Author's Note: Warning – Some content may offend. Something that bothers me has always been homophobia. I don't care whether or not you support gay rights but if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all. Some language and some behaviour in this oneshot may offend some readers, though it is not my intention to hurt anyone. I have tried to keep things in this story as tamed as possible. Unfortunately, there are people out there who do behave this way (or worse) and I have always tried my best to keep my stories as real as possible. I support gay rights; I believe that you should marry the person you love, regardless of gender.
With that said, constructive criticism is welcomed, especially when it comes to writing slash. This is new for me and I would love to know if there's anything I can improve on. Flames will be used to roast marshmallows for s'mores (because I like s'mores) and to show the world how big an ass you are. If you don't like what you're reading, find something else. Again, if you have nothing nice to say about the oneshot (outside of CONSTRUCTIVE criticism), about gay rights, about gays, or about me, then don't say anything at all.
Finally, I thought it was time I write a little Jayden/Antonio centered fanfic. I hope you all enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Power Rangers: (Super) Samurai. This is purely fan-made.
It wasn't often Jayden and Antonio went out for dates. The Shiba House was a very open place for them to be who they were without the fear of judgement. The fact that they were teased just like the others in the house for their displays of affection reminded them that their friends didn't care they were two men in a relationship, they simply cared that their friends, like them, had found happiness with someone else.
Unfortunately, the world was not the same. While many turned a blind eye, some were quick to judge and attack.
Jayden knew how he felt. His love for Antonio was the strongest thing he had in his life. The support his boyfriend offered him kept him going through the hardest of days. The smiles they shared when they were together were what pulled him through some of his darker times. Antonio; his very best friend, the person who knew him best, the person who loved him regardless of all his secrets and his flaws, was the man he loved, and now, more than ever, he wasn't afraid to show that off. Antonio was his. Guys, girls – no one else could have him.
He had been a little hesitant at first. Entering a relationship with another man was generally frowned upon, and Jayden's confused emotions had left him feeling insecure. But Antonio had pulled him through and had guided him to the place where he felt comfortable holding his boyfriend's hand. He felt comfortable sharing a kiss. He felt comfortable going to a restaurant on a date and having an amazing time with his boyfriend.
And he had done just that. With the Shiba House finally starting to cheer up, Jayden decided it was time he and Antonio have a good night to themselves. A night where they left the house for once and had fun. Jayden was going to treat his boyfriend to dinner, and he didn't care who knew.
But Antonio, who was normally so strong and carefree when it came to being judged by others, looked uncomfortable. Jayden turned around; looking over his shoulder at the spot that Antonio had been glancing to since their appetizers arrived. One of the men at the table that was making Antonio uncomfortable by pretended to hang himself with a noose.
"Don't listen to them," Jayden turned back to Antonio. He remembered the gold Ranger comforting him like this once when he had been receiving stares. He never thought Antonio would let the looks and angry taunts get to him, but there was always only some much a person could handle. Jayden took Antonio's hand, "I love you."
Antonio gave his boyfriend a small smile, "I love you too."
"Those guys are jerks," Jayden nodded in the direction of the table, "I bet they've never been in love before."
"You don't know that," Antonio said. "They could have been, I mean…"
"They've never been in love like this," Jayden smiled. "Let them judge us. They can't hurt us. No matter what they say, no matter what they think, I still love you."
"Hey, fags!" the man who pretended to hang himself called out to the boys, "God hates homos. Why don't you do us all a favour and make the world a better place and go kill yourselves, fuckers?"
Jayden ignored it. What could he say? For one, he didn't believe in any god. He had been raised a Samurai Ranger and had no time for religion. He also didn't want to speak for God. Who was he to say what one God, or any god, truly wanted for the world?
"Just ignore them," Antonio said and sat up when he saw the waiter coming over with their food. "Right?"
"Right," Jayden smiled. The waiter set down the plates and gave the boys a smile.
"Are you two on a date?" he asked. Jayden nodded his head. The waited subtly gestured to the table calling out rude comments, "If they're bothering you, I can ask the manager to send them somewhere else."
Jayden shook his head, "They have just as much right to be here as we do. We'll ignore them."
"Just let me know if you want us to do something," the waiter said. "Enjoy your food."
"Thanks," Jayden said. He looked over to Antonio, "We'll go somewhere a little quieter after this if you want."
Antonio nodded his head. Normally he wasn't one to let the comments get to him, but he had a bad feeling. The table making him uncomfortable continued with the obscene gestures and hurtful stares, but Antonio focused his attention on Jayden.
They ate their meal in peace, paid the bill when it came and left a tip. Nothing too generous, but they weren't cheap either. They left the same amount anyone else would leave and walked out, hand in hand, just like any other couple on a date.
"Guys," the man who pretended to hang himself nodded to his other friends. There were eight of them at the table, celebrating the promotion of their friend. All they wanted to do was go out to a restaurant, eat, drink, have a good time and maybe even flirt with a few waitresses. However, two gays had come in to spoil their night, making a mockery of love by sharing it with someone of the same sex. These men, if they could be called that, needed to be straightened out – for lack of a better word. They needed to see that what they were doing was wrong. They needed to toughen up, and there was only one way of doing that. The man gestured for his friends to follow him and they knew what was going to happen.
Outside the restaurant, Jayden and Antonio were waiting at the bus stop, trying to figure out where they would head next. Antonio was still feeling uncomfortable, so Jayden didn't want to take him somewhere where they would be looked at strangely or judged. They were looking for a quiet night to enjoy. A night on the town, just like any other couple.
"We could go bowling," Jayden suggested and pointed down the street, "It's not too far."
Antonio nodded his head, "Just don't throw the bowling ball backwards this time."
Jayden frowned, "It slipped."
"Twice?" Antonio chuckled. Jayden rolled his eyes but laughed along.
"Yeah, twice. So do you want to go bowling or not?"
"Yeah," Antonio smiled and leaned forward to kiss Jayden. Suddenly, he was grabbed by the shoulders and ripped away from his boyfriend. Before he knew it, he was on the ground with four big, strong men kicking him endlessly. From what he could see before he blacked out, Jayden had four men kicking him as well.
Had he not been taken by surprise, he knew he could take them out. They were no tougher than Moogers. But, sometimes, the Moogers did overpower him. Sometimes, even the strongest of Samurai was left hoping there was someone who would save him.
-Samurai-
"Antonio?"
"Em, let him rest."
"He's waking up! I know he is!"
Antonio shifted in his bed. He could hear Emily and Kevin's voices before opening his eyes. When he did, he was somewhat startled to see Emily hovering over him, looking down at him with worry. When she saw he was awake she let out a cry of relief and threw her arms around him.
Pain shot up and down his body. He couldn't tell how many bruises he had or which bones were broken, but they were definitely there and they were definitely broken.
"You're okay!"
"Not for much longer," Emily's grip around Antonio loosened as Kevin gently pulled her away, "C'mon, Em, the guy was beaten to a pulp. Give him a little room."
"What happened?" Antonio tried to sit up. Kevin carefully helped him.
"I don't know what happened before we turned up," Kevin said, "but we were all at home when the Gap Sensor went off and we saw it was a distress call from Jayden. We followed it, saw eight guys beating the shit out of you two and we jumped in. Sorry, we were a bit late."
"Ji says nothing's too, too bad," Emily said. "Your ribs are broken and there isn't much he can do for that. And then you have a lot of bruises."
"Painful bruises, by the looks of it," Kevin added. "But we got them to lay off."
Antonio knew he had a black eye. The entire left side of his face felt swollen and it was hard to see from that eye, but when he looked at Kevin there was no mistaking it; the blue Ranger had a black eye as well.
"What happened to you?"
"Apparently I'm a homo too," Kevin pointed to the black eye, "This is the badge of honour. You should see Mike, though. All it took was one nasty comment from one of the other guys and our green Ranger saw red. He's got a few more bruises than I do, but he's okay."
"It's kind of hot," Emily said. Antonio and Kevin both looked to her. She shrank slightly in her seat, "What? It is. You'll understand when you see Jayden later, Antonio."
"I'm not really a fan of bruising."
"You say that now," Emily smirked. "But Mia, Serena, and I all agree: you four all went up on the hot scale."
"How is Jayden?" Antonio asked. "What happened to him? Is he okay?"
"He's fine," Kevin nodded his head and smiled. "Banged up like you, but apparently he's already insisting he's okay to walk around and get out of bed. Mia, Mike, and Serena are trying to get him to rest."
"I want to see him," Antonio said as he started to lift himself from the bed. Emily and Kevin gently pushed him back down.
"We'll bring him in soon," Emily promised.
"Why isn't he in his room?" Antonio asked. He pointed to the empty bed, "Why isn't he there?"
"Ji needed room to work on both of you and we were all worried. This room is too small for us all, but once we're sure you're both okay, we'll move you both into the same room and you guys can rest together, okay?"
Antonio looked to Emily and nodded his head. He leaned back against his pillow and sighed.
"You stupid homo! You're a waste of space! Burn in hell, fucker!"
"I hope you go home and kill yourself, asshole."
"You're a disgrace to the human race!"
Antonio couldn't help it. Though it was best to ignore the comments he couldn't. They hurt. The names, the attacks, the threats against his life, being told he should kill himself… they were worse that all the punches and kicks he had endured. Even the stares, the whispers behind his back, the subtle jabs, they were all painful. Why wasn't he allowed to love his boyfriend? Why was it Mike and Emily could kiss in public and people thought it was cute? Why did the room applaud for Kevin when he proposed to Mia? Why did he get beaten for going on a date with the love of his life? His father had told him many times that life wasn't fair, but this… this just felt wrong.
He felt someone take his hand. He saw it was Emily, "Why are you crying?"
"Because I love Jayden and it hurts," Antonio said.
Emily didn't know what to say. She just held his hand, shedding a tear herself. Antonio was one of her best friends. She hated to see him in so much pain.
"Antonio," Kevin whispered, "if it means anything, those guys are jerks. I don't care what they say about you and I don't care what they say about me. You're my friend, one of my best friends. I love you."
Antonio looked up at Kevin, somewhat shocked. After everything they had been through together he knew the blue Ranger loved him, but hearing him say it like that, without holding back, without any fear or shame, meant the world to him. Though the boys said it all the time teasingly, they had never done it with so much heart. Between the five boys in the house, Ji and Jayden only said it to each other in such a way because they were father and son, and Jayden and Antonio said it to each other because they were in a loving relationship. Kevin and Mike rarely uttered the words to any of the other boys and the boys rarely uttered it back.
"I love you too, Kevin."
"Where the love for me?" Emily teased. "I love both of you too, and I'm the one who kicked those assholes' asses."
Antonio blinked. He looked at Kevin's black eye and then at Emily who seemed unharmed. Had he missed something?
"You… you did?"
Emily nodded her head proudly, "They don't hit girls."
"She gave them quite an earful too," Kevin chuckled. "Antonio, you should have seen it. You saw how big those guys were, and there were eight of them against Emily."
"I kicked their butts!" Emily giggled.
Just then the door opened, "Can you tell us the story later?" Jayden asked. With a little help from Mike and Mia he walked over to the bed and sat down beside Antonio, "Are you okay?"
"Guys," Mia whispered and signalled for Kevin and Emily to follow her and Mike out of the room.
Jayden cupped Antonio's cheek gently in his hand, "I'm sorry, Antonio…"
"You didn't do this," Antonio said. Jayden gave him a slight smile and lay down next to him. He curled up as comfortable as he could and cuddled his boyfriend. They lay in each other's arms for a moment before Antonio suddenly started to chuckle. "Okay, Em was right. You are hot with those bruises."
"Mia and Serena said the same about you," Jayden smirked. He looked up at Antonio, "Look, if you don't want to go out on dates anymore…"
"I love you," Antonio whispered gently. "I still love you, even after this. Those guys didn't change my mind one bit."
"I love you too, Antonio."
"When we're feeling a bit better, do you still want to go bowling?"
Jayden nodded his head, "I promise the ball won't slip backwards this time."
"I'll still beat you."
"Yeah? Even if I get a perfect score?"
"A perfect score with the bumpers up is nothing to brag about," Antonio teased. Jayden pretended to look offended.
"Bumpers are a perfectly good strategy! It takes skills to…"
"No," Antonio interrupted. "Just no."
"But…"
"Jayden, I've seen toddlers throw straighter balls down the aisle."
Jayden chuckled, "I'm not that bad."
"Yeah, you are," Antonio laughed. Jayden crossed his arms over his chest and pouted. Antonio smiled and leaned down, pulling him in for a passionate kiss.
It still hurt to love his boyfriend: with the broken ribs, the bruises, and the sore muscles. But now it hurt in a good way.