A/N: A gift to my bestest friend on this site, Fluttershy Smile! It's a blessing and a pleasure to be your friend *rolls out a long list of synonyms*, confidant, idea helper, idea editor, and so forth. Here's a fic as her gift from me (which has *hopefully*been suited to her tastes).
This is a bit out of character, but this is your only warning. Be aware of it.
Disclaimer: I don't own Power Rangers. I also don't own "Sugar, We're Goin' Down" and/or "Alone Together" by Fall Out Boy.
"Hey, Troy, can we talk?" Jake motioned for his friend to come over. Troy saw that Jake, Noah, Gia, and Emma were standing near one another. He found it odd, considering that the team disbanded after the events of the Legendary War.
"What's up, guys? Is something wrong?" Troy asked them. They were standing in the park, alone, at night. That can't be good.
"Well, you see—we know you and Orion are going out!" Emma blurted as she hid her face in her hands.
"You…you do?"
"Dude, it's been pretty obvious to us that Orion had a big crush on you when we all officially met, and that you grew to like him the same way. He seemed to always be around you and you only. When you were attacked by Skeltox, he hovered over your bed." Jake explained.
"Not only that, but by his frantic voice, he wasn't happy when you were okay with him 'marrying' Emma." Noah continued. Emma hooked her arm around Noah's with a slightly flustered face.
"That's right…and before he left, he gave you his special silver bracelet, and when we were fighting the final battle against the Armada, the two of you took down the main ship together, and even if you did die in the explosion, you would've died together."
"Not to mention you both went together to get all six of us concert tickets, and when I turned around to see if you were coming behind us on Orion's back, I saw that he was disappointed when you didn't get onto his back for a ride." Gia added.
"I thought he was disappointed because he didn't get to try out a piggyback ride. I wouldn't have thought of it like that, and Orion never told me that he wasn't happy with me not getting on his back for a piggyback ride."
"He would've told you?" Noah asked to clarify.
"Yes, he would've told me about that." Troy scowled at his four former friends. Why was it so important to them that his love life was as neat and perfect as it can be? They broke it off with him, so why do they suddenly care now?
"…Why do you guys care so much about Orion and I? We like each other, so can't you live with it?"
"Troy, we'd love to get over it and accept your relationship, but…well…" Jake stuttered his words, and that was when Troy took a few steps back.
"You—you guys—are…" Troy looked at them with widened eyes. Jake and Gia stepped closer to him.
"We're sorry, Troy." Gia sighed as she spun her leg to trip him. Troy flipped backwards, landing on his feet. Jake charged at him and sent a barrage of punches Troy's way. He blocked them all, and on one punch attempt, Troy took hold of Jake's wrist and flipped him, the former Black Ranger landing on his back.
"Hey, you can't do that!" Noah swung his arm at Troy as Emma swept down low. When the couple got Troy onto his back, they helped up Gia and Jake and the four loomed over Troy.
"Guys, just knock it off!" Troy shouted with a secret plead.
"We hate that it has to come to this, but we'll do anything to make you learn your lesson." Noah told him before four fists came at Troy, who then immediately blacked out.
...
Troy had no idea how much time had passed since his friends started beating him, but when he finally came to, he knew it must have been a while. Getting to his feet, Troy clutched his head tightly and felt it throbbing. He struggled to stay standing as he walked home like a drunk man. He swayed as he walked and stopped a few times to kill the aching pain in his head. Looking down at himself, he saw that his jacket was torn in a few places along with his shirt and pants. Troy also saw that he was barefoot and shoe indents were imprinted into his foot.
The other former Rangers really wanted to teach him a lesson. And it worked…somewhat.
While Troy felt immense pain, he was still going to keep his relationship with Orion, no matter if his friends…former friends wanted it eliminated. Feeling a buzz in his pocket, Troy pulled his phone out and looked at who was calling him.
Speak of the Devil.
"Orion? What's up?"
"Troy!" Orion cried. "You're okay! I was so worried that the others were going to kill you!"
"Yeah, I'm okay. Maybe a bit sore, but okay."
"That's great! Hey, um, are you going home right now?"
"Yeah. Why do you want to know?"
"Oh, no reason." Troy heard Orion chuckle a bit before stopping. "Ah, so I'm going to go, but I'll speak to you soon."
"Okay. Bye."
"Bye." Troy hung up his phone as he clumsily walked home. When he found his house, he was relieved. Opening the door, he felt someone tightly wrap their arms around him, lifting him into the air a bit before kissing him.
Orion.
"Welcome home, Troy!" Orion greeted his boyfriend followed by a kiss to his cheek.
"Hey, Orion." Troy replied, returning the kiss. Nearby, Troy's parents giggled at the display of affection.
"Seriously?" Troy rolled his eyes.
"Oh, don't be like that, Troy." His mother laughed.
"We're admiring how much you and Orion love and admire each other, that's all. We're a bit jealous, to be honest." His father added with a chuckle before seeing the look on their son's face. They then left for the living room.
"Sorry about them." Troy told Orion. "They're always like that."
Orion held Troy's hand as they went up the stairs. "It's fine, Troy Besides, we have more pressing matters to attend to, don't we?"
Seeing Orion smirk in his Orion-like way, Troy smiled wide as they both went inside of Troy's room for the night.
…
The next day was Saturday, and Orion felt like a lucky man and boyfriend that Troy doesn't go to school today.
His boyfriend was still asleep next to him, so as quietly as he could, Orion slipped out of bed and changed into a dark gray shirt and matching jeans. Orion walked over to Troy and placed a soft and delicate kiss onto his forehead before putting on his silver jacket and walking out of the room, and out of the house.
The sun was high in the sky already, and Orion wondered just how long they slept after the night they shared in Troy's room. He pondered it as he strolled down the sidewalk of Troy's neighborhood. It was a sleepy area, with boring people in the daytime to people throwing house parties at night. Sometimes, the time changes to day parties and sleepy nights. The neighborhood was like a teenager; it had some kind of 'mood swings'.
The sun looked to be a few feet away from the mountains as it rose from behind. The rays from it made the sidewalk in front of Orion sparkle and shine like diamonds. Looking across the cement, he could see a perfectly outlined path to the park, and standing there were his friends…well, former friends, seeing as they seemed to have a blast beating up on Troy.
He didn't really appreciate that.
"Hey, guys!" Orion waved and called with a smile on his face. The four other Rangers looked at him with the same eyes.
"Oh, Orion, hey…" Emma greeted with a mutter.
"Hi." The other three greeted together in the same tone. Orion gave them a puzzled look.
"Is something wrong? Why do you guys look so depressed?"
"Oh, it's nothing." Gia then smiled, trying to wave off his suspicion.
"Oh, okay then, because I'd like to ask you all something."
"Ask away." Jake offered.
"Why did you all gang up and beat Troy? He's our friend, and you guys treating him like this…seems to me that you all were not keen on your friendship with him."
"N-No, Orion, you have the wrong idea!" Noah pleaded.
"Yeah!" Emma added, defending and agreeing with Noah. "Orion, we love Troy to death, we really do. It's just…a certain decision he made was making us drift away from him."
By reading their faces, Orion could see what decision they were talking about. They were talking about him.
"Why? Why are you guys against us being together?!" Orion shouted in anger.
"It's not right for this kind of relationship to be blossoming. It's unhealthy." Gia argued calmly.
"So what? Troy and I deeply care about each other and we love each other. We wanted to be together, so why aren't you happy for us?"
"Orion…" Emma muttered. That was the group's only answer.
"Oh, I see it now. You guys don't care about us anymore."
"Orion, that's not it." Noah argued.
"No, that's exactly it. Look, if you guys don't like our relationship, then don't bother dealing with it. Troy and I will be perfectly fine without all of you." With one last toxic stare at his former friends, Orion hastily turned around and trudged away from them.
"We're sorry, Orion…" He read Jake mumble as the world around him instantly went black.
…
As he cleaned his—surprise, surprise—red car, Troy couldn't help but worry about Orion and his whereabouts. When he woke up, the Silver Ranger was not next to him like Troy had believed he was. As the day passed by, Orion did not call nor did he stop by when Troy wasn't present.
It worried his boyfriend to no end that his partner did not tell him he was alright.
Troy's parents noticed how stressed and frantic he was around the house as he waited, so they—his mother—recommended that he clean his car. She always told him that she had to clean the house a lot when he was younger…but it wasn't because of him.
So Troy did exactly what his mother told him to do—clean his car.
And that was when Orion stumbled up to the house.
"Orion!" Troy got off of the hood of the car and tightly hugged the young man. "I was so worried about you! I—what happened?"
"Gia, Emma, Noah, Jake is what happened." He snapped.
"What…they beat you up?"
"Just like what they did to you." Orion sighed, running a hand through his already-disheveled hair. Troy, in a caring manner, licked his thumb and fixed Orion's hair before trying to get rid of all of the blood on his boyfriend's face to the best of his ability.
"Troy, stop." Orion softly chuckled as he had a firm grip on Troy's wrist. "Uh, look, I'd hate to make you a bit upset, but I think we should leave Harwood County…for good."
"Oh, really?"
"Yeah. If we have to deal with Gia, Emma, Noah, and Jake and their ways of 'teaching us a lesson', then I'd rather go someplace where no one will ever find us."
"Let's not be too inconspicuous if we're gonna leave. Maybe we should go to a neighboring town."
"That works too. We should leave early…when no one will see us go."
"Okay, but I can't leave my mom and dad behind."
"Troy…" Orion groaned.
Troy gave him a stern look. "Orion, they're my parents. They've been by my side since the day I was born. They're also the two people who took you in with open arms after you had nowhere to go post-war."
"Troy…well, you're right. We can leave them a note and then we can leave."
"That doesn't make it better, but it'll tell them where we are if they want us back."
"Yeah, like we'll ever come back here." Orion rolled his eyes laughing, which made Troy let up his stern look and laugh along with him.
…
It seemed to be an hour past midnight, and that was when Orion and Troy decided to kick the plain into high gear. After writing a note explaining everything that led up to their departure, Troy left it on his parents' nightstand and gently kissed them on the forehead before leaving them behind.
He stepped outside to see no one sitting in the passenger seat, and Troy got into the driver seat alone. He started up the engine just as Orion appeared near the car and got into the car.
That was when the car started and drove away from the house…
I don't know where you're going but do you got room for one more troubled soul?
I don't know where I'm going but I don't think I'm coming home, and I said
I'll check in tomorrow if I don't wake up dead
This is the road to ruin, and we're starting at the end
Say yeah (Yeah)
Let's be alone together (Yeah)
We could stay young forever (Yeah)
Scream it from the top of your lungs, lungs, lungs
Say yeah (Yeah)
Let's be alone together (Yeah)
We could stay young forever (Yeah)
We'll stay young, young, young, young, young
Uh, uh, uh, uh-oh
Uh, uh, uh, uh-oh
Uh, uh, uh, uh-oh
Uh, uh, uh, uh-oh
You cut me off I lost my track
It's not my fault I'm a maniac
It's not funny anymore
No it's not
My heart is like a stallion
They love it more when it's broke in
Do you wanna feel beautiful?
Do you wanna, yeah
I'm outside the door, invite me in
So we can go back and play pretend
I'm on deck, yeah, I'm up next
Tonight I'm high as a private jet
'Cause I don't know where you're going but do you got room for one more troubled soul?
I don't know where I'm going but I don't think I'm coming home, and I said
I'll check in tomorrow if I don't wake up dead
This is the road to ruin, and we're starting at the end
Say yeah (Yeah)
Let's be alone together (Yeah)
We could stay young forever (Yeah)
Scream it from the top of your lungs, lungs, lungs
Say yeah (Yeah)
Let's be alone together (Yeah)
We could stay young forever (Yeah)
We'll stay young, young, young, young, young.
Uh, uh, uh, uh-oh
Uh, uh, uh, uh-oh
Uh, uh, uh, uh-oh
Uh, uh, uh, uh-oh
My heart is like a stallion
They love it more when it's broke in
Do you wanna feel beautiful?
Do you wanna, yeah
I'm outside the door, invite me in
So we can go back and play pretend
I'm on deck, yeah, I'm up next
Tonight I'm high as a private jet
Yeah (Yeah)
Let's be alone together (Yeah)
We could stay young forever (Yeah)
Scream it from the top of your lungs, lungs, lungs
Say yeah (Yeah)
Let's be alone together (Yeah)
We could stay young forever (Yeah)
We'll stay young, young, young, young
I don't know where you're going but do you got room for one more troubled soul?
I don't know where I'm going but I don't think I'm coming home and I said
I'll check in tomorrow if I don't wake up dead
This is the road to ruin, and we're starting at the end ~
…
"It's kind of pretty in the sunlight, don't you think?" Orion asked Troy as they sat on the hood of the car, looking down at Angel Grove being illuminated by the sunrise. The two made it to the town in about five hours. They would have come earlier, but there were a few…technical difficulties.
"Yeah, it kind of is." Troy sighed, leaning back. The car was parked on an outcropping of a cliff that seemed to have a perfect vies of the city. The best place for the two to be before they plant their roots.
"You know, I actually enjoyed the ride here." Troy then told Orion. "You know, forgetting the many stops we made."
"I enjoyed it too, but what was that song that you played on the car's radio? I like it." Orion asked Troy.
The boy chuckled. "Trust me, once we find the place to live, I'll tell you all about it." The boys then turned to face one another; Orion's back facing the sun. The former Silver Ranger pulled his leader in close, wrapping his arms around Troy's shoulders. Orion leaned his forehead against Troy's.
"So, now that we're alone…" Orion whispered huskily.
"Heh, you're cute." Troy laughed as their noses brushed one another. Orion then leaned back and removed his silver jacket, dropping it in the passenger seat. He then leaned back towards Troy and planted his lips on his partner's, taking him in. In a daring move, Orion, with a bit of elbow grease, removed Troy's jacket from his body and dropped in on the driver seat. He then broke the kiss.
"Seriously, why'd you take my jacket off? It's chilly up here."
"Why can't I? You look cuter without it on." Orion smiled, smoothing Troy's hair back. He then put his lips back onto his leader's own lips, gently pushing him down so that his back touched the hood of the car. Orion kept putting pressure on Troy's shoulders to make sure he didn't move as they continued.
Troy then broke it off. "Hey…Orion?"
"Yeah?"
"You're the best."
"Aw, I love you too." Orion smiled wide as they then continued to kiss. All the while, Troy could hear the lyrics of a certain song playing in his head, and he let in ring as he let Orion take him by surprise.
…Down, down in an earlier round
And Sugar, we're going down swinging
I'll be your number one with a bullet
A loaded god complex, cock it and pull it.
A/N: Hope you enjoyed it! Happy Birthday, Fluttershy Smile! : )