Chapter 1

Look at the Sky – Hunter/Leo: Morpher

Summary: A series of midnight communications as the rangers prepare for their third annual reunion. Because saviors of the universe don't really understand "appropriate" calling hours. Covers MMPR-DT.

Here it is, my four year anniversary piece. Yep, four years ago today I posted my very first story on the internet. To celebrate this, I post a special story/chapter on this date, for those of you who have been reading since the beginning, or for those of you who are just hopping in. If my words bring you any amount of entertainment, I'm glad. Thank you for reading. A writer's nothing without an audience, and I have been lucky enough to have a really freakin' awesome one for four years. Here's to you guys :)

Notes: This story is based off a personal challenge to explore different ways of late-night electronic communication. Because power rangers do not have bedtimes. It's set about halfway through Mystic Force's run, a couple years after the events of Filled with Good Works. You don't have to be familiar with that story to read this one, but it, and its predecessors (Any Moment, Paved with Good Intentions) are just where a lot of the relationships are established.

Warnings: Mentions of boy/boy relations, hints of adult situations, mild cursing, mild un-politically correctness. This chapter features Hunter/Shane, with references to Leo/Kai, Adam/Rocky, and Eric/Wes. Did I mention I'm a fan of slash? I'm a fan of slash.

Also, this baby's raw and un-beta'd; so any and all mistakes are the work of my half-asleep brain.


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Three AM morpher alarms were not unexpected occurrences. They sure as hell weren't welcomed, but they had happened enough times in Hunter's life that blond could bust through the welcoming arms of blessed sleep (and the literal arms of his man-slave, Shane) and force enough coherency that he could manage the simple instructions of where and who and get on his merry way to face-punching. Fun fact: Tori may or may not have used this (and Dustin's similar lethargy) to her advantage one time to spring a Q-Rex intervention party. Hunter assumed Blake got excluded from this because he got his own earful of Tori/Cam/Shane wrath privately, but that was neither here nor there.

Look, it wasn't like they could change the fact that Q-Rex enjoyed the weekend outings just as much as they did, but Eric's perpetual frown of I-am-not-impressed, combined with the level-headed trio's looks of we-are-done-with-your-shenanigans always begged to differ.

Hunter digressed.

In his defense, it was freakin' three in the goddamn morning.

Therefore, it was perfectly acceptable that it took Hunter a few seconds to realize that his morpher was not, in fact, giving off the chirps that indicated it was battle time, now. No, this variety was of the softer type, the subtle ones, the ones that said, 'oh, don't mind me, but there needs to be some serious ranger business discussed post-haste so if you could get a chance to pick up the call – now – that would be super swell, friend'.

Which, you know, still warranted active focus and seriousness and whatnot, except the guy that just about always made those kinds of calls was currently residing in the very warm and comfortable bed Hunter had just vacated, and Cam would have just knocked on the door.

That meant this was a pleasure call. A leisure- whatever, it wasn't for business, was the point.

Hunter didn't really like entertaining the idea of 'pleasure' calls sans-Shane, because the images his brain produced at three in the morning were not particularly appropriate for calls delivered via morpher.

"Dustin," Hunter snapped. "I swear to all that is holy if you are calling me because of birthday crap-"

"It's your birthday?" The voice at the other end of the line asked, eager, and genuinely surprised by this possibility.

Hunter recognized that playful(-ly stupid) tone almost immediately. "Leo," he hissed.

"Hunter!" The red Lost Galaxy ranger chirped right back. Right back. Way too loud. In Hunter's ear. He should probably lower his morpher away from his face. "Pookums, how are you doing?"

"Leo," Hunter repeated again, latching onto the name like a lifeline, trying to pull himself into complete consciousness. "Leo, do you know what time it- Wait, stupid question, you probably don't care."

"That is true," Leo noted thoughtfully. Hell, what an asshole. Leo was essentially a cheerful from of Hunter, all maniacal glee and evil delivered in peppy wrapping paper. "Time differences, you know," Leo continued happily. "It's difficult to calculate it between Earth and Miranoi."

Hunter tactfully decided not to mention the fact that Leo and his buddies had been up on their hippie 'foreign habitation initiative' colony for at least five years now, and if they hadn't figured out the time difference thing by this point, they had bigger concerns than calling home. First and foremost being that apparently the most shining new minds of their generation turned out to be a bunch of retards.

Leo wisely opted not to say anything, because Leo was kind of awful, and inspired that thought progression in the first place.

There was some semi-coherent mumbling from the direction of the bed Hunter had vacated.

"…Leo?" Shane echoed faintly, his mouth struggling around the name, clearly confused as to how it could enter their life here, at this moment, within the safety of Ninja Ops. "Tell your friend to…" There was a yawn, and Shane stretched one lazy arm over his head, letting it flop back down with a graceless thwump. "Sleeeeep," Shane muttered.

And with that, the golden boy of the Ninja Storm team promptly burrowed himself back under the covers, leaving Hunter to his misery. Such a thoughtful boyfriend.

"He is not my friend," Hunter muttered, glaring at the mound of brightly colored blankets resting on his bed. Dustin had gone a little overboard with the 'housewarming' gift for Hunter and Shane's private apartment at the Ops'. While rainbow was not particularly Hunter's style, he had appreciated the notion, and also the notion of shirtless Shane on rainbow blankets, because apparently he had issues. "Just because I clean him out in poker once a month-"

"Someone is not remembering the last poker night very well," Leo noted, obnoxiously and with great effort. "If I recall correctly, Adam-"

"What do you want Leo?" Hunter snapped. Irritation had worked off whatever dredges of exhaustion Hunter had left behind. Honestly, it wasn't like Shane really needed to know exactly how Hunter had gotten his winnings back from the Black Ninjetti ranger. He sure as heck wasn't going to go into detail about cleaning dojo floors or covering Rocky's novice classes to give the guy and his poker-face-of-champions boyfriend a chance to have a date night. Not if he could help it.

As though sensing this – as it had been his wicked, wicked plan the entire time – Leo was more than happy to change tracks. "Quick question," he began. Hunter could hear the smile in his voice. "I was thinking about getting Kai a gift, for the reunion and all-"

"Gaaahr-" Hunter forced down the urge to bash his head against the wall, and settled on tugging at his hair uselessly as he processed this. "Did you seriously call me, at three AM, for boyfriend advice?"

"I figured you would be the most appropriate party for knowing such things," Leo defended, still riding on his hidden train of lollipops and sunshine and dickery. "I'm dating a team genius; you're dating a team genius. It makes sense."

"Wait, wait-wait,wait,wait-" Hunter pulled his wits around him, trying to get off the ineffective loop of ramblings into something actually coherent. "Wait, I'm not-"

Hunter took a moment to breathe, pinching the bridge of his nose, and counted to five. Behind him, he could hear Shane shifting on the bed. Knowing the red ranger, that ass was turning to enjoy the show, giving up sleep in favor of a more amusing pastime.

"That's Dustin, asshole," Hunter lectured, glaring at his morpher. "Did you seriously get us confused? I'm dating Shane, the you of our team."

"Oh good." Leo did not sound particularly put off by his error. "Then maybe you could speculate what kind of gift Kai would get me, from one guy dating the team leader to-"

"STOP," Hunter groaned, growled, gargled. It was a very intense few seconds, but it shut Leo up appropriately. Because of the laughter, and all that. "Leo, if you honestly called me at three AM because you supposedly forgot that I am dating Shane-" Not Cam, and even if Hunter and the green ranger had finally gotten onto the timid path of fwiendship (as so declared by Dustin with a triumphant fist pump), the blond really didn't like entertaining the thought of a Shane-free relationship. "You know, the guy I just talk about all the-"

Hunter snapped his mouth shut, his mind finally catching up to the stream of rambling issued forth unto his morpher, and he cursed his stupid, stupid brain. He could practically hear Shane perking up behind him.

"All the what?" Shane asked, the epitome of innocence. "All the time? Why Hunter, I didn't know you were such a softy-"

"Shut up." Hunter jabbed a finger in the direction of the bed, stubbornly staying turned away. "Slip of the tongue, my bad. What I meant to say was 'Shane, that guy I talk about on a fairly-regular basis to lament the somewhat lackluster personality attached to those abs of steal. Really, it's a terrible, terrible shame'."

"We do hear a lot about his biceps," Leo noted thoughtfully.

"Awww," Shane drawled, grin clear in his voice. "I love you too Hunter. Feel free to brag about me anytime."

"My conquests are always more satisfying when shared among the unwashed masses," Hunter replied lightly. "So sure, I can do that."

"Oh, tell me about his sexy leader-face again!" Leo chirped. "I love that part. The adjectives alone are quite inspiring."

"Really?" Hunter tilted his head to the side, eyebrows furrowing. "I thought it was all about the similes."

"Metaphors," Leo countered brightly.

"I like to mix it up," Hunter answered Shane's unasked question. And then felt inspired by the immediate need for payback. "But let's just say there are certain assets beyond my ability to justly describe, so I have to get creative."

"Assets?" Shane echoed.

Hunter shrugged, still facing the wall. "Features. Traits. Qualities. Factors. Virtues-"

"I think he's talking about your dick," Leo, never one to avoid crudities, declared gleefully.

Like Hunter said, a cheerful version of himself.

"Also, there's this thing he does with his tongue," Hunter added, because he might be awake now but this conversation was here and he couldn't just not play the game of verbal chicken. "It's really quite impressive."

"What tongue thing?" Leo asked eagerly. If Hunter could see him now, he was sure the brunette would be bouncing in place with barely contained enthusiasm.

"Yeah Hunter," Shane drawled from behind him, stifling another yawn with one big, man-paw. "What tongue thing? I want details."

And this was why Hunter shouldn't be allowed to have three AM conversations, especially with Leo (and now Shane, who should have some kind of sense of propriety but apparently Hunter had corrupted that, oops). Once the game was afoot no one was going to back down from embarrassment, and eventually there was going to be a line of over-sharing that landed somewhere between Dustin's 'Cam likes it when I talk calculus' to Adam's 'Sometimes Rocky cooks naked'. They were all things they were better off not knowing. By a lot.

No one talked about Eric's over-share. Not even in jest. That was a pact of the poker table that didn't need to go beyond that night.

Really though, Hunter never would have suspected Wes had it in him.

Anyway…

"Well," Hunter began, shaking off that mental sidetrack with a valiant shudder. "When a man and another man aggressively-tolerate each other very much-"

"'Love'!" Shane called, raising his voice so Leo could hear him clearly. "The word he's looking for is 'love'!"

Apparently even at three in the morning, hearing Shane say those words in relation to Hunter was enough to make the blond go a little weak at the knees. It was better, he had decided, when Shane slipped it into casual conversation, because that made it just another constant, a foundation that would not shake or yield that would always be there, like sunshine, or fish tacos.

(Dustin had been adamant about the latter point.)

Hunter was pretty sure Shane knew that fact too, and used it to his advantage frequently. Hunter couldn't even begrudge him for it. He adored the guy, through and through.

It should be terrifying, but Hunter embraced it.

That should be terrifying too.

"The aggression is in the sex," Hunter added offhandedly, waving Shane off. "Speaking of, if I'm going to be awake at the butt-crack-of-dawn-"

"Ever the poet, my aggressively-tolerating cohort," Shane quipped, his voice full of humor.

"-then I demand that you get to the point of this delightful little communication-" Hunter turned to look at Shane pointedly, raising one eyebrow in challenge. "-or I'm going to get to making the beast with two backs with vigorous abandonment."

And how was that for hoity-toity language?

Shane responded with thoughtful golf-claps, the smartass.

"I already told you about the present-advice," Leo laughed. "Can't a guy check in to hear your dulcet tones?"

"It's always an option," Hunter agreed. "But I was thinking that maybe you might have had another nightmare."

The smile on Shane's face froze and got a little softer, a sad thing infused with too much understanding.

Pressing on, Hunter spoke over the sudden silence on the other end of a line. "And I'm also going to guess that Kai is MIA for the moment, otherwise you would be talking to him."

Leo continued to remain silent, but Hunter didn't need words to confirm his theory. He understood the desperate, almost indefinable need for distraction in the early hours of the morning. Those times when you were gripped by a terror with no form, one that scraped you raw on the inside while you came to terms with the very real fact that the only thing to be scared of was your own mind.

For this, Hunter did not blame Leo for waking him up. He didn't even begrudge the gibes, or Shane's own interrupted sleep cycle. It was a favor he knew the other ranger would return easily, any day, no questions asked.

But Hunter was not Leo. Hunter could live in peaceful solitary without a second thought; Hunter knew how to thrive in silence. It was how he had been raised; it was how he had learned to survive. It was not a base state of understanding, not something he particularly enjoyed, but he understood it.

Hunter didn't know Leo's past - not many beyond his team did - but from one 'troubled child' to another, Hunter knew there was a little street rat in Leo. Knew that his childhood hadn't been a picnic, despite the addition of a dedicated older brother (a birth brother, one he had been born and raised with, loved by without fault). Hunter also knew, based on the way Leo had built his shields, that the other ranger desperately - without ever being able to form the question with his own power - wanted to speak. Wanted to be heard, and understood.

Hunter could give that to him.

He waited, allowing Leo time to pull himself together. Behind him, he could hear Shane shifting until he was sitting up, his back pressed against the headboard. Tori had helped Shane pick it out. It was technically Hunter's room, his home while he finished up his studies (you know, for ninja masterhood and all that) and Shane continued his exciting life in college. They had picked out matching end tables, but Hunter and Blake had tackled the desk, the couch, the loveseat. Cam had taken care of all the electronics free of charge, upgrading the television and cable box and clocks and lamps and 'mood lighting' (recessed lights, whatever, it helped the mood). Dustin, who had mourned the lack of windows in an underground base (sure, there may have been a plethora of housing options to choose from in the building above them, now that the academy had been rebuilt, but down below felt like home and Shane hadn't argued), had gone on a shopping spree that ended with way too many couch cushions, dish cloths, towels, blankets, and bed pillows to ever be considered necessary.

Afterwards, when Hunter had cornered the yellow ranger on his lonesome, he had hugged Dustin tight to thank him. Hunter didn't have the words to describe his appreciation for the added touch of home, and Dustin hadn't demanded any, because sometimes, Dustin understood the words you didn't say better than anyone else.

Now, in this place the team had helped him built (as they had with Shane's dorm room, and Cam and Dustin's apartment, and Blake's trailer, and Tori's condo), Hunter settled in beside Shane on the bed and waited patiently, leaning against his boyfriend's side, offering strength, returning the comfort that was so easily given.

They waited, and then Leo spoke.

"I think I'm going crazy," Leo complained quietly. Leo's serious tone was without inflection, it was soft and very calculated, like he was careful with his words. "Kai keeps saying he's getting a bad feeling about something. He won't say what it is- hell, I don't think he even knows what it is, but he's out looking for answers and I'm just-"

He cut off with a deep breath, sucking the air in a quick inhale, letting it loose slowly. "I support him." Not that either of them doubted that, but he needed to say it, so Hunter let it be said. "I do. With his past- Look, his gut's usually right, right? But now I keep getting these nightmares-"

He didn't know what to say, or how to say it, which was why he had probably called Hunter in the first place, instead of Eric.

Eric had a tough childhood too, but he had pretty much bulldozed through any adversity with the grace of a lumbering giant. He didn't give two shits about proper decorum, which was how he had gotten to where he was today.

Leo really didn't need bulldozing right now. And he didn't need Adam's quiet reassurances, because as helpful as Adam could be, sometimes calling him felt like interrupting a fairytale life. Like they were barely worthy to tarnish such flagrant wholesomeness with whatever crap their pitiful hides came up with.

(It didn't matter if Adam had been around the longest, if he had fought the good fight for more years than any of them; there were just something sanctums that were difficult to cross).

"It's my subconscious, right?" Leo asked, laughing quietly. "My anxieties about what Kai thinks he's going to find- that's just it, all building up and attacking my dreams."

"Nightmares," Hunter corrected automatically.

There was a pause, then another laugh. "Yeah, that."

"It doesn't help that Kai isn't there," Hunter noted. Shane nodded, agreeing with this point, and draped an arm across Hunter's shoulders. Big softie.

"No, it doesn't." A regrettable truth, and Leo's resentment wasn't so much as audible as it was all encompassing. "I'm just worried. We're so far from anyone else, if something happens-" There was another quick inhale. "It's just us. We're the only ones here to protect the colonists."

"Say the word and I'm there Leo." Shane startled at this, but Hunter kept going, his eyes fixed on the wall across from them. "Say the word and I will be there in a heartbeat, wormholes and space ships be damned. Cam's got this new deep-space vehicle he's been tinkering with anyway, I'm sure he'd leap at the chance for it to get a test run-"

"No," Leo said, and it wasn't desperate or objecting. It was tired. "No. No, it's- It's not that much longer until the reunion, I'll give you an update then, just-" He breathed, and Hunter breathed along with him, leaning into Shane's side.

The air ninja didn't say anything, but maybe he knew the argument was moot anyway. Hunter and Dustin, they didn't have the same schedules to keep as all the others. Ninja training could be more flexible, not like Cam's thesis deadlines, or Shane and Tori's college course loads or Blake's arranged races. Their classes could be assigned to other teachers; their training could be put off.

Shane didn't like it, but he understood it.

Okay, honestly, Shane hated it, but Shane was willing to put on his big-boy pants about it because he was a far more mature human being than Hunter could ever pretend to be.

"Thank you, Hunter," Leo said, a quiet apology.

"Any time Leo," Hunter promised. "Any time."

Just a few years ago, he would have found the idea of sincerely making such a significant promise ridiculous, if not impossible.

Then again, just a few years ago Hunter was nothing but a bitter, wounded teenager who distrusted the entirety of the world with the exception of his brother, was Shane-less, morpher-less, and horribly empty, lacking the family and worth that time had so generously bestowed him.

A few years ago, Hunter wouldn't have been able to think that thought without feeling the urge to punch himself in the face.

It was an awe-inspiring marvel, to consider the power time had over them. The opportunities for growth that could be allowed in only a handful of years.

"I'm gonna just…" Leo trailed off, swallowed. "I think I'll just hit the hay now; leave you guys to it. I'll see you soon, okay?"

"Of course," Hunter agreed, keeping his tone light. "Take care of yourself Leo. Don't do anything too stupid, alright?"

"You know, most people would have excluded the 'too' part of that sentence," Leo noted, beginning to sound a little bit like his old self. Not his shell, or the mask, but- calm, bright Leo. Tired, but still himself.

Hunter snorted. "Then most people don't know you too well." He rolled his eyes, pointedly ignoring the painful truth of that statement, and moved on. "So like I said, not too stupid."

"I'll do my best," Leo promised. "Keep him on the straight and narrow Shane, alright?"

Shane, the traitor, nodded solemnly. "I'll do my best, Leo."

"I'm right here," Hunter complained. There wasn't any heat to it, but it needed to be acknowledged.

"I know, I know," Leo said, and for a second Hunter thought the Lost Galaxy ranger was actually responding to him. Then Leo continued. "Impossible undertakings, and all that. But, if there was any guy for the job Shane…"

"Yeah," Shane agreed with a smile and a sigh. "It's me." Hunter glared, moving to shift out from under his boyfriend's arm (the couch was beginning to look very appealing now, come to think of it), but Shane just latched on tighter, flopping his head pitifully against Hunter's shoulder. "Be careful Leo," Shane ordered, his voice deceptively level as Hunter began resisting his hold in earnest. "If anything were to happen to you, I think Hunter might cry."

"Someone's about to cry," the blond growled, fidgeting intensifying. In response, Shane lowered his grip until it was around Hunter's forearms, pinning his hands against his sides. "And it sure as hell-"

"Bye Leo!" Shane sang sweetly, grinning at Hunter's glare.

Oh. Someone was going to get it.

"Night kiddoes," Leo laughed. "Ah, the sounds of young love. So-"

"Bye Leo," Hunter growled. He broke Shane's hold long enough to end the call on his morpher and jumped to his knees, landing at the opposite end of the bed, staring down his boyfriend.

His boyfriend, who was clearly uncaring of the storm he had just unleashed. Shane was slumped against the headboard, his posture a casual sprawl. The grin he wore was a mischievous thing that Hunter was ninety-nine percent sure Shane had never ever used before they had started dating.

"So, what was it you had said?" the air ninja asked casually, stretching one big arm over his head. His sleep shirt pulled taunt against his chest for just a few seconds, molding against the solid grooves of his muscle, and if Hunter knew anything it was that Shane had done it on freakin' purpose.

Shane cleared his throat, pulling Hunter's eyes away from his chest. He raised his eyebrows. "About the pre-dawn activities?"

Hunter considered the benefit of staying annoyed.

Shane waggled his eyebrows suggestively.

Jesus.

Hunter cracked his neck. "Alright," he agreed lightly. "First person to get the other's clothes off wins."

"There are losers in this arrangement?" Shane asked, genuinely curious.

Hunter grinned. It was a very particular grin, the full accumulation of a smirk that was part feral, part predatory, and all of Shane's favorite things. "There are degrees of losing, I suppose."

They stayed there, eyes locked in a silent staring contest, each waiting for the moment when- not when they would say it - but just know, the game was afoot.

The light glinted in Shane's eyes, and Hunter jumped, skirting about the edge of the bed until he met Shane's tackle head-on, pushing his focus past the laughs and the happiness and contentment.

Not because they were bad. Just because there was more to be had, and Hunter was a greedy son of a bitch.


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Endnotes:

I imagine the referenced poker table consists of: Leo (Lost Galaxy), Adam (MMPR-Turbo), Lucas (Time Force), Eric (Time Force), Hunter (Ninja Storm), and Dustin (Ninja Storm), with occasional guests. But for the most part, those are the guys. It's a throwback to 'Filled with Good Works'.

Also, Team Ninja Storm got to keep their morphers. Cuz I said so.

More chapters will be posted soon, features other rangers from other teams. I just have to finish editing them.

If you're interested in any of my other anniversary pieces, they are as follows:

Any Moment – Ch 45: The Rainbow Connection

Songs About Rainbows

Beyond that Bright World Lies Despair

Thank you guys for reading, hope you enjoyed it!

Until next time :D