FIVE | RUN BOY RUN

"Explain it to me, again," I asked in shock, sitting on his bed. "I wanna time travel," Five stated. "Not yet," I corrected, wondering what was the rush. "Yes I can," Five nodded proudly, his irritation rising. "You can barely handle spatial jumps," I reminded.

"I could time travel a few years ahead and we could--" Five said before I interrupted. "We?" I asked, confused by his plan to include me."We are not Bonnie and Clyde, we're not even close to... Mr and Mrs Smith, god that reference took a second," I huffed, mentally cursing at myself for not having my usual quick-witted response due to my shock.

"Fine, then don't run away with me," Five crossed his arms, glaring at me. "This is seriously your first instinct?" I scoffed at his reaction of being defensive rather than accepting.

"Let the old man have this, please," I pleaded. "No! If I let him, what's left of us?" Five raised his voice. "Money, sex, drugs," I joked lightheartedly while Five continued to glare at me.

"You will not do such an idiotic thing, I know you're so smart," I tried pressing, causing Five to roll his eyes. "It's not a stupid thing, it's the perfect chance to test my powers," He said as if he would succeed on his first try.

"Not like this! Imagine you jump decades forward and something bad happens," I warned him about the consequences he might face. "Why the hell not? I should be able to do this if I want. Who are you to say I can't?" Five yelled, taking a step closer.

"Someone who gives a shit about you, Five," I glared, trying to hold his arms back. "I know my own abilities, I don't need you preaching to me like I don't know what I'm doing," Five rolled his eyes again, crossing his arms.

"If Dad doesn't know the limit of your powers, what makes you think you will?" I yelled, causing Five to roll his eyes in annoyance. "The old man doesn't even know the full extent of my powers to begin with. And anyway, I know what I'm doing, I can handle myself," Five stared at me, his eyes narrowing at me.

"Go then," I stared at him for any signs of hesitation. "Fine, I will," Five whispered before turning on his heel and walking away. "Hey!" I scolded, calling out to him.

"What! What more crap do you have to say?" Five stopped, turning around to look at me. "Dinner first, then your big blowout. I would love to see you explode in front of Reginald," I teased. "Damnit..." Five muttered, rolling his eyes. "I'll be back, I promise," Five sighed, noticing the concern in my eyes.

I heard the dinner bell rang, "Right. On. Cue," Five scoffed, grabbing me by the arm, and started walking out of his room. "Not so hard," I complained, causing him to loosen his grip slightly but he still held my arm tightly in his hand as we walked out of his room.

"Keep it in, my friend," I smiled, teasing him as he pulled along to the dining room. He was silently fuming as we reached the downstairs with the others. He let go of my arm, he let out another sigh before heading to his seat.

I stood next to Allison, watching Five's sour expression. I watched Reginald approach the table, staring at Vanya for a moment. "Sit," Reginald ordered before everyone took a seat, the wooden chair scraped against the checkered floor.

My eyes remained on Five, staring at him to make sure he wouldn't do anything irrational. I flinched when Five stabbed his knife into the table. "Number Five?" Reginald asked. "I have a question," Five stated, gripping his knuckles after he let go of the silverware.

"Knowledge is an admirable goal, but you know the rules," Reginald said, his neutral expression remained the same. "No talking during mealtimes. You are interrupting Herr Carlson," Reginald reminded, pointing his knife.

"I want to time travel," Five said, letting the knife clatter against the silverware. "No," Reginald immediately denied. "But I'm ready, I've been practicing my spatial jumps, just like you said," Five stood up from his seat, teleporting from there to the seat next to me, causing me to flinch.

"See?" Five glared at Reginald as Luther, Diego, and Vanya continued watching him. "A spital jump is trivial when compared with the unknowns of time travel," Reginald reminded, not bothering to look up at Five.

"One is like sliding along the ice, the other is akin to descending blindly into the depths of the freezing water and reappearing as an acorn," Reginald tipped his glass. "Well, I don't get it," Five sighed after he made an annoyed expression.

"Hence the reason you're not ready," Reginald stated. I tugged on his jacket, pleading to sit down. I didn't think he would actually do something so reckless. "I'm not afraid," Five stated.

"Fear isn't the issue," Reginald said, sawing through his food. "The effects it might have on your body, even on your mind, are far too unpredictable," Reginald dropped his utensils. "Now, I forbid you to talk about this anymore," Reginald snapped.

Five stood there for a few more moments before walking away from the table. "Number Five! You haven't been excused!" Reginald called out but Five was already out the door. "Come back here!"

"Five!" I called out to him, dropping my napkin off my lap. "Number Eight!" Reginald glared at me. "Why aren't you running after him?" I yelled. "He's being reckless, I can't stop that," Reginald scolded.

"Five!" I ran out of the academy, fixing my shirt. "You can't be serious!" I saw the gates swinging. Five was nowhere to be seen. "Five..." I sighed.

I walked back inside the academy, returning to the dining room. "Number Eight!" I was met with Reginald's stern, disappointed expression. "I couldn't get him back..." I trailed off, holding back tears.

"I survived on scraps, canned food, cockroaches, anything I find," Five explained as we listened closely. "You know that rumor that Twinkies have an endless shelf life?" Five asked, and Vanya and I nodded believing the rumor.

"Turns out that complete bullshit, "Five stated, pursing his lips. "I can't even imagine," Vanya shook her head in disbelief. "You do whatever it takes to survive or you die. So we adapted, whatever the world threw at us. We found a way to overcome it." Five continued.

"We?" I questioned, bewildered about Five's constant use of the "we" pronoun. "Got anything stronger?" Five asked Vanya, raising his empty cup.

Vanya poured a stronger drink into Five's cup and handed it to him, Five gulped it down quickly. "You think I'm crazy," FIve scoffed, looking at me and Vanya. "N-no..., it's just... a lot of take in," I exhaled shakily.

"Exactly what don't you understand?" Five asked in disbelief, he had his doubts about us. "Why didn't you time travel back?" I asked. Five just scoffed. "Gee, wished I thought of that, time travel is a crap shoot, I went into the ice and never Acron-ed," he answered sarcastically before sighing deeply.

"You didn't think I'd try everything to get back to my family?" He gritted through his teeth. I stared at him in sympathetically.

"If you grow old in the apocalypse, how come you still look like a kid?" Vanya asked, referring to his current state.

"I already told you," He walked over to the counter again, his back facing us. "I must have gotten the equations wrong," He snapped, helping himself to more alcohol.

"Didn't Dad used to always say, time travel could mess up your mind?" Vanya pointed out. "Maybe that's what happening?"

Five looked at us, his disappointment was far too clear, "This is a mistake, you're too young. Too naive to understand," He started walking away, grabbing his jacket.

Vanya saw that Five was about to leave, "No. Five... Five, wait," Vanya tried stopping him, "I haven't seen you-- well you two--" Vanya looked at us.

"In a long time, I don't want to lose you or Tate again," Vanya tried convincing Five to stay. I glanced at Vanya's pleading expression, "Don't go, we can talk in the morning."

I saw Vanya go inside her room and come out with blankets and pillows, fluffing them before placing them on the couch. "You two won't mind sharing, right?" She asked.

I just nodded, "Yeah, I won't mind, it's getting late, you should go to bed," I reminded. Vanya just smiled and went inside her room.

The room was silent until Five spoke up, "You were right," I turned to him, "About?" Five stared at me, "About time-traveling, I wasn't ready, and I left being pissed at me," Five reminded me. "I'm not mad, I never was," I assured him.

"What did you do when I was gone?" Five asked, taking a seat on the couch. "Cried for a month, maybe more," I started. "Made a shit ton of your disgusting sandwiches, hoping you would return one day," I said, causing Five to chuckle.

"You're sixteen years four months and fourteen days late,"