A Little Gossip Never Hurt Anyone

By: Boxer Thief

Disclaimer: Trust me, if I did own the rights to PR SPD, everyone would assume the creator's on crack.

Warnings: Well, no spoilers that I can think of, just good old boy on boy action…and, you know, OOC-ness, because all my stories need to have that warning.

Chapter 1: Rude Awakening

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Sky sighed as he glanced up from rereading the SPD handbook. Yep, he was STILL staring at him. Ever since Jack walked into the common room, he just sat there, staring at Sky, smirking. His entire expression, posture, and eyes screaming, "I know something you don't know!" Sky had read the same sentence over and over again, unable to concentrate with the intense gaze drilling into him.

"Okay, fine, what do you want?" Sky finally gave up and put the handbook down.

If it was possible, Jack's grin grew, "Ya know, I just heard the most interesting rumor."

"I don't follow gossip," Sky quickly replied. "And neither should you. We're supposed to set an example for the lower cadets, not the best idea to be spreading slander."

"Oh, don't worry, Mr. Walking Manual, I'm not spreading anything," Jack brushed away the comment. Then replied in mock serenity, "I merely thought that, as red ranger, it was my duty to alert the subject of these rumors of what's being said." He grinned in wicked glee, "And you seem to be involved in one of the most interesting love affairs."

Sky scoffed, "There is nothing going on between me and Syd. I thought that rumor died years ago."

"Oh, it's not Syd," Jack's eyes laughed.

Sky seemed genuinely surprised, "Well, I certainly hope you don't believe that Z and I are in a relationship."

Jack merely shook his head, grin never fading. Sky racked his brain, but he couldn't think of a single female that he would have paid enough attention to that would make rumors start to fly. Eventually, Jack took pity on him, walked over and put his hand on Sky's shoulder.

"I hope you and Bridge are very happy together."

If Sky's seat didn't have a back, he would have fallen right out of it. He broke out into a coughing fit despite not drinking anything. Him and…Bridge? Of all people, why Bridge? Even if he was gay, what…wait a minute…this meant they thought he was gay.

"Well, I guess now we know why our adorable little Bridge never gets approached by any of the female cadets," Jack laughed.

Sky stared up at him, "You can't possibly believe this. I mean, it's BRIDGE! He's my best friend, and besides that, I'm straight."

"I dunno, man." Jack replied. "The evidence used to back it up seemed pretty reasonable."

"What evidence?" Sky questioned. "What could possibly make people even think that?"

"Well, first there's the huge amount of time you guys seem to spend together," Jack listed.

"We're on the same squad and roommates; we'd have to purposefully avoid each other if we wanted to spend less time with each other."

Jack continued, "Then there's the insistent physical contact Bridge seems to apply to you-"

"Bridge is a very friendly guy, he doesn't apply any affection onto me that he doesn't to the rest of you," Sky defended.

"And there's you're unwarranted protectiveness of Bridge to go off of," Jack ignored Sky's protests.

"It's not unwarranted," Sky shot. "Bridge can't take care of himself; he needs someone to do it for him."

Jack looked up at him in disbelief, "He's the green ranger Sky; I doubt he would have gotten that far if he couldn't defend himself."

"Yeah, but he's still too trusting," Sky reasoned. "He's gullible, slow, and relies more on intuition than logic. He needs someone to watch out for him."

"And that's going to be you," Sky shot Jack a glare. "Because you luurve him."

Sky rolled his eyes, "I refuse to partake in this fourth grade argument."

"And lastly, there's the way Bridge lights up like a Christmas tree every time he sees you," Jack finished his list. "Or a Hanukah menorah in his case, I guess."

Sky shot Jack a dull look, "Now that's just a lie."

Jack shrugged his shoulders, "Believe what you will, but the tribe has spoken." Smiling cheerily, he put his fist on his chest, "Take good care of our boy."

"Stop that," Sky growled as he went to pick up his forgotten handbook. "All of your evidence is completely unfounded and not true."

The doors slid open as Bridge wandered in. Seeing the red and blue rangers, a wide grin spread across his face and he bounded over to the pair. "Hey Sky, I was looking for you," happiness apparent in his voice. "Do you have any plans tonight? Because I was hoping we could go out for dinner. I was thinking pizza, so we could get your favorite, as long as we get a side order of buttery bread sticks."

Sky groaned, 'Jeeze, Bridge, obvious much?'

"Do you not want to go? Because I already a-okayed it with Crugar for the night. I thought we could make it an outing, Syd and Z said they'd come, oh, and Jack, you're coming too, right?" Bridge glanced up at Jack for the first time since walking in.

Jack smiled up at his friend, "Oh, I'm definitely in. Come on, Sky, don't you want to spend time with your friends?" Jack asked, emphasizing the word friends.

"This doesn't prove anything," Sky defended as he stood up and walked out of the room, leaving behind a very confused Bridge and a laughing Jack.

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In the end, Sky did end up going to pizza with the group, thinking that with everyone going, it had no way of being interpreted as a date. Yet, while everyone else was laughing and sharing stories, he just couldn't get himself to join in.

"And to top it all off, after I finally cuffed the guy, he turns around and hits on me," Syd finished her story. "I mean, even if he was attractive, I'm not some blushing school girl who'd let a guy go because he thought I was cute."

"If you ask me you got off easy," Z chimed in. "Last week, I had a girl hit on me to get out of a violation fine."

Jacks eyebrows perked up with interest, "What district were you in? Maybe I can get a special request in for my next rounds."

"Sorry, Jack, I don't think her standers are that low yet," Z smiled over her soda as everyone laughed, well, almost everyone.

Bridge looked worriedly at his friend, "Hey Sky, is something wrong?"

"Yeah, you've been even quieter than usual," Syd added.

Jack fixed him with a mocking look, "Come on, Sky, tell us what's wrong."

"There's nothing wrong," Sky defended.

"Are you sick?" Bridge asked worriedly. "Because it's best to cure an illness at the first sign. Here, I'll check." Bridge, with gloves removing the possibility of hand to skin contact, opted for the next best thing, and put his cheek on Sky's forehead.

Sky quickly felt his blood rush to his face at Bridge's closeness. "Hmm…no fever," Bridge pondered, when Sky abruptly pushed him off.

"I'm not sick," he almost yelled.

Bridge looked up at him in shock, "Okay, sorry, I was just worried."

"No," Sky sighed. "I'm sorry; I'm just…tense right now. I don't know why," he added, giving Jack a pointed look, who merely shrugged in return.

Bridge smiled up at his friend, "Hey, no problem. But it's great that you're not sick, because I want to order another pizza, I'll even let you choose again!" He quickly slung his arm over Sky's shoulders as he tried to wave down a waiter.

Sky's entire body began to tingle as he became overly aware of Bridge's arm wrapped over him. Looking up, he saw Jack giving him a knowing smirk, while Bridge continued to wave his other arm, desperately trying to get a waiter's attention. Sky quickly shoved off Bridge's arm and shot up from his seat, "Listen, I have to…uh…I just have to go."

And then he was gone, but not without seeing the kicked puppy expression Bridge had over his face.

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Wiping away the sweat on his face, Sky paused in his jog to catch his breath. After returning to SPD, he had immediately gone to the field to do a couple of laps. He knew that when Bridge came back, he would expect an explanation, and Sky wasn't ready to give him one yet. He figured that if he stayed out long enough, Bridge would eventually fall asleep, and no confrontation would be needed. As such, his couple of laps had turned into a full blown training exercise.

The sun had been set for quite some time, and anyone else on the field had left hours ago. Fatigue setting in, Sky glanced at his watch: 1:00 am. His eyes widened, he hadn't realized he'd been out for so long. Well, Bridge was definitely asleep by now, and that was his goal in the first place. With that thought, he headed in.

After showering and changing out of his sweaty clothes, almost another hour had past when he finally showed up at the door. Making as little noise as possible, Sky slipped into his room.

His gaze fell on Bridge, still clothed, asleep against the wall. Blinking, realization fell over Sky, 'He stayed up waiting for me.' Guilt racked over his body as he looked at his friend. Even for Bridge, that position couldn't be comfortable, and with his neck bent like that, he would be quite stiff the next day…or later today, Sky mentally corrected, remembering the time.

He quickly set on removing Bridge's shoes, to try to make him more comfortable. His SPD regulation jacket was the next to go, Sky taking extra care not to wake the slumbering ranger, and then he moved to his pants. This is where Sky paused, Jack's words rushing back to him. He looked down at his hands on the hem of Bridge's pants, and a blush spread across his face.

'Relax, Tate,' Sky assured himself. 'There's nothing sexual about this. You're simply helping a friend out.' Yet his hands still wouldn't move, 'Okay, Bridge will just have to sleep with pants on tonight.' Sky gave up and laid Bridge down in his bed and pulled up the covers.

'This is ridiculous,' he sighed. 'Things shouldn't be this awkward between me and Bridge; we're best friends. Even Jack doesn't believe this stupid rumor; he just wants to mess with me.' Sky's gaze fell on his sleeping friend, 'I should tell Bridge about the rumor, after all, it does involve him as well. I'm sure he'll find it hilarious, and prove to me how much of an idiot I'm acting because of it.'

'Still, Jack was right about one thing, this does explain why Bridge never gets approached any member of the female cadets,' Sky studied Bridge's face, he didn't have the tall handsome look by any means, and yet, he had such a boyish charm, it was endearing, and almost…attractive. His hand traced over Bridge's check, brushing away some stray hairs along the way. Bridge unconsciously turned his face into Sky's hand, sighing contently.

"Sky," he mumbled sleepily.

Snapped out of his trance, Sky's eyes widened and he pulled his hand away, as if burned. Taking one last look at Bridge's sleeping face, he walked over to his own bed and laid down. 'First thing in the morning,' he assured himself. 'I'll tell Bridge about the rumor and things can go back to normal.' He closed his eyes and slowly drifted off to sleep.

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A/N: Thanks for sticking with me! - Hope I kept at least some of you entertained. Reviews will guilt me into updating faster…and lack of reviews will make me sad. I prefer the reviews!