☂ 𝑳𝑶𝑺𝑰𝑵𝑮 𝑺𝑰𝑮𝑯𝑻 || 𝙵𝙸𝚅𝙴 𝙷𝙰𝚁𝙶𝚁𝙴𝙴𝚅𝙴𝚂 𝚡 𝙾𝙲 || 𝑩𝑲. 𝟑 ☂

12. TRUST THY ENEMY

"Now where were you hiding that?" exclaimed Elaina, her mouth agape at the item of clothing Five pulled out from the closet.

Five looked over at her and smirked. "Oh, this?" he said, shaking the pressed suit in his hand for emphasis. "Got it at The Tailors. You like it?"

The couple separated from the brother-sister duo a bit earlier and were currently in their room for an outfit change. They agreed to meet up with Lila and Tony within an hour at the Utility Room on the floor beneath them.

Elaina scoffed, stalking over to Five from her side of the room. "Like it? If I would've seen you pull that out this morning, we wouldn't have gone anywhere," she stated with a sultry smile, taking the suit from his hand so she could marvel at it.

Five chuckled at the comment while he removed his khaki vest. "Is that right?"

"Mhm," she hummed, looking back up at Five with a mischievous gleam. "I do love a man in a suit,"

The teen boy threw the vest on top of their bed as he faced Elaina, getting in close and pecking her lips sweetly. "Well, maybe it was for the best," he said, carefully taking his suit back. "If we didn't leave, we wouldn't have known of the Grandfather Paradox happening until much later," Five noted.

The brunette shrugged slightly. "I mean, would it have really been that bad if we found out a day later?" she asked half-seriously.

Five cocked his head and furrowed his brow at the question. "Absolutely. Every second counts, hon. You know that," he pensively stated.

The girl rolled her eyes. "Of course, I know. But a girl could dream, right?" she muttered, walking away and going back to her closet. "Lord knows once we fix this one, they'll be another nipping at our heels..." she murmured to herself with a hand on her hip, flipping through her hanging wardrobe.

Five surveyed her, rubbing his neck a bit before placing the suit on the bed and wandering over to her. "Hey," he said softly. "Look, I know this isn't how we planned to spend our time in this timeline,"

"Gee, you think?" she said, giving the hanger in her hand an extra hard flick as she moved on to the next item of clothing on the rack.

With a sigh, Five placed a gentle hand on Elaina's shoulder and spun her around to face him. "Laney, sweetheart, we're gonna fix this. For good this time, I know it,"

"You're just saying that, Five," she said, attempting to pivot back around only for the boy to prevent her from doing so.

"I don't say things just to say them. I plan on following through with it," he stated, moving his hands to her hips and drawing her closer. "Yeah, this paradox is more of a shitshow than the previous ones, but there has to be a solution. That's the only reason why we're teaming up with Tweedledum and Tweedledee. In theory, our collaboration should expedite the process,"

"But, hasn't this paradox only been a theory? How is there going to be a solution to that?" countered Elaina, staring into Five's eyes and unwillingly getting lost in the different shades of green and tinges of blue that resided in them.

"By going to the one place that would know anything, if not all things, having to do with temporal anomalies," he said, feeling her breath on his lips at the closeness of their proximity. "Once I get to the Commission, I'm gonna have a word with Herb to see what plan of action he has so they can take over from here,"

Elaina's head tilted slightly at the statement. "You're gonna let the Commission handle this?" she asked in disbelief.

Ever since Five crash landed in 2019, he has put himself solely in charge of saving the world. To hear that he didn't intend to be the one spearheading this particular apocalypse was unbelievable.