Hi guys! *waves cheerfully*

Let's clear some stuff before reading:

-So now it's Chen's point of view, his time to shine (his words not mine)

-Unlike 'Light In The Dark', this fic will be one-shots, connected by a sub-plot that will lead for Part 3.

-You guys thought LITD was a fluff and hurt/comfort fest with slight angst? Prepare yourselves for more darlings. You've been warned. (These kids have been through a lot).

-I'm a strong believer in happy endings, so don't worry too much.

Hope you all enjoy!

Chapter 1

"Everything is fine

When your hand is resting next to mine"

Fire and The Flood, Vance Joy

Chen Trent Chen liked to consider himself a fairly normal person.

Sure, his older sister was basically a femme fatale martial artist with a ninja boyfriend that helped save the city every single year.

…And he had inherited a magically weird healing gene from his mom, who had also been an Elemental Master while also having to sustain a psychopathic father.

….There was also the damned accelerated growth sprout/time-traveling magical tea-

Alright, maybe he wasn't really normal by society's standards, but still. He liked to consider himself normal.

He went to high school and attended classes, complained about homework, hanged out with friends, joined an extracurricular club, graduated; like normal people do, all under the hard rule of avoiding weird stuff at all costs and innocently thinking that the next step was just simply going to college.

And then he met Lloyd.

Not an average guy called Lloyd.

Nope.

Lloyd, as in, Lloyd Garmadon.

The son of the ex-conqueror Lord Garmadon and grandson of the First Spinjitzu Master.

The Green Ninja.

And Chen ended up befriending the guy. And developing a crush on him-

Yeah okay, fine, he broke his golden rule by just talking to Lloyd.

In all honestly though, as Lloyd's head comfortably rested on his lap while a mega mix of different songs coming from the radio filled the background silence of the Destiny's Bounty and Meowthra snuggled on the couch- ask Chen if he actually cared he had broken that rule and he wouldn't hesitate to answer 'No'.

"I forgot to tell you" Lloyd lazily said from his spot, "Someone on Twitter is saying that the reason the Ninja are not seen much anymore is because we broke up"

Chen briefly stopped scrolling through his Instagram feed to give his boyfriend a look.

"Are you serious?" he asked as an amused smile formed on his lips, "Like a band?"

"Nope" the blond replied with a grin, giving him a look, "Like the Avengers"

"That person is cruel and has brought dishonor into its family" Chen pointed out while Lloyd laughed, "How dare they insinuate that you guys are a time-bomb about to explode?"

"Have you met Kai?" the blond deadpanned. Chen waved his hand, nearly avoiding hitting Meowthra by a few inches.

"Yeah, yeah, raging volcano, soft marshmallow. Not a time-bomb" he said, giving the kitten an apologetic look as the feline gave him an unimpressed glare. The blond snorted.

"Sorry, allow me to rephrase" Lloyd's green eyes were dancing with humor, "Have you met Kai when Jay is making a move with Nya? 'Cause…" he trailed off, giving a shudder, "Not a pretty picture"

"Your face suggests otherwise" Chen replied with a raised eyebrow, a smile growing on his face while Lloyd smirked.

"Well, it might be a horrifying experience for Jay, yet it's a hilarious one for bystanders" Lloyd revealed with mischievous look.

They both fell into laughter, the face of one angry ninja and a terrified one imprinted on their minds. Meowthra looked confused between them, not really sure what her owner and his partner were cackling about, and proceeded to express said confusion by jumping onto Chen's side and poking Lloyd's head with her paw, with only made both teens roar in more laughter.

"Okay, okay" Chen managed to say once they had calmed down and Lloyd has scooped Meowthra on his arms, "Back to the main thing, do people in Ninjago have really noticed the main absence from the team?" he asked with concern, feeling bad for ruining the good mood as Lloyd sighed.

"If Kai hadn't helped me the past months, things would be way worse" he started out, as the brunet wrapped his arms around him while absentmindedly scratching Meowthra, "I try not to get anxious over that, but people will notice eventually that the Red Ninja is not around to help the Green Ninja".

Chen grew further concerned when he noticed the dreary tone in his beloved, a small amount of anxiety suddenly settling into his stomach as he remembered how exactly he and Lloyd came upon becoming friends.

"Are you worried that…" he trailed off, not really sure how to talk about the matter without fear, "That people like… Peine, Vaivata and Kłopot will come out of the shadows again?" he honestly hated how small his voice came out.

Lloyd turned to face him, a wide range of emotions flickering through his face in a matter of seconds.

"It's possible" he finally whispered with resignation, a hand making its way to hold Chen's, who gladly took it for comfort as the silent implication hang in the air. Meowthra, sensing the sudden mood, let out a soft meow and buried herself further on her owner's hoodie.

It's not that they both were scared about that kind of people, not really. Thanks to Lloyd, Chen actually knew how to escape a fight and defense himself without looking pathetic, and Lloyd… well, he was a ninja.

But there was still that tiny spark of fear that stayed after a bad experience with those people. One that had actually always been there, yet didn't make itself known after encountering the real danger.

Chen hated it. He's had it for nearly his entire life after all.

"We can hope for the best" Lloyd said, breaking the silence with an optimist tone, eyeing Chen, "I mean… it took criminals months to notice the other ninja's absence. After what happened with-" he cut himself, giving the brunet a hesitant glance. Chen smiled softly at him, thankful for his boyfriend's consideration, and gave him a small nod. Lloyd gently grinned before continuing.

"Well, after that incident, I say things will be quiet for while again" he supposed, frowning slightly, "For how long, however-"

"Let's not focus on that" Chen interrupted, extending his free hand to pet a now moving Meowthra, "It's been quiet for a month and a week. No time like the present" he smirked slightly, "Wasn't that the last piece of advice Kai gave you before leaving?"

Lloyd huffed, sinking into the brunet's embrace and accidentally nearly squishing his cat, who had taken to trying to climb Chen's cheerleading jacket.

"Knowing my luck, something will happen. Inevitably" the blond whispered, giving him a sad look, "Destiny hates me, Chen"

The former cheerleader felt his heart sink. He shook his head, gently turning his boyfriend around so they could properly face each other.

"Don't say that" he murmured, "You've got me, it doesn't matter if it's as a friend or a lover" he cupped Lloyd's face, smiling fondly, "Destiny may have not been kind to us, but somehow it also made our paths meet. I think that's saying something"

The blond's eyes were basically shinning, the beginnings of a true and grateful smile resting at his lips. Meowthra gave a small purr of agreement, looking between them.

"I needed that" Lloyd admitted, quickly closing the distance between them to place a chaste kiss on Chen's lips before holding the brunet's head with his own hands.

"But it goes for you too, you know?" he murmured, voice honest, "If anything happens, you've got me. You'll always have me"

"I know" Chen whispered, tilting his head to capture Lloyd's lips against his own again, this time pulling him closer by the hips until the blond was basically sitting on his lap.

Meowthra lad long ago left the sofa, having learned on her three days of living on the Bounty that they weren't going to separate for a while.

"You're late" Skylor calmly chastised from her spot on the counter as Chen bolted through the doors of Skylor's Noodle House three hours later.

"It was only five minutes!" Chen exclaimed as he made his way to the kitchen, giving Tox a nod of acknowledgement as he took off his jacket and searched for an apron.

"Still late!" Skylor voiced as she went to attend a customer. Chen could hear the smug smile on his sister's voice.

"Unbelievable" he muttered with an eye roll while organizing his work station to await the upcoming orders, Skylor soon coming in.

"So table five will have the Elemental Soup with a lemonade and table 1 will have the Chicken Special" she cited without looking up from her flip notebook as Chen and Tox started working on the orders.

"You know" Chen started out saying before Skylor went back to the counter, "People do say time is relative"

His sister gave him an unimpressed look. Chen simply grinned.

"He's got a point, you know" Tox snickered from her work station.

"The lord is testing me" Skylor muttered, looking towards the ceiling.

"Lloyd's granddad?" Chen innocently asked as he stirred the noodles, feeling Skylor's glare trying to blow a hole through him.

"That's it, you're washing the dishes tonight" the red head declared, ignoring the sputter of protests that came from her younger brother.

"Oh, stop laughing" Chen complained to a fully cackling Tox.

"You asked for it" the Elemental Master of Toxins replied, "She's been a little moody since Kai left"

"Can't say I blame her" the brunet said with a small wince. If Lloyd had to leave like the other ninja had with only a chance of seeing him once a month, Chen would also be in a moody mood.

They spent the rest of the working shift in silence, the siblings occasionally breaking it by bantering from bits to bits.

Finally it came to closing time. Tox gave Chen a sympathetic pat on the back as she made her way of out of the restaurant through the back door while he kept on washing the dishes, humming a melody to distract himself.

"So how's Lloyd?" Chen nearly dropped a bowl when Skylor appeared beside him.

"He's holding up well, I honestly think Meowthra is helping in the whole loneliness thing" he responded after giving her a glare, "Well, I like to think I'm helping too"

"And you are" she assured with a small smile, "I may not know Lloyd very well, but you and him balance each other out. I don't think I've seen him smile and laugh that much until you two met, or you, for that matter"

Chen briefly stopped his task to share a glance with his sibling, an eyebrow slightly raised.

"How long were you rooting for us?" he asked with an incredulous tone. Skylor rolled her eyes as she smirked.

"Since he started making you laugh out loud in your room" she shook her head before giving him a fake stern look, "Now finish up your shores, those dishes don't wash themselves"

"That's it, I'm changing my name to Cinderella" Chen muttered.

"I think Chenderella fits better" Skylor laughed as she made her way up to their apartment, "I'll see you up in a second?" she asked, her voice making an echo on the staircase.

"Thinking on going for a walk for a bit!" he yelled back as he finished with the last plate.

Putting away the apron and getting on his jacket once again, Chen closed the back door to the Noodle House with a small sigh of relief before taking out his ear buds and his phone.

He absentmindedly started walking around the city, checking notifications while listening to the beat of The Fold's music. Some new tweets, a few ex-classmates posting selfies or aesthetics for something regarding nature, Lloyd had sent a picture of Meowthra trying to climb the kitchen cabinets while he was working-

Garmadork

-I'm starting to think she wants to be a ninja

-Was all the caption said along a 'done' emoji.

Chen chuckled and was about to type a response when a sudden notification for a live Instagram feed caught his attention.

'green ninja fighting serpentine!'

The brunet came to an absolute halt, pressing the feed as he walked towards an alley to lean on a wall.

It wasn't that he was terrified for Lloyd's safety. Again, he knew his boyfriend was more than capable in taking care of himself. But Chen still worried, and his worries had amplified a bit once Lloyd had told him that some Serpentine saw him as menace.

So yeah, he was kind of on edge as he watched the feed. The video itself was shaky, the person filming it (one of Chen's ex-classmates with zero sense of self-preservation) trying to zoom in to the action.

The only thing you could see were blurs fighting and running, but Chen quickly managed to identify the green and back gi in the mess.

"Come on, Lloyd" he found himself whispering as the green/black blur started jumping the buildings, the blurry group of Serpentine close behind him despite the energy blasts.

Was it him, or the sound of said blasts sounded incredibly close?

Chen immediately had his answer when Lloyd, in all blurred glory, managed to send an energy wave that knocked the Serpentine off their feet and caused the feed to black out, a few passing bystanders letting out a whine when they realized the video had cut.

Not Chen though.

He could only watch with horror as his boyfriend lost his footing on the edge of the building he had been planning on jumping from.

In cheerleading, when a routine goes wrong and a teammate falls, it's important to improvise to avoid an injury without straying too much from the routine. Chen had that rule engraved onto his brain since he joined the cheer club in high school.

So when Lloyd went airborne, Chen pushed himself from the wall he had been leaning against like he had been zapped by the bricks, body acting on instinct to catch him.

The impact of his boyfriend's body landing safely on his arms made Chen bend his knees hard on the ground, but he barely felt the pain of it. His focus was on the blond looking a bit dazed around his surroundings before finally a pair of bright green eyes focused on him.

"Oh, hi Chen" Lloyd greeted, as if what just happened was ordinary thing on his life, which… probably was, now that Chen thought about it, "Fancy seeing you here"

There was… something off on his voice that instantly put Chen on edge. The blond continued to have a dizzy look in his eyes and his face, despite being covered by the mask, was looking slightly pale.

"Lloyd, what-"

"WHERE DID HE GO?!"

A sudden shout from the rooftops cut Chen off, and both teens quickly turned their heads to the sky, where a couple of black and rocky looking Serpentine. A voice in the back of Chen's mind identified them as Constrictai as he silently carried Lloyd towards the back of the other wall to avoid detection.

"WE LOSST HIM!" one of them yelled in dismay.

"HE'SS WEARING VIVID GREEN YOU IMBECILESS!" another one screamed, "HE SSHOULDN'T BE FAR!"

Chen actually pulled Lloyd closer to him, but a sudden hiss of pain made him stop. He worriedly looked at his boyfriend, who looked back with an expression of pain.

"Run" was all the blond managed to whisper before he shut his eyes in agony. Chen gave one more look to the edge of the roof to make sure the coast was clear as he thought over a plan.

He needed to heal Lloyd, but the risk of being found by the Constrictai was huge. So was being spotted by the public in this position. Chen, as gentle and fast as he could, placed Lloyd against the wall and took of his jacket, draping it over his boyfriend's shoulders.

"Chen?" he sounded small and confused, "What-?"

"Shh, it's okay, I'll be running now" the brunet soothed as he scooped him bridal style once again, "You don't have to say it twice"

And he took off.

"So" Chen started by saying about twenty minutes later as he passed Lloyd a mug of hot chocolate, "Mind telling me exactly what happened?"

They were currently on Chen and Skylor's apartment. It was, after all, closer than the 'Destiny's Bounty', and by the time they arrived, Chen had nearly kicked the door down while Lloyd had started moaning in pain. Skylor, thank the FSM, hadn't asked questions; she simply gestured to the sofa and briefly disappeared on her room to bring back a blanket.

It took a little bit of coaxing from both siblings to make Lloyd mutter alongside the pain what exactly was wrong. One of the Constrictai had managed to grip him on the arm for enough time to pass their venom onto him. After that, it had been a piece of cake for Chen to heal him.

"Right…" Lloyd muttered as he took a sip from the mug, "Umm, I may have busted an arms deal?" he said, giving a small wince.

"Between the Serpentine?" Chen asked with a raised eyebrow as the slightly taller teen cuddled closer to him.

"Yep" the blond said with a sigh, slightly furrowing his eyebrows, "Some rogues and another gang of humans" he took another sip, some color coming back to his fair skin, "The police arrived a minute later than me, they quickly took care of the humans"

"Still doesn't explain why you were being chased through the rooftops" Chen pointed out gently as he took a sip from his own mug, "Wasn't poisoning you enough?"

"Rogue Serpentine still think I will become evil, despite the Overlord being dead and my golden power… being out" Lloyd carefully replied, his eyes suddenly interested on the floating marshmallows.

Chen didn't press him further, having already heard the story from him to know that it was still not an easy topic to talk about.

"How did your shift go today?" Lloyd asked, clearly wanting to change the topic. The brunet smiled.

"Same old thing as always, but this time I got stuck on washing duty" he answered with a groan, "My hands are prunes, darling, prunes!" he threw his head back on the couch while Lloyd giggled.

"What did you do?" he questioned with a sly grin. Chen was about to innocently deny everything, when the door opened and Skylor came in holding a basket and looking like she had entered a cat shelter (again). Her eyes and nose were puffy and red.

"Sy?" Chen cautiously asked while Lloyd gave her a concerned look.

"I'm fine" Skylor responded with a hoarse tone and waved them off with her hand, turning to Lloyd, "Thought that you should spend the night here, considering what happened" she raised her hands up, silently stopping any protest from the blond, "Chen may have healed the poison, but he can't heal a sore body"

Chen flinched slightly, hating that she was right. Lloyd wasn't really in any condition to go back home.

"So, I went to the Bounty and brought you the necessary equipment to survive" the red head continued on, letting the basket on the floor and lifting the lid, a small grey blur immediately leaping out of it and making its way to the blond's lap.

"Meowthra?!" Chen asked with an unbelievable tone at the same time Lloyd yelled, "You brought the cat that you're allergic to?!"

"Not deadly allergic" Skylor corrected, "I took precautions, and by precautions I mean I've taken possession of a bottle of Zyrtec" she clarified before adding, "I also brought you clothes"

"I- thank you, Skylor" Lloyd gratefully said, looking down at the now meowing for attention kitten before lifting his head again, "Really"

Chen still looked quite shocked at his sister, but smiled none the less, knowing fully well that Skylor was basically given her blessing for marriage. The red head simply nodded and disappeared onto her room, probably to take another Zyrtec pill and call it a night.

Both young men continued to spend the rest of the night on the sofa, watching a movie on the cable and finishing the hot chocolate while Meowthra took turns in asking for some petting before deciding to curl on her owner's lap, letting out tiny adorable yawns all the way and the humans following closely.

Neither moved from their spots though. Chen sank further onto the sofa pillows while Lloyd pulled the blanket closer to cover themselves.

"Are you okay?" Chen asked in a whisper as he carefully wrapped his arms around Lloyd, who was using his powers to dim the lights.

"With you here?" Lloyd's voice was soft and drowsy with sleep, yet in the darkness Chen could detect the hint of a fond smile on him, "Always"

AN: I'll be honest, kinda nervous here 'cause it's the first time I'm writing a sequel. But I'm hopeful.

Don't be fearful to leave a review, they are great confidence boosters!