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Kai, being the gossip-loving idiot that he is, heard something from a friend who heard something from a sibling, who had also heard something from a friend. So naturally, he was vibrating at a frequency that threatened to shatter glass, just dying to tell somebody else about it while he sat in class. He always got an earful from Nya about how rumor-spreading was harmful to all those involved and blah blah blah, but this was WORLD-ALTERING gossip we were talking about here, and he was actually doing pretty good right now considering his track record of running his mouth. HOWEVER, he had friends that he knew would probably wanna hear about this.. like, immediately. Plus, if they didn't hear it from him, they'd just end up hearing it from somebody else, which bothered him. So, really, Nya had no reason to pick a fight with him over this. Although, that's never really stopped her before.
As soon as the teacher stopped lecturing, he pulled out his phone, hiding it between the pages of a textbook and trying his best to play it cool.
By the end of that period, he'd texted everyone in his friend group, so he could finally rest easy ‘til lunch, where he could discuss it with them like it was a book club, except the book was a rumor and it was WAY more interesting than any book.
First to arrive at the lunch table was Lloyd, since his class was closest, and because his mom always packed his lunch for him, he was usually left sitting by himself for a bit.
Second was both Cole and Zane, since Cole always waited for Zane at the stairs so they could walk to lunch together. The earth ninja bought his lunch, so he waved to his boyfriend while he headed off to the line as the ice ninja sat down across from Lloyd.
Jay was third, coming in just behind the couple and joining those at the table. Then, Nya was next from athletics, who waited for her brother by the entrance of the cafeteria (if she was in a good enough mood).
Having to wait longer than usual, she guessed he'd gone to the bathroom or stopped in the hall to talk to some random person that nobody at their table knew except for Kai, since he had the misfortune—as Nya saw it—of knowing so many people.
While she tapped her foot by the door and watched the clock, Zane's brother, Echo Julien, stopped to say hello to her, cheerful as usual.
She found it funny that they could get away with two robots at the school and still have nobody notice that there was something more going on.. especially since Echo was so much worse at hiding it. Once during one of his classes, he popped his arm off because he said it kept getting stuck in place, and the only reaction he got was just a few screams and a rushed visit to the nurse… who fainted when she saw him, and by that point he'd just put his arm back on and everything was alright.
Putting the thought aside, she was about to say bye to him when someone else caught her attention.
“Echo, wait up!”
To her surprise, jogging over was Morro Wu, the guy with a temper worse than even her own. Because he was Lloyd's cousin, however, they all had to give him some leniency, even when he was being a bastard just ‘cause he could. Right now, though, he actually looked happy, which was something she'd never seen from him before. Echo gladly greeted him back, acting like everything was completely normal. When Morro noticed her, his smile dropped, but less like he was unhappy to see her and more like he was just sort of embarrassed.
Totally oblivious to the newfound tension in the air, Echo spoke up. “Well, we should be going now. Goodbye, Nya!” Giving a double-handed wave, Echo left. Morro lingered for a moment, meeting eyes again with Nya and giving her a short nod before leaving to join his friend. Even though it was really weird to think of them as friends, considering they were polar opposites.. And it was only even weirder that Morro was polite to her just now.
Shortly after that, though, the firestarter finally came into view. “What up Nya!!!”
She rolled her eyes but walked in with him anyway as he told her that he had to use the bathroom, and then got stopped by a few old friends for a chat.
While the Smith siblings entered the lunch line, the ninja at the table talked about a bunch of nothing. That is, until Lloyd asked Jay a question. “Are you good..?”
Apparently, Jay wasn't very subtle with the way his eyes darted from Zane, to across the room, then to the lunch line. Rinse and repeat.
“Uhhmm, yes?”
Zane was more straightforward.
“You keep looking at me. Is it my hair?” He put a hand to his hair, which, realistically, would never move from its perfect placement, he was just copying something he heard Kai say often.
“Oh, uhm, no. Just, uh…. Have you.. talked to Kai? Either of you?”
They exchanged glances.
“Why?” Lloyd enquired first.
Jay tugged at the end of his scarf before finding his words. “..Hah, you know what, it’s nothing.” He gave the best reassuring smile he could and started unpacking his lunch just so he had something to do with his hands.
Lloyd was not at all convinced, but he decided to cut the blue ninja some slack. “Is it anything we should be worried about?”
Jay looked up at him and silently shook his head. At that, Lloyd looked back at Zane and shrugged.
“Kai, what the hell did I tell you—”
The brunette jumped in to defend himself, the words quickly flooding out his mouth. “That spreading rumors is bad, I KNOW—BUT IT'S TRUE! AND I THOUGHT IT WAS IMPORTANT THEY KNEW!”
Nya opened her mouth to object, but something stopped her.
“What? You finally run out of smart things to say?”
Nya jabbed him in the arm for that.
With the rest of the ninja slowly filing out of the line, they made their way round to their table, where the rest of their friends were waiting and happy to greet them.
..Which made one thing clear.
“Uh… Did either of you..” Kai gestured towards Lloyd and Zane. “..get my texts?”
“Oh,” Lloyd said, promptly pulling out his phone while Zane mirrored him. They didn't notice everyone at the table simultaneously tense up.
“I apologize, I do not look at my phone during the instructional period. Henceforth, I did not—”
Zane stopped. He didn't even bother for theatrics in acting surprised like he thought any normal human should, and instead he just sat there and processed. Then, attention was turned to Lloyd, who had his mouth agape, as he stared at Kai. “No. There's no way.”
With all of them just sitting there for a moment, Nya was the first to break the ice.
“Yeah.. I thought it was weird too, at first, but honestly… I believe it.”
“You believe it?” After a few seconds, Nya gave a cautious nod. “You're saying my cousin. Is dating Zane's BROTHER?”
So what Kai had heard from his friend's sibling's friend was that Morro had kissed Echo. Or Echo had kissed Morro—the details totally got lost in translation, but that's besides the point. The reason that Kai believed it in the first place was because they were such an unusual couple that he knew nobody would've even thought to have made that shit up. The unfortunate thing was that Zane and Lloyd were so lame that they didn't even check their texts during class, so they didn't get time for it to sink in before they were freaking out to the others about it.
“Morro is a total jerk! How does he end up with someone like him???”
“Maybe Kai's source is untrustworthy… Do you know the rates at which eyewitness testimonies are incorrect?”
“Do I have permission to kill Morro if he breaks Echo's heart? Actually— why am I even asking? He's my cousin, I'm totally gonna kill him.”
“I'm not sure Echo even knows what romance is.”
The earth ninja was getting tired of their back and forth, so he figured he'd give his own thoughts.
“Hey, you know what romance is, don’t you?” He elbowed the boy beside him, referring to the fact that they were literally dating. “So why can’t he?”
“Oh. Well..”
Lloyd rolled his eyes, figuring he should be the one questioning whether or not Morro knew what romance was.
“..Okay, but,” Jay spoke up, “How do we know it even actually happened? I mean, this school is just one big game of telephone, not to mention some people just completely make things up.”
Zane had the idea first.
“How about I just ask him?” Everyone turned to face him when he said that.
Looking back to his phone—mandatory of your average human teenager—he opened his messaging app and easily sent the text to his brother, “Is it true that you and Morro are dating?”
So Lloyd thought, what the hell, he’ll text Morro as well. “Did you kiss echo???”
Then they waited.
“I mean, I just saw the two of them, and they were surprisingly friendly, so..”
“Really?”
“Yes, really. You can’t doubt me when you’re the one pulling sources straight out of your—”
“Oh! He said yes,” Zane interrupted.
Glancing over to a table across the cafeteria, Nya watched Echo point at his phone and show Morro, like something was funny. This prompted Morro, who looked rather unamused, to take out his phone.
“Well, guess that’s solved,” said Jay.
Alerted by the brief chime from his phone, Lloyd looked back at it. “Oh, I got a ‘please kys.’ Lovely.”
With everyone else bursting into a collective laugh, Lloyd shook his head before meeting eyes with Morro from across the room, who simply shrugged. Echo waved happily. He guessed that some things would just never make sense to him.
“Wait. Do you think Morro knows he’s a robot?” Kai broke from his laughter with his dire realization.
Nya punched him in the arm out of the sheer stupidity of the comment. “OF COURSE he knows, dumbass.”