Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Ninjago City news and gossip went hand in hand together. 

I thought that it was funny at first. I would giggle with my friends, talking about who we thought the cutest ninja was. 

When I was younger I always said the Blue Ninja, I thought his interviews were hilarious and charming in an odd way. 

But then a certain boy in emerald green saved my life.

Since then my whole life changed completely. Any stability I had fell down completely. Any history I previously knew wasn’t true anymore. With the sudden realization that I had to help save Ninjago. 

I wish I could say that things only went up from there. 

But then ghosts, gangs, witches, gods, and some of the most family drama I’ve ever dealt with- it all filled my days.

…

Oh.

Did I mention that I accidentally raised one of Ninjago’s greatest villains by complete and utter accident? 

Because I totally did. 

Chapter Text

Every day was the same.

Wake up, check commissions, cry over said commissions, get dressed, go downstairs, yap with Dad, eat breakfast, go to classes, go for coffee with Caden and the girls, go home, work on commissions, eat dinner, open my bedroom door and yell goodnight to Dad, then at the very end of the day I go to bed.

Then do it all over again. 

And I fucking hated it. But it was everything that I had to do in a day to keep things on track. If I didn’t get all of this done then everything was for nothing and I was going to wind up a failure. 

But that’s all just what I told myself. 

Nothing ever changes. 

꩜ ‧.°. 𖦹.°.‧ ꩜‧.°.𖦹 .°.‧

Knock Knock

My eyes groggily opened as I slowly looked around my room a little bit. Already upset that my alarm woke me up from what I could only vaguely remember as a incredible dream. 

…

Wait. That wasn’t my alarm.

…

“The hell?...” I questioned as I carefully lifted my head and looked around my little messy apartment room. An empty coffee cup on my bedside and clothes littering my floor. 

“Hey kid. I think you slept in!” My Dad’s voice yelled softly on the other side of the door. Speaking carefully as if he was talking to a wild animal.

“Huh?” I called out as I looked around my room. Sitting up as I yawned again. But then I felt my stomach drop.

Any groggy feeling lept from my body as I jumped out of my bed. Pushing away any spinning feeling and black clouds in my vision from standing to quick. 

…I slept in. I never sleep in. What the-

I pushed myself to my bedroom door stumbling and almost tripping over my old paint covered converse, yelping out a curse as I caught myself by grabbing hold of my dresser. 

“Honey, are you okay? Maybe you should email your professors about staying home-” My father was cut off when I almost slammed the door open into his face. My Dad looked a little startled and tilted his head as he looked at me. “You don’t look too good hun. I-”

“What time is it?” I frantically asked as I realized that he already had on his brown suit jacket and orange and brown striped tie. Not to mention his combed out hair. The fact he was already dressed for work when I was only in my pjs wasn’t exactly the best sign.

With a hand running through his brown hair my pops spoke with a little shrug. “Maybe 8:30? I only realized you weren’t awake because you weren’t there pouring your coffee like normal-” 

I cut him off again though with slamming my door closed. Almost screaming another curse as I started to scramble around.

That only earned me a small and defeated mutter from my Dad about being careful with the doors. 

But I really wasn’t listening because I was trying to pull on some black jeans without falling over. 

꩜ ‧.°. 𖦹.°.‧ ꩜‧.°.𖦹 .°.‧

By the time I had pulled on my pants, a cropped flower and lace shirt, and a light jacket ; my dad had already left for work. 

It was weird though. It's really weird to be alone in the apartment for breakfast.

Dad left some toast and bacon for me so I just ate it as quickly as possible in order to get out of there.

My Dad ran his own dojo downtown of Ninjago City. He was also a substitute teacher though for the same highschool that I used to attend. He was busy a lot of the time but he always kept an eye on me growing up. In an odd way my Dad was probably my closest friend.

I still lived with my Dad in our little two room apartment. Currently I was trying to get through college. Majoring in Theater and Art. I would have loved to have my own apartment or live in the dorms but I didn’t exactly have the money to get my own place. I also didn’t want my Dad to feel like he had to cough a ridiculous amount of money. Besides I don’t think I could let myself just leave my Dad alone in the apartment. 

My Parents had both been divorced for a while. Since I was 14 or around there. Eventually my mom decided that she couldn’t stay in the city anymore because it was too painful for her. They just fell out of love I guess. So when my little sister got accepted into some big private girls academy in Jamanakai, she took the chance and moved over there with my sister.

Alexis was my baby sister. Even though it was only by two years, she had moved in with my mom after our parents separated. She was worried about how my mom would handle being alone in a brand new town. Same as I was worried about Dad. We made kind of this unofficial agreement that I would stay with Dad and she would stay with Mom. Just to make sure they were both okay. She didn’t come to Ninjago City a lot to visit because it was cheaper for just me to fly down there rather than having both her and my mom fly down. 

My Dad never went with me though, just staying home in the apartment by himself. Watching trashy rom-coms and eating an ungodly amount of takeout and ice cream.

But oh well, adults will be adults.

On the bright side though, at least there will always be Alexis when I need her. My hair dye, ninja loving, absolute dork of a little sister. 

I ended up half running out of the apartment and down the hall to the elevator. Quickly pressing the lobby button before leaning up against the wall. My bag slinged across my shoulder and a coffee in my hand. 

I didn’t even process it when suddenly there was a guy jumping into the elevator with me and leaning against the other elevator wall. Hand on his chest as he caught his breath. The door closed pretty quick after the boy got in, he almost startled me. 

It was quiet for a while before he spoke up. “Cool jacket.” He complimented. 

I looked away from my coffee and to the guy.

Platinum blonde hair, tan skin with light freckles dotting across his nose and cheeks. His outfit was just a wrinkled white shirt and some ripped jeans. A green jacket that was almost the same as my teal one I currently had on. 

His jacket was also half off. Only his elbows keeping it on as he tried to pull on the most beat up black hightop converse that I think I have ever seen. 

Watching the half dressed guy tie his shoes I awkwardly shifted my weight as I stood there. I really didn’t want to talk to some random guy in this tiny ass elevator. But god damn my manners.

“Oh uh, thanks.” I replied while I slung my little stitched bag over to the other shoulder.  

He got his shoes fully on his feet and pressed his back against the elevator. Catching his breath that he had lost when running to catch the elevator. His untied shoe laces just flopped around at his feet.

Both of us were just quiet and I just watched the buttons on the elevator as we headed all the way down to the lobby. 

“You like ninja?” He suddenly asked out of the blue, as he pressed his back against the elevator and lifted one of his feet to start tying one of his shoes.

I kinda just stood there. “What.” I was quickly beating myself up in my head because of just how deadpan and bitchy I sounded. I didn’t want to be one of those jerks who just rolled their eyes when people tried to talk to ‘em.

He looked back at me now looking a little awkward too. “You’re Lightning Ninja pin?” He nodded his head to my stitched up bag.

Sure enough there was my Lightning Ninja pin attached to the strap of my bag. It was just a simple little enamel pin that showed him holding little nunchucks. Me and my friends had all gotten little matching ones. Each of us chose one of the ninja. I had picked Jay because to be honest he had always been my favorite. In interviews he was always laughing and chatting. Not to mention he was always so sweet to the Water Ninja. Who was always a close second favorite of mine. 

“Oh uh yeah- He’s kind of my favorite. I’ve got matching ones with my friends.” I explained a lot more awkwardly than I would have liked. The words made odd lumps in my mouth as I tried to be casual. 

He gave a curt nod as he pulled his jacket back onto his shoulders the right way. I noticed the odd little scuffs and mismatched color stitchings that were probably from him ripping it over the course of however long he had it. 

“Nice.” He said with a curt nod. It was kind of quiet after that but after about half a minute he started back up again. “I’ve always been a pretty big Green Ninja fan myself. I have the costume and everything for him.” He said, running his hands through his bleach blonde hair casting a half smile with his pearly whites. 

“Yeah, I can tell.” I said in response as I just tapped the side of my leg awkwardly as I just tried to get through what felt like the longest elevator ride of my life. He looked nothing short of confused -and maybe a little nervous- as I gestured to his outfit. “You’re wearing a lot of green.” I looked at my own scuffed up shoes. 

Great! Forgot I can’t hold a conversation like a normal person!

“I guess I do wear a lot of green.” He chuckled out with a still awkward edge.

Then, like a light of heaven and a blessing from the First Spinjitzu Master himself-

The Elevator doors gilded open as soon as it stopped.  

I was the first to leave the elevator, sending a quick text to my best friend who had already texted me about 3 times. Just the usual things about asking if I was going to be at the coffee shop soon. As well as a couple Green Ninja gifs.

… 

And also him asking if I had died or something since I am “never late”. 

He’s right, I’m never late. 

As I walked briskly along to get out of the apartment I suddenly watched as the boy in green walked a little ahead of me at a slight jog. 

You know what, if he wants to hold the door open for me then he can. I won’t deny casual politeness.

Looking down at my phone I couldn’t help but let out a tiny laugh about how Caden had probably sent me 14 gifs over the course of the past 30 seconds since I left him on read. 

“Yeah okay- I’m on my way Kai.” Glancing up I saw that the boy in fact was already out the door and holding it open for me. Holding the phone to his ear by pinning it between his head and shoulder while his other hand held the door open for me. 

I gave him a half smile and mouthed ‘thank you’ as I walked out of the lobby and into the busy streets of ninjago city. As I walked though I could hear the green jacket guy still speaking into his phone. “Look I’m sorry! Brad kept me up all night okay?”

Oh- okay, so Mr. Green Ninja Fan was most definitely leaving a one night stand. 

…

You know what? 

Good for him.

He’s sure as hell getting more than me.

꩜ ‧.°. 𖦹.°.‧ ꩜‧.°.𖦹 .°.‧

Class was pretty much the same as always. I did get there 10 minutes late. But the professor was still late like always. 

Coffee after class was what I always looked forward to. The school had a free program for college kids where they could get a free cup of coffee each day. It was sponsored by Cyrus Borg, the big time inventor who had only ever meant for the good of the city and the whole of Ninjago.

Walking there after class I just had my headphones in as I nodded along to the beat of the music. The Fold had always been one of my favorite bands of course, me and Caden had actually gotten to go and see a concert for them in our last year of highschool. My Dad wanted to show how proud he was that I graduated top of my class so he coughed up the money to get me and Caden a hotel room and the tickets. That was also where we met two more of our group actually!

I could see the coffee shop now and couldn’t help but smile. Since as students most of us got free coffee we kind of made the place our little meet up spot. That booth in the back corner practically should have our names carved into it due to how much we hung out there. 

But then I almost screamed when somebody wrapped their arm around my shoulders, pulling me into they’re side. I ended up only letting out a little squeak as I whipped my head around to look at who it was. But seeing who it was I couldn’t help but smile at him. 

“Caden! Hey!” I said with a little laugh as I looked at him and pulled out one of my headphones. Letting myself half lean on him as we walked. 

Caden was a tall and beautiful boy with short blonde curly hair and crystal blue eyes. He often dressed like a teacher with his 1930’s fashion style. Today it was just a long sleeved white collared shirt. Along with a green sweater vest and some black slacks. It made sense though, he wanted to be a teacher someday, and he definitely looked the part of one. He was also our group’s green ninja. His matching pin on his fancy messenger bag.

To anyone who walked by and saw us, and saw me with the tall boy they probably assumed that we were a couple on a walk. 

But anyone close to us knew that couldn’t be farther from the truth. Caden was gay and definitely had no interest in me whatsoever. And I didn’t mind. He was my bestest friend in the whole wide world. No one understood me like he did. And no one understood him like I did.

“Hey, What’s up?” Caden replied back as he looked forward while we walked, his other hand holding the strap of his messenger bag. “You slept in a lot longer than usual. It got to the point I had to text your Dad to check in on you.” 

“Why the hell do you have my Dad’s number?” I joked back as I took my hand and gave him a light shove. Making him stumble to the side a little bit. 

He just rolled his eyes in response and went back to walking in step next to me. “From the countless times I had to call him to invite you over when your mom grounded you. Duh .” 

Letting my eyes roll we eventually made it to the coffee shop. With me holding the door open for the both of us. Siding inside behind Caden I noticed that only two people from our group were sitting at the tables.

Kyrie was definitely on break because her work apron had just been taken off and sat next to her. She worked full time at the coffee shop and was the one who got us hooked up with all our free muffins and cake pops. One of her oversized cardigans covered her like a blanket as she leaned against the seat. With her eyeliner, dark eyes, and pretty blonde and pink hair, me and the others often teased her that she looked like a fashion doll. Like one of the ones you look at as a little kid and go “woah.”.  She owned it like no tomorrow. She was our groups Red Ninja. Her pin was always fastened to her work apron.

She may be quiet but she knew when to say something, and when she did it was scary.

Sitting next to her was Lane who was currently rambling about something on her computer and how she was upset it wasn’t sending in an audition or something. She was an aspiring actress and model. Trust, she had the talent. Tall, black hair that made the most gorgeous waves and light gray eyes. She was a lot more talkative to Kyrie, often rambling on and on. She was our group's Earth Ninja, her pin fastened to the front pocket of her shorts. To be honest though we all knew that she only chose the Earth Ninja because he was all that was left really. Out of all of us she was the only one who couldn't care less about how popular the ninja were. 

Walking over I slid into the seats next to Kyrie who gave me a little smile and wave before lulling her head back again. “They had me here at 4am. I hate coffee.” She mumbled under her breath with a groan as she relaxed. 

I just gave her a little pat on the back. “You work at a coffee shop babes. You’re gonna be up early.” I lightly teased letting her go to lean on my shoulder. 

Caden gestured to the counter. “I’ll go grab us some coffee. ‘You want the usual?” He gestured to me. After seeing my little nod he walked off and got in line. 

There were technically two other people in our group. But one of them was currently in classes and the other was my little sister all the way in Jumanikai. 

“So? How we’re your classes?” Lane asked, tilting her head as she looked up at me from her laptop. Putting aside her work so that she could make eye contact with me. Something that she always did when speaking to people.

I almost jumped right into saying that it was great, but I paused. “Well it was actually kinda weird…” I spoke hesitantly as I rubbed the back of my neck glancing around the little coffee shop just to break eye contact so that I didn’t have to lie directly to her face. Lane was always the protective one of the group after all. She also had the tendency to worry. 

“Really?” Kyrie questioned, immediately sitting up straighter and looking at me with an eyebrow raised. “You do the same thing all the time though.”

“Ouch, damn Ky-”

“Oh I don’t mean it like that.” Kyrie waved me off before continuing. “You just always follow such a strict schedule is what I mean.”

I pointed at her. “Exactly!” I leaned back into the booth. “I woke up late! Like so late! I didn’t wake up to my alarm or anything! My dad had to wake me up!” I complained gesturing out with my arms. 

Kyrie tilted her head at me. “Aw, how is Dareth doing?” 

Lane being ever formal gave her a look. “Ew, just call him Mr. Brown. Hearing his first name is weird as hell.”

Rolling my eyes I just continued. “Anyways, I woke up so late that while I was scrambling out the door I ended up in the elevator with some random ass guy.” 

Suddenly Caden showed up next to me. Leaning over to set my coffee next to me before sliding next to me with an eyebrow raised. The smell of hazelnut and chocolate wafting through the air. “Oh do tell~” He said as he laughed and nudged my shoulder with his own. 

Chapter Text

The day went pretty much as normal after that. I told my friends about the guy I met in the elevator, we joked around for a little bit until Kyrie had to get back to work. Lane decided to stay and order another coffee so that she could work a little more on her laptop and try to upload her audition to whatever site she needed to.

Caden walked me home and I got right back to work like most nights, being an art student definitely wasn’t for the weak. But I loved art, so I sucked it up and would just work through all of it. 

Most of the time I did more cartoon-like ones where people would just commission me to draw their own characters. But most of my work for art school was more realistic oil and acrylic paintings. That was my true passion, I don’t know what exactly I’d do to get more of that kind of commission other than maybe doing fancy portraits for rich people. But most people don’t want to pay that much so I got more commissions for my cartoon style. 

Oh well, whatever gets me that cash I guess.

But-

I guess life just decided to give me a big ‘ol “screw you”. Because no matter what I was doing it felt like I couldn’t draw anything. Commissions were how I helped my Dad out with groceries, and also my extra spending money. It felt like no matter what I was drawing tonight though it was just crap. Nothing felt good enough. 

꩜ ‧.°. 𖦹.°.‧ ꩜‧.°.𖦹 .°.‧

Sitting at the table I used my fork to poke around the noodles and stir fry that I had in front of me. My Dad was talking about some funny story from work, and as much as I wanted to listen I just couldn’t bring myself to pay attention, my mind just thought about my current art piece. 

What kind of messed up God made hands so hard to draw?

As I pondered on my totally original thought my Dad stopped talking the second he heard a song from The Fold start to come from my phone, also known as my ringtone I’ve had ever since I got a phone. 

I glanced over and saw that it was Caden so I quickly answered. “Hey what’s up?”

“Get dressed, we’re going out.” His voice said as I could hear his car start. 

Groaning mentally I wanted to tell him to screw off, but to be completely honest I didn’t even have the energy to do that. It’s not that I didn’t like parties, but it was already like 7 at night.

“It’s 7 at night, I’m not going to a party.” With that I hung up and went back to picking at my stir fry dinner. I finally got the nerve to take a bite of my food when suddenly ABBA started playing, one of my Dad’s favorite songs and his ringtone. I watched him look at the number and choke back a laugh before lifting it to his ear. “Why hello Caden! Been a while huh?” I watched as my Dad smiled while he looked right back at me with his caramel eyes.

Oh Caden, you mother fu-

“Why of course she’s free! All she’s been doing is her art. But to be honest I think she needs a break.” My Dad spoke into the phone before putting a bite of his food into his mouth, all while he probably listened to Caden thank him. 

The second my Dad hung up I just stared back at him. “Why must you hate me?”

He only looked back at me with a smile. “Trust, you’re going to thank me when you're an adult and you have fun party stories to tell your own kids.” 

“I can’t even believe you right now.” I said blankly with a groan leaning my head against the back of my chair.

But my Dad, being my Dad. Just laughed at me. “Say- I ever tell you about how I threw a guy off a balcony ?”

Letting out yet another groan I just took my plate and my tea. “It was a raised porch, and the guy landed in the pool .”

He leaned back in his chair as he took a swig of his tea. “Eh, I was aiming for the tree line.”

Ignoring my dad I just walked back over and into my room. Closing the door behind me as I listened to my Dad’s little giggles as he thought about his younger years. The story he was talking about was one that me and Alexis had heard just about a hundred times while we grew up. 

Apparently , my Mom (being the absolute bombshell that she is) always had guys hitting on her, she didn’t attend school with anyone but she was homeschooled in a nearby temple. At a party one night there was this guy that just wouldn’t leave her alone. Now, my mom was tough and she could handle her own pretty well. But she had already had a couple cups of the infamous spiked punch. But of course my Dad had been there. He told the guy to screw off and that my mom wasn’t interested and already had a boyfriend. 

For some reason the guy didn’t believe my Dad though. Not seeing past looks. My Dad back in the day really hadn’t been that unattractive. But he wasn’t the most popular guy in the school. Captain of the karate team he did have girls who liked him. But it wasn’t like he had a fanclub or anything. Some people found it wild that the absolute goddess, my mom, was absolutely in love with the brunette dork.

Needless to say since my dad was pretty strong he just picked the guy and threw him right off the edge of the railing. Causing the guy to go tumbling into the pool all while everyone else laughed at him.

My dad always used to tell the story and back when mom still lived here, she would just laugh along.

Moral of the story? My dad’s a dork.

I was in the middle of pulling out a hoodie to shove on before going out when I got a text from Caden. Opening the message it was a photo of him. Taken in his old looking white car as he was stopped at a light. Black short sleeve dress shirt half unbuttoned. Sharp eyeliner and his curly hair definitely had some kind of glitter in it.

There was someone else in the passenger seat but I couldn’t really make out who it was.

Caden knew me well enough to not bring someone brand new for me to meet on the outing. So I just assumed that it was one of the girls.

Judging by how Caden was always the best dressed I just did a little less than what he did. Simple red off the shoulder crop top, black boyfriend shorts that I did in fact actually steal from a man, and a brown leather jacket. Light makeup and just a little more red gloss than normal and I was good to go just in time for Caden’s call.

I yelled yet another quick goodbye to my dad before heading out.

Walking down the hallway and to the elevator I messed with my hair and noticed Caden spamming my phone as I walked. All sweet and funny gifs, all begging me to come outside so that way we could “get this show on the road”. I just smiled at my phone and slipped it back into my bag as I walked. Getting into the elevator I just pressed the lobby button and leaned against the wall next to the door. 

Closing my eyes and mentally preparing myself for the party, my thoughts were cut off by the sound of thundering footsteps running down the hallway. 

I didn’t even get the chance to go and look over before a blonde came flipping into the elevator with me.

That’s right.

Flipping.

I watched some blonde boy do a fucking back handspring into the elevator. Thankfully I hadn’t moved from my spot at all so he didn’t accidentally hit me. But I watched him just land on his feet and fix his jacket as he chuckled to himself. The elevator doors closed as he did so.

All I did was just watch on though.

“Hah!” He giggled as he turned and leaned against the metal railing. “Another win for the gre-” 

Then his eyes fell on me.

There was this odd pause as I realized something, I knew this guy. I ran into him early this morning when I was running late.

…

Complete silence. 

God come on, say something. Anything!

“You uh, you were saying?” I asked as I raised an eyebrow at him. “Please, don’t let me interrupt your train of thought.” I kind of chuckled out in a half taken disbelief.

He just looked at me for a moment. Had he not been so embarrassed, I might have been a little creeped out thinking he was checking me out or something.

“Uh nothing, just happy I made it?” His voice came out more as a question rather than a statement.

I gave a tightlipped smile as I nodded and looked back at my phone. 

In the corner of my vision I watched as he just stayed where he was. Must be going to the lobby like me so he didn’t need to push any buttons.

Eventually he pulled out his own phone and started to type again so I stole a glance again. 

Still the same guy but now he had his jacket zipped up and there was some kind of turtleneck sticking out a little bit. Along with what looked like…green cargo pants? I had no idea but the pants clearly had lots of big pockets. It was apparent the guy really likes green.

I put down my phone as I saw Caden start to spam my phone acting like he was all offended that I wasn’t yet at his car. Sliding my phone into my bag again, I suddenly heard the guy speak up.

“So uh, going for a night out?”

Glancing over I tried to give a somewhat normal and casual response. “Oh uh… yeah. Friend of mine invited me out. Knowing him, it’s probably going to end with me being the designated driver.” I joked a little. 

He smiled back at me and this time it wasn’t as awkward as the other times. “Well I hope you have fun. Ninjago city is absolutely incredible at night.” He commented. “Just be careful. Buddy system is your best friend.” He laughed like it was a joke but listening to him, it sounds like there was a bit of bite with that warning.

I gave back a little laugh before speaking. “Sooo,” I trailed off in thought. “You live on the floor?” I asked.

The guy laughed a little. “I mean not really. My best friend lives here and sometimes I just stay over.” He explained. “I live outside the city with my parents.” He stopped though awkwardly just shutting up.

I realized why pretty quickly. “Hey, no judgement. I live here with my Dad. Plus I’m in art school. If anyone here is lame it’s me.” I joked as I gave him a little laugh.

He lit up a little as if realizing we were kind of similar. “Oh nice. Art school sounds cool. A friend of mine is attending Borg’s art institute.”

Brightening up a little I continued. “No way! That’s where I go. What’s their name?" I asked as I put my hands into the pocket of my jacket. 

“Cole Brookstone. He’s a great guy. You wouldn’t guess it from the whole grunge look he has going on, but he does a lot of traditional Chinese style art.” He explained gesturing out with his hands a little.

I racked my brain for a second trying to remember if I knew any Cole. But I came up with nothing. “Doesn’t sound familiar, but I’m not exactly super popular at college.” I said with a little laugh. 

“No, there’s no way. I mean even just talking to you here is great.” He laughed out, his laugh was the most beautiful thing I had ever heard if I was being honest. Bright and so light, just like the sun. His teeth had that nice and pretty white shine to them as his smile went wide.

Shaking my head I nodded. “Yeah totally crazy I know, but it’s true.”

Before we could even continue talking there was that pretty sounding bell and the doors slid right on open.

Looking back at me he just smiled, I gave back a smile and started on my way out of the elevator. And down the hall, eventually going out the door. I would have walked with the stranger and held the door open for him like how he had earlier this morning, but he seemed to be checking something on his phone. Walking out  of the building though I suddenly heard a call out to me. 

“Hey! Could I get your name?” His voice was nervous and a little shaky as he spoke. 

Glancing over my shoulder I smiled at him. “Y/n Brown, you?” I asked back with a little laugh. His gaze was bright and a little less nervous.

“Lloyd.”

I turned my body back to look at him, facing him directly. “There a last name to go along with that?” I asked.

His gaze didn’t dampen as he just put his hands in his pockets and beamed at me. “Nope, just Lloyd.”

“Alright then, just Lloyd, I’ll see you around.” Was all i said before turning around and walking off to where Caden’s car was parked on the side of the road in a fashion that was most likely -scratch that- definitely illegal.

There was some kind of 90’s pop playing from the inside that was definitely going to blow out my ear drums. 

“Come on! Let’s get this party started!” A high pitched voice called from the open passenger side window.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-

Okay a bit of a freak out on my end. But it was already late and I didn’t exactly have the mental energy to deal with… her.

Sliding into the seat behind her I gave Caden and her a smile. “Hey guys, what's up?” I asked as I sat my bag on the floor and buckled in. 

“Oh you know the usual.” Caden said with a shrug as he started the car back up again. “Thought it would be good for all of us to go out though. Get a little bit of fresh air.”

“You definitely need it.” The soft voice of the redhead said as I watched her check her nails. Perfect emerald green that was never chipped or cracked.

I didn’t hate Ana. I mean who could? She was perfection at its finest.

Soft red hair and dark doll-like eyes. Shiny straight teeth and smile lines. Light laughs and perfect fashion. She had that kind of old fashioned style like Caden, it's how they connected in the first place anyways. That’s how I met her too. Our group's resident White Ninja. Her matching pin was always attached to any hair bow that she wore, since she wore one virtually everyday. If I was a moth then she was the light, she knew it too. 

“Yeah, I guess I do. Where are we going?” I asked while messing with my hair a little bit.

“Oh there's this cute little place that I found and I know a guy who works there.” Ana explained as I watched her touch up her lips in the mirror. She always made everything look so effortlessly pretty.

Before I could say anything though Caden chimed in. “So who was the guy?” He asked with a glance at me in the rearview mirror.

I gave a little shrug. “He said his name was Lloyd. That was the guy I mentioned earlier this morning.” As I explained I went to glance out the back window just to see if I could see him. But he was already long gone.

“What guy?” Caden questioned before suddenly a big smile broke onto his face. “NO WAY- HOOKUP GUY?” He yelled while driving. Someone on the sidewalk casted a glare at him as we drove by.

This grabbed Ana’s attention and her eyes snapped over to Caden. “Wait, Y/n hooked up with a guy?”

“Nah it’s some guy who ran into her in the elevator this morning.” He explained with a shrug. He then glanced back at me through the rearview mirror. “You know he was actually pretty cute.” He teased with a little laugh.

“I mean yeah, he was.” I said nodding along. With the white blonde waves, perfectly tanned skin, and bright green eyes he definitely could pass for a model or actor if it wasn’t for his beat up looking clothes. “Said his name was Lloyd.”

Ana let out a little hum as she nodded along. “L names are pretty cute I guess.” For a second I felt my heart lift up a little bit. But then she let out a little sigh. “But honestly I wouldn’t go for it.” 

Annnnd there it is.

“Why?” I asked as I pulled out my phone just so that I didn’t have to look into her dark eyes.

She let out a little giggle and I watched her fluff her hair up in the mirror. “Oh come on, he’s left your apartment twice today. Clearly he’s got something more serious going on.” Ana noticed me looking at her through the mirror though as she smiled at me with her pearly whites. “You’re smarter than that, honey.”

I could feel any fight in my body as I looked at her. “Oh uh…yeah I guess so.”

Caden let out a little sigh. “Yeah... Unless it’s like a friends with benefits thing?” 

All I could muster up after that was a little shrug. 

So long, Lloyd.

꩜ ‧.°. 𖦹.°.‧ ꩜‧.°.𖦹 .°.‧

I hate parties. I hate parties. I hate parties. I hate parties. I hate parties. 

1. HATE. PARTIES.

That was all my brain was thinking as I leaned against the wall with my cup of soda. Caden was sweet talking some bartender trying to get alcohol, trying to convince the poor guy that ‘What no I’m totally 23 and not 19.’ Ana was the smarter one however and just ended up hitting on some older guy to buy her drinks. No shame to either of them. I didn’t mind being the designated driver. 

My only fear ever was just that I would crash Caden’s beautiful car and he would never forgive me. That thing was basically his baby.

I texted my dad complaining but all I got in response was a “Have fun. Please?” So I kind of just decided that I might as well stay. 

Maybe I can sneak off  and call ‘Lex or something.

Thinking it through, since it was 8 she definitely wouldn’t be asleep. Since she was a night owl she was probably just playing video games or something. Glancing around I saw Caden being Caden, and Ana being Ana. 

…eh. They can last without me for 5 minutes.

Pulling out my phone I clicked her number as I started on my way to the door. Quickly I shot Caden a text telling him that I would be just outside the bar. Putting my phone to my ear I felt a smile come onto my face as my little sister picked up almost immediately. 

“Hey dumb dumb.” Alexis’ voice said into the phone as I listened to her type away on some computer. 

Walking outside I could smell the faint cigarette smoke and faint alcohol smell. I wasn’t bothered much by the smoke smell. My mom was a pretty big smoker for a while, only really giving it up in the time she was pregnant with me and Alexis. She gave it up around the time of the divorce though. Something about bettering herself.

“You're dumb dumb.” I retorted as I walked over and leaned against the brick wall. “What’s up?”

I heard my sister chuckle on the other end of the line. “You’re the one who called me. What are you doing?” She asked right back. I heard something clatter on her end of the line along with her muttering a soft curse as she went to pick up whatever she had dropped.

Rolling my eyes at her -even though she couldn’t see me- I held back a laugh. “Well I got put on designated driver duty. Caden and Ana wanted to party and Caden thought I had locked myself in my room.” 

“Well did ya?” Alexis questioned right back.

Letting out a groan I leaned my head against the brick behind me. “Well yeah, but it was so I could work.”

“You locked yourself in your room.” She stated firmly. “You do that a lot. You need to get out more.” She started out, I went to argue but she interrupted. “And I don’t just mean parties. I mean just going out in general. Take a walk or something .” She suggested.

“I live in the city.”

“Okay, and?” Alexis sassed back. “You can taze a bitch if you have to.”

Groaning yet again I put my hands in my pockets. “Alexis that’s not-”

Suddenly someone cut me off though. “Hey, hand over your wallet.”

“Caden, I'm not giving you my wallet. You have more money then both me and Ana combined.” I whined, not even looking away from the empty street to where I assumed Caden was standing next to me.

“ Bitch, give me the wallet.”

That made me freeze as it finally clicked in my mind. Caden would curse but he would never in his whole life say it like that especially in referring to me.

I went to turn and look at the stranger who stood next to me.

That’s when I felt something cold against my side. Even through my jacket I felt the freezing metal. The threat was subtle but clear. 

“Oh my god.” I managed to stutter out as I felt my body stiffen up. My face staring dead ahead at the empty street in front of me. The lights were still on but it was so isolated. I hadn’t realized it before at all, but now I did. 

This road was completely empty, the place Ana had taken us to was just towards the end of town. It wasn’t exactly rich but it wasn’t exactly the worst, just a little place with drinks and food. This part of town had a bunch of restaurants and that kind of thing. Maybe a little clothing store here or there. But genuinely it was just an area I had never been in before, me and Caden couldn’t figure out the google maps at all. Ana quite literally had to spoon feed us directions on how to get here.

“Y/n? You okay?” I heard Alexis ask over the phone, her tone questioning but not yet frightened. I guess she hadn’t heard the guy threatening me at all.

I had been robbed before, I mean we live in a city and as much as the ninja do, they aren’t gonna be there every second to save some rando from a mugging. But any other time I had been robbed I would just hand over my wallet and then cancel my cards, I didn’t carry a lot of cash anyways.

I’d never been held at gunpoint .

“Hand over the damn bag and phone.” The man’s gun jabbed deeper into my side, The digging into my skin made me wince, and out of reflex I went to lean away from him only to have him grab one of my shoulders and yank me closer just to dig his gun between my ribs and hip.

“Y/n?” Alexis’ voice was so much more quiet as well as it just sounded like it was under deeper water then I could ever comprehend.

I went to grab my bag. My Dad taught me how to defend myself and he always wanted me to be safe, but he’d never been the best teacher for me at the Dojo, always lenient on whether or not I practiced. Not to mention both he and my mother had always drilled into my head that my life was more important than some bag and money.

The second my hand grabbed the strap of my bag to take it off though, the man suddenly gave me a harsh shove right to the floor. I felt my shoulder collide with the concrete harshly with a sickening pop that was probably well needed considering my shrimp-like posture I had over my desk a lot of the time.

“I-I’m taking off my bag hang on-” I stuttered out as my hands wrapped around my bag yet again and I went to tug it off my body.

My eyes briefly for a second saw my little pin, two of my matching friends just inside, my sister was just on the other line of my phone which had just been tossed off to the side with a spiderweb crack already all across it. But I could still hear Alexis on the phone.

“Hey-”

“What’s going on?”

“Do I need to get Momma?”

My eyes flicked up to look at the man, still sliding off the strap of my bag. Dark clothes, a dark jean vest with patches all over, his face was half covered and his longer dark hair made it hard for me to see his eyes.

But the thing that made me stop was the fact the barrel of a gun was pointed right at my face.

“O-oh my god.” I stuttered out as I just looked at this tiny gun that could quite literally cause the end of my life before another heartbeat. “Dude- I’m literally in the middle of taking off my bag!” I squeaked out as I scrambled back a little bit.

Great. I’m gonna die outside a shitty bar, and my drunk friends are gonna stumble out and see my corpse, lovely.

“You really think I care?” He questioned back with a bit more of a laugh in his voice now.

A wave of disbelief washed over me. “You said you wanted my purse and phone! I’m giving you my purse! You can easily grab my phone!” I finally had gotten my bag tugged off and was now in the middle of holding it out to him. “Just take my stuff and leave me alone!” I stuttered out. 

I could almost hear my Dad’s voice reminding me of what to do and how if I was getting robbed I just needed to cough up the cash. It was better than me dying, being kidnapped, or worse.

“Well it’s fun. You’re like a mouse, scrambling back and stuff.” The guy said with a sick laugh before he flipped something on the gun that made a clicking sound.

He had the safety on this entire time I’ve been fearing for my life? 

Did I let out another embarrassing squeak and scramble back yet again? I definitely did. All the man did was laugh though, as he snatched my bag, continuing to point the gun at me. 

“Better be some good shit in here, or I will kill you.” It was supposed to be a threat but all he did with it though was laugh as if it was a sick joke.

"You know, there are easier ways to make friends than mugging people!" A higher male voice called out. Considering the situation he still seemed pretty cheerful. But in an odd way his voice picked up my own frightened mood.

The guy who was in the middle of mugging me muttered some kind of curse, and started to look around a little, trying to see where the voice had come from exactly.

I did the same and I suddenly caught the sight of someone in the shadows of the roof on an older building. Some other old arcade that wasn’t as popular anymore, clear by the amount of dust that it looked like had connected on the building. The figure didn’t look all that big or tall, just average. Dressed in some kind of blue outfit with his hood up, the shadows made it hard to see his face, but it also kind of looked like there was some kind of mask covering it.

Not saying anything I kind of just looked at the figure. If eyes could talk, mine were probably screaming ‘help me’.

He made some kind of hand signal, kind of holding up his hands and slowly lowering them a couple of times.

At first I was confused before I kind of realized. I hunched down a little bit, half falling onto my back. 

A part of me was honestly hoping that this blue guy would just shoot the mugger guy.

ZAP

Suddenly there was a powerful crack in the air and a flash of a blue light, as it flickered it almost hit me right before slamming the man right in the chest. The man let out a scream of pain and was flung back, landing on his back with a thump.

So uh, that definitely wasn’t any kind of bullet.

I half jumped backwards and scrambled back, staring in wonder at the man.  

Is that blue light really what I think it was?

Before I could wonder further suddenly someone's hands were on my shoulders lifting me back up to my feet. “Up you go!” The cheerful man’s voice said with a light laugh. “Sorry I didn’t see this sooner, I was a little distracted.” He paused awkwardly. “Okay yeah I probably shouldn’t be distracted on patrol.” By now I had finally started to process just how familiar his voice sounded. The same one that me and Caden would listen to speak on talk shows as we giggled on and on about the ninja.

I couldn’t help but whip around quickly, almost hitting my head against the man who stood next to me.

“Oh- hi!” 

The man was a couple inches shorter than me with one brown eye and one electric blue one. He was dressed in an all blue outfit with a hood. But it wasn’t just any all blue outfit, in fact it was a gi. 

Feeling my own eyes widen I was probably about to speak and fumble over my words in one of the most incredible people in all of the city, thankfully the mugger on the floor let out a groan.

Both of us snapped our heads over to look at him. 

“Uh, is he-” I started to question.

The man waved his hand absentmindedly. “Oh yeah it’s fine, just a little shocking. ” He turned his head back to me with his eyes squinted in what I assumed was a big, dorky smile. After I didn’t respond though he dropped his smile a little bit. “...heh, get it?” He asked with a half shrug.

I kind of snapped out of it a little bit. “Oh- uh yeah. Sorry I’m kind of in… shock.” I said with a little hesitation in the last word. 

Watching his multicolored eyes soften a little he brought up a hand and gently pat my shoulder. “Hey, you’re okay.” He said gently. “How about you just go and sit on the curb. I’m gonna take care of this guy real quick.” 

Listening, I nodded a bit and walked over to the curb, carefully sitting down. All while I watched none other than the blue ninja walk over, pick up the gun, turn the safety on, and slide it right back into one of his many utility pockets. Then walking over and checking in on the guy who just threatened to shoot me for fun. Then he just tied up the man's hands while humming along to some random song. I watched him kind of toss my bag over to me and have it land next to me on its side. I didn’t make any move to pick it up though.

My hands went to cover my face as I held back any pathetic tears that might spill out. My idol was behind me cleaning up the mess of saving my life. Yet here I was on the curb just trying to hold it all together.

I could have died. I definitely could have died for literally no reason other than some thug pointing a gun at me for fun. My Dad wouldn’t have any idea till the police told him, my Mom probably wouldn’t find out till she maybe saw it on the news since she didn’t even accept calls with my dad. And Alexis-

Oh my god Alexis.

Snapping my eyes open I let out a gasp patting my pockets and then grabbing my bag next to me, riffling through it. “Shit- where is it?” I cursed as I scrambled around the junk to try and find my phone. 

“You looking for this?” A voice asked, and I suddenly noticed the figure a few feet away from me holding out something with his hand. Snapping my head up I saw that it was my phone, screen cracked beyond all belief but still my phone.

I quickly grabbed it from the person's hand. “Oh my god, thank you. My sister was on the phone when everything happened and I-” Suddenly my mind processed the fact that whoever was holding this phone out to me wasn’t in fact the Blue Ninja, but rather someone else entirely. 

Looking up I saw a pair of bright green eyes looking into my own eyes. Much like the Blue Ninja I couldn’t see his nose or mouth, but with the way his eyes squinted just the smallest bit I could tell that he was smiling. He was dressed in a matching gi with golden embroidery that decorated the beautiful emerald green fabric that was draped and sewn to look like everything was just made with him in mind. A shining star in the portrait that was currently in my mind's eyes. 

None other than the leader of the Ninja Force; The Green Ninja.

Chapter Text

I didn’t really know what to do to be honest. I mean, what can you do when you come face to face with the guy who's basically in charge of saving your city everyday? It was like nothing else I could really describe. His eyes were bright, and the longer I looked at him I watched as he tilted his head at me. The smile in his eyes dropped.

“You okay?” He finally asked before looking over at the Blue ninja. Making a vague gesture with his hands at me.

The Lightning Ninja was still behind me as he got ready to probably anonymously tip the cops or something along those lines. To be honest I had no idea how all of them working with the police even worked now. The police and the ninja had started off complicated , but they worked together every now and then. For a couple of years the police hated the ninja, but now they were on some odd standing ground. 

“I think she’s just in shock. ‘Guy pointed a gun at her.” The Lightning Ninja said with a shrug that held more meaning then I could really tell in the moment.

There was a moment of silence as the Green Ninja processed all of that. Letting out the smallest of hums that I almost didn’t notice in my half dazed state. “Well you can just send in a call to the cops and they can take care of the guy.” He offered. All before continuing. “Your wife wants you home though. She’s kinda upset you’re not home for your movie night.”

Oh yeah… I forgot about that. The marriage between the Lightning Ninja and Water Ninja, kind of killed my little celebrity crush.

A loud gasp came from the Lightning Ninja as he suddenly dropped whatever he was holding. “Oh my god- I totally forgot!” He panicked suddenly. “I got distracted at the arcade- crap, crap, crap!” He said as he scrambled around like a mouse. 

Chuckling came from the Green Ninja as I watched him roll his green eyes before glancing back at me with what I once again was guessing was a smile. 

I couldn’t bring myself to smile back at all as I went back to looking down at my feet.

What if no one had been around? What if the Lightning Ninja wasn’t around? Could I really have died all because some ass thought it would be funny?

Burying my face back in my hands I tried to take some deep breaths. I didn’t want to cry in front of Ninjago’s best heroes. Even though, to be honest, they would probably understand, they probably deal with people crying all of the time.

There was a shift in front of me though. “Hey,” the soft voice started at a pitch that was almost a whisper. “How about we get you out of here? Can’t have you sitting here all night, now can we?” The Green Ninja asked, there was a little chuckle in his voice but the humor wasn’t all that there for me to hear. 

Looking up from my little pity party I saw the bright eyes of the Green Ninja, who now held his glove covered hand out to me. A certain kind of softness that I didn’t usually see through anyone else’s eyes. “I uh, I rode here with my friend.” I finally was able to muster up. My blinking picked up as I tried to keep my eyes dry and the weird spots out of the corners of my vision. 

“No worries, I’ll walk you home.”

…I- there is no way in hell that the green ninja is about to go and walk me home-

“Hey, you okay?” He asked again.

Shaking my head I tried snapping out of it. “Uh, yeah. I definitely would appreciate it.” …why can’t I talk like a normal person? I sound like a robot-

While I was busy beating myself up and all of that super fun stuff the Green Ninja helped to pull me right to my feet. Of course he was a strong looking guy but it felt so weird to just be effortlessly hoisted to my feet.

“Hey bluejay, please get home at a reasonable time.” I listened to him call out to the Lightning Ninja although I couldn’t find it in myself to laugh or chime in. I mean these were the heroes of the city and they just acted like… normal people? It all just felt so odd to witness. Like I was intruding or interrupting something.

The Green Ninja carefully led me by placing a hand on my shoulder. He was pretty quiet before speaking. “So, not what you wanted for a night out, huh?” His voice carefully pondered to me.

I couldn’t help the tiny laugh that fell from my lips and shook my head. “No I uh… definitely didn’t think I'd be held at gunpoint .” I tried to joke but it really only fell flat the second the words left my lips. 

“Yeah, safe to say I don’t think you ever get used to it.” As he walked I could see him pull up his mask a little more to make sure it really was covering his face.

What the hell do I say to that? What do I do in this situation?  

One of the city's biggest heroes is walking me home. And he was just talking like any other guy too. Well he acted like one I suppose, how normal can you be when you’re walking around in an emerald green gi. But assuming he was like any other guy was easy. I mean he probably needs to go to the supermarket like any other person when he’s not fighting crime or saving the city.

“I uh, yeah. Sorry about that.” I said as I tightened my grip on my bag carefully.

But he gave this sweet sounding chuckle, the kind that reminded me of a warm summer’s day and made me smile, even just by a little bit. “You have nothing to say sorry for- uh…” He glanced over at me tilting his head. “Sorry, I don’t think you said your name.”

The smile on my face couldn’t really be helped. “Y/n.”

He nodded along with me and while I was pretty sure that he was smiling under that mask. “Pretty name for a pretty girl.” 

Giggles fell from my lips and it was completely involuntary in my state of shock. “Says the guy who has half the city fawning over him.”

“ Okay, I think half is a little much.” He said as he laughed right back with me. “I’ll be honest when I say I tend to see quite a couple Fire Ninja fans.” He glanced at my bag and then at me, a little sparkle in his green eyes. “And apparently one of the rare Lightning Ninja fans.”

I looked down at my bag and gave a little nod. “Me, my friends, and my little sister all have one of our favorite ninjas. I got the Lightning Ninja, huge fan of puns and jokes.”

With the laugh that fell from him I could only really assume that he found me amusing. “Makes sense. You got a Green Ninja in your group?” He teased along.

Pointing a finger at the ninja that was walking in step with me I couldn’t help but smile just a little bit. “Funny you should say that. That would be my best friend, Caden.” I started. “Cute blonde with this 40s style.” I explained as we walked. “Unapologetically confident and himself. Couldn't've asked for a better green ninja.”

“Oh not even me?” The Green Ninja asked as he walked ahead just a little bit before turning around so that he could walk backward and face me.

The smile that came onto my face didn’t feel as weird now. It felt genuine and real. Like it was meant to be there as I laughed at him. “Well I mean now that I’ve met you I’ll have to think about it.” I joked as I looked back at his green eyes. I don’t think I had ever seen eyes so pretty before.

He made sure I got back to the apartment safely. Waited till I was in the lobby until he just disappeared. It was pretty crazy to be honest… One minute I’m finding my key and then the next I’m turning around and he’s just gone.

Well, he is a ninja.

When I got up to my apartment though I didn’t even get the chance to turn my key when the door swung open and I met the wide and teary eyed panicked face of my Dad. Who wrapped his arms around me as fast as he could.

“Dad what the-” I started as I went to pry him off of me. 

He pulled me away from him though to look at my face. “Where have you been ? I was worried sick about you. Caden called me and-” He stopped and tugged me back into his chest. “ God , I was so worried about you.”

I felt my own eyes widen.  

Oh my god, I was awful.  

I didn’t tell Caden or Ana anything before leaving. 

I was an awful friend, oh my god.  

My mind raced as I wrapped my arms around my Dad. “I’m okay I promise- Look I just-” I started trying to figure out how to tell my Dad what happened before I just ran a hand through my now messed up hair. “I kinda almost got mugged-” Before I could even continue or follow up with a coverup so that I didn’t have to tell my dear old Dad that I was held at gunpoint, he was trampling over my words. 

“Oh my god- Are you okay?” He questioned while his hands found my face and he moved my head around to check for any little marks.

Quickly I shook my head and pulled from his hold, I felt oddly guilty to have my dad worry so much about me. After all, it was kinda my fault. I was the dumb-dumb who walked outside in the middle of an area I didn’t know, while I was completely alone. But my shaking head changed to nodding. “Yeah, it was scary but you should see the other guy.” I said, trying to force a laugh.

My Dad’s face darkened just a little bit. “You didn’t just hand over your stuff?” He questioned running a hand through his dark hair that only recently started to get gray. “Oh my god, Y/n. Money isn’t as important as your life!” He said, while he put a hand on the table as if to stabilize himself. “I would rather replace a stupid card than buy a gravestone!” He continued to rave before I stepped over. 

“Dad, I’m okay. I did hand over my wallet but-” I paused. “Look you’re not gonna believe this-” I said before laughing a little bit to laugh at myself just a little bit. “I was saved by the Lightning Ninja.”

He looked up from the floor and back at me a little bit wide eyed. “Wait- really?” He asked as if processing it. He seemed to notice how I was acting so he relaxed into it a little. Trying to get into his usual personality. “Well, you know I’m quite the Brown Ninja myself, you know they trained at my place for a while-”

“Bullshit.” I interrupted as I laughed him off. Walking over to the kitchen table to set down my bag. Smiling a little bit at my Lightning ninja pin.

A gasp fell from my Dad’s lips. As if he didn’t know I was an adult who he literally told ‘yeah, go to that party thing with your best friend’. “Language.”

Reaching into my bag I pulled out my phone. The sight of it alone made my Dad stop his fake lecturing, all to let out a hiss of false pain. Because all across my phone screen was a spider web of cracks. “Great…” I said as I let out a sigh. “This is gonna cost me like 3 commissions.” I whispered out, running a hand over my face.

My Dad’s hand found its way to my back. “Tell you what, I’ll call Lex, let ‘em know you're okay. Same for Caden.” He offered as he put my bag back in my hand and started to gently push me to my room.

“Dad come on, I’m an adult. I can handle it. Besides, Mom is gonna totally chew you out-”

Just like that he cut me off once again. “Look, I’m the one who told you to go to the party even though you didn’t want to. If anything I should have let you stay home.”

Oh.

I turned myself around to look at him. “Dad, you know this isn’t your fault, right?” I questioned carefully as I tilted my head at him.

His hands went to my shoulders like he was just dusting off my jacket. “Look, I just want you to know I’m sorry.”

“Dad,” I started like I was defending myself. “You wanted me to go out because all I do is the same thing, every day. ” I emphasized. “You wanted me to get out because all I do is work.” I was somehow realizing more things about myself as I spoke.

…Wake up, check commissions, cry over said commissions, get dressed, go downstairs, yap with Dad, eat breakfast, go to classes, go for coffee with Caden and the girls, go home, work on commissions, eat dinner, open my bedroom door and yell goodnight to Dad, then at the very end of the day I go to bed…

Everyday, I did the same thing. I mean- minus today. But that’s not important.

“You were just looking out for me.” I finally said to him.

My Dad had always been a happy guy. All smiles and laughs no matter what you threw at him. But now? Well now he just looked so tired and sad as he just looked over me. Making sure that once again that I really wasn’t hurt just one more time. “Well, what would make your dear old Dad feel a lot better right now, would be if you went to lay down.”

I gave in after that just nodding as I walked over to my room. I half kicked off my shoes and started to get changed. My Dad’s voice outside the room was clear though.

“ Adaline - no I promise that she’s still safe here.” My Dad’s voice could be heard through the wall even while he tried to be quiet so that he could talk to my mom, my Dad was anything but quiet though. “She’s home and safe . We’re lucky. She’s actually shockingly calm and-” He stopped and I figured my Mom was probably biting back. 

My Mom is someone I love a lot. But she tended to be pretty distant. When I was younger it used to upset me a lot, I mean, I was a kid who obviously wanted her mom’s attention. Her Dad  told her to take it personally. That Mom had a rough childhood so she didn’t know how to really treat kids. But that didn’t really make me feel okay. It still hurt my feelings more than I ever liked to admit.

If I fell asleep then I didn’t really remember it, I snapped out of whatever happened and just walked back out of my room late early morning. With it being a Saturday I didn’t have an alarm set. I checked my phone.

6 missed calls from “Lex”

4 missed calls from “Cay”

1 missed call from “Ana”

78 missed messages from “The Knock Off Ninja”

I glanced at it all over quickly. I sent Alexis a quick message, then one to Caden, and then one to the group chat. Telling them all that they wouldn’t believe what happened, that I was saved by none other than my favorite ninja. I didn’t mention the Green Ninja walking me home though. I mean, it didn’t even really feel real . The Green Ninja walking me home felt like such a long shot. Even though it was the truth it still didn’t feel all that real to me.

My phone started to blow up with messages of shock from our friend’s group chat. So I headed out of my room with a little yawn. Today would be easy for me, all I was going to be doing was working on commissions and things like that. So I typed along responding to the messages and reading through what I had missed out on.

Dad still had work though, on Saturdays my Dad would go and work at the Dojo all day, so I had the apartment for myself. I didn’t mind though, that just meant I could watch my shows while I worked on things. When I made it to the kitchen I quickly noticed the note on the fridge when I noticed the note on the fridge.

“Hey kiddo, I think our mail got mixed up with the kids down the hall. Could you take it over? It was early when I saw it and I didn't want to accidentally wake him up. Just take it over to D12 and say you’re my kid. The guy who lives there is pretty nice. We talked about a year ago when he moved in.”

-Dad

Looking over the note that was attached with a little magnet I took the letter into my hands. It was just a fancy looking letter for someone named Brad Tudabone.

…Brad? Where have I heard that name before? Also; holy fake name, there’s no way that there’s actually a guy with that for a name.

Brushing off the feeling of deja vu that I had gotten while I set down the letter and went to change into something that wasn’t my pjs. I just tossed on a simple off the shoulder green shirt that had one of The Fold albums on the front. And then just some baggy and ripped up jeans, that would definitely be traded out for pj pants the second I got back home. Picking up the letter I walked over to the door and left the apartment and walked down the hall. I never really saw anyone minus in passing or in the elevator. My Dad though made sure to introduce himself to everyone When we first moved in, so he kind of was on a friend basis with everyone. Sadly I never inherited that trait from my Dad. But my little sister did.

D8, D9, D10, D11, Bingo! D12.

Walking over to the door I lifted my hand and knocked, letting out another yawn and wiping excess sleep from my eyes. Cringing as I pulled back my hand and saw that there were makeup smears all over my hand.

Great, I’ll have to clean that off when I get back to my apartment, when I get back to the couch…man I already miss the couch.

The door opened when I was in the middle of yawning and shifting in my bunny slippers. “Hey, I’m sorry but your mail was delivered to my Dad’s apartment-” I had started before stopping as I blinked at the sight that stood in front of me.

There in front of me was none other than Lloyd who was wiping at his eyes with a yawn. Dressed in a tank top that looked tussled and all kinds of wrinkled with the bottom part cut a little to show a sliver of skin, sweatpants that hung off the side just by a little to give the glimpse of the band of his boxers. He was still in the middle of pulling on his green jacket and yawning when he finally seemed to blink the sleep out of his eyes when he finally saw me.

“ Oh shit uh-” He quickly pulled his jacket up onto his shoulders covering his arms, and I was kind of shocked a little bit by the fact his arms looked like they had muscle. Not that Lloyd didn’t look strong, but I honestly thought he would only have lean muscle. But no, he looked relatively strong.

With the amount of force I had to use to look at his face, I should probably be damned to hell.

Lloyd yanked up his sweatpants as much as he could before tying the sting as tight as possible, shocking me a little bit with how tight he was able to get it. He had a waistline I instantly envied just a little bit.

Did it make me feel like maybe I should get back into working out? Oh yeah. Still a nice view though.

“Sorry I uh, just woke up.” Lloyd apologized as he went to lean on the doorframe and brush his platinum blonde hair back out of his face.

I nodded along awkwardly. “Yeah, uh me too.”

He glanced at my slippers and laughed, relaxing for a moment before speaking. “You know, we really have to stop running into each other like this.”

“Hey, at least we're not in the elevator this time.” I tried to comfort myself a little as my own embarrassment died down a little. “I can run if I embarrass myself.”

Lloyd laughed a little with a nod. “Well yeah, you got a point there.”

I remembered the mail and made an offer to hold it out to him, a small part of me kind of hoping we’d have one of those cute hand brush moments. “My dad had some mail left at his place and he asked me to drop it off here.”

He looked at my hands before taking it and glancing at the lettering. “Oh yep, weird they delivered it to the wrong door. I mean- you live down the hall right?” He asked, raising an eyebrow.

Before I could speak up to confirm I was interrupted by a figure rolling up to lean on Lloyd as he passed over one of the two steaming cups of something hot.

This guy definitely looked familiar to me, probably someone that I ran into on the elevator or something like that in the course of the years that I had lived here. But with the way he had himself put together made me feel a little bit smaller. He carried himself with such grace and confidence that made me straighten up a little bit. Jet black hair and tan skin that had been kissed by the sun. He had on a black t-shirt, some shorts, and a  dark blue robe that probably cost more than my laptop.

When he finally spoke he was looking at the letters in Lloyd’s hand. “We get mail?” He asked as he passed one of the coffee mugs over to Lloyd. 

“Yeah, one of your neighbors swung it by.” He said trading the letters for a cup of coffee, taking a look at what was in the glass though it looked like it was probably majority milk and sugar.

The boy with the black hair, who I now realized was probably Brad, looked up at me with a smile, that casual lazy kind that made me smile back. “You must be Dareth’s daughter.” He said, holding out a hand.

Shaking his hand I nodded. “Yeah that’s me. My Dad can be a chatterbox.”

“He’s a good kind of chatterbox though. He ended up helping me start my car the other day when I couldn’t get it to.” Brad explained. ‘Talked about you too. Art school right?”

“Yep, that would be me.” I said with a little laugh as I nodded along.

Brad smiled at me and shrugged. “In my opinion we need more of the arts. I’m in fashion and floral design.”

Man, Lloyd must know a lot of artists.

“That’s incredible! I love flowers but I have a hard time keeping them alive.” I said, really trying my best to keep the conversation going.

Wait, half dressed, making coffee, Brad’s arm around Lloyd’s shoulder…

Oh wait-

Lloyd is playing on the same team as me.

It hurt a little bit in the back of my mind for me to realize that Lloyd wasn’t interested in me at all in a romantic capacity, but he couldn’t control how he felt, of course I knew that. At the end of the day these two just seemed cool, and I was lacking friends that weren’t a part of the knock off ninja.

“Hey, are you okay? Your arms are all scratched up.” I looked back at my arm, it was a little scuffed up and bruised. “Oh uh yeah…” I said before scratching at the back of my neck a little. “Almost got mugged last night.” It still didn't feel real though I was being honest. It kind of still felt like an out of body dream. 

Brad shifted to concern immediately. “Oh my god, that’s awful. Are you okay?” He asked, taking a step out of his door so that he could put a hand on my shoulder.

Nodding quickly I held up my hands a little as if to show I was okay. “Oh I’m okay, my ego is just bruised.” I joked before I went to pat Brad’s hand much like I would do for any of my other friends. “It was actually kind of crazy because I was saved by my favorite ninja.” I said laughing just a little bit.

Brad’s eyes widened a little bit and I caught him looking over to Lloyd who looked over at me with his eyes a little wider. When Brad looked back though he was smiling. “Oh let me guess, Green Ninja fan?”

I shook my head laughing a bit. “Oh god no, I’m a Lightning Ninja girl. His wife’s lucky.” I joked as I laughed.

And it landed because I felt Brad’s hand on my shoulder tighten a little bit as he tried to stifle a laugh. “Oh yeah?” He let go of my shoulder to hit Lloyd’s shoulder. “This guy loves the Green one.”

Lloyd’s laugh was a little more hesitant. I would probably do the same if my boyfriend brought up my celeb crush. “Yeah, I mean he’s pretty cool.”

Nodding along I had to admit I agreed. “Yeah, not to mention the guy has the prettiest eyes.” I said as I shifted on my feet. This was probably the longest conversion that I had ever had with someone who wasn’t family or my friends.

Brad laughed again, god, the guys laugh was so graceful too. “Yeah!” He stopped laughing to gesture back at his apartment. “Would you wanna come in and have a cup of coffee?”

A part of me wanted to nod along and say of course, walk in, chat more with them, maybe make two new friends. But there was a voice in the back of my head telling me I didn’t have the time. So I shook my head carefully. “Sorry, last night my phone got its screen shattered so I need to go do some extra art commissions to get it fixed.”

An understanding nod came from Brad as he held up the mail and gestured with it. “No issue, there’s always another time.”

Lloyd nodded along. “Yeah of course, hope you get your phone fixed.”

“Thanks for the mail! And don’t ever feel scared to wander over if you need anything.” With a little wave of his hand I waved back at Brad with a smile on my face.

“You're welcome! See you guys around!” I thanked as I turned around. “Bye Lloyd! Bye Brad!’ I said over my shoulder as I started to walk back to my apartment pulling out my key from my pocket as I did.

You know what, for a guy with what sounded like a fake name, Brad was really sweet, and I hoped maybe I could gain another friend. Same with Lloyd! As much as I hated to admit it though, Ana was right. Lloyd wasn’t available and I was kind of dumb for thinking I had a shot with him.

I had just put my keys into the lock when I got a tap on my shoulder. I had jumped before looking back to see Lloyd who held up his hands in defense. “Hey, sorry I startled you.” He apologized before sheepishly holding his phone out to me. “Me and uh…Brad were wondering if we could get your number.” He asked just a little sheepishly as he looked at me.

There was a brief moment where I froze up a little before nodding along carefully taking his phone into my hand. “Yeah sure.” I was a little shocked that he had actually asked for my number. Where most guys would have asked for something like snap or Instagram. But hey, Lloyd and his boyfriend weren’t some random creeps on the street- not to mention my Dad at least knew Brad and Lloyd by proxy.

Handing the phone back over to him I flashed him another small smile and he did the same to me. He gave a quick nod as thanks before turning around to head back to Brad’s apartment. 

꩜ ‧.°. 𖦹.°.‧ ꩜‧.°.𖦹 .°.‧

Being completely honest, working on commissions could get real tiring real quick. I had some musical going on in the background and my art tablet in my lap. 

As much as I loved doing little more cartoony things I missed being able to do my more realistic things. I wanted to make things that people would like to add into a museum, but that wasn’t exactly in the market for a nineteen year old and debt ridden college kid.

Maybe one day I could get lucky enough and I could get my own little studio with all the paints and supplies that I could ever dream of. 

But alas, once again broke 19 year old in college.

My call with my mom about an hour ago had been… eventful. The entire time I felt like she was more mad at my Dad than concerned about me. I was just happy she wasn’t back to begging for me to come and live with her and my sister. Because as much as I love them both, I still love my life in the city. Even though last night was… eventful.

I knew that I needed to just take a deep breath and maybe take a break but after that phone call with my mom I just felt more and more like I had something I had to prove. A reason for me not to go running off to my moms at the first second of me having an issue.

꩜ ‧.°. 𖦹.°.‧ ꩜‧.°.𖦹 .°.‧

Dad brought home takeout noodles for us from one of our favorite places.

I’d worked all through dinner of course because my Dad ended up sitting with me on the couch watching the show I’d turned on for background noise.

Somewhere along the lines though I had dozed off, I only knew that though because when I opened my eyes the living room was dark and the tv had been turned off. One of the couch blankets was over my body and a pillow was under my head.

My head felt drowsy as I went to lift it but found myself unable to. My body felt like it was made of lead and then tied down to the couch beneath me. A wave of confusion washed over me before it calmed as I realized what was going on.

Great. Another sleep paralysis episode.

I’d been dealing with these episodes of sleep paralysis and night terrors for about a year. Not that anyone knew that, I was an adult and I wasn’t about to go crying over what were basically overpowered nightmares. Especially not to my Dad.

Closing my eyes I was able to just breathe. There were a number of times that I had tried to close my eyes and wait it out. But that seemed to not really work. I eventually learned to just ignore it. Pretend like the shadow figure that would stand just where it was too dark to see clearly, wasn’t actually there.

Taking a moment I opened my eyes and just looked at the blurry and shadowy figure. But that’s when I noticed something. The figure had something sparkling. It looked like it was resting over where his heat was. A deep and fiery red hairpin that gleamed like a freshly fired ruby.

Squinting a little and trying to get a better look I tried to figure out what exactly I was seeing.

It had always just been a black figure anytime I had sleep paralysis. Just a black and shapeless figure that stood off in the shadows and I just knew was looking at me.

And then there it was, a movement, the figure took a step forward.

I woke up in a cold sweat shaking, gasping as I tried to get the air back into my lungs. Coughing sputters as I tried to keep the air and not let it out. 

“Not real. Not real.” To convince myself I picked up my phone with my shaking hands and clicked it to turn on the flashlight. Angling it to the corner of the room where the figure had stood in my mind.

Of course nothing was there. It was all just one big nightmare. Rubbing the sleep away from my eyes I sat up on the couch and picked up my now watered down soda. Taking a sip before I just sat there in the dark. I didn’t want to move all my stuff back to my bedroom and lay back down. So I leaned back into the couch and opened up my phone. 

Earlier in the day I’d talked to the group chat about what had happened. Everyone was understanding as I explained and they all sent little apologies and mentions of us all hanging out soon. Doing something small maybe at one of our places. Just a sweet little movie night.

Something I knew I needed and would find comfort in. That’s one of the reasons I think our group had stayed together for so long. We all understood our limits -well sometimes Ana didn’t- but even then Ana always made an effort to keep the group together. The amount of times she paid for things, drove people or just would stop by was incredible. Although, of course we’d kind of… drifted.

Things had been so weird since the incident that it got harder and harder for us to be around each other. That’s why I’d been surprised she had hung out with me and Caden, or I guess she invited us since it was some place that she knew.

Things changed over the years though, I just kept on trying to remind myself that’s true. That it was normal to have people get closer or drift away over time.

꩜ ‧.°. 𖦹.°.‧ ꩜‧.°.𖦹 .°.‧

Eventually a couple hours later, still wide awake in the early morning I was trying to fix up a hair layer, because fuck art. I was a little confused that my Dad hadn’t left his room to follow his routine. But it was the weekend, he didn’t follow one as strict as I did when it came down to things. He always said I had my moms discipline and strategy when it came down to things.

It was about 8am by now and I’d gotten up to make a cup of coffee. Putting my favorite mug on the table and getting out the sugar and milk. That’s when my phone went off though.

Unknown Number

Hey, it’s the elevator guy

A small chuckle fell from my lips before I texted back.

Y/N

Yeah, that’s not creepy as hell

Unknown Number

Got your attention though, right?

Y/N

XD Well yeah, I guess so

What’s up?

I took a moment to quickly save Lloyd’s number, saving it as “Elevator Guy” because why shouldn’t I keep the joke going?

Elevator Guy

Nothing much, I’m getting ready to leave Brad’s

place, and I have a surprise for you

A flash of confusion went through me as I looked at the text. A gift for me?

Y/n

Wait, you got me something?

What is it?

Elevator Guy

Well why don’t you come to the door and see?