Title: Fire On Fire
Pairing: Five/OC
Summary: There's a reason he named the mannequin Delores.
A/N: Three-shot like the last one!
Fire On Fire
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Then I saw you and I knew
Maybe it's 'cause I got a little bit older
Maybe it's all that I've been through
I'd like to think it's how you lean on my shoulder
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Part I
She's nine when her father first takes a job working for Reginald Hargreeves, the reclusive billionaire.
Her mother had passed away not long ago and seeing as how she'd been the breadwinner in the family, her father had been forced to take on multiple odd jobs just to make ends meet. She doesn't mind, though. Because if not for the struggles she and her father had gone through, she wouldn't have met him.
She's not exactly sure what job her father's interviewing for, but she knows one thing for sure. This is the biggest house she's ever seen.
Sitting in the lobby on the most comfortable armchair she's ever been in, she swings her legs happily as she waits.
"Who are you?"
She whirls around to see a dark-haired boy standing behind her, arms folded. He's wearing what looks to be a school uniform, complete with pressed shorts and black knee-high socks.
She smiles widely. "Hi! I'm Delores. What's your name?"
He merely stares at her for the longest moment, but when he finally does reply, he says, "Five."
Delores is thrown. "Like...the number?"
"Is there any other?"
"I suppose not..." Delores falters for a moment before smiling blindingly again and asking excitedly, "Do you live here?"
"I wouldn't be here if I didn't." His voice is slightly annoyed, as though he thinks she's asking too many questions. She doesn't care.
She gapes. "It's a huge house! It must be so nice to live here!"
"It's acceptable." Five narrows his eyes and returns to his original inquiry, "Why are you here?"
"My daddy is with Mr. Hargreeves right now. For an interview."
Five's eyebrows draw together in puzzlement. "An interview. With my father?"
She nods. "Uh-huh. He's been looking for another job for a while now, so I hope he gets this one!"
"I see." From the expression on his face, he still looks skeptical but he doesn't press the issue any further.
Delores is pleased that he makes no move to leave her there, it had been getting sort of lonely. She looks around and notes that the large house is quiet and she wonders if he lives here alone with his father.
An idea pops into her head.
Delores stands up suddenly and clasps one of his hands in hers. Five stares down at her likes she's grown two heads, but she doesn't care. It's been so long since she's been able to hang around someone her own age. "Let's be friends!"
"What..."
"I live pretty close to here and I have a good feeling about my daddy getting this job so maybe I can come by more frequently!"
"Uh..."
Before he can agree or deny—she really hopes he'll accept—they're interrupted.
"Delores."
She looks up and straightens happily. "Daddy!"
"Mr. Hargreeves wants to meet you."
"Me?" Delores is confused as to why the rich owner of this house would want to meet her.
Her father nods and beckons to her. "Come along now."
"Okay!" She drops Five's hand, not before giving it a little shake again, and smiles widely. "It was nice meeting you!"
She hurries after her father.
"...Likewise."
※
She's ten when she first shows Five what she can do.
"Can I show you something, Five?"
He looks up from the cards spread out between them. They're both sitting cross-legged on his bed and Delores leans in, whispering conspiratorially, "Daddy says I should never show anyone besides him and Mr. Hargreeves, but there's no point in keeping it from you. Especially since you're my best friend!"
Five lowers his cards and shrugs, clearly not expecting much from her. "Sure, go ahead I guess."
Delores pouts. She'll show him.
She clambers off his bed and smoothes down her skirt before straightening and facing her friend, who watches her expectantly. Her eyebrows furrow in concentration and she screws up her face, preparing to use her power.
Five's eyebrows arch in surprise when she spins on her foot and her features twist up, morphing into something entirely different.
She turns to face him and now Five is looking at a mirror image of himself, albeit a much happier one. She lifts her arms and exclaims proudly, "Look!"
He doesn't speak for a long while, and Delores is a little proud of herself for rendering him speechless. It's usually the other way around, with his sarcastic comments and vast knowledge of all things in the world, really.
And then Five sets his cards down, and his voice is unusually calm, as though he's trying a little too hard to hide something. "When were you born?"
Delores is surprised that he asks that as the first question, especially after what she had just shown him. Although, since he and his siblings were extraordinarily gifted with special abilities, maybe it makes sense that he isn't particularly shocked. She turns on her foot again and transforms back into herself.
"October 1st, 1989. Why?"
Five opens his mouth and Delores swears that he's about to reveal some massive secret but instead, he just shakes his head. "No reason. That's my birthday too."
Her lips open and form the shape of a small 'o'. "That's so amazing! What a coincidence!"
Five doesn't look too impressed about it, but Delores is far too used to his unusually mature and sarcastic personality to wonder any further. Sometimes though, she'll look at her friend and can't help but be a little sad because she always gets the feeling that he had been forced to grow up a little too quickly. She gets the same feeling sometimes when she runs into his siblings. It's a strange family, but she doesn't mind. She quite likes hanging out with them. Especially Five.
And then something dark flashes over Five's face and she's taken aback for a moment, but it disappears in the next second so she must have been seeing things. "My father knows about what you can do?"
Delores climbs back onto the bed and nods. "Uh-huh! He's also been teaching me, sorta."
He frowns. "I see."
"Are you..." Delores tugs nervously on her ponytail. "You're not...mad at me, are you?"
Five looks surprised at her question. "Why would I be mad at you?"
"For...for using your appearance?" She's hesitant. She's never shown anyone else before, and she really hopes she won't ruin her friendship with Five over this. Her father had warned her about the dangers of people finding out about what she can do. Maybe she should have chosen to turn into someone else. But then he speaks and her fears dissolve.
"No." He shakes his head and smirks at her. "It's pretty cool, Delores."
She beams.
"Not as cool as what I can do though."
"Hey!"
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She's eleven when she gets her first ever birthday present from someone who's not her mother or father.
Five hands her the box without any pomp or circumstance and simply sits next to her, waiting.
"For me?" asks Delores eagerly.
He nods.
Delores tears open the large box impatiently, tossing the wrapping paper off to the side where it falls on the floor of Five's room. She gasps, overjoyed. Sitting in the box is the most beautiful sequin backpack she's ever seen. It's white with blue and pink shades glittering when she rotates the bag from side to side. Her mouth falls open. It's too pretty. And it looks quite expensive. She can't accept this. It's just too much. Delores shakes her head and starts to push it back towards Five, but stops when she sees the expression on his face, as if just daring her to try and refuse his gift.
She reluctantly takes it back.
"How did you know I wanted a new one?" Delores asks, fingers running over the backpack adoringly.
He shoots her a look that she's all too familiar with. It's the one she always gets when he thinks she's asked a stupid question.
"You've outgrown your previous one." Five leans down and plucks her old backpack off the ground, shaking it in her face. "Look at how many sequin disks are missing. I don't think it even sparkles anymore. This is certainly not a bag fit for an annoyingly happy and talkative girl like you. It looks like someone drowned this bag and threw it into some dust and mud."
Delores ignores his snide remark and throws her present on the bed before wrapping her arms around Five out of affection. Even though he doesn't show it often and most people probably wouldn't describe him as such, she thinks that he's one of the kindest and most thoughtful people she knows. She leans in and gives him a great big kiss on his cheek. She doesn't pay attention to his shell-shocked expression or the way he lifts his hand briefly to touch his cheek, she's too absorbed with her gift.
"I love it! Thank you." Delores releases Five from her clutches and suddenly claps her hands to her cheeks. "Oh! I nearly forgot."
She snatches her old backpack and rummages around in it, pulling out a small package. It's wrapped messily with wrapping paper, but she had tried. It's hard to wrap a present. Delores hands it to him. "For you. Happy birthday!"
Five peels off the paper and holds up his gift to look at. It's a charcoal drawing she had made of him, settled nicely in a wooden frame. The idea had come to her a while ago. They had been in the courtyard a few weeks back, practicing their abilities, and Delores had glanced over at Five to see him staring off in the distance. He had looked so regal and proud, chin tilted upwards, and she just hadn't been able to help herself, her little artist's fingers twitching keenly.
"I didn't really have money to buy something I thought you would have liked," Delores says anxiously, picking at her fingernails. "But I put in more time into this and I hope you like it."
Five gazes at the picture intensely, eyes tracing over every detail. And then there's just a brief pause pause before his lips turn up in a smile. "I like it. It's really good. Thank you."
His smile widens and Delores is ecstatic. She had found out long ago that it takes a lot to make him truly smile, and it's so different from his usual smirks and false grins and she really likes it. She thinks he has the most beautiful smile she's ever seen.
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She's twelve when she sees a movie in an actual movie theater for the first time.
Delores looks around nervously, wondering where Five is. She's never sneaked out of her house before, and she hopes dearly that her father won't find out. She doesn't want to worry him. He has too many gray hairs as it is.
"Here."
She jumps. Five is standing beside her, holding two tickets up in the air. "I got us tickets."
Delores gapes and asks incredulously, "Did you...steal those?"
Five shrugs, unbothered. "The ticket office was unattended. Their own folly."
She purses her lips, but doesn't argue.
They head into the theater, Delores bouncing excitedly on her toes while Five strides alongside her, one hand shoved in his pants pocket. It's one of the few times she's ever seen him out of uniform, but she thinks it makes him seem younger and happier.
They find and head into the auditorium that has the title of the movie emblazoned boldly on a sign: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. Five had been talking non-stop about this movie for a while now and even though she had kind of wanted to go see a new cartoon movie that had just been released, Delores found it hard to deny him anything, especially when he talked about it so intensely while pacing back and forth in his room.
They settle into their seats without issue, and Delores's fears about getting caught for not paying for the tickets quickly dissipate.
It's nice, she realizes, watching a movie with a friend. Five occasionally leans over to whisper criticisms about specific scenes and she has to struggle to keep from giggling. It takes a while for her to register that he starts to do it just to try and make her laugh and Delores pinches his arm when she realizes this.
The movie goes on until she grows more and more fearful, wrinkling her nose and slouching down in her seat, nearly lifting her hands to cover her eyes. Five notices and turns his head. "What's wrong?"
"He's scary."
Five laughs, though it's more of an amused snort, and someone a few rows in front of them shushes him angrily. He rolls his eyes. "Gollum's not real, you know. What you're seeing is nearly all just computer graphics."
Delores glares at him. "I know, but he's still weird and kinda gross..."
He's still looking at her funny, with one eyebrow raised and a smirk playing around the corners of his lips.
She pouts and contemplates simply escaping to the bathroom.
And then something warm covers her hand and Delores glances down in surprise to see Five's larger hand over hers. She opens her mouth, unsure of what to say, but closes it again when she looks up at his face. He's still facing forward and watching the movie, but his lips are curved up in one of his rare smiles. The light from the screen casts an incandescent glow across his features.
Delores bites her lip.
She flips her hand over so her palm is facing up and pressing against his. She feels Five stiffen next to her, likely mistaking her motion for dismissal, but before he can withdraw, she laces her fingers through his tightly. And it's then that she realizes that she's no longer scared.
There's a brief moment of stillness before his fingers curl down, brushing over her knuckles.
Delores's heart thumps unevenly.
※
She's thirteen when Five disappears.