Pixies
••• Here Comes Your Man •••
big shake on the boxcar movin'
big shake to the land that's fallin' down
is a wind makes a palm stop blowin'
a big, big stone fall and break my crown
•••••
TW: blood, gore, needles (a descriptive scene of sewing skin), fainting
"Good." The hand beside Lloyd's face went back a smidge when my fist landed into his palm. "Again. Don't twist your hips so much, you'll lose your power."
I nodded and drove my punch into his palm again. When his hand suddenly fell to his stomach, I twisted my forearm and dug it in with a sharp jab.
"Better." Lloyd took my fist and laid it upon his shoulder. "Use your knee this time. Just slow, feel it out."
I lifted my knee until it touched his palm. I looked up at him for acknowledgment and he nodded.
"Faster. Five of them."
I sent my knee into his palm five times. My balancing leg began to wobble with fatigue. Sweat plastered my hair to my face, and the worry over how gross I'd look all puffed and exerted disappeared an hour ago when I quickly got too tired to think such thoughts. Lloyd was relentless.
He instructed me through improving my stance, ordered five more knee-to-the-guts, and then ordered another ten on the opposite leg. By the time that set was done, I was trembling and dripping with sweat.
Lloyd granted me mercy, passing a hand over my hair in satisfaction. "Well done. Go take a drink."
I relaxed my stance with a sigh of relief. "Thank you."
He followed me to the edge of the dojo, where I slumped onto the ground and took deep gulps of cold water from my bottle. I could feel my heartbeat even in my feet. Lloyd leant against the wooden beam beside me and watched in amusement, his hair fluttering in the gentle breeze that slipped in through the open doors. The temptation of the garden laid beyond.
"How much more are we doing?" I asked. Lloyd was still in recovery, but I wasn't. He'd already jogged beside my run through the forest, in which I'd stumbled over roots more than a few times. The start to my hand-to-hand combat training had been quick and sweaty.
Lloyd shrugged. "However long you think you can last." At the look of struggle that crossed my face, he changed tactics. "I'll give you a kiss for every full set of kata."
I sent an unamused look up at him.
"Is this how you train all your students, Master Lloyd?" I asked dryly.
"Just the pretty ones." Lloyd smirked at my rolling eyes. "You're my only student. Let my dad know if I'm doing a shitty job, 'cause it'd be his fault if I am."
I smiled with sincerity. "You're doing great. You're a good teacher."
"You're a good student." Lloyd's expression down at me was soft with pride. "You pick up on things fast."
I couldn't handle it when he looked at me like that. I took another sip from my drink bottle in an excuse to hide my face.
A knock on the dojo door preluded it to being slid open. A man I'd never seen before poked his head in with a wide-eyed look, and then it widened more when he spotted Lloyd and I.
"Lloyd!" The brown-haired, middle-aged man stepped inside, followed by the beige-furred bomb that was the adolescent dog. "When did you get a dog?"
"Dareth?" Lloyd stood up from the beam he leant upon in confusion. I yelped when the yapping dog launched himself at me and began covering my face with licks. "What are you doing here?"
"I asked Wu to help me make an updated class plan," he answered, before lowering his voice into a whisper that wasn't as quiet as he thought it was. "Who's the sweaty kid?"
Lloyd picked up the dog playfully attacking me with one arm and pulled me to my feet with the other. The unnamed puppy squirmed in his grasp for freedom with the determination of kings but, unfortunately for him, the Green Ninja was unyielding.
"This is Y/n, my girlfriend. Y/n, this is Dareth. He's, uh..." Lloyd's face scrunched as he tried to find an appropriate word, "helped us out a few times."
Dareth puffed his chest as if Lloyd's hesitant introduction had labelled him as the sole saviour of the entire world. "That's right. The Brown Ninja; I'm sure you've heard of me."
What? No, I hadn't. Never. "Uh, actually-" At Lloyd's unsubtle cough, I changed my tune. "Yeah! Yes, of course! The Brown Ninja! Gosh, you're so..." I eyed him up and down. He looked kind of like a washed-up Elvis Presley. "Daring! You're so daring."
That must've been the right thing to say, because Dareth the Brown Ninja who might've also been closet cosplaying as Elvis lit up like Ninjago City after dark.
"Daring... daring..." he tried it out. His voice droned like a hum with little inflection. "Dareth the Daring... yeah, I can make that work." He turned his attention back to me. "I like your style, Y/n. You clearly have a good eye."
I smiled awkwardly. "Thanks."
"So, you're the Green Ninja's girlfriend, huh?" Dareth sauntered inside and surveyed the dojo with his hands on his hips as if he were inspecting it. "You a ninja, too?"
This new guy was so bewildering that I didn't even have a chance to feel shy. At least his appearance was extending my break. The dog in Lloyd's arms had spotted some monks outside and begun yipping for release, so he was placed back on the ground and took off like a rocket out to the garden.
"No," I answered. "I mean... not yet?" I wasn't entirely sure what my future within the team held.
"Uh-huh, uh-huh." Dareth nodded to himself and turned back toward us with his hands on his hips. "If you need an instructor, you know who to call."
I truly was confused. I pointed at Lloyd beside me, because, well, we were already in the middle of a lesson. "Him?"
Dareth glanced at Lloyd and squinted thoughtfully. "Hm. I suppose he'll do."
Lloyd's brows raised. "Thanks for your vote of confidence, Dareth."
"Of course, Lloyd, anytime." He approached to grab his shoulders and squeezed them in intense camaraderie. "Us teachers need to help each other so our students may flourish like the beautiful doves they are destined to become."
Like the beautiful doves? I could barely understand what he was trying to say. This workout had turned into exercising my brain instead of my body, and I was genuinely struggling to keep up. Dareth turned and patted me twice on the cheek.
"It was good to meet you, young pupil," he said. "May you one day save the world as much as I."
When Dareth left the dojo, I turned to Lloyd and sent him a baffled look. I had no idea what happened, no clue what ever had been inferred, but I hoped I'd see him again soon. Dareth was a fascinating person.
Lloyd sighed with an exhaustion that one mortal man shouldn't bring upon him.
"Just go along with him," Lloyd said. "It's what we all do. He's a family friend."
"He's fun," I commented.
"That's one word for him." Lloyd shook his head to recompose himself and nodded for me to join him on the mat. "Show me how much of the kata Kai taught you. My offer still stands." He kissed the tips of his fingers before blowing it toward me with a lazy-eyed grin.
I followed him with a grumble and a flush of my cheeks. It was a miracle I could do anything around him without crumbling to the floor from how often he made my knees weak - but I would be holding him to the promise of kisses. I never joked about kisses.
"Alright," Lloyd said as he handed me a wooden katana and I got into position before him. The dog began barking up chaos out in the garden. "Begin."
I moved into the first position. "Did you come up with a name for the dog?"
"Pay attention, princess." Lloyd moved my foot into the correct position with a nudge of his toe.
Jesus. How was I supposed to focus when he called me that? Or any of his pet names? I had to focus twice as hard just to remember which order my arms swung to get into second position.
"Kashu," Lloyd answered. "It means 'skilled singer.'" The dog let loose another string of yips and howls, and he snickered. "I thought it was appropriate."
I smiled and moved into the next position. Lloyd straightened my sword arm and rotated my hips a smidge more. A drip of sweat running down from my temple tempted me into wiping it away, but I didn't dare move from my kata.
"Kashu," I echoed. "I like it. It sounds like cashew." His coat was the colour of cashews, too.
Lloyd grinned and adjusted me though my next few paces of kata, noting where I'd need to improve. The shakiness of my arms beneath the weight of the wooden sword didn't go ignored. General fitness and strength was the front runner.
My first set was done. I sent Lloyd a pointed, impatient look, and when he nodded his satisfaction, I dropped my sword and locked my arms behind his neck to kiss him. I liked his way of teaching.
He allowed me a short smooch before bringing his head back. "Letting your sword fall is considered to be very disrespectful," he tsk'd. "You just earned yourself another ten sets without kisses, sunshine."
I groaned, gave him an angry peck on his chin, and turned to pick up my sword. My body ached at its use, begging for rest it wasn't granted. My foot slid back into first position with the weapon ready at my hip.
Lloyd smirked at the scowl on my face. "Begin."
🍃🍂🍁🍂🍃
Opening my front door to Naomi was like cracking open a soda, reclining on the grass, and falling sleep beneath the afternoon sun. She exuded contentment, my sole link to the mundane life I'd once led.
I was both filled with elation and felt myself relax at seeing her bright grin and gentle eyes. Before Lloyd became my safe person, there was only Naomi. I missed her more than I could find the words. I almost started getting emotional just by seeing her face again.
"Y/n!" Naomi didn't hesitate to launch forward and fling her arms around me. "I missed you so much!"
I held her back just as firmly. "I missed you, too."
"How's your migraine?" she worriedly asked. "I brought a board game in case you still can't watch screens." Our sleepovers usually consisted of movies and eating snacks until we got sick, especially when my social battery had depleted.
"I'm fine, now." I smiled at her appreciatively, and she relaxed with her own beam of relief. I ushered her inside and shut the door behind us.
My parents were in the lounge room; Mum reading a book and Dad bent over his work laptop in the love seat. He'd taken time off since discovering that his daughter came from a long line of 'who-knows-what' and wanted to stay until the threat of Axon was gone. But, of course, the Sargent Major never really got time off.
My parents greeted Naomi when we passed through from the entranceway. She stopped in shock at spotting my Dad and I couldn't blame her; I could count on one hand how often she'd seen him.
"Hi, Mr. L/n!" Naomi greeted in surprise. "Were you at Stiix?"
"Hi, Naomi," Dad answered slowly, attention clearly elsewhere. He peered closer at his screen and tapped out a command on the keyboard. "I was."
"Did you see the ninja? No-one can remember if they were there or not."
Mum peeked over her book to catch her husbands attention before subtly shaking her head. I'd drilled it into them before Naomi had arrived; no mention of the ninja.
"You know what?" Dad sent Naomi an awkward smile. "I can't remember."
Naomi's eyes widened even further. "So strange."
"Yeah, so weird!" I caught her by the arm and began to drag her to my room. "What game did you bring?"
"The Starfarer one that you said you liked," Naomi answered, though she was half-distracted. I managed to regain her attention when I sat us down on my bed and began talking about some random drama I'd spotted online.
We spoke until my parents knocked on the door and gave us their goodbyes. It was date night. The only way I could convince them to go was because I wouldn't be home alone - thanks to Naomi, who didn't even realise that she was my current safeguard in the eyes of the overprotective people in my life.
When other people's gossip got boring, Naomi leant toward me with a coy smile. I knew immediately what her next topic of conversation was going to be.
"Sooo," she hummed teasingly. "How are you and Lloyd?"
I inclined back from her prying gaze and smiled bashfully. "We're going strong, I think."
"Yeah?" Naomi planted her chin on her hand with a content smile. "How was he when you were sick?"
I thought back to all the times Lloyd begged me not to put myself in danger, the way he looked over me as if I were fragile. Anybody else would find it overbearing, but I thrived at the thought of his care. I liked being looked after. It was a welcomed change.
"Almost too much," I answered affectionately. "He's tripping over himself."
Naomi pouted. "That's so cute."
My cheeks went hot when I recalled a very important step in my relationship that I hadn't told her yet. I had to avert my gaze to the duvet, picking at a loose thread. I couldn't recall how many times Lloyd and I had told each other it, but I still found my head swimming at the mere notion.
"I told him I love him," I said shyly.
Her reaction was just as I predicted: explosive.
"You what?!" Naomi shrieked. She took my arms with startling strength and dragged me toward her. "What did he say?!"
I laughed in delight at her insistent expression. "He loves me, too."
"Oh, my god!" Naomi yanked me the rest of the way until she'd unbalanced the both of us and we toppled backwards onto the bed. I squealed when I went down with her, caught in her snare of a hug. She squeezed me with a yell of loveable aggression. "Look at you, going steady before summer's even over - I'm so proud!"
Giggling, I hugged her back just as tight. "Thanks, Nomes." I lifted my head so I could send her a sincere smile. "Thank you for always being so supportive."
Naomi's face crumpled. She yanked me back down with a shout. "Shut up!"
I fell into another round of laughter. If I didn't think about Morro or the war, then I could almost imagine that this was before all of that shit started going downhill. Lloyd was just a mystical boy ripped from my novels and I was normal and infatuated.
I rolled onto my side and watched the ceiling. I missed Lloyd, even if the last time I saw him he made me do kata until my legs physically couldn't hold me upright. Dickhead. I love him.
"I'm so jealous." Naomi didn't say it with any sort of malice or self-pity, only wistfulness. "I wish I had your courage. Maybe then Cole..." She slung an arm across her face and didn't finish her sentence.
My heart plummeted through my chest, through my house, through the very earth and out the other side. Cole was stuck as a ghost and Naomi didn't know about their world, so there couldn't be a way for her to find out. Would she ever get to see him again?
My naive friend smiled dreamily at the ceiling, lost in the fantasy of her year-long crush. My sadness at her obliviousness was a physical ache that gnawed at me from the inside. Would she move on? Would she start asking questions when Cole's absence could no longer be explained away?
When she first admitted to liking Cole, I was ecstatic. I wanted her to confess and for him to reciprocate and enjoy seeing my best friend be as happy as I was with Lloyd, but now it just felt impossible. It wasn't my secret to tell, no matter how much I wished I could.
"I don't know what to do, Y/n," Naomi continued. She dragged her hands down her face and groaned, kicking her socks into the duvet in frustration. "I really like him." She shuddered. "Ugh - we're so from a 90s chick flick right now."
I tried for a smile. Her lighthearted joking aside, she really did like him. Naomi was always straight-faced and sensible but whenever she talked about Cole, she became a pink-cheeked mess. And it wasn't just a fling of a crush - she had it bad, she was in deep. Her face was my own whenever I thought about Lloyd.
I didn't know what to do, either.
"Why don't we watch one?" I asked, if only to save my own harrowing feelings. I couldn't delude her further in good conscience. "I'm feeling like Clueless."
Naomi eyed the ceiling in thought. "Yeah, I could do with a rom-com."
I definitely agreed. A good romantic comedy would help me forget about the travesty of my best friend's love life before it could even begin to flourish. I didn't even have the luxury of asking Lloyd for advice - Naomi's crush was a secret, too.
So many goddamn secrets. I wanted to rip out my hair.
And it almost worked a charm. I pulled out my stash of sleepover sweets and we ate until we could no longer, laughing at Cher's fails and wins. We made hot chocolate with too much chocolate and piled on a mountain of marshmallows until they spilt over the side. Naomi brought up Cole another three times, and it both broke my heart and warmed it to know that she finally had someone she could talk about him with.
All the while, my phone dinged with texts I didn't notice.
"I have to babysit my brother again tomorrow," Naomi complained. It was nearing one in the morning and we'd sprawled out on my bed. "I already had plans, too. They think they can just get up and leave and expect me to take care of him, but I'm not allowed to complain because I'm the eldest, so I need to be responsible, and- ugh." She sent me an exhausted look. "You are so lucky you don't have siblings."
I shrugged. "I dunno, it can be pretty lonely. I'd always wished I had an older sister or brother who'd look out for me." It would've been nice to have that in Jamanakai.
"Yeah, he's alright sometimes," she halfheartedly grumbled before sitting up. "I need to pee."
I shook my head with a snort. "Thanks for letting me know."
"'Course." She left in search of the bathroom.
As soon as I heard the door click shut from down the hallway, a rapid knocking on the window made me gasp and for my heart to leap from my chest. It only took me a second to realise who'd made his untimely arrival.
"Nooo, no, no, no." I stomped from my bed and yanked back the curtains to find Lloyd's sheepish green eyes peeking out from behind his mask. I pushed open the window harder than necessary. "What are you doing here?!"
"Sorry, sunshine. I have an emergency." Lloyd shuffled his way inside despite my protests, and then they died on my lips when I saw how he was clutching his shoulder. The material of his gi was damp with blood. "It opened again. You were the first person I thought of." He winced. "And the closest. I texted you."
Now I was frantic with shock, frustration and horror. "Naomi's here, you can't stay - you have to go."
"And I would love to, baby, but I'm kinda lightheaded," Lloyd confessed. My gaze snapped back to him and I noted with alarm that his eyes did look a little unfocused. "I don't think I'll be able to stay awake for the flight home."
"Jesus Christ!" I whisper-shouted, before looking around while I wracked my brain for a solution. "Uh- okay-" I wrapped my arm around his waist and hurriedly guided him toward the laundry, sneaking past the bathroom where Naomi was washing her hands in the sink. I shut the door behind us and grabbed the first aid kit from the cupboard. "What did you do to yourself?"
"I may have went out on patrol without my parents knowing." Lloyd took a seat on the washing machine and scrunched his face with shame. There was a bruise growing beneath his eye. He'd been in a fight. "Or anyone else."
"Lloyd!" I seethed with exasperation. "You should still be recovering, you only just got your stitches out!"
"I know," he groaned. "It was stupid. Have you done stitches before?"
I almost dropped the gauze I'd picked out. My eyes bulged. "No?! I can't-" I lowered my voice into a frustrated whisper. "I can't do stitches!"
"That's unfortunate," Lloyd mumbled. He pulled off the shoulder of his robe and blinked hard at the red mess of his flesh. "I think I need 'em."
Oh, good lord. I was beginning to grow weak with hysteria. In a haze I washed my hands before grabbing Mum's sewing kit and dampening a roll of string in disinfectant. Lloyd sterilised a needle by pinching it between his thumb and finger and lighting it on fire.
"Y/n?" Naomi's voice called in confusion.
I shot Lloyd a panicked look.
"It's okay, sunshine," he soothed. "Just start by wiping away the blood from around the wound."
"I'll hurt you," I whimpered. I grabbed a cloth packet and ripped it open, anyway.
"You won't hurt me," Lloyd said gently. He stared me in the eyes when I tentatively placed the cloth on his reopened wound. At least it wasn't as deep as it had been. "See? Perfectly fine. Looks worse than it is."
"You're lightheaded," I accused while the cloth grew heavy. A fresh line of red trickled down his arm.
"Well, yeah, that's because my blood's supposed to stay inside of me," he mumbled. "Take the string and put it through the needle - yeah, that's it." Lloyd nodded when I placed my non-dominant hand on his shoulder and looked for him for instruction. "Pinch it shut and sew. Pretend it's a shirt."
"A fucking shirt," I echoed sarcastically. My voice had a tremor I couldn't flatten. "Sure, that's comparable."
Naomi walked by the laundry and made me flinch. "Y/n, where'd you go?" She pulled down the handle but couldn't open the door past the hand that Lloyd swiftly laid upon it. "Are you in here? What's going on?"
My hand with the needle was shaking. I was almost beginning to cry with stress. "I-I'm okay."
"You're doing great," Lloyd whispered, trying hard to stay focused. He didn't even hitch a breath when I pierced the needle through his skin.
"You're so making this up to me," I hissed back. I shuddered at the sight of the thread sliding through the punctures and tied it.
"Absolutely, sunshine. You name it."
"Y/n, open the door," Naomi said. "You're freaking me out."
"Don't worry!" I called shrilly. My brain couldn't come up with an excuse and focus on stitching at the same time. "It's just- it's just Lloyd!" Fuck!
"Lloyd? What's he doing here?" She tried to open the door again and it did a smidge. Lloyd was growing weaker. My heart jumped into my throat.
"Don't come in, he's naked!" I blurted.
Lloyd sent me a baffled, hazy look. Naomi paused. I pulled a dumbfounded face at my own excuse.
"... why is he naked? Wait, actually, I don't want to know."
"I- I don't- he's not actually, I don't..." I shook my head and began the next stitch. "Never mind!"
"Do you want me to go home?" Naomi jokingly asked. "Seriously, Y/n, what's happening? You sound out of it."
She pushed at the door again and this time Lloyd wasn't strong enough to hold it. Naomi swung it open and entered with a triumphant smirk. It dropped at seeing Lloyd and I, frozen mid-stitch.
"Oh..." Her stunned gaze fell to the unmistakeable gi he wore. "Oh." She stared at the medical procedure we were undertaking, the red on my hands, the cloth, the bench. Her face took on an ashy sheen. "... so much blo..."
Naomi's eyes rolled into the back of her head and she dropped to the floor.
🍃🍂🍁🍂🍃
I handed Lloyd another cup full of sweet tea. He took it with a thanks and blew away the steam.
"Sorry for ruining your sleepover," he guiltily apologised for the umpteenth time.
I was much calmer after leading a delirious Naomi to my bed so she could go to sleep, finishing off Lloyd's stitches and joining him for a cup of sweet tea to calm our two different types of shock. He'd changed into one of my dad's shirts and track pants, since his gi was a total mess, and had already knocked back two whole packets of chocolate biscuits. At least he looked a little more alert.
"It's alright." I leant against my desk beside him. He sat in my chair, dolefully spinning the seat with his toes. "I'm just glad you're not bleeding out in an alleyway somewhere. Do you think she'll be okay?"
Lloyd followed my worried gaze to Naomi, who'd fallen asleep as soon as her head had hit the pillow. At least her colour had returned.
"She should be fine," he reassured. "Does she usually faint at the sight of blood?"
I shrugged. "Not that I know of. Maybe she'd never seen this much blood, before."
I took a sip of my tea and sighed. Poor Naomi. She really was out like a light.
Lloyd pinched his shirt neckline and peered at the bandage I'd wrapped around the stitches. It wasn't going to win any pretty prizes, but at least he wasn't bleeding all over the place.
"Where are your parents?" he asked.
"On a date," I answered.
"But it's two in the morning."
"Then they're at a motel," I grimly figured. Embarrassed, Lloyd didn't ask anything further. "Do you want to stay the rest of the night? I can set up the couch." Clearly my bed was taken. Besides, Naomi was here first.
"If you're offering." He sighed forlornly. "I'm already in trouble."
"Did you just figure that one out?"
"Ha-ha."
Lloyd downed the rest of his tea and stood, following me on my way to pick up some blankets from the linen cupboard. When his makeshift bed was set, he took a seat and tugged me down onto his lap. I rested my head on his good shoulder and closed my eyes, enveloped by his warmth. What a night.
"Do you think Neuro will need to erase her memory of you?" I asked.
"It'll be up to the Senseis," Lloyd said. "But she's your best friend and I trust her, so I wouldn't mind if she knew. I'm sure the others wouldn't, either."
A momentous weight lifted itself from my heart. I moved my head from the crook of his neck and sent him a look of soft awe.
"Seriously?"
"Yeah." He nodded. "Besides, you're not a very good liar. I'm naked? Was that seriously the best you could come up with?" Lloyd scoffed in amusement. "You're as bad as me, you pretty little hypocrite."
My jaw dropped open, aghast at his gall. "You bombarded me- I stitched you back up! I was panicking!"
Lloyd shook his head with a grin. "Sounds like excuses to me."
I stood from his lap and huffed with ire. "You can sleep on the couch by yourself."
"I'm kidding, I'm kidding," Lloyd called after me. "You did a great job, sunshine. I'm really proud of you."
I turned back to him with a scowl. "And?"
Lloyd's gaze softened. "And I love you."
My expression lightened with the elated thump in my chest. Hearing it, he laid his legs onto the couch and spread out his arms with invitation. I wasn't prideful enough to ignore the temptation. Picking up the blanket at the foot of the couch, I tucked myself into his chest and dragged it over us.
"You're a nightmare," I grumbled facetiously.
"You're so kind to me."
"Nightmare."
"Alright." Lloyd kissed my hair. "Get some sleep, my cute hypocrite."
I couldn't even be mad at him because he called me cute.
When I woke only a few hours later, I found myself splayed across Lloyd's body like I was his very own blanket. Our actual blanket was hanging on by our tangled legs and halfway to being coompletely on the floor. I squinted my eyes against the glare of the early morning sun that bled through the bare windows of the lounge room.
I buried my face into Lloyd's shirt. Fingers began stroking through my hair and down my spine, soft, gentle caresses that drifted from the top of my head to the middle of my back. My body melted at his touch, supple.
"G'morning, gorgeous," Lloyd greeted. His voice was low and delicious to hear, rolling from his chest I laid upon like the distant rumble of thunder. I soaked into his soundwaves. He smelt of sleepy mornings and rain on rocks.
"Morning, dragon boy," I mumbled, and sleepily giggled when he groaned at the nickname. My hands found the couch on either side of his head and lifted me upright. "I should check on Naomi."
"She's coming down the stairs," Lloyd supplied, then grabbed my shoulder before I could slip myself off of him. "Wait."
I turned my gaze back to him. "Hm?"
Lloyd sat up and gave me the softest of morning kisses, like the brush of butterfly wings. "Okay, now you can go."
I remained still for a moment, blinking, before coming to with a blushing smile and an affectionate tussle of his messy hair. Mornings with Lloyd were like waking up in dreams.
I found Naomi at the foot of the stairs, the each of us halting at the sight of the other. She still look frazzled despite her slumber but the most of her shock had seemed to have been mollified by rest. Her eyes took me in as if it was her first time seeing my face.
I sympathised with her bafflement. I, too, had been taken aback when I realised who Lloyd was, and just because she didn't have to deal with weird tugging and being dragged into his fights didn't make the startle of realisation any duller. It played in her gaze, sharp as knives that cut through her thoughts. They had once cut through mine.
"Good morning." I was the first to break the silence. My smile was practised and cosy. "I'm about to make some coffee. Do you want one?"
Naomi nodded. "Yes, please."
She followed me the rest of the way into the kitchen and leant against the bench while I prepped our drinks. She'd gone silent again, her socks anxiously rubbing against one another as she stared at them. The sound of the boiling kettle filled the room.
"That wasn't a weird dream, right?" Naomi asked. Her blue eyes lifted to me. "I didn't dream up that Lloyd's the Green Ninja."
She already knew the answer, only seeking comfort in clarification. I nodded.
Naomi blew air through her lips and looked back down at her socks. "Wow." Her shoulders fell, as if weighed down by something intangible. "That's..."
"Unexpected?" I offered. Glassy eyed, she nodded.
"How long have you known?"
"About a month."
Naomi's brows furrowed as she tried to file through her memories and calculate the time between them. "... before you started dating?"
"After." I placed a filled mug beside her, which she briefly ignored in favour of blinking through another revelation. I took a sip of my own coffee. "It all made sense when I realised why the Green Ninja was always so friendly with me."
"The bastard," Naomi breathed.
"The bastard can hear you," Lloyd announced as he entered the kitchen. Naomi jumped at his otherwise soundless arrival and I smirked at his dryly amused look. "Morning, Naomi."
"Good morning," she returned awkwardly. "How's the shoulder?"
Lloyd peeked beneath his shirt. "Well, I can still use my arm, so it can't be too bad."
I sent him a pointed frown. "Please get Zane to have a look at it when you're home. I'll worry otherwise."
"Can't have that." Lloyd plucked the coffee from my hand and took a sip before grimacing. "Gross." He took another.
"Oh. Zane..?" Naomi slowly shook her head in thought. "So, the rest of the ninja..? There's six of you..."
"Yep," Lloyd answered, saving her from a headache. Or perhaps making it worse.
Naomi's eyes widened in thought before quickly turning away. Her cheeks blushed red. Her hands picked up the mug and lifted it to her lips, a sip shielding her sudden bashfulness. It didn't take a genius to figure out where her mind had turned to.
"So, Cole..." Her cheeks ran darker. "Cole is..?"
"The Earth Ninja," Lloyd answered. He leant on the bench beside me so that our arms brushed. "Why?"
Naomi couldn't answer. She stared at the surface of her drink, her thumb rubbing the ceramic handle.
"Oh?" Lloyd's grin grew coy and smug before it vanished at the reminder of Cole's current lifestyle predicament. "Oh."
He looked down at me for permission. All I could do was sadly shake my head. She couldn't be told yet, not when this revelation was still so raw and fresh. A look of upset dampened Lloyd's expression.
Thankfully, it was Naomi who changed the topic.
"So, when your mum said that you had a migraine and that I couldn't see you, I'm guessing that you were actually at Stiix?"
My astute friend. If she were in my shoes, she would've figured out the Green Ninja's identity by our third meeting. I nodded.
Naomi's curiosity grew. She watched me with wide eyes while my boyfriend drank his stolen coffee that he shuddered his way through despite free will.
"Was it scary?" she asked.
"Terrifying." My breath was released in a tumble of a weary exhale. Lloyd slowly began to grow tense beside me, so I rested my cheek on his arm to keep him in the present. "But it's over, now."
Mercifully, Naomi didn't prod further. She could probably see Lloyd's discomfort and the subtle way I soothed him and discerned from there how little was able to be spoken about it. I mentally promised to answer her questions in detail once Lloyd was gone.
Lloyd's phone buzzed. He pulled it from his pocket to check the notification and sighed wearily. I stole back my coffee.
"I'm in deep shit," he announced, surprising no-one except Naomi. He kissed my forehead in parting. "I better head home. Thanks for stitching me up, sweetheart. Good seeing you, Naomi."
She nodded listlessly, lost to her stewing thoughts.
I placed my mug on the bench and followed Lloyd out to the entrance. My phone began pinging me for attention as well, no doubt the ninja wondering where their disobedient leader had slipped away to.
"I'm probably going to be doing laps around the monastery for the rest of the day," Lloyd lamented, picking up his gi and shoving his feet into his jika-tabis. It made a great pairing with my dad's track pants.
"Serves you right."
Lloyd childishly pulled a face at my comment before taking my chin and tilting my head up for a goodbye kiss. It tasted of coffee. He stole another.
"Love you, sunshine," he murmured sweetly. My heart combusted with a fire of silk.
"Love you, too, hero," I replied just as quietly, just as enamoured, and the fluttering of my heart grew at his blush. I brushed my lips to his one last time. "Get your shoulder checked."
He nodded, stepping out onto the porch. I relented to the buzzing of my phone with a huff before scrolling through all the texts I'd missed, including Lloyd's from the night before. I paused at a particular one that made me do a double take. My brows furrowed.
"Lloyd?" I called, stopping him in the middle of descending the steps. When he looked back, curious at the unsure tone I'd taken, I spun my phone around to face him.
Unknown Number
hey it's chen. can we meet?
Sent 1.48am
🍃🍂🍁🍂🍃
Friday, the date Chen and I had organised to meet up, rolled around faster than I wanted it to. Beside me, Lloyd fidgeted with a leaf he'd picked up and torn to shreds.
He'd insisted on coming along and back when he asked, I didn't think to say no. But now, waiting at the rendezvous point, I was starting to reconsider, to think that he should've stayed behind. The last time Lloyd saw Chen, he'd held him up against a wall in rage. The dark expression on Lloyd's face told me he hadn't forgotten why, either.
The last time I saw Chen, though, he'd returned the keychain gifted to me by Naomi when I'd lost it, and then he asked me to pass on his apology to Lloyd. I didn't know how to feel about him.
The takeaways we'd eaten for dinner sat heavy in my stomach. I was nervous at seeing Chen again, nervous at how Lloyd and his 'volatile' overprotectiveness would react, and I was nervous as to what Chen wanted to say - but I was also curious. His texts gave away nothing.
"Are you okay?" I asked the tense boy beside me. The seat we sat on was uncomfortable and cold, and I huddled deeper into the hoodie Lloyd graciously gave me when I'd began to shiver.
Lloyd's reply was only an affirmative hum. The arm he'd slung along my shoulders was stiff and strong, like he was a marble statue carved around me. His knee bounced so fast that it almost looked like it was vibrating.
"You don't look okay," I murmured. Turning on my seat, my knees fell to lay upon his lap and I lifted my hand to play with a lock of his hair. "You don't have to see him."
Lloyd shook his head. He was looking off into the distance, staring at nothing. "I'd feel worse if you're alone with him."
I resisted the urge to argue that I'd be fine, that Chen wouldn't do anything to deliberately hurt me. It wouldn't help. I just hoped that whatever this was, it went quick.
Lloyd stood before I could hear the approaching footsteps. I followed, hovering beside him as Chen emerged from around a pocket of trees. He couldn't meet Lloyd's piercing glare. He kept looking around himself, as if worried he was being watched.
"Hi," Chen greeted shortly.
Lloyd crossed his arms. Without his hoodie to conceal them, his t-shirt exposed his muscles and scarred skin, and when he wasn't slouched and hiding in plain sight, it was obvious that he was a fighter. Chen looked a little pale at the display.
"What is it?" Lloyd had no patience for formalities.
Chen inhaled shakily. My worry grew when I noticed that his fear was genuine and deep - but not because of Lloyd. His eyes kept bouncing all around us.
"I know who caused what happened at Stiix," he said.
"So do we," I countered, though was surprised by Chen's announcement. I couldn't have guessed that this was what he wanted to talk to us about. "How do you know Simon?"
Chen was trembling. He forced his eyes to turn to Lloyd. "If I tell you, can you promise me that you'll stop him?"
Lloyd scoffed as if insulted. "Why should I have to promise anything to you?"
"Please," Chen begged, "please, Lloyd, I know I've been an asshole to you, but he threatened my sister's life. She's only seven!"
My skin went cold. His fear and desperation was genuine, which meant the threat was very real. I wouldn't put it past Axon to do such a thing.
Lloyd's ire waned. "Fine. Tell us what you know."
A look of gratefulness crossed Chen's face before he composed himself. Still, his voice shook.
"He approached me a few weeks ago asking for help. I didn't know how, but he knew that I knew who you are." Chen shook his head. "I told him no, I didn't want anything to do with you, but he did something, I don't know how - it hurt so bad but it wasn't even real, and I just wanted it to be over. He said he'd kill me and my family if I didn't do what he said. The guy's a fucking psychopath!"
Lloyd's expression tightened. My stomach churned at the thought of Axon hurting another person. It wasn't an experience I wanted to share with anyone, even Chen.
"We know," I said grimly. "What did he need help with?"
"A book," Chen answered. "He needed me to get a book for him. He said he needed to be careful, that he couldn't be found out. But this book, it was freaky. It felt wrong to touch. I'd start getting sick just by holding it."
I sent Lloyd a wide-eyed look. "The spell book."
"You brought him the spell book?" Lloyd snapped, making Chen instinctively back up a few steps in fear of his lashing rage. I held Lloyd's arm to keep him from prowling after him and doing something he'd regret. "Do you understand what you've done? Thousands of people in Stiix lost their homes because of him getting that book! We're lucky no-one died!"
"I didn't know!" Chen exclaimed desperately. "You think I would've done it if I'd known? If he found me here telling you all this, he'd kill me! I didn't have a choice, please, believe me!"
"But we already know," Lloyd impatiently reasoned. "The only thing you've told us that we weren't already aware of was that you're involved."
Chen shook his head. "And that this wasn't his big plan. He's got something else."
"What do you mean Stiix wasn't his big plan?" I asked. How could all of that not have been his big plan?
"I don't know what it is," Chen prefaced, "but this plan - he's been working on it for years. The ghosts was just something to see how much damage he can do with the book, it was a test." He looked at Lloyd. "All I know is that he wants to hurt you."
"We already know he wants to kill Lloyd," I said. "Misako told me. Axon wants revenge for his mother's death."
Chen grimly shook his head. The look in his brown eyes was heavy and frightened. My brows knotted in confusion at the look he was sending me.
"Lloyd's not his target," he said gravely. "You are."