Disclaimer: If I owned them, the show would still be one and this shit wouldn't be just a fanfic.

Author's note: Guess what? I'm back!! grins At least for this story. Good to be back, really. I'll very much enjoy doing work in this fandom again, it's been too long. You'll also be glad to know my English has improved since my last story so less dumb and annoying faults.smiles btw, my titles still suck so sue me grin

Lovin', being loved.

It was another day in the life of the Power rangers. Like any normal day it started out with Dustin, Hunter and Blake working at Storm Chargers. They did know that could change any minute when Lothor decided to come annoy them again.

Dustin watched Hunter from out of the corner of his eye. He was standing behind the counter, Blake was in the back while Hunter was helping a customer, a very, very attractive customer. She had shoulder length brown hair. She was wearing a light blue jeans mini skirt with a brown top. Also, she had legs that didn't seem to end.

Hunter was very obviously flirting with her and she didn't seem mind a bit. Her laugh was over the top when Hunter cracked a joke. Actually he didn't even have to tell a joke for her to laugh that annoying laugh.

Dustin rolled his eyes in annoyance when that laugh echoed through the shop once again for the tenth time in as many minutes. How much more fake could she get? Yes, he was jealous, very jealous. He was madly in love with Hunter and had been since he'd first laid eyes on the thunder ranger about six months ago. Whatever he tried, he couldn't get over Hunter. He'd never been attracted to guys before so this was new and annoying. The problem was that it wasn't just a crush. He'd had crushes before and this did not qualify as one. It was much more and he hated that because he knew Hunter could never be his.

"Hunter!" Kelly called from next to him, startling Dustin out of his thoughts. Hunter excused himself and came over to them.

"What's up?" Hunter asked leaning casually on the counter. He was wearing a blue jeans which hung low on his hips. His shirt was black with crimson. When he leaned on the counter, his muscles tensed, showing them off rather nicely. Dustin swallowed and dragged his eyes from those muscles to Hunter's face which wasn't much better. Hunter's eyes were the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen, they were so blue. So very blue.

"I'd appreciate it if you would get some work done instead of flirting with the customers."

"Sorry, Kel." Hunter apologized, eyes briefly drifting over to Dustin.

"Go help Blake in the back. The new stock has just arrived. I'll take care of your friend over there."

Hunter nodded and disappeared in the back, not seeming overly disappointed at being torn away from the girl.

"You need to tell him." Kelly said to him.

Dustin turned to her, shocked. "What?!" he exclaimed. There was no way in hell Kelly could've figured him out, he was careful.

"It's obvious, you stare at him the entire time." Kelly told.

'Then again…' Dustin thought and sighed, "No, it would only ruin our friendship and that really means everything to me."

"Look, Dustin, have you ever thought about the fact that it might be mutual? And even if it isn't so, you and Hunter are such good friends. He'll understand."

"Yeah, maybe, maybe not. I'm not willing to risk it though." Dustin said determinedly earning him a shake of the head from Kelly. At that time, miss attractive girl came over to the counter.

"Where's Hunter?" she asked pouting. Kelly smiled friendly, too friendly.

"Dustin, go help in the back."

Dustin nodded and headed off.

"Just so you know, Hunter's taken." Kelly said, hiding a satisfied smile at the girl's disappointed expression.

"Oh… well, goodbye then." She walked out much to Kelly's relief. One less obstacle for Dustin. Her friend really needed to tell Hunter about his feelings because Kelly had the very strong feeling it was mutual. Hunter hid it better than Dustin by putting up the show of flirting with whatever wore a skirt but Kelly had more then once seen Hunter observe Dustin with a small smile on his face. Hunter made sure no one was watching but she couldn't be fooled. She knew love when she saw it. Now if only one of them made a move… She knew better then to interfere. They had to do this on their own time, when they were ready for it. That didn't mean she couldn't give them some hints.

She called Blake and asked him to take over helping customers. Blair agreed, happy to be away from the back where it was way too small and warm for three persons.

Dustin and Hunter were busy unpacking stuff and placing them on the shelves. Dustin was working against the back wall and Hunter several feet from him on his left.

Dustin turned to grab something from a box just in time to see Hunter put something on the top shelf. Because he lifted his arm, a part of his shirt rode up, showing off a part of that gorgeous flat stomach.

Dustin swallowed and quickly focused back on his task.

Hunter turned his back on Dustin and smiled pleased. Three weeks or so ago, Blake had told him about Dustin's staring. He'd started paying attention and indeed had noticed. His flirting with the girl had been nothing more then an act to see Dustin's reaction and he'd been pleased with what he'd seen on Dustin's face. Jealousy.

Dustin couldn't hide his feelings, not even when his life depended on it. Hunter could more or less read Dustin like a book. He only hadn't noticed this before and if he had, he hadn't thought twice about it. Now he did.

He had certain feelings that went beyond friendship for Dustin as well but he was very afraid to give his heart to someone. He'd been hurt bad in the past when he was sixteen and since then he'd had a hard time letting someone get close to him, afraid of getting his heart broken again.

No one knew about that, only his brother. It had taken him a long time to open up -really open up- to Dustin, Shane, Tori and Cam but eventually he had when he saw he could trust them and when he'd seen he could count on them. The fact that they were Power rangers had also helped. They had to get along, had to know each other because they had to be one team in battle. Nothing was more important than teamwork. He'd learned that.

Now one of them only needed the guts to tell the other how he felt.

"Yo Dustin, you wanna go ride after work?" Hunter asked as he turned to look at the earth ninja.

"Yeah sure, man. If you-know-who doesn't interrupt." Dustin answered, rolling his eyes.

"Nah, he won't." The words hadn't even left his mouth properly when his morpher beeped. "Ah, you gotta be kidding me!" Hunter muttered.

/Trouble at the park./ Cam spoke.

"On it!" Hunter answered. He and Dustin went back into the shop where Blake had also heard the beeping of the morpher and was ready to go.

"Hey Kel, do you mind if we take an early lunch?" Hunter asked.

Kelly frowned but agreed and watched them hurry away. Something was up with them. She had yet to figure out what but their disappearing was annoying. It was obviously important because they wouldn't let her alone without reason. Now if she only knew the damn reason.

The two thunders and the earth ninja disappeared into an alley to morph. After the oh so familiar morphing calls they streaked to the park where they found Tori and Shane already fighting kelzacks and an ugly monster that much to their dismay actually looked strong.

"Yo ugly!" Hunter called, distracting the monster so Shane could get a descent hit in. It didn't do much. Hunter joined Shane while Blake and Dustin joined Tori to destroy the kelzacks. They were destroyed soon. The monster on the other hand wasn't going as well as it should've. It had four arms with four different weapons which was as annoying as it was painful. They couldn't get a descent hit in and without a strategy, they were doomed.

"Guys, we need a plan." Shane said as he jumped back to join his currently fallen teammates.

"No kidding." Dustin muttered as he accepted Shane's hand. He gasped when his ribs protested. He was going to be one sore puppy in the morning. And he had no doubts the others were experiencing similar problems.

"Thunder shield!" Hunter called suddenly, blocking a burst of energy which was directed in their direction. "We can't go on like this!" he yelled, blocking another blast.

"No, we can't. Okay guys, time to put them together." Shane said. They put together their weapons and assumed their usual firing position. "Fire!"

The blast collided with one of the monster's which caused an explosion. They flew back in the air only to hit the ground hard several feet further. Dustin was the first to get to his feet but couldn't see anything through the smoke that had formed. He walked several feet and could vaguely make out the monster's form.

He squinted, trying to see what was happening and too late saw the monster take aim. The next thing he saw was a glow coming towards him before something hit him fully against the chest. He let out a scream and flew back, the blast strong enough to cause him to demorph. When he hit the ground, he lay motionless.

"Dustin!" Hunter yelled as he and the others crawled over to Dustin. Shane felt for a pulse which he found while Hunter once again used his thunder shield to shield them from further blasts.

There were none and when the smoke cleared, the monster was gone.

"I doubt we've seen the last of him." Shane said sighing while he and the others demorphed, "Come on, let's get Dustin checked out by Cam."

Hunter carefully picked up the unconscious yellow ranger. With his friend cradled in his arms, he streaked back to Ninja ops.

To be continued…

And here I am again with the cliffhangers. No, I haven't changed. snickers So, how am I doing? Let me know and stay tuned for the next chapter!!