|Doppelgänger| Five Hargreeves

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟗𝟑

First person POV

I knocked on the door of Lila's house, waiting for either her or Diego to answer. On the car ride there, Five actually ended up telling me what had happened. The last four years. Well, his last four years, that is.

Hearing him was painful. He described every single thing with the smallest details, just as he had promised, and it honestly was hard to figure out words to tell him. After his initial shock and our first encounter, he went back to being his colder self, pretending everything was fine and he was already over it. But I knew it wasn't true. Because even now, as we were waiting for the door to be opened, he was holding tightly onto my hand as if I would disappear in front of his eyes if he didn't.

Lila was the one who appeared behind the door, and I immediately smiled at the woman. Five only gave her a look. I think they had enough of each other for a while.

_"Hey."-I greeted, and the woman immediately tackled me into a hug. My eyes widened in surprise, but I wrapped my arms around her anyway.

_"I didn't expect to actually miss you, but here we are."-She muttered, patting my back almost jokingly. I let out an airy chuckle.

_"I'm flattered. I think."

Lila let go of the hug, and stepped to the side to let us inside her house. We got in and took off our shoes like we were already used to doing there. We were indeed late. All of my family was gathered in the living room, silently watching a ballet presentation on the TV. Once we were noticed, however, some smiles appeared here and there. Diego, who seemed in a really good mood, got up from his seat and came to greet us.

_"Thought you weren't coming. We were about to have dinner without you two."-He said, tapping Five on the shoulder and giving me a side hug. Five gave him a tight-lipped smile.

_"Small time miscalculation, that's all."-I couldn't tell if Five was referring to him getting stuck between timelines or...the other thing. Either way, I gave him a side-eyed look. He pretended not to see me.

_"That's alright. Sit down, mi casa es su casa."-Diego seemed to be getting Klaus' habit of randomly speaking in other languages in the middle of phrases.

Five and I sat by Luther's side, Allison on the other corner of the couch, Klaus on a pillow on the floor by my other side. It was a bit crowded now, but Five insisted on being close. I wasn't going to complain. It wasn't everyday that the boy acted like a needy puppy.

I felt a tap on my shoulder, and turned to see Klaus looking up at me with his mouth full of food. He seemed to be clean now, Lila's family had probably lended him the shower and some fresh clothes, thankfully. They were always quite sweet even if they loved to gossip.

_"Why is Five clinging to you like a drunken koala?"-My brother whispered and signaled with his head to myself, making me look down. Five was still holding on to my hand while looking at the others. He wasn't even watching the TV. He seemed to be analyzing our family, taking in their details. He hadn't seen them for years, after all.

_"...It's complicated. He'll talk about it when he's ready."-I said as Klaus pouted. He was curious, but I knew he understood.

_"You two are cute, makes me wanna puke. Little Y/n turned out to be a respectable adult."

_"You still call me 'little Y/n', though."-I smiled at the man, and he reached a hand to play with the ends of my hair. His statement was funny. I've been an adult this entire time, even if I didn't look like one before. But he knew that.

_"Yeah, you're still little Y/n, just grown-up little Y/n. Anyways, I think that means you see us as your real family now, right?"-His question shocked me a little. I hummed in confusion.