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Loud screams found their way through the door and to Lloyd’s poor ears. He looked up from his meditation book. The book Master Wu had been trying to get him to read for years. The book Zane finally convinced him to read. The book that just about put him to sleep with how boring it was.
He was finally reading, and the others decided to turn their home into a circus. He sighed, closing his book. At least it wasn’t his fault he couldn’t finish it (this time). He swung his legs over the edge of his bed and made his way out of the room.
The sight that greeted him in the living room was horrific (hilarious). Cole was holding Jay in a bear hug, lifting him off the ground. Jay looked murderous, trying to kick at Cole’s legs to let him down.
“I need to stop him!” He whined.
“Like I’m letting you do that, Zappy,” Cole retorted, holding Jay even higher.
“Oh, come on,” Nya said. She was standing beside the two boys, trying to reason with Jay. “Don’t you want to win fair and square?”
“No!” Jay looked shocked at the thought. “I want to win. That’s what I want.”
“Are you sure this is the right thing to do, Kai?”
“Yes, Zane! I am very sure! Now keep going, you’ve almost beat him!”
Lloyd turned his attention to the couch. On it sat Zane, video game controller in hand. His face was pulled together in a look of uncertainty, though his hand flew across the controller easily. Kai sat next to him, eagerly looking between the TV screen and Jay.
Ah , Lloyd thought. Zane’s trying to beat Jay’s record.
He grinned, flopping on the couch next to Zane.
“About time, Greenie,” Kai grinned at him before the TV stole his attention again. “He’s almost got it!” He cheered.
“Come on, Zane!” Nya cheered.
“Ah, Nya?!” Jay yelled. “You too?! Traitor!”
“Sorry, Jay, but you need to be taken down a peg.” Nya shrugged.
“Yeah, Jay, if this is how you’re taking it, then we need to do this. It’s for your own good.” Cole adjusted his grip on Jay, pulling him even higher. (Is that even possible?)
“You’re both traitors!” Jay yelled, clawing at Cole’s arms.
“I have surpassed Jay’s record.”
“Yeah!” Kai yelled, pumping his fist in the air.
“Noooooooooooooooooo,” Jay moaned, flopping in Cole’s grasp, causing the other boy to stumble.
“Good Job, Zane,” Lloyd congratulated his friend, clapping him on the back.
“Thank you, Lloyd,” Zane said, setting the controller on the table, not even bothering to continue the game to get a higher score. “I am sorry, Jay,” he turned around to speak to the dejected ninja. Lloyd, however, caught the slight smile in his voice, even if he was acting sympathetic.
“My life is over,” Jay mumbled, still flopped over Cole’s arms. Cole shrugged, untangling his arms, he released Jay to allow the lightning master’s face to become acquainted with the floor. Jay yelped, then let out a low moan. Nya was the only one to jump to his rescue. Jay, however, popped his head up before she could even reach him to help the downed ninja. “Cole!” He yelled, sending a glare to the Master of Earth.
“Oh, look,” Cole said, pointing to Jay, who was still lying on the floor. “His life isn’t over yet. He can still talk.” Lloyd and Kai snickered as Cole reached down to give Jay a hand up.
Nya sent Cole a glare, making him shrink in on himself, almost looking apologetic for his actions. Jay caught her glare and walked over to her, kissing her on the cheek, before standing behind her and resting his chin on her shoulder.
“I thought she was a traitor?” Lloyd pointed out, still chuckling at the whole ordeal. As he said it, Pixal walked into the room. He scooched over so she could sit next to Zane, where he promptly stole her hand.
“Oh, that’s right!” Jay yelled, jumping away from Nya. “You helped the betrayer!” he pointed accusingly at her.
“Betrayer?” Pixel whispered.
“Me,” Zane responded.
“Ah, why?”
“I beat his high score,” Zane answered, not bothering to clarify what game he was referring to.
“That makes sense,” Pixal said, nodding along, not bothering to ask what game he was talking about. It made sense, considering Jay had been bragging about his high score all week.
Jay still glared at all of them as if they had absolutely ruined his life. Lloyd, getting bored with the whole situation, leaned next to Pixal, laying his chin on her shoulder. Pixal absently patted his head with the hand that wasn’t intertwined with Zane’s.
“Is it almost lunchtime?” He grumbled out suddenly.
“In an hour,” Zane answered, looking at Lloyd. “Though we should start preparing it. It’s Cole’s turn today.”
“NO!” the collective voices of Lloyd, Kai, Nya, and Jay rang through the room.
“Yeesh,” Cole crossed his arms defensively. “I’m not that bad at cooking. You people just don't have taste buds.”
“No, I have them. They’re just permanently scarred after having to eat your food,” Jay responded.
“Why I oughta!” Cole tackled Jay as Nya, Kai, and Lloyd burst out laughing. Zane chuckled at the antics while Pixal shook her head in disappointment, making Lloyd laugh harder.
“Then I believe I will go prepare lunch,” Zane said before kissing Pixal on the cheek.
“Yes! Thank you for saving us, Zane!” Jay yelled from under Cole.
“That’s it, Zappy! Come here!” Cole yelled as he gathered Jay up into a headlock. Jay yelped and begged for help from the other members of the team. Said other members didn’t seem at all concerned that the Master of Lightning was actively dying at the hands of his (possibly former if Jay still considered him a traitor) best friend.
“Would you like to join me, my dear?” Zane asked as he stood up, stretching a hand out to Pixal.
“No!” Lloyd shouted, pulling Pixal’s arm away from Zane. “She’s ours now.”
Zane looked quizzically at Lloyd before Nya caught on to what he was doing.
“Yeah!” she said, flopping down in Zane’s vacant seat, draping her legs over Kai’s lap and resting her head on Pixal’s. “You can’t have her.”
It was no secret that Pixal didn’t often join in on the others’ shenanigans. Nor was it a secret that she only ever hung around Zane. The others knew that she wanted to be more integrated into the team and get to know the others better. Something they had (without telling either her or Zane) decided to make happen.
“Yeah!” Jay yelled from his spot on the floor. “You can’t steal her!”
Zane smiled, even at Pixal’s shocked expression, before making his way out of the room. Jay clawed at Cole’s arm while making an overdramatic choking sound.
“Don’t kill him, Cole,” Nya said sternly from her spot on top of Pixal and Kai.
“I’m not killing him,” Cole pouted.
“Oh, this isn’t your arm around my neck?” Jay pointed at said arm, not even bothering to fake struggle anymore. Cole squeezed slightly harder, but still not enough to actually hurt the other ninja.
“Fine, I give! What do you want me to do?” Jay yelled.
“Take back what you said about my cooking,” Cole demanded.
“Well, I can’t lie.” The audience on the couch tried to stifle their laughter so they wouldn’t be next to endure Cole’s wrath. Cole pulled his arm just a little tighter. A threat. One they all knew he wouldn’t go through with, but a threat nonetheless.
“Fine!” Jay screamed, “you didn’t scar all my taste buds with your cooking! Only half! Kai’s cooking did the other half!”
“WHAT?!”
Cole shrugged, dropping his arm from around Jay, who fell forward, dramatically gasping for air.
Kai, on the other hand, was not okay with this situation. “What did you say about my cooking?!” he bellowed, pushing Nya’s legs off of him, before stomping over to Jay.
“No!” Jay yelped, scrambling to his feet. “Somebody save me!”
“Kai, you lay one finger on him and you will be soaked,” Nya threatened from the couch after righting her legs.
“Oh, now you stand up for him?” Kai questioned, turning back to his sister. “When he insults MY cooking? Why not Cole’s?”
“‘Cause Cole didn’t take my footrest,” she said, pointing to the spot on the couch where her legs now lay without anything to prop them up.
“Is that all I am to you?” Kai asked in mock shock, his anger at Jay forgotten. “A footrest?”
“Yes.”
Lloyd tried desperately to hide his face in Pixal’s shoulder so the others wouldn’t see him laugh. How could you not laugh? He could even feel Pixal chuckling beside him.
“And what do you find so funny, Greenie?” Kai asked, now turning all attention to him.
“Nothing,” He said, schooling his features into a neutral expression.
“Oh, thank goodness, it’s someone else's turn to be tortured,” Jay said, flopping to the floor.
“Pixal, save me!” Lloyd yelled, hiding behind the nindroid as Kai took a menacing step forward.
“I’m not sure there is anything I can do, Lloyd,” Pixal said, craning her neck to look at the boy behind her.
Lloyd yelped, jumping away, as the Fire Ninja leaped at him. Lloyd made a mad dash for the sleeping quarters. A pair of hands wrapped around his waist, yanking him off the ground.
“No!” He yelled as Kai carried him back into the room, dropping him on the floor.
“Careful,” Nya warned Kai, sending him a glare.
Kai, ignoring his sister (what’s new), sat on Lloyd, causing a very undignified “omf” to escape the young boy.
“Kai, get off of me!” Lloyd yelled.
“Nope,” Kai responded, popping the P. “You've gotten off easy all day.”
“And you haven’t?” Lloyd asked, resting his head on his hand, peering up at the red ninja.
“Shush, Lloyd,” Kai instructed, crossing his arms as if he had won some battle.
Lloyd disagreed with that and instead crossed his arms under his head and closed his eyes. He was already down there, anyway. Might as well make the best of it.
Lloyd felt something grabbing his arm, shaking him awake.
“Come on, Lloyd. Lunch,” he heard Nya say. Blinking, he was greeted with the sight of the Water Ninja’s face. What happened… oh right. He had fallen asleep after Kai sat on top of him. He grinned up at Nya.
“Was he mad?”
“Was he mad? Yes, he was mad!” Nya grinned back, helping Lloyd to his feet. “You know he hates it when you fall asleep while he’s ‘torturing’ you.” She used air quotes to further punctuate the word. “And after you fall asleep, he says you’re too cute to wake up! Maybe you still are evil.”
Lloyd was not a fan of the fact that the others thought he was “cute,” but hey, if it works, it works. He followed Nya into the kitchen, grinning from ear to ear.