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❛ ᴡᴀsᴛᴇʟᴀɴᴅs ᴏғ ᴛɪᴍᴇ. ❜ ° . ༄
- ͙۪۪˚ ▎❛ 𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐄𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍 ❜ ▎˚ ͙۪۪̥◌
»»————- ꒰ 𝟹𝟼 ǫᴜᴇsᴛɪᴏɴs ᴛᴏ
ғᴀʟʟ ɪɴ ʟᴏᴠᴇ, ᴘᴛ. 𝟷 ꒱
❝ YOU'RE JUST FINE
ON YOUR OWN ❞
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[Two years later]
Lola sat cross-legged on the ground facing the chalkboard that Five worked so diligently to cover. They'd been silent for most of the day and the brunette upheld her side of their companionship by speaking first.
"Did you know that there were supposedly thirty-six questions that could make a person fall in love with you?" predictably, the other teen snorted in disbelief. "It's true," the girl continued as if he'd spoken. "My dad was the one who discovered the article. He liked reading news and had gotten a bit sidetracked. I suppose it was around Valentine's Day or something but apparently there's a set of questions that, when answered honestly, will result in someone falling in love with you."
Even though he didn't turn away from the board she pictured him rolling his eyes. "I don't really believe it either," she said in agreement, "but since we've got nothing better to do, what have we got to lose?"
"Ourselves," came Five's prompt reply, "our heads. Love makes people do stupid things and I'm personally not interested in acting like a fool." What a liar.
"But if you don't believe it will work you don't have anything to fear," the girl reasoned.
"Except the massive waste of time and energy it would take to have that discussion."
"Fine, you don't have to answer. I'm bored anyway and you're used to me rambling that it shouldn't bother you, so I'll just answer them," she shifted slightly to get more comfortable. "The only problem is that I might not remember all of them. Let's see, the first one—" she closed her eyes and tried to recall what she'd heard when her father had read the article so long ago. "I think it was given the choice of anyone in the world, who would you bring as your dinner guest?"
"An icebreaker?" the boy asked incredulously.
"Why not? It's how you get to know someone. Well, that's answer is obvious," she teased him, "it's you."
Five rolled his eyes. "That's 'cause I'm the only option and we already have dinner together every night. Lame question, next."
"Fine," she huffed, "but you're not even playing the game, so don't rush me. The next one was would you like to be famous? In what way? I think I'd like to be a famous writer, that way people would read my autobiography. At least it would be interesting now since I'm currently surviving an apocalypse."
"Well, for what it's worth, you're already known by the one person left so you're technically famous by default and I've read your autobiography."
Now it was the girl's turn to roll her eyes. "Like the first question, that doesn't count. Next one. Before making a telephone call, do you ever rehearse what you're going to say? Why? Oh yeah, I did that all the time. I hated talking on the phone and always worried that I would stutter or something. I always avoided it if I could."
"It's just the phone," Five said as he turned to look at the girl. "What's so bad about it?"
Lola shrugged. "The threat of the unknown. I mean, I never knew if the person on the other side was going to start yelling at me for no reason or that I wouldn't know the answer to a question that was asked. I guess I wouldn't be afraid of it now since I've survived this but still. Anyway, the fourth question I think was what would constitute a perfect day for you? Well, another easy one— not having to eat bugs, being able to take a proper shower, getting a full night's rest and doing nothing. Oh— and having a change of scenery."
"What, you don't like looking at me all the time?" the boy joked, which was followed by him ducking as the girl threw a pebble at him.
"No need to be conceited, idiot. Let's see— um, when did you last sing to yourself? To someone else? Geeze, if these were test answers I'd be acing them," the brunette commented, "I mean, I just had My Girl stuck in my head and the last person I sang it to was you. Okay, next— if you were able to live to the age of 90 and retain either the mind or body of a 30 year old for the last 60 years of your life, which would you want? Definitely the body of a thirty year old. What good is a mind if you can't move around to use it?"
"Are you sure about that?" Five asked, "I mean, people would still respect you when you're old even if you don't have the same mentality. Besides, your mind would be sharper than what your physical age showed. I'd rather have the mind of a thirty year old."
"And be all old and gross?" the girl asked, "no thanks. I'd rather forget things twenty times a day and walk in circles with a body that can keep up with me."
"So what if the gap was even bigger? What if you were a sixty year old in the body of a teen? You wouldn't prefer that, would you?"
Lola frowned thoughtfully. "That one depends on the state of my mind, I suppose. If I was still as sharp as I am now I guess it wouldn't be too bad. If I forgot a lot then it probably would look like I was a crazy teenager."
"Are you kidding?" the boy asked in disbelief, "you'd rather have people think you're a kid and treat you that way than with the respect you deserve?"
"I suppose," she shrugged. "I'm surprised you're suddenly so invested."
"I'm not," he huffed, "it's just when you have stupid answers."
"The answers can't be stupid if they're opinion based. Anyway, the next question was definitely memorable: do you have a secret hunch about how you will die? Not really, I guess. I suppose I thought I would die sometime in here but other than that I've never thought about it much."
When she received no comment from the boy, the brunette asked the eighth question: name three things you and your partner (the person you are dating) appear to have in common? She left out the 'dating' part.
"Well, that's easy. We're both seventeen, we're both in the apocalypse and, uh—"
"—we're both trying to save the world," the boy provided.
"Yeah, I guess I am in a way. At least I'm good at my job of keeping you entertained."
"Whatever. You're also very good at distracting me."
Lola grinned. "It's one of my special talents. Anyway, for what in your life do you feel most grateful? is the next one." She was quiet for a moment as she thought. She supposed she could say her parents despite the fact that they were dead, or that she survived the apocalypse, or that her favorite book and safety item was still with her but none of them seemed quite right. The girl watched the boy in front of her, who was tapping the chalk they'd found against the chalkboard as he mentally checked his math.
The boy who, in the past years of her life, had grown so familiar to her that she knew him almost better than she knew herself. Despite their obvious differences and disagreements, he was her best friend. The only one she'd ever truly had, even including her uncle. If it hadn't been for him she wouldn't even be here. Coming to a conclusion on that last fact, she said: "you."
That caused the boy to drop his chalk and turn to her with wide eyes. "Me?"
"Yep. I mean, the only reason I'm here is because of you. The only reason I've lasted this long is because of you. The only reason I'm not half insane is probably because of you. So, the common denominator is you and clearly I should have said thank you at least once. "For some reason, it was nearly impossible to meet his eyes.
"Oh," Five said after a moment of silence. His tone betrayed his surprise and she didn't even have to look at him to know that he was, well, touched in the few times she'd ever managed to get him to feel that way. "Well, you're welcome, I guess. I suppose I'm most grateful to you, too, since I'd be all of those things as well if you hadn't stuck around."
"That's not true," she protested, "you can totally survive on your own—"
"Yeah, but not live," he cut her off, "surviving is one thing but living is something else entirely and if you hadn't stayed and put up with me, I don't know where I'd be."
Lola's face felt suddenly warm and she looked up into the sky to see if the sun had suddenly intensified, but it remained the pale, shiny disk that it always was. "Well, uh, you're welcome too, I guess," she replied awkwardly. The girl cleared her throat before she hastily moved on. "If you could change anything about the way you were raised, what would it be? Uh, we can skip this one, if you want. I know I have nothing to complain about in the face of—"
"It's alright," the boy interrupted her again as he bent over to pick up his dropped chalk. "I'm not going to be offended if there's something you want to change."
"Okay, well, I guess I wish that my mom would've been less demanding. She was a bit of a stickler about rules, homework, cleaning, chores, basically everything that didn't involve fun. Other than that I don't mind how I was raised."
Five turned to her with a raised eyebrow. "You're not going easy because you don't want to complain to me, are you?"
"No!" she said— a little too quickly. "No," she repeated, "I'm actually pretty happy with my childhood despite my lack of friends— so, yeah. Uh, I'm guessing you don't want to contribute anything?"
"You've got that right," the boy agreed and he turned back towards the chalkboard.
"Take 4 minutes and tell your partner your life story in as much detail as possible. Well, I think I'll skip this one since you've read my autobiography and you know the rest. Besides, it's a bit like the last one in that I'm assuming you don't want to talk about the Academy?"
"Right."
"Okay, uh— if you could wake up tomorrow having gained anyone quality or ability, what would it be?" she grinned suddenly. "I can guess what yours would be— to have reliable time travel!"
The boy rolled his eyes. "You really aren't going to let that go, are you?"
"Nope! But that's it, isn't it?"
"I guess," he allowed noncommittally, "I already have everything I need otherwise."
"Well, I think mine would be to have psychometry."
"The ability to touch things and see their past?"
"Yeah, that way I could see what causes the apocalypse by touching the eyeball or violin. I think that would make things a lot easier. Anyway, that's the end of the easy questions I think. You want me to continue?"
"Would you stop if I asked?"
"Maybe."
"I guess since you're not distracting me too much it's fine."
"Great! Well, the first question in the second set was, uh, something about seeing the future. I dunno what it was though, so moving on. What is the greatest accomplishment of your life? I guess surviving the apocalypse? There's not much else, really, besides my autobiography but that's not even published yet. Would time-travelling be yours even though it didn't work properly?"
Five hesitated before he answered. "I was pretty proud of it before ending up here," he admitted, "I always knew I could do it and when I did, it was the most gratifying moment of my life. I just don't think it should count anymore."
"Of course it should," Lola countered suddenly, "you can time travel, Five. That's not something an average person can do. Even if you messed it up I think it's pretty damn amazing."
"You always give me a hard time about it though."
"That's 'cause you're too full of yourself and your ego would choke you if I complimented you every time I thought you time travelling was cool," she said bluntly, "but it is and I kinda wish I had my own superpower to even get on the same scale."
He rolled his eyes. "You don't need a superpower, idiot. You're just fine on your own."
"That's the nicest thing you've ever said to me."
The boy turned to grin at her. "I can be nice too, sometimes."
"I never said you couldn't be. Anyway, time travelling is definitely a major accomplishment. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise," she watched as he turned back to the chalkboard quickly and couldn't help but smile again. Was he embarrassed by the praise? That definitely couldn't be right, but it was still funny to think. "Next question, then. What do you value most in a friendship?"
Lola paused as she considered her answer. What did she value most in her friendship with Five? With her uncle? They were both loyal, although the boy didn't have much choice and could still leave at the drop of a hat once he figured out the equations. They both accepted her for who she was and she didn't have to make any amended statements for that. She trusted both of them even though— again— the boy could leave her at any time.
"I guess I would have to say loyalty, acceptance and trust."
"Not humor or intelligence?"
"No. Why? Are those your answers?"
"Intelligence definitely," the boy said, "maybe trust, too, but not as much— the lack of nosiness is more like what I'd call it. And, uh," he thought for a moment, "dependability, I guess, since everything around us is changing all the time and we constantly have to adapt. It would be nice to have something that stays the same. Like you, I suppose."
"Are you calling me boring?" the girl teased him.
"No, I'm calling you dependable which, in my opinion, is a compliment."
"Well, thanks I guess," she said hesitantly. The familiar warmth that came with Five being nice returned and she shifted so that her knees were pulled up to her chest and her arms wrapped around them, almost to try and keep the feeling trapped within her. "Okay, uh, what is your most treasured memory?" she hummed thoughtfully. "I guess. . . as of right now at least— and I know this is terribly cliché, so you don't have to say anything— but any one of my Christmas memories. They're some of the happiest times of my life so I suppose that makes them the most treasured. I am open to having a new treasured memory, though, if anything like that happens here."
"You think it will?" the boy asked in surprise.
"I'm hoping," the girl responded simply, "anyway, d'you have a treasured memory you'd like to share? Personal invitation."
At first, she thought he was going to shake his head but her eyes widened slightly when he nodded.
"It was my, uh, last night at the Academy before I time travelled," he started slowly, "we— my siblings, including Vanya— snuck out to this diner nearby which we did about once a month and broke in. Not in a bad way since I could blink in and open the door, but the shop was definitely closed. Anyway, we all ate doughnuts until Klaus threw up and Diego was a close second." He gave a small, slightly bitter laugh. "It was one of the only few times we were allowed to be what we were: children. Since it was the last time we were all together that, uh, makes it my favorite thing to remember."
As the boy spoke, Lola listened intently. Her mouth dropped open slightly in wonder as he told the story. It was still very, very rare for him to tell her anything about his past and she treasured anything he shared with her, tucking it away into the back of her mind in file folder labeled Five.
So far, the things that she knew about him were: he played poker with his siblings, he snuck out to a doughnut shop, he didn't hate his father as much as he let on, Ben was one of his favorite siblings and liked to read, Vanya was his other favorite and he sometimes listened to her play the violin, and he had very little patience for Luther and Diego— she found this out by the (exactly) three times he'd complained about them.
Then, she discovered other things about him on her own: he always used his hands and arms to explain aspects of time travel, when he was thinking, he would tap or fiddle with chalk or another writing utensil, when he was happy— which was rarely but it had happened twice— his eyes would change from their intense, dark green to a color similar to moss in the sunlight, and once when she'd smiled at him for the first time (in daylight, without their masks) he'd actually tripped.
Lola wasn't sure what the last one meant but it was her favorite thing to remember. Not a treasured memory, exactly, but a good one to recall. There were so many other little things she'd noticed about his habits that were crammed into the file folder in her head it was impossible to list them all (but the running total was currently one-hundred-seventeen.)
Somehow, over the last two years, he'd changed from someone she could hardly stand to someone she cared about. It was terrifying, really to depend on a person so much when they didn't really care about you in return. Lola never forgot that Five could leave her behind the second he figured out to get home— and then she'd have to learn to live with the one person she couldn't live without.