Querencia

S2 E16: Alexithymia

(n.) the inability to express your feelings

All six Ninja were gathered in the Mayors extravagant office, trying not to eye the eccentric decorations oddly as they lined up shoulder to shoulder with [M/n] and Lloyd in the middle. 

"Ninjago thanks you for defeating the . . ." Mayor Linsbirg hesitated, not actually knowing the name of the being that had nearly won control over Ninjago City. 

"Overlord," [M/n] stated, answering the unasked question. 

"Ahh, yes, the Overlord. Without your help, we all would have been left as brainless zombies," Mayor said, giving a nervous laugh. The ninja joined in, though [M/n] stayed silent.

"Mayor Linsbirg, we thank you for this honor, but is there another reason you've called us here?" Zane asked, cutting to the chase. None of them wanted to be cooped up in this fancy, stuffy office for longer than necessary. 

"Ahh, yes. To truly show our thanks, we, and by that I mean the Royal Family, wanted to give you a gift," Mayor answered, waving a hand to his assistant. In said assistant's hands was a massive check that had their jaws dropping. "100,000 dollars!"

Pleasantries were traded for a while longer but the Mayor seemed almost eager to get them out of his office. Leaving, a stunned silence fell over all of them. The elevator was only silent until the doors had slid shut and they had gone down a floor. 

"Holy crap!" Jay near shrieked, disrupting the silence. "We got – he gave us – holy crap!"

"Holy crap is right! 100,000 dollars! What are we gonna do with that kind of money?" Cole asked. 

"100,000," Kai mumbled to himself, looking at the check. 

"How do we split it up?" Lloyd asked, shifting nervously. "To make it even."

"We include Nya, Misako, Wu, and Garmadon, and split it 10 ways. 10,000 each to do with as we please," [M/n] stated, using the tone that told everyone it was not a suggestion. 

Reaching over, Lloyd took his hand, squeezing. [M/n] glanced over, offering a half smile that had Lloyd's cheeks heating up a little. 

"Let's celebrate!" 

Cheering, they were quick to call up their families – with Jay quickly getting permission from his parents to host the party at the Junkyard since it was the biggest space. 

It took a few days for them to prepare, getting drinks, food, and all manner of mismatched decorations for the Junkyard but it all came together. Kai, of course, had managed to get alcohol, and was happily encouraging Lloyd to drink a little every time his parents and uncle got distracted – which was often. 

[M/n] originally sought to stop the red ninja, but Cole had pointed out that Lloyd would be perfectly fine with all of them around. And, since the silver ninja had only taken a few sips, he wasn't going to end up drunk enough for Kai to get Lloyd too drunk. 

Music playing, Nya dragged Jay out to the dance floor with Cole doing the same to Zane as [M/n] leaned back against the Walkers' trailer, watching over them all. 

Lloyd began stumbling his way over to [M/n], tipsy enough to be losing a little balance, before heavily dropping against the ninja's side. Wrapping an arm around his waist, [M/n] easily supported Lloyd. 

"Hi."

"Hello, λιακάδα. Did you need something?"

"Mmmmh." Lloyd flopped into [M/n]'s arms, standing in such a way that he was looking up at [M/n] rather than down. Unfocused emerald eyes locked on his.