Oops...

12

The next morning is a bit odd, with the younger ninja running around trying to get ready with the few clothes and such that they keep at the warehouse, while Mont and Julien watch, the others all doing very good impressions of their counterparts, just in the room they slept in. Honestly, you'd think they'd get a bit more used to getting up early, but nope, they just keep sleeping in and then having to rush. Mont rolls his eyes and then catches Lloyd's eyes on him over his cup of tea - a habit taken from Wu, rather (un)fortunately - for the 6th time just this morning since the ninja had woken, not including the several hours before where the ninja were asleep and the two were awake for a short few hours with just each other for company.

He has a vague idea what might be going through Lloyd's mind, but he can not be the person to take the next step. Lloyd himself must take it and he has to do it of his own free will or the step will not be one forward in progress but rather backwards in failure. Besides, the others had noticed the way he had easily pinned the younger green ninja as suicidal, and easily informed the rest of the younger team while Mont distracted Lloyd by asking him about Wu and his flute/staff thing. They'll figure it out on their own, especially once Zane gets ahold of them and can tell them everything he learned about overnight.( Zane had thought it was nice, the way the older group reacted after finding out Mont would've committed suicide, but wanted to know why it was a reaction like that. He was horrified and spent most of the night looking up anything he could to help people like that.)

The group manage to get to the bus stop on time, the clothes a bit mix matched - except for Mont, Zane and Julien, who had all gotten up early and had time to get ready. Walker has one of Royal's shirts, while Smith is wearing one of Samurai's hoodies,  Samurai is wearing Smith's pants, and poor Royal has managed to pull on Samurai's shirt. Even the younger group had gotten mixed up. Lloyd is obviously wearing one of Mont's shirts - while they're about the same in size, Mont is taller and just a bit broader - what with the way it hangs on him a bit, Jay is wearing a hoodie that almost dwarfs him, Cole's pants are a bit long, poor Nya is wearing a shoes that are almost too big but not quite and Kai had grabbed the wrong backpack, so instead of exchanging backpacks, they just took the stuff inside of it and exchanged it, leaving each other with the papers they needed.

The people on the bus avoid them, as usual, though Mont watches in amusement how some of them give him dirty eyes or scared ones, like he's going to doing anything without provocation. With the younger ninja with them, they exchange seats and take up almost the entire side of the bus, counterpart sitting with counterpart. Mont can hear Cole and Royal arguing the merits of a electric guitar to a wooden one behind them, while Jay and Walker are debating what genre is best in front of them. Lloyd is sitting next to the window - Mont had refused to leave him in the seat next to the aisle where people might be tempted to mess with him - and is fiddling with the extra bit of shirt by his neck, a thoughtful look on his face. Mont continues to wait, knowing this first step is the hardest, though most people forget that.

"Mont... how did you deal with it?"

Mont gives one more glance around the bus - ignoring all the flinches and cringes - before turning all of his attention to his younger counterpart.

"Deal with what?" He murmurs in response, letting the noise from the conversations around them cover up their own. No reason to make the kid more nervous than he already is.

"The responsibility? The weight? The pressure? I'm 16 but the things I've had to do, the injuries my friends have gotten from choices I've made, the lives destroyed or changed because of my choices, they haunt me. How do you live with it?"

Mont takes a moment, debating on how to phrase this so the kid can understand, chewing on his lip thoughtfully as he does. Lloyd doesn't push, knowing the other is just preparing his answer in his mind in order to say it correctly.