Chapter 9
Small Talk
Much love and adoration to my beta, the real vampire, for putting up with my silly misusage of words. And commas. And grammar in general.
My world is a better place thanks to you : )
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The downside to being taught a multitude of secret and super effective ways to beat the snot out of someone's face was that, inevitably, your face would be the one educated on just how painful each face-smashing technique was. Shane got lucky in that Victor greatly encouraged swift and painful counter attacks to defend your face's honor. He was unlucky in that he always gave as good as he got, and then some. As did most of the air students. Which…probably led to some of the problems they were encountering.
Shane wasn't sure how much of this excessive brutality derived from ancient ninja tradition, in toughening them up and preparing them for the world's hardships, and how much of it was a result of Victor's absolute glee for ordering his "minions" to do violence. At this point, the air ninja-in-training was leaning towards the second option. Victor looked just a little…too satisfied for it not to.
The toughening thing though, that had to be a bonus.
Of course, eventually it would get to the point where all the air students were too occupied with being miserable piles of pain to actually keep fighting, and then Victor would pout and someone would try to throw a pathetic glare his way and then they'd moan and there would be a collective heave of sympathetic murmurs. And then Victor would threaten to throw water on them if they didn't get with the program, which would inevitably lead to him stalking off to find Ian because that sort of business was "To be outsourced damnit", and that would buy the air-students at least half an hour of downtime because Ian always refused to encourage Victor's ill-treatments.
Because of this, Ian might have created a sect within the air-group that had secretly sworn their undying allegiance to him.
They had their own handshakes and everything.
Eventually, and Shane was almost sure of this, Victor was going to have sprinklers put in and they would all succumb to a watery death because they were so tired and moving just wasn't worth it.
Sometimes Teagan would be really nice and insist that the air and earth students train together (but she knew, and Victor knew, it was just so she could keep the air teacher reigned in so his students wouldn't all end up dead) and they could all enjoy a nice afternoon not in indescribable amounts of pain. Because Victor's cure for aching bones and bruised muscles usually involved scaling cliffs or lots of sit ups or hanging from a tree by your ankles and untying the ropes holding you in place before the blood rushed out of your skull. And if by chance you failed to do so Victor would simply stand there and laugh at you. Sadly, this was as strong a motivator as it sounded.
At this point, Shane's favorite part of training was when they worked on stealth. Basically Victor would split them into two teams and give one team different objectives (either get from point A to point B or hide for X amount of minutes without being detected or sneak up on this person here) and the other team was in charge of locating the "hiding" team. Stealth exercises carried on until every member of the "hiding" team was found so suffice it to say, yeah, they got really good at stealthing. The more time they spent doing that, the less time spent mourning the loss of feeling in their limbs.
As crazy as it sounded, despite the repeated beat-downs, Shane was actually quite happy with the way things had turned out. Ninja training had given him something that was just…it was his. He could do this. He could run and learn katas and get his face punched in and hide and he could do it with a crazy, violence-seeking, peanut-butter-fanatic of a teacher and a bunch of other maniacs who enjoyed doing the same thing.
Shane liked the secrecy. He liked the camaraderie that came from it. He liked flopping down on the ground, aching in just about every place imaginable and looking at the guy beside him, who he would have probably never met if it wasn't for ninja school, and laughing at the pure insanity of it all.
It was during one of these such moments that Shane came upon a startling discovery. Or maybe it wasn't really a discovery, more like a remembrance because it wasn't like he hadn't known it.
It happened near the end of the day, with Victor stomping off somewhere to find some damn water buckets because "They were the biggest babies ever" (a token protest: they all knew they were done for the day; all that was left was to motivate themselves to get up and change and maybe even, dare he think it, leave) and a pleasant kind of not-so-painful chatter had settled over them.
See, they were improving. Just a week ago they wouldn't have been able to hold conversations that didn't purely consist of pitiful moaning.
"I think it makes sense," Derrick (and this was all Shane knew about him; just his name and his hair color and that he had a nasty right hook) was saying. "They divide us up by element, but it's not just that. Like, each element group, we're different."
"I get that," Dean replied, somewhere off to Shane's right (who the air student did know; fellow skater, beat Shane about eighty percent of the time at competitions but did not win at sparring and Shane was not all kinds of proud of this fact). "It's like our elements require different kinds of behavior."
"No, no," and Derrick was very adamant about this. "It's more like our characteristics are different. Not our behavior."
"What the hell's the difference?" Dean scoffed.
Shane helpfully filled in for Derrick. "Characteristics affect our behavior."
"Exactly," and Derrick gave Shane a wicked grin, like he was glad someone else got it.
The skater responded with a tired smile in return. He liked Derrick; he was one of the smarter guys and his quips usually made training go by a lot faster.
That's it, ten points to Derrick.
"What I'm saying," Derrick continued, surprisingly enthused for someone who had run, at the very least, fifteen miles that day. "Is like, the water students are all calm and poised and-"
"The brains," someone off to Shane's far left replied. He wasn't sure who. It could have been Kevin.
Kevin was a smartass.
"Sure," Derrick replied, undeterred. "And we're the muscle. The take-charge guys, right?"
"Clearly," someone mumbled sarcastically. Again, probably Kevin.
Shane could understand the sarcasm, being that none of them could do much take-charging right now if it didn't involve passing out.
Derrick swatted in his direction. "And the Earth students, they're all happy and optimistic and-"
"They're the fee-liiings," Kevin muttered in a sing-song voice, sending a ripple of laughter across the mass of fallen air-ninja students.
"Right!" Derrick replied because clearly, that was where he was going. "And they put us all into teams to make balance-"
"What about that one guy?" Dean asked, covering his eyes with the back of his hand as the sunlight shone through the tree branches.
"You mean Dustin?" Shane asked, just to clarify. Not that it was necessary; they'd all known who Dean had meant. They had trained with the earth students too many times not to. It was like the easiest game of "One of these things is not like the other" (and clearly this was the case or Dean wouldn't have gotten it).
Shane remembered that day back at Storm Chargers, the sort of awkwardness of it all. Dustin was…he was just quiet. Kept to himself. And while there wasn't anything wrong with that, it was just so different from all the other earth ninjas that it was baffling. They couldn't help thinking that he didn't belong there because…well, clearly he didn't.
And Shane had felt a little bad for that. He felt…like, slightly overprotective of the guy, since he had brought him in and all.
"You know him?" Dean asked, tone implying that Shane's knowledge meant Shane was less-awesome than he had previously demonstrated he was.
And Shane didn't like that.
"Dude," Shane mumbled, rolling his eyes. "I recruited him, and he's not so bad."
He wasn't. A little awkward, but Dustin wasn't bad.
Besides, Teagan had picked him out right? If the earth teacher wanted him, it was probably for a reason. Who were they to question that?
Of course, explanations like that usually didn't sit well with guys like Dean because it required feelings and empathy and like, brain power, so Shane didn't bother attempting to reason with him.
It turned out for the best as Dean flopped his head in Shane's direction to stare incredulously. "You recruited him? Why?"
Why else?
"Victor."
There was a collective "oh" as understanding dawned on them, even from Dean, and the other skater shook it off, quickly changing the subject.
"Well anyway," Dean continued. "Did you see the chick he hangs out with?"
And…of course.
See, Shane liked the air-students. At least, most of the time. Because eventually they would get to the point where they weren't working their butts off to learn a new technique or conditioning their bodies or getting faster and stronger and trying to learn, learn, learn- They still had those moments where they remembered it was summer, and they were guys, and the overarching feel of May-June-July always left them restless, a need for freedom that school and family could never hope to provide. And being that they were all guys there was one thing that was a guaranteed unifier that they could all relate to and talk about that properly exercised that feeling of freedom.
Yeah, he was talking about girls.
"You mean Tori?" Shane asked, flashing back to that first day of training before his life had become a steady stream of bruises and exhaustion; a pair of blue eyes laughing beside those brown, timid ones. Just two more nondescript faces in a sea of average before Shane's life had been canon shot into backwards-land.
"Dude," Kevin said, thoroughly impressed with Shane's networking abilities, bringing the skater back to the present.
Shane shrugged. "What? I know people."
So it was two people, but it still counted.
"Right," Dean said absently, annoyed with their sidetracking. Probably because they weren't focusing on him. "Well they're like, best buds. They always leave together."
Shane failed to see why this was so important. "So?" he asked tiredly, trying to convince his body that sitting up wouldn't be the worst thing in the world.
It wasn't an argument he was winning, but he found it comforting to at least try.
"So," Dean replied, emphasizing the word in an attempt to be super obnoxious and for no other reason. "There's no way she would be dating that Dustin guy."
"Still not following," Shane murmured.
He got it. Tori was a girl, she hung out with Dustin, it was all very exciting.
"Pff," Dean scoffed, because he reveled in his stupidity and thought he was proving some kind of point. "You wouldn't."
From off to the side Shane could hear Kevin sigh dreamily. "Man, I would give anything to be on her team."
Derrick, who hadn't heard his voice in a while, decided this was a problem that must be rectified. "You know," he began helpfully. "That means you'll end up with a male earth ninja, and since she's just about always with Dustin…"
Kevin didn't sound at all perturbed by this. "Dude, I'll take super hot with not-so-bad any day."
Shane sighed. Seriously, they had better things to think about. "You guys are lame."
Dustin wasn't that bad. Shane wished they would stop treating him like some kind of dark cloud that Tori was getting dragged down by.
An acorn flew in his general direction, rebounding off the ground near his face; Kevin's attempt at teasing. "What, are you friends with him?"
This was stupid.
"What do you think?" Shane asked, partially curious. He wasn't, not really, but that didn't mean he shouldn't be a decent person. Like, that should be mandatory always.
"Smooth deflection," Derrick murmured, and Shane fought the urge to chuck the acorn at him. It wasn't that difficult though, seeing as moving his arms was proving to be kind of a challenge.
They enjoyed a moment of quiet before Dean started to move into action, slowly uncurling and pushing himself off the ground, eyes aimed in the direction of the earth students who were breaking for the day.
Shane took a second to envy his movement while Derrick decided to speak up. "Where are you going?"
He did not like the look on the other teen's face.
Dean successfully managed to stay upright, swaying minutely before straightening up and popping his back as though he hadn't accomplished some monumental feat of impossible strength, even though they all knew he had. Playing it off, he shrugged his shoulders and Shane didn't miss the momentary wobble that the action invoked.
"You losers can just keep hoping," he scoffed, starting to move towards the earth students. "But I'm going to be proactive."
And based on their previous topic of conversation…
Not good. Not good at all. Dean was a good guy, but he was still kind've a lug and really gruff and him with a girl fixed in his sights plus a certain soft spot the girl obviously had…
Okay, Shane's body needed to start moving now. No more delaying, no more grumbling; important things were going down. Certain quiet, should-be-left-alone people were going to get poked at with sticks they really didn't deserve to be poked with. Shane should probably interfere. Scratch that, he was going to interfere. You know, the decent person thing in effect and all that.
It was only added support that Dustin was Shane's like, recruitee and all that. It was totally justified for him to feel overprotective.
Yes, he was sure no one would disagree with this.
Back in the land of overworked air-students, Kevin attempted to shout one last closing remark. "You're going to be face wash?!"
Were groaning worth it, they would have exerted the energy, just so they could let Kevin know how greatly his punches surpassed his punchlines.
This, of course, was why they had Stan.
Shane heard the reserved teen-in-question sigh as he started the trial of getting off the ground.
"Dude," Stan murmured, just as calm and authoritative as usual. "That wasn't funny the first time you said it; still not funny now."
None of them were entirely positive what Stan's origins were. There was only the unanimous vote that he was Victor's favorite.
You know, birds of a feather and all that.
As he managed to successfully climb to his feet, Shane could imagine Kevin shaking his head sadly, as he often did whenever they shot him down.
"Everyone's a critic," he grumbled.
He was probably surprised by the amount of acorns that were chucked his way afterward. But he really shouldn't have been.
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Dustin had accepted the fact that ninja school was ridiculously unpredictable. He didn't like it because patterns and routine brought a certain kind of comfort in that they were difficult to screw up, but ninja school was about growing and being better than the sad heap of person you were before, so he was working on embracing this…unpredictableness. He had managed to find a happy middle-point though; some things he could latch onto to ground him in this massive storm of this is now your life that was going on. Mostly it was just getting picked up by Tori, changing into training robes (they were going to learn quick changes later, at some point, when Teagan thought they could get through it without embarrassing themselves), lunch, changing back into normal-human clothes, and then driving home with Tori.
It was nice. It wasn't perfect, but it was his and Dustin would stubbornly cling to his little moments of stability like a drowning person if he had to because it kept him from like…completely losing it, and if there was anything Dustin didn't want more than being noticed by any of his fellow students (except for Tori; Tori was boss) was to go crazy-banana-pants because he couldn't do a silly thing like "adapting".
But so far he was good. So far he was great. So far he had his own little sub-routine inside the big deal that was always predictable, it was always constant and it wasn't intimidating and it made Dustin very happy with how predictable and good and constant it was and-
It was thoughts like this that probably cursed his doom upon himself.
Of course, most people wouldn't consider a stranger/student talking to them doom, but this was Dustin, and Dustin was allowed to think such things because being noticed wasn't fun.
"Hey," air student number eight (yes, Dustin had numbered them, except Shane, who was…well, number Shane) said. "You're Dustin right?"
To which Dustin wanted to immediately reply with "How do you know my name? Why are you bothering me? Is there a bounty out on my life?!" and then fling his water bottle at number eight because there was a fifty/fifty shot eight would get distracted or fall down (Dustin had seen how hard Victor worked those guys, it was practically arts and crafts kindergarten style with the earth students in comparison).
Fortunately (or not, Dustin would decide later) the earth student had practiced this "talking" thing enough times with Tori to figure out some more socially acceptable alternatives.
So instead of…well, what he wanted to do/say, Dustin stood a little taller, clutched onto his water bottle and said, "Yes."
And then he added, "Dustin Brooks."
Because it was true.
Look at him answering questions and not getting freaked out/running away/hurling water bottles at people.
Okay, so maybe it didn't sound quite as monumental as it was, but Dustin deserved a freakin' plaque for attaining new levels of awesomeness. He might ask Tori to verify this later. He still wasn't sure if he could talk about those kinds of things with her yet. Not without like, consequences. (Like, getting-kicked-out-of-the-car consequences).
Number eight was still smiling, broad and wide because apparently Dustin's answer was satisfactory and everything he was looking for because he was so cheerful, not bothered by…well, Dustin.
Well, that was nice.
"So," number eight replied, clapping the side of Dustin's arm. "I'm Dean."
His hand lingered for a second, probably to keep from toppling over, so Dustin didn't shake him off. Unfortunately he didn't know where to go from here; there were no more questions to be answered. Was this small talk? Were they doing small talk? Oh nertz, Dustin hated small talk. He was the un-master of the smallest of talks to even the slightly-less-than-medium talks because he never knew what to say. Should he say something? Could he leave now, was that acceptable? Maybe he should try sneaking away; he was a ninja, ninjas could sneak and-
"Awesome."
Oh, hey. His mouth decided to talk for him. And it even made sense.
That was awesome.
Eight- Dean's- smile widened…maybe, or maybe that was just the tension from plastering it on, the dude looked seriously tired, and drew his arm back to his side.
He studied Dustin carefully, tilting his head to the side. "So," he started again after an awkward silence. "You're friends with Tori."
"Yes."
Well, look at that. Two in a row.
Dustin was doing really good today. Alright, that settled it, he would totally tell Tori (check it, alliteration) on the car ride home. Someone else needed to acknowledge his awesomeness.
The tired smile changed into something else, an unfamiliar look on Dean's face that Dustin didn't like, as though they were conspiring even though Dustin didn't know what they could be conspiring about-
"You hit that?" Dean asked, giving Dustin a jerked, probably-intended-to-be-smooth-and-dash-and-debona ir nod in the direction of the water students.
And…okay, that just wasn't fair.
How was Dustin supposed to fake understanding that? He didn't know how to respond. What did number eight mean by "hit that"? What was Dustin hitting? Why would he ask about Tori and then ask Dustin if he had hit-
Oh, wait. Hey. That kind've made sense.
But because it mostly didn't, Dustin gave air student number eight a confused look anyway, because someone did not understand the picture.
"We don't start sparring with other elemental groups until later."
True, the earth and air students trained together sometimes, but that was mostly to learn new techniques. Teagan and Victor wouldn't let them actually spar against each other until they had a better grasp of the basics. Or so Dustin had (and subsequently memorized) been told.
They entered another odd pause and Dustin hated it; he should be changing right now he was going to make Tori wait and-
Dean gave him an amused look that didn't give Dustin any kind of good feelings inside; it wasn't with him, it was at him and what had he said, he had answered the question-
The air student laughed and let out a slow whistle, shaking his head at the things Dustin didn't understand. "Damn Brooks, you're way behind the curve aren't you?"
Which in mean-people land translated to dear God you did not answer that question right at all and it is very amusing; so very, very amusing.
Dustin would really like to go home now. Go back to his established routine and talk to Tori about the things he had won at today, not this. Not this at all.
Except he kind've…well, he wanted to know where he went wrong.
He frowned, but swallowed his pride and went to ask what Dean had meant anyway, because Dean was the one talking to him and the least he could do was explain himself but Dean cut him off with a laugh before he got the chance, patting Dustin's arm in a consoling fashion.
"Don't worry about it man," he said, smile that-wasn't-really-a-smile plastered on his face. "I don't think it'll be a problem for you."
And what the heck was that supposed to mean?
What was this guy's problem? Did he normally go around accosting people and making them feel bad for things they didn't know and refusing to explain these mystical things that only crazy people who walk up and start babbling crazy things got to know?
Because…well Dustin got it. Sort of. This guy knew Dustin was weird and why would Tori hang out with a guy like him but it wasn't like Dustin hit her into spending time with him and if he did why would he tell someone and shouldn't that someone who noticed like, call the police because that was the responsible thing to do?
Not…whatever it was they were doing.
It wasn't this.
"Yo, Dustin!"
Both Dean and the earth student snapped their heads in the direction of the new voice, though Dean-the-mean's look was more of irritation whereas Dustin's was please-be-here-to-save-me-please and he didn't even try to be subtle about it because lo and behold it was Shane, swooping in with figurative cape billowing in the wind and he could not be a better sight for sore eyes. Dustin sort of wanted to hug him, if that was allowed, just for showing up and interrupting Dean's accusation of Dustin's painful lack of hitting-people knowledge. It was like he should be shunned in the corner or something, wearing that pointy failure hat so he could just marinate in his own humiliation.
Then of course, Shane could be here to back Dean up, since number eight was an air student and number Shane was an air-
Dustin was almost certain he could outrun them. And then he could hide behind Tori's van until she was done changing and he could just change in the back on the way home, or something, or just wear his robes since Liv was out of town with some friends and his mom wouldn't be home until late so-
"Shane," Dean ground out through a clenched smile that even Dustin could see was like, completely un-legit. They shared a high-five (and didn't miss and fall down, which tended to happen with the air students later in the day) and entered a few tense seconds of staring at each other, as though attempting to establish their dominance through eye-contact.
Dustin entertained the idea of sneaking away. It didn't look like they would notice him anyway and he really hadn't wanted to be here in the first place-
"Dean," Shane murmured back, smile more sincere but still containing this like, dangerous edge. Like a chocolate cake that was poisoned; it looked good but yeah, you eat that and you're going to die.
"Just having a friendly conversation," Dean explained, giving Shane a smile that was all teeth and no warmth. Part of Dustin wanted to mention exactly how not friendly their conversation had turned and how much he didn't want to be a part of it, but luckily Shane seemed to get that, subtly moving so that he was slightly in front of the earth student.
"Cool," Shane said, his tone not sharing in the verbal sentiment. "Mind if I cut in?"
Dean narrowed his eyes slightly but kept the cheerful voice, which didn't match up with his answer at all. "Yes."
"Tough," Shane replied, his cheer heartfelt and sincere as he restarted the Dean stare-down, fingers loose against the edge of his pants.
Holy crap it was like a showdown at the O.K. Corral, except with a lot less shooting and a lot more people on the brink of passing out. Dustin was torn between supporting number Shane and hiding in the bushes, because in this scenario he was the air student's Lois Lane and he should at least attempt to honor that, but old habits died hard and the bushes were starting to look very tempting.
"Dustin!"
And for once, no, it wasn't him stupidly repeating his name just to fit in or cause a distraction (though to be fair, he was considering it) and relief immediately flooded through Dustin's body as Tori jogged up to his side, the water students wrapping up for the day. Awesome, he could spend the rest of this conversation hiding behind her and nodding at appropriate moments. Dustin had mastered this a long time ago. It was a skill he was very proud of. He may or may not have created trophies to celebrate this mastery on certain occasions.
Hey, it was the little things you had to appreciate.
"Tori, right?" Dean asked, leaning forward as his disposition did a complete one-eighty of being super tired/annoyed/I-am-macho-man to happy and carefree, causing Dustin to edge a little behind the water student anxiously. Where did that come from? About one second ago he was pretty sure there was going to be fighting and perhaps a minor blood-bath but now, enter girl and-
But it wasn't just any girl; it was Tori and she had that like… princess, communes-with-animals, please-don't-hurt-a-fly feel about her. She made people happy. So it figured she made other people happy? Or, maybe Dean just wanted her to think he was happy-
Okay, that made more sense.
To number eight's side, Shane rolled his eyes at Dean's display, causing Tori to giggle (or that could have been from something Dean did; Dustin would never really know) and the smile tightened up again, but Dean rolled with the…whatever had happened, laughing along with Tori and Dustin edged closer behind her.
Yeah, this was weird.
Dean rolled his shoulders languidly, cracking his neck to play off his obvious exhaustion. "I was just talking to your friend," he helpfully informed, ignoring the part where Dustin was an unwilling participant. "You know, since the air and earth students train together all the time."
This earned a snort from Shane, who was clearly not buying this and Tori raised her eyebrows, studying Dean with an amused look on her face.
"Anyway," Dean continued, sending a tight smile Shane's way before returning his attention to Tori. "I was just about to ask if he'd like to come over to my house Friday night. Get some pizza, watch some bad movies, or you know," he shrugged a shoulder. "Whatever. Of course," his smile relaxed now because it was all Tori now, forget Dustin or Shane. "You're more than welcome to come if you want."
Could Dustin not go? Because he really didn't want to. He was still confused about the supposed hitting he had been doing and or, not doing. Maybe he was supposed to hit Tori, and that was why this was all wacked.
Man, he did not understand people sometimes.
Tori laughed and Dean's smile entered true genuine land, because she could do that, but she reached behind her to pat the side of Dustin's arm. "Sorry, uh-"
"Dean," number eight helpfully supplied, all kinds of eager, and Tori nodded.
"Right," she said. "Dean. But Dustin and I have plans on Friday so…"
"Like a date?" Dean asked, cocking his head to the side and Tori froze, just like Dustin froze because no, there was no dating, and he didn't want to put her in the awkward position of having to date him anyway and-
"No!" Dustin exclaimed before he could think about it too much further, just the need to protect his only friend urging him forward.
Luckily that was all Tori needed to become unfrozen and she smiled again. "Nope. Just a thing."
Dean looked unconvinced. "A thing that only he and you-"
"And Shane."
And oh, yeah, that came from Dustin again, because he was the best at improvisation and don't you forget it, but the air-student-Superman just nodded, content and cool and like, yeah, that was their plan all along, and shrugged at Dean apologetically.
"And me," he said, crossing his arms.
"Yep," Tori cut in before Dean could object. "But there's only room for three so-"
"Maybe next time?" Shane offered, not at all meaning it and Dean knew it. Just a oh, poor little baby can't come? Isn't that so sad? IT'S SAD.
And Dustin wanted to cringe because he hated that tone, even if it was being used on people who weren't him.
"Yeah," Dean murmured, smile tight because he knew he'd been beat. He rolled his shoulders slowly, no big deal, like this was nothing, to be expected even. "Maybe next time." He turned his eyes towards the changing rooms and nodded in their direction. "Anyway, I gotta get going." The smile turned to murderous smirk as he gave Shane one last look. "I'll see you tomorrow Shane."
Either this happened an awful lot, or Shane was like, super courageous (though this would not surprise Dustin) because he seemed completely unbothered by the feelings of ill-will aimed his way. If anything, he looked smug.
"Yep," Shane replied cheerfully. "See you tomorrow."
And one, two, three, FREEDOM! Dean jogged away as cool and casual as he pleased, relief and victory coursing through Dustin as he stared at his retreating back.
Three awesome points about that conversation:
1) Shane had come to his rescue.
2) Shane had thought he was worthy of being rescued.
3) Shane had successfully rescued Dustin from the incomprehensible conversation and was now…
Wait. Rescues came with rewards. And was…Tori the reward? Since Dean had been the badguy? Had that been the plan all along?
Either way, as bad/confused/lost as Dustin felt, he still had his manners so-
"Thanks," he mumbled, scratching the side of his head. "I mean I uh…didn't really know what was going on."
Which was the nicest way of putting it, but Shane seemed unfazed by his admittance, giving Dustin (check it, Dustin and not Tori) an easy smile in return. "We find that's a common occurrence with Dean. He's usually not so bad but…"
You're just a little bit special and if I even remember recruiting you, you need like, the smallest pair of kiddy gloves for everything.
"Well," Shane happily continued, unaware of Dustin's self-deprecating tirade. "He can be a little much at times."
And Tori, who didn't even know what had happened (if what happened could even be considered a criminal offense and it wasn't, it was just Dustin being Dustin and making normal people pick up the pieces for him) stepped forward and clapped Shane's shoulder, smiling so brightly there was probably a chorus of angels going off behind her, or at least a couple dozen birds waiting to whistle a tune. Did it get sunnier? Dustin could swear it had just gotten sunnier in this exact-
"Thank you," Tori grinned, giving Shane's arm a few final pats to bring it home. "We really appreciate it."
The use of "we" just solidified Dustin's eternal gratitude towards all things Tori, his willing slavery/servitude/guy-that-follows-her-around-with -baited-breath-and-quiet-adoration guaranteed for as long as she would have it, and never had Dustin been more grateful for not staring at chests.
Honestly, had that been the requirement all along he would have made t-shirts declaring his lack of chest-staring long ago.
"No problem," Shane replied easily, because it was easy wasn't it, just two awesome people talking, words, words, words and easy and comfortable and knowing where they were and how they fit into the world. Or at least, the conversation. "Anyway," Shane continued. "I gotta go."
He gave them both nods before walking off towards the changing rooms, somewhere Dustin actually needed to go but…well, this was a nice moment wasn't it? Might as well enjoy it.
Yes, Shane had played along with them and yes, he had been against Dean but that was because he had known, somehow, that Dustin had needed it and, more importantly, he had cared enough to move into action.
And that little factoid filled Dustin with a kind of hope that honestly worried him just a little bit.
"You all good?" Tori asked, not turning to look at him, keeping the pressure of eye-contact off of his shoulders and Dustin shrugged because…
"Yeah," he murmured. And he was. He was good.
It should be strange. No, it should be sad that his little talk with Dean had worn down on him so much harder than any of their training (Ninja History included) but he was still here, and Tori was still here and Shane was here in spirit, and the way Dustin figured, that counted for a whole heck of a lot.
It was just one step forward.
One tiny, baby step forward.
-:-:-:-:-:-
Endnotes:
Good news, I actually know where I'm going for the next one, so this train can just keep truckin' along. School permitting, of course.
Thanks to everyone who reviewed last chapter! The real vampire (hearts, stars, and horseshoes all in your direction), LamoyaSmith vs blakeNtori (the story still loves you back, for future reference), Rogue Ranger (well…at least the between time's getting shorter, right?), and KrazeeeeeeeKatieeeeeeeee (whose name fills me with ridiculous amounts of enthusiasm every time I read it, it's them vowels, I just know it).
Air Student Names: This is what happens when I make up names on the spot. Apparently my random name generator is stuck on the whitey-mc-average pants setting. "Dean" was originally "Sean" (yes, that is my go-to, dumb, jock name) but it sounded too similar to Shane so you know, changed the consonant. Whatever works.
I'll try to add some variety for the other five guys' names. Or hey, submit some suggestions if you like, I'm all ears.
Next chapter, Tori and Dustin happy car times.
The chapter after that, no freaking idea. (But I'm sure I'll figure something out).
Until next time : )