Hello all! Sorry this took so long; first the muse ran away *Glares in the direction of said muses*, and then I found myself in the midst of moving for a couple of weeks. I finally kidnapped my sister's computer long enough to write and post. In apology (and thanks to a sudden burst of inspiration) there's *three* chapters today.
Weesta: I'm a sucker for your reviews! ^_~ Shane's getting realistic. He's such a 'leap before he looks' type he has to pay for it *sometime*. Awesome line? Cool. Those sorta just seem to come to me. I'm kinda fond of his mom myself; I think he needs a laidback person to look after him, since he's always in trouble.
Clueless Blake amuses me. He kinda reminds me of my sister; party girl everyone gets along with, but not so great at picking up on people's character. I've worried you about Dustin's family and school? *Blinks innocently* Hey, he's one of my fav Rangers, too! He's vying for second with Trip and currently winning, while Justin will forever be first in my heart. I like anyone that gets a kick out of being a Ranger; it seems more realistic to me, not to mention far more amusing.
cmar: Sensei will be coming in soon, after so many requests to see what he does. I'm glad you like Shane's chapter; I worked that in especially because you said something. I realized you were right, it *was* too simple. c.c;;; People like Shane's mom! I was trying for that. ^_^ And I like the idea of Dustin being more stable than he looks myself. But then, I'm Dustin biased anyway. *Hmms* I seem to like the cute, goofy Rangers in general.
Gay people make the coolest friends! *Grins* I still remember one of my dear friends following me to class one day, looking around and commenting 'It's sad; there's only six cute guys in this class.' My response was to turn and inform him 'No, what's sad is that you noticed before *I* did.' ^_^ *Mops her forehead* Realistic reactions? Thank goodness; you've got me working harder on that. Considering my first response to a friend coming out was 'So?' I'm not good on realism in that respect. Would you believe I grew up homophobic? *Grins* See? They *can* change! *Watches homophobes running screaming in fear*
Dagmar: *Cheers* You're here! I always love your comments. ^_^ Thank you for reviewing for what it is, even if you don't agree on the couple. It's nice to hear responses on just the work itself.
Onmar: I forgive you. ^_~ *Shrugs* To be honest, I didn't see Rocky/Adam and Hunter/Cam until I read Inbonekoen and Starhawk's works. This is the one pairing I picked out myself. I can see them as just friends too, but this is much more fun. ^_^ Once again, I appreciate your review for what it's worth, even if you don't agree. An 8? That's my lucky number! *Whoops*
crazy4nc128: Hunter and Cam may have more split-second PDAs. I find them amusing, and so...them. I blame Starhawk, bless her. All my inspiration for that pair comes from her.
Nalanzu: Thanks for the error warnings; I finally found a MS Works *Shudders* that doesn't think a copied paragraph is one word, so I can spell check now. I'll go back through, though. I'm flattered that you found Chapter 2 so funny. (CyberCam rocks! He's such a goofball he makes Dustin look sane! ^_^) And Shane and Dustin are cute? *Grins* I aim to please.
Pazazz 21, Mae, insanechildfanfic, CamFan4Ever, Wiccan-One14, StarTraveler: Thanks for all your encouragement and repeated update threats. I didn't forget, I promise. ^_~
Things I Never Knew is dedicated to Weesta, crazy4nc128, Nalanzu, and Starhawk, who all loved Blake's comment in Among Friends so much. That actually wasn't me trying to be funny, but I'm glad it was amusing all the same. The second half of Dinner Disrupted and Never Alone were written after reading the latest chapter of Fall From Grace, so that's all cmar's fault. (I love you cmar, I swear. ^_~)
More of Dustin's family makes their appearance here. I don't know quite where I came up with them, but I'm getting awfully fond of Ras really quick. Obviously, the families mentioned here (Wind Ranger-wise, anyway) are cooked up from my own warped musings and more than likely not cannon, although I'm always willing to share. In other words, original characters alert for those of you who are squeamish, and much angst ahead.
Enjoy! ^_^
(Oops; I found more typos. A couple were serious characterization issues, so I had to reload. I appologize to anyone who's looking for more.)
Things I Never Knew
He watched as subtly as he could while Dustin worked. He joked with Kelly, answered a question from a customer, and forgot where he'd put the tool he was using three times. One of the bikes he'd worked on had left him with a grease smear on one cheek he still hadn't noticed. His clothes were as messy as his curls, but he didn't seem to care anymore than he usually did.
"You do know that Shane won't be too thrilled to see you staring at his boyfriend." Hunter murmured behind him.
Blake frowned. "I'm not staring at him. I'm just trying to see if there's anything different."
Hunter looked at him oddly. "Different?"
Blake shifted uncomfortably. "Well, you know. Since I know now, I wanted to see if there was anything I hadn't noticed about him before."
The odd expression remained. "You're watching Dustin to see if he looks any different now that you know he's...you know."
He nodded, feeling abruptly stupid.
His honesty was rewarded with a pair of gloves slapping his shoulder. "It's not like switching a light bulb on and off. Dustin's not any different now than he was before." He paused to give him a measured look. "Did you do this when I told you?"
Now it was Blake's turn to give an odd look. "No. You're my bro; nothing's changed that."
Hunter rolled his eyes, this time slapping the back of his head. "So why would Dustin?"
Blake frowned as his brother left him alone to ponder that. He supposed it was true, but still. If he hadn't been able to tell Dustin's preferences, what said he really knew that much about his friend at all? Hunter wouldn't get it; as the dark and brooding one, he was actually quite good at judging people, being that he got to observe and listen to them rather than talk. Blake was horrible at judging character, and the fact that he'd completely missed something so important made him that much more determined to learn the things he still didn't know.
As if in answer, something tugged on his shirt. He glanced down and blinked at the sight of a small boy with messy brown curls cut short and puppy dog brown eyes. The kid's yellow T-shirt and shorts were so large he nearly drowned in them, but he either didn't notice or care. "Hi."
"Hi." the boy whispered. "Is Dustin here?"
Blake raised an eyebrow, but none the less whispered back. "He's working on a bike behind the counter."
"Thanks."
He watched as the boy snuck around, creeping up behind Dustin, who didn't seem to notice. That made him frown; as a ninja, there was no way Dustin couldn't have known the kid was there, not to mention he wasn't all that good at being sneaky. Kelly paused in the door to the stockroom as she caught side of the boy, closing her eyes with a wince. He leapt, throwing himself on Dustin's back and wrapping his arms tight around the teen's neck. Dustin yelped and toppled forward. There was a crash, followed by a low groan and the boy's delighted giggles.
"Ras..." Dustin wheezed from somewhere on the floor where he couldn't see.
"Got you!" the boy cheered.
There was a muffled grunt and Dustin resurfaced, kid still clinging to his back. "Ras, I told you not to do that while I'm at work, remember? You could get hurt." Dustin sounded more exasperated than angry, and Blake was startled by how much the tone resembled Hunter's 'Big Brother Voice'.
"Nah. You wouldn't let me." Ras returned cheerfully.
"One of these days I just might." Dustin grumbled, reaching back to adjust the kid into a piggyback ride position.
"Nope."
"What are you doing here, anyway?" He bounced him a little.
"May and Emi wanted us to come get you." Ras informed him between giggles. "Vinnie was taking too long."
"Was not." grumbled someone behind Blake. "I just didn't feel like running after you." This time it was a girl with shoulder-length dark brown hair and the same dark eyes. She wore a tattered sleeveless aqua shirt with shorts and sandals.
He watched her join the boys, a scowl marring her pretty face when Dustin reached out and tousled her hair. There was something about the three of them that he couldn't put his finger on. Somehow he knew when he figured it out, he'd feel like an idiot for not seeing it sooner.
As Blake continued to puzzle over the mystery, a wolf whistle distracted him into looking up. Two beautiful women were entering the store, looking obviously out of place, but too confident to care. Dark haired, dark eyed twins, both with curls to their shoulder blades. One wore a white miniskirt with a long sleeved pink shirt tied in a knot above her belly button, the other a purple spaghetti strap tank top and form-fitting blue jeans. It was easy to see why nearly every male in the area was drooling. If he didn't have Tori, he'd be right in there with them.
"Dustin!" the twin in pink squealed. She darted forward, grabbing him in a hug before he could blink.
"Hey, Emi." Dustin sighed as Ras slipped from his back.
"We missed you." she practically crooned, pulling him down to her height and mussing his curls in much the same way as he'd done to the younger girl only moments before.
"Torturing the kid isn't necessarily going to make him talk sooner, Emi." the twin in purple informed her with an amused look. She extracted Dustin from her sister's grip, only to pull him into a noogie. "Missed you, Dusty."
"Don't call me Dusty, *Char*!" he retorted, ducking under her arm.
Blake glanced at Hunter as he came up beside him, raising an eyebrow at the scene. "Any idea who they are?" Blake asked.
Hunter surveyed them for a moment, then snorted abruptly. "Hey, Dustin!" he called, apparently not bothered by the idea of intruding on...whatever the group was doing. "Aren't you going to introduce us?"
He sounded entirely too amused. Blake could sense the impending feeling of stupidity.
Dustin smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, dude. I forgot. These are my sisters, Emi, May, and Vinnie, and my brother Ras. Guys, these are my friends Blake and Hunter."
And there was that 'I'm an idiot' feeling. Judging by the gleam in Hunter's eyes, he wasn't going to hear the end of this any time soon. Inwardly Blake cursed his brother's intuitiveness.
"Hiding us from your friends, Dustin?" the purple twin, May apparently, teased.
"I wasn't hiding you." he protested. "It just never came up. Besides, it's not like you're around for me to introduce or anything." He paused, suddenly looking at them all suspiciously. "Why are you guys here?"
"We're taking you out to lunch." Emi told him with a cheerful smile.
"Grandmother found out that you want to make an announcement at dinner." Vinnie interrupted before Dustin could say anything. "She's coming over."
Dustin went white.
"We figured it'd be better if you told us first, so we could be there for backup." May added, resting a gentle hand on his arm.
He swallowed hard. "K-Kelly?" he called. "Can I get lunch early?"
"Sure thing, Dustin." she answered from somewhere in the storage room.
"Thanks." He smiled at his siblings, but it seemed almost sickly somehow. "So, where do we want to go?"
"I know!" Ras shouted, grabbing his older brother's hand and practically dragging him and Vinnie out the door. May and Emi followed, exchanging grins.
Blake blinked after them. "That was...unexpected...." he said at last. Normally he would have taunted his brother about being right that there was more to Dustin than they had known, but it didn't seem appropriate right now.
Hunter nodded wordlessly and went back to work. Blake sighed to himself, wishing Dustin good luck. He sincerely hoped that wasn't going to need it.
Weesta: I'm a sucker for your reviews! ^_~ Shane's getting realistic. He's such a 'leap before he looks' type he has to pay for it *sometime*. Awesome line? Cool. Those sorta just seem to come to me. I'm kinda fond of his mom myself; I think he needs a laidback person to look after him, since he's always in trouble.
Clueless Blake amuses me. He kinda reminds me of my sister; party girl everyone gets along with, but not so great at picking up on people's character. I've worried you about Dustin's family and school? *Blinks innocently* Hey, he's one of my fav Rangers, too! He's vying for second with Trip and currently winning, while Justin will forever be first in my heart. I like anyone that gets a kick out of being a Ranger; it seems more realistic to me, not to mention far more amusing.
cmar: Sensei will be coming in soon, after so many requests to see what he does. I'm glad you like Shane's chapter; I worked that in especially because you said something. I realized you were right, it *was* too simple. c.c;;; People like Shane's mom! I was trying for that. ^_^ And I like the idea of Dustin being more stable than he looks myself. But then, I'm Dustin biased anyway. *Hmms* I seem to like the cute, goofy Rangers in general.
Gay people make the coolest friends! *Grins* I still remember one of my dear friends following me to class one day, looking around and commenting 'It's sad; there's only six cute guys in this class.' My response was to turn and inform him 'No, what's sad is that you noticed before *I* did.' ^_^ *Mops her forehead* Realistic reactions? Thank goodness; you've got me working harder on that. Considering my first response to a friend coming out was 'So?' I'm not good on realism in that respect. Would you believe I grew up homophobic? *Grins* See? They *can* change! *Watches homophobes running screaming in fear*
Dagmar: *Cheers* You're here! I always love your comments. ^_^ Thank you for reviewing for what it is, even if you don't agree on the couple. It's nice to hear responses on just the work itself.
Onmar: I forgive you. ^_~ *Shrugs* To be honest, I didn't see Rocky/Adam and Hunter/Cam until I read Inbonekoen and Starhawk's works. This is the one pairing I picked out myself. I can see them as just friends too, but this is much more fun. ^_^ Once again, I appreciate your review for what it's worth, even if you don't agree. An 8? That's my lucky number! *Whoops*
crazy4nc128: Hunter and Cam may have more split-second PDAs. I find them amusing, and so...them. I blame Starhawk, bless her. All my inspiration for that pair comes from her.
Nalanzu: Thanks for the error warnings; I finally found a MS Works *Shudders* that doesn't think a copied paragraph is one word, so I can spell check now. I'll go back through, though. I'm flattered that you found Chapter 2 so funny. (CyberCam rocks! He's such a goofball he makes Dustin look sane! ^_^) And Shane and Dustin are cute? *Grins* I aim to please.
Pazazz 21, Mae, insanechildfanfic, CamFan4Ever, Wiccan-One14, StarTraveler: Thanks for all your encouragement and repeated update threats. I didn't forget, I promise. ^_~
Things I Never Knew is dedicated to Weesta, crazy4nc128, Nalanzu, and Starhawk, who all loved Blake's comment in Among Friends so much. That actually wasn't me trying to be funny, but I'm glad it was amusing all the same. The second half of Dinner Disrupted and Never Alone were written after reading the latest chapter of Fall From Grace, so that's all cmar's fault. (I love you cmar, I swear. ^_~)
More of Dustin's family makes their appearance here. I don't know quite where I came up with them, but I'm getting awfully fond of Ras really quick. Obviously, the families mentioned here (Wind Ranger-wise, anyway) are cooked up from my own warped musings and more than likely not cannon, although I'm always willing to share. In other words, original characters alert for those of you who are squeamish, and much angst ahead.
Enjoy! ^_^
(Oops; I found more typos. A couple were serious characterization issues, so I had to reload. I appologize to anyone who's looking for more.)
Things I Never Knew
He watched as subtly as he could while Dustin worked. He joked with Kelly, answered a question from a customer, and forgot where he'd put the tool he was using three times. One of the bikes he'd worked on had left him with a grease smear on one cheek he still hadn't noticed. His clothes were as messy as his curls, but he didn't seem to care anymore than he usually did.
"You do know that Shane won't be too thrilled to see you staring at his boyfriend." Hunter murmured behind him.
Blake frowned. "I'm not staring at him. I'm just trying to see if there's anything different."
Hunter looked at him oddly. "Different?"
Blake shifted uncomfortably. "Well, you know. Since I know now, I wanted to see if there was anything I hadn't noticed about him before."
The odd expression remained. "You're watching Dustin to see if he looks any different now that you know he's...you know."
He nodded, feeling abruptly stupid.
His honesty was rewarded with a pair of gloves slapping his shoulder. "It's not like switching a light bulb on and off. Dustin's not any different now than he was before." He paused to give him a measured look. "Did you do this when I told you?"
Now it was Blake's turn to give an odd look. "No. You're my bro; nothing's changed that."
Hunter rolled his eyes, this time slapping the back of his head. "So why would Dustin?"
Blake frowned as his brother left him alone to ponder that. He supposed it was true, but still. If he hadn't been able to tell Dustin's preferences, what said he really knew that much about his friend at all? Hunter wouldn't get it; as the dark and brooding one, he was actually quite good at judging people, being that he got to observe and listen to them rather than talk. Blake was horrible at judging character, and the fact that he'd completely missed something so important made him that much more determined to learn the things he still didn't know.
As if in answer, something tugged on his shirt. He glanced down and blinked at the sight of a small boy with messy brown curls cut short and puppy dog brown eyes. The kid's yellow T-shirt and shorts were so large he nearly drowned in them, but he either didn't notice or care. "Hi."
"Hi." the boy whispered. "Is Dustin here?"
Blake raised an eyebrow, but none the less whispered back. "He's working on a bike behind the counter."
"Thanks."
He watched as the boy snuck around, creeping up behind Dustin, who didn't seem to notice. That made him frown; as a ninja, there was no way Dustin couldn't have known the kid was there, not to mention he wasn't all that good at being sneaky. Kelly paused in the door to the stockroom as she caught side of the boy, closing her eyes with a wince. He leapt, throwing himself on Dustin's back and wrapping his arms tight around the teen's neck. Dustin yelped and toppled forward. There was a crash, followed by a low groan and the boy's delighted giggles.
"Ras..." Dustin wheezed from somewhere on the floor where he couldn't see.
"Got you!" the boy cheered.
There was a muffled grunt and Dustin resurfaced, kid still clinging to his back. "Ras, I told you not to do that while I'm at work, remember? You could get hurt." Dustin sounded more exasperated than angry, and Blake was startled by how much the tone resembled Hunter's 'Big Brother Voice'.
"Nah. You wouldn't let me." Ras returned cheerfully.
"One of these days I just might." Dustin grumbled, reaching back to adjust the kid into a piggyback ride position.
"Nope."
"What are you doing here, anyway?" He bounced him a little.
"May and Emi wanted us to come get you." Ras informed him between giggles. "Vinnie was taking too long."
"Was not." grumbled someone behind Blake. "I just didn't feel like running after you." This time it was a girl with shoulder-length dark brown hair and the same dark eyes. She wore a tattered sleeveless aqua shirt with shorts and sandals.
He watched her join the boys, a scowl marring her pretty face when Dustin reached out and tousled her hair. There was something about the three of them that he couldn't put his finger on. Somehow he knew when he figured it out, he'd feel like an idiot for not seeing it sooner.
As Blake continued to puzzle over the mystery, a wolf whistle distracted him into looking up. Two beautiful women were entering the store, looking obviously out of place, but too confident to care. Dark haired, dark eyed twins, both with curls to their shoulder blades. One wore a white miniskirt with a long sleeved pink shirt tied in a knot above her belly button, the other a purple spaghetti strap tank top and form-fitting blue jeans. It was easy to see why nearly every male in the area was drooling. If he didn't have Tori, he'd be right in there with them.
"Dustin!" the twin in pink squealed. She darted forward, grabbing him in a hug before he could blink.
"Hey, Emi." Dustin sighed as Ras slipped from his back.
"We missed you." she practically crooned, pulling him down to her height and mussing his curls in much the same way as he'd done to the younger girl only moments before.
"Torturing the kid isn't necessarily going to make him talk sooner, Emi." the twin in purple informed her with an amused look. She extracted Dustin from her sister's grip, only to pull him into a noogie. "Missed you, Dusty."
"Don't call me Dusty, *Char*!" he retorted, ducking under her arm.
Blake glanced at Hunter as he came up beside him, raising an eyebrow at the scene. "Any idea who they are?" Blake asked.
Hunter surveyed them for a moment, then snorted abruptly. "Hey, Dustin!" he called, apparently not bothered by the idea of intruding on...whatever the group was doing. "Aren't you going to introduce us?"
He sounded entirely too amused. Blake could sense the impending feeling of stupidity.
Dustin smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, dude. I forgot. These are my sisters, Emi, May, and Vinnie, and my brother Ras. Guys, these are my friends Blake and Hunter."
And there was that 'I'm an idiot' feeling. Judging by the gleam in Hunter's eyes, he wasn't going to hear the end of this any time soon. Inwardly Blake cursed his brother's intuitiveness.
"Hiding us from your friends, Dustin?" the purple twin, May apparently, teased.
"I wasn't hiding you." he protested. "It just never came up. Besides, it's not like you're around for me to introduce or anything." He paused, suddenly looking at them all suspiciously. "Why are you guys here?"
"We're taking you out to lunch." Emi told him with a cheerful smile.
"Grandmother found out that you want to make an announcement at dinner." Vinnie interrupted before Dustin could say anything. "She's coming over."
Dustin went white.
"We figured it'd be better if you told us first, so we could be there for backup." May added, resting a gentle hand on his arm.
He swallowed hard. "K-Kelly?" he called. "Can I get lunch early?"
"Sure thing, Dustin." she answered from somewhere in the storage room.
"Thanks." He smiled at his siblings, but it seemed almost sickly somehow. "So, where do we want to go?"
"I know!" Ras shouted, grabbing his older brother's hand and practically dragging him and Vinnie out the door. May and Emi followed, exchanging grins.
Blake blinked after them. "That was...unexpected...." he said at last. Normally he would have taunted his brother about being right that there was more to Dustin than they had known, but it didn't seem appropriate right now.
Hunter nodded wordlessly and went back to work. Blake sighed to himself, wishing Dustin good luck. He sincerely hoped that wasn't going to need it.