Tsuki seeing Tommy is stressed out about something and starting to sing and drags him into a dance with her
Tommy noticing Tsuki is sad or annoyed and forces her to dance with him to some stupid song
Tsuki and Tommy just dancing alone to sweet music or strange music or good music or no music
Tsuki and Tommy having fun just dancing together and don’t care if anyone sees or judges them because they have each other and they’re happy as long as they have each other)
Title: Five Times Tommy Oliver Escaped His Birthday
Summary: And the one time Tsuki refused to be denied.
Tommy hates birthday parties, or at least it being a big deal. Five times he got away with some difficulty; one time he just couldn’t....
Pairings: TommyKim, TommyTsuki
A birthday fic for Tommy and namely @legacyofpower Tommy because he’s th one my muse loves the most. Happy birthday cutie pie!~
Incident One: 16th Birthday
It was easy enough to do that first year; no one really knew him too well, most of them were still getting to know each other and it hadn't come up quite yet. Plus as luck would have it his best friend and fellow martial arts fanatic shared the same date as his own birthday. A happy coincidence and Tommy would think, to himself of course and not aloud, that it was a sign that him and Jason Scott were meant to be friends.
Point was as Trini and Kimberly busily rushed about, getting decorations up in the Youth Center, and Billy discussed with Zack about how his newest cake invention was a) better than the one he made for Zack's birthday and wouldn't be as glitchy and b) capable of making a marvelous cake without much effort, Tommy leaned against a table and watched and smiled, somewhat amused and quite grateful he was able to watch this and not be the focus of it.
There was but two hitches in his plan; the most important was that his parents of course knew about this being his birthday and were planning their own celebration for their somewhat unwilling son, to which he'd need to get to in an hour or so and such need to make up some excuse to get away. His new friends would be confused, possibly displeased, but ultimately would let him go because why not?
The other was Tsuki. She was another new friend, to everyone including him, and she was sitting on the very table he was leaning against, not so much watching the others as she was watching him. Something in her gaze told him she knew, somehow she knew something, but Tommy was choosing to feint ignorance. The red eyed swordsgirl continued to watch him, quietly, unobstructively and the martial artist continued, in response, not to pay her any more mind than “Stop staring at me now”
An hour later he got away, with some sadness from his friends, without it ever being known. Well, except for the carefully wrapped green cupcake he found hidden near the top in his backpack.....
Incident Two: 17th Birthday
By then they knew. They all knew. And Tommy knew they knew so he did the only brave thing: the ex-Green Ranger hid.
Okay maybe not brave. He started out by coming to school and when he saw Kim, Billy, Rocky, Aisha or Adam approach, he quickly and covertly made a run for the nearest door and random person to talk to he could find.
When classes came about he made sure to focus on what was being said, though his mind being elsewhere and trying so hard to ignore the attempts to get his attention did not make his unfortunate ability to forget things any more prominent.
Between classes he found more reasons to avoid and evade, feeling quite bad as he rushed away with a hurried “sorry” as Kim tried to come up to him and he saw the sad look on the face of the pink ranger, not to mention his girlfriend.
Lunchtime came with it's own struggles, with the saving grace being Mrs. Appleby asking him to help with something that allowed him to go off with her to assist with some heavy lifting instead of sticking around and hanging with his friends.
More classes, more hiding, and by the end of the day Tommy felt both exhausted and somewhat terrible. He was after all avoiding his friends, over something that he thought was quite silly and not really worth all the trouble. But he knew, he knew from watching their actions when it came to Zack's birthday, to Billy's birthday, to Kim's and Trini's and Jason's and even Bulk's and Skull's and Ernie's, that birthdays were a big thing to them. Celebration and all that. But he didn't want to. He really just didn't.
So running to karate classes, using it as yet another excuse, was all he could do after school, and then running home. He noticed of course Tsuki, once more watching him, but was surprised to find she didn't say anything about it, just smiled, waved and said, “See you tomorrow, Tommy.”
He found another cupcake in his bag, along with a tiny white stuffed falcon, meticulously sewn by hand.
Incident Three: 18th Birthday
He should have seen it all coming, but maybe being leader was making it hard to pay attention to little things like this. Admittedly it was not as if it was so simple as to go “well it was obvious what they were doing” but he probably should have had at least more of an idea of what was happening than what he did. But Tommy managed to figure it out pretty quickly.
Tommy could blame Tsuki for it; the girl was difficult to ignore under normal circumstances but when she was regularly showing up to braid his hair when he was thinking about stuff, just distracting and calming him more, that was unfair. And all she had to say for herself was not even to say anything; she smiled and continued her cruelly distracting and nice actions, making him relax like some normal person. He wasn't normal though, he was Tommy Oliver, Zeo Red Ranger, and he was not going to let something like having a girl run her fingers through his hair and carefully braid it into a long strand down his back before undoing it and braiding it again into a few smaller strands, redoing that to go back to the one, over and over, until he was completely at peace....
Anyway he was annoyed with her and gave her a look that said as much as he noticed Katherine walk over with Adam and the others with a cake in their hands. There was no easy place to run, there was no easy place to hide; he was in their sights, they were close, and Tsuki still had a hold of his hair so he couldn't actually pull away without accidentally getting his hair pulled. His choices were not looking great; he was trapped, like a red ranger rat.
There was, of course, a chance, albeit a small one but it was a chance and he really wasn't all that excited about getting forced into celebrating his birthday, at all. Moving swiftly he grabbed Tsuki's wrist and pulled on her; she let go of his hair, partially to see what he was up to, and was dragged in front of him, looking a little silly with the six foot something Tommy using the five foot two Tsuki seeming to be using her as a human shield. That wasn't really his intent really; he leaned down and kissed her, startling her; the other rangers didn't even seem to blink but as for Tsuki....
Next thing he knew he was in the park, far enough from his friends to have a headstart; he smirked and let go of Tsuki, the girl looking somewhat out of it, and ran off, waving goodbye, “Thanks Tsuki, see you later!”
Incident Four: 19th Birthday
This was becoming norm for him. October 20th came around, Tommy found ways to get around celebrating it, his friends tried to find ways to make him get involved. With his schooling over, but not his Rangering yet, the young man figured it would be easier to escape, even with the teleporting Tsuki after him and the other Rangers always knowing where he was up.
Admittedly he didn't expect it to be this easy; no one really liked getting sick but to get sick on your birthday? That was sort of cruel of fate, but somewhat effective. The Red Turbo Ranger sniffled and curled up more in bed, half glad he wasn't being bothered but also half unhappy that he was unable to breathe without coughing and wheezing. Half conscious he reached out to grab a tissue from the nightstand, shivering under his sheets; his usually sharp mind didn't seem to think it odd that his hand grasped a tissue a little too easily, that the box was a bit too close and sort of tilted, and he blew his nose, making a slight face as he then threw the used tissue away and turned over in bed, curling up more and trying his best to get some sleep. Sleep after all would be good, he'd be able to recover if he got some sleep.
Tsuki sat on the edge of his bed, watching the uncomfortable martial artist try to get comfortable, try and sleep despite everything, and she frowned some; setting the box of tissues back down on the nightstand she reached out and gently brushed back his hair, watching his body relax some from the gesture. She'd come over to hopefully surprise him before he could get out of the house but it seemed, pretty obvious too, that he was going nowhere; he was stuck where he was and she felt bad for him.
“I'll make you some soup,” she whispered softly after leaning in to speak into his ear; there was no response, just coughing, and she got up, going off to the kitchen to do her work. Soup was certainly not a birthday sort of food but she supposed it wouldn't hurt to let it slid, just this one year.
Incident Five: 21st birthday
A person's 21st birthday tended to be a big deal, in the USA at the very least. Of course being so busy with his research with Anton definitely helped to ease over the transition, and he had to admit that it was definitely nice having a friend who didn't really seem to care about forcing him into celebrating. Actually Anton seemed just as happy to ignore Tommy's birthday as Tommy himself was and the two continued their work well into the evening, allowing Tommy to leave feeling quite content; the two had made some serious breakthroughs, though he did find himself concerned for Anton's wellbeing when it came to some of the portions involving human DNA and genetic modification, and despite some loneliness he found himself actually a bit glad he didn't have his old friends around right now. No one to bug him, no one to try and corner him, he was able to get his work done and focus on that for the most part.
Though once more 21 was an important age, for Americans at least; the young man managed to avoid his old friends, even Tsuki who occasionally appeared out of nowhere to check up on him between trying to deal with her own education, but it turned out Anton was not quite as uninterested as Tommy thought or liked. He wasn't too sure how it even happened really; one minute he was busy working on a new dinosaur mutation, trying to bring them to life and hopefully have them behave, unlike his first batch, and the next he seemed to be being carried off by a security guard, and Tommy was not too sure how the security guard even picked him up without getting his ass handed to him by the marital artistm as Anton went on about a bar in the city that would be “a good place to indoctrinate him into the culture of adulthood and give him his first taste of actual drink.” Tommy half wanted to tell him that he had been drinking for a few years already, for a catalog of reasons, and half wanted to kick the security guard until he let the poor paleontologist go; either sounded like a good choice and honestly he didn't know which to choose, really he didn't.
He was however thankful for coincidence and circumstance, and that Tsuki had impeccable timing; the swordsgirl choose to appear, holding a basket in her hands and Tommy could easily guess what it was for, and by doing so accidentally knocked into Anton himself. Some stumbling, the basket fell to the ground but didn't seem to be bothered by it's momentary trip, and Tommy, regaining some thought and control, managed to get free as the security guard was more concerned with Anton despite any real damage or any fake damage being done. Then all three got to watch Tommy run off in the other direction and all four participated in the oldest of birthday games for him: Try And Catch The Falcon.
The One Time
To say things had gone very downhill was an understatement; Anton disappeared, someone Tommy knew had died in a lab accident, and right when Tommy thought he had the Tyrannodrones under control and things steady a weird monster had come out of nowhere and attacked. That Tommy got out of there so easily, without much more than some scrapes, bruises and a new respect for swimming, was a miracle. And that he did so while managing not to lose the three Dino Gems he managed to sneak off was amazing as well but they only served to remind him that this was only the beginning.
He was well underway to have the next step done though which he thought of as good; his house, situated far into the woods and away from prying curious eyes, was almost complete and the hidden lab, something he had to admit was a bit too much like an evil villain lair, was set up and already scanning the area around and in Reefside to try and find the scattered fruits of his labors, those experiments and tools that had gotten thrown about when the island had been destroyed. As of yet no luck in that endeavor but he knew that there was time, plenty of time. The three gems, nestled in their spots on the faux rock podium, glowed quietly and he knew they were just waiting; his college buddy Hayley would get their matching morphers ready soon and then it would just be a case of waiting.
Tommy wasn't too sure when he originally fell asked though judging from the nonsense now recorded into his video diary it wasn't too long ago; the would-be teacher sat up in his chair and winced as the soreness resulting from his unwise decision to fall asleep there came to bite him in the back. He rubbed his back and automatically felt like a very old man, something the twenty two year old was not relishing. He wondered though, to himself, how much of this was just his unwise sleeping decision; between his past as a Ranger, safely recorded in the diary, and the stuff on the island and the resulting attempts to prepare for something he found himself both excited for and dreading, it was a wonder he could move at all sometimes without pain shooting through him. But he didn't think much to dwell; after all a twenty something year old having back problems was far something a good thing and he certainly didn't wish to look a gift horse, like his own resilience, in the mouth.
Still exercise after everything including his sleep did not seem like a bad idea. He got up, stretching some before heading back upstairs to the actual house; most everything was done, just some adjustments and tweaks were needed here and there, but something struck him as odd as he walked through the half furnished living room and into the partially finished kitchen. He needed to figure out how to actually fix the sink and preferably get the dishwasher to stop turning on when he used the shower but these were things for another time, as long as he remembered that they were things in the first place. Right now though the great outdoors was calling and he needed to get some of this soreness out.
The sun was shining once he did get outside, and a slight breeze made it so it was nice and cool; Tommy had to admit it was rather pleasant and he smiled a bit as he walked out, stretching a bit again before noticing a picnic, set up not too far from the house; one of the closer trees was providing shade and a familiar face was setting out food it looked like, humming softly a familiar song. He sighed for a second and contemplated going back inside but choose instead to approach; it wasn't like it could really hurt.
"Tsuki," he said walking up to her, raising an eyebrow as she looked up at him, "What are you doing?"
"Tommy," she said and a light smile crossed her lips, "Took you long enough to get out here; I'm already done setting up your birthday lunch."
Right, that. In everything going on he'd actually forgotten; there before him was a rather small but still pretty impressive meal, considering the state of the kitchen. He wondered if she'd had to repeatedly teleport from there to her old house just to use the kitchen, how long it took her to set stuff up. It made him feel a bit guilty but he still turned to walk away.
"Tommy!" She called out and got up, grabbing his arm.
"I don't like celebrating my birthday, you know that, I know that, lets just get back to work," he said trying to pull away.
No dice; she held tight and he heard her huff. "No way. You've avoided this for seven years, Tommy, seven! Every year I have to sneak in presents or chase you around; can't we just sit down and enjoy a nice little moment? Its not like I'm forcing you to have a party, just eat some food, take my presents and relax."
"Tsuki..."
"Pleaaaaasssseeee Tommy?" He looked at her in time to see a pleading look on her face, eyes wide and staring at him; she looked like a puppy, or a little mouse, and she continued, "You've been so stressed and wound up; just for a biiiiit? For me?"
He hesitated, because really he was just so used to not doing this, but finally he sighed and patted her head, watching her pout at him as he spoke, "Fine, just for a little while though."
The pout turned to a smile and she dragged him over to the picnic, sitting down with him. She lit the candles on the cake, the ex Ranger unable to resist a slight smile at the green and red and white coloring of the frosting, or the tiny candy dragonzord, tigerzord, falcon and phoenix atop it; the girl really did like going all out when it came to him. Blowing the candles out he had to admit a little quiet time did seem nice, and a quiet little celebration, with just her, didn't seem all that bad.
The food was good, the forest was quiet and the large green stuffed dragon she made for him joined the falcon in his room. She kissed his cheek and all he could do was smile and think maybe a little celebration wouldn't be too terrible to indulge in.
Tsuki hadn’t had a nightmare in months but she had people who she cared about a lot and they were people who kept putting themselves in danger, especially the one she found herself most attached to. Tommy was like a magnet for trouble, sort of like her. Still she was bound to have nightmares, but at least they were different than the one she used to have.
Whimpering in her sleep she snuggled the blanket closer, her falcon was out of reach, and she murmured under her breath, “No, please don’t die Tommy, please, I’m sorry...”
