apocalypsehow | Griddy's Donuts and Beyond | Unnamed City

With his siblings being, well, just had he'd expected them all to be after reading Vanya's book and being around Diego for the last few months, Five took the chance to step out and gather his bearings now that he was back on track to stopping the end of the world here.

And that needed coffee. And a donut.

Lucky for him, the place was still in business. He rang the bell after seeing no one behind the counter. Also because he was an old man.

Agnes	It didn't take too long for a woman in one of those ridiculous uniforms he remembered them wearing at this place appeared. "Sorry, sink was clogged. So what'll it be?" But it was just long enough for someone else to join him. Poor bastard. "Uh, chocolate eclair," said the man who inexplicably decided to sit next to Five in this whole empty donut shop. Agnes, according to her nametag, nodded, writing that down on a good ol' fashioned order pad. "Mmm hmm. Can I get the kid a glass of milk or something?"
Five	Five narrowed his eyes at the word 'kid' but was graciously letting it go. For now. "The kid wants coffee. Black."
Agnes	Agnes looked from Five to the poor schmuck next to him and then back before offering, "Cute kid." Because customer service, man.
Five	Five gave her his very best smile. Which was, admittedly, mostly just a baring of his teeth. But it got her to scurry away to get the orders. "Don't remember this place being such a shithole," Five said after a moment, looking around the place like he was finally taking it all in. "I used to come here as a kid. Used to sneak out with my brothers and sisters and eat doughnuts until we puked. Simpler times, huh?" Just some normal reminiscing with someone who was closer to his age than anyone back at the mansion. Well. Other than Pogo.
Poor guy	"Uh, I suppose," the guy said with a look of just absolute confusion. But, you know what, the night time hours brought out all sorts. A coffee was placed in front of Five and a small plate with a donut was placed in front of the man next to him. "Here you go." And, well, because it was a probably kind of crazy kid out in the middle of the night, the man decided on saying, "I've got his," with a tiny pile of singles on the counter to cover the two items.
Five	That got a slightly less psychotic looking smile out of Five at least. "Thanks," he said with a nod. Then caught sight of the tow company logo on the man's vest. "Now you must know your way around the city."
Poor guy	"I hope so, I've been driving it for 20 years," the man joked, relaxing a little bit.
Five	"Good," Five replied, feeling like maybe things were actually coming together for a change! "I need an address." He could enjoy his coffee and plan his next move from there. Which was good because it didn't take too long after his new friend whatshisface the tow truck driver had left that the bell on the door to the shop rang and rang and rang again as several very heavily armed and armored men filed into the shop. "Huh, that was fast. I thought I'd have more time before they found me," Five said, carefully palming a butter knife as he kept an eye on the assembled men in the dingy mirror of a napkin dispenser. "Okay, let's be professional about this, yeah?" the one who must have been the leader of the group and thus the first he'd had to take out said. "On your feet and come with us. They want to talk." "I've got nothing to say," Five assured them, turning around to show just a coffee mug in his hand. "It doesn't have to go this way," idiot in charge continued. "You think I want to shoot a kid? Go home with that on my conscience?" "Well I wouldn't worry about that," Five said with that same smile he'd given poor Agnes who had very luckily stepped into the backroom for some reason before they'd arrived. "You won't be going home." Which was, of course, when he teleported to stab the first man in the neck with the butter knife he had hidden up his sleeve and everything just turned into chaos.

Five	After the encounter at the donut shop--sloppy on his part, just because they hadn't found him on that island, didn't mean they wouldn't find him here--Five went searching for the one sibling he could reliably count on. Which was why he was silently sitting in Vanya's apartment. It wasn't creepy or weird at all.
Vanya	No, it was super creepy and weird. Vanya had basically never had anyone in her apartment before so when she turned on the lights to see Five sitting in her living room she damn near had a heart attack. "Jesus!"
Five	"You should have locks on your windows," Five said. Because the security here? Abysmal. Nevermind how he did this to Diego and his girlfriend too.
Vanya	"I live on the second floor." Even she knew that was a weak answer, but she was still recovering from the heart attack and she still wasn't used to Five just being there.
Five	"Rapists can climb." Oh god, was he being a big brother here?
Vanya	"You are so weird." She said it with a sort of fondness though. Vanya moved further into the room, trying to figure out how exactly to start a conversation with a brother she hadn't seen in almost two decades. Then she noticed his shirt sleeve. "Is that blood?" That was actually a good conversation starter.
Five	"It's nothing," Five said, covering his arm with his other hand. Digging the tracking chip out had just been a pain in the ass. Or. Well, arm, really.
Vanya	"So why are you here?" If not to bleed all over her furniture.
Five	He could do that in his free time too! "I've decided you're the only one I can trust."
Vanya	"Okay," she said with a nod. She wasn't too surprised to hear that. Really, who was she going to talk to? Vanya held up a hand and got up to go to her bathroom to grab some supplies. She didn't have much in the way of first aid, but she did have bandages and rubbing alcohol. When she returned she handed over the supplies to Five, having the feeling he wouldn't want her babying him too much.
Five	He didn't, no. But he'd accept the supplies at the very least. "When I jumped forward and got stuck in the future, do you know what I found?" Five asked, going about bandaging himself with easy practice.
Vanya	Vanya shook her head. "No."
Five	"Nothing. Absolutely nothing. As far as I could tell I was the last person alive." Had been the truth up until The Handler had shown up. "I never figured out what killed the human race, but I did find something else. The date it happens. The world ends in eight days, and I have no idea how to stop it." And, apparently, Vanya was the only one he could give this information to without everything going to shit.
Vanya	...okay, that was a lot. Vanya stood up, needing to take just a second to process that. "I'm going to make some coffee." Spoiler alert: Five probably wouldn't approve of Vanya's weakass coffee.
Five	He would not, but at least that was the appropriate response to everything! "I survived on scraps. Canned food, cockroaches, anything I could find," he muttered before continuing on louder for her to hear. "You know that rumor that Twinkies have endless shelf life? Well it's total bullshit." You know what, maybe Dolores was right that talking about things was useful. ... Naaaaah.
Vanya	Vanya frowned, pausing for a moment as she tried to process that. He might have been an old man now, but the fact this all started when he was a teenager must have been terrifying. "I can't even imagine..."
Five	"You do whatever it takes to survive, or you die," Five said with a dismissive sniff. Because who in this family was able to address their deep-seated trauma? None of them. That's who. "So we adapted. Whatever the world threw at us, we found a way to overcome it." Him and Dolores surviving against all odds.
Vanya	"I'm sorry, we?" she asked. "I thought you were alone." This story was already confusing enough.
Five	Yeah, she wasn't getting that answer any faster than Diego had. "You got anything stronger?" Five asked, making a face at that weak-ass coffee.
Vanya	"Good idea," Vanya admitted, abandoning the coffee and going for the booze. She grabbed two glasses and the bottle of whisky she had on hand.
Five	Thank god she didn't even blink at him needing this. "You think I'm crazy," he said, giving her a look and thinking he could maybe still read her as well as he could when they were kids.
Vanya	"No, of course not," Vanya lied, handing him the bottle and a glass. "It's just...it's a lot to take in." Look, she wouldn't blame him for going crazy being alone for that long. Totally understandable!
Five	"What exactly do you not get?" he ground out, taking both to pour himself a healthy drink.
Vanya	"Well, why didn't you time travel back?" she asked.
Five	"Gee, I wish I thought of that," Five replied, taking a swig. Then took a moment to calm himself down to explain this in as simple a way as he could. "Time travel is a crapshoot. I went into the ice and never acorned." That was, of course, depending on her to remember the last conversation he'd had with their father. "You didn't think I tried everything to get back to my family?"
Vanya	Vanya just shrugged her shoulder. It wasn't like they were a solid family unit; she didn't blame any of them for running off. "If you grew old in the apocalypse, how come you look like a kid?" There, that was a simpler question than getting into why or why not Five would try to reunite with their family.
Five	Look, he might be a feral cat, but his family was his only touchstone that wasn't a mannequin. "I told you already," Five said with an aggrieved sigh. "I must have gotten the equations wrong."
Vanya	Yeah, but it still sounded crazy! "Dad always said time travel could mess with your mind," she started slowly. Like maybe if she used a soft tone this wouldn't be completely insulting. "Maybe that's what's happening?"
Five	Oh yeah, a soft tone worked so well on Five. "This," he began, putting the half finished drink down so he could stand up and find another place to work through his plans to stop the end of the world. "This was a mistake. You're too young. Too naive."
Vanya	"No, wait, Five--" She got up to follow him, not wanting him to leave on this note. She so rarely got to speak with any sibling since the book came out that she hated the idea of making things worse with the one person who still wanted to talk to her. "I haven't seen you in a long time and I don't want to lose you again. That's all," she said. "And, you know what, it's getting late and...I have lessons early and I need to sleep, and I'm sure you do too." He probably did need to rest after...well, whatever caused the bleeding. "Here--" She grabbed a blanket from a nearby chair and draped it over the couch. "Stay. We'll talk in the morning again, okay? I promise."
Five	Five eyed her suspiciously for a moment before finally nodding in agreement. "Alright." Odds of him being there in the morning weren't great, though. He only had so many days to figure this out.