Chapter 21. Brothers

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"Doing great. Doing really great."

Lloyd pushed the makeshift walker forward, relied on its support and took another careful step forward. He'd already covered short distances with the walker during the last few days, but now he was taking on an ambitious challenge. He was to make his way from his bedroom to the dojo with Kai and Jay. The two were walking slowly by his sides, their hands ready to assist him should he need them.

"You're doing way better than the first time," Jay complimented. "And the walker seems to be working just fine. At least I hope so."

"It's perfect, Jay," Lloyd assured, taking another careful step. "Just needs some getting used to," he added quietly.

"Beats my carrying services, doesn't it?" Kai asked.

"Definitely," the prince responded and cracked a smile as joyful as possible in his challenging situation.

Kai faked a deeply offended expression and nodded in defeat. "Okay..." he muttered, heartbroken.

"You asked," Jay pointed out with a shrug.

Kai lowered his head in the most victimized of ways. Lloyd was honestly amused by his dramatic antics, even when he was unable to express it much.

"Kai, you should audition for one of those trashy soap operas," he stated.

Kai's sullen expression broke immediately and he started laughing.

"Oh, like Descendants of the Sun?" Jay piped, suddenly excited. "Or Crash Landing on You?"

Kai and Lloyd both stared at the blue ninja, surprised and slightly confused.

Jay's face turned slightly red. "Er... m-my mom used to watch them a lot... that's how I know..."

"Nope! Jay loves his dramas!" Echoed Cole's monotone voice down the hall. He was peering out of the dojo, looking a tiny bit impatient.

"No, I don't!" Jay screamed unnecessarily loudly. He was too defensive to be innocent.

"He used to binge-watch them back when we were in training and always sobbed at some point. Now hurry up! Wu is waiting!" Cole called back.

Lloyd could see an all too satisfied grin making its way onto Kai's face, a grin that he made no effort to hide from the newly grumpy Jay. They then covered the rest of the way into the dojo, where everyone else was already waiting. While Jay went to take his place beside the other ninjas (kindly kicking Cole on the way), Kai stayed back to help Lloyd sit down on a soft pillow on a bench.

"There we go, sillybean," Kai said and gently brushed a strand of Lloyd's hair out of his face.

The prince tilted his head, his expression neutral. "Another nickname?"

"Just to annoy you," Kai replied with a smirk. "Sillybean."

Lloyd squeezed his lips together tightly, resisting the embarrassing blushing that was trying to dominate his face. The far too adorable/annoying nicknames that Kai gave him just kept piling up. Lloyd had even gone and made a list of them just sometime ago, which had turned out to cover more than two pages. He now whipped out the exact same, small notebook the pet names were all in and opened the second page.

"You brought entertainment?" Kai questioned.

"Yeah, because your training is so uneventful," Lloyd stated in a serious voice, writing down the newest nickname with somewhat wonky letters.

Angel
Sweet Thing
Cherry
Loy
Lloydie
Melloy
Amorzinho
Princey
Your Royal Hotness (ugh)
Jellybean
Beau
Snoopy
Amóre
Monty
NapKing (why?)
Dimples
FKPWAIHP (Fellow Kidnapped Person Walking Around In His Pajamas)
Blossom
Sill ybea n

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