KITTEN || five hargreeves

16

•••

"Is it smart for me to be here?"

Kit paused at the door of the pub and watched the old- young?- Five take a sip of his bourbon. He only drank bourbon in times of sadness and grief, and Kit tilted her head as she realized he was doing so because of her. Because he abandoned her in that old hotel room with a bullet wound in her side and his name still on her lips. She looked over at her Five, who was watching her carefully.

"Bourbon? Really?"

Five shook his head at her, a bead of sweat forming on his forehead. "I was depressed, okay? You meant a lot to me."

"Meant?" She raised her eyebrows.

"And yes, it's smart for you to be here. Obviously I'm grieving, but you're the only one I trust to not allow me to go completely crazed when the last two stages of paradox psychosis takes over."

"What are we whispering about? Is it important?" Luther asked, leaning in so his face was in between them. Five face grew sour and he backed away, starting to stride right into the bar.

Kit yelped and grabbed him, slamming him behind a thick wooden pillar as the Five at the bar looked over. "Are you crazy?"

"Lemme go up to him first," Luther reasoned, oblivious to how close Kit and Five were and how his eyes were trained on her lips.

Kit gave Five a quick peck and let go of his collar, straightening his tie. "Be sure to drink water while you talk, the extreme thirst is apparently no joke."

"Who did you hear that from?"

"Just a colleague in the Commission, you wouldn't know him."

"Colleague? Which colleague?"

Luther pushed himself forward, Five and Kit trailing behind and Kit having to stifle her giggles at Five's face when he heard about the "colleague".

"Five."

The "older" looking Five looked over, his hand tensing around his briefcase as he turned to the side.

"Luther?" His voice was older, deeper, and Kit rubbed her eyes as she looked over his wrinkles. She should've looked that old, so should her Five.

"I'll tell you everything, Five, but for now, there's someone you should meet."

Her Five stepped out from behind the pillar beside them, smiling sarcastically as the older Five looked at him in shock.

"Hey, kid." Her Five's eyebrows raised in amusement at the look on his older counterpart's face.

"And... Kit?" Older Five's voice barely rose above a whisper.

"Paradox psychosis should be kicking in soon, so we really should get a move on, yeah, misanthrope?" Kit smiled at older Five after stepping out from behind the pillar, taking her Five's hand gently.

Older Five knocked back the rest of his bourbon.

☂️

"Wait- so does this make me a pedophile? Since Kit's only sixteen?"

Five rolled his eyes, scratching his thigh. "That's not your Kit, dipshit, that's my Kit. Your Kit is in the Commission right now recovering from a bullet wound after you abandoned her. My Kit-"

"I came here after I was released from the Commission and asked for an age regression in case I needed to scare any other rapists from my past," Kit interrupted, scratching her Five's back.

"And so-"

"Let's get back to the matter at hand, here," Luther interrupted him this time, his hands now set on the table. "We need that briefcase to save our family, who is all scattered around Dallas. If you'll just let us..."

"I don't trust him," Five whispered to Kit, her eyebrows furrowing with worry as she recognized the next stages of paradox psychosis take shape. She picked up a napkin and dabbed at the sweat coating his forehead and Luther continued to talk to older Five to find a solution to their problem.

The other Five stood up and excused himself to go to the bathroom.

"I'm going to go talk to him. Are you good?" Luther asked Kit, glancing at Five worriedly.

"I got it, thanks."

Luther nodded at her answer and took off to the restroom.

"You know, Five, in all my years of living, I've never been comfortable using the women's restroom. Or men's for that matter." Kit watched Five's eyes return to her after he watched Luther abandon them to reason with his younger counterpart.

He nodded at her, spaced out.

"We're going to be okay, alright? Just try not to let me get shot again."

"You're not really my Kit, are you?"

She rolled her eyes. "You're paranoid, dear. You just need to hold on a little longer."

"A little longer?!" Five snatched a glass of water off the table and chugged it. "That goddamn ape thinks my younger self is better than me just because he looks older. How exactly am I to combat this?"

"Look, if you're going to talk to me that way I'm going to leave you to wallow in your own sweat."

"Well, maybe I want that!"

"Yeah?!" Kit stood up, the chair screeching behind her. "If you want to me to leave, I'll leave."

This seemed to knock some sense back into Five. "Wait-"

She sat back down. "We've both been through an apocalypse, time with the Commission, murders, and now another apocalypse is coming. We've had a long life, but we have an even longer life ahead of us. Just- let's just get through this so we can take another nap together. Please?" Kit grabbed another napkin and wiped the sweat off of his forehead.

"Marry me."

Kit shook her head, and Five opened his mouth to protest her refusal.

"Ask me when this is over. When you don't have paradox psychosis, when we're safe."

"There will never be a right time-'

"Then I'm not getting married to you."

Five huffed and turned away from her, arms crossed. She giggled at him and helped him scratch his shoulder. Luther and the old looking Five returned, looking to have reached some form of a consensus.

"I need to go set up across the way." Old Five huffed at them, looking at Luther for confirmation and grabbing his briefcase at his nod.

"Let's go then."

•••