notes: i really wanted to write a tyler/shelby after that last episode, but my mood was entirely on my megaforce kids. so i decided to combine them!

hope you enjoy, and please don't forget to review at the end! i'd love to hear from you guys, especially if you think i should do another one like this from tyler's pov.

like a million little stars

in the middle of the night
when i'm in this dream
it's like a million little stars
spelling out your name

― taylor swift, untouchable

The worst days of waitressing are when the café is completely empty.

It's not that Shelby really enjoys running back and forth, waiting tables and delivering food, but at least the pace keeps her moving. Right now, in the quiet evening hours as the rest of the museum closes up around them, there are a grand total of four people in the Dino Bite Café, and one of them is her.

"Hey, Shelby," says Tyler from behind her, walking out of the kitchen without his apron. She sighs in preparation. "I'm gonna head home, okay? You can close up, right?"

"I've been doing this longer than you," she reminds him, and he laughs.

"Sorry to leave you alone," he adds, hopping over the counter she'd been leaning against. "I just have to – "

"Yeah, yeah," Shelby sighs, waving her hand dismissively. "I know, I know. Everyone else already gave me excuses, you don't have to bother. Have a good night, Tyler."

He pauses to send her an apologetic look, just as another girl walks through the doors, bringing the total customers in the café up to three. Tyler glances at her, then at Shelby, then offers her a quick wave and hurries out.

Shelby sighs again, this time more dramatically. She's pretty sure he only stayed an extra half-hour past his shift to keep her company, which she appreciated, especially since he was good company, but still. Now it's just her, the couple being disgustingly overaffectionate in the corner, and this new girl.

"Hi," she says with her best customer service smile in place as she reaches for her pad, watching the girl take a seat on a stool at the counter. "Welcome to the Dino Bite Café! How can I help you?"

The girl opens a menu, but she doesn't look at it, instead surveying Shelby as if she's waiting for something. "Thanks," she says slowly, a smile dawning on her face. "Shelby, right?"

Shelby glances down at her nametag. "Yeah, Shelby," she confirms. "Can I get you a drink to get you started or – "

"Oh, my boyfriend's coming in soon, so I'll just wait for him," the girl says, beaming. "My name is Emma, by the way. Nice to meet you!"

She pauses, confused. "Nice to meet you, too," she says after a moment. "Well, I'll be right here when you need me."

Emma smiles and props her chin on her hands. "You're the pink ranger, right?" she asks casually, as if she's discussing the weather.

Shelby freezes, a pang of alarm going through her. "Um…what?" she asks, glancing around quickly to make sure nobody else is listening – the couple in the corner is too wrapped up in each other to notice them, at least. "I don't know what you're – "

"Sure you do," says Emma with a smile, pulling her phone out of her pocket. "This is Amber Beach, isn't it? Home of the Dino Charge rangers?"

Shelby stares at her in horror, unsure what to do as Emma sends a text – to her boyfriend? the government? an evil villain? – and looks back up at her, still smiling.

"I'm not – you must have the wrong girl," Shelby says hastily, backing away. Kendall was going to kill her, even though she had never seen this girl before in her life, so there was no way she could have spilled the secret –

"Oh, relax," Emma says with a laugh, reaching out quickly to catch Shelby's wrist before she can leave. "Sorry, I figured you might recognize me. Our mentor told us about the previous ranger teams, but I guess yours didn't. I'm Emma Goodall – Megaforce pink."

Shelby stares, this time in startlement. "You're – wait, you – Megaforce?" she repeats, her voice going higher as she circles through the words, the implication settling into her mind. "You – you fought the Armada – you saved the world from the invasion – "

Emma smiles at her. "That's us," she confirms. "Super Megaforce, at your service."

Shelby isn't sure if it's possible for her eyes to get any wider. "Oh my god, you guys are legends," she breathes. "Everyone saw you save the world, you and – oh my god every other ranger ever. You – what are you doing here?"

Part of her thinks that maybe the Megaforce rangers have press conferences to go to, TV specials to star in, supervising statues built in their honor. There isn't a soul on Earth who doesn't know about the Megaforce rangers, though it strikes her that she's never heard a peep on who they are inside the suits – she hadn't realized they had secret identities too.

"We thought we'd come check in with the new team," says a new voice, and Shelby whirls to find a boy around Emma's age, just a year older than her, entering the café. This time, she picks out the red of his shirt easily, matching it to the pink of Emma's dress, and putting the two together.

"You're Megaforce red," she gasps, just barely remembering to lower her voice in time. "You're – oh my god."

He smiles at her and settles into a stool next to Emma. "Troy Burrows, nice to meet you," he says, extending his hand for her to shake. "How're things around here? We wanted to meet the rest of your team, but I guess they've all left for the day."

"Oh my god," Shelby repeats, shaking his hand only on autopilot. Megaforce red. She distinctly remembers watching the television in horror when he was tied up and blindfolded by the forces of the Armada. "Um, I mean…yeah, this is closing time," she says, catching herself when the two of them trade amused looks. "You could come back tomorrow, I could – oh, I could show you our base! It's in the museum."

"That's convenient," Troy remarks, reaching across Emma to pick up her menu. Shelby doesn't miss the way his free hand went to hers, twining their fingers on top of her leg. "We had to teleport to a random island."

"You could teleport?" Shelby demands, and Emma laughs.

"Different powers," she explains, grinning at her. "Don't worry about it. How are you enjoying being a ranger?"

"Um," Shelby says, still feeling a little starstruck. "I'm – it's great. Fun, I mean, not fun, since, you know, we're fighting monsters all the time, but – it's fun. You know, like – " She stops, annoyed with the words for not coming out.

"Relax," Emma laughs, reaching out to place her hand on top of Shelby's, calming her down almost instantly. "We know what you mean. You don't have to be so nervous around us, either. We're all part of the same team, after all."

"Right," Shelby says, shaking her head to clear it. "Right, of course! I just – it's so cool to meet you guys, I always wondering who you were. I mean, everyone wondered, but I had no idea – were you guys in high school?"

"When we fought and defeated and evil alien invasion? Yeah," Troy says wryly. "Not as fun as it sounds, trust me."

Emma nudges him in the shoulder, making him laugh. "Tell us about your team," she says to Shelby. "We might get to meet them tomorrow, given how our plans turn out. We're only here for the weekend, though. How many do you guys have so far?"

"Uh, five of us, including me," Shelby says, then pauses. "Well, and Kendall and Keeper, I guess, but they're not rangers. I'm pink…which you already knew."

"Color-coding helps," Troy says. Emma nudges him harder and he grins at her. "I'm just saying."

"I bet your red is more fun than mine," Emma sing-songs teasingly, earning herself a look of indignation from her boyfriend. "What's his name?"

"Um, Tyler," she answers, wishing her face wouldn't heat up just saying his name. "He's – he's cool. You just saw him, actually, he was leaving when you came in."

"Oh, that was him!" Emma says, making Troy jump at the sound, having been completely enraptured by their children's menu. "I should have known, he was wearing red. He's cute."

"Hey," Troy protests half-heartedly, and Emma smiles fondly at him. "Leave some for the new pink, geez, Emma."

Shelby pauses. "What?"

Both Troy and Emma turn to look at her, Troy with raised eyebrows and Emma with a knowing smile. Shelby feels a little like she's being put on trial.

"Red and pink go well together," Emma says, her voice half teasing and half meaningful. "Take it from us. Or rather, take it from almost every team of rangers ever."

"Almost," Troy repeats, probably noticing the look of alarm on Shelby's face. "Sometimes we end up with red and yellow, like Andros and Ashley."

Shelby blinks at him. "We don't have a yellow."

Emma frowns. "You don't have a yellow?"

Troy grins. "Well, then, you're all set. Red and pink. Always works. Except in certain cases."

Shelby opens her mouth, then closes it, unable to find anything to say.

"You like him, right?" Emma says, having seemingly gotten over the fact that their team doesn't have a yellow. Shelby looks at her, then looks away quickly. Emma seems to have an unsettling habit of knowing exactly who she is and what she's thinking with one look. Maybe it's a pink thing. Or a retired pink thing, since god knows Shelby doesn't have that ability.

"No, I – we're just friends!" she says insistently. "It's not – it's really not like that."

"That's what I said at first," Troy snorts, pressing his shoulder into Emma's. She glances at him with a warm smile. "You should probably ask him out first, just to warn you."

"Yeah, if he's anything like Troy, he'll hold out on you for a year, so it's best to get things done early," Emma says, giggling over Troy's indignant "Hey."

Shelby shakes her head, stepping back. "Look, I – we're not like you guys. I mean, I don't know you guys, but – we're just friends, honest. He's so focused on this thing with his dad – "

"But you like him," Troy cuts across her smoothly, and it's phrased like a question but it feels more like a statement of solid fact. "I mean, you do, right?" he amends quickly when Emma nudges him, offering Shelby an apologetic smile.

She wavers. "I mean – " She's not sure what she means. Yes, he's cute. Yes, she enjoys spending time with him. And yes, they've had moments, but nothing concrete, nothing real. Certainly nothing on the level of Troy and Emma's steady, already-settled-in relationship.

Emma beckons her closer and lowers her voice, as if she's telling Shelby a secret. "It took Troy and I two years, Shelby," she says quietly, as Troy bows his head to peruse the menu again, giving them some semblance of privacy. "But it was worth it. I've met other pinks, you know, older pinks. They all told me the same thing – if you love him, let him know. People think we're the heart of the team, but we have to take care of our own hearts, too."

Shelby swallows, unable to find anything to say. The words reverbate through the empty café – the other couple seems to have slipped away without her noticing, leaving behind only a tip. Her heart pounds in her ears at the thought of telling Tyler – of being with Tyler, of kissing him, of even just holding his hand like Troy and Emma are. Of being anything as happy as Troy and Emma clearly are.

Emma pulls back with a smile and squeezes Shelby's hand. "Of course, you don't have to worry about it right now. Tell us about the rest of your team? What's your color scheme, since you don't have a yellow for some unfathomable reason?"

Shelby manages to laugh, and Troy looks up with a grin. "Well, we have blue and black and green. I guess there was no yellow energem. There is a gold one, though, but we haven't found it yet."

"Do you have a silver?" Troy asks in interest.

"Silver and gray," Shelby confirms.

"Why would you need silver and gray?" Emma demands.

"That's like Ninja Storm, having crimson and red, navy and blue," Troy laughs.

Shelby grins. "We have an aqua and blue," she says, earning herself incredulous looks. "Well, we didn't choose the color scheme. That's just how the energems came!"

Emma laughs, rolling her eyes. "Tell us about black and green. We had both, too, except ours were the same person. Are they very different?"

"Is blue a nerd, too?" Troy adds on, and Shelby giggles, shaking her head as she hops up on the stool next to Emma to tell them all about her team. The conversation goes on well past closing hours, and when she remembers to check her phone, she has three texts from Tyler, all with an excess of smiley faces.

Emma smiles knowingly at her as she and Troy get up to leave so Shelby can close down the café. "Looks like he misses you," she says, giggling as Shelby rolls her eyes, feeling her cheeks warm. "Even if you don't do anything till it's over," she adds more seriously, "just remember – you've got a pretty good track record behind you."

Shelby looks between Troy and Emma as he walks up to throw his arm over her shoulders, his whole expression softening as he smiles at her, completely lost to the rest of the world. Emma reaches out to hug Shelby, bringing him with her.

"It was nice meeting you," she says to them, watching both of them trade grins. "You guys should come by tomorrow. I'm sure the boys would love to meet you."

"We'd love to meet them, too," Troy says, smiling. "We'll bring the rest of our team over, how about that?"

"Sounds like a plan," Shelby beams, waving as the two of them wish her goodbye and leave the café. She glances back down at her phone to reply to Tyler, a smile overcoming her face as she does.

Maybe Troy and Emma were right about red and pink going together. She figures they would know, after all.

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