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revieloutionneTitle: Obvious/Oblivious
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
revieloutionne
Fandom: Mighty Morphin Power Rangers
Pairing/characters: Adam/Rocky
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I don't own the series or the characters, Saban does. Again. Which is awesome.
Prompt: 2294. Power Rangers, Adam Park, The spandex hides nothing - especially not his attraction to a male teammate.
Summary: Adam didn't even mean to convince his friends he was straight. Once he did, things got a whole lot more complicated.
Warnings: Personality-altering spells that just completely mess with conceptions of consent. I've always considered MMPR spells to replace the victim's personality, rather than override it with them still there in the background (as in, the spell a spell makes someone straight-laced who they'd be if they were a bully, and they willingly behave as they would if that had been the real case), but it's still definitely a grey area.
Author's Notes: I have to thankqueenriley and second_batgirl over at ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
ranger_recaps. I'd have forgotten how much Zedd and Rita spy on the rangers' personal lives (which inspired the specifics of one of the monster attacks in the fic) if their recaps hadn't made a point of it. Plus second_batgirl beta'd parts of it.
“The yellow one is a girl!” Adam blurted, as he, Rocky, and Aisha sat in her living room, watching footage of the Power Rangers saving Angel Grove once again.
“No way, man,” Rocky said, “he's not wearing a skirt.”
“No, really!” Adam cut in before Aisha began lecturing Rocky on why feminism meant women didn't have to wear skirts, “Next time she's on screen check out her chest. She's kind of flat, but she's definitely not a guy.” The three sat in silence, waiting for the next shot of the yellow ranger. When it finally came (she was throwing some kind of sandwich at a pig in a helmet), Rocky was the first to comment.
“Man, I don't even know how you noticed that! I mean, here I am, the chick magnet of the three of us, and you've gotten so good at checking out girls that you can even tell that guy's a girl? Aisha, our little Adam has finally grown up and started noticing girls! When did this happen?”
“Chick magnet?” Aisha said, “Really, Rocky. You should know better.” As Aisha began her well-justified lecture at Rocky, Adam sat at the other end of the couch, processing what he'd just done. He hadn't been checking out the yellow ranger because she was a girl. Quite the opposite, in fact. Adam just couldn't help blurting his surprise that he wasn't a guy, and now his friends certainly thought he was straight.
He'd almost gotten up the courage to come out to Aisha, too. This was problematic.
***
It was easy enough to go along with it. Once they assumed he was straight, all Adam had to do was not talk about anyone's attractiveness, ever, and he was both completely closeted and not actually lying. Letting his friends believe something about him that wasn't true never seemed quite right, but it was better than risking losing them. Still, it really, really sucked not having anyone to talk to about being gay.
So when his dad started traveling to Angel Grove a couple of times a month for work, Adam talked him into letting him come along. When his dojo had the money to sponsor teams in competitions, he had argued, Angel Grove always had talented and friendly competitors. As good friends as Rocky and Aisha were, he'd been training with them for years and Adam really wanted to spar with people he couldn't defend himself from blindfolded and earplugged. Of course, the fact that Angel Grove was a significantly more tolerant city, and even had a whole gay district had absolutely nothing to do with the arguments Adam made, nor did his suspicions that a couple of the Angel Grove martial artists were less than entirely straight.
Thus, every time Mr. Park headed into Angel Grove and school was out of session, Adam came along. With his father too busy at work, Adam was free to visit whatever parts of the city he wanted. He never did get to visit the martial artists, because they were known to spend almost all their time at the Youth Center, which meant traveling across the warehouse district, and everyone knew that that was monster attack central.
He found a gay bookstore on the outskirts of the gay district where Miriam, the seemingly ancient lesbian owner, took a liking to him. She told him stories about her life when she was younger when she was out, in the 1940s. Adam had once asked if that had anything to do with her limp, and the “you dumbass” look she sent him made him feel stupid for a week. He told her stories about his friends and asked for advice. She always ended their visits urging him to come out to Aisha, because she sounded like she understood things.
***
“I know I should,” Adam said, once, “but it doesn't seem fair to Rocky to keep it just from him.”
“True, but why can't you tell him, too, again?” Miriam asked.
“Well, I've told you some of the dumb things he's said about women, can you imagine what he thinks of gay people?”
“You know, I don't think I've ever heard you say anything about what Rocky has actually ever said about gay people, just what you think he'd say. Has he ever actually said anything about them?”
Adam paused for a while, thinking. “You know, I really can't recall.”
Miriam started laughing so hard Adam was afraid she was going to damage her lungs if it went on too long. When she finally managed to get things down to a wheeze, Adam asked her what was so funny.
“If you can't see it now, kid, nothing I tell you is going to open your eyes.”
***
A couple weeks later, while on his way back to his dad's efficiency in Angel Grove (he was being called down to the offices there so often now that it was cheaper than staying in hotels), Adam was caught up in a monster attack.
He hadn't been hurt, or even really that involved. He was coming home from the bookstore, and a mass of people started streaming around the street-corner ahead of him, most of them screaming, but then he noticed an older man frantically trying to make it around the corner, but being pushed backwards more than he could advance. As he got nearer, Adam could hear him calling out for a Brian. Just as the crowds were thinning out, the man was knocked sideways into the curb and appeared to hurt his leg in the fall.
“Sir! Are you alright?” Adam had rushed to help when he noticed that none of the panicking crowd had paid the man any attention.
“My leg will be fine, but Brian is still back there! I have to get back!” Unfortunately, his attempt to stand again put him in too much pain.
“Are you sure he didn't come running with everyone else? I can look for him if you like.”
“No, he's sure to be back there. My son-in-law is always telling him to hide if there's a monster nearby, so I'm sure when we got separated that's what he did. He's only five!”
“I can look for him, sir. You stay here. And keep calling for him, he may have run away anyway!” Adam instructed as he turned the corner, running straight into the blue ranger. The ranger dropped into an attacking stance as he turned to face Adam, before realizing he wasn't a threat.
“You have to get yourself to safety,” the ranger admonished him, “one of Rita's monsters is attacking the city!”
“I know, but there's an injured man around the corner who is certain his grandson is hiding from the monster somewhere around here.” Adam was scanning the area even as he explained himself to the ranger, finally noticing a little shoe sticking out from behind a trash can. “There! That's probably him back there,” Adam said as he pointed. The blue ranger performed a series of acrobatic leaps to cover the distance, returning to Adam with the boy, who looked equal parts horrified and awestruck.
“Take him to his grandfather,” the blue ranger began, “and-”
“Get us to safety, I know. Thank you.” Adam finished, taking the child from the ranger and heading back to his grandfather before whatever lessons his parents had taught him about strangers kicked in.
***
When the Stone Canyon news stations reported on the latest attack on their neighbor city, Adam found himself briefly famous, as he'd been caught on security footage from a nearby store's camera that had picked up most of the battle. Unfortunately, his mother's response was to insist he no longer travel to Angel Grove. He was able to write Miriam a letter (sent from the post office, of course, not his mailbox) explaining that as much as he'd like to keep in touch, he didn't want his parents questioning a sudden pen-pal, and the store's number appearing on their phone bill was right out.
He almost wished that he'd never convinced his father to let him go to Angel Grove to begin with, because having had someone to talk to about being gay made the current absence of anyone that much worse. On the other hand, if he'd never gone to Angel Grove, he'd have never seen the blue ranger up close.
He hadn't had the time to really pay attention as things were happening, but when he replayed events in his mind, he was able to notice the ranger's gymnast build as he dropped into that stance, his ass as he leapt to save Brian, and dear lord, his chest as he carried him back. The spandex hid nothing, and Adam was grateful.
***
His appreciation of the blue ranger's appearance set, Adam began paying him more attention when the rangers appeared on the news. He began to notice things like the blue ranger seeming more wary about approaching civilians than the other rangers, or how every time the rangers used a non-weapon device, the blue ranger was the one operating it or instructing the others how to operate it, or how his fighting style seemed to consist of leaving as much of the fighting as possible to the other rangers (though he was improving). As Adam put together more and more of the things he noticed, and began believing that the blue ranger was shy and smart like him, his appreciation of the ranger slowly became a full-blown crush.
Adam began to fantasize about how, if he could compete in Angel Grove, and if the rangers paid any attention to the competition, then maybe he could get the blue rangers attention, start teaching him to fight, and as he did... well, this was where Adam usually started overthinking things (not that it stopped him from training harder).
What if the rangers weren't human? They could be anything under the uniforms. Surely they were human-oid, but maybe their skin looked bruised to people from Earth, and that would pretty much kill any attraction. Maybe they weren't wearing uniforms, and that's just what they looked like.
But what kind of superhero fought naked, and if the rangers were fighting naked, what in the world was the pink one's skirt? And there wasn't any kind of opening for the rangers to consume any kind of sustenance, so they must be wearing something. Besides, if that was their skin, they'd all be similar colors.
But that meant that they were always wearing the costumes, which meant that maybe they knew they were hideous to humans and didn't want to cause fear or be attacked while they were fighting the real monsters.
But then, there had been the one time the news crew had found a tape from a camera dropped in the middle of a battle that picked up the rangers clearly speaking, and it seemed to be in English (even if nobody seemed to know what a megazord or a zordon were). So, they had to be people inside the uniforms.
And if they were people inside the uniforms, then maybe they were accepting of gay people. They were, after all, a walking rainbow. But the gay pride rainbow had no pink or black on it, and the arrival of a green ranger to help fill in the stripes did nothing to fix that. Still, why else would they be so multi-colored?
But if they were people in uniforms, and they were all the same color with their faces covered and only minor differences to their helmets, how would they tell each other apart in the middle of fighting? Clearly the rainbow was a side-effect of being able to tell who was who.
Still, they had to be at least a little bit progressive, right? For all the gender essentialism there was in one of the female rangers being dressed in pink, and with a completely-for-appearance, no-fighting-function skirt, the other had no skirt and was dressed in a completely gender-neutral yellow. Maybe they had input in their uniforms and had no problems accepting that it was a woman's choice how stereotypically feminine they wanted to be. That's pretty enlightened, so maybe they'd be fine with homosexuality?
***
Adam continued overthinking things for another few months, until his dojo finally sponsored another competition in Angel Grove. It was kind of a stupid competition, though. Nevermind what the layperson thought, martial artists and ninja were not the same thing, but the judging was still based on the skills they actually had. After much Sensei Anderson successfully convinced all their parents that they would be avoiding the warehouse district and that these days, Angel Grove had well-developed monster attack protocols in place, Adam, Rocky, and Aisha packed into his car and headed to Angel Grove.
The three of them (and Mr. Anderson and his son – Sensei Anderson still had her weekend classes to teach) spent most of their free time before the match hanging out with each other, so Adam never got a chance to speak with the Angel Grove martial artists he'd hoped to run into, although after the quarterfinals on Friday night, he did walk in on them making out in the youth center locker room. They didn't hear him come in, so Adam decided he would watch the door to make sure nobody else might wander in. Plenty of people would not react well to seeing that, and they clearly were more into each other than being vigilant.
***
Adam had hoped to get a chance to speak to them sometime before or after their semifinal match on Saturday, but the monster attack must have kept them from getting across town in time, so he wound up just speaking to the reporter covering the event after he, Rocky, and Aisha won their own match.
He was able to sneak in a trip to the bookstore by claiming he was off to dinner with his dad, but when he got there, half the front window was boarded over where it had been broken, and there was a note on the door from Miriam.
I've been running this bookstore for a long time, and I've known a whole lot of you from around here longer than some others of you have been alive. I sometimes don't feel like I deserve it, but my store and I have become a community fixture. I know most of you expect me to restore this place after this vicious and close-minded attack, and I do feel a sort of obligation. However, as much as I can handle the abuse and continue being the strong person I am, I have run this store as a haven for those who haven't had the chance to become so self-assured in their lives and identities. If I cannot guarantee that this bookstore will be a safe space, I don't know if I can be comfortable with keeping it open. I feel like I'm giving in for the first time in my life, but they found my weak spot. Surely by accident, as the kind of person to do this clearly has no brains. Nevertheless, I am closing the doors to my shop. I can assure you, though, that my home is as safe as ever. You know where to find me.
-Mother Miriam
As Adam read, his heart sunk lower and lower into his chest. He'd only ever been to the bookstore, so he didn't know where to find Miriam. He couldn't just ask someone passing by if they knew where to find her, because clearly everyone “in the community” was supposed to already know, so if he asked they'd probably think he was the vandal. Rocky and Aisha believed him when he told them his father was too busy for dinner. The depression was all over his face.
***
Things started out better on Sunday. After saving Jacob from rolling over the near-cliff of a hill in the middle of Angel Grove Park, Adam, Rocky, and Aisha won the finals. The three local teens who had helped save Jacob were even there after the match, Billy was even cuter when everyone wasn't coming down off of having just saved a small child from certain injury, if not death. All Adam could do was hope he was covering his reaction subtly enough, and if he wasn't, hopefully everyone would think it was either from meeting Kimberly or, less embarrassingly, just figure it was one of those random ones guys sometimes get. He'd just started absently wondering if the male rangers ever had to deal with things like that happening while they were in their spandex (particularly the blue one) when the giant winged monkey thing appeared and kidnapped him, his friends, and Mr. Anderson.
Being held captive sucked. Being told they were going to have to serve evil sucked. Nearly escaping but not actually making it sucked, as did the snake... thing that was going to make them evil slithering up Aisha. The Power Rangers coming to save them most certainly did not, especially because the blue ranger was there. Heck, Adam even got to fight and defeat some evil himself, even if it was just those weird gray things that never seemed to be anything but support to the real monsters.
And then the blue ranger turned out to be Billy, and Adam discovered that there were levels of crushes he'd never even imagined before. He was pretty sure he was smiling way too much, considering that he and his friends had nearly been permanently corrupted, and the boy he was crushing on horribly had nearly suffocated. He spent the next couple of days worrying that maybe the venom of evil from that snake worked by trapping the good in a person's mind in a dream world where everything was happy and right, because it turned out that the black and red rangers were the martial artists he'd caught making out. He fairly quickly worked out that no, that wasn't the case, because his mind definitely would have created some way to make things okay for Miriam. Insane as it was, this was all happening.
Jason and Zack had to hurry off to teach classes at the Youth Center (more proof that this was not his brain's doing). He, Rocky, and Aisha had to head home with Mr. Anderson that evening, but before they were even home, they'd agreed to find whatever excuses they could find to visit Angel Grove.
While the three of them were able to get to Angel Grove the next couple weekends, neither volunteering for the World Peace Summit nor competing in the Stone Canyon Triathalon (held in Angel Grove for use of the lake) left time to visit with Jason and Zack. If there had been any, it was spent helping with the monster attacks those weekends.
***
Returning home from the triathalon, Adam, Rocky, and Aisha were surprised to find all of their parents waiting for them at the Park's house. As it turned out, the Stone Canyon branch of the firm no longer had enough clients to stay in business and the Angel Grove branch was in desperate need of staff. As the top three employees in Stone Canyon, Mr. Park, Mrs. Desantos, and Mr. Campbell were being given the option of transferring rather than be let go. Since the three of them seemed to have already made some friends in Angel Grove, their parents reasoned, one of the harder parts of moving to a new town was already taken care of, and the chance to help set legal precedent in cases involving monster attacks could make their careers.
Adam and his friends were, naturally, highly enthusiastic. Adam especially so, because he might finally have peers he could actually talk to about being gay, and he might even be able to find out where Miriam was and let her know about everything that had happened (minus the part where Billy was a ranger).
***
Naturally, as soon as he moved to Angel Grove, Jason and Zack (and Trini) were accepted to travel to Switzerland, and Adam didn't even get to see them unmorphed before they left. On the upside, he was a Power Ranger now. Saving the world was scary, but mostly amazing. At least, that's what he thought until he ran into his first spell.
It had only affected Billy and him, and the two of them were in the Command Center after the battle, with Alpha checking for any residual effects of the spell. He felt like himself, where his memories of the time he was under the spell felt like they belonged to someone else entirely, so Adam was pretty sure that he was fine. It was still best to be safe, though, which is why he and Billy had remained morphed, at Alpha's insistence, so that the Morphing Grid could better protect them in the event that the spell hadn't completely worn off.
Since he was sure that he was fine, Adam wasn't paying too much attention to what Alpha was saying, just watching what he was doing to Billy, since it was going to be his turn to be checked after. Alpha was running some kind of handheld sensor up and down Billy checking for who knew what, and at some point Adam stopped looking at the sensor and was just looking at Billy. It was his first time in the spandex outside of battle, so he hadn't put any thought into the disadvantages to being one of the ones wearing it until Alpha turned to him and by then it was too late.
He was very clearly staring at Billy's chest, and the reason why was very clearly outlined under the spandex. Alpha turned away with a seemingly unending stream of “ai-yai-yai”s, while Billy just stood silently for a moment.
“I... I'm sorry, I didn't mean- I mean, you're a guy too, you know how this can happen, Billy,” Adam said, hoping that Billy wouldn't be weirded out (a small part still hoped he would turn out to return the crush, but once Adam found out that Jason and Zack were rangers, he figured the chances of three rangers out of six being gay was too much to hope for). “Billy?”
“Oh! I- I'm sorry, Adam,” Billy replied, flustered, “I'm attempting to make sure that I communicate what I wish to convey to you clearly and without causing undue embarrassment. I made suboptimal syntactic choices the first time it happened to Jason and severely damaged his self-esteem for nearly a fortnight before I was able to properly deliver my intended message.”
“...Oh, well take your time, then.” Adam said. At least Billy was trying not to hurt his feelings, but this was still awkward as awkward could get. After another silent moment, Billy continued.
“I am flattered by your, erm, interest, Adam. As I'm sure you've observed, I don't receive a terrible amount of positive attention from my female peers. While the boost to my confidence is much appreciated, I'm afraid I cannot return your affections. As far as I've observed my own attractions, I believe I am a complete zero on the Kinsey scale. Perhaps a point five, as I am able to assess how attractive other males would likely be to those who find males attractive, but I don't think that would be of any consolation to you.”
“I think I'll get over it. I feel like I should be apologizing to you, though.”
“That seems to me a foolish emotion to have, Adam. There's nothing objectively shameful or offensive about homosexuality, and I personally believe that those who find is subjectively so show poor judgment not only in that case, but frequently in many others.”
“I am so incredibly relieved you feel that way, Billy, but, no offense, you're a rather uncommon person. I don't know if I could let everyone else know.”
“Let everyone else... Adam, are you completely closeted?” Billy asked.
“Almost. The one person I ever told was from out of town. I'd kind of like to keep it quiet. I mean, you seem fine with it, and I'm probably right in assuming that Tommy and Kim knew about Jason and Zack.”
“Yes, they weren't exactly what one would call subtle.” Billy said, almost entirely hiding the sarcasm in false earnestness. As Adam realized that meant that Zordon probably knew, it finally hit Adam that he and Billy were not the only ones in the Command Center.
“Zordon, were you aware of Zack and Jason's relationship?” Adam asked, turning to the giant tube that had slipped to the back of his mind while Alpha scanned them.
“Indeed. I have seen what you would likely call 'far stranger' relationships throughout the universe in the millennia I have had to observe. And though you would call them stranger, they are most assuredly just as moral so long as all parties are happily consenting,” Zordon assured Adam, “and you will find that, once Alpha's programming brings him out of his embarrassment cycle, he agrees wholeheartedly.”
“That is amazing to hear, but I do need to let you all know that Rocky and Aisha don't know, and I'm afraid of how they'd react, especially because they misinterpreted something I said once and I kind of just let them keep assuming I was straight. I'd prefer then, that even though they'd be okay with it, we not tell Tommy and Kim. The more people know, the easier it is to accidentally spread.”
“I do not believe secrecy is advisable among a ranger team in most cases, Adam, and I do advise you not to keep this secret for too long. I do not believe that the standards I have for the rangers I choose would ever allow a person who would judge you for such a thing to become a ranger. However, I do understand the need to keep this quiet from people you do not know so well, in this planets current culture, so I would not force you to tell even if I could.”
“I also understand why you want to keep this confidential, and will remain silent about your sexuality as well,” Billy said. If the conversation had ended there, things probably would have worked out differently, but Billy continued. “I am mildly confused, though. Once Jason started dating Zack, he was no longer looking at other males in such a way to cause these incidents, and I'm rather surprised to hear Rocky and Aisha aren't aware of your sexuality. I was under the impression that you were dat-” Billy suddenly stopped speaking.
“Under the impression that I was what?” Adam asked.
“Nevermind. I had made a few assumptions based on incomplete observations and clearly came to an incorrect conclusion. Disregard what I just said.”
While Alpha scanned him for traces of the spell, Adam couldn't help but replay Billy's words in his mind. “I was under the impression that you were dat-.” “You were dat-”? What was he going to say? Shortly after teleporting home, it hit him. “I was under the impression that you were dating.” People thought he was dating someone. And Billy was surprised Adam's best friends didn't know he was gay. People thought he was dating a guy. This was very, very bad.
***
The Vice Versa dance was approaching, which worked well for Adam, except he was new in town and no girls knew him well enough to ask him to the dance. Except Aisha and Kim, but Kim asked Tommy, and Aisha didn't seem to care to ask anyone and was too close a friend to do that to, anyway. Aisha had almost succeeded at setting him up with Sarah, but Zedd was the master of intentionally poor timing.
So when Sabrina showed up, Adam didn't even really care that she was more than kind of a bitch. It even made it a bit easier on him that he was going to have to let her down sometime. She was a girl, and she was asking him out. It worked for him. Still, he was grateful that Aisha was forcing herself along, even if he wasn't sure why, because the less “involved” Adam had to be with Sabrina, the longer he could keep up the ruse.
And then she was Scorpina, which seemed really unnecessary on top of everything else that was going on in his life, but Adam supposed that it did mean that no hearts got broken. Not having a fake girlfriend wasn't going to be great though.
So when Sarah asked him to dance at the Vice Versa, he jumped at the opportunity. After a few minutes on the dance floor, though, he realized that he just wouldn't be able to go through with it, and he told her that she was a sweet girl, but he really didn't think that a relationship was in the cards. Adam was completely confused when she told him that it was quite alright, she felt the same way, and then kept dancing with him. He could tell from the way she said it that she meant something significant, but he couldn't work out what. When he told her as much, she gave him a strange look, told him that while she'd heard he was kind of clueless, she didn't realize that meant he was dense, and wound up doing something that was a strange combination of nonchalantly walking away and storming off. Adam was never more glad that he wouldn't have to understand girls.
***
Adam hasn't been a ranger long, but he has learned enough from the other rangers that if a prized possession of yours goes missing, there's trouble looming. So when what little searching for Miriam he could do discouraged him (you can't exactly walk up to anyone on the street and ask if the know what happened to the former owner of a gay bookstore), he went to reread the Advocates she had given him, but they weren't stored behind his dresser like they should be.
Just as he was about to start ransacking his room, hoping that he'd just misplaced them and they hadn't been found by his parents or worse, his communicator beeped. He didn't get a good look at the monster in the fight, because it came with a squad of putties, because the fight only lasted long enough for the monster to hit Rocky, Billy, and Tommy with some kind of blast before it and the putties teleported away.
The rangers waited for a while in the Command Center before deciding that whatever Zedd was up to, the monster was gone for the time being, and they should resume their normal lives. Since they'd all gotten keyed up for a fight an nothing had really happened, Adam, Tommy, and Rocky decided to go spar at the Youth Center while Aisha and Kim were going to get help from Billy on some of their science homework.
Partway through his match with Adam, Tommy started getting really distracted, so Adam suggested they save the rest of their energy for when the monster reappeared, and they all headed into the locker room to change. Rocky was in and out quickly, as usual, but Tommy seemed to be taking his time, still distracted by something. Just as Adam was leaving (Tommy was still shirtless), Tommy called after him to hang on a second.
“Adam, man, I hope I'm not overstepping my bounds or anything, but when we were fighting out there I noticed you were really pretty.”
“Wh- What?”
“You're pretty. And smart, and even though you like to keep quiet and in the background and stuff, you're really brave. I think I kind of have a thing for you.”
“But,” Adam nervously replied, “you're dating Kim! Do you really want to break her heart like that?”
“I guess I've moved on,” Tommy said. “I'm sure I can figure out a way to let her down gently.” That seemed like the kind of thing Tommy would never say, so Adam was really hoping this was a spell. He decided to try baiting Tommy into saying something that he was even less likely to say.
“Well, you're kind of not my type, Tommy. You're a little over-sure of yourself, and I personally feel that ponytails on men are just ridiculous.”
“Well, I suppose I'll find a way to change your mind about that somehow. I really want you to like me, Adam. I'll cut my hair if it comes down to it.” There was Adam's proof, but what was he supposed to do? He hadn't dealt with someone else being under a spell yet.
“This doesn't seem like you, Tommy,” Adam said, backing toward the door. “I think this might be a spell. Are you sure it isn't a spell?”
“I've been under a bunch of spells, man,” Tommy said, “this feels real.” Well, that didn't work. How was Adam supposed to explain to everyone what was going on without giving himself away? So he bolted. Out of the locker room, out of the Youth Center, halfway across Angel Grove Park before he finally wore himself out.
He was sitting at one of the picnic tables by the lake for a while, trying not to freak out too much when Billy sat beside him.
“Are you alright, Adam?” Billy asked. “Tommy told us some of what happened. Kim didn't take it well, and Aisha is better suited to comfort her, and Rocky just started boistrously attacking the punching bag, so I was the only one left to make sure you're coping.”
“I'm kind of not. It's really weird, and I'm pretty sure it's a spell, but I had no idea how to tell the rest of the rangers. I just kind of panicked.”
“It's understandable, Adam. We'll head back to the Youth Center, inform the other rangers, and then Zordon, Alpha and I can see what we can do to find the monster from the Command Center.”
“I guess that makes sense. Sorry for scaring you guys.”
“No worries,” Billy said. “If it's any consolation, one of the things Tommy told us was that you said he's not your type.”
“Well yes, but how is that consolation.”
“As I recall, you've strongly established that I am your type.”
“I think I appreciate the gesture, Billy, but you're not gay.”
“I'm not certain of that at this juncture, Adam. It's rather unscientific of me, but I believe that I must actually be something more like a four or five on the Kinsey scale, because I can't imagine being as attracted to you as I am if I'm not attracted by men in a more general sense.”
“Billy, I think you're under the spell too.”
“I disagree with your conjecture, Adam,” Billy said, “I have noticed nothing wrong with my thought processes beyond a slight distraction when I'm near you.”
“Billy, that distraction is something wrong with your thought processes.”
“Adam,” Billy said, sounding a little hurt, “I thought we agreed that homosexuality isn't wrong.”
“That's not what I meant!” Adam replied, getting up from the table and activating his communicator. “Everyone, that monster hit Billy and Tommy with a spell, we need to teleport to the Command Center now.”
***
It was a very awkward conversation when everyone first arrived at the Command Center. Kimberly was relieved, Aisha was hugging and comforting Adam, Rocky was standing off to the side, silent, and Tommy and Billy were staring daggers at each other as Alpha completed running his tests.
“Ai-yai-yai-yai-yai, rangers! It seems the only way to remove the spell is to defeat the monster, and there's been no sign of it since it first attacked!”
“Well then maybe it won't attack again!” Rocky exclaimed. “Maybe we can just not defeat this one if it isn't hurting anyone?”
“What are you talking about, Rocky?” Kim asked, “It made Tommy and Billy gay!”
“Oh, and gay is bad now, is it?” Rocky replied, “Thanks for the supp... oh, no.” Rocky turned from the rangers and ran out to the desert surrounding the Command Center.
Before Adam even had time to process what had happened, Aisha moved into action. “Kim! Go apologize and make sure Rocky doesn't do anything stupid. I'm going to have a long overdue chat with Adam, and then we're going to find you outside and maybe I can finally knock some sense into my boys.” As she took Adam aside to speak to him, she added as an afterthought, “Tommy, Billy, I shouldn't have to say this, but just in case: don't eavesdrop, and don't hurt each other.”
“What just happened, Aisha? Why do you have to knock sense into me? I'm not under a spell. That beam only hit Billy, Tommy, and Rock...” Realization hit Adam. “Hey, why's Rocky been avoiding me? The spell made Billy and Tommy attracted to me.”
“Because he's had a lot of practice not hitting on you.”
“What are you talking about, Aisha?”
“Look, it's really not my place to say, and I have no idea how you never noticed, but Rocky has had the hugest crush on you since the eighth grade. And even though it was obvious to me what you were doing, he bought everything you sold about being straight.”
“You knew about me being gay?”
“I had an idea for a while, but it was you noticing the yellow ranger was a girl that cemented it. Unlike Rocky, I figured out that you wouldn't have been so surprised she was female if you hadn't been checking her out thinking she was a guy.”
“Why didn't you say anything?”
“Do you really think you'd have taken it well? You're only doing okay right now because you've had one of those days where you just have to start rolling with things to stay sane.”
“Okay, that's probably true.”
“Besides, I thought you'd maybe catch on when I set you up with a lesbian for the Vice Versa dance, but you just kept being oblivious.”
“Sarah was a- OH. I, um. Huh.” Adam considered things for a moment. “I suppose that dance could have gone better.”
“Gee, do you really think so?” Aisha ribbed him. “Now stop ignoring the major problem here and help me deal with it.”
“Problem?”
“Rocky,” Aisha started explaining, “had had a crush on you for years. A monster comes along and hits him with a spell designed to do the same thing. You're worrying about defeating the monster so that Billy and Tommy's crushes will go away. Now I swear to god, if I have to simplify this any more for you...”
“No, I get it Aisha. Man, this sucks. I mean, I was so sure that Rocky was straight that I just never let myself think of him like that, but...” The last few minutes of conversation having pretty much been one giant prompt to think of Rocky like that, Adam couldn't help it, and he really, really liked what he was thinking.
“But... what, Adam?”
“But I do, now. And I probably really need to let him know that, don't I.”
“Yes! You've finally got some sense in you, boy! Now, Kim should have calmed Rocky down now to the point where he won't freak out too much when you show up. We're heading outside.” As they spotted Rocky and Kim a little ways off, Aisha spoke up one more time. “Now, just in case you haven't enough sense in you to have figured everything out yet, I'm pretty sure Rocky's afraid that if we defeat the monster and end the spell-”
“He won't like me anymore. And he's scared because he gave away that he was gay before the spell.” Adam finished. “I can usually figure things out really well when I know I'm supposed to be going back over what people said.”
“Oh, Adam. I can figure these things out as soon as you guys speak.” Aisha bragged.
“Well that's why you're Aisha. I don't know why you put up with us.” The two were nearly there.
“Same reason you put up with me. Now go do what you have to. And if you screw this up, I will be breaking some heads.” Adam rolled his eyes at her.
“I think I've got this one. Hasn't it always been that you let Rocky know when he's being stupid, and then I'm the one who actually makes him feel better?” Kim noticed the two approaching the overhang she and Rocky were sharing and stood up. Rocky turned to see what she saw and tensed. Aisha immediately started giving instructions.
“Rocky, stay put. Listen to Adam, and don't be stupid. Kim, we're giving them privacy.”
After Kim and Aisha left, Adam stood for a moment, unsure of exactly where to start. He walked over and sat next to Rocky, in part to fill time while he thought of what to say, but there were a few moments of silence even after he sat.
“So, eighth grade, huh?” he finally began.
“She told you?” Rocky nearly screamed, “I swore Aisha to secrecy and-”
“And if she hadn't told me, we'd both just keep things inside and stupidly keep this from happening.”
“This? What's 'this'?”
“Look, I was stupid and convinced myself you were straight, and you're my best friend along with Aisha, so I kind of kept myself from noticing, but I've had a crush on you for at least as long.”
“You... like me?”
“Yeah. I mean, you're loyal, and an amazing person, and funny. You're smart without being all nerdy and weirding people out like I do sometimes. You know exactly how, and when to make me laugh... I mean, you're just all-around amazing. And for so long I was an idiot and convinced myself that I just liked those things because they made you a good friend, but I fell for you. And you're hot! I don't know how I kept myself from noticing for so long, but my god, man, your arms!”
Rocky screamed. “Why now, Adam? Why wait until I'm under a spell and I might get made straight? It's not fair!”
“Because you have nothing to worry about, Rocky! Because I've been under a spell. Because afterwards, yes, the things you did and the memories you have of while you were under the spell seem like they belong to someone else, but the memories from before don't. I am exactly the same Adam I was before that spell made me obsess over competition, and you are going to be exactly the same Rocky you were before the spell, only now you'll know I've fallen for you, too.”
“But what if this works differently?” Rocky said. “You weren't obsessed with competition before the spell. Taking that away didn't take away something you had before!”
“No, but you know what, Rocky? I've had crushes on straight guys before. If you're straight again, I can make it go away the same as I've done before. I'll be a gay teen with no real prospects for a date again, but I'll be open with my friends because I know you won't be judgmental. It'll still be an improvement, and I won't let you feel guilty.”
“But-”
“I won't. Now stop being a drama queen and let's kick some monster butt.”
“How are we going to find it?”
“Surely Zedd's plan was to use the spell to throw us off, maybe cause some kind of rift in us if any of us were judgmental, and wait for that to set seed before attacking again. We just have to wait.”
***
Adam was right. The rangers left Tommy on the sidelines so that he and Billy wouldn't try fighting each other instead of the monster, and once the Thunder Megazord had slashed through the monster one last time, Billy piped up that he was most certainly no longer attracted to Adam and deeply apologetic for any trouble he had caused. Tommy and Kim gladly reunited in the Command Center, so all Adam had to do was ask Rocky if he still liked him.
He really didn't want to hear “No,” though, so it was taking him a little while to gather the courage. Rocky was standing nearby with a completely unreadable expression, clearly waiting for Adam to ask.
“Um, Rocky... I guess you're waiting for me to ask if you still like me, so... I guess I'd better actually ask. Okay.” Adam took a deep breath. “Rocky, do you-”
It was about as perfect a first kiss as Adam could hope for.
***
As Rocky and Adam caught up all the other rangers on what the heck had been going on between the two of them, which mostly consisted of explaining that no, they actually had no idea that the other liked them back until just this afternoon, Adam mentioned that he wished he could tell Miriam the story.
“Wait, which Miriam?” Kim asked.
“What do you mean?” Adam replied.
“Well, Zack and Jason spent forever not realizing they liked each other until they ran into each other at Mother Miriam's bookstore over in the gay district.” Tommy explained.
“But I was going there for months! How did I not run into them?”
“Well,” Billy said, “you said your father only let you come to the city with him on weekends, right?”
“...Yeeeees.”
“Zack and Jason were in the habit of visiting on days when they didn't have classes to teach halfway across town, which ruled out weekends.” Billy finished.
“So, do you guys know where to find her?”
“Sorry,” Kim said.
“I never really had a reason to go,” Tommy said, “or I'd help you out.”
“Perhaps we could contact Zack and Jason in Switzerland,” Billy offered, “my computer is connected to the world wide web, and I believe that all delegates to the Peace Conference are allotted e-mail addresses. This way we wouldn't have to worry about you getting nervous while calling them, or the time difference.”
***
Billy got the return email not long after, and so Adam and Rocky found themselves standing outside an apartment not far from the bookstore.
“Are you sure you're ready to do this, Adam?” Rocky asked.
“Absolutely. Now stop pretending that you're not the nervous one.” Adam knocked on the door.
“Who is it? I'm not expecting visitors.”
“It's Adam from Stone Canyon, Miriam. I didn't know how to find you after your store was attacked.” The door opened.
“Adam! I've missed you! You seem to be doing well.”
“Oh, I definitely am. Have you been alright?”
“Oh, you know. No better or worse than usual. Who's this you have with you?”
“Well, I figured after all I told you about him, I should introduce you to Rocky. My boyfriend.”
Author:
revieloutionneFandom: Mighty Morphin Power Rangers
Pairing/characters: Adam/Rocky
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I don't own the series or the characters, Saban does. Again. Which is awesome.
Prompt: 2294. Power Rangers, Adam Park, The spandex hides nothing - especially not his attraction to a male teammate.
Summary: Adam didn't even mean to convince his friends he was straight. Once he did, things got a whole lot more complicated.
Warnings: Personality-altering spells that just completely mess with conceptions of consent. I've always considered MMPR spells to replace the victim's personality, rather than override it with them still there in the background (as in, the spell a spell makes someone straight-laced who they'd be if they were a bully, and they willingly behave as they would if that had been the real case), but it's still definitely a grey area.
Author's Notes: I have to thank
queenriley and second_batgirl over at ranger_recaps. I'd have forgotten how much Zedd and Rita spy on the rangers' personal lives (which inspired the specifics of one of the monster attacks in the fic) if their recaps hadn't made a point of it. Plus second_batgirl beta'd parts of it.“The yellow one is a girl!” Adam blurted, as he, Rocky, and Aisha sat in her living room, watching footage of the Power Rangers saving Angel Grove once again.
“No way, man,” Rocky said, “he's not wearing a skirt.”
“No, really!” Adam cut in before Aisha began lecturing Rocky on why feminism meant women didn't have to wear skirts, “Next time she's on screen check out her chest. She's kind of flat, but she's definitely not a guy.” The three sat in silence, waiting for the next shot of the yellow ranger. When it finally came (she was throwing some kind of sandwich at a pig in a helmet), Rocky was the first to comment.
“Man, I don't even know how you noticed that! I mean, here I am, the chick magnet of the three of us, and you've gotten so good at checking out girls that you can even tell that guy's a girl? Aisha, our little Adam has finally grown up and started noticing girls! When did this happen?”
“Chick magnet?” Aisha said, “Really, Rocky. You should know better.” As Aisha began her well-justified lecture at Rocky, Adam sat at the other end of the couch, processing what he'd just done. He hadn't been checking out the yellow ranger because she was a girl. Quite the opposite, in fact. Adam just couldn't help blurting his surprise that he wasn't a guy, and now his friends certainly thought he was straight.
He'd almost gotten up the courage to come out to Aisha, too. This was problematic.
***
It was easy enough to go along with it. Once they assumed he was straight, all Adam had to do was not talk about anyone's attractiveness, ever, and he was both completely closeted and not actually lying. Letting his friends believe something about him that wasn't true never seemed quite right, but it was better than risking losing them. Still, it really, really sucked not having anyone to talk to about being gay.
So when his dad started traveling to Angel Grove a couple of times a month for work, Adam talked him into letting him come along. When his dojo had the money to sponsor teams in competitions, he had argued, Angel Grove always had talented and friendly competitors. As good friends as Rocky and Aisha were, he'd been training with them for years and Adam really wanted to spar with people he couldn't defend himself from blindfolded and earplugged. Of course, the fact that Angel Grove was a significantly more tolerant city, and even had a whole gay district had absolutely nothing to do with the arguments Adam made, nor did his suspicions that a couple of the Angel Grove martial artists were less than entirely straight.
Thus, every time Mr. Park headed into Angel Grove and school was out of session, Adam came along. With his father too busy at work, Adam was free to visit whatever parts of the city he wanted. He never did get to visit the martial artists, because they were known to spend almost all their time at the Youth Center, which meant traveling across the warehouse district, and everyone knew that that was monster attack central.
He found a gay bookstore on the outskirts of the gay district where Miriam, the seemingly ancient lesbian owner, took a liking to him. She told him stories about her life when she was younger when she was out, in the 1940s. Adam had once asked if that had anything to do with her limp, and the “you dumbass” look she sent him made him feel stupid for a week. He told her stories about his friends and asked for advice. She always ended their visits urging him to come out to Aisha, because she sounded like she understood things.
***
“I know I should,” Adam said, once, “but it doesn't seem fair to Rocky to keep it just from him.”
“True, but why can't you tell him, too, again?” Miriam asked.
“Well, I've told you some of the dumb things he's said about women, can you imagine what he thinks of gay people?”
“You know, I don't think I've ever heard you say anything about what Rocky has actually ever said about gay people, just what you think he'd say. Has he ever actually said anything about them?”
Adam paused for a while, thinking. “You know, I really can't recall.”
Miriam started laughing so hard Adam was afraid she was going to damage her lungs if it went on too long. When she finally managed to get things down to a wheeze, Adam asked her what was so funny.
“If you can't see it now, kid, nothing I tell you is going to open your eyes.”
***
A couple weeks later, while on his way back to his dad's efficiency in Angel Grove (he was being called down to the offices there so often now that it was cheaper than staying in hotels), Adam was caught up in a monster attack.
He hadn't been hurt, or even really that involved. He was coming home from the bookstore, and a mass of people started streaming around the street-corner ahead of him, most of them screaming, but then he noticed an older man frantically trying to make it around the corner, but being pushed backwards more than he could advance. As he got nearer, Adam could hear him calling out for a Brian. Just as the crowds were thinning out, the man was knocked sideways into the curb and appeared to hurt his leg in the fall.
“Sir! Are you alright?” Adam had rushed to help when he noticed that none of the panicking crowd had paid the man any attention.
“My leg will be fine, but Brian is still back there! I have to get back!” Unfortunately, his attempt to stand again put him in too much pain.
“Are you sure he didn't come running with everyone else? I can look for him if you like.”
“No, he's sure to be back there. My son-in-law is always telling him to hide if there's a monster nearby, so I'm sure when we got separated that's what he did. He's only five!”
“I can look for him, sir. You stay here. And keep calling for him, he may have run away anyway!” Adam instructed as he turned the corner, running straight into the blue ranger. The ranger dropped into an attacking stance as he turned to face Adam, before realizing he wasn't a threat.
“You have to get yourself to safety,” the ranger admonished him, “one of Rita's monsters is attacking the city!”
“I know, but there's an injured man around the corner who is certain his grandson is hiding from the monster somewhere around here.” Adam was scanning the area even as he explained himself to the ranger, finally noticing a little shoe sticking out from behind a trash can. “There! That's probably him back there,” Adam said as he pointed. The blue ranger performed a series of acrobatic leaps to cover the distance, returning to Adam with the boy, who looked equal parts horrified and awestruck.
“Take him to his grandfather,” the blue ranger began, “and-”
“Get us to safety, I know. Thank you.” Adam finished, taking the child from the ranger and heading back to his grandfather before whatever lessons his parents had taught him about strangers kicked in.
***
When the Stone Canyon news stations reported on the latest attack on their neighbor city, Adam found himself briefly famous, as he'd been caught on security footage from a nearby store's camera that had picked up most of the battle. Unfortunately, his mother's response was to insist he no longer travel to Angel Grove. He was able to write Miriam a letter (sent from the post office, of course, not his mailbox) explaining that as much as he'd like to keep in touch, he didn't want his parents questioning a sudden pen-pal, and the store's number appearing on their phone bill was right out.
He almost wished that he'd never convinced his father to let him go to Angel Grove to begin with, because having had someone to talk to about being gay made the current absence of anyone that much worse. On the other hand, if he'd never gone to Angel Grove, he'd have never seen the blue ranger up close.
He hadn't had the time to really pay attention as things were happening, but when he replayed events in his mind, he was able to notice the ranger's gymnast build as he dropped into that stance, his ass as he leapt to save Brian, and dear lord, his chest as he carried him back. The spandex hid nothing, and Adam was grateful.
***
His appreciation of the blue ranger's appearance set, Adam began paying him more attention when the rangers appeared on the news. He began to notice things like the blue ranger seeming more wary about approaching civilians than the other rangers, or how every time the rangers used a non-weapon device, the blue ranger was the one operating it or instructing the others how to operate it, or how his fighting style seemed to consist of leaving as much of the fighting as possible to the other rangers (though he was improving). As Adam put together more and more of the things he noticed, and began believing that the blue ranger was shy and smart like him, his appreciation of the ranger slowly became a full-blown crush.
Adam began to fantasize about how, if he could compete in Angel Grove, and if the rangers paid any attention to the competition, then maybe he could get the blue rangers attention, start teaching him to fight, and as he did... well, this was where Adam usually started overthinking things (not that it stopped him from training harder).
What if the rangers weren't human? They could be anything under the uniforms. Surely they were human-oid, but maybe their skin looked bruised to people from Earth, and that would pretty much kill any attraction. Maybe they weren't wearing uniforms, and that's just what they looked like.
But what kind of superhero fought naked, and if the rangers were fighting naked, what in the world was the pink one's skirt? And there wasn't any kind of opening for the rangers to consume any kind of sustenance, so they must be wearing something. Besides, if that was their skin, they'd all be similar colors.
But that meant that they were always wearing the costumes, which meant that maybe they knew they were hideous to humans and didn't want to cause fear or be attacked while they were fighting the real monsters.
But then, there had been the one time the news crew had found a tape from a camera dropped in the middle of a battle that picked up the rangers clearly speaking, and it seemed to be in English (even if nobody seemed to know what a megazord or a zordon were). So, they had to be people inside the uniforms.
And if they were people inside the uniforms, then maybe they were accepting of gay people. They were, after all, a walking rainbow. But the gay pride rainbow had no pink or black on it, and the arrival of a green ranger to help fill in the stripes did nothing to fix that. Still, why else would they be so multi-colored?
But if they were people in uniforms, and they were all the same color with their faces covered and only minor differences to their helmets, how would they tell each other apart in the middle of fighting? Clearly the rainbow was a side-effect of being able to tell who was who.
Still, they had to be at least a little bit progressive, right? For all the gender essentialism there was in one of the female rangers being dressed in pink, and with a completely-for-appearance, no-fighting-function skirt, the other had no skirt and was dressed in a completely gender-neutral yellow. Maybe they had input in their uniforms and had no problems accepting that it was a woman's choice how stereotypically feminine they wanted to be. That's pretty enlightened, so maybe they'd be fine with homosexuality?
***
Adam continued overthinking things for another few months, until his dojo finally sponsored another competition in Angel Grove. It was kind of a stupid competition, though. Nevermind what the layperson thought, martial artists and ninja were not the same thing, but the judging was still based on the skills they actually had. After much Sensei Anderson successfully convinced all their parents that they would be avoiding the warehouse district and that these days, Angel Grove had well-developed monster attack protocols in place, Adam, Rocky, and Aisha packed into his car and headed to Angel Grove.
The three of them (and Mr. Anderson and his son – Sensei Anderson still had her weekend classes to teach) spent most of their free time before the match hanging out with each other, so Adam never got a chance to speak with the Angel Grove martial artists he'd hoped to run into, although after the quarterfinals on Friday night, he did walk in on them making out in the youth center locker room. They didn't hear him come in, so Adam decided he would watch the door to make sure nobody else might wander in. Plenty of people would not react well to seeing that, and they clearly were more into each other than being vigilant.
***
Adam had hoped to get a chance to speak to them sometime before or after their semifinal match on Saturday, but the monster attack must have kept them from getting across town in time, so he wound up just speaking to the reporter covering the event after he, Rocky, and Aisha won their own match.
He was able to sneak in a trip to the bookstore by claiming he was off to dinner with his dad, but when he got there, half the front window was boarded over where it had been broken, and there was a note on the door from Miriam.
I've been running this bookstore for a long time, and I've known a whole lot of you from around here longer than some others of you have been alive. I sometimes don't feel like I deserve it, but my store and I have become a community fixture. I know most of you expect me to restore this place after this vicious and close-minded attack, and I do feel a sort of obligation. However, as much as I can handle the abuse and continue being the strong person I am, I have run this store as a haven for those who haven't had the chance to become so self-assured in their lives and identities. If I cannot guarantee that this bookstore will be a safe space, I don't know if I can be comfortable with keeping it open. I feel like I'm giving in for the first time in my life, but they found my weak spot. Surely by accident, as the kind of person to do this clearly has no brains. Nevertheless, I am closing the doors to my shop. I can assure you, though, that my home is as safe as ever. You know where to find me.
-Mother Miriam
As Adam read, his heart sunk lower and lower into his chest. He'd only ever been to the bookstore, so he didn't know where to find Miriam. He couldn't just ask someone passing by if they knew where to find her, because clearly everyone “in the community” was supposed to already know, so if he asked they'd probably think he was the vandal. Rocky and Aisha believed him when he told them his father was too busy for dinner. The depression was all over his face.
***
Things started out better on Sunday. After saving Jacob from rolling over the near-cliff of a hill in the middle of Angel Grove Park, Adam, Rocky, and Aisha won the finals. The three local teens who had helped save Jacob were even there after the match, Billy was even cuter when everyone wasn't coming down off of having just saved a small child from certain injury, if not death. All Adam could do was hope he was covering his reaction subtly enough, and if he wasn't, hopefully everyone would think it was either from meeting Kimberly or, less embarrassingly, just figure it was one of those random ones guys sometimes get. He'd just started absently wondering if the male rangers ever had to deal with things like that happening while they were in their spandex (particularly the blue one) when the giant winged monkey thing appeared and kidnapped him, his friends, and Mr. Anderson.
Being held captive sucked. Being told they were going to have to serve evil sucked. Nearly escaping but not actually making it sucked, as did the snake... thing that was going to make them evil slithering up Aisha. The Power Rangers coming to save them most certainly did not, especially because the blue ranger was there. Heck, Adam even got to fight and defeat some evil himself, even if it was just those weird gray things that never seemed to be anything but support to the real monsters.
And then the blue ranger turned out to be Billy, and Adam discovered that there were levels of crushes he'd never even imagined before. He was pretty sure he was smiling way too much, considering that he and his friends had nearly been permanently corrupted, and the boy he was crushing on horribly had nearly suffocated. He spent the next couple of days worrying that maybe the venom of evil from that snake worked by trapping the good in a person's mind in a dream world where everything was happy and right, because it turned out that the black and red rangers were the martial artists he'd caught making out. He fairly quickly worked out that no, that wasn't the case, because his mind definitely would have created some way to make things okay for Miriam. Insane as it was, this was all happening.
Jason and Zack had to hurry off to teach classes at the Youth Center (more proof that this was not his brain's doing). He, Rocky, and Aisha had to head home with Mr. Anderson that evening, but before they were even home, they'd agreed to find whatever excuses they could find to visit Angel Grove.
While the three of them were able to get to Angel Grove the next couple weekends, neither volunteering for the World Peace Summit nor competing in the Stone Canyon Triathalon (held in Angel Grove for use of the lake) left time to visit with Jason and Zack. If there had been any, it was spent helping with the monster attacks those weekends.
***
Returning home from the triathalon, Adam, Rocky, and Aisha were surprised to find all of their parents waiting for them at the Park's house. As it turned out, the Stone Canyon branch of the firm no longer had enough clients to stay in business and the Angel Grove branch was in desperate need of staff. As the top three employees in Stone Canyon, Mr. Park, Mrs. Desantos, and Mr. Campbell were being given the option of transferring rather than be let go. Since the three of them seemed to have already made some friends in Angel Grove, their parents reasoned, one of the harder parts of moving to a new town was already taken care of, and the chance to help set legal precedent in cases involving monster attacks could make their careers.
Adam and his friends were, naturally, highly enthusiastic. Adam especially so, because he might finally have peers he could actually talk to about being gay, and he might even be able to find out where Miriam was and let her know about everything that had happened (minus the part where Billy was a ranger).
***
Naturally, as soon as he moved to Angel Grove, Jason and Zack (and Trini) were accepted to travel to Switzerland, and Adam didn't even get to see them unmorphed before they left. On the upside, he was a Power Ranger now. Saving the world was scary, but mostly amazing. At least, that's what he thought until he ran into his first spell.
It had only affected Billy and him, and the two of them were in the Command Center after the battle, with Alpha checking for any residual effects of the spell. He felt like himself, where his memories of the time he was under the spell felt like they belonged to someone else entirely, so Adam was pretty sure that he was fine. It was still best to be safe, though, which is why he and Billy had remained morphed, at Alpha's insistence, so that the Morphing Grid could better protect them in the event that the spell hadn't completely worn off.
Since he was sure that he was fine, Adam wasn't paying too much attention to what Alpha was saying, just watching what he was doing to Billy, since it was going to be his turn to be checked after. Alpha was running some kind of handheld sensor up and down Billy checking for who knew what, and at some point Adam stopped looking at the sensor and was just looking at Billy. It was his first time in the spandex outside of battle, so he hadn't put any thought into the disadvantages to being one of the ones wearing it until Alpha turned to him and by then it was too late.
He was very clearly staring at Billy's chest, and the reason why was very clearly outlined under the spandex. Alpha turned away with a seemingly unending stream of “ai-yai-yai”s, while Billy just stood silently for a moment.
“I... I'm sorry, I didn't mean- I mean, you're a guy too, you know how this can happen, Billy,” Adam said, hoping that Billy wouldn't be weirded out (a small part still hoped he would turn out to return the crush, but once Adam found out that Jason and Zack were rangers, he figured the chances of three rangers out of six being gay was too much to hope for). “Billy?”
“Oh! I- I'm sorry, Adam,” Billy replied, flustered, “I'm attempting to make sure that I communicate what I wish to convey to you clearly and without causing undue embarrassment. I made suboptimal syntactic choices the first time it happened to Jason and severely damaged his self-esteem for nearly a fortnight before I was able to properly deliver my intended message.”
“...Oh, well take your time, then.” Adam said. At least Billy was trying not to hurt his feelings, but this was still awkward as awkward could get. After another silent moment, Billy continued.
“I am flattered by your, erm, interest, Adam. As I'm sure you've observed, I don't receive a terrible amount of positive attention from my female peers. While the boost to my confidence is much appreciated, I'm afraid I cannot return your affections. As far as I've observed my own attractions, I believe I am a complete zero on the Kinsey scale. Perhaps a point five, as I am able to assess how attractive other males would likely be to those who find males attractive, but I don't think that would be of any consolation to you.”
“I think I'll get over it. I feel like I should be apologizing to you, though.”
“That seems to me a foolish emotion to have, Adam. There's nothing objectively shameful or offensive about homosexuality, and I personally believe that those who find is subjectively so show poor judgment not only in that case, but frequently in many others.”
“I am so incredibly relieved you feel that way, Billy, but, no offense, you're a rather uncommon person. I don't know if I could let everyone else know.”
“Let everyone else... Adam, are you completely closeted?” Billy asked.
“Almost. The one person I ever told was from out of town. I'd kind of like to keep it quiet. I mean, you seem fine with it, and I'm probably right in assuming that Tommy and Kim knew about Jason and Zack.”
“Yes, they weren't exactly what one would call subtle.” Billy said, almost entirely hiding the sarcasm in false earnestness. As Adam realized that meant that Zordon probably knew, it finally hit Adam that he and Billy were not the only ones in the Command Center.
“Zordon, were you aware of Zack and Jason's relationship?” Adam asked, turning to the giant tube that had slipped to the back of his mind while Alpha scanned them.
“Indeed. I have seen what you would likely call 'far stranger' relationships throughout the universe in the millennia I have had to observe. And though you would call them stranger, they are most assuredly just as moral so long as all parties are happily consenting,” Zordon assured Adam, “and you will find that, once Alpha's programming brings him out of his embarrassment cycle, he agrees wholeheartedly.”
“That is amazing to hear, but I do need to let you all know that Rocky and Aisha don't know, and I'm afraid of how they'd react, especially because they misinterpreted something I said once and I kind of just let them keep assuming I was straight. I'd prefer then, that even though they'd be okay with it, we not tell Tommy and Kim. The more people know, the easier it is to accidentally spread.”
“I do not believe secrecy is advisable among a ranger team in most cases, Adam, and I do advise you not to keep this secret for too long. I do not believe that the standards I have for the rangers I choose would ever allow a person who would judge you for such a thing to become a ranger. However, I do understand the need to keep this quiet from people you do not know so well, in this planets current culture, so I would not force you to tell even if I could.”
“I also understand why you want to keep this confidential, and will remain silent about your sexuality as well,” Billy said. If the conversation had ended there, things probably would have worked out differently, but Billy continued. “I am mildly confused, though. Once Jason started dating Zack, he was no longer looking at other males in such a way to cause these incidents, and I'm rather surprised to hear Rocky and Aisha aren't aware of your sexuality. I was under the impression that you were dat-” Billy suddenly stopped speaking.
“Under the impression that I was what?” Adam asked.
“Nevermind. I had made a few assumptions based on incomplete observations and clearly came to an incorrect conclusion. Disregard what I just said.”
While Alpha scanned him for traces of the spell, Adam couldn't help but replay Billy's words in his mind. “I was under the impression that you were dat-.” “You were dat-”? What was he going to say? Shortly after teleporting home, it hit him. “I was under the impression that you were dating.” People thought he was dating someone. And Billy was surprised Adam's best friends didn't know he was gay. People thought he was dating a guy. This was very, very bad.
***
The Vice Versa dance was approaching, which worked well for Adam, except he was new in town and no girls knew him well enough to ask him to the dance. Except Aisha and Kim, but Kim asked Tommy, and Aisha didn't seem to care to ask anyone and was too close a friend to do that to, anyway. Aisha had almost succeeded at setting him up with Sarah, but Zedd was the master of intentionally poor timing.
So when Sabrina showed up, Adam didn't even really care that she was more than kind of a bitch. It even made it a bit easier on him that he was going to have to let her down sometime. She was a girl, and she was asking him out. It worked for him. Still, he was grateful that Aisha was forcing herself along, even if he wasn't sure why, because the less “involved” Adam had to be with Sabrina, the longer he could keep up the ruse.
And then she was Scorpina, which seemed really unnecessary on top of everything else that was going on in his life, but Adam supposed that it did mean that no hearts got broken. Not having a fake girlfriend wasn't going to be great though.
So when Sarah asked him to dance at the Vice Versa, he jumped at the opportunity. After a few minutes on the dance floor, though, he realized that he just wouldn't be able to go through with it, and he told her that she was a sweet girl, but he really didn't think that a relationship was in the cards. Adam was completely confused when she told him that it was quite alright, she felt the same way, and then kept dancing with him. He could tell from the way she said it that she meant something significant, but he couldn't work out what. When he told her as much, she gave him a strange look, told him that while she'd heard he was kind of clueless, she didn't realize that meant he was dense, and wound up doing something that was a strange combination of nonchalantly walking away and storming off. Adam was never more glad that he wouldn't have to understand girls.
***
Adam hasn't been a ranger long, but he has learned enough from the other rangers that if a prized possession of yours goes missing, there's trouble looming. So when what little searching for Miriam he could do discouraged him (you can't exactly walk up to anyone on the street and ask if the know what happened to the former owner of a gay bookstore), he went to reread the Advocates she had given him, but they weren't stored behind his dresser like they should be.
Just as he was about to start ransacking his room, hoping that he'd just misplaced them and they hadn't been found by his parents or worse, his communicator beeped. He didn't get a good look at the monster in the fight, because it came with a squad of putties, because the fight only lasted long enough for the monster to hit Rocky, Billy, and Tommy with some kind of blast before it and the putties teleported away.
The rangers waited for a while in the Command Center before deciding that whatever Zedd was up to, the monster was gone for the time being, and they should resume their normal lives. Since they'd all gotten keyed up for a fight an nothing had really happened, Adam, Tommy, and Rocky decided to go spar at the Youth Center while Aisha and Kim were going to get help from Billy on some of their science homework.
Partway through his match with Adam, Tommy started getting really distracted, so Adam suggested they save the rest of their energy for when the monster reappeared, and they all headed into the locker room to change. Rocky was in and out quickly, as usual, but Tommy seemed to be taking his time, still distracted by something. Just as Adam was leaving (Tommy was still shirtless), Tommy called after him to hang on a second.
“Adam, man, I hope I'm not overstepping my bounds or anything, but when we were fighting out there I noticed you were really pretty.”
“Wh- What?”
“You're pretty. And smart, and even though you like to keep quiet and in the background and stuff, you're really brave. I think I kind of have a thing for you.”
“But,” Adam nervously replied, “you're dating Kim! Do you really want to break her heart like that?”
“I guess I've moved on,” Tommy said. “I'm sure I can figure out a way to let her down gently.” That seemed like the kind of thing Tommy would never say, so Adam was really hoping this was a spell. He decided to try baiting Tommy into saying something that he was even less likely to say.
“Well, you're kind of not my type, Tommy. You're a little over-sure of yourself, and I personally feel that ponytails on men are just ridiculous.”
“Well, I suppose I'll find a way to change your mind about that somehow. I really want you to like me, Adam. I'll cut my hair if it comes down to it.” There was Adam's proof, but what was he supposed to do? He hadn't dealt with someone else being under a spell yet.
“This doesn't seem like you, Tommy,” Adam said, backing toward the door. “I think this might be a spell. Are you sure it isn't a spell?”
“I've been under a bunch of spells, man,” Tommy said, “this feels real.” Well, that didn't work. How was Adam supposed to explain to everyone what was going on without giving himself away? So he bolted. Out of the locker room, out of the Youth Center, halfway across Angel Grove Park before he finally wore himself out.
He was sitting at one of the picnic tables by the lake for a while, trying not to freak out too much when Billy sat beside him.
“Are you alright, Adam?” Billy asked. “Tommy told us some of what happened. Kim didn't take it well, and Aisha is better suited to comfort her, and Rocky just started boistrously attacking the punching bag, so I was the only one left to make sure you're coping.”
“I'm kind of not. It's really weird, and I'm pretty sure it's a spell, but I had no idea how to tell the rest of the rangers. I just kind of panicked.”
“It's understandable, Adam. We'll head back to the Youth Center, inform the other rangers, and then Zordon, Alpha and I can see what we can do to find the monster from the Command Center.”
“I guess that makes sense. Sorry for scaring you guys.”
“No worries,” Billy said. “If it's any consolation, one of the things Tommy told us was that you said he's not your type.”
“Well yes, but how is that consolation.”
“As I recall, you've strongly established that I am your type.”
“I think I appreciate the gesture, Billy, but you're not gay.”
“I'm not certain of that at this juncture, Adam. It's rather unscientific of me, but I believe that I must actually be something more like a four or five on the Kinsey scale, because I can't imagine being as attracted to you as I am if I'm not attracted by men in a more general sense.”
“Billy, I think you're under the spell too.”
“I disagree with your conjecture, Adam,” Billy said, “I have noticed nothing wrong with my thought processes beyond a slight distraction when I'm near you.”
“Billy, that distraction is something wrong with your thought processes.”
“Adam,” Billy said, sounding a little hurt, “I thought we agreed that homosexuality isn't wrong.”
“That's not what I meant!” Adam replied, getting up from the table and activating his communicator. “Everyone, that monster hit Billy and Tommy with a spell, we need to teleport to the Command Center now.”
***
It was a very awkward conversation when everyone first arrived at the Command Center. Kimberly was relieved, Aisha was hugging and comforting Adam, Rocky was standing off to the side, silent, and Tommy and Billy were staring daggers at each other as Alpha completed running his tests.
“Ai-yai-yai-yai-yai, rangers! It seems the only way to remove the spell is to defeat the monster, and there's been no sign of it since it first attacked!”
“Well then maybe it won't attack again!” Rocky exclaimed. “Maybe we can just not defeat this one if it isn't hurting anyone?”
“What are you talking about, Rocky?” Kim asked, “It made Tommy and Billy gay!”
“Oh, and gay is bad now, is it?” Rocky replied, “Thanks for the supp... oh, no.” Rocky turned from the rangers and ran out to the desert surrounding the Command Center.
Before Adam even had time to process what had happened, Aisha moved into action. “Kim! Go apologize and make sure Rocky doesn't do anything stupid. I'm going to have a long overdue chat with Adam, and then we're going to find you outside and maybe I can finally knock some sense into my boys.” As she took Adam aside to speak to him, she added as an afterthought, “Tommy, Billy, I shouldn't have to say this, but just in case: don't eavesdrop, and don't hurt each other.”
“What just happened, Aisha? Why do you have to knock sense into me? I'm not under a spell. That beam only hit Billy, Tommy, and Rock...” Realization hit Adam. “Hey, why's Rocky been avoiding me? The spell made Billy and Tommy attracted to me.”
“Because he's had a lot of practice not hitting on you.”
“What are you talking about, Aisha?”
“Look, it's really not my place to say, and I have no idea how you never noticed, but Rocky has had the hugest crush on you since the eighth grade. And even though it was obvious to me what you were doing, he bought everything you sold about being straight.”
“You knew about me being gay?”
“I had an idea for a while, but it was you noticing the yellow ranger was a girl that cemented it. Unlike Rocky, I figured out that you wouldn't have been so surprised she was female if you hadn't been checking her out thinking she was a guy.”
“Why didn't you say anything?”
“Do you really think you'd have taken it well? You're only doing okay right now because you've had one of those days where you just have to start rolling with things to stay sane.”
“Okay, that's probably true.”
“Besides, I thought you'd maybe catch on when I set you up with a lesbian for the Vice Versa dance, but you just kept being oblivious.”
“Sarah was a- OH. I, um. Huh.” Adam considered things for a moment. “I suppose that dance could have gone better.”
“Gee, do you really think so?” Aisha ribbed him. “Now stop ignoring the major problem here and help me deal with it.”
“Problem?”
“Rocky,” Aisha started explaining, “had had a crush on you for years. A monster comes along and hits him with a spell designed to do the same thing. You're worrying about defeating the monster so that Billy and Tommy's crushes will go away. Now I swear to god, if I have to simplify this any more for you...”
“No, I get it Aisha. Man, this sucks. I mean, I was so sure that Rocky was straight that I just never let myself think of him like that, but...” The last few minutes of conversation having pretty much been one giant prompt to think of Rocky like that, Adam couldn't help it, and he really, really liked what he was thinking.
“But... what, Adam?”
“But I do, now. And I probably really need to let him know that, don't I.”
“Yes! You've finally got some sense in you, boy! Now, Kim should have calmed Rocky down now to the point where he won't freak out too much when you show up. We're heading outside.” As they spotted Rocky and Kim a little ways off, Aisha spoke up one more time. “Now, just in case you haven't enough sense in you to have figured everything out yet, I'm pretty sure Rocky's afraid that if we defeat the monster and end the spell-”
“He won't like me anymore. And he's scared because he gave away that he was gay before the spell.” Adam finished. “I can usually figure things out really well when I know I'm supposed to be going back over what people said.”
“Oh, Adam. I can figure these things out as soon as you guys speak.” Aisha bragged.
“Well that's why you're Aisha. I don't know why you put up with us.” The two were nearly there.
“Same reason you put up with me. Now go do what you have to. And if you screw this up, I will be breaking some heads.” Adam rolled his eyes at her.
“I think I've got this one. Hasn't it always been that you let Rocky know when he's being stupid, and then I'm the one who actually makes him feel better?” Kim noticed the two approaching the overhang she and Rocky were sharing and stood up. Rocky turned to see what she saw and tensed. Aisha immediately started giving instructions.
“Rocky, stay put. Listen to Adam, and don't be stupid. Kim, we're giving them privacy.”
After Kim and Aisha left, Adam stood for a moment, unsure of exactly where to start. He walked over and sat next to Rocky, in part to fill time while he thought of what to say, but there were a few moments of silence even after he sat.
“So, eighth grade, huh?” he finally began.
“She told you?” Rocky nearly screamed, “I swore Aisha to secrecy and-”
“And if she hadn't told me, we'd both just keep things inside and stupidly keep this from happening.”
“This? What's 'this'?”
“Look, I was stupid and convinced myself you were straight, and you're my best friend along with Aisha, so I kind of kept myself from noticing, but I've had a crush on you for at least as long.”
“You... like me?”
“Yeah. I mean, you're loyal, and an amazing person, and funny. You're smart without being all nerdy and weirding people out like I do sometimes. You know exactly how, and when to make me laugh... I mean, you're just all-around amazing. And for so long I was an idiot and convinced myself that I just liked those things because they made you a good friend, but I fell for you. And you're hot! I don't know how I kept myself from noticing for so long, but my god, man, your arms!”
Rocky screamed. “Why now, Adam? Why wait until I'm under a spell and I might get made straight? It's not fair!”
“Because you have nothing to worry about, Rocky! Because I've been under a spell. Because afterwards, yes, the things you did and the memories you have of while you were under the spell seem like they belong to someone else, but the memories from before don't. I am exactly the same Adam I was before that spell made me obsess over competition, and you are going to be exactly the same Rocky you were before the spell, only now you'll know I've fallen for you, too.”
“But what if this works differently?” Rocky said. “You weren't obsessed with competition before the spell. Taking that away didn't take away something you had before!”
“No, but you know what, Rocky? I've had crushes on straight guys before. If you're straight again, I can make it go away the same as I've done before. I'll be a gay teen with no real prospects for a date again, but I'll be open with my friends because I know you won't be judgmental. It'll still be an improvement, and I won't let you feel guilty.”
“But-”
“I won't. Now stop being a drama queen and let's kick some monster butt.”
“How are we going to find it?”
“Surely Zedd's plan was to use the spell to throw us off, maybe cause some kind of rift in us if any of us were judgmental, and wait for that to set seed before attacking again. We just have to wait.”
***
Adam was right. The rangers left Tommy on the sidelines so that he and Billy wouldn't try fighting each other instead of the monster, and once the Thunder Megazord had slashed through the monster one last time, Billy piped up that he was most certainly no longer attracted to Adam and deeply apologetic for any trouble he had caused. Tommy and Kim gladly reunited in the Command Center, so all Adam had to do was ask Rocky if he still liked him.
He really didn't want to hear “No,” though, so it was taking him a little while to gather the courage. Rocky was standing nearby with a completely unreadable expression, clearly waiting for Adam to ask.
“Um, Rocky... I guess you're waiting for me to ask if you still like me, so... I guess I'd better actually ask. Okay.” Adam took a deep breath. “Rocky, do you-”
It was about as perfect a first kiss as Adam could hope for.
***
As Rocky and Adam caught up all the other rangers on what the heck had been going on between the two of them, which mostly consisted of explaining that no, they actually had no idea that the other liked them back until just this afternoon, Adam mentioned that he wished he could tell Miriam the story.
“Wait, which Miriam?” Kim asked.
“What do you mean?” Adam replied.
“Well, Zack and Jason spent forever not realizing they liked each other until they ran into each other at Mother Miriam's bookstore over in the gay district.” Tommy explained.
“But I was going there for months! How did I not run into them?”
“Well,” Billy said, “you said your father only let you come to the city with him on weekends, right?”
“...Yeeeees.”
“Zack and Jason were in the habit of visiting on days when they didn't have classes to teach halfway across town, which ruled out weekends.” Billy finished.
“So, do you guys know where to find her?”
“Sorry,” Kim said.
“I never really had a reason to go,” Tommy said, “or I'd help you out.”
“Perhaps we could contact Zack and Jason in Switzerland,” Billy offered, “my computer is connected to the world wide web, and I believe that all delegates to the Peace Conference are allotted e-mail addresses. This way we wouldn't have to worry about you getting nervous while calling them, or the time difference.”
***
Billy got the return email not long after, and so Adam and Rocky found themselves standing outside an apartment not far from the bookstore.
“Are you sure you're ready to do this, Adam?” Rocky asked.
“Absolutely. Now stop pretending that you're not the nervous one.” Adam knocked on the door.
“Who is it? I'm not expecting visitors.”
“It's Adam from Stone Canyon, Miriam. I didn't know how to find you after your store was attacked.” The door opened.
“Adam! I've missed you! You seem to be doing well.”
“Oh, I definitely am. Have you been alright?”
“Oh, you know. No better or worse than usual. Who's this you have with you?”
“Well, I figured after all I told you about him, I should introduce you to Rocky. My boyfriend.”
