Oh, hey, look what fandom I'm in again after like a year and a half.
These two dorks are my new favourite thing.
"So, Keith, what's it like being a Top Ranger?"
The redhead looks up, blinking stupidly for a few seconds before recognising the person speaking to be Wendy. She raises an eyebrow at him and smiles, before sitting down next to him. Sven's across the room, talking with the operators.
Then he thinks. What's it like being a Top Ranger? Back in school he would have rattled off thousands of replies to that if he ever got asked, but now? Now, it's…
"Different, I guess," he answers with a laugh. "I mean, being a Pokemon Ranger in Fiore was pretty damn cool. But being a Top Ranger is a…whole new level."
"Busier, isn't it?" Sven walks up to them, evidently having left the operators to join his partner and the new Top Ranger.
"And different," he repeats. "Back in Fiore, there were only the short times where I could talk with Rhythmi, but now we're back here in Almia again – back where it all started."
"The trio's back together," Wendy laughs, eyes twinkling.
Keith nods at that, gaze moving from the blonde operator at the computers to the lone brunet ranger leaning against the wall nearby, obviously more interested with fiddling around with his styler than anything else. Kellyn glances up and catches his stare, and lifts a hand to give a small, sharp wave with a smile before looking down again.
He'd missed Kellyn – he knew that. The two had practically been inseparable back in Ranger School – where it had all been about pranks and deadlines and being scolded by Rhythmi and sometimes Kate – and it'd been somewhat depressing to be split up and work in different regions, but they'd all adjusted. It'd actually been quite fun working in the region where Kellyn had originally come from, and Keith himself had actually worked alongside Spenser, Lunick and Solana – all of who knew and were friends with Kellyn as well.
"It's gonna get more lively around here, trust me," Keith grins brightly. "And it's up to you to decide whether that's a good thing or not."
"I did hear from your teacher that you were quite a prankster back in school," Wendy comments.
"Kellyn was too, it wasn't just me," Keith protests, brows furrowing, and Sven laughs. The cowboy Top Ranger tilts his hat forward slightly, and turns to look at Kellyn, who's now staring blankly at the wall ahead (but Keith knows that face and that stance, and his eyes narrow because he knows that Kellyn's eavesdropping on their conversation).
"What kind of pranks?" Wendy's tone is suspicious, yet curious, and Keith chuckles because where does he start?
"Uh, well, there was the classic bucket of water on top of the door thing, which Rhythmi was always the victim of," Keith states, shuddering as he remembers how angry the blonde had gotten every single time, and how Kellyn had always barely managed to stop her before she proceeded to tear Keith to shreds (and the brunet hadn't even taken credit for being the one to set up the goddamn trap). "And the time Kellyn thought of the awesome idea to replace Kincaid's hairspray cans with spray paint. He didn't manage to get that purple out of his hair for like a week." Then there's laughter bubbling in his throat because he remembers that image with way too much clarity than he should.
Sven's obviously good at imagining, because the cowboy bursts into laughter. Wendy looks unimpressed, but Keith can see the hint of laughter in her eyes (because it's, like, a universal law that you have to hate Kincaid). His gaze snaps over to Kellyn, who's bent over slightly, but he can see the quivering shoulders and can see that his friend is laughing so hard it's become silent.
"But then there were the ones that went, uh, out of control or just plain wrong: like the time we were trying to set up this thing with bidoof, but then Kellyn kind of fell off the cliff and into the mini army of bidoof," he smiles, and he can see Kellyn's nose scrunch up and his cheeks flushing in embarrassment.
"And, what, you swooped in like Superman to save him?" Wendy raises both of her eyebrows and smiles slightly.
"Uh, no, more like Tarzan, but yeah, and-" but Keith has to stop because his smile is so wide it's starting to hurt, and that's on Kellyn because he's mouthing "my hero" and pretending to swoon, the dork. And then the brunet's pushing off from the wall and strolling over to them with a grin, flopping down next to Wendy and resting his head on his fist as his grin morphs into a smirk and oh god what has he started.
"I think you're forgetting the time when you set up a prank with the budew and ended up setting it off yourself because you forgot about it, Keith," Kellyn reminds him, and the redhead shivers at the phantom sensation of vines wrapping themselves around him, but the memory is still somewhat amusing and fond because he remembers the way that Kellyn had burst out into laughter, clutching at his stomach with tears in his eyes as his cheeks turned red. At least Kellyn had had the decency to cut him loose instead of showing the others.
"Dude," he whispers harshly, and Sven and Wendy break out into laughter. He gives Kellyn an unimpressed stare, to which the brunet only sticks his tongue out in response. "Not cool, Kellyn. Not cool."
"Sounds like you two really had an interesting school experience," Sven manages to get out through his laughter.
"That's one way to put it," Kellyn replies with a smile.
That's when Rhythmi calls Sven and Wendy over because Professor Hastings needs to brief them and send them off on a mission. Keith waits for a moment, hearing the words "horde" and "Hia Valley" before Sven and Wendy are nodding and running off, their partner pokemon trailing behind. He snorts softly, before there's a soft thump as Kellyn moves and sits down next to him.
He turns and narrows his eyes. "Not cool," he repeats.
"You're not cool," Kellyn responds childishly, sticking out his tongue as he gently elbows Keith in the ribs. But then he's looking thoughtful and Keith is somewhat intrigued. "Do you remember that time we managed to persuade Rhythmi to try pranking someone?"
"How could I forget?" Keith snorts. He remembers the way their blonde friend's face had become unnaturally mischievous, and then she had distanced herself for a few days. The two of them had learnt about her intentions the hard way those few days later, and discovered too late that they were both the chosen victims of her prank. "You were so embarrassed," he laughs, waggling his eyebrows, and Kellyn tries to stifle a laugh.
"Well, yeah, we did end up in an extremely compromising position at the end," Kellyn reminds him, and Keith fails to stop the heating of his cheeks because, yeah, he remembers that way too clearly. And then Kellyn waggles his eyebrows, and they stare at one another for a moment before they're both bursting into uproarious laughter.
Obviously their laughter is loud enough to distract the others, because when Keith looks back at them Rhythmi's smirking and the other Operators are chatting with each other, but are occasionally sending Keith and Kellyn quick glances.
"Oh no." Kellyn obviously catches on as well, but Keith can still hear the amused tone in his voice. There's a shuffle of movement, before the eleventh Top Ranger is placing a hand on his shoulder. "I guess we're the new gossip of the Ranger Union."
Keith groans, putting his head in his hands. "I already had enough of that back at school."
Kellyn laughs, and that's when Professor Hastings starts calling for the brunet. Keith jumps at the sudden, loud voice, but Kellyn only smiles as he gets to his feet. He jogs over to the professor, and Keith looks down to fiddle with his new Fine Styler. It's actually pretty unbelievable that he's gotten this far, and it's awesome that it wasn't only him – Kellyn and Rhythmi are here as well.
"Hey," Keith is brought out of his stupor and glances up. Kellyn grins down at him. "I'm about to head out to Boyleland. Try not to break anything while I'm gone."
"Excuse you, that was one time," he protests.
"Uh-huh." There's the distinct click of Kellyn making sure that his styler is firmly attached to his forearm. "You're lucky you're pretty."
His head snaps up, brown eyes wide and brows furrowed. "What?" Keith answers, and his voice most definitely doesn't raise an octave.
Kellyn stares, his grin slowly morphing into a smirk. He waggles his eyebrows again, before snorting softly and making his way to the escalator.
"Hey-!" Keith stumbles as he rushes to his feet. "Kellyn! You can't just say that and walk off!"
Kellyn pauses for a moment, glancing back at him with a smile. Then he's laughing – well, more like cackling, really – before he continues to make his way down the escalator. Keith's brows furrow, and suddenly Rhythmi's at his side, and she's giggling.
"Stop it," Keith snaps, but his face is crimson and that only seems to encourage Rhythmi's giggling fit to continue. "Rhythmi!"
"S-sorry!" she apologises, but she doesn't sound sorry at all. "It's just so amazing how obvious you two are and then I realise that you're not even together."
"Rhythmi, Kellyn's my best friend," Keith points out.
Rhythmi puts her hands on her hips and raises a brow. "And that's all you're going to be from now until the end of time?"
"Yes!"
"Right," Rhythmi laughs. "Whatever you say, Keith. Come find me when you stop being so in denial and then we'll talk."
"I'm not in denial!" he protests, but his flushed cheeks tell a different story.
The operator shakes her head, blonde curls bouncing, and mutters something that sounds suspiciously like an exasperated "boys". Rhythmi smiles at him once, before turning on her heel and strolling back to the other end of the room where the others are. Keith clenches his hands into fists.
He's so not in denial.
…Is he?
God dammit.