moral of the story | a ninjago highschool fanfiction

[33] destroying toilets is considered angst, right?

zane

Home, according to a basic definition, was 'A place where one lives permanently, especially as a member of a family or household.'

Zane was still figuring what, or who home was to him.

However, there were two facts that were very clear to him.

One. His father had lied to him. For him.

Two. He couldn't change himself being an android.

And with that information, he was slowly changing his definition of home to 'Evan, Father, and Pixal'. The three people who he could trust with everything, the three people who had been through everything, the two people who had lied, who had tricked him, and he was taking that leap to trust two of them.

Having a younger brother was a new experience. Zane had analysed Kai, Nya and Lloyd's sibling relationship and found it consisted mostly of roughhousing, yelling, or searching for Ryu. But Evan was a quiet kid. He liked to hang out in the tiny library, one of two wonders in the Julien household, reading books or helping Zane with cooking dinner. When Zane had arrived home, he'd been tackled into one of the tightest hugs he'd ever lived through.

"I thought you'd left me." Evan had mumbled.

Zane's core panged with guilt. "I would never leave you. You're family. I required adequate time to think things out. To recuperate."

From then on, it was like he'd never left. Chess competitions were held once every other day, Zane made dinner with Evan, and they fixed up the old TV to watch late night specials. He was working on filling out Evan's application to Ninjago High exactly one week since they'd left the monastery on a Sunday night, filling in all the details with a documentary playing in the background.

Evan was certainly bright, he'd passed the basic entrance test into a grade a year below Zane's and was due to start Ninjago High on Tuesday once the application was filed through. Whatever house he got didn't matter to Zane, though it might to the student body. The Dragons had won the athletics carnival, a narrow win over the Serpents since Kai hadn't been around to rake extra points in.

Evan had had Mr Spirdon - or Vance, as the teacher insisted everyone call him, first period on his first day, and Zane was glad to know he was in good hands. Mr Spirdon was an excellent teacher with new ways to the school and a likeable personality, and rumours of a fanclub dedicated to him.

Zane resisted the urge to mother hen Evan to all of his classes, but Pixal assured him his little brother would be okay. His friends met up after school in the locker room to meditate as they had been for the past week or so, sometimes working on the arcade game, meditating, drinking copious amounts of tea or simply resting from the continuous onslaught of tests.

Master Wu had been absent from the school as he'd said, with Pixal taking control of their training. Unfortunately, it was hard to organise them around Kai and Cole's sports practices, Cole's dance afternoons, Jay's travel team, Nya trying out and training for the Ninjago Swim Team, and Skylor away with Liam and her friends.

Zane set the tray of simple peanut butter cookies on the stovetop and turned admonishing eyes on his father, who had been trying to sneak a cookie.

"They are fresh from the oven, which also means they are very hot, father. I would recommend letting them cool for ten minutes before allowing yourself a serving."

Dr Julien's blue eyes sparkled with boyish mischief. "Oh well. How has Evan been at school?"

"His teachers are very pleased with him, so he says. He's very mature for his age of course, so he tends to hang out with Astra Harlow and her friends. I am a little worried that he's not spending adequate time with his age group, and that might socially distance him from the others." Zane considered all the points and moved the cookies onto a cooling rack. "Aside from that, I am very proud of him."