End of the Beginning [Five]

Four

If you could have a superpower, what would it be?

"Five." The words came out in a rush of emotion, tripping over the vowels, voice hitching as Five looked up and met his gaze.

He watched as the boy stepped forward, hands freeing themselves from their pockets as he went, long legs carrying him forward quickly, eyes fixed forward, never once wavering from him.

Emery stood quickly, heart hammering as Five wasted not a second more before he was closing the distance between them, hands raising up to cup Emery's cheek, eyes slipping shut and lips pressing together in a manner that conveyed all words that went unspoken. He kissed him long and hard, unforgiving and yet completely merciful. The action was so familiar yet so foreign and Emery pressed harder into it as he attempted to memorize every detail.

I missed you. I never stopped looking for you. I never gave up.

A tear had found its way out of the corner of his eye and Emery let out a strangled laugh of joy as he wiped it away.

"You're here." Five said, speaking at last.

His voice had gotten deeper, the way the words were delivered different as well. But it was all oh so familiar that Emery nearly melted. He would be 19 now but looked impossibly mature. Being an old man at heart would do that to a person though.

"I'm here," Emery said, connecting their foreheads as he relished in the moment of being here so close to the boy he thought that he had lost. "You found me."

Five pulled back, a stitch forming on his temple. "I never stopped looking." He said, lifting a hand to wipe away the stray blood that coated Emery's lip. He couldn't tell if it was from his prior nosebleed or a freshly split lip. Either way, Five didn't care as he grinned and planted another desperate giddy kiss on his lips. The feeling of his skin against his was like coming home.

Emery was sure he looked wild, after coming from a war-torn timeline to finding the boy he loved in a mysterious station with an apocalypse raging just above them.

"How—" Emery began, trailing off when words ran a white flag and abandoned him altogether.

"I don't know." Five said, voice somber as his eyes raked down Emery's figure, memorizing every new detail of this boy before him. This boy that had grown up in their time apart but was just, if not more, beautiful as before. "We... we lost our powers when Allison hit the button." He explained. "For six years we went about our normal lives I—" he blew out a breath half mixed with an incredulous laugh. "I joined the CIA and used their resources to look for you. I knew I would find you one way or another. I would never stop."

Emery blew out a breath, matching Five's laugh with a grin of his own. He could get drunk off the sound of it.

"Why am I not surprised that you joined a secret government agency?" He muttered.

Five scoffed. "Shut up." He said, voice locking any real malice as he let Five tease him. "Anyway, it was all going swell until Ben spiked our drinks with some marigold we found after Viktor got kidnapped by a dry cleaner, and boom..." he mimicked an explosion with his hands. "Our powers are back. You know, it takes a special kind of person to do what he pulled off. A very special person. I think Ben needs a gold medal. I'll title it: world renowned douchebag." He mused.

Emery just blinked. "Viktor got kidnapped?" He echoed, appalled. "You lost your powers?" He'd always had a hunch that when Reginald reset the universe, he meant to take the powers with him but when Emery found he could still bend light, there was always that nagging doubt when he thought of the others' outcome.