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Bleary shapes of skyscrapers and bright lights soared past the large bus window in Lloyd’s peripheral vision as he kept his head down, tuning out his surroundings. In his lap laid his mobile phone, blank and unassuming. Lloyd frowned at the little device, his mind reeling.
The week had been flying by as normal, or as normal as a week could possibly get for the green ninja. For one, he’d made it halfway through the week without his usual school tormentors cornering him in the hallways or making a mess of his locker, so he personally counted that as a win. Not only that, he, along with the other ninja had not heard a peep out of Lord Garmadon for quite a while now, marking it the calmest week Ninjago City’s seen in a very, very long time.
But somehow despite all of that, the most out-of-the-ordinary part of Lloyd’s week was the moment his classmate, Brad Tudabone, approached him while the school bells signalled the end of a torturously slow Wednesday, and asked him for his phone number.
Brad, tall, charming, and fairly popular, asked Lloyd for his number.
All he could really do in the moment was gape at him silently, waiting for the boy to sneer at him and announce it a joke before shouldering past him with a “Did you see the look on his face?!” as he laughed with his friends.
That didn’t happen, though. Lloyd just stared at him helplessly, the both of them awkwardly taking up space in the hallway as fellow students weaved around them, waiting for each other to say something. But when Brad didn’t budge, something clicked inside Lloyd’s paralysed brain, and it was like his ability to function had finally successfully troubleshot itself. The taller boy was fixing him with a soft, almost shy smile as he waited patiently for a response.
All Lloyd could manage was a weak “What?” as he blinked through the initial shock, glancing between the phone in Brad’s hand and the sincerity on his face.
Looking back, it wasn’t one of Lloyd’s proudest moments. He was surprised Brad hadn’t changed his mind at the pathetic sight of him. Instead, he chuckled lightly and repeated himself, causing Lloyd’s face to flush in embarrassment. And if the other boy noticed, he was merciful enough not tease him about it.
It took a few attempts with unreasonably shaky hands, but before he could even finish processing what was happening, his contact had been saved in Brad’s phone. Brad was practically beaming as he thanked him before shooting him a smile that made Lloyd’s heart skip a beat or two.
His face positively burned all the way home as his mind swam with each and every possible reason for that exchange. Sure the two of them were on considerably civil terms, but he hadn’t realised whatever they had, had escalated into number exchanging territory.
The progression of their relationship was bizarre to say the least. They had been somewhat friendly with each other back in the day when they were kids, but they were doomed to eventually drift apart thanks to Lloyd’s terrible reputation. But apparently the universe decided it would be hilarious to keep them practically tied by an invisible string, placing Brad in every single one of his classes over the course of many arduous years.
But despite fate’s unhelpful nudging, they went several years barely interacting only to temporarily reconnect over a recent mishap. Well, it was more a lapse in judgement on Brad’s part. And maybe only partially on Lloyd’s. It was several weeks ago, in gym class, and Lloyd was running on approximately one hour of sleep thanks to a particularly difficult patrol with the rest of the ninja the night before. That night, Garmadon had switched tactics and sent an attack at exactly midnight, assuming the darkness would shield him.
Unbeknownst to him, huge mechs happened to be extremely visible in any light, and the cover of darkness was entirely useless to someone who couldn’t keep his mouth shut. Garmadon’s presence was detected immediately, and Lloyd had to drag himself out of bed with the grace of a very aggravated teenager robbed of his precious beauty sleep. The ninja were equally as pissed, and they took Garmadon’s forces down with more urgency than they were accustomed to.
His cronies were light work, Garmadon himself was being a lot more difficult than they’d expected. The guy was refusing to back down, and even after being completely disarmed (Literally. The arms of his mech had quite literally been torn off), he was particularly insistent on giving the green ninja a hard time. He retreated eventually, at the ripe and early hour of four in the morning. Lloyd had volunteered to take care of cleanup and dismissed his team to ensure they all got as much rest as possible before they’d have to wake up for school in the morning. A self-sacrifice they all appreciated tenfold.
Lloyd suffered through the day extremely run down and miserable, his brain barely functioning enough to step one foot in front of the other without the threat of losing his balance and falling flat on his face. As if things couldn’t get any worse for him, he had gym class that day, and of course they had to be playing that stupid pointless game where you assault people with rubber balls.
Dodgeball. It was dodgeball. The overhead gymnasium lights were too bright and the whistling was too loud, it was all too disorienting. Lloyd had always been an easy target during that game. It provided his entire class an opportunity to unleash their pent up outrage towards the son of Garmadon right on a glistening silver platter, and every single one of them were keen on taking advantage of it. That fact alone proved exactly why gym class had always been his least favourite.
The lack of sleep slowed his reaction time significantly, and before he knew it a ball was hurtling through the air at the speed of a really stupidly fast red blur of doom, decking Lloyd square in the face. The sheer force sent him sprawling across the gymnasium floor at least a good few meters from where he was previously standing, and he faintly recognised the sound of his classmates cheering. He must have blacked out for a second because one moment his gaze was fixed on the bright lights above, stars dancing in his vision, and the next he was sitting up and staring into the concerned eyes of none other than Brad Tudabone.
Lloyd was completely dazed and barely responsive, and someone was holding his lower back steady. Ah, wait, that was Brad. His classmate had a hand braced on his back, the other gripping his shoulder firmly to keep him from falling back on the floor. He couldn’t quite recall what Brad was saying past the ringing in his ears, but his mouth was definitely moving, and if he was any good at lip reading he was positive he could make out the words “nurse” and “concussion.”
Brad helped him stand up, slinging Lloyd’s arm over his shoulders and holding him by the waist to keep him steady as they made their way to what he could safely assume was the nurse’s office.
Thankfully, he didn’t have a concussion. He did have a gnarly bruise on his nose though, and there was a lot of blood. Who knew Brad could pack a punch like that. When Lloyd could finally form a coherent thought, Brad apologised profusely and claimed that it really was not his intention to hit Lloyd at all. Apparently he was actually aiming for Chad who was kind of using ever-oblivious Lloyd as a human shield.
After the incident, Brad would consistently and very randomly check in with Lloyd to ask how his nose was healing, and Lloyd would nervously strike up an — only slightly — awkward conversation. Throughout the entire ordeal, he’d almost forgotten he was the most hated kid in Ninjago, and that maybe he wasn’t doomed to a life of eternal isolation.
But inevitably, his cruel reality struck him the moment it all stopped. His nose eventually healed completely, Brad’s check ups gradually dwindled, and their short lived companionship had come to a devastating end.
Lloyd wasn’t too bothered. Totally.
It wasn’t like his chest would squeeze every time he’d steal a longing glance of Brad happily chatting away with his friends from across the halls. He pretended it didn’t sting when the boy wouldn’t so much as even look at him or spare him another one of his charming smiles. And even though things had been back to how they were before, Lloyd felt lonelier.
But he carried on, having become desensitised to the feeling anyway, assuming Brad’s friendliness had been nothing but an act of pity or obligation. He’d been the one to almost break Lloyd’s nose after all.
Lloyd endured an entire two weeks of silence before Brad approached him again. So to say he was beyond confused was an extreme understatement. Unfortunately the world would not allow him a second longer to dwell on that as someone roughly shoved him from behind as he moved to descend the steps to exit the bus he was currently on.
“Move it, Garmadon.” An older man not much taller than him snarled by his ear as he pushed past him to reach the door first.
Lloyd pressed his lips into a thin line and kept his eyes on the ground as he exited the bus after him, refusing to satisfy the stranger with even the slightest reaction. He already missed his usual stop because he was so distracted, and now he had to deal with the brutality of his fellow citizens as well. Great. And just when he thought he was having a decent week.
The trek home was unremarkable, nothing he hadn’t already endured being a top secret ninja and all. When he finally made it back to the comforting warmth of his own bedroom, his mind still couldn’t quite ease the urge to shoot Brad a risky first text.
But would that make him look desperate? Brad was the one to ask for his number, so maybe he should be the one waiting for the other to strike up a conversation. Was that how this sort of thing worked? Of all people in Ninjago, Lloyd Garmadon was certainly the least educated in any fields of social etiquette.
Tired of wasting so much energy fretting over what he should or shouldn’t do, he reached for his school bag and fished out a textbook. Lloyd was no stranger to procrastination when it came to his academics, but this time around he was desperate for any means to take his mind off his current dilemma.
Though about an hour into studying, he was getting absolutely nowhere. He blinked wearily at the page before him, the words failing to stick in his head as he reread the same paragraph for the tenth time at that point. It was difficult to process words on a page when his mind was constantly scrambling with things to say to Brad if he ever did eventually put the number to use. Lloyd huffed and slammed the book shut. This was useless.
What was the point of even trying to concentrate with his brain completely askew. Lloyd flopped face first on his bed and sighed into his duvet, oblivious to the fact that his “study-break” would be short-lived.
He’d almost dozed off when the sound of his phone buzzing, a dull vibration muted by the fact that his phone was tucked away inside his school bag, jolted him out of whatever state he was in. Without hesitation, Lloyd jumped up and beelined to the bag sitting on his desk. He rummaged hurriedly through his things until his fingers finally caught what he was looking for.
Phone in hand, he slowly sank to the floor and stared at his phone screen, at the message that awaited him.
Lloyd rolled his eyes at the comment, allowing a small smile that quickly morphed into a suspicious pout. How was Brad talking to him so casually? As if they were already long time friends? The whole situation was just so bizarre, he had no idea what to even think. And now he was very much wishing he’d spent more time mentally preparing himself rather than pretending to read a stupid textbook for an hour and a half.
Maybe then he wouldn’t be reduced to a trembling ball of nerves over something as simple as a classmate speaking to him. Pull yourself together, Lloyd!
Bantering with the guy was easier than he thought, to his relief. But that appeared to be the end of the conversation for now. Lloyd really wasn’t sure how to respond to an oddly charged sentence like that. It was a compliment, he was pretty sure. He thinks so. Maybe. No, scratch that, he had no idea.
As guilty as he felt admitting it, he couldn’t help the natural suspicion about Brad’s intentions. Lloyd had experienced his fair share of cruel pranks, practical jokes played by his peers that once utilised his naivety. He knew better now. Lloyd learned to keep his head down and his guard up a long time ago. Sure Kai, Cole, Zane, Nya, and Jay managed to slip through the cracks, but each of them would’ve never given Lloyd a second glance if not for his recruitment as the fabled green ninja. Keeping his walls up was a survival necessity for him, it was safe. Teenagers were cruel.
Brad wasn’t necessarily mean spirited like the rest of his classmates. He could very comfortably say he was rather nice. But no matter how kind someone appeared to be, he could never truly shake the feeling that he always needed to be on high alert, lest he get hurt.
With a troubled frown and knitted brows, Lloyd quickly switched off his phone and moved to set it face down on his night stand. Their chat was short lived anyway, and seeing as he wasn’t the most interesting conversational partner in the world, he was sure that would probably be the last he’d be hearing from Brad.
Lloyd took a seat at his desk again, opting to resume his studies. He chewed on the dull nail of his thumb while desperately fighting back the sting behind his eyes. He didn’t understand why he was getting so worked up over this, it wasn’t like he was completely alone. He had the ninja. And his mom, and his uncle Wu. They were enough.
So what if he couldn’t keep Brad Tudabone around? What was so special about him?
Lloyd loomed over his textbook, knee bouncing restlessly as he threaded his fingers through his hair. He had no idea how long he’d been stewing in his own puddle of despair until he’d been promptly snapped out of it by another loud buzz.
Lloyd’s phone lit up, though barely visible since it was face down, and his eyes snapped to where it sat on his night stand. Without thinking, he stood up to fetch it, eyes scanning the screen as he circled back to his desk seemingly on auto-pilot.
Sinking back into his chair, his thumb hovered over the notification bar as he leaned into the backrest. With only a little hesitation, he opened the message.
Lloyd laughed to himself behind the palm of his hand. Brad was actually pretty funny. He ignored how hypocritical it felt to tell the other boy to study when he was doing a terrible job at doing so himself. His phone sat silently beside his homework, and even though the screen was void and silent, Lloyd couldn’t help his anticipation.
Lloyd swallowed nervously at the defeated tone of that last text. He felt a little bad blowing him off so quickly. It wasn’t like he was actually studying, or even sacrificing an ounce of effort to even try. The sudden change in their dynamic spooked him a little, that’s all. Combined with the uncertainty of their rekindling friendship, and the fact that Lloyd generally wasn’t used to people willingly going out of their way to talk to him, it was overwhelming.
Lloyd tossed his phone on his bed, watching the small thing bounce a few times before landing face up by his pillow. He then slammed his face on the open pages of his text book, effectively muffling his frustrated scream.
Suffice to say, Lloyd did not retain an ounce of information out of that thing.
Later that night, Lloyd tossed and turned in his bed with the spirit of an aggressive tumble dryer. Usually he could easily tune out the city’s night commotion outside their apartment, but tonight he swore the night buses were running louder than usual. He could not, for the love of all creation, fall asleep.
But funnily enough, he knew who to really blame for his restlessness. Lloyd had been deep in his own mind all night, over dinner he’d hardly spoken a word, too busy thinking about how to approach a question he’d been meaning to ask Brad since they started texting.
His mom noticed something was off almost instantly, but he brushed it off as regular school stress when asked. Lloyd could tell she was unconvinced, but she was kind enough to let it go without much more than a comforting hug and some words of motivation.
After completing his night routine and settling into bed, he found himself battling the urge to retrieve his phone and open Brad’s contact. It was definitely a battle, with the way Lloyd would eye the stupid, addicting device in the dark, fingers twitching. Only for him to huff and pull the covers further over himself in protest. An unbearable back and forth that lasted at least three entire gruelling hours.
So finally, after about another fifteen painstaking minutes of useless repositioning of his arms and rotating his worn-out pillow, he twisted around and reached for his phone, yanking the thing off the charger in the process.
Lloyd waited, anxiety pooling deep in his gut. Brad had gone M.I.A for a few minutes now, and he was beginning to worry. With nothing else to do to bide the time, he stared at the ceiling, and waited.
A good few minutes passed him by, and he didn’t realise how hard he’d zoned out until his phone buzzed in his hand, indicating Brad’s return. It was embarrassing how quickly that eased his mind.
Brad didn’t respond after that, finally leaving an open window for what Lloyd needed to get off his chest. Well, here goes nothing.
Lloyd squinted at the screen incredulously. What in Creation’s name could someone like Brad possibly have to be embarrassed about?
His reply was immediate. Lloyd forced himself to tear his eyes away from the screen for a moment, ignoring the inexplicable warmth that spread itself across his face and prickled at the back of his neck.
Many, many scenarios spun around Lloyd’s mind when he pondered how Brad would respond, all of which did not even consider the possibility that he actually wanted to be friends. His entire life he’d been conditioned to expect the worst of his peers, even a classmate that went out of his way to help Lloyd to the nurse with an almost-broken nose and a maybe-concussion, and consistently checked up on him for days afterwards.
Now that he thought about it, Brad really had been nothing but nice to him, even before the dodgeball incident. He never went out of his way to ridicule him for who his father was, he never glared daggers at him in the hallways when he was just trying to get through the school day just like everybody else.
Lloyd stared at the messages, cycling Brad’s words over and over in his head. He really liked talking to Brad, too. Maybe Brad was worth letting his walls down for. It was a risk he thought he’d vowed to never, ever take. But something about him gave Lloyd just enough courage to maybe consider taking that risk after all.
__________________
Lloyd stifled a yawn as he dragged his feet towards his locker with his friends in tow, the each of them happily chatting about their mornings. Kai crept up to him for a sneak attack, ruffling his hair and commenting on how tired Lloyd looked that morning, to the rest of the group’s mutual agreement. Shrugging off his friend’s affections, they each split and sought out their lockers, Lloyd noting happily that it was spotless yet again.
He’d now gone four days in a row without needing to scrub off nasty words and chewing gum, it was practically a world record. Gathering what he needed for his first class, he slammed the metal door closed, revealing a figure standing in the spot it had just been concealing.
Lloyd startled, placing a hand to his chest in relief when he realised it was just Brad. The boy greeted him with a wide grin and way too much energy radiating off his body for someone who’d supposedly gotten as much sleep as he did.
“Jeez, man, you scared me.” chuckled Lloyd, leaning his shoulder against his locker as he faced Brad. Having given the other boy a quick once-over, Lloyd puzzled suddenly, noticing that his friend’s hands were behind his back for some inexplicable reason. Brad only grinned nervously underneath his scrutiny.
“Sorry! Sorry, here,” he quickly unfurled his hands from behind his back to reveal a small packet of pretty purple flowers and held it out to him, “Lavender. It’ll help you sleep. Chamomile tea helps too, but I don’t have any of that on me right now. I can point you to a good tea shop though.”
Not even the lightning ninja could come close to rivalling the sheer amount of shock coursing through his entire body as Lloyd stared at Brad like he’d just grown a whole second head. He glanced back and forth between his face and the lavender, an unfamiliar, warm sensation building in his gut.
Lloyd frowned, pointing to himself lamely for clarification, “This is for me?”
“Yeah. Don’t look too surprised,” Brad pressed the flowers into his empty hands with a kind smile, “Just take em’.”
Lloyd admired the lavender tucked neatly inside the paper bag sporting the logo of a flower shop he faintly recognised. And upon further observation, there was also a tiny bottle of what he could only assume was probably lavender oil. Warmth spread to his cheeks as he shot his new friend a grateful smile, “Thanks.”
For some reason the both of them couldn’t quite keep solid eye contact, both boys avoiding each other’s gaze shyly. Lloyd kept his eyes trained on the lavender pouch, “This was.. really thoughtful of you.”
Brad smiled bashfully, reaching up to scratch the back of his neck, “S’no biggie,” he murmured, “I happen to know a thing or two about flowers an’ I had a few of those lying around. Thought I'd spare you some of my wisdom.”
“Heh, no kidding. That’s pretty cool,” Lloyd tucked the packet in his hoodie pocket, patting it reassuringly, “Seriously, thank you. I think that’s the nicest thing anyone’s ever done for me.”
“Well, get used to it,” Brad nudged him on the shoulder playfully, moving to head further down the hall towards his own locker. Lloyd watched him go with an uncharacteristically fond smile. “See you in class,” Brad called over his shoulder before disappearing into the bustling crowd.
His soft smile never faded as he walked to meet up with his group, feigning ignorance to the turning heads, the bewildered stares, and confused whispers. No doubt someone was already racing to the school’s forums to report an unusually cheerful Lloyd Garmadon stalking the halls, and to beware at all costs. Lloyd hardly cared.
As he walked to class alongside Kai and Cole, his hands found their way to his hoodie pockets, absentmindedly thumbing over Brad’s gift.
In the front pocket of his jeans, his phone buzzed.