❝ I'm coming home. ❞

―

THEO REMOVED HIS HAND FROM FIVE'S SHOULDER.

His hand fell to his side. Theo's eyes flicked down at the briefcase in Five's hand before he glanced around at their surroundings. They were standing in a parking lot surrounded by a fence. Theo peered over the fence, looking out onto the road, which provided a clear view of the road and the grassy knoll. Theo turned on his heels and walked over to stand next to Five.

The briefcase—as it was designed to do—had taken them to Dallas, Texas. The date was November 22, 1963, and they were assigned a very specific task as per the Commission's orders. But they were not going to go through with said orders. Five had finally—or at least he thought—managed to get the time dilation projections correct, and every equation was in order to move ahead with the next step of the plan to save the world from the impending doom of the apocalypse that awaited in 2019.

Theo raised his arm up and glanced down at the watch on his wrist. He lowered his arm and then turned to look at Five, who was staring back at him.

"Okay, so it's ten thirty," Theo spoke. "That leaves us with roughly two hours before the assassination, which we are not going to do because we're going to travel forward in time to stop the apocalypse, leaving the task of the assassination in someone else's hands—Lee Harvey Oswald's hands to be exact."

Five nodded. "I'm well aware of the plan, Theo."

"I wasn't repeating it for you, doofus," Theo said as he rolled his eyes and started walking away. "Now, we can either stand around here like two idiots for two hours or we can find something to do. I, for one, could use a drink."

"And you say I'm the alcoholic," Five complained.

Theo rolled his eyes. "For the thousandth time, I never said you were an alcoholic. I said you drink too much!"

Five groaned. "That's practically the same thing."

Theo scoffed in annoyance. "I'm not going to stand here in the middle of a parking lot and argue with you. Do you want to have a drink with me or not?"

Five sighed. "I do. Let's go find somewhere."

Theo started walking away, stopping to look over his shoulder to see if Five was following him. "Come on, then."

Five walked quickly to catch up to him. The two men wandered through the crowded downtown city streets of Dallas side by side, looking for somewhere to waste time before planning their escape. They stumbled upon an Irish pub and decided to go inside. The pub was decorated with banners of the Irish flag, and American flags were spread out on the tables.

The pub, much like the city streets, was bustling with excitement over JFK's arrival in Dallas. Theo couldn't help but sigh. None of these people knew the tragedy that awaited in two hours.

Theo and Five took a seat at the bar. Theo slid his arms out of the straps of his backpack and set it down in his lap as Five placed the briefcase down between their feet. Five called the bartender over. They ordered two beers. Theo watched the bartender carefully as he prepared their drinks and then placed them down on the bar in front of them. Five handed the man a wad of cash and then turned to look at Theo. He pulled Vanya's book out of the pocket of his suit jacket and placed it down on the counter of the bar.

"You want to check my equations one last time before we leave?" Five asked. "Who knows, maybe this'll be the very last chance you'll ever get."

Theo smiled at him and placed his hand on his shoulder. "How cute of you to think that. I'll be checking every single equation you write until the day we die."

Five shook his head at him, playfully rolling his eyes. He flipped to the end of the book to the last few pages where he had written down the finalized equations. Theo pulled a pen out of his pocket and started to scan Five's handwriting that was scribbled onto the page. The writing was tiny and partially flowed into the margins, but Theo had become a master at reading Five's handwriting over the years. It was no problem at all.

So far, everything was looking good. There didn't seem to be anything wrong or any decimals out of place. Five was watching him anxiously, tapping his fingers on the countertop beside him as he drank his beer.

Theo's eyebrows furrowed together. "Are you sure you meant to put 5.7?"

Five's shoulders sank for a second, but then he sat up straight and nodded. "Yes, Theo, I'm sure."

"Really? Because I think it should be 0.57," Theo told him. "And then here. Again. You wrote 5.7. It should be 0.57. It throws the whole thing off."

"Let me see." Five leaned in closer to him and scanned the equation. "I think I'm going to have to disagree with you."

"Okay. You do that," Theo responded with a nod. "But I am going to have so much fun saying I told you so when you inevitably screw this up somehow."

"Why do you always think I'm going to screw things up?" Five asked.

"Five-A-Roni, do I need to remind you how we managed to find ourselves in this situation in the first place?" Theo replied. "And not to mention, your track record with decimal points is not exactly the greatest. I've had to correct many of your errors when it comes to decimal points over the years."

Five sighed. "Can't you trust me this one time?"

"I do trust you," Theo told him, gently placing his hand on top of Five's where no one could see. "Just not with this. It's just...how do I put this?" Theo sighed. "Acorns, Five, Acorns."

Five gave him a confused look. "What?"

"You might have acorned us," Theo replied.

Five still wasn't getting it. "What?"

"Jesus, Five!" Theo shouted loudly, causing some of the other people in the pub to turn and look at him. Theo quickly apologized before diverting his attention back to Five. "We're the acorns, remember? And this decimal—this 0.57 that you insist is 5.7—could very well be the catalyst—the root cause of whatever infinite and unpredictable possibilities that could happen."

Five sighed. "I know you're worried, but it'll be fine."

Five took another drink of his beer and then announced that he was going to the bathroom. Theo waited for him in front of the bar. He held the briefcase in one hand as he carried his backpack on his shoulders. Theo glanced around the pub, taking in his surroundings one last time before Five emerged from the bathroom. He took one last drink of his beer before setting the cup down on the bar. Theo held out the briefcase in front of him. Five reached out and grabbed it.

They left the pub and walked through the city back the way that they had come. The streets were even more crowded than they had been when they arrived. Theo had accidentally bumped into a brunette woman. He quickly turned around and apologized to her.

"Sorry, ma'am. I didn't mean to bump into you."

The woman smiled at him, carrying a small blonde girl who couldn't have been more than three years old. "Oh, it's no problem at all, sir. Have a lovely day."

Theo smiled back at her. "You too, ma'am."

The brunette woman gave him one last smile and nodded before she turned to walk away. The blonde girl in her arms watched Theo carefully over the woman's shoulder, keeping her eyes fixated on Theo.

"Theo?" Five's voice sounded.

"Hmm?" Theo hummed, turning his head to look at Five.

"Are you okay?" Five asked.

Theo nodded. "Yeah."

"Are you sure?" Five questioned, raising an eyebrow at him out of concern.

"Yeah," Theo insisted. "I'm sure. Now, come on. Let's get going."

Theo continued to follow Five back to the parking lot that they had first appeared in. Theo sat on the hood of a car, looking over Five's equations one last time as Five peered over the gate, looking out onto the grassy knoll to keep an eye on JFK's arrival. Theo sighed and shook his head; he knew that 0.57 was the correct way to write the decimal, yet he wanted to trust Five and show him that he had faith in him. He just could not shake the feeling that this was going to mess things up somehow. He was so going to enjoy telling him, "I told you so."

Theo sighed and shut the book. "Hey, do you think after all this is over that we can build an actual life? Like the one we always talked about?"

Five glanced over his shoulder and nodded. "Yeah, definitely, and you could finally write that book."

"Yeah," Theo nodded. "Maybe."

Five turned his head around, continuing to keep an eye on JFK's journey through the city streets. Five's breath hitched suddenly. He turned around on his heels and held his hand out in front of Theo for the book. Theo placed it in his hand and watched him closely as he flipped through to the back pages. Five's eyes scanned the equations one last time before he closed the book and tucked it away into his coat pocket.

"Are you ready?" Five asked.

Theo nodded his head. "I've never been more ready for anything else."

Five clenched his fists at his sides, balling them up as tightly as he could. Theo stood next to him, watching as Five put every ounce of focus that he had into creating a portal that would allow them to travel forward in time. Five's hands started to glow blue, forming a reflection in Theo's eyes. Theo turned his head at the sound of a loud whirring. It almost sounded like wind.

His eyes widened when he saw a blue portal forming in front of him, glowing the same color as the light that was emitting from Five's hands. Theo's jaw fell slightly agape. He had never seen anything like it in person before. Sure, he had seen Five's hands glowing blue and used the Commission-issued briefcases, but he had never seen a temporal anomaly such as this one appear right before his eyes. It truly was magnificent.

With the portal glowing brightly in front of them, Five's hands stopped glowing. He lowered his fists and held his hand out to Theo.

"We have to go, Theo," Five told him, shouting over the loud sound coming from the portal. "Are you ready?"

Theo nodded his head. "Let's go home."

The two of them stepped closer to the portal. Theo quickly let go of Five's hand and stepped out of the way when he saw something come soaring through the portal. He watched as the metal object came flying between their bodies, clattering to the asphalt behind them. Theo furrowed his eyebrows, staring down at the ground in confusion.

"Is that a fire extinguisher?" Theo asked.

Five nodded his head. "It is indeed."

Theo clicked his tongue, and he turned back around and grabbed Five's hand. "Okay, then."

"On the count of three, we go together!" Five shouted, looking at Theo. "Okay?"

Theo nodded. "Okay."

"One..." Five started counting. "Two..."

Theo took a deep breath and held it in as he waited for Five to say three.

"Three."

Theo could feel his heart pounding against his chest as he stepped into the portal, holding onto Five's hand as tightly as he could. The blue light engulfed them, pushing back against their bodies as if it were trying to fight back. Theo and Five held onto each other's hands, not daring to let go out of the fear of losing the other.

As the whirring sound of the wind being emitted from the portal filled his ears, keeping him from hearing anything else, Theo closed his eyes. He thought of Malina and Laura and how finally, after forty-plus years of being away from home (for himself at least, it would only be seventeen for them), he was going to see them again.

"I'm coming home," Theo whispered softly.

— EMILIA'S NOTES

this chapter is kinda short but ohhh welll & still no gif at the top bc idk what to put there

THEO IS COMING HOOOOOOMEEE

and with that, the events of pre-season one have come to an end. we will now be moving forward to the events of season one!!

writing the apocalypse & commission chapters was so much fun and i didn't expect for it to be 17 chapters honestly. hope you all have enjoyed the story thus far!

can't wait to continue theo & five's story!

ps... keep the brunette woman and the little blonde girl theo bumped into in the back of your mind. they'll be making a return later :)