𝐖𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄 ━ five hargreeves

20│36 QUESTIONS TO FALL IN LOVE, PT. 2

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❛ ᴡᴀsᴛᴇʟᴀɴᴅs ᴏғ ᴛɪᴍᴇ​​​​​​​​​​. ❜ ° . ༄
- ͙۪۪˚   ▎❛ 𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐘 ❜   ▎˚ ͙۪۪̥◌
»»————- ꒰ 𝟹𝟼 ǫᴜᴇsᴛɪᴏɴs ᴛᴏ
ғᴀʟʟ ɪɴ ʟᴏᴠᴇ, ᴘᴛ. 𝟸 ꒱


❝ SHUT UP & LET ME
SUFFER IN PEACE ❞

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The last thing Five Hargreeves expected from landing in the apocalypse was to fall in love. It had been non-existent on his list of priorities ever since he could make lists and was far from his thoughts even after he'd brought Dolores (she was always Dolores to him) out of the basement. His first and only focus was working out how to get home and not even a stupid (even he couldn't convince himself of that for long) girl could distract him. Somehow, though, he'd overestimated his willpower and had fallen for her anyway. While he could have just chalked it up to the increasing presence of teenage emotions and the fact that she was the only companion he had, Five was also not in the habit of lying to himself about such things.

As a mathematician and a scientist, lies did not sit well with him. He needed to work out the problem methodically from start to finish until he got to the answer using proofs and other fact-checking methods as necessary. This was how he determined his feelings for the dark-haired girl as more than just friendly. Growing up in a household such as the one run by Reginald Hargreeves never gave much importance to things such as emotions, but it wasn't like Five hadn't felt anything for his adopted siblings. By the power of deduction and educated guess, he'd figured out his feelings for Dolores.

At first, of course, he had truly been annoyed by her presence. Being a part of a world-famous crime-fighting superhero group had taught him several things and all had led to being wary around meeting new people. It hadn't helped that she couldn't talk either, so he could only figure out her motives and other intentions from her gestures and the prewritten start of her autobiography. Eventually, though, once she'd been shocked back into talking at his threat to leave, he'd grown to appreciate the fact that she wasn't scared or intimidated by him and— if he were to admit this to himself— even became short tempered due to his own attitude.

That was when Five had begun his observation of the affect Dolores had on him. Whenever they verbally sparred, his pulse picked up and the adrenaline that had only kicked in during training or missions woke and he grew to look forward to their disagreements. Then, though it was rare, there were times when they both had an understanding that more. . . sympathetic talk was needed and he made an almost visible effort to be patient with her feelings— something that he'd never done for anyone before. Finally— at least in the early days before Dolores had accepted their new living situation— when darkness fell and the girl would become anxious and worried, to took very nearly all of Five's self-control to not feed into the weakness of comforting her. As he lay awake at night listening to her fearful tears, he reminded himself that he was doing her a favor and that it was better for her to more quickly adapt if she dealt with this on her own. 

(He ignored the fact that this piece of advice was said in a way that sounded suspiciously like his father's voice.)

Then, the day that she'd offered one of her own anchors to him in an effort to help him get home had been when his feelings had changed again. With both of them now owning very little, the act of Dolores giving up her precious notebook for his own benefit had struck a chord within him. Of course, she'd done selfless acts before that had surprised him, but those were in her nature and he'd written them off as so. This had been remarkably different in that everything before had had relatively little meaning to her. He wouldn't have been more surprised if she'd given him the other book she always carried around.