n. a moment that seemed innocuous at the time but ended up marking a diversion into a strange new era of your life-set in motion not by a series of jolting epiphanies but by tiny imperceptible differences between one ordinary day and the next, until...
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Me and Five arrive back to the alleyway, covered in blood with the fish in a bag of water. Five picks at his nails, something he did as a kid when he was nervous.
I grab on to his hands and hold them, letting his thumb run over my hands. Not only is this calming him down, but it's calming me down as well.
After the adrenaline wore off, and the small lust I had for Five after he finished AJ off, we arrived back in Dallas, 1963.
We stand in the alleyway, consoling each other, when we hear the footsteps coming from behind us.
I turn around in Five's arms, with his hands on my waist and my head on his shoulder.
The Handler approaches us, in another crazy outfit, with a small veil over her head. She removed the veil and puts down her briefcase.
"Well?" the Handler asks.
Five throws his arm out towards the Handler that holds AJ. Five looks down towards me, not wanting to look at her.
"AJ!" the Handler coos, she sighs putting AJ to the side. "You know, you're really starting to fill out those tight little shorts of yours."
"Aren't you like 50?" I comment, earning a gasp from the Handler and a sharp glare, while Five smiles at me and kisses the top of my head.
"Why so quiet?" the Handler asks, referring to the fact that Five hasn't said anything since we arrived. "Thought you'd be buzzing after this morning slaughter."
"All this killing...I'm done with it. We're done with it." Five says, adding me into the conversation.
"What?" the Handler asks, smiling. "Am I supposed to take that seriously?"
"What we did today, we did for our family." I say, smiling up at Five, kissing his jaw as it's all I can reach.
"We did it to save the world." Five adds.
"Please." smiles the Handler. She walks towards us while she wets a handkerchief. I grab it from her before she can touch Five's face and start to wipe some of the blood off myself. "Spare me your little assassin with a heart of gold routine, will you?" The Handler steps back from us, holding out the briefcase towards us. "Here. Per our agreement, this will get you guys and your siblings back to 2019. You have 90 minutes."
"You said nothing about a time limit." Five seethes, moving away from me and towards the Handler.
"Actually, you have 89 minutes and 30 seconds." the Handler taunts, smiling at us. "Better hurry."
"This is impossible, okay?" I state, knowing this was all set up for failure the minute we agreed. "Our siblings are scattered across the city."
"Nothing's impossible." taunts the Handler. "You two proved that this morning when you killed the board."
"We need more time." Five mumbles.
"Any more time, and people will start asking questions." the Handler admits. "The sooner you get home and out of this time period, the better off we'll both be, so, ticktock, ticktock."
