Title: Date Night at the Comic Book Store (in the Blasted Kilts universe)
Fandom: Power Rangers RPM
Pairing: Dillon/Ziggy/Flynn
Summary: Ziggy takes his boys on a date... to the comic book store.
Rating: K/G/general audience
Warnings: none
Disclaimer: I don't own them.
This is a continuation from my previous fic, Blasted Kilts, but one does not need to read that to understand this. All you need to know is Dillon, Ziggy, and Flynn are dating. This was inspired and greatly aided by
second_batgirl. I couldn't have done it without her invaluable knowledge of all things comics and her amazing creativity. I credit her with the Daughters of Wolverine book series. (also, in regards to the sci-fi stuff, keep in mind RPM takes place sometime in the future, estimated anywhere between 2070 and 2131, but we have no official date)
Ziggy hadn’t really planned it, but he wanted to go to the comic book store and he wanted to spend time with his boys, so he called it a date. He just didn’t tell Dillon where they were going on said date. And he hadn’t told Flynn it was an official date. They really hadn’t been out as a threesome much. He wasn’t entirely sure how to handle dates and they looked to him to lead the whole thing. But this… this could be a date. He was going to buy Flynn some comics. And Dillon… well he could make it up to Dillon later that night.
Dillon actually stopped in his tracks right outside the door, shaking his head emphatically in protest. Flynn walked past it and then backtracked when Ziggy stopped. Ziggy was tugging on Dillon’s arm, pleading, for just this once. Flynn looked up at the store front and then peered in the windows. When he saw what was inside, his face lit up. He became giddy. He actually bounced. And Ziggy suspected it was that more than anything he himself had said that managed to get Dillon off the sidewalk and through the door.
“It’s beautiful!” Flynn said reverently. His eyes were wide as saucers as he looked around.
“Isn’t it? I thought you might like it.” Ziggy slipped his hand into Flynn’s and squeezed. Dillon groaned behind them.
“This is the big date? Are you serious?”
“I’ll buy you dinner later, promise, and you know I can make it up to you. But for Flynn, just… let us bask for a minute, okay?” Ziggy looked around the room and back at Flynn. He was oblivious to the conversation they were having. His eyes had misted over and he was just staring.
They were in a small, rundown shop. The walls were plain white and lined with shelves. The shelves were stacked with all kinds of things from old toys and model cars to used books. The fluorescent lights above them were glaringly bright, but they didn’t care. In the middle of the room was table upon table, row upon row, box upon box of comic books.
Dillon sighed and wandered off to see what candy the owner had behind the counter. Flynn pulled away from Ziggy and walked up to the first box. He reached out tentatively and then pulled back. Ziggy watched as he sucked in a deep breath and then dove into the box, flipping the books forward while he looked at the collection. Ziggy smiled. Definitely worth it.
“I know it’s not an actual comic book store. There wasn’t enough salvageable after the attack. Brody over there collected all he could find that people were willing to sell or trade. Look, over in that corner, he’s got a big Monsters 2050 poster! And if you dig around the models, you can find an Enterprise H and even one of those old Galacticas! His wife makes Jayne hats and those awesome gloves from Space Frontiers and they’ve got costumes in the back. And last time I was in here he had a chess set where the pieces were characters from Star Trek XXV. He’s got movies too.” Flynn flashed him the biggest grin. Ziggy had never seen him so happy.
“It’s wonderful. This is the best date ever.” He leaned over and caught Ziggy in a kiss. It was deep, it was sloppy, but it was filled with gratitude. It was everything that words lacked. Dillon cleared his throat from over by the models and Ziggy pulled back, but he couldn’t stop smiling. Flynn turned back to the box of books in front of him while Ziggy walked over to the other side, flipping through. He could hear Dillon muttering off to the side, something about secret identity fail.
They walked out nearly two hours later with a stack of comics between the two of them. They could have stayed longer but Dillon, claiming desperate hunger, pulled them both by their jackets. He led the way down the sidewalk, trying to find a place they would all agree to eat, while Ziggy and Flynn fell behind, talking comics. Flynn’s knowledge far outweighed Ziggy’s, but he made up for it with passion about what he did know.
They talked through dinner. They talked on the ride home. They’d followed Dillon down to the training room. And they talked while he beat up the punching bag in bored frustration.
“I can’t believe he had Rebel Justice Unleashed volumes four through twelve! I haven’t read these since I was a wee lad! I used to have them all, back in Glasgow.”
“Yeah, that’s all well and good, but he had Generation X! I mean, look at the condition of these! And, and and and, did you even SEE this? He had Daughters of Wolverine, the whole series! Just sitting out there! Man, if I had more money, I’d have bought them all.” Flynn leveled him with an amused grin while Dillon dripped sweat and grunted behind them. They were leaning against the mirrors, books spread out in front of them.
“Daughters of Wolverine? Isn’t that the one with Jubilee and Kitty and all the little girls who worship Logan?” Ziggy stared, mouth agape.
“You are joking right? This is the best X-Men series in… about a hundred years!”
“Well it’s only twenty years old, innit? Aye, it’s good and all, but it should have focused on Kitty more. She was the best.” Flynn fingered the edge of Ziggy’s books.
“Kitty? Sure she was good, but c’mon, Jubilee is clearly the best. I mean, she could kick ass! What does Kitty have going for her?” Ziggy asked, smacking his hand away.
“She can walk through walls, lad! That’s way better than shooting sparks out yer hands! Kitty was the first, anyway.” Flynn’s accent was getting thick. Dillon really began to wail into the bag. Ziggy couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
“Jubilee was an orphan! She had everything and then lost it all and everybody she loved. And she came up from nothing and became a superhero. She was awesome, accomplished amazing things, and if she could do it, so could I,” he explained, his voice getting quieter and quieter as he went on. Dillon had stopped punching the bag and was now leaning against it, panting. Flynn stared at Ziggy with something between pity and compassion. He couldn’t take that gaze, so he looked down at his books, shifting the stacks. He suddenly felt very young and very small.
“Okay lad, I’ll give you Jubilee.” Flynn said softly. Ziggy desperately wanted that pity all over Flynn’s face to go away, so he changed topics.
“Best original?” he asked.
“Beast, of course.”
“What? No way. While Beast is awesome, yes, Bobby totally beats him! He’s hilarious! Plus, he’s an Omega-level, I mean, c’mon! It doesn’t get much cooler than ice.” Ziggy stood up fast, suddenly getting very angry. First he knocks Jubilee and then he ignores Bobby? Yeah, he was mad. Dillon just stood there, watching them.
“Beast was brilliant! And his mutation got progressively worse so he had to cope with that, and he did it in style! Plus he got to be an Avenger and he got all the ladies!” Flynn stood up too.
“Bobby!”
“Beast!”
“BOBBY!” Ziggy got right up in Flynn’s face. His eyes flared in anger. Flynn glared right back. It was surprisingly hot and Ziggy had to hold himself back from attacking him right then and there.
“I am never getting laid again, am I?” Dillon sighed from behind them. They turned, as one, to stare at him. His track pants were resting low on his hips and they could see the dip in his hipbones. He was shirtless and his chest rippled as he wiped himself down with a towel. There were beads of sweat still sliding down his stomach. Flynn sucked in a deep breath, pupils blown wide. Ziggy licked his lips. They looked at each other.
“Brooding…” Ziggy started.
“Mysterious past…” Flynn continued.
“Wolverine!” they said as one, and then both pounced on Dillon. They didn’t even make it out of the training room. They did make it up to Dillon for all the comics talk. Twice over. He never complained about going to the comic book store again.