The bleach blond sighed as he continued to watch the scene unfold around him. Everyone looked so happy and put together nowadays. It looked as if nothing bad could ever happen to them. The whole world had such a chance as to be beautiful and carefree, never having to be near evil and destruction. The only problem was there were those who were like Garmadon was.
Said people would eagerly throw everything away to have their wills to be able to have a go at happening. Never once thinking of consequences, they go out and hurt others or use mental or verbal means. It was heart wrenching to think he had done all of those things, multiple times over.
He noticed Lloyd was curiously watching over him, and then eventually pausing his conversation with Kai over something the eldest couldn't possibly care less about. His child looked fairly worried despite the whole setting Garmadon had taken his time to allow in his system, "Are you okay, Dad?"
Of course he was, why wasn't he? Brooding didn't mean he was depressed. Everything else in his life took care of that job. He had raised his brother for the most part, and then as an adult cared for Lloyd until he need a break and sent the boy to the boarding school. Yet, he felt like no one truly appreciated him, no matter how big or small his contributions to anything had been. Then he just shook his head in defeat, "Not really… I will be in my room… Please, I don't want to be disturbed right now."
It seemed like his wishes were agreed upon, because there was no one following after him for once. Relieved, Garmadon moved across the hallway to get to his room eagerly. Once inside the place of solitude, the older man groaned and went to his bed. He was nearly there, not noticing the figure already there.
"Long time, no see, huh?" That accent sound familiar… Garmadon looked up to find none other than Kozu perched on his bed, with crossed legs and holding the helmet the dark lord could bear. Despite the lack of tribal face paint, it was still obvious that it was the general.
Garmadon nodded in agreement and slowly sat down on the side of the bed. This was awkward, all he wanted was to sleep off his sorrows like usual, but the presence made that difficult. Finally the younger made a face and spun to look at his acquaintance, "Do you mind?"
The scowl didn't seem to faze the tanned male, "Is that any way to treat a guest?" The grip on the helmet became nonexistent and it fell onto the bed carelessly. Kozu wrapped his arms around the lithe chest, but then recoiled just as quickly like something had hurt him. With a look of sorrow, "You are different than I remember… much too different, Garmadon. Where did all of you go?"
It was obvious there was questions about his body already, so said man gave a sigh and shrug, "Does it matter? I've always been different."
"No," prodded the older verbally, moving so he was also on the side of the bed. He kicked out his armored legs, unable to get away from his ultimate tie to the army made of stone, "You are not like I remember. You are sickly, weak, and depressed."
That was really not what you said to someone who was in this slump. Garmadon felt anger flash through his mind like a white heat that ruined his ability to care anymore. His old habit of lashing out happened as he thrust out a hand to punch at the general in the face. Instead, he got the pain shooting up his arm. Nothing was broken, because he felt the subtle pain of the hit in his muscles. Not wanting to be open about the pain, he simply dropped his arm in shame.
It must have shown because there was sudden hand that stroked the side of his face in a soothing motion, "You may not be too different, after all, then." He sighed and watched Garmadon stubbornly dig his fingers into the mattress beneath them. Chuckling with a shrug, Kozu got up and began to pace back in forth across the fairly bare room. Every so often he would stop, but that was spaced out.
It was like there was something to be said and Garmadon wanted to know. This was making him both curious and uncomfortable if that was even possible as a combination. He got up and stormed to be in front of the bulkier male, "What are you playing at? Either get out or say something?"
"Do I really need to tell you what is on my mind? How about you hand back over the helmet to us and I can leave." The Stone Army couldn't still be a clan anymore, could it? There were many theories on them, but it was obvious they were originally ancient humans cheated out of a normal life by something the Overlord made up long ago at least.
"But…" Garmadon was blatantly dumbfounded at that statement, "You were holding it when I came in this room, Kozu, why do you need to ask?" He grew defensive, and grabbed a pillow when the other seemed to be getting closer and closer to where he was seated, "Hey, back up a little." He was shoved back easily and squirmed as his arms were held down to his sides.
Kozu quirked a brow and chuckled as he leaned over the younger, "I was wondering if you would notice that little detail, my friend." He moved his hold so just one hand held the wrists above the protesting head and picked up the headgear. Their faces were then too close together, and his fingernails nearly bug into the tender skin under his gloves. Now with their foreheads together, the tanned man breathed out a laugh. "Too bad you chose to stay with the good side even after changing back to a human, or we could have been so much closer after all."
That made Garmadon feel helpless and grow bright red without being able to help it. This much younger looking general was overpowering him, but the adults had a power difference now.
"Wait," grinned the dark-haired, clucking his tongue, as his crush still wasn't ready to relax. After a few moments there was leeway and he rewarded the other for giving in with a kiss. It was sweet, but had the roughness of a warrior's strength and left them breathless as to how to speak to one another. Clearing his throat and backing off the bed, Kozu dropped his head so his own helmet hid his eyes, "You made your choice, though. Don't expect me to come back."
That wasn't fair; Garmadon was raging silently as the older left in a cloud of mysterious means. He had no idea that his general had still been alive this whole time! And the fact he had felt comfortable enough to show off his bare face even in uniform…
His brother was wrong; he would never get away from evil. He would always be stuck where the grass wasn't much greener. If he had the chance to take his old life back, he would have someone to care about him, rather than which side he ended up choosing. Getting a headache, Garmadon curled up on the mattress as he lay back the long way. All he could do was think of those words… and those dangerously perfect lips…