Chapter Text
Zack breaks the silence one Friday while they’re walking out of the hole in which they’ve been training all day without stopping.
They’re all sweaty and disgusting.
Trini’s shirt has been ripped open by a particularly brutal fight with Jason, and she swears she can feel Kimberly’s eyes on her partly exposed chest.
“I guess we’ll see each other on Monday?”
It was the first weekend they’d been granted freedom. No training.
Just a couple of days to get their shit together, recover from some bruises and cuts, and clear their minds. And it had only been after a lot of whining that they’d actually gotten this break.
“Yeah.” Jason smiles. “We’re all coming after school, right? I propose a good old fashioned race!”
“Why are you such a masochist, dude?” Zack punches the Red Ranger lightly on the arm. “Didn’t you suffer enough ass kicking today? I’m pretty sure you spend more time on the ground trying to fight me.”
“Maybe I like it rough.” Jason pushes Zack away as he laughs.
Trini turns to Kimberly, who is walking by her side silently chuckling, and rolls her eyes. “Boys.”
“Oh, come on! You love us.”
“No, I’m pretty sure I don’t.”
They arrive at Billy’s house. He lives closer to the mine.
It had become routine by now, stopping by his house to drop him off. They didn’t even think about it anymore, they all just walked together to Billy’s house, and then Kimberly’s.
Jason and Trini had to walk through that side of town anyway to get to where they each lived.
Zack didn’t. But nobody questioned why he went with them instead of heading straight home.
They all knew he probably wasn’t in a rush to get there.
Billy waves his hand at them as goodbye and turns to head inside the house, but ultimately thinks it over and stops. He turns around and goes to hug each one of them individually.
Zack and Trini pat his back uncomfortably, but Jason and Kimberly hug him back enthusiastically.
“See you on Monday!”
And with that, Billy is gone and the rest of them continue their way through the now dark and silent town.
****
Trini can’t sleep.
It probably has something to do with the fact that it’s barely 9pm on a Friday night, and obviously not late enough for her body, tired as it may be from the training. It’s too early.
The only reason she’s already in bed is because she wants to avoid her family at all cost. She wants to avoid her parent’s questions and their passive-aggressive comments about… everything.
She doesn’t have answers to their questions.
And even if she could try to explain to them what has been going on lately in her life (well, she kinda did try that one time during lunch, even if she’d said it with a monotonous sarcastic tone that guaranteed her parents wouldn’t take her seriously), she couldn’t.
They were Power Rangers. But they couldn’t tell anyone.
“What’s the point of being a superhero if you can’t even brag about it?”
She shook her head to dismiss that thought and she tried again to fall asleep.
****
The walls asphyxiate him. There is too much silence.
If he deson't move and he pays attention, he can hear the faint sound of his mom’s breathing.
But the stifling silence all around him is driving him crazy.
Zack is astonishingly bad at being alone for all the time he spents on his own. Or maybe it's the fact that he had been all week with the other Rangers, and now he doesn't quite know how to be alone anymore.
He sats up on the couch and grabs his binder.
He needs some air.
****
Jason arrives at the place they spent their camping night. There are still pieces of wood in the ground, and a black spot where they made the fire days before.
He thinks about that night, and for the first time wishes he had opened up more to the rest of the team.
He starts looking for more wood and branches. It’s not like he has much of an idea of what he’s doing, but he doesn’t think making a fire can be that difficult.
He’s wrong.
Without Zack’s help, it turns out to be incredibly frustrating and unsuccessful. He gives up after fifteen minutes and he sits near the result of his failed attempt, letting his body relax for the first time that day. He proceeds to grab a small rock and draw lines on the ground.
“Wow, you really sucked at that.”
He acts impulsively, and throws the rock towards the direction of the voice, startled.
Billy catches it effortlessly. He stares at it, a puzzles expression on his face.
“Why are you giving me this?”
“I…” Jason lets out a relieved laugh when he realizes it’s just the other Ranger. “I’m sorry, you scared me.”
“Oh.” Billy shrugs and walks towards Jason, sitting next to him and giving him back the stone. Jason accepts it with an awkward nod.
“What are you doing here, Billy?”
Billy shifts uncomfortably. “I have to be here.”
He says it with determination, but he sounds tired, and although Jason doesn’t want to upset him, he’s worried. He feels an instinct inside him to protect the rest of the team. He has to know if Billy is okay.
“I’m sorry, I- I don’t understand.”
Billy nods to himself several times before he explains. “It’s just a routine thing. I…- Since we did the campfire the other night, I have to come here for a while before I go to sleep. Otherwise, it drives me crazy.” He avoids Jason’s stare.
“Hey, it’s okay.” He puts his hand on Billy’s shoulder. “I’m glad I decided to come too so you’re not alone.”
“Me too.”
They both turn to their left when they hear the sound of feet on the ground to see Trini with Kimberly.
The Yellow Ranger takes a look at them. “Woops, sorry guys, didn’t mean to interrupt your date.”
Billy smiles, oblivious to the sarcasm. “It’s okay! We can all hang out!”
Kimberly doesn’t miss the way Jason stares at Billy as if he’s the most beautiful thing on this earth. Besides, it’s not as if she disagrees.
She grabs Trini by the arm and drags her towards the other two. She then starts making a fire with the help of Billy.
A couple of minutes later, there’s a fire big enough to warm all of them, and Jason rolls his eyes as Kimberly rubs it in his face. They all make small talk about being unable to fall asleep after the adrenaline of the last week, avoiding to talk about the fact that they’re all so used to spending time with each other now that it is weird to spend a whole weekend apart. Jason wonders if it has anything to do with their part as a superhero team. Maybe they’re supposed to have this bond so that they always remain close.
It's ten minutes later when the last member of the group appears.
“You guys better not be doing this shit without me.”
Trini smirks at Zack as he walks towards them. “Oh, does Zack Taylor actually like us? Does he want to sit by the fire with us and tell us how much he’s missed us?”
“You do realize you’re also here, right, Trini Cheese Beanie?”
She snorts and shakes her head. “…cheesy beanie? What the-”
“It’s because your beanie is yellow. I think.” Billy explains. “Also, you’re the Yellow Ranger, so that’s like… double yellow. Or maybe he was referring to the meaning of cheesy, which could also be interpreted as lacking style or good taste.”
“Thank you, Billy.” Zack can’t help but grin at Billy’s smile.
Trini pretends to be annoyed at all of them. “Either way, that was an awful nickname, even for you.”
They sit for a while in silence, sharing the warmth of the fire, and looking at the stars, too bright in the sky above them.
“Do you guys think we’re ready?”
They all understand what Jason means with that.
“No. We can’t even morph, for god’s sake.”
“I don’t think we’ll ever be ready to fight.”
“Kim, do you have to be such a downer?”
“Hey, you started it!”
Jason chuckles, amused, as he lays his back on the ground and stares at the numerous constellations he never bothered to learn.
Trini stares at him. “What the hell you laughing at?”
“Nothing.” He can feel her eyes on him, though, and he feels to need to explain. “Look at us! We’re such a fucking mess!”
“Yup, that we are.”
“Shup up, Zack.”
“Make me.”
“Well,” Billy interrupts the banter and they all get quiet, the soothing effect of the Blue Ranger acting as a temporary distraction. “I think we should know more about each other.”
Zack shifts uncomfortable. “Why?”
“Because we’re not gonna be a good team until we trust each other. Until we really know each other.”
“Billy’s right.” They all look at Trini with surprised expressions. They were certainly not expecting that response from the short and moody girl. “What? I may not be into the corny shit some of you pull out of your asses, but I’m not stupid. Billy was able to morph because he cared . It makes sense. And we won’t be able to truly care about each other if we don’t know shit about who we really are.”
“That was beautiful.”
“Shut up, Zack.”
Jason nods at Billy. “Okay, country boy. Let’s do this.”
Silence surrounds them again, and they wait expectantly for someone to break the ice.
Kimberly sighs as she moves closer to the others near the fire. “I have something to share with the rest of the class.”
Billy smils appreciatively. “Great!”
And so, Kimberly tells them everything.
(Trini holds her hand through all of it.)