#yes I created one OC to be RJ's non-canon love interest in all possible fanfic scenarios

[junglekarmapippa]

RJ has a crush

Fran smiled as she put the dough on the table. “Guys,” she called to Lily and Dom, in a secretive way. The others approached her around the cooking table and she smiled cheekily. “I think RJ has a crush on one of the regulars.”

Dom grimaced in doubt. “RJ? A crush?” He shook his head vehemently. “No, RJ doesn’t have crushes.”

“Oh, come on, Dom,” Lily said sweetly. “Everyone can have a crush, and RJ is such a hopeless romantic...”

“Which is exactly why he doesn’t have crushes,” Dom insisted. “Why do you think he has a crush?” he asked Fran.

“Well, this girl comes over at least twice a week, I’m sure you’ve seen her, you can’t miss her, she’s a strawberry blonde, big green eyes, always sits with elegance and poise?” “I think I know who you’re talking about,” Lily said, nodding. “She eats a different pizza every time she comes.”

“That’s her!” Fran said. “I think she has tried the whole menu by now.”

“I haven’t seen her,” Dom said, his face showing how hard he was thinking.

“No, she hasn’t been here since you joined the staff,” Fran said. “She hasn’t been here for a couple of weeks, and RJ keeps eyeing the dinning area, looking for her. He always looks downcast when he sees she’s not here.”

“And this means he has a crush on her?” Dom laughed off.

“Not just that. He always makes sure to serve her personally and I think he created a pizza on the spot for her once.”

“And what about her?” Lily asked.

“Well, she always smiles at him and asks for a recommendation,” Fran shrugged. “And she always waits until he is around the register to pay, so they can have a small chit chat.”

“So, let me see if I get this right,” Dom started, raising both hands to stop the talk. “Not only does RJ have a crush on this mysterious regular, she has a crush on him too?”

“Well, yeah,” Fran said, putting sauce on the dough Lily had just passed to her. “And I think it’s rather cute.”

Dom shook his head again. “RJ doesn’t have crushes,” he insisted. “No way. A crush would seriously damage his coolness levels and he wouldn’t risk that.”

“Why would having a crush damage his coolness levels?” Lily asked, working on another ball of dough. “I think it’s very sweet that he has a romantic’s heart.”

“Sweet, yes, but cool?” Dom shook his head. “I don’t think so.”

“Would you deny having a crush to maintain your coolness levels?” Lily asked him and he blushed furiously.

“We are talking about RJ,” he whispered looking at the table.

The door opened and RJ walked in with a smile on his face. He crossed the kitchen with a spring to his step and grabbed a ball of dough. He started working on it happily, not even looking at the other three.

“Did Dai Shi defeat itself while we were in the kitchen?” Dom asked him.

The chef looked at them with a surprised expression, as if he really hadn’t seen them yet. “No,” he answered in his usual kind voice. “But it’s a beautiful day anyway.” He shrugged and kept working on the dough very carefully.

Fran smirked knowingly and nodded at the other two. Lily snickered and Dom rolled his eyes.

RJ finished with the dough and looked around the kitchen for ingredients. He returned to the table with a collection of ingredients the others couldn’t recognize from any recipe.

“New recipe?” Dom asked.

“Just trying something new,” RJ answered as he put the cheese on the pizza.

“Is that for you?” Fran asked.

RJ looked at her, stunned for a moment, as if he was trying to find the right answer to the question. “Not really.”

“Not really?” Fran repeated at him. “Who is it for, then?”

“A customer,” he said, pointing in the general direction of the dinning area.

“She finally ran out of pizzas from the menu, then?” Fran asked nonchalantly, putting the pizza she had been working on in the oven.

“Well, yes, she’s in the mood for something different,” RJ answered distractedly, for he was arranging the ingredients in the pizza very carefully.

“I wonder how she eats all that pizza and is still thin as a stick,” Fran commented, throwing a glance at Lily and Dom, who looked at each other and had a hard time not bursting out laughing.

“She has a fast metabolism,” RJ answered mechanically, taking the pizza from the table to put it in the oven.

“Who is this ‘she’ we are talking about?” Dom asked.

That seemed to bring RJ out of his reverie. “Sorry, what?”

“who is this ‘she’ who has a fast metabolism and is in the mood for something different today?” Dom insisted.

RJ pointed in the direction of the dinning area but said nothing.

“Cat got your tongue?” Dom mocked. “Curious, because you seem to be always full of things to say.”

RJ looked at him and took a deep breath. “I’m not going to let you ruin my perfectly good day,” he said in a dignified tone and walked out of the kitchen.

Fran, Dom and Lily ran to the door to peek through the glass as he carried a soda over to a table where the aforementioned regular customer was sitting. As Fran had mentioned she looked up at RJ and smiled at him as she took the drink from his hand before he had the chance to put it on the table.

“No wonder he has a crush, she’s gorgeous!” Dom whispered in awe. Fran hit him on the ribs with her elbow.

“You just said RJ doesn’t have crushes.”

“Well, he doesn’t have a crush,” Lily said as the three of them ran back to the cooking table, because RJ was coming back to the kitchen. “He’s in love” she whispered hurriedly before RJ opened the door. 

The chef looked at them from the table and sighed. “Alright, what is it?” He asked, glancing at the clock.

“Fran thinks you have a crush,” Dom admitted immediately. Fran slapped him on the shoulder.

“Really? On who?” RJ asked, amused.

“Oh, come on!” Fran moaned. “You might as well admit it! It’s very obvious you have a crush on the red head.”

“Her name is Trixie,” RJ answered. “And I don’t have a crush on her.”

“Trixie?” Dom repeated.

“Yes, why?” RJ asked.

“She doesn’t look like a Trixie,” the rhino ranger said, shrugging.

“It’s a nickname,” the chef informed him.

“Well? How can you say you don’t have a crush on her?” Fran insisted. “It is obvious.”

“It is quite obvious,” Lily agreed.

“I don’t have a crush on Trixie,” RJ repeated. He opened the oven to take Trixie’s pizza out. He put it on a wooden tray and grabbed the tray by the handle. “I’m madly in love with her,” he said as he walked out.

The others ran to the door to spy on him again and she received the new pizza with an excited expression, as RJ, presumably, explained the recipe to her.

“I hope you like it,” they heard him say as he turned back to the kitchen, catching all three of his employees spying.

Trixie answered something from the table and he smiled as he walked into the kitchen.

“So,” Dom started. “What’s the plan?”

“Plan?” RJ sounded stunned again.

“To get her,” Dom said, as if it was obvious.

“There is no plan.”

“You can’t fall in love one way forever, RJ,” Dom scolded.

“It’s not one way,” RJ said, brushing the flour from his jacket. “She loves me too.”

“And you know this because?” Fran asked.

“She tells me every night before we go to sleep,” RJ answered, pointing at the phone.

“She calls you every night?” Dom laughed. “Come on, RJ, you haven’t told her you like her.”

“I did. I asked her out and it went really well and now we are together.”

“Whatever,” Dom said, leaving the kitchen with a scoff. Lily walked out after him, the pizza she had been making with Fran in hand.

Fran approached RJ and bumped against his side. “Hey.”

“Yes?”

“You can tell me,” she said. “Have you told her?”

“Yes,” he insisted, looking at her with a smile. He glanced at the kitchen door and then looked at her again. “Fran, she’s not a stranger, I’ve know her for a very long time,” he licked his lips. “Her name is Beatrice and she studied with me at Pai Zhua. Just like me, she is a Pai Zhua master.”

“Then why don’t the others know who she is?”

“They probably would recognize her master title,” he shrugged. “Beatrice, and technically me, belong to a sort of secret kind of Pai Zhua masters. Our styles hadn’t been created when Dai Shi was captured, so he doesn’t know we exist. Well, he obviously knows I exist, but not Beatrice, and many other masters. This gives us an advantage, because there is a second line of defense, should I fail in the training of Theo, Lily and Casey.”

“But you will not fail, will you?”

“Well, I don’t plan to, but you never know. In cases like this, it’s better to be prepared.”

“So she really calls you every night?”

“No really every night, she has been out of the country for a while, lately,” he said. “But we call each other when she’s in town.”

“And you what? Go out to meditate in the forest?” 

“No, Fran, we usually hang out at her place, where we have more privacy. We don’t want to be seen in public together, in case Dai Shi’s minions see us. It would put her at risk of getting kidnapped to hurt me, and that would mean she’d have to blow her cover.”

“That must be really hard,” Fran said sympathetically, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Having to sneak out to see your girlfriend.”

“It is hard. I have an entire life you guys don’t know about and I have been very careful to keep it that way.”

“Why? Don’t you trust us?”

“Of course I trust you, but Dai Shi could capture any of you, or put a spell on you, read your minds, or Heaven forbids, torture you for information. And he can’t find out anything important if you don’t know anything important.”

“You know I would die rather than give you up,” she assured him.

“That won’t be necessary,” he looked at the clock and then at Fran again. “I have to say goodbye to Trixie.”

He smiled and walked out into the dinning room to take the bill to Beatrice’s table. 

The war against Dai Shi won’t last forever, she told him through the psychic link all Pai Zhua masters shared.

I know.

I missed your stupid mug.

I missed you too, dear.

I love you.

I love you too.

She got up and walked out of the restaurant with a small smile on her face and RJ stared after her.

He looked around at his students and wondered how he could have an entire life hidden from them so easily. Was he a really good liar or were they really just that oblivious?