Chapter Two

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The next few days went by in a haze for all the former rangers, making plans for their new lives and tying up the loose ends of their old one. But for Dustin, they dragged on. He still didn't know what he was going to do, with his life or Hunter. What at first felt like endless opportunity was starting to feel more like a dead end.

He'd thought about plenty of different careers, even college for a brief moment, but none of it seemed right. He'd always loved motocross, but it wasn't something he could see himself doing all his life anymore. After his experiences as a ranger, it just didn't seem so important. Nothing did.

He'd come close to telling Hunter a few times over the last couple days, but he always stopped himself, to his relief now. There was no way he could let Hunter know how he felt, it was too much of a risk. He might be revolted by the idea that Dustin was gay at all, let alone interested in him. Maybe he should break that news first . . . but he didn't even dare do that. If only he knew how it would turn out.

Dustin sat behind the desk at Storm Chargers as he thought over everything, not getting much work done at all. He had to decide something, he couldn't keep thinking about it over and over. But he had, he'd decided not to tell Hunter. It just wasn't helping to keep his mind off it. The others already knew something was up, they were getting concerned. He tried to think up excuses to explain his strange behavior, but he couldn't even do that. He couldn't think of anything except Hunter.

"Dustin?" a voice broke into his thoughts.

He looked up to see Tori standing beside him. "Oh, hey, what's up?"

"You look pretty out of it," she said slowly. "What're you thinking about?"

"Nothing," he said, shrugging. "I guess I just zoned out. You need anything?"

She looked at him a moment. "Well, I was just stopping to say hi, but Kelly did tell me she wants the shelves on aisle three stocked ASAP."

"Will do," he said as cheerfully as he could manage. He stood and went out from behind the counter, and Tori followed him as he went over and opened one of the cardboard boxes on the floor.

"Dustin, you sure everything's okay?" she asked. "You look pretty worn out."

Dustin paused. "Yeah, I guess I am. Haven't slept much lately."

"How come?" she asked.

He shrugged. "Just everything that happened, you know?"

"I guess," she said. "But I've slept like the dead since then." She paused, and then knelt down beside him. "Dustin, if there's something wrong I want to know."

Dustin looked at her, knowing she wouldn't back off but not sure what to tell her. "Look Tori," he began slowly. "I don't really want to talk about it, okay? I'm fine, there's nothing to worry about, I've just got some stuff on my mind."

Tori shook her head, but shrugged. "Okay, I guess."

"Thanks." He took her arm as she started to stand up. "Tor, I'd tell you if it was that serious, right?"

She smirked a little. "Right. Just don't get yourself into trouble this time."

"It's not like that," he said.

"Uh-huh," she replied. She smiled, then seemed to think of something. "Hey, we were thinking about having a little get-together for Hunter and Blake tomorrow, if you're free."

Dustin frowned. "What for?"

"Just a small going away party," she said. "They aren't leaving for a week or so but we thought we'd go ahead before everyone got too busy. Good for you?"

"Uh, yeah, sounds good." He smiled, trying to cover his surprise. He hadn't heard anything about either of them leaving, they hadn't said a word. But he had been avoiding Hunter lately, and hadn't paid much attention to Blake; maybe it just slipped their minds.

"Dustin, you all right?" Tori asked. "You knew they were leaving, right?"

"Of course," he said quickly, turning back to his work. But when he noticed she was still standing there he looked up. "Okay, I didn't know." He stood up slowly. "So where are they off to?"

"They didn't tell you?" she asked, sounding surprised. "They were both so excited I thought they'd told just about everyone."

"I've been kinda busy," he said. "They probably just didn't get to it."

"Still—"

"Tori, come on," he cut in. "Where's he going?"

She paused a moment, looking at him strangely. "Blake is going to be racing for Factory Blue, and Hunter's accepted the position of head teacher at the Thunder Academy."

"Oh." Dustin was quiet a moment, not sure what to say. "Well, uh, don't tell them I didn't know, okay? I don't want them to think I didn't care or anything."

"Don't worry about it," she said. Then she slapped his shoulder. "So, I'll see you then?"

"Yeah, see ya." He watched her go and then knelt back down, placing the items on the shelf slowly. It was true he hadn't really been around, but he still felt bad, for not knowing and for not being told. It didn't make much sense, but nothing he felt did anymore.

He sighed. He'd have to talk to Hunter or Blake soon, or they'd figure out they were being ignored, if they hadn't already. He wasn't even trying to ignore Blake, it was just that whenever he was with him, Hunter always seemed to show up, or was brought up. He couldn't escape him.

He couldn't believe how much harder it had gotten once the fighting stopped, when he couldn't think of Hunter as a teammate anymore, he had to think of him as something else. He couldn't give the excuse that they had to work together and they couldn't afford anyone feeling uncomfortable, or any distance between them. He stopped concentrating on working with him, and could only think of being with him.

Dustin shook his head, finishing up the shelves. He had to do something soon, he was driving himself insane. Maybe it would be better when Hunter left. If he could hold out until then, play it cool and fake it well enough, he wouldn't have Hunter around anymore and maybe his feelings would lessen with time apart.

He stood, running a hand through his hair and taking a deep breath. That wasn't going to happen. The more he thought about being away from Hunter . . . the more he knew he loved him. How could it be that he couldn't stand to be near him, but he couldn't stand to be away either?

He picked up the empty boxes and headed outside, tossing them in the pile with the others and standing there a moment. Everything was so strange now that it was all over. He never thought he'd feel so empty.

He looked up as Kelly came over. "Hey, did Tori find you?"

Dustin nodded. "Yeah. He nodded to the boxes. I'm through."

She nodded, then paused, looking at him. "You okay?"

He rolled his eyes. "You know, I wish people would stop asking me that."

Kelly shrugged. "Okay, fine. You just looked a little down, that's all." She went inside.

Dustin watched her go, and then followed her in. He still had a lot of work to do, since he hadn't done much yet. But he was glad for it. Maybe I can get Hunter semi-off my mind for a little.

He looked up to see Hunter coming through the door, and groaned quietly. Then again, maybe not.

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