amour coriace ( five hargreeves! ) - Chapter 27: Chapter 27

THE INSIDE OF VINCENT'S HEAD WAS BAFFLINGLY CRUEL. It was a harsh space present to Vincent and Vincent only that had nothing better to do than tear him down until he was essentially nothing but a sad ghost watching his own life play out. Vincent felt disconnected from the inside of his head. He felt like it was a whole different person sometimes. It eased him to have a conscience yes, but it also controlled every waking moment of his life. It held him up by the throat and squeezed until Vincent was too afraid to fight back.
Really, Vincent didn't know what was going on with him anymore.
Not that he ever did, anyway. Vincent had been a trespasser in his own life all the damned years he'd been alive; though this feeling of confusion scared him beyond anything he'd ever encountered. To be separated from the very thing that is supposed to make up his life was bewildering and terrible and made Vincent feel dizzy to think about.
Sometimes he thought that his actions weren't always his own. He'd killed all those people while he was a hitman for the Commission and most times- with the ones Vincent remembered, at least- he had felt nothing. There were times, of course, when Vincent felt guilty and horrible because most of the people he offed weren't exactly deserving of their death sentence. Though there were also times when Vincent shot his gun in the back of someone's head and didn't even begin to think about a feeling of guilt. He felt good sometimes after, exhilarated. It was a bad thing, but sometimes people are the best at bad things. Maybe Vincent was destined for bad things.
Vincent never felt disconnected when he was with Five Hargreeves. Never once did he feel like his mind wasn't on fire with the boy, screaming and screaming at him to fucking do something useful and impress the boy he felt so strongly for. He felt real and awake when he was with Five. He felt like he could breathe clearly. He felt like he was alive.
But the knowledge of Five's carelessness toward Vincent was truly disheartening. It made Vincent want to slam Five's face against the wall and scream at him that he had done so much for him, god dammit! Vincent had thrown out everything he'd known for Five, and Five had paid him back in a few measly kisses that he would likely never bring up again and the Commissions plans to kill Vincent hanging over his head. Five had done virtually nothing for Vincent except send him into a long line of turmoil, and Vincent couldn't believe he was only now realizing.
That dickhead with his pretty face had sent Vincent face-first into something horrible, and there would be no one to catch him. Vincent just hoped to God that Five wouldn't kick him when he was down.
Now Vincent had to act casually and walk beside Five with Klaus and Diego a few feet behind them to some bar where Luther was cooped up, and try his hardest not to blurt out to Five the pressing question of it all which was, "why the fuck did you kiss me back?" Five was limping a bit, and Vincent wanted to make a joke so bad. But he was supposed to be annoyed with Five, and he would stick with that.
Vincent had thought of the potential answer to that all day, and none of the things he'd imagined Five saying back were really ideal. Vincent had no hope in his mind that Five really did kiss him back because he was in love with him or whatever bullshit Vincent's utterly romantic side wanted. He figured Five's answer to him would be brash and mean and baffled that Vincent would even begin to think it was anything more than a spur of the moment mistake. It was a mistake in Five's mind, that much Vincent was sure of.
And when Five had called Vincent 'babe,' it had to have been an accident. It had to have been a slip up, a slur of his words, a thing he said automatically without thinking about it and then cursed himself for later. It had to have been, because Five had made it clear that he didn't want anything to do with Vincent. Didn't he?
Five pinched Vincent's upper arm suddenly, and Vincent grumbled under his breath at him in French to fuck off, shoving him away with his shoulder lightly. Vincent wasn't in the mood for Five doing the thing where he asks what's wrong and then pokes fun at Vincent like it's funny at all. Vincent's going fucking insane over here with his mind eating itself alive and Five wants to laugh and call him a pussy.
Five chuckled, raising his eyebrow. "Why are you so mad?" He asked, clearly not understanding Vincent's silent plea to please please just shut the fuck up. At Vincent's silence, Five spoke again, "Come on, silence doesn't look good on you."
Vincent rolled his eyes, glancing over at Five. "And blue doesn't look good on you, but you insist on wearing it everyday of your pathetic little teenage life." He responded with a shrug. Blue didn't actually look bad on Five at all, but Vincent needed to insult him in some manner. He wanted Five to be pissed with him because then the kiss wouldn't be hanging over their heads anymore. Because then, Vincent would know that Five still didn't feel the same way.
Maybe Vincent didn't want Five to feel the same way. Maybe Vincent was fucking terrified of the idea. And maybe, just maybe, Vincent had never thought he could get this far and now he was realizing he just wasn't good enough for Five.
Five seemed confused by Vincent's anger. "Are you still angry because of when you killed the Handler? That will pass. Whatever she said to you is probably stupid anyway. You're a drama queen." He chuckled lightly, smiling. That smile dropped when Vincent's face didn't light up even a bit, and even grew darker.
Vincent had thought a lot about what the Handler had said. She was a bitch, yes, but she wasn't much of a liar. She had said bad things about Five and she had said that Five wanted him gone. Vincent didn't doubt that was the full truth. Five would kill him without a second thought, probably.
"It doesn't matter what she said. Why are you still talking to me? Think about whatever it is you think about when I'm not around keeping you occupied. Guns? Boobs? Killing your friends, perhaps?" Vincent mused, raising both eyebrows over at a confused Five.
"Okay...?" Five trailed off. "I don't really think about any of those things?" He added a little softer, more confused.
Vincent couldn't help but laugh, a fake smile finally making its way up to his face. "Sure you don't, pal." He patted Five's shoulder before walking ahead and into the bar, spotting Luther sitting by himself. He chuckled under his breath, moving to walk over and sit right across from Luther, who looked up slowly and raised his eyebrow. "Hey buddy! Nice to see you! You look different; dirtier maybe!" Vincent exclaimed with open arms and a wide toothy grin.
Five, Klaus, and Diego all walked over shortly after Vincent sat down, though Diego was the only one to sit, glancing at Luther. Klaus said something that Vincent couldn't make out, which ended up making a tired looking Luther murmur, "Leave me alone."
"Give us a minute." Diego murmured, brushing everyone else off.
"Okay. Come on, maybe they'll brood each other to death." Klaus joked with a chuckle, moving to walk away with Five following. Vincent only stood up at Diego's glare, moving to follow the others to another area in the place.
Vincent didn't care about Diego and Luthers boring conversation, sitting on the table and crossing his legs, glancing over at Five and Klaus. "Hey man, you think you could like buzz behind that bar and get me a beer or two?" Vincent spoke up to Five, hitting his shoulder with the back of his hand.
"I will absolutely not do that. I can't be getting drunk while we're trying to save the world. And..." Five paused, moving to glance at Vincent for a moment, an unreadable look passing over his face before he looked away, down at the floor where he was digging the heel of his shoe into the hard ground. "Dolores won't be happy about it." Five spoke softly, quietly.
Vincent huffed at the mention of Dolores, rolling his eyes and moving to pull a strand of Fives hair hard. "You're a bitch and so is Dolores. I'll just get the fucking drink myself." He huffed out, moving to jump off the table.
He moved to walk by the exit to wait for some man to bump into him so he could transform then and there and just get a fucking beer, but Five grabbed Vincent's wrist before he could, keeping him in place. "This isn't the time to get wasted, Vince. The end of the world is in just a few days and we have to stop it." He spoke firmly.
"Fuck you. I don't have to stop anything for you," Vincent snapped back, trying to pull his wrist away from Five. "The end of the world means nothing to me! Don't you understand that I don't fucking care about any of it?" He mumbled, growing quieter so he wouldn't cause a scene, but still just as angry. Vincent didn't know why he was so irritable, but he couldn't tell whether he wanted to kiss Five again or pummel his face in right here.
Five rolled his eyes. "Drama queen, what did I say?" He mused, the corners of his lips quirking up into an amused smile. "I know you don't care. But I do. And you care about me. So you don't get drunk so you can help what you care about, yeah?" Five spoke softer.
"What kind of manipulative shit are you trying to pull here, asshole?" Vincent huffed out, more annoyed when Five's smile widened. "I don't have to help you with anything."
"I didn't say you had to." Five responded smoothly.
Vincent rolled his eyes, glaring at Five. "You're a demon. And not a hot demon either. You're atrocious to look at." He commented, finally pulling his wrist away from Five. "Okay, I'll help. But not because I care about you or anything. I suddenly care about the world ending now because I realized all the animals are gonna die too and that's, like, fucked."
"It is, isn't it?" Five grinned triumphantly. What a bitch. "We have to talk, by the way." He added, and that was what made Vincent look away with a heavy sigh.
"About what?" Vincent asked innocently, not liking the idea of talking with Five about the obvious thing they needed to settle. He shouldn't have assumed Five wouldn't want to at least tell Vincent to his face that he didn't like the idea of them kissing again.
"You know what. The k-" Five started, cut off when Luther and Diego suddenly bolted up, both of them rushing to the door. Klaus and Five followed quickly, so Vincent did as well.
Luther- the idiot- broke the door while opening it, and that amused Vincent to no end. He followed of course, and ignored Five trying to stand beside him.
They all walked back to the house and retrieved a car because where they were going was too far of a walking distance for any of them. Vincent had complained about even the idea the whole walk to the car, saying he had the worlds weakest legs.
The car was shitty and slow, but it worked nonetheless. Five ended up driving, and got very pissed everytime Vincent yelled there was something in the road when there was definitely nothing in the road. Vincent found it extremely amusing.
He found it amusing, though once they got to the cabin Vincent's amusement felt like it had evaporated out of him. He felt terrible almost immediately upon seeing the place, a sense of horrible horrible dread.
They all got out and Vincent tried to stay silent about his discomfort as they began to hurry up until Vincent's head began to ache overwhelmingly, to the point where he stumbled into Fives side.
Five's eyes widened, glancing over at Vincent and almost immediately instinctively wrapping an arm around the boys waist. "Hey- shit- are you okay?" He spoke quickly, looking up at the others, who also stopped in their tracks. "Jesus- you're really pale." He added softly, looking at Vincent now.
"Yeah- fuckin' gre- great. Oh shit-" Vincent started before he let out a choked noise, a harsh one that you'd hear in the movies when someone was stabbed right in the gut. He coughed harshly and fell to his knees like he was dying, and for a long moment he truly thought he was. Five had knelt down beside him, but Vincent couldn't see anything despite his eyes definitely being open. He frantically moved both hands up to his neck, clawing lightly at his own neck like that would do anything, continuing to cough harshly. And Vincent felt terrible. He felt like he was choking on the thickest blood in the universe, and suddenly he could see the inside of the cabin and he saw Allison on the ground bloodied, and then it all made sense.
And then Vincent gasped sharply, eyes finally shutting forcefully and coughing once more, doubling over and even spatting out a small puddle of blood before he stood up quickly and stumbled back, looking over at Five with wide eyes. Five looked more than concerned, scared even. "Well sh-shit. I think Allison is dead." Vincent mumbled out softly, hoarsely. He felt like had a gash on his throat, and he even brought a hand up to feel. There was nothing there, but it hurt more than anything he'd ever experienced.
Luther, Klaus, and Diego immediately ran into the cabin, but Vincent truly didn't have the strength. He sat on the stairs hesitantly, shaking a bit, his lips and mouth wet with blood, blood that was still wanting to spill out of his throat. "Are you okay?" Five immediately exclaimed, moving to kneel down in front of Vincent, eyeing all over his face, wincing at the sight of the blood in Vincent's mouth.
"You should- you should go check on your sis-sister." Vincent spoke, stumbling over his words. He thought he could pass out; the pain was more than strong. "I'm not- I'm not feeling so hot, babe." He mumbled slowly, eyes threatening to shut, letting out an almost drunken giggle at the pet name he'd slipped in.
"What's wrong? I don't understand what's going on. You have to stay awake, Vince." Five spoke quickly, hands both moving to Vincent's cheeks.
Vincent jokingly puckered up his lips and made kissy sounds at Five because the feeling of extraordinary pain was like a high to Vincent Leblanc, the sick bastard. "I'm in lots and lots of pain. And my neck is bleeding, right?" He mumbled softly, words coming out slower and slower as Vincent's mind began to slow.
"No- no, your neck isn't bleeding at all. But your mouth is. Why is your mouth bleeding?" Five breathed out. He was panicking. Vincent knew the sound of Five panicking.
"I'm not dying or anythin', lover boy. Don't be such a pussy." Vincent sighed out heavily, gently hitting Fives cheek. "I don't know why my mouth is bleeding but it feels like I've got a b-big cut in my throat that's bleeding all over the place. Shit- my shirt." He mumbled, getting all sad sounding at the end as he looked down at himself, though there was no blood there, which made Vincent perk up again.
"No- no, if you had a big cut in your throat you wouldn't be able to talk." Five assured Vincent before standing up slowly. "Fuck.... I-I'm gonna go check on Allison, okay? Stay right here. Don't move please." Five pleaded.
Vincent put a thumbs up at Five, but really hadn't listened to anything he'd said. Vincent's ears were ringing, and he could feel that he was lifting something in the car with his mind and- at the same time- he was transforming into multiple people second after second. Bill Clinton one minute, the next the bartender at the bar they'd gone to, then Michelle Obama. He didn't mean to change into these people; it was just happening. It was like Vincent's powers were going haywire with the immense pain.
When Five and the others came out of the house, they looked confused at the sight of a very-much-not-Vincent sitting on the steps. It was seemingly a random woman, but then switched the next second to becoming Luther. The others were weirded out of course, but Klaus, Luther, and Diego all carried Allison to the car quickly. Five stayed right beside the shape shifting Vincent, glancing at the car and widening his eyes. "Jesus fucking Christ Vincent, make your brain put the fucking car back on the ground." Five spoke quickly, smacking Vincent's shoulder.
Vincent quickly changed back to himself, laughing a little under his breath. "I'm not even doing that." He mumbled quietly, slowly. "Okay fine, maybe I am. M'sorry." He added with a laugh, putting the car down with his mind. The others left with the car, and Five stayed beside Vincent, sitting up next to him. "Hey! They left without us. How are we supposed to get back?" He laughed out, leaning against something until it got uncomfortable, moving to lean his head against Five's shoulder instead.
"I can teleport, idiot." Five chuckled under his breath, glancing at Vincent with a small worried frown. "What happened there? Are you feeling better?" He asked gently.
"I feel like total shit, man. But it got better when they left with her." Vincent explained gently, sounding majorly exhausted.
"Why did it get better when she was gone?" Five asked, furrowing his eyebrows.
"Because she's not close anymore. Our minds can't overlap like that, dude. I can only feel what she's feeling if she's close enough. Otherwise I just get those stupid visions." Vincent explained slowly, and it surprised even himself that he understood any of this. This had never happened to him before.
"Do you still feel like you have a gash in your throat? Is your mouth still bleeding?" Five asked quickly, worrying.
"No, not anymore. You don't have to be so obsessive about it." Vincent joked with a chuckle, sighing heavily before wrapping his arms around Fives waist and resting his cheek on Fives chest, chuckling when he felt Five stiffen a little. "I'm supposed to be the uncomfortable one now. Don't make this weird." He murmured. "Just take me somewhere away from this cabin. It hurts my brain." He chuckled.
Five nodded silently, hesitantly and slowly wrapping his own arm around Vincent before teleporting them in a poof of blue to Five's bedroom, sitting side by side on his bed.
"Wow. Fast thinking. You think of me in bed with you a lot?" Vincent joked with a laugh.
Five rolled his eyes, flicking Vincent's forehead. "Don't be gross." He chuckled. "I'm gonna need you to explain what happened there." He mumbled softly. "In as much detail as you can."
"Ah. And then we talk about you kissing me." Vincent brought up with a laugh, pulling away from Five to look at him.
"I wasn't even the one who kissed you." Five mumbled back, rolling his eyes. "I haven't initiated it."
Vincent huffed, crossing his arms over his chest. "You're a bitch and I hate you." Vincent mumbled.
"I hate you more."
"That's not possible!"
"It is! I hate you more than anything ever!"
"Why? I'm like the sweetest fucking bitch ever! You should love me!"
"Absolutely not."
"I hate you. I hope you die in the apocalypse first."
"Fuck off."
"Loser." Vincent finished with, sticking his tongue out at Five like a child.
Five made a grossed out face. "Your teeth have blood all over them, you sick fuck. Go brush your teeth and then we'll talk."
"You're just jealous." Vincent shrugged as he stood up, flipping Five off.
"Of what? AIDS?" Five snorted in amusement.
"That's hate speech. I'm gonna fucking throttle you," Vincent responded with a huff, walking into Fives bathroom.
"You couldn't throttle me if you tried!" Five shouted back, and Vincent bit his lip to suppress a big smile.
Vincent could never stay angry at Five too long. But maybe that was a bad thing.
Vincent was destined for bad things.