Disclaimer: Buena Vista owns the Power Rangers. "Nobody's Fool" is by Avril Lavigne from her album, Let Go.
Timeline: during "Shane's Karma Part#1".
Author's Note: at the beginning of "Good Will Hunter", Dustin is on the phone. I know it was before "All About Beevil", but I was highly amused nonetheless. welcome home, TJ! thanks Red, Sugarplum, and Starhawk. :)
by Adrienne Sekitou
Don't know, you think you know me like yourself
But I fear that you're only telling me what I want to hear
Do you give a damn, understand
That I can't not be what I am
He couldn't believe they had a day off. They never had a day off. Even before they were Rangers, when they had just been ordinary kids -- ninja students, but ordinary kids -- they never got a day off.
Sensei lectured a lot on discipline and responsibility. But apparently everybody needed some downtime. Even a ninja master. Or at least a ninja master who had five teenage ninjas and a samurai with Ranger Powers to teach. Recharging the inner ninja sounded like a great idea.
And Dustin had been teasing Tori of course. Well, kinda. Like, he knew it was her birthday and all, but the words, "day off" had totally distracted him. His ponderings of the track and a movie had been the out loud way of wondering which Marah would like to do.
They had finally figured out how to contact each other. He could text page Marah's PAM from his cellphone. They didn't know how it worked, and didn't try to figure it out. He was just glad text page charges were for quantity, not distance.
Before practice Marah had text paged him about meeting that night. And after a ten mile run, battle sims, an obstacle course, and two hours hard meditation, he was as wiped as the others. Actually the hard mediation wasn't that bad. He was kinda good at it really. Hunter hated it though. And laughing at Hunter always ruined his concentration. Thus the kinda part.
But now with the promise of a day off he was totally pumped all over again. He need to get cleaned up and changed quick so he wouldn't be late for… huh. What was this anyway? Friends hanging out? He thought they were friends. Of course, he'd thought that the first time too. But things were different this time. They really were friends now. This would work.
By the time he got to Blue Bay Point, she was already there. Waldo was there too, running around with his stuffed Kelzak. When Marah saw him, she bounced over, grabbing his arm.
"Dustin! Guess what?" She didn't pause long enough for him to actually guess. She just rambled on as she pulled him over to the bench. "It's so cool. You should totally come with me tomorrow!"
He sat down beside her. "Well, I kinda got plans tomorrow. But we can work it out. Whassup?"
"Kapri and I are hosting our class reunion up on Uncle's ship!"
He sat there for a second, wondering if she was serious.
She was. Huh.
"Marah, do you really think it would be a good idea for a Power Ranger to go to a party on Lothor's ship?"
She dismissed his concerns with a smile and a wave of her hand. "My classmates won't know you're a Ranger!"
"No, but Lothor will. And Zurgane. And Choobo. And --"
"Fine," she interrupted, her shoulders sagging in a pout. "So what are you doing tomorrow anyway?"
"We're having a birthday party for Tori." He scratched his head nervously. "You could probably come. If you wanted."
Marah gave him a look. A look that he guessed was probably a lot like the one he had just given her. "Yeah, I don't think so. I'm pretty sure your friends haven't forgiven me for well, everything."
"But… well, okay, yeah." He trailed off. "It'd be sorta cool if we could, you know, do both."
"I know. But Dustin, I'm an evil space ninja. I can't go to a Power Ranger birthday party."
"And I'm a Power Ranger. I can't go to an evil space ninja class reunion.
It got kinda quiet then. Neither of them knew what to say to that. It was the first time they had really admitted one of the obvious stumbling blocks in their friendship. Their inability to function completely in each other's worlds.
"This isn't going to work, is it?" she asked suddenly.
"Well, maybe not the social group interaction part," he admitted. "But the rest? Sure." He grinned at her, hoping to lift her spirits.
She looked sideways at him, a grin peeking through her pout. "I wanted you to meet my classmates. Could you just imagine their faces if I showed up with a yummy Earth guy?"
She started to giggle and turned away. Dustin turned too, suddenly finding Waldo's antics at their feet very interesting. He couldn't believe she'd said it. He didn't think she could either, judging by her reaction. Not that he hadn't half thought about making a comment about her in a bathing suit at the beach party. He'd thought about it, but he hadn't said it. Amazing how she could make him so self-conscious so quickly. So he just laughed with her, as she played with the puppy.
They totally had a lot in common, but he wondered if that was enough to stand up to this whole good/evil thing. 'Cause as much as they were alike, were they too different? Like, the only way their worlds could meet was in battle. It was a not cool thought, but it looked like it was true.
Neither of them could or would deny who they were. And that could forever separate them, if they let it.
They couldn't be friends in her world or his. So where did that leave them?
In a world all their own, he guessed. Not the easiest place to be, for sure. Alone against, well, everyone.
But as he glanced over at her and the romping puppy, he thought it wouldn't be such a bad place to live.
Just trying to figure out
Exactly what I'm about
If it's with or without you
I don't need your doubt in me
TBC