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It was about a month into winter, snow would've been covering the monastery if it wasn't above the clouds. The air was freezing, the others had changed into their thicker winter gis. Lloyd, on the other hand, hadn't been out of his room in days.
The other ninja just shrugged it off, they were used to his weirdness over winter by now, he'd been like this since he was a kid. Morro wasn't used to it, despite having been around the ninja for almost 3 years.
He used to be out on missions whenever Lloyd would hide off in his room, and last year he was stuck in the first realm over the worst of the cold and before that all the ninja were separated out looking for Wu, but this year there was very little crime keeping him out of the monastery.
Meaning he noticed when the green ninja, who he detested that he was quite close to now, was not around at all. He had asked Cole about it, but he had just shrugged it off as Lloyd simply just re-reading the starfarer comics and getting lost in hyper fixation, as he did sometimes.
So the master of wind took it upon himself to find out what was going on with him.
Morro wandered the halls of the monastery, until he got to a hall with doors adorned with personalized signs with each of their names on, each in a different font, some coated in stickers or doodles and some just plain text on a boring plaque. Morro's was one of the latter, due to them being too embarrassed and closed off to let other's see their decoration skills. Lloyd's, however, was one that was covered in stickers, from plain star stickers to starfarer or music related stickers, with his name shining gold in the middle.
They inhaled, hesitating to knock on the door for a split second. Did he really want to disturb Lloyd? What if Cole was right and he had just gotten hyper fixated on a comic?
Giving in and knocking a few times on the door, he shouted the blonde's name, warning him that if he didn't answer they would just come in.
He stood for a few seconds in front of the green ninja's door, waiting for an answer, and when it didn't arrive they slowly slid the door open, peaking in.
Lloyd was cuddled up under his sheets, the only things visible was his face, which was pointed at his heater, and his dragon tail that was sticking out of the sheets.
Hold on.
Dragon tail?
Morro took another look at him. He had little black and gold horns on the top of his head, and a, maybe short? they couldn't exactly tell, black and gold tail with longer fur running a stripe down it. They sighed, they were aware of his heritage, possibly knowing of it before he even knew himself, as he had used the blonde's shapeshifting ability himself when he had possessed him a few years ago.
They wandered further into the room, closing the door behind them, leaning over a little to check if Lloyd was even awake or not. He was staring half-asleep at his heater, the bags under his eyes suggesting that he had barely gotten any sleep for the few days he had been in here.
"You alright, greenie?" They asked, tilting their head a little at Lloyd's behavior.
He didn't even glance at the master of wind, instead just giving him a simple acknowledging 'mhm'.
Morro sat on the floor next to the bed, giving the green ninja a concerned look. "Are you *sure* you're alright? You look a mess."
The blonde finally gave him a dreary look, groaning as he brought his hands up to rub his face. Leaving the question unanswered as he pulled the sheet over his head, mumbling something about being cold.
With a sigh, Morro went to remove the sheet covering Lloyd's face. "Don't suffocate yourself just because you're a little cold."
"A little?" Lloyd gave him a tired, pissed off look. "It's freezing in here."
Morro looked at him gone out, it wasn't that cold in here, mostly due to the heater being on max. "It's really not."
He quickly took back his comment when he reached out to grab the blonde's arm before he could cover his head with the duvet again. Lloyd was icy to the touch, it made Morro's usual coldness due to being an ex-ghost seem like lava comparatively.
The green ninja stopped completely, his annoyed demeanor vanishing. Morro took his hand off Lloyd's arm, concerned about his temperature, as it definitely wasn't normal, surely not even for dragon or Oni standards. Well. Maybe for Oni standards.
Lloyd practically snatched their hand back, using it to heat his own. He relaxed, bringing Morro's hand to his face in a terrible attempt to warm himself up.
They slowly moved, purposefully pressing his hand against the smaller's cheek, sitting on the edge of the bed.
Neither moved for a matter of minutes, Lloyd happily resting against the warmth of Morro's hand, eyes closed, while they desperately tried to figure out what was going on with him and why he was *this* cold.
Eventually Morro broke the silence. "Have.. Have you eaten at all since you locked yourself away in here?" The genuinely concern leaked through their words despite their attempts to stay monotone.
Lloyd shook his head, he hadn't, but to be fair to him, he had binged on candies and cup ramen instinctively the day before it got too cold for him.
"Idiot." They pinched their nose bridge with their other hand. "I'm gonna go get you something."
But as he went to move away Lloyd's claws dug into his hand, not enough to hurt but enough to keep him in place. "No.." He turned, pressing his nose into the palm of Morro's hand, mumbling. "I have snacks in my bedside table.."
Leaning over and pulling open Lloyd's drawer, overflowing with bags of candies and other random snack foods, Morro picked out a few granola bars, unceremoniously shoving them into the blonde's face and telling him to eat.
Lloyd groaned, sitting up and instinctively moving closer to his favorite heat source to date, Morro, opening and taking a few bites of one of the bars. He swayed a little from exhaustion and Morro was quick to wrap an arm around him to steady him.
He rested against Morro, pushing the now empty granola bar wrappers off the bed and onto the floor, telling himself that he'd pick them up later. The taller moved further onto the bed, wrapping the duvet around them both. The blonde gently tugging them down, forcing them to lay down and properly cuddle.
His dragon tail wrapping around them, pressing himself as close to Morro, being careful not to stab them with his horns, anything to keep warm. The master of wind gave in, he probably wouldn't have if it was under different circumstances, but he had to admit to himself that he was kind of enjoying being in the green ninja's presence again for the first time in a while.
A soft purr filled the room as Morro's other arm found it's way around the smaller boy, holding him. They weren't even surprised by the sound, he had heard dragons purr before in the first realm, so it wasn't that much of a stretch for someone who's only part dragon to also be able to purr.
Their hand finding it's way to Lloyd's hair, gently combing through it with their fingers, the blonde falling asleep as they did so. They rested their head on Lloyd's, relaxing.
Slipping themself into a, thankfully, dreamless sleep, comfortably cuddled up against the one person he never thought he would ever care about, let alone love.