I am FINISHED with all of my exams! Not sure how I did on them, but I am FREEEEEEEEEEE!

Ahem. Anyway, thank you to ThePowerOfOats, ABCSKW123-IX, RPM Shadow, RandomDragon2.0, Cerenda, WindNinja333, StoriesAreMagic, KyraPlays, Star, Guest, TheYellowNinja, PrairieSkies, LeUltimateNerd, Peanut2196, Breeze015, ILoveCheetos, and FirstFandomFangirl for reviewing! I was really not expecting such a positive response, so I'm soooo happy you guys like this story so far!

I will be replying to reviews shortly after posting this :D

Replies to guest reviews:

Star: Haha, yay! I'm so happy you thought it was perfect! :D I hope you like this chapter too! Thank you so much for reviewing! :D

Guest: Thank you so much! I'm glad you thought their meeting was realistic enough :D Thanks for reviewing!

TheYellowNinja: I looooove Morro, especially since writing Lost Soul and Broken Circle! I'm so happy you like their relationship so far! And, the little elemental connection Morro felt. I definitely agree that the elemental masters feel a certain connection to their element :D Thank you so much for reviewing! :D

Talking to Wu became the highlight of Morro's day. Every afternoon, Wu would be waiting for him at the top of the steps with a hot meal, and every afternoon, Morro sprinted up those steps and sat beside him, eager for whatever story Wu was going to tell him next.

He learned that Wu's brother's name was Garmadon (which Morro made sure to tell him sounded awesome), and they were masters of "Spinjitzu." Morro accused him of making up the word, but Wu insisted that it was a very real thing. He learned that Wu wanted to start a school and was looking for students.

Morro didn't like to talk about the school. The thought of Wu spending time with other kids made his stomach feel funny.

Morro tried to avoid talking about himself whenever possible, because he could tell it made Wu sad. Whereas he had been elated at finding a place to sleep in a small alcove under the bridge that mostly protected him from the rain, Wu had seemed upset. Whereas he had (mostly) gotten over the sting of calling himself an orphan, Wu looked down every time he mentioned the word.

He also avoided telling Wu his name. He couldn't put his finger on exactly why the task seemed so daunting. Maybe it was because he knew it, this weird little thing they had created, wouldn't last, that it was only a matter of time before Wu stopped showing up- or worse, told him to get lost.

If Morro didn't give his name away, then they would still be strangers and it wouldn't hurt so much when that day came.

"Are you alright, little one?"

(And, okay, maybe he liked it a tiny bit when Wu called him "little one," even though he wasn't little.)

Wu peered down at him in concern. "Not a fan of fish?"

"No, no, it's good!" Morro insisted (after all the saying was beggars can't be choosers and he was literally a beggar.) "I just- I don't know. I don't feel too good today."

Morro squeaked when he felt a hand on his forehead.

No one had ever touched his forehead before.

He looked up at Wu with wide eyes. His hand was huge and cool against his skin, and only then did Morro realize how uncomfortably warm he felt all over.

"You have a fever," Wu informed him, eyebrows drawn together in concern. "Perhaps I should take you to the clinic-"

"No!" Morro shouted- because clinics meant doctors which meant questions which meant police which meant orphanage, one of the only places worse than the alleyways he called home.

Seeing Wu's startled expression and realizing how panicked he had come across though, he scrambled to continue. "I mean, I'm fine! I've been sick tons of times before. Tomorrow, I'll be one hundred percent, no problem!"

Morro wasn't one hundred percent. He figured he was hovering somewhere around forty percent- maybe.

He'd thrown up the night before, and he woke up feeling so hot and sweaty he hadn't wanted to move. Greg had poked him with a stick to see if he was dead, and the little whimper that had snuck past his lips was the only thing that stopped him from being thrown into an unmarked grave.

The staircase had seemed especially tall today, but Morro had forced himself to climb step after impossible step. He didn't want Wu to think he had stopped coming and so stop waiting for him every day.

(And, maybe he was being a little dramatic, but if was going to die- and he certainly felt like he was going to die- then he wanted to say goodbye to the one person who had been nice to him.)

He regretted the decision by the time he made it to the top though. His breath was coming in short gasps, sweat was pouring off his face, and he kind of felt like he needed to throw up all of the nothing he had eaten that morning.

He looked up when he heard a gasp.

"Little one!" Wu exclaimed.

Morro was just about to smile, brush off the concern like he had the day before… but then the world tilted sickeningly and he saw the ground rushing up to meet him-

Wu caught him.

Caught him, held him in his arms, hugged him close to his chest- and Morro was just so confused because rule number one said trust no one, and yet he had never… felt… so…

Safe.

"You're burning up!" Wu announced, standing up with Morro in his arms.

Morro wriggled in his grasp. He shouldn't want to sleep in this stranger's arms. He shouldn't want to snuggle into this stranger's chest. He should deal with it on his own because he had always dealt with it on his own, and rule number one was trust no one…

But, Wu didn't let him go.

"I promise I will not harm you."

Morro could just make out Wu's kind eyes crinkled with worry, and over his shoulder, the gates slamming shut…

He couldn't fight it any longer as the world around him disappeared, plunging him into blackness.

Time passed strangely for Morro. Sometimes he could have sworn he had closed his eyes for only a second, and yet when he opened them again the sun had dropped so low in the sky, it was almost dark. Other times, he dreamt that hours or days passed, and yet when blinked he was right back where he had been before.

But some things were always the same. He was always in a bed. A bed. He was in a real bed with a real blanket and a real pillow and it was like sleeping on a cloud it was all so soft and warm…

And Wu. Wu was always there.

He woke up to something cold and wet on his face, and he whined, pushing it away.

"Please, little one, we must bring your fever down."

Morro opened his eyes a slit to see Wu leaning over him. The icy washcloth brushed over his forehead with a feather light touch.

Wu gasped softly when he noticed Morro watching him, then smiled gently. "Welcome back to the land of the living, little one. Now that you're awake, you need to eat something."

"No…," Morro moaned, shaking his head lethargically. For the first time in his life, he was refusing food. He knew he would regret it later when he was starving near to death again, but right now his poor stomach just couldn't take it.

"Yes," Wu insisted. Grabbing his upper arms- gently, so gently- he pulled Morro up into a sitting position so he was leaning against the headboard.

Morro could barely keep his head upright. He felt the bed dip as Wu sat beside him on the mattress, wrapping an arm around him to help him sit up.

Sluggishly, he shoveled spoonful after spoonful of the broth into his mouth, more to please Wu than to sate his own hunger. It did little to calm his roiling stomach, but the warmth of Wu's muscular arm around his shoulders and the gentle encouragement his older friend was offering him was…

A sudden sense of wrongness hit Morro so hard in the stomach, he dropped the spoon into the bowl with a plop. Here he was, in a bed with a pillow- a real bed with a real pillow- in a room in a house with someone who maybe a little bit cared about him and it was wrong, wrong, wrong, it was all wrong because it felt right but he was just some orphan that didn't belong here like this…

Morro tried to scramble past Wu to lean over the bed before he puked, but he didn't quite make it and most of the vomit ended up in his lap and- to his horror- on Wu.

"I'm sorry," he gasped between coughing and retching, all while keeping his hand to his mouth and trying to get out of the bed and cursing himself for ruining, ruining, ruining the one good thing in his life even though he didn't deserve it in the first place… "I'm-I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm-"

Finally freeing himself from the sheet prison, he tried to run toward the bedroom door- when he felt Wu grab his arm.

"It's alright! It's alright, little one!"

Morro stared at him in open fear and confusion. "But-But I…"

"I suppose I should have listened to my wise, little friend when you said you were not ready to eat," Wu admitted, chuckling.

Morro was dumbfounded.

"Let's get you out of those clothes," Wu said, standing.

Morro grimaced as he looked down at his vomit covered outfit. Quietly, he said, "I don't have anything else."

"You know I'm starting a school," Wu pointed out, gingerly resting his hand on Morro's shoulder as if not sure the child would allow him to keep it there. "I've bought a variety of children's clothes. I'm sure we can find something that fits you. And then you can sleep in my bed, at least until I get this cleaned up."

Morro stared up at Wu with wide eyes.

New, clean clothes? He wasn't sure the Spinjitzu master knew what a luxury something like that was on the street. Morro's shorts had been pants when he'd first stolen them, and his shirt was almost threadbare.

And, Wu was offering his own bed to some street rat that had just puked on him?

Morro stood stock still as Wu ambled toward the door, pulling it open. "Stay here, little one, while I go-"

"Morro!"

Wu started, turning back around to the little, blushing orphan with a quizzical look on his face.

"My name is Morro," he said quietly, scuffing the carpet with his foot. "I, uh, just thought you should know."

When he chanced a glance back up at Wu, the blonde man was beaming at him. "Thank you very much for sharing. You have a lovely name, Morro."

Really? Morro always thought it was kind of ugly: a little bit like "tomorrow" but not enough to make it cool. It was also uncommon, so when he told people, he usually had to pronounce it for them several times before they could repeat it correctly, commonly followed by a "wow, that's weird!"

But, Wu had smiled at him and said it was lovely…

They barely spoke after that as Wu found him some clothes and Morro reverently pulled on the crisp, new outfit that smelled like soap- soap!- and then laid down in Wu's huge bed that smelled just like him: tea and old paper. Morro decided that he liked it.

"I'll be back to check on you soon, Morro," Wu reassured as he headed toward the bedroom door.

Morro could feel his eyes falling shut with exhaustion, but still he called out, "Wu?"

"Yes?"

"If you…" he pulled the blanket up to half hide his face in a poor attempt to escape the mortification that was about to follow. "It's okay if you, uh, still want to call me 'little one.' Sometimes."

Wu chuckled. "Of course! I wasn't ready to give up my nickname for you quite yet." He began to pull the bedroom door shut. "Sleep well, little one."

Morro grinned, deeply inhaling the scent of tea and scrolls and soap once more before falling asleep.

I hope you guys liked it! I'll be replying to the reviews from last chapter pretty quick after posting this :D

Next update will be Monday! :D