Department of Eagles
••• Family Romance •••

in spite of the weather 
we can have a good time
we can go out for dinner
you can make up your mind
but you don't have to close your eyes 
the way you used to do 

•••••

I decided that editing the entire three arcs was gonna take too long between new chapter posts lol so I'm just gonna spread out each arc between the next couple of chapters

TW: vomit, sus content (someone makes a single sex joke)

  I woke to rain and an empty bed.

  At first, my bleary and pounding head thought that I'd only dreamt of saving Lloyd, and despair hit me so hard that it hurt worse than the migraine drumming behind my eyes, that it almost tore me in two. Then my arm swept across the sheets beside me and felt the lingering warmth of his body heat, and I relaxed.

  No, it was okay. Everything was fine, now. Lloyd was back and he was safe.

  I pinged upright with a worrying thought that sharpened my fuzzy brain. Lloyd was also incredibly unwell. Where was he?

  My legs wobbled beneath me as I untangled myself from the covers and staggered out of bed. Everything hurt. My body was upset with me for putting it through hell for the past few days on top of using my powers, and now it demanded rest and recuperation. Too bad. I had a sick boyfriend to find.

  It was the middle of the night, and the Bounty was both dark and silent as I made my way down the hall. I rested my hand against the wall and tried my best to move quietly - the ninja were all as exhausted and sore as I was, if not more, and I didn't want to accidentally wake them.

  The sound of somebody retching made me take pause outside of the bathroom. I gently knocked the back of my hand against the door. The hinges squeaked as it opened ajar, letting a sliver of yellow light out into the hallway.

  "Lloyd?" I quietly called. I winced when he threw up again. "Can I come in?"

  His soft groan of 'uh-huh' pushed me to open the door and enter. He'd slumped himself over the toilet, ragged and wet with sweat. His damp shirt had been discarded onto the floor of the other side of the bathroom.

  "Welcome to the party," Lloyd croaked. He flushed the toilet and walked his shaking hand up the wall to stand. His head hung as he paused to recompose himself.

  I placed my hand to the over-warm skin of the small of his back and looked up at his twisted face with worry. His lips parted with a heavy exhale. 

  "Are you feeling a little better now?" I asked. He nodded, but only slightly. My worry grew. "You should've woken me up."

  Lloyd slowly shook his head. "Your powers always make you hurt. You need sleep."

  I smiled sadly. Even now he was still charming and selfless, and he was right; my powers had given me a massive headache. Unfortunately for him, he wasn't exactly in a state to be putting me before himself.

  "And you're sick," I gently countered. My hand slipped from Lloyd's back and into his palm. "Let me help you, then we can go back to bed together."

  Lloyd wearily sighed through his nose. "'Kay," he breathed, and at least there was one thing good that came out of him being sick - he didn't have the strength to argue. It was my turn to take care of him.

  "Let's get you some water." I gently pulled his arm around my shoulders and led him from the bathroom. Our steps were slow and small. "Did you get some sleep?"

  "... no," Lloyd mumbled. "Couldn't."

  I sent him a concerned frown. "You need rest, Lloyd."

  He shrugged, but I knew him well, and the fright in his green eyes still persisted. "I know, I just... couldn't."

  I read between the lines; he was afraid of sleeping. I squeezed his hand in silent understanding, and his fingers gratefully pressed back. When we made it to the kitchen, I poured him a glass.

  Lloyd swirled water and spat it back into the sink a few times before finally chugging a newly topped-up glass, and then a second. I adjusted the bandage over the arrow wound on his shoudler that had slipped. When his empty belly grumbled, I rummaged through the kitchen to find a rice cooker and make him something plain and kind for his malnourished stomach.

  "You don't have to do all this," Lloyd said quietly as he watched me check the temperature of the cooker. He slumped his weight against the bench behind me.

  "Have you ever let anyone other than your parents do anything for you?" I asked, half-joking, before my smile fell at his prolonged silence. "It's only rice."

  He remained so quiet that I had to check over my shoulder to make sure he hadn't passed out. He hadn't, he just stared at me, his gaze torn between the kitchen we stood in and his memories he'd been shackled by. I didn't want him going back there so soon.

  I didn't want to think about it, either. I didn't want to recall the horrible past few days, where everything had been so awful and uncertain. I didn't want to think about how Morro had the Realm Crystal and that this battle was far from over. I didn't want to think about how we still had to fight him even in the state we were all in.

  We needed rest. We needed to recover, and Lloyd far more than the rest of us. We lacked the luxury of time.

  "You know, we met before," I began as I measured out the rice.

  It was a weak attempt to steal his focus, but it worked. When I peeked back at him, his confused gaze had turned to my face.

  "What?"

  Ah. Lloyd hadn't really liked the Serpentine being brought up before, had he? Well, I couldn't back out now. Besides, I wanted to know if he remembered since I hadn't until only recently. I filled the cooker with water, flicked it on, and turned to face him.

  "In Jamanakai," I answered, "when the Serpentine were first released."

  As expected, his expression went a little sour and stony. His gaze dropped to the floor, and his crossed arms tightened over his bare chest. My gaze lingered on the gnarly scar I hadn't often seen. My hands tangled tightly together.

  "I usually try to repress those memories," Lloyd said dryly.

  I smiled. "I hit you with my book."

  Lloyd's brows knotted as he tried to recall my amused recollection. He brightened when it was a success. He glanced up at my waiting grin, and his own amused smile growing.

  "I remember," he said, and he wasn't so closed-off about it anymore. "You really need to stop hitting me with things. Do you have some sort of hidden vendetta?"

  "No," I chuckled. "Maybe it's my love language."

  "You think you can pick a new one?" he remarked monotonously, and I giggled further. "Sorry, sunshine. It was just a phase, I swear."

  I tilted my head with a warm look. "I know, hero."

  Lloyd's green eyes bashfully dropped to the floor again and the pointed tips of his ears turned pink, and my persisting concern eased a tad. At least he was well enough to get flustered by his favourite pet name.

  "Are you okay after that whole explosion thing?" Lloyd asked. "Can't imagine that was exactly pleasant to watch after the week you've had."

  No, it wasn't. My gaze followed his and fell to the floor. Lloyd's hand twitched before being covered by his other, and then they were entangled before him just as mine were. Outside, the rain continued to pour.

  "It was scary," I quietly admitted. "I'm just glad you pulled through. For a moment there..."

  Another thing I didn't really want to think about.

  "Sorry you had to see that," he murmured apologetically. "It was just withdrawals. Knocked me out, but at least I shouldn't have to do it again."

  I remained quiet. It wasn't the withdrawals and the consecutive explosion of his powers that frightened me, it was how he looked. It was how he still looked.

  Lloyd had always been so strong and steadfast in my eyes before this, and his state was a startling realisation that he was just as human and fragile as I was. I hadn't thought of him being the Green Ninja much beyond the colour of his mask and being the leader of his team, but the past week had been a glaring eye-opener. This was what really happened in his world, and he was right. It did get ugly.

  How did he survive it all? How did he endure? No wonder he was so closed off - I couldn't imagine it'd be easy to open oneself up after the blows he'd been repeatedly getting hit by. It was simpler to hide it away and truck along.

  "I know I'm still new to this - both your side of the world and being in a relationship," I began quietly, "but whenever you're ready to talk about any of the stuff that bothers you, I'm ready to listen. We can be our own little team."

  Lloyd didn't immediately respond. The rice cooker dinged before I had to chance a look at his expression, and I quickly turned around to scoop some rice out into a bowl. His silence was heavy on my shoulders.

  When I finally did have to look at him and pass him his food, I found him watching me with a curious look of half-hesitation and thoughtfulness. He was quiet, but I could tell that his mind was being loud. 

  "I'll try," Lloyd said, and I guess that was good enough for now. "I like the idea of us being a team."

  I softened. "Me, too."

  Lloyd took the bowl and chopsticks from my outstretched hands with a grateful thanks. Plain rice wasn't exactly the most exciting meal, but he ate it quickly and with relish, and then sheepishly asked for another serving. He really had been starving.

  "You know, there was one thing that really kept me going," he said as he chased some grains around the bowl. His cheeks had begun to flush pink, and it was relief to see him have any sort of colour that wasn't green.

  "What was that?"

  Lloyd smiled bashfully. "When you called me your boyfriend."

  My own face ran incredibly hot. I'd forgotten I'd said that to Morro, and of course Lloyd would've heard it. I was so caught up in demanding for him back that I hadn't even realised.

  "I'm... sorry?" I said awkwardly. I wasn't exactly sure how to respond. All my brain told me to do was scream and run, and I wasn't particularly enamoured by that suggestion.

  "Don't apologise unless you're taking it back," Lloyd teased, before his shoulders ran tense with thought. He peeked up at me with a worried look. "Do-?"

  "No," I blurted before he could even finish his sentence. "I don't want to take it back."

  He relaxed with a smile so bright and content that I almost forgot about the past week's horrors we'd just escaped from. Any lingering dreariness I'd felt vanished so instantaneously, it was like magic. I hadn't exactly expected us to talk about the status of our relationship in the dead of night while he was shirtless, feverish, and recovering from being possessed, but I was definitely not about to complain.

  I couldn't quite control my blush, and Lloyd couldn't, either. There was a gleam in his eyes that hadn't been there before. He looked alive again.

  "Good. I didn't want you to, either," Lloyd said, more than pleased. He grinned triumphantly at his rice. "Take that, Morro."

  "Oh- don't remind me." I dropped my face into my hands with a groan. "I've gotten enough grief about that from your team."

  "What? That my girlfriend's so adorable she can even make a crazy ghost fall in love with her?"

  Girlfriend. If I blushed any more I was going to pass out. Maybe we did things a little out of order, but that didn't phase me. Girlfriend. I'd never been one of those before.

  "Whatever," I muttered.

  Lloyd's grin grew. "Now my girlfriend's annoyed with me."

  "My boyfriend will get his face shoved into his rice if he doesn't stop," I halfheartedly snarked, and Lloyd gleefully snickered before doing as told and finishing his food.

  Eating gave him a little more strength, and he did look better after having his full. He was even able to hold down some painkillers, of which I joined him in taking to quell my migraine, and then Lloyd brushed his teeth just to feel that little bit more put together. He almost started resembling himself, again. I feared his mind was a separate matter.

  "Do you want to go back to bed?" I asked as he pulled on a clean shirt I'd retrieved for him. The bags beneath his eyes were still dark, and his fever hadn't exactly broken. I wrung a new flannel with fresh, cold water for him from the bathroom sink to rest on the back of his clammy neck.

  "Not really," Lloyd confessed.

  "You look exhausted," I said in an attempt to get him to listen, but he was still just as stubborn as he'd been before.

  "I know," he said. "I am tired. I just don't really want to go to sleep, yet. You can, though."

  I sighed. I couldn't exactly force Lloyd to sleep, and I didn't really want to go to sleep myself if he was staying awake as though in some kind of vigil. I turned to him and leant against the sink.

  "I'll stay up with you," I offered, and continued before he could disagree. "What do you want to do to pass the time?"

  Lloyd looked like he was still going to refuse my suggestion, but he faltered, and then he fell into a soft smile. I knew he didn't want to stay up by himself.

  "I'd like to catch up," he said. "A lot can happen over a few days. Tell me everything you did."

  We moved to the deck to continue our conversation, because Lloyd's fever had made him crave a cold breeze. We sat under the sheltered lip of the bridge and watched the rain hit the wood. My feet stretched out into the cold drops.

  I told him everything that'd happened since he flew off to the museum. When I stuttered at the part where I'd fallen over in the tea shop from the pain of him being possessed, Lloyd slipped his hand into mine. His thumb rubbing a circle on the back of my hand encouraged me into continuing.

  "I found a name for your dragon, by the way," I said in conjunction with the tale of how his Elemental Dragon refused to hurt me, and then tried to save me from my fall.

  "Is it Ship Mast?" Lloyd asked with gentle sarcasm.

  "Not quite, but that's a good option," I said, and he snorted. "No, it's Bentley."

  "Bentley?" Lloyd repeated. I nodded with a hum. "I guess that's not a bad name. Still a weird one for a dragon, though. I was expecting something more along the lines of Rambo or Titan."

  "Those are too hardcore for him," I said.

  "Sweetheart, he's a dragon."

  "He's an overgrown puppy dog," I corrected. I wiggled my toes in the rain. "He's my little baby."

  Lloyd huffed in amusement, and I continued from where I'd left off. I told him about the Kirin that had guided me back to Zane, which didn't exactly surprise him, though he did admit that he hadn't realised they were real. I told him about the mission with Nya to the Library of Domu and how, under any other circumstances, I would've stayed there forever, which made him chuckle and nod.

  I told him about how I'd called my understandably upset mother (whom I still needed to update, but that could be a morning-Y/n thing to do) and how I'd realised it was Simon who'd summoned Morro. I told him about Ronin, and I told him about how I had to keep stubbornly refusing to leave when the others kept telling me to go home, which amused Lloyd somewhat, and I told him about my emotional moments with his family. He liked that we'd grown closer.

  I didn't tell him about Kai shouting at me. I also didn't tell him about the prophecies Ronin had mentioned, or the kid I saw in my future vision. I'd bring them up later, when Lloyd was a little more ready to handle such a revelation. I'm sure if he'd seen her, he would've said something already.

  "I also spoke to my ancestor," I said.

  Lloyd, who'd been humming and ahhing as he drifted between sleepiness and listening, was suddenly awake. He turned to me with an intrigued look.

  "You did?" he asked. "What'd they say? Did they tell you anything about your powers?"

  I shrugged with a small smile. "She just said that I was doing a good job. She... also said something about how she worked together with Uchū to create the world. I'm still trying to figure out what that means."

  Lloyd's brows furrowed in thought. "Vague as always."

  I agreed with a sigh.

  "Good job, though," he said. "If you could talk to her, that means you're on the right track."

  "I hope so," I muttered, and lifted my hand to play with the dragon pendant at my throat. "I'm getting kinda tired of my powers only working half the time."

  Lloyd squeezed my hand in support.

  "What about you?" I hesitantly prompted. I lifted my gaze to him. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

  Lloyd dropped his head back against the wall behind us and watched the sky. The rain had stopped and the clouds had parted, giving way for the moon to touch him in silver and for the stars to play in his tired eyes. I couldn't stop staring.

  "I can't really remember much of it," he admitted, and his grip grew tight in my hand. "It's fuzzy. The only parts I can really recall are when I was in control, but that wasn't often. It's just a lot of awful feelings and wondering if I was going to die trapped in my own head... it was terrifying."

  I brought his hand up so I could hug his arm. Lloyd's green eyes dropped to me when my cheek rested on his shoulder.

  "You're here, now," I said softly. I touched his chin and dragged my fingers up his jaw to tuck away his blond hair. "You're home."

  "I know." Lloyd tilted his face into my palm, and then his gaze dropped to my neck. His hand lifted before hesitating. "I'm sorry. I should've stopped him sooner."

  "It's not your fault." I caught his hand and turned my fingers through his. "You were possessed. You didn't exactly have a choice."

  "Still-"

  "Still nothing." I cut him off and pulled his wrist up so I could lay a kiss upon his knuckle. "There's nothing to forgive."

  "But I scared you," Lloyd murmured. "I saw the way you flinched."

  "I was scared of Morro, not you," I softly reminded. "Do I look scared now?" I frowned small. "Is that why you're not showing your red eyes, because you think I'm scared? Where did they go?"

  Lloyd looked away. "I didn't think you'd notice."

  "Of course I noticed. I love your red eyes."

  "Sometimes I think you're just telling me that," he said with a humourless smile. "No one likes them. The only thing they are is a reminder of my dad's old ways."

  My frown deepened. I didn't like it when he got like this. "Why would you think that?"

  Lloyd shrugged. "Because it's the truth." At my confusion, he sighed. "I didn't want to tell you about them before. The only reason why they turn that colour is because there's evil in my blood."

  I stared at him for a moment as I tried to wrap my head around his answer to my long-standing question. Evil in his blood made his eyes turn red? It felt like something out of fantasy. Then again, Lloyd himself was pretty much ripped out of a fantasy novel, anyway.

  "Is this like a metaphor or something?" I asked.

  "I'm being literal, unfortunately," Lloyd muttered. He held his breath for a minute before turning his green eyes up to me. "Do you remember the Great Devourer?"

  "That massive snake from a few years ago?" I asked. Jamanakai was lucky enough to avoid the destruction it left behind in its rampage. Lloyd nodded.

  "It's a creature born from the Dark Island, cursed to grow as long as it eats," he said, and I slowly nodded. I'd done my research. It was supposedly a being made of pure, concentrated evil, but I'd always waved it off as fiction. Evil was only a concept. "All the tales about it are real."

  Ah. Of course I was wrong.

  "Its venom turned people into monsters," Lloyd continued. He couldn't look me in the eyes, instead playing with my fingers as I rested my chin on his shoulder. "It changed them, it cursed them to be evil. It bit my dad when he was a kid, and because he was a son of Uchū..."

  My lips parted in shock. "Oh... is that how..?"

  Lloyd nodded. "That was how he became Lord Garmadon. The venom - it changed him, right down to his DNA. When I was born, well..."

  "You inherited it."

  He nodded sombrely. "My father's cured, but I can't be. You can't change genetics." He shrugged again in nonchalance, but his eyes held a lot more than he was letting on. "Borg tried."

  I didn't really like the implications of that, or how he must've been feeling at the time. How he must've still felt. My thumb brushed along his cheek.

  "That's why Zane said you were different," I slowly realised. "And why people say you have a short temper..?"

  "They say it because it's true," he muttered, eyes dropping. "You've seen it."

  "I've also seen much worse in people who shouldn't have an excuse," I pointed out, and his chin downturned with a low exhale. "Lloyd, you're still a hero. You're still one of the most selfless, kind people I've ever met. So what if your eyes turn red?"

  Lloyd pulled his face from my touch. "It's not just that, though. There's something else going on. I can feel it."

  "What do you mean?"

  Lloyd turned away from me and planted his forehead into his palms with frustration. "I don't know. I can just feel it."

  "Okay," I said slowly. "When did you start feeling it?"

  Lloyd's hands dragged over his hair and his head hung for a beat. He pulled his knees up and rested his arms across them. He stared out at the water quietly and, for a moment, I thought he wasn't going to answer - he wasn't usually one to spill a lot of secrets, anyway. He was a private person. Maybe I was pushing him too much.

  But he answered. "Shortly after we met."

  I tried to recall how he might've been different from when we first met. Yeah, it was probably a little strange that he grew feelings for me so fast, but I was in the same boat. I just chalked that up to the prophecy and our weird soulmate thing.

  How was Lloyd when we first met? He was a little nervous, but he was nervous because he didn't want me to find out his name and hate him for it. When he was the Green Ninja, he was a massive flirt. He hadn't really changed that much at all. In my eyes, he'd only grown a little more comfortable, and a lot more affectionate.

  But he must've noticed something changing, otherwise he wouldn't have been so convinced by it.

  "Maybe it's something to do with the prophecy?" I suggested. "Or your powers?"

  Lloyd shook his head. "It's not that."

  I pursed my lips and hummed. Unfortunately, incessant fact gathering was one of my vices, and Lloyd had just opened the floodgates.

  "What does it feel like?" I asked.

  Lloyd stared at the deck as he searched for an answer. "It's like... I'm overprotective? But a lot more, uh... volatile."

  "Volatile?"

  "Like what happened with Chen," Lloyd supplied. "That's not normal for me. Or when you sprained your ankle and I snapped at Zane for trying to help you. It's hard to control." He peeked at me. "It mostly only happens around you." 

  I was split between intrigue and worry. "Is it a bad feeling?"

  "No," Lloyd said hurriedly, and he turned towards me with a placating smile. His hand reached up to tuck a fluttering lock of my hair behind my ear. "No, it's not bad. It's just... it's different. A little intense sometimes, but not bad."

  I sighed with relief. "Good." I wouldn't know what I'd do if I was the cause of bad feelings.

  And it may have just been my imagination, but his words seemed to be coming a lot more easier than they had before. He'd probably been bottling all of this up and it was a relief to finally acknowledge it with someone else. I could imagine that puberty was hard enough with evil genetics and crazy demigod fate powers thrown into the mix. My chest warmed that he trusted me enough to divulge in.

  "Have you told your parents?" I asked.

  "No." Lloyd ran a hand through his hair. It lingered at the tip of his head, pinning his gold curls in curtains. "I already worry them so much. I definitely can't do it now."

  "That's kind of what parents do, hero," I said softly, and Lloyd dropped his gaze to me. "They might know what's going on. They could help you."

  His hand dropped with a sigh. "You're probably right."

  "I'm usually right," I said, and my heart lightened when he smirked. "Just like how I'm right when I say that your red eyes are beautiful. Can you let me see them, again?"

  Lloyd held his breath as he considered my request, before relenting with a soft exhale. I watched in fascination as his green eyes melted with red. My smile grew. I missed his red eyes.

  "How do they work?" I asked, because he'd been so giving with letting me rattle off my questions. I wanted to know everything about him.

  Lloyd shrugged and inclined forward when I lift my hands to touch his face. My fingers traced him to memory.

  "High emotion, usually," Lloyd answered. "But they were really out of control when I was younger, so I learnt to hide them pretty early on. Kids don't generally like people who look different."

  "Kids can be mean," I agreed. I'd had my fair share of bullies.

  High emotion, huh? When I perused through the memories I had of when his eyes were red, it certainly made sense. High stress or anger or joy, and they were red. But there were a few moments I couldn't quite pin down. They didn't seem like high-emotional times.

  It hit me. My hands dropped to my lap in shock.

  "Do your eyes turn red when you're feeling love?" I asked.

  Lloyd's entire face turned about the same shade as his eyes, and that was all the answer I needed. My own face blushed horribly warm.

  "Maybe," he said noncommittally. I giggled and stroked the divot beneath his eye with my thumb. His lashes fluttered under my gentle touch.

  "Have I told you that I really love your eyes?" I said softly.

  "You mentioned it once or twice." Lloyd diverted his gaze from my enamoured smile and he cleared his throat. "Fine- fine, okay. I give in."

  I grinned in triumph. "Can I see your fangs, too?"

  Lloyd flinched. "You know I have fangs?"

  "I do have eyes, pretty boy."

  His fading blush returned with vigour, and my pride grew at seeing him reduced to such a flustered mess. Maybe this was my secret power. It wasn't such a bad one to have.

  I brushed my thumb across Lloyd's bottom lip in encouragement, and scrunched my nose at him when his bright eyes fell to me. Hesitantly, his lips parted. My focus turned to the long canines my thumb hovered over.

  They weren't too sharp, really. They were even kind of stubby and cute, like a baby lion's. My smile softened at his willingness to humour me, and he jumped when I kissed the corner of his lips in thanks. My palm cupped his jaw as he closed his mouth.

  "Happy?" a red-cheeked Lloyd grumpily asked.

  "Very." I guided his chin towards me and touched my forehead to his. "You're so handsome."

  He exhaled in disbelief. "I think you're biased."

  "Who cares if I'm biased?" I linked my hands behind his neck with a coy smile. "I'm your girlfriend. It's my job to be biased."

  Lloyd tried to keep his smile down by sinking his teeth into his bottom lip, but the corners of them kept quivering. The doubt in his gaze was nowhere to be seen, which was exactly what I wanted. How dare he think so lowly of himself? I'd love him and love him until he loved himself, and then I'd love him forevermore.

  "I love every part of you, Lloyd Garmadon," I said sweetly. My fingers followed his jaw and turned his chin to me. "I love your red eyes and your fangs and your genetics. I love all of you."

  His eyes lifted to mine. They resembled molten raspberries in the dark, shadowed by his lashes and touched by moonlight. The look on his face was so soft that I thought I would melt.

  "Can I kiss you?" Lloyd asked.

  The words I'd been wanting to hear.

  "Please," I breathed, and eagerly lifted myself up to meet his lips.

  It was a dream to kiss him again. I'd missed Lloyd's kisses, and the thrill of my racing heart and the buzz in my limbs was just as intoxicating as I remembered it. I missed the way my tireless, chaotic mind went silent whenever his lips touched mine. I missed the way he held me as if I was someone worthy of being treasured. His hand cradled my cheek and trembled.

  He parted just a smidge to breathe. My eyes flitted open and my gaze was fuzzy, blurry with proximity and longing and serenity. His palm rubbed the back of my head, his nails gliding blissfully through my hair. He kept touching me as if to assure himself I wouldn't disappear.

  "You're everything to me," Lloyd whispered.

  My breath hitched, my heart jumped. I missed him so much that I'd been going insane, and I was so relieved to have him back that I was losing my mind all over again. My fingers pressed along the nape of his neck and pulled him down towards me. I brushed my lips to his again.

  I tried to keep us calm and gentle, too aware of his fatigue and ill health, but Lloyd didn't want me to be careful. He brought his hand to the back of my head and began to kiss me with such feverish devotion that it sent my pulse skyrocketing. My gasp was stolen by the heat of his mouth. My arms around his shoulders tightened, I drew myself closer.

  The last time we'd kissed - and the one with Morro in the tomb didn't count - was when I'd first told Lloyd I loved him. I was scared, and our kiss was desperate because we thought we'd never see each other again, but this kiss was of a different kind of desperation. This kiss was to make up for all the time we lost. This was everything Lloyd wanted to say to me but couldn't find the words for.

  Lloyd's fingers curled through my hair, and he held my chin tight enough for my jaw to part and for our breaths to meet in keen collision. He was rougher than I expected, unused to the tightness of his grip driven by earnest fright. It hurt, but only a little. I kissed him more. He tasted of mint and longing.

  I liked the ache. I couldn't scare myself into thinking he wasn't real if he held me this tight.

  Lloyd whispered my name and it sounded like heaven song as he chased my lips for little stolen pecks while we caught our breaths. I was dazed, and for the first time in what felt like forever, it was a happy daze. I kissed him again, and then again, revelling in the bliss of his fond affections, until Lloyd called mercy and had to take pause.

  He dropped his forehead to my shoulder and his hands slid down to rest upon my knees. He was ragged and short of breath, and I bit my lip with guilty amusement. I could feel it swelling from beneath my teeth. Maybe we took it a little far.

  I carded my hand through his hair and waited for him to recuperate. I'd forgotten how much stamina it took for a kiss, and this type of kiss used more of it than usual. I pressed my lips to Lloyd's hair.

  "Are you okay?" I asked breathlessly.

  "Yeah," he said between gasps. "Yeah, just- dizzy."

  "Please don't pass out again," I spoke against his forehead. "I don't wanna explain why you did if I need to get someone's help to move you inside."

  Lloyd weakly chuckled. "I'll try my best. How's your head?"

  Now that he mentioned it, my migraine was pretty bad in spite of the painkillers I took before. I guess I'd been knocked around so much over the past couple of days that I got used to pain - not that that was a good thing to get used to. Besides, Lloyd was always a good distraction. 

  "Sore," I admitted, and shivered at the chill of the wind that had slowly picked up. A storm was brewing. "Let's get inside."

  Lloyd hummed in agreement. We moved slow, burdened by aches and exhaustion, and shuffled back to his bedroom. He was shaking by the time he slumped onto the mattress. The smile he directed at me while I tugged the blankets over him soothed my worries, especially when he caught my hand and kissed my fingers one by one. Casanova.

  "We should probably hold off on making out like that until you're feeling better," I said amusedly. The upset frown he glared up at me with pulled a snicker. "I'm serious, hero. You need rest, not more excitement."

  Lloyd's pout deepened when I pulled my hand away and clambered into bed beside him. He looked like an angry puppy.

  "I can't believe I'm hearing you say this," he said unhappily. "After everything we've been through?"

  I shuffled under the covers with a scoff. "Don't guilt trip me into impeding your recovery."

  "Unbelievable." Lloyd pulled the covers over his head, and his whines grew muffled. "This is so unfair. I can't believe you'd do this to me."

  I rolled my eyes. "You're so dramatic." I reached over his sulking blanket hump and switched off the light. "Go to sleep."

  Lloyd slowly brought down the duvet from over his face and watched me settle in close beside him. I caught his eyes and paused at the reluctance they held.

  "You have to get some sleep, Lloyd," I said gently. At his growing hesitance, I found his hand and wound my fingers through his. I could understand why he didn't want to sleep - sleep was a gateway back to the hell he'd had to endure alone. Sleeping was a solitary thing, but it was necessary, and he desperately needed it. I squeezed his hand and pinned my chin to his shoulder. "I'm not going to leave your side."

  It wasn't quite enough to make him relax. "Can you distract me?" he asked.

  "How?"

  Lloyd closed his eyes and tucked his head against mine. "I don't know. Just talk, please. I need you to talk."

  "Okay..." I wracked my brain for something to say. "Um... the name Wendy was invented for the original Peter Pan book."

  I felt Lloyd's lips smile weakly against my temple. "I like Peter Pan."

  "Because he wears green?"

  "Because he gets to be a kid forever," he murmured, and my heart throbbed at his bittersweet tone.

  I didn't want to get too deep into how he'd must've lost his childhood to being the Green Ninja. He asked me to distract him, not make him feel worse. I made a mental note to bring it up later.

  "Did you know that Venus is the only planet that rotates clockwise?" I asked.

  Lloyd made a sound of interest. "Why's that?"

  "We don't know. Some people think that she rotated in the same direction as the other planets but slowed so much that she started going in the other direction. Other people think that it's because she got hit by an asteroid."

  "I bet you hate not knowing the answer," Lloyd said with a quiet snicker.

  I grumbled. He knew me too well.

  "Tell me another fact?" he asked.  

  We were already talking about space, so the next fact that popped into my head continued the theme. "It would take roughly five-sextillian cows to produce enough milk to make enough cheese to make the moon."

  Lloyd lifted his head and looked at me. "Did you just say 'sextillion?'" At my confused expression, he shook his head. "You made that up."

  My face flushed horribly at the realisation of what he was implying. "I did not!"

  "You did so."

  "I didn't! It was on Wikipedia!" I sat up with a raging inferno for a face. "It's Latin for six!"

  Lloyd's lidded gaze held me with great amusement. "Sure, I bet that's what all the good girls say."

  I blushed so hot that I was sure I was glowing in the dark of the room. "Lloyd Garmadon!"

  A knock on the door was the harbinger of a pissed-off Cole that opened it. He looked just as exhausted as I felt, except he seemed more grumpy about it than I was. I didn't even realise ghosts needed sleep.

  "Hey," Cole said calmly. "You know what time it is?"  

  My bristled height over Lloyd lowered into something sheepish. We were in trouble.

  "Yeah, Y/n, do you know what time it is?" Lloyd asked. I shot him a peeved scowl and Cole did the same, but Lloyd wasn't phased. The smug smirk of his grew under our ire.

  I was wrong before. He wasn't like a puppy. He was like a cat who caused problems on purpose.

  "It's three in the morning," Cole continued with a huff. "And some of us are trying to sleep."

  "Yeah, Y/n-"

  I cut him off. "I will knee you in the balls again, I swear to god."

  Lloyd sucked his lips into his mouth with a stifled grin at my empty threat. "Sorry."

  Cole groaned and rubbed his eyes. "Guys. You know this fight isn't over, right?" Our expressions sobered. "Make sure you're actually getting rest."

  That's what I'd been trying to say all night. I didn't think Cole would appreciate the correction though, so I remained quiet. He shut the door behind him with a tired sigh.

  "Yeah, Lloyd," I mocked once I was sure he was gone, "make sure you're actually getting rest."

  "I deserved that."

  I crossed my arms and turned down to face him. "I'm serious. You can't stay awake forever."

  Lloyd's mirth faded. "I know." His gaze turned to the ceiling with a subdued frown.

  I stared. His blond curls, soft and fluffy from being washed, laid across the pillow like a golden halo. He was torn from a renaissance painting, the beautiful portrayal of anguish, his dark lashes shadowing the wavering in his pine-green eyes. I grew heavy with sorrow.

  I couldn't let myself give in again. All he was doing was sabotaging himself.

  My arms uncrossed to crawl my fingers through his splayed-out hair. "I can stay up for a while longer," I offered, and shuffled down so I could lean on my elbow. I played with his blond locks. "I'll watch over you. Nothing's going to hurt you while I'm around."

  It was said as half a joke, but also entirely seriously. I expected him to smile, to tease me because even with his fever, who was still the strongest one here? But the look Lloyd sent me was fragile. His mask had finally fallen.

  "Okay." His quiet voice betrayed the fear that still lingered.

  And then, after another few minutes of me gliding my fingers along his hairline, Lloyd succumbed. He was deep asleep in mere moments. I finally felt myself relax at his even breaths, and then I began to relax a little too much.

  I yanked my nodding head up and blinked hard. My eyelids were heavy and sleep pulled at me, but I resisted. I told Lloyd I'd watch over him, and I was determined to do exactly that. If I could jump over the side of a flying ship and survive, if I could pull my boyfriend out of a freezing river, then I could stay awake for him.

  I jolted from sleep when Lloyd began to shift.

  Groggily, I rubbed my eyes and hid a yawn behind my hand. My weary eyes fell to Lloyd when he thrashed.

  It took a moment for my exhausted brain to take in his wet cheeks, the contorted frown and the whimpers and put two-and-two together. He was having a nightmare, and it looked to be a really bad one. I rested my hand above his forehead.

  I'd never seen Lloyd cry before.

  I didn't quite know what to do. I was never really the first person someone would turn to for comfort, and if someone did, I'd always put my foot in my mouth and say something wrong. I rubbed my thumb along his temple and thought of what to do.

  How does one reassure someone who'd been possessed by a ghost? How could I ever even begin to understand the magnitude of Lloyd's traumatic experience? I couldn't. It was impossible to.

  "You're okay," I whispered, and wiped away his tears. I smiled wryly. "It's just like when you told me to go home - I'm not going anywhere."

  Another few tears escaped. I pushed my thumb along their tracks, stealing them away. I lined his jaw with my fingertip and watched his flickering, closed eyes while he dreamt. I traced the line of his dry lips, and they parted beneath my touch. Maybe in the morning I'd try find him some balm.

  "What's going on in that head of yours, hm?" I hummed. "Do you need me to go in there and punch away the nightmares? I'll do it."

  Lloyd's head turned towards me. His whimpers seemed to have calmed a little, and I realised that talking must've soothed the nightmares. I shuffled closer and held him firm, careful not to jostle him into waking.

  "I'm so wrapped around your finger," I mused with a small smile. "And you know it, too, it's embarrassing. I'm so happy I hit you with my skateboard." I grimaced with a grin. "As bad as that sounds."

  He wasn't crying, anymore. I pressed my cheek into his hair and spun his curls with my finger. I guess I was better at this comforting stuff than I realised, or maybe it was just because it's Lloyd.

  "You really are beautiful," I murmured. "I wish you could see yourself the way I do."

  Lloyd mumbled something incoherent and unshaped in his sleep and my chest ached with emotion. I just wanted him to be alright. I just wanted him to be safe and healthy and happy, like us in the future in the cave. What did I do right to get to there? Would I still be able to do it? Would we really be able to get to that point?

  I stared at the ceiling as Lloyd's breathing evened out. His nightmare was over, and he sunk into me with subconscious fondness. I stifled the affectionate aggression to squeeze him tight. I'd hate to wake him.

  The Bounty was quiet. The waves rocked against the hull, and the rain had returned. I was sure that I was the only one still awake. Lethargy urged at me with more insistence, and I struggled to keep up the fight.

  Before sleep could take me, I inclined forward and pressed a soft kiss to his parted lips. Just a quick peck, but nevertheless, full of all the love I had to give.

  "Sleep well, hero," I whispered. My eyes weighed themselves down into a close. "You deserve it."