Chapter Text
“We’ll be back in a bit!” Lloyd yelled, grabbing the door handle while waving.
“‘Kay, stay safe!” Kai called back, before Lloyd closed the door.
He turned to Jay, who was waiting on one of the steps of the porch stairs. “Alright, it's our turn for errands. Did Zane text you the grocery list?”
“Huh? Oh, let me check.” He pulled his phone from his jeans pocket, scrolled a bit, and nodded. “Yup!”
“Great, let's go!” Lloyd pointed to the monastery gate and began walking towards it. He shifted a heavy backpack around, trying to get it in a comfortable spot as it lay on his back. He groaned.
Jay laughed, trailing behind him, carrying a few empty tote bags. “Eager, are we?”
“Yes.” he sighed, “The faster we get down there, the faster I can get this stupid bag of laundry out of the way.” he hummed, rambling to Jay as he pushed the gate open, “Why did the laundry machine just HAVE to break when it's our week to do errands? I did not want to go to the Laundromat today, the cleaner scent in there– just thinking about it gives me a headache,” he whined.
They casually chatted as they walked down the stone stairs of the mountain. The two didn't commonly engage in small talk, so it was nice to just complain or gossip about whatever they felt like.
“Same, but we gotta do what we gotta do, you know? Can't just wash the dishes or something; we gotta be responsible adults!”
“But I'm not an adult yet!! I'm still seventeen.”
“Isn't your birthday in 3 months?”
“Well- yeah- but still-” he sighed and looked at his feet. “Adulting's hard.”
The two burst into tiny giggles for a few moments as they continued trudging down the never-ending staircase.
Today was a peaceful, windy day in Ninjago. The group decided that Jay and Lloyd would have to run an errand day instead of enjoying the weather. But Lloyd didn't really mind– he didn't necessarily have any other plans for the day, and it was nice to catch up with the Lightning Ninja.
And they were overdue for another errand run up at the monastery anyway.
After they finally got to the bottom, Lloyd had the realization that they were going to have to drive another 15 minutes to get to Ninjago City. No matter how many times they would do this, he always forgets.
Lloyd smirks at Jay and yells “NOT IT!!!”
Jay whipped his head around to face him. “Ugh, come on!! Are you kidding me?” After Lloyd shook his head, he murmured, “Fine! I'll drive.”
“Yess!” Lloyd hissed under his breath and spun around on the heel of his foot.
—
“Okay passenger princess, where to first?”
“Excuse me?”
Jay glanced over and blinked. “Your feet are propped up on the glove box, you're playing TV Girl on the radio, and you're… where the heck did you get a juice box from?!”
Lloyd looked at the drink in his hand and back at Jay.
“Uh… I dunno. It was in the cup holder, and it's still cold. So, it's mine now.”
“Okay, whatever,” Jay flicked his hands around dismissively, “where should we go first?”
He sipped loudly on the straw. “How about the Laundromat, just to get it over with? Don't we also have to wait for it to be done, too?”
“Got it, Greenie.” He put the car into drive and hit the gas pedal.
—
Walking into the Laundromat, Lloyd couldn't shake the uneasy feeling that someone was watching him. Jay had dropped him off and went to the grocery store, so he was by himself there.
He fidgeted with the strings of the red hoodie he was wearing as he gathered up his social anxiety and walked into the building.
He may or may not have stolen the hoodie from Kai, but that wasn't important.
The door dinged when he opened it. Looking up, he was met with a nice looking woman, probably in her 30’s on the other side of the front desk. She had blonde hair with dyed pink bangs and a few ear piercings, which Lloyd thought that Kai would have complimented her on.
“Hello! Welcome in!”
“Hi,” he waved with an awkward smile.
Walking past the front desk, while shifting the bag around on his back again, he glanced around, looking for an unused machine with preferably no one nearby.
There was a man with who he assumed was his young daughter, who was smiling and holding a lollipop, and a girl about Lloyd’s age sitting on a bench near the front, crocheting something.
Another person was by a vending machine– an old lady who was trying to get a water bottle from the latch compartment at the bottom, but couldn't quite reach.
He was about to ask if she needed help getting it, but before he could, the lady at the front desk hopped up. “Here, let me get that for you, ma’am!”
“Oh, thank you, dearie.”
“Okay, nevermind-” he quietly mumbled and continued looking around.
His eyes landed on an empty washing machine in the corner next to a window.
Bingo!
—
Lloyd had pulled out his book and had been reading it when he suddenly heard a noise.
It sounded like someone dropped something. But not by someone in the room.
It sounded like it came from outside the window.
He quickly glanced outside and–
Nothing.
Well, there was a shrub. But nothing that could have made that noise. Lloyd shuddered and looked at his shoes.
I must have imagined it. He thought, and went back to his book.
He couldn't focus. The words kept blurring together and he would find himself looking back to the window, searching for anything that could have made that noise.
Maybe… it was an animal?
He looked at the dryer. The time on it said 5 minutes left. He sighed, placing a bookmark into the book, and pulled out his phone.
~
Jay Walker
Hey, I'm done at the laundrymat, wen r you gonna pick me up?
11:34 AM
already omw. store didnt have any of kais hair gel, haha </3
11:34 AM
Uh oh, Kai's gonna be realy annoyd.
11:36 AM
well, maybe its for the best. he looks like a palm tree atm
11:37 AM
outside
11:42 AM
~
By the time Jay had arrived, Lloyd had already gotten the laundry out and thrown it in his backpack. He could fold it later.
He was way more focused on the book he was reading. And the feeling that someone was watching him, but he tried to ignore that. He was almost at the end of the last chapter, and it was taking every single bone in his body not to cry from it.
He waved goodbye to the girl at the front desk and left for the car.
He opened the side door and chucked the backpack in, then closed it.
When he got in the front seat, Jay took one look at his face and frowned. “What's got you so worked up? Did something happen?”
“No- I… uh…” he wiped his face with his hand, embarrassed. “My book- uhm- has a really sad part at the end? Stupid, I know-”
“Oh! Well, good to know you're not having an emotional breakdown,” Jay winked, then looked back forward and began starting the car again. “Do you want to stop by the library on our way back home? So you can get another.”
“Uhm…” he looked down at his hands. I want to go back to the monastery.
“Sure, if it's on our way back. We don't have to go if it's out of the way.”
Jay’s eyes wandered back to Lloyd. “Are you sure nothing's bothering you? Er- nothing else, other than your book. You seem off.”
The blond teen propped his elbow onto the car door. “I don't know. I just…” Lloyd couldn't put his thoughts into words. He felt jumbled, like someone had shook his brain around.
Why was this freaking him out so much?
“It's nothing, sorry.”
“Oh, okay then,” Jay murmured. “We will be at the library in a few minutes, so get your library card and stuff out.”
“Got it.”
The rest of the ride was silent, which made Lloyd slightly uncomfortable. It wasn't usual for Jay to be so quiet.
Did I say something wrong?
—
“Do you want me to go in with you?” Jay offered when he pulled up to the Ninjago Public Library.
“Nah, it's okay,” he muttered.
“I'll wait out here for you, then.”
“Thanks, Jay!”
“No problem. Don't take too long!”
He pushed the door open and went in. The familiar scent of old paper filled his nose, making him smile.
The library is always so calm and peaceful.
He nodded nicely at the person working the front desk, appearing to be a tall adult with an afro. He noticed that they had a nonbinary pin on their shirt. Ooh!
“Hey, I like your pin,” he said, pointing to the person's shirt.
“Oh! Thank you!”
“Yeah!” He gave them a thumbs up and continued walking towards the young adult section.
He walked through the aisles, scanning the titles, until he spotted one that caught his eye.
The Hunger Games. He had been meaning to read that, now seemed like the perfect time.
The feeling of eyes following his every move suddenly felt like a distant memory. The library always made him feel safer and welcomed. He walked back up to the front desk where the person was still standing.
“Hey, can I check this out?” He handed them his library card and the book.
“Of course.” They clicked a few buttons and took the card, scanned it under a barcode reader, then took the book and scanned it under the same reader.
“All finished. It's due in 3 weeks!” they announced, closing the book and scooting it back to Lloyd.
He took it. “Great, thank you!”
“Have a good day!”
“Thanks, you too!”
As he left the building, Jay was already there, pulled up in the parking lot. He had the window down and for some reason had sunglasses on, even though the sun was hidden behind clouds.
“Get in loser, we're going shopping.”
Lloyd stared at him. “What?”
“Uh..” he pulled the sunglasses off. “Mean Girls?”
A beat passed.
“Oh- nevermind, just get in, we're going home.”
“Okay-”
Lloyd went around the car and got into the passenger seat, and Jay started rambling about how Mean Girls is a staple in every young boy's journey into becoming a man, but Lloyd didn't catch most of it.
The feeling came back.
As Jay pulled out onto the road, he could have sworn that he saw someone looking at him from the library windows, but it could have just been his imagination.
Jay was still talking, but that didn't stop him from noticing how Lloyd shrunk back suddenly while he was looking out the window.
—
Jay burst through the door of the monastery and ran into the common room, Lloyd, slower, in tow.
He saw Kai, Nya, Zane, and Cole playing chess on the coffee table. Well, Zane and Nya were playing chess, Kai and Cole cheering them on.
“LLOYD DIDN'T GET MY MEAN GIRLS REFERENCE!!”
Cole gasped like he had been shot. “LLOYD! We taught you better than this!!”
“I- uh-”
“This requires a Mean Girls marathon,” Zane stated, starting to stand up from the table.
“No- no thank you,” he shook his head, “I'm just gonna go read my book. How about tomorrow?”
“Oh. Sure thing, we can wait till tomorrow,” Kai nodded.
Lloyd smiled. “Thank you!”
He looked to the kitchen and walked to the pantry. Snagging a granola bar, he held his book up to his chest and went to his room.
Sitting down on his bed, he pushed himself onto the backboard and sat on the pillow. He cracked it open, but something fell out.
It was a sealed envelope.
He flipped it over, still on the bed, and in fancy cursive writing and a green pen, it had his name.
Lloyd Garmadon
Huh.
He set the granola bar on the bed and hesitantly reached for the envelope.
Lloyd slipped his thumb through the seal to rip it open and a paper fell out.
He unfolded the paper and began to read it.
Dear my love–
I have decided to begin writing you letters, so I don't have to just watch you from the sidelines. I love you, my flower petal. I have since we were both young, and though I believe I should keep my true identity a secret for the time being, I have known you for a long while.
I regret that I only discovered my feelings the second you left. Your absence informed me that I hated when you were gone. If I could have been sooner, maybe we could be together already.
You fill me with pride and longing every time I see you in Ninjago City. Your taste in literature interests me. The Hunger Games? Such a classic, amazing story. This is the third time you have walked by it when looking at books at the library. You finally took it today. I knew you would.
I know you very well, I assume maybe more than you might know yourself. It's so adorable, watching your eyes widen as you look for a sound. Or how you barely drink anything if it doesn't have a straw, because you hate having to tilt the cup up. Please never change, my fern.
I will be writing more letters, so be patient for me, okay?
We will be together soon, little petal.
Love, Your Red Carnation
Lloyd couldn't breathe.
The letter shook in his hands.
Oh my God.
Was someone stalking him? Was someone… obsessed with him?
He felt tears building up behind his eyes. The walls closed in around him.
What could he have done to have someone write this letter to him? Why? When?
Kai gets weird creepy fan letters from obsessed girls all the time!! This isn't any different, right?
Right?
His hands shook harder. He couldn't rip his eyes off the paper. He couldn't breathe. He couldn't breathe.
It's fine, this is fine, everything is fine, oh FSM I'm gonna die I'm gonna die I'm being stalked and they're gonna come and kill me I'm gonna die I'm gonna die I'm gonna die I'm gon–
“-oyd! Lloyd! It's okay, you're okay. No one is here except me, alright? Breathe.”
Lloyd didn't even realize the paper wasn't even in his hands anymore.
He didn't even notice Kai came into his room.
He’s so shaken up.
Kai was sitting right next to him, a hand on his back, and the other hand counting down. His breathing was matched with the counting. Lloyd attempted to look at him and match his breathing, but he kept choking on sobs and looking away.
“Hey, look at me, okay? Inhale,” Kai slowly counted from one to five on his fingers. Lloyd breathed with him. “Exhale,” he counted back down to one with Lloyd.
After a while, Lloyd had mostly calmed down, but he was muttering a million apologies and had his head in his knees.
“Lloyd?”
He looked up.
“You okay, bean?”
He looked down and slowly nodded.
“What happened?”
“I…” he shook his head, not trusting his own voice.
Kai looked to where that dreaded piece of paper was. He had set it on the nightstand. Lloyd silently thanked Kai for that. He didn't want to look at it anymore.
“Was it that paper you were holding? Did it have something on it?”
“Can- can I have a- a cup of water?”
“Sure, give me a minute.”
“...Thank you.”
He came back a minute later with a glass of water with a metal straw in it.
“Oh! You didn't have to do that…”
“Not a problem. But, do you want to talk about how I found you in your room having a full on panic attack?”
“...no.”
Kai raised an eyebrow. “If you don't tell me, I don't have a good way to help. Please, Lloyd?”
Lloyd stared from him, to the letter on the table, to his cup of water.
“Can you… come back in five? I need a second.”
“Yeah, of course. I'll be right back!”
When he left Lloyd's room, Lloyd immediately felt a sigh escape his throat.
“I can't deal with this right now… we just lost Wu to some crazy stupid time vortex!” He pulled on his hair.
His uncle, the man he looked up to since he was 9 years old, and has led the team for as long as he could remember, was gone.
And now he was expected to rise and be the team's leader.
But how was he supposed to lead, when he is being watched at every moment?
The thought sent chills down his spine. He whipped up to look at the window in his bedroom.
There was no one there.
He got up off his bed and triple checked that it was locked.
Then, he closed the blinds. How long were those open for?
He heard a knock come from his door. It made him nearly jump out of his skin, but then he heard Kai’s voice.
“Hey, have you scraped together your thoughts yet?”
He plopped himself back onto his bed. “Yeah... come in.”