Hello there lovelies! I hope you all are having a very Merry Christmas and a happy holiday!
This story is spawned from talking to two of my great friends, OnlyLonelyStars and Dragongem17. I highly recommend checking both lovelies out! I love both of them and they are both amazing hoomans. :D
Anyway, let's get onto the story!
-0-
Nya loved dancing.
This was no secret - so often you could find her just dancing throughout the hallways of the Monastery instead of walking, shuffling as she washed dishes to ebb away the monotonous of the chore, or just practicing in the studio room specially made for the dancers of the team.
Which is exactly where you could find her now…
She was tap dancing - her absolute favorite form of dancing. She had on her black, Mary Jane style shoes, tap dancing away to the music in her earbuds. She sported, in addition to her very fancy shoes, a blue and gray leotard with a small black dancing skirt, which spun around and allowed her legs all the freedom they wanted to tap away.
Her concentration ultimately lay in two places: the mirror in front of her, and her feet. Her focus was unmoving from the rhythm she was making on the floor, her mind pleasantly numbed to nothing but the beat of her feet.
Her ponytail was flying around behind her as she tapped, and she couldn't help but giggle each time it smacked her in the face. Tap dancing was so much fun, and right now she was having the time of her life working on this routine. It was a new routine that she hadn't worked on yet, so the more advanced steps she wasn't used to were providing a challenge that she absolutely craved whenever discovering something new in dance.
She ran her fingers through her hair, her pale skin shining with a faint coat of sweat as she neared the end of her tap routine, the vigor of hard work showing itself.
One more toe pop… one more shuffle-off-to-buffalo… and… Toe tap!
She finished with a flashy pose, an "Et Voila!" echoing from her lips to an invisible audience. "Whoo!" she said loudly, applauding herself softly as she click-clacked over to her favorite resting spot next to the ballet barre and plopped down on her rear.
Placing her phone on the floor, she took in a deep breath and rested her eyelids calmly. Swaying her feet side to side, she tapped her toes together as she muted her music, letting the clicks fill the silence of the room, along with her exhausted breath.
Tap… then breathe. Click, tap… then breathe again.
She looked at her shoes - such a minor thing to everyone else, yet she absolutely loved them. She got some dang good usage out of them for these past few years. She brought one foot up closer to her thigh, examining the shoe… nope; still shiny, still tappy. Not due for a new pair after all these years just yet.
And besides, even if she was, she'd just continue to use these ones. Her favorite tap shoes… the shine, the black finish… so her.
Looking over at her dance bag, she also saw her ballet shoes; a flesh tone cream color with about half the shine of her Mary Jane taps. Yes, ballet was nice, but tap to her just hit differently. However, she adored both will all of her heart. Dance was something so pure and beautiful to her, no matter what form it took.
"Thought I might find you in here."
Nya was pulled from her trance at the sudden interruption in her quiet, beautiful solace, to the sound of none other than her 'reluctant' dance partner and best friend, Lloyd Garmadon. "There you are," she smiled, getting up and click-clacking over to him, giving him a big hug. "Where were you? You were so late I had time to work on an extra tap routine."
"Ha-ha-ha, very funny," Lloyd rolled his eyes, smirking. "The store was out of strawberries, and I wasn't coming back without those. You know how Kai gets fruit withdrawals."
"Tell me about it," Nya said, before giggling. "R-Remember when his hair caught on fire back when he was addicted to blueberries?"
Lloyd legitimately laughed out loud at that. "We all warmed our hands by his head! A-And Cole roasted marshmallows!"
The two spent at least another five minutes giggling over stupid memories of their red-clad brother, before wiping their eyes of the tears of laughter. "Okay, we should probably get to dancing now. You packed your ballet shoes?" Nya asked Lloyd.
"Oh yeah," Lloyd nodded.
"Thank you," Nya breathed a sigh of relief. She sat down on the bench with a smile, untying the ribbons on her tap shoes and sliding them back into her dance bag.
Would she be getting them back out before the day ended? Most likely.
However, as she was tying on her ballet shoes, she noticed something…
Lloyd had the wrong shoes. Again.
She sighed loudly, and Lloyd looked up, confused. "C'mon Lloyd! This is the fifth time you've brought your green Nike's to BALLET class!"
"What? I like to dance comfortably!" Lloyd snickered, knowing very well how much this ticked Nya off.
"So do I - but not to that extent!" Nya exclaimed. "Dude, I know you have ballet shoes."
"Uh huh."
"And this is ballet class."
"Yup."
"So you should probably, oh… I don't know… bring your ballet shoes to ballet class?!"
"...Nah, I don't see the benefit," Lloyd shrugged, still tying his Nike's. Nya rolled her eyes - one day, she was gonna have to retaliate. Maybe wear her tap shoes to try breakdancing; she may roll an ankle, but it would certainly prove her point.
"I seriously do not like you right now," muttered Nya.
"Yeah right - you love me!" Lloyd laughed.
"You wish I loved you!" Nya laughed back - but she really did love Lloyd. He was her best friend, after all! Honestly, all this "arguing" was just proof of that. She guessed they had grown so close because of how close Kai had gotten to Lloyd back when he first discovered he was destined to be the green Ninja, and it sorta just rubbed off on her along the way. And now, the kid she had once called a "brat with nothing going for him" was her closest friend and tied second-closest confidant with her brother and behind her Yin.
"Now come on, are we gonna dance or what?" laughed Lloyd, standing up.
"Not in those shoes, you shouldn't," Nya rolled her eyes, but could do nothing to stop the small smirk from forming upon her lips.
Against her "better judgement", however, she went to the barre, Lloyd following her, and she began to instruct him on the various moves she had gotten ready for the two of them. Lloyd followed them with fair ease, as he was a very tentative listener. Which is why he made such a good dance partner for Nya.
"And now up… then back down… good job! You've been paying attention!" Nya observed as Lloyd followed her movements.
"Thank you," Lloyd smiled, still looking at his movements at the barre. They were facing away from the mirror so it was just their own bodies they could look down upon, not any specific movements. Nya wanted to see if Lloyd was getting what she was teaching him, and so far, he was doing spectacularly.
However, midway through their lesson (or close to the end? They could never tell), Lloyd spoke up.
"Hey… Nya…" Lloyd asked softly, setting his feet down on the floor and leaning against the barre. "Can I… can I confess something to you?"
"Well of course, stupid," Nya said affectionately, rubbing his shoulder. "You can tell me anything, you know that?"
"I know… I just wanted to make sure," Lloyd said, smiling gently.
"Pff, dummy," Nya smiled, pulling him into a side hug. Her eyes met his, and she could almost tell that something was going on. "I can tell you've got a lot on your mind, huh? What do you wanna tell me?"
Lloyd sighed, puffing in and out with a deep breath. He was clearly nervous about this…
"I know it's dumb… a-and I probably shouldn't even feel this way," he muttered, looking down at his hands. "But… I… I miss Garmadon."
Nya's lips barely separated at the revelation, but her grip on Lloyd only tightened, yet remained as gentle as before. This was clearly something that had been bothering him a while.
"A-And, I guess it's to do with us not really getting a proper goodbye, what with whatever happened after we fought The Omega did to me… but even still, he imprisoned countless in his conquest of Ninjago," Lloyd muttered. "I don't feel like he should even get the better of my emotions… and yet, I still miss him. Is that… is that wrong, Nya?"
"Oh, sweetie," Nya said, patting his shoulder. "You're human. More than Oni, more than Dragon, you're human - and that's what makes you so special. You have the ability to feel these things. And you have every right to miss him - never tell yourself different."
"B-But… a-all the bad things he did-"
"It doesn't change the fact he's your father," Nya told him. "When I thought my parents had turned, even if it was for just a moment, I honestly didn't know what to do - it hurt like crazy… but it didn't change the fact I still hoped they were okay. They're flesh and blood, and whether we like it or not, that'll always make us have complex feelings."
Lloyd nodded, seemingly understanding what his best friend was saying. "You're really good console Nya," smiled Lloyd, chuckling softly.
Nya shrugged, smiling sweetly at him. "I do what I can, hehe. Now, c'mere - you need a hug. Badly."
Lloyd didn't push away at all like he normally would've done, instead accepting the hug gladly. He and Nya were both shorties on the team, so they fit right into each other's arms. Good luck getting him to tell you, but Lloyd absolutely loved being hugged; he hadn't had much of that growing up, so to get it now… it was truly something special.
"Thank you, Nya," smiled Lloyd when they separated. "That really helped."
"I'll always do my best to help you," smiled Nya. "You can always count on that."
And with that, the two best friends resumed their ballet lesson, now with Lloyd smiling and laughing much more than before. His heart was full; maybe now he could find some solace in the fact that he was allowed to feel these things.
"Wait, so you're telling me my leg doesn't go over my shoulder?" he asked, doing a flex move that she didn't even know was possible.
"Ewww! That's gross!" she laughed, cringing and swatting at the air surrounding him.
One thing was for certain, and that's that having Nya listen to him certainly helped a lot… he was so happy she was his best friend.
At the end of their lesson, Nya began taking off their shoes - she was putting her tap shoes back on to go tapping one more time, and Lloyd was getting ready to go train in the gym. They sat in comfortable silence, the only noises coming from when they brushed against their gym bags, moved in their seat, or Nya sat her foot down on the floor to make a small "tap!" sound that still sounded so beautiful.
"Hey… before I go," Lloyd said, "I just wanted to say… thank you, Nya. Really. I mean it."
"Anytime, my brother," smiled Nya warmly, patting him on the shoulder.
"You really are something special," Lloyd smiled. "Kai's so lucky to have you as a sister, Jay's so lucky to have you as his Yang… and I don't know how, but somehow, I ended up being lucky enough to have you as a best friend. You're so special, Nya - always have been, and always will be. I hope you know that."
Nya took a deep breath, wiping her eyes. "Dangit Lloyd, you weren't supposed to make me cry today… hehehe…"
Lloyd chuckled. "Right, right, that's next Thursday - my bad!"
The two giggled softly together for a minute, before Nya took Lloyd's hand in hers, and gave it a firm squeeze. "You're something special yourself, Lloyd. You really are. Don't ever sell yourself short, okay?"
"I'll do my best," Lloyd nodded.
"Good," Nya smiled.
She reached over and softly kissed him on the cheek, and smiled once more at him. "Now go show that punching bag who's boss."
"Uh huh… you know he made fun of my Lava Zombies score recently," Lloyd chuckled, popping his knuckles.
"Oh no he didn't!" Nya exclaimed, covering her mouth.
"Oh yeah he did; he's in for it!" laughed Lloyd. Then, one more time, his expression softened. "Thank you, Nya. I know this is a small thing, honestly, but it means so much to me that you'd take the time to console me."
"Like I said - I'll do that anytime," Nya smiled. "Have a good workout, Lloyd. If you need anything whatsoever, you know where to find me."
"Always," Lloyd nodded.
Then, before she could fully stand up to start tap dancing again, Lloyd had pulled her back into a hug. "Last one, promise," Lloyd chuckled.
Nya rolled her eyes, smiling and hugging back. She loved Lloyd's hugs so much. "Dork."
-0-
I hope you all enjoyed! (oh btw, if by any chance someone has any tap dancing story requests, ya boy will gladly hear them... dffjkhhdkj)
Have a very Merry Christmas guys! And if you'd be so kind, a review would be greatly appreciated! Love you all so much!