Chapter Text
THwack. ThUD. Thwack-WACK-duh-ShHHHHUCK!
“IVAN!” Kendall yelled from her work station as the head of the training dummy sailed through the air and ricocheted around the room before landing at her feet.
“Hmm?” Ivan turned towards her in a slight daze. He looked down at the fake head at her feet, “Oh that looks like mine.”
“Yes, Ivan, you just broke your training dummy, again,” Kendall gave him a quizzical look as she picked up the head, “Are you feeling ok?”
“Nothing to worry about, Kendall,” Ivan said absently taking the dummy head from her and jamming it back on the shoulders of the target. He turned and walked off without noticing it falling to the ground immediately after, “I think I shall go read that Morgan Tome you gave me.”
She stared at him as he walked off, “You mean the ‘kindle tablet?’”
“Mmm.”
Just then Shelby walked in. She looked between the two other rangers and the dummy head on the ground, “Something…. Up?”
“Ivan is acting very strange,” Kendall stepped forward to continue watching his retreating form before he vanished farther into the base, “He’s been very unfocused lately. Distracted and absent minded. He keeps practicing with his sword, but it’s wild and shoddy. I’m starting to get worried.”
“Maybe he’s…” Shelby began as she thought, “Actually I don’t know. It’s hard to tell what Ivan is thinking.”
“Well if you figure something out then let me know,” Kendall returned to her work station, “For now I have work to get done.”
Shelby picked up the decapitated dummy head and stared into its featureless eyes for a moment. She then followed the path of her friend deeper into the base. She rounded the corner and stopped in her tracks. Ivan was sitting on a couch, leaning forward with his face in his hands.
“Ivan… are you okay?”
“Lady Shelby! I am fine,” Ivan quickly sat back up and picked up the tablet and stared at its screen without comprehension, “Just reading.”
“Ivan…” Shelby sat down beside him and pulled the tablet from his hand as she handed him the head, “the dummy would disagree.”
The young man stared into the dummy’s face just as Shelby had done a moment ago. He sat in silence for a moment as a look of pain passed over his face. Then his face screwed up and immediately he turned and smiled at her. The look would probably fool most people, but Shelby had been around Ivan long enough to tell a fake smile from a genuine. She reached over and held his hand. Ivan then dropped his smile and hung his head.
“Ivan… talk to me,” a soft squeeze went from her hand to Ivan’s.
“I am struggling with some…. Modern concepts. It is vexing and…. Perhaps… has distracted me from my training and Ranger duties,” Ivan continued to look at the floor, but he did finally return her squeeze.
“Let’s go to the mall.”
“What?” Ivan looked up at her and raised a single eyebrow, “the mall?”
“If you’re having trouble with something modern, then let’s go to a modern place and just hang out. You spend too much time here alone.”
Ivan finally smiled a real grin at her, “Thank you, Lady Shelby, your friendship is of great value to me.”
She grabbed his hand and pulled him up from the couched and headed to the entrance of the base. As they entered the main area they were greeted by Chase and Tyler. Shelby quickly let go of Ivan’s hand when she noticed Tyler eyeing them.
“Hey you two, what’s up?” Tyler asked casually.
“We are heading to the mall,” Shelby told them matter-of-factly, “Ivan has been cooped up underground too long and needs some adventure time.”
“Sounds great,” Chase said picking up his skateboard, “I’ve been meaning to get some new football shoes.”
“Don’t just invite yourself along, Chase,” Tyler said with a smile on his face that reminded Shelby of Ivan’s earlier attempts, “maybe they want to go alone.”
The Pink and Gold Rangers eyed each other to see the other’s reaction. Ivan very slowly spoke, “No, I believe the saying is ‘the more the merrier.’”
“Then it’s settled then,” Chase said while grabbing Tyler’s shoulder, “We’re going to the mall!”
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It was about two hours into their mall adventure that Shelby finally figured it out. The four had wandered around for a while before landing in the shoe store. They waited around as Chase tried on nearly every pair, and Tyler attempted to explain the difference between American football and soccer to Ivan. They had finally exited the store, after Chase decided not to buy anything and went to the food court. Ivan and Shelby stood in line as the other two got them a table. Shelby was momentarily distracted by the cute guy in front of them when she noticed Ivan was staring at him as well. She followed his gaze and realized the now-smirking-Ivan was checking the guy’s butt out. The knight suddenly caught Shelby’s gaze out of the corner of his eye and his face flushed before suddenly going very pale.
“Ineedtousethegarderobe. Whydon’tyoustayhere?” Ivan rattled off and vanished. Shelby stood baffled and confused before she realized she was next in line.
A few minutes later Shelby stood outside of the men’s bathroom with the patience of a tiger stalking its prey. The intense look on her face startled several gentlemen exiting. By the time Shelby began to give up hope, Ivan walked through the door with his head down. He walked passed his friend and slowly started to walk towards the exit. Shelby casually took up a gait beside him.
“Food court is the other way,” Shelby said neutrally.
“Lady Shelby I feel unwell.”
“I didn’t know Sir Ivan, Knight of Zandar, would swoon so much over a cute butt,” Shelby said smiling. Ivan went pale again.
“I… I have no ideawhatyourereferingto,” He said slowly going into overdrive.
“It’s okay Ivan,” she laughed and touched his shoulder. She squeezed it again and gave him a serious look, “Is this what’s been bothering you?”
“It… it is. I had never had a name for my feelings until Tyler explained the idea after Lady Sara’s revelations. It… it was not something I had ever really thought about before,” he looked at the ground again. The stood quietly for a moment, and her silence made him look up again. She stared into his eyes with a look of pure concern and love.
“Ivan… it’s okay. We, your friends, are here for you.”
And that is when the brave knight of Zandar started to cry. The Pink Ranger gently moved forward and gave him a hug.
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“Wow, mate, I thought you were crazy, but maybe you’re on to something,” Chase said as he watched the two rangers embrace. He casually dipped another fry into his ketchup and popped it into his mouth. He and Tyler had a nice view of the two from their table, “Looks like Ivan and Shelby are hooking up.”
“Yeah,” Tyler said through gritted teeth.
“Didn’t expect it from them. I kinda thought Shelby had a thing for you, but I guess a knight is hard to resist. Ivan didn’t seem too keen on any lady, either. Guess that was the hold up until now.”
“Yeah.”
The Kiwi looked over at Tyler. He was gripping his drink hard enough that some of it had spilled on the table, “Probably, mate?”
“No,” the young man slowly unclenched his hand and mechanically started to clean up the mess. He’d nearly finished when the other two returned to the table.
“Everything ok?” Shelby said looking at the stack of wet napkins by Tyler’s tray.
“No,” he replied shortly. He looked up at the two of them with a great deal of interest, “Anything new with you two? Hmm?”
“No,” Ivan replied much too quickly. Tyler noticed his face looked rather flushed.
Chase sucked noisily on his drink as he looked at the three others who all seemed to be trying hard to avoid each other’s’ gazes, “Yeah…. Everything looks ok.”