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Becoming a Power Ranger had done wonders for Chase’s ability to give a shit, which meant that when he woke up late for his shift at the Dino Bite he actually panicked. He literally jumped out of his bed and onto his feet in shock. On the other side of the bed, Riley mumbled something and turned over, trying to sleep in on what was scheduled as his day off.
“What’s wrong Chase,” he asked as he wrapped the newly-freed blankets around his body.
Chase was busy scrambling into the shower. “I’m late for my shift and Kendall said that if it happened again she would throw me off the roof of the museum!” he shouted from the bathroom.
Riley sighed and realized that he wasn’t going to get back to sleep after all. “Okay, calm down. I seriously doubt she would go through with that.”
“You don’t know her like I do!” his boyfriend called. “She’s got the memory of an elephant and the strength to match. Say, can you pass me my toothbrush so I can multitask?”
Riley stretched his arms. “Yeah, sure.” He got up and helped his boyfriend out. “Look, I’ll call Kendall and tell her that you slept in. I’m sure she’ll be fine, and either way it’ll sound better coming from me.”
“Shanksh fabve!” came Chase’s muffled reply.
A few minutes later, Kendall was sufficiently warned and promised not to throw Chase off the roof, so long as he was at work within half an hour. Easy, really. Riley assured her that Chase would be there and ended the call, turning to see his boyfriend wrapped in a towel and franticly digging through his closet.
“That is a great look for you,” Riley said with a smirk.
Chase ignored him. “I have no clean shirts. How can I have no clean shirts? Last night was laundry night, why would I not do mu laundry..?” He slowly turned and looked at Riley, who was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. Chase immediately slapped a smile on. “Hey, babe!” He crossed the room and kissed Riley tenderly. “Last night was great. Great reason to not do laundry.”
Riley smiled and wrapped his arms around Chase’s neck. “Thank you. But, you have no clean shirts.”
“I have no clean shirts.”
“Wear one of mine.”
Chase tilted his head in confusion. “You have extra shirts?”
Riley silently moved past Chase and picked up the backpack that he had arrived with the previous night. “Of course I have extras, I came prepared. You never know when there might be a hotsauce stain or thunderstorm or boyfriend in need.” He pulled out a pair of green shirts, one a polo and the other a plaid button up.
Chase sighed with relief and took the polo from Riley’s hands. “Riley, you are a life saver.” He kissed him again. “How much time do I have left?”
“Twenty minutes.”
Chase moaned. “Damn, not enough to squeeze one in.”
Chase made it to the museum with five minutes to spare, bursting through the back door into the kitchen and immediately firing up the grill. Good thing nobody ordered burgers for breakfast. Mostly.
But when the others came into the kitchen they stopped and stared. Chase didn’t realize until the silence became deafening, and looked up in time to see Shelby picking her jaw up off the floor. “What?”
“It finally happened,” she murmured, then took a breath. “You have to tell me everything. What did you have for dinner? Was there music? Were there candles?” She took a step towards him with every word, eventually forcing him to back into a corner.
“Whoa, whoa, what are you on about?”
“You and Riley finally spent a night together,” Tyler said from the doorway with a grin. “Which, thank god, because the tension in here was just getting to be too much.”
“How did you two...it’s the shirt, isn’t it.” He plucked at the green fabric around his chest. “I could own a green shirt, you know.”
Shelby scoffed. “Please, we’ve all been colour-coding since we became rangers. It’s like a rule or something.”
Kendall walked in behind them and stopped in her tracks. “Good Lord.”
Chase rolled his eyes. “Oh come on Ms. Morgan, you knew Riley was at my place. He called you!”
“Yes, I know, it’s just...you be careful flexing in that thing. We don’t want you hulking out or anything.”
Tyler nodded. “Yeah man, that is pretty tight.”
Chase looked down at it. Okay, yes, it certainly left very little to the imagination with regards to his physique. And it was kinda tight across the shoulders. And it might not be the best thing if it got cold in the kitchen while he was wearing that. But still... “It’s not that tight!”
The others made identical “Eh...” sounds.
A few hours later the team received a panicked call from Riley, who had seen Poisandra and Curio leading a small squadron of Vivix preparing an attack on the city. By that time the other five rangers had gathered at the cafe, so they hopped into Tyler’s Jeep to meet Riley in the woods.
The team arrived just as the aliens were marching out of their hiding spot. “Look Poisandra! The rangers came out to greet us!”
“Then I guess we’ll just have to welcome them with open arms...and fists!”
“Don’t bet on it Poisandra!” Riley shouted as the team assembled behind him. “Dino Chargers ready!”
“Wait!” Curio shouted, and the shout sounded so panicked the rangers really did. “Look at those two!” the ragdoll continued, pointing at Chase and Riley.
Poisandra looked at them. “Hey...how come you two are wearing the same colour?” she demanded.
“Uh...” Chase was caught off guard. Were they really questioning his style choices? “I didn’t have any clean shirts this morning, so I borrowed one of Riley’s...”
Curio was freaking the fuck out. “Oh no! Remember last time they played with their outfits? It ruined everything!”
Poisandra nodded. “You’re right, Curio! They must be trying to trick us! Well, we’ll see who’s smarter this time. Catch you later, Power losers!” And with a snap of her fingers, the troop teleported themselves back to the ship.
The rangers just stood there in a daze. “They scared of...shirt?” Koda asked. The poor man barely understood clothing, how long would it take to help him grasp the concept of what just happened?
Ivan just rolled with it, clapping Chase on the back. “Excellent work, Sir Chase! Mayhaps we should exchange shirts with each other more often.”
Tyler frowned. “Uh...I don’t think that needs to happen.”
Riley was smiling wildly. “Hey, at least it saved us a fight today!” He held his hand up to his boyfriend for a high-five. Chase grinned and raised his arm as well, causing a loud *rrriiiip* to sound from the shirt as a seam split in two. Chase grimaced.
Riley just shrugged. “Well, I guess I’ll have to borrow one of your shirts next time.”