You Only Hurt the Ones You Love (Power Rangers SPD, Bridge Carson/Z Delgado, #13 - excessive chain)
Title: You Only Hurt the Ones You Love
Author: LttleDvl
Fandom: Power Rangers SPD
Pairing: Bridge Carson/Z Delgado
Theme: #13 - excessive chain
Disclaimer: Nope, I don't own a bit of it; I just like to play around with the characters.
Summary: Much to people’s surprise, Bridge does have a temper...
Word Count: 2249
one of these days mariusgirl is going to tell me to stop flooding her with ficage *g*
Bridge closed his eyes for a moment as he sat at the mini food bar, facing away from his teammates as he doodled schematics on a notepad. Most days he put up with their teasing about his inventions, but today it had grown particularly annoying. They’d started ragging on him ever since he got up it seemed; only a few minutes would pass by before someone made a snide remark aimed in his direction. He knew they weren’t trying to hurt him on purpose; at least he hoped not, but somedays...somedays it was just too much. He wondered if his teammates really thought about the way they heckled him so much. He knew why too; out of all of them, he was the most easy going and passive member of the group. Everyone else could tolerate jibs and teasing up to a certain point only. What his teammates failed to realize was that he had one too. And he’d just about reached that limit.
Jack sighed loudly, it echoed audibly across the room. He glanced at his teammates, his eyes settling on Sky with a smirk. “Aren’t you done with that thing yet?” He eyed the manual in Sky’s hands, “You should have that entire thing memorized cover to cover by now. Why don’t you read something else for a change? You know, like normal people do.”
Sky shot him a look full of daggers, “Sure; like any of us are normal. Why don’t you find something else to amuse yourself with Jack, instead of riding your fellow cadets all the time.”
“I’m not riding you, Sky. Just trying to get you loosen up a bit. You don’t have to be such a tightwad all the time.”
Sky scowled at him. “As much as I hate to admit it, Sky’s right,” Z spoke up, “You really should find some other form of entertainment.”
“What; and miss out on all this fun?” Jack replied sarcastically, “What could possibly be more entertaining than spending a lovely afternoon holed up indoors watching my friends read, paint, play music and...whatever the hell Bridge is doing over there. What’s more fun than that?” he finished sourly, crossing his arms over his chest.
“Jesus, Jack, you’re really pathetic, you know that? Nobody said you had to stay cooped up in here with the rest of us. If you’re that bored, why don’t you go somewhere else?” Sky glared at him crossly.
Jack shook his head, “You don’t get it, do you? I want to hang out with you guys, but this isn’t what I had in mind.”
“Well, what did you have in mind?” Syd asked pointedly.
Jack threw up his hands in exasperation, “I don’t know! Something better than this! How about some lightball?”
“No can do, I just finished getting my nails done this morning. I don’t need them broken already.”
“Oh for...” Jack cut himself off, “Come on guys, there’s got to be something.”
Sky glanced up from his book briefly, “If you’re that bored, you could always get Bridge to explain the intricacies of the infamous computoaster.”
Jack rolled his eyes, “No thanks; I will never be that bored. Listening to Bridge rattle on about toasting computers is not on my list of exciting activities.”
Bridge could feel eyes on his back; he knew that they were expecting him to remark casually about the benefits and joy of toast, make a joking comment about ‘buttery things’ or some such, but he’d just hit the final straw.
Slamming the data pad down on the counter, it was a wonder it didn’t shatter into tiny bits. He turned to glare at his teammates as they all stared at him, surprised at his reaction. “Stuff it, Jack! I’m sick of being the brunt of your jokes. All of you! I may be strange, but that doesn’t mean I want to be ragged on all the time about it!” He got up quickly and stormed out of the common room, not giving anyone a chance to speak.
The four Rangers exchanged astonished looks. “Um, where the hell did that come from?” Jack asked.
Sky glowered at him, “What did you expect Jack? You do ride him a bit much you know.”
“Oh, and like you don’t,” Syd shot back at the Blue Ranger, “You’re not much better than Jack in that regard.”
“Hey, I’ll have you know...”
“Stop it!” Z cut in angrily. All eyes shifted to her, “Bridge is right; we pick on him too much. We all do.” She glanced meaningfully at each of them in turn, “Bridge is such a nice guy that he never tells us when to stop. He just keeps acting like it never bothers him, but clearly, that’s not true. Case in point...” she gestured towards the door.
“Huh, I never thought it was possible for Bridge to get mad,” Jack sighed, “You’re right Z, I think we pushed him a bit too much this time and he snapped. Guess we should apologize.”
“Correction; you need to apologize,” Sky spoke up, “You made the comment after all.”
“After you started it! If you hadn’t said anything in the first place...”
“Guys! That’s enough!” Z cut across the bickering Rangers. “We all owe Bridge an apology. We’ve all been teasing him equally, that makes us equally guilty.”
Jack, Sky and Syd exchanged quick glances. “You’re right; I’ll go track him down...” Jack started to get up.
“No,” Z stood and shut off her music player, dropping it on the sofa behind her, “I’ll go. Something tells me he may not be in the best of moods to talk to you right now, Jack.”
He nodded as she strolled away, in search of her teammate. Besides, I have a horrible feeling that we didn’t just make him angry. Z had noted the look in his eyes despite his angry tone. There was hurt there; hurt that his friends would berate him so much. Poor Bridge, what have we been doing to you?
------------------------
Bridge didn’t really know where he was headed; all he knew was that he had to get away from the burning humiliation of his friends. The way Sky and Jack had argued back and forth about him, using him as ammunition in their little spat cut deeper than he really wanted to admit. After his initial outburst, he had to flee, before his teammates could see him on the verge of breakdown. He didn’t have a whole lot of friends outside of B-Squad; Power Ranger or not, other cadets considered him too odd and strange to actually want to hang out with him. The idea that the few people he really considered friends could be so dismissive of him...well, it hurt. A lot. He’d fled not so much because he didn’t want to hear their lame attempts to apologize as he knew they would, but rather because he felt as if a dam was about to burst open.
He struggled, even now, to keep himself in check as he hurried along the corridors. He’d grown used to being the brunt of people’s jokes; even expected it sometimes, but to have it coming from those he called friends...even it was too much for him to bear. He kept walking; hoping to find a secluded, quiet place before he lost control completely...
------------------------
Z felt as if she’d searched everywhere. She could probably track his morpher, but that would alert him to the fact that she was on his trail and it would enable him to keep one-step ahead of her. So instead, she resorted to the old fashion method, walking around and looking. She figured he probably wouldn’t want much company, so she bypassed all the areas with crowds. The only places left to search were the training grounds and the zord bay. She earnestly hoped that is wasn’t the former; trying to find someone who didn’t want to be located on several acres of wooded grounds would be near impossible to find.
So she opted to check the bay first. I really hope he’s in there. She paused briefly at the door that led to the bay, not sure if she was ready for this or not, but knowing full well that she couldn’t just leave things as they were now. She took a step forward and the door hissed open quietly. She scanned the area quickly and spied her quarry. She walked quietly over to him as he sat with his eyes closed, cross-legged on the hood of his zord. Just as she opened her mouth to say something, Bridge spoke instead, “Go away, Z.”
“Bridge...”
His eyes snapped open and he glared down at her, “No; just...just leave me alone. Please.”
“I can’t do that Bridge,” she replied quietly.
“Oh really?” he snapped at her, “Why not? Haven’t had your turn to bash the geek? Gee, I’m so sorry to ruin your fun.”
“No! Bridge...dammit! That’s not why I’m here. I came to say we’re sorry; we never meant to hurt you. I’m sorry,” she finished quietly.
He stared at his teammate; his anger warring with the rest of his feelings; he could feel her emotions battering at his senses. She was genuinely sorry. And she meant what she said about not hurting him. But if he accepted her apology, that would mean he’d have to admit it had hurt. He wouldn’t be able to blow it off; using his anger as a cover for what he really felt. He shook his head vigorously, forcing his anger to spark briefly.
“I don’t care; just leave me alone. Go away and leave me be...”
“Bridge...” Z started.
“No!” he shouted, “Can’t you just go? I don’t want your apology. Or your pity. Or anything else. I don’t want to see you. If this is how you guys want to treat me all the time; well, I don’t need you. Who needs friends anyway?” His voice nearly broke on his last words, but he reigned his emotions back in quickly, burying them somewhere deep inside.
To his surprise and dismay, Z climbed up next to him; close by, but not near enough to intrude on his personal space. The look she gave him was full of remorse and sadness, not necessarily for herself, but for him. That look could cut him to the bone if he let it. He quickly glanced down, avoiding the look of caring compassion he saw reflected in her eyes.
“You don’t mean that, Bridge,” she told him quietly, “You do need friends. And so far, we’ve done a horrible job at it. Can you forgive us? Can you forgive me? Please?”
He shook his head quickly, not daring to look up. He was startled when he felt soft hands cupping his face gently, forcing him to look up and meet her gaze. His eyes shimmered with hurt as Z gently smiled at him. “We really screwed up this time, didn’t we? I’m so sorry Bridge. Honestly, I would never hurt you on purpose. Please tell me you know that. I’m still your friend; if you still want me as one, that is.”
Bridge shook slightly as her emotions washed over him. Her touch had opened his senses to her fully, he knew that she wasn’t lying or joking; the wealth of feeling she had for him washed away the last remnants of any anger he had. He nodded dimly, unable to speak as a tear rolled slowly down his cheek.
Z gently brushed it away. “Its okay Bridge; everyone hurts sometimes. There’s nothing wrong with showing it.”
He sucked in a shuddering breath as he brought his emotions back under control. “I’m sorry, Z, I didn’t mean it when I said...”
“Bridge, you don’t have to apologize to me. You have every right to be upset and I don’t mind....”
“But I do. I was being just as mean as you guys were earlier. But worse, because I did it on purpose. I’m a horrible friend.”
“No you’re not. The fact that you say that at all makes you a wonderful friend.”
He swallowed thickly and sniffled slightly, “You don’t seriously think that do you?”
“Of course I do,” she replied earnestly, “Bridge, you’re one of the best friends I’ve ever had. I wouldn’t give you up for anything in the world.”
“Really?” he began to perk up just a little.
“Really, really,” she responded as a glimmer of a smile began to creep across his features. “I’ll never hurt you again, I promise.” She leaned forward and pulled him into a hug, holding on to him for a long moment before finally releasing him. He was smiling at her when Z gently tugged him forward, placing a delicate kiss on his forehead. Bridge blushed in surprise.
“Uh...”
She smirked at him, “All better now?”
“Yah, thanks,” he was still a bit disoriented from her affectionate gesture.
“Come on, let’s go whip those other friends of ours into shape. You know, I don’t think they ever realized that it’s possible for you get angry. You really gave them a surprise.”
“I suppose...”
“I say we use that to our advantage, make ‘em squirm for a bit.”
“I don’t know, Z, that seems kind of cruel.”
“Only just a for a little bit, I want to see how they’ll react if they think you’re still mad.”
He grinned at her slightly. “I guess I could try,” he replied as she led him out.
Author: LttleDvl
Fandom: Power Rangers SPD
Pairing: Bridge Carson/Z Delgado
Theme: #13 - excessive chain
Disclaimer: Nope, I don't own a bit of it; I just like to play around with the characters.
Summary: Much to people’s surprise, Bridge does have a temper...
Word Count: 2249
one of these days mariusgirl is going to tell me to stop flooding her with ficage *g*
Bridge closed his eyes for a moment as he sat at the mini food bar, facing away from his teammates as he doodled schematics on a notepad. Most days he put up with their teasing about his inventions, but today it had grown particularly annoying. They’d started ragging on him ever since he got up it seemed; only a few minutes would pass by before someone made a snide remark aimed in his direction. He knew they weren’t trying to hurt him on purpose; at least he hoped not, but somedays...somedays it was just too much. He wondered if his teammates really thought about the way they heckled him so much. He knew why too; out of all of them, he was the most easy going and passive member of the group. Everyone else could tolerate jibs and teasing up to a certain point only. What his teammates failed to realize was that he had one too. And he’d just about reached that limit.
Jack sighed loudly, it echoed audibly across the room. He glanced at his teammates, his eyes settling on Sky with a smirk. “Aren’t you done with that thing yet?” He eyed the manual in Sky’s hands, “You should have that entire thing memorized cover to cover by now. Why don’t you read something else for a change? You know, like normal people do.”
Sky shot him a look full of daggers, “Sure; like any of us are normal. Why don’t you find something else to amuse yourself with Jack, instead of riding your fellow cadets all the time.”
“I’m not riding you, Sky. Just trying to get you loosen up a bit. You don’t have to be such a tightwad all the time.”
Sky scowled at him. “As much as I hate to admit it, Sky’s right,” Z spoke up, “You really should find some other form of entertainment.”
“What; and miss out on all this fun?” Jack replied sarcastically, “What could possibly be more entertaining than spending a lovely afternoon holed up indoors watching my friends read, paint, play music and...whatever the hell Bridge is doing over there. What’s more fun than that?” he finished sourly, crossing his arms over his chest.
“Jesus, Jack, you’re really pathetic, you know that? Nobody said you had to stay cooped up in here with the rest of us. If you’re that bored, why don’t you go somewhere else?” Sky glared at him crossly.
Jack shook his head, “You don’t get it, do you? I want to hang out with you guys, but this isn’t what I had in mind.”
“Well, what did you have in mind?” Syd asked pointedly.
Jack threw up his hands in exasperation, “I don’t know! Something better than this! How about some lightball?”
“No can do, I just finished getting my nails done this morning. I don’t need them broken already.”
“Oh for...” Jack cut himself off, “Come on guys, there’s got to be something.”
Sky glanced up from his book briefly, “If you’re that bored, you could always get Bridge to explain the intricacies of the infamous computoaster.”
Jack rolled his eyes, “No thanks; I will never be that bored. Listening to Bridge rattle on about toasting computers is not on my list of exciting activities.”
Bridge could feel eyes on his back; he knew that they were expecting him to remark casually about the benefits and joy of toast, make a joking comment about ‘buttery things’ or some such, but he’d just hit the final straw.
Slamming the data pad down on the counter, it was a wonder it didn’t shatter into tiny bits. He turned to glare at his teammates as they all stared at him, surprised at his reaction. “Stuff it, Jack! I’m sick of being the brunt of your jokes. All of you! I may be strange, but that doesn’t mean I want to be ragged on all the time about it!” He got up quickly and stormed out of the common room, not giving anyone a chance to speak.
The four Rangers exchanged astonished looks. “Um, where the hell did that come from?” Jack asked.
Sky glowered at him, “What did you expect Jack? You do ride him a bit much you know.”
“Oh, and like you don’t,” Syd shot back at the Blue Ranger, “You’re not much better than Jack in that regard.”
“Hey, I’ll have you know...”
“Stop it!” Z cut in angrily. All eyes shifted to her, “Bridge is right; we pick on him too much. We all do.” She glanced meaningfully at each of them in turn, “Bridge is such a nice guy that he never tells us when to stop. He just keeps acting like it never bothers him, but clearly, that’s not true. Case in point...” she gestured towards the door.
“Huh, I never thought it was possible for Bridge to get mad,” Jack sighed, “You’re right Z, I think we pushed him a bit too much this time and he snapped. Guess we should apologize.”
“Correction; you need to apologize,” Sky spoke up, “You made the comment after all.”
“After you started it! If you hadn’t said anything in the first place...”
“Guys! That’s enough!” Z cut across the bickering Rangers. “We all owe Bridge an apology. We’ve all been teasing him equally, that makes us equally guilty.”
Jack, Sky and Syd exchanged quick glances. “You’re right; I’ll go track him down...” Jack started to get up.
“No,” Z stood and shut off her music player, dropping it on the sofa behind her, “I’ll go. Something tells me he may not be in the best of moods to talk to you right now, Jack.”
He nodded as she strolled away, in search of her teammate. Besides, I have a horrible feeling that we didn’t just make him angry. Z had noted the look in his eyes despite his angry tone. There was hurt there; hurt that his friends would berate him so much. Poor Bridge, what have we been doing to you?
------------------------
Bridge didn’t really know where he was headed; all he knew was that he had to get away from the burning humiliation of his friends. The way Sky and Jack had argued back and forth about him, using him as ammunition in their little spat cut deeper than he really wanted to admit. After his initial outburst, he had to flee, before his teammates could see him on the verge of breakdown. He didn’t have a whole lot of friends outside of B-Squad; Power Ranger or not, other cadets considered him too odd and strange to actually want to hang out with him. The idea that the few people he really considered friends could be so dismissive of him...well, it hurt. A lot. He’d fled not so much because he didn’t want to hear their lame attempts to apologize as he knew they would, but rather because he felt as if a dam was about to burst open.
He struggled, even now, to keep himself in check as he hurried along the corridors. He’d grown used to being the brunt of people’s jokes; even expected it sometimes, but to have it coming from those he called friends...even it was too much for him to bear. He kept walking; hoping to find a secluded, quiet place before he lost control completely...
------------------------
Z felt as if she’d searched everywhere. She could probably track his morpher, but that would alert him to the fact that she was on his trail and it would enable him to keep one-step ahead of her. So instead, she resorted to the old fashion method, walking around and looking. She figured he probably wouldn’t want much company, so she bypassed all the areas with crowds. The only places left to search were the training grounds and the zord bay. She earnestly hoped that is wasn’t the former; trying to find someone who didn’t want to be located on several acres of wooded grounds would be near impossible to find.
So she opted to check the bay first. I really hope he’s in there. She paused briefly at the door that led to the bay, not sure if she was ready for this or not, but knowing full well that she couldn’t just leave things as they were now. She took a step forward and the door hissed open quietly. She scanned the area quickly and spied her quarry. She walked quietly over to him as he sat with his eyes closed, cross-legged on the hood of his zord. Just as she opened her mouth to say something, Bridge spoke instead, “Go away, Z.”
“Bridge...”
His eyes snapped open and he glared down at her, “No; just...just leave me alone. Please.”
“I can’t do that Bridge,” she replied quietly.
“Oh really?” he snapped at her, “Why not? Haven’t had your turn to bash the geek? Gee, I’m so sorry to ruin your fun.”
“No! Bridge...dammit! That’s not why I’m here. I came to say we’re sorry; we never meant to hurt you. I’m sorry,” she finished quietly.
He stared at his teammate; his anger warring with the rest of his feelings; he could feel her emotions battering at his senses. She was genuinely sorry. And she meant what she said about not hurting him. But if he accepted her apology, that would mean he’d have to admit it had hurt. He wouldn’t be able to blow it off; using his anger as a cover for what he really felt. He shook his head vigorously, forcing his anger to spark briefly.
“I don’t care; just leave me alone. Go away and leave me be...”
“Bridge...” Z started.
“No!” he shouted, “Can’t you just go? I don’t want your apology. Or your pity. Or anything else. I don’t want to see you. If this is how you guys want to treat me all the time; well, I don’t need you. Who needs friends anyway?” His voice nearly broke on his last words, but he reigned his emotions back in quickly, burying them somewhere deep inside.
To his surprise and dismay, Z climbed up next to him; close by, but not near enough to intrude on his personal space. The look she gave him was full of remorse and sadness, not necessarily for herself, but for him. That look could cut him to the bone if he let it. He quickly glanced down, avoiding the look of caring compassion he saw reflected in her eyes.
“You don’t mean that, Bridge,” she told him quietly, “You do need friends. And so far, we’ve done a horrible job at it. Can you forgive us? Can you forgive me? Please?”
He shook his head quickly, not daring to look up. He was startled when he felt soft hands cupping his face gently, forcing him to look up and meet her gaze. His eyes shimmered with hurt as Z gently smiled at him. “We really screwed up this time, didn’t we? I’m so sorry Bridge. Honestly, I would never hurt you on purpose. Please tell me you know that. I’m still your friend; if you still want me as one, that is.”
Bridge shook slightly as her emotions washed over him. Her touch had opened his senses to her fully, he knew that she wasn’t lying or joking; the wealth of feeling she had for him washed away the last remnants of any anger he had. He nodded dimly, unable to speak as a tear rolled slowly down his cheek.
Z gently brushed it away. “Its okay Bridge; everyone hurts sometimes. There’s nothing wrong with showing it.”
He sucked in a shuddering breath as he brought his emotions back under control. “I’m sorry, Z, I didn’t mean it when I said...”
“Bridge, you don’t have to apologize to me. You have every right to be upset and I don’t mind....”
“But I do. I was being just as mean as you guys were earlier. But worse, because I did it on purpose. I’m a horrible friend.”
“No you’re not. The fact that you say that at all makes you a wonderful friend.”
He swallowed thickly and sniffled slightly, “You don’t seriously think that do you?”
“Of course I do,” she replied earnestly, “Bridge, you’re one of the best friends I’ve ever had. I wouldn’t give you up for anything in the world.”
“Really?” he began to perk up just a little.
“Really, really,” she responded as a glimmer of a smile began to creep across his features. “I’ll never hurt you again, I promise.” She leaned forward and pulled him into a hug, holding on to him for a long moment before finally releasing him. He was smiling at her when Z gently tugged him forward, placing a delicate kiss on his forehead. Bridge blushed in surprise.
“Uh...”
She smirked at him, “All better now?”
“Yah, thanks,” he was still a bit disoriented from her affectionate gesture.
“Come on, let’s go whip those other friends of ours into shape. You know, I don’t think they ever realized that it’s possible for you get angry. You really gave them a surprise.”
“I suppose...”
“I say we use that to our advantage, make ‘em squirm for a bit.”
“I don’t know, Z, that seems kind of cruel.”
“Only just a for a little bit, I want to see how they’ll react if they think you’re still mad.”
He grinned at her slightly. “I guess I could try,” he replied as she led him out.