"Honey, you don't have to do this," Alejandro said worriedly, grabbing his fiance's arm. "Yes, I do," Chase snapped back.

"But are you sure this is safe?" Alejandro asked concerned

Chase rolled his eyes at him. "Of course it's safe, I build the time machine. You trust me, right?"

Alejandro groaned

"This isn't about trust! Of course, I trust you! I just don't like the idea of my fiancé stepping into a death machine," he exclaimed in frustration.

"You are the most dramatic person I know. Now If you don't mind, I have a mission to accomplish," Chase responded in frustration.

"Chase, love of my silly little life, you are being ridiculous. I know you've been through a lot, okay, I know that and I'm truly sorry for you. But when I said I wish I could have prevented all those things from happening, I didn't mean that literally!

Chase rolled his eyes at him. "I know that and I'm not going to prevent my trauma's from happening, okay? I'm just going to talk to my younger self and prepare him for all the trauma without actually spoiling anything, so I won't trigger the butterfly effect. And I'm going to hand him some letters with the words I wish someone had told me at the time because I'm the only person that knows what I wanted to hear at the time".

Alejandro had to force himself not to facepalm. "love, I understand that people didn't exactly tell you what you needed to hear at the time. But you're here now, you survived all that! Do you really think it's necessary to go back to the past and give some comforting words to your younger self? Can't you just say those words to yourself now? Can't you just acknowledge how strong you were instead of going back in time to tell your younger self that?'

Chase groaned. "You don't get it. What do you expect me to do with my invention? I cracked time traveling! How insane would I be if I didn't take advantage of that? This is the dream of every scientist! Hell, this dream is what inspired me to become a scientist in the first place. I'm going to use the time machine and you can't stop me. Instead of using the time machine to do something stupid and irrelevant, I'm going to make life easier for my younger self and then automatically for my present and future self as well. Now if you excuse me, I have some healing and time traveling to do!"

Alejandro grabbed his wrist. "Baby, I'm proud of you, I am. But why can't the idea that you invented time traveling be enough for you? I don't understand why you have to test it out. You are risking everything! Your health, your life, your future, our future. And for what? So you can be the first person to travel in time? So you can hand a few letters to your younger self? What if you step into the machine and get hurt oryou can't come back? You're really going to make me watch you endanger yourself?"

Chase glared at him as he struggled out of his fiance's embrace.

"A normal person would think it's cool that their fiance built a time machine. Don't you know how many scientists are going to be jealous of me if this succeeds? It would really put me on the map as a scientist. Besides you knew what you were getting into when you proposed to me. Now please just let me go, so I can travel back in time and make some history."

Alejandro did as Chase asked of him and watched as he stepped into the machine. "I love you, but I have to do this," Chase yelled.

Alejandro could only watch as the love of his life closed the door of the machine. The machine made a lot of noise and the light practically blinded him. When the machine stopped shaking, Alejandro ran over and opened the door, just to find out that the cabin was empty.

**

Chase fell to the ground.

When he opened his eyes he realized he was still in his lab. But his fiancé and the time machine were nowhere to be found.

He walked over to his desk where his diary lay open and his mouth fell open when he saw the date.

March 28, 2023.

He had succeeded. He had traveled back in time! He was officially the first person in the world to successfully invent a time machine!

He didn't have time to celebrate his success though. He had stuff to do. He wasn't here for no reason.

Then he heard a thud and turned around to find his fiancé laying on the ground.

Chase helped him up, but not without glaring at him.

"I can not believe you followed me, you were never supposed to take foot in that time machine', he shouted at his fiance.

Alejandro rolled his eyes at him. "I can't believe you didn't see this coming. I opened the time machine and you were gone. What else was I supposed to do? Risk losing you forever? When I gave you that ring, I made a promise that it was always going to be me and you, for better and for worse. I wasn't about to break my promise."

Chase hugged him. "I love you."

Alejandro grinned at him. "Apology accepted.'

***

It's by far the strangest thing that has ever happened to Chase and that is saying something coming from him. He's experienced far more weird and horrible things than most people his age.

Yet here he is standing face to face with his younger self and it doesn't even come close to anything he's ever felt before. It's strange, to say the least.

The 14-year-old boy is staring at Chase and Alejandro with wide eyes. Rightfully so.

It was a mess, to say the least.

Alejandro wasn't supposed to be here with Chase.

Alejandro and Chase weren't supposed to meet each other until they were both 18.

Now they were meeting each other 4 years too early, but it's not like Chase could just leave his fiance behind while he went to visit his younger self. He couldn't risk losing him before they traveled back to the present.

His younger self and Alejandro immediately hit it off and talked for what felt like hours until Chase was finally able to get a moment alone with his younger self.

He sat down next to him, with the letters in his hand.

Younger Chase looked at his future self skeptically. "I'm not stupid friends don't look at each other the way you look at the men you brought with you."

"I have no idea what you're talking about", Chase bit back.

Younger Chase smirked, "Listen I can't tell what Alejandro thinks because I don't know him. But I know you. Hell, I'm you. You're head over heels for him. To me, it looks like he likes you back, but I'm not sure. But whether you're with him or not, it's clear that you want to be. You can fool everyone but not me. So does Alejandro know that you like him?"

Chase bit back a chuckle. "I don't think I'm supposed to answer that little buddy, why don't you let the future answer that for you?"

Younger Chase sighed. " I get it, we've got to be careful because of the butterfly effect. But he is so handsome and seems funny and kind."

Chase smiled. "I know."

"But he's too good for us isn't he?" Younger Chase asked softly.

Chase's heart broke for the insecure boy in front of him.

He was glad that he no longer had insecurity issues this bad, mostly thanks to Alejandro himself.

Chase put a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey you are an outstanding young man and be honest, don't you think you grew up to be pretty cool?"

The younger boy smiled at himself. "I'm glad we're taller now, and you look pretty muscular and really happy and you cracked time travel. Those are all good things."

"All good things", Chase repeated amused.

"What can you tell me?" Younger Chase asked.

"Not a lot I'm afraid, I came here to help you since you're going to go through a lot of pain the next 5 years, but It's not always going to hurt so much and your siblings will be with you every step of the way. You just have to survive until 19. Once you get there it's only going to be upwards from there. Every time you think you won't survive something or that you're never going to feel okay again, I want you to think back to me and think about how happy I am and I want you to understand that all the pain and trauma was worth it, for what is waiting for you in the future."

Younger Chase nodded. "Okay, I do have one question if that's okay."

"Shoot, but I can't promise I'll answer it."

"I understand you can't tell me what Alejandro means to you and what you mean with pain and trauma and that you can't tell me what will happen to me, but I was wondering if you could tell me how you got the scar on your neck?

Chase cringed as the flashbacks of David's betrayal hit him all at once.

Then he cleared his throat. "I can't tell you how I got the scar, but I can tell you that because of your amazing siblings, your incredible brain, and your outstanding martial art skills, we make it out alive. Plus your siblings will be there every step of the way to help you deal with the aftermath of what happened. And that one day it's going to be nothing but a memory. I don't hate the scar anymore. It's a reminder of my strength, of everything is survived, and of how powerful I am."

"But isn't it also a reminder of weakness in some way?" Younger Chase asked softly.

Chase shook his head. "No, because you... we are a lot of things but weak ain't one of them."

What about the permanent reminder of the trauma?" He asked carefully.

Chase smiled at him. "I'm not trying to overstep but let's just say that every time my scar is bothering me, someone kisses it, and that makes up for all the pain I used to feel when I saw it."

Younger Chase gasped, "So we do get a partner someday? We're going to be good enough for someone someday?"

Chase smiled, "You're going to be more than enough for someone someday. But just so you know, you've always been enough. It just took a little while to find a romantic partner who saw it too."

Younger Chase smirked. "Is he as hot as Alejandro?"

Chase smirked back. "I'd say so."

"Is it him?" Young Chase asked curiously.

"I can't tell you who it is, but I promise they're worth the wait of all the years of my heartbreak."

"They're not our first love?" Younger Chase asked surprised.

Chase bit his lip. "I'm sorry is said too much."

Younger Chase shook his head. "No, it's okay. I just really hope it's Alejandro, I've never seen someone that good-looking in all of my life and he made me feel seen and funny and interesting instead of an afterthought or a shadow."

Chase smiled knowingly. "He's not going to be the only person that is going to like you for exactly who you are, but more importantly one day you'll like yourself for who you are."

"I will?" Younger Chase asked hopefully.

"Yeah, I do."

"So does that mean I will make other friends than just my siblings?"

Chase smirked, "Yes, and you're also still really close with your siblings."

"And we're not gonna let them down?" Younger Chase asked awkwardly.

"Yes and no. Making mistakes is unavoidable but they'll make mistakes too. None of us are perfect and they don't expect you to be."

"Thank you for everything."

"Of course."

"One more thing?" Younger Chase asked.

"Sure."

"This partner that kisses your scars, are they the one? Did you not settle for them because you're afraid you'll never find someone else that thinks you're good enough?"

Chase shook his head. "No I didn't settle, they are the single best thing that ever happened to me."

"Still... if it's not Alejandro I feel like I should tell you, to dump them and go for him instead", Younger Chase jokes.

Chase lets out a laugh at the unexpected sassiness.

"Okay you little shit, it's time to do what we're actually here for so I can go home and make sure we didn't change too much of the timeline."

The bag with envelopes was practically burning in his hand at this point.

So he finally hands his younger self the envelopes with very specific dates on them. Ones that he'd rather not look back to. Ones that mean a lot to him and very little to the younger boy who still has to experience the events that inspired Chase to write the letters.

He wrote these letters for himself to deal with the aftermath of his ex-boyfriend's cruel betrayal, but also for the day he had to have emergency surgery. As well as his first kiss with Alejandro, his first bar fight in honor of Alejandro against some older racist man, and some other crucial moments in his life; like the first work day in his lab after graduating and becoming a scientist, his revenge on his highschool bully, and the first time he gets discriminated for being openly gay. These letters contain the words of wisdom he wishes someone told him after some especially hard times he had to suffer through alone like when David so cruelly broke his heart and his trust.

He looks at his younger self, with determination.

"These letters contain the words I wish someone had told me at the time, so I wrote these to make sure you, or guess I, don't have to go through that hard time without the right words. However, I'm going to need you to promise me not to open these until the dates allow you to. There is no one in this world I trust more than you, me, us. I'm essentially giving you the answers to your life. This is what everyone would kill for."

The familiar face squinted his eyes at him. "What is the catch?"

Chase sighed.

"The dates you're allowed to open them take place one day after the event happened that the letter is preparing you for. But you have to promise me not to open the letters before the dates allow you to, because if you do I can no longer guarantee you everything works out the way it should. The letters are supposed to help you deal with everything we go through, but I don't want them to prevent it from happening, because that could mess up the timeline. I can reassure you all the trauma is worth it for what is waiting for you in the future."

Young Chase smiled at himself.

Having your future self tell you your life is going to be traumatizing and painful for the next 5 years? Yeah, that is terrifying.

But his future self looks really fucking happy now, so who would Chase be to take that away from himself?

Then he looked up confused. "wait how are you going home?"

Chase looked at him with a cocky smile, "hey if i can build a time machine once, i'm sure i can do it twice."

***

David's betrayal hurts but Chase takes comfort in the many quotes and words his future self wrote for him and for finally knowing how he got a scar on his neck.

Chase had already met Alejandro when he met his future self so he found it weird that there wasn't a new letter when he eventually met him.

He went out with someone else because he figured if Alejandro and him were supposed to be a thing they would be by now.

He had a huge crush on him but figured his suspicions were right. His future self had a huge crush on Alejandro, but the feelings weren't mutual.

And then something happens that shocks him to his core.

And it's not the fact that he gets cheated on again.

And it's not the letters his future self wrote about it.

It's not even his first kiss with Alejandro.

It's the envelope he opens after his first kiss with Alejandro.

Because this letter unlike the others isn't from Chase himself. It's from Alejandro. It's a detailed letter about everything he wanted to say when he met younger Chase.

It's a promise that he was right and Alejandro is the one for him.

It's a little like the letter he eventually gets after Alejandro's proposal. But he doesn't think anything could ever top that one letter.

And then he builds the time machine, writes the letters, has Alejandro write one, travels back in time, finds out Alejandro followed him, and hands the letters to his younger self.

He now obviously knows what the letters he hands him should say.

It's a full circle moment and it's the strangest thing ever.

After he sucesfully build another time machine, leaves his younger self and before he goes back to the present, he goes to the future.

And he tells his future self that the letters helped him, that the betrayal hurt a little less because of the letters and it made life a little easier. Chase seems proud, even though he knew this already, and brags to Alejandro about the fact that his plan didn't backfire.

Future him and Alejandro both act suspicious when he tries to enter their home.

Years later he finds out they were hiding their kids from him.