Stuck With You | Five Hargreeves

Chapter 16: Working Alone

"Looks like you've got your hands full." Five turning around the look at Klaus who was still inside the trash can holding his flask out.

"Oh, this? No, no. I can do this whenever. I'm just—" Klaus began to say but tripped over something and lost his balance. "I just misplaced something. That's all." He said as he pretended to look for something again. "Oh! Found it! Thank God!" Klaus said peaking his head out holding a donut that was inside the trashcan for who knows how long and took a bite of it. "Delicious."

Five looked at him disgusted and shook his head. "I'm done funding your drug habit." The boy said walking away.

"Come on! You don't— Maybe I just wanna hang out with my brother. Not you." Klaus said as he looked to his side. "¡Mi hermano! I love you! Even if you  can't love yourself!" Klaus said as he watched Five walked towards a plumbing van and drive away.

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After a few minutes of driving Number Five found himself outside Meritech labs once again. He parked the van across the street having a good view of the building. Suddenly he spotted Lance walking inside the building, and for some reason, Five was already getting a negative vibe from that man. He just needed to figure out what it was.

The boy turned his body around the back of the van and reached out for his duffle bag. He opened the zipper and looked inside at Delores. He hadn't had time to talk to her yet and he figured right now would be a good time.

"Hey." Five sighed as he took out a bottle of alcohol from the bag. "Sorry you were in there for so long, Delores." He said as he took Delores out placing her on the copilot seat. "No, I'm not drunk. I'm working." He replied to the mannequin putting the bottle aside. "Yes, it's about the eye thing. This is the place it was made. Or... will be made. We just have to wait." Five said making a pause as he looked out the window. "I already told you Cassie isn't here. Why everyone keeps asking me about her?" Five suddenly snapped as he punched the steering wheel. "I really don't care anymore." Five said as he turned to look at Delores. "And, no. I am not lying to myself." The boy said sternly as he sat back and looked back to the building.

Five was starting to get tired of everyone asking him about the girl. He didn't understand why everyone got the same impression of them. They weren't even friends, to begin with, they just learned how to work with one another over time. There were a few moments where he started to wonder if his feeling towards Cassie were real, but he always shut them down. He had figured that in a world where they wouldn't have ended up stuck with each other they would have never developed feelings towards the other.

To him, it was the same concept as putting two fishes inside a bowl for their whole lives. Since they have no other options to mate with they just resort to one another so they don't go extinct. It was basic nature. This is why he was convinced his head was playing tricks on him the whole time. So he did the best to suppress those feelings not even bothering to figure out what they really meant.

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The sun was beginning to set and Five had been sitting inside the van for hours just patiently waiting for something to happen. He watched the people walk by carelessly and all he could think about was how they all will be dead in the next 6 days if he didn't stop it.

The boy began to zone out completely as he held played with the prosthetic eyeball on his hands. Deep inside he felt lost but he was not going to give up. He had risked it all just to save his own family.

Suddenly Five looked around and his surroundings had changed completely in a matter of seconds. He was back in the apocalypse and he couldn't help but feel anxious about this. He opened the car door and stepped outside and looked around him beginning to panic. For a moment he felt like he couldn't separate reality from what he had lived in in the apocalypse. The only difference now was that he was completely alone.