Drabble City @ninjago-clippies - Tumblr Blog

Dec 25, 2025

I RETURN

Greetings people of tumblr, I'm back with a very special gift today. I freaking lost my banners so this post is going to look a little plain, but maybe I'll fix it later.

MONTHS ago I was talking to @asooffa about making this piece, and I did finish writing it but I never cleaned it up and finished it before I started getting insanely busy for the holidays. BUT I HAVE FINISHED IT NOW!!!!

I am a sucker for side stories so you KNOW i had to write something about Lloyd for my favorite au, that good ol Tiger Demon Opera Ghost Cole thang. I hope you guys enjoy it, and Soof I hope it's as funny and filled with awkwardness as you hoped it would be! LET'S GET CRACKING

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Ever since he’d gone all in on buying the theater, Lloyd hadn’t had a single day that seemed to go easy.

He’d expected things to be difficult, of course, but sometimes it seemed like he’d had some kind of genie hanging over him with the way his actions got twisted around on him. For example, he’d bought the crumbling structure intending to repair it on his own, but in the process of drumming up attention in the public he’d been graciously awarded a historical sites marker by the city. This gave them access to a couple of really pitiful little grants and… doubled his expenses, since the city had rules about the restorations of historic sites. He’d also been featured in the newspaper, where he’d been pictured sporting the most awkward smile he’d ever managed and was shaking hands with the mayor. That picture was now hung up in the booth, thanks to Jay, and he got the pleasure of looking at it every time he went up to check on anything tech related. He’d thrown it out once but a fresh new one had appeared the next day. The media attention had been nice, but now he was getting the creeping feeling that people’s expectations were rising too. He’d go out to throw trash and find people poking around outside, asking questions and trying to get inside.

It was always something like that. One step forward, two steps back, like some kind of weird little dance. Today was no exception. Since the minute he’d opened his eyes, it had been a string of awkward and difficult coincidences.

First, he’d woken up on Kai’s couch. That wouldn’t have been a horrible thing if he had gone to sleep on Kai’s couch, but he’d been told over breakfast that he actually had gone to sleep at his desk at the theater, and had snored really loudly on the bus all the way to Kai’s house while draped over his shoulder. (Kai took a video, which Lloyd forced him to delete from every folder on his phone under supervision.) On top of the embarrassment lingering in the back of his mind, Kai had laid him down at an angle that gave him a massively painful crick in his neck. Even with a heating pad pressed to it he was struggling all morning to straighten the knot back out, even on the bus back to the theater.

Then, while stripping paint off a wall in a hallway outside the green room, a pipe had burst.. And not just any pipe, a sewage pipe, which meant they had to evacuate the back rooms and cut rehearsal short for safety and for the smell. Lloyd had sulked his way to the bank and borrowed another thousand dollar short-term loan to call the emergency plumber to fix it. On the bright side, the plumber was an acquaintance of Zane’s and cut them a deal. On the downside, by the time the plumber had actually arrived the new carpet they’d put down in the back rooms had been thoroughly soaked all the way to the baseboards, and he’d had to watch as the plumber cut and tore up a big section of it and the wall to get to the burst pipe.

And then, standing with his pants rolled up to his calves in a puddle of sewage, he’d remembered it was Sunday, and he had to be back to his mom’s house by 5 for dinner. He’d dug out his phone and been greeted by the flash of a cheery text message from his mom and the time 4:15. He was definitely going to be late.

And smelly. Great.

He’d passed the cleanup off to Zane (after apologizing about a hundred times) and ordered himself a rideshare with a small degree of legitimate pain to make sure he got home on time. Sitting in the back of the car, he tried to focus on reducing his stress with some of the techniques he’d been learning about recently. He tried deep breaths and distracted himself with a comic he’d brought in his bag as the downtown buildings slowly morphed into suburban lawns. It worked… kind of. His heart was definitely pounding less at least, and he kind of thought his headache may have reduced a little too. It was hard to tell, honestly. By the time he’d made it home, he had settled on at least putting the theater’s dramas behind him for the day.

There was enough to worry about here without all that.

There was a door alarm on the front door, so when he pushed it open the soft trill sounded through the whole space. He closed it carefully behind himself and kicked off his shoes to trade them for slippers. It was only after kicking the shoes off and tamping his socks on the floor that he realized there was a bigger issue here… His shoes hadn’t been spared from the sewage mess at all, but he hadn’t brought spares to change into and hadn’t had time to go back to his apartment. Holding the dirty shoes in his hand, he looked around for some kind of bag or something to put them in.

The laundry room was just down the hall from the front door, so he padded down in his slightly damp socks and threw them straight into the wash. He was just dropping in his socks and starting the machine when he heard the familiar sound of his mother’s voice coming from the foyer.

“Lloyd? Are you home?”

Ah fuck.

Lloyd’s fingers frantically did their best to comb his hair into a more reasonable position. He slammed his hand on the start button for the machine and then stuck his head out through the Laundry room door. “Heeey mom.”

Misako was standing at the bottom of the stairs, a book in her hand and one eyebrow arched up over her glasses. “Sneaking inside without saying hello?”

“No no, I just… thought you were probably busy, and i didn’t wanna interrupt if you were on a call or… reading or something.” He pointed to the book in her hand to defend himself. “Looks important.”

Misako’s book thumped shut softly and she shook her head slightly. Her first step towards him landed on a damp spot his wet shoes had left on the foyer tile, but she seemed more preoccupied with greeting him than investigating the smell. Llloyd was extremely grateful she didn’t seem to have noticed.

Lloyd leaned into the kiss she put on his cheek. He got that funny warm, tingly feeling in his chest that she always brought him almost instantly and couldn’t help leaning in to make it last a second or two longer. Misako smiled when she pulled back, ruffling his hair and putting a second kiss on his forehead. “There’s never an activity that would distract me from saying hello to my son.” She sighed and put an arm around him, then looked around the laundry room and let her eyes settle on the rumbling machine. “Doing chores? I can do some laundry for you if you need it.”

“Oh yeah.” Lloyd choked out an awkward laugh as he ran his hands through his hair again. “It’s okay. Just my shoes and socks. I can manage it, I didn’t want to distract you from dinner if you were still cooking.”

“Shoes? What happened to your shoes, bug?”

“Uuuuuh…”

Misako leaned in to smell his head, her brows furrowing. She grabbed him by the arms gently and leaned a little lower down to smell near his shoulder. When she caught a whiff of him properly, she recoiled a whole step. “Oh- gods. You smell like sewage, baby. Did something happen at the theater?”

“Okay, uh, I’m just gonna get changed! I’ll be right back mom love you!”

Misako was already pinching her nose while she watched him run back down the hall and towards the stairs. She put her free hand on her hip to accentuate the raised eyebrow she was sending his way. “Just going to leave me in suspense then? No explanation at all?”

“Long story, tell you at dinner!” Lloyd grabbed his bag, disappearing down the hall and into his room.

—

It took Lloyd three rounds of shampooing to get the smell of paint thinner and sewage out of his hair. He dried and styled it a little after, then shoved his stinky clothes into the hamper and opened up his closet.

He’d been moved out for almost a year so most of his things were back at the apartment he shared with Pixal. Still, his mother had insisted on having a reason for him to visit every now and then, so half his clothes and a lot of his personal items were still here in his room. “In case you get homesick” Misako had told him. And anyways, the locations were only about a twenty minute drive from each other and he still came home on the weekends so he still had some of his older (fancier) things here.

He looked through the options while he rubbed the nail polish off his hands. In a stark juxtaposition to his other closet, the stuff he’d left here was painfully formal. He flipped through suit jackets and sweater vests for nearly five minutes, feeling that everything was either too formal or not formal enough. Eventually he settled on a pair of khakis and a sweater vest over one of his old school shirts. He pulled it all on and stepped out in front of the mirror hanging on his closet door to inspect it.

Something about the outfit looked familiar, he just couldn’t really place it with his head so scattered. He stayed there anxiously pushing his hair around and turning this way and that for a few minutes before he realized.

“... are these my boarding school clothes?” He pulled at the bottom of the sweater, flipping it up to catch the tag with the school’s logo on the inside. He peeked at his reflection again and did a perfect impression of the way Misako’s nose had wrinkled when she’d smelled his sewage pants. “I look like Gene…”

No way. He definitely needed to look again.

Lloyd tore apart his closet and finally managed to settle on a decent looking pair of jeans, a button down shirt, and an old sweater his mom had got him he found tucked in the back. He fixed his hair one last time, kicking the pile of reject shirts back into the closet and forcing the door shut with a grunt.

“It’s just your parents.” He muttered to himself, dragging his hand down his face. “Just dinner. We do dinner every week! Last week was totally normal, this week is gonna be totally normal.”

Lloyd’s reflection looked back at him with an off center and lopsided smile. He did not seem to be convinced at all, but they did trade a very encouraging thumbs up before Lloyd headed for the door.

—

When he’d been coming in earlier he’d been running to his room, but now Lloyd was walking slow on his way down to the dining room. When he’d been young and unaware of the responsibilities his parents had carried, he’d been so eager to be just like them. He’d run around the hallways pretending to appraise the pieces like his mother with his too-small feet slid into his father’s shoes. It’s not that they’d ever denied or discouraged him, it’s just that now he felt… different. He wanted to do things without their support to prove himself, but ached for their helping hands just as badly. It made coming home like this harder every time. Just hugging his mom made him want to curl up and cry sometimes.

Lost in thought, he missed a step and had to catch himself on the cool varnished wood of the railing. He steadied himself and took a deep breath to refocus. Just dinner. He could totally do dinner. He didn’t need to think about that other stuff right now.

He slipped a pair of house slippers on at the bottom of the stairs, wiggling his toes into the warmth. On his way to the dining room he counted and identified the paintings on the wall to keep his brain from wandering.

A Van Gogh in the entryway, old. A statue his mom had brought back from Vietnam on the hall corner, New from their family trip last year. An african tribal mask on the wall a few feet down from that, newer… maybe a few years old. He tried to recall when they’d gotten it but couldn’t recall exactly. He looked down at the hardwood under his feet, spotting the ding he’d caused riding a trike down it when he was five. He paused to rub his slippered foot over it, smiling and sighing out a little relieved breath. Old. His attention turned back up as he rounded the corner and passed an old family portrait his mom had insisted on having redone in oil paints a while a couple of months ago. Lloyd was dressed in his school uniform, the one he’d just taken off. Despite the formal nature of the portrait, both his parents had their hands on his shoulders and all three of them were smiling warmly. Lloyd stopped to smile at it. New.

He ran his fingers along the wall paint as he walked, feeling the rough texture under his fingertips, then slid it onto another wood railing as he passed the corner stairs down to the cellar. He tugged on the edge of his sweater and rubbed the soft wool with his thumb, using his other fingers to brush the cotton shirt underneath. Every sensation was more and more soothing, more grounding.

He rounded the corner into the dining room, coming face to face with both his parents waiting for him. He felt the blood rushing up to his face, and hoped only he could hear the tiny little breath he took as he stepped inside.

These dinner things weren’t really a formal affair. They’d started them after he’d moved out when Misako had brought up that she felt the three of them were drifting apart. She’d set a time and a day and ever since then she’d put a lot of hard work into making multi course meals that she served on the nice china, and been militant about making sure that the boys were there on time every time. Lloyd went the long way to his seat to give Misako another less stinky side hug and kiss, then stopped next to Garmadon’s chair to greet him too.

Garmadon stood to hug him, matching Lloyd’s awkward shuffle with one of his own as he kind of kicked the chair back with his thighs. The hug, at least, was almost too genuine. He looped his arms around him and squeezed tight. “Hey kiddo. Good to see you.”

“Good to see you too.”

“Well.” Misako seemed exceptionally happy to be sitting at the table, smile bright and sunny as she looked them both over. “I’m very happy to have both my boys home for sunday dinner. I hope you’ve both had a good week?”

Lloyd nodded as he scooted his chair in.

“Yes, very nice. Good week, a little busy.” Garmadon had this weird habit of sometimes looking nice and sometimes looking terrifying. When he wanted to, he actually made really funny dad jokes and had some good comebacks. Sometimes when they were out he’d elbow Lloyd gently and lean over to whisper something to him. Misako would have to reign them in from snickering if she wasn’t laughing with them.

Still, even though he could be funny, he was scary when he wanted to be. It was no wonder how he’d landed the government position he had. He was imposing and intense half the time, and it came out more when he was tired or stressed. His serious attitude left no room for arguments or wasted time. The way he was sitting with his hands folded on the table and held eye contact in an almost threatening way really did not imply he was in a joking mood today, but sometimes it was hard to tell how he was feeling.

Lloyd sunk down in his seat a little. He didn’t really have any great news about the theater to share. Maybe he shouldn’t talk about it…

Garmadon cleared his throat into the silence. “I’ve overheard some things about new progress on other public spaces in town lately. Seems like someone has influenced a movement.” He turned his intense gaze on his son, and although lloyd felt a little flush of pride, he was still unsure exactly how to respond.

Was he talking to his dad or the Mayor? Hard to say. “Aha… uh, I hope so? It wasn’t intentional but that’s great.”

“You’re doing great things.” Garmadon praised. A little bit of that joking ease returned to him as he leaned back in his seat. He picked up the spoon in his soup and raised some to his lips. He might have missed the way Lloyd straightened up and smiled a little more because of it, but Misako didn’t.

“You’ve been busy this week.” Misako’s spoon tapped the bottom of her bowl quietly. “I haven’t gotten any responses to my texts.”

“Ah, yeah. We’re still renovating a lot of the theater.” Lloyd explained, finally trying some of his own soup. It was one of his mother’s old family recipes, not his favorite but still warm and savory and homey. He went for a second spoonful almost immediately.

“Is it repaired enough for us to make a visit yet?” Garmadon asked.

Lloyd barked out a nervous laugh, rubbing his forehead and leaning an elbow on the table. “No way is it ready for…”

Lloyd trailed off as he caught his parent’s matching concerned looks. He tapped his spoon against the bowl two or three times and cleared his throat. “Uuuh, I mean to say it’s… I want it to be perfect, when you come. You know, we’re still painting some walls, installing flooring…” His mind drifted back to all the soggy carpet he’d dragged out to the dumpster before coming over, and had to cover his mouth to hide his little gag. “It’s just not ready yet.”

“Well, we are both very proud of the work you’re doing.” Misako assured him, reaching for Lloyd’s hand and giving it a squeeze. “That you managed to salvage such an important place and get it so much recognition… it’s really something.” Her eyes started to sparkle a little as she pushed her glasses up her nose. “The history in those walls has to be incredible… What I wouldn’t give to walk around a little… Have you found anything interesting in the basement or the storage rooms yet? I’d be happy to help you authenticate and price any antiques or art you uncover.”

“Oh.” Lloyd sucked in a breath through his teeth, contemplating what kind of reaction Cole would have to his mother rummaging through his personal artifacts. “Actually, that… there really isn’t much usable stuff down there, but I really appreciate it. Um, it would be nice if you’d help me locate some copies of old promotional posters? Maybe something I could hang in the lobby to pay respects to the history of the place? We’ve been hearing a lot of stories about performers who used to work there in the past and we all want to pay respects to that as much as we can.”

“Of course.” Misako stirred her soup, raising her spoon again. “You just have to know who to talk to, turn the right heads and all that. I’d be happy to lend a hand. If you find any posters inside I could have them preserved or copied easily. Just let me know what you need and I’ll do my best to make it happen.”

“We have this little side wing off the main entrance, kind of a hallway to nowhere, just some old offices. I was thinking we could turn it into a mini museum space.”

Misako perked up even more, her soup completely forgotten. “Oh, bug. I could do so much in a couple of rooms…”

Garmadon laughed softly. “Now you’ve gotten her going. She hasn’t had a new project in ages. He probably wants to handle the organization on his own, Lovie.”

“Misako scowled and waved him off. “Nonsense. He wouldn’t have asked me if he didn’t want some help.”

“I do want a little help, I just don’t want to pull you guys away from your own work.” Lloyd slurped up another spoon of soup and peeked at the two of them over his spoon.

Garmadon and Misako seemed to be exchanging some kind of telepathic communication for a minute or two. The full conversation didn’t make it out, so all Lloyd caught was something like:

“Minh.” Garmadon raised both eyebrows.

“Mmm. Yes yes I know.”

“You said-”

“I said? We said.”

“We? But last week-”

“Last week is last week, this week is now.”

“Then?”

Misako clicked her tongue and smacked Garmadon’s shoulder lightly. “We’d be happy to help you, bug. As little or as much as you need.”

Lloyd relaxed a little more, nodding. “Thanks, mom. I’d really like that.”

Garmadon cleared his throat, wedging his way into the conversation. Lloyd felt his scalp tingle as the tone shifted. “Besides that, Lloyd, Do you… need anything?”

Lloyd wilted in his seat. Exactly the conversation he did not want to have… “No, dad, thank you. Actually, things are going really well! Everyone’s lending a hand, so we’re… you know. We’re making it work.”

“Oh, right. Well that’s good, very resourceful. And we’re proud of you, of course.” Garmadon nodded approvingly, taking another taste of soup. He opened his mouth like he was going to say something else, but then he exchanged a look with Misako and seemed to change his mind. For a minute, only the sound of silverware clinking against porcelain filled the room. Misako and Garmadon had another telepathic parent to parent communication of some kind, but this time it was totally silent. Lloyd hadn’t realized he was emptying his bowl a little too fast, or that he was starting to slurp in an attempt to get the soup down faster. He missed the way Misako kicked Garmadon’s leg under the table, startling the man into another little throat clearing episode.

“Uh… Lloyd.”

Lloyd looked up from his spoon, slurping some of his soup too fast and coughing a couple times. “Mm-mhm?”

Misako tapped the table with her finger. “Don’t slurp, you’ll choke.”

Lloyd covered his mouth as he coughed a couple of tears out, then managed a weak little “Sorry.”

Garmadon winched sympathetically, but mercifully pushed over the incident to continue with the even more awkward topic of conversation. “Your mother and I are… concerned.”

“Not overly.” Misako added, putting her hand on his arm. “Just a.. Healthy parental amount.”

“Uh huh… Parental…” Lloyd nodded slowly, looking back and forth between them.

His father let out a little dry laugh, folding his hands in front of himself. “What we mean to say is… we feel you’re not fully taking advantage of your… opportunities.” He gestured towards the direction of the house’s four car garage. “For example we’ve purchased you a car, but you won’t drive it.”

Lloyd’s stiff little smile cracked as he struggled to maintain his composure. “Riiiight… the uh… the custom forest green G-Wagon?”

“You don’t like it?”

“I did not say that.” Lloyd put his hands up. “I just-”

“And your trust. You have money, but you’ve taken out so many loans… I don’t even have the ability to see them all.” He added. “And you insist on staying with roommates when we own property downtown. You have so many options at your disposal that you are avoiding using, and we are worried about why. Are you ashamed? Embarrassed?”

“No! Dad, l-listen it’s not like that.” He placed his hands between his thighs under the table, squeezing them together to keep them from shaking. “I-I just… I know I can do it on my own. I really know I can. And I appreciate that you guys want to help, but I… I can’t do it myself if I’m driving cars that you bought me and… and taking money you gave me.” He pulled his hands up, tapping them on either side of the table around his dish. “I want to prove that I can do it like you did it. No support, just hard work. Not just to you but… to me too. And everyone else.”

Misako watched him, her smile growing ever fonder as she squeezed her husband’s hand. She gave him the kind of look that usually meant ‘I told you so’. Garmadon returned an exasperated sort of look that might have meant ‘I never disagreed with you’.

Garmadon nodded, turning his eyes back to his soup. “Well, that is very… reasonable. And I’m happy to hear that you have such a strong desire to prove yourself. You always have been eager, responsible… you get the idea.”

Another couple of minutes went by, though the silence they’d settled into this time was much more comfortable. As they finished the first course Misako gathered the soup plates and went to the kitchen to get the main dish, leaving the father and son alone.

Garmadon folded his hands on the table again and leaned over towards him some. Lloyd leaned back in his seat and lifted one blonde eyebrow at him.

“What about a loan?”

“Dad…”

“I’m just saying, I would give you a much better interest rate than anyone else.”

“I really appreciate it, dad. I’ve already got a couple loans, though.”

“Yes, I know.” Garmadon tapped his fingertips on the table. “That’s my concern. If you’d just let me pay them off, I could give you a consolidation loan, a very low interest rate, more leniency on your payments.” He held his hands out pleadingly. “I could help.”

“That’s the same as using the trust.” Lloyd argued. “I can handle the loans, dad, I promise. I haven’t missed… well, I… I was late once but only once!”

“An investor then. Let me invest in the property.”

“We’re not… ready for investors yet. I want to get a few productions under our belt first.” Lloyd looked down at the cup he had both hands wrapped around, swirling the drink in it. “Or at least finish the renovations. The city has already offered us grants and that’s all the investment we can afford to take before we know how this is all going to go.” Deep down, Lloyd was concerned about a lot more than that. After discovering Cole, he was hesitant to have too many voices with sway over the property. There was no telling what he’d have to do if he was answering to a board of some kind. Just thinking about it gave him an intense headache…

“I think you’re really missing out.” Garmadon advised. He settled back in his chair with a disappointed expression. At least he seemed to be ready to drop it for the most part. Lloyd was sure it was supposed to be polite parental advice, maybe even encouraging, but he couldn’t help feeling like he was being chastised. “Getting investors in on the ground level like this is the best time to get them. Just consider it, even if it’s not me.”

“I’ll think about it. Thanks, dad.” He gave him an awkward thumbs up, which Garmadon returned. That sticky silence returned, broken up by Garmadon patting his thighs and nodding as he found things to look at in the room that weren’t Lloyd.

“Riventing stuff going on in here.” Misako came back in with several plates and a welcome interruption. She set a plate of spring rolls and crispy pork in front of each of them. Lloyd’s mouth started watering the second the smell hit his nose.

“No more business talk at the table. Tell us how you’ve been outside of the theater.”

—————

“Nice. Really nice… Hey this came out great! Better than I expected…”

Everyone was gathered on the stage today. There was no formal rehearsal, but they were preparing for one the next day and getting things in order approaching their first week of tech rehearsals. It was an intense crunch, since there were still renovations to finish in addition to the prep needed to actually put on the show. There wasn’t much sleep going around, but there was plenty of coffee.

Lloyd walked up and down the stage examining the finally finished set pieces Nya had put together, as well as the props she’d painted. He picked up one of them and flipped it around to check the back. “This is really nice work. You painted all of these?”

“Actually Cole painted that one.” Nya tapped it. “He helped a lot, painted like… at least half of these. I don’t think I would have finished this fast without him.”

“They look great, Cole.” Lloyd smiled over at where Cole was sitting and painting something on the side of the stage. The ghost gave him a shy little nod. It was kind of hard to tell what expression he was making through the makeup, but Lloyd was pretty sure he saw a proud little curve on his lips. He turned back to the piece in his hands and flipped it over again, running his thumbs over the paint designs. “We might have to start paying him in food or something. This is professional quality…”

One of the doors on the far side of the hall swung open and closed. Zane made his way down the seats, heading right for him. “Lloyd? Are you busy? There are a couple of visitors here asking for you in the lobby.”

“People? What people?” Lloyd set the props down and walked towards the edge of the stage. He readjusted his slipping hoodie back up on his shoulder and tried to think of who it could be. “I wasn’t expecting the electrician until tomorrow… unless it’s wednesday now?”

“It’s Monday." Kai looked up from the script he was scribbling blocking notes in. “Who’s the people?”

“Lloyd’s mother and father.”

Lloyd went still like a statue, hands clasped in front of his chest as he stared down at Zane with wide eyes. Nobody else moved either, except for Cole. Since everyone else seemed to be waiting for Lloyd’s response and Lloyd wasn’t moving, he came up beside him and poked him with the wood end of his paint brush. “You okay?”

“Alright everyone! We gotta get this place cleaned up asap.” Nya directed, already scooping up brushes and paint. She started shooing around Arin and Sora to tidy things up and take them backstage. Kai stood and stretched, then patted Lloyd on the shoulder. “No worried, dude. I’ll go distract them while you change.”

Lloyd immediately started to sweat. “Is anyone else free to do that because-”

“Nnnnope! Cmon, Mr and Mrs G love me!” He jumped off the edge of the stage, already strutting confidently towards the lobby doors.

Lloyd stiffly turned towards Cole, already zipping up his jacket and pulling the hair tie out of the front of his hair. “Hey Cole, uh… listen. I just need you to go sort of… hide? Somewhere. For a little while.”

“Uh huh. From your parents?” He scratched the back of his neck and shrugged. “Sure. if you want. What’s the deal?”

“They’re just uuuuuh… um.” Lloyd was trying to brush flat the bangs he’d tied up, but they didn’t seem to want to stay down. The harder he tried, the more anxious he got. “They’re very formally important. Formal and important. Uh… traditional? Just hide for a while! Please. Oh crap I gotta go check to make sure they cleaned up in the hallway we just painted!”

Lloyd left Zane and Cole standing there together, running wild all over the theater to throw things into closets and straighten things out. In truth things were not half as bad as he thought they were. The theater was nearly ready for guests (except for a couple persistent plumbing issues) but that didn’t really register when he started thinking of what his parents might see while walking around. He stopped in a bathroom to wet his hair and force it back into place. With his bangs dripping he stuck his head under one of the hand dryers they’d installed to finish it off, then ran full speed for the lobby.

It seemed like he’d gotten there just in time. Kai had a handful of askew papers in both hands, and was pointing at this and that diagram or script as he explained his ideas. Garmadon and Misako were sitting on a bench near the entrance, doing their best impressions of interested guests as Kai explained his blocking notes.

“The finale would be the best part. See, cause we got these two aisles right at the bottoms of the stage stairs, so we could have people walking down in rows, throwing-”

“Heeeeey guys.” Lloyd interrupted Kai’s very exciting pitch, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Whaaaat are you doing here? Haha… I-I thought you weren’t coming until next month.”

“There you are.” Misako’s voice had just enough relief to make Kai pout, but he stepped aside to let her give Lloyd a hug. She brushed some of his hair into place as she looked him over. “Well, you said we’d be able to come in the next few weeks, didn’t you? It’s within the next few weeks!”

“Yeaah, wow! That… that is an extremely literal interpretation of my words yeah. Haha.”

Misako smiled softly, squeezing his hand gently. “We’re here to support you, Lloyd. Please, show us around. You’ve been talking so much about it. At least give us this?”

Lloyd took a deep breath, squeezing her hand back and smiling. “Yeah. Of course.”

The three of them toured around the building slowly as Lloyd introduced team members and explained things they’d been working on. After a few minutes he really did relax a little. It helped that his parents were genuine and supportive people, and seemed interested in everything that he was showing them. Misako especially was practically flushed walking alongside him, gushing about the workmanship and what a find he’d made. She stopped every few feet to point something out, going on a whole tangent every time about whatever it was she’d focused on.

Garmadon wasn’t as talkative, but he did follow behind them and comment every now and then, and seemed to be having just as good a time just being around the pair of them. He also seemed extra interested in the cast and crew he was meeting, shaking hands with everyone he came across.

“Absolutely stunning bead work on this…” Misako held the edge of one of the older costumes in her hands. She had been hesitant to touch it at all, but desperately wanted to run her fingers over the pearls to see if they were real. “Lloyd… you have really found some nice things in here. This is practically priceless. Did you realize these pearls were real when you found it?”

“I had a guess? But I didn’t know for sure.” He stepped closer to look at it with her, reaching out to touch one of the pearls.

“It’s cold, see? That’s real, bug.” She pointed out some of the embroidery. “And this? Techniques like this haven’t been used in hundreds of years. Maybe you could replicate it by commissioning a historical craftsman but…. This is undeniably genuine, and in fantastic condition. We have to get you a case to display this in. Oh, I wonder who wore it. She must have been beautiful…”

Above them, something slipped off one of the high shelves and went tumbling down. All three of them startled, whipping their heads around towards it. The little tin prop clinked and clanged off of things sticking out of the shelves on it’s way down, making far too much noise to be ignored. Tink! Tink! Thunk! It hit the floor and rrrrrattled it’s way to a stop nearby them, finally falling silent.

“Aha.” Lloyd picked it up and shoved it into another shelf spot. It teetered like it was going to fall, so he pushed it in a little harder. “Sorry! Must have been the wind or something. Freaked me out.”

Misako, ever curious and unsatisfied with easy answers, walked past him and peeked up at the dark corner of the costume shelves the tin prop had fallen from. She looked around for a moment or two before turning back to Lloyd with a very serious expression.

“Lloyd… is there any chance this theater might be haunted?”

Lloyd started to sweat again. Bullets, this time. Somehow he managed a Garmadon worthy straight face. “No way.”

She looked back up at the corner again, crossing her arms. “Hmm. I know how this is going to sound, bug, but… I could have sworn I saw a pair of eyes for a minute there.”

“Probably a mask or something. Oh, you know what, I just remembered! I wanted to show you something I found in the not here.” Lloyd came around and put both hands on her back to guide her out. He caught his dad on the way and tugged him along too. “Way cooler than the costume shop, I promise.”

“Oh, so we’re allowed to see the costumes but not the theater ghost.” Misako shuffled along compliantly with a pout. “It’s not completely crazy! There could be. Hauntings aren’t an exact science, there’s much in the world that’s unexplained.”

Garmadon peeked over at his wife (who was smushed into his side) and nodded. “Sounds like there might be. But you know how Lloyd was when he was little, terrified of shadows and the dark. I’m sure he wouldn’t want to linger on it.”

From back in the costumes, there was a very soft little laugh.

Lloyd’s face flushed red as he pushed his parents a little harder. “No ghosts! Just gravity. If there WERE ghosts they would definitely not be with the props! They’d probably be somewhere else!” He yelled the last part over his shoulder so any listening ghosts could hear it.

“A nice ghost story could be good for your engagement. People love a ghost story.” Garmadon suggested. “You know, actually… if he were haunting the props it would make perfect sense for him to be here. Maybe a particular prop? I wonder which one…”

“It could be a her, minh. Might not be a man.”

“Oh yes. Sorry!” Garmadon called back into the room. “I’m sure you’re very beautiful. Or handsome! Whichever. Didn’t mean to offend!”

“No Problem.”

All three bodies froze in the doorway to the prop room. Slowly, they turned their heads back towards the dimly lit space. Right in the corner, only for a moment, a pair of shining eyes stared back at them. They seemed to shimmer in the shadows of that shelf, floating a foot or two off the top. The longer they stared, the more they seemed to be able to see not just eyes, but a whole face. Garmadon blinked twice, wondering if maybe it was some kind of mask he hadn’t noticed before just hanging there. He didn’t see anything before, and it was harder to tell now that they were further out. There was definitely something there…

Misako took her glasses off and rubbed the lenses on her shirt for a better look, but just as she’d put them back on, Lloyd grabbed the door and slammed it shut.

He turned to look at them, lips pursed and eyes wide.

“Was that…?”

Lloyd shook his head.

“That… I saw a-”

“Nope!” Lloyd put his hand up, smiling sheepishly. “Please… Don’t encourage him.”

#ninjago drabbles #cole brookstone #lloyd garmadon #ninjago lloyd #ninjago cole #ninjago #opera au?