estirose

I did a RP a while ago with defeatedbyabridge, who has kindly given me permission to consolidate it. I've done some POV switching on it.

It is set in a universe AU to the Harder to be Brave storyline, so warnings for suicidal ideation. This is distinctly Ziggy/Dillon.

It was a long way down. Ziggy mused that it would be so easy to slip, fall, and die there, but he wasn’t going to do it. Not at the moment. He didn’t want Dillon to find him, and Dillon would be the one to do so, looking for his missing friend. Or at least Ziggy presumed so.

So, instead of dying, he sat down and watched the city, trying to figure out what to do.

Ziggy wouldn’t have been surprised at all that Dillon was looking for him, concerned about the way that he’d been acting. Dillon knew that something was wrong, and it wasn’t helping that he couldn’t find Ziggy. He squashed down a growing sense of panic as he tried to find his friend and teammate.

Ziggy himself was thinking about how he didn’t really know how to kill himself, which was kind of funny considering his former line of work. After all, hadn’t he worked with people who knew how to break a human body?

Maybe he was just brooding because he was in Dillon’s favorite broody spot. Or thinking spot. Maybe if he stopped figuring out how to kill himself, he could figure out how to break into Fort Knox. If it existed anymore. Maybe it did. But at the moment, he was trying to figure out how to get around Doctor K. He had the part after that down; all he had to do was smile at the wrong person. Or maybe the right person. But getting out was proving to be a problem. Doc hadn’t really cared before Ziggy had taken on one of his morphers, but now that Ziggy was a Ranger, his life was far more monitored and controlled. Felt like being in jail sometimes.

He heard the door to the roof open and close, and hoped that it was Dillon coming to brood, or to think, or whatever. Which it was, he confirmed after a quick glance. Dillon looked relieved for some reason, greeting Ziggy with a "Hey. "

Ziggy plastered a smile on his face, feeling the cold without a jacket, as well and a sudden worry that Dillon was worried about him. Well, not that Dillon was worried about him, but that Dillon should worry about him. After all, people didn’t worry about Ziggy a lot. "Hey. I'm not in your spot, am I? Because I totally, completely understand if you want it back. It's yours if you want it."

Maybe he should leave, because it was hard to think about killing himself when Dillon was right there, warm and solid.

At least Dillon thought that it was the cold, because he handed Ziggy his jacket, and Ziggy gratefully put it on. It was a status symbol of sorts, a reminder of what he should be and kind of wanted to be – just for the jacket, of course – but he really didn't like the rest of it. He was half-convinced that Doctor K was trying to get rid of him by the sheer amount of training. But of course, even Doctor K had to follow OSHA regulations, sort of. "I think the roof is big enough for us to share," Dillon said, sounding amused. "So, you up here spitting on cars? I gotta say, you can get more range on the other side."

A laugh escaped Ziggy. Dillon always did make him feel better, in his own way. "Nah. I thought I might figure out why you like this place so much." My smile threatens to slip as I remember why I came up here originally. To think of a way around Doctor K.

"It's quiet." That, Ziggy had to agree with. It was kind of quiet. Well, except for the sounds of motors as trucks drove around. It was the industrial part of Corinth, after all, and just because there was no need for long-haul trucks anymore didn't mean that trucks weren't needed still.

He was expected to defend this? Better for Corinth if he figured things out soon. Of course, with Dillon there, his hormones were kind of interrupting that.

Dillon shifted closer, as if hearing his thoughts, and bumped his shoulder. "Quieter without me here, yeah, I realize that."

"Nah, it's Scott that doesn't know how to turn down the radio," Ziggy told him. He enjoyed the teasing, because it was between friends, and nothing else mattered. He missed getting along with the others, because they didn't know what to do with him as a Ranger. Sure, he could pretend sometimes that he was not a Ranger, that everything was okay. And then Doctor K would call him by his title, and he had to go back to the reality that he was now part of a force to save what was left of humanity.

What a galactic joke that was! Maybe he'd get lucky, and Venjix would become a big, gigantic paperweight. He could wish. At least Dillon's presence made it more bearable.

Dillon groaned. . "Scott. In charge of all of us, emotional maturity of a lollipop. He's loud enough without the radio." Ziggy laughed a little at that, and then things were quiet for a while before Dillon added, ""It's heavy, huh. All the things we have to do."

"Yeah. Well. Can't say I was ready for this, but...." Ziggy changed the subject before he could say anything that could make Dillon worry. "Did you know that Fresno Bob was fanatical about vaccinations? Every single new vaccine, pretty much, we all got it. He said there was nothing worse than half of the Cartel ending up with the measles."

He'd had to argue with Doctor K about it, having finally to give a blood sample before Doctor K had believed him. He wasn't good at standing up to his boss, but after a full physical, he'd been in the mood to argue. Arguing usually meant bad things in his Cartel job, which was why he had such a good immunization record. Fresno Bob had said get vaccinated, so he did.

"Why? What was he so scared of getting?" Dillon seemed confused, thrown off track, which suited Ziggy fine.

"Kind of hard to run a criminal operation when everybody's coughing and sneezing, if you know what I mean. I mean, he didn't like getting sick, either, but he said it was good business practice to promote a healthy workplace, if you know what I mean."

It was definitely easier to discuss his past than his present. After all, his health wasn't something he wanted to bring up at the moment, even if Doctor K was even more fanatical about his health than Fresno Bob had been. After all, if he was sick, he couldn't defend Corinth. He'd certainly gotten that whole policy lecture when the immunizations had come up! Had to be careful, and report anything that was affecting his health.

Of course, when he'd complained that his morpher was making his skin itch, Doctor K had done some tests. And declared there was nothing wrong with his skin. His state of mind, maybe. Flynn had seemed almost too happy to practice his bandaging skills, at least, and it didn't hurt at the moment, even though he was still scratching a bit.

There's a small nod from Dillon. He's unhappy, and I'm thinking it's with something besides me, but I'm not sure. "Yeah, that makes sense. I guess he took good care of you in his own weird way." He looked over at the skyline for a moment and adds, "You're not being taken care of too well right now, huh."

"Well, sort of. With Fresno Bob, I mean." Some of it had been excellent, really. And so was Doc K's stuff, in its own way, which is why Ziggy didn't really want to answer the question. Guy was anal about things. But He didn't want to find out that Doctor K had his mikes up there the hard way. He choose his words carefully. "Doctor K says he can't do much about the psychological stuff. Like the fact that I'm itchy. Or why I'm having trouble reticulating spines or whatever with my power."