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Five was everything but his usual self after that. Emery had started growing increasingly worried for the man over the past two hours. First joking with Emery and then proceeding to walk into the hotel room without glaring at anyone and then taking a nap was just the beginning. Diego and Klaus gaped, wide-eyed at Five as he walked in with a kind hello to each of his brothers and then they turned to Emery who was fixing Klaus with a wet towel to clean his wounds.
"He looks happier." Klaus had noted as he let Emery clean his cuts.
"Yeah. What the hell did you do to him." Diego said, eyes narrowed from where he sat beside Klaus on the couch.
Klaus had snickered. "I think it's more a question of what didn't he do to Five."
"We didn't do anything." Emery had said, moving onto Diego who first swatted his hand away but then relented, letting him dab the reddened towel on Diego's bloody face. "He's just happy to get some rest."
And Five was. He was even happier when he woke up as he all but sprung out of bed still donned in his robe, downed another cup of scotch, and then pulled everyone down to the lobby where they all stopped for food and drinks at a bar.
"What's wrong?" Luther asked, finally taking a break from shoveling as much food into his mouth as possible. "You look happy."
"I am plenty happy." Five said, sitting down. "Had a nap, quality time, a shower, and a shvitz. What else does a man need?"
"Two brothers who don't eat like barn animals?" Klaus ventured, giving a not-so-discreet glance at Diego and Luther who had taken the liberty of shoving as much food into their mouths as humanely possible. Emery didn't blame them. They hadn't had a proper meal in days.
"So I've been thinking through our little timeline snafu." Five began.
"Oh, is that what you were doing in the shower room with Emery? Thinking?" Klaus teased.
"Among other things, yes." Five said carelessly. "And I'm pleased to report that in my professional, expert opinion, we are totally in the clear."
"Awesome!"
"Great."
"So everything totally fine?" Luther asked in between bites.
"More or less." Five said.
Emery paused, eyes dancing to Five from where they were scanning the food before him. "But? I sense a 'but' coming."
Five just sucked in a breath sheepishly. "I mean, there is one... small thing. It's nothing we can't manage." Five said, moving to grab one of the Chinese food boxes they had ordered. Everyone stopped their eating, looking Five dead in the eye as he worked. Emery raised a brow.
"So spit it out, Boomer!" Diego said, mouth full of noodles.
"Fine, Diego, it's like this." Five said. "Dad didn't adopt us as babies but those babies still existed here. We just grew up in different places with different people."
"So?" Luther asked, back to eating.
"So where are they now?" Five ventured. "Odds are, we each have identical versions of ourselves walking around out there, living completely different lives."
Luther gasped. "Our doppelgängers!"
"That's a made-up word." Klaus dismissed.
"No, no! I learned all about this in Texas. Tell him about the paranoid psychosis, Five."
"Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa! I thought you said this wasn't a problem!" Diego said.
"Okay, yes, technically, if you're near your Doppel for too long, you'll go insane. So if you ever see your other self—"
"Kill them," Diego said.
"Sleep with them," Klaus said.
"Avoid them." Five finished.
"What the hell Klaus?" Emery said.
"Oh come on. As if you wouldn't climb Emery mountain."
"Wait. How are we supposed to guarantee we don't cross paths with ourselves?" Diego said, redirecting the conversation.
"Easy. We're the Benetton ad of superheroes born all around the world until Dad brought us here, which he no longer did." Five explained, chopsticks in hand. "Doppels probably aren't even in the same time zone as us." He assured.
"Yeah."
"That's true."
"Would you pass the moo shu?" Five said.
Emery passed it over and then grabbed a box for himself. He opened the lid and had to restrain himself from not breaking the chopsticks in half so he actually had a utensil to eat with.
"I don't know, doesn't it seem kind of rude that Dad un-adopting us didn't change anything? I'm offended." Klaus said.
"I never said that, Klaus." Five clarified, barely glancing at Diego as he hurriedly put his food down and nearly fell out of his chair to leave, uttering a quick 'I'll be back' before he was gone.
"How are we gonna know where it changed?" Klaus went on.
"I'm sure it'll be pretty obvious." Emery scoffed as he twirled noodles around the chopsticks and took a bite.
"The point is, we did it." Five said, eating now too. "We saved the world, we stopped the apocalypse, and made it home safe in time for dinner. So whatever Dad changed... whatever timeline we're in now, we can handle it. We won."
"We won." Luther agreed, raising his glass and cheering with Five and Klaus.
"Cheers to words that have probably never been uttered aloud by any one of us." Emery said, downing his own glass of pop in five instead of one like Five.
"Alright, well, I'm gonna go. And get a full night's rest. I don't know about the rest of you." Luther said when he had finished.
"That sounds splendid," Klaus said, clapping his hands together as he stood and danced his way to their room.
"Emery? Five?" Luther asked.
"Leave them be Luther!" Klaus called out. "Let them deal with their teenage boy hormones alone."
Emery scoffed and stood up. "Ever so wise Klaus. I pity whoever had to grow up with you in this alternate reality."
"Ouch." Klaus grabbed at his chest as if he had been shot. "Fives been rubbing off on you and I don't think I like it, Emerino."
"Shut it. I'm a great influence." Five said, standing as well as he pointed a menacing finger toward Klaus and chased him down the hallway when Klaus turned and fled.
"Children." Emery said again.
"It's good to see him so happy." Luther said as they began walking down the hall together. "It's been so long. Too long."
Emery hummed as they neared their room.
"You did that." Luther said just before they walked in. "Thank you."
Emery opened his mouth, turning to Luther with wide eyes as he hadn't expected the words to fall from the man's mouth.
"My pleasure." He smiled, pushing open the door and walking in.
Luther collapsed on the settee he was bouncing on earlier, and Emery fell/got pulled into bed with Five.
He found sleep came easier to him tonight.
✩
"That little delinquent is your son?" Klaus asked, barely containing his laughs.
They were at the breakfast bar, sipping on apple juice and toast all the while keenly watching a little kid that had just shown up chow down on his breakfast.
"Allegedly my son." Diego said. Among getting a son overnight, he also donned shorter hair now clipped above his ears rather than shoulders.
"That's so funny!" Klaus said, obviously having the time of his life watching Diego suffer.
"Wait, who's... who's the mother?" Five asked as he wandered over now dressed in an outfit that acutely resembled a retired father going fishing.
"Lila." Diego stated as if that wouldn't elicit a normal reaction. And it didn't.
Emery choked on his drink and coughed as he tried to clear the juice from his air pipe.
"Excuse me?" Klaus whispered, not trusting his voice to go any higher.
"Whoa, Lila's here?" Five asked.
"Was." Diego corrected. "She dropped him off in my lap last night then bolted."
"I don't much care for that one." Klaus said.
"Don't-" Diego raised a threatening finger.
"Technically, she's family." Five noted.
"And so is that." Emery pointed his fork in the direction of the boy who was sitting at a separate table by himself.
"Lila was trying to murder us, like, yesterday. Can you imagine what this guy inherited from her?" Klaus said.
"Yeah, like I said, 'family'. Diego, is she coming back?" Five interrogated.
"Well, she goddamn better be because we got more important things to be dealing with right now!" Diego said, raising his voice toward the end as he called out the boy- his son.
"Shh, calm down," Klaus said, trying not to make a scene.
"Where's Luther?" Vanya asked, coming toward them.
"Who cares? Probably out for... a run." Diego said, trailing off when he saw Vanya's new haircut. It was trimmed short, shorter than Diego's. She gave a nervous smile when she saw everyone looking at her. Emery set down his juice.
"Mm! Love the haircut." Klaus said.
Vanya smiled. "So I, uh, talked to Marcus last night." She said.
"Wait, what? You talked with the enemy?" Diego said incredulously. "By yourself?" He clarified.
"Somebody had to do something," Vanya said.
"Who elected you Vanya?" Diego demanded.
There was a pause in which Vanya grew nervous. "It's, uh, Viktor."
"Who's Viktor?" Diego asked.
Another pause. "I am. It's who I've always been." There was a long stretch of silence. "Uh, is that an issue for anyone?" Viktor asked when no one immediately responded.
"Nah, I'm good with it." Diego said ultimately.
"Yeah, me too. Cool." Klaus agreed.
Viktor's gaze fell to Emery. He stood up and walked around the table until he was in front of him. Lifting his brows in question, he waited until Viktor gave a shaky nod and a smile before he encased him in a hug. Viktor all but sunk into it. It had probably been ages since any proper or genuine human contact and Emery was happy to deliver.
"Hi Viktor," Emery said.
"Truly happy for you Viktor." Five said when Emery pulled away with a smile. "But last time I checked, you don't speak for this family." He said as Emery and Viktor moved to sit down.
"Okay, well, it's fine, okay?" Viktor said. "Marcus totally gets it. He doesn't want a war any more than we do."
"What are you talking about?" Diego said. "He tried to homicide us!"
"So did Lila, and you had a kid with her." Klaus pointed out.
"That's not the point!" Diego defended.
"Listen, we made a deal. He's gonna give back Five's briefcase, then we're gonna get out of the timeline." Viktor explained. "We're gonna meet later today for the, uh, handover."
"Oh, thank God!" Klaus proclaimed.
"That's a rookie move. Dude is playing you." Diego disagreed.
"Is it wrong to be hopeful?" Emery asked. "It makes sense. It's a win-win. Only a fool would turn down that offer."
"But maybe we can use this," Diego insisted. "We then it back on them and then we wipe them the hell out."
"Diego, stop, please. And you're not gonna, like, do anything today." Viktor said.
"Except bond with your spawn." Klaus added.
"Alleged spawn." Diego corrected once more.
"I will get the briefcase, and then we will all go back and fix the timeline." Viktor said.
"Hey, we're not going anywhere!" Five interjected. "This is a perfectly acceptable timeline."
"What are you talking about? If we don't leave they're going to murder us." Emery said.
"Exactly. And why don't you tell that to Allison who's upstairs grieving her daughter who doesn't even exist here!" Viktor added.
"Not to mention, we've been replaced by a bunch of blinds and cubes and birds and shit!" Diego raged on.
"News flash, geniuses! It's not about us! Take a look around." Five said. "If you hadn't noticed, there's no doomsday. There's no apocalypse. The sun is shining. Birds are doing whatever the hell birds do. That's all that matters. We're done messing with time. And I'm officially retired." He lifted his drink and stood, leaving them alone with a flourish.
Klaus sniffed. "Is he wearing aftershave? I'm concerned."
"He is." Emery admitted, running a hand through his hair. "Like every thirteen-year-old boy does, he has attempted to shave what he does not have."
Klaus laughed as he watched Five dance around the area, presumably in the search of a drink.
"Hey." The man said, leaning forward conspiratorially. "Wanna get out of here?"
Even without answering, Klaus seemed to know Emery's response for he was pushing up and out of his chair before Emery could so much as open his mouth.
"Let's go, Emerino. Hey, that rhymed." He chuckled.
"Good job, Klaus." Emery said, patting the man on the back as he passed him to head to the front doors.