#mytrimberly

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I think being with you guys is good for me

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#thirst vs #confused but aroused

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Trimberly AU where Trini goes to Kim’s room who tries to cheer her up when she notices how upset Trini is

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Power Rangers + The Bold Type

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“Ive killed the Yellow Ranger before.”

“You’ll have to go through me first”

Trimberly AU in which Kim was on her way to Trini’s after the bonfire and intervenes when Rita comes for Trini

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inspired by (x)

Kim’s version

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Trini’s version

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has this been done before?

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Trimberly Week - Day 1 // Coffee Shop - Read on AO3

‘I think I’m witnessing this girl having a mental breakdown.’

Trini leaned against the counter as she hit ‘send’, then resumed to covertly watch Kim at her table. She had mentioned the girl to Zack briefly after her previous shift. He obviously teased her for having a crush on her — ‘if you had seen her, you’d get it’, she had simply answered, not in the least embarrassed — but she felt the need to share the sight in front of her with him.

Panic! At The Coffee Shop

Trini’s head popped up as she heard the front door of the shop open loudly. She sighed as she put her costumer face on. She had twenty minutes left off her shift and all she wanted was some peace and quiet before going back home.

The coffee shop, located on the campus, was almost empty at this hour. Students usually favored the library rather the shop in the evenings. Except, apparently, for the girl who had just came in, and seemed to be in quite a rush.

She had her head down, phone in hand, and headed straight for the counter without even looking up.

“Hi, I need coffee!”, she announced with a voice that Trini would only describe as “panicked”.

“Yup, that’s usually why people come here.”, Trini simply replied with a bored voice. That made the girl finally look up from her phone, and Trini thanked her habit of always maintaining a perfect composure as well as  her trained poker face because damn she was gorgeous. She was slightly out of breath, short-ish black hair all over the place and soft eyes, despite the panicked look on her face.

She just looked straight at Trini, agape, blinking a few times but without saying a word for a while, before snapping out of it and blurting out, a bit flustered:

“Yeah, right- umm sorry. A large latte, with sugar and soy milk, please. Name’s Kim.”

The barista felt an amused smile growing on her lips at the mess of a girl in front of her. While she was typing the order, and starting to prepare it, she heard the girl’s phone ringing. She couldn’t help but let out a chuckle when she heard “Go! Go! Power Rangers!” blasting out of the device.  

“Jason!”, she practically shouted, picking up the call. “Where the fuck are you? This is an emergency! Like Defcon 5 emergency!”.

As she was stirring up the coffee while pouring the warm milk in it, Trini frowned at the analogy. She was pretty sure that girl had no idea what she was talking about. Her doubts were rapidly confirmed when the girl responded to what her interlocutor was saying – probably the exact same thing Trini was thinking.

“I don’t care about this Defcon shit, it doesn’t even make sense! Bring your ass over here!”. She hung up the phone dramatically, turning to Trini with a desperate sigh. The small girl had to hold back another laugh because she thought her behavior was adorable, but it was probably not the moment to mess with her.

The girl thanked her – and Trini’s stomach was a little too happy at the smile she gave her – before walking to a table, sitting down. And then she proceeded to smash her forehead against the table with a loud whine.

__________________

Kim’s leg was bouncing up and down relentlessly as she was staring at her phone. How long did it take to cross the campus on a fucking bike? She took a long sip of her drink and relished at the sweet taste. She shot a discrete look at the cute barista — she had almost drooled when she had looked up from her phone to order her coffee, and was dead embarrassed at the way she had stopped functioning for a second. She hoped the barista hadn’t noticed, but wasn’t too confident about that

However, losing her means in front of a cute girl was the least of her problems right now. She needed Jason like, yesterday. On cue, the doorbell rang, announcing someone entering the shop. For the third time in ten minutes, Kim’s abruptly turned around on her seat to see who it was. She already had three false hope, and was starting to lose it — well, more than she already had.

Her body flooded with relief at the sight of her best friend’s familiar combo of red jacket and blond hair. As he was approaching, she shot up from her seat and launched herself into his arms, making him almost trip. Taking a step back to balance the weight, Jason laughed into her hair.

“Well, someone’s happy to see me!”

They parted and he took the seat in front of her. Judging by the state of panic of his friend, he asked worriedly. “So, what’s going on Kim? You’re freaking me out a little. Well, more than usual.”

“Okay so, I’m in trouble.”, she answered with a trembling voice. “Like huge trouble. As in more that the time I stole my dad’s car to go to the beach party and crashed it into a street light while drunk. Or more than the time I made you climb up the neighbor’s wall and you broke your leg. Or more than the time we set the couch on fire.”

“The time you set the couch on fire. I vividly remember telling you playing with that many candles was a bad idea. Like all of your ideas actually”, he corrected with a stern tone. Kim merely rolled her eyes, sweeping the comment with a wave of hand. “If you’ve killed someone, I am not taking Billy’s van to help you bury the body, he’d freak if there was blood on it.”, he added in a mocking tone, hoping to calm her down. It didn’t work.

“My parents want to visit next week”, she deadpanned with a grave tone.

Jason raised one eyebrow, expectantly. “… And? It’s not that terrible.”

“Remember when I told you my parents weren’t happy about my choice in college?” Jason nodded, waiting for the follow up. “I actually didn’t tell them I registered here.”

Jason’s eyes widened and his jaw dropped. He just stared at her, flabbergasted, as she avoided his gaze.

“You— you didn’t tell them you dropped out of med school?”, he whispered strongly, as if Kim’s parents would hear them if he spoke too loudly.

“No, I did not! Why are we whispering?”, she answered in the same tone.

Jason slapped his right palm against his forehead, at loss for words. He knew Kimberly was reckless and often acted without thinking about consequences, but this one took the fucking cake. He rubbed his eyes roughly, and his heart melted at the sight when he re-opened it. Kim looked so desperate, and he knew about her difficult relationship with her parents, so he could understand why she wouldn’t want tell them.

He reached to grab her hands in his own, gently rubbing them with his thumbs to reassure her.

“You’re gonna be alright, okay?”

Kim shot him a small, thankful smile. She knew she could always count on him to help her through awful situations — situations she’d often put herself in.

__________________

Trini rubbed firmly the back of her neck and her shoulders as she looked at the clock. Forty minutes left. Her feet were hurting, and she was having murderous urges after the last customer had complained about his drink for five whole minutes because it wasn’t lukewarm enough. She hated people. All of them. She couldn’t wait to strip out of her uniform and go slouch on Zack’s bed to watch Netflix.

Her heart sank when she heard the doorbell ring and the door open, cursing internally whoever just came in… just to lighten up — always internally of course — when she saw the girl from the other day step in. She still had her leather jacket on, and this time was wearing what Trini made out to be a tank top that let her see the pink of her bra-stripes. She didn’t have to force a smile when the girl reached the counter.

She looked less panicked that the day before, but not very collected either. She was nervously tapping the wooden counter with maroon painted nails as she ordered with a strained voice.

“Hi! A large latte with sugar and soy milk please.”

“Are you sure?” Trini couldn’t stop the words from coming out of her mouth.

“Pardon?”, the girl asked with a confused look, tilting her head — and Trini couldn’t help but notice again how cute she looked.

“No offence, but you look like your heart is about to give out”, the barista explained.

“Yeah, exactly, that’s why I need my coffee.” Trini frowned at the unexpected answered, and the girl continued as to answer the unasked question. “Coffee helps me calm down.”

“Yeaaaah, I’m not sure that’s how it works, physiologically speaking.”

“Well, it works, psychologically speaking, and that’s good enough for me,” she fired back with a wink, and Trini happily gave up the argument.

“For… Kim, right?” Trini congratulated herself when she saw the girl’s pleased – and maybe even flustered – smile.

“Attentive, I like it… Trini.” Trini didn’t know if it was the playful tone, the way Kim leaned on the counter or the smirk on her lips, but she lost her composure for a second and her heart skipped a beat. Thankfully, the girl must have mistaken her little gay panic for confusion because she gestured Trini’s apron. “You have a name tag.”

A minute later, Kim sat at the same table as before, and Trini noticed she was bouncing her leg again. ‘That poor girl must have a stressful life’, she thought. She remembered wondering what she and the blond boy — probably her boyfriend from the way she jumped in his arms, Trini had noted with disappointment — were talking about the last time, because from afar it looked pretty animated.

Trini caught herself staring at Kim for the rest of her shift.

__________________

Kim yawned loudly, covering her mouth with her hand as she tried to smother the shiver running down her spine. She was striding through campus, heading toward what was starting to become her lair. Good wi-fi connection, unlimited amount of food and coffee, and a cute barista to look at, who would ask for more?

She usually went after her last class in the early evening, but this morning she was too tired to function without a little help. Her stress and the thought of seeing her parents soon had kept her up all night; she needed caffeine to get through the day, to stay awake more than to calm her down this time.

She barely tried to hide her smile as she noticed that Trini was behind the counter. Nor did she try to contain her flirty attitude when she ordered her usual drink and a muffin. She also intentionally brushed her fingers against Trini’s when the small girl handed her the receipt. She was almost proud of herself at her successful move when she tripped on her feet as she was turning away, dropping her muffin and almost spilling her drink all over the floor, letting out a loud “Fuck!”.

She sighed out of desperation — she was so done with herself — as she bended over to pick up her muffin, and her mortification only grew stronger when she heard Trini’s light laugh behind her.

She turned and shot her a fake mad look. “Shut up! Not even one word.”, she ordered but couldn’t hold back the embarrassed laugh in her throat.

Trini playfully mimicked zipping her lips before winking, and Kim almost tripped again before settling down at her usual table.

However, her mood considerably darkened when she felt her phone vibrate, the screen reading a text from her mother. “We’ll be here in a couple of days, not sure when yet. Eager to see you. Love, Mom.”

The very same feeling of dread that had kept her up all night crept back into her bones. She dropped her head in her arms with a whine. She was starting to make it a habit of it.

She was joined a few minutes later by Jason, and his ever so calm composure, the opposite of Kim at that moment. He offered her a sympathetic smile when he saw her frantic state.

“Be careful, or you’re gonna get white hair sooner than you should.”, he joked, sitting down to face her. She ignored the comment, reaching to take a sip of her drink. When she put down the cup, she had the most serious look on her face, which was rapidly contradicted by her following words:

“So I thought about my problem, and I’ve come up with the only possible outcome that’ll get me out of this mess.” She paused for dramatic effect, and Jason raised an unimpressed eyebrow, half-convinced by what was going to come next. He knew her too well. “I’m gonna fake my death and move to Canada.”, she finally revealed.

Jason threw his head back, letting out an exasperated groan. He rubbed his forehead, taking a deep breath, then looked back at Kim with a pleading look.

“Kim, when are you gonna learn to take responsibility for your actions. You can’t run away from all your problems.”

“Yes, I can, Mom!”, she mocked. “I can sell the apartment, take the car and never return.”

“You wouldn’t even know how to fake your death!”, he argued before realizing he should not be encouraging this discussion.

“Errrr, yes I would. I’ve watched ‘Gone Girl’ like three time, I’m pretty sure I have the basis covered,” she countered proudly. Jason just threw his arms in the air, at loss for words.

“It’s too early for this, I need coffee. Want a refill?”, he asked as she nodded vigorously.

He returned a few minutes later, with a smirk on his lips and a question in his eyes.

“Kim…,” he teased, “How come the barista knows your name and your coffee order? How many times have you even been here?”

All he got in response was a bashful smile.

__________________

‘I think I’m witnessing this girl having a mental breakdown.’

Trini leaned against the counter as she hit ‘send’, then resumed to covertly watch Kim at her table. She had mentioned the girl to Zack briefly after her previous shift. He obviously teased her for having a crush on her — ‘if you had seen her, you’d get it’, she had simply answered, not in the least embarrassed — but she felt the need to share the sight in front of her with him.

It was eight in the morning — her only morning shift that week since she’d always ask her manager to not put her down for openings — she had not been in a good mood. Trini was not a morning person, and her tolerance for customers decreased exponentially the earlier she had to get up. Except this day, because this morning the beautiful Kim had walked into the shop again, and Trini was not about to complain. Trini was pretty sure the girl had flirted with her, before tripping on her own feet, and Trini had decided she could definitely just watch this girl for an entire day and she’d never be bored.

As if on cue, she witnessed Kim burying her head in her crossed arms with a loud whine — and it was definitely not the first time Trini had heard her make that sound.

‘You should probably not be turned on by that, Crazy Girl :p’ She rolled her eyes at her best friend’s answer.

Trini looked up again to see Kim stretching — her tank top slightly rising to uncover a tanned skin, allowing Trini to catch a glimpse of toned abs —, her hands combing through her hair. Trini’s breath stopped for a second, and she had never been so glad to have a morning shift.

Her mood however deteriorated when the door opened to let the blond boy walk in. She turned and went into the back store to get some coffee beans to grind, and mostly avoid watching the two together. It wasn’t that she was jealous per say, she barely knew Kim. But she had to admit it was a little frustrating to have her flirt with Trini, just to run into her boyfriend’s arms the next minute.

When she got back, he was standing at the counter, waiting patiently with a polite smile. Trini cursed him in her head. She barely nodded her head to acknowledge him, not even bothering to greet him. He didn’t seem to mind or notice.

“I’ll take an espresso, for Jason, and my friend over there would like a refill of-”, he started but Trini mechanically interrupted him.

“Large latte with sugar and soy milk for Kim, got it.”

Jason merely raised his eyebrows in surprise. Then a wide amused grin grew on his lips and he looked delighted for reasons Trini did not understand.

They left a few moments after, all playful and teasing, knocking each other shoulder and Trini felt a pang of jealousy — she had to admit it — when the Jason guy ruffled Kim’s hair as she was giving him a beaming grin.

The rest of the day passed by painfully slowly. She had a long lunch break during which her manager Rita called her. She was sick and couldn’t work today, and they were still understaffed so Trini had to pick up her shift, meaning she was going to have to close the shop. A whole day of work at Krispy Kreme, how wonderful… At least she’d be payed extra. Near the end of the day, she was texting Zack, raging over Blond Perfect Jason and asking if he still had weed for the night when the door opened.

Trini’s secret prayers were answered when she caught sight of Kim’s leather jacket and purple bra-stripes. And when Kim shot her a soft smile, Trini forgot all about Jason. The barista noticed that the girl looked more tired than desperate this time, and Trini couldn’t decide which was better. She didn’t even wait for Kim to place her order to start preparing the drink, and the grateful look on Kim’s face as Trini handed it to her was totally worth it.

“On the house tonight”, she said with a wink. “You come here like twice a day, it’s the least we can do for our most faithful costumer. Besides, you look like you really need it.”

Kim chuckled lightly at the comment. “Is that your way of telling me I don’t look good?”

Trini rolled exaggeratedly her eyes, trying to contain the endeared smile on her lips. “Fishing for compliments now? Like you need anyone to tell you you look ho-good! Tell you you look good”, she stuttered, trying vainly to look detached like she hadn’t just called Kim “hot”.

But then again, the smirk on Kim’s lips was worth it.

Two hour later, Trini was finishing up tidying up behind the counter and preparing to close. When she looked up, she saw Kim was the last person there, crouched over papers and books, two empty cups of coffee lying there and a half eaten cookie.

Trini shamelessly ate her up with her eyes, taking in the way Kim’s hair was falling in front of her eyes, how the girl’s hand mechanically reached to tuck them behind her ears, how she frowned in a terribly cute manner at her books when she was focused. She couldn’t help but notice how red her lips were from biting, and how her hands were always busy playing with her pen.

She was however disturbed in her contemplation when Kim’s phone rang, breaking the bubble the girl was in. Kim picked up her phone, her eyes widening with horror when she saw the ID of the caller. She forcefully put her phone down, screen facing the table, letting it ring and vibrate against the wood.

Concerned as the now too familiar panicked look on the girl, Trini left the counter to approach the table. Kim acknowledged her with a small smile, and Trini noticed the girl was on the verge of hyperventilating.

“Hey, everything’s alright?”, she asked and mentally cursed herself at such a lame question. Everything was obviously not alright.

“I think I’m having a panic attack.”, Kim answered, almost calmly.

“You’d know if you were having one.”

“A small one then!”

“You can’t have ‘small’ panic attacks.”

“I think I have at least one once a day, actually,” she retorted and Trini couldn’t help but laugh at the absurdity of this girl.

She tentatively reached her hand across the table, brushing against Kim’s finger. Kim immediately turn her wrist to let Trini have access to her palm.

“Wanna talk about it?”, the barista asked with concern. Kim’s eyes were focused on their joined hands, the frown never leaving her face. The phone stopped ringing.

Analyzing the look on Kim’s face as she was studying the way their hands fit together, Trini was starting to think that maybe the girl’s constant state of panic was about that. Not about her specifically, but college was a time where people were starting to discover more about themselves. And the first day, things seemed pretty tense with the Jason guy… Maybe Kim was discovering herself, and she had trouble dealing with it. Trini had to shut down the little voice in her head saying she would love to discover Kim herself.

After a long moment of silence where Trini could almost see the turmoil in Kim’s head, the taller girl finally whispered:

“Have you ever felt so lost that you just want to bury yourself in your bed and never leave for the next decade?”

“About three times a week, yeah,” Trini laughed. Kim’s lips twitched up, but she kept frowning.

“I just– My parents are gonna be in town soon and I have something to tell them. And hell’s gonna break lose. And I’m just not ready for it. “

Trini felt a pang of pain in her chest. She definitely knew what Kim was talking about. She had felt the same thing during high school, never knowing how to talk to her parents about her girlfriends, or her life in general. Now she was away, they never talked much about it, but she felt much better now that she didn’t have to see them every day and carry the weight of it every day. Recently her dad had called her and asked at the end of the conversation if she had “someone” in her life, as opposed to her mother stubbornly asking about “boys”. So, maybe there was hope somewhere.

“Maybe they’ll be more understanding than you think,” she tentatively suggested.

Kim chuckled humorlessly. “Yeah, right. I think they’ll just break out the body bag because they’re gonna straight up murder me.”

“They’re your parents, in their own way, they surely love you. I mean, if they’re coming to visit you at college, which – correct me if I’m wrong, I don’t wanna assume – they paid for, they care about you and your well-being. Maybe it’s not gonna be that bad.”

Kim ran her free hand through her hair – at Trini’s delight – and let out a noncommittal groan. “Yeah, Jason said the same thing…”

Trini frowned at the mention of the boy. But if he gave this advice to Kim, he wasn’t as bad as Trini had think – had hoped.

“They’ll learn to accept yourself as you are. You have to start to accept yourself as well,” Trini continued, and she realized she was still caressing Kim’s hand as she was speaking.

“I guess…” Kim said, unconvinced, a small confused smile as she was having trouble following Trini. “But no offence, considering the – situation”, Kim hesitated, trying to find the right word. “and knowing my parents, I really don’t see that discussion going well.”

“You have to make them understand you’re not gonna change.” Trini squeezed Kim’s hand in comfort. “Besides, it’s not like it was uncommon, and it’s becoming more and more accepted. They’ll get over it, eventually.”, she added with a hopeful tone – half talking to herself as well.

She had felt so alone during high school, thinking she was the only one in the world with those weird feelings, it had been a lifesaver to find LGBT organization and associations in college. Maybe they would help Kim as well.

Kim’s head popped up, meeting Trini’s eyes for the first time of the conversation. This time, she looked completely lost and confused.

“Wait– what?”

Trini noted the edge of panic back in her voice. Maybe she had come in too strong, she thought with guilt.

“Well, you know… the whole gay or bi thing.”, she finally let out.

Kim froze, eyes wide. For a second, Trini thought that she was going to get angry, that she’d panic even more and lash out. However, Kim’s reaction was totally unexpected and took her by surprise.

She threw her head back, laughing with an open throat. Her hand let go of Trini’s as she brought it to her mouth, while the other was gripping her ribs. It took about two whole minutes for Kim’s laughing fist to calm down in front of a very confused Trini.

Kim was wiping tears from her eyes as she started to apologize. “I’m so sorry, I just did not expect that. At all. I didn’t mean to be rude!”, she managed to let out between two giggles, kind of cancelling her apologies. She took a deep breath, effectively calming down. “You thought I was gonna come out to my parents?”, she asked with an amused smile.

Trini covered eyes with one hand, wincing with embarrassment. She felt like a total idiot. “Obviously, I’ve misjudged the situation.”, she stated, scratching her head.

Finally looking up, she felt her humiliation disappear because Kim was smiling gently at her, and was reaching her hand across the table to touch Trini’s hand again.

“Obviously,” Kim laughed softly. “Well not totally. Because I did come out to my parents a while ago. That hasn’t been much of a problem for me actually. I’ve always known I wanted to do like, half the football team as well as half the cheerleading squad.” Trini almost choked with laughter at the casual way Kim was putting it. Kim frowned as she realized the crassy way she formulated it “Hold on, that came out a bit wrong.”

“If that’s how you announced it to your parents, I bet!”

They both laughed, their hand never parting. After a moment of silence, Trini finally asked in a more serious tone:

“So, what do you have to tell your parents?”

“They think I’m in med school. I’ve actually dropped out last year because I hated it, but never told them,” Kim explained, the frown back of her face. “They’re big lawyers, always busy, always on business trip. So they just send me money to compensate. I mean, don’t get me wrong, it’s great not to have to worry about that. But they want me to be this successful surgeon, keep up the family name, but I hated it, I was miserable. So one day, I just dropped out, and registered here.”

“Just like that, on a whim? Just– change college and your entire orientation?”, Trini asked bewilderedly.

“I’ve always been reckless and impulsive, you can ask my best friend Jason!”, Kim laughed in response. Trini interiorly cheered at the mention of “best friend” and suddenly she didn’t hate Jason anymore. “But three days ago, they called and said they wanted to visit, so I’m screwed and I’m probably living my last hours right now.”

Trini laughed at the girl’s dramatic antics. Her heart beating fast in her chest, she returned playfully “I might know a way or two to make them fun.” For an instant, she thought Kim was actually going to die of her heart attack right in front of her.

The girl gasped, then blushed furiously, biting her lips and running her hand in her hair, before finally meeting Trini’s eyes and answering with a sparkle in her eyes: “What are you suggesting?”

“Is your roommate there tonight?” Trini hated herself for breaking the mood, but they would need to be alone to do what she had planned for them, and a roommate would get in the way.

“I’m not living on campus actually, I have an apartment not far from here,” Kim answered breathlessly. She hurried in stuffing her books in her bags, trying and failing to not look flustered.

“Oh, so you really are loaded,” Trini laughed, impressed.

She stood up gesturing the door. “Well, lead the way.”

Kim merely grabbed her extended hand in response.

__________________

“Sorry, dude. Can’t make it tonight, I’ll explain later, promise,” she quickly texted Zack. They had planned their usual hang out night, but at this moment Trini was following Kim – who was still holding her hand – in her building, and she certainly did not have time to be more specific.

Trini had taken the time to get the booze and weed from her car before letting herself be guided by Kim. Five minutes later, there were standing in an elevator, and the tension was palpable. Kim was restless, shifting on her feet while Trini’s gaze couldn’t focus on one thing more than two seconds.

Kim lead her in a hallway, rushing her out of the elevator as soon as it stopped. She let go of Trini’s hand to get her keys from her bag and Trini’s mourned the loss of contact.

Half an hour later, they were sitting down in a dimmed light offered by a single lamp on the table, backs against the couch, a glass of wine in hand, shoulders and knees touching. Trini was focusing on rolling a joint and Kim was watching closely, admiring the work and Trini’s agile fingers – and she was drunk enough to wonder what else those fingers could do.

“You bought this yourself?”, she asked while pointing to the bottles of wine on the floor. Kim’s speech was a bit slurred, and she leaned in a bit more than necessary into Trini.

Without looking away from what she was doing, nor breaking her concentration, Trini answered distractedly: “What, have rich people never heard of fake IDs?”

“Oh no, we have”, Kim said, “I’m just surprised yours works.” That made Trini look away from the half rolled joint, meeting Kim’s eyes with a raised eyebrow. “Fake ID or not, you still kinda look twelve.” She teased and Trini rolled her eyes. As Kim was giggling, proud of her joke, Trini decided Kim was definitely a cute drunk. And she was wondering what high Kim was like.

Trini lighted up the stick as Kim was getting up to put on some music. A slow, sensual song started playing and Trini met with hungry eyes when she looked at Kim to pass her the joint. Her breath quickened as she watch Kim placing the joint between her lips, slowly inhaling and exhaling the smoke and Trini thought she never looked hotter than at this moment.

Soon, the alcohol and the weed were forgotten, kicked to the side as eager lips met and hands were exploring bodies. Kim dragged Trini on her lap, running her tongue on the whimpering girl’s neck. She slid her hands over Trini’s waist, gently rubbing her nails against the skin, raising slowly her shirt, asking for a silent permission. She took the tugging of her hairr and Trini crashing their lips together as a positive answer.

Trini’s shirt fell on the floor, next to an empty bottle of wine and a still smoking joint butt, quickly followed by Kim’s tank top.

Trini was grinding against Kim’s hips and the girl’s moans were all she could hear. Kim was too focused on Trini’s body to noticed anything else.

Therefore, neither of the girls heard jiggling keys in the lock, nor noticed the door opening, nor saw the two persons entering the living room.

The light went up, illuminating the scene.

“Sweety, surpri-AAAAh!”

Everyone froze in shock in horror as they were processing what was happening. Trini was straddling Kim’s laps, both girls shirtless, two bottles of wine on the floor and the room smelling unmistakably of weed.

Kim’s parents jaws were hanging low, mumbling incomprehensible words, before her mother started to gain composure.

But before she could say anything, Kim blurted out.

“I dropped out of med school!”

[zephyroh]

Trimberly Week - Day Two // Da angst - Read on AO3

There were many things Trini came to know about Kimberly Hart for the past few weeks – ever since that night in the mine when their life turned upside down.

Kimberly Hart wore a lot of tank tops, loved cheesy jokes, could eat her weight in chicken nuggets while gushing about how healthy detox water and smoothies were and how the team should definitely drink more of it, she knew all the lyrics to every Disney movie ever, danced whenever she was happy, and swore like a sailor when she drove. Trini couldn’t exactly remember when she started picking up on those little things, but watching Kimberly and absorbing little details about her became a second nature. [...]

And Kimberly Hart was a happy drunk, Trini told herself again as she watched the slouched silhouette of her friend, sitting at the edge of the cliff she once threw her off, head down and a bottle of tequila at her side.

The sentence ran through her head again and again but the yellow ranger could not reconcile it with the sight in front of her.

i’m the shell of a girl i used to know

There were many things Trini came to know about Kimberly Hart for the past few weeks – ever since that night in the mine when their life turned upside down.

Kimberly Hart wore a lot of tank tops, loved cheesy jokes, could eat her weight in chicken nuggets while gushing about how healthy detox water and smoothies were and how the team should definitely drink more of it, she knew all the lyrics to every Disney movie ever, danced whenever she was happy, and swore like a sailor when she drove. Trini couldn’t exactly remember when she started picking up on those little things, but watching Kimberly and absorbing little details about her became a second nature.

Kimberly Hart was also a happy drunk. She’d constantly hug her teammates after two beers, sing really loudly and purposefully out of tune after the fourth, and dance clumsily her heart out around the bonfire by the fifth.

Kimberly Hart was a breath of fresh air in the morning when she’d pick Trini up for school with coffee and donuts, going as far as putting metal music to keep her grumpy friend content.

Kimberly Hart cheerfully made way too much pancakes every Sundays to bring them to Zack and her mom, and learned to play chess –  vowing she’d beat Ms. Taylor one day.

Kimberly Hart bought twenty oversized stuff animals for Billy to blow up – ‘safer that the lunchbox  in your locker’ she had merely stated with a grin – in the forest, making bets about how far the explosion would bring the destroyed piece of fabric and congratulating the boy every time he’d break his record.

Kimberly Hart taught Jason how to sew with the patience of an angel, never once complaining about the boy lack of agility in his finger, when she noticed he kept wearing tore down clothes and finally got him to admit he didn’t have enough money to buy new one – so she helped him fix them.

If Billy was the heart, Kimberly was the joy of the team.

And Kimberly Hart was a happy drunk, Trini told herself again as she watched the slouched silhouette of her friend, sitting at the edge of the cliff she once threw her off, head down and a bottle of tequila at her side.

The sentence ran through her head again and again but the yellow ranger could not reconcile it with the sight in front of her.

The moon’s light was diffused, heavy clouds shielding its beauty. Stars were nowhere to be seen through the dark coat in the sky. The cold wind was starting to slither into Trini’s jacket and she had to suppress the shiver threatening to run through her body.

But the thing that made her heart heavy was the curled-up form of Kimberly Hart, clinging to a bottle, arms around her legs and periodically taking a sip from the half-emptied bottle of hard liquor.

“It’s gonna rain soon, you should probably head home.”

Trini’s voice cut through the night and was only met with silence. The witty comeback Trini expected never came, and she felt a pang in her heart.

Trini liked silence. She was accustomed to it. She felt safe in it. There were nights where she and Kimberly would just hang out in her room or in the spaceship, never saying a word to each other but merely enjoyed each other presence in comfortable silence. This time was different. This time Trini would give anything to stop it.

She eyed the pink ranger as she sat down next to her, letting her feet hang in the void of the cliff under her. Kim’s chin was resting against her knees, her arms wrapped about her legs, and she was starting at the darkness under her. She did not make a move to acknowledge the presence of Trini, which made the girl even more worried.

This behaviour was so terribly unlike Kim.

She could handle excited Kim, drunk Kim, sick Kim, tired Kim, flirty Kim – even if she’d never admit to herself it was flirting – even angry Kim. But this… she had never seen her friend in this state, and the fact that she had no idea what to do terrified her even more.

So, she just stared in silence, studying the features of Kim’s face, barely lit by the moonlight, and an uneasy feeling settled in her stomach when she realized she couldn’t read her expression. That was another thing about Kimberly Hart – she wore her feelings on her face. She was an open book. If she was confused, flustered, frustrated or angry, you’d know it right away. But at this moment, she was closed off and Trini hated it.

When the pink ranger made a move to take a swing from the bottle again, Trini’s reflex kicked it, snatching the bottle from her friend hand, hoping to get a reaction. Kim’s arm stopped mid-air for a second, just to come back around her leg again, her eyes still fixated on the darkness below.

Trini wanted to yell at her to look at her, to speak to her, to say or do anything. She wanted to grab her head to look into Kim’s eyes and maybe she’s know what was going on in the girl’s mind.

She never thought she’d hate silence as much as she did right now.

As her mind was running trying to think about something other that “Are you alright?” – because Trini would rather jump off that cliff than to say something as ridiculous as this – Kim finally spoke up. It was barely a whisper and Trini thanked her enhanced superhero senses for catching it. With a broken voice and a slurred speech – betraying how much she had been drinking – Kim asked:

“What did you think about when we almost died, before the megazord?”

Trini was definitely not expecting that, but it did give an insight as to why her friend was such in a sorry state.

Despite the happy ending, the crowd cheering, the relief of seeing Rita’s form disappearing in the sky, the less gleeful memories of that day were still engraved in the ranger’s mind.

The smell of the smoke invading her cockpit.

The sound of crushed metal.

Jason’s distorted voice over the speaker.

“Nobody dies alone.”

The feeling of falling as the ground ceded below her zord.

“My family mostly.”, Trini finally answered with a knotted throat. “I thought about how I’d miss my brother’s game on Saturday and how my mom would be pissed. I thought that I would never hear my father playing guitar again. I thought about the smell of my mother’s cooking on the weekends. How I never told her that I loved her cooking and I wished she’s teach me. About I wouldn’t see my brothers grow up and I’d never get to embarrass them in front of their friends. About how I stole my dad’s boots and I’d never get to give them back to him. About-“

Trini couldn’t finish her sentence as a sob erupted from her throat, catching her by surprise. She hadn’t noticed the tears running down her cheeks when she was speaking. She wiped the tears with her sleeve, sniffing ungracefully.

When she looked back at Kim, the girl was wearing a sad smile and her eyes were shining with unshed tears. And when she spoke again, she sounded even more broken than before, which Trini didn’t think was even possible.

“I didn’t think about anything.”

The words felt like a stone thrown into a pound. Hard. Cold. Sinking.

Trini kept quiet, waiting for the pink ranger to elaborate. Kim swallowed hard and let out an emotionless chuckle.

“My mind just went blank. I just watched as Goldar was crushing my zord and I didn’t think about anything. The night after we beat Rita, when everything was over, I went home to a note of my parents saying they were out of town. And I just sat there, in the empty house I’m now used to, thinking about how I should have thought about something, I should have felt something, but I didn’t.

You know, Amanda called me heartless after the meeting with the principal, and as I was sitting on my couch telling myself I should have felt something, I wondered if maybe she was right. I got so used to lying, to everyone, about anything. To my parent about how happy I was, to my friends about how much fun they were, the teachers about what I wanted to do in life. Maybe I faked too much, and now I can’t actually be genuine. Maybe I’m just pretending all the time, because when I come home alone and I try to sleep, I just feel so… empty.”

This time Trini didn’t even try to cover her tears, letting them run down freely on her cheeks as she watched the broken girl in front of her.

Ironically, she wished she was Kim at this precise moment because she was confident Kim would know what to say to make her feel better if the role were reversed. Kim always knew. When Trini would go quiet – too quiet, the kind when she was shutting down and her walls were coming up – because something was off, when Jason would get in a fight with his father, when Zack would suffocate some night in his trailer, when Billy would get overwhelmed at school, Kim somehow always knew, and was always there – and it downright killed Trini to find out that she couldn’t return the favour for her.

She wished she could express how good it felt to see Kim pop up at her window the night, with a mischievous smile and a box of donuts. How light she felt when Kim let her vent about her mother, never once judging anything Trini said. How safe Kim made her feel when the nightmares of Rita came at night and she had the pink ranger’s arms around her, stroking her back until she fell asleep.

She wished she could talk to Kim and make her understand how Trini saw her, how she felt about her, how much she meant to her and their friends.

But Trini was never a talker.

So, she did the first thing that came into her mind.

As a small rock hit Kimberly right between the eyes with a muffled thud, falling on the girl’s lap, Kim looked at Trini in the eyes for the first time – and Trini had to force herself not to smile smugly because it was definitely not the moment, but she felt pride at the bewildered look on Kim’s face. She finally could read her again.

“Did you just throw a rock at me?”. The genuine disbelief in Kim’s voice almost made Trini laugh.

“Well, the only other thing available was the bottle, and that would have hurt much more I think.”, Trini answered as a matter-of-factly, shrugging lightly.

Kim opened her mouth to close it again a few seconds later. Then opened it again. She threw her hands in the air in a motion clearly asking “What is wrong with you?”

“If you’re gonna keep talking shit like that, I’m gonna keep throwing rocks at you.”, Trini merely stated as an explanation, flicking another one that hit Kim’s nose.

Kim’s eyes softened and when Trini looked in her eyes again, she swore she could drown into those brown pupils, so full of emotions – and Trini asked herself how on earth this girl could believe she was heartless.

“There’s no ‘normal’ reaction to almost dying. You’re not ‘supposed’ to think anything, to feel anything in particular. That goes for life in general. You just live and feel what you feel, and fuck what everyone else has to say about that. You’re not obligated to love your parents. You’re not obligated to have fun. You’re not obligated to be alright if you’re not. You feel what you feel and you just… work with that.”

Trini cursed herself at the word vomit coming out of her mouth. She was just desperately trying to make Kim feel like she’s was going to be alright. That she didn’t have to pretend. That she wasn’t alone.

But Trini was never a talker.

Instead she never tore her eyes away from Kim, hoping that she could express what she wanted to say with her eyes despite her lack of eloquence.

Trini was also not much of a feelings girl. She never knew quite how to handle them, and most of the time she’d just bury them behind her wall to deal with them later – or just not at all.

So, when Kimberly Hart tackled her to the ground, throwing her arms around her, gripping her jacket like her life depended on it, her brain sort of short-circuited.  She landed on her back, letting out a small groan, lying still with her arms at her side while she processed the way Kim was weighting on her, the way the girl’s hair was tickling her nose and how she smelled really good, the way Kim’s chest was pressing against hers, and the way the girl’s body between her legs made her stomach feel like she was on a roller-coaster – and suddenly she wasn’t cold at all anymore.

She finally closed her arms around Kim’s shoulders, squeezing as hard as she could and whispered against the pink’s ranger temple.

“I got you.”

Tears damped Trini’s shirt, and it wasn’t hers this time.

Pressing her face against the crook of Trini’s neck, Kim mumbled against the shorter girl’s skin.

“That’s Jason’s line for Billy.” Trini couldn’t hold back her laugh at the unexpected answer.

As she sat up, still holding Kim against her, she steadied her grip around the girl.

“You’re right, we should have our own thing.”, she breathed into Kim’s ear – and she felt a shiver shaking the girl’s body against her. “And I think I have an idea.”

Before Kim could register was what happening – having noticed the playful tone in Trini’s voice – the yellow ranger pulled them over the edge of the cliff, tangling their bodies together as they hit the water.

[zephyroh]

this is just me at 4am (welll, 5 now) trying to dig a but into trini’s character

Read on AO3

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She was staring at the wooden table as if she could pierce a hole through it if she tried hard enough. Her skin was itchy and burning hot as if her blood was trying to escape her veins. She could hear her heart beating and felt it in her throat. The room was silent except for the ticking of the clock, punctuated with her mother’s occasional sighs.

Tick. Tock.

Trini shifts slightly on her chair.

Sigh.

She was counting the seconds in her head. Tick. Tock. Seventy-two. Seventy-three. She was trying really hard not to look up because she knew all too well what she would find. Her father’s sad eyes and her mother’s clenched jaw and stiff posture.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Her mother had begun tapping her painted nail on the table. Trini’s body tenses even more at the anxiety-inducing sound, like it was ready to start running to flee at any given moment.

Tick. Tock. Tap. Sigh.

The silence was crushing her and she felt life she was drowning. She hated this so much.

“Okay, that’s enough.” Her mother firm voice finally breaks the heavy silence after ninety-eight seconds. Trini couldn’t help but quickly glance up to meet her mother’s eyes before returning to the spot on the table she’s been previously staring at. She holds back a tiny smirk, feeling satisfied that she didn’t crack first.

“Are you taking drugs again? Is that it?”

This time, Trini was the one letting out an exasperated groan. Her mother was saying that like she used to smoke crack or shoot up heroin, when she actually just used to smoke weed on some occasions. And her mother would have never found  out if she hadn’t find a little bag of it while cleaning her room – even though Trini explicitly expressed she hated when her mother did that because she was capable of tiding her own room.

“Maria…”, her father tries to intervene with a soothing tone.

“No, I’ve had enough. She’s been even more distant, going out at night – yes muchacha, we’ve noticed – getting weeks of detention for destroying school property, sometimes coming home with bruises-  I can’t pretend that everything is fine.  Talk to us, Trini!”

Trini closes her eyes, taking a deep breath. If she had a dime every time she heard that phrase, she would be able to afford any college she wanted. But how can you tell your own mother you don’t feel comfortable talking to her. That you don’t know how to put words on what you’re feeling. That’s you don’t want your parents to really know what’s going on because you don’t trust them to understand. Even more now that you’re an actual superhero.

So as usual, she just keeps quiet.

Tick. Tock.

She hears a muffled sob coming out of her mother’s throat and the sound breaks her heart. She didn’t want this. She didn’t want to make her mother suffer. But she felt like she was suffocating herself, and just wanted to crawl inside her own skin so she could finally feel peace, even just for a second.

Tears started to burn her eyes as her mother buries her face into her hands. The guilt creeps inside her, making its way in her bones, shaking her to her core.

“I’m fine, mom. I promise.” She finally managed to breath out. She doesn’t know what else to say. She doesn’t know how to say it. The words feel stuck in her throat, unable to come out in an intelligible way.

She tentatively lifts her head to look at her parents’ reaction. Her father gives her a small smile, appreciative of her effort. Her mother however, looks at her with a resigned face, and Trini knows she doesn’t believe her. She then sighs once again and makes a vague gesture with her hand, signaling that Trini was free to go.

As the girl leaves, relieved that the interrogation seance was over, her heart doesn’t feel any lighter.

Saturated guitars and guttural screams blast from her headphones as she climbs up the mountain. She is out of breath from running, feeling like her lungs are about to explode.  She usually goes for a run after those kinds of arguments with her parents, running until her head is cleared and her body exhausted.

As she reaches the top, she breathes in the fresh evening air and closes her eyes, letting the small breeze caress her skin. The moon is high, not entirely full and no clouds are shielding its light.

Trini takes in the sight of the valley she grew accustomed to, and remembers the time she thought it would be the only thing she’d missed here when she’d have to move again. Now she can add four infuriatingly friendly individuals to the list of things she’d miss.

She had been doing yoga poses for three and a half songs when she felt the ground vibrating from footsteps. She feels the air shift behind her, betraying the presence of someone without having to hear them. Trini’s training kicks in in a second, abandoning her pose to adopt a defensive posture. In a swift move, she spins on herself, raising her arms and closing her fist… only to be greeted with Kimberly’s crooked eyebrow and amused smile.

She drops her stance immediately, stiffening her back and crossing her arms. She doesn’t know yet if she felt irritated by the other girl’s presence or not. Seconds pass by without either of them doing or saying anything. Trini then turns her back on Kim to resume what she was doing earlier, after removing her headphones nonetheless.

Kim must have took that as an invitation to stay because Trini feels her move to her side, sitting a few feet from where Trini was standing. The latter was forcing herself to look straight ahead, trying to focus on what she was doing. Part of her wanted to ask Kim was she was doing here while the other didn’t want to start a conversation she couldn’t continue. If Kim was bothered by Trini’s lack of reaction to her presence, she didn’t show it as she stretched her legs and rested on her forearms, looking up at the moon. Trini internally cursed herself when she realized she was staring a bit too long, noticing too much how the moonlight lighting Kim profile accentuated the features of the beautiful girl’s face.

When Kim spoke softly, Trini almost jumped out of surprise as she wasn’t expecting it.

(Her heart skips a beat and her cheeks feel warmer than before – Trini tries to convice herself it’s because of the yoga.)

“I come here often to clear my head when things at home are… too much.” She says as if Trini asked a question. “My parents are having a few friends around. I figured I’d spare them the embarrassment of explaining how their perfect kid ended up kicked out of the cheerleading squad and ended up in detention for the rest of the year.” She lets out a humorless laugh. “And it would spare me the trouble of trying to pass as the brilliant, well-mannered daughter.”

She pauses, frowning slightly, then continued talking – though Trini wasn’t sure if she was talking to her, or to herself.

“I spotted a tiny silhouette on my way up, it could have been no one else but you, I figured.”, she teases. Trini merely groans at the mention of her size. “I usually go a bit further, into the forest, to take a swim in the river. There’s a great diving spot not so far from here. The water is cold as hell most of the time, but it feels good.” Kim continues to ramble, filling the air with her calm, soft voice and for once, Trini thinks listening to people talking isn’t that bad. “I found it a few months ago when I got lost actually. Well, not lost lost, ‘cause there’s still reception in the forest so I could use Google Map, but I didn’t take the path I used to and ended up finding this place.”

She pauses once again. As Trini was balancing herself on one single foot, she feels the need to keep Kim speaking. Her heart’s pace fastens again when she speaks for the first time since Kim arrived.

“Then I’ll be sure to avoid that spot.” Her words sound harsher that she intends to when she blurts them out. In the corner of her eyes, she sees Kim raising an eyebrow and tilting her head in confusion.

(She cursed herself once more for thinking about how cute she looked.)

“You’d throw me off that cliff too.”, she deadpans, shifting her head to look straight ahead.

There’s a moment of silence before Kim’s light laugh breaks out. The girl throws her head back, bringing a hand to her mouth to muffled the sound, in vain. As Trini sees tears forming at the corner of her friend’s eyes, she feels her own lips curving and she doesn’t even try to stop them.

“Oh my god!”, Kim breathes out as she tries to calm herself. “You are never gonna let this go, are you? I can see it, years from now, when we’re like forty and we have saved the earth like ten times, you’ll still rant about that. “

The short girl pretends not to notice her heart warming up at the idea of the five of them still being together forty years from now.

Kim then exaggerates a frown and mumbles in a deep voice. “Sorry Jason, I don’t know if I can trust Kim for this mission. Last time I did, she pushed me off a cliff. Those things stay with you, you know....”

Trini lets out an amused laugh at Kim terrible impression of her.

(Her heart hasn’t slowed down since before.)

She tried to regain her composure, breaking eye contact with a smirking Kim, looking very satisfied with her teasing. There’s a moment when all they can hear is the wind going through the leaves of the trees, before Kim starts speaking again. She talks about how she loves the water, how she and her parents always spend their holidays on the beaches of Florida, how she used to collect sea shells when she was little, how she ended up dressing almost entirely in pink one summer when she mistakenly put a red shirt in the laundry machine and all her white shirt turned out colored and her mom made her wear them as a punishment – “the universe does have a wicked sense of humor, don’t you think?”.

She talks about nothing and everything, superficial or deep, and Trini doesn’t feel so alone or numb anymore. She doesn’t know how much time passes and doesn’t want to find out. She doesn’t want to go back to reality yet.

When Kim stops speaking, simply laying there, her eyes closed and body relaxed, the silence doesn’t feel as heavy as it once did.

“You talk a lot.”, Trini whispers. Her tone isn’t aggressive. She simply states a fact.

It doesn’t faze Kim as she laughs softly. “And you don’t talk much. But that’s okay, I can talk for the both of us.”

Trini will probably never admit it out loud in front of Kim, but those words – so simply said yet filled with understanding and without any judgment – nearly brought tears to her eyes.

“I used to never talk honestly about my feelings. With my parents, with my ‘friends’ at school”, she spits the word ‘friend’ as if it burned her mouth. “After… After everything, I’ve decided that I officially don’t care anymore. Fuck it. Fuck everyone. I’m gonna say what I want to say, and not what everyone wants me to say. It feels liberating. You should try it sometimes.” She pauses for a second before adding. “Whenever you’re ready.”

Kim doesn’t look at her when she says that. Her tone sounds casual but Trini can feel Kim just doesn’t want to make her uncomfortable and she couldn’t be more thankful for that. She couldn’t have handled it otherwise.

She had abandoned her yoga poses a while ago and was now completely facing Kim, watching her silently, her hands tucked in her jacket. The other girl was now sitting up, looking down at the ground in front of her. Trini could feel there was something on her mind and she was hesitating to say it, despite her statement about free speech a few seconds ago. Kim finally looks up at her when Trini sits next to her, imitating her previous position as she spreads her legs in front of her, laying on her forearms. Kim accepts the mute invitation to keep talking as she starts speaking again, though her voice feels heavier this time.

“I’m not really good at comforting people you know… Usually, I can pretend and say what people expect me to say. But honesty and sincerity, with actual friends- I’m not really sure how to do it. I saw you were upset earlier and I didn’t know what to do… So, I guess rambling my whole life story was the first thing that came into my mind.”

She tries to laugh but her light tone doesn’t feel quite right. She shifts awkwardly next to Trini, as is she didn’t know how to behave – staring at her hands, avoiding Trini’s gaze.

A whiff of wind passes through leaves again. A faint sound of singing birds can be heard from afar.

(Trini doesn’t notice because she can only hear her heartbeat.)

She leans her head against Kim’s shoulder as she speaks softly.

“Thank you.”

And when Kim leans back, resting her temple on her head, Trini thinks silence isn’t so terrible as well.