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fiveisnumber1 · 7 months

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Timeless - Five Hargreeves X Reader

Main story parts:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36

A/N: I know it's taken some time, but this chapter is finally here! Sorry for taking so long to update with a main chapter, two of my grandparents died, I had to quit my job because they kept leading me on about promoting me to full-time, and I had some really bad burnout from it all. I'm going to try my best to upload more frequently, but my chapters run pretty long so they still will take some time, but hopefully nothing crazy happens that pulls me away from this for that long again. I worked really hard to get this chapter done by the Hargreeves' birthday so I hope it's good! Thanks for understanding and I hope you enjoy! <3

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Pt 37 - Facing Your Mortality With Friends And Other Ways To Cope With The Inevitable

With a flash of bright blue, the sharp chill of cold wind whipped across Five and Lila as they arrived at their destination. Five looked around as frustration filled his system. All that the eye could see was a dark, snowy landscape. They botched it. They fucking botched it. And now he was stuck in a snowy wasteland with the last person he'd want to be around with no answers and a slim chance of getting back.

"Oh, brilliant idea, Lila!" Five remarked sarcastically, "Welcome to the Ice Age!"

Why? Why did he always have to jump back into some type of chaos when all he wanted was peace? He looked around before him for any sign that could give him an idea or clue on what to do. But all there was, was snow.

"Shut up and just look." Lila retorted

Five turned, finally looking behind him as he saw the dark, looming shape of a building across the snowy field.

"The Commission." He said under his breath "Shit."

With the briefcase still in his hand, Five began to walk as quickly as he could through the thick snow toward the building. Lila followed closely behind wrapping her jacket around her tighter to stave off the cold as she wondered how Five was not feeling the chill. The wind and snow were unrelenting as the pair arrived at what seemed to be the ruins of the Commission building. Frustration faded as concern now took over Five's brain. There were no lights, no sound, and no sign of life. The front door was broken in allowing Five to quickly step into the building, his eyes going wide as he saw the rubble and decay inside the main foyer. What happened here?

Walking in after him, Lila looked around at the remnants of what was once a very familiar building for her. Broken tile and dirt covered the floor and ruined furniture was scattered about the place as she glanced around the building's entrance.

"Holy shit. I was just here. How long was I bloody gone?" Lila asked aloud

"It seems the grandfather paradox is affecting everything." Five replied placing the briefcase on the ground "Even places out of time."

"Is that possible?" Lila questioned

"I stopped tracking what was possible a long time ago." Five commented back

As Five looked around once more, he nervously fiddled with the watch on his wrist. The one that you had gifted to him. He wondered where you were since he wasn't able to find you before leaving. He wondered what you were doing and if you were alright. He hoped that another wave hadn't hit and that you had someone around to take care of you while he was gone like Klaus or maybe Viktor since Diego seemed not to care since Stan showed up. Being here was leaving him with more questions than answers and he wanted nothing more than to get back to you as soon as possible. Seeing Lila move forward into the building, Five picked up the briefcase and began to follow her. But then the sound of something breaking could be heard as ceiling tile began to fall down from above. Both Five and Lila jumped back in time so as to not get hit, but this building felt more unsafe to be in at the moment. They needed to find answers and they needed to go.

"We better get moving." Five said as he walked toward the foyer staircase "I'll check the Infinite Switchboard."

"And I'll check Herb's office." Lila responded before commenting "Little cockroach would survive anything."

With the briefcase in hand, Five turned away from Lila and began to make his way up the steps heading toward the Infinite Switchboard when from down below he could hear as Lila called out,

"Bye."

"See ya." He replied curtly

"Miss you." Lila mentioned

While she couldn't see it as he was already too high on the staircase Five gave her a confused side-eye as he awkwardly stated,

"That's weird."

However, no response was returned to his comment and all that could be heard was the sound of her footsteps walking away. With a shrug of his shoulders, Five continued his journey to the switchboard. He had walked these halls plenty of times before but they were never this empty. There was always some type of hustle and bustle of the hundreds of workers that were employed here. Back then he hated it because he couldn't stand this place, what it stood for, or the power they held over him while he bided his time, but now it just felt eerie being so empty. The sounds of his footsteps echoed in the halls as he approached the room he was looking for. Entering the broken doorway, the lights in the room and on the machines were off and the windows on either side of the room were shattered into pieces. The cold wind and snow fell in from the outside as Five placed the briefcase down once more. Leaning over the switchboard he fiddled with a few of the knobs and dials managing to get one of the screens to illuminate.

"Okay. Okay. That's good." Five said to himself

It wasn't much, but it was a start. Tuning the large dial on the control panel a fuzzy image of Herb came into view and with a little more tuning the image became clear as a recording began to play.

"There's been a rip in the space-time continuum. It's swallowing everything." Herb explained, an urgent panic lacing his tone "Oh, my sweet Dot, Iris, Josh from accounting, they're all gone. I've tried everything! I don't know what else to do. The timeline is collapsing."

As Five watched the video, each word Herb spoke was more concerning than the last. The timeline itself wasn't just facing some unusual flux it was completely collapsing in on itself. The sounds of screaming could be heard in the background of the recording as Herb looked away for a moment before looking back. With a solemn face, he spoke his last words,

"This is... the end."

And as a flash of light came across the screen all that could be heard was the sound of Herb's painful screams before the switchboard screen went completely back. Five stood up from leaning over the board, a slight look of sadness could be seen in his reflection on one of the switchboard TV screens. As he placed his hands in his pockets, he took a moment to reflect on what he had just seen. The room was quiet but then from behind him he could hear Lila's voice call out,

"I could kill for some scrambled eggs right now."

"This is bigger than the timeline, Lila." Five said flatly

"What's bigger than the timeline?" She asked

"The entire universe." Five stated seriously turning to look at her, "The missing dogs, people... It's the opposite of the big bang. Instead of the universe expanding, it's now collapsing in on itself."

"Like a prolapsing rectum," Lila replied

Five blinked his eyes a few times both perplexed and disgusted by her statement. Technically, she wasn't wrong but what an unusual connection to make. Slightly disturbed, Five replied

"That's a weird analogy, but yeah."

"Here, then. This might give us some answers." Lila mentioned

Lifting up an old green book, Lila presented it to Five for him to look at. Taking the book from her, Five wiped off a thin layer of dust before reading the title on the cover,

"The master handbook."

"The one and only!" Lila commented as she sat on a nearby control panel

Flipping through the pages Five looked for anything that could be of use to the situation they were in. Things disappearing, waves of energy, grandfather paradox, really anything that could point them in the right direction. He quickly glanced at the words as they flew by on the pages only stopping to backtrack when he saw the bold letters spelling out EMERGENCY PROTOCOL. Flipping back to that page he scanned through finding something that seemed reasonably useful.

"Here we are. Okay, protocol." Five said as he began to read "In the unlikely case of the grandfather paradox, the founder and any essential personnel should-"

As he read Lila jumped up from her seat on a control panel quickly moving to his side as she leaned over the book. With a pencil in her hand, she pointed to the rest of the sentence finishing,

"...be immediately remanded to the operations bunker."

The two of them paused as they thought over the words they had just read. The master handbook was never really something of use to them because they were never upper-level enough to access it. They had both heard it referenced in passing before but it wasn't until now that they were actually looking at it. But even if the emergency protocol was giving them a helpful clue into what to do now, there were now even more questions to be had.

"The founder. What founder?" Lila asked

"I don't know." Five replied

As they stood in silence for a moment, once more part of the ceiling came crashing down. Placing a hand on her shoulder Five pushed Lila back as he took a step back himself. This place was falling apart by the minute and the last thing he needed was to be crushed under rubble. Again. He needed to find this founder, get his answers and get out of this decrepit structure before it came down on him before he could get back to you.

"We need to find that bunker..." Five stated

"ASAP." Five and Lila said in unison

"Jinx! A-B-C-1-2-3, personal padlock!" Lila exclaimed

Rolling his eyes, Five picked up the briefcase with one hand as he started to walk out of the room, now determined to find the bunker mentioned in the book. Lila following closely behind with a childish grin on her face at 'blocking' him from speaking. Trying to remind her of the seriousness of this investigation Five began to protest,

"Can you not-"

"You can't speak!" Lila shouted once more

Five let out an annoyed huff as he rolled his eyes once more. Whatever. The bunker is what mattered and that is what his goal was now. He only hoped that whatever you were doing was better than his situation.

And it was. You were surrounded by a peaceful blackness. Wherever you were right now, it was comfortable, you were cozy. The quiet of the dark void was soothing. This place, it was loving, it was safe. If it was possible, you would stay here forever surrounded by the comforting stillness of it all. However, that was not the case as a fit of shouting broke through your peaceful void. Quickly your eyes opened, as a voice yelled something but you couldn't quite make out the words.

You looked around at your surroundings. You were in Kenny's basement, laying across the couch. Sitting up you got a better lay of the land as you noticed Dean was sat upright fast asleep leaning against the front of the couch, his bow wrapped in his arms as if he was guarding you. Viktoria was in the corner of the room laying on the floor as she used her viola case as a pillow and a throw rug as a blanket. And then there was Bren, sprawled facedown and shirtless under the air hockey table. There was something written on his back but you could not tell what is said from where you were.

As the yelling from upstairs continued you could see the rest of your friends begin to groggily wake up. You all looked around at each other, sleep still in your eyes when words finally rang clear as Kenny shouted from upstairs,

"Are you guys shitting me?!"

"Well, this is sure to be interesting," Dean commented placing his bow down on the ground next to him as he stretched

"What's going on?" Bren asked groggily as he slid out from under the air hockey table

As he finally stood up, you could see ASSHOLE written across his back. You, Dean, and Viktoria all began to snicker at the sight only to be met with Bren's confused face as he turned around.

"What are you all laughing at?" He questioned

The three of you looked at each other for a moment before all of you released the laughter you were holding back. Bren looked at all of you even more confused before the shouting from upstairs pulled your attention as you all heard Kenny shout,

" Can't you two get intimate somewhere other than my bedroom!"

You stopped laughing as you all looked at each other with wide eyes. Jumping up from where she lay on the floor Viktoria ran towards the basement stairs as she called out behind her.

"Oh, I gotta know more!"

You, Dean, and Bren all looked at each other before bolting up the stairs after Viktoria and stopping on the first floor right at the bottom of the staircase leading upstairs. You all only stood there for a moment as you saw Lucas and Addison doing the walk of shame down the stairs. Their hair was both a mess, there were smudges of tinted lipgloss on Lucas' face and both of them were blushing profusely. Neither of them met your eyes as you all smirked and snickered with Dean going so far as to whistle at the pair. As they awkwardly stood off to the side away from the group Kenny came tromping down the staircase calling out,

"How dare you desecrate the sanctity of my bed chambers with your unfiltered hormones!"

You shot a look over to the pair.

"Did you guys-" You began to ask

"No! No!" Lucas exclaimed

"We were just making out!" Addison chimed in

"Pfft, making out." Kenny mocked before loudly complaining "You were eating each other's faces like wolves on a deer carcass. And in MY BED nonetheless."

"I don't get why you're so upset. You're like the resident slut of this group, shouldn't you be like pro-intimacy or something." Bren commented

"Listen while I appreciate being called the resident slut here, I don't appreciate having unwanted saliva and sweat on my pristine bamboo bedsheets." Kenny remarked back "And I'm not going to take any criticism from the guy whose back says asshole on it."

"My back says what?" Bren questioned attempting to look over his shoulder at his back

"Don't worry, he's lying," Dean interjected

Bren however was unsure of who to believe and continued to try and look at his back to see if something was written there. As he did so, Lucas piped up from the corner of the room,

"You could just have (Y/N) use her powers to remove any traces of us."

"No." You stated firmly

"Oh c'mon (Y/N)," Addison whined

You shot the pair a death glare. Something like this had happened before on a group camping trip where the pair had snuck far away from the campsite and back to the parking lot of the campground to Dean's backseat. However, unlike this case, things had escalated at that time. You were surprised Dean didn't kill them for desecrating Veronica when he found out but at his request, since you owed him a favor, you used your abilities to restore Veronica's backseat to its former state. It was gross. You couldn't look them in the eye for a good week, but it was fine because they couldn't look at you either. But from that day forward Dean implemented a new rule in his car and you implemented a new rule on what your friends can and cannot ask you to use your powers for. And this, while not as bad as that last incident, still fell under cannot.

"I did that shit once but never again." You strongly reaffirmed before looking at Kenny and stating "Kenny, stop being a baby and just wash your stupid sheets."

"Fine." Kenny grumbled, "But they owe me some type of favor."

"Yeah, that's fair." Addison replied

"Okay, deal," Lucas added "How about I start by making breakfast for everyone."

"I hope it's not a whole carton of scrambled eggs again." Viktoria quietly mentioned as Lucas walked away, "I couldn't even stand to look at eggs for like a month afterwards."

It seemed the small amount of tension that had been in the room had fully faded away as the group began to make their way toward Kenny's kitchen chattering about what you all should eat for breakfast. But as they walked ahead Dean pulled you odd to the side and asked,

"Can you help me grab something from my car?"

He sounded slightly nervous, but you had no clue why. Wanting to find out what was going on though you replied,

"Yeah, sure man."

You followed him to the front door, but as he opened it Bren asked from behind you,

"Where you guys going?" Bren asked

"Just out to the car to grab something, we'll be back." You replied

"Wait can someone please tell me if my back has something written on it?" Bren called out

But by that point, the front door was pretty much closed behind you two. It wasn't a far walk to Dean's car as it was parked in Kenny's driveway, but you could see more and more of Dean's nerves. He was rolling his shoulders back and flexing his hands whether he noticed it or not. As he stood in front of the driver's side door you could see him take a deep breath before turning to look at you. You stared at him waiting for him to say something but it seemed like nothing was coming. Trying to prompt him you inquired,

"So what do we need to grab?"

"Actually, I- um...I wanted to give you something." Dean replied softly

Your head tilted to the side as you looked at him slightly confused. You had no clue what he would want to give to you that would make him so nervous to do so. Your brother was like an open book to you just like you typically were to him so it was unusual to have him be nervous and you not know why.

"Oh?" You asked, "You do"

"Well yeah...y'know how last night I said I was going out to get food but it took a while for me to come back?" He asked back

"Yeah, I recall," You answered, "...Kind of."

You relatively recalled the night prior. There was Just Dance, karaoke, fanfiction reading, and overall fun. But things did get a little blurry with each drink you consumed. You could remember when Dean left to go get some fast food from a 24-hour diner but when he came back wasn't as clear.

"Well, it took me so long because actually, I made a bit of a side trip to get you some stuff that might help you feel a little better about everything."

You looked at him curious as to what he may have gotten you that would make you feel better but would also cause him to have such nerves. Perhaps he had somehow found Five and he was knocked out in the trunk of the car. That would make sense, but there's no way Dean would win a fight against Five. And even if he did, the minute Five came to he would just teleport out of the trunk. Besides that, you couldn't think of any grand gesture that might have him feeling this way, but you sure were willing to find out.

"So what are they?" You replied

"Oh right." Dean exclaimed as he realized he hadn't actually given you the items yet

You watched as Dean turned around and opened the driver's door to his car. He leaned over the center console and opened the glove compartment before pulling out some items. You could see the movement of him placing some of the items down on his driver's seat but you couldn't tell what they were yet since his body was blocking the view. As he turned back around though he extended a set of folders to you to take. Taking them into your hands, you smirked as you joked,

"You got me manila folders?"

"Look at the labels." He replied softly

You looked at Dean. There was a caring gentleness in his gaze and you could see saw the insistence on his face. Looking down at the labels on the folders, your smirk dropped. Your eyes slowly blinking in confusion as you read over the words again and again.

The labels had your parents' names on them.

Slowly, you looked back up at Dean and quietly asked,

"Dean what are these?"

"I wanted to get you something of your parents so I searched up articles about what happened and found out their names and the university they went to," Dean explained, "and so I may have broken in and stolen their old admissions and enrollment files."

"Their old university is like half an hour away Dean." You stated not fully believing this was real

"It's only ten minutes if you drive at 80 miles per hour." Dean replied before pointing at the folders and adding "The files have their applications including the essays, classes they were enrolled in, and their grades."

You looked down at the folders in disbelief before carefully opening them. You looked through your mother's first. Everything for her application was filled out in her beautiful cursive handwriting. She wrote so in-depth about why she wanted to major in both architecture and interior design. Why pursuing both for a future career was the best path for her. Why this school would be her perfect fit. You could almost hear her voice speak to you as you read her essay. It was familiar and comforting. And then there was your father's application. Besides the portions where things had to be written out, everything else was typed. You knew it was because his handwriting was just barely above chicken scratch, but when you looked over his essay you could see his sunny passion for the structural engineering work he wanted to do shine through. The warmth that your father exuded was just bursting off the page. You then flipped through the folders to look at their classes and enrollment profiles. Your dad of course had more courses listed as he was a year above your mom, but your mom was maxing out her credit limits every semester taking double what your dad would. And they were both exceptional students earning high marks in all their classes. How they managed all this work plus extracurriculars was astounding. Although you had managed to do the same for years so perhaps your family just had a knack for it. You lingered on the pages, your fingertips gliding over the words as if you were reaching out and feeling your parents for the first time in years.

"Your parents were really smart." Dean commented as he saw you look over their grades "Just like you."

You looked back up at Dean with tears beginning to form in your eyes. This was real. These were your parents. A part of them at least.

"Dean- I-" You tried to speak but you struggled to find the right words "This is incredible."

"Actually there's more," Dean responded,

"More?" You questioned

Although it had the inflection of a question, it was less of one and more so a request. A request for anything else he had. EVERYTHING else he had. You wanted it all. You wanted to see it, to read it, to feel it. You wanted to have and hold whatever tangible piece of your parents you could.

"Yeah." He answered, "As awful as your parents' deaths were they kind of got memorialized at the school and so I was able to take these."

You saw as Dean turned around once more and picked up the items he had put on the driver's seat. Turning back toward you he held out two things for you to take which you slowly reached out and took from him. In one hand there was a framed photo of your dad with a wide smile standing in front of the door to his old philanthropy fraternity house and in the other you held the Phi Kappa Theta yearbooks for 1988-1989 and 1989-1990.

"That's your dad's photo from when he was president of his fraternity and also the fraternity yearbooks. Your dad has more photos in the earlier yearbook, but there's a whole memorial section in the other one with pages from other members writing about how great your dad was. so I took both." Dean explained as he handed each item over "The fraternity was having a party so it was really easy to just uh- walk in and take stuff."

Before you could even begin to process how meaningful these were though, Dean added,

"And then for your mom, they actually had a little display for her in the architecture building so I got these photos too."

Carefully, you took the photos of your mom from him as well. There was one of her drawing a building plan, another of her putting together a miniture model of a designed interior, and then a picture from her time on the school dance team. Of course that had nothing to do with either of her majors, but it was nice to see that aspect of her reflected as well. You could vaguely remember your dad taking you to the sporting events where she would perform with her team. You two sat in the seats closest to the field and cheered her on, and when she was done performing she would meet you two on the event center concourse as you ran on your little legs to her shouting 'Mommy! Good job!' and 'I love you!'. It was bittersweet to remember those times but it was better than forgetting completely.

You looked at your parents' faces. They were familar, but different. Your parents weren't old when you disappeared, but you could see their youth reflected in the photos. They had smile lines and the beginnings of dark circles which you could only assume were the result of college all-nighters. You were older than they were in these photos. It was only by a few years, but something about it felt wrong. Children are supposed to outlive their parents, but not like this. You looked at the photos of your mom once more, your eyes lingering over every detail on her face. It was like looking in a mirror. Everything of hers was yours and everything of yours was hers.

"You look just like her, y'know." Dean commented

You looked back up at him, the corners of your lips turning slightly upward as you mused,

"Reading my mind again?"

"No, just stating the obvious." He replied

You looked back down at the photos of your mom once more, the corners of your mouth surprisingly staying in their upturned position. It was comforting to have someone tell you that you looked like her after so long of not hearing it. It meant that when you looked in the mirror, some part of her was looking back.

"Yeah...everyone always said that I was her carbon copy," You wistfully reminisced "Except for my smile. Everyone said I had my dad's smile."

Dean stepped away from the car and over to your side. Looking down at the photo of your father in front of his fraternity house he saw the smile he wore on his face. If someone had shown him the image of that smile and asked him to identify it, he almost certainly would've said it was yours. It was practically identical.

"I can see it." Dean recalled "When you smile it's the exact same."

You looked over at Dean who looked back at you with a kind smile on his face and slowly your smile reflected his own. You saw as Dean looked down at the photo he had handed you of your dad once more before looking back up at you again and commenting,

"Yeah, that's the same smile."

The words began to form in your mind on what you were going to say to thank him for such a gift but before they could even leave your mouth you saw as Dean's eyes shot wide and he recalled,

"Oh I almost forgot, this was in the display too."

Walking back over to the front seat of his car once more he grabbed what looked to be some type of spiral-bound book. Gesturing to the stuff in your hands, he carefully took the pile from you before handing you the item. As you finally got your eyes on it though, you finally recognized what it was.

"Mom's sketchbook..." You said under your breath

You traced the cursive of your mother's name written on the cover and the number one she printed below it. It was her first sketchbook. What should've been the first of many. Opening the front cover you slowly turned through the pages filled with different sketches of building plans and room interiors. It was a jumbled mix of rough drafts, doodles, and final works, some of which felt familiar as you realized they were the concepts your mother had adapted to fit the floor plans of your old home.

You recalled the way in which you would sit at the table with your mom over the years and just watch her draw in her sketchbooks. And when she was having a mental block she'd pass the sketchbook and pencil over to you and let you draw an idea of a building or a new concept for a room. And when you finished, she would always smile and thank you before flipping to the next page and turning your idea into a reality. When she didn't have any inspiration, you became her inspiration. And over the years, while you never became quite as good as your mom was, you developed a knack for drawing buildings and interior rooms too.

You flipped through the pages until you arrived at ones that were blank. Ones that should've been filled with ideas and drawings and eraser marks, but never would be. Slowly, you closed the book and you picked up the rest of the items that Dean had taken from you to hold. You stared at the pile as a bittersweet feeling washed over you. Gently, you held the items closer to you as you closed your eyes. A few streaks of tears rolled down your face as the water that had stayed in your waterline was forced out. You knew you were never going to see your parents again, but the items in your arms made them feel real and tangible in a way you hadn't felt in years. These items wouldn't change the fact that they were dead, or the fact that you never got to say goodbye, but they were much more healing of a keepsake compared to the newspaper clipping announcing their deaths. And for that reason alone, they were more than enough. You hugged the folders and books and photos tighter against your chest as if trying to send a message across time and space, life and death, that you loved them. You still loved them. You'd always love them.

There was a silence for a moment as you held the items in your arms, but then softly Dean spoke,

"I know it's not much and I'm sorry for kinda desecrating the memorials of them, but I just thought even if there's not that many days left, you still deserved something of them."

You looked over at him with a smile forming on your face. You couldn't care less about the mini memorials the university had. He had found and brought these items to you on the thought and hope that it would make you feel better. And it did. He took a risk just to make you happy. And he did. You didn't expect these items, but now they were yours and you'd never let them go.

"Dean besides the locket around my neck and my diary back at the hotel these are the most tangible pieces of my parents I've had in years." You replied "You don't how much this means to me."

A smile began to creep onto Dean's face as he realized he had succeeded in what he wanted to do. It was a risky decision that he made on a whim at like 3 a.m., but it was all worth it to see you just that little bit happier.

"That's good." Dean mentioned as he lifted up his hand "At least it means busting up my hand was worth it."

You looked at his left hand to see that it was bandaged around his knuckles with stains of dried blood on the gauze wrap.

"Oh my god, I didn't even notice that!" You exclaimed concerned "What did you do?"

"My lockpick broke so I uh- I had to break the glass of the display case your mom's stuff was in." Dean replied with a shrug "But hey uh- twins, am I right?"

You looked over at the pile of items he had given you down at your own bandaged left hand from the night before. While his gauze was a little more haphazardly done compared to the neat bandaging Kenny had done for you, they were both wrapped on the same hand in almost the exact same spot. When you called Dean your twin you didn't think it would also apply to matching injuries but here you were with fucked up hands all around.

"Huh yeah. Twins." You commented back, a smirk playing on your face

Throwing his left arm around your shoulder, Dean leaned you towards him as he placed a kiss on top of your head. He couldn't fix the world for you, but if he could do his best to make these last few days just a little better, then by the time the world ended he would be satisfied.

"C'mon, let's go see what's for breakfast." He suggested

Feeling your stomach slightly rumble, you nodded your head at the suggestion and the two of you turned to head back into the house. As you walked down the path back up to the stairs together, you looked over at Dean and said,

"You're an amazing brother."

Dean looked at you softly as he took in what you said. While he would never admit it out loud, he also would feel highly accomplished if, between him and Diego, he was deemed the better brother. The BEST brother. Of course, he would keep these feelings to himself out of respect for you, but amazing was pretty close to best and he was going to do his best to get there.

"I promised I'd take care of you." Dean responded cheerfully "I'm just doing my job."

As you walked back up the front stairs and into the house you could hear the sound of your friends conversing in the kitchen. Walking in with Dean, you saw as Kenny, Viktoria, and Addison sat around the kitchen table while Lucas had his back turned as he cooked something on the stove.

"Where did you two go?" Kenny asked

"Dean broke into my parents' old university and stole stuff of theirs for me to remember them by." You replied as you placed the items on the table

"Aww, that's sweet." Addison cooed before pointing at the images and questioning "Is that them?"

"Yeah, it is. My mom was 18 in those photos and my dad was between 19 and 20 in his." You explained pointing at each of your parents "Although there are probably some of him at 18 if you look in the yearbooks, I haven't had a chance to look yet."

Tilting the photos so they could see them better, your friends at the table took a look at the images. They had never actually seen a photo of your parents before. You would only talk about them openly on rare occasions and even then it was more so memories or facts about them rather than their appearance, so it was interesting to actually see what they looked like. However, as Kenny looked at the picture of your father, a smirk came to his face as he asked,

"Damn (Y/N), is your dad single?"

"No." You retorted unamused

"Is your mom single?" Viktoria chimed in

"No!" You exclaimed, "First of all, they're dead, and second of all they're married in the afterlife."

"How do you know?" Kenny questioned

"I just do!" You shouted back

Viktoria reached up a hand and patted your shoulder in an attempt to ease your annoyance as she stated,

"Calm down, we're just teasing."

You let out a frustrated sigh as you pulled out a chair and sat down at the table with the group. You pulled the pile of items Dean had gotten close to you as you took a moment to look through one of your dad's yearbooks. You listened as the group chatted about random events from the past before Addison broached the topic of 'what now?'

"So what do we do today?" She asked, "I mean the world is still ending, so how do we fill the time from now until doomsday?"

You looked up from the yearbook and saw the rest of your friends looking toward you for an answer. Carefully shutting the book, you placed it back on the pile with the rest of the items and gave your attention to your friends. But just because you were the smartest in the room didn't mean you always had an idea.

"Honestly, I don't know." You replied, "But I'll take any suggestions that don't end our existence earlier than a few days from now."

The group was silent for only a moment before the sound of Kenny clearing his throat could be heard. The rest of you turned your heads to look at him, and with a wide smile on his face he announced,

"I have a suggestion."

"Go on." Dean implored

"I just so happen to know of a very special boy who had an 18th birthday a few days ago, twice, but also it sucked, TWICE, so he should definitely get a do-over." Kenny explained enthusiastically, obviously insinuating that the very special boy was himself

"You want to go bowling again?" Viktoria asked confused

Kenny's face immediately contorted into a grimace of sorts as he retorted,

"What? No. I suck at bowling."

"Personally, I don't mind bowling." Dean chimed in

"Of course, you don't mind. You always win." Addison remarked

"It's not my fault you all can't keep up with my accuracy expertise." Dean bragged

"(Y/N) could." Viktoria mentioned

"Not without cheating." Dean jabbed

Turning your head to look at him, you shot him a displeased look. This had been a minor point of contention before, but he just couldn't seem to let it go.

"Uh excuse me ya dickhole, I have held my own in bowling without my powers on many occasions." You remarked

"Still cheated." Dean asserted

"I only cheated ONCE!" You loudly proclaimed "And it was because I was on my period and my ibuprofen wasn't working and I was upset because you were rubbing it in my face that you were winning. So really it was your fault I cheated at bowling."

"Stop talking about bowling!" Kenny interjected "We're talking about me getting a birthday do-over!"

"Why do you get a birthday do-over? My 18th birthday was a little over 2 weeks ago." Bren questioned

You saw as he stood there with an unpleasant look on his face, but it seemed he had finally managed to find his shirt. As the rest of the group turned to look at him though, Bren's eyes landed solely on Dean. Annoyance laced his tone as he mockingly commented,

"Thanks for lying to me Dean. My back did say asshole."

"I told you so." Kenny reminded

"Haha, yeah it did." Dean laughed

Lifting his hand up slightly, Bren smacked the back of Dean's head at his comment.

"Ow." Dean said as he rubbed the back of his head

Turning his back to the group, he lifted up the back of his shirt to show off where the word had been written. You saw that he had managed to scrub off both A-S-S on one side and the L-E on the other, but that left the unfortunate message of HO still there. Once again the group snickered at the message on his back causing Bren's face to contort into an even more annoyed expression.

"You're gonna help me get the rest of it off you prick," Bren demanded

"Alright ho." Dean teasingly joked

Rolling his eyes, Bren pulled down the back of his shirt as he finally took a seat at the kitchen table with the rest of the group. When he was fully seated, Kenny turned his attention toward him as he responded to Bren's prior question.

"To answer your question my dear Brennyboo," Kenny began

"Hate that nickname..." Bren mumbled

He said he hated it, but you all knew he didn't. The small smile he always tried to hide was a good indicator of his true feelings as Brennyboo was the earliest nickname Kenny ever gave him, so as much as he complained about it, everyone knew he actually loved it.

"I get a birthday do-over because my birthday is closest." Kenny finished

Things were quiet for a moment as everyone processed his reasoning. But as the words settled in, and the message was getting through, you all began to realize that his reasoning was kinda bullshit. Being the first to speak up, Dean replied,

"That's not fair. Viktoria and I's 18th birthday passed a while ago so we should be more qualified to get birthday do-overs."

"Well Lucas and I won't even get to see our 18th birthdays so I think we should actually get pre-emptive do-overs." Addison suggested

"Not to throw my hat in the ring, but I did have four birthdays without you guys which means four times the do-overs." You chimed in

You guys began to debate the logistics of who was the most qualified to have a do-over party. Granted, was it a very stupid and unnecessary debate? Yes. But by god were you going to die on this trash opinion of a hill? Also yes. Who would you be as a friend group if you weren't willing to die on the stupidest of hills every once in a while? But as you continued to debate each other, Lucas chimed in from over by the stove asking,

"What if we just all had a group party?"

The rest of you stopped for a moment before a collective of 'oh yeah's came from you all at the table. But with the debate laid to rest by the easiest and what should have been the most obvious answer, another question arose.

"Okay, but now we're back to square one of what do we do. If it's all our party who picks what happens." Addison asked

Confused looks came to the faces of those who sat around the table as you all tried to think of a solution that would work. But then, it was like a lightbulb came on in your head as an idea shot straight to the forefront of your mind. You just had to consult the ultimate decision-maker. Turning to Bren you inquired,

"Bren, do you still carry DND dice on you?"

"Yeah, of course." He replied matter-of-factly "I'm not THAT different from the last timeline."

"Hand me your d8." You requested, reaching out your hand

You watched as Bren dug through his pants pockets for a moment before pulling out a small drawstring bag and dumping out the set of seven dice on the table. Leaning in Bren looked over the dice trying to find the right one.

"Uh...percentile...no that's my d10..." He mumbled before exclaiming "Ah here it is! d8!"

Picking up the d8 die, he placed it in your hand as you brought it over to yourself. You rolled the die between your fingertips and for a moment you reminisced on the times you had played dnd with your friends. They were good times, but right now you needed the die to help you make a decision. You looked up and around at your group of friends, all of them looking back waiting for you to explain why you were asking for dice.

"As we all know, a d8 is numbered one through eight, and although I have never fully agreed with it, we all know what our numbers are." You explained holding up the die "I am going to roll this die and whoever's number it lands on gets to pick what we do. If it lands on 8, I'll roll it again. But no matter the outcome we follow the birthday rule that the answer is always yes. Okay?"

Looking around at everyone they either nodded their head at your explanation or verbally agreed to the terms you had laid out. With everyone's acknowledgment, you took that as your sign to roll. Shaking the die in your hand, you hoped for a reasonable outcome, but you would have to see what fate had in mine. Rather than it being the heart of the cards, it was the heart of the dice and the decision was in the hands of the dice gods now. Letting the die leave your hand you watched as it rolled on the table. You could feel the tension as everyone that sat around the table stared at it with the same intensity of a d20 death roll. Slowly the dice came to a stop and when it lay still you all leaned over the table to see the number on top.

Four.

A chorus of fucks and no rang out from most of you at the table as you realized this meant Kenny got to choose what you all were doing. The dice gods had turned their back on you and now you were dealing with the outcome.

"FUCK YEAH!" Kenny shouted as he jumped out of his seat excitedly "WE'RE SNEAKING INTO A CLUB AGAIN GANG!"

As Kenny began to take a victory lap around the kitchen table, Bren pointed down toward the die on the table as he scolded,

"That's it, you've failed me for the final time. You're going to dice jail."

As Bren shoved his dice back into the small drawstring bag and into his pocket again, the rest of the group sat back down, besides Lucas who had only chimed in once as he had been cooking the whole time. You all were slightly defeated but slowly came to accept the fact that the die rolled what it rolled and you just had to go with it.

"Okay fine, sure, whatever, we're sneaking into a club again." Addison mentioned "But might I remind that we don't even have clothes for that."

Looking at yourselves, you were reminded of the fact that you were all wearing the clothes you had on yesterday. Granted, you all could attempt to go home and get more clothes but that was risky and time-consuming. Both of which you weren't looking to do with the world ending so soon.

"We could go thrift shopping." Viktoria suggested

"Oooh thrifting!" Kenny exclaimed excitedly before adding "I need a new wardrobe, my current one isn't 'me' enough."

"I wouldn't mind doing that, I need more modern clothes anyway. Most of what I have is from the 60s." You added

"That dress doesn't look like it's from the 60s." Addison commented

"Well, I have it on loan from Sloane Hargreeves," You explained "aka Luther's girlfriend."

Still, by the stove, Lucas looked over his shoulder toward you and asked,

"If Luther becomes my dad, can she be my mom?"

"I don't see why not." You replied

"Hell yeah!" Lucas cheered before turning back to the stove

"Well if we have plans settled, then I guess we should head out." Dean stated

"Nuh-uh. Not without having some breakfast first!" Lucas replied as he finally turned away from the stove

You saw as he walked towards the table with a pan in hand. Placing it down on the table you saw a giant pan's worth of scrambled eggs sitting in front of you all. Like father, like son. Apparently, large portions of scrambled eggs were just built into the DNA of both Luther and Lucas. Honestly, it became more surprising how Lucas wasn't his son given the similarities. Nevertheless, none of you wanted to disappoint Lucas, given how hard he worked on making such a large pan, and so you grabbed some plates and forks from the kitchen before digging into the mountain of scrambled eggs.

It didn't take long for you all to feel either full or secretly disgusted by the amount of eggs you consumed. But with breakfast out of the way there was nothing else to do other than get your shoes on, grab the things you needed, and head out to the thrift store.

The drive wasn't a long one, but the city sure wasn't reminiscent of the one you had known. There were random items scattered all over the sidewalks and streets. Some businesses that you remembered to be popular were desolate and dark. Tow trucks could be seen on the roads pulling abandoned cars away and there were missing signs on every street corner. The people who were out and about either held flyers in their hands or looked around with unease as they walked. You couldn't blame them though, the world was in disarray and there was no explanation. Well, there was no explanation for them. For you and your friends, there was some comfort in the fact that you knew how and when it would end. There was no need to wonder what was going on because you already knew.

But still, you couldn't help but look at your friends for their reaction, but they had none. The boys were too occupied singing at the top of their lungs to How Far We've Come by Matchbox Twenty on the radio while the girls talked about the type of clothes they were hoping to find at the thrift store. None of them seemed to notice the world outside. They were all distracted by being with each other. You smiled a little before looking back out the window. You could only hope that you too would be able to become as distracted from the tragedy as they were.

As you arrived at the thrift store, you and your friends all exited Dean's car and walked to the entrance. This was your favorite of the local thrift stores to go to as all of you were always able to find something to take home when you came. You were slightly concerned that the place wasn't open given the lack of cars around, but with Lucas being able to open the front door with ease, it was maybe just a slow time for them. It was a Thursday at around 1 pm so probably not the busiest of times.

As you walked in with the rest of your friends you took a look around the place and noticed that it was filled to the brim with items. Clothes, furniture, books, music, movies. Anything and everything was there. Now that wasn't a surprise, all those items had been there the last time you came years ago. But it was the sheer volume of stuff that shocked you. The store itself wasn't large, but it also wasn't small either, so for it to be this full meant a lot of donations came their way, and you had some suspicions why. Nevertheless, you all started to make your way into the store. Addison quickly managed to grab both Lucas and Viktoria and drag them over to the women's clothing section, most likely to get their opinion on what she should wear. If she had four other hands she would've dragged the rest of the group with her too, but alas she only had two, and Lucas and Viktoria were the closest. Kenny and Bren slowly worked their way over to the media section leaving you and Dean near the front door. Glancing over at your brother, you wondered why he wasn't moving like the rest of the group and asked,

"You good?"

"Look over there." He mentioned tilting his head toward the corner of the store

You leaned forward slightly and peered around him to see what he saw. In the corner of the store were the cases by the cash register where jewelry or other valuable items were typically held. However, unlike normal, the cases were covered in cardboard with writing in Sharpie that read 'Broken glass. Do not remove.'

"The cases are broken." You stated

"It was probably a robbery." Dean suggested "Maybe we should look into it."

No, no, no. You weren't going to do this. It was not your responsibility to look into the petty crimes that were happening around the city. Sure, you all used to do so, and perhaps it may have been a bit of a pastime to "bring justice" to your hometown. But not now. As the black hole sucking up the earth progressed towards consuming time itself, things were going to get more chaotic. You had told Dean and the rest of your friends that you were not going to bother with saving the world anymore, you just wanted to have fun. And that included minor things like this. Was it a little selfish not to help? Maybe. But you weren't going to overextend yourself like you had before. You had 5 or 6 days left give or take and you were going to spend them how you wanted. This was better left to whatever was left of the police force in the city.

Even so, you saw the way that Dean looked at the broken cases and could feel the overwhelming sense of justice coming off him. But that was okay, you had a way to shut it down quickly.

"Pfft, you sound like Diego wanting to investigate." You mocked

Dean's head whipped toward you as a mix of shock and disgust resided on his face. How dare you compare him to that awful, uncool, stupid traitor, bad brother that he definitely never looked up to. He was nothing like him.

"Ha. Gotcha." You jabbed playfully

"That's not funny." He complained "I'm not like him."

"Oh, you're better?" You questioned sarcastically

"Uh yeah. I'm way better." Dean emphasized

You rolled your eyes at him and let out a little laugh. Whether he liked it or not he spent most of his formative years modeling himself after Diego and therefore had many similarities to him. Without Diego, he would've never taken up archery and perfected it to the extreme accuracy he had. You knew so given that he didn't do archery in this timeline before you made him remember you. But Dean was very ride-or-die when it came to you, especially after Diego and Eudora split. And if you were mad at Diego then he was going to be mad at Diego tenfold and there was nothing you could do about it. Except tease him of course. You had to get at least some entertainment out of his ego. Giving his shoulder a bit of a shove you picked up one of the reusable totes the shop kept by the door and began to walk over to where Bren and Kenny were.

"C'mon, you grump. Come look at shit with me." You teased

"I'm not a grump." Dean mumbled as he followed behind "You're just being mean to me."

Walking into the media section you looked around at all there was to offer. Shelves were lined with books, DVDs, and CDs while a line of crates were filled with records. You of course were only glancing over everything, but in a way, it felt nostalgic. You were surrounded by media you had lost to time by being stuck in the 60s and now here you were looking it over again. Slowly, you scanned the shelves hoping to find some stuff that you could watch, read, or listen to in the coming days. You knew that there wasn't much time left, and you probably couldn't do it all, but it was more so the memories from the first time you experienced them that you wanted to feel again. And if Five came back before you were all dead, and gave up on saving the world, then maybe you could share those things with him too. As you walked the DVD aisle with Dean, you ran a finger carefully over the back of each case making sure to read the titles correctly.

"Oh shit." Dean said aloud

You turned your head to look at him as he held some type of box set in his hands. Looking down at it he excitedly exclaimed,

"All four seasons of Big Time Rush on DVD?! Oh yeah, this is coming home with me."

"Nice find." You complimented as you opened the tote for him to place the set in

Continuing your search you pulled some DVDs off the shelves as well. Ferris Bueller's Day Off, The Princess Bride, the complete Teen Titans series. But as you went along there were some more sentimental choices. You found a copy of the movie Cars and a DVD of the first Princess Diaries movie. You were genuinely pleased with your choices, recalling the good memories they had brought you, but right as you were about to turn the corner to go to the music section you were stopped by the sight of a very familiar superhero.

"Spider-Man." You whispered

As you took a closer look you realized it wasn't just Spider-Man. It was YOUR Spider-Man. Snatching the case off the shelf you looked at the cover intensely as you quickly read every word on the front,

"The Amazing Spider-Man Saga: Full Movie Set. Includes The Amazing Spider-Man, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and-"

You stopped.

It couldn't be.

This couldn't be real.

But the words were right there on the package.

"The. Amazing. Spider-Man. THREE?!" You slowly read aloud, emphasizing each word

Looking away from the DVD shelves, Dean looked at you and nonchalantly replied,

"Oh yeah, we got a third movie in this timeline."

"YOU DIDN'T TELL ME THEY MADE A THIRD!" You yelled, genuinely appalled no one told you

"I don't think about Spider-Man the way you do so it didn't cross my mind." Dean replied shrugging his shoulders

"Unbelievable." You complained as you placed the box set into the tote bag

Walking around the corner away from the DVD aisle you ended up in the music section and saw Kenny and Bren browsing through the selection. Kenny stood looking through the shelves of CDs while Bren flipped through the boxes of records. This was always their strategy. One would look through the shelves of CDs for stuff either wanted while the other did the same with records. As you approached the pair you could hear Bren comment to Kenny,

"Damn, what teenager died and had all their shit donated?"

You winced for a moment at his comment. Whoever it was, all their things were now here in some thrift store. You couldn't imagine having your whole life, all the things you valued and cherished, just given away. Maybe it was because you had a tendency to cling to your sentimental items, but it just seemed wrong.

"I don't know. More stuff for us though." Kenny replied "Also I found Welcome To The Black Parade. Do have this one in this timeline?"

"I do. Try looking for Fall Out Boy, for some reason I didn't get their stuff this time." Bren replied "Also I found a Vance Joy record."

"Is it Dream Your Life Away?" Kenny asked

"Yeah." Bren stated

"Oh give me that one. That's my favorite and I don't have it this time around." Kenny eagerly replied

Your moment of pain subsided as you saw how happy the two of your friends were. You really needed to try and focus on being in the moment and not the overall picture. Every time you thought about the inevitability of the future it drove you a little mad and pulled you away from what mattered. Your friends. Deciding to walk over, you approached the pair and asked,

"Find any good stuff?"

"Yeah we've been finding some stuff we like," Bren answered "Speaking of good stuff though I found you some records."

"Oh really? What are they?" You asked intrigued

You watched as Bren pulled out two records from the small pile he had resting on top of one of the boxes next to him. Holding one up in each hand you recognized them immediately.

"Hozier!" You said excitedly "Holy shit, what a score."

Bren reached his hands out for you to take the records from him, which you did immediately. You had both of these albums in the first timeline, but they unfortunately got crushed when Viktor blew up the house. And then of course there was no time to go get new copies before the world ended and you ended up in the 60s. So to have both his self-titled album Hozier and Wasteland, Baby! was a major find. Looking up at Bren you pointed toward the Wasteland, Baby! album and asked,

"Didn't this one come out like a month ago? Why would someone get rid of it?"

"Maybe someone's uber-religious parents found out that Hozier's worship-sounding songs are about y'know- a different kind of worship." Dean commented from behind the group

You turned around to see Dean who seemed to have had a sour look on his face. He was so excited about finding the Big Time Rush box set only a few minutes ago that you wondered what could've brought his mood down so quickly. Nevertheless, you responded to his comment saying,

"Well, whatever the reason may be, they're mine now."

Dean nodded his head slightly before Bren turned his attention away from the records toward him and questioned,

"So where have you been?"

"In the DVD section looking for the Big Time Rush movie." Dean answered

"Did you find it?" Kenny inquired

"No. All I found was the One Direction movie..." Dean complained, annoyance and disappointment evident in his tone

Walking over to Dean, Kenny gave him a sympathetic pat on the shoulder and opened to say something, but before any words could get out you could hear Addison's voice call out,

"What are you guys doing?"

Down the aisle of CDs and record crates, she stood there with a pile of clothing in her arms. Lucas and Viktoria stood close behind her with their own smaller piles of clothes in their arms as well. The three of them looked at you with confused looks as the other four of you looked back with confused looks of your own. There was a silence between the two confused groups before Addison reminded,

"We are here to get clothes for someone's idea of what a birthday party is. So maybe the people who don't have fabric in their hands should go and get some."

"A please would be nice." Dean remarked

"Go." Addison emphasized "Now."

There was a moment where you all tried to resist the convincing nature in which she said 'now', but like all other times she had pulled her weird mental manipulation it did not work and you all were convinced to go.

"Fine." Dean replied as he walked towards the men's section

Looking between Bren and Kenny, you gave them a shrug before putting the records Bren had found you into the tote and walking off to the women's section. Like you had mentioned at breakfast, besides an outfit to go out tonight, you needed to find some new clothes. Your clothes from the sixties were a few decades outdated and although you looked good in the clothes Sloane had lent you, you wanted your old closet back. You didn't need a lot of clothes, just enough to get you to the end of the world, but if the Hargreeves somehow managed to finally stop the apocalypse, then you'd probably come back for more. But that wasn't likely given that they'd have to stop a literal blackhole and their track record of working together wasn't great.

But that wasn't your problem!

As you searched the aisles you started to pick out items that resembled the style of clothing you used to wear and to be honest, it was quite comforting. It was like regaining a piece of yourself that you knew you couldn't be in the 60s. Of course, you were able to be a bit more of yourself when it was just you and Charlie, but it was still a whole different world than what you had grown up used to. When you were stuck in the 60s you needed to blend in as best as you could. You couldn't risk having the people around you find out the truth, so you had to hide a lot of who you were to keep yourself safe. Back in the present though, that wasn't the case. You were you, the you that you knew yourself to be, and these clothes were one step in the right direction to get back to that place fully. It didn't take all too long for you to find enough outfits to last you til the end of time, but right as you were about to start searching for what to wear tonight, Addison quickly approached you. You looked at her waiting for her to say something but instead, without a word, she grabbed onto your wrist and dragged you behind her.

"Addison, where are we going?" You asked confused

"I found something you need to try on." Addison emphasized

With her response and the direction in which you were being dragged, you could tell that she was taking you toward the dressing rooms of the shop. Addison on previous shopping trips had presented you with things she wanted you to try on, but never had she been so adamant that you NEEDED to try something. Her insistence concerned you a bit.

"Need?" You questioned aloud

Before she could respond to your statement though, the two of you stopped as you saw Kenny and Bren step out of some dressing rooms in highly contrasting outfits. Kenny was sporting an outfit that consisted completely of neon green articles of clothing. He had on a neon green mesh tank top, a neon green leather vest, neon green pants, and somehow both neon green bedazzled boots and a neon green bedazzled cowboy hat. How he found that much neon green to create the brightest, gaudiest outfit known to man was honestly impressive. Bren on the other hand went in the complete opposite direction sporting all-black attire. A black hooded leather jacket, plain black t-shirt, black skinny jeans, and his own black Converse. The two boys took a look at each other's outfits for a moment, to see what each other considered the perfect outfit.

"Dude, you look like a rave cowboy and a traffic cone had a baby." Bren commented

"Thank you, Prince of Darkness, that's what I was going for." Kenny replied

Bren smirked a little at the nickname. Of course, the little punk enthusiast of the group would enjoy being deemed the Prince of Darkness. Stepping around Bren, Kenny looked at the mirror on the wall outside of the dressing rooms admiring his striking outfit, but as he did so he could see you and Addison standing behind.

"Oh do one of you need a dressing room?" Kenny asked

"No, I'm good. I found the prettiest sparkly jumpsuit from the bridal section over there," Addison explained before adding "But she needs one."

"I'm not your personal Barbie doll, Addison." You interjected "If you want to play dress-up with someone why don't you grab your Ken doll of a boyfriend?"

"Because I'm done playing dress up with him. Lucas is going to wear an open, tan, short-sleeve button-up, with a white t-shirt underneath, and a nice pair of black, seven-inch inseam shorts with some white sneakers. He even got aviator glasses as an accessory," Addison explained "You however have no outfit."

At this point she was just being ridiculous about this whole thing. What was so important about this outfit anyway? Why was she practically dying over getting you to try it on? Trying to explain yourself, you began to reply,

"Well if you gave me the opportunity to pick-"

But you were quickly cut off.

"Will you just shush. I know what I'm doing," Addison interrupted before putting a ball of fabric in your hands and pushing you into a dressing room "Now put this on."

"But-" You tried to protest

"Put it on," Addison commanded "NOW."

You stared each other down as her command seeped into the farthest recesses of your brain. You didn't want to do what she said but something within you felt compelled to do so. You hated when she did this and how easily she would win. But the only way the feeling would subside is if you gave in. So you did, and relented,

"Fine."

Grabbing onto the clothing item she had put in your arms, you stepped back into the dressing room more and closed the curtain. Placing the tote bag from over your shoulder on the ground, you finally undid the ball of fabric in your arms to see what it was that Addison was so insistent you try on. Once the clothing item was fully unfolded, you held it up in front of you as you took a look at what it was.

"Oh no." You said aloud

"Oh yes!" Addison said excitedly from the other side of the curtain

The item that you held in your hands, the one your friend was so dead set on you wearing, was none other than a little black dress. Nevertheless, you said you would try it on and so you did. Slipping off the white dress Sloane had lent you to wear, you now put on the black one Addison insisted you try. As you suspected from looking at it, the fabric hugged tightly against your figure, but not in a way that was uncomfortable. Quite the opposite, the dress felt natural on you, like a second skin against your own. You also were a bit surprised with how supportive the dress was given the thinness of the spaghetti straps it had. Addison and you typically had different tastes, but this selection you kind of liked.

As much as you were beginning to like it though, you weren't fully sure of how it looked on you as there was no mirror in the dressing room. And how it looked was almost as important as how it felt. Therefore, the only way you were going to get the full scope of the dress was if you left the dressing room to use the mirror right outside. But that also meant you were going to get the full scope of your friends opinions on it too and your friends could be...unfiltered. You really didn't have a choice though if you wanted to see the dress in full and so after a moment of working up the courage you opened the curtain and stepped out.

Before you could say anything about the dress, you were immediately hit with the reactions of your friends. Kenny whistled that recognizable whistle to signify someone looked good towards you, while your other friends let the intrusive thoughts win when it came to their compliments.

"Damn (Y/N), if I wasn't straight nor your friend I'd ask you out." Addison mentioned

"Y'know what? I get why my ex-girlfriend was jealous of you now." Bren commented

"Nice tits!" Viktoria stated excitedly

You stared at them in disbelief. Why in the world did you choose these people to be your friends? Oh right, you didn't. They chose you and you loved them for it no matter how ridiculous they were.

"Thank you." You replied flatly as you playfully rolled your eyes

Walking past your friends, you stood in front of the mirror outside the dressing rooms and actually took a look at yourself, and honestly...

You looked hot.

Just as nicely as the dress felt, it looked even better on you. The fabric hugged you in all the right places, accentuating your figure in the best way. The hem of the dress went to right below your knee but the slit on the left side exposed your leg up to your mid-thigh. And although you would not acknowledge it verbally, Viktoria's comment was spot on. It was a really good dress on you. But there was one criticism you had with it.

"It's nice but I just don't feel like this is something I'd wear to a club..." You mentioned, turning to look at your friends, but specifically Addison "Don't get me wrong, it's really nice, but personally, I wouldn't pick it for a night out with friends."

You stood by the mirror waiting for Addison to protest your criticism but were surprised when instead she replied,

"You know what? You're right."

"I am?" You questioned

You were surprised by her admitting fault so easily. Granted, you were right about a lot of things a lot of the time, but you thought she would've at least tried to argue with you on it a little more given she was so adamant about this dress. However, the smirk on her face made you think that she still had some thoughts about it.

"Yeah. You're right, it's not something you'd wear on a night out," Addison explained before suggesting "But it would be perfect for a night in with Five."

Your jaw dropped slightly in disbelief. The audacity of this bitch. Of course, you meant that with love, but her desire to try and "assist" in other people's relationships was a flaw that she was continuously oblivious to. You knew this idea in her head was coming from a place of care. She just wanted you to be happy, but the ins and outs of your relationship were not something she needed to have a hand in.

"Oh my god. This was a ploy to play wingwoman?" You confoundedly stated before gesturing around "Like bestie- he's not even here."

"He'll be back." Kenny affirmed

"Oh yeah? How do you know?" You pressed

"Those bruises might've healed already, but his name was on your neck." Kenny elaborated "That's the work of a man who's coming back to finish what he started."

Turning your face towards the floor to hide it, you could feel a heat rise to your cheeks at the comment. And while he was correct in the fact that the marks on your neck from the night before had healed by this point, that didn't stop you from bringing your hands up to cover the sides of your neck. You weren't typically one to get flustered, but between trying to suppress thoughts about your boyfriend and the slight embarrassment at your inexperience in relationships you couldn't help but try to hide your reaction. All those years of teasing or making comments about your friends' relationships had finally come to bite you in the ass.

"Listen- while appreciate your attempt to- I guess- get me laid before the world ends-" You stuttered flustered before remarking "I can handle my own relationship without intervention from you all, thank you very much."

"Can you?" Bren asked

"Yes! I can!" You exclaimed just a little louder than speaking volume

The group stared at you with playful smirks on their faces as you walked over toward the dressing room you were just in and proclaimed,

"Now, I am going back into this dressing room and I am taking the dress off and actually finding something I want to wear tonight."

"But you're still gonna get the dress, right?" Addison asked

"No." You responded flatly trying to end the discussion

"But you have to!" Viktoria remarked

"(Y/N) pleaseeeeee," Addison begged

You closed your eyes and scrunched your face as you tried to get your thoughts and feelings in check. Why did your existence have to be so overwhelming in a variety of ways? Letting out a sigh, you replied,

"I'm still not wearing it tonight, but if I buy it will you all stop complaining?"

With wide smiles and collective nods of your friends' heads, you relented,

"Fineeeee,"

"Thank god you said yes," Kenny mentioned "My next threat was that I was gonna wear it and seduce your brother."

"Uh, no thanks." Dean replied as he walked up behind the group "If I were to date a dude you would not be on my list of choices."

"I meant her older brother," Kenny corrected before adding "You'd be lucky to get me."

"You're not my type!" Dean retorted "Also, you think sleeping with her older brother is a threat? That's a shame my guy. Have some self-respect. You're better than that."

See as you didn't want to be a part of this conversation nor the conversation that led up to this point anymore, you stepped back into the dressing room and as you closed the curtain you stated,

"Okay. I'm done. I'm going now. Goodbye."

With the curtain fully closed you slipped out of the dress you were tricked into and back into the one you were wearing before. Placing the black dress in your tote bag of stuff, you were still a little annoyed and flustered, but you couldn't be fully mad. It was a really good dress on you. But you still had no clue what type of event in the foreseeable future it would even make sense to wear it to. With your original clothes back on and all your stuff in your tote bag, you exited the dressing room and walked back over to the women's section to try and find something you actually would want to wear tonight. Something casual but also good enough to party in since Kenny had decided that's what you were doing. After a bit of searching you had managed to find a cute floral two-piece set to wear. The set was a warm cream color with a pattern of green tropical leaves and white flowers across both the short-sleeved blouse and shorts. As you placed the set into the tote bag, you could see Dean approaching.

"You find something for tonight?" He asked

"Yeah, I think this'll do." You replied gesturing to the set you had just placed in the bag "I'm going to head up to check out though."

"Okay. I think I'm going to try and see if I can find a pair of shoes to go with what I picked out." Dean replied holding up his clothes

In his hands were a pair of black dress pants and a silky, short-sleeve, maroon, button-up with a subtle rose pattern on it. The outfit he wore to prom was similar, but of course that had a suit jacket and a tie to it as well.

"I'll meet you up there soon." Dean added

"Alright, cool." You replied as you turned around and walked to the register

As you turned the corner and stepped out of the aisle, you caught view of the register by the broken glass cases. There was someone standing there talking to the employee behind the register. At first, you assumed that it was just another customer and so you stood off to the side waiting for them to go, but as you took the time to focus on the other person, it was as if time stopped. You recognized that voice. You recognized that face. You knew who that person in front of you was.

Eudora.

It had been years since you had seen her alive. And yet here she was, or at least a version of her was, living and breathing just as much as any other person. You could feel yourself becoming overwhelmed at all the emotions that were building up inside you. Disbelief. Joy. Confusion. Grief. Your brain felt overloaded and your body reacted as such. Tears built in your eyes that you tried your best to blink away. You balled your hands into fists to prevent them from shaking, but it only made the shaking more evident. The feeling in your chest went back and forth between clenching and feeling like it was about to explode.

And then she looked over at you. There was no semblance of recognition on her face. She didn't know who you were. But you knew her and you recognized the look of worry that she had. She turned to look at the cashier for a moment before turning back toward you and walking your way. You were still stuck in place, unable to move. She at you with such concern in her eyes as she spoke,

"Hi, I'm Detective Patch. I work with the city's police department. Are you okay? Do you need help?"

You looked at her. Really looked at her. It felt unreal to see her.

"It's you..." You whispered

"Huh?" She replied curiously

Why did you say that? What were you thinking? She doesn't know you. To her you look like some young girl on the brink of crying. You can only imagine what scenarios she thinks are going on right now, all of which would probably sound insanely more probable than the truth. You needed to pull yourself together.

"I'm sorry...you just look exactly like someone I know-" You said before correcting "Someone I knew."

"Knew?" She asked

"They- they passed away four years ago..." You replied quietly

You looked at her with tears ready to fall from your eyes. You never saw what had happened. Diego never mentioned it and you knew he would've never told you even if you asked. But the pain and the loss was still there. And while you had done some of your grieving in the 60s, this whole mess with Diego and Lila cut open that wound and filled it with salt. It hurt.

"Oh no. I'm so sorry." Eudora spoke before softly asking "Do you want a hug?"

And with those five words, the tears began to fall heavily from your eyes. Dropping your bag to the ground, you rushed to her and wrapped your arms tightly around her waist. You fought against your feelings as you tried to hold your cries in but it only helped to exacerbate the sobs. God how embarrassing it was to be physically and audibly sobbing in the middle of a thrift shop holding on to someone who just met you. But nothing in you was allowing you to let go. You felt as Eudora froze for a moment when you first hugged her, but quickly after she wrapped her arms around you too. As she held you, one of her hands ran gently through your hair as she attempted to soothe you. It felt the exact same as when she used to comfort you and as she held you, you let yourself believe this was your version.

"It's not fair..." You cried "I- I didn't even get to say g-goodbye..."

"No, that's not fair." Eudora comforted "You shouldn't have had to go through that, especially so young." It felt so relieving to hear her tell you that you shouldn't have gone through what you went through. To have her agree that it was unfair and painful. You had so many things you wished you could've said to her. So many things that your Eudora would never get to hear. But perhaps this one could. Pulling yourself together as best as you could, you took a step back and looked at her.

"I- I know this m-might sound awkward b-but can I-" You stuttered out "Can I say goodbye to you?"

"Sure," She replied gently "Go ahead." You closed your eyes and took a few deep breaths as you tried to fully calm yourself. And when you felt ready enough you opened your eyes and spoke,

"You were an amazing woman and I miss you so much everyday. I miss the way you'd smile at me when you were proud and I miss the way you would get annoyed when I'd try to eat ice cream before dinner." As the memories came back though, your composure started to fail. The choking feeling in your throat started to return as did the tears in your eyes. You tried to push through the feelings as you continued,

"I miss seeing you in the crowd of all my achievements a-and the way you'd hold me when I was sad or scared. You helped raise me into the person I've become and it h-hurts to know that I never got a chance to thank you for that." It was too much though and your once confident voice was again reduced to sobbing stutters as you finished,

"I-I-I love you so much...I will n-never stop loving you and I swear I-I will never ever forget you." Eudora smiled at you. Gently, she pushed some hair that had fallen in your face behind your ear before wiping some of your tears away. Looking you in the eyes, she comfortingly stated,

"You seem like a lovely young woman and I'm sure that she loves you just as much and is so proud of you."

"I can only hope so." You replied quietly

"I know so." She responded You moved in to hug her once more. She was proud and she loved you. Even if she didn't realize the impact of what she had just said, it still meant so much to hear. You tried to pull yourself together, but it was so hard. You just loved her so much.

"Things are going to be, okay." She soothed "You're going to be okay."

It took a moment but you managed to calm yourself down. Stepping away was difficult but you couldn't hold on forever. She was Eudora but she wasn't yours. You couldn't keep her.

"Thank you." You sincerely stated

"If I only do one good thing today, then I'm glad that it could be to help you." She said with a smile before her face dropped slightly "But unfortunately, I need to go get back to work, there's a lot of trouble going on around this city."

"Yeah, I understand..." You quietly replied

"I know it's a bit of an ask, but you do think you can try and have a good rest of your day?" She questioned "For her and for me. I'm sure that neither of us would want you to be sad."

"I can try." You replied, trying to put on a brave face

"Good." She replied with a smile "Take care of yourself, okay?" You couldn't find the strength to speak so instead you opted to nod your head at her. She smiled once more at you although there was a tinge of sadness in her eyes. Giving you a nod back she said,

"Bye sweetie." And with that, you watched her walk away and out the front door of the building. She was gone, and there was a very high chance that was the last time you'd ever see her in person. At least she seemed happy.

"Goodbye Eudora..." You quietly replied You looked down at your hand and the item that was now in it. It was Eudora's detective ID. Was it wrong that you took it? Sure, but she had misplaced it so many times in the first timeline that you knew she would never think you took it. And if you couldn't get your Eudora back, you at least wanted something of her to remember her by. Her ID had a photo of her and just like in the original timeline, she had a smile on her face. She wasn't really supposed to smile in the picture but she was so happy that she had made detective that it was impossible for her to take one without it. It wasn't the same as having her, but it would suffice. You let out a sigh as you turned around and went back to pick up your tote bag. But as you looked at the space behind you, you could see all your friends standing there. They held their items in their hands, but there were sad and concerned looks upon all their faces. The group looked at Dean, who then stepped forward and began to ask,

"Are you-?" You put your hand up to stop him. He and the rest of your friends already knew the answer and this store was not the place to talk about it.

"Later." You stated flatly "Let's just pay and get out of here." Dean looked at you for a moment before looking back at the rest of the group. They looked between each other concern still on their faces, but none of them was going to be the one to press the issue right now. If you said later, then the answer was later. The group gave Dean small, cautious nods. Turning back to look at you, he quietly replied,

"Okay." The seven of you quietly went up to the cash register and paid for all of your items before leaving the store and getting back in the car. There were still a lot of hours in the day before the club would even be open, and so for now you all drove around in the car figuring out what to do next.

As you were carrying on with your day, Five was carrying on with his investigation to find the emergency bunker and this mysterious founder. For the past hour, he and Lila had been going through the entire building trying to find where the bunker could be. And with each passing minute, Five grew more and more annoyed with the situation. Besides having trouble locating where he was supposed to go, he was also subjected to the ramblings of the mad woman he was stuck with currently. Lila would announce whatever thought popped into her mind without thinking it through or caring about what it was she was saying. And because of that, Five had been subjected to a rant of how her back hurts, her thoughts on poultry farming, her craving for scrambled eggs, and a vivid description of his brother's performance in the bedroom. He felt like he was beginning to hit new lows in his life, which was surprising given how many lows he had experienced thus far.

In an attempt to ignore her, Five handed the briefcase over to her as he reopened the master handbook looking for more information on how to deal with an issue like the one they were facing. However, as he flipped through the pages there was nothing to be found. Continuously, he searched the book for anything but all he came up with was nothing. Five's pace quickened as a surge of frustrated anger welled within him. And as the pair rounded a corner and headed up the stairs Five burst out complaining,

"This is just like a bunch of bureaucratic bullshit. There's no clear directives in here about crisis management!"

Harshly closing the book Five looked around at where he was. The fucking commission. He wanted to distance himself from this place and his work here. He was supposed to retire. Doing what he did back in the 60s was supposed to be the end of it all. He thought he was free but look at him now. Right back where he started.

"You know, Lila, I shouldn't even be here. I was- I was out. I was done. And yet here I am, swept back into the chaos!" Five ranted angrily as he scratched the back of his neck "Why can't I just escape this hellhole?"

"Because you love it." Lila replied flatly

Making it to the top of the stairs, Five walked through the nearby doorway into the planetarium sector of the commission building. But as he turned back to address Lila's inaccurate remark he let out some unexpected gas. Forgetting what he was going to say and feeling slightly embarrassed all Five could come up with was,

"My bad."

Turning away, Five began to walk across the room scratching vigorously at the back of his neck once more. God, why did his neck itch so much? Had some of the debris that nearly fell on him have materials that caused irritation in them? Was the material of his shirt not comfortable and he didn't notice until now? Whatever it was he was going to keep scratching as with many of his other problems he wanted it to go away.

"Face it, Five, apocalypse problems are the only things that get your heart pumping." Lila remarked from behind him

That wasn't true. The only reason he got so worked up over apocalypses is because of the real thing that got his heart pumping. You. God forbid he'd want to keep you safe. Was it so difficult to understand that he did not want to be dealing with an apocalypse? That he was only doing this to protect the people he loved? That if he had a choice this is the last thing he'd want to do? It didn't make sense why most people thought he wanted this. Who would actively want the world to end? What he wanted was to do normal couple things with you and perhaps find a way to circumvent Klaus' continuous untimely intrusions.

"I don't know why people keep saying that. I don't actually like chaos. I don't want disorder." Five ranted before adding more softly "I... I want retirement. I want to be with (Y/N) and everything keeps getting in the way of that."

Lila rolled her eyes at the response. From what she knew of him, he had spent his entire life trying to solve and fight the apocalypse. He was the best agent during his time at the commission and he had dedicated all of his time during the past two catastrophes to fighting what was originally deemed to be the inevitable. And he was saying he wanted to retire? Bullshit. Five Hargreeves was not the type of person who would actually enjoy the day-to-day of civilian life.

"Yeah, right. A normal life of groceries and taxes? You would die of boredom." Lila scoffed

"I wouldn't." Five responded as he continued walking, "Not with her."

Lila didn't get it. For some reason, Five thought he could honestly give up the fast life for what? A 'happily ever after' with you? It seemed ridiculous. You were annoying, a smart-ass, rude, and a little sadistic. And he wanted a life with that? Sure he was a little bit of all of those things too but it was impossible to tell what he saw in you.

"What's so special about her anyway?" Lila questioned condescendingly

Five stopped walking as he heard the question come from Lila. Her tone was filled with copious amounts of judgment. It was as if the snark lingered in the air. Five didn't want to deal with many things right now, but snidely belittling his girlfriend shot its way to the top of his list. Turning to face her, his eyes narrowed on her as he firmly stated,

"You know Lila, I'm so tired of your attitude toward my girlfriend who you don't know."

"I think I know enough." Lila remarked

Five did not have a lot of patience for Lila to begin with but, throughout this whole endeavor, since they worked on the briefcase back at the hotel, she had been wearing down what he had left more and more. And this right here was the final straw. She could make her little comments about him, his motives, his past, and his family. But not you. Absolutely not you.

"You may like to think you know her, but you don't. You don't know her the way I know her. You don't know her the way Diego knows her. And you don't know her the way the rest of my family knows her." Five ranted "She was in our lives first. YOU are the outsider."

Lila's face contorted into a frown. So what did it matter if you came into their lives first? That meant nothing to her. It's not like she wanted to be part of the same group as you or anything.

"Pfft I don't want to be part of your weird family circle-jerk anyway." Lila scoffed "Like what's that even supposed to mean?"

"What that means is that you have no right to be condescending about her because you don't share history with my family like she does, okay? (Y/N) has a heart of gold. All she does is care for others. My siblings and I could be far worse than the dysfunctional mess we already are but were aren't because she came out of nowhere and changed the course of our lives." Five snapped back

Five rolled his shoulders back trying to reel in his demeanor before looking at Lila pointedly.

"For the better, might I add," Five continued "Something I can't quite say the same of you."

Lila crossed he arms over her chest and rolled her eyes at Five. What a brat he was. If he was trying to hit her where it hurt well...it wasn't working. It wasn't working at all and she was completely unfazed. She didn't care about you or Diego or the rest of the family AT ALL. And nothing Five was saying was going to change her mind.

"If this is your way of trying to get me to apologize or whatever, I'm not going to." Lila mentioned

"I don't want your apology, Lila. I want to be back home with (Y/N)." Five replied his annoyance growing again "She's kind, and smart and strong, and beautiful, and even after every one of my screwups, she still manages to love me."

"So? Who cares?" Lila replied

"I CARE!" Five shouted

Five's hand ran through his hair frustratedly as he began to pace back and forth. All of the feelings that he tried to keep below the surface so he could focus on the world began to bubble up and boil over. He hated all of this. This was not the life he wanted to live when he made the decision to jump to 2019 and stop the first apocalypse. He was fortunate enough to return to a young adult version of himself but he couldn't even do anything worth wild with it because he kept being dragged away. He couldn't stand it. It drove him crazy. Turning to face like Five began to rant,

"Can't you see I don't want to be here with you? I don't want to be here at all! I want to be with HER. I want to be able to love HER! She is the one and only reason I'm here trying to save the world, with YOU no less, because if she's not in it- if I-"

Five stopped. His face dropped as his thoughts changed from the anger of not getting to be with you to the fear and sadness of losing you. His eyes became glazed over as he looked off into the distance. The sound of you screaming in pain and the image of your lifeless body in his arms flashed across his mind causing him to visibly wince. He shut his eyes trying to shut the image and sound out but it was burned in there as a reminder of what happens when he fails.

Lila saw the change in Five's demeanor. She had never seen him this helpless. It confused her a little. He was always so stand-offish and acted like a know-it-all that she didn't even think it was in him to be vulnerable like this. Everyone had a weakness though and just like Diego was hers, you were Five's. She honestly felt a little bad for the guy. Not a lot but enough for her to approach him and try to grab his attention calling,

"Five?"

"If I lose her again..." He said, his voice strained and his eyes not meeting Lila's gaze "Then there's nothing in the world worth saving."

Lila's head cocked to the side. She heard what he had said but she was unsure if she was hearing him right.

"What are you saying?" Lila asked

"I'm saying I can't live without her again. No. I refuse to live without her." Five replied finally meeting her gaze "You wanted to know why she's so special Lila? It's because she is the only thing keeping me going. If I don't have my world, then there is no reason for there to be a world."

"What? You'd just let the world end if something happened to her?" Lila asked, slight concern in her tone

Five however didn't acknowledge the concern only the question. And that question had only one correct answer. The pain in his face washed away as a stoic expression took its place. Five's composure returned after his brief moment of weakness and in a steady tone, Five stated,

"Lila, I'd end it myself."

Lila silently blinked at him a few times. She definitely had heard him right the first time but the way he responded the second time sent a chill down her spine. She knew he meant what he said and she could see in his eyes the way he would scorch the earth if something happened to you. She didn't have to like you but it was in the best interest of both her and the rest of the world to make sure you stayed alive.

"But I don't know if you'd understand that because you're not exactly cut out for domestic bliss." Five said before turning around and walking towards the door on the opposite side of the room

Lila watched as he walked away before realizing what he had said. For a moment a sharp pain shot through her but quickly she pushed past it. Domestic bliss sounded so boring. Where was the fun in that? It was overrated and boring and the thought of it definitely made her want to puke.

"Course I'm bloody not. Thank God!" Lila shouted behind him

Following Five through the door, the two of them walked down a set of stairs into a dark hallway. Tipped-over filing cabinets and broken furniture littered the hall as they maneuvered their way around.

"I mean, maybe it's a tone thing? I don't know, but you could really work on, like, the way you speak. It's very... It's irritating." Lila commented as she followed behind "I'm just saying it's something you can work on, you know? For the future."

Five was not listening though as he spotted what they had come for up ahead. A sign that read Operations Bunker. A slight smile came to his face as he read it. He was getting closer to an answer. He was getting closer to fixing this and saving you. Noticing his smile, Lila asked,

"Why are you smiling, you little pisspot?"

"Cause of that." Five said gesturing to the sign

"Well, you could have led with that," Lila replied

The two of them looked at each other briefly before heading down the hall towards the door leading to where their answers may lie.

You and your friends however were on your way to sneak into one of the local clubs. After the incident you had in the thrift store, you all had driven around for a bit before deciding to go bowling at Super Star Lanes. It was of course a little odd being in the same place that you had last said goodbye to your friends before the world ended, but it also felt somewhat like a neutral ground. With some overpriced fries and lukewarm cans of soda, you finally let your friends comfort you from what had happened before as you all took turns bowling. Dean of course was in the lead, because he always was, but even so, you managed to have a nice time. Eudora asked you to have a good day and you were going to do so. Once, you had finished bowling and Dean inevitably won, you all hopped back in the car and headed back to Kenny's house to get ready.

All the clothes from the thrift store that could be thrown in the washer and dryer were, and for the ones that couldn't you used your powers to try and remove some of the grime that was probably in the fabric. When the washed clothes were dry though, you and the rest of your friends took to different rooms in the house to change into your outfits. As you stepped out of the guest room in the outfit you had picked from before, you saw Viktoria step out of the bathroom at the same time. She wore a flowy, long-sleeve, light blue blouse with a matching pair of flowy, light blue pants.

"Aw you look cute!" You complimented

"You do too!" she replied

Together the two of you walked downstairs to find everyone but Kenny waiting around. As you approached the group though, you took notice of the fact that Dean made the decision to keep the top 3 buttons of his shirt unbuttoned.

"What happened? Did you not pay for the rest of the buttons?" Viktoria asked sarcastically

"Ha-ha. You're so funny." Dean replied unamused "For your information, I happen to look good like this."

"Oh yeah," Viktoria stated sarcastically once more "I'm sure some lovely girl with parental issues will adore the distinct lack of chest hair."

Placing his hand over his chest, Dean looks shocked at her comment and looks to you for some backup, but instead, you turned your attention toward Bren and asked,

"Where's Kenny?"

"I don't know. Probably getting ready still." Bren answered, shrugging his shoulders "I'm his best friend, not his keeper."

"Are you sure about that?" You retorted

Bren looked at you before letting out a small sigh. He knew you were at least a little bit right. If he didn't keep track of Kenny then no one would. At least not to the same extent that is.

"I'll go get him." Bren stated as he walked back upstairs

From upstairs, you could hear Bren bang on a door and then say some words that you couldn't quite make out. However, whatever he said seemed to work as not even a minute later him and Kenny came back down the stairs. With the whole group together and ready to go, you headed out of Kenny's house and drive over to the club that you had snuck into back on Kenny's 16th birthday.

While the club wasn't in a bad part of the city, across the street and a few buildings over there was a very questionable bar nearby. The patrons there didn't take too kindly to anyone who wasn't white and the only reason you knew about it was that on occasion Diego would walk himself in there just to pick a fight with people. You wondered if Diego would head there again in this timeline, although you doubted it given he seemed so preoccupied with watching his "child". However, that didn't matter. You had no intention of worrying about Diego because it seemed he was having trouble worrying about you.

As you put your thoughts aside, Dean had finally stopped and parked the car on the street behind the club. Taking one quick look back at Kenny, you asked,

"You're sure this is what you want?"

"Yes." he answered confidently "My 16th birthday was the second most exciting day of my life. I want to relieve it."

"What was the first then?" Addison questioned

"My 18th birthday. I got to meet Klaus Hargreeves and we got shot at by time mercenaries. Very exciting." Kenny answered proudly

"Okay." You interjected "Let's just go before this conversation continues."

The rest of the group nodded their heads in agreement as you all stepped out of the car. The sound of pounding music could faintly be heard as you made your way to the back of the building. Up high on the wall, you all could see two small, rectangular, frosted glass windows. Although it was a while ago, you still could recognize these as the useless windows that were in the bathrooms of the club. The one on the left was shut, while the one on the right was open, and from inside it you could hear the sound of a few girl's voices seemingly giving someone a pep talk. You waited for a moment to hear the door open and shut before turning to your friends and quietly stating,

"We're going to do what we did last time. I'm going to check to see if the girl's bathroom is empty if it is. I will pull Viktoria, Addison, and Kenny through. Viktoria and Addison will go get us some booth or seating while Kenny is going to go into the men's bathroom and check if that is empty. If it's empty he's gonna jump and slap the window and I'll do the same thing for Dean, Lucas, and Bren. Then I show up and we're all together, got it?"

There was a cacophony of affirmations and head nods at your instructions.

"Good." You said before turning invisible and walking through the wall

Taking a look around the women's bathroom there was no one in the main area nor could you see any shoes on the floor inside the stalls. Seeing that the coast was clear you made yourself visible and stuck your arm through the bathroom wall you came through. You could feel as someone grabbed your hand and with a firm hold on them you pulled them through the way. Viktoria was the first to come through and after repeating the process twice both Addison and Kenny came in as well. You watched as the three of them walked out of the bathroom and with the door shut you went back outside the hang with the other three boys. It took a few minutes, but finally, the sound of Kenny's hand slapping the glass window came. And so one by one, you pushed the last three boys through the wall of the men's room.

With everyone else inside, you went invisible once more as walked through the wall into the women's bathroom. Instead of immediately becoming visible though, you walked through the bathroom door and over to the bar. Looking around you spotted the table where your friends sat and with the knowledge of where they were, you walked behind the bar and began to sneakily transport a few bottles of the high-shelf alcohol over. No one even knew you were there as you placed your hand on your choices and quickly made the bottles invisible. And after doing the same to a few glasses you floated them all over behind you before making them reappear on the table. While most would not consider it a point of pride, your ability to steal was beyond compare.

Your friends were slightly shocked at seeing the drinks appear but not surprised and within a few seconds of the drinks reappearing, so did you. Sitting down with the rest of your group, you began to let the drinks flow. Dean restrained from having too much to drink as he was the designated driver and he encouraged everyone to drink water like he was. And while most of the others relatively listened to his request, you felt less inclined to do so. You had a lot of up and down moments today and you wanted to take your mind off of them. And with each drink you consumed the more go with the flow you became. You were fine and it was just some harmless fun. You dragged your friends to the dance floor and as the music you loved and missed in the 60s played you were having the best time. The bass from the blasting music pounded through your system and for the first time since you found out that the world was ending, you felt good. You had your friends and you were having fun and all the drinks you were consuming were free. Time didn't matter and things literally couldn't be better.

As you continued to party though, things began to get a little fuzzy for you. You were aware of your surroundings, but things also became a little hazy. Maybe you were just tired from dancing. Deciding to take a seat for a bit, you started to walk back toward your group's table, but as you made it off the dance floor you could see a guy and girl off to the side. The guy was uncomfortably close, trying to offer her a drink while she continuously pushed it back. This couldn't be good. Turning on your heel, you walked over to the pair, putting yourself in between the two as you looked back at the girl and asked,

"Are you okay? Do you know this guy?"

"No. He's been following me for the past 20 minutes." The girl replied nervously "I've been trying to leave but he keeps following."

"Okay. You see the girl in the really sparkly jumpsuit and the guy that looks like a traffic cone over there," You say gesturing to the other side of the dance floor "Those are my friends and they can help you. I will deal with this creep."

The girl looked across the floor towards where Kenny and Addison stood before looking back at you. She hesitated for a moment, but as she did so the creepy guy grabbed at her wrist and tried to pull her toward him. And with that action, one of the "side effects" of your immense intoxication kicked in. When you got drunk, your impulse control typically lowered with each drink and right now it was at an all-time low. Without a second to think about it, you decked the guy right in his throat causing him to let go of the girl's wrist. You watched as she fled off across the place toward your friends but you had no intention to follow.

Instead, you turned back to the guy who was now doubled over and gasping for air and decided that one punch wasn't enough. There was no signal in your brain or body that this was a bad decision to make, but as so you turned away from making sure the girl got to your friends and back to him, he swung a fist up at you, upper-cutting your jaw.

You let your head lean back for a second as you could feel the impact still vibrating through your head and the taste of blood in your mouth from biting your cheek. Even if you weren't looking at him you could sense the smugness that seemed to radiate off of this guy. With your head still tilted back you began to laugh at the guy. He picked the wrong girl to fuck with and you were going to wipe his smugness away.

"What are you laughing at you bitch?" He demanded

Your head slowly tilted back down like that of a monster in a horror movie. A wide smile was on your face but the malice was evident in your eyes.

"You," you answered, your tone calm and collected "because you're going to die."

The guy looked at you disturbed for a moment before a flood of anger rushed through his system. The guy attempted to reach out and grab you, but instead he right through you. Quickly, you turned on your heel to look at him with that wide, creepy smile still on your face. He looked back at you confused but before he could rush you again, you took both of his hands in yours and used your powers to break them completely. Any bone that could break, did break. The guy dropped to his knees as he screamed in pain. Looking back up at you, the creep asked terrified,

"What are you?"

Your eyes began to glow a bright blue, and with that same malicious smile you stated ever so kindly,

"Karma."

While a sober version of you probably would've stopped at this point knowing that the guy was thoroughly terrified, currently you had no such restraint. And just like you had done to the Sparrows in your battle with them, you began to suck all the oxygen from this guy's body. Particle by particle, the guy began to wither and choke. The fear in his eyes was evident but as you continued, things started to get a little hazy. You shook your head a few times to try to clear things up, but it didn't do much to help and as you opened your eyes again you saw Dean standing in front of you with concern on his face. Looking down at the ground once more, you saw as the guy was beginning to crawl away as he gasped deeply for air. But before you could return to what you were doing, Dean grabbed ahold of your wrist and stated urgently,

"(Y/N). We need to go. NOW."

You looked around to see horrified faces on the people nearby where you were. Before you could react, he was already dragging you behind him as he ran through the crowded dance floor. But as your heart began to race, your vision began to blur. And as your friends ran out of an emergency with Dean dragging you along behind them, everything went black.

Following the corridors that ran underneath the Commission, Five and Lila made their way down an ever-winding series of hallways. It was quite tedious having to make their way to wherever this bunker was. Whoever this founder was, they sure didn't want anyone to find them unless it was absolutely necessary. Unfortunately, absolutely necessary was the situation they were in right now. The pair continued to walk until they were stopped by a sliding metal door. The sign above it read Operations Bunker, the same way that they had first seen leading this way. Five hoped that it was actually behind here and not another maze of hallways because he could feel himself getting thirsty from all the walking and with every step he could feel himself getting more and more paranoid. He didn't know why though. Nevertheless, Five grabbed onto the handle of the door and tried to pull, but god, it was heavy. Grabbing the handle with two hands instead, Five slowly managed to slide the door open, but once there was enough of a gap, Lila pushed her way past him curtly saying,

"Exsqueeze me."

Pushing his way through the door after her he replied annoyed,

"You're excused."

"Operations bunker," Lila said as she looked at the giant circular metal door

This had to be the place they were looking for, but as much as Five wanted to see for himself he couldn't focus because of all the itching he felt. His nails ran up and down the back of his neck as he leaned against the brick wall behind Lila, digging deeply as he tried to relieve the irritating sensation.

Stepping up closer to the door, Lila looked into the small darkened window. As she did so, a bright blue light shined and rotated in a clockwise motion scanning her. However, as the device beeped and the light faded away a loud buzzer sounded from the speaker above.

"We're screwed," Lila commented

"Unauthorized access." a robotic voice stated over the speaker

"Oh shit." Five replied as he continued to scratch his neck

Turning to look at Five for an idea of what to do next she noticed the state he was in. He paced back and forth, scratching the back of his head and neck as if his life depended on it. Loads of sweat covered his face giving it an uncomfortable shine under the dingy lighting.

"Jesus. You're sweating like a dodgy shrimp on ice. What's wrong?" She questioned

And with that question, something in Five clicked. The sweating, the thirst, the paranoia, and the occasional gas all started happening the minute they got close to this room. And the closer they made their way down the winding halls to where they were now, the worse it got. His eyes went wide as he quickly stepped forward towards the door and looked into the same opening that Lila had. The blue light, just as before, lit up and circled in a clockwise motion over Five's face before beeping. But instead of a loud buzzer over the speaker, it was instead a simple chime followed by the robot voice stating,

"Access granted."

"I guess you're essential personnel." Lila commented slightly disappointed

The two could hear the sound of the door unlocking before watching as it rolled off to the side allowing them to see into the room. The floor was all black tile that was clear enough it reflected the image of the room. The ceiling looked like it was entirely glass with lights behind it while the walls were made of all-white squares with light interspersed between every three rows. Immediately to their left, they could see three white globe-like seats with red insides that looked like they came from a 70's furniture catalog with a glass side table and white fur carpet to match. Bottles of alcohol sat on a serving tray on top of the table between the three chairs while a singular silver floor lamp stood behind in the corner. However, the main item of interest was some type of tube in the back of the room.

As Five and Lila stepped in, the lights on the ceiling became brighter, illuminating the entire room. The white walls and reflective floor making it that much brighter inside. But as Lila walked ahead and the door closed behind Five, he could feel his need to itch and his thirst and paranoia slip away.

As Lila looked in through the glass panels on the tube at who was supposed to be the founder of the commission, Five placed the briefcase and Master's handbook down on the side table.

"That's him, huh?" Five commented as he walked over toward Lila "The founder."

"Looks like tinned beef. I was expecting more man and less..." Lila stopped before tapping on the metal tube and commenting "...can.

Walking closer to the metal tube Five began to better see the man who lay on the table of the tube. The face stopped him in his tracks for a moment as his eyes went wide. Slowly, he inched closer and closer to the founder but as he stood next to them, Five's eyes blinked in confusion as he softly said,

"It can't be."

"What's wrong?" Lila asked

"It's me." Five replied quietly

This was him? The old, decrepit man being kept alive by some sort of commission contraption was him? There was a silent pause between the two of them before Lila broke out in laughter. She looked between the Five she was with and the one who lay on the table as she clapped in hysterics.

"No way. This whole time you've been complaining about the Commission, and you're the one who founded it. Classic." She snickered amused

"If I did, I have no memory of it." Five replied uneasily as he looked at his older self

"So here I was thinking you were a maverick, but you're a company man, down to the bone. I mean, you..." Lila continued to laugh "You literally cannot breathe without this place."

"Something's not right. I don't have paradox psychosis. I could feel it outside," Five said gesturing to the door before looking around the room "but in here, it's...nothing."

"Never were too bright, were we?" The sound of a rasping voice suggested

Both Five and Lila turned to look toward Founder Five as he looked back at the pair. His skin was wrinkled from years of age and his beard was long, gray, and unruly signifying no one had taken care of it in a while. The man on the table did not look well in the slightest. He looked like he was hanging by a thread in terms of his life left and with labored breathing, he continued to explain,

"The operations bunker is paradox-proof. I constructed it as a panic room in case of a collapse in the time continuum. In this room, all permutations of yourself can exist. You must be here because of a... Kugelblitz."

"Is that like a cheese blintz?" Lila asked confused

"It's German for ball of lightning." Five explained, "It's an extra kinky kind of black hole."

"The kind that can suck up entire timelines," Lila commented

"Or worse." Founder Five choked out

Five looked down at the ground. It was worse than just the timeline being sucked up. It was the kind of black hole that could cause strong energy disturbances. Granted any black hole that close would probably do so but this was on such a larger scale than that. Five felt like an idiot for not thinking of it as a possibility but at least now that he knew what it was he could finally figure out how to stop it. With a sense of renewed energy Five quickly asked,

"So, how do we fix it?"

"You don't." Founder Five replied raspily "You shouldn't have left."

"What?" Five questioned annoyed

Don't fix it? He shouldn't have left? That's ridiculous. Of course, he should fix it. He needed to fix it. He came all this way for answers on how to fix it! This didn't make sense. Out of all the people in the world to tell him not to fix it he never expected himself.

"No. If you created all of this, then you must have created a solution." Five snapped through gritted teeth

Founder Five coughed and gasped for air as he worked up the ability to reply to his younger self. Oh, how unaware he was. How easy it was for him to have a sense of purpose at this time. If only he knew what the future held and how painful it would be.

"All that will be left is...oblivion." Founder Five wheezed out

"Oblivion?" Lila asked leaning over the man, "What do you mean?"

With that question, the locks on the metal tube Founder Five was unlocked as the table he laid on slid out. Five and Lila looked at him in frustration and shock respectively. He looked frail and malnourished, his rib cage showing through his skin. And he was missing the lower part of his left arm.

"This is what you have coming. You are running out of time to change things." Founder Five said desperately

"Then tell me how to change it!" Five lashed out

"Go home." Founder Five answered weakly

Five had enough of this. He didn't know why this older version of himself was acting this way, but he wasn't going to tolerate it. Every second his older self spent beating around the bush about how to save the world was another minute he wasn't actively working on saving it. This version of him was being a prick and Five was tired of not having is answers he came so far for. Approaching the version of himself on the table, Five leaned in very close. With fire in his eyes and in a low, intimidating tone of voice, he ranted,

"Listen to me, you ass. I just spent the last 20 days running around saving the world from apocalypses, only to keep trying to save the world. I am losing my mind, my hormones are raging, and all I wanna do is go out and buy a 1970s Corvette Stingray that I can drive around in with my beautiful girlfriend."

For a moment, Founder Five's eyes went wide at the mention of you. And it was that quick action, that note of recognition that caught Five's attention and gave him an idea. If he wouldn't give the answer on how to save the world from destruction willingly then perhaps he would do so with a little emotional manipulation. Pulling out the Polaroid photo he had brought along with him from inside his jacket pocket he held it up in front of his older self's face.

"(Y/N)..." Founder Five whispered

"That's right, asshole. Look at her. Look at that beautiful woman. I had to leave her to bring my ass here to try and find out how to stop this thing. So if you love her the way I do, which if you're me then I KNOW you do, you will tell me how to stop this to save her!" Five yelled

There was a change in the man that lay on the table. Blinded by his anger and frustration, Five could not see it but Lila could. The minute young Five pulled out the photo of you, the light immediately disappeared from the eyes of the older Five. And although his face was mostly concealed by a long scruffy beard, it was easy to see the emotion that overwhelmed him, none of it positive. Lila could see slight tears form in his eyes as his chest began to heave. It was as if Five had broken through some type of barrier with his older self, but all it was doing was causing things to fall apart. Just minutes ago Five was expressing to her how if you didn't exist there would be no reason for him to go on, and now here lay an older version of him who looked so ready to let go seeing your face. Taking a step forward Lila reached out to put a hand on Five's shoulder as she commented,

"Take it easy on him, Five."

"Lila, this is between me and myself, so stay out of it." Five snapped at her before putting on a faux polite smile and adding "Thank you."

Turning back towards his older self, his anger didn't fade. Instead, it grew just as his frustration had been growing since the first time he had tried to fight against the end of the world. He wanted the cycle to be over. He came all this way for answers and by god he was going to get them.

"This Kugelblitz, it is not some tiny leak that we can simply fix by patching a couple of pinholes. It is a giant trash compactor that is grinding up the universe and consuming it whole. So tell me how you stop it!" Five shouted

"Whatever you do..." Founder Five began to choke out

The sound of the heart monitor began to beep rapidly and the sound of his breathing became ragged as Five and Lila watched in confusion.

"...don't save the world." He finished

For a moment the heart monitor beeped more rapidly before stopping altogether. The light of the room began to fade as the sound of the machines powering down could be heard. Five looked at his older self with wide eyes. He could feel his own heart begin to race at the sight before him. He still needed answers. Grabbing onto the metal of the table Five looked over the man who now lay still and hoping for some reaction pressed,

"What do you mean, don't save-"

But when none came, he shouted,

"Five! How do I fix this?"

Trying to cut short the inevitable realization that his older self had died, Lila placed two fingers on Founder Five's neck to try and find a pulse. As she expected though, there was none. Pulling her hand back, she knew she needed to rip off the and-aid and bluntly announced,

"He's dead, Five."

Dead? No. He couldn't be dead. This couldn't be happening. He- Five had survived so long it seemed impossible for him to die. And for him to die in such an unremarkable way? He had been through so much worse. So many other instances that could've killed him and yet they didn't. Not the terrible conditions of the apocalypse, not a bullet from a gunshot, not the end of the world. He just died. Of old age. Alone. Five looked on with a mix of sadness, and confusion, and fear. It felt almost impossible that this happened. His whole life it felt like he couldn't seem to die, not that he wanted to, but it didn't feel real. But there in front of him, another version of him lay dead. It was a lot to take in and he couldn't do this, at least not in front of Lila. He didn't meet her eye as he quietly asked,

"Can I have the room?"

"Er... I don't think I should leave you two alone." Lila responded

"Lila, I need the room." He emphasized

Lila stood there quietly for a moment. She didn't want to leave him, he had just witnessed himself die. That was a terrible thing to have hanging over you. She knew from experience watching the video of the handler shooting her over and over again. It still haunted her to see her lifeless body and that was through a screen on the infinite switchboard. It could only feel that much worse witnessing it in person. But as much as she thought it would be better to stay he would not be okay until she left, so without another word, she turned away and walked out the bunker door.

When the door finally closed once more Five let out a breath that he was holding in. His eyes turned up to the ceiling in an attempt to stop the water forming in his eyes from falling down. It took a moment, but with some semblance of composure he looked ahead once more mumbling under his breath,

"Son of a bitch."

Sadly, he looked over the corpse in front of him when he then noticed something on the chest of his older self. Stepping forward he quietly asked,

"What's this?"

Taking a closer look at it he saw it was a tattoo inked onto the skin. It was odd. He never saw himself as the type to get another tattoo, especially after how awful the first one was. But there was something about the odd symbol featured prominently on his chest that he felt he needed to look into. Pulling out the switchblade you had gifted him early he cut off the tattooed part of the skin to take with him.

Rolling up the cut-off skin, he placed it in the pocket inside of his jacket that didn't contain your photo. He knew it wasn't the best place to keep it, but he really didn't have any other option. Letting out a deep sigh, Five looked at the corpse of his older self. Wrinkled, alone, dead. Was this his future? And if it was why was it this way? What would cause him to spend the end of his life in as Lila described, a tin can surviving off of the place he despised most. He didn't understand but whatever this was, he couldn't let it be his future. He was going to change things this time. He had to. But as Five began to turn away, to leave this place and the sight of his lonely cadaver, he saw a glint of something.

Turning back to the body, he looked to try and spot what had caught his eye but with the main lights now mostly off it was a little more difficult. However, after a moment the emergency light caught just right and he could see the shine was coming from his older self's hand. Reaching out, Five opened the hand fully to find a key inside it. Picking up the item he inspected it closer. There was nothing too unusual about it. It looked just like any other key you would see for a house or safe or whatever except for one detail. On the part of the key that would not be inserted into a lock, there was an engravement, faded by time but still visible that read clé du monde.

Key to the world.

Five could feel a slight spark of hope reading the inscription. Key to the world. Maybe this would lead to the answers he was looking for. Perhaps his older self did not want to reveal how to stop the apocalypse with Lila around but knew he would find this with her gone. Looking away from the key, he searched for where this would go. If he had held onto this while stuck in this room then the lock it went to couldn't be far. As his eyes scanned the four walls he saw something different in the back corner, a cabinet with small frosted glass doors built into the wall. Leaving his older self's side he walked towards them and just as he expected he found a lock to slide the key in. Without hesitation, Five inserted the key into the lock and clicked it open with a single twist. Opening the doors, Five expected to find piles of documents, reports, or any information relating to a kugelblitz and how to stop it, but the sight he was met with caught him off guard.

Instead of information, he was met with a cabinet full of items related to you. As he looked about the cabinet he saw things he recognized instantly. On the lowest shelf sat your diary, the teddy bear he had given you on your friendaversary, and the music box he gifted for your 13th birthday. But as he continued to look at the items, he saw stuff that confused him. Sitting on the middle shelf were a watch and knife that looked exactly like the ones you had gifted him earlier. Lifting up his wrist he looked between the watch on the shelf and the one he currently wore before pulling the knife out of his pocket and looking at it too. Back and forth he inspected the items until he could no longer deny that they were the exact same.

Five's heartbeat began to pick up slightly. Why were these items here? Looking back to the middle shelf he then saw six distinct Polaroid photos. Grabbing at them he looked through them one by one, his heart sinking more and more as he realized they were the same photos from earlier today. Dropping the photos in shock, they scattered the floor below. His eyes darted across the objects as he tried to come up with some type of explanation, one that avoided the terrible thoughts forming in his mind. And as his eyes searched the cabinet for some type of rationale, he finally noticed an envelope taped to the inside of the door.

Snatching it off the door he immediately opened it. This had to have some explanation. Something that would elaborate on why these things were here, but surely not for the reason he thought. Pulling the paper inside out quickly he opened it up and began to scan the words on the page.

Dear Alternate Self,

I can only assume that it's you as I would never willingly let anyone else access this cabinet and especially since the rarest of people would be able to access this room to begin with. If you are reading this that means I must have finally been released from the torment that is my existence. As you know, these objects you find here are the most important in the universe. They are the key to the world. My world. Our world. I don't know if you will recognize each item yet, but I promise they hold more value than anything else. You may be confused, but they are the reason this building, this organization, exists. I built this place to fix my mistakes. To try and make things right this time. And this bunker was made to keep me safe from any apocalypse but more so these irreplaceable items safe from harm so they will never be lost to time the way I let her be.

Five's hands began to shake as he processed the words on the page. He could feel the fearful adrenaline course through his veins as he read over what his other self had written to him.

"No." Five said in disbelief

This couldn't be real. It couldn't be true. There had to be something else here. Something that negated all the words above. Something to make the letter a red herring of sorts. Quickly, his eyes ran down the page as he read on.

However, if by some chance the person reading this note is you my beloved (Y/N), probably as a version of you from a different timeline than my own, I want you to know how much I loved you. I didn't realize it then but I loved you from the minute I met you. I loved you every moment of my life. I loved you til your last breath. And I continue to love you every minute beyond that no matter how painful it is.

"God. Please. No." Five silently begged in the empty room

I have many regrets that I cannot fix, but my biggest is not asking you one very important question. But I won't because it's not my place to do so now. I failed you in my time, and I will never forgive myself for it. Although it may not make sense, I feel this, the Commission, is the only way now that I can hope to fix something. Although I'd still prefer to keep them forever safe here, you can take any of the items if you like. My physical and mental state have deteriorated more and more each day without you but I hope that by the time you are reading this, I'm with my version of you dancing together among the stars. It seems this world wasn't made for us to be together but perhaps the next one will be.

The shaking Five had felt in his hand spread to the rest of his body. His chest began to clench as his breathing became labored and erratic. It felt like the world was spinning. His legs shook under him as the weight of the grief overcoming him pulled him to the ground. His knees gave out as the letter and envelope both fell from his hands. But as the envelope hit the floor, he could hear the tiniest clink from it.

With his mind still in overdrive, he immediately snatched the envelope up and flipped it over, but as the item fell into his hand everything stopped. Time was frozen and for a second he forgot how to breathe as he stared at the pristine golden locket in his hand. He knew this was your locket. Not only because of the condition it was in but inside it held a very young picture of him. He recalled you explaining how you had cut it out of a newspaper article about the academy's missions. But he also knew that between this and the letter from his older self, his worst fears had come true. He failed somehow. And you died because of it. But it wasn't the locket itself that had made him stop.

It was the ring that hung on the chain that stopped him in his tracks.

Gently undoing the clasp of the necklace he slid the ring off the chain and held it in his other hand. It was perfect. The ring was made of a sturdy metal that wouldn't tarnish easily and the diamonds on it sparkled brightly even in the dimmer lighting. It was exactly how he had envisioned it. Exactly how his now-deceased self envisioned it. He was going to ask his version to marry him. But he didn't. He never got the chance.

However, the longer Five stared at the ring he could feel the temporary numbness wear off and his adrenaline return. He was going to change things. This scene before him was not going to be his future. He was not going to make the same mistakes as the man who died before him. He was going to save the world, he was going to keep you from harm, and he was going to change his future.

Picking himself up from the ground, he put the ring in his pocket before walking over to the body on the table. Placing the locket in the hand where he had first found the key, he slowly closed it, making a tight fist that would hold onto it forever. With one last look at his dead counterpart, he tried to push all the terrifying thoughts that wracked his mind out of his brain. Turning on his heel he made his way to the door worried about if you were currently safe but also determined to make things right this time. As the door to the bunker opened, Five grabbed the briefcase off the table before he quickly walked out and past Lila who was leaning against a wall.

"You good?" Lila called "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Get your powers warmed up." Five demanded as he continued walking "We need to find a power source and we need to go."

"A please would be nice, y'know." She remarked

"Now, Lila." Five snapped

"Fine, you little twat." Lila grumbled

Lila didn't know what had occurred in there while she was outside, but whatever it was, it was affecting Five greatly. Although annoyed, she let it slide. Everyone grieved differently and if he was going to be rude then she wasn't even going to try to help his feelings right now. Not that she really cared about his feelings. With a small huff, she began to follow behind him as they searched to find a power source to get home.

As for you, the sounds of the world started to come into focus just as your eyes adjusted to your surroundings. No longer was there the sound of pounding music and screams nor the sight of flashing neon lights. Instead, it was replaced with the dim shine of old lightbulbs, mild chatter, and old rock music. Your head felt heavy and as it tilted downward you saw you were sitting on a chair. The last thing you remembered, you weren't sitting down. Dean grabbed your wrist as you all fled the nightclub you snuck into after getting into a fight. Your head felt like it was spinning as you took in the surroundings. There was a dusty bar across the way and a pole dancer in the middle of the room you were in. A line of motorcycles sat in a row outside the building and as you forced your head to look up you saw a ceiling filled with metal rafters. Where were you? As your vision cleared fully and your head stopped pounding so much you managed to look around and see Viktoria standing next to you. Grabbing onto the fabric of her romper you tugged at it as best as you could to get her attention.

"Yeah?"

"Where are we, Vi?" You asked

"Remember how when we left City Hall we decided we wanted to do something that connected us together?" Viktoria asked

You went to City Hall? When? It was around 8 pm when you went to the club and you were there for some time so City Hall was definitely closed. Did you all break into a government building? Why? For what? What did you need to do in there that was so important it had to be done at the latest hours of the night? Confused and hoping for some elaboration you answered,

"No."

"Well, Kenny brought us here to this bar where they ask no questions and will tattoo minors since Lucas and Addi aren't 18 yet," Viktoria explained "So we're all getting matching tattoos. Thematically matching, at least."

That was not the elaboration you were hoping for. You were all getting tattoos? What were you getting tattoos of? What was the theme? What the fuck was going on? You had no clue where you were or how you got there. It was almost like time travel except for the fact that you could actually remember the times that you time traveled. If you could just get some clarity then maybe you would feel a little better about where you were now. Trying to understand the situation you asked,

"Did we just get here?"

"No, we've been here for a while now silly," Kenny commented placing a hand on your shoulder "Seems like someone had a bit too much to drink at the club, eh?"

You looked towards Kenny to shoot him a look but as you turned your head you saw an image on his wrist that extended up a part of his forearm. It was a skull surrounded by Red Spider Lily and Gomphrena flowers with two snakes coming out of the eye sockets twisting together like the Caduceus medicine symbol. The tattoo was wrapped in saran wrap with tape to stop it from opening. It was a little jarring seeing it since only a few hours ago he didn't have it but it looked cool as hell though.

"That's dope as fuck." You complimented pointing at the tattoo

"Thanks! The people who tat here might look scary but their art is beautiful." Kenny replied "I had a girl named Queenie do mine. She liked all the symbolism I told you about."

"Sorry, I don't recall." You said giving him an apologetic smile

"Ah shit, right." He replied before pointing at the image on his skin

"Red Spider Lilies symbolize death while Gomphrena has been known to symbolize immortality. The skull kinda adds to the life and death motif but the snakes intertwining are just for the health symbol because ima little medicine boy." Kenny explained

"Cool, so is it just you or did anyone else get tattooed yet?" You asked

Your friends, minus Kenny who had already clocked your semi-blackout state, all looked at you confused.

"Don't you remember Dean asking if you would hold his hand while he got tattooed because he felt a little nervous?" Addison inquired

"You make it sound like I was nervous because of the tattoo. I'm not a loser who is scared of needles." Dean interjected, "I was nervous because in the first timeline, I beat that guy in a street race when he challenged me and then he threatened to kill me when I won."

"Well, he doesn't know you in this timeline so you were fine," Addison remarked

"Yeah, well, having my super-powered sister made me feel a lot better." Dean replied back "The tattoo is dope though, I'll give him credit for that. But also we had a whole conversation with the guy about ways they could improve sunscreen to make it feel less gross when you apply it which I did find odd."

You held Dean's hand when he was getting his tattoo? And had a whole conversation about sunscreen? These felt like things you should've remembered but right now those memories were hazy at best. You could only hope that somehow your brain would move them from short to long-term memory so when you woke up tomorrow you would know what the hell has happened.

"Oh yeah, Axel has always been passionate about that." Kenny mentioned, "At least from what I recall the last time around."

"So how many of you have gotten your tattoos?" You asked

"All of us but you (Y/N)," Lucas answered holding out his wrist

On it, you saw what looked like a Grecian vase depicting Hercules slaying the Hydra. Between Kenny's tattoo and now Lucas' you were starting to get the theming that Viktoria didn't clearly mention earlier.

"Y'know I still think you're a coward for not letting Herc have a dick and balls," Dean commented

"How many times do I have to explain to you that you literally wouldn't see it from that angle!" Lucas exclaimed "And anyway it's MY tattoo on MY skin. If I don't want a dick on there, then there won't be one!"

"Lame," Kenny replied

"Oh fuck you guys," Lucas remarked

Dean and Kenny snickered with each other. You knew that their teasing was meaningless and based on the smirk that Lucas was trying to hide, he knew so too. Looking around you wanted to see what everyone else had gotten embedded into their skin.

"What about you guys?" You said gesturing between Dean, Addison, and Viktoria "What did you get?"

You could see Dean's eyes light up as he stepped in front of Addison and Viktoria and held his wrist out toward you stating loudly,

"I got this sick ass bow and arrow!"

He was correct. It was a sick ass bow and arrow that was overlaid on top of a circle target. And with your brother's reveal, you could definitely solidify the fact that the connecting theme the group was going for was tattoos symbolizing each of yourselves but more specifically your nicknames. Necrotic, Hercules, and now Marksman.

"Very cool, Dean." You said smiling before adding "Now can you please get out of the way of the girls."

"Fine." Dean huffed

Addison and Viktoria stepped forward as they held both their wrists out to you as well, albeit a little less aggressively than Dean just did. On Addison's, you saw three minimalist sparkles all in a row. It was simple, elegant, and a nice nod to her nickname Spotlight. And then on Viktoria there was a nice image of a viola with a small line of sheet music underneath. As you read them your hand instinctively moved as if you were playing the notes on the piano. D, A, G sharp, G. You stopped. You recognized those notes.

"Megalovania? Really?" You asked disappointed but unsurprised

"Yeah," Viktoria answered proudly

"Why?" You pressed

"I thought it was funny," She responded

You put your face in your hands for a moment as you laughed. Your friends could be so dumb but you loved it so much. And hey, if that's what she wanted to represent her nickname Sonata, so be it. As you looked around though you realized one of your friends was missing.

"Where's Bren?" You asked

"Right behind you!" Bren exclaimed, "I just finished my tattoo!"

"Congrats, you survived," Dean replied

"What did you get?" Lucas asked

"Nothing crazy. Just two whips, one above the other." Bren replied as he held up his wrist

The group looked at it, and while it was true that it was just two whips he failed to mention that the actually whippy part of each spiraled into cursive that spelled out half of his nickname. The top whip spelling out, well, whip, and the lower one spelling out lash. As you were about to compliment the creativity of Bren's tattoo though, The most stereotypical biker-looking man walked over with a woman and another man behind him. As he approached Kenny you could hear him say,

"Hey, Kid. Me, Jet, and Queenie are done. We wanna drink."

"But what about my friend, Axel?" Kenny questioned, "She's the only one of us left."

"And we gave you money for all of us!" Addison chimed in

"Stop your whining." The guy who you could only assume was Jet remarked "We might look shady to you from your ivory tower but fair is fair here. Your friend will get her ink."

You could see that Addison was slightly annoyed by the comment but kept her mouth shut. The last thing you all needed was for Addison's attitude to cause her to try doing some of her psychology shit here. As Lucas wrapped an arm around his girlfriend's waist to calm her down, the woman named Queenie stated,

"Yeah, we got another guy who just finished up and can take your friend. Down the hall, behind the employees-only door."

"Oh okay," Kenny said

"And Kid, don't ask me for anything else." Axel added

"Yeah, I won't." Kenny replied, "Enjoy your drinks."

With that, the three biker adults walked away from your group of friends and across the place to the bar. Your friends then turned to look at you.

"Alright (Y/N), you heard the man." Bren commented, "Down the hall and then behind the employees-only door."

"Um...okay I guess." You replied slowly standing up from your seat

You looked between the group and then down the hall toward the employees-only door. You weren't nervous to go get a tattoo but you also didn't quite know what to expect. When the Umbrellas had gotten their tattoos it was forced upon them and it seemed like they were all in pain when you found out about them. You still were a little hurt that Five made his siblings lie to you about their tattoos even existing because he knew it would upset you. But these tattoos were by choice, they were meaningful in a good way and it looked like everyone here did so well. But you couldn't remember anything up until recently so you couldn't be sure. Turning away from your friends you looked down the hall once more.

"Do you want me to come and hold your hand?" Dean asked placing a hand on your shoulder

You looked back over your shoulder at him. You could do this. Whatever hesitancy you had was nothing compared to all the things you had faced before. With a little more confidence you replied,

"No. I think I'll be okay."

Stepping forward, Dean pulled his hand off your shoulder and you began to walk down the hall to the door. From behind you, you could hear Viktoria call out,

"Ask for us if you need us!"

You looked back and nodded your head but continued on. As you walked your eyes shifted between all the people at the place you were at and while they gave you a passing glance they didn't really seem to care either. Making it to the door, you pushed it open and entered the room. As you did so you saw a chair to sit in, in the middle of the room but couldn't see the person who was supposed to tattoo you. Nevertheless, you walked toward the chair and sat down waiting for the person to show up. As you sat down, the metal of the seat squeaked followed by the sound of a door opening and closing behind you.

"What are you looking to get?" The voice asked as it approached

But as they stood beside you, you cocked your head to the side in confusion and quietly asked,

"Pogo?"

It had to be Pogo you had never seen another walking, talking, primate before. They looked exactly like him and sounded like him too. It had to be. You didn't speak as you processed your thoughts staring at him while he looked back. But after a moment you tried to explain,

"It's been so long I don't know if you recognize me but I'm-"

"Ms. (Y/N)," Pogo interjected taken aback

"Yeah." You replied quietly

Just as you were in disbelief so was Pogo. To him, you were like a legend more than you were real. Of course, he had remembered you briefly throughout his early days. You would read to him or play beautiful music on the piano. But more so he recalled you from all the times that Sir Hargreeves mentioned your name and the portrait that hung on the wall over the fireplace until it was switched after Master Benjamin's incident. It was impossible to forget who you were.

"So it was true then when Sir Hargreeves said you would come back one day?" Pogo questioned softly

You grimaced slightly at the question. You didn't like the way that Reginald had used you as some type of god to worship in an effort to control the Sparrows. How they had to work harder because you would come back and be better than them. Sure you were better than them, but the perspective he instilled in everyone was wrong. It wasn't who you were. But that wasn't the question you were asked though and so you stated,

"He's been wrong in many ways but in that instance, yes, he was correct."

Pogo looked at how your face contorted when he asked you about Sir Hargreeves. Even at his young age, he could remember sensing the placated animosity. All along you had known how awful Reginald was. If only he could've seen the truth sooner. However, feelings about Reginald aside, he wondered why you would be here at the bar of a notorious biker gang requesting a tattoo. You didn't seem the type.

"What are you doing in a place like this?" Pogo asked

"I could ask you the same thing." You replied

You never expected to see Pogo dressed in a leather jacket and jeans working as a tattoo artist for a biker gang. And yet here he was. You could see the way he now grimaced and his body tensed at the thought of whatever led him to be here.

"Sir Hargreeves and I had some disagreements over his treatment and training of the Sparrow Academy and when I voiced them he kicked me out. It was tough at first but I found a home here with the Mothers of Agony." Pogo explained, the resentment obvious in his tone

Once again Reginald Hargreeves was the sole cause for so many people's misery. He was like Ronald Reagan except instead of ruining an entire country he managed to ruin entire timelines with his actions.

"And yourself?" Pogo asked

You let out a deep sigh. Typically you told your story with such candor, and a level of humor in your tone as you explained every detail. But the story, your story, it wasn't funny. You only tried to make it sound funny because then you didn't have to deal with how awful it truly was. But you were tired of it now. So tired of the cycle of loss and misery and trying to rebuild your life. Could you not just fully be happy? Were you cursed to build your happiness back up only to have it come toppling down again?

"That bad, huh?" Pogo asked

"I won't bore you with the details as it's far too long and a bit too sad of a story to tell. But in short, I found out that a black hole is consuming the world, my boyfriend went god knows where with someone who was trying to kill him two days ago to try and stop the black hole, and everyone I loved has either died or left, minus those six kids outside this room." You explained sadly "And now I don't even know how I got here but I guess I'm here to shove ink into my skin in some meaningful way.

You saw as Pogo looked at you, although he looked like a hardened biker, that there was sadness and sympathy on his face. It was the exact same look that the Pogo you had grown up with gave you on occasion. Somehow there was a comfort in knowing that although the timeline was different he was still himself.

"I'm sorry that you've faced so much misfortune recently," Pogo said

"Same to you." You replied, "It seems like neither of us has expected to be where we are."

"Life will never be easy for those who are different, like us. No matter how green the grass may seem..." Pogo replied

He paused for a second, a grimace upon his face as he reflected back on his own life.

"...or how rose-tinted our glasses are." He continued "The best we can do is survive."

"I don't want to keep surviving. I want to live." You emphasized "But when I envision the future right now all I can see is well...a black hole."

You used to have plans for your life. Things to look forward to, things to work towards, things to hope for, but since the night at the consulate, your hope had been continuously dwindling. It was starting to feel reckless to hold onto hope especially since it was in such short supply. All you seemed to have to hold onto were the people you surrounded yourself with and even then some of them were harder to keep around than others. Leaning your head back on the headrest of the tattoo chair you looked blankly at the ceiling. But then you felt a gentle hand rest on top of your own. Looking over you saw that Pogo gave you a sympathetic look as he calmly stated,

"Dear child, as much as we want to, we will never know what comes next. The future will always be a dark void that we like to hang pretty pictures of what we're expecting in front of to stop it from scaring us."

"So what am I supposed to do?" You asked, "Just conscientiously object life itself?"

"No, you don't do that until you know in your heart it's the right option." Pogo replied, "Focus on what have now, not what you don't yet."

You stopped for a moment and thought about his words. He was right, all you could do was focus on what you had now. And that was your friends. It was already your intention to focus on them but the advice solidified it even more. You needed them and you were theirs because each other is all you had left in this world that was heading for the meat grinder.

"Thanks, Pogo." You thanked quietly

"You know Ms. (Y/N), even though I was young, I still remember how kind you always were. Your love is your strength and I only hope you don't let what you've faced take that away from you." Pogo stated "I already watched the Sparrows lose much of their light to this world and what it put them through. It would pain me greatly to find you facing the same fate."

You gave him a small smile, one that was reminiscent of acknowledging an old friend even though you didn't have much in common anymore. That knowing smile that someone cared even if they didn't play a major role in your life anymore.

"I'll give it my best as long as you promise me you'll do the same." You answered

"Then I'll give it my best too, Ms. (Y/N)," Pogo replied, his small smile reflecting yours "Now, you came here for a tattoo so the least I can do is give you one. It is my current profession after all."

"Oh, right," You said surprised

You had almost forgotten that was the reason you were here in the first place. You and your friends were all getting spontaneous thematic tattoos. As you watched him start to fully set up his equipment you thought about what you would want. Everyone had their tattoo related to their nickname but you wanted it to mean more than just that. As Pogo finished setting up his equipment he turned his attention back to you as he asked,

"Do you have anything particular in mind or just a concept?"

"I do think have an idea," You replied "Do you have something I can draw it with?"

Pogo nodded as he pulled out a small notebook and pen before handing it over to you. You were still a little tipsy from the events of the night thus far but you managed to draw down your idea. Although, not as neat as you would've liked. Handing the notebook and pen back to him you gestured to the drawing and said,

"That, but with y'know with crisper, neater line work."

"Of course. It's an interesting drawing," Pogo commented "Does it have meaning?"

"Yeah. A lot." You softly answered before asking "Can you do it?"

"Of course, I can Ms. (Y/N)," Pogo replied confidently

"Let's get started then." You said

Sitting back in the chair, you looked at your left wrist where for years no image had been placed upon it, not even a drawing in Sharpie. Somehow every time you thought about the possibility of getting a tattoo your mind went right back to all the Hargreeves and the idea turned you off. But now you realized that you didn't like their tattoos because they were kids and didn't have a choice. It was like an impersonal branding that was shoved into their skin against their will. But you, you had a choice and the image you chose had meaning. You loved the Hargreeves but this was different. You were different. And the drawing actually stood for something good. Something personal and filled with love. You looked at the blank skin one last time as the tattoo needle pressed into your wrist leaving the beginnings of your image. It didn't hurt, maybe because your senses were already a little numb or maybe because you weren't afraid. Either way, the vibration of the machine felt neutral and so you closed your eyes and let Pogo do his work as you let your hesitations fade away.

Darkness turned into clarity as you blinked your eyes rapidly to focus on what was happening. You could feel the wind blowing in your face as some of your hair brushed against your skin. The sounds of your friends' joyful screams and shouts echoed around you as you looked around. With a large smile on his face, Dean was flooring the car down an empty backroad loudly complimenting his car Veronica for how fast she was going. Kenny and Bren shouted happily as they both leaned themselves out of the back left window. Lucas and Addison were making out as if the world was ending which, you had no problem with because it was. And Viktoria was laughing like a maniac even though it looked like she was about to be sick. You smiled as you took in the sights and sounds of your friends. They were so happy. You all were so happy together.

As you looked around you looked down at your wrist to see the tattoo you had drawn on the paper for Pogo now embedded into your skin. You remembered the needle pressing into your skin but after that, it became a blur. You couldn't remember anything else you might have talked about. You couldn't remember if you thanked him. If you said goodbye and gave him a hug. If you told him that he mattered to you still and for him to be safe.

You hoped you did.

Looking at the image, it was a circle with two smaller circles intersecting it on either side kind of like a Venn diagram. The large middle circle had eight equally distant lines sticking out of it with the two lines at the 9 and 3 positions going through the side circles cutting them in two. The three interlocking circles were reminiscent of a three-ring circus a reference to your nickname Ringmaster the way the others had gotten tattoos representing their nicknames.

But the tattoo had more meaning than that as each part represented someone in your life. The large circle in the center was you. The two intersecting circles on the sides represented your parents while the four smaller sections within those circles represented both Umbrella Academy Grace and 1960s Grace, and Eudora with a spot left open that you were unsure if you were going to assign yet or not. You were still working on those feelings. And then there were the 8 lines. ^ represented the friends you were with now, one was for Charlie, and the last was for Five. Although you hoped one day that perhaps the lines could also represent the seven umbrellas plus yourself. But that didn't seem likely and you were far happier with the thought process you had now.

You were happy now.

Overall, things weren't perfect. There was a lot that was wrong both with you and the world. But that didn't matter because at least the moments you were in right now were perfect and you wouldn't change them in the slightest. And so you were happy.

You had no clue what was going on at this point but honestly, it didn't matter. You were with your friends and you only hoped that these last five days of existence with them would feel like a lifetime.

______________________________________________________________

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#the umbrella academy #tua #umbrella academy #tua five hargreeves #five hargreeves x you #five hargreeves x reader #five hargreeves #five hargreeves fanfic

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badkitty3000 · 9 days

Text

Updated 4/23/24 Chapter Eight Added!

Smutty smut chapter coming up! 😽☕☂️

I had to make a new post for the remaining chapters because it was getting too long to add them to the original. If you'd like to read chapters 1-6, here is the link.

☕Love In The Time Of Cholera And Coffee ☕

Five x Female Reader, Klaus x Female Reader

You and Klaus are in a casual relationship. No ties, just sex. When you start spending a lot of time at his apartment, you somehow manage to break through his brother's prickly outer shell. He seems to like you, or at least tolerate you the best that Five can. When you start to realize that maybe there is more than just mutual friendship between the two of you, it opens up a lot of feelings and unanswered questions. And a lot of problems.

This story contains sexually explicit material! (But also lots of humor and fluff)

Chapter Seven: Be My Baby

The morning rush is typical for a Saturday. Lots of parents on their way to soccer tournaments, and elderly couples that wake up early, starting their day when the sun rises. You don’t need to be there, necessarily. Your team can handle it. But you like it. You like the early morning sunrise and the smell of the first pot of coffee brewing. The smiles of the hopeful people as they start their days. The morning is perfect. It gives everyone the chance to start fresh.

As you’re surveying the pastries and taking note of inventory, the bell over the door rings. You don’t even look up as you focus on the spreadsheet on your tablet. The customer, however, is not the usual. You recognize the silhouette of the person walking towards you. How could you not? It’s been 6 months, but you’ll never forget it.

“Hey there,” he says, as he nears the counter.

He’s just as you remember him and he addresses you as if no time has passed.

“Hi, Klaus,” you respond with a timid smile, looking up from your tablet.

Klaus removes his sunglasses that had been perched on his nose, and he looks around, taking it all in. He smiles that smile that usually means he’s up to something.

“Wow, so this place is hopping!” he says as he leans against the counter.

He’s wearing a pair of way too-tight white jeans, and a tank top that says “Slut” across the chest. His signature dog tags hang down over the lettering and jingle when he moves.

“Yeah, we’re doing alright. Our profits are actually up since I bought it,” you respond with pride.

You haven’t seen Klaus since that day he and Five had their blow-out fight over you. Well, technically you haven’t seen him since the night before the blow-out. You had figured you’d never see either one of them again. Yet, here he was.

“Is that right? Well, mazel tov,” he answers with a genuine smile.

“Can I get you something?” you ask.

“I’ll take a green tea if you don’t mind,” Klaus says.

He doesn’t sound angry like you assumed he would be. Like he should be, honestly.

You nod at the barista who is working today and he busies himself with making Klaus’s drink. In the meantime, there is no one else in line, so you and he are stuck staring at each other. Klaus speaks first.

“So, it’s been a while. How are you?” he asks, a suspicious-looking smile on his face.

“I’m fine, thank you. And you?”

Klaus shrugs his shoulders and looks around again. “Oh, you know. I’m always here and there, doing something.”

You smile. “Same old Klaus. Like a feral tom cat just prowling the town.”

He winks back at you with a grin. “Meow.”

The barista hands him his tea and he reaches into his back pocket for his wallet to pay, but you hold out a hand.

“Don’t be silly. It’s on the house.”

Klaus raises his eyebrows, then lifts his cup up in a toasting gesture. “Thank you!”

You shrug. “It’s the least I can do. The very least.”

He nods thoughtfully and takes a sip, looking around the shop again. “Do you have a minute? You know, to talk?”

You swallow nervously and chew at your bottom lip. He doesn’t seem upset, but what does he want to talk to you about? It can’t be anything good. But you nod and come around the counter. You gesture to an empty table near the back, away from listening employees, and you both make your way over. Once you and Klaus are situated, sitting across from one another, you wait with hands folded in front of you.

“So…you’re probably wondering why I came here, aren’t you?” he asks, still with that same Klaus smile on his face.

You nod. “A little, yeah. I know we have good tea here but given the circumstances…” You look down at your hands and start picking at a cuticle. “I really never thought I’d be seeing you again.”

Klaus leans back and drapes an arm lazily over the back of the chair. “Yeah, well…I’ve been doing a lot of thinking. And maybe a little bit of therapy.” He rolls his eyes. “Anyway, I’ve been trying to be a better person and see the error of my ways, and all that shit. And I have come to the conclusion that I owe you an apology.”

The surprise on your face must be evident because Klaus gives a little laugh and shakes his head. “I know that’s not what you were expecting. But, it’s true. I owe you an apology and I’m sorry.”

“For…for what? I’m the one—”

He cuts you off with an airy wave of his hand. “Listen. I was selfish and I should have appreciated you more. I know we weren’t going to end up getting married or anything, but I could have made more of an effort. Like when you were sick…that was shitty of me and I’m sorry. If I had treated you just a little better, then maybe…”

You groan and drop your forehead onto your hands as they rest on the table. “Klaus, I appreciate the apology, but you had nothing to do with that. That was me and I’m the one that needs to apologize, not you. I’m the one that fucked everything up between you two.”

Klaus is quiet and you glance up at him. He has a tiny smile on his face again. “Ok, so we both had a hand in it. And I accept your apology. But you didn’t fuck everything up. I mean, you’re not that amazing,” he says with a smirk before taking another sip of his tea.

You lift your head. “What do you mean? You guys aren’t…”

Klaus shakes his head and gives another dismissive wave. “Nah, we’re good. He did move out, though. But that might have been more about me leaving wet towels on the bathroom floor than anything else.”

You chuckle a little and lean back in your chair, starting to relax somewhat. “Huh. Well, good. I’m glad to hear that.”

Klaus is looking at you with one eyebrow raised, his mouth turned up at the corner.

“What? Why are you looking at me like that?” you ask.

Klaus shrugs his shoulders, trying to look innocent. Then he reaches into the pocket of his pants and pulls out a small, folded piece of paper. He slides it across the table to you. You pick it up with a look of confusion. When you unfold it, you see there is an address scrawled on it in Klaus’s messy handwriting.

“What is this?”

He gives another shrug. “I think maybe you two need to talk.”

Your eyes widen and you glance back down at the paper. “Wait…this is his address?”

Klaus nods, but then he’s starting to stand up, apparently ready to leave. “If you don’t want it, throw it out. But I figured I owed you that much.” He puts his sunglasses back on and looks down at you. “You do know he’s in love with you, right?”

Your shocked expression makes him laugh and he leans down to give you a quick peck on the cheek.

“Thanks for the tea. Maybe I’ll see you around. You know, at family gatherings or something?”

Then Klaus is walking out the door, leaving you stunned and staring down at the piece of paper in your hands, your brain whirring.

A week goes by and you try not to think about it. But it’s kind of hard when you carry that paper around with you in your pocket every day. The address isn’t far from your store. Just a few blocks, actually. Which makes you realize that he has probably been avoiding you and the shop like the plague. Or has he been quickly walking by, taking a glance through the windows to see if you’re there? Maybe blinking away before you can raise your head and see him. Doubtful. Despite what Klaus told you, you have every reason to believe he has no desire to see you again.

Every time you think that maybe you should walk over there, to that address you have memorized now, you change your mind. Maybe it would be different if you still didn’t have a clear image of him in your head from the last time you saw him. That blank, uncaring look on his face. Those cold words he said to you. That’s what stops you each time.

But then at night, when you’re home alone and in bed trying in vain to sleep, different images come to mind. Memories of his face and his smile, and the way he would begrudgingly laugh at something funny you said. And of his body on yours, the heat of his skin, and his urgent kisses. You remember every word he said to you in the dark that night. And you just can’t believe he didn’t mean them. Not when he was pleading with you to be his.

The crazy thing was that you had already given yourself over to him. You wanted to be his. And you had thought that night was going to be just one of many you would spend together. Maybe it would have been awkward at first, with Klaus; but you were willing to try and work past that. Because that’s how much you wanted to be with him.

What an idiot you had been. On your way out of work one night, you throw the paper with the address into the trash can and walk away.

It has been two weeks since Klaus came by and even though you still can’t stop thinking about what he told you, you aren’t taking the bait. You’re better off without him or any of that mess. He’s better off without you, too.

The café is quiet, with only a few lights left on. It’s been closed for an hour now, all cleaned and the food stored away for the night. Your staff has gone home and it’s just you there. You’re finishing up some financial documents on your laptop at a table, a mix of some soft rock tunes playing on the speakers overhead. You’re humming along to a Whitney Houston song when you hear a knock on the glass door. When you look up, you take a sharp breath in and accidentally knock over the glass of water you had sitting next to you.

It's Five. He’s standing there, right outside the door, and he’s already spotted you, so you can’t exactly hide. Plus, now you’re jumping up and trying to mop up the spilled water with a few flimsy napkins and swearing to yourself out loud.

“Shit shit shit,” you mumble.

When you look up again, you can see Five watching the whole thing go down and he’s got that smirk on his face. The one you hate but also can’t stop thinking about. You huff, rolling your eyes, and motion for him to come in. The door is locked for the night, of course, but that doesn’t matter. He blinks in right away, reappearing a few feet away from you, hands in his pants pockets.

“Hi,” he says with a smile.

You pause, taking him in for a moment. Damn it, why is he so good-looking? With his stupid dark hair falling onto his forehead and his annoyingly perfect body and ridiculously chiseled jawline. And that goddamn sexy, smart-ass expression on his face. Fuck.

“What are you doing here?” you say, trying to appear like you couldn’t possibly care less that he’s standing right in front of you.

He shrugs. “Just walking by. I was in the neighborhood and thought I’d see if you were still here.”

After throwing the soggy napkins into the trash behind the counter, you come around again and lean against it, your arms crossed.

“Just walking by, huh?”

Five at least has the decency to look a little embarrassed as he glances at the floor and clears his throat.

“Yeah, well…something like that,” he mumbles.

“Why are you here, Five?”

You’re determined not to let him see the uncertainty in you and you raise your chin and square your shoulders to try and appear more confident. Inside, a million butterflies have taken residence in your stomach.

He rubs the back of his neck. “Yeah, so…Klaus told me he came by the other day.”

You raise an eyebrow. “Yes, he did. And?”

“He told me he talked to you and gave you my address.”

You make a circular motion with your hand to get him to hurry this little story along.

“Anyway, he said he gave it to you and I thought maybe…” he trails off and looks down at the floor again.

“Ohhh…you thought maybe I’d come crawling back to you? Run right on over and jump into your arms? Tell you all is forgiven. Is that what you thought?”

“No!” he snaps, and then his voice softens again. “No. I just thought…” He throws his hands in the air in frustration. “Fuck! I don’t know what I thought! This is stupid, I don’t know why I came here.”

He turns around to leave, but you call out so that he stops in his tracks. “I almost did!” He turns to you and you blush a little. “I came really close to going over there. I had a whole speech prepared and everything. It was good, too. I was really going to let you have it.” You give a short laugh.

“Why didn’t you?” he asks.

“Because I was afraid that what Klaus told me wasn’t true,” you admit.

“What did Klaus tell you?”

You’re not really sure you want to get into all of that quite yet, so you change the subject back to him.

“Really, why are you here, Five? It’s been six months, so why now?”

“I just…” he takes a deep breath. “I just wanted to see you again. And to say I’m sorry.”

Your eyebrows shoot up in surprise. Then they crease together again. “And which thing or things are you sorry for?”

Five sighs and takes a few steps toward you, but stops short of coming too close. He seems to gain a little more confidence and he looks you in the eyes.

“I’m sorry for everything. For putting you in that situation. And for saying what I did. I know I was a jerk and you didn’t deserve that.”

You look up and blink a few times to try and keep your emotions in check. Then you look back at him.

“Jerk doesn’t even begin to cover it. You hurt me, Five. Really hurt me. Do you realize that?”

He swallows hard and nods. “I know.”

“Why? Why did you do that? I don’t understand. I was ready to…” Your voice cracks and you don’t finish your sentence.

“After the fight with Klaus, I just felt so awful and ashamed, so I panicked and took it out on you. Which was a really shitty thing to do, and I’m so sorry. I also understand if you never want to see or talk to me again, but I thought I’d take a chance by coming here. I at least wanted to let you know.”

You nod slowly. “Yeah, ok, so you’re sorry. Is there anything else you’d like to confess?”

“What do you mean?”

You shift your weight to your other foot and cross and uncross your arms. “Did you even mean those things you said that night?”

He pauses for a minute and you see him swallow hard. “Yeah,” he says quietly. “I meant them.”

“Klaus said you’re in love with me,” you blurt out, and you watch as his eyes get wide and his face flushes.

He clenches his teeth together. “Fucking Klaus,” he mutters under his breath.

“So?” you challenge. “Is he right?”

He is visibly uncomfortable and his hands are in his pockets again as he looks at the floor. Then he gathers some courage and he looks up.

“He’s right,” he says. “I am in love with you. I have been for a long time.”

You sigh and put your hands on your hips and look up at the ceiling, then back at him again. “Damn it, Five!”

“What?”

“You know, just because you say that does not mean all is forgiven, or that I’m automatically in love with you too, even though I am, although why I have no fucking idea. I really cannot believe the nerve of you showing up here after all this time. You are still the biggest asshole I have ever met and I’m not even sure I want anything to do with you anymore—"

Your rant is cut short when Five closes the few feet between you in a short spatial jump, making you yelp sharply when he suddenly grabs you around the waist and pulls you into him.

“Let go of me!” you say in protest.

“What did you say?” he asks, that arrogant look on his face as his mouth turns up on one side.

You squirm, trying to get out of his grasp but it’s not very convincing, and it’s also making your body rub up against his, which is not helping matters. His hold on you is strong, though, and he doesn’t let up. He’s looking you right in the eyes and you can’t seem to look away.

“I said you’re a giant asshole,” you say, your voice much weaker all of a sudden.

“You said you’re in love with me.”

“No, I didn’t.”

“Yes, you did,” he says with a smirk, right before he jerks your body closer to him, his arm wrapped around your middle and his hand resting on the small of your back.

His eyes travel over your face and you look at his lips and suddenly you can’t think straight anymore. You nod your head slowly.

“Yeah, maybe I did,” you confess in a whisper, right before he kisses you.

His kiss is soft and slow, and he brings his hand up to the side of your face. All of those feelings that you had pushed down come rushing back to you with that touch. You kiss him back, savoring the feel of his soft lips and the way his body feels next to yours.

He smiles against your mouth, even as he continues kissing you, and you drape your arms over his shoulders. When you pull away, he keeps his hand on your cheek.

“I’m sorry it took me this long to get my shit together,” he tells you with a breathy laugh. “I love you.”

“I love you, too,” you tell him with a smile, but when he goes in for another kiss, you pull back and place a hand on his chest. “Whoa there, buddy, not so fast.”

He scrunches his eyebrows together and it takes a lot of resolve for you not to kiss him right now because his pouty man face is so cute.

“What’s the matter?” he asks.

“Ok, so you said you’re sorry, but I’m going to need a little more than that.”

“More?”

“Yes. You can’t possibly think waltzing in here and simply saying you’re sorry and you love me is enough, can you?”

“So, what do you want? You want me to fall on my knees and grovel?”

You place a finger on your lips in thought. “Hmm…that does sound nice, but something tells me you’d actually like that. No, let me think…” When you hear the music that has been playing on the store speakers, your face lights up. “I got it!”

“I’m afraid to ask, but ok, what is it?”

“Sing.”

“Excuse me?”

You step out of his arms and lean back against the counter again. “I want you to sing the next song that comes on. No matter what it is. And I want it done with feeling. To me.”

Five’s face is hilarious because he looks like you just kicked him in the nuts. “Are you fucking serious? You want me to sing to you?”

You nod. “Yep.”

He stares in stunned silence for a minute before he crosses his arms and tilts his head. “You know I took a punch in the face for you.”

You shrug. “Sorry to hear that, but that’s not really relevant at the moment. Plus, I wasn’t there to witness or enjoy it, so it doesn’t count. No, I want you to sing, and if you half-ass it you will have to start over. I want to see some professional, Frank Sinatra-level, Elvis in Las Vegas-style crooning. And I want it right now.”

Five glances up and notices the security camera mounted in the corner behind you and runs a hand down his face. “Shit. And this is the only way you’re going to forgive me and stop torturing me by standing there looking cute but not letting me touch you?”

“Pretty much, yes.”

“And there’s no way I can talk my way out of this and get you to kiss me again? Because I really want to kiss you again.”

“Nope. You say you love me. Prove it.”

He sighs heavily. “Alright then.”

“Alright, what?”

“I guess I’m fucking singing.”

You smile widely and at just that precise moment, the song that had been playing fades out and another one starts up. You start laughing when you hear “Be My Baby” by the Ronettes. It’s such a cheesy, girly pop song, and it’s perfect.

“Don’t forget…with feeling,” you remind him as you perch yourself on the countertop and wait expectedly for him to start.

With another sigh and a sarcastic smile in your direction, Five reluctantly starts singing.

The night we met I knew I needed you so

And if I had the chance I’d never let you go

It’s bad and off-key and he’s stumbling over some of the words. He can’t decide if he wants to sing it in the high, women’s register or lower his voice, so his voice keeps cracking. But he’s putting the effort in, like you requested.

So won't you say you love me?

I’ll make you so proud of me

We’ll make ‘em turn their heads, every place we go

He’s starting to get into it a little, adding awkward dancing and elaborate hand choreography.

So won’t you please

Be my little baby

Say you’ll be my darling

It’s maybe the cutest thing you’ve ever seen and when you start giggling, that’s when he really kicks it into gear. He grabs a plastic knife from the counter and uses it as a microphone to up his performance.

Be my baby now…whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh

He is singing his heart out directly to you, as dramatically as he can. He is also trying not to laugh while you are barely holding it together as you watch his horribly wonderful performance that he is putting on just because you asked him to. The dramatic emoting and facial expressions are too much, so you cover your eyes with your hands and peek through two fingers to watch him.

I’ll make you happy, baby,

Just wait and see

For every kiss you give me

I’ll give you three

For this, he grabs your hand and kisses it dramatically as you toss your head back and laugh at him. You have never seen him act this stupid and silly, and it’s making you love him that much more because you know he’d never do this for anyone else. When the interlude comes on, Five tosses his knife microphone over his shoulder without taking his eyes off you and takes your hand again, pulling you into him. He holds you to him as he dances slowly with you and when the lyrics start up again, he finishes out the song by belting it out as loudly and as off-key as possible while you alternate between laughing and visibly cringing.

So won’t you please

Be my little baby

Say you’ll be my darlin’

Be my baby now

Whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh

As the song winds down and fades away, he stops dancing, but he’s still holding you close to him. He stands there with a wicked grin, waiting for you to say something.

“That’s all on video, you know. So I can blackmail you whenever you act up,” you say with a smile.

“Do you believe that I am willing to do anything for you, including humiliating myself? Did I sufficiently prove my love to you?”

“Well, I reserve the right to demand further proof at future times, but for right now, yes. That was sufficient.”

He doesn’t wait any longer before he’s back to kissing you, and this time you don’t try to stop him. When he holds you tight to his chest, his arms wrapped around you and his hand winding into your hair, you feel happier than you have in months. You probably shouldn’t have taken him back so willingly, despite his apologies and musical performance. But you can’t help yourself. You want him like you’ve never wanted anyone in your life, and the fact that he came back here for you has immediately melted any stoniness you had in your heart for him.

It’s quickly obvious that a few kisses are not going to be enough and you are both breathing hard as you try to pull each other even closer. Five pushes you up against the counter, boosting you up so you’re sitting on top and he is standing between your legs, his hands gripping into your thighs and pulling them forward to wrap around his waist. After a few seconds, you place a hand on his chest again.

“Hang on, we can’t do this,” you say, your chest heaving.

Five frowns. “I’m sorry, am I moving too fast?”

“No, I mean we can’t do this here . This is a major health code violation and if someone sees I’ll be in deep shit.”

Five laughs. “Well, I wasn’t planning on jizzing into the espresso machine, but I guess I see your point. We can stop.”

“No, I don’t want to stop ! Can’t we go to your place? It’s just a few blocks over.”

Five raises his eyebrows in surprise and chuckles. “I thought you didn’t care where I lived.”

You blush. “Well…I may have thrown your address out but that doesn’t mean I didn’t memorize it or map out how to get there from here.”

“Stalker!”

“Shut up,” you tell him, even as you’re smiling. “I know you’re loving this, you bastard.”

He shakes his head. “You think I’m loving the fact that the girl I’m head over heels in love with has secretly been obsessed with me and stalking me like a total creep?”

“I wasn’t stalking you! Jesus Christ, Five…are we going back to your place or not?”

He laughs again and you find yourself laughing right along with him. “Come on, psycho, let’s go.” He holds out a hand for you and you hop down off the counter. “It’s a nine-minute walk. Three if you let me blink you part of the way there.”

“You know exactly down to the minute? Who’s the stalker now?”

“Alright, I confess. I may have walked past here a couple of times.”

“Only a couple?” you ask with a smile.

He rolls his eyes. “I think I already regret coming here.”

You give him a quick kiss and then pull him by his hand towards the door. “No, you don’t. Because, in a few minutes, I’m going to rock your world, baby.”

He gives a frustrated groan. “You’re definitely letting me blink you there, now. I can’t wait a full nine minutes.”

Chapter Eight: Slow Hand

When we arrive at my apartment (5 minutes later, after one blink and a quick make-out session on the street), we step inside and she takes a look around. It’s not much different than the one I shared with Klaus, just a little smaller. The furniture is nice but simple, and everything is clean. There’s nothing fancy about it, but it’s comfortable and cozy. She notices a folded-up newspaper on one of the tables, turned to a half-completed crossword puzzle.

She smiles and points at it. “Such an old man thing to have.” She glances around. “Where’s the bowl of butterscotch candies? Or the plastic furniture covers?”

I am watching her as she starts walking around the living room, but then I suddenly blink over and grab her from behind. My arms are around her middle, holding her close to me while my mouth makes its way to her neck. After her initial shock wears off, she melts into me and tips her head back onto my shoulder.

“I might be an old man, darling, but my body and my hormones are 21 and you are driving them fucking crazy right now.”

She inhales sharply and exhales a soft laugh as I caress her stomach and hips with my hands, letting my mouth trail over her neck.

“Good thing for you, I happen to have a thing for older men in hot, young bodies,” she says. She turns around to face me, my arms still around her, and she gives me a smile before kissing me.

“Lucky me,” I reply.

Before I can say anything else, she pushes me backward until my legs hit the back of the couch. She gives me a shove with a hand on my chest, making me sit down, and she immediately climbs onto my lap, straddling me. Just that move right there has me hard already and I grab her face with both hands, kissing her deeply while she pushes herself over my crotch.

“Can I ask you something?” she breathes out while my mouth returns to her neck.

“Hmmm,” I respond in between kisses.

“Have you been with anyone else since me?”

I stop and I just can’t help but tease her a little with an inside joke about the book we read together. I flash her a devious smile. “622. Give or take.”

She laughs and whacks me on the chest. “Yeah, right. You wish.”

I shake my head. “No, sweetheart. There’s been only you on my mind.” Then I trace my thumb across her bottom lip and look her in the eyes. “But it’s ok if you have.”

She kisses me again, running a hand through my hair. “I went on one date, that’s it.”

Despite what I just told her about it being ok, my body immediately tenses up when she says that and I know she can tell. I start to relax a little when she places her own kisses onto the side of my neck. I let out a long breath before I ask more questions, even though I don’t really want to hear about it.

“Just one?”

She nods, continuing her kisses. “Yes. Just one.”

“And how did this date end?” I ask, trying to play it cool, although I doubt it’s very convincing.

She runs her tongue under the curve of my jaw before giving it a small bite. I grab her hips in return.

“It ended with a very steamy good night hug.”

I let out a hum of approval, leaning my head back while she draws her lips over my Adam’s apple.

“Why nothing more?”

She pauses and waits until I’m looking at her again. “Because he wasn’t you,” she tells me. I think maybe she is teasing me, but the look on her face is completely serious.

“I like that answer.”

I put my hand on the back of her neck as I try to pull her in for another kiss, but she resists and pulls backward. I’m momentarily confused until I see her very devilish face as she slowly slides off my lap and onto the floor, kneeling in front of me with her hands on my thighs. She looks up at me, biting her lower lip and it’s a goddamn miracle I haven’t come in my pants yet. I let out a little whimper just from the sight of her.

“You know, you kicked me out before I had a chance to repay you for that amazing tongue action you gave me that night,” she tells me.

“That was pretty fucking stupid of me,” I joke, although I’m clearly breathing harder and I have to shift in my seat.

She smiles and leans forward, letting her mouth graze over the crotch of my pants where the hard swelling of my erection is impossible to miss. When I feel her warm breath seeping through the fabric, I suck in a loud breath and push my hips up.

“Fuck,” I whisper.

As she starts unbuckling my belt and opening my pants, she looks back up. “You don’t have to,” I tell her quietly.

She gives me a small smile but starts to pull at my pants until I help her out by lifting my hips up slightly. When she takes my straining cock in her hand, I make another groaning noise and swear under my breath.

“Let me give this to you,” she says softly.

She is licking and sucking up and down my shaft and circling her tongue over the head, and I’ve never experienced anything like this before. I may have had a few sexual experiences before her, but none of them involved anything sensual like this.

“You taste so good,” she moans before her lips pass over my entire length again and I have to close my eyes.

I move a hand to her head and she makes a little whining noise that I take to mean she’s ok with me doing that. Which is very good, because I am having one hell of a time controlling myself right now. I flex my fingers and pull her hair at the same time I just slightly push her head down. I want to fuck her face so badly right now, but I know if that happens, I’m going to be done in about three seconds and I’d really like to wait just a little longer before I embarrass myself again this evening.

“Oh fuck, honey, that feels so good and I really don’t want you to stop, but…shit…I’m not going to be able to hold out much longer if you keep doing that.”

She doesn’t laugh, or argue, and she looks pretty proud of herself as she removes her mouth from me and looks up. My chest is heaving and I lick my lips.

“Get up here,” I say with enough authority that she knows I’m not messing around.

It must have worked because she’s standing up in a second and stripping off her clothes until she is fully naked in front of me.

“God fucking damn it, you’re gorgeous,” I groan, reaching out a hand for her.

Rather than climb directly onto my lap again, she shakes her head and leans down to unbutton my shirt and drag it down my arms. I love the way her warm hands feel on me as she quickly undresses me. She yanks my pants the rest of the way down my legs and off until I’m completely naked, too. She stops for a minute and looks me over. My mind drifts back to the time she caught me in the shower, jerking off while thinking of her. Luckily now, I get to do a lot more than just imagine things.

This time when I pull her by the hand, she immediately relents, straddling my lap once more. I dive onto her mouth to kiss her hard while I grab her hips tightly. She whines quietly as she automatically starts rubbing her soaking wet slit over my cock. It feels amazing, but I need to be inside of her again; I can’t wait any longer. With one lift of her hips and some maneuvering with my hand, she sinks down onto my shaft, letting me fill her up entirely.

“Oh…oh my god!” she cries out.

We stay like that for a minute, neither one of us moving yet, and I bring my hand up to the back of her neck, pulling her closer to me.

“I’ve missed you so much…” I murmur into her shoulder and I hear her sigh happily.

When she starts to move, slowly, over my dick, my grip on her tightens and I thrust up to match her rhythm. I can’t stop looking her deep in the eyes, so when she tries to look away, I gently guide her face towards me again. My hands travel down her sides and back up again, around to her ass, and then over her thighs. I want to touch every part of her and I can’t believe how long I’ve gone without feeling her. I love how it feels with her slowly fucking me, but I can’t stop the urge to have her pounding away on top of me.

“Ride me harder, sweetheart,” I tell her with a groan as I jerk her body forward.

She does exactly what I say and starts moving hard and fast on top of me, her hands holding onto my shoulders and her forehead pressed to mine.

“I love you, Five. I need you and I love you,” she tells me, and she sounds so desperate.

I’ve never been so happy to hear something in my whole life and it’s almost painful to feel the amount of love that is flowing through me right now. “I know, baby. I’m so sorry for everything. I love you so much.”

It’s hard to focus on everything all at once. I want to keep kissing her and tell her so many things. I want to feel her body pressed against mine, her hands all over me, and her harsh breathing on my skin. The desperate noises we are making are getting louder and higher pitched, and underneath all of that, I can hear the wet slapping noises between the two of us as her cunt passes over my dick. She is fucking me as hard as she can, but it’s not enough; I want more.

I don’t say anything or ask if it’s ok before I lift her off by her hips, pulling out and throwing her next to me so that she’s lying on her back. She’s sprawled out, whining at the loss of my body against hers. That doesn’t last long though, because I’m back on top of her in a second, thrusting inside of her again while I hold myself over her.

“I do love you, but fuck , I want to destroy this body of yours right now,” I warn between clenched teeth.

“I’m all yours,” she moans, throwing her head back as I slam into her.

I am rough and relentless, and even though I’m fucking her to the point I’m sure it’s almost painful, she is screaming for more. She is gasping for air and whimpering with each forceful drive of my cock inside of her. I’m starting to sweat and my hair is hanging in my face, but I keep my eyes trained on her. I’m hoping to god she’s getting close because I know I am and this is one race I do not want to win.

“Five…Five, oh my god yes!”

Hearing that is too much, though, and suddenly I’m violently coming inside of her. “Ah, fff-fuck!”

She is falling apart, clutching at my shoulders and writhing beneath me, her body spasming with pleasure as she lets out a sobbing cry that is filled with emotions. My manic thrusting stops as I stiffen against her, my hips twitching as I fill her up with a surge of cum. My moans are loud and long as I hold myself over her, finally lowering myself down enough to kiss her through panting breaths.

As my body relaxes, she pulls me onto her so I can press my face into the crook of her neck, my chest flush with hers. We trade soft kisses back and forth as we both try to catch our breath. She smiles at me and pushes my hair off my damp forehead, trailing her fingers down the side of my neck and over my shoulder. I could stay like this forever.

“Shit, that was amazing. I want you like that every day,” she tells me. “Although, maybe you have lots of important things to do this evening? Should I leave?”

I let out a long sigh. “Is this going to be a thing? You’re just going to make me pay for my stupid behavior again and again?”

She shrugs and gives me that impossibly cute smart-ass look of hers. “Probably.”

I return it by giving her a small bite to the side of her neck and I chuckle when she yelps. I hold myself over her so I can look down on her, one eyebrow raised. “I suppose that’s fair. But you are the only important thing I have to do this evening and you are never leaving again.”

“Oh, so now you’re holding me captive?”

“I’m afraid so,” I tell her sadly.

She laughs and pulls me down to kiss me again. “You’re so cute when you’re all soft and sweet like this.”

“I think we’ve been over this,” I say with a frown. “I am not cute. I am an angry, smoldering, sex god.”

Running a hand over my back and down, she grabs my ass and gives it a squeeze. “Yes, you are. And you are my smoldering sex god.”

I don’t know about the sex god part of it, but I know I am undeniably hers from now on. I smile. “Yes, I am.”

After another quick kiss, I help her up off the couch and she heads to the bathroom to get cleaned up. I still can’t believe this is real and I just stand there like a big, naked dope smiling to myself because I’m so happy right now.

When she comes back out, I’m still there waiting for her and I watch as she bends down to pick up her underwear that was discarded on the floor. I startle her when I grab them from out of her hands and tilt her face up with a hand on her chin.

“What do you think you’re doing?” I ask with a smirk.

She blinks up at me and sticks her bottom lip out. “I thought I was getting dressed.”

Without taking my eyes off her, I hurl the balled-up panties over her shoulder so that they land halfway across the room. “Like hell you are.”

Then, just to be a giant prick, I grab her around the waist and in half a second we are falling out of one of my portals and onto my bed. She lets out a shriek as her back hits the mattress and I laugh evilly when I land next to her. This might be my favorite party trick and it never gets old.

After she gets her wits about her, she sits up with a scowl and punches me in the arm. “Don’t ever do that without giving me a heads-up again! Fuck, that was weird.”

“Sorry, darling. But when you have the ability to teleport a beautiful, naked woman into your bed, it’s nearly impossible not to take advantage of the opportunity.”

She’s probably still trying to get that foggy feeling to leave her brain, but I don’t wait before I kiss her again, deep and hard while I push her back onto the bed. I know she can already feel me getting harder as I lay myself over her.

With a giggle, she pulls back. “Already? Pretty impressive for someone your age.”

I flip a piece of hair out of my eyes and gaze down at her with an expression I’ve been told makes me look like an arrogant asshole. “Sweetheart, if you think for one minute you are getting any kind of break tonight, think again. We have a lot of time to make up for and with that amazing fucking body of yours, I get hard as a rock just looking at you.”

She lets out a little whimper that has me proving my previous statement as I start pressing myself against her thigh. She lays her head back and lets me kiss down her neck and over her chest. Her hands are warm and firm as they travel over my body in response. Everything is perfect and I’m in heaven.

"Five?”

“Yes, love?” I ask, not stopping as I move my mouth to her cleavage, sucking at the skin there while I massage her perfect tits and lightly graze her nipples with my fingertips.

“I want this to be real. And I want it to last.” I stop what I am doing and look up at her. “If you think there’s a chance that tomorrow or next week or even a month from now you are going to change your mind; if there’s any doubt at all…then I can’t do this. So, tell me now if this is just another impulse you are acting on but are going to regret in the morning. Tell me if you’re going to wake up tomorrow and say none of this was real. Because that shit hurt and I don’t want to feel that bad ever again.”

It’s like someone just ripped my heart out of my chest. I look at her face and it’s filled with so much uncertainty and hurt, and it was all caused by me. I want to reassure her that I will never do anything like that again, but I hardly know where to start. My mouth opens partially before closing again. I reposition myself so that I am lying next to her, placing my hand gently on the side of her face, urging her to look at me. I want to look her in the eyes so that she knows I mean it.

“I know I hurt you. I was horrible to you and I understand why you don’t want to trust me right now. I wish you could see inside my head and know how fucking sorry I am. How I wish I could take back everything I said to you that morning. All I can do is beg for your forgiveness and let me try and make it up to you. I meant everything I said. I’ll take care of you. I want to make you happy. And I want you with me not just for tonight, but always. I love you.”

“Ok,” she whispers with a small nod. “I believe you.”

“I’m serious. I can’t promise I will never do anything stupid again or that I will magically stop being an asshole sometimes, but I can promise that I will never deny my feelings for you again.”

She nods again, and then her mouth turns up in a cute little smile. “Never? Even when I’m incredibly annoying and wiping my snotty nose all over your shirtsleeve?”

I make a disgusted face that has her giggling. “You wiped your nose on me?”

“Just once or twice when you weren’t looking.”

I shake my head. “No wonder I ended up with your disease ten days later.”

She smiles and traces my lips with her fingertips. “A deadly disease and a punch in the face? Just for little old me?”

I kiss the tips of her fingers and nod. “And I would do it all over again a million times if it meant you’d end up here. Specifically, right here, underneath me and naked.”

When I start to kiss her again, I feel her body react as she sighs into me, and her hips start slowly rolling upwards. She tries to drag my body on top of hers, but I don’t let her. Instead, I pull away from her mouth to look at her again, my fingers following the curve of her jaw. I have been thinking of something she said while she was talking in her feverish dreams that night, and I’m going to need to try it out.

“I told you I’d take care of you and I meant it.” I give her another kiss. “So, let Daddy take care of you, my love.”

Her reaction is just what I was hoping for as she sucks in a loud breath and bites at her lip, her hips pressing up again. I laugh, kissing her gently while running the back of my hand down her cheek.

“I take it you like that, sweetheart?” I murmur as I move under her chin.

She whines out some sort of response that might resemble a yes, and I smile with approval while my mouth travels back down her neck and onto her collarbone.

“I want to make you feel good.” I go about sucking a dark bruise onto the hollow between her shoulder and neck, making her hiss through clenched teeth. “Tell Daddy what you want, darling.”

“Shit,” she breathes out, at the same time trying desperately to push herself against me, but I’m being mean and not letting her. “I really fucking like it when you say things like that,” she moans.

I’m trailing my lips over the soft skin of her neck. She’s so beautiful and I nuzzle my face into her shoulder, sighing happily. “Do you? Now, how did I know that I wonder?” My hands start roaming all over her body. I continue to speak close to her ear and bite her earlobe. “What else, my love? Tell me. Tell me everything you want.”

With a whine, she closes her eyes and tips her head back. “I want to feel your hands all over me. I dream about your hands.”

Well, that’s new information. But it’s definitely going to work in my favor because if she likes my hands, I love exploring every square inch of her body with them.

I place another deep, sucking kiss that brands a mark onto her neck and she tries to stifle a whimper, but it comes out anyway. One of my hands is already making its way down her side and onto her hip while my other gently pets her hair as I hold myself partially over her with my forearm.

My fingers trace along the curves of her thighs and onto her stomach. I continue watching her face as I map out her body, bit by bit until she is so starved for more, she tries to push my hand between her legs. I’m quicker and stronger, though, and I pull my hand away with a sly grin and a shake of my head. I really am being a bastard right now.

“If you want something, sweetheart, you need to tell me.”

She gives a small groan of frustration, but she meets my eyes as her hips jerk upwards.

“Fuck me with your hand, Daddy.”

Damn, if that isn’t the hottest thing I’ve ever heard and I think about forgetting her request altogether and just slamming my cock into her instead. I resist, though, and I lower my head to bury my face into her shoulder again. “Oh, shit I love hearing that,” I tell her.

I want to give her everything she wants though, so I get back to work, my hand slowly moving across her lower abdomen and then lower still. I tease by stroking the crease between her thighs and hips and then pull away again. She is getting more and more worked up by my fingers traveling over her body. I decide to crank up the dirtiness level just a little by bringing my hand up to her mouth and pushing my two fingers inside. She immediately grabs my hand by the wrist and starts sucking on them, wetting them all over and slipping her tongue in between. Her eyes fall shut and she moans. I push them in and out a few times, and I like the way she looks when I do that.

“You look so pretty like this, baby,” I tell her before I remove them and she licks at her lips.

I give her another kiss before I’m back to tracing lines over her breasts, leaving a trail of her own saliva over each one. I keep moving down, over her stomach again and around to her hip. It’s slow, but the anticipation makes it all the more erotic when my fingers finally make contact with the satiny area between her legs. The noise she lets out is loud and long and when I slip two digits inside of her tight hole, she cries out; pressing her hips up to try and fuck my fingers.

“Five! Ohhh...god...”

“Don’t close your eyes. Look at me,” I order her, and she obeys.

I want to see her reaction to every little movement and calculated maneuver I perform on her. I also want to hear her. I want her to cry out my name and scream so loud the neighbors will think something is wrong. The crease between her eyes deepens and her mouth falls open as she keeps her eyes on me like I want; all while I am fucking her slowly and deliberately with my hand.

“That’s my sweet girl. Just like that.”

When I curl my fingers inside of her and press my thumb into her clit, she grips the bed covers on either side with her fists and arches her back off the bed.

“Oh, fuck yes!” she screams out.

Watching her like this is turning me on like crazy, and I have to tell myself to keep going. I want to pound my cock inside of her again, to feel her tight cunt around me as I slam mercilessly against it. I keep fingering her, but the thought of everything else I want to do is getting to me and I can’t help rubbing my dick against her leg.

She is so wet that my hand is covered in the slick of her arousal, and it’s dripping down my wrist. I push in deeper and work her clit harder while she writhes around, thrusting her hips up. I’m practically humping her leg now, shoving my cock between her thigh and the bed, and I can’t fucking stop. Any contact with her body against my raging hard-on feels amazing and I want more.

Right before she comes, she grabs my hand and shoves it harder against herself, grinding and bucking against it while the noises she’s making get louder and louder. I feel like my dick is going to explode I’m so worked up right now and just watching her fall apart like this is making it worse.

When she starts to squeeze her eyes shut, I don’t let her. “Look at me,” I demand, and she does.

“Ff-iive!” she moans as she pulses against me, her grip on my wrist tightening.

When she calms down and her hand slackens on mine, I pull my soaking-wet fingers out. She smiles dreamily up at me and lets out a breathy laugh.

“Sorry, I got a little—”

I don’t let her finish what she was going to say, because all I can think about are my own needs at the moment. I want to fuck her so badly, but I know that I’m going to come instantaneously if I shove my dick into her right now. Instead, I take her hips and flip her over while I sit up on my knees behind her, pulling her towards me so that her ass is in the air directly in front of me. I hear her make a little squeal of surprise, but I barely register it.

When I haul back and smack her voluptuous ass cheek with the flat of my hand, leaving a beautiful pink mark on her skin, she cries out louder.

“Be a good girl and stay right there for Daddy,” I growl.

All I can think about is how she is finally mine and no one else can have her. I violently pump my hand over my dick as I stare at the perfectly round ass that belongs to only me. I rub one cheek while I’m still jerking my cock; she is moaning while sprawled out on the bed in front of me, ass in the air. It’s such a depraved scene and what I’m about to do will probably not be appreciated, but I can’t be bothered to care at the moment. After a few more strokes I am unloading all over her, covering her with ropes of my cum. I watch as it pools in the small of her back and drips down in between her crack. More of it lands directly on her ass and is sliding down the backs of her thighs.

I want this image to be burned into my brain, as sick as that sounds. I feel like I just marked her as my own like some sort of territorial animal. Some psychiatrist out there would probably have a field day with me right now, but fuck them. She is mine and here’s the sticky, milky proof all over her.

“Fuck!” I yell as the last few drops spurt out.

I’m breathing loud and hard and it takes me a minute to fully grasp what I just did, which was jerking off all over her ass and back without any warning or permission to do so. I can’t see her face either, because she has it turned to the side and her hair is partially covering it.

“Shit, I’m sorry,” I start to say, but then she pushes her hair away and glances back at me as she lowers her body so she’s flat on the bed again. I start to feel a little better when I see she’s smiling.

“Damn, Daddy, you are one horny, perverted old man!”

“Yeah, that was not my finest moment, was it? I am so sorry,” I say sheepishly.

She laughs. “Don’t be sorry. Anytime you want to take charge like that, you can do whatever you want to me.”

I break into a wide grin. “That’s a good thing, then, because I have many more dirty things in mind that I’d like to do to you.”

“Can’t wait,” she says in that sexy way I love.

She’s still lying there covered in my semen that is rapidly cooling and sticking to her skin. Even if she says she’s ok with me jerking off all over her, it is probably not the greatest feeling in the world, so I tell her to wait there as I blink into the bathroom to get a warm washcloth to clean her off with.

After all that is taken care of, we settle into bed. She feels so good snuggled up next to me, her body warm next to mine, and I breathe in the scent of her strawberry-infused hair that I have been missing so much. I love how soft her skin is and I can’t stop running my hands up and down her arm and hip as I pull her in closer, her back flush with my chest.

We are quiet for a while, just comfortable in the silence until I speak up. There’s so much I want to tell her, and I’m not even sure where to start.

“You know, for years I would dream about this. About having someone to fall asleep with and wake up with.”

“What about Dolores?”

“I loved Dolores with all my heart, and I will always love her. But there were many nights, after she fell asleep, that I would allow myself to think about what it would be like to have someone that could kiss or hug me back. To touch me at all, really. That’s probably why I liked reading all of those romance novels. There wasn’t a lot of physical love in my house growing up, and then there was only Dolores. My two sources for any affection in my life came from my robot mother and my mannequin wife.”

I let out a small laugh at that, but she doesn’t return it. Instead, she just squeezes my hand and pulls my arms tighter around her. She waits for me to keep going.

“So, those books were the only reference I had for real love. And I wanted that for so long. After a while, though, I just stopped thinking about it. Because I knew it was never going to happen. It was all just a made-up fantasy.”

“I’m so sorry, Five,” she says quietly.

“Don’t be. All of that made me into the fully functioning and mentally stable man you know and love today.”

At that, she does laugh. “You are one of a kind, Five, that’s for sure.”

“That’s another thing,” I start as I rub my cheek against her hair. “Are you sure you’re ok with…you know…my situation?”

“What does that mean?”

“Well, by my rusty mental math, I am technically more than double your age.”

She’s silent for a minute and I think maybe she really is re-thinking this whole thing. “I know that. I don’t care.”

“Are you sure? Because it’s not going to get any better, you know. I’m just going to keep getting older and crankier. Pretty soon, I’m going to want to eat dinner at 4 pm and bitch about my expired grocery coupons.”

She giggles. “I don’t think you can get any crankier than you already are, so I don’t have to worry about that. And the rest I can deal with.” She flips over so she’s looking at me. She threads her fingers into my hair at the back of my neck and I close my eyes at her touch. “I love you because of, not in spite of, all of that. I love you for all that you are, Five. Even the cranky, old man parts.”

When she kisses me, it’s the softest, most loving kiss I have ever felt and I want to melt into her. “With you, I get the best of both worlds. Hot young guy with the mature mind and life experiences of an older man. What’s not to love?”

I lean in for another kiss, and when she breaks away from it, she gives me a little smile. “Besides, as long as you keep fucking me like you’ve been, I don’t care if you’re sixty or six hundred years old.”

She throws her leg over my hip and I shake my head with a smile. “Honey, I really don’t think that’s going to be a problem.”

“I can tell,” she says before pushing harder against me and kissing me again.

The next morning, after one of the best sleeps of my life, I wake up to the smell of freshly roasted coffee and a soft kiss on my cheek. When I open my eyes, there’s my girl, standing over me and setting a tray down on the table next to the bed. I barely notice the coffee cups with their fragrant steam drifting out of the tops, because I can’t take my eyes off of her. I must be having one hell of a dream right now because she’s wearing one of my t-shirts with nothing else on except a pair of cotton panties adorned with little pink cats. When I smile blearily up at her, still in the process of fully waking, she laughs at me.

“What?” I ask, as I try and haul myself up to a sitting position.

“Your hair. It’s sticking up everywhere. You look like you stuck your finger in a light socket.”

I frown and pat my hand on top of my head, feeling the rat’s nest that’s there. “Give me a break, ok? I just had a pretty wild night. Some crazy woman kept trying to maul me all night long.”

She presses her lips together in an effort not to laugh. “Well, I can hardly blame her. Have you seen yourself with no clothes on? Kind of ridiculous to expect to be left alone.”

“Come here, crazy,” I say as I reach out and yank her towards me by her hand.

She lands sideways on my lap and I kiss her while she attempts to smooth my hair into place. “I brought you some coffee,” she tells me after I let her up for air.

“Thank you, love. Although that hardly seems fair that you’re serving me coffee. Don’t you have to work today?”

She shakes her head. “I was supposed to, but I asked my boss and she said I should stay here today, instead.”

I reach for one of the mugs of coffee and hand it to her before taking my own. “Your boss sounds very smart.” When she giggles at that, I run a hand over her bare thigh and give it a squeeze. “Especially since you’re wearing these little cat panties I love so much. I was hoping I’d get to see these again.

She makes a little face over her coffee mug. “What do you mean, again?”

I take a drink from my own mug and give her a crooked smile. “You already gave me a nice little show in them before. Although I definitely prefer you wearing my shirt over them instead of my brother’s.”

“What…wait…you remember that? You were wasted drunk!”

I roll my eyes at her. “No amount of alcohol would let me forget you standing half-naked in my doorway trying to look mad but not really succeeding.”

She scoffs at me. “I was mad! You were being obnoxious!”

“Right. And you weren’t being obnoxious when you decided to put on that little vocally-driven performance right afterward?”

That makes her break and laugh, and she leans in to give me a kiss. “You know why I did that, right?”

“To torture me until I considered stabbing a pencil into my ears?” I deadpan.

“No…” she smirks. “For one, I wanted to piss you off and make you jealous. Show you what you were missing out on.”

“Uh-huh…well mission accomplished.”

“And two, well, there was a reason I was acting much more spirited than usual.”

“Spirited? It sounded like you were possessed.”

She runs a hand down my chest. “Maybe I was thinking of someone else at the time.”

I like where this is going and I raise my eyebrows before taking a sip of my coffee. “Go on. I like the turn this story is taking.”

“Well, I won’t go into detail, but just know that all of those noises you heard, were caused by you.”

I set my mug down and then grab hers to do the same. With my hands free, I pull her closer to me while I slip a finger into the waistband of her underwear and snap it against her skin.

“Naughty girl,” I murmur before kissing her hard on the mouth.

“Maybe so,” she says when she pulls away, “But, I’m willing to bet that gave you some nice material to use for a few lonely nights?”

When I pull her by her hips over my lap, there is no way she is missing the growing hard-on I’ve got going on under the sheets. “Baby, you have no idea how much material that gave me.”

Before I can get too involved with my roaming hands and mouth, she stops me by pulling back. My eyebrows crease together and my lips form a tight line with annoyance. I don’t like not being able to indulge in an early morning bone session at the moment. Especially when she’s sitting here, grinding her tight little ass against said bone.

“Before you get too carried away, and before you start pouting any more than you already are, I have to show you something.”

“Is it under your panties?”

She sighs and rolls her eyes at me. “No.” Then she reaches over and takes something off the tray. She hands me a book and when I look at it, I see it’s the book we read together. Love In The Time Of Cholera. And it’s not just any copy, it’s my exact one.

I look up at her in surprise. “This is mine! I’ve been looking everywhere for it. I thought I lost it when I moved.”

She shrugs and smiles shyly. “I may have stolen it from your room before.”

“You stole it from me?”

“Kind of. After we were done reading it, I put it in my bag because I wanted to take it home to reread it again. And I meant to tell you and bring it back when I was done. But then you decided to be the world’s biggest asshole…”

“Yeah, I know that part, we don’t need to rehash that again.”

“Well, anyway, I forgot it was in there and I left with it. So, there it has stayed, in my bag for the past six months. Which is how it ended up here again because I brought my bag with me when I left work last night.”

I turn the book over in my hands and smile. “I love this book. For obvious reasons.”

“So…will you read to me?” she asks, just like she did before, with the big eyes and the pouty lip.

“You want me to read this again? Are you sure? Because there are a lot of other things I can think of that we could be doing right here, right now, in this bed.”

She shakes her head, and then climbs off my lap, taking her coffee cup, and then snuggling up next to me under the covers. “I want to lie right here next to you, all warm and cozy, while you read our book to me with that super sexy voice of yours.”

I smile and kiss her forehead. “Well, when you flatter me like that, how can I resist?” I start to settle in and open the book. “And then…”

She sighs. “Yes, and then you may use me to take care of that giant bed snake I felt stabbing me in the leg just now.”

“I’m going to remember you said ‘giant’, by the way.”

“Just read the damn book, Five.”

“Yes, my darling. Anything for you.”

I've got one more chapter coming to tie this all up, so stay tuned!

@baileebear, @myinnermonologueisepic

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cannibalizedyke · 2 years

Note

Hey!Can you please write something about five hargreeves with an angry love confession?tysm i love your writing

"Why won't you let me do anything?" you demanded. "I'm capable of taking care of myself! You don't need to baby me!"

Five swiveled around angrily. "I don't care if you can take care of yourself! Those people are better than you, they could hurt you! I don't want you risking that happening!"

"Why do you even care?" you snapped. "It's my life, not yours!"

"I care because I'm in love with you!" he yelled.

You both went silent.

Five turned away, embarrassed and angry and in so much pain. "I've lost so much," he whispered. "I don't want to lose you too."

"Oh, Five..." you murmured. You took a tentative step closer, then another. You put your arms around him and rested your head on his shoulder. "I love you too."

Five slumped against you. "I'm sorry for yelling."

"It's okay." You kissed his cheek. "I am too. I just... I don't want anything to happen to you either. I want to be able to protect you."

Five sighed. "I know."

"How about we protect each other, okay?" You pulled away so you could look at him. "As long as we're together, we'll never let anything happen to each other."

Five nodded. "Okay," he whispered. "Okay."

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c0ffee-stain · 1 year

Text

Whispers

Five Hargreeves x f!reader

Blurb • Prologue - 1.0 • Chapter 1 - 1.01 • Chapter 2 - 1.02 • Chapter 3 - 1.03 • Chapter 4 - 1.04 • Chapter 5 - 1.05 • Chapter 6 - 1.06 • Chapter 7 - 1.07 • Chapter 8 •

Warning: Contains: fighting, blood, the usual swearing

Nothing But a Puppet

Date: REDACTED, 1955 Location: TEMPS COMMISSION HQ Time: REDACTED

Stay calm. Stay calm. Stay calm. Stay calm.

The shattering of glass rattled the Commissions first floor and everyone nearby. I reached for anything closest to me, in this case a stapler, and threw it with a great force through a large glass barrier dividing a few analysts and their seniors.

I dragged the back of my hand across the gash cut along my cheek bone and winced slightly after discovering yet again another bruise.

My tongue throbbed slightly, trying to distract my mind from formulating a well-planned murder that involved two people. A blonde with no wish other than to make my life a living hell, and- I couldn’t even finish the thought as it seemed so ridiculous in the first place. Not my plan that’d bring me nothing but glee, but the fact that I had to deal with this asshole in the first place.

I scoffed as blood slowly pooled into my mouth, the rich metallic taste forcing the corners of mouth to twist upwards in rage, forming a smile which didn't reach my eyes.

I took my gun out of my pocket and sighed inwardly, quickly remembering I was out of bullets. But that was fine. It wasn’t like a certain Handlers office was a fully loaded arsenal.

Plenty of weapons to use in there.

With every step I took, a group of eyes would avert my way, whispers of gossip accompanying their intrusive stares as they layed their eyes on my bruised, battered, and bloodied body.

Envy of my past reputation overtook my mind and any ounce of self-respect I once had left was long gone. Before, those pathetic workers didn't dare lay their eyes on me for too long in fear of my reputation and I was able to slip under the radar unnoticed and undisturbed. But it seemed that my previous engagement had circulated around the headquarters faster than I could've disposed of the evidence.

Finally reaching her office, I slammed my bruised fists against her door, repeatedly, trying to keep myself from wrenching the door out of its place and grabbing her by the neck. I slammed my fists once more until the door was pulled open, my eyes meeting the woman’s stare that was clearly trying to hide her irritation. Whether it was the fact that I was alive or that I had interrupted her beauty sleep, I would never know.

“Oh, It's you.” She looked me up and down, forcing a smile onto her red coated lips. “Come in. Or are you unable to control yourself with so many weapons present? It’ll be a shame to cut our deal short.”

“If I didn’t have any self control you would’ve been six feet under from the very moment I met you.”

The woman chuckled bitterly, her eyes drifting to the crowd now roaming behind us, waiting eagerly for her response.

“Why don’t we take this to my office. I’ve got a jar of candy calling your name.”

I followed her in, The Handlers white glossy heels clacking audibly before taking a seat behind her desk.

“You’ve got something on your teeth.” She spoke, watching her nails momentarily after inspecting my dishevelled figure. “Blood, to be precise.” With a manicured hand, she pushed a crystal vase that held mountains of hard candies towards me.

"I'm hoping you're here to tell me how..." The woman's lips faltered into a smirk as she tried to keep her expression neutral. "successful you're assignment went."

“How successful my assignment went...” Exasperation was clear in my voice.

"Yes, I suspect that everything went according to plan."

My teeth clenched as I seethed, "So being on the receiving end of an assassination order from one of your henchmen was part of my fucking mission?"

“Whatever do you mean? I helped you. Put one of the Commissions best assassins by your side.” The Handler leaned back, brushing invisible lint off of her 80’s styles dress. Her electric blue eyes narrowed as an annoyed smile pulled slightly at the tips of her mouth. She watched as I menacingly leaned in and planted my hands firmly onto her desk.

I dragged my tongue along the red staining the white of my teeth. “Now tell me,” A mocking smile adorned my lips. “why the fuck did you send one of your puppets to kill me?”

— ONE HOUR AGO - Date: 2nd of April, 2002 Location: Unknown Location, England Time: 23:55

I tied the cord around his plump neck, watching him squirm and gasp to get as much air as he could into his lungs, his blue veins bulging against the papery white of his skin. The moment the newly lifeless body dropped onto the filthy carpeted floor joining the 5 others, I wiped my forehead with the back of my hand and sighed.

Here they were. The main members of the Lionheart Mob.

Dead.

I looked around the damp living room, signs of break in and fighting evident in the knocked over and broken furniture, and blood splattered along the walls and already dirty carpet. My nose scrunched automatically at the stench.

I picked up my weapons and slid them back into my pockets, letting my eyes wonder around the crime scene once more after wiping down and ridding any evidence for the police to use from the house, except from one particular strand of hair.

I had instructions to leave the bodies as they are to let the police find them. Two of them had died from strangulation, three from blood loss from stab wounds to the kidney, and the other dying from blunt force trauma to the back of the head.

Just as I was ordered.

I, on the other hand, suffered no injury of any sorts. Some may say silently bragging to the dead would bring one horrible misfortune and fate. Not that it would stop me.

With light movements, I exited the house and closed the door gently behind me, finally being able to breathe in the fresh country air.

The sky had darkened from a soft navy blue to near black, the only source of light being the distant gleams of stars and the half crescent moon hanging idly in the sky. I covered my head with the hood of my jacket and proceeded to walk down the street that dipped downhill, stuffing my hands into my pockets to hide the blood splattered over my palm and under my nails.

For a while, my near silent footsteps were all that could be heard in the midst of the abandoned countryside of England, apart from the occasional drunken screams and wails. But no matter how peaceful the country posed itself to be, the eerie feeling that someone or something was watching me never faltered once.

The blade of my dagger was placed strategically under my jacket, and my gun strapped against my side. Funny how even my most useful and deadliest asset came nowhere close to the sturdiness and swiftness of my weapons.

‘So you think a few rusty pieces of metal compares to the abilities of a God?’

My body jumped at the sudden deep vibrations rattling at the back of my skull.

“Then you shouldn't be surprised that a human like me can't control a God like yourself.” I retorted, my words dripping in sarcasm. "At least I have control over those 'rusty pieces of metal'."

No matter how satisfying it felt to snap back, I immediately regretted my decision as millions of laughs, each barely above a whisper, echoed off of the walls of my skull.

It felt like millions of needles being stabbed into my brain repeatedly.

‘What makes you think you don't have control?’

I kissed my teeth and tried to distract that little part of me that wanted to reply and engage with its forbidden words. I could hear the amusement in its question. "Everything", Was what I wanted to say. But I kept my mouth shut and looked ahead.

They laughed once again.

I didn’t reply but pondered quietly. I had never been religious. My mother had always believed in a higher power. Whether it was the all-powerful being we call God, or many more of His names, or something different all together. Nevertheless, she believed. Something I just couldn’t find myself doing.

The only person I could have faith in was myself. A proportionate fate for someone like me.

It could tell I was deep in thought, my mind wavering from one conclusion to another, oblivious to the threat mere metres away from me. Usually, the voices would warn me when something strange was afoot or of any potential dangers. But it wanted to wait. To see how long I could go without the assistance I had gotten used to having my whole life.

An experiment.

Just like my thoughts, I couldn’t keep my eyes fixed on one place for too long. Every moment my gaze was fixed on something new as if expecting something to jump out from the shadows and swallow me whole.

Finally my suspicions were confirmed once my gaze ended its useless wavering and locked onto another a pair of eyes. My mind immediately flashed back to my case file of known associates of the Lionheart Mob.

The man I was ordered to frame.

The man and I kept eye-contact longer than intended, thoughts of fight or flight running through each of our minds.

There was nothing I could do or say to prevent this from becoming a tiring chase through the isolated region of the country, so I decided on the next best option.

Before the target could give into his flight response, I removed my gun from its once strapped position and began to shoot, a bullet just grazing his cheek before he could make a run for it.

My legs had a mind of their own, sprinting towards the target the moment he ran with my arm stretched in front of me, gun in hand. I took a shot, then another, then another, each missing as the man swerved with the endless streets branching off of the main road.

I was quickly out of bullets.

For every step I took forcing me further into the chase, the feeling of danger deep in the pit of my stomach only grew. My breathing began to deepen as drops of sweat slowly pooled down the side of my head, only to be dried by the ruthless wind whipping against my face.

I watched as he jumped over a fence, and I quickly followed, a grin curving on my lips once a large gate came into view. The man was rather short, so it should take him a few seconds extra than normal to cross the barrier. More than enough time for me close the gap between us.

I grabbed the back of his collar and pulled him harshly towards the ground, smirking as his sliced cheek broke his fall. I threw my foot back and slammed it against his ribs. He released a pained groan and I kicked him again, and again, and again.

“A well deserved punishment for someone making me run for so long, don’t you think?”

The man began to cough violently after another strike to his ribs, blood splattering onto the ground with every cough.

“Seems like I’ve broken several ribs.” I kneeled beside him. “They’ve punctured your lungs. Soon you'll start to drown in your own blood, and well... die.”

“I can help you. Relieve you from your pain if you tell me how you knew I’d be here.” The man watched me cautiously, flinching as I held the back of his head, gripping his hair tightly. “All I need is a name.”

The man swallowed thickly and averted his eyes from one side and back. “It…” He opened his mouth, hesitation clear. I dug my nails into the flesh of his skull, breaking through the layers of skin.

He winced as tears threatened to spill from his eyes.

“It was...”

His eyes shifted to the side.

“…him."

BOOM

I spun my head around the direction the bullet was shot, only to be blinded by a flash of blue and a foot being swung at my face. I barely had any time to react, but was able to evade just in time.

I fell on my back and quickly leapt onto my feet waiting to be greeted by another attack which never came. I furrowed my brows and my forehead creased, letting my eyes scour the area only to come up empty handed with a mutilated corpse right beside me.

The common feeling of blood had drenched my palms in an instant once the bullet was shot through the side of his skull. My brain hadn't fully registered the moments part of his ear were blown off, making way for the bullet to exit his body. I peered down at his mutilated head, the only emotion consuming my body being annoyance and hatred for the man.

This situation, right now, right here, was supposed to be impossible. This mission was crucial to the deal. It was the only chance I had left. Without it, I was back to being The Handlers little bloodhound on a leash, ready to execute all orders with no hesitation. Back to being a creature of sin that couldn't possibly stray any further from God.

In the midst of my endless train of thought was when I saw it. The dim light from a lamppost hit against a small piece of metal a few metres away from me. I approached the bullet, taking it into my hands and held the bloodied object towards the light.

My lips parted as my gaze met a familiar imprint. "You've got to be kidding me..."

The words left my lips in a hurried whisper while I inspected the awfully familiar crest imprinted on the reddened copper. There it was, clear as day like the thousands of alter-egos that bitch of a Handler was housing.

The Commissions crest.

My lips pressed into a sneer. I dug my canines into my tongue to stop myself from saying three specific words that would end this fucked-up situation I've been living my whole life. Three simple commands and the beasts I've been housing for a lifetime would shred The Handler into pieces.

'What are you waiting for, bloodhound? Her permission? Just end it all.'

No matter how much my mind craves to see The Handler kneeled before me and begging for her life, I couldn't do that to him. I had to remind myself that I was doing this for him. Not for my own selfish gain.

It was for Jasper.

I took a deep breath in attempt to reel in my thoughts.

My fingers travelled through the knotted mess of my hair. I couldn't help but scoff. "Of course it was a fucking set up."

"So then you know what happens next." A voice spoke behind me, followed by a cock of a gun.

I didn't bother turning back to meet the hard stare of my attacker, but proceeded to watch the crest deeply, as if trying to fool myself into thinking I was dreaming. But the stench of the corpse, and the rush of the wind yanking me back to reality said otherwise.

I threw the bullet to the side and wiped the blood on my hands against my sides.

"No, I don't know actually." I slowly turned around on my heels to face the man, confronting his hard glare with my own uncaring one. I cocked my head to the side, challengingly. "Why don't you remind me?"

I felt a rush of adrenaline sore through my veins as the whispers began to get louder..

The click of his tongue rang through the alleyway. The man scoffed in agitation.

"Gladly," He began, slimming his deep green eyes, and watched my reaction once the distance between his finger and the trigger narrowed.

A familiar source of power devoured my body. The shadows that stretched against the concrete and towering brick walls shifted manically, dancing in celebration to be alive once more.

My hazed stare flickered from one thing to another as I relished in the tingling sensation burning through me.

'Kill him.'

My pupils dilated.

'Kill them all.'

My heart was racing.

'We know you want to.'

"Any last words?" He called, as if taunting me.

I snapped my head up and focussed my eyes on the target, then at the collection of abandoned buildings a good distance away.

"I think I should be asking you the same thing." My body moved on autopilot, my mind too preoccupied on the sensation burning through my veins. I was now a few measured steps closer to the assassin. "So tell me, then,"

The hardened gaze that I kept sternly focussed on the male hadn't faltered once, opposing the restlessness and unease of the shadows "any last words?"

My wrist snapped upwards before I could properly register what I was about to do. The shadows beneath the mans feet rose around him and the world seemed to stop spinning.

My eyes were pulled wide while I watched in anticipation. The shadows merged into hands as they rose from the depths of the darkness and latched themselves onto the agent, covering his body faster than I could blink. I stepped forwards, pulling my arms back before pushing them in-front of me. The shadows followed suit, launching the man they held captive into the buildings nearby.

Dust and rubble exploded from the collision, along with splatters of blood on the loose debris.

I licked my lips and sighed glad to have squished another pest crawling around in my way.

Next was The Handler.

I picked up the gun he had dropped and walked towards the collapsed building, releasing the bullets on top of the bloody debris while strolling to the agents 'burial site' as I doubted he would be anywhere but smashed under the concrete.

"Rest in pieces, asshole."

I took in several deep breaths to level the adrenaline I felt myself drown in. I couldn’t lose control. No matter how much I itched to dive deeper into the ins and outs of my abilities like I did years ago, it was too risky.

It was too soon. But it wasn’t too soon to kill The Handler as I did to her puppet. I turned around, the taste of freedom fresh of my tongue and my guard lowered.

A fatal mistake.

A hand slammed into my shoulder blade from behind to stop me from moving any further.

"Now, where do you think you're going..." A raspy voice spat behind me. "...bloodhound?"

I twisted my neck to the side just enough for my peripheral vision to catch the large pair of green eyes bearing into mine. Blood dripped from a large gash on his forehead, painting his whole face a deep crimson. His laboured breaths hit the back of my nape making my hairs stand.

"What do you propose we do then," I licked my lips. "number five."

His grip on my shoulder tightened, and I could practically feel the rage radiating off of him through the wide smirk etched across his lips. My body began to respond to the adrenaline pulsing through my veins as the corners of my mouth and fingers twitched in anticipation for another fight. Another excuse to use my powers. The only thing I wanted to do right now, right this second, was-

A flash of blue light engulfed the area, blinding me for a moment before I was able to notice the large piece of concrete being launched towards me, held tightly in his cut hands.

I shifted out of the way, relishing in my increased reaction time, and span on my heel, sending a spinning hook kick to the back of his head. I made contact but it was short lived with his fist suddenly in front of my face and punched my jaw forcing my head to snap to the side, small pools of blood building up in my mouth.

Before his knuckles could leave my face, I latched my hands onto the assassins arm, spinning on my heels so my back faced him and threw his body over mine, slamming him onto the ground. I reached for my knife and towered over the boy, ready to plunge it into his heart, but in a blink he was gone and behind me, holding a long metal pipe and smashed my head in. I stumbled forwards but quickly regained balance before he could repeat his action.

The agent was now in front of me and aimed the pipe to strike the side of my head. But I was faster.

I blocked the pipe with my lower arm and palm-striked the assassin in the nose simultaneously, preparing an elbow to his face only for him to disappear into the air leaving me to bathe in frustration once more.

Blue then caught my eye in the distance. I rapidly slammed my palms onto the earth beneath me, raising an arsenal of shadows and launching them towards the light, smirking with the thoight I had dealt serious damage and possibly killed him.

But a hand latched onto the back of my collar and I knew I had fallen for a trap. Suddenly, a gut-wrenching feeling flooded my senses and my head was being smashed into something hard. Calloused palms were wrapped around my neck as Five prepared to jump again after slamming my head into a wall as many times as he could.

"You won't escape them." Was all I said before the mans grip was torn off of me from the missiles of shadows following his silhouette and launched him into the distance.

I got up, flexed my jaw and sneered at the sight of the man still standing, covered head to toe in blood, bruises and cuts. I could tell he was tired. His shoulders were slumped and head tilted downwards. His Adams apple bounced as he swallowed thickly and took in several deep breaths.

Number Five finally looked up, and I had never been more excited in killing someone than I had now.

FWOOSH

I raised my arm and slashed it through the air, sending a rapid wave of darkness slicing towards him, allowing myself to succumb deeper into the web of voices echoing off of my skull, each of my strikes increasing in power and precision for every time he'd teleport out of the way and into a wave of new danger.

Tired of the constant game of cat and mouse, Five blinked above me, carrying yet again another large piece of rubble and released it. I sent another cut through the air for the shadows to follow, shattering the rubble into pieces.

A gasp left my lips as another gut-wrenching sensation overtook me while a pair of hands grabbed my ankles tightly. My eyes widened and jaw dropped in a mixture of shock and confusion as I felt myself being dangled upside down and mid-air from the roof of a building that was over ten stories high. I tore my eyes away from the daunting scene several hundred metres below me and snapped my head up to see the man dangling me by my ankles.

The first thing I noticed was the slyness coating his eyes as he knew he had the upper hand- literally.

"I'll ask you one more time," Five spoke calmly, trying to contain the anger desperately trying to rip through his throat. The grip on my ankles faltered slightly but tightened just as fast. "Any last words?"

"Yeah," I breathed out in a ragged breath as a plan slowly began to form in my mind. I pulled myself up as much as I could towards the man and seethed between bloodied gritted teeth, "Suck my d--"

The man released his hold before I could finish with a disgusted expression as if he had just killed a bug, sending me plummeting towards the ground.

I raised my hands beside my body as I approached closer to my demise and quickly raised an army of shadows. I twisted to face the assassin, mid-air, throwing my arms towards him with the shadows following suit.

I looked back down and landed on a cushion of molten energy raised from the patches of shadows hovering just above the ground. The shadows had plunged into Five's stomach and forced him off the roof, his body being tackled towards the ground only for a blinding flash of blue to consume him.

My eyes slimmed in annoyance and brows furrowed to the sight of the assassin stood before me with a large knife pressed against my neck.

"You look tired." I eyed him up and down, very clearly mocking him, while I admired all the damage I had inflicted as if it were a piece of art.

Five's black suit was dirty and torn in several places, more prominently at the front, revealing the blood and bruises on his stomach and muscles. His red tie was barely hanging by a thread and the white blouse underneath was all torn up and practically non-existent.

His nose was purple and blue from the palm-strike, with smudges of red streaked across his forehead and upper lip.

Five stepped dangerously close towards me and pressed the knife deeper into my neck, almost drawing blood. He was less than a few small steps away from me and by the looks of it, he seemed eager to close the gap and assert the power he desperately yearned to hold over me.

I looked up at him with a devious grin, daring him to do it.

"How about I slice those lips off of your face. Will you be grinning then?" The man snarled and glared daggers.

I raised a brow. "How about I carve out your larynx so I won't have to listen to that aggravating voice of yours?

My neck began to sting from the knife cutting deep into my flesh, drops of crimson now gracing my collar bone.

The assassin forced out a low chuckle and shook his head slowly while his hold on the knife stiffened. His forest green eyes followed the blood pooling down my neck and raised them to meet my stare.

"Who are you."

"I thought you knew who I was, number five. I'm a bloodhound, remember? Or has all that damage affected your memory--?"

I was caught off guard. Five grabbed my collar and slammed me against a brick wall, pressing the knife deeper into my wound. My nose scrunched in disgust to the smell of blood radiating off of him and the sudden boldness washing over the man.

"Listen hear you piece of shit." Five seethed. His veins bulged against his neck and his teeth were clenched and bare. "As you see, you have no fucking where to go. So you better answer my questions if you want to live the rest of your vulgar, pathetic life in peace. Got it?"

A tense silence fell between us. I felt the mans warm breath fan over my lips and his knuckles press against the end of my neck as he held my collar tightly. The distance between us was almost non-existent, causing discomfort to stir in my stomach.

I wanted to vomit.

But I did the next best thing.

I held eye contact with the assassin before I descended into laughter right in his face. I took a deep breath in and titled my head up towards him, watching his expression slowly unravel through hooded eyes.

"Even after beating you relentlessly, you still don't have the slightest idea of how dangerous I actually am. I seem to have overestimated your intelligence, Hargreeves." I neared my face up towards his, smiling cruelly at the anger he poorly contained.

I spoke before he could cut in. "Yes, I do know who you are, and you don't know who I am."

"And we're going to keep it that way."

Date: REDACTED, 1955 Location: TEMPS COMMISSION HQ Time: REDACTED

"Did you kill him?" The concern was evident in The Handlers voice, making me raise a brow. Nevertheless, I knew her concerns were directed at her future plans, not the welfare of some field agent. But then again, Five Hargreeves wasn't just some field agent.

My lack of response seemed to fuel her agitation, my eyes noticing the quick clench of her jaw and flex of her fingers as she awaited my reply. In retaliation to the assassination attempt, I decided to not ease her fears.

Not one bit.

A deep sigh caught her attention, followed by an amused scoff.

"You're seriously asking me, the bloodhound, if she spared some second rate assassin?" A twisted smile pulled at my lips and I sighed again dramatically. "After years of working together and you still don't know me at all."

"Stop playing these games and answer my question." The Handler, who usually handled things with a certain measure of grace and passive aggression, snapped clearly annoyed at my antics. She quickly realised her mistake however. The woman cleared her throat and took a long drag of her cigar, blowing the toxic fumes right at my face.

With a few steps towards the display of weapons sitting behind The Handlers figure, I decided to test the already fragile boundaries of the situation.

I traced my finger along the surface of the weapons. "I've always been jealous of your collection." My voice held a certain playfulness. One I knew the woman behind me despised. "Especially ever since I saw this glorious artifact hanging on your wall and collecting dust, never to be used again."

The sound of a blade being unsheathed echoed through the room. "The very Turkic-Mongol sabre used by Genghis Khan in battle."

The Handler flinched ever so slightly at the press of the cold blade against her exposed neck. A significant movement that most would miss.

She proceeded to look ahead, not faltering once as she said, "You know very well that even if you kill me, I'd just be replaced by another desperate senior waiting to have their shot at such a powerful position in such a powerful organisation." The woman turned to face me and a shiver ran down my spine. Even when confronted with death, her expression was void of emotion. And for a moment I saw someone I wished to have long forgotten. And The Handler knew that. "Take this cog out of a machine and it will soon be replaced by another. But they won't give you the same leniencies as I have with your dear Jasper. So I recommend you consider your decision very closely, darling."

She took the weapon from my hands as I stood there, mimicking a child frozen in a trance, realising they were in no control of their fate.

A hand crept on my shoulder and a pair of lips whispered against my ear, "Because this is the best you'll get."

She took her seat and released a relaxed sigh. "Now then, you were about to tell me what you've done with little Number Five?"

“His heart is beating.”

“Good.” She purred, coating an extra layer of lipstick on her lips. “Did you use—”

“Yes.”

I felt her tense for a split second before her shoulders relaxed once more.

This time her voice is serious. “Does he remember your… abilities?”

“No.”

“So he remembers the fight but not the powers. Interesting.”

A loud alarm screeched from outside the commission, followed by a woman's scream and the slam of a car trunk. That's when an echo of a recently familiar FWOOSH rang in the room, revealing the asshole I longed to kill.

"You." His voice came in a growl. The mans eyes were wild, like those of a predator stalking their prey. His hair was a mess with random strands stuck onto his skin from the sweat and blood in his face.

"Five Hargreeves," The Handler's voice pulled the assassin back into reality. "Meet your new partner."

I could hear the smirk and utter joy in her voice as she spoke my name, forming the deadliest partnership the Commission had to offer.

Tag List for Whispers 🏷

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The taglist has been bugging and for some reason some accounts that want to been tagged, aren't. Sorry if this is you.

Thank you all for your support and patience waiting for the next chapter. I know how annoying it is when fanfic writers are on some hiatus for ages but I'm finally back!

I don't have a strict writing schedule but I will notify you as accurately as I can for when the next chapter comes out.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter and if you find any errors let me know.

#fanfic #the umbrella academy #tua #tua fanfic #five hargreeves #whispers #five x reader #umbrella academy #five hargreeves x you #five hargreeves x y/n #tua netflix #tua x reader #umbrella academy fanfic #the handler #five x y/n #five fic #five fanfic #five hargreeves fanfic #chapter 7

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silentexplorer18 · 2 years

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Endearing: A Five Hargreeves Short

Summary: You and Five Hargreaves are two twenty-something-year-olds working for the Commission. It’s dirty work; people are prone to accidents. One such accident leads to something blossoming between you.

Pairing: Five Hargreeves x Reader

Warnings: None!

Word Count: 700+

Note: So, I'm not really sure what it is, but I wrote it in a haze in the middle of the night and decided to go with it!

Read on AO3 ▪ Masterlist

You’re sitting in a bed and breakfast—something much nicer than the shitty motels you’re both accustomed to in later decades. But the fifties are different; something the Commission is willing to splurge on.

It’s still not great, by any means. You and Five still share a room. You still sit across from one another on disgustingly patterned furniture—whatever the ugly stepsister of paisley is. And, worst of all, you still can’t hide your discomfort from Five. Not when he’s watching you this closely, like you’re a bug he’s waiting to dissect.

“You’re injured.” It’s more an observation than a question, and you’re not sure if you’re supposed to answer, but you do anyway.

“Yes.”

Because Five is far too astute to be lied to, especially after he’s gotten the hint that something’s wrong. It’s always been like that, ever since your partnership had started: kept under a microscopic gaze. Yet, he’s never made you uncomfortable. He’s never pushed too far; though, his scathing remarks occasionally left something to be desired.

From his expression, you can tell he’s running through the events of the night, mentally searching for the flaw or anomaly that sparked the issue. He won’t find it; he wasn’t there to see the altercation. A part of you is glad about that; Five’s worry-turned-rage can be unpredictable and… harsh at times. It would have made the entire mission more difficult.

Now, though, the two of you get a brief reprieve. A little time to heal, a little time to seethe.

He would’ve spent the whole weekend drinking coffee and Irish whiskey if he hadn’t known. He would’ve brought you back a donut…

Your train of thought is disrupted as he blinks across the room, appearing beside you with a look that is far too searching for the proximity. He’ll catch your surprise, your bashfulness, you just know it.

“Were you going to tell me?” It isn’t quite accusatory, but something about the way he says it makes you feel like there isn’t a correct answer.

You purse your lips. “No.”

His expression is an ice-cream twist of hurt and offense, sprinkled with a hard candy coating of anger and insecurity. Somehow, though, his voice remains fairly level. “Why?”

You sigh, looking away as though leaping through the window would be a viable option. Maybe… No. Definitely not. Your only choice is to explain. The sound of your voice barely overpowers your thundering heart. “You were gonna go get coffee and donuts. I was gonna read my book. Relax. I didn’t want to spend the whole weekend fighting about it…” You can’t bear to look at him, the embarrassment has you melting from the inside out.

There are several long, drawn out moments of silence in which you slowly inch toward death-by-mortification, but then Five speaks. “Would donuts… help you feel better?”

It’s soft, hesitant, as though it’s the wrong thing for him to say, but it isn’t. It’s perfect and wonderful, and in that moment, you realize Five has never seen you injured before.

Your gaze jumps back to him. He swallows, the apples of his cheeks painting sunset pink. Yet, his gaze is still searching your expression, looking for any minute detail that would betray your thoughts.

This is concern, your mind supplies wondrously. Concern for you.

Something dizzying fogs your mind, and something honey-smooth and sickly sweet curls around your heart. It’s then that you realize he’s hovering an inch shy of touching you, as though he’s afraid he’ll poke the wrong spot and set you off like a bear trap.

Endearing.

Five Hargreaves has been many things in the time that you’ve known him. Endearing has only shown up in short bursts, but it appears to stay as he does indeed go get you donuts while you bathe. It stays when he turns the radio down and helps you into bed. It stays when he leans against the headboard and reads your book aloud to you. It stays all night, when you’re feeling too jumpy to sleep, and he rests his cheek against your head and whispers stories about his family to you.

It stays all weekend.

It stays when he requests a rest period extension for the both of you.

It stays until you’re healed. Until the aches and pains have subsided. Until Five feels like he can touch you again without risking you shattering or bursting into flame.

It stays when the cold front blows through, rattling the windows and coating everything in a thick sheet of freezing rain. When he spoons you “for warmth” instead of blinking you to the Bahamas.

It stays until you kiss him, and he kisses you back. And then endearing just becomes Five.

Masterlist

#five hargreeves #five hargreeves x reader #five hargreeves x you #five hargreeves fanfic #number five #number five x reader #number five x you #number five fanfiction #number five fanfic #the umbrella academy #the umbrella academy fanfic #the umbrella academy fanfiction #number five hargreeves #number five hargreeves x reader #silent writes

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xxfanfiction-emo-trinityxx · 2 years

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Together - Five Hargreeves x Reader

Summary: In Hotel Oblivion, trying to save the world once more, you can’t help but wonder what Five sees in you. Reader: can be read as any gender Warnings: Five and Reader are both around their early to mid-twenties. SPOILER for Season 3 Episode 10, blood, sorta gore (you’ve seen the episode, you know why), slight angst, mentions of alcohol, mentions of death (again, you’ve seen the season) Word count: 5 331 A/N: I’m kinda not happy with this… I feel like it’s lacking emotions. Maybe because I finished writing this at 3am, knowing I’d have to get up at 6am…Feedback is appreciated.

You and Five had always had a difficult relationship, this much you were well aware off. He had torn you out of your completely normal, ordinary, boring life, only to drag you from apocalypse to apocalypse. Maybe you should hate him for it, should wish he had not. Because then, in this timeline, you never would have been born.

But now you were as much a paradox as the Umbrella Academy, only that you lacked any special powers. Unless making Five stick to your side like a puppy was a special power, of course, because ever since you had left Dallas, he would not leave your side. He had even insisted on sharing not only a room, but even the bed in the Obsidian. The first time you had tried to go to the bathroom, it had taken a lot of work convince him not to blink past the locked door. Still, you had been pretty certain that he had waited outside, nervously tapping his foot or fiddling around with one of his buttons.

If anyone else would have been as clingy as the undeniably genius but also equally undeniably mad hitman, you would have probably locked them in a broom closet by now, and thrown away the key.

But something about Five was different.

To the world he seemed like a snot-nosed young man, who believed he was better and more important than everyone else in the world. He seemed cold, calculating, manipulative. And maybe he was, to a certain level. But he loved nobody more than his family; he was ready to do everything for his family.

Except endanger you.

You had lost count on how many occasions he had thrown himself in the line of fire for you, had defended you against flying bullets and insults alike. When anyone else asked for an explanation to some crazy theory he had just blurted out, they were ignored, but whenever you asked, he patiently broke down his idea into humanly understandable phrases. What impressed you most about him though was how he was able to keep up with you, with your sarcasm and stupid jokes, how he was not fed up with you after five minutes, like most of the other people. He just rolled his eyes playfully, or even played into your sarcasm, making you laugh. These past days you had gotten the feeling he liked it when you laughed.

And so you grew more attached to him. It had only been a few weeks, but you had grown to like the strange man more than you had ever expected to like anyone, and it had taken seeing him die, the old version of him anyway, to realise you loved him. Well, maybe love was a strong word, but you were certain, given enough time, those feelings thrumming in your chest eventually would turn into love. Did you want to love him thought? Most certainly not. Not in the beginning at least, when you had thought someone like him could never even remotely understand the feeling of your heart beating faster at the mere thought of the other. But after Luther‘s wedding, when everyone had been dancing, he had grabbed your hand, and pulled you close. You could smell alcohol on his breath, but his eyes were clear, this thoughts not yet jumbled by the drug.

“No matter what happens in the next days,” he had whispered into the small space between you, “No matter what happens- I’ll always be by your side. Where you go, I go. I can’t lose you, not now that I found you.”

You had looked up at him then, into his crystal blue eyes, how he had watched your face at his words, and for a moment you had thought he would kiss you, had hoped he would kiss you. But then he had wrapped his arms around you, and pulled you into his chest, hugging you tightly.

Still, ever since then you could not quite shake the thought that maybe, maybe, if the world wasn’t ending, if you weren’t frantically running down corridor after corridor, maybe then Five and you might have had some strange, weird sort of future together. But you had taken your eyes off him for one second, and suddenly you had been alone in one of the hotel rooms in Hotel Oblivion. As if that hotel itself was not weird enough already. A hotel in another dimension while your world, your universe, had been destroyed by the Kugelblitz.

Your feet were hurting from running, your lungs burning from your frantic, paniced breathing, and your throat begun to dry from your calls for any of the superheroes, when you pushed past a door, and suddenly ended back up in the foyer.

“Five!” Relief flooded you as you spotted him standing with his siblings, and he spun around alarmed at the call, only to visibly relax when he recognised you.

“(Y/n),” he breathed, meeting you halfway towards the group. You wanted to hug him, glad to have found him again, but something stopped you. Something always stopped you from showing your full range of emotions to him, perhaps the fear of rejection.

“One moment you where there and the next-”

“I know, I’m so sorry,” he interrupted you, making you perk up. He hardly ever apologized without being sarcastic, yet here he was. “I didn’t think- it doesn’t matter. I’m sorry for scaring you, and I’m glad you’re okay.” It was more like he was taking to himself, as his eyes quickly flickered over your body, checking for any injuries, before meeting your eyes again. “No more strolling off alone, from neither of us, okay?”

You nodded tight lipped, and watched him hold out his right hand to you. Confused you looked between his hand and his eyes questioningly, making him roll his eyes and take your left hand in his right one.

“If we don’t let go of one another, we can’t lose each other again,” he explained, his voice a pitch higher than usual. “So we’re holding hands until all of this is over, capiche?”

“Hey,” you protested as Five turned back to his family, and began dragging you along with him, his fingers somewhat cold and clammy around yours. “I don’t need anyone to hold hands with me, I’m no three years old.”

“Well, what a shame, because I don’t care,” Five announced over his shoulder, before the two of your joined the others, where Klaus was just explaining about how Reginald Hargreeves had killed him and Luther.

The moment the old man entered the foyer, you could feel Five stiffen up, taking a slight step forwards, so you were behind him. It was not the first time he did this, in fact, over the past days, whenever danger had arisen he had always taken a protective step in front of you. The gesture made your heart flutter, even though you were well aware, that this was neither the time nor the place for it. And yet… him being so protective over you meant more to you than you could have put into words.

But now, as the old man and Five’s siblings were fighting, your eyes wandered to one of the stars on the floor, right in front of Five. These stars on the floor had irritated you from the beginning on. They were only here, in the Hotel Oblivion, but had not been in the Hotel Obsidian, even though everything else had been mostly the same (not counting the bison’s behind and the paintings and writing). And they were only here, in the entrance hall, nowhere else in the building. They were not evenly distributed either. Actually there were only… what? A hand full, maybe half a dozen of them.

You blinked in confusion, your eyes skipping over the tiles, counting. Quickly you tucked at Five’s hand, his fingers wrapped around yours still.

“The floor,” you whispered over the argument of the others.

He did not have to turn around to know what you were referring to, but from the way he moved his head to look through the room, you knew he was counting the stars as well.

Without warning he turned around, and dragged you across the foyer towards the stairs, while the others were still fighting with Reginald Hargreeves.

“The stars,” he explained on his way up the stairs, “They form a pattern, you’re right. I want to see if it matches-”

“The sigil?”

He nodded, guiding you over to the balustrade, so you could see into the foyer. Both of you scanned the dimly lit room for the markers, trying to remember the pattern from the sigil. It was not hard, not for you at least. The image had burnt itself into your memory when Five had cut the piece of skin out of his dead future self. A shiver ran down your spine while you tried to match the pattern on the floor to that in your memory. Since the moment the old man had died, you had been terrified. The thought, that Five would die like this… not the fact that he died, but the How. For how long had he been in that bunker? Had he been all alone? Had he been scared and worried for his younger self? He had commented on how young you had looked. Had you spent a lot of time together, grown old together? All you knew was that you could not stand the idea of your Five meeting the same fate, that you would do everything you could to keep him from dying such a lonely death. Oh, how furious you had been when you had found out he had gotten the same tattoo as the one he had cut out of his own skin. Now you needed to somehow prevent him from losing his arm, and from founding the Commission. Both felt like fighting against windmills. On the other hand, the universe had been destroyed, so maybe this future of his had been successfully prevented, since all of you would die a lot earlier than that.

“Hey, I found the sigil,” Five shouted to his siblings who were still fighting with their adoptive father.

You snapped out of your thoughts, and pointed to the stars at the ground.

“It’s on the-”

You got interrupted by the sound of breaking glass, and alarmed both Five and you spun to your left, where one of the Guardians, who the others had mentioned before, broke through the glass ceiling.

Immediately your body was on fight or flight mode, and you felt Five tuck you away from where the Guardian was in free fall, pushing himself between you and the danger.

It was the flash of metal, there one second and gone the next, faster than you could have perceived, when Five suddenly cried out and stumbled to the floor. You felt his blood before you saw it in the dim light, so much blood, warm and sticky, coating your hands at an alarming rate as Five’s right hand slipped from your grip and he slumped against you. In terror you glanced down at him, at the source of so much blood, and found that where his left arm had been mere split seconds ago, only a stump was left.

The picture of the old Five in the bunker flickered before your eyes, how he had been missing his left arm, and you tasted sick on your tongue, not only from the thought of how painful it had to be to lose a limp or the smell of blood, but also from the realisation that you were one step closer to losing Five to that dark future.

Before another sound had left Five’s lips, you had quickly dragged him against the balustrade, and begun reaching for your belt. You needed to tie off the big blood vessels in his arm, so he would not bleed out. At the same time Five fumbled for his tie, thinking the same thing as you. Realising his tie was easier to access, you quickly loosened it, and pulled it over his head. His eyes were wide, sweat beginning to coat his forehead from the pain.

“I got you,” you mumbled, ignoring the sounds of a fight going on downstairs. Doubtlessly the Hargreeves were taking care of the last Guardian. Or the Guardian of them, by the sounds of it. But truth be told, you could not care less about that. All that mattered was the way blood continued spurting from Five’s wound and how desperately he looked up at you as you were kneeling in front of him. “I got you,” you repeated, tying the tie around what was left of his arm, and pulling it as tightly as possible. Five groaned in pain, making another wave of sickness spread through your stomach, but you ignored it.

“Tighter,” he whimpered. “It needs to be tighter.”

“Okay,” you nodded, while grabbing the blood slippery fabric as safely between your hands as possible. “This’ll hurt.”

You looked down at him, unable to keep the pity out of your gaze. You knew Five hated to be pitied, but still-

The way he looked up at you almost knocked all breath out of you. His eyes were soft, sad, and you had never seen anyone look at you with so much trust as he did in that moment.

“Maybe,” he began, blinking his blue eyes as if in a slight daze, “Maybe I should tell you that I-”

You did not let him finish whatever he had planned on saying. Instead you pulled the tie as tightly as possible, making Five scream out in pain, but at least the blood flow from his arm began ceasing.

“Tell me once we’ve saved the world,” you mumbled, pressing your forehead against his quickly in a gesture of comfort. His skin was cold from sweat.

“The others-” he mumbled out, and you nodded in understanding, quickly getting up. The Guardian was on the floor, but so were most of the Hargreeves.

“The sigil is on the lobby floor,” you shouted to them, while helping Five up, who rested his weight against the balustrade.

“It’s the stars,” he added.

Immediately Reginald began ordering around the others, and while you and Five watched them scurry around, one after the other finding a star on the floor to stand on. As soon as one of them was positioned, the stars underneath their feet began glowing and clicking, while the sound of a motor all around you began picking up. Confused you looked around, trying to locate the source of the sound, but it seemed to come from everywhere at once.

“Number Five, quickly!”

Only when Reginald Hargreeves shouted for him, did you notice Five had left your side and moved to the bottom of the staircase. So much for never leaving each other’s side again, huh? Quickly you moved down the stairs, rushing to him, while he exchanged looks with Alison across the room. To your left, the Guardian that somehow had recovered from the previous attack, began roaring again, as it stormed towards the others. Before you could say something, before you could reach for him, Five had begun moving, blinking himself onto the last empty star right in the middle. The moment the touched it, bright blue flashes zapped between all seven heroes and the Guardian, so blinding that you had to cover your eyes. But with covered eyes it was all the more easier to hear the agonised screams of the Hargreeve siblings and Lila. And then the flashes died down.

Quickly you looked up, finding the seven seemed to be stuck in place, lights, like spotlights in a theatre, shining down on every single one of them. A look to the side revealed the Guardian to have fallen apart, hundreds of cockroaches streaming from an empty armour.

All of a sudden, the noises around you picked up again, clicking and buzzing, like those of a huge machine, in which’s centre you found yourselves. A strangled sound from Five made you snap your attention back to the seven people in the lights. Five’s head was leant back, his arms slightly spread, and what you could see from his face he looked pained.

“Five?” Jumping down the last steps of the staircase you hurried over to the seven, but did not dare touching any of them. “What’s happening,” you asked nobody in particular, before you turned to Reginald Hargreeves. “Hey, old man! What’s happening?”

But the man did not seem to take notice of you, of your panic strained voice, as the foyer around you began to change. What had seemed like solid matter, walls, floor, doors, windows, stairs and columns, dissolved into nothingness, leaving only faint lines of light where edges had been before. The only thing that was left was the floor with the stars and a part of the reception, which began to look increasingly like a control panel. Reginald walked over to the panel, a blue half-sphere appearing over him, displaying numbers and equations in a writing you could not read. But he seemed to be able to, because he began tapping around on them, shifting them.

A particularly loud gasp from Five tore your attention away from Reginald, and back to the young man you had grown so close to. In the white light you could, all too clearly, make out the pale tone of his skin. Not just pale, white, bordering grey. His eyes were wide, only strained gasps leaving his lips, but it was obvious in how much pain he was. You watched as his cheeks fell in, while Alison began arguing with Reginald. Second by second he began resembling a starving person more than the healthy man he had been minutes ago, as if the life itself was being drained from his body.

A ping from Hargreeve’s panel, and suddenly the groaning of the in the lights trapped increased to muffled scream of pain. Your heart was racing in your chest, and you were well aware of the tears that had begun falling from your eyes, as you helplessly repeated Five’s name over and over again. You knew you could not touch the light which trapped Five. What would happen if you did? There was no way of telling. But it could end tragically. And you were no hero. You were just- you. What grand things had you ever done in your life? Nothing worth mentioning, apart maybe from the most stupid thing which had been following Five out of your house one sunny morning three apocalypses ago and then falling in love with him.

“Please,” you pleaded, addressing Alison, or the old Hargreeves or anyone else who might be able to do something now. “Please, stop this. Please.”

Instead you had to watch as little glimmers of light began separating themselves from Five’s skin, and drifted upwards towards the invisible source of the spotlight that kept him trapped. More and more he looked like a days old corpse, but still he began talking, his eyes focused on Alison.

“He killed Luther,” he pressed out, “He tried to kill Klaus. He won’t stop before we’re all dead.”

You could not muffle the sob that slipped from your lips, as your knees gave out.

“’s gonna be alright,” Five mumbled, before a pained groan shut him up again, but you knew he had been talking to you. You wanted to punch him, wanted to mock him. How could things be alright after this? You had no way to stop whatever his deranged adoptive father was doing to him and his siblings. You did not know how to fight, had no weapon to either-

Unless…

Your eyes flickered across the room, searching for one of Diego’s knives, or one of the weapons the Guardian might have dropped. But the moment you spotted the sickle, Alison already picked it up. Frozen, you watched as she approached her adoptive father, and brought the weapon down on his head. The moment Reginald Hargreeves’ knees gave out, the lights suddenly died down, releasing its captives, and next to you Five collapsed on the ground.

“Five,” you gasped out, and quickly gathered him in your arms, pulling you into your lap. His skin was grey, stretching over easily visible bones. His eyes were dull, as if he were 200 years old, and his right hand weakly wrapped into your shirt, holding onto you as tightly as his weak state allowed.

“Hey, hey, I got you,” you whispered, reminding yourself that you had told him these words just minutes prior, when he had lost his arm. “I’m right here, I got you.” Carefully you brushed a strand of his jet black hair out of his eyes, your fingertips grazing his skin slightly. It felt so odd, so cold, so dead.

“Alison,” Five had turned his head towards where Alison had stepped over the corpse of the old Hargreeves into the centre of the panel, her hand hovering over a red button that had appeared on the screen. “Alison, don’t touch that button. We don’t know what it does!”

Viktor too was screaming for Alison to stop, even strong enough to have gotten up already and summoning his powers in the form of a blinding blue light. Would the fighting ever stop?

“Don’t do this,” Viktor warned, his fists lifted to his chest, ready to attack.

“Do you trust me,” Alison asked, holding Viktor’s gaze, who slowly let his arms down and the light dimmed until it had disappeared completely.

“Viktor, what are you doing,” Five asked, beginning roll out of where you had lifted him to rest his head in your lap. “Stop her.”

“If there’s one thing I know about big red buttons, it’s that – no matter how tempting they are – they should not be pressed,” you reminded Alison, slowly getting up from your spot on the floor, while the others joined Five’s plea not to press the button. But still she turned away from her the others and you, slowly bringing her hand down on the button.

You felt Five reach for you, and then everything got drowned in white.

~*~

Slowly an elevator door opened, revealing the middle of a small park, in what sounded like the centre of a big city, judging by the noise of traffic. Warm fingers were wrapped around yours, and when you looked up, you found Five looking down on you. His jaw was tightened, as if he expected to walk from Apocalypse Number 3 directly into Apocalypse Number 4. You felt his fingers carefully tighten around yours, and you adjusted your hand so you could do the same, while the others slowly began leaving the elevator. Five and you followed them.

In the middle of the small crossing of six paths stood a bust. Curiously you strolled over, Five in tow, to read the plate that was attached below it.

“Obsidian Memorial Park, Graciously donated by Sir Reginald Hargreeves, this first day of October 1989,” you read out in a whisper. Five’s fingers tightened around yours.

While you were still around, a commotion started up in front of the elevator, and you suddenly spotted Luther, alive and well, visible for all of you and not just Klaus, standing in front of it. He enthusiastically hugged Victor, lifting him up, as all the others too watched in astonishment. As Luther and everyone else realised he had the normal body of a well-trained man now, instead of that of an ape, you felt Five move at your side, and turned to look at him, your breath catching in your throat as you saw how he was holding out his left arm in front of his body.

“I got my arm back,” he marvelled, turning his hand in the dim light of the park.

Again you felt tears well up in your eyes, but this time out of pure relief. Five had his arm back, which meant that there was still time to prevent the future you had seen for him.

“I got my arm back,” he repeated, turning to you, a bright smile on his face which in itself made your breath hitch. And then he let go of your hand, gathering you up in his arms instead, lifting you so your feet were in the air, and twirled you around, giggling into your neck, while you wrapped your arms around his shoulders, and laughed. You laughed like you had not laughed in weeks, not caring about what his siblings might think. Truthfully, right now you did not care what anyone was thinking. The only thing that mattered was that Five was with you, and he was alive and uninjured and seemingly healthy. You could deal with all the endings of the world in the universe if he was by your side.

When Five put you down again, both of you slightly out of breath the atmosphere around you had cooled down harshly. Luther was looking for Sloane, and Alison seemed to be missing too. That definitely put a damper on the whole ‘we’re still alive and somehow prevented the apocalypse’-situation.

“Hey,” suddenly Luther came storming over to you and Five, harshly grabbing him by the collar of his jacket. “I don’t care about any resets, alright?” You protested, grabbing Luther’s wrist in warning, trying to tuck him away from Five. “I want my wife back, Five. Where is she?”

“I’m glad you’re alive, but please take your hand off me,” Five answered Luther a lot calmer than you were.

At that Luther grabbed Five’s collar with both hands, pulling him closer threateningly.

“Luther, that’s enough,” you tried interfering but Luther ignored you entirely.

“Not until you give me an answer,” he snarled at Five.

“Okay, screw this,” Five decided, lifting his hands in order to blink out, but nothing happened. No blue light signalling the opening of a portal, nothing. “Something’s wrong.”

Immediately panic swept into his eyes, which landed on you, as if to search for help while you watched with baited breath.

“That’s right, something’s wrong,” Luther growled, “You’re about to get your ass kicked.”

“No, you moron, my power,” Five rolled his eyes, looking up at his brother. “I can’t blink.”

At that Luther let go of Five, who quickly straightened out his jacket before turning to you. You only half noticed how the other siblings tried summoning their powers but failed miserably, as Five grabbed your hand in his again.

Slowly the group began splitting up; Luther running off to find Sloane, Klaus following him. Diego and Lila, left holding hands, and Viktor too sighed, and slowly strode off, no clear idea where to go.

Which left Five and you, holding hands in the middle of a park at night. Slowly you looked at him, the question of what you should do now dying on your lips, as you saw the absentminded gaze with which he was scrutinizing you.

“The thing I was about to say before...” he trailed of as if he expected you to remember.

“What thing?”

“The thing I was about to say before you rudely interrupted me by cutting off all blood supply to my arm-”

“Oh, you mean where I saved you from bleeding you,” you asked, raising your eyebrows at him challengingly.

Five rolled his eyes at you.

“You’re insufferable, you know that,” he asked with a sigh, before his piercing blue eyes met yours again.

“Yet here you are, holding my hand,” you pointed out.

Five glanced down to your joined hands hanging in the space between you, gently running his thumb over the back of your hand.

Not looking back up at you, he continued.

“Anyway, as I was about to say- not matter how many apocalypses we have to face in the future… I want you to know that I will do absolutely anything to make sure you are safe. I dragged you into this mess; I am the one who needs to make sure you are safe. And I don’t care what it coasts me.”

“But I do, Five,” you shook your head, trying to get him to look at you, but his eyes were fixed on your hands. “I care what it costs you, and you can’t risk your life, or limbs or- you can’t put yourself at risk for me.”

“Why not?”

“’cause you’re special, Five. The world needs you, needs the Umbrella Academy-”

“Not anymore,” he shrugged. “I lost my powers and, you know, I think maybe that’s a good thing, for once. Maybe, maybe we can just stay here, you know, the two of us. In this world. Screw the apocalypse, the end of the universe… we could just… stay here. Stay together.”

It took a moment for the words to settle in, and confused you blinked.

“Wouldn’t… wouldn’t you grow tired of me,” you asked carefully, not sure if you understood correctly what Five was implying.

“You know I could never grow tired of you,” he denied, finally looking at you again. “I thought I knew the range of human emotions, thought I knew what- what love is, but these past weeks… you-” He exhaled, and shook his head. “Truth is, I don’t care which world or which apocalypse I have to live in, as long as it’s with you. Does that sound stupid?”

You laughed quietly, and took a step closer to Five, reaching your free hand up to cup his face. Immediately he snuggled into you touch, his eyes fluttering closed. His skin was warm now, a lot warmer than just a few minutes ago when the machine had sucked the life out of him.

“It does,” you told him. “I at least prefer this world-” you paused to signal him you were referring to your surroundings, “to the apocalypse world you described to me.”

Five nodded.

“I get that,” he agreed.

“Hey, Five,” you called quietly. Slowly his eyes opened again. “Can I kiss you?”

For a moment his eyes widened in shock, before he surprised you by leaning forward and pressing his lips to yours in a desperate but gentle kiss. His lips were hot and soft, smooth as they pressed to yours. He let go of your hand, which he had still been holding, wrapping the arm around your waist instead, while he brought the other up to your neck, carefully holding you in place. Your hand was still on his face, the other propped against his chest, feeling the fast beating of his heart under your palm. Five kissed you like he was drowning and you were the only thing that kept him alive. And maybe that was partially true. After Luther’s wedding he had told you that he would continue fighting if you asked him to, that the only reason he would stop this apocalypse, would be to save you, if you wanted that. You had told him there was no way to save the world, and that you would rather spend the last few hours with him than trying to chase a solution that did not exist. But there you were now. In a new world, a new universe even, your hand wrapped into the front of his dress shirt, his fingers massaging small figures into your neck as his lips connected to yours over and over again.

When the kiss eventually broke, Five wrapped both of his arms around you, and lifted you in the air again, twirling you around once more. His face was buried in your neck, your nose pressed into his short, black hair. And when he set you down again, both of you dizzy from the spinning, he gently cupped your jaw.

“Where ever we go from here on out,” he whispered, “we go together.”

His blue eyes were blazing with passion, making your breath hitch, and you nodded, pressing your forehead against his.

“Together,” you promised.

Tagged:

@alexstyx @recommendedattheprice @jayloverthe3rd @robinruns @lookalivefrosty @butterflycore @vamp-void @angelevansfalls a @omgsuperstarg @reinaeru

#five hargreeves x reader #five x reader #five hargreeves x you #five x you #five hargreeves x reader fluff #five hargreeves x you fluff #five hargreeves fanfic #five hargreeves fanfiction #umbrella academy fanfic #umbrella academy imagines #umbrella academy imagine #umbrella academy fanfiction #fluff #tw: blood #tw: alcohol #tw: gore

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smt-obsessed · 18 days

Text

Five Hargreeves

☆ 58 ☆ entj ☆ libra ☆ 5'5 ☆

Each symbol portrays a different genre.

💋= smut, 🚨= angst, 👑= darkfic,

🩹= sickfic, 🧸= fluff, 🌦= hurt/comfort

(His body is not physically 58.)

(I will be aging it up to 20+ if I write smut.)

＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚ ☆ ˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊

HEADCANNONS

Nothing yet...

ONE-SHOTS

"Crazy." 👑💋

Coming soon...

SERIES

Nothing yet...

＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚ ☆ ˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊

✰Masterlist✰

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

#five hargreeves #five hargreeves x reader #five hargreeves fanfic #five hargreeves headcannons #five hargreeves oneshots #🍪

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young-heathen · 2 years

Text

The Umbrella Academy Masterlist

this will mostly be five hargreeves fics, just fyi

boarding school for the dreamers

#tua #the umbrella academy #five hargreeves #five hargreeves fanfic #five hargreeves imagines #five hargreeces x oc #five hargreeves x original character

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dicejpg · 9 months

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You should have left a note - {Five Hargreeves x GN!Reader}

Synopsis: Five is ordered to kill his ex-commission partner. He doesn't want to.

Note: I made this really late at night. I would really appreciate requests for Five :)

(Not edited)

WORD COUNT: 1K

2nd POV:

Five peers down at the paper that bears your name, hands shaky. He was ordered by the Handler--just this morning--to terminate you for immediate extraction.

It’s been a year since you left Five since you left the Commission. He'd been rightfully frustrated since your abrupt departure. He didn't get a note, nor a goodbye. Sure, you two weren’t all that close as partners, but he at least deserved a warning, he thought.

He doesn't know how to feel about the idea of blowing your brains out with his M1935.

You’ve been gone for approximately a year, leaving no trace or hints as to where you may be. But, the Commission finally tracked you down to a small town in New Jersey, 1978.

When he arrives in front of your supposed living quarters, he is taken aback by the rundown apartment complex in front of him. A real shithole. Its bricks are chipped and sun-bleached, presumably from old age. Police sirens and gunshots are audible from a neighborhood away, giving away the unsafeness of the area.

It’s twelve o’ clock at night. Five quietly blinks up to your numbered room. If he remembers correctly from the paper, it's room 395. Third floor, second door to the left.

Your apartment is dark, gloomy. Five does not turn on the lights, not wanting to give away his existence. But, he assumes you’re not home anyways. Your job as a bartender at a rundown restaurant downtown would have you occupied for at least another hour.

He wonders through the confined living space, taking note of a few books scattered on the coffee table, and an unmade bed. There's a small pile of dishes in the sink, a pot and two bowls. There are no picture frames, or wall decor. The room is barren with no personality at all.

Five would not even know that you lived here from the looks of the place.

It smells like you though, he unwillingly notices. He finds it oddly comforting nostalgic.

He’s in the middle of examining some scattered papers on the ground when he hears the jingling of keys outside the door. Along with your whistling.

Five blinks behind a window curtain in no time at all, blood pumping fast. You must have gotten off early.

Your humming becomes more prominent as you enter your living space. The sound of keys being thrown on the kitchen counter makes Five jolt, but he still goes unnoticed.

You make no move to turn on the lights, so Five risks a glance at you.

Your head is blocked by the freezer door, but he notices your disheveled work attire. Some black slacks and an untucked white button down shirt. Your apron hangs on a hook by the door.

When the freezer door is closed, he notices your face. It's the same as when he last saw you, but with sadder eyes and dark eye-bags. His heart sinks, he starts feeling uncharacteristically torn.

He watches you crack open a frozen dinner meal and place it in the microwave. You roll your sleeves up to your elbows while you wait for the food to heat up. Five always thought you had nice, toned forearms. He stares at them, at you.

His eyes are intense, observing as you lean against the counter, stretching and running your fingers through your hair. He feels his stomach knot.

Five was definitely the wrong person for this job. He readys his gun quietly.

You freeze at the almost imperceptible sound of a gun clicking, slowly turning your head in Five's direction. He doesn't see the way your eyebrows furrow because he's fully behind the curtain again.

The microwave beeps quietly, but you make no move to retrieve your dinner.

The sound of footsteps approaching Five's hiding spot makes sweat bead on his forehead. He debates letting himself be caught, but decides against it. Five blinks behind you, aiming his gun.

But you've already kicked the thing out of his hands, fully expecting his maneuver. You tackle him to the ground, gripping his wrists and pinning his legs with yours. Not before kicking the gun far away, under the couch.

"God, of course they sent you, Five." You breathe, glaring down at him in dismay. "The Handler's such a sadistic- I mean, sending my own partner to kill me? Is she kidding?" You ramble is distress, cursing your ex-employer.

Five gazes up at you, swallowing thickly. He fights thoughtlessly against your grasp, but tries nothing else to get loose. He does not want to kill you.

"Let go of me." He warns, feeling fuzzy and not knowing what else to say. His eyes never leave yours.

"Why don't you just blink away? You're fully capable of getting out of this." You accuse, getting close to his face. Your breath tickles his nose. It's minty.

Five hesitates, his eyes fluttering for a moment as he fails to regain his train of thought.

He remains quiet.

"You don't really want to kill me." Your grip on his wrists falters slightly when he doesn't object.

He softly pulls his wrists free, and you let him sit up. But you keep his legs pinned just in case. There is a strangely comfortable silence as you wait for Five to find the words.

"You should have just told me you were going to leave." Five whispers finally. His tone is unreadable. "Or at least left a note."

You look at him with a pained expression. "You're right. I should have." It's something you regretted for months after abandoning him. There is an intake of breath right before you add: "I missed uh- I miss you." You redden, not looking at him.

He exhales with a hidden smile. "Me too."

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fiveisnumber1 · 1 year

Text

Timeless - Five Hargreeves X Reader

Main story parts:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35

A/N: Here is the next chapter! I know it takes me a while to put these out but I hope that the extra time spent on the writing justifies the time between uploads.

Chapter specific TW: mentions of neglect and physical abuse. For those who want to skip that specific content there will be bolded astrisks (*) at the end of the paragraph where it starts and ends so you don't have to skip the whole chapter if that is uncomfortable for you.

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Part 36 - Remembering The Past/Fixing The Future

As Five walked down the hall towards the communal bathrooms he couldn't get the disappointed look you gave him out of his mind. No matter what he did it seemed he was always letting someone down, and with this new apocalypse not only was his family upset at him but so were you. While he could brush off the complaints of his siblings as he had done many times before, your disappointment gave him pause. You seemed adamant that you could figure out what was going on together without the help of Lila and while Five didn't doubt your combined intelligence, Lila had worked for the Commission just as he had. Whether he liked it or not she was a resource to help him sort this out quickly. He needed to sort it out quickly. Whatever this was it was affecting you severely and he couldn't stand the helplessness he felt watching you suffer. As Five approached the bathroom door he shook his head as if trying to rid himself of the worries he felt. He knew they wouldn't go away as he was incapable of not thinking about you but he needed to focus his thoughts. And unfortunately, his thoughts had to turn to one of the last people he wanted to see. Pushing open the door to the bathroom he saw Lila across the room submerged in one of the bathtubs with one leg up in the air. Already he could feel annoyance grow in him at the sight of her as he questioned,

"The hell are you doing in here?"

"Shaving my nest, you little perv." Lila spat back

Five could care less about what she was actually doing but he was slightly annoyed by her comment about him being a perv. That suggested interest in which he had none. The only person he ever had any interest in was you. Placing his hands in his pockets he remarked back,

"Don't flatter yourself, Lila. I like my women a little less likely to kill me in my sleep."

Slowly Lila began to lean forward towards the edge of the tub, her hand reaching down towards a towel as she stated,

"We're learning so much about each other."

Finishing her statement, she snatched the blade that was hidden behind the fabric quickly throwing it in Five's direction and as the blade flew toward him, he blinked out of the way to the opposite side of the bathroom. Regaining his focus he watched as Lila quickly turned to look at him before mimicking his powers and blinking away herself. With wide eyes, he scanned around the room for her to reappear only to have his head slammed into the mirror behind him. Stumbling backward Five tried to regain his balance as Lila let out a barrage of attacks, kicking him in the stomach, punching him in the face followed by another kick to the head. Falling to his hands and knees Five grabbed a towel resting on a nearby bath before quickly getting up.

Rushing towards her he wrapped the towel around her arm jamming his elbow down on it as if attempting to pull her arm out of her socket. Throwing a punch back to his jaw, Lila tried to get Five off of her only to have him move behind her and place the towel around her neck. Pulling with all his might Five could hear as Lila gasped for air clawing at the towel wrapped around her neck. If he could just get her to pass out then maybe they could have a more civil discussion when she came to.

Before she could pass out though Lila blinked away, reappearing in front of the bathroom door and grabbing the knife that had landed in it only moments ago. As Five rushed towards her, she turned around jabbing the blade in his direction. Jumping backward Lila continued to slash at him trying her best to land a cut only to be met with a hand pushing her face up forcefully.

Grabbing onto a nearby metal tray Five held it up in front of him as Lila recovered quickly from the hit and slammed the knife towards him once more. The blade jammed through the metal tray. Great so truly nothing was quality here. Straining Five pushed back against her before shifting the tray towards the left and throwing it down to the ground. Back and forth he and Lila went, punch for punch, blow for blow, neither one relenting. But with one swift move of grabbing Lila's arm and elbowing her in the back Five was able to get her off to the side and away from him just for a moment. Grabbing a nearby bottle of lotion he popped the cap off and as Lila turned to face him he squirted the liquid into her eyes. And as Lila covered her eyes, it was enough of an advantage for Five to roundhouse kick her in the face.

"All right, enough." Lila cried as she grabbed for a towel on the ground "I'd forgotten how much I hate you, you puny little turd."

Sitting down on the edge of one of the nearby baths, Five caught his breath and rolled out his neck as he replied,

"The feeling's mutual, Lila. As much as I'd love to stand here shivving each other, I have bigger concerns than you."

"Yeah? Like what?" Lila questioned

Getting up from where he sat on the edge of the bath, Five slowly walked over to Lila.

"What do you know about the grandfather paradox?" Five asked

"Well, I read the same training manuals as you did. Why?" Lila replied

"Because it's happening." Five stated firmly

"You being stupid?" Lila questioned leaning against the wall behind her

Five didn't have time for her games. If she wasn't going to be of use then he needed to go to people who would be and once again make his way back to the commission. It was less than ideal, all he wanted to do was separate himself from his past, but every time it pulled him back in.

"Hand over your briefcase." Five demanded, "I need to go to Herb and find out how he let things get so cocked up."

"Over there with my knickers. Toss them to me, will you?" Lila teased

Five rolled his eyes walking away from her and over toward the case. Lifting up some of Lila's clothing he threw it behind him at her when he then realized that there was not just one case there, but two. Picking up the cases he placed them on the edge of the nearby bath as he questioned,

"Lila, why is it you have two briefcases?"

"Mmm. One's yours. Nicked it from the Sparrows. Go on. Give it a go." She replied

There was something in her tone of voice that Five didn't like but then again there wasn't really much that he liked about Lila to begin with. Placing one of the briefcases on the ground he turned his attention to the one still in his hand. Facing it toward him he opened the latches on it.

"First, we try yours," Lila stated

As Five opened it the case whirred down, a red glow coming from inside it rather than the typical blue. Five's eyes went wide as a panic set in. This couldn't be happening. These cases were built to last. It was almost impossible for them to fail. The odds of them failing was a fraction, of a fraction, of a fraction of a percent. Tossing one case to the ground, Five picked up the other going through the same process as the first.

"And then we try mine." Lila added resigned

But he was only met with the same result. This couldn't be happening. This was almost impossible. Two cases failing? Both of them? This was larger than what he could handle. Apocalypses? Easy. Grandfather paradox? With a briefcase, he could've settled that easily. But this? This was more complex than he had experienced before.

"This can't be happening. The odds of one of them failing, it's in the millions. But two of them..." Five started

"Astronomical." Lila finished before adding "Yeah. So, what does that mean exactly? End of the world?"

Five looked up from the briefcase at her knowing full well that this temporal anomaly was more than he could handle himself. The words had not left his mouth to reply but he knew he was going to hate them once they did. It was like a bad taste on his tongue that he just wanted to get rid of.

"Oh, it's much worse than that." Five explained grimacing "It means you and I are gonna have to work together."

Lila sat there for a moment thinking about the information that had just been presented to her. This was not how things were supposed to go. She had her reasons for being here and now they were getting all cocked up. And even more so, she now had to team up with Five to stop whatever in the bloody hell was going on. There really was no other word about the situation except:

"Shit."

"Listen, I don't like it either, but the sooner we fix this the sooner we don't have to interact with each other." Five explained

"Fine." Lila huffed "But only because I hate looking at your stupid judgmental face."

With a curt nod of his head, Five went over to his hat that had fallen off in the fight and placed it back on his head. Walking back towards the tubs, he picked up the two briefcases and made his way to the door of the bathroom, Lila following behind. With Five's hands full, Lila opened the door leading back out into the hallway and stepped out leaving Five to struggle to get through the door with the two briefcases while it was still open. As he attempted to get through the doorway he could her Diego call out,

"Lila?"

"Hmm?" She responded

"You need to take this kid with you," Diego commanded

As Five finally managed to get out of the bathroom, Diego stopped his conversation with Lila to look at him. Furrowing his eyebrows he interrogated,

"The hell were you doing in there?"

"Bathing." Lila replied

"Together?" Diego questioned further

Five rolled his eyes. So not only was Diego an idiot, he was an insecure idiot. And even more so he was acting insecure over the person actively he despised for dating his sister. He was a mess. And if they managed to stop the apocalypse, he should seek professional help for his issues.

"Diego I'm in a committed relationship." Five reminded before gesturing between Diego and Lila "Unlike whatever is going on here."

"Real nice," Diego replied sarcastically "Y'know you can't win brownie points with my sister if she's not even here."

"Sure but at least I'm not the one hemorrhaging them," Five remarked as he began to walk away toward the elevator

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Diego questioned angrily

"Oh, okay. Diego, we don't have time for this." Lila interjected beginning to follow Five

"Yeah, Lila and I have got important shit to do." Five called out

Important shit? What shit was so important that Lila couldn't discuss taking back the child that she unexpectedly threw on him? Following the two of them Diego called back,

"Wait. What's more important than family?"

"End of the world, genius." Five replied

Placing the briefcases down on the floor Five pressed the call button for the elevator and waited for it to arrive. The sooner he could get away from this idiocracy the better. Diego and Lila's tumultuous relationship was not his problem and even just hearing about it made him want to bash his brains in. The only thing stopping him from actually doing so was his need to stop the apocalypse so you wouldn't get hurt anymore.

"Lila? What's more important than us?" Diego asked softly

"There is no us, Diego," Lila answered

With a ding of the bell the elevator arrived, and immediately Five picked up the two briefcases and stepped in. Leaning against the back wall of the elevator he watched as Lila attempted to enter only to be stopped by Diego. Five considered helping her for a moment, but she did leave him to try and get out the bathroom door himself, so he stopped considering it.

"Come here. What do you mean?" Diego questioned

"Look, for you, it's been a couple days. For me, it has been over a decade. I've moved on. I've slept with many, many people. Many. The only relationship we have left is the one with our child. So you better not screw that up." Lila replied breaking Diego's grasp and walking into the elevator

"Wait! What am I supposed to do with him, huh?" Diego yelled into the elevator as the doors began to close "I got important shit going on too!"

"I doubt that." Lila replied unamused "Figure it out, Diego. Be a dad."

And as the doors finally shut on Diego's sad and confused face, Lila leaned back on the wall to the side and let out a sigh complaining,

"He's a bloody idiot."

"Who you chose to procreate with." Five reminded

"Shut up." Lila spat

As the elevator slowed and the chime of it notifying it had reached a new floor sounded, Five waited for the doors to open once more. When they were wide enough for him and the two briefcases to get out without a struggle, he took the immediate opportunity to leave. Turning around he looked at Lila in the elevator who looked back at him confused.

"This isn't my floor." She stated

"No, it's mine." Five replied flatly

"I thought we were supposed to be 'stopping the apocalypse'?" Lila questioned

"I have some things I need to get in order and you should try wearing something other than a towel." Five responded, "Meet me in the lobby."

"But-" Lila began to say

But it was too late and the doors had closed once more. Letting out a huff at the situation he found himself Five turned away from the elevators and headed towards the room knowing he had a lot of shit ahead of him.

Across the city though, there were much different things ahead of you as you looked into your brother's eyes waiting for a response. But he said nothing. All he did was sit in his chair looking at you blankly.

Dean's mind was running a million miles per hour as memory after memory flashed before his eyes. Memories that should have been familiar to him and yet for some reason felt foreign. With each passing second they seemed to worm their way into the deepest parts of his consciousness settling down within his brain, and as the flood of recollection began to wain he finally saw what was in front of him.

You.

His sister.

Of all the memories he now recalled, the ones he shared with you rose to the surface and he began to feel everything. The love and admiration he had for you, the sadness of when you had to leave, and now the relief of having you stand here before him. Water began to well in his eyes as slowly he stood from his desk chair, his hands gripping the back of it in an attempt to hide the way they were shaking. A bittersweet smile formed on his face, and his voice trembled as he quietly asked,

"(Y/N)? Is that really you?"

It was no doubt you were twins as your reaction began to mirror his. The tears forming in your eyes, still slightly puffy from earlier, and the warm feeling in your chest hearing his voice speak your name again. It was a voice you had not heard in forever. A voice that for years had slowly sounded more and more like a distant memory rather than the constant it once was, and yet here it was now as present as ever. For a moment your own voice was rendered speechless. You had so much to say and yet you could say nothing at all. But Dean needed to know, he needed to know it wasn't a vision or a hallucination. It was you. Taking a step toward him you managed to croak out,

"Yeah. It's me."

It only took a moment before the two of you threw your arms around each other, tightly embracing the sibling that you each believed you had lost. Wide smiles spread on your faces even as tears ran from your eyes. For a moment only the sounds of small sniffles and joyful sobs could be heard throughout the empty house and as emotions ran high you both slid to your knees from the weight of your feelings, still not letting go of the sibling you had finally gotten back.

"Oh my god, you're alive." Dean stated relieved "I never thought I'd see you again."

"You don't know how much I missed you." You replied between shaky breaths "It's been so many years...."

Pulling back from the hug Dean's hands rested on your shoulders as he looked at you wondering what in the world you meant. It was only April 3rd, you and he and all the rest of your friends were together at Super Star Lanes on the 1st for Kenny's birthday.

"Years? We were at the bowling alley two days ago." Dean reminded

But as the words left his mouth he also remembered that two days ago he was sitting at home watching Spy Kids 2 on Netflix all alone.

"But...wait- I was also at home then...?" He questioned aloud "Wh-what is going on?"

For a moment you looked away disappointedly. You had to explain what had happened but honestly, it was a lot to dump on one person. Even if you tried to keep it to the bare minimum of necessary information Dean had a tendency to see right through you. He knew what you were thinking as you were thinking it the same way you could do to him.

"(Y/N)," Dean called

You looked back towards him meeting his gaze as you saw his expression fill with concern.

"Whatever it is, we can work on it together but you need to tell me first." He stated gently

Great. He was already in your head again reading your thoughts. But just as you thought that you could hear the voice in his head growing worried.

I need to figure out what's going on. Why isn't she telling me what's happening?

He was always like this. Always so worried about you. Granted there had been plenty of reasons for him to be over the years though so you couldn't blame him for worrying now. Besides Five, he was probably the only other person who was actually concerned about you right now. Hell, most of the others probably didn't even know you were gone. That's kind of sad, huh?

"It is sad, now will you please tell me what is happening," Dean commented aloud

Scrunching your face in annoyance you flicked at your brother's forehead complaining,

"Will you stay out of my head for one fucking second?"

"Ow!" He whined "You know I can't control it. It just happens asshole."

His statement was correct, but it was still annoying. Rolling your eyes, you moved away from Dean and sat yourself on the floor leaning against his bed frame.

"Come sit with me." You said tapping the spot on the floor next to you before remarking "And can you at least let me attempt to explain myself before you start worrying."

"Sure, I'll try my best." Dean retorted sarcastically

Sitting next to you on the floor Dean watched you quietly, trying to keep his thoughts quiet enough that he could give you the chance to explain. Taking in a deep breath you knew that you had to acknowledge the elephant in the room before you could even try to explain anything else. Letting out a heavy sigh you turned to look Dean in the eye as you flatly stated,

"The world is ending."

"Still?" Dean questioned, "I thought it was supposed to end on the first."

"It did." You answered, "One timeline ago."

"What?" He asked

You could tell he was confused and honestly, if you hadn't experienced it yourself you would be too. But what would've been something unbelievable to you two time jumps ago was now your reality.

"This isn't the timeline you think we're in Dean. There's a reason you have two sets of memories." You began to explain "April 1st, 2019 after I had made you and everyone else leave me at the bowling alley, I went with the Hargreeves to the Icarus Theatre to stop Viktor from ending the world-"

"Viktor?" Dean interjected

"Viktoria's hero came out as trans." You answered trying to get back on track

"Oh, good for them," Dean replied enthusiastically

"Yeah." You replied before awkwardly continuing "But um, we failed."

"Oh." Dean said quietly, his demeanor quickly shifting

"And Viktor blew up the moon." You added

Dean's mouth went slightly agape as he stared blankly at you, his eyes blinking a few times like a representation of his brain buffering. Did you just say that Viktor blew up the moon? Looking out his bedroom window he gazed upon the planet that illuminated the night sky. Viktor blew up that? The planet in the sky, in space, that was thousands of miles away? With confusion still littering his expression Dean looked back at you, slowly lifting his hand to point toward the moon as he questioned,

"Like THAT moon?"

"Yup that moon came crashing down into hundreds of large rocks towards Earth and was in the process of destroying the planet and ending life on earth as we know it," You elaborated "But before it could take me and the Hargreeves, Five suggested we jump back in time and try again."

"I'm guessing it didn't work." Dean stated

"Not in the slightest. We went too far back. Got scattered through the early 60s. I personally woke up in a hospital in January 1960." You recalled, "Luckily, I was fortunate enough to land in a very good situation during my time and even made a really great friend but I didn't see any of the Hargreeves until November of 63'."

The last time you had talked about the series of events you had gotten into with the Umbrella Academy was at the bowling alley two days ago but also somehow not two days ago, and he thought that was crazy. But this was even more so somehow. Dropped alone into January 1960 and not seeing anyone you were supposed to be with until November 1963?

"That's almost like-" Dean began to say

"Four years? Yeah." You stated

"So how old are you?" He asked

"I don't know anymore." You answered with a shrug of your shoulders before rambling off "Point is there was another apocalypse that we had to stop which we did but we still messed up the timeline and so things changed and the Sparrow Academy exists which is not my fault."

"You saying that makes me think it is your fault." Dean playfully interjected

"It's not! I was told so yesterday!" You whined trying to prove your point "But also Reginald couldn't adopt any of the Umbrellas except Benjamin anyway because get this! None of us exist! And also I found out like four hours ago that both my parents are dead."

Sure nihilistic, dark humor was a coping mechanism that you both used and understood, but the way you so nonchalantly stated that your parents were dead was enough to stop Dean in his tracks. You weren't just coping with humor you were treading water trying to keep yourself emotionally afloat. And then it hit him. You didn't just come to find him, to find him. You came to find him because you were alone. Because while you had been doing your best to keep everyone else around you afloat, they were letting you drown. Either that or there was no one there to keep you afloat to begin with. But either way, he knew, that you knew, that he would never let you drown. He never had, and he never would. He was your twin, together you were a dynamic sibling duo, and together neither of you was alone in the world. Pausing the conversation he reached out to you and wrapped an arm around your shoulders bringing you closer to him. And as your head rested on his shoulder, he gently stroked some of your hair as he comforted,

"Oh (Y/N), I'm so sorry. From the way you spoke of them, I know how much you loved them."

"It's fine..." You lied

It wasn't fine. You knew it wasn't fine. But you also knew acknowledging the truth would hurt more. Almost everyone you loved was gone and the people you still had weren't around. You tried to push it away but the truth was you couldn't stand the thought of being alone again. The hollow emptiness that came with it was too much to bear. You needed something to hold on to.

"(Y/N), we both know it's not fine." Dean stressed

You didn't look up at him, didn't say a word, your only response was a slow nod of your head acknowledging that you had heard the words he spoke. You leaned into your brother more as his response echoed through your mind. It wasn't fine. You...weren't fine. As much as you tried to be, as much as you wanted to prove that you were perfectly fine...you weren't. But still, you struggled to say it, so instead, you wrapped your arms around Dean's waist giving him a side hug as you looked out the window at the night sky.

Dean knew there was no way he was going to get you to admit you wanted help. You weren't the type to make it known when you were in dire need of support until it reached a breaking point. And even then you never verbalized it, but just like now, you showed up when you needed him most and he just knew. He knew you needed someone to stay, someone to hold on to. Looking up at the sky himself, Dean quietly reminisced,

"Hey, do you remember what you told me that day when my family left to visit my Tía Carmen and forgot me?"

"I do," you replied, your voice barely above a whisper

"What did you say?" He asked guiding you toward a response

You heard the phrase in your mind. You remembered that day clearly and the words you had said to him. It took you a moment to gather the strength to speak as you tried to form the words in your mouth without breaking down again. Letting out a shaky breath, your voice wavered as you replied quietly,

"If you have no other family, you'll always have me."

"That's right. If you have no other family, you'll always have me." Dean emphasized "Always."

Sitting up straight you looked at your brother as tears rolled from your eyes once more. For the first time in forever, you felt okay to be not okay. You felt safe enough to be weak. There was no one you had to support, no one you had to be strong for. Instead, strength and support were being offered to you.

"I know." You responded, "That's why I came here."

"I know." Dean acknowledged placing a reassuring hand on your shoulder

After such a turbulent time these past two weeks with the threat of nuclear apocalypse, returning to a time that wasn't your own and then finding out so many people you loved had died having the reassurance of support felt like a weight off your shoulders. The last time you felt this supported was on your birthday in 1960. You were crying because you missed all your friends and Charlie reassured you you'd see them all again one day. You missed him...but he'd be happy to know he was right even if so much else was going wrong. You placed your head in your hands as you ranted,

"Shit's so fucked Dean."

"I can't imagine what you've been through, but I'm here now and we're going to get through this." Dean comforted as he placed a hand on your shoulder once more "Is there anything else I should know?"

You lifted your head from your hands and dried your remaining tears as you tried to think of what else there was to tell them. Your explanation was brief but you pretty much covered the basics. But then it hit you, there was something else you needed to get off your chest.

"Oh yeah there is!" You exclaimed, sarcastic rage burning through your tone "Diego went and got a new girlfriend in the 60s only three months after Eudora was murdered and he completely forgot about her."

"He what?" He questioned firmly

Dean's posture slowly became straighter and an intensity started to grow within him as he heard those words. Three months after both you and Diego lost Eudora he had moved on to someone else? Dean knew that their relationship mattered a lot to you. You practically idolized it, talking about how perfect they were for each other, how they reminded you of your mom and dad, and how happy your parents were together. And even after they broke up they still loved each other and continued to care for you too. Hell, Dean had even met Eudora on numerous occasions and she was really nice.

But now you were telling him that barely three months after her murder, an event he assumed affected both you and Diego deeply, Diego had just moved on from her like nothing happened? Like all the times you had described meant nothing? Dean's face went stone cold as his eyes filled with rage. Granted he didn't know your older brother Diego meant THE Diego Hargreeves at that time but he could feel the anger that he had suppressed all those years ago begin to bubble to the surface. He remembered how pissed off he was that your "amazing older brother" had hurt your feeling so deeply with that breakup and now on top of it quickly rebounded after his former lover had been murdered? It did not matter that Diego had powers, Dean was going to fight him.

"Yeah! And she was an enemy plant trying to kill us the whole time!" You shouted

"What?" Dean demanded more aggressively

So now he was not only going to fight him, he was going to curb-stomp him. And his new girlfriend.

"And he allegedly knocked up the new girl and they have a stupid 12-year-old now because she apparently decided to time travel and show up 12 years later but here's the thing I think she's lying because the kid looks like NEITHER OF THEM!" You ranted enraged

"WHAT? " Dean shouted

Dean was not only going to fight Diego, he was going to curb-stomp him and his baby momma and give the kid a swirly.

"AND HE'S IGNORING ME FOR THE BABY TRAP KID THAT'S PROBABLY NOT EVEN HIS THAT HE APPARENTLY HAD WITH SOMEONE HE'S ONLY KNOWN A WEEK!" You yelled

Hearing those words, Dean could feel something inside him...snap. After all that you had gone through was he really that selfish to choose some woman he only knew a week and a kid that he wasn't fully sure was his over you, the person that he practically helped to raise? Or was he just that ignorant and oblivious to all the pain you were going through? Sure you don't really open up but at this point, you would have to be an idiot not to see that you were struggling. And yet he still probably considered himself a good brother to you.

"I am going to kill him." Dean declared in a slow steady voice

His deadpan tone pulled you out of your anger as you finally noticed the quiet rage coming off of Dean. He was going to kill Diego? The odds of him doing so weren't high but he could probably fight him for a good while. Besides that though, why would he kill him? Didn't he idolize Diego?

"Isn't he your hero though?" You questioned confused

Dean stared at you intently, his hands placed on your shoulders to make sure you were paying attention to the words he was about to say.

"(Y/N) listen to me carefully, Diego Hargreeves of the Umbrella Academy is my hero." Dean explained seriously "Diego of being your older brother, who mind you I didn't realize was the same Diego, I have hated since he and Eudora broke up and has been my enemy since you told me that he refused to attempt couple's therapy with Eudora, even though she was willing to try when you suggested it to them."

Oh how you recalled that day even though you had worked so hard to put it out of your mind. You were so hopeful that they would both be willing to go to therapy and work through their issues because if you were the one asking they couldn't say no to you right? And you knew it worked because, for the few times when your parents couldn't sort out an issue on their own, they always went to a counselor and then came back stronger. But no, even after laying everything out point by point and presenting them with a few options in the area one of them said they would consider it if the other was willing, while the other did not. And it wasn't the one you were expecting. Between her and Diego, she had always been the disciplinarian, the one who drew the line in the sand, but that day was the first time you recalled Diego saying no to you.

"He was being stubborn." You mumbled, "Didn't want to back down and admit that he was partially at fault for what happened."

Even so, no matter how pissed you were he was still family to you. And he still thought of you as his sister so he had to still care about you, right? Letting out a sigh you leaned back against the frame of the bed once more as you added,

"But don't kill him, he's still my brother even if he is an idiot."

As much as it mildly annoyed him that you didn't want him to fight Diego, He also didn't want to upset you further. If to you he was still family, then he wasn't going to go on a revenge crusade and take that away from you just because he was upset.

"Fine. I won't." Dean relented "But only because you asked and he is still my enemy and I am a WAAAAAAAYYY better brother than he is."

"Will it make you feel better if I agree with you?" You questioned, knowing full well what his answer would be

"Yes." He stated seriously

"Fiiinnneee," You conceded "Currently you are a better brother."

"Good enough for me." Dean cheered

You rolled your eyes at his response shaking your head in a slightly disapproving manner, but a small smile began to form on your face. He was ridiculous as ever.

You weren't looking at him but Dean could see the grin you had beginning to form. There was that smile he remembered. There was a pause in the conversation as emotions began to settle but a question remained in Dean's mind that he had to ask,

"So hey, obviously there's a lot more important stuff going on but...if this is a different timeline am I still me?"

What did he mean was he still him? Who else would he be?

"Of course you're you." You affirmed

"No I mean, I know I'm me but am I ME." Dean clarified "Like is this a multiverse?"

Huh. That wasn't something you really thought about before showing up and stabbing him with that syringe. Was he him? He still looked exactly like himself and he still lived in the same house which meant a lot of his earlier life had to be relatively the same. And it wasn't like you had changed entire universes, you had gone back and accidentally made changes in the past that rippled to the present. So effectively he wasn't a completely new Dean he was an edited Dean.

"Yes and no." You answered, "You're you but like an updated version of you?"

"Huh?" Dean said puzzled

Hmm, you had to come up with a way to get it across to him because you knew any detailed explanation of the science and hypotheticals of it all was not going to get through well.

"Okay, um...think of it like a Google doc." You began

"I'm listening," Dean replied

"You are a document full of information that makes you who you are, but us, meaning me and the Umbrellas, jumping back in time and changing the timeline meant some information had to be revised or deleted because of those changes."

"Okay, I'm following so far." Dean acknowledged

"What I did, was by stabbing you with that," You explained as you pointed at the syringe on the ground "I pretty much just went back in the revision history and restored the document to before the edits were made."

"So...same me as before but I just now have some extra memories too because of the revisions?" Dean pondered

"Yeah. Something like that." You replied

Dean leaned his head back onto the edge of his mattress and placed a hand over his eyes as he began to laugh. Between the slight bit of existentialism at your answer and the ridiculousness of it all, he couldn't help but laugh a bit. Life around you was chaotic but somehow between all the stress of this new information, he could still find humor in it.

"What?" You questioned, a smirk coming to your face

"Shit like this is wild but it's funny because it doesn't even make my top three of times you've stressed me out," Dean replied between his laughter

"Oh really?" You questioned sarcastically "A whole new timeline and new apocalypse and I stabbed you and that's not top three?"

"Nope. Not in the slightest." Dean replied copying your tone

"Oh, so what are they then?" You playfully inquired

"One, The Incident." Dean remarked

"My reason was valid." You retorted

"I'm not saying it wasn't but we both know it could've been much worse and you had me worried the whole time." Dean stated

"Fine. What's number two then?" You inquired

"You disappearing for a week to go save the world and not telling anyone leaving us to wonder what happened to you."

You could tell by the tone in his voice that he was still a little upset because technically from his point of view that took place two days ago for him. Given it had been almost four years, you had forgotten that you went MIA with your friends during the first apocalypse. Turning to look at him you saw he had an eyebrow raised as if waiting for you to respond but all you did was give a weak apologetic smile and a shrug of your shoulders before asking,

"And three?"

"November 2016." He said flatly

The month after Eudora and Diego split. You didn't like talking about that time.

"Oh. Right." You replied lowly

"You were so distraught that you stayed here with me for the entire month." Dean recalled "You only ever left once to grab more clothes from home. Even our friends came over here so you wouldn't have to go out."

There was sadness in his tone, but you didn't want the night to be sad anymore. You had dealt with enough sadness today and you didn't want to bring Dean down with you. Trying to lighten the mood you recalled,

"Do you remember that first night? After crying for hours you tried to get me to go to sleep and I insisted on sleeping on the floor."

"Y'know...I think that was the first time I could hear your thoughts." Dean admitted with a bit of a chuckle "In your head, you were so disgusted, and yet you could've just asked me to wash my sheets."

"And how was I supposed to approach that Dean?" You spouted before putting on a mocking tone and asking "Oh hey brother of mine after a long night of heartbreak I've now remembered that I'm a human blacklight and don't want to sleep in your sheets because I can see you jacked off in them before? Is that what I should've said?"

"I don't know!" Dean exclaimed beginning to laugh "But man, I remember my back hurting from sleeping on the floor the whole time."

"I told you we could alternate who slept on the floor but someone here refused that offer!" You remarked, a smile spread across your face "And my god there was that stupid fucking alarm you had set!"

"Heat of the Moment by Asia! That's right!" he shouted amused

"That thing made me feel like I was waking up in the trenches of World War One. I bet my brain is still conditioned to wake up to it!" You retorted back

"Hey, it got you out of bed!"

"It was purposeful?!" You shouted surprised between your fits of laughter

"I'm not sorry." Dean retorted in a sarcastic tone

"Oh my god, you're the worst." You replied playfully shoving him with your left hand

And then he saw it. Your left hand wrapped in white gauze. You were injured. A panic set in as he took your injured hand in his and looked between it and you. Concern laced his tone as he interrogated,

"What happened? Who did this to you?"

You had been so absorbed in just being with your friend again that you had completely forgotten about your injury from earlier. The joy of the present always did have a way of distracting from the pain of the past. But that joy couldn't stop your brother, who cared significantly about your well-being, especially after what you had put him through before, from worrying and looking for someone to fight about it. His overwhelming sense of justice and need to protect others was a cloud on his mind, one that in some cases you admired and in others you loathed. Unfortunately, this was a time you loathed as you knew his concern would only grow when he found out it wasn't someone, it was something. Fuck it. You were gonna bite the bullet.

"It wasn't a person." You informed "It was a force of energy from whatever is causing this new apocalypse. Tore the back of my hand open."

Dean's heart dropped when he heard your response. This was bad. God. FUCK! If it was a person then he could have some control over the situation. He could fight them, make them pay for harming you. But he couldn't fight a force of energy. He couldn't stop what was coming.

"Do you know what that could mean for you?" He questioned

"Of course I do." You responded frustrated "I'm the one who has to feel it, Dean."

"And you don't know what's causing it?" Dean followed up

"Not yet. I can figure it out, I just need time to do the math." You explained

You needed to figure out what was going on. Not only for your well-being, but you also were a little upset that your boyfriend left you to seek Lila's help. You knew that if you worked together you could figure it out yourselves. But he decided that she was a better resource so you were going to figure out what was going on all on your own to prove a point.

Dean took your injured hand in his, looking at the haphazardly wrapped gauze. It was enough to cover the injury underneath but blood was beginning to seep through. You obviously needed something better and some real medical attention. And there was one person Dean knew could do both.

"We can figure out the math later for now we need to get Kenny to look at this. He can fix this better than a basic wrap." Dean directed

But then Dean remembered that the only reason he remembered you was because you had stabbed him so he would. Was that needle the only one? Did you have to make a choice of your six friends and chose him?

"Wait. Can we...get Kenny?" He questioned

"We can." You responded, "We can get everyone."

A bit of a smile came to Dean's face hearing that. Not only was he relieved that you could get the help you needed but all of your friends would remember each other. You'd all be back together again.

"Let's go get our family back then," Dean replied

Standing up from the ground, Dean helped you up and then immediately put on his shoes and jacket. The two of you quickly exited his room and made your way to the front door, Dean closing it and locking it behind him. Picking up your duffle bag from under the porch bench you threw it over your shoulder as you followed Dean down the front step and into the driveway. As you began to walk towards him though you noticed your stolen bike on the lawn.

"Uh, little hitch in the plan. I only brought a bike." You pointed out

"(Y/N), not everything has changed between timelines," Dean replied with a smirk

Leaning down, Dean grabbed the garage door handle lifting it up and revealing what was behind it. A black 1967 Chevy Impala. Dean's deeply beloved car-

"Veronica!" You shouted

"Damn right it's Veronica," Dean replied approaching the driver's side door "Doesn't matter what version of me it is, I've got my baby here and she rides like a dream."

"And yet it's been, what? Two years since you got a real girl to do that? Or did it not even happen this timeline?" You commented sarcastically

You watched as Dean's smirk dropped. Anger and annoyance on his face as he shouted,

"Shut up and get in the fucking car asshole."

You rolled your eyes as you walked to the passenger side door but as you approached you saw Dean looking around for something.

"Wait I'm forgetting-," He spoke to himself before shouting "SHIT."

"What?" You asked

"Umbrella Academy Diego not existing means I never learned archery." He explained, "I don't have my bow and arrows."

Holding your hands down low so they couldn't be seen from the opposite side of the car you summoned the bow and quiver of arrow you had taken from the valuables room to each of your hands. Raising your hands up above the top of the car you inquired,

"You sure about that?"

Looking across the car Dean saw the items in your hands as a smile spread quickly across his face. Tossing the quiver and bow over the car he immediately caught them and looked them over. They were similar to his old bow and arrows, but these were possibly even better.

"You always were 10 steps ahead of others," Dean remarked

"I try my best." You replied before questioning "Can you still shoot?"

Placing the quiver on his back he quickly pulls out an arrow before shooting it off across the street, nailing directly into the center of the backboard box of his neighbor's basketball hoop. Looking at you he gives a proud grin as he replies,

"I think so."

"C'mon then," You encouraged "We got a family to reunite."

Summoning the arrow to your hand, you toss it over the car to Dean who places it back into his quiver. With pride beaming on both your faces and anticipation coursing through your blood you both got into the car. Placing the keys in the ignition the engine roared to life and with the ritual of two taps to the top of the stick shift, Dean put the car in gear and peeled out of the garage into the night.

As you and Dean made your way down dark roads, Five was making his way back to the room he was sharing with you. Working under the assumption that you were probably tired of his siblings' bickering he assumed you probably came back to the room to be alone. And with everything that happened today, he couldn't blame you if you did. He could only hope that he hadn't left you alone for too long as he tried to reason with Lila. At least now he could give you an update on what the plan to save the world was since he knew you hated being out of the loop.

As he approached the door he considered knocking but with one briefcase in each hand that wasn't an option. Also, why did he feel the need to knock? You had told him this room was yours to share together. If this was a house or an apartment you shared he wouldn't be knocking on doors so why was this room any different? Maybe it was a force of habit given that for most of his life, he didn't have a real space to call his own or perhaps he once again didn't feel worthy of getting to share with you given the world was in danger once more. Probably both. But because he had no free hands, he pushed those thoughts to the side and just blinked through the door into the room.

"(Y/N)?" He called out

There was no response. Slowly, he placed the briefcases down on the ground and stepped into the center of the room confused. It didn't seem like you were here, but maybe you were? Were you so upset that you were invisible and weren't responding to him? At Reginald's funeral when you got upset you went and sat invisibly on the bench outside so it wasn't out of the realm of possibility. Looking around he didn't see any spots on the bed, chair in the corner, or desk chair showing an indentation that would indicate you were sitting there. But then again your powers could negate that too.

"(Y/N)? Are you here?"

Still no response. You must be really upset. Not wanting to let you suffer alone he awkwardly stuck his arms out in front of him trying to see if he could feel for you. Was there a chance you would just have him go through you? Yes, but he was still willing to try. He definitely looked like an idiot though. But after what seemed like a good fifteen minutes of checking every spot in the room including corners, on top of furniture, and standing on a chair to reach the ceiling he came to the most viable conclusion:

You were not here.

If you weren't here then you had to at least be somewhere in the building. He couldn't imagine you going too far because all you had was here. Defeated, Five walked over to the foot of the bed Five sat down on it quietly. The sheets were still a mess from this morning. What a downfall today had been since then, going from the bliss of being in love to the despair of loss and another apocalypse. Sometimes it felt as if fate enjoyed toying with the two of you, pulling you from your desired happiness with each other whenever you get too close. He'd give anything for a life of chores, taxes, and drinking a bottle of wine while slow dancing in the kitchen with you. All he wanted was for you two to have a simple life, and yet something was always getting in the way.

Letting out a disappointed sigh, Five looked out in front of him and saw the once-empty desk now littered with objects. Getting back up from the bed, he walked over to the desk seeing all that was there. The desk was covered with all the objects you had deemed important enough to save and take with you this long. There were some items that he had not seen before like two different tiaras and a photo strip of you and your friends. The way everyone was dressed up indicated that this was most likely your prom night. You looked so beautiful. If he had only jumped to a week earlier then he would've been there for that night rather than the day of the funeral and maybe you could've danced together. Picking up the photo strip from the table he looked at it closer seeing your smiling faces and the silly poses you did in each of the shots. Joy radiated from the images. You were all really happy together. He wondered what that was like and if he'd ever get to be happy with a group of people like that.

Placing the photo strip down he looked at the other objects and saw plenty of things he did recognize such as his old academy mask, your diary that he read every day he was trapped in the future, the teddy bear, and the now preserved flowers he had given to you on your friendiversary, and the music box he had gifted on your shared birthday. Twisting the key on the back of the box he opened it up and let the music play. He could hear the twinkling tune of Fur Elise play the same as it had the day he got the box from an antique store. And right next to that music box was a photo of you, him, and all his siblings from the one birthday you shared together. You all had such wide smiles as you stood around a birthday cake with eight candles, one for each of you. It was probably the happiest day you all had experienced. He remembered the joy of his siblings receiving their presents from you and Diego crying like a baby over his. He recalled the way he almost tried to kiss you before Luther interrupted shouting about cake. And he was reminded of how close he felt to everyone that night.

He had all the happiness he would ever need right there in that picture, why did he throw it all away? Did he throw it all away over his ego? His desire to be better than his siblings in a system that pinned them against each other? Did he ever actually want to time travel or did he just want to be more advanced that the rest of the academy?

He didn't know anymore, but he regretted it every day. He had lost so much over that one lapse in judgment due to his clouded prepubescent mind. He lost his home, his siblings, his only love, but most of all his time. Time that instead of going mad in a desolate world he could've spent forming legitimate bonds with his siblings or becoming someone that could actually function in society once he was able to leave the academy. Time that he could've spent loving you, growing up together, and falling more and more in love each day. He wondered when your feelings for each other would've come to light had he never left. Would it have been a grand confession, one planned and prepped in advance or would it have been spontaneous? So much time wasted that could've been spent on gentle touches, stolen kisses and I love you’s in every language known to man. He would've been your date to prom without a care what the rest of the world that knew him so publicly thought and you'd be each other's first for everything. You were his everything, but he threw that time away and now he was stuck fighting to get a chance to make up for it.

Placing the photo back he knew that walking down memory lane wasn't productive but there weren't many good memories to look back on, to begin with. All the ones that were good were ones that had you in them, but beating himself up over things he could not change now wasn't fixing anything. And there was a lot to fix.

From where he stood he could see his reflection in the mirror. The outfit he had chosen that felt so comfortable this morning now felt odd on him. If he was relegated back to apocalypse work then this outfit just wouldn't do, he needed something more professional. He did happen to see a tailor's shop in the lobby, he could probably go there to get something to wear. Deciding that was his best bet Five walked over to the nightstand on his side of the bed to drop off some things before he left. Taking off his hat he placed it on the nightstand before removing all of the items he had kept stored in his cargo vest. Pulling out the box of condoms Klaus had given him, Five immediately opened his nightstand drawer and threw them in there. He wasn't going to be needing those. He then pulled out the knife and watch you had gifted him. Seeing as they could come in handy he put them off to the side on top of the nightstand as he decided to take them with him. And then all that was left were the polaroid photos from earlier. He shuffled through them once more giving each of them another glance. He was going to stop the apocalypse and get that back and it would work this time.

It had to...

Placing five of the six photos in the drawer he took one to keep with him as motivation. It was one of you sitting on the hood of the car earlier, your hand extended out trying to block your face from being seen, but it was unsuccessful as the entirety of your smiling face was visible. He was doing this for you, so he could see that smile every day. Placing the photo in his flannel shirt pocket, he placed the watch and knife into the pockets of his jeans. Closing the drawer to the nightstand he turned around and grabbed the two briefcases before blinking out of the room and heading down to the lobby to get some new clothes to wear. He had a long night ahead of him.

You too had a long night ahead of you as Dean's car pulled up on the street and parked between two neighboring houses. They of course were both familiar, the one on the left was Kenny's and the one on the right was Bren's. As you looked at the houses you questioned,

"So they still live here?"

"Back when I still took the bus to school, their stop was on the corner up there so I'd assume so." Dean replied, "Why?"

"Because it's a new timeline." You stated matter-of-factly as your head turned to look at him "I don't know how much has changed. It's lucky enough that you all still exist as yourselves."

"Well almost like ourselves," Dean remarked

"What do you mean?" You inquired

"I mean we all have our little differences. I mean it seems that our home lives are the same but Lucas plays baseball instead of football and he's not class president either, I don't do archery, Addison isn't popular or into theatre, Viktoria gave up on the viola in like 7th grade because there was no inspiration to keep playing, and then there's...these two." Dean explained

"Why do you say it like that?"

"Well Kenny isn't an EMT, I don't think he's ever even looked at an illegal substance, but also he never quite figured himself out this time around and so he still looks like he did in middle school," Dean elaborated

"So like a fucking nerd?" You clarified

"Yup. Slicked hair, glasses, polo shirts, the works. Just a straight-laced fucking dweeb who has locked himself in a glass closet." Dean stated

"Little harsh, but what about Bren?" You asked

"You know how he was a little emo punk boy but leaning towards the depressed and annoyed at life side?" Dean prompted

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, well now he's a little emo punk boy but leaning towards the angry and annoyed side." Dean divulged "Plus no whips."

Huh. It seemed that anything that the Umbrellas may have inspired or had a hand in developing in their personalities was just gone. Of course that made sense, if the Umbrella Academy never existed, they never looked up to those heroes they identified with and never done anything to be similar to them. Although it was curious that Bren wasn't happier and had no interest in his whips this time since Benjamin still existed. Perhaps there was a reason for that, but it wasn't important now.

"Ah whatever, they'll be back to normal soon enough." You dismissed

Opening your car door you stepped outside and looked between the two houses once more. Both had no cars in the driveways meaning that their parents were not home. Kenny's mom was probably at her night shift job while Bren's parents were most definitely away on a work trip for their consulting business. Bren's house was also completely dark but Kenny's house had a light on in the living room. He always had a lot of trouble sleeping in the past due to night terrors from his parents' messy divorce. He used to rely on his body pillow of Umbrella Academy Klaus and later on illicit substances as well to help him attempt to sleep, but if he was now straight-laced and Klaus-less he was definitely dealing with insomnia.

"Right. So I'm thinking I go get Kenny and you get Bren?" Dean called behind you

Turning around you saw him standing outside of the car leaning against the hood. Confused, you dismissed,

"What? No, I'll get both of them."

"But it'll be quicker if we each get one." Dean replied, "All you gotta do is stab them with the memory needle right?"

"Well, yeah-"

"Okay, so give me Kenny's and we'll split the work."

Poor Kenny was in a house all alone, probably insomnia ridden, and now was going to get hit with a life-changing revelation, on top of not looking or feeling like himself when he realizes. If anything, you should be the one to go get Kenny because you already knew how to calm him down.

"Can you handle getting him? I think I should do it." You suggested

"(Y/N), it's Kenny. I got it." Dean stated overconfidently

"Okay, it's just what if you jab him, he sees his appearance and he freaks the fuck out?" You try to dissuade "We both know how much his style and presentation mattered to him."

"(Y/N), it'll be just fine. Now give me the needle." Dean assured

Your brother had enough overconfidence to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool and you knew no matter what you said it wasn't going to dissuade him. Fine. If he wants to help he can, but if you're right then he's just going to have to deal with the consequences. Pulling the pouch of syringes from your pocket you looked through them and carefully handed him the one with Kenny's name on it.

"Stab it wherever is open and press it down completely. Got it?" You instructed

"Stab the bitch and drug him up. Easy peasy." Dean replied giving you a thumbs up

You shook your head disapprovingly but at this point, you were wasting time, so without another word you walk away from the car and towards Bren's house. As you made it to his front steps you saw Dean approach Kenny's, but instead of watching to see what he would do next you opted to enter the house. Phasing through the door you maneuvered through the dark corridors of Bren's house. You recalled the general layout but you had only ever really been over here when you were hanging out with Bren alone so it wasn't quite as familiar as Dean's was. Stopping in place for a moment you closed your eyes and focused on your surroundings trying to visualize the molecules of the room. Opening your eyes back up they glowed blue as your surroundings became clear and the house now looked as if you were using night vision goggles.

Continuing your way up the stairs to Bren's room you phased through his door and were surprised to see that his light was off. Did he actually go to bed early? Granted it was around midnight at this point but still. Nevertheless, you could see his figure under the covers of his bed. Walking over you stood over him and pulled out the syringe before lifting it into the air and stabbing it down into the space below his collarbone.

Bren's eyes shot open from the pain he felt. What was that? But as he looked up he was met with a figure in the dark, with eyes of bright blue light staring down at him. Panic rushed his system as he screamed in terror,

"AHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Hearing him scream, you realized standing over him in the dark was probably not the best idea. Leaning over you turned on the lamp next to his bed and reverted your eyes back to normal so that you saw the physical world as everyone else did once more.

"Dude, dude. Calm down. It's just me." You tried to reassure

Bren's heart raced in his chest and his head felt like it was pounding as he locked eyes on you. His brain rushed with a flurry of memories of you, of his friends, of his life all at once. He didn't know what was going on but he felt confused and terrified.

"(Y/N)?!" He exclaimed

"C'mon, get up. Let's go. We're leaving." You stated

"What the fuck is going on?!" He questioned still in a panic

"I'll explain on the way, now get a move on." You replied

"I was asleep! You stabbed me when I was asleep! You looked like a demon here for my soul!" He complained

You rolled your eyes. Did you stab him? Yeah. Were you probably terrifying in the dark? Yeah. But it was for a good reason and now he was being stubborn.

"That's not my problem." You responded flatly "Get out and get ready."

"It kind of is your problem since you stabbed me!" Bren yelled as he sat up and gestured to his blankets "And I'm in bed!"

You looked at him blankly. What did him being in bed have to do with anything? Did he not have clothes on underneath his covers? Is that why he mentioned so?

"What, are you naked under there?" You asked

"No, I've got pajama pants and boxers and shit!" Bren retorted

"Okay, so nothing I haven't seen at a sleepover before. What's the problem then?" You asked

"The problem is you STABBED ME and almost gave me A HEART ATTACK!" He yelled

"Okay well I'm sorry but you wouldn't remember me otherwise." You explained, "Now if you want to keep complaining, you can do it while you get dressed."

"Fine." Bren grumbled "But you better tell me what the hell is going on."

Throwing the covers off, Bren got up out of his bed and walked past you towards his dresser. Facing away from you he looked through his drawers trying to pick out a shirt as he waited for you to explain yourself.

"Listen," you started to speak, a pang of sadness evident in your tone "I'm sorry for stabbing you in your sleep but it's important."

Bren paused for a moment, you were only this serious when you had to be and the sadness in your voice didn't do anything to help either. His anger faded away as a sadness began to settle within himself. What happened to you? He didn't turn around to look at you, but instead asked,

"What is it?"

"The world is ending. Again." You began to explain "Umbrellas and I fucked up the first time so now this is a brand new timeline, and the thing I stabbed you with is the only reason you remember me."

Bren thought about your words for a moment. He remembered leaving you at the bowling alley, the memories you shared, and then flashes of a lifetime that you never existed in. It was odd and sent a chill down his spine as he lived two lifetimes in his head. Picking out a pair of jeans he switched from his pajama pants but did not respond.

"I'm sure you already know some of the differences and you can stay mad at me if you want," You continued "But I just didn't want to make the same mistake as last time."

Bren looked over his shoulder back at you, there was a sincerity in your eyes that he had only seen on a few occasions. One of which was at the bowling alley on the day of the apocalypse. Day of the last apocalypse.

"Which was?" He asked quietly

"Not keeping you all with me." You answered

Finally turning around Bren stared at you, not saying anything. Great, he was probably still upset with you. Dean did say he had more of an attitude this time around and perhaps not even his memory was going to drop that. With no words coming from him you could feel a frustration rise in you. This wouldn't be an issue if you had never left them. Never sent them away because you thought they'd be safer.

"I- I swore to myself I'd never do it again. I told myself I'd never be pulled away from my friends again. And- and then I was. I thought We could stop it and you'd all be safe. I was so stupid to not bring you all with me. Why was I so stupid! I was fucking useless at the theatre and I just- I just-I should've been selfish and-" You ranted aloud

But before you could continue Bren quickly walked over and wrapped his arms around you causing you to immediately stop. You stared out in front of you as he stated quietly,

"You're here now."

And there was the Bren you knew. Slowly, you wrapped your arms back around him as you quietly replied,

"And I'm not leaving this time."

Pulling away from the hug Bren looked at you once more asking,

"Where are we going?"

"To get the rest of our friends. I already got Dean, and he currently is trying to get Kenny."

"Oh man, Kenny!" He exclaimed "We were never best friends this time around. C'mon, we need to make sure we get him. I need my best friend back."

Rushing to put on his shoes, Bren started to quickly make his way out the door of his bedroom when he heard you call out,

"Wait, one more thing."

Turning back around he saw you reach into a bag and pulled out two whips before extending them out to him.

"These are for you."

Slowly, he approached back toward you as he stared at the items in your hands. He was torn. He wanted to take them, have them be an extension of himself like they always used to but with his feelings now he wasn't sure he could.

"I don't think I can accept these (Y/N)." Bren replied, "I don't want to be like him this time."

You could see the pained and disappointed look on his face. Something had changed.

"What happened?" You inquired

"Around winter time when I was like 6, I was in the gas station store round the corner from the Sparrow Academy. Ben walked in and I ran up to him because he was my hero, but instead, he called me a brat and told me to leave him alone." Bren recalled annoyed "Ever since then, I couldn't stand him. He's no hero, just an asshole."

"Believe me, I've met him and I can't stand him either, but don't take these for Benjamin." You replied, "Take these for Ben, your actual hero."

Bren hesitated to reach out. He wanted the whips. He really did. They were so integral to who he was and yet he still felt unsure. Would he be endorsing this Sparrow Ben who had slighted him all those years ago by doing so? He wanted nothing to do with that guy. But Ben...his fallen hero, he didn't want to forget him either. Ben helped to shape him into who he was.

Sensing Bren's hesitation, you took a step forward and gently grabbed one of Bren's hands opening it up. Placing the two wound-up whips into his hand you closed his fingers around them. Your one hand holding his hand closed around the whips while the other when to his shoulder.

"Bren, neither of have much left except our memories of him, but it's better than nothing." You explained, a slight tremble to your voice "This helps to keep part of him alive even though he's gone."

You were right. At this point, all you two had left were your memories. Bren could feel that distraught sadness of his lost hero creeping into his bones again. He looked over at his nightstand where a memorial shrine to Ben, the one he maintained for years, should've been. He had spent so much time trying to keep Ben's memory alive in the last timeline that to turn his back on him now, because some false version had the same face and name, was like throwing away everything he had done to remember him.

"You're right." Bren replied, taking the whips and placing them on his person "This is for Ben. Our Ben."

You gave your friend a reassuring smile but before any more words could be exchanged you heard the sound of terrified screaming coming from next door. Bren's eyes went wide with concern as he bolted out of his room shouting,

"KENNY!"

"Oh Dean...what did you do?" You lamented running out after Bren

Running out of Bren's house you shut the door behind you two and dashed across the grass lawn over toward Kenny's house. Running up the front stairs you entered the living room to see Kenny staring in the mirror with disgust as he roughly tousled his hair out of its styled manor with a panicked Dean proclaiming,

"Dude, dude, it's fine!"

"What's going on?!" You demanded

"WHY DO I LOOK LIKE THIS?!?!?!" Kenny screamed as he began to stumble around the living room gripping at his clothing

"Dean what did you do?!" You questioned

"Nothing!" Dean replied exasperated "I stabbed him, I started to explain what was going on and he seemed fine until he saw his reflection!"

You could see the fear, disgust, and panic featured in Kenny's face and attitude as he freaked out over his appearance. And you couldn't blame him, he looked exactly how he did in middle school, just as Dean described, a major fucking dweeb. Pulling his glasses off his face, Kenny threw them across the room before quickly untucking his polo from his pants and ripping it off himself. He really hated looking like this. Snapping your head back toward Dean you loudly criticized,

"I told you this would happen!"

"I'm sorry! I thought I could handle it!" Dean loudly apologized

"You should be!" You reprimanded before asking "What do we do?"

"I've talked him down from bad trips before, I've got this," Bren stated stepping forward

"WHO IS THAT!?" Kenny screamed pointing at his reflection in the mirror "THAT CAN'T BE ME!"

Walking over to Kenny, Bren grabbed him by the shoulders trying to get him to look at him calling,

"Kenny, buddy, look at me."

But with Kenny still wriggling in his grasp freaking out about how that could not be him in the mirror, Bren held on to Kenny's shoulders tighter as he forced Kenny to look at him demanding,

"Look at me, asshole."

Kenny stopped flailing and went quiet as he looked over Bren's face.

"Brennyboo?" Kenny asked curiously

"Don't call me that." Bren retorted

"BRENNYBOO!" Kenny exclaimed throwing his arms around him

"Yeah, yeah. I missed you too, idiot." Bren replied wrapping his arms back around his best friend

With himself finally calm, he noticed you standing by the door next to Dean. His eyes lit up as he saw you and exclaimed,

"(Y/N)! Hi! You're okay!"

"Hi Kenny, happy belated birthday." You replied happily as you held out a plastic bag "I come bearing gifts of contact lenses and eccentric retro manwhore style clothing that I got from a lost and found."

"(Y/N), you angel, you know me so well. I love you." Kenny complimented before commanding "Now give me the clothes before I panic again."

Pulling himself from his hug with Bren, he immediately went over to you and snatched the back of clothes and contacts from your hand. Grabbing the black tank top and patterned button-up shirt from the bag he threw them on before reaching in and pulling out the pair of skinny jeans you found. Pulling off his belt he took off his khakis before beginning to put on the jeans, doing the jumps that everyone did to get them up and on. When he was done getting dressed he threw on the converse you had given him before popping in his new contact lenses.

"Oh, you remembered my prescription correctly!" Kenny exclaimed

"Of course." You replied

Walking back over to the mirror Kenny tousled his hair one more time before smiling. Turning back to the three of you in the living room with him he beamed with pride as he asked,

"Okay now that I'm the hottest person in the room again, where are we going?"

"To get Viktoria next." You answered

"Ah ah ah, not yet." Dean stated

"Why not?" You questioned frustrated

Grabbing your left wrist, Dean lifted it up to show the semi-bloodied gauze to Kenny and Bren. The two of them looked at you concerned as Dean stated,

"Kenny fixes your hand, then we go."

"But-" You began to protest

"No." Bren said firmly

"Sit." Kenny commanded pointing at his couch

"Fuck." You muttered under your breath

You had hoped that with all the chaos with Kenny, Dean had forgotten about your hand. But with the three of them all watching you intently waiting for you to sit down, you really had no other choice but to do so. Sitting on the couch Dean leaned on a wall off to the side, as Bren sat on the seat next to you, while Kenny kneeled in front of you and undid your bandaging.

"There's a med kit in the duffle bag over there." You stated, using your head to motion to it

Walking over Dean rummaged through the bag before finding the kit and handing it to Kenny who placed it on the nearby coffee table. Finishing undoing the gauze he saw the nasty laceration on the back of your hand.

"God, you haven't had a cut this bad since-"

Kenny paused. A sorrowful look in his eyes as a heavy weight filled the air. You could see Dean close his eyes and wince as Bren looked down into his lap, a thousand-yard-stare beginning to form.

"Guys, I'm okay." You tried to reassure "I'll explain it later, but for now, just focus and fix my hand."

The tension hung in the air for a moment before easing up slightly. Kenny nodded his head as he opened his med kit and put on a pair of latex gloves. Grabbing some alcohol pads he cleaned out the cut, the sting of the alcohol causing you to wince and suck air through your teeth. Dean walked over and placed a reassuring hand on your shoulder as Bren held your uninjured hand. No one said anything as Kenny continued to work putting numbing cream on the skin around the wound before sterilizing a needle and stitching the cut back up. Finishing his stitches, he carefully used one more alcohol pad to clean things up before wrapping new bandaging around your hand.

"There." Kenny stated, "All better but we'll keep an eye on it."

"Thanks." You replied quietly

The room fell silent again before Bren broke the silence asking,

"So Viktoria next?"

"Yeah, Viktoria." Dean replied, "We should go."

The group looked around at each other before nodding their heads in agreement. Getting up from where they sat, you all collected your things and made your way out of the house and to the car. With Dean and you taking your seats in the driver and shotgun spots respectively, Kenny and Bren sat in the backseat. As Dean put the keys in the ignition you could still tell that tension loomed over the group. Trying to make it go away you reached into your duffle bag as you explained,

"Y'know before the academy was destroyed in the old timeline, I saved a lot of stuff and have kept it with me since. And one of those things was this."

Pulling your hand out of the duffle bag you held up a double-sided CD case. The three of them looked at the CD case confused before realization washed over their faces and they began to collectively freak out.

"No way! Are those our fucking band CDs?!" Kenny exclaimed

"They sure are," you replied

"You're the fucking best!" Bren shouted grabbing your shoulders from behind and joyfully shaking you "I can't believe you have them!"

You laughed at their excitement as Dean took the case from you. Finally turning the car on he opened up one of the sides, popped out the CD, and placed it into the CD player before turning up the volume. Who cared about being a noise disturbance when you all were having fun? Hitting the gas you quickly drove away from Kenny and Bren's houses, down the streets toward where Viktoria lived. The sound of your band blasting through the speakers and you drifted around corners making your way to your next friend. With Dean's fast driving, it didn't take long to get there and as you approached the house you turned the volume back down so that you could be stealthy when recovering her. Pulling up in front of the house, you stepped out of the car and turned to look back at the three boys.

"Stay here." You stated firmly

The trio gave you blank looks as you shut the door behind yourself and walked to the side of the house. Looking up at the second floor you could see the light in Viktoria's room on. Checking your pocket for her syringe, you held it in your hand, but just as you were about to make yourself lighter and float to her room you heard the sounds of footsteps behind you. Turning around you saw the three boys standing there, looking at you.

"Why are you here?" You questioned frustrated

"Viktoria is our friend." Bren responded

"I didn't want to be alone with my thoughts." Kenny admitted

"I didn't want to be alone with Kenny." Dean answered

Kenny's head snapped towards Dean as he gave him a hurt look.

"Rude." He commented

"You speak your thoughts out loud. I didn't want to hear them." Dean replied honestly

Rolling your eyes, you once again knew they would not leave. Unfortunately, this group stuck together like glue and you couldn't get them to stay away even if they tried. But this is what you wanted, your old friend group back, so you put your frustration aside relenting,

"Fine, you guys can join."

"Shouldn't we keep our voices down? You're speaking a little loud." Bren mentioned

He was right. You were speaking a little loud, but now that he had pointed it out, it didn't matter anymore. Using your abilities you created a bit of a sound barrier muting yourselves to the rest of the world but not each other, the same way you used to do with Charlie so you could gossip freely at parties.

"Nah, I developed my powers more." You explained "I can manipulate the molecules in sound waves now. No one will hear us but each other."

"Why do you get to become cooler?" Kenny questioned

"Because it's compensation for my extra trauma." You retorted

"Okay, valid." He replied

Carefully, you began to make yourself lighter as you floated up toward Viktoria's window and peeked inside. You could see her there, her back towards the window as she sat on her window sill nook. Moving slightly to the left you could see that she was on her laptop on Archive Of Our Own, but when you took a better look at the screen and saw the fandom she was in it practically knocked the wind out of you.

"What the fuck." You exclaimed "Ninety-seven THOUSAND works?!"

"What's wrong?" Dean questioned

Your head snapped to look back down at the three boys. Disgust plastered all over your face as you questioned horrified,

"People ship the Sparrows in this timeline?"

The three boys looked at each other before looking back up toward you, their minds processing the question you had just posed.

"I mean technically-" Bren began

"Nope, if you have to use technically it's already bad." Dean interjected, "They were raised as siblings."

"This is gross." You complained pulling up the needle "I'm giving her memory back now."

"No wait, she's gonna stop once she remembers herself!" Kenny shouted, "What's she reading?"

"Don't make me..." You pleaded

"Pleaseeeee!" He begged

You could feel yourself grimace at the thought of looking back but the sound of Kenny's high-pitched continuous please was enough to make you turn back. You could feel yourself physically wretch as you read aloud,

"Christopher Cube x Christopher Human-sona multiverse AU smut."

"Who's bottoming?" Kenny called back

Your head immediately fell into your hands. What had your life come to? How did you get here doing this? Helping one degenerate friend find out what filth the other degenerate friend was reading. Did this really have to happen to get part of your life back? This wasn't part of the instructions Dot left. You prepared for the bullshit your friends would say, you were excited about it actually, but now you wanted to curl up into a ball and die. Turning to look back at Kenny, your face filled with pleading and your eyes more lifeless as you implored,

"I don't want to look at it anymore."

"(Y/N)!" He whined

You stared each other down, your lifeless eyes locked on his sad, begging ones. This was a standoff in which only one of you would come out successful and you could already feel yourself losing. He looked so sad and you hated the thought of your friends being upset. You tried to stay resilient but it was just too much. Looking away you shouted,

"Ugh fuck!"

Taking a deep breath, you looked through the window once more and scanned through the words trying to answer his question. With each sentence, you could feel a part of your soul chip away. This wasn't even smut at this point, it was filth. It felt borderline illegal to read honestly and then you finally came to the answer. Ripping your eyes away from the page, you mumbled disgusted,

"It's the cube..."

Christopher didn't have eyes, but if he did you would never be able to look into them again. After reading what you read, the vivid imagery of the words burned itself into your brain. You could never look at that cube the same way again.

"Thanks (Y/N)!" Kenny remarked happily

"Fuck you." You spat

Turning back to Viktoria, you quickly phased your hand through the glass, stabbing the needle into her back and pressing down on the dispenser. You watched as she immediately shot up, her laptop falling to the ground as she placed a hand on her back where the needle had been. Phasing through the wall you sat on her reading nook. Seeing the laptop still open on the floor you flicked your fingers causing it to close with your powers. No way you were even catching another glimpse of that monstrosity.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" You interrogated

Turning on her heel towards the voice, Viktoria saw you sitting there by the window. What the fuck was going on? Why were you here? She never got a text message about you showing up. And why were you so upset with her?

"(Y/N)?" Viktoria questioned shocked

"You know I've been fine with a lot of the filth you read, some of the stuff you've shown me I've even enjoyed," You stated pointing at the laptop "But whatever the fuck that shit is, that's disgusting. That should be a war crime."

Viktoria's eyes went wide as she realized that you had read some of the work that she had just been looking at about Christopher from the Sparrow Academy. Wait. The Sparrow Academy? No, it was the Umbrella Academy. There wasn't a cube in the Umbrella Academy. Why is there a cube? What. Wait. There is no Umbrella Academy. But also there is??? What is going on?!

"Who the fuck is the Sparrow Academy?" Viktoria exclaimed

"Oh good, your memory is catching up." You replied, "Sit down, I'll give you a quick rundown of things."

Looking at you cautiously, Viktoria slowly takes a seat on her bed as she waits for you to speak.

"You settled in?" You asked

Slowly, Viktoria nodded her head yes.

"Good." You replied, "So quick recap, we fucked up and Viktor blew up the moon."

"Viktor?" Victoria questioned, "Who's Viktor?"

"Your hero. They came out as trans." You answered

Viktoria smiled. She was so happy that her hero was getting to be his true self. It was the best feeling in the world and she knew how happy he probably was to be doing so. It was just another reason to look up to him.

"That's so cool. He took my old name." Viktoria beamed "We're practically the same. Just I'm Viktoria instead."

"And I love you both," You smiled before continuing "But like I was saying, he blew up the moon and ended the world. So we went back in time, but too far, and we accidentally made changes in the past that affected now and this is a new timeline and I shoved whatever liquid was in this needle into you and now you can recall the old timeline."

"Oh." Viktoria said quietly "That's a lot."

"And that's just the TLDR of it, babes. It gets worse if I go into detail." You remarked

"Will you?" Viktoria inquired cautiously

"When we have everyone collected yes." You answered honestly "There's no way we're doing anything else because you all ask a shit ton of questions."

"Yeah, that's true." Viktoria relented

As you and Viktoria continued to converse and help get her ready to leave, the three boys were still standing outside below the window. Quietly, they waited for you and Viktoria to join them but as time went on Kenny stated aloud,

"I gotta piss."

"Now?" Bren questioned

"Yes, now." Kenny retorted

"Go in the bush." Dean suggested gesturing to the shrubs behind them

"No, I'm shy..." Kenny confessed, "Dean, ask (Y/N) if Vi will let me use her bathroom."

"(Y/N) is inside." Dean replied pointing at you in the window

"We all know you have your weird twin telepathy. Just do it." Kenny ranted

"Ugh fine." Dean relented annoyed

Letting out a huff, Dean looked up at your figure in the window and said aloud in your head,

(Y/N), Kenny wants to know if he can use Viktoria's bathroom.

Your head turned back to look at Dean as your face scrunched up baffled at the request. This was not the time. The more people you brought into the house the more likely it was that a parent would wake up. You were already extending your passive ability reach so the boys could talk privately outside while you and Viktoria could talk privately indoors. Speaking back in his head you replied,

No, we're busy. He can use a bush.

"She said use a bush." Dean relayed to Kenny

"BUT I'M PEE SHY WHEN I'M SOBER!" Kenny shouted

You rolled your eyes letting out an exasperated sigh. This was of course the norm for your group but it was something you did have to get back into the swing of after being with conflict-avoidant and anxiety-ridden Charlie for like four years.

Is he serious Dean?

Yes.

Ugh. Tell him to hold it. I'll figure out some power bullshit to give him cover so he can go in a bush.

"Hold it." Dean explained, "She said she'll figure it out soon."

Turning back to Viktoria you continued to get things settled with her so that you could all leave soon while the boys continued to wait. Crossing his legs, Kenny swayed side to side as he said,

"I'm gonna piss my pants for real guys."

"Do it then." Bren proposed "(Y/N) can do a real-life prestidigitation spell and clean you up. You just have to deal with the shame of pissing yourself."

"I don't want shame!" Kenny retorted before asking "Dean can you please try again?"

"No. She said wait, so we're waiting." Dean answered, "And as long as you don't break the third rule of my car by pissing in it, I really don't care if you pee your pants or not."

"Why didn't you go when we were at your house anyway?" Bren questioned

"I didn't have to then!" Kenny loudly replied

Seeing Kenny start to bounce back and forth Dean looked up at you once more and questioned in your head,

Bro, are you almost finished up there? He's getting antsy.

Yes, we're coming now.

And just like you said, Viktoria and you materialized in front of them. Viktoria smiled at her friends whom she now was able to remember and gave them all a wave.

"Hi guys!" She greeted cheerfully

"Hey Viktoria." Bren replied

"Hey Vi." Dean spoke, "We missed you."

"Viktoria it's great to see you," Kenny greeted rapidly before turning to you and stating, "but (Y/N) I really need to go."

"Go around the corner, you'll be outside of my sound barrier thing and no one here will be able to hear or see you." You explained pointing to behind Viktoria's house.

"Thank you!" Kenny exclaimed as he quickly waddled out of sight

"New ability?" Viktoria questioned raising an eyebrow

"New is relative, but yeah." You answered

And then you remembered the gift in your bag for Viktoria that you had taken from the valuables room. Leaning down to the duffle bag you had placed on the ground you opened it up and pulled out a sleek black case. Closing the bag, you stood back up and presented it to Viktoria.

"Oh yeah, this is for you." You explained

Taking the case from you, Viktoria carefully opened it and looked at the lovely item inside. A viola. She could have guessed it from the case itself but just seeing it be real was amazing. In this time, there was no inspiration for her to keep playing. She had given up the viola around middle school because she felt like there was no point. It was part of the reason Viktor was so important to her in the old timeline, she saw herself in him and it gave her a reason to continue. It gave her someone to be like and something to strive towards. And now she had a viola again and it was like she had recovered a missing part of herself.

"It's beautiful. Thank you, (Y/N)." Viktoria thanked closing the case and holding it close to her chest

"No problem. I thought you might need one." You smiled

As you finished speaking, Kenny stepped back out from behind the corner and made his way back over to the group. As he finished buttoning his pants, he smiled and gave a thumbs up as he stated,

"Alright, I'm good now. Let's get the lovebirds."

"Let's hope they don't start sucking faces as soon as they remember each other." Bren remarked

"Doubt it." Dean and Viktoria commented simultaneously

The group collectively began to laugh even though there was some truth to it all. Lucas and Addison loved each other very much even if sometimes it felt like too much. You couldn't blame them though, they were happy together. And they'd be even happier once they remembered each other. Making your way back to the car everyone returned to their original seats, minus Viktoria who sat herself in between Kenny and Bren. As Dean drove away from Viktoria's house he reached into the center console and replaced the CD of your band with that of Big Time Rush's first album. His favorite band. Til I Forget About You blasted through the speakers as you spend down the dark roads lined with houses. The vibes were immaculate as you screamed the lyrics with your friends but as one iconic song ended an even more iconic one began.

Your boy boy b-b-b-b-b-boyfriend Your boy boy b-b-b-b-b-boyfriend Your boy boy b-b-b-b-b-boyfriend Your boy boy b-b-b-b-b-boy

"YES! FUCKING LOVE THIS ONE." Dean shouted "HAVE YOU EVER HAD THE FEELING YOU'RE DRAWN TO SOMEONE!"

As the song continued to play, you bopped your head to the beat until Bren questioned,

"Speaking of boyfriends, where's yours (Y/N)?"

"Galavanting with the enemy." You remarked, rolling your eyes "Because apparently, she's better help at stopping the end of the world compared to his own girlfriend."

"We have enemies now?" Kenny asked

"Yeah, when we jumped back in time Diego, first of all, forgot all about Eudora in a matter of 3 months. Who might I remind you all, was murdered by time travel assassins." You established

"Oh no, not your cop mom." Viktoria lamented "He really did that?"

"Yes, and then he fell in love with someone who was working for the time travel assassins, actively trying to kill us all, and lying to him the whole time. Also, he managed to get her pregnant and she reappeared now with a 12-year-old who is annoying as fuck." You complained

"Ew, my younger brother is 12." Dean commented, "and he sucks."

"My brother is also 12 and fucking sucks too so an enemy 12-year-old has to be worse." Viktoria replied

"Yes, I recall Mattias and Maxim. They were barely pleasant." You reminded "But you're right the crotch goblin is worse."

"Okay, so we have enemies now." Bren affirmed, "We hate these people."

"Yeah, we're ride or die for you bitch." Kenny exclaimed

"What they said, but your boyfriend is disappointing. He should be with you." Viktoria commented

She was absolutely right. He had disappointed you and he should be with you rather than Lila. But you know what? You had your friends so you would be fine. And once everyone was together you'd figure out the apocalypse on your own. But at the same time, you didn't want to rag on your boyfriend too much, he still was trying his best after consistent work stopping multiple doomsdays. Trying to redirect the conversation you playfully jabbed,

"No, what's disappointing is that fanfic you were reading."

"Oh yeah, you attracted to the cube, Vi?" Kenny teased

"No way!" Viktoria retorted "I was bored and that pairing was intriguing."

"Intriguing?" You remarked surprised "That shit was disturbing. I'll never be able to look at Chris again."

"Have you met him?" Bren inquired

"I've met all the Sparrows. Most of them are really nice." You answered, "Except Benjamin who is a prick this time around."

"Well if you want to be able to look the rest of them in the eyes, I'd suggest you don't go digging into the fandom online." Viktoria advised, "You break past the general admiration and family-friendly surface and it gets weird fast."

Ew. You could feel yourself shudder at that answer. It was not pleasant imagery as you knew what the depths of the fandom parts of the internet could feature. Some of it you had discovered accidentally, some due to morbid curiosity but mostly because Viktoria would show you some of the most eye-opening works that you could not even conceive of until you saw them. Still, for the Sparrows to get that treatment sent a bit of a shiver down your spine and another thought racing to your brain.

"It was never like this for the Umbrellas, was it?" You asked, a little scared of the answer

"No, they're lucky they disbanded when they did." Viktoria explained "You could find a few old pieces on fanfiction.net but besides that, talking about them was pretty sparse by the time the internet really took off. Most of what could be found were nostalgia posting and theories about what happened to them."

"How do you know that?" Bren questioned, raising an eyebrow

"Okay, so we all knew (Y/N) had a crush on Five even if she wouldn't admit to it." Viktoria started to explain

"Hey!" You exclaimed

"Don't 'hey' us, you were the one who would get all blushy every time we watched old TV interviews." Kenny reminded

They were correct but it was still rude...

"So anyway I went looking for fanfiction to send her way. As a good friend would." Viktoria continued "But there was none really, guess cuz he left so early on."

"That is very weird and also incredibly sweet of you." You complimented

"Hey if you guys are done chatting about how weird the internet is could you perhaps turn your attention back to the road, we have an issue ahead." Dean called out

The other four of you turned to look ahead as Dean slowed down the car. Up ahead was a tall, solid white gate that spanned across the road. Ah yes. You had almost forgotten that Lucas and Addison lived in a gated community. It was a large factor in why the group rarely hung out at their houses amongst other reasons. And as many gated communities had, you needed an electric card that swiped you into the community, a card that was given solely to those who lived inside. Typically, if you came to one of their houses they would either already be with you or you could text them to let you in, but since they didn't remember you yet, you couldn't text them, so was almost impossible to get in. But then your eyes lit up as an idea came to mind. It was crazy, but it could work.

"I don't like that look in your eyes," Bren commented

"I have an idea so we can all get in," You stated

"But?" Bren pressed

"But I've never done it before so there's a chance we might die." You added

Your four friends looked around at each other for a moment as they seemingly were processing your vague proposal of an idea. They had no clue what it even was yet, just that there was a chance you could die if it didn't work. The car sat silently for a moment before Kenny piped up,

"Alright. I'm fine with either outcome."

"I've got nothing better going on." Viktoria added

"If I'm going down at least my car is coming with me." Dean stated

The rest of the group turned to look at Bren who had yet to respond to your idea waiting for him to say something.

"Brendon?" You questioned

"Yeah...let's do it." He sighed "I don't want to be alone now that I remember you all."

With positive cheers from the crowd in the car, you set your plan in motion. Placing one hand on the front dash of the car and your other on Dean's shoulder, you instructed your friends in the backseat,

"Grab on to a part of me. Arm, shoulder, side, I don't care just grab."

The three of them looked at each other before each placing a hand on your arm and holding tight.

"Now what?" Dean asked

You looked over to him, locking eyes as he heard you speak in your mind,

Floor it.

Dean's eyes went wide as you could hear him think,

What?

Gripping his shoulder a little tighter you emphasized,

Do you trust me?

I do.

Then floor it.

Without another word, Dean looked forward towards the gate. There was a decent amount of space to accelerate and this car was built for speed. With one hand gripped tightly on the wheel and the other on the gear shift Dean lifted his foot off the clutch and with a deep breath slammed down on the accelerator.

"Hey Dean, what are you doing?" Viktoria questioned nervously

He didn't reply, and as the car picked up speed he switched through the gears going higher as the car accelerated faster and faster.

"Dean! Dean!" Bren shouted as the gate drew closer

Only seconds away from contact, you concentrated all your energy on making the car and everyone in it permeable. All went well, you'd be through the gate in one piece. If not you'd all be dead together. You could sense the molecules of the gate right ahead and as your friends began to scream in panic, you shouted,

"HOLD ON!"

You closed your eyes bracing for whatever happened but then you could feel the molecules of the gate pass through you, and then fall behind. Opening your eyes, you saw that it worked. You all had made it through the gate alive, unharmed, and in one piece. Letting go of Dean's shoulder you dropped your ability over the whole car. Feeling you let go of him, he hit the brakes sending the sounds of tires screeching through the night. And then slowly the car finally came to a stop. The screaming faded as silence fell over the car, the only sound to be heard was that of everyone trying to calm their breathing.

"Everyone good?" You asked the group

"Yeah." Dean replied catching his breath "Great."

"Let's do that again!" Bren exclaimed

"Maybe later, my head a lil' swirly from that," Kenny replied

"NO!" Viktoria shouted, pulling her anti-anxiety pills out of her jacket pocket and taking one "NOT AGAIN!"

"Well since everyone is good-" You began

"Speak for yourself," Viktoria interjected before pulling out her asthma inhaler and breathing in the medicine

"Since almost everyone is good and we made it inside, we should go get Lucas and Addison fast." You finished

"Yeah, some people here will call the cops if even a leaf is out of place," Bren remarked

"Let alone an unfamiliar car at night," Dean added annoyed

"Let's hurry this up then." You replied

Gently pressing the clutch and reversing the gear back to one, Dean drove probably the slowest he's ever driven in his life in an attempt to not bring too much attention to the car. Who knew which asshole in the neighborhood might've woken up from the tires screeching already. At least the car was painted black so it blended in with the night more. The car slowly pulled up to a set of two neighboring houses, no not houses, two McMansions. You always had a disdain for them thanks to your mom being an architect and interior designer and your dad being a structural engineer. They were large and gaudy and an attempt at flaunting wealth without fully having it. The houses all looked the same and had a hollow feeling to them when you stepped inside. The high ceilings made voices echo but somehow there was never a warmth to the sound of multiple people. Somehow even the dead empty academy that you lived in had more life to it than these homes. Nevertheless, your friends whom you loved very much had no say in where their families decided to reside. Knowing that the sooner you got out of this neighborhood the better, you turned to look at your friends.

"I'm going to go get them alone. Stay here." You stated "And I mean it this time."

"But-" Viktoria began to object

"No buts." You cut off "I have powers. I cannot be seen. But your four shadowy figures waiting outside is going to look suspect as fuck if anyone is looking. You stay in the car and wait for me to get back with them. Got it?"

There was collective mumbling of affirmations and nodding of heads as the group reluctantly agreed to stay in the car. Grabbing the last two needles, you placed them in your pockets and gave the group one last serious look.

"Do not fucking leave." You threatened "Now heads down, voices low. I'll be back soon."

With a few short nods, you gave a quiet nod back as you became invisible and phased your way through the door of the car. Walking towards the front door you phased through that as well and headed up the house stairs. God, being in this type of house made you sad. The place was practically empty, like minimalism on steroids. White walls with black and beige furniture accented the rooms you could see as you reached the banister at the top of the stairs. Everything was neat and crisp and it was as if the only thing that mattered was the outward appearance of the house. That didn't surprise you though since it seemed like the only thing Addison's parents cared about anyway was outward appearances. Turning away you walked down the hall, passing Addison's parents' room, and her older brother Caleb's room before making it to her door. Phasing through the door you could see Addison sitting at her vanity watching End Of The Fucking World on her laptop. Oh, the irony. Obviously, Addison couldn't see the irony but she would soon. Pulling out the needle with her name on it you approached before stabbing it into her shoulder and releasing the liquid inside. Letting out a yelp of pain she reached back placing her hand on her shoulder.

"(Y/N)?" Addison questioned "What are you doing here? You didn't even text me. And what did you just hit me with?"

"Doesn't matter. Also, I love the ironic choice of show." You replied

"Ironic?" Addison asked furrowing her eyebrows

"Yeah, because the world is ending." You stated nonchalantly

Shooting up from her chair, Addison looked at you with wide eyes full of concern.

"What do you mean the world is ending?" She questioned

So many questions. Everyone had so many questions. It was valid of course, but god did it take up time. Something that was now once again a finite resource and you still hadn't even done the math to figure out how finite that might be. Plus you had just snuck into this gated community of stuck-up crazies. The situation right now was not conducive to having a drawn-out discussion, you needed to go.

"Listen I'll be happy to answer as many questions as you have later but we don't have a lot of time right now." You explained urgently "Get ready, I'll take you outside and you'll get in Dean's car while I go get Lucas."

Addison looked at you. There was that notable look of urgency on your face. Everyone in the group could recognize it, especially when it was so blatant. It was a look they rarely saw, but when it appeared it only meant one thing. Something was very wrong. Letting out a sigh, Addison nodded her head.

"Okay," She relented "I'll get ready, but you don't need to get Lucas, I'll just text him."

Oh no. They weren't dating in this timeline. Perhaps she hadn't thought about the discrepancies in her memories yet, but this was not going to be good. Quickly taking a step towards her you began to say,

"Addi-"

But it was too late. You could see the way she looked at her phone confused and upset.

"Why don't I have Lucas' number?" She questioned aloud

"Addi, if you just get to the car someone will fill you in." You tried to press

Scrolling between app after app trying to look for her boyfriend's profiles only to come up empty the gears in her head began to turn a bit. She rubbed at her temples as overlapping memories began to make her head hurt. Something wasn't right. What was going on?!

You saw as her head whipped toward you and a panicked look filled her eyes. Currently, it was like her boyfriend didn't know her at all, which was technically the truth. For now. But still, her panic increased and you could hear her begin to hyperventilate as she ranted,

"He doesn't know me. Why doesn't he know me? I'm his girlfriend. I love him. He's- he's supposed to know me!"

If she got any more panicked, you knew it would either wake a family member or cause her to start acting completely irrationally. God knows how losing your lover, even if briefly, can drive you a bit insane. You grabbed her shoulders tightly and turned her to face toward you.

"Addison." You commanded firmly "Look at me."

You could still hear the sound of her quick breathing but as she focused on you it seemed to help calm her down slightly.

"Everyone is a little on edge but freaking out doesn't help. If you get to the car someone can explain to you what is going on and I can go get your boyfriend back." You carefully explained "But we have to go for that to happen. Do you understand?"

Addison slowly nodded her head, wiping away a few stray tears from her eyes.

"Good. Now go get whatever you need."

Everything was moving so fast. Her head felt like it was spinning, she had no clue what was going on and you seemed quite upset. She felt like she was failing and she couldn't fully understand why yet but nevertheless she began walking to go get better clothes to wear.

"And Addison?" You called

You saw as she stopped in her tracks and looked back at you. Her eyes still slightly wet from the few tears she cried and you knew she was probably blaming herself for some reason. None of this was her fault. If fact, you didn't even know who to blame at this point, but it definitely wasn't your friends.

"Before you ask, because I know you will, no I am not mad at you, I am worried and trying to get things under control." You mentioned, "You have done nothing wrong and I love you dearly."

Rushing back towards you, Addison threw her arms around your neck and held you tightly. A few more stray tears fell from her eyes and onto the fabric of your shirt as she quietly whispered back,

"I love you too."

"It's okay." You comforted hugging her back "I'm gonna make sure we're okay."

"I know you will," She replied quietly

The two of you stayed in the hug but after a few moments, Addison pulled away. Heading back to her closet she turned on the light, stepped into, and shut the door. Oh the perks of having a walk-in closet. Coming back out, you see that she had changed out of her pajamas and into regular clothing. Passing by you she went to her jewelry stand on her desk and put on her good luck bracelet that she always wore before turning back towards you.

"I'm ready to go."

"Take my hand. I'm going to bring us outside below your window, but then you're going to go to the car on your own so I can go get Lucas. Okay?" You explain

"Got it." Addison replied extending her hand to you

Taking her hand you transported the two of you to the ground outside. Pointing toward the street you you showed where Dean's car was even though you knew she would probably recognize it. Giving you a nod of her head she quickly made her way over to the car before opening the right-side back door and getting in. You watched for a second, hearing the muffled sounds of cheerful greetings, and could see Addison giving hugs to everyone in the car as best as she could in the small space. Know that she was done, you only had one person left to get. Lucas. Teleporting up to his room you saw him sleeping in his bed. Pulling out the last needle, you walked over to him, and just like you did with Bren, you jabbed it into him as he slept. Surprisingly though, he didn't quite wake up, but you could see him start to toss and turn as he began to call out the names of you and your friends but especially Addison. You were going to have to wake him. Grabbing him by the shoulders, you began to shake him but not too hard as you wanted to avoid making too much noise. Out of all the houses you didn't want to get caught at Lucas' house was at the top of the list. Keeping quiet, you whisper yelled,

"Lucas. C'mon big guy, get up!"

Groggily his eyes opened slightly enough to see you. He knew it was you that was standing there but he was extremely tired and highly confused.

"(Y/N)?" He groaned "Why are you here? I'm sleepy."

"I bet buddy, but we need to leave." You emphasized, pulling on his arm trying to get him to sit up

Your efforts took a moment, but eventually, he did sit up. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes as best he could he looked at you as questioned,

"Leave? To where?"

"I dunno, probably Kenny's. Everyone is in the car waiting for you." You answered

After you had said the word "everyone", it was as if a thousand memories had smacked him in the head all at once. Memories of you, his best friend Dean, Kenny, Bren, Viktoria, but most of all Addison. His beloved Addison. Adrenaline rushed through his system and his heart raced at the thought of seeing her. He didn't know why he hadn't? They spent so much time together. She kept him out of his house. Remembering her bedroom window was across from his, he jumped from his bed he went over to his window, pulling up the blinds only to reveal a room that was dark and empty. Looking back toward you, there was a soft sad look in his eyes and he quietly inquired,

"Even Addison?"

"Of course, she's already waiting for you." You replied with a smile

A large goofy smile came to his face as he exclaimed excitedly,

"We gotta go then!"

You watched as he rushed over toward his bedroom door, his hand on the knob ready to rush out of the house and down to the car outside when you quietly called,

"Lucas?"

"Yeah?" He asked curiously

"Have you considered maybe putting on a shirt? and shoes?" You commented gesturing toward him "And pants?"

Looking down at himself he realized he was only wearing his boxers that he had gone to sleep in.

"Oh. Right." He commented letting go of the doorknob.

Turning on the light switch next to the door he went over to his closet rustling through it to pick out a shirt before grabbing a pair of shorts and some socks from his dresser drawers to put on as well. Sliding on a pair of sneakers he was ready to go and was eager to get to see Addison and the rest of his friends again. Walking over to his door once more he placed his hand on the doorknob and began to open it.

"Lucas I can just use my powers-" You began to say(*)

But before you could finish telling him you'd use your powers, he had already opened the door. And standing on the other side was a tall, looming figure.

"And where do you think you're going?" The figure questioned

The figure was none other than Austin Klein, Lucas' father. Lucas didn't speak much to the group about his family, besides the fact that he didn't like being around his parents. But to you, you knew the truth. One night, when you were 16 years old, Lucas told you and only you why he hated being in this house. The man before you was no father, he was a monster to Lucas and his two older siblings. He had an unruly temper and even the slightest "misstep" in his eyes was enough for him to physically lash out. Both his siblings had left when they turned 18 and as much as you begged Lucas to let you help him he refused because he knew Austin would make his life hell if something happened before he turned 18. The only thing you could do was try to keep him out of the house as long as possible with hangouts and activities. You hated Austin for hurting him. You hated him with all of your being. You even viewed him worse than Reginald, a man whom you despised since the beginning. Reginald was a terrible father, he experimented on and forced his children to become heroes for society. He deeply traumatized them but no matter how much you disagreed with it, he had a reason, he thought he was saving the world. Austin never had a reason, he was just evil.

You saw how Lucas froze at the sight of his father. His body tensed and you could feel the pulse of his heart pick up with your powers. You watched as he took a few steps stumbling back, trying to put space between the two of them as Austin stepped forward.

"Don't make me ask again, son." He demanded

Quickly, you rushed over, putting yourself in between Lucas and Austin. Placing an arm out as a way of blocking Lucas you looked up at Austin with hatred in your eyes and vile in your voice as you commanded,

"Back off."

"Why do you think you are talking to me like that?" Austin ridiculed

"I'm his friend." You spat "Now get the hell away from him."

"I don't take orders from little girls like you." Austin rebuked "Now get out of the way before we have a problem."

Austin took a step toward you, probably hoping you would back away in fear. You weren't afraid of him though nor were you to be trifled with. Instead, of cowering away like he probably thought you would, you took a step forward. Standing your ground, you locked eyes on him as you threatened,

"Try me, asshole."

You could see the anger forming in Austin's eyes as he saw you weren't going to back down and in fact actually doubled down. And you knew that he was not the type to keep his anger to himself. But whatever physical attack this man tried to do would be nothing compared to the fights you had been in before. You had been battered and bruised in the past 48 hours in ways that were way worse than what could happen here. You saw as Austin raised a hand and you were prepared to fight back, but before you could make a move, you watched almost as if in slow motion Lucas push past you, grab Austin by the collar and slam him against the wall by the door. Normal motion seemed to resume as Lucas threatened,

"You can hit me, but don't you dare lay a hand on my friend."

"Oh, so you finally think you're tough enough to fight your father, huh?" Austin jeered

"You're not my father." Lucas snapped "You're a fucking monster."

"Watch your mouth boy!" Austin shouted

"Eat shit, you abusive asshole." Lucas spat forcefully pushing Austin into the wall again before taking a step back

The two of them stood still catching their breath, anger radiating off them. The room was tense but the tension was growing.

"YOU UNGRATEFUL PIECE OF SHIT."

Pushing Austin off him, he punched him directly in the face shouting,

"FUCK YOU AUSTIN!"

Austin looked back toward Lucas, blood running down from his nose and malice written all over his face. But none of that mattered. Lucas looked at the man he had called his father and felt nothing but the pure hatred he had carried for years in his heart. He refused to let this man control him any longer. Lucas was many things, strong, smart, caring, but the thing he prided himself on was protecting others because no one should ever be treated the way he was. And while Austin could hit him and he'd manage to brush it off, the minute Austin turned his aggression on you, something within Lucas finally broke.

Before Austin could react, Lucas charged him tackling him to the ground just as he had practiced while playing football all those years. Placing one knee on the floor he placed his other knee on Austin's chest pinning him down and without even thinking he began to punch his face over and over again. Back and forth, left hook, right hook, left hook, right hook. Hit after hit after hit, each one a form of retribution for some injustice Lucas had faced at the hands of his father. One was for his older brother Jack. One was for his older sister Katie. One was for all the times he lied to his friends that he got bruises from playing sports when it wasn't the case. One was for all the times he had to cancel on Addison last minute so she wouldn't see his injuries. One was for every time he had to tell you to not get involved even though he knew you'd kill his father without hesitation if he asked.

Austin's face became beaten and bloodied as the knuckles on Lucas' hands became raw but he still continued.

And you stood there watching. The sweet little sadistic part of you watched in pure glee as Lucas beat the shit out of him. It was what you wanted to happen to him. It was what he deserved. He deserved every ounce of retribution that was being enacted upon him and then some. And you were happy to provide the "and then some". You used your powers to increase Lucas' density. Lucas wouldn't notice but if Austin was still conscious or even alive, he would. Denser fists made for harder more effective blows and its harder to get up and fight back with so much weight pinning you down.

Lucas went on for a few more moments but then finally stopped. He got off of Austin, stood up, and looked down at the bloodied man who he once called dad. His voice was low as he asked,

"Is he alive?"

You looked at the man on the ground and narrowed in on his molecular presence. There was blood in his brain, he had a few broken ribs from how dense you made Lucas' knee and his heart was still beating but it was low.

"Barely." You responded flatly "Why? Do you want him dead?"

"No. I want him to suffer." Lucas stated seriously "Will you do me a favor?"

"Of course. What do you want me to do?" You inquired

"Break his legs so bad doctors will use him as a case study." Lucas explained "I want him to never be able to come after any of you again."

"Anything for you Herc," You responded as you stepped forward

Once more you focused on Austin's body, your eyes slightly glowing blue as you looked through the lens of the molecular world rather than the physical one. Following through on your favor you were going to break his legs...and then some. You couldn't just feel the bone crack, you could hear it. You felt a sense of twisted pride as you heard the battered man cry out in pain. But no you didn't stop there, you continued to crack the bones fracturing them over and over again. You broke them down into such small pieces that it was like there were never bones in there, to begin with. You didn't just break his legs, you decimated them. He would be a case study for sure.

You were about to turn around to tell Lucas the great job you had done when a more feminine voice shrieked,

"Oh my god! How did I let this happen?"

Turning to face the voice, you saw it was Lucas' mother Meredith. A phone in her hand and a shocked look on her face as she stared at the scene before her.

Lucas was not having it though. For all his life his mother did nothing to stop his father. In fact, she barely did the bare minimum to take care of her children. Only enough to keep up appearances but that was it. She had no right to criticize him for what he had just done.

"Shut up Meredith!" Lucas disparaged angrily "How did you not expect this to happen when you stood by and let your kids get beat for no reason?"

While you watched the scene unfold, through the yelling you could hear the sound of a man's voice saying,

"Ma'am are you still there? Authorities are on the way."

And that's when your eyes went wide as you realized cops were on the way. You needed to get out of here and you needed to get out of here NOW. Using your powers you took away the oxygen from Meredith the same way you had done to the Sparrows yesterday but only until she passed out. Remembering that Dean mentioned Lucas did baseball this time around you looked around the room for a bat and spotted one in the corner. Using your powers you lifted the bat into the air and placed it into the hands of Meredith so as to not get your fingerprints on it. You then moved Austin's body with your powers out into the hallway and removed any trace of blood from the room placing it outside in the hall as well. You then summoned blood from Austin's broken body and strategically placed it on Meredith's clothing and the bat to make it seem like she attacked him. It wasn't a foolproof alibi but it looked plausible enough to be a crime of passion and get the heat off Lucas. So long as you got out.

"Lucas, we gotta go." You said grabbing his hand(*)

Pulling him out of his room, turning off the light, and closing the door behind to make it look as if no one was there. Transporting the two of you outside you could see Dean through the car window. Trying to get the message of needing to leave urgently across faster you spoke in your mind

Put it in six. We need to go.

Dean's head jerked toward your direction and saw you and Lucas running up the path in front of his house toward the car.

"Shit." Dean exclaimed as he quickly started the car up

Getting to the car you shoved Lucas into the backseat as you hopped into shotgun.

"Oh my god, Lucas honey what happened?" Addison exclaimed shocked

Lucas however had almost immediately forgotten what happened the minute he saw his girlfriend's face. She was just as beautiful as he remembered.

"Hi baby!" He said overjoyed "I love you!"

"I love you too!" Addison replied taking her boyfriend's face in her hands and kissing him

As the two in the back were using each other for air, and the other four were still confused about what was going on you tried catching your breath, but you weren't in the clear until you got out of this community and as far away as you could be.

"Getaway driving now, Marksman." You commanded

Without another word Dean began speeding off back toward the entrance gate. Placing your hand on his shoulder you turned to the group of five in the back and instructed,

"I'm gonna need everyone to grab onto my arm."

"NO! NO! NO!" Viktoria shouted concerned

"YES! YES! YES!" Bren and Kenny chanted excitedly

"Why do we need to do that?" Addison questioned

You looked ahead and saw the large white gate from earlier approaching quickly. Turning back to the group you yelled,

"Grab on NOW."

Following instructions, everyone grabbed on as Dean sped toward the gate. Placing the hand that was not on Dean's shoulder onto the front dash you focused on the car just as you had done before to get in the community. Closer and closer the gate approached and as screaming of excitement or fear could be heard from the backseat, the car and all of you in it passed through the gate to the other side in one piece. And as the sounds of sirens could be heard in the distance Dean sped off down the nearby backroads, taking the long way back home.

Back at the hotel, Five stood in front of a mirror looking at himself in his new suit. He had never expected to see a young version of himself dressed so nicely. It was a thought he had put out of his mind because he thought he lost that chance around 35 years ago. The suit fit him perfectly and he did look nice in it, but he also didn't think he'd be back in business attire so soon. This wasn't what he wanted. Perhaps, he was cursed to deal with something catastrophic every time he got an ounce of peace. He hoped that wasn't the case, but prior experience told him otherwise. Taking one last look at himself, he thanked the tailor before grabbing the briefcases on the ground and heading out to the main part of the lobby. Finding one of the seats he sat down as he waited for Lila. He waited, and waited and waited until finally she arrived. As she stood in front of him, Five stood up from his seat and picked up the briefcases as he commented,

"I see you finally decided to show up."

"You never gave me a timeframe asshole." Lila retorted "You're lucky I came at all."

"It doesn't matter." Five commented, "The sooner we finish the sooner we don't have to be around each other."

"Fine by me. You bring the mood down anyway." Lila remarked

Ugh. She had just gotten here and already she was starting to get on his nerves. He was starting to regret not working with you on this.

"There's an electrical closet down the hall. We can use that to help power the cases." Five explained

"After you then," Lila replied gesturing down the hall

Sighing under his breath, Five took the lead down the hall to the electric closet with Lila following behind. There weren't any words exchanged but there was an air of disdain that surrounded them. Getting to the electrical room, Five blinked inside the room and placed the briefcases on a nearby table. He had tried the door on his way to the tailor's and found it to be locked earlier so this was the best way to get in. Turning around he unlocked the door for Lila to join him before turning back and opening one of the briefcases. It took a while but after some manipulating, he was able to rewire connections from all the electrical panels in the room. With only a few more connections left, Five grabbed two pairs of jumper cables from a nearby crate and handed one of them to Lila to connect one side to the briefcase while he took the other to connect to the inside of the last electric panel. As he clamped one side of the jumper cables to the panel he went back to connect the other side to one of the two briefcases.

"Nice suit." Lila complimented, holding the other half of her jumper cable in her hands

Five looked at her surprised. He didn't expect her to compliment him on his suit and just leave it at that. Where was the snarky comment that he was used to expecting?

"Thanks." He replied "Tailor in the lobby is a master craftsman."

"Still, I will miss those pasty knees." Lila added

There it was. There was the comment he was expecting. Why for a moment did he expect any different? Anyway, she really didn't have a say on the topic of clothing given her choices earlier. Clamping the other half of his jumper cables onto the one briefcases Lila clamped part of her cable onto, Five retorted,

"Yeah, well, we could all stand to be showing a little less skin these days."

With all the wires in place, Lila handed the other half of her jumper cable to Five saying,

"For you."

He looked at the clamps nervously not knowing how well this plan would work but he had to try. Taking the clamps from her, he held onto them tightly. He was going to have to use all his power to try and get the dead briefcase going again.

"Ready to hot-wire this briefcase?" Lila asked picking up the dial to turn everything on

"Let's do this." Five replied

Revving up his powers, blue energy glowed around his hands as he tried to focus on his time travel ability. He looked towards Lila waiting for her to turn on the switch the jump the case and with a flip of the switch she set the electricity free. Sparks burst from each of the electric panels as hundreds of volts of energy coursed through Five's body.

"Ah shit! Lila!" Five yelled in pain

Instead of helping Lila laughed at his pain. She watched as he slid down the nearby wall, his legs giving out from the pain as his hands had trouble letting go of the clamps due to the electricity coursing through him. As the one briefcase caught on fire, Five forcefully managed to stop his abilities and let go of the clamps. Seeing the case on fire he yelled,

"SHIT!"

Rushing over to grab a nearby cloth, Five put the fire of the case out as Lila walked out the door of the electric room and sat on an unused food service cart in the hall still laughing. Looking towards Five she happily remarked,

"Yeah, I was 99% sure that wouldn't work."

"Well, I'm glad my pain amuses you." Five replied sarcastically

"You have no idea. It's like my therapy." Lila replied upbeat

"Well, now we are down to one half-dead briefcase, and my jumps are only accurate up to a couple minutes. So, essentially, we're screwed." Five commented annoyed

"Maybe." Lila stated, a smile forming on her face "Maybe not."

No. He could already tell that she had an idea in mind that he was not going to like. With a lifeless and disappointed look on his face, Five replied disapprovingly,

"Oh, I hate that smile."

"Listen, on your own, your little jumps are rather pathetic." Lila mentioned

Five scoffed at her comment. They weren't pathetic, he just didn't have enough practice with them yet.

"But if we powered up together, you blinking, me mimicking that blink, I think we could create some kind of feedback loop and get enough juice to jump-start the case." Lila continued

"Both of us together." Five stated curiously

"We'd have to trust each other." Lila replied

"Lila, you just spent the better part of the last ten days trying to end my life." Five scoffed

"You killed my birth parents." Lila shouted

"Fair enough." Five replied

Five turned away from Lila for a second as she hopped off the food cart and paced slightly away. Both turning around, they looked at each other once more as Lila added,

"And your entire family stood by while that greasy Swede put a cap in the woman who raised me." Lila added angrily

"The Handler was going to kill you, Lila." Five snapped "In fact, she did kill you. Then I rolled back time and let the meatball do his work."

Five saw as the anger on her face dropped for a moment and it almost seemed like she had an expression of recognition on her face. Either way, Five wasn't interested in whatever she had going on up in her head. All he cared about was keeping those he loved safe. Even the stupid ones.

"Oh, and by the way, if you're leading Diego on as payback for what happened in Texas, you're pissing up the wrong ladder there 'cause that idiot may actually love you." Five added in the same tone "The Handler never did."

Turning away from her he began to walk down the hall. If she wasn't going to be of any help he might as well find you to assist him. He didn't want to drag you into this mess but you would at least be trying to help rather than messing with him. And he'd actually enjoy your company. But as he continued to walk away he heard Lila shout behind him,

"What do you know? The only person you've ever loved is a psychotic bitch."

Hearing those words Five immediately turned on his heel and marched back over to her getting up in her face as he loudly chastised her,

"Do not talk about (Y/N) like that, Lila!"

You were an amazing woman and given the circumstances of how Lila came into this family, he could completely understand you reacting negatively toward her. You weren't out of line in the slightest but for her to call you a psychotic bitch was extremely out of line and he wouldn't tolerate it.

"This is insane. There is no way we're gonna get past this to make it to the Commission." Lila complained frustrated

"Okay, perhaps we can't get to trust, but there is a certain honesty in white-hot hatred." Five retorted

Letting out a small huff, Lila walked past Five and over to the door to the electric room and opened it.

"Then come over here, you god-awful little shit." Lila said holding out her hand "And hold my hand."

Five looked at her surprised for a moment. Was she actually going to try and help? There was only one way to find out, and so he took her hand as she led him back into the electric room to try again with her new idea. Together they redid the wiring to the second briefcase and when it seemed ready Lila flipped the switch that channeled electricity into the case.

"Okay, relax," Lila stated as they looked at the wire-covered case

"I can't. Your breath is terrible." Five complained

"Garlic is for winners. Enough foreplay!" Lila exclaimed

Both Five and Lila placed one hand on the briefcase and the other on each other's shoulder, readying themselves to do this. Five didn't know why he was doing this though. Was this really the only option?

"This is so stupid." He complained once more

"Power up, shithead." Lila retorted

Taking a deep breath, Five once again revved up his energy. A blue glow surrounded his hand and began to grow but even with the better effort this time, the electricity from the wires sent shocks through his system. He gritted his teeth as he tried to focus more and more on his abilities reminding himself why he was putting himself through this pain. He was doing it for you and his siblings.

"That's it. Let me in!" Lila said over the crackling sound of the time-energy

"I can't! It's too much!" Five replied, trying his best to keep going

"Don't bitch out on me now!" Lila exclaimed back as she began to mimic his energy

Five let out a yelp of pain as he looked up, his muscles straining as he tried to push through the pain and keep going.

"I hate you so much!" Five yelled

"Then get this right, or it's you and me in the Stone Age forever!" Lila retorted

Finally, the two of them worked together, pushing through the pain and creating a larger and larger feedback look. Blue energy surrounded them in mass quantity and they both knew that it was now or never. They had one shot and this was it.

"Now! Do it now!" Lila yelled

Pushing forward through the energy they had created, Five slid his one hand toward the briefcase latch. The two of them shouted in pain as the energy coursing through them was immense, but soon enough he reached the latch and pressed it down into place. And with one burst of blue light the briefcase, Lila, and Five zapped out of the electrical room and away hopefully to the commission.

As Lila and Five had figured out their time travel issue, you were in the middle of figuring out the biggest question of the night. What was causing the apocalypse. After getting away from Lucas' place Dean drove all of you back to Kenny's house. It was your main hangout spot anyway so why go anywhere else? As you all entered the basement Kenny gave you a calculator and some markers and told you to just go ham with your math on the basement wall. You guessed he could see how antsy you were to get it done. Taking the supplies you separated yourself from your friends as you went to work trying to figure out the problem.

You relied partially on your theoretical knowledge of time mechanics and paradoxes but with a stronger emphasis on your practical knowledge of the material world and the energy you had felt from those bursts. Obviously whatever was going on was getting stronger because its reach and duration were longer, you knew that from how long the energy wave caused you pain. You also knew that it was taking things with the energy waves like the cows from the field, so it also had a tendency to suck things in. It didn't seem like a lot, but that was certainly enough of a jumping-off point to get the calculations going. You could figure this out, you knew you could. The answer was practically on the tip of your tongue but you wanted to do the math to make sure your potential hypotheses were right. Although you really hoped they weren't...

But even as you worked, you glanced back at your friends every once in a while and could hear them as they talked. For the most part, they just tried to remind themselves of different events in an effort to make their old timeline memory the prominent version of events and push back their memories from this timeline. However, you also saw Kenny with his med kit cleaning up Lucas' hands.

"Man, how did you do this to your hands?" Kenny questioned

"Yeah, I haven't seen them this bad since that back alley fight when we went out patrolling that one time." Dean commented

"I mean it was that guy's fault for grabbing me by the hair." Addison added

You stopped writing on the wall for a moment and looked back over your shoulder at Lucas. You could see the way he shifted nervously. Lucas glanced over at you quickly and you responded with a gesture of your hand pointing towards him as if to indicate it was up to him to decide how he answered. Looking back down at his hands he replied,

"I uh, I beat the shit out of Austin."

"Your dad? Why?" Bren questioned

You could see the slight wince at the word dad. Austin was never a dad to Lucas or in general. Lucas was quiet for a moment almost as if he was trying to figure out the right words but after a moment he spoke,

"Because he tried to stop me from leaving."

"He always was kind of a dick." Viktoria mentioned

"But I'm here now and that's what matters." Lucas replied "Right (Y/N)?"

You stared at Lucas as his eyes met your own once more. Only you knew that wasn't the full truth and although you still would keep your mouth shut it still hurt you to see him this way. You wish he felt he could be honest with the rest of the group but that was his decision to make. Biting your tongue you flatly replied,

"Right."

"Well you gotta do what you gotta do sometimes." Dean commented

"Yeah." Lucas replied bluntly "Definitely."

Quickly you turned back to your work. As you continued scribbling down numbers and formulas onto the wall you could hear Kenny call out from behind you,

"(Y/N), I have a question."

"Go on." You said, your focus still on your math

"So is this a new timeline?" Kenny questioned

"Partially." You answered "It's like a rewritten version of our former timeline. Some things are the same, some are different."

"And you stabbed us so we would remember the prior version?" Bren asked

"Yes."

"Also Dean mentioned in the car that we have enemies now?" Addison interjected

"We have enemies?" Lucas inquired confused

"Yes. We hate Diego, his evil baby momma that tried to kill (Y/N) and the good Umbrellas and end the world, and their alleged 12-year-old son who is probably not their kid though." Dean "They're our enemies now."

Lucas and Addison looked at each other before giving a shrug of their shoulders. They had enemies now.

"Understood." Addison stated

There was a slight pause in the conversation before Lucas piped up,

"Hey, do you think now that I beat up Austin he's no longer my father so now I can make Luther my dad?"

"Definitely man, I'm pretty sure that's how it works." Dean replied

You tuned out the chatter behind you as you tried to focus on the problem at hand. You were close, you could feel it. You could see it as you threw calculations into the fancy TI-84 calculator Kenny had let you use. Things began to add up and equations began to get solved. All the factors you had, all the information you knew were finally coming together. And as you hit the equal button on the calculator one more time you knew you would have your answer.

Oh no.

You stared at the numbers on the calculator, the ones that you had written down on the wall in front of you. No. This couldn't be right. It had to be wrong. Perhaps you had miscalculated somewhere. You looked at all of your math on the wall and put it into the calculator again, and again and again. All of it coming back to the same result. You stared at it all. Perhaps that was the issue, you were looking at it for too long. There had to be a mistake you were missing because you had been working with it on your own. Perhaps a second opinion would help. With your eyes still trained on the wall, you called,

"Kenny, come check my math."

Kenny was in the same calculus class that you were in. He was great with numbers and you were sure that he would find the issue with your math that you were definitely not spotting. Leaving the rest of your friends Kenny walked over to where you stood and looked at his basement wall now covered in numbers, graphs, and equations.

"Do you see anything wrong?" You asked

Taking the calculator from you he input all of the equations and numbers you had written on the wall, double checking everything you had written down. It all came back the same as you had put so he didn't see anything wrong.

"No, it's correct." He responded handing the calculator back

"I was hoping you wouldn't say that..." You replied despondent before calling "Lucas come here."

As Kenny took a step back, Lucas left where he was sitting by Addison and stepped up next to you. You gestured towards the graphs and equations on the wall.

"Do you recognize this?" You questioned

Lucas looked over it for a moment. At first he was completely unbothered just looking over the numbers but then certain equations began to stand out to him. And then the graphs drawn looked more familiar. He always had a special interest in astronomy but this was something he had only ever seen in textbooks. Lucas quickly turned his head to look at you, concern written all over his face.

"I- that's impossible." Lucas stated "At least on Earth."

And there it was. The confirmation that you were correct. It didn't feel as good as you thought it would. You thought that being able to figure it out on your own would feel like an accomplishment. But this? This was a punishment.

"Nothing is impossible Lucas." You reminded, sadness evident in your tone

The rest of the group behind you looked on in confusion. What the hell was going on over there?

"Can one of you math nerds fill us in on what's going on." Bren implored

Letting out a sigh you turned around to look at the rest of your friends. You watched as Lucas went back to sitting by Addison's side, taking her hand into his own as he held it tightly. Kenny who only knew the math was correct, but didn't know what was going on went and stood behind the couch looking toward you for answers.

"I figured out how the world is ending." You answered flatly

"And?" Addison implored

"It's a black hole." You stated "A really fucked up black hole that's consuming existence."

And in that moment it felt like time stopped. The world was ending in a way that felt almost unreal. It had to be unreal right?

"And you're sure the math is correct?" Viktoria pressed

"When has she ever gotten her math wrong?" Kenny mentioned, his tone more serious than usual

The group sat silently, the only sound to be heard was that of the air conditioner running. Everyone looked around at each other before Dean suggested,

"We have to do something."

"Do what? You six don't have powers," You dismissed, before lifting your injured hand up and pointing at the bandages "Plus this thing is tearing me apart from the inside every time it sucks things in."

"Okay, so we get the Umbrellas and the Sparrows to help!" Addison exclaimed "They're heroes after all!"

You rolled your eyes.

"You really think they going to put their petty Montague-Capulet-esque bullshit aside in a timely manner?" You criticized

"I'd hope so!" Addison added

"Well, you'd be wrong. They won't." You rejected "I know they won't."

The room went quiet again. So this was it? It was out of your hands and the only people who could even attempt to stop it were fighting with each other? A fucked up black hole was going to destroy the world and take everyone down with it and they just had to deal with it?

"How long do we have?" Bren asked quietly

"Based on the past four waves of energy I felt, calculating their distance and duration I'd say five maybe six days tops." You answered

"So what are we going to do?" Viktoria inquired

You looked around at your group of friends, at the one thing you knew you truly had, and there was only one answer to that question.

"We're gonna do what the Hargreeves can't. We're gonna stick together." You stated "We're all the family we've got at this point so we might as well make the most of the time we have left."

"Well," Kenny spoke up, breaking the silence "On that bittersweet note would anybody like a drink? Because I'm not staying sober anymore after that."

"A drink?" You remarked "Get me a bottle."

"Now you're speaking my language!" Kenny exclaimed before asking "Anyone else?"

There was still some silence for a moment but then the rest of the group began to nod. They weren't like Kenny but, in a time like this, following his lead might not be the worst idea. With a cheery smile on his face, Kenny raced up back his basement stairs to the rest of the house. Standing up from her seat on the couch Viktoria looked at the group still in the basement.

"Being down isn't gonna help anything." She proclaimed "Let's get this end-of-the-world party started."

"She's right." Addison encouraged standing up as well "We're all together again so let's have some fun."

"Help me pick out some music?" Viktoria asked Addison

"Of course!" Addison exclaimed

You watched as Addison and Viktoria stood near the portable speaker system looking through Spotify on their phones for music to play. As they discussed making a joint playlist you saw as Bren turned to Dean and taunted,

"I'll kick your ass in Timber on Just Dance."

"In your fucking dreams man." Dean remarked back

And with that, all that was left was you and Lucas. You looked around at the beginnings of jovial chatter starting up again as your friends found activities to bring life in the midst of a disheartening situation. You saw as Lucas got up from his seat on the couch before gently taking you by the arm and pulling you aside.

"Hey (Y/N)?" He said

"Yeah?" You responded

"Thanks for not saying anything for all these years. I know it's probably really hard." He acknowledged

"It wasn't my place to say." You explained "It's up to you who to tell."

"I know but still...thank you." He replied softly "Maybe one day, in a time after time I'll tell them, but for now, I just want us all to be happy."

"Me too." You said quietly

You looked back off to the side at your friends with smiles on their faces and some laughter sounding through the basement. You watched as Bren shoved Dean to the side because he was already losing in Just Dance. He really shouldn't have chosen a Pitbull song to challenge him with. You liked being together with them all, and you liked that they were happy, but it was that joy that also made you sad. In six days this would be gone.

"What's wrong?" Lucas inquired

You looked up at the tall, golden retriver-like boy. He could see the pain in your eyes as you said very lowly,

"I'm scared."

"Of what? Dying?" He asked confused

"No, no. When you've gone through what I've been through you grow used to the thought of that." You answered "There are much worse things than dying."

"Like what?" Lucas questioned

"Being alone." You stated

It was the worst feeling. To be alive but to have no one around to be alive with. The deafening silence and chilling emptiness of having no one. You had experienced it before and it was a feeling you were trying so hard to keep away.

"You won't." Lucas replied "We won't let you be alone."

"No?"

"Never. You're the glitter glue that holds this fucked up art project of a group together. We're stuck on you." He answered placing a hand on your shoulder "I know it might be hard, but try to take your own advice. Make these last six days worth it."

"Thanks Lucas."

A small smile came to your face from his words, but as he reach out and ruffled your hair you couldn't help but laugh. What a goofball. You and Lucas sat down on the couch as you watched Dean and Bren battle each other in Just Dance with Bren growing increasingly more frustrated as he fell further behind Dean. From behind you could hear the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs and the clinking of glass as Kenny exclaimed,

"I'm back with drinks!"

You turned and saw Kenny with an entire tray of assorted bottles and pre-made drinks. Placing the tray on a table off to the side he approached you with a fancy glass bottle filled with amber liquid.

"For our wonderful leader, here is a bottle of my absent father's finest whiskey that he left behind," He said handing you the bottle before pointing over to the table "And I have brought the fruity shit for the ones who can't shoot whiskey."

Taking the bottle from him, you took a swig of the liquor and you could just tell that it was strong. Perfect. This was exactly what you needed to loosen up and get your mind off of the apocalypse.

"My guy, get me a strawberry marg. I wanna feel SPEC-TACULAR." Lucas requested of Kenny

"Anything for you Lulu." Kenny replied, jokingly giving him a wink and blowing him a kiss

"Hey, don't you dare blow kisses as my husband. He's mine." Addison scolded

"You better keep an eye on him then." Kenny retorted breaking into laughter halfway through the sentence

You couldn't help but laugh as well. You knew it was way too soon to say the alcohol was kicking in, but you actually felt...okay. Things felt normal and god that was a great feeling. As you took another sip from the bottle you saw as the Just Dance song ended with Dean coming out victorious. Although you weren't surprised by it, you and he were the two best of the group followed by Addison.

"OH! Eat shit you Great Value tentacle boy!" Dean exclaimed "You think you can kick my ass at this game? Get fucked."

"Whatever man," Bren said obviously annoyed by his loss "Who's next?"

"Addison!" Kenny called out

"Yeah?" She questioned as she plugged her phone into the portable speaker

"You, me, Single Ladies. Whoever wins gets to keep Lucas." Kenny challenged

"Um, what?" Lucas questioned

"You're on." Addison agreed

"Don't I get a say in this?" Lucas interjected

"No." They simultaneously denied

The rest of the group sat down on the couch as you watched Addison and Kenny dance it out for who would get to keep Lucas. Although you already had a strong guess on who would win, and it wasn't Kenny.

"So I gotta know, if you guys didn't really care for heroes this time around, what did y'all like?" You inquired

"Oh, I still cared for heroes, just not the Sparrows." Dean replied

The others nodded their heads in agreement, including Addison and Kenny who made a point to show their support of the statement while still in their dance battle.

"I'm assuming we're all thinking the same thing so, have you ever heard of the popular comic series In A Matter of Time?" Viktoria asked

Yes. Yes, you did. You had never read it of course but you sure as hell knew the premise and who created it because dear old Charlie told you so in his journal.

"Oh ye-" You began to say

"Vi, what kind of question is that? She just got here, of course she hasn't heard of it." Addison interjected

"Well actually-" You attempted to correct

"Oh, right." Viktoria replied "Do you want to hear about it?"

You wondered how long it would take now that they had their memories back to realize these beloved, cultural icon comics that they loved were your life story and featured them. How long would it be until you could tell them the writer was literally your friend and did it as a tribute your that friendship. You didn't know, but you were going to relish the humor in this situation and find out.

"You know what, I'd love to." You replied with a smirk "Why don't you explain the plot to me?"

"So there's this girl named (Y/N) which is super funny because she has the name you have and looks like you and she was born with powers just like yours actually," Lucas began

"Yeah! And so she's on her own for a while but then she sneaks over to the house across the street where her parents told her not to go and she bumps into this boy who looks just like Five and has his name too!" Bren added

"Wow. What a coincidence." You remarked sarcastically

Swept up in their enthusiasm they completely missed your sarcasm at the situation. This was fucking hilarious and you were going to let them keep going and embarrassing themselves like this until they figured it out.

"And then she meets the rest of his siblings and they all have powers and become friends but then one day he runs off through time!" Kenny exclaimed

"Does he now?" You questioned, the sarcasm as blatant as you could make it "That's crazy."

"But here's the real thing. She gets stuck 11 years in the future and has to start over but she makes a whole bunch of new friends like my favorite character, the archer-" Dean began to explain excitedly

But then he stopped. You could see his eyes move back and forth as if his brain was trying to process something but then he slowly spoke,

"...Dean Herandez..."

Well, when Charlie said that all he changed were the last names, he meant it. Although when he said change you thought it would be a whole new last name, not practically the same name but technically different. Honestly though, knowing that he kept your story and the other players in your life as close to their real-life counterparts as possible was sweet. A small smile came to your face as you thought of him. You missed him but you knew he missed you too. Coming back into focus you looked around at your friends to see all of them with dumbfounded faces. Oh boy! Was it happening? Were they finally figuring it out? You saw as Addison slowly looked over towards you her mouth slightly ajar as she demanded,

"Hey, what the fuck."

And with that, you couldn't contain how amusing the situation was to you anymore as you began to laugh your ass off. You laughed so much it hurt your sides as your friends frantically looked around at each other for answers but not finding any with each other. You knew something, but what the fuck was it?

"What is going on? Why are you laughing?" Bren inquired

"My best friend when I was stuck in the 60s, my only friend from the 60s, is Charlie Anderson the writer of this series," You explained in between bouts of laughter "I'm laughing because he based the comics on my life story. The characters are me and the people from my life which includes YOU MOTHERFUCKERS!"

Your friends looked on in shock as they processed your words which only caused you to laugh harder. This was amazing. You saw as Kenny directed his attention toward you, a mix of emotion on his face as he proclaimed,

"You're telling me that I'm my own fictional hero?! I'M KENNY WAYWARD?!"

Kenny Wayward. What a perfect name for Kenny's fictional counterpart. Absolutely loving this you enthusiastically replied,

"That's what he named you? That's fucking hilarious!"

"Why did he get a cool new last name?" Dean demanded "I went from Dean Hernandez to Dean Herandez. I only lost a letter!"

"Hey, at least yours is actually different. My name is the exact same except Young is spelled Yeong now." Bren stated

You rolled your eyes at the two of them, if anyone was going to get into specific criticisms now that they knew who the characters were it was going to be Dean and Bren.

"Oh stop being so picky, Charlie wanted to stay as close to the source material as possible." You reprimanded "He's caring like that and you're being rude to my dead friend."

"Sorry sis," Dean apologized

"Yeah sorry (Y/N)." Bren replied, "We do still like the story though!"

"Yeah, like A LOT." Dean added

"Well, I appreciate that you enjoy my chaotic life story." You commented "What about you three? You got anything to say?"

"I just- Addison Eriks was my idol." Addison explained still in shock "I'd never thought I'd be like her, but it turns out I am her."

"Did anyone else have a poster of themselves on their wall?" Lucas asked "Because I sure as hell had a Lucas Klinge poster."

"No, but I definitely read Viktoria Pavlov fanfiction" Viktoria commented, "Which I now realize was just myself."

"But did you fuck yourself like the cube did?" Kenny inquired

"Y'know what surprisingly, no. Just fluff pieces of getting to be happy with a bunch of friends I didn't know I had until today." Viktoria answered

You didn't quite process what Viktoria has said for a moment but once you did it hit you like a ton of bricks. Charlie had mentioned how popular the series had gotten in one of his journal entries. Hell, he told you in a separate entry that the series ran for 25 years. Somehow, although you recalled these facts you never quite put them together with fan culture until now. In A Matter of Time was your life story and you were now a little concerned.

"There's fanfiction?" You questioned

Slowly, Viktoria's head turned to look at you and you could see the smile creeping on her face. Oh no. That was the smile of a woman who was in too deep and knew way too much and was extremely prepared to tell you all about it.

"Oh, I hate that smile." You remarked

"Oh my sweet (Y/N), the In A Matter of Time fandom is HUGE." Viktoria replied

Oh god. How bad was it? You never really talked about fandom culture as a whole to Charlie. He never knew what could happen. Extremely concerned, you asked

"Is it Marvel huge?"

"Not that huge." Viktoria replied

"Supernatural huge?" You asked slightly less concerned

"Doesn't exist in this timeline." Viktoria mentioned "But I'd quantify it as just a little less than that."

Great. Just slightly less than Supernatural.

"That's not comforting Vi. That's still very large. I'm nervous."

"Don't be, for its size it's a surprisingly tame fandom!" Viktoria exclaimed as if that was supposed to comfort you

"Granted, there is a lot of hate posting towards Diego's irl baby mama because of her portrayal, but y'know we hate her too so it's not a big deal." Addison mentioned

While Viktoria's sentiment did not help your feelings of worry about the apparent fandom around Charlie's work, Addison's comment did. All you were hearing from that statement was that Charlie did right by you and you were extremely happy with and proud of his work. He was making the world a better place by getting the masses to hate her the same way you do. She was awful, and Diego was wrong for liking her. But even through your pride in your friend, your mind went back to the size of the fandom and it reminded you of your conversation earlier about how weird people are about the Sparrows. Internally you started to panic a bit wondering if and how bad it was for you.

"Question though, and I might regret the answer but is there Sparrows level of weird shit? Is there discourse? Is it bad?" You frantically questioned "Please tell me no."

"There's always going to be some weird shit but it's all in its own little circles so you only find it if you're looking for it." Kenny remarked

"How do you know that?" Bren questioned

"Don't ask questions you don't want answers to." Kenny replied flatly

There was a quick moment where everyone gave Kenny a side eye before Viktoria spoke once more saying,

"He's right though, weird shit is hard to come by and the discourse is mainly about the ethics of the characters' actions, but fortunately arguing about ships is not all too common because for the most part people like the canon ones."

"By the canon ones you mean-" You began to ask

"Addison and Lucas," Viktoria stated

Viktoria gestured towards the two of them who were now cuddled up on the couch together and you watched as Lucas leaned into her before placing a kiss on her cheek. Addison smiled widely and although you were happy for them you wished your boyfriend was here to do that too. Shaking the thought from your head though you looked back to Viktoria as she continued,

"The Hargreeves and their partners-"

"Excluding Diego's 60s arc..." Dean interjected annoyed

"Yes Dean, we know." Addison reminded "We, like the rest of the world, already agreed to be haters."

"Just saying..." Dean grumbled

Looking at Dean you thought to yourself,

And that's why you're the better brother currently.

Dean looked back toward you, a smile on his face as he thought,

Anything for you, sis.

"And of course yours is the fan favorite." Viktoria mentioned "Lots of stuff about you and Five. Art, stories, the works."

"That feels weird to know so many people like my relationship but also...kind of nice. I think?" You replied still figuring out your feelings

It was an odd thought for sure, but to have so many people love and admire your relationship was also kind of comforting and sweet. It meant plenty of people were rooting for you two and wanted you to be happy and together. And that honestly was a nice thought since it seemed like the rest of the Hargreeves siblings could care less about it, let alone anything that was greater than themselves.

"People love you guys." Kenny stated

"Yeah, I read some old news articles about how the comic world went crazy when your comic characters finally got together on the issue released October 7th, 1989." Lucas added "Which was I think like 12 years after the first comic released on October 1st, 1977."

Oh Charlie...that bastard probably thought he was so clever for that one choosing October 7th, 12 years after the first issue. You and Five met on October 7th when you were 12 years old. And on top of it, you were born, or well supposed to be born, in 1989. He was always a stickler for the details and the lover of a good inside joke. Granted, if he had kept all the dates the same, which you assumed he probably did, then it was more than just you who probably recognized the reference. Either way, it was clever but also sweet.

"You two are like the Teen Titans cartoon Robin and Starfire before Teen Titans cartoon Robin and Starfire even existed." Bren remarked

"I always did like Robin and Starfire although looking back I was probably projecting..." You mused before asking "Anyway, were there any movies or show adaptations?"

"Nope, your friend Charlie always publicly stated he would never agree to have the comics adapted into a big budget movie or show of any kind because he knew no actor, director, or media corporation would ever be able to do it justice," Addison explained

"Really?" You questioned

"Yeah," Dean replied "I was always so annoyed by that, but now with what I know I realized that he was right. No actor could ever replace you."

"You're truly one of a kind (Y/N)." Viktoria complimented

You could feel a strong blush rise to your face as you saw all your friends smiling at you. It was like you felt the warmth and care of all of your friends including Charlie in that moment. You felt happy and loved and...alive. Trying to hide your red face, you whined,

"Guys stopppppp."

"Aw look she's getting all blushy!" Kenny exclaimed pointing at your face

"Is it cuz you feel loved or embarrassed?" Addison questioned

"Both." You mumbled

"Oh fine, we'll drop the topic for now," Bren stated "Last thing we need is you getting so warm you spontaneously combust."

"I've literally never done that before." You remarked

"Well damn that's crazy cuz I cum bust all the time." Kenny remarked laughing at his own joke

Your blush went away as you looked at him in disbelief. How could someone who knew how to do advanced calculus and literally save lives also be so stupid? It didn't help that the rest of the boys began cracking up along with him. They were all so fucking stupid...but the truth was, you loved them for it. You loved their stupid comments that they all found funny and you loved the way in which Addison and Viktoria would roll their eyes as they tried to hide the smirks on their faces. This group was an absolute mess, but they were your absolute mess. As you sat back and just took in the joy of being around your friends, you pulled your hair back before placing it to one side of your neck. As you did so though you could see Addison, who was sitting to the right of you leaning against Lucas, sit up and come closer to you before touching your neck and asking,

"Hey (Y/N), what's this?"

"Huh? What?" You asked confused

Addison touched at the skin of your neck a little more, rubbing away the concealer that you had applied this morning and revealing the markings on your neck. Her eyes went wide with concern as she exclaimed,

"Oh my god are these bruises you've been covering?"

It was at that moment you realized what she had just revealed. Slightly panicking you quickly replied,

"Oh those are nothing! Don't worry about them!"

But before you could react she had wiped the concealer from the other side of your neck revealing even more of the marks you had gotten earlier. Your friend group looked concerned, but especially that of Dean.

"Don't worry?! How can we not, you're more injured than we thought!" Dean shouted concerned "Kenny check her out."

"I- I'm not injured! You don't need to do-" You began to protest

But it did nothing as Kenny had already tilted your head to the side to examine the bruising. He looked at them carefully but almost immediately knew that you were correct and it wasn't an injury. You could see the serious look of concern on his face fade away as intrigue lit up his eyes and a smirk came to his face.

He knew.

And you knew, he knew.

And he knew, that you knew, that he knew.

"Well, I can say these bruises aren't congruent with an asphyxiation attempt." Kenny quipped, his tone evidently amused

"What does that mean?" Dean asked still worried

"It means nobody was choking her, idiot." Bren remarked

"So how the hell did you get those? Were you in a fight? Who did it? I'll fight them." Dean demanded

"No I didn't get them in a fight Dean," You replied, trying to diffuse the situation

"Well at least not the type of fight you're assuming," Kenny teased

Your head snapped toward Kenny, a look of death in your eyes. You were going to kill him. You were absolutely going to kill him. Why was he being such a little shit? Granted, this was expected from Kenny but it had never been directed at you before. Typically, this type of teasing was reserved for Addison and Lucas or maybe Dean or Viktoria on the rare occasions they managed to get some type of date or that one single time Bren got a girlfriend for about a month. You were the only one this had never affected, but perhaps your luck had run out. Even so, you did not want this to happen and you hoped the malice in your eyes was enough to discourage him.

"What does that mean?" Dean asked

Kenny looked over at you. He could see the murderous intent in your eyes but he did not care. This was a rite of passage and he had been waiting for the day that he would be blessed with the opportunity to tease you over something like this. You could see the smirk on his face widen as he turned toward the rest of the group.

"Don't you dare." You whisper yelled at him

He ignored your threat though and proudly stated,

"It means they're hickies."

"KENNY!" You shouted at him

All eyes turned to you as your friends' expressions of worry dropped and were replaced with surprise and curiosity. You were the last of the group that this had happened to because back then you were never interested in anyone besides celebrities and fictional characters. Now, of course, they knew it was because you loved Five and wouldn't replace him with someone real but they were so proud. You were finally getting the romantic intimacy that you deserved.

"Congrats!" Addison exclaimed

"You're one of us now!" Viktoria cheered

Even though it was a little annoying you appreciated the support from your friends about the intimacy of your relationship much more than the way Klaus had gone about it earlier, and even more so than the way Diego had a tendency to dismiss it. Your friends were a weird bunch and you were all pretty open about things so this was to be expected, it was going to happen at some point. And honestly, you had said much more descriptive things about celebrities and characters you had a crush on so discussing this would probably be as casual as talking about the weather. You tried your best to pretend to be embarrassed, but you couldn't help but be entertained by their interest.

"Don't start you guys." You playfully remarked "It's not a big deal."

"ONE OF US! ONE OF US! ONE OF US!" Lucas, Addison, and Viktoria began to chant

"Damn you've got a good number of these." Bren commented touching your neck "One, two, three, four- wow he really marked you with his name, huh?"

"That was probably just a coincidence." You replied before mentioning softly "At least I think it was..."

Did...Five mark you with his name? Was it intentional? If it was that was honestly kind of hot and very clever. It was like a double reminder that you were his. Not like you would ever want anyone else, but still, it was attractive. Your mind wandered off to thoughts of this morning and the feeling of his lips on your neck. You could feel butterflies in your stomach as you recalled those intimate moments until Dean pulled you from your thoughts as he poked at your bruises and commented,

"These don't look that dark though."

"Will you all stop touching my neck?" You scolded smacking his hand away "Fucking weirdos. And they're not dark because they're healing already. God..."

"Ah yes, your advanced healing factor. Injured one day, fine by the next." Kenny commented "Most of the time..."

"The real question is-" Lucas said leaning forward "How did they come about?"

"You don't need to know my business." You remarked

"Yes, we do!" Bren replied "We're your friends."

You could see as others in the group nodded their heads in agreement. They were ridiculous, but entertaining nonetheless. You rolled your eyes sarcastically as you joked,

"It's not like you're gonna die from not knowing."

"But (Y/N), we will! This has never happened to you before and therefore it's intriguing!" Viktoria exclaimed

"Intriguing my ass." You playfully remarked

You were playing so hard to get with this information. They were going to have to break out the big guns on this. As they looked towards Addison she gave a confident nod of her head as she sat up straighter. If anyone could get you to talk it was her.

"Guys I've got this." Addison stated before looking at you "Are you really going to deny us when you just said there are only six days left to live?"

"You manipulative bitch." You sassed

"I know," Addison said pleased with herself "Now go on. You're going to tell us about these marks you got NOW."

You stared back at Addison who had her eyes locked on you. There was something so convincing about her tone of voice and the way she said now that always worked on people, you included. You tried your best to resist it but the way she looked at you both so seriously and confidently made it hard to and this time was no different as any other time she convinced you to do something.

"Fine. If you must know...Five and I finally got some time to ourselves." You explained

"Oh shit, what's his dick like?" Kenny blurted

What kind of question was that? You didn't know what was worse Klaus' condom conversation or that one comment. Jesus Christ, it was like he and Klaus were one and the same. They meant well but went about it in not just the wrong way, but in the weirdest choice of the wrong way. It was a miracle they had both survived this long.

"Easy there common whore," You retorted "We didn't get that far because SOMEONE'S hero had to be a cock block. TWICE."

"Was it mine?" Lucas questioned innocently

"No, Lucas it wasn't yours." You replied comfortingly

You glared at Kenny hoping that he would get the hint.

"Was it mine?" Kenny asked pointing at himself

You slowly nodded your head yes. Yes, it was his.

"Whoops." He replied

"It's more than a whoops Kenny and it's not like I can fix it, I don't even know where my boyfriend is," You explained "I just hope the pattern of him returning doesn't continue."

"What pattern?" Dean questioned

"It took him five years to come back the first time he left, then I spent four years in the 60s before I saw him again so if it continues he's not coming back for three years and I'm gonna be long gone by then." You answered, "Along with the rest of the world too."

"Damn, you must be frustrated." Dean mentioned

"In more ways than one!" Kenny exclaimed

"Not helping Kenny." You scolded

"Sorry, humor and medical attention are my only two helping strategies," Kenny replied sincerely

"Have you tried learning to deal with emotions?" Bren critiqued

"Have you?" Kenny retorted "Have any of us?"

None of you replied to the question. It was best not to open that can of worms and just let it sit close and alone in the metaphorical corner. Breaking the silence, Viktoria tried to comfort,

"Would a fanfiction of you and your boyfriend make you feel better?"

"Maybe..." You confessed, "As long as they're ones I would like."

"Don't worry I remember your preferences." Viktoria reminded

"Can you do that later?" Bren interjected out of nowhere

The rest of you looked over toward Bren wondering why he wanted you guys to focus on that later. He had

"Later? Why?" Viktoria questioned

"I don't know, I've been thinking while this has been going and sure I'm invested in all this but it's just (Y/N) spent all this time getting us back and we keep slipping back into conversations about what got us to this situation in the first place," Bren rambly explained "In A Matter of Time is fantastic, and your boyfriend is great and all, and we remember our heroes now which is cool, but can we not talk about the Hargreeves for now?"

"Am I losing my mind or did Brendon "I cry at the mention of Ben Hargreeves dying and have a shrine to remember him by" Young just say to not talk about the Hargreeves?" Kenny asked shocked

"Okay first of all shut the fuck up." Bren replied immediately choking up before regaining his composure and continuing "But more importantly we should focus on here and now, with each other."

"Bren is right," You stated

Standing up from your seat on the couch you looked around at the group. Bren was entirely correct when he said that you all kept talking about what got you here in the first place. While you were all hanging out together you were still always drifting back to some mention of the Hargreeves whether directly or indirectly. It wasn't harming anyone of course, but at the same time why was so much attention being devoted to them when you had each other. You all had devoted so much time to thinking, and talking, and mentioning them when you still actually had time. But now you didn't, it was finite, and it should be spent truly focusing on the people in front of you. Nobody else.

"Enough about the Hargreeves, and my connection to them and all that stuff. Sure they're important but-" You explained

"We're importanter!" Lucas exclaimed interrupting you

"Sure, we'll go with that." You replied "We're importanter."

"Okay, so we're gonna get stupid drunk, and we're gonna have so much fun and we're gonna party til we pass out then!" Kenny boasted

"Yeah! We don't need no fucking umbrellas." Dean proclaimed "Let the fun rain on this black parade, BITCHES!"

The rest of the group looked unsure at his statement. The goal was to just not speak of them for now, not forget them completely. They still mattered...just less.

"I mean...we- we can still think about them." Bren mentioned

"C'mon Bren," Dean complained

"Umbrella Ben is still important to me even though I just want us to hang out like we used to do..." Bren said choking up once more

"It's gonna be okay Brennyboo, he'll always be alive in your heart." Kenny comforted wrapping an arm around Bren

"Alright instead of all this back and forth and all this nonsense how we truly start this night with a toast to us?" You suggested

Your friends each grabbed one of the fruity drinks Kenny had made while you took the bottle of whiskey Kenny gave you into your hand once more. As the group stood in a circle you looked at each of your friends happy to have them there with you even in what seemed like the darkest of times. There was always a guiding light to be found, you just had to look to your friends to find it.

"To this found family of misfits and the time we have left together." You toasted raising your drink "Together we will party rock til the end of time. To us!"

"To us!" The rest of your friends chanted

You all clinked your glasses together before bringing your drinks to your lips and taking sizable sips from them. As some cheers and chatter began to bubble up amongst the group Viktoria leaned over towards your ear and whispered,

"Do you still want some fan works?"

"I want as many as you can find." You whispered back "But later though."

Viktoria nodded her head acknowledging your request and as you took another sip of the bottle Kenny had given you, you heard Lucas state,

"Alright (Y/N), I think tonight is the night Viktoria or I finally beat you at Safe and Sound in Just Dance."

"I think that's your margarita talking because I never lose." You taunted

"Well step up to the Wii and let's see what happens." Viktoria retorted now holding out a Wii remote

And with one last swig of your drink, you placed down the bottle, grabbed the remote from Viktoria's hand, and replied,

"You're on,"

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#The Umbrella Academy #Umbrella Academy #five hargreeves #five hargreeves x reader #tua five hargreeves #five hargreeves x you #five hargreeves fanfic

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