I do not own Rocky, Adam, Kelsey, Billy, Kat, Trini, Tommy, Kim, Kendrix,
Leo, Kai, Justin, Carlos, Carter, Damon, Zack, Maya, Jason, Tanya, Cassie,
Dana, Zhane, Karone, Chad, Mike, Emily, Cestria, Aisha, Joel, Ryan, Angela,
TJ, Ashley, Andros, Kendrix or anyone else. :: pants :: Smaller sentences,
smaller sentences
The doorway opened with a creak, and the red-dressed regular to the pub turned to see who had graced the establishment. His gaze found a tall, dark, leather-clad figure, still with a motorcycle helmet on, still with the clear flap down. Danger oozed from every pore of the man, the idealistic murdering biker. His own hazelnut-brown eyes met dark black, and the owner of the eyes grinned. Whether it was at him, or if it was supposed to go past him, Rocky couldn't tell.
"Tom," he approached the portly bartender. "You mind?" he asked as he jerked his head toward the medium-sized piano in the corner. Tom shrugged, and as the figure turned he said over his shoulder, "And I'll have a beer for afterwards."
Rocky would have killed to hear the thoughts of the other people in the bar-especially ones who had only decided to come to this particular bar less than four years ago. The leather-wearing figure sat on the piano stool before taking off his helmet. Short black hair was revealed as the biker laid his helmet on the top of the piano. Rocky closed his eyes as he waited for the music.
The notes that floated around him were...Rocky could think of only one word to describe them, and that was mystical. The slow, sad notes resonated, leaving a sweet, innocently pure sound vibrating in the slightly smoky, alcohol-smelling air of the bar. Even Rocky, who was no Beethoven when it came to piano, knew this wasn't any Chopsticks. The sounds slowly ended, leaving silence. With a roguish smile, the man got up and sat next to Rocky.
"'Bout time I saw you again," Rocky said, breaking the silence as the piano-player received his drink. He turned to face his beer-buddy. "How long has it been?"
"Three or four years?" the man estimated. "Out on the road, you can't exactly carry around a calendar," the man's voice reminded him. The man gave him a wink. "How is everybody? The last time I checked Tommy and Kat were well on their way for their third."
"Fourth, now." Rocky sipped his drink. "Little Kimberly, littler Jessica...coming up for one...bigger Jason...who by the way is approaching the big five...and now this one's going to be a boy. They're thinking of calling him either David or Billy."
"And the rest of the formers?" the guy asked.
"Andros and Ashley are giving their third anniversary party in a couple' a weeks...will you be here for that?" Rocky asked.
"Probably."
Rocky started ticking off points on his fingers. "Jason and Emily split...he's dating again, a nice woman named Sarah. Kim and Trini are doing well down in Stone Canyon, trying to adopt one of those Cambodian kids or getting IVF. Carlos and Cassie are off in Chicago, promoting her new album Shaken...might meet Tanya; she's down there promoting Help Them All. Leo and Kendrix adopted a baby boy since she can't have kids due to the death thing, named him Samuel. Billy's still doing well on Aquitar, his marriage to Cestria is going pretty well, four kids don't hurt."
"Four? Old Billy-boy must have been pretty busy," the man said, raising a dark eyebrow. He tipped back the bottle in his hand.
"Triplets, Dillion, Andrena and Michelle, plus a single, Jonathon. Damon and his girlfriend recently moved to Australia, got a contract down there with one of the airlines down-under. Zhane and Karone are on Miranoi, the travelers they are. Coming back for Ashley and Andros's party, though. Karone's expecting the first, but apparently full-fledged Kerovians have yearlong pregnancies so she'll be due in about seven months. Mike and Maya have a new one, three-year-old Jera. Um, who else...oh yeah, TJ and Sabrina are still together, they're never going to tie the knot. Zack and Aisha have finally taken the plunge, got their first anniversary in a month. Kai's still engaged...never going to set a date, had that ring on his fiancé's finger for almost four years. Justin's gone to work on Miranoi, working with the GSA, no girlfriend. And all the Lightspeed Rangers are still on normal non-monster duty. Carter and Dana are going on pretty well, two doctor-slash-firemen-women usually do, and Kelsey and Chad are engaged, him still working on that Baywatch thing and she's just won an extreme sports thing. Ryan's trained to be a martial arts actor, he's got that Victoria girl and Joel's still chasing after Angela, still doing the Sky Cowboy thing." Rocky sipped his drink. "You know any of that?"
"Only things I knew were Jason's birthday and that Trini and Kim were trying to adopt."
Rocky said suddenly, "You want to go for a walk? The air in here's giving me a migraine."
"Sure."
They downed the remainder of their drinks and flicked the money onto the bar. Then they walked out.
The park was dark, a usual occurrence at ten o'clock at night. The only light came from the scattered streetlights and lamps, which mostly only lit up the paths. Part of the Angel Grove Forest stretched away on their right side. Assorted birdcalls came from the few animals still awake, and a little ticked off about the slight disturbance of the peace from the light scraping sounds of the two pairs of feet.
"So, you got a significant other?" Rocky asked.
The man next to him snorted. "Nah. No guy worth their salt would let me near them."
Rocky nodded sagely. They walked in silence for a few seconds before the words sunk in. "No guy?"
The adult next to him snapped his fingers in mock remembrance. "I knew there was something I had to tell you guys!" he exclaimed.
"So what? You're gay? And you couldn't tell me?" Rocky's voice was rising. The man suddenly stopped in his tracks, but Rocky kept going, although he had noticed. "It's pretty easy, see? Say it with me. 'Rocko, can I have a word? I'm gay.' I don't think it's that hard." He whirled around. "Why didn't you tell me? I'm your best friend, for God's sakes."
The man stepped back into the shadows so it seemed as if the words he spoke came from nowhere. "It's that easy? Fine. You don't know what it's like to be teased in grade two…grade two, Rocko…with people already telling you that you're gay, a fag, you don't deserve anything..." The voice up until now had been steady, clipped, but it wavered as he spoke. "You don't know what it's like getting thrown out of your home because of something you can't control." He took a deep breath. "All of you thought...assumed...I went on the road because I wanted to, because I enjoyed it. None of you asked about the first month, all the lonely nights, praying my father would let me back into the family."
He stepped forward, closer to Rocky so that Rocky could see two black eyes gleaming from the light from the streetlight about twenty-five metres away. Dark hair framed the face that was more familiar to Rocky than his own.
"Don't ask me about what happened when I told my father. You have no idea how I felt when three seconds before I told him he talked to me about how I was always going to be his son, how he loved me, how he wanted me to succeed, how he knew I'd find true love, yadda yadda yadda. When I told him..." His voice broke and he angrily swiped his face. The drops on his face could be the rain that was starting to fall, or something entirely more heart wrenching. "When I told him I was gay, he didn't say anything. Just smiled, then called up that friend of his, the lawyer. He didn't say a single word, just smiled at me when I asked him what he was doing. The bloke answered, and my dad asked..." He took a deep breath, aware of Rocky staring at him; aware he was going to start fully-fledged crying. "My dad asked...how exactly does someone legally disown their son?"
Rocky felt sick. The man he had looked up to for years, the person he had visited not three weeks ago...had disowned his own son because of something he couldn't help. "God, Adam..."
Adam raised a hand, stepping back into the shadows. "Don't say one word, Rockwell. Not one word."
Rockwell. Adam only called him that when he was deadly serious. Adam suddenly lost his composure, sobs suddenly wracking his body. Rocky moved forward awkwardly, but Adam stepped back again, holding out a hand like it would actually help. "You want to know why I never told you?" He rubbed his eyes furiously, the shaft of light next to him lighting him up slightly. "Because...I..." The man in front of Rocky was no longer a man. He was just a scared teen, one that Rocky used to know, one he used to spar with, one he used to talk with. The man lost the fight, turning quickly and running full pelt down the path they had come less than ten minutes earlier.
Adam sat in the low branches of the tree, still crying quietly. He felt the smooth leather of his jacket and pulled it closer for comfort. The night was cool, the rain pattering softly onto the grass. He leant up against the trunk of the tree, and for the first time since he had seen the Angel Grove sign, no, since he went on the road, he felt safe, like no one could touch him without his say-so. The slight tears that ran down his face slowly disappeared in the soft breeze that lightly buffeted the branches, rocking them like waves rocked a boat.
Just above his right shoulder, a caterpillar on a leaf stretched out, inching its way across the green plain. Adam watched it, smiling as it finally reached the other side. He gently reached up and let it crawl onto his finger, momentarily just watching the limited light illuminate the light green bug. Adam released it onto another branch, where it immediately started pulling itself to the other side.
"Adam?" he heard being yelled through the woods. Rocky. "Adam?"
He considered yelling out "Here!" but decided against it. He curled up as much as he could, and waited for Rocky to go home.
Rocky fell to the bottom of a thick trunk, his body not even spreading to touch both sides. He suddenly groaned, putting his head in his hands. Why hadn't he noticed? The days, the months, the years they had spent together, Adam pondering the mysteries of life, and Rocky fantasizing over the girl of the week. He had sometimes wondered over why Adam hadn't expressed any kind of attraction to any members of the female persuasion, but after the first few months of having hormones racing around his body, he had decided Adam could make his own choices and left him alone.
"Why didn't I notice?" he mumbled. He repeated it, just a little louder. "Why didn't I notice?!"
"You didn't notice because I didn't want anyone to notice," a soft voice said from somewhere near him. Rocky looked around wildly to see who spoke, but it was soon obvious to him that it was the boy he was thinking about. A body suddenly dropped from above; landing with both feet steady on the ground. The voice continued. "Fact is, I control who knows me, and what they know about me. If I don't wasn't someone to know something, they can keep observing me for years, and they'll never get a clue. It's my life, and I just happen to have gotten a raw deal."
Rocky, for the first time, noticed how warm Adam looked, and how the rain that had fallen had chilled the air to a degree almost at freezing level. "Come on,' Adam said, breaking his train of thought. "Let's get back, now I've spilled my guts." He gave Rocky a hand up and they started walking.
The doorway opened with a creak, and the red-dressed regular to the pub turned to see who had graced the establishment. His gaze found a tall, dark, leather-clad figure, still with a motorcycle helmet on, still with the clear flap down. Danger oozed from every pore of the man, the idealistic murdering biker. His own hazelnut-brown eyes met dark black, and the owner of the eyes grinned. Whether it was at him, or if it was supposed to go past him, Rocky couldn't tell.
"Tom," he approached the portly bartender. "You mind?" he asked as he jerked his head toward the medium-sized piano in the corner. Tom shrugged, and as the figure turned he said over his shoulder, "And I'll have a beer for afterwards."
Rocky would have killed to hear the thoughts of the other people in the bar-especially ones who had only decided to come to this particular bar less than four years ago. The leather-wearing figure sat on the piano stool before taking off his helmet. Short black hair was revealed as the biker laid his helmet on the top of the piano. Rocky closed his eyes as he waited for the music.
The notes that floated around him were...Rocky could think of only one word to describe them, and that was mystical. The slow, sad notes resonated, leaving a sweet, innocently pure sound vibrating in the slightly smoky, alcohol-smelling air of the bar. Even Rocky, who was no Beethoven when it came to piano, knew this wasn't any Chopsticks. The sounds slowly ended, leaving silence. With a roguish smile, the man got up and sat next to Rocky.
"'Bout time I saw you again," Rocky said, breaking the silence as the piano-player received his drink. He turned to face his beer-buddy. "How long has it been?"
"Three or four years?" the man estimated. "Out on the road, you can't exactly carry around a calendar," the man's voice reminded him. The man gave him a wink. "How is everybody? The last time I checked Tommy and Kat were well on their way for their third."
"Fourth, now." Rocky sipped his drink. "Little Kimberly, littler Jessica...coming up for one...bigger Jason...who by the way is approaching the big five...and now this one's going to be a boy. They're thinking of calling him either David or Billy."
"And the rest of the formers?" the guy asked.
"Andros and Ashley are giving their third anniversary party in a couple' a weeks...will you be here for that?" Rocky asked.
"Probably."
Rocky started ticking off points on his fingers. "Jason and Emily split...he's dating again, a nice woman named Sarah. Kim and Trini are doing well down in Stone Canyon, trying to adopt one of those Cambodian kids or getting IVF. Carlos and Cassie are off in Chicago, promoting her new album Shaken...might meet Tanya; she's down there promoting Help Them All. Leo and Kendrix adopted a baby boy since she can't have kids due to the death thing, named him Samuel. Billy's still doing well on Aquitar, his marriage to Cestria is going pretty well, four kids don't hurt."
"Four? Old Billy-boy must have been pretty busy," the man said, raising a dark eyebrow. He tipped back the bottle in his hand.
"Triplets, Dillion, Andrena and Michelle, plus a single, Jonathon. Damon and his girlfriend recently moved to Australia, got a contract down there with one of the airlines down-under. Zhane and Karone are on Miranoi, the travelers they are. Coming back for Ashley and Andros's party, though. Karone's expecting the first, but apparently full-fledged Kerovians have yearlong pregnancies so she'll be due in about seven months. Mike and Maya have a new one, three-year-old Jera. Um, who else...oh yeah, TJ and Sabrina are still together, they're never going to tie the knot. Zack and Aisha have finally taken the plunge, got their first anniversary in a month. Kai's still engaged...never going to set a date, had that ring on his fiancé's finger for almost four years. Justin's gone to work on Miranoi, working with the GSA, no girlfriend. And all the Lightspeed Rangers are still on normal non-monster duty. Carter and Dana are going on pretty well, two doctor-slash-firemen-women usually do, and Kelsey and Chad are engaged, him still working on that Baywatch thing and she's just won an extreme sports thing. Ryan's trained to be a martial arts actor, he's got that Victoria girl and Joel's still chasing after Angela, still doing the Sky Cowboy thing." Rocky sipped his drink. "You know any of that?"
"Only things I knew were Jason's birthday and that Trini and Kim were trying to adopt."
Rocky said suddenly, "You want to go for a walk? The air in here's giving me a migraine."
"Sure."
They downed the remainder of their drinks and flicked the money onto the bar. Then they walked out.
The park was dark, a usual occurrence at ten o'clock at night. The only light came from the scattered streetlights and lamps, which mostly only lit up the paths. Part of the Angel Grove Forest stretched away on their right side. Assorted birdcalls came from the few animals still awake, and a little ticked off about the slight disturbance of the peace from the light scraping sounds of the two pairs of feet.
"So, you got a significant other?" Rocky asked.
The man next to him snorted. "Nah. No guy worth their salt would let me near them."
Rocky nodded sagely. They walked in silence for a few seconds before the words sunk in. "No guy?"
The adult next to him snapped his fingers in mock remembrance. "I knew there was something I had to tell you guys!" he exclaimed.
"So what? You're gay? And you couldn't tell me?" Rocky's voice was rising. The man suddenly stopped in his tracks, but Rocky kept going, although he had noticed. "It's pretty easy, see? Say it with me. 'Rocko, can I have a word? I'm gay.' I don't think it's that hard." He whirled around. "Why didn't you tell me? I'm your best friend, for God's sakes."
The man stepped back into the shadows so it seemed as if the words he spoke came from nowhere. "It's that easy? Fine. You don't know what it's like to be teased in grade two…grade two, Rocko…with people already telling you that you're gay, a fag, you don't deserve anything..." The voice up until now had been steady, clipped, but it wavered as he spoke. "You don't know what it's like getting thrown out of your home because of something you can't control." He took a deep breath. "All of you thought...assumed...I went on the road because I wanted to, because I enjoyed it. None of you asked about the first month, all the lonely nights, praying my father would let me back into the family."
He stepped forward, closer to Rocky so that Rocky could see two black eyes gleaming from the light from the streetlight about twenty-five metres away. Dark hair framed the face that was more familiar to Rocky than his own.
"Don't ask me about what happened when I told my father. You have no idea how I felt when three seconds before I told him he talked to me about how I was always going to be his son, how he loved me, how he wanted me to succeed, how he knew I'd find true love, yadda yadda yadda. When I told him..." His voice broke and he angrily swiped his face. The drops on his face could be the rain that was starting to fall, or something entirely more heart wrenching. "When I told him I was gay, he didn't say anything. Just smiled, then called up that friend of his, the lawyer. He didn't say a single word, just smiled at me when I asked him what he was doing. The bloke answered, and my dad asked..." He took a deep breath, aware of Rocky staring at him; aware he was going to start fully-fledged crying. "My dad asked...how exactly does someone legally disown their son?"
Rocky felt sick. The man he had looked up to for years, the person he had visited not three weeks ago...had disowned his own son because of something he couldn't help. "God, Adam..."
Adam raised a hand, stepping back into the shadows. "Don't say one word, Rockwell. Not one word."
Rockwell. Adam only called him that when he was deadly serious. Adam suddenly lost his composure, sobs suddenly wracking his body. Rocky moved forward awkwardly, but Adam stepped back again, holding out a hand like it would actually help. "You want to know why I never told you?" He rubbed his eyes furiously, the shaft of light next to him lighting him up slightly. "Because...I..." The man in front of Rocky was no longer a man. He was just a scared teen, one that Rocky used to know, one he used to spar with, one he used to talk with. The man lost the fight, turning quickly and running full pelt down the path they had come less than ten minutes earlier.
Adam sat in the low branches of the tree, still crying quietly. He felt the smooth leather of his jacket and pulled it closer for comfort. The night was cool, the rain pattering softly onto the grass. He leant up against the trunk of the tree, and for the first time since he had seen the Angel Grove sign, no, since he went on the road, he felt safe, like no one could touch him without his say-so. The slight tears that ran down his face slowly disappeared in the soft breeze that lightly buffeted the branches, rocking them like waves rocked a boat.
Just above his right shoulder, a caterpillar on a leaf stretched out, inching its way across the green plain. Adam watched it, smiling as it finally reached the other side. He gently reached up and let it crawl onto his finger, momentarily just watching the limited light illuminate the light green bug. Adam released it onto another branch, where it immediately started pulling itself to the other side.
"Adam?" he heard being yelled through the woods. Rocky. "Adam?"
He considered yelling out "Here!" but decided against it. He curled up as much as he could, and waited for Rocky to go home.
Rocky fell to the bottom of a thick trunk, his body not even spreading to touch both sides. He suddenly groaned, putting his head in his hands. Why hadn't he noticed? The days, the months, the years they had spent together, Adam pondering the mysteries of life, and Rocky fantasizing over the girl of the week. He had sometimes wondered over why Adam hadn't expressed any kind of attraction to any members of the female persuasion, but after the first few months of having hormones racing around his body, he had decided Adam could make his own choices and left him alone.
"Why didn't I notice?" he mumbled. He repeated it, just a little louder. "Why didn't I notice?!"
"You didn't notice because I didn't want anyone to notice," a soft voice said from somewhere near him. Rocky looked around wildly to see who spoke, but it was soon obvious to him that it was the boy he was thinking about. A body suddenly dropped from above; landing with both feet steady on the ground. The voice continued. "Fact is, I control who knows me, and what they know about me. If I don't wasn't someone to know something, they can keep observing me for years, and they'll never get a clue. It's my life, and I just happen to have gotten a raw deal."
Rocky, for the first time, noticed how warm Adam looked, and how the rain that had fallen had chilled the air to a degree almost at freezing level. "Come on,' Adam said, breaking his train of thought. "Let's get back, now I've spilled my guts." He gave Rocky a hand up and they started walking.