𝐧𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭: 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐌𝐘𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐘

08

"Five?" I ask, as he turns to me.

"Y/n?" His eyes grew wide as did mine. The two of us walked over to one another and stood awkwardly for a moment.

"Fuck me, you got tall." He laughed.

I turned myself into my thirteen year old self and hugged him. "This any better?"

"Just like old times." I felt him smile against my hair before I finally pulled away.

"Where the fuck have you been?" I snapped, realizing I hadn't seen him for over a decade.

"Hey, I have a good explanation for that."

~

"What is the date? The exact date." Five pulled out a chopping board and a knife, then getting the bread.

"The twenty fourth."

"Of what?"

"March." Vanya continued.

"Good."

"So are we going to talk about what just happened?" Luther questioned.

Five didn't say a word, he simply placed two pieces of bread onto the table.

"It's been seventeen years." Luther gets to his feet, towering over Five.

"It's been a lot longer than that." The boy scoffs, before disappearing and reappearing behind Luther, grabbing the butter.

"I haven't missed that."

"Where'd you go?"

"The future. It's shit, by the way."

Klaus and i's eyes grow wide as we turn and point towards each other. "Called it." We said in unison.

"I should of listened to the old man." Five continues, walking over to the fridge. "You know, jumping through space is one thing. Jumping through time is another toss of the dice." Five looked up for a moment. "Nice dress."

"Ah, danke." Klaus grinned.

"Not you Klaus." Five rolled his eyes and let out a slight chuckle before nodding towards me.

"Thanks." I say awkwardly, ignoring the light nudge Klaus gave me and the smirk that had formed on his face.

"Wait, how did you get back?" Vanya wondered.

"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."

"That makes no sense." Diego replied.

"Well it would if you were smarter."

"Touché." I laugh looking at Diego struggle against Luther's hand that kept him pressed against the table.

"How long were you there?" Asked Luther.

"Forty-five years. Give or take." He shrugged casually.

Luther and Diego sat down calmly, "So what are you saying? You're fifty-eight?"

Klaus brings his lips to my ear and whispers, "you fancy an old man." He laughed.

"Shut up Klaus." I groaned, elbowing him lightly in the side.

Everyone had turned to us and stared intently. "Sorry, go on." I smile awkwardly, feeling my cheeks begin to burn up.

"No, my consciousness is 58. Apparently, my body is now 13 again." He answers before taking a large bite of his sandwich.

"Wait how does that even work?"

"Delores kept saying the equations were off. Bet she is laughing now."

"Delores?" I asked, a slight tone of jealousy in my voice, which Klaus had picked up on immediately.

"Hey, calm down." He whispered.

Five ignored me. "Guess I missed the funeral."