Work Text:
The day had started as most days did for the Ninja.
With loud, ear-grating, incoherent screeching.
Everyone had been out on deck, idling around and basking in the warm winter sunlight. Cole was lying on the floor next to Jay who was chattering about some new movie they should watch.
Lloyd had sprawled onto the Earth ninja, dozing off. Earth’s hands reached up and rested on Lloyd’s hair, running his fingers through the strands.
Well, they were supposed to run through. Instead, they got stuck in every place imaginable. And Cole, not having expected the obstruction, his fingers pulled at Lloyd’s head. Which of course, led to the scream.
Everyone leapt to their feet in shock. Cole also shot up, his hand having recoiled to his own chest.
“Ouch!” Lloyd hissed, tenderly rubbing his scalp. “What the heck man.”
The entire Bounty was silent. Cole blinked, fingers flexing, “Dude, what the hell is up with your hair?”
The kid huffed, “Nothing.”
Nya crossed her arms. “That was clearly not NOTHING.”
Kai nodded, walking over to the three on the floor as he helped Cole up. Said man looked at Lloyd, who stared back.
Then Earth lunged, practically throwing himself onto the other boy– who had seemingly anticipated this and tried to jump out the way. But it was of no fruition, because Cole’s strong hands had caught Lloyd’s hoodie.
Lloyd screamed again, louder than last time, and everyone yelped along. Jay slapped his hands over his ears and Cole and Lloyd wrestled on the floor. Lloyd was slapping Cole now, shrieking as Cole struggled to pin him down.
He brought his fingers back to Lloyd’s hair, and fucking hell it was a mess!
His fingers weren’t even able to get a centimetre through without getting stuck on something, and it was so tangled and dirty. How hadn’t anyone noticed before?
“Kid, I don’t know about you, but you need a haircut.”
“No.”
“Or a hair brush!”
“Absolutely not!” The boy bit down on Cole’s hand, who cried out as he let go.
Lloyd tried to bolt away– but was stopped when Kai quickly grabbed his hood. “Where the fuck do you think you’re going?”
Sensei, by now, had run onto deck after hearing the ruckus outside, “What on earth is going on here?!”
Cole’s head snapped up as he still cradled his bitten finger, mouth opening, but Jay beat him to speaking.
“Lloyd’s hair is like shit and we’re trying to help him out but he doesn’t wanna comb it and he just bit Cole like really really hard!”
Wu looked at his students for a long tense moment, then at his nephew. He sighed, walking over and sitting down next to Nya on the benches. “Lloyd, come here please.”
Kai glared down at the kid in his arms, then marched over to Wu. He held out Lloyd akin to a way a lion carries his cub, the only difference being Kai was not a lion.
Sensei Wu reached out. He gently lifted a single lock off Lloyd’s head, and instead of the hair falling back into place, it remained upright.
Everyone fell silent. Lloyd’s face flushed in embarrassment.
Wu looked up, straight at Cole. They had a silent discussion, they had a lot of silent discussions. The older man sighed, “Nephew, we will need to do something about your hair.”
The boy shook his head vigorously (yet the lock on his head didn't fall– if only just sagging slightly). He thrashed in Kai’s grip, flailing his arms and yelling, “No! It’s fine! I don’t need anyone to touch my hair!”
Kai scoffed, tightening his hold on Lloyd’s hood, “If you don’t cooperate, maybe we’ll just chop off all your hair!”
That made the boy still, eyes widening. Cole quickly intervened when he noticed Lloyd’s lower lip trembling– a symptom of an approaching tantrum, “Uh– no one’s hair is being chopped off!” He turned to Lloyd, “But if you don’t take care of your hair, then it’ll just fall out on its own. You’ll be bald before you’re twenty.”
He shook his head again, “No! Stop.”
Cole and Kai shared a look. Cole sighed, grabbing Lloyd and picking him up as Kai let go of the hood. Lloyd cried out indignantly, shouting about ‘child abuse’ and ‘violation of privacy’, how he knew those words were beyond any of the ninja.
“Jay!” Cole turned to his best friend. “Get me an extra comb from the bathroom."
Lightning nodded, dashing inside the Bounty while Cole kept his hold tight on the child in his arms. He looked weirdly tired. Kai leaned against the railing beside Sensei, smirking slightly.
“Don’t whine kid,” he said. “Cole’s great when it comes to handling hair.” Said ninja shot Kai a look.
Nya nodded, “He’s right. When me and Kai first joined the team, my hair was disgusting. Cole taught me how to take care of it, he also taught Kai.”
Zane, who had been sitting cross-legged on the floor as he watched the soap-opera unfold before him, added his own two cents. “I remember when he helped you wash your hair. It was a funny sight, you sitting in the shower while Cole stood there giving you a hair massage.”
The group laughed, and Lloyd watched them in confusion. Kai grinned, “Then he forced us to wash our hair as well.”
“I forced you, Kai.” Cole huffed, but there was a smile on his face. “The only reason your hair held its spikes was sheer willpower and grease.” Kai shrugged, “Hey, at least it worked.”
By then, Jay had returned with a brown hair-brush in his hands, bounding down the steps onto the deck. “Here! Catch!”
He tossed the brush to Cole, who caught it. Lloyd realised what was about to happen, and resumed his thrashing in Cole's arms. “Stop! Don’t touch my hair! I hate you all!”
Cole scowled, shifting his position so that he was cradling Lloyd to his chest using his legs, pinning the boy’s arms to the floor with one hand and using the other to run the hairbrush through his hair.
The hairbrush instantly got stuck, catching on who KNOWS what. Lloyd cried out, flinching and shaking his head in a futile attempt to shake off the pain on his scalp.
He was crying loudly now, tears streaming down his face and Cole attempted to comb out the knots. Everyone looked at him sympathetically, occasionally wincing.
Soon, the torture stopped, Cole pulled the brush away, sighing loud as Lloyd kept crying and sniffing, rubbing his scalp. The brush was dirty, tangled strands of stray hair caught in its bristles.
“Sorry kiddo, but a simple hairbrush won’t do,” he muttered, leaning back as he let Lloyd run off to his uncle. He threw himself into the man’s arms, sobbing as Wu rubbed his head.
“I hate you!” Lloyd yelled, muffled by Wu’s now tear-stained robes. Cole let Lloyd cry a little bit more before he spoke again. He stayed where he was, sitting back on his heels, brush dangling uselessly from his fingers.
“Okay,” he said. “Yeah. Sorry, that's on me.”
Lloyd sniffed, face buried in Wu’s robes. “You’re the worst.”
“Fair,” Cole rubbed the back of his neck, eyes flicking to the dirty and hair-covered brush in his hand. “But that confirms it.” He looked up at Sensei Wu. “We need to wash his hair.”
Nya nodded immediately. “Yup. Shampoo and conditioner.”
Jay pointed at the brush like it was evidence from a crime scene. “So much conditioner.”
Kai smirked. “And it means we get to dunk him.”
“Not a very good choice of words Kai,” Zane said mildly, smiling.
LLoyd lifted his head– face red and puffed. “No one’s touching my hair.”
Cole met his gaze and softened up a little. “C’mon kid. You need it. Your hair is disgusting.” Lloyd’s face soured, but he didn’t protest.
“I’ll be gentle,” He continued. “You can yell and hit me if you want.”
Lloyd hesitated, torn between hatred towards everyone and the very real state of his scalp.
Kai clapped his hands together. “Cool, everyone on board?”
His teammates nodded. “Alright then. Bathroom time.”
“HEY–”
Before Lloyd could fully protest, Kai scooped him up again, slinging him over his shoulder. Lloyd shrieked in outrage, kicking uselessly.
Cole followed close by, smiling in a way he hoped was comforting, “Don’t worry, I’ll be gentle.”
The other ninja scattered to get any materials they might need to handle their new mission.
Zane, before disappearing, turned to Cole. “Maybe you should change into something more water-friendly… since I assume there will be a lot of splashing."
Earth nodded, “Good idea!”, before running off to their bedroom to change into his swim trunks.
In a flurry of noise, Lloyd’s protests were drowned out.
Soon enough, they were prepared. Towels folded and set neatly on the toilet lid and bottles of many products lined up on the bathroom sink. The ninja were all huddled in their small restroom while Kai held Lloyd down under the shower, all waiting for Cole.
Soon, said ninja walked in. It was a funny sight– the big man in nothing but a pair of swimming trunks with doodled pandas, his face looking worn-out and much closer to a middle-aged mother of four rather than a 17 year old.
Jay snickered. Kai joined in. Cole grimaced, “Shut up.” His words only egged Jay on, grabbing Kai as he doubled over and snorted loudly.
He finally looked down at the angry, stubborn child in the shower. He put his hands on his hips, gesturing for Kai to let go as he walked over.
The transition was smooth, and Lloyd didn’t get a chance to run away as Cole grabbed him.
There was a small stool under the shower head for Cole to sit on. He took his place, turning Lloyd around so that the back of his head was facing Cole. The Earth ninja wrapped his legs around the kid, locking him in place. Lloyd hissed at Cole, tried scratching or biting but the grip was too tight for him to move much.
“Stay still.” Cole deadpanned, reaching out and switching on the shower. Warm water cascaded down and Lloyd yelped at the sudden dampness on his head.
Cole sat there, watching Lloyd struggle as the water ‘attacked’ his face. Then he brought his hands up, massaging the boy’s scalp.
The other ninja stood by, some sitting and others standing. Wu had left to prepare dinner, leaving the children to their work. Kai was leaning against the sink, ready to toss any product Cole would need.
Lloyd had eventually given up, realising any attempt at resistance would be of no use. And either way, the warm water along with Cole’s hands rubbing his scalp was weirdly calming.
“I hate this.” He muttered, hair falling down in wet clumps over his forehead.
“Well, hate it quietly,” Kai quipped and was then promptly elbowed harshly in his ribs by Jay.
Suddenly the water was turned off. Lloyd looked up in surprise, turning his head to look at Cole. He had reached his hand out, and Kai was handing him a bottle of something.
He eyed the bottle warily, "What's that?”
He got a singular word as a response, “Shampoo.”
Out of the corner of his eye, he watched as Cole squeezed out a good amount of some type of purple concoction onto his hands, closed the bottle and then slathering the purple thing properly. He turned his head again, bracing himself as he felt Cole’s hands back on his hair.
The lather was cool and soft, and it also smelled weird. Lloyd sniffed but couldn’t place his finger on the smell.
Some of the foam started dripping down his forehead and back. It felt weird, and the foam was starting to reach the tip of his nose. He scrunched his face to try and stop it– to no avail.
He heard Kai snort, and watched him with a scowl as the Fire ninja reached out and rubbed his thumb over his nose.
“You had a lil’ something there,” He grinned. Lloyd rolled his eyes.
After Cole deemed the shampoo having thoroughly cleaned Lloyd’s hair, he turned on the shower again. As the water washed out the now dirty and brown lather, Lloyd swore his head felt cooler and lighter.
“Oh wow, it’s already so much better!” Nya exclaimed.
Cole nodded, smiling (well, Lloyd thought he was smiling. It sounded like that when he spoke.) “Yeah. It’s surprising, but one round of shampoo should be enough. Pass the conditioner, Kai?”
When the next bottle was tossed to him, Lloyd leaned back against Cole’s chest. He felt fingers run through his hair and sighed quietly.
Then he straightened up. Because wait a minute, the fingers ran through his hair. They didn’t get stuck, or tangled or anything!
Cole chuckled, “Conditioner helps smooth out your hair. Stay still.”
He worked the product through Lloyd’s strands, marvelling at how the dirt and grime gave way to silky, cream coloured hair. All those times he’d cleaned Nya’s hair when Kai proved to be too impatient and impulsive, or Kai’s, or even his own, really started to pay off now.
A few minutes later, he reached for the comb (which had now been cleaned off its previous dirt).
Using the hairbrush, he detangled the rest of the hair where his fingers may not have reached. After that, even the conditioner was washed out properly.
The entire team sighed collectively, including Lloyd.
Cole stood up, gesturing to Kai. The man leaned over to grab a towel. Cole picked up Lloyd and set him on the stool instead. In a few quick scrubbing motions, he dried the excess water off Lloyd’s hair. Using the brush, he continued to detangle as he dried Lloyd’s hair.
Soon enough, after half an hour of torture and hair products, Lloyd was thoroughly cleaned.
He bounced off happily to the bedrooms with Cole to look at his hair.
“Woahh…” he smiled wide, turning this way and that to view his silky blond locks from all angles.
“Damn kid, you have some shiny hair.” Jay whistled.
Cole grinned smugly, proud of his work.
Nya, Kai and Zane entered the room as well, all complimenting Lloyd on his new hairstyle. Nya turned to Cole. “You were weirdly responsible today.”
“What d’you mean weirdly, I’m always responsible!”
Jay snorted, “Right. Maybe change out of your panda trunks first, then we’ll talk.” Cole flushed slightly, but smirked nonetheless.
That night, at dinner, Lloyd spent every five minutes talking about his hair. He talked more than Jay, who seemed happy enough to eat rather than talk. Lloyd blabbered about ‘I’m not gonna sleep cause what if my hair messes up?!’ and Wu laughed softly.
Kai lightly hit his knee against Cole’s under the table to get his attention. Earth looked up at Kai, who smiled. “You know, you’d make a really good mom.”
Cole hit back with his knee, harder this time. Yet he grinned back, “I would, wouldn’t I?”
“So now you’re gonna be the one putting Lloyd to sleep. I don’t think he’ll want to ‘ruin his hair’, huh?”
“Shut up.”