Chapter Text
School became more and more of a misery for Lloyd as the months following Garmadon’s first appearance wore on. Not even there was he allowed to forget that his father was the biggest threat and enemy of the city, as TV screens had been affixed to the corner of every classroom specifically for the purpose of alerting everyone about imminent ‘Garmadon attacks’, which, admittedly, had become more frequent, ranging anywhere from masked crooks (wearing shark costumes, for whatever reason) sticking up a bank, to entire buildings getting destroyed by remote mechs.
Every time a warning did come on, everyone would turn to stare at Lloyd as though they expected him to do or say something. One day someone, Lloyd couldn’t tell who, said a sarcastic “Thanks, Lloyd,” after an announcement, to which everyone had laughed cruelly, and from then on it became a recurring joke. Lloyd tried to act like he found it funny too, but he didn’t.
The only thing Lloyd truly looked forward to at school was playing with Brad, but even that was starting to feel bad in ways he couldn’t figure out why. When he did put it together, he had to work up the courage to ask Brad to help him fix it, and so during their usual play with the Starfarer action figures in the sandbox, he took a deep breath and said,
“Brad? Could… Could you please stop calling me ‘Garmadon’?”
Brad quit making action noises with his mouth and stared at him. “But it’s your name, isn’t it?”
“Y-Yeah but… but I like just Lloyd better.” For emphasis, Lloyd forced himself to smile to show it.
Brad rolled his eyes before returning to pulverize his action figure. “Okay.”
“A-And,” said Lloyd, gripping the edge of his shirt, “also, could you… stop saying ‘thanks Lloyd’ with the class? I don’t care if anyone else says it, but… but I don’t want you to–”
“Hey.”
Lloyd flinched at the hard note in Brad’s voice. When he looked up, Brad was standing over him, glowering down in a way that made Lloyd feel like he was the size of one of the toys.
“You’re not the boss of me,” Brad said. “Just because Lord Garmadon is your dad, doesn’t mean you get to tell people what to do like he does. I’m not your minion.”
“W-What’s a minion? I’m not trying to–”
“Even my parents told me I had to be careful around you. But I just don’t get it.” At his side, Brad’s hand bunched into a fist and shook. “Why do I have to be the only one to treat you different?” he spat between his teeth. “Isn’t that unfair?”
“B-… Because…” For some reason, Lloyd couldn’t seem to talk as easily as he normally could. The words kept getting stuck in his throat, making his voice as small as he felt. “Because we’re… we’re f-friends…”
Brad’s face did something funny then; his nose crinkled, and his lip turned up at the corner. As though someone had shoved something that smelled bad into his hands.
“Real friends,” he said, “don’t try to boss each other around. Real friends don’t treat each other special. Besides, you want to be like your dad, right? And he’s evil.”
He bent and picked up the bulkier of the two action figures – the one he’d used the hero, Fritz Donegan, to beat into the sand – and showed it to Lloyd.
“Don’t you know evil villains don’t have any friends?”
The toy had menacing red eyes that showed through the visor of a black helmet, with spiky armor covering his chest and shoulders, and a blaster gun in his hand that was as long as his arm. Lloyd had never noticed before, but seeing him now, it occurred to him the bad guy of Starfarer looked a lot like Lord Garmadon had on the giant TV.
“B-but… But I’m not…”
“Ugh, whatever!” Brad rolled his eyes again and gathered up the rest of his toys. “If you’re going to be a big baby about it then I’m out of here. It’s not like I have to play with you anyway.”
And he turned around and ran away to the other side of the playground, leaving Lloyd all alone.
For a moment Lloyd just sat there, too shocked to think or move. Then someone familiar passed across his line of sight, and desperately he stumbled to his feet and ran towards them, tears welling up in his eyes and arms outstretched for comfort.
“Morro!” he cried.
He saw his cousin’s eyes widen as he approached, saw him raise his hands towards him…
And shove him hard in the chest, sending him crashing backwards into the hard ground.
“Stay away from me, Garmadon!” Morro snarled, loud enough for everyone in the courtyard to hear.
When the stars had faded from Lloyd’s vision, he got a good look at the intense fury and hatred in Morro’s eyes.
The rest of the day passed by in a haze. Voices became just noise in the background, faces blurred to obscurity, and Lloyd found himself trudging alone to the bus area without remembering a single thing that had happened after Morro had pushed him. When he got onto the school bus he realized too late that Morro would be on it, too, and after scanning the heads poking above the seats in panic and finding his cousin’s familiar dark hair at the back, Lloyd chose the farthest seat he could and curled against the window, pulling the hood of his jacket up over his head to hide from anyone that might sit next to him.
He needn’t have bothered. Nobody did.
***
As soon as Lloyd got home and said hi to his mother, he ran into the kitchen, took out the big scissors from the drawer, ripped off his cape, and sat down on the floor to cut it to pieces. However the scissors were quite a bit too big for him to use one-handed, and he found that the cloth was not as easy to cut through as paper. Frustrated and blinking back tears, Lloyd huffed and opened another drawer, rummaging through it until he found the thing he’d always been expressly forbidden to use – the gas lighter. It was shaped a little like a gun, even had a trigger that made a click sound, easy enough for even a kid to use. He held it up to a corner of the cape, then caught himself; he couldn’t make a fire here in the middle of the kitchen. Safer to do it outside.
In the backyard, he found the driest, yellowest bit of grass he could find – for surely his mother wouldn’t mind if this patch got a little dirty, unlike the greener side – and flicked on the lighter. Heart hammering with anger and trepidation, he brought the small flickering flame towards the edge of the cape. At first it seemed like it wouldn’t catch, as the cloth simply receded away in tiny increments, in a most unsatisfying way – this was going to take forever – but then a line of flickering orange fire flared up, and Lloyd, surprised, dropped the cape in the grass with a yelp.
He was shocked when, almost immediately, the fire spread out along the dry grass, and with a much more frightened yell he scrambled away as the flames danced higher. The black cape curled in on itself and disintegrated within seconds.
Horrified, Lloyd ran back inside, looking desperately around for something he could use – a bottle, a pot, any kind of container – to carry water in. He couldn’t reach the kitchen counter, so he flung open the cabinet under the sink. There must be something, something that would help… He couldn’t tell his mother, she’d be furious with him for using the lighter, he could take care of it… What’s this? His hand found a large white bottle that had a label with a lot of tiny writing on the back, and, most notably, a small pictograph of a fire, with a red X overlaid on it. That meant it was bad for fire, right? So it was something that could quickly put a fire out? It seemed to make sense. Lloyd grabbed it and brought it outside.
The fire had spread even further, reaching the green grass and even licking up the side of the wooden fence that separated their yard from the neighbor’s. Lloyd found his grip was stronger than usual in his adrenaline-fueled panic, and was able to twist the top off the heavy white bottle with two jerks of his wrist. Once he’d gotten as close to the flames as he dared, he threw the contents of the bottle at them. A clear, colorless liquid flew out in an arc, he heard the splat as the drops hit the grass… and the flames roared even higher in response, spurting outward like an animal lashing with its claws. Lloyd screamed, dropped the bottle, and once again ran back inside, too scared to look over his shoulder and see the fire racing after him.
“MOM! MOM! MO-O-O-OMMY-Y-Y-Y-Y!!!”
***
“Evil: Does it run in the family? In tonight’s shocking news story, we discover that Lloyd Garmadon, son of Ninjago City’s infamous enemy and threat to peace Lord Garmadon, completely burned down two homes in an act of mischief making, one of them his own! His neighbors were thankfully unharmed, but understandably traumatized and furious, demanding recompense. One has to wonder how a seven-year-old could do something like this, but, given his lineage, perhaps it is not too surprising that violence and hate is just in his blood–”
“Morro!” Wu barked as he lead Koko and Lloyd into the living room. “Turn that off right now!”
Morro hastily flicked the remote at the TV and the screen went blank, cutting out the news.
“Now take Lloyd to your room to play. And…” The old man drew his charge aside and said to him in a stern, low voice that Lloyd could nonetheless hear (even through his shellshock), “Remember what we talked about. Hear me?”
Morro nodded, looking sheepish, and beckoned Lloyd to follow him down the hall to his bedroom.
Lloyd walked as though in a dream, similar to how he’d gone on autopilot at school, but thinking of that reminded him of what Morro had told him just hours ago and he waited for Morro to sit down first, so he could choose a spot on the floor as far away from him as he could. Then he stared off into space, flames dancing in his eyes.
After a moment, he became aware that Morro had asked him a question and called his name several times. He couldn’t bring himself to answer. Then, suddenly, Morro had come over to sit on the floor beside him, and Lloyd flinched as his hand came down on the top of Lloyd’s head… and rubbed it soothingly.
“When we’re alone like this,” Morro said quietly, “we can be friends.”
In his relief Lloyd gave a little squeal as he flung himself at Morro, wrapping his arms around his waist and burying his face against his stomach. Morro let him hug him for a few seconds, then firmly untwined his arms from around him and pushed Lloyd back. He kept hold of his hands however, and scooted around so that they were face to face.
“But,” he said, in the voice he used when he wanted to remind Lloyd he was older, “if we’re anywhere else, I’m going to pretend I don’t know you. So you can’t do what you just did outside anymore.”
Lloyd’s relief immediately shattered. His lip trembled as he tried not to cry. “But,” he pleaded, “but Morro… Everyone is so mad and mean to me now! All the time! How will I–?”
“Exactly. I don’t want the same thing to happen to me.” There was a small, frightened tremor in Morro’s voice as he spoke, and he squeezed Lloyd’s hands. “You don’t want people to think I’m evil too, do you?”
“No…”
“I already made my dad swear not to tell anyone he’s Lord Garmadon’s brother.” He gave Lloyd a hard look. “So now you have to swear not to tell anyone we’re cousins. Okay? Do that and I’ll keep being friends with you in secret.”
Though still very upset, Lloyd’s mind perked up a little at the word ‘secret’. Having a secret friend sounded fun, even if it was his cousin.
But he still would’ve rather had a regular friend. A real friend.
“Well?”
“Okay… I swear.”
“You swear what?”
Lloyd sniffled, still fighting back tears. “I swear I won’t tell anyone we’re cousins.”
“Or?”
“Or friends. I won’t talk about you to anyone at all.”
Not that he had anyone left to talk to about anything.
At last Morro let go of his hands. He let out a sigh, apparently greatly reassured, and even gave Lloyd a small smile. He wriggled around a bit, extricating something from his pants pocket, and then handed it to Lloyd. It was a wrapped candy bar. “Here. I got this for you. I know you like them.”
Lloyd accepted the treat with a thank you. After he struggled to open it for a bit, Morro took it back, ripped the top open with his teeth, and returned it to him. Lloyd bit off a piece of chocolate-encased nougat and peanut butter… but somehow, for once, the burst of sugar in his mouth wasn’t enough to make him feel better. He didn’t say so to Morro.
For the next few hours, the family all sat in the living room and watched a movie – or at least, Morro watched while Lloyd pretended to watch, and Wu and Koko mostly talked in hushed voices behind them about (“Our house… What are we going to do about the house? All our things… And then the damages I have to pay the neighbors!” “Don’t worry about that, I’ll help you in any way I can”) grown up things – then Wu announced it was time for the boys to go to bed. “You have school tomorrow.”
Obediently, Morro got up and said goodnight to his father and Koko and disappeared down the hall, but Lloyd deliberated uncertainly. “U-Um…”
“I’ll get a futon for you, Lloyd,” said Wu. “You can sleep on the floor in Morro’s room.” To Koko he said apologetically, “I’m afraid there’s no spare bedroom for you, but the couch rolls out, so–”
“That’s fine, Wu. Thank you.”
“And obviously I don’t have any women’s nightwear, but you can make do with one of my spare pajamas if you don’t mind. Lloyd of course can wear one of Morro’s.”
It took a moment for Lloyd to notice that the pause of silence was because his uncle was waiting for him to verbalize his agreement. He nodded listlessly.
“Go with Uncle Wu then, honey. And don’t forget to brush your… oh. Well, we’ll get new toothbrushes tomorrow, so you can skip that just this once.”
Lloyd nodded again, unable to muster any joy at this rare pass. His toothbrush had been shaped like a dragon, with the bristles serving as the teeth (he’d always found it funny that he used dragon’s teeth to clean his own). Now it was probably a pile of ash or twisted black plastic under the wreckage of what used to be his bathroom…
Morro had already got into his bed and curled up under the covers, and by the time Wu had helped Lloyd pick out some pajamas to wear and prepared the futon for him, the older boy was breathing deeply. Lloyd marveled at how he could fall asleep so fast, until Wu called to him from the doorway to say, “Goodnight, Morro,” and Morro replied, without opening his eyes, “G’night.”
Wu switched the light off. “Goodnight, Lloyd,” he said, before pulling the door closed behind him. Lloyd made a tiny noise that went unheard as he tried asking Wu to leave the door open a crack, then changed his mind; this wasn’t his room, and maybe Morro wouldn’t like having the door open. Lloyd didn’t want him to think he was trying to have things his way.
‘Real friends don’t treat each other special.’
But Morro was treating him special by keeping him as a secret friend, right? So… that meant they really weren’t ‘real’ friends. So did that mean it was alright for Lloyd to ask for special treatment, at least this once? His brain hurt trying to untwist it all, but the logic seemed to track. Still, it was too late now, the door was already closed and the murmurs of his uncle and mother could be heard through it. Maybe… Surely it would be fine if he waited until Morro and the grown-ups were deep asleep? Then no one would be bothered by him opening the door.
Decided, Lloyd got into his least comfortable sleeping position and closed his eyes to pretend to fall asleep. And he waited.
And as he waited he thought.
He didn’t do it on purpose. But because doing nothing but lying in bed without sleeping was boring, words and images kept inadvertently rushing through his head: Morro pushing him in the playground and telling him to stay away. The neighbor shouting and pointing angrily at him and his mother – “You can’t even keep that little demon under control?! He almost killed me and my family!!”. The teacher accusing him of pranking her. Brad holding up the Starfarer villain toy – ‘Evil villains don’t have any friends.’
Suddenly Lloyd felt like he couldn’t breathe. His eyes prickled with the tears he’d been holding back all day, and he knew if he didn’t let them out now his head was going to burst. But he didn’t want to wake up Morro, so as quickly and quietly as he could he got up from the futon, letting the blanket fall off him in a heap, rushed to the door, and opened it just enough so he could squeeze through.
He tiptoed down the hall to the living room, where his mother was asleep on the couch. Behind it, Lloyd knew there was a sliding door that opened onto a veranda. He slipped behind the curtain and shoved it open, again squeezing through as soon as he had room, bursting out into the cold, moonlit space. There was a porch swing against one wall. He launched himself headfirst into it, grabbing one of the arm cushions, buried his face against it, and broke down into uncontrollable sobs.
Though he was still too young to understand just how cruel the world could be, a piece of him had died that day, an innocence that had irreparably fractured, and it was for that loss that he cried like he would never stop. The moment Lord Garmadon’s message had played to the whole city, Lloyd’s life had changed in a way that he didn’t fully comprehend, but he knew it meant that no one, not Brad or Morro or anyone in all of Ninjago, would ever want to be his friend again. And he also knew that, somehow, it was all his fault. Not because of anything he’d done, even the fire, but because of who he was.
Something touched his hair, and he jumped up in fright, making the chair rock noisily. A tall figure stood over him in the dark.
“Lloyd?”
His mother gripped the arm of the chair to make it stop swinging, and sat down in it beside her son. “Baby what are you doing up?”
The soft, non-accusatory tone in her voice made Lloyd crawl to her and hug her around the middle. “Mommy,” he choked out, aware he was getting snot and tears all over her. “I’m sorry about the fire! I didn’t mean to, I really really didn’t! I-I don’t want to be like dad anymore, I–” He sobbed into her and clutched her tighter. “I don’t wanna be evil!!”
Warm arms wrapped tightly around him as he wailed and he was pulled into her lap. “Oh baby,” Koko murmured, her breath heating the top of his head. “Oh Lloyd, no… You’re not evil! Don’t ever think that!”
Lloyd was crying too hard to notice the tears in his mother’s voice too. She stroked his hair and rocked him back and forth in the swing.
“I’m so sorry, baby… I’m so sorry…!”
As soon as the final bell rang, Lloyd sprang out of his seat and ran from the room. He could hear the mocking peals of laughter that followed him out from the other students, but he didn’t care how silly he looked – today he’d managed to survive without getting a detention, and he was not going to miss out on ninja training with the others. Given that most of the classrooms were still occupied he couldn’t run into one to exit through a window like he usually did, so he ran out to the front courtyard, to the school gates.
Just when he was a few feet from freedom, however, a figure stepped out from the cover of a tree and blocked his path.
“Whoa there, pal. Where’s the fire?”
Lloyd skidded to a halt before he could collide with Brad, staring at him incredulously. How had he…?
Brad grinned as he flung an arm over Lloyd’s shoulders, holding him tightly. “Surprised, huh? You didn’t notice I left for a bathroom break and never came back?”
Lloyd had noticed, which was why he’d been so much in a hurry to leave; he’d felt sure Brad had been setting another trap to spring on him at the last moment. He hadn’t thought that he would confront him directly like this.
How ironic, that all Lloyd wanted more than anything was for the ninja to willingly spend more time with him, and yet Brad, whom he kept trying to avoid, somehow always found time for him. He laughed to himself without humor.
“Something funny?” Brad snapped.
“No.”
“Damn right. Now come on. You and I are gonna go for a little walk together.”
He steered Lloyd along, keeping a hold on his neck. If he hadn’t also been gripping Lloyd’s wrist down by his side with his other hand Lloyd might’ve been able to shake him off, but if he tried it could turn into a scuffle, and with other students, parents, and teachers milling around Lloyd was sure Brad would quickly find some allies willing to gang up with him against Lloyd. As much as he was able, Lloyd looked over his shoulder, trying to see if one of the ninja had come out yet and seen him in time to come and help…
“Scared, Garmy?” Brad shoved down on his neck and he stumbled a bit, lowering his head.
They kept walking until the crowd of pedestrians dwindled away to nothing, Brad leading Lloyd sure-footedly to a secluded area at the furthest edge of the perimeter of the school building, where a graffitied wall met with a chain link fence. As soon as he made sure there was no one around, he pushed Lloyd away from him and kicked him hard in the stomach, sending him crashing against the fence.
“Where are your bodyguards now, huh?” Brad punched Lloyd in the face and Lloyd slid to the floor in a daze, his back against the chain links. Brad stomped his foot against his shoulder and held it there. “Did you fire them?”
“I didn't want to bother them anymore...” mumbled Lloyd, resigned to his fate; at least maybe now Brad would finally get it all out of his system. Probably.
Brad scoffed at him, enraged by his attitude, as though he’d heard his thoughts and knew he was being humored. “You didn't want to bother them? HAH! God you're so full of yourself. Just tell it like it is! They finally grew a brain and ditched you!”
“I guess so...”
Brad slammed his foot against Lloyd’s shoulder, leaving a dusty footprint on his hoodie. “No fucking wonder! It was more trouble than it was worth, being friends with you!” he yelled, kicking Lloyd again. “Always standing out from everyone else; always having to make sure his royal highness stayed happy!”
Lloyd grunted and winced at each kick, but beneath the pain he registered Brad’s words and finally looked up at him directly, amazed. “You're not talking about Kai and the others... are you.”
Brad, who’d raised his foot for another kick, froze. “What?”
Lloyd shuffled a bit so that he sat on his knees, and reached towards Brad with a shaking hand.
“Brad...” he croaked. “I'm… I’m sorry. I'm sorry I couldn't be a better friend to you. I know I ruined everything between us... But you were my first real friend and I... I still miss–”
“SHUT UP!” This time Brad kicked Lloyd full in the face, his lips twisted back in utter disgust and fury. “Gross! Get away from me! You're delusional! I was never friends with you! Stop making shit up!”
“But I–”
Another kick, and blood flew from Lloyd’s mouth. He fell to all fours, his vision doubling, but then he was kicked again and shoved back against the chain link fence. Brad stepped on his stomach, grinding his heel in, and grabbed Lloyd by the neck of his hoodie, holding him up while he punched the side of his face, punctuating each hit with an angry insult.
“You creepy – pathetic – stuck up – show off – LOSER! When are you going to get it through your thick head? There's no way anyone in their right mind would actually want to be friends with you!”
“Wanna bet?”
Brad dropped Lloyd and whirled around. Kai stood right in his face, the other four ninja all glowering behind him.
Brad tensed for a bit, then sneered. “Oh look. The brainless goons have come to the rescue.”
“You know what I can't stand about bullies like you?” said Kai, staring him down. “Your reasons are always so pathetic. Lloyd's never actually done anything to you, but just because you're jealous you wanna take it out on him.”
“What?!” yelled Brad. “Fuck you! You're screwed in the head if you think I'd ever be jealous of Lloyd Garmaturd!”
“Oh I didn't say you were jealous of Lloyd.” Kai flashed him a grin that didn’t reach his eyes. “You’re jealous of us. You only started doubling down on Lloyd after you saw us all hanging out with him. Heh. It must have pissed you off royally that we all got to be his friend while you never could.”
Brad swung his fist at Kai, but he was wide, and Kai smoothly side-stepped him.
“Ooh, hit a nerve there.”
“Quit talking out of your ass!”
Again Brad swiped a wild fist at Kai and again Kai dodged. Brad stumbled against Cole, who pushed him roughly away so that he fell against Jay, who hooked his leg around his ankle and tripped him. Brad landed hard on the ground and swore with frustration.
“I’d advise you to stay down,” said Zane solemnly.
Brad yelled wordlessly, got up, and ran headfirst at him, seemingly trying to tackle him down. He hit against Zane’s chest and rained fists against him. Zane stared down at him for a few seconds, blinking bemusedly, then deftly caught Brad’s wrist and twisted it down by his side.
“Ow ow ow!”
Zane let him go, and he twisted away from him, grasping his wrist. With wild, infuriated eyes he noticed Lloyd again, still sitting in a heap on the floor, and charged towards him.
Kai stepped in his path, grabbed his shoulders, and kneed him hard in the stomach, knocking the breath out of him. He fell to the floor gasping.
“We're not at school right now, Brad. You can't get Lloyd in trouble this time.”
“Shows what you know!” Brad spat out. “You're the ones on the wrong side, not me!” He uncurled and wobbled to his feet, grinning manically. “People will believe anything I say about Garmaturd!”
And then, to everyone’s shock, he turned and ran face-first into the concrete wall.
“Whoa!!”
“What the hell?”
Brad slammed his head two more times against the wall before Cole and Kai came to their senses and grabbed his arms, pulling him back to prevent further acts of madness. But the damage was done, quite literally: Brad’s nose was broken and gushing like a fountain, and his brow was red and swollen over his right eye, which had blackened. He groaned, slumping a little in Cole and Kai’s hold, but then he straightened and grimaced at them, pulling his arms roughly out of theirs.
“See?” he slurred. “Lloyd Garmadon and his minions ganged up on me… And my dad’ll sue the school if they don’t do something about it! You’ll all be expelled! Won’t be able to help him then, huh?! And if they don’t expel him they gotta keep him in detention forever! Keep him in a cage, all locked up, like a mad dog!”
“Why you little…!”
Kai’s teeth were bared in anger as he grabbed Brad’s collar, pulling his fist back. Behind him Nya and Zane called to him to stop, and Lloyd had finally stood up and came at Brad from behind, hooking his arms under Brad’s as though holding him still so Kai could hit him…
Brad jerked a bit at the contact, then laughed. “Go ahead, do it! Take a video of it even! Just more evidence to use against Lloyd!”
Kai’s fist quivered in the air… then he dropped it and stepped back, smirking, as Lloyd let Brad go. “What evidence?” he said.
Brad blinked at him… Then he realized and patted his face, his eyes, his nose, which were all completely normal. The only trace left of his injuries was the line of blood that stained his chin all the way down to the middle of his shirt.
“Wh… What…?”
Behind him, Lloyd struggled to stay on his feet, swaying with dizziness from the energy that had been sapped from him.
This time it was Jay who laughed out loud. He punched his fist into his hand and cracked his knuckles threateningly. “Aww, look at that smooth little baby face. Guess we haven’t got the message across, huh?”
Cole, Zane, and Nya stepped towards Brad with sinister smiles. Brad took a step back.
“What happened…? H-How did you guys do th–”
He stumbled on his feet, and Kai, whose hold on his collar had loosened, grabbed him again and shoved him up against the wall.
“Okay, no more games now,” he muttered, speaking almost nose-to-nose with Brad. “I might joke around but I’m actually pretty pissed. All of us are. So here’s how it’s going to go. From now on, any time Lloyd gets a detention – any time, even if you have nothing to do with it – all six of us are going to hunt your ass down, and beat you within an inch of your life. And I can promise you, just like this time, you won’t be able to complain about it to anyone without sounding like the lying asshole you are. So you better think carefully about whether all this horseshit you’ve been up to lately is really worth the trouble.”
Brad stared at him, eyes round with fear. Shakily he nodded his head, and Kai released him. He watched him weave drunkenly between the ninja before tearing away around the corner without a backwards glance.
Cole let out a sigh of relief. “Man… That could’ve turned ugly. Nice thinking Lloyd. Lloyd?”
At that moment, Lloyd had sunk down to the floor again with a tired groan. Instantly the ninja were all squeezing against each other trying to reach him, asking him if he was alright and what they could do. Lloyd gripped his knees and pressed his forehead against them, hiding his face.
“I’m okay,” he mumbled. “I’m okay. Thank you. I’m fine, just… just leave me alone. Leave me alone. Please.”
At last they heard him and listened to his request, and he heard their hesitant footsteps fade away.
There was a shuffling noise a bit above him.
“Alright, Lloyd. It’s just you and me now.”
Kai. Of course. He touched Lloyd’s head, ruffling his hair a little.
“You okay?”
Lloyd sighed. “I'm fine.”
More shuffling sounds. Kai insistently pulled at Lloyd’s sleeve until he lifted his head, to see that Kai had gotten down on his haunches so he could look at Lloyd in the eyes.
“Lloyd. You're not fine. Something's been bothering you since last week and I want to know what it is. Even the others noticed. Nya and Cole both told me you've been bummed about–”
“Yeah I know, they told you about Brad,” said Lloyd gruffly. “That's all it was.”
“No, it wasn't. I wasn't talking about that. But it sounds like it's part of the problem. So let's start from there.”
When Lloyd remained silent, Kai moved to sit next to him, leaning his head back against the chain link fence, arms resting on his knees. “You might still have trouble believing it, Lloyd,” he said, “but I'm telling you right now; we all care about you. We want to help, and not just with the Brad situation.”
Lloyd winced as Morro's voice played in his head. ‘You know I still care about you. Right?’
“I know you care about me, but...” Lloyd trailed off.
“But..?”
Well, why not. Things couldn’t get any more humiliating already. He looked Kai in the eye and breathed out the truth.
“But we're not friends.”
“Why do you say that?” Kai asked. “I told you I think of you as a friend, don't I?”
Lloyd’s breath hitched. “You think it, but... but we're not real friends. At least I'm not. Not to you. Not to any of you.”
“Real friends? How are we not real friends?”
“You don't...”
His voice caught again, and his vision started to blur. Okay, he’d been wrong; it could get more humiliating.
But Kai’s voice was soft with concern. He put a hand on Lloyd’s back. “Hey...”
Lloyd looked at him, and it felt like all the hurt and guilt he’d been carrying, not just for the past week, but for the past seven years, all came spilling out with his tears. “You don't miss me when I'm not there. At the warehouse. Or at school. It doesn't… It doesn’t mean as much to you as it does to me, to be with all of you. Because we don't... I can't talk about anything with you guys except how shitty my life is! All of you, you all have something, something to laugh about and have fun with. But me, I... Without ninja training I don't... We don't have anything in common, we... I'm not fun to be with- I am a creepy, pathetic loser–”
“That's not true–”
“Even if I wasn't Lloyd Garmadon, if I wasn't a ninja, if I was just a normal person like you guys, you wouldn't want to hang out with me. It was just a coincidence that we all had Elemental Powers. That's the only reason we're friends!”
Now that he’d pointed it out, Kai would see that it was true. He could stop pretending like he had any interest in Lloyd besides just wanting to help the most despised teenager in Ninjago City out of the goodness of his heart.
He braced himself as Kai opened his mouth to speak.
“Lloyd... that goes for all of us, too.”
Lloyd did a double take.
“What?”
Kai smiled at his reaction. “You think I would've been friends with Cole and Jay if we weren't all training as ninja?” he said. “Heck, you think me and Nya would be running in even close to the same circles if she wasn't my sister? And if you want to talk about normal, Zane is even less of what I'd call ‘normal’ compared to you. I think he'd be doing homework in the library alone during free period if he didn’t have us. Friends don't have to have everything in common to be friends, Lloyd. We're friends because we're different. In fact, in my opinion, that's the thing that makes us ‘real’ friends.”
Seeing that Lloyd wasn’t convinced, Kai moved around to face him head on, gripping his shoulder. “Look. I don't care if you're not as big on video games as me. I don't care if you prefer chocolate milk over an energy drink, or if you've never been to Mega Monster Park or the New Year's festival. And I sure as shit don’t care that you’re Lloyd Garmadon. I care that you're the most genuine, nicest person I ever met, even with all the crap you've been through. I care that I can trust you to be in my corner when I'm in trouble, even if it was my own fault. I care that I don't have to act like a phony around you, that you look up to me and like being with me and always look so goddamn happy to see me, just the way I am! Those are what make you my friend, Lloyd. And I'm sure the others feel the same.
“And I don't mind if you don't have anything fun to share with me everyday. Sometimes I have stuff going on that don't make me fun to be around either. But don't ever think that that'll stop me from wanting to be with you. You don't have to hide when something's bothering you for my sake. I want to hear it. And if you'd rather keep it to yourself until you feel better, that's fine too.”
Tears coursed freely down Lloyd’s cheeks. Kai’s hand was warm and firm on his shoulder, tethering him to the world. He recalled that first night he’d cried, when he was little, heartbroken at the discovery that he would never have anyone in his life he could call a friend, and his mother had found no words to comfort him other than to apologize – for not telling him about his father, for not being able to protect him, for giving birth to him at all, he never knew. For the first time ever, it no longer mattered; it was as though Kai had reached back in time to that little boy and told him exactly what he needed to hear to mend his heart.
“So? Do you believe me now?”
Lloyd sniffed and wiped his face with his sleeve embarrassedly. “I... I guess so.”
“That's a start.” Kai’s smile turned a little sad. “But we did hurt your feelings somehow this week, didn't we? That's why you stopped wanting to walk with us to the warehouse, right? And avoiding us at school?”
Lloyd gaped at him, shocked both by the fact that that was how it had looked to them, and by the obvious revelation that that was exactly what he had been doing. “No, I do want to walk with you guys! But...” He hesitated, uncomfortable, but Kai nodded encouragingly at him, telling him to speak his mind. “But Jay doesn't, so I thought maybe the rest of you didn't either and just didn't say it…”
This seemed to throw Kai for a loop. “Woah, Jay doesn't want to walk with you? Okay there's no way that's true. Come on, let's go talk to him.”
“Kai, no, I don't want to–”
“No one's going to know what's wrong until you say something, Lloyd. That's what real friends do. Right?”
But telling Brad what had been bothering him was what had broken up their friendship forever…
But… Brad had never been his real friend, had he?
“...Fine.”
Lloyd let Kai pull him to his feet and support his side, as his ribs and shoulder hurt quite a bit where Brad had kicked him. Together they walked out of the dead end and turned the corner, where the rest of the ninja could be seen waiting at the end of the street.
As soon as they were near enough, Zane and Nya fussed over Lloyd, checking over his face and arms. “Oh Lloyd… You’ve got blood on your chin, here…”
“None of your bones seem broken, that’s good.”
“I’m fine,” said Lloyd, though this time when he said it he honestly meant it as an assurance rather than a deflection. “Really. Thanks, guys.” He smiled, and the others all looked relieved.
“Jay,” said Kai, “Lloyd wants to say something to you.”
“Me? Oh boy, what'd I do?”
“Want me to punish him for you, Lloyd?” said Cole eagerly, raising his knuckles over Jay’s head to noogie him.
“No, no, he didn't do anything wrong!” Lloyd said quickly, feeling himself go red. “I just... It just... felt bad when you said that it would be better if I wasn't around.”
That stopped them in their places.
“What?” gasped Jay. “When did I say that??”
“Not you,” said Lloyd, his blush deepening. “Cole.”
“So it was you, huh?” Jay slapped Cole’s hand away and raised his own knuckles.
Cole easily warded Jay off as he spoke to Lloyd. “Woah, hey now, come on Lloyd, I never said that!”
“Technically you did,” said Zane, in that innocent matter-of-fact tone of his. “You said it would be better for Jay if Lloyd was not with him right now. I remember perfectly.”
Cole and Jay both frowned as they tried to remember. Jay’s face cleared first. “Oh. Ohhh. Oh man, Lloyd, that's not what he meant!”
“Then what did you mean?”
“It wasn't about not wanting you around, it was about me wanting to... to...”
“Spill it Jay,” said Kai.
“Yeah, Jay,” said Nya, crossing her arms, apparently amused.
“I just… What I meant was… I just wanted… Aaaghhh screw it, I just wanted to spend some time alone with Nya, okay?” Now it was Jay who was blushing furiously. Meanwhile Cole had burst out laughing, and Nya, though she was blushing too and not meeting anyone’s gaze, looked rather pleased.
Lloyd looked from Jay to Nya to Cole, thoroughly confused for a moment. And then it finally clicked. “Oh. Oh! Crap, I'm so stupid! I'm sorry, Jay, I didn't get it, I don't have any experience with romance–”
“Romance!” hooted Cole, and leaned against Zane’s shoulder as he laughed harder.
“Ugh, just kill me now,” moaned Jay.
“Uh, when was this?” asked Kai.
“The first day you were out sick,” Nya answered.
“Ah.” Kai snorted and shook his head. “You're such a nimrod, Jay. I already knew you were trying to make a move on her, dude.”
“Shut u-u-up.”
Nya patted Jay’s back. “It's okay, Jay. Maybe now you'll feel more encouraged to officially ask me out.”
At that Jay looked a little more hopeful.
Kai cleared his throat to bring them back on track. “Point is, no one here has any problem being seen with Lloyd, right?”
“Of course not!” said Zane. “Lloyd is my good friend. I would only be more cheered to have him in my presence.” He gave Lloyd a big smile, which Lloyd involuntarily returned.
“Yeah, what he said,” said Cole. He clapped Lloyd on the shoulder. “Sorry for the misunderstanding, dude.”
“Anything else you wanna get off your chest?” asked Kai. “Might as well, since you've already embarrassed Jay.”
Feeling braver now, though no less self-conscious, Lloyd said, “I... I was also upset that... that you all went to visit Kai without me.”
At this the ninja all exchanged surprised looks, as though expecting one of the others to explain.
“Oh, uh...” Cole scratched the back of his head. “I guess we didn't mention it, but... I didn't think we had to?”
Jay shrugged. “Yeah, we just kinda dropped by because there was no training that day. It was a spur of the moment thing.”
“Yeah but... Wait, no training? So you went on Wednesday?”
“Uh, I guess so.”
Lloyd turned to Zane. “But you said you visited Kai on Thursday.”
“That is correct.” Zane cocked his head at him. “I went alone.”
“Oh... I thought you all went together.”
“Ahhh. I get it.” Cole nodded heavily. “I don't blame you for feeling bad, then; you thought we were leaving you out.”
“Y... Yeah.”
“No one made any plans to drop by, Lloyd,” said Nya gently. “It was the only time any of them have been over.”
“Yeah, we wouldn't ever agree to meet up somewhere without telling you. That'd be a dick move.”
“You could've come over any time to see me...” Kai stopped as he came to the same realization Lloyd had and raised his hand to his forehead. “Oh. Shit. Man, I'm sorry, Lloyd…”
“It's okay. Really.” And it was. Lloyd looked at each of them with gratitude. “Even if you guys do ever want to hang out somewhere I can't go, you don't have to ask me. I'm just... I'm glad to know it wasn't on purpose.”
There was a beat of silence.
“That's not fair,” murmured Nya. “I wouldn't feel good going somewhere with everyone except you.”
“Me neither,” said Cole.
“Is there really nowhere in Ninjago City you would feel comfortable being?” asked Zane. “Like the warehouse?”
“I used to go to places with my mom. But now everywhere we go people know me.”
“We need to make more spaces for you,” said Jay. “Without any other jerks around.” Unexpectedly he beamed with pride. “And I know just the place.”
“Really? Where’s that?”
“Somewhere that’s private but outside, where not a lot of people visit, and still has lots of cool things to do!”
Cole slapped his hands together and pointed excitedly. “Hey yeah, the junkyard!”
“Yup.”
“You mean, where you live?” Lloyd fidgeted, hating that he had to point out the obvious. “But… What about your parents?”
Jay’s smile dropped. He looked askance. “Actually... I already told my parents about you.”
That wasn’t what Lloyd had expected. “Y-You did?”
“I don't call him Blabber Mouth for nothing,” chuckled Cole.
But the apology left Jay’s face and was replaced by bashfulness. “Yeah, and you know what? They said they were proud of me for making friends with you. Said they’d always thought it wasn’t fair that the whole city turned against you just because of who your dad is. They’re gonna like you, Lloyd. And, I mean, hopefully you’ll like them? I mean they’re kinda old so they’ll just be sitting in the house most of the time but my mom will definitely go all out to bake us cookies or something–”
“You’re inviting me over? To your house?”
“Yeah dude! If you want. All of you can come. It’ll be great.”
Kai waved his hand in front of Lloyd’s face and laughed when he didn’t blink. “I think you short-circuited him.”
“Oh dear,” said Zane worriedly. “What does that mean?”
“Pretty sure it means ‘yes’.”
Lloyd blinked several times before coming back to earth. “Okay. Yes. Yes!”
The others all laughed and Kai tousled his hair. “Alright then. Sounds like a plan.”
Their laughter dissipated into sighs. Then they all remembered at the same time.
“Oh shit. Training! Sensei’s gonna kill us!”
“Come on, we can still make it!”
“Move out, team!”
“Race you, Jay!”
“Run, Lloyd, run!”
“I’m coming!” called Lloyd, feeling so light he practically flew over the sidewalk, keeping pace with his friends on all sides. “I’m coming!”