AN: You may may be saying, "Why are you posting another new story when you've got multiple other old ones to work on?" Yes, you may be saying exactly that, but I can't hear you because I'm writing with such intensity that the clicking and clacking of my keyboard keys are drowning out your words, sorry.
…Anyway. Here's another story for you all! It's a college hockey-player-and-ice-skater AU for Zane and Nya inspired by a friend from Tumblr, the darling legosholdinghands! It's a somewhat-slowly-burning romance with a fair helping of friendship, family, and hurt and comfort. I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think!
Nya was going to punch her older brother, as soon as she got their younger brother feeling a little more settled in his dorm room. Yes, as soon as Lloyd felt more comfortable and more accepted and just overall more loved, which is what he deserved to feel right now, Nya was going after Kai and punching him in his stupid face until it hurt, which is what he deserved to feel right now.
"Kai really isn't going to show up, is he," Lloyd sighed, kicking his legs off the edge of the bed which the two of them had just finished lofting.
Nya set the lofting tools down on the floor and leaned back against the wall. "He'll show up. Maybe my mom and dad will find him as they look for free stuff for us, or maybe your uncle will find him as he looks for some good tea for you, or maybe I'll have to go find him, but someone will find him and make him show up."
Lloyd laughed. "I hope you don't have to go find him. I don't think he'll show up at all if you find him."
"Why not?" Nya asked.
Lloyd started climbing down off of the bed. "Because if you find him, you'll beat him up, and then he'll act all offended and never come back until you leave."
"I won't beat him up," Nya protested weakly.
Reaching the floor and crossing over to Nya, Lloyd raised his eyebrows. "You've got that tightness in your jaw. You're thinking about beating somebody up, and I'm pretty sure it's Kai."
"I wasn't going to beat him up," Nya said. "Just punch him. Just a little. Just a tiny bit. Just until he explains himself for missing out on helping you when you specifically asked for both of our help."
Lloyd snorted. "Right."
Nya sighed. "Yeah, okay. What, you want me to not punch him?"
"No punching," Lloyd agreed. "Find him, yes. Punch him, no."
"When did our baby brother get so mature?" Nya groaned, ruffling Lloyd's hair.
Lloyd ducked back, straightening out his hair. "Hey, watch it!"
"Did you steal some of Kai's gel?" Nya asked suspiciously. "Your hair is so stiff. You-"
"Don't tell Kai," Lloyd said.
"Kai already knows," Nya said. "If there's anything he keeps track of, it's his hair gel. That's probably why he isn't here right now."
Lloyd gave her an uncertain smile. "Do you really think Kai would be that petty?"
Nya just blinked at him.
Lloyd sighed. "Yeah, of course he would be. Do you think you could find him so I can apologize and maybe he could help me figure out why my roommate still isn't here?"
"Okay, but only because you're my favorite little brother," Nya said, starting for the hall.
"I'm your only little brother!" Lloyd hollered after her, sounding annoyed.
"Exactly!" Nya yelled back, breaking out into a run before Lloyd could chase after her. She searched the nearer parts of campus as quickly as possible, paying close attention to the spots Kai seemed to like the most. When that didn't work, she pulled out her phone and sent off what was probably her fifteenth text to Kai in the past hour, this one different from the rest in that it was somewhat less rude. Then she headed back toward the Green Dorm at a trot.
As she approached Lloyd's room, though, Nya slowed down. Someone was standing just outside Lloyd's door. She could hear Lloyd chattering away inside the room, but this guy stood there, practically in the doorway, not saying anything.
Nya's muscles tensed despite herself. The guy looked a little mature to be a freshman, especially to be rooming with someone as young as Lloyd, so he probably wasn't Lloyd's missing roommate. Maybe a resident assistant? But no, they'd already met Lloyd's RA, and given that the RA had snake eye piercings in his lower lip and bright purple hair, there was no mistaking him for this guy, who had no visible piercings and hair so blond it was practically white. So who was he?
Keeping her distance for a moment, Nya observed. Lloyd's voice from inside the room didn't sound tense or stressed, not at all like he was unnerved by this guy just hanging around. Granted, Lloyd wasn't always the best judge of character. After all, he'd been friends with that Gene kid for most of elementary and middle school, despite Gene's constant and increasing detentions for cruelty to other students. Nya cringed at the memory. She was glad she and Kai had been living with Lloyd at the time, that they had gone to Lloyd's uncle about their concerns, and that Wu had laid down some boundaries for him. The point was, Lloyd always thought the best of people, really subscribing to the whole "make your enemy your friend" thing Wu was always on about. Even if this guy had poor intentions, Lloyd probably wouldn't pick them out.
Nya drew a little closer, turning her attention from what she could hear of Lloyd to what she could see of this strange guy.
The stranger was blond, as she'd noted before. He was tall, too, taller than any of Nya's friends except maybe Pix. He was skinny, maybe skinnier than might be healthy, and he was fiddling with something small and shiny in his right hand.
Nya took another step forward, eyes on the stranger with suspicion, and promptly tripped over the edge of a box someone had left out in the dorm hallway. Yelping, she fell to the floor.
Scowling, Nya pushed herself up to her knees.
A hand appeared in front of her face.
Nya followed the hand up to an arm, then the arm to a shoulder, the shoulder to a neck, and the neck to a very handsome face: strong jawline, high cheekbones, and wide eyes, all coming together to make the face of the stranger who had been standing in Lloyd's doorway a moment before.
He looked concerned, eyebrows drawn low and lips pursed, but when he spoke, he spoke flatly. "Are you all right?"
"I'm fine," Nya grumbled. "I just love slamming face-first into dirty carpet."
The stranger's eyebrows raised, and his lips straightened into a line. "I see."
He withdrew his hand just as Nya decided that yeah, maybe she should accept his help getting up. So much for that.
Nya stood on her own, brushing herself off. "So. What's your business with my little brother?"
The stranger frowned and fiddled with the shiny little thing in his other hand. "Sorry?"
Nya gestured toward Lloyd's room, where Lloyd was hovering just outside the doorway. "Lloyd. My little brother. What's your business with him?"
The stranger blinked. "I have no-"
"He was helping me figure out the school website better. Turns out my roommate isn't moving in for another couple of hours," Lloyd chirped up, coming closer. "Thanks for that!"
"No need to thank me," the stranger said stiffly. "I wished someone would have helped me with understanding the initial freshman adjustment process more thoroughly when I was undergoing it."
Lloyd grinned. "Yeah, it's kind of confusing. Even with Nya and Kai and Uncle Wu and Maya and Ray helping out."
The stranger nodded slowly and opened his mouth as if to say something else, but a soft song split the air first. He closed his mouth, pulled an old-looking phone out, and put it to his ear. "E- I believe this may be- I think we should- I will talk with you in person."
Nya frowned. His words were clipped and still very flat, like he was angry, but he looked more scared or sad, eyebrows up and eyes intense with some strong feeling.
The stranger pocketed the phone and started hurrying away, calling back, "I must go."
"Okay, thanks again!" Lloyd called as the stranger booked it down the hallway. Lloyd turned to Nya. "Nice of him, huh? He was just passing through as a shortcut toward the library, but he heard me grumbling and stopped to help."
"Yeah," Nya said quietly. "Nice. I agree."
Lloyd frowned at her. "You don't sound like you agree."
Nya shrugged. "Didn't he seem kind of… You know. Creepy? Mean? All that?"
"Creepy and mean and all that," Lloyd repeated. "No? Why would he?"
"He was just standing in your doorway," Nya said.
"He was being polite and not coming in when I didn't know him," Lloyd said, starting back toward his room.
Nya followed. "He was also just staring in there at you."
"Yeah, because I was ranting at him about NNCU not giving us good enough tutorials for their website," Lloyd said.
"He didn't help me up," Nya said.
"He was going to, he had his hand out and everything, but you told him you were fine," Lloyd said, reaching his room and plopping down easily in the woven string chair Wu had brought in on his last trip to the room. "And you even said that whole thing about how you loved slamming face-first into the carpet."
"Into the dirty carpet," Nya corrected, leaning against the lofted bed. "Clearly I was being sarcastic."
"Maybe he was being sarcastic back," Lloyd suggested.
"By taking his hand away," Nya said cynically.
Lloyd shrugged. "Maybe."
"But he left so quickly," Nya said.
"Yeah. I didn't even get his name," Lloyd said thoughtfully. "Huh. Too bad. Maybe we'll see him around."
"Probably not. It's a big college, Lloyd," Nya said. She paused. "He did seem kind of familiar, though. Maybe I had him in a class or two last year."
"And maybe you'll have him in a class or two again this year," Lloyd suggested.
"And then what? Tell him to help me up the next time I trip?" Nya asked sarcastically.
Lloyd laughed. "Yeah, maybe. Or maybe ask him his name?"
"And why would I want his name?" Nya asked.
"So you can get his number," Lloyd said.
"And why would I want his number?" Nya asked.
"So you can pick a day to spend time with him," Lloyd said.
Nya sighed. This was going absolutely nowhere. Her little brother was being so confusing, she was starting to reconsider which brother to punch. "And why would I pick a day to spend time with him?"
"So you can ask him on a date because you think he's pretty cute," Lloyd said brightly, then he squealed and dodged as Nya chucked a pillow from the lofted bed at him. "Hey!"
"I do not," Nya said hotly.
"Do too," Lloyd said.
"Do not," Nya said.
"Do too," Lloyd said, and before Nya could rebut that, he started chanting in a sing-song voice, "Nya's got a cru-ush, Nya's got a cru-ush, Nya's got-"
Nya chucked another pillow at him, smacking him right in the face this time because he was too busy singing to dodge. She said lightly, "Nya doesn't 'got' a crush. Nya does 'got' a whole bunch more pillows to throw if her little brother doesn't shut his mouth, though."
"Nya's got a crush?" A new voice asked in interest.
Nya scowled at Lloyd, who grinned back at her. They knew that voice all too well.
"Nya's got a crush," Kai repeated himself, joining them in Lloyd's room. "Well, ooh-la-la. It's the first day back and Nya's got herself a crush."
"Like you're one to tease, you were already dating Skylor before getting to campus your first year when you'd only met her online," Lloyd pointed out cheerfully.
"This isn't about me dating Skylor," Kai said quickly. "This is about Nya having a crush."
"I. Do not. Have. A crush," Nya bit out. "I have. Concerns."
"Concerns," Kai repeated.
"Some jerk just stood outside Lloyd's room like a total creep for who knows how long," Nya said.
"I know how long," Lloyd said helpfully. "It was about ten minutes. And he wasn't being creepy or a jerk. He helped me out. You're just concerned because he didn't help you out."
"Aw, Nya wanted some help?" Kai teased.
"Nya wanted to not be on the floor," Nya sighed. "And now Nya wants to not be a part of this conversation."
"Fine, fine," Lloyd said. He coughed. "Um. Sorry for taking some of your hair gel, Kai."
Kai shrugged. "Eh. I'm over it."
"So I can take it again?" Lloyd asked.
"Not in a million years," Kai said.
Lloyd groaned. "But you'll help me unpack now?"
"Sure," Kai said. "Nya, what have you two done already?"
"Lloyd can tell you," Nya said, checking her phone for the time. "I should probably get going. I was going to meet Cole to talk about scheduling for hockey."
"Oh yeah!" Lloyd exclaimed, bounding up out of his chair. "Intramurals! I get to play this year, because I'm in college this year!"
"Great deduction, there," Nya teased.
Lloyd crossed his eyes at her.
Nya stuck her tongue out at him.
"You do get to play this year," Kai said, sounding surprised. "Man, where does the time go? One day, we were all playing field hockey just for fun in Wu's backyard in middle school. Then the next day, we're all in college and doing intramurals together, still just for fun, but now with a whole league to play with and an actual ice rink to play on. Time flies fast, doesn't it?"
"And it's going to keep flying fast, which is why Cole and I wanted to do our scheduling on the first day so we can get plenty of good time at the rink when it fits everyone's class and work and extracurricular times," Nya said.
"Even Jay's?" Kai asked knowingly.
Nya smirked. "We'll try. If he'd just stick with one extracurricular, it'd be a lot easier to schedule than if he keeps bouncing around between them. I wish he'd focus on one thing."
"It's Jay," Lloyd pointed out. "He doesn't focus on one thing. Ever."
"True," Kai said.
"True," Nya agreed. "I'm going to get going. Tell Mom and Dad to stop by my room before they go this evening, okay?"
"I'll do one better and come with them," Kai said. "I'll need to say 'good luck' to my little sister one more time before she starts her sophomore year classes tomorrow."
"You mean you'll need to smooch Skylor one more time before classes start tomorrow and you two won't see each other as much," Lloyd interjected.
Kai squawked. "What? No!"
"Kai's got a cru-ush, Kai's got a cru-ush," Lloyd began.
"It's not a crush if you're actually already dating the person," Kai objected.
"Kai's got a cru-ush, Kai's got a cru-ush, Kai's got a cru-ush," Lloyd repeated loudly.
Nya laughed as Kai sputtered indignantly. She headed for the door, pushing the stranger out of her immediate thoughts and to the back of her mind. It wasn't like she was likely to see him again, after all.
Still, Lloyd had been right about one thing.
Nya fought back a slightly-embarrassed smile.
The stranger had been pretty cute.