Title: Costumes and Block Parties

Author: Solarbaby

Disclaimer: All I own is the plot.

Words: 2505

Summary: How many problems can one costume bring? Pre-Fran/Dom, RJ/Casey

Spoilers: Set before Earn Your Strips

Notes: A nice little Halloween fic for everyone! Be nice and review!

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Casey shivered as Lily once again brought the paintbrush across his cheek. He eyed her warily as she sat the brush back down and reached for a can of spray. As she shook it up he caught sight of the color on the front. "Woah, woah, woah. No way." He shook his head vehemently.

"Come on, Casey. It's part of your costume." She cajoled as she whipped the lip off.

He jumped up off the bathroom counter and stepped back. "It's orange. You never said anything about orange hair."

Lily rolled her eyes as he shied away from her. "You're costume is supposed to be a tiger. There for you need orange hair."

A hand came up to cover his hair protectively. "I agreed to the orange and black shirt and even those matching pants, but not my hair." He ignored her snickers and made a b-line for the door. Casey got as far as a few steps out of the door before a hand reached out and grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled him back. "Help!"

RJ and Dominic blinked as they watched Lily drag their red ranger back into the bathroom.

Dominic frowned and looked at his friend, "Should we be worried?"

A thoughtful look crossed RJ's face before he shook his head. "He'll be fine."

As if to reply, a crash and yelp came from the bathroom.

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Casey glared at Theo as the short boy stared at the top of his head. "Not one word."

"Oh, I have several." Theo gave him the once over and his as his grin largest Casey barely bit back a groan. He knew what the blue ranger had zeroed in on. "Is that a tail?"

"Bite me."

Lily was grinning at him, her cheetah print dress, tail, yellow cat ears, and black stockings leaving no room for doubt about what she was supposed to be. Theo, in his ninja outfit, was currently digging through the drawer for a camera. And Dominic was, once again, trying to sit the crown more comfortably on the top of his head. The Rhino ranger had opted for a prince outfit. His own tiger outfit consisted of a tiger striped shirt, tiger striped leather pants (he didn't even want to know where she found them), a tail and a matching seat of cat ears.

He still had no idea how he let Lily talk him into this.

Theo pulled a camera out of one of the drawers by the refrigerator. Quickly, snapping a picture, he laughed. "No thanks. I think I'll leave that up to RJ."

"Good idea." A voice behind him purred.

Casey didn't even have a chance to look behind before a set of arms wrapped around him. A mouth brushed the back of his neck before nipped at it with his teeth.

"Ah! None of us need to see that!"

That was Theo, of course.

RJ smirked and buried his face into the neck in front of him. "I like the tail." He let his hand slid up the back of the shirt and brush above the area where the tail was clipped to the pants. "A lot."

The Tiger snickered. "That's really kinda kinky." He shifted out of his mate's hold and turned to look at him.

Then proceeded to laugh.

"What?" RJ seemed genuinely confused to why his mate was currently laughing his ass off at him.

Casey bit his bottom lip to hold back a laugh. "A grim reaper?"

"You're making fun of my costume?" The wolf master sounded amused by this. "You have a tail."

The tiger glared at his mate before glaring once again at Lily.

"Are we still waiting on Fran?" Asked RJ, as he pushed his sleeves up, only for them to fall back down again. He shot them an annoyed look and tried again.

Lily answered, "Yep. I made her change her costume."

"What was wrong with her costume?" Dom frowned.

She rolled her eyes. "It was a sheet with eye holes. This one is much better anyways." A smirk crossed her face, causing everyone to look her here strangely.

"Um… Lily?" A voice called out. The group turned to see Fran peeking out of the bathroom. "I think there's something wrong with this costume. I think its missing parts."

The cheetah shook her head. "No everything is there."

Fran chewed on her bottom lip. "You sure?" When Lily nodded, she muttered, "That's what I was afraid of." With that she opened the door and stepping into the open.

Silence descended on the loft.

Dominic was the first to break the silence. "Jesus Christ."

"What? Is it that bad?" Fran looked down at the witch costume Lily had picked out for her. Granted there really wasn't a lot of costume to it. It was essentially a black and pink corset with a black and pink shirt that was a lot shorter than she was comfortable with. The black fishnet stockings helped a little but she still felt necked.

"Now for the finishing touch." Lily bounced down the stairs and plopped a black pointy hat on her head. "There." She stepped back and examined the woman before her. "Perfect. Come on. Now we can go."

The boys were still frozen at the kitchen, staring at Fran. "There is no way you're leaving the loft dressed like that."

Casey immediately stepped away from his mate and his big mouth, not wanting to be caught in the cross fire.

RJ shook his head, over protective tendencies kicking in. "You need to change."

"No, I think… wow." Dom immediately cut in, staring.

Fran looked pleased for a moment, than pissed as she turned to RJ. "Who do think you are to tell me what I can and can't wear!" She hissed.

"Come on, Fran. Let's go." Lily looked delighted as she pulled her up the stairs and down to JKP.

Dominic hurried after them. "I think I'll head out with them."

Theo shook his head at the rhino and followed.

RJ just watched them leave before turned back to his mate, who looked amused. "But…"

"She's a grown woman, RJ." He slid his arm around his wolf's waist and pulled him toward the stairs.

"I know that." The wolf master still looked a little lost. "But how am I supposed to protect her if she goes out like that?"

Casey rolled his eye. "You don't have to protect her. Fran can take care of herself." RJ still looked unsure. "If it makes you feel any better I don't think Dom's going to leave her side all night."

The wolf looked more pacified by this thought and allowed his mate to drag him down the stairs.

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The Block Party was in full swing by the time the group arrived.

Lily immediately dragged Theo off to the games booth, spying a stuffed cheetah she wanted to win. RJ proceeded to pulled Casey deeper into the crowds, wanting to get closer to the band. Casey just made a face but allowed it to happen.

That left Fran and Dom.

"Food?" He looked at her, nodding to the booths to their left.

Fran just laughed. "You ate before we left."

He pouted, making her laugh harder. "But I'm still hungry."

She rolled her eyes. "What a surprise." But she smiled and tugged him toward the booths.

A grin covered his face and he slipped an arm around her waist.

Fran shot him a startled, but completely pleased look at the action. Maybe, just maybe… She shook her head. Even if he didn't like her like that she was still content to just sit back and let him hold her.

The two ran into Casey again about twenty minutes later, talking to some guy dressed in vampire costume. Casey was looking more and more distinctly uncomfortable. They watched as the guy reached out to touch the cat ears and the tiger stepped back. The guy just continued leering and stepped forward.

Dominic was there in a second, Fran forced to following him since he hadn't let go yet. "Hey, Casey."

The man jerked back as he heard the blonde's voice.

Casey shot his friend a grateful for giving him an easy out. He was beginning to wonder if he was going to have to force the guy to leave him alone.

"Where's RJ?" Fran asked him, immediately regretting the action as the guy turned his attention on her now. She shivered as he ran his eyes up and down her. Dom's arm around her tightened and pulled her closer.

"Sitting with Lily and Theo down by the gazebo. I just came to grab a couple of corndogs." Casey paused. "Which I think I'll go grab real quick." He turned back to the vampire. "It was nice to meet you." God, he hope that didn't sound half as forced as he thought it did. The tiger turned and disappeared into the crowds again, waving.

Dom eyed the man and glanced down at the woman beside him. "Let's go find the others." He nodded to the guy and pulled her away.

The vampire behind them looked livid.

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It wasn't until much later that they ran into the man again.

In all honesty, Dom had forgotten all about him. Lily and Theo had already headed back to the loft, his arms full of stuff won at the game booths and her holding a few bags of cotton candy she was planning on hording from the guys. RJ refused to leave Casey's side, making obvious the tiger cub had told the wolf master exactly what had transpired earlier. His wolfish tendencies just caused Casey to shake his head and mutter something about him being a 'possessive nutcase'.

But the four continued to enjoy themselves, watching as little kids dressed in various costumes ran around. Dom had started counting those in ranger costumes and how many were in each color. So far Casey was winning by a long shot…

Fran was currently playing a game at one of the two basket ball booths. This was one of the few times that night that Dom hadn't been glued to her side and as much as she loved being with him she was also relishing the time alone.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?"

This voice caused Fran's shot to go wide and the booth's runner ducked as it bounced off the wall. She sent him an apologetic look. Someone moved up beside and she turned to see just what she had feared.

It was that guy dressed up as the vampire.

"Hi." She muttered.

He smirked at her. "I don't think I had the chance to introduce myself. Greg." The vampire held his hand out to her.

She took it reluctantly, wincing at the clammy hand. "Fran."

"So where's your boyfriend?" Greg grinned down at her, not letting go of her hand.

Fran yanked her hand back, ignoring the urge to wipe it on her skirt. "He- he's not my boyfriend."

That was the wrong thing to say. Greg moved into her space and smirked down at her. "Really?"

"Um… I should go." She turned only to have a hand grip her arm.

"Stay. We'll talk some more." He looked down at her and Fran had the sinking feeling that the man was trying to look down her corset.

She tried to jerk her arm back but the man just tightened his grip. "Let go." He yanked her against him and she instinctively slammed her foot down on his. Her heel dug into his foot.

Greg yelled and let go of her. "Why you little…" He made a move toward her only to find himself pinned against the side of the booth, a hand wrapped around his neck. Glancing up, he found himself staring into the face of a pissed blonde.

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Casey laughed at the story Dominic was telling. A hand brushed the back of his neck, fiddling with the hair there. He glanced over to find RJ looking at him innocently. Dominic's voice trailed off and he glanced up to see the rhino looking over toward the booths.

Fran seemed uncomfortable as she talked to that guy that was hitting on him earlier. He got up and started to head over, only to be jerked back down. His mate had his hand wrapped around the back of his shirt and was shaking his head at him. Casey sent him a questioning look.

The wolf master nodded toward the rhino ranger.

Dominic was looking more and more pissed by the second. When the guy grabbed Fran's arm, Dom was off.

The tiger made a move to go follow, only for the hand to tighten on his shirt once again. He glanced down at his mate to see him shaking his head.

"This is something he has to do for himself."

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"Dom. Dom! Let him go!" Fran tugged at his arm.

Dominic released the man, dropping him to the ground. "Scram." He hissed. The rhino let out a noise of distress as his pray disappeared. He frowned and pushed the feeling aside. A hand tightened on his arm and he looked to find Fran staring at him in panic.

He stepped back from her, ashamed. He had let his animal spirit take over, instinctively wanting to protect her.

Fran stepped forward and placed a hand on his chest. As his attention was brought to back to her, she smiled up at him, wrapping her arms around his neck in a hug. "Thank you." She whispered.

He looked down at her, surprised, and smiled, wrapping his arms around her.

She pulled back and blushed.

A thoughtful look crossed his face as he came to a decision. He hoped he wasn't about to make a horrible mistake. Fran was just beginning to head back as Dom slid a hand around her waist and pulled her to him.

"Dom, wha--?" Her question was cut off as he pressed his lips to hers.

She didn't pull away, but responded instead. Her arms wrapped around his neck and he slid his arms around her waist and pulled her closer.

Dominic smiled into the kiss.

oOoOoOoOoOo

Meanwhile, Casey just blinked as he watched the two kiss, seemingly obvious to the rest of the word. He was beginning to understand what made the others so uncomfortable when they saw them.

"See," RJ pulled his tiger back against his chest, "There was nothing for you to worry about. She can take care of herself."

"Me?!" He turned to look at the master. "You were the one who didn't want to let her out of the loft!"

RJ snorted. "I did nothing of the sort." He licked the side of his mate's neck and felt him shiver in response. "I think this is our cue to head back home." The wolf master stepped back and pulled on the cat's shirt. "We're going to put those ears and tail to good use."

"What the? RJ? RJ!"