#two Trinis playing for T&T as a whole

[theinfinitedivides]

watching a movie about a sport you know nothing about can be the definition of vibing without comprehension and i experienced that today

[torukmaktoskxawng]

'anla - part six

Masterlist

Summary: Ao'nung and Y/n settle into a new relationship while a father/daughter bond needs mending. Y/n decides it's finally time to visit the Spirit Tree again.

Pairing: Ao'nung/Fem!Na'vi!Sully Reader

Warnings: Mature language, time skips, HEAVY angst, depression, older sibling syndrome, mentions of death, canon compliance, father/daughter trouble, fluff, etc.

posted on ao3

Word Count: 5k+

Tag: #'anla ao'nung fic

Na'vi Words: Sänrr Rong - Glow Tunnel, tulkun - whale like animal, akula - shark like animal, Iknimaya - Rite of Passage, tsurak - skimwing, kurkung - asshole, taronyu - hunter, marui - house/pod, ilu - plesiosaur like animal, olo'eyktan - clan leader, kuru/tswin - queue braid, tsmukan - brother, Ranteng Utralti - Metkayina Spirit Tree, tsmuke - sister, nantang - dog like animal

Taglist (bold indicates “could not tag”):  @bangtanxberm @aonungmyaddiction @lv9su @aisselasstuff @yourusername1 @amortencjja @king-julian6201 @gg-trini @im-in-a-pansexual-panik @mikeyswifie @heart-an0n @iloveavatar @urdads-gf  @kentfisherswifee6 @sakurayuki8655-blog @ken-zah @nilrilie @g-l-1-t-c-h-3-r @iovemoonyy @sopluto @frvv

A/N: Thank you so much for 700 followers!

Despite not telling anyone what had happened at Sänrr Rong, everyone noticed the significant change in Y/n's attitude and everyone knew that whatever changed her tune happened at that tunnel. 

It has been over a month since she kissed Ao'nung and she's almost back to the way she was before the tragedy of her twin brother's death. She was flying more than usual without feeling the need to watch her siblings like a hawk, and sometimes her siblings would join her on these flights. She would play more often than watch over the other kids doing so and she would smile more than she had in a very long time. The more she talked, the more her voice was rid of the rough sound of sandpaper, eventually returning to normal. That's not to say she had completely healed from her loss. Y/n's smiles were still small and sometimes sad, but they were less forced and more genuine. There would be a day or two when she needed to be alone again with her thoughts, but those days were starting to be far or few between. 

And of course, she wasn't the only one slowly but surely healing. Her family was as well, although there was still some obvious tension between Y/n and her father, unspoken words still bubbling underneath the surface. Y/n had said everything she had ever wanted to say to her father that fateful day, but Jake couldn't afford to say his piece. Sometimes that man was too emotionally constipated and unfortunately, recent events have shown just how damaging that is to his children, especially Y/n and Lo'ak. To keep each other from thinking about it, the sister and brother would spend whole days together and entertaining the others. Lo'ak took all the kids to see Payakan many times over the months after losing Neteyam, and it was safe to say tulkun riding was a great success and a therapeutic activity for everyone involved. Much like how they spent time away in Sänrr Rong, the kids now spend their free afternoons with Payakan after finishing up any chores they had in the morning. Of course, the teens still like cliff diving, but they have been wanting to keep Tuk and her little friends included more often than not nowadays, so they have stuck to activities the younger ones can participate in, such as fin-gliding with Payakan.

However, the Archwas never left abandoned. Y/n would go there every time she needed to be left alone and recharge. Her family respected the fact that there were gonna be days when she needed to go back to missing her twin and promised to leave her to her thoughts... just as long as she always came back to them. 

She hated lying to them sometimes. Yes, she'd escape to Sänrr Rong some days to be alone, but sometimes she needed an excuse to sneak away. She wished she didn't use Neteyam as an excuse, but internally, she knew her twin would laugh his ass off if he knew why.

While impatiently waiting on one of those days, she sat on the edge of the cliff and let her legs gently swing in the air, deep in thought. Y/n was watching the clouds until a pair of large hands covered her vision and a voice close enough to feel their breath in her hair called out behind her, "Guess who."

She grins knowingly, "Rotxo? Is that you?"

A laugh is pulled from her lungs when Ao'nung pulls his hands away from her face and instead grabs at her waist, pulling her away from the ledge while ruthlessly poking and prodding at her ribcage. Y/n squeals with uncontrollable laughter, trying to curl up and protect herself while Ao'nung playfully growls at her, "Take that back, Forest Girl."

He tightens his arms around her for a brief squeeze and relents after she makes a half-assed apology between gasps of laughter. Keeping her in his arms, Ao'nung gets comfortable, sitting down in the grass as the high winds rustle the vegetation around them. Y/n's laughter died down eventually, flinching occasionally if Ao'nung's fingers touched a ticklish spot, now high-strung and giggling under her breath. She tilts her head to peer over her shoulder and finally gets a good look at him, "Ah, Seaweed Brain. To what do I owe the displeasure?"

"Keep it up," he jibes back, "And I will toss you over the edge." 

She makes an amused sound at the back of her throat but otherwise says nothing. They sit that way for a while, warmed by their shared body heat as the wind brushes through their hair, tangled legs gently swinging over the cliffside. Ao'nung breaks the moment of peace by rummaging in a small pouch he had tied to his belt that morning, "I got you something."

"What is it?" Y/n leans her head back to rest against his shoulder as he lifts his hand out to hers, presenting a small object resting in his giant palm. It was obviously an arrowhead, but the material looked different than what a traditional arrow was made of. Once Y/n had the object in her hand, she ran her thumb over it and recognized it to be made out of an akula tooth, causing her lips to turn up into an excited smile, "It's beautiful."

"It looks fragile but I promise that it is strong. You'll be able to use it for your arrows. I can show you where to gather more of them."

In the meantime, in order to keep it safe, she fashioned the arrow into the necklace she wore, feeling the object rest comfortably against her collar. She turned her head enough to look back at Ao'nung and smiled, her hand reaching behind and resting against the back of the reef boy's neck, "Thank you."

He grinned obnoxiously back, overdramatically enunciating his words as if he were reciting an ancient prophecy, "May your arrows always fly true~"

"You are ridiculous." Y/n rolled her eyes with a scoff, despite the smile still gracing her lips. They leaned back into a comfortable silence, looking out over the vast ocean before she spoke up once more, "You're one season away from completing your Iknimaya. Are you excited?"

"Aren't you? My father mentioned that you have been hunting more. You might be able to finish the trials with the rest of us instead of waiting. Rotxo was upset that you managed to catch more fish than him last week," Ao'nung laughed when Y/n proudly beamed and winked at him in response, "I would not be surprised if you finished the trials before him."

"Even if I did, I don't have my own tulkun. Lo'ak would be able to finish the Iknimaya since he has Payakan, but without a tulkun, I wouldn't be able to fully become Metkayina."

"But you can still do the other trials. You can still tame a tsurak. I know you can."

"I know, it's just... it wouldn't be the same."

Her voice lowered, trailing off as she got lost in thought. Ao'nung knew that this particular tone in her voice meant several meanings. Without saying it, Y/n confessed that it wouldn't be the same as flying with Evi, or the same as sharing these achievements with her twin. She didn't have to specify for Ao'nung, he already knew what she meant.

Instead of asking her to be specific, Ao'nung tightened his hold around her, holding her like he wished he was brave enough to do a few months ago, "I know."

She gladly takes his comfort, sighing in defeat, "And besides, I wouldn't put it past my father to be stubborn and refuse my place in the trials."

"Why? I thought that's what your father wanted you to do?"

"It was. But lately, we haven't been... on speaking terms."

"Lo'ak mentioned that. 'Said something about how you and Toruk Makto have been driving your mother 'up the wall,'" Ao'nung's ears pin back while shyly admitting, "I am not sure I know what that means."

Y/n half-heartedly laughs, "It means we're driving her crazy."

"Oh... Yeah, you're pretty good at that."

Ao'nung's smugness is interrupted by a sharp elbow jabbing into his ribs and he yelps in response, Y/n's scowl looking as adorable as ever to him as she cursed, "Kurkung."

~~~~~~~~~

Neytiri usually loved how stubborn her mate could be, and she loved it even more when that stubbornness was passed down to their children. But lately, that stubbornness is driving her absolutely insane and it might also be tearing her family apart more than it already is.

She had been telling Jake that he needed to talk to Y/n and he needed to act soon, or else Y/n would grow up and become taronyu right under his nose. And then it will be too late for forgiveness. Y/n's childhood will be gone permanently and there would be no way for Jake to fix it. Neytiri has a fear that her daughter will only continue to distance herself from her father as she gets older until there's nothing left to mend, so the Na'vi woman has done everything in her power to keep that from happening. She had talked to both Jake and Y/n separately, but nothing appeared to work.

Jake has the Human mindset that Y/n just needs her distance from him, while Y/n secretly resents her father for not just telling her how he really feels. Neytiri, luckily, doesn't have the same mindset as her mate so she took matters into her own hands. 

One afternoon, Neytiri refused to let either of their stubborn asses into her marui and told them to go hunting together, threatening to not let them back in until they had talked it all out. "We are a family. We have lost too much to be anything but! Start acting like a family."

Like father, like daughter, they begrudgingly left to go fishing together, taking their respective tsurak and ilu before swimming out beyond the reef to hunt for their family's next meal. They stubbornly tried to do so in silence, but too much hurt and words hung between them, making this hunting trip just as painful. While Jake was glad Y/n appeared to be doing better, smiling and laughing like normal whenever she was around friends, he couldn't help but feel hurt whenever her eyes landed on him and her smile would immediately disappear. Even now, when they were alone, Y/n looked as though time had not passed since Neteyam's death, her expression unhappy as her gaze looked off into the distance as if she had not healed at all. Maybe, whenever her father was concerned, she hadn't healed at all like everyone thinks.  

"Your first word was 'fly,'" was the first thing that came to mind, and he had no idea where that came from. Y/n suddenly turned and stared oddly at her father, but said nothing in response. Jake looks out over the ocean, replaying the memory in his head, "Neteyam was sick that day and we were scared that you would catch it, so we separated the two of you. I took you flying while your mother and grandmother tended to your brother. I was trying to occupy your mind, holding you in my arms while Bob wandered around.  Anyway, you and I were flying and you mumbled that word. It was a moment that I alone witnessed and cherished forever. Your mom was sad that she had missed it. Mo'at believed it was a sure sign that you would become one of the best flyers someday, and she was right. She also believed that because you spoke your first word to me, you would always trust me and come to me first for anything... I wish she was right about that, too."

He finally turned back to his daughter, ears drooping as he reassured her, "Not that it's your fault, kiddo. It's mine. I pushed you away, I expected too much from you and Neteyam. From all of you. There's no excuse for what I did, not even war or the fear I have of losing you. Everything that's happened until this very moment has been my fault, and... I am so, so sorry."

They sit silently on their respective tsurak and ilu for some time while Y/n carefully stares at her father and tries to piece together a puzzle in her head, the soft waves bobbing the pair of them up and down in the water as she gathers her thoughts. 

Jake looked so old at that moment, aging far past his years as if cryosleep had finally caught up to him, devastated and beside himself as he stared back, hoping his daughter could see how genuine he was. It's funny, in a strange, twisted way. Y/n had grown up believing everyone when they said her father was the great and mighty Toruk Makto, one of only six throughout the history of the Na'vi. They all described Jakesully as a strong warrior, as sturdy as the trees and unforgivable as the ocean, whereas whenever Y/n looked at him, all she could see was her dad. He's not particularly tall -at least not compared to Tonowari- or strong or unforgivable. He's just... ordinary to her. An ordinary man. As a child, sure, she believed all the stories told of him and considered him her number one hero, but as she grew older, she saw less of the legend and more of the man behind it. It's hard to picture the man who grounds you whenever you do something wrong as the same man who brought the clans together in a time of great sorrow. 

Even though Y/n was easily able to separate her father from the great Toruk Makto, others might not be able to, such as Jake himself. She could only imagine the burden placed on his shoulders as a husband, father, and leader. She knew he had to make a difficult choice by choosing his family over his clan, believing he could protect both from the Sky People by running away. In the human stories she'd heard in the past, usually, the hero sacrifices everything they love for the greater good. A quote she could faintly remember, something about a Vulcan stating "needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few" or something like that. They all start to blur together and she can't remember which of those stories were fact or fiction. Either way, when she thought of those stories, she didn't picture her father as any of those heroes. To her, he was the olo'eyktan of the Omatikaya clan and war hero of the Battle of the Hallelujah Mountains. Toruk Makto wasn't about sacrifices or choosing who to save. He was about bringing the clans together to mourn, to love, and to fight as one. 

So losing Neteyam wasn't just hard on Jake as a father but as a leader as well. A father protects, but so does a leader, and he failed at both of them. Soon, Y/n will be sixteen years old, and no matter how hard she tried to think like an adult, she couldn't imagine what her father must be going through right now. She couldn't imagine the pain he was feeling, losing the very child that made him a father in the first place. Parents shouldn't have to bury their children. Parents are meant to grow old and die without ever having to worry about their own child's death. They should be the ones to go first... not their child. Not their sweet, innocent babies.

A tear slipped down Y/n's face when she first noticed her own father silently crying throughout the silence. A part of her wished to never have children for the sake of sparing herself this kind of pain, while another part of her wished to see what it'd be like to raise children one day and see if she could do better than the people who came before her. Jake wasn't the best father in the world, but he was hers, and she wanted to be proud of that fact, "I said I would never forgive you, Dad. That doesn't mean that I'll never stop loving you."

He peered up at her, watching her carefully as she rolled her lips when her tear slipped into her mouth. She sniffled quietly as she whispered, "I-- I can't help it. You're my father. And... And maybe someday soon I'll learn how to forgive, but I could never forget." 

Jake tried to collect himself, taking deep breaths and wiping his own tears away, nodding, "That's okay kiddo. I understand."

"How... how did your brother die?"

Jake winced, hissing silently between his teeth. It wasn't a topic suitable for children, but after everything his daughter had been through, it's safe to say her innocence had been shattered a while ago, no matter how hard her parents had tried to contain it. It breaks Jake a little more every day realizing just how young all his children are and just how much they have already gone through in the early stages of their lives. Nevertheless, Jake's kids barely know anything about his brother and they try not to press, but he knew eventually he'd have to tell them.

"A gun, I think. Or a knife. I... I honestly can't remember. That was so long ago... it almost didn't feel real. And-- I'll be honest, I wasn't a very nice person back on Earth. I was completely wasted when I was told my brother was dead."

Y/n nods but doesn't comment on that. She can't exactly picture her father being some sort of drunk or a monster. She had seen his video diaries that Norm had kept for studying, so she knew what her father looked like as a human, but a monster? No, she couldn't even imagine. "I think you should talk about Uncle Tommy more. I think we'd all like to hear more about him."

"Yeah," he replies solemnly, looking as gray as the sky ahead of them, "I wish you could have met him."

It would've been nice to see where the twin gene came from. To see her father's brother in a side-by-side comparison would be funny in its own way. Y/n had always wondered what Tomsully was like or if he was anything like her dad. 

The heavy conversation didn't really feel suited for fishing and Y/n wasn't exactly enjoying herself any more than Jake was. She felt her fingers begin to fidget as she quietly asked, "Can... Can we go to the Spirit Tree? Just us?"

Jake turned back, eyes softening into something that resembled a gentle father more than a war hero, "Of course, sweetheart. Whatever you want."

~~~~~~~~~

The Cove looked the same as when Ao'nung had taken Y/n there... right before everything went to shit. As she and Jake dive down to the Spirit Tree, she begins to get nervous, her heart wanting to leap up into her throat. Her father nodded in encouragement and kept a vigil watch while she connected to a tendril of the tree, taking her kuru braid and connecting the tswin to the branch. 

The moment she closed her eyes, she found herself standing on the beach of the village. Confusion wrapped around her brain as she looked around, wondering what she was doing there. She was alone, watching everyone go about their day as normal, only... none of the faces looked clear. It was as though a dense fog was placed over the faces and a part of Y/n wondered if she had dreamt of her and her father going out to fish and visit the Spirit Tree. That is... until she heard a familiar voice.

"Ah, there you are!"

Spinning around, her voice nearly got caught in her throat as her eyes set on an approaching figure, "Neteyam..."

Walking tall and confident, Neteyam smiled brightly as he walked up to his twin sister, beckoning over his shoulder, "Come on. You said you wanted to fly."

Ah. A memory. Y/n had forgotten that the Spirit Tree only contains a past loved one's memories unless she strayed from the memory to speak to him directly. Y/n wanted nothing more than to live out this memory once more; to fly alongside her twin brother as she was meant to for the rest of their lives... but maybe some other time.

"Actually... can we talk?" 

From here, the memory drifts away from history, away from what actually happened. The vision subtly moves, shifting to Y/n's preferred reality. When she pulls from the memory, Neteyam's expression moves like it's obstructed by water before the vision clears, and suddenly Neteyam's memory is also speaking off script, confused but obliging her request.

"What is it?" When he asked her this, she realized she was now speaking to Eywa's image of Neteyam, and suddenly her eyes began to blur and a sob escaped her throat. Neteyam immediately grew concerned, his protective older brother's side showing once more as he stepped close to gathering his twin up in his arms. He brushed a few tears away and then proceeded to hug her close, speaking in soothing, small words, "Hey. Hey, Y/n... it's alright. Why are you crying?"

She continued to cry into her brother's shoulder, repeatedly wiping her face but it was pointless, the tears refusing to stop, "I miss you so much, 'Teyam!" She wailed, "There isn't a day that goes by when I don't-- when I don't think of you."

"What are you talking about?"

Y/n began to cry even harder, mad at Neteyam and mad at Eywa for making her say it out loud, "You're gone, tsmukan. You've been gone for... a few months now. And it still hurts. It hurts like it just happened yesterday. This isn't real. We are in Ranteng Utralti. The Spirit Tree of the Metkayina."

"Oh." Neteyam gently pulled away and held his sister out at arm's length, looking around, curious and confused, but strangely, he wasn't scared, "So this is it? I am one with Eywa?"

Y/n took a moment to properly wipe her tears and try to relax, muttering under her breath as she nodded, "Yes..."

"You came to visit me?"

"Yeah... it is my first time doing so." Immediately, Neteyam's eyes fall back on hers before she lowers her head in shame, unable to look him in the eye, "I'm sorry. I should have come sooner, but... I was scared. Dad and Lo'ak visit the most, but I... I couldn't face you."

"What... When was the last we saw each other... before...?"

She had to pause for a few short minutes to think about it, willing herself to remember that fateful day after spending so long just trying to forget it. Thinking hard enough for her head to hurt, it took her a while to forget yellow unblinking eyes, cold skin... and all of that blood that still haunts her nightmares. She tried to get past the fire, the Sky People, and the screams and cries clawing from her own lungs and those around her. Trying to picture her twin's face, alive and well, was harder than she thought, replaying the events that had led up to the battle actually happening.

"You... you separated from us to lure the Sky People away," she recalled, her bottom lip beginning to quiver again, "You went alone. That was the last time I saw you alive. I... I don't even remember the last thing I ever said to you."

"Ah. That's alright then."

Her head snapped up quickly, staring wide-eyed in disbelief at Neteyam while he only smiled softly. Her tone was accusatory as she bit out, "'That's alright'? No! No, that is not alright! You died, 'Teyam!"

He simply shrugged, "We all have to die someday, tsmuke. That is what we are told from the day we are able to understand it."

"But why is it alright that you got separated from us and died for it?!"

"Because I drove the Sky People away, right? I made sure my siblings were safe," Y/n was opening and closing her mouth to try and find a retort before Neteyam stepped closer again, reaching out and firmly grasping the back of her head to make her look him in the eyes, "It is my job to protect my brother and sisters and I take that job very seriously."

She felt her shoulders slouch as a breathy scoff escaped her lungs, "I can't believe you sometimes. You've always been so... accepting. That worried me sometimes. It worried me how you could always be so... resigned to everything."

He smirked, "I thought it was a healthy opposition to you, someone who could never just lie down and accept that things are just the way they are. You were always so stubborn, Y/n, determined and hopeful that things could always change for the better."

Y/n bit the inside of her cheek to refrain from calling her twin a liar, glancing away to focus more on the sand of the beach, "I wish that were true about me."

"It's always been true."

"Not anymore. How--" She swallowed a sob before it could make a sound, eyes beginning to water once again as she peered up to stare into her brother's matching eyes, "How can I be hopeful for a better tomorrow if you're no longer there to see it? It will never be brighter, or better, because you're gone."

"I am gone..." he nods as if he hadn't just been informed of this mere moments ago, "But not fully. Look around you."

When she obediently did so, her eyes widened in wonder as the beach slowly melted away and turned the vision into a vast, heavy, and healthy forest. Their forest, was as vibrant and as beautiful as she remembered it. She can hear a pack of nantang calling off to one another in the distance while the sun tries to peek through the canopy, shining proudly down onto the twins. Leaves and shrubbery rustle to indicate life all around them while Neteyam only looks down at his sister. Y/n wasn't entirely sure, but she thought he looked different in this new light. Like he looked more... alive in the forest than he did on the beach. Her heart was saddened at the memory of 'Teyam telling her that he missed home, but now he can go home as much as he wanted, whenever he wanted.

It was like Y/n was now standing in Neteyam's own personal heaven instead of a memory she found within the Spirit Tree. 

Neteyam grasps both of her shoulders, "I am one with Eywa now. You can always find me here, whenever you need me. Remember, tsmuke, that I am at peace now. I may not remember what happened to me, but I hope it aches a little less for you to know that I don't remember the pain."

A tear slips past her detection, and even though it was minuscule at best, Y/n could feel a small part of her heart mend back together, comforted by her brother's words. She nods her head in reply and tries clearing her throat to speak, "Dad... he said you had last words for me. You wanted to tell me to 'find more.'"

Neteyam didn't have eyebrow hair like her, but the ridge where an eyebrow could've been lifted up in question, "Isn't that what I said when talking about Ao'nung the other night?"

Her eyes widen, replaying his words until the memory comes back to light. For the moment, she ignored the fact that Neteyam mentioned the memory so casually as if it had only happened a few days ago for him, whereas it had actually been months ago for her, "You remember that?"

"I do. You know me, sweet sister," he smiled, "As a warrior, it is vital for me to constantly visit the Spirit Tree so I can retain as much of my memory within Eywa. I don't take Grandmother's words lightly. You know this."

"I know..." Her shock slowly melts into a sad smile, "You were sometimes a little too serious."

As if making a point, Neteyam dropped the serious act in exchange for flashing a teasing grin at her, "So?"

"What?"

"Did you 'find more?'"

Her stomach flips and her mouth forms into a pout. It felt like acid on her tongue to begrudgingly admit to her brother that he was right, "... I did."

He grinned in triumph, "I told you so."

"Shut up."

"No need to sulk, Y/n," he laughed, "It is not your fault you were born dense."

"I am not dense! I just..." She doesn't have a proper rebuttal and sighs in defeat, "I miss this. I haven't had a talk like this in a while."

Neteyam hums mostly to himself, "You should talk more. People tend to realize that you are actually nice the more you talk."

"I hate you."

"No, you don't," he smiles triumphantly again when he gets her to laugh, then lets his expression form a more genuine, encouraging aura around them. He steps close to Y/n again and places a hand on the top of her head, "The sea gives and the sea takes. The sea gave you Ao'nung in exchange for me."

She wished he didn't make it sound like she willingly traded her brother for Ao'nung and shook her head defiantly, shaking his hand off of her, "It's not fair."

"I know. But it was Eywa's will, Y/n."

"I just... you should be here."

"I am here."

"No. Here here," she complained as the tears began to form yet again, "You should be completing your Iknimaya with me. You should be helping Tuk learn how to use a bow. You should be sitting quietly with Kiri whenever she gets overwhelmed. You... you should be having fun with Lo'ak and Spider like you did when the three of you were younger. We're already growing up without you and I feel so guilty to be moving on."

He shushes her softly and reaches out to brush her tears away, "Moving on does not mean you'll miss me any less. In time, you'll just learn how to balance out the pain with happiness instead. Never feel guilty or regret for me, Y/n. I could never blame you for finding the light in the darkest of places. I may not be right beside you, but I will always be with you, one way or another. And I won't be alone."

When her eyebrows briefly scrunch in confusion, he sheepishly smiles and thinks of all the possibilities, "I mean-- do you think I can finally meet Grandfather? I wonder if our mother's sister is here as well, and Brother Tsu'tey and Dr. Augustine. Who knows-- maybe Dad's twin brother might be with Eywa as well."

It's an encouraging thought, and it's a thought that makes Y/n smile ever so slightly again, "If... if you see any of them, let me know next time."

"I will try," he stares at her in silence for a moment, then looks as though he's decided on an important matter, "Promise me something."

"Sure."

"Don't visit often."

Her eyes widen again, shocked and almost appalled, dread filling her gut at the thought of leaving her twin all alone here, "What? Why?"

His expression is grim and serious, much like how he looked when she last saw him alive, taking the red pinger that was once stuck in Payakan and swimming away from the rest of them, "I do not think it would be healthy to speak with the dead constantly when you could be missing out on so much of your life. I want you all to live far longer than me, Y/n, and I would be happy knowing you were out there living your lives rather than constantly visiting me. If you must, visit me after important dates or ceremonies. Catch me up on our siblings' endeavors, when they finish their trials, who are they courting, how many children they have... and I hope to hear the same about you as well. Promise me, Y/n."

Her teeth grind together, hidden in her mouth as she thinks, already missing Neteyam even though she hadn't left yet. Now that she had finally gained the courage to talk to him again, it felt as though they were being separated all over again. The one and only time they, as twins, have been separated... and it was permanent. It hurt that he didn't want her to continuously return to see him, but Y/n knew her brother better than anyone. Neteyam was selfless, and he would rather be alone while his family moved on and lived out their full, long lives, waiting until they would finally join him with Eywa. Maybe, to Neteyam, it wouldn't feel like a long time. Maybe time wouldn't even pass for him... but it would for Y/n... and it was hard to even fathom a lifetime without her twin by her side.

Still, she had never known a time when she didn't want to make her brother happy in turn, "I promise."

A/N: Ao'nung and Y/n are the perfect definitions of "he fell first, she fell harder". This chapter was longer than all the other ones so I had to split it into two parts, so the next one will be out shortly! And then it will be onto the finale!

[partyinthemysterymachine]

fandom meme: T, V

blows u a kiss

T -  Do you have any hard and fast headcanons that you will die defending, about anything at all (gender identity, sexual or romantic orientation, extended family, sexual preferences like top/bottom/switch, relationship with poetry, seriously anything)

rubs throat

ok so some of these aren’t ride or die headcanons, just a jumble of shit that i like and ride or die, you figure out which is which

Harry Mason is a bottom; is author friends with my OC Lane (that’s the middle of the bingo card); [REDACTED SAD HEADCANONS BC TRIGGER WARNINGS]; bisexual delight; swears like a sailor with 5 minutes to live; uses pet names like you wouldn’t believe; left handed (ok i wouldn’t die defending it i just Like It; DOES go to therapy; plays the piano, still pick types (aka never learned how to use home row or anything, just plunks at keys); obv paranoid as ten fucks on easter sunday about the cult and has a gun but it unnerves him so much he probably only goes to the shooting range a few times a year (tho does keep it cleaned, and that’s nerve-wracking enough)

James Sunderland is a top; unfortunate! just in general; bisexual disaster; short aka under 5′11″ (sorry y’all while i have learned to appreciate Tall James, Short James has my heart); alcoholic (tho p sure this is canon but yanno); [REDACTED SAD HEADCANONS BC TRIGGER WARNINGS]; had moderate but wobbly relationship with his dad aka frank was weird and a dick sometimes but not abusive; complicated relationship with Mary; lake fucker (non-negotiable); prob did a little hunting is his youth but couldn’t figure out how he felt about it so stopped; that boy ain’t right; charcoal on crisp white paper

Alex Shepherd and Mary Shepherd are cousins/nephew and aunt

Frank Sunderland and Mary Shepherd/the Order have been in cahoots the whole time

quietly leaves CATS alone

Jonathan Crane ... .... yanno... can’t even do this one bc i’m too pigheaded about how i developed my own Jonathan Crane and he’s pretty canon/fanon divergent so

actually lbr here i’m pigheaded about my interpretations in general and ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

i’m ride or die with myself i suppose

V - 3 OTPs from 3 different fandoms

:(

no not 3. as many as i damn well please thank u

as if any of these need any fucking rehashing:

Harry Mason/James Sunderland (Silent Hill)

Eileen Galvin/Cynthia Velasquez (Silent Hill 4) (pass bc it’s sh4 and also, Lesbians)

Munkustrap/Macavity (CATS)

Jonathan Crane/Edward Nygma aka scriddler (Batman Rogues Gallery)

[other rogues pairings between my personal interpretations]

Jack Aubrey/Stephen Maturin (Aubreyad) (andalsotheirwivessometimes)

Tin Man/Scarecrow (Wizard of Oz)

Koltira Deathweaver/Thassarian (World of Warcraft) (don’t fucking look at me)

Orange/White aka creamsicle (god i hate y’all) (Reservoir Dogs)

Red Traveler/White Traveler (Journey) (and what about it)

Jason Lee Scott/Tommy Oliver (Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers) (betcha didn’t see that one comin)

Kimberly Ann Hart/Trini Kwan (Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers) (that’s two but Lesbians)

uhhhh

receipts pls i don’t remember

[theinsanecrayonbox]

well it was supposed to be FCBD (yes i know “postponed”), and it’s been a terrible day thus far, so how’s about my plot outline/list for what was going to happen in Superverse before it went on hiatus...because at this point it would either be another time skip past all/most of this or a full on hard reboot if we went back to it at this point

to start off, the STT was going to continue with Chloe struggling to be leader since Tim’s around, and everyone keeps going to him a bit more than her...well half of everyone. it culminates with Time leaving to  go restart the Power pals, since well, he’s nearing 20 at this point. and the STT was getting quite a large roster, so the older members went with him, while the younger stayed and Chloe once again could be the leader.

Kevin would’ve met Junior at some point (because who doesn’t like amophus daemons). Trudy also got herself a girlfriend in the form of Susan C. Anthony, a bank heiress, who does not have powers.

Tootie was going to eventually come back (idk when or how) as Shadow Stalker. again, her return was farther down the line, so i don’t have the details that well ironed out...

Chester had already left Star Investigations because Mari had called him to a reading of Catman’s will. he did indeed inherit half of West Industries, as the young Adam was posing as a long lost son and thus was legally entitled to half the company too. Chester took over as Catman, while Mari stayed on to help Adam deal with the company. Chester would join Tim’s new Power Pals, thus finally fixing their broken friendship.

Trixie and Trini were going to head to Glamazon Island after they defeated Hair Razor. Trini’s lasso was destroyed in the fight, so they figured maybe she could use this reality’s lasso. Trixie’s powers were also starting to flare up, so they were also hoping to get some answers to that. once there they get to see that Goldenlocks has had her son, and they get to meet Hermia (whom Dwight was dropping off). they both end up going through a mystical trial of sorts that ended with Trini not getting the golden lasso of this universe, but her own silver one forged for her; Trixie on the other hand gets flashes of Cel’rey and Trisha, and the mystical voices tell her that she needs to go to England, leading into a Star/Sonic crossover event

over with Sonic and Paladin, it’s business as usual. however, CHATTY is starting to get hyper aggressive since Sanjay and Francis are starting to renew their romance.the team has to take her out, but in the ensuing battle their complex looses power for some time. this leads to 1) Sanjay learning that Britannia has blackmail over every member of Paladin and 2) it jump starts Molly out of her coma. Molly goes full Phoenix force though, as she absorbed the Light from Trixie at the end of Civil War (thus leading to her coma). this is when Trixie and Trini arrive more or less, so they help Paladin wrangle Molly back in and Trixie is able to reabsorb the Light, getting her powers back, and becoming Star-Gal once more. this also leaves Molly awake and permanently able to fly.

it would soon become revealed that BRAT, headed by Doombringer (the life hopping sorceress from King Arthur’s time), had been bankrolling Paladin (she also had a hand in funding Shallowgrave’s Civil War, and had the Summers killed, among other things). how is it revealed? because Crimson Lightning comes back into play once Sanjay and Francis are together again as the annoying jealous ex that he is. they manage to get him under control thanks to Molly’s help, but Alyssa ends up with the demon sword, becoming the Black Knight.

Trini goes and joins Tim’s Power Pals, while Trixie gets called back into space. First she finds and frees Hawkgal, then the two go out into space. Remember the ice guy Star Investigations helped out? well he sends a distress call to Trixie; her mentor Killgala is back some how...and the Darkness is also en-couching. Mark and Starfury also join up with them, ad they would in time find a version of Crash Nebula. the whole Light/Darkness mythos was also better explained, about how at the time of creation the cosmos split, thus leading to the Darkness and the Light; both energies became corrupted in different ways (the Light Corp imprisoning and using the Light, the Darkness going power hungry and creating the Eliminator drones, etc) and only by genuinely reuniting them could there be balance or something. that’s all cosmic stuff that i hadn’t fully fleshed out, since we needed to get past the Cosmic Cat stuff...

of course one minor subplot; Hermia would use Trixie and Trini’s existence as an excuse to escape Glamazon Island, claiming to go back to the mainland to go live with them, only to instead go shack up with Liam (the young Wet Willie). Trini, since she joins the Power pals, is the one to find that out, and gets royally peeved. but Hermia eventually takes over her spot on the team.

over in Eraserz, the team was going to get stuck going on a World Tour, being cut off from the Nexxus because some force was screwing up the multiverse. they would end up in a Mojoverse-like setting where they’d meet a half-editor entity (i forget who it was, might’ve been the April Fool or Puck). they’d pick up some temporary members, like the Franklin West Catman (who ends up staying in his reality), Charlie Hampton, the young Crimson Chin (who ends up on an alternate earth where the Power pals and STT had tehir age roles reversed, but there was no Chin, so he stays with that earth’s teenage Goldie) and some more permanent ones like RJ; specifically when they recruit RJ, Shirely stayed out of the Primeverse to do so (this was plot important) but so did Tony because he didn’t wanna risk running into Trini; RJ was recruited BEFORE Trini joined the Power Pals though. Tony would end up going missing while the team was hunting for an entity that was killing off alternate Trixie tangs, so they called in Trini to rejoin the team. somewhere along the line, RJ got stuck in a time displacement, and wound up on Earth 0 (the world that Shirely was exiled to) in the past; see, since RJ joined up, Shirely had been half avoiding, half flirting with him, and he was just starting to come around to it, but now he understood why, because from Shirely’s perspective they'd already dated. so RJ spends time with the past Shirely, is the one that convinces him not to be a prick and help the Eraserz when they come to him to take down Dark magician and co, and he ends up going back to his proper time, and the two of them pick back up tehir relationship where it left off. (this is all every important because as it would be revealed, Shirley and RJ are actually Tru Turner/Double T/FTT’s Masked Magician’s parents. Tim and Toot adopted her to keep her safe. that’s why she has such cosmic power, because she’s half Editor).

we were also going to learn more about Maggie’s backstory, since on the surface she seems like the only Eraserz member without a horrible tragic backstory, but as the plot progressed we’d keep getting hints to something. yeah, she has a Winter Solider!Kevin on her earth, and she kinda had to kill her cousin to save lives. but turns out she didn’t really kill him or something, because they end up on her world at some point and find out that she was manipulated to think she had?? something like that...i also had no intention to ever bring Kore back, so yeah, he’s dead-dead.

anyways, the Trixie hunting entity; that’s the Dark Star-Gal from that one special. she’s the Trixie that merged with the Darkness (since the Darkness wants to consume the Light, that we know she was the vessel for) and became self aware of the multiverse and started reality hopping to consume all Trixies. the Eraserz stop her...only to discover that the reason that Dark Star became aware of the multiverse was because the Showrunner gave her access...the Showrunner  that has been MIA since the Eliminatorz were stopped.

 the Showrunner was the one now causing the multiverse to start collapsing and breaking down because, to him, “this isn’t what the universe was supposed to be like���. he created one canon, and then another entity (the fandom) came in and started breaking it up, making spin offs, AUs, different versions, creating the multiverse. so he broke that entity up into pieces and scattered them across the multiverse, then created the Editors to police the multiverse to make sure the pieces couldn’t get back together (thus the universe rule of only 1 version of a person can exits there at a time) and slowly try to correct and remove the “wrong” universes. but the Editors grew out of his control as they evolved, so he created the Eraserz to, well, “erase’ the mistakes. but even they went against his plans, so he decided to just leave and just erase everything. but the pieces of the greater entity did find a way to come together, (a fragment of?) Omegus managed to hitch a ride with RJ when the Eraserz recruited him. Omegus then overtook Tony who bore the mark of Beteal, who went to Dark Magician to take the powers that Anosmotic, aka Zethran, had given him away, undoubtedly found a way to the Nega-verse to confront Alphane, and so on and so forth (if you hadn’t noticed, each reality that had an Omegus equivalent had a different name, and now you know why)...until all the pieces could be reunited, possibly in the body of CoT!Saber actually, into one being called Omnicron.

and the final confrontation of the Showrunner and Omnicron would be in the vast void as the multiverse was set on pause as it crumbled. the Showrunner claiming that Omnicron had destroyed the thing he had created, only for Omnicron to be all “i saw what you created and wanted to create my own. you helped me flourish, and then i helped others flourish. how can growth and creativity be the wrong thing to do?” because no, Omnicron did not destroy the multiverse, it was indeed the Showrunner; Omnicron took what the Showrunner had made and let it flourish on its own, while he just tried to contain it back into what he made it to be to begin with.

and so yeah, that’s what i had planned for Superverse. some thing were far more fleshed out than others, but those were the parts i’d had planned for YEARS. i had the Omnicron stuff planned before Civil War, while the Cosmic Cat i had planned since Civil War

[bluearrow126]

OTP question meme based on this post

@bihoodnerd​ and I came up with these back in December but we never posted them lol so here they are:

1. Who is the most affectionate? Trini but doesn't show it in public, she has a rep to maintain.

2. Big spoon/Little spoon? It switches based on what they’re feeling. Trini doesn’t admit it but she’s the little spoon a lot because it makes sense size-wise and she likes being held by Kim but Kim has a lot of days that she doesn’t feeling great where Trini becomes the big spoon.

3. Most common argument? Most common argument: when Kim is reckless and jumps into action with no question and they fight about it constantly and Kim makes it up to Trini with sex.

4. Favorite non-sexual activity? Kim loves to play with Trini’s hair whenever Trini’s lying in her lap and she loves braiding the sides and Trini loves it and she’s fallen asleep because of it before.

5. Who is most likely to carry the other? Kim because she loves giving Trini piggy back rides and Trini hates it because she wants to be the tough gf, but she has bridal style carried Kim during a PR fight and Kim called her her knight in yellow armor.

6. What is their favorite feature of their partner’s? Kim loves Trini’s neck which is why she loves kissing it and nipping at it and leaving as many hickies as she can. Trini loves the little mole at the corner of Kim’s mouth and can’t help but focus on it when Kim smiles.

7. What’s the first thing that changes when they realize they have feelings for the other? They lose sleep. They keep going back and forth to each other's houses through eachothers windows. It gets so bad that Jason sits them down for a le tire and they fall asleep on eachothers. Billy and Jason carry them to one of the many rooms on the space ship and they sleep for a whole day.

8. Nicknames? & if so, how did they originate? Trini calls Kim Princess obviously because of how picky she is with things at times. Kimmy is another one that she uses when teasing Kim. Kimberly just sticks with Trin or T but she promised she’d get back at Trini with a nickname one day. They both know it most likely won’t happen.

9. Who worries the most? Trini worries the most because she's a worrier in general, but also Kim and Zack do the dumbest shit so of course she worries.

10. Who remembers what the other one always orders at a restaurant? Trini. It’s one of the little ways that she shows how much she cares. While Kim likes going all out, Trini remembers stuff like this that has Kimberly blushing wherever they are.

11. Who tops? They’re switches.

12. Who initiates kisses? Kim. She likes to use her height to her advantage and lean down to kiss Trini when she least expects it so she can leave her flustered. Trini initiates kisses in quieter moments when it's just the two of them (like in bed cuddling) and she gets all soft which makes Kim melt.

13. Who reaches for the other’s hand first? Trini, when she's nervous or triggered by something. Kim's touch soothes her and it helps Kim's ranger power radiate calmness to her more easily. But Kim grabs Trinis hand quicker when she sees someone checking either of them out.

14. Who kisses the hardest? Kim. Even if Trini is the one to start It, Kim is alway the one who gets it more heated.

15. Who wakes up first? Trini, Mexican household s have no sleep in days. Always awake by 7 am. Except when Kim gets on a random work out kick and drags Trini up at 4 am.

16. Who wants to stay in bed just a little longer? Kim. Every time Trini wakes up early and starts getting up to make breakfast or something, Kim tries the pulling her back to bed. And Trini struggles to get Kim out of bed.

17. Who says I love you first? One would think it'd be Kim, but it's Trini because Kim didn't want to pressure her. Trini says it one day when she's home sick and Kim brings her soup and takes care of her and they watch a movie. Trini is all snotty and crying from the movie and Kim kisses her and wipes her nose and Trini whispers it. Quickly followed by Kim.

18. Who leaves little notes in the other’s one lunch? (Bonus: what does it usually say?) Kim. Trini doesn’t admit it but she loves it. Some of them are teasing (like about her height) but some are just Kim giving her compliments and pointing out things she loves about Trini because she loves the smile on Trini’s face when she picks up her lunch from the counter before heading out.

19. Who tells their family/friends about their relationship first? Kim because her parents know about her being Bi, it's about a year into the relationship that they tell Trini's parents, but the twins find out early on.

20. What do their family/friends think of their relationship? All their friends are supportive. Kim’s parents and Trini’s brothers are supportive from the start but it takes some time for Trini’s parents to adjust and for Kim to win them over.

21. Who is more likely to start dancing with the other? Kim because Trini is really insecure about dancing. She'll just kinda wiggle when Kim pulls her to dance. Kim finds it funny and charmingly awkward. But one day, Trini comes home and doesn't realize Kim was home. So when Trini blasts the Latinx music while she's cooking, Kim discovers just how much Trini's hips can move.

22. Who cooks more/who is better at cooking? Trini. We all know Kim would be horrible at cooking (all because of that video where Naomi burnt toast lmao). Kim eventually gets the hang of it and Trini starts teaching her to cook but they both know Trini is the better cook out of the two of them.

23. Who comes up with cheesy pick up lines? Kim, she's usually a lot sillier than Trini . She likes really awful puns. Like "wanna get donuts? If you say no, donut hurt my feelings". This also means she makes awful innuendos too. "You ever tasted Indian? Cause this Indian wants to taste you" but then she'd be boggled down by her own technicalities and say "well this half-indian."

24. Who whispers inappropriate things in the other’s ear during inappropriate times? Mostly Kim. She likes to get Trini flustered in public so anytime they’re next to each other when they’re with the boys or even in detention she’ll start whispering things to Trini to make her a mess. Trini turns the tables a few times and does it to Kim who becomes more of a mess that’s Trini because she doesn’t expect it.

25. Who needs more assurance? Both, they both have insecurities that can sometimes get the best of them so they do a lot of reassuring with hugs and kisses and words and notes and even banter during training.

26. What would be their theme song? They probably have a cheesy song that they both started singing along to in the car one day from Kim’s cheerleading playlist that stuck with them but personal headcanon would be Pynk by Janelle Monáe because Kimberly would love singing it to Trini when they both know what the song is about.

27. Who would sing to their child back to sleep? Both, but mostly Trini because she can't say no esp since their kid looks oddly like Kim despite being adopted. She sings a song about a bunny that spent the day playing in the park then goes home for dinner then goes to brush his teeth then hop hips into a nice warm bed to sleep. Kim always stands by the doorway with a smirk. "That's the last time," Trini says every time.

28. What do they do when they’re away from each other? They stay in contact as much as they can because they always really miss each other when they’re apart. A lot of video calls, actual calls and texting. With texting Kim likes to send gifs and emojis and memes to show how much she misses Trini. When Trini is the one away from home she usually sends stuff to Kim like flowers because she’s a softy who won’t admit it.

29. One headcanon about this OTP that breaks your heart Kim as always was reckless in a Ranger fight and Trini jumped in to save her but got really badly injured and knocked unconscious for a few days. Kim spends all those days crying at Trini's bedside. Hoping and hoping that Trini will be okay. Her ranger suit flashes on and off because of how erratic her emotions are and she thinks it's all her fault and she hates herself for letting it happen.

30. One headcanon about this OTP that mends it The boys tried to comfort Kimberly but couldn’t and when Trini wakes up she’s the only one able to comfort her. They fall asleep together on the ship’s medbay bed and the next day Trini wakes up to Kimberly crying into her shirt so she kisses her forward and comforts her again. Kimberly realizes how much Trini means to her, especially with how many close calls they’ve had as rangers over the years and she basically proposes to Trini and promises to buy her a ring eventually because this was another impulsive Kimberly decision but Trini just laughs and says yes.

[filmfanatic82]

AO3 Link (HERE)

Chapter 10: Before the World Fell at our Feet

1…

2…

3…

4…

5…

Trini takes a deep, sobering breath and then clicks the heavy metal button on the receiver. It’s ritualistic. A steady and constant rhythm to her actions for the last hour.

“Billy?” Trini’s voice cuts through the silence of the basement, strong but with a lingering quiver to it. She waits for a response.

Nothing.

1…

2…

3…

“Crazy Girl?” Zack calls out from the top of the basement step.

Fuck.

Trini puts the receiver down and runs her hands over her ponytail, letting out a deep, much-needed sigh in the process. “Down here.”

“Any word from Jase or the B-man?” Zack comes into view as he jogs down the steps and pulls up a random chair next to Trini. Although he sports his standard boyish grin, there’s a newfound tiredness hidden within his eyes. A silent but noticeable plea for any sort of respite whatsoever.

“Nope,” Trini replies. “Nothing but static for the last hour.”

A momentary stillness falls between the two of them as Zack nervously fidgets with a stray thread on his makeshift sling. He avoids making eye contact, a telltale sign that Trini knows all too well. There’s something more. Another reason for his sudden presence.

“So…”

“Tommi?” Trini asks cutting Zack off.

“Huh?”

“She sent you, didn’t she?”

“No,” Zack responds a little to fast.

“Riiiight.” Trini stares Zack down with pure and utter skepticism.

“Maybe?”

“Knew it,” Trini replies.

“T—“

“You’re worse than Bapu.”

“Hey!” Zack recoils pretending to be offended. “I’m nowhere that bad.”

Trini doesn’t even humor Zack with a response. Instead, she simply goes to reach for the receiver again but Zack stops her.

“Trini, please…”

“Zack--”

“No,” Zack says with an unusual forcefulness to his voice. “You heard what Wall Dad said. We won't survive this shit unless our Ranger bond is rock solid.”

“It is.”

“I’m not talking about you and me, Crazy Girl.”

Trini feels her teeth slowly sink into her bottom lip as she lets the silence crash back down igniting every inch of her skin with an all encompassing, insatiable itch. She shifts uncomfortably under the ever patient and understanding gaze of her best friend.

No. Scratch that. Her brother.

Then why is this so freakin’ hard?

“I don’t know if I can do this.” The words come of Trini’s mouth before she can fully realize what she’s saying.

“Maybe you can’t,” Zack replies.

Trini’s head whips around at this comment as a wave of shock hits her dead on. “Seriously? That’s your response? What the fuck, man?”  

“Hear me out.” Zack flashes Trini a reassuring smile and scoots his stool closer. “Maybe you’re right. You can’t do it. And that’s okay. We’ll still figure this out. We always do… But--”

“But, what?”

“But maybe you can. Maybe you’ll find the courage to bite the bullet and confront Kim head on. And it’ll probably be painful and awkward and involve a whole lot of whiskey. But just maybe the outcome will blindside you… in a good ‘makeup sex for months’ sorta way.”

Trini can’t help but let a small laugh of slight amusement slip out and shakes her head, “Makeup sex? Dude, she’s got a fiance.”

“Have you spent time with that guy? He’s one douchey comment away from being Ty Fleming’ed.” Zack playfully leans over and gives Trini a nudge with his shoulder. “And we all know Kimmie’s got one hell of a right hook.”

Trini sighs and leans her head down against Zack’s shoulder, letting the silence in for a third time, but unlike before, it’s slightly less suffocating. Almost tolerable. As if it’s just another randomly honest moment between the two of them.

“Hello?... Is anyone there?” Billy’s voice suddenly crackles through the speaker of the communicator, instantly grabbing the attention of both Trini and Zack.

Trini snatches up the receiver. “Billy?”

“Trini?”

“Yeah. It’s me. And Zack. We’re here. And safe… As safe as we can be. You guys okay?”

“Yes, we’re okay. Still no luck with the teleporters, but at least I’ve figured out what was jamming our comms… Or at least I think I did. Can’t be 100% sure. Think it might be this underlying electrical charge that residing within--”

“Billy.” Trini says cutting Billy off. “That’s great and all. But is there any update on what’s causing the storm? Or why everyone up and vanished?”

“Right. Sorry. That’s why I’m contacting you. Jase and Alpha 5 have been running through the archives and came across something that might be relevant. There’s a vague reference to an ancient artifact called the Epithymía stone, which when activated, seems to be able to trigger similar type anomalies such as severe weather and temporary displacement.”

“Okay,” Trini replies, brows knitting up with a mixture of anxiety and confusion. “So, do we have any ideas on who might’ve activated it? Or where it even is?”

“No… But we’re working on it. There are still two more volumes of the Ranger Chronicles that Jase needs to…,” Billy trails off into silence for a second, leaving both Trini and Zack with nothing but bated breath. Then--

“Trini? You still there?”

“Yes, of course. What’s going--”

“There’s an unusual charge of energy that just appeared on the heatmap. It’s two blocks or so away from the Krispy Kreme and looks to be doubling in size by the minute.”

“Shit,” Zack swears under his breath.

“We’re on it,” Trini responds without a second thought. “Keep working on getting the teleporter back online and we’ll go check out the Krispy Kreme, okay?”

“Right… Okay. Sounds good. But please, be safe. We don’t know what we’re dealing with yet.”

“We will. Promise,” Trini says with an eerily calmness to her voice. She places the receiver back down and lets out a heavy sigh. “Looks like it’s time for me to bite that bullet.”

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

“No fuckin’ way,” Tommi exclaims with an extra level of annoyance to her voice. She plops herself down on the sofa in the living room, firmly crossing her arms as she does. It’s a clear cut sign that Tommi is anything but amused.

“Tommi…” Trini responds. She runs her hands over her ponytail, attempting to dissipate her ever growing frustration.

“Don’t ‘Tommi’ me, Small Fry. You’re not going. Not by yourself.”

“Told ya she wouldn’t go for it,” Zack chimes in from the other side of the living room, making sure to stay far out of the physical striking distance of Tommi. He knows better.

“Then what’s your plan? Huh? We just sit here on our asses and do nothing?” Trini fires back.

“I’ll go.”

“And what happens when the communicator goes down again? Who’s gonna fix it?”

“Zack can handle it.”

“Zack?” Trini openly scoffs only adding to Tommi’s aggravation. “Two words. Alpha 5.”

“Hey! That was so not my fault. I had no clue Alpha was behind the control panel when I connected those wires,” Zack pipes up.

“It took Billy over a month to reattach his head.”

“Fine. You’ll fix it. Or hell… Let the rugrat take a crack at it. I don’t care. But your ass is staying put. End of story,” Tommi replies raising the volume of her voice with each and every word. She locks eyes with Trini and suddenly--

Trini sees it.

Fuck.

That look.

Trini’s only seen that look on Tommi’s face a handful of times in the course of their friendship. A subtle look that somehow manages to speak volumes.

It’s the same look that Tommi had upon her face when she showed up at Trini’s apartment the morning after Kimberly first up and disappeared.

Trini makes her way across the living room and sits down next to Tommi on the couch. “I’ll be okay.”

“You can’t guarantee that.”

“Neither can you,” Trini responds with a hint of a smile. “But that’s just part of the job, right?”

Tommi’s hard fast scowl slowly transforms into a matching smile and gives a small but comforting shake of her head, sending her wild mane of sun-kissed curls bouncing in every direction. “You kill me, Small Fry.”

“What were you guys arguing about?” Kim asks as she makes her way down the stairs. Trini’s eyes instantly gravitate towards the raven-haired woman and hone in one simple but jarring detail.

Yellow flannel.

Kimberly’s wearing Trini’s yellow flannel shirt. The one she’s had since she was 15 years old and mysteriously used to find its way into Kimberly’s dresser drawers every few months or so.  

It’s the shirt Trini wore for almost two months straight after Kimberly left because it still smelled like…

Stop it, Gomez.

“Trini’s trying to convince Tommi that it’s a good idea for her to go by herself to the Krispy Kreme to check out some strange ass energy that Billy picked up on. And Tommi’s ready to go all Annie Wilkes on her to prevent her from leaving,” Zack answers instantly drawing death-like stares from both Tommi and Trini.

“Wait. You heard from Billy?” Kim slides herself down in an open armchair and tugging the edges of the worn yellow flannel around her body as she does. “What did he say?”

“Nothing too much. They think they’ve found a lead… Something called the Epithymía stone… but need to do more research,” Trini replies still unable to pull her eyes off of Kim. “We got cut off by the map lighting up.”

“Just around the Krispy Kreme?”

Trini gives a slight nod in response. “Yeah, and it appears to be growing in size. Or at least that’s what Billy said.”

Kim takes a moment, mulling over the information while her fingers absentmindedly play with the sleeve of the flannel, and then--

“I’ll go with you.”

“What?!” Both Trini and Tommi blurt out in unison.

“Oh this is gonna be good,” Zack snickers under his breath, causing Tommi to chuck a throw pillow straight at his head.

“No,” Trini replies as her body visibly stiffens at the mere thought of the idea settles in.

“Why not?” Kim asks.

Why not?

Why not?

Trini can think of a million and one reasons why not.

Kimberly is the last person on the face of the earth she wants to venture out into the heart of the storm and face unknown danger with.

But…

But, if Trini digs a little deeper, down into her buried well of emotions, she knows that Kimberly is also the only person on the face of the earth she wants by her side… Especially now.

“For starters, how about your rugrat? You’re just gonna up and leave him?” Tommi replies, ripping Trini right out of her train of thought.

“He just passed out upstairs and given how exhausted he is, he probably won’t be up for at least a good three hours or so. More than enough time for Trini and I to get down to Krispy Kreme, check things out, and get back,” Kim says with an underlying finality to her voice that screams there is no room for negotiation. Her mind is already made up.

“And if he wakes up?”

“I’m sure between the two of you, you can keep him alive until we get back... Right?” Kim shoots a look over to Zack, silently signaling for him to weigh in.

“Sure thing. We’ve totally got Mad Max covered,” Zack says.

“Mad Max?” Kim questions.

“Yeah. He needed a nickname, so I gave him one,” Zack responds with a simple shrug.

“Of course you did.” A warm smile slides across Kim’s face for a moment or two before she turns her attention back to Tommi. “So what else?”

“I’ve got nothing,” Tommi says with a sigh of resignation. “Small Fry?”

Fuck.

Fuck.

Fuck.

The itch to run, hits Trini like a freight train. It’s intense and unrelenting. Push its way from the depths of her brains down towards her legs, willing them to move.

No. Not again.

The words of Zack start to play, like a soft constant echo within the confine of her head.

‘But maybe you can’

‘But maybe you can’

‘But maybe you…

“Works for me.” Trini quietly replies.

“Good. It’s settled. Trini and I will go check out what’s going on with the Krispy Kreme and you guys will keep monitoring the comms.” Kim pries herself off of the couch and locks eyes with Trini. “Meet down here in five?”

“Yeah. In five.” Trini gives a nod in response, never once taking her eyes off of the woman she once called her home.

Just maybe she can.

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Trini’s hands grip the steering wheel of Jason’s pickup truck for dear life, knuckles almost solid white from the sheer pressure. She’s fighting tooth and nail against the invisible but deadly force buried within the gale-like winds and sheets of rain that’s attempting to push the truck right off the side of the road. It’s like nothing Trini has ever experienced before… and that’s saying a lot given the last decade of her life.  

“T?” Kim’s voice cuts through the steady drumbeat of the storm against the cabin of the truck like a lifeline just waiting to be taken.

“What?” Trini responds through gritted teeth, too terrified to budge an inch, let alone take her eyes off of the windshield.

“I can drive, if you want me to.”

“I told you already. I’m good. Just not used to driving a truck. That’s all.”

“All the more reason to pull over and let me drive. F-150s can be insanely temperamental even in the best of weather.”

“How would you know?” Trini questions.

“Cause I drive one,” Kim responds without missing a beat.

“Richard drives a truck?”

“Oh god no. He’d never be caught dead behind the wheel of a truck.” Kim lets a light chuckle slip through as she tucks a loosen strand of hair behind her ear. “It’s mine.”

Kimberly Hart drives a truck?

A pick-up truck?

Never in a million years would Trini ever assume--

“I know. It’s not the most orthodox car choice but it was the the only thing I could afford after I had to get rid of my Harley. Can’t really fit a carseat on a motorcycle,” Kim continues to ramble on as Trini’s grip on the steering wheel naturally relaxes.

A motorcycle?

Kimberly freakin’ Hart on a motorcycle.

God, that’s…

No, stop it, Gomez.

“Yeah. Guess you can’t,” Trini responds, trying desperately to maintain her cool, I-don’t-give-a-fuck drawl.

“Rich wants me to get rid of it. He calls it a death trap. But I just can’t bring myself to. It’s kinda just grown on me, ya know? Like I can’t imagine driving anything else.”

The steady sound of splattering of rain and wind settles back between them as Trini finds her mind speeding down a path that she’s managed to avoid for the longest time.

Why now?

Why is it so easy to fall back into old habits?

Why can’t she find the courage to say what needs to be said?

Why...

“Why are you with him?” The words tumble out of Trini’s mouth crashing their way through the silence of the car like a sudden slap to the face. A instant look of gut-churning shock sweeps across her face as the horrific realization hits that she has just said that last question out loud. “Shit. I didn’t--”

“No, it’s okay. It’s a valid question,” Kim responds.

“I didn’t mean to say it. I just…” Trini trails off. Her mind scrambles, desperate for something -- anything -- to help pry her foot out of her mouth.

“T... Honestly, don’t apologize.” Kim lets out a deep sigh as an underlying hint of sadness appears within her chocolate brown eyes. “There’s a lot we need to talk about… A whole lot. And I know I owe you an explanation.”

“You don’t owe me anything,” Trini says in nothing more than a whisper. She feels every inch of her body shrinking upon itself. Skin crawling with the growing anxiety of what’s about to come.

“No, I do… I really do… It was my plan all along… Before this… Before--”

Trini, though, fails to hear Kim’s last words as suddenly a rouge mailbox smashes through the windshield causing her to lose control of the truck. The last thing she registers before darkness fully takes hold is the familiar sensation of a hand wrapping itself around her own, tightly interlocking their fingers together and giving a reassuring squeeze in the process. It’s a move that Trini has only experienced once before in her life. In Billy’s minivan, on the infamous  night they found their coins. Seconds before the train up and smashed into them. The same exact hand reached out and firmly took hold of hers.

Kimberly Hart’s hand.

[sabansbabes]

Power Rangers + Summer Camp AU

~The rangers are hanging out at Billy's house when he gets the call about Mission Creek. He signed up to be a counselor there the summer before his Junior year. Of course he wasn't allowed to be one at the time but Mr. Martin, the head of the camp, let senior campers sign up before they left and once their old enough he calls them up and ask if they still want the gig. Most kids say no, but Billy jumped at the chance. He'd had some of the best times of his life there and he wanted to relive those memories for as long as possible.

~ The rest of the rangers have no freaking idea what he's talking about when he starts babbling about how excited he is once he comes back from the call. He's mentioned it to them before, but that was during battle and they weren't very focused on what Billy was saying.

~"I'm finally going to be camp counselor. I've missed Mission Creek so much. I can't believe I'm going to be gone for the whole summer-"

~That's when the protests begin, the louder ones mainly coming from Jason.

~"You can't leave! I nee-I mean the team needs you for battles and stuff."

~Billy watches in confusion as Jason's face turns red at the statement while the rest of the rangers just smirk knowingly.

~"I won't be far, the camp is in the mountains and Kim's house is about thirty two miles from the grounds. I'll be there when there's an impending threat. Don't worry Jason, I still be able to defend world."

~"But still what if it comes at night and you're sleeping and-"

~"You think I'd sleep through a monster attack?"

~"Maybe and who knows how long it'll take you to reach us from cam-"

~"Two minutes and fourteen seconds. I did the run a few days ago."

~"Oh." Followed by complete amusing silence as Jason tries to come up with more excuses as to why Billy shouldn't go.

~"I'm sure Billy will be just fine  Jason." Kim tries to reason with Jason but he's not having it.

~"You don't know that. You don't know that." He mutters and it's then that Billy and the others see just how worried Jason really is.

~"I can ask if you guys can come with me. We're usually short a few counselors, I'm sure Mr. Martin will appreciate it."

~Everyone agrees and Jason can breathe easy again.

<>

~ They leave a week after school ends, which happened to be a week before camp starts and the majority of the gang is ecstatic. Except for Tommie and Zack.

~Tommie hates kids, they've never liked them and they're dreading this trip altogether. And Zack doesn't like the idea of leaving his mother alone for so long, sure she's gotten better, thanks to the rangers and their families pitching in for her medical expenses,  but she's not at perfect health yet and he's not sure he wants to take that risk.

~Ms. Taylor has to literally shove him out of the house for him to go.

~They take Billy's van, after the crash his mom's van was replaced. After she got a significant raise at work, she gave it to her son and brought herself a Toyota Camry.

~Trini, Zack and Tommie won't stop calling it the mystery machine.

~ Jason gets the Aux Cord taken away from him after he put on Nickelback.

~"It soothes me."

~"You're a disgrace y'know that." (Trini's Remark)

~They listen to Kim's playlist and when Mayores comes on she brings up the fact that Becky G. looks exactly like Trini.

~The rest of the rangers, including her girlfriend,  just don't see it.

<>

~The drive isn't long and when they get there Mr. Martin runs through everything they need to know within the hour. They have the camp to themselves for a whole week.

~The first thing they do, after Jason makes sure everyone is packed, is hit the lake. It's fun, until Zack loses his trunks in the water.

~"It's not my fault, the current's strong in here!"

~"There's is no current dip thong." (Tommie's Remark)

~They spend the majority of the week hanging out together, when they're all not in a group they split off into two. Kim and Trini disappear to do god knows what. At least that's what Zack says but they mainly just hang out in the kitchen eating all the cheese balls, talking and joking around with the occasional make out session taking place. Zack and Tommie usually go do some dumb shit, like hike up the mountain and see if they can jump off into the lake without breaking anything. And Billy and Jason  hang out in the media room, playing ping pong and pool.

<>

~Billy loves kids but its easy for him to get uncomfortable around them. Kids are touchy feely, Billy's not. By the second day, Jason and the others make sure the kids know to ask Camp Counselor Billy to touch him before doing so.

~Tommie spends a lot of their time explaining what it means to be non-binary person. Some of the kids are little shits about it, but the majority are pretty accepting.

~Zack has these two little girls who follow him everywhere. Bria and Mimi. At first they thought he was cute but once Bria caught him staring at Tommie she realized that he likes them. After that they mainly stick around to give him advice. Sure there like eight years old but Zack takes a lot of what they say to heart. They even set up a tea party date for Zack and Tommie. They made sure to paint Zack's fingernails and to put his hair into little ponytails so that he can look 'pretty for Tommie'.

~Billy and the others get to name their designated cabins, they chose the dinosaurs of their zords.

~After a particularly bad nightmare, Billy sneaks into Jason cabin. He can't sleep and Jason always puts him at ease. Shelby, another counselor, is in his cabin too and he makes sure to let her know where he's going before he leaves.

~A weird conversation takes place with Mikey, a seven year old, in the morning when he wakes the two up.

~Jason struggles to explain what it means to be gay until Trini walks by and sighs. "Hey Mikey, boy can like boys and girls can like girls. Love isn't always shared between a man and a woman." She holds Kim's hand in her own for emphasis.

~"Otay"

~And that was that.

<>

~Tommie discovers a secret love they have for kids when they, Bria, Mimi and Zack are hanging out by the fire. "Kids don't suck, they're alright I guess." She tells Zack as she watched the two run off for smores. Zack nods in agreement, turning away from the little girls to meet Tommie's eyes.

~ Their gaze intensifies before they close the gap between them and BAM!!! Fireworks!

~"I told you they were gonna kiss, I told ya." (Bria)

~They pull away laughing and the rest of the gang cheers. It took forever but they finally got together.

<>

~ Kim and Trini escape to the mountain the day before the last day of camp. They're joking around., laughing, kissing and then Trini just kind of blurts it out without realizing.

~"I love you"

~Kim takes a moment to take in what she had just heard before smiling and pulling the shorter girl into another kiss.

~"I love you too."

~They spend the rest of the night up there, wrapped up in a pillow and blanket. Kissing, watching the stars and just reveling in the feeling of being together.

<>

~"What are we Jason?"

~ It was an unexpected question, a question that Jason didn't really know how to answer. They had been closer, closer than friends but not yet together. It was a weird predicament that Jason was unaware of how he got into or how to get out of it. He wanted to take the leap but he didn't really know how to.

~"I don't know."

~He didn't meet Billy eyes, just stay focused on picking up trash and cleaning up around the camp fire. Everyone else was gone, back to the cabin and now they were the only two left.

~"I like you Jason. More than a friend should like their other friend."

~"I like you to Billy but-"

~Just as he looked up to face the brown boy who was incredibly close to him now.

~"I'm going to kiss you now, is that okay?"  Jason didn't know what to say, so he nodded. Overwhelmed by how forward Billy was being.

~Billy's hands came in contact with Jason's cheeks and his lips crash against his. For a second Jason froze, he didn't know how to react. It felt good, it felt better than good. He moved in sync with Billy, melting into the kiss.

~He forced himself not to whine when the brown boy pulled away.

~"We should date. Do you want to date me Jason?" He nods, still recovering from the kiss.

~"Can we uhh, can we do that again Billy?"

<>

~When camp is over, the rangers are reluctant to leave. College starts in the fall and although their all attending Angel Grove community college, they know their summers will be to filled with jobs and internships to even think about doing this again.

~Tommie and Zack share a teary goodbye with Bria and Mimi as they leave. Zack's is the main one shedding tears.

~The next day, Billy says goodbye to Shelby and thanks her for filling in for him for all those nights he spent in the T-Rex cabin. She says it was no problem before hugging him and Jason goodbye. Her fiancé Tyler is waiting for her in the car.

~The car ride back was bitter sweet.

~"At least we'll always have the memories." (Jason's comment)

~They nod in agreement as they leave the grounds.

~"Hey can I see the aux cord?"

~"NOO!"

<>

The End.

Sorry this is so long, I got carried away.

Summer's is almost over and I was just wondering why no one had done this yet, lol. And also if you caught that Dino Charge reference I love you. I really hope this doesn't suck, please enjoy.  

[morphenomenalbabe]

The @writingfeedbacknetwork​ challenged us to make a post of seven recommendations of a favorite trope, and honestly for a good several days I have not been able to figure out what my favorite trope is. So I asked my wife and they were like “duh soulmates” and I was like “oh yeah lmao,” so here you go!!!

-

Where we can talk like there's something to say by PerfumedWithObsession (Spiderman: Homecoming, G, Peter Parker/Michelle Jones)

This series is absolutely incredible! Each work is a different type of soulmate AU, some of which I’ve literally never seen any where else. PerfumedWithObsession is incredibly creative and these works really showcase that.

polychromatic by hikaie (Scooby Doo, G, Daphne Blake/Velma Dinkley/Fred Jones/Norville "Shaggy" Rogers)

One of my favorite soulmate tropes is the “everything is black and white until you see your soulmate,” and this trope fits perfectly with the bold and bright colors that the gang is so associated with. Each of the characters fits perfectly with canon while also reaching new depths, and honest to god, I love this story. It’s beautiful from start to finish. Also Scoob starts out as a puppy in this and if that doesn’t make you die of cute I don’t know what will.

Samwell Soulmates by There_Once_Was_A_Girl (Check Please!, T-M, various pairings)

This is another series but one that exists all in the same universe. What I really like about this is how each pair has a unique flavor of soulmate bond that fits them perfectly. I like how creative and different each bond is. I also really like that each part of the series can be read on its own or as part of the whole, and it would be equally enjoyable both ways!

More under the cut!

it must have been that something lovers call 'fate' by dragonyfox (Star Wars: Rogue One, T, Bodhi Rook/Jyn Erso/Cassian Andor)

So this is absolutely a favorite ship, and I love how this series keeps in line with canon (with an obvious divergence) and stays so true to each character and how I really would picture their relationship playing out! My favorite part is probably when Chirrut physically pushes them together and cites the force; without Chirrut shenanigans, is it really a Rogue One fanfiction?

ankle and petrol, the gruesome twosome by ellipsesificate (Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers, T, Farkas Bulkmeier/Eugene Skullovitch)

This story somehow manages to capture how dorky and goofy Bulk and Skull are while also just being incredibly beautiful prose. I highly recommend this story even if you don’t ship the two of them. Honestly, this story is what ended up convincing me to ship them and there’s no going back now! It’s also just an incredibly sweet story that also includes the friends-to-lovers trope, if that’s your jam!

Something Like Fate by furyofthetimelords (Shadowhunters (TV), G, Clary Fray/Isabelle Lightwood)

I like that this kind of leads toward canon events while still being very distinctly it's own. This honestly left me daydreaming about how wonderful of a couple Clary and Izzy are. Many soulmate fics deal with relationship negotiations, which I love, and I really appreciate how carefully the two of them worked theirs out in this, and the implication that they’re going to continue to discuss it.

Solace In Your Silence by k_rizzle1921 (Power Rangers (2017), T, Kimberly Hart/Trini)

The only thing I love more than soulmate fics are soulmate fics with angst. What’s better than a story where the character doesn’t believe anyone would want them as a soulmate even though by definition they are essentially perfect for their soulmate??? That’s my shiiiiiit! But honestly, this is so cute and perfect. It diverges from canon just slightly and it’s really fucking cute.

[myndopeus]

you give me something to think about (chapter 7)

Read on ao3

Summary: Trini’s never been good at making friends, which only makes being stuck in the same school for seven years even more miserable. But when she finally does meet someone nice, she ends up with a whole lot more than she bargained for.

It’s gonna be one hell of a year.

The Slowburn Hogwarts AU that no one asked for.

Trini starts noticing a change in her routine. Normally, the days usually seem to blur together in a sort of haze, passing both incredibly quickly and agonizingly slowly. Now though, it’s like things have slowed down just enough for her to see everything around her.

It helps that she’s kept decently busy with quidditch and studying, not to mention hanging out with her new friends (she thinks they’ve known each other long enough to be friends, now). She has less time to isolate herself and brood. It certainly makes her more tired, but that also makes it easier for her to fall asleep at night.

The constant social interaction isn’t a bad thing, per se, but it is a bit of a jarring change. Trini isn’t used to being noticed so much. More than that, she’s not used to having people who look for her. Whether it’s Jen after morning practice, or Zack before they head to the library, the idea that people are acknowledging her existence is… interesting.

For example, in Herbology, Professor Longbottom had assigned them the arduous and incredibly painful task of trimming the Snargaluffs for the Fifth Year classes. Trini is busy sizing up the plants to find which one is the least deadly when two large hands clap down on her shoulders, causing her to jump.

“Found you,” Zack’s voice says in her ear, and she groans in mock despair.

“As if I don’t see enough of you already.”

“You know you love looking at this handsome face, T. Now come on, we’re gonna take on the biggest one.” This time, the despair she feels is real.

Jason is waiting by the Snargaluff stump with a mildly pained look on his face, and Billy is eyeing the plant nervously, fiddling with his gloves. 

“Now the party can get started!” Zack declares while Trini sulks by his side.

“Remind me why I agreed to this, again?”

“For the glory, Jace. We’re Gryffindors, it’s what we do.”

“We’re not Gryffindors,” Billy pipes up, scooting over to stand by Trini. “So if you don’t mind, I think we’ll just—”

“No take backs, dude. We’re doing this!” Zack’s confidence is not reassuring in the slightest, and Billy and Trini share a glance.

“It was worth a try, B.” Trini takes a deep breath, readying her clippers, while Zack seems to be brandishing a variety of different rakes and retractors. Jason looks like he just made the worst decision of his life.

“Ready… Go!” Zack promptly dives at the Snargaluff, and the others scramble to catch up and make sure that he doesn’t get himself seriously injured.

After several near-death experiences, and what seemed like an endless amount of spiny vines, the Snargaluff is reduced to an appropriate size for 15-year-old children to be handling, and they retreat to the corner of the greenhouse to nurse their injuries.

“Told you we could do it,” Zack crows triumphantly as they’re dismissed. Despite the numerous scratches on his face, he gives Trini a big smile.

She pouts. “We just got our asses kicked by a plant, how are you still so chipper?”

“I don’t know about you guys, but I found it to be an exhilarating experience.”

“Well, you’re not wrong,” Billy says, frowning as he plucks some spines out of his robes. “There were quite a few times I feared for my life, if you can call that exhilarating. Ow!”

“But did you die, though?”

“No. Obviously.”

“See? All good.”

Jason notices Trini starting to drift off from the rest of the group. “Trini,” he calls, and the other boys turn to look. “You coming to the library later?”

She nods. “Yeah, I just left some of my reference books in the common room. I’ll see you guys there.”

“You better, because I totally wasn’t paying attention during Divination, so I’ll need your help.”

“That’s your own damn fault, Taylor.” She hears the boys start to poke fun at each other as she leaves, and she smiles to herself.

It’s certainly a change. But it’s not necessarily an unwelcome one.

* * *

Billy and Zack are waiting for her when she gets to the pitch. She easily catches the quaffle that Zack hurls her way, throwing it straight back to him. He’s surprised at first, but he quickly recovers, grinning at her devilishly.

“Damn, Crazy Girl,” he chuckles, tossing the ball in his hand. “ Quidditch training is definitely paying off. I’m excited to see what else you’ve got in store.” After a moment’s though, he wiggles his eyebrows suggestively, and she groans.

“Gross, dude, it’s way too early for you to be popping a boner over quidditch.” She notices Billy surreptitiously sneak a concerned glance at Zack’s crotch, and it’s not long before they’re both practically on the ground laughing.

Zack looks between his two laughing friends, confused. “Wait, did I miss something? What’s happening?” Trini can’t catch her breath to form words, and Billy just shakes his head sheepishly.

“You two are clearly in cahoots about something, and honestly? It’s kind of terrifying.”

They’ve been goofing around for a bit when Billy suddenly comes to a halt. Trini almost crashes into him, and Zack barely stops himself from hitting Billy in the face with the quaffle. Billy, bless his soul, barely notices, as he waves at the seemingly empty entrance to the pitch.

“Hey!” he yells out, and Trini and Zack share an equally lost look. Billy turns back to them and notices their confused expressions. “What? It’s Kim, she’s over there,” he says, pointing over his shoulder. Trini looks again, and this time she can make out a small figure leaning against the wall of the boundaries.

“Should we go say hi? I’m gonna go say hi.” Before the others can respond, he’s flying down to meet her. Zack looks at her, and they both shrug before following after him.

“Clearly you guys haven’t been training hard enough, if you’ve still got the energy to play quidditch at this ungodly hour.” Kimberly smirks, crossing her arms in front of her chest. Zack makes an indignant noise, and Billy laughs, before immediately launching into a conversation with Kim, who takes it all in stride.

Trini hangs back a little as the boys talk with her. After spending so much time around each other, Trini thinks she and Kimberly are starting to approach something close to friendship, especially after seeing her in Hogsmeade. She still hasn’t gotten to know Kimberly nearly as well as she knows the boys, but there certainly isn’t the same animosity that was present when they first met.

That doesn’t mean she feels any more at ease around her, though. She used to feel almost… threatened whenever Kimberly was around, like this sort of intense discomfort mixed with fear. She’s no longer afraid of her, but that slight discomfort still remains. There’s just something about being around Kimberly that makes Trini feel like she’s constantly caught off guard. It’s fine when she’s concentrating on something else, but every time Kimberly catches her attention, it leaves her feeling—

There’s a hint of motion, and Trini comes back to focus just in time to see Kimberly tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. Trini blinks, suddenly distracted, and she scrambles to regain her train of thought.

It leaves her feeling confused.

“So what brings you out here?” Trini gradually tunes back in, and she realizes that the question was directed at Kimberly.

“Felt like getting some fresh air,” she replies breezily, and the boys seem to take her at face value. But Trini remembers seeing Kimberly sitting alone at the Three Broomsticks, how she was walking through Hogsmeade by herself, and she knows that nine times out of ten, it’s more complicated than just ‘getting some fresh air’. In that moment, she makes a split-second decision.

“Since you’re out here, you should play with us.”

As soon as she says it, she regrets how juvenile the phrasing was, and how awkwardly she jumped into the conversation. All eyes turn to her, and she tries to act nonchalant, shrugging and looking to the side to avoid eye contact. She’s unsuccessful, it seems, because Zack seems to be giving her a peculiar sort of side-eye.

“I mean, it would give us an even number, so we could have two teams,” Billy adds. “Cause, you know, it’s not as fair when it’s two versus one.”

Kimberly bites her lip in thought, and Trini, for some reason, feels the intense need to either stare or look away. She chooses the latter, which leads her to look directly into Zack’s eyes, as his side-eyeing has progressed to full-on suspicious staring. She gives him a stern look, mouthing “what”, and he quickly turns away.

“Yeah, Kim, it’ll be fun. Besides, it’ll be good practice for the GvS game.” They all stare at Zack, perplexed. He frowns. “Gryffindor versus Slytherin? I mean, you can’t expect me to say the full thing every time.”

“That’s true, it’s a few too many syllables for you to manage.” Kimberly’s comment draws a small laugh from Trini, and she quickly hides it behind her usual blank expression when the others look at her. Zack raises an eyebrow, and she feels the sudden urge to punch him. But Kimberly is giving her a small smile, and she decides that punching Zack isn’t quite a priority at the moment.

Kimberly nods. “Alright, sure. Why not.”

Billy manages to clap his hands without dropping his broom. “Right, so, are you gonna go get your broom, or…?”

Kimberly gives him a sly grin, before taking her wand out of her sleeve and giving it a wave. There’s a large crashing noise, and the sound of splintering wood, before a broom shoots out to hover next to Kimberly. They all look in the direction where it came from, and Kimberly winces.

“Oops. I’ll fix it later.” Without a second glance, she kicks off, followed shortly by Billy.

Trini is smiling to herself when she notices Zack staring at her again. “So,” he drawls, wiggling his eyebrows. Trini contemplates him for a moment before casually kneeing him in the side of the leg.

Zack stumbles, clutching his now tingling limb. “Why,” he moans.

“Your face was looking suspiciously pain-free.”

Eventually, they join the other two in the air. In the spirit of fairness, Billy puts Zack and Kim on opposite teams, since they’re both somewhat veteran players. Trini is grateful that she’s paired with Zack, since it’ll be easier to work with him. On the other hand, this now means that she’s going up against Kimberly, and if she’s anything like Zack, it was gonna be a pretty legit match.

As it turns out, Kimberly isn’t just good at quidditch: she’s amazing. Instead of just having a casual game, Trini actually finds herself working hard to keep up. She and Zack vibe pretty well as a team, but Kim and Billy are still kicking their asses.

It doesn’t help that Trini is a little off her game. In her defense, she’s never seen Kimberly play before, and it’s a little hard to watch and fly at the same time. Kimberly, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to be having any trouble at all. And Trini has to admit, Kimberly is probably the best flyer out of all of them. Zack is probably the most powerful, and most… unpredictable, and Billy is the most technical, but Kimberly flies with a natural ease and elegance. It’s almost mesmerizing, and Trini can’t help but admire her.

Zack has the quaffle, and he’s racing down towards the goalposts. Billy is keeping close to her on defense, but she manages to shake him off with a sudden swerve that’s undeniably a trademark Zack Taylor move. She hears Billy’s impressed whoop as she darts out to make herself open for a pass, catching a straight toss from Zack. She feels a breeze on her other side, and she looks to see Kimberly flanking her.

“Nice one,” Kimberly compliments her with a smile, and Trini’s heart practically stops—because her grip on the quaffle had somehow loosened, and she almost dropped it completely, fumbling. It’s enough of a mistake that Kimberly is able to swipe it from her, swiftly making a U-turn and heading across the pitch. Trini shakes her head, her ears burning, as she hears Zack yell “Come on, T!”

They’re all so caught up in the game that they don’t realize how much time has passed until they hear the castle bells clanging.

“Shit,” Trini swears. “Already?” They immediately head straight out of the pitch, the four of them jogging to get back to their dorms before breakfast starts.

Halfway to the castle, Kimberly suddenly screeches to a halt, a look of alarm on her face. Billy looks about nervously. “What?” he asks.

Kimberly stares at him. “I forgot about the broom closet.” They all recall the damage she had caused by summoning her broom.

There’s a pause, and then Kimberly makes a face and keeps running. “Someone else’s problem now!” The others hurry to catch up.

“Damn,” Zack pants. “She’s just as crazy as you, T.”

 The comparison makes Trini’s stomach twist in an unfamiliar way. She shakes it off as they race back to the castle.

* * *

Although she had fun earlier, Trini is really starting to regret it. She spent way too much energy, and now she feels like she could eat an entire feast and then sleep for twelve hours. She’s just awake enough to pile food onto her plate, and she isn’t fully aware of what’s going on around her, so it takes her a few seconds to register that Zack and Jason are suddenly sitting across from.

“Oh hell,” she sputters, dropping her cutlery. The boys laugh at her reaction, but she silences them with a glare, going back to eating her breakfast.

Jason raises an eyebrow, glancing at her plate. “Damn, Trini, what kind of workout were you doing this morning?”

Before she can say anything, Zack gasps dramatically, turning to face his friend. “Jason,” he says, aghast, “you should never comment on a person’s appetite! Rude!”

Trini puts on a similarly affronted expression. “Yeah, dude. What, were you raised in a barn or something?”

“I-… What… I was just-” Jason stutters with a deer in the headlights look. After a few moments of watching him fumble, Zack finally reaches over to ruffle Jason’s hair.

“We’re just kidding man,” he chortles, and Jason shakes him off. He’s unsure as he looks to Trini for confirmation. The corner of her mouth quirks in a half-smile, and he sighs, relieved.

“So are you two just gonna sit there and watch me eat?” she says.

“Fair point, Crazy Girl.” Zack reaches out and snags a chocolate croissant off a nearby platter, taking a huge bite and littering the table in front of him with crumbs. Jason rolls his eyes as he grabs some toast and eggs.

Trini shifts in her seat nervously. It technically isn’t against the rules to sit at other houses’ tables during breakfast, but it isn’t exactly a common occurrence. It’s going to seem even weirder for Jason Scott and Zack Taylor to be sitting next to some random nobody at the Hufflepuff table. The boys don’t seem to be bothered, and Trini forces herself to relax a little.

“How are you still so alive after this morning?” she asks Zack, who is chewing on what is probably his second or third breakfast pastry. “I’m exhausted.”

Zack covers his mouth with his hand as he swallows. “I’ve got amazing stamina,” he answers, and Trini prays that that’s all, but in true Zack fashion, he follows it with a wink. Trini slowly puts her head down on the table, and she hears Jason groan.

“C’mon Zack, we’re eating.”

“Well, I’m not the one with my mind in the gutter, here. Blame yourselves.”

The solid table feels incredibly comfy to Trini’s tired brain, and she’s tempted to just drift off into a quick nap when she hears another voice approaching.

“Didn’t expect to find a Gryffindor invasion when I came to breakfast, but life is full of surprises.” Trini immediately straightens up when she hears Jen, suddenly seized with the need to look like she’s being productive.

“Good to see you too, Jen,” Jason greets her as she comes to a stop by Trini. “We’re just having breakfast, would you care to join us?”

His tone is suspiciously innocent, and Zack is also far too quietly minding his own business. Trini isn’t sure whether to laugh or cry at the fact that they’re pulling this stunt with Jen, of all people.

The Hufflepuff captain crosses her arms intimidatingly, and Jason refuses to break eye contact as he lifts a forkful of food to his mouth. After a tension-filled moment, Jen turns to Trini, who tenses.

“These guys giving you trouble?” It’s not the question she expects, and it takes Trini a moment before she responds.

“No, no, they’re uh… they’re friends.” It’s the first time she’s said it out loud, to anyone, and it’s strangely anticlimactic. Trini feels a little shaken after the words leave her mouth, but the boys are unperturbed, watching Jen’s reaction.

Jen raises an eyebrow. “So you’re fraternizing with the enemy now, is it?” she says, and Trini is completely lost for a defense. She’s somewhat relieved when Zack speaks up, since she probably looks like a fish with the way her mouth is hanging open.

“Isn’t quidditch all about the spirit of camaraderie, or whatever,” Zack jokes. “It’s not like she’s dating us or anything. Or is she…?” He grins slyly, and Trini lets out a strangled noise, wondering if he’s trying to get them all killed.

“No! No, it’s not like that, I swear,” she hurriedly reassures Jen, before fixing Zack with the best death stare she can muster. Jen’s eyes narrow, and Zack’s grin wavers when he comes under the full force of both the girls’ glares.

“You’re lucky I have a sense of humor, Taylor,” Jen warns. “But I suppose you’re right, there’s no harm in some friendly conversation. You better not be messing with my team, though, otherwise, I will end you.” She starts to leave, but then she turns back to Trini. “Oh, by the way, change of schedule: practice has been moved to tomorrow, there was a mix-up with the Ravenclaw team and the pitch bookings.” She makes a face before walking off without a backwards glance.

Trini sighs with relief before turning to Jason. “Has she always been that… intense?”

He laughs. “Only when it comes to quidditch. Usually she’s pretty chill. When she gets angry though…” He and Trini shudder in unison, while Zack scoffs. “Seriously Zack, you weren’t there during the incident with what’s-his-face last year, when he was talking shit about Ernie? The only reason Jen didn’t get suspended was because the dude was scared shitless.”

“Oh come on, I’m not that stupid. Besides, it’s not like she’ll actually kill me.”

“Maybe not, but she’ll definitely kick your ass.”

“Zack is probably into that,” Trini mumbles, just loud enough for the boys to hear, and Jason chokes on his water. It’s at that moment that Billy suddenly materializes behind Zack and Jason.

“Just dropping by to say hi,” he greets them, before focusing on Jason, who quickly wipes his mouth with a napkin. “Hey, are you finished with breakfast? Because I wanted to talk to Slughorn about my independent project before class. It’s cool if you’re not, though, because I can definitely just wait outside.”

“No, no, yeah, I’m good.” Jason stands, grabbing his bag.

“���is that a yes or a no?”

“It’s a yes.”

“Cool.” Billy smiles at Zack and Trini, waving goodbye, before grabbing Jason’s hand and heading for the exit. Jason is so caught off-guard that Billy ends up practically dragging him along for a bit before he finds his footing. Trini watches them go, noticing how Jason’s face suddenly matches the shade of his tie.

She hums in thought, drawing the attention of Zack, who follows her gaze.

“What? Those two?”

“Not that it’s any of my business, but… is there anything going on there?”

“Between Jason and Billy? Uh… I don’t think so.”

“Well if there isn’t, then there should be.”

Zack’s eyes widen. “Oh thank god, I thought I was the only one who thought so. They’re so cute together! I mean, of course I want them to figure it out on their own, but honestly, it’s taking forever,” he gushes.

He reaches for the last chocolate croissant, but he stops when he sees that Trini is reaching for it too. They stare at each other, Trini with a steely look in her eyes, Zack with a challenging glint in his. There’s a long pause before they both simultaneously lunge for the pastry.

* * *

They ended up almost being late to potions, because in their scuffle, they’d knocked over their glasses, as well as upending the pastry platter. They’d been forced to clean up the mess by hand afterwards. It had all been in vain, too, as the croissant had ended up getting squished and then landing in a puddle of water.

Which brought Trini to her current predicament; the day has barely started, and she’s already so tired that she’s on the verge of falling asleep standing up. The atmosphere of the potions dungeon certainly doesn’t help. The temperature of the room ranges somewhere between hot and sweltering, and it’s always incredibly humid. It’s a struggle to stay awake on a good day, so Trini is somewhat proud of the fact that she hasn’t faceplanted into her cauldron yet.

Admittedly, part of the reason she hasn’t done so yet is currently standing next to her, mumbling the instructions to herself. Kimberly is definitely more awake than Trini is, and she is definitely not as confused and lost as Trini is. Trini hates having to talk to people, and while she would usually prefer to work in silence, sharing a table with someone who talks to herself is probably the better option at this point.

She stifles a yawn behind her hand, and blinks to clear her watery eyes. She’s reaching for the next ingredient when someone suddenly grabs her arm. She has her sleeves rolled up, and the warmth of the hand grasping her wrist startles her. She looks at it, and her eyes track up the offending appendage to reach Kimberly. Trini raises her eyebrow dangerously, and Kimberly quickly releases her.

To her credit, Kimberly looks a little embarrassed. “Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you. I just, uh… you’re not supposed to add dragon gallstone yet,” she explains.

Trini frowns. “But that’s the next step, right? ‘Stir three times counter-clockwise, once clockwise, and then add dragon gallstone’,” she quotes the textbook.

“Yeah, but you’re only supposed to add it when the potion is at a simmer. Yours is still boiling.”

“Wait, really? When did he say that?”

“He didn’t,” Kimberly says, rolling her eyes. “It was mentioned in the last lesson, though. It’s probably one of Slughorn’s little tests, or something, I don’t know.”

“You’d think they’d put those kinds of warnings in the instructions,” Trini huffs out, and Kimberly makes an amused noise. Trini waves her wand, decreasing the intensity of the fire beneath her cauldron, and waits for the potion to cool a bit. She sees that Kimberly is doing the same thing, which leaves them both without something to occupy themselves with.

Trini is staring forward, half-spacing out and half-avoiding looking at Kimberly. She’s idly watching Jason at the table in front of her as he struggles with his potion. He looks around the classroom confusedly, as if he’s wondering if he’s in the right room, and Trini smirks a little. She watches him examine an ingredient for a moment, before shrugging in a way that clearly means “fuck it”, before moving to add it to the cauldron. He’s already halfway there when she realizes what it is, and her eyes widen. She hears a gasp of recognition from Kimberly as well.

“Jason, wait-”

“No, stop-”

BOOM!

* * *

“Well, I think we can safely say that Slughorn’s little tests are definitely a bad idea,” Trini grumbles, spreading healing cream on the burns on her arm. There’s a peculiar prickling sensation as the cream takes effect.

Jason’s small explosion had ended up sending several students to the hospital wing, so they’d been forced to cut the day’s lesson a bit short. Professor Slughorn was in the corner giving Madam Pomfrey a very flustered apology and promising to, in the future, “provide more explicit instructions in the name of safety”.

“Are you kidding?” Zack says, sprawled out on one of the hospital beds. “You got class cancelled, we all win.”

“That… No, Zack.” Billy shakes his head from where he’s sitting next to Jason, who nods.

“Yeah, I’d hardly call this a win.” He gestures to the bandages wrapped around his eyes. Trini’s sleeves had gotten singed, but the front of Jason’s robe had practically caught fire, and his tie had been completely ruined. He looked slightly ridiculous, covered in soot, but they all pitied his temporary blindness too much to make fun of him.

“Well, Madam Pomfrey said that you’ll probably be able to see by the time the next lesson starts. Although if you’re still kinda blind, then I guess you won’t have to go…”

 “Guess there’s a bright side to everything, then,” Jason chuckles wryly. He frowns. “I’m uh, really sorry, by the way. Hope you guys weren’t hurt too badly.”

“This, coming from the guy who temporarily blinded himself?” Kim points out, earning a chuckle from the whole group.

“Damn, I never thought you’d fuck up this badly, Jace,” Zack chortles. Jason doesn’t seem bothered by the comment; if anything, he finds it funny too. Trini is the one who rolls her eyes.

“Oh please, we all know that if Jason hadn’t done it, it would have been you instead.”

“Me? What about Billy?” They all stare at him, nonplussed, and he shrugs. “You’re right, not realistic. Still, what makes you think I would’ve made the same mistake? Maybe I was gonna do it perfectly, huh?”

“Oh really?” Kim smirks, leaning forward. “Remind me how the second half of the potion goes?”

“Easy. Tap with the wand, three times to the left, once to the right, then add dragon gallstone.” His confidence is replaced with confusion when the girls and Jason start giggling. “What… don’t tell me that’s not right.”

“How do you think we ended up here, Zack?” Jason says, and Zack deflates. Crestfallen, he turns back to the girls, who are watching him with self-satisfied expectancy.

“Alright, I admit defeat. You guys were right.”

“Course we were.” At that, Kim grins at Trini. It’s an unexpected gesture, and one that implies a closer friendship than Trini had previously thought they had. Unsure how to respond, she just turns to look at the toes of her boots, tapping them together slightly.

They’re kept in the hospital wing until the end of the class period, and after a brief but thorough check-up from Madam Pomfrey, they’re all dismissed. Jason is still squinting in the light, but Billy takes it upon himself to guide Jason to their next class. Trini and Zack say goodbye to the others before heading to the Divination Tower. Trini dimly recognizes that she still smells like burning metal, but she’s too tired to care, and Professor Trelawney’s triumphant assertion that she had predicted such a disaster washes over her as she proceeds to space out for the next hour or so.

* * *

“…-ing here? Hey. Trini.”

She’s snapped out of her reverie by a hand poking her in the shoulder. She assumes that it’s Zack, and she swats at it off-handedly, mumbling something incoherent as she tries to focus on her work again.

“Wow, I’m hurt,” the voice says jokingly, and it’s definitely not Zack. Trini blinks fully back to reality, and she realizes that the table is empty, and Kimberly is standing next to her. She tilts her head as Trini looks up.

“Sorry, I was spaced out. What were you saying?”

“Spaced out is putting it lightly. Anyhow, I’m heading back to the dorm. Are you going to stick around?”

“Uh yeah, I have to finish this.” It’s not the real reason why she’s staying late. She’s avoiding her dorm, more specifically, the letters resting on her bedside table from this morning. She’s too tired to deal with that today, and she had hoped that some physical distance from them would help to ease the nagging anxiety in the back of her mind.

Kimberly is watching her with an unreadable expression. It’s the same look that she used to wear before they actually met, back when Trini only knew her as that popular girl from Slytherin. Trini squirms slightly under her gaze, not sure what it means or why it’s come back now. She turns away, pretending to glance over her work. After a moment, she hears a little exhale.

“Ok. Goodnight, Trini.” She realizes that there’s something else behind Kimberly’s expression, but before she can figure out what it is, the other girl is already turning to leave. Trini hesitates for a split second before opening her mouth.

“Night, Kim.” She turns away to hide her face as she hears Kimberly’s footsteps pause. There’s a second of silence before the footsteps continue, receding into the quiet of the almost-empty library.

Trini tries to actually be productive, but after a while it’s clear that she is not in the right mind-space to be doing anything school-related, so she resigns herself to packing up and heading back to her dorm. She’s clearing all her things up when she notices the book sitting on the edge of the table. The title is indecipherable to her, which leads to the realization that it’s probably about Ancient Runes. She knows that Zack and Jason aren’t taking that class, and Billy is too organized to forget a book, so that just leaves Kimberly. Out of curiosity, Trini decides to thumb through the pages a little.

HISS!

 Something leaps out at her from the book, and she reflexively slams the book shut. The hissing is cut off, and when the initial shock clears, she sees the head of a paper snake poking out from the pages of the closed book.

The first thing her partially-incoherent brain comes up with is that Kimberly left it there as a prank on her. The thought has more impact that she expects, and she takes a deep breath as her stomach tightens. She gingerly pulls the paper snake out, going to crumple it. She stops when she notices the markings on its back, in bold black ink. She unfolds it to read the message.

TRAITOR

Trini is even more confused. She hasn’t betrayed Kimberly in any way, not that she’s had much opportunity to. The realization hits Trini that this message was meant for Kimberly, not her. It makes sense that she would have some enemies, what with how popular she is, but this stunt was way too menacing to be a simple prank. Trini can’t help but wonder who has it out for Kimberly, and why.

Shaken, she shoves the book in her bag before hurriedly walking out of the library, looking over her shoulder as she goes.

[iwasnthere622]

Hi My Name Is... (Ch. 1)

AO3 Link

Jason woke up to her alarm going off for school and immediately wished she hadn't. Her body was too big and sharp angles and aroused and the overwhelming sense of wrongness made it hard for her to get out of bed.

She forced herself up, knowing it'd be worse if her parents came to see why she wasn't up yet, dragging her feet to the bathroom and stripping out of her sleep clothes. She stared at her naked body in the full length mirror on the back of the door and cataloged every way that it was wrong.

Strong jawline, Adam's apple, broad chest, flat chest, non-existent hips, lean thighs, hair everywhere, too-big hands... eyes skittering over her junk, unable to even look at it, feeling useless tears well in her eyes and swiping angrily at her face.

Suck it up, she ordered herself.

She got dressed, avoiding her own eyes in the mirror as she brushed her teeth, sitting to pee and wanting to cry, shoving everything aside and heading downstairs.

Jason was never much of a morning person, so thankfully her parents left her alone, eating a granola bar because she didn't have the energy for anything else, heading out with Pearl to drop her at school and letting her easy chatter distract her.

Once Pearl was gone, though, it was hard to force herself to drive to the high school, knowing she really didn't need more trouble if she ditched but sorely tempted anyway. Only the thought of the team coming looking for her made her pull into the lot and park.

She grabbed her bag and kept her head down, going straight for her locker and switching out the books she needed.

"Hey, Jase," Kim said, walking up to her, Billy trailing her.

"Hey," Jason said, shifting, voice subdued.

Kim frowned. "You okay?"

Jason didn't meet her eyes. "Didn't sleep well," she lied, grip tightening on her bag, forcing herself to breathe so she didn't snap the strap. Again.

Kim made a noise of understanding, moving to hug her and the press of Kim's curves against her hard lines made her want to cry, pulling back quickly.

"I'll see you guys at lunch, okay?" Jason said, not waiting for an answer before walking towards her homeroom.

The day dragged and Jason found herself unable to really focus in class, feeling her body too much. She was aware of the press of her jeans and the way her t-shirt hugged her chest and the rise and fall of her body with each breath she took.

She felt like she was drowning on dry land, the bell ringing and signaling fifth period -- lunch -- and starling her. She walked slowly to the cafeteria, not hungry and not wanting to deal with her friends' concern but going nonetheless, sitting down at their usual table next to Billy.

She set her bag on the seat next to her, to try to keep them from touching her -- though Billy certainly was much more open to being affectionate with them now, he still rarely initiated contact on his own and Jason needed that space today.

"You look like shit," Zack said, the boy yelping when Trini smacked him and shot Jason a worried look.

Jason sighed. "It's fine, I'm just tired. I'm just gonna sleep," she said, folding her arms on the table and burying her face, trying to drown everything out, trying to pretend she was fine.

They mostly left her alone and Jason pretended not to hear their worried whispers, feeling bad for worrying them but not having the energy to do anything about it, just not having it in herself to pretend today.

"Jason? There's only 5 minutes left, you should eat something," Kim said, gently shaking her arm.

Jason lifted her head slowly, blinking her eyes and accepting the sandwich Billy was offering, knowing the boy must have saved it for her specifically.

"Thanks," she said, taking a bite to appease them, struggling to swallow but getting it down. She had to psyche herself up for each bite, but she managed to eat the whole thing, finishing just as the bell rang.

"No practice today," Trini said, voice firm, and Jason nodded because Trini was her second so if she said no practice, it meant Jason really looked like shit and shouldn't go to practice.

"Want us to come over, cuddle pile?" Zack offered, worried frown on his face and Jason felt new guilt twist in her gut because Zack had enough to worry about without also worrying about her.

"I'll be okay," Jason said, shaking her head. "I'm just gonna get through the rest of today, pick up Pearl, and crash at home."

"Okay," Kim said, chewing her lip, clearly still worried, glancing at Trini.

Trini studied Jason for a minute before nodding. "Okay, but text us if you change your mind."

"Thanks," Jason said, actually meaning it, grateful they would give her space and hoping that once she got home and went to bed, she'd feel okay when she woke up.

--

"You didn't have to come with me," Trini said, walking through the automatic doors and into the mall, Jason right behind her.

Jason shrugged. "I don't mind."

Trini gave him a look, walking to the department store she wanted to hit, double checking her mental map of the mall to make sure they were efficient with all the stores she wanted to go to. "I have to go bra shopping," she threatened.

Jason flushed, not meeting her eyes. "That's fine."

Trini sighed. "Look, I know you're trying to spend time with everyone outside of school or training, but you don't have to be here."

Jason straightened up. "Do you really want me to go?" he asked, tone suggesting he would leave if she told him to.

"...No," Trini admitted. "But guys don't like shopping, Zack cried last time I dragged him."

Jason shrugged, hunching his shoulders. "I'm not Zack."

Trini snorted. "Thank god."

They entered the store and Jason trailed after Trini, holding the jeans that she picked out and helping her find the right size, sitting patiently outside the changing rooms when Trini went to try them on, looking around at the summer dresses the store had out.

His gaze snapped to Trini when she came back. "Fit okay?" he asked.

Trini nodded, holding two pairs in her hand, the rest discarded in the dressing room. "Fine."

"Shouldn't you buy jeans in the fall or winter?" Jason asked, following Trini to the checkout line.

Trini shrugged. "Normally, but I busted out the knees in the rest of my pairs. I have a ton of shorts now, though."

Jason chuckled, having seen Trini's homemade cutoffs. "They don't look too bad, either."

"I know," Trini grinned at him, handing over her jeans to pay, not surprised when Jason grabbed the bag to carry it.

"I can carry that, you know," she said as they left the store and walked to the next.

Jason shrugged. "So can I," he pointed out.

"Whatever, Scott," Trini said, giving in, heading into the shoe store and missing Jason's grimace.

"Didn't think you were a shoe person," Jason commented.

"I'm not, I need new converse," Trini said, smiling when Jason chuckled, leading him down the aisle.

Jason looked around at the small, dainty heels and sandals, moving slowly after Trini as she bee lined for the sneaker section. He wandered a bit, just looking around, while she tried on a pair and compared it to the same shoe half a size bigger.

"I'm done," Trini said, looking up to see Jason studying high heeled boots.

"Right," Jason said, moving over to her and once again following her to pay, taking this bag as well.

"You know, I bet Kim has those boots," Trini teased.

Jason blushed. "Ah, yeah, probably."

"Bras, now," Trini announced as they approached a different department store.

"Oh. You're not gonna go to...?" Jason asked, trailing off.

Trini rolled her eyes. "I'm not into Pink," she answered.

"Okay," Jason said, accepting that and following her inside.

Trini didn't say anything else, moving to the sports bras to pick out a few new ones, feeling about as uncomfortable as Jason looked, like he was afraid he would be yelled at for being in this section at any moment, eyes darting around.

She grabbed what she needed, eyeing the push up ones, considering it... she shook her head, turning to Jason and finding him eyeing the lingerie with almost... longing?

"I'm good," she said, watching him jump.

"Okay, great," Jason said, seeming eager to leave, flushed slightly.

Chalking it up to being forced into bra shopping, Trini let him set a quick pace to the check out, grabbing this bag before he could so she didn't embarrass him further.

"Food?" Trini asked when they left the store.

"Definitely," Jason said, relaxing a bit and Trini smiled at him.

--

Jason unlocked the door, ushering Pearl inside. "Homework first," she reminded, her sister rolling her eyes.

"I know," Pearl said, heading to the kitchen table and pulling out her homework from her backpack.

Jason grabbed them both a drink before settling next to Pearl to work on her own homework, helping occasionally but Pearl was really smart and didn't need much help.

She glanced at the clock when Pearl announced that she was done, bouncing in her chair a bit.

Jason smiled. "Okay, you go get everything set up, I'm going to make us some grilled cheeses for dinner, and then we'll play after we eat, deal?"

"Deal!" Pearl yelled, off her chair and racing to her room.

Jason chuckled, putting her homework into her bag so she wouldn't forget it tomorrow, setting aside her own homework -- she could finish tomorrow at lunch, and that was probably better anyway because unlike Pearl, Jason did need help with homework -- and moving to get their dinner cooking.

She wasn't all that great in the kitchen, but she could make the basics thanks to plenty of nights like this where it was just her and Pearl, easily making their grilled cheese sandwiches.

"Pearl, dinner!" she called, setting the table and smiling when Pearl raced in, clearly excited to eat and then get to play.

"Careful, it might be hot," Jason cautioned, cutting Pearl's sandwich into four triangles to help it cool faster, grabbing a bag of chips for them to split, too, and sitting down to eat.

They were both pretty hungry so it didn't take long to finish up. "Now?" Pearl asked hopefully.

"Lemme just clean up," Jason agreed, cleaning up their dishes and then following Pearl to her room after double checking the door was locked.

She sat down on the floor next to the play table in the corner of Pearl's room, smiling at the dolls and stuffed animals lined up next to it as well and watching Pearl go straight to her princess chest and pull out her favorite pink princess dress.

"Need help?" Jason offered, watching Pearl carefully pull the costume on over her clothes.

"I got it," Pearl said, concentrating and getting the dress on, twirling and giggling when the puffy skirt lifted up.

"Very pretty," Jason said, smiling at her and ignoring the spike of envy she felt.

"Makeup now?" Pearl asked, pulling out her little kit and setting it on the table.

"Sure," Jason agreed. "Want me to do you, or do you want to do me first?"

Pearl thought about it. "I'll do you first," she decided.

Jason smiled and nodded, sitting still and letting Pearl stand over her, reaching for her blush brush and dabbing it into the pink powder.

She let Pearl give her pink cheeks and pink lips with her lip gloss and selected the purple eyeshadow when Pearl let her pick, closing her eyes and staying still while Pearl applied it.

"Well, how do I look?" Jason asked when Pearl was all done.

"Very pretty!" Pearl giggled, hugging Jason.

Jason hugged her back, stomping down any resentment over not being able to really be Pearl's big sister and just trying to enjoy these stolen moments of getting that chance instead.

"Your turn," she said when they pulled apart, having Pearl sit in her kid's chair in front of her.

She used the limited tools that Pearl had, giving her a subtle blush that highlighted her cheekbones. She used three different eyeshadows to make Pearl's eyes look bigger, using the darker shade to bloom out the color -- Pearl wasn't allowed to play with eyeliners, but she loved the way it looked so Jason did her best to make do with the eyeshadow.

Last, she applied some lip gloss to make Pearl's lips shine, declaring that she was done and Pearl was gorgeous.

"I wanna see!" Pearl said, reaching for Jason's hand to tug her into the bathroom, closing the door and stepping up to exam herself in the mirror.

Jason glanced at herself before forcing her eyes onto Pearl instead, trying hard to ignore the want-shame-need-guilt swirling in her gut.

Pearl met her eyes in the mirror. "We both look like princesses!"

"You are a princess," Jason promised, picking her up to twirl her in the air and take her back to her room. They had a tea party, eventually washing up for bedtime, Jason careful in using the makeup remover wipes to make sure nothing lingered on either of their faces.

"Remember, tonight was our secret just for us," she whispered, kissing Pearl on the forehead after tucking her in, Pearl nodding solemnly up at her. "Good night."

"Good night," Pearl echoed, closing her eyes. Jason left the room and headed to her own, packing up for school the next day and climbing into bed.

--

"I'm going to run to the bathroom, be right there," Kim said, waving Jason into her bedroom with a smile before continuing down the hall to her bathroom.

After she was done, she washed up, grabbing a hair tie to pull her hair into a messy pony out of her face and heading back to her room.

"You probably don't even know what half of that stuff is," Kim teased as she walked into the room, catching Jason sitting at her vanity and holding one of her liquid eyeliners.

Jason flushed, quickly putting the makeup down and standing up. "Yeah," he laughed, embarrassed.

"Pearl's not into makeup yet?" Kim asked, sitting on her bed and grabbing her bag, Jason moving to join her.

"Just the kid version. She's only 9," Jason said, settling and pulling out a math textbook.

"Still, she must play dress up," Kim said. "I did, at that age."

"Yeah? What did you dress up as?" Jason asked.

"A princess, usually," Kim grinned. "Mostly I just wanted to be grown up. I'd walk around in my mom's heels all the time."

"My mom doesn't really dress up that much," Jason said, shaking his head.

Kim shrugged. "I'm sure she has some heels, every woman does. Even Trini, though she never wears them."

Jason chuckled, flushing a bit. "Right."

"Pearl really doesn't dress up?" Kim asked, genuinely surprised.

"She does, sometimes. She has the costumes, the puffy dresses?" Jason said, choosing his words carefully. "And she has play makeup, but she'd rather put it on someone else than herself."

"Ah, okay, she's a beautician," Kim grinned. "I'll have to come over and let her make me pretty one day."

"She'd love that," Jason admitted.

"I bet, since your mom probably doesn't have enough time to let her practice as much as she wants," Kim said.

"Right," Jason agreed, opening up his textbook.

"I have some stuff I don't really use, I could give it to you for her?" Kim said, staring at her vanity and imagining the colors she'd grown away from, the simpler things she could give to Pearl.

"Yeah? That'd be awesome!" Jason said, sounding excited.

Kim grinned. "Great! Remind me before you leave. I'm sure Pearl will be happy."

"Yeah," Jason said, a bit less enthusiastically. "You're like her big sister..."

"I always wanted a sister," Kim smiled, knocking into Jason gently. "But she's already got the best big brother ever."

Jason shifted, flushing. "Right," he said, fiddling with his pen. "We should probably get started, I'm gonna need you to explain it again..."

Kim wondered if she'd said something wrong, wondering if Jason was still putting himself down for his past mistakes -- maybe he didn't think he was a good role model for Pearl?

"Sure," she said, letting it drop and focusing on the math set Jason was showing her, nodding once and beginning to explain how it was done.

--

"It's morphing time!" Jason said, standing tall and looking around at her team, reaching for her armor and the morphing grid and feeling it slide into place.

She glanced around to make sure everyone was morphed and ready, trying not to linger on Trini's and Kim's armor and forcing herself not to glance down at her own chest plate. "Let's go!"

Putties were still springing up around town, even this many months after Goldar and Rita had been defeated. Alpha-5 thought it had something to do with the "tainted" gold that had seeped into the area when Goldar dissolved, but it wasn't really sure.

Regardless of the reason, the Power Rangers were fighting and destroying putties almost bi-weekly. Her least favorite part of it all was protecting the idiot people who got way too close all in the name of getting a picture of them.

"Get back!" Billy yelled, voice distorted through the armor for their protection though Jason heard him clearly in her helmet, watching Billy shove some people out of the way of a charging putty and taking the hit himself.

"Blue!" she yelled, jumping and landing on top of the putty, crushing it.

"I'm fine, Red," Billy said, taking her offered hand, the pair dashing to help the rest of their friends.

"Idiot people," Zack said, fighting two putties at once and beating them down with their own body parts.

"Let's just focus on getting rid of these guys!" Jason said firmly, in her leader voice, focusing on the fight and not how deep the armor made her voice.

They fought the putties until they were just piles of rock and dust, Jason looking around to make sure they hadn't missed any and that no one had been hurt.

"Good job," she said, grinning behind her mask and ignoring the flash of cameras. "Let's go."

She led the team out of the street, the five of them pouring on speed to make sure they weren't followed, diving straight off the cliff and through the water, heading to the ship to report back to Alpha-5 and Zordon so they could update the map to try to figure out a pattern to the putties' appearances.

"I thought for sure that guy was gonna get hit," Zack said, slinging an arm around Billy.

"I don't understand people who don't move out of the way," Billy admitted.

Kim shrugged. "They get caught up trying to get a picture that'll impress, they don't see the danger."

"Idiots," Trini said, echoing Zack from earlier and earning a high-five from the black ranger.

"Should we do poses at the end, then, let them get pics?" Zack asked as they entered the ship.

Jason shook her head. "That would only encourage more people to stick around when the putties appear."

"Maybe we could record a warning message, thanking people for their support but asking them to please keep back to stay safe?" Billy suggested.

"And post it online?" Kim asked.

"Yes, we could send it to the news outlets, too," Billy said.

"Who'd record it?" Trini asked.

"J, of course! He's the leader!" Zack said, grinning and letting go of Billy to sling an arm around Jason instead.

Jason huffed. "It was Billy's idea, he should do it."

"I agree with Zack. You should do it, Jason," Billy said, shaking his head.

Jason was saved from having to respond as they reached the command center, Alpha-5 and Zordon both wanting to know how it went.

Jason stepped up to give their report, letting the previous conversation drop.

"Good job, Rangers," Zordon said once Jason was done.

"I'll update the map," Alpha-5 said, moving to do just that.

"Demorph and go home," Zordon ordered. "You've earned the night off."

Jason turned to see everyone demorphing and grinning, happy to get a night off from training, sighing to herself and letting the armor slowly dissolve and fade, unable to help a jealous glance at the girls' disappearing armor.

"Bossman, c'mon," Zack yelled, snapping Jason from her thoughts. "We're gonna do a bonfire."

Jason forced a smile, moving over to the where they were all waiting. "As long as you aren't cooking," she teased, following her friends out of the ship.

[thatoneloser-kid]

Something Special

I posted this on AO3 but I thought I would post it here, too...

Single mom!Kimberly

Trini wasn't the best at human interactions. She was kind of a loner, she didn't tend to engage with her friends all that often, she was very standoffish and rarely ever smiled.

Which was why Kimberly was surprised to come home from work, groceries in hand (having left Trini to look after her daughter for the day because her usual babysitter had taken ill and everyone else was busy) to find Trini and Cleo, both with sheets wrapped around their necks, throwing a pair of rolled up socks at empty water bottles set up in a messy triangle.

Trini apparently hated adults but just loved kids. Who would've guessed?

"I told you she was home." Trini grinned smugly and Cleo looked between them with wide eyes.

"How did you know?" Cleo gasped in amazement.

"I told you, I'm a real life super hero." Trini jibbed, making her way over to Kimberly, taking the heavy bags from her.

Kimberly was filled with a weird sense of domestication at that, like she should lean forward and kiss Trini's cheek (which wasn't an unusual thing to happen to her in Trini's presence).

She doesn't, of course, she just made her way over to her daughter. "What have you two been up to?" She asked when she crouched down beside the four year old.

"Well, we coloured for a little while, then had a tea party, then we decided to be superheroes, then bowling." Cleo motioned over to the bottles that were set up in a triangle.

Kimberly tilted her head to look at Trini who had just set the bags on the counter. "You had a tea party?"

"She makes good tea," Trini shrugged, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. But it got her daughter to flash that big, gap-toothed smile so she dropped it.

"You both sure had a busy day, didn't you?" Kimberly returned her eyes to her daughter as Trini lingered in the arch between the dinning room and the living room. "You must be exhausted, kiddo?"

"I don't wanna go to bed yet. Aunt Trin said we could watch Mulan, said it was her favourite growing up."

"Oh, she did, huh?" Kimberly arched her eyebrows at Trini, who looked somewhat sheepish as she shrugged. "Well, only if she stays."

Kimberly arched her eyebrows challengingly when Trini looked unsure but the unsure look disappeared when Cleo looked at her hopefully.

"Leave and miss Mulan?" Trini scoffed. "I don't think so."

Cleo let out a little happy yap and hopped up into Trini's arms. Trini glanced at Kimberly over the toddlers shoulder, giving her a small, almost shy smile before carrying the young girl into the living room.

They all settled down on the sofa, Cleo squished in between them, her head pressing against Trini's side, probably because she was inherently warmer than Kimberly(which wasn't a surprise, Kimberly's extremities were always cold), and her feet pressing into her moms lap.

Cleo fell asleep a little while before the end and Trini lifted her to bed when the movie ended, untying the sheet from around the girls neck before pulling the covers up over her.

"You should hang out for a while." Kimberly said, peering at Trini over the back of the sofa where she was sitting with a glass of wine.

"You couldn't scream 'single mom' more than you do right now." Trini commented but there was no bite to it so Kimberly laughed, her eyes training on Trini as she sat down.

"Drink?"

"Nah, I'm good."

"Suit yourself." Kimberly shrugged, taking a swig of her glass. "Are you going to sit with that thing around your neck all night?"

"Maybe," Trini hummed, her eyes training on the TV that was now playing friends reruns.

It was silent for the remainder of the episode, save from the little huffs of laughter from both women, but Trini spoke up during the adverts between two episodes.

"I get it now,"

Kimberly pulled her eyes away from a commercial on some kind of pain killer, raising her eyebrows questioningly at Trini. "Get what?"

"I always wondered how you could love her, how you could look at her and not just see him." There was an edge to Trini's voice that Kimberly had never heard before. "But I understand now. Before today any time I seen her I wanted to break him out of prison just to kill him, for what he did to you, for how he hurt you. But, I dunno, I guess spending time with her changed that? I would still kill him but now when I look at her I want to smile."

"That's why you haven't came by much in the past five years?" Kimberly asked thoughtfully, Trini knew she didn't need to answer, that Kimberly already knew what the answer was, but she hummed anyway.

"Yeah. I thought I was hating her and I hated myself for that but it's not her at all, it's him. I hate him."

"I thought it was me.

"You?" Trini frowned, wishing she had undone the 'cape' she was currently wearing because this seemed to be leading to a serious conversation. One she probably shouldn't have while wearing a pink blanket with blue stars around her neck. "Why?"

"I thought you blamed me for your friend being put away.

"Of course not." Trini shook her head definitively, scooting a little closer to Kimberly and touching the knee that was bend under her. "I'm glad he is in prison, of he wasn't I would kill him. A million times over for what he did to you." Trini said, "I shouldn't have just left like I did. I just- I blamed myself, I was one of the main reasons you and him started seeing, the only reason you really knew him at all. If you both had never met, this wouldn't have happened."

"Don't do that." Kimberly sighed, her hand dropping to cover Trini's, giving it a little squeeze. "I done the whole self-blaming thing, it's not good for you."

"You blamed yourself?"

Kimberly bobbed her head, leaning forward to place her glass on the table before leaning back again, her elbow on the back of the sofa and her head on her fist. "And I thought I was going to hate her. While I was pregnant I would look down at my belly and wish I had it in me to get rid of her because she was half him and that fucking killed me. But as soon as she was born that all went away, I looked down at her and, sure, I knew she was half him but she was also half me. And she had my eyes, and my nose and lips and I just fell in love with her."

"She looks like you," Trini whispered, mirroring Kimberly sitting position. "She's beautiful."

"Yeah, she is."

"I'm sorry I haven't been around but I know you had the boys, and Tammi, so I didn't think you needed me, and I didn't think you wanted to see me. He was my close friend, I thought seeing me would just have reminded you of him, I didn't want that."

"You are nothing like him."

"No, I know, but because he was my friend, I thought you would've hate me, too." Trini shrugged. "Death by association, you know?"

"I'm still friends with Zack and he was his friend, too." Kimberly pointed out, her hand sliding up Trini's arm to rub her bicep. "Your were the one I was closest to out of the six of us, it really hurt loosing you."

"I'm sorry," Trini sighed.

"It's okay," Kimberly assured.

"I should really head home, it's getting dark."

"Not scared of the dark are you, little T." Kimberly asked teasingly, watching Trini as she stood up and stretched out her limbs before untying the sheet that was around her neck.

"Bite me, Hart."

Kimberly took a gulp of her wine and stood up just as Trini managed to untie the sheet. She folded it as she made her way toward the door, handing it off to Kimberly when she reached it.

"Text me when you're home," Kimberly accepted the sheet from Trini.

"Are you worried about me?" Trini bantered, tensing up when Kimberly wrapped one arm around her neck, laughing against Trini's ear making the hairs on the back of the girls neck stand on end.

"Relax, I'm not going to hurt you."

Trini relaxed a little awkwardly petting Kimberly back. "Like you could, even if you wanted to."

"Is that a challenge?" Kimberly shot back as she took a step away from Trini.

"Take that however you wish." Trini grinned crookedly as she pulled the door open. "But just remember I teach martial arts and self defence for a living, I could kill a grown man with my thumb."

"Someone is a little full of themselves." Kimberly jibbed.

"It's warranted, trust me." Trini grinned, turning to Kimberly when she was outside her apartment. "I will see you around, Kim."

She didn't see her around, Kimberly was busy with work so she hadn't been around her friends and whenever she was around Trini hadn't been there.

So they hadn't really been in contact for a few weeks, save for a few messages here and there.

They didn't talk until Kimberly called Trini at five in the afternoon, in the middle of her Doctor Who marathon.

"'Ello?" Trini mumbled down the phone, her mouth stuff with chips and her hands smearing grease all over the screen.

"And here was me thinking you had an attractive voice."

Trini straightened a little at the teasing voice, the bowl of chips almost sliding off her lap. "Kimberly," she tried to say but it just came out as a mumble as she tried to swallow what was on her mouth. Kimberly laughed but waiting for Trini to speak again. "Hey, what's up?"

"Are you busy?"

Trini's eyes flitted from the bowl of chips to Caven on the TV. "Define busy?"

Kimberly let out a little huff, "Doing something that can not be put off until another time."

"Oh," Trini set the bowl on the table and wiped her hands on her jeans, her phone trapped between her shoulder and ear. "Then no, I'm not busy."

"Did you ask her, mommy?" Trini heard Cleo ask and a smile instantly etched it's was onto her lips.

"I'm about to, sweetie." Kimberly assured. "So, listen, I completely understand if you don't want to but Cleo have been going on about her 'aunt Trin' and how she preferred you looking after her..."

"Sure," Trini cut Kimberly off. "Do you want to bring her over here?"

Kimberly seemed a little stunned at first, which made Trini grin smugly. "It will be from now until around midnight."

"So, here or your place?"

"Uh, yours is good."

"Ok," Trini hummed, getting to her feet and heading off toward her room to change from her pyjamas. “Ask Cleo if she wants to go see something at the movies, I heard the live action beauty and the beast is pretty good.”

“I think I’m going to take her to see that in a few days but if there is anything else.”

“That’s fine, we can just hang out at my place. Have her bring over a few things, and I have board games we could play.”

“Okay,” Kimberly paused for a second. “Are you sure about this, Trini? I know you have things to do for work.”

“I can do some plans while Cleo is asleep,” Trini assured. “What time do kids that age usually sleep?”

“Ideally before half past seven,”

“Okay,” Trini hummed, pulling out a pair of jeans and a loose, yellow plaid shirt. “I’ll see you in a little while, then.”

“See you soon, Trin.”

Trini hung up the phone and quickly got changed before cleaning the living room. she checked herself in the mirror, fixing her hair and making sure she looked presentable (she told herself it was to make sure Cleo didn’t think she was gross but deep down Trini knew it was all to do with impressing Kimberly).

She had just finished pulling a braid down the left side of her head when the buzzer to her apartment sounded.

Trini buzzed them in and opened the door a little before making her way back through the living room into the conjoined kitchen.

“Trini?” Kimberly called.

“Kitchen,” Trini replied, smiling when she heard the sound of fast little footsteps.

“Aunt Trin!” Cleo grinned happily, hopping up into Trini’s arms.

“It’s good to see you, too, little Hart.” Trini smiled, propping the four year old on her hip. “How has your day been, cutie?”

“Good, mommy has to work so I’m here.”

Kimberly appeared just then, carrying a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles bag, a smile pulled its way onto her lips at the sight. A smile that had Trini’s tummy flipping.

“Hey,” Trini greeted with a soft smile.

“Hey,” Kimberly replied. “Are you sure about this?”

“Mom, she said yes!” Cleo huffed.

“Yeah, mom, I said yes.” Trini grinned playfully at Kimberly while Cleo stuck her tongue out at her mother.

“Well, I’m not sure if leaving my already sassy child with a sassy adult is a good idea.” Kimberly arched an eyebrow at Trini who cocked her head to the left.

“Where do you think she gets her sassiness from?” Trini tilted her head pointedly at Kimberly.

Kimberly just shrugged, holding up the backpack. “This has her pyjamas and her some snacks.”

“Oh, snacks. All for me?”

“No,” Cleo scoffed. “Both of us.”

“Oh, of course.” Trini nodded seriously, digging her hand into her pocket and holding out a key to the apartment. "In case she is asleep when you come back."

"You're giving me a key to your place?"

"I want it back, obviously." Trini rolled her eyes and Kimberly laughed.

“Okay, I need to get going.” Kimberly placed the bag on the kitchen counted as she made her way over to her daughter, planting a kiss on her cheek, pulling back only lightly to lookout Trini. "I will be back by one."

Trini nodded, because that's all she could really bring herself to do. This was the first time in five year she had had Kimberly this close (well, there was last night but that was a hug so it doesn't really count), and even then it was never really this close, and there wasn't this weird feeling for domestication back then.

"You, behave." Kimberly pointed playfully at her daughter who gave her a playful little salute back. Kimberly smiled, moving her eyes back to Trini. "Thank you for this, seriously."

"Just get going, big Hart, we have some partying to do."

Kimberly smiled softly at Trini before heading for the door.

"Okay, kiddo, what's the plan?" Trini asked, setting Cleo down on the counter.

The plan, as it turns out, was princesses first, followed by lunch, then a few board games and a game of catch (which almost resulted in Trini having to buy a new TV), they had dinner after that, then settled down to watch a few movies.

Cleo fell asleep half way through the Pinocchio, her head on Trini's lap.

Trini took the opportunity of a quiet house to grab her laptop and start on everything she needed to do for work.

She was almost done with all the training plans she had to do when she heard her front door open.

She glanced over her shoulder, offering Kimberly a smile.

Kimberly faltered slightly, this was a Trini she had never seen before. Quite, soft Trini. Trini in her comfies and with her glasses on. It was a Trini she wanted to see more of.

"Hey," Kimberly said quietly, glancing at Trini's bedroom door. "Where is she?"

Trini nodded down to her lab. "She's been dead to the world for over six hours." Trini explained, looking at Kimberly with a look of desperation. "I've had to pee for an hour.”

“Then go pee,” Kimberly laughed, jabbing he fingering the direction of Trini’s. “They don’t wake up.”

Trini closed her laptop, tentatively lifting Cleo’s head upend slid out from under her, replacing her knees with a pillow. She rounded the sofa, leaning against the back, beside Kimberly. “How was work?”

“Surgery went well,”

“What was it?”

“Liver transplant. It was a kid, she was born to a woman who had hep C. The disease transferred over to the kid and she has been on meds and a special diet for years now. That’s us just got a liver for her.” Kimberly ran her hands over her face. “She was dying, if we waited any longer she might have not made it.”

“Poor kid,” Trini said and Kimberly hummed. Trini tilted her head to look up Kimberly. “You look tired.”

“It has just been surgery after surgery recently. And when I’m not in theatre I’m looking after Cleo." Kimberly sounded exhausted as she spoke. "It gets a little much sometimes."

"If you ever need time I don’t mind looking after her.” Trini offed gaining a surprised look from Kimberly. “What? I like hanging out with her, she’s cool.”

“You don’t have to do that,”

“I know,”

“Do you feel guilty?” Kimberly questioned. “About not being around.”

“Honestly? A little,” Trini admitted. “I feel bad for just dropping you, everyone.”

“I understand why.” Kimberly assured. “You felt guilty, which you shouldn’t, so I understand.”

Trini stared at Kimberly for a few seconds before nodding. “Thank you,”

Kimberly just shook her head, reaching over to grab Cleo’s backpack. “So, what did you both get up to?”

“We played princesses, had lunch, played a few board games and a few other games then settled down and watched a few movies.”

“You played princesses?” Kimberly cocked an eyebrow, a little grin appearing on her lips.

“I am a fabulous princess,”

Kimberly laughed quietly, her head drooping and her eyes moving to the floor as she smile. “I don’t doubt that.”

“You want me to help you down with her?”

“If you don’t mind,”

Trini nodded and rounded the sofa to grab Cleo, holding the young girl tight against her chest as she mumbled something in her sleep.

Once Trini had strapped the sleeping girl into her car seat she straightened up, stretching out the kink in her back.

“Thank you for this, Trini.” Kimberly softly closed the car door, turning to smile at Trini. “She really enjoys hanging out with you, she said she was always bored with her usual babysitter.”

“Any time I’m free and you need someone to look after her, I’m there,”

Kimberly nodded, holding her arms out questioningly.

Trini rolled her eyes but hugged her friend, her arms wrapping securely around Kimberly’s waist.

“I’ve missed you,” Kimberly whispered against the side of Trini’s head.

“Me to,” Trini hummed, pulling back, taking a set away from Kimberly. “Let me know you get home safe, okay?”

“I will,”

Trini waited for Kimberly to disappear down the street before heading back into her apartment, looking up and heading straight to bed.

—

They texted sporadically over the next two days but they didn’t really talk much, Trini had classes and personal training sessions and Kimberly had a few surgeries, so they didn’t really get the chance.

Trini was midway through a work out in her buildings gym when Kimberly called her.

“Hey, Kim,” Trini panted.

“Are you.. busy?” Kimberly questioned unsurely.

“I’m just working out,” Trini stepped off the treadmill, using her shirt to wipe her face. “What’s up?”

“We are going to see beauty in the beast at five,”

“Okay,” Trini frowned to herself. “Enjoy?”

Kimberly laughed, and probably rolled her eyes. “Will you come with us?”

"You want me to come?"

"Yeah," Kimberly paused for a second. ”Both of us do."

“Oh, okay, sure.” Trini murmured, trying to calm the giddy feeling in her chest at the prospect of Kimberly wanting to spend time with her. “I just need to shower then I will be ready to go.”

“Okay, I will pick you up at half four.”

“Okay, bye.”

“See you in a bit, Trin.”

Trini quickly showered and fixed her hair, pulling on a pair of jeans, a black t-shirt and her yellow beanie, a beanie she had had since high school.

Kimberly smiled widely at her when she hopping into the passenger side of the car, which caused Trini to smile back, glancing back at Cleo, doing a double take when she noticed the girl was dressed in Belle’s yellow dress.

“Wow! Kim, you didn’t say we were taking Belle along. But where is Cleo, I thought she was coming?” Trini frowned in mock confusion at Kimberly, who pursed her lips to try and hide her smile.

“Aunt T,” Cleo giggled. “It is me.”

“So it is,” Trini gasped. “I didn’t even notice you. You look very beautiful.”

“I know,” The girl grinned widely, a grin that reminded Trini an awful lot of Kimberly.

“Good girl,” Trini nodded, turning back to Kimberly who was watching the exchange with a soft smile.

“Ready to go?”

“I am,”

Trini ended up sitting in between Kimberly and Cleo (at Cleo’s request), Kimberly’s knee pressing against her own and Cleo’s little arm taking up their shared arm rest.

“I can’t believe you still have this thing,” Kimberly lightly tugged the beanie on Trini’s head. “Is this still the one from high school?”

“It is,”

“You are ridiculously attached to this thing.” Kimberly shook her head, a little smile playing on her lips.

The movie started and both Cleo and Kimberly watched with sheer amazement in their eyes. Look at their one of them made Trini smile, a fluttering feeling in her chest that she recognised from whenever she and Kimberly interacted in high school, thought now it was accompanied with this affection for this little girl she was so sure she walk hate, which made everything that much more terrifying.

By the time Kimberly dropped her off him Cleo was sleep in the back seat.

“I had fun tonight,” Kimberly turned to look at Trini. “Thank you for agreeing to come, Cleo loves having you around.”

Trini nodded, looking over at Kimberly through her eyelashes. “And you?”

This seemed to throw Kimberly for a second, “I'm inclined to agree with her,” She said. “I’ve missed having you around. I forgot how much I actually do enjoy you being around.”

“Yeah, I’ve missed being around.”

“I suppose building your own business takes up a lot of your time.”

“I still could have been around more, though.” Trini admitted quietly.

“I understand why,” Kimberly assured.

Trini nodded, “I’ll see you soon.”

“Goodnight, Kim.” Trini smiled, popping the door open.

“Trini,” Kimberly called just before Trini closed the door, prompting the woman to dip down to look at her questioningly. Kimberly looked at her, her mouth open slightly, like she was rethinking what she was about to say. “Goodnight.”

Trini wanted to push, ask what Kimberly was going to say but she decided against it, offering her a little smile and wave before softly closing the door.

Kimberly texted her once she got home and they resumed to text all night until Trini fell asleep, feeling that giddy feeling that she never got to really to experience during high school.

—

Again, it was a little while before Trini had the chance to see Kimberly and Cleo, but she spent all of her spare time texting Kimberly, which was something very foreign to Trini, actually wanted to talk to someone.  

But Kimberly had been working a lot, and when she wasn’t working Trini was, so they hadn’t had the chance to meet up.

Trini was in bed early, she had spent all day either in classes or personal training, and had to do the same tomorrow, so she was exhausted.

Her phone woke her at one am.

“Hm?” She hummed sleepily.

“Trini?”

Trini noticed the panic in Kimberly’s voice immediately, pushing herself to sit upright. “Kim? What happened?"

"It's Cleo,”

“What happened? Do you need me to come over?”

“I need someone to drive us to the hospital,”

“Okay, I will be there in ten minutes.” Trini quickly got out of bed and pulled on her joggers. “Is she okay?”

“I- I don’t know.”

“I will be there soon.” Trini grabbed her hoodie and keys, quickly leaving her apartment.

Kimberly was outside her house when Trini pulled up outside, a drowsy Cleo in her arms.

“What happened?” Trini asked as Kimberly got into the back seat.

“She had a seizure,” Kimberly strapped herself in, keeping Cleo hugged against her chest. “Remember I said she hit her head in school today but the nurse said it was nothing,I think it is something to do with that.”

Cleo was taken immediately when they entered A&E and the doctors checked her over before taking her for a scan, leaving Trini and Kimberly waiting in the cubical.

“Hey,” Trini placed a hand on Kimberly’s leg, startling the woman out of her daze. Trini ducked her head to look Kimberly in the eye. “It’s not your fault.”

“I should’ve brought her in myself, I know better than to take the opinion of some who probably only gave her a quick once over.” Kimberly wiped at her eyes. “What if she has bleeding on the brain or…”

“Kim, stop.” Trini interrupted. “I know you can’t help it, you have your doctor head on, but try not to speculate anything, it will only cause you worry more.”

“Thank you for this,” Kimberly sniffed. “I know it’s late, and you’re busy.”

“No, don’t worry about it.” Trini moved her hand to rub Kimberly’s back. “I will call everyone in the morning and reschedule.”

“You don’t have to do that, Trin.”

“I know, but I don’t want to just leave you.”

Kimberly lifted her eyes to look a Trini, smiling softly at her. "Thank you," she whispered.

Trini just smiled a tight lipped smile and nodded once.

The scan, thankfully, turned up nothing. There was no bleeding on the brain but that there were a few lacerations that maybe have caused or been caused by the seizures.

"She is okay, we will have to monitor her, if she keeps having these seizures we will put her in anti-seizure medication." The doctor explained.

"Can we see her?"

"You can. She is asleep for now, we have her wired up to a machine that take and records her brainwaves, just to be sure there are no abnormalities."

The doctor lead Trini and Kimberly to the room Cleo was sleep in. At the sight of her pale daughter lying in the hospital bed Kimberly released a muffled little sob, which prompted Trini to pull her in, holding her tight against her.

"She's okay, Kim." Trini whispered. "She's okay."

Kimberly just held her tight, waiting to calm down before stepping away from Trini and over to the bed, taking a seat beside it.

"She can go home in the morning, doctor Hart."

Kimberly nodded, offering the doctor a grateful smile.

Trini took a seat beside Kimberly, tentatively running her fingertips along her bare arm.

"Are you sure you don't mind staying?"

"Of course not." Trini assured, smiling over at the tired woman. "You should try and sleep, Kim. She is probably going to sleep through the night."

"I probably should, but I doubt I will be able to." Kimberly turned her hand over when Trini ran her fingers over the back of her head, slipping their fingers together.

Trini stared down at their hands for a few seconds before returning her eyes to Cleo. "Understandable."

"I'm supposed to be doing a surgery early tomorrow, there's no way I will be in the right mind set to do it."

"Can they have someone else do it?"

"That can but-" Kimberly shrugged. "This kid has been in my care for over a year now."

"And you only trust yourself to do the surgery?" Trini hummed. "I get that, you're the best paediatric surgeon out there."

"That's not true,"

"That is entirely true," Trini disagreed. "But I'm sure another doctor will be able to handle it."

"Yeah," Kimberly sighed.

Cleo woke up terrified around ten the following day but calmed down as soon as she spotted her mother and Trini. After a few tests and a few more hours she was released, but told to come back in a week or if there were anymore seizures."

Trini drove them home, turning to Kimberly when she pulled up outside. The girl looked at her through tired eyes. "Will you come inside?"

"Of course," Trini readily agreed, turning off her car and getting out to grab Cleo.

Cleo was back to her usual self, all smiles and gabbing away and Trini felt a sense of relief wash over her.

Kimberly was exhausted, though, so Trini ordered her to go for a nap while she hung out with Cleo.

"Is mommy okay?" Cleo asked as they watched one of her shows.

"Yeah, of course she is." Trini smiled down at the girl. "You're mother is like Wonder Woman, kiddo. Out there saving lives."

"But Wonder Woman isn't always okay."

"That is true," Trini hummed. "Your mom is just a little tired, bud, she'll be okay."

"Am I okay?"

"Yeah, you're okay." Trini smiled reassuringly down at Cleo.

And she was, there were no more seizures the days that followed and the follow up scan showed no real abnormalities. The doctor told Kimberly that it is entirely possible she could have another seizure in the future, children with post traumatic seizures are more susceptible to having more than one.

But Cleo was healthy and had no ill affects from the seizure so Kimberly decided they were going out for dinner.

Zack, Jason and Billy were already there when they got there, all of them looking equally surprised that Trini was with Kimberly but didn't say anything. They had just got Cleo settled in her seat, in between her mom and Trini, when Tammi entered.

Tammi settled in beside Trini, offering Cleo a little first bump and the toy that she had brought her, which entertained her through the wait for food.

Kimberly was at the bathroom with Cleo when everyone around the table closed in on Trini, actually startling her a little.

"What is going on?" Zack asked.

"You both seem very... domesticated." Tammi added.

"Oh, shut up." Trini huffed.

"Are you both dating?" Jason questioned hopefully.

"No, we're not." Trini hissed, glancing at the bathroom door.

“Why?" Zack frowned. "You guys almost had something in high school."

Trini rolled her eyes. It was true, everyone but Trini and Kimberly had noticed the obvious spark between them. Trini knew she had feelings for Kimberly but never acted on them, especially after Kim started dating one of the boys on the football team, and definitely not after what happened in college.

"That was high school, Zack."

Kimberly exited from the bathroom then, prompting everyone to settle back in their seats.

After dinner Trini drove Kimberly home, accepting her invitation to come inside.

They settled in the sofa after Kimberly out Cleo to bed, watching some boring reality TV show.

Kimberly's eyes were drooping by nine o'clock, which prompted Trini to grab a pillow, placing it on her lap.

Kimberly frowned at her when she nodded down at it.

"It's a pillow, Kim. Lie on it."

"You must be exhausted, too. You didn't get a nap."

"I'm fine," Trini assured, patting the pillow.

Kimberly leant her head on Trini's lap, her eyes glittering when Trini ran her fingers through her hair.

Kimberly fell asleep pretty quickly and Trini was just snoozing a an hour later when she heard Cleo's door creek opened.

She glanced back at the bedroom spotting a shy, and somewhat panicked, looking Cleo.

"Hey, cutie. Are you okay?" Trini asked quietly, lifting Kimberly's head off of her lap and stood up.

"I had a nightmare." The girl muttered bashfully, rocking from foot to foot.

"Ok, hang on a second." Trini smiled calmly at the girl before grabbing the fluffy blanket from the back of the sofa and heading for the kitchen.

She stuffed the blanket into the dryer and turned it on.

"What are you doing?"

"Have you ever been wrapped in a toasty, fluffy blanket?" Trini asked, picking the young girl up as she walked towards her, rubbing her eye with one hand and the other stretched up at Trini. "It is amazing."

Cleo bobbed her head, clutching her arms tight around Trini's neck when she picked her up.

"You wanna talk about what it was about?"

"It was just a monster and a bad woman." Cleo shrugged, playing with Trini's braid as she calmly ran her hand up and down the girls back. "Where's mommy?"

"She is asleep in the living room."

"Is she okay?"

"Yeah. Well, apart from the fact she is going to have a kink in her neck from the way she is sleeping." Trini assured. "Why? Was your dream about her?"

Cleo nodded, her cheek on Trini's shoulder as she twirled Trini's hair around his finger. "There was a woman and she hurt mommy and you. Aunt Tammi and uncle Jase, Z and Billy, too."

"You don't need to worry. Your mom is in the living room, I'm okay and everyone else is at home asleep." Trini promised.

"Can I call them?"

Trini glanced up at the clock, it was midnight, there was no doubt everyone would be asleep but she knew there was no way Cleo would be able to fall back asleep without seeing for herself that they was ok.

"Okay, but just Jason, okay?" Trini agreed, setting Cleo down on the counter before reaching over to pick up the house phone and finding Jason's number.

"Kim?"

"Jason, it's Trini."

"Trini?" Jason murmured, and Trini heard Billy asking what was wrong. "Is Kim okay? Is Cleo?"

"Yeah, they're both fine. Well, Cleo woke up after a bad nightmare, someone hurt us and she wanted to make sure you were ok."

"Oh, okay. Put her on."

Trini smiled at Cleo and handed her the phone.

"Hi, uncle Jase." The girl said timidly, wrapping the bottom of her pajama shirt around her little hand. "Yeah. Yeah, it was the same one." Cleo leant against Trini's hand when she ran her fingers calmingly through the girls long hair, nodding at what Jason was saying. "I love you, too. Babye."

Trini smiled at the girl as she handed her the phone, setting it back on the stand and moving the get the blanket from the dryer. "You okay now?"

Cleo nodded sleepily, burying into Trini's chest when she wrapped her up in blanket and lifted her off the counter. "Thank you, Aunt T."

Trini nodded, carrying Cleo into the living room and sat back down on her spot on the sofa, fixing Kimberly's head back over her lap.

Trini gentle rubbed Cleo’s back, even when she had fallen asleep, eventually falling asleep herself at around two.

—

Trini startled awake the following more with the sensation of Cleoleaving her arms, she gripped a little tighter, fearing she was falling, but relaxed when she noticed Kimberly standing over her.

"Sorry, I thought I would take her into her room.”

Trini nodded, yawning as Kimberly took Cleo out of her lap.

"Why was she out here?"

"Nightmare."

"Was it the one with all of us?” Kimberly asked, running her hand up and down her daughters back when she snuggled against her.

"Yeah. She asked me to let her call everyone last night, I couldn't really say no, so I let her call Jason.” Trini stretching her hands above her head as she sat up. "Is it a regular nightmare?"

"Yeah. It was a myth, a story about six warriors, and ever since she has had nightmares with all of us.” Kimberly explained, "I'm sorry she woke you."

“I was already awake,”

Kimberly nodded, carrying Cleo into her bed before falling back down on the sofa beside Trini, running her hand through her hair.

“How’re you holding up?” Trini asked, watching Kimberly carefully.

“I’m better, now.” Kimberly hummed. “I think I’m going to keep her off school today, but I need to go to work so I will have to call her baby sitter.”

“I would do it but I have double the classes today.”

“I know,” Kimberly hummed, placing a hand on Trini’s thigh. “Thank you, this would have been so much harder if you hadn’t been around.”

“You don’t have to thank me,” Trini covered Kimberly’s hand with her own, tentatively at first before curling her fingers around her hand and gave it a little squeeze. “I want to be there for you.”

This statement forced Kimberly to look up at her, her eyes searching Trini’s for something, just what she was looking for, Trini wasn’t really sure. “Trin,” Kimberly whispered and Trini arched her eyebrow questioningly. Kimberly’s mouth opened again, like she was about today something but after a few seconds she jeer decided to life her hand to tentatively touch Trini’s cheek. Her eyes moved from Trini’s eyes, to her lips and back again. “Can I?”

Trini’s bottom lip quivered slight as she took a breath in, nodding her head slowly. “Yeah,” Trini said in a gruff voice.

Kimberly began leaning forward, her eyes slipping closed. Trini mirrored her movements, meeting Kimberly in the middle.

Trini felt her head thumb against her ribs as Kimberly moved her lips against her own, tentatively at first before her fingertips slid down Trini’s cheek and her neck, curling around the back and pulling Trini closer, effectively deepening the kiss.

Trini gasped when they separated, her brow furrowed and her mouth hanging open.

“You okay?” Kimberly questioned in a low, gravely voice.

“Mhm,” Trini hummed, cleaning her through as she opened her eyes.

Kimberly smiled when they made eye contact again. “Hey,”

“Hey,” Trini’s lips pulled into a large smile. “I need to get going soon, I have a class at nine.”

“Just kissing and leaving me,”

“Never,” Trini swore, her hand sliding up to Kimberly’s hip. “I will stop by tonight, if that is okay? I can make you dinner?”

“A date?”

“A date,” Trini confirmed, smiling hopefully at Kimberly. “What do you say?”

“I say hell yes,” Kimberly pressed her lips together to try and prevent the smile that was pulling at the corner of her lips. She failed miserably. “Go get changed and beat people up.”

“You go get changed and cut people up.”

Kimberly laughed, shaking her head at Trini and pushed at her shoulder. “Get out of here.”

Trini hopped off the sofa, moving to the back and leaning her hands on to backboard, smiling down at Kimberly. “I’ll see you later.”

“Bye,” Kimberly smiled coyly up at Trini.

Trini gently took ahold of Kimberly’s chin, tilting her head back and planting a lingering kiss on Kimberly’s lips. “Bye,” she whispered against her lips.

“Bye,” Kimberly breathed back.

Trini forced herself to leave then, because if she didn’t she knew she probably wouldn’t leave at all.

She was giddy the entire ride home, a little smile playing on her lips every time she thought about or their impending date.

[snarktheater]

Movie review — Power Rangers

Say, did I ever mention I was a Power Rangers kid? Because I was. I was a little too young for the original generation, but when Zeo aired, I was so into it it was kind of embarrassing. I watched as religiously as a small child can when he doesn't know how to VCR a show and has to rely on his parents remembering to record the episodes. I played pretend Power Ranger a lot. I had (and…still have) more toy Megazords than I am fully comfortable listing. And I'm pretty sure I still played with them into my late teenage years, because I am exactly that kind of dork.

Ahem. Point is, a Power Rangers movie reboot came and I was…intrigued, but mildly scared too. This series is not exactly top quality, and the wave of nostalgia-driven adaptations hasn't really led to great stuff that often.

Does the movie hold up? Well, honestly…yes.

Mind you, Power Rangers the movie (does it have a proper name? I wouldn't know) isn't high art or anything. But it's probably better than anyone expected when they heard about this movie in the first place.

This movie does a good job at striking a balance between recreating the original show and doing its own thing. Part of that is due to the media transfer (we can't tell the same kind of story in a show and a movie), but part of that is clearly a creative effort on the part of the crew.

So, the aesthetic is something most people have been critical of. "The suits look bad", and so on and so forth. Honestly, I'm on the fence on this one, but I have to admit that it's the only Power Rangers we could have gotten in 2017. I mean, look at the Flash in those Justice League trailers. This is just what's in vogue. I don't mind the suits, honestly.

No, if we're going to talk bad aesthetics, I have to point out that this movie is another victim of the "MAKE EVERYTHING DARK" trend of this decade. And I don't mean "dark" as in "serious and gritty". The movie has a fairly light tone overall, if you look at it honestly, but the color palette is washed out and the brightness is dialed down way more than it needs to be. That's an issue.

But aside from that, the adaptation strikes in world building as well. And that's actually my favorite part of it. We get backstory for Zordon and Rita (which I fully approve of), they worked in the Zeo Crystal as a plot device that's more than a McGuffin to give the Rangers new powers. Oh, and of course, the Green Power Ranger is already established here (although saved for the potential sequel), and Rita is given a connection to it that she didn't have in the original show. They even thought to explain why the Zords are modeled after prehistoric creatures!

It makes the world feel a lot more cohesive, rather than the "let's just pick a Super Sentai series to adapt and invent a connection" method that formed the plot of the original Power Rangers seasons. Not that I don't understand why the original series had to do it, but it's good to see that they decided to up the storytelling game for the remake instead of relying purely on the franchise name and nostalgia value.

Speaking of storytelling, the plot. After some backstory to the time Rita first wreaked havoc on earth, we skip to present day, and meet our teenagers with attitude, all the while witnessing Rita's return. It's a pretty standard hero's journey, if we have five heroes who stand almost (almost) on equal footing and follow a similar path.

Most of the movie is spent with the Rangers first finding out about their powers, then, once they meet Zordon and Alpha (i.e. the mentor figures), trying to master them. All the while, we cut back to Rita's progress. It's better than it sounds.

Allow me to elaborate. First, we spend a considerable amount of time introducing the protagonists before they're even chosen to be Rangers. Second, they don't just get picked by Zordon; instead, they actively make their way into becoming Rangers, first by finding the Power Coins, then by seeking out answers as to why these coins gave them the abilities they have. Active protagonists! It's important to have them.

Third, while Rita's earlier scenes are fairly standard and mostly serve to establish her motivation, powers (and rules thereof), and the threat she poses, she doesn't stay separate from the Rangers forever. She does clash with them halfway through the second act, gives them a more personal reason to fight than saving the world, all that jazz. Not that they weren't on board beforehand, but it's important.

Because…see, these Rangers have actual characters instead of being blobs who each wears a different color. They have personal conflicts, and while they're not exactly all resolved by the end of the movie (which is probably a tad overconfident by counting on sequels), they do progress. The Rangers make the right decision to save the world, but giving them a personal stake is what gives them resolve to fight the final battle. This is good, it's exactly how you should blend character motivation with heroism.

Speaking of personal conflicts, let's talk about these teenagers for a moment. The phrase "teenagers with attitude" associated with the show (which I already quoted above) is much more applicable here, when…you know, the protagonists actually have issues instead of being perfect role models. I understand that different times mean different sensibilities and I guess the original cast was more palatable to the 90s, but I'm glad about the change.

So we have Jason, the red ranger and leader of the group. He's the gold star athlete student of Angel Grove—big enough to be in the local papers, apparently. His issue is…basically an existential crisis of "is this what I want, or what everyone else wants from me?" Well, kind of. He's already past this issue at the start of the movie, since we meet him in the middle of acting up. I guess his conflict is actually more trying to reconcile the two, putting the things he's good at (i.e. leadership) to the service of something he actually wants to do (being a Power Ranger) instead of something he's expected to do. It works…mostly because he's definitely a little more central than the rest of the crew. Which is a negative point on the movie. I'm sorry, but you have a diverse cast, and you choose to focus on the white boy? Boo.

But on the plus side, this is a conflict we've seen done a lot, and I think this movie manages to do something new with it. Mostly by being more subtle about it. It lets the movie avert clichés (you know, the "No, dad, it's your dream!" speech), and it makes the whole progression feel a lot more natural when it's all understated. When the Rangers bond together, he doesn't even need to say his problem, because everyone knows. Including us. It's almost meta in its self-awareness.

Moving on. Kimberly is the pink ranger, and while I mentioned that all out protagonists are flawed and have conflict, she's the only one who's actually done something bad. In two words: revenge porn. Yeah. It's pretty bad. But…she owns up to having done something terrible, and grows from it. It's sort of put aside rather than actively being resolved, but again, I think this is more because the crew expected sequels. Oh, also, that kiss between her and Jason from the trailer was cut out of the movie. No romance here. Apparently focus tests finally showed that an unnecessary straight romance wasn't something people wanted!

Zack and Trini, the black and yellow rangers, are the least developed members of the team, by virtue of being the last to even show up in the movie. Not that they lack personality, mind you. If anything, them being a little harder to decipher feels intentional, since Zack stays out of school to take care of his sick mother, and Trini is "the new girl" (who's been here a year, but that's just details) and kind of self-ostracized, in a "don't let them in, don't let them see" kind of way.

They're still both pretty enjoyable characters. Zack is the brash comic relief archetype most of the time, but seeing his sweet side with his mother was a nice addition to the trope (also, having him speak Chinese, I approve). Trini is implied to be some shade of not straight, although I think the cries of "yellow ranger is gayyyy" were a bit exaggerated. More importantly, she's the one Rita chooses to go after first because she's more guarded than the others…and Trini does the right thing and ask for her team's help. Just like with Jason, it's a subdued kind of character development that I like a lot. No one goes "wow, you trust us now?" like it's some kind of grand change. She just trusts her team, and the others accept it. I like that. Also, she calls out her younger brothers' casual sexism, that's cool too.

Which leaves us with Billy, who I think is pretty unanimously the audience favorite. One, he's a black autistic guy, unambiguously so, which is already pretty rare. Two, his autism actually feels…you know, real. It's consistent, it shows itself in symptoms that make sense, but it also doesn't define all of Billy's character. His interests are his own, even if they express differently because of his autism. And three, and perhaps most importantly, he's the group's emotional core. That's pretty groundbreaking as far as autistic characters go.

And I don't mean he's the poor autistic kid that everyone feels pity to and therefore stick together to help—he's an active participant in it. He's the one who discovers the Power coins and gets several of the other protagonists involved (he definitely brought Jason, attracted Zack's attention, and I think Trini also followed him to the quarry), he's the first to embrace that they're Rangers and a team and he's the one who works to make everyone else work together. So hey, that was nice.

As for Rita…she's a little bit of a mixed bag. First is the whitewashing issue, on which I will…choose to remain cautiously silent aside from mentioning that, yes, Rita Repulsa was originally portrayed by a Japanese woman by virtue of all her footage being dubbed over from a Japanese show, and the movie cast Elizabeth Banks as her. Make of that what you will.

She is the biggest aesthetic departure from the original, which is partly because of her retconned backstory, but frankly? I think it's probably for the best because of the aforementioned whitewashing. Maybe my standards are low, but at least she's not trying to pretend like she is Machiko Soga at all. If you get my drift. And if you don't: I mean Hollywood loves to pass white people as Japanese (or other Asian ethnicities).

Far from me to claim I have a final say on this issue, of course.

But as a character on her own, I actually liked her a lot. She felt threatening in a way show!Rita never really did, probably because, you know, she actually does things instead of staying cozy on the moon and sending monsters to do her work. They established her powers more clearly, which is good, because rules means we know what she can do and we can feel the threat she poses, instead of having her pull random shit at us.

And yet, in spite of having a more threatening villain (including her underlings) and higher stakes (i.e. world annihilation, more or less), the movie manages to retain its light tone I previously mentioned. Which is…hit or miss (the very first present-day scene includes a particularly tasteless joke, if you ask me), but it's still less cringey than the original show, while keeping with its spirit.

So overall, I'd say the Power Rangers movie is a pretty successful adaptation. If we must keep readapting everything in the name of nostalgia, I hope we get more work like this. I wouldn't be too optimistic about it, though.

[ardatli]

Megazord!

I regret nothing. Lots of pictures of toy parts under the cut. 

I got asked about doing an unboxing video, but I’m not a video person, so have some photo diary instead. The box is huge, and comes with all five of the zords which are also available separately -- at Toys R Us prices, buying the five individually would have cost about twice as much as the box set, so it was like it was 50% off, right? Of course right. 

There are lots of bits. 

Parts of it come pre-assembled, but a lot of it doesn’t. 

The whole thing is designed to snap together both as individual zords and as the megazord, so there are a lot of tabs-and-slots of varying designs, and of varying levels of looseness. Some of them required full adult strength and some cursing to get together, while others popped neatly into position (and will probably loosen up enough to be a problem after some play). 

A bag of Rangers! And a putty. (And some laser beams for the various weapons.)

There are a lot of instructions. 

A LOT. A many of them are nigh-impossible to decipher. (I say that, mind you, but Thing 2 got the hang of this stuff pretty quickly. We still ended up putting a bunch of legs and arms on backwards and upside down the first couple of tries.) 

The individual zords are really cool! The T-Rex balances on two legs very nicely, but the Pteranodon keeps trying to take a nose-dive - it only has a stand at the back, and it’s a bit nose-heavy. 

The pink Zord comes with a grabber claw - the tail there is a pulley, and when you draw it back it opens the feet so Kim can grab people in a flyby. 

The tail fires a laser bolt - no spring, it’s all done with levers and finger-power.

Same for the gun on the back of the T. Rex. Except this one is also a voicebox! You can hear Jason saying “T. Rex Zord - it’s time for battle!” and a double laser-beam sound effect. Batteries included. 

Trini gets a railgun, of sorts -- you push the button on the back of the gun placement and the front sections alternate going in and out. No projectiles with this one, just noise. 

I still don’t entirely understand the Black Zord. The thing really does have eight legs. (And the Blue Zord has six!) There’s also a net catapult. (??)

But the underbelly is pretty cool-looking:

Most importantly for fic writers, I guess, the cockpit placements -- all of them except Trini have cockpits in the heads of the Zords. Note that Kim’s cockpit cover is reverse to what you’d expect -- it flips toward the front of the nose, not towards the back of the Zord. Trini’s cockpit is along the spine of her Zord, behind the gun. 

Go, go power rangers... 

Building the Megazord is an enormous pain in the ASS, partially because the instructions are most kindly called ‘obtuse,’ but also because it’s not super-stable. The torso connects to the head and shoulders section (red to yellow, below) with two tiny plastic latches, and that’s it. So every time you try and do something with the position of the arms (or put on the wings, etc), it disconnects. Same thing when you move it around -- which means there’s not a whole lot of play value in the Megazord, though it does look awesome when it’s standing still.  Disappointed in that part of things.

(Also there’s no obvious place to store the T-rex head, so we just shoved it into a slot on the back. Jason’s going to have to watch where they came from, not where they’re going.) 

Still, it’s pretty damn slick-looking. 

And because every good hero needs something to fight, we sent it up against a kaiju.

Poor Jason has no idea what’s going on. 

[irkallanprince]

SPORES (Chapter Two)

Fandom: Power Rangers (2017 movie) Rating: T Warnings: Canon typical violence, discussion of sex, FROG MONSTER! Sexual situations (nothing explicit), mild language Relationships: Billy Cranston/Jason Scott; Kimberly Hart/Trini

Billy and Kimberly are... acting strange.

(read on ao3)

Colt Wallace was a deeply unhappy person. His parents never paid attention to him, his mother was always at work at the diner and his father was always too uh… drunk to really even remember he was alive. It made him angry, deeply and irrationally and often. It was the whole reason why he was always in trouble, why he had detention from now until the end of time. It was why he preyed on the weak. Because if people feared him, they at least noticed him, and he didn’t have the talent or skills to make his name elsewhere.

Up until a couple of months ago, Billy Cranston was his target of choice. It was so easy to pick on him. He was just so… slow. But one day, it seemed like something changed within the boy, and he was literally made out of steel or something. He couldn’t break his arm. He damn near got a concussion trying to headbutt him. Overall, Billy changed, and he just could no longer be a target anymore. That… sucked. But it held the exciting new prospect of choosing a new victim, which he did with glee.

And that’s how Raymond Powers ended up being tormented every day for the last several weeks. Colt usually waited until Jason Scott wasn’t around, because honestly he was intimidated by him, and of course now that he knew Billy was freakishly strong he stayed away from him as well. But once the halls were clear, Raymond was dead meat.

He grabbed him from behind and put him in a chokehold, watching with insane delight as his veins popped from his forehead and his face turned red.

“I just want to know how long it takes for me to put someone to sleep. You’re helping me with research really.” He laughed, squeezing him tighter like a python wrapping up its next meal.

But before he knew it, he was slamming into the lockers behind him. He yelped, in much more pain than he’d like to be. And when he opened his eyes he saw a motley duo looking at him.

“Hey jerk, what’s your problem?” said Kimberly Hart, leaning against the locker across from him. Though she looked… different. Way hot. Not that she wasn’t before. But she was wearing torn up fishnets and a shirt that showed off her midriff with spiky black boots and all dark makeup. She was filing her nails and didn’t seem to be too into him. The one that really spooked him was Billy Cranston, who appeared… well… kind of the same as always. Except for his demeanor. His eyes were colder, more focused. You’d think for someone on the spectrum they couldn’t laser focus on someone so… intently. Violently. But Billy did. He leaned down and fondled the hanging blue safety pins attached to the pocket of Colt’s homemade black torn vest and gave a half smirk.

“I like blue.” He said. And the next thing he knew, Billy was tearing the vest from his body and putting it on himself. He didn’t say another word. Him and Kimberly just sort of… fell into eerie step with each other. It was like one of those old teen horror movies from the 90’s where they had been taken over by something that was not themselves. Raymond looked up at them as they walked past and offered a shaky “T-thank you…” which they smirked and promptly ignored. Did they save him because Colt was being a jerk? Or did… Billy just want to steal his vest?”

* * *

“Hey! Mister sometimes showed up for class!” Trini ribbed Zack as he moved to the seat next to her. He just offered one of his trademark cheeky smiles and gave a knowing shrug.

“Promised my moms I’d do better for her. No big.” He said, sitting down and laying his chin on his crossed arms while he looked back at the little one. Trini picked up her phone and checked her messages again. Still nothing. This was quite unusual. Zack, ever the perceptive one (and mostly since out of the whole gang he had become the closest thing to a brother to her), picked up on her frustration and gave her a quirked eyebrow.

“Everything good, little one?” He asked in sincerity. She popped her tongue and put down her phone.

“Kim hasn’t texted me back since she went to that juice bar downtown last night. Didn’t see her at her locker either. I’m just starting to get uneasy is all.” Trini said. She then picked up her phone again and stared at it as if that would make a new text roll in.

“Don’t fret. She’s probably just… uh… right here.” Zack said, looking up wide eyed as Kim approached.

“Hey girl. You uh… you lookin’ pretty fine today.” Zack smirked, ever the flirt. Trini scowled at him before she turned and got a pretty good look at her girlfriend. Suddenly she couldn’t speak because… well, Kimberly’s tongue was in her mouth. A couple of boys in the room wolf whistled and cat called. Kimberly turned and grinned. She was loving the attention.

“Whoa whoa uh… did you get bitten by Tawny Kitaen or something?” Trini said in reference to old rock and roll music videos as she was want to do, genuinely baffled by her girlfriend’s sudden turn to the dark side. And YET, still excited by it. Kimberly proceeded to eat a piece of bubblegum, blowing a bubble slowly and… can blowing a bubble be sexy? Because it was sexy. Trini was suddenly not so worried anymore. Just excited a little too much.

“KIMBERLY HART!” A voice came from the front of the room. A frumpy older woman had a stern look on her face. Kimberly turned and leaned against the desk like a slinky cat.

“Can I help you, Ms. Appleby?” She grinned, batting her eyelashes. The woman was unamused.

“Kimberly, you’re usually such a model student but you’re breaking several dress code rules right now. Also you’re not even in this class this period!”

“What can I say? Algebra makes me horny.” Kimberly snickered. Ms. Appleby went wide eyed in horror.

“YOU GO TO PRINCIPAL CAPLAN’S OFFICE YOUNG LADY!” She said, visibly flustered by Kimberly’s out of character overt sexuality. Kimberly just blew another bubble and smiled.

“I’ll bite… this time.” She smirked, standing before turning to give Trini a wink.

“I’m taking you out tonight, baby.” She grinned, giving her finger guns, which should be a red flag. Kimberly always thought those were so tacky. As she left amidst a slew of more whistles from horny boys, Trini just stared at her both confused and incredibly excited.

“Dude when did Kimmie get so…” Zack started.

“Hot?” Trini said without a beat.

“Tonight is going to be super fun.”

* * *

Jason was in the locker room changing for P.E. He couldn’t play football anymore because of his antics (and also because like… he’d

demolish

everyone) and he had to continue on pretending he had issues with his leg so nobody would suspect he was a teenaged superhero, but that didn’t mean he didn’t enjoy gym class. He could still run. He could still lift. He’d have to fudge some things here and there to keep up the ruse but he didn’t care. Still he took his time changing and he was generally the last one out of the locker room, so it was no surprise he was alone.

Or so he thought.

He closed his locker and jumped when a face was behind it.

“Fuck! Billy!” He smiled, then chuckled as he tossed his shirt into the locker.

“You scared the shit out of me… Hey, you have one of those ridiculously advanced science classes right now, don’t you? You’re… going to be super late. Doesn’t that like… send you into convulsions?” Jason joked. He knew how Billy liked punctuality. It wasn’t his style to be late, or skip even, yet here they were.

“I have something better in mind.” Billy gave a smile that was devilish and tickled Jason in a way that he wouldn’t say out loud.

Then Billy shoved him against the locker and kissed his neck, his hand gripping his bulge through his gym shorts. Jason groaned for half a second and then stopped, pushing him off.

“Babe I… I mean I like uh… this but you…” Jason was searching for the words to say. He really was denying sex to Billy, wasn’t he?

“You always get shy when we start getting really into things and now you’re trying to do me in the locker room before gym? I love you but… what’s going on?” Jason asked. He was always perceptive, especially when it came to Billy. Billy would never do this normally.

Billy looked at him with those same steely, cold, inhuman eyes that he did Colt earlier. He bared his teeth, then punched the locker next to Jason, a dent forming in the cold metal. He leaned in, lips hovering just over Jason’s. Jason’s breath hitched. He’d never seen this side of Billy, and while it turned him on just a little because it was Billy, he knew something was really wrong now.

“Maybe I just want to live on the edge a little more, J.” He said. And like that, he was gone. He used his ranger speed a little too liberally. Anyone could have seen. Billy was always careful about exposing them. Jason just stared at the door that was left swinging, freaked out by the fact that something had gotten into Billy. Literally.

“I have GOT to warn the others.” He said to himself under his breath. Then he looked down at the stiff tent in his gym shorts and scrunched his nose.

“DAMMIT.” He growled. He’d have to wait to even go to P.E. until this uh… resolved itself.

[myndopeus]

you give me something to think about (chapter 6)

Read on ao3

Summary: Trini’s never been good at making friends, which only makes being stuck in the same school for seven years even more miserable. But when she finally does meet someone nice, she ends up with a whole lot more than she bargained for.

It’s gonna be one hell of a year.

The Slowburn Hogwarts AU that no one asked for.

Quidditch practice had ended up being a bit of a disaster, to put it mildly. Trini wanted to blame it on the fact that it was a morning session, but everyone had seemed to be doing decently except her. She’d missed the bludger several times that day, and had almost knocked out the player she was supposed to be covering. It was downright embarrassing. At the end of practice, she left so quickly that she might as well have disapparated.

She sighs, knocking her head against the tiles of the shower wall. Dimly, she realizes that she’s been zoned out for a while. As she’s getting dressed, her stomach grumbles loudly; the morning quidditch practice had made her much hungrier than usual. She’s almost out the door when she realizes that she doesn’t have a tie.

“What the fuck,” she grumbles as she rummages through her things. “I wear the same damn tie every day, how the fuck can I lose it…”

A voice calls from the doorway. “You good?” Trini turns to see Jen watching her.

She shrugs. “Yeah, just can’t find a damn tie.”

Jen nods, before walking over to her bed. She opens a drawer and tosses a tie to Trini. “Here. You can borrow one of mine. Now come on, you’d better not miss breakfast, or as Quidditch Captain I will officially kick your ass.” She strides out, leaving Trini to follow while messily doing up her tie.

Ernie is waiting for them in the common room, their hair still wet and tumbling down his shoulders. Trini does a double take when she sees them, temporarily dazzled by their shining locks.

“Finally,” they laugh. “If there’s no more scrambled eggs when we get there, I’m blaming you.”

Jen rolls her eyes. “This is Hogwarts, you dolt. They never run out of food.” She flicks them on the back of the head.

They head to the Great Hall, Jen and Ernie conversing while Trini walks a bit off to the side. She’s lost in her thoughts when suddenly she realizes that the others have moved to flank her, one on each side. They’re both quite a bit taller than her, and she thinks that from an outside view, it looks as though they’re about to steal her lunch money.

“You’ve been awfully quiet, Tiny.” Trini sighs at the nickname that Jen insists on calling her.

Ernie smiles at her warmly. “Yeah, we’re a team! No third wheeling allowed.”

“Well, maybe I’d be more talkative if someone hadn’t decided to hold a morning practice,” she replies, raising an eyebrow at Jen.

“See, I told you it wasn’t just me!”

“Oh shove off, E. Weaklings, the both of you.” Jen walks ahead, and Trini and Ernie share a conspiratory giggle.

The Hufflepuff table is decently populated, but most of the other quidditch players have left, so the three of them sit together. There’s a mildly awkward silence as they eat, with Ernie consuming more protein than Trini thought a human being was capable of.

Swallowing down a mouthful of cereal, Trini opens her mouth to say something, but decides against it. Unfortunately, Ernie, perceptive as always, noticed.

“What’s up?” they ask.

“It’s nothing,” Trini says, but Jen simply raises an eyebrow at her. She sighs. “I was just… I was wondering, why’d you pick me to be a beater? I mean, I’m not exactly the greatest at it, and—”

“Stop.” Jen sets down her cutlery and looks at her, a serious expression on her face. “One of my big rules is that there will be no self-depreciation on my team. If you’re not good at something then you don’t just talk about it, you work to get better. Secondly,” she adds, raising a finger when Trini tries to speak. “I picked you as a beater because I think you’re a valuable addition to the team. Do you think you’re in a position to be questioning your captain’s decisions?”

Trini shakes her head. “No, but—what I mean is, if you wanted me on the team, why put me as a beater? Why not seeker, or something?”

Jen doesn’t respond at first, simply reaching for her coffee and taking a leisurely sip. The mood is broken when Ernie mutters “drama queen” just loud enough for Trini to hear. Jen glares at him, but Trini is secretly grateful, as it makes her feel much less nervous.

“Why didn’t I make you seeker? I’m going to be honest: it would have been a waste. Not because you’re a bad fit for the position. It’s actually the other way around.”

“What do you mean?”

“At the tryouts, you certainly displayed agility, control, and a good awareness of the field and other players. But you also showed creativity, initiative, and drive. The seeker position is wrong for you because the seeker doesn’t come into play until late in the game. You’re someone that I’d rather have actively participating and helping control the flow of the match, not standing on the sidelines.” She sips her coffee again. “That a good enough explanation for you?”

Trini is stunned. From the sound of it, Jen had just complimented her, and she wasn’t entirely sure that this whole thing wasn’t a dream. “Uh… yeah. Yeah, that makes sense. Um, thank you?”

“Basically, if I’d put you as seeker, you probably would’ve gotten bored and quit, and that would be a waste. So I expect you to stick around now, you hear?” she goes back to eating her pancakes, not waiting for Trini to respond.

Ernie shakes their head. “Wow, that was incredibly eloquent and well thought-out, cap’. You sure you didn’t get someone to write it for you beforehand?”

“Ernest DiMarco, I swear to God…”

The two continue to bicker, and Trini just laughs at their antics. As strange of a pair as they may be, Trini has become quite fond of Ernie and Jen. Jen tries to lunge at Ernie, and Trini practically dives across the table to stop her from knocking over a pitcher of pumpkin juice. After finishing breakfast, they all clear up and head their separate ways.

 * * *

The day’s classes are a train wreck; Trini is so tired from morning practice that she can barely keep her eyes open, let alone pay attention to anything during History of Magic. She slogs her way through the day and finds herself heading to the library on autopilot.

“…-ini. Trini! OI, CRAZY GIRL!”

She finally registers the voice calling her name, as well as the bewildered stares from the other students in the hallway. She turns around, and is confused to see Zack jogging up to her, with Jason, Billy, and Kimberly in the background.

“Hey, you going deaf or something?” Zack jokes, before coming closer and seeing the bleary look in her eyes. “Oh damn, you ok?”

She rubs at her eyes with one hand. “Yeah, sorry, just tired from morning practice.”

Zack makes a sympathetic noise. “We’ve all been there.”

“Why are you guys heading in the opposite direction of the library?”

“Oh, the others wanted to go outside.” She looks past him to see Billy and Jason waving at her.

“It’s nice and sunny out!” Billy calls.

“You don’t have to come with,” Zack adds, to her surprise. “Not that we don’t want you there, but like, you look like a zombie.”

She shrugs. “Eh, I’ll go. I can always take a nap out there.”

They walk back to join the rest of the group. Trini must be very visibly tired, because no one really tries to force her to talk. She’s content to just follow their rhythm and listen to Billy explain the day’s Potions class to Zack.

The sun is shining, but not blindingly so, and there are enough clouds that it’s still quite cool out. They find a nice, shady patch of grass, and Trini promptly drops her bag and flops down, curling on her side.

“Zack, if you draw anything on me, I’ll murder you,” she mumbles sleepily, and she hears a chuckle from the group.

“I’ll make sure he doesn’t do anything crazy,” she hears Jason say, and she mumbles something in response, too tired to form any more words. She hears Billy and Kimberly’s voices start to say something, but she’s already drifting off.

She wakes up some time later, the sun shining on her face. Grumbling, she rolls over, shading her eyes. There’s something soft under her head, and she opens her eyes the tiniest bit to see that someone had placed their robe under her head as a pillow.

“Good afternoon, Trini! Well, late-afternoon, really.” Billy is facing her, the sleeves of his white shirt rolled up. Trini sits up, stretching out her neck.

“Heya,” she says, reaching behind her for the robe. “I’m assuming this is yours?” Billy nods, and she hands it over. “Thanks.”

“How long was I out?” she yawns, stretching her arms out.

“Two years.” She rolls her eyes and flips the finger in the direction of Zack’s voice

“No, it was only approximately 26 minutes, which, coincidentally, is the optimal length of a power nap,” Billy explains.

The sun is obscured by the clouds by now, and Trini takes a proper look around her surroundings. They’ve arranged themselves in a sort of circle on the grass. Jason is sitting next to Billy, and Kim’s head is in his lap (Trini has to stop herself from rolling her eyes at the display). Zack, true to his nature, seems to be taking up as much space as possible while still fitting into the circle. There’s a pile of shredded grass sitting next to him

“About time too,” he quips, plucking some more grass from the ground. “We were just about to talk about Hogsmeade this weekend.”

Billy frowns. “Um, Zack? Could you please stop that? It’s just, you’re gonna damage the grass and create an uneven patch on the grounds.”

“I got you, my bad, B.” Zack sits up, dusting dirt and blades of grass off of his hands. “Anyhow, we’re all going out, right? Right?” He looks around expectantly.

Jason shrugs. “Yeah, I’m game.” Billy nods, brushing his hands over the grass experimentally, before shuddering slightly and placing them back in his lap.

Trini is hesitant. “I mean, I guess…”

“Oh, don’t be like that, T.” Zack reaches over and grabs at her ankle. “It’ll be fun! Besides, you don’t want to miss the first quidditch get-together.”

“Get off.” She shakes loose of his grip, and he sticks his tongue out at her. “And what do you mean ‘quidditch get-together’?”

“It’s an informal thing,” Jason explains. “The quidditch teams all like to hang out at the Three Broomsticks on Hogsmeade nights. It’s just a fun thing we do, it’s sort of like neutral territory. Did no one on the Hufflepuff team mention it?”

Trini shrugs, looking away awkwardly. “I don’t know. Maybe. I was probably too tired to listen.”

“Anyhow,” Zack continues, “It’s awesome, and totally worth it, and it’ll be your first time! C’mon, I’ll buy your first round.” He gives her the most exaggerated puppy-dog eyes, and she sighs.

“Fine. But only for one round.”

“That’s what you say now, but three rounds later…” Zack wiggles his eyebrows, and everyone in the circle groans.

“Keep it in your pants, Taylor,” Kimberly says, and Trini feels a weird sense of discomfort wash over her.

“So, what time will we meet?” Billy chimes in. “10?” There’s a chorus of agreement that’s broken by Zack’s dramatic gasp.

“10?! In the AM?! If you think I’m getting out of bed that early, on a Saturday, you must be out of your mind.”

Billy blinks. “10 AM is… early for you?”

“I want to sleep in,” Zack complains. “Can’t we meet later?”

“Hm…” Kimberly looks up in mock thought before smirking at him. “Nah. Either meet at 10, or you’re on your own.”

“But I don’t want to go alone,” Zack whines, flopping onto his back petulantly. Trini sighs in exasperation at his childish antics, before relenting.

“I’ll go with him.” The eyes of the circle turn to her curiously, and she gives them a confused look. “What? I wanna sleep in too.”

“See? Crazy Girl gets me.” Zack grins at her upside-down, and she gives him a half-smile in return.

Trini stands, brushing off the grass clinging to her robes. “Well, if we’re gonna be out all Saturday, I should probably get a head start on my work.”

“Booooring,” Zack teases. Jason just shakes his head.

“See you later,” Kimberly says, and Trini is a little surprised at the unexpected farewell. She waves goodbye to the group before heading back to the Hufflepuff common room to start her work. After taking another well-deserved nap, of course.

* * *

Trini wakes up Saturday morning feeling much more refreshed, thanks to the extra sleep. She’s stretching her arms out when a thud startles her. She jolts upright, hand flailing slightly for her wand.

“Oh look, Sleeping Tiny is awake.” Across the room, Jen gives her a skeptical stare. She’s wearing a shirt, but no trousers, and Trini stares blankly before the rest of her brain catches up.

“Oh! Jen.” She quickly looks away on the pretense of finding her wand. “What are you doing here? Thought everyone would have left by now.”

“Eh. Got a morning detention. Just my luck, on Hogsmeade day, too.” Jen steps into a skirt while Trini gets out of bed. “You heading out?”

“Yeah, I’m meeting some people.”

“Well, you should come to the Three Broomsticks later tonight. The team likes to hang out there, it’s good bonding. Give it some thought.” Jen flips her hair over her shoulder. “See you later, T,” she says as she walks out the door.

Trini takes a quick shower before getting dressed, throwing on some jeans, a t-shirt, and a jacket. She’s looking for her beanie before she remembers that it was lost in the lake during that fateful detention. With a dejected sigh, she grabs her things and heads down the stairs.

Ernie is seated on the couch, a book on their lap, and their hair drawn into a messy bun. “Good morning, Trini!” they greet her.

“Morning, Ernie. Not in the mood for Hogsmeade?”

They laugh sheepishly. “Ah, I’m a bit behind on my readings. Plus, I’ve got some other business, if you know what I mean.” They tap the side of their nose and wink.

“Uh… not really, but I don’t think I want to know.”

“Fair enough. I’ll probably be at Sticks tonight though, if you’re going.”

“Yeah, I plan on being there.”

“Great! Try not to have too much fun before I get there. Be safe!”

They wave her off and Trini heads to the gates, still a little bemused by their conversation.

As she expected, Zack isn’t there when she reaches the gates. Hagrid is standing there as she approaches.

“’Ello, Miss Gomez!” He rumbles in a big, friendly voice, and she smiles. “You headin’ off to Hogsmeade, eh?”

“I will be, once my friend gets here.” She leans against the gates, the cold metal pressing through her jacket. A breeze flows by, ruffling her hair, and she shivers.

“Still haven’t gotten yer hat back, I see,” Hagrid notes, and she runs a hand through her hair self-consciously.

“Yeah, it’s alright though. I can get another one.”

“You’ll be needin’ it, with this cold weather comin’ up.”

They wait in comfortable silence for a while before Trini spots a dark figure racing down the path. Zack sprints down, practically slipping on the cold ground, before coming to a halt.

“Overslept,” he pants, and Trini laughs a little at him. He’s sporting a very fashionable bedhead, and he’s clad in a white shirt and black jeans, with a leather jacket to boot.

“You’re lucky I didn’t leave without you.” They say goodbye to Hagrid before heading down to Hogsmeade, Zack still trying to catch his breath.

The square is bustling with students of all ages when they get there. There are snowballs flying left and right, and one of them hits a window, causing a wizened old man to shove it open and begin yelling indecipherable words while shaking his fist. Bright displays shine through the shop windows, and light noises echo down the high street. It’s a welcome change from the mildly stuff insides of the castle, and it feels more domestic than any town that Trini’s family has lived in. It’s certainly a bit loud and raucous, but there’s a homely air to the whole village that makes up for it.

“So, where to first?” Trini asks, right as Zack’s stomach grumbles. They both laugh.

“Well, I forgot to eat breakfast, so food first.”

They head down the high street, and Trini has to practically drag Zack away from Honeydukes (“You are not having candy for breakfast, we’ll come back later.”). They stop at Madam Puddifoot’s for tea, and Zack compromises by ordering a slice of chocolate and almond cake.

“So, do you not normally come out during Hogsmeade days?” Zack asks her through a mouthful of cake.

“Sometimes. I’m not exactly the biggest fan of crowds. Besides, I’m almost 18, so technically I’m allowed to come here whenever I want. I don’t see why I should wait until the whole school is out.”

“Um, because it’s more exciting?” Zack gestures to all the people sitting in the shop, and she kicks him in the shin to stop drawing attention to them. “Ow. C’mon though, you can’t deny that it’s more interesting with more people.”

“I guess,” she admits. “But when you’re spending the day alone either way, it doesn’t make much of a difference.” She notices Zack stops chewing at that, and she quickly busies herself with taking a bite of her scone.

To her relief, Zack doesn’t address her remark. After finishing their tea, Zack adamantly insists that they visit Honeydukes and Zonko’s, in that order. He convinces her to sample several of the newer sweets to see her reaction (she punches him after trying the Shock-o-Choco). They also bond over watching the other students trying the allegedly “spicy” Pepper Imps.

“Oh man,” Zack laughs as they watch one kid run around with fire spewing from his mouth. “I can’t believe people actually think those things are hot.”

“I know, right? But to be fair, I’m Mexican, so it’s like, kiddy levels of spice to me.” Trini pops one in her mouth, smoothly blowing out the flames.

“Nice,” Zack nods, opening a chocolate frog. “And this is nothing compared to Szechuan food. Now that stuff is spicy.”

“Truth.”

They’re heading down to Zonko’s when Zack stops them.

“Oh, hang on a second, I just gotta get something real quick. I’ll be out in like, two seconds.” He dashes into the local potions shop, and she watches him curiously. She feels awkward standing in the middle of the street, so she decides to open a cauldron cake. She’s removing the wrapper when she spots Kimberly Hart coming down the sidewalk towards her.

Oddly enough, Kimberly has a somewhat morose expression on her face. She doesn’t seem to be paying much attention to her surroundings. Trini is tempted to just let her be, but she notices another student bump into her roughly. They say something over their shoulder as they leave, and Trini can’t make out what it was, but she does notice the way Kimberly’s shoulders tense when she hears it.

“Hey,” she says, but the other girl doesn’t seem to hear her. She fidgets slightly before trying again. “Kimberly.”

This time, she definitely hears her, and Kimberly looks around in confusion before her eyes find Trini. She seems genuinely surprised, but she walks over.

“Hey.”

“Hey.”

There’s an awkward silence, during which Trini is silently kicking the shit out of herself in her head. She remembers the pastry in her hands, and she holds it out between them.

“Want to split it with me?” she asks abruptly.

Kimberly eyes her warily. “Um. Sure,” she says. Trini hands her half of the cake, not meeting her eyes.

“I thought you’d be with the boys,” Trini says.

“We split up, said we’d meet later at the Three Broomsticks. What about you? I thought you’d be with Zack.”

“Yeah, he’s in there.” She gestures to the shop. “We just got out of Honeydukes. Had a lot of fun watching all the white people trying Pepper Imps.”

Kimberly laughs a little through a mouthful of cake, lifting her hand to block a spray of crumbs. “Sorry. But yeah, that is pretty funny. I mean, I love Hogwarts, but it makes me miss the spices from home.”

“Tell me about it. Just don’t let the house elves hear you say that. I accidentally let it slip once, and there was so much crying.”

“Yikes. I get where they’re coming from, though. I mean, if someone came into my house and insulted my cooking, I’d probably feel a little offended too.”

“Hey, I’ve already processed the guilt, don’t make me relive it again.”

Kimberly just smirks at her, taking another bite of the pastry. The silence falls again, and just like that, the mood is broken and they’re back to awkwardness. Trini is wondering what just happened when Zack saunters out of the potions shop.

“You miss me, Crazy Girl?” He sees Kim, and his grin somehow gets wider. “Heeeey Kimmy!”

She rolls her eyes. “Hello to you too, Zack.” She dusts the crumbs off of her hands. “Well, I’ll leave you two to it. See you at the Three Broomsticks?”

“Yeah, we’ll see you there.” Trini watches Kimberly walk away. She had originally assumed that Kimberly was going to be like any other popular girl, but evidently there is something else there. It’s just hard to figure out, especially since Kimberly is so cryptic and unpredictable.

“What’re you lookin' at, hm?” Zack nudges her, and she throws a light elbow to his stomach in response.

“Just wondering what she’s doing out here all alone. Like, why isn’t she with the boys? Or other people?”

“Sometimes people just need some time to themselves. You get it, right?”

Trini hums in response. “Well, are we going to Zonko’s, or what?”

“Oh, we are most definitely going to Zonko’s. Gotta pick up some ammo for tonight.”

Trini’s eyes widen. “Tonight? Ok, you really have to give me the rundown on what’s gonna happen, because if this turns out to be some elaborate hazing ritual or some shit, I’m breaking into Gryffindor Tower and smothering you and Jason in your sleep.”

Zack spins to face her, walking backwards down the street. “Relax, T. We’re not pulling your leg, it really is a pretty chill thing. It’s just that sometimes we like to spice it up. Nothing too serious, of course, otherwise Madam Rosmerta would kick the living shit out of all of us.” Trini is still skeptical.

Their choice of purchases is highly limited by the rules of the Three Broomsticks establishment, but they manage to select a good variety of prank sweets to slip to their teammates. Trini even decides to splurge on a Boxing Telescope, with the express intent of one day using it on Zack.

As it grows dark outside, they decide to head over to the Three Broomsticks. Despite Zack’s many reassurances, Trini is still quite nervous. Her anxiety only increases as they draw near, the noise from the Inn reaching them from quite a ways down the street.

“Trust me, it’ll be fine,” Zack says as he opens the door for her. Taking a deep breath, Trini steps inside.

She’s immediately hit with a wave of heat and sound. The inside is considerably spacious, but all of the Hogwarts quidditch players are quickly filling the establishment. Some of them have clearly gotten a head start on the celebrations, their cheeks rosy and their laughter echoing. The atmosphere is just shy of chaotic, and Trini feels intimidated.

“Over there,” Zack half yells into her ear, and she looks to where he’s pointing to see Jason and Billy sitting at a table with a group of other students, mostly Gryffindors. The boys wave them over, and they make their way through the growing crowd.

“You made it,” Jason laughs, pulling Zack in for a one-armed hug, his other hand holding a pint of butterbeer. Billy quickly scoots over to make room for them.

“I’ll be right back,” Zack says, before disappearing into the throng. Trini stuffs her hands into her jacket pockets, intensely aware of the eyes on her.

“How’re you doing, Billy?” she says, turning to her friend. He gives her a weak smile, his fingers drawing circles on the rim of his glass.

“I’m good. These things are usually fun, but they can be a bit… much.” He stops his fidgeting to take a sip of his drink before continuing. “It’s nice, though.”

She nods. “Believe me, I get it. Let me know if you want to step outside, yeah?” He nods gratefully at her.

Someone approaches the table, stumbling slightly through the crowd. Trini recognizes that it’s Jen, and she looks more relaxed than Trini even thought possible. She leans against the table in front of Jason.

“What, you too cool for the rest of us, Scott? Are you gonna come join the party, or are you just gonna brood in the corner forever?” The cheeky smile on her face is completely at odds with her words, and Trini knows Jen enough to realize that she’s not actually being mean.

Jason laughs, moving to stand. “I was waiting for some friends, but now that they’re here, the party can really get started.” A few cheers come from the people who overheard, and the table raises their drinks in a toast. Jen’s eyes land on Trini, and they light up.

“Gomez! Hey, c’mon, get over here.” Trini glances around warily, but the rest of the table is encouraging her, and Jason is waving her over. Tentatively, she moves to stand next to them, and nearly falls over when Jen unexpectedly throws her arm over Trini’s shoulder.

“LISTEN UP!” Jen hollers, and the crowd quickly quiets down. Trini can feel her heartbeat start to race, and she’s sure her face is turning red, but Jen has a firm grip on her, and she can’t run away. She looks to Jason, a little panicked, but he just winks in response.

“I would like to introduce to you all… the newest addition to the Hufflepuff quidditch team: Tiny Gomez!” There’s a resounding roar that Trini hopes is congratulatory. She’s so preoccupied that she barely registers that Jen didn’t use her actual name.

She’s about to correct her when someone from the crowd yells “Eyy, you know what that means!” There’s another rumble through the crowd, and Trini’s stomach tightens.

Suddenly, Zack shoulders his way through the crowd. “Way ahead of you,” he calls out, holding up a tray with several shot glasses on it. The crowd cheers.

Jen shakes her a little, startling her out of her nervousness. “It’s a tradition,” she explains. “Newbies and captains take shots together.”

Zack sets the tray down on the table in front of them, and the smell of firewhisky wafts up, making her wrinkle her nose. He positions three shots in front of each of them.

Jason raises his hand. “Alright. You guys ready?” He looks to her for confirmation, and she takes a deep breath before nodding. Jen is looking at her with a challenging smirk.

“Ready… Set… Go!”

One of the Gryffindors chuckles. “This is gonna be goo—Oh holy shit!” The crowd is in an uproar as Trini confidently grabs a shot and downs it in one go. She’s grateful that Zack didn’t get doubles, as she downs the next one. She doesn’t make a face until after the third shot, finishing a split second before Jen does.

The crowd goes absolutely wild. Several hands are pounding her on the back, and Trini groans, afraid that they’ll bring the firewhisky back up. Eventually, Zack, Jason, and Jen manage to push the crowd back to give her some space.

“Holy fuck,” Jason says in amazement. Billy quickly offers her some of his butterbeer, which she immediately accepts. “Where the hell did you learn to do that?”

“I’m Mexican,” she rasps in between sips, and Zack practically falls over cackling.

Jen gives her a very enthusiastic pat on the shoulder. “Knew I made the right choice picking you, Gomez. I owe you a drink now.”

“And you owe me some sickles.”

“Fuck you, Scott.”

* * *

Trini’s not sure if it’s the environment, or just the firewhisky, but she’s feeling less and less nervous as time passes. The rest of the Hufflepuff team had made their way over earlier, and they’d gotten properly acquainted. Jen had a habit of never using anyone’s actual name, so it was interesting to find out exactly who was on the team.

Another added bonus was that people had been so impressed with her earlier display that people had been offering to buy her drinks all night. Eventually she started turning down the offers, otherwise she wouldn’t be sober enough to make it back to the castle.

“You want another drink, Billy?” she asks him, not wanting her friend to feel left out. He smiles, shaking his head.

“No, I’m good.” He fidgets nervously for a second before standing, a bit abruptly. “Actually, I’m gonna step outside for a second.” He doesn’t wait for a response before weaving through the crowd.

Trini lets him go, but makes a mental note to check on him in a few minutes. She heads over to the bar to get a drink of water.

She’s looking for an open space when she sees a familiar bob of hair. She manages to squeeze past several people, accidentally stepping on a few toes, before reaching the girl sitting at the bar.

“Drinking alone?” she asks, and Kimberly turns, blinking with surprise.

“Hello to you too,” she says with a smile, taking another sip of her drink. Trini isn’t sure what it is, but she’s fairly certain that it’s stronger than butterbeer. “Good show earlier, by the way. I bet you had all the boys swooning in their seats.”

Trini rolls her eyes. “If they were swooning, I have a feeling that’s due more to the firewhisky than me.” Kimberly chuckles at that.

“You know,” Trini says cautiously, “being antisocial is kind of my thing? So maybe you should get back to your team or whatever, because I’m starting to feel like your creeping on my territory now.”

Kimberly’s smile falters at that, and she sighs. “Don’t really feel like hanging out with them at the moment.”

“And why is that?”

“Reasons.”

“Like?”

Kim looks at her, raising an eyebrow. “Like nunya,” she responds cheekily.

Trini shakes her head. “I deserve that.” After a moment, she speaks again. “I’m sorry, by the way. For being kind of a bitch that time. I was just having a weird day.”

Kimberly shrugs. “It’s in the past, so it’s whatever.” That sentence seems to bother her, because she takes another long sip of her drink, only to make a disappointed noise when she realizes her glass is empty. She flags down the bartender.

“What can I get ye?” he asks, and Kimberly is about to speak when Trini interrupts.

“Two butterbeers, please. Oh, and a glass of water.” The bartender nods and walks off to get their drinks. Kimberly glances at her.

“Wow. Rude, much?”

“Hey, I don’t know what’s in that drink, but it’s definitely not something to be consumed unsupervised. Besides, the boys are probably wondering where you are.” The bartender comes back, setting down three pint glasses in front of them. Trini pays before grabs her butterbeer and water. She shoots the other girl a look. “Are you really gonna turn down a free drink?”

Kim’s lips twist for a moment. Then, with a sigh, she grabs the glass and follows Trini back to the table.

She can see that they’re drawing some curious looks, some of them confused and some of them suspicious. Luckily, Jason and Zack are there to give them a warm welcome, asking Kimberly where she was. Billy joins them after a while, and Trini notices that Kimberly is slowly loosening up, until she’s doubled over with laughter like the rest of them.

She notices Jason looking at her. He mouths “thank you”, and gives her a thumbs up. She’s not really sure why he’s thanking her, but she gives him a thumbs up in return, before going back to sipping her drink, the warmth of the laughter and the room lulling her into a sense of comfort.

* * *

Trini wakes up the next morning with a raging headache. She groans, rolling over and pulling a pillow over her head to block out the light. A large clunk sound radiates through her head, and she winces.

“Good morning, sunshine.” She peeks one eye out to glare at Ernie. She notices that they’ve brought a glass of water, and she sluggishly drags herself into a semi-upright position. They hand her the water, and she mumbles her thanks before draining over half of it in one go.

“What’re you doing here?” she rasps, wiping her mouth on the back of her sleeve. She realizes that she’s still in her clothes from last night. “You’re not a girl.”

“Special privileges, I guess.” They reach over and lightly tug on something that Trini vaguely feels is wrapped around her head. It turns out be a Gryffindor tie. Ernie raises an eyebrow.

“Probably Zack,” she grumbles. They nod, placing it on the bed.

“Well, I’ll leave you to get yourself sorted out then,” they say, a mischievous twinkle in their eye. “Hate to break it to you, but tradition mandates no magical cures for the post-initiation hangover. However,” they add when Trini practically sobs, “there will be some coffee waiting for you downstairs. See you soon, or in an hour, judging by your current state.”

“This was the worst idea ever,” Trini moans, drinking the rest of the water. Ernie chuckles.

“Just be grateful Jen didn’t schedule practice today.” Trini flops back down defeated, while Ernie’s laugh trails behind them.