Oranges With A Slice Of Trauma Pie

by JeweledKnight

Summary:

Sometime after the noodle incident, Arin ends up walking in on his childhood heroes having a rather interesting discussion while eating oranges...

Arin stared up at the ceiling fan, trying to clear his head. His eyes followed the blades in circular motions, struggling to keep up, and only helped make him feel a bit dizzy. He groaned and sat up in his hammock. “Sora? Are you awake?”

No response. He heard soft snores coming from both her and Riyu, so he just heaved a sigh and carefully got out of the hammock. He crept outside, trying to be as quiet as possible. Once he got further down the hallway, he made a beeline for the kitchen. 

Maybe baking a pie would help take his mind off of things. Off…of his parents. Off of his old life. Before the merge. Before everything happened. Before everything got ruined-

He shook his head and quickened his pace. He wasn’t running and it wasn’t like Mr. Frohicky was awake to scold him for it, either. The sooner he gets to the kitchen, the sooner he can relax, and the sooner he can get back to sleep. Morning exercise is going to suck otherwise. 

At this time of night, Arin expected everyone else to have been asleep already. A glance at a clock on the wall made him correct his inner statement - it was around two o’clock. He really should have thought of going to the kitchen earlier… 

Hearing faint hushes of conversation in the back of his mind, he entered the kitchen and began to stretch his arms, mentally going through the list of potential recipes he could make. He should probably make a large one for the others, as a surprise in the morning. It’d have to be refrigerated, granted, but his mom had always advised against eating so late just before going to bed. It was bad for the stomach, she used to say. 

Right. Not supposed to think about that. Stupid him. 

He was so in his head, that it wasn’t until he opened the refrigerator door and glanced to the side where the dining table was that he realized he should’ve mentally paid more attention to the conversation that met his ears just a few seconds ago. He wasn’t the only person in the kitchen. There were a lot of people here. Recognizable people. 

Whatever conversation the ninjas were having halted when Cole noticed Arin and gave him a small wave. “Oh! Hey, Arin!”

Arin squeaked. “Oh, uh, hi… Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

“You didn’t interrupt anything,” Lloyd reassured him, a slight chuckle in his voice. The other ninjas seemed to stifle a laugh of their own and suddenly Arin felt like he was missing something here. “What’re you doing up so late?”

“Uh…I couldn’t sleep, I guess…so I decided to make some pie to help myself relax…” Arin raised an eyebrow as he trailed off. “Wait, what are you all doing up so late?”

Kai held up a plate with cut-up orange slices on it. “We’re eating oranges!”

“Oranges?” Arin repeated with a stare. “When are you going to sleep?”

“They are an excellent source of vitamin C.” Zane offered unhelpfully, not even addressing Arin’s second question. 

“Don’t worry about us, Arin,” Nya said, shooting an exasperated look at Zane. “We’re pretty much all nocturnal at this point. Comes with the territory.”

Arin felt his smile morph into a grin. “Riiight, 'cause you guys must have done stakeouts and stuff where you couldn’t find time to sleep plenty of times before.”

“Yeahhh…” Kai sighed and popped an orange slice in his mouth, sinking into his seat as he did so.

The refrigerator made a beeping noise, alerting Arin that he’d been holding the door open way too long and the lights had shut off. He quickly closed it and sighed. “I, uh, guess I’ll head back to bed, then.”

Zane frowned. “Were you not going to bake a pie?”

“I was, but I didn’t wanna, you know, intrude or anything-”

“Arin, you’re fine.” Lloyd laughed. “Don’t let us stop you from doing something that’ll help you relax. Maybe it’ll help keep your mind off of whatever’s keeping you up.”

The other ninjas voiced their agreement before turning back around in their seats to face each other, presumably ready to carry on their conversation, with the extra addition of Arin in the room. 

Arin smiled gratefully. “Thanks.”

“Breakfast is gonna be great now.” Cole snickered. “Thanks, Arin!”

Arin still tried not to make too much noise while gathering ingredients for the pie. He didn’t want to be a disturbance for them and plus…there was a part of him that was curious about what they were talking about in the first place. 

When he was younger, whenever his parents went to take him to events for their workplace (which wasn’t super often, but the events were always fairly memorable and fun), he’d learned something interesting about the adults. The quieter he tended to make himself, the more invisible his presence was, the more out-of-it he’d appear to be…the more adults would talk about things more openly. He’d always find out interesting tidbits about his parents at these events and when he’d go home, he’d happily press his parents for more answers, even if they didn’t always want him privy to some knowledge. 

He wondered if maybe the ninjas were the same way,

“-I mean, they could be anywhere in the Merged Lands for all we know,” Kai said flippantly. “Who knows, maybe the easiest way to find them all would be to send out invitations to a super secret underground fighting tournament of Elemental Masters.”

Everyone at the table groaned. 

“Kai, no.” Nya huffed. “Don’t even suggest that. The less reminders I have about Chen’s tournament, the better.”

“That is not even a logical plan.” Zane frowned pointedly at Kai. “That plan would involve knowing where the other Elemental Masters are in the first place to send out invitations. It would also involve finding a way to get those invitations to them. Plus, it would take lots of energy to make the postcards themselves and-”

“Okay, okay, I got it.” Kai held up his hands exasperatedly. “Tournament plan is a bad idea.”

“All we have to work with at the moment are theories.” Lloyd furrowed his brow. “The Merged Lands are so vast that trying to figure out where one person is would be next to impossible, let alone find more than that.”

And now Arin wanted to stop listening, but he continued adding flour as if he wasn’t bothered by the turn in conversation. Invisible, he was invisible…just like when he was younger…

“Oddly negative of you, Lloyd,” Cole commented dryly. 

“He’s being realistic.” Zane defended. “It was by pure chance any of us were able to meet up in the first place.”

Kai raised his hand. “Well, actually, I found my way straight to the monastery, so-”

“That doesn’t count!” Nya argued. “You had the Bounty! Of course, your travels would be easier than any of ours! I’ve had to walk on foot, got stranded on an island for a few days, sneak onto a boat, sneak onto another boat, and then make my way through a nest of giant tiger spiders-”

“Stop!” Kai shuddered, as the rest of the ninjas similarly shot Nya disturbed looks. “You win, Nya. Walking on foot in the Merged Lands sucks.”

“I was in the Land of the Lost Things for pretty much the whole time,” Cole said. “I met Geo pretty quickly. Probably within the first few weeks or so after the Merge? Thank goodness for that, otherwise, I would’ve lost my mind.”

Arin winced slightly in agreement. He met Sora within the first week after the Merge and the two decided to stick together since they were in the same boat of having no money or options for how to live. They managed, though, and were able to convince a landlord to let them build their small apartment at the very top of the building. The first few months of living were turbulent, though. Neither he nor Sora ever knew what they were doing.

“Geo, huh?” Nya smirked.

Cole groaned and hid his blushing face in his hands. “Right, about that…”

“Cole, I detect levels of-”

“Zane, if you detect something from me one more time, I swear-”

Zane smirked. “Oh, but Cole, I didn’t finish my statement yet.” 

Kai leaned forward with a mischievous grin. “Oh, please do.”

“I detect levels of embarrassment mixed in with very prominent feelings of attraction.”

Cole banged his head against the table just as Kai, Nya, and Lloyd exchanged grins and gave an elongated “aww”. 

This…was honestly better than anything Arin could have hoped to hear from the conversation. A smile made its way onto his face at the affectionate teasing going on between the team. 

“That’s fantastic, Zane. Tell me something I don’t know.” He sighed and held up an open palm to Lloyd, who snickered before handing Cole an orange slice. He sat up in his seat and threw the orange slice into the air before catching it with his mouth. “I haven’t said anything about it, yet, before you ask me.”

“Why not?” Lloyd asked with a frown. 

Cole sighed. “I don’t know, honestly. I…I think I was…” 

Arin noticed how Cole’s head slightly turned toward his direction and he ducked his head to intensely stare at the batter he was mixing. Okay, so, he wasn’t as good at being invisible as he first thought. Then again, his parents and the adults he knew were regular civilians, rather than trained ninja warriors. 

Cole lowered his voice slightly and Arin had to strain slightly to try and hear the rest of the conversation. 

“I was just…scared? I guess…?”

“Scared of what?” Lloyd asked softly. 

“Starting a family.” Cole looked guilty. “Another one, I mean. It…ended up happening, anyway. I love all of them: Geo, Bonzle, Spitz, and Fritz… They made me feel loved in a way I hadn’t ever since, well, you know, before the Merge happened. And, uh…even further than that…”

The table quieted for a moment. 

Kai leaned back in his seat and whispered something under his breath. He sounded distant and sad, but Arin couldn’t pick out what he was saying. Whatever he said seemed to cause a ripple effect at the table, and everyone looked sullen, depressed, and sad. 

There was a silence for a while. Each ninja reached for an orange slice and took a bite, chewing deliberately slowly. Everyone was avoiding each other’s eyes now. Arin no longer wanted to be in the same room as an awkward eavesdropper. 

Zane leaned back in his seat and stared up at the ceiling. “I wonder when…at what points were we fully intact and whole as a family.”

Kai sharply inhaled. “Gosh, that’s…well, recent years had always been especially chaotic, so…”

Nya bit her lip. “We’ve always been a family, Cole. It’s just always been so complicated.”

Arin felt his stomach twist itself into a knot. They must have fully gotten deep into their conversation, because their volumes had gone back to their hushed tones from the start of the conversation, allowing Arin to hear everything far easier. 

Kai snorted. “No kidding. But if you ask me, I’d say we could have genuinely passed as a normal, functioning family in the months after the whole Oni invasion.”

Lloyd flinched. “Kai, we didn’t do anything in those months.”

“Exactly,” Kai said dryly. “We decided to go do something, then created a problem for ourselves that snowballed out of control until everything slowly and continually went downhill until we went to Merlopia. Then everything IMPLODED.”

“Oh, yeah,” Nya said flatly. “I remember that. Fun times.”

Nya was the one on the receiving end of the concerned looks this time and Arin felt himself frantically pulling at his knowledge of Ninjago and Ninja history to try and keep up.

Merlopia…so, they were talking about The Great Flood? That happened so long ago…Arin was only eight at that time. He remembered it vividly, however, because his family was actually on a trip to Metalonia at the time. He was frantically texting Frak to make sure he was okay and he didn’t find out that things were okay until after the disaster relief. Shortly after that, Frak’s family moved away, not that Arin could particularly blame them.

“Sorry,” Cole said with a sigh. “I made things heavy. I know things have always been complicated in our family, it’s just the Merge made me regret not spending more time and effort into trying to…fix things, I guess.”

“You did try,” Lloyd stressed. He looked upset, but Arin couldn’t entirely tell with his bangs over his eyes.

“We ALL tried.” Zane amended. He bit his orange slice in half and stared at it for a moment. “But there was always so much going on… Maybe it was never Master Wu’s intention, but we became a family in, well, the truest and cynical sense of one. We were simply bound together by fate. Every time we split apart, we were always forced back together. Perhaps compared to other blood-related families or even surrogate ones, we are the only ones that have to directly tie our bond with that of saving Ninjago.”

“As long as there are people to protect, our love for each other will never die…” Lloyd muttered. There was something off about that statement that Arin couldn’t quite figure out, but the others seemed to detect it too and their shoulders sagged knowingly. 

Kai sighed and rubbed his forehead. “Okay, this is ridiculous. We haven’t seen each other in ages, we haven’t sat down together and had a private talk like this in even longer, and we’re gonna discuss how messed up our family is?”

“Yes,” Zane said simply. 

Cole laughed suddenly and the others tossed him strange looks. “Sorry, I just… If Jay were here, he’d probably joke about how there’s way weirder things to talk about in our family that’s messed up than…you know, this.” 

Nya smiled fondly. “Yeah, he would joke about that. More than that, even, I think he’d be the one to start that kind of conversation.”

“Well, the first thing he’d probably bring up would be-” Kai started.

“The Destiny’s Bounty.” Lloyd jumped in with a grin. “Ever think about how often our home kept getting blown up or torn to shreds?”

Everyone at the table groaned while Arin instantly felt uncomfortable. Whatever directions he was expecting the ninjas’ conversation to go, this was not one of them. 

“I don’t wanna hear that from you.” Cole rolled his eyes. “You know you could’ve lived in the monastery instead of on a ship growing up, right? But guess who decided to go and burn the monastery down?”

Arin almost dropped his bowl. 

Lloyd coughed awkwardly and sank into his seat. “Have I ever mentioned how sorry I was about that?”

“Only about a million times.” Nya snickered. “We know you weren’t the one who gave the order, though.” 

“Wait, he wasn’t?” Kai asked, surprised. 

“You didn’t know?” Zane raised an eyebrow. “It was Pythor. He even bragged about it the next time we saw him.”

Kai snorted. “Dang, and here I was blaming Lloyd for our housing situation in the years after.” He paused. “Wait, then why the heck are you guys always getting on Lloyd’s case with me whenever I bring that up?!”

“Because as Jay said it, ‘it’s funny’,” Cole said mockingly, using air quotes. 

Lloyd rolled his eyes. “Okay, okay, you’re all hilarious, we can change the subject now.”

“You were the one who brought it up,” Kai said cheekily.

“That does remind me, though,” Nya said with a hum. “I’m surprised Soto never asked for his ship back once he became our ally.” 

“Nya, Soto was in prison. People don’t get to own property in prison.” Cole said dryly. “And trust me, after getting arrested two times, I would know.”

“You got arrested twice?” Lloyd asked confusedly. 

Nya coughed awkwardly. “Three times. And I got arrested WITH you guys that time.”

Now Arin was just confused. He realized with disappointment that he was way overdoing it with mixing his batter and he needed to start making the crust already before the ninjas began to suspect something. They finally reached that point in a conversation where they were way past the point of anyone’s mere presence interrupting them, but he didn’t want any of them to question why he was still making soft shuffling sounds in the kitchen when he’d made pies way faster and in higher quantities. 

“No offense, Nya, but I do not think any of us even count that adventure,” Zane said flatly. “I have ZERO recollection of it in my memory banks and I happen to like relying on my memory banks when telling stories-”

“What’s wrong with mine and Jay’s memory banks?” Nya rolled her eyes. 

“Um…” Lloyd raised a hand. “When did Cole get arrested another time-”

“You just answered your question.” Kai snickered. “That fact that it’s Jay’s and your memory banks.” 

“Oh, like your memory is so much better, Kai,” Nya said pointedly. 

“It is. I happen to have an amazing memory. Tell them, Zane.”

“Guys…” Lloyd said weakly. 

“Unfortunately, Kai is correct.” Zane sighed. “I had him take a memory test one day. He scored a perfect thirty points.”

“What?!” Cole yelped and slammed his hands on the table. Kai cackled. “That’s ridiculous! He had to have rigged it somehow.”

Lloyd gave an exasperated sigh and reached for another orange slice. How did they have so many-? “Okay, let’s just gloss over my question, then…”

“Jealous, Rocky?” Kai smirked. “How much did you score?”

Nya stared intently at the table in confusion. 

“Cole got a score of twenty-five. That is within normal range.”

“When did you have me take this test?” Cole asked exasperatedly. 

“Uh, Zane?” Nya raised an eyebrow. “What test was this?” 

Zane pursed his lips. “...the SMMSE.”

Lloyd blinked. “The…test for dementia? Why were you testing Kai and Cole for dementia?”

“Actually, I was testing Master Wu,” Zane said guiltily. 

Cole nearly choked on his orange. “What?”

“I…what…?” Lloyd stared at the nindroid in disbelief. “Why were you testing Master Wu for dementia?”

Zane groaned. “Because I was worried. This was just around the time we got invited to Shintaro and he kept getting lost, losing track of things, forgetting what day it was, moping around, refusing to walk, and-”

Arin still tried to be quiet, but something clicked inside of him and he began to work a little faster, with less stalling. Nope, this was WAY too deep into personal territory. He should NOT have been in this room.

Lloyd spoke softer than before. “Like how he was with the Time Twins?”

“Yes…” Zane said apologetically. “He did not mind when I asked him. Quite the contrary, he seemed quite worried himself.” 

“Annnd I’m guessing he was perfectly fine, otherwise you would have brought this up way earlier?” Nya asked pointedly. 

Zane smiled. “Master Wu scored higher than Cole at twenty-six.”

Cole shot the nindroid a dirty look. “You’re making that up. And I swear I don’t remember ever taking this test!”

“I would not make this up,” Zane said firmly. 

“We believe you, Zane,” Lloyd said, then sighed. “I was worried for a second that he might have actually had dementia…”

Kai muttered something under his breath before he yelped and turned toward a glaring Nya. “What?”

“Not funny, Kai.” Nya rolled her eyes. “Lloyd, would you pass me another orange?”

“Um…” Lloyd pointed to an empty plate. “The slices are all gone, though.”

“What, already?” Cole whined. “I’m still hungry.”

“Then go eat actual food,” Kai said exasperatedly. 

“I can’t, we don’t have anything made.”

“Then go make something-”

“But Arin’s already using the kitchen-”

Arin froze and pretended to be too occupied with putting the batter into the pan - was he making a pie, or a cake…shit - to notice that they were looking at him. They seemed to get the message and simply shrugged and turned back away. Lloyd stared for a little longer than the others, presumably concerned about Arin, but he eventually shrugged it off when Arin looked up with an innocent look. 

His shoulders sagged with relief. Yeah, he needed to hurry up. And maybe start over, since he was so distracted he ended up making some strange amalgamation of pie and cake. 

Oh, well. He doubted there would be many complaints, especially from Cole. Screw starting over, he should just toss this thing in the oven and be done with it-

“I’m sleepy,” Cole said randomly. 

Kai shot the earth ninja a dirty look. “First, you’re hungry. Now, you’re sleepy? Have you changed at all since the Merge happened?”

“Have you, Mister Obsessed-With-Glorified-Amounts-Of-Hair-Gel?”

Kai made an affronted noise while the other three laughed. “You’re just jealous my hair has more volume than yours, Cole.” 

“Actually,” Lloyd interrupted teasingly. “I think I win in the hair volume department now.”

“You still lose in the height department,” Nya said dryly. “Your students are taller than you.”

Arin almost snorted, but held it in when he noticed Lloyd’s eyes briefly flicker toward his direction. Okay, time to put that pie-cake abomination into the oven…

“Not by too much…” Lloyd muttered, affronted. 

“The amount of inches both Arin and Sora have over you respectively is-”

Lloyd groaned. “Zane.”

The ice ninja let out a soft snicker, which took Arin aback for a moment since he wasn’t fully quite used to the expressions on the nindroid. Even throughout this conversation, the way he interacted with his fellow teammates seemed…different from what Arin had seen from him. Normally, he was much more stoic and insisted that he wasn’t capable of expressing emotion the same way other people would. It was always strange to Arin, but he never questioned it. He assumed that being a nindroid would make experiencing the world through the same emotions as humans did would be kind of tiring and confusing sometimes. 

But every time, he also always saw Lloyd look at Zane fondly, shaking his head to himself. Lloyd always seemed to agree with Zane, except when it came to Zane himself. 

Hearing this conversation, Arin could kind of get why. He felt an odd sort of guilt - over not interacting with Zane more and maybe treating him slightly differently from how he treated Lloyd, Kai, Nya, Sora, or anyone else on the team. 

Arin firmly resolved to talk to the ice ninja more from now on. 

“Do we have more oranges?” Cole let out a whine, not exactly befitting one of the legendary protectors of Ninjago. 

Kai smacked his face with the back of his hand. “Cole, for the love of- Just go get up, go to the kitchen, and grab some more.”

“Can you do it?” Cole grinned.

Kai gave him a dispassionate look. 

Lloyd sighed and got up from his seat. “I’ll get some.” 

Arin just finished setting the timer for about thirty minutes when Lloyd came up to the kitchen counter holding the plate from the table. He grabbed a couple of oranges - Arin still felt as if the ninjas were eating way more than they should at this hour, but he probably shouldn’t be talking given he was baking a….something at around two in the morning - and a few napkins, shot a teasing smile at Arin, then quickly returned to the table. 

Judging by that single interaction, Arin was now convinced that his efforts at making himself invisible weren’t really necessary. They seemed to be well and fully aware that his presence was still in the room and presumably were a hundred percent aware that he was eavesdropping. He felt his ears turn slightly red and ducked his head with embarrassment. Maybe he should go get a book from the scroll room to keep himself occupied in the kitchen while he waited for the pie to finish…in an hour. He sighed. At this rate, he should just give up on sleep.

Quietly, he made his way out of the kitchen and down the hall to the scroll room, where he knew there was an assortment of fictional novels the ninjas had that he could read, alongside the actual historical scriptures and writings they owned. He scanned the shelves for something small that he could start and maybe continue reading throughout the rest of the week, once he found time. 

“Let’s see… ‘Fritz Donnigan: The Star Of Astoria’, nah… ‘A Complete History Of Merlopia: The Ninjargon Translation’...sounds too stuffy, I’ll pass… ‘The Lovers In The Genie Lamp’, huh, that’s weird. Ooh, ‘One Hundred And Fifty Ways To Incorporate Oranges, Mandarins, And Citrus Fruits Into Your Baking Endeavors’...” Arin snickered to himself, thinking about the group in the kitchen at the present moment. “I’m sure the ninjas would love this. It makes sense why this would be here, then. Maybe this is Zane’s…” He resolved to come back to the library at a later time to pick up this exact book when he wanted to try making something new for a change. Right now wasn’t exactly the best time for him to start reading a recipe book. “I wonder if they have any detective novels…oh, here’s one! Quest For The Spark, I didn’t know they had these books.” Arin smiled softly down at the familiar cover. His mom had read the series to him a lot when he was younger - but it had been so long since he picked any of the books up, that he couldn’t quite remember what had happened. He turned the book over to read its spine, noting the number three at the side. He huffed. “Okay, so it’s the third book in the series, that’s…that’s fine, I remember what happened. Mostly…”

He made his way back into the kitchen with the book in his hand. He noticed that the ninjas were no longer sitting around the table eating oranges, but rather on the floor leaning against the couches, exactly where he was planning on sitting to read his book while he waited for the pie. Great. Why were they even eating oranges on the couches anyway? What was wrong with the table?!

It wasn’t that he was annoyed - quite the contrary, actually - but the prospect of listening in on their conversations again seemed slightly more daunting if he was going to sit near them (the kitchen table was right by the couches anyway). 

“You doing alright there, Arin?” Lloyd snapped Arin out of his thoughts. 

The teen was startled, jumping backward at the green ninja suddenly appearing next to him. He looked back to where the others were sitting, where they were exchanging grins and barely held back snickers. Okay. Now he felt like he was being bullied.

“You can come sit down with us, you know.” 

“Uh, really?” Arin gestured to his book. “I’m kinda just gonna sit there and read, though…” 

“Oh,” Lloyd said, then awkwardly held his gaze before breaking it off. “Well, you could still sit with us if you’d like. We’ll try not to be so loud.”

“Kai makes no such promises.” Cole raised his voice from the floor and laughed when Kai punched his shoulder in offense. 

Arin scratched the back of his head. “I…guess so… I don’t want to be a bother-”

“You’re not a bother, Arin,” Lloyd said, in that same tone he would use whenever he would insist that Arin was way more talented, smart, and resourceful than he believed. It became a source of discomfort recently, to hear that tone from someone he’s idolized since he was a child. For the life of him, he couldn’t quite understand why. “Come, sit down with us. You can eat some oranges while you read.”

“That does sound like a nice idea.” Arin chuckled. “I guess since I’m not going to go to sleep anytime soon anyway, I might as well chill out for a while.” 

He took a seat on the couch, near the armrest, keeping the slightest bit of distance between him and the older ninjas, but still close enough to where he could both hear the conversation and grab an orange if he wanted one. Cole handed over one to him with a smile and he returned the smile gratefully. 

The moment was kind of nice, now that he thought about it. 

Opening his book, he ended up having to re-read the first few paragraphs three times. As it turns out, he couldn’t remember what happened in the previous two books at all, so all of the characterizations were confusing and he felt completely lost. 

“-this family talk just made me realize how screwed up our biological families are in comparison to ours.”

That caught Arin’s curiosity and his eyes flickered to where the ninjas were sitting close together at his feet. They’re talking about the exact thing I wanted to get my mind off of in the first place… A part of him got defensive at the way the fire ninja made the statement, however. He was sitting here longing to find his biological parents, but here Kai is saying…well…

Everyone exchanged uncomfortable looks at Kai’s statement. He put up his hands defensively. “Look, I’m just saying. It’s not a super terrible thing or anything, it’s just kind of…weird, sometimes, you know?”

“Yeah, I hear you.” Cole sighed, and then he snorted. “There’s probably a lot of stuff that we don’t even talk about, though.” 

“It’s not important,” Lloyd said, his posture uncomfortably tight. Arin almost recoiled at the sharp tone. “Not compared to protecting Ninjago.”

It’s not important.

Was that why searching for his parents was put on such a backburner? 

Arin bit the inside of his lip and tried to shove that thought process out of his head before he dwelled on it any longer. 

Nya rolled her wrist in a circular motion, staring at it. “I hear that. But I also get what Cole’s trying to say. We don’t address any of this stuff so we always end up having to face it head-on in the middle of our world-saving adventures. Sometimes our conflicts with other people…it spirals into catastrophic events in the first place.” 

Lloyd stared off into the distance for a moment before grabbing an orange slice and slowly peeling off its skin. Kai glanced at him warily out of the corner of his eyes before crossing his arms. “I still stand by my point that it’s weird.”

Cole snorted. “Yeah, no, I think we can all agree with you on that. Remember when me and Zane went to my dad’s festival performance that one year in the summer? I told you guys about what happened, right?”

Zane sighed. “Oh, yes, you did.” Nya and Kai snickered. (Lloyd was still staring vaguely at the orange slice in his hand.) “I could not look at chips the same way ever again…”

“Master Wu didn’t even like it when we would eat chips.” Nya snorted. “Not that I don’t understand why, but I feel like he always overreacted about it sometimes.”

“There was a period when he overreacted about everything.” Kai said with an eye roll.

“Kai,” Zane said sternly. “That ‘period’ was in the time after the Oni invasion. You and I both know he was more than justified in being more stern with us in that time frame.” 

“It’s not just that, Zane,” Kai argued. “And honestly, if he wanted to get on our case about it, he could’ve done it way earlier. Ever wonder why he stopped training us entirely out of nowhere? We trained for like two months after the invasion, every single day, and we had a nice schedule going. Then all of a sudden, Master Wu just goes and dips on us.”

Cole awkwardly rubbed the back of his head. “Yeah, I…I kinda got that vibe, too.”

That was new. From the way Lloyd spoke about Master Wu, the man almost seemed like a perfect teacher, one who made no mistakes in his relationships with his students. But the way the ninjas were talking about him now seemed rather…cynical. 

Then again, Lloyd did say Master Wu was his uncle…

“Did any of us ever even ask what happened?” Nya asked. “I swear I feel like he just disappeared from the monastery for extended periods after two months.” 

“He did always come back with a bunch of scrolls,” Lloyd spoke up suddenly, breaking his silence. “Then he’d lock himself in the scroll room for days.” 

Cole squinted at Lloyd accusingly. “Wait, you noticed when he left? How did you not notice what Pixal was up to? She built like a whole underground base without anyone noticing!”

Lloyd huffed. “Because you guys kept me busy-”

“Oh, I know you are not pinning us as the bad influences, greenie.” Kai glared at Lloyd for a second, before smirking. “You weren’t exactly the perfect student yourself.”

Arin felt an amused smirk tuck at the corners of his mouth. Lloyd had always been his favorite ninja since he was a kid, but within the first day of knowing him, the green ninja was…way more different than he expected. He didn’t come off as the legendary hero described in ancient prophesies. He came off more like a hopeless college student than anything else. So, the notion that Lloyd wasn’t considered Master Wu’s best student wasn’t much of a shocker. 

Nya smirked and tossed her head. “Right. Because we all know that the favorite student was me.”

“I believe that,” Arin muttered, then shyly ducked his head behind his book when the other ninjas looked at him offended. Nya looked thoroughly gratified though, so he’d take that as a win.

The boys erupted into protest. 

“Okay, first of all, ‘favorite’ is completely different from being the ‘perfect’ student, weirdo-” Cole.

“Statistically speaking, the number of times you messed up on a mission was more or less equivalent to the rest of us, so truthfully-” Zane.

“I could beat you in a fight any day-” Kai. 

“Master Wu doesn’t have favorites.” Lloyd. 

“Don’t be naive, Lloyd,” Nya said teasingly, wagging her finger back and forth at him. “After I became the water ninja, he even told me as such when we were dealing with the police after the Stiix incident.” 

Lloyd huffed and nibbled on an orange slice in indignation. 

“Okay, that’s just not fair,” Cole said. “We were all there when Kai set Jay’s hair on fire and Zane just watched it happen-”

“Pardon me?” Zane scoffed. “What, pray tell, did you expect me to have done?”

“Use your ice powers to put out the fire?” Kai snickered. “This is why you’re not the favorite.” 

“How dare-”

“If we’re being honest,” Lloyd said loudly, with an airy tone in his voice. The other regarded him warily as the green ninja smirked. “The real favorite was always Pix.”

Arin expected them to protest the same way they had with Nya, but this time they just grumbled in reluctant acceptance. 

“Yeah, that’s…probably true…”

“I mean, duh.”

“Of course she is!”

“I’m still the second favorite…”

“Well, I’m the third, then,” Lloyd said sourly. 

Cole raised a finger and cleared his throat. “Well, actually-”

“Cole, I swear-”

Zane cleared his throat. “I performed a…ah, a study of Master Wu’s behaviors toward each of us and, as well as considering a magnitude of other factors, compiled a ranking of his favorability toward each of us.”

Everyone stared at the nindroid. 

Arin didn’t bother pretending he wasn’t interested and closed his book, slightly adjusting his position to stare at Zane intently, mimicking the same interested looks as the other ninjas. He had to stifle a giggle. Childhood heroes. So childish. 

Zane cleared his throat. “First off, in seventh place, it’s Jay.” 

Cole choked on his orange. “Low blow, nindroid.” 

“Sixth, it’s Kai,” Zane said, continuing, despite the incredulous looks he was receiving from the others. A smirk was tugging at his features and although Arin felt bad, he found the sight quite amusing. 

“Hey!” Kai crossed his arms. 

“Fifth is Cole.”

“Oh, come on.” Cole rolled his eyes.

“Fourth is Lloyd.”

Lloyd dropped his orange, horrified. “What?!” 

“Third is Nya.”

Nya opened her mouth, then closed it. She glared at Zane suspiciously. “Hey, hold on a second-”

“Second is Pix-”

Everyone erupted into loud protests and Arin laughed amusedly. 

“Zane, I would have expected this from Jay, but from you?” Kai glared. 

Zane laughed. “I am the intelligent one.” 

“Oh, I haven’t heard that one before,” Cole said sarcastically. “I don’t wanna hear stuff like that from you anymore, Mr. ‘The-treadmill-was-invented-in-1818.’”

Zane sputtered in embarrassment while the others erupted into laughter. “First, we had a subconscious, heavily implied agreement to never mention that incident ever again. Second, I was still correct - it was very much invented in 1818! Third…” Zane pursed his lips. “...I have dying privileges.” 

Nya shot Zane the stink eye. “Um, hello? Everyone thought I was dead too, remember?” 

“Excuse me?” Cole said exasperatedly. “Same here!”

“I’m the only one here that actually died, though…” Lloyd muttered under his breath. 

Arin suddenly felt second-handedly traumatized. 

“You guys are all idiots.” Kai rolled his eyes. “Master Wu hates and loves us all in different ways, blah blah blah, insert generic Lloyd Garmadon speech here-” 

Lloyd shoved Kai lightly in the offense. “See, this is why I miss Pix. She was the only one who had a shred of common sense.” 

“Glad you’re not including yourself as someone with common sense.” Cole joked. 

“You’re hilarious, Cole. I’m laughing so hard right now.” Lloyd said flatly. 

“You’re still a wet blanket, Lloyd. I’m having so much fun right now.” Cole mocked, sending another wave of laughter in the group. Arin wasn’t shy about joining in on that one. Lloyd was great, but he was the biggest stickler for rules out of the original ninjas. At least, as far as he could tell. (Zane probably beat Lloyd in that area, but Arin spent way more time with Lloyd than with the Ice Ninja.) Sora seemed to take more issue with it than he did, which was expected from the girl at this point. She did seem to love breaking the rules. 

Lloyd gave Cole an unimpressed look, who grinned at the green ninja, revealing an orange slice in his mouth. Nya snorted and poked Cole aggressively. “Close your mouth when you chew. Honestly, boys, I swear-”

“Ah, ah, ah, hold up!” Kai held up a hand. “Don’t put me on the same level as Cole here. I’ll have you know I’m the pinnacle of refinement and etiquette. I passed my etiquette classes with flying colors!” 

“When did you take etiquette classes?!” Cole asked. “Wait, forget that. Why did you take etiquette classes?” 

Kai shrugged. “Misako randomly suggested that I come with her one day, so I just kinda…went.”

Lloyd looked incredulous. “Why was she taking etiquette classes?”

“Hell if I know.” Kai shrugged, then tossed Lloyd an apologetic look. “Don’t get me wrong, she’s great and all, but when it comes to letting us know what’s going on with her, she’s ten times worse than Master Wu or Sensei G ever were.” 

Arin suddenly felt he was privy to information he should be taking note of, but he couldn’t quite figure out why. Out of everything he knew about the ninjas, Ninjago’s hailed protectors, he didn’t remember anything about a ‘Sensei G’ or even anyone named ‘Misako’. 

And why did Kai seem to be addressing Lloyd specifically? 

It did rub him the wrong way that the ninjas were open about the fact that their master seemed to have regularly kept things from them and even that someone else they called “sensei” would have kept information from them before as well. Were they just okay with this or did they have personal secrets they hid as well? He wasn’t sure he wanted to know the answer. He was a ninja now - they’d be open with him. Heck, even right now was proof of that: they were discussing seemingly private matters in front of him, Arin, who was practically a stranger at this point. 

“Yeah, you’re probably right about that…” Lloyd muttered. 

“Nothing new there.” Nya stretched out her arms and legs dramatically before changing the subject. “Man, I’m exhausted. What are we planning on doing in the morning again? Just more training? Can we just take a rest day? Lloyd?”

Lloyd looked put on the spot as the other ninjas looked at him expectantly. Arin, for one, kept his eyes trained on the cover of his book. He was not going to sway this decision, especially since he felt he needed the training more than ever before. Lloyd bit his lip. “We shouldn’t put off until tomorrow what-”

“Can be done today’, yeah, yeah. Classic Master Wu proverb.” Nya sighed. “No, then?” 

“I don’t think we should skip training today, but we don’t have to start at like sunrise. We can just start in the afternoon.” 

“Thank goodness,” Kai sighed in relief. “I need my sleep.”

“Then go to sleep, Kai.” Cole mocked, repeating the same tone the fire ninjas had used toward him earlier regarding Cole’s grievances about the lack of oranges for the group to eat. 

“Can’t. I’m stuck here talking to you, Cole.” 

“I am stuck here having to listen to you two squabble like children,” Zane added playfully, earning a glare from the duo in question. 

“I’m stuck here having to put up with all of you.” Nya rolled her eyes. 

“I’m stuck here,” Lloyd said flatly. He stared off into the distance briefly, then took a tentative bite of his orange. “Just…stuck. Here.”

The green ninja received incredulous looks. 

“Did you have to make this depressing?” Cole groaned. “We were doing so well.” 

Lloyd gave a sheepish smile. “Sorry, my bad.” 

Arin wasn’t fully certain why that was as depressing as the other ninjas seemed to have taken it, but he could wager a guess as to why. The first time he and Sora had gone to the Crossroads Carnival with Lloyd all those months ago, Lloyd acted as if he hadn’t been to a carnival in his life. He was more socially clueless than Arin was, and that was saying something. Lloyd seemed wary of everyone they bumped into and seemed confused about how a lot of things worked at the carnival. 

Also, he was flat broke, so Arin and Sora’s hopes that they would finally be able to buy cool trinkets from the carnival were stomped as soon as Lloyd asked if people even still used Ninjago’s currency system after the Merge. The answer, of course, was obviously no, given how a magnitude of different cultures was forcibly smashed together with little to no warning, including blending various currency systems that ultimately amounted to “whatever the hell people want it to be”...but if Lloyd had only spent his entire time after the Merge in the monastery, only going out to stop Mergequakes…then his behavior toward the outside world was far more justified. 

It confused Sora, that’s for sure. He recalled her being more shocked at the fact that Lloyd didn’t even consider going out to just explore the Crossroads, even though it was - more or less… - geographically close to the monastery. And he’d been to the Crossroads before to stop Mergequakes, so the notion that Lloyd hadn’t figured out how culture had changed since the Merge was…way weirder than it first sounded. 

“To be fair…” Kai drawled. “When was the last time we went out for fun without it turning into a disaster in some way?” 

“Before the Merge-” Zane began, then paused. “Wait, Kai, by ‘disaster’, are we by chance defining it as having an encounter with any villains? Or just by us being required to perform any defensive maneuvers in a situation that activates our fight or flight response?” He paused. “Well, excluding Pixal and I, since we do not have the same one-to-one amygdala response as-”

“The second one.” Kai interrupted. “Just to be extra nitpicky, I’m counting instances of verbal abuse too.”

Nya snorted. “Kai, the answer to that question is just gonna be ‘never’, then. I remember when me, Pixal, and Lloyd-”

“Pixal, Lloyd, and I.” Zane corrected. 

“Pixal, Lloyd, and I, yes, thank you, Zane.” Nya glared, not sounding thankful at all. Zane smiled back, amused or content, Arin wasn’t sure. Probably a bit of both. “We went to Ninjago City like a little bit before the Oni Invasion to do some sparring sessions in the park…” 

Lloyd’s eyes lit up. “Oh, I remember that!” Then he deflated. “Waiiiit, is this when we hit that poor lady in the head with the bamboo stick at that park?”

“‘We’?” Nya repeated, raising an eyebrow at Lloyd, just as Kai, Cole, and Zane burst into hysterics. “No, no, no, I’m pretty sure it was your bamboo stick that flew off course-”

“Because you hit it!” 

“You didn’t block my stick fast enough!”

“You were the one that decided to bring bamboo sticks with us!!”

“What does that even have to do with anything?!” 

Lloyd sheepishly backed down. “Uh…point taken.”

Nya rolled her eyes. “You were apologizing to her like crazy afterward, anyway. We can debate all we want, but you thoroughly convinced her that it was you who hit her.” 

Arin resisted the urge to laugh at that entire interaction in favor of trying to figure out why the story Lloyd and Nya were referring to sounded so…familiar. 

Cole hummed and crossed his arms. “I feel like I remember you telling this story before…”

‘Same…’ Arin thought, then he froze. ‘Wait, didn’t Mom come home one day saying that someone accidentally hit her in the head with a flying bamboo stick?! That was Lloyd??? Wait, how come she didn’t mention that it was the ninjas, though-’

“I believe this was the same day Lloyd, Pixal, and Nya came to the monastery at around midnight dripping wet,” Zane said. “If I remember correctly, Lloyd said that they paid for the woman’s groceries for a while before they got sidetracked by a fight at Chen’s Noodle House and had to leave her.” 

‘Mom mentioned that the people that hit her paid for her groceries, too…’

“Wait, wait, wait…” Arin spoke up, startling the group. “Sorry, just…what park was this again?”

Nya raised an eyebrow. “...Cecil Putnam Park.”

“Northside or Southside?” 

“That guy has two parks?” Kai muttered under his breath. Cole snorted and popped another orange in his mouth before he frowned at the - once more- empty plate. Of course, the ninjas seemed to know the guy whom the largest parks in Ninjago City were named after. Of course. 

“Uh…Northside, I think. Why?”

Arin blinked. Then he squinted and tried not to sound too excited as he spoke. “Uh…I don’t know if I’m remembering wrong or anything, but my mom came home one day from that exact park saying that a group of three people accidentally hit her with a bamboo stick and then took her on a shopping trip as an apology. We had enough groceries to last us an extra week longer than usual.” 

Everyone stared. 

It clicked for Lloyd and he put his red face in his hands, hiding his horrified look. “Oh, I am so sorry, Arin-”

Kai laughed. “Oh, damn. That’s awkward.”

“Whoa,” Cole said simply, blinking rapidly. 

“So, you admit it was your fault.” Nya grinned triumphantly, then winced. “Wait, oh, yeah, that’s… Arin, on behalf of your mom, I’m sorry about Lloyd hitting her in the head.”

Arin rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. “Well, it’s no big deal. My mom wasn’t even mad. She was happy that someone was kind enough to pay for her groceries. I’m just shocked at the connection, honestly, cause…I didn’t even know that was you until just now. She didn’t even realize, which, is kinda weird considering how much of a huge ninja fan I was- uh, am, I mean- Er, wait-”

Nya hummed and pursed her lips. “Well, she almost recognized us, but I managed to throw her off. We were in civilian disguises, so we were trying to lay low. A rule we have is that anytime we’re out as civilians, we don’t let anyone know that we’re ninjas. Helps in the long run since people are bad at figuring out where we are.”

“There is plenty of evidence to the contrary that suggests-”

Cole sighed. “Zane…” 

“...my apologies.”

“Ohh, that makes sense!” Arin nodded eagerly. “Uh, so what did you tell her, exactly?” 

Nya shrugged. “Pixal told her that we were doing some training for a dojo downtown. I told her that the three of us were siblings.”

“Which she didn’t buy in the slightest,” Lloyd said, muffled through his hands. 

Arin looked at Nya doubtfully. “How did Pixal disguise herself? Isn’t she a robot, like Zane?”

“Oh.” Zane smiled, seemingly eager to talk about the person in question. “She used a cloaking mode to make her skin look, well, more human-like. I can perform that function as well, although I do not do it often. We both prefer our natural skin.”

“Titanium?” Arin asked.

“Titanium,” Zane said with a fond smile.

“Your mom seems like a really sweet person,” Nya said. “I can see where you get your charm from, Arin.”

Arin blushed and looked down at the book in his hands fondly. His mom had read the same book for him that exact day as well. They had just gotten to the climax of the book and his dad had decided to join in on the fun and hang out in his room…

Arin felt his smile waver. 

Lloyd finally lifted his face out of his hands to look at Arin meaningfully. “...we’ll find your parents, Arin. I promise.” 

Arin gave the ninja a weak smile. “...thanks, Lloyd.”

Zane made a move to stand up, picking up the empty plates off of the floor. “I am going to go do the dishes. Then I will retire for the night.”

“Oh, wait, Zane, I’ll help you, hold on,” Lloyd said quickly, standing up and grabbing the other empty plates with him as well. 

Arin stared off into the distance, then felt his stomach twist itself into a knot. “Are you all going to sleep?” 

“Yes,” Kai and Nya intoned together. 

Cole merely shrugged and leaned back against the couch, closing his eyes and holding his hands behind his head. “Maybe.” 

“Oh,” Arin said, then frowned. 

“Arin,” Zane called out from the kitchen. “I believe your pie is ready now. The timer just went off. Do you mind if I take it out?” 

Arin quickly scrambled to his feet. “Oh, no, no, that’s okay, I got it.” He skidded into the kitchen and grabbed the oven mitts off the counter. “Thanks.” He sighed and rubbed his forehead. “Oh, geez, I’m gonna have to wait a while for it to cool before cutting it up and putting it in the fridge, now that I think about it…”

“I could do it for you if you’d like.” Lloyd offered. His sleeves were rolled up as he thoroughly scrubbed the plates and quickly put them on the drying rack. “You should go get sleep.”

Arin frowned. “What about you?” 

Lloyd waved him off dismissively. “I’m not super sleepy. I’ll probably just…read a book or something.” 

Arin wanted to object, purely based on the just barely visible bags underneath Lloyd’s eyes. He always assumed Lloyd didn’t get much sleep, but he seemed to be getting even less than whatever his normal amount was as of late. 

Zane looked at Lloyd worriedly for a split second, before he turned away to busy himself with cleaning the counter.

“Oh, uh…” Arin frowned. “Are you sure?” 

“Sure I’m sure,” Lloyd said assuredly. “I’ve made pies before, I know how to cut them.”

“You’ve made pies before?” Arin asked, surprised.

“Zane’s taught all of us how to make stuff at some point.” Nya piped in. Arin was startled before he realized that she and Kai had migrated to the kitchen without his notice. Ninjas, duh. Cole, however, seemed to have cozied up on the couch, lying down on his side. Was he planning on sleeping there? That didn’t seem very comfortable. “I made a few rice cakes one time.”

“Cole and Jay made us sushi one time.” Kai grinned. “They may or may not have almost blown up the fridge.”

“How did they-?” Arin shook his head. “Never mind.” He bit his lip. “Uh…thanks, Lloyd.”

Lloyd gave his student a tired, weary smile. “Of course, Arin. Anything for you.”

Anything for you. 

The statement made Arin’s heart clench. 

How long has it been, since he heard his parents say that same thing to him all the time? 

He bade his goodbyes to the ninjas, feeling as if his voice was disconnected from his words. As he walked down the hallway, he didn’t feel any less relaxed. As he opened the door to his and Sora’s room, he started to feel tired. As he climbed back into his hammock, he watched the ceiling fan continue to move in a circular motion. As he closed his eyes, his only thoughts were of his parents.

As he drifted off to sleep, he failed to notice that his mission of getting his parents off his mind was wholly unsuccessful. 

As he finally relaxed in bed, he realized that he didn’t care.

He’d never stop thinking about his parents. He’d never stop prioritizing finding them. No matter what.

No matter what the cost. 

Notes:

This takes place a little bit before season two and just after the third Mech short. So Lloyd hasn’t eaten anything except oranges all day, lol. I tried my best to keep everyone in character, but I think there are some things here that can be picked apart as slightly out of character. Arin was a bit more observant than I wanted to make him and picked up on social cues way faster than he does in canon, for instance. I tried to capture that feeling of isolation from a group that you’re actively a part of, which hopefully reflected in some of the dialogue here.

The ninjas are a family, but I don’t think the show did a super great job of portraying that for the longest time. Decided to roll with it as a headcanon for how their family dynamic works. Some of it is slightly dysfunctional, but it’s just considered normal for them at this point. (I might also be slightly projecting here, but that’s neither here nor there.)

Arin obviously is going to feel a split from the Ninja Team, all of whom have…less than stable relationships with both their parental figures. The only exception would be Jay, but Jay is…well…occupied at the moment, lol. If there was anything diving Arin from the rest of the team above the Elemental Powers and Spinjitzu divide, it was the initial drive to become a ninja and the parental relationships. Wu basically just picked up six kids to train them into saving the world from a young age. None of them actively set out on the path of becoming a ninja, at least not like Arin did. Hell, characters like Kai, Lloyd, and Nya actively opposed the idea initially. Sora follows that pattern as well. Arin is the only one who was fully open to the idea of becoming a ninja and even coveted it since he was young. Arin is the only one who also had two loving and supporting parents reinforcing that same dream.

I’ve never baked anything except brownies with brownie mix, a cheesecake, and a questionable desert that I can’t quite name. I think it shows in this one-shot.

With all that said, I hope you enjoyed reading!

(Can’t wait for season three to come in and deliver more of that sweet familiar angst…I’m not crying, I swear.)