𝙇𝙡𝙤𝙮𝙙'𝙨 𝙜𝙧𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙗𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙖𝙞𝙙𝙨

Chapter 2: Clean Up

      Lloyd walks through the bounty. According to the clock, he slept in by an hour, something Sensei Wu only allows on cleaning days, when there's no mission, no battle, and absolutely no grand disturbance.
      Nya rushes past him with a broom, and Kai’s trailing after her. Spotting Lloyd, up and awake, Kai comes to a stop, ruffling the boy's hair, and grinning. “Morning sleepy head. You think you can help Zane with changing the bedsheets?” He asks. Lloyd opens his mouth but before he gets the chance to respond, Kai has gone tumbling round the corner with his sister. Lloyd sighs. He'd wanted to talk more with Kai. Instead, he walks into the kitchen.
  
       Jay hovers over the sink grumbling to himself. There's an unbearable mountain of plates and pots sitting dirty. “How'd it get this bad…” He mutters, rubbing the back of his neck. Lloyd ambles past him, and grabs the solitary clean bowl, and dumps cereal into it. Jay turns around, holding a fork caked in a mysterious brown goo. “I wouldn't do that if I were you, Lloyd. No milk.” He says. Amazing.
   

      “You've come to help me?” Zane asks, removing a pillow from it's case. Lloyd finishes eating his apple, tossing the core into the bin. He nods. He didn't like eating an apple for breakfast - it wasn't his routine. He always had cereal. But maybe this is the wrong profession if impulsivity and plan change irritates him so much. He got dressed in sweats, and a green hoodie with a gecko on it. His binder too. He's close with the others, but he remains feeling insecure when he doesn't wear it around them.
      “Yeah. Kai said I should help you.” Lloyd shrugs. Zane tilts his head.
      “Thank you. Although I believe this is a low energy input task, that I can complete efficiently alone.” He states. Lloyd wrings his hands. Nobody wants him today.
      “Zane, I just want to help. Is there anything else I can do…?” He looks around the room. To Zane’s credit. He's already changed two beds, and made them look almost too presentable. It can be hard to feel adequate when there's a nindroid on the team that can literally calculate perfectionism.

      Zane’s brow relaxes and he blinks, leaving silence to hang in the air for a full five seconds. “Okay. You can help.” He replies, gesturing at Kai’s bedsheets, which are more on the floor than the bed frame. Lloyd grabs a pillow, and starts tugging the black case off of it. Kai has a variety of posters plastered on the wall. His pinboard has countless photos of his parents, Nya, and even some of Skylor. The tournament of elements consistently returns in Lloyd's dreams - mostly when he's really missing his dad. Like missing him so much he starts to cuddle his pillow, and brush his hand through his hair, pretending it's his father. It's sad. He's old enough to know better, old enough to partways with the childishness of daddy issues.
      Yet he can't help it. He can't help wanting to hug him one last time, to feel safe wrapped in his arms - possibly four.

      Zane tilts his head, fluffing up a pillow. “Lloyd, are you alright?” His voice snaps the boy out of thought. He looks down, noticing with annoyance that he's still holding the pillow case.
       “Fine, thanks.” He tosses the pillow case into the pile, and starts to battle with the duvet cover. He needs to work on being present. That's what Wu says. He needs to be “in the moment” or something. Lloyd learnt quickly that he wasn't good at meditating. Zane scoops up the pile of dirty bedding, and struts out of the room, abandoning Lloyd to his own devices. The boy cleans up, wiping the windows down with a rag, and clearing all of Kai’s garbage off the floor. The reality of all of Kai’s missing socks being strewn about underneath his bed is baffling. Lloyd decides rather not to question why one of them is wet, and throws them to the laundry basket in the corner of the room.

      It's whilst he's scrubbing dried cherry cola off of the nightstand that Kai’s phone buzzes repeatedly. Curious, Lloyd grabs it. Kai’s mother is calling. And apparently, this is her fourth call of the day… Is there something important she needs to discuss with her son? Raising his eyebrows, he pops the mobile into his pocket, and goes to search out Kai. He's sick of cleaning anyways. And it's like Zane’s fallen into the washing machine, because he hasn't come back yet. He really does love Kai, but the red ninja has a cleaning aversion, and seemingly lives in his own nest of filth.
      Lloyd rounds the corner. He's about to step onto the outside deck, but he halts at the rattle of Cole’s voice. “I just worry about the kid sometimes, you know? What if it happens on a mission?”
   “Don't go there; I've been dreading it.” Kai’s voice rolls back. “But yeah, it'll happen. He has awful self-control at times, and what are we going to do?” Lloyd doesn't need to hear his name to verify that the conversation is about him. He presses his back against the wall. If he enters now, they'll stop, and he won't get to figure out what they mean. He wants to know, but so far, the way Kai is speaking, is inducing some nausea.

     Cole fails to reply, so Kai continues. There's the noise of him pacing around, and the shifting of crates. “No one has a plan for it. It'll totally screw up any mission. I shouldn't have to worry about babysitting when the entirety of Ninjago could be at stake.” Cole grunts in response, leaving Lloyd to spiral deeper into his thoughts. Kai is angry at him because he can't stop acting like a useless, dumb, little crybaby. Sounds right, and Lloyd hates it.
      “I guess I'm being a bit harsh but-” And then the soul is spooked right out of Lloyd's body as Kai’s ringtone once again starts to blare. He awkwardly staggers onto the deck, both Kai and Cole swivelling around to check out the noise.

      “Uh, your mother. She's been calling nonstop.” Lloyd barely mumbles it, shoving the phone into Kai’s palm, and turning away as quickly as possible. Cole’s eyes soften on him, thick, dark eyebrows slanting. “Lloyd…” He begins, before Kai characteristically cuts him off.
      “Oh, I was hoping she'd call. She's always so preoccupied with Nya, it's like I can hardly get a word in.” He muses, answering the call. Lloyd slinks back through the doorway before Cole has the chance to defend the conversation. Lloyd's heard enough, and it makes him feel vaguely ill. The last thing he's ever wanted was to feel like a burden, and that's what he's become. Kai’s right because he's always right. From now on, no more cartoons, no more naps, or apple slices and peanut butter, or bedtime stories, or lullabies. He needs to grow up.