ꜱᴛᴜᴄᴋ ᴛᴏɢᴇᴛʜᴇʀ ➸ Five Hargreeves

⋆𝓁𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉𝑒𝓇𝓁𝑒𝓈𝓈⋆

Hours turned into days, days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months. And before Y/N knew it, she had been staying with Five and Delores for a few years. Five got on her nerves ninety percent of the time, with his Delores obsession and him teleporting around the place. Not to mention the fact that he never seemed to agree with any of the ideas she came up with. But the moment she felt like she couldn't deal with him anymore, he'd do or say something sweet and it would just reset every negative thought she had about him.

One morning, they were walking along the pile of rocks that used to be a road. His trailer was dragging along behind him, hand gripping onto the handle and, as usual, Delores was taking the easy ride- being pulled along by Five. It was pretty windy that day, so they'd covered their faces with some scraps they'd managed to find to stop the dust from getting into their bodies. If Y/N was being honest, Delores was starting to grow on her. You could have a conversation with Delores without having to do the 'listening' part, you could just vent about the normal kind of post-apocalyptic drama to her. For example, Five being an annoying know-it-all, the Twinkie being too mushy to digest and the mattress being slightly too springy for comfort.

They could only stay in one place for a month or so, the superstore- or pile of rocks with some salvageable goods under it- often ran out of food items quickly. Most of the canned foods had been smashed open and were inedible and the 'fresh' items were no longer fresh and sprouted an unappealing layer of green, furry, mould on the outside. There were really only few canned items they could eat from each pile of rubble and therefore, they had to keep moving.

It was hard to keep track of exactly how far they'd travelled. Most identifiable landmarks were now just ruins. Y/N thought the walking was good for her and the trips felt fast, they went by quickly and only felt like mere moments. The group of three only realised how far they'd walked when they reached a body of water- unable to cross it.

"Shit." Five mumbled and sighed as he looked out at the depth of water ahead of them, blocking their path. Y/N looked over at the confused expression on his face and she knew she was thinking the exact same thing as him. 

"If the world was taken by fire then how is this water still here." She thought to herself, peering out at the murky depths beyond themselves. 

As if Five could read her mind he exhaled and leaned back, letting go of the trailer and shoving his hands into his pockets, squinting at the water. "I guess it's either been longer than we thought... or the water goes deeper than we can see- the fire couldn't have evaporated all of it." He said definitely, certain of his observations. Y/N nodded and shrugged a little.

"Or maybe we've walked further than we've realised- crossed all the way to the Pacific, the ocean." She suggested, taking a few moments to take in the sight of the water. They'd crossed puddles and small lakes on their trips- spots covered by rocks or trees that the fire's missed- but they'd never seen something like this. It actually surprised Y/N, the enormity of the water. 

Of course, Five thought his answer was right and Y/N's was wrong. He shook his head the moment her mouth closed, ending her statement and suggestion. He pulled his hands from his pockets and grabbed the trailer, walking towards the body of water in the distance. "No, we can't have walked that far- it hasn't been that long." Y/N rolled her eyes a little and followed along behind him, eyeing Delores and giving her a look that plainly said-

'Here we go again.'

"Right, sure, okay." She said, not wanting to get into an argument, they were all pretty tired. They'd been walking for a while- since the moment the sun had risen and by then, the sun was beginning to set. "But it could have been, I mean, it's been a few years of travelling little by little, maybe we racked up a large distance?"

Five scoffed softly and stopped walking, turning to look at her and squinting, before a flash of blue light took him away. She jumped a little, she'd never get used to that. The light reappeared in the distance, right next to the body of water. Trust Five to take the easy journey and leave Y/N dragging Delores along, using her actual legs. 

By the time Y/N had reached the body of water, Five was sat down, legs brought up to his chest and he sighed, looking out at the burnt-orange sunset blending into the grey-blue water like a watercolour painting they might have found in a museum in the pre-apocalypse days. 

She pulled Delores out of the trailer and sat down besides Five, who picked up Delores and wrapped his arms around her. Five looked deep in thought, his eyes were squinted slightly as if he were doing a complicated maths puzzle in his mind. Y/N looked at him for a few moments before looking away and peering out at the sunset casting a golden light on their skin. He normally hated her staring at him so she tried to avoid it. 

But sometimes, she wouldn't even be aware she was doing it. Five would just be sat on the mattress they dragged around with them, looking at Delores like she was edible or something- and Y/N would just find her eyes locked on him with no explanation. The only clue she found for her staring was that burning feeling of jealousy when he'd kiss the top of Delores' head or walk off with her in the evening- giving her loving looks.

"Maybe you're right, maybe it has been longer than we thought." Five said, pulling Y/N from her thoughts. "I mean... I've changed." He told her, looking at his reflection in the water, poking at his face a little- the way his face had thinned out with age, losing the pup-fat he had on him when they first met. He looked at the light stubble on his cheeks and his overgrown hair, he sighed softly before looking over at Y/N. "You've changed too. You've got breasts and all of that grown-woman stuff."

Y/N chuckled softly and gave him a teasing smile, he looked at her expression and cracked a smile, looking away from her. "Oh shush, I wasn't around for my 'puberty-talk', okay? I'm just going off visuals here."

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