Episode: During Episode 89, "Goldar's Vice-Versa"

Adam tried not to look too depressed sitting there at the table with Kimberly and Aisha.

"You know, Zedd has the worst timing ever," Kimberly said sympathetically. Adam would've felt the sympathy a little more keenly if Tommy hadn't already asked her to go to the dance.

Still, he couldn't hold that against her. "Tell me about it," he mumbled. "It's too late now." At both girls' questioning looks, he clarified. "Sarah. She's probably gonna ask someone else."

Kimberly looked over at Aisha who was still smiling her thousand watt smile. See, Kimberly was in on the plan as well. She had heard from Aisha, who had heard from Rocky about his little absentee. Rocky thought he might've found out and flipped, and Aisha and Kim couldn't help wondering the same thing. Now that they knew the story, though, things weren't looking quite so grim.

"Oh, don't give up," Kimberly encouraged. "You have three days until the dance." Which meant they had three days to set he and Rocky up.

"Yeah," Aisha agreed.

As Kimberly flipped her hair back out of the way, she caught sight of her watch. "You guys, I gotta go," she said quickly, and after bending down to snatch her bag, she was off. She'd only just left with Aisha and Adam overheard some commotion down by the mats.

"Hey, what's going on over there?" Aisha asked.

Adam was already in the process of standing when he replied, "I dunno. Let's go check it out."

They made their way to the mats and saw, in the center of a good smattering of a crowd, a girl about their age pulling some pretty impressive moves.

"You ever seen her before?" Adam asked as he rested his hands at his hips.

Aisha frowned. "Nope. She must be new."

Adam grinned. "She's awesome."

"She's coming this way," Aisha said. Sure enough, the new girl walked right up to them, and Aisha automatically disliked the way she was looking at her friend.

"Hi," the new girl greeted. She didn't even seem to notice Aisha was there.

You're so barking up the wrong tree, honey, she wanted to tell her.

"Do you mind if I join you?" she continued, oblivious to Aisha's mental digs. "I'm new in school, and I don't know many people yet."

Ah, playing to Adam's perpetual good-guy attitude. And Adam was falling for it hook-line and sinker, smiling at the new girl like she was an old friend. "Sure," he said. "I'm Adam, and this is Aisha!"

Aisha held out her hand to shake it, but was rewarded with a massive gym bag being thrust into her face.

"I'm Sabrina," the new girl said. "It's nice to meet you, Adam. I understand you're one of the best martial artists at Angel Grove High. Maybe you could show me a few moves?"

"Sure," Adam said, and the two began to walk off.

"Hey!" Aisha protested. The two turned around just long enough for Aisha to toss Sabrina her bag back, and then they were off. Sometimes, Adam's naïveté annoyed Aisha, and this was one of those times. He didn't even seem to notice that the girl had the hots for him.

Well, this certainly complicated things.

"This is the way," said Sabrina, shoving Aisha out of the way yet again to stand at Adam's side. "Why'd you have to bring her along," she sneered.

Adam shrugged, oblivious to the barely-hidden venom in the girl's words. "She's one of my best friends," he said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Because to Adam, it was. Smart as the boy was, he just didn't do people very well. "I just wanted you two to get along."

Really, he didn't understand why she and Aisha hated each other so much. They were both his friends, so he couldn't see the reason for the animosity.

"Well, don't hold your breath," Sabrina said.

Adam knotted his eyebrows. She wasn't even subtle about it! Of course, neither was Aisha, glaring daggers at the back of Sabrina's head with her arms crossed over her chest. Maybe this was just one of those girl things he never could get his head around. He had enough trouble with guy things, thank you very much.

He didn't get long to think about it, though. They'd only walked a few more yards before, out of the blue, Goldar appeared with a horde of putties.

"Where are you going?" Goldar hissed.

Adam went into his fighting stance immediately, but then remembered that there was a civilian with them. "Go take cover over there Sabrina!" he said. "Don't come out until we tell you to."

Out of the corner of his eye, Adam saw Sabrina walk slowly towards Goldar, and then turn. "Thanks for the advice, Power Ranger," she said. "But I can take care of myself."

There was a flash of light, and suddenly, Sabrina wasn't Sabrina anymore. "What's going on?" Adam demanded. "Who are you?"

"Scorpina," the creature hissed. She still had Sabrina's face, but everything else was different. Not that Adam was paying much attention to anything other than the massive sword in her hand. It struck him as odd that she was holding it by the blade, but then, when did the monsters ever do something normal? "And I'm your worst nightmare."

They really needed to get a new line.

Beside him, Aisha scowled. "I knew there was something I didn't like about you," she said. Adam resisted the urge to arch his eyebrow. Somehow, he got the feeling that Aisha's reason for disliking the girl had nothing to do with her being a monster-in-hiding. "I mean, besides your hair and your clothes."

Ah, the truth comes out.

"Oh, I'm crushed," Scorpina hissed.

While their attention was focused on the new monster, Goldar seized the opportunity. With a flourish of his sword, a gold light appeared. Before Adam or Aisha could do anything, the light encircled them, binding them to a tree. "Soon, your friends will come to rescue you, and that will be the end of the Power Rangers!" Goldar exclaimed.

Adam glanced over at Aisha. "I can't reach my morpher," he said. And trying had made the bruises from the last Putty attack protest painfully.

"Me either!" Aisha exclaimed, and turned her glare on Scorpina. "Let us go, you witch."

Adam almost snorted. Because Aisha was really just thinking "witch."

"It is now only a matter of time!" Goldar laughed.

Sometimes, Rocky hated Lord Zedd. Okay, he always hated Lord Zedd, but this was one of those times where he really especially hated the guy. Not only had the guy sent a monster to seduce his Adam (and yes, he was his Adam, even if Adam wasn't quite aware of that fact), but he'd interrupted his first attempt to ask him out, and then kept them so busy for the next three days fighting his stupid monsters and rescuing Adam and Aisha and just generally doing Ranger stuff that he hadn't gotten another chance to ask him out.

Essentially, thanks to Lord Zedd, there he was at the Vice-Versa dance, all dressed up and absent one date. For all he knew, Adam could have a date or something. It wasn't like they'd gotten much time to catch up with everything that had been going on. Of course, Aisha had assured him that she had a plan for that, too, and that when Adam showed up, he was to do whatever necessary to get him alone. She was determined not to let her ingenious plan fall through.

For once, when Rocky arrived, Adam was nowhere to be seen, and Rocky was hit with a sudden worry. If Adam didn't have a date, then he might not have even showed up. Better still, he'd only seen Aisha once when he came through the door, and then she'd disappeared, so he was left hanging out with Billy and his date.

Rocky needn't have worried, though. Adam was there, standing with Tommy, Kimberly, and Aisha behind a wall of dancing teens. He was trying to look cheerful, really he was, but he just wasn't feeling it. Not only had his plan for a date fallen through, but sure enough, Rocky was over there having the time of his life.

"Oh, cheer up, Adam. It could be worse," Kimberly said.

Tommy chuckled. "Yeah, you could be here with Scorpina." He raised his eyebrows suggestively, and was relieved to get a laugh out of not only Adam, but Kimberly and Aisha, too. Oblivious as Kimberly sometimes accused him of being, he knew that there was something going on with his soft-spoken friend, and he didn't like to see any of his friends upset. Granted, he got the feeling that of the two others – Kimberly and Aisha – he was the most in-the-dark about the dilemma. Something told him the two knew more than they were willing to share with the class.

"Hey," Adam said, "as long as I've got my friends, everything'll be cool."

Tommy grinned. "All right, man," he said, and clapped hands with the Black Ranger.

"Yeah," Kimberly agreed.

While her friends were making their exchanges, though, Aisha caught something in the corner of her eyes that worried her. Sarah Dias was making her way over, a purposeful smile on her face, and where was her gaze focused? Why on her charmingly quiet friend, of course. Aisha liked Sarah well enough, but she knew that the moment Sarah got hold of Adam, her plan was kaput.

So, time to speed things up a bit. Grabbing Adam by the arm and pointedly ignoring Tommy's questioning look, she dragged him through the crowd of teens over to where Rocky was dancing and Billy was attempting to dance.

She didn't miss the way Rocky's eyes lit up when he spotted her companion, nor the way Adam tensed when Rocky grinned at him.

"Fancy meeting you two here," Aisha said. She let go of Adam's arm, but only because she was pretty sure he wouldn't bolt, and went to stand beside Rocky.

Things were suddenly very awkward for Adam. Rocky was looking right at him, and it looked like the other teen had dressed up for his date. He was wearing that red vest of his that Adam secretly adored, and his hair was slicked back and gelled. As nice as it was to look at, it served as a blaring reminder that Rocky went through all that trouble for someone else.

For some strange reason, Adam's eyes started to burn. It wasn't that he'd had any illusions about how this night would go, but seeing it so plainly spelled out for him…it hurt. He couldn't just lose it in front of his friends, though, so he cleared his throat. "I'm gonna go get a drink," he said. Instead of heading for the Juice Bar, though, he headed for the Locker Rooms. Hopefully they'd just think he was heading for the bathrooms.

Rocky watched with confused eyes as Adam retreated through the crowd. He'd thought the other would at least be happy to see him, but Adam looked like he couldn't get away fast enough. Suddenly, he felt something sharp hit him in the ribs, and he turned to see Aisha looking at him pointedly.

"Well?" she said expectantly. "What are you waiting for? An engraved invitation?"

"What?" he asked, and then it hit him. "Oh. Oh! You want me to…" He jabbed his thumb in Adam's direction.

Aisha nodded. "Yes," she said, raising her eyebrows in a sort of no duh expression.

"Right. Wish me luck!" Flashing her two thumbs up, Rocky turned on his heels and jogged out of the Youth Center common room after his best friend.

"What was that about?" Billy asked. Tommy and Kimberly had made their way over, too, and Tommy looked just as confused as Billy did.

Kimberly, though, flashed Aisha a knowing smile which was met with a victorious grin. "I get the feeling we'll find out pretty soon," Kimberly giggled.

Rocky caught up to Adam in the hallway just outside the common room, where the music was still playing loud enough to hear. He ran up behind him, and grabbed his arm, turning him around just in time for the Black Ranger to wipe an errant tear from his cheek.

That didn't do much for the ones still welling in his eyes, though, and Rocky felt his heart ache at the sight. "Hey, man, what's wrong?" he asked. "You know you can tell me anything."

Adam dropped his gaze to stare at his feet, letting out a weak laugh that sounded so sad it hurt. "It's kind of stupid," he muttered, "but I just…there was someone I wanted to be here with, and they're here with someone else." He was being pointedly vague, so there was no way Rocky could connect the dots, but at the same time, he wasn't lying. He never was a very good liar, and that Rocky never missed. "I don't even have a date."

Rocky brought his hands up to rest on Adam's slumped shoulders solidly. "You want to know a secret?" he asked. Adam chanced a glance up at his face with tear-filled eyes, and Rocky smiled at him before whispering conspiratorially, "I don't have a date, either." He leaned back, that same grin on his face, as confusion and curiosity sparked on Adam's face.

"I thought you were here with Jessica," he said.

Rocky shrugged. "She asked me, but I've had my eye on someone else for a while now. Since junior high, actually."

Adam thought for a moment, and then cocked his head to the side. "Aisha?" he asked.

"0 for 1," Rocky replied.

"Then who?" Adam asked. The new mystery wasn't making things any better; even if Rocky didn't like Jessica, he liked someone else. And what was worse, this wasn't some passing fling. He'd known them since junior high? That was a lot more serious.

Rocky watched as Adam practically deflated. That wasn't what he'd meant to happen at all. He just wasn't any good at this sort of thing; he didn't know what to say, and Adam was looking more and more distraught.

"Listen, I gotta go," Adam muttered, and the catch in his throat when he spoke was physically painful to Rocky. The younger teen turned, and started to leave, and Rocky could feel him slipping away from him.

So he did the only thing he could think of: he grabbed his shoulder, turned him around, and with one hand buried in Adam's soft black hair, he crushed their lips together.

For the briefest of moments, he was in heaven. Adam's lips were soft as he'd always imagined they would be, and the smell of him – like trees just after a rain – was so intense Rocky thought he would never get it out of his head.

But then he realized what was actually happening. He was kissing him. He was kissing Adam, which though a dream come true for Rocky, probably wasn't so much for Adam. He pulled back, letting his hands fall to his sides regretfully as he tried to gauge his friend's reaction.

Adam looked like a deer in headlights. His eyes were wider than Rocky had ever seen, and his lips were still parted from the shock of it.

It wasn't exactly the reaction he'd been hoping for. Sensing the impending freak-out, Rocky quickly tried to explain himself. Sadly, he could only think of one thing to say.

"Adam, we've been best friends for almost our whole lives, right?" he said quickly. "We've done so many things together, and you know I care about you, right? The thing is, though, Adam, I really care for you. More than as a best friend or a brother. I guess what I'm trying to say is—"

He was silenced by a pair of familiar lips, tentatively pressing against his own. Adam was kissing him. Shyly, like he did everything, but that was just part of the charm. And besides, Rocky was forward enough for the both of them.

Slipping an arm around his waist, he pulled Adam closer. His other hand found Adam's hair again, and he deepened the kiss. Though he only had eyes for Adam, he'd had plenty of experience in this, and it was time to let that experience shine.

The kiss went on until both boys ran out of breath and they had to break apart. Of course, they only separated far enough to breathe, and Rocky leaned his forehead against Adam's with a breathless smile. There was still one more part to his speech that Adam hadn't let him finish.

"I love you, Adam."

And finally, Adam's face lit up in that real smile that nearly closed his gorgeous almond eyes. "I love you too," he said.

Rocky had never been happier in his life, and just as he was about to lean in for the one thing that would make the moment better – that is to say another kiss – he heard a gasp from behind him.

"That's…unexpected." Billy's voice was unmistakable and utterly dumbfounded, and Rocky felt Adam stiffen in his arms. Just as the youth was about to slip from his grip, Rocky wound an arm around his shoulders. No matter what happened, he wasn't going to let Adam get away. Never again.

With Adam snugly at his side, Rocky turned to face the others. There were all of them – Tommy, Aisha, Kimberly, and Billy – standing just a little ways down the hall. Kim and Aisha, for their part, both looked very smug. Billy looked perplexed, and Tommy looked like he'd just seen a ghost.

"Uhm…surprise?" Adam said weakly. He gave a light chuckle, but Rocky could feel him shaking.

Thankfully, Aisha was quite happy about the whole thing, and did a good job showing it. "Uhm, no, not really," she laughed.

"Speak for yourself," Tommy said, and if his eyes were any wider, they'd have fallen out of his head. Billy seemed to have accepted it well enough, though.

"So…what now?" Rocky asked. Aisha's plan had worked, and so far as he could tell, his friends weren't upset – a little confused and shocked, maybe, but not upset.

This time, it was Kim who grinned. "Well, let me think," she said, "we're at a dance, and now we've all got dates." She let them figure out the rest for themselves, grabbing hold of Tommy's hand and dragging him back towards the common room. All the while, their "unshakeable" leader was shaking his head back and forth. He turned to Kim just as they were turning out of the hallway, and as they disappeared from sight, they could just barely hear his question over the music.

"How did I miss that?"

The remaining four got a laugh out of that, and Rocky was relieved to feel some of the tension leave Adam's shoulders.

"Well, Laura's probably missing me," Billy said, and followed Kimberly and Tommy's lead, leaving Aisha alone with her two best friends.

"Took you two long enough," she said, and then she was off.

Rocky laughed, and he could feel as much as hear Adam's soft chuckles as they vibrated in his chest. As the music shifted to a slow, soft rock, Rocky got an idea. With a grin, he dropped his arm from Adam's waist, and instead turned to stand in front of him and held out a hand. "May I have this dance?" he asked, waggling his eyebrow cheesily.

Adam laughed at him, but the blush that colored his cheeks made it well worth it. The flustered young man took Rocky's hand, and allowed himself to be pulled into a close embrace.

"Shouldn't we go outside to the others?" Adam asked.

"And risk sharing you with the half-crazed throng of girls dying to ask you to dance? I'll pass, thanks."

Adam resisted the urge to point out that he wasn't the one who'd been asked to the dance in the first place, and instead allowed himself to be swayed on his feet by his taller friend. God, it felt sort of weird to call him that now. Friends didn't rest their heads on other friends' shoulders while they slow danced. It begged the question, "Does this mean we're..." He trailed off as Rocky slipped his arms around his hips. He let his own arms rest around Rocky's firm shoulders as the other held him close, moving in time to the music that bled down the hall.

"Together?" Rocky finished for him helpfully. They were pressed so close, Adam could feel the words rumble in Rocky's chest, and he could feel Rocky's warm breath on his ear. "I'd like it to." He leaned back just enough to press a kiss to Adam's cheek, and ended up catching his lips, too, briefly. He gazed into those brown, almond-shaped eyes he loved so much, and he was emboldened by the affection he saw in them. "So what do you say, Park? Want to be my boyfriend?"

Adam sucked in a breath through his teeth. "Oh, I don't know," he hedged, and just when Rocky thought his heart was about to explode, a smile broke out on Adam's face. "Yeah. Yeah, I do." His smile turned teasing, then, and he laughed. "Just as long as you promise to protect me from your throng of adoring Rocky-ettes. I think they might start a lynch mob or something when they find out you've been stolen from them."

"How could I have been stolen from them?" Rocky asked, leaning in for one more kiss, "When I was always yours to begin with?"

At that point, it didn't matter how corny the line was, or how silly they must've looked, slow-dancing in that abandoned hallway. All that mattered was that they were together, and they'd never been happier.