Love Struck: A Challenged Fic
A/N: This is a short, one-shot fanfic that was challenged to me by ForeverKim&Tommy on Ranger-Power, a Power Rangers forum. The challenge was this:
Title: Love Struck
Characters: Sky/Syd
First line in story (either dialogue or action. If dialogue, specify who says it): Syd: "Hey Sky can I ask you a question?"
Last line in story (same as above) (optional):
And, from that, I was supposed to write a short fanfic for her. And so, I give you, Love Struck: A Challenged Fic. Enjoy!
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"Hey Sky can I ask you a question?"
The voice of Sydney interrupted Sky's thoughts. The two SPD Rangers were sitting in the living area, and they were the only ones around. Most of the others were in their rooms doing who knows what. Syd was painting her nails, and Sky was sitting on the opposite side of the couch as her, staring off into space, lost in thought. Or at least, he had been doing that until he was interrupted by Sydney's question.
"Uh, sure," he replied, after only a moment's hesitation. He looked at her as she put her nail polish on the table in front of her.
"Why are you always so serious all the time?" She scooted across the couch so that she was seated next to him and she looked at him expectantly, her shining brown eyes gazing in to his. Sky couldn't help but notice how kind and sincere Syd looked. He had been planning to just shake the question off, ignore it, as he always did when asked something like that. But Syd looked so nice, so genuinely concerned, he felt that he couldn't just ignore her. He felt that, somehow, he could open himself up to her, and she might understand. Taking a deep breath, he began.
"I wasn't always this way," he said. "When I was a kid, I was always laughing and joking. I was downright hyper all the time." Sydney laughed a little.
"It's hard to imagine you being hyper," she said, smiling at him.
"Well, I was," Sky said, smiling back and chuckling. "I used to always make my parents laugh. Especially my dad. He and I used to spend all of our free time together, joking, playing, laughing." His smile faded, and he paused for a second, looking away from Syd and staring at his hands in his lap. "But then, one day, he didn't come home. When I learned of my father's death, I was heartbroken, of course. I was so young, and I felt like it was up to me to take care of my mother after that. I felt that I had to grow up and be mature and adult like, as if that was the only way I could really take care of my mother. So, I willed myself, I forced myself, to be more serious, and to stop joking and laughing. I thought that, somehow, if I were more mature and serious, it would make the pain go away. It didn't, of course, but I was such a little kid, I didn't know what else to do. I did such a good job convincing myself to be serious and to not laugh anymore that the seriousness has stayed with me my whole life." He paused again, trying to fight back the tears that were forming in his eyes. Syd lay her hand on his, still looking into his eyes, smiling sadly.
"Sky," she said gently. "You were just a kid. No one expected you to take on that kind of responsibility." He looked up at her.
"I know that now," he said. "But as a kid, I didn't know any better. I thought… I thought…" But Sky couldn't go on. Tears flowed freely from his eyes now, and he did nothing to stop them. "I just miss him so much…" he whispered. Sydney pulled him into a hug, his face resting on her shoulder, her arms around his neck. He wrapped his arms around her waist and continued to cry, not caring now who saw.
Syd just held him there, feeling bad for him of course, but in a way, feeling happy as well. Happy that Sky had confided in her, happy that she now knew the reason for his seriousness, happy that she was this close to him now. He cried into her shoulder for a few minutes, until finally he pulled away and sat back in a normal position on the couch, wiping his eyes with his shirt. He smiled a bit, trying to calm down his sobs.
"You won't tell anyone else about this, will you, Syd?" he asked, looking at her pleadingly.
"Of course not," she said, smiling at him. Silence filled the room as Sky quelled the last of his sobs. When he had done so, he turned to the Pink Ranger again.
"Thanks, Syd," he said. She just nodded at him. Much to her surprise, he pulled her into a hug again, wrapping his arms around her neck this time. She held him around the waist and he stroked her hair gently, looking deep into her eyes as she looked into his. Neither of them said anything, they just sat there like that for what seemed like an eternity, until Sky brought his hands gently to her face. He leaned down and kissed her tenderly on the lips. She kissed him back happily, putting her arms around his neck. Sky smiled inside. As he kissed Sydney, he realized that he had never felt so happy in all his life.