Chapter 7: Blue v. Green, Final Round

The door slid shut behind the retreating yellow ranger, leaving Sky and Bridge alone in the quiet of the empty eating commons. Bridge finished guzzling his glass of milk and set it back down on the table, but pointedly directed his gaze on the empty vessel.

And not at Sky.

The blue ranger reached out to grab Bridge's hand away from the glass, then thought better of it and set his hand on the table. He had not really thought about how his friend would react to the declaration; he just knew that he had to say it. Sky let a few more seconds of silence pass, and then scooted his chair closer to Bridge so that they were sitting beside each other. He tried again.

"Bridge, please. You have to say something," he pleaded. If his friend did not feel the same way, Sky could deal with that. He could back off and act as though nothing had happened, because no matter what he valued Bridge too highly to make him uncomfortable. But Bridge had to say something in order for Sky to act accordingly.

The green ranger blinked several times, as if processing some information, then started to speak. "Are you sure you're in love with me, Sky? I mean, really, people use that word so often without thinking about the implications behind it. Jack said just yesterday that he loves pizza, but Syd loves her parents. So do they each love pizza and parents equally? Does it make the pizza worse as a thing if Syd loves her parents more than Jack loves pizza? But Jack never had the chance to have the kind of relationship with his parents as Syd has with hers, so does that mean that this is an unfair analysis? Or does love work on an individual scale rather than universal? Is one's ability to love or not love someone or something imprinted on the genes like one's hair or eye color? Maybe that's what it means to be soul mates: to find someone who's very being causes a reaction in oneself that makes it impossible to function properly without that other. Maybe in such a case the word 'love' does not really apply, since it's a verb and a verb requires doing, but in that case it's not a matter of doing so much as being, so a verb like 'to love' would not be applicable."

Sky decided that trying to hold Bridge's hand was a stupid idea, and used both hands to cup the green ranger's face and force his eyes to meet Sky's. "Bridge!" He suspected that the brunette was just trying to distract him, but he wouldn't succeed. Bridge continued to ramble on and on, and Sky tuned him out in order to get his message across to the other man. "Stop trying – "

"I love you too, Sky."

Lips frozen halfway through forming the word 'to', Tate stared at the other ranger in surprise. "You do?" he asked cautiously.

"Yeah. Haven't you been listening?" Bridge looked at the blue ranger expectantly, as if waiting for a lesson to be recited.

"Uh," Tate stuttered, wracking his brain for what bits of Bridge's circular logic had actually stuck. "Love is a matter of 'being', not 'doing?"

The green ranger's face lit up in a bright smile. "Exactly. I can't choose to love you or not to love you, Sky. It's a part of who I am now, just like being a ranger or liking toast."

Sky frowned slightly as he considered this. "How long … has loving me been a part of you?"

"Definitely since our promotion from D Squad three years ago," he answered without thinking.

"Three years?" Sky echoed in shock. "Why didn't you say anything?"

Bridge shrugged nonchalantly, as if the answer were obvious. "You didn't love me then. I mean, you liked me and were my friend, but it wasn't a part of you. It hadn't occurred to you."

The blue ranger continued to gaze at him in surprise. He's right, but now that I think about it, how could I have not seen it? Aside from being red ranger, Bridge was always what I cared about most in SPD. The only reason I would harp on him is because I wanted him to succeed, but mostly because I was too protective of him to let anyone else criticize him and maybe hurt him. God, when did his eyes get so blue? They're like the deep sea and I could dive right into them. Come to think of it, there are other parts of Bridge I could dive right into.

The green ranger cleared his throat uncomfortably. A hint of red was spread over his cheeks. "Uh, Sky. You're … touching me," he pointed out.

"Oh," he answered, breaking out of his daze. "Sorry."

He started to pull his hands away, but Bridge caught him by the wrists. He leaned forwards, not breaking eye contact with Sky. "No, I meant, you're touching me. I picked up on pretty much everything going on in your head just now."

"Oh!" Sky repeated, a little more alarmed this time. He blushed much harder than Bridge had and ducked his head down.

Bridge took advantage of Sky's lack of awareness and made his move. He released Tate's wrists, moving his right hand to the back of Sky's neck. The blue ranger raised his face at the feel of leather touching his skin. They were close enough that once Sky leaned forward slightly, Bridge was able to press Sky's lips against his.

The kiss was gentle at first, but within five seconds both parties knew what they were doing. Sky slid his fingers into Bridge's hair, his thumb soft against Bridge's cheek. Bridge's lips parted and Sky slipped his tongue into his warm mouth. It tasted of butter and he had to smile into the kiss, because it tasted like Bridge.

The green ranger broke away first, resting his forehead against Sky's as he took a few steadying breaths. "Sky, you have to promise me something."

"Yeah huh," he answered distractedly, leaving light kisses on the corner of Bridge's mouth and the lines of his lips.

Bridge pulled back a bit, licking his lips where Sky had just kissed him. Sky fought to break his attention away from Bridge's tongue and to his eyes. "Promise?"

"If we start something, we're starting something. I meant what I said the other day in the alley." Sky tensed slightly at the memory, but continued to devote his attention to Bridge. "I know you won't want to go parading this around, and that's fine. But don't go pushing me away or think you need to compensate for something by being harsher on me in public."

Sky knew this was a reasonable request, but he also knew himself. It would be a difficult promise to keep. "I'll try," he answered truthfully.

That seemed to be the right answer, because the green ranger broke into another genuine smile. "Good." He swooped in and pressed a grateful kiss on Sky's lips. Just as Sky was about to return it, Bridge added, "Oh yeah, another thing."

Sky raised both his eyebrows in slight annoyance. "Be nicer to Sophie," Bridge requested.

The blue ranger laughed. "Definitely. Anything else?" he asked, not eager to be distracted from kissing Bridge for a good while.

Bridge directed his gaze upward in thought, a smirk playing on his lips. "Maybe we should take this back to our room?"

Our room. Sky's eyes light up as he remembered that his boyfriend was also his roommate. "Yes. Yes, yes, yes, yes." He stood up quickly, grabbing Bridge by the front of his t-shirt and walked towards the door. Bridge placed his hands on Sky's hips to balance himself, following eagerly and laying kisses on Sky whenever he got close enough. They moved like this down the corridors, careful to not be so loud as to disturb anyone, until they reached the safety of their bunk.