Fic: And Miles To Go (Kim/Trini)
Oct. 24th, 2012 12:07 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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prficathonsTitle: And Miles To Go
Written For: Griddlebone
Author:Pockythoughts
Rating: PG for kissing
Summary: “Has there ever been something you really wanted to do, but were scared to because you knew things could get really weird if you did?”
The doorbell rang. Trini all but sprinted across her apartment to answer it, and in short order found herself nearly knocked flat by the flying tackle-hug of a certain petite brunette. She laughed, having almost forgotten just how much force Kimberly was capable of packing into a hug when the situation called for it, and hugged back.
“It’s so good to see you, Kim!”
Her former teammate was beaming up at her. “You too! It has been way too long.”
“It really has…I’m surprised Coach Schmidt let you take the weekend off to come visit.”
Kimberly shrugged, extricating herself from the hug enough to set down her overnight bag and have a look at her surroundings. “The competition isn’t until next week and I already qualified for a spot on the national team, so this one is really just practice for me. Which is probably why Coach didn’t put up too much of a fight about me going, but come on. Between you traveling for the peace conference and then going off to college, and me being on the competition circuit, this is the first time we’ve been in the same city in what, four years? You’re one of my best friends, nothing could have kept me from coming to see you.”
Trini smiled and squeezed her shoulder affectionately before releasing her. “Well, I’m glad you’re here. Make yourself at home, all right? I’ve almost got dinner ready.”
“Sounds great.”
The little student flat was small enough that the two could still converse with relative ease as Kimberly explored and Trini puttered about in the kitchenette.
“This place is really cute, Trini,” Kimberly commented. “I love the way you decorated the – oh my gosh, I cannot believe you brought that thing with you!”
Trini glanced up to see what she was talking about and feigned offense when she saw it. “Mr. Ticklesneezer? Of course I brought him! He’s always been my favorite, how could I leave him behind?”
“I don’t know, Trini…” Kimberly shook her head skeptically. “I have to confess, that doll always creeped me out a little, even before Rita turned it into a monster.”
“I could kick you out of my apartment for saying that, but since you’re my friend, I guess I’ll have to forgive you,” Trini retorted. “Why don’t you get us some drinks out of the fridge, and I’ll start the movie. I rented all of our old favorites.”
Their tradition of always watching the same movies at every girl’s night had started several years ago when they realized that whenever they tried to watch something new, they would get to talking and miss the entire film. Tonight was no exception; even though they wrote or called each other as often as they could, there was still a lot of catching up to do. They covered Trini’s college classes and the apparently improved quality of her cooking, Kimberly’s recent victory at Nationals and the endorsement that had (hilariously, to Trini’s mind) resulted in her picture appearing on the front of a Wheaties box, and of course the latest goings-on in Angel Grove, Ranger-related and otherwise. Only rarely did their attention actually stray to the television screen, usually when it was time to change tapes.
“I love this movie,” Kimberly enthused as she put the cassette in question into the VCR. She hurried back to the futon and hopped up onto it, hugging a throw pillow to her chest. “The star is so cute.”
“I’m not surprised,” Trini teased. “I realized last time I watched it, he reminds me an awful lot of Tommy.”
Kimberly frowned skeptically and watched in silence for a few minutes, looking increasingly dismayed as she did.
“Oh no, you’re right,” she groaned, and dropped her head dramatically onto the throw pillow. “Thanks a lot, Trini. Now you’ve ruined it for me!”
Trini tried to stifle a laugh, failed, and continued laughing when Kimberly turned the throw pillow on her as a weapon, griping that it wasn’t funny.
“Okay, I’m sorry!” Trini relented between giggles as she attempted to fend off the pillow assault.
Kimberly was laughing herself at this point, but managed a second’s worth of mock-serious glaring as she dropped the pillow and let Trini compose herself. “You should be,” she huffed.
“I know it’s a sensitive subject, but you are the one who dumped him…in a letter, even.”
“I’m never going to live that down, am I?” Kimberly groused.
“Probably not,” Trini replied. “I mean, I understand why you wanted to. It’s so hard to do the long-distance thing. But you really should have at least called him.”
“I know,” Kimberly sighed, gazing thoughtfully at Tommy’s celebrity doppelganger on the TV. “It’s not that I wanted to hurt him, and I regret that it upset him as much as it did. I just know that if I had actually talked to him, I might not have been able to go through with it. He’s such a sweet guy. It isn’t his fault that I realized…he wasn’t who I wanted.”
“That makes sense. You learn so many things about yourself when you live away from home for the first time. But the two of you were such good friends, and after everything you went through together as Rangers…I guess the fairytale fan in me wanted you two to work out.”
“Part of me is still sad about it too,” Kimberly admitted. “He’ll always be special to me. But at least I think we can still be friends. I was afraid I might have ruined that when I broke up with him, but we got to talk through a lot of things after that whole incident with Maligore. We’re okay now, and I’m grateful for that.”
“I’m glad to hear that,” Trini said warmly. “Say, whatever happened to that guy you met in Florida, anyway? You haven’t mentioned him in any of your letters in awhile.”
Kimberly wrinkled her nose. “Didn’t work out. Coach’s training schedule doesn’t exactly leave much time for dating. And hey, why am I the only one getting the third degree, here? What about your love life, huh? Have you been seeing anyone lately?”
“Not really,” Trini hedged. “I went out a couple times with someone I met in my economics class, but I don’t think it’s going anywhere.”
“Oh? Don’t leave me hanging, Trini. There’s got to be more to it than that. Come on, tell me about him!”
“Her.”
“What?”
Trini averted her eyes, looking uncharacteristically self-conscious. “Her. I’m…I date girls, Kimberly.”
“Oh.”
All went silent, save for the ignored movie that was still playing on the television.
“Is that…I mean, are you okay with this?” Trini asked, her voice soft and hesitant.
Kimberly startled, looking up at her in shock. “What? Oh gosh, Trini, that’s not what I…of course I’m okay with it! You’ve been my friend for so long, nothing could ever change that. Especially not something like this. I was just surprised, is all. Last time I saw you, you were still mooning over Richie at the Youth Center. I guess I never thought…sorry.”
“No, it’s all right,” Trini reassured her. “I should probably apologize for not saying something sooner. I guess I was afraid to. I mean, I’m still getting used to it myself."
“Does anyone else know?”
“Just Zack. You didn’t hear this from me, but he and Jason tried dating for awhile when we were in Switzerland, so I figured he would understand. I haven’t had the nerve to tell anyone else, yet. Until now.”
Kimberly smiled, tight-lipped. “I guess I probably owe you an apology too, then. Because there’s something I should have told you sooner.”
Trini cocked her head curiously, her own discomfort momentarily forgotten. Kimberly took a deep breath before continuing.
“The guy in Florida…wasn’t a guy.”
“Then you…?”
“Yeah. You weren’t kidding when you said you find stuff out about yourself living away from home.”
“And that’s what you meant when you said you realized Tommy wasn’t who you wanted,” Trini said, putting two and two together. “Did you tell him?”
“I kind of had to. It was really awkward, but he understands.”
“Good. Hearing that makes me feel a little better about telling the others. It’s not that I thought they would take it badly, but it’s not the easiest thing in the world to talk about, you know?”
“Boy, do I.” The tension eased out of her shoulders and the light came back into her smile. “Glad I could help."
They watched the rest of the movie in comfortable silence. Not-Tommy saved the day and won the leading lady’s heart, of course; the kind of gallantry that both of them used to squeal and swoon over as children. They had been the kind of girls who’d read each other fairy tales and wondered what it would be like to grow up and meet a handsome prince. It had never crossed their minds that the prince might turn out to be a princess instead.
Kimberly bit her lower lip and shifted in her seat as the credits rolled. “Trini,” she said quietly. “Has there ever been something you really wanted to do, but were scared to because you knew things could get really weird if you did?”
A faint smile crossed Trini’s face. “Yes, that’s happened to me before. Once or twice.”
“And…what did you do about it?”
Trini leaned in close, cupped her hand around the back of Kimberly’s neck, and kissed her.
When she pulled away, Kimberly had tears in her eyes. “I don’t exactly have the best track record when it comes to dating my friends. If it doesn’t work out…I don’t want to lose you the way I almost lost Tommy.”
Trini reached out with her free hand to take Kimberly’s, and squeezed it tightly. “You said before that we’ve been friends for so long, nothing could ever change that, and I feel the same. I can’t predict the future, Kim. But what I can tell you is, whether we’re friends or something more than that, I can’t imagine my life without you in it. And I can promise you that won’t change, no matter what happens between us.”
Kimberly smiled. “Good enough for me.”
Trini smiled back and kissed her again, and both of them had a feeling that girl’s night was about to get a lot more interesting.
Written For: Griddlebone
Author:Pockythoughts
Rating: PG for kissing
Summary: “Has there ever been something you really wanted to do, but were scared to because you knew things could get really weird if you did?”
The doorbell rang. Trini all but sprinted across her apartment to answer it, and in short order found herself nearly knocked flat by the flying tackle-hug of a certain petite brunette. She laughed, having almost forgotten just how much force Kimberly was capable of packing into a hug when the situation called for it, and hugged back.
“It’s so good to see you, Kim!”
Her former teammate was beaming up at her. “You too! It has been way too long.”
“It really has…I’m surprised Coach Schmidt let you take the weekend off to come visit.”
Kimberly shrugged, extricating herself from the hug enough to set down her overnight bag and have a look at her surroundings. “The competition isn’t until next week and I already qualified for a spot on the national team, so this one is really just practice for me. Which is probably why Coach didn’t put up too much of a fight about me going, but come on. Between you traveling for the peace conference and then going off to college, and me being on the competition circuit, this is the first time we’ve been in the same city in what, four years? You’re one of my best friends, nothing could have kept me from coming to see you.”
Trini smiled and squeezed her shoulder affectionately before releasing her. “Well, I’m glad you’re here. Make yourself at home, all right? I’ve almost got dinner ready.”
“Sounds great.”
The little student flat was small enough that the two could still converse with relative ease as Kimberly explored and Trini puttered about in the kitchenette.
“This place is really cute, Trini,” Kimberly commented. “I love the way you decorated the – oh my gosh, I cannot believe you brought that thing with you!”
Trini glanced up to see what she was talking about and feigned offense when she saw it. “Mr. Ticklesneezer? Of course I brought him! He’s always been my favorite, how could I leave him behind?”
“I don’t know, Trini…” Kimberly shook her head skeptically. “I have to confess, that doll always creeped me out a little, even before Rita turned it into a monster.”
“I could kick you out of my apartment for saying that, but since you’re my friend, I guess I’ll have to forgive you,” Trini retorted. “Why don’t you get us some drinks out of the fridge, and I’ll start the movie. I rented all of our old favorites.”
Their tradition of always watching the same movies at every girl’s night had started several years ago when they realized that whenever they tried to watch something new, they would get to talking and miss the entire film. Tonight was no exception; even though they wrote or called each other as often as they could, there was still a lot of catching up to do. They covered Trini’s college classes and the apparently improved quality of her cooking, Kimberly’s recent victory at Nationals and the endorsement that had (hilariously, to Trini’s mind) resulted in her picture appearing on the front of a Wheaties box, and of course the latest goings-on in Angel Grove, Ranger-related and otherwise. Only rarely did their attention actually stray to the television screen, usually when it was time to change tapes.
“I love this movie,” Kimberly enthused as she put the cassette in question into the VCR. She hurried back to the futon and hopped up onto it, hugging a throw pillow to her chest. “The star is so cute.”
“I’m not surprised,” Trini teased. “I realized last time I watched it, he reminds me an awful lot of Tommy.”
Kimberly frowned skeptically and watched in silence for a few minutes, looking increasingly dismayed as she did.
“Oh no, you’re right,” she groaned, and dropped her head dramatically onto the throw pillow. “Thanks a lot, Trini. Now you’ve ruined it for me!”
Trini tried to stifle a laugh, failed, and continued laughing when Kimberly turned the throw pillow on her as a weapon, griping that it wasn’t funny.
“Okay, I’m sorry!” Trini relented between giggles as she attempted to fend off the pillow assault.
Kimberly was laughing herself at this point, but managed a second’s worth of mock-serious glaring as she dropped the pillow and let Trini compose herself. “You should be,” she huffed.
“I know it’s a sensitive subject, but you are the one who dumped him…in a letter, even.”
“I’m never going to live that down, am I?” Kimberly groused.
“Probably not,” Trini replied. “I mean, I understand why you wanted to. It’s so hard to do the long-distance thing. But you really should have at least called him.”
“I know,” Kimberly sighed, gazing thoughtfully at Tommy’s celebrity doppelganger on the TV. “It’s not that I wanted to hurt him, and I regret that it upset him as much as it did. I just know that if I had actually talked to him, I might not have been able to go through with it. He’s such a sweet guy. It isn’t his fault that I realized…he wasn’t who I wanted.”
“That makes sense. You learn so many things about yourself when you live away from home for the first time. But the two of you were such good friends, and after everything you went through together as Rangers…I guess the fairytale fan in me wanted you two to work out.”
“Part of me is still sad about it too,” Kimberly admitted. “He’ll always be special to me. But at least I think we can still be friends. I was afraid I might have ruined that when I broke up with him, but we got to talk through a lot of things after that whole incident with Maligore. We’re okay now, and I’m grateful for that.”
“I’m glad to hear that,” Trini said warmly. “Say, whatever happened to that guy you met in Florida, anyway? You haven’t mentioned him in any of your letters in awhile.”
Kimberly wrinkled her nose. “Didn’t work out. Coach’s training schedule doesn’t exactly leave much time for dating. And hey, why am I the only one getting the third degree, here? What about your love life, huh? Have you been seeing anyone lately?”
“Not really,” Trini hedged. “I went out a couple times with someone I met in my economics class, but I don’t think it’s going anywhere.”
“Oh? Don’t leave me hanging, Trini. There’s got to be more to it than that. Come on, tell me about him!”
“Her.”
“What?”
Trini averted her eyes, looking uncharacteristically self-conscious. “Her. I’m…I date girls, Kimberly.”
“Oh.”
All went silent, save for the ignored movie that was still playing on the television.
“Is that…I mean, are you okay with this?” Trini asked, her voice soft and hesitant.
Kimberly startled, looking up at her in shock. “What? Oh gosh, Trini, that’s not what I…of course I’m okay with it! You’ve been my friend for so long, nothing could ever change that. Especially not something like this. I was just surprised, is all. Last time I saw you, you were still mooning over Richie at the Youth Center. I guess I never thought…sorry.”
“No, it’s all right,” Trini reassured her. “I should probably apologize for not saying something sooner. I guess I was afraid to. I mean, I’m still getting used to it myself."
“Does anyone else know?”
“Just Zack. You didn’t hear this from me, but he and Jason tried dating for awhile when we were in Switzerland, so I figured he would understand. I haven’t had the nerve to tell anyone else, yet. Until now.”
Kimberly smiled, tight-lipped. “I guess I probably owe you an apology too, then. Because there’s something I should have told you sooner.”
Trini cocked her head curiously, her own discomfort momentarily forgotten. Kimberly took a deep breath before continuing.
“The guy in Florida…wasn’t a guy.”
“Then you…?”
“Yeah. You weren’t kidding when you said you find stuff out about yourself living away from home.”
“And that’s what you meant when you said you realized Tommy wasn’t who you wanted,” Trini said, putting two and two together. “Did you tell him?”
“I kind of had to. It was really awkward, but he understands.”
“Good. Hearing that makes me feel a little better about telling the others. It’s not that I thought they would take it badly, but it’s not the easiest thing in the world to talk about, you know?”
“Boy, do I.” The tension eased out of her shoulders and the light came back into her smile. “Glad I could help."
They watched the rest of the movie in comfortable silence. Not-Tommy saved the day and won the leading lady’s heart, of course; the kind of gallantry that both of them used to squeal and swoon over as children. They had been the kind of girls who’d read each other fairy tales and wondered what it would be like to grow up and meet a handsome prince. It had never crossed their minds that the prince might turn out to be a princess instead.
Kimberly bit her lower lip and shifted in her seat as the credits rolled. “Trini,” she said quietly. “Has there ever been something you really wanted to do, but were scared to because you knew things could get really weird if you did?”
A faint smile crossed Trini’s face. “Yes, that’s happened to me before. Once or twice.”
“And…what did you do about it?”
Trini leaned in close, cupped her hand around the back of Kimberly’s neck, and kissed her.
When she pulled away, Kimberly had tears in her eyes. “I don’t exactly have the best track record when it comes to dating my friends. If it doesn’t work out…I don’t want to lose you the way I almost lost Tommy.”
Trini reached out with her free hand to take Kimberly’s, and squeezed it tightly. “You said before that we’ve been friends for so long, nothing could ever change that, and I feel the same. I can’t predict the future, Kim. But what I can tell you is, whether we’re friends or something more than that, I can’t imagine my life without you in it. And I can promise you that won’t change, no matter what happens between us.”
Kimberly smiled. “Good enough for me.”
Trini smiled back and kissed her again, and both of them had a feeling that girl’s night was about to get a lot more interesting.