chapter forty-two, episode eight
the seven stages.

               THEY weren't going home anymore. bonnie felt stress, nothing but. she can't blame five, she couldn't. he already has too much on his shoulders with everyone blaming it for everything recently if she do it it would be his last straw.

even if, she doesn't blame five hargreeves.

bonnie was currently sitting on the couch with five, his head was leaned against her chest. his feelings were everywhere right now but the only thing keeping them in check and calming him down was the soft and gentle touch of his loving girlfriend.

"hey! five, doomsday is still coming." luther ran up the stairs and stood in front of the young couple, "we gotta think of a new plan."

"don't you get it, Luther?" said five lifting his head from Bonnie's chest and glared at Luther, "it's over, all right? we're already dead."

"then where are you planning on going?" asked Luther.

"im going to do the unthinkable." five said lifting himself off from the couch, Bonnie standing up as well with a deep sigh.

"the hell is that supposed to mean?" Luther asked watching as five walked away. he locked eyes with Bonnie who shrugged her shoulders and followed after him, Luther right behind her.

five mumbled something underneath this breath and entered the room shutting it shut on Luther's and Bonnie's face. Bonnie gasped glaring at the door and started banging on it.

"open this door right now!" Bonnie shouted continuing to bang on the door until five opened it hooking his hand on Bonnie's wrist and brought her inside of the room leaving luther outside who was now calling out fives and Bonnie's name.

"so what is your plan?" Bonnie asked throwing herself onto the bed watching as five started pacing in front of her.

five stopped pacing and looked over at bonnie. he gave her a look that she couldn't quiet read which scared her because five only ever had two faces, the one when he looks at his family with nothing but annoyance and care and then to her that's nothing but love and sometimes annoyance whenever she's being too stubborn.

five then sat down next to Bonnie making her tilt her head to the side and give five a weird look.

"where do you see us in like another decade?" five asked, it didn't have to do anything with his plan but he wanted to ask her that before he tells her the plan.

"us?" Bonnie asked and five nodded his head causing the girl to gasp and bring both of her legs on top of the bed, crisscrossing them and holding her hands on her lap.

"well i see us like now, arguing like a married couple but still together. i see us old, gray hairs and wrinkles." Bonnie laughed as she imagined five with wrinkes and gray hair while in her mind she looks amazing with that, "you still have your serious personality but you obviously still have a soft spot for me."

"are you still stubborn?" five asked never knowing that she ever thought about the future with them. both of them not just her.

"of course!" bonnie giggled shrugging her shoulders  and then looking down at the ground and then up at five. green meeting blue.

"and i see us with having mini us running around." fives eyes widen scaring bonnie but she continued, her mouth moving faster, "two girls and a boy. one of the girls and the boy are an exact replica of you while the other girl is a mix of me and you. i see us living happily together, old, with nothing else to worry about other than worrying about what we're going to cook for dinner."

he could imagine that. he really can, he could imagine everything she stared so clearly that it felt almost real in his mind and like he was looking into the future. five could just imagine them both being daddy's girl while the boy is a mommy boy. he could imagine how many silly argument bonnie and him would get into, how perfect his life would be.

"and a dog!" Bonnie gasped reached forward and putting her hands on each side of fives cheek, "a Rottweiler!"

five smiled so lovingly at bonnie who had the biggest smile ever just imagining how perfect her life could be. "it's be a he and his name would be, Teddy."

"how ironic." five rolled his eyes blushing widely when Bonnie dropped her head down to his shoulder and sighed deeply. "you really think we'll still be together?"

bonnie turned her head to the side, her head still in his shoulder and her arms wrapped around his shoulders as his were settled on her waist. "we're Bonnie and Five, of course I do."

with fives lips tugging upwards he leaned down to Bonnie and captures her softly lips. he would never get tired on how perfectly their lips mold together. almost like a puzzle and they're each other's missing piece, it's so satisfying seeing how smoothing their lips move without even planning on it. only gave him more hope each time when he felt her lips that they're meant to be forever.

five pulled away slowly from her, their lips sticking a little bit together for a while longer until five fully pulled away. he lifted his hand up to Bonnie's ginger hair and tugged it behind her ear.

the moore girl completely forgetting the previous events, the events in which she was suppose to be mad at him. it was long gone.

"how would you feel meeting old me?" five asked out of nowhere making Bonnie's eyes widen and lift up from his shoulder giving him a confused look.

"what the fuck?"

&&&

BONNIE knew that she lives in a crazy world and she knew that she had a boyfriend who had crazy ideas every second of every day.

but she never knew that his next plan was to go and meet his older self which will have major risks. for five mostly because it is him he's going to be seeing, ruining a lot of the timeline.

while five got himself prepared for it luther was witness to see everything along with sebastian. the two of them kept on asking five questions that he would he would answer back in a rush.

he gave them what are the seven stages to sebastian and luther along with Bonnie who's never heard them before. the seven stages were: 1. denial, 2. itching, 3. extreme thirst and urination, 4. excessive gas, 5. acute paranoia, 6. uncontrolled perspiration, and lastly 7. homicidal rage.

the last one surprised luther who then said how it was a bed idea. the only reason luther and sebastian joined five and Bonnie was because he needed someone to keep him in control. sure Bonnie can but it's better safe than sorry.

when they entered the place where five was at, old five, bonnie and Sebastian started twirling around with each other dancing to the music. bonnie laughed at sebastian who tripped over his feet making him loose balance and drop to the ground on his face.

"well, there i am." five said making them all, expect sebastian who was getting up from the floor with a loud groan, look over the wooden wall and then over to the old five.

bonnie tilted her head to the side and then looked over at five, "not to be rude honey, but uh, im definitely going to be the better looking once we're old." bonnie gave five a tight smile patting her hand on his chest and standing back straight.

"why don't we just grab the briefcase and run?" Luther asked.

"Luther, i would never let that happen. we're trained to guard these briefcases with our lives." five deadpanned to Luther who nodded his head.

"right."

"plus, it's the inherent paradox where this gets tricky." five sighed deeply. "im endangering my existence just being in the room with myself."

"i can go talk to him," bonnie shrugged her shoulders looking over at old five who was drinking some alcohol, "or you."

while five and luther argued with each other, sebastian then joining in, bonnie was far gone from them. bonnie sat down besides old five smiling at the waitress who tilted her head at her.

"you're too young to be here." she said crossing her arms over her chest glaring at bonnie.

"yeah whatever." bonnie waved her off making her roll her eyes. bonnie turned her head over to old face who kept his confused gaze on bonnie. "you've aged really bad."

"you." old five breathed his eyes widen as his eyes never left Bonnie. she really regretted going over to talk with old five, he seems more paranoid than her now five. "how'd you—"

"what? you thought you could escape me forever?" she actually didn't know what this five went through but she has seen a lot of movies and what she said was something she's always wanted to say. "i have a surprised for you!"

"what?" old five asked and Bonnie's eyes drifted down to his arm that was reaching down to the suitcase.

"just promise you won't freak out. at all." bonnie said giving old five a tight grin and pointing her finger. "deal?"

bonnie let out a giggle and jumped off her seat and walked over to where five was hiding. she stood in front of him and intertwined their fingers together, five took in a deep breath before letting Bonnie pull them both out of the hiding spot.

luther and sebastian stood behind bonnie and five. old fives eyes widen as his gaze moved from Bonnie to five to luther and to sebastian, going like that for a solid good 30 seconds.

"hey there, stranger."

&&&

IT was awkward.

bonnie and five sat next to each other glaring intensely at the old five who's eyes kept on moving between the young couple. luther and Sebastian sat across from each other not knowing what to say or what to do.

"uh, so, i just woke up from a coma like two days ago." sebastian said chuckling awkwardly looking between them and then shutting up noticing that they weren't doing anything but glaring at each other. "yeah, it's whatever."

"somebody explain to me how it is I'm having a pint of Guinness with my younger self." old five deadpanned his eyes now glaring at only five.

"mentally im your older self, actually. so basically im you, just 14 days older." bonnie thought about it and it tripped her out. she knew that five is back to being 16 but she also knows that his mentality is stuck at his older self. it was trippy to think about.

"i have pubic hair smarter than you. how's that possible? and how did you find her?" old five asked nodding his head over to Bonnie.

"i can explain those things for ya." five leaned forward glaring intensely at older him, "her name is bonnie, turns out diego gave her a home that's how we found her, secondly, one hour from now on the grassy knoll, before the president is killed, you break your contract with the commission. i already know you're thinking about it. all those years in the apocalypse, we never stopped worrying about our family nor the girl."

Sebastian leaned back against his seat feeding into this new information, "i wish I stayed in my coma." he mumbled.

Luther looked confused glancing between them while bonnie had her head laid on fives arm looking at the older five.

"well, today, you are going to do something about it. today, you are going to attempt to time travel forward to 2019. however, you are going to screw the jump and end up in this twip of a body trapped forever, small, pubescent while mentally you're thinking older."

"even if I was to believe you, what am i suppose to do about it, not jump?" hissed older five.

"No. No. i need you to jump." five quickly denied off his thought, "I'd you don't jump, i cease to exist. what i need from you is to jump correctly, but you won't be able to have her cause well, yeah." five looked at him from up and down.

"im listening." he nodded his head. the old five would just have to live with the fact that bonnie, his bonnie would be nothing to him unlike teen five, his Bonnie means everything to him and he's glad he messed it all up.

"the first time through, i got the calculations wrong." and im glad i did, he said to himself giving Bonnie a quick glance. "that's how i ended back to my 16 year old self. but now, i know the correct calculations. i know now how you can go back without time traveling yourself back to your teenage years."

"what is it?" old five asked impatiently.

"I'll be glad to tell you," five smirked at him, "in exchange for the briefcase you're holding under the table."

Sebastian glanced down at older fives chair noticing the briefcase, he glanced up at bonnie who gave him a stern look knowing that he could easily steal it from old five, without getting killed. she didn't believe that.

"yeah, yeah, so you go back to 2019, as planned, but this time with the right math, so you remain as you right now. in exchange, we get that briefcase that you no longer need." luther explained in shorter words to older five who wasn't convinced.

"timeline resorted, paradox resolved. everyone goes on existing happily ever after." bonnie snicked her his choice of words. there wasn't any happily ever after for the hargreeves family.

"that's quite a bit to take in."

bonnie scoffed lifting her head up from fives arm not liking the way that older five took his sweet time. "look, old five, you're about to die give or take, just go back to 2019 leave the briefcase because you're an old man who needs retirement. what do you think about that?"

everyone narrowed their eyes to the red hair girl who smiling innocently at the older five.

"i think, i need to piss." older five said standing up from his seat and walking away.

"bye bye briefcase." Sebastian mumbled waving at the briefcase that old five was holding.

"well, besides the flop sweat, i think that went pretty well, am i right?" luther said using a napkin to wipe away the sweat from fives face.

"No, no, there's something — something doesn't feel right about this." five denied shaking his head, his eyes never leaving older five who entered the bathroom.

"what — what do you mean?" asked luther.

"i dont trust him."

luther frowned his eyebrows at five and said, "but he's you."

five nodded his head as if it was the most obvious thing, "exactly."

"he took the briefcase by the way." Sebastian pointed out giving five a stern look. yeah, they fucked up somehow.

the three teenagers sat down in the table quietly, the silence wasn't so awkward anymore now that old five was gone. luther stood up a few minutes ago to go and use the bathroom but he was going to go and talk with older five.

Sebastian was leaning back against the chair his arms up in front of his open legs while he was looking at absolutely nothing from in front of him.

bonnie had her arm hooked with fives arms, her head leaned against his arm while he played with her fingers feeling himself get impatient and anxious all at the same time.

after a few minutes of luther and older five in the bathroom they both came out of the bathroom with giddy looks on their faces.

"we're good?" five asked glancing up between them.

"we're good." luther said, nodding his head.

"you got a deal." older five said in a monotone voice, "we gotta hurry. kennedys en route. less than an hour until showtime."

bonnie took her head off his shoulder as he stood up and glared at older five now standing in front of him. "why are you so anxious to get going all of a sudden?"

"relax." said older five, "you're getting paranoid."

five scoffed with a chuckle bringing his shoulders up almost as if he was itching. bonnie, Sebastian and luther looked back and forth from them and they both were having the same reactions.

bonnie and Sebastian then let out a laugh when both fives started farting at the same time. bonnie put a hand over her mouth to prevent herself to laugh even more while Sebastian put his hands over his ears.

"okay, let's roll."