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Get a house together, they said.
It’ll be fun, they said.
Flash forward to three years after Rita Repulsa’s attack on Angel Grove and with the new threat of a highly contagious virus, some of the Rangers now question their collective life choices.
“Who ate the last of the eggs?” Trini scans the fridge, the signature recycled grey container nowhere to be seen.
“I did. Why, is there a problem?” Kimberly replies from across the room seated comfortably on a worn, navy blue armchair. She thumbs through the pages of a People magazine, looking for a story to catch her eye. The rest of the team is sitting in the living room on various forms of furniture, with Zack playing his Nintendo Switch on a black bean bag, Jason on the beat-up sofa reading, and Billy on the other end of the sofa deeply engaged in a crossword puzzle.
“Yeah, the problem is that there’s no more eggs.”
“Well, we all share the ingredients in the fridge; I didn’t know you personally had a stake on the last ones.”
“I said last night I was going to use them.”
Kimberly shakes her head before pausing on an article about staying home and preventative safety measures. “Hm, must not have heard you then. My bad.”
The refrigerator door slams shut, accented with a sharp growl and the boys share a look with each other as Trini storms back upstairs, huffing loudly as she passes them by.
Kimberly flips another page of her magazine. “She must be going stir crazy.”
“Dang it, I’m sick of all these sea bass!” Zack curses at his game and shakes the system vigorously as if it would miraculously change the outcome like a magic eight ball.
Jason sighs, “She’s not the only one.”
--
“Jeez, I’m dying here! When are we ever going to be allowed outside again?”
Zack’s lying on a bench while aimlessly tossing a rubber ball towards the ceiling. The Rangers are resting in the garage, which was converted into a hobby and training space when they had moved in. Multiple cracks in the cement litter the small space set aside for sparring, and while Jason says he’ll patch those up, he has yet to do so. He's in no rush anyways, since new ones seem to form averaging at least once a month thus far.
Billy’s sitting at his workshop table, fiddling with some kind of electronic component. “It’s still mandated that we stay at home. You shouldn’t go out unless you absolutely have to or else you put others and yourself at risk.”
Zack groans, “I know, I know, I’m just complaining because I have nothing else to do… I just miss the great outdoors and going to the mountains.”
There’s a silent I miss my mom in there too, but it hangs in the air like a thick cloud. Ever since they had moved in together, Zack made the tough choice to have his mom set up at a nursing home so they could continue to provide the care and medical attention she needed, but with the lockdown in effect, he hasn’t been able to visit her. He video chats with her when he can, but she's getting older and tired, and often spends her time playing bingo or taking naps throughout the day.
Billy swivels around in his chair and tilts his head. “There are tons of activities that can be done indoors. In fact, Jason was watching some interesting yoga videos the other day and–”
WHAM
Their attention tears away from the conversation to the two girls trading blows in the corner, although they’re no longer upright like they were a minute ago. Instead Kimberly’s legs are straddling Trini on the ground, her wrists pinned down by Kimberly’s vice like grip, and an enormous spider web of cracked rubble beneath the smaller girl’s back.
“That was a cheap shot!” Trini huffs out as she struggles beneath the taller girl.
“No way, that was totally fair,” Kimberly shoots back. “We both know I’m the better grappler.”
“And we both know that’s BS, now get off.”
Kimberly’s lips pull into a confident grin as her eyebrow quirks up.“Why don’t you make me.”
Trini’s eyes narrow dangerously. “Gladly.”
Her arms flex abruptly as she redoubles her effort to throw Kimberly off, muscles straining with each beleaguered grunt.
Zack slowly turns to look at Billy who merely shrugs in response before turning back around to mess with his contraption.
--
Heavy metal music blasts through the upstairs hallway, the closed doors proving to be a futile effort in muffling the aggressively loud rhythms and sounds. It’s nearing ten o’clock at night when some people tend to start gravitating towards their beds, but apparently this doesn’t apply to Trini.
“Ugh, you’ve got to be kidding me!”
Even with the pressure of a pillow pressed against her head to try and further dampen the music, the songs still pervade the room and assault Kimberly’s senses like an angry mob stabbing her eardrums with pitchforks. She rolls over in her bed once more, restless and grumpy and seconds away from murdering the closest unfortunate soul.
The current song finishes and cuts to silence and for a brief, glimmering moment of hope, Kimberly thinks it’s over, but then a fresh song fills the air and Kimberly throws her blankets off and hops out of bed.
She yanks open her door, the whining hinges damn near pulling off the frame, and she stomps towards Trini’s room. Her fist pounds against the wood, almost blending in perfectly with the offending racket, and after no response, Kimberly is this close to kicking the door down until Trini opens it up. She’s wearing a loose-fitting gold tank top that dips dangerously low, with a pair of baggy black basketball shorts and Kimberly swallows thickly before clearing her throat and remembering why she’s there in the first place.
“Can you maybe turn down your music? Some of us are trying to sleep.”
Trini chuckles softly, “Okay, grandma.”
“I’m sorry, what?”
“I think you’re the only one in this house trying to sleep right now,” Trini retorts. “Zack plays his games until two in the morning, Jason is probably watching Youtube videos right now, and I’m guessing that Billy is working on something that’s got a fifty percent chance of blowing us up.”
Kimberly takes a step closer.
“Okay well I don’t really care what they’re up to, but I’m trying to sleep, so can you like, use headphones or maybe just lower the volume?”
Trini takes a step closer.
“Only if you say please.”
Kimberly wonders if her height gives her an intimidating edge. She highly doubts it though, because despite her five inch difference with the yellow ranger, the mischievous glint in Trini’s eyes indicates that she doesn’t give two shits about having to look up in order to challenge her. So Kimberly leans in close – so close that there’s hardly any space between them save for crackling electricity and a line they haven’t dared to cross. So close, that if she leans in just a few more inches, she knows a sure-fire way to wipe that cocky grin off her face.
But it’s ten o’clock and Kimberly is tired, so she reluctantly concedes. “Please?”
Satisfied with her response, Trini makes her way to the speaker system towards the window, but not before casting a glance over her shoulder.
“Anything for you, Princess.”
Kimberly rolls her eyes and heads back to her room, but doesn’t end up falling asleep for another hour thanks to her heart trying to claw its way out of her chest.
--
They’re nearing the end of week three of self-isolation and at this point, they have deemed themselves criminally insane.
Zack has a damn mansion in his game, painstakingly decorated with utmost attention to detail, and a fortune that would make Amazon jealous. Jason hasn't had any live sports to watch in ages and has run out of shows to watch on Netflix. Even Billy admits that he’s running low on creative juices and can’t seem to think of new inventions to tinker with in the garage.
So after Zack goes out to the market and returns with a couple handles of assorted liquors and a case of beer, the gang agrees to have a night of unwinding.
Starting the night off on a dangerously stupid foot, they set up cups for beer pong but instead modify it to shot pong to expedite their night of bad decisions.
Zack and Jason take up one end of the table while Trini and Kimberly face them on the opposite end. Billy sips on a beer acting as the unofficial referee of the game to make sure no elbows pass over the table and there’s no foul play.
The boys make for a deadly duo, sinking cup after cup, even making an explosion towards the middle of the game much to the girls’ utter dismay.
“Blegh, I hate this. Why did I agree to this?” Kimberly’s features scrunch and distort as she downs the small bit of tequila from the red cup clenched in her hand. Though it’s not a full shot per cup, it’s enough for the taste to burn its way down her throat and settle deep in the pit of her stomach.
Trini snickers at her expression before shooting her own cup with ease. “Maybe if you didn’t miss all your shots, we wouldn’t be losing.”
“Oh, now it’s my fault, huh?”
“I’m just sayin’.”
“Girls, girls, come now don’t fight.” Zack waves his hands in the air. “It’s both your faults that you’re losing.”
Kimberly chucks the ping pong ball straight at his face and manages to peg him square in the forehead, which elicits a loud cackle out of the boy.
To no one’s surprise, the girls lose and end up having to finish the remaining four cups on the opposing team’s side.
Trini wrinkles her nose and drinks the last cup. “This is definitely your fault Kim.”
Kimberly shoves her playfully on the shoulder. “I want a new partner. I think you’re bad luck.”
“Okay, it’s your funeral.”
They swap sides so that Zack and Trini go against Jason and Kimberly.
“Alright, the mayhem twins are back in action!” Zack whoops excitedly and the two of them high five as if they've rehearsed this for hours.
The cups get set back into formation and Billy comes by to refill them, though this time he pours a little less seeing as how everyone is mostly on a good level. Kimberly never liked tequila all that much. She had a bad experience once on the football field after school with the cheap stuff in a plastic bottle and the twist off cap, so the smell seems to exacerbate the increasingly wobbly room and her focus starts rapidly slipping.
“Prepare to get dominated,” Trini taunts them from across the table.
Kimberly scoffs, “I’ll dominate you.”
Trini blinks. “What?”
Kimberly’s eyes widen like a deer in headlights. “Uh–”
“Okay let’s start!” Zack shouts hastily. “Winners go first and since I’m the biggest winner, we go first.”
Jason frowns in confusion. “How does that– you know what, nevermind.”
And perhaps maybe, just maybe, Trini was on to something, because Kimberly paired with Jason seems to be fairing as well as Kimberly paired with Trini did, which is to say they're losing hard. At one point, she even throws an airball, completely missing the table altogether. Shaking his head in early defeat, Jason picks up another cup and struggles to gulp it down in one breath.
Clutching his sides with laughter, Zack looks at her in disbelief. “Weren’t you like, a cheerleader before we met you? Aren’t parties sort of your thing? How are you so bad at this?”
Ping pong ball in hand, Kimberly stares across the table and blinks several times. She swears the cups are moving; how could they not be when the room is tilting at this odd angle? But the moving red cups and slanting room have got nothing on Trini because she’s once again wearing the same revealing gold tank top and maybe she just knows, because her hands are on her hips and she’s leaning forward with a shit-eating grin painted all over her face, her damn cleavage revealing just enough to make Kimberly lick her lips.
“I got this,” she says, convincing no one but herself as she tosses the ball through her hazy vision.
The ball sails through the air and again overshoots too far, instead hitting Zack square in the stomach. He looks down and looks back up before nearly knocking all the cups down from doubling over in laughter. “Holy shit that was horrible.”
Pointing her finger across the table, Kimberly “It’s all Trini’s fault!”
Trini throws her arms up in defiance. “Again with the wild accusations! I fail to see how any of this is on me.”
“It’s - it’s because you’re so aggravating. And, and it’s because of your stupid joking.”
“But I didn’t say any–”
“And your stupid face, a-and your stupid buff arms.” And your collarbone and your smooth skin, and your everything is what Kimberly thinks.
And then she sidesteps around the table, her feet carrying her faster than her brain can tell her oh hey, this is a bad idea, and for a moment Trini’s tough facade disappears because she actually looks a little fearful of what Kimberly may do because there’s a manic, unpredictable look in her eyes that she’s never seen before.
But the fear switches to surprise the moment Kimberly kisses her hard. It’s a little sloppy and rough, their teeth clacking together on impact, but then they fall into each other seamlessly. The rest of the room fades away and all Kimberly can think of is how Trini’s lips are as soft as she thought they would be and the little whimper that escapes Trini’s lips is so adorable that it makes her heart flutter out of control. She can’t tell if it’s the alcohol or the fact that she finally threw caution to the wind and took a risk, but a pleasant warmth pools in her belly before spreading throughout the rest of her body and she feels absolutely weightless.
From the moment they met in the quarry all those years ago, Kimberly never would have imagined she’d find herself here today. She was head cheerleader with a clear course in mind and a future she thought she wanted, but after meeting these strangers in a crazy twist of fate, her whole life took a turn down a whole new path.
A path which led her to Trini.
And maybe it took a little nudge from tequila to take a chance and finally act on the feelings she kept trying to bury deep below, but with the way Trini’s leaning into her body, it’s safe to say it’s reciprocated.
With the game completely forgotten, Zack fishes a ten dollar bill out of his pocket and hands it over to Jason, who fist pumps triumphantly.
Billy shakes his head. “That’s definitely not six feet apart.”