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Lloyd hated school, and it wasn't the reason any other teen hated highschool - well, that too - no this was different, Lloyd's father was hated by everyone in the city, and everyone knew that he, Lloyd Garmadon, was the infamous Lord Garmadon's son, which of course meant being shoved into lockers by the “brave students” as the teachers called them, and getting his homework flushed down the toilet. Also the fact he was trans did not help at all, sure Ninjago was more supportive of Lgbtq kids than other cities, but these were snobby high schoolers, so obviously they would hate the fact that Lloyd was different
Lloyd wakes up to another horrible day, his head aching from his battle with the other ninja the day before, at least when he was the green ninja he had friends, and everyone liked him… he finally gets out of bed, getting dressed and leaving his room, his mom was already at work for the day, the only thing showing she was even there being a plate of eggs on the table. He eats the eggs, grabbing his bag and heading off to another nightmare, highschool…
Lloyd walks to his locker to grab his books and groans when he spots his normal bullies standing in the hallway right in front of his locker, just great. “um.. Can you move a bit?” he mumbles nervously “I need to get some stuff from my locker.” The bullies blink at him before bursting into laughter, why did he think that would work..
Lloyd ends up missing his first 2 classes, trapped in his locker only let out by the science teacher when she heard him banging on the door, his savior. Lloyd's day continues as normal, well, as normal as the son of the city’s villain's day can get.
Lloyd walks into the ninja training warehouse, his face covered by his mask so none of his friends know who he is, he was the green ninja to them, nothing more, nothing less. “yoooo hey greeny! How was your day?” Fire asks, giving Lloyd a fist-bump and what he assumes to be a smile from the way the red ninja's mask moves, Lloyd returns the masked smile and the group start training, Ice and Water practice their duo moves, Earth and Lighting do some sparring, and Green and Fire practice how long they can keep their powers activated and stable, Fire obviously wins, Lloyd was too weak to win again him.
Fire would probably scold him for the self-deprecating thought but it was true, he was weak and useless.. He faulted all of their fights against Garmadon and he couldn't even throw correctly, and he had no friends. What kind of person has no friends? This kind…
Lloyd bumps into someone at school the next day, a kid that was about 5 inches taller than him with brown, overly-spiky hair and fiery red eyes, the boy doesn't yell at or hit him… The kid smiles at Lloyd, which is honestly the weirdest thing he's seen in his life, and he's seen some weird stuff. In fact, Lloyd gets invited to sit with him at lunch! What the hell kind of alternate universe is this!?
Lloyd awkwardly sits at the table with the spiky-haired boy and his friends, trying to sit as far away as possible, avoiding eye contact so as to not upset the first people who have looked at him nicely since he was 5.
One of the other kids at the table speaks up, this one with short brown hair, blue eyes and a scarf “Kai, why did you invite a freshman to sit with us?” the boy asks the spiky haired teen sitting next to Lloyd “because he looked scared, and I get it! Highschool is a real journey,” the boy, Kai says “plus Jay, don't you remember me inviting you to sit together for the first time?” “yeah… alright fine, he can sit with us,” Jay, the boy with the scarf, answers.
Lloyd takes a cautious bite of his lunch, watching the other 2 people sitting at the table, one with dark black hair and brown eyes and the other a blond… Who now that he thinks about it looks kind of like a robot.. Lloyd finally takes his chances with speaking “um.. So why did you choose me specifically to sit with you?” the robotic blond answers “Kai presumably felt sympathy for you, therefore he wishes to befriend you” God even his way of talking was robotic.. No Lloyd, that's mean.
“Oh… Okay..” god why couldn't they have just ignored him, this was way more awkward than sitting alone. “So uh… what do you guys… Normally talk about?” he asks, being the social outcast he had no idea what to say. “mostly video games, but sometimes our classes or home lives” huh, okay, was that normal teen stuff to talk about? Lloyd has no idea. “okay… Well I'm Lloyd…” the guy with black hair finally says something and Lloyd instantly regrets sharing his name, “like Lloyd Garmadon? Dude, are you that one kid?” oh crap “um…. N-no?”
Lloyd gets invited to sit with the group again the next day and holy FSM he's scared, this has never happened in his entire life and he's putting every last bit of his knowledge on social normality into not messing this up, so much so that he forgets to even blink until Jay (is it okay to call him that?) reminds him. “dude are you good? You're kinda staring at me” Oh.. “ah, I'm sorry” he instantly looks away god he totally messed that up, they probably think he's so weird now.
That night while the ninja were training, Lightning mentions a freshman at his school that has started to sit at his lunch table, saying that “the kid was pretty awkward, like he's never had friends before, totally weird” it was probably just a coincidence though, the ninja's chat is interrupted by the siren telling them that Garmadon was attacking again, Lloyd ends up getting whambed against a wall and has to skip school that day, when he gets back his new… Friends? All worry for him, asking why he wasn't at school, he's confused why they were worried but it surprisingly feels nice, having people care enough about him to worry… Huh he could get used to this