Darling || Five

00

Peter had a talent of doing things he probably shouldn't. It fit in the small spot right next to his talent for causing chaos, the two interlinked and intertwined. Holding hands with his mischievous streak and resting their heads on his ego, all of which stuck their tongues out his common sense and rationality, who cowered in a corner. It was these such talents had taken him around the world and back. It was also these talents that had introduced him to Five Hargreeves, so he considered them a talent rather than just bad luck. The world was dead and it's corpse Peter's playground. Still, even with the ruins of the world at his disposal, it grew lonely to be by himself after months. He missed human company.

The sun was fading into the beautiful golden tones of sunset when Peter spotted a patch of orange in the rubble. Curious, he descended through the clouds to get a better sight of the burning campfire and the small figure sitting next to it. Excitement at seeing another breathing person had him spinning through the air in glee as he swooped lower. The boy seemed to be around his age, with messy floppy brown hair and the grubby remains of a school uniform. It wasn't a school uniform Peter recognised but he hadn't been spending much time in the twenty first century before he managed to end up in the apocalypse, which was completely by accident and definitely not his fault.

For a second, Peter hung upside down in the air over the boy's head just staring. He hadn't seen anyone living in months and he wanted to make sure that this stranger was real. The boy was leaning back against the half destroyed wall of what had once been a shop, arms crossed and mouth partly open as he slept. The fire crackling merrily in a small gap between several piles of debris. The ruins around them half sheltering the boy and his fire from the wind as the sun dipped lower over the sky. Peter didn't know how long he hung there, eyes taking in the other's face as the boy below him. Part of him wanted to reach out and poke him, see if he was real and warm and not just another dead body. Then the wind changed direction and smoke blew in his face. Peter sneezed. The boy's eyes opened and locked onto his.

"Ahhhhh!" The boy screamed, the sudden noise causing Peter to scream too. Quick as a breeze, he was flipping back through the air and dropping down behind a pile of rubble as the boy disappeared with a blue flash, reappearing on the opposite side of the fire. For a second they just stared at each other. Hazel eyes locking onto bright green. Peter peeking out from over a pile of bricks, the other boy glaring over the fire.

"Who are you? Where did you come from?" The boy demanded sharply. One hand pointing at Peter accusingly.

"Me? Who are you? Where did you come from?" Peter shot back. "Everyone's dead. How did you get here?"

"That's my question!" The boy snapped. A second ticked past then the boy sighed and dragged his hand over his face. "Come out from there. I won't hurt you. You just answer some questions and I will answer yours, sound like a deal?"

"Deal", Peter agreed instantly. He floated out from behind the pillar and swooped back over to the fire. His grey converse touching the floor as he took the spot the other boy previously inhabited and sat down. The warmth from the fire bubbled over his skin as he pulled off his backpack and set it on his legs.

"You fly", the boy stated. "I must be hallucinating. Finally going mad".

"You teleport", Peter scowled. "What if I am the one going mad?"

"What's your name?" The boy asked as he took a seat on the other side of the fire.

"Peter Pan".

The name made the boy bust into laughter. "I've finally cracked. If only the old man could see me now. Mad as a he was". The laughter continued and Peter frowned.

"Well, what's your name?"

"Five. Five Hargreeves. Tell me, is tinker bell coming?" Five giggled, wiping tears of laughter from his face. It left streams in the dirt on his cheeks.

Peter blinked, not understanding the question. "Fairies are real?"

"Oh right, I'm sorry. What about your lost boys?"

"I don't have any". For a few minutes, silence descended over them. Five was staring at Peter with a calculating look, as if he was trying to determine if Peter was real or just a hallucination. Peter was wondering the same. "I choose the name Peter. I can fly, so can he, so I choose the name Peter Pan. I'm not actually the boy from the book".

Five nodded. "Okay. Nice to meet you Peter Pan". He held out a hand over the flames, high enough that they didn't burn him but the light danced across his skin in the rapidly developing gloom.

Peter reached out slowly and took it, gasping at the touch of warm skin. "Nice to make your acquaintance, Five Hargreeves", he choked on the words, swallowing back the emotions in his throat.

"Oh", Five seemed at a loss. "You are real". His hand gripped Peter's tightly. Skin paller than Peter's slight tan and fingers longer. Neither seemed to want to let go but the building heat of the fire eventually got too much. Peter jerked his hand back with a hiss. When he looked up, firelight dancing in his green eyes as he beamed at the other boy.

"Hi".

Unedited