Ninjago A-Z

A is for affection

Summary: Brad has been acting weird, and Lloyd wants to find out why.

Relationships: Brad/Lloyd

Characters; Brad Tudabone, Lloyd Garmadon

Triggers: Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Homophobia

Notes: So I wrote this in August, and I meant to post this on Valentine's Day. I am just a master procrastinator. I hope y'all enjoy, and you can give me feedback at any time.

Edit: Added The Triggers

It was a bright and sunny day. All seem well to the outside observer, and maybe everything was all and well for some.

But not for two children at Darkley's school for bad boys.

Let us take a closer look at what is going on with those two, shall we?

"Brad, why don't you ever take off your shirt in gym class?" asked Lloyd Garmadon, the son of an evil tyrant Lord Garmadon. A not-so-innocent blonde, who while knowing of the world's horrors, didn't want them to strike his friend. He may pretend to be evil, but he just wanted the world to be kind to him for once, and didn't care how he did it.

"Why do you wanna know?" a tall, at least compared to Lloyd, burnette, who was known as Brad Tudabone, heir to the Tudabone clan, replied. Brad, who unlike his friend, truly didn't want to take over the world or hurt people. He just wanted to plant his flowers.

Brad's voice betrayed his fear, which he was trying so hard to hide.

Lloyd, noticing the fear in his best, and only, friend, narrowed his eyes. He was already suspicious that something was amiss, but the fear in Brad's voice made it so he felt his fears were confirmed.

"Because, your my best friend. My only friend. And I don't know if that means something to you, but to me, that means you have no one to fight for my loyalty. It means that you are the brightest star in my whole fucking sky. It means that you are my whole world. That also means I will do my freaking best to make sure you aren't hurt, and if you are, that you have the knowledge that I care. Does that make sense to you?" Lloyd explained, his voice gradually getting louder from a whisper to just below a yell. Tears were streaking down his face, soaking his uniform, but neither boy cared.

Brad was taken aback by the smaller boy's admittance of his feelings. Generally speaking, certain feelings, like love or compassion, were discouraged at their school. If found that you had these feelings for anyone, you were usually subjected to some form of bullying, some more than others. Some students had even been expelled for their feelings.

Despite the two having the forbidden, at least in their mind, feelings for each other, they had never discussed it in any depth before. They had barely even prod them in the safety of their minds. But now, they were being forced to confront them head on.

Brad sighed softly, and looked Lloyd straight in the eye, his amber eyes meeting emerald.

"It does. I don't know if you know this, but you also mean something to me. I put fire ants in your bed, so I had an excuse to check up on you, after everything with them was settling down. So that I could teach you something. I do have a reason as to why I don't want to take off my shirt in gym class, but I don't know if you will still be my friend after I tell," Brad admitted, trembling slightly. He was quickly caught off guard, when two thin but strong arms wrapped around his sides. Lloyd Garmadon, the son of one of Ninjago's most feared villain's, was hugging him.

Hesitantly raising his arms around Lloyd, Brad embraced his friend, no best friend, while crying into his shoulder. The two didn't know how long they stayed in that position, on Lloyd's bed in their shared dorm room, comforting the other. All they know was that for right now, they had each other, and that was good enough for them.

"You know that I won't hate you, for whatever the reason you don't take your shirt off, right?" Lloyd whispered, his voice raw with tears.

"Yeah, but you'll treat me differently. You'll think I'm weak. I'm weak. So why would I want that?" Brad replied, his voice trembling.

In response, Lloyd squeezed his friend even harder, and whispered in his ear, " I will never think you are weak. Please, you can either show me or tell me. Just let me in."

Brad huffed, but scooted away from his friend, with a whine from Lloyd. He started to unbutton his uniform dress shirt, then pulled it over his head. Brad looked down, too ashamed to look Lloyd in the eye.

Lloyd gasp, at what he saw. Brad's torso was covered in scars, and Lloyd was sure it wasn't the only place there were scars. The worst was definitely a circle around his heart, it was painfully someone carved around it. There were numerous bruises and cuts also, almost as many as there were scars,, both big and small, in an array of colors. It was like someone tried to make a collage on Brad's chest. It was gruesome to say the least.

"Brad, w-who did this?" Lloyd asked, dread filling his stomach.

Brad curled into himself and replied, "My parents. They found out something they didn't like about me, so they punished me for it. It's fine, I deserved it"

Lloyd was flabbergasted. Here was his best friend, his favorite person, admitting that what Lloyd considered abuse was just a punishment to Brad.

Lunging over the bed, Lloyd grasped the taller male, hugging the life out of him.

"Whatever the hell they found out, it doesn't mean this," here Lloyd gestured at the numerous scars, "is okay."

Brad looked up at his friend and sighed. "Lloyd, they, they found out, that, that I like boys. Now, normally this would be okay with them, but they found out that...I fell for someone they didn't approve of, romantically, and not just sexually. They didn't want me to be with him as anything more that friends-with-benefits, so they tried to beat it out of me. They did so much shit to try and make me not want to be in a relationship, that I'm terrified of just being near a guy, you know?" Quickly embracing himself for what he considered the inevitable punch, he did not expect his friend to start sobbing

"Sorry, sorry for crying, it's just that I also like guys, so the fact that you thought I would hate you is kind of shocking, ya know?"

The burette was shocked. He did not expect his friend to have any interest in males. Although in hindsight, it made sense, considering he spent more time ranting and raving about Gene than about the looks or personality of the girls.

Lloyd suddenly shot up from the bed, and ran into the closet in their room, appearing to search for something. He quickly turned around and lifted up some flowers. They were blue like Brad's eyes.

"Well, I've been meaning to do this for a while now, but didn't know if you would be offended or no. But now I have no such fear. Brad, ever since I met, I really, really, really like you. Like, like you like you. As in the way I thought you like girls. But now that I know you like guys, I decided to seize the day, and ask you out. Brad Tudabone, would you be, at the very least, secret boyfriends?" Here Lloyd extended the flowers to his friend, with such a hopeful face, Brad's heart broke a little.

Brad gently pushed himself off the bed onto the floor, and grasp the blonde's chin, forcing him to look straight into his eyes.

"Lloyd Montgomery Garmadon, I would be honored to be your super duper ultra secret boyfriend. And for the record, I love the flowers," Brad smirked, looking almost like his normal self.

And with that proclamation, Brad leaned toward his newly proclaimed boyfriend and kissed Lloyd on the cheek, a true smile on both the boys faces.

The two boys knew that if they were ever to be found out, there would be hell to pay, but in the moment, they could have cared less, as long as the other was around.