Author's Note: Just another lil bit of fun, written at the urging of some friends. Thanks to QueenRiley for the inspiration for this. If you want to read a wonderful story with a similar premise to this fic, you should check out her fic 'Innocence' – it's amazing.
Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers or any related media or characters. The story idea is partly own but the rest isn't. Everything is copyrighted to its respective owners.
WARNING!: This fic will contain slash, femslash and possibly even some het (le gasp). Fic rating might change depending on what I write for later chapters, but I will warn before any mature scenes. Please keep this in mind.
Extra Note: Contains some spoilers for certain plot points in the series, maybe. Slight AU since it strays from canon – but most of my fics do that, ne?
Sunday afternoons were awesome, provided Venjix was attacking. Scott and Summer would take the time to leisurely stroll around the city, talking and being generally romantic and doing couples things. Gem and Gemma would use it to set up whatever new idea for fun they had for that evening or developing weapons. Dillon would either work on his car or go out on the town for a while, not really bothering to tell anyone where or why. Tenaya had taken to dragging K on outings during this time, making sure the younger girl got enough sunlight and actually did things. That usually left Ziggy to watch for Attackbots and summon the team if they were separated, but he could still do what he wanted around the Garage for the most part. And what he wanted to do was help Flynn, since the pair tended to use Sundays as their paling around and work time.
The Aston Martin was coming along nicely, but wasn't ready to be moved to the garage. Since Flynn took a lot of his free time with Ziggy to work on it, he had very little time for stuff with his truck. The man didn't mind, really, since working on a beautiful machine was wonderful either way, and he was having fun actually rebuilding and improving the car. But this did mean he needed to use Sundays to work on his personal vehicle, and with Ziggy stuck around the Garage too, they kept each other company during this.
As Flynn was leaning up from being buried under the hood of his car and was surprised to see a glass full of pink smoothie and a parasol being held out to him. "Hey, wha's this for?" he asked, accepting the drink with a grin. They usually waited till around three or four to start making smoothies, so if the boy was making one at only noon, there was usually a reason.
Ziggy shrugged, "I was testing out a new recipe and I needed a reason to be in the kitchen area and distracted."the boy admitted sheepishly, taking a seat on a stool by Flynn's car. The older man was about to ask why when he noticed where his friend's eyes drifted as he spoke – the young brunette's eyes were fixed sadly on Dillon's back as the man napped on the couch. Previously, Dillon had been up and working on the Fury next to Flynn, so that explained things a little.
The Scotsman sighed a bit, shaking his head and stirring the drink he'd been given a bit, "Still avoidin him?" he asked, having noticed the younger male's need to duck out of rooms or become very engrossed in things whenever Dillon was around. The two still had a few moments where they were close, but it was obvious there was something Ziggy wasn't quite comfortable with between the two of them now.
The boy nodded sheepishly, a blush coming to his cheeks before he took a long sip of his drink. Flynn was tasting his own then and blinked, "You changed the recipe a lot." he commented, pretty sure he tasted some yogurt in here, among other things. Personally, he usually used milk. Pretty good still. The curly haired boy grinned at Flynn's approval, going back to working on the parts he had brought out to deal with.
After a while of silent work and smoothie drinking, the blue ranger decided to speak up again, "Zigs, I gotta ask – why ARE you avoiding Dillon? You two didn't have a fight did you?" Though if they had, that didn't explain why the older man looked so confused when Ziggy'd slip out the second he entered the room.
The boy looked like he was considering something for a bit before he stood, walking over to lean on the truck as he spoke, "Flynn, what do you have going with Gem and Gemma?" he asked, not looking at the older man as he temporarily changed the subject.
This brought a strange noise from Flynn, a choking sound that caused Ziggy to look over nervously to see if his friend was hurt. What he saw was the older man losing control and letting out a hearty laugh. "So THAT'S what the trouble is!" he said, suddenly realizing what was going on. When his friend looked a little hurt and confused, the older man waved a hand, leaning down to whisper conspiratorially to him, "Zig, is your difficulty with Dillon that you're startin' ta realize you might be gay?" he asked, that musical accent adding such a mischievous quality to the teasing phrase.
Immediately, the boy's face turned redder than Scott's uniform and he looked ready to stutter something out. Flynn pat his companion's shoulder lightly, taking up a wrench again and smiling, "No worries if you are, sport – you were before too." this comment was made as Flynn leaning back into his truck to work some more as they spoke.
At that, Ziggy looked surprised, darting forward to look at what was visible of the other ranger's shoulders, "What, you mean it?" well, that was a relief at least – it meant the others would at least understand his preferences. Even if it didn't mean it would make finding Dillon unbelievably attractive any less embarrassing or awkward. You weren't supposed to get puppy crushes on your older friends that had helped raise you – not even crushes that felt like a good deal more.
From under the hood, Flynn snickered a bit before shaking his head and patting Ziggy's head with one oily hand – much to the boy's dismay. "Yes, you were. And we all knew it and were fine about tha'." the man sighed and rolled his eyes, pointing the wrench at his friend, "Now, ya gotta promise not to tell anyone I tol' you this, cause we all agreed not to tell you so it wouldn' sway your opinions or nothin, but that's already kinda done so here you go," Ziggy was watching Flynn with rapt attention now, wondering just what this was that the others hadn't wanted to tell him, "You and Dillon, well, ya used to be involved."
At this, Ziggy's eyes widened considerably and he turned to stare open mouthed at the man sleeping on the couch, a blush creeping to his cheeks. Had he really been with other once? If so, then why hadn't anyone mentioned it to him – the boy may be young but he was pretty sure it had to be damn awkward for Dillon to be dealing with a child version of his former boyfriend. Turning to Flynn, he silently asked why, knowing the other man understood by now.
"Well, when you first changed, we decided that wasn't something you needed to know just yet. After this last time you grew though, he kinda asked us not to tell you since he didn't want you feelin like you had to like him or whatever. Personally, I thought it was stupid – if you were that way before, then you're that way, and if you found him attractive and worth dating before, you most likely would when you got to be about that age or remembered." Flynn explained. Since changing again, Ziggy's memory floods had been slowing down and becoming less painful, and they'd all kind of known he'd remember his relationship and feelings for the black ranger eventually – they had just agreed not to tell if Ziggy asked out of courtesy for Dillon's feelings. They hadn't taken Ziggy's into account, not realizing puberty brought out a lot of things not everyone was ready to deal with and thirteen was about when all of that crap started.
Ziggy sighed and held up the toolbox for Flynn to grab the one he wanted, "How did you know that was what was wrong when I started to ask about you and the twins anyway?"
The ranger chuckled, shaking his head, "I'm not daft, Ziggy. I know you well enough by now to know the way your brain works," he poked the boy's forehead as he said this, "You wanted to know how I knew I loved both of them, ne?" At his friend's nod, Flynn smirked, "Well when you start askin stuff like that, right after wistfully staring and blushing at a guy who you've been avoiding, it gets a little obvious. Especially when he was your boyfriend as an adult."
For that, the boy hit his friend's arm with an oily rag and the pair began to fight back and forth a bit, abandoning the toolbox and just roughhousing some. Dillon was woken up by their laughter and found himself staring at a laughing Ziggy caught in the Scotsman's grip as Flynn gave the boy a noogie, the pair obviously having a blast. Though he chuckled at the scene, he couldn't help a sad and slightly jealous pang in his chest – at one point, it would have just been him and Ziggy laughing like that.
The man would have gone back to sleep, but at that point Gem and Gemma came thundering down the stairs, carrying a set of remote controlled vehicles they'd been building to have a tournament with Ziggy. They stared curiously at the small wrestling match before speaking up, "What are-" Gem started, that cute eager look on his face, "-you two doing?" Gemma finished, eyes sparkling.
"Gem! Gemma! Help! He's captured me!" Ziggy laughed, stretching his free arm for the two, a very playful gesture between the three. It seemed none of them had noticed the black ranger watching, a funny look on his face.
The twins immediately rushed over with superhero poses to help wrestle Flynn off of the younger ranger, the pair tickling him as an attack. The boy whooped and laughed, watching the trio's play. No one ever questioned how Flynn could love two people at once when they saw him like this with both twins, the three all playing and making each other happy. Ziggy turned to look back at where Dillon had been sleeping and caught his eye, blinking in surprise that the other was awake – how long had he been up? However, Dillon just banished whatever thoughts he had and smiled, walking over to clap a hand on Ziggy's shoulder.
"You sure know how to get into trouble." he informed the younger boy, trying to ignore the nervous way his companion flinched away from the touch. Still the curly haired boy smiled up at him and the man tried not to think about missing that smile.
Ziggy's avoiding Dillon didn't really stop at that point, though it did decrease a little bit. The boy was obviously still nervous around his older friend and had even more reason to be now, not that the others knew that. Thankfully, with such busy schedules, there really wasn't much avoiding that needed to be done. The adults all had to deal with saving the city, as well as personal projects, and Ziggy had all kinds of lessons to work on. Really, some days it was surprising they saw each other at all.
Summer enjoyed getting to be 'mama' to the boy. Sure, he wasn't her child and she really wasn't ready to have kids of her own, but getting to take care of Ziggy like this was nice for both of them. He needed a mom and she needed someone to coddle and mother. Scott would joke she was trying to guilt him into marrying her by looking so cute when she was being motherly. Ziggy would promptly joke back that Scott might have something wrong with him if he needed to be guilted into marrying Summer. At that point things would usually devolve into Scott smacking the boy upside the head and getting hitting back, and the pair play fighting while Summer laughed.
Presently, the pair were relaxed on the couch, watching a documentary on some forest creatures that'd been alive before Venjix. There was an open pizza on the coffee table and Ziggy had his head resting against Summer's chest. The blonde was lightly petting his hair as they watched, telling him about having seen some of these critters in zoos as a child. The boy seemed content just to have her nearby, but the interesting subject matter did help.
"Hey Summer?" he asked after a while, glancing up at her, "What was I like as an adult?" It was something that'd been partly bugging the boy for a while. He did get flashes of certain parts of his older years, but being a power ranger or too much about the team was still missing. The youth was pretty sure they hadn't been as fond of him the first time around, but something in him still wanted to know.
The blonde blinked down at her companion before sighing and resting her head against his, "Well, you were energetic, that's for sure," she told him with a small laugh, hand moving down to rub soothing circles along his back. "And you were always raring to do stuff, even if you left us all behind."
He nodded quietly, shifting against the woman to hug her lightly. "Thanks," he mumbled against her chest and Summer smiled, pulling him close and hugging back, "Of course Ziggy. You're family to us, and don't you forget that." the woman promised softly. And none of them would forget it either.
"Heeeeeeeey, what's-" "-going on-" "-over-" "-here?" the twins popped up from behind the couch, identical grins on their faces. Summer rolled her eyes and smiled a little as Ziggy sat up to stick his tongue out at them. "You two're just jealous because Summer and I got to see the polar bear documentary first." he teased, grinning at his two best friends.
Instantly, their eyes widened in amazement, "You two found-" "-the documentary on polar bears?"
The boy snickered, "Yeah, I tried to call you. Something about Flynn asking first, remember?" he pointed out, reaching forward to poke each of their noses as he said this. Gem and Gemma looked at each other, blushing for a moment before turning back, "We can-" "-watch it now though-" "-right?"
Summer snorted, kissing Ziggy's forehead lightly and standing up, "Yes, you three can watch that together and polish off the pizza. I'm going to go see about getting some extra cash off of the other guys." she said with a smile, heading over towards where Dillon and Scott were playing a round of pool.
"Hello gentlemen, how's it going over here." she asked cheerily, picking up a cue and leaning on it with an impish smile reminiscent of the boy she'd been helping to care for. Summer knew she was good at these sorts of things, but Ziggy's influence had added a little to her more devilish side.
Scott looked up and snorted, "Looks like the master's finally come to play." the man commented, sharing a grin with Dillon who was shaking his head. They all knew about Summer's legendary pool skills.
The woman smirked, going to take a seat near the table, behind where Dillon was lining up a shot. "So what were you two talking about over there?" the brunette asked, taking his time to get the shot aimed perfectly. Scott nodded, looking to his girlfriend for an answer – if there was something up, he wanted to know.
With a sigh, Summer shook her head, "We were talking about animals for a bit but then he asked me about what he was like as an adult." Dillon's eyes shot to her at that moment, causing the man's shot to go off course and miss a bit.
"What'd you tell him?" he growled quietly. Scott glared at Dillon, "You don't have to get so antsy. She knows how to handle herself."
Brushing her hair over a shoulder, Summer looked to where Ziggy was seated between Gem and Gemma and laughing with them about the bears on screen, "Just that he was energetic really. I didn't want to say too much." the woman admitted sheepishly. Her friend visibly relaxed, and Summer lightly put a hand on his shoulder.
"You'll have him back eventually. Don't worry." she whispered, noticing Scott carefully lean down to take his shot, pointedly not watching them.
Dillon's eyes were on Ziggy as well, not moving from the boy. "His cheeks are still chubby." the man commented finally, earning him a strange look from Summer. "He always had really visible cheekbones as an adult because he was so skinny. It's weird seeing him with chubby cheeks because he's so little." It wasn't really the heart of the matter but it hit on what was wrong – the longer Ziggy was a child with them, the more he missed the older Ziggy and noticed how different they were. Summer just pat his shoulder once more.
"Like she said, you'll get him back eventually." the darker skinned man commented, leaning up from the table, "For now, we've just got to appreciate the one we have. Summer, you can take a turn. I'm going to see if I can snag a slice of that pizza before they kill it." he told them, wandering over towards the couch. Because Scott didn't at all want to get away from the awkward moment or go see whatever Ziggy was motioning him over about in the show. Even if his laughter and half cheer at the fighting polar bears said otherwise.
Summer nudged Dillon's side lightly, indicating he should take his shot. The man let out a sigh and leaned in to line it up. This got harder and harder every day, and they all knew it. But things would get harder still when the boy next grew and started looking and feeling much more like he had as an adult. Because then, Summer was pretty sure, they'd have to start watching Dillon to make sure he was able to hold up – a teenaged Ziggy might just be a bit too much to resist.
