Authors Notes: Wow, I can't believe I'm actually posting this. First off, it's slash so...yeah if you don't like that sort of thing please leave. :) This is a test run. I've written 37 pages to this story and I wanted to see if you all were interested in reading it. As usual, these characters belong to Disney, Saban, and whoever else holds that piece of paper declaring ownership. I'm not getting paid or any of that. Please, rate and review. Special thanks to 'Morphin' in' for the inspiration. :)
Part 1
"I got the 'corn!' Adam said plopping down on the sofa next to his friend.
"Alright! I got the movie up," Tommy said blinding grabbing a hand full of popcorn from the bowl on Adam's lap.
The two men relaxed into the comfortable sofa as they began their weekly movie night. It was something Tommy and Adam started to do after Kimberly sent that weak letter. Adam could vividly remember the night Tommy showed up at his door like a lost puppy. He didn't know what to do or why he was coming to Adam but he obviously needed a friend.
Tommy spent 20 whole seconds contemplating his trip to Adam's house. Before he realized what he was doing, he had jumped into his jeep and parked in front of Adam's house. As he walked to the door, he rationalized his decision to himself. He couldn't go to Kat because she obviously liked him. Tanya was too new. Rocky would turn it into a joke at his expense. Billy was Kim's friend so he would be biased towards her. Adam was his second in command and very observant; he wouldn't talk back.
"Can I come in?" Tommy asked running his hands through his hair.
Adam nodded quickly, "Uh yeah sure, dude. Come on." He stepped aside and allowed the Red Zeo Ranger to enter his home.
Tommy shyly shoved his hands into his jacket pockets and looked around as he walked through the foyer. He suddenly felt bad for not coming to Adam's house more often. They were friends but hadn't ever been particularly close. Adam was the only one Tommy felt could listen to him with an unbiased, concerned ear.
"Can we talk?" Tommy asked after a few moments of silence.
Adam's eyes opened in surprise, "Okay."
Tommy followed Adam into a small den. Adam closed the door behind them out of habit. He was the only one in the house but he always felt the need to close the door. They sat on a sofa in front of a television. Adam looked at Tommy and waited for him to start talking. Tommy, however, stared at the television in front of him, looking at his reflection.
"I'm sorry for randomly showing up like this," Tommy said.
"It's ok. I was just sitting around," Adam shrugged.
"Why?" Tommy asked turning to look at Adam.
"Why is it ok or why was I sitting around?" Adam asked meeting Tommy's eyes.
"Why were you sitting around? I expected you to be out with Rocky or Tanya or somebody," Tommy asked.
"I think they're busy. When everyone's busy, I just stay home; catch up on homework and stuff."
Tommy nodded and the room fell quiet again. He was staring at the television again. He was either lost in thought or loved looking at his reflection.
"Enough about me, what did you really want to talk about?" Adam asked.
"It's…there's… I just…" Tommy stuttered softly. He sighed and ran his hands through his hair again," I got kinda…lonely I guess. I just needed to talk to someone."
"Go ahead," Adam said relaxing into the sofa more.
"Why would she do something like that, Adam? Did I deserve that kind of kiss off? Was I that bad of a boyfriend?" Tommy asked question after question suddenly.
Adam kept quiet. He knew those questions were rhetorical and Tommy was just blowing off steam. Adam couldn't remember Tommy ever expressing his feelings over Kimberly's letter.
"She sent me a fucking letter! Man, I couldn't even get a phone call? Then she tells me I'm like her fucking brother. I'm supposed to be her man not her goddamn brother," Tommy continued to rant.
Adam was slightly surprised at the sudden crescendo in Tommy's voice. He had never heard his leader get this loud or swear so much. He didn't know what to say.
"I gave myself to her. I didn't go out with you guys because I was waiting on her call or email. I ignored all of my female friends because I wanted to be faithful to her! I just…" Tommy pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes.
Adam couldn't say he understood. He hadn't had a relationship as serious as Tommy and Kimberly so he couldn't comprehend the pain of their breakup. He could see why Tommy was upset at the way Kimberly ended it.
"I'm alone now," Tommy said still covering his eyes. He was getting that migraine back.
"You're not alone. You have the team. We're all here for you," Adam finally spoke.
Tommy dropped the hands from his eyes and looked at Adam.
He smiled softly, "Thanks. I needed to hear that and thanks for listening to me whine."
"No problem," Adam smiled.
Tommy stood up, " I'll let you get back to what you were doing, bro."
"I wasn't doing anything. You can stay…if you want…I mean if you don't have anything to do," Adam stuttered.
Tommy contemplated for a moment, "What do you wanna do?"
"How about a movie?" Adam asked.
"Sounds good."
"I'll get some popcorn," Adam said hurrying out off the room.
Ever since that Friday, Tommy and Adam managed to have a de facto movie night every Friday for the last few weeks. It was one of the only things Tommy committed to memory. Adam found himself looking forward to this downtime.
"Aw, man! Why did he do that?" Tommy said aloud. He rested one of his arms along the back of the sofa.
Adam chuckled and sat the bowl of popcorn between the two, "You know the good guy has to win in the end."
"Do you believe that?" Tommy asked.
"I live that. We live that. We always win because we're good guys and that's what we do," Adam said.
Tommy chuckled softly, "Sounds like you've thought about this."
"I have. Being a Power Ranger would suck if we lost all of the time. We may get into binds but we always get out."
Tommy nodded his head in agreement. "Always."
Adam nodded and yawned loudly, "You wanna watch another or call it a night?"
Tommy glanced at his watch and grimaced. It was approaching four in the morning. The drive home was going to hell for him.
"We can call it a night. I gotta drive home," Tommy said through a yawn.
"Um, you could stay. I mean, we have plenty of space," Adam offered quickly. It was very late and Tommy looked dead tired.
"Aw, man thanks! I'm so sleepy. I don't think I could drive if I wanted to," Tommy said.
"No problem. Follow me," Adam said walking out the den. Tommy followed closely behind as they walked through the hallway and up the stairs. They passed two doors before reaching what Tommy assumed was Adam's bedroom. He'd visited Adam's house several times in the past few weeks, but he'd never ventured upstairs.
"You can have the bed and I'll take the futon," Adam said standing beside Tommy.
"I don't want to take your bed."
"Come on, you're my guest. You can have the bed," Adam said shaking his head.
"Alright, if you insist, bro" Tommy said sheepishly rubbing the back of his head.
"Make yourself at home. I'll be back."
Adam turned and exited the room. Tommy looked around. He pulled his shirt over his head and lost his pants. He pulled his hair back into a ponytail and pulled back the green and black comforter. He settled into the soft mattress and almost fell asleep until Adam returned. The Green Zeo Ranger wore a bandana green pajama pants and a gray shirt. In his arms, he held a couple of pillows and sheets.
"I thought you might like another pillow," Adam said tossing one at Tommy's head.
Tommy caught the pillow and mocked glared at his friend, "Thanks."
Adam smiled before laying down on the big futon across from the bed. He fluffed up his pillow and spread the blanket over his body.
"Night, T," Adam mumbled.
"Night, Froggy," Tommy said.
***
Rocky parked his jeep in Adam's driveway and killed the engine. He grabbed the notebook out of his passengers seat and proceeded to walk to his best friend's front door. Before he could ring the doorbell, the door was thrown open and a red-haired man almost knocked his down.
"Oh, Rocky! Almost knocked you down there, sport," the man grinned.
"Yeah Mr. Park, you're always in a hurry. I should be used it by now," Rocky quipped.
"You're still hilarious, I see," Mr. Park said sarcastically.
"Always will be sir. Is Adam in?" Rocky asked gesturing towards the house.
"Yeah, I think he's still sleeping. Go wake him up for me; it's 2 in the afternoon," Mr. Park said looking at his watch. He needed to leave.
"Alright, sir. Have a good day!" Rocky said.
"Thanks, Rocko!" Mr. Park waved and half ran towards his car. He was defiantly going to be late.
Rocky entered the house and closed the door behind him. He headed straight towards the stairs to wake up his sleeping best friend. He was thinking of ways to wake up Adam and laugh at the same time. His mind formulated a great plan that involved shaving cream and Adam's foot. He snickered to himself as he approached the third door on the left side of the hallway.
For the second time in one day, the door started to open before he could touch it. Unlike when he arrived, he didn't expect to see this person stride out of the room.
"Tommy!" Rocky called.
"Rocko, hey man. What's up?" Tommy said in a groggy voice.
Rocky held up the green and blue notebook, "I need to give Adam the notes for our project or he'll murder me. What are you doing here?"
"I was hanging out with Adam and it got late," Tommy explained while rubbing his eyes.
Rocky nodded, "Is he up?"
"No, I'm sure you'll find some way to wake him up though," Tommy said with a lazy grin.
"I was just going to do that. Shhhh," Rocky said holding up his index finger. He quietly opened the door and entered the room.
Tommy chuckled to himself before walking across the hall to the bathroom. He had blindly stumbled across the bathroom when his bladder became unbearable around dawn. He spotted the new toothbrush Adam promised him laying on the counter. He struggled with the stupid plastic wrapper that hindered him from ridding himself of "morning breath."
***
Rocky stealthily searched Adam's dresser for a can of shaving cream or something similar to wake his best friend. He opened the last drawer and found exactly what he was looking for. Luckily, there was just enough cream in the can to pull off his prank.
Adam was peacefully and quietly sleeping. He never let out more than a light sigh. Rocky almost felt terrible for interrupting his best friend's sleep. Almost. He shook up the can and sprayed it on Adam's naked palms. He held his breath to see if Adam would wake up. When he did not, Rocky sprayed the rest of the shaving cream on the soles of Adam's bare feet.
Rocky stifled a large laugh that threatened to ruin his whole prank. He bit his lip and looked around for something to start his plan. He had to do it before Tommy came back. He grabbed a discarded shirt from the bed and brushed it over Adam's nose and forehead. Adam flinched and lightly batted at his nose. Rocky brushed the shirt over Adam's face one more time before he got the reaction he wanted. Adam's shaving cream cover hands landed on his face.
"What the…." Adam said when the slightly cold cream suddenly hit his face. He sat up quickly and looked around. He saw Rocky standing by his bed laughing. He pulled back the blanket and threw his legs over the side of the futon. When he stood up, he felt something clammy and soft on his feet.
"Ah, shit!"
The exclamation caused Rocky to laugh harder and louder. Adam walked over to dress and looked at the shaving cream splattered all over his face.
"Rocky!" Adam yelled. He couldn't help but giggle at Rocky's amusement.
Tommy picked that exact moment to enter the room carrying a towel.
"I thought you might need this," Tommy said gingerly handing Adam the towel.
"Thanks," Adam said quickly taking the towel and wiping off his face. He noticed Rocky's laughter still ringing in his ears, "Will you shut up?!"
Rocky continued to laugh loudly.
"I did the same thing to Jase a couple of years ago," Tommy chuckled.
The Green Ranger quickly wiped the shaving cream off of his face and body. Tommy noticed how red his cheeks were.
'Aw man! He's blushing!'
"Why are you here?" Adam mock grumbled.
"I came to give you the notes for the project that you said was worth more than my life," Rocky said pointing to the notebook on the dresser.
"Thanks," Adam said picking up the notebook and sitting by Tommy on the bed.
"What did you guys do last night?" Rocky said taking a seat on the futon. He barely missed sitting in a wet spot left by the melted shaving cream.
"We watched a few movies and ate a lot of junk food," Tommy said looking at the notebook Adam held.
"Kat asked about you. I didn't know you were over here," Rocky said.
"Oh," Tommy said uninterested.
"Where were you?" Adam asked.
"I had a date. I need to tell you about that," Rocky said.
"Uh, tell me later," Adam said quickly. He stealthily nodded his head in Tommy's direction.
"Oh. Oh! Yeah we can talk about it later," Rocky said dropping the subject.
Tommy looked at both of his friends and sighed, "You guys don't have to stop talking about dating around me. I'm a big boy."
"No, no. I gotta go pick up my sister from cheerleading practice anyway," Rocky said standing up.
"Which sister?" Adam asked.
Rocky scratched his head, "I'll find out when I get there. Gotta run; see you guys later." He quickly exited the room.
Tommy and Adam chuckled to themselves as they sat on the bed next to each other. Tommy looked at the clock and noticed how late it was. They were supposed to be at the Juice Bar by 4 and it was almost 3. He had to go all the way home, take a bath, and change clothes. If he didn't leave now, he wouldn't be on time for the team's beach clean up.
"It's getting late," Tommy nonchalantly mentioned.
Adam looked at the clock. "We got that beach thing today don't we?"
"Yeah. If we don't go, the girls will kill us," Tommy said.
"I guess we better get up."
"Adam?"
"Yeah, T?" Adam asked. He found himself surround by a warm embrace.
"Thanks, man," Tommy said patting the Green Zeo Ranger on his back. Adam returned the hug. Outside of Kimberly, he had never seen Tommy be this affectionate with anyone but the girls on the team. Even then, the affection was limited to a couple of friendly kisses and the occasion hug. Tommy didn't hug other guys but here he was hugging Adam and saying thank you.
"Welcome, man. Anytime," Adam smiled.