I forgot before, but I do not own the Power Rangers. I am not making any money off this story; getting some constructive criticism is all I'm asking for. Out of the stories I already have started there are a lot of tears from Adam and not a whole lot getting together. It's probably not very realistic, but that's not the point. The point is I'm attempting to write something in a linear fashion that at least makes sense. On to the story:

Watermelon

On Sunday morning, nine miserable days after "The Mistake" as he'd been thinking of it, Adam sat in the Juice Bar drinking his favorite watermelon smoothie.

He'd been skulking around town for days since he'd embarrassed himself in front of Rocky. Today was the one day he didn't have to worry about Rocky coming into town yet because it was common knowledge that Sundays were important in the DeSantos house. They always went to mass on Sunday followed by a large dinner, so Rocky wouldn't be released until after one, which left Adam 2 ½ hours to brood.

His other friends had tried to help, but since they didn't know the whole story, they couldn't offer any feasible suggestions.

Lord knows that he hadn't told them the problem and according to Aisha, Rocky had left out the holding part.

He wasn't quite sure why he was so upset. Was it the fact that he had asked a male friend to give him a hug? That was a surefire way to get his dude membership revoked. Was it because he had asked Rocky to hug him? Was it because that he was worried that Rocky wouldn't want to be friends with him anymore?

He took another drink from his smoothie and drummed his fingers on the table. He smiled faintly. The one thing he didn't have to worry about was his family's reaction. They had asked what had happened with Rocky and he blurted out the entire truth.

"Rocky stopped by to see you again."

He looked up to see his parents standing outside his room. He sat up and shook his head. His parents came inside and stood at the foot of his bed.

"He didn't ask to see you this time, Adam. He wanted me to give you a message: You're not going to be able to hide forever, so talk to me dammit."

Adam's eyes went wide at the unexpected swear word coming from his mother.

His father, Michael, grinned. "Cindy was shocked, too. Are you ever going to tell us what happened? Rocky has been by here a dozen times this past week and he's called about that many times and you still won't talk to him. You've been friends for twelve years, surely you can talk to him, and whatever it is isn't worth throwing your friendship away."

"You guys should sit down. I need to talk to you." They sat down together on his bed. "I think…no, I know…" Adam started hesitantly.

"It's okay, sweetie," Cindy said. "You can tell us anything."

His parents exchanged knowing looks that he didn't see because he was looking at his hands.

"I'm like Uncle Matt," he blurted harshly. "I'm gay."

At the subsequent silence, Adam thought briefly of the dream he'd had about Rocky's reaction. The silence dragged on so he squared his chin and looked up at his parents. His breath caught at the looks of acceptance and love on his parents' faces.

"It's okay, sweetie. We're your parents and we love you. Anything you decide is okay with us."

His eyes filled up with tears. "I was worried about your reactions. I'm sorry."

"Cindy and I have both had to deal with friends and family being gay and that's why we're so accepting, but coming out is something you will have to worry about. My parents handled Matt's announcement with dignity even though others in the family did not and I swore then and there that if I ever had a child who went through that, that I would handle it the same way."

His mother spoke up. "My best friend growing up was a girl named Jennifer Rogers; she died while we were in college together. She committed suicide after her mother had a fit when she came out. Her mother was devastated afterwards because she had only reacted out of shock and she never got a change to tell Jen and let her know that she loved her. I decided that I'd never do that to my own child."

"She's the one you named Jenny after."

"Yes, that's how I honored her life was by naming my daughter after her."

"We're going to have a more in depth talk about this later. Maybe get Matt involved in talking about safety for sex."

"DAD!"

"That's neither here nor there, right now we're going to get back to why Rocky's mad at you."

"Rocky's not mad at me. At least I don't think so."

"Then what's the problem?" Mike asked. "Did you try something on him when you stayed over at his house?"

"MIKE!"

"Sorry, go ahead." He mumbled sheepishly. "Did you tell him you were gay and he reacted badly?"

At his wife's expression he stopped again. "Well, he won't get to the point; I was just trying to help."

"The other night, I had a dream and when I woke up I was hysterical. Rocky got me on his bed and I, uh…"

They both looked at Mike, who held his hands up. "I'm staying out of this one."

His wife shook her head. "You're crazy."

"Just a little humor to make up for all the emotions earlier. Continue when you're ready, son."

Adam laughed. He had never thought coming out to his parents would be this easy.

"The point is that I asked him to hold me."

"And he turned you down," Cindy asked.

"No. He did it."

"Then what's the problem."

"I'm embarrassed."

His parents were silent. "So you haven't talked to him since that night. No wonder he's upset. I would be, too." His mother commented.

"That's right, Adam. You need to talk to him. It doesn't sound like he was mad then, but now that you're avoiding him that's what's getting him upset. You weren't raised to avoid things but to meet them head-on. Wouldn't it be better to find out the truth instead of wondering about it?"

He took the final drink of his smoothie as his communicator chimed. He hurried to a quiet corner of the Juice Bar before replying.

"Adam here. What's happening?"

Zordon's voice was grim. "There's trouble. Teleport to the Command Center immediately."

As he hit the teleport button, 'I can worry about all this later, right now it's time to get back to action.'