Prosthetics¹||Five Hargreeves

Eight

"So.. there's this guy" Matthew started, he looked down while fidgeting with his fingers. "His favorite color is green.. he's a caffeine addict, always drinking coffee" he said, completely trailing off from what he was supposed to be talking about.

Dr. Sherman cleared her throat, interrupting Matthew "Mr. Monroe, that's not what we're talking about right now. Remember?" she had the type of voice of a chain smoker of twenty years, which Matthew had really took into consideration.

He nodded hesitantly, forcing his hands away from each other. Right now he would rather go on and on about Five then his childhood, he wanted to be able to fix things between them eventually instead of this mixed feeling shit going on.

"Right uhm.." he leaned forward in his seat, his head down as he began to mess with the earring on his right ear "Last week we left off on talking about your dad"

Matthew knew he froze, he felt ashamed of that honestly. "Yeah he did nothing but beat the shit out of me a-and call me slurs, what is there to talk about?" he replied, sitting back up when he finished.

She tapped her pen on her clipboard, looking down at her notes and other papers "Are you sleeping well?" he hadn't responded and looked down at the floor, she took it as a no and wrote down in her notes.

He sighed quietly and stood up, pacing around the room "This is stupid, how the hell am I supposed to 'heal' from my childhood and Alex by just talking about it?" he spoke "I just- it doesn't make sense, talking doesn't help, the sleeping pills don't work, and you're complete shit at your job" he stopped in front of her, looking down at her in her seat.

Dr. Sherman was quiet, unable to even make up an excuse "Look Matthew.. it just takes time"

"A year? A fucking year to get over with what's happened?" he was starting to get aggravated with the questions and overall nonsense.

"It can take days, months, even years to heal" she answered, putting her clipboard off to the side in the chair she sat in. "Have you thought about maybe moving on?" that question has never settled well with him, he's even asked himself that.

Matthew shook his head, continuing to look down at the floor "I've tried, but unfortunately the guy isn't even-" "That's not what I mean, Matthew. What I mean is have you tried forgiving your parents?"

He rolled his eyes at her response and sat back down "Last time I talked to them was before Alex died, I told them I was leaving and then that was it" he realized how fucked up it sounded, but does it still sound fucked up when you've figured out they were abusive?

- - -

It's been a couple of weeks since Matthew came over to Five's apartment, honestly Five felt pathetic after he had left. But now he just can't fucking stand when the Handler touches his face, touching his face like the man did. Her fingertips grazing his neck as if she was taunting him on where those now invisible hickeys were.

He hadn't realized it yet but he had been scraping the bottom of his yogurt cup for the past ten minutes, he was spaced out in his thoughts. They kept going back to when Matthew came to his apartment, how he comforted him even though he tried to deny it.

How he was patient and gentle, he never knew that was something he craved until that moment. And ever since he's been wanting that craving, he wanted to be in his arms, or even just sitting next to him, closely.

He was pulled away from his thoughts when Herb sat next to him, he stopped scraping the cup and set the spoon inside of the cup and set it down on the table "Hey Herb" he turned his head in his direction "Oh- hi Five" he smiled at him.

Five didn't mind Herb, in his opinion he felt that Herb was mistreated. He wondered how a guy like him ended up here, did he willingly take the job? Or was he forced to?

"So.. uhm you and Mr. Monroe?" he asked curiosity, Five didn't know what he meant by it so he answered truthfully "We're friends, work partners"

Herb nodded, still smiling. He saw Matthew come in and his smile grew larger, looking back at Five who had no clue. Suddenly Matthew sat in front of Five, when he looked up at him and saw him, a slight blush appeared on his cheeks.

It wasn't too visible, but it was still there.

There was tension in the room, maybe too much. Herb had gotten up and left, leaving Matthew and Five by themselves. "Are you ok?" Matthew asks him, the first thing that came to Five's mind was because of the blush "Yeah why?" he responded a little too quickly.

"I just haven't heard much from you since you know.. the other day-" he looked down at the table, Five nodded in response, not wanting to really have that conversation at all. "Yeah, I'm doing better now" he lied, he wasn't able to sleep, instead he would lay there in his apartment staring at the ceiling til it was time to go to work.

But why would he need to know that when he can lie his way out of it?

Matthew nodded in response, he crossed his arms on the table and looked at the empty yogurt cup Five had not long ago. "So.. you excited about the promotion?" he asked, changing the subject, he looked at him again, noticing that he was making a face.

"I'd rather be stuck in another apocalypse than being the center of attention," he replied "It's not really a big deal, and then the Handler is wanting to throw a big ol' party for it" he dragged his words a little toward the end of his rambling.

He tilted his head back in the chair he was in, dragging his hand over his face "I mean as long as you don't have to give a speech you'll be fine" Matthew commented "I do" Five blurted quietly.

Matthew's mouth opened a little "Oh.. then you're on your own for that, I don't do speeches, I couldn't even do school presentations" Five looked at him, wondering when he'd shut up. And Matthew did because of the hint he was getting from Five's facial expression.

"I'm sorry.." he muttered "It's fine, just stressed out with something stupid" he leaned forward, putting his head in the palms of his hands. "No I can understand that, it can be stressful. I get it" he told him, Five didn't respond, he eventually brought his head back up.

A little speech wasn't the only thing on Five's mind, it was the other day as well, specifically with him and Matthew, how he cared for him when he really didn't have to do such a thing. He was used to not having comfort, and now he wanted nothing but comfort from him.

He sighed quietly and looked at Matthew "Thank you.. for that day" he said, Matthew smiled a little and nodded. He got up and while he walked away, patted Five on the shoulder. Five looked back at him, but noticed that he was already gone and frowned slightly.

"Five, please report to my office immediately," the Handler announced over the intercom, he groaned quietly and got up, going to her office.