly early in the morning you ask? Well, all Kai knew was that he woke up to Lloyd sleepwalking and eventually almost tripping over him because he fell on the floor, then decided to drag him to his car in their pajamas to McDonald's. Typical Kai, haha.
It was actually a pretty quiet ride, Kai stole secret glances at Lloyd, who was looking bored-ly out the window, the tenseness in his shoulders told him that he had a nightmare. Maybe it was about Morro again. They really needed to talk, and that was partially why Kai decided to go to out to eat, and because he was starving, waking up super early does that to you.
You know what's funny? It never occurred to him before, but Kai had never noticed how much Lloyd loved magical creatures, his shirt was a unicorn with sunglasses dabbing or whatever and his sweatpants had a bunch of narwhals on it. (Which Lloyd had always insisted were real and not made-up, Kai'll never believe it until he sees it). Kai still wondered why Lloyd still liked water, even after they both almost drowned and his dad had—
The big, bright and bold "M" of the McDonald's stood out in front of him in all of its glory. Nice, a 24/7 with the best, broken ice cream machine was still up and running. They were the only ones there, which is a really bad sign that they both decided to ignore. (If you decided to pick a fight with someone at 2 in the morning, then you are a cold-hearted monster and don't even deserve coal for Christmas, and not Cole the ninja either). Kai parked and nudged Lloyd right before he fell asleep. Lloyd hummed.
"You want a Kid's Meal or somethin'?" Kai muttered at the register, unsure of what he was even thinking anymore. He's feeling for a Quarter Pounder or a Big Mac.
"Gimme chicken nuggets with it," Lloyd answered before adding: "And I want a girl's toy, I have too many Hot Wheels and they're always the exact same car."
Bold move, Lloyd, bold move.
Kai paid with both of their 5 dollars (much to Lloyd's dismay) to the cashier lady who looked too friendly and cheerful to even be working through the night shift. There were only two employees, so they were going to get their orders slowly. Kai eyed Lloyd again at the soda machine, his hand pouring his Sprite longer than he should have and his brain not registering his action at all. It overflowed the cup and his hand.
"Lloyd stop, it's gonna spill on the floor." Kai sighed as he waited for his Mocha Frappe.
Lloyd blinked before responding with an "Oh" then a "Sorry," afterward. The cashier told them not to worry about it because, apparently, those things happen all the time. They found a booth in the back of the restaurant (near the Play Place if you must know) and sat down.
"I had a dream that I made a deal with the Preeminent and remained as her prisoner instead of my dad." Lloyd took a long sip of his soda. "You were there too, can't remember if you drowned with me or not."
"Funny, 'cause I had the exact same dream, you were yelling at me to get out or something and I said 'No! I can't leave you behind!' and something else that was overly cheesy." Kai looked down, wondering how their food even got there. He didn't even remember getting up to get it. God, he's too tired for this.
Lloyd slammed his hands on the table, that definitely woke both of them up.
"I knew it! I remember telling you—" Lloyd held up a finger and stuffed a handful of fries in his mouth. "Something something we'll die something I am so mad at you something how could you, Kai!?"
Okay, Lloyd didn't necessarily say "Something something", it's just that it's kinda hard to understand someone who's talking with his mouths full. Lloyd's got a My Little Pony doll and clearly isn't acknowledging Rarity in all of her beauty. Kai nodded, pretending to understand whatever Lloyd was saying, he took a bite of his burger.
"And then I was stupid enough to make a deal with the literal goddess of all things unholy and then I died," Lloyd slumped back down the chair. "I feel like we live in some kinda Matrix or really bad RPG game."
"I dunno," Kai squinted his face in disgust at the salty pickles. (He seriously can't be only one that thinks that they're disgusting). Setting his food down, he started to peel the onions and pickles. "Maybe your granddad and the Cloud Kingdom decided to have a really, really long D&D campaign."
Lloyd laughed and chucked a fry in his face.
"How much do you wanna bet that my grandad chose me as his overpowered fantasy character and everyone is just mad at him?"
"Too much."
Lloyd's smile faded and a long, foreboding silence overtook them both. Kai really needed to address the elephant in the room and not the weird statue outside of McDonald's. The bags under Lloyd's eyes proved that. Looking over Lloyd's shoulder, the cashier smiled seemed to brighten table they were at.
"Still thinking about Morro?" Lloyd looked up at him.
"Yeah, I guess." The Green Ninja shrugged. "It's just that, Morro hated me because I basically took what he always wanted, a chance to be someone he's not. He hated using me, y'know. Said something about how he only did this for her and he was being forced. He was never really evil."
Kai looked back to his burger and then to Lloyd, the way the cashier lady was smiling at them, he wasn't really sure if she put something inside of their meals or not. Did he really hear that right? That Morro wasn't actually a bad guy?
"Oh. That's, um, deep."
"Yeah, he isn't—er, wasn't evil." Lloyd dipped a nugget into his Sweet 'n Sour sauce. "Did you know that you talk out loud when you're tired?"
Play dumb.
"Really? I haven't noticed." The Master of Fire leaned back with his hands over his head, earning a raised eyebrow from a very tired little brother. "Did you know that you, uh, always talk with food in your mouth?"
Not that dumb!
Lloyd rolled his eyes and decided to flick another fry into his face again, Kai started to do the same but backed down because the janitor/bus-boy guy eyed them. He decided against it.
“Anyways, Morro.” Kai looked away.
“Right, Morro,” Lloyd repeated. “I remember that guy.”
“Yeah…” The other trailed off.
“Being possessed was so bizarre, it was like those escape rooms but with no exits, you're like trapped there while some weasel from the depths of the Cursed Realm controlled your body for half a month. I couldn't move my own body, my attempts only made it worse, it hurt. And…" Lloyd's voice shuddered. "I watched him, Kai, I watched myself, we—I killed the Night Guard and the policemen in the museum. Great, I'm so tired that I'm rambling about murder. This is just like last time."
What a turn of events! Kai has never heard that before nor did Lloyd ever decided to tell him. He noticed Lloyd's restraint on what he said when he's gone days without sleep. (Before the tea, Lloyd never slept often, even for a nap, eventually, Lloyd told him of his nightmares, the ones that keep him up awake and afraid). In his head, Kai searched for something to say.
Wait, last time —?
"Don't say anything," Lloyd answered his question as if he knew what he was thinking. "And don't worry about it either. I shouldn't have woken you up, then I wouldn't have told you this and then you wouldn't be mad at me and you wouldn't hate me—"
"I'm not mad at you," Kai stopped him. "Heck, I don't even hate you. Why didn't you tell me this before?"
Kai thought back to the first time when Lloyd tried to say everything was fine. Lloyd was hiding under his bed, stuffing his face with candy and crying. Kai hadn’t seen the ten-year-old boy so stressed before, it took a while and bit of coaxing him to actually gain his trust. Kai was glad for that.
Lloyd didn't say anything but made the gesture like he didn't want to talk. Alright. Kai respected that. That was Lloyd's privacy. (And Lloyd was a pretty private person). The two stared at each other in silence for a while, Lloyd resorted to stealing a couple of his fries, the other didn’t protest.
Huh, guess that it just be like that sometimes.
“I wanna go home and go back to bed.” Lloyd put his head down.
Kai didn’t have his phone because it’s in the car charging, (dumb move, he knows, leave him alone), so he can’t check the phone and McDonald’s didn’t have the time available anywhere. He guessed that they’ve been there for about an hour and a half, just talking about weird dreams and that one edgy ghost dude. This was kind of a bad idea.
“We can blame this on your grandad when we get back and Wu asks us why we slept in so late.” Kai slid out of the booth, the cashier lady has disappeared from the register. The entire place felt dead. “Does that sound good to you?”
“How much do you wanna bet that I’ll pass out in the car?” Lloyd huffed out a grin.
“You’ll pass out as soon as you sit down, so, five dollars,”
“But, Kai, we spent our five dollars on our food.”
“And? Steal Jay’s.”
They let the tension go from the weird feelings that had surfaced at 2AM in the morning because that’s a thing that can happen apparently. Kai put his arm Lloyd’s shoulder as they walked out, he could still feel the staring of the janitor and cashier. McDonald’s is such a freaking weird place.
It was a nice ride home.
“D’you think they’ll kill us when they find out?” Jay snickered at the picture. Above him, the ghost of the Master of Earth smiled.
“Probably, but it’ll be worth it.” Cole shook his head in agreement.
Kai and Lloyd were still asleep on the couch, so it only made for a logical reason to take a picture. (Maybe for blackmail later). The funniest part was the two brothers covered in tons of blankets and pillows, with matching sleeping masks to complete the masterpiece.
Jay snorted, yeah right, as if they were going to live that down.