The Boy & The Fairy ❊a five hargreeves x oc❊

❊Ch. 4❊ We Only See Each Other at Weddings and Funerals

The smallest Hargreeves women had remained silent since his arrival, something that took the rest of them by surprise, expecting her to be asking a million questions a minute.

Diego, Klaus, and Five knew better. The girl was in shock. The unexpected sight of her long-lost best friend had shaken her.

It had been almost 17 years.

16 years, 4 months, and 14 days, since the last time she'd seen him, yet he looked the same as he had when he left them.

Since he left her.

She took him in silently from her place on the table, between Klaus and Diego, her lifelines. The rest of the family crowded around the table, watching as he moved gracefully around the kitchen, seemingly making a sandwich, pulling out the required materials from the same place they had always been.

After placing the cutting board on the table he moves towards the fridge. "What's the date?" He questions, pulling down the loaf of bread. "The exact date." He demands, moving back towards the table.

"The 24th." Offers Vanya, voice unsure.

"Of what?" He asks impatiently, pulling two slices out of the bag with quick precision.

"March." The woman continues.

Iris watches him, he pauses at that, seemingly doing calculations in his head, before continuing, "Good."

"So, are we gonna talk about what happened?" Luther wonders, staring at the boy in front of him, standing abruptly when he receives no answer. "It's been 17 years."

The boy scoffs at the large man, turning to face him. "It's been a lot longer than that." Spatial jumping up onto a stool in front of the counter allowing them to reach the highest shelf.

"I haven't missed that," Luther muttered.

I have...Iris thought to herself, watching as he moves his arm to grab the marshmallows off the shelf.

"Where'd you go?" Diego asks, searching for any answers to questions the rest of them had, but mostly for the girl clutching his hand.

"The future." He responds shortly, "It's shit, by the way." Jumping back to his original spot in front of the cutting board.

"called it!" jokes Klaus, raising a knowing finger in the air, earning a small nudge in the side from his little sister, drawing his attention, however, her eyes never left the boy in front of them.

"I should have listened to the old man." Five begins, sighing in irritation, as he moves to the refrigerator, " You know, jumping through space is one thing, jumping through time is a toss of the dice." He mutters, returning to the table with the jar of peanut butter, stopping to glance up at his family he takes in their befuddled expressions. Meeting eyes with the girl he had missed so much, he watches her closely, the sharp intake of breath at the eye contact, the way she remained sandwiched between Klaus and Diego, the latter's hand clasped in her own. She seemed different now, not as she once was. When he breaks eye contact he looks at the brother sitting next to her, "Nice dress." He compliments, before returning to his sandwich.

"Oh, well, danke!" His brother says in appreciation, only to be cut off by Vanya.

"Wait, how did you get back?" She wonders, not being able to fully understand the situation at hand.

"In the end, I had to project my consciousness forward into a suspended quantum state version of myself that exists across every possible instance of time." He explains to his siblings, not seeing the looks of confusion passed between them, with the exception of Iris, who had always been able to understand him.