Romeo and Juliet, lovers from rivaling families. Who hasn't heard about this story? Who hasn't yet read or performed this play in school? Even if you never read a book, watched the play or a movie adaptation, you just knew who they were and what happened to them. and the most famous scene of that story is, off course, the balcony scene. And Oliver was reading that in his English class.
He focused on one line of this scene. No, it's not 'wherefore art thou Romeo?', it was another line, one sentence spoken by Romeo to Juliet. At first, he didn't realize how much it meant to him. After all, it was just a simple line from a story everyone knows. Alack, there lies more peril in thine eye than twenty of their swords. 'Well, I see more danger in your eyes than in twenty of your swords.'
Romeo feared the look in Juliet's eyes more than her swordsmen, who'd kill him instantly if they found him. Romeo feared the day Juliet would no longer look at him with love, but with disgust or indifference. He feared the day she lost interest in him, and he'd see it in her eyes if she still loved him or not.
Yes, that simple line had so much influence on Oliver. Because it reminded him of his relationship with Skylar.
From the first day they met, he was a fan of her. I don't mean the day they met at the hospital, but the day Oliver first read about a young Calderan teen named Skylar Storm. Many fans, even Kaz, said that she wouldn't last long because she was so young and unexperienced. Oliver was one of the few who supported her and who read every comic book she starred in, even if it was just a cameo. Throughout the years she had earned everyone's respect by becoming one of those young teenage superheroes and by battling one of the most dangerous villains in the universe without losing her powers. Also, she was the one person who could get away with having 24 different superpowers. Over the years, Oliver's crush for her had grown while she did not even know he existed, for she was happy enough to travel from Caldera to Earth to fight crime and then return home.
Then came the day they officially met. He wouldn't admit it, but he truly believed heroes were real when he saw Skylar Storm, his fictional character crush and now real life crush. He had been a little skeptical until he saw her and they met. He knew he loved her so much when he looked her in the eyes, for real, but she had no idea of his love. To her, she was just a Normo, just a guy who would leave whenever their boss thought they were incompetent. Yet, Oliver and Kaz stayed around, and she hung out with them because they were all teenagers living and working in an adult's world. She started becoming their friend when they introduced her to their high school, and she started to care about them. They still are friends after one year, the best of friends and nobody could break that.
Well, nobody but the Annihilator.
We all know what he's done to her, but here's a recap. When she finally got her powers back, it was revealed the Annihilator tampered with them so she would be his evil servant. Oliver hadn't liked what he had done to her. No, not liking is a word too soft for a situation like this: he detested what he had done to her. He detested being an obstacle in her and the Annihilator's way. He detested they went from friends to enemies in mere seconds. And, most of all, he detested the way she looked at him while she was evil.
She would only have that emotionless look in her eyes. She'd lie to them about everything that's been going on. She would not care about the fate of her Normo friends – as long as the Annihilator could make the world suffer, she would be happy as well.
Oliver's heart broke when he found out Skylar was evil and an evil servant of her archenemy, the Annihilator. He couldn't believe Skylar's evil. He even called his friends every five minutes saying that, not believing his best (girl) friend was now their enemy, and they both had to lie about that. he was blinded by his emotions for her, and yet she couldn't care less about how she could break his heart.
Luckily, she was saved. Her powers might have been taken away from her again, but at least she wasn't trying to kill her friends anymore. She had apologized and told them she was fine, and they accepted the apologies. And yet, Oliver still was afraid. What if she would become evil again one day because of her restored powers.
Alack, there lies more peril in thine eye than twenty of their swords. He had not realized it until now, but this one phrase summarized his thoughts about Skylar. He was afraid of the day she would regain her powers. She would not only return to her home planet, she might become evil again. She might again look at him like she didn't care, like she wasn't interested in him. okay, we don't know if she likes Oliver, but that's not a problem. She does care about him as a friends, maybe more, and that was enough for him to think about this line.
'Well, I see more danger in your eyes than in twenty of your swords.' He indeed feared her look more than anything else. He had faced villains, saved the people who save the people daily and he had been in numerous near-death situations which had become a weekly routine when you work at the Mighty Med. But all of that was nothing compared to her not wanting him, her not caring about him anymore.
His hand slid to the coal in his pocket. Skylar's number one weakness. He shouldn't be carrying it with him and Skylar would be mad if she knew, but he needed it – only for emergencies.
He hoped there would be no such emergencies in which he had to use it on Skylar. She didn't deserve that. she was the best superhero (Oliver's opinion) and could easily defend herself. But what if she were to turn evil again? Would she save the world from herself or would she rule or destroy it?
"Oliver?" He looked up. Everyone in his class was looking at him, including the teacher. How long had he been fantasizing about the possibilities? How long had he been thinking about his relationship with Skylar. "Would you please pay attention? This is very important."
Oliver nodded. "Off course. I'm sorry, it won't happen again." The teacher nodded and he continued with the class. Oliver wouldn't look at the line until the hour was done. He also quickly decided nobody needed to know about this.
Yet, as he tried to pay attention, one more thought popped up in his head. You're just like Romeo and Juliet, it said, you're Romeo and she's Juliet. To some extent, it was true. He did fall in love with her when he first saw her and he'd do anything for her. He feared the look in her eyes. But she did not know he loved her, and she probably did not love him like he did.
If we really are like Romeo and Juliet, then I don't wanna die. He eventually thought and he focused on whatever his teacher was nothing down now.
Hey guys! I wasn't even planning on doing a next one-shot, but here it is anyway! I just had the idea and I hope you like it. Shout-out to my English teacher (we're finally doing some Shakespeare) who gave me the idea to base my Oliver one-shot on that one line from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet (which I do not own). And also thanks to TKDP! You're the one pointing out a pattern in my one-shots, and now I've written one for Oliver too. Probably won't be as good as my other ones, but I think it's still good enough to publish it here.
-Writer207