25 Days of Holiday Fluff: 2023

Something hot for a hothead

"Hey Kai, whatcha doing?" Lloyd asks, walking up to his boyfriend who is looking at something on the table in the bridge of the Bounty.

"Oh, hi Greenie, it's nothing." Kai mumbles, sounding sad, an unusual emotion for him.

Lloyd tilts his head to one side, trying to see what it is Kai is looking at. He catches a glimpse of two kids and some kind of food he's never seen before.

"What's that?" Lloyd points to the food and Kai sighs and moves over, gesturing to the empty space next to him.

"Come here and I'll tell you."

Lloyd eagerly darts over and looks at the picture again. He can see it more clearly now, it's a picture of Kai and Nya when they were a lot younger, before their parents went missing. In front of them is a bowl of food, and young Kai seems to be practically drooling over it while young Nya holds him back for the picture.

"That's a special dish my mom would make for us around the holidays, it's called Mapo Tofu, and it's super spicy, mom always had to dial down the heat for Nya cuz she couldn't handle it." Kai chuckles at the memory, a wishful sigh escaping his lips as he says, "It was always my favorite home food mom made."

Lloyd looks at Kai and then the picture, an idea forming in his head.

"NYA!" Lloyd yells, barging into the water ninja's room, "I WANT TO MAKE MAPO TOFU FOR KAI!!!!"

"FSM Lloyd, did you really need to shout that?" Nya groans, slowly drawing her hands away from her ears. "And did I just hear you say Mapo tofu?"

"Yep, now come on! I want to surprise him with it tonight. I've already got Jay and Cole working on keeping him busy, and Zane is standing by in the kitchen waiting for us." Lloyd says, waving to Nya to follow him as he runs off again.

Shaking her head, Nya follows an excited Lloyd down the hallway of the Bounty. Passing the training room where Jay and Cole can be seen pile driving Kai into the fighting mats, yelling, "Surprise attack!" at the bewildered fire master who can only let out a confused, "Wha-?" before landing face first on the floor.

Giggling, Nya walks into the kitchen, finding Zane helping Lloyd tie an apron around his waist. She grabs one off the wall to her right and joins them, saying, "Alright, let's get started."

Lloyd turns around and says to her, "Actualy I was wondering if you have the recipe that your mom would make for you guys." He pulls out the picture from earlier and shows it to Nya.

"Ha! I remember this, I was only three and Kai was five, but already I was the one making sure that he didn't get into trouble." Nya laughs, "I think I kept mom's old cookbook from the blacksmith shop... it's probably in storage. I'll go look." She darts out of the kitchen and past the training room again. This time the three boys are all fighting, Kai against Jay and Cole. And unfortunately for the black and blue duo, they're losing. Kai is currently chasing Jay around the room with a flaming sword yelling, "I'll kill you Jay Walker!" While Cole is running after him, trying to tackle the angry brunett.

Back in the kitchen Zane and Lloyd grab all the necessary appliances for cooking Mapo tofu, setting them all out on the counters. Then Nya comes sprinting back in with an old worn book in her hands.

"This is my family's cookbook, it's got recipes in here from way back when my great grandfather was a child!" She exclaims, placing the book on the counter and flipping through it to find the desired recipe. "Ah! Here it is. Mapo tofu, let's see..." She quickly scans the list of ingredients and then hands the book off to Zane to read, knowing the Nindroid would have a better idea of what they had and didn't have.

"It looks like we have everything except for chili oil, but it's not hard to make some." Zane says.

"Alright then! Let's get started!" Lloyd says excitedly, clapping his hands together.

The three spring into action, Nya grabs all the ingredients while Zane gets started on the chili oil. Lloyd cooks rice, he had read that it goes well with Mapo tofu. Once Zane finishes making the oil he pours some of it into the pan Nya has with some Sichuan peppercorns. In another pan, Lloyd has ground pork cooking in doubanjiang, stirring in some green onions that Zane has cut. When the infused chili oil and ground pork mixture are done, Nya combines them together with broth and braise, placing a cover over it to let it cook.

Back in the training room Kai is now on the defence as Cole tries to smash him with his hammer. But the quicker ninja manages to dodge his attacks and is about to fire back at Cole, when a streak of lighting comes within inches of his outstretched hand. Whirling around, Kai faces Jay, who has finally come out from hiding in the cornner from the enraged Kai from earlier. And with a determined yell, the blue ninja charges at him, lightning flickering inbetween his fingers.

The timer in the kitchen goes off with a loud ding, and Lloyd turns off the heat and opens the lid. His eyes immediately start to water as the spicy aroma hits him. Carefully he portins out a serving for everyone. Setting aside the rest for later. Nya and Zane help him bring the bowls over to the table where they then cover each bowl so as to keep it a secret until everyone is there.

Lloyd walks down the hall to the training room to get the three boys, only to find himself in the middle of a heated argument between the three.

"No, I was the one that suggested we go play Ninjacart. You're the one that wanted to play Lava Zombies." Jay says, pointing to Kai.

"Uh, no. I want to play Fist to Face 3. I already beat Lava Zombies." Kai snaps back.

"Guys, guys, guys. Stop it, why don't we go play Prime Empire?" Cole says, trying to play mediator.

"Or you can all come eat," Lloyd interups from the doorway, "Nya Zane and I just finished making dinner."

"Sure! What did you guys make?" Kai asks, trotting over to his boyfriend.

"It's a surprise." Lloyd winks at him before turning around and leading the way to the food.

Once everyone was sitting down Lloyd guestered to Kai to uncover his bowl first. Cautiously Kai lifts to top off, gasping once the familiar smell hits his nose.

"I-Is this what I think it is?" Kai asks quietly, looking at the three cooks, "Mafo tofu?"

"Yep, just how mom used to make it." Nya states with pride before saying, "It was Lloyd's idea. He came flying into my room screeching about how he wanted to make it for you because you missed it."

"Thank you so much Greenie." Kai says, standing up to hug his lover, giving him a soft kiss as another gesture of gratitude.

"Were you two in on this?" Kai then asks, turning to look at Cole and Jay.

"Yep, Lloyd asked us to keep you distracted so he and the others could surprise you." Cole says.

"Ok, but did you really need to go so hard on me with the fighting? I'm not gonna be able to move tomorrow!" Kai exclaims, rolling his already sore shoulders.

"Had to make it authentic, buddy." Jay says, a slightly smug look on his face.

Rolfing his eyes, Kai takes a bite of his food, closing his eyes and moaning slightly at the spicy flavor, just how he remembers it. "Thanks again Lloyd, this tastes amazing." Kai says, opening his eyes.

"No problem Kai, just wanted to make you happy." Lloyd replies.

As everyone else digs in, Nya suddenly lets out a yelp, saying, "Too hot, too hot!" while Kai lets out a laugh and says, "Guess your spice tolerance is still the same sis."