Title: Defenders of Dating
Fandom: Defenders of the Earth
Author: Apache Firecat
Characters: Jedda, Rick, LJ
Rating: G/K
Summary: The teenagers have trouble coming up with dates.
Word Count: 1,167
Written For: Fan FlashWorks 401: Cut
Warnings: None
Disclaimer: All characters within belong to their rightful owners, not the author, and are used without permission.








"I can never get a date!" Jedda complains, slamming her lunch tray down onto their usual table.

Rick and LJ both jump slightly. They lock eyes over the table. It's LJ who hesitantly speaks up to the girl who's become like a sister to him over their families' years together, "Derek didn't ask you?"

"No!" Jedda slapped her drink down for emphasis as she slumped into the seat beside Rick.

"We could always go as a group," LJ suggested.

"Hey, I've got a date!" Rick exclaimed, hooking his thumbs underneath the lapels of his blue jacket and flicking them up.

"Of course, you're going with Melinda," Jedda said, rolling her dark eyes, "hottest girl in school!"

Again, the boys looked at each other. LJ bit the inside of his cheek to keep his smile from showing as Rick admitted, "Well, not exactly."

"Not exactly what? You're going to tell me she's not the hottest girl in school? Please! She's the head cheerleader!"

"That doesn't make her the hottest girl in school," LJ interjected.

"But she is, isn't she?"

"Well, I mean, I guess," Rick said, nervously scratching the back of his curly head, "if you like the blonde cheerleader type. But I'm not going with her. I'm going with Maureen."

"Head of the chess club?!" LJ whistled.

"Hey, she's cute!"

"You still have a date!" Jedda pointed out. She cut an accusing glower at LJ. "And I bet you do too!"

"And that," he said, pointing his plastic spork at her, "is where you would be wrong."

"You don't?" she asked, stirring what their school cafeteria called mashed potatoes. She wished they could go home for lunch every day. Even if their fathers were out on a mission, the food Dynak created was ten times better than the stuff their cafeteria passed off as food.

Rick finished his soda and let out a belch that made Jedda's nose wrinkle. She shot him another glower as LJ tentatively tried to explain, "I've been too busy."

It was Rick's turn to point at him with his spork. "Meaning you still haven't worked up the courage to ask Linda."

"She could ask me! Women's lib and all that!"

"Yeah, speaking of which, Jedda, why don't you ask somebody instead of waiting for somebody to ask you?!"

"I did," she snapped, "and Hank said no!"

"That guy has no taste," LJ muttered, shaking his head.

"You could've asked me," Rick taunted, flexing, "but I've got a date!"

"Yeah, with the head of the chess club!" LJ snickered for Jedda.

"Beauty and brains don't often combine! They did for Maureen; they don't for Melinda!"

"I wouldn't let her hear you say that, or Brian."

"Oh, please!" Rick rolled his blue eyes. "I save the world every day!"

"It's not every day," Jedda cut in.

"Still, I save the world plenty of times! I fight aliens all the time! Why would I be afraid of a little football team Captain?"

"Hum, because this is high school?" LJ pointed out.

"High school, small school! They can't compare to us! Why, I bet Jedda hasn't been asked out only because they're afraid f her!"

"Afraid of me?!" Jedda spat in disbelief. LJ snickered again until she cut angry, feral-looking eyes at him.

"You do have a point!" he exclaimed, laughing again despite himself. "They don't want to get cut by Keesa!"

"Scratched by a panther or worse," Rick cried out, laughing, "given the 'talk' by the Phantom, the Ghosts Who Walks!"

"Yeah, we have it lucky!" LJ agreed, grinning. "Our dads may be superheroes, but we're not their little girls!"

"That is so sexiest!"

"Is it me," Rick asked, "or is she starting to look a lot like Keesa when she's mad?!"

"Hush!" Jedda cried suddenly. She was blushing now and reached up a hand to quickly pat her short hair, making sure it was still in place.

"Hey, Jedda, I was wondering, if you're free this Friday night -- "

"For the dance?" she asked quickly and hopefully.

"Dang, girl," Rick whispered audibly. "Don't act so desperate!"

"Shut up, or I'll kick your butt in training this afternoon!" she hissed through the side of her mouth.

"If your brothers don't mind, of course," Bart added nervously, his eyes sweeping over Rick and LJ, who were both staring at him.

"They won't bother you," Jedda promised him.

"So pick you up at 6?"

"I'll be waiting," she grinned.

"Hum, your father won't be, will he?"

"No! Hum, huh, actually let's meet here at the school, okay?"

"That sounds better!" Bart grinned with relief. "Well, hum, I'll see you then?"

"Yes!"

"Don't oversell it, girl," Rick whispered, grinning.

"Shut up!" she hissed back in a low voice, kicking him underneath the table. "Oh, and they're not my brothers!"

"They're not?"

"No. We just live together because of our dads. Besides, I kick their butts all the time!"

"So you are, like, hum, training to be superheroes?"

"Yes, but that won't stop me from being here Friday, I promise!"

Bart walked away, shaking and scratching his head.

"What were you thinking?!" Rick exclaimed. "Telling him all that?! Besides, you do not kick my butt that often!"

"Yes, I do, and you know it!"

"Are you sure you should've told him that?" LJ asked.

"I mean, it's not like it's exactly a big secret. Mandrake's pretty open with his magic and all, and our whole village back home knows what my Dad does."

"Yeah..." LJ's voice trailed off as he watched a beautiful, young woman walking up behind Jedda.

"Your turn, Romeo," Rick taunted. Then, before he could begin to come up with reasons why he couldn't ask Linda out, Rick swiveled around on his seat and called to their classmate. "Hey, Linda, you got a date for Friday?"

"No! Why? You offering?"

"HE BETTER NOT BE!" Maureen shouted loud enough for the entire cafeteria to hear and giggle about.

"Not for me! For LJ!"

"Rick!"

"I'd love to!" Linda shot a wide, warm smile at LJ just as the bell rang.

Grabbing her things while shaking her head, Jedda muttered, "Why is getting a date always so much harder than saving the world?"

"Maybe that's why we're called the Defenders of the Earth," Rick replied as they walked away together, "not the Defenders of Dating!"

"That was lame," LJ muttered.

"No, I'll tell you what's lame. The second best girl in school is the head of the chess club, and we all save the world multiple times a week but having trouble coming up with dates!"

"The second best girl?" Jedda asked, pausing and looking at Rick with wide, curious eyes.

"Don't ask!" LJ warned her, dumping his tray. Another bell rang. "Come on! We've gotta hurry or we'll be late!" He grabbed Jedda's arm and pulled her along with him, leaving Rick to breath a sigh of relief he hadn't realized he was holding until he recognized that he didn't have to answer Jedda's question after all.




The End