Honestly, Chapter V

Thunder

"No, no, no, it's D, A/D, G/D, then Bm/D, A/D."

Hunter's fingers felt as if they were on fire and Dustin's impatience wasn't helping his moral. Hunter hadn't touched this cursed instrument in almost 5 months, and yet, here he was, blistering his fingers so that he could perform in some useless talent show at some Emo-kid club.

"Dustin, can we maybe take a break, dude?"

Dustin stopped tuning his guitar for the 7th time that day and turned towards Hunter, "If we take a break now, we won't have time to practice before the show!"

"Look, as much as I love this song, I can't stand to hear it again right now. I need a break."

Dustin swatted his hand towards Hunter, "Yeah, yeah, whatever."

The former Crimson ranger frowned at his companion's attitude. Normally the weeks that Hunter was home from the Thunder Academy were centered on them spending time together, going to movies, going swimming – things they both found fun. They'd endured a rather grueling 6 month relationship patched with ups and downs – more ups than anything else – and yet it seemed that they were both getting more on edge. It seemed the schedule had begun to take its toll on the men, for it was always the same; one month away from each other, complete with everyday phone calls or IM sessions; then, a week together, and another month away. Both knew they had it pretty good, and neither could really complain about the money they were making.

Without fueling his boyfriend's frustration even further, Hunter carelessly laid his guitar on the ground and quickly exited the room, desperately trying to get some fresh air. He couldn't stand seeing Dustin like that. When he'd volunteered to help Dustin in the Battle of the Bands, he had no idea Dustin would get so in to it. He had no idea he'd take it so seriously. Besides, what did Dustin need the money for? He had quarters at the Wind Ninja Academy, as well as his parents' more than luxurious suburban house. So why did he need the money?

"Hey…you okay?"

Hunter turned around to see Cam, clad in green as usual and fixing him with a worried look.

"Fine," Hunter replied curtly, looking at his red fingertips laced with string imprints.

"You and Dustin seem pretty tense lately; is something wr—"

"I said I'm fine."

Cam furrowed his eyebrows. He was used to this kind of treatment from Hunter; no one ever knew how Hunter would react and he was the most unstable of the rangers in his emotions – other than Dustin, of course – which had slowly, overtime, helped Cam get used to the arrogance, moodiness, and overall insanity of Hunter.

"Well I'm not only asking about you, Hunter; I'm talking about Dustin too. I do have to work with him you know."

Hunter glared over at Cam, trying to analyze the situation.

"Why do I have to have something to do with how Dustin's been acting? I barely ever see him."

"Exactly; yet when you come back from the Thunder Academy, you always go straight to him. I was just wondering if that was maybe why he was so edgy lately."

"Because I visit him when I come back on break?"

"You don't visit anyone else."

"Who am I supposed to visit? Blake? Yeah, because I can afford to fly out to wherever he's touring every week of every month. Get real Cam."

"Why not visit Tori?"

Hunter slowly turned back to Cam and his smug response, his eyes ablaze with Fury; "What's that supposed to mean?"

Cam didn't back down from the fierce gaze he was receiving from Hunter; "You have no idea what you've put her through, Hunter."

It happened before Hunter could even register it. With all his ninja training, he could not control the fist that furiously impacted with Cam's mouth.

"How fucking dare you, Cam? You have no idea what you're even talking about you nosy little—"

"Hey! What the hell are you doing, Hunter?!" Dustin shouted from the top of the concrete stairs that led to the building they'd been practicing in.

Dustin's amber eyes flickered from Cam's sprawled form doctoring his lip, to Hunter, standing ominously over the fallen green ranger with his fists balled.

Hunter only panted; he had no answer ready for Dustin. He couldn't face him, Dustin wouldn't understand. He never would. So like he'd done from all his emotional problems, Hunter walked away before disappearing in a crimson flash jumping around the city until it met the horizon.

What did Cam know anyway? He was just jealous he couldn't get in Tori's pants first, that was all. Hunter wasn't dumb; he'd seen the looks Cam had given Tori – nonetheless, Hunter had also seen the looks Cam had sent towards him as well. Hunter didn't hate Cam; that was a common misconception. However, Hunter didn't particularly like Cam, either, so it was more like a mutual dislike towards each other. Maybe Cam was intent on ruining Hunter's relationship with both Tori and Dustin to try and get Hunter for himself?

Hunter shook his head, looking out over the misty sea from the rocky cliff. He couldn't get a grasp on his emotions. He really cared for Dustin – even loved him; but even the Thunder Ranger couldn't dismiss the fact that they had been getting frequently more hostile towards each other. He knew Dustin wasn't only frustrated because Hunter couldn't remember a simple chord progression; he knew it had more to do with the fact that they'd been slowly giving in on their relationship…and that made him sick to his stomach. Not to mention, he knew he wouldn't be staying at the Thunder Academy much longer anyway. Sensei Amino had already spoken to him about his upcoming task, and though he dreaded it and wanted to tell Dustin so badly…he knew even more that telling him would only complicate things.

Soft specks of water shook Hunter from his pensiveness as he squinted to the overcast horizon. Large clouds were rolling in and Hunter thought it the perfect scene for him to have quite possibly the worst week of his life. He absently kicked a stone as he headed back to his apartment, fully aware Dustin would eventually find him there.


"What did you say to him?!" Dustin demanded once more.

Cam glowered at Dustin as he continued to rub ice on his swollen lip, "Yeah, because Hunter's always needed a reason to go off…"

"Oh you know what Cam – cut the sarcastic bullshit! I'm so not in the mood for your little smartass replies."

"Fine, Dustin; you wanna know why Hunter's so…pissy all the sudden? I'll tell you why; because he destroyed Tori and he knows it. It was worse than blasting her or smashing her around with his Zord – he broke her heart and now I'm left to clean up. And you know what Dustin? I'm tired of having to clean up after some undeserving moto-cross jock screws her over. Me. Not you, not Blake, and it sure as hell isn't Hunter."

Dustin tried to reply but his mouth suddenly felt hot and dry like he'd been eating a badly prepared cake.

"You don't know what you're talking about, Cam."

"Really? Then explain to me why no one sees Tori outside of the academy? Explain to me why she hardly eats, she never surfs anymore, and she barely gets enough sleep. Do you know why? Because she says the meals are too big without Hunter eating with her; the beach makes her think of the most intimate sex she's 'ever had,' though Hunter probably thought of it as some meaningless romp; and lastly, she can't sleep because her bed is too empty and her dreams are always about Hunter coming back to her and she only awakes to know he's not there, he's probably off playing video games with you."

Cam's face was now dangerously close to exploding judging by the color and he'd long given up trying to heal his fat lip. In his eyes were something very reminiscent of tears and suddenly, Dustin made the connection.

"You love her, don't you?"

"What?"

"You. You're in love with Tori."

"That's ridiculous Dustin," Cam dismissed, fixing his askew glasses after he'd wiped his eyes.

"Then why are you practically crying? Is that why you're so pissed at Hunter? Because Tori still isn't over him, meaning you still can't have your chance?"

The Samurai wasn't facing Dustin anymore; he'd gone to arbitrarily pluck strings on his guitar.

"Cam…why don't you just tell her how you feel? Maybe it'll help her some. I mean…if I'd been that close to someone, I'd feel like there was no one that could care for me again. You've gotta let her know there are other people that love her too, dude."

Cam stopped strumming the nickel-bound strings and met Dustin's eyes for the first time.

"You don't know what it's like, Dustin."

And this time, the tears did fall, and suddenly Dustin was overcome with grief for Cam. Here was Cam, the overlooked nice guy, and somehow, Dustin always thought that was his own role.

"No, Cam, I do. Trust me…I do."

"Uh…excuse me…is there a Cameron Wa-wantonbee? Wantonbee-"

"It's Watanabe," Cam grunted as he slapped the tears away in frustration.

"Ah, yes…sorry…um, there's a man on the phone that would like to speak with you."

Cam exchanged glances with Dustin before exiting the room to answer his phone call, leaving Dustin with his thoughts.

Dustin couldn't help but feel drowned in the fact that in making him one of the happiest people on Earth, Hunter had practically crushed Tori's world in the palm of his hand. Dustin didn't know if it was guilt or the fact that he was growing weary of his relationship with Hunter that made him feel like it somehow wasn't worth it. Was being with Hunter worth emotionally slaying his best friend? Was it worth living a life of secrecy and paranoia? Dustin just had to hope that Hunter was indeed worth it, and that things would surely improve with time. They always did…right?


"What time'd you get in last night?"

"Not sure…I went and had a couple drinks with Cam. I'm surprised he could actually drink through that lip. Especially alcohol."

Hunter merely grumbled his response as he continued sipping his coffee, eyes not moving from the newspaper in front of him.

"So what got you so fired up yesterday?" Dustin asked, trying to hide the nervousness in his voice as he cracked several eggs on the warming skillet.

"Nothing to worry about…guess I was just frustrated."

"So you punched Cam?"

Hunter still didn't stray from the newspaper, even at the boldness of his boyfriend's question.

"Dustin…it was an accident. I'll call him later and apologize."

Dustin shrugged, pretending he didn't care Hunter wasn't telling him everything. Why should he? Besides, it was just a comment about Tori, right? What did it matter if Hunter didn't want to talk about being with Tori? Dustin didn't want to hear about it anyway…yet he still couldn't shake the nagging feeling that Tori had had the most 'intimate sex ever' on the beach with Hunter. That wasn't necessarily something he considered to be playing in his favor. What if Hunter got bored with Dustin and decided he wasn't ready to choose between his bisexuality? Then what? Would he go back to Tori and…Dustin didn't even want to think about it and he noticed his toast was burning.

"Shit."

"Can you open the window before the smoke detector goes off?"

Dustin glared at Hunter's inattentive form. His tone was so…uncaring, like Dustin wasn't really there but was more like there to entertain him or do his bidding. Still, Dustin complied, pushing the window up with a bit of excess force.

"Hunter," he began, sitting down across from him at the table.

"Hm?"

"I wanna talk to you."

Hunter's reply was slow, "So?"

"Can you put the damned newspaper down?!"

Hunter lowered the black-and-white reading material and fixed Dustin with an indifferent look, like he was still reading the paper.

"Cam told me what happened yesterday and—"

"Then why'd you ask?"

"I – because! I wanted your side of the story!"

"Right."

"Look, whatever's going on here needs to end. Now. I don't know what I did, but I'm sorry, okay? What the hell do you want from me?"

And then irony slapped Dustin like a pissed off 9-month-pregnant woman he'd just taken the last tub of Ben & Jerry's from; he sounded just like Hunter had nearly 7 months ago. He remembered the specific conversation…and now his blood began to run cold as he realized their progress was now going in reverse. Now, Dustin was bringing them apart and Hunter was merely waiting for him to decide when.

"Honestly, Dustin…I don't know what I want from you."

Finally, Hunter's expression shifted to something with at least a few emotions playing across it.

"What do you mean?"

"This past month has been…strained. I feel like we're still together because we feel obligated to be…not because we want to. You're snapping at me every time I accidently touch a wrong string because of some stupid-ass song; you obviously don't trust me because you had to ask Cam what happened instead of coming after me to find out why I knocked the little bastard out—"

"Come after you?! You shouldn't have run like a little bitch!"

Dustin's words seemed to rebound off the eerily white walls before a deafening silence filled the room.

"Like a bitch, right? I shouldn't have run? Maybe you shouldn't have jumped to conclusions like the asshole you've been for the past few weeks."

"Look, you can't expect me to chase you; if you run away, I understand it as 'leave me alone; I'm Hunter and I'm brooding, wah;' not as 'please come and chase me to find out why I just decked one of our best friends.'"

"Oh yeah, that's good, Dustin, let's be sarcastic, shall we? That always helps matters, huh? See! It's like the more I'm around you, the less happy you are. Maybe this was all just a bad idea in the first place, huh?"

A fist belonging to a Megazord must have hit Dustin, because he felt all air in his body suddenly spill through his open mouth. Shock split through his body and he felt the color drain from his face. This was it. It was over. And he suddenly realized he couldn't lose Hunter; not now, not ever.

"Wait. Wait."

Hunter stared down at him as he stood but still hovered over the tabletop, his coffee losing its steam.

"You're…you're right. I-I know I've been a bit of an airhead lately…and I've been an asshole, and…I just..."

Hunter's expression didn't change, however, and he began to move away from the table; "I'm going for a run. Figure out something to do today."

"What do you mean?"

"Don't sit around here all day."

And with that, he was off towards his bedroom to change. With a sigh, the Earth Ninja flipped his slightly scorched eggs onto a plate and put down new toast. Was Hunter kicking him out? Where was he supposed to go? What was he supposed to do?


"I've gotta say, I wasn't expecting any visitors," she said, her voice a bit hoarse.

"We're not staying long, just get dressed," Dustin instructed, closing the door and getting a better look at the apartment.

"Where are we going?"

"Somewhere…when was the last time you went out just to have fun?"

Tori sighed, "I've just…been busy, you know?"

Dustin fought with the words he was about to say, but let them out nonetheless "Tor…you gotta get over Hunter."

Her eyes went wide as they locked with his own, "H-how…how'd you know?"

"I'm his best friend, Tori. But I'm yours too, and that's why I'm here. C'mon, let's go."

"What, so is Hunter just going around telling everyone about poor pathetic Tori?"

"No, Tori, it's not like tha—"

"Did he at least mention that I was a good screw? I hope so, 'cause I mean, if I'm gonna be some whore, I might as well be good at what I'm doing."

Her voice was dangerously ambiguous in its emotions; it was as if it didn't know if it wanted to break and cry or to snap and scream.

"Tori, Hunter never said anything bad about you…he…he misses you, I think."

Tori was silent, still searching for some form of treachery in Dustin's proposition.

"I can't go out Dustin…I really just don't feel like it."

"Then why don't we order a pizza, buy a movie on HBO and clean your house? It'll be like old times."

Tori couldn't stop the small grin that tugged at the corners of her mouth.

"Deal."

"Good; do we need cleaning stuff or do you have all that."

"We should probably go to Wal-Mart…I have like, laundry soap and dish soap; that's about it."

"Then let's get going!"

Tori began to head towards her room to change, and then turned to face Dustin.

"Why are you doing this?"

Dustin hesitated. If was going to reply, it needed to be a well thought out response; one that wouldn't upset her again.

"Tori, you've been my best friend for as long as I can remember…and it seems like since the Thunder Brothers came into our lives, we've kind of forgotten that. You drifted away with Blake, Shane was never the same while fighting Lothor, and I had no one to really hang out with but Hunter…so we became a lot…closer, I guess. Then, after Blake left, Hunter felt like hell, knowing that you were going through so much because of his brother. Don't ask me how that works, but, that's just Hunter. Anyway, I guess we just got pushed away from each other with all this crap that's been going on. So…this is me trying to make up for that…and to say I'm sorry."

Tori was quiet, meaning Dustin had no idea if she was taking his slight monologue positively or negatively. What seemed like an eternity passed before Tori was spilling her saline tears onto his dark yellow shirt as she gripped him firmly.

"Thank you…thank you so much Dustin."

He rubbed her back comfortingly and whispered encouraging words, wondering whether or not this would be how his life would be with Hunter.


"Is it safe for me to stay here?"

Hunter spared him a single look that looked anything but nice; "Yeah."

Dustin sighed as he sat down next to Hunter on the couch. He was staring straight ahead at the TV set, seemingly intent on keeping his eyes glued to it.

"Hunter…this is stupid."

"Really?"

Dustin sensed the remaining hostility in his voice.

"Really."

"So does that mean you're done being such an ass?"

"You could say that, yeah."

"Then I guess this was pretty stupid," Hunter said, finally grinning.

Dustin looked over at his boyfriend with a goofy smirk slapped on his face; "You know…I always thought there was something that people did to make up, you know?"

"What do you mean?"

Dustin merely continued to smile before Hunter caught on with a boisterous laugh; "You're horrible, Dustin. Really horrible."

A few moments of silence ensued before Hunter looked at Dustin again, a wide smile decorating his face.

"Now who's horrible?"

Hunter lay in something very similar to heaven. He hardly looked down at Dustin, who was almost asleep on his chest. Each breath he took, Hunter could feel shake his body. A certain unity had enveloped them and he welcomed it willingly. Several booms outside drew his conscience to the weather. Thunderstorm.

"I have to leave, Dustin."

"Hm?"

"I…Sensei Amino, he's making me leave for an undisclosed amount of time…"

Dustin lifted his head, his eyes meeting Hunter's.

"What do you mean, Hunter? I barely get to see you as it is," he replied, his voice wavering.

How could this happen? How could it happen now? It was such a crucial part in their relationship, why did Hunter need to go now? It…it wouldn't work. An undisclosed amount of time? He could be gone for weeks, months, maybe even years.

"I know, Dusty, I know. It's just…he wants me to go away for some special training; he hasn't told me all about it yet, he just wanted me to get prepared to leave."

But Hunter's explanation fell upon deaf ears. Dustin was beyond upset now.

"When?"

"When what?"

"When do you have to leave?!"

"I…Dustin, calm down."

"When?!"

"Tomorrow…"

That was it. Dustin broke down, the tears audible and his pain tangible. Hunter cringed, trying to comfort his boyfriend to no avail.

"Dustin, it'll be fine. We'll be fine. We'll get through it before you know, and we'll be together again. I promise."

It went on for hours, long into the night. Dustin's faint sobs were eventually replaced by light hiccups and slight murmurs of "I love you." It didn't help Hunter's conscience at all, and he felt as if his world was being ripped apart even more so than it already had been. First losing Tori, now losing Dustin. Life had truly dealt him a shitty hand.

When morning arrived, a dull gray light flittered through the blinds in slits, causing a dismal atmosphere. Dustin was completely quiet as Hunter got ready, packing small things and washing and brushing; normal things really. Only he wasn't going anywhere normal – Hunter was going to some place devoid of human life, maybe millions of miles from Dustin in order to do some ninja bullshit. It was times like these where Dustin hated the fact they'd been touched by the Power. He hated the fact that people could just take his normal life and crush it with his super-hero life. It was times like these he wished someone would just take his ninja powers for good and leave him alone like a normal human.

"Are you ready?"

Dustin looked up through his bloodshot eyes at Hunter's simple attraction. His face seemed neutral like he was casting emotions into the abyss lost somewhere in his inner body.

"…yeah," Dustin's hoarse voice replied.

They made their way to the airport in silence, the radio playing in its regularity. Dustin almost wanted to curse it for its ability to have a regular schedule uninterrupted by life's obstacles. It seemed whoever was in charge of playing the songs that early morning was really intent on making both of them depressed. Songs about leaving, songs about missing…songs about falling out of love. When you're gone…you still have all of me…and then, Dustin heard it. A song some emotionally draining for him that the only thing he could do was absently sing along to keep the tears from taking over his body.

"Your voice was the soundtrack of my summer; do you know you're unlike any other? You'll always be my Thunder. And I said; your eyes are the brightest of all the colors, I don't ever wanna love another. You'll always be my Thunder. So bring on the rain, and bring on the thunder."

He watched numbly as Hunter made his way through the security check, never looking away in order to keep sight of his crimson sweater. The tears were blurring his eyes like a torrential tsunami, but he dare not let them stop him from seeing Hunter off. And when he moved from sight to head to his gate, Dustin hurried to the upper platform to watch his plane fly off.

His eyes easily found the AirHarbor jet and he wiped the tears from his face angrily, not caring who saw his tearstained face. He saw the passengers boarding and couldn't help but wonder how many other people were letting go of people they loved more than themselves. He wondered how many people's lives were being ruined by that sickeningly ugly white, blue, and golden jet.

He saw the turbines fire up, saw the plane begin to reverse to get on to the runway. And for a moment, he thought he saw messy blond hair and a shock of crimson in one of the windows…and he felt his hope skyrocket. Hunter would be back. He knew it. Hunter would come back for him, and Hunter would still love him. He had to believe, because his hope was the only thing he'd have.

An ominous ripple in the sound barrier let Dustin know that the weather was just as unhappy as him as he heard the thunder continue.

"Bring on the pain…and listen to the thunder," he whispered to himself as the plane – Hunter – left him for who knew how long.