CLOSE BEHIND | F. Hargreeves²

11

TW!: Honestly, you don't have to read this chapter, it's simply filler. I totally gave up.

Beau hadn't bothered to chase after Vanya when she drove off and, of course, if he had he would have just made everything so much worse. She needed time to straighten things out, more than the average person did too, and if that meant space then Beau would do his best to grant her just that.

But Five was not happy and he made that very clear with his incessant sighing and not-so-quiet mutterings. Beau just let him brood to himself, not bothering to tell him to see the bright side - mostly because that was very unlike himself - or try to give him any sort of advice because even he wasn't sure what to say. Perhaps it was a good thing that Vanya had gone her own way, maybe it was Beau's encouragement and lack of control that really was the last straw in the second apocalypse - it was most certainly the case for the first. 

"Can you believe her?" Five scoffed once again, shoe kicking against stray stones on the sidewalk.

Beau, casually walking with his hands stuffed into his pockets, glanced at his partner beside him. "Yes."

"Both she and Luther are being so immature."

"Says the person living in his fifteen-year-old body." Beau mused, being completely ignored.

"I can understand where she's coming from, she can't remember anything, but Luther?" Five fumed, "He's a total idiot."

"I've been saying that for years."

"I should honestly just give up. What good am I doing?"

In an instant, Beau stopped walking and grabbed Five's arm so he would do the same. There was that look of hopelessness in his eyes that had Beau furious with the Hargreeves siblings and the universe alike, it was their fault that his love was feeling so lost.

"Don't say that. Don't ever say that." Beau all but demanded of the boy, hard gaze dead set on Five who needed all the support one could give. "Even if people can't see it, you're doing the right thing and you know I will be right alongside you through it all. Everyone has a purpose and this is yours so don't mess it up."

Five chuckled half-heartedly. "And what's your purpose?"

"To love you and all your faults." Beau shrugged and soon the two were back on track, heading towards Elliott's shop. 

Diego, the odd lady Beau still didn't like, and Elliott was all sat around simply waiting for the pair to return. As soon as he saw them, Diego was on his feet questioning them about Vanya's whereabouts only to be disappointed with the answers he received.

"So, what, you just let her go?" Diego asked again with a deep frown.

"Well, Vanya had a lot to process." Five sighed, sharing a glance with Beau, "She'll come around. I know she will."

"What about the guys that went after her?"

"The Swedes?"

"Yeah, I mean, how do you know they won't go after her again?"

"We don't."

"And ideas who sent them?" Lila looked at every one of them, stopping on Beau just to match his glare with an innocent stare and it only aggravated him more. Beau was beginning to distrust the woman more and more as time went on. 

"Oh, I have my suspicions. But right now, our priority is finding Dad and getting answers cause everything else depends on it." Five spoke in his end-of-the-world tone, one that had no room for argument at all.

"Which, for the record, I found him already," Diego said smugly.

"And then let him go before we could have a meaningful conversation."