Sleep and Sentiment

Instinctively Tommy raised his head from Jason’s lap and slid up a little closer to the other’s face. Taking this as the sign he was hoping for Jason lowered his face to Tommy’s. There was a brief hesitation on both parts where they simply stared at each other taking in the sight of the other’s face at such a close proximity.

Jason ran his thumb tenderly over the smooth skin of Tommy’s cheek. Taking in the hazel eyes now dilated with lust and the curve of the artful lashes that framed them, he slowly continued his decent, brushing his lips lightly across Tommy’s.

The touch was feather light but the reaction was intense. He felt a brief tingle across the sensitized skin which left him craving for more. Looking back into Tommy’s eyes, checking he was okay with this he pressed down again, a little firmer this time and was happily surprised when Tommy responded if still somewhat hesitantly.

Breaking the kiss again both boys stared at the other intently for a moment each going over exactly what had occurred. It wasn’t long before Tommy’s head fell back into Jason’s lap though as it was uncomfortable to keep it held up for so long.

With a low gasp, Jason squirmed slightly as while he didn’t want to discourage the other boy from laying on him, after their previous activity it wasn’t the most comfortable time for it now.

At the sound his friend emitted Tommy jumped realizing what he’d done. “Sorry.” Blushing and sitting back up next to Jason, he quickly adjusted his own position before becoming still. Unsure of what was to happen or be said next both Rangers sat side by side for a long while staring through the cabin window out into the darkness of the night.

Finally it was Jason who decided to break the pregnant silence threatening to engulf them. Placing a gentle hand on his shoulder Jason pulled his friend from his reverie. “Look, Tommy, I understand if you think this was a mistake or if you were just, I don’t know, testing the waters. I like you and…I don’t want things to get weird between us.”

“Kinda late for that isn’t it?” Smiling and knowing Jason understood his comment for the joking mood lightener that it was; Tommy still didn’t seem to certain of the situation, at least not certain enough to ease Jason’s concern.

“Listen maybe it’s best if I sleep out here tonight.”

“What?” Snapping around at this, Tommy seethed under his breath, careful not to wake the others. “Why? You think I’m not capable of controlling myself or something?”

“It’s not you I’m worried about,” Jason answered and Tommy’s face fell, his mouth forming an ‘o’ shape in surprise, “I don’t want to do anything to hurt you or our friendship. I need to know what you want Tommy, if you want this to go further or if you want us to never talk about this again and put it all down to a cake induced sugar high and sleep delirium.”

“Do you want to go back to being just friends?” Tommy asked softly, “Is it what either of us ever really wanted from the beginning?”

“No, I guess not, but this is a big jump. I know the others have been trying to get me to admit to this for a while but there’s you and Kim to consider…” Trailing off at Tommy’s look this brought about, Jason wasn’t sure what he’d said but clearly it was something ridiculous.

“Me and Kim? There’s nothing going on between me and Kim and there never will be,” Tommy asked incredulously, “What about you and Kim?”

“Me and Kim? Um, yeah no see even if I was into females, dating Kim would be like dating my little sister.” Exchanging a laugh with the Green Ranger Jason suddenly smiled softly as another thought struck him. “Starting to feel for poor Trini though, she seems to be left out of our delusional relationship pairings.”

“Well, would you want to take on Billy if either of us went anywhere near her in that kind of way?” Tommy asked with a quirk of the eyebrow which had Jason laughing once again before draping his arm around the boy.

“I guess not.” Jason couldn’t help but smile as Tommy cuddled up to him, his head resting on his shoulder, fitting perfectly beneath his chin.

It just seemed so natural to be seated that way. Jason even chided himself for not doing anything about this sooner; it just felt too right to argue with. Slowly he dragged his fingers up and down the bare skin of Tommy’s upper arm which caused a contented sigh to escape Tommy’s lips as he snuggled in a bit closer.

“Did you expect this to be weirder?” Tommy asked tentatively, “I mean, a little less comfortable, maybe with more anxiety rather than just us sitting here like a couple of saps.”

“I guess I did, yeah,” Jason answered truthfully, “But I like it this way too.”

As Tommy set about drawing abstract patterns on Jason’s knee he felt Jason stifle a yawn and chuckled softly. “Come on old man we better get you to bed. Can’t have you getting worn out by young, virile guys like me in your advanced age now.”

Jason just smacked Tommy gently upside the head and kissed him lightly, “Just wait till we get home and I’ll show you who’ll be wearing out whom…” he trailed off with a smirk that left everything but nothing to the imagination.

“Is that a threat, Jason Lee Scott?” Tommy smirked leaning in closer.

“If you want it to be,” Came the sultry reply as Jason slowly started kissing his way up and down Tommy’s neck. The peace and tranquillity of a few moments ago turning quickly into lust and pent up desire.

“Then, do we have to wait till we get home?” Tommy asked as he slowly began to move with Jason towards their shared room. It wasn’t an elegant and graceful move. It was full of stumbles and fumbling but they didn’t care about poise and grace, as long as they remained in contact they were content.

“Well…” Jason said breathlessly between kisses that were growing in passion, “Kim and Trini are right across the hall and Billy and Zack are right next door and no matter how much I love my friends, I don’t think this is something they really need to hear or see. Don’t you think so?”

Tommy grinned evilly as he pressed Jason against their bedroom door while fumbling with the handle, trying to get it open. “Well yes, so thus we’re in need of some stealth training, right. No time like the present.”

Chuckling Jason managed to get the door open and he walked slowly backwards towards the bed as the kisses went on. It seemed though hesitant at first, once Tommy got his mind set on something there was truly no deterring him. “Be that as it may that can wait till we get home and don’t have an audience. Besides…” He trailed off and ran the backs of his fingers gently down Tommy’s cheek.

“Besides what?” Tommy asked in a bit of a disappointed tone as he fingered the zipper of Jason’s prized leather jacket. It seemed Jason was hard set on not caving on this matter and for that he had to admit he was a bit disheartened

“Have you ever actually been with a guy before?” The words were spoken softly but the impact caused was enormous. Suddenly reality seemed to strike and Tommy stiffened noticeably. Until now it hadn’t seemed real but then the seriousness and reality of the situation struck him like a ton of bricks.

“I… erm… no, I mean… does it make a difference?” Tommy blushed and instinctively took a step back from Jason and the embrace he’d been caught in. He ducked his head seemingly fascinated with the pattern on the wood floor.

“Not to me it doesn’t, it doesn’t change the way I feel about you. Just the way we’ll go about some things.” Laying a soothing hand on the Green Ranger’s shoulder, Jason held back a chuckle as Tommy nearly jumped at the contact, but in the end simply snapped his head up instead. He had to admit it was slightly amusing to see such a change in the other’s personality. After all just a minute ago he had seemed ready to ravage him and now, after reminding the boy of his lack of previous experience with other males it was if all his confidence had been yanked out from under him. They’d have to work on that.

“Like what things?” Tommy pressed as he tried to regain his calm and more controlled persona.

“Let’s not rush anything, okay?” Jason smiled gently at Tommy’s small nod, “Let’s just take our time and enjoy this. I don’t want to mess up our friendship by rushing into anything. I want to know we’ll still always be friends even if this does come to an end.”

“I want that too, Jase, I haven’t exactly had many close friends and with all you guys caring about me and including me even after trying to kill you, it’s well, it’s a bit overwhelming and weird I guess. And now this…” Tommy trailed off with a vague wave of the hand.

Jason placed a hand on either shoulder, looking squarely into Tommy’s face, the action thankfully seeming to help ground his friend more. “I know what you mean about it being overwhelming, but even so it still feels right. It wouldn’t have happened otherwise. But there’s a lot we need to talk about before this goes any further so maybe we should just start there?”

There was a slight query to Jason’s voice that made Tommy give a lopsided grin with his small nod. He lent forward and placed a chaste kiss on Jason’s lips, “Yeah, you’re right, and we can do that tonight if you want, but I think we better get into bed first before we both fall asleep on the floor.”

“Uh huh, sure that’s why you want to get into bed.”

They both chuckled lightly as Jason moved to undress until he found Tommy’s hand on the bottom of his tank top, “Might as well enjoy as much touching as we can get away with,” He suggested with a sly smile as he lent in for another kiss.

Jason revelled in the touch of Tommy’s lips against his. He could definitely get used to this. Hands brushed over taught muscles as they divested each other of all their clothes save for boxers. They didn’t need any more added distraction, not with so much to discuss first.

Moving to the bed they shared tender caresses as they spoke. It didn’t take long for Tommy to realize that Jason seemed to have a bit of a fixation with his longer hair, running his hands through the longs locks whenever he could, twisting the ends between his fingers once he’d trailed his hand though the full length.

-------------------

(20 minutes later)

“So between Trini’s insightful talk in the woods and the store clerk’s apparent gaydar I’ve just been a wreck of nerves for the past few days.”

“You know,” Jason said with a small smile, “We really need to talk to this girl, maybe she can hone our own gaydars and then we might not be so oblivious in the future.”

Tommy chuckled, brushing a hand across Jason’s abs, “Yeah well, hopefully there won’t be a need for one in the future since we are both well aware of each other’s feelings now. Though I get the distinct impression she’d love to meet the guy we bought the jacket and boxers for.”

Smiling and lightly brushing his lips across the boy’s forehead, Jason made a note to perhaps do just that before they left. “Thanks for those by the way. They’ll make for some interesting conversation back at home.” At Tommy’s confused look he continued, “Not exactly going to be easy explaining to my mom why I suddenly have Power Ranger boxer shorts in the laundry now, is it?”

Tommy yawned slightly around a chuckle of his own. “Hm, never thought of that. I’m sure you’ll come up with some reason. You’ve managed all this time lying about your powers; some birthday present underwear should be a piece of cake.”

At that Jason groaned, “Do not mention cake!”

Grinning and rubbing the Red Ranger’s stomach indulgently, just to help ease the pain of course, Tommy hit upon his next slight concern. “Speaking of cake,” Laughing outright as Jason growled in response to his jab Tommy continued, “What should we do about the others who can now never look at cake in the same light again, or us for that matter?”

“Didn’t I just ask you to not mention the c-word?” Jason chided as Tommy snuggled into his chest, his hand stilling on Jason’s stomach. “As for our friends though, well, we both know they’ll be full of it when they find out. A severe case of telling us they told us so, well me at least. I think we’re gonna have to find some way of shutting them up in stunned silence before they can start in on the teasing and smug comments. Currently I’m leaning towards making out as we make lunch.”

Not seeming to protest Tommy asked, “Why lunch? Why not breakfast?”

“Tommy it’s three in the morning, do you think either of us will be awake for breakfast?” Jason smiled at the yawn and blush he was awarded with.

“But I’m hungry. I want pancakes and eggs.”

“You ate a quarter of a cake not but two hours ago how can you possibly be hungry again already?”

“I have a fast metabolism?” Shrugging and rather amused by the new groan this got him in response, Tommy had to admit though he could use the extra sleep more then the food. “But then again I forgot you’re old now and need your sleep. I guess lunch will have to do then.”

“Go to sleep.” Reaching over the boy who was now using him for a pillow, Jason clicked off the small bedside light before getting resettled. “Goodnight Tommy.”

“Night Jase,” Came the mumbled reply from the bundle currently draped over him. “Happy birthday.”

---------------------

(Next morning)

Rolling over and reaching for the warm body that had been pressed against him for most of the night, Tommy frowned when he felt nothing but cool sheets under his hand. “Jase?” Lifting his head and seeing the Red Ranger was indeed gone, Tommy suddenly felt a small flare of panic.

“Hey was wondering if you were going to wake up before noon.” Re-entering the room and towelling off his wet hair, it was clear his friend had simply just come from the shower, evident not only by his damp form but also because he was clad in nothing but a towel synched tightly around his waist.

Breathing a small sigh of relief and sitting up fully on the bed, Tommy gave a small shrug feeling rather silly at his previous moment of panic. “What can I say I guess you were right, you did wear me out.”

Pausing in his movement at the slightly off tone in Tommy’s voice, Jason moved to the bed taking a seat beside him. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” When this didn’t seem to fly with the Red Ranger, Tommy heaved a small and embarrassed sigh. “I just woke up and you weren’t here and I guess for maybe a second I thought you had changed your mind or something…and stop looken at me like that it’s no big deal okay, it was stupid and I was half asleep.”

“We have to work on your security.” Leaning over and brushing a reassuring kiss against the other boy’s lips, Jason gave a smile before standing and retrieving his birthday present. “So what do you think, red or green today?”

Laughing as Jason held both pairs of boxers up for him to choose from, Tommy finally pointed to the Green Ranger pair.

With a chuckle Jason slid the pair on under his towel before discarding it and moving to find a pair of jeans and a shirt. “Oh I hate to tell you this but you might want to wait to grab your shower, the water was barely warm when I got in, I think we’re the last ones up.”

“S’okay, I’ll just throw on some workout clothes and then get one in after lunch,” Tommy responded around a yawn as he slowly moved from the bed to find some loose pants and a T-shirt.

Nodding and watching Tommy throw on his own clothes; Jason began to wonder if the boy owned anything that actually fit his form instead of the baggier sort of skater boy fashion on him. Perhaps he should do Tommy a similar favour on his own birthday and get him something ‘special’ to wear.

“So are you ready to go make lunch?” Quirking a smile as he recalled Jason’s fun idea about lunch from the night before Tommy was already heading out towards the kitchen by the time Jason snapped out of his thoughts and followed.

Nearly running smack into Tommy as he stood in the kitchen entrance, Jason saw instantly why the Green Ranger had paused and suddenly looked slightly disappointed. “Hey guys.”

Sitting at the kitchen table and arguing over lunch choices, the group greeted the last two members of their team with smiles and jabs about their over sleeping.

“Bout time you two got up, how late did you stay up last night anyways?” Zack questioned as Tommy moved to the counter, hopping up on it to sit and watch the goings on.

“I don’t know we got to talking and stuff and didn’t crash till early this morning.” Retrieving some orange juice from the fridge Jason absently poured a glass before offering it to Tommy and pouring a second for himself.

“You sure it was just talking? I swear I heard some banging around last night... not throwing each other off the walls again were you?" Zack asked with a devilish grin lightly up his face.

“What are you implying Zack?” Tommy asked with slightly raised eyebrows. He could play Zack much better than Jason as his feelings weren't known on such a wide range. Plus, he did, after all, have all that sweet innocence going for him that Jason seemed reluctant to believe in.

“Well either you two decided to get in some more karate practice or you were ravishing each other behind out backs. So boys, got something to share with the group?” Zack asked faking all innocence and causing Tommy to blush.

Catching the Green Ranger’s sudden quiet and embarrassed mood change, Jason decided that while he could handle their bantering about his love life, he’d be damned if he let them start in on Tommy. “Zack, have you ever thought that while I may be used to your twisted fantasies about mine and Tommy’s love life that perhaps he isn’t. Thus they might just make him uncomfortable?” Jason answered with a glare that told him not to push the point any further for fear of the Red Ranger’s wrath.

Suddenly seeming to realize Jason had a point there, Zack mentally smacked himself. “Oh, geez yeah. Sorry, Tommy, I kind of forget sometimes that you didn’t grow up with us and all.”

Giving the other male a small shrug, Tommy smiled to himself as Zack and Jason had played right into his hands. “Hey, don't sweat it.” Tommy gave a casual wave of the hand, “I grew up in LA remember? If you didn’t know at least one gay or bisexual person you were considered weird. Besides just because you want to live vicariously through your friends doesn’t mean I should be bothered by it. I mean if you’d rather see Jason getting together with a guy then doing it yourself…”

The others burst out laughing at the way Tommy had so easily managed to turn the joke around onto Zack. Jason allowed himself an indulgent smile at Tommy's antics, part of him felt oddly proud of the boy in green.

Zack lost composure for just a second and stood there stuttering until Trini jumped in to rescue the poor boy. “With Zack’s track record of trying to date Angela I wouldn’t be too sure Tommy, but then who knows,” She gave a slight shrug. “However, I don’t think this is the best time to be getting into Zack’s preferences as it may eat up the rest of the day, after all it is Jason’s birthday and we have so many more interesting things to talk about.”

“Well I suggest you all go talk of these interesting things in the other room while Tommy and I make some sandwiches or something, and then you can just help yourselves to whatever we manage not to ruin.” Jason offered wanting a little peace for early in the morning, well afternoon.

“You know,” Kim quipped as Billy just rolled his eyes knowingly, “I would ask how you can ruin sandwiches but I know what you’re like in the kitchen Jase so it’s probably a good idea to be cautious.”

“Just for that you can do the dishes,” Jason shot back with a grin as he tossed a dishcloth in her direction.

Grumbling, Kim huffed slightly, “Well Zack should help too considering his earlier comments.”

Kim’s strop made the others laugh as Zack groaned at her for getting him involved. He knew when he was beaten though so he thought it best to just keep quiet.

“Well I think we’ll just head on out of here and let you two work then.” Urging the others out and giving the boys a smile and wink, Trini ushered the group out of the kitchen.

“So do they all know or what?” Tommy questioned after a moment spent debating it.

“If I had to guess I’d say they all realize I’ve confessed my personal preference to you at some point last night. Trini probably knows that it went beyond that maybe Billy too, but Kim and Zack I’d guess are still clueless.”

Already looking for a frying pan to make some grilled cheese sandwiches, Tommy glanced back at his new boyfriend. “Should we tell them?”

“Thought you wanted them to find out by us making out as we cooked lunch?” came the playful response that made both boys laugh and turn a little red at the mental images this brought forth.

“Yeah well um, that might be a little dangerous considering I plan on making grilled cheese, but on second thought what’s the fun in playing it safe right.” Turning on the stove and setting the pan down, Tommy set about grabbing the few items needed to make the sandwiches as Jason began hunting for some cold meat.

“So true. Now you are gonna make the cheese ones, hmm okay we have some turkey and ham so guess I’ll make a few of those. Hopefully everyone is pretty hungry by n-” Cut off by a loud curse and the distinct sound of metal striking metal, Jason jerked his head up quickly to see what had happened.

“Shit that hurt!” Hurrying to the faucet and sticking his now wounded hand under the stream of cold water, Tommy had apparently just proved that sandwich making for them could indeed result in disastrous results.

Examining the damage in a second’s time, Jason gently took the Green Ranger’s now wounded hand checking it over and trying to ignore the hisses of pain this brought in response. “Oh Tommy, geez that looks bad.”

“Doesn’t feel too great either,” came the muttered response. Hissing and trying to pull his hand free from Jason’s probing hold, Tommy was stopped as the Red Ranger quickly moved to take him in his arms, preventing an escape.

“Shh, stay still I have to see how bad it is.” Checking the burn with extreme care, Jason finally decided it would be alright. It certainly wouldn’t be pleasant for a day or two, but at least it didn’t go beyond the palm of his left hand. “I think it’ll be okay.”

“Doesn’t feel okay.”

Smirking at the disgruntled tone, Jason slowly kissed the damaged skin smiling as this made Tommy laugh in spite of himself at the gesture. “Feel better now?”

“No…still hurts here.” Pointing to his perfectly fine wrist, Tommy snickered as Jason nevertheless placed his lips to the spot as well. “And here.”

“Tommy your neck was no where near the pan.” When he only got a stern look in response, Jason rolled his eyes before humouring the other and laying a bit of a harder kiss to his jugular.

“Oh just kiss him already and get on with it!” Snickering as the two boys turned to look at them, Zack shook his head at the sappy scene. “Geez it’ll be dinner time by the time you two finish up and get back to cooking.”

“Way to ruin the moment Zack.” Smacking the boy playfully, Kim shook her head. “So is there perhaps something you two would like to share with the rest of us?”

“Um…I accidentally burned my hand?” Tommy offered playfully.

As a collective groan went up the group dispatched back into the living room each muttering about how they should have seen this coming and how sappy the two were going to be now around each other.

Lingering for a moment longer Trini gave the two boys a small and knowing smirk. “So does this mean more cute photo opportunities?”

Rolling their eyes at this, Jason glanced down at the boy still in his arms, “Remind me to take her camera later.”

“You’re asking him with his memory?” No sooner said then Zack let out a loud grunt as a cushion was thrown at his head, most likely from the laughing Pink Ranger on the couch.

Shaking his head at them and re-entering the kitchen, first aid kit in hand, Billy handed the white box to Jason. “There’s some burn ointment in there along with some bandages, it’s probably best to bandage up your hand for at day or two even if it’s not too bad, Tommy.”

Nodding, Tommy softly thanked the Blue Ranger who was already retreating to go handle the wrestling group in the main room as Jason began fixing his hand.

Ignoring the continued banter and humour from their friends in the next room until he’d finished with the Green Ranger’s hand, Jason put the kit away and noting Tommy’s rather exhausted look went to the entrance way to give one last warning. “Right, we’re going to finish making lunch now that Tom is okay and you can all speculate and gossip over the last five minutes, however we don’t want to hear any of it as one accident in here is enough, got it?”

Smiling at the Red Ranger and knowing Jason was beginning to grasp how while he might enjoy being the center of his attention a group was different. “Let’s finish this up before they start resorting to spandex jokes.”

“You sure you’ll be okay cooking with that hand?” Jason asked softly, but at Trini’s ‘aw’ he shoved her from the room and blushed slightly. He was supposed to the leader of the Power Rangers, tough, strong, silent type. He didn’t get awed!

“I’ll be fine,” Tommy said leaning across and kissing him lightly, “But I think I’ll let you handle the hot stuff while I do the meat… and don’t utter a word Zack, not if you value your life!”

A muttered ‘damn’ came from the vicinity of the couch and Tommy linked eyes with Billy who just shook his head wearily and carried on playing cards with Kim.

Nevertheless Jason took over the grilled cheese sandwiches as Tommy helped with the others. Within ten minutes they had a stack of sandwiches on the table and a few bags of potato chips too. They had just been getting more glasses of orange juice for themselves when the smell pulled all the others in from the living room.

Without any thought Tommy and Jason sat down next to each other as Billy took up the job of pouring drinks for the others. They seemed to have designated places around the table which had stuck from their first meal at it. Only now it gave Zack a whole new source of material.

“You guys better not be getting up to anything under there, hands where we can see them!” He mock ordered, earning him a stern glare from both boys and laughs from the

others. “Hey now I know your mom wouldn’t like the idea of you having your boyfriend with you on an unsupervised vacation in the woods Jase, so until we get back home looks like we will just have to be the chaperons for you two.”

“He’s kidding right?”

“We wish,” Jason muttered in response. “Don’t worry we’ll lock him out of the house later.”

“Now, now Jase, you know your mom really wouldn’t forgive us if we left you alone with Tommy after all this now would she? Maybe the sleeping arrangements should be changed slightly…” Zack trailed off gulping seeing the glare he received. Maybe he didn’t value his life as much a he though. Either that or he had no sense of self preservation.

“I believe you underestimate our friends’ seriousness in the situation Zack. They have been courting barely twelve hours so I do not believe either would be willing to consummate a relationship in that time.” Billy state matter-of-factly with a slight smile as he knew Trini would be the only one able to understand his words.

Needless to say they all looked at her for a translation, “Hey don’t look at me!” She held her hands up in defense, “I’m not going anywhere near that one.”

“Consummate the rela- hey!” Recalling just where he’d heard that phrase before and what it meant Tommy turned heated eyes towards his blue clad friend. “I’ll thank you to leave our consummating out of your conversation.”

“Consum-oh geez I need some new friends.” Throwing up his hands as his brain too hit on what that word meant, Jason shook his head. “Honestly and here I thought Zack was the one to watch.”

“Did we miss something?” Exchanging looks with Zack, Kimberly shrugged at a loss.

“I am merely elaborating on Zack’s insinuations and offering a form of defense to your combined honors. I believe both of you to be of a higher moral grounding that the one Zack puts you on,” Billy said with a warm look and a nod which Trini shared, obviously agreeing with the somewhat perplexing statement.

“Thanks…” Jason said with a side long look at Billy, “I think.”

“Look, either clue us in or stop the conversation and eat, okay?” Kim asked, a little more than annoyed. Eventually she and Zack would pick up on the wording but until then it was a subject best left not discussed- especially with Zack’s imagination around.

“We’ll stop,” It wasn’t so much an answer to Kim’s question as a command from Jason to the others to leave well alone and stop discussing his and Tommy’s love life. Didn’t they have a life of their own to think about? “So, come on then,” He pushed, “Eat and change the topic of discussion.”

As Zack opened his mouth Tommy jumped right in, “And if you mention any speculation of last night I swear to god the Evil Green Ranger will come back and viciously maim you!”

With a slight disgruntled moan the whole group fell into silence upon realizing that with such a big event hanging over their heads none of them could think of anything else to say. The silence just seemed to grow with intensity until Kim finally snapped,

“Okay! Look, we can’t think of anything else to say until we get all this speculation cleared away so answer our questions then it won’t be speculation any more, will it?” She slammed her hands down on the table in frustration as she made her point; which was in fact a very valid point. If they knew what happened there would be no room for speculation, would there?

Jason and Tommy threw each other a side long look. With a sigh Jason lent back in the wooden chair and ran his fingers through his unkempt hair. This was going to be a long day. He looked across at Tommy again and in those brief moments they appeared to be deciding between themselves whether to cave in or keep on with the awkwardness of the situation.

“Look,” It was Trini’s turn now to try and persuade them but something about her voice made it clear she wasn’t pressing for details for mere gossip, more through necessity, “In other circumstances you know I’d leave you both alone and let you get on with it but we aren’t in a normal circumstance anymore. We’re Rangers and we’re seriously going to have to talk about this and not because it’s two guys. We’d have to talk about it if it was any of us getting into a relationship. It complicates things.”

“But it shouldn’t!” Tommy pointed out with exasperation, leaning back unknowingly mirroring Jason’s position.

Jason reached out tentatively and placed a comforting hand on Tommy’s shoulder as Billy picked up the thread, “Tommy you are correct. While love should not complicate matters it is proven time and time again it does. Humans actions and reactions are based largely on emotion of which love is one of the strongest.” If either boy objected to such a powerful term being used they decided not to voice their contradictions at that moment.

“Hey, come on now, you should know both of us better than to think we’d let this compromise anything. You guys mean just as much to me as Tommy, albeit in a slightly different way, but that has never had you questioning my ability before or Tommy’s for that matter. Just because we’re suddenly together which, I’ll add, is what you’ve been trying to get me to do since he came back from the dark side, doesn’t mean things are going to change.”

“Yeah but it’s not just Rangering,” Zack continued gesturing widely with his arms, “We trust you both with our lives, we don’t doubt you ability but there’s other stuff too. Like family and school. There’s reasons you’ve not told anyone but us Jase, so what are you going to do about it now? You have to think about these things. Whilst AG is a pretty open-minded town you’ve seen what it’s like for the openly gay students.”

“You’re right,” Jason answered him reasonably, “It’s not like we’re going to be hanging off each other in the hall or anything. We’ll just keep it between us lot and anyone else who needs to know but the rest don’t matter. They won’t ask, we won’t tell. It might seem like living a lie but no-one goes around yelling from the rooftops that they’re straight so what makes us any different? Besides, there are too many factors that warrant people assuming we’re heterosexual.”

“The self-defense and karate classes for one,” Tommy pointed out, “I’ve seen classes where a dozen or so kids were taken out because people assume that perversion comes with homosexuality.”

The group gave him a wondrous look of what his life back in LA had actually been like. It would probably explain a lot if they knew the full details but Tommy’s past seemed to be a ferociously guarded issue with him.

“Look,” Kim said with a sincere smile, “All that matters is that you care about each other, we all care about each other and that the rest of the world doesn’t matter because we’re the Power rangers and together, with or without powers, we can get through anything. Just know we’ll always support you through anything and the rest of the world will fall into place.”

“Thanks Kim,” Jason enveloped the girl next to him into a tight hug as the others nodded their agreement. Who cared what everyone else thought? The only people whose opinions mattered were sat right there with them and they seemed perfectly fine. But Jason knew that wasn’t true, that in the real world things didn’t work out that way. It was a nice notion though.