☂ 𝑰𝑵𝑺𝑰𝑮𝑯𝑻 || 𝙵𝙸𝚅𝙴 𝙷𝙰𝚁𝙶𝚁𝙴𝙴𝚅𝙴𝚂 𝚡 𝙾𝙲 || 𝑩𝑲. 𝟐 ☂

22. FIVE TIMES THE TROUBLE

Five shook his head once and turned to speak to the older Five. "Timeline restored, paradox resolved," he stated. "Everyone goes on existing happily ever after,"

"And trust me, it's a happily ever after that works out just fine for you," added Luther as everyone turned to look at him. "I mean, look at them," he motioned to the teenagers. "They can't keep their hands off each other,"

"Luther!" scolded Elaina with an embarrassed expression.

"Idiot," grumbled the younger Five, shaking his head.

The older Five simply looked between the three with raised brows. "That's quite a bit to take in," he said, clearing his throat.

The younger Five's thumb rubbed against the back of Elaina's hand thoughtlessly as he stared down the older him. "What do you think?"

The older Five didn't move as he pondered his next move. Luther and Elaina looked at each other warily before looking back between both Number Fives.

"I think..." started off the old man. "I need to piss," he responded anti-climatically before grabbing the briefcase and walking away.

Five looked after the old version of himself with a suspicious expression. Elaina looked over and saw that the sweat continued to drip from his forehead.

"Oh, no," she muttered, grabbing a fresh napkin and dabbing it across his forehead as he pointed after the older Five's direction.

"Well, besides the flop sweat, I think that went pretty well, am I right?" said Luther with a proud smile.

Five began shaking his head as his hand came up and covered Elaina's to stop her from dabbing the remaining sweat. "No, no, there's something..." he shook his head again. "Something doesn't feel right about this,"

"What... What do you mean?" asked Luther nervously.

Five pointed his finger towards the older Five's direction. "I don't trust him,"

Elaina furrowed her brows. "But, he's you,"

"Exactly," nodded Five.

The girl raised one of her brows. "It seems we might've entered stage five: acute paranoia," said Elaina, making Five's eye snap to her.

"I am not paranoid," he argued.

"Says someone who's obviously paranoid," she countered back, looking up to Luther. "Do you think you can follow the older Five--"

"I'm older than he is--"

Elaina rolled her eyes. "My bad. Luther, can you please be our secondary spotter and follow the physically older looking Five? Make sure he doesn't try to run while I'll stay here and guard this Five,"

"I thought I was just the muscle?" he questioned with a raised brow.

"Congratulations, you graduated to a double title," Elaina snarked impatiently, making Luther give her an unimpressed expression. She sighed. "Sorry. Can you please just trail him?" she asked softer.

Luther nodded. "Okay, on it," he said, getting up from the table and heading towards the bathroom.

The girl sighed as she picked up her glass of Guinness, taking another swig from it before turning her attention back to Five. "Just take some deep breaths, babe. Your paradox psychosis is starting to show," she stated, picking up the same napkin from before to finish drying up the flop sweat that remained on his forehead.

Five reluctantly obeyed as he took a deep inhale through his nose before exhaling through his mouth. "That helped a little," he said.

"Did it really?" she asked, unconvinced, as she continued to watch Five's fingers twitch and his jaw lock and unlock itself.