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The fire ninja stirred in his bed with a groan. He had kicked his blanket off the end of his bed. With his already naturally high body temperature, he tended to overheat as he slept. It was routine at this point. He’d fall asleep with his blanket tightly wrapped around him, and then in the morning, he would pick it up off the floor. Yet now he felt chilled by the icy air below him coming off Zane. Kai groaned as he blindly felt for the ladder's rungs in the dark of the night. Kai slipped and narrowly caught himself before he crashed to the floor. The three other boys wouldn’t forgive him if he woke them up this early. It was already hard enough to learn how to share a room among four people, they didn’t need to add sleep deprivation to their list of issues.
Kai picked his blanket off the ground and threw it up onto his bed. He got one foot on the ladder before pausing to yawn. He cringed as he felt the air rush against his dry mouth. Now it was all he could focus on. Kai squinted his eyes, looking for his glass of water. He felt around before his hand came into contact with the cold glass. A cold, empty glass. Kai grumbled, “Stupid Jay… Can’t he get his own cup?” Another item on the list of issues that would never be resolved.
Kai took the empty glass with him out of the room he shared with his teammates. The fire ninja took note as he saw Lloyd’s door cracked open. He glanced in and felt his heart skip as he saw the faint outline of an empty bed. Had Pythor gotten on board and kidnapped Lloyd again? Or was this another villain’s evil plot? Where was that little brat now?
As the sound of wood scraping against wood met Kai’s ears, he sighed in relief. He knew that sound by now. Kai continued his journey to the kitchen, where he found Lloyd dragging a wooden stool to the cabinets.
“Hey kid,” Kai whispered, hoping not to startle the young boy, yet ultimately failed. Lloyd cried out and stumbled off the stool, landing on his face with a soft ‘ouch’. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you,” Kai chuckled. He set his glass on the table and walked over to Lloyd to help him up. “Maybe I should unlearn how to sneak around so I don’t do that again,” Kai joked, but the smile fell from his face as Lloyd lifted his face from the floor.
Lloyd’s face was red and he had tears streaming down his cheeks. Lloyd already didn’t find Kai funny, but his jokes usually weren’t this bad.
“Whoa! Hey, what’s wrong?” Kai murmured, kneeling beside Lloyd, all of his older-brother instincts kicking in. “What are you crying for?”
“I had a nightmare,” Lloyd sobbed, sniffling and rubbing his nose against the sleeves of his shirt.
Kai fought the urge to gag and cringe at the volume of snot leaking out of Lloyd’s nose. He’d have to help the kid with laundry in the morning. “Do you want to talk about it?” Kai asked, his voice softer and higher than usual, something he had figured over the years helped soothe children. “You seem pretty upset by it.”
“It was my dad,” Lloyd hiccuped. “He- He-” The young ninja struggled to get the words out between sobs. Kai frowned further and wrapped his arms around the kid, bringing him into a hug. At first, Lloyd tensed, but soon he relaxed into Kai’s chest. “He was hurting me, and he threw me into a wall,” Lloyd sniffled, “and he… he told me he didn’t have a son…” Lloyd’s hand gripped the back of Kai’s pajama shirt tightly. “He… hated me…”
“Oh Lloyd…” Kai murmured, rubbing soothing circles into the kid’s back. “That could never happen. Your dad is the lord of evil and darkness, but he still loves you. That will never change. He is so proud of you… You’re the most important thing in the world to him.”
“But… it felt so real!”
“I know buddy… But you’re safe, your dad will never hurt you, and he will always love you,” Kai assured. Kai pulled back, looking down at Lloyd’s still snotty face. “How about we get your mind off this, yeah?” Kai offered a soft, reassuring smile. “Maybe some… ice-cream?”
Lloyd perked up at the mention of sweets. “Really?”
“Yeah, you’ve just gotta promise to brush your teeth again after and not tell anyone else, okay?” Kai asked, holding out his pinky to Lloyd. “They’d get jealous if they knew we were getting ice cream without them.”
Lloyd frowned at the idea of brushing his teeth again. It was already a fight to get him to do so before bed, he didn’t want to brush his teeth three times in a singular day. However, getting ice cream just might be worth it, especially if it was just him and Kai. Candy always tasted sweeter when he didn’t have to share. Lloyd wrapped his pinkie around Kai’s outstretched finger and shook it once. “Deal. My lips are sealed!”
Kai grinned and stood up. “Good, 'cause I also don’t want the others to know I have ice cream. It’s so hard to hide things from them in this house- or, well… ship.” Kai rested Lloyd on his hip as he made his way to the fridge. Kai opened the upper freezer door and rummaged inside. Reaching the very back, where ice had begun to take over the forgotten food, there was a bit of ice chipped out, hiding a pint of strawberry ice cream in the frozen walls. Words were scribbled all over the pint of ice cream, consisting of death threats to anyone who ate Kai’s ice cream without permission. Permission that would never be granted. Unless, of course, you were Nya as she got sibling privileges. Now Lloyd was added to that very short list.
Kai grabbed two bowls from the cupboard and set them on the counter. He struggled with opening his pint of ice cream one-handed, but he was determined not to set Lloyd down. Plus this was not the first time he’d had to learn how to do things with one hand. Kai was reminded of when Nya was a toddler. After their parents had abandoned them out of the blue. She would cry all night long, asking for their mother. Kai would try his best to soothe her and eventually found it easier to hold her until she calmed down. The adults in their village would often help during the day, ensuring the two kids were still alive and eating. But at night or when everyone was busy, Kai was solely responsible for Nya.
Kai promised to always protect and take care of his little sister. Now with his shirt soaked with tears and Lloyd gripping onto him so tight, as if he loosened his grip by a fraction that Kai would disappear, how could Kai not do the same for the young Garmadon?
Kai managed to scoop a satisfactory amount into both of the bowls and put his ice cream back into its hiding spot. He struggled to hold two bowls one-handed while also trying to avoid any of the deserts or their spoons from dropping. No one said it was easy to be a single mother when you were both a teenager and male.
Kai carried Lloyd out of the kitchen and into the open air of the night. He got halfway down the stairs leading to the main deck before easing himself down to sit. The fire ninja finally set Lloyd down beside him, but the young one did not let up his grasp on Kai’s shirt.
Lloyd only let go when Kai held out a bowl to him, this one having slightly less ice cream than the other. He didn’t want Lloyd to eat too much sugar and give himself another thing to be hurt about. Lloyd took the desert but kept pressed close to Kai.
For once in his life, Lloyd was slow to eat the sweet treat. He twirled the spoon, mixing the ice cream in circles. “Kai… do you really think my dad won’t ever hurt me?” Lloyd asked softly, looking up at the other.
“He would never,” Kai promised, knowing it to be a lie. Lloyd was destined to fight Garmadon. It would be impossible for Lloyd to not even get a small scuff in the final battle. But even an airhead like Kai knew that Lloyd did not need the truth right now. “But if he ever does, I’ll be there with you. I’ll protect you no matter what.”
Lloyd turned back to the bowl and took his first bite of ice cream. He thought something over before looking back up at Kai. “Like a dad?”
“Huh?”
“Yknow… Dads are usually the ones who are always there and protecting their kids,” Lloyd explained.
“I…” Kai hesitated. Being a dad was too much responsibility for him. Just because Kai was eighteen did not mean he was ready for adult duties. “I don’t know how to be a dad…” Kai began, seeing Lloyd’s face drop further. “But! I do know how to be a big brother. You see how Nya turned out, you could be just as cool and smart as she is with me looking out for you.”
A small smile crept onto Lloyd’s face. “Yeah! One day I’ll be so much cooler and better at fighting than you are! Just like Nya!”
Normally Kai’s ego would be hurt, but for now, he was just relieved that Lloyd was cheering up. The fire ninja chuckled and nodded his head. “You sure will, and I’ll get bragging rights to everyone that I have the coolest little brother in the world,” Kai grinned, ruffling his hand through Lloyd’s already messy hair.
Lloyd giggled and pushed Kai’s hand away playfully. Kai relented his teasing, letting Lloyd eat the rest of his ice cream. Now he ate much quicker than before, his usual pace whenever he got his grubby little hands on sugar. Kai smiled, relieved at how the sadness left Lloyd’s face.
Kai leaned back against the steps and sighed happily. He slowly made his way through his bowl. He wasn’t all that interested in eating something so sweet this late at night, but he wasn’t just going to let Lloyd eat alone. So when Lloyd finished his entire bowl and started eyeing Kai’s food too, the fire ninja rolled his eyes as he handed the child the rest of his ice cream.
“Thank you, Kai!” Lloyd cheered, eating the small remainder.
Kai looked up to the stars in the night sky. He shut his eyes momentarily as he relaxed. He heard the clanging of bowls and then felt Lloyd shuffle closer to him, leaning into his side.
“Can we stay here for a little bit longer?” Lloyd asked softly. “I don’t want to go back to bed just yet…”
“Of course, buddy,” Kai agreed, wrapping his arm around Lloyd. He rubbed soothing circles into Lloyd’s back. Kai opened his eyes, glancing down at the child. Lloyd had buried his face into Kai’s side. His eyes were closed and Kai knew he should make sure he didn’t fall back asleep before brushing his teeth. However, the moment was too nice to end. He would get Lloyd up and back to his bed soon. He swore.
Yet before he knew it, Kai’d eyes were drooping shut.
-
“Hey, sleepy-heads!” Kai groaned as he felt a light kick to his shoulder. “You can’t sleep forever!”
“Your voice is so annoying, Jay,” Kai grunted. Kai shifted, pulling the blanket on top of him closer. His eyes peeked open, actually taking note of the blanket. Where had it come from? Kai couldn’t remember.
“Do you really hate sharing a room with us so much that you had to sleep outside?” Cole teased as he walked past the half-asleep duo.
“After stealing Master Wu’s blanket as well,” Zane added, passing by them as well to the main deck.
Kai sat up, yelping in pain from the kinks in his back from sleeping with the stairs digging into his back. Lloyd whined as his pillow moved away from him, forcing him to wake up. Kai lifted the blanket, analyzing it to see if Zane’s words were true. Kai furrowed his eyebrow and looked up, searching among his teammates. Kai’s eyes met with Wu, who wore a knowing look.
“It’s not my fault that Jay snores too loud,” Kai shot back. That wasn’t the real reason, but he knew at Lloyd’s age he was embarrassed by having nightmares. So it would be their little secret.
“Hey! It’s not that bad!” Jay cried, looking to Cole and Zane to back him up. However, the two refused to meet his gaze, looking in the opposite direction of their teammate. “Oh come on! I’m working on it! I’m sorry I can’t control my body while I'm asleep!” Kai laughed as Jay was distracted by ranting about how he was doing so much, and the rest of them were also annoying in their sleep. How Zane made the room too cold, Kai made it too hot, and Cole was always moving around which made the bed creak and shake. Kai stood up and held out his hand to Lloyd, helping the child to his feet as well. “C’mon, let's go get ready while Jay is distracting everyone.”
-
“Are you really going to keep your promise?” Lloyd asked once the two were inside, preparing to brush their teeth. “From last night?”
“Of course I am,” Kai promised once more, ruffling Lloyd’s hair. “I’ll be the best big brother you could ever dream of.”