(𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚏𝚘𝚞𝚛.) 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐑𝐎𝐍𝐆 𝐎𝐍𝐄𝐒
❝ THEY DIED IN A CAR CRASH. ❞

🌂

"I'll be right back, okay? I need to see something before I come back and then when I find everybody, if I find everybody, I'll come to get you, okay?"

"Yeah," Poet nodded, eyeing Five who was clutching an envelope on his hand. "Sorry about Hazel, by the way."

Five nodded and sighed. "Thanks. But at least he's with Agnes now, but in the meantime, be careful. There are these three Swedish guys and I think they're looking for us. They have platinum hair and there's three—"

A knock was heard and Poet groaned, standing up to open the door while letting out an annoyed sigh. While she was doing that, Five turned to look at Paris.

"Hey," he mumbled and the blue-eyed boy smiled a little at him while repeating the same word. Five cleared his throat, stuffing his hands into his pockets while glancing down at his shoes. "So, um, Elizabeth?"

"Yeah," Paris then cleared his throat softly, nodding his head. "Um, she's a great friend."

"That you clearly like," Five said. Paris sighed and clasped his hands in front of him. "I'm not mad at you for feeling things for someone. Hell, I dated someone."

"Oh, yeah," Paris puffed out his cheeks. "Delores, right?"

Five nodded before continuing. "But, hey," he said, grabbing his hand, "if you like her I'm not going to stop you from being with her."

"I want to be with you," Paris frowned. "Really. After all, Elizabeth only wants to be my friend. Made it pretty clear. So, I thought about it more, do I really like her? And then I found out, I really don't. I rather like her more as a sister than someone I want to be in a relationship with and, either way, it wouldn't be fair to date her in this decade and later leave if you find a solution."

"For you," Five squinted his eyes, tilting his head to the side, "yeah, I'll try."

"Good," Paris pursed his lips to hide his smile. "And then, maybe, when we go back to our time, we can, I don't know, maybe go out?"

"Yeah," the uniformed boy nodded. "My treat."

"Yeah, okay."

The two chuckled but they stopped when Poet slammed the door and muttered curses under her breath, rolling her eyes. The two gave her confused looks and she scoffed, rubbing the skin of her forehead.

"This asshole decides to come back after I told him that if the date went bad, he needed to leave me alone," she breathed out. "But he won't listen and, the nerve of this man, he's trying to get rid of you, Paris! I'm not allowing that."

"Who is she talking about?" Five whispered to Paris while the two let the furious woman continue her ranting.

"It's this teacher at school who won't leave her alone. He's been asking her on dates and he's a nice guy until you read his mind, which is what Aunt Poet does. He's a mess."

"A guy?" Five's eyes brightened with amusement. "Huh, wonder what Diego will think about that."

"What?"

"Nothing," Five lied. It's not that he didn't want to tell them that Diego is in fact alive and that he's in an asylum, but he kept it to himself because, well... He actually didn't know why he didn't tell them. But he wanted to make sure Diego was sane first and that his state wouldn't hurt Poet. Who would want to see Poet hurt? Not Paris (and Five), and when Paris gets upset, Five gets upset. Did he also not acknowledge the fact that Poet could read minds? He did acknowledge that which is why he never thought about it or tried to block that thought.

"He's such an ass and, thank goodness, I changed our time of date until 3 in the afternoon so I could process everything and come up with something to avoid him," Poet sighed before turning to look at Five. "Well, we better let you go to your "mission"."

"I will," Five nodded. "I'll see you two."

"Be careful."

"Don't die!"

"I will and I won't."

🌂

"Five."

"Hey, Diego." Five watched his brother come into the room he was waiting on and gave him a look. Surely Poet wouldn't mind the beard, right? As the chair scarped against the floor, he spoke up again. "You look good in white. I thought Poet was supposed to be the one in white."

"Don't mention that name," Diego mumbled harshly, a lump on his throat as he heard that name. Five watched him with amusement at seeing tears brim his eyes. "Anyway, it was about time you showed up."

"How'd you know I'd be back?" Five questioned.

"Because that's the kind of shit you pull," Diego answered.

"Where are the others?"

"They're not with you?" Diego asked.

"We'll find them," Five muttered softly.

"You won't find Poet or Paris, though," Diego continued. "They died in a car crash." He reached for his pocket and took out a piece of a newspaper. "Yesterday, a 31-year-old woman and a 15-year-old teenage boy were found dead after they hit a pole. The two were later claimed to be of the last name Capulet."

Five skimmed the paper and eyed the names that he later found out on the way bottom. He saw the names "Nancy Capulet" and "John Capulet". His brother clearly didn't read the rest.

"How long have you been here?" Five questioned, changing the topic and keeping the paper since he wanted to show Diego the evidence that Poet and Paris were in fact not dead.

"75 days," the short-haired man answered. Five grinned softly. "Landed in the alley behind Commerce and Knox."

"Commerce and Knox," Five finished with him, pursing his lips.

"You?"

"I got here this morning," Five truthfully answered.

"How'd you find me?" Diego asked.

Five gently scoffed before he stuffed his hand on the pocket of his blazer, grabbing his own piece of newspaper. "Page 16." Diego rolled his eyes. ""Disturbed man with multiple knives arrested outside 1026 N. Beckley." That's Lee Harvey Oswald's house. Care to explain?"

"Let's just say," Diego started, "Dallas Law Enforcement has not been supportive of my attempt to stop the assassination of..." he leaned in, "John F. Kennedy."

"Because it hasn't happened yet."

"And it's not going to happen," the man continued. "Not on my watch. Look, I've been shaving down the bars in my room. Another day or two, and I'll be out of this place, mourn Poet and Paris and visit them, and then I'm going to stop Oswald and save the president. You want in, say the word."

God, Poet... save me.

"Listen to me very closely, you gibbering moron," Five sternly spoke. "You are not going to do a goddamn thing."

"Why not?"

"Poet wouldn't like it," Diego's face fell again, "and because we have to stop the apocalypse."

"No shit," Diego commented, ignoring the pang in his chest. "But that doesn't happen for another 60 years."

"Not that apocalypse. This a new one. It followed us. I've seen it. Nuclear war, Diego, in ten days."

Diego starts laughing softly and then does Five really question his sanity. He crossed his arms and leaned back against his chair, "And I'm the one they locked up, huh?" Five scoffed and leaned back, also. "Fine, I'll play along. What causes it?"

"I don't know," Five said. "Maybe some grieving, looney-turned asshole with a hero complex tried to save the president and screwed everything up."

Diego leaned closer again. "So you're saying it worked?" Five scoffed, yet again, and he just wished the Capulets were there to knock some sense into Diego since he knew that they could do that. "I saved the president? I knew I could do it." Five squinted his eyes at his brother. "Okay, okay, I'll help you."

"Thank God."

"After I save Kennedy. And then you swing us back a few decades so I can slit Hitler's throat off with a butter knife."

"This is why you don't have any friends and a girlfriend anymore," Diego glared at him as he heard the last few words. Five stayed quiet for a few before turning to look at the people standing in the corner. "You know what? Guard." He stood up and sighed. "My brother is plotting an escape. The bars of his room have been shaved down." He placed the newspaper of the Capulets in front of Diego. "Read it again. All of it. You might be surprised, idiot."

"Piece of shit!"

Five toon a step back when Diego tried to grab him. The staff immediately grabbed the man and held him to the table, yelling at him.

The boy placed his hands inside his shorts pockets and walked to the side of the table so Diego could see him. "Look, this is for your own good, Diego."

"No! Five!"

"Listen, my brother is a very sick man."

"No, Five!"

"I only pray that he gets the help he so desperately needs," Five said. While ignoring his brother's pleas to not get injected by the thing he feared the most, he watched Diego relax a bit. He leaned down and whispered by his ear. "Be back for you later, okay? Just... Well, nighty night."

Walking away, Five sighed and thought about Poet. How the hell was he going to break the news that Diego was slowly losing his marbles?

🌂

AUTHOR'S NOTE

ive decided to just keep
paris and five together
since i love them a lot 🥺

(not edited... again 🙂)