Disclaimer: Sniffle. Don't own them, otherwise there'd be a brand new season next year.

More Billy/Kim fluff!

Two: Smile

It had been a long day for Billy Cranston. He had finally conquered his fear of fish. Of course, since his fear of fish had enabled him to have a picnic by the lake with Kimberly earlier that very day he really wasn't complaining.

"Kimberly is beautiful," he informed Lupus, his stuffed blue wolf that he had had since his first birthday. It had been a present from his mom, who died before his second birthday, so it had special meaning to him. Besides, he could tell Lupus things he couldn't to anyone else.

"More and more she's nurturing her inner beauty, which is only making her even more beautiful. No wonder Tommy asked her to be his girlfriend…" he sighed miserably. Thanks to his own timidity, he had lost her. "And her smile is brighter than ever."

He fell across his bed, thinking. When he had confessed his fear of fish, Kim had smiled at him. Not in a mean way, though. More amused and sympathetic. It had been so bright, so wonderful that Billy was fairly certain his heart had actually skipped a beat. He pushed up his Coke glasses somewhat wistfully and sat up. Eying his reflection in the full-length mirror he sighed. Whatever little muscle he had recently developed due to his Ranger activities was hidden under his blue sweatshirt and too-short overalls, his glasses were enormous, and he was just plain gawky. Why would Kim ever see him differently than she would Jason or Zack?

Also lying on her bed, Kim bit her lip as she thought about Billy. He was just so adorable, with his thick fluffy gold hair, wide blue eyes heightened by his glasses, and generally cute aura. And his whole face lit up when he smiled. Kim sighed blissfully. When that 1000-watt smile was directed at her, butterflies instantly materialized in her stomach. She hugged herself. Pausing in front of the door, Mrs. Hart called in with a gentle smile, "Thinking about Tommy?"

"Um, yeah," Kim fibbed, flushing. Tommy. The guy who was her boyfriend. So why couldn't she stop thinking about Billy and that brilliant smile of his? Then again, she was just Kim to him. No way he'd ever see as anything more than a good friend or even –ugh- a sister. Aggravated with herself, she plopped her face down into her blanket.

This one is fairly short… Lupus will appear in later one-shots because as studious & mature as Billy was, he needed some release valve for his inner child. A favorite stuffed animal seems to be a good bet. And since in the episode where we meet the Rangers' parents at some school event we don't meet Billy's mom I just concluded either she's dead or at home with the younger children. For the purposes of this fluffy epic she'll be dead. Did that come out wrong?