After they had rebuilt the walls of the monastery and the many, many allies aligned with his son made their way back into their city to rebuild the destruction to their own homes, he found himself lingering outside of the walls.

"Master Wu said you could stay here, since the wall of your apartment is kinda, well, gone."

Even the way he approached the conversation, neutral to the fact that he had caused so much destruction and nearly ruined his life many times, just proved to Garmadon that even if the memories didn't feel like his own, he had missed vital years of the boy he vaguely remembered growing into the man that stood beside him.

"And you would be okay with that?"

"Well, no, but he's your brother-"

"Then I refuse to impose," Garmadon interrupted as he turned to face the young Oni, "after all, it is your home as well. Tell my brother "thank you", but I will find a place to stay on my own."

"Fine, do what you want."

And yet, even though he clearly did not want him to stay, something about the huff of his voice as he turned on his heel reminded Garmadon of their conversation deep in the library of the Serpentine.

"That's my greatest fear, is that I'll end up like you! Because you don't care about anything or anyone!"

"That is not true!"

"Tell me one thing you care about! One thing!" He didn't have to speak, he simply pulled out the soda can, the one harboring the fern that Vinny had given him, to teach him how to care, to hopefully, one day, repair this very relationship.

But as soon as Lloyd registered what he was trying to say, his eyebrows furrowed and his voice came out in some sort of choked sadness around the yell.

"Plants don't count! Plants aren't people! They don't have feelings! It doesn't care that you abandoned it, or that you never sent it a birthday card or…or…oh, what's the point? You'll never understand."

"Wait, Lloyd," he spoke up, waiting until he turned back around with an unreadable expression on his face except for the questioning indicative by his raised eyebrow, "I know that rebuilding will be disorderly to say the least, but when you get a chance, I…I would like to continue speaking to you."

"You've known where I was the whole time."

"Right," he let out a breath of air, "then I will try not to disappear again."

Even when the teenager turned away and closed the door behind him, Garmadon knew that he had done the most he could until someone, probably Vinny, taught him how to actually use a cellphone.

But the door did not slam, so he couldn't help but consider it a baby step in the right direction.

…

Even when he moved apartments to one with a nicer interior but noisier neighbors and he finally did get the cellphone number for his son, the last thing Garmadon expected was for Lloyd to come to him first.

It seemed as though every time Lloyd Garmadon had come into his life, the world looked like it was ending if it wasn't actually in the middle of collapsing around him; this time wasn't an exception with the violent thunder ringing out across the nearly black sky every few minutes.

And standing in his doorway, with wet blonde hair falling into his eyes and his left hand wrapped loosely around his right wrist, was his teenage son with red-rimmed eyes.

"I…I kinda need your help and I know I should probably just go back to the monastery and that I'll probably regret coming to you later but-"

"What is it?" He cut him off with a raised eyebrow and his hand pressed against the doorframe, only to wince when he moved his hand to reveal a significant red, blistering burn that covered most of his arm.

"Kai and I got into a fight."

"Well, that is evident," he remarked, only to remember exactly who he was talking to and the vague memories of how bad a fight with the overly protective fire ninja had to be for Lloyd to come to him with a burn, but come to him at all, "Vinny has a first aid kit in the bathroom, although I'm not sure how helpful it will be for…this."

"Thanks." Lloyd seemingly slumped with a sigh of relief before walking in and giving Garmadon the chance to shut the door, only to realize that Lloyd was already walking into the small bathroom and pulling the first aid kit out from under the cabinet.

"Do you need any help?"

"No, I…I patch myself up a lot."

"Then you should know that taking the heat out of a burn is the first step." Garmadon sighed as he took one step into the bathroom and flicked on the cold water before stepping back out to give Lloyd the room to properly treat himself.

They stayed silent for awhile, even though the relentless storm filled the quiet without their help; it wasn't until the burn had been slathered in ointment and had a strip of gauze taped over it that Lloyd finally sat down on the closed toilet seat and rubbed a hand over his eyes.

"Sorry, about this, I just…" he pulled in a long breath, trying to conceal the tears that were building in his already red eyes, "Kai gets mad and blows up, and I know he's just worried about me but I can handle myse-"

"You are welcome to stay as long as you need to."

"I can't, your roommate-"

"Vinny and I had this conversation after I helped rebuild your monastery, that if you ever needed to stay here and you were comfortable with that idea, the couch is yours. It's no mattress, but it's an option-"

"Why are you being nice to me?" Lloyd cut him off this time, and the silence it sent him into made him realize that he had to stop cutting off the teenager whose face matched his when he was much, much younger, "all I've done for the last month is yell at you."

And he so desperately wanted to explain himself, that he remembered a time when he would burn the world down for Lloyd even if that version of himself felt forever out of reach, but he found himself straightening his spine and chalking it up to, "I am working on having compassion."

"I don't know how long I'm going to stay."

"I'll let Vinny know," Garmadon insisted before waving a hand to beckon the teenager closer, "let me show you where the linen closet is."

…

He was bewildered as he watched the famed Green Ninja, who he could only vaguely remember before he received the moniker below deck in an old pirate ship, carefully and thoroughly pull everything that could begin to resemble a mushroom off of every single piece of pizza he was offered from the box.

"You're letting it get cold."

"Cold pizza is better than eating mushrooms." He shrugged as he moved on to pulling off the onions, making it impossible for Garmadon to stop himself from adding.

"But you are letting the stuffed crust pizza get cold."

…

When the fire ninja did show up at his door two days later, his hair damp from the now light rain that was still plaguing Ninjago, Garmadon couldn't stop himself from glaring at him as he opened the door, unable to stop himself from demanding after he asked if Lloyd was there.

"Who gave you the right, after you burned him?"

""Who gave me the right?!" The elemental fire in the young adult's eyes shone brightly with anger as he continued to shout, "it was an accident! I wasn't the one who abandoned him, or threw him through multiple walls, or told him that he wasn't my son-!"

"Kai?"

The shouting was instantly quelled and the fire ninja ran in, without any sign of permission, and instantly pulled Lloyd into one of the tightest hugs Garmadon had ever beared witness to; he had to pretend it didn't send a pang of sadness into his heart when Lloyd wordlessly squeezed just as tight.

"Fuck, Lloyd, I'm so, so sorry."

"I pissed you off while you were training and was in your line of fire-"

"That's not an excuse."

"But it's an explanation," Garmadon couldn't help but wonder if that's what Lloyd had been telling himself since they had started making an effort to repair their shattered relationship, "I'll get my stuff real quick and meet you outside."

Even though he could only see the back of Kai's head when he nodded, the way he turned on his heel proved that his mouth was fixed in a tight, straight line and waited until Lloyd was out of earshot when he allowed himself to speak again in the form of a threat, "if you fuck this up again, you won't ever be given another chance from any of us."

And as the young adult left, it dawned on him as to what had angered him so much that he had accidently hurt his son. 'He's worried that I'll hurt him again.' The worst part was that Garmadon couldn't even blame him when he was constantly worried that he was one misstep away from ruining the last chance Lloyd was willing to give him.

But when the boy returned with his freshly washed gi on and his sword strapped to his back, he stopped to look up at him as he awkwardly scratched the back of his head.

"Thank you for letting me stay here, and tell Vinny thanks for letting me borrow his clothes. I really appreciate it."

"You shouldn't keep Kai waiting."

"Right, right, I just…thanks, again."

But as he turned toward the door, Garmadon couldn't stop himself from reaching forward and resting a hand on the teenager's shoulder, receiving a raised eyebrow as he turned which had him pulling back his hand quickly.

"Sorry, I just…do you want pizza next time?"

And the soft chuckle in his words allowed Garmadon to let the tension ease from his shoulders as he spoke, "only if you leave the mushrooms off."

"Pepperoni pizza it is."