Number Five Imagines

Unspoken Jealousy

Five Hargreeves x Fem!reader

Warnings: none

Number Five stood in the middle of the living room, staring intently at a complex blueprint spread across the coffee table. He was deep in thought, muttering to himself as he connected the dots of his latest plan. Y/N, his wife, watched him from the doorway, a hint of a smile playing on her lips. She admired his brilliance and determination, but today, something else gnawed at her.

"Hey, genius," she called out, trying to sound casual. "What's got you so engrossed this time?"

Five looked up, a grin spreading across his face as he saw her. "Just working on a new project. Trying to make sense of this time anomaly I noticed."

Y/N walked over and sat beside him, glancing at the blueprints. "Another day, another time anomaly, huh?"

He chuckled. "Something like that. You know how it is."

Y/N nodded, but her mind was elsewhere. Lately, she had noticed Five talking more and more about Dolores. It was never in a way that suggested he still had feelings for her, but the mere mention of her name was enough to spark a pang of jealousy.

"Five," Y/N began, hesitating slightly. "Can I ask you something?"

"Of course," he replied, looking up from his work.

"Why do you talk about Dolores so much?" she asked, trying to keep her tone light. "I mean, I get that she was important to you, but it feels like she's always there in the background."

Five's expression softened, and he reached out to take her hand. "Y/N, Dolores was a coping mechanism for me when I was alone in the apocalypse. She kept me sane when there was no one else. But she's just a memory now, a relic of a time I'd rather forget."

Y/N sighed, her jealousy turning into a deep-seated insecurity. "I understand that, but sometimes it feels like I'm competing with a ghost."

Five's eyes widened in surprise. "Competing with a ghost? Y/N, you're my wife, the person I love most in this world. Dolores was a mannequin. She wasn't real. You are."

"I know that," Y/N said, her voice tinged with frustration. "But it doesn't change how I feel. Every time you mention her, it's like a reminder that there was a time when I wasn't enough to keep you sane."

Five moved closer, cupping her face in his hands. "Y/N, you are more than enough. You are everything to me. Dolores was a figment of my imagination, a way to survive. You are my reality, my anchor. I'm sorry if my talking about her makes you feel less important. That was never my intention."

Y/N leaned into his touch, tears welling up in her eyes. "I just want to be the one you rely on now, the one you talk about."

"You are," Five whispered, kissing her forehead. "You're the one who brought me back from the brink, who gave me a reason to keep fighting. Dolores was my past, but you are my present and my future. I promise to be more mindful of your feelings."

Y/N wrapped her arms around him, holding him close. "Thank you, Five. I needed to hear that."

They stayed like that for a while, wrapped in each other's embrace. The blueprints and time anomalies forgotten, Five and Y/N took comfort in their love, reaffirming their bond. It wasn't always easy, but they knew they could face anything as long as they had each other.

From that day forward, Five made a conscious effort to let Dolores fade into the past where she belonged. He focused on the present, on Y/N, and the life they were building together. And though the scars of the past would always be there, they were just that—scars. They would heal, and with Y/N by his side, Five knew he could face whatever the future held.

In the end, it wasn't about erasing the past but about making sure it didn't overshadow the present. Five and Y/N found their way back to each other, stronger and more united than ever. And that, they realized, was all that mattered.