☂ 𝑰𝑵𝑺𝑰𝑮𝑯𝑻 || 𝙵𝙸𝚅𝙴 𝙷𝙰𝚁𝙶𝚁𝙴𝙴𝚅𝙴𝚂 𝚡 𝙾𝙲 || 𝑩𝑲. 𝟐 ☂

23. THERE'S ONLY ONE FIVE

Elaina walked alongside the older Five quietly with her arms folded behind her back. The older male eyed her with a tight lip, trying to find the words to break the ice between him and his former best friend.

"You look the same," he awkwardly stated, making Elaina turn her head to look at him.

"You don't say? What gave it away?" Elaina gave him an amused smile, making the older Five clear his throat. "I'm kidding. And, to be technical, I actually am the same. I never grew up," she stated.

"When I found you in the apocalypse... I always wondered why you looked the same way while everyone else obviously aged," he said, looking at her with a curious expression and slight sweat glistening on his forehead. "What happened?"

Elaina stared at him for a moment before looking forward as they walked. "Long story short: Dad. He injected me with a regenerative cell serum that ended up stunting my growth almost a year after you left," explained the girl. "Livin' la vida loca at sixteen ever since,"

The older Five nodded his head, taking in her words. "I see,"

"So," said Elaina as she turned her head to look at the old man again. "You said you wanted to have a word, right? Shoot,"

"Right, sorry," apologized the older Five. "It's just been a long time since I've been able to speak to you like this. The last time I saw you, you were shaking your head at me at the dinner table. I should've listened to you,"

"You should've," agreed Elaina, making the old man look down. "Things would've been very different for the both of us if you hadn't jumped,"

"They would've?" he asked.

Elaina nodded. "Oh, yeah. I probably wouldn't have gotten injected and aged normally, and you could've actually worked on your time travel a little bit better, maybe even mastered it. Hell, we might've even gotten married and popped out a few kids, who knows," she stated, making the older Five raise his eyebrows at her bluntness, clearly not expecting her response. She cracked a small smile at his expression. "But, if you hadn't jumped, the world would've ended with no warning. So, I guess, it was meant to be. After all," her smile grew. "I still got you back,"

The older Five stared at her for a moment before he spoke. "We really became a thing, huh?"

Elaina hummed, nodding her head bashfully. "Yeah, we, uh, decided to give it a try. So far, so good," she informed.

"I can't believe it," mused the older Five with a humorless scoff. "Nice to know I had the balls to actually tell you."

"I mean," said Elaina, her head tilted in thought. "You were drunk when you confessed. And then you kissed me after vomiting," she said, not seeing the older Five's face change to one of pure disappointment.

"He's pathetic," he replied, turning his head slightly to catch a quick glimpse of the younger version of him, trailing several yards behind Elaina and himself, with Luther.

"No he's --you're-- not," The girl shook her head. "You should really be nicer to yourself. Speaking of which," she brought her hand up and smacked the old man in the arm.

"Ow!" he exclaimed, grabbing his arm with the briefcase hand as he looked at her in shock. "What was that for?"

"I heard from King Kong over there you're planning on taking out the other Five so you and he can jump to 2019. Is this true?" she questioned with crossed arms.

"I see some things haven't changed..." he murmured to himself.

Elaina raised a brow. "Well?"

The older Five rocked his head from side-to-side guiltily. "His plan is too winded, plus, he shouldn't even be here."