Work Text:
These ninja were weird. Really, really weird. Lloyd sighed and sprawled out on his floor bed, staring up at the ceiling of the cupboard he called home. Since coming to live on their flying pirate ship – which was pretty cool even though he'd never admit it – the behaviour of the fruit-coloured lunatics who'd taken him in only baffled him more.
Today's exchange fit right in that category. Since basically kidnapping him to come and live with them at the behest of his uncle, not like Lloyd had anywhere else to go, the ninja had mostly ignored him. Until recently, when their behaviour had grown weirder and weirder. Today, Jay had randomly come and tried to hang out with him.
-----------------------------------------
"Hey Lloyd" he startled, glancing up at the door where the blue ninja was leaning, "What'cha doing?"
"Why do you care," Lloyd muttered darkly, pushing the comic he'd been reading as far from Jay's sight as possible.
Unfortunately, the ninja caught the movement. He crossed the room, leaning down over Lloyd, before his eye's widened.
"Is that the latest copy of Starfarer?" The ninja asked, eyes wide as he stared down at the page.
"...Yes." Lloyd answered suspiciously. Great. So much for all his efforts to hide his interest in the comics from the other occupants of his new home. He braced himself, waiting for the mocking or the insults, but they never came.
Instead, Jay gazed down at the page, transfixed by the artwork. He began to speak, "I love these comics, it's been so hard to keep track of the story since training with Wu began, I can hardly ever get copies. Where did you get this? I can't believe—"
Jay's voice rose in volume and speed, firing out questions and trivia but not seeming to notice Lloyd's lack of response. The blonde just watched him, frozen. Jay made no move to leave, simply plonking himself down on Lloyd's left, mouth continuing to run a million miles an hour.
-------------------------------------------------------
Jay had ended up staying for the better part of the afternoon, talking Lloyd's ear off about the franchise. It had been almost fun. He'd had no one to talk to about this kind of stuff, well ever. The master of lightning had shown no malicious intent, nor seemed to have told any of the others.
It really was odd, maybe he knew the ninja could use it as blackmail against him too, not just Lloyd. Why they would though, he couldn't decide. This wasn't the first incident of something like this, even just this week.
A few days earlier, he and Nya had a similarly weird encounter.
-----------------------------------------------
It was dark. Lloyd didn't know what time. All he knew was his hands wouldn't stop shaking, remnants of the latest nightmare still fresh in his mind. He sat heavily at the kitchen table, having retreated from his room after waking in a cold sweat.
He sniffed quietly, shivering on the ancient unheated ship. A creak behind him made him whip around. Nya was in the doorway; eyes locked on him. They remained frozen a second, before she moved past him into the kitchen proper.
Lloyd watched her, debating making a run for it. He really didn't want to go back to his room. Wiping his eyes, he hoped it was too dark for her to see the red in them. She moved quietly around the kitchen, placing the kettle on to boil.
"Want some tea?" Her question startled him from his thoughts. She was looking at him, expression unreadable. Raising an eyebrow at his lack of response, she asked again. "I said, do you want some tea?"
He nodded this time, and she turned back to the now steaming kettle, silencing it before the whistling began and woke everyone aboard. She filled two mugs before walking over and coming to sit at the table opposite him.
A blue mug was placed before him, and he wrapped his cold fingers around it, drinking in the warmth. Neither of them said anything or asked the other any questions. Both simply drank their tea in the dark, cold night.
-------------------------------------------------
Lloyd shivered slightly, pulling his blanket over him. Now that he thought about it, all the ninja had been weird to him in some way or another. He'd panicked inside when Nya had caught him, expecting a scolding. But nothing had come.
She basically ignored him, but strangely also didn't. It turned out, she also made really good tea. Certainly, better than his uncle's ancient tea, that was bitter and horrible. He was pretty sure she'd put honey in theirs.
He stretched slightly, rolling on to his front and picking at the bandage on his hand. Another strange experience of the week.
------------------------------------------------------
Blood dripped down into the sink. Lloyd sniffed, wiping the sleeve of his hoodie over his face. He definitely wasn't crying. The slice across his palm stung he held it over the basin.
So stupid! How could he have been so stupid. He'd been helping Zane in the kitchen, when he'd tripped over and smashed the plate he was holding on the floor. One of the jagged pieces had torn straight through his hand.
Lloyd twisted around as he heard Zane enter the bathroom again, putting on his best scowl. He'd like nothing better than to run and hide somewhere, but his stupid hand wouldn't stop bleeding, so he stayed put.
Zane placed the first aid kit next to the sink, reaching and turning on the tap. Gently taking Lloyd's wrist – he pulled back slightly at the unexpected contact – and guiding it under the flow of water. After a few moments, he pulled it out, inspecting the wound.
"It is not as deep as I feared," The ninja explained, turning back to the first aid kit. "This is good, it will not require stitches."
Lloyd shuddered slightly at that. The idea of getting his flesh sewn back together wasn't a particularly pleasant one. Zane returned with a role of bandages and began to wind them tightly around his hand.
"Please keep the area dry and be careful while using it."
He nodded, hopping down from the counter where he sat. Walking towards the door, he paused. "Sorry about the plate."
Lloyd winced slightly, not looking at Zane. The reply he got shocked him further.
"It does not matter Lloyd, accidents happen."
----------------------------------------------------
Zane was the weirdest of the ninja. Or at least, that's what the other ninja thought. But he seemed nice enough. It was odd though, last time Lloyd had broken something, the punishment—he shuddered, not wanting to go there.
Part of him had been on edge all week, waiting for retribution. He'd avoided Zane, successful apart from when he was cornered to check on his hand. The cut was healing well; it barely stung anymore. Only if he poked it hard enough.
He huffed, flipping up the hood of his skeleton hoodie. It was freezing on this ship, always. Lloyd shoved his hands deep inside the pocket, feeling something in there. He pulled it out, turning over the small black gloves he'd gained yesterday.
---------------------------------------------------------
"Hey Lloyd!"
He whipped around, searching for the source of his voice. Cole was walking over. What did he want. Lloyd stared at him as the ninja approached. Something was held in his left hand, swinging slightly at his side.
Cole reached the rail and leant next to Lloyd. The small boy looked up at him, shivering. He was jealous of their ninja Gi's, they seemed to be really effective at keeping out the cold, unlike his threadbare clothing. He'd never been a particularly warm person, but spending most of his time on a flying ship with no heating high up in the sky certainly didn't help that.
A black object was thrust into his vision, surrounded by Cole's hands.
"I—uh—thought you might want these," the boy started, waving them in front of him. Lloyd narrowed his eyes, looking at the black fabric of – gloves? "I have some spares, and your hands are always red with cold when we fly for a long time. They might be a bit big—but that's better than nothing, eh?"
He held them out to Lloyd, who made no move to take them. He did want them. Really. His fingers were currently frozen stiff inside the sleeves of his jumper. But nothing ever came for free, there was always a catch.
"What do you want for them?" He asked.
Cole made a face, as if taken aback by his question. "What? No, I don't want anything for them. You can just have them."
Pressing them to Lloyd's chest, he gently pulled one of his arms to hold them there. Lloyd remained still, confused by Cole's words. The black ninja pushed off the railing and walked back over to the door below deck.
"See you later squirt!"
What had he just witnessed. Quickly pulling them over his frosty fingers, he relished in the warmth they brought.
-------------------------------------------------------
He was still confused. Nothing about that interaction made any sense. Why would Cole give his spare gloves to Lloyd, for nothing! He wondered if Wu had told him to – no, the old man would just have done it himself.
Lloyd placed them in his little pile of belongings beside his mattress. It was pitiful actually, a grand total of three items. His boots, the training knife he'd nicked on his first day that no one had asked for back, and now Cole's gloves. It wasn't liked he'd owned anything when they'd picked him up, only the clothes on his back.
He'd been here like a week and a half. Despite being so annoyed about his arrival, and the trouble he'd cause the days immediately after, the fruit-coloured teens who lived with his wacko uncle seemed to not want to leave him alone. It made sense he guessed, watching him, he had tried to take them down. But the way they did it was strange.
Even Kai, who lost his temper with him several times, seemed to have got on board.
------------------------------------------------------
Lloyd leant back against the mast, feet dangling over the edge of the beam he sat on. The deck of the Bounty was several meters below him, and from here he could observe all the open parts of the ship.
Nya and Jay were in the bridge, the former piloting the airship while the latter seemed content to simply exist in her company. Cole, Zane and Wu were nowhere to be seen, probably below decks.
He shifted around, scanning for any sign of the red ninja. Maybe he was below as well.
"Lloyd Garmadon!"
Nope, there he was. Standing at the base of the mast, hands of hips, glaring up at him, was Kai. Lloyd tried not to laugh at the image, his neck craned to see, one hand looped around the mast for support.
"What are you doing up there?"
He shrugged noncommittally. "Enjoying the view."
"Come down—it's not safe up there." He sighed, what did Kai care, before sliding back down the rigging. Just for fun, he jumped the last few feet to the deck, landing without stumbling. He brushed his hair out of his eyes, before looking up and meeting the fiery gaze directed at him.
"What." He crossed his own arms.
Kai sighed, "You know that's dangerous—how do you even balance up there its crazy—don't do that again."
Well, that was an empty threat. What would Kai do. He snarked back, "Oh yeah? Or what."
"Or-or I'll tell Wu." Lame threat. Lloyd decided he didn't want a several hour-long lecture from his uncle.
"Fine."
Something akin to relief flashed across Kai's face, vanishing before Lloyd could get a proper look. They stood opposite each other for a moment, before the older boy spoke.
"Go and wash your hands, it's time for dinner."
---------------------------------------------------------
Kai wasn't the only ninja who seemed bothered by Lloyd's safety, he just made it the most obvious. He didn't understand, why someone who had been so whiny about his introduction to the Bounty cared so much about him. It would be less strange if he either cared or didn't rather than flipping between the two.
He rolled over again, thoroughly done with this. The ninja were weird and confusing – if they wanted to spend their time being weird to him, he wasn't going to stop them.