Color Blind

Disclaimer: I don't own what I don't own, including but not limited to Power Rangers.

Author's Notes: This is a little unusual for me, but I've been dying to do something character-driven for a while now and Trini always was my favorite. Like most of my ideas, this one wandered into my head at four in the morning and typed itself up shortly thereafter. It's a Trini-centric five things fic, so each chapter is a different pairing with Trini. It's also pretty much my first posted fic that isn't humor, so please tell me how good or bad I'm doing. It's done in chronological order, with chapter one set shortly before/in the early days of first season MMPR. I'm also working on a five things fic for Adam that will hopefully be posted in the near future.

Oblivious

Everyone thinks she's oblivious to the fact that Billy has a crush on her.

After all, that's how it looks, how it's always looked. He's always being bullied, always being mocked, always looking at Trini like she's the coolest thing ever. They see the way he follows her around, the way he hides behind her, the way he looks at her with grateful admiration when she explains his actions and words. They see how pretty she is, how popular she is, how kind she is, and they figure that it's her kindness that allows the skinny geek in overalls and glasses to cling to her. They think she's oblivious to his affection, and it would be funny if it didn't hurt.

Sometimes she marvels at how wrong they are, but maybe it's to be expected. Most people aren't like her. They aren't observant. They can't read people. They don't understand Billy like she does.

It's ironic, really, that everyone thinks she's the oblivious one. When has she ever failed to notice anything? She has always been the first one to notice, to see, to understand. Billy is the oblivious one.

He doesn't get people. He's a scientist, through and through, and he understands facts, figures, data. He doesn't comprehend the fluid and inexact. For all his intelligence, he doesn't have the wisdom Trini does. He doesn't notice the patterns of human behavior. For that matter, few people do.

Trini does. She knows that to Billy, she's a tool. She is someone to help him understand the actions of other people. She takes his words and rephrases them into something the layman can comprehend. She protects him from hazing and bullying and other cruelty. She assists him with his experiments. She's an asset. She's useful.

They're all useful to Billy in one way or another. Jason teaches him strength and bravery. Zack motivates him and makes him laugh. Kimberly shows him how to be compassionate, how to find the beauty in everything. And Trini explains him to the outside world, and the outside world to him.

She's the only person who's smart enough to understand, not only his scientific creations but him as well. She can understand the physics and the theories involved in building fantastic inventions, but that's secondary to her level of comprehension for the passion inside him, his love of science. She knows why discovery is so thrilling, why his work is important to him. She knows that the mere idea of speaking in layman's terms is appalling to him—he needs to feel special, and he thinks the only thing he has to make him special is his intelligence.

People think he relies upon her, but she knows that isn't true. She's convenient. She serves her purpose, but that doesn't mean he couldn't get by without her. He likes having her around to protect him, assist him, translate him. He doesn't worship her, any more than he worships a hammer or a lug wrench.

Trini could never be the oblivious one. She knows there's no love lurking beneath the admiration, respect and friendship. Billy might be complicated, but not to her. Trini has always been able to see right through everyone, and Billy is no exception. Billy is a mystery to everyone but Trini.

Billy doesn't understand why people ostracize or abuse him and he doesn't want to know because, to him, an explanation would make their reasoning valid, make him worthy of their cruelty. Billy doesn't sound like everybody else because, to him, asserting his intelligence with every syllable makes him special, even if does make him weird. Billy doesn't learn to fight because, to him, it's unrefined and unseemly and something for thugs and athletes, not geniuses like him. Billy doesn't try to understand people because, to him, there aren't enough benefits involved in the learning process to make the study worthwhile. Billy doesn't have a crush on Trini because, to him, she's not a girl but a friend and an assistant and a bodyguard and a translator and a million other things far more important to him than love.

Trini would never fail to notice if Billy had feelings for her. She's the one who knows Billy, inside and out. That's how she knows his feelings are solely platonic. That's how she knows he has never once noticed how she feels about him.

Everyone thinks her friendship with Billy is about pity, that she's the popular girl being kind to the pitiful nerd. They don't see how alike she and Billy are. She revels in learning about people, finding out what makes them tick, figuring out how they work; she tinkers with them, their emotions and their drama, the same way Billy tinkers with his inventions. They don't see how much she respects him. She might be able to translate what he says and help with his technological breakthroughs, but he's infinitely smarter than she is and it amazes her. They don't see how much she admires him. She might not be as hung up on trends as some people, but she could never be as careless with her social status as Billy is, could never be as unpopular as he is without trying to change or being concerned about fitting in.

They think Trini doesn't see how much he cares about her, how deeply he feels for her, how hard he wishes for them to be something more. They think she doesn't notice, and it's ironic, really.

Trini's never been the oblivious one.