Bound by Duty | Five Hargreeves

27. Childhood trauma club

I purse my lips, watching the older Five go. My gaze returns to Five, and I sigh softly as I watch him tremble slightly, pointing towards older Five with a dumbfound expression on his face.

Gently, I grab a napkin and pat his forehead, the excessive sweat becoming noticeable. "Well," Luther sighs, turning to us both. "Besides the flop sweat, I think that went pretty well, am I right?"

Five shakes his head, grabbing my wrist delicately. "No, no... there's something..." He swallows thickly, breathing somewhat laboriously, waving his hands around. "Something doesn't feel right about this."

I lour, tilting my head as I try to figure out what was going through his muddled up mind. "What... what do you mean?" I ask gingerly, not wanting to cause a major freak out. He had been right before; this was endangering to his entire existence. If something was wrong, it needed to be taken seriously.

Five looks over at me with crazy eyes, pointing towards the bathroom in which older Five had just disappeared into. "I don't trust him." He whispers harshly.

Luther frowns, leaning on his elbows and looking at Five with a muddled sort of expression. "But..." He murmurs, "He's you..."

Five looks over at Luther and nods, "Exactly." Luther pauses for a moment, before exhaling and getting up, heading into the bathroom.

When he's gone, I turn to Five, reaching up and dabbing some more sweat from his forehead. "You doing okay?" I ask tenderly, biting my lower lip apprehensively as he continues to stare at the bathroom door. "Five?"

He hums, looking over at me. His crazed eyes seem to alleviate, even if just a bit, the corners of his mouth twitching upwards ever so slightly. "Yeah..." Five closes his eyes, taking a shaky breath. "I'm fine... just... not in the right mindset. Paradox psychosis is a serious thing, Pippa..."

I nod, smiling sympathetically. "I know it is..." Sighing, I let my hand fall down and rest on his trembling ones. "I also know you would've have done this unless you felt it was necessary. Both Luther and I trust you in this, okay?" Five looks over at me and nods shortly. "We'll keep you both in check, and the end mission will stay in tact. We'll get that briefcase, Five. Don't stress."

"I'm not... stressing." He mutters, before picking up his glass and taking a sip. I raise an eyebrow, and he sighs. "Maybe I'm stressing just a little..." I let out a small chortle, exhaling and squeezing his hand, before leaning back in my chair.

"It's all right," I hum, winking and taking a sip of my own drink. "I won't say anything when they get back. Unless older you has already killed Luther and ran." Five raises an eyebrow, and I shrug. "Kidding. Partially." A small smile forms on his lips, and he shakes his head, looking down at his drink with a small breathy laugh.

Our attention is drawn over to the bathroom door as Luther and older Five walk back over to the table. I purse my lips, offering Luther a 'what happened?' look, to which the man simply grins. "We good?" Five asks, clenching his fists.

"We're good." Luther responds, grinning weirdly. I raise an eyebrow, letting him know I'm calling out his bullshit right now.

Older Five nods, glancing from Five to me. "You got yourself a deal." He turns back to Five, "We gotta hurry. Kennedy's en route." Five gets up, and so I follow suit, standing beside him.

Five tilts his head, raising an eyebrow at the older version of himself. "Why are you so anxious to get going all of a sudden?" He asks, clenching and unclenching his fists at his side. I cross my arms, studying older Five the best I can before we get going.

"Relax," Older Five whispers back, "You're getting paranoid."

Five scoffs, nodding. "Oh, am I?" The two stare at each other, itching and farting as they do.