"I'd say have a little faith and you'll see, if I could write a letter to me" (brad paisley)

[starandrea]

For once, I knew that this would be the last part of a story before I wrote it! So ♥ This is the last part of "straight up," but I'm sure there will be another story for two reasons. 1)K/Dillon/Ziggy is so adorable in my mind, and 2)today's episode of RPM left me going, wtf? Great fanfic has been born of fandom's utter confusion, so I have faith. We will write until the senseless is less so.

Also, I'm oddly distracted by SPD all of a sudden. I don't know why. This morning I was suddenly like, "But Kat's children! And Hyanni! This is so important!" I wish I knew what it all has to do with RJ being a girl, but I assume once the children are born they'll be more communicative. (I feel like someone in the future told them they weren't allowed to talk to anyone at JKP until RJ was a girl.)

For previous entries tagged "straight up,"
click and scroll down (reverse chronology).


what should be done

Dear Casey...

The two Rangers from the other dimension left as abruptly as they'd come, announcing one morning that they had a restaurant to run and classes to teach. Neither of which had stopped them from spending almost a week at the garage, but Dr. K had apparently found a way to diffuse the bioenergetic drain, and RJ was eager to get back and see if it was helping "the rest of the wolves."

Ziggy was pretty sure that statement had alarmed Dillon, but he wouldn't say why. The only other person to notice his reaction was Scott, who seemed willing to write it off as just another weird thing Dillon did. Normally Ziggy would have asked, but Dillon was already putting a lot of thought into the whole dating thing and it didn't seem smart to distract him more than he already was.

You said if it helped, I should write it down for you. So here's what you told me:

"I would have been more subtle," Ziggy told them that first night, before he reconsidered. "Well--let's face it--no, I wouldn't have been. But if I had been, I'm pretty sure you guys wouldn't have gotten it, so really, that's just proof that my natural approach lends itself really well to the way you're all, like, focused and... unsubtle."

Dr. K gave him a look like he had suggested changing the way they fought. "Why would greater subtlety be desirable?"

"Mostly it keeps people from getting their feelings hurt," Ziggy offered. "As much, anyway. 'Cause if you don't say, 'hey, I want to date you,' then the other person doesn't have to say, 'hey, I really don't.' They can just, you know. Let you know without having to actually say it."

She frowned. "That sounds inefficient," she said, her eyes flicking to Dillon.

Ziggy took that as an excuse to look at him too.

The only one I can do anything about is me, right? I'm not really used to that. I mean, usually it's all about other people.

"I'm not big on subtlety." Dillon said it like it was the understatement of the year, like he didn't even know why it was a question. "You got something to say, you say it."

"I'm gay," Ziggy blurted out.

Dillon held his gaze. "Yeah," he said evenly. "Kind of guessed that."

"Um, what, you mean--" He probably shouldn't have admitted that. Why had he admitted that? Why was he even doing this? "Just now?"

"No." Dillon looked faintly amused, and that was better than pissed off, right? "I can hear you breathe, you know. It's not like I don't know who you react to."

Wow, that was actually way creepier than he'd ever thought of Dillon as being.

"But you always talk about impressing 'chicks'." It was like she made the quotes audible when she said it, Ziggy thought. And he could hear her frowning. He still hadn't managed to look away from Dillon.

"Yeah, it turns out women don't really go for that," he said. "Saying that you want to impress chicks isn't actually about hooking up with women. It's about posturing for other guys."

But I tried telling those other people about me, and the weirdest thing happened.

"I find it amusing," Dr. K said unexpectedly.

That made him look. At her. He looked away from Dillon long enough to catch Dr. K's uncertain glance between the two of them, but he had no idea what it meant.

"What, talking about chicks?"

She looked down like she was shrugging, then sat back in her chair. Which was hard when her feet barely reached the floor, but she managed. "Well, that. And the way Dillon rolls his eyes whenever you do it."

"I don't roll my eyes," Dillon said.

"Then you have some clever disguise that makes it look like you're rolling your eyes when you're not," she told him. "Because I've seen you do it."

"Um, hi," Ziggy interrupted. "Should I go?"

He didn't really want to see them being all cute when he was feeling this stupid.

"Can we take her?" Dillon asked, jerking his head at the computer screens.

Ziggy just stared at him.

"On a date," Dillon clarified. "You were gonna ask me, right? I'm with her. But I can't get her to leave the damn base. I'm pretty sure you can."

"So, wait," Ziggy said. "You'll go out with me because I can get her to go too?"

Dillon gave him a look like he was an idiot, which actually wasn't a look he got from Dillon very often. "I'll go out with you 'cause you're funny. I'm pretty sure she will too. It would save a lot of time if we all went together."

They listened. The people I was talking to totally got it. Still not sure how, but that part was up to them, right? And they did it.

Between the look and the explanation--Ziggy had finally learned to hear "you're funny" as "I like you," and he was embarrassed it had taken him as long as it had--he figured Dillon had just said no. Well, yes. But no, he wasn't doing it just because it would make Dr. K happy.

But maybe it would, Ziggy thought?

"So, Dr. K," he began, leaning in between two of her screens so he was on a level with whatever they displayed. "Ever been bowling?"

Was it his imagination, or did she hesitate for, like, half a second?

"Hard as it seems to be for you to remember," she said, "I do work around here. Quite a lot of it. I don't have time to go gallivanting off across the city on unimportant business."

"You make time for his team nights," Dillon pointed out.

"Yes, and all I need is to add a date night to that list of distractions," she retorted.

"Oh, hey, that's a good idea," Ziggy said. "If we put it on the schedule, you could plan for it, right?"

"I can't magically add more hours to the day," she informed him. "No matter what's on the schedule."

"Can I help," Dillon muttered. He sounded so gruff it didn't even register as a question until he continued, "It's not like I've got anything else to do while you're all asleep. Can you... I don't know, leave some of it on the screens or something?"

They were both staring at him again.

"Or not," Dillon added. "Whatever."

"Possibly," Dr. K said at the same time. Carefully. Well, careful for her, which still would have sounded flippant from anyone else. "You do--make it go more quickly."

The corner of Dillon's mouth quirked, and they shared a look. This time Ziggy didn't ask to leave. When he wasn't feeling so stupid, it really was cute.

I get that it doesn't always work like that, but I picked the right people and I got lucky. You gave me good advice.

He dragged them both to the bowling alley the next night, and it was hilarious. It was adorable. It was exhilarating. It was the best time he'd had since becoming a Ranger, and that was saying something. He was totally incapable of sleeping afterwards, so he stayed up and wrote a letter to Casey instead.

He got interrupted a couple of times... well, four, to be exact, although maybe the fourth one didn't count. After every single member of the team who hadn't gone bowling that night stopped by to quiz him about it, he went down to the kitchen for a snack and maybe a quick look to see if Dillon was around. There he found RJ, ended up talking about Dillon instead of to him, and was left with the sort of comforting feeling that Casey's girlfriend didn't find it at all strange.

He finished the letter on the kitchen counter, signed it with a flourish, and offered it to RJ to give to Casey. The next day he was glad he had, because they were leaving and he wasn't sure he would have wanted to hand Casey a note in front of everyone.

He would have, though. He knew he would have done it anyway. Sometimes the things that should be done had to be done--and he could do them. That was a good feeling.

Thanks for that,
Ziggy

Comments

[guardian_of_hope]

As usual, fantabulous work here. I've been plotting a lot and writing a little, so having a new *Andrea fic is just the push I need to write...something.

"Then you have some clever disguise that makes it look like you're rolling your eyes when you're not," she told him. "Because I've seen you do it."

Totally a favorite line.