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"Hey, bud. What are you doing up? You should be in bed."
Actually, Kai should probably be in bed too. It's far past midnight at this point, which was the time he was planning on going to bed, but then he decided that going on a mothman rabbit hole in the dead of night was a much more interesting idea.
But it seems like a good thing this time, though. He turns his phone off and turns his full attention to Lloyd, who's just walked into the room hugging his stuffed dragon with a pacifier in his mouth and dark circles under his eyes.
Kai frowns. Lloyd doesn't use pacifiers very much anymore. Recently his headspace has been a bit older, around seven or eight. In part that might be because that's Jay's usual headspace too, but even besides that, nowadays he usually only drops lower than that if he's upset about something.
"Did you have a bad dream?" Kai asks.
Lloyd shakes his head. Kai didn't think so anyway; he seems too calm to have just woken up from a nightmare. He doesn't offer any more clues, though, he just stands there.
Kai blinks. Lloyd didn't know he was still awake, did he? What's he doing in the living room? When he needs something in the middle of the night he's supposed to wake somebody up first. It's a rule they established when Lloyd first started regressing in front of them. "Hey, kiddo? What do you need?" Kai asks.
Lloyd shakes his head again. "Nothing."
"You wanna come sit with me on the couch?"
Lloyd hesitates, but after a moment he obliges, and Kai gently pulls him into an embrace.
This apparently was a good move. Lloyd immediately just collapses into his arms.
His breath is shuddery, as if he's on the verge of tears. One arm is still wrapped around his dragon, but the other clings to Kai as if he's afraid he's going to disappear if he lets go.
"Woah, hey," Kai says quietly. "What's going on?"
Lloyd nuzzles his face into Kai's chest. "I...I d-dunno," he says around his pacifier.
Kai frowns. "Are you sure? You could tell me about it if there's something wrong. It might make you feel better."
Lloyd shakes his head.
"I think it would, actually," Kai argues. "Remember how we talked about that in therapy last week? It's not good to keep things to yourself. I can't help if I don't know what's wrong."
"No," Lloyd whispers. "Can't."
"You can't tell me? Or I can't help?"
"Can't help."
Kai adjusts Lloyd on his lap so that he won't fall off the couch. "Why don't you tell me anyway?"
Lloyd is quiet for a minute. "I was just...thinkin' about Harumi."
Oh. That's not a good sign. "Yeah? What about her?"
There's another long pause. Then, so quietly Kai has to strain to hear, he mumbles, "I thought she liked me."
Kai really can't think of anything so say in response to that. At least, anything to Lloyd. He can think of quite a few things he'd like to say to Harumi. But none of those things seem like good things to say to someone who currently has a four-year-old mentality, so the only thing Kai does is hug him tighter and plant a gentle kiss on his forehead.
Lloyd squeezes his eyes shut and takes his pacifier out. "K-Kai...what's wrong with me?" he asks. "Why doesn't...why doesn't anybody...want me?"
Kai can almost physically feel his heart shatter. "No, no, no, buddy, that's not true!" he says quickly. "We want you! Me and Cole and Zane and Jay and Nya and Pixal—we would do anything for you. We all love you so much, okay?"
Lloyd bursts into tears, hands clutching the fabric of Kai's shirt like it's a lifeline. "Wh-what if you're lying? I th-thought Harumi liked me, a-and my dad—my dad is s'possed to love me, r-right? Why...why...I d-don't...why..."
"Shhh, shhh, listen," Kai whispers. "I would never lie to you, okay? You know that. We've known you for a long time, and we've always taken care of you, right?"
Lloyd nods his head feebly, hiccupping back a sob.
"I promise. None of us would ever, ever, ever turn our backs on you. You're our baby brother, and we love you so, so much."
"I wish you were my dad."
"I...think I'm a little young to be your dad, buddy," he says with a nervous chuckle, not entirely sure how to respond to that.
"But you're way better than my real dad," says Lloyd. Then, expression suddenly turning angry, he spits, "I hate him."
Kai's quiet for a minute. "You don't mean that. The Garmadon Harumi brought back isn't your real dad. You loved your real dad, and he loved you too."
"But...where is he?"
"I...I don't know."
"What happened to him?"
"I don't know."
"Will he ever come back?"
Kai sighs. "I don't know, Lloyd. I'm sorry. I wish I had all the answers for you, but...I don't even have very many for myself. Things are pretty confusing now, huh?"
Lloyd nods. He puts his pacifier back in his mouth and leans his head back on Kai's chest. "'S okay," he mumbles. "Love you too."
Kai presses a protective kiss to the top of Lloyd's head. If anyone else ever tries to hurt this kid, there'll be hell to pay.