Work Text:
The rain pattered softly against Lloyd's shoulders. He could distantly recall what Nya told him last about trying to remain hidden, not to draw any attention to himself and his brothers. Well, 'try' is the key word; its hard not to draw attention to a couple of brightly colored teens, as well as one with horns and a tail.
He felt like Sensei Wu really should've told him about that sooner, but they were occupied with making sure Garmadon didn't get his hands on the golden weapons, so he supposed its fine.
Anyways, the rain felt quite nice against Lloyd's aching hands, sore from ninja training just minutes ago. After another successful day of the ninja working him to death, someone suggested they go out to eat at some new restaurant downtown.
Normally they tried not to indulge in such things as often anymore due to having to train for, yknow, the oncoming battle between good and evil, which did he mention that it was primarily determined by Lloyd's ability to kill his own father? Really not looking forward to that but whatever.
After learning from trial & error that the best way to deal with your problems is to ignore them until they hit you square in the face, Lloyd's not gonna let his depressing thoughts get him today! Especially since its his first time out of the bounty since like, forever. Man, he knows their main motto is 'Ninja never quit!' but seriously?
So after much nagging from both the blue and black ninja, the rest finally agreed to take a break. One, because they all know Jay can't train as well if he has something else occupying his mind and Cole forgets to mind his strength when hungry, and three, because they all could tell Lloyd looked like he was about to drop dead.
If the sunken eye bags and sluggish movements weren't enough, the flickering lights and occasional shocks to his sparring partner were enough to seal the deal. Deciding to walk instead of drive because lets face it, they're all too broke to afford gas, they made their way there.
Which brings us to Lloyd's current dilemma.
"Dude, are you sure you're okay to walk? You better have not made me walk all the way over here just for you to kneel over." Kai teased. Though through the hand resting on Lloyd's bicep steading his stumbles, he could tell his brother was worried.
"Yeah green bean, you're not looking so hot." Cole chimed in. "If you can make it there, you could rest for a bit while we wait for our food."
"Or I could walk you back to the Dojo. Its not too far from where we are if I remember correctly." Zane suggested, holding his umbrella more towards the shorter teen.
"Really guys, I'm fine." The boy grumbled. "I can walk a couple of blocks, and Its not like I'm gonna die if I walk a few steps." To prove his point, he sped up his pace from where he was dragging behind like a zombie in the back to the front of their band of weirdos.
Jay snorted at his antics. "Whatever you say, little man, just don't face plant into your plate, alright?"
"Yeah, yeah." Lloyd, in his haze of determination to just put one step in front of the other, didn't catch the glances the older ninja shared above his head. While they knew the training could be rigorous, neither they nor Nya particularly enjoyed seeing their newly baby brother so exhausted.
It has sadly become a common occurrence to see the younger boy walking like he had dragged himself out of his grave, or seeing his eyes glow whenever his quickly becoming short fuse blew. The teens know that the kid hates acknowledging his less then human features on account of him thinking he resembles his father, so they turned a blind eye to it.
Lloyd's had a rough couple of weeks, especially with the whole tomorrows tea fiasco. FSM knows they tried to block the very obvious screaming match between him and Sensei Wu that happened after it, with the boy, now turned teen, growing not only in height but also growing his horns & tail. They just don't talk about it.
Nor do they speak about how pained his sobs sounded when he crawled into one of their beds, typically Kai's, every now and then clutching the golden appendixes arching out of his hairline or holding his jaw in pain.
They don't talk about the jagged canines that gleam in the shallow light of the Bounties kitchen when he eats.
Not his pointed ears or slit pupils, not his sharp nails that grow deadlier and ashen in color every day.
Though the occasional tease about the very obnoxious rumbling that comes from his chest whenever he's near one of his kinda-but-not-really-it's-complicated siblings that Lloyd denies with his entire being that, 'No Jay, it's not purring what if its just an earthquake or something those can happen.'
So for Lloyd's peace of mind, they act like they don't notice. And if one of them (Nya) has a photo album filled with pictures of him resembling a stray cat that they use as leverage against him when he stubbornly doesn't want to rest, it simply goes unsaid.
Reaching their destination of lunch, they quickly get seated and get their waters served to the table that should be too small to be crammed with five people.
Aaaaaaand just as predicted, Lloyd passes out on Kai's shoulder mere moments after sitting down. At least he's sleeping, so it's a win-win.
"You never did figure out why he latched onto you, right?" Zane mumbled just loud enough to be heard, not wanting to wake the guy up.
"Not really, but I don't mind." The red ninja wrapped his arm around the green ninja, slowly scratching his scalp which got him deep rumbling from the younger boys chest. He huffed a small giggle. 'Not a purr' my ass. Though they really needed to get him a haircut.
"I'm a little jealous, to be honest," Jay grumbles with no actual heat as he drags a french fry through ketchup. "I mean, what's Kai got that we don't?"
"I don't think its about that. Maybe he just feels safer with him because he saved him loads of times?" Zane offers as he sips his milkshake obnoxiously, effectively annoying the rest of them as he dodges a smack to the head from who knows who with a airy laugh.
Cole doesn't stop from what he's doing, face first into a plate with an assortment of meats and rice. Though when he comes up for air he replies, "maybe."
They fall into a peaceful silence for a few minutes, before its broken by Kai having to nudge Lloyd awake due to his food arriving.
Lloyd groans as he rubs his eyes, staring at his plate like hes looking through it and into his doom. "Come on dude, eat." He gets a fork shoved into his hand without further notice, a cup of water at his side seemingly appearing out of nowhere. "And drink some water too, can't have the mighty green ninja dying of thirst."
He hums, taking a stab of the steaming slab of the grilled steak smothered in black beans in front of him. Taking a bite, Lloyd doesn't think his eyes watered faster with joy.
"I swear, I don't think I've had a better meal than this." He says with his mouth still full. He knows its rude but all those lessons on politeness Sensei Wu gave him when he first joined seemingly dissipated with a good meal and his brothers by his side.
The other boys watched as Lloyd's mood climbed little by little with each bite, not enough to trade jokes but enough to laugh along to whatever stupid thing they said, however quietly that laugh would be. Sure not everything's fixed and they still likely had missions in the morning, but for a couple of hours, Lloyd felt like a kid again.