Honestly Chapter IV

Save Tonight

Dustin was nervous, and he knew the whiskey burning in his stomach must've been keeping the butterflies there company. He had no idea when he'd ever felt so nervous. He was positive, one-hundred percent sure that Hunter had gone of with Tori to tell her he was choosing her. And although Dustin knew this would happen, he liked to think they had just a bit more time than what they currently had.

He sighed, taking another shooter with Marah and laughed as the burn of his friend Jim Beam scorched his throat. Hopefully, Jimmy would get him through this night just fine.

"Let's dance!" Marah called over the music, pulling Dustin out in to the middle of the yard that had been reserved as a dance floor.

Dustin moved to the music, hoping he could lose the nervousness and the doubt that was clouding his body. Why couldn't he just have been attracted to Marah? She was nice enough, she'd shown an actual attraction him before, not to mention she seemed to be single after her phone conversation was heard by all occupants of the party, and although she had used him…Hunter had done the same, had he not? So why not be attracted to her? Maybe tonight he'd change that. Maybe he could force himself into liking people whose names weren't Hunter.

"Room for one more?" Tori asked as she squeezed in, shaking next to Marah.

Dustin lifted an eyebrow. If Tori was back…that meant…

"Hey, where's Hunter?"

Tori looked over her shoulder at Dustin, "Oh, he went inside. Said something about being hungry. You know there's food in there right?"

Dustin rubbed his stomach with a genuine smile, "Tor, you really are a savior."

Without another word, he left the yard to meet his crimson comrade inside.

"Hunter?"

Silence greeted his ears. Damn.

"Yo, Hunter, you in here?" he asked a little more relaxed.

"Dustin?"

"There you are! What'cha eatin?"

"Eh…nothing, I thought I was hungry, but I kinda lost my appetite," he answered, grabbing an empty red cup to join the others outside.

"Hang on, let me grab some food and I'll head back out with you."

Hunter agreed, standing on the side as his secret infatuation prepared an extremely unhealthy looking hotdog.

"Alright. Now we can go."

So they headed out, Dustin stuffing his mouth full of food so that he didn't feel tempted to ask Hunter what happened with him and Tori. He kept his eyes averted to Shane and Cam as he joined them, then poured himself a mixed drink and stood around, laughing, eating, and drinking as Hunter went away to talk to Blake. Too bad he was being so serious. He looked like someone had just given him a ransom phone call.

"Hey, what's with blondie?" Marah asked as she popped a potato chip in her glossy mouth, taking a breath from dancing.

"No idea. He and Tori gone for a while, huh?" Shane pointed out.

Dustin's eyes narrowed on him, and he had a feeling Shane had somehow found out. He looked over at Cam, who also had the same knowing expression. How the hell did they all know?

About a half an hour later, Hunter was becoming more and more jubilant; either because he genuinely wanted to have a good time, or because he was so filled up on various liquors and whiskeys that he had fooled himself into being happier than anyone.

"You know Cam," he was saying, a nonsensical smile slapped on his face, "You're not so bad when you loosen up."

Shane laughed hysterically, no doubt starting to be put under something else's influence.

"He's right Cam, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you were Cyber Cam."

Cam rolled his eyes, unable to fight the grin that came to his face, "You guys never cease to amaze me with your constant doubt of my ability to have fun. I am human, guys."

Shane shrugged, but Kapri beat him to the sentence, "Coulda fooled us."

Everyone laughed, and Hunter risked a glance over at Dustin, who was dancing with Blake and Tori. He sighed inwardly. He knew he had to tell Dustin tonight, even Blake said so. They'd talked about it for at least 15 minutes, coming out to the same conclusion each time; Dustin had to know.

Cam had a nice retort for Kapri, which caused everyone but Hunter to erupt in laughter.

"Hey Dus-Dustin-can I talk to you man?" he asked, his voice ragged with fatigue and a bit of hidden desire.

Dustin turned his attention to Hunter, the smile still plastered on his face from the dry joke Cam had just finished.

"Yeah, sure dude," he replied, drinking from his red Silo brand cup.

Hunter swallowed several times as he walked away towards Tori's front yard.

"What's up, Hunter?" Dustin asked, setting his cup on a porch ledge.

Hunter swallowed again. His mouth felt like an arid wasteland, or like he'd just swallowed a gallon of peanut butter.

"I-I've got something I' been wantin' to tell you for awhile," he slurred out.

[Not now] he thought to himself, not wanting the alcohol to hit him so hard.

"Sure," Dustin said, still unaffected by his friend's strange behavior.

Clearing his throat, Hunter tried again, "I' been thinkin'n'all, ya know, bout leavin' and not seein' people for a long time. So Blake thought it'd be a good idea for me to say so tonight."

[That doesn't sound right] Hunter corrected himself in his head. He saw Dustin look at him somewhat funny.

"Hunter, you don't look like you're feeling too good," Dustin spoke quietly, taking a step closer.

"No, no, I'm fine. I'm fine. I ju—"I just wanna tell you something" he said again.

"So tell me, Hunter," Dustin urged, his nonchalant attitude substituted for concern.

"I'm gettin' there, I'm gettin'' there," Hunter answered, waving his hand at Dustin in a dismissing fashion.

He took a deep breath, swayed a bit, and then cleared his throat.

"I like you."

Dustin rolled his eyes, "Hunter, shut up, that's not funny. We've already talked about this, remember?"

Hunter took a wavy step forward, "N-no, really, I do."

"No, you don't, you're drunk."

"So?"

"So, I'm not going to listen to you while there are a bunch of drinks talking for you. We both agreed we wouldn't get our emotions involved" Dustin said wisely, attempting to pull Hunter into the house.

"Nooooooooo," Hunter groaned, pulling away and almost falling on the dew-covered lawn, "Listen to me."

"NO!" Dustin shouted angrily, "You can't like me. It doesn't happen that way, okay?"

Hunter looked confused, "W-what?"

Dustin turned his back to Hunter, pacing up the porch, then grabbing his cup and downing the contents.

"You wanna know why, Hunter? I'll tell you why—"because best friends don't sleep with each other and pretend it never happened. Best friends don't ignore each others feelings and continue to abuse them! And mostly, Hunter, Best friends don't fall in love with each other! Especially when they're guys like you and me!"

Hunter blinked a few times, then he hiccupped.

"You-love me?"

Dustin's face contorted into a look of frustration, almost a plea. In a flash of rage, he threw the small red cup towards Hunter.

"Yes! Okay?! Yes! I fucking love you, you goddamned idiot!" he yelled,

Hunter swallowed a few times, his sobriety almost within his grasp.

"I-I never didn't know," he stammered.

Dustin shook his head, the situation all too incredulous for him...

"You're so damned drunk," he muttered, "And I just spilled my feelings out to you; but it won't matter because you won't even remember tomorrow morning."

"N-no, I'll remember, I promise," Hunter said, giving a haphazard smile.

He swayed a bit, his eyes bulged a little, and then he finally mumbled out "Oh shit" before whatever was in his stomach came tumbling out.

"Hunter!"

Dustin ran forwards, jumping over the few steps that led to the ground that Hunter had substituted for a toilet.

"Sorry," Hunter muttered, trying to straighten up, only to wretched once more with pain as he continued to empty his stomach.

"Shit…" Dustin whispered to himself, trying to think of something to do. "Uh…ah…alright. Hunter—Hunter," he yelled, getting the boy's attention, "Stay right here, okay? Do – not – move."

"Uh huh."

Dustin ran off, into the dark house, through the clean living room, and into the cool kitchen, the only sound being that of the humming refrigerator.

He fumbled for a large cup, then ran some cold water into it, filling it to the brim. He grabbed a hotdog bun, and charged back outside. No Hunter.

"Fuck!" the brunet male cursed, looking around for the puking ranger.

He heard a rustle in the bushes on the right side of the house and quickly jogged over to find Hunter bent over, still wrecked.

"Here, drink this!"

Hunter looked up, glanced at the cup, and roared, "I don't need water!I'm not drunk, I'm – I'm-" once more he cut himself off the let the vomit up.

Dustin thought quickly. He sprinted over to grab his little red cup, filled it up half-way with water, and went back to Hunter.

"C'mon Hunter," he said forcefully, trying his best to imitate a drunken frat, "Take your shot! Quit duckin out, just take the damned shot!"

Hunter's glazed eyes lifted to the red cup and he grinned lopsided, "That's what I'm t-talkin' 'bout."

He greedily snatched the silo cup and drank from it easily, unaware he was drinking water and not a shot.

"There you go," Dustin said under his breath, happy that his trick worked. If only he could keep Hunter from the others…

"More," Hunter gasped as he looked around. He looked unfocused for a moment more before he began trying to puke again, but nothing came out.

"Shit…dry-heaving…" Dustin quickly grabbed the silo cup and filled it with water while Hunter was busy trying to get the alcohol out of his body.

"Here, take another dude. One more shot!"

Hunter complied, once more grabbing the plastic little cup and downing its contents, unaware that it was indeed full this time and that no shot would be so large.

"Good, good," said Dustin, then he held out the hotdog bun, "Hungry?"

Hunter eyed the bun suspiciously before Dustin had no choice but to practically shove it down Hunter's slightly open mouth.

"Eat the damned bread, Hunter!" he growled, wrestling with the drunken male.

"I'm not h-hungry!" he hiccupped.

But as soon as he opened his mouth, Dustin won, finally getting a good portion of the bread there.

Hunter chewed it loathingly, swallowing it only when he was ready. No soon as he stopped chewing did it come right back up in a plasmatic form.

"Lovely…" Dustin groaned, giving him more water.

A good 15 minutes later, Dustin was quite confident Hunter was not going to be puking anymore. Unfortunately, his tight-fitting red and grey shirt was now stained with remnants of Hunter's daily meals and dribbles of water. He'd also managed to get blotches of substances Dustin didn't even want to acknowledge on the legs of his once nice jeans.

"C'mon Hunter…can you stand?"

He nodded, "P-please," he panted, "N-no more…I don't wanna…"

Dustin gave him a pitied look before scooping up his arm and trying to take him into the house.

"I don't wanna," he kept repeating, trying to shake Dustin's grip, "No more."

"I'm not making you throw up, Hunter, I promise. How about a shower? Get you clean?"

"I don – don't ne-eed w-water," he spluttered.

Dustin didn't acknowledge him as he pulled him up the stairs. He was so happy no one from the party had come looking for them. Maybe they'd forgotten about them, or maybe Blake knew what Hunter was going to do and he was distracting the others. Either way, he was grateful.

Dustin got Hunter inside where he took off the ninja's shoes and emptied his pockets; luckily, his car keys were in there, which he definitely wouldn't be needing any time soon – his cell phone and wallet were also contents of his pockets.

"Alright dude…can you make it up the stairs with me?" he looked over at Hunter, who was beginning to doze off.

"Hunter! Hunter!"

He groaned and grunted his reply, not exactly content with being awaken.

"I need you to walk for me man. C'mon."

Hunter tried to move his legs, but nothing was happening. He shook his head feebly, then let out a strange laugh, "H-I…khant…"

Dustin furrowed his eyebrows, then deciphered the sentence; "You can, Hunter, just work with me."

Again, the crimson ranger tried lifting his leg, but nothing happened. Finally, a twitch in his foot, and a step up.

"Good! C'mon, let's keep going."

After an agonizing ten minutes of trying to talk Hunter through walking up stairs, he finally made it to the top flight and into the bathroom.

"Alright…I'm gonna need you to just lay down in the tub, okay?"

Hunter smiled like a little child, "Mhm."

Dustin slowly let him go and Hunter plopped down in the top dangerously hard.

"Jesus, dude, not like that!"

But Hunter looked content at finally being still.

"Now comes the hard part," Dustin sighed to himself as he began to remove Hunter's necklace, followed by trying to pull off his shirt.

"Wh-what're yah…why're you doin that?"

"I'm trying to get you clean," Dustin growled through gritted teeth. He finally managed to get the dampened shirt from his friend and threw it over near the door.

"It's kindah khold."

"Just wait a minute, I'll turn on the warm water," Dustin assured him, now trying to unbutton the jeans. Just his luck, there was no zipper, but a series of buttons.

"H-hey! They alwayz said you'd t-triie ta get in miie pahnts."

Dustin gave him a disgusted look and continued. He didn't even want to know what Hunter was talking about, he just wanted to hurry up and get this over with.

Finally, he was done with the buttons and he began to pull the legs of the pants to get them off, which proved harder than it sounded. Hunter was not willing to help, and several times he kicked.

"Ugh! Hunter! Stay – still!"

Hunter laughed subtly as Dustin finally removed the pants. Now he only need to get off his socks and boxers. He knew this was not going to be easy.

He started with the socks, maybe to help Hunter forget that he'd just taken off his pants; he was sure that if he went for the boxers now, Hunter would only think Dustin was trying something else…

The socks were easy enough to remove. Afterwards, he hazardously began to pull down the waist band of Hunter's boxers, which Hunter seemed to think was extremely amusing.

"I don' theenk this iz rilly tha tahyme," Hunter slurred, laughing again.

Dustin shook his head but couldn't help grinning somewhat as he threw the boxers over near the rest of Hunter's ruined clothes.

"Your mind and your body really need to learn to agree, then," Dustin said, laughing at Hunter's current state.

Hunter looked at himself and laughed too, though he was unsure of what. And although the situation was not ideal, Dustin was just glad that Hunter was not angry, because he definitely was about to be once the water turned on.

All caution flowing through him, Dustin eased the water on, making sure it was warm as possible. The water was louder than he'd expected and prayed to whatever lie above that the others didn't come in and see this.

"Hunter…I need you pick your head up," Dustin said, trying to lean Hunter up in the huge tub.

"Uh-huh…"

"Hunter! C'mon man, we're almost done; just pick your head up."

The water was rising faster now; the back of Hunter's head was already submerged in water. No wonder he wasn't paying attention; his ears were already under the warm water. Without another thought occupying his mind, Dustin snatched Hunter's head up and tried to prop him on the slippery angle of the tub.

"Hunter! I need you to sit up, okay?"

The smell of vomit was overcoming the bathroom, and Dustin hurriedly grabbed the only soap visible; some sports shower gel for women.

"N-no! That's fur guuuurls," Hunter almost screeched. Dustin rolled his eyes and bit his tongue. Maybe Tori's dad had something…

"Do not move, Hunter. Please."

With that, he ninja streaked through the rest of the house until he arrived in Tori's parent's bathroom. A red container of Old Spice shower gel was clearly visible among Mrs. Hanson's Dove and Olive of Olay products. He grabbed and dodged his way back to the guest bath. Luckily, Hunter was sitting there above the translucent water, singing parts of some random song that was now playing outside.

"And thu daawn kums tuh-morroow," he groaned. Dustin winced at the sound and incorrectness of the lyrics.

However, he took this moment to his advantage as he began to wash Hunter…in so many ways, this whole situation was beyond wrong…

—Retrace—

Hunter's head was splitting in two, he knew it. He half expected to open his eyes and find Lothor and his goons laughing at him while he was chained to some torture bed. He slowly moved his hands, and realized they weren't bound. He wanted to risk opening his eyes, just to get a glance of where he was. He balled his hands into fists and squinted into the overly-bright room. It was definitely a place he did not recognize, and the blinding light made his head throb in protest. Quickly he shut his eyes again.

[Where am I?]he wondered to himself.

"Hunter?"

He wanted to open his eyes to the soft voice but he'd already learned his lesson from that.

"Who—where am I?"

"It's me, Dustin. We're at Tori's…you had a pretty bad night last night, dude."

Hunter tried to sit up, but he felt his sore muscles scream at him for the stupid idea.

"What…what happened?"

Dustin sighed, "Heh…well, it's more like what didn't happen."

"That bad, huh?"

"Well…luckily, none of the others know. I told Tori you didn't think it was a good idea to drive home and told her you and I would crash here."

Hunter felt a pang of emotion. Had last night really happen? Did Tori end it with him? He had fleeting images of the beach, of her teary eyes, of an everlasting embrace. Then laughing with the others, interrupted by a small red cup flying at his face and yelling someone, then…small glimpses of a pristine white bathroom and a tub…

"Oh God…what happened?"

Dustin took another deep breath and gripped Hunter's hand slightly, to which Hunter flinched a bit; "I…I told you how I feel."

Hunter didn't reply, so Dustin added quickly, "I didn't want to. I mean I did, but I never wanted to push anything on you. You were insistent really." His voice died down and he got quiet, "You were emotional."

Hunter's eyes fluttered open. "What did I say?"

Dustin looked at Hunter's worried face; "Don't worry, you didn't say anything bad. You just said that you liked me, that was all."

"And what did you say?"

"I…" Dustin voice cracked, put he pushed on, "I said I…I."

"You said you loved me, didn't you?"

Dustin was quiet, but he nodded, even though his eyes were glued to the hard wood floor he was kneeling on.

Hunter caught several emotions in his throat at once and the images all burst back to him; all the way up until Dustin's heart-wrenching confession.

"I chose you, Dustin."

Dustin's head whipped up, the fresh sparkles of water in his eyes clearly visible to Hunter.

"I…I wanted to tell Tori about you and me…because I realized how much I care about you—how much I've hurt you already. And I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

This couldn't be Hunter? Dustin was sure he must've still been drunk; there was no possible way Hunter Bradley was showing emotion. Not while sober.

"It's okay," Dustin managed.

"It's not…and I'm sorry, because I just…I don't know how to handle it."

"Handle what?" Dustin asked, now sincerely confused.

Hunter's gravelly voice came out, and words formed, but they found his ears with catastrophic force. There was no way Hunter had just said what he thought he said. Maybe Dustin's eardrums had exploded and he hadn't noticed, maybe Hunter's lips moved in a completely different way than what his voice emitted and Dustin didn't hear correctly. There was no way in hell Hunter had just confessed his feelings. No way…

"Dustin?"

"Huh?"

"I mean it…I really do love you too…and I hate that it's taken so long to see that."