Not Even Close || Number Five x Fem!Reader

Chapter 88

He didn't quite understand what was it with the person in front of him, but the way he was acting toward her was certainly not as slick as he preceded himself to be. And he was embarrassed to be aware of it.

It's rude to stare. But her words rang through his ears over and over. He realized the line didn't sound new to his ears at all. Where have I heard that before?

"I'll be serving your food to your table, so you don't have to stand there and wait," she informed curtly.

"Right. I knew that. Sorry." Five apologized. He went to turn his heel to head to their table with a lingering second thought, which made him face the girl again, "It's just..." He trailed off, easily catching her attention again, "...have we met before?"

Yes. Y/N would've answered him so in an instant, yes, we have since we were 8. And pathetically enough, I missed you.

But Y/N feared that she would scare him off his wits if she did so. And the longer she paused before she answered would make it more suspicious and difficult to hide. So, she shook her head with vigor, "I don't think we have, no," and pretended to be confused.

"Unless you're Sleeping Beauty and we met once upon a dream." She joked out of instinct to lighten up the mood.

Little did she know that Five was secretly in contemplation to that notion. What if this was her? He queried to himself, trying to recall his memory dreams in the process.

However, he knew to himself that he shouldn't jump into conclusions. For all he knew, his intuition was only warning him that the girl could be an enemy.

The least he could do was to go along with her said joke and keep himself from prolonging a potential banter with someone who's about to take care of his coffee. After all, the Keepers movement was something he needed to prioritize posthaste. 

"Maybe," he said, matching her tone. "Well, thanks anyway."

Without hearing another word from Y/N, Five made his way back to their table. His brows began to furrow when he noticed Lila shining him a teasing grin. "So that's why you wanted to stay here." Lila drawled, "You're finally fancying someone who's not a mannequin."

He proceeded to ignore Lila's blathering while he pulled up a chair. "I don't hear you denying it." Lila's smile began to grow wider, if that was even possible, "Did you get her number?"

"Stick your nose anywhere you should not, Lila," Five waved her off, "it's not really difficult to figure out the wannabe timekeepers are on about on my own."

"You know, even when the lights are dimmer, I can see you turning red."

Similar to Lila, Y/N could hear their voices quite easily. So when she heard about Five's remark on the Keepers, she quietly lent an ear along the sidelines while she brewed their beverages accordingly.

Y/N knew about the Keepers way before she worked at the Sidewalk Café. This was the time when she was still getting situated even when it had been a year since she woke up. When she found the Keepers, she thought she'd found something to hold onto within this plane of existence. And so, she attended a couple of their lectures; listened to them with an open mind; and finding that some of their ideas were actually relatable.

She, however, remained cynic of it in the end, hence straying from getting involved in the movement. She was never swayed enough to join the movement because of numerous misconceptions. Not to mention, their lack of transparency when it came to the topic of the Cleanse.

Nevertheless, she was open to hearing what the former time-travelling heroes and assassins had to say about it. Seeing as she couldn't recall having some artifacts that the Thibideaus had shown be a part of her past, despite her memories of the Umbrella Academy remaining intact. Perhaps either of them, Five or Lila, had different ideas.