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On the Destiny’s Bounty, the ninja were training. A common sight to see, but one of them weren’t as energetic as usual.
Lloyd was doing a sloppy job, and the others noticed. He’s been like this for a while now, and it’s only been getting worse. They decided that he could stop early, deciding that Lloyd had all the right to rest since he was the green ninja, and he’s been through enough trouble this past month. Lloyd seemed to appreciate it and quickly sped off to go inside, which sparked some concern in the others.
Kai was the first to notice that Lloyd hasn’t been acting himself lately. He was a shit sometimes, but he’s matured a lot and started to enjoy training even more, especially so now that he could kick all the ninja’s butts.
He decided to head in as well, excusing himself from training. Cole made a joking comment about him being lazy and Kai snapped a joke back before heading inside.
He went towards the rooms they shared and saw Lloyd in a hoodie he borrowed from one of the ninja. Even before he used the Tomorrow’s Tea, they haven’t had the time to get him many clothes so he’s been borrowing stuff from the others. Now it’s just been more frequent, since he’s suddenly grown a few inches. The hood was up and his legs were close to his body and shoved in the hoodie. Lloyd was focused on reading some comic Kai didn’t know much about, but Jay was the one to get Lloyd invested when they still had “recreation” time.
Lloyd looked unfocused though, as if he had more in his mind than what was on the page. Kai decided to make his presence known and knocked on the door. “Hey kid, you good?” Lloyd looked up from his book and put it down next to him while trying to wrangle himself out of the hoodie.
“Yeah I’m fine, just reading. I can tell you about it if you want!” Kai chuckled lightly and entered the room to sit down next to Lloyd on the bed. “Sure, but first I wanted to ask you something.” Lloyd tilted his head a bit in confusion. “What is it?”
“Are you okay? You’ve been acting off recently.”
“Oh.” Lloyd looked over to the side. “Well I’ve just been tired recently, that’s all. I thought that maybe reading might’ve helped...” He still seemed off, and Kai was worried something might’ve happened.
“Lloyd, I’ve known you for a while and I consider you a younger brother. You can tell me what’s wrong.” Lloyd shrank a bit.
“Okay maybe something’s been bugging me. But it feels stupid to be bugged about so I didn’t want to go to you guys, and Wu’s been busy-“ Kai put a hand on Lloyd’s upper back, calming him down a bit since he started to speed up talking.
“Come on, you can come to us for anything! Just tell me what’s wrong and I’ll see what I can do to help.” Kai smiled warmly at Lloyd, and that smile seemed to be contagious since Lloyd smiled back.
“Well, you know when I was uh,” he gestures at himself. “Grown up? Well... it feels weird.” He pulls his legs back up against his body and hugs them.
“I was just a 11 year old, and now I’m like 15! I can’t stop thinking about it. At the time I was fine with it but...” He looks away from Kai and focuses his eyes on Mister Cuddlywomp. “I feel like my childhood was just taken away. It was! It literally was and it was my fault...”
Kai didn’t know what to say, but he didn’t want Lloyd to feel bad. “Hey hey, don’t be so hard on yourself.” He pushed Lloyd’s hood back so Lloyd would see him better if he looked up, which he ended up doing.
“You did what you thought you had to do, and what you did was brave.” Lloyd still looked upset and it Kai frowned a bit.
“Listen Lloyd, it’s not ideal at all. And I feel guilty about it.” Lloyd tried to say something in protest but Kai interrupted. “It shouldn’t have been a situation where you had to lose your childhood, and it isn’t your fault. Things happen and it was the only solution you saw. We’re always here for you, okay? You can come to us no matter what.” Lloyd looked at him for a bit and then just leaned into Kai’s warmth. He is the fire ninja after all, elemental powers or not. Kai decided to wrap his arm around Lloyd, and they sat there in a comfortable silence for a bit before Lloyd broke the silence.
“Thanks, Kai.” Kai looked over at Lloyd with a slightly puzzled look. “What you said made me feel a bit better. I’m glad to have you around.” He started to play with the strings of the stolen hoodie. Kai looked stunned for a moment before grinning widely with warmth radiating off of him. He suddenly pulled Lloyd into a hug.
“Hey, don’t worry about it. You’re a little brother to me and I’d do anything to make you feel better.” Kai started to mess with his hair during the hug and Lloyd squirmed a bit while laughing.
Even if they were closer in age now, there was no denying that Lloyd was still a little brother to him. Lloyd was finally able to pull away from the hug and he looked much more happier than before their conversation, which made Kai feel the same type of resolve he felt after cheering up Nya when they were younger.
Lloyd reached for the comic that was sitting next to him. “Would you mind if I told you about what I was reading now?” He clapped his free hand against his shoulder softly, seeming excited to talk about it now.
“Sure thing Lloyd.” Kai sat back as Lloyd started to infodump, content with listening to his blabbering about Englishmen and vampires. It was hard to navigate, but he couldn’t lie: he couldn’t ask for a better little brother.