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❛ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘ. ᴘᴀʀᴋᴇʀ ᴇғғᴇᴄᴛ​​​​​​​​​​. ❜ ° . ༄
- ͙۪۪˚   ▎❛ 𝐅𝐈𝐕𝐄 ❜   ▎˚ ͙۪۪̥◌
»»————- ꒰ ɪ ᴡᴀs ʟɪᴠɪɴɢ
ʟɪᴋᴇ ʜᴀʟғ ᴀ ᴍᴀɴ ꒱


❝ WHAT MORAL LESSON
DO YOU HAVE FOR ME TO
LEARN, O GREAT ONE? ❞

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[ the third year ]

Five knew that he had been absent from Alexa's life more than he had been present. There were a whole fifteen years that were unaccounted for that not even her section in Viktor's book could fill. When he'd first returned to 2019 and Alexa had been an adult and he an old man in a young person's body, he had been afraid that the gap would never close. It would have been too hard to be around her and not be with her. But, in the one stroke of good luck the universe had ever given him, everything had worked out. Thanks to the whole time travelling debacle, their physical ages matched. And now, he could start learning the new mannerisms of her personality without his heart feeling like it was being torn in two.

Before he'd run away from the Academy via time travel, he'd already made it a habit to notice the little things Alexa had done. It was hard for her to sit still (she'd always filled with seemingly boundless energy), but their father despised fidgeting so she had avoided punishment by bouncing her dangling foot in the air while keeping the entirety of her body from moving otherwise. She had prized her long hair over any other part of her outward appearance. When she grew bored in class, she would doodle in the margins of her notebook, usually a crude image of their father with a speech bubble next to his head that said 'blah, blah, blah.' She forgot to sharpen her pencils, which was why he'd picked up the practice of doing it for her. She loved art and reading, but everyone knew that. He knew that her favorite book was Watership Down and her favorite color was a deep, emerald green. There was more but it would be too many to name, so he would end the list with his favorite quirk: she had always smelled like lavender and coconut; whenever those scents were near, it had turned his teenage brain to mush.

Now, he got to uncover something new about her every day. He'd never been a very patient person— something to do with his ex-abilities, he was sure— and sometimes he itched to know everything about her at once. But now, without his powers, he had to remind himself that there was no need to rush. When they first moved into their studio apartment, he found out that Alexa liked to organize her books alphabetically by title, then alphabetically by author, then by color. She loved scented candles but never burned them for long because she wanted them to last forever. When she ate sandwiches, she took the crust off first to 'get the worst part over with.' And now he was learning what she was like at a 'proper' Christmas (as she'd called it): a complete and total madwoman.

Since Alex had forced him into retirement (despite his claims of wanting to, anyway), he'd begun to take long, meandering walks around the city to fill up all of his spare time. He hated to admit it, but he'd forgotten what having a hobby was like, so that was the solution he'd come up with when his girlfriend went to work. Five had come back a little later than he'd intended since he'd gone farther that he'd thought and he arrived home to find that Christmas had thrown up all over the place

Plastic bags were littered everywhere. The carpet had disappeared under dozens of Christmas lights. Cardboard boxes of ornaments made the couch un-sit-able. He stared in shock at the mess, his eyes catching sight of the damned glitter particles that were invading their way into his home. "Lexa, what the hell?"

She turned at the sound of his voice and beamed up at him from where she was kneeling on the floor, sorting through her packages. "You're back! Merry Christmas!"

The brunet sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation. "Lexa, it's only December first! And why the hell does it look like freakin' Rockefeller Square in here?"

Alexa's smile only became impossibly brighter, if not a little bashful. "I'd need more Christmas lights to get to that level of festive. This is our first Christmas really together, Fi! We have to go big since we're already home. I told you I was going to decorate."

He dropped his hand from his nose to evaluate the mess. "Yeah, decorate. Not move the entire Christmas section of Macy's to our living room."

"But it's not just the living room!" she pointed out cheerfully. Ticking off her fingers, she added: "it's also our kitchen, our bedroom and our dining room. Three-for-one!"

"Fine," Five grumbled, going over to the couch to move some of the ornaments out of the way. He sat down and picked up the newspaper that was lying on the side table to finish the crossword he'd started. He bent his leg to rest his ankle against his other knee as he flicked open the paper. "Do what you want, but I'm not participating."

He made to take on an air of unaffected superiority but before he could get into the act, Alexa jumped up from her kneeling position. Something heavy and woolen landed before him, blocking his view of the crossword. "But I got this just for you!"

The teen stared at the sweater with pure revulsion. "That's about the ugliest damned thing I've ever seen."

It was a bright, stoplight red with a darker shade of the same hue on the hem, cuffs and collar. Bands of green and white circled the arms. The front showcased a very cartoonishly-sewn reindeer with a red bauble for its nose. The scarf it wore around its neck was even real, the green-striped, fringed ends dangling past the bottom of sweater. Instead of sewn-on eyes, it had googly eyes. And, worst of all, were the very real lights that decorated its antlers. Alexa dropped the remote in his lap. "It even lights up!"

"A sweater should not have the capacity to be on the power grid, Lexa. I'm not wearing that thing."

"Oh, yes you are! I got sweaters for everyone in the family!" She dropped the abomination in his lap and went to sift through her pile of other eyesores. The next sweater she presented him with was almost worse: bright, fluorescent orange with puffballs of different colors and sizes scattered all over it. She grinned. "This one is mine. It's even got a matching skirt!"

His expression remained stony. "Absolutely not."

She continued as if he hadn't voiced his vehement objection: "I'm gonna start a new Christmas tradition! I'll send sweaters to everyone each year and, in return, they'll take pictures and send them back to us so I can create a little collage for next year. That way we can still all be together if one of us can't make it."

Five had already reluctantly agreed to inviting everyone over for Christmas dinner. He'd thought that had been enough compromise, but apparently not. "No, Lexa. You are not getting me into that monstrosity and that's final."

He shoved the offending sweater off of him and returned to his crossword puzzle. Alexa studied him thoughtfully for a few minutes as she toyed with one of the puff balls. Then, a slow, sly smile curled on her lips. Letting her own sweater drop to the floor, she followed it in quick succession as she returned to her kneeling position. Five ignored her actions until she moved his legs, uncrossing them so both of his feet were on the floor again. With a sigh, he shifted the newspaper aside as she rested her forearms against his knees. He arched a brow that clearly asked 'did you need something?'

Her voice was sultry as she offered: "what if I suck your dick?"

There was only the barest of pauses as Five registered her question. He leaned forward so that his green eyes held hers intensely. "You'll suck my dick when I tell you to."

He expected her to have a quippy remark or scoff. Instead, she smiled coyly at him. "Yes, daddy."

Fuck.

The teen pointed a stern finger at her. "One picture. That's it. And it's not to leave this house, got it?"

"You'll take as many pictures as I tell you to," she retorted, echoing his previous words.

He straightened, taking on an air of aloofness. "That's not how it works."

(That was exactly how it worked.)

(As for the rest of their family, Luther responded with the most enthusiasm every year, showing off wearing his sweater in his new apartment that Alexa had helped him get. Diego, Lila and the kids sent a family photo that was always just short of perfect (Ronnie's hair stuck up in odd places. Coco's face was blurry from movement. Grace's eyes were closed.) Viktor chronically sent his picture a week after Christmas. Allison and Ben sent nothing. Klaus roped Claire into taking pictures with him as 'their secret,' which the girl eventually did willingly as an act of teenage rebellion. Her mom would not find out for many years.)

☂︎ ☂︎ ☂︎

That year, Alexa had been anticipating the 25th with so much enthusiasm that Five was half-worried that she would spontaneously combust at any given moment. It wasn't just the celebration of Christmas that she was excited for, but the fact that it would be the first time their entire family (minus Ben, who was in prison) would get together since they'd entered the new timeline. That was why she'd gone all out, making sure every square inch of their tiny apartment was decorated. She planned the whole menu, had sent out Christmas cards and called their siblings (even Allison, though she went straight to voicemail) to remind them daily.

Five watched her plan with exasperated fondness. He wasn't much help overall since his cooking skills were subpar at best (a lifetime of eating expired beans and cockroaches would do that to a person.) He was greatly disgruntled to find out that he wasn't tall enough to hang the Christmas lights around the room. They found out that a real pine tree gave him very bad allergies. And he generally just got in her way. Alexa never made him feel bad about this, of course (this was Alexa, after all) and she tried to find a job that suited him, but he failed spectacularly every time. If she had been anyone else, he would've gone off to sulk at the way she laughed at his attempts to help.

But, finally, the day had arrived and everything was as ready as it could be. The blonde paced the apartment anxiously as the appointed time of six o'clock rolled closer. Five had tried to get her to sit down and relax ('darling, you know our family has never been punctual a day in their lives.') but she couldn't sit still for very long. Then it was the top of the hour. Then six-fifteen. Then six-thirty.

Alexa glanced at the four top that served as their dining table. While it would by no means fit everyone, it was better than the two top Five had argued for (she'd insisted 'what if our family wants to visit? They won't have a place to sit!') The coffee table had been turned into an additional seating area to make up for the discrepancy. Her stomach tied itself in knots. Seven. Seven-fifteen.

She shook out her hands to get rid of her nervous jitters. "Oh, they're not coming. I know they're not coming. . ." she mumbled to herself, her fingers reaching up to tug on her hair out of habit only to remember that she'd put it up for the occasion.

Five noticed her movement and came over to grasp her hands before she could think about ruining the bun she'd meticulously formed. He had never been good at words of comfort but he tried. "That just means we'll have lots of leftovers, which is very practical. I mean, you did plan on Luther coming and God knows how much he can eat."

But her distressed look indicated that wasn't exactly the sentiment he'd intended to convey. As he opened his mouth to try again, there was a loud knock on the door. While Alexa all but sprinted to answer it, he slumped with relief, muttering, "thank God."

She threw the door open to reveal her. . . biggest brother, who was smiling sheepishly down at her. He held a bottle of wine, which looked puny in his large hands. "Sorry I'm late, Alexa. I—"

His words were cut off as she flung her arms around him. Her voice came out muffled from where it was pressed against his dress shirt: "oh, Luther, I'm just glad you're here."

As he hugged her back with one arm, he get a chance to peer into their apartment. Five was leaning against the back of their couch, his hands tucked into his pockets in a way that pushed the ends of his suit jacket towards his back. Other than him, though, the apartment was empty. "I'm the first one here?"

"Brilliant observation, Mongo," the teen remarked dryly.

Luther frowned, noticing Five shaking his head urgently. Deciding that the brunet had something in his ears that he was trying to get out— rather than conveying a silent signal— he asked the question that his brother had been trying to warn him against: "I thought for sure I'd be the last one. Where is everybody?"

Alexa released her brother and gave him a sad smile. "I think you're the only one who's coming."

"No, I'm sure that's not true!" he exclaimed as Five turned away, smacking himself in the forehead. "Here, why don't we have a drink and give them some time to show up?"

--

By ten pm, it became clear that none of their other siblings were coming. Luther had done the best he could in filling up the time by talking about how much he loved his new job as a preschool teacher. ('Those kids listen better than you guys ever did!') He like playing with the kids and letting them climb all over him since he was still strong, even without his super strength. He told them about how the moms seemed to like him particularly more than the other teachers but he didn't understand why. He'd even met a nice lady named Sarah whose kid, Bradley, was one of his students. She was a single mom whom he'd been getting to know since she was the last one to pick up her child. He even shared with them his attempts at finding Sloane and Deianira— mostly for Five's sake since Alexa was helping him— but all his talking couldn't distract his sister from anxiously glancing at the clock every fifteen minutes.

Four hours after everyone was due to arrive and they were all no-shows, she sighed. "Alright, I guess it's just the four of us. I'll go get everything set up."

She left the two men in what they called their living room and walked the few feet to the kitchen. There wasn't a lot of privacy in the small space but she hoped that the noise of her clanking dishes around would cover the soft sobs of disappointment that she couldn't hold back anymore. She'd been so looking forward to their siblings all being under one roof without an apocalypse over their heads. It would've been just like old times, except so much better since they wouldn't have the specter of their father hanging over them. Alexa knew that she should've expected this outcome; their family was the definition of dysfunctional. But she'd still held out hope that maybe, in this timeline, things would be different. Apparently they weren't.

Unfortunately for her, the noise of dinner preparation was not enough to hide her tears. Five's expression became uncomfortable— just look at his last attempt at trying to make her feel better— and he stared pointedly at his wine glass as if he was trying to shatter it with his mind. Luther waited to see if his brother would go and console his girlfriend. When he didn't, he hit the teen on the knee. It was supposed to be a light slap to get him to act, but Luther sometimes forgot his own strength. Five jerked away from him sharply. "Ow, Luther! What the hell was that for?"

"Go comfort your girlfriend, you asshole," the larger man snapped quietly. "Or are you so much of a dickhead that you don't care that she's upset?"

The brunet glared at him. In an equally low voice, he hissed: "of course I care that she's upset! Do you think I like to hear her crying? It's just that every time I try to help, I end up bungling it somehow! I'd just make it worse."

That took Luther by surprise. "Wow," he said after a moment. "I don't think I've ever heard you admit when you don't know something. You must really love her."

Five sighed, slumping against the back of his armchair. "I do, which is why it irks me so much that I can't do anything."

The blond studied him for a moment. "I might actually be able to teach you something for a change."

"It's a Christmas miracle," the teen remarked sarcastically. "Go on then, big guy. What moral lesson do you have for me to learn, O Great One?"

"Well," Luther said, knowing better than to address his brother's tone, "you've always been smarter than me. Us, the whole Academy. That hasn't changed. But being stuck in the apocalypse stunted your growth— literally," he added, looking pointedly at his younger body. Five glared at him. "Especially when it comes to your emotions, which is why you screw things up with Alexa."

"Do you have a point or are you just claiming to have one so you can insult me?"

"Let me show you how to do it this time so you can learn, then you'll do better when something like this happens again. I've found that kids really grasp things when they have someone to work alongside." He added hastily: "not that I'm calling you a kid physically, but you've got the same emotional capacity as they do, pretty much."

The brunet sighed. "Fine. Show me how much better you are at comforting my own girlfriend."

Luther grinned at him and clapped his brother on the shoulder, making him wince. "Will do, buddy."

The blond man rose from the couch and went over to the kitchen with Five following behind him. Alexa heard their footsteps and quickly sniffed, wiping her eyes with her back still turned to them. Once she'd regained some of her composure, she faced the men with a cheerful smile, convincing enough except for the fact that it didn't reach her eyes. Neither of the other Hargreeves were surprised by this (though the instinctual reaction made Five's heart twist with guilt) since Reginald had frowned upon emotion of any sort; when the children lost control of their feelings, they sucked them back in or dealt with them alone, away from their others. Her voice only came out slightly shaky as she greeted them with as much nonchalance as she could muster: "oh— hey, guys. Sorry about the delay; turns out the peas needed to be heated up a bit more."

But even someone as obtuse as Luther could be would notice the tear tracks still staining her face and reddening eyes past her impressive mask. Without saying anything, he moved forward and wrapped his arms around her. She went kind of limp against him, losing the will to put on the performance of being happy. Her words were muffled against his shirt as she admitted quietly: "I just wanted to have a nice Christmas dinner with all of us like the good old days."

"Were there ever 'good old days?'" Luther asked, still hugging his sister. "We never even got to celebrate the holidays as kids."

"I suppose you're right," she said with a sigh. Five shot his brother a glare as she seemed even sadder. So much for Luther being 'emotionally mature.'

"But hey— you did a great job setting everything up; it looks really good! We should take pictures and send them to everyone. Make them jealous that they didn't get to have your mashed potatoes or something. It might make them come next year."

Alexa shook her head, pulling away from the physically-older man. "Oh, no. I'm not doing this a second time; I know now that I would only be setting myself up for disappointment."

The brunet came closer to stand by his brother's side so he could take his girlfriend's hand in his. "Come on, Lexa. You had a lot of fun putting this all together. Maybe it can just be the three of us, because Luther's definitely coming next year— aren't you, Luther?"

Luther remained oblivious to the teen's sharp tone, but nodded in response to his question. "Yeah! Yeah, of course I'll be here."

"Why are you encouraging me? You didn't even like decorating," she stated, pouting at Five. "You complained the whole time!"

"I complain about everything. I'm old," Five pointed out blandly at the same time Luther answered, "he complains about everything." (That earned him another glare from his brother.)

"Well. . ." she hesitated, looking between the two men, whom she knew were doing their best to cheer her up (she was grateful to them for trying.) "I'll think about it, I guess. We still have to eat the actual dinner I made, so maybe it'll turn out that I'm a terrible cook and should never make Christmas dinner again."

But she said this with a little more brightness to her tone and her smile became more genuine as she returned to her task of plating up the food. Luther nudged Five (though his 'elbowing' was much more forceful than any of their other siblings.) The teen winced, rubbing his side as he scowled at the blond. "What?"

Luther grinned at him and, in a low tone, muttered, "see? That wasn't so hard, now was it? All you have to do is be nice. Although. . ." He trailed off, as if considering something, "I'm not sure if you can manage to do that, so you might just be a lost cause after all."

"Shut up, you lumbering oaf," the brunet snapped with a glower. (Still, he hoped he could remember what to do when the occasion would arise again, as it certainly would.)

☂︎ ☂︎ ☂︎

[ the fourth year ]

Luckily, the Hargreeves improved in terms of their Christmas traditions. To make up for their absence last year (and with a little bit of threatening— er, prompting— from Five), Diego and Lila invited their youngest in-laws over to help wrap presents for Christmas. Five still felt uneasy around his niblings at this time, so he mostly sat back and watched the goings-on or hid out in the kitchen where the coffee was (although that didn't stop him from complaining that it was shit.) Alexa, of course, was all in, but even she needed a break from the chaos sometimes.

She decided to take a brief respite in the kitchen as well, where her boyfriend was already sitting at the counter. He watched her enter the room, noticing the red ribbon that she'd stuck on the top of her headband. "What's with the headgear?"

She grinned at him, reaching up to pat the bow. "You like it? It's because I'm the present."

"Mm," was his only response as he took a sip from his mug.

Alexa's expression brightened when her eyes landed on a package of candy canes. She hurried over to it and took one out, unwrapping it before she stuck the straight end in her mouth. The pair sat— or stood— in a comfortable silence while she enjoyed the treat. She felt a burst of renewed Christmas energy from both the sugary sweetness and fresh, minty flavor. The blonde closed her eyes and let out a contented sigh as she savored it, remaining oblivious when she suddenly had Five's full attention. Finally, she felt the weight of his gaze and opened her eyes.

Thinking she'd figured out the reason for his staring, she took the candy out of her mouth and held it out to him. "Want some?"

"You. . ." He cleared his throat, blaming his unexpected hoarseness on the coffee he was drinking. "You know I don't like sweets."

"So, what, the apocalypse ruined one Twinkie and you're never going to have dessert again?" Alexa asked in disbelief.

He smirked at her over the rim of his mug. "Oh, I'm going to have dessert alright. Just not the kind they sell in grocery stores."

She frowned at him. "Like those high-end chocolates that mom-and-pop shops sell? Yeah, I can see you being the kind of picky person who would have those."

"I'm not picky," he huffed. "It's called having standards. And no, not that kind of dessert either."

As the blonde pondered exactly what kind of dessert he meant, she returned the candy cane to her mouth.

His girlfriend was trying to kill him, Five thought as he stared and stared and stared. He knew that the simple act of her eating candy shouldn't have him this worked up, but he blamed it on his teenage hormones— the last year he could use that excuse— and the fact that, apparently, he was a very horny bastard. Or maybe it was just Alexa who made him feel this way. Alexa, with her miniskirts that she insisted on wearing even in the winter (he'd forced her to put on tights so she wouldn't get frostbite.) Alexa, with her bubbling warm laugh and bright, bright eyes. Alexa, who could make something as innocent as eating a candy cane become the sexiest thing ever.

He watched as she drew the stick out of her mouth smoothly as she liked to get rid of all the red stripes first. He watched as she twirled it around in her mouth to 'spread out the peppermint flavor.' He watched the tip of her pink tongue dart out of her mouth to lick lightly up and down the candy cane. How could he not stare when he knew exactly what that pink tongue could do? When the end of the stick got too thin, the point broke off and some of the peppermint treat got stuck on her soft, full bottom lip.

The blonde took the sweet out of her mouth, her tongue darting to lick her bottom lip to scoop the fragment of candy into her mouth. She gasped as the answer came to her. "I know! It's those chocolate bars with the flakes of gold in them, isn't it? You don't find those in the grocery store."

It felt like he'd been plunged in cold water; Five had completely forgotten the subject of their conversation, far too enraptured in observing his girlfriend. Letting out a breath of irritation that she'd unintentionally interrupted his steamy thoughts of her, he abandoned his coffee. He came closer to her, causing her to give him a confused be pleased look. The teen plucked the candy cane from her fingers and placed it on the counter. He pressed against her, trapping the girl against the counter as his hands found her waist.

His voice came out low and husky as he replied, "that's not quite it, either. Would you like a hint?"

"Okay," Alexa answered breathlessly (because she knew what was coming, and what was coming would be very, very good.)

Instead of kissing her forcefully like she'd expected, Five's lips brushed against hers softly, gently parting her mouth with his own. Her arms came up to wrap around his neck since he always hated it when his suits got wrinkled— and fuck, his suit; she loved it when he wore them and was very glad it was a staple of his wardrobe— to pull him closer. Five filled her senses, flooding them with the taste of coffee and the earthy smell of the outdoors. She could feel his desire for her pressing between her legs.

Alexa's lips— already sweet— were now sticky from the candy cane. Five couldn't hold back the quiet groan he let out as his tongue entered her mouth, the burst of peppermint turning his brain to mush. He reveled in the fact that there was nothing else that he had to think of (not the apocalypse, or his family's imminent demise or survival) besides kissing his girlfriend. (Well, he did consider moving his lips to trace a path along her jaw and down her neck. And he cursed himself for making her wear tights. Yeah, brilliant idea, Five. But other than that, he could wholly concentrate on drawing out the little squeaks and breathless gasps from her.)

Unfortunately, the blonde was a bit more self-aware than her boyfriend was and, just as his hands were starting to creep under her sweater, she leaned as far away from him as the position allowed her to. "Fi, Five, we can't! There's kids in the other room," she protested, panting slightly.

He only hummed in response. Now that his lips weren't occupied with hers, they followed through with his second plan of trailing across her skin. Her objections faltered (because she really, really didn't want him to stop) as his teeth found the soft spot on her neck that made her resolve crumble. Her eyes fluttered shut. Why did she want him to stop?

Bright, childish laughter filtered through their bubble. Alexa gave him a very light push against his shoulders. "They-they might walk in here!" she struggled to get coherent words out. "We can't scar them for life!"

"They're not our kids," he mumbled against her skin.

"Diego would kick your ass if he found out that you ruined their childhood," she pointed out, her mind clearing now that Five had paused for a moment. "You don't want to get on the naughty list so close to Christmas."

The brunet reluctantly pulled away, though his green eyes were still heated as they met hers. "But isn't being on my nice list more important?"

She giggled, her cheeks flushing pink under his gaze. "Keep it in your pants, old man. Just for a few more hours." She stood on her toes to let her lips brush against his ear, and she could feel him shudder as she spoke: "I promise I'll make it worth your while."

"I'll hold you to that," he murmured.

☂︎ ☂︎ ☂︎

Alexa was impressed that Five's retirement phase had lasted this long. She knew that, as much as he claimed to want peace and quiet, his genius brain would never let him settle down. Hours of walking, bird watching and even photography couldn't keep him occupied forever. By their third year, she could see that he was growing listless without purpose. He'd only grown worse by now, their fourth Christmas in the new timeline. He kept prodding her with questions about her work at the CIA and especially about the 'personal project' (regarding the Keepers, as Lila had found out they were called) she'd mentioned to him.

She still refused to let him anywhere near an organization like the Commission but she brainstormed other ways of keeping him entertained (not like that, for once— actual hobbies he might like.) She remembered the items on the list she'd made in the original timeline for couple-y things they could do if he ever returned. So, after coming up with plenty of ideas that he was sure to enjoy and/or complain about, she thought about the best format to present them in. With Reginald Hargreeves as his father and his work as a field agent, Five was very 'mission' oriented; even something as simple as a trip to the grocery store was viewed as a mission with objectives that needed to be completed. If she just suggested something like 'go to the movies,' she would be met with his grumpy-old-man attitude and they would never leave the house.

The idea came to her in a brilliant stroke of genius (if she did say so herself, thank you very much) as she was looking up ideas that old people might like. The term Bucket List was mentioned plenty of times, so she thought that that might work. But this wouldn't be any old Bucket List; it wouldn't have a trip to Italy or bungee jumping. No, it had normal, every day activities that would help Five further adjust to life without powers. Plus, she had to put her own spin on it; it would just be too boring to give her boyfriend a written list of ideas and say 'here you go.' She was the type of person who went all out, especially when she was excited about something. Alexa wished she would have thought of it sooner but it was better late than never.

Since they were usually short on money or wanted to save it for more important things, both she and Five had agreed that they'd keep presents to a minimum. They got each other one or two gifts for their birthdays and Christmas, but that was it. Alexa's were almost always homemade while Five got her jewelry or books. The present opening time never took long because of this, which neither of them minded as it meant they could get onto the next, more enjoyable part of their morning faster.

This year, Alexa picked up her wrapped present and bounded forward to thrust it at her boyfriend eagerly, an excited smile beaming on her lips. He met her gaze with a bemused expression as he took her gift. She sat back down next to him, her blue eyes very wide as she watched him with bated breath. Her fingers twisted her pajama shirt nervously as her heart beat quickly in her chest; she'd put a lot of thought into this gift and she really hoped that Five would like it.

Her boyfriend, of course, was the world's slowest unwrapper. Probably because he'd spent most of his life scavenging to survive, he always opened his presents carefully, never tearing the paper so he could reuse it next year. The brunet smiled a little as he listened to his girlfriend's impatient huffs— he knew she was just barely managing to hold back from unwrapping the present herself. Once he finally uncovered it, he was greeted by the sight of a book— a journal, to be precise. But instead of blank, empty pages and a clean cover, the book was already fat from use.

Bits of different colored paper stuck out at odd angles around the top, sides and bottom. When it had been new, the journal had probably been an inch thick. Now, with paper, glue and who-knows-what-else, it was almost as wide as his hand. The front cover was every bit as colorful as he was sure the inside was: the main words were cut out using different magazine letter fonts, each one a unique shape and style that spelled out 'FIVE'S B.U.C.C.E.T LIST.'

"B-U-C-C-E-T List?" he asked, spelling out the letters in an intrigued sort of way. "What does that stand for?"

The blonde clasped her hands together, her eyes shining happily as she burst out: "It's your Bucket List! Get it? 'Cause you're old? Except it's not just any Bucket List: B-U-C-C-E-T stands for 'Becoming an Underage, Common Citizen Experience in this Timeline.' Y'know, because you've never really had a normal life so I thought you could use a guide."

The corners of his lips quirked up in amusement. "That's not how you spell bucket."

She deflated a little, disappointed by his lack of excitement. "I know. And I know you're not really underage anymore either, but it was really hard coming up with words that made the acronym work."

Noticing the slump of her shoulders, Five made an effort to push past his need to be right all the time. He switched his focus to opening up the book. Sure enough, each page was a dazzling explosion of color. Some of the words were handwritten, others were typed or spelled out using the same method as the cover. He slowly turned each page, admiring the art and effort Alexa had put in to the present. He read things like 'go to the movies' and 'learn how to fold laundry.' Each objective was paired with a drawing, painting or cut-out of the activity. Every page also had four slits in a square-ish shape, which he pointed to curiously. "What're these for?"

"Pictures," she explained in a calmer tone (he winced inwardly as he realized he'd failed to give her the reaction she'd been hoping for.) "I thought a good way to check each item off would be to record the memory as we make it and we could put them in here."

Five stared at her then, the sudden understanding of what she really meant by this gift dawning on him. It was to help him, yes, but she'd said we. We. It meant that she wanted to spend more time with him and do things together. (And sure, they already did that, but this felt different, more meaningful somehow.) Swallowing past the emotion that was building in his throat at how thoughtful her gift was, he went back to looking at the images. He wondered how much of her time and heart she'd spent pouring into the project just to give it to him in the end. And then he came to what was quite possibly his favorite entry: road trip.

The words were hand-drawn in the style of an atlas title. The accompanying image (also drawn with impressive accuracy) was the upper north part of the United States. Places were marked with red circles, arrows pointing to them with words like must see! or best pie! When the words cow henge caught his eye, froze. The gears of his brain turned and he went back over the points depicted on the map. Brownsville Big Nickel. Ricky's Bakery. They weren't just any destinations: they were the ones he'd picked out for their road trip with Klaus.

"You. . ." his voice came out faintly, almost wavering from the shock. "You remembered. . . All of these are from. . ."

"Well of course I remembered!" the blonde declared, looking surprised at how stunned he was. "It was our first real outing-date-sort-of-thing-that-Klaus-crashed. This time we won't have any missing mothers to search for or cows named Henry or Kugel waves. We'll actually get to finish— oomph!"

Five had never been very good at expressing his emotions verbally, so he figured he could better convey them physically. He all but launched himself at Alexa, kissing her sloppily at first until he managed to get into the right position. She fell backwards from the force of his impact, the wind getting a bit knocked out of her as her back landed on the floor. That didn't stop her from kissing him back. Gasping from his frenzied kisses, she laughingly protested: "Fi, Fi, hey— I'm not going anywhere—"

He finally pulled away, though not very far. He braced his forearms against the floor to keep most of his weight off her, his face still very close to hers. Their noses brushed as his breath came in soft pants, his eyes a brighter, lighter green than she'd ever seen them before. His hair— which he'd been growing longer, much to her delight— tickled her face.

Alexa knew that the love she felt for Five was apparent every time she looked at him; she was never one to hide her good emotions and wanted to make sure that her boyfriend knew how much she cared about him. Five made sure she knew the same in return, though he was more guarded with his feelings and usually kept it to being shown through physical touch. For the first time that she could remember (although he'd certainly gazed at her like this before, just when she wasn't looking), he was regarding her openly, with all the love she usually looked at him with. Her breath caught in her throat and she hoped she would always be able to recall this expression on his face, even if it never appeared again.

"Lexa. . ." his voice was soft, almost hesitant as he seemed to gear up for something that was taking a lot of courage for him to say. He ran his tongue across his lips, her eyes momentarily tracking the motion. She watched him swallow. His body, pressed against hers, tensed as if it were going into flight-or-fight. The gentle look in his eyes became steely with determination. "I love you."

She stared at him. 

Had she heard him right? 

She'd waited years and years to hear those words from him (in English.) Had he really said them? Her heart thrummed the rhythm: finallyfinallyfinally— "Say that again," she breathed out, desperate to make sure she hadn't just imagined that.

His lips curled into a faint smirk. Leaning closer to her, he brushed his mouth against hers. "Alexandra Hargreeves, I love you."

"I love you too," she replied, elated giggles slipping past her lips as she looked at him in awe. "I can't believe you finally—"

"I know," he murmured. "I'm sorry I made you wait so long. I'll say it every day to make up for it."

"I'll hold you to that," Alexa said, echoing his words from before. She reached up, tangling her fingers in his hair as she pulled him in for another kiss, slower this time but with the same passion. As his hips came down to press against hers, she knew that their after-present-opening-activities wouldn't make it to the bedroom this year.

A/n: I had no idea how to end this chapter. . . oops. Anyway, Five finally said 'I love you!' I definitely wanted to include that scene in this book, though it was either going to be this chapter or the next one. (It kind of just wrote itself into being.) Also, this is as close to smut as I'll ever write; even just doing this much felt cringy. Also-also (on a completely different subject) I can totally imagine Luther having some kind of leadership position since that's what he's been doing his whole life, so I made him a preschool teacher.  He deserved better in s4 so that's what I'm gonna give him <3

I hope you guys like long chapters because this one is almost 7k words and they're not getting any shorter (apparently I'm a wordy bastard.) Once we get to the canon material (only two more chapters to go!) they'll probably go back down to 3k or something (or not, lol.)

Anyway, if you want to picture the Christmas sweaters Alexa got her siblings, just use the ones from that holiday photo TUA posted (which is where I got the idea from.) Just imagine Five wearing the sweater I described instead of the UA uniform one.