Work Text:
Sledge had been sending monster after monster down to earth to try and get the energems. Nearly everyday there was a new threat, a new battle that required the power rangers help. It was an understatement to say that they were all exhausted. Some had stopped going home because it took up too much energy and they all found places to sleep in the base, basically living with Koda now. It was inevitable that they would make a mistake, a slip up, and somehow get themselves hurt. It wasn’t a shock when they did, the real shock was that it was Riley who slipped up. Riley, that got hurt.
They were fighting another monster, one that was much easier than the others they had faced. It didn’t play much on the offensive side, it just kept trying to grab the rangers.
“Why isn’t it fighting back?” Shelby yelled as she defeated more vivix.
“No clue but there must be a reason, stay clear of its grasp.” Tyler responded, shooting more vivix that were heading towards Shelby.
It was a simple misstep, a calculated move gone wrong. One foot in the wrong place that sent Riley tumbling backwards and into the grasp of the monster. As he was caught, he felt a sharp pain in his back as he demorphed and screamed out in pain. The monster pulled the syringe out of Riley just as the others caught onto what was happening.
“What did you do to him?” Chase yelled as they all ran up to the monster and Riley.
Chase and Koda tried to run up and grab Riley, but at that moment, Riley opened his eyes and shoved them back, hard. His eyes were glowing green and he had a strict look on his face. As Chase and Koda fell back against the ground, Riley morphed into his suit again and took out his sword pointing it directly at his teammates.
“Finish them.” The monster said as it stepped back, it didn’t leave but instead stayed for the show.
Riley charged towards his team, easily slicing through each and every one of them. Tyler was hit first and hit hard, being launched against a brick wall. Shelby got slashed and shot, demorphing as she too got hit away. Ivan was next and as much as he put up a strong fight, he was also overpowered and sent flying. Koda tried not to fight Riley, being confused at what was going on, so he was easily defeated and left gasping for breath.
Only Chase was left. He watched as his best friends shot and slashed his way through all of their friends, his teammates, but Chase didn’t do anything. He couldn’t move. He stared at Riley, and when he saw the green ranger run at him, he didn’t flinch, he didn’t fight. All he could do was demorph and stare at Riley as he got hit hard against the ground, yelling out in pain.
All the rangers saw the original monster run up behind their teammate, grab him again, and get shot back up to Sledges ship, a light beam being the only thing they saw before most of them passed out.
When they finally got back to the base, Miss Morgan had to treat some of the harshest wounds she had ever seen. And when she heard what had happened to Riley, it didn't take her long to know what caused his outburst.
“He must have been brainwashed, that syringe must have turned his mind into a vessel for the monster to control.
“But we save him, no?” Koda breathed out, still trying to catch his breath.
“Of course we will, we just have to find him.” Shelby walked over to comfort Koda.
“Sir Riley will be safe soon enough.” Ivan was the last to get treated by Miss Morgan, speaking just as she finished.
The only one not speaking was Chase. He had swatted away Kendall's attempts to heal him and he was sitting away from the group. He couldn’t bear to look at his wounds or anyone else's. But their optimism caused him to snap.
“How can you all be so fucking optimistic?” Chase yelled as he stood up.
“Riley almost killed us, we have no clue where he is or if they have kept him alive. We don’t know if he still has his energem and we don’t know if we can save him.” Everyone was looking at Chase, Kendall and Keeper tried to calm him but that just made him more angry.
“We all failed Riley today, we let him get away and we didn’t save him.” Chase’s voice was breaking and he had let a few tears fall down his face.
Before anyone else could say anything, Chase turned around, grabbed his skateboard and skated out of the base and out of sight.
“I’ll go talk to him.” Tyler stood up and walked out of the base, no one argued. If there was one person who could get through to Chase that wasn’t Riley, it was Tyler.
It didn’t take a genius to know exactly where Chase had gone. Tyler found him at the skatepark pretty quickly, but he wasn’t skating. He was simply sitting at the top of one of the ramps, staring at nothing. Tyler walked over and tried to climb up the ramp, but failed.
“Can I get a hand here?” Tyler reached out towards Chase and he was pulled up to the top.
Tyler didn’t speak immediately, wanted to see if Chase would say anything, tell him to go away or even just break down. But there was nothing. He didn’t speak and he was hardly even breathing or blinking. He just kept staring at the trees ahead of them, clearly deep in thought.
“We will get Riley back, don’t worry.” Tyler started and Chase stayed silent.
“And once we do, then you will be able to tell him exactly how you feel.” Tyler looked over at Chase. “Exactly how much you love him.” That snapped Chase out of his trance.
“Wait, what? Love him? I don’t love Riley, he is just a mate and-”
“Don’t lie to me, I see the way you look at him, and your outburst today, that all but proved it.”
Chase didn’t argue back, he just signed and let his head fall into his hands as he fought back more tears.
“I’m sorry for yelling at you all, it wasn’t directed, I just felt so guilty that I failed him.”
“But you didn’t. If you had tried anymore then you would have got yourself killed.” Tyler placed his hand on Chase's shoulder, causing Chase to turn and face him.
“But we should have been able to do more, now we don’t even know if he is alive or.” Chase couldn’t finish his sentence before more tears finally escaped his eyes.
“Don’t think like that, he will get him back, no matter what.” Tyler slid off of the ramp and gestured for Chase to do the same.
They walked back to the base and Chase apologised to everyone else. Chase had never hoped for alien bio signs to show up more than he did the rest of the night, but they never did. So he had to go to sleep not knowing if he would ever be able to tell Riley how he felt. How much he made his heart flutter every time they talked. How much Riley had Chase want to be a better person. How much Riley had made Chase realise that he wasn’t as straight as he once thought. Never knowing the feeling of Riley’s lips against his own, how safe he imagined Riley’s touch to be. Never getting to see him as anything more than a friend and teammate. Chase silently cried himself to sleep that night, waking the next morning with still puffy eyes. When the call came out that the monster had returned, Chase was the first one to run out of the base, with the others following close behind. When he finally made it to where the monster was. His heart both broke and lit up upon seeing Riley, he was still alive, but he was still under the monster's control. Before the fight started, Chase turned to his team.
“Do everything you can to get me close to Riley, I have an idea.” But before anyone could say another word, Chase was already morphed and charging towards the monster and Riley.
Riley morphed into his suit and started attacking the rangers again but they were putting up more of a fight. Koda and Ivan took care of all the vivix that surrounded the group while Tyler and Shelby worked on fighting against Riley alongside Chase. They had never seen Chase fight so wholeheartedly before. He was putting all his effort into trying to get Riley to stop his attacks, while trying not to hurt him in the process. Eventually, Tyler and Shelby were able to give Chase and opening to get close to Riley.
“Now Chase, go for it.” Tyler called out.
Chase walked up to Riley, whose arms were being held back by the other two. He got close enough to lift Riley’s helmet off of him and stare into the eyes he had grown to love, or what was left of them anyway. Eventually, Chase took a deep breath and leaned closer to Riley. In a move that moved so fast for everyone else but went in slow motion for Chase, he let his face fall closer against Riley’s and.
He kissed him.
It wasn’t a long kiss, but it also wasn’t one-sided. Soon after their lips touched, Chase felt Riley kiss him back, it was the slighted pressure against his lips but it made him drop everything in his hands and bring them up to cup the other rangers face.
When Chase pulled away, he saw the once glowing green eyes lose their glow, returning to their original colour. He saw Riley blink them open and heard him whisper.
“Chase..” That was all Riley got out before he collapsed in Chase’s arms.
The monster ran away without another word and the team gathered around the two rangers sitting on the floor.
“Let’s get him back to the base.” Tyler said as he went to help Chase lift Riley up.
“No, I’ve got him.” Chase stood up and started walking away, carrying Riley bridal style in his arms.
When they got back to the base, Kendal ran tests on Riley and simply said that he was exhausted, no injuries, just the pure strain his body had to take finally catching up to him. Chase never left Riley’s side, he didn’t eat or stretch his legs. Even when everyone else but Koda and Miss Morgan had left, he didn’t move a mussel. He kept his hand laced with Riley’s and kept his eyes glued to the rise and fall of his chest. It was around 5 hours before Riley started to stir. Before he even opened his eyes, he tugged at what was holding his hand so tightly, causing Chase to shoot out of his chair and hover over the green ranger.
“Riley! Hey, you with me? Baby raptor?”
All Riley could do was mumble as he opened his eyes, his vision being met by Chase’s worried face and tear filled eyes. It didn’t take long for Riley to figure out where he was and what had happened. He remembered getting a sharp pain in his back and after that it was a blur. But he remembers being snapped out of it by Chase. By his. Riley reached up for Chase’s neck, grabbing it and pulling him down toward himself. He pulled himself up so he could close the distance between their lips. His kiss was more harsh than Chase’s had been. It was fuelled with the lust he felt for him and the appreciation he felt for knowing that it was him that saved his life. Miss Morgan and Koda quickly made themselves busy and anyone else who had arrived in the morning had left the base to give them some privacy. When Chase finally pulled away from the kiss, purely because he still needed to breathe. He rested his forehead against Riley’s and simply stayed quiet. They both took time just to be in each other's arms, to be this close to each other. They stayed like that for a couple more seconds before Chase sat back down and Riley sat up on the bench he was on.
“I’m so glad you’re back, Riles.”
“How long was I out.”
“Only a couple of hours, but it felt much longer.” Chase reached out to hold Riley’s hand again.
“I was so scared when the monster took you away, when we could find you for a whole day. I was scared that you were being hurt more, or worse.” Riley tightened his grip on Chase’s hand.
“I was so scared that I would never get the chance to tell you how I feel.” Chase moved his free hand up to cup Riley’s face, slowly brushing against it.
“I love you Riley, I have done for a while. I’ve just been too scared and too stupid to tell you.”
“I love you too Chase. Ever since cavity, you have been the only person I’ve been able to think about, but I was so sure you didn’t like me, with the way you flirt with every woman you see.” Chase let out an embarrassed laugh.
“I think that was just a cover for my feelings for you.”
“So what now.” Chase lowered his hand away from Riley’s face and placed it on top of his other hand.
“Will you go out with me Riley? Like, be my boyfriend?” Riley didn’t answer straight away, but he did pull Chase up again to kiss him.
“Of course I will be hotshot.”