green boy flower boy

chapter five

The sky was grey, but Lloyd didn't want to intrude on the Reols' hospitality any longer than he had to. He rubbed his arms and looked at the sky. Maybe it would rain again, but the wind was dead.

Micah had insisted on walking him back to his tree house, even if Lloyd said no, no it was fine. He was fine. Micah was still walking Lloyd back to his tree house.

They made it halfway back when it started to rain.

Micah tilted his head back and Lloyd watched as he laughed and allowed the rain to hit his face. Lloyd just pulled up the hood of his borrowed jacket and laughed alongside Micah.

"Damn." Micah whispered. "Shoulda brought an umbrella."

"Run for it?" Lloyd asked. Micah grabbed his hand and pulled him through the streets of Ninjago City leading to the Birchwood Forest.

Lloyd's smile never left his face.

"Hurry!" Micah laughed, pulling Lloyd up the ladder stairs. Once they were in the main part of the tree house and out of the rain, they laughed even harder.

"We're soaked." Lloyd gasped, out of breath. Micah pushed Lloyd's hair out of his face, a slight smile on his lips.

"Yah." Micah said, and his voice shook. "You can keep the jacket."

"Thanks." Lloyd said.

They were standing. Standing wasn't weird. They were standing... pretty close together. Micah's hand was still lingering near where he'd pushed the hair out of Lloyd's eyes. He bit his lip. "This is awkward."

"Only if you make it awkward." Lloyd countered. Micah was, what, an inch taller than him? Not much. All Lloyd had to do was-

What did he want to do?

"I... haven't been completely honest with you." Lloyd admitted. "My... my name is Lloyd Garmadon. I'm the green ninja."

Micah blinked, surprised, but he didn't recoil. He didn't take his hand away. "It doesn't matter who you are. Well, I mean, it matters , but I meant- what I'm trying to say is- oh, for God's sake..." Micah took a deep breath. "I still like you."

"I like you too?" Lloyd whispered, not sure if that was the right thing to say.

"What if this ruins everything?"

"What if this makes everything better?"

Micah might have rolled his eyes slightly at that, because Lloyd admitted it was kind of cheesy, this was cheesy, a confession in the rain, really, but Lloyd didn't see him roll his eyes. Because Micah had already brought his head down and kissed him.

Damn.

If Lloyd had to choose a first kiss, this was good. He had exactly zero idea what he was doing so he just shut his eyes and let it happen.

Micah drew away after a second or two, but Lloyd grabbed his shirt and refused to let him move. Excuse you, Reols, we're having a moment. Maybe that was the silent signal Micah had been waiting for, a yah, you're not going anywhere because he relaxed.

Lloyd eventually pulled away and pressed their foreheads together. "That was..." He smiled. "Not bad."

"Not bad? I'll have you know, I'm a great kisser, men and women have swooned at my charms-" Micah laughed, and Lloyd realized Micah's hand was gently holding his.

"I'm not really the swooning kind of person." Lloyd snorted. "I'm not entirely sure what swooning is? Like, I know the context, but not the dictionary definition."

"No one cares about the dictionary definition," Micah said. "You're a dork, Lloyd Garmadon."

"You're the one that kissed me." Lloyd pointed out. "I mean, it was awesome, but it was your own idea."

"Mmm, one of my better ideas." Micah admitted.

"So, what are we now? Does this have a label? Does it need one?"

"What do you want to be? I can think of at least five labels to put on this. A fling, dating, a damn good idea, experimenting-"

"Dating?"

"That okay? Too much?"

"Micah, I kissed you."

" I kissed you ."

"But I kissed you back." Lloyd lightly hit his arm. "I wanna be your boyfriend."

"Okay, can you say that again, but this time kiss me?"

"I want to be your boyfriend." And it might have been a little extra, but Lloyd got on his tiptoes and kissed Micah's forehead.

"I can't believe I'm dating a hermit who lives in a tree house in the woods."

"Micah please."