Chapter Text
It has always been just Five and Dolores against the world. The lack of a world, really, considering their relationship began and ended in an apocalypse. Nothing has ever been easy for them. So it makes sense that Five would add a coming out on top of all their little struggles, only hoping she would accept him.
Sure, Dolores wouldn't have all that much to, er, say about the matter. Five might have the pretense that Dolores was a genuine human sometimes but - especially since coming back to a time with his siblings and lots of other people - he knew that the mannequin was a mannequin. That didn't mean that she wasn't also more than a mannequin. Dolores was a symbol of his perseverance sometimes, and other times she was simply a comfort to have around. He'd looked for her in the present day, the year 2019, for that exact reason. She brought him comfort like no one else could, having been alone besides her for so many years. She was familiar. She was old, in the face of everything new.
Most importantly though, she was something he had occasionally become dependent to live on. He had been - or... will be... time is strange like that - a kid, a boy, The Boy technically, alone in a wasteland surrounded by the ruins of his home and the bodies of his siblings. He hadn't known if he would ever get back.
But he always knew that Dolores depended on him for survival, too.
She could not 'live' without him. No one else would tell her story. No one else knew what she was to him, and she could never tell anyone herself. It was just Five who could explain that she was more than a mannequin, more than just an item to him. If he died, her 'existence', her truth - it ceased with him.
In the worst times, that got Five out of being reckless. Out of losing control.
•••
"Dolores. I have something to talk to you about."
Obviously, she made no indication that she heard him. Still, he knew how she felt. He always did.
"No - no, it's nothing bad, don't worry. It's just some realisations of mine. I recently discovered some terms that have become more widely known in this time period - which I guess you may heave heard already, considering you came from this era. The words are... aromantic, and asexual. Do you know what those are?"
[...]
"Good. Yes. I'm glad you can appreciate them as important identities, because... they've recently come quite important to me. I think - I think they fit me."
[...]
"Yeah, I think it's a nice self-discovery too. It's really - it's really made me feel better about myself. Who I am. Everything like that... It's not easy being a man stuck in my younger body and being around my annoying siblings all the time. But this has been good for me I think."
[...]
"Of course our relationship is still - it's just a little different. Well. Not really. Now we just have a name for this. QPR."
[...]
"I think it's a nice name too. I'm glad you're supportive."
[...]
"Thanks, Dolores. I really needed that."
•••
Standing in the doorway, Allison and Diego just stare at the scene in front of them. Their brother is talking to a mannequin. That's like, the fifth weirdest thing to happen today, though, so they simply don't question it.
"It's... kinda sweet?" Allison attempts.
"No. It's fucked up. That's really fucking strange. It's literally a mannequin, Allison," Diego answers. "But he needs this, so I'm gonna leave him to it."
"Aww, you can be such a nice big brother."
"I'm not - Look, we are never going to talk about this again."
"I'm definitely going to talk about this again. This is hilarious."
Diego knocks against her shoulder as he walks out of the room, and Allison covers her laugh with her hand. She's sort of thankful that Five is too engrossed in the extremely one-sided conversation with what appears to be a battered, bald mannequin that he's calling Dolores, to actually notice his siblings confusion. And Allison has actually chosen to ignore that he's in a QPR, a real true human relationship, with this 'Dolores'. The mannequin looks like something out of a zombie movie.
It is kinda sweet, though.