There were a few things in this life that Shane was sure of: Dustin would always amaze him in the most surprising ways (the brunette was a walking disaster one minute, and the next he was the smartest person next to Tori). Tori would never be afraid to say what she was feeling (usually in 'I'm probably right and you should listen to me' sort of way), and Hunter Bradley made him nervous. Whether or not that was a good or bad thing really depended on the situation at hand. Currently, Hunter was making him nervous in kind of an exciting way.

The blonde's face was almost three inches from his own face. He could feel Hunter's breath on his skin, making goosebumps swell on his arms and a shiver build up his spine.

"One more rep," Hunter said, straightening himself out.

Shane groaned hard as he closed his eyes. The weight he was currently lifting was the heaviest he'd gone so far. They were training, as always, and Hunter was acting as his spotter. "You're killing me!"

"Come on, don't be a baby!" It was playful and teasing. Just what Shane needed, "One more, I know you've got it in you!"

While Shane and Hunter were competitive and everyone under the sun knew it, they were also a huge pillar for each other. The way they pushed at one another brought some of their best qualities. Hunter was a lot easier to talk to and deal with these days. It helped that the Crimson Ranger actually liked to talk to Shane when he had a problem lately.

Shane muffled a groan as he lifted the bar one more time. With Hunter's help, the weight was placed safely back where it belonged. Immediately Shane's arms fell downwards, a deep ache settled in his bones and this time a moan escaped. "I swear, you're like," Shane paused, searching for the right phrase while he panted, "a drill instructor."

Hunter gave that little crooked grin of his and Shane tried not to get distracted or stare too obviously while Hunter scoffed. "You love it, so stop complaining." He came around and offered his hand out to Shane, who clasped it. With practiced movements Hunter pulled the other up into a sitting position.

To Shane's surprise, it didn't stop there. The grip on Shane's hand shifted and Hunter leaned down, nimble fingers slid under Shane's chin and Hunter angled Shane's head up before he pitched forward the last few inches and pressed their lips together. As soon as it started, however, it ended and Hunter was walking away.

Reflexively Shane's hand gripped Hunter's wrist, stopping the other mid step. He had half a second of thought that maybe he should let the blonde walk away, the rest of him was still struggling to process the feel of Hunter's warm lips pressed lightly to his, and then he tightened his grip. The first tug had Hunter turn around, and the second tug had their lips together again. This time Shane's eyes were closed and his right hand went to that blonde hair. He wasn't letting Bradley get the last surprise.

He had no idea what must have been going through Hunter's head, but whatever or however he'd conjured this little encounter to go Shane pulling him right back to where he started obviously wasn't it. The surprise meant after the kiss started, Hunter went down to his knees, hard and painfully, if the loud, dull impact and the soft grunt was any indication. With Shane's hand in his hair, however, the blonde was in no position to complain. Besides, apparently he would push past the pain for this. And really, soaking in the feeling of Hunter's mouth against his, feeling how soft and thick Hunter's hair was, knowing he wanted to do nothing more than just slide forward and settle with the blonde, Shane could admit to himself that this was probably a long time coming.

Even Sensei knew it, the pair danced around each other more than professional ballroom dancers. The whole team had tried to push them together on multiple occasions to work out whatever their growing tension, it wasn't just Dustin's unsubtle encouragements or Tori's expectant looks – sometime even Cam acted with the expectation that Shane and Hunter would pair off and that would be that. (It was the most painful for Blake, honestly. Watching his bro be a complete idiot was amusing, but at the same time rather pathetic. Though, usually all Hunter needed to do was counter with how Blake was around Tori and the commentary was dropped.)

The point of all this was that neither teen wanted to pull away now that both had started a kiss. Instead, Hunter's eyes closed and he leaned into it, keeping it closed mouth, but definitely trying to get more aggressive and dominate it. His lips slid across Shane's and they separated once before Hunter surged up and gave him a slightly deeper kiss. Somewhere during this Hunter's hands slid to Shane's hips, and hey, since they were there now, he had apparently decided to take advantage of it. His fingers flexed, testing against Shane's workout shirt before giving him a squeeze.

Shane hadn't expected it, and the response Hunter got was obviously not anything the blonde had probably pictured. A terrible warmth worked its way up Shane's spine and his body tensed then shuddered under Hunter's grip. The darker teen's lips ended up tilting up and then he let out a little sound as Hunter tested for the reaction again. He squirmed a bit, but Hunter didn't let up, eyebrow quirking up a bit higher and drawing more sounds from the air ninja. Shane's snickering turned into giggling that he tried to cover up with coughs and calls of 'hey stop it!', but Hunter wasn't listening.

Shane's laugh was infectious and he had no idea his hips and lower back of all places were ticklish. Shane gave him a wary look when he paused, then jerked and tried to tackle the thunder ninja when he did it again with a mischievous grin, the two of them rolling a bit to the side and onto the floor.

"You've been holding out on me," Hunter accused, and Shane didn't even try to deny it, still laughing a little while he tried to bat Hunter's hands away. Maybe he had been, but the nerves that attacked Shane every time he was confronted with the blonde were finally starting to settle into something more comfortable, something warm that he wanted to keep. He kissed hunter again, finally getting the blonde's hands to still at least.

There were a few things in this life that Shane was sure of: Dustin would always amaze him, Tori would never hold out on him, and Hunter would always make him nervous. Shane thought it was a type of nerve he could handle.


A/N: Okay, this is my first fanfiction in the Power Rangers fandom. Uhm. Yeah.

Beta'd by the lovely: Kei Luna Shoryu, who I love with all of my heart. With out her there'd be no fic here! Meaning she roped me into watching it and now it's her fault.