I Can Hear the Bells
Disclaimer: I don't own Power Rangers, and if I did Kai would get way more lovin'.
Summary: Kai may or may not have a certain fondness for Carter. Leo tries to play wingman and traps them in a closet. Because, you know, that always works.
Warning: Some foul language, but it's not that hardcore, and guy on guy loving.
Takes place sometime after Trakeena's Revenge
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It was a guaranteed function of life that Leo would always come up with horrible ideas.
Kai had resigned himself to it, learned to embrace it, work with it, because like it or not Leo was the guy who got to call the shots and it was pointless to bring to light the numerous flaws said terrible plans entailed because Leo wasn't going to change his mind anyway and Kai had better ways he could spend his time.
Like trying not to be murdered by the various monsters that were out for his blood.
That was a very high priority on his list.
Even when informed of the increased likelihood of near-death experiences as a result of the leader's recklessness, Leo still wouldn't have it, so Kai resigned himself to a harrowing year of heart attacks and many destroyed stress balls.
The good news was that they had managed to survive, and subsequently, so did the majority of Terra Venture's inhabitants.
The bad news was that Leo had become increasingly fond of his "brilliant" schemes and chose to employ them whenever he saw fit. Which should have been Kai's cue to lock the red ranger away from the rest of humanity before his desire to "help" came back to bite him in the ass. Unfortunately, Kendrix had been very insistent on the whole "friends-don't-imprison-friends" thing (which doesn't seem to have bothered Leo all that much) so Kai had let the matter drop.
Clearly, that was not a wise decision to make.
He had never hated Leo as much as he did then, and on a similar note, he had never hated door locks as much either.
The trapped-in-the-closet jokes from Damon were going to be unavoidable, and aggravating, but mostly unavoidable, and Kai decided that once he had escaped from this nonsense he was going to pay Leo back tenfold. The resolution did little to help with the matter at hand, but it did take some of the edge off Kai's anger, his mind brewing over possible revenge plans. To his credit, Carter seemed to be completely unphased by this turn of events, and that stired up so many conflicting emotions that Kai had to physically pinch himself just so he'd stop acting like a teenage girl.
At least Leo had taken the light bulb, so Kai was granted the dignity of not having his private freak outs clearly broadcasted to the other ranger present in the ever-shrinking closet that Kai may or may not have the beginnings of feelings for.
This was ridiculous, and stupid, and so completely Leo that Kai just wanted to rip out his hair in frustration simply from how insanely unsubtle it was. It was a horrible plan, which was why it was Leo's, and Kai wished he could go back in time to the moment where he thought talking to the red ranger about feelings was a good idea and just punch himself in the throat, because no, it really wasn't.
It was all Carter's fault anyway. He had to go and be all charming and friendly and mild-mannered and so obviously endearing with barely any effort and never even realizing it. He sported this kind of quiet humility and carried confidence with him like it was a matter of breathing and had this perfect wispy hair that Kai had to mentally restrain himself from touching and these stupid blue eyes that were stupidly gorgeous and a smile that was dangerously exhilarating and Kai had only known him for roughly two days and those two days were better than any in his last two years. There had to be a universal law out there that said people were not allowed to be this good looking because Kai had spent the first three minutes after being introduced to Carter fighting the urge to make out with the other man's cheek bones, as though that were possible, and then the next three minutes trying to think of a way to justify it (because that wasn't creepy or unsettling at all).
Stupid Carter.
Stupid Carter and his stupid muscles.
Yeah, he was muscly.
Oh, was he muscly.
Damn it, Kai hated this; he was too smart to succumb to things like this. He knew going in that this was just a team up, that his team had to wrap up some loose ends and then they would leave and Carter's team would stay and protect the Earth because that was what Power Rangers did and Kai would never see him again. That was all this was, that was all that was going to happen. So whatever insanity grabbed a hold of him and urged him to express any interest whatsoever in any of the Lightspeed Rescue team was really starting to wreck his life because while Leo had the best intentions, this wasn't going to end well for anybody. Especially considering the fact that he was pretty sure Carter has his eyes set on Dana, and Kai would have trouble competing with a toaster, let alone an enchanting, incredibly attractive female.
Yes, he was doomed, but Leo was Leo and he didn't stop fighting even when all sides had agreed the battle wasn't going to happen in the first place, and Kai didn't think he was going to let them out of the closet just by asking 'Pretty please'.
Had there been a possibility of at least a hint of success with that plan Kai would have swallowed his pride and gone through with it, but he knew better from experience.
Carter shifted uncomfortably beside him, and if Kai pressed himself any further into the wall behind him he would have become one with the architecture. It didn't seem to do much good, but the sorry attempt brought him some form of consolation because at least he was trying to make this less awkward than it already was.
Seriously, who made closets this small anyway?
Carter shifted again, closer, and Kai really, really wanted to pretend to lose his balance just so he could get a chance to freaking touch his arms, but he banished the thought because it made him feel like a horn dog, and he really wished this was just about physical attraction because that would be easy but he couldn't stop thinking about how Carter was with that girl they had saved, how easily he had talked to her, how understanding and…
Guh, it was like something out of a bad kids show, ridiculously noble, and Kai couldn't help but think of what a great dad Carter was going to make, how well he'd treat his kids and…
Crap, now Kai was thinking about a hypothetical marriage with the guy he'd met two days ago, which was undeniably unbalanced, so Kai went back to trying to shove himself into the corner and counting the minutes until his mind finally short circuits and explodes, because it had to be happening soon.
Beside him, Carter did some more fidgeting, because the universe hated Kai like that, and the red ranger finally broke the silence, voice carrying nothing but concern. "Are you okay?"
Me? Kai thought, positively oozing sarcasm, why I'm just peachy.
Except that wasn't a good way to make friends, so Kai settled for just nodding, and when the silence continued to drag on he remembered about the whole 'in darkness' thing and surrendered himself to some verbal communication.
"Yeah," he coughed, failing so badly at the confident tone he was going for that he winces, and suddenly Carter's hand was on his shoulder in a completely comforting one-ranger-to-another way that Kai's mind totally bypassed as he marveled at how firm the other's grip was. And that took him into such very bad uncharted territories that he had to remind himself that breathing was a very important function while he unsuccessfully attempted to mentally bash his stupid libido into submission, failing spectacularly.
If Kai wasn't so mad at Leo right now he would be singing praises for the missing light bulb, because his face could not get any redder.
"I'm fine," he tried to reassure, which would have been a lot more successful had he sounded remotely fine, and Kai went back to hating the world and the fact that he couldn't seem to grasp back onto the way he normally acted. This was pathetic; he didn't even remember how to be Kai anymore.
The crotchety part of his mind sent its condolences by playing the world's smallest violin, and he accidentally released a growl of frustration that was never meant for the other man's ears.
Carter stilled at the sound, and Kai stilled at the sound because oh crap, and then they commenced in sharing one of the world's most awkward silences that Carter eventually broke as he shuffled closer to him, because maybe Kai had been off-Earth so long that was how you were supposed to respond to this kind of thing. And Kai couldn't even be mad at him for how inadvertently teasing it was because Carter's next question was so completely sincere it completely threw Kai off guard.
"Are you claustrophobic?" And he meant it, he really did. And that stupid noble concern that was slowly driving Kai was is back and he just wanted to punch something.
He managed to restrain himself, but only just barely.
"No," Kai bit out, gruff and temperamental, and Carter actually sighed and attempted to give him some space, and Kai fought off a disappointed pout. Even if Carter couldn't see him he should at least try to act like an adult.
At least on principle.
Carter sighed again, and Kai could just tell he was distractedly running a hand through his hair. "Dana shouldn't have locked us in here in the first place," he muttered, surprisingly irritated for the first time since this whole affair had started, and then the words caught up to Kai and he tilted his head in confusion.
"It was Leo," he corrected, still bewildered as to why Carter would think Dana of all people would have locked them up (true, they hadn't seen who had done it, but this had Leo written all over it) and then it was Carter's turn at confused silence.
Eventually he broke it, sounding as sure as Kai had been, as though he were reciting some undisputed fact.
"Look this is my fault," Carter's tone is apologetic and it completely baffled Kai's mind. "This is just her…bizarre way of helping." At this point Kai had no idea what to say, so he said nothing, and Carter went back to fidgeting uncomfortably and Kai finally detected the hint of nervousness in Carter's tone that he hadn't noticed before. "I'm sorry."
It was possible at that exact moment Kai had gone just a tiny bit insane, or started suffering from lack of oxygen, or Leo's stupidity finally rubbed off on him, but for whatever reason he figured if they were both trapped in a closet by their friends, like something out of a ridiculously cheesy B-movie, he might as well get at least one attempted kiss in. So he grabbed Carter by the shoulders and pulled him in close before he had a chance to change his mind, and mashed their lips together in the most un-awkward, fantastic, stupidly attempted kiss of his entire life.
When Carter immediately reciprocated, Kai decided that maybe he didn't hate Leo all that much after all, and just maybe he'll allow him to survive this one.
But only because he was feeling so generous.
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When the silence in the closet eventually turned into a specific kind of noise no proper gentleman ever spoke of, Leo threw Dana a quick wink and unlocked the door, leaving the two love birds to their business. Dana returned the gesture with a mischievous smile of her own, and tucked the missing light bulb into a nearby bin for later retrieval. She accepted Leo's arm when he offered it, and they left the room in a comfortable silence that only two true evil geniuses could appreciate, taking satisfaction that their work there was done.
The world could thank them for saving humanity from drowning in ridiculous waves of sexual tension.
You're welcome world.
Leo was pretty sure Kendrix was already planning the wedding, which would have seemed a bit extreme if Kai and Carter weren't as stricken with each other as everyone else knew they were.
The red ranger simply shrugged at the thought, gently elbowing Dana as conspirators often do.
It was a really good thing that Kai had Leo to look after him; he'd probably be dead by now if it wasn't for his freaking genius.
Yeah…you're welcome Kai
He could imagine his teammate's protests in his mind, but, as he normally did, Leo didn't give them any thought.
Because he was Leo, and he was just awesome like that.
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Endnotes:
Hey all!
This is my first foray into Lost Galaxy, but this plot bunny just popped into my head one morning and refused to leave until it was written.
To be honest I haven't seen that much of Lightspeed Rescue, only the crossovers really because I love Time Force and Lost Galaxy is one of the first shows I started watching, but I did remember when I watched Trakeena's revenge that I really liked Carter, and to me he and Kai fit really well together.
Also, I don't think either Lost Galaxy or Lightspeed Rescue is a bad kids tv show. Just clearing that up.
If you've gotten this far, thank you for reading, I really appreciate it.
Until next time.