#kai and reader

Wu was your first real father. Lloyd was your first real cousin, to the point he felt like a brother. Then came Kai and Nya, the siblings you never had. Cole, the friend you missed out on, Zane, the calmness you never felt, and Jay, the laughter you hadn’t experienced.

If your parents were jailed, dead, kidnapped, then so be it. They used you up, hurt you, then cast you out of your home, and you still had the scars to prove it. You never told anyone your birthday, and you always skipped out on Christmas and other gift-giving holidays because you felt unworthy. Unworthy of receiving love and kindness from others for just...existing. Besides, you were hardly a help to the ninja. You couldn’t fight, you didn’t have any powers, all you did was keep “home” clean, whether that was The Bounty, the monastery, or other places.

Unfortunately, Christmas was coming soon, and you didn’t want to be here for it. “Where are you going?” The voice startles you, and you drop your shirts.

“Geez, Lloyd, knock first.” You grunt before picking your clothes back up and neatly placing them in your suitcase. “I’m going to, uh, a friend’s house. I mean I’m helping Skylor with her restaurant, and I’m staying there. And besides, It’s just gonna be for two weeks. I’ll be back.”

He just closes the door, and sits down in front of it, effectively trapping you in your own room. Sure, you had a window, but that wasn’t an option when The Bounty was in the clouds. “I’m not letting you do this to yourself. Ugh, I should’ve paid more attention to the date, but that doesn’t matter right now. What does matter is that you aren’t going anywhere this Christmas, (Y/N).”

You groan, “I’m serious, Lloyd.”

“So am I!” He protests, then stands up and goes to give you a hug. “I need you here, Wu needs you here, the team needs you here. Y’know, Wu accepted it when it was just you and him, but now that we’re all together under one roof, not having you around just changes the whole atmosphere.”

You begin arguing with him, “but I don’t belong here! You get to go on big adventures and missions with the other ninja, while I have to stay home! No one out there even knows I exist, all I do here is clean, and cook. Zane’s even starting to replace me as the chef around here! You know what that means? I’m only good for cleaning!” You huff then fall face first on your bed. “Who would want someone like me around?” You sigh sadly.

“Well,” he lays down on his stomach next to you, “I would, and Wu would, and so does everyone else.” He gives you a gentle smile, “and even if Zane takes over cooking, you’re still a better baker than him. Your cakes are so good, I bet if Cole was interested in dating, you’d be first on his list.” He laughs.

You snort, trying to hide your laughter, “gee, thanks.” You then sigh. “But you’re you. How do I know you’re not just saying these things? How do I know the others even want to spend Christmas with me?”

“I can’t speak for them, and they’re all out for a few hours, but I believe they like having you around.” He grins, then sits up. “How about this, spend this Christmas with us, and if you don’t like it, I’ll never ask you for your birthday ever again.”

“Or ask me to celebrate Christmas with you?”

“And that, yeah.”

“Okay, deal.” You hold your hand out, and he shakes it. “So,” you start to unpack, “what should we do?”

He shrugs, “uh, I’ll race you to the couch! First one there gets to pick the-“ before he could even finish, you stumble over him, shoving his head down into your blankets, and out the door. “No fair, you pushed me!” The scrambles to get out, but by the time he gets to the living room, you’re already holding up your favorite video game. “Aw, man! I wanted to..” he trails off as he mumbles with a pout.

You teasingly stick your tongue out at him, “you asked me to stay, so I’m making the most out of it.” You pop in the disc and soon you’re absolutely kicking his butt as he desperately tries to win against you.

Even though he’s still a sore loser sometimes, a habit he found difficult to unlearn from his childhood, you were surprised he wanted to play with you for the three hours it took for the ninja to come back.

“Wow, (Y/N)’s still here?” Kai asks, eyebrow raised.

“Yeah, usually they’re long gone when Christmas is around the corner.” Jay snickers.

“Well, I convinced them to try it just this once.” Lloyd winks, and you sigh.

“Really, it’s not that big of a deal...”

The other ninja already did their shopping, so as the days slowly pass, one by one, you complete errands and even go shopping with Lloyd for presents. You think you have things that the others would like, but as Christmas comes closer, you start to worry that they won’t like them at all. Not to mention that your wrapping skills were awful.

Soon it was the dreaded day. You were woken up at around 7, which is earlier than usual, and you tiredly make your way to the living room, where the tree is all decorated with handmade items, tinsel, lights, and candy canes. Atop of it is the bright star the team insisted you put on this year. Below it were dozens of presents, and you could already tell which ones you wrapped. It looked horrible, and you just wanted to curl up and die of embarrassment. Whatever, might as well get this over with.

"What about breakfast?" You ask after a loud yawn.

"Oh," Nya starts to explain to you, "we eat after opening presents, because all our friends and family come over at noon for a big feast. Usually Zane makes it, since you're not here," she laughs awkwardly, "but now you can! I mean, if you want-"

"Yeah, sure, I guess." You shrugged. Since today was supposed to be an important day, maybe you and Zane can work together and make something really nice. Like a feast.

You sit down beside your cousin as your father separates then hands out presents one by one. You didn't really know what to do with yours, so you just kept yours to the side and watched everyone else open their gifts.

Jay tore through his, and stared at the toolbox in both confusion and awe. "(Y/N), how did you even get this? Last time I checked, they were out of electric blue!"

You shrugged, "color matching isn't that hard for me to do anymore when you guys destroy the walls every other week."

"Aw, it's custom too! I love it, thank you, (Y/N)!" He gives you a tight hug, and you shyly grin and hug him too. It felt...strange to have people happy over the gifts you got them, but at the same time, it was a positive strange.

"I want to open mine next!" Kai yells, absolutely shredding the paper like an excited little kid, and holding up the video game you got him. "Woah!" He squeals, " it's the newest Fist to Face! Now with multiplayer!"

"Yeah," you rubbed your neck, "I thought we could play it together sometime."

"Where did you even find this? It was sold out everywhere!"

"That's not true, they sell video games at the card shop on the outskirts of Ninjago City. It's rare, but they do. It was to bring in more customers." You explain.

Lloyd grins, "me next!" He sticks his tongue out as he opens his present, and drools over the assortments of chocolates; caramel, coconut, strawberry, etc. "Can I have one now?"

"Definitely only one." You warn him.

He pops one of the chocolates into his mouth, and you can almost see the glittering and hearts in his eyes. He sucks in air, then breathes out delicately. "Woah, this is beyond gourmet, this is richer than any other chocolate I ever had. Just one of these is so good and chocolatey enough to last all day! did you make this?" You nod with a happy smile, and he counts them all. "And there's enough to last me to my birthday when I can get more! You planned all this, didn't you?" You nod again with a laugh, and he hugs you tightly. "Thanks, (Y/N), you're the best cousin ever!"

Cole gasps, "if (Y/N) has been magically finding or making all this sold out stuff that we want, does that mean they got me-" he pauses to take the wrapping paper off this gift, "yes! Kitty Keyboard!" You and Cole start laughing together, as everyone else looks on in confusion. "Don't worry about it, it's an inside joke." He plays a little internet tune on it, and you both snort and giggle as it meows when he hits the keys. "Let me guess, you got this at a random store, too?"

You shook your head, "actually, I got it used because someone was already selling theirs, so I took it apart, cleaned and fixed it, then put it back together brand new. I even added this little bit..." you press the keys on the far left and right at the same time, and it automatically plays a tune from your favorite meme, making the both of you double over in laughter.

"It's perfect, thanks, (Y/N)." He hugs you, resting his cheek on your head as you nuzzle his shoulder. You felt warm, but not in an overheating way; in a way that made you feel like you were truly loved by your family.

Nya eyeballs her gift for a second, "this one looks pretty big and flat, is it a necklace, maybe a new outfit?" She curiously peels back the wrapping, and gasps, "even better, a clean motherboard for my Samurai X suit! Ugh, it's gotten so dusty and dirty from all the battles lately, this is going to help a lot! Thanks!" She gives you a hug as well, and Zane realizes he's next.

He opens his carefully, telling you that he's proud of your wrapping, especially for a first try. He smiles at his present; a sorting container with different labels for different seeds. They were all sorted alphabetically, and separated by vegetable and flower seeds, and each compartment had a handful of seeds.

You explained your gift to him, "I figured since you like gardening so much, that you should have some fresh foods to grow for cooking with, and the flower seeds I got don't usually grow around here, so you have to take extra care of them, okay?"

"Of course I will." He sends you a cheery smile, then gives you a hug. "It's a wonderful and thoughtful gift, thank you, (Y/N)."

Finally, your father opens his gift. It’s an assortment of pre-made tea leaf mixtures, each labelled with different uses and their ingredients. “I know that you have your tea how you usually like it, but I made these for things like if you have a cold or if you’re having nightmares. You don’t have to drink it if you don’t want to, I just thought-“ he cuts you off before you can continue rambling.

“It’s perfect. Thank you, (Y/N).” He opens his arms for a hug, and you get up to do so.

“You’re welcome, Dad.” You smile. You hadn’t felt so loved before, and you actually liked it a lot.

“(Y/N), you haven’t opened any of your gifts?” Zane asks.

“Oh,” you look over to the pile nervously. You still weren’t ready to open them, you didn’t feel worthy for free things from your teammates and family. “Maybe - maybe after breakfast, yeah?”

Zane shakes his head in desperation, “no, no, you have to open mine before it goes bad.”

"Huh?" You look through the gifts to find one wrapped in white with silver snowflakes, and you realize it's his. You carefully peel back the wrapping to see a box, and when you lift the top off, you see neat little gingerbread muffins decorated intricately with frosting.

Zane sits down beside you and puts a hand on your shoulder. "This is your first Christmas, and to show you how thankful I am, I made these for you. However, I don't think they'll be as good as the ones you make." He chuckles. "This gift means a lot because you're the one who inspired me to get better at cooking. You know, I use your recipes? I don't think I would be half as good if I didn't try to learn from you." He then frowns, "(Y/N), you're crying. Do you not like it?"

You didn't even realize you were crying, until you wiped a tear off your cheek and sniffled. "That's - that's the nicest thing," you hiccup, interrupting your speech, "that anyone's ever said about my food." You throw your arms around his neck and hug him tightly. "Thank you, Zane, I love it so much."

"Well, (Y/N), you inspire me, too." Kai admits with a shy smile. "Open my gift."

Still crying over Zane, you try to keep your tears from falling on the wrapping paper as you tear it off and reveal the oldest installation of your favorite game; one you were too young to get when it first came out, and you haven't seen it since. You whip around to face him, fresh tears welling up in your eyes as you wait for his explanation.

"You inspire me to fight every day, so I thought I'd get you your favorite fighting game. You make me want to get better at both video games and being a ninja, and it's an honor to protect people like you." He smiles and comes over for his hug.

Before you can say anything, Cole picks up his present and hands it to you, waiting for you to open it. "I know it's not as personal as the others', but I got you this bath kit to remind you to take care of yourself, because you're important. Not just to me, but to everyone else here. You take care of us, making sure we're fed, tidy, healthy, and clean, so sometime you should let us do the chores, so you can take care of yourself for once."

You chuckle, trying not to keep crying again, "are you saying I'm dirty?"

"No!" He protests, "I mean it, you stress out every day, so I got you lotion that's supposed to help you relax. I even got everything in your favorite colors and scents! And a rubber duck!" He squeaks it and you both laugh before hugging.

"Thanks, Cole, it's really nice of you to do."

Nya comes close to you, holding out her gift. You take it next, and open it. It's an assortment of keychains, pins, clothes, stuffed animals, and figurines from your favorite shows, movies, and books. "I know it's a lot, but I really did have to make up for all those lost Christmas mornings and Birthdays!" The boys groan about how they didn't think about that first, and you have to insist that it's okay, and that you really didn't need much anyway. "Shush, shush!" Nya hushes them impatiently. "Anyways, (Y/N), I realize that even though we all have items from our favorite franchises, you have nothing, so I decided to get you items from your favorites too. You deserve to openly show off your favorite shows and stuff, and this is the best way to do it."

You put on a shirt over your pajamas to show it off, and you hug her tightly. "Thank you, Nya. I really do love everything you gave me."

You reach for Jay's present, and he chuckles nervously as you open it. "My idea is kind of similar to Nya's, but basically you have really interesting hobbies!" You hold up the art supplies, music supplies, craft supplies, writing supplies, and other hobby items, listening to his explanation. "But you're so busy spending your money on us; for our food, home, clothes, and first aid, that you hardly have anything left for yourself, to help you improve on what work you make, and I thought I would change that for you this Christmas."

You give him a hug next, and soon your cousin gave you his present. "You're my cousin, my best friend, my older sibling, my family. I've looked up to you a lot, especially when I was younger, but even though I'm older, none of it has changed. You've comforted me when I was down, laughed at all my jokes, and have shown me so many beautiful things, and there's no way I could ever repay for every little thing you've done for me." He watches as you open his gift, which is a scrapbook with several pictures. Pictures of you and your father, pictures of you and Lloyd, pictures of you with your family, your friends, the ninja, and just everything. "I hope this makes up for a lot of it."

You have cried through everyone's gifts, and Lloyd's was no different. You close the cover to keep it safe from your wet tears, and you hug him tightly. "Everything I've ever loved is in this book. Thank you, Lloyd."

"Well, not everything." Wu interrupts, standing up now. "You've forgotten about my gift." He smiles sweetly as you approach him, but before he gives it to you, he starts to explain himself. "I believe you're forgetting one last friend, someone you left behind long ago."

Behind his back is a little stuffed tabby cat with button eyes and scraggly whiskers. Some of the stuffing is leaking from a break in the front left paw, he's dirty and crusty, and a whisker is missing, but you remember him perfectly. "Tiger?" Your voice is soft as you speak to him; the old stuffed animal from your childhood. It was the one thing you missed from your old parents, as you were forced to leave him behind when you were kicked out. You loved him so much, and seeing him again was both painful and relieving. He helped you through all the bad times in your life, and leaving him behind broke you, but now you had him again. It didn't matter where or how Wu got him, all that mattered was that he was here again. You can't help it anymore, you collapse to your knees and sob openly and loudly for everyone to hear. "You're back, you're here. I've missed you so much, we have a lot of catching up to do." You murmur into his fur as you hug him close.

It takes you a while to calm down, but after you do, you help everyone clean up the wrapping paper before putting your presents neatly away in your room, leaving Tiger on your bed to snuggle with later. "(Y/N), it's nearly brunch. Would you like to make it?" Zane pops his head into your room just as you finish up.

"Yeah! We can do it together, Zane." You offer with a smile.

He nods excitedly, and you both race to the kitchen. "Okay, okay, you can chop all the fruits and cook the eggs and bacon while I prepare the batters and the toast and hash browns. This is going to be the biggest Christmas feast yet."

"Yes, head chef!" He winks and you both laugh together. You chat and bake and cook, making several assortments of foods with Zane for a wonderful meal. The others are cleaning up or setting up the dining room, and everyone is bustling around. Guests slowly trickle in and compliment the delicious smells from the kitchen. "Honestly, (Y/N), I'm very happy you're here with us this time. Usually I can only make pancakes and sausage, or eggs and toast, but with you here, we can get a lot more done. Plus, you make everything more delicious."

You feel flustered at his kind words. "Thank you, Zane. That's really nice of you to say. And I'm glad you're here to help out, too."

By the time all the guests are here, there's an entire feast laid out in front of them; crepes, pancakes, waffles, eggs, sausage, toast, bacon, hash browns, muffins, apple sauce, french toast, jam and syrup, assorted fruits, and juices and milk to wash everything down. You and Zane had outdone yourselves, and everyone loved it. Jay's parents showed up, Cyrus Borg showed up, and Dareth, and Skylor, and Cole's dad, even Ronin, a few other elemental masters, and other people you haven't met yet.

You haven't felt this happy, this loved, this powerful in a very long time. Maybe Christmas was the push you needed to truly get back onto your feet, the proof that people truly did love you, despite everything that's happened to you, and who you grew up to be.

You knew who you were now, and even though Lloyd won that bet against you, maybe it wasn't a bad thing that he did.

"(Y/N)?" It was late at night, as Lloyd snuck into your room. "I wanted to see if I could sleep with you tonight, like when we were younger."

You sighed and held up your stuffed animal. "What do you think, Tiger?" You ask him childishly. You then nod, "he says you can."

The two of you giggle as you make room for him, and start to drift off together. You were woken up again by Kai and Nya, who wanted to sleep in your room too. They agreed to sleep on the floor, as they brought their pillows and blankets. Then came Jay, and Cole, and Zane, as they all filled up your room with the gentle sound of breathing and the soft feeling of love.