Date: Mon, 4 Jan 2016 18:14:39 -0500
From: Hunter <painservedcold@aim.com>
Subject: Power Rangers: Chase and Riley

Chase and Riley 9

All rights reserved. Riley, Chase and all other Power Rangers are the
property of Saban. I own nothing related to the Power Rangers franchise,
and nothing written here should be used to imply or indicate the sexuality
or sexual orientation of any of the characters that have been included in
the story.

*DISCLAIMER* This story contains depictions of male on male, graphic sexual
interactions. The characters are high school aged and sometimes have unsafe
sex. ALWAYS USE A CONDOM! This is a complete work of fiction and any
similarities to persons or events is purely coincidental. Enjoy the story
and any feedback is welcome.

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This was real, he was going home. He was in the passenger seat of Tyler's
truck, which Chase had conveniently borrowed for the weekend so that they
could sneak away and visit Riley's family before Christmas. Watching all
the familiar sights and sounds pass him by put a smile on his face, and
Riley took the few minutes of quiet that Chase was giving him to think
about the last few months, and the last time he had seen the family.

Intellectually, Riley knew it had only been a few months since he first
found his Energem and had become the Green Ranger, but he was surprised at
how quickly time had gone by, and also by how much he had changed. He
wondered if his family would really believe that he'd changed this much in
just the short time he'd been away from the ranch, and what they would
think of him now that he had grown and become so different from the Riley
they had grown up with.

He couldn't wait to be heading back and to be bringing Chase with
him. Chase, the boy who somehow figured him out before Riley could figure
out Chase's own intentions, and now the one he shared his life with and was
slowly being changed by. Riley smiled at that, thinking that logically,
they should never have been a match for each other, but here they were, and
he supposed that meant that logic didn't always have the answers.

That in itself was a shock to Riley. Not just that it was Chase of all
people that he fell for, but that he found himself in love at all.

Before he came to Amber Beach and the museum, he was a quiet kid. Smart, no
one denied that, but not one with many friends. Hard to make friends when
there's no one around except your older brother and the ranch animals. He
loved the ranch and all the memories he had growing up there, but he didn't
want that to be his life. He knew he could do anything and felt trapped by
the family and their need for him to help maintain the ranch when he was
old enough to co-own it with Matt.

Now he was a Power Ranger, and while his family didn't know *that* part,
getting a chance to see the wider world had definitely changed Riley.

He had learned patience for the people around him, knowing that just
because they didn't do or see things the way he did didn't mean they were
wrong. Just that they were different, and there's nothing wrong with being
a bit different when you're all working towards the same goal.

He learned that there was a whole world out there that didn't exist in the
black and white fantasies that he grew up with. He thought that Power
Rangers were always Good, and the monsters were always Bad. Sometimes it
was harder to see what was really motivating some of their foes, and that
too was something he learned that he wouldn't have otherwise learned if he
stayed at the ranch.

He wasn't done learning yet. He was still high strung, still caught up in
trying to analyze things and figure out how to make things work better,
more efficiently, more effectively. He still liked running and being by
himself to train and perfect himself as much as possible, and he still had
some things about other people that drove him crazy.

But he was learning. With a little help from Chase.

Riley wouldn't say that he loved to skateboard; he was always going to
prefer running, but he could see why Chase loved to skate so much, and he
had to admit it was fun, once you got used to being on a board and not
falling over all the time. He wasn't going to be as good as Chase on a
board, but he didn't have to be.

He was also learning to be more spontaneous, more willing to let things go
with the flow and relax. Part of that was probably because things were
always happening and changing thanks to Sledge's monsters, but part of that
was Chase being so relaxed and willing to let things happen. If he could
stop worrying, Riley figured he could as well, and he found that it was
okay when things weren't totally controlled and planned to the last second.

More important than that, he was coming to appreciate that there was a
benefit to relaxing and doing something just for the sake of having
fun. Everything Riley used to do was all about training, being smarter,
stronger and faster so that the other Rangers wouldn't think of him as a
burden. He knew better now, and while he refused to stop growing and
improving, he was starting to learn that he could relax and just be around
the others without it having to be a Rangers emergency, and without having
to feel like they looked at him as their younger teammate.

Most of all, Riley was learning all about what it means to date someone. He
never really thought about it as an option. First because there weren't
many people close to his age where he lived and none of them were that
interesting, then later because he wasn't sure what he really wanted. Of
course, he didn't have a lot of time for dating, and he figured that being
a Ranger and working at the café would put a damper on the time he could
spend with a significant other. It helped that Chase did all the same
things and had the same commitments.

And they did spend time together, even if a lot of that time was spent
fighting monsters and surviving life and death situations. Chase said it
made their private time together all the more special and important, and
Riley had to admit that there was nothing better than coming home and
curling up on their bed with Chase, not thinking or worrying or doing
anything other than enjoying each other's company.

As they pulled up into the driveway Riley could see his family waiting for
him, looking happy to see their youngest son again. For his part, Riley was
happy to see them, and when both he and Chase got out of the truck they
walked hand in hand up the driveway to go make the introductions and get
settled in for the weekend.

It felt right, and Riley was happy to be home.