Work Text:
Riley stood on the track, where he practiced every morning, scanning his watch in ten-minute intervals. Every Tuesday and Thursday Chase would meet him at the track and they would train; however, Chase was nowhere to be seen today. He wondered where Chase could be. He paced around looking at his watch then curled his nose. Riley would never admit it but he loved training with Chase. Partially because he harbored feelings for Chase no one knew about. Strong feelings.
Last Summer, when Riley first became a Power Ranger, he'd cultivated a close friendship with Chase. Riley always knew his friendship with Chase was... different from other friendships. Maybe Chase suspected it too. You see ever since Riley turned 18 it had become apparent to him that he liked boys... especially Chase.
He waited another 20 minutes before he tried training on his own but couldn't concentrate. Every time he did a sit-up, he imagined Chase at his feet, holding his ankles for him. Every push-up he heard Chase's smarmy voice making a clever comment. Frustrated, Riley gave up and decided to get ready for work. Maybe he'd see Chase at work. Then he'd ask Chase why he didn't show up for practice.
***
At the DinoBite Cafe Riley and Shelby were overworked. Koda was watching the grill but it was a particularly busy Tuesday. Normally, the crew would be a little bigger but Ivan and Tyler were off investigating something for Kendall and Chase was nowhere to be seen. Riley walked back into the kitchen and saw Chase putting on his apron.
"Hey, where were you?" Riley said angrily.
"Oh sorry bro, I was uh, busy," Chase maneuvered passed Riley and into the dining room.
Riley looked over at Koda hoping he would explain why Chase had been so late but he just shrugged. After the initial rush of customers had died down Riley cornered Chase in the back.
"Chase, where were you this morning?"
Chase sucked on a blackberry soda, raising an eyebrow curiously.
"We were supposed to train."
"Oh!" Chase put down the soda and put his hands on Riley's shoulders. "Sorry about that mate, I was with Kaylee."
Riley felt a splinter dig into his heart. Not big enough to evoke an obvious reaction but painful enough to make itself known. Riley smiled awkwardly. "Oh, okay."
"Look, I'll make it up to you okay? Tomorrow?"
"Uh, yeah sure."
After their shift ended Kaylee sat in the dining room waiting for Chase to finish his shift. He walked into the dining room, sat next to her, and started talking. Riley came out to adjust some tables and Chase flagged him over. Riley looked around curiously, unsure if Chase was summoning him, then pointed a finger to himself and mouthed the words "me". Chase nodded so Riley walked over to him and Kaylee.
"Hey Kaylee this is one of my best mates, Riley," Chase and Kaylee stood up. Kaylee brushed her flaxen hair aside and smiled at Riley. She was so beautiful... so radiant. Of course, Chase liked her.
"Hey, you're Riley?"
"Yeah. It's nice to meet you."
"He's told me a lot about you."
Riley pursed his lips, "yeah?"
"Yeah. He said you just bought a telescope."
"Yeah, I did."
"Are you into-"
They both said "astrophysics" simultaneously and started laughing.
"I guess I'm kind of all over the place," Riley chuckled, "but I really love space."
"Me too." Kaylee looked over at Chase, "hey, me and Chase are going to the planetarium tomorrow, would you like to join us?"
Riley looked over at Chase then smiled at Kaylee. "Uh sure," Riley returned with an awkward smile.
***
The next day, Riley found himself walking around the planetarium talking to Kaylee. He couldn't fight back his immense jealousy but their conversation was only making him like her more.
"So I'm thinking of going to the University of Auckland to study astrophysics," Kaylee said to Riley.
"Are you?" Riley smiled at her. Envy ripping at his stomach.
"Yeah. That way when Summer's over maybe me and Chase can still see each other, and it's a good school for astrophysics."
"I've heard," Riley was cheery but only in a false capacity. Fortunately for Riley, he'd spent most of his life faking who he really was anyways. It was hard enough for normal people to fit in. Riley always felt it was an uphill struggle for him to prove he was "just another one of the guys".
"What about you?"
"Me?" Riley smiled and then looked away shaking his head, "oh I don't know. I don't even know where I want to go to school yet."
"Well, you're super smart."
"Yeah I have a bunch of college's knocking on my door but I just don't know where I want to go to school yet."
"Maybe you could go to Auckland too?"
"Yeah!" He spoke brightly but with fake enthusiasm. He might as well had been eagerly telling her "no".
"Hey you guys, let's all take a selfie," Chase interrupted keenly.
"You and selfies," Kaylee snickered.
They all three made gestures, Riley holding up a peace sign, as Chase took the picture. Chase put his arm around Kaylee and they started to walk off together. Riley pretended to look up at a display of the planet Saturn but he couldn't take his eyes off Kaylee and Chase. Chase nuzzled her, making her laugh, and then whispered something into her ear. Riley wanted that. He wanted Chase to treat him like that. To nuzzle him. To whisper into his ears.
***
The next day at work Riley was irritable. Riley could sometimes be a little... edgy (despite his sweet looks), but he was being more irascible than usual.
"Koda, I've been waiting on this order for the last 15 minutes!" Riley said standing at the counter.
"Me still cook!" Koda waved Riley away as he flipped a hamburger.
"Ugh," Riley exhaled and rolled his eyes. He turned around and Shelby came and stood next to him.
"Okay why are you being so moody," Shelby crossed her arms over the counter.
"I'm not moody," Riley turned around, "Koda!"
"Why Riley so mad!" Koda said putting his order on the counter.
"I'm not, okay?" Riley grabbed the order and walked away. Koda and Shelby looked at each other and both shrugged.
Riley went back into the kitchen to get some condiments so Shelby decided to trap him and interrogate him again. As Riley placed a few tubes of ketchup onto a tray Shelby walked up to him.
"Shelby," Riley craned his neck and gave her a blank stare," I've got to put these out."
"What's wrong with you?"
Chase walked into the back room and grabbed the tray of ketchup bottles from Riley. "Sorry, I'm late again guys, me and Kaylee were hanging out!" As he left Riley watched him, rolling his eyes as he disappeared. Shelby caught the expression and became curious.
"What was that?" Shelby started to grin.
"Huh?"
"Chase said he was hanging out with Kaylee and you rolled your eyes."
Riley turned red. "Uh, that's not true."
"You don't like his new girlfriend!"
"What? What are you talking about?"
"Riley. I know you have a crush on Chase."
"Shhhh!" Riley quickly hushed Shelby. "How did you know?"
"How can you not. Last summer you guys hung out constantly."
"That doesn't mean anything."
"I could just tell okay?"
"Oh, 'you can just tell'. What's that supposed to mean?"
"Riley calm down. Nobody cares."
Riley was embarrassed but Shelby always put him at ease. "You think he knows?"
"Chase? Pfft, I don't think Chase knows what shoe to put on what foot." Shelby started giggling but stopped when she noticed Riley wasn't laughing. "You really like him huh?"
Riley quietly looked at the floor.
"Why don't you tell him?"
"Shelby, he has a girlfriend. I don't think he's... like me."
"You won't know unless you ask him."
"Pfft, whatever Shelbs. We need to get back to work."
That night Chase and Riley were left behind to close. Last summer whenever they would close together they would talk for hours. But tonight was different. Riley swept the floor as Chase cleaned the grill but Chase didn't say anything to Riley. He would occasionally get off the grill long enough to send Kaylee a text then begin his next set of tasks.
Riley thought about what Shelby had told him. What would happen if Riley told Chase how he felt about him? Riley was growing desperate for Chase's attention. Every text he sent, Riley could feel his anxiety climbing, his resentment growing. If he didn't face down these feelings he would end up heartbroken.
Riley walked into the kitchen as Chase typed Kaylee a new message. He maneuvered around the prep table, and close to the grill. Chase got off his phone and saw Riley walking around the kitchen awkwardly.
"Oh, you done out there?" Chase spoke up.
Riley moved closer to Chase, "Hey, Chase," Riley's murmured.
"What's up bro?"
"Can we talk about something?"
Riley walked up to Chase and looked him in his eyes.
"What's up bro?"
Riley wanted to say the words. He wanted to say "Chase I like you," or anything that would approximate those feelings. He wanted to ask him about last summer... he wanted to know if Chase felt the same way about him. Chase's phone buzzed and he turned away to answer it. Riley shook his head and looked to the floor defeated.
"One second mate."
Riley took a step back. He felt his chest grow hollow. His throat went dry. His eyes were burning. When Chase finished sending Kaylee the text he looked back at Riley.
"So what's up?"
Riley was frozen. He studied Chase's face until he knew he was acting awkward, "Nothing," Riley popped on a fake smile,"It's nothing. I'm going to go ahead and head out."
Riley removed his apron and started leaving, "Hey Riley," Chase called. Riley turned around, his heart fluttering with anticipation, "We trainin' tomorrow?"
Riley's heart sunk into the pit of his stomach. He flashed another counterfeit grin, "Yeah Chase. See you tomorrow."
As Riley left the DinoBite Cafe he swallowed a lump in his throat and started to cry. No matter how hard Riley tried to win: at baseball, in combat, against bullies in high school- he could never seem to win. He couldn't win anything. Not even the heart of the person he treasured more than anyone in the world.
The next morning Chase went to the track to train with Riley. But Riley was nowhere to be found.