Any Moment Reprise Chapter 25: Poor Wand'ring One, a power rangers fanfic

Chapter 25

Poor Wand'ring One

I don't own The Pirates of Penzance. But if I did, that would be awesome. Oh, and if you're going to listen to it, youtube Helen Donaldson's version because she is a beast.

Peace, love, and joy to The Real Vampire for beta-ing this monstrosity. We have all benefited from Vamps patience and keen eye for determining when I misuse words. If you want a brief taste of a different power rangers season, check out her RPM story 'One Day We'll See The Stars Again'.

-:-:-:-:-:-

Alright, he was angry; Shane could admit that. Hell, they were all pretty angry. Blake looked like he was pretty much two levels of affronted above everyone else present (with the exclusion of Cam; the real Cam that was, but Shane would get back to that later) and Hunter was doing that thing were he was simmering with rage but was only allowing just a little bit to seep through, like a terrifying taste of the untapped fury boiling beneath the surface.

And Shane was mad, but he had switched targets from what he was mad about three seconds ago and had shifted from a nicely conjured-up fury into a more irksome, perturbed state and the sudden change wasn't really doing his nerves justice.

Still…freaking clones.

He should've seen this crap coming, he really should have. If Lothor's monster was likely to listen (because she was probably just around the corner), Shane would've called for a time out so he could go and smash his head against the wall a couple of times at the utter stupidity of it all. By the time that urge had passed and explanations were handed out, Shane had discovered that yeah, he was still angry because it really was Cam's fault. This had been major ball dropage - not a mild fumble, but a complete and total "I lost the ball in an alternate dimension, oops!" kind of lapse of judgment/blatant failure that was going to give them all ulcers one day.

Shane didn't even bother contemplating the possibility that Cam had come up with this idea sober, because seriously, his brain, kind of crying right now.

And the red ranger had really wanted this to be Lothor's fault, because if it was Lothor's fault he could clap Blake on the back and let him really cut loose and they could all joke about it later but no, Cam had simply lost control of his cyber duplicate. Which begged the question of why the hell did he make a copy of himself? He couldn't make someone up to prevent these kinds of shenanigans from happening? No one would have cared if Sally Madeupname started running amuck.

So, quick recap of ten seconds ago; everyone was mad at Cam. Now, a quick recap of three seconds ago, and everyone was still mad at Cam.

You had to be a certain kind of special to manage to pull that off, you really did.

It was unanimously decided that they would all rag on Cam for this later, after the day had been saved and they had retrieved their damsels and everyone could go home happy, except Cam, because he was going to be put in the metaphorical time out. There were other angry rants to be thought out but the perfume lady showed back up and they were in charge of saving the world so they begrudgingly went back to doing that.

But Cam was still stupid.

Even if he technically wasn't.

That should be far less infuriating than it actually was.

-:-:-:-:-:-

There was nothing quite like being the undisputed object of group resentment. There was no rehearsal of the simultaneous looks of disfavor and were it not aimed at him Cam would have applauded Shane, Hunter, and Blake's dedication to expressing their displeasure. Pointing out that their attempts would forever pale in comparison to his own self loathing would only serve to antagonize them further; and while he was one for efficient living, Cam figured he could allow this exercise in excessive emoting. At least as excessive as they were willing to be without someone dying, which to the untrained eye didn't vastly differ from their usual - in Dustin terms - "angry faces."

Said yellow ranger and Tori were much more forgiving than the others, choosing to find humor in his experiment-gone-astray instead of anger. While they had yet to fill him in on the exact details of Cyber Cam's performance he had a distinct feeling he was, how do you say it, 'a bit of a tool'. That was if Dustin's timid yet persistent clinging was any indication. Once his boyfriend discovered Cam would not turn him away (on discovering Cyber Cam's reluctance at intimate interaction Cam was both grateful and infuriated, more for the effects than the actual action), Dustin had perked up immediately, defending his intentions and shooting threatening glances in Blake's direction to clearly express his disapproval for harm coming in Cam's direction which was…quite a nice change, compared to the rest of the day.

Cam had almost forgotten to look sorry after that, slipping on a humble mask when the threats of a smile tugged at the corner of his lips.

Tori had a handle on Blake as she guided him out the door, promising a quiet evening alone and successfully taking care of the greatest of the offended parties. Luckily by this point, Shane and Hunter had sensed that further criticism would be a waste as Cam's focus had come and gone. Eventually they made their exit as well, Shane sending him one final glance over his shoulder as they left.

There was something hidden there, something that Cam would probably never be able to discern, and his stomach dropped out for a second; the haze of Dustin momentarily drowned out in a second of unrestrained clarity.

Shane looked away and the moment ended, and Cam forced Dustin back into his world.

Bright, glowing, wonderful Dustin.

-:-:-:-:-:-

As far as days went, that one had been a long one, and despite the fact they hadn't actually done that much fighting, Shane was glad for it to be over. In fact, he had been so relieved that he had readily accepted Hunter's invitation for pizza over at his place which…should have seemed a lot weirder than it was, but he was never one to turn down pizza and he could really use the distraction.

From the judging look Hunter spared them all before making his offer, eyes locked hard on his, Shane was willing to bet this was his reasoning behind as well. It wasn't until later, when they had actually gotten settled in (alone because Blake was re-pledging his love to Tori over a "celebratory" dinner that was repeatedly denied as a date - that was totally a date) that Shane began to question his choice. He had no read on Hunter, who was occupied by scouring the kitchen for clean drinking glasses, but if the familiar sag of his shoulders was anything to go by, Shane would say that he was about as relaxed as the crimson ranger ever allowed himself to be. The skater took a page from his book and slumped deeper into the ratted couch, boneless, pushing away his worries for now.

They would still be there later.

When he opened his eyes Hunter was putting down two of his successfully-acquired cups brimming with soda, thudding against the cheap coffee table with practiced carelessness. The foam tilted precariously but sloshed back in before it could spill over the edge, leaving the top murky but the sides clean. If Shane wasn't so tired he would have nagged Hunter about how perfectly he managed his attempts at being casual, but his head hurt so instead he just sent the blond an appreciative look because he knew that the other had probably practiced something as small as almost-spilling drinks for an unnecessarily long amount of time and someone should acknowledge it.

Or maybe he was just getting paranoid.

It was Hunter, so that was doubtful.

Yeah, Shane was beginning to catch on to this guy.

Hunter ignored his courtesy because he was Hunter, and Shane just sighed and reached for his glass, careful not to jar the cheap plastic. The crimson ranger followed in suit, though the relaxed air was kind of ruined by his undisguised staring as he took a sip of his own drink, thoroughly examining all that was Shane over the lip of his glass.

So much for this being purely a distraction.

Hunter was completely unapologetic when Shane finally met his inquisitive gaze, like he knew the red ranger was aware he had other motives for this little rendezvous and he respected Shane too much to try and put up a front that said otherwise. It was…refreshing. Shane had to take a moment to appreciate the honesty that was being shown here, though things like "Hunter" and "honesty" and "nice" weren't something he had ever come to expect to come together in his mind.

Still, there it was.

"So," Hunter began when it became obvious that Shane wasn't in a particularly chatty mood. "Are we going to talk about this or what?"

The blond tilted his head innocently and the red ranger took a moment to hate him for the lack of specifics. Or maybe it was because of the lack of necessity for being specific because Shane was completely aware of what he was referring to; he just didn't want to talk about it.

The Air ninja frowned and made a disinterested noise into his drink, using it as a distraction until he could think of a polite way to tell Hunter to shove it. Just because they'd been hanging out for a couple of days didn't give him personal access to all of Shane's inner workings. He was not going to allow this to turn this into some sort of feeling-fest so Hunter could psychoanalyze him for "the good of the team".

Pff, really, it was more likely that it was for the good of Hunter's entertainment, Shane was beginning to think. Or at least, that was what the blond was selling it to himself as. After what had happened with Dustin and Cam, it wouldn't surprise Shane that the crimson ranger was keeping his distance. A part of him liked to think this was the blond's disillusioned attempt at being helpful without ever having to risk his own feelings on the matter.

Maybe. Or maybe Shane was under-rating the Bradley's character based on the very few interactions they'd had.

Again, it was doubtful. Hunter had acted way too nonchalant after his discovery of being led-on by Cam and ditched by Dustin. Either he hadn't cared that much to begin with, or he was convincing himself he hadn't cared that much to begin with.

Or he was distracting himself with Shane. Or all-of-the-above. They were options.

Shane promised his silence to himself a few extra times just for good measure before he glanced back over in the blond's direction, though it turned out he must not have been that subtle with what was running through his mind because it looked like super-crying- heart-to-heart was the last thing Hunter wanted to do either.

He let out a laugh before he could think too hard about it and Hunter glared at him in retaliation, looking refreshingly awkward as his fingers tapped against the edge of his cup. It could have been an act, but by this point in their relationship Shane was going to give Hunter the benefit of the doubt because you could only save a guys life so many times before the whole "suspicion of screwing someone over for personal amusement" became out of line. Messing with them for personal amusement, maybe, but not for actual harm.

Strangely enough, Hunter seemed like he was legitimately trying to be helpful. He'd seen a problem and was1 trying to address it before things got out of hand (as they tended to do when it came to their team, because they were just especially incompetent like that).

Granted, it wasn't in an area the blond was really comfortable with, but he was trying. At least, as much as one could try while pretending to not give a damn.

Shane didn't know whether he should be disturbed that things seemed so bad that Hunter of all people felt the need to have a heart-to-heart or if he should be touched, so he tried for a medium ground that allowed him to accept Hunter's care but still play on the defensive because…

Well, old habits died hard.

"There's nothing to talk about." Which wasn't going to serve as a very strong point in the argument so Shane decided to compromise and added, "I'm fine."

Because he was totally fine. See, this was his "fine" face. It might look a lot like his regular brooding face but it was completely different because he was fine and therefore he could only have a "fine" face on and-

Hunter raised a single eyebrow at him, a look that completely called him out on his bull and Shane averted his eyes so he could focus on not-squirming.

"I do believe your pants are on fire," the blond murmured, joke enough of a deviation from his normal behavior that Shane looked back again, pondering the possibilities of a second cyber duplicate. Hunter had enough decency to look embarrassed by his awful ploy as well and he distracted himself with a sip of his drink, tips of his ears burning. And Shane did not stare at them until Hunter snapped his head back in his direction, annoyed by all the not-staring he was doing.

It was almost like Backwards-land.

It was his turn to look abashed and he gingerly coughed into his hand, scrambling for a comeback.

"What are you, five?"

He felt the retaliation because he was still not looking Hunter's way, and a crumpled up napkin bounced off the side of his head. By the time he glanced back up Hunter was back to looking completely innocent, if mildly peeved.

"Cam," Hunter explained, seeming to have lost patience with Shane's stonewalling, causing the red ranger to go still. "Dustin freaking out I understand, but you were-"

Shane cut him off before he could get too deep into what was clearly none of his business. "I'm the leader-"

"You were way past a leader's concern-"

"He's my friend-"

Hunter shot him a disbelieving look. "Yeah, you were past 'friend' angsting too."

"Says you," Shane spat, all that anger dragging itself back up to the surface.

Why had he agreed to come here?

Hunter looked as annoyed as he was, frustrated by the lack of feeling pouring out of Shane's heart.

Yeah, sorry, this must not be that entertaining for you.

"You can lie to them if you want," the blond spat, venom in his tone. "But you and I both know-"

"So you get to call the shots now?" Shane barked back, rising to his feet- and he really should stop and get a hold of himself; he really should focus but it was just so nice not to keep it bottled in all the time.

The crimson ranger changed to higher ground as soon as he did, never allowing them to break eye contact. "What the hell is your problem?"

And that was the million dollar question wasn't it? That was the big one, the jackpot, the grand key in unlocking all the anger that was Shane, and the words spilled out before he could even think of how to properly express them, before he could remember who he was talking to, tumbling from his mouth in an unorganized mob of chaos.

"I couldn't do anything!" he yelled finally, fists clenched so tightly into his sides that it hurt. "And it's not that I couldn't foresee this happening, or that I couldn't stop Dustin and Tori from getting kidnapped. It's that I finally thought Cam and I were friends and he threw it all away! And now he won't even talk to me or ask for help or whatever-the-hell Cam would ever need and then things like this happen and I can't just reach out and talk to him because apparently that's not allowed anymore!"

He gulped a few quick breaths and shook his head angrily, turning back to Hunter with bright eyes.

This was stupid; it wasn't like Hunter even really cared, but on the off-hand chance he did, if he actually really wanted in to something other than detached acquaintanceship Shane was going to have to keep going, to be the one to reach out first and treat Hunter like an actual, you know, friend.

He finished his speech carefully, opening up this bitter, painfully bare part of himself as a gesture of trust.

"All I would have needed to do was talk to that stupid replicant for like, five seconds, max, and I would have known it wasn't Cam. But all I could do was sit back and think that maybe this was just some crisis he was having and that Dustin would have to help him through it and…" he fumbled, suddenly spent and out of words and he looked at Hunter desperately to see if the blond could make any sense of it.

And then he had to snicker, because the look on Hunter's face was highly reminiscent of someone getting an icy bucket of water dumped on them; sudden and unexpected and a little bit confused.

Shane was tired enough to admit that he found it a little endearing.

The snicker turned into a laugh which earned him a full fledged glare, and Shane plopped himself back down on the couch, more relaxed than he had been in days.

Sure, he could look at this as a horrific mistake because never in a million years had he suspected that he would be unloading onto Hunter of all people, but he felt strangely safe.

Even, dare he say, at home.

If it was Backwards land, it wasn't that bad a place to be.

-:-:-:-:-:-

As much as Hunter would like to think he was good at logic and planning and that his years of ninja training were enough to prepare him for anything and that he really had been expecting some kind of strong emotional response, he honestly couldn't say that any of that had prepared him for this particular reaction.

Which was stupid; in the way that having a theory and watching it get destroyed by reality was stupid. Or maybe that was just his bitterness talking.

Well, it wasn't like his minimal whining was going to help with the matter at hand, but still, ninja angst.

It was like regular angst, but with ninjas.

"So…" Hunter began steadily, once Shane had stopped laughing. "What I'm getting from this-" and what everyone should be getting from this if they weren't so busy taking interest in butterflies and cyber duplicants and not dating people. "-is that you and Cam are experiencing some relationship problems."

Hell, shoot him now. Hunter had not picked up this new hobby just so he could start talking about freakin' Cam again.

Whatever, it was bound to come with the territory anyway. If Shane was going to be his new time-killer, Hunter would have to at least pretend to be a decent enough human to help with this kind of crap. He was vaguely aware this was the kind of favor people who liked each other extended one another.

Based on the growing frown on Shane's face, Hunter could tell that he probably could have worded his response in a more delicate way that would have better appeased the leader's manliness, but that was an awful lot of effort and so far being anything but blunt and direct really didn't work for any of these people, so Hunter just put on his "suck it up" face and decided to continue before the other ranger could think of complaining and pull them off track again.

"I'm also going to go ahead and assume-" And he already knew this because the forced hang-outs were not done on a whim. "-that this probably started immediately after he started dating Dustin."

And yep, they were now in full-fledged frowny-world.

At least Shane had stopped glaring; it wasn't like Hunter was the one who started this.

Okay, in a way he kinda did with the whole making-out-with-Dustin thing, but how was he supposed to know that was going to be so poorly received? He had been getting goddamn green lights all around, and Hunter would know; he had run this shit by Blake (kind of- sort of- in a very vague, hypothetical quandary that still had his younger brother giving him the pity-eyes).

Shane nodded absently, running a hand through his hair with a belabored sigh, which was outstandingly expressive for him, before giving Hunter a sad look. The expression was a familiar one, and it confirmed two things. One, that Shane didn't know what he had done to earn the cold shoulder from Cam and two, that he wanted to do something about it, but wasn't sure if it would make things worse by doing so.

Shit, Hunter was getting to know these people too well. Screw it; he would shove this under the category 'crap that could help me later' and move on. It was true, at the very least. It wasn't like it could hurt him.

Alrighty then, no need to panic. Let's move on.

Shane probably thought in some bizarre way that this null-contact thing was exactly what Cam wanted and the very act of confronting him about it would like…show his disrespect, or something.

Ugh, who was he kidding? Hunter had no idea why Shane hadn't just grown a pair and confronted Cam about it. It would have been faster and probably a lot less stressful (and definitely more satisfying). Then again, it would have also probably been a good way to disrupt the team, at least for a little bit, so Hunter supposed he kind of understood why Shane was being all noble and self-sacrificing. Unless the problem would only get worse with time, in which case he was being stupid.

Shane cleared his throat suddenly, breaking Hunter out of his reverie.

"I don't know what I did," he murmured, plucking at the material of his shorts, and ugh, this was what he must have sounded like that one time he complained to Sensei Omino after Blake refused to talk to him for a week. It turned out Hunter had accidentally broken one of his…he couldn't even remember what it was now, but eventually he had gotten sick of it and forced Blake into a headlock until he started talking again.

Maybe Shane should try that.

There was another desolate sigh, and Hunter forced himself back on track, reevaluating his goals for this particular chat.

Goal number one; make Shane feel better.

…yep, that was seriously his goal. Fa-bu-lous. Blake would be so proud.

Don't think about it, just- Don't think about it.

It would be easier that way.

The goal was pretty broad in itself; vague, but doable. All Hunter had to do was let Shane unwind, or cut loose, or just talk it out, or do whatever he needed to do to feel better about it. Hunter pretended to think about it intently, rubbing his chin as Shane stared dejectedly at his shoes, seemingly dead to the world.

What did Shane (a normal person) need?

Did he need to talk it out (please no)? Work through it (see previous statement)? Retrace his past steps to find out what went wrong (there was no way Hunter was going to win this)?

Hunter stared at him some more, as though the answer would suddenly write itself across Shane's face.

When the miserable silence continued he opted for some minor prodding before they went to the more drastic measure of hunting Cam down and sitting on him until he explained himself.

On second thought, Hunter should just skip to that part. It would be way more rewarding-

Cue his conscious, sounding suspiciously like Blake, telling him to at least try to talk it out.

Fine, but that didn't mean that Hunter had to try hard.

"Can you think of anything you might have done-?"

And apparently that was enough to start him up again (damn it) because Shane was on his feet in an instant, hands running through his hair wildly.

"That's just it, I've been thinking about it and I can't-" he cut off in what appeared to be partly from frustration and partly from having to glare at the coffee table for having the audacity to come in the way of his shins. "I was taking care of him!" the skater exclaimed, navigating away from the offending table and making it to the safety of the window. Hunter suspected he was aiming towards something that probably couldn't hurt him, but who knew. "I made sure he ate, I made sure he was rested, I made sure he bathed…" And pointing out that treating another person like a pet was probably not the best way to win them over wasn't going to win him any points, so Hunter kindly kept that to himself. "I even slept with him so he could-"

"Wait," Hunter interrupted, holding up a warning hand as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "I think I'm beginning to see what the problem is."

It was probably the sex thing.

Hunter wasn't surprised that Shane hadn't thought that the friends-with-benefits option would turn out badly (but he wanted to give the guy props for trying anyway, because there was something you had to admire about that in a person), but he was allowed to insult Shane for the next week for not thinking that their relationship coming to an end and Cam's silence had nothing to do with each other. He didn't even want to try to fathom what the dark-skinned teen's end game had been…unless his goal was to get Cam to loosen up, in which case, he'd failed considerably. The question of exactly how consensual their meet up had been also came to mind, but Hunter pushed it aside for later, because, you know, one thing at a time.

But also, seriously Cam, you fucking whore. If Tori hadn't captured Blake's heart so thoroughly, Hunter would have locked his brother up for to keep him safely out of reach of the tech's grubby hands.

Well, least that answered the question of Shane's sexuality.

And to think, he had been playing so hard to get.

"So," Hunter asked, rubbing the side of his head, exasperated. "When did the sex start?"

Not that it was entirely relevant, but he honestly wanted to know how big a slut Cam actually was.

Oddly enough, and despite the fact that he and Shane had a silent agreement to be frank with each other (as much as Hunter could be frank), the red ranger's reaction was incredibly odd, with a lot of flailing and falling and wild staring. They both blinked in confusion, clearly missing whatever the other teen was having issue with.

Shane opened and shut his mouth a couple of times, flat-out gaping before he apparently remembered how to use his vocal cords again.

"What?" he asked, indignant, causing Hunter to roll his eyes. "What are you talking about?"

The blond cocked his head sideways, attempting to discern the motive behind Shane's odd reaction.

"The sex," he reiterated, nice and slow so the other ranger wouldn't get confused. He swore talking to Shane was like talking to a puppy sometimes; you had to be extra nice and patient with them just so you could get them to stop peeing on things. And since he was feeling extra generous, he went ahead and retraced his mental connections for Shane. "I'm pretty sure that's what 'I slept with him' translates as, unless of course, you meant you literally slept by him, but even you're not-"

And the words kind of dried up in the blond's mouth because holy hell, that was exactly what Shane had meant, and then Hunter had to fight off the very tempting urge to throw his soda at his still-in-training ranger-puppy.

It didn't help that Shane seemed to be still reeling from the sex comment, but Hunter refused to feel any guilt over the possible damage that he'd caused because the red ranger had brought that on himself.

"You couldn't think of a better way to phrase that?" Hunter snapped, before he remembered he was supposed to be supportive and shit.

Luckily, it worked, and Shane was back to glaring at him in no time, picking himself back off of the floor (metaphorically speaking).

"I thought it was obvious," he groused, brushing off some imaginary dust. "I already told you, I'm not gay."

Hunter's fingers twitched as he silently evaluated the pros and cons of throwing the soda. Of course Shane wasn't gay; he only let Dustin hang all over him and slept with Cam and never looked at other girls because he was totally a nice guy.

The worst part of that sentence was that it was entirely plausible, despite Hunter's doubts.

Still, that was a battle for another day.

"Whatever," Hunter replied, waving a hand vaguely so they could focus on the more important stuff. "How exactly did you come to this…arrangement?"

Because there was no other word for it; he bet Cam had even made up flow charts and diagrams and a schedule or something, or worse… Shane had done it for him.

This team was so weird.

Shane took a moment to think it over as he settled back onto the couch, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

"I went to check up on him once and found him passed out over his keyboard, so I decided to put him to bed." He paused for a moment, eyes staring off at something into the distance. "When I laid him down he wouldn't let go of my shirt, and when I tried to make him let go…" he trailed off, eyes pathetically sad. "He asked me to stay." He turned to look at Hunter, stupidly caring and strong. "He was so lonely Hunter, I just-"

"Couldn't leave him like that?" the Thunder ninja offered, trying not to wince at the cliché. It was unavoidable though; Shane was a walking Boy Scout stereotype. It was like the world had overcompensated for all of Lothor's evil by finding as much excess good there could possibly be and stuffing it all into the red ranger, giving him his rainbow glitter charm. It was sickening.

Hunter made a mental note to never get on the other ranger's "To Help" list. There was no way he would be able to stomach it.

Shane nodded, smile in place as though he could read Hunter's thoughts, and the crimson ranger moved on, "And then you kept coming back, whether he wanted it or not?"

Because that was what Shane would do. He was that kind of asshole.

"Yeah," he murmured, leaning back.

"But now he has Dustin, so he doesn't need you anymore."

A sadder, more hushed, "Yeah."

Hunter looked at him closely, sensing the defeat. "Do you miss it?"

From what he could tell Shane liked feeling needed and this here? This was the epitome of need. Though beyond that selfish pretense, there was actually a deeper loss. Real mourning over a broken relationship made whatever Shane had gained from this experience worthless, because at the end of the day, he really cared about Cam (though why he did, Hunter would never know). And now not only did Cam no longer need him; apparently he didn't want him either. Or perhaps it was just the opposite, and he wanted him a little too much. Either way, that was a conversation Hunter and Cam were going to have to have later.

You know, whenever Hunter could stand to look at him without wanting to take a swing at his head.

Meanwhile, outside the confines of his thoughts, Shane had started back up again.

"I miss talking to him," he admitted, rubbing a slow circle on the side of his face. "It may have taken awhile, but Cam is my friend."

Though you thought he was your brother, Hunter silently added, achingly familiar with a family in mourning.

Shane laughed suddenly, smirking at Hunter sideways. "I can't believe you thought I was having sex with him."

I can't believe you didn't have sex with him.

It would have made a lot more sense.

The blond shrugged instead, tilting his head cockily. "It seemed like a reasonable conclusion to draw."

More laughter, "Only because your mind's in the gutter."

Hunter frowned again, tossing another wadded up napkin in the other teen's direction. He wasn't entirely offended; it seemed the sex-shark branding was unavoidable at this point (despite the fact that Cam totally had him beat) so he refused to let it bother him. Besides, it seemed to lift Shane's spirits, and the crimson ranger would take what he could get. Further progress on this front would be halted until Hunter spoke with Cam. Until then he would have to settle for providing Shane with a happy distraction.

Because that was what friends did, right?

Right.

There was no reason to contemplate this any further.

-:-:-:-:-:-

Endnotes:

This was back when I was making Hunter a semi-sane, reasonable person, before his ultimate spazzyness came into effect. It's amusing.

Until next time :)