How to Kill Time (Reader x Five Hargreeves)

Chapter 13

The car door slams as Luther enters the driving seat, trying his best to squeeze himself onto the seats. He huffs, once. "I need to go to the bathroom, be back with you guys in a sec." He breathes heavily while he exits.

Five taps his fingers on the "briefcase" and an uncomfortable silence stretches across the car.

"I never enjoyed it, you know." Five glances back towards me. "The killing. I mean, I was... I was good at my work, and I... I took pride in it. But it gave me no pleasure." He sighs. "Maybe it's all those years alone. It broke me."

"It broke me too." I say softly. A silent apology goes through the air.

"I'm sorry." we say at the same time. We chuckle.

"Is that the rare sight of Five Hargreeves apologizing?" I ask, teasing.

"Huh. I thought I heard Y/N Hargreeves who did." Five says right back, climbing into the back seat. I scoot to the left to give him space but he grabs my wrist lightly, stopping me. The slight brush of skin makes my breath climb up through my throat and I feel the heat rising up towards my face.

My heartbeat seems to erupt in my ears as he leans in slightly-

Slam!

The car door closes as Luther enters back into the car. He gives a look at Five. Then me. Then Five.

Then the wheel.

He starts to drive, not saying a word.

Thank god for that.

#

Five's pov

"I'm gonna head outside. It's stuffy in this car." Y/N fumbles for the handle of the car door and I huff as I do it for her. Her eyes widen in alarm as she quickly exits. The car ride has been...awkward is one way to say it.

Luther turns to look back at me and asks the question that has been hanging in the air. "Are you and Y/N...?"

"Do not finish that sentence." I threaten. Luther shrugs and turns back to the wheel. Then, he turns back.

"But-"

"Nope."

"Can I just-"

"No you cannot."

"You guys looked like you were about to-"

"Nope."

"Hey guys! They're here!" Y/N calls from the outside, her voice slightly muffled. I take the chance to jump out of the car and the awkward situation.

Two people in children's masks exit a black, shiny car, slamming the door behind them. I look at them, eyebrow raised.

"Are the masks really necessary?" I ask, scoffing. They reluctantly take it off, revealing the faces of Hazel and Chacha.

"So? Where is it, kid?" Chacha asks, hands crossed over her chest. I chuckle internally as I fear and uncertainty flash across her face.

"Wow, that's how you're gonna start. You know, we can get right back in our car and call it a day." I smirk.

"You won't even make it halfway there." Chacha says confidently.

I shrug, putting my hands in my pockets. "Maybe. But as I'm sure you found out in your previous foray, my brother is not your average giant."

"He's right." Hazel seems to chime in. "You dropped a chandelier on him, got right back up."

"By the time you took him out, he'd smash your precious briefcase to a pulp." I conclude

"Probably us too, right? So, how do we help each other?" Chacha says.

"I want a talk with your supervisor."

Chacha glances at me suspiciously. "And what is your motive for this?'

I frown. "Is it really any of your business?"

Chacha and I stare at each other, weighing the situation.

"Fine. Just don't tell her about the briefcase." Chacha goes to a nearby telephone booth to call her supervisor. Y/N frowns.

"In conclusion, time-traveling assassins in cartoon masks are able to call their superiors in a telephone booth who is located in a place where time doesn't exist?" she asks, frowning.

I shrug. "Basically."

Then, I hear a strange song coming towards us at a distance. What the fu- I turn back to see an ice cream truck headed towards our direction at full speed, my idiot brothers screaming as they push the accelerator down harder.

"Setup!" Chacha shrieks and pulls out a gun, shooting towards my direction. Luther protectively stands in front of me and Y/N, tossing his body to protect us...

Then everything pauses. And I see her. Her black, smart, dress. Her feathered hat. Her briefcase, held tightly in her grasp.

The handler.

"Neat trick, isn't it?" The handler asks, and I shudder internally at the familiar voice. "You look good, all things considered. It's good to see you again. Feels like we met just yesterday. Course, you were a little bit older then." she chuckles at her own joke. Then, she glances at me once more. "Congratulations on the age regression, by the way. Very clever. Threw us all off the scent."

"Ah, well, I wish I could take credit." I say. "I just miscalculated the time dilation projections, and... Well, you know. Here I am."

"You realize your efforts are futile. So why don't you tell me what you really want?" she asks, taking off her sunglasses.

"I want you to put a stop to it." I say simply

"You realize what you're asking for is next to impossible, even for me. What's meant to be is meant to be. That's our raison d'etre."

"Yeah?" I ask "Well how about survival as a raison?" I bring out my gun, aiming it at her forehead.

"I'll just be replaced." she says with no fear in her voice. "I'm but a... small cog in a machine. This fantasy you've been nurturing about summoning up your family to stop the apocalypse... is just that. A fantasy. I must say, though, we're all quite impressed with your initiative, your...stick-to-itiveness, really quite... quite something." Then, her voice quickly changes to something upbeat. "Which is why we want to offer you a new position back at the Commission, in management."

I scoff in shock. "Sorry, what's that now?"

"Come back to work for us again. You know it's where you belong." she says, a slight hint of pleading in her voice.

"Well, it didn't work out too well the last time." I say, raising an eyebrow

"But you wouldn't be in the correction division any longer. I'm talking about... the home office. You'd have the best health and pension, and an end to this ceaseless travel. You're a distinguished professional in... schoolboy shorts. We have the technology to reverse the process. I mean, you... you can't be happy like this."

I laugh at the final sentence. "I'm not looking for happy."

"We're all looking for happy. We can make that happen. We can make you... yourself again." Happy. How ridiculous. Happy is an illusion. But as I think it, I think of a familiar face-

"And what about my family?" I say quickly, disrupting my thoughts.

"What about them?" she asks, tilting her head slightly.

"I want them to survive."

"All of them?" she asks in a whiney voice like a toddler.

"Yes, all of them." I say impatiently

"Well... I'll see what I can do. Do we have a deal?" I think the thing over for a second.

"One thing." I say. I walk over to behind Luther and point to Y/N. "She's coming with me."