Title: Frogs Are Serendipitous Creatures
Fandom: Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie
Pairing: Tommy Oliver/Adam Park
Tags: Romance, Angst, Drama, Plastic Jumping Frogs
Summary: Adam's Ninjetti animal is a frog and he's not all that happy about it, unless that frog happens to be the (metaphorical) handsome prince. Tommy happens to like frogs, handsome prince or no.
BETA: TheSupernova
Adam was sulking and he knew it. It began when they returned from the planet Phaedos (to retrieve new power coins, since Ivan Ooze, bad guy extraordinaire, destroyed their old ones). Once Ivan was defeated, it left him with copious amounts of free time and entirely too much cogitative time. And all because of his frog power coin and its accompanying Frog Zord. The others had awesome animals-ape, bear, wolf, crane and the falcon, but Adam? No, he received a frog.
Frog legs were considered delicacies in the human world and he was a mere appetizer in comparison to the other animals. Dulcea, master warrior of Phaedos, gave him a small kiss and said he was special, because being a frog meant he could also be a frog prince-to be kissed by a princess thereby turning into a handsome prince. Adam could live with being a handsome prince, and he had been content to be a frog but then he saw his Zord and his melancholy started all over again.
The great Frog Zord used its tongue to bind the enemy, and while extremely useful, Adam wasn't impressed in comparison to the others.
So the day after their celebration party for defeating Ivan Ooze, Adam threw himself into his school studies and homework, and as many volunteer projects as he could find (whether he enjoyed them or not). He spent some time helping out at the Angel Grove Youth Center (both as staff and makeshift all-purpose janitor), helped teach classes in self-defense and martial arts, joined a group that cleaned the local park every week or so, helped out at the soup kitchen and to sort donations at one of the many local charity centers.
Which meant that he barely saw his friends and had exactly zero time with his boyfriend, Tommy Oliver. His friends were worried, Tommy even more so, but he had perfected the art of ducking and running. To say he still was jealous of the power animal thing was probably true, although he didn't want to admit it. Though it was more likely ineptitude and the thought of being on the tail(less) end of frog jokes.
Lord Zedd and Rita Repulsa had continued to send monsters and he (and the rest of the power rangers) continued to defeat them on a near weekly basis. Despite his current antagonism with the others, when the world was under threat he refused to let his personal feelings get in the way. Of course, he disappeared the moment they had won.
All the volunteer work was exhausting him, the unending workworkwork leaving him little time for sleep. And to be honest, he missed Tommy.
Right now, he was at the park, having just finished his shift. Lately he had taken to hiding out on one of the benches across from the lake shore, backed by the edges of a forest. It was extremely out of the way and hardly anyone went there.
Adam sat on the ground, legs crossed and slumped over the side of the seat, wooden slats digging into his arms. He leaned his head on his forearm, while his right was stretched out, popping a small plastic jumping frog around the seat. On a whim, he had gone to the toy store and bought a small package of rainbow jumping frogs; they were small, plastic frog-shaped shells which had tails you could press down on and once released, would 'hop' about. Pop. Hop. Pop. Hop. Pop. Fail Hop. Pop.
Six frogs lay scattered about, ironically in the colors of the power rangers: white, red, pink, yellow, blue and black. He was playing with the black one, when a voice startled him from behind, causing his current frog to 'fail hop'. It lay upside down. It was a very sad frog.
"I was about to ask what's been on your mind lately but," Tommy chuckled. "I think I can guess."
Tommy walked over, squatting next to Adam. He popped the white frog which hopped over to the black one, its front legs landing half on top of the upside down black frog. Adam snorted. Figures. He popped the pink frog. It landed next to the blue one.
"You're been avoiding us; avoiding me, and this volunteer craze you've been on is clearly wearing you down." Tommy reached over, squeezing Adam's shoulder. "Tell me."
Adam grumbled, but uncrossed his legs to scoot over. Tommy dropped onto his ass, crossing his legs and pulled Adam into his lap; he wrapped his arms around Adam's waist. Adam hunched to the side, pressing his head against Tommy's chest, listening for the soft, interminable thumping of Tommy's heart.
"Frog," Adam said dourly. "My Zord uses its tongue to zap things and restrain them. Falcons also eat frogs for a light snack. It's not even a full snack, or meal! And don't even start in with the colorful poisonous frogs. No one wants to be poisonous."
Tommy huffed lightly, shaking his head, not unkindly (more amused than anything else). "Falcons would only eat frogs as a last resort." Then, at Adam's further grumbling, "But fine, yes, they eat frogs."
Adam harrumphed; Tommy laughed, but inclined his head, leaning his cheek delicately on the back of Adam's head. "Didn't you listen to Dulcea when she gave you that kiss, and turned you into a prince?"
"Yeah, not the same. I'm a frog. I don't like frog,." Adam sulked. "Princesses don't do anything for me. If anyone is the prince here, it's you."
"Can't we both be princes?"
"'m not a prince." Adam said. "Not good enough to be a prince. I also didn't want to hear anyone make fun of my power-spirit animal. Reptile. Amphibian, I mean."
The embrace become more possessive and Adam sighed at the feeling; Tommy always made him feel better. He probably shouldn't have doubted his loyalty or compassion in the first place.
"We would never make fun of you," Tommy said. "Even frogs are majestic, if you give them a chance. I love you, Adam; you should have come to me. I'll always be here for you."
Adam wiggled a bit, letting Tommy know he was going to sit up. He looked into Tommy's eyes, and couldn't help the grin that spread across his face. So Adam knew he might have blown it out or proportion a little and Tommy was right. Frogs aren't that bad. Tommy wanted things to go back to the way they were and frankly, so did Adam.
"First thing I'm going to do is cut down majorly on my volunteering hours; I only enjoyed helping teach the self-defense and martial arts classes, anyways, so I'll stick to that and I'll also apologize to everyone for not trusting them enough to come forward with my fears, instead of running away from them."
Tommy nodded encouragingly. "You know, even if we did make light of it, all you had to do was tell us and we would have understood. Hell, we would be apologizing you to. If you want, we can even prove to you how awesome frogs are if you're still unsure."
"No thanks.'s not necessary." Adam tilted his head, squinting his eyes in thought. A plan involving dates and romance and sex was sneakily forming in his mind, because there was one thing Tommy could do for him, since he was so insistent on the matter...
"Uh oh. I know that look." Tommy lowered his head, looking up at Adam, a sultry look infusing his eyes; it made Adam blush, which was the desired effect. If Adam wanted to play dirty, so could Tommy. Adam coughed and looked away, embarrassed because that look meant stuff. It meant sensuous and passionate things (which made the creeping pink turn to a flushed red).
"Um, uh..." Adam stumbled over his words. Tommy was a horrible tease whose goal was to make Adam flush at the most random of times. "Oh! Stop distracting me!"
Adam glared at Tommy, but Tommy had a half-cocked grin and that look and it made Adam shift in his pants uncomfortably. "Ugh. You're terrible but I love you anyways."
Tommy got this imperious smirk on his face and Adam only shook his head. A self-confident Tommy was sexy hot.
"Anyways if you really want to make me feel better..."
Tommy broke his gaze, face lifting into a beaming smile. "I'm listening."
"Can- can we go on a date where you treat me like a prince?" Adam couldn't bear to face Tommy's self-satisfied expression because it was causing him to blush even more, dammit. Tommy damn well knew what that did to him and besides, he was embarrassed enough as it was. "I wanted to be treated to a really nice restaurant and then a walk through that garden park, maybe even receive small gift of chocolates or something and for my boyfriend to be a true gentleman and open doors for me and love me and we can go home late and you can prove it, too."
Adam heard Tommy snicker, but slid a finger slid under Adam's chin, lifting it to meet Tommy's eyes.
"Anything for my prince," Tommy said, thrusting forward, placing a quick kiss on Adam's lips. Adam couldn't help but break into a grin and placed his hand around the back of Tommy's neck, pulling Tommy forward into a lascivious kiss. The way all kisses should be.
"I don't know," Adam said, pulling back. "Maybe this frog prince thing isn't so bad after all."
Tommy chucked in response, but didn't say anything because making out was definitely better then talking. Adam still wasn't a fan of frogs but he figured this time, he could make an exception. Being a frog prince definitely had its benefits.
+END+