Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Morro’s first instinct when he woke up was to stand.

His second, after slipping on a pillow and falling right back down, was to open his phone.

heyyy i know its like real last minute but r u doing anything for new years??
its tonight n i was gonna invite you to mine n we can celebrate with my roomie and all that! u can bring someone too if you want 👀

ugh, valid.
its my bad for not telling u sooner, dw about it
lmk ur schedule and we can hang soon tho?
or just. like. pop into the shop one day lmao

Morro hummed and dropped his phone next to him. He hadn’t been lying when he said the Ninja had plans for the day—somehow, despite the absolute chaos they had found themselves in, they had still managed to plan and theoretically execute a small party.

In all honesty, he was sort of excited. He hadn’t had a proper New Years celebration in a long, long, time.

Morro stood up, changed his clothes, (can you believe that? He had his own clothes to change into now. He was real,) and headed off into the rest of the base.

His… roommates? Can he actually call the Ninja that? He’s getting pretty bored of calling them “the Ninja” over and over, but roommates might be too far. Peers? Acquaintances? Wouldn’t they be a bit more than that? Less than roommates but more than acquaintances.

The answer hit him like the wall as he rounded the corner.

Fuck, they’re friends now. That’s a thought.

And, ow, double fuck, he just ran into the damn wall.

No blood or broken bones? Whatever. He’s fine.

(For once, he’s not even lying about that.)

“Yo, Breezer!” Cole skidded to a stop, Nya in tow. “Can you cook?”

Morro squinted at them. “What?”

“Zane needs some help cooking, and I’m the only person that can not set a kitchen on fire—”

Cole looked extremely offended. “I can cook!”

“You threw an egg at my head,” he deadpanned.

“On accident!”

“Still!” Nya continued. “Point stands! Can you be trusted to not set the kitchen into flames for an hour or two while I’m busy?”

That was… the bare minimum. The literal bare minimum. Seriously, Nya had to be exaggerating. If not, how are the Ninja not fucking dead?

Bridges to cross, he supposed.

“Yeah, I can probably help,” Morro shrugged.

“Awesome!” Cole chirped—oddly energetic—and soon he was being half dragged down the hallway.

Morro squinted at his friend. “What the fuck are you so excited for?”

It was Nya who answered. “Oh, New Years is Cole’s favorite holiday. Probably because of all the damn food we make.”

“It is not,” Cole rolled his eyes, turning to walk backwards. “New years is when everyone can change something about them for the better. It’s where they start anew, and start putting the pieces back into the puzzle.”

That was… poetic, especially coming from the Earth Ninja. It did make sense, and it was a bit nice to hear, he’ll admit.

Nya was significantly less impressed. “Everyone always gives up on those.”

“Oh, come on, man.” Cole punched her in the arm. “You know I don’t give up on them!”

“Sure you don’t, Cole. And the highly specific training program you were going to make for everyone?”

“Master Wu told me off.”

“And the goal of cooking more?”

“Zane kicked me out of the kitchen!”

“And who’s fault is that?”

“Kai’s!”

A beat passed. “Okay, that’s fair actually, it was probably him.”

“See? The past few years haven’t been good, but when I was younger I’d fulfill every one and make sure my parents did the same. It’s a good holiday.”

Morro thought about what his resolution would be, if he were asked. When he was younger, it was always about training (or that one year with Ray, but that was a different story entirely).

This year? Honestly, he didn’t know himself well enough to figure it out. Maybe finding himself, as fucking cliche as that sounded. He wasn’t the one that got all poetic about it in the first place.

“NYAAA!” Fireboy shouted from some unknown location. Hell, probably.

“Fuck my life,” Nya groaned. “He probably blew something up in the shop again.”

“KAI’S TRYING TO EXPLODE MY PROJECT!” A screechy high voice came next, and, yup, that was Jay.

“I AM NOT! NYA, TELL THEM I’M NOT!”

Morro raised an eyebrow. “You should make sure they don’t kill someone.”

She cringed. “Probably.”

“We’re just about at the kitchen, anyway.” Cole patted her shoulder. “Good luck soldier.”

“Thanks,” Nya drawled, and she was off into the deeper parts of the base.

He asked it earlier, but again, how are the Ninja not dead from their own living practices? Hell, how did Wu let them live like this?

A question to be answered later, he supposed. The aromas of a thousand different foods assaulted his senses, light spilling from the room.

Zane didn’t even bother looking up when they approached. “Cole, do not step foot into my kitchen.”

“What the fuck? I’m not going to mess everything up!” Cole whined.

“Last time you covered the entire kitchen in a layer of salt and sugar. Forgive me if I no longer trust your capabilities.”

Morro gaped at the Earth Ninja. “How the fuck did you even manage that, dude?”

“Oh!” Zane turned around, clad in a pink ‘Kiss the Cook’ apron. “Hello, Morro. I didn’t realize you were there. Do you want to help?”

Morro nodded and took a step in. Cole tried to follow.

“Christopher Lou Brookstone, get out,” Zane chided, voice hard but lacking malice.

The teen in question slinked away like a lost puppy.

Morro snorted, opened his mouth to crack a joke, then froze. “Wait, Cole isn’t Cole’s name?”

“It’s short for something, but he never told anyone, and so we decided for him,” Lloyd said, coming out of literally fucking nowhere.

“Lloyd Montgomery Garmadon, how many times do I need to remind you to stay out of my kitchen?” And, alright, that’s another Ninja who apparently cannot be in the same radius as Zane when he’s cooking. Good to know.

Morro is going to learn so many full names, isn’t he?

Lloyd stuck out his tongue, grabbed a strawberry from a bowl, and dashed off elsewhere.

Zane sighed, a fond smile placed easily on his features. “There we go. Shall I show you what we’re making?”

Once he registered what was happening, absolutely. For this instant? He needed a second to just… process.

He is cooking with Zane. Cole, Nya, and Lloyd (…pending an answer, actually) all seemed to distinctly not hate him. Things are going mostly fine this afternoon, and there’s a small gathering tonight for New Years. Okay. He’s got this.

“Show me what to do, Icy.”

“Well, over here we’ve got a fruit salad, and over here is…”

A bit more than six hours and only two messes later, a very nice spread of dishes were ready to be served. Personally, Morro was very excited for a peach cobbler he’d spent ages on.

To be fair, only four of those hours were actually spent baking or cooking. Two (nearly three) of them were spent either making a mess, cleaning a mess, or chasing whoever decided to wreak havoc in Zane’s sacred space.

Nya did end up popping by, once or twice, before one of the others would inevitably call her out and she’d go running trying to stop something or other. The first time, Kai followed her, convinced he would not make any mistakes.

Fireboy immediately knocked a bowl of unmixed batter to the floor.

After helping clean (and chased out, he wasn’t kidding with that), Kai lamented and went back to wherever he had been before. Nya was dragged with him.

Something about it struck up a memory, deep in his core. One he would not process, at the minute, and get into at a later date. Or never. Morro prefered never.

Anyway, he could get used to living like this. Around people, baking pies and laughing and joking.

It’s a good thought. Having people—friends—around you that make you happy. Making others happy. It’s nice.

It’s fucking weird, too, obviously. Two months he would’ve run at the mere thought of talking to the Ninja.

Scratch that, he did run. Pretty pathetically, but, you know. It happened. It was a terrifying ordeal, but he made it out.

Out of the Preeminent’s watchful gaze, out of his faux siblings’ arms, out of the streets.

He made it out.

Morro had the chance to reshape his life nearly however he wanted. He could stay and help the Ninja, (which he probably would, for a while, as payment), he could go live out in the city, he could leave the general populace all together and find someplace new and empty. Somehow, in a way he hadn’t thought was possible for the last several decades, he had the chance to do as he wished.

Dammit, Cole’s New Year's spirit was rubbing off on him. He’s gotten all philosophical. It wasn’t even midnight!

Actually, wait. He checked his phone, realizing it was damn close to the end of one of the years he’s ever existed.

22:22

Even the clock was telling him he has the chance to change. He remembered Unc—or just Garmadon, now, actually, that was something he’d never gotten used to—telling him about what different repeated numbers meant. Two had something to do with personal growth.

Humming, the wind-powered teenager made his way to the basically empty living room. The only one inside was Kai, sprawled on the couch.

Morro wondered how long it would take for the Master of Fire to notice his existence.

As it turned out, an impressive fifty seconds. The minute he stepped any closer, Kai had looked up, mouth already open to talk.

“Hey, Windbag. You get kicked out of the kitchen finally?”

He snorted. “More like I finally cleaned up your mess, Fireboy. Zane sent me out to take a break.”

“That’s so unfair, I’m not even a bad cook!”

“You totally are, man, you made a mess the instant you walked in.”

Kai stuck his tongue out. “Fuck you, that was baking, not cooking. I can cook, not bake.”

“They’re basically the same thing,” Morro leaned against the wall. “Plus, I think basic spatial awareness doesn’t belong to one or the other.”

“Oh, whatever, man. Six one way, half a dozen the other.”

Morro bit back a harmless snark. That was absolutely not a response, but like Kai said, whatever. Not his circus.

Instead, he voiced a question about what Kai was doing alone in the room.

“I’m waiting for some of our friends to arrive, Skylor and Dareth—wait, have you met either of them yet?”

“I’ve met Skylor,” but he had no idea who this ‘Dareth’ character was.

“You’ll figure it out,” Kai said. He went back to fiddling with something on his phone.

Again, not a real response, but again, not his problem. He was a bit too tired to care all that much, and ideally Fireboy meant nothing by it.

Knock, knock, knock.

“Skylor!” Kai cheered, leaping for the doorknob. He swung it open to reveal a middle aged man with slicked up hair and brown clothes meant for training. Certainly something. Certainly not Carrots.

“I don’t think that’s Skylor, Fireboy,” Morro noted.

“Shut the fuck up,” Kai glared. “Hi, Dareth, come on in.”

“Hello, fellow Ninja! And a new fellow I’ve never met, who might you be?” The man’s voice boomed like an announcer’s.

Kai glanced between the two. “Dareth, meet Morro.”

Ah, so this is the fabled man he just heard of.

Dareth’s outstuck hand shook. “Hello, Morro, I’m—oh! Not like the ghost, right? You don’t seem very ghostly.”

“Don’t, uh, don’t worry about it,” Morro said. He didn’t shake the other’s hand.

A beat passed. Two. Dareth took his hand away and wiped it on his pants.

“Well! Where are the others, Kai? I think I’ll go, hm, see what they’re up to.”

The teen nodded towards the door. “Just through there, into the dining room.”

“Thanks!” Dareth sped off and away.

“Can’t believe we invited him,” Kai muttered.

Morro raised an eyebrow. “He definitely seems like… a handful, I’ll say.”

He shook his head. “Trust me, he is. Helped us back in a pinch a few years ago, though, and a nice enough guy.”

That much was expected, to be fair. The Ninja didn’t hang around with inherently rude people (unless you counted himself, but did he even count?).

Knock knockity knock knock, knock knock!

“Skylor!”

The door swung open once more and did, indeed, reveal Skylor on the other side. Kai leaned it to kiss her cheek, and she blushed and swatted him away.

“Hello to you too, Flameboy.” She paraded into the space, barely sparing Morro a second glance. Skylor made it all the way to the couch, phone glowing in her hand, before briefly looking at him. “Oh, hey, Morro. Nice to see you still.”

“Nice to see you too?”

“Is that a question?” Skylor snarked. He couldn’t tell if there was actual malice or not.

“No,” he said, and filed it away on a shelf to think about later.

Crash!

“Fudgesticks!”

“Morro!” Nya called. “Tag me out, please!”

“That’s my cue,” and he walked back towards the kitchen.

There, surrounded by the remnants of the peach cobbler he was so excited about, stood Dareth. Somehow, there was more on him than the floor.

“Sorry?” Dareth grinned.

Morro took a deep breath in, held it, and then let it out. “Goodbye.”

“Wait, Morro—” Nya started, but it was too late.

He turned tail and walked back to the living room.

Lloyd had a large box in one hand, Jay next to him, while Kai and Skylor lounged on the couch.

“Oh, Morro! Want to come mess around with fireworks?”

He quirked an eyebrow. “That sounds like you’re goin’ to fucking explode something.”

“I won’t!” Lloyd bounced from foot to foot, one hand moving to the doorknob. “I’ve got Jay with me.”

Jay nodded eagerly.

Kai, on the other hand, groaned from his position on the couch. “That is not a reassurance, kiddo. Morro, can you make sure they don’t destroy anything important?”

“We don’t need a babysitter!” Jay squeeked. “We do this every year!”

“‘Every year’ includes last year, where you somehow used a paratrooper to set a tree on fire.”

If Morro had a drink in his mouth, he would’ve spat it out. “What? Are you fucking kidding me?”

Kai looked up at him. “Wish I was, Windbag. Go on out, man.”

There was a ‘Do I have to?’ on the edge of his lips, but he didn’t voice it. Not much use, not when there was less than half an hour before the year was over. Truly, how much damage could two teenagers do in twenty minutes?

Apparently, the answer was a lot. Not even fifteen minutes had passed—all in relative peace, albeit too loud in Morro’s opinion—before Jay was sent running inside to get Nya to put a fire out.

Lloyd grinned at him, sheepish and proud all at once. “Oops?”

He facepalmed. “You’re unhinged,” Morro hissed.

“Thanks!” The other chirped. “I try my best!”

Morro had no chance to respond, before Nya came running out.

She took a long, deep, breath. “Okay. No more fireworks. Let’s go inside, we only have” — she checked her watch — “holy shit we only have like thirty minutes.”

Lloyd cursed. “Sorry! Let’s go, let’s go, I’m sure we’re all starving.”

Personally, Morro was not, in fact, starving. But he appreciated the sentiment, and that Zane had spent so long cooking. He’d likely end up eating at least a little bit of it.

Inside was still bustling with activity. Everyone had moved into the dining area, plates and utensils were set out, and a buffet-style table held all the things that had been cooked throughout the day—minus the peach cobbler, obviously.

Nya and Lloyd swam through the group, coming back with four glasses of liquid.

“Cider,” Nya provided. “We toast every time. It’s not alcoholic, don’t worry about it.”

Morro thanked her, eyebrow not quite raised. He knew how this sort of thing worked.

Cole clapped his hands to get everyone's attention. “Alright, folks! We’re about to hit New Years! Like every year, this one had its ups and downs.” He grabbed a glass off the table. “But we lived through it, like we’ll keep doing, and we’ll make a damn good time of it!”

Each person, not at all in time with each other, shouted, “Cheers!”

Glasses clinked and wishes were shared, before someone gave the command to dig in. Morro himself grabbed a plate of a few different things, making sure to have some type of noodle on it.

He watched Sensei Wu do the same and nodded.

An old tradition, one he learned as a kid and one he intended to continue. Swallowing a noodle whole right before the New Year meant good luck for the next year, which he needed more than enough of.

Time passed quickly, between the talking and the laughing and the consuming. Morro was content watching from the side, with each of the Ninja interacting with the guests and amongst themselves.

Soon enough—maybe too soon, considering half the plates were nearly fully still—they all migrated outside to do the final countdown. Various people settled next to each other, as expected.

Kai dragged Cole and Skylor to the front, matching grins on all their faces.

Jay and Nya found a spot and sat down on a blanket.

Darreth followed Zane like a puppy.

Lloyd grabbed some sort of firework and prepared to set it off.

Sensei Wu reached out and took his place next to Morro.

Morro didn’t shy away.

And then, it was time.

“FIVE!”

Kai wrapped his arms around Cole and Skylor.

“FOUR!”

Jay leaned all his weight into Nya’s side.

“THREE!”

Darreth grabbed the nearest person (Zane) without hesitation.

“TWO!”

Lloyd looked to the sky, lighter in hand.

“ONE!”

Morro prepared his senses.

“HAPPY NEW YEAR!”

Cheers erupted from everyone surrounding him, even Sensei Wu.

He looked around at the group, couples happily together and the rest grinning ear to ear. The energy felt like a pop!, spiking and dropping again and again. The literal pop of a firework went off in an explosion of sparks. Drinks were passed around, well wishes were shared, and all felt good.

Morro closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

When he opened them, a smile tugged at his own lips. He let them raise, just a little bit.

He glanced at the man next to him, with his fond expression and soft stance.

I think I’m ready to be saved, Sensei.