When we both got back to Lloyd's apartment, we quickly take a seat on the sofa together. Walking from here to my house, then back here was tiring without a break in the middle. And as soon as Lloyd sits down on the couch, I decide to curl up next to him. He takes his hand in mine and I just nuzzle up with him, my face in the crook of his neck just feeling his warmth.

I then hear Lloyd let out a long sigh, "You know..." he begins, "if you're gonna stay here for a while, my mom should know... ab-about us," he stutters.

"You wanna tell her? So soon?" I ask with a bit of worry. Something about getting our relationship out there is pretty frightening to me. It just reminds me of all of the harassment I would get at my old school for... being out.

"Well, yeah. We can't keep this a secret forever, (Y/N)," he laughs nervously.

At this point I had already removed my face from beside Lloyd's neck so I could face him, but my hand was still taken by Lloyd's. I feel him stroke my hand with his thumb. It reminds me of the first time we had held hands, far before we were even dating.

"I guess I'm scared..." I admit.

"It seems like every part of this relationship is scary to you..." he lets out. I look at him with confusion and withdraw my hand from his.

"Sorry... I- I really didn't mean it like that... It's just that... you're even afraid to tell me you love me and stuff... I dunno. It's like you want us to get married before I even tell my own mom, you know? It's not like it's a life long decision. We're just dating! And besides, I've wanted to come out to my mom for a long time now... And I know you're not keeping me from doing it, I just feel that if I tell her I'm just gay, she'll figure us out pretty quick. And I don't want this to be something she has to solve- I want her to know from me..." he rants.

"I see..." I look away, "well... we can tell her whenever you want, I guess... I guess it's just my mom and everyone at school who I don't quite want to know about us yet. They're the people who I'm afraid will be... critical of us..." I sigh.

"I understand... so... do you think I could tell my mom soon? It doesn't have to be today or anything, I just..." he starts.

"You can tell her when she gets back... tell her about us," I smile weakly at him.

"Thanks, (Y/N)... you're the best," he smiles softly then places a small kiss on my cheek. My heart melts. I love this kind of affection from him. I normally consider myself a hard and masculine person, but Lloyd just makes me all giddy and he gets me acting like a twelve year old fan girl. My heart just flutters every time I see him.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

After a while, Lloyd decides to turn on the TV and we watch whatever was on the movie channels, since Lloyd is a big movie nerd. He knew practically every movie that came on. He's a fan of pretty much everything, from super hero movies, to movies all the way out in space. And I think it's so cute to watch him get all excited about it. I guess I've developed a thing for nerds, you could say.

I'm not paying much attention to the movies, though. Lloyd and I are just laying on the couch together. He's on his back and I'm just laying on top of him with me face only inches from his. We're roughly around the same height, maybe I was a little bit taller if you were to measure exactly, but it was nice being the same height. Either of us could cuddle the other without it feeling awkward because of size difference.

I just lay silently on top of Lloyd with my head on his chest, listening to his slow and steady heart beat. Something funny that I've noticed is that his heart goes a little faster around the climax of each movie. He's completely enthralled with each story, almost as if he's actually there, but I'm not really into movies that much. I prefer games over films, but I'm glad Lloyd is enjoying it.

We watch these movies for hours. And we still sit in the same position. Occasionally I would reach up and stoke his face or his hair and he'd look down at me and smile and we'd share a little kiss. We did this for a little bit until Lloyd looked up at the clock.

"My mom should be home any minute now," he says in a low, soft voice.

I just sigh and sit up, allowing Lloyd to do the same. I'd hate for her to walk in on us being all mushy or whatever. We sit side by side and Lloyd leans his head on my shoulder. I smile at him and he closes his eyes. Today was pretty tiring even if we didn't do much. After sitting like this for a minute, we hear the door being unlocked from the outside. Lloyd quickly sits up straight and as soon as Koko comes in, she greets us with that classic smile of hers. I don't think I've ever seen her not all cheery like this.

"I'm home, Lloyd!" She grins, then looks to me, "and (Y/N)!"

I smile at her as she sits her bag down on the counter and opens the fridge. "Did you boys eat anything while I was gone?" She says with her eyes on the contents of the fridge rather than us.

"No," Lloyd simply replies.

"Then you two must be starving!" She exclaims.

I then look over to Lloyd and speak in a low tone, "did you wanna tell her?" I ask quietly.

Lloyd nods and takes a deep breath. "Um... mom..." he calls out to her nervously.

"Yeah?" She turns to look at him and he stands up from his seat on the couch.

"Well... um..." he mumbles, "(Y/N) and I... are uh..." he looks down at me and I flash him an anxious smile. He then looks back up at Koko and sighs. "We were wondering if it was okay if he stays here a little longer..."

I mentally face palm. I know he wanted to tell her about us, but I guess his nerves get the better of him. I cringe at the way he tried to play off of what was supposed to be his coming out. I know it's scary, but I can feel his own disappointment in himself.

"Sure, he can stay as long as he'd like," she smiles at the both of us.

"Good, because I already went and got some stuff from my house," I laugh nervously as I pick up my bag.

"And your mother knows you're here?" She asked.

I nod. Well, she kind of does. I said I was at a friend's house, which I hope isn't too vague.

"Alright, well as long as you want to stay here, you'll be welcome," she softly smiles.

Koko is really the mom I wish I had.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

After Koko made us dinner, Lloyd and I went off to bed. And we went to bed pretty early actually. Since we have school tomorrow, we really have to catch up on sleep.

Lloyd gets ready for bed in a set of green pajamas. I'm a lot less classy, so I just took off my shirt and threw on a pair of shorts that I had brought with me. I curl up in bed next to Lloyd and pull the blankets up past my legs but not over my torso.

"You couldn't tell her, huh?" I mutter.

"I know, I know... I was the one who bothered you about telling her and I can't even do it myself... I'm just so scared of what she would say," he sighs as he buries his face in his hands, covering his eyes.

"It's not your fault. Out of all people, I understand. Trust me..." I look at him and he finally removes his hands from his face and looks up at me.

"I wanna tell her so bad... I just don't know how..." he almost begins to cry.

"Listen, your mom is one of the nicest people in the world. I've met a lot of fucked up people, and your mom is nothing like them. She'll love you no matter who you are. She's one of the few people who's always been there for you and I don't think she'll change her mind just because of who you love," I place a comforting hand on his shoulder and he leans in and smiles through his own tears. He wipes them away and giggles at me.

"I hope you're right," he smiles.

"I know I'm right."

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Lloyd and I went to bed pretty quickly that night. We were all cuddled up together as usual. And by morning, we both got ready for school. I got a quick shower and after that, grabbed a snack from the cabinets, after asking, of course. And by that time, we were both ready to leave. We walk to the bus stop side by side, and when we get there, there's the usual kids who look at us funny. As soon as they see us walk up, they instantly take out their phones and ignore our existence.

Guess it's better to be ignored than harassed. But Lloyd and I make small conversation in a whisper low enough for no one to hear. We weren't talking about anything in particular. Just talking to pass the time. And it worked because it seemed as though the bus arrived in only minutes. We board the bus and of course everyone on the bus tries to stay as far away from us as possible.

I hear Lloyd sigh as he stares down at his own feet. I nudge him and give him a little smile when he looks up at me he smiles back. I just wanted to see him smile is all.

When we get to school and begin walking up to the building, we're stopped by Zane.

"Hello, friends! Over here!" He calls out. We look up over at him waving his arms in the middle of everyone.

We walk over to him and he smiles brightly at us.

"Zane! Good to see you back at school, buddy," Lloyd greets him.

"Yes! I'm glad to be back!" He chimes. I wasn't expecting him to be so cheerful on his day back. I know he took some days off just because of the incident in the cafeteria. Hopefully nothing like that happens again.

"We should get inside and get to class," I say as I start to feel the cold morning air get to me. Not that it bothers me, because I love the cold wind, but I figured it might be an annoyance to Zane and Lloyd.

When we walk in, we automatically see Kai and Nya conversating with Cole. We walk up to them and we all say hello, until Cole points something out.

"Anyone see Jay? I haven't seen him yet today," he asks as he looks around the hallway. And as if perfectly on cue, Jay comes running through the front door, covered in sweat, trying to catch his own breath.

"Jay?" Zane calls out to him and Jay uses what little energy he had left to approach us.

"What happened, man?" Nya asks him.

"Agh... I was walking to school..." he huffs out between hard breaths, "And... I got chased by a dog... huff..."

"Yeesh," I let out, "you're not looking too good... You wanna take that scarf off, man? You might-"

"No!" He almost screams when I point to his puffy orange scarf. "Uhh, sorry... no. I don't wanna take it off," he quickly adjusts his tone.

"You look like you're about to overheat, dude," Cole points out.

"I'm fine..." he continues to pant and huff, "I'll be fine."

There's probably some kind of sentimental value attached to that scarf that he's not telling us about. Maybe it was a gift from someone important? Or maybe it's just a comfort item. Or maybe I'm over thinking it, as I always tend to do.

After making sure Jay's okay and he's properly caught his breath and he's not hurt or anything, we all head to our own classes. Lloyd and I going to the same one of course. When we get there, there's actually some people there before us. We were always the first ones in because we didn't really have friends to talk to before class, but now we do, which feels good. I look over to Lloyd and he's smiling. I think he's just happy to be more and more like the other kids. That's all he's ever wanted was to be just like everyone else. And he's getting there, I suppose.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Once our morning classes are over, we all head to lunch as a group, making small conversation as we walk.

"Have you guys seen all of those posters around school?" Nya asks.

"What posters?" I answer with another question.

"There's a dance coming up. The posters are everywhere, I'm surprised you haven't seen them yet," Kai says.

"A dance? I haven't seen anything about a dance," Lloyd says, almost nervous and excited at the same time.

"Look, right here," Jay points at a poster on the wall and we stop to look at it. It's a pink poster covered in glitter, clearly made by a student that advertises the dance and gives the date and time. Which isn't for a while, surprisingly.

"Is there any reason for it? What event could possibly require a dance?" I poke fun at it.

"I think it's just for fun," Lloyd looks at it.

"Fun? Dances aren't fun, it's just a bunch of sweaty teenagers gathering in a hot empty room with the lights off and whatever annoying pop songs that are popular blaring out of the speakers," I cross my arms.

"Oh..." Lloyd sighs.

"Ah, lighten up. It could be fun!" Nya cheers. "Also, you have someone to a company you this time around," she smiles and nudges Lloyd.

I just scoff and we keep walking. I never liked dances. Ever since middle school, they always annoyed me. I always went to them just because I felt obligated to, but after a while I stopped. They were just boring to me...

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

When we all got our lunch at sat down at a table together, we all made casual conversation. The day had gone okay so far.

But that's when we heard it...

The siren...

We all look at each other and nod. Some students were still in the lunch line, so kids were running around everywhere. The procedure was to duck and cover under the lunch tables, but it was pretty hectic. All seven of us easily slip out of the cafeteria without drawing any attention to ourselves and we all run to our lockers for our suits and weapons. We slip them on over our normal clothes and run out of the school building to see the streets of the city in chaos.

"You all know what to do," Lloyd yells out to all of us. We nod at him and run off to help save the city. There weren't that many of them, so it seemed easy. Sometimes Garmadon would send over just a few generals just to scare us, but it was pretty easy to deal with.

I know I'm the newest member to the team, but I'm pretty confident with my abilities for being a newbie. Using my nunchucks has become as natural to me as anything else. Taking out enemies left and right. It's like I can do it mindlessly now. I almost wasn't paying attention.

I hear a war cry come from a general charging at me from behind. I turn around, but I was too late. A sharp pain charges through my body and I look down. There's a sword in me.

...

There's a sword in me.

That can't be good.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Cliffhanger? Yes.

Tune in next time, guys. ;)