For those of you who are wondering, yes, this one-shot is an apology for not updating Protector of Loyalty for months. I am still on the hunt for the lost work I did on this fic and hope to be working on it soon.
In the meantime, here's a story set after Protector of Silence and Operation Brighton, when Kellyn, Kate and Keith are all teenage Top Rangers.
A matter of size
Keith Dazuru considered himself to be very cool.
This was of no surprise to anyone, as every ranger and female - as well as most of the guys - in Almia had at some point been told this, usually by the top ranger himself.
Then again, it was easy to see why so many people, including Keith himself, assumed this. He was a strapping young, white male in the prime of his life, with glorious locks of ginger hair (70% hair gel), a roaring silver motorbike that looked like it had been ripped out of the pages of a magazine (a present to himself for his 18th birthday, bought out of commiseration when his parents only presented him with a cactus because it was "the only thing that requires low enough maintenance that you could possibly learn responsibility from without killing it"), a shiny badge clipped to his leather jacket declaring him the fifth best Top Ranger at the Ranger Union (he tried not to let the fact there were only twelve Top Rangers at the Ranger Union bother him) and some awesome shades.
Outwardly, certainly, Keith Dazuru oozed cool.
So when he strode into the Ranger Union that sunny July morning after a six month mission in Hoenn, Keith honestly believed he was Batman.
"Hello Almia!" He declared as he stepped into the air conditioned lobby of the Ranger Union (even though he'd actually been in Almia for the previous four hours, struggling to get his bike through customs), whipping off his shades to wink at some young, female area rangers by the front desk. "I almost forgot how beautiful you were!"
The girls blushing and giggling and whispering to each other did wonders for Keith's ego. Maybe he should start calling his bike 'The Batmobile'. His room was a bit small for a butler though...
"Keith, you have been back five seconds" An exasperated voice called from the top of the escalators.
Keith put his shades back on, only so he could epically whip them off when he turned to face her. "Katie! My girl! I'm back!"
"I heard" Kate rolled her eyes, but with evident fondness. "I think the whole Ranger Union has heard by now."
The last time Keith had seen Kate, it had been the day of her 18th birthday party, when he'd had to leave early to speed to the harbour to catch the boat to Slateport City in time. Maybe it had something to do with the fact she was now a fully-matured adult, but Keith couldn't help but feel like his old school friend has been swapped out and replaced by a goddess. She'd grown fully into her adult body - no more of the awkwardness of manovering around limbs too long or a chest too large. She held her head high and proud. She didn't walk down those escalators, she glided down them. His childhood crush on her maybe be long over and he may be happily involved with someone else, but Keith Dazuru would be the first person to tell you Kate Hitomi was an angel.
Except the look on her face right now, that is. The look being one of tight-lipped-ness, maybe a little bit of unease or panic behind it. Once again Keith felt like the Agent J to her and Kellyn's O and K - never quite in on their conversations, inside joke he would never understand, and always wondering if they'd given him the full meal or just the steak to sink his teeth into. Always on the outside looking in.
"Is someone dead?" he asked, watching out of the corner as Buizel bounded outside to play with Wendy's Staraptor.
Kate's face remained impassive. "We need to talk."
Keith considered those words weapons of mass destruction. And to be honest, he wasn't entirely sure why they were being aimed at him. Surely they were better suited for Kellyn, what with his undefined relationship with Kate going on all these years?
When he walked over to Kate, his face had lost all signs of playfulness. "Oh Arceus, someone is dead? Who was it? It wasn't Hastings, surely?"
He didn't even want to think about Lind's name. He's been doing fine before Keith left for Hoenn.
Kate's face instantly shifted. "No, it-it's not that."
What Keith was now looking at was the face of an uncomfortable person. So clearly no one was dead, but something had indeed happened. Something urgent.
Keith scrunched his nose up. "You're not pregnant are you?"
Kate's face crumpled into one of undiluted horror. "NO! No nothing like that! Why would you even assume that?!"
"Geez, I'm sorry!" Keith held his hands up in surrender and apology "Maybe if you got to the point I wouldn't have to stand around guessing!"
Kate sighed and relaxed her horrified expression back into her uncomfortable one. "You're right. I'm sorry. It's just...it's a matter of...size."
Size? What could Kate possibly have any issue with size with? She'd grown into every part of herself wonderful—
Oh...OH!
Suddenly the room's tension felt very awkward.
"Well, um, I think they look fine, if you ask me" he stumbled over his words, not entirely able to meet Kate's eyes. "I mean, they're pretty darn symmetrical, if that's what you're concerned about."
Because he wasn't entirely able to meet Kate's eyes, he missed her momentary look of confusion.
When he did figure out he'd said exactly the wrong thing, it was when his face nearly came off from Kate slapping it.
"Not me, you pervert!" She shrieked, and thank Arceus there were no children in the lobby today. "I mean Kellyn!"
Well, that really helped the awkward tension, didn't it.
"Um, Kate" As he couldn't meet her eyes again, Keith kept his gaze down at Kate's trainers. "I-I'm really the wrong person to ask about that sort of thing, I mean, I get it, I think? Oh Arceus."
They really were nice trainers. Not a speck of mud on them.
"I'm not referring to his—" True to her nature, Kate couldn't bring herself to say the forbidden word, or any of its nicknames. "Just...Just get upstairs before I strangle you."
Reassured the conversation was taking a less uncomfortable turn, Keith followed her upstairs towards the dormitories. Though he still didn't understand how Kellyn related to a matter of size. Had he put on weight? Maybe he had had a breakdown over the nickname "Shorty". Maybe he'd manage to cut both his legs off. But Keith honestly couldn't imagine any of those things happening in the few months he was away.
"Just, try not to make him feel uncomfortable" Kate sighed as they reached Kellyn's door. "He's self-conscious enough as it is."
Keith frowned. What could he say that could possibly—
Holy mother of—!
"Don't even think about saying anything!" Kellyn's familiar higher pitched voice threatened from within his darkened dormitory room that Kate had just opened. But all Keith just do was stand in the doorway and stare.
One thing Keith was unashamedly average in was height. It was expected. He came from a family of average-sized people, with a father of 5'8" and a mother of 5'6". Keith's height of 5'9" was a record only beaten by his Uncle Tony, and even then, he felt Kellyn was probably now beating said Uncle Tony.
When he's last seen Kellyn, the kid was about two inches shorter than him - a significant improvement from the 4'11" he'd been upon first joining the Ranger Union, but still short enough for Shorty jabs. Now, just six months later, Keith was being faced with a behemoth of a 17-year-old who, without a doubt, could no longer fit into the same uniform he had seen Keith off in back in January.
Kellyn was looking down on him.
It was downright traumatising!
"Stop staring!" Kellyn barked, curling in on himself in the middle of the dark room as if that would make this nightmarish situation go away.
It didn't. Now all Keith could do was try and get his brain to compute Kellyn's unusually high-pitched voice coming out of that mass of muscle and tall-ness.
He was genuinely dealing with Alphonse Elric. There was no way around it.
"What did Vatona and Nage do to you?!" He found himself shrieking.
If it was possible, Kellyn hunched in on himself even more, arms wrapping around himself.
"Don't even get me started on them!" He spat with a worrying amount of fury. Arceus only knew what a body like that could do when sufficiently angered. "They came up to me demanding samples of my hair and blood to test for calcium deficiencies or super-healing genes or...Kate, what was the other one?"
"Radioactive contamination or spider bites" Kate reported back, like she'd heard it a thousand times before.
"Exactly!" Kellyn then picked up where he left off. "So I told them to drop dead and now they're following me around! They followed me to my parents' house once! One time I woke up after a nap and Vatona was standing over me with a syringe!"
Keith raised an eyebrow. "Are they even allowed to do that? I'm pretty sure that's harassment."
"I don't know!" Kellyn wailed, burying his head in his hands.
Keith stood there for a bit, tongue tied, still waiting for Kellyn to whip off the stilts with a big grin and he and Kate to dissolve into tears of laughter at Keith's expense.
But Kellyn was wearing a pair of standard regulation grey shorts, so he certainly wasn't standing on stilts. He wasn't even wearing his usual green cloak, folded over the edge of a chair tucked under his desk. Actually why wasn't he wearing it? He was never separated from the...
Oh.
"It doesn't fit you anymore, does it?" Keith commented more than questioned.
"I'll resize it" Kate quickly cut in, probably because Kellyn was an inch from tears. "I've already done it twice this year. It'll be no problem."
That still didn't reassure Kellyn, who continued to hide his head in his hands.
"So" Keith tried to change the subject slightly "Is this a normal psychic being thing?"
Kellyn shook his head without a word.
"Alright" Keith suggested "Is Lunick or that creepy little kid behind this? I wouldn't put it past them to do something like this for a laugh."
"Solana swears Lunick's not behind this" Kate explained "He's just getting amusement from it."
"Owari hates tall people" was Kellyn's way of explanation.
So it was natural then? Keith didn't think that much growth in such a short space of time was even capable of being natural. He couldn't even blame a healthy, outdoor lifestyle, because he and Kate had those too and they weren't rivalling Altru Tower. He could only imagine the growing pains a growth like that would cause.
"Kel, look at me" Keith insisted. Kellyn didn't budge. "Kel, either remove your head from your hands yourself or I swear I'll pull it out myself."
After a few seconds of silence, Kellyn lowered his hands so Keith could see his red face. "There?"
Quickly, Keith grabbed one of Kellyn's wrists and spun him around, pressing his back to Kellyn's and measuring the difference in height with his hand. Kate watched the ginger's jaw drop when he realised the top of his head barely reached the nape of Kellyn's neck.
"How tall are you?" Keith asked, having to crane his neck back slightly to ask the question.
Dear Arceus, crane his neck back.
Even worse, Keith may not have the best memory, but he was sure he had memorised the angle he used to look Sven in the eye when the guy was being obnoxious. This angle was even greater.
"6'2"" Kellyn admitted, worrying his bottom lip with his teeth.
Keith's eyes bugged out. "Are you taller than Sven?"
"Keith!" Kate protested behind him.
Kellyn refusing to meet his eyes told him, yes, Shorty was now taller than even Sven.
Keith pressed his mouth shut so he wouldn't say anything stupid whilst he mulled this over. In the six months he'd been gone, their adorable little Kelly, who Keith had one time successfully held outside a fourth story window without breaking a sweat, had turned into a human Regigigas. He would never again be able to lift him up off his feet during a strong hug or give him a piggyback ride down to the ice cream parlour and back. Keith oddly felt like a parent who'd just realised their child wasn't a little kid anymore.
But, he realised just as quickly (he wasn't as blockheaded as Kate made him out to be anymore) that Kellyn was feeling even worse about it. He'd enjoyed a long childhood of people cooing over him and willing to do anything for the adorable little ranger boy with the green cloak, even when he was as much an angst-ridden teenager as the rest of them. Now he couldn't pass for that anymore. Instead of adoring stares, there would always be an undercurrent of weariness from the people he met towards a man (for he was now certainly a man, not a boy) so much bigger than they were. He'd have to relearn so many skills, making the adjustment from someone who excelled in speed and stealth to a man who knew how to use every single one of his many inches to his advantage. It was probably going to be harder than anything he'd ever faced before, adjusting to this new body.
And if he could do nothing else, Keith could at least help with that transition.
"Well, Kel, that settles it" Keith declared "Clearly your biological parents were Garchomp."
For the first time in months, Keith saw that familiar smile - something that hasn't changed about Kellyn.
"Now c'mon" Keith spread his arms "Bro-hug."
Kellyn's mouth hung open with a little 'pop'. "What?"
"I am woefully low on bro-hugs from the past six months" Keith insisted "I demand a bro-huh from my Regigigas bro."
Kellyn stared at him in disbelief dir a while longer, before leaning down to put his arms around Keith's shoulders with the upmost care not to break anything.
"You call that a bro-hug!" Keith demanded, determined to stop that way of thinking before it even got off to a start. "You hug like an old lady. This is a bro-huh!"
Keith squeezed him as tightly as he could and attempted to lift him off his feet. As he predicted, all he got was a pair of sore arms and a face full of new uniform.
But, as he hoped it would, the move shot some confidence into Kellyn.
'Maybe a little too much confidence' Keith thought as Kellyn lifted him a good two feet off the ground and nearly crushing all of his ribs, causing the ginger to squawk in alarm.
Automatically Kellyn realised what he was doing and dropped him. Keith had jumped out of helicopter whilst tied up before, and this had now replaced it as the roughest landing he had ever experienced. A lesser man would've broke both ankles at once.
Undeterred, Keith met Kellyn's once-again horrified stare with a smirk. "Nice, buddy. I think Kate would like one of those too."
Kellyn's horrified stare shifted to Kate, simultaneously morphing into one of panic.
"Absolutely" Kate declared with a sunny smile "I would love a bro-hug."
With significantly more trepidation this time around, Kellyn reached down (this time even further and Keith tried lot to laugh at the new height difference) and gripped Kate as gently as possible, seemingly afraid he'd break every bone in her body.
Kate responded by grabbing him in the tightest hug possible, resting her head against his chest.
"You're okay" she whispered, loud enough for both boys to hear "Everything's going to be okay."
Whether it was the words or the hug that reassured him, Kellyn managed to give her something that more greatly resembled a hug, rather than a loose, awkward hold.
Keith didn't know whether to wipe away a tear or throw up.
"Well, at least you're done growing" Kate commented, a hand reaching up to pay his back.
"He'd better" Keith said teasingly, reaching as well to wrap his arm around Kellyn's shoulders "Or else I'm going to have to stand on top of Altru Tower to look him in the eye."
"Keith!" Kellyn looked horrified and tried to back out of Keith's grip, only to nearly run over Kate in the process.
"Keith!" Kate also shouted, but with significantly more malice.
"I'm joking!" Keith laughed, both hands in the air.
"I-I'm not that much taller than you" Kellyn tried to insist "Please don't make a big deal out of it."
"Big deal?" Keith grinned "Are you kidding me? Chicks dig tall guys! You're growing up to be quite the lady killer Kel!"
Kellyn spluttered incoherently, releasing Kate (finally) and burying his face in his hands again. Kate levelled the ginger with a harsh glare.
"I should totally take you into town at some point" Keith kept going, smirking mischievously "I could find you a nice girl, since Kate clearly isn't going to step up to the place until you're both old and grey."
"KEITH!"
Keith hastily exited the dorm to avoid Kate's fury. "Well, I have a mission debriefing to sleep through. It was nice talking to you, Sasquatch."
It wasn't until halfway down the corridor Keith realised he'd missed a golden opportunity. Unable to resist it, he turned back hastily, peering in through Kellyn's doorway where he could see Kellyn and Kate talking quietly to each other in calm reassurance.
"Hey Kel" he grinned "If you want to I could always find you a guy, if you're into that sort of thing."
"KEITH I AM GOING TO LITERALLY KILL YOU!"
Keith laughed and ran towards the briefing room. He did in fact have a mission debriefing to get to and he didn't fancy getting disembowelled by Kate today.
His thoughts as he entered the briefing room were on how to convince Kellyn to give him piggyback rides down to the ice cream parlour. He felt like acting like a little kid all of a sudden, rather than being cool.