Underneath The Mistletoe

Summary: A Christmas tradition becomes something more
Warning(s): AU; spoilers for the first series of Power Rangers: Ninja Steel; some incestuous undertones; some small violence
Pairing: Hayley Foster/Calvin Maxwell/Brody Romero/Sarah Thompson/Preston Tien/Levi Weston

###

Calvin pulled back slowly from the kiss and smiled at Hayley, clasping her face in both hands before he looked up at the mistletoe, hanging from the ceiling just inside the base. Then, he let go of his girlfriend and turned to look at the rest of the team with a smile. “So. Whose idea was it to hang the mistletoe in the base? Not that I’m complaining,” he added.

“It’s Christmas!” Redbot exclaimed, heading towards the two with his arms raised and looking at them in turn. “When I was researching online about the traditions here on Earth, I found out about mistletoe and that two people who meet under it have to kiss.” He paused. “I wanted to get a tree in to decorate, but Mick said that we can’t have a real one in the lab.” He hung his head, a note of disappointment creeping into his voice.

“Did anyone else get caught under the mistletoe?” Hayley asked, stepping away from Calvin and walking further into the lab.

“No,” Redbot replied. “So far, it’s just been the two of you.”

“Did you need something in particular?” Mick moved over to them. “I haven’t got any new upgrades for you. Unless there’s something you’d like me to work on for you.”

“Galvanax has been really quiet lately,” Hayley said, stepping over to Mick. “I was talking about it with Cal. We think he might be planning something big.” She hesitated. “You and Redbot were on his ship with Brody, Mick. Do you have any ideas what kind of monsters we might be facing next?”

“You have to understand that I didn’t see much on his ship,” Mick replied. “None of us did. But there are a lot of different monsters on the show. Just about anything you can think of. And you’ve only faced a fraction of those already.”

“That’s what I was afraid of.” Hayley sighed.

Calvin turned as the door to the base was opened and Preston walked through. He stopped next to Calvin and grinned. “Hey. I was hoping to practice a few more spells. Anyone want to help me with that?”

“Have you seen where you’re standing, Preston?” Redbot asked.

“Huh?” Preston looked up. “Wait. Is that…?”

“It’s mistletoe.” Hayley looked back at them and smiled. “And both you and Calvin are standing under it. We were already caught by it.” She pointed to herself and then to Calvin.

Preston’s eyes widened and he looked at Redbot, then at Mick and Hayley, then towards Calvin. “I…we don’t really have to. Do we? I mean, I will if you want to. But you’re with Hayley and we aren’t actually together….”

Calvin smiled and stepped into Preston’s personal space. He wrapped his arms around his fellow ranger and pressed a quick, swift kiss to Preston’s lips. Then, he let go and stepped back, moving to Hayley’s side and wrapping an arm around her shoulders. “You have any new spells to try out? Or just looking to practice what you’ve already got?”

“I….” Preston looked at Calvin, almost dazed, and stepped towards him and Hayley, away from the mistletoe. He shook his head, seeming to come back to himself. “I was hoping to practice one, actually,” he replied. “What just happened has given me an idea.”

“Let’s go for it.” Calvin grinned at Preston.

“Do you need my help too?” Hayley asked.

“Yeah, maybe,” Preston replied. “I….” His voice was cut off as his communicator beeped, along with Hayley’s and Calvins, and he spoke into it. “Preston here.”

“There’s a monster attacking the park.” Brody’s voice came from the communicator. “It’s already targeted several people there and left them with marks of some kind. I don’t….” His voice abruptly cut off.

“Brody?” Preston shook his communicator and then looked towards Hayley and Calvin, his eyes wide. “Can you get hold of them?”

“Nothing.” Calvin winced as his response came out in a higher pitch then normal. He looked at Hayley and then at Mick. “We’re going to join them. If you get any information, let us know.” He waited for the nod from the man and then released Hayley, quickly jogging to join Preston at the entrance. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Hayley moving to join them. “Let’s go,” he said firmly.

###

Brody winced as the monster crushed his communicator underfoot and he heard the crack as it was broken underfoot.

“Did you get through to the others?” Levi was standing on one side of Brody, his sword in hand. All three of them had their swords in hand, Sarah being on the other side of Brody. But despite the fact they had their weapons in hand, they couldn’t attack the monster they were facing, because he’d raised a barrier in front of him.

All around them, the people who had been targeted by the monster’s attack were stirring and groaning. Brody didn’t pull his eyes off the monster, though he caught a glimpse of marks on some of the people out of the corner of his eye. They looked like tattoos that hadn’t been there before. “I think I got through to Preston before the communicator was yanked off and broken,” he said. “I hope they’ll be here soon. We need Preston to break down the barrier.”

As soon as those words left his lips, there was the sound of battle cries and the three remaining team members somersaulted into view.

“Preston!” Brody grabbed his friend’s hand. “The monster has a barrier raised between him and us. Can you work on getting the barrier broken?”

“Of course!” Preston took out his wand and aimed it at the barrier, saying the words to undo the spell.

Levi and Sarah quickly went over to the people who had been the target of the monster’s attack. They helped them up and got them out of the area and Brody could hear them asking about the tattoos and taking pictures. He guessed that it was because Mick was asking for the information, but had to pull his gaze away from the other two as the barrier finally shattered.

The monster, a huge hulking, bright pink creature covered with red heart shapes, suddenly lunged forward. He drew a bow from behind his back and shot an arrow at Brody, who leaped to one side…but the arrow still grazed along his side.

Letting out a yell, Calvin lunged at the monster and struck at the bow with his sword. He then spun away, but not quite far enough; and the monster hit him with a second arrow, then hurled a third one towards Levi, who turned to deflect it from the person he was with. It him in the shoulder and he stumbled back, into Sarah’s arms.

And then the monster teleported away.

While the arrow had only grazed him, a wave of weakness still went through Brody and he shuddered, falling to his knees as he demorphed. Now that his armour was gone, he could see a tattoo on his arm. It was a black vine travelling from the inside of his elbow almost to his wrist.

“Brody? Brody, are you all right?” Sarah crouched in front of him, having demorphed, and placed her hands on his shoulders. “You’ve got a tattoo too….”

He was feeling weak to his knees and butterflies swarmed in his stomach. He reached up, placed his hand on her cheek and leaned forward, quickly kissing her on the lips.

Sarah pulled back, her eyes wide. “Brody? What are you doing?”

At the back of his mind, he had the thought that there was something else he needed to do. That he should be more worried about the monster’s disappearance and the arrow that had grazed him. But those thoughts were like sand slipping through his fingers. And his eyes were focused on Sarah’s face. He reached out and stroked his fingers through her hair, a goofy smile slipping over his face. “You’re so beautiful.”

“I think we’ve figured out exactly what that monster’s power is.” Sarah pulled back, out of Brody’s grasp, and stood up. She frowned, glancing at the rest of the people who were leaving the park. “But no one else is kissing or cuddling or stroking,” she muttered. “Only you guys.”

It took some effort, but Brody looked around at the others. He could see that Preston was standing with Calvin; Hayley with Levi. Both Calvin and Levi were touching and seemed entirely focused on Preston and Hayley respectively, both of whom were just as confused as Sarah so obviously was.

Brody turned his attention back to Sarah and wrapped his arms around her waist, pressing a kiss to her stomach and then grinning at her. “If this is the monster’s doing, it actually feels good. Really good.” He pushed himself up to his feet and wrapped his arms around her in a tight hug, then leaned in to sniff her hair. “And you smell so good,” he added.

“Mick?” Sarah raised her communicator to her lips, lifting one hand and pressing it against Brody’s mouth when he tried to kiss her again. “We need to get back to the base as fast as possible.”

The communicator crackled with Mick’s response. “Redbot is coming with the van. Are any of you incapacitated?”

“No.” Sarah looked at the other four rangers and shook her head, before muttering, “They’re in love.”

###

“So this monster must have done something that released oxytocin inside their brains.” Sarah was sitting next to Brody, because his arm was wrapped around her waist and she’d probably decided it was easier just to go along with it rather than push him away all the time.

It was a similar situation to the one Hayley had found herself in, though Levi seemed content just to hold onto her hand as long as she was sat next to him. She found herself constantly looking at Calvin, who was the most tactile of the three pairings; which wasn’t that surprising, actually. After all, they were dating and he always touched and held her hand. So she wasn’t too surprised that Calvin had sat and pulled Preston down onto his lap. And after casting an uncertain look at Hayley in the first place, Preston had just wound up leaning back into Calvin’s embrace and, to all intents and purposes, seemed to be enjoying the contact.

Hayley thought she should probably feel jealous, but she only thought the same thing she had when the two had been caught under the mistletoe. Then and now…she thought it was cute. She looked down at the tattoo that was covering Levi’s arm, the exact same one that was now decorating Brody’s and Calvin’s, and squeezed his hand. “Do you remember the monster shooting arrows at anyone in the park?” she asked.

“We got there after the main attack had already occurred,” Sarah answered. “But if arrows were his main method of attack, then he would have used them as well. And the tattoos I saw on people were exactly the same as the ones Levi, Brody and Calvin has.” She frowned. “But no one else was acting the same way.” She looked at Mick. “Could it be whatever enabled us to become Power Rangers? I mean, not everyone could have pulled those stars from the prism. Right?”

“There’s still a lot we don’t necessarily know about the prism or the stars,” Mick replied. “But I’ve been studying the history of Earth. There have been other groups of Power Rangers. Different suits and different colours, but they aren’t an unknown. Of course, there’s no way to know if anyone in the park would be capable of becoming a Power Ranger.” He shrugged.

Calvin let his head drop gently against Preston’s shoulder and took a deep breath. “I can’t speak for the rest of the guys, but this isn’t a new feeling for me,” he stated.

“For Preston?” Hayley looked towards him.

“Not just Preston.” Calvin turned the blue ranger’s face towards him. Brushed a gentle kiss against his lips. Then addressed the rest of them. “I feel as close to all of you as I’ve felt about anyone, apart from Hayley. We’ve talked about us being family before. But it feels so much deeper than that.”

“You’re saying that you’re in love with all of us?” Sarah asked.

Calvin closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath. His forehead wrinkled slightly before he opened his eyes again and looked at her. “I might be the only one who feels that way, but I don’t think so. I felt an instant connection to all of you the first time we met. Do you want to try telling me you don’t feel the same?”

“I do,” Brody said quietly.

Hayley shook her head, glancing at Levi, who was gripping her hand almost tight enough to hurt, and then towards Brody. “But you two are brothers.”

“That’s the issue you’re struggling with?” Preston squeaked. “What about the fact that all six of us have feelings for each other? I mean, how does that even work? And why’d the monster give you the confidence to act on those feelings?” he added, eyes darting from Calvin to Brody to Levi and back again. “That seems like a good thing. Not a bad one.”

“You’re hurting me, Levi,” Hayley said quietly.

“I’m sorry.” He raised his other hand to his forehead and spoke through gritted teeth. “It just hurts.”

“Where does it hurt?” Sarah disentangled herself from Brody and swiftly walked over to kneel down next to Levi. “Do you need to go to the hospital?”

“My heart.” Levi moved his other hand to his chest. “It feels like it’s about to burst out of my chest.”

Hayley pulled her hand free of Levi’s and twisted round to look at him. His face was creased with pain and he abruptly slumped back in his seat. “Levi!” she exclaimed.

Twin groans from the others who had been affected had Hayley twisting round and she quickly darted to Brody’s side as he collapsed onto the floor. “Brody.” With shaking fingers, she took his pulse and looked up worriedly at Mick. “His heart is racing.” She darted a look towards Calvin as he too slumped to the floor. “Is he…?”

“He’s breathing.” Preston knelt to his side, taking Calvin’s limp wrist in one hand, and looked up at Hayley with wide eyes. “But his pulse is too fast. Like he’s just run a marathon.”

“Oh, no!” Redbot’s voice broke in, as he stared at the news station. “The monster’s back!”

“Go.” Brody reached up and framed Hayley’s face; pressed a kiss to her cheek. “Maybe, if you take out the monster, it’ll fix what’s wrong with us.”

Hayley nodded and looked at Sarah and Preston. “Come on. The only way we can help them is to get to that monster and destroy it.” She ran out of the base.

###

The battle was over. The monster had been destroyed. And their friends were back to normal.

But could Preston really call them normal now? He didn’t know about the others, but Calvin’s confession stuck in his mind. And he didn’t know if everyone felt the same as the yellow ranger, but he himself did. And being kissed by Calvin had felt…good. Really good. The thought of being in a relationship with his five best friends was scary (and how would he even explain that to his dad, for that matter?), but at the same time…he really wanted it.

But did everyone else?

They were all back in the base now. The mistletoe was gone; maybe Mick had removed it, realising that the conversation the six of them needed to have was a serious one.

Levi took the seat next to Brody and took a deep breath, looking round at each of them in turn. “So how are we doing this?” he asked.

“I think we need to make sure that we’re all on the same page here,” Brody said. “I think it’s obvious that me, Levi and Calvin have feelings for…well, everyone. That doesn’t mean the rest of you feel the same.”

Calvin sat back and wrapped his arm around Hayley’s shoulders. He patted the seat next to him and smiled as Preston sat down, wrapping his arm around his shoulders as well. “Who says we have to make any concrete decisions about it now?” he asked. “So long as no one’s unhappy with it…we can go on dates. All of us or just two or three of us at a time.”

Sarah looked at Hayley. “What do you think?”

“I think that we all have a special, unique bond,” Hayley replied. “And like I said. I thought seeing Calvin and Preston together was very cute.”

Sarah looked at Preston and smiled at him. He smiled back at her in return and his grin only widened when she said, “You do look very happy with him.”

“So how are we doing this?” Levi asked. “Come up with a schedule for who’s going out with who when?”

“Do we really have to have a schedule?” Calvin asked. “Unless there’s a specific reason not to, we can all go out together. Like tomorrow. We can catch a movie. Have a meal out afterwards.”

“I like that idea.” Preston nodded.

“Then we’ll do that.” Brody beamed. “Hey, Redbot? You want to put that mistletoe up again? I don’t think any of us will complain if we get caught under it again.”

The End