"What the fuck?!"
I woke with a start, jumping violently as I was torn from slumber and tumbled over the side of the bed. My head crashed against my bookcase, making me yelp and hold my palm to my head.
I glanced up in confusion, wondering what the big fuss was. My eyes came to rest on my mother in the doorway, wide eyed and slack jawed. However, she wasn't looking at me.
Bafflement tenfold, I followed her gaze to see an alarmed Lloyd sitting up on my bed, shirtless, shocked and attempting to cover his chest with one of my pillows.
Shit.
But that wasn't even the worst part. At the foot of my bed laid Lloyd's Green Ninja robe. Beside it was his sword. Mum's gaze darted from the robe, to Lloyd, to me and repeat.
SHIT.
"I- I can explain," I promised, stumbling to my feet and held my head as I swayed, a result of moving too fast.
"Really?" Mum asked incredulously, sending me a wide eyed stare. Her panicked gaze rested on Lloyd. "He's the Green Ninja!"
Lloyd and shared a sheepish look. Oh man, we fucked up.
"... maybe so," I replied hesitantly as I grimaced, wringing my hands in agitation.
"That's Lloyd?" she asked, pointing at the blonde on my bed.
"... yes."
"He's the Green Ninja!"
I blinked.
"W- We've been over this already."
Mum held her forehead as she tore her gaze from Lloyd, dropping it to burn holes in the ground.
"I need some vodka."
I shifted uncomfortably on my feet, hyperaware of Lloyd on my bed and shirtless. We would've slept cuddling all night, and although that's cute as fuck and I'd love to do it again, I didn't exactly prepare myself for the after effects; namely being caught by my mother who not only found out that Lloyd slept in my bed but also that he's the goddamn Green Ninja. Woohoo.
"That makes two of us," I replied sheepishly.
My mother caught my gaze and sent me a steeled glare. I felt my back tense as I cowered under her intense stare.
"You two get changed," she ordered, seemingly recovered at least a few of her senses. "Then we're all having a talk."
"Okay," I squeaked, ducking my head as she turned on her heel and marched out of my room. I stayed standing there for a few beats before I gripped onto my head and groaned. I turned to send Lloyd a wide-eyed glance, which he returned.
"Well, fuck," he breathed. I whined in agreement, collapsing onto my mattress beside him and covering my face with my hands.
"Why did we fall asleep," I mumbled. "Dammit, dammit, dammit."
Lloyd hummed in agreement as he placed my pillow aside and crawled down the the edge of my bed. I peeked through my fingers as he reached down to grab his robe. My face grew hot as he slipped it on, head facing down as he did it up. I bit my lip, shielding my view again as he grabbed his sword and leant it again the wall and out of the way.
"At least we don't have to worry about telling her that I'm the Green Ninja," Lloyd said as he looked on the bright side of things. Classic Lloyd.
"Yeah," I replied with a pitched, worried voice. "Now we only have to worry about her chewing us out about sleeping in the same bed. I mean, she hasn't even met you before today. Oh, god, she's going to be furious."
Lloyd grabbed my ankles and yanked me down the edge of the bed. I removed my hands from my face, sending him a quizzical look as he responded with a warm, crooked smile while he leant over me.
"Don't think like that," he said. "I've needed to meet your mother anyway, may as well be today."
I frowned.
"Sorry if I'm not all sunshines and rainbows, Mr. Positive," I replied snarkily, only resulting in making his grin grow. "I'm just a little worried about, y'know, dying."
Lloyd chuckled, shaking his head as he leant down and placed a quick kiss on my forehead.
"You're adorable. Come on, get dressed," he said as he stepped back, leaving me in breathless awe. "May as well get it over with, huh? Let's go, chop chop."
I blinked a couple times as I shook my head, sitting up and sending him a glare.
"You can't just do that and expect me to function normally right afterwards," I said with a deadpanned gaze. Lloyd tilted his head in mock confusion, stepping closer. I froze.
"You mean like... this?" he asked as he kissed my temple. My face heated up, making Lloyd smirk triumphantly. "Or this?" He pressed a kiss to my jaw. My breathing hitched, and he clearly heard. "Or this?" He placed his lips on my neck.
I managed to pull back, sending him a pointed look.
"Lloyd," I warned. He stepped back, grinning goofily with his palms raised in defence.
"Sorry," he replied honestly. "Couldn't help myself."
I rolled my eyes as I stood and shoved him out of my room.
"Then you better learn some more control, Ninja," I teased as I began to shut the door. "Don't open the door. You know what I can do with a skateboard."
Lloyd snorted, subconsciously resting a finger against his scar.
"Trust me, I know."
My gaze lingered on his face for a few more seconds before I made myself shut the door. I sighed, wondering how on earth my life got this exciting in such a short time, before heading towards my closet and grabbing some clothes to change into from Lloyd's. Obviously I kept the hoody on.
When we got to the kitchen, Mum had already cooked up some bacon and eggs. She was just putting bread in the toaster as we entered. She turned her head when she heard us (well, me) enter.
"Take a seat," she said, gesturing to the dining table as if it was an interrogation. With my mother, it may as well be.
Gulping, I lead Lloyd to the table, sitting down next to him. We remained in silence for a few minutes until Mum returned with our breakfast.
Once she was seated down, we began to eat in an awkward silence. I could feel my mother's gaze on us. I wanted to perish.
"So you're Lloyd," Mum said, breaking the silence but making the tension only thicken. Lloyd nodded.
"Yes, ma'am," he replied politely. I could see the slight fear in his green eyes.
Mum hummed in consideration, tapping her nails on the table.
"And you're the Green Ninja?"
I glanced down at his gi while chewing on my toast. Well, duh.
"Yes, ma'am," he nodded again.
Mum pursed her lips in contemplation, giving Lloyd a calculating glare.
"And how old are you, Lloyd?"
Lloyd hesitated, dropping his gaze to his plate. I sent mum a ludicrous glare.
"Eighteen."
Mum raised her eyebrows.
"Huh," she replied. "Young for a saviour of Ninjago."
Lloyd sheepishly grinned, lifting his eyes.
"You have no idea - I- I mean as in I get that a lot," he saved himself, grimacing.
Mum didn't pay his stumble any mind, dragging her gaze to me.
"Y/n thought you were twenty the first time you two met," her tone grew mischievous and I felt my fear begin to heighten. Oh, no. "She has a thing for older guys. You should see her fawning over Sebastian Stan."
My face burnt furiously. Somebody please, please kill me.
"Mum," I whined, accidentally dropping my fork onto the table. "Can you not?" She just shrugged in response. Damn you.
"You two met in the park, right?" she asked, ignoring my burning glare. We nodded. "But... Y/n didn't know you were the Green Ninja?"
I shook my head.
"She figured it out one night," Lloyd explained after he swallowed a bite of bacon. "She was on the rooftop after dark. Some of Cyrus Borg's droids got hacked into and were on the loose."
"He pulled me out of the way," I added.
Mum furrowed her eyebrows as she turned her confused and intrigued gaze to me.
"How on earth did you figure it out?"
I drew silent, dropping my gaze as my face flushed red. I gnawed on the inside of my cheek in embarrassment.
"Apparently it was my scent," Lloyd answered for me, voice light in amusement. Mum snorted.
"Scent?" she echoed incredulously. "You're kidding."
"Nope," Lloyd denied, grinning. "It was my scent."
"You two just like watching me suffer," I complained as I stabbed a piece of egg with my fork. "Jerks."
Mum rolled her eyes at me.
"Okay, joking aside," she promised, clapping her hands as I raised my glass of water to my lips. Though, knowing my mother, the joking was not over yet. "How long have you been together? Have you two had sex yet?"
I sprayed water back into the glass as I coughed, taken aback. Did she really just-??
"Mum!" I hotly cried once I composed myself, embarrassed beyond belief. "You don't just ask that!"
"I'm just curious!" she defended. "I can be curious!"
"Not about that!"
"I just wanted to know! I'm your mother, I have a right to know!"
"No," Lloyd saved us, face red. "We haven't."
Mum grunted, turning her gaze to the extremely flustered blonde.
"Thank you, Lloyd," she said, sneaking a side glare at me. "That wasn't so hard, now was it?"
I sent her a level glare.
"You're insufferable," I snapped.
"Like mother like daughter," she replied dryly. "Teasing you about this stuff is my job."
"Yeah, well you're doing exceptionally."
"Thanks, sweetie."
We fell into silence as we ate, darting gazes and the screeching of steel on ceramic. Lloyd glanced warily around, trying to think of something that could save the breakfast conversation. Or maybe finding a way to escape. I couldn't blame him.
I caught my mother's gaze, unable to fight the grin before we snorted and broke into small laughter. Lloyd looked severely confused.
"Okay, okay," I calmed my mum down, grinning. "Don't do that again. Please."
"No promises. How long have you two been together?" she repeated her question once she stopped laughing. Lloyd and I paused, sharing a confused look.
"We're not..." Lloyd trailed off. Mum sent us a deadpanned glare, fully recovered.
"Does it look like I was born yesterday?" she said humourlessly. "Obviously there's something between you two. Have you kissed yet?"
"We may," I replied cryptically as I played with the bacon on my plate.
"But you're not an item."
"Uh... no..?" I said in confusion. "We only kissed for the first time like... yesterday."
Mum furrowed her eyebrows as she leant forward, resting her elbows onto the table.
"But you guys like each other, right?"
"I certainly hope so," Lloyd joked, probably thanking the gods above that the awkward tension had begun to dwindle. "Because this would be really awkward if not."
I huffed in amusement, catching his gaze. His grin widened, green eyes bright. I averted my gaze, blushing profusely.
"You guys are adorable," Mum sighed. "I had a good chat to your mother last night. She told me all about you two's pond fiasco."
I gnawed on my bottom lip in embarrassment while Lloyd rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.
"Leave it up to my daughter to be clumsy as hell," Mum mused.
"I'm well aware," Lloyd said as he gently elbowed me. I smiled tightly. Very aware.
"Oh! That reminds me," Mum said. "I texted your mother to say that you're with us. I've actually got to step out for a while because I'm meeting up with my sister for lunch."
"Cool," I quickly replied as I grabbed mum's plate, Lloyd's plate and my own while I stood. "When are you leaving?"
Mum raised her eyebrows in amusement.
"Eager are we?" she asked before checking her watch. "In about two hours."
"Great," I said as I entered the kitchen and placed the dishes in the sink. I didn't realise that Lloyd had followed me until I turned around and crashed into his chest. He caught my arms, sending me a small grin. I blushed as we stepped back, aware of my mother in the other room.
"Alright," Mum said as she entered the kitchen with her arms folded. "You two can bugger off, I'm going to watch Downtown Abbey. Keep it down. And don't do anything frisky."
"Mum. Please."
"Just saying," she defended as she made her way to the living room. She shot a genuine smile over her shoulder. "It was nice to meet you, Lloyd."
Lloyd grinned at my mum. "It was nice to meet you, too."
I watched as she turned the corner before grabbing Lloyd's hand and tugging him down the hallway and back into my room. I closed the door behind us, sighing dramatically. That was too much anxiety for one morning.
"Sorry, Lloyd," I sighed. Lloyd just shrugged in response.
"It's okay," he replied as I stepped away from the door. He held open his arms and I immediately made a beeline for his chest, leaning against his torso as loosely wrapped his arms around my waist. "Your mother's..."
"Annoying? Feisty? Nosy?"
"I was going to say spirited," he chuckled, nestling his cheek into my hair. "You have a funny relationship with her."
I smiled softly as I pressed the side of my head against his chest. I could hear his heart beating. The sound of it was so lulling and tranquil, I could fall asleep to it.
"She can be cool at times," I said. "Mainly when she's not trying to make me melt from embarrassment."
"She must be pretty cool," he said in amusement. "She punched the principal's wife at your old school."
I laughed, nodding. "True."
Lloyd pulled me onto the mattress of my bed, falling onto his back while I curled into his side, resting my head on his chest. I never realised how much I loved the sound of Lloyd's heartbeat.
"Uncle Wu's bought a small place for his dream tea shop," Lloyd murmured, his voice making his chest vibrate slightly. I hummed in acknowledgement as he began to play with my hair. The combination of his heartbeat and the soft tugs of my locks made me close my eyes and snuggle closer. "We're helping him set up shop next week. I was wondering if you wanted to come help?"
I sighed, melting into his touch as he began to rake his fingers along my head. "Of course I'll help," I replied.
"Thank you," he said. I released a content exhale.
"Anytime, Lloydie."
The week passed by in a rush. When Lloyd wasn't training or on missions with his team, we were most likely to be found together doing the most domestic of things - reading together, listening to music together, watching a movie together etc.
Also throughout the week were spontaneous kisses that left me reeling for at least a whole minute afterwards. It soon became Lloyd's game to kiss me when I was right in the middle of doing something. If I had a dollar for every time he made me forget what I was doing, I'd be able to pay off their Monastery's mortgage.
I still had no clue what we were. Dating? Item? Interests? Was that last one even a term?
It made my head whirl. I'm sure it made Lloyd's head whirl too.
At least I wasn't alone in my confusion.
The shop that Wu bought was nestled against the base of a mountain. It was quaint and cute, the style organic with sandstone walls complimented against the traditional dark brown tiled roof. A circular courtyard stood out front, a stone symbol settled in the middle of it, resembling somewhat of a flower. A stock shack was to the left of the main shop, and behind that was a large, gorgeous pond that had a scenic waterfall tumbling down into it. Kai stayed as far away from it, for a reason unknown to me.
Wu clapped his hands, grinning at his brother. Lloyd had told me that Wu had been wanting to open a tea shop for years. I could see an excited glint in his normally docile eyes.
"Let's get to work!"