the butterfly effect | l. garmadon

twelve

Sharon Van Etten
••• Jupiter 4 •••

i've been waiting, waiting, waiting my whole life,
for someone like you,
it's true that everyone would would like to have met
a love so real

•••••

TW: accidental harm, blood

  It was a sunny, Sunday morning of putting out the laundry when a ninja landed silently behind me and scared my skeleton into orbit.

  "Hey, sunshine," Lloyd said into my ear, seemingly having appeared out of thin air. He looped his arms around my waist.

  "Jesus!" I squeaked, flinching so hard that I felt my heart rattle in my chest like a ping pong ball. I turned to send a maskless Lloyd (aka the Green Ninja, aka the boy I was dating) a scowl. "I know you're a ninja and everything, but please refrain from giving me heart attacks."

  He didn't look sorry. Instead, he pulled me tighter against him. "My bad," he said with a curt smirk. He didn't even sound apologetic, either.

  My arms found their way around his neck. His eyes lidded with delight and a pleasant trill trailed up my spine like the stroke of a paintbrush. I never thought I'd be looked at like that.

  "We have neighbours, you know," I said, eyeing the gi he wore that symbolised him as pretty much every teen's celebrity crush - and a vigilante against the common law. "And my mum's inside."

  "I'm just passing through on patrol," Lloyd said. The curtness of his smirk changed into something genuine. "I wanted to stop by and see my favourite girl."

  My already fluttering heart broke it down double speed. It'd only been a night since I took his mask off and we shared a kiss, and I could still feel it tingling on my lips. I think I was stuck in a state of shock. I think I was dying inside. His cute remarks didn't help my sanity.

  For someone who hadn't dated before and had the constant weight of fate dragging behind him, Lloyd was effortlessly smooth.

  It must've been part of his main character privilege. I'd thought about it last night after he left - kind, pretty, charming, powerful. He was a real life superhero and a real life protagonist. I had no idea how I managed to get myself caught up in his story.

  I looked towards the laundry basket at my feet, still half-full. "Do you think you can help your favourite girl with the washing?"

  Lloyd's expression morphed into a look of reluctance. Even the Green Ninja hated chores, it seemed.

  "I would love to," he said insincerely, "but I've gotta get back to my route."