Chapter Text
Cole had been working at Wu’s shop the longest.
In the middle of his freshman year, he had stumbled in the building. In his search for warmth, as well as an excuse to prolong his return to his empty house, he was met with a calm man. According to Cole, Wu seemed to know what Cole needed at the time- that being a short talk and a free cup of tea. Cole began to visit Steep Wisdom every Friday, then every weekday, until he felt he spent more time with Wu than with his own father in the short time they had known each other.
By the spring of that year, Wu had approached Cole about how much time the boy had been spending there.
“I hope I’m not bugging you or driving any customers away or anything…” Cole looked up at the old man after erasing a horrifically wrong equation in his math notebook.
“You’re no bother,” Wu assured him, holding his hands behind his back. “Though, there is something I would like to discuss with you.” Cole smiled and set his pencil down in the crevase of the pages before shutting the book.
“What is it?” he gave Wu his full attention.
“The thing is, Cole,” the white-bearded man started. “I can’t give you free tea anymore.” his head shook slightly. “It simply isn’t good for business.”
Cole scoffed. “Man-” he smiled. “For a second, I thought you were banning me or something.”
“You’ll always have a place here,” Wu reassured him. “But, although I can’t give you free handouts…” he adjusted his grip on his staff. “What if I took the cost out of your paycheck?”
Cole worked nearly every day at Steep Wisdom after that. Full-time during the summer, and he stayed working after school once September hit.
Then Zane Julian showed up.
Zane wasn’t in search of a job. He had simply been talking to Cole after school one day and absentmindedly followed his ravenette friend as they spoke, traveling to the heart of Ninjago City to Steep Wisdom. Zane and Wu got along almost just as well as the old man did with Cole, but when offered a job in the winter, Zane refused. He felt enough guilt going to the shop every day after school, not evading an empty house, but his dear father. Zane loved Dr. Julian deeply, but single-handedly taking care of an old man who couldn’t help himself was a burden that rotted him from the inside.
Of course, Zane could never say it.
Zane also couldn’t say how badly he wanted to work at the shop. It would give him another place to go besides school, hospitals, and home. It would give him time to hang out with Cole, whom he felt was his first friend. Not to mention how much he enjoyed his talks with Wu. The old man was wise, teaching lessons by simply explaining ingredients in a bag, and the teachings could be absorbed in the time it took to turn on a stove. Though he didn’t work at the shop, Zane continued to show up after school, but would only allow himself an hour to enjoy himself before returning to his usual responsibilities.
Jay found out about the tea shop on an early spring morning. The junkyard where he lived with his parents was outside of Ninjago City, just on the outskirts, and it took over two hours for him to travel there by car. But of course, for Jay, finding parking at Ninjago High was equivalent to searching for a specific grain of sand in the ocean. So every morning, Jay Walker would wake up at 4:30 AM, take a bus, two subways, three more buses, and take a thirty-minute walk to his school.
One morning, while walking at the end of his journey, he ran into Wu. Jay felt that he should have kept walking, that his reputation at school had been lowly enough, and he didn’t need his first-period teacher to draw attention to it, even if everyone else would be too wrapped up in their own lives to even remember his scolding.
But Jay Walker knew better. And it’s always better to help an old man, cane and all, to carry two giant crates to his tea shop than to focus on your own reputation.
Wu took an immediate liking to the boy, and Jay could feel it. Jay was a chatterbox, immediately telling the elder about his morning so far, his school, and his grades. Before they knew it, Wu knew more about his new curly-haired friend than anyone should know about someone they met less than an hour ago. Jay left the boxes in the tea shop and was sent to school with a hot cup of tea.
That same day, when classes were over, Jay returned, running into his best friend and a vaguely familiar face. Also on that same day, he got a part-time job. Cole took charge of the shop, Wu visiting less and less while the group formed. The last time he visited was when two of the Smith siblings visited.
It was a rainy day, as if the entire ocean had been lifted into the sky and needed to return to the earth as soon as possible. It had been nearly an hour since classes ended, and Kai had been waiting for his sister right inside, where the large metal doors of the school had yet to be closed. Nya finally emerged from the school, telling Kai about her plans for her next project while he struggled to open the umbrella. They walked in sync, Nya on the right and Kai on the left. Just as they stepped out of the school, the wind picked up, and the open umbrella in Kai’s hand was stolen by the storm. It flew in the air, quickly rushing out of Kai’s reach and in front of Nya’s face. The dark-haired girl, now being pelted by rain, reached for the umbrella, but with walls of water closing in on her from every direction, she slipped.
Nya tumbled down the stairs. In less than a second, she had gone from standing casually at the top to lying at the bottom of ten concrete steps. Kai immediately grabbed the railing at the end, gripping it while rushing down, as if he were a mountain climber in reverse. He reached his little sister, and for the first time in ages, her face had been lost in the ocean on her face. Was she tearing up, or was it the water? Was she in pain from the fall or the coin-heavy drops beating her face and body?
Kai wrapped her arm around the back of his neck and picked her up. One of her legs was fine, but he could tell her left ankle was already beginning to bruise. Kai rushed his sister down the block, past an open field which at that point must have been caked with mud. He reached the road just as the streetlight turned red, allowing him to sprint straight for the first store he saw.
Not caring that he and his sister were flooding the wooden shop, Kai rushed her to the first booth he saw.
“Is she okay?” Kai turned his head after setting Nya down on a bench. A black-haired kid around his age behind the light wooden counter furrowed his thick, bushy brows. Another kid with white hair stared as well, wide-eyed as a cartoon lamb.
“I’m fine,” Nya strained. She pushed her soaking wet bangs out of her face, forcing them to cling to her hair instead of her forehead. “I’m okay, really.”
“Are you sure?” Kai asked, his voice stern and somber but coated with a trembling concern.
“Yes!” Nya widened her eyes at him. She swatted her hands, moving her brother back without pushing him. “See-” she gripped the corner of the table with one hand and the top of the bench with the other. “I’m fi-” the words left her mouth once she put weight on her feet, leaving her with nothing but a pained breath. Nya dropped, landing perfectly in her seat.
“I will grab some ice,” the slower of the two voices behind them said. Kai glanced back as he disappeared. The kid behind the counter picked up a red plastic box and walked towards Kai and Nya’s table.
“Uh…” he stood still, awkwardly behind a kneeling Kai. “I think we go to school together…”
“Oh yeah…” Nya looked up at him. Her face was plain. No agony shown, just realization. “Physics, right?”
“Yeah-” Cole started to nod, before Kai stood up, turned around, and took the first aid kid from the other boy.
“Thanks,” Kai put the red box on the table and roughly forced it open.
“You should wait and let Zane ice it first.” Cole started. “There’s a method I heard about-” he turned his attention to Nya. “You can just let it rest for a few minutes, then you can ice it and wrap it.”
“You broke your ankle before?” Kai turned around to face the other boy.
“I think it’s just twisted,” Cole told him. “And yeah, I’ve twisted it twice when I was younger.”
“How do you do it twice?” Nya leaned her head to the side, giving the boy a questioning look.
Cole opened his mouth, then pressed his lips together. “It’s a long story,” he looked away from them. “Stories.” Zane emerged from the kitchen door, a tea towel balled up in his hand.
Zane made his way to Nya. “Here,” Kai took the wrapped ice that was offered to his sister. Zane slipped both of his hands into the pockets of his jeans.
“Thanks-” Kai started, until Nya snatched the ice back.
“Thank you…” she gave the standing boy a pointed look.
“Zane,” the white-haired boy told her. He looked around, his eye catching Cole, who glanced at Kai. “Uh- I’m Zane. Julian.” he nodded. “Nice to meet you,” he offered his hand. Kai nodded, not noticing the gesture.
“Thanks,” his voice tired, void of emotion. “Again. I’m Kai,” he looked around, dark eyes roaming over the wooden shop. “What kinda store is this?”
“Steep Wisdom,” it was Wu who answered, emerging from the kitchen.
After checking on Nya’s injury, the old man offered both Kai and Nya waiting jobs. Wu told the group that he would be traveling for personal reasons and would need his shop looked after while he was gone. Cole would take on the leading managing role. Zane could accept a job whenever he liked, while Jay had been working part-time for a while.
Both of the Smith siblings happily accepted the offer. With her summer job at the autobody shop finished, Nya had plenty of spare time. Kai still had his blacksmithing job at night, but he wouldn’t say no to extra cash for himself and his sister.
And later on, for their brother as well.
Most people wouldn’t bring a shoplifter into their home. Especially when the said shoplifter had humiliated them in front of their friends. But when the little shoplifter is a malnourished, hyperactive ten-year-old, Kai Smith is reminded that he isn’t most people. He’s a brother.
Everyone has a routine. little Lloyd’s routine was to go to school, go to the tea shop with his siblings or their friends, and do his homework there until he was taken home.
Lloyd loved it. He loved having the ultimate tutor in Zane, even if he always left too soon. He loved Cole experimenting with milk teas and letting him drink all the honey-sweet rejects. He loved Jay offering to hang out with him, as if the blonde boy was doing the teenager a favor by going to the arcade or the go-kart track with him. Most of all, he loved his siblings. Lloyd had gained a family, all the annoying older brothers and cool television show-watching sisters that his classmates talked about all the time had taken him in willingly. Of course, Lloyd knew he was a problem, or a “burden to Kai,” as Nya had complained about, but no one made him feel like that. He felt wanted.
Even after spending about eleven months with them.
On a skin-torturing, sunny day at the beginning of August, Lloyd sat at the counter of Steep Wisdom. With his legs dangling on either side of the round top, he hunched over Nya’s Nintendo DS.
“Jump-”
“Shh!” Lloyd grinned and turned his head to the dark-haired teen behind him, not tearing his hazel green eyes away from the screen. “I know!” his thumbs were lightning fast, picking up turtleshells and jumping over brown mushrooms.
“You got it!” Jay exclaimed, holding his shoulders steady. He raised a freckled arm, pumping his fist as he cheered for the kid. “Go, go, go, go-” In a few blinks, Lloyd released the shell at the wrong time, letting it go to hit a wall and bounce back to him.
“No!” the three boys yelled at the same time. Jay picked up an empty wooden tray from the counter, swatting Cole’s shoulder with it.
“Ow!” Cole winced, rubbing his arm. “That hurt!” Cole rolled his fingers into a fist and punched Jay in the arm. “What was that for?”
“You distracted him!” Jay gestured to Lloyd. “You made him lose.”
“I can’t believe you did that, Cole.” Lloyd glared at him.
“I said one word!” the dark-haired boy argued back. “If one word throws you off, then you’re not gonna stop Bowser!”
“Now you’re just being mean…” Jay’s smile fell when he noticed Cole was still rubbing the area on his bicep where he was hit. “Did that actually hurt?” Cole winced up at his friend.
“Yeah,” Cole let his hand fall. “I’ll be fine.” Lloyd watched, pressing his lips together as he turned the screens of the DS towards his friends.
“Do you wanna take over?” he asked. “You can probably win this level quicker than Jay.”
“No, he can’t!” Jay interjected
“Yes-” he picked the device from the child’s hands. “I can.”
And he did.
“Sick…” Lloyd stared at the screen, lips parted in awe. “Wow- you are better than Jay. I was just being nice…”
“Hey!” both boys argued, though Cole laughed while Jay seemed genuinely offended.
“Alright,” Cole handed the game back to Lloyd. “There’s chocolate milk in the fridge, you guys want any?”
Lloyd immediately perked up. “I do!” he grinned.
“Jay? Lloyd? Anyone?” he ignored the boy, continuing to speak to the empty shop.
“I know you heard me!” the boy furrowed his brows.
“Nothing? Really?” Cole walked around the counter.
“You do this all the time.” Lloyd let his eyes droop to a tired, angry look. “I know you can hear me-”
“Alright.” Cole disappeared behind the curtain that led to the kitchen. “More for me!” Lloyd sighed.
“I hate him sometimes…”
“No, you don’t,” Jay crossed his arms, giving the boy a tired smile. Lloyd scoffed.
“Yeah, I don’t.” he turned, letting his hands rest on the counter before switching to the next level of the game. “Cole kinda awesome. I wanna get him something nice for his birthday.”
“Well, you have plenty of time,” Jay scoffed. “His birthday isn’t until August.” The sentence hung in the air as painfully as the heat outside.
“Jay,” Lloyd put his game down. “It’s August 13th.” Like a branch from a tree, Jay’s head fell to the counter.
He groaned.
“Relax!”
“I hate Cole’s birthday!” Jay whispered, picking his head up so his chin rested on the wood.
“Do you want me to tell him that?” Lloyd squinted.
“No!” Jay continued to whine. “Cole’s birthday is at the end of August. Do you know what the end of August means?”
Lloyd frowned. “Schools starting soon?-”
“It means that summer is ending!” Jay continued to argue in whispers. “Which means school is starting soon!”
“That’s what I said!” Lloyd leaned his head to the side to look at the curtain that hid the kitchen. “How old is he turning?”
“Seventeen…” Jay phrased the answer as if it were a question.
“Aren’t you guys friends?” Jay sighed.
“We are…” he crossed his arms and leaned his back against the counter, resting his foot on top of the lowest rung of it. “I should probably plan a party or something for him…” Lloyd’s eyes brightened with a joyful twinkle.
“Can I help?”