If there are some mistakes, please let me know. I've been editing this for too long and my brain is numb lol.
Enjoy :)
-------------
"All right, Lloyd. Go ahead."
Lloyd, who was having his tenth writing lesson in the room he had renamed "The Torture Chamber", nodded at Wu in defeat. He leaned down and placed the tip of his pencil on the paper hesitantly. He had the dreaded blackboard in front of him again, this time with short words on it.
"Don't feel nervous. This is nothing too serious," Wu said.
Lloyd hummed and started to copy down the words, clumsy as ever. He had gotten a grip of the basics of writing letters, but somehow his hand coordination was still missing. It was almost non-existent.
And that was why the word 'house' ended up looking like mountain scenery.
Lloyd sighed and dropped his pencil like a microphone to make a statement. He then let himself fall backwards to lie on the tatami floor, which seemed to amuse his uncle rather than annoy him.
"Just like Garm…" Wu muttered under his breath.
Lloyd grumbled quietly. He didn't want to show it (not wanting to offend Wu), but he had grown to hate the way people compared him to who he had already degraded to only be his conceiver rather than father. He didn't like people to constantly point out different things about him and say they were straight from Garmadon as though Lloyd wasn't his own person at all. It wasn't that he felt any hatred or bitterness towards his conceiver. Complicated was a better word, or strange.
"Lloyd, would you like to try again?" Wu asked.
Lloyd shook his head.
"Why not?"
The boy gazed at the ceiling dully. "Because I feel like I'm dumber than Rita's dead dogs together, and that's already pretty dumb."
He wasn't exaggerating. The dogs had been very unintelligent. One of them had once run into a closed door, and the other had started attacking a small mirror upon thinking the reflection was another dog.
Wu gave him a very Wu-ish look. "Try one more time. Don't quit."
The blond sighed and sat up again. However, he did not try to hold the pencil the right way and then have Wu correct him, but grabbed the pencil in his fist and started to scribble on the sheet of paper with little to no care. He could sense the surprised look in his uncle's eyes, but cared oddly little. His fingers only tightened around the pencil and held it like a hammer. After writing down the rest of the words, Lloyd put the pencil down and officially gave up.
Returning to lie on the floor and become interested in a loose thread on his sweater sleeve, Lloyd expected to hear Wu sigh or express some forced compliment on his progress, but it never came. He became curious enough to glance up and found his uncle staring at the paper in wonder.
"What?" He questioned.
"That… that was perfect."
If something, this got Lloyd to jump up and take a look at what he had done to the paper. He too was shocked to find neatly written words on the paper, all with a gap of the same size between them, all written in straight rows. He swore he had never seen even Nya writing so perfectly, much less Kai, whose handwriting was illegible and almost a form of abstract art.
"Wow," Lloyd said, his mouth agape. "You said learning requires time. Has enough time passed now?"
"I guess so," Wu muttered, staring at the paper in disbelief. However, Lloyd could soon find a hint of realization dawning on his uncle, after which the said master nodded to himself, stroking his magically long beard. "Yes, of course. That must be it."
The boy frowned. "What must be what?"
"Er…" Wu finally faced him, looking awkward. That was not a usual look for him. "I just… I think the problem was your grip on the pencil this whole time. Apparently you write better when you hold it in your fist rather than between your fingers. That's what I meant."
For some reason, Lloyd had the feeling his uncle wasn't telling him something. However, as there were things he wasn't telling his uncle either, he decided to let it be. After all, it couldn't be anything that interesting anyway.
🔥-🔥-🔥
Kai and his supposed team members were all out in the courtyard, training. While the people Kai had started to mentally call the Fruit Ninja were training in combat, Kai was simply running through the obstacle course. According to Master Wu, he wasn't as experienced yet, so he was to stick to the basics for a while now.
Well, it was not like he had anything against that. The less contact he had with anyone aside from his siblings, the better. He still found it hard to feel comfortable around these people, let alone trust them. There was something about the ninjas specifically that bothered him.
Kai kept on training alone, trying his very best to concentrate on not getting struck in the face by one of the spiky, flailing wrecking ball-thingies. He still didn't quite understand in what sort of real situation he was going to have to dodge spiked wrecking balls or duck out of the way of shooting fire. And if (big if) he was this legendary fire ninja whatever, couldn't he just use a few fireballs to melt any threatening obstacles?
Those very thoughts ended up distracting Kai so much he soon found himself from the ground, his freshly struck face stinging with pain.
"Kai? You okay?"
Kai groaned, putting his arm over his eyes so as to shield them from the glaring sun as well as Cole's gaze.
"I'm fine," he muttered.
"You know, if you try to make out the rhythm of the training course, it'll be much easier to complete it without major injuries," the Earth Ninja informed.
Kai did not want to be rude or anything, but he felt like he showed his irritation very clearly. He hated advice in general, but especially when it came only after he'd been punched in the mouth by the training course.
"Students!"
While the three other ninjas stopped in their tracks and hastily stood straight like soldiers, Kai took his time standing up and resuming a somewhat dignified posture. He saw Master Wu having entered the courtyard with, much to the brunet's delight, Little Lloyd following right behind him.
"I have important information to share, but first I'd like to give you a little task," Wu announced. "You've all been training hard, so I thought you'd deserve a bit of a lighter task to complete together."
Well, Kai was immediately onboard. Anything but running through that wicked course again.
Wu gazed at all three of the ninjas and the single ninja-to-be before calmly saying, "Cook."
Complete silence fell upon the group. Kai was very confused as to why Master Wu was making them cook. What kind of a task was that? It wasn't difficult in the least, required little to no brain work, and didn't take long to do. Where was the challenge?
"Um, Master… we have to cook? That's the task?" Cole questioned.
"Yes. I have left a recipe and the ingredients for you in the kitchen," Wu responded. "And the rules are simple; no electronics, no fighting, Zane isn't allowed to turn his cooking mode on, and there will be no sabotaging your judge."
"Judge?" Jay frowned.
Wu turned to face Lloyd. "I will be busy instructing Nya in her own training, so I've decided that Lloyd, whom I've learnt to be an excellent cook, will be watching you. He will report to me on how you've managed afterwards."
"What?" Jay exclaimed. "We're gonna be judged by a 12-year-old?"
Kai gave the blue ninja a glare.
"A very talented 12-year-old," Wu replied. "I gather Lloyd has cooked more meals in his much shorter lifetime than you three together."
"Which is embarrassing on your part," said a snarky voice from the doors nearby. Kai turned to see Morro having stepped out into the courtyard.
Wu, after glancing at his son warningly, continued, "During this exercise, I want you to practice cooperation and equality. No one is to claim the role of a leader, no one is to make it a solo mission and no one is to make decisions on their own. You must get through this—"
"Uncommonly easy," Morro put in.
"—task together," Wu finished. "It may seem easy on the surface, but it will turn out to be harder than you could ever have imagined."
"Not because it requires teamwork, but because you're all so incompetent as cooks you could break the world record," Morro remarked.
"Thanks for the commentary, Morro," Jay huffed.
The Master of Wind shrugged. "I'm just glad I don't have to judge you. I wouldn't want to be in a kitchen Jay and Cole are cooking in as that is a major safety hazard."
"Says the actual hormone storm that makes just about every room unsafe with his presence," retorted Cole.
"All right, enough," Wu interrupted, tapping his staff on the ground. "Ninja, go into the kitchen with Lloyd. Morro, warm up for training. I will go find Nya. She should've already been here."
"I can go look for her," Kai put in hopefully. He would do anything as long as it wasn't in the same kitchen with three dorks, under the judgmental gaze of his master chef of a brother.
"No, you must go and complete the task with your teammates," Wu said. "This is all about building a team out of you. Avoiding the task and expressing unwillingness to do teamwork are exactly the right ways to fail the task."
"Not that you'd succeed even as a team," Morro commented from the sidelines.
"Morro, I told you to warm up your body, not your mouth," Wu called out.
The Master of Wind scowled and went to stretch for his own, seemingly nicer training. Kai honestly felt envious of him and was already yearning to go back and be assaulted by the training course. It couldn't be worse than cooking with three of Kai's least trusted people, especially Jay.
"Okay, let's go then," Cole sighed and led the way inside.
"Can't we just make Lloyd cook and play video games in the meantime?" Jay whined.
"What do you think Lloyd is? Your slave?" Kai snapped, glaring daggers at the blue ninja. He felt as though something hot and angry had burst inside of him.
"No, I just meant— I mean, he likes to cook!" Jay rushed to say. "I didn't mean it like that."
Kai did not drop his glare, but begrudgingly followed the others into the kitchen. He went to take his place somewhere near the stove, as far away from Jay as possible, and as close to Lloyd as possible.
"Little L, can you look away if and when I mess up?" Kai asked quietly, his anger levels plummeting at the sight of his brother's happy smile.
Lloyd shook his head and made a note on the little clipboard in his hands. Not only did the fact that he was writing or the way he was holding the pencil in his fist confuse Kai, but also the mystery of what he'd felt the need to make notes of.
Growing paranoid, he snatched the clipboard and read what had been written on it.
One minute into the task, Kai is sabotaging the judge.
"I wasn't sabotaging!" Kai exclaimed indignantly.
Lloyd took back the clipboard and gestured to Kai to go cook. The older brother found this a violation of his position as the most authorized and respected member of the sibling squad (being the eldest), but decided not to protest. After all, Lloyd had been given all that power to abuse by an even more authorized person.
"Okay, here's the recipe," Cole announced, grabbing the piece of very old-looking paper. He read the first couple of lines and immediately looked like a first grader being forced to do a seventh grade math test.
Jay ripped the recipe out of his friend's hands and read it himself. His already pale face grew even paler. "Lasagne…"
Kai furrowed his brow. All that dramatic horror over lasagne? Personally, Kai had never made lasagne, but he had once eaten it at work and, in his opinion, it looked like the most simple food to make. It was a joke compared to the stuff he'd spent years watching Lloyd make.
"What's the big deal?" Kai inquired. "It's just pasta and some meat sauce."
"Yeah, except that we have neither of those ready," Cole said after checking the fridge and cabinets. "We have to make the pasta from scratch without ever having done it before."
"And I will not be allowed to use my database to find cooking tips or shortcuts," Zane added dully. "Nor am I allowed to turn on my cooking mode, which would make the cooking process significantly easier."
Jay groaned. "What don't we just knock Lloyd out for a sec, let Zane do his thing and then go back to real training?"
The way Kai glared at him clearly made him reconsider his words.
"But on second thought, we should not do anything to Lloyd," he added rather hastily.
As though there was already not enough stress in the air, the group of ninjas soon saw Lloyd making more notes on his annoying clipboard.
"We haven't even done anything yet!" Jay screamed, spreading his hands out to exaggerate his point.
"I think that's the problem," Cole said and peered at everyone. "Okay, Kai and I will get started on making the pasta while Zane and Jay will start with the sauce. If any issues occur, just let me know."
"Understood," said Zane.
'So much about not claiming leadership,' Kai thought annoyedly, reluctantly obeying the order.
After about ten minutes of intense cooking, Kai came to the conclusion that he would've been more than happy to take back what he'd thought earlier. Lasagne, simple as it looked, was brutal to prepare.
"Who the hell has the flour?!" Jay screamed. He'd lost his nerves seven minutes ago.
"You don't even need flour! You're reading the wrong part of the recipe!" Cole growled. His patience had burnt out five minutes ago.
Kai rolled his eyes, scoffing. He had run out of any patience three minutes ago.
"My brothers, do not raise your voices as it brings more negativity into the atmosphere. We must stay calm and work as a team," said Zane. He had never lost his patience, which was making everyone else lose theirs.
And Lloyd was enjoying the show on the sidelines, the tip of his pencil swiftly moving across the paper far too often.
"Quick, Lloyd. Help me," Cole whispered as he leaned over the countertop behind which the boy was sitting. "Can you tell me what tsp means?"
Lloyd blinked at him, glanced at his little clipboard wisely…
And shook his head.
Cole groaned. "Ugh, fine."
The Earth Ninja returned to where Kai was doing… something. The brunet honestly didn't know what he was doing anymore as he couldn't find the instructions anywhere and had lost a few ingredients. He was close to quitting since it seemed the only thing he was going to be successful at.
"Lloyd, can you tell me when it's been five minutes?" Jay asked the blond quietly.
Lloyd, as expected, shook his head happily and began to write on his clipboard again. This seemed to make Jay's frustration skyhigh.
"Lloyd is like a mini Master Wu!" He hissed, coming to steal some salt from Kai and Cole. "That cheeky little runt."
The second the words had left the blue ninja's mouth, Kai managed to pour some steaming hot water on Jay's right hand.
By accident, of course.
💧~💧~💧
"Become water, Nya…"
Nya was having a hard time balancing herself on the small, smooth rock in the middle of a beautiful pond. She was apparently expected to stand on one foot and look very graceful, but all she really managed to do was sway from left to right and look like a cat wearing roller skates on jello.
"Master Wu, this is not working," Nya complained.
"Is it not working or are you not letting it work? Is your mind so full of doubts it's preventing you from succeeding?"
Where even was Wu? His voice was very present, but when Nya looked around, she couldn't see him.
"Is your mind focusing on the wrong things?"
There was no way he'd just caught Nya spending a single second concentrating on something else.
"Master, this is not helping me at all," Nya stated. "I'm sure something more… active would help more. I'm really good on the training course and I excel at tasks requiring mindwork."
"Yes, you are very talented, Nya," Wu replied, finally coming into view. "But that alone will get you nowhere with your element. To access your water powers, you must become one with it. You must be like water." He came closer and filled a small teacup with water. "Whereas earth is solid and air is running, water is both. When you fill a cup with water, the water becomes the cup. When you let water pour down a mountain for thousands of years, the water modifies the mountain. In order to be in tune with your element, you must be like it as well. You must be flexible and tough at the same time."
"But standing on a rock? What's that helping?" Nya inquired, almost falling once again.
"It's not only bodily practice that matters. Your mind and body must be in perfect balance and work together. Only then you can truly harness your powers," Wu explained. "Now, on your hands!"
Nya swiftly jumped up and landed in an adequate handstand.
"Well done. Your mother would be proud if she saw you now," Wu said in a more gentle voice.
"Mm, I don't know. She didn't seem too excited about having children, let alone raising them."
"Your mother did not leave you because she didn't love you," the master stated. "While we don't know what forced your parents to abandon you, I can say for sure that they were heartbroken to do so."
"I guess," Nya sighed. She figured their parents must've cared about them a little, at least. Otherwise they wouldn't have left them in front of a restaurant with blankets and a note, but would've probably ditched them in cardboard boxes in front of an abusive boarding school. Her and Kai's origin was marginally better than that of Lloyd's, whose real mother seemed to have been just as much of an evil woman as Rita.
"You're not the only one with terrible parents!" Shouted a voice Nya had not exactly wished to hear.
Morro, the Prince of Annoyingness, had arrived. He seated himself on a nearby rock, assuming a comfortable position and smirking at Nya, whose hands were starting to shake from being strained too much.
And much to Nya's dismay, he kept on talking. "My bio parents were complete bitches, Jay's bio parents were presumably complete bitches—"
Nya frowned, recalling a conversation during which Jay had talked about his parents in a very happy and loving tone.
"—and Zane's dad bit the dust and wiped his memory because why not? Then Cole's mother kicked the bucket and his dad turned out to be a bitch, and now your parents are presumed bitches, and that blonde brat's—"
"Morro!" Wu snapped.
"—mother was a complete bitch and his dad might be a bitch," Morro finished quickly.
Nya glanced at Wu, wondering what type of a reaction the usually-strict master was going to have. She was somewhat good at reading emotions (having learnt to do so just to avoid provoking Rita at the wrong time), and she could see Wu was not very pleased. However, it seemed the master had a harder time handing out terrible punishments to his son as opposed to his ninjas.
"Morro, you are not to talk about the other ninjas' or anyone's parents like that. Or use the B-word," Wu dictated.
Morro shrugged. "But it's true." He then lay his eyes on Nya again. "What are you doing by the way? Summoning rain? If yes, you don't seem very successful."
Nya was determined not to react to Morro's taunting as she didn't wish to stoop to the level of a 13 years old, immature, possibly-spoiled little kid. She simply looked away and tried to keep herself focused on whatever she was doing. She hated to admit it, but Morro was right. So far she was very unsuccessful at "becoming water".
"Or are you supposed to water something?" Morro asked in a teasing voice. "You know, maybe you should ask Jay for help. He's good at wetting stuff, especially his pants."
While Nya still didn't exactly like Jay, she did not appreciate Morro speaking of him that way. She didn't like anything he said, whether it was about Jay or not.
"Morro, stop it," Wu ordered more sternly. "Just because you have finished with your training doesn't mean you can come and disturb Nya's practice."
"I'm not disturbing her. I'm just giving helpful and truthful commentary. Since I'm gonna be the team leader soon anyway, I need to practice some leadership."
Wu sighed and faced Nya again. "Nya, go on and do not mind him."
Morro scowled at his father.
Nya proceeded to do as the master had told her to and acted as though the Master of Wind sitting nearby was just an invisible, little ghost.
"Alright, Nya," Wu said after a while. He had left for a moment and returned when Nya was just as far away from completing her task as before. "Now, I have a different task for you."
Nya gladly left her weird water pose and stared at the master with curiosity. She watched as Wu turned around, picked up a wooden bucket and tossed it to her. She caught it, her curiosity being replaced by confusion.
"I call it the Bucket Test," Wu explained. "The task is simple; fill the bucket with water."
Nya raised her brow before letting out a little laugh. "That's easy." She dipped the bucket in water and pulled it back up, filled with water.
Only, all the water poured out of a hole on the bottom.
"The task is simple; not easy." Wu drew his hands behind his back. "I'll be back in an hour."
Nya stared at him. Was she really expected to spend the next hour trying to fill a broken bucket with water? Was Master Wu crazy?
"Morro, come," Wu ordered.
"I want to stay!" Morro whined.
"Nya doesn't need your snarky comments. Come along."
Morro rolled his eyes, let out the most teenage-ish sigh, and begrudgingly followed his father back to the monastery. And so Nya was left to complete a task that she could simply not see a solution to.
🔥-🔥-🔥
Kai and the three fruit ninjas finally got to leave the kitchen behind, all of them exhausted, annoyed and messy.
Little Lloyd was standing in the hallway with his dumb clipboard in his hands, watching them with an expression that was, in Kai's opinion, a bit too cheerful. It got on his nerves slightly. The whole cooking session had been one, ginormous fiasco. Kai wasn't exactly sure what Master Wu had intended to achieve with the task, but it was quite clear to him that goal had not been reached.
The group came out into the courtyard, where Wu was already waiting for them. While the others went to sit and lie around exhaustedly, Lloyd went to his uncle to hand him the clipboard to read. Kai followed right behind him, curious to see what his brother had written.
The paper was quite full of clumsily written text.
One minute into the task, Kai is sabotaging the judge.
Two minutes into the task, nothing has still happened.
Three minutes into the task, Jay is planning on knocking out the judge.
Five minutes into the task, Cole is claiming leadership.
Ten minutes into the task, Jay is screaming.
Eleven minutes into the task, Cole is trying to cheat by asking the judge forbidden questions.
Twelve minutes into the task, Kai has failed miserably.
Thirteen minutes into the task, Jay is trying to cheat by asking the judge for forbidden assistance.
Fourteen minutes into the task, Kai has injured Jay with hot water.
Twenty minutes into the task, the sauce is on the floor.
Twenty-two minutes into the task, Jay and Kai are fighting.
Thirty minutes into the task, it is clear we will not have lasagne for dinner tonight.
Having finished reading the notes, Kai had to admit that he had not had the best recollection of the events that had taken place in the kitchen, but apparently the situation had been even more catastrophic than he'd noticed.
Wu sighed. "Alright, thank you, Lloyd."
Lloyd went to take a seat on the edge of the porch, and Kai went to sit a good distance away from the other ninjas.
The master drew his hands behind his back and gazed at the team of ninjas and Kai. "So, I see we still have to work on your cooperation. However, I figured now would be a good time to tell you more about your journey to—"
Wu was cut off and Lloyd almost fell off the porch as the door right behind them was blasted open. Morro came out into the courtyard, looking well-rested and much happier than the amateur chefs.
Wu took a very deep breath to keep himself calm. "My darling Morro, could you even once consider opening a door like people normally do instead of blasting it open?"
"I've got no time for that shit!" Morro huffed, jumping off the porch.
"Language."
"English."
Wu sighed and shook his head.
"I came to hear where the troll-faces are going," Morro announced.
"Troll-faces?!" Jay screamed.
Morro pursed his lips and hummed. "Mm, you're right. Don't want to insult the trolls."
"Oh, so you think we're ugly?" The blue ninja inquired.
"You have the face of a blobfish."
Offended to the point where he was at loss for words, Jay simply turned to face elsewhere as though Morro had evaporated.
Wu tapped his staff on the ground to gain everyone's attention again. "Alright, well, as I was saying—"
Once again, the master was rudely interrupted as the gates behind him opened loudly and, surprising Kai, Nya marched in. She looked just about ready to explode, clutching a bucket in her hand with such force it seemed she wanted to hurt it gravely.
"Oh, you're back early. How did your training go?" Wu asked.
"It was hopeless!" Nya exclaimed. Kai could see she had been taken far beyond her limits when it came to patience. "I tried everything! Every single way! I even stuffed a rock in that stupid hole in the bucket, but it was still leaking!"
Jay snorted.
Nya's piercing glare shifted onto the blue ninja in a blink of an eye. "What are you laughing at?!"
Jay quickly cleared his throat quickly. "N-Nothing."
Kai honestly thought Jay had better be quiet around Nya. Kai knew his sister and also knew she was very good at taking her anger out on anyone who provoked her (unless it was Lloyd). Jay wouldn't even have been the first one whose face she had reshaped or who she had sent to urgently see a nurse for suddenly occuring health problems.
"Now," Wu said, his eyes traveling from one face to another to make sure they were all there and no one was going to come waltzing out and interrupt him. "About the mission—"
"Dad?"
The master took a deep breath. "Morro, please. Not now."
"But—"
"Whatever it is, I can deal with it afterwards."
"Okay, but is there supposed to be smoke coming from the kitchen?"
Everyone whipped around to see the entrance closest to the monastery kitchen and, as Morro had just noted, there was thick, dark smoke hovering from every little crack to form a big cloud in the ceiling.
"Oh, no," Wu groaned and ran inside together with Zane, Cole and Nya. Morro dashed after them, though looking more like a kid going to the movies rather than a worried homeowner. Lloyd, on the other hand, was frozen in place as he was deadly scared of housefires.
Kai and Jay stayed behind too and glanced at each other. It was obvious they could both recall their little scuffle earlier. Kai could maybe, possibly, probably, very vaguely remember having slammed Jay right against the oven without checking if it caused any of the knobs to turn afterwards.
"I blame you," Kai stated, glaring at Jay.
"Me?! You were the one who pushed me!" Jay retorted.
"You were the one who started screaming and almost spilled boiling water on my brother!"
"Well, you're the—"
Kai never had the chance to hear what more he had done as he and Jay were both pushed aside by Lloyd. The blond squeezed in between them in an attempt to end their argument and gave them very meaningful looks.
"Lloyd, I was in the middle of something," Kai hissed.
The younger brother shook his head and crossed his arms like a suburban housewife, narrowing his eyes into mere slits.
"Fine," the older brother mumbled. Those big, emerald eyes that drilled into his very soul were a weak point for him.
Jay was the first out of the three to hurry into the kitchen to see what the situation was. Lloyd tried to run after him, but Kai yanked him right back.
"No, stay here," he ordered. He proceeded to ignore the grumpy expression on his brother's face and rushed inside. There was still a little bit of smoke in the air, but it seemed the fire was out and things had calmed down.
Kai entered the kitchen and found the whole team there, silently standing in the middle of the somewhat burnt kitchen. The cabinets, which had used to be an odd shade of green or blue (Kai was terrible at defining colors), were now the dark shade of brown and black.
"So…" Cole spoke from behind their master, his voice a little awkward. "About the mission?"
Wu sighed deeply, staring at the damaged kitchen. "I'll tell you later. Much, much later, when you're even slightly ready to be a functioning team."
⚡▪︎⚡▪︎⚡
Jay knew nothing better than a few hours spent on the couch, playing video games and eating pizza. Especially after the arduous lasagne-making, cleaning up the burnt kitchen and then trying his best to listen to Wu's twenty-minute-long lecture, he was more than ready to grant himself some enjoyment with his sole company being the TV and PlayStation. It was not like he had anything better to do either as the training course was being occupied by Lloyd and Morro, who were having their separate training.
The Lightning Ninja went to turn on the console and grab the better controller. He was just about to turn on the TV when something strange happened.
Jay turned around. He had heard a creak from the floorboards, and it hadn't been his own movements causing it. But now, he couldn't see anyone. Only the couch, the coffee table, the plants, the shelves… and the slide door that was ajar.
Jay could've sworn he'd closed the door since most of his friends didn't like the noises of the game or the way he sometimes screamed at the TV as though it took verbal commands. He thought about going to shut the door, but figured he could just as well set up the game first.
Then, he heard a clicking sound. As he turned back to the console, he jumped with a gasp.
Lloyd was sitting beside him, gazing curiously at the console and pressing the buttons on it.
Now, if Lloyd wasn't so vulnerable and cute, Jay would've probably thought he was creepy sneaking up on people like that. But as the kid was probably the least threatening child Jay had ever come across (as long as he didn't have his clipboard), he calmed down quite soon.
"Hey Lloyd," the blue ninja greeted, smiling. "Weren't you supposed to be training?"
Lloyd shook his head and pointed at his ankles, which were visibly swollen. Jay was able to connect the dots and nodded.
"Wanna play some video games too?" He offered.
Lloyd's eyes met those of Jay's and he nodded hesitantly. He then shifted his gaze back to the console and the second controller resting on it. The way he looked at them radiated the fact that he probably didn't have the faintest idea how to use a controller or what exactly video games were.
"You've never played video games before, have you?" Jay asked.
Lloyd shook his head.
"That's fine. I can teach you!" The blue ninja exclaimed. He decided to take it upon himself to give the cheeky little blond the invaluable experience of gaming.
Not more than five minutes later, both Jay and Lloyd were sitting on the couch with controllers in their hands, playing Fist to Face 2. It took Lloyd a while to get the hang of how video games worked and how the controller was to be held (he'd first tried to hold it vertically), but he was otherwise a quick learner. He even ended up beating Jay on one level, though with the blue ninja going a little bit easy on him. The smile on the little blond's face was worth the loss. Jay had never seen him smile so wide.
"Fun, isn't it?" Jay grinned.
Lloyd nodded enthusiastically and proceeded to continue playing. Jay couldn't help but feel a tiny bit proud of himself for having saved a boy from a life without video games. Now Lloyd could experience the joy of gaming and was probably going to become just as addicted to the games as he had.
Master Wu was probably not going to appreciate Jay's efforts in this particular field.
Jay and Lloyd kept playing excitedly until the blue ninja was momentarily distracted by another person entering quietly.
Nya.
Jay felt some type of heat rushing up to his cheeks as he sat a bit straighter and resumed a more neutral expression opposed to the nearly fanatic one he had worn before.
"Playing games, huh?" Nya smiled at her brother, coming to stand beside him. She kept her eyes strictly on Lloyd, not granting Jay a single glance.
Lloyd just now noticed Nya and immediately smiled at her.
"Are you winning?" The sister asked next.
The blond nodded excitedly, just then beating his opponent in the game.
"Ugh, not again!" Jay pretended to suffer from the horrible loss. "Why do you have to be so good at this? This is, like, your third game ever!"
Lloyd shrugged, wearing a playfully boastful expression on his face.
"You're way too good for me to play with," Jay sighed, slumping on the couch. He happened to catch Nya's eye and notice how she was giving him a very vague, quick, avoidant but still grateful smile.
Whether on purpose or by accident, Nya was smiling at him.
Nya.
Smiling.
At him.
While a victory party blasted in his head, Jay thought the room definitely needed a fan or new air conditioning, because it was suddenly getting extremely hot and uncomfortable in there.