Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It had been two years since the universe was reset. Five narrowed his eyes at the monitor he was using. Despite not having a library card, the librarian was kind enough to not kick him out. He only wanted to check. He hadn’t seen or heard about his siblings in months. At the beginning, he tried to track them down, but then his situation as a minor caught up to him.

The cops dragged him to an orphanage where he belonged. His name was legally Number Five. Most people called him Five and that’s the way he liked it. For a few months, he remained in the orphanage without the ability to look into his siblings’ lives. And then, he was put into a foster home.

That’s where Jasmine and James Henderson came in. They were an ordinary couple in their early forties that were unable to have children. They had been foster parents for a long time, primarily taking in late teenagers before they aged out of the system. They were kind, though a bit clingy.

Five was trying to adjust to a life without powers or being a legal adult. He was in high school, actually. He had asked if he could switch to an online platform or obtain a GED, but that was vetoed. Apparently, Jasmine wanted him to socialize with his peers. Whatever. It was fine.

The internet was quite nice in the future when there was no apocalypse. It was 2021 and social media was all the rage.

Lila adapted to Instagram and Facebook like a fish in water. That was how he learned that Lila not only had one kid, Grace, but twins as well. In every photograph, Diego looked tired and Lila looked exhausted. And yet they were smiling with their three kids. Five considered following Lila’s profile, then decided against it.

Next was checking up on Viktor. It appeared that he wasn’t quite as adept at social media. Or maybe he was just bad with relationships. The notification about his relationship status was in constant flux. Five felt a flicker of sadness for Sissy and Harlan. Viktor loved those two more than his own family sometimes. Oh, but it looked like he ran a bar now. Surely Viktor would let Five drink, unlike his foster parents.

Luther wasn’t on social media. Five, however, did find Luther’s name listed on a strange website. There was grainy footage but Five clicked out of there instantly when he recognized the face behind the astronaut helmet. He was scarred for life, now. At least Luther was alive.

Ben was in prison, recently convicted. Five sighed out in annoyance as he read one of the articles. The Ben in this timeline wasn’t the Ben that Five grew up with, but the asshole wasn’t too bad. Or, well, he was still awful but in a good way. Sometimes. Honestly, Five missed his Ben, but this Ben wasn’t too bad if it meant seeing some version of him alive.

Klaus was primarily on Twitter. He was renowned for posting strange, cryptic things. Five sighed, though, knowing that Klaus was using drugs again. Even without his powers, Klaus wasn’t comfortable as he was. None of them were doing well on their own.

Allison was living her best life. Ray was next to her in every photo she posted. Claire was seen less often but she had grown up a lot in such a short amount of time. Allison was in commercials, it looked like, and Ray was some business hotshot. They were a power couple. It must be perfect, huh, to form the universe into what she wanted.

Five felt bitter all of a sudden.

He was in the apocalypse for 40 years. He fought all that he could to stay alive and go to his family. Instead, he had ended up alone once more. At least when he was with the Commission he could see glimpses of his family in between missions. Now, he couldn’t even blink in and out to check up on them.

He left the library feeling off. He didn’t like that feeling.

When he entered the house, James greeted him with a pat to his shoulder. Five was still unused to the casual physical affection. Part of him still yearned for Dolores while another part of him wanted the apocalypse to just be a bad dream.

James said, “Food's almost ready. Is your homework done?”

“Mn.” Five had finished it during class. He spent the remaining of his extra time in school reading or consuming different textbooks that made people look at him weirdly.

Jasmine’s voice resounded through the house, “Is Five home? If he is, make sure he washes up before dinner!”

James chuckled and Five smiled back. He didn’t really view his foster parents as his parents. They were kind people, unlike Reginald, and real, unlike Grace. However, they were nice companions. Although, he still wished to spend time with his siblings.

What if reached out to them? Would they respond?

Five didn’t reach out to them. He kept studying and kept going to school. He won the science fair and made friends with a group of bizarre teenagers that liked someone as cranky as him.

One of his friends next to him — Holly — leaned in. She asked, “Do you want to hang out with us at the movies later?”

They were sitting on the roof of the school building. Five liked looking up at a sky that was blue and had a moon. He tended to find a way to get to the top of any roof. Somehow, that attracted a few strange people to take a liking to him.

Charles vaped in between classes and Sangah cackled at them trying to not smell like the different flavorings. Holly was a bit more book smart but had no street smarts at all. And William only stuck around them for the free entertainment. Five should be fed up with them but he was only amused.

Five normally declined the invitations to hang out with the others outside of school. He always had an excuse at the tip of his tongue. He had been with Jasmine and James for just over 2 years now. They were kind to him and asked for him to interact with others his age. But he tended to only interact with teenagers at school.

He opened his mouth then closed it. He thought about the suggestion for once. The movies were a normal place to spend time with friends. Five considered the kids around him to be his friends, even if they were immature. He didn’t abhor their company.

His siblings hadn’t reached out at all. Five continued to cyber stalk them. He wanted to know more, wanted to spend time with them, but it didn’t feel like he had a right to. If he had solved the apocalypse in 2019 then none of this would have happened. If only he had his powers—

He had no powers, though. He couldn’t fix this universe because it only got worse with each run.

So Five opened his mouth, looked at the people around him that clearly liked him despite him not being the kindest person around, and said, “Sure. What movie?”

Instantly, there was chatter. A buzz of energy was sent out.

Charles blew out a plume of smoke and said, “We want to see the new Spider-Man movie.”

Sangah suggested carefully, “Actually, there’s a musical that I was more interested in.”

“What about that DC movie? DC’s better than Marvel any day of the week.” Holly was smiling, as if knowingly goading someone on.

“Slander!”

“Harley Quinn has my heart, dude. She deserves to be in a happy relationship with Poison—”

“Tom Holland is better, you arrogant fucker.”

Number Five, the foster son of Jasmine and James Henderson, could only watch in amusement as a group of teenagers debated which movie to watch at the theater. He stood up and trailed after them, surprised that he even let himself be pulled along.

There was no apocalypse and there was nothing to be afraid of. Despite not having his powers, he had other skills. He was still a trained killer. He was still a genius. He was 60-years-old now. He had time to relax, maybe get a bit of retirement in before he could enter a new phase of his life.

The sun was in his face. He groaned, then relaxed when the sun disappeared. But then it came back and suddenly there was a hand on his shoulder trying to shake him awake. Five groaned and complained. The sun was too bright.

“C’mon, now, Five,” said Jasmine.

His foster mother tapped his cheek. She was always gentle when she touched him. Five must have given off abused and traumatized vibes. He hated, sometimes, how nice Jasmine’s touch was compared to the Handler’s. Jasmine’s fingers never burned his skin or left behind scars.

Five sat up slowly. He felt more and more like a teenager with each passing week. Maybe it was because his only friends were teenagers. Maybe it was because he could finally relax and experience puberty without death looming over him.

Jasmine sat on his bed, then showed him an envelope. “This was sent to us. I think it’s one of your previous siblings.”

As far as Five’s foster parents were aware, Five was from a large home with many siblings. He ended up being the youngest and was placed into an orphanage. It was his cover story about how he knew a handful of adults without it seeming too weird.

Five took the envelope from his foster mother’s hands. He recognized the handwriting instantly. It was Allison’s elegant scrawl. He opened the letter to find out that Klaus had been sober for 6 months. Allison was putting together a small party to celebrate it.

“Did you want to go? It sounds like this brother of yours struggled with addiction for a long time.”

Five nodded his head. “Klaus… He’s always struggled, I think. He got sober for a little while, but then things happened. But if it’s been 6 months already, that’s… That’s good, right?”

Jasmine’s smile was soft and warm. “It is.”

Five bit his lip. He traced over the loopy letters of Allison’s handwriting. This was the first time that he had been reached out to by his siblings. He wondered how he had even been tracked down, but he was thankful for it nonetheless.

“I’ll go,” he confirmed softly.

Jasmine grinned at him, patted his head, and hopped away. She then reminded him that despite it being summer break, he still had to help out around the house. Five only shook his head. Chores were the least of his worries.

That night, he called the phone number that Allison left at the bottom of the letter. Five’s fingers shook as he rang for her home phone.

“Hello? Who is this?” asked Allison.

Five’s breath hitched. “Allison?”

There was a pause. Unsurely, Allison responded, “Five? Is that you?”

“Yeah, uh…” He choked a little on his words. “It’s me. I, uh, I got your letter.”

“Good.” Allison’s tone held a smile. “I was worried about you. None of us could find you so we did some Googling and found your picture on a school website for winning the science fair.”

“I didn’t know that you were looking for me.”

“Why wouldn’t we?”

Five’s voice was rough when he replied, “It’s all my fault.”

Instantly, Allison responded, “What the fuck, Five? Do you really think we blame you? If anything, everyone blames me. What is going on in your head?”

“Everyone left,” reminded Five. “Everyone left to live their own lives. We were only in this mess because of me. If I had figured out that Viktor had powers—”

“None of us could have known.” Allison had a lecturing tone now. “No one blames you, Five. We’re settling down now, I think. Ray and Claire are with me, Lila and Diego had three kids, Klaus is sober, Luther’s Luther, and Ben is not our Ben, but he’s a Ben.”

“But—”

“But what? We’re all here. There’s no apocalypse to worry about. Luther even thinks he has a lead on Sloane. We’re… We’re doing okay. I think it’ll be a nice refresher to see you. Viktor, that recluse, even said he’d come over.”

“... Okay. I’ll see you in a few weeks.”

“You bet! I can’t wait for you to meet Claire and Ray properly. Did you even— You haven’t even met Claire before. She’ll love you.”

Five hadn’t met Claire but he heard about her from Viktor’s book. He never really allowed himself to think about meeting his naive one day. Even when he was scrolling through the photos on social media, he never thought about how their first meeting would go.

He hung up the phone with shaking fingers. And yet there was a smile across his face.

He left the bus, asked a bystander for directions, and ended up walking on the side of the street. He had to assure his foster parents that he would be okay traveling on his own. They bought him a phone so that they could stay in contact, even though he had refused the gift at first.

He spotted Allison’s house from afar. A van was parked on the curb with the sound of children crying. Five would normally be annoyed at the cries of babies but he couldn’t help but smile. He was an uncle now, right? He had three nieces and a nephew to look after.

Diego held the two twins in his arms, rocking his body back and forth gently to soothe them. Five huffed out. Diego looked just as tired as the blurry photos online made him look. Lila wasn’t much better— she was wearing a shirt with puke stains and had purple eyebags. But she was also smiling as she held Grace in her arms.

“Five?” Diego’s voice sounded odd.

Five grunted, not taking his eyes off of his niece. Grace looked a lot like Diego and a little like Lila. She was a cute kid.

“Five, you’re, like, taller.” Diego was gaping at him.

Five wrinkled his nose. “Of course, I’m taller, Diego. Did you expect me not to age in the past couple of years?”

“No, I just… You didn’t age in between the first two apocalypses. Remember? Viktor destroyed the world with the moon and then we were in the 60s. You didn’t age a day.”

Five furrowed his brow. “I didn’t.”

“Yeah, that’s what I’m saying, man.”

“No, you misunderstand, I solved the past three apocalypses in under a month. I was the last to arrive in the 60s. I instantly went looking for everyone. I didn’t age physically because it had only been a couple of weeks for me.”

Diego gaped at him. The twins had stopped crying and were now babbling to one another.

Five huffed, turning to Lila. She had an amused expression on her face. Grace gurgled into Lila’s shoulder. Lila didn’t flinch as Grace pulled on her hair.

“He still gets confused about time travel despite having watched the orientation videos from the Commission,” supplied Lila, eyes lit up before she turned to Diego.

“It’s not my fault no one told me,” said Diego. He continued to bounce the twins in his arms gently. He sighed then asked, “Are we really doing this?”

“Doing what?” asked Five, purposefully ignorant.

“Pretending that Allison didn’t ruin our lives.”

Five quirked an eyebrow up. He glanced around Diego, to the children, and to Lila. He asked his brother, “This isn’t what you wanted?”

Diego groaned. “I didn’t mean— I just… No powers. I’m a delivery driver. Lila’s parents live with us. It’s a lot, okay?”

Lila replied, “It is a lot, but we made this life for us.” Her smile was too tight. “Do you not like our life?”

“I’m… I’m bored.” Diego said it and Lila flinched like it burned her. “Is it so bad that I want to do more than be an average delivery driver?”

Lila’s eyes softened for a moment. “Do you think I planned on being a full-time mum?”

Diego and Lila stood there. Five backed away, realizing that he was infringing on an emotional moment. He would have blinked away but he had no powers, so instead he quickly and silently left to enter the house. They talked together in soft whispers, both widening their eyes as they spoke more and more.

He was greeted with Allison’s smile and Luther’s wide eyes. Allison tucked Five into a hug while Luther gently patted his shoulder. Five couldn’t find it in himself to be annoyed. He let Allison mother him while Luther treated him like glass.

Claire and Ray were introduced a short while later. Claire was attached to Klaus and Ray was all polite smiles. Ray seemed to not know how to treat Five, actually. He took out a juice box, then after Allison looked at him, offered Five a glass of wine. Five just chuckled and accepted both drinks.

He sat next to Klaus with Claire next to him. Five was completely amused at how Klaus had become an uncle to Claire so quickly.

“Half a year is a lot,” murmured Five.

Klaus nodded cautiously. “It’s going.”

Klaus was shaking slightly. Five wasn’t sure how to comfort his brother, so he did what his foster parents did, and patted Klaus on the shoulder. Klaus sank into the touch with a wry and amused smile.

“I’m proud of you,” he whispered.

Klaus choked out a laugh and replied, “You’ve gotten stranger, Fivey, but I think it suits you.”

It couldn’t have gotten better, but then Lila and Diego walked in holding hands with Viktor behind them holding Grace in his arms.

The family dinner was really nice. Viktor brought alcohol and shared it around awkwardly. The twins were very well-behaved, but when Five pointed that out, his siblings blinked at him in disbelief. He gestured to how calm they were.

He failed to hear Diego say, “Why are those obnoxious snots being good for Five of all people?”

Lila replied quietly, “He’s basically a grandfather, love. It’s part of an old person’s charm. Babies just fall asleep around them.”

“... He could babysit for us, couldn’t he?”

Lila tilted her head, then conceded, “Perhaps.”

“Date night is so on.”

Five poked at one of the baby’s cheeks. There was a small gurgle and then a laugh-like noise. Five huffed out, smiling. It was warm in this house. Any anger and fear he had dissipated. His siblings were settling down and he was too. They didn’t have time in their lives to be upset or resentful toward each other.

When he left to catch the bus home, he had a full contact list and Instagram downloaded on his phone. Klaus helped him set up his account. Five messed with his page on the bus, found a few of his friends, and soon learned that being in a group chat wasn’t always a great choice.

The only thing that could have made that day better was if Ben, their Ben, had been there.

It was dark when he stepped off the bus. He prepared to walk home but was greeted with Jasmine and James instead. They herded him to their car and they went through a drive-thru for milkshakes. As the radio was turned on full blast, Five could only grin.

Perhaps the universe being reset wasn’t so bad. Technically, he was just a normal teenager in this timeline. He wasn’t a child soldier or a survivor. He wasn’t a trained assassin or a murderer. He was simply Number Five, a high schooler who had friends.

(He was called Uncle Five for the first time today. It made him smile all night.)

Chapter Text

It was lunchtime. Their cafeteria trays were pushed away and the others were playing the card game Uno with their remaining time. Five, who always won card games, was banned from playing with his friends.

Instead, he browsed through Instagram profiles and liked a new photo of Claire, Grace, and the twins that Allison posted. Claire and Grace got along quite well and the twins were little terrors with adorable faces. Five loved them. Things were still somewhat strained with Allison and the others, but the kids didn’t need that baggage, so it was decided that they would have routine play dates.

This had been different since Five reconnected with his siblings. School, and life in general, didn’t feel so dreadful anymore. He spent more time doing silly things like playing laser tag or learning how to drive. He also learned how to text, but he was still confused on some of the ways that the others messaged him.

He switched to looking at Viktor’s profile when he felt a bump to his shoulder. Five glanced up to see Sangah. William was taking a long time to decide his next choice of card, so she decided to snoop around.

“Who’s that?” asked Sangah.

“My brother,” replied Five. After a silent beat, he turned the screen so that Sangah could look at Viktor better. “Viktor. He owns a bar.”

“You have a brother?” was all Sangah asked.

Actually, all of his friends were looking at him like he said something insane. Five blinked, then remembered that only his foster parents were aware of his siblings. He shrugged and set his phone face down.

“I have 1 sister, 5 brothers, 3 nieces, and 1 nephew.”

“... What the fuck?” uttered Holly.

Five blinked at her. He never heard Holly’s voice sound like that. “What?” he asked.

“I thought, you know, you were an orphan that was adopted by the Hendersons.”

Charles added, “I like your parents. I just… We didn’t know you had a family outside of them.”

“I am adopted. Or I was. None of my siblings are related. We were adopted when we were babies. When the old man kicked it, I was kind of estranged from them. I only reconnected with my siblings recently. They’re all… older than me.”

Five hated saying that. He was the oldest of his siblings even if he looked younger than them. However, it did give him more freeway in a few different areas.

Diego and Lila opened up a private investigator agency. They were both adults, and in some cases, kids didn’t trust them. So Five had got commissioned on a few cases to help the couple gather information. Things were working out great for them. Diego and Lila reassessed their lives, decided that they still enjoyed tracking people down, and opened up the agency together.

“They have kids. I would hope they’re older than you,” said Holly.

Five shrugged and kept his cover. “I was the youngest. The others had left home and started off on their own. By the time they realized I had been placed in an orphanage, I was already up for fostering.”

The lies felt bitter in his mouth. None of his siblings even thought to check on him. And sure, he was the oldest, but he was constantly trying to check on them. Why didn’t they reciprocate that protective itch?

“Either way,” continued Five, ignoring the festering guilt and loneliness in his chest, “I met you all, so I don’t think I got the bad end of the deal.”

He then went back to scrolling through Viktor’s Instagram to see a video of him making a Roy Rogers. Viktor was uncannily good at pouring drinks. Five was craving a margarita. If he had his powers, he would blink to Viktor’s bar and order one. He licked his lips at the thought.

Five failed to notice the smiles that were directed at him by his friends.

Wanda was a cruddy old van. Five still treated her right, though. He opened up the glovebox and took out a map. Lila was driving the van as Baby Shark played on the radio. She muttered something about how the CD got stuck so they had been listening to Baby Shark nonstop for a couple of years now.

They were trying to track down a criminal that didn’t show up for court. Five had argued that he wasn’t a bounty hunter, but Diego had seen how much money the runaway criminal was, so it was pointless to argue. Lila had seemed excited, though. Diego had to stay and man the agency, so Lila got to go hunt down the bounty.

“We’re supposed to turn right,” he directed, “and take the next exit.”

“Are you sure about that?” asked Lila. She blew a bubble in her gum. It popped just as her eyes turned to him.

“Contrary to popular belief, I can give correct directions.”

He had walked down these streets in the apocalypse. He could direct where they were easily. He only grabbed the map in case things had changed since 2019. Five frowned down to the small print of the map. His foster parents had mentioned that he was squinting recently…

Five asked, “Do you think I should get glasses?”

“Like, sunglasses or fashion glasses?” Lila laughed a little, but there was a pause, and she assured, “No, no, if you’re having a hard time reading, it’s natural for eyesight to decay for someone your age.”

“I’m only 60,” he refuted.

“Only, he says.” Lila was cackling now.

Five grumbled and looked down at the map. Maybe he should check back in with Jasmine and ask to make an optometrist appointment. He had issues with his eyes in the apocalypse but he assumed that it was because of the ash. He thought he had a couple of more decades before he needed to worry about getting glasses since this body wasn’t put through the apocalypse.

Five groaned, settled into his seat, and tried to tune out Baby Shark. He then decided to go through the file on their bounty. He got sucked into the details, rereading them until he could practically see inside the mind of his target.

It was strange to be with Lila. He killed her parents, who were now alive in this timeline. The Handler didn’t seem to exist anymore. In this world, it was as if Five never lived through the apocalypse, was taken away by the Handler, and eventually assigned the missions to kill Lila’s parents.

This was perhaps a kinder world. But part of Five was not suffice with how things ended. The Handler morphed him, sculpted him, into a monster. She was a horrible person and yet now that she was gone, Five didn’t know what to do. Who could he blame?

He wondered what Lila thought about their situation. Her parents were alive and so was their killer. The Handler was gone but her victim had survived.

What a pair they made, huh? Two socially inept adults that were groomed in the Commission. It was no wonder they struggled with homicidal tendencies. The other day, Charles stole a chicken finger from Five’s plate and he almost smashed his friend’s head into the table.

“Does it get better?” he asked after there was a long silence in the van.

Lila responded instantly in a chipper tone, “Nope!”

“Oh…”

Lila chuckled softly. She leaned toward him with her eyes locked onto the road. She said, “I’ll share a secret, though. No matter how bloody our pasts are, we have to leave it behind or else we’ll drag our loved ones into our mess.”

Five nodded, accepting the answer. He was constantly scared that his days in the Commission would be brought up again. He did so many things under that tutelage. It was worse to think that a future version of himself had created it in the first place.

“Lila…” He licked his dry lips. “Do you ever wonder who we would be like without the Handler?”

Lila pursed her lips and let out a small aggravated noise. Her fingers tapped against the steering wheel. Five almost regretted asking about it but he needed to know. Did Lila blame him for his parents or did she blame the Handler.

“Mum was a prick,” replied Lila after a much-delayed pause. “She was a politician who was feared by all others in the Commission. Only the scientists loved her because she would authorize truly terrible experiments.”

Five’s hand twitched.

Lila let out a small sigh. “So it’s true?” she asked.

“Not in this body,” Five replied, his voice strangled.

“Good.” Lila sat up straighter. In a clear and serious voice, she stated, “You’re not a monster, Five. You’ve killed a lot, and so have I, but you’re not the monster that my mum always yearned for you to be.”

Five thought that she was wrong. Some days he craved violence. Other days he felt broken. When it snowed for the first time, he had a panic attack because he thought the world had ended while he slept. He thought ash was raining down upon him while James and Jasmine just laughed behind him as they talked about getting salt to treat the pathway.

“I went to the Commission, remember? I saw her kill us. I saw you rewind time. I saw who you really are. Loyal to a fault, huh? You put up with the apocalypse and my mum all in hopes of one day reuniting with your family.”

A small part of him detested that Lila knew him so well. The Handler likely had Lila study him. It made his skin crawl. But on the other hand, a bigger part of Five was grateful to be understood. Lila knew what the Commission was like. She knew the Handler. She knew what sort of missions he was routinely sent out on.

They were the only two people left alive who knew how awful the Commission was. Because of that, they would be bonded by that trauma. It was selfish of him to be thankful that some remains of the apocalypse lingered.

They caught the bounty, celebrated with champagne at the agency, and laughed all throughout the night. Lila and Diego left first to go home to their kids. Five took his small commission and ordered a ride home from the agency. It was too late for the bus.

While on the ride home, he got a call from Diego. Five answered it with a flicker of worry, only for Diego to say, “The kids wanted to say good night to their smallest uncle.”

Five hitched his breath as he heard Grace yell out while the twins made small yelps of agreement. It took him a moment to reply back. It was so surreal to be treated like family by his own family.

When he returned home, James was still awake. They talked briefly before saying goodnight. Five felt warm inside as he imagined how normal he would have been if he was actually Jasmine and James' son.

So many things had changed and yet so much had remained the same. It did no good to think about the what-ifs. Yet, as Five went to sleep without tension in his shoulders or fear in his gut, part of him wondered why he couldn’t stop feeling the need to run.

He arrived home from school and noticed that his phone had a few unread messages. Five opened it up to find that Allison and Klaus had both texted him. He frowned at the words, readjusted his glasses, then figured that he would just call them to know of the problem sooner.

“Five?” It was Allison’s voice, though oddly high and panicked. “Five, can you come over?”

“Uh… sure.” Five kicked off his shoes and transitioned to his casual ones. “What’s up?”

“I’ve got an audition and Ray is driving Klaus to an appointment in the next town. I don’t want to leave Claire alone so I was hoping you’d have time to watch over her.”

Five nodded, accepting it. “Yeah, sure. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

“You’re a lifesaver, Five. See you soon!”

Five blinked as his phone hung up on the call. He quickly sent messages to Jasmine and James to say that he was babysitting his niece. He got a thumbs-up in reply from James and a good luck from Jasmine.

He took the bus since he wasn’t needed for another hour or so. He took his school bag with him in preparation to study if he could. His finals were next week and then he’d graduate. He never thought he’d go to public school. It was a strange thing to think that his siblings never experienced school for themselves.

He knocked on the door and was let in by Klaus. He held out a kombucha for Five to drink. Five politely declined it. Klaus had turned into a bit of a health nut. He ate mostly organic foods and had a whole routine of vitamins he took.

Five took the offered multivitamins and chewed on the gummies as Klaus led him to Claire. Claire was doing homework at the dining table. Klaus sat beside her with a long sigh.

Claire looked up and said, “I didn’t need to be watched after.”

Klaus hummed and replied, “I know you think you’re old enough, Claire-Bear, but we’re just looking after you.”

Claire raised an unimpressed eyebrow. She glanced at Five, then back to Klaus. “He’s only a few years older than me.”

“It may seem that way,” said Klaus, “but he’s very mature in reality. A grumpy pants, I say. He’ll make sure you’re safe, plus he can help you with your homework.”

Five sat up, crooked his neck, and saw the equations of Claire’s math homework. He quickly assured them, “I can help with algebra. And other subjects if necessary.”

Claire’s eyes flickered with annoyance but she lost the hostility in her shoulders. She set down her pencil and finally looked at Five.

Five wasn’t sure how much Allison and Klaus told her about him. Claire was someone just as foreign to him. They really only knew each other from family meetings. Honestly, Five spent more time with the twins because they always decided to nap with him.

Klaus clapped his hands together. “This is great! I’m going to get a ride from Ray and you two get to have a fun evening together. Don’t party too hard. At least, not without me to supervise.”

Five snorted at his brother’s dramatics, felt Klaus pat him on the shoulder, and watched him leave. Klaus looked healthier and livelier without his powers haunting him. Five was sure that his diet also helped keep him vibrant.

Ray passed by with his car keys and kissed Claire’s forehead quickly. He shook hands with Five as well. And just like that, Klaus and Ray had left the house. Allison was already off to her audition. Now, it was only Claire and Five in the house.

“So…” Claire tilted her head. “Mom says she grew up with you but then you became estranged. Isn’t she double your age or something?”

Five shrugged. “We’re siblings no matter what we look like.” He leaned forward and tapped at some of her writing. “You missed the decimal point.”

Claire blinked at him in confusion, then looked at her math problem. “Well, fuck,” she murmured as she began to erase her mistakes.

The minutes ticked by with Five only having to give small tips or remind Claire about what to do. She seemed very self-sufficient all on her own, so Five opened up his own backpack. He took out his textbooks and notes. He ignored the way that Claire judged his handwriting. He much preferred typing his essays because enough teachers had commented about his penmanship.

Somehow, doing his own work made Claire curious about him. “What are you working on?”

“Studying for finals,” he replied. He looked above his book and met Claire’s gaze. “It’s the last tests I’ll have to do for high school. I took the SATs last year. I’m still debating whether or not to attend college.”

Claire sat up and assessed Five with wondrous eyes. “You’re graduating?”

“Next week,” he confirmed, a small prideful smirk on his lips. Five never imagined feeling satisfaction for attending school.

He flicked Claire’s forehead and said, “That’s why I can help you with your homework. What sort of subjects do you struggle with?”

Someone in this family needed to be the smart uncle, so Five would take that role. Klaus already had the gay uncle covered. Diego was the weird uncle. Luther was the fun uncle. Viktor was the functional-adult uncle. Ben was the criminal uncle that no one really mentioned. All their bases were covered.

“I don’t have a bad grade in any class,” said Claire, “however, I have been struggling with a book report.”

“... Have you read the book?”

Claire grinned as her cheeks flushed. “No.”

Five closed his textbook and gestured for Claire to go get the book for her report. He packed his work away as Claire left to pick up the book from her room. As he zipped up his backpack, Claire entered the room with the book in her hands. She set the small paperback onto the table and looked at it oddly.

“Not a fan of the book?”

Claire hummed in the back of her throat, then showed a tight smile. Five sighed. He had never read the book. He grabbed for it and cracked the spine open.

After he read the first few lines in his head, he asked, “Do you learn better reading it yourself, or having it read to you?”

Claire tilted her head at the question, then smiled like a gremlin. “Are you going to read me a bedtime story, Uncle Five?”

“Hey, mom?”

Allison returned from her audition after Klaus and Ray had come home. She had already taken off her heels and was currently switching into more comfortable clothes. It was practically dark when she got back and she was ready to relax with her family.

Claire peeked her head into the bedroom. Allison turned to her daughter in surprise.

“Yes, honey?”

Claire edged forward, then asked with hesitance, “What sort of party are we throwing for Uncle Five?”

“... What?” Allison was sure that she didn’t miss anything. Their birthday wasn’t until fall. Was there some sort of anniversary that she was unaware of?

“His graduation party, mom,” drawled out Claire, as if it was an obvious thing. She folded her arms across her chest and said, “He graduates high school next week. I was wondering what we had planned.”

Allison blinked, then blinked again. Did she hear that right?

“I’ll check in with the others,” was all Allison could reply. Claire grumbled and left the room to pester Ray to make popcorn.

Allison quickly finished dressed, grabbed for a phone, and ran down to the basement. Klaus was in the middle of meditation, something that his counselor recommended. Allison gently stirred him out of his meditation and hissed in a whisper, “What should a graduation party look like?”

Klaus’s eyes bugged out from his skull. It took him a moment to connect the dots. A second later, a wide grin crossed his face. “Our little Fivey’s graduating! Oh, this has to be a party for the books!”

Allison quickly messaged the others in the group chat and started to plan. Then she checked in with Five’s foster parents so that they were all onboard with a date and time.

No one in their family had graduated high school before. Allison and Diego had obtained their GEDs but Luther, Viktor, Klaus, and Ben never got the chance to be normal even in that regard.

Chapter Text

Gathering the family on such short notice was hard. Allison had to shift into gear quickly. Viktor had the most trouble traveling with them, but he luckily had enough trust in his employees to bunk with Klaus for a couple of days. They all gathered at her house.

The dining room was in disarray. Claire was looking after Grace and the twins in the basement. Ray was trying to provide drinks and snacks to her siblings, but Allison knew that everyone was overwhelmed. A lot of mixed emotions were involved.

Their special little Number Five was graduating high school. And he didn’t tell any of them. Allison had to find out from her daughter.

“Why didn’t he tell us?” asked Luther. He looked genuinely lost. “This is a big step, isn’t it?”

Klaus pointed out, a bit stoic aside from his dramatic tone, “Do we actually know a lot about Five’s current life?”

It was very bizarre for Klaus to say the obvious in such a blase tone.

Allison glanced around the dining table. Most of them looked guilty for not thinking about asking Five what he did with his life. Allison only had Five’s foster parent’s information because Jasmine picked Five up from her house one day after babysitting and decided to share numbers for emergencies.

However, there was an outlier. One person sitting at their table had no guilt across their face at all. In fact, she seemed more confused by them. Lila raised a pointed finger.

“Do none of you pay attention to him?” asked Lila, giving the table a surprised look. She chuckled a little, all soft and low. “Come on now, you’ve got to have looked at his social media profiles, don’t you?”

Allison quickly assured, “Of course, I do. He doesn’t post much, though…”

Viktor, a complete recluse, posted more on social media than Five. It wasn’t exactly a hard thing to do, though. Five occasionally posted photographs of him and his friends, but only once every few months. He didn’t even comment on things. The most he did was like or heart the posts that other people made.

Luther, who was still new to social media, was very happy online. He had multiple group chats, mostly all consisting of their family. Lila and Allison were excluded from the boys-only group chat. As revenge, Lila and Allison made an only-girls group chat. Luther adapted to social media quickly, and soon found new exercise routines to add to his already extensive list.

Of course, there was also the group chat that all of them but Five were in. It didn’t start on purpose, as they had made it when they eventually all reconnected before they found Five, but then they kept him excluded because, well, he was still a kid in some ways even though he was mentally older than them.

Ray offered up, “I thought his friends posted quite a bit.”

Allison blinked at her husband, stunned.

Lila, however, made a little cackling noise. She exclaimed, “Right!? I have so many screenshots saved. Who knew the dumb things that little Fiver could get up to! Those kids are gold. I half-suspect that Five doesn’t know that his friends post so many videos and photos of them goofing off together.”

Diego was also stunned by his partner. He asked bluntly, “Do you cyber stalk Five’s friends?”

“Of course,” Lila replied nonchalantly. She had the gall to say it so casually. Lila looked at the others like they were the insane ones. “Don’t you?”

“No,” said Luther, voice loud yet having a squeak-like tone. “Why on earth is that normal to you?”

Lila finally looked a little unnerved. She swallowed down her Shirley Temple with a furrowed brow, wiped her mouth, then said, “You don’t obsessively check in on the people you love?”

“Nn, uh, There’s no way to reply to that statement correctly.” Viktor looked concerned. Like, visibly concerned.

“Well.” Lila stole Diego’s drink and plopped a maraschino cherry into it. “If I do it, Five definitely does it too. We’re all paranoid, you know. And I didn’t go through nearly all the training Five did. He probably actually checks in on you all without you knowing. Might even know your schedules like the back of his own hand.”

“The Commission?” asked Diego, eyebrows raised. “You think you got your stalking tendencies because of your mom?”

“My mum was the one who assigned me the training,” confirmed Lila. She sipped from her straw. “Honestly, Five and I still have issues adjusting back to normal life. I think us stalking our family is fairly good compared to some of the things we’ve held back through the years.”

That was extremely concerning. Allison had so many questions.

She automatically hit Klaus as he raised his hand to probe Lila for more information. Luther and Diego were too stunned to speak, both looking at Lila like she was an alien. Viktor continued to blink, a little dazed still, from the information. Ray, the god send, left to grab more drinks from the kitchen.

Lila smirked to herself, then added, “We almost stabbed each other when we went out to eat when we were tracking that Wellignton guy for running out on his wife. We stopped at a diner and since Five’s got food issues and I have paranoid tendencies, we reacted quite badly when there was a loud noise that just happened to be a waiter dropping a plate.”

Ray cleared his throat as he reentered the room. He passed around cans of beer and wine. Allison took one quickly, feeling guilty about drinking in front of Klaus, but then smiled when Klaus took out one of his bizarre sugary fruit beverages that even Claire said was too sweet.

“Okay, well, the Commission aside, how do we host a party for a grumpy old man?” asked Allison.

“We’ve got to have pie,” said Luther, like it was an obvious thing. “Pie and ice cream.”

Viktor nodded at Luther, then added, “Peanut butter and marshmallows too, so we can make fluffernutter sandwiches.” Viktor then paused. “That is… Does Five still like fluffernutters?”

Lila instantly confirmed, “He does.”

“That’s… great,” Allison said faintly.

Everything was great. The party would be great. Diego even brought over Wanda so that they could all attend the graduation ceremony without taking too many trips. They’d even meet Five’s foster parents officially. It would be great. So, so great.

And then Ray mentioned, “He likes coffee as well, does he not?”

Luther snapped his fingers and grinned. “He does!”

Should Allison be concerned that Ray knew so much about Five? The answer was no. Ray was simply savvy with technology, unlike the Hargreeves who acted like they didn’t know how it operated, since for them, smartphones were a very new existence. Ray had followed Five and his friends ever since Allison reconnected with her oldest sibling.

Holly was talking to Sangah when Five got a weird feeling in his stomach. He slowed his steps and watched as his friends continued on without him. Charles and Sangah were goading William into watching the Barbie movie with them in July. Five was fairly certain that Charles and Sangah would convince all of them to go see the movie.

Five heard his friends’ voices get softer and softer until there was nothing except uneasiness. Five backtraced his steps and noticed an open classroom door. Five put on an unimpressed face at the attempt to be mysterious.

A person in a suit was there. Their cufflinks were perfectly placed and their tie was freshly ironed. Five somewhat missed wearing suits everyday. Once he got an office job, he could start dressing his true age and not what he simply looked like.

Five assessed the person in front of him. They weren’t necessarily dangerous but they weren’t supposed to be on school grounds. In fact, if Five knew that the Commission didn’t exist any longer in this timeline, he would suspect that the person before him was an agent.

And, well, that made a lot of sense to Five. He knew that he had raised a few red flags and was likely on a government list. His test scores and his inclination to read textbooks for fun wasn’t exactly normal. Not to mention that Five was a perfect recruit because he was an orphan that could be easily used as a tool or weapon.

“Number Five,” the officer greeted him.

Five internally rolled his eyes.

The officer stepped closer, all long legs and elegance. Five saw it for what it was: intimidation and awe. Five, in their eyes, was a teenager with a wide intellect. He was just a kid who knew a little too much for someone his age. They would look down upon him while also being wary of him.

“You have a brilliant mind for someone your age.” The officer smiled and if it was anyone but Five, he was sure it would unnerve him. “Your brilliance is a thing that brings your family and friends pride and joy. Even this school credits you as one of their best students.”

Five held back a sigh and made sure to not cross his arms like he wanted to. “And?”

“Have you ever thought about using that mind of yours for good?”

Five looked up to the ceiling. There was a water stain. This wasn’t some private school or a big city. It was a small town with a small school. Everyone knew everyone. It was quaint and it was perfect. Five wanted this town to remain innocent, and since he was one of its residents, that included himself.

“... I’m not interested,” Five grounded out, despite how thrilling going on cases sounded.

The officer’s jaw twitched. “I see.”

Five had other things to do with his time. He was going to graduate, maybe go to college, and drop in on Diego and Lila’s agency. He was going to have a normal life with his family, just as he always wanted. Plus, babysitting was chaotic enough, wasn’t it? The twins were little terrors when they wanted to be.

He was walking off of the stage when he almost tripped. He instinctively balled his hands into fists, thinking of blinking out of there. Instead, Five had to keep walking down the small set of stairs and try not to gape as there were loud whistles and yells for him.

Five knew that Jasmine and James were attending his graduation. He had been excited about it, even, because James had been busier at work and Jasmine had mentioned more and more the idea of fostering another kid. It was strange to think that he was somewhat jealous over a person, a child, that hadn’t even been confirmed to come into his life yet.

Five did not know about the others around his foster parents. Luther was holding up a sign made out of glitter. In front of him, Allison was clapping her hands wildly and Viktor screamed at the top of his lungs. Next to Luther, Diego was whistling while Lila chewed gum and clapped for Five slowly.

His siblings showed up to his graduation. That… That was very unexpected.

He had to sit back down in his spot until the rest of the ceremony was done. He got a couple of smiles from his friends and other classmates. A few were sending him questioning but happy looks as well. Five wasn’t sure how to explain his siblings. It was obvious that they were all quite a bit older than him.

When the ceremony was over, Five made a beeline to his family. He was quickly squeezed into a half-hug by James and a small pat on the shoulder from Jasmine. They were always good about keeping boundaries.

Five’s siblings, however, were not.

Klaus launched himself at Five. Five dodged easily, but Klaus was taller and bendier. Klaus caught Five’s arm and tugged him to his side. At least it wasn’t a hug. Instead, Klaus ran his hands over Five’s longer hair.

“You’re all grown up now, right before our eyes,” said Klaus, sighing as he patted Five’s head.

Before Five could bite back, Allison said, “The first person in our family to graduate high school… I don’t think dad did, even, right?”

That made Five pause in thought. Reginald Hargreeves was an alien of some sort. He killed Luther, once, and looked the same age in the 60s as he did when they were all growing up under his care. It was unlikely that Reginald would attend high school.

Viktor concurred after a delayed moment, “I don’t think dad saw much benefit in schooling.”

Diego snorted and muttered, “Didn’t see much benefit in anything, really.” Lila patted him on the shoulder then placed a kiss on his cheek.

“Well, ding dong, the old fart has been dead for years now,” said Klaus. He released Five and clapped his hands together. “But enough about dad! We’re all here for our little Fivey!”

Five gritted his teeth. “Don’t call me little—”

Klaus leaned in dramatically towards their siblings, which had made a small circle, and said, “Do you all remember when he would draw on the walls with his crayons solving math equations that only Benny-boy could understand?”

“I don’t remember that,” admitted Viktor. His gaze was a little dazed. “But I remember the aftermath.” The punishment that followed for defiling the mansion walls.

“Ah…”

Suddenly, things turned a bit somber. Viktor awkwardly chuckled and placed a hand on the back of his neck. Five groaned inwardly and walked over to Viktor. Number Seven was his favorite growing up. Ben was a close second, but Viktor made Five feel safe in ways that no one else could.

“Ben would correct my mistakes with his obnoxious orange crayon,” murmured Five.

That made his siblings snap out of it.

“You’re always forgetting to place the decimals in the right spot, huh,” said Lila.

She was smirking at him, clearly referring to Five’s rough time in the apocalypse. One wrongly placed decimal made him spend years going over his math again and again. Five was more stable now, and could admit that it was a dumb mistake that he should have picked up on earlier. Although, he blamed the apocalypse for not having the best mindset

Five folded his arms and rolled his eyes. “How do you even remember so many things about me?”

Lila reached out and poked his nose. Five wrinkled his nose in response, looking akin to a schnauzer backing away from being patted on the head. “My mum was obsessed with you, pipsqueak.” She left it at that.

There ended up being a party when he got home. He ignored the texts from his friends. One in particular was in all caps, asking how Five hid the fact that his sister was the actress from the laundry detergent commercials. He ate amongst his foster parents and his siblings with a grin.

It was probably because he had too much peanut butter but he didn’t care about any of his worries as he finally felt inner peace for the first time in nearly 50 years.

“It’s Number Five. I… If I take you up on this offer, I’ll have access to databases and information, correct? I’ll be able to track certain people down if I please.”

After graduation, he didn’t see his friends as often. Mostly, it was because they hung out before or after school. However, they did have a few plans in place. Five shouldn’t be giddy about it. He was an old man, yet his palms were sweaty.

He hung outside the movie theater trying to hide from others. He only dressed up because his friends promised to do the same. He straightened his pink tie and walked out of the shadows when he spotted Holly and William walking near him.

Behind Holly and William was Charles. Sangah’s parents then pulled up along the curb. Five upped his pace.

They were all wearing pink. Holly was in a light pink blouse with a dark pink skirt. Sangah wore a pink pantsuit. Charles was in black jeans but wore a baby pink collared shirt. William wore pink shorts and a matching tank top. His vape pen even emitted a bubble gum smell. Five was wearing a completely pink suit, ignoring the gaping mouths of his friends.

He wasn’t going to be embarrassed by wearing the suit. He was interested in the movie that they had chosen to watch. It was supposed to be good and emotional. Diego and Lila saw it, and Diego said that Lila cried. Five was determined to know how a movie made Lila cry. And maybe he could exploit that in the future.

But for now, Five was still too curious for his own good. He may live in a small town but people of all sorts were filling the movie theater dressed in pink. The Barbie movie was playing. It was 2023 and Barbie was one of the best premiers to date in this timeline.

They rushed into the theater, fighting over popcorn and drinks. The room was packed with students and young adults that had the summer off. Five didn’t end up going to college, which surprised Jasmine and James. Five bit his lip at the thought, his gut rolling. He was going to protect his family, and he would leave it at that.

Five didn’t expect to cry at the movie. Nor did he expect for a line to make him emotional. “What was I made for?” God, Five didn’t know. He didn’t know why he had been shaped into a killer, but it’s all he knew now. If he had to be a CIA officer, then he would do it. He’d gather all of his family and one day, he hoped, that they could all laugh about the apocalypse they caused in the past.

That night, he called Lila. They both pretended to not be emotional wrecks. They also scheduled a night to go see the Barbie movie again. In matching suits, as well. Diego wasn’t to be invited— this was an assassins-only field trip. He got to stay at the office and take in new cases while Lila and Five dealt with their issues.

Chapter Text

The office was a bit strange. Five thought that with every fiber of his body. Something was terribly wrong with the people he worked for. Being asked to become an agent straight out of high school was the first red flag. There were dozens more as Five was initiated into the program.

The CIA wasn’t supposed to actually work within the United States. Did that stop them? Not really. Any conspiracies were buried and witnesses would mysteriously become deceased. Five, a new officer in training, was allowed a lot of leeway that he shouldn’t have.

On the papers he filled out, he was just a researcher. That made sense, alright, because of his high intellect. However, he didn’t do research. At most, he filled out paperwork and edited reports. He wasn’t being assigned to missions. Instead, his days were interrupted with co-workers.

Five soon realized that he wasn’t allowed to be alone. He was constantly supervised, whether there was an obvious attempt to watch him or not. He had already found the bugs and cameras that were poorly hidden in his office. And that’s another thing— why give a teenager his own office?

Five stuck around the CIA because he was too deep in it to leave now. He had a conspiracy to uncover. Hopefully he wouldn’t be killed before he figured out why he was being stalked by the people he worked with.

He had just finished washing his hands in the bathroom when his supervisor left his own stall. Five almost missed the flicker of black ink on his wrist. Almost.

Five pretended to not see it, continuing to wipe his hands dry. He smiled at his supervisor as he always did and ignored the fact that he had somehow found himself in a dangerous position.

Number Five was an easily recognized name. He was the adopted son of Jasmine and James Henderson. He graduated in June 2023. He started working at the CIA in August 2023. He had been working there for a couple of months and he only just now saw someone slip up.

Some of Five’s co-workers had upside down umbrellas tattooed on their wrist. That was a cult in the making.

Five rubbed at his own wrist on the train, trying to ignore that he had felt so different without the ink underneath his skin.

In the apocalypse, the ink had faded. Some days he would wonder if his childhood hadn’t happened, that perhaps he had always been in the apocalypse and created a fantasy of having siblings to cling to.

Five scratched his wrist, not knowing he was bleeding until a kind older woman who always rode the bus the train with him at this time of night offered up a handkerchief. Five accepted it with a stale smile and tried to ease her concern.

He called his foster parents that night, trying to avail the guilt he felt for moving out just as their new foster child arrived. Five was trying to distance himself from the people that he cared for. He replied less and less to his friends from high school.

That night, he learned about how young Ellie was settling into the Henderson household quite well. She was only 6-years-old but had experienced quite a dark life. Jasmine and James were handing things the best they could, but would really like for Five to stop by sometime even if he was legally an adult with no parents.

Five agreed to come over for dinner the following week, then finally sent a reply to the group chat his friends had made 3 years ago. He had tens of unread messages and enough pings of his name to know that he had been missed. He then took a selfie of his tired state grinning in the train.

He didn’t get to sleep until early the following morning. He caught up with his friends, learning that he had missed a lot despite not meaning to.

He arrived at work and acted as his normal self. Five had to bear it. He had access to certain databases but it still took time for other officers to track down Five’s leads.

Two weeks passed in quaint solitude.

Five met Ellie, instantly felt like a grandpa, and decided to ask James and Jasmine if they thought about a therapy dog. Jasmine looked interested in the idea. James and Five went down to a shelter and adopted a little pug.

Ellie announced that Five should name her dog, it was only fair, him being her big brother and all. Five took a long look at the pug. He then said with confidence, “Mister Pennycrumb.” Ellie giggled at the name, agreeing to it with wonder and light in her eyes.

Jasmine and James watched, mostly resigned to Five always being a little bit more peculiar than the average person.

The days continued on. Five got up, went to work, returned home, and the cycle repeated. He texted his friends, more often than not late at night once most others had gone to sleep. He learned that William was going through a break up while Holly and Sangah were apparently more than just friends now.

He sent voice files of reading storybooks to Jasmine to give to Ellie. He tutored Claire once in a while and baby sat Diego and Lila’s three little helions. He lived an average life, aside from his day job. He pretended to be normal.

Sometimes, he wished he could do more than pretend.

It was Christmas. Five was supposed to have a present for at least one of his siblings by now. The whole point of joining the CIA was to pull strings and search databases.

Five had to sit in between Viktor and Luther with a dark feeling in his chest. Guilt, he knew, was eating away at his core.

It didn’t help much that when he arrived, everyone but him was wearing a holiday sweater. Five was jealous that they had planned to have sweaters, but that soothed when Allison pulled out a gift bag and planted it into his lap. Five just shook his head with a chuckle as he lifted up a dreadfully awful sweater to match his family.

When he returned from changing his clothes, his siblings had gathered around. Even Victor was grinning with a warm cup of cocoa. Luther waved and smiled but he kept looking down to his hand where he once had a wedding ring. Lila was playing a cartoon on the television for the kids. Claire looked bored out of her mind.

As they dragged out board games and took bites from candy canes, it felt peaceful. They never got to celebrate greatly while under Reginald Hargreeves’ thumb. Ray was obviously trying to show them all what the holidays were like for him, all warm smiles and comforting food.

Ben wasn’t here. He wasn’t quite their Ben, but they all missed his presence anyway. Sparrow Ben was an asshole, but their Ben was also an asshole when he elected to show his mischievous side.

Klaus was wearing eyeliner again. Five hadn’t seen that since when he first reunited with his family. He looked calm, almost at peace, as he twirled a peppermint candy cane in a cooled-down hot cocoa. Five wondered what Klaus thought of Ben being locked up, but decided that he shouldn’t mention it while they were all trying to celebrate another year.

Things took a turn when Diego brought out a robbery case he was working on the side. There was no gain but he had been curious about it for weeks. Apparently, even Lila was a little stumped by the case. Diego laid out the pictures of the scene and spread them over the table. Almost like a game of clue, but with less murder.

Five only had to take a few glimpses of it before noting that it was Lila’s handiwork. He sipped his cocoa slowly as he let his siblings bicker amongst themselves as they came up with different ways that the robbery could have happened. The bank had insurance and nothing of value was taken from the vaults, other than money.

It was a gift, Five realized. Diego had been tied to boring cases that were aggravating him, so Lila created a mystery to make Diego interested in solving mysteries again. Lila met his gaze and Five just laughed, unable to stop even when his siblings gave him bizarre looks.

Everyone was normal. Five never truly relaxed but it was normal for him now to always be slightly on edge.

That all changed when he received a call about one of his leads. “Number Five? We believe we’ve found the person you’ve been looking for. She goes by a different name now, however, we are certain she was once known as Sloane.”

Five took a plane to Florida, drank a lot, and finally saw the woman known as Sloane Hargreeves for the first time in years.

As they walked toward one another, Sloane’s eyes widened and then she gasped. Soon, she wasn’t just walking. She was sprinting down the hallway with slightly teary eyes. Five tried to scramble away from Sloane, who was just like Luther— too big and happy to get away from, too puppyish for Five to abuse enough to upset.

Sloane captured him into a hug and exclaimed, “You give the best speeches, you know.”

Five groaned at the reminder of when he got drunk at her and Luther’s wedding. Sloane just chuckled, then ran her fingers over his shoulders as if assuring herself that this was real.

“I’ve had a lot of strange dreams, Five, but I think they’re real. You make them feel real.”

Five smiled crookedly. “In another life, you were my sister-in-law.”

Sloane sobered up a little. She moved hair behind her ear and blushed ever so slightly. Hesitantly, she asked, “Has Luther… Has he moved on at all? I mean, I know it’s been a lifetime, but we’re still alive, so our marriage vows are still in effect, aren’t they?”

Five replied with a silent grin.

They flew back on a plane. Sloane packed her things up quickly, then shipped the rest out. Her roommates would apparently send over anything that she left behind as well. Sloane was giddy the entire plane ride, partially because she remembered a different life and partially because she was in the air just like she used to be regularly.

Five stood outside a joint that he would normally be kicked out of. Baby face and all. He put up with the looks from the workers as Sloane followed just a step behind him.

There was an announcement about an astronaut before a large man entered the stage. Sloane gasped, then started to scream when Luther pulled off a large part of his costume.

Five left once Sloane and Luther began to kiss. There was a lot of yelling so it was easy to slip away.

That night, Luther had many posts on his social media accounts. A photo of Sloane and Luther’s hands with rings on them was the main star. Five watched all of the videos and made sure to add Sloane into the family group chat before anyone forgot to. He had forgotten how bright Luther could smile.

It made him wonder if there were others in this world that his siblings loved but could not attain. Perhaps in this rest universe, anything was possible.

His gift was a bit late, but Luther didn’t seem to mind.

It was Diego who brought it up at lunch. Chinese takeout containers littered the table between them. Lila ate chow mein from the container. Diego had the decency to throw half of the container of sweet and sour chicken onto a plate instead, though he ate it with his fingers.

Five had dropped by the agency to see if they had any interesting cases. Sometimes, the operations at his own workplace overlapped with the private investigator agency. Five would subtly steer Lila and Diego away from the dangerous operations while also gaining new information.

Five was reading over a fairly harmless but still an overall douchebag of a case. A boyfriend had trashed his partner’s apartment, ruining hundreds if not thousands of dollars of belongings, not to mention sentimental items that couldn’t be restored. The case couldn’t be reported as a robbery to the police, so the victim went to the agency to see if they could do anything about it.

That’s when Diego said, “Hey, Five, you haven’t been around as much lately. What’s up with that?”

Diego was leaning against Lila’s shoulder. She just huffed at her husband’s antics, but didn’t scold him, so Five knew that Lila was also interested in it. Five supposed that he hadn’t exactly told anyone about what he was doing.

It was on purpose. Five didn’t want his siblings mixed up with the CIA, or with whatever cult was forming within it. It obviously concerned the Umbrella Academy. Five wouldn’t let his family get more involved in it than they already were.

“My job is stressful,” he answered blandly.

Diego perked up, eyes widening. “Congratulations, little dude.”

Five rolled his eyes, crossed his legs, and planted his heels onto the table. Lila and Diego both barked in outrage, but Five just glared. He was the oldest of them all. He deserved some respect, didn’t he?

Lila sighed loudly after a while, and asked, “You don’t like it, do you?”

“Oh, are you working at Baskin Robbins or something?” asked Diego, eyes filled with wonder and excitement.

If only. Five would have much preferred a more normal and average job like that. Instead, he was recruited to the CIA and it didn’t seem to be because he was smart or wanted. It was because there was a cult and Five was trying to hide how anxious it made him to work amongst people that knew him in a strange way.

He held back from revealing his job or how nervous his co-workers made him. Instead, Five smiled bitterly and said, “Or something.”

He didn’t miss the way that Diego rolled his eyes, or how Lila’s gaze narrowed.

“What was your childhood like?”

Five was startled by the question but he forced himself to look casual. He looked up, taking a moment to think about how to answer. One of his co-workers was trying to be his friend. It had been happening for weeks now but they must be running low on information. They were getting desperate.

“My father wasn’t someone I cared about much, but I loved my siblings,” replied Five.

Maybe that was too much information. Five would kill for his siblings. He had in the past, and that fact and loyalty about him wasn’t about to change suddenly. His siblings were great hostages if it came to that. However, they also went through training as children, so they weren’t helpless either.

The researcher nodded then set down a stack of papers. Five groaned inwardly. He knew that his co-workers were getting anxious. He wasn’t what they expected. Whatever was known about the Umbrella Academy wasn’t widespread and not wholly correct either.

Five needed to infiltrate the cult. Or whatever it was that made the CIA decide to hire some random person like him.

He would involve Lila and Diego if he needed to. His other siblings weren’t great at being discreet. Diego was still pretty loud but he also knew to keep quiet about important things. Yet, Five didn’t want to involve any of them. Everyone else was settling down into their lives. Five didn’t want to uproot them.

He was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Five hated it. He felt cornered despite the free will he was supposed to have in this reset universe.

He sighed. He tried to teleport to the lounge, then froze. He forgot for a moment that he had to walk to get a new cup of coffee. He let out a groan of frustration then walked out of his office. The door slammed behind him.

He quit his job the next day, his usefulness for the CIA completely null now that Sloane was found and reunited with those she had once known.

His family hosted a party for him, although they were more than a bit confused about the reason for Five's celebration.

Klaus went along with it, though. He seemed excited for him, trying to goad Five into a vest with sequins. Five pretended to be annoyed but he was very happy as he relaxed in Allison's living room as he looked around at his family. The only thing missing was his friends' loud complaints about the movie that Diego and Viktor were watching with wide eyes, both of them fully enraptured in the plot.

Perhaps, in a different universe or timeline, Five obtained his powers again. In this one, though, he managed to become somewhat normal.