Courage (A Chase x Skye fanfiction)

The Next Step

Chase

I woke up with Skye's head on my back. At first I was really confused, but when I came to my senses, I realized we had both fallen asleep outside. I guess she had moved to that position in her sleep, and I wasn't going to complain. 

I decided not to wake her up and to wait and see her reaction when she does wake up and realizes that she has her head on my back and I know it. I know it's not nice, but I'm desperate here. So I waited. It felt like forever. Man how long does she sleep? Eventually, everyone else was waking up and I started to get worried that they would see us and start to get suspicious. I wanted to wake her up but I thought better of it. I watched as they made their way to the lookout and......didn't notice us! I was safe, for now.

Skye was starting to stir, and I could tell she was waking up. My heart did it's usual flip and my stomach fell into a pit. Skye must have realized her head was on my back (no shit sherlock) and she lifted her head quickly, not knowing I was awake...yet.

"Good morning Skye." I said very suddenly, announcing that I was wide awake She jumped and gasped in surprise, and I felt like an asshole. "Sorry, sorry!" I said. "I just didn't want to wake you up!" Her face went completely red as she must've realized that I knew that her head was resting on my back. "I'm s-sorry I-I was c-cold and-" she spluttered, but I cut her off. "No-no-no-no, you don't need to apologize, that's my bad I shouldn't of scared you!" I said, frantic and quickly, trying to calm her down. Her breath was quick and loud, her face red as a cherry, and a tear rolled down her left eye before she turned around and ran to her pup house.

Skye

I was lying down in my pup house bawling my eyes out, and to be truthful, I didn't even know why. Chase really scared me, because I thought he was sleeping. I was beginning to creep away from him when he suddenly spoke up and it scared the shit out of me. He had been awake the whole time, and I was suddenly extremely humiliated, because I was resting my head on his back, and he woke up to me like that, and didn't wake me up. Okay a little context. The previous night, Chase had fallen asleep after we had a conversation outside. Pretty one-sided, but still. He had fallen asleep, and I decided to stay with him. The wet grass was uncomfortable and cold, so I rested my head on his back and fell asleep. So when I realized he knew what I had done, I was humiliated, for obvious reasons.

Eventually, I calmed myself down and thought Relax. He's obviously not mad about what happened. Just play it cool, and everything will be alright. So that's what  I did. I left my pup house with as much confidence as I could muster, and went in to eat breakfast with the rest of the pups. Nothing much to say about it, as it was pretty uneventful.

But it didn't stay that way for long. After I left the lookout following breakfast to play tag with the others, Chase stopped me. "Skye?" He asked. He sounded really nervous. I had no idea what to say, because a thousand thought were racing though my head, like they always did whenever we interacted. He kept going. "I'm so sorry for scaring you there. It was a really asshole thing for me to do. A-and I completely understand why you would-" He stopped abruptly, trying to force his next words out. He sighed and then said "Sorry, I can't think straight. Just please don't be mad at me." It sounded like a plea, and I suddenly felt much better about the whole ordeal. 

"I'm not mad," I replied. "Just embarrassed. Can we please just forget that ever happened? Please?" He smiled at that. "Yes that would be great." Not a word of that was ever mentioned again. Psyche! 

We played tag and some other games, but it didn't feel the same without Chase, as he was still recovering from his concussion and could only watch. I could tell that he was bored too, as he looked as though he wasn't present mentally, "daydreaming" If you would. We didn't play for as long as we usually would, as we all felt the effects of the missing pup. We watched TV together for a lot of the day. I sat next to Chase, but this time, didn't risk resting my head on his back, as tempting as it was.

All the watching TV wasted the entire day. I kind of figured that would happen repeatedly until Chase had completely recovered, so I had to get used to it. It wasn't too late by the time we went to sleep, but there was no reason to stay up. Right as I was going in to my pup house though, I was stopped by the sound of Chase's voice. "Skye?" He asked. "Yeah?" I responded. He inhaled deeply. "Do you want a do-over for, you know, last night?" He asked, blushing. "But this time, not outside." He said. I started wagging my tail, but I willed it to stop. "Sure!" I said. I was both excited, and nervous, but mostly excited! I had never been invited to his pup house before, so this was all new to me.

When I stepped into his pup house, Immediately noticed how big the place was. "This place is huge." I commented, the butterflies in my stomach multiplying by the minute. "Yeah it is," He responded. "I'm a bit claustrophobic so Ryder made it big." I paused. He had never told me that before, but I guess it wasn't a big deal. "Have you ever told anyone else about that?" I asked. "Other than Ryder, no," He admitted. "I always thought of it as embarrassing. But, I don't know, I feel different these last couple of days, like something inside me has changed." Okay, now he was really opening up to me, which, a couple of days ago, I would of thought he would've never done. "I kind of like the new you." I admitted, which made him blush.

"I guess it feels wrong hiding everything about me. I've been hiding my identity and replacing it with an overconfident and protective version of myself that just didn't feel right." I felt honored that he chose me to talk to, but also felt really bad for him. I found myself speechless again, and Chase looked down at his feet. "I've said too much," He sighed. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-" I cut him off "No, it's great that you opened up to me. I'm just surprised that you were able to hold that in for so long. Speaking about your feelings is one of the bravest things someone can do." He was smiling softly and his face was red. My face was red too and I was so nervous for no particular reason. Then he did something that caught me off guard completely.

He hugged me. Tightly. The pit in my stomach sank so deep. I was so nervous, but his fur was so warm and soft, I melted into it easily, but I could tell he was nervous too. I hugged him back and he seemed to relax. We were both lost in other worlds, not darling to let go. But eventually, all good things must come to an end, and we eventually pulled back. After a long, awkward silence, he finally said "Thanks. I needed that." I nodded. "Me too."

After that we didn't stay up too long afterwards, there was some small talk, but we were both embarrassed from the hug. Soon after we both tried to get some sleep. I knew this would be a though task for me as I haven't been getting too much sleep as of late.

"I love you" I muttered, but I knew he was already asleep. I just wish it wasn't so hard to say while he was conscious.

So that's it. Chapter 4. I've decided that there will be 10-15 chapters, not too long but not too short. I'd love to hear from you guys, what do you think I should add to this book? Alright PEACE OUT!