******

"What happened to the wonderful adventures
The places that I had wanted us to go"

- ABBA

******

    "Lloyd Montgomery Garmadon! You get back here right now!"

       Zane winced as Jay flew past him, following the little green streak zipping down the hall.

       "NO!" The tiny voice exclaimed back, dodging Kai's grabbing hands, and rolling underneath a cabinet.

      "Hey!" The fire ninja scrambled to grab his legs, just missing them before the kid slid out of his reach. "This isn't funny!"

       Little giggles begged to differ. Zane tried to hold back his smile, walking to where Kai was now lying on his stomach, trying to get under. Unfortunately, he couldn't quite fit the same way a scrawny child could.

      "Lloyd, it's time for bed!" Jay told him irritably, marching over as well.

      "No, it's not." Lloyd sang from his hiding spot. "You can't make me!"

       Jay stomped his foot, not looking much different from Lloyd. "I. Am. Older. Than. You!" He screeched angrily.

      "Nuh-uh!"

      "Lloyd, enough. You need to go to bed now." Kai said sternly, putting on his best scary face.

      Unfortunately, Lloyd didn't seem to forget that when it came to his green bean, Kai was harmless. Lloyd just blew a raspberry and shimmied farther away. Kai's mouth dropped open in shock and Jay started laughing so hard he keeled over. Even Zane couldn't hold back anymore, chuckling as the fire ninja tried to figure out what had happened.

      "You thought you were being so scary!" Jay guffawed, wiping a tear from the corner of his eye.

Kai's eye twitched. "That's it!" Lloyd let out a startled yelp when the fire ninja lunged under the cabinet, causing it to move with a loud thud! A plant and a few books fell to the ground, narrowly missing Kai's head as he fought to grab ahold of the younger ninja. It was only a few more minutes of yelling and screeching before the brunette finally dragged Lloyd by the ankle, kicking and protesting, out from his hiding spot.

"Noooooo!" Lloyd moaned, heartbrokenly. Big, fat drops rolled down his face, and Kai tossed the squirming child over his shoulder, unfazed by the crocodile tears.

"I think someone is T-I-red," Jay whispered not-so-quietly to Zane as they followed.

Lloyd paused his crying to scowl at them around Kai's head. "My eyes aren't red!"

"What Jay said had nothing to do with red eyes. It simply spelled out-"

"Oh look! It's Lloyd's room!" Jay said loudly, clapping a hand over Zane's mouth.

The kid continued to whine and pout but eventually settled in once Kai positioned the pillows and blankets around him. Kai gave him a pat on the head, then stood up to leave, only to be stopped by a tiny hand.

"It's scary here." Lloyd peeped, burying underneath the blanket and tucking it up to his nose.

"No it's not," Kai said in confusion. "It's your room." Zane had to agree. There was nothing abnormal or remotely scary about Lloyd's room. Just a bed tucked in the corner, a bookshelf piled high with comics, and a closet and desk by the door. But Little Lloyd didn't seem the agree, shaking his head adamantly at them.

"The window is snarling at me." Lloyd insisted, eyes darting around the room.

Kai raised an eyebrow. "It's just creaking."

"There's a scary monster in the closet!" Lloyd described, shivering in his spot.

"Those are shadows." Zane corrected.

"And eyes are looking at me!" Lloyd cried, flinging the blanket over his head and huddling beneath it.

"That's your computer's light." Kai sighed. He ran a hand through his hair. "Look, none of these things are scary! Just go to sleep!" Zane could hear the desperation in his voice. The young man was tired, worn out from the stresses of the day and needed a break. Lloyd's fussiness was bringing him to his breaking point.

Lloyd seemed to sense this and quickly closed off. The boy nodded and laid down obediently. It would've been great if it wasn't for the fact he was now staring despondently into space, flipping over so his back was facing them. Kai let out a small growl of frustration, guilty.

"Would it help..." The fire ninja grimaced. "If I read you one book?"

      Lloyd immediately turned back and nodded excitedly, eyes bright.

      Kai's lips twitched and he sat down on the edge of the bed. "Jay, get one of your kiddy books. Something with lots of pictures." He ordered, not even looking back at him.

      Jay gasped, affronted. "Why do you think I would have kids' books?"

      Both Kai and Zane raised an eyebrow. Jay eventually relented with a slump. "I'll go get Princess Cupcake Goes to School." He grumbled. The rest of them tried not to smirk too much behind his back.

      When the ginger returned he shoved the thin book into Kai's hands without looking at him. "Don't bend any of the pages," Jay said huffily, crossing his arms. 

      Kai rolled his eyes before turning to Lloyd. He showed the younger the cover, letting him examine the images the appropriate amount, and then flipped to the first page. Kai couldn't help but note it was a very stereotypically "girly" book. The cover even had glitter stuck to it, shedding all over the bed, and the colour palette basically consisted of pink in various shades. Lloyd didn't seem to mind though. He sat up eagerly and tucked into Kai's side so that he could see the illustrations.

      In Kai's opinion, Princess Cupcake was a pretty one-dimensional character, and he wasn't sure why he should care so much about her daily routine in kindergarten but Lloyd seemed to like it. He oohed and aahed at the princesses's display of magic and took the book out of Kai's hands so he could properly inspect the drawing of puppies. By the end of it, the little green ninja's eyes started to flutter and Zane quietly helped him shuffle back down into his bed. Kai made sure to read the last part of the story quietly and soothingly, closing the book as softly as he could when he was finished. Lloyd only shifted a little bit when Kai rose to stand and the three of them carefully backed out of the room, careful not to make a sound.

      Until Jay accidentally slammed into the doorframe.

      "Ow!" Jay hollered, stumbling away and clutching where his nose had collided with the frame.

      "Shut up!" Kai hissed, scowling when Zane swatted at him. The three all looked cautiously back to the bed, holding their breaths as Lloyd mumbled and turned over in his sleep. They all let out a sigh of relief when he simply settled back in and let out a contented hum.

     "Go, go, go," Kai said rapidly in a hushed voice, shoving his friends out the door and quickly shutting it.

      Once they were out the three of them leaned back against the door, all letting out a big breath, tenseness bleeding away. With a few grunts, the boys parted ways, ready to collapse into their beds after a long day of parenting.

******

      "NO"
     
      Just when they thought it couldn't get any harder, it turned out breakfast had to be an ordeal as well. Apparently, Little Lloyd didn't think eggs are a tasty enough first meal. In fact, he retched dramatically at the sight of the eggs and then refused to touch them.

      "Come on, Lloyd!" Kai groaned. "How do you know you don't like them if you haven't even tried them?"

      Lloyd didn't bother to dignify Kai with an answer. He simply turned his nose up and faced away.

      "I don't understand," Kai grumbled to his sister, who was watching with amusement. "He was fine with eating eggs when he was, y'know, normal-sized."

     "Kids are pickier than adults." Nya shrugged.

     "He was picky even before he shrunk down," Kai complained.

     "It's because you make food look so boring and sad!" Jay told him, peering over at Lloyd's green plastic plate and making an exaggerated face.

      "It's an egg! This is how it looks!" Kai argued, slamming his fist on the table. He looked down at it too. It was quite literally just a single fried egg. A little crispy on the edges, sure, but nothing inedible.

      "A yucky egg!" Lloyd announced, also banging his hands on the table, causing his juice to knock over and spill onto Kai's lap. The brunette flew to his feet with a yelp and furiously tried to sop up the mess with a napkin. The rest of the ninjas wheezed as they tried to hold in their laughs. Lloyd giggled delightfully along with them.

    Kai's face was positively murderous. "You little-" Kai hissed.

     "Why don't you go get changed?" Nya quickly intersected, grabbing ahold of her brother before he could pick a fight with a literal child. "You've been watching him for a while. Take a break."

     "Fine." Kai harrumphed, slapping his soggy napkins on the table. "But those eggs better get eaten!" He ordered, pointing at their youngest as he left.

     Lloyd blew a raspberry at his back before he even turned the corner.

    "Seriously?" Nya raised an eyebrow, unimpressed. "You couldn't just suck it up and eat the egg?"

     He shook his head.

    "Well, at least he's honest." She snorted.

   Jay laughed and leaned over to pick up Lloyd's plate. "I wouldn't eat it either," Jay whispered out of the corner of his mouth.

   Nya frowned. "Jay!"

   "What? Breakfast is the most important meal of the day! Kai made it so lifeless." Jay shook his head. "Don't worry, Lloydy. I'll make this meal so much more fun!"

   Nya rolled her eyes as her boyfriend rushed away, the sounds of clanging and shuffling immediately erupting from the kitchen as he dug around.

   "This better not take too long." She muttered.

   Lloyd huffed in agreement, looking bored already. But it was just as they said that the sound of the stove turning on clicked.

   "You're not cooking anything, are you?" Nya asked with a frown.

    "... no," Jay replied, unconvincingly. Then there was the sizzle of something dropping into a hot pan.

   "Seriously?" Nya crossed her arms. She shook her head at Lloyd. "They are spoiling you!"

    Lloyd had long moved on from listening to her and was fiddling with her fork and using it to launch crumpled pieces of napkin. He didn't seem to have any problems with being spoiled.

   Finally, after some time, Jay returned from the kitchen. He had a paper napkin over his forearm, the plate balanced on the tips of his fingers, and he stood proudly, miming a haughty chef.

    "Your breakfast, Sir Mister Green Bean," Jay announced in a posh, very fake, almost offensive French accent.

    He delicately placed the food before the child, whose eyes widened in awe as soon as he saw it. Jay had managed to cook another egg as well as a breakfast sausage that he cut up into kid-sized pieces and had arranged them to look like a smiling face. He'd also put some melon at the top of the dish to look like hair on top of the breakfast-person's head.

    Nya opened her mouth, ready to scold the lightning ninja on inefficiency, unnecessary indulgence- something! But her words immediately died on her tongue as she watched Lloyd excitedly pop the fruit into his mouth and even reached for the egg, giddily laughing the entire time. Her eyes widened as he ate the egg without a fuss and picked up his fork to have more, kicking his feet happily.

   Jay came up next to her, all too smug, and nudged her with his shoulder. "See? Boring breakfast- uninterested kid! Good breakfast- happy kid!"

   Nya punched him in the shoulder but quickly softened it with a side hug. "You were right." She said begrudgingly with a smile. "It's just what he needed."

   Jay preened a little, pleased with himself, but was interrupted but Cole guiltily shuffling into the room.

   Nya's eyes immediately narrowed. "What did you do?"

   "I didn't do anything!" Cole snapped defensively.

   Jay snorted. "That was convincing."

   "Shut up, Jay!" Cole scowled.

   "Shut up, Jay!" Lloyd parroted.

   Jay gasped. "You've corrupted him!" He yelled with an accusatory point.

   "Guys!" Nya quickly stepped in. "This isn't important right now. Cole, what's going on?"

   Cole winced. "Right... well... let's just say that there may or may not have been a leak of a sort."

   Nya raised an eyebrow. "What kind of leak?"

   "Well... it could, possibly, theoretically be one of Lloyd in his current state-age situation." The earth ninja said nervously, rubbing the back of his neck.

   "Would this leak, by any chance, have anything to do with, I don't know, you taking him to the park?" Nya growled, voice steadily rising.

   "Hey! The kid wanted to have fun! And he looked really cute on the slide! I dare you to resist those big, adorable green eyes!" Cole retorted.

   Nya made an indecipherable noise in the back of her throat but she visibly calmed herself. "Okay," she said, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Just- how bad is it?"

   "Well... is Gayle Gossip considered good or bad?"

   "COLE!"

NOTE****

This chapter is pretty short and mostly consists of fluff- though I'm sure lots of you like it. 😂

I apologize anyways, I was hoping to do more but I've been busy with uni and I got a cold- fun times! I wanted to at least update one of my books. I'm still hoping to update other things to those who read my other books. I also wanted to get a Halloween special out since I'm not doing Flumptober this year. Maybe I'm making things harder for myself but that's future Lucky's problem!

Have a wonderful night everyone. Happy late Canadian Thanksgiving!

LuckyBugBooks 🐞