Mismatched Perfect: Telephone (Power Rangers Ninja Storm/Thunderbirds Crossover, K)
Okay, so ... I've been trying to tell myself not to post this yet. Because really, I wanted to write more of the whole story first, and also because I really hadn't intended for my Hunter/Blake backstory to be a crossover. But I was rereading it again, and damn it, I really like the way this came out. -Glares at Hunter- If nothing else, I may turn it into a prologue.
Title: Mismatched Perfect
Fandom: Power Rangers Ninja Storm/Thunderbirds Crossover
Author: Tsukino Akume
Siblings: Hunter/Blake
Romantic Pairings: None
Prompt: #45 Telephone
Rating: K
Disclaimer: If I owned them, this really would be cannon. You know it would.
Summary: After being freed from Lothor's control and nearly destroying his brother, Hunter makes a phone call in search of some reassurance.
Warnings: Runaway teenagers, possible slight OOC
Author's Notes: It is my personal cannon that the Winchesters and Corbetts were friends when they were kids. Somehow after some pondering, it has now also become my personal cannon that Hunter and Blake are related to the Tracy family. Surprisingly, it works. No, I don't know why. But I like it. ^_^
I tweaked the ages of the Thunderbirds a little to fit them around were I wanted Hunter and Blake to be in the lineup. Also, my Hunter and Blake are slightly younger than they probably were in cannon, because it works better with my plots. For reference, Hunter is seventeen in this, Blake is sixteen. Scott is twenty. (For anyone who's curious, John is eighteen, Virgil is sixteen, Gordon is fourteen, and Alan is nine.)
Yes, this is very similar to Little Brother. But the reasons behind it are different, and the idea wouldn't leave me alone, so I ran with it.
It took a long time to convince his fingers to actually dial the number. And even then, it took several more tries to actually let the stupid thing ring. He tried to convince himself that it was stress making his hands shake like that, but he knew better. Even if he didn't want to admit it.
The phone seemed to ring for hours. Great, he thought bitterly to himself. I finally get up the nerve to do this, and he won't even pick up the stupid -
"Scott Tracy."
He froze, swallowing awkwardly. The other man's voice seemed deeper now, gruffer than when he'd last heard it. But it was still familiar enough to make his fingers clench around the phone. Why did I do this to myself again? he wondered distantly.
" ... Hello? Is anyone there?" Annoyance in that voice now, and he knew if he didn't speak up quickly all this would be for nothing.
"H-hey," he forced out, wincing as his voice cracked like a pubescent teenager. "Happy twentieth. Uh, sorry it's a little late. We've uh, been ... busy." He made a face at himself. Geez, nervous much? It's just Scott, stupid!
Yeah. Just one of the three people on the planet he'd always looked up to practically since he could crawl.
There was a long pause. "Hunter ... ?" Scott asked hesitantly. "Is that you?"
"Yeah. It's me."
A long, slow sigh of relief. "God, kid. *Damn*, it's good to hear from you. Are you all right? How's Blake?"
He could practically hear Scott cutting himself off before he asked the 'forbidden' question. The last time they'd spoken had been over a year ago, just after he'd been released from the hospital for a motocross injury. He'd had to bail before they could contact his relatives, but he'd felt guilty enough that he'd convinced himself to call his oldest cousin and let them know it hadn't been too serious - just a concussion. Scott immediately freaked, demanding to know where they were so he could come get them. Hunter had hung up the phone on him in a panic, afraid he'd spill if didn't.
He hadn't been able to force himself to call again since.
He tried to smile, but came out bitter. "We're, uh ... we're .... " He stopped, rubbing a hand over his face and closing his eyes tightly. "Blake's fine," he said instead. "He's doing alright."
Another pause. "What's wrong, Hunter?" Scott asked gently.
He scrunched his eyes shut again, swallowing hard at the warmth and concern in his cousin's voice. How long had it been since someone talked to him like that? Blake cared, but Blake wasn't ... it was his job to look out for Blake, not the other way around. Ever since his parents had - ever since that day, he'd been the one taking care of himself. Sensei was great and all, but he wasn't family. Not really.
"Hunter? Talk to me, kid. What's going on?"
A harsh laugh escaped before he could stop himself, sounding more like a sob. Slowly he slid down the wall, leaning forward to hug his knees. Habit made him glance up at the door to make sure he'd locked it again before burying his face back against his knees with a sigh. "I ... I just .... "
After a moment, he bit the side of a finger, forcing himself to take a deep breath. He had to calm down. He couldn't lose control like this. *Especially* not now. Not with what he could do, and not with Scott hanging on his every word.
"I can't tell you," he said finally, sighing again. "I know it sounds like a cop-out, but I just ... I can't."
"Can you try?" Scott prodded gently. "You don't have to give me details. Just enough to give me an idea. I need to know what's bothering you, kiddo."
He huffed out a laugh. Kiddo. When was the last time somebody called me that? "You need to know?" he repeated, amused.
Scott's voice was soft, but insistent. "Yeah, Hunter. I do."
Hunter tilted his head back for a moment, thinking. He didn't doubt his cousin's words; Scott had always been freakishly protective of his family, and his extended family to a lesser extent. Even Blake, much to his little brother's surprise. Secretly, Hunter thought that Scott was especially protective over Blake *because* he was adopted.
"I hurt Blake," he managed finally, his voice barely a croak. "I didn't ... I didn't mean to. But I ... " He let out a shaky breath, hunching forward again. "I almost ... Darn it, Scott, I almost - "
He couldn't finish that sentence. In that moment, he wasn't sure if he was greatful for the Power sensoring his words or not.
He heard Scott suck in a breath. "Hunter - "
"I didn't mean it," he said again, almost pleading. "I swear I didn't. There was ... all this ... all this stuff was going on, and someone was messing with my head, and I'd never - I swear, Scott, I'd never, *ever* hurt him! I didn't want to do it, but I couldn't *stop* - "
He was almost sobbing now, and he could feel tears slowly steaking down his cheeks. "If ... if the guys weren't there ... if they didn't stop me ... Blake would .... Blake would be .... "
Scott's voice cut into his thoughts. "Hunter! Hunter, listen to me!" A pause. "Hunter, are you listening?"
He sniffed, wiping ineffectually at his face.
"I need you to take some deep breaths for me, okay kiddo? Nice and slow. Just take a minute and breathe, all right?"
For some reason, just the act of doing what he was told for once was almost more reassuring than the actual act of calming himself down. I must be more homesick than I thought, he mused silently. Then he sighed again, rolling his eyes at himself. Not that I *have* a home.
"Hunter, you said Blake was fine, didn't you?"
He blinked, frowning slightly. "Yeah. He's at - uh, he's fine."
"And you said there was somebody messing with your head?"
There was a faint undercurrent of anger to Scott's voice now, and he smiled weakly. "Yeah. They were ... it wasn't because I wanted to. I couldn't stop."
"Then it's not your fault, is it."
He flinched.
"It's not, Hunter," Scott repeated gently. "And I bet if Blake heard you say it was, he'd kick your ass, right?"
" ... Yeah," he whispered, because that was true even if they were both wrong. He blinked rapidly for a moment.
"Are *you* all right?" Scott persisted softly. "You said someone was messing with your head - "
"Yeah, I'm fine," he interrupted. "I'm not the one who got hurt."
There was a long pause.
"Somehow I doubt that," Scott said eventually, and the gentleness in his tone hurt.
You don't know! he wanted to scream. You don't know anything! Blake could have been destroyed! I could have lost my only brother! You couldn't possibly understand!
But he swallowed it back, because he couldn't say that. If he gave Scott the slightest clue to where they were, the rest of the family would show up in a heartbeat. And it wasn't safe for them here with Lothor running around.
He may not be able to keep Blake away from the fighting, but protecting Scott and the others was the least he could do. He refused to let Lothor take any other members of his family away from him.
"How is everyone?" he asked finally, rubbing a hand over his face again.
"Well, John's about to graduate high school, same as you." A pause, but he didn't answer the unspoken question, and Scott moved on. "He's already been scouted for a few colleges, but he's got his heart set on Harvard."
"Overachieving nerd," Hunter groused good-naturedly. John and Virgil always made him feel like an idiot just by being who they were. He knew it wasn't intentional, but it was hard to measure up to the semi-genius standards the Tracy family liked to set for themselves.
"Virgil got a car for his sixteenth birthday - "
"Why?" Hunter interrupted, raising his eyebrows. "You guys live on an island. What's he gonna do with a car?"
"Apparently drive it around the hangar in circles for about a week, and then take apart the engine to see how it works," Scott answered dryly.
Hunter cracked up. "Yeah, that's the techno geek, all right. What else has he been up to?"
"School, mostly. He won an award in an art show they did, but it's like prying teeth to get him to talk about it. Oh, and I guess one of his teachers has been hounding him about pursuing music in college, but Virge wants to go into engineering, like Dad." Scott paused. "Or medicine. He said he wasn't sure which yet."
Hunter rolled his eyes. "Knowing the techno geek, he'll probably end up doing all of the above. What about Gordy and Al?"
Scott muttered something inaudble. "Let's just just say Gordon's school can't wait until he graduates."
He laughed again. He knew Gordon was one of his favorite cousins for a reason. "That bad, huh?"
"You have no idea," Scott sighed irritably. "Alan on the other hand, has decided he wants to fly." Another pause, and he could just picture Scott rubbing his forehead tiredly. "John's pulled him out of Tracy One about six times this week, and Virgil caught him about ready to jump off the roof the other day because Gordon had him convinced that if he believed hard enough, he could just flap his arms and avoid hitting the ground."
Hunter snorted, and tried to cover it with a cough. "And Uncle Jeff?"
"Working." Scott's voice was tight suddenly, and he sort of wished he hadn't asked. "Not as bad as he used to, but Virgil said they still have trouble pulling him out of the office sometimes."
"At least he comes out when they go get him," Hunter pointed out, remembering how bad things had been when Aunt Lucy first died. Not even Mom could drag him out of his office then, and his mother wasn't the type of person to take no for an answer.
The memory hurt even more than the sound of Scott's voice did, fresh and sharp now that he knew the truth about what had happened. He closed his eyes, sucking in a breath as he reached out to absently rub a hand over his morpher. "What about you?" he forced out. "What have you been up to?"
"Drills, mostly. Lucky for you, you caught me on a break." Scott's voice was teasing, but full of gentle affection. There was a pause, and a softer sigh. "It really is good to hear from you, kiddo. We've been worried about you guys," he added seriously.
"We're all right," Hunter answered automatically. He immediately winced. "I mean we're fine. Really. We're not ... we're fine. I'm taking care of Blake."
"And who's taking care of you?" Scott asked quietly.
He closed his eyes, tightening his hand around the phone again. "I'm fine, Scott."
Another sigh, and a murmur of "Sure you are, kiddo. Just ... Don't forget that we're still here, okay? If you need anything ... money, a place to stay, whatever ... I don't care. Just ... just call, okay?"
Hunter grit his teeth as his eyes burned. Of course he knew they were still there. That's why he was trying so hard to stay away. "I know," he said at last.
Scott sighed again. "I really hate to do this kiddo, but I gotta go. My break's about up. Are you gonna be all right?" The tone was careful, measured. Scott knew he would never answer honestly, but whatever he could offer would still be examined for what he wasn't saying.
"Yeah." His gaze fell back down to his morpher, and he forced himself to smile. "I'll be all right. Thanks, Scott. I just .... thanks."
"Anytime, kid," Scott promised quietly. "I love you."
Hunter swallowed awkwardly. He'd never been as comfortable saying the words as Scott was. As all his cousins were, really. But that didn't mean he didn't feel the same way. "Me, too." He hesitated. "Bye, Scott."
He hung up before he could hear the reply.
For a moment he just sat there, phone in his lap as he tilted his head back and pressed his palms to his eyes. It's not forever, he reminded himself for the umpteenth time. Just until we take care of Lothor. Once he's gone, we won't have to hide anymore. Then we can see them all we want. Just for a little while longer.
After all, Lothor had too much to pay for now. His parents ... what he'd done to him and Blake - *twice*, no less. Forcing him to hurt Blake, the person who meant more to him than anyone else in the world.
Ironic, considering he'd barely tolerated him when they first met.
He smiled wryly. Until Scott changed my mind and convinced me that being a big brother wasn't so bad after all.
A knock at the door caught his attention. "Hunter, are you done in there?" Kelly demanded. "Your break's up and I need help unloading the truck in the back."
He sighed quietly, rolling his eyes. Stockboy. I can't *believe* she made me a *stockboy*. Ugh. "Yeah, Kelly. I'm coming," he called, climbing to his feet.
He slipped the pre-paid cell phone he'd been using into the dumpster outside. He couldn't afford to have it traced, after all. Not until Blue Bay Harbor was safe.
Title: Mismatched Perfect
Fandom: Power Rangers Ninja Storm/Thunderbirds Crossover
Author: Tsukino Akume
Siblings: Hunter/Blake
Romantic Pairings: None
Prompt: #45 Telephone
Rating: K
Disclaimer: If I owned them, this really would be cannon. You know it would.
Summary: After being freed from Lothor's control and nearly destroying his brother, Hunter makes a phone call in search of some reassurance.
Warnings: Runaway teenagers, possible slight OOC
Author's Notes: It is my personal cannon that the Winchesters and Corbetts were friends when they were kids. Somehow after some pondering, it has now also become my personal cannon that Hunter and Blake are related to the Tracy family. Surprisingly, it works. No, I don't know why. But I like it. ^_^
I tweaked the ages of the Thunderbirds a little to fit them around were I wanted Hunter and Blake to be in the lineup. Also, my Hunter and Blake are slightly younger than they probably were in cannon, because it works better with my plots. For reference, Hunter is seventeen in this, Blake is sixteen. Scott is twenty. (For anyone who's curious, John is eighteen, Virgil is sixteen, Gordon is fourteen, and Alan is nine.)
Yes, this is very similar to Little Brother. But the reasons behind it are different, and the idea wouldn't leave me alone, so I ran with it.
It took a long time to convince his fingers to actually dial the number. And even then, it took several more tries to actually let the stupid thing ring. He tried to convince himself that it was stress making his hands shake like that, but he knew better. Even if he didn't want to admit it.
The phone seemed to ring for hours. Great, he thought bitterly to himself. I finally get up the nerve to do this, and he won't even pick up the stupid -
"Scott Tracy."
He froze, swallowing awkwardly. The other man's voice seemed deeper now, gruffer than when he'd last heard it. But it was still familiar enough to make his fingers clench around the phone. Why did I do this to myself again? he wondered distantly.
" ... Hello? Is anyone there?" Annoyance in that voice now, and he knew if he didn't speak up quickly all this would be for nothing.
"H-hey," he forced out, wincing as his voice cracked like a pubescent teenager. "Happy twentieth. Uh, sorry it's a little late. We've uh, been ... busy." He made a face at himself. Geez, nervous much? It's just Scott, stupid!
Yeah. Just one of the three people on the planet he'd always looked up to practically since he could crawl.
There was a long pause. "Hunter ... ?" Scott asked hesitantly. "Is that you?"
"Yeah. It's me."
A long, slow sigh of relief. "God, kid. *Damn*, it's good to hear from you. Are you all right? How's Blake?"
He could practically hear Scott cutting himself off before he asked the 'forbidden' question. The last time they'd spoken had been over a year ago, just after he'd been released from the hospital for a motocross injury. He'd had to bail before they could contact his relatives, but he'd felt guilty enough that he'd convinced himself to call his oldest cousin and let them know it hadn't been too serious - just a concussion. Scott immediately freaked, demanding to know where they were so he could come get them. Hunter had hung up the phone on him in a panic, afraid he'd spill if didn't.
He hadn't been able to force himself to call again since.
He tried to smile, but came out bitter. "We're, uh ... we're .... " He stopped, rubbing a hand over his face and closing his eyes tightly. "Blake's fine," he said instead. "He's doing alright."
Another pause. "What's wrong, Hunter?" Scott asked gently.
He scrunched his eyes shut again, swallowing hard at the warmth and concern in his cousin's voice. How long had it been since someone talked to him like that? Blake cared, but Blake wasn't ... it was his job to look out for Blake, not the other way around. Ever since his parents had - ever since that day, he'd been the one taking care of himself. Sensei was great and all, but he wasn't family. Not really.
"Hunter? Talk to me, kid. What's going on?"
A harsh laugh escaped before he could stop himself, sounding more like a sob. Slowly he slid down the wall, leaning forward to hug his knees. Habit made him glance up at the door to make sure he'd locked it again before burying his face back against his knees with a sigh. "I ... I just .... "
After a moment, he bit the side of a finger, forcing himself to take a deep breath. He had to calm down. He couldn't lose control like this. *Especially* not now. Not with what he could do, and not with Scott hanging on his every word.
"I can't tell you," he said finally, sighing again. "I know it sounds like a cop-out, but I just ... I can't."
"Can you try?" Scott prodded gently. "You don't have to give me details. Just enough to give me an idea. I need to know what's bothering you, kiddo."
He huffed out a laugh. Kiddo. When was the last time somebody called me that? "You need to know?" he repeated, amused.
Scott's voice was soft, but insistent. "Yeah, Hunter. I do."
Hunter tilted his head back for a moment, thinking. He didn't doubt his cousin's words; Scott had always been freakishly protective of his family, and his extended family to a lesser extent. Even Blake, much to his little brother's surprise. Secretly, Hunter thought that Scott was especially protective over Blake *because* he was adopted.
"I hurt Blake," he managed finally, his voice barely a croak. "I didn't ... I didn't mean to. But I ... " He let out a shaky breath, hunching forward again. "I almost ... Darn it, Scott, I almost - "
He couldn't finish that sentence. In that moment, he wasn't sure if he was greatful for the Power sensoring his words or not.
He heard Scott suck in a breath. "Hunter - "
"I didn't mean it," he said again, almost pleading. "I swear I didn't. There was ... all this ... all this stuff was going on, and someone was messing with my head, and I'd never - I swear, Scott, I'd never, *ever* hurt him! I didn't want to do it, but I couldn't *stop* - "
He was almost sobbing now, and he could feel tears slowly steaking down his cheeks. "If ... if the guys weren't there ... if they didn't stop me ... Blake would .... Blake would be .... "
Scott's voice cut into his thoughts. "Hunter! Hunter, listen to me!" A pause. "Hunter, are you listening?"
He sniffed, wiping ineffectually at his face.
"I need you to take some deep breaths for me, okay kiddo? Nice and slow. Just take a minute and breathe, all right?"
For some reason, just the act of doing what he was told for once was almost more reassuring than the actual act of calming himself down. I must be more homesick than I thought, he mused silently. Then he sighed again, rolling his eyes at himself. Not that I *have* a home.
"Hunter, you said Blake was fine, didn't you?"
He blinked, frowning slightly. "Yeah. He's at - uh, he's fine."
"And you said there was somebody messing with your head?"
There was a faint undercurrent of anger to Scott's voice now, and he smiled weakly. "Yeah. They were ... it wasn't because I wanted to. I couldn't stop."
"Then it's not your fault, is it."
He flinched.
"It's not, Hunter," Scott repeated gently. "And I bet if Blake heard you say it was, he'd kick your ass, right?"
" ... Yeah," he whispered, because that was true even if they were both wrong. He blinked rapidly for a moment.
"Are *you* all right?" Scott persisted softly. "You said someone was messing with your head - "
"Yeah, I'm fine," he interrupted. "I'm not the one who got hurt."
There was a long pause.
"Somehow I doubt that," Scott said eventually, and the gentleness in his tone hurt.
You don't know! he wanted to scream. You don't know anything! Blake could have been destroyed! I could have lost my only brother! You couldn't possibly understand!
But he swallowed it back, because he couldn't say that. If he gave Scott the slightest clue to where they were, the rest of the family would show up in a heartbeat. And it wasn't safe for them here with Lothor running around.
He may not be able to keep Blake away from the fighting, but protecting Scott and the others was the least he could do. He refused to let Lothor take any other members of his family away from him.
"How is everyone?" he asked finally, rubbing a hand over his face again.
"Well, John's about to graduate high school, same as you." A pause, but he didn't answer the unspoken question, and Scott moved on. "He's already been scouted for a few colleges, but he's got his heart set on Harvard."
"Overachieving nerd," Hunter groused good-naturedly. John and Virgil always made him feel like an idiot just by being who they were. He knew it wasn't intentional, but it was hard to measure up to the semi-genius standards the Tracy family liked to set for themselves.
"Virgil got a car for his sixteenth birthday - "
"Why?" Hunter interrupted, raising his eyebrows. "You guys live on an island. What's he gonna do with a car?"
"Apparently drive it around the hangar in circles for about a week, and then take apart the engine to see how it works," Scott answered dryly.
Hunter cracked up. "Yeah, that's the techno geek, all right. What else has he been up to?"
"School, mostly. He won an award in an art show they did, but it's like prying teeth to get him to talk about it. Oh, and I guess one of his teachers has been hounding him about pursuing music in college, but Virge wants to go into engineering, like Dad." Scott paused. "Or medicine. He said he wasn't sure which yet."
Hunter rolled his eyes. "Knowing the techno geek, he'll probably end up doing all of the above. What about Gordy and Al?"
Scott muttered something inaudble. "Let's just just say Gordon's school can't wait until he graduates."
He laughed again. He knew Gordon was one of his favorite cousins for a reason. "That bad, huh?"
"You have no idea," Scott sighed irritably. "Alan on the other hand, has decided he wants to fly." Another pause, and he could just picture Scott rubbing his forehead tiredly. "John's pulled him out of Tracy One about six times this week, and Virgil caught him about ready to jump off the roof the other day because Gordon had him convinced that if he believed hard enough, he could just flap his arms and avoid hitting the ground."
Hunter snorted, and tried to cover it with a cough. "And Uncle Jeff?"
"Working." Scott's voice was tight suddenly, and he sort of wished he hadn't asked. "Not as bad as he used to, but Virgil said they still have trouble pulling him out of the office sometimes."
"At least he comes out when they go get him," Hunter pointed out, remembering how bad things had been when Aunt Lucy first died. Not even Mom could drag him out of his office then, and his mother wasn't the type of person to take no for an answer.
The memory hurt even more than the sound of Scott's voice did, fresh and sharp now that he knew the truth about what had happened. He closed his eyes, sucking in a breath as he reached out to absently rub a hand over his morpher. "What about you?" he forced out. "What have you been up to?"
"Drills, mostly. Lucky for you, you caught me on a break." Scott's voice was teasing, but full of gentle affection. There was a pause, and a softer sigh. "It really is good to hear from you, kiddo. We've been worried about you guys," he added seriously.
"We're all right," Hunter answered automatically. He immediately winced. "I mean we're fine. Really. We're not ... we're fine. I'm taking care of Blake."
"And who's taking care of you?" Scott asked quietly.
He closed his eyes, tightening his hand around the phone again. "I'm fine, Scott."
Another sigh, and a murmur of "Sure you are, kiddo. Just ... Don't forget that we're still here, okay? If you need anything ... money, a place to stay, whatever ... I don't care. Just ... just call, okay?"
Hunter grit his teeth as his eyes burned. Of course he knew they were still there. That's why he was trying so hard to stay away. "I know," he said at last.
Scott sighed again. "I really hate to do this kiddo, but I gotta go. My break's about up. Are you gonna be all right?" The tone was careful, measured. Scott knew he would never answer honestly, but whatever he could offer would still be examined for what he wasn't saying.
"Yeah." His gaze fell back down to his morpher, and he forced himself to smile. "I'll be all right. Thanks, Scott. I just .... thanks."
"Anytime, kid," Scott promised quietly. "I love you."
Hunter swallowed awkwardly. He'd never been as comfortable saying the words as Scott was. As all his cousins were, really. But that didn't mean he didn't feel the same way. "Me, too." He hesitated. "Bye, Scott."
He hung up before he could hear the reply.
For a moment he just sat there, phone in his lap as he tilted his head back and pressed his palms to his eyes. It's not forever, he reminded himself for the umpteenth time. Just until we take care of Lothor. Once he's gone, we won't have to hide anymore. Then we can see them all we want. Just for a little while longer.
After all, Lothor had too much to pay for now. His parents ... what he'd done to him and Blake - *twice*, no less. Forcing him to hurt Blake, the person who meant more to him than anyone else in the world.
Ironic, considering he'd barely tolerated him when they first met.
He smiled wryly. Until Scott changed my mind and convinced me that being a big brother wasn't so bad after all.
A knock at the door caught his attention. "Hunter, are you done in there?" Kelly demanded. "Your break's up and I need help unloading the truck in the back."
He sighed quietly, rolling his eyes. Stockboy. I can't *believe* she made me a *stockboy*. Ugh. "Yeah, Kelly. I'm coming," he called, climbing to his feet.
He slipped the pre-paid cell phone he'd been using into the dumpster outside. He couldn't afford to have it traced, after all. Not until Blue Bay Harbor was safe.