• Requested by @cmt077 •
Third Person POV
Garmadon huffed at the recurring situation. Here he was, once again.
Standing vacantly in the ninja's cabin, staring at the photos they had. Each one, though different, held the same emotion. It was a warm, fuzzy, happy feeling. All of them were smiling in the pictures; toothy grins, mischievous smirks, and gleeful laughter that you could hear straight from the frames!
A small grin crept across his lips, stretching his scowl lines in an upward motion as he imagined how each of the scenes unfolded. As soon as it arrived, he forced it back into a frown, craning his neck to peer over his shoulder to make sure nobody saw it.
He sighed, turning on his heel to leave. He made it to the door until he stopped, something catching him out of the corner of his eye.
It was that same picture of "him" and Lloyd that Lloyd liked so much. Garmadon found his legs wanderingly stepping up closer to it. The frame was broken, the wooden base was crooked on one side and the cracks in the glass draped over the side of the picture like a lacy curtain.
Garmadon carefully picked it up, examining the expressions of the two in the small picture.
Lloyd had a very happy smile. There's a difference between smiling happily and just smiling; Lloyd had a genuinely happy smile, one that he hadn't seen on him since he joined them on their mission.
He then moved on to himself, who had a calm, caring appearance. A sense of dignity and contentment was emenating off of his face. A tinge of pride was shining in his eyes with a hand on his beloved son's shoulder.
At this point, Garmadon was holding the small, broken frame up to his face to soak up every detail down to the most minute detail. He couldn't explain the curiosity he felt for it, but it drew him closer and closer.
"What are you doing?" A voice cut through the silence like a scythe to a stalk of wheat. The sudden noise sent a jolt of surprise through Garmadon's body, almost making him drop the already broken frame. He wheeled his head around to see his son standing in the doorway with his arms tightly crossed against his chest.
"What do you want?" He snarked, gruffly setting the picture back down on the desk.
"I just found it suspicious that nobody knew where you were. I'm allowed to be skeptical sometimes," Lloyd stepped forward. "Why were you in here anyway?"
Garmadon managed to pull off a perfectly stone-faced expression as he gave a huff as a reply. He turned on his heel, striding across the room, making sure to intentionally bump his hip against Lloyd as he made it out.
Lloyd grumbled, rolling his eyes as he went to follow him. But, before he made it out the door, he turned back to see where Garmadon was once standing. He walked up to the desk, picking up the picture. He smoothed his thumb over a smudge that laid over his father's face. A thought popped into his mind, making him put the picture down and bolt out of the room.
Garmadon hadn't moved that far from the door after exiting; He stood very still, thinking. When Lloyd ran out the room, he ran smack into his back, almost knocking both of them over. Turning around, Garmadon growled, "Watch where you're going!" as he lifted Lloyd off the ground by the collar of his shirt.
"You never answered my question." With a raised brow and a scowl, Garmadon lowered him, dropping him. "Why were you in there again?"
"Why are you so persistent about it? What are you trying to accomplish by knowing?" He hissed, turning his back to Lloyd, walking to the edge of the ship.
Lloyd persued him, leaning his shoulders on the railing beside his father. "You were looking at the picture again," He said in a low tone, looking at Garmadon through the corner of his eye. "Why do you keep sneaking off to look at it?"
Garmadon had his head turned from the eyes of his ever-so-prying peer. Finally, he murmured, "I just get an odd feeling when I see it. I'm trying to figure out what it means. Happy now?"
Lloyd was not happy at all. All it did was make him more confused. "What do you mean by 'odd?'" He asked thoughtfully as he reached out and put a hand on one of Garmadon's.
Of course, Garmadon was repulsed by this movement, snatching his arm away. "It means odd; unusual; weird; ominous. It doesn't have to be as confusing as you're making this."
"How is it odd? And why-?"
"Would you just leave me alone? I'm just trying to think."
"Think about wh-?"
"Stop asking me so many questions!" Garmadon roared, turning to face him with a frustrated frown.
Lloyd flinched back. He relaxed his shoulders as he turned to walk away, yet again. But before he could get too far, he heard a "Wait." Instantly, he assumed it was just his dad trying to lead him on, so he didn't stop walking. He then heard a loud, exasperated sigh along with heavy footsteps trailing after him. Before he could even turn around to see what was going on, strong hands gripped the back of his shirt, easily yanking him back into the room they came out of.
"Ow! What gives?!" He yelled as he tried to pull his shirt back into its original position.
Garmadon continued dragging him in until they made it to the desk where their picture sat. He released Lloyd's shirt, now gripping him by the arm to gain his attention. He picked up the picture and shoved it in his face. "I need you to explain."
"....explain? Explain what?" Lloyd held the picture, studying its details, trying to figure out what he was talking about. A hand came down upon the picture, pushing it out of his view. He looked up at Garmadon to see a much kinder expression than the one he was normally used to seeing.
"What is more important than survival?"
Lloyd felt his jaw partially drop. "W-well, there's love, and friendship, and-."
"No, no, no! I know that! But why? Why is that more important than survival?!"
A silence fell. That's what this was all about?
Lloyd looked back down at the picture, then up at his father's sullen expression, and back at the picture. "It's more important than survival because....because it makes life worth living. If we wouldn't have friends or...or family to help us to get through life, life would be meaningless and dull. They help bring happiness, and-and care for you when you need someone to be there for you," The words tumbled out of Lloyd's mouth at a painfully slow rate.
Soon after he finished his little speech, he felt his arm being gently released. Lloyd turned his head upwards to see if there was a change in his face. No change; just an emotionless, hollow, blank stare. He didn't expect much far from that. He sighed, putting the frame back on the desk.
As he prepared to leave, he said, "I'm sorry for yelling at you....and for everything." With that, he turned and began to make his way for the door.
"Stop. I mean it."
Lloyd froze and snapped his head around. Garmadon took a few steps forward until he was in front of him. He hesitated, but slowly spread his arms out. Lloyd felt his face scrunch up into a puzzled look. Garmadon stared down at him, struggling to hold a straight face.
"Are you...? Are you trying to....?" Lloyd stuttered out, looking him up and down.
"I'm not good at this. Work with me here and hug me already," He mumbled as he slightly waved his arms up and down.
Lloyd let out a quiet chuckle as he slowly moved forward into the hug. Much like a flytrap, Garmadon snapped his arms tightly against Lloyd, squeezing a gasp of air out of his mouth.
"Not so tight, I can't breathe!" Lloyd laughed breathlessly.
"You don't need to breathe. You could just enjoy things, for once," Garmadon smirked, lifting him off the ground.
"I still need to breathe! And you're about to crush my spine!"
"You don't need that, either."
Word Count: 1,392 Words.
(Hello, all! (I don't know if anyone even reads these lol) Thanks for being patient and waiting for me to update this!
I had a big few weeks;
I got a "job" doing manual labor with my dad's friend that makes me slightly uncomfortable and quit it within three days because I hated it; I applied for a few other real jobs, and I still haven't heard back from them so I'll see how that goes; I started a super big counted cross-stitch for my mom's birthday, and I think I got myself into some bad crap because I don't know how I'll get it done before her birthday comes; My family got rid of Netflix because of the whole weirdo pedophile thing they were doing, so I lost a good portion of Ninjago. I still have a few seasons on DVD, but not the new seasons, so that sucks. So, a lot has been going on in my life. (:
I've been working super hard on trying to manage my time between chores, regular everyday stuff, and trying to push these things out. Again, thanks for your patience. Like last time, if there are any typos or dumb mistakes, let me know so I can fix it!
I'm still forming the special prompts for the requests thing. I only have two more requests, so continue holding your stuff in for a minute please!
Thanks for reading! I hope you all have a good day and/or night, and I hope you all stay safe from the terrors and sicknesses of the world!)