Okay, so they were late. Not really late. Was a day considered extremely late? He really didn't know. Since he was rarely on time for anything, for Dustin the world fell more into instances of being here or there, of arriving and departing. The times these things actually occurred meant little.
Degrees of lateness he found were best judged by the reactions of others. And judging from Cam's reaction, they were very late. But since any perceived lateness was not his fault, he figured all was cool and Cam's frustration was aimed elsewhere.
Like at the desk clerk. Who had, you know, only been doing his job. It had left them stranded in the hallway, but that was cool. Maybe. Cam didn't seem happy at all.
They'd made it to LA, and even found the motel with only a few problems. But the others hadn't been at the rooms, and the desk clerk had refused to give them keys. Which was, well, the right and safe thing to do. Just way inconvenient.
Which had lead to Cam and him camping out in the hallway outside the rooms.
Cam hadn't stayed there long actually. He hadn't even sat down. As opposed to Dustin who had happily staked out his section of the floor, slouching kinda sideways, back against the wall and arm on his backpack.
Cam had paced around for a bit before muttering something about needing food. He headed off back toward the lobby, stopping only long enough to tell Dustin not to touch his laptop. As if he would. If Cam even had any good games left on it, he'd hidden them away after the last time Shane and Dustin had crashed it. Which had so not been on purpose. But try telling Cam that.
He didn't know how long he sat there. Again it was an arrival that marked the passage of time, as the others walked down the hallway. Most of them anyway.
Tori, Shane, and Blake rounded the corner and immediately pounced on him with teasing and digs about tardiness.
"Dude, it was so not my fault," he responded to one of Shane's jabs. Tori unlocked the door so they could move his things in. Next door Blake was doing the same with Cam's things.
"Sure, it wasn't," Tori said in a so not believing tone.
"No, really. See, Cam was still working this morning, so I went to the track --"
"What were you doing at the track?" Blake asked from the doorway. "I thought you were going to help Cam."
"He was helping him by leaving him alone, apparently," Shane snickered. But Dustin was glad 'cause it saved him from admitting he had been practicing his freestyle that everyone thought he had quit.
"Yeah, so then these other Rangers showed up --"
"Other Rangers? Dude, don't we have enough whacked out colors already?" Shane asked.
"Hey!" was Blake's indignant shout, but they ignored him.
"No, seriously, dude. The AstroRangers showed up! Well, some of them anyway. You know, the ones from the comics."
"Dustin, Power Rangers aren't real," Tori explained, putting his backpack on his bed. "It's just a comic book."
"But we're real!" he said rather defensively.
"Yeah, and they're not," Blake joined in. "What, did they want your help on some secret mission?"
"Well, now that you mention it," Dustin began. But he stopped as Shane couldn't contain his laughter any longer.
At Dustin's sad expression, Tori walked up and put her arm around his shoulders. "C'mon. Hunter's waiting with Cam downstairs. We'll go get dinner and you can tell us all about how some Power Rangers from space made you late."
As they closed the door and headed down the hall, Dustin pouted. "There were other Rangers too, you know. Non-space ones. One of them had a flying shark."
"Really?"
"Yeah, but Cam told me not to tell you about that part."
"Well, maybe I'll ask him myself then," Tori smirked as they rounded the corner.
It was a shame no one had invented coffee-flavored animal crackers. They weren't something that Cam had ever gone looking for, but now that he had coffee in one hand and animal crackers in another, it only seemed natural to combine them. And after today, there was something about dunking a lion in scalding hot coffee and then biting its head off that he found very satisfying.
He liked Dustin. At least, he told himself that he liked Dustin. But there were times when the Earth ninja's refusal to take anything he cared about seriously made him crazy. And Dustin's constant presence over the last couple of days had surpassed the level of normal annoyance and threatened to cross the line into serious anger.
His brooding was interrupted by the arrival of a rowdy group just outside the lobby doors. He looked down at his coffee, dipped another lion into the black liquid, and crunched down on it determinedly. He planned to avoid all contact with the group as it transited the lobby, but the group had other plans.
"Hey Cam!"
"Cam, my man, where've you been!"
"Dude, I thought you were going to make sure Dustin got here on time!"
Tori, Shane, and Blake descended on him, with Hunter looming conspicuously silent in the background. Conspicuous at least to him, maybe because Hunter was the first one he looked for when he realized who the raucous new arrivals were. Blue eyes met his over Blake's shoulder, and Hunter held his gaze steadily.
"Where's Dustin?" Shane was asking. "You didn't, like, ditch him or something, did you?"
"No," Cam muttered, "but not for lack of trying." Attuned to Hunter even when he looked away, he didn't miss the Crimson Ranger's smirk. Narrowing his eyes, he added, "He's upstairs, outside your rooms."
"We better go get him before he starts unpacking in the hallway," Tori said, shooting him a smile and a sympathetic look. "You're in with Hunter and Blake; is that okay?"
Cam deliberately didn't look at Hunter. "Sure, fine. I'll be up as soon as I finish my coffee." He could have done with a few more minutes of quiet, to tell the truth, and this was the easiest way to get them.
"Yeah, where'd you get the animal crackers?" Hunter asked, ignoring the vending machine prominently located on the other side of the lobby. "I'll keep you company if I get some food out of it."
"Dude, I'm hungry too," Shane put in, but Tori wasn't about to let their mission be derailed.
"Dustin first," she said firmly. "Then dinner."
"I'll move your stuff into our room," Blake offered. "Then we can all meet you back down here on our way to dinner."
Cam opened his mouth to warn him automatically, "Be careful with--"
"The laptop," Hunter finished for him. He was already halfway across the lobby, searching his pockets for change on the way to the vending machine. His words were directed over his shoulder at Cam. "Tori and I had a bet on about whether you'd bring it or not."
Cam raised his eyebrows at Tori. Her shrug held only a hint of remorse. "What can I say?" she asked good-naturedly. "I'm always an optimist!"
"Time to go," Blake advised, putting a hand on her shoulder and steering her toward the door. "Shane, you coming?"
"Right behind you," Shane replied immediately.
The noise of their passage had faded into the hallway by the time Hunter joined him again, sprawling across a nearby chair with no regard for its structure. He made it look as though the chair was supposed to conform to him instead of the other way around. "So you couldn't survive another few minutes in Dustin's presence, huh?"
Cam gave him an annoyed look. "You told him to stick with me, didn't you. Did you think I wouldn't come if someone wasn't reminding me every five minutes?"
Hunter just shrugged. "Thought you might talk yourself out of it. Duty before pleasure, and all that." He didn't deny the Dustin allegation.
Cam was tempted to question the "pleasurable" aspect of an event he hadn't wanted to attend in the first place, but he managed to restrain himself. His eye was drawn to the Ritz Bitz crackers that Hunter still hadn't opened. "Did you just get those for show, or are you planning to eat them?"
"Why, you want some?" Hunter offered them to him, then opened them himself when Cam shook his head. "I figured food was a better excuse than wanting to see my boyfriend."
He was really into this "boyfriend" thing lately. That was the second time in as many days that he'd called Cam his boyfriend, and Cam hated to admit that he didn't mind. So he ignored it as much as possible, choosing not to think about it in lieu of actually wondering how it made him feel. And why.
Cam swallowed some more coffee, wondering suddenly how much caffeine it would take before he could keep up with Hunter. He wasn't sure he had ever reached that level of alertness--the point where the things Hunter said would make sense, the point where he might be able to anticipate Hunter's actions... The point where he would understand what, exactly, Hunter wanted from him.
It irritated him that he was starting to wonder more and more about Hunter's motives, because that meant they mattered, and that meant that Cam's own motives were suspect. Unfortunately, being irritated with something didn't make it go away. In fact, the opposite was usually true. He was becoming resigned to the fact that the more irritated he was, the closer he would let Hunter get, because any change was a good change. They couldn't go on like this indefinitely.
Hunter wasn't talking, although he had started to munch absently on the crackers. He was staring across the lobby at a wall that couldn't possibly be worth the attention he was giving it--but then, he would probably say the same thing about Cam's coffee. Were they both, then, avoiding each other? Not looking, not talking, not wanting to seem like they cared.
He opened his mouth at the same time that Hunter started with, "Y'know--"
Hunter stopped, and they glanced at each other. "Nothing," Cam said with a shake of his head. "Go ahead."
Hunter studied him for a moment, then shrugged. "I was just gonna ask what kept you. Didn't have second thoughts, did you?"
"Isn't that what Dustin was for?" Cam inquired, trying not to grimace. It really wasn't Dustin's fault that Hunter had decided Cam needed babysitting. But it was hard to transfer his annoyance when Hunter was sitting there looking...
Looking like what? He couldn't answer that question without returning to the issue of motive. Why was Hunter working so hard at this? Why insist on Cam's presence in the first place, why call him when they weren't together, why dissociate from the others just to keep him company when he was feeling anti-social?
"Are you really mad about Dustin?" Hunter demanded. "Or are you just tired and cranky?"
The anger that had been threatening flared unexpectedly. "Gee, Hunter, why would I be tired and cranky after spending the entire weekend working on zords that I didn't trash, helping Rangers I don't know defeat an enemy I don't care about, and then putting up with Dustin's driving on a trip I still don't know why I agreed to!"
"Rangers?" Hunter echoed, giving him a sharp look. "What Rangers?"
Hunter's ability to completely overlook his temper was both unique and occasionally gratifying. "Some other Power Rangers asked us to help them out this afternoon," Cam muttered. "Dustin recognized them; you'd have to ask him who they were."
"You just ran off with random Rangers on some secret mission without telling us about it?" Hunter sounded annoyed, which, perversely, made Cam feel better.
"I'm telling you about it now, aren't I? Dustin's probably filled the others in already. It wasn't a big deal, and alerting you guys would have taken more time than they had. We were there, we were convenient, and now we're even later than we would have been otherwise. The Power doesn't seem to care how much of your life it interrupts."
"Okay." Hunter sounded anything but okay. "That does it." He stuffed his crackers into the magazine rack and stood up, glaring down at Cam. "Come on."
"Come on where?" Cam asked warily. He didn't move.
"The stairwell, the broom closet, outside, I don't care," Hunter snapped. "I have something to say to you and I'm not doing it here, so put your coffee down or bring it with you and let's go."
Curiosity overwhelmed his reluctance to do anything just because Hunter said so. He set his coffee down on the floor and followed Hunter across the lobby, his mind discarding more possibilities than it seriously considered as he wondered what Hunter was talking about. The rapid sorting process didn't seem to get him any closer to an answer.
"Okay," Hunter repeated, pausing at the bottom of the stairs outside and glancing around. He headed for the far side of the handicapped-accessible ramp, away from the street but not exactly invisible to passersby. "Cam," he added impatiently, when Cam didn't move.
With a sigh, Cam followed. "What?"
"I missed you," Hunter retorted, like it was Cam's fault. "Okay? We were only gone two days and I missed your stupid sarcasm. So to hear that you went on some freaky field trip with people who probably aren't that much more careful than we are isn't exactly reassuring. Do you get that?"
Cam opened his mouth, but Hunter cut him off. "Don't answer that," he told Cam. "Not yet. I know you're gonna say something I don't want to hear, so can I please just kiss you first and have you do your snarky thing afterward?"
His expression was troubled, but the "please" left Cam speechless. Whatever snarky thing Hunter thought he did, he was hours away from being able to pull it off now. He couldn't even bring himself to nod. Fortunately, Hunter seemed to take his silence for assent.
He hadn't kissed Hunter since Wednesday. He hadn't seen Hunter since Wednesday. He hadn't told Hunter he missed him, even though Hunter had said it twice now. And suddenly, being on the receiving end of Hunter's sometimes clumsy but apparently sincere affection was more than he could handle. He leaned into that solid body as their mouths met, heard Hunter's soft sound of appreciation, and he closed his eyes as hands settled gently on his waist.
He didn't want to think about it. He really didn't. So his tongue found its way into Hunter's mouth. So his fingers fisted in a crimson t-shirt, and the arms that snaked around him held them both up. So Hunter was breathing hard under an assault he couldn't have seen coming and Cam was desperate to keep him there just a little longer and he really didn't care who was watching right now.
It didn't mean anything.
Except that Hunter had missed him. And Cam had the sinking feeling that you didn't miss someone you were just dating for the heck of it. He really didn't want to think about it... because the more he wondered about Hunter, the more he realized that he would be disappointed if Hunter was just doing this for fun. He liked Hunter too much--
He liked Hunter. Fine, he'd admitted it. He liked dating Hunter, he liked being with Hunter, he liked kissing Hunter. He was torn between the desire to get as close as he could before Hunter got bored, and the instinct to back off as far as possible to avoid being hurt when that time came.
"Cam," Hunter gasped, hands on his shoulders pushing him back. His blue eyes were wide and dark and he looked like he was trying very hard to be casual and failing just as badly. His breath was coming too fast, his gaze wandering all over Cam's face as he demanded, "How do you..."
His voice caught and he swallowed hard, stepping closer even as Cam tried to pull away. "How do you do that," he mumbled, lowering his head even as he added, "keep it from going straight to your head--"
His mouth was on Cam's again, and a renewed flush of warmth sank into every part of his body. This time he gave himself up to the feeling, refusing even to think. And the kissing did go straight to his head. And to every other part of his body, including the hands that rubbed hard against Hunter's chest without his conscious approval, the skin that was hot under too many layers of clothing, and the part of him that said this was the best idea he'd ever had.
They clung to each other, fierce heat blocking out everything else around them. The door could have opened and Cam wasn't sure he would have noticed. But Hunter saw the car pull into the parking lot behind them and he turned his head, trailing his mouth across Cam's cheek and panting in his ear, "Still in a public place, here."
"Your fault," Cam muttered, turning his head to the other side and trying to catch his breath against Hunter's shoulder. They were pressed up against each other, huddled under the windows off to the side of the entrance to the motel, probably worth a stare or two from anyone who had caught a glimpse of them. But his body was hot and his heart was pounding and he didn't really want to be anywhere else right now.
He felt Hunter's breath escape in a harsh puff of amusement. His voice was husky as he agreed, "Yeah, somehow I thought it would be."
Cam's lips twitched, and he waited until he thought he could speak in an even tone of voice. The moment was further delayed by the feel of Hunter's fingers in his hair, combing his bangs back from his face as they started to draw apart. Cam resisted the urge to push his hair out of his face himself after Hunter had smoothed it back, settling instead for a deep breath that made the corners of Hunter's mouth quirk.
"I can't tell," he said quietly, scanning Cam's face, "whether I'm exempt from sarcasm after that, or if I'm just going to get twice as much, twice as often."
Cam opened his mouth, but he couldn't think of anything to say.
Hunter had the nerve to laugh at him. "Exempt," he decided, "at least for a few minutes. And believe me, I'm gonna take advantage of it." Putting one hand on each of Cam's shoulders, he turned Cam around and literally steered him back toward the stairs. "Let's get back inside before someone comes looking for us."
Cam finally found his voice, shrugging Hunter's hands away as they made their way up the steps to the door. "Minutes?" he repeated, clearing his throat. "You think that earned you minutes of sarcastic exemption?"
"Seconds?" Hunter guessed, catching the door that Cam didn't bother to hold for him. "When am I gonna find out what it takes to earn minutes?"
"Hey, there they are!"
After the day he'd had, the mere fact that Dustin's voice didn't make Cam wince was something like a miracle. Hunter must be good for his nerves. And isn't that ironic, he thought wryly. Private or not, he doubted he would ever live that idea down.
"So tomorrow morning we'll head out to the beach to watch surfing?" Tori asked Shane over dinner.
He rolled his eyes, "I thought the surfing competitions were over."
"They are," she agreed. "But there's a surfing exhibition tomorrow morning before the wakeboarding starts."
Shane made a show of pondering the options. He of course didn't mind going with Tori. It was just more fun messing with her.
He knew she'd rather share her enjoyment with someone, preferably Blake, than go to events alone. But with the moto events starting the next day, Blake would be preoccupied elsewhere. He also knew that if he went to her events now, once the surfing was over he'd stand a better chance of talking her into attending the skateboarding events. When she wasn't with Blake, that is.
You'd think that with a team with an even number of members, it would be easier to pair off. But no. The Ninja Rangers never made anything easy. If anything they made things as hard as possible. And that was saying a lot.
"How do you feel about watching skateboarding?" he finally asked.
"I go to your demos, don't I?"
Shane shrugged, "When you aren't offered movie tickets by random guys in blue."
He didn't normally tease his friend so cruelly, but the effect was worth it -- Tori blushed, Blake choked on his coke, and Hunter laughed out right at his little brother and girlfriend.
"Man," Hunter declared, throwing himself down on the nearest bed. "I'm stuffed."
"I assume this is my bed?" Cam's voice inquired, and he rolled his head to one side to regard the Green Ranger. Cam was looking at his laptop case, set carefully on top of the other bed, and the backpack that had been left on the floor beside it.
"Unless you want to sleep with Hunter," Blake remarked innocently. "We figured we can share the other bed and you can have that one."
Cam didn't so much as look at him, which was probably good after a statement like that. He had been ready to look away if Cam glanced his way by accident. He hadn't asked Blake--yet--exactly what he knew. He hadn't figured out a way to do it without having to admit the truth, which meant that Blake could still make cracks like that and get away with it.
"Did you already take over the bureau?" Cam was asking.
"We divided it up by height," Blake told him. "We left the middle drawer for you."
"By height?" Cam repeated skeptically.
Hunter saw Blake shrug. "It works."
Cam's expression was typically condescending, but he didn't have any other answer for that. It did work. It would do him good to realize that there didn't have to be a mathematical formula for everything in life. Some things could be done totally at random, and it wouldn't be the end of the world.
There was a knock on the door, and Blake glanced over at him. "I got it," he said. Hunter didn't move, watching Cam pull clothes out of his backpack and arrange them in the drawer. Did he really have to refold everything, Hunter wondered?
"Guys, turn on the TV!" Tori exclaimed, flying into the room like a water strider on speed. How did she have that much energy all the time? She got up practically in the middle of the night to get to the morning events, and yet she didn't seem to lose any steam as the day went on.
She grabbed the remote from the bureau over Cam's head and stepped back, flipping through the channels. She eventually came up with sports footage that seemed vaguely familiar. The logo, at least...
"Tor, we were at the surfing finals," Blake pointed out. "We saw them this morning. In person."
"Yeah, and the camera saw us!" Tori's gaze was fixed on the TV screen. "Wait till they pan back across the beach--you can see us there in the front."
That was enough to hold Blake's attention, and Hunter looked down at Cam again. He hadn't given up on the bureau just because people were trying to watch something on it. He didn't give the TV more than a token glance, apparently devoting all of his energy to his clothes. Mostly green, of course.
What was he thinking about, Hunter wondered? It was so, so easy to just lie there and stare at him. Cam had a tendency to focus on things so intently that he either ignored the activity around him or missed it altogether. It was a trait that Hunter repeatedly took advantage of.
"Hey, cool!" Blake exclaimed suddenly.
At the same time Tori declared, "See! There we are!"
Cam didn't even look up, just closed the bureau drawer and shoved his backpack back up against the end of his bed. Hunter watched as he put his laptop on the floor and pushed it underneath the bed. Only then did he lift his head, getting to his feet and surveying the room. Hunter fixed his gaze on the TV while Cam studied him, then looked back at him as soon as Cam's gaze slid away.
Sorry, dude, he thought, suppressing a smile. Cam was contemplating the TV now, looking from Tori and Blake to the set with no clue that he was being watched himself. You've got nothing on me when it comes to tactical observation.
Not that this was entirely tactical. Observing Cam was a necessity, of course, especially when it came to anticipating his moods. Catch him at the wrong time and there was nothing anyone could say to tear him away from his work, let alone make him smile. Catch him at the right time, and... well, the careful observer might walk into a welcome trap.
Hunter's smile became harder to contain, and he concentrating on breathing evenly, slowly, as though he was just as relaxed as everyone else. As though he was just lying here on his bed, with an idle eye on the TV and an amused ear to Tori and Blake's argument. As though remembering the way Cam had kissed him this afternoon didn't affect him at all.
As though the thought of Cam sleeping within arms' reach didn't set him on edge, didn't make him wonder, didn't trigger every internal alarm he had.
No, not entirely tactical at all. Observing Cam was a necessity, but it certainly wasn't a chore. It was also dangerous. He had to remind himself not to talk, not to reach out, not to engage the sarcastic Samurai Ranger at every opportunity. 'Cause damn, it was tempting... Cam never failed to respond, and Hunter was annoyingly aware that all of the single-minded characteristics he assigned to Cam also applied to him. Especially when he was baiting Cam.
"You can't even tell the volume from the channels!"
"Like you're such an expert, Mr. The Remote Works Better Without Batteries!"
They were actually at war with each other over the remote. Hunter watched dispassionately as Blake resorted to tickling and Tori made no real effort to escape--she wasn't gonna give up the remote, though, and he would have been amused if they weren't so sickeningly cute. Couldn't they do anything that didn't make people think of babies and minivans and little puppies playing in the front yard?
He liked Tori. It had taken his brother long enough to choose a girlfriend he was serious about, and fortunately it was one that Hunter not only approved of but also considered Worthy. Tori was a perfectly good match for his little bro: she would let him shower her with charm and keep him in line at the same time. It was just the way they flirted that was a little hard to deal with sometimes.
Times like now, when Cam was right there and Hunter couldn't even be caught looking at him. Damn it. He hated to be jealous of the way Blake and Tori were hanging on each other. He hated having Cam sitting alone on the other bed, arms folded as he pretended to watch the TV they were all ignoring. He hated the feeling, the sneaking certainty that had wormed its way into his mind, that anyone who had to hide their relationship didn't really have one.
He sat up suddenly. "I'm going for a walk," he told the room at large.
He could feel everyone turn to look at him, and Tori took advantage of the distraction to snatch the remote away from Blake. "Yeah, okay," Blake said at last, giving Tori the evil eye. "Be safe out there, bro. You got a key?"
"Yeah." Unspoken was the understanding that they were probably more capable of defending themselves than anyone in the city, and if any of them ran into trouble, it wasn't like they didn't have instant backup. "I'll be back in a while."
"You want company?" Cam asked the TV.
He hadn't expected that. Since when did Cam volunteer to spend time with him--in front of other people, no less? He could sometimes be talked into it... More often he could be ambushed, but it was always Hunter following him, not the other way around.
"Yeah," Hunter said quickly. He turned toward the door without waiting for an answer in case Cam hadn't been talking to him at all, or had just been setting him up for some sarcasm-laden remark. But when he got to the door he could hear someone behind him--and there was Cam in the hallway with him as he headed for the nearest exit.
He felt a smile tugging at his expression and he did his damndest not to let it show. Cam was actually going somewhere with him. Alone. At night. And after announcing his intentions to both Blake and Tori.
Hunter looked away, because really, there was no way to hide his smile.
He didn't want to sleep. After the day he'd had, sleep was the farthest thing from his mind.
Meeting new Rangers and the battle that followed had him totally hyped. And the long road trip with a sour Cam had done nothing to help expel his excess energy.
Dinner had helped some. 'Cause he'd finally got to tell his Ranger story. Well, part of it anyway.
He listened to Shane tease Tori about Blake and skateboarding. And he thought it looked like they were going to get him next. With more disbelieving questions about Rangers from outer space for sure.
But Hunter spoke up before they could. "Cam said I should ask you about these other Rangers you guys met."
That was proof enough to prevent any teasing. If Cam said it was so, it was so.
He didn't tell them the whole story. Everyone was interrupting too much with random comments and jokes for that. But they believed him now, and that was cool. And he was quietly grateful to Cam for mentioning the adventure to Hunter.
So he hadn't exactly felt like sleeping. He had grabbed his saxophone case instead, much to Shane's dismay. Shane looked beat. Knowing Tori, she had probably been waking him up before dawn to be early to every event.
But Tori was visiting Blake in the other room, and Shane looked ready to take advantage of her absence by getting some rest.
Dustin figured he could be nice, so he'd let his friend sleep. He took his sax, left the room, and disappeared out a side door to the motel parking lot.
He set the case down in the shadow of the building, out of the bright glare of the streetlights. Nothing like a little jam session to unwind, ya know?
He had assembled his sax and was about to start playing when a fire door further down the motel opened. Hunter and Cam emerged from the building, talking about something Dustin could quite catch. As they headed across the parking lot, Hunter reached for Cam's hand. And Cam let him take it.
Quietly so as not to disturb them, Dustin put his sax away. Maybe he would try to get some sleep after all. With two crowded rooms inside, the couple needed the outdoor alone time more than he did.
As they disappeared into the shadows, Dustin smiled and slipped back into the motel.