Fiction: Making Ripples
This was written for 
serpentine85's challenge Give Carlos Some Love! Surprisingly I've never written anything fro Carlos outside of roleplaying over at Rangerville. I hope this is okay!
Title: Making Ripples
Paring: Carlos/Zhane
Notes: Zhane sticks his nose where it doesn't belong. Rated PG.
“This is all your fault.”
Carlos, who was busy working on a panel of buttons, glanced over his shoulder at Zhane with a raised eyebrow “How do you figure?”
“It just is, if you hadn't volunteered to stay and watch the ship while everyone went out for a night on the town then I could be out having fun right now!” He punctuated his frustration by kicking at the lifts door in front of him.
Carlos just shrugged and focused on what he was doing. No one had told the blond that he had to follow him around while the others were on the surface. It had been annoying really, to have him tag along like a little puppy dog. And despite all of Zhane's grumbling it was his weight combined, with Carlos and the collection of supplies between them on the hover cart that had caused the lift to freeze between decks with no way out.
“You didn't have to stay, I'm capable of watching the ship by myself you know,” Carlos muttered as he worked on taking off the cover to the instrument panel so he could hot wire the lift, “It's not like I need someone to keep me company.”
Behind him Zhane flopped back against the wall, shoving his hands in his pants pockets and giving a half hearted shrug even though the other young man couldn't see it. He fell silent, choosing instead to watch Carlos fiddle with the wires, impressed with how quickly the Earth born Rangers had managed to grasp the basic workings of the Megaship; Carlos in particular.
The black Ranger had taken to the engines like a fish to water, finding their sweet spots, learning when to push just that tiny bit harder because he knew they could go faster. He'd once overheard Ashley and talking to Andros about the changes in Carlos' personality since joining the Space Rangers. Dedicated to soccer, a bit hot headed, a little rash, intense, it was difficult to believe. Sure the intensity was still there, but now instead of lacking direction it was focused, driven, pin pointed on their goal.
“You know Andros warned me about you,” Carlos' warm voice broke through Zhane's thoughts and the blond's posture straightened quickly eyes narrowing on the brunette.
“Really? Pray tell, what did our fearless leader tell you?”
There was a hint of a grin on the tan features as Carlos glanced over his shoulder briefly, “That when your quite we should check your vitals and cross our fingers that we aren't the ones your plotting against.”
There was a chuckle from Zhane as Carlos turned back to his work having finally pried off the cover to the instrument panel and was now running a tool over the wires and checking the connections. He'd have to remember that one, tucking it away in his verbal arsenal for when he needed a quick escape from one of Andros' lectures. A flustered Andros was a rather amusing sight after all.
“So?”
Carlos had managed to catch Zhane zoning twice now, a possible record, “So what?”
“What were you thinking about?” The electronic contraption was set aside in favor of the Leatherman that Carlos kept tucked away in an inside pocket of his jacket which had been discarded earlier.
Zhane bit down on the inside of his cheek, for one brief moment he was tempted to tell the other man instead he responded with a question of his own, “Why don't you ever go down to the surface with the others?”
“I do,” Carlos wasn't bothering to look at him now as he stripped a wire, instead keeping his dark eyes trained on his project.
“Only to fight, you always volunteer to stay behind when its time for R&R.”
“Someone has to stay and keep an eye on the ship and the others have things they want to do. Everything important to me is up here, it doesn't bother me to stay.”
“Cassie thinks you lost your spark, that you've withdrawn.”
Zhane hadn't noticed that he was slowly moving closer to Carlos as the engineer worked, until he was standing almost directly behind him and had a rather nice view of his tan profile. Even if he couldn't clearly see the frustration written on his face, Zhane could certainly hear it in his voice. After all no one liked to hear they were being talked about.
“Cassie cares about her friends,” Carlos said slowly then added as if in afterthought, “Sometimes a little to much. I don't think either one of those girls is really happy unless their fussing over someone.”
Zhane shrugged trying very hard to pull his gaze off of Carlos, his athletic build, the way his black t-shirt clung to him, the firm backside. “Well then maybe you should go down to the surface, pick up a pretty lady, make some ripples in the pool.”
Having managed to hot wire the lift while they were talking Carlos used the screwdriver end of his multipurpose tool to put the cover back in place, making a mental note to do a proper repair later. Pushing off the ground to a standing position he turned only to find himself face to face with the blond. Caught staring Zhane's pale cheeks flushed and he let out a fake cough, light eyes looking off to the side but not making any movement to back off.
“So I've lost my spark and need to make a few ripples hmm?” Carlos was smirking, one hand gripping the railing at Zhane's right, the other planted firmly by the blonds head up on his left effectively pinning him in place.
Nervously, which was kind of funny since this was Zhane and he never got nervous about anything, Zhane liked his lips as his eyes locked in on Carlos' dark ones which were so very close. Mutely he nodded wondering if he was the only one who could hear the pounding of his pulse or if DECA was broadcasting it all over the ship in surround sound. Swallowing he nodded slowly and tensed as Carlos closed the remaining space between them a tad worried that the other Ranger was going to smack him upside the head for sticking his nose where it really shouldn't have been, well stuck.
He was pleasantly surprised however that instead of a fist smacking him upside the head, Carlos was instead pressing warm lips up against his own. When he let out a small gasp in surprise it allowed the other man to deepen the kiss, pressing himself up tightly against him and all Zhane could do was cling to him and kiss back.
The kiss ended to quickly and Zhane was unable to fight back the tiny whimper that slipped out as the warm body molded against his pulled away and was replaced with the chilled artificial air of the ship. Carlos was leaning against the other wall, smirking like the cat who'd eaten the canary, and when the lift finally reached its chosen floor it dinged its arrival and opened up to reveal both parties to a rather confused looking TJ who'd just returned from the surface.
“Um,” The blue Space Ranger looked from the smug Carlos to the flustered and pink cheeked Zhane, “Did I miss something?”
Carlos grinned at his friend as he pulled the supply cart out of the lift then flashed Zhane an even brighter smile, “Not much, just making ripples.”
Tossing a casual wave in the direction of his friends Carlos headed down the hall pushing the supply cart while the lift door slid shut on the still confused TJ and recovering Zhane, one hand shoved in a pocket and whistling as he wandered down the hall.
serpentine85's challenge Give Carlos Some Love! Surprisingly I've never written anything fro Carlos outside of roleplaying over at Rangerville. I hope this is okay!Title: Making Ripples
Paring: Carlos/Zhane
Notes: Zhane sticks his nose where it doesn't belong. Rated PG.
“This is all your fault.”
Carlos, who was busy working on a panel of buttons, glanced over his shoulder at Zhane with a raised eyebrow “How do you figure?”
“It just is, if you hadn't volunteered to stay and watch the ship while everyone went out for a night on the town then I could be out having fun right now!” He punctuated his frustration by kicking at the lifts door in front of him.
Carlos just shrugged and focused on what he was doing. No one had told the blond that he had to follow him around while the others were on the surface. It had been annoying really, to have him tag along like a little puppy dog. And despite all of Zhane's grumbling it was his weight combined, with Carlos and the collection of supplies between them on the hover cart that had caused the lift to freeze between decks with no way out.
“You didn't have to stay, I'm capable of watching the ship by myself you know,” Carlos muttered as he worked on taking off the cover to the instrument panel so he could hot wire the lift, “It's not like I need someone to keep me company.”
Behind him Zhane flopped back against the wall, shoving his hands in his pants pockets and giving a half hearted shrug even though the other young man couldn't see it. He fell silent, choosing instead to watch Carlos fiddle with the wires, impressed with how quickly the Earth born Rangers had managed to grasp the basic workings of the Megaship; Carlos in particular.
The black Ranger had taken to the engines like a fish to water, finding their sweet spots, learning when to push just that tiny bit harder because he knew they could go faster. He'd once overheard Ashley and talking to Andros about the changes in Carlos' personality since joining the Space Rangers. Dedicated to soccer, a bit hot headed, a little rash, intense, it was difficult to believe. Sure the intensity was still there, but now instead of lacking direction it was focused, driven, pin pointed on their goal.
“You know Andros warned me about you,” Carlos' warm voice broke through Zhane's thoughts and the blond's posture straightened quickly eyes narrowing on the brunette.
“Really? Pray tell, what did our fearless leader tell you?”
There was a hint of a grin on the tan features as Carlos glanced over his shoulder briefly, “That when your quite we should check your vitals and cross our fingers that we aren't the ones your plotting against.”
There was a chuckle from Zhane as Carlos turned back to his work having finally pried off the cover to the instrument panel and was now running a tool over the wires and checking the connections. He'd have to remember that one, tucking it away in his verbal arsenal for when he needed a quick escape from one of Andros' lectures. A flustered Andros was a rather amusing sight after all.
“So?”
Carlos had managed to catch Zhane zoning twice now, a possible record, “So what?”
“What were you thinking about?” The electronic contraption was set aside in favor of the Leatherman that Carlos kept tucked away in an inside pocket of his jacket which had been discarded earlier.
Zhane bit down on the inside of his cheek, for one brief moment he was tempted to tell the other man instead he responded with a question of his own, “Why don't you ever go down to the surface with the others?”
“I do,” Carlos wasn't bothering to look at him now as he stripped a wire, instead keeping his dark eyes trained on his project.
“Only to fight, you always volunteer to stay behind when its time for R&R.”
“Someone has to stay and keep an eye on the ship and the others have things they want to do. Everything important to me is up here, it doesn't bother me to stay.”
“Cassie thinks you lost your spark, that you've withdrawn.”
Zhane hadn't noticed that he was slowly moving closer to Carlos as the engineer worked, until he was standing almost directly behind him and had a rather nice view of his tan profile. Even if he couldn't clearly see the frustration written on his face, Zhane could certainly hear it in his voice. After all no one liked to hear they were being talked about.
“Cassie cares about her friends,” Carlos said slowly then added as if in afterthought, “Sometimes a little to much. I don't think either one of those girls is really happy unless their fussing over someone.”
Zhane shrugged trying very hard to pull his gaze off of Carlos, his athletic build, the way his black t-shirt clung to him, the firm backside. “Well then maybe you should go down to the surface, pick up a pretty lady, make some ripples in the pool.”
Having managed to hot wire the lift while they were talking Carlos used the screwdriver end of his multipurpose tool to put the cover back in place, making a mental note to do a proper repair later. Pushing off the ground to a standing position he turned only to find himself face to face with the blond. Caught staring Zhane's pale cheeks flushed and he let out a fake cough, light eyes looking off to the side but not making any movement to back off.
“So I've lost my spark and need to make a few ripples hmm?” Carlos was smirking, one hand gripping the railing at Zhane's right, the other planted firmly by the blonds head up on his left effectively pinning him in place.
Nervously, which was kind of funny since this was Zhane and he never got nervous about anything, Zhane liked his lips as his eyes locked in on Carlos' dark ones which were so very close. Mutely he nodded wondering if he was the only one who could hear the pounding of his pulse or if DECA was broadcasting it all over the ship in surround sound. Swallowing he nodded slowly and tensed as Carlos closed the remaining space between them a tad worried that the other Ranger was going to smack him upside the head for sticking his nose where it really shouldn't have been, well stuck.
He was pleasantly surprised however that instead of a fist smacking him upside the head, Carlos was instead pressing warm lips up against his own. When he let out a small gasp in surprise it allowed the other man to deepen the kiss, pressing himself up tightly against him and all Zhane could do was cling to him and kiss back.
The kiss ended to quickly and Zhane was unable to fight back the tiny whimper that slipped out as the warm body molded against his pulled away and was replaced with the chilled artificial air of the ship. Carlos was leaning against the other wall, smirking like the cat who'd eaten the canary, and when the lift finally reached its chosen floor it dinged its arrival and opened up to reveal both parties to a rather confused looking TJ who'd just returned from the surface.
“Um,” The blue Space Ranger looked from the smug Carlos to the flustered and pink cheeked Zhane, “Did I miss something?”
Carlos grinned at his friend as he pulled the supply cart out of the lift then flashed Zhane an even brighter smile, “Not much, just making ripples.”
Tossing a casual wave in the direction of his friends Carlos headed down the hall pushing the supply cart while the lift door slid shut on the still confused TJ and recovering Zhane, one hand shoved in a pocket and whistling as he wandered down the hall.
