Our Souls Complete Each Other Like a Puzzle

by Too Young to Feel This Tired

Vanya was left speechless. The three rooms, she had a perfect view of, were packed with countless items, books, old newspapers, old vacuum cleaners, coffee machines, photos, empty boxes, clothes, and just all sorts of junk. 'Fuck,' she didn't even bother to hide her absolute shock upon seeing this,'When was the last time you cleaned in here'

Title: Our Souls Complete Each Other Like a Puzzle

Summary: Vanya was left speechless. The three rooms, she had a perfect view of, were packed with countless items, books, old newspapers, old vacuum cleaners, coffee machines, photos, empty boxes, clothes, and just all sorts of junk. 'Fuck,' she didn't even bother to hide her absolute shock upon seeing this before she brushed her face and looked at Five, 'When was the last time you cleaned in here?'

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

---

Maybe there's a universe out there — happening now — where we end up together. Maybe there's a universe where I'm the right person for you. Where I adore every nice thing you did for me without starting to resent you. A universe where you actually end up with someone who appreciates you. Where both of us can shed our baggage and curiosity and issues. If you think of it all this way, then it's like neither of us did anything wrong. You just found me in the wrong universe. That's all. Because you could have loved me forever. And maybe in another universe, I let you.― Gaby Dunn

---

'I don't really understand how could Mr. Hargreeves be avoiding this for almost two years now?' was the first thing Vanya asked after her boss presented her with the bizarre case. She had been working for the company for almost five years, and this morning was the first time her boss called her by the correct name and asked her into his office to discuss a case. About a week ago one of the partners passed away and all his good cases and clients were mostly divided with the hotshots or gunmen in the company. Only boring ones left for people like her who weren't all that favored in her boss's eyes.

'I supposed your predecessor was slacking off on this one. Not to mention, apparently, refused to give the inheritance up or accept it, and since there is no time limitation, the will just continue to sit in John's office. It would be beneficial for your future career, Ms. Babkin if you would manage to get him to finally make a decision. Otherwise, the house and all other inheritance of late Mr. Hargreeves just continue to rot,' said the old man with a calm expression on his face. Vanya wasn't sure what exactly did her boss not like about her, but since day one she felt like she was more of a secretary for the people around her than an actual lawyer.

'Of course. I won't let you down,' she said while she took the files he was giving her before leaving his office and rushing to her small desk in the bullpen. Yes, she still didn't even have an office or shared office which she considered her personal failure as most of her colleagues much younger and less experienced seemed to have one after two years.

She went over the file trying to see if her predecessor left any notes or special instructions, but it seemed like he never even visited Mr. Hargreeves only forced summer interns to take a try. Not necessarily odd, since Vanya knew the man was a lazyass who rather started all day into his young perky assistant cleavage than actually got something done. Then again, he was dead and if Vanya wanted to avoid a guilty conscious she should avoid such thoughts.

There wasn't much to go on from the notes of inexperienced inters though. Just that Mr. Hargreeves refused to make a decision about the will and whether he should accept or refuse his inheritance and avoided any more contact with the interns who were dealing with the issue.

Personally, Vanya thought they just didn't want to speak with anyone stubborn enough to refuse to make a decision like that and tried to get more work and experience on other cases in the office. Otherwise, she couldn't really explain it. Why didn't they try harder? Could a man like that really be that difficult?

She parked her car outside the man's house. It was a nice enough house on the outside even if the front yard could use some work. But it definitely didn't look like something of a potential billionaire. Vanya didn't really understand the reasoning behind why someone would delay the matters of inheritance like this. If he didn't want the inheritance he could have just refused it and be done with it, but the man purposely sent the interns away or made it two years without making a decision. It puzzled her, maybe a bit intrigued as well.

All in all, she got out of the car and knocked on the door taking a step back as the force of her knock got it to open. It looked like it was left like, but was it an accident or purpose?

Weird

'Hello?' she asked trying to glance by the small crack into the dark hallway of the house.

Weird and creepy

She briefly tried to remember if she had someone who would notice her desk being empty if she got kidnapped, tortured, raped, and murdered here today before she tried again calling out louder this time, 'Hello? Mr. Hargreeves?'

The door suddenly opened so quickly it caused her to let out a small gap.

Damn it!

In front of her was now a homeless man blocking her vision of the house. She was sure the man had to be a homeless person as he was dressed in a variety of old and used looking clothes with his beard and long hair not taken care of in at least a couple of years. His eyes looked bloodish like he was drunk or just woke up and in general, he looked like he hadn't shower in a couple of weeks, maybe months. She wouldn't be surprised if she saw him in some alley pushing a shopping cart with his things from one dumpster to another.

'Uh, I'm here to see Mr. Hargreeves,' she said slowly very much wondering if she shouldn't call the police that someone broke into Mr. Hargreeves house.

'My father's dead,' he said blinking at the woman, and then started to look for something inside his pockets.

Vanya opened and closed her mouth not sure what else to do than to stand there and watch the odd man as he continued to search for something within his clothes in every single one of the fifty pockets he seemed to have on him.

'Uh, you…you're Mr. Hargreeves?' she asked carefully not sure she believed that it could be true.

The man barely glanced at her, 'Mr. Hargreeves was my father.'

'So you're Mr. Hargreeves's son,' she said. She knew it sounded dumb, but she felt like she could allow herself to be an idiot for a second if only to be positive that this homeless-looking man was truly the man she was looking for.

'People just call me, Five,' he said and finally found what he was looking for which was apparently a notebook.

'Okay, hello, I'm Vanya Babkin from Hobbs and-'

'Do you have a pen, Vanya?' he asked and looked up at her after another this time unsuccessful second search of his pockets. She was still too shocked by his appearance and presence that she didn't even comment on his rude way of addressing her and actually went to pick up a pen from her briefcase.

'Thanks,' he said and moved away from her to the wall where he started to write something into the notebook.

'Right,' said Vanya slowly looking at the man and then looking behind her as if she expected someone else would be standing there. Someone who would explain what the hell was going on here.

When she was sure no one was there to answer her disbelieve with some sanity, she turned back to the man, 'As I was saying, I'm Ms. Babkin, and I was sent here from the law firm that deals with your late father's will and the inheritance he left you-'

'Did you just decide you wanted to be a lawyer or did you only now managed to pass the bar?' asked Fire Hargreeves suddenly cutting her off again.

Vanya took a step closer at the man, 'Excuse me?'

His eyes remained on whatever he was writing, 'Well, up until now all they sent were freshly out of school interns.'

He stopped writing and put the pen along with his notebook back into one of his fifty pockets on the way to the large and old clothes he was wearing.

His eyes, as she only now noticed were green yet icy, looked her up and down for a moment before he finished, 'You're not an intern.'

'I'm not,' she said knowing he didn't ask before he stated it.

Both of them watched each other for a moment, and Vanya didn't know why but she became strangely upset feeling like she should defend herself, 'The lawyer who was responsible for your father's will passed away. He was the one who sent all those interns. The case was passed to me, and I assure you I work for the firm for about five years.'

'Why?' asked Five Hargreeves and crossed his arms over his chest not necessarily in a hostile way since he followed up by pressing his side against the doorway. He looked tired, exhausted even. Maybe bored? Was she boring him?

'Why-what? No. Look, we need to discuss your father's will. Please let's stay on the topic. It's been two years. A copy of the will was given to you already so you know there are no conditions or anything like that. There is really no reason for you not to accept, but if that is your decision then you can just refuse and the state-'

'Did you want to be a lawyer?' he asked cutting her off again.

She had to take a deep breath and forced a smile not to tell him something unprofessional, 'Mr. Hargreeves-'

'Was my father,' he said looking now really like she was boring him.

Vanya watched him for a moment before she looked away. She dealt with enough men in her work to know that sometimes she needed to make them feel in charge even if she hated it, 'Mr. Five Hargreeves,' she forced out noticing the corner of his lips moving upwards, 'you have to make a decision…,' she paused as she suddenly thought she smelled the smoke coming to no doubt from the inside of his house, 'Is something burning?'

Five Hargreeves blinked at the before he looked somewhere above her like he was thinking. He was quite a lot taller than her which with the large number of clothes he was wearing made him look massive although she suspected he wasn't all that fat, 'I was making breakfast.'

Vanya's eyes widened upon hearing that, 'It's almost 1. P.M.'

'Oh,' he said looking genuinely like he didn't know, 'Well, bacon is good any time a day,' replied the man, not even a bit startled by the possibility that his kitchen might have been on fire.

Vanya moved past Five Hargreeves to what she assumed was his…junkyard?

Seriously?

Vanya was left speechless. The three rooms, she had a perfect view of, were packed with countless items, books, old newspapers, old vacuum cleaners, coffee machines, photos, empty boxes, clothes, and just all sorts of junk.

'Fuck,' she didn't even bother to hide her absolute shock upon seeing this before she brushed her face and looked at him, 'When was the last time you cleaned in here?'

The man shrugged his shoulders carelessly before he pressed his back against the wall at the only place not covered with something. At his left, he had three white folded chairs and at his right, he had some large box with…was that a still packed Christmas tree?

'When I moved here,' he said suddenly catching her off guard as she completely forgot her question due to the state of the house. How? How does one person live like this? She heard of hoarders and untidy people, but this was a new low. This should be put into the Guinness World Records book or something.

'When I moved in before the furniture and things from my old house came I cleaned everything up,' he said, and Vanya watched him for a moment trying to catch some sadness or hint of what happened and why hadn't he-why he just left it-why-

Just why?

The smoke hit her nose again, and she blurted out, 'Kitchen?'

He nodded at one of the rooms, and she rushed over quickly turning off the stove and opening the window trying to get the smoke out. The kitchen looked even worse with some many things there Vanya didn't even know where the towels were so she just waved the smoke out with a book on String Theory.

'Careful with that one. I only read it sixty times now,' said the man as he followed her into the kitchen. It occurred to her she shouldn't have stepped into the house without his permission, but she doubted the man would call the cops on her even if she was sure he was insane. Maybe they could use that to write him out of the will instead of dealing with him.

'If you wanted to read it again why was in the sink on top of a cereal bowl?' she asked nastily before she could stop herself. She was just so thrown off by everything about the man.

'I read it when I eat cereal,' he said and sat down on the only chair that didn't have a box full of marshmallow packages or an old coffee machine.

'That's insane. You're insane,' she said before she could stop herself and placed the book on the counter instead of keeping the window open to clear the air. The bacon that Five Hargreeves was making properly ruined.

He was insane. He had to be. Her boss sent her to deal with a lunatic. He was a hoarder who looked like a homeless person who clearly couldn't function or live on his own. She should call the police or some mental institution? Someone? Anyone! A person like him needed care and to be watched over 24/7 and-and no way, Vanya was capable to deal with this stranger and his insanity. Maybe she could leave. Give the case up? Tell her boss?

'So why a lawyer? You don't seem like the type,' said the man again seemingly incredibly fascinated with her decision to go to law school and ignoring the comment about his mental state.

'You look more like a teacher in middle school. Also a bit fragile. Do you have a cat?' he asked again looking her up and down, 'You look like a cat person.'

She carefully turned around to Five Hargreeves thinking she was going to murder him.

---

They ended up in the ER, and no before you ask, she didn't commit any form of violence no matter how tempted she was. She walked close to a tower of newspapers and books in the hallway and noticed a flip-flop, a freaking flip-flop was peeking out from the middle. How on earth does a person forget a flip-flop between books and papers was beyond her, but she decided against her better judgment to pull it out and caused most of the pile to fall down on top of Five just as he was telling her not to do it.

And no, they weren't rushing to the ER because a pile of papers fell down on him.

Once Vanya helped him undug himself out, she noticed that his palm was quite red, 'Did you get hurt?'

Five didn't seem to be fazed by it as he simply rolled his sleeve up revealing to Vanya that his entire arm was covered within a red rash, 'What the hell? How long do you have that?!' she demanded alarmed.

'What day is it?' asked Five looking like he just woke up. Like seriously? Did he hit his head or something? Maybe he wasn't insane but there was something seriously wrong with him.

'Tuesday!' she snapped at the man who looked even more confused, 'Date?'

'Twenty-fifth,' she said and watched in horror that the man's confusion didn't go away he was still thinking.

'Of April,' she added only for the man to nod and lazily look at her, 'So a month and a half.'

Before she would get an aneurysm, Vanya forced Five Hargreeves out of the house into her car and drove them to the ER, where she was debating her life choices up until the moment she knocked on the man's doors.

'It's just a rash,' said Five and shrugged his shoulder.

Vanya didn't hesitate to full-on glare at the man.

Who-like who in their right mind who has a fully paid insurance will delay going to see a doctor about a spreading rash for a month and a half?

Vanya asked him that many times during the ride over to which the man replied that he was busy and then asked her if she was a bad lawyer.

She was tempted to hit a red light and kill both of them, 'What?'

'Your car is kind shitty for you to be a good lawyer,' commented Five and scratched his bread.

Vanya forced the murder-suicide thoughts away from herself and turned the radio loud enough to block the annoying man that was threatening her sanity out until they made it to the E.R.

Luckily, while she wrote the documents for him, he was able to tell her all his info.

'So you're not an idiot, you just like to pull my leg and annoy me?' she asked after he told her his social security number to write it down into the form the nurse at the front desk gave them. Why was she doing this again? He clearly could write it himself since he used the hand occasionally to write something in that notebook of his.

He smirked and turned to look at her somehow looking amused.

What a jerk!

He leaned closer to her, oblivious to any form of personal space their faces almost touching and Vanya's pulse spiking from irritation and some embarrassment, 'You know you make a cute little pout when you're annoyed.'

She would have frowned, but she assumed that was what he wanted so she took another deep breath and shook her head trying to lean away, 'I didn't. I will try not to make it again.'

'Wouldn't recommend it. I will just try harder to annoy you-'

'Look, Mr. Five -'

'And no, I'm not an idiot. I'm a theoretical physicist. It's by definition smart,' he said his smirk softened a bit which made him look very young despite his beard and rough features, 'I wouldn't want you to think I'm an idiot.'

She watched him for a moment deciding he meant it before she said, 'I think you're insane, and a jerk.'

He didn't seem to upset about that maybe even more delighted, 'I can live with that. Prefer it actually. I want you to know exactly who I am.'

Vanya once again found herself looking into his icy green eyes wondering what the hell was going on and why was she still with this man before their heard nurse call out his name forcing them to look at her breaking the moment. Thank God for that!

'She's coming with me,' said Five as he stood up, Vanya quickly shook her head, 'No, I'm not.'

'You drove me meaning you are invested in my wellbeing-'

She desperately threw her hands up at the absurdity of his argument, 'Yes, but I'm not going into an examination room with you-'

They went back and forth for a while until the nurse told them to get their asses into the room because they were holding the line.

That smug bastard let her stand by while the doctor gave him a shot into the butt.

'Looks, like you're up to date on all your shots, but just to be sure,' said the smiling middle-aged doctor who assumed they were a couple. How could anyone assume she, dressed in a pencil skirt heels and the white blouse was with someone who looked like he crawled out of a dumpster was beyond her, but before she could say anything the man's butt was on display with that smug look on his face, and Vanya had to check herself not to let out a startled scream or turn completely red.

Asshole

---

After she drove him home and went home herself, too tired to argue about the case anymore, Vanya spent the better part of her evening looking through everything she could find on the younger Mr. Hargreeves almost impressed and confused how could such a respected and clearly brilliant physicist become that what she witnessed today. He was worldwide known in his field. He won many awards. His works were always published and received positive reviews. So how did he end up like this? Or better yet how was he able to function like this? Since clearly he was still working and publishing papers.

While taking a sip of the glass of wine, Vanya needed after her encounter with the man, she even glanced at the few photos of the man before his beard and self-destruction. He was quite handsome when he was younger. She could admit that when she was tipsy. But back to the point-

What the actual hell happened?!

Feeling a bit better she glanced at her briefcase knowing the documents she needed Five to sign were left there untouched.

She would need to come to visit him tomorrow again.

Great

She should have taken the middle-aged doctor up on the offer and shove the needle in his ass herself. She aggressively finished her glass and tried not to think too much about tomorrow and her new battle with a madman.

---

The next day Vanya tried to come early to Mr. Five's house. Earlier enough that she would have time to spare for a coffee run before coming to her office. She also hoped she would catch the man awake already, and come to work on time.

'Mr. Five Hargreeves-'

'Didn't you call me Five yesterday?' he asked as he opened the door, but before she could answer or start her speech again, he already started to make his way to the kitchen.

Taking a deep breath to remind herself he was just doing it to push her buttons she followed him.

'Would you like some coffee?' he asked her and reached for the only white mug with an umbrella on it from a cupboard that was full of mugs, spoons, and more books, 'No.'

Actually, she could use some coffee since she didn't have much time to get one before coming here, but there was no way she was accepting anything from a man who ignored a spreading rash on his skin for a month and a half.

He glanced at her, 'You look like you could use it.'

She shot him a look thinking rude before she said instead, 'I would like you to hear me out and deal with the issue that I was sent here to solve by my firm.'

He glanced at the mug seemingly not even listening to her which almost made Vanya tell him something nasty again before he handed her the mug, 'You can wash it yourself if you don't trust me. I won't mind. You won't offend me.'

She wanted to tell him she didn't want his stupid coffee. She wanted to be done with him and leave, but knowing she really wanted the coffee she grabbed the mug and went to the sink to wash it properly knowing Five Hargreeves was smirking behind her in that self-confident way that made her want to punch him and leave.

The coffee was perfect. Heavenly even. And based on the price tag she noticed on the label, expensive as hell. Figures the mad physicist wouldn't hire a cleaning lady, but would totally spend the same among on caffeine.

'Come, I will show you my work,' he told her after a second and already started to lead her into what she assumed was the living room although with all the junk and no couch, TV, or chair it was hard to tell.

The room was just full of boards with formulas and equations on some parts even the wall was full of it. Most of it didn't make any sense to Vanya. She was never that good with math and sciences, but she did recognize the formula of the theory about time and timelines that he was most famous for as she spent yesterday snooping around his life with the help of google.

'You saw it before,' he commented after he noticed her staring.

She shrugged her shoulders and tried to make it seem like she was busy trying to cool down her coffee, 'Did you like it?'

She grimaced for a second, but when she looked up at him, she found he looked rather serious which was the first time she saw him like that since she met him. It puzzled her that he looked so focused and serious. She doubted she had anything productive to tell him that he hadn't heard before a million times from people who had no clue about his work like her, 'Uh, the reviews were great and you got a lot of awards for it, so I guess it was good-'

'But did you like it?' he asked again and took a step closer stopping in front of the board.

She looked at it again feeling a bit self-aware when she admitted, 'I'm not that great with physical theories. I didn't really get it.'

It made her feel bad to admit it. She wasn't an idiot. She passed the bar and got through her law school without cheating so of course, she wasn't an idiot. But she knew her limits when it came to the level of math Five was dealing with. It was a bit hard to admit it though.

She would assume he would drop the matter, but instead, Five found a piece of chalk and started to explain to her his theory breaking it down into little pieces until she actually understood it.

'Do you like it now?' he asked still looking at her, even if she didn't she would say yes, just to make him stop looking at her so intensely and maybe a bit to get him to smirk again, 'Good. I'm glad.'

She had a feeling it was more than good, and that she unlocked something that wouldn't be so easy to close again, but for now she enjoyed the rest of the expensive and delicious coffee until it was time for her to get to work again forgetting the reason why she came in favor of how pleased Five looked with himself.

Despite the beard and messy close if she looked hard enough she could see the handsome young man he used to be.

---

The third attempt happened after two days since Vanya needed to catch up on some billing hours or she would once again be at the tail of the firm. She got there during the morning, and this time let Five make her coffee again knowing it was okay since she was present when he washed the mug. Again the one with the umbrella on it.

He took her to the living room again. This time there was a chair in the middle of the room.

'Take a seat, please,' he said and rushed to one of the boards, 'This is a new theory. It's not very practical and sort of complicated so feel free to stop me with any questions anytime-'

'When will you sign my papers?' she asked while taking a sit. The papers were left inside her briefcase this time. She decided she wouldn't pull them out until he would agree to sign them already. No point in losing another pen. He still didn't return the one he took from her during her first visit.

He glanced at her with that smug smirk she grew familiar with and annoyed at the same time, 'Ever heard of the string theory-'

'You could just sign them and be done with it-'

'It's a theoretical framework-'

'If you didn't want to deal with your dad anymore you could have just signed and never have to-'

They went like this, back and forth for almost an hour. Good thing, she came very early over which made her wonder if Five Hargreeves went to bed early or not at all since he always looked exhausted and like the type who would stay up late working if he ended up on a good wave.

'Do you ever sleep in?' she asked cutting his rambling causing him to actually stop talking for the first time since they started their rude interruptions, 'You work from home. You could work any time during the day.'

Five smirked and turned back to the board, 'Only when I wake up next to some pretty brunette.'

She let out an embarrassing gasp feeling her face heating up, 'I didn't ask-'

'And yet you did,' he said and wrote another equation. She could hear the smirk in his voice and picture the look on his face. He liked to embarrass and annoy her it seemed. She wondered why she put up with it still. She was should have left and not come back a long time ago, right? She was reasonable and intelligent and liked her life the way it was. Simple. In control. This was a deviation.

She cleared her throat a bit, 'You're just saying that because you hadn't had a breakthrough in months.'

He shot her a look, but just as his eyes landed on her they sparkled and his smirk showed up, 'I will get there, and I'm saying it to push your buttons. I like to pout, remember?'

'I'm not here for your entertainment, you know. I want you to sign those papers so we all can be done with,' she said and Five turned back the board, 'You're partly here for my entertainment, and partly because you help me work. I like talking to you. It helps to focus. Better than with Delores.'

Vanya blinked, 'Who's Delores?'

He went upstairs and came back with an upper half a female mannequin without a wig, who was wearing a polka blouse, 'She's great an all, but it's hard to upset her. She's a calm person by nature. You fire up pretty quickly.'

Vanya had plenty of things she wanted to say or ask when Five sat the mannequin on top of one of the boxes full of books. After the initial shock and scare passed over, and she calmed herself that if Five was a real murdering psychopath she would already be dead, 'I like her blouse.'

'She likes your hair,' commented Five and returned to the board again picking up his chalk.

'Thanks,' she said looking at the mannequin. She had to admit she had a lovely face. If she was a lovely lunatic madman who needed to talk out loud about his work maybe she would enjoy talking to her as well.

Or maybe she was slowly picking up his insanity as her own.

The mannequin-Delores was looking at her with a strangely calm and knowing look.

Yup, I'm definitely catching some of his insanity.

So why didn't she leave already?

---

Throughout the month she came over almost every other day either before or after work depending on how busy she was. Five always seemed to be up, and always made her and himself a coffee. The mug with the umbrella on it was pretty much hers by now. He almost always took her into the living room and talked about his theories or something else dodging most of the questions about the documents, law firm, his father, or if he needed a shrink.

'No need, my employer had me tested,' he assured her as he made them a grilled cheese sandwich. After the last visit when Vanya forced him into washing his dishes helping him dry them up, he had plenty of plates.

She didn't buy the tested thing one bit, but she didn't have any proof.

Just as they started to eat Five on the only chair that didn't have a box of something or books on it, Vanya the chair from his living room with Delores on the space on the counter Vanya cleaned up for her earlier, the lights went out.

It was just then Vanya realized since Five show her to Vanya, they started to bring her around like she was the third part of their group.

They were quiet for a moment just sitting in the dark chewing their food before Vanya stopped questioning her sanity and asked 'Five?'

'Yes, Vanya?'

'Did you forget to pay your electricity bill?'

'I might have,' he said calmly and based on the sound and zero attempts to stand up continued to eat.

'I guess based on the fact that all the lights went out it's more than likely that you did,' she said.

'My god, I think you're right,' he deadpanned which almost made her chuckle a bit. She knew by now he wasn't offended. He never seemed to be offended by anything she told him about his pig dumpster life.

She took another bite of the sandwich and wondered why she was still coming over if she knew she couldn't possibly convince him to deal with the inheritance issue. Was she lonely? She had a few friends or people she talked to at times. She still had her mom living in her old childhood house. It had been a while since she had a serious relationship though. Maybe she really was lonely. Still, why would she want to cure that loneliness with someone like Five? Sure, he was interesting and didn't seem to care that he was letting a stranger into his house every other day. Maybe she was inhaling some fungus in the house that was messing with her judgment. Maybe it was because of the delicious coffee and tasty grilled cheese. Yeah, it was probably because of the coffee and cheese. She also liked to look at Delores, but that might have been because she was really nice to look at.

'If she's your sex toy, I am never carrying anywhere again,' she told him as a matter of fact, 'Please, she's a lady, and I'm a gentleman. We figured we're better off as friends anyway.'

'But I'm almost sure I know where I put it,' he said finally.

They spent the next half hour looking through the buttload of unopened mail from Five's bathtub with flashlights and their phones providing the necessary light, 'Why in the bathtub?'

'I have another one upstairs,' he replied while opening letters from work, organizations, water company and etc.

Vanya shone the light from her flashlight into his face causing him to let out an annoyed growl, 'Vanya-'

'Do you use it?' she asked skeptically as even after weeks of their meetings he didn't improve his wardrobe although now that she thought about it. He didn't always wear the same horribly looking clothes.

'Do I smell?' he asked back and tried to get the light out of his face.

Vanya flashed him with it again causing another pained growl to escape him. It was true. He never actually smelled. He looked like he might, and if he left his food in the kitchen to spoil or rot that smelled, but not him, 'So you shower and put on close from the garbage?'

'They're my clothes, and I'm in my house, who cares?' he asked and tried to get the light away again.

'You went dressed like that to the E.R,' she pointed out dodging his attempts and taking some small pride in his upset noises of discomfort from the light going into his eyes, 'You kidnapped me into the E.R.'

They found the electric bill, and Five paid it. They spent the rest of Vanya's time there eating on the now empty tub inside Five's downstairs bathroom bringing Delores to watch them in the light of their phones from the sink.

'You won another award,' she commented as she remembered seeing it in one of the letters.

'Don't you just hate it when that happens?'

She rolled her eyes, 'You're a jerk.'

He chuckled, 'You like it.'

Now, that wasn't true. Vanya had dealt with many jerks in her life. She worked at a law firm. It was given that they were jerks, clever jerks, confident jerks. She dealt with them a lot so she doubted she would decide to spend more time with another one if she didn't have to. No, there was something else that forced her to continue her visits to Five's house. She just wasn't sure if it was just because of the coffee, food, and his mannequin.

'No, even close,' she said confidently before she asked, 'Do you think Delores hypnotizes a person to just keep on staring at her?'

'I don't think she's that manipulative,' he said and both of them look up at her, 'I think she just has one of those faces. They draw you in.'

She watched her face in the dark with the only light from their phones and flashlights. It should be creepy, and maybe it was a bit, but with Five next to her, his presence like a beacon, it didn't feel scary.

When she turned to look over at him, she caught him looking at her his statement now resonating in a completely different light. His eyes were ice green even in the dark, but his face looked soft. His rough features seemed to melt under the brief light. He looked younger like the man whose picture she secretly watched every night she came home in the privacy of her house wondering where did he go. She wondered if something happened which caused this downfall. But was it really a downfall? He didn't look depressed. He looked amused most of the time. He was insane and a jerk, but there was too much life inside him to believe he suffered through a great deal a trauma. However, she couldn't be ignorant or naïve enough to think he didn't. A person could never know if another person didn't suffer. Despite beards not really her thing. Vanya had to admit just like Delores, Five had a very pleasant face to look at. Calming, entertaining, and thrilling. Definitely thrilling. On an impulse she almost reached out and touched it, but, luckily, holding the plate and eating the sandwich keeping both of her hands busy stopped her. She still wanted to though. She wasn't sure if she wanted to touch his cheek, lips, nose, chin, forehead, beard, or hair. Just that she wanted to touch some part of him. Touch him. Maybe it was the intimacy and intensity of the dark and insanity around her.

Five was right. Some faces just draw you in.

'I get that,' she said, finished her cheese, and went to leave. She could tell herself this was a bad idea, and she should stop coming some other day. She was done for tonight. She would leave on a positive note.

---

Over the course of the two months she started to visit Five Hargreeves, Vanya was always expecting her boss to come to talk to her, but maybe he forgot he even gave her the case. It wouldn't be the first time. It was frustrating. But Vanya noticed a few years ago that she was pretty invisible in the firm. It wasn't a bad thing. No one ever seemed to blame her for anything like they did the others, but it also wasn't a good thing if she wanted to get new clients, cases, and a better position.

'Did your mother want you to become a lawyer?' he asked her as she was working on some other case while sitting on the old chair in Five's living room. Delores was probably somewhere upstairs. Five said she sometimes needed a break from his rambling.

Before she started to visit Five altogether, most of Vanya's evenings were filled with her catching up on the work she missed. She slacked back after she started to meet Five, but figured she could get some work done while she was in the house. He didn't seem to mind, but something he just liked to have her around to mumble like the crazy person that he was while she was breathing in the room.

Now, that she thought about it, it sounded pretty creepy.

The question caught her off guard as one moment, he was explaining to her something about M-theory and the next looking at her with his raised thick eyebrow.

'No,' she said automatically. She did. More or less. But Vanya felt too defensive to admit it to Five even now. It was probably due to the way he asked things like that. Like he was making her life look miserable. It wasn't true. Sure, her life wasn't perfect, but she had a place to live and a good-paying job. Some people she considered friends. She would never call her life miserable, so she hated when Five tried to imply it was.

The man was barely functioning and living in storage full of junk, who was he to judge her life?

'So she wanted you to have a good well paid suited job?' he asked again causing her to frown at what she was writing. She felt a headache coming her way. She was probably tired. She hoped she didn't need the glasses her doctor warned her about if she didn't cut back on exhausting her eyes at night the way she was doing now.

'Why the sudden interest with my mother?' she asked, her voice close enough to snappy.

'You hate your job. I think you knew before you started law you would so why bother? The answer is parental pressure,' he said simply, and she shook her head crossing her arms, 'My mom just wanted me to have a good job, a good life.'

'Boring and lonely life,' he commented with his back still facing her.

She stopped writing and stared at the file she tried to balance on her knees thinking why was she even there in the first place. She wouldn't be able to convince his mind about the inheritance. She should have given the case up weeks ago.

Her eyes remained on the case file. She was tired. It was close to 7 P.M. She should have gone home a long time ago. She was waking up early to have some time before her work to come over and went to bed late thinking about her cases and trying harder to do better with no real results. It was annoying and his comments didn't help her to avoid an upcoming headache one bit.

She heard him let out a sigh, 'I'm sorry.'

She looked up at him his back was still to her with his hand holding the chalk and absently hitting the same spot on the blackboard over and over again, 'That wasn't…that was rude and cruel. I'm sorry.'

She decided not to say anything and try to see how far he would take it. It was impossibly rare for him to ever admit he was sorry like that.

He turned around for a second looking a bit nervous as he said, 'I'm obviously not the person who should discuss anyone's parents' issues.'

She watched him carefully, 'Why do you push it? Always trying to get me to talk about my mom?'

He looked away his face revealing a sudden frown, 'Maybe because I know what it's like when a parent pushes you toward something he claims will be a better life for you even if you hate it.'

He glanced at the chalk for a moment before he looked back up at her, 'But the difference is I didn't listen to my father's decision about my future. You did.'

They continued to watch one another before Vanya looked back down, 'My life is not boring. I'm friends with a madman living in a junkyard who's probably the smartest person in the state.'

'Just the state?' he asked, and she could tell she got him to pull that clever smirk of his, 'I feel insulted.'

She bit the inside of her cheek to avoid smiling. She didn't have the heart to torture him more, 'Good.'

She started to write again expecting him to do the same before she heard him say, 'But you are lonely.'

'Not right now,' she looked up at him, 'You?'

'I'm never lonely with you,' he said, and instead of a smirk offered her one of those small smiles that made him look young and soft like he should be handled with care. The more often she saw that smile, Vanya actually thought about handling him just like that.

---

'Are you free on Friday night?' Five asked her as they were watching some married couple argument from Five's front porch. It seemed the wife caught the man cheating and was throwing all his things away. Every one of Five's neighbors seemed to be outside watching the show.

'Why? Need me to help you get rid of the colony of bacteria living in your fridge?' she asked. She stopped bringing the briefcase over two weeks ago.

'I clean it every month,' he said, and she looked away from the shouting match. It was hard to know for sure with Five. Sometimes he looked like the definition of a person who couldn't function and kept his mail in the tub, never washed his dishes, and then she would find out he showered and did weekly grocery runs.

Weirdo.

He was a total weirdo.

'Do you have plans?' he asked again this time looking a little bit more serious not as serious as when he was telling her about his theories but definitely not as bored as he seemed a moment ago.

'No,' she said not even trying to hide the fact she had no plans on a Friday night. Somehow seeing Five dressed like a man without a plan with his life on the bridge of collapsing and yet not really made Vanya be more honest with him and herself that she was a bit pathetic. She still argued with him, but mostly cause it was somehow thrilling and fun, even if annoying. Maybe she liked that her life was a bit more exciting with Five.

'Do you want to go out with me?' he asked.

'Out where?' Vanya asked like an idiot before Five's look made it clear what he meant.

Oh

It wasn't like Vanya didn't have a love life. It had been a while since she had been on serious dates because well she was busy, and she didn't found anyone interesting. Despite what her colleagues loved to think of her, she wasn't frigid or a future cat lady or someone who needed help with finding the right partner.

'Vanya, what about you and the gentleman you have been dating? Kevin? Keith?'It was Matt, and it ended like two years ago.

'Vanya, seeing anyone? You know you're not getting any younger, yes?' I was fucking twenty-nine. Leave me alone!

'Vanya, would you like to meet my son/nephew/brother. I'm sure you two would hit it off.' Sure, I would love to go on a blind date with your relative whose either closed homosexual or has some other habit that I will grow to despise the longer I will be seeing him.

Not that Vanya could say any of those things because she was raised to be a good and nice person and not a rude goblin monster.

The point was everything in Vanya's life was clean-cut unlike Five Hargreeves's beard or anything in his life. He didn't fit her life in any aspect. She liked things to be clean, in their position, in their place, perfect. Five Hargreeves didn't fit. He just didn't. Not to mention, she was trying to get him to sign those damn papers and get him out of her life before he would throw it into even worse chaos with his madman habits and crazy ideas and lack of cleaning or anything remotely close to a system for anything in his life. Whatever it was that they were doing was just…friendship. Like the weird friendship you made with a stray cat that you feed whenever it shows up. Wait-but that would make her the stray cat-The point was that Vanya couldn't possibly date or go on a date with someone like Five. They were sort of friends, but she still needed him to sign those documents she kept on forgetting to bring, and- and he was messy, and –countless of other things and-

How the hell did he even function?

She said yes.

---

Vanya regretted her decision the minute she was out of the door. It was insane. No way, she was actually going to go through with it. Agreeing with an insane person to do something insane was in its core insane and therefore made her an insane person as well.

When he texted her the next day asking if Friday at 6 P.M worked, she was tempted to write she was sick, or she made a mistake or ignore his text altogether, but as if once again she got possessed by the demon of purely spontaneous and crazy ideas she snatched her phone and typed biting her nails in the process waiting for his next message.

Wear something that you like. Anything.

She cursed loud enough for the whole office to hear her. She kept her head down to avoid their stares and tried to calm down and think.

Wear something that you like. Anything.

What the hell was that supposed to mean?

Yes, she had been on dates before, and some told her to wear something nice or specific if they were heading somewhere other than a restaurant but this made literally no sense to her. Was he playing with her? Was this all a prank? Maybe this was just his way of making fun of her. An older woman who was pushing him to make a decision about his dad's will and who seemed lonely and pathetic enough to fall for it.

Well, if that was the case the joke was on him because she was in no way falling for that. And that was why she called in sick on Friday and spent half of the day trying to do something about her hair regretting not going to a proper hair salon and then another half trying to decide what to wear.

She should have just canceled although.

Her feet were starting to kill her in the heals and the dress she chose was lovely in her opinion but always made her feel a bit too exposed. It was dark green expensive hanging on her only by two silly straps and fitting her like a glove leaving her at times trying to check if it didn't disappear and she wasn't left there naked.

She knew she looked good based on how many people from the office tried to hit on her when she wore it to a dinner party last year, but she didn't necessarily like it as Five requested or feel good wearing it. But it was a date, and it was like a part of the whole idea to look good, better than usual so she swallowed her insecurities and doubts and walked outside.

She came out three minutes earlier even if she was by the entrance already, but she figured she would look less desperate if she waited a bit.

It was a nicely warm but not overly hot evening, but it didn't help her nerves to calm down.

It would be horrible if she canceled now, wouldn't it?

'You look nice, but I think I told you to wear something you actually like,' said a man who was standing close to her.

She noticed him when she opened the door out of the corner of her eyes, but never in a million years she would expect him to be Five Hargreeves. He looked jaw-droppingly handsome which caused her self-esteem issues and anxiety to hit a new high. There was no way, she could go anywhere with someone as good looking as him.

She always had a problem with the way she looked. She was too short, skinny, and pale looking almost unhealthy no matter how much makeup she put on which only made her feel like a clown. The dress already left her torn between wanting to look good and feeling she was trying too hard, but now it left her completely vulnerable and in the need to go back inside look the door, and never see Five Hargreeves again.

He shaved. That idiot, who was tormenting her life since day one, now shaved his stupid beard and actually looked like a member of society. Furthermore, wearing an expensive suit with his hair nicely tugged behind, he looked like a member of the high and sophisticated society. No way in hell was this the same man who was living inside the junkyard she started to visit this year.

Not sure what to do or say she let out a terribly desperate sigh, 'I'm sorry, this was a mistake. I…I can't. You're a potential client and-'

'I think you just need to change into something that you like. Something that makes you feel good,' he said with a smirk that now without the forest of his dark beard in the way look even hotter.

She tried to shake her head and mumble a weak excuse about a headache, but Five somehow managed to get her back into her building, up the stairs, and into her apartment before she even knew what was happening.

Only once he marched into her bedroom, her freaking bedroom like it wasn't a big deal, Vanya tried to stop him, 'Hey, I didn't say it was okay for you to come inside or here.'

She found him going through her closet, 'This is highly inappropriate. Can you stop it?'

'You saw the doctor give me a shot into the butt, I think were passed appropriate things,' he reminded her moving the hangers with her clothes, 'Cute place by the way. Very clean.'

His eyes sparkled when he looked at her with that smirk playing across his lips again. Now, he was mocking her for sure. It was a game or something for him. She was sure of it.

'Not all of us live like pigs,' she told him wishing she could have come with a better comeback crossing her arms over her chest, 'And by the way, I only saw the doctor give you a shot because you requested me into the examination room.'

He continued to smirk returning his gaze to the clothes, 'Well, I was scared and wanted to see a familiar and friendly face. You didn't fit any of those, but close enough.'

She almost called him something nasty but in that very moment he managed to pull out her old suit, 'Oh.'

He looked it over his smirk turning into something a bit softer. Something she already caught a glimpse of a few times before, 'What's this?'

Vanya uncrossed her arms not in the mood to argue anymore, 'I bought it for my first performance.'

Five glanced at her, 'You play something?'

'No,' she shook her head before she looked away, 'I used to. The violin. I got accepted into this music school, but…it didn't work out so,' she took the suit out of his hands and put it back into the closet trying to chase the melancholic thoughts away.

Five took it out again, 'Wear it.'

'Five,' she started, but he pushed it into her hands, 'Wear it. You kept it for a reason. You bought it for a reason. These dresses aren't you. You could have bought a fancy dress for the performance. Why this suit?'

'It doesn't matter-'

'Do you like it? You kept it,' he pointed out and raised his eyebrows.

She bit her lower lip. She didn't want to admit she thought about putting it on during those hours upon hours she was trying and failing not to panic.

'What this dress doesn't suit me?' she asked trying to maybe make him feel a bit unbalanced as she felt in that moment. Torn between not giving him the satisfaction and actually trying the suit on.

'This dress makes me want to throw you onto the bed and fuck you,' he said causing her to let go of her lip and watch him with her mouth open. She didn't expect him to say it out loud like that right now completely changing the air between them and making it painfully clear that they were both in her bedroom in front of her bed.

'And that's a problem because-?' she asked cursing mentally at her shaky voice.

Five smirked. He didn't try to take a step closer, but he was close enough for Vanya to think about cutting the distance herself and kissing that smug look out of his face for good.

His green eyes sparkled, 'I always want to fuck you. It doesn't matter what you wear,' his voice was a bit rougher than before. She wondered if it meant that the situation was turning him on just as much as it was her, 'I want to take you out to dinner first, and I want you to wear whatever you like and feel comfortable.'

He glanced down at the suit and carefully raised his hands running his finger through the fabric and pressing it against her dress and body all while keeping his hypnotic gaze on hers. It was easily the hottest thing that happened to her in almost two years if not more.

'Try it on. If you will want to change afterward fine by me,' he said and took a step away. It didn't necessarily break the moment, but it helped Vanya cleared her head a bit.

She glanced at the suit. The one and only time she wore it was ten years ago. She knew most of the clothes she wore in high school still fit her, so it would probably as well. She thought it would be her lucky suit when she bought it. She loved how she looked when she first put it on. Looking back at all the things he pushed her into she wasn't all that surprised when she nodded at the door, 'Get out.'

'Not even a preview?' he teased, his eyes looking somehow greener and more amused than she ever saw them before.

'OUT!'

He chuckled and purposely walked closer enough to her that their shoulders brushed leaving her to smile a bit and roll her eyes not able to deny she was amused and feeling oddly good. Once she was sure he was gone she put the suit back. It fit perfectly and despite her annoyance made her feel good about herself.

'Can we go now?' she asked when she got out.

Five stood up from his place on her couch putting the book he stole from her library on her coffee table with seemingly no intention of putting it back. Rude.

The way his eyes traveled over her body made her want to rethink the whole fuck her in her bed idea and ditch dinner, but when his handsome face smiled actually smiled she decided to humor him and herself a bit longer.

'You look stunning,' he told her, and she could tell he meant it. It was probably the first time, she didn't feel insecure about how she looked on a first date. Maybe it was a lucky suit after all.

---

The dinner went well. Better than she would imagine. Five was eccentric, hell, he was weird. But during the dinner, he acted like a nice-looking man from the high society at least by the standards of how he sat on the chair and stopped talking about flesh-eating bacteria and potential second Chernobyl disaster whenever someone came to the table. It wasn't strange or awkward. One moment the waitress tried to catch his gaze, but he purposely kept looking at Vanya. She would give him credit for the dedication. She felt good. If it happened with anyone else, she would get annoyed or feel insecure, but with Five, she just felt relaxed and actually good.

He got her home and walked her to her front entrance where they remained standing for what felt like forever.

Vanya had no idea why. She tried to say goodbye, but he somehow turned it into a small talk that puzzled her. Did he want to kiss her? If he did why didn't he do it already? Did she want to kiss him? Maybe?

'Why? Why do you have to be so freaking complicated why can't you just for once not cause me to lose my mind questioning what the hell do you want?' she asked him finally after what felt like ten minutes. Her longest goodbye after a first date for sure.

He watched her for a moment with his eyes raised probably due to her outburst, but what could she say? The man knew how to push her into dark corners of her psyche.

Five was suddenly in front of her so close that their chest touched which given that she was breathing hard due to anger made it even know profound against his calmly rising and falling one.

'I've always been on point about what I wanted,' he told her simply with confidence he always seemed to possess in everything he did even when he looked like a homeless person.

'No, you-'

'I like you, so I asked you out,' he cut her off and looked down at her lips making it a bit hard to focus on his words. Especially when he licked them.

'I knew you would prefer men without the beard, so I shaved. I knew you liked men with suits so I put one on,' he told her his voice going lower and huskier. It sounded hot.

'I wanted you to enjoy yourself so I told you to wear something you like,' he said, and she felt his hand gently run across her side, 'Do you like this suit?'

Vanya swallowed a bit looking into his green eyes that were slowly pulling her in as if she was meant to be lost inside them forever.

'Yes,' she finally admitted.

'Do you feel comfortable wearing it?' he asked leaning closer to her their foreheads almost touching.

'Yes,' she said with a bit more courage standing a bit higher even. Now their foreheads were touching.

'May I kiss you?' he asked, and his breath warmed her face.

She felt like the time stopped.

Her eyes glanced to his lips that were in a perfect if not the slightly intense line. He was nervous. Not as much as he was when he thought he hurt her feelings for real. But a little bit. Enough for her to notice and feel more in control than before.

'No.'

Maybe someone else would have taken it as a hint to back off or try to convince her to allow him to kiss her, but Five smirked for a second before he asked, 'Would you like to kiss me?'

'Yes,' she said instantly.

They both remained waiting against the door to her apartment building staring at each other. The whole moment felt Electric causing Vanya's body to feel more alive than she ever did before. The tension was ready to snap any moment, and Vanya could feel it in everything from the air around them to every single cell inside her body.

Neither of them moved before Five sighed but continued to look pleased with himself as he asked, 'Kiss me, Vanya,' his smirk was sharp enough to cut her fingers if she would try to touch it, 'please.'

She grabbed him by the collar and pulled him toward her determinated to wiped that stupidly handsome smirk off his face by pressing her lips against putting every bit of passion she could summon at that moment into the kiss to blow his mind away.

Of course, kissing him felt deliriously good.

It was like she was standing on top of a cliff ready to jump into the water. She felt shivers all over and the butterflies in her stomach tapped their wings against it reminding her of the time she was thirteen and fell in love for the first time. Made sense kissing him would threaten to throw her life off balance just like everything else he did to her so far.

His hands were on her back pulling her just as close while he returned her eager kisses. The smirk no longer presented on his face which gave her some satisfaction before the moment pulled her away back into the chaos of feelings and passion.

It was surreal. He was surreal. How did anyone like him even exist?

She pulled at his lower lip and ready to cry by the desperate growl he let out. It was too much. She wasn't like this. She almost never kissed anyone on the first date. She didn't date friends. She didn't date madmen living in a junkyard who forgot to pay their electric bill and kept their mail in the tub. This was ridiculous… and irresponsible…and-their foreheads were still pressed together when he broke the kiss because they would have died without air otherwise. She almost felt like she ran a marathon breathing hard and pushing at him, their foreheads touching, breaths mixing, everything unbalanced, and too fast and too much-

-and not enough.

She pushed him into her apartment. True to the good girl she always tried to be never deviating from any of the social norms looking at any sort of deviation with embarrassment or shame, Vanya never had sex anywhere else but the bed.

She knew it was dull, but she was dull. She wasn't interesting. She wasn't any more than who she was. A pencil pusher for a law firm who did her best but never really shine like a star. Maybe because she didn't put her heart into it and lacked the ambition. Maybe because she secretly did hate it as Five suggested. But honestly, she couldn't imagine herself being anyone else. She wasn't above the average smart, pretty or good in anything. Once upon a time, she thought she was when she played the violin. But that was so long ago, she could barely remember it. She was just an ordinary woman living her ordinary life. No one special. No one extraordinary. The only exception in her otherwise dull, boring, and unremarkable life was Five Hargreeves. Her continuing visits and interactions with the madman genius were just a complete and unexpected deviation in what her life had been for the last couple of years.

She loved it.

It should have terrified her. It should have made her leave that very first day and never come back.

Who willingly spends their free time with a lunatic?

Maybe someone who was an even bigger lunatic on the inside.

She found herself pushing him against the ground pulling at his clothes not even undressing him or herself properly but more like tugging them out of the way. This wasn't like her at all. But since she befriended Five she either hadn't been herself at all, or she only started to become herself. Her real self. Maybe she just never wanted anyone as much as she wanted Five Hargreeves right now. Maybe until that moment, she only ever had sex because her partners wanted her, and she just went along knowing it was how things went.

Maybe it didn't really matter because when she got on top of him and pushed him inside her everything else faded away, and Vanya Babkin was only left to do one thing she hadn't since she first learned what the word practical meant. She started and let herself just feel. Her thoughts ran loose between her fingers impossible to catch them even if she wanted to. She focused on the movement, the icy green color of Five's eyes, the way his fingers bruised her sides, and how their breaths echoed in her living room.

He let her.

Five let her do whatever she wanted. He let her set the pace, move on her own, touch him wherever she wanted to. He let her be in charge of the person, she didn't even know she could be.

His hand moved under her suit jacket stroking her side again tickling her, 'H-hey,' his breath was uneven and voice shaken. It felt good, thrilling to know she could cause a reaction like that from him.

'Still…with me?'

She nodded and leaned down to kiss him. It was all too rash, too sudden, too chaotic, too irresponsible, completely not like her at all-

-and not enough.

---

After their first time, Five pulled her into his arms and let her breathe against his chest trying to get over the aftermath and what just happened. She would expect herself to be in shock, but somehow she wasn't. Instead, she kissed his chin and leaned away to strip all the clothes that were still on her while he did the same before they went again this time against the back of her couch. By the end of the weekend, they managed to do it almost everywhere in her apartment leaving the bed for sleep most of the time.

Vanya found it funny. She liked it. Five was good. Eager. Passionate. Persistent. Wild. He touched her like he wanted to map her out or tried to perform an experiment to see what would make her feel good. It was amazing. But it was also intense and fun. Until Five, Vanya didn't think it could be both.

'Okay, why didn't you refuse the inheritance?' she asked as they were laying naked in her bed in the late evening on Sunday too tired to go again yet to awake to fall asleep just yet. They were in that moment where all the pressure was gone, the things that were always in the process ran their course leaving them in a moment of peace in each other process able to just enjoy themselves.

Five rolled to his side and kissed her shoulder softly, 'Even if I refuse, it would still mean he got me to interact with him, make a decision, deal with him. One last time.'

He rose his hand and let his fingers run over her back all the way to where the sheets were covering her butt and legs, 'Last time I spoke with him it was a yelling match, and I told him I never wanted to deal with him again. He promised I would. He promised he would force me to that he wouldn't let me live my life in peace away from him,' his face hardened, 'Clever asshole.'

Vanya watched him, 'I'm guessing he was hard to deal with.'

Five frowned down at the pillow, 'He was an asshole. I'm not a saint…I know I'm like him more than I would ever want to, but he's…he's-he was really cruel.'

She recalled the time he thought he made her upset. How he apologized and said he never wanted to be cruel. He never wanted to be like his father.

She kissed softly brushing the side of his face enjoying the way he was clean shaved, 'You're not like him.'

'You never met him,' he said before he started to kiss the side of her neck causing shivers to run down her body reminding it of just how good he could make her feel, 'You don't know.'

'I know you,' she mumbled and closed her eyes drifting away into the sensation he was causing inside her, 'A cruel person wouldn't be afraid of offending anyone or being cruel.'

He leaned closer to her earn, 'Maybe that just applies for you.'

Someone I like. Someone I care for.

She rolled to her back and pulled him toward her whispering against his lips before they kissed again falling into their delirious dream again, 'It's enough.'

---

So that was that. They started to date. It was strange. Vanya would imagine the transition from strangers to friends to lovers would have been a bit more dramatic, but maybe they just fit too well for that. She didn't mind. She didn't like drama. She was just curious about it.

Nothing really changed. She came to his house that was still filled with junk and books. He still dressed like a homeless madman mumbling his physical theories. He still refused to sign the papers, but she didn't really expect him to sign anymore. He did open up about his father more. He did shave more often since he claimed Vanya liked it more. Maybe he was right. The beard was hot enough to look at, but she doubted it would be very nice to kiss.

Oh, and they also had sex at her place a lot, but that was only because she refused to strip inside the hellhole he called home.

'I need to go home,' she said picking her bag.

'You could stay,' he replied putting his hands on her waists.

'No toothbrush,' she said while putting her arms around his neck. His lips and hands could be tempting, but no way, Vanya she would go a morning on a workday without properly brushing her teeth. She was quirky like that.

'I have a spare one upstairs,' he said and nodded at the stairs Vanya never used before.

'I thought that was where you kept your corpses,' she said, and Five rolled his eyes not really annoyed. He never seemed annoyed with her. He could be annoyed with the mailman, his loud neighbors, his boss, but not here it seemed. 'No, that's where I keep the camera room as proof for the police when you will murder me.'

She narrowed her eyes, 'So specific, you must have been thinking about it a lot.'

'You keep coming back so yeah,' he grinned at her, and she chuckled trying to look away.

When she came upstairs and saw the perfectly clean hallway, a nicely obviously vacuumed carpet no boxes, books, or crap anywhere, she almost threw him down the stairs.

'What the hell? You made me clean your dishes!' she snapped at him looking at the small coffee table near one of the rooms that had fresh lemons in them.

What the hell?

It looked nicer than her place, and she cleaned every week.

'No, I didn't. I told you I would do them later, and you wouldn't let me. Besides this floor is where I sleep, I try to separate it from my work. One could go mad if they dwell on things too much,' he said amused more than anything enjoying him.

She punched his arm as hard as she could, but the fact. He yelped and brushed the sore spot, but that did nothing to ease her anger. Still, a few moments later when he pulled on Bachon some old recorder and showed her a picture of his mother, she couldn't be upset.

'She looks lovely,' she said noting she had dark brown hair. He probably liked brunettes because they reminded him of his mother. He told her about his parents' divorce, and how his father was a perfectionist who wanted Five to achieve greatness in everything. He tried to get it out of Five by constantly dismissing his ideas and achievements. He thought Five's mother wasn't intelligent and weak often humiliating her. That was where all Five's resentment toward his father and his will came from. It was the reason he couldn't let it go and refuse the inheritance even though he knew it bound him to his father still.

'She filed for divorce and raised me on my own. He sent the money, but she was my parent,' he said looking at her still with so many feelings and love, Vanya felt shocked and touched that sometimes he caught him looking just like that at her.

'She was,' he agreed sitting down next to her on the bed agreeing with her comment, 'She would have liked you,' he chuckled to himself, 'She would have told you to run.'

Vanya moved her eyes from the pretty woman's face and looked over at Five noticing a lot of similarities, but pushing that knowledge aside in favor of the worry she caught behind his eyes.

'I'm not running,' she mumbled.

His smirk softened into a sadly looking smile, 'Not yet.'

He kissed her before she could repeat it more firmly maybe knowing something she didn't or maybe just always expecting the worst. Vanya kissed him deeper putting her arms around his neck. It was easier when they were sitting and the height difference wasn't so big. She hoped it would ease some of his fears and help him believe her. It helped her.

---

For a while, they lived inside this bubble. They were happy and everything in Vanya's life was oddly in balance inside the reckless chaos of Five's life. She knew it wouldn't last. Logically, it couldn't.

They were too different. She was too uptight.

She told herself things like that a lot when she was alone at work or at home, but after a while, they started to spend every night together, so it was only at work. She tried to tell herself every possible reason why they wouldn't last, and convince herself of being right. However, even if she knew the logic behind her reasons, when she was with Five Hargreeves, it was hard to believe them. When they were together it felt like they fit in everything. Most of the time it was based on the opposites, but more and more Vanya noticed similarities in both of their behaviors making her wonder. Maybe she was a bit reckless too. How else would she end up liking someone like Five? Befriending him? Falling for him? It had to be the reason, but feeling good and content for the first time in a very long time listening to his scientific rambling, helping him with dishes, and going through the mail in the bathtub, Vanya just accepted it and let herself be happy.

It couldn't last of course. She knew it, but she hoped it would take longer for it. At least a few more weeks, months, years-no, she would probably never have enough of the time she wanted to spend with Five.

After about eight months her boss finally called her into his office about the Sir Reginald Hargreeves's will asking about her progress. Whenever Vanya got too anxious and started to think about what would she do if her boss asked her that or demanded some answer, she tried to pretend inside her head how the conversation would go and what would be the result. Usually, her worries caused the final scenario to be unfortunate for her.

Her bosses didn't pressure her. He didn't even seem all that interested in the matter. He barely asked her about it and then told her she could go and call in another colleague. She was anxiously waiting for the end of the way half expecting him to send his assistant over to fire her. Nothing.

'Did something happen?' Five asked her that evening after he stopped his rambling. She must have been more obvious than she thought.

'It's nothing, continue,' she said and forced a smile. He didn't buy it. Made sense that he wouldn't. Five acted like an unfocused lunatic, but she seemed to always hold his attention no matter the distractions.

---

It went on for about a week. Her worries usually left her after a day or two but not this time. She tried to tell herself it was all in her head. She was always overtaking things. She knew she was, but she couldn't help herself.

Her boss didn't look at her any differently. He continued to ignore her, and her colleagues didn't seem to whisper behind her back more than usual, but Vanya couldn't stop herself from expecting the worse until the whole anxiety got the best of her.

'You need to give up the inheritance,' she threw it at him as he opened the door. He said she could come in without knocking, but that would go against her good manners. She came over after work feeling that if she delayed this anymore, she would probably jump out of her skin.

'Why?' he asked calmly a bit puzzled. It had been months since she last mentioned the inheritance unless they were talking about his father.

She tapped her foot against the floor, 'I'm going to get fired.'

'Good,' he said causing her to frown and the pressure inside her to hit her like a pulled rubber band directly at her, 'Wh-what do you mean good? This isn't good. I don't want to get fired.'

'But you should. You hate the job, and you shouldn't be doing something that you hate. You should be...doing something that you like-love even,' he offered a smirk, 'You should play the violin.'

She almost forgot she admitted to him that she knew how to play. It seemed such a long time ago, and she completely tuned the fact out, 'What-okay,' she put her hands on his shoulders, 'I'm been serious right now. This isn't a cute little banner we have going on. This is my job, my life. I need you to stay with me on this, okay?'

He put his hands on her wrists and forced her hands down still holding them and grinning like he thought it was funny, 'I am with you on this. With what's best for you, and that isn't to spend your life fading away in a job you hate-'

'Stop saying that. I don't hate my job,' she pulled away from him shaking her head. Sometimes she really hated how extremely irritating he could be with his careless and reckless behavior, 'I don't want to lose it. I'm good at it-'

He made a grimace, 'Not really.'

She stopped talking and took a step back, 'Excuse me?!'

Rude

She learned since their first meeting that Five Hargreeves didn't have a problem saying whatever crossed his mind. He was honest with his rudeness. She could give him that. But he also wasn't a saint. Just because he didn't lie, it didn't mean he always told the truth. If he didn't want to say something he just didn't say it. She didn't meet any people who were like that saying whatever they wanted oblivious of the consequences. A part of her liked it, she admitted. It was thrilling to watch someone be brutally honest about things in a way she would never or rarely allow herself to be. But sometimes especially when he was like that toward her she couldn't help but feel a stab of hurt. It wasn't any different from the comments he told her when they first met, and it was a part of his charm. She liked him because of it. But sometimes he couldn't help but felt hurt and angry not in the frustrating way that meant they were teasing one another pushing buttons but actually angry.

'How can you just say that?' she asked very slowly trying to calm herself down knowing it was a lost cause now.

'It's true,' he said calmly and shrugged his shoulders either ignorant to her anger or oblivious, 'If you were you wouldn't hate it so much. People who like their jobs are good at it, and wise versa-'

'Oh my God! Shut up!' she said and pulled out the documents and a new pen from her briefcase before he could say something else, 'I'm not trying to upset you-'

'Yes, you are, and not in your cute teasing way. You…you can see that I'm upset about it, and all you do is push it further. You don't want to be cruel, but you are,' she said instantly knowing it was the wrong thing to do as Five's mouth shut closed, whatever amusement or relaxation he felt faded away in the name of shock.

She thought about taking it back. She did really. But it felt horribly good to cause him some of that hurt he caused her before. Just some of it. Just for the satisfaction of it.

What kind of person that made of her?

'Maybe I don't need life lessons from a slacker who can't sign a stupid will to finally free himself from his dad because he's afraid if he did he would give him more power. For your information, you avoiding this is you giving him power. Every day. Every single day you delay you're letting yourself be tied into it more and more,' she licked her lips. She should have stopped. She told herself she should have stopped, but she didn't, 'And yes someone comes along every couple of months to bring it up which only ties you tighter. You don't want to be free of him. Not really, and I think you know it's true because you're not really a slacker. Not where it counts the most.'

Five watched her in silence for a moment, and a second later she felt the apology crawling its way toward her mouth before he grabbed the documents and pen from her hands and signed them. There. One signature cutting every reason she had to keep on coming here. Every logical reason.

As he handed them toward her he stayed silent probably hurt by her harsh words, but Vanya understood it was his way of letting her know she was the one who held their fate in her hands.

But all Vanya kept on thinking about was how her mother brushed her hair and told her to pick some cute dress instead of the strangely alluring boyish suit, 'It isn't practical, honey.'

She left without a goodbye making sure to start crying only once she was sure he wouldn't see her if he looked out of the window.

---

Vanya brought the case file to her boss the next day. He told her dryly good work after she explained it to him. It looked like he forgot altogether about it. Made sense he never really paid much attention to her. It looked like her getting fire scare was just that. A scare.

She didn't come to visit Five that day or the next. She didn't even text him even if she thought about it every time she picked up the phone.

It was strange how absolutely nothing seemed to change. Like Five's presence in her life was just a brief moment that didn't really affect her in any way. After work, she simply went home to work overtime or clean or watch something. It was as if he was never there except for small things like his clean clothes at the bottom of her closet, second toothbrush in the bathroom, and scent on her pillow.

She always wondered how was it that Five was able to function with all his recklessness, but now she found herself incapable of doing so. When the mail came, she tossed it on her table without looking at it. She stopped responding to her voice mail leaving the machine to end up full. She left her dishes overnight and then another and another until she had each out of the cereal box and drink the milk out of the carton box.

Her apartment was a mess which she looked at with relief because whenever she came home and found it like that was the only time she didn't end up screaming at how absolutely nothing seemed to change in her life without Five while everything inside her felt crushed and ruined.

She missed him. Every day. Every single hour. Every moment she was awake.

'Thank you, Wanda,' said her boss as she held the elevator for him about two weeks later.

It caused her to look at the oldish fat man realizing Five was right. Her life was kind of miserable, pathetic, and lovely, but worst of all she absolutely hated her job.

She stopped the elevator and took it down again, 'My name is Vanya, not Wanda or Vanessa or whatever hell came up into your mind. I had been working here for almost six years, and you got it right exactly three times. If you were an asshole maybe I would have accepted it, but you're just an idiot,' she said just as the elevator stopped and the door opened. Her boss looked like he was going to have a stroke.

'And you're lazy which is worse than being an asshole,' she stepped out of the elevator, 'I quit.'

The door closed before the man could say anything else leaving Vanya to nod to herself and walk out of the building with a somewhat odd smile on her face. She felt buzzed like she was drugged sort of in a state she didn't believe she really did it and sort of knowing she did. It felt brilliant like she was able to breathe properly for the first time in forever.

It felt fucking good.

---

When she knocked on his door she was shaking like a leaf even if the weather was nice. After her sudden resignation, she went home and took the violin case from under her bed. It took her another thirty minutes to convince herself to open it but once she did, she pulled it against her arms and held it close like a mother would her precious baby. It had been a really long time since she took it into her arms even longer since the last time she played.

After she decided to become a lawyer to please her mother and didn't come to her final performance in front of the music board, she put it away feeling somewhat bitter about keeping it yet not able to give it away. Maybe somewhere deep down she stilled carried hope that one day she would take it out. Maybe that hope lightened up when she met Five and everything-

'Hi,' greeted her Five as he opened the door cutting her train of thoughts for the moment. It surprised her that he was still shaved clean probably doing so every other day to stay that way. He was so handsome and looked so full of life like he did that day the lights went out. Would he be upset if she hugged him impulsively or touched him? Would it be bad if she did so before explaining why she was there and what happened?

Vanya wondered all the ride over if she should prepare a speech or say the first thing that would pop into her mind. She still didn't know, but it was too late for a speech.

Despite being shaved Five looked tired. Even more than usual definitely more than since she first started to visit. She knew it was because of her.

'What's that?' he asked and nodded at her violin case when she didn't say anything. She wasn't sure how to start.

'Oh, uh, my violin,' she said before she looked back at him, 'I kept it under my bed.' Once when they talked about her suit and the performance Five started to pressure her a bit into talking about her violin playing. She wasn't ready and knew he would use it against her in their on and off again argument about her career choice.

'So you lied?' he asked not upset not even surprised. Was he teasing her again?

She nodded and continued, 'I was afraid you would ask me to play, and I would be rusty and,' she shook her head, 'I didn't want you to hear me if I wasn't perfect or start another fight about my work.'

'I would never want you to be perfe-'

'I know, Five' she said and took a step closer like she wanted to touch him or hug him but stopped herself putting the case down, 'Uh, I know you wouldn't, but I wanted to. When I was a kid, my mom forced me to give up on anything that wouldn't help me to achieve a good paying job. Everything else wasn't practical and…I don't know,' she sighed feeling emotional not just from coming here but for remembering all the things she gave up only to please her mother because she thought she would love her less if she didn't, 'It stuck with me. I loved to play the violin. I got accept to this music school, but she convinced me not to go, and it doesn't matter now- I quit my job at the firm.'

This shocked Five enough that even Vanya could tell. He blinked and opened his mouth before he looked away and then back at her, 'Really?'

She offered him a weak smile just for him, 'You were right, I didn't really like it. I hated it, but I couldn't let it go because what else would I have left? I gave up so much for it. So much, and it made me panic just to imagine it was all for nothing if I quit or got fired. I'm sorry I snapped at you and-'

He hugged her pulling her closer to him through the doorway letting her bury herself against him. It felt good to be held by him again. It felt like home.

'Forget it, I just knew that you weren't happy. I could have tried harder to talk to you,' he buried his face against her hair as well causing her to close her eyes for a moment to let herself fully sink into him and get through everything she had been through the couple of days without him, 'But I was never good with conflict, and I was being an asshole. I'm sorry, you were right I was being cruel because you weren't listening to me, and I'm sorry-'

'It's okay-'

'Don't say that,' he kissed the side of her hair, 'Never say that. Always call me out on my bullshit, please.'

She nodded and opened her eyes, 'How about I forgive you if you forgive me?' she asked and felt him chuckle a bit in the way his body shook, 'Yeah…I like that. Sounds perfect, Vanya.'

They stood like that for a moment holding each other for what felt like the longest of times. Both of them needed this. Both of them were miserable without each other. Vanya could feel it in the way, Five felt her. He craved her presence just as much as she craved his. It was because they fit. Despite their differences, they fit in a way they never did with each other in a way they never had with anyone else before. Their hearts were like an unfinished puzzle. They completed each other.

'You complete me,' she found herself mumbling against his shoulder, 'You fit with me,' she admitted.

'You complete me too,' he responded without hesitation or confusion about what she meant. In some aspects, Five just got her in ways no one ever had. She was grateful for that. She was grateful for him.

She leaned away and brushed her face the weight of her worries finally lifting from her shoulders, 'Just so we're clear, I only came back because it would be rude not to say goodbye to Delores.'

Five burst of laughter before he shook his head, 'Please, if you were really leaving, she would want you to take her with you. She had been trying to escape the house and my desperate whining over you for days now. Pretty sure she called the cops on me for disturbance of peace the other night.'

Vanya raised her brows and Five rolled his icy green eyes, 'It was the neighbors I know. I'm not struggling with reality, you know? I'm aware Delores isn't really-'

She kissed him breaking of the sentence before he could finish. It was their first kiss since their fight. It felt so good.

Five's hand went into her hair, and they pressed each other closer getting lost in the moment starting a fire between them all over again. When they broke the kiss, Vanya pressed her forehead against Five's, 'Sometimes I think she's one of the only real people out there.'

Five smiled softly, 'I use to think she was the only one, then you barged into my house-'

'It was open-'

'-and went through my stuff,' he grinned while Vanya rolled her eyes, 'I tried to pull out a flip-flop and save your house from a fire-'

'-not to mention kidnapped me-'

'Help you get rid of a rash,' she said and leaned her forehead away already feeling the familiar sensation she always did whenever their teasing started. It was the kind of excitement she only ever felt with him. She loved it.

'You could say thank you, you know,' she said and stroke his face. Maybe she wouldn't mind a beard if it was him.

He started to lightly stroke her back with a hidden motive they both knew. However, his face softened revealing more feelings than passion. She didn't mind. She felt the same.

'How about I show you instead of saying it?' he asked lowering his voice to a level that caused a shiver to run through her body.

'How about both?' she asked back, and Five grinned, 'Greedy.'

'Sometimes,' she nodded and then stroke his cheek, 'for you.'

'I'm always greedy when it comes to you,' he said looking into her eyes. She knew he meant it. She knew Five Hargreeves was probably the first person in her entire life who meant it with all his reckless, jerkface, lunatic habits. More than that he was the first person, from which Vanya could accept it.

She grabbed her case before Five took her hand and led her inside to say hi to Delores whatever worries she ever felt before completely gone for the first time since knew what worries were.

It felt good. It felt great. It made her excited to wait and see what would happen next knowing she and Five would be together.

Koniec

---

A.N: Sorry, it took so long to post anything, but I'm working on a lot of things at the same time, so hopefully I will start finishing them one by one. Thank you for reading and your support. I recently watched Parks and Recreation so the messy house idea was because of Leslie's messy house in season 1, and I'm pretty sure the bathtub full of mail was from Brooklyn Nine Nine's Jake. I hope everyone doing okay. :) Have a nice day