I was digging through my drafts and came across this, so I thought I'd share. I think there's supposed to be a part two (and three), but as of now it's all unfinished. I hope you enjoy. I don't own Ninjago.
The first time Lloyd meets Kai, he knows in his heart that he's going to like this new friend best.
Well, that's not true. The first time Lloyd meets Kai is on a cold morning in Jamanakai village, where he tries and fails to rob it of all its candy. The next few times they meet are similar in circumstance, right down to being betrayed by his former allies. Lloyd then only knows Kai as an adversary with big hair and a bigger ego, not someone he'd want near him—ever.
Even if his hair is...kind of cool.
The first time he truly meets him is after he's rescued from Pythor-the jerk ex-friend-in mid-spring. The morning after his uncle welcomed him on the ship, he wakes up in a room he doesn't know. Though a second scared, the wild events of the day before rush back like a crack of lightning, and suddenly he's nervous for a different reason.
Now that these people, these kids, he's called enemies for so long were friends, what would they think of him? What did that make him? Would they like him as a friend? A person?
Lloyd tells himself he isn't scared—over and over, because he isn't—but he finds himself sinking into his sweatshirt until the collar rises to his nose and the hood falls over his face. They were probably already up and eating. What would they do if he walked right in? He can already imagine their faces—for some reason, with their masks—and the thought makes his stomach queasy.
He isn't nervous, though. Just seasick. Perhaps, he thinks, if he waits long enough, he'll miss them entirely and wouldn't have to worry about whether they'd like him.
No, if he liked them.
He's doing them a favor by staying here. Yes, the Ninja just aren't prepared for the awesome power and judgement of one Lloyd Montgomery Garmadon—
"Lloyd?"
The call and a knock are all the warning Lloyd receives before his Uncle Wu slides back the door, looking pleasant and familiar on this cool morning. If nothing else, Lloyd is certain of his Uncle's affection; no one has ever smiled to him so kindly and meant it.
Wu's face is covered in smile lines; on top of his mustache and around his eyes especially. Lloyd hadn't noticed those before.
"You're going to miss breakfast," he says, "You'll want to join us; Zane has made blueberry pancakes."
His stomach growls on 'blueberry' alone, but Lloyd can't seem to sit up, move his legs. He's paralyzed, he gathers; he must have been injured in that fight yesterday after all. He better stay all day in bed, just to make sure he doesn't damage himself further; he is a growing boy, after all—
"Lloyd?" Wu steps into the room, "You're not nervous, are you?"
Lloyd throws back the blanket and kicks it away from himself, "Of course not," he feels himself flush as he stands, puffing out his chest, "I just don't see why we have to eat breakfast so darn early."
It's nine o'clock, currently. If he were at Darkly's, he would've eaten by seven, and if he were still on his own, it would be by six, if he ate at all.
By the door, Wu still smiles at him, as if Lloyd has always been here and not attacking his students for the last four and a half months. "It's alright if you are," he says, "but you've no need."
"I'm not worried," Lloyd twists his face as he says it, "I'm just hungry. Hunger makes me nervous. Now where's the kitchen?"
He is perfectly comfortable in his new home, so he sidesteps his uncle and marches down the hall, swinging open the door—
—to a closet.
To show Wu that he meant to do this, he looks over the contents for a moment before turning back with a grunt. "Just looking for some games," he tells his amused uncle as he hurries past.
Stupid, he chides himself.
The first time Lloyd meets Kai, he's just a little bit nervous.
The ninja are gathered around a relatively small table for a group this size, and the expressions they eye him with are...hard to describe. Certainly not as chummy as he would have liked. They aren't yelling at him, or throwing things, or doing anything else that Lloyd expected, so he marks that as a plus.
A plus in a series of minuses.
He fixes them with his most devilish frown before he sits in the last empty seat at the table.
"That's Sensei's spot," comes Jay's voice, not angry, not unkind, but the message is clear.
Not for you. Not yours. Not ever.
"I don't see his name on it."
They don't respond; Lloyd can feel all eyes on him. He stares at a distant spot on the wall, wondering if the looks he would receive at Darkly's, or the glowers from his Serpentine ex-friends, would be better than this.
"Would you like a plate?" comes a voice, soft.
Lloyd looks up. The blond one next to him—Zane—smiles, and it looks genuine enough for him to nod.
The ninja next reaches for a steaming stack at the center of the table, and with that movement, whatever spell he'd cast upon entering the room breaks, everyone returning to their meal. It's quiet, not in the way that no sound is being made, but in that no one speaks, or even looks, really, at him as they go about their business. Zane hands him a plate and minds his own meal, and Cole quibbles something about Jay needing to, "keep his own darn feet in his own darn bunk."
Only the girl—Nya? —on his other side continues looking at him, sharp eyed and contemplative, and Kai, who frowns at the opposite end of the table. Lloyd sticks his tongue out at both before stabbing a fork into his pancakes, which truly do look delectable. If for no other reason, he decides, should it come to that, he can stay here for the food.
Three pancakes and half of a fourth one later, Wu walks into the room. He darts quick glances around the room, sizing the atmosphere, "I trust you're all getting along?" he says.
The ninja's responses come in hums, none of them enthusiastic. Lloyd scoops the rest of the pancake up and shoves it into his mouth, biting down hard.
"I see," says Wu, unmoving, "Have you introduced yourselves?"
"We already know each other," says Cole, looking back.
"Not as friends, you don't," says Wu, and no one argues with him, "Please," he continues, "Introduce yourselves."
Lloyd wishes his uncle would can it and exit to the other room, but everyone knows better than to disobey. They stop and place their forks down; the utensils clatter against the table. Lloyd just focuses on chewing as everyone looks at him once again. He's unable to decipher their expressions, but they start smiling, one at a time, small and slow expressions. Not all of them manage to be more than polite, but they help ease the knot growing in his stomach.
Zane extends a hand first, saying, "I'm Zane; I'm excited to have you join us."
Lloyd doesn't know what to say to that. Yesterday he was out running wild and evil, attacking the ninja. Now, he simply doesn't know where to go from here.
Cole is next, reaching across the table to take his hand in his own. His is large and warm, and it swallows Lloyd's whole. "Welcome aboard," is all Cole says. He doesn't smile as he speaks it, but there's a spark in his eyes, and the statement is neutral, hopeful.
I can know you; it says.
Lloyd thinks the same.
Next is Jay, who wrinkles his nose after touching Lloyd's hand; Lloyd can't help that it's sweaty, "Just stay out of my comics and you'll be good."
"Only if your comics are trash," says Lloyd. He doesn't take kindly the implication that he'd go snooping through everyone's stuff, however true it may be.
Next, the girl takes his hand, "I'm Nya," she says, "You look like fun."
That surprises him. Sure, she's been looking at him since he walked in the room, but one can't tell much from his appearance except that maybe he should choose his role models a little more wisely.
She's just being nice.
Still, Lloyd looks her over again. She's muscular, pretty—for a girl—and he can't tell anything more than that. He'll assume she's fun, too. That's the polite way to think.
Lloyd blinks and wonders when he'd started worrying about politeness. He gives Nya a scowl before drawing his hand away.
Last is Kai, who Lloyd doesn't really meet until after breakfast, in a hallway, next to a closet. At the table, he merely stares Lloyd down and, after Wu clears his throat, mutters an introduction that's nothing more than a 'hello' and a name.
Lloyd can take it. He's glad for its brief nature, frankly. The mix of conversation and introduction make breakfast an exhausting experience, to say the least. Lloyd is quick to leave afterwards.
That's when he meets Kai. Losing himself on his way back to the room he'd spent the night in, he winds up next to a closet, Kai staring down at him. Kai isn't that much taller than him, but the intensity of the glare he sports makes him tower.
Lloyd isn't the least bit intimidated, but he finds himself puffing out his chest, holding his breath to keep from breathing too hard.
"Lloyd," Kai greets first.
His mind tells him to think of something insulting to say, a rude name with the sole intention of poking some wired nerve, but he comes up empty. His Darkly's peers would be terribly disappointed.
To ease off the feeling, he settles for the 'stink eye', a specialty of his, "Kai."
For a moment they stare at each other, then Kai breaks the stare and takes a breath.
"Before you do anything here, I need to make some things clear," he says, and Lloyd braces himself for the worst.
"First of all," says Kai, talking like this is a speech he's been preparing for a while, "Your evil shenanigans won't be tolerated, so don't even think about plotting, alright?"
Lloyd frowns and opens his mouth to respond, but Kai moves on before he can get a sound out.
"Second, you have to treat Sensei with respect. He's really rooting for you, so if you can't be nice to us, be nice to him."
That hurts Lloyd more than he expects; he opens his mouth again, but still, Kai goes on.
"Third!" Kai holds up a finger, like this is the most important point, "You can't stick your tongue out at my sister. That's a sibling thing only, got it?"
Lloyd has half a mind to stick his tongue out right there, but Kai keeps talking. And here he thought that Jay was the one that wouldn't shut up.
"I want your time here to be pleasant for all of us," Kai folds his hands in front of him, "Do you think that's possible?"
There's a second of stunned silence before a mix of anger and spite fuel Lloyd forward, "Not with you and your stupid rules. For one, I'll plot as much as I like; two, your Sensei is my uncle, and I'll decide if I want to be nice to him, and three, I'll stick my tongue out at whoever I like, because guess what?" Lloyd puts on his most wicked grin, "I'm your new brother now."
To his disappointment, Kai doesn't get angry; he just pulls his lips back in disgust, like this is no more than he expected. That makes Lloyd mad, so he sticks out his tongue with as much force and unbridled spite as he can manage.
Kai looks offended for a moment—Lloyd takes a point—and then he mirrors the expression. It's utterly childish, so Lloyd takes another point before donning a worse face, this time bringing his hands up to complete the picture.
Kai huffs a sigh, as though he expected Lloyd to be the mature one here, the hypocrite, then he does something odd. He frowns, crosses his eyes, then sticks his tongue out and touches the tip of his nose. Lloyd gasps in surprise. No one at Darkly's, not even Brad, had the ability to do that.
Lloyd is...impressed. He's not going to lose impromptu contest, however. He reaches and pulls his cheeks apart—makes a frog face—and crosses his eyes the best he can. For extra finesse, he adds a disgusting, "Bleurgh!"
But Kai seems prepared. He smirks, pulls his lips inward, and pulls the dopiest expression Lloyd thinks he's ever seen. Lloyd snorts without meaning to, and Kai graces him a smile.
"Hold on," he says, turning and bounding out of the hallway. When he returns, he's a roll of scotch tape in his hand, "This'll help."
It does.
When Lloyd truly meets Kai, they're standing next to a closet, taping each other's faces into scary positions. It's gross and hilarious and painful all at once, and Lloyd can't remember the last time he's had so much fun.
At some point, Lloyd thinks to grab a flashlight for more intense expression, and Kai is quick to supply him with one. Soon, they're laughing, and Lloyd forgets about any animosity he might have had.
When the last piece of tape is strung off the roll, and they've nothing left to make, Kai is smiling at him without a hint of malice. He looks like Wu did in the morning, and it lifts a weight off Lloyd's shoulders that he didn't even know was there.
Then Kai throws out a hand; it's warm and calloused, "Welcome to the family, kiddo."
When Lloyd takes it and shakes it, he has a feeling that he's going to like this one best.
Let me know if you want the other two parts to this (I might just publish them anyway, but that's up in the air currently).
As always, thank you for reading! Have a fantastic day!