Chapter Text
It was quite funny, none of them had any idea how, or when, but they had managed to screw up a little; it wasn't that bad, not as much as Master Wu seemed to try to convince them with, it was nothing compared to freeing the serpentine, reviving centuries old pirates or bringing back to the surface the Great Devourer, he had to know, he fought those things, but somehow the old sensei was really convinced that what they did was a real mistake and somehow at least worse than most of the serpentine combined, Kai doubt it.
But here he was nonetheless, watching as his master held an uneasy, almost anxious, Lloyd Garmadon.
The child was moving his arms in a fidgety manner, bouncing on his feet eager that his uncle let his shoulder free so he could run errand and commit arson or whatever the son of an evil warlord did with that much energy. Kai still didn’t perceive the problem, Lloyd was a really energetic kid already, but by the look his master gave them and how he had to press his hand firmly on Lloyd’s shoulder to avoid the child for bolting, he would discover later.
To the team’s knowledge, the problem Wu seemed so eager for them to decipher had started right now, but in reality started at least one month ago and all the Ninja were to blame.
It started as a joke, like most disasters do.
Everyone knew that Lloyd had a sweet tooth, every child did, but the aspiring green ninja appeared to be a little special in the case, he never seemed to actually eat them or even inspect them in front of the ninja, but nobody really minded, it even became a sort of currency with time.
The first to notice was Cole, he gave the small boy half of a piece of cake that the child ate fast, like a risk-of-tummy-ache fast, immediately after Nya told him he couldn't take it to his room, the kid didn't say anything but send wary looks towards Cole for the rest of the day.
The next day, no pranks were played on Cole.
On the eyes of a stranger it may seem like nothing, after all it had been a while since a lot of the pranks were actually harmful or “the world is in risk we are all going to die” slash inconvenient, but the sole action left Cole, and in consequence Jay when the earth ninja told him, a little confused.
They paid no mind to it when the next day the small pranks returned, smaller maybe, but they came back and the subject was not touched again.
Until Zane had decided to run an experiment, you see, Cole told Jay on a video game night and Jay almost told Nya which caused Zane to be curious so Jay ended up telling Zane about the strange success.
The nindroid just thought it was a matter of victim choice, it made sense, that day Lloyd did replace Kai’s gel with sticky blueberry jelly, how it worked and the fire ninja didn’t realize, he had no idea, but Kai blamed it that the room was dark.
Even so, Jay still insisted that Zane at least tried it.
“Why don't you do it yourself?” Zane asked from the other side of the kitchen, putting in its place the cup he just dried “Lloyd doesn't seem to dislike you, to dislike none of us, I’m sure he won't mind that you gift him something”
Zane wasn’t wrong per se, Lloyd seemed to grew costumed to all of them with time, they all did, it had been four months since they lived together after all, but Jay’s theory went farther from that “no no, you don’t get it Zane, it wasn't just something, I’m not even sure what it is but i gifted him one of my comic books and i still got pranked, and with something on the comic!”
Zane flashed a curious glance, but Jay shook his head without even turning around “Don't ask what it was, but we need to get him away from YouTube, he learned how to do slime himself, it's made with glue, tons of glue”
Jay felt a little indignation when Zane had to repress a chuckle, but he let it go, he still was salty about it tho. Rolling his eyes, the fourteen-year-old went back to washing dishes, letting Zane’s processor think of a better solution.
“And why don't you try again then?” The ice ninja suggested once Jay finished with his portion of the dishes.
Jay only huffed before turning around, so much for Zane’s nindroid intelligence “Because it will look suspicious! I gifted him the comic like two days ago, he probably will think I'm trying to win his favor or something”
Zane only hummed in response, then added “isn't it what you are trying to do?”
Jay would be lying if he said he didn’t feel a little guilty, but he was not going to admit it, not when he could already recall Zane's smug expression; it wasn’t, maybe it was, the purpose of it all, he did wanted the kid to like him, maybe lessen the pranks and cruel jokes, but he also wanted to know a little more about him, and this looked like the only way at the moment, or the one he was most curious about.
Also, hadn't been Zane victim to one of the crueler -funniest- jokes of the kid?
Could he have any fault in being curious about a small child's behavior? Isn’t that what scientists do?
Jay tried to transmit that in the form of puppy eyes to his nindroid brother, it wasn’t bribing in the least.
Zane seemed to read his thoughts because he sighted and nodded, maybe it was a nindroid thing or Zane was that good of a big brother “I’ll do it”
Jay beamed.
The experiment was a success, sorta, yes.
Lloyd had taken the small mounds candy bar Zane had offered him from the store, staring at it for two seconds before putting it in his pockets and running directly to his room, merely crashing with Nya in the hall.
He seemed to mutter an apology before regretting it and just making sure she was alright while checking his sweater pockets, Nya caught a small shine on his reddish-transitioning-to-green eyes when he held something on his hands but got no time to ask about it before he sprinted to the shared ninja room.
“What was that all about?” She asked once she saw Zane and Jay on the kitchen bar, raking out the groceries, Cole was also there, but he seemed more interested in what was on the bags than organizing in the stands.
When she actually made it to the bar she was met with Jay’s nervous laugh.
“What was what?”
Nya frowned.
“You know, Lloyd was watching Tv not even five minutes ago, and when i come back he almost barrels over me, holding something like his life depended on it” Her eyes met Jay’s and the brunette seemed taken aback, slumping behind Cole that continued to look on the bags, uninterested on the conversation.
Then she looked at Zane and the nindroid changed his gaze from Cole and Jay to hers, he held it for a little, Nya caught Jay doing strange signs from the corner of her eyes in an attempt to get Zane to shut up, but it was too late, the dude was a nindroid, for cool that he was, he never caught any social sign, at all.
“Jay and i thought that maybe giving Lloyd sweets would help to form a better relationship with him, perhaps we were wrong since his reaction was to run away”
Nya nodded, somehow she expected it to be worse, you never know with ninja, Zane continued “We did it based on what happened to Cole and how he seemed to not get pranked when he shared cake with Lloyd”
The earth ninja perked at his name and seemed to suddenly take more interest in the subject “Oh! That’s true, i gave him some of my cake and yesterday one of my rainbow sours and look, no jokes or pranks” He pointed at himself like if the fact that he was just out of the shower without any bucket of mud or surprise attack was a miracle, it was.
Nya’s mouth went in a small “o”, and she seemed kinda amused with the antics, it was an odd way to gain someone's trust, but it seems like Lloyd was only returning a favor, it wouldn’t hurt anyone “I suppose with Cole works, but Zane” She looked back at the nindroid, which now seemed more interested in the candy lore.
“If it has worked for Cole twice, it must work the same for us, perhaps there's a pattern, it just seems that he chooses the next day to repay” Nya gave herself a small imaginary pat in the back after Zane’s comment, for being good at detective stuff “It’s still uncertain, but i will inform you if any pranks are played on me tomorrow”
Zane’s theory -it was partially Jay’s- resulted correct, Zane had suffered, or better lacked of, any prank or dumb comment the seven-year old seemed to have for everyone else, even offering himself to help Zane wash a small portion of the dishes.
That settled it as an official case, the three ninja and samurai formed a small non-verbal agreement, sometimes, or every time one of them had to run to the store, or out in the city, they would bring Lloyd a candy, handing it out to him like it was no big deal, to see how he reacted and maybe save some mean comments from the brat.
It had been awkward at first, when Jay tried for the first time, he handed Lloyd a some light blue tootsie fruit rolls -the candy was actually one of the blue ninja favorites- and in response the blonde had only stared at him, a long, uncomfortable, really deep stare, way too much for Jay, but Lloyd continued clutching the candy on his fists as if he feared Jay would change his mind and take it back, then after the uncomfortable silence felt like a thick acid cloud, Lloyd’s eyes shone like if he just came back to reality or just finally grasped the concept of having the candy on his hands, and he was gone, running towards the broom cabinet room.
Probably to eat there like the little goblin he was.
Jay could not place why he had felt a sour taste in his mouth after that interaction, maybe the candy he himself ate was bad.
They started doing it a little more often then, at a different time of the day, one of the three ninja would bring a small candy, Cole sometimes gave him Necco Wafers while Zane thought that light blue foiled caramel was ideal, Lloyd’s eyes shined every time, like if the ninja were bringing him gold, he never said anything, only looked at them or, when one of them was lucky enough, smile at them.
Then it became a sort of currency, one of the four would give a candy for small things, if Lloyd helped, even in a minimal task, someone would sometimes slide him a candy and a smile as a little payment, or promised him one in exchange for anything; in no time the currency became more prominent, a sweet in exchange for washing the dishes, a small lollipop if he washed his teeth and went to bed when the rest did (Even if it was 4:00 am, and he "wasn’t tired, Zane"), a package of pop rocks after a good training session if Lloyd cooperated, even when it took him a while.
They found out, when Zane had brought a packet of York peppermint patties that it was no longer for the pranks or the jokes, they had stopped yes, but none of them cared about such trivial as some slime or pink colorant on the toothpaste, it wasn’t even about giving him prizes or rewards for being good.
It was about Lloyd coming out of the shared room to watch Cole or Jay play video games from the distance, as if afraid to ask to play when others were there but slowly getting close and giving (sometimes actually useful) advice on the level they were stuck, or when he offered himself to help Zane on the kitchen in various occassions even if he acted like he didn’t want to, about when he got excited on the recent edition of his and Jay’s favorite comic and talked a lot to the ninja about it, even if they couldn’t understand they would listen, because Lloyd would listen to them more often, and actually stay by their sides on missions, and do more on practice, he would sit with them to watch Tv, no longer staying on the hall, he would eat more, a little more trustworthy of the food on his plate, he would now look at them in the eyes and actually talk more than mean jokes and lame insults, tell them about the things he loved and eat more than just pizza and china take-out, he would actually congratulate Zane’s cuisine and laugh at the silly jokes the other teens shared.
It was about seeing Lloyd happy.
For when Nya had given Lloyd her third YumJunkie lollipop of the week -he never ate them or looked the candy she noticed, but it probably was weird asking- he had stared, eyes a little tired for all the training of the day now seemingly deep in thought, after a minute or two his eyes adverted to the window on the look for something else to stare that weren't Nya’s eyes or the candy in his hands.
“Why?”
Nya almost chokes on her own lollipop, they were on the Destiny’s bounty control panel, so she pretended to stare at the sunset ahead with Lloyd, wasn't it too late for a child to eat candy? Never too late for just one lollipop, she resolved, maybe, they should ask Zane.
She caught herself laughing like a nervous Jay “why what?” Nya made a mental note to stop spending that much time with the blue ninja.
Lloyd frowned, he knew she knew and that was bad “Why am i getting these” he lifted his lollipop to emphasize, Nya opted for playing dumb or dying.
“You don’t like them?” She said with a head tilt, and by the way Lloyd’s eyes widened as if his right arm had fallen down she obtained her answer.
Lloyd shook his head furiously to add effect “i really like them” contrary to the certainty on his tone, he seemed to still had doubt in his eyes.
His mind was doing backflips again to the questions he had done all week, maybe they were fattening him up to eat him later? Would the ninja even do that? He didn’t even know if they were witches or had an enormous cauldron, perhaps they were giving him his last wish before trowing him off board, he loved candy and was sure it would be the last thing he wanted before dying, maybe they were just using him as a piggy bank for all their candy, Brad had done that once, it was sad seeing his stash taken away as Brad reclaimed them from under his bed, it was good while it lasted.
Nya caught the sudden sadness in Lloyd’s eyes, and silently wondered if he was sad about the whole agreement thing, she stashed those thoughts away and would talk about it with the boys later, right now she was the kid older sister, and as good a twelve-year-old sister could be, she would cheer him up; ready for him to be angry she took a deep breath “Lloyd-”
“Thank you”
Lloyd raised his head with a softly beaming smile. Nya felt like she melted under it.
Lloyd’s smile weakened a little, his eyes wandered at the sunset again, Darkley’s does not teach children to say thank you, to say please, or I'm sorry, Darkley’s did not teach to respect his teammates, to go along their decisions, to stop a joke when the other seemed uncomfortable, to comfort others when having an anxiety attack; Darkley’s taught bad things and saying “thank you” after getting a candy, or gifting candy to your friends, to your siblings, was not a thing Darkley’s taught, this was the ninja, it was Lloyd, and Nya felt like she could cry, in the four and a half months they were living together it was the first time Lloyd ever showed gratitude towards something, at least verbally.
They started gifting him even more candy afterwards.
“How do you do it?” Kai sank on the sofa after voicing his question, he had different scribbles and drawings across his face thanks to Lloyd, he was exhausted even after waking up from a nap, angry maybe, he knew it was a lost cause to be angry at him, but still, and there was the unfairness of his teammates getting the softer side of the kid.
“Do what?” Cole answered, a lopsided smile on him after watching Lloyd run off to his room with the starburst fruit chews Jay gave him before Kai came in, Lloyd didn’t seem to ever eat them in front of the ninja, but who he was to judge the child.
“The whole, ‘Lloyd loves us and won't be mean to us anymore’ -Kai made a more high-pitched voice and what he deemed as angel eyes- thing, how he doesn't play pranks on you anymore”
“He does” Jay provided, eyes fixated on the screen “He took the batteries off the TV remote yesterday, of course then he gave them back when he saw i wanted to watch my show, but he did claim he wanted a smoothie as payment for his actions… or just wanted to spend a little watching my show with me, it was adorable believe me, he didn’t ask for it but i knew he wanted, i also had no can-” The blue ninja stopped his rambling for ten seconds, then his eyes widened, his mouth closed on a more small grin and returned to the game on the television, Kai knew his little brothers, almost all of them if he counted Lloyd, which he did, they had done something and were hiding it from him.
“So, he doesn't play pranks on you”
“Of course he does!” Cole intervened, Jay only screamed “oh, c’mon!” when he lost his game, “He uh,,, uhm, on me, he-”
Cole only gave a nervous laugh interrupting himself and lowered himself on the couch again, nervously chewing the rest of his chips. Kai just turned to his sister, who was fighting a snicker on view of the other two, if they wouldn’t speak the truth, his sister would, he hoped.
“You haven’t noticed?” Nya chuckled at her brothers face after the question left her mouth, Lloyd had a weird artistic talent, but she was also laughing at something else, Kai could feel it.
Kai blinked slowly, twice, he wanted to say “No Nya, i did not, that's why I'm asking” but only stared and replied a short “No”
Then Zane entered the room, confused of why the samurai and two ninja were laughing to a very confused and angry Kai.
Kai had to gave them credit, the four of them weren't known for maintaining an inside joke -or scheme, now that he had a second perspective about it- For that long, he could also say he was a little out of it at all, but sensei Wu hand’t noticed either, so at least he had a point in his favor; he just didn’t notice at first the way the shopping list had more and more candy brands, or how the rest of the ninja seemed to charge with a candy at all times, or how whenever Lloyd was sad, someone will lower to his level and give him something, crack a joke or some comforting words and after an hour or two Lloyd seemed just fine, somehow a different kid to the one that reacted badly to any kind action with snarky comments and repulsion.
FSM, just now he was realizing the way Lloyd looked at him after receiving a sweet, as if hoping that Kai would give him one, or maybe if Kai hated him and that's why he never gave him anything, or if he needed to do more elaborated pranks again to obtain the fire ninja’s attention.
Kai shook his head trying to clean his thoughts, Nya said that he had that in common with the child, they overthought everything, what Jay rambled out loud, they did it on silence and that sometimes took the best of them, like right now; Jay, Zane and Lloyd were just watching TV, he could just give him the stupid sour punch straws and walk away, yet he was nervous.
“Hey” he croaked, a small and nervous smile plastered on his face when Lloyd and the other two turned around to see him, Lloyd’s eyes automatically went to the small candy straw package but retrained from saying anything. “I, uhm-” He tried to slap himself mentally, it was a freaking child, he could do this, how come he faced literal alive skeletons but was unable to give a candy to a seven-year-old, Kai sighed, the perks and benefits of being a ninja, no social abilities, just ass kicking abilities. “Just take it, yeah?”
He tossed the small sour candy bag towards Lloyd, the kid grabbed it, maybe with too much strength as how the package crumbled loudly when the child pressed it against his chest, all that left his mouth was a small “Thanks” before smiling, staring at the small pinkish package, bolting towards the hall when Kai seated on the couch, helping himself some Doritos, ignoring the looks and soft smiles of his brothers.
“So, what are we watching?”
“Don’t you think i'm gonna let you get away with that” Jay started, brushing his shoulder on Kai’s, a smug smile that made Kai roll his eyes at his brother, Zane only watched from the other side of the couch, book on lap and a soft brotherly smile on his lips.
Kai scoffed “With what?”
The wooden door closed with a small thud, leaving Lloyd in almost total darkness, now familiar to the smell of wood and cheap polisher that emanated from the bounty the small closet wasn't that scary anymore, no closet or small space had ever been, not to Lloyd at least, it was always what awaited outside small spaces that terrified him; but not today, nor any other day on the recent month, yeah they had their fair share fighting serpentine, thanks to him, but nothing close to death, not since the volcano.
Lloyd grimaced at the thought, thanks to him things like that happened, he had freed the serpentine, then allowed himself to get captured and lastly, allowed Garmadon to take the golden weapons. But at least no one seemed angry, no one shouted at him, grited their teeth when saying his name or shoved him into small spaces promising to kick or punch the moment he got out because he wasn't good enough or evil enough, depends on the enemy.
No one did those things, no one was angry or disappointed, not on the outside, and now taking a look at his treasure, his stash of different types of candy, a comic book and a small engranaje Nya had gifted him (He technically asked for it, after she taught him how it was called in spanish, but it was still something Nya taught him); he could think that not a single one of the ninja was angry on the inside either, if his treasures were to talk.
He added the sour straws to the stash on the corner of the closet, closing his eyes, he had feared that Kai hated him, he was his hero, literally, all the ninja were too and knowing that they contributed to his treasure whether they knew he had it or not, made him feel all warm on the inside; he mentally laughed at the kid who saw him when leaving darkley’s, because she said he would never find it, never fit in, because nobody liked villains, Lloyd at that moment supposed that was good, because he had nothing to sacrifice, and he could be like every cool villain they taught about in the school.
Now he realized how wrong that was, he still admired some villains, a lot of them from his comics and cartoons because many of them had superb plans, just really powerful heroes that did a lot of good, like the ninja, just way less cool; but he no longer felt like being hated was good, he didn’t want to be them anymore, he no longer liked his dark ‘backstorie’ as Jay called it, he didn’t want to be more evil or the greatest villain like his dad.
Who he had to fight, thanks to a dumb prophecy, it hurt when he told him he was good with it, even if it meant dying.
Lloyd opened his eyes brushing small tears, however the warm feeling on his chest did not leave.
The feeling rushed trught his body and concentrated on his chest, making space inbetween all the other feelings he did not yet understood. Silly things like brotherhood and family felt like abstrac concepts, that always lingered around, never right, never complete, things that others had, those that made him want to throw a tantrum and cry.
He didn't cry, the sons of evil warlords shoulnd't cry. Even if he didn't want to be his son anymore.
Making a space in the middle of his stash of candy he laid down in there, enjoying the feeling of having his treasure and how big it was, giggling quietly when he sunk a little, the static sound on his ears no longer mattered.
No heavy thoughts stayed around for too long, he was young after all, so small things like candy made him happy.
And lately, something else too.
Lloyd always liked collecting things, sometimes rocks, leaves, once spoons, but nothing had a lot of value, yeah, spoons shined, and he liked shiny things but once they got dirty for being way too much under his bed he lost interest, but this? He held the engranaje, it was a little rusty and Nya couldn’t use it to repair her samurai X suit because of that, but it was his, and Nya gave it to him, he didn’t steal it, same with the comic book, or the mountain of candy, all of that was a gift and Lloyd felt like he found it, the warm feeling became stronger.
Lloyd found love.
He opened the first package ever since the rest started gifting the candy to him and put two small peach rings around his fangs, letting out a muffled laugh.
Lloyd hoped he could love too.