A/N: I meant to post this to tumblr when it was published but got distracted and forgot :'( this is almost entirely filler and doesn't contribute much to the story except to show where Lloyd is and what he's doing which is why it's much shorter than the last chapter.
also posted to AO3 and Wattpad.
enjoy!! and feel free to give constructive criticism!!
Gotham was a strange place, quiet in some ways but unbearably loud in others. So it was lucky that Lloyd was taken in by a nice man before he could get himself into trouble. Though with his luck, trouble would find him anyway.
The man's house was humble, a simple two-bedroom two-bathroom house with one floor and a nicely decorated interior. It wasn't anything extravagant, but it was nice.
Lloyd still didn't really like it; he missed the monastery and his friends, but this would do.
The entire first week of being in Gotham all went by like a blur for Lloyd. He hardly remembered a thing, falling from the sky and the ensuing injuries will do that to you.
Lloyd wasn't a fan of Gotham; it was dark and grimy and nothing like Ninjago. The place sucked, bad.
And then there’s the problem of being way, way younger than he should be. Feeling all of the problems he had as a kid, everything he healed from was an inconvenience, to say the least.
He annoyedly huffed, staring at the TV screen. It was late, really late, and he'd probably get a talking to by the ‘responsible adult’ in the house.
One such issue was impatience stacked on top of constant boredom stacked on top of insomnia.
The TV quickly silenced as Lloyd exited the cartoon he had been watching, scouring Netflix for something to satisfy the nagging need for entertainment.
He sighed, the exhale whistling in the gap between his two front teeth as he leaned forward to rest his chin on the palm of his hand.
How had he even ended up in this apartment in the first place? Most of the day before was a complete blank space. Lloyd had been a bit more concerned about where he was, and not freaking out, than paying attention. Which, in hindsight, could've landed him in some serious trouble.
But he vaguely remembered a man in a red helmet telling him he was going to be taken to “a trusted friend," as if that had ever made anyone feel more reassured.
Two twenty-five in the morning, right, five minutes since he checked before now, and ten since he checked before that.
The man who was watching him, one Jason Todd, had disappeared from the house that night. Lloyd only really knew because he snuck into the man's room to see what he was doing.
Sue him, Lloyd was a bit of a snooper! He went to check because he hadn’t heard even a snore from the man's room; he was just curious.
Though now that he really thought about it, it was a bit strange that the man didn't hire a babysitter or something. But, on the other hand, Lloyd could take care of himself.
Finally, he found something interesting. Some cheesy rom-com action movie love child. He didn't normally watch that stuff, but he was bored enough to try anything at this point.
It wasn't interesting at all, and Lloyd ended up dozing off halfway through.
That is until the sound of the kitchen window opening reached his ears and a very exasperated grunt startled him awake.
Through the darkness of the room, Lloyd could just barely make out the tall and broad form of a man.
His heart almost lept out of his chest when he started walking closer. Lloyd's first instinct was to pretend to still be asleep, maybe the intruder wouldn't attack if he thought Lloyd was incapacitated.
Then the intruder stepped into the light of the TV, and Lloyd couldn't help but just barely open his eyes to see what was happening.
The man in the red helmet that'd found him yesterday stood there, the light of the TV barely illuminating his silhouette. His back was turned to Lloyd. It took everything Lloyd had not to immediately ask him about a thousand questions, starting with ‘why are you here?’
With a quick motion, the man took his helmet off and turned around to grab the remote off the coffee table. Lloyd closed his eyes quickly, silently praying that the man didn't notice him being awake, but he still managed to see his face, if only for a moment.
It was Jason Todd, the resident responsible adult in the house, no doubt about that. It raised a billion more questions, but again, Lloyd didn't want to blow his cover.
Jason turned off the TV, muttering about how he swore he turned it off before he left. Then he paused, and Lloyd could only assume that he noticed him.
“Damn kid, you’ll wake up with a crick in your neck if you sleep like that..." His voice was tired, the usual deep sound seeming to accentuate the pounding of Lloyd's heart.
Lloyd didn’t move, not one bit, as he was picked up as if he weighed nothing. Honestly, he felt like a fainting goat that was just startled, ridiculous.
Then they started moving, and Lloyd almost opened his eyes. He hated being carried, especially by people he didn't know very well.
He was carried to his room, laid gently under warm covers, and his head rested against a fluffy pillow. He still didn’t move, and he wasn’t entirely sure he was even breathing, until Jason left and closed the door.
Even then, Lloyd lay in the bed for a few more minutes, listening to make sure that Jason really did leave the room before he finally got up. He didn't want to sleep now, even if he was tired.
So he made his way to the roof.
_____________________________________
Waking up to the smell of smoke was usually a very bad sign, and for a moment, Jason thought he was waiting for another bomb to go off.
Thankfully, when he checked it was only Dick and a poor attempt at pancakes.
“What the hell are you doing?" Jason wasn't actually mad, more exasperated and annoyed. He'd come to expect this from Dick by now, breaking and entering if he wanted something.
“Can't a guy make breakfast for his brother without such scrutiny?" Dick asked, putting on an over dramatic tone of voice and putting his hand on his chest in an offended manner.
Jason raised an unamused brow.
“Okay, okay fine, I heard through the grapevine that you've adopted a kid,” Richard said, a slightly sheepish smile on his face.
“We figured we'd come by to see them." Tim's voice, coming from the living room, almost startled Jason. Almost.
“So you two broke into my apartment to see him?"
“We didn't break anything.” Tim said as he stood from the couch and meandered his way over.
Jason rolled his eyes. “So you two trespassed into my apartment to see the kid?"
“Exactly!" Dick gave him a smug look.
“Well, tough luck, he's still asleep.”
“Who's still asleep?" Jason held back a groan as he heard aforementioned child’s voice from the hallway, he was trying to make a point here goddamnit!
He gave Dick a look as he saw the older mans face light up upon seeing Lloyd. Then, Jason’s eyebrows furrowed just slightly as he looked at Lloyd.
To put it simply, Lloyd looked bad. His hair was all sorts of messy and he didn’t look like he got a lick of sleep. It made Jason suspicious, just a bit.
“You okay, kid?” Jason asked, walking closer to Lloyd as he groggily made his way into the kitchen.
“Mhm..." Was the only response that Jason got out of the kid.
“Why's there so much smoke?" Lloyd asked with a yawn. Dick chuckled sheepishly, opening a window and attempting to fan the smoke out.
“I may have burned a few pancakes just slightly..."
“Move over, Dick-face, I'll make breakfast.” Jason rolled his eyes, stepping forward and grabbing the plate of burned pancakes to toss them in the trash.
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