NINJAGO: Amateurs of Adulthood

T

TW: Homophobic Slurs

Lloyd entered the bathroom with the intent on using a stall just because he didn't really like pissing around people like at the urinals.

He walked in, finding Dennis and a few of his friends talking and goofing off by the sinks. There were about five of them, three of them stopped their conversation to watch Lloyd silently. He glanced at them awkwardly and made his way to a stall. Before he could get in, a long, muscular arm blocked his way, hitting the stall with a loud noise.

"Um, excuse me." Lloyd said looking up at one of Dennis' friends

"Hey, Ryan, what're you doing?" Dennis asked

"Nothing, just talking to him." Ryan said, turning to Dennis, and back to Lloyd. The darkness in his deep brown eyes spoke volumes. A lot of people didn't like Lloyd, but out of all of them, Ryan always went out of his way to prove he hated Lloyd. Lloyd didn't really understand it but there wasn't much he could do

"What's with the side eye, Garmadon? Wanna turn me to stone too, weird ass?"

Lloyd kept his eyes down, not wanting to deal with Ryan today. "Actually, it was the Omega Oni who starting turning people to stone, I was literally on the front lines."

"So what? You think that makes you different from them? Your still an Oni freak."

"Cool. Can I go piss now?"

It was a sharp, unexpected punch to the chest that sent Lloyd straight to the ground in a quick motion. He didn't expect to be hit like that at all, he sat on the cold ground of the bathroom, coughing and wheezing in pain.

"You think your hot shit, huh?! Fag demons like you belong in hell!"

Dennis ran up and pulled Ryan off of Lloyd, sending the brown haired boy back a few steps

"Hey, what're you doing?" Dennis questioned, his deep voice still soft and calm

Ryan gave Lloyd one last disgusted look and turned for the door. "He came onto me, man." He said before he walked out, Dennis' other two "friends" in close behind

"Bro, are you good?" Dennis' other friend Hiro asked as he helped Dennis pull Lloyd off the ground

"I...I'm fine, I'm okay." Lloyd heaved out, coming to his feet as he fixed his shirt

"Sorry Lance." Dennis said, quite apologetic

"Lloyd." Lloyd deadpanned. Dennis did his signature clueless smirk and Hiro turned his head to the side to laugh at his friend's forgetfulness

"Anyway, we should go. Class is about to be over and Kryptor does not hesitate with those detentions." Hiro laughed. "Anyway, enjoy your piss, dude!"

"Bye, Link!" Dennis waved with a smile

"Lloyd!" Lloyd called out as the two boys left the bathroom. He put a hand to his chest and pressed lightly, hissing in pain before he turned to the stall

"Yep, that's gonna bruise."

When he finished his business, he walked through the halls with the intent to return back to Pixal's office. The halls were flooded with people trying to get to their final classes of the day while pushing past others. Lloyd would wince every time someone would bump into him, it hurt to even breathe honestly, he didn't want people to know about it though. It wasn't a big deal after all

Lloyd opened the door to Pixal's office, closing it When he walked in and breathing a happy sigh at the sight of his chair. He sat down at leaned into the warm fabric, totally discarding his history homework from "Mr. Powers", he hung out with Clutch all the time. This worksheet was literally about Aspheera's Reign, he was there anyway. He was weirdly a lot of places, he's even seen his face in textbooks a couple of times.

"Lloyd, there is still 40 minutes of school left, you still have lots of work to do." Pixal said, looking away from a big book of something Lloyd had no clue about

"C'mon Pixal, I already know it all!" Lloyd whined

Pixal turned to face Lloyd. "Lloyd, the only class you "know it all" in is history. Your English is mediocre, your math skills are basically nonexistent, your science is messy, and you're barely scathing by in gym."

Lloyd looked Pixal dead in the eye, "Did you just look up my grades only for the purpose of trying to shame me?"

"The truth hurts." Pixal shrugged with a smile

Lloyd flopped down back unto his chair. "I dropped out of school in the 3rd grade, gimme a break."

"And we taught you everything you missed, your excuses are futile."

Lloyd squinted and furrowed his brows at the nindroid. "I strongly dislike you."

Pixal reach over and pulled a gumball from the glass jar on her desk, "Gumball?" She asked as she extended her hand to offer Lloyd a blue gumball

"Oo, yeah!" Lloyd smiled, he didn't eat sweets often, so the offer couldn't possibly be refused. Lloyd crawled across the floor and took the gumball from Pixal's hand. She laughed at his antics and the two continued their work

When the final bell rang, Lloyd could hear the cheers of about 50 students and a thousand happy footsteps raining through the hallway. Lloyd looked up with happy eyes at Pixal, silently asking permission to leave his work behind. Pixal shook her head with a smile and looked at Lloyd from the side

"Goodbye, Lloyd. Have a good day." She smiled. Lloyd jumped up from his chair, not even bothering to pick up his papers, and ran out of the office with an enthusiastic pep in his step

Lloyd waddled through the crowd of vulgar boys and basic girls, yearning for the moment he could step out of his school building.

When he did, the warm rays of the sun hit his face and his worries seemed to melt away. He never realized how stuffy he felt when he was in the fluorescent white light of the almost foggy hallways.

Lloyd ran up to the middle of the street, knowing well that eyes were on him, but he didn't care, he was going home. He moved his arms in swift, light motions, the bright green glow slowly beginning to pour out of his hands and flutter around his body. The blonde thrusted his arms out and a mountain shaking roar echoed everywhere, hundreds of people screamed and cussed Lloyd out as he summoned his dragon, but he wasn't here for them, now he could go home. Lloyd jumped onto the bright, glowing beast, placing himself on its back and laughing to himself as he heard to whispers and laughs of other people

"Lloooooooooyd!" Someone called out. Lloyd turned to see his best friend running towards him with flailing arms. "Lloooooooyd! Take me with youuuuuuu!"

Lloyd laughed, he took Brad's wrist and yanked him up as Brad scrambled onto his dragon

"Fuck yeah, I'm on a dragon!" Brad cheered as he pumped his fists in the air

The two boys heard a car horn honk and turned around towards the noise

"Lloyd, why ain't you say you was takin the dragon?" Cole called out from the open driver seat window of his car. When Lloyd saw them, he laughed and flew away into the sky.

"Oh! We gotta get him, we gotta get him!" Jay chanted as he rolled out of the passenger seat

"Why are you even goin?" Cole yelled. He watched from the car as Jay did his "little boogie", as he liked to call it, and summoned his own dragon.

The redhead flew away while screaming, "YOU CAN NOT ESCAAAAAAAAAPE!"

Cole scoffed at his friends and closed the car doors. He started up the engine and sped away on the road, racing his friends who flew in the sky.

Just another day in Ninjago.