Summary: They say opposites attract. If that's true, you can't get much more opposite than Cam and Dustin. But can a grumpy geek and a giddy airhead really get along? Moreover, can they fall in love?

Author's Note: Set at the beginning of the Power Rangers Ninja Storm series, when Cam was not at all open. I like character growth through a story (like my other stories, though this one is completely separate from them), so how Cam came out of his grumpy shell is a good challenge for me. Please review and leave useful feedback. I'm always open to new ideas!

Rebel Paisley has offered to Beta this story and so this is a new version! Let me know what you think!

The Geek and the Airhead

Chapter 1: The Grump and the Undeserving

Cam Watanabe was nothing if not smart.

In fact, he regularly took pride in his cleverness, especially when it came to computers and technology in general. That's not to say he was some clueless sociopath when it came to people. There were just some things he couldn't quite grasp.

That, and he didn't particularly care for most people. They were so… illogical sometimes. Though, again, that did not make him a clueless sociopath.

Take for example Shane, Dustin and Tori. The three wannabe ninjas were never on time and their commitment to ninja training was spotty at best. When Cam had asked his father what he saw in them, the simple response was, "That is why I am the Sensei and you are the Sensei's son."

...It was no wonder Cam preferred computers.

If one ever gave him that kind of an answer, he could simply tear it apart and put it back together again until it could return a logical response. Sadly, he was used to that kind of an answer from his father, so he didn't question it.

He still had yet to receive a satisfactory response as to why he, the Sensei's only son, could not train to be a ninja at the school he literally called home.

And that was why he felt more than a little annoyed as he stood in Ninja Ops less than an hour after his home had been destroyed and his father called for him to bring the Academy's only three morphers to give to Shane, Dustin and Tori. He tried to be reasonable and present a logical argument against such an action, really he did.

After all, he was nothing if not logical.

"But these guys?" he began, his voice going a little higher than he had originally intended. "Them? They're…Well, they're…" He couldn't even think of words to describe just how unqualified these three were. It wasn't that he couldn't accept that his father hadn't chosen him to be a Power Ranger. After all, his father wouldn't even allow him to train as a ninja. It was that he couldn't accept that these three literally bottom of the barrel ninjas had been chosen. A computer would never assign these parameters without a big red "Error! Error!" message appearing.

But his father was insistent and Cam reluctantly presented the three with their completely undeserved Wind Morphers. There was a moment, as each of the three attached their morphers, that Cam couldn't help but let a small smile slip because, as pathetic as they were (and they were plenty pathetic), the three were certainly happy about receiving their undeserved gifts, especially Dustin.

…But, it wasn't meant to last.

"Does it have any games or what?" Dustin asked, studying the morpher as if it were…a toy. Really, the world's most advanced technology right at his finger tips and he wants to play games on it?

And, as the three continued their annoying banter, Cam couldn't help but groan, "Ladies and gentleman, the defenders of the galaxy." Obviously the galaxy was doomed. He should work on that global defense grid he'd been thinking about. That, at least, made sense. And Cam liked things that made sense.

Dustin Brooks was awesome!

Not only was he a ninja, but he was a Power Ranger. To say he was excited about receiving his yellow Wind morpher is like saying he's just sorta good at motocross (which was a total lie because he seriously burns up the track, forcing all the other riders to eat his dirt). In other words, it was a total understatement.

See, Dustin had always believed in Power Rangers. His two friends didn't. Well, of course Tori didn't because she was skeptical about everything. Seriously, he'd handed her an ice cream one time (because he's a nice guy!) and she was like, "Where did you get this?" and "What flavor is it?" and "blah blah blah." It's ice cream and you find out the flavor when you eat it. That's part of the fun of having someone give you ice cream.

And Shane tried to pretend like he wasn't just as much of an unbeliever, but Dustin saw right through his best friend. He knew Shane was just humoring him. He wasn't really as dumb as his friends sometimes thought.

But now wasn't the time to worry about how wrong his friends were. It was time to rub their faces in his absolute rightness…and those two things were totally different. After all, they'd see he was right and they'd totally stop the whole not believing him thing and they'd always believe everything he said. It was only a matter of time before they finally helped him track down Bigfoot. He could practically see it now... If anyone was going to catch the elusive Bigfoot, it had to be ninjas.

But there was something about "saving the world" that had to come first.

…Whatever, he could handle it and still catch Bigfoot.

And he definitely proved himself to his friends when he (now the-always-right-one) knew how to morph and the others had to just "watch and learn."

Awesome was in his blood.

"I told you Power Rangers were real!" he declared the moment the three returned to Ninja Ops after blowing up some space monster. He was in the middle of pointing out his always rightness to his unbelieving friends when Sensei interrupted them.

"You did well this time, rangers," the talking guinea pig said, "but understand that… blah blah blah and Lothor will not blah blah blah and the future is in your hands, Power Rangers."

Right, that "save the world" stuff. It was kinda a buzzkill, but Dustin had read enough Power Rangers comics to know what to expect. The only sorta downside to the whole thing was Cam, Sensei's son.

…Okay, sure, there were a lot of downsides, like the school being destroyed, the students being captured and their Sensei being turned into a talking guinea pig… Actually, that was kinda cool. But, when Dustin tried to thank Cam for the awesome morphers, he caught the super smart computer geek (which was seriously so much more awesome than a comic book geek!) glaring at them.

It was like he hated them.

At first, he assumed he was just jealous because, like, who wouldn't be? But, as he said, "Thanks dude! These things are awesome!" in his most nicest of voices, he didn't get anything but a grunt.

…Seriously, a grunt.

"I think this is the part where you say, 'You're welcome,'" Shane suggested with a chuckle.

"Right," Cam replied slowly, glancing between them. "Now, if you'll excuse me, it looks like I have a lot of work ahead of me."

"Cam, we're the rangers," Tori said with a smile. "Isn't that our line?"

That was when Cam's glare looked like his eyes were about to shoot out laser beams. Dustin prepared to jump in front of his friend to protect her from Cam's death glare, but the laser-eyed geek just turned and left the room.

Shane and Tori just shrugged this off, but it stuck in the earth ninja's mind and wouldn't let go. Even when Dustin was lying in his bed that night, thinking about how awesome it was to be a Power Ranger, he couldn't help but wonder about Cam.

He kept seeing that look in Cam's eyes.

So, the next time he met up with his friends at Storm Chargers, he decided to ask, "Why does Cam hate us?"

The other two stared at him for a moment. They were always a little slow at keeping up with his thoughts. "I don't think he hates us," Tori argued, but Shane shrugged.

"I don't know, but I'm definitely sensing some bad vibes there," Shane agreed.

"Yeah, it's in his eyes," Dustin added, happy that at least Shane could see the truth of his rightness.

"But he's always been that way, even before we…" Shane said, gestured to the morpher on his wrist.

"You guys are taking this too personally," Tori argued, trying once again to play peacemaker. "Cam's probably just… not good with people."

Shane nodded, thinking. "Yeah, I don't remember ever seeing him hang out with any of the students. It was just him alone or him and his dad, that's it."

"Maybe he has friends we don't know about," Tori suggested.

"Not unless he chats with them online," Shane countered.

"So, he hates us because he doesn't have any friends?" Dustin asked.

"Dustin, that's not what we're—" Tori began before the wavy haired brunette interrupted her.

"Dude, that's it!" he exclaimed. "He's lonely!"

"With his attitude, he's gonna be lonely a long time," Shane pointed out.

"But he has us!" Dustin finished, an awesome plan already forming in his mind. "He probably doesn't know how to make friends, being a geek and all, so we'll teach him!"

"Just like how you didn't know how to make friends until we taught you?" Tori said with a small laugh.

"Totally," Dustin agreed. "He'll be like so happy we want to be his friends that he'll stop hating us!"

"Why do I get the feeling this is a bad idea?" Shane commented.

And now it was time for Dustin's awesome plan to become reality. Sure, there were some parts he wasn't sure about, but he preferred to make things up as he went along. It was more fun that way. Plus, Dustin loved surprises!

Cam hated surprises.

By contrast, he loved order and predictability.

And, most of all, he loved peace and quiet while he tried to work, especially when it came to finishing the delicate task of making holographic portals capable of transporting a hundred tons of metal out of the Zord bay and into the city. But, as he somehow suspected from the beginning (perhaps he's a psychic since, after all, he's clearly not a ninja or a Power Ranger despite being responsible for making everything they did work), the three ninjas turned saviors of the universe were somehow opposed to order and certainly opposed to peace and quiet.

Five minutes listening to them blabber about nothing could tell him that.

He let himself focus on his work for the few precious seconds he had until the rangers finished their descent down into Ninja Ops and completely distracted him from his work.

Dustin was the first to enter and he pranced over to Cam, leaning forward and studying the screen (as if any of what was on it would make sense to the him) before turning his attention to the computer's mildly annoyed user.

Cam was about to point out that, not only was Ninja Ops supposed to be a secure headquarters, but, with the Academy destroyed, it was essentially his home. How would the three like it if Cam entered their homes uninvited?

…Somehow he suspected that concept would go right over their heads, especially Dustin.

He had very little hope for Dustin.

"Dude, what are you working on?" the wavy haired brunette asked, as expected not at all understanding the energy graphs on the screen.

Cam decided to humor him, hoping that, if it sounded important (even if Dustin had no hope of understanding it), he could be left in peace to finish his work. "I'm adjusting variables for the spatial distortion caused by mater-energy transport."

As predicted, the brunette clearly in need of a comb stared at him blank faced. "That like sounds…" Dustin began, trailing off uncertainly.

"Difficult?" Cam offered. "It is. It requires a great deal of focus and concentration." He gestured his arms around the room. "The technology you see around you didn't build itself nor does it run itself. Not yet anyway," he added, thinking of an idea for a virtual replicant that he'd toyed with in the back of his mind.

"You… made all this?" Shane asked, surprised.

"Much of it, yes, Shane," Cam snapped. Far from all of it, but that was a nuance he figured was a waste of time to explain. "It didn't appear out of thin air like magic."

"That's not what we meant, Cam," Tori tried to argue, but she stopped to look at her friend Dustin and Cam followed her gaze. Apparently, something was coming from the messy haired teen and Cam felt a sudden surge of dread.

"Dude, I like you," Dustin said cheerfully, a big smile spreading across his face.

That was when Cam's mouth fell open. It took him a moment to process what the earth ninja was saying.

A part of him wanted to blush. Perhaps that was just because no one had ever said that to him before. But why should he care that someone so… clueless liked him? For the first time, he really took a moment to examine Dustin. There was something there in his face, in his eyes, something that made feelings stir inside Cam.

"We all like you," Dustin continued, gesturing to Shane and Tori.

…Which actually made a hell of a lot more sense, but for some reason, this made Cam feel disappointed. He wasn't sure why he had hoped that moment was somehow kept between just the two of them.

"Like, you're smart and…" Dustin continued, obviously searching his brain. It must have been like a quest through a deserted wasteland. The hesitation made Cam want to frown.

"Reliable," Shane chimed in.

"And you're a nice guy," Tori added, which caused Shane and even Cam to stare at her in disbelief.

Cam knew he wasn't nice, but it was Dustin who confirmed it.

"But Cam's mean," Dustin argued with his friends before turning back to a now glaring Cam. "That's why we're here. We don't want you to be lonely anymore, so we'll be your friends."

Somehow hearing these words, even if they were the truth (and Cam did value the truth), stung. There was something so demeaning about what Dustin was saying and it infuriated Cam. Apparently the "I like you" had been said out of pity.

Yes, pity.

And his golden brown eyes had looked so sincere… But, not only was Dustin saying that Cam was "mean" (which was technically accurate) but that the poor lonely Cam needed him and his friends so he wouldn't be lonely anymore. He turned back to his screen, unable to keep from gritting his teeth. He managed, in a low tone, to say, "That won't be necessary."

"Come on, dude," Dustin insisted, suddenly and unexpectedly throwing his arms around Cam's shoulders. "We're gonna get ice cream!"

Cam froze. Being the only child of a distant father did not prepare him for unexpected physical contact. It felt foreign and awkward to be touched, especially so spontaneously, but Dustin felt warm and there was something… nice about it. It was enough to soften his anger somewhat.

"Who doesn't like ice cream?" he heard Shane comment behind him.

"I have work to finish," Cam reminded them.

"Yeah, dude," Dustin continued, "if we're like Power Rangers that protect the Earth and stuff and we can take a break, why can't you?"

Dustin truly was an airhead. Did he really not grasp that they were just some students who just happened to be late to class on the day their school was destroyed and that everything that made them Power Rangers was because of his work? Obviously, it was beyond the earth ninja, so Cam tried to be as simple and clear as possible, as if he were talking to a child. "If Lothor attacks again, and I have not yet completed the holographic portal tests, you may lose."

"Dude, we can't lose!" Dustin argued, laughing like it was some kind of a joke. "We're Power Rangers!"

Oh how nice it must be to be so blissfully optimistic, but Cam didn't have that luxury.

"You can lose a lot of things," he explained. "You can lose a battle. You can lose the Earth. And you can lose your lives." He looked directly into Dustin's eyes as he said this. As much as they annoyed him, he didn't want them to die. The thought of Dustin, as dumb as he was, dying without ever really understanding the world around him disturbed Cam. "Now, if you'll excuse me…" And, with that, Cam turned back to his work and tried to concentrate.

"Dude, let's go," he heard Shane say.

"We tried," Tori whispered.

And, as Dustin was reluctantly dragged away, Cam could finally let out a sigh of relief.

"Perhaps you should have gone with them." The voice startled Cam and he turned to see his father entering the room atop his mobile habitat. He was still having trouble getting used to the idea that his father, always a strong, proud man, was now a guinea pig.

"I have work to do," he reminded his father. Reminded, because if anyone understood the importance of his work, it was his father.

"Son, sometimes stretching one's horizons can bring a clarity of thought and aide in one's tasks," his father continued.

Cam couldn't help but sigh. "Dad, they don't even understand what I'm working on. They're…" He wanted to say "idiots," but he knew his father would disapprove.

"Who says you must discuss your work?" his father asked in his usual infuriatingly calm tone.

"So, I just go out and eat ice cream and laugh at who can make ice cream come out of their nose?" Cam snapped.

"Cameron, do not continue to underestimate them," his father warned with a subtle earnestness that only his son could pick up on. "They were chosen for a reason. It is a fact you must accept, but it can also be a truth you embrace."

Cam fought off a groan. There was no point in arguing with his father. Even as a guinea pig, he could never admit he was wrong. After all, he was still the Sensei and Cam was only his son.

"Next time, I'll go," he finally agreed, turning back to his screen.

It was a false promise and they both knew it, but his father said nothing more and decided to leave Cam in peace.

Still…as much as Cam tried to think about his work, he couldn't help but wonder what it would be like to sit around a table, eating ice cream, like a… Funny, but the first word that came to his mind was… friend.

But that was silly and a complete waste of valuable time. Even thinking about it cut into time he could be working, so he brushed the thought aside and stared at the screen.

Ah, the energy wave patterns were almost aligned. He hunched his shoulders, preparing to lean into the keyboard and finish the configuration when a sensation radiated through his body. It was… a loss? He… missed Dustin's touch. The thought almost made him chuckle it was so absurd. But then he wondered if maybe the messy haired brunette was right.

Maybe Cam was lonely after all.

"Come on, Dustin, cheer up," Tori said as she poked at her nonfat frozen yogurt. He insisted she get real ice cream, but she said she was "watching her figure." So was every guy in the ice cream shop, but Dustin didn't get what that had to do with eating nonfat frozen yogurt. Ick!

"Yeah, he just likes being alone," Shane added between bites of his rocky road ice cream. "Can you believe he built all that technology? He must be like some kind of a genius or something."

"Yeah, he's smart and…" Dustin mumbled, adding, "still mean. I just thought…" He mixed the sprinkles and M&Ms into his Neapolitan ice cream. "…I thought he'd make a good friend."

"Why did you think that?" Tori asked curiously, still avoiding eating her frozen yogurt.

Dustin shrugged, throwing his arms up. "I don't know. He's just like… There's something about him. I feel bad he's so lonely." He had been so sure there was a change in Cam's eyes, on his face, that maybe his plan was working.

"We don't have to give up on him," Tori encouraged, finally taking a bite.

"We don't?" Shane asked, looking up from his ice cream. "I'm seriously thinking there's nothing under that mean exterior but more meanness."

"Maybe we just need to, like, keep trying," Dustin suggested. After all, it was only a matter of time before the mean aloneness lost to the awesome power of friendship. It was like an unwritten law or something. And Cam was super smart, so he should totally understand this.

"Good luck," Shane said, patting Dustin's shoulder.

"What, we're going to leave it up to him to bring Cam out of his shell?" Tori asked.

"Nah, it's cool,' Dustin assured her with a smile. "I got this."

The grumpy hermit had finally met his match: the happy social butterfly that was Dustin Brooks. After all, in the movies, the grumpy guy always comes out of his shell and becomes super nice. Scrooge! Yeah, Cam was just like Scrooge, but instead of loving money, he loved his computer and all that nerdy techno stuff. But, just like in the movies, the geek would bend to the powers of the airhead.

It was like destiny and Dustin was going to make it happen.

To Be Continued…