day four: create that new beginning

lego ninjago

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"The flowers of late winter and early spring occupy places in our hearts well out of proportion to their size."

— Gertrude S. Wister

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Their relationship really was a terrible idea. They were one of those couples that other people would look at and exchange disapproving looks because they believed it was going to fail. It seemed destined to do so. But Carter's never listened to destiny, so why should he start now?

Maybe that was just one of the reasons. Carter promptly ignored the rules and ran away from the chains of fate. While as much as he tried to, Lloyd could never fully escape them. He always ended up back onto square one.

Lloyd was an official ninja, the most famous of them all, with an unforgettable green uniform, and a smile that could stay in your mind forever. Carter was the little guy on the side, who did his own thing unless he was sneaking into their base for snacks.

Carter was smart but he didn't have the ancient wisdom Lloyd spouted out like Shakespeare. He was flirty, seeming completely confident to do whatever the heck he wanted, and didn't have much concern for the big issues of the world. Lloyd was socially awkward and his confidence was much deeper inside, he saw the world. He saw it all. Carter was stubborn. Maybe that was the one thing they had in common. They were both stubborn.

Was that another reason that they somehow worked? Because they were both too stubborn to prove everyone right?

Carter believed in survival, save a couple of lives here and there and maybe, just maybe, keep the world from collapsing. But you can't get too involved. It's selfish but it's smart. Sometimes in life, you had to be selfish. Even if it meant skulking around the darker corners of Ninjago and doing a few less-than-honourable things.

Lloyd believed in hope. People will die but he could save them all if he just tried harder. It was stupid. It was naive. But is what kept him going. Even if that meant giving up a part of himself for it.

So different. Black and white. Salty and sweet. Earth and sky. They had almost nothing in common that it was almost laughable that the green ninja could be so goddamn in love with someone whose entire alter ego was a joke!

Yet he was.

One slip up and it was all over the tabloids.

The Green Ninja dating The Element of Surprise???

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"Why the element of surprise?" Lloyd asked him one day as they sat atop an apartment building. Little patrols together were one of the only ways they could steal just a few moments of peace before the world went nuts all over again. Of course, Lloyd hadn't known at the time that Carter only came on those patrols to see him. If it had been any other person Carter would've just ditched them plain and simple.

Carter laughed and tilted his head curiously at the blonde. "What do you mean?"

Lloyd flushed a little as he stumbled over his words. "Well- y'know... it's a little confusing. What does the element of surprise even mean?"

"It means I get to scare the crap out of whoever is on the other side of that portal," Carter smirked, casting a wink at the ninja, making him even more flustered. "Nah... I dunno. I guess none of the other names were really as catchy. Element of teleportation has way too many syllables."

Lloyd hummed, swinging his feet back and forth as he thought. "That makes sense I guess." He yelped when he was suddenly jerked to a stand. Lloyd's eyes widened when he came nose to nose with the pink-clad ninja.

"Besides," Carter breathed. "I'm full of surprises."

They had been dancing along the lines of friend/maybe-crushes, bordering that gap of confession that leads to boyfriends-to-lovers. Carter knew he was treading on dangerous territory. Lloyd was no outlaw. He was an innocent angel in this world of cruelty and pain. Carter was the demon, whose needs rarely came behind others. It took a riddle or two to get him moving. But maybe just for a second, this could be a reality. This perfect romance could be... his.

Lloyd furrowed his brow as the brown-eyed young man just stared at him. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Carter said simply.

And then he kissed him.

It was surreal. This world seemed so dark and empty. Until Lloyd came in and lit this light that made the smells sweeter, the sounds nicer, the sights more beautiful than he had ever realized before. He created a world worth living in. He became Carter's heart and soul.

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Things were good for a while. In fact, they were great!

Secret rooftop kisses turned into first dates. First dates turned into labels. Labels turned into something deeper. Something powerful, so simple, yet so scary.

"I love you," Lloyd said softly, terrified green eyes gazing deep into his.

It locked in everything that he had been feeling before. It was the answer to all his questions but it raised a million more. How was this going to work? Was he ready? Were they ready? If this was all foretold to go down in flames shouldn't he be shielding his heart for when it did?

But for some reason, Carter knew deep in his heart Lloyd was worth it all.

Carter's lips twitched upward as he pressed his forehead against Lloyd's. "I love you too."

Once again everything was great. They went through the stages of a relationship, tripping and stumbling as they went, but soon they were sharing an apartment, daydreaming about the future. So many plans, so many hopes, so many perfect ideas of what life would be. Carter felt unstoppable. This was going to work. They could do this.

Or maybe they couldn't.

It was just a bunch of little things. At first, they were shoved aside in fear of tearing apart their perfectly written fairytale. But eventually, Carter couldn't ignore the cuts and bruises, he couldn't just go back to sleep when Lloyd woke up screaming in the night. Lloyd couldn't ignore the suspicious messages across his phone, the late-night trips, and unhealthy amount of knowledge about the illegal trades of magical weapons.

The weight was overbearing. Each struggling to carry something on their own, trying in vain to save the cracking foundations of their relationship. Eventually, the tiny cracks became big ones. Finally, it all crumbled.

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"You can't sell a bunch of illegal weapons to whoever wants them!" Lloyd shouted, tears fighting to escape from the corners of his eyes. "One day they're going to come back and they're going to destroy all of Ninjago! We have an opportunity to prevent it and you're just handing over our odds!"

"And who's going to stop them?" Carter yelled back. He ignored the pain coming from his balled fists, his nails dig deep into his skin but he was too furious to care. "You? You're just one guy, Lloyd! You can't save the world every time!" His arms swung wildly through the air, the pent-up emotions spewing out in violence.

"But I have to try." Lloyd desperately tried to help him understand, grabbing his arm before he could turn away. "If I see someone out there who needs help, I can help them! Maybe just maybe I can save one more person! I can save a family from heart break! I can give that person that extra few years at life if I just tried a little harder."

"It's not as simple as trying harder! One day someone's going to be balancing on the edge of life and death and you're going to try and save them. One day that person will be you." Carter's tone faded from rage into sadness. "One day you won't be able to save yourself, Lloyd. Because you're too busy saving everyone else."

The green ninja was silent. No- Lloyd was silent. The green ninja was the world's hero. Lloyd was just another guy- his random other guy. Carter had begun to see the separation between the two. Carter was beginning to hate the green ninja because the green ninja was what was going to get the love of his life killed.

"You know I have to," Lloyd whispered.

Carter paused for a moment. His eyes were unreadable as he stared at the broken face in front of him. Lloyd was only human. He got sick when he ate too much candy, he played video games and read books, failed and succeeded at school, he had a family, he had friends, he had...

He had a boyfriend.

"You don't always need to be the hero, Lloyd," Carter said, at last, voice hoarse from yelling. "You don't need to be laying your life on the line. These people may shout and cheer but that's all temporary. As soon as you make one mistake they're going to have no problem turning against you. Why do you want to fight for that?" Lloyd was silent, lips pressed together as he took in the words spoken to him.

Carter took his hands gently, squeezing them as if it would ground him. "It's okay to be selfish. It's okay to want a future. A future with love and life... and me." Carter's voice cracked but he kept going. "We could- we travel the world, Lloyd! We could see beautiful places, do ridiculous things, we could fail but we'd fail together. We could get married, maybe we could adopt or get a surrogate or something! The future isn't clear but it's ours."

Lloyd cast his eyes to the window. Big sad emerald eyes watching the raindrops slowly trickle down the foggy glass. "You're stuck on a dream, Carter." He seemed so far away. "That future? It's all a dream."

Carter swallowed hard, his walls coming crashing up as he dropped Lloyd's hand and stepped away. Carter's gaze was hard as he turned towards the door.

His tone was biting as he spat out the last words he'd ever truly say to Lloyd for a long time. "And you're fighting for one."

Carter felt like his heart had been torn out of his chest. Every step was painful but he just kept on walking. I guess even I wasn't stubborn enough to keep us together. Carter thought.

His heart was broken, his soul was shattered. But he pushed aside everything and just continued. Carter pretended his heart didn't flutter every time he thought he saw a familiar blonde mop of hair. Carter pretended that he just didn't like candy anymore when really he couldn't go to the shop without nostalgia hitting him like a train. Carter pretended he was okay. Because if he wasn't okay then what could he do?

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It was a year or so later that a curious criminal spoke to him. They were exchanging some weaponry and it just seemed like another normal day for Carter. But then the man said something that got his mind pulled back to the past once more. 

"Why are you trading all this stuff?" The former SoG member raised an eyebrow as he examined the contents.

"Guarantees survival," Carter replied gruffly. He didn't look up from where he was counting the money. "The world doesn't care if you're near death or not. So I'm playing it safe. Doing the bare minimum to keep the universe afloat. I can't be responsible for millions of lives every single day. It's not logical. I can save a few, maybe preserve Ninjago for a little bit, but other than that I just need to lay low and keep going."

"You act all selfish," the man chuckled as he slid the crate closed. "Yet you're still fighting to keep someone alive." He nodded to the contract.

"Not every villain skips over the fine print." He picked up the crate and began to walk away. "You're trying to protect someone."

Carter pressed his lips together and watched him leave. It was true he forced his clients to keep Lloyd safe. Well, as safe as he could keep the green ninja. He told himself it was because the green ninja was the answer to survival. But he was just lying to himself.

Carter still longed for that perfect fantasy, that rom-com worthy future. But it was never going to happen. It couldn't. Not with how things were going now. Their views were too different. For their relationship to work they would have to sacrifice something. Neither of them were willing to do that.

It was never perfect. It was never going to be as simple as just being boyfriends. It was never going to be what they wanted it to be. It never was. It was always a bad idea, made to fail. They couldn't have that happily ever after. It always ended up collapsing in on itself.

But what about when it didn't?

What about those tiny moments? Those little memories that kept them hanging on for so long.

When they would just sit on the rooftop to watch the sunset and Lloyd would put his head on Carter's lap as the brunette ran his hand through his hair. When they would just sit there and talk and nothing else in the world mattered, it was just them. Them and little movie nights, sky kisses, inside jokes, and small fits of laughter. When all Carter could ever think about was that smile.

Maybe it was those little moments that made life worth it. Maybe it was those tiny snippets of happiness that made everything stick together. Maybe they could make it work. They would each have to lose something but in the end, they'd gain each other. If they were worth it, why not take the plunge?

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"If I were a season, what season would I be?" Carter couldn't help but grin when Lloyd gave him a curious look. They had only just met a week ago but the fuchsia ninja seemed intent on learning absolutely everything about Lloyd.

"Uh... winter." Lloyd decided after a moment of thought.

"Why winter?"

"It seems cold and harsh at the time but really it's just protecting the life beneath." Lloyd voice trailed off as he talked. "It can be gentle and calm or fierce and protective. It can be one of the most beautiful in the world."

Carter shook his head but smiled. Everything seemed so dangerously tender and sweet. It touched a place in his heart and created this nervous feeling that made his brain stop working. "You would be spring."

"Because I'm green? Wow, very creative." Lloyd rolled his eyes, making a surprised chuckle erupt from Carter. As positive and upbeat as Lloyd seemed he had a hidden sarcastic side that was all the more endearing.

"It's because you represent new beginnings. You're always able to clean the slate and start from scratch. You spark that life and allow them to regrow." Carter suddenly felt hot as Lloyd stared at him. "And because you're green." He added quickly.

Lloyd shook his head, but the tiny dimple formed in the side of his cheek and he gave Carter that gorgeous smile. Carter's heart skipped a beat and he was suddenly aware of how absolutely breathtaking this boy was.

That light was lit. There was no snuffing it out.

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New beginnings.

Could they rip out the pages of their story and create a different ending? Could they truly carve a new path than the one that was laid out for them?

Their relationship was a terrible idea. It was destined to be one. But Carter never listened to destiny, so why should he start now?

authors note*****

This one came out a bit late but I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out!

I'd been wanting to play around with the element of surprise for awhile so it was very fun to work with the ideas and the character!

I came up with the idea that he could be a teleporter awhile ago and the idea really stuck with me! I'd love to do another short story on him some day to play around with his powers. I never finalized what I though he looked like but eventually I'll draw up a character sketch or something.

His name took a long time to choose since I created his character for another book so you will see him again some day! I decided I wanted to make him Carter because 1. I like the name and 2. Their ship name would be Lloyter and it sounded like "loiter" and I thought I was an amusing person. 😂

Anyways, hope you all have an amazing day! I'll try and get Day five out soon!

LuckyBugBooks 🐞