[ The buddy system, exactly. Five barely has time to nod in approval before she answers that she hasn't told anyone else, and only plans to tell Allison. It's... been a long time since someone put all their faith in his family. In him especially.

He looks at her a bit differently as she goes on. Her spiraling into self doubt reminds him how young she is, but not the way he once was. Five was far too arrogant as a child to admit to his faults. That along with the father he desperately wanted to spite, is why he spent a lifetime in solitude. Even without all the training he went through, she's got something he didn't have. She listens.

She also feels safe enough to be vulnerable around him, which isn't a first for him, but he's hardly practiced in how to respond. He's never been the one that people go to for comfort. There may be things he's left out about himself when it involves Kamala, a lot of things, but he hasn't outright lied to her either. He won't now. ]

You did the right thing. [ If she asks him, paranoia isn't so bad when it keeps you from falling into a trap. ] ...There aren't many adults who could have seen through them so easily and understand the value of information. They aren't on to you yet, so I'd say you did well.

[ As rare, and somewhat awkward, as it is for him to compliment someone, he means it. She played along just enough to see their cards without giving any away. He couldn't ask for more. ]

I've been waiting for one of them to make a mistake. If he wasn't afraid of us, he never would have tried tricking you.