Work Text:
Lloyd woke to the sound of someone knocking on his door, abruptly disrupting his rest and forcing him back into the real world. Within moments the dreams had slipped away, much to his dismay. He blinked rapidly, stunned by the sunlight flooding in from the nearby window. He tried to adjust his eyes to the light before quickly giving up and trying to fall back asleep. Just as soon as he had gotten himself situated again the knocking resumed; this time a lot louder and far more rapidly.
"Ahh, just five more minutes!" Lloyd whined, flopping over onto his stomach and stuffing his head under the pillow. He could vaguely recall that it was the weekend, which probably meant that they had the day off from training. Of course it was already long past dawn, but he still wanted to catch up on sleep more than anything else.
The knocking stopped as the door was suddenly thrust open. Lloyd heard some smattered laughter, and with a loud groan he turned back around to face his tormentor. Naturally his best friend was the one responsible and he wasn't surprised to see him smiling down from the doorframe.
"Well, good afternoon sleepyhead." Kai said cheerfully.
"Hey, why are you all dressed up?" Lloyd asked groggily, rubbing his eyes and still struggling to wake up. His friend was wearing a plain long sleeved shirt and khakis, which might as well have been a tuxedo by his standards. And Lloyd couldn't even remember the last time that Kai had combed his hair.
"Skylor's coming over." he answered gleefully, his eyes glazing over as a goofy smile crossed his face. Lloyd rolled his eyes and sighed quietly before his annoyance was overtaken by curiosity.
"Wha, why, what's the occasion?" he asked quietly, sitting up a bit on his pillows and failing to stifle a yawn.
"Uh, it's Valentine's Day, remember?" Kai responded exasperatedly. He stared at Lloyd in disbelief before shaking his head slightly and walking back down the hall.
Lloyd slowly slumped back onto his pillows, staring up at the ceiling as a hollowness formed in his chest. He had completely forgotten that today was a holiday, and, unlike most of the other ninja, he didn't have anyone to spend it with. Not being in a serious relationship had never really bothered Lloyd in years past, but things were very different now.
"Well, that's just great." he mumbled, groaning slightly as he finally forced himself out of bed. He paused for a moment, looking over at his closet briefly before deciding not to get dressed. Following Kai's path in his green striped pajamas, he soon found himself walking into an unusually bustling kitchen.
"Oh good, you're up Lloyd." Nya said distractedly, glancing up at him with a somewhat frazzled expression. "I could use some help with the decorations."
"What decorations, what, what is going around here?" he asked worriedly, his eyes wide with surprise and fervently darting around the busy room. Zane was working on baking and it looked like he was juggling at least ten different meals at once. Jay and Nya were both pouring over a heap of cards and letters, with the latter of the two closely examining something that looked like a guest list.
"Uh, what does it look like, we're throwing a party." Jay answered quickly, which did little to erase the confused look on Lloyd's face. "Oh come on, we've literally been planning this for like three weeks now."
"Right, sorry." Lloyd muttered quietly, continuing to furiously rub his eyes and failing to stifle another yawn. "I didn't sleep very well so I guess I'm just kinda out of it." Not waiting for a reply he walked across the room and started rummaging through the pantry. He soon found what he was looking for and, after moving some of Zane's cooking supplies over, started brewing some coffee. Jay and Nya shared a slightly concerned look when they noticed he was making an espresso roast, but they chose not to press the issue.
After a few minutes of waiting his caffeine-rich beverage was ready and after collecting it from the coffeemaker Lloyd sat down across from Nya, taking his time and letting the aromatic smell ease his incessant nerves. He hadn't developed an interest in coffee, or really any hot beverage for that matter, until pretty recently. He had never needed or wanted the extra energy boost provided by the stimulant, but it was slowly becoming a part of his daily routine, and not even his uncle's undying love for tea could change his mind.
"So what did you want me to do?" Lloyd asked finally, setting down the now empty mug and looking over at the anxious couple. He was still feeling unmotivated to help them but at the very least it would be a welcome distraction from his increasingly conflicting thoughts and the coffee had calmed him down a bit.
"Oh, uh, could you help with setting up the courtyard?" Nya asked hesitantly, quickly holding up a jumbled assortment of decorative items and giving him a somewhat strained smile. "Remember, we're having some people over later, nothing crazy mind you, and with the nice weather we thought it would be best to hold the gathering outside." She wasn't judging him for his worrying forgetfulness; her tone was completely kind and reassuring, although she did seem a bit distracted and overwhelmed.
Lloyd nodded quickly, accepting the package of paper streamers without complaint. He frowned and tensed up when Nya thrust a couple flower bouquets at him, but his slightly dismayed reaction went largely unnoticed. She quickly went back to what she was doing, and with no other directive to follow, Lloyd went out into the courtyard.
No one else was outside at the moment, but then again, solitude was not an unwelcome feeling for him. And despite his strenuous mental state Lloyd had to concede that it was a beautiful day out; unusually sunny and warm with a dry breeze. He glanced around, taking in his surroundings and trying to decide where to hang everything. The intricate mural on the far wall initially flashed by his weary eyes without a second thought, but he froze in his tracks when the two most recent paintings on the wall entered his line of sight.
An overwhelming feeling of sadness welled inside him as Lloyd gazed once more upon his first love, the villainous vixen who had stolen his heart and mercilessly broken it into a million pieces. He looked down at the flowers he was holding, before looking back at the smirking image of Harumi. That section of the mural and the party decorations were both furnished with the same color scheme, but they represented two very different things. Red is the color most associated with passion and heat, love and romance. Those were the sentiments that his friends wished to celebrate today and, even though he didn't have the same intimate attachments that they did, that had never really bothered him before. But now Lloyd was seeing red, and the only thing he saw was blood.
With a flurry of emotion he viciously tore the streamers from their packaging, rushing towards the mural with a glint of fury in his eyes. As he neared the wall he started spinning, whipping himself around in a frenzy as he bitterly adorned his surroundings with colorful bits of paper. Just as soon as he had made a full loop around the courtyard he found himself stumbled out of the tornado, slamming into the wall before falling to the cold ground below.
Lloyd felt a stinging pain in his neck and he couldn't see straight as he tried to sit up. Blinking rapidly and shaking his head back and forth, the distant mural slowly faded back into view. All of the walls around him were now furnished with paper streamers and somehow randomly sorting everything in a blind rage had actually worked out rather nicely. All decked out in shades of burning red and hot pink, the courtyard looked very splendid indeed.
The door to his left burst open and he turned to see Nya rushing out with a worried look on her face. His unorthodox methods and unceremonious fall had evidently created a lot of noise, with Jay also peeking around the corner of the doorframe. Lloyd quickly leapt to his feet, dusting himself off and trying to make it look like nothing happened.
"Are you okay?" she asked nervously, not entirely convinced by his sudden recovery.
"Yeah, I'm fine, I just tripped." Lloyd answered sheepishly. "Uh, I thought it would be easier to put up the decorations if I used Spinjitzu but apparently that support beam had other plans." She quietly laughed at the joke, although it didn't fully alleviate her concerns. However, despite the lingering misgivings, a very wide smile began to cross her face as she examined his handiwork.
"Well this place looks amazing!" Nya cried happily, looking around at the festive decorations with tremendous pride. Lloyd nervously chuckled, not willing to accept the compliment or fully look her in the eyes. Considering how his stunning design choices had been completely random, he didn't really think he deserved any praise, and it's not like he had ever been that good with compliments. Generally speaking he was far too humble for his own good.
"Oh, thank you, having this out of the way is such a relief." Nya added, shaking her head in exasperation. "Trying to organize this party has been pretty stressful and I really appreciate your help."
"Oh, uh, you're welcome." Lloyd muttered meekly. "Is there anything else you need me to do?"
"Oh, no it's fine, I think we can handle the rest." she answered quickly. "I might suggest getting dressed though." Lloyd laughed again, smiling slightly and conceding the point. She took one last look at the festive setting before walking inside, once again leaving him alone to his thoughts. He did feel slightly bothered by the request, as he really couldn't care less about his disheveled appearance, but that was far from his most pressing worry. There were two very obvious red flags that both he and Nya had so far failed to notice, and the first one was that he had completely covered up both of Harumi's portraits. On a much stranger note, he had also chosen not to use any of the flowers as decorations, and while that was not particularly noteworthy on its own, the fact that he was now tightly clenching a bundle of crushed roses was not a good sign.
Having nothing to do besides getting dressed up, Lloyd simply chose to sit down against the wall, leaning back and stretching his legs out. Being alone was never a negative in his mind and as he soaked in the sun time seemed to flash before his eyes. For several hours he felt himself slipping in and out of sleep, always thrust back into reality whenever one of the other ninja stopped by to drop off some tables, lights, chairs, food, etc. The sun was starting to fall by the time they all decided to come out, and Lloyd heard a smattering of laughter as he stirred awake.
"Now, here we have the fabled Green Ninja in his natural habitat." Jay announced jokingly, acting as if he was on some nature documentary. The impromptu sarcasm was made all the more effective by his rather flamboyant outfit, which was actually the same suit he had worn while hosting the Most Ultimate Extreme Ninja Challenge Ever. Lloyd almost did a double take when he saw the fancy getup, especially seeing that his hair was also combed up to match with the televised persona.
"Yeah, laugh it up bluebell." he muttered, smiling to himself and looking over at the far wall. "I don't know, parties just aren't really my thing, you guys know that."
"No, I think socializing in general isn't your thing Lloyd." Kai countered cheerily, drawing a slightly strained chuckle from the weary blond. He shrugged indifferently, not offering any argument or really bothering to contest the point since he knew it was fairly accurate. Generally speaking he was far more quiet and reserved than the rest of them, although his current apathy for social interaction was influenced by far more than just his introverted nature.
The floundering conversation was abruptly abandoned by the sound of rapid knocking on the front door, and the group quickly ran over to welcome the first guest. Lloyd looked up to see Skylor run in and wrap Kai in a very tender hug; a sight that he could only grimace at. His disdain was not born out of jealousy or stemming from any personal grudges against Skylor, but he couldn't help but feel envious of the connection they shared. Because while Skylor and Harumi had both used their respective partners and initially courted them with malicious intent, only Kai's girlfriend had been redeemed. It was bad enough that Lloyd had been used and manipulated like he had been, but to be denied any opportunity for reconciliation was that much more heartbreaking. He would never know whether she truly cared about him, for now Harumi was alive only in his mind; existing as nothing more than a tarnished memory that still haunted him day in and day out.
Lloyd sat there, frozen and lost in a sea of aimless loss as still more guests filed through the front door. He paid them no mind whatsoever, but in a cruel twist of fate his indifference would eventually attract unwanted attention. Amongst the crowd of visitors he saw Dareth burst on the scene, acting just as grandiose and important as always. Dareth was a minor bother to be sure, a foolhardy but undyingly loyal man who had managed to endear himself to the group through mostly dumb luck and charm. Lloyd had no problem whatsoever with him being here, but his eyes widened with horror when he saw Dareth's plus-one, NGTV's own Gayle Gossip. The intrepid reporter had in turn brought along a small camera crew; a sight that was met with concern and skepticism from even the most attention seeking ninja.
"Uh, Dareth?" Kai asked quietly, briefly looking away from his date with a worried expression on his face. "Why exactly did you invite an entire news crew to our party?"
"Well, I uh, asked Gayle to be my Valentine, but I don't think she got the point." Dareth mumbled, his face caught between submissive embarrassment and compliant dread. "I guess she thought I was just giving her an inside scoop or something."
Kai shook his head, chuckling slightly before turning his attention back to Skylor. He hadn't necessarily wanted their celebration to be highly publicized, but he didn't mind being in the public eye and it's not like they had anything to hide. Plus random mishaps and misadventures like that were Dareth's specialty and Kai was mildly amused by the unexpected intrusion. Lloyd didn't find it very funny.
He had wisely resisted the urge to get up and throw a fit, deciding instead to ignore them in the hope that his presence would continue to go unnoticed. As Gayle glanced around the party she saw the three loving couples prancing around, and she took careful note of how Jay and Nya were wearing their respective Yin and Yang medallions. That was a big deal of course, as neither Zane and Pixal nor Kai and Skylor had made such a commitment. Naturally Cole was crowding the snack table and devouring one of Zane's homemade cakes, which also played perfectly into the feel-good human interest story she had been expecting. After all, what could be better than getting to see the beloved ninja goofing off and having a nice time?
Well, the more interesting angle was, of course, the Green Ninja being alone on Valentine's Day. That was already intriguing gossip on its own, but it was all the more interesting because his friends were having a grand old time. Despite his tendency to shy away from the spotlight, Lloyd always ended up getting showered with unwanted praise and attention for no discernible reason. To say that he wasn't really in the mood to give an interview would be a tremendous understatement, and his eyes narrowed with suspicion as the skeleton news crew began to make its way towards him. He was glowering over at them and his glowing eyes were practically burning with bent up frustration. Unfortunately, his hostile impression was somewhat counterbalanced by his rather unkempt appearance, as, having done none of his daily hair styling, Lloyd was still stuck with bed head; additionally, he was about to be featured on national news wearing his pajamas. He almost couldn't look any less professional, but then again, he also couldn't care any less.
"Yeah, what do you want?" he asked quietly, crossing his arms and sitting up ever so slightly.
"Well, I was just wondering why you're not joining in on the festivities Lloyd." Gayle said excitedly, completely missing how miserable he was. "There isn't anyone you wanted to celebrate with today?"
"No." he answered icily, his voice uncharacteristically cold and distant.
"So there's not a special someone in your life?" she asked overdramatically, completely shocked and flabbergasted by his nonchalance. "I'm sure that the world famous Green Ninja could have anyone he wanted." The offhand remark made his blood boil with anger, but once again he contained his growing frustration and managed to dismiss her blind ignorance. He still wasn't ready to open himself up to any sort of romantic entanglement, not after what Harumi had done to him.
"Yeah, you'd think that, wouldn't you?" he muttered under his breath. Gayle didn't seem to notice, as she was far too caught up in the moment. This was human drama at its finest and she had a sneaking suspicion that, whether he liked it or not, the next issue of Teen Idol was going to prominently feature the bashful blond.
"In fact," she continued, quickly turning towards the camera in order to properly address the audience, "I'm betting that there are people watching this broadcast right now who'd love to be with you Lloyd." He groaned, rolling his eyes and looking away at the wall to his right. It wasn't an inaccurate statement, as statistically speaking it was probable that a person of his status and widespread popularity would attract a lot of fangirls, but the idea still mortified him. He liked living a quiet life and the idea of being swarmed with fans just didn't appeal to him like it did for Kai.
"I don't have time for girls right now." Lloyd stated bitterly, finally rising off the ground and beginning to walk away.
"Is that so?" Gayle called loudly, not wanting to let him slip away so easily. "Because I heard some rumors about you and the princess!"
He froze in his tracks, his face burning up and fists whitening as his brain struggled to unravel the cheap shot. His head drooped slightly and it took him several seconds to steady his breathing enough to continue walking away. Lloyd wouldn't give Gayle a quote, but he was perfectly content with giving her, and everyone watching the broadcast, the finger.
Kai was worried sick about him, especially after an outburst like that. He didn't like having to leave Skylor waiting but Lloyd was probably his best friend and he definitely wasn't going to make Nya deal with it. She and Jay were celebrating a much more impactful moment and even if that wasn't the case Kai wanted to be the one to check up on him.
"Lloyd?" he called softly, trying not to be aggressive as he hesitantly knocked on his door. The lights weren't on but even so he figured that Lloyd had probably locked himself in his room. He didn't get a response and the only discernible noise he could make out was some faint sniffling.
"Look, it's fine if you don't want to come out." Kai added worriedly. "I just wanted to see how you're doing and I'm here if you want to talk about it." He heard a strained sigh before the locking mechanism turned. Kai slowly opened the door and walked inside, flicking on the light to find Lloyd sulking on his bed. He was hugging his knees to his chest and hurriedly wiping his eyes; clearly trying to hide the fact that he had been crying.
"What's going on Green Machine?" Kai asked quietly, sitting down on the edge of the bed and trying his best to not sound demanding. Lloyd took in a deep breath before unfolding his legs and looking up at his friend. He couldn't quite find the strength to maintain eye contact however, quickly averting his gaze out of some misplaced sense of shame and embarrassment.
"It's Harumi." he said sadly, his voice unusually low and dull sounding. "I, I thought I was over her but then everyone kept talking about love and their relationships, and-and Gayle was chastising me for being alone today, and, and…" He collapsed, falling right into Kai's arms as tears started to pour down his face. It was the first time in ages that Lloyd had allowed himself to be vulnerable, and all of his bottled up emotions came crashing down in that moment. Kai nodded slowly, holding him steadily and acting as a shoulder for him to lean on. After about a minute Lloyd pulled back a bit, taking some more deep breaths and trying to center himself.
"Sorry for ruining your shirt." he mumbled sheepishly. Kai chuckled quietly, shaking his head at the ridiculous thought.
"It's alright." he added quickly, surprised that Lloyd could even be worried about something like that right now. "And I don't think Gayle was making fun of you or anything like that. I think she was just surprised that you didn't have a partner, and she also didn't know that you're choosing to avoid dating. I think what she meant to say was that you're a handsome young man and that any woman would be lucky to have you."
Lloyd scoffed at the idea, shaking his head in disbelief. "Right…" he stated sarcastically, making it abundantly clear that he seriously doubted the validity of the statement. His self worth had always been somewhat iffy but Harumi's manipulation had just completely destroyed his self-confidence and made him feel like he wasn't good enough.
"No, I mean it." Kai said quickly, reaching up to tousle his hair a bit. "Destiny decided that you would be a blond pretty boy, and whether you care to admit it or not, you are quite a catch Lloyd."
"But none of that matters!" he cried, not entirely reassured by the kind sentiment. "Gayle's right, if I just wanted a girlfriend I could have one. But that's missing the point because I don't want girls, I want Rumi! But she's gone now and I hate feeling like I wasn't enough for the one woman I actually cared about."
"I'm sorry Lloyd, I really am." Kai said quietly, continuing to absentmindedly stroke his hair as he pondered what to say. "I don't know why Harumi abused you and I can't say whether she had feelings for you. It's completely understandable if you're not ready to try dating right now, but just remember that you deserve to be loved and valued."
Lloyd smiled slightly, nodding his head and conceding the point. Kai really wasn't judging him for his feelings, which was something that he had been deftly afraid of, and all in all he was starting to feel a bit better. He was about to say something when his stomach started growling, derailing his train of thought and quickly reminding him that he hadn't eaten anything.
"Do you want me to get you some food?" Kai asked quietly. "You don't have to come out if you don't want to, I can just bring you some cake or something."
"That would be nice." Lloyd admitted. "Thank you Kai."
Kai smiled, ruffling his hair up one final time and nodding in agreement. "Don't worry, big shot. I'll always be here for you."
Heartbroken Lloyd