Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Twenty years ago, Lord Garmadon conquered Ninjago city. His brother, Wu, had tried to stop him, but Garmadon was just too powerful. He took over the city and proclaimed himself emperor. Garmadon also stole away Wu’s love, Misako. He married her and named her his empress.

Sixteen years ago, Misako gave birth to the princess. Garmadon cherishes his princess, and most citizens practically worship her. Since birth she’s been kept out of the public eye, no one knows what the princess actually looks like. Although, many people theorize what she looks like.

One year ago, Wu, who most believe died, had gathered a group of young teens with elemental powers. He has been training them for the day when they will have to take down Garmadon and Lloyd walked through the city. It was peaceful at night, and he liked it that way. Familiar faces greeted him as he walked, people to whom he’d been kind. Most knew him by name, he was a familiar face after all. Lloyd knew this route by heart, he’d taken it almost every night. How long had it been since he first started this routine? Lloyd couldn’t remember, but it was comforting for him.

Lloyd decided that he would stop by tea shop that he liked, Steep Wisdom. The old man who ran the shop was always really nice to him. It was a place where Lloyd could relax. He’s happy that the shops open so late, but is that a good thing considering the owners age? Either way Lloyd likes to have a warm cup of tea and listen to the old man’s wisdom.

After Lloyd had left the tea shop he suddenly saw a quick movement from the corner of his eye, a soft rustling sound following it. He assumed it was just a cat and went to look for the thing in an alley. That’s when he heard it again, getting closer to him.

“Who are you?” Lloyd demanded, pinning his stalker against a wall.

“I know who you are,” his stalker stated. A sense of dread filled Lloyd.

“W-what do you mean?” Lloyd asked training to regain his composure, although the way he stumbled back probably revealed everything stalker needed to know.

“Don’t play dumb. I see you almost every night, yet somehow never at daytime.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You stop by my sensei’s tea shop almost every night and you expect me to not be suspicious?”

“You’re sensei? Do you mean the nice old man? Why would that be suspicious? Don’t you get other customers besides me at night.”

“No! You’re our only one and we rarely see any customers at daytime. You also seem to make up a majority of our profits, with how poor most people are these days it’s kind of odd how much money you are willing to spend on tea.”

“Fine, who do you think I am?

“Emperor Garmadon’s secret son,” Lloyd’s stalker declared. Lloyd almost had to hold back laughter but at the same time he felt a sense of joy.

“Yes, that’s right. That’s exactly who I am.”

“Good, ‘cuz you’re coming with me.” Lloyd’s stalker said, reaching out to grab Lloyd’s arm.

“No way!” Lloyd yelled as he got over his shock, kicking the stranger in order to make him fall over. It was just then that Lloyd realized he was wearing a ninja suit, weird.

Lloyd’s ninja stalker gasped in surprise not expecting him to be that strong. The ninja tried to grab Lloyd again, but Lloyd quickly fought him off. As soon as he was free Lloyd made a run for it, he was faster than the ninja. The ninja quickly climbed on top of a building making sure Lloyd thought he lost him.

When Lloyd had reached a desolate place of the city, the ninja let out a fire attack, blocking off Lloyd’s path. Lloyd gasped in shock but didn’t have time to react much because his instincts were screaming at him to run. Lloyd looked around, but most of what he could see was smoke. He made a rash decision and decided to climb a building quickly jumping onto the roof.

The ninja was startled by this, clearly not expecting Lloyd to be able to do that. They looked at each other for a moment before Lloyd started to run again, his stalker chasing close behind. The only thing Lloyd could hear was his own heartbeat as he jumped from rooftop to rooftop. He had done this many times before during his nightly walks, but the adrenaline made the fear of falling all the more real.

Lloyd knew where he was running to, the palace. Yet, if he got caught he would be in a lot of trouble. If he didn’t though, he might be taken prisoner by this mysterious ninja. If he could just lose the guy while he is running, maybe he didn’t have to deal with either of those situations. Lloyd knew it was hopeless though. He knows that he can sneak back in by himself just fine, but this ninja. He would surely get caught.

Yet Lloyd kept running because what else could he do. When he inevitably made it back to his balcony, he looked back and sure enough the ninja was there.

“Go back!” Lloyd warned, trying to whisper loud enough to not alert anyone.

“And why would I do that?”

“Because they will do terrible things to you if you’re caught. Please, I’ll go to the tea shop tomorrow night. I’ll let you ask all the questions you need, but I don’t want you to get caught.”

“You’re lying, how do I know you’re not trying to save yourself?”

“I don’t know how to prove I’m telling the truth but please believe me."

"What if I just want to use you to get to Garmadon?” Lloyd froze as he heard the ninja’s words.

“We can figure it out tomorrow but today it’s too late,” Lloyd suddenly froze hearing a sound outside his room, “you have to go! Now! Someone’s coming! Please! I’ll meet you tomorrow night!”

The ninja finally took his advice and left. Lloyd let out a sigh of relief, when suddenly the door opened.

“Who are you talking to?” Misako sternly demanded.

“Myself, who else would I talk to? One of the guards?” Lloyd said coldly.

“I know you’re lonely sweety, but this is for your own good,” Misako hugged him.

“Yeah I know.”

“You should be asleep,” Misako went back to being stern, “do you have any idea how late it is?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m going to go to bed, just leave me alone.”

“Is that any way to talk to your mother?”

“Oh please, I know you hate me.”

“I don’t hate you!”

“Just leave me alone!” Lloyd yelled. Misako glared at him before leaving Lloyd’s room, too tired to argue.

Chapter Text

“You actually came,” the fire ninja said, sounding shocked. As Lloyd walked through the doors of the tea shop.

“Of course I came.” Lloyd said.

“I just… wasn’t expecting that,” the ninja admitted.

“Why did you listen to me?”

“I knew I wasn’t ready to face Garmadon. Sensei Wu is always telling us that we’re not ready, so how could I take him on alone? Besides, if I were captured no one would be here to lead.”

“Who else is there?”

“Why would I tell you that?”

“Okay. Now, why do you need me?”

“I didn’t fully think that through.”

“Well I’m here now.”

“How do I know you’re not a spy for Garmadon?”

“Trust me, if I told him you should know by now.” Lloyd said. The ninja looked suspicious.

“I’m going to take you to see the others,” the fire ninja replied, grabbing Lloyd’s arm. This time Lloyd didn’t fight. The fire ninja led the two into a secret passage that led to a room.

“Hey everyone, look who I brought,” the ninja said to the four others who were in the room. Two of them were on a couch in the room and the other two were looking over a big screen, discussing something with each other.

“Kai’s secret boyfriend is real?” one of the people, who was dressed in blue, yelled.

“He’s not my boyfriend!” the fire ninja, Kai, replied.

“We’d he call me that?” Lloyd asked.

“It’s a long story. Anyways, that’s Jay—”

“Why are you telling him our names?” the blue ninja, Jay, yelled.

“Yeah why are you telling him our names?” the ninja dressed in all black agreed. He was sitting next to Jay, an arm draped over his shoulder

“Oh c’mon guys, we can trust him,” Kai defended Lloyd.

“Can we really?” another ninja dressed in blue asked.

“Nya—”

“What Kai? You can’t just bring him here! If he’s really the secret son of Garmadon he could rat us out! You shouldn’t even be introducing us to him!” Nya yelled.

“Like I said we can trust him!”

“How do you know that?”

“We should have already been attacked if he had already told Garmadon anything.”

“Uh-huh, that’s a stupid reason.”

“What!”

“He could be spying on us and reporting back! They could be waiting for an opportunity to strike!”

“Why would they wait to attack us? We’re barely a threat! You know how Sensei Wu always tells us we’re not ready!”

“They don’t know that! They could think we’re a threat!”

“Please! Stop fighting,” Lloyd interrupted, the two looked at him, “I hate the guy just as much as you two do. I’m on your side. Whatever this is. Please. I don’t want to be Garmadon’s son. That’s why I sneak out, come here. To get away from the palace. I don’t care if you don’t trust me, but I won’t ever tell Garmadon anything. I try to talk to him as little as possible at home.”

“I still don’t trust you.” Nya replied.

“You don’t have too, but I would love it if I could be a part of… whatever this is, you’re the first people I’ve met my age.”

“Really?” Jay asked, “that sounds lonely.”

“It is,” Lloyd sighed.

“Wanna play?” Jay asked handing Lloyd a controller.

“Seriously!” Nya yelled through gritted teeth.

“What is this?” Lloyd asked looking it.

“A controller? For a video game?”

“We don’t have those at the palace,” Lloyd admitted.

“You’ve never played a video game before!” the black dressed ninja gasped.

“I’m not really allowed to,” Lloyd said awkwardly.

“You’re not allowed to!” Jay gasped like it was the worst thing in the universe.

“Yeah, Dad is pretty strict,” Lloyd explained.

“I can tell why you hate him,” the ninja dressed in black responded. Lloyd tried to laugh but he couldn’t help thinking of all the reasons he hated his dad. He never thought video games would be added to the list.

“Sit down, I’ll teach you,” Jay excitedly said as he pointed to a spot on the couch. Lloyd cautiously took as seat.

“My name is Jay, as Kai already told you,” Jay said handing a controller to Lloyd.

“And I’m Cole,” the ninja dressed in black introduced himself.

“Uh, I’m Lloyd.”

“Don’t worry we’ll help you out around here,” Jay replied.

“You can count on us,” Cole said.

“Thanks you guys. I don’t really know how to do this,” Lloyd explained.

“That’s okay, it’s why I’m going to teach you,” Jay explained.

“I meant like the friend stuff. Are we friends?” Lloyd asked.

“Of course we are! And don’t worry, I’ll teach you that stuff too. Although it seems you’ve already got Kai’s eye,” Jay joked as Cole laughed.

“Huh?”

“Don’t worry about that. Here let me help you out,” Jay said as he tried to start to explain to Lloyd how to play the game.

“You have to stop joking about that,” Cole whispered to Jay.

“Shut up,” Jay smiled turning to face Cole, their noses barely touching.

“Uhhh, how do I do this?” Lloyd asked, interrupting the pairs moment.

“Oh here, let me show you,” Jay grabbed the controller and started to show Lloyd how to play.

“Kai!” Nya whispered gesturing for Kai to come to her from where he was watching Lloyd interact with the others. Lloyd seemed to be having a fun time, and he was definitely getting along with both Jay and Cole.

“Yes,” Kai said, annoyed about having to stop watching Lloyd.

“I need to talk to you,” Nya glanced over at the others, “in private.”

“Do we have to?” Kai replied.

“Of course we do,” Nya said, gesturing for them to start walking out of the room.

“Zane!” Nya called out.

“Yes?” Zane responded from working on the computer.

“You’re in charge for now. Please watch over those three,” Nya said, using her head to point over to where Cole, Jay, and Lloyd were playing a video game.

“Of course,” Zane smiled as he went back to the computer. Although now he was keeping an ear out for what the others were doing.

“Now, you and I are going to have serious conversation about… this,” Nya said, practically dragging Kai out of the room.

Chapter Text

“What the fuck were you thinking!” Nya yelled at Kai.

“What do you mean?” Kai asked.

“Inviting him here!”

“We can trust him.”

“No we can’t! Just because you think he looks good doesn’t mean he is good!”

“Woah! Where did you get the idea that I think he looks good!” Kai yelled back, trying to ignore the way his face heated up.

“It’s so obvious.”

“It’s not!”

“Oh, so you admit it,” Nya smirked.

“It’s not, because I don’t think of him like that!”

“That’s totally true after everything you said about him this morning.”

“I was trying to convince you guys to trust him! Nothing more!”

“Sure you were.”

“Will you just shut up and tell me what you actually wanted to talk about.”

“I’m just saying we can’t trust him.”

“You don’t know that.”

“You don’t know if we can.”

“Yes I do.”

“I’m done having this conversation,” Nya said as she started to walk faster, away from Kai.

“Fine, me too!” Kai yelled at her as he stopped and turned the other way. Kai walked over to where everyone else was. Zane was still on the computer and Cole, Jay, and Lloyd were still on the couch playing a video game. Kai decided to go over to them.

“What are you guys doing?” Kai asked as he looked over from behind the couch. Jay yelled in shock.

“I win,” Lloyd said, looking back and smiling. Kai froze for a second.

“Only because Kai scared me!” Jay yelled, glaring at Lloyd.

“You were already losing.”

“No I wasn’t. Cole back me up here.”

“I’m sorry but he has a point,” Cole laughed. Jay let out a dramatic sigh flinging himself into Cole’s arms.

“It’s not fair, I’ve been playing this game for forever and he just started,” Jay lamented.

“Beginner’s luck,” Cole suggested, trying to make Jay feel better.

“One more round?” Lloyd suggested, holding out the controller which Jay had tossed aside.

“Fine, but this time I’m winning,” Jay said, then he turned around to face Kai, “and no cheating this time.”

“Deal,” Lloyd agreed as Jay took the controller.

“Let me sit down first,” Kai laughed as he took a seat on the couch next to Lloyd. Lloyd, Jay, and Cole moved down to make room. The game was close between the two, but without another distraction Jay ended up winning.

“Told ya it was beginner’s luck,” Cole said smugly as he elbowed Jay.

“Shut up, I knew that,” Jay laughed.

“Sure you did,” Kai replied.

“I lost because of you,” Jay accused.

“Totally,” Kai smirked, but his smirk disappeared when he felt a head on his shoulder. He didn’t know how to react for a second.

“Lloyd?” he questioned, gently shaking Lloyd’s shoulder.

“Sorry,” Lloyd shot up, curling in on himself.

“It’s fine,” Kai reassured, “how much sleep are you getting?”

“None,” Lloyd admitted, sheepishly, “maybe a bit here and there if I get home early.”

“That’s… not good,” Kai replied.

“You’ve been up most of the night,” Lloyd said.

“We all basically sleep in the morning,” Kai explained.

“Yeah, this place doesn’t really get that many customers and it’s harder to get caught if we work at night,” Jay added.

“You could sleep here if you’d like to,” Kai offered,

“We all share a room though, besides Nya.”

“I’ll be fine, I have to be ba…,” Lloyd paused, realizing something, “actually, yeah, it would be nice to get some sleep.”

“Good, I’ll show you to where we sleep,” Kai said as he got up from the couch, offering Lloyd a hand up.

“Thanks,” Lloyd smiled, taking Kai’s hand and standing up.

“Are you going to return home in the morning?” Kai asked as the two started walking towards the room.

“Uh… no, I’d rather stay with you guys, and I don’t care how much trouble I’ll be in if I ever return home, because most likely I won’t be returning,” Lloyd said confidently.

“Alright then. This is where you’ll be staying,” Kai explained as he opened the door. Inside the room there were four bunk beds.

“I’ll sleep on the floor,” Lloyd replied.

“What? No, you’re our guest. Cole and Jay sleep in the same bed every night anyways. You can seep in the one they’re not using,” Kai offered.

“I’m fine with sleeping on the floor,” Lloyd said, blushing.

“I’d expect a prince to be more… demanding,” Kai laughed causing Lloyd to laugh too.

“I’m never what people expect me to be,” Lloyd joked.

“I can tell,” Kai said.

“You don’t know the half of it,” Lloyd replied.

“I’ll tell the others about our plan, you just get yourself comfortable. It’s that top bunk there,” Kai explained pointing to one of the top bunks.

“Thanks,” Lloyd said, “you don’t have to do this you know.”

“Anything to get you on our side, and who knows maybe you’re what we need to finally take down Garmadon,” Kai joked.

“I don’t know about that, I’ve got zero training while you guys probably spend all night training,” Lloyd replied.

“Definitely not, Sensei Wu gets on our cases all the time about training,” Kai laughed.

“Really?” Lloyd questioned.

“Yeah, we’re always putting it off,” Kai admitted, “training is hard but it’s also kind of sad. It’s a reminder of how much more we need to do before we’re ready. Sometimes, I feel like we’ll never be ready, but now that you’re here you can tell us all of Garmadon’s secrets.”

“I don’t know about that, he never tells me anything, and when he does I don’t really pay attention,” Lloyd said.

“Why?” Kai asked.

“Do you think I want to listen to all the shit he’s putting this city through,” Lloyd laughed.

“You don’t wanna follow in his footsteps?” Kai teased.

“Absolutely not, I’ve seen what he does to people first hand,” Lloyd stated.

“How does the princess feel about it?” Kai asked. Lloyd froze.

“We’ll talk about the princess some other time, for now why don’t you go tell the others,” Lloyd hurriedly said trying to push Kai out of the room.

“Oh, okay,” Kai replied.

“I’m probably just going to head to bed, so wake me up when you need to. Okay now bye!” Lloyd informed, immediately slamming the door.

Chapter Text

“Wake up sleepyhead!” Kai called out to Lloyd, waking him up. Lloyd felt like he could have slept forever. Even though it wasn’t the luxurious bed he had inside of the palace, it was the best sleep he had gotten in days. Maybe even years.

“I’m up, I’m up,” Lloyd insisted, although he certainly didn’t seem it. His eyes were barely open, and he wasn’t even making an effort to get out of bed.

“You can’t still be tired?” Kai commented.

“Isn’t it normal to still be tired in the morning?” Lloyd asked, stretching as he finally made an effort to get down.

“Lloyd, it’s the afternoon,” Kai said, Lloyd froze midway through climbing down.

“Really?”

“We didn’t want to wake you, but we were scared that you would sleep through the entire day,” Kai explained, genuine worry lacing his voice.

“I haven’t been sleeping well,” Lloyd replied as he resumed climbing down.

“You haven’t been sleeping at all, now c’mon. Zane made extra food for you, be glad it wasn’t Cole,” Kai commented as he started to exit the room with Lloyd following after him.

“He didn’t have to. I know I’m not exactly welcome here,” Lloyd said.

“What? No,” Kai stopped in his tracks, “you’re welcome here.”

“You don’t have to lie for my sake. I know that the others don’t exactly trust me, and I wouldn’t either if I was in their position,” Lloyd admitted, stopping when Kai did.

“They don’t trust you sure, but we won’t kick you out. As long as you don’t do anything that bad, we’ll let you stay here. It’s just Nya and Zane, they’ll take some time to convince,” Kai replied.

“Kai it’s fine,” Lloyd reassured, “I don’t need everyone to like me, I thought we had already discussed this, I’m not a spoiled prince.”

“I forgot you were a prince for a second,” Kai said as he started walking again.

“How?” Lloyd asked, also starting to walk.

“Not to be mean but you look homeless,” Kai replied.

“I basically am.”

“You have a home here.”

“I wouldn’t call it a home until everyone is comfortable with me being here. It’s only fair, they were here first. I am kind of intruding their space.”

“No you’re not, if anything I’m the one intruding for bringing you here in the first place. Anyways, here’s the kitchen,” Kai said as they entered into the room. It was nice, there was practically no one around. Lloyd assumed it was because everyone had probably eaten already and that the food left out was for him.

“Everyone’s probably asleep, if work is slow we just go back to sleep after eating so we’re not tired when training at night,” Kai explained.

“Can I?” Lloyd asked, pointing to the food, which was just a pile of pancakes on a plate.

“Of course, Zane made it just for you,” Kai smiled as he watched Lloyd walk over and start eating. Kai carefully took a seat next to him.

“I’m sorry if I’m causing you guys more problems,” Lloyd apologized.

“What do you mean? You haven’t caused any problems?” Kai asked.

“I mean I come in here and no one trusts me, which is fair. Then I sleep here, and I oversleep so you guys have to make extra breakfast for me,” Lloyd explained.

“I offered for you to be here and plus, we oversleep all the time. Breakfast in the afternoon is not uncommon.”

“I just, feel bad for being here, also with everything with Garmadon and stuff. He’s the reason everything is like this.”

“But you’re not and I can see that you’re not like him. I believe you and the others will too.”

“Thanks Kai I—"

“GUYS! COME LOOK AT THE NEWS!” Jay yelled as he burst into the room.

“Why are you watching the news!” Kai yelled back.

“I wasn’t, Nya was! But you have to see it!”

“What is happening?” Lloyd asked.

“You! Especially you!” Jay yelled at Lloyd as he walked over and grabbed in by the arm.

“What is happening?” Lloyd asked again, just a little louder this time, as Kai shrugged in response. Jay dragged Lloyd all the way over to their computer. Lloyd looked up at the screen and physically cringed. On it he could see the words ‘Missing Princess’ in big, bold letters.

“Care to explain?” Nya asked. It took Lloyd a minute to process what she had just said.

“I… um… don’t know anything about this,” Lloyd replied.

“I think it’s rather odd that when the prince doesn’t come home there’s no alert, but on the exact same day the princess is reported missing. The reward is very large too. Why wouldn’t it be for their prince, shouldn’t HE be the heir to the throne?” Nya questioned.

“My-my parents just… just have a favorite child,” Lloyd said, sounding uncertain.

“There is something that you’re not telling us. I knew I was right for being suspicious of you! The others shouldn’t have been this trustworthy! My brother is a fool for believing you when you’ve been obviously lying this entire time, and you think thought that we wouldn’t have noticed,” Nya accused.

“W-wait if you just let me—”

“Who are you actually and why are you here? Are you a spy? Or did you secretly kidnap the princess? Why all of a sudden when you stay here is the princess announced as missing? Where is she? What is your deal?” Nya practically yelled at Lloyd.

“What is going on?” Kai asked as he walked into the room, surprised by the amount of shouting he heard.

“Turns out your boyfriend—”

“Not my boyfriend”

“is actually a spy, like I said!” Nya explained.

“You’re not…” Kai looked over at Lloyd.

“What! No! I can explain. It’s not what it looks like,” Lloyd said.

“Fine! Go on explain! Who. Are. You.”

“I know this may sound crazy and I get it if you guys didn’t believe me, but… I am the princess.”

Chapter Text

“That is the worst possible lie you could have ever possibly come up with,” Nya stated, disbelief tainted her voice.

“I-I’m not lying,” Lloyd said, realizing how ridiculous he sounded.

“Uh-huh, because you are definitely the princess,” Nya replied.

“Have you ever seen the princess?” Lloyd asked.

“No but—”

“Then how can you be sure it’s not me!”

“Because you look nothing like a princess, okay!”

“That’s because I’m trans!” Lloyd yelled at her, freezing only because he was terrified to hear everyone’s reactions. Nothing happened though. There was only an awkward silence and an air of tension.

“I-I-um…“ Nya didn’t know how to reply, shocked by his answer.

“I didn’t want to tell you guys anything because I thought you would hate me. Do you hate me?”

“I think this is enough!” Kai interrupted, suddenly able to find words, “Nya! This is not okay, and Lloyd,” Lloyd tensed up and looked away, terrified for what he was going to say, “you should not have had to tell us that, I am so sorry.”

Lloyd looked up at Kai, he felt like he was going to cry, and his heart felt like it was going to beat right out of his chest. He suddenly felt stupid for believing that everyone would react like his parents.

“You don’t hate me?” Lloyd asked Kai.

“I could never hate you for something that’s out of your control,” Kai stated, and Lloyd suddenly felt the weight in his chest lift. Lloyd ran over to Kai and hugged him. Kai froze, he felt his face grow red. Kai hesitated for a second to move his arms but after a few seconds, he wrapped his arms around Lloyd. Everything just felt right in that moment. Lloyd looked up at Kai and Kai saw that his eyes were rimmed with red and tears streamed down his face. A quiet sob escaped him as he locked eyes with Kai.

“I-I can still… still stay with you guys… r-right?” Lloyd hiccupped.

“Of course, for as long as you want,” Kai reassured, gently rubbing Lloyd’s back. He was unsure if it was the right thing to do, but Lloyd didn’t protest or push away, rather he tightened his grip on Kai and buried his face into Kai’s chest, sobbing gently.

“Let’s go to the room. We can talk about this. I’ll make sure that nobody comes in,” Kai suggested. Lloyd didn’t verbally respond, but he nodded his head, and Kai walked him back to the room. Kai led Lloyd to his bed, which was a bit awkward since it was a top bunk. Once the two were up on the bed, they sat in awkward silence.

“Do you want to continue…” Kai didn’t know what to say next, so he just opened his arms, and Lloyd immediately went into his embrace, practically laying on him. Lloyd had stopped crying, but he still hiccupped a bit, letting out soft noises that Kai couldn’t help finding adorable.

“Do you want to talk?” Kai asked softly, feeling like at any wrong move Lloyd could disappear and they would never see each other again. Lloyd shook his head, not feeling like talking.

“You should try and get some rest then, you need it. I’ll watch over you and make sure no one comes in. You need sleep. I promise that I will be here when you wake up,” Kai stated. Lloyd made a noise of agreement and cuddled closer into Kai. He gently rubbed Lloyd’s back as he started to fall asleep. Kai felt like he was burning up, and that his heart was racing. He was doing his best not to activate his elemental powers. Kai checked on Lloyd frequently making sure that he is asleep.

“That wasn’t very nice,” Jay told Nya.

“Seriously!” Nya gasped, she turned around wanting to leave the room, but Cole blocked her.

“No, we are going to talk about this,” Cole said as he continued to block her way.

“I was doing my best to protect us! Unlike you guys who would let any stranger walk right into here! It’s a wonder we haven’t been caught yet! Right Zane?” Nya looked over at Zane for reassurance.

“I should go help Sensei Wu with the customers if everyone else is busy,” Zane replied as he left the room. Cole and Jay turned back to looking at Nya.

“I know that I shouldn’t have forced Lloyd to say anything, what was I supposed to do though? We’re in hiding, and he was being suspicious!” Nya stated.

“We know but you should have trusted him, most of us did,” Jay explained.

“Honestly I was worried for the princess, without that news report I may have trusted him more. I know that I probably shouldn’t have thrown wild accusations at Lloyd though. We could have just had a nice discussion instead of just yelling,” Nya said, feeling sorry about what she did.

“It’s fine Nya,” Cole replied, “but you should apologize to him.”

“I know I should. I will go do that right now,” Nya sighed as she left the room to head to the bedroom. When she got to the bedroom she lightly knocked on the door.

“Who is it?” she heard Kai ask.

“It’s Nya. Can I come in?”

“Not right now.” Kai somewhat yelled, trying to be quiet so as not to disturb Lloyd’s sleep.

“Is Lloyd with you?”

“Yes, but he’s asleep and doesn’t want to see you.”

“When he’s awake can you tell him that… that I want to apologize to him. I want to be the one to do tell him, so just let him know that when he’s ready to talk, I will apologize.”

“I’ll talk with him, but if I were you I’d be very patient with him. I think Lloyd’s going to need a lot of time before he’s ready to talk with you, or anyone.”

“Thank you and I will be. I get why he wouldn’t want to see me for a bit.”

Chapter Text

It had taken a while for Lloyd to want to talk to the others again. He mostly stayed up in Kai’s bed. He had allowed the others to come in, after all it was their own room. He just didn’t want to talk with them, and they respected that and when they were in the room the barely talked amongst themselves. Kai had brought Lloyd the other meals that he would have otherwise missed out on. The two would sit up on the bed and eat together. Lloyd had become a bit more comfortable with Kai so the two engaged in quiet conversations.

The two had started making plans for what to do next, after everything that had just happened. Lloyd knew that he never wanted to return to the palace, so they needed to make a plan on how they were going to keep it that way. The two spent most of the time discussing how they were going to hide Lloyd. Most of it was unserious though, since they were saving the real discussion for when Lloyd was willing to talk with the others, but, the two had a basic plan. It was also pretty much fact at this point that Lloyd was going to be staying with them permanently.

“Where do you think you’re going to sleep tonight?” Kai asked Lloyd as he climbed onto his bed after putting away the dinner that the two had just eaten.

“I’d understand if you’d want to sleep here, I can always go and sleep on the couch,” Kai explained.

“I wouldn’t want to keep you from sleeping in your own bed,” Lloyd responded, “I can always sleep where I slept last night.”

“Right, I forgot about that,” Kai said, feeling slightly embarrassed.

“Although, I do kind of want to remain here,” Lloyd admitted.

“I can go over to the other bed then.”

“Actually, I would like it if you stayed here.”

“There’s no way we can both sleep on this bed,” Kai laughed as he tried to hide the blush that was spreading across his face.

“We could try to fit.”

“Are you sure you’d want to share a bed with me?”

“I don’t really care, I’d prefer just to have somebody near me. I’m sorry if I appear to clingy it’s just that…” Lloyd swallowed so that he wouldn’t cry, he felt ashamed knowing that he might cry saying this, “that you’re the first person I’ve met that feels like they truly care about me,”

“Then I think we can make it work. Does that sound good?” Kai asked as Lloyd nodded in response. The two then tried to figure out how it was going to work. The bed was definitely not going to be big enough for both of them to lay down flat on, so the two of them would most likely both have to lay on there sides. In the end the two decided to lay on their sides with their back facing the other’s. It was a little bit awkward at first but the two managed to settle in. Although he hadn’t been awake for too long, once Lloyd’s head hit the pillow, he immediately felt exhausted and was glad to be getting some sleep.

Kai woke up in the middle of the night. He could tell that there wasn’t anybody else inside of the room, he must have overslept. He had to go and meet the others for training, but when he went to get up he could feel that something was weighing him down. When he looked he saw that Lloyd was snuggled up to him. He looked so comfortable and peaceful. Kai blushed, this was almost worse than when Lloyd was hugging him. How come he keeps getting into these situations. It’s not like he really minded it though. A part of him secretly felt really happy about it, but it’s not like he was going to admit it to anybody. Especially not to Lloyd, he really did not want to make anything weirder than it has to be.
Kai did not want to disturb Lloyd as he tried to get out of bed. A part of him knew that he had to get up and meet up with the others, but another part of him was telling him to just stay where he was. To go back to sleep. He knew though that he definitely should go and meet with the others. So, in the end, he decided to not go back to sleep and get up out of bed.

Kai gently sat up, trying to be careful when moving Lloyd. He definitely did not want to wake him up. He really hoped that Lloyd wouldn’t wake up, Lloyd would probably apologize much more than he should for this. He really didn’t want Lloyd to feel bad for this. Kai carefully crawled out of bed. When Lloyd made a sound and shifted, Kai froze in fear, believing that Lloyd had woken up, but Lloyd was just moving in his sleep. Kai let out a sigh of relief as he continued to make his way out of the room. As he reached the door, Kai looked back, feeling bad for leaving Lloyd alone knowing that if Lloyd found out he would probably feel betrayed. Kai pushed that thought to the back of his mind and made his way over to the training area.

“You’re late,” Nya greeted him. She looked like she had been waiting just outside the room, and Kai knew it was specifically just to tease him.

“Shut up, I just… overslept that’s all,” Kai lied as he blushed, looking away from her so she wouldn’t see. Kai knew though that she had most likely seen already.

“Sure,” Nya smirked, “Wu is not going to be happy with you y’know.”

“I’ll take whatever punishment he has to offer.”
“Wow, someone’s really in love.”
“When did I say anything about that!”
“You didn’t need to. Now come on before you get into more trouble than you’re already in.”

Chapter Text

It had been nearly a week since Lloyd joined. He had started training alongside the others. He even ended up getting a room to himself. It was hard living with the others due to the guards constantly looking for him. It scared him every time a guard walked into the tea shop. Lloyd feared that he would end up getting everyone caught. It was easier for them to move around at night. There were still guards everywhere but with how dark it gets they are less likely to be seen.

Lloyd had settled quite comfortably with the others. He had certainly earned their trust. He wasn’t really allowed to work in the tea shop area, so he slept in the day and was awake during the night. The others took turns helping out with the tea shop. Lloyd felt bad about not doing a lot. He was putting them in a lot of danger just by being here, yet they insisted that he do nothing. Although, Nya and Zane are always glad when he helps out.

Lloyd was sitting on the couch, talking with Cole and Jay. Nya was asleep and Zane was somewhere fixing something. Lloyd spent most of his time like this, talking with others on the couch, when he wasn’t training. It was nice getting to be around the others. Sometimes he and Kai would take walks around the city at night, Kai always showed him the best places.

“What are you guys talking about?” Kai asked as he sat down next to Lloyd putting an arm over his shoulder. This had become a common occurrence, so Lloyd didn’t question it all too much.

“Lloyd’s telling us about what living in a palace is like,” Jay responded, clearly impressed by what he’s hearing about.

“I’m only telling them about what I had. With my dad there it’s practically hell. No amount of material goods would make me want to go back there,” Lloyd explained.

“But what if all of us lived there? What if you got to have all the fancy stuff you have in the palace, but have us instead?” Jay asked Lloyd. Lloyd hesitated for a moment thinking of an answer.

“I’d prefer to stay here. It actually feels like home. The bigger space just made it seem… lonely,” Lloyd replied. He remembered how awful he felt. The only people he was allowed to interact with were is dad, mom, and the guards. It got lonely every once in a while. That’s why he started sneaking out, it felt like his escape from that.

“Everyone thinks about themselves living in the palace at some point,” Cole pointed out to Jay.

“It could actually happen for us though,” Jay said. The others looked at him confused.

“What are you talking about?” Kai asked, a hint of a laugh in his voice.

“Well, let’s say misfortune were to fall on Garmadon and he dies we have the heir right here, and everyone would have to listen to Lloyd,” Jay explained.

“Everyone hopes that my dad will die, but I don’t think that’s happening anytime soon,” Lloyd sighed, leaning against Kai. It was a nice thought though. Not having to live with the burden of Garmadon ruling over the city.

“What if we took down Garmadon?” Cole questioned, causing the others to laugh.

“Are you kidding, we are definitely not capable of taking down my dad. Have you seen how uncoordinated we are in training?” Lloyd asked as he laughed remembering their training sessions.

“This is just a hypothetical,” Cole explained, although everyone knew it mostly wasn’t.

“Sure,” Kai smirked, knowing that even before Lloyd had joined they had talked about defeating Garmadon and taking back the city.

“It could be nice, but honestly I wouldn’t want to take my dad’s place,” Lloyd admitted.

“Really? You would probably make a much better emperor than Garmadon,” Jay explained.

“I really don’t want to be in charge of Ninjago,” Lloyd said.

“And you probably won’t need to be for a long time. It’s not like we’re defeating Garmadon anytime soon,” Kai responded.

“Alright, enough of this. So are you two going to go on another midnight walk?” Jay teased Lloyd and Kai.

“Not tonight,” Lloyd replied.

“Yeah, I’m a bit tired from helping out Wu. Tomorrow?” Kai asked Lloyd.

“I was actually thinking of sneaking into the palace and grabbing a few things,” Lloyd admitted.

“You are not going back to the palace,” Kai said.

“I am, I don’t want to be stuck wearing your clothes all the time,” Lloyd argued.

“That is your choice. Nya and I bought you clothes to wear,” Kai replied as Cole and Jay laughed in the background.

“They’re cozier okay!” Lloyd shouted his argument.

“Whatever you say,” Kai smirked as he laughed.

“Will you all shut up?” Lloyd groaned as the three laughed at him. The laughing didn’t stop until around a minute later.

“I’m going to head to sleep now. Night guys,” Kai waved as he stood up from the couch and started walking towards their room.

“Goodnight,” Lloyd waved back to Kai.

“You are so in love,” Jay pointed out to Lloyd as soon as he was sure that Kai was out of range.

“Am not!” Lloyd yelled in embarrassment, his cheeks still red from the earlier incident.

“Why don’t you just admit it already?” Cole asked.

“You should go out with Kai again tomorrow instead of going to the palace,” Jay suggested.

“I already said that I was going to the palace and I really want to grab some stuff from there,” Lloyd explained.

“Do you?” Cole asked as Lloyd froze.

“Not really,” Lloyd replied.

“Then go with Kai, and when you do you should tell him how you really feel,” Jay said.

“No way!” Lloyd shouted in surprise.

“So you do admit that you like him,” Jay teased.

“That’s not. Fine, I like Kai. Happy now?” Lloyd asked as his face got redder.

“Yes. So why not give it a try?” Jay responded.

“I don’t think now is a good time. We haven’t known each other for long enough,” Lloyd explained.

“I’m pretty sure he feels the exact same way about you,” Cole said.

“Please tell him. I am so tired of seeing the two of you swoon over each other without knowing,” Jay begged.

“Fine! I’ll consider it. Only if the two of you leave me alone,” Lloyd said.

“We will,” Jay replied.

“This doesn’t mean that I’m definitely going to do it,” Lloyd stood up from where he was sitting on the couch and started to walk away.

“Goodnight Lloyd!” Cole called out since Lloyd had practically sprinted to the hallway.

“Night!” Lloyd yelled back.

Chapter Text

Lloyd had decided to listen to Jay and Cole. He had gone out with Kai instead of going back to the palace. Kai had been glad that Lloyd didn’t risk going back there. Kai didn’t know what might happen if Lloyd was caught. On their walk, the two had taken their usual route. They did their best to avoid any densely populated areas due to the amount of guards that were out. The two walked along the street together, most stores were closed and there really wasn’t anywhere to go. After roaming around for a while, they walked towards the park. They had stopped there multiple times previously during their walks. It was a nice, quiet spot where the two could relax.

Lloyd grabbed onto Kai’s hand and led him over to a nearby bench where the two sat down together. They sat in silence for a while, both of them not knowing what to see. The other times they had come here, the two had engaged in endless conversation, but now they were quiet. Lloyd’s hand was still intertwined with Kai’s, although neither of them made any move to remove their hand. They didn’t comment on it either. The park was dark, and everything was barely visible. Kai, using his other hand, started a small fire so that they weren’t in complete darkness.

Lloyd glanced over at Kai. His hair had covered the movement of his eye, so Kai didn’t realize that Lloyd had started to stare at him. This also made it a bit harder for Lloyd to see Kai with some of his hair blocking his view. A faint blush dusted Lloyd’s cheeks, painting them a slight hue of pink. Lloyd was repeating in his head the words which he had planned to say, but every time he tried to actually say them his mouth just wouldn’t move. He felt his heart rapidly beating within his chest. He took in a deep breath to try and calm himself down, and realized that he had completely forgotten to breath because of his nervousness. The sound startled Kai and he looked over at Lloyd.

“Are you okay?” Kai asked a bit concerned.

“Yeah, I forgot to breath,” Lloyd smiled feeling none of the anxiety he was feeling before. He had looked up at Kai and sat up a bit straighter. At his words Kai just started laughing, and his hand was freed from Lloyd’s as he moved it. Lloyd slowly reached back out for Kai’s hand before immediately retracting it and laughing awkwardly alongside Kai. The fire that Kai had made suddenly went out and the two of them were engulfed in darkness.

After that the two fell into silence again. This time it was much more awkward then peaceful. Lloyd felt like he had ruined the moment and that if he were to say anything now it would be weird. He turned his gaze away from Kai, his smile dropping. Kai noticed Lloyd turn away from him and felt that he had done something wrong, but he had no idea what it could have been.

“What made you change your mind?” Kai questioned. He thought that Lloyd would have preferred going to the palace over just hanging out with him. Yet, Lloyd was here with him instead of sneaking into the palace.

“Huh?” Lloyd responded looking up at Kai.

“What made you want to walk with me instead of going to the palace?” Kai asked.

“I talked about it with Jay and Cole. They convinced me it was too dangerous to go,” Lloyd explained. Kai felt a bit of happiness wash over him. Glad that Lloyd realized the danger of going to the palace, and would most likely not consider going any other night.

“I’m glad they did. I like that you’re here with me,” Kai smiled as his hand slowly inched closer to Lloyd’s. Lloyd tapped one of his fingers against Kai’s, but they weren’t fully holding each other’s hand.

“I-I like that I’m here with you too,” Lloyd smiled the blush he had earlier started returning to his face. He didn’t care anymore whether Kai noticed it or not. Kai returned the smile as he brought the fire closer to them, illuminating their faces.

They spent a long time just staring and smiling at each other like that. Neither of them dared to move or speak, afraid that one wrong move would mess everything up. Lloyd knew that he wouldn’t be able to say anything to Kai, so instead he formulated a plan in his mind.

“Can I… um… can I do something?” Lloyd asked, he felt his face growing hotter.

“Sure?” Kai replied, he wasn’t quite sure what he was agreeing to, but it probably wouldn’t be anything too weird. Lloyd nodded in response to Kai’s agreement and slowly leaned in closer. Then he moved quickly, capturing Kai’s lips in a kiss. The fire in Kai’s hands burst brightly then went out. A sudden rush of adrenaline filled Lloyd, and he pulled back after a while and started running away, laughing as he went.

“Lloyd!” Kai called out flustered. He quickly stood up from the bench. It was hard to see Lloyd in the dark, but he could hear him. Lloyd was really fast so Kai knew that if he didn’t start running after him now he might lose him.

“You’re going to get caught by the guards if you make a this much of a commotion!” Kai yelled a warning at Lloyd. Despite being flustered about what had just gone down, his main concern was Lloyd getting trouble while he was running back to what Kai hoped was the tea shop.

When he got no response and the laughter had faded away, he thought that he should probably start running in order to catch up to Lloyd. He was worried that he had lost him already and that he if didn’t find him, Lloyd would end up getting himself into trouble of some sorts. So Kai rushed out in the direction Lloyd had started running in to find him.

Chapter Text

Kai had chased Lloyd all the way back to the tea shop startling Jay who was helping out Wu that night. Jay turned to look at the two in shock. Jay smirked, he was definitely going to tell Cole or maybe just everyone. Lloyd had been just barely holding in his laughter while running and now that he had finally made it inside the tea shop he started to laugh even louder than before. Kai wanted to yell at him for laughing about this, but he too started to laugh. Lloyd finally gave up on running when he reached the main room, flopping down onto the couch.

“What was that!” Kai yelled, both shocked and flustered. Lloyd’s only response was to laugh harder since he couldn’t think of a good way to respond. Kai glanced around the room, upon seeing that there was no one else in the room he sat down next to Lloyd.

“The next time you do something like that, don’t run off. I was a bit worried back there that you would get caught,” Kai warned as he reached out to try and hold Lloyd’s hand. Lloyd had finally stopped laughing and accepted Kai’s hand. He looked up at Kai, feeling a little guilty for running off like that. He could have exposed them all if he were caught. He didn’t know how to respond so he thought over what Kai had said until he realized something.

“Next time?” Lloyd questioned. He hadn’t expected Kai to say anything like that, but it wasn’t unwelcome. Lloyd did expect Kai to yell at him for running off like that though, he very easily could have been spotted and gotten into a lot of trouble. He was very lucky that hadn’t happened, especially with him laughing all the way back to the tea shop.

“Only if you want there to be a next time,” Kai hurriedly rushed to explain.

“I think… I would like there to be a next time,” Lloyd smiled as he leaned a bit closer to Kai, but just subtle enough that Kai wouldn’t notice.

“We agree that there would be a next time then,” Kai smirked as he teased Lloyd by getting even closer to him since he noticed how Lloyd had moved closer. Lloyd blushed at Kai’s actions. He didn’t think that Kai had noticed him lean in closer and now he felt kind of embarrassed about it.

“Let’s go to my room. I don’t want someone to walk in on us like this,” Lloyd said.

“Cole and Jay snuggle on the couch all the time,” Kai argued.

“That’s different. We all know that Cole and Jay are in a relationship, but no one knows about… whatever we are right now. I would like to keep it a secret until we figure things out ourselves first,” Lloyd explained as he stood up, hoping that Kai would follow him.

“How about this? I’m your boyfriend, you’re my boyfriend. We’re boyfriends. That is what we are right now,” Kai replied.

“I hate you,” Lloyd said as he turned around so that Kai wouldn’t see how much he was smiling.

“That’s not a no though,” Kai pointed out.

“It’s not a no,” Lloyd agreed as he turned around to face Kai again. He offered his hand out to Kai hoping that he would take it so that the two could start heading to Lloyd’s room.

“Then we’ve figured it out so we can stay here,” Kai teased.

“I will drag you over to my room if I have to,” Lloyd replied as he grabbed Kai’s hand.

“Fine,” Kai grumbled as he got up and let Lloyd lead him towards Lloyd’s room. It was only when Lloyd had entered that he realized the two had already talked about what he wanted to discuss inside his room. He froze for a second as Kai walked in, closing the door behind them.

“So what now?” Kai asked.

“I… don’t know. I thought we were going to discuss what we are to each other now but we kind of already did that,” Lloyd explained.

“We still have stuff to talk about,” Kai said.

“What do we have to talk about. I feel like we just talked about all the important things that need to be talked about,” Lloyd responded as he tried to think about what they needed to talk about.

“Well, you brought up telling the others about this so we should probably talk about that,” Kai suggested.

“Right, I kind of forgot about the others,” Lloyd awkwardly laughed.

“Do you think we should tell them?” Kai questioned as he wandered over to Lloyd’s bed and decided to sit down on it.

“I don’t know. I don’t think we should tell them so soon after we just got together,” Lloyd explained.

“So we do we tell them?” Kai asked.

“I don’t know,” Lloyd walked over to the side of the bed where Kai was sitting and sat down, resting his head on Kai’s shoulder, “I just want it to be our secret for a little bit. We can tell the others after a while, I don’t think I’m ready just yet for that though.”

Kai hummed in response to Lloyd’s answer. He moved his arm so that it was resting on Lloyd’s shoulder. Lloyd, in response, hugged his legs as he leaned more into Kai. He let out a shaky sigh as he did so.

“Are you alright?” Kai asked when he noticed Lloyd’s sigh.

“Yeah, I’m just happy and I have never really felt like this before. It feels good, really good,” Lloyd smiled, the blush reappearing on his face as he admitted this.

“That makes me happy then,” Kai replied. They sat in silence for a bit until Lloyd suddenly yawned.

“I am so sorry. I guess I’m really tired,” Lloyd said awkwardly, feeling embarrassed.

“It’s alright. We’re in room, if you want to sleep you can,” Kai replied.

“Yeah but then you’d have to leave,” Lloyd pouted.

“Why would I have to leave?” Kai laughed.

“Do you want everyone to know?” Lloyd asked.

“What does that have to do with me being in here?” Kai responded.

“It would be suspicious if you spent the rest of the night in here,” Lloyd explained.

“I don’t mind, do you?” Kai asked.

“No, I’m just tired,” Lloyd said.

“Does that mean I can stay?” Kai questioned.

“Mmm, yeah,” Lloyd replied, his eyes were already closed, and he was already practically asleep. Kai gently laid him down on bed, went to turn off the lights, then got in bed with Lloyd and held him in his arms.