illicit | five hargreeves - EDITING

twenty four

chapter twenty four: urgent

The first time Number Five had nearly lost Anthony was only three months into their relationship, when he had gotten a call at ten o'clock at night from a hospital number, and had to try and comprehend the incoherent sentences from a half conscious Anthony who didn't really understand what was happening. Five had practically rushed to the hospital, and was met with the harsh truth of what Anthony had done to himself. He tried his best to convince Five that it had been an accident, and maybe it was, but it still didn't entirely convince Five. Anthony had expressed how he felt before, and what had happened almost entirely made sense as something he would do.

The following days after that, Number Five wouldn't leave Anthony out of his sight for more than a couple of minutes, despite the man's protests. He was scared; scared to loose Anthony, and scared that it would somehow be his fault. But as the weeks went on, he was more and more convinced that maybe Anthony was telling him the truth and it was in-fact an accident, but a part of him knew that it couldn't have been entirely a coincidence, because the situation he had put himself in was entirely intentional, and there was no denying that.

The second time Number Five got a similar call was exactly six weeks after Anthony had walked out on him and ended their relationship completely, and they hadn't spoken since that night. It was past four in the morning, and Five had already been asleep, but the obnoxious sound of his phone is what woke him up. He answered it, and never expected it to be his ex-lover sobbing and hyperventilating on the other end.

He could tell by the sound of his voice that he was clearly intoxicated or on something, but Five couldn't just ignore the sound of his cries and the way his voice sounded so broken and desperate. It was obviously something serious, and it was the first time Anthony had ever admitted to Five that he wanted to end his own life, and that he was quite literally about to do it, but another part of him, the part that had called Five, didn't want to.

Number Five knew that the small part of Anthony that didn't want to had called him in a final move of desperation, and despite everything that had happened between them, Five was at the man's house in less than ten minutes. He stayed there until the sun rose, holding Anthony in his arms, wiping his tears and just repeating how everything was going to be okay.

They weren't together anymore and hadn't even spoke to each other in six weeks, but that didn't matter, because Five would never be able to live with himself if he knew that he had let something happen to his Anthony, he couldn't handle that.

He left in the early morning, deleting any trace off of Anthony's phone of him being there, and leaving the twenty-four year old asleep in his bedroom. Five considered staying, but he knew once Anthony was back to his usual self, he wouldn't want him there, so he left and never came back.

Neither of them ever acknowledged that night, and Number Five seriously doubted if Anthony even remembered it, and he did, but also he couldn't tell if it had actually happened or if he had just imagined it in the state he was in.

Waking up after something like that had always messed with Anthony, it was so confusing and made him feel weird; which is exactly how he felt right now. Anthony woke up first, due to the horrendous pain that was still present in his shoulder, especially after the numbing anesthetic had worn off during the night. He shuffled his body slightly, biting his bottom lip in an attempt to not make any noises of pain, because the last thing he wanted to do was wake up the sleeping Number Five that was laying next to him.

His efforts did reveal to be futile though, because the boy next to him stirred slightly before he letting out a soft hum "Are you still alive?" he then mumbled into Anthony's neck, his morning voice being a lot rougher and raspier than usual.