Title: We're Beautifully Broken
Rating: T
Genre: Angst, romance, drama, friendship
Characters: Chase, Skylar, Oliver, a little bit of Bree and Kaz
Pairing(s): Skase and Skoliver. Yeah, I know. (But which one is endgame?)
Summary: He doesn't know it yet, but he will save her and she will save him. (Skase/Skoliver)
Warnings: Hmm… it's pretty depressing, the whole thing. But, I mean, not really anything specific.
Notes: Okay, I posted this two days ago on AO3, but in second person. And ugh, this whole story sounds so much better in second person. So, I'd be delighted if you could go read that version—I'll link to it on my profile page.
Anyway, since 2nd person entries aren't allowed here, I had to write it in 3rd person. To make it easier, one male character (the narrator) will be 'he/him' and the other male character (not the narrator) will be 'he/him', italicized. Until their names are revealed, of course.
About the story: What with the assumed Skoliver endgame that's going on now in the show, I decided I should write something with Skase, since a lot of Skase shippers are disappointed. (Though I like Skoliver, I like Skase, too. There's a fair amount of both of them in this story, and a reason for which one is endgame and which isn't, so I hope it appeals to more people.)
Oh, and if there are any 2nd person/3rd person grammar errors, please tell me so I can fix it, my eyes are so blurry from trying to find any problems XD
Enjoy, everyone!
I love you (and it hurts)
She'll never know how much he loves her. He'll never tell her. Because she doesn't want him. No one wants him, they never have, so why should she be any different?
He has tried, of course. Tried to create a friendship between the two of them that he might have hoped would become something more. She never quite took to the idea. So, he supposes, that's how he ended up here, standing in front of her, waiting to give her something that could very well kill her instead of save her like it is intended to.
And why is he doing this again?
Because the guy who has liked her for years and years longer than him wants to give her everything she doesn't have so she'll fall for him instead.
But that brings up the question again: why is he doing this?
Maybe it's for the same reason as him. Maybe he can't stand to see her like that, defenseless and powerless. Maybe he can't stand the thought of her in another one of those cells like after that very first fight. Maybe he doesn't want her hurting anymore. And even if that means losing her to someone else… it makes her happy, and that's all he wants for her.
So he does it.
He gives her a small dose of her biggest weakness in the hopes she'll be better. Even if it means letting her slip further away.
I love you (and I'm waiting)
He doesn't know it yet, but she won't choose him, the other boy, at least not right away. It will make him happy in some sick, dark, twisted part of him, buried deep in his heart.
But it will be tantalizing—she will talk to him more than before, help him in his experiments. And she will be so close. But then he will always be there, too, watching him like a hawk to make sure he doesn't steal 'his girl'.
She's not yours, he will want to scream. She doesn't belong to you. She doesn't want you. He will want to yell and throw things to let him know that he has to move on with his life.
But that's his darkness talking. In reality, he will know that clinging to a dream isn't healthy—his old one of a world without his abilities and complications, his of her. He has wanted her for years, and if it hasn't happened yet there's no way it could now. He deserves a girl who will put him first—she will always put the world first. He deserves a girl who treats him like everything—she will always have something else to focus on. The other boy deserves better than her.
He doesn't. Of course he doesn't, he's not worth it. So he will wait for it. For her.
I love you (and you don't)
He doesn't know it yet, but she will begin to turn to him in her times of trouble.
I'm not good enough for him, she will tell him as she collapses into sobs in his arms one night.
She will have gone on a date with him just the hour before. It will have gone wrong, of course—doesn't it always—but it doesn't change the fact that she will have agreed to go out with him. It also doesn't change the fact that both he and she will know that she was lying through her perfect alien teeth when she said she had a good time. (And they both will know that he doesn't deserve that lie.)
He will want to comfort her, but there's nothing he can say that will change the fact that no, she isn't good enough. He will tell her that.
She'll cry even harder, and it will be so hard for him to not reach out and wipe the tears spilling from her dark eyes, but he refrains because he knows she understands why he said that. I'm never good enough, she'll whisper. Not for him, not for the team, not for y—
She will cut herself off, avert her gaze. He won't make her look back, won't make her finish, won't make her explain, because he understands, too.
He knows what it's like to love someone so completely yet still hate themselves. People say it's not possible, but aren't both of them living proof that the impossible happens every day?
Even so, he won't understand how someone so amazing and beautiful can hate themselves so completely like she does. He never will understand that, and he won't ask.
I love you (I'm going mad)
He doesn't know it yet, but she won't talk about that night (they will never speak about that night ever again), even when his sister finds the two of them in the morning curled up on the couch with tear tracks on both of their faces.
She will make both him and his sister promise not to tell anyone, and of course he will agree. Of course he does, because he can never resist.
And then she goes back to him.
She will have been half-dating him for only a week, but it will quickly be getting insufferable. He will be clingy and jealous, and she will let him be that way.
You've gone on one date, he will want to tell him. That doesn't mean a thing. He will know how he would follow up with statistics on how unlikely it is that this image of an ideal romance with her he has will happen. He will be able to imagine how he would say it, too, with dark, harsh eyes and a blank face.
He will also know how terrible it would feel for him to hear those words and face the truth. Oddly enough, that will make him want to tell him even more.
He will be able to tell that this particular obsession of his own is getting out of hand—wasn't he just saying earlier that no one should let this happen, lest the truth rot you from the inside out?
He will hardly care anymore. He will let it fester and sicken within him. He's in too deep, now.
I love you (I'm still waiting)
He doesn't know it yet, but it will have been too long, and he will know it. He will not listen to his own advice. He will let his obsession with her consume him, and it will certainly show. He will rush to her side whenever she needs him, he'll throw himself into the line of fire, he'll help his pyrokinetic teammate prank him. Revenge is best served with chocolate syrup and swiss cheese, he'll say through a harsh and bitter laugh.
He will yell at him, chocolate syrup dripping from his hair onto his clothes and the floor, swiss cheese stuck to his legs and arms. He won't understand why he's doing it, and honestly, he won't understand either. He pretends not to care, but he thinks about it anyway.
Why do I hate him? Why do I put up with him? Why is everything suddenly so hard to figure out? Just… why?
It all leads back to her. It's her, and he will know it, but he will not be able to let go.
I love you (you're worth it)
He doesn't know it yet, but he will wake up screaming one night from a dream—a nightmare, more like it—and she'll be there in less than a second. She will be the only one to have heard him through his soundproof box.
She'll open the door and take his hand, lead him down the stairs without waking his roommates—who happen to be her boyfriend and best guy friend. He won't realize that he's doing it, but he will send her boyfriend a look.
She'll make no noise as they make their way downstairs, and he will do his best to follow suit. She'll sit him down on the couch they spent that night crying on a few weeks ago. She won't mention that.
Instead, she'll ask him what happened to wake him up.
And because it's three in the morning and his defenses are down, and maybe a little bit because she looks so sincere and sad in her dark, loose pajamas with her hair falling past her shoulders in straight waves she hasn't curled to superhero perfection yet, he'll tell her. He will tell her his story, which she doesn't know, because him and his sister don't like to talk about it. He will tell her about his two brothers and his cousin. He will tell her what the dangerous missions the three of them have been sending him letters telling him about are, and how he worries. He will tell her how he fears that one day he will wake up with an emptiness within him and he'll just somehow know that they are gone. He will tell her how he doesn't think he could bear to lose them, and that hurts worst of all.
She'll stay silent for a moment before quietly saying, I understand.
She isn't lying, he will know. She will have lost a planet full of people, of friends. She will have lost her ability to get back there to her previous best friend who will be dead in a lava pit. She will have been stranded on this planet.
He will just say thank you.
She'll ask him, for what?
And he'll hesitate, think 'screw it', and then reply with simple for being you.
For now, it's enough for him to say.
She will only manage a small voice to say okay.
I'll wait, he tells her even though she won't understand. And he won't say what he thinks next out loud, but the look on her face will make him think she can read his mind before he remembers she can't: I'll wait for however long it takes. You're worth it.
I love you (still, still, still)
He doesn't know it yet, but a lot will change after that night.
He will wake up screaming more often than not, and she will always be there to calm him down.
It won't make his obsession any better, but he will have improved at hiding it.
She still will be dating him, after all. He will never be able to let him know of the feelings he harbors for his girlfriend. Because he does have morals, even if he will ignore them ninety-seven percent of the time.
But every day feels like dying. He will wake up surprised to find that his heavy heart is still beating.
But he will wait. He'll always wait, because this horrible, twisted, awful feeling of what must be tortured love will not leave him.
I love you (and that's okay)
He doesn't know it yet, but he will make peace with it. And he doesn't know it yet, but the moment he accepts it is the moment it comes crashing down.
He will tell himself that she is not going to be with me when she can have him. I won't ruin her happiness.
And one day after that, he will overhear them arguing on the terrace.
I'm sorry, she will tell him sorrowfully. But I'm also not. You're my friend, I can't hurt you like this anymore.
You're not hurting me, he will snap.
I am, she'll insist softly. You deserve better.
He will shake his head adamantly. You were my dream. You are everything I ever wanted. Please don't leave.
She'll look up at him with dark eyes brimming with tears, and her voice will be laced with frustration, anger, and sadness—an odd combination coming from her throat. I was your dream, she will agree. But I—me, real life me, not comic book superhero me you adored—don't live up to that dream, and I never will. And suddenly, she will start saying what you've been thinking all along. You deserve someone who loves you for who you are, who looks at you like the hero, not the other way around. You deserve someone better than me. You have to let this dream of us go, Oliver, for both of our sakes.
Please, Skylar, don't, Oliver will whisper brokenly.
You don't want to be with a broken girl, she will say. I can't be fixed. You deserve better than me.
She'll turn around and walk inside, and he will barely have time to whirl into the kitchen and pretend to make lunch to avoid her knowing he eavesdropped.
He will think to himself that you have accepted your fate without her, and that you have to stick with that.
But no. That conversation will remind him of his obsession. Not only will it remind him, but it will consume him completely.
I love you (and it's golden)
He doesn't know it yet, but she will take his hand in the broad daylight—with everyone watching—just three weeks after that.
He will be working, rattling off lists of numbers and names to his team—Oliver ignoring it all and texting a new friend he made out in the city—before his sister says, Chase, relax. We got this.
He will take a breath, heeding her words, and then begin to type again, speaking slower and clearer. It's only a matter of time, however, before he speeds back up again, desperate to solve this superhero mystery.
A cold touch will startle him slightly, and he'll look down to see slender fingers resting on his wrist. She will look up at him, eyes bright rather than dark, for once, shining with something warmer than silver but just as bright, and she will say one word: calm.
He will listen to her and pretend he doesn't feel her golden—yes, it isn't silver, but gold—light slowly mending the cracks and warps in the foundation of his heart.
I love you (we're beautifully broken)
He doesn't know it yet, but he will save her and she will save him.
She will get captured yet again (and with her, the golden light that will have been keeping him together), and he will tear apart the facility his enemies have constructed. He will demolish it, leave shattered glass, broken concrete, bodies and blood. (There will be no survivors.)
He will find her, and he will bring her home. She will cry, not from the happiness of being free but of sadness and fear because she will see what she has done to him by waiting, how she has changed him.
And she will drag his face down and kiss him in front of everyone, desperate and weak, pleading with him to forgive her for waiting too long and hating herself and for being broken and to please please just be Chase Davenport again.
And after a moment of stunned silence, letting her gold warm him once again, he will kiss her back and whisper a simple okay against her lips, because really, that's all anyone needs to say.
Everything else can wait: the you saved mes and the thank yous and the we're both brokens and the I love yous can wait for another day.
His sister will be crying (because do you really think Bree Davenport of all people won't have tried to fix him sooner?) and the hotheaded fire boy will chuckle softly because of course he knew all along (because Kaz has always been strangely insightful with these things) and the boy who knows to find someone who deserves him will smile a bittersweet smile because Chase Davenport has saved the girl he still has a semblance of love for (and it will pass in time, he will know, but he will also know that Oliver will always love this beautiful broken alien girl, the incredible Skylar Storm, in one way or another).
But Chase Davenport doesn't know any of that yet. So far, all he knows is that he may have a chance to save this girl he is in love with but thinks he can never tell (but boy, is he wrong. For once, he is wrong, and he will find that he will never have been happier to be wrong), and though he might lose her, she is worth anything to him. So he will do it—of course he will. The rest will follow.
Well. That took me several days to write, but I think it was successful! Sorry to the Skoliver shippers, too, but you guys get canon. I think Skase deserves a little corner of fanfiction XD Anyway, let me know in the reviews what you think, and tell me if you preferred this to my 2nd person version or not! Thanks for reading!