ᵃˢ ˡᵒⁿᵍ ᵃˢ ᴵ'ᵐ ʷⁱᵗʰ ʸᵒᵘ. <<FIVE HARGREEVES X READER>>

41

No way. Was Old-Five's first thought. He was completely shook by this deal. He wasn't going to trust some younger version of himself. Who knows, (Y/n) might actually be working for the commission and recruited them. No. That's wrong of him to think. Even if it's not that, it could be just a fraud.

"Yeah, yeah." Luther caught on as he leaned forward, "so you go back to 2019 as planned, but this time you remain a full-grown man. In exchange, we get that briefcase you no longer need."

(Y/n) agreed, "it would solve both of our problems. You get back without having to go through puberty twice, and we get to get this timeline back in order. But I know you don't give up that briefcase easily, as I found out the hard way."

His eyes remained puzzled as he looked at her while she talked. Number Eight stopped slouching and leaned on the table, "what do you think, Mr.Hargreeves?"

"I think..." he started, "..I need to piss."

The trio realized it was most likely better not to bother trying to stop him. So, they remained seated as the one Five got up and walked the washroom. Briefcase in hand.

As other Five watched his other self wall in to the bathroom, he became out of words. Half words and sputters were all that came out of his mouth as Luther attempted to wipe the sweat from his face. "Well, besides the flop sweat, I think that went pretty well. Am I right?"

Five swatted at Luther to stop him from dabbing a napkin on his face. His eyes were locked on to his old self, "no, no. There's something. Something doesn't feel right about this."

"What?" Luther asked, "what do you mean?"

"I don't trust him." Five stated. But everyone knew it was just stage five: acute paranoia.

Luther was baffled, "but he's you."

"That's the point." (Y/n) chimed, as she finished the last of her coffee.

"Exactly." Five agreed.

XXX

Five and (Y/n) waited quietly at the table as they waited for Luther and the other Five to get back from the washroom. She was not complaining about the silence, but she didn't like it a whole lot. It kept her guessing what he was thinking. It kept her to her own thoughts. God, she wished she could read minds. Wouldn't that be nice? Astaroth did it, so why can't she? Isn't she half demon?

Watching Five spin around his alcohol made her remember that he was already on stage five. Ironic. But bad. So, she scooted towards him and pushed a glass of water towards him. "You should stay hydrated. I think."

He shook his head, "no thanks."

"Five, you're sweating buckets."

"I'm fine."

She shrugged and turned away. She figured it was best not to push him too far right now. So, she just put the water cup in front of him.

A few more minutes of silence went by, and out of the corner of her eye, slowly, she saw Five take a sip of the water. (Y/n) did her best to pretend she didn't see. But she most definitely did.

Luther and Old-Five came stalking back from the bathroom. As they did this, the Five that was sitting beside Number Eight shot up from his seat. "We good?"

"We're good." Luther assured.

(Y/n) didn't like the way he answered that. And she most certainly did not like the way Old-Five was avoiding her gaze. There was something off. Something Old-Five must've said.

"You got a deal." Old-Five told younger looking him, "we gotta hurry, Kennedy's on route. Less than an hour until showtime."

Even the way he sounded made (Y/n) confirm that something was definitely different. "Why are you in such a rush?" Teenage-Five asked suspiciously.

"Relax." Old-Five shushed, "you're just being paranoid."

"Oh, am I?" Other Five snarled back.

They both glared at each other while these weird gas noises starting emitting. That was (Y/n)'s last straw. "If one of you kills the other, you both die. So, with that standing, both of you move it before I go straight to stage seven."

Both Fives broke their stares and reluctantly moved their feet to start walking. (Y/n) tried asking Luther what happened but he wouldn't say anything. It made her more and more determined to get the telepathy part down of her demonic powers. If only she could find out what was happening. She could stop whatever it was before it went in to action.

XXX

Current-Five and (Y/n) followed a good distance behind Luther and old-Five as the climbed the stairs to a bridge. (Y/n) was grasping Five's arm to keep him from punching random strangers, and pinching his mouth closed with her telekinesis so he couldn't yell at them either. He was itching violently and breathing very heavily. His voice muffled as he tried to get her to let him go.

Meanwhile she was focused on the two up front. She had to get this down. She had to know what was happening. Unfortunately she couldn't run up there and beat it out of them because she was babysitting her partner.

She focused really really hard on the back of Luther's head, and tried to activate her powers. Nothing was happening. She tried to think of when her and Astaroth telepathically communicated. How did she do that again? It has been so long she doesn't remember.

What about now?

Yes! She did it. Now she has to figure out how to use that to get in to someone else's head. Problem was, she couldn't do it with Five yapping in her ear. "Shut up so I can find out what's happening."

Five ceased his complaining and lowered his voice, "how do you intend on doing that? Waltzing up there and asking them?"

"I'm going to try and read his mind with my powers, if you don't mind."

Five just itched his neck and tried to calm his breathing but it wasn't working. "You can do that?"

"Not yet." She responded, "I'll work on it. But it's not gonna work with you drilling my ear drums out."

From then on Five tried to only glare at the strangers to allow her to try and focus. He wanted to know what was going on just as much as she did. Only he couldn't concentrate as much due to the paradox psychosis.

"Alright." Old-Five began to Luther in a hushed voice, "just be cool till I finish the job on the grassy knoll. We'll get the time math and I'll ice the squirt."

Number Eight was doing everything she could. Learning new powers wasn't an easy feat, but she had to keep reminding herself it was doable. Then she noticed something, it wasn't a new power, it's always been there. She just has to remember how to use it. Astaroth did it, and she did it back. Even though it was in her head, she was still communicating to another mind. All she needed was to do it on someone else. Luther doesn't seem like that much of a hard-mind to penetrate so that's why she picked him first.