#no edit we die like garmadon

[ninja-knox-ur-sox-off]

My Dearest Friend...

Glaciated Memory AU | Master Of Ice Art | More to Me (pt 2)

1k

[]

Imagine this, if you will: you meet your best friend when you’re young and he already has graying hairs.

Well, young is a relative term. You’re not exactly young, or at least you don't think so. The younger children around the village call you old even though that’s hardly something to judge one's age by--you’ve only just started university--but your friend is older.

You had never enjoyed the snow coating the grass or the cold and frost that cling to your lashes on the early morning walks to your winter classes before, but that day, with ice stretching in front of you, shielding you and keeping you safe from harm, that day when he looks back over his shoulder at you and gives you a warm smile that makes the corners of his eyes crinkle, you exhale and see the frost on your breath and you suddenly find you can never look at things like winter and white and cold the same way again.

His eyes are so light of a blue they are almost white. They’re a heavy contrast to his dark skin. At first you think the ends of his long hair are white but it sparkles like glitter and ice and you realize it's coated in frost.

He saves your life.

He has a limp you notice when he leaves the village, simply a traveler passing through like a snowfall. You drop your papers, your pencils, your projects and they spill over the ice at your feet.

“Wait--Wait!”

He waits.

You design and build a leg brace for him in your dorm. He waits patiently, standing, still as an ice sculpture until you're finished the next morning.

“Come back if it stops functioning,” you tell him.

He studies you with calculating eyes that shouldn’t have been so warm when their colour was so cold. He nods.

And he does come back. A few months later. You offer him tea and show him your plans for a new brace--one that improves upon the failures of the old one--something you started designing the moment he’d left the first time. He sits down this time and smiles and you chat. Your breath shows in the air with every exhale the longer he stays. Your teeth chatter through your grin and he grins back before throwing back his head to laugh.

You become fast friends after that.

You learn to wear more layers. His hair grays more and you graduate after many long sleepless nights studying and designing. Biomechanics, biomechanical engineering, robotics--you find fascination with building, with bodies. “A marvel,” you mutter. “A marvel. I wonder if I could replicate it.” And he smiles at you.

He comes and goes as often as cold weather. You stay holed up in your house for the most part. Designing, building. You wave him over to his new brace, made from a material more resistant to cold than the last. You’re learning. He stays for tea and you make up a guest bedroom just for him. It stays there for years to welcome him whenever he visits.

Once, someone comes to find you for knowing him. You need a leg brace of your own after that.

He has more enemies than he has friends it seems.

“I am sorry, my dear friend,” he says. There is a blizzard outside.

Your discoveries are stolen one night and someone else’s name is plastered across your work no matter how hard you try. That breaks you more than anything else.

“I’m thinking about moving,” you tell him one night, as though you haven’t been silent for the past three days.

“Oh?” he says. “Where to?”

“Somewhere cold.”

He laughs.

He takes you to a place outside of any town. Remote and freezing.

“This is my home,” he says to you. It’s a perpetual winter.

“I think I’ll build a bunker,” you say, your nose numb from the chill.

You get kicked by a treehorn and you make a sign Beware of Treehorns and hit your dearest friend with it.

“I apologize, I should have warned you,” he laughed. “I had forgotten they were unfriendly to others.”

“My ribs do not accept your apology,” you sniff.

“Will you accept it instead?”

You huff and puff out frosty breaths and jam the sign into the ground.

Of course you forgive him. How can you not?

You build something to protect you and your bunker from the creatures when your friend is not there.

He enters your bunker shaking snow off his layers and off his straw hat.

“No--not on the floor.” You throw your hands into the hair. “Now I’ll have to mop it all up.”

“My apologies,” he says, though he’s smiling wide enough to show his white teeth. “I shall assist you.”

When the frost finally melts from his hair in the warmth of the bunker you see it wasn’t the ice and snow making it look white this time.

“What is this?” he asks, looking at your project, a skeletal structure made of spare parts you’ve started to construct, loose wiring and tools scattered about it.

“A marvel of engineering--or well, it will be soon.” He looks dubious so you take off your glasses and wipe them on your shirt. “Don’t look at me like that, I’m only just beginning to build what I need.”

“I won’t be back for a while,” he says quite suddenly.

You put your glasses back on hastily. “Is something wrong?”

“Please, keep far away from the north side of the forest until I return.”

You’ve known of the serpentine war for a long time. You hear of it in the north when you’re purchasing supplies from the nearby town. You know it's over when he stumbles into your bunker and collapses face-first onto your carpet.

You have never seen him in red before and you find you do not like the sight.

The type of first-aid he needs is one that requires study and time that you do not have.

He catches your hand mid-way through bandaging his side.

“I’ll be alright,” he says, his voice like a cool, barely-there breeze.

“Of course you will.” Your teeth are chattering, you realize, even though it’s not cold in your bunker.

He does heal up. It takes a few months before he’s hiking with you to the town, leaning heavily on you and the walking stick you’ve made him. Your project lays on the table forgotten.

The Birchwood Forest is colder than it ever has been.

“I’ll be back,” he says once he can walk on his own.

“You won’t be leaving,” you say firmly.

“Julian,” he says. “My friend. I must go.”

You wonder if it makes you a terribly bad or terribly good friend for letting him.

You pour yourself into your work. A body takes shape in front of you. You do everything you can to make it human.

No one can steal this from you. It is yours and yours alone and it is marvelous.

It’s years before your friend returns.

Your creation is walking by then. There are wires still exposed and kinks to work out but you’re so proud of it. He enters through the door, slowly and with enough snow on him you’ll be swimming in it by the time it melts, but you don’t care.

You introduce him to your work.

“I used the face I knew best!”

Your friend smiles. There’s sadness there.

“Julian,” he says. “I’m dying.”

His hair is fully white.

Your smile vanishes.

You hadn’t noticed your own gray hairs and wrinkles until then.

“I have no family. No one to pass my element to. I have been looking, Julian, but…”

He needs your help. Not to live, no matter how much you talk to him, but to ensure the element he carries within him does not die.

So you create something that can store it. You travel to places together, you gather what you design, you design and through trial and error you make something that can hold the power.

“There’s no one I trust with it more,” you tell him as you tinker with your creation. “He’ll keep it safe. I designed him to protect.”

“Thank you,” your old friend says, like a breath of relief.

You create him a holder for his element and store it in the creation that shares his face.

He wants to pass in the snow. You carry him the Glaciar Barrens and it is there your friend takes his final breath.

And you discover you have done more than store his element.

Your Zane acts differently. From the moment your friend takes his final breath, your Zane seems to wake up.

You continue tinkering, researching and you don’t know what you have done but nothing can explain it.

It’s his eyes that are the same. His face that you replicated to the best of your abilities still has some differences.

The eyes however. The eyes you know.

You don’t have time to begin to miss your friend when he’s standing right in front of you.

Zane feels, just like you wanted him to. You put everything you can into upgrading him until he’s as human as he can be. Until he can feel the temperature of something by touching, until he can feel the breeze and the snowflakes as they fall on his skin.

You add a memory switch, something that is not human. You hope that it will return his memories from before, but it does not. You leave it untouched for years.

And then you are old.

You are old and your friend has not aged. You have built him everything, you have taught him how to speak again, to learn to read and observe, you have taught him everything you can. But you do not know how to teach him to move on. You never did.

“Goodbye, old friend,” you say and you flick the switch so that he may start anew and live on without you.

You watch the light fade and his eyes darken to brown.

You close your eyes.

And a long time later in a dusty empty bunker, they open back up.

----

Zane blinked.

It was cold.

He was standing at the edge of a village, bare feet in the snow. His toes were numb. Villagers who had caught sight of him were approaching, calling over others to bring warm water and blankets.

He felt as though he was forgetting something rather important.

[shadowpeachceo]

More Ninjago incorrect quotes Garmadon Family edition

*Lloyd texting Sensei Garmadon*

Lloyd: Come downstairs and talk to me please. I'm lonely.

Garmadon: Isn't you're mom there?

Lloyd: Yes but I like you more.

Young Misako : You get turned back into a baby but you retain all your skills and memory, what do you do?

Young Garmadon: Eat a nickel.

Young Misako : A reminder: You have retained all your skills and memories.

Young Wu: Eat a nickel.

Young Misako : Ok.

Lloyd: Okay, who's turn is it to give the pep talk?

Sensei Garmadon: It's Misako 's turn.

Misako : Don't die.

Sensei Garmadon, wiping a tear away: Truly inspirational.

Lloyd: what do you see in this woman???

Young Garmadon: Protip is you do not feel good about yourself after eating tomato sauce on iceberg lettuce.

Young Misako: What's wrong with you??

Young Garmadon: I literally JUST said I ate tomato sauce on iceberg lettuce?? Pay attention.

Young Wu: No, they mean other than that.

Young Garmadon: Ohhhhhh.

Young Garmadon: I haven't slept in 4 days.

OR like father like son

Lloyd: Protip is you do not feel good about yourself after eating tomato sauce on iceberg lettuce.

Sensei Garmadon: What's wrong with you??

Lloyd: I literally JUST said I ate tomato sauce on iceberg lettuce?? Pay attention.

Misako: No, they mean other than that.

Lloyd: Ohhhhhh.

Lloyd: I haven't slept in 4 days.

Lil Lloyd, texting Lord Garmadon: Dad! Help I'm being kidnapped!

Lord Garmadon: Where are you?

Lil Lloyd: I'm with some strange person. In a car. Help.

Lord Garmadon: I'll call Wu.

Wu, answering their cell: hello brother?

Lord Garmadon: Where's Lloyd? He texted me that he's were being kidnapped.

Wu: Whaddya mean, he's right next to me-

Wu:

Wu: I'll call you back. *Hangs up*

Wu: THE NEW HAIRCUT ISN'T THAT BAD!

Lil Lloyd: WHO ARE YOU!?

Lloyd: I have a bad feeling about this...

Emperor Garmadon: What do you mean?

Lloyd: Don't you ever get that little voice in your head that tells you if you're going to get into trouble?

Emperor Garmadon: No?

Wu: That actually explains so much.

Wu to lil Lloyd: First rule of battle, little one... don’t ever let them know where you are.

Lord Garmadon, shooting out of frame: WHOO-HOO! I’M RIGHT HERE! I’M RIGHT HERE! YOU WANT SOME O’ ME?! YEAH YOU DO! COME ON! COME ON! AAAAAH! Whoo-hoo!

Wu: 'Course, there’re other schools of thought.

Wu: We need a distraction.

Lord Garmadon, turning to the Ninja: one of you go to be good at jumping up and down and making weird noises right?

Lil Lloyd, whispering: My time has come.

Wu: Hold on! I’m having one of those things... a headache with pictures.

Lil Lloyd: What the fuck???

Lord Garmadon: They’re having an idea.

Emperor Garmadon: So... This is my full potential?

Harumi: Yes.

Emperor Garmadon: So, then it's...

Emperor Garmadon: All downhill from here.

Harumi: Like Lloyd.

Emperor Garmadon: I do not know what this Lloyd is. But it sounds disappointing.

Misako, excitedly: Heeyy!!

Sensei Garmadon: Hey, someone's excited.

Lloyd, deadpan: Yeah, and it's making me sick.

Lil Lloyd: *cooking*

Lord Garmadon: *kicks down door*

Lord Garmadon: *grabs knife from Lloyd's hand*

Lord Garmadon: WHAT DID I TELL YOU ABOUT DESTRUCTIVE BEHAVIOR?

Lil Lloyd:

Lil Lloyd: What???

Wu: he doesn't trust you with sharp objects because he's scared going to turn evil like him.

Lloyd, to Sensei Garmadon: You know, Mom can be really passive aggressive, so it's important to take all the necessary precautions when approaching.

Lloyd: *blows airhorn at Misako* GET FUCKED!

Young Garmadon: Onion rings are vegetable donuts.

Young Wu, used to Garmadon being dumb: Sure...

Young Garmadon: Your stomach thinks all potatoes are mashed.

Young Wu: Okay?

Young Garmadon: Lasagna is spaghetti flavored cake.

Young Wu:

Young Garmadon: Lobsters are mermaid scorpio-

Young Wu: Jesus, that one is a little-

Young Misako, interested: No, no, Garmadon, keep going.

Misako: Want to hear a hard riddle?

Garmadon: Sure.

Misako: A rooster laid an egg on a roof. Which way did it roll?

Garmadon: ...down?

Misako: N-

Lloyd: Who cares about which way it rolled, it would be scrambled eggs by then.

Misako:

Misako: No, it's that roosters don't lay eggs... In the name of the first spinjitzu Master...

Wu: So, what's it like living with Lloyd?

Sensei Garmadon: he once referred to sand as "heterosexual glitter."

Wu: ...

Sensei Garmadon: I love my son so much.

Lloyd: So what, now I’m just supposed to do everything that Wu does? What if they jump off a cliff?

Sensei Garmadon: If Wu were to jump off a cliff, they would have done their due diligence regarding the height of the cliff, the depth of the water, and the angle of entry. So yes, if you see Wu jump off a cliff, by all means, jump off a cliff.

Lloyd: You jump off a cliff.

Sensei Garmadon: Gladly, provided Wu did first.

Garmadon: I bet you’re wondering why I gathered you here today. It’s because we need to have a discussion about how some people in this room aren’t getting along with other people in this room.

Lloyd: Why did you say that so vaguely? Mom and I are literally the only people you called in here.

Lloyd, texting group chat: What flavour of ice cream do you guys want? I’m at the store so be quick!

Garmadon: Moose Tracks is good!

Misako: What the fuck is that!?

Garmadon: *Gasp* How dare you insult moo-

Misako: No. No no not that. What the hell. Why do you spell flavor like flavour. It’s like you have flavor but then this guy shows up and is like “Oui Oui Would you like chocolate flaVOUR or vanilla flaVOUR.

Lloyd and Garmadon: what?

Misako: I don’t get it why add the EXTRA u when it’s PERFECTLY FINE AS IT IS!?

Lloyd: You done now?

Misako: Yeah ok.

Lloyd and Garmadon: ...

Misako: ...Can I have the Mint Chocolate chip flavour?

Garmadon: Remember! Curiosity killed the cat!

Lloyd: Yes, but you forget that satisfaction brought it back. So yes, Misako, go find out if that thing can catch fire!

Garmadon: You're a bad influence.

Lloyd: And you don't know your sayings.

Lloyd: In my defense, I was left unsupervised.

Misoko: Wasn’t you're dad with you?

Sensei Garmadon: In my defense, I was also left unsupervised.

Wu: Say no to drugs.

Emporer Garmadon: Say yes to drugs.

Lloyd: It doesn't matter if you say yes or no to drugs. If you're talking to drugs.. then you're on drugs.

Emperor Garmadon: All I did was kill Lloyd, is that really such a crime?

Misako:

Misako: Yes?!

Misako: HELP! I TOLD LLOYD I'D COOK DINNER TONIGHT BUT I CAN'T COOK!

Wu, pouring milk directly into the cereal bag: And you thought I could help?

Sensei Garmadon: If I were a drink, I'd be Cherry Vanilla Coke. If you were a drink, what would you be?

Lloyd: Bleach.

Wu: Sewage.

Sensei Garmadon: ...Please calm down, edgelords.

[modkatisbacc]

ModKat Re-reacts to Ninjago: Episode 9

Now you may be wondering "Where are the other episodes?" Well my friends, they were on my old account by the same name. "Why did you delete your old account?" Because *Gestures at all the other weird things I do* its kinda what I do best. i started doing episode 9 before I deleted the Blog but a lot of things have HAPPENED in the show since then.

WARNING: There WILL be spoilers for up to Ninjago: Dragons Rising S2 P1.

Also, sorry for the picture quality, it was actually better on my phone but now im using my laptop.

What were they going to do if he Didn't Survive all this because he had plot armor? Did THEY know he had plot armor? I mean they know he's the Grandson of the FSM, so maybe they did. But then again I take my Ninjago Canon into account and I SHOULDNT-

Lloyd has been through so much,,, look at u go u funky little guy.

Still crying that Clutch was name dropped like... like he was never even supposed to be in the series. I still haven't watched his movie... one day..

I wonder how much Lou knows about Elemental Masters. In like... all of my AUs, Lilly always dragged him along and he experienced things first hand. But,,, what does he know in CANON?

And, as of the Merge, people just Live Here.

Garmadon,,, Voice,, Handsome.

Use. The Bell. Son. I dont know why but that is the funniest delivery ever, and its also funny when a parent and child duo are voiced by the same person, thank you, Kirby.

And WHO decided that one of the fangs of the devourer would be used as a TROPHY? What if someone with ill intent found this out Long Before!

Also as someone who has suffered many twisted ankles, what... what are you doing sit down. Your pain tolerance must be crazy, sure, but it aint gonna heal with you jumping around like that- (Edit: 7/26/24: I... I twisted my ankle yesterday, but got lucky it doesnt hurt that baad LMAO Also what do u mean half the episode has been in my drafts for several weeks no it hasn't)

Dang Scales thinks they're good. I mean three out of the four never learned how to dance or anything and they're much better than me SO.

(Insert Dragons Rising Questions Here) But also... Where is it? The Administration is *here* right? What happened to this portal when the merge happened? Is that why they're able to send people back to other realms? They found a way to like use that source to teleport to other realms? How Does It Work. Also I know its guarded, but if its daytime the Craglings wouldnt be an issue, so... Its not guarded during the day. Why not.

He literally only does this to be an annoying brother. Just a little push shove, dramatic entrance. Wu here looks so shocked by the vortex, My man you've seen crazier.

They got these suits and promptly only used them for an hour tops. Maybe less.

My headcanon is that this man right Here Knows A lot more than he ever let on here. Like There Is A REASON he was so adamant. Can we at least get a confirmation that the parents are okay. We don't even need to see them just a lil thumbs up.

*Points* You had a bad word on your paper mister, I remember the Post. The funniest thing I've never noticed.

And those specific butterflies can stay away since they seem to be nearby when someone is either about to die or be in big trouble.

(At Zane's funeral, landed on the bike in s7, if I remember correctly, The butterfly in Tick Tock)

LETS DO THE WHIP

Its time For you to do this again in DR Cole.

Man really was straight up willing to kill Lou for a distraction. Also he ran under there before he potential kicked in, so he can deal with a lot of stuff Falling on him. Interesting to know.

True Potential Shots pretty... Very Pretty...

Can I just say that... These four mean so Much,,,, to me... Look how happy they are.

Ninjago Episode 9 Rewatch Done! I should be uploading these at least three times a week? Maybe more if I... Feel Up To It. I love doing these, and I am sorry that the others are lost. but we Are Back! These wont be going anywhere!

[iwillkeepfighting]

Maybe He's Desperate

Ninjago Seabound spoiler fic/drabble below the cut.

((@lloydskywalkers rereading some of your fics is what jogged me to write, and it is Lloyd, so if you happen to log on again i thought maybe you'd like to see ¯\_ (ツ)_/¯ ))

Lloyd doesn't know how they didn't see it sooner.

Ever since they lost Nya to the sea, he's seen hints — a glimmer in Zane's eyes at a dry ice supplier, unconscious static crawling through Jay's hair with every storm, Cole's ever-growing distaste for the sky even on dragon-back and the way the jagged cracks in his arms extend a little further every time his power lights them up.

He sees it the most in Kai, he thinks — smoke on his brother's breath and wisps of flame curled in his hands, the way torchlight bends towards him no matter what way a breeze might blow, the shapes that only appear in a campfire when the Master of Fire is near.

He saw it in Nya, a little, before... before. Tides would get stronger with her on the beach, the Bounty (when they were waterbound) would sail more smoothly. He had assumed it was intentional. He'd assumed all of them were intentional, or had always happened, or at least were harmless.

(harmless like his own eyes, that should be red but turned green while he was on his own for so long without other Elemental Masters for backup. his own eyes that went dark once but have been glowing brighter every time he feels the power pulling at him.)

(his friends' eyes glow in moments of great power, in response to great danger. his glow all the time. it's fine it doesn't mean anything it's harmless)

(there's a lot he can chalk up to his weird heritage; maybe he attributes more to that than he should. maybe it's better not to know for sure.)

He thinks maybe he feels another hint in the wind, every gust that bites as deep and cold as death — but that could just be the trauma.

So maybe he doesn't ask Kai to roast marshmallows for him anymore, sits closer than he would normally and lets himself be pulled into hugs-turned-cuddles so that his brother won't feel the need to be closer to the flames to seek warmth. Maybe he keeps Cole in the air as much as he can, or at least aboveground, works harder to find creative solutions that won't require super strength on missions. Maybe he suggests a trip away if storms get too close in the forecast, or drags Jay to play games with him somewhere so insulated that they can't even hear the thunder (maybe he plays up his fear of storms, and if that's him avoiding the wind, nobody mentions it; if it's Jay avoiding the rain, likewise, nobody mentions it). Maybe he helps Zane cook more, and never asks the nindroid to retrieve anything from the freezer, stops asking for ice cream, makes sure they have fire extinguishers everywhere so Ice isn't needed for every training accident now that they don't have Water

Maybe he doesn't go to the beach anymore. Maybe he pretends not to see how Jay and Kai can't keep themselves away from the shore for long, maybe he makes himself scarce before they can ask him to join them, because maybe he doesn't know if he'd be able to say no, because — maybe — he'd lose his mind if the splash of a wave looked too much like his sister the way she looked when she disappeared.

Maybe he spends too much time staring at the mirror, willing his eyes to stop glowing. Or maybe he doesn't look at mirrors at all anymore.

If it were any of his brothers that had been lost, he might have considered seeing how lost he could get in his own powers, because he might be able to find someone lost in a power he has his own connection to. But Water wasn't one of the Elements of Creation; his connection to Nya runs fully as deep as his heart does, and deeper, but not to the level of elemental power. Water wasn't even under the dominion of the First Spinjitzu Master himself, so Lloyd hadn't even inherited some kind of secondhand connection by becoming the Ultimate Master however long ago now.

No, Water was beyond his grandfather's power, in a category all its own with Wind, Uncle Wu had said, and now it had taken its Master away.

Water...

and Wind.

Maybe he has an idea.

[indra-istari]

Thoughts While Watching Every Ninjago Season (s1 edition)

(excuse my spelling i did most of this while tired)

Episode 1: Rise of the Snakes

The intro is good, specifically the music but the end card makes them look like a sitcom family

these seasons go through cycles of being unable to do things competently and being op

ooo Lord Garmadon

That is a fucking child, an annoying one at that.

I love how the fake snakes sound like a

What's a wife's tale? Why do only wives have tales?

Publicly Humiliates Child → Child Becomes Evil

Oh, Green Ninja prophecy

The Green Ninja prophecy will cause internal conflict within the team

"no one has ever found the tomb of a serpentine tribe" Lloyd *finds one almost immediately after being tossed out of a village for pretending to have control of the serpentine

Ah yes, they are going to use their extremely powerful weapons that can literally rip apart the world for sparring

The old man yells at them

Now Lloyd has actual serpentine, they have mind control powers too, funky

Spirit Smoke? Never mention that ever again

Kai is a Serpentine denier, how tf does Nya know that the antivenom is in the staff?

Zane "we can't use our golden weapons" Zane *uses golden weapons*

That dude who tried to control Cole is going to cause problems later

Teach us! Teach us! these idiots are stupid

I was right, Cole's partially mind-controlled

Episode 2: Home

The rest of the Ninja after saying Zane is weird because he laughs during sad movies.

Do they have Fan Mail?

Oh Zane's an orphan

Oh that snake guy is named Scales, that's stupid as fuck

"Snakes don't belong in trees"

Bird!

"If I see one girl in here, I'm going to go ballistic" Lloyd is in his woman-hating arc

Zane's arc rn is just Neurodivergent in a house of Neurotypicals

Cole's mind control is a problem.

Jay almost pulled a Peter Petrelli

So they decided to not leave anyone behind to guard the monastery? idiots

They have no home.

They decided to blame Zane for destroying their homes even though he couldn't have known the snakes would go for the monastery.

The snakes are fighting for command of the tribe

Scales got wombified

I miss Zane. Zane! No Zane! *Zane shows us*

He found a fucking sky boat

Lloyd is stalking them

Episode 3: Snakebit

Wake up call is "Evil doesn't sleep so you shouldn't"

the Chore episode

Using their powers to clean things

"He hates it when we tell people he was born in a junkyard"

God, I hate parents episodes

Ed is the name of my dead uncle.

Which ones are these? oh the vampire snakes!

Lloyd is an annoying motherfucker

They have hotel Transylvania vibes

oh his parents are here, which means they are going to die.

They chew on machines and the machines turn into snakes

Jay has a crush on Nya and Nya is Kai's brother

They are migrating? of course, dragons are so unreliable

"Hello Uncle" Lloyd is so annoying

I think Nya is going to be the green ninja

Their weapons can turn into vehicles??

"Does your flute turn into anything? *looks at flute* "I wish"

The boat can fly

The staff slid out of the cabin and off the ship into the Vampire snake's hands

Episode 4: Never Trust a Snake

Zane is having a Dream

Lord Garmadon!

Green Ninja is Kai?

They are punished by training more

Scales and the Vampire Snakes are friends?

Green Ninja has all of their attributes so Zane's dream is pointless in the context of finding the Green Ninja's identity

Lloyd is going to the Anacondrai place and he met a British dude

This British snake guy is sus, he wants to eat Lloyd

We both have no friends? Cool! Let's be friends!

A stupid child is going to break the world

Boarding school time.

Lloyd is paranoid

elevator music

SNAKE BETRAYAL

THE SNAKE DISAPPEARED

L for Lloyd's bowl cut

Episode 5: Can of Worms

I bet Lloyd is messing with everyone

I hate children

Zane is pink

Why does Kai hate Nya so much

smh they are flirting

"But this is the mountain of a million steps

They just went inside but there are snakes on the loose

Snakes say Musicians dni

Uh oh

Kai's worst fear is gingerbread clown elves

They are gonna die

That red bitch after knocking tf out of the ninja after saving them

Kai is high

They are stupid as hell

skydiving without a parachute

Zane is still pink

Scales knows he knows, he knows

Let us blow this popsicle stand!

Ice vs snake, Ice wins

Fridge snakes

Episode 6: Snake King

a lost city?

Damn that's a big city

Green Ninja arguments

Lloyd gets the box

The samurai did their job for them

Sensi Wu loves Ferris wheels

They are all fucking stupid

Kai is being an older sibling to Lloyd

That child is sneaking into snake town

Lloyd fucked up

they didn't realize that Lloyd is missing

idiots walked right into a trap

They are fighting the samurai

Creation tornado

The samurai just saved them big time

Mans got the golden weapons

Kai's separated

the samurai is Nya?

They just let Lloyd stay there with Pythor

AYYY Kai!

Sensei Wu Knows

Episode 7: Tick Tock

Zane is sitting underwater petting fish like Percy Jackson

Oh they are True potential

L for Lloyd

Sensi Wu is off to find "someone who can help"

Snake politics

Kai is just like 'he, she samurai"

The bird!??

really good music for literally no reason

slowly, everyone is leaving and it will only be Zane

Kai isn't giving up

THE FALCON IS A ROBOT??

ANOTHER ROBOT?

That tree is a house

many stairs

ZANE IS A ROBOT???

Sensei Wu is buying tea from a mean old lady

Wait if Zane is a robot how does he use spinjitzu

oh a memory switch, how convenient

Zane's creator died

The Queen!

Zane is op

The snakes are plotting

Sensei Wu is doing some weird tea ritual

LORD GARMADON???????

Episode 8: Once Bitten, Twice Shy

Of course, Jay is wearing perfume and Nya is allergic to it

This is awkward

Oh she's going to die

That bug became a snake

Sensei Wu and Garamdon are fighting like a dysfunctional family, oh wait

Sensei Wu is trying to talk t him but all Garmadon knows is murder

at least he cares about Lloyd

They are brothers

Ah yes, an amusement park

Jay is trying to flirt but he's turning into a snake

Date ruined.

Date not ruined

So Garmadon is evil because of a snake

They are so awkward

Jay dissing the samurai when Nya is the Samurai is the most awkward thing ever

Jay is turning into a snake

Hallucinations

Zane fucked up his true potential stuff

Samurai saves everyone again

Oop, Pythor unveiled Nya

They are going to execute Nya

Nya comes out as the samurai

True Love's kiss saves the day

True potential moment

they're gaslighting Kai

Brothers Vacation

Episode 9: The Royal Blacksmiths

using children as bait

Kai is the jealous one

Cole has a picture of the fang blade

Lying to your parents is fun

Climbing a mountain for family bonding

the mountain became a man

use the bell, son

Cole's dad is annoying

oh they can't sing

Cole's dad is going to train them

"Zane, you're like a machine" CRYING he looks so proud of himself

Pythor and Scales are flirting

I feel like something bad is going to happen between Garmadon and Wu

I was right

when you're farming and a fucking vortex opens up

oh boy, he is coming out to his dad as a ninja

Pythor ate the real Judge and is impersonating him

Zane has butterflies in his stomach

they are performing the theme song

They won!

Cole's dad is proud of him :)

PYTHOR TRIED TO KILL COLES DAD

Kai's still in his 'I'm the green ninja' mindset

Episode 10: The Green Ninja

I think this episode will reveal the green ninja

we start with someone in red clothing stealing the green ninja suit

maybe its cole bc they show the scythe blade

oh Cole is fighting serpentine

so is Jay, so this is either Kai or Nya

It's not Nya

God Kai, you're so embarrassing

SENSEI WU IS HOME!!

"Zane's a nindroid" "Zane's a what?"

Lord Garmadon appeared!

"But Sensei! he has 4 arms!" Love you, Zane

He is a smug mf

He's pure evil but he's still Wu's brother

Kai's impulsive

Me when I sharpen my teeth with a knife

and eat evil worms

When you're on a date but then the Lord of Darkness starts third wheeling you

When you're trying to sleep but your roommate is pondering the orb

Falcon theme my beloved

oh a volcano

dumbass

Nya green ninja arc???? please??

Kai is a fucking idiot

Cole is the reasonable one

GARMADON HAS ALL THE GOLDEN WEAPONS UH OH

Because fucking Kai is a fucking idiot

The volcano is about to explode and they are going in it.

Lloyd! Son! Son! STFU Son!

Of course, they see the ninja in the reflection

THAT SNAKE JUST GOT THROWN INTO FUCKING LAVA AND HE'S OKAY????? WHAT THE FUCK

Idiot Kai took out his Golden Weapon and activated the Volcano

The snakes destabilized the volcano

Lord Garmadon may be evil but at least he cares about his son, unlike my parents who

That is a fucking dramatic show for a lego show

Kai and his self-sacrificial act

LLOYD IS FALLING AGAIN L

Damn Garmadon, 4 hands, and you still can't catch your son

They left Lloyd and Kai in the volcano

Garmadon is screaming crying rn

It's Kai! and Lloyd! Kai's finally got his true potential powers!

Kai passed the fuck out lol

"Dad, is it really you" "yes son" "Dad, why do you have 4 arms?"

what? Kai: "my training wasn't to become the green ninja, it was to protect him" that means that Lloyd is the green ninja?

HOW TF DID HE FIGURE OUT THAT LLOYD WAS THE GREEN NINJA THAT MAKES NO SENSE

Wait Lloyd has been around the golden weapons multiple times what the fuck do you mean the weapons only react now

Lloyd chose one arc

Oh that means he has to fight his dad

The fang blade didn't melt?

Shit writing tbh

Episode 11: All of Nothing

They are all harassing one snake

this snake is like "i hate you" "no i don't hate you"

But they don't have noses

Zane can connect his eyes to the Falcon :D

Garmadon and Lloyd are bonding

Lloyd b like Daaad :((((((

Ever since the Devourer bit me Evil is in my blood

they/them prns for Lloyd my beloved

Garmadon doesn't want Lloyd to be like him im crying real tears

Ooof Lloyd ROASTED his Dad

Garmadon got kicked out by his son L

Firestarter is a lit nickname lmao

Jay is so in love and it's kinda funny

ITS A TRAP OH NO

Oh its Pythor

poor Lloyd has no clue what the fuck he's doing

SLITHERPIT SLITHERPIT SLITHERPIT

they are playing chess

what the fuck is a vengestone

they are pirates of the carribianing this shit

Pythor jumpscare

Nya: I have faith in Lloyd.

Meanwhile Lloyd: Ninja roll! Jump! *falls down the stairs*

This is bad

Poor Lloyd

God Pythor be original for once "You and who's army" mf

GARMADON IS BACK AND HE HAS AN ARMY

YEAH FUCK SNAKES

L for Scales

They are Brothers, your honor

I THOUGHT NYA STEPPED ON KAI LMAO

Garmadons and Lloyd </3

Headpat

THEY :'(((((((((

He is gone

PYTHOR IS ON THE SHIP????

Episode 12: Rise of the Great Devourer

the smoke of future sight

the future smoke says big snake will come

Lloyd gets beaten up by an inanimate object

Pythor is terrorizing children

Pythor is mean and british

Sensei Wu talks about dying

Sensei Wu starts Dying

Sensei Wu stops dying

Pythor has the fang blades again

HES GETTING AWAY

they all start dying

Nya stops them from dying

the snakes steal a bus

the bus is alive

snake motorcycles

"if we drive any faster the engine will explode " that's not how that works i think

Zane is kicking ass while Kai is on the window

Cole just blew up Scales

The engine exploded

SENSEI WU IS SACRIFICING HIMSELF FOR THEM??

LLOYD!

Sensei Wu got his gold tornado

Wu is beating Pythor for the moment

And the train flipped

Pythor is about to awaken the Great Devourer

Lloyd is going to get himself killed or smthin

"Go Ninja, go"

IS THAT A GOU'AULD

Episode 13: Day of the Great Devourer

Season finale!

The Great Devourer ate sensei wu (and pythor but idrc about him)

JAY DONT FUCKING FALL

They got away

Oh they didnt

They lost like 1/4th of the engines

Oh it grows

Oh the classic "we lost it" *sneak attack*

Nya holding Lloyd like a doll is so funny

Screaming Death Core

force ghost Wu but maybe its a hallucination idk

Russian snake

poor Lloyd is too short to be included

LMAO THE MAILMAN DOESN'T SEE THE BIG FUCKING SNAKE IN THE BACKGROUND

Creation tornado

Zane is self-aware

and Zane got stabbed maybe

HE'S OKAY!

his face came off tho

"it's heading towards the city!" it.. came from that direction?

"what's that in the subway?" "a fucking snake"

Jay's parents are gonna die

Cole threw a car at the snake

Lord Garmadon is buying tea

The Dragons are Back!

The snake is going up the building

Garmadon is going to stop the snake

Since when could Zane run possibilities

Lord Garmadon just got the golden weapons

time to see if garmadon can beat him

"You bit me once, now you'll know what it's like to be bitten back!"

the snake fucking exploded

SENSEI WU!

foreshadowing for Lloyd vs his dad

the end of s1

[rosiehunterwolf]

@fabro-de-omres HOLD UP BESTIE, I GOT ONE LAST FIC FOR YOUR LIST-

Star-Ninja!

Prompts: Siblings and Competition

Word Count: 5,884

Characters: The ninja

Timeline: Snapshots throughout the series

Trigger Warnings: None

Summary: What happens when the loveable gremlin the ninja adopted off of the streets introduces them to Starfarer comics?

Chaos ensues, of course.

Read on FFN.net

Read on Ao3

Tumblr work under the cut

“Take that! And that! Oh, yeah-” Jay leaped to his feet, grinning. “Die, lava zombies, die!”

Level complete. The words flashed across the screen, and Jay whooped. Only one more level and he would beat Zane’s high score.

“You could’ve beaten it faster if you had taken out the little guys first.”

Jay whipped around to see the little wispy-haired kid draped over the arm of the couch, staring at the TV screen with a glazed, listless look in his eyes.

“What are you doing here?” Jay snapped.

“I’m borrrred,” he whined, kicking his legs against the couch. “Can I play with you?”

“No.”

“Can I use the training course?”

“No, you’re not a ninja.”

“Then what am I supposed to do?”

“It’s not our job to entertain you, kid.”

“I didn’t ask to be kidnapped by you,” Lloyd snapped.

Jay felt his face flush. “So you’d rather still be with the Serpentine?”

“Well no, I just wanna have a choice!”

Jay stared at him for a moment. I don’t know his whole story. He’s a kid who’s been dealt a bad hand in life. He exhaled slowly. “Look, Lloyd, you’re just a kid. I know it’s hard for you to understand- but you’ve caused a lot of trouble. The Serpentine are dangerous, and you don’t know enough to deal with them. You just gotta trust us, okay?”

Lloyd sighed dramatically, sliding off of the couch and onto the floor. “Yeah, whatever.”

Jay rolled his eyes. “Can’t you find something to do for a little while? Please? I’ll talk with Sensei about what we’re going to do with you as soon as he gets back.”

To his surprise, Lloyd actually left him alone, and Jay turned back to his game. He knew it wasn’t a very responsible move, but he had never agreed to babysit the kid. Besides, they were going hunting for Serpentine again tomorrow, so it would likely be Jay’s last chance to have some downtime for an entire week.

By the time Jay had finally beaten the top score, his fingers were sore from playing. Flopping onto the couch, he glanced up at the clock. It had been an hour since he had sent Lloyd off, and he hadn’t heard so much as a peep from the kid.

Jay had only known him for a couple of days, but already that seemed like suspicious behavior.

He headed into the storage room that Sensei had scrapped together into a makeshift bedroom for his nephew. Lloyd was sprawled across his mattress, reading a book.

I guess he’s not up to anything. I shouldn’t have been so quick to judge him. Jay turned to leave before stopping suddenly and whirling back around.

“Hey!” he yanked the book out of Lloyd’s hands. “Is this a Starfarer comic? Have you been snooping around in my room?”

“No! I haven’t touched your stupid stuff. Figures, the one time I actually didn’t do anything wrong, you blame me.”

“Have you not heard of The Boy who Cried Wolf?” “What?”

“Nevermind.” Jay examined the comic. It was an old edition, but not one he owned. Besides, the cover was wrinkled and there were dog ears on several pages. Jay would never treat his comics so harshly. “If it’s not mine, then whose is it?”

“It’s mine. Is it so hard to believe that I don’t steal everything?’

“No, I mean, you like Starfarer?”

“Of cou- I, uh, I mean, Starfarer’s for babies, ha. I’m only reading this because it’s the only book I have and you wouldn’t give me anything else to do.”

“Oh, that’s too bad. I guess I’ll have to go enjoy my Starfarer comic collection on my own, then. Since it’s too babyish for big kids like you.”

“Your what?” Lloyd was suddenly sticking to him like a barnacle. “You collect Starfarer comics?”

“Not just comics.” He grinned as he watched Lloyd’s eyes widen. “Movies, posters, action figures- you name it.”

“No way! Can I see? Please, please? Just for a second-” Jay put a hand on his shoulder, holding him back. “Hang on, kiddo. I thought Starfarer was for babies?”

Lloyd shifted on his feet. “Well, I didn’t really mean that, I just- I was just testing you!”

Jay raised an eyebrow, smothering a laugh. “Uh huh. If you’re such a master, why aren’t you reading the new comics?”

Lloyd looked down, shuffling his feet. “I… this is the newest one I have. We didn’t really get many opportunities to buy what we wanted at Darkley’s. Especially not a book about superheroes. Because we were super busy being evil and stuff, heh.”

Jay felt his heart twist. Am I really pitying Lloyd Garmadon right now just because of some comics?

Although, when he looked at Lloyd now, he didn’t see the annoying, mischievous son of a villain. He saw a wide-eyed, naive kid looking at Jay with such hope that it was hard not to feel a strong urge to protect him from the burdens of the world.

Jay crouched down next to him. “Y’know what? I’ll show you my newer comics. You can even keep some, if you like.”

“Really? You’re not messing with me?”

“As long as you promise not to treat them like that.” Jay gestured towards the wrinkled comic. “Seriously, dude, you better go wash your grubby little hands before I even let you within five feet of my stuff.”

Jay didn’t think he’d ever seen Lloyd be in such a hurry to do anything.

---

“What’s this do?”

Nya snatched Lloyd’s hand away from the control panel. “Don’t touch that!”

“But what about-”

“Or that! Just-” She took a deep breath, running her fingers through her hair. “Don’t touch anything unless I specifically tell you to, okay?”

“Well, then what am I supposed to do?”

“I don’t know, find something. I’m not here to babysit you, Lloyd, I’m managing the comms. It’s important to make sure we stay in touch with the guys when they are on their mission.”

“I don’t need a babysitter,” he huffed. “Why couldn’t they take me with them? I am a ninja now. I could’ve bashed in some Serpentine heads!”

Nya glanced at him, glaring defiantly in his oversized gi. “I’d hardly call you a ninja, squirt. You haven’t even grown into that gi yet.”

“Yes, I have! See, it fits me perfectly!”

“...Lloyd, those pant legs almost completely cover your shoes.”

“They do not! Uncle Wu said I was a ninja.”

“A ninja in training, at best,” Nya corrected.

“What’s the use of being the green ninja if I don’t get anything fun out of it?”

“One day, green machine. You just have to be patient.”

He groaned loudly, flopping onto the chair. “I hate being patient.”

“No! You? Impatient? Who would’ve guessed?”

“Can’t you at least show me how to turn on the alarms?”

“No. Alarms are for emergencies only.”

“It is an emergency! I’m going to die of boredom!”

“Fine,” Nya relented. “What do I have to do to get you to leave me alone- and stay out of trouble? Can I rent you a movie?”

“Ooh, can I watch Zombies: Back for Revenge? Or Ghost Story? Or Dawn of Destruction?”

“Nope, nope, and nope. Too scary, too mature, too violent. Pick something more family-friendly, Lloyd.”

He pouted. “Kai got to watch those movies.”

“Yeah, well, Kai’s older than you and is responsible for his own actions. If you watch those, you’ll be up all night with nightmares and Sensei will never trust me again.”

“I won’t have nightmares! He’ll never know! Please, Nya.”

“No. End of discussion. Pick something else or nothing at all. Remember, it’s my money paying for the movie here. What about those… space wars movies you love?”

“It’s Starfarer,” Lloyd snapped, although his expression looked considerably lighter. “There’s one I haven’t seen yet…”

After Lloyd showed her the movie and she paid for it, Nya turned back to the control panel and checked for messages from the guys. Still nothing.

She really hated when they left her in the dark like that.

There were sounds of explosions from behind her, and a cheer from Lloyd- she glanced over her shoulder to see him grinning gleefully at the screen as the main characters blew something up. She shook her head- what was it with young boys and explosions?- but she couldn’t stop a smile from creeping onto her face. Glancing over at the comms, she double-checked that no one had said anything.

The guys obviously weren’t taking the effort to communicate with her. It wouldn’t hurt to take a quick break.

Sitting down next to Lloyd, she focused her attention on the movie. It seemed nonsensical and boring at first, but after a bit, Lloyd started explaining things to her, and, to her surprise, she found herself happy to listen. As it got later, his talking slowed, and at some point- Nya couldn’t quite identify when- Lloyd was leaning against her side, snuggling with their shared blanket.

Nya watched him carefully. She hadn’t cuddled with anyone like this since she had been younger, with Kai- but then, she had been the younger one, the one being protected. Now, she was experiencing what she imagined Kai must’ve felt, and despite how annoying he could be, Nya felt a strong urge to pull him close and never let him go.

She understood their reluctance to let Lloyd fight fully now. She didn’t want to ever send him off into battle, especially not the Final Battle.

How could this sweet, stubborn little wisp of a child be the green ninja?

Many hours and three movies later, Nya was afraid to even look at the clock. Rubbing Lloyd’s head, she murmured, “It’s way past your bedtime, kiddo.”

“‘m not tired,'” he mumbled in an obviously tired voice.

“I already let you stay up way later than you should be.”

“Just one more movie!” “Lloyd! These things are two hours long!”

“I promise I’ll go right to bed after!”

“That’s what you said after the last one.”

“Well, I really mean it this time.”

“No way.”

“Please?” Lloyd suddenly looked a lot more nervous, twisting his hands together. “Just… just until we hear something. From the ninja.”

“Oh, Lloyd.” She put a hand on his back. “It’s okay. They’re okay. Most likely, they just forgot to report back. They do that all the time.”

“But we don’t know that.”

“...Yeah. You’re right. We don’t.”

“Is it always this scary? Waiting for them to talk to you, not knowing what’s going on?”

Nya nodded slowly. “Yeah, a lot of the time it is, bud. But eventually, you learn to trust them. There isn’t a day that goes by where I don’t worry about their safety, but I know they are strong and capable and can take care of themselves.” Lloyd nodded. “That makes sense.”

He still didn’t look quite content with her answer, though. Nya leaned in, murmuring to him.

“Tell you what. What if we watch half of one more movie?”

Man, she was turning into such a disgustingly gross softie for this kid so fast, wasn’t she.

But the wide, genuine smile that split across his face made it worth it.

---

Kai stood in front of the long expanse of bookshelves, stacked with dozens and dozens of comics.

“Excuse me,” Kai gestured to the nearest bookstore employee, and he walked over. “Which part is the Starfarer section?”

The employee blinked at him. “You’re already in it. This entire wall is Starfarer.”

Kai gawked at the wall in utter amazement. There had to be at least a hundred books there. How were these many Starfarer comics even possible?

“Which one is the best one?” he asked the employee.

The man pushed his glasses up his nose, looking increasingly annoyed with Kai’s lack of Starfarer knowledge. “That’s hardly a straightforward question. Starfarer is our most popular franchise, they’re all popular. It’s impossible to pick one book. If you’re looking for our most popular selling comics of all time, that would be volumes 1, 32, 45, and 79. As for comics trending right now, that, of course, would be the most recent ones, 273 through 282. Although volume 13 has seen a sudden influx in readership. If you are looking for those with the best ratings-”

How do I say, ‘which comic is best for my little brother who was just aged up several years, without warning, and I want to help him regain his sense of childhood?’

Deciding this wasn’t going to be helpful, Kai gently dismissed the employee and began looking on his own. He tried to pick out ones with interesting covers, but ended up throwing many of them back after skimming the summaries on the back.

That wasn’t working very well either, and Kai was just about to throw the towel in and grab some random comics and hope for the best- or worse, call Jay and ask for help- when he decided to open one comic to skim it.

This quickly turned into a mistake, because before Kai knew it, five minutes had turned into an hour, and he had completely finished the comic. One comic turned into two, then five. He only was able to yank himself from his reading when he got a text from Zane asking where he was and that dinner was going to be ready soon.

Gathering up a large handful of the comics he had liked, Kai headed back towards the Bounty on his motorbike.

He found Lloyd on his bed, staring up at the ceiling with earbuds in. He pulled them out when he saw Kai, his gaze darting curiously towards the stack of comics.

“I got you these,” Kai said, setting them down next to him. “I know things are… different now, with you being older, but you’re always going to be my little brother. And I wanted you to know that just because you’re physically older doesn’t mean you have to stop doing the things you love. So if you still want to make doodles for our fridge, or make your food into shapes on your plate, or read Starfarer comics, no one’s going to judge you.”

Lloyd picked up a comic, slowly leafing through it. He was quiet for so long that Kai began to worry that he had completely messed something up. But when he finally spoke, he simply said, “You read it.”

“I… what?”

A smile spread across Lloyd’s face. “You read these before you bought them. Didn’t you?”

Kai spluttered. “I- what? That doesn’t make any sense! You have no proof!”

“The pages are creased over here. You always crease back the pages when you have a book. And there’s a slight depression here that shows the presence of fingers. Too big to be Jay’s or Nya’s, and too small to be Zane’s or Cole’s.”

Kai blinked at him. “You pay way too much attention to people, don’t you?”

“Hey, I paid attention during training, y’know!”

“More than we give you credit for, apparently.”

“I just can’t believe I spent all those months trying to pressure you to read Starfarer and you suddenly pick it up when I’m not even forcing you.”

“Shut up.” Kai shoved him gently. “It was a one-time thing. I was only doing it so I could find a comic you would like,”

“Yeah, so it makes sense you would look at them for five hours.”

“How did you- I mean, I didn’t go to the bookstore right away! I was doing other things! I only went there a few minutes before I came home!”

“Oh, yeah?” Lloyd raised an eyebrow. “What ‘other things?’”

“Uh, very important ninja business, like, um… patrol?”

“Cole returned from patrol two hours ago.”

“Well, this was a super-secret different patrol that Cole doesn’t even know about.”

“Really. Does Sensei know?”

“Nope. Just me.”

Lloyd elbowed him playfully. “You’re gonna have to watch all the movies with me now, y’know.”

“No way. Aren’t there like, fifty of those?”

“Twenty-seven.”

“No, thanks.”

“You have to! It’s part of the experience. Wait until I tell Jay you’re into it now.”

“You wouldn’t.”

“You bet I would!” Lloyd looked over at the pile of comics again, examining them more closely. “Nice, these are some good ones. Which ones did you read?”

“Um. The ones I bought?”

Lloyd looked up at him, his grin fading. “But like… not just these, right? You read others? In between them?”

“No… is this supposed to be some sort of poke at me being a slow reader-”

“No! I just can’t believe you read them in this order! Seriously, you couldn’t have gotten it any more wrong! You’ve ruined the whole series for yourself!”

“Oh, that’s such a shame, guess you better not tell Jay, then-”

“Oh, no way, you’re still getting into the fandom. We’re going to fix this. Come look at my comics. We’re going to read them together, and I’m gonna show you how to do it right.”

“Oh, is that Zane calling for dinner-”

“Nice try,” Lloyd smirked. “But you’ve entered the Starfarer fandom now. You’re in it, good and deep. There’s no coming back from this, Kai.”

“Glad to see your psychotic gremlin tendencies weren’t lost in the tea,” Kai grumbled. “Probably the one thing I could’ve gone without.”

---

“Are you out of your mind? The movie adaptions of Starfarer are way better.”

“Okay, there is clearly no hope left for you, Lloyd. The show is far superior to any of the movies.”

“Are you kidding? The budget for the show was so much lower! They just used a bunch of cheap, corny special effects, the movies were much smoother!”

“Visuals aren’t the most important thing, Lloyd. The show had a smaller storyboard team, meaning their ideas were more consistent and developed. The plot is overall much more in-depth in the show, and the extended time also gives them more space to do what they want.”

“It also leaves a lot of space for pointless filler! The movies are more direct. Every scene is important. Whereas I can name half a dozen episodes from the show- and that’s just on the top of my head- that were completely useless and would not change the plot at all if discarded.”

“You’re insane, every filler episode had importance! Some just showed it in smaller ways than others.”

“They could’ve fit the minor details into the other episodes!”

“Yeah, but filler is nice sometimes. Getting some more chill episodes between all the action is good.”

“No way, they’re boring and ruin the pacing. The movies have you on the edge of your seat throughout the whole thing.”

Zane sighed, glancing over at Jay and Lloyd. Their argument was getting increasingly more physical, with each boy attempting to tower over the other- not an easy task, considering they were both short.

“Can you two please be quiet? Or at least take this somewhere else? I’m trying to watch the news to make sure there aren’t any danger reports in Ninjago City.”

Jay suddenly whirled on him. “Zane! That’s it!”

“...What’s it?”

“Zane should decide! Which is better? The Starfarer movies, or the show?” Turning to Lloyd, he added, “Since he’s a nindroid, he’ll be the least biased of all of us.”

“One problem,” Lloyd said. “Zane hasn’t watched either.”

“Well, then, he’ll have to watch them,” Jay shrugged.

Zane glanced back and forth between them. “You want me to watch twenty-seven movies. And all seven seasons of the TV show. Just to help you win a disagreement.”

“It’s actually eight seasons,” Lloyd corrected.

“Exactly!” Jay beamed. “You’ll do great. Get back to us when you’ve watched them all and have formed an opinion. The sooner the better, so that I can prove Lloyd wrong as quickly as possible.��

“Hey! If anything, I’m going to prove you wrong!” “No way! The show-”

“Okay, okay, I’ll do it!” Zane stood up suddenly, putting his hands between them before another argument could break out. “Just stop fighting. Please.”

“You got yourself a deal,” Jay winked.

Two weeks and over a hundred hours of content later, Jay and Lloyd were staring at him expectantly over the dinner table.

“Well? What’s the verdict?”

Zane blinked at them with glassy eyes. “They were both very good. I enjoyed them. However, I feel like I never want to watch a minute of Starfarer ever again.”

“Seriously?” Lloyd fumed. “We waited all this time for him to not even properly answer the question?”

“Who cares about the question?” Cole grumbled. “Zane was so tired from watching your guys’ dumb Starfarer stuff, he messed up the gumbo.” Cole drew a spoon listlessly through the stew. “This is my favorite meal. I’m never forgiving you guys for messing it up.”

“Starfarer isn’t stupid,” Jay and Lloyd cried at once. They blinked at each other, surprised, and Kai and Nya laughed.

“I think that’s the first thing they’ve agreed on all week,” Nya grinned.

“It won’t last,” Kai murmured to her as the green and blue ninja set on Cole for his statement on Starfarer. “I give them two days to find something else to bicker about.”

---

“Hurry, Nya, he’s almost at the navigation!”

“I’m trying!” Nya bit her lip, an iron grip on her video game controller. “He’s sabotaged the security system!”

“No-”

Game over flashed across the screen, and Jay leaped to his feet, cheering. Nya rolled her eyes, tossing down her controller, while Zane, Lloyd, and Kai watched with disappointment.

“I can’t believe he won again,” Kai huffed. “How is he still undefeated? We’ve been playing this game for weeks.”

“I thought you were supposed to be good at this, Lloyd,” Nya grumbled. “You’re the Starfarer expert. You’ve got so many hours logged on here.”

“I’d like to point out that I’ve gotten closer to beating him than any of you have,” he snapped. “The last time I was only seconds away from winning.”

“Yeah, well, close isn’t good enough,” Kai said. “We need to beat him. Otherwise, it will get to his head.”

“Clearly none of us are going to be winning any time soon,” Nya groaned.

“There is someone who hasn’t played against him yet,” Zane mused. “Someone who has a track record of beating Jay’s top scores in games.”

Five gazes drifted towards the chair on the other side of the room. Cole looked up from his book when he realized the others were looking at him. “What do you want this time?”

“You gotta beat Jay in Starfarer: Alien Invasion 3,” Lloyd insisted, at his side immediately. “He’s undefeated. You know how unbearable he gets when he’s cocky.”

Cole blinked slowly up at them. “I don’t know the first thing about Starfarer.”

“I can teach you,” Lloyd begged. “Just do it. Please. Since when have you passed up an opportunity to beat Jay in something?”

Jay grinned. “Admit it, guys, I’ve defeated you. There’s no way Cole will ever win against me.”

Cole stood up abruptly. “Oh yeah? We’ll see about that. Lloyd, give me that controller. Jay’s about to get a serving of humility.”

For what appeared to be just another mundane rendition of a classic monster-fighter game, it surprised Cole to find it was actually much more complex and engaging.

It would’ve actually been really fun, had Jay not been so ridiculously goated at the game.

“What? Your character is invulnerable to the imperial sludge? How is that fair?”

Jay scoffed. “If you had read the Aliens Strike Back arc of Starfarer comics, you would’ve known that.”

“This totally isn’t fair. You have a bunch of background knowledge on Starfarer that I don’t.”

“It’s not our fault you’re the only one who hasn’t read or watched any Starfarer,” Lloyd said.

“Oh no,” Cole groaned. “You guys are dragging me into this too, aren’t you?”

---

“Where’s my copy of issue 117 of Starfarer?”

Jay looked up from the counter, where he was munching on crackers. “Like I would know, Lloyd. It’s not my responsibility to keep track of where you put your stuff.”

“I know exactly where I put it. But it’s gone now! I left it on my nightstand last night, right next to my bed. I haven’t touched it since.”

“Well, evidently, you have, since it’s not there now.”

“No, I didn’t touch it! Someone must’ve moved it!”

“And? I don’t see how this is my problem.”

“Everyone knows you’re the biggest Starfarer fanboy on the team apart from me, and I happen to be aware that you don’t own that particular comic.”

“I didn’t steal your comic, Lloyd.”

“Oh yeah? Then what happened to it?”

“Don’t ask me!” “You know that’s my favorite issue, Jay.”

“So? You think I’d take it just to spite you?”

“I think you’d-”

He cut off as Kai meandered into the kitchen, eating crackers and reading a comic.

Lloyd’s eyes widened. “Hey! That’s my missing comic!”

Kai glanced up at him. “You said I could borrow it.” “I did not! And give it to me, before you get cracker crumbs all over it!”

Kai rolled his eyes as Lloyd snatched it from him. “Alright, fine, take your dumb comic.”

Jay crossed his arms. “I think you owe me an apology, Lloyd.”

Lloyd stuck his tongue out at him, and Jay returned the gesture.

“Hey!” They turned to see Nya strolling into the room behind Kai, elbowing her brother sharply. “You said I could have that comic once you finished it.”

“Seriously, Kai? You can’t go around giving my comic to people without asking.”

“I wasn’t going to give it to her! She’s lying!” “Excuse me? You literally just said that like ten minutes ago-”

Zane and Cole joined them not long after, glancing around. “Guys! What’s with all the racket?”

“Kai promised me his Starfarer comic after he was done-”

“It’s not Kai’s, it’s mine! And he took it from me without asking and just auctioned it off to Nya!” “I didn’t auction off anything, it’s not like she paid me for it. Although, that's honestly not a bad idea…”

“What is this, a monopoly?” Jay asked. “We’re not paying for comics we already own, that’s dumb.”

“Yeah,” Lloyd agreed, “especially when they were mine in the first place.”

“Liar! Most of them were mine!” Jay insisted. “I should get dominion over my own comics!”

“Just because you own the most doesn’t mean you own all of them,” Lloyd countered. “You may have more comics by sheer number, but I have more rare comics than you and, overall, my comics have a higher value.”

“I’m sick of you two always deciding everything about Starfarer,” Cole said. “Why can’t one of us regulate the comics?”

“Whoever gets control over the comics is just going to have bias and distribute them to their advantage.”

“I think I would be the most responsible man for the job-”

“Stop lying to yourself, dirtclod, I’d obviously be better-”

“Better than Kai, yeah, if you’re trying to set the bar low.”

“Excuse me?”

“Guys,” Lloyd interrupted, slamming his fists down on the table. “There’s only one solution to settle this. We have a competition. Winner gets control over the Starfarer comics for… let’s say, the next six months.”

Kai cracked his knuckles, grinning. “You had me at competition.”

---

“When you said, ‘competition,’ somehow I was expecting something a little more grandiose than this.”

The ninja had gathered around the kitchen table, glancing down at the box Lloyd had dropped there. Starfarer: Galaxy Wars, it read.

“Yeah, Lloyd,” Cole agreed. “A board game? Seriously?”

“Not just any board game. The most popular, most difficult, most fun game out there. It is truly for the Starfarer master. Part roleplay, part strategy, part trivia- it puts your Starfarer knowledge to the test. That way, we know whoever wins this didn’t just get the win out of chance, but actually deserves it.”

Nya raised an eyebrow. “I mean, I guess. But you better not be an expert at this game.”

Lloyd shook his head. “I’ve only played it a few times, I promise.”

“Okay then,” Kai said. “May the best ninja win.”

As usual, that lasted about five minutes until they were all yelling at each other.

“Oh, come on!” Cole threw down his card. “I got stuck in the Imperial Sludge Swamp again?”

“Ha!” Jay leaned forward, moving his piece across the board, jumping over Cole’s pawn. “Next time you know to pick a character with better environmental perks.”

“Cole’s character is more well-rounded, though,” Zane pointed out. “If you are unable to gather enough energy before the end, it is likely the aliens will take you out.”

“Quit your yapping and let me take my turn.” Kai snatched the dice from Jay’s hand and tossed them- landing a perfect 12.

“You’re cheating!” Nya snapped. “That’s the third turn in a row you’ve rolled higher than a ten. Are you using weighted dice or something?”

“He’s using the exact same dice I just used, Nya.”

“It’s called skill,” Kai scoffed. “Maybe someday, you can be as good as me.”

“Rolling dice is completely based on chance! If the best skill you can boast is being able to roll high numbers, I think I’m doing pretty well.”

“Yeah, well, we’ll see how useless it is once I win this thing and get total control over all the Starfarer comics.”

“Fat chance,” Nya huffed as Kai moved his piece.

“Oh, look at that, I found a pile of scrap metal! I get to roll again!”

“Are. You. Kidding me!”

“Wait,” Zane put a hand on Nya’s shoulder. “He’s right by the alien spaceship. If he gets an 11 or less, he’ll be on their turf and they’ll shoot him down, kidnap him, or confront him, depending on his stats. The only way he could possibly get through this without negative consequences is by rolling a 12.”

“There’s no way he’ll do it again,” Cole agreed. “Nya, this is your chance to overtake him.”

“Let’s see.” Kai grabbed the two dice and shook up his hands. He shook and shook, stopped to blow on the dice, then shook some more-

“Just roll the stupid dice,” Cole snapped.

Kai dropped the dice, and time seemed to move in slow motion. Lloyd held his breath, leaning forward-

And watched as the dice rolled one six, then another.

A perfect roll.

“Cheating!” Nya cried. “Cheating, I tell you! There’s no way this is possible.”

“We can’t let him win,” Jay groaned. “He won’t share any comics with us.” “Not true! I’ll let Lloyd have one.”

“Only one?” “That’s better than none at all,” Jay snapped. “At least he’s giving you something.”

“He’s not going to be giving me anything, because he’s not going to win.”

Kai grinned, gesturing at the dice. “Sure, be my guest. See if you can beat me.”

Lloyd rolled, earning a seven.

Jay hissed between his teeth. “Tough luck, green bean- you get injured and robbed by aliens.”

“Actually,” Lloyd said, slipping a card from his pile and slamming it down on the middle of the table. “I don’t, because I play this special ability card, allowing me to pick the number of spaces I travel. I choose 10, landing myself on the abandoned spacecraft. Then I use my character’s high level mechanics skills and use this card-” he slammed down another card that showed scrap metal reserves- “to instantly fix the ship. Then I spend my energy points to get another turn, use the gas from my generator to fuel the ship, and then am able to fly the ship back to the base and restore the artifacts. According to the manual, it would take three days from my location, and Kai, the closest, would take five days in his slower spacecraft, meaning it is impossible for anyone to beat me back, and I win the game.”

For a moment, they were silent, gaping at him.

“How?” Cole murmured. “Dude, how did you do that?”

“He just crossed half the board in one turn,” Kai spluttered. “And I was about to win! That shouldn’t even be possible!”

“How many moves were you planning ahead?” Zane shook his head. “Your strategy appears to be far more complex than any of us were anticipating for this kind of game.”

“I knew something was up when he kept stashing his ability cards,” Jay groaned. “We were all using ours, but he hardly used any- he was saving them up to use them all in a big power move and catch us off guard, the little rascal!”

“You liar,” Nya hissed. “You said you only played this game a few times! This was way too complicated of a plan for a novice player.”

“Technically, that’s true,” Lloyd grinned. “I have only played a few times. But I never said how long I played for each time.”

“You conniving little gremlin.”

“Now, Nya,” Lloyd scolded in a sagely voice, barely able to suppress his laughter, “I’d be careful how you speak to me from now on. If you’re rude, I may not give you any Starfarer.”

“Yeah, this is going to get old, very quickly.”

“I can’t believe it,” Jay sighed. “You never share comics with us.”

Lloyd gawked at him. “Are you kidding? It’s because of my sharing that you guys are even into Starfarer in the first place! Jay was the only one who knew about it before I came, but even he didn’t tell anyone else he was a fanboy and kept stuff hidden in boxes. When I showed interest, do you remember how excited you got? You took everything out, just for me.”

Zane shook his head, smiling. “I still can’t believe you got me to binge the entire series.”

“Or how I spent hours investing in that game and tracking down all that information in the comics just to beat Jay’s high score? Which I crushed, by the way.”

Jay scowled. “For the last time, you beat me by five points! You didn’t crush anyone.”

Cole scoffed. “Someone’s just jealous. If it weren’t for Lloyd, I would’ve never beat you.”

“You showed us all something we love, huh, squirt?” Kai ruffled his hair, and Lloyd pulled away, like usual, but grinned at him, bumping his shoulder gently.

“Remember when you used to get all upset at me for slacking off and reading Starfarer comics during training?”

Kai reddened. “That was different! We were preparing you for the Final Battle, there was a lot to be done.”

“Hypocrites,” Lloyd whispered, giggling as he ducked a swing from Kai.

“Well, what are you going to do now, ‘master of the comics?’” Jay asked. “Hoard all the books to yourself? Read in front of us to taunt us?” “Tempting,” Lloyd said, “but I think first, I want to play another round of the Starfarer board game.”

Cole blinked. “Lloyd, it’s seven pm. And this took us like five hours to get through the first time.”

The ninja blinked at each other.

“Oh, it’s on!”

[blursed-ninjago-ideas]

Whumptober 20

Yeah sorry, I fell asleep. No editing, I’m tired, we die like Garmadon. I came back and edited it.

Prompt: Trapped Under Water

Randomly Selected Whumpee: Lloyd

--

Dreams where he was chased had always been a staple, though what he was running from changed a lot (As far as he could tell. Most of the time he never did bother to find out what it was before he woke up.) Dreams where his father killed him always woke him up with a closed mouth scream of varying volume. Losing his teeth or flying and having no control of it where a sure sign of stress and told him he when needed to take it easy.

Lloyd understood Kai’s fears perfectly. Being trapped underwater was a nightmare he hated having. The way his lungs burned, the way he lost his bearings, the sore scratchy feeling in his nose afterwards. It was on his list of worst things. He didn’t start out hating it, but after experiencing it so much, it earned its place on his list, climbing up each time it happened.

Drowning dreams were the worst because they would just happen randomly.

They’d show up, ruin his sleep for a week, then go away again. He had no idea how to prevent them or what to avoid. He didn’t have them enough to numb to them like the running dreams or the ones about his father, he’d been having those for so long they didn’t really keep him from rolling over and going back to sleep anymore. But when he woke up holding his breath, Lloyd took hours to calm back down.

He was just glad he wasn’t alone. As selfish as it was, his misery had company in Kai. They others were very kind and comforting about it, but Kai understood. As Kai often did, he knew exactly what Lloyd was feeling. The phantom weightlessness that should’ve gone away when you woke up, but didn’t. The way your chest ached from holding your breath in your sleep. The distrust for the floor.

Lloyd had stopped really enjoying baths and exclusively used the shower like Kai.

--

It was kind of obvious which prompt to choose when I got Lloyd. It turned into something else, but I’m not mad about it.

-Ivy

[ninjakitten1699]

Lol wow I’m sensing angst from that post about Clouse not being a ‘favorite’ lol damn

Yeah it’s messed up really.

Garmadon’s been around over a thousand years, practically making him older than any of the flings we know of so he probably knows what he likes.

Like his Oni part of consciousness, he likes the power any of his flings/mates hold. He doesn’t mind the strength and fight that happens. Just means stronger young for Oni or a fight for dominance over others.

And the dragon part of the brain would mean he didn’t mind the multiple partners thing, if dragons thought more like real life lizards instead of birds. Basically just a come and go in order to not die out. Also dragons would probably find someone more fitting for the lifelong mate thing anyway if any hatchlings were strong out of that one and only the one. (So basically when Garm split from Misako after so long, it messed him up bad and Krux had to make sure he didn’t do anything... drastic.)

What he does mind however, is the fact that Clouse was absolutely pissed at him for taking Chen’s attention away from him with so much ease. And Clouse had to work for that attention for the longest time. That’s honestly one of the reasons why Clouse didn’t like the Master of Amber either. Even though she didn’t become Chen’s wife in my canon, she still managed to get him away for a while.

The whole ‘Lord’ title tore apart what could’ve happened. Arguments were thrown back and forth until they became physical. A few times, they were shoving each other around. Sometimes, they left with cuts and bruises. Other times, there was a broken bone or something fractured, if not any furniture or equipment broken. It was a constant fight for dominance, if not at times for survival. (That’s not exactly healthy if a relationship somehow came out of that.)

It got worse after Clouse threw him off completely one time and Garm just wasn’t having it anymore and his monster form almost straight up broke him, if it weren’t for Clouse using magic at the second to last moment.

Garmadon leaves after that and when Clouse saw that Garm just jumped from him to Krux, seeing how far Krux was falling apart and becoming pretty boy putty in Garmadon’s hands, oh ho ho! He was absolutely all for hurting them from the inside out. (Clouse: Alright Garm.. You wanna play around like that? Fine. Let’s fucking play.)

Years later, Clouse already grew back closer to Chen, refusing to leave him, because at least Chen didn’t bounce around between people as Garm did back then and he was actually there to talk him through a lot and they’d at least comfort one another where Garm wouldn’t.

Edit: The tension between them wasn’t old affections, because that wasn’t there to begin with. It was remembering what they both did to one another. Garmadon was guilty for quite a bit mostly about losing his mind to his destructive Oni half right on him before they separated and he still was guilty afterwards. Meanwhile Clouse hadn’t let go of the hate for him that he brewed inside and still had the scars to prove it.

Chen thought it differently and got it confused for a short while before hearing Clouse insist on not leaving them alone together. (“Master.. please don’t do that again... don’t leave me alone with him..” “... Alright. If you didn’t like it, then I won’t.” “...You promise, Master?” “Clousey, I may be a villain but I at least take care of my followers first before anyone else.. especially you, my mage man.” “.. Even though you’re trying to favor that other Elemental Master?” “Pshh.. They come and go, this is just a phase for me, but hey, at least you stayed. Isn’t that something, Clousey?” “.. Yeah.. it is..”)

Basically as I said in another ask, Clouse is what Krux could’ve been if Garm had no care for him either and if Krux didn’t catch feelings for him in the middle of it all.

[echozane]

ninjago tag

tagged by @glitterytammy

Rules: Answer the questions and tag whoever you would like to. At least 5.

1. Favorite Character(s)? zane cole and kai for main ninja . i also like karlof uh and dareth ? and more too i guess but i dont want to name of a bunch of ppl hfgd

2. Favorite Episode? uH Im not rlly good at remembering the title names but i like The Void (second to last episode of s3) bc the beginning the whOLE SPACE SCENES On/around the spaceship are so good. and those parts when zane and cole both started floating away from the ship. and the music it plays at the v beginning of the episode when we see the spaceship and when theyre all floating around in it iS SO GOOD. i also like the episode where the ninja stay in the haunted temple over night i think this might be the same episode where cole turns into a ghost at the end (and the music that plays when we see him as a ghost iS RLLY GOOD). i also like the tick tock episode flashbacks of zane and the music that plays in that part aND in season 3 when zane is dying. i LIKE THe royal blacksmiths ep where cole reaches his full potential bc i like the outfits the ninja wear and the dancing and song they were singing when practicing.

3. Favorite Season? season 4 / tournament of elements , s5/possession would be my second fave

4. Favorite Whip? im doing this just for the opening lengths not the whole song sO , 1= GHOST WHIP I THInk would be my fave opening and i love how it sounds and i cant rlly explain it ? I JUST LOVE how this season has the good scary/creepy/”something bad is gonna happen” feeling, 2= the original one. classic, 3= tournament whip (it sounds rlly good when it shows wu and garmadon. also i think it would be 2 for visual opening but idk not rlly for song?) the pirate whip one sounds nice and upbeat-y too.

5. Favorite Enemy(s)? uh lord garmadon im too tired to answer this but i like garmadon / edit: ok and i like morro

6. If you could spend a day with any character, who would it be? i dont rlly know hfgdf i dont rlly talk or hang out with anyon e so i guess id be fine just like. FOLlowing around with the ninja group bc when theyre together itll just be like ? other ppls friend groups? and then theyd prob be nice to recognize ur their with them hanging out w/e and i think that they wont just forget about you ?? i kinda made this sound melancholy jhfg

7. Train with Wu or train with Garmadon? with sensei garmadon

8. Lloyd or Morro? Why? uh morro and idrk why or how to explain i just like morro more i guess? like i like how he wasnt the chosen one and got all upset and stuff over it

9. Fangpyre Venom, Great Devourer Venom, or Tiger Widow Venom (getting bit)? uh ok i dont rlly want to search these up so fangpyre is the hallucinating one right and the great devourer is turning into a snake like what happened to jay? i forget what the last one does if it doesnt make u paralyzed or something SO I Guess i would go with the fangpyre venom / edit: ok fangpyre venom is turning into a snake, great devourer venom is turning u like total evil like lord garmadon and tiger widow venom causes death sO I WOULD still go with the fangpyre venom

10. Which Part(s) made you cry? uh i dont rlly think any parts did and i forgot if i teared up at any part hjfgd

11. How long have you been a fan? well according to when i uploaded that pic of jay that was from july 2016 sO SOMEwhere around there i guess

12. What are your thoughts on movie Zane? i LIKe HIm

13. Would you rather die like Morro originally did(incinerated)(no Cursed Realm) or die like Zane did(exploding)(no coming back)? uh like zane prob .. i dont think i would want to be burned i think exploding would just be quicker

uh i dont rlly have anyone to tag except for @c0rvids if they have not already done it hjfgd

[ninja-knox-ur-sox-off]

I had an idea that won't leave me and now I have to share it with you! Drunk Pigsy and Tang, only problem is that Tang can not hold his tongue when he's drunk and he may or may not tell Pigsy something that the scholar promptly forgets the next morning!

You.... you AND YOUR IDEAS JUST LOVE TO MAKE ME WANNA WRITE DON’T YOU LAKSDMFOIAWEMFAS 

The thing about Tang was that he was a talker. 

He liked to chat and tell stories and share his knowledge. The way he talked was noticeably captivating, so whoever his audience happened to be, they found him easy to listen to and often enjoyed his company; Pigsy was no exception to that. He’d spent a lot of days listening to him tell Mk Monkey King stories, even if he would deny it to the ends of the earth, he didn’t need Tang getting a bigger head than he already had.

What you had to watch for were the things he didn’t say; because, who would ever think the man who seemed to say whatever was on his mind would be hiding something?

Tang was pretty honest. He didn’t lie or even withhold the truth very often, if at all, but despite that there was still a lot Pigsy didn’t know about him. He didn’t know if he had any family, he didn’t know where he’d lived or what he’d done before he started hanging around the noodle shop.

Part of that was his own fault. He didn’t exactly go out of his way to ask, but honestly he didn’t really feel like he needed too. He might not have known where he used to live, or even if he had other friends than the ones at Pigsy’s shop, but he knew his favourite tea, and that he’d get cold while he was reading so he wore big fuzzy socks in the evenings when he curled up on the couch with a book.

Sure, sometimes he was curious as to where Tang would go when he’d be absent for a few days at a time, but no matter how long he was away, he always made his way back to the shop, so it didn’t matter all that much.

If Tang wanted to tell him anything about himself he would on his own time. Otherwise it wasn’t any of his business.

Unfortunately he was historically bad at dismissing his own curiosity and keeping his nose where it belonged. 

________

Pigsy didn’t really drink. He didn’t really like it, contrary to what a lot of people assumed. He’d had a few blackout drunk experiences in the past that hadn’t ended really well, and had never been fond of the inhibitions that came with alcohol since then.

But on special occasions, he’d still have some. Not enough to get smashed or anything, but a small amount, just so he relaxed a little and wasn’t so tense. He could drink a lot without getting drunk, but he knew his limits and usually stopped well before he neared reaching them.

Tang on the other hand, he discovered, was an entirely different story.

The man was almost painfully lightweight, which was something Pigsy never thought he’d actually know because he may not have known everything about him, but one thing he did know was that: Tang didn’t drink.

Except he had, apparently, and now Pigsy was heading to a bar to go get him because Tang had texted that he’d needed a ride--or at least that’s what Pigsy had been able to discern from the almost incomprehensible keysmashing. He’d gotten enough drunk texts from people back in the day for it to be not too much of a challenge. He was a little rusty in deciphering it, but still managed to put together exactly where he was and headed over to pick him up. It helped that the bar happened to be one that he walked by on his way to and from work every day, so he’d recognized the butchered spelling of the name with surprising ease.

It was closer to evening when he’d gotten the text, so he hadn’t needed to close the shop early or anything (maybe Tang had been thinking of that before texting him) and he’d left Mk to finish the cleanup, trusting him to lock up as well so that he could go take care of Tang. Mk saluting him with a determined “I won’t let you down, Pigsy!” almost made him rethink his decision, the kid was a danger magnet, but Tang needed him, so in the end he just decided to trust him, leaving him to whatever shenanigans he’d get himself into while closing the shop, and hope it was still intact by the time he arrived for work the next morning.

Who would’ve thought he’d ever pick something over the safety of his noodle shop.

(Pigsy refused to read into that decision.)

It had been a long day, and he really wasn’t ready to deal with a drunk, least of all if that drunk was Tang of all people, but he’d texted Pigsy out of anyone he knew (not that Pigsy even knew if he even did know anyone else) and he wasn’t going to leave him hanging.

The bar was fairly nice, as far as bars went. Pigsy had been in plenty of worse ones. Still, he couldn’t even begin to guess what Tang was doing inside one. He tried not to let the churning feeling of concern building in his chest get to him as he scanned the building for any sign of his friend.

It was fairly empty, which made sense since it was a weekday. Only about seven people in total in the entire building, as far as he could tell, though he could’ve been wrong, since the lighting was a little dark. There was some music playing at a decent volume; nothing too loud, which was nice. He’d be able to talk to Tang without having to project over the volume.

Eventually he spotted the familiar red scarf. Tang was sitting at the front of the bar on a stool like he always seemed to be. He was half-laying over the surface, either staring at his reflection or the liquid and bubbles in the cup. Maybe both.

Pigsy sighed and headed over.

The bartender was wiping out a cup, as he approached the counter, and Pigsy shook his head slightly when he started to set it down. The man shrugged at his declining motion and went back to his task, leaving Pigsy to slip onto the stool next to Tang.

It took him a couple seconds to realize someone had sat next to him and he turned his head slightly to look at him, blinking a few times, his glasses askew on his face. Pigsy gave a wave and his entire face lit up.

“Pigsy!” he exclaimed, sitting up, and nearly knocking the cup off the counter; Pigsy managed to catch it just in time. Tang grinned at him, completely oblivious of the near-accident. “You came!”

“Well yeah,” Pigsy grumbled, releasing the cup now that he was sure it wasn’t going to be knocked over the side of the counter. “You asked me to.”

“Very gentlemanly of you,” Tang nodded, the corners of his eyes crinkling with the force of his smile. There was a slight flush to his cheeks and a look in his eye that told Pigsy he wasn’t all there.

“How much of this have you had?” he asked, squinting suspiciously at the drink beside him.

Tang opened his mouth then paused, gaping at him for a moment before snapping it shut and looking genuinely perturbed as he seemed to consider the question very seriously. “Oh, well, I think… I got here, and I had… some?” he asked, then broke into a smile again and nodded. “I’ve had some! Some is a good amount, and it’s the amount that I’ve had.” He looked very proud of himself for knowing that.

Yeah, he was pretty drunk.

Pigsy turned to the bartender, who seemed to be watching them out of the corner of his eye. “You keep track of how many he’s had?” he asked him.

“I told you already!” Tang insisted, sounding a bit offended. “I’ve had some.”  

“That’s his second glass,” he told him, nodding towards him. “Bit of a lightweight.”

“I suppose that’s a fair term,” Tang giggled. “I’ve never done this before though, does one build up a tolerance?”

Pigsy thanked the bartender before turning back to Tang who was now just looking at him with his head tilted, cheek resting in his hand, and smiling at him, looking relaxed and happy.

“What are you doing here, Tang?” Pigsy found himself asking with a sigh, when he really shouldn’t have. He didn’t need to know, but... this was Tang, they were friends, right? So he had a right to be worried about him. Knowing the why could make it easier to figure out how to help and hopefully keep this from happening again.

Tang’s good mood dropped significantly at the question, his smile fading. He turned away and wrapped a hand around his glass, pulling it towards himself, and frowning.

Pigsy waited for a while, but he didn’t say anything, just stared down at his drink. Which was… well, worrying. Tang liked talking, for the most part. The days where he didn’t were always concerning. Pigsy had never outright asked what was going on with him when that happened though. Usually he just slid him a bowl of noodles or dropped a blanket on top of him depending where they were, and Tang would smile a little and that would be that.

He had a feeling a bowl of noodles wouldn’t be enough to help this time though.

“Alright,” Pigsy said quietly, making Tang look at him. “You don’t have to tell me. That’s okay. I’m just worried about you.”

Tang's smile came back and he let himself drape back over the counter in a position similar to the one he’d been in when Pigsy had first come over. “Cause you caaaare,” he sang, looking very happy about the fact.

Heat rose in Pigsy’s cheeks and he looked away to hide the most likely darkening colour of them. “Yeah, yeah,” he said gruffly. Then a little quieter: “Course I do.”

He managed about twelve seconds before he was glancing back at Tang.

He was still in the same position just smiling at him.

“What?” he asked, leaning away slightly.

“Nothin’” Tang drawled, rolling his head slightly and swaying back into an upright position, grabbing his drink with both hands. His cheeks seemed a little more flushed. Pigsy wondered if that was just more alcohol hitting his system.

“I thought you said you don’t drink,” Pigsy said cautiously, watching Tang warily as he swirled the contents of his cup, looking like he might drink some.

“I do now,” Tang declared, raising his cup, the movement causing his stool to wobble slightly when he leaned back.

Pigsy caught his arm, stopping him from bringing the cup back to his lips, his other hand coming up to support his back to keep him from falling backwards off the stool, and took it out of his hands before placing it aside and out of his reach.

“Hey!” Tang protested, giving Pigsy an offended look and trying to reach for his cup. “That’s mine--”

“Don’t,” Pigsy said, sharply, making him stop. “You said you decided not to drink a long time ago. Whatever’s going on with you, it’s not worth going back on that.”

Tang scowled, and looked away, shoulders hunching slightly. He leaned forward and folded his arms atop the counter before hiding his face in them.

“Too late now,” came a mumbled response.

“Only if you keep going,” Pigsy said. He noticed Tang staring at the cup and looking like he might go for it again, so he picked it up and drained the remaining contents in one go to keep it out of his reach, and also to get something in him so he could deal with the rest of what was looking to be a long evening.

It wasn’t a heavy drink and burned a little on it’s way down but he’d had a lot stronger. He would be walking home anyways, and this wouldn’t do more than drain some of the tension from his shoulders, which was sorely needed at this point.

Tang’s cry of protest accompanied his action and he set the glass back down on the counter with a  bang.

“Why’d you do that?” Tang complained, pouting and looking for all intents and purposes like a kicked puppy.

“So you didn’t get any ideas about having more,” Pigsy said gruffly.

Tang grumbled something under his breath, then looked at him again with another scowl. “I wasn’t going to.”

“Uh huh,” Pigsy said, completely unconvinced.

Tang huffed but didn’t argue further aside from a mumbled: “Meanie.”

That made him smile slightly. “You’re welcome,” Pigsy said.

“I didn’t say thank you,” Tang told him with narrowed eyes.

“You did just now,” Pigsy said back, flashing his teeth in a grin.

Tang, who ordinarily had plenty of comebacks, went red and spluttered. “I--wh--that doesn’t count! I wasn’t saying it! I was just saying it! Wait, no, I meant--” he made a frustrated sound and shot him a look. “It doesn’t count, Pigsy!”  

“Sure it doesn’t,” Pigsy said, turning away, and smirking in a way he knew would rile him up further.

True to his expectations Tang seemed to get even redder. “You’re the worst, you know that, right? The absolute worst.”

“Mm,” Pigsy agreed, studying the glass in front of him with a small smile. “I sure am.”

They fell into silence for a moment. An old song played through the speakers, one Pigsy remembered hearing from a radio on an old wooden porch that gave him more than a few splinters in his fingers and feet when he was little.

“Being drunk sucks,” Tang finally decided, breaking the silence.

Pigsy turned to him. “I could have told you that. But it’s not really all that bad unless you drink too much, which you seem to have.”

“I can’t words right,” Tang complained, throwing his hands up in the air and then flopping down over the counter.

“Must be tough,” Pigsy said, giving him a consoling pat on the back of his shoulder.

“The worst,” Tang said, his voice muffled due to the way it was pressed into the counter. Pigsy tried not to grimace at the thought of how many hands had touched the surface. He’d need to make sure he showered when they got back before he got into bed.

“I’m sad,” Tang said suddenly, without moving.

Pigsy stilled.

“Yeah?”

Tang nodded, his face still pressed against the counter.

“You wanna tell me why?”

“Dumb stuff.”

“It’s not dumb if it’s making you sad.”

“I’m dumb,” Tang said.

He didn’t like the sound of that.

“No, you’re not,” Pigsy said, frowning. He’d never heard Tang call himself dumb before, or anything of the negitive sort, even in joking. He was usually bragging about himself, not… whatever this was.  

“I am.”

He almost argued further but realized it might be a little pointless to do that with someone who was pretty drunk.

“I’m the biggest dumb,” Tang continued. He peeled himself off the counter and sat up, pressing his hands down on the counter surface. “I--I’m dumber than--than--” he made a frustrated sound when he couldn’t seem to find the right word.

“I’m dumb,” he finally settled on. His hands slid off the counter onto his lap and his shoulders slumped as he stared down at the counter with a dejected look.

Pigsy watched him for a moment, but that seemed to be the end of his outburst. He’d never been good with this kind of stuff, so he just said the first thing that came to mind.

“I don’t think you’re dumb.”

Tang looked up at him. “...really?” His voice was a lot smaller than usual, and he was looking at him like his opinion actually meant something to him.

Pigsy considered aborting, but the way Tang was looking at him convinced him to shove down his discomfort and keep talking.

He sighed, turning to him fully and looked him in the eye. “Tang, you’re the smartest person I know. You know more random facts and history than anybody. You see things a lot of other people don’t,  you understand stuff better than most scholars, and you’ve probably read more books than everyone I know combined. You’re not dumb.”

Tang stared at him for a moment, then his lip wobbled and that was all the warning Pigsy had before he was crying.  

“Oh, and you’re crying now, okay.”

An emotional drunk then. He really wished he was better at this.

Pigsy reached over hesitantly, and gave him an awkward pat on the back as Tang cried.  

“Not that kind of dumb,” he blubbered. He wiped his eyes with his sleeves, nearly knocking his glasses off as he did so. “I know I’m smart that way.”

Pigsy had to huff a laugh at that. “Glad to see your humility is still intact.”

“I’m dumb about something different.”

“And what would that be?” Pigsy asked, his hand still lingering on Tang’s shoulder.

“Doesn’t matter.”

“You’re crying, Tang.”

“That’s just ‘cause I’m drunk.”

“...well, you’re not wrong there.”

“Being drunk sucks.”

“Yeah, we established that already.”

“I’m terrible.”

Pigsy sighed. “You’re not terrible, you’re just drunk and you need some sleep.”

Tang sniffed, pausing for a moment, tears still escaping, then nodded haltingly. “Yeah. You’re right.”

“Glad you think so.”

“I’m ready to go home now.”

The warm fuzzy feeling Pigsy always got whenever he referred to his apartment as his home was interrupted when Tang tried to get up and nearly fell over. Pigsy caught him before his head could hit the side of the counter on his way down.

Tang scrabbled for a hold on his shoulders and sorta… hung off him for a moment, looking at him bewildered.

“Careful,” Pigsy chided, his hands firmly gripping his waist so he didn’t slip.

“Does the ground usually spin this much when you’re drunk?” Tang asked, blinking. “There’s two of you.”

“There’s one of me,” Pigsy corrected, heaving him up and pulling his arm up over his shoulder and wrapping his other around his waist. “And only if you’re really drunk.”

“I’m really drunk,” Tang decided.

“Yeah,” PIgsy said. “You’re a lightweight.”

“Is that bad?”

“No, because you aren’t drinking ever again, remember?”

“Oh. Right.”

They made their way out of the bar, Pigsy waving at the bartender on their way out. He just let them leave with a wave back, so Pigsy assumed Tang had already paid for his two drinks. That or the man had somehow convinced him to open a tab on his first night, which wasn’t completely impossible. He’d have to ask him tomorrow when he wasn't so out of it.

Tang valiantly tried to walk straight, but he still ended up stumbling and tripping and leaning all of his weight on Pigsy, not that he minded. He’d rather that, than him falling over and hurting himself. Honestly he would have gone so far as to hoist him up on his back so he wouldn't need to stumble around so much, but Tang was a lot taller than he was, and his legs would probably end up scraping the ground and it would be uncomfortable for him, so walking it was. Luckily his apartment wasn’t too far.

There was a decent amount of people on the streets; there always seemed to be some activity going on in the well lit city, but the walk home was mostly uneventful, aside from Tang pausing to throw up in a nearby garbage can.

“Never drinking again,” he mumbled over and over again once they started walking.

Pigsy figured he’d learned his lesson so he didn’t comment.

“Why does anyone ever drink?” he groaned.

“Cause not everyone is as affected by it as you are.”

“It tastes terrible, and it makes my brain fuzzy.”

“Then why’d you drink it in the first place?” Pigsy asked, shooting him an annoyed look.

That got him to shut up, and he was quiet for the rest of the walk back. Pigsy tried not to feel guilty about that, but he didn’t really succeed.

By the time they finally reached the apartment, Tang was pretty much dead weight, stumbling and finally just basically hanging limply off him, held up only by his arm around his waist as he fiddled with his keys to get the door opened one-handed.

Tang giggled as he fumbled with the keys.

“What?” Pigsy asked, scowling.

“Nothing,” Tang snickered, then tried to untangle himself from Pigsy’s grasp. “I can stand.”

“I really don’t think you can,” Pigsy told him, but let him escape, hands hovering just in case he fell. He wobbled a little, but remained on his feet, so Pigsy unlocked the door as quick as he could and pushed it open before turning to him, ready to help him inside.

“Wait!” Tang exclaimed loudly--much too loudly for a deserted hallway in an apartment building in the middle of the night.

“Shhh,” Pigsy said, then: “What?”

“I have something to tell you,” Tang whispered loudly, stepping forward and staggering a little, directly into his chest with a little omph sound.

Pigsy reflexively caught him, hands around his waist as Tang’s arms draped around his neck to hold himself up.

He giggled at the position. “You look taller like this.”

“Is that what you wanted to tell me?” Pigsy asked, giving him an unamused look.

“No, no,” Tang said, shaking his head and snickering. He opened his mouth to say whatever it was, but then Pigsy raised his eyebrow and he started laughing again.

“You sure this can’t wait?” he asked. “It’s late, and I’m sure that you want to sleep.”

Tang was already shaking his head. “No, no, I have to say it now, because I’m never drinking again, so this’ll be my own chance.”

“Tang--” Pigsy started, only to have a finger press over his lips, silencing him.

“Shhhh, shhhh,” Tang said, still giggling a little. “Be very serious, this is important.”

“Right,” Pigsy huffed, resisting to roll his eyes, even as a fond smile tugged at the corner of his lips. “I’m the one who needs to be--”

“I said shhhhhhh,” Tang said pressing his finger against his lips more firmly.

Pigsy did roll his eyes at that, but did as he asked and kept his mouth shut, then looked at him expectantly.

Tang looked back, a lot more seriously, without moving his finger.

They’re faces were kinda close, now that he thought about it. Pigsy really had no idea how they’d ended up in this position. Tang’s face was still flushed and his eyes still looked a little wet from when he was crying. His glasses were lopsided and smudged, and his hair a little more rumpled than usual. His breath smelled terrible, but Pigsy didn’t feel any urge to move, oddly enough.

Tang looked him right in the eyes, looking almost fully sober for a moment, then finally spoke, his voice unbearably soft.

“You have the prettiest eyes I’ve ever seen.”

Pigsy swore time itself halted.

His eyes darted across Tang’s face, looking for any sign of a joke, or humour in them, but he just kept looking at him with his soft, warm, sincere look, completely… serious.

Pigsy couldn’t say anything with Tang’s finger still pressed over his mouth, keeping it shut, and even if he could’ve he wasn’t even sure if it would have been anything other than a strangled, choked sound. All he could really do was stare at him, shocked, his eyes blown open wide and a raging fiery blush exploding across his face.

Tang finally lowered his hand and placed his arm around his neck again to keep himself from slipping. “I like you,” he said, as if he hadn’t already rendered Pigsy incapable of speech with his previous confession. “A lot.”

Their faces were really close. Tang’s arms were warm around the back of his neck, practically pulling him closer.

“You’re drunk,” Pigsy croaked.

“Yeah,” Tang agreed, still looking at him like that.

Pigsy swallowed, his mouth feeling like sandpaper, his mind scrabbling for a hold, coherent thought long gone by this point. Tang was… confessing to him. Tang had just confessed to him. Tang was also extremely close right now, and he could see every blink and movement of his eyes, and he was still looking at him.

“You don’t have to like me back,” Tang said, giving him a small, sad smile that might as well have stabbed him in the chest.

“Okay,” was the only thing that came out.

Tang didn’t look surprised, his sad smile staying as he finally got his feet under him and released his grip on Pigsy, taking a step back. He stumbled a little, Pigsy’s hands instinctively jerking out to catch him, even though he didn’t fall.

It did remind him just how drunk Tang was right now though. How much of this was even… real? Or was it all just the alcohol talking, making him tell him things that weren’t true for some reason.

(He sure looked sincere.)

No. No, he--no. Not right now. Tang was not in his right mind right now, and it was not the time to be making intoxicated decisions. Pigsy wasn’t exactly completely clear-headed either, and he certainly didn’t want to do anything they’d regret come the next morning.

Tomorrow.

He could figure this all out tomorrow.

Tang had started looking at the ground instead of him at some point, arms wrapped around himself like he was cold.

Pigsy forced himself to swallow and started forward. “Come on.” Any other words stuck in his throat so he just pulled Tang into the apartment after him and closed the door.

Things were mostly silent after that. Tang seemed to be done talking, and Pigsy didn’t know what to say, so they just descended into a silence, aside from a few “careful”’s from Pigsy and a few muttered apologies from Tang whenever he stumbled.

He got him to at least brush his teeth before he guided him back to the bedroom and let him flop face-down on the mattress. A shower would have to wait till tomorrow then, just like everything else. He made a note to wash the bedding, it was overdue for a clean anyways.

Tang rolled onto his back, starfished across most of the bed and stared up at the ceiling. “Do you hate me now?”

Pigsy froze where he was taking his socks off near the dresser. He looked at Tang who was still staring up at the ceiling.

That’s when it hit him.

I’m dumb.

Not that kind of dumb. A different dumb.

I have to say it now because I’m never drinking again and this might be my only chance.

He was the reason Tang had suddenly decided to try drinking out of nowhere. That’s why he wouldn’t tell him what was wrong. His problem was Pigsy. He was worried he’d… hate him?

Pigsy straightened up. “No,” he said firmly. Because he knew that much. No matter what tomorrow brought, he wasn’t going to let Tang think he hated him, not even for a second. “I don’t hate you, Tang.”

“Oh,” Tang said quietly.

Pigsy watched him lay there for a moment, then he was rolling over onto his side and curling up a little, facing the wall, his back to Pigsy.

Pigsy threw his socks in the dirty clothes hamper and headed over to the bed.

After a bit of effort he pulled the covers out from under Tang and then pulled them up again, this time over him so he was covered; he got cold easily at night. He carefully slid Tang’s glasses off and placed them in their usual spot on the windowsill. Tang didn’t say anything when he picked up the pillow and headed for the door.

Pigsy paused as he reached for the lights, looking back at where Tang was curled up under the covers.

He hesitated before speaking softly. “Goodnight, Tang.”

He flicked the lights off and closed the door behind him before Tang could respond, and hoped things weren’t too damaged to fix the next morning.

He grabbed the spare blanket out of the closet and laid down on the couch.

It took him a long time to fall asleep.

___________

Tang woke up with the worst headache he’d ever experienced.

He groaned and rolled over, wanting nothing more than to bury his face in his pillow and go back to sleep, away from the bright, headache-increasing lights that were filtering in through the bedroom window, but despite his efforts to fall back asleep, his mind seemed to be stubbornly awake.

“I’m never drinking again,” he muttered into his pillow. “Why did I do this?”

It only took a second before he remembered.

Right. Heartbreak. But not really since he hadn’t even asked yet. Pre-heartbreak? Or perhaps he was just mourning his complete cowardice. Whatever his reasoning, he’d gone and gotten drunk and couldn’t remember half of what had happened.

He’d… texted Pigsy, right? And Pigsy had shown up and taken him home, though that part was spotty at best. Had he thrown up on the way back? Ugh, this really got worse the more that he thought about it. His mouth tasted terrible, even though he had a dim memory of brushing his teeth, and… something about asking Pigsy if he hated him?

Wow. He was really never touching another glass of alcohol. It was dumb to have even done it in the first place, even after he’d made the commitment not to. He really needed to thank Pigsy for supporting his decision, even after he’d chosen to be an idiot and break his promise to himself. He felt terrible inside and out.

Wait. Pigsy.

He sat bolt upright, which was the second biggest mistake of his life (first being drinking in the first place,) and had to breathe through a pretty terrible increase in his headache.

“Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow.”

He was seriously never doing this again.

Once the headache had receded enough for him to see and not squint until he was half-blind, he found his glasses in their usual place on the windowsill next to him, and glanced beside him where Pigsy usually slept, only to find the space empty and his pillow missing.

Tang abruptly felt a little sick. Had he said something? Oh, gods, what had he said? Pigsy was not in the bedroom, and he’d taken his pillow which meant he probably slept on the couch, which hadn’t happened since… well, since Tang was the one sleeping on the couch when he’d first started staying with Pigsy. Whatever he’d done probably hadn’t been good.

He racked his brain, trying to remember what he’d said, but everything was a blur and he was only getting bits and pieces, he could barely even remember leaving the bar, let alone getting home, which meant there was at least a fifteen minute gap in his memory, and he hated it.

“I’m never drinking again,” he repeated aloud, his voice hoarse staring at the blankets draped over his lap.

“That’s probably the eight time you’ve said that,” Pigsy’s voice came, startling him, and making him whip his head around to look at where it had come from. Which was a mistake cause wow did abrupt movement’s make this headache a whole lot worse.

Pigsy stood in the doorway, looking at him. He was wearing his pajamas: a white tank top and gym shorts, and he looked tired, but there was a small smirk on his face.  

“Well, it’s true,” Tang managed to snark back before he could stare too long.

Pigsy wordlessly entered the room and made his way over to him. It was only when he got closer that Tang noticed the glass of water in his hands. His throat and mouth were pretty dry, now that he thought about it.

Pigsy sat on the edge of the bed, his weight causing the mattress to dip a little, and handed Tang the glass. “Drink that. Then you’re gonna want some food.”

“Dunno if I’m up for eating,” Tang admitted, accepting the glass.

“Trust me, it’ll help,” Pigsy said as he chugged the glass.

“Well,” Tang said, wiping away some of the water that had ended up at the corners of his mouth. “This is my first, and last time doing this, so I’ll have to take your word for it.”

Pigsy hummed, seeming distracted. He looked tired, and Tang wondered if he’d had trouble sleeping on the couch. Which quickly reminded him that there was a reason Pigsy had apparently slept on the couch, a reason he didn’t know because he’d been an idiot and gotten drunk, which apparently didn’t take all that much for him.

He tapped the half empty glass as he held it, looking down at the contents. “Did I… say anything...last night?” he finally managed to ask haltingly.

When he glanced up, Pigsy was looking at him, expression unreadable. He didn’t say anything, which only made Tang’s nervousness and worry increase.

“I don’t,  uh…” he bit his lip. “...exactly remember all that much.”

Pigsy was quiet for a moment. “What do you remember?”

Not a great sign. If he hadn’t said anything, Pigsy just would have told him that and been done with it. Him asking was concerning.

“Not much,” Tang confessed, going back to tapping the glass in his hands, trying to calm down his anxiety with the movement. “I remember you stealing my drink--thanks for that, by the way.”

“Don’t mention it.”

Tang swallowed before continuing. “And I remember leaving? A little? Did I throw up on the sidewalk?”

“In a garbage can.”

Tang groaned, pulling his knees to his chest and letting his forehead drop to rest against his knees. “I am so sorry.”

“It happens,” Pigsy said, with a shrug, still looking preoccupied.

He didn’t say anything and Tang watched him for a moment.

“Did I do anything weird?” he finally gathered the courage to ask, not really sure if he wanted to know the answer.

Pigsy looked back at him. “Why do you assume you did something weird?”

“...because you slept on the couch,” Tang said, looking back down at the glass.

Pigsy didn’t respond to that, so he continued.

“Whatever it was, I’m sorry. I probably didn’t mean it. I don’t know what exactly happens when you're drunk. It usually makes you say things you normally wouldn’t,” he looked up at Pigsy. “Right?”

Pigsy was watching him, very still. Then he nodded, once, slowly.

“Still friends?” Tang asked, almost nervously, fearing the answer.

Pigsy’s eyes had drifted away slightly but snapped back to look at him. He studied him for a moment, making Tang more nervous with every second that passed, until he seemed to come to a decision and finally nodded. “Yeah.”

Tang couldn’t quite stop the rushing exhale of relief that crashed into him, his shoulders sagging slightly, and his death grip on the glass he hadn’t realized he’d had relaxed. “Oh, good.” He let out a big breath and then offered Pigsy a smile. “Whatever it was, I’m really sorry.”

“It’s alright,” Pigsy said, standing up. “It wasn’t anything important anyways, don’t worry about it.”

Not important. He wanted to feel relieved at that, but it didn’t match with the fact that Pigsy had slept on the couch.

“Finish that,” Pigsy instructed him, rooting through the drawers and pulling out some fresh clothing. “Make sure you take a shower, and there’s breakfast in the kitchen.”

“Okay,” Tang said.

“I’ve gotta get to work,” Pigsy said. “You think you’ll be okay?”

“It’s just a hangover,” Tang said, waving his concern aside. “I’ll be fine.”

Pigsy nodded, then hesitated for a moment before nodding again and then heading out of the room. “You can stay here until you’re feeling better. See you later, Tang.”

“Bye, Pigsy,” Tang called, as he shut the door. His own volume made him wince. He hadn’t realized how quiet Pigsy was being. He must’ve known noise made the headache worse. The thought that he was trying to keep it down just so Tang didn’t feel so awful made him smile a little.

He drained the rest of the water and slowly got up to find a change of clothes and take a shower.

Whatever he’d said or done, it hadn’t ruined their friendship, so maybe it really wasn’t anything important. He couldn’t help but feel a mixture of emotions though. On one hand, he was relieved he hadn’t managed to confess like he’d meant to, but on the other hand he hated that he’d chickened out, yet again. Even alcohol apparently couldn’t give him what he needed to say it.

Another day, another aborted confession, it would seem.

Who was he kidding? He had it good, he shouldn’t do anything that could mess that up--mess up the relationship he had. He could keep hating on himself for being a coward because so long as he had Pigsy that didn’t matter.

At least his stunt hadn’t driven him off.

Just another reason he loved the grump.

He groaned, pausing his search for fresh clothes to bury his face in a shirt.

He was a disaster.

~•`~ 

You bet Mk got up to all kinds of shenanigans and the noodle-shop was probably attacked or something immediately after Pigsy was gone lol 

Also, look like this might turn into something longer XD Feel free to scream at me; I’m screaming at myself lskdmfaowef 

WINTER I BLAME YOU FOR THIS 

[blursed-ninjago-ideas]

In the thief au could we maybe see some of Kai’s antics as Skylor’s Boyfriend/sugar baby/minion SPT

(Edit: oops! I got my Aus mixed up amd did villain vibe instead.)

I like the shorter things tonight.

--

“Mistress, we have secured trade in Metalvania, but we are still facing opposition form….” The grunt trailed off.

He was staring at the shirtless boy sitting on the arm of Mistress Skylor’s throne, eating chocolates.

“Go on.” She said, interrupting his bewilderment.

He cleared his throat and tried to continue.

“Right, the local gangs are still causing us some…um…”

Skylor sighed.

“What is it?” She asked in exasperation., adding an eye roll for good measure

“Who is he?” he finally asked.

The boy smirked while Skylor fixed him with a sharp glare. That was the moment he knew he had messed up. People that got that glare didn’t live long after. Gulping, and praying to any deity that would listen, he prepared for her ire.

Then something rare happened.

Her face smoothed over with understanding.

“Ooh! Right! You’ve been out of the country for a while!” she said to herself.

Was he not about to die?

“This is my associate, Kai. He is the master of fire and the brother of the Ninjago Empress. We’ve secured an alliance with her and her team.”

That was big. Getting in good with the Empress and her team meant they were guaranteed almost anything they needed or wanted. Resources, access, influence, the list went on.

The weight of it could almost physically knock him over. He was in the presence of what was almost the most powerful and influence person on the face of Ninjago. His sister may’ve been the one with the ambition, but Kai Smith was practically the only one that could talk the demon Lloyd Garmadon out of hurting someone.

He would make sure to respect Kai. Even if he wasn’t wearing a shirt.

--

Where did his shirt go this time? Who knows?!?

-Ivy