The thing in your heart (Lloyd x reader)

Chapter 5

"Whoa- what's the hurry, you late for something?"

Jay inquired as Lloyd rushed past him into the living room where other members of the team were spending their evening. Jay, Nya, and Zane chatting at the dining table. Cole and Kai were playing a video game.

"He's always in a hurry in the evening," Cole called over his shoulder. Not taking his eyes off of the screen as he was determined to get Kai's ass handed to him.

"Wonder what he's gonna do?" Kai commented through his concentration, as he viciously pressed down buttons to save himself from Cole's character's attacks.

"Patrol." Nya voiced, getting on the train.

"Arresting criminals." Zane joined, not really getting what was going on but didn't like feeling being left out.

"Go play at the "Go-Go 24/7" arcade," Jay said, half excited and half teasing.

"Guys, I'm right here." Lloyd deadpanned at the five people in the room. Not finding the obvious teasing funny, but the smirks and slight snikers coming from his comrades told him they felt the opposite.

"We know," Nya said as she took a sip of her tea. "Not our fault that you're running all over the place nowadays. Doing your normal job during the day only to then go to the PD every other night for whatever reason." Nya swishes her tea in her cup while sitting with a posture as if she's interrogating a robber.

"Like you don't occasionally go to the DP at night to retrieve your night-shift folder and then go patrol the route described on it." Lloyd threw at them. It was the truth. Long even before the investigation, all of them went on night shifts and sometimes, though rarely, didn't even say a word about it to anyone.

"Yeah, but you're doing it more often now... AH! Damn..." Kai threw his control against the closest pillow out of frustration after he lost. Cole made a fast victory dance before he too turned around to completely be a part of the conversation.

"Approximately: 2 to 3 times a week rather than 1." Zane cut in.

"You're actually counting?" Lloyd stopped for a moment to look at his friend.

"I count everything, which reminds me, we have only four slices of bread left." He replied.

"Only four?! It wasn't that few just two hours ago, who eats almost a whole loaf of bread in one sitting?!" Jay exclaimed. " I was going to go on a picnic with Nya..." He muttered as he pouted.

"Jay, we're getting off-topic." Nya reminded, patting the lighting ninja on the back.

"Right, right, so where are you going anyway?" Jay now turned to Lloyd, putting him in the spotlight once more. But to Lloyd's benefit, he was prepared this time around.

"Well, as you already know Hatcher, he has been working on multiple cases with different varieties, from tax avoidance to arson and so on." Lloyd slyly rolled the excuse off of his tongue. "Back when we bumped into each other, I asked if he was interested in giving me some of his cases since the guy looked like he hadn't slept in a week. He bounced on the offer, so that's where I have been, handling cases that require working during the night." Lloyd didn't like deceiving his friends, especially when they were just concerned for him, but he couldn't risk the chance of this limb-thief case getting into a huge mess by getting more people involved.

The more people are in on the case and running after the thief, the thief is sure to notice in no time at all, eventually forcing them to act more carefully. When they become more careful with their stunts, it could severely reduce the already little chance of gathering evidence and clues on how to capture the thief. And even if he does go alone, there's a chance one of his friends could step in at the wrong time. A big group on a wild goose chase is only going to attract more attention to the thief and that's not what Lloyd and Hatcher need right now.