Open | Chose your adventure

[n5]

1- We're canceling the apocalypse

The world ended.

Twice.

And both times, that wasn't quite right with Five Hargreeves. So he got back in time to change it, taking his family with him. They were, after all, the ones to blame for the long list of mistakes that culminated in their sister blowing up the moon. If Vanya was the bomb and Harold Jenkins was the fuse, Reginald Hargreaves was without a doubt the maker of the explosive. They had to do better this time and they had to do it together.

Time traveling was a messy business, more so when you were doing it in a rush and without the proper calculations. But they made it back in time to the morning of their father's funeral, in one piece against all odds, and after some trouble, their brother Ben was back with them.

His family was alive, hurt but whole.

Five gave a small smile before his eyes rolled back into his head and he promptly passed out from the effort, nose bleeding.



2 - (You Give Me) Fever, In the morning child, Fever all through the night

A few days later, the pain in his body had yet to subside and Five wondered if it could be a permanent effect of time traveling. You could only gamble with time so much until it started getting pissed off at you. His family was still dealing with the last week's events, either mourning, keeping to themselves or thinking about the future, but everything was relatively stress-free.

For the past 40 years, Five has never lived a single day that wasn't pressure-packed. And now, his body has decided that ey, this would be the perfect moment to crash. Bright lights made his eyes burn and increased his headaches, his throat hurt so much that he had stopped eating, his cheeks were constantly flushed and he felt hot a minute and freezing the next.

But the worse of all was that he sneezed.

Actually, the worst of all was that the sneezing made him space jump without intent or control. So far he had accidentally teleported himself to the basement, atop the kitchen's fridge, to the bar -knocking several bottles in the process-, to their mother's lap while she was sitting in front of the paintings, and into the bathtub.

The alarmed and frustrated shriek that Five gave out could be heard all around the house after a sneeze had teleported him to the chandelier, leaving him holding onto it for dear life several feet above the ground.



3- Another One Bites The Dust

When tiredness got too much or he had accidentally teleported himself somewhere, Five gave up and slept. Never in his room, if he could avoid it. He hadn't used it for decades and it was a reminder of the life he had lost, filled with books and toys and memories of a lost innocence that felt unpleasant.

Vanya's room was spartan and clean in all ways Klaus' wasn't but both reflected their owners and brought Five a sense of comfort, familiarity. Allison's bed was the comfiest, a soft mattress and softer pillows, while Luther had the biggest one. Five liked to curl into a ball in the middle of it and let himself feel small for once.

Diego and Ben's rooms hadn't been used in some time but Grace made sure to keep them both clean and they had signs of his sibling's personalities all over the place. A peaceful sleep still didn't come easy, though, with the fever only making his usual nightmares worse.


4- Wildcard

[ Do you want Five anywhere? Feel free to write your own starter, I'll adapt! ]

Comments

[obediences]

These two brothers -- the head and the fist, the twins -- are sheer opposites, and yet the paths their lives took have left them more similar than most. They've just never broached it yet; Luther isn't one to just ask about it outright, but he thinks he can see the effects of that long solitude, sometimes, in Five. How he jolts away from too much socialisation, but can't help but dart back eventually, on his own terms, wending his way to the family he professes to be irritated by. Like a feral stray cat, slowly winding its way closer.

"Fifty-eight," Luther repeats, still stunned by the thought, unable to really line it up with the boy in front of him. Twenty-eight years older than him. Almost twice his age. Five's gone and lapped them all, double over, and yet he looks like he's been cut straight out of that portrait in the hall.

"Well. Think on this. At least you're still taller than Vanya?"

It's the feeblest of reassurances, but he's trying.

[n5]

So different in many ways and so alike in others, it's almost funny in its irony. Maybe if they had grown together instead of having their childhood interrupted by Five's disappearance things would have been different. It always makes something in Five's chest ache when he thinks about all the moments he missed, even if from what he has gathered most of them haven't been good. He wonders if maybe Ben would be alive, if Vanya could have been happier, if he would have fought with their parent about sending Luther to the moon because that was such an idiotic idea...but maybe not, maybe he would have ended worse than he already did. Luther isn't wrong about thinking of Five as a feral cat, he can even hiss like one when annoyed.


"It's weird, I know. Do you think that now we aren't fighting the end of Times I could get some actual long pants...?" He would very much stop looking like he just left school. Luther attempts at reassurance isn't much, no, but it does get Five to snicker. "There's that. It's fun, I remembered her taller when we were kids. Klaus, however, has always been a beanpole."

Once he's done drinking Five leaves the teacup on the bedside table, eyes darting to another small cardboard airplane model sitting there, and immediately picking it up to fidget. After a second, he throws it at Luther for him to catch. "You and her will have to talk at some point."

[obediences]

Luther jolts slightly as the cardboard plane flies over at him, but his reflexes are fast enough, hard-wired and automatic enough, that he reaches up and catches it in both hands, cradling it like a small bird. If he'd seized it with just one, he probably would've accidentally crumpled it in a fist.

And then he looks down at it rather than meet Five's eye, turning it end-over-end. (The plane is meticulously-assembled, carefully-painted. The colours worn from sunlight, though. He should probably give all of his models a touch-up.)

"I know," he finally says. "I can't imagine she really wants to hear from me, though."

[n5]

Luther's quick reaction reminds Five of their training as kids, something he had almost forgotten until now. It's good to see that his brother is still relatively fast when it comes to objects being thrown at his direction despite his big size.

It might come in handy if they're attacked by the time Commission again. Five is sure they're still lurking, probably searching for them across the timeline. it's a matter of time, the word was never more fitting, until they figure out that the whole family time-traveled.

"She probably doesn't." Five confirms, blunt as ever. His voice turns kinder as he goes on. "But you are family and we all screwed up. We need to have a talk once we're all calm and rested."

[obediences]

Those infamous family meetings, that never really seemed to go successfully whenever Luther called one lately. People talked over each other, mocked each other, lashed out, made jokes, and then just... walked right out. Sir Reginald would never have accepted such disobedience, but Luther seems to have lost the knack of keeping them all in line. It's like herding cats and with his confidence shaken after that disastrous week, he feels like he can't do it. It's a wonder they all even managed to muster together enough to stop the apocalypse in all that mess and that panic, with Allison near-dead, Vanya missing, murderous assassins hot on their heels...

But perhaps because of that very situation, Luther's grown to listen to Five's advice. Unhinged as The Boy can be, he also knows what he's talking about. He's proven his competence over and over.

So: "Guess we do, after a rest," Luther admits. A thoughtful pause. "And when you don't look like you're dying."