AN: Cam is one of my favorite characters ever from PR. Had to bring him in at some point, just to show my love.
10. green-eyed monster
Scowling, Blake watched as Tori laughed. He wasn't objecting to her happiness, no, of course not - but it was who Tori was laughing with that he objected to. He mentally groaned, he never though he'd say this while not under a love spell - but damn he was jealous of Cam.
He sighed, taking a long swallow of whatever he had been holding in his cup for the last half hour. He couldn't taste much anyway, not through the seething of what he liked to call his green-eyed chest monster - the raging ball of envy that sat on top of his lugs and swelled at inopportune moments and made breathing rather difficult occasionally. He knew there was no reason to be jealous, that Cam had no romantic interest in Tori and Tori had none in Cam, but tell that to the roaring in his chest and the knot in his throat that had formed as he watched them bend close and whisper to one another.
It wasn't even that he thought they would secretly get together when he turned his back on them, he told himself - though that was most definitely a lie - it was just that Cam was…well, Cam was Cam. Blake was usually good at admitting when he wasn't the best at something - or at least he liked to believe so - but Cam kicked his ass at two things he usually prided himself on. The green-eyed monster of jealousy roared at this assessment, but Blake knew it was the truth. The first was, he was annoyed to say, fighting - he'd been raised as ninja too, but Cam was a fucking samurai. You couldn't really beat that on a good day. The second was being the 'sensible but amusing' one. Out of Hunter and him, he had often played the voice of reason, cooling his brother's temper with an ease that only experience and many an angry wrestling match can bring. When they joined the others, Tori took that role, but it was different. She was a girl, the guys reacted to her differently and so Blake remained the one to cool Shane and Hunter's tempers and to prod Dustin into keeping up. Until Cam joined the team at least.
He liked Cam, really he did. He counted Cam amongst his best friends, like another brother - but the problem was, on paper, with lists and spreadsheets as evidence, Cam was perfect for Tori. They were almost entirely the same person, both intelligent and witty, both relatively patient.
But Blake didn't really care about lists or what looked right on paper - he was in love with her smile, her laugh, her temper, her eyes - essentially everything about her. He didn't think there was an end to the list he could write of things he loved about Tori.
His musing was interrupted by a surreptitious glance Cam threw his way.That caught his attention. Cam murmured something to Tori which made her make one of Blake's favorite Tori expressions, 'befuddled Tori'. Blake smiled in spite of the Green Ranger making a beeline straight for him. Blake's attention centered on Cam who reached him and smirked. "Get up and tell her," Blake found himself being hauled up by the arm not clutching the red cup like it would shield him from the obviously insane Green Ranger. "I have just spent the last hour talking you up as subtly as I can manage and I'm currently out of subtlety and really tired of talking about you, so would you please get over whatever hang ups you have and just tell her?" There was a pause. "Please?" Cam finished dryly.
Well, that shut up the roaring green-eyed monster in his chest rather effectively. Blake stared silently at Cam, half pulled out of his seat, half slumped against a wall he wished would swallow him whole, attempting to piece together Cam's words to make sense.
"That means getting up," Cam insisted, tugging on him with a hint of steely strength, as if to remind Blake that Navy was not the only color to ever kick as little ass and take a few names.
"But, ah…bro, dude, I can't, you-" Blake's nonsensical protests fell on deaf ears as Cam plucked his now rather crumpled cup from his clenched fist before sliding into Blake's recently vacated seat.
"Yes," Cam replied simply, staring at him. "You can." Blake mouthed wordlessly, the irony of the Green Ranger shutting up the green monster in his chest not even bringing a smile to his face. He was going to tell Tori the truth! How he felt - not that he liked her, wanted to date her, but that he'd come back one day and realized that he was head over heels, ankles over ears, chin deep, totally and utterly in love in her. Blake's legs moved without permission from his brain but the moment Tori glanced up at him and smiled, it didn't really matter. He felt the familiar swell of the monster in his chest, but there was no jealousy there - only relief.
Blake smiled back and took a seat beside Tori, relaxing as his chest monster purred, yawned and then curled up like a cat, leaving its owner to his own business. Hopefully he wouldn't screw it up this time.