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sissytobitch10seconds · 1 year

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October 1, 1989

Fandom: The Umbrella Academy Summary: He doesn't know where he is, but at least he knows that he's not being chased by that man anymore. Even the thought of that happening sends chills from his fingertips down to his toes. Now he just has to figure out what's going on. Warnings: Canon-typical violence and mentioned child abuse Word Count: 10,442 Ship(s): Viktor Hargreeves & Everyone

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A/N: So I've been reading the Miss Peregrine's series again and I thought that this AU was just too good to pass up. This is more of an introductory fic so not a lot happens plot wise. I have a whole world for how the two universes intersect, so if anyone likes this I'll probably write a little bit more! It's not necessary to have read the books to understand what's happening here, so just read and enjoy! Stay sissy and bitchy everyone <3

He was breathing harder than he thought physically possible as he tore down street after street to find some shop that was open or someone that was out in the street that could help him. The cellphone in his pocket was basically dead weight at this point, nothing but a plastic brick that might not ever turn back on again. His jacket had a huge tear in the back from where it had caught on a bramble thicket back when he was still in the woods. He had begun running towards The City in the desperate hope that someone would be there to help him, but the hope was fading from him faster and faster the longer that he encountered no one but birds and mice.

He paused for just a moment, his back pressed up against a huge lamppost as his chest heaved to try and bring in all the air that he’d need to survive. Outside of just being out of breathe from the adrenaline and running as long as he had, the binder that he had around his chest was preventing his rib cage from opening up as much as it needed to. His mind was telling him that he was going to die, and now his body was too.

Viktor couldn’t think about that for long though, not when he could hear the sound of that damned man and monkey duo hurrying after him. He flung himself out towards the street once more and continued to run as fast as his already exhausted muscles would let him. His eyes were darting around for any establishment that he could hide in, even if there wasn’t a person in there to help him. He knew that the adrenaline from originally being found was going to be wearing off pretty soon and he wouldn’t be able to keep running like this. He needed even just ten minutes where he was able to rest and catch his breath.

His prayers were answered when he encountered a huge mansion comprised of miss-matched town houses and old storefronts, pressed together in such a way that they made what seemed to be an impenetrable fortress. It would have been a lot scarier had all of the paint not worn of decades ago and the windows not all been broken. They were gaping and exposed to the open air of The City, no one had even bothered to board them up to try and send the old building to a calm death.

He had happened upon the back side of the mansion, so he was able to dart into the alleyway where the trash cans and old dumpsters were nestled away from the prying eyes of the general public. He knew that if he wasn’t able to find an open or easily breakable window then they were going to catch him, so he just had to hope for the best. He wasn’t going to be able to keep going for very long so this was very quickly becoming his only option.

He skidded to a stop next to a huge dumpster that was overflowing with poorly packed black bags. Viktor couldn’t imagine that the garbage truck came by the house very often given the state of disrepair that it was in. He tried his best to ignore the smell as he grabbed the bottom rung of the ladder and then desperately tried to pull himself up.

It was early in the morning so dew was still clinging to everything, but it had also begun to steadily drizzle while he had been running through the outskirts of The City to get away from the duo that was chasing him. It made it harder to hear how close they were, but it also added a layer of difficulty to his escape. His fingers tried to grasp tightly to the rungs of the ladder so that he could heft himself upwards but the metal was too cold and too wet, so almost as soon as he had lifted both feet from the ground his hand released.

Viktor tumbled down onto the ground with a soft ‘thump’ and a grunt of pain. He could feel a bruise blooming on his side already, but he counted it as a win because he hadn’t hit his head when he fell. He didn’t really have time to think about it because a hand grabbed his wrist and hauled him to his feet. Viktor had always been the smallest person in his class, and even though he was barreling towards adulthood the man that had captured him still made him feel like he was a child on their size difference alone. The fact that his captor was able to reach down, grab hold of his wrist, and then drag him onto his feet was enough to make anger begin to boil in his stomach. He didn’t care much for being treated like a child.

“Let go of me,” he objected as he tried to wrench his arm away.

“I think not. Do you know how hard you’ve made this entire process?” the man asked, his bushy gray eyebrows knitting together so that his monocle was pulled closer to his nose.

Viktor could feel something in his chest beginning to rumble. It was like an engine had turned over underneath his heart. The pounding of the rain got louder and louder in his ears as the anger frothed in his stomach. He could barely even hear the man speaking as the rumbling increased in volume. Something burst forth from his chest and scattered everything away from him in a perfectly formed circle around him all at once.

He didn’t have time pay attention to what had just happened or even take in the fact that there was now an indent to the bricks and cement on the walls from where whatever happened had hit it. The only thing that he could focus on was that his captor was no longer holding onto him. He also noticed that the ape at the end of the alleyway was no longer standing there, but had rather been thrown down to the ground by the sweep of energy.

He took off as quickly as he could to the exit of the alleyway. A voice in the back of his mind told him that it was a bad idea to have gone into it in the first place, and that his luck was going to run out when it came to evading his captors. He was going to get tired and stupid and then they were going to get to him. He wished that he had just stayed with his parents in Russia, even if they were never home and he hated it with them. He wished that he had just stayed where it was safe instead of deciding that coming to America was going to be the best plan of action.

Viktor didn’t realize that he was crying until a sob wracked its way out of his lungs and into the open air. The rain was beating down on his face so hard that the warmth of his tears was freezing by the time that it got to the bottom of his cheek.

“Shit,” he whispered as he dragged one muddy sleeve over his eyes. His vision was blurring just a little bit as he continued to throw himself down street after street. Whoever that man nad his ape were, they were smart when it came to chasing him down. They had found his camp in the woods and then made sure that they kept him in the least populated places in The City that they could. It reduced Viktor’s ability to find help so that it was basically impossible.

He paused like he had before, trying to catch his breath as he looked for his newest place to hide. Despite the fact that the last several buildings that he had tried hadn’t worked, the run down donut shop he saw out of the corner of his eye spoke to him like no other place had.

Like almost everything else was around his location, it had been closed down for years. The windows were scratched and brown in several places and the paint was chipping off of the sign that hung above the door. The huge neon sign that was on the top of the building had been worn down by the weather so that the colors were so faded that they were basically unrecognizable. The side of the brick building was absolutely covered in graffiti and posters, most of which had been torn apart by the wind that was constantly blowing through. The parking lot itself was in a state of total disrepair as plants grew through the cracks so tall that they almost reached Viktor’s waist.

When Viktor got inside of the store he saw that it wasn’t much better. It may have been a cute cafe back in the day, but now most of the tiles had come off of the walls so that they were laying in heaps on the ground. The counter was caked with dirt and the floor was covered in leaves and debris that had blown in through a couple of the open windows. Everything that may have been of any value in the back, so most of the physical equipment, had already been snagged and sold for money.

Viktor knew that this was the perfect place for him to hide out in. The chances of local teenagers hanging out in a place like this were high, so there was always a chance that if the man chasing him had seen movement in the establishment he would assume that it was a civilian and not the one that he was looking for. He didn’t want to take too many chances and he knew that he couldn’t keep running at the moment. He quickly made his way over to a closet and then slipped inside. The two by two room was vacant of any objects and was just big enough for Viktor to stand in without touching the walls on either side.

He slipped inside and then closed the door surely behind him. He pressed his forehead to the cool wood while he clung to the metal knob as tightly as he could to reassure himself that he could hold the already locked door closed should his pursuer find him.

The teenager took several deep, steadying breaths to try and calm his heart down. He was reminded them how much his ribs absolutely ached in his chest from where his binder was pressing in all the wrong places. Carefully, he pried his fingers off of the doorknob and then took a small step back. He carefully maneuvered his shirt off and then let it drop down to the floor. Dust and possible mouse droppings were the least that the shirt had seen in the last couple of weeks since he had run away from his most recent foster home.

His binder was the next thing to come off. He grasped the bottom of it and then carefully shimmied it up and off of his chest. He paused there to take several deep breaths, taking in the kind of air that he hadn’t been able to get with it on despite how much better he felt about himself when he was wearing it. Viktor finished removing his binder and then carefully folded the garment before he tucked it away in the left front pocket of his jeans. That specific item of clothing was his most treasured possession, especially since he had left the violin that he had grown up learning on back in Russia.

He stooped down and picked his shirt up off of the ground. It took a bit of grunting and a little bit of difficulty for him to wiggle it on properly, but once it was on he felt more comfortable. Being naked, even in a space where he was sure no one would see him and he couldn’t even seen himself, made him feel so uncomfortable that he could barely even register it as an emotion.

Viktor waited for as long as he could inside of the small closet, giving plenty of time for the man and his ape to come snooping. He didn’t want to stay in there forever, and his stomach rumbled loudly to remind him that he couldn’t remember the last time that he had eaten. He had a stash of food inside of his tent in the woods for when he got like this, but he hadn’t been able to grab anything in his hurry to desert and get to safety.

He grasped the handle again and then undid the lock before he pushed it open. When he got the door properly open, he felt his heart jump into his throat. For a moment he was worried that he had passed out in the closet from exhaustion and now he was in a very vivid dream.

The donut shop, which had been decrepit and completely abandoned only moments prior, was now bustling with life and very cheerful looking. The tile was a shiny white as if it had been mopped that morning and it actually carried up the walls where it was supposed to. The plaster itself was perfectly smooth and painted a pleasant pink color where the tile stopped. The kitchen had two occupants that were working around the pristine metal counter and about three or so sizzling fryers all loaded with donuts in the making. There was banter and chatter coming from the dining room down the opposite side of the small hallway that he was in. It sounded like the patrons out there were having a wonderful time, and there was a distinct absence of the pounding rain from not half an hour prior.

That in an of itself was completely baffling. He new that the entire establishment had been wrecked when he had come in to find a place to hide. If it hadn’t and all of these people were around then he definitely would have been stopped before he got to the closet.

He stepped out of it fully, as if doing so would make the vivid hallucination that he was having vanish. He closed the door as quietly as he could, but he still managed to get the attention of one of the workers.

She was a kind looking woman with graying blond hair tied up in a bun. She was wearing one of the uniforms that the rest of the workers were, a pink dress with white piping and a white apron. She had on one of the little hats too, which kept her hair pinned back perfectly. “What were you doing in there?” she tutted, placing her hands on her hips.

Viktor opened his mouth to answer, but once he had he found that he didn’t have any words to say. Every single possible answer that he had for why he was hiding out in the closet of the donut shop would end up getting the police called and he’d have to either go back to his parents in Russia or back to the foster family he had been assigned in the states. Either that or she wouldn’t believe him, because ‘there was no one in here and the place was trashed when I got in there’ didn’t exactly inspire trust.

She tutted twice and then wiped her hands off on her apron. “You’re one of Grace’s new charges, aren’t you?” she asked softly. “I know that sometimes the others use this place as a kind of hazing location. I’m sorry that they did it to you, we’ll get you back up to the house in no time.”

“Right,” Viktor nodded. He had never been in a situation where he could have been hazed, but he was familiar with it. These kids probably blindfolded their victims and then locked them in the closet for an indeterminate amount of time as their form of a test. He didn’t know why they would do that or what the point of it was, but at least he had an excuse. He just had to wait until he could shake the waitress and make his next great escape.

“Luckily for you, I’m about to go on break! Just give me a moment to tell my boyfriend that I’m not going to be able to make it to our lunch date and then I can walk you up there,” she smiled comfortingly.

There it was, Viktor noted immediately. “Oh, you don’t have to do that. I can find my way back by myself, I promise,” he reassured her. He knew that he was laying the good-kid act on a little bit thick but he really needed to get back to his camp. He had to eat something and desperately wanted to make sure all of his things were still there.

“Nonsense! We see each other every day and I don’t work this afternoon. It’s not that big of a deal for me to help you out,” she soothed. “Why don’t you go sit at the bar and I’ll get you something to eat while you wait,” she suggested kindly.

“N-no, I don’t have any money to pay you with,” Viktor shook his head. He may have been a desperate kid living in a world that hated him but he knew better than to take food from someone that was offering it. That almost always came with some sort of caveat. Whether they wanted something in return or were doing it to lure him into a situation where he would be taken by the police, there was always strings attached with food.

The woman, Viktor glanced down to her nametag and learned that her name was Agnes, gave her head a little shake. “I promise that it’s not a big deal! Grace and I are good friends so if you try to eat the dinner out of business then I can just ask her to spare a penny or two. But I don’t think that a single donut is going to be that much of a problem.”

Viktor gave a shaky nod. He forgot that he was supposed to be posing as a ward for whoever this Grace woman was. Hopefully if he was dragged all the way to her house she would be understanding of where he came from and let him go back to his camp instead of trying to get him back with his old foster family. He loathed the idea of having to live with someone that treated him like he was something that he wasn’t, especially when that was the entire reason that he had left his parents in Russia in the first place.

The first step that Viktor took towards the front of the dinner, he was reminded of what he looked like and suddenly it made more sense about why Agnes had decided that he had been hazed before he was locked in the closet. He was soaked to the bone with rainwater, which matted his already poorly cut hair to his forehead. His shirt was fraying and ripped down at the bottom from where he had nearly gotten caught on a bramble while running in the woods. His converse were worn down and also caked in so much mud that the color was indistinguishable, though the same could be said for the cuffs of his pants. The only item of clothing that he had that wasn’t in a huge state of disrepair was the binder carefully tucked in the pocket opposite his phone.

He tried not to feel embarrassed as he stepped forward and into the view of the other patrons. It must have been a fairly often occurrence, for Agnes to find rather raggled looking children somewhere in the dinner, because everyone only glanced at Viktor for a moment. “What did you say that your name was, honey?” Agnes asked as she sat him down at the counter next to a man reading a newspaper with a jelly filled donut on a small plate.

“Uh, Viktor,” he replied after a moment. It still felt weird to give that name instead of the one that he was born with. He had to live so long with the title and name that he didn’t feel like suited him, and when he was finally living as who he wanted to be he wasn’t around a lot of people.

“Well, Viktor, what’s your favorite kind of donut?” she asked, gesturing to the cases where they kept all of their stock behind the counter. When Viktor had first entered into the shop, those cupboards had been smashed to bits so that they were never going to hold anything ever again.

He looked over the array for a moment before the man next to him said, “I’m partial to raspberry filled. But I wouldn’t get anything with that chocolate glaze, they let the other cooks make it and it’s not nearly as good as what Agnes can make.”

He felt like he jumped completely out of his skin upon hearing another being near him speak. It was something that he had gotten very unused to when he stopped going to school, but he was still very good at being able to train his features so that they did what he wanted. He dropped the timid look that he knew his eyebrows held and then gave the man a small, pleasant smile. “I’ll take that into account, thank you.”

“That’s my boyfriend, Hazel,” Agnes explained, he already painted cheeks turning a slightly darker shade of red.

For a moment he wondered if Hazel was like him because it was such an untraditional name for a boy to have. He quickly brushed it off and the nodded as he listened to the two interact for a moment. Once Agnes remembered what she had been doing beforehand she turned back to Viktor, “So what’ll it be, sweetie?”

“Just a plain glazed please,” he replied easily. Viktor wasn’t sure that he was up to trying any of the filled ones because of the texture issues that foods like that often gave him.

She gave a nod and then turned around. She grabbed a small plate and a pair of tongs from next to the cabinet, using them to grab a single glazed donut that she then placed on the plate. She handed it back to Viktor, who gave her a small ‘thank you’ in return. After that she disappeared into the back.

Viktor carefully picked up the food item that he had been given and took a bite out of it. The second that the donut hit his stomach he realized just how famished he was. He thought that the majority of the pain in his lower abdomen had been caused by the nerves in his upper abdomen protesting against the bindings that he had on during his chase. Instead, he found that he had been far, far hungrier than anticipated.

He tried his very best to contain himself and eat it in normal-people sized bites instead of ravished-teenager bites but he knew that he only did a half decent job. The thing that he really was able to control was wiping the crumbs and glaze residue from the ceramic to give himself even a little bit more sustenance. He was glad that he had chosen something with a very small amount of sugar because he knew that his body would have been in for a wild ride had he chosen one of the filled ones.

“Alright,” Agnes called once she came back out, this time on the same side of the counter as the rest of the patrons. She was wearing a nice blue coat over the top of her uniform but she was sans the hat and apron. “Sorry that I can’t stay for lunch today, dear, but I really should be getting him back to the Academy.”

Viktor wanted to ask what she meant by that, but he knew that if he did then he would be outed as a stranger in this world that he had ended up in. He didn’t want to deal with the police today, especially not when Agnes had been so kind to him up until this point. He was tired of having the memories of people he genuinely cared about sullied because of the things that their moral compasses forced them to do for his own benefit.

He slipped off of the stool and stood awkwardly next to the counter while he waited for the two to finish their exchange. Once they had, Agnes motioned for Viktor to follow her out of the door. He noted as they passed by it, that all of the glass was still in tact and the paint spelling out the logo was bright and cheery. The front of the building looked like it had been painted recently with how vibrant the colors were in the late afternoon sun.

He wasn’t sure that he was even on the same planet anymore when he began to take in what the city looked like. It might have just been because of the downpour, but there were far more people out in the streets than there had been when Viktor was trying to evade capture. They were walking down the street and a huge crowd of them were waiting for the bus, something Viktor was almost certain that he would have been able to identify when he ran by it before. The storefronts also appeared to be brighter and more vibrant, but he was able to blame that on the fact that the sun was now out.

He couldn’t help but stare a little at the people that they were passing by. It felt almost like a betrayal, for them to all be walking around and going about their days now that he didn’t need their help. He then remembered that he had to be on the lookout for his pursuer. There was a chance that the man and his ape were going to be able to find him even though he had hidden for as long as he could bear and so many things had changed.

Viktor tried to keep his focus about himself despite how tired he was. His stomach ached for more food since the only thing that he had had in about twenty four hours was a donut after doing more physical activity than he had since he was in swim at age fourteen. He was trying to ignore the way that his ribs ached and the dysphoria that was emerging underneath his heart since he could feel his shirt resting differently over his chest since he wasn’t wearing his binder.

All of his attention was being used up on being aware of who was around him and where he was in space and time, so he had completely forgotten about trying to break away from Agnes before she brought him all the way to the house and the woman that she had been speaking about before.

He only remembered when she stopped and then he did too. He turned his head and noticed that they were standing outside of the huge mansion that he had tried to break into before he almost got caught. It too looked much better than it had the first time that Viktor had found it. The paint on all of the buildings was perfect and looked like it had been done just yesterday. Each of the windows had a sturdy piece of glass in it, and even the ones that didn’t were open with curtains flowing out of them and into the street. He could even hear the sound of voices emitting from a couple of them and joining the noise on the street.

Something was wrong, and now he was sure of it. There was no way for both of the places he encountered to have changed so drastically in such a short amount of time, it was physically impossible. He was also aware that now he was going to be handed over to the woman that Agnes had mentioned when they were in the cafe and there was nothing that he could do about it.

The aforementioned elderly woman opened the wrought iron gate and then led him through it. She then carried up the steps to the building that had to serve as the entrance to the entire house. She rang the doorbell and then turned back to Viktor with a reassuring smile. “Grace only moved into the neighborhood a year ago but she and all of her other wards come down to the donut shop quite often. I expect I’ll be seeing you around.”

“I’ll try to come visit. Hopefully it won’t be like this time,” Viktor forced a smile onto his face. He was trying to go along with the reasoning that she had for why he had been in that closet even if he had no idea what was happening.

The door opened and revealed a teenager around the same age as Viktor. He had a scar on his right cheekbone that stood stark against the black stubble already growing on his face. He was wearing a black turtleneck and black jeans, though the weird thing about his appearance was the vest that he had on. It was made out of leather and stretched over his chest and stomach with glinting silver metal poking out of it in a couple of places.

As soon as the red door had opened, he looked over Agnes and then his eyes became stuck to Viktor like the other teenager had personally offended him. “Can I help you?” he asked, his voice nearly seething with rage.

“I’ve found one of your mother’s new wards. He was stuck in that closet that you kids are always playing around with. I don’t know why you would do such a thing, you all seem like such sweet kids, but I thought that I would bring him back since he’s new to The City,” Agnes explained sweetly.

Viktor felt his heart jump into his throat and begin to beat at a mile a minute. He knew that this is where something had would happen. If it had been the woman, Grace, that Agnes kept mentioning then he might have been able to charm her into understanding what had happened and letting him go so that he could run back to his camp in the woods. He was beginning to doubt that it would even exist since he had stepped out of the rainy misery that The City had been before to a sunny day where everything was different.

The teen folded his arms and leaned on the door frame as he looked over Viktor again. “So you got out,” his voice was level and held absolutely no emotion.

“I guess so,” Viktor nodded in reply. His heart was beating against his ribcage harder and faster than it had been when he was on the run. He had no idea what the kids of this woman would be like and what they would do to him once they realized that he didn’t belong with them. He also didn’t want Agnes to feel like he had betrayed her because she had been so kind to him.

“Come on in then,” he said as he moved out of the doorway and motioned for Viktor to step through.

The next three steps forward felt like they went on forever. Viktor was very aware of everything that was going on around him. He payed attention to the way that he had to hunch his shoulders forward so that he could reduce the impression of his shirt as much as possible. He was aware of the way that dried mud was flaking off of his shoes and pants and down onto the carefully mopped tile floor. He was even more aware of the way that the teenager next to him moved. He wasn’t going to let anything take him by surprise.

“Thanks for bringing him back, Agnes. I’ll talk to the others and Mom to let her know what happened so that it won’t happen again,” he promised before he shut the door.

Viktor knew that he was in it now. He had no way of escaping and he wasn’t even sure that he was going to be able to do that before he ended up here. He put his hands into his pockets, balling them up in fists around his most treasured items as he slowly turned around so that he was facing the other teenager.

Just like he had suspected, things immediately went downhill from there. The teenager reached out and grabbed Viktor’s wrist before he twisted it almost entirely behind him and pinned him up against the very door that he had just walked through. He was much taller than Viktor, so he was able to push his entire body up against the other. “I don’t know who you are or how you found our loop but I’m not going to let you hurt anyone.”

“What?” Viktor whimpered. “I don’t want to hurt anyone, and I don’t know what a loop is! I was just trying to find somewhere to hide.”

“Yeah, I don’t believe that for a fucking minute,” he seethed. His breath felt hot on the back of Viktor’s head and against his ear. He wanted to start sobbing as he remembered the half dozen foster homes he had where this had happened, either because of older foster kids or because of abusive foster parents.

He was dragged away from the wall and turned around so that he was facing towards the majority of the house. The teenager kept one hand tightly wrapped around his wrist so that Viktor would have been completely unable to do anything to get away from him without breaking it. If there was still some way that he could get out of this without injury then he was going to take it, even if it meant going wherever this stranger wanted him to.

The aforementioned boy shoved him forward so that they were both walking through the house. The building that they were in had dark wood along the ceiling and over half of the walls. There was beautiful crown molding against the ceiling and on the lower half of the wall. The floor was blue and white tile in elaborate, old-style designs. Viktor would have appreciated the house a lot more had he not been being dragged through it towards his doom. At this point he was so afraid that he would have accepted the man and his ape finding him to do whatever it was they wanted to do to him.

They passed by several rooms before they got to a stairwell. There had been one by the front door that was ornate and led in two different directions, the middle holding a wall with several huge stained glass windows. The hallway itself had several doors that led to studies and a couple of practice rooms. Viktor had noticed one that had a piano and a cello, as well as something that might have been a violin. The stairwell that they found themselves in was much smaller than the grand one in the front of the building. It was painted teal and white instead of the dark wood and blue-green.

Viktor tried his best to make his way up the stairs with the other boy holding so tightly to his arm that he could barely move. He was focusing so much on where he had to put his feet while trying to keep his chest hunched forward so that his cleavage wasn’t visible that he didn’t notice another person coming towards them. “Diego? What’s going on?”

He whipped his head up to see who had spoken, peaking through his long brown bangs to take in their face. It was a young teenager about the same age as the boy holding Viktor, who was apparently named Diego. She had long tightly curled hair and dark skin with even darker eyes. She was wearing something classy yet comfortable, a pair of soft looking gray pants and a yellow shirt that she had tied around her waist so that just a bit of her stomach was poking out.

Diego, from where he was standing behind Viktor, puffed out his chest. “I found a wight!”

“You found a wight?” the girl replied.

“Yes, Allison. I know that your hearing isn’t damaged like Alphonso. You can hear me,” he growled. Viktor wondered, just for a moment, what the relationship between the two of them was because it seemed on the edge of hostile.

She growled. “You can’t have foud a wight because Grace has worked long and hard to make sure that our loop entrance is hidden. There’s probably been an accident or something and now you’re traumatizing some poor norm-y.”

“I’m not traumatizing n-nobody!” Diego shouted. “This-this is a wight.”

He shook Viktor slightly so that the smaller teenager was shoved back and forth a few times. He groaned as that twisted his arm painfully in a direction that it wasn’t supposed to go in.

The other teenager, Allison, quickly hurried down the stairs. “Diego, there was a better way to do this! What happens if this is actually just some person that Agnes accidentally mistook for one of us and now you’re totally damaging them?”

“Does it even matter if I am?” he asked, raising a brow at her. “Everyone gets reset when the loop does. It’s not like any of the people around here know what tomorrow is going to be because that’s not how this works. You should know that, Allison.”

Anger burned through the girl in front of them and she pursed her lips. “You don’t have to talk to me like I’m stupid. I’ve spent more time in loops than you have anyway.”

“Then why did you forget that normal people can’t get through loops so there’s no way that he’s not a wight?” he asked. “We’ve never had Agnes bring someone to the door before because there’s never been another peculiar in the loop that came through the entrance.”

She waved her hand, almost in his face, to make him shut up. “Whatever! You still could have come to me and I could have used my ability on him to make him come with instead of almost breaking his arm.”

“Fine, then do it,” Diego replied. He released Viktor’s arm and the smaller teenager stumbled forward. He didn’t realize how much he had been relying on the hold to keep him upright. His legs felt like they were made of jelly because despite the fact that he was scared, the adrenaline from running away earlier had worn off and now he was exhausted.

The girl grabbed him before he had the chance to collapse on the stairs. For a moment, Viktor wondered how painful it would be to topple down the staircase to his death. The thought surprised him, he hadn’t had something like that cross his mind in a long time. Not since he had gotten free from all of the authority figures that were making his life miserable. Even when he was on the run through he woods away from people that desperately wanted to hurt him, he hadn’t had a thought like that. Maybe something about the place he was in and everything that he had been through in such a concentrated time was making him feel off.

Allison tilted him upright and then spoke directly to his face. “I heard a rumor that you came with us willingly to the bird’s office.”

Viktor felt something wash over his entire body when she said the first couple of words. The feeling was almost indescribable, like someone had stepped into his body and shoved his soul to the background. He was no longer the one that was driving his body as she finished speaking. His legs moved on their own, advancing forward to a place that he didn’t know of.

Diego and Allison fell in line behind him. Vaguely, around the strange sensations rushing through his body, he could hear them continuing to argue. He once had foster siblings that interacted very similarly to how they did. It made him a little bit nostalgic for a time that he hadn’t even really liked.

He stopped outside of two huge oak doors that were tightly shut. He hadn’t even realized that he was out of the stairwell and into a hallway by the time that he came back into himself. He gasped like he was finally allowed to breath after too long underwater, trying to get as much air back into his lungs. His heart was beating quickly against his chest, not like when he had been running away but still faster than it should have been.

“See? I told you that would be way easier than trying to drag him all the way up here,” Allison hissed.

Diego stuck his tongue out at her and then stepped around Viktor towards the doors. He knocked twice before he called, “Mom? I have something really important to talk to you about.”

The woman that opened the door wasn’t who Viktor was expecting. He had been picturing a woman that looked like Diego, with thick dark hair and warm brown eyes. Instead he was met with a woman that had very fair skin and long blond hair that fell in perfect ringlets around her head. She was wearing a blue dress with a white apron tied around her waist and a pair of white heels. She looked every bit the fifties housewife that Viktor had grown up seeing in pop culture.

“Who do we have here?” she asked, her voice kind and patient as she looked Viktor over.

“Agnes brought him from the donut shop. Apparently he found the entrance to the loop and thought that she would be the fastest way to get to us,” Diego explained. “I thought that it would be best to bring him right to you. Allison found me in the stairwell and used her rumor to get him up here.”

“I don’t think that he’s a wight, my dear,” the woman said softly. She reached up and brushed her hand over the side of his face in the way that Viktor’s mother used to when he was very young. Everything about the woman in front of him screamed maternal and comforting. It made Viktor feel safe despite every experience that he had in this house up to this point.

She turned to the other two teenagers, “Thank you very much for escorting our guest up here but I do not require your services any longer. Please return back to your chores.”

“Of course, Ms. H,” Allison nodded. She grabbed Diego’s arm and dragged him back in the direction of the stairwell that they had all come from.

Viktor turned his head so that he was watching them go the entire time. Despite this Ms. H being an adult, of whom he had been very distrustful of in the past, he was still more comfortable with her being in his blindspot rather than the two teenagers who had just done whatever it was that they had done to him. She let out a small sigh once the door to the stairwell finally clicked shut, “Please come into my office.”

She walked into the room with several clear clicks from her heels. Viktor stood there for a moment as he tried to get his mind back to where it should be. He then advanced just as he had been instructed to and slid the door shut behind him.

“I apologize for anything that my wards may have done to you. We’ve been on the lookout for suspicious activity because of things that have happened in other loops. Though based on your clothing and demeanor I think that you’re rather familiar with that,” she chuckled. She motioned for him to sit in one of the chairs across from her desk.

Despite what the rest of the house had looked like, the room that Viktor found himself in was quiet cheery. The walls were painted a pleasant shade of yellow and the bookshelves were all bright white. She had stacks of books in every shade neatly organized behind her as well as several nicknacks from all over the world. The desk itself was neatly organized, with a single book and a stack of papers in front of her. She had a fresh plant on the corner of her desk, yellow shasta daisies.

He nearly collapsed down into the chair when he was able to reach it. He hadn’t realized how badly his legs ached and how exhausted he was until he was finally stagnant. “What… what are you talking about?” he finally asked.

Her face softened slightly as she looked over him. “Oh dear,” she clicked her tongue. “I’ll explain everything in due time, alright? First let’s started with introductions. My name is Grace Hummingbird and I’m the bird for this loop. What’s your name, dear?”

She removed a book from a drawer on her side of the desk and then reached for a beautiful fountain pen. She was flicking through the pages as she waited for Viktor’s answer. “Uh, Viktor Hargreeves,” he finally responded. He shifted nervously around in his chair as he waited for her to find whatever it was that she was looking for. Once she had reached it, she wrote down his name with an almost robotic level of accuracy. Viktor had never seen handwriting that was so neat and tidy.

“Birthday?”

He gave her the date after a moment of thinking. He hadn’t had a lot of time to think about birthdays when he was younger because of how busy his parents were so it wasn’t something that he remembered all that easily. “And how old are you?” she asked next.

Viktor stopped, all of his thoughts immediately halting. “What? I- uh, I was born in 2002, so I’m seventeen,” he answered nervously.

She gave a small laugh, polite and not at all mocking. “Silly me, I forgot that you were unaware of our loop date. Today is October 1, 1989 and it will be until I close this loop. You came all the way from 2019 then, did you, dear?”

“Yes?” he answered, the feeling of confusion settling over him more than it had in his entire life. He had moved to another country where he only had a visitor’s understanding of a language and yet what she was saying was far more baffling than that.

Grace wrote down a bit more of the information that he had given her and then set her pen down next to it. “Alright, dear, I want you to tell me how much you know about peculiars.”

“Uh,” Viktor glanced towards the door and then the window. “I know that it’s a word to describe someone out of the ordinary. I-I really don’t know what you’re talking about, I’m sorry. I was being chased by this man and he had a monkey which was really weird because the monkey could talk and was wearing a suit. I just wanted somewhere to hide, I didn’t mean to be-become a wight or whatever that boy was calling me. I just wanted to get back to my camp and not be chased anymore.”

He didn’t realize that he was crying until Grace leaned over the desk to hand him a tissue. He carefully took it from her and then began to mop the tears off of his face. His head was hung down slightly so that she couldn’t see the way that his eyes were turning red. He was so tired and scared, he just wanted this all to stop.

“I can assure you that there is nowhere safer in this world than right here. You don’t have to worry about Sir Reginald or Dr. Pogo finding you while you’re staying with me,” Grace assured him. She got up from behind her desk and then walked over to the other side so that she was kneeling beside the chair that he was sitting in. She brushed her fingers over the side of his forehead to remove some of the stray hairs that were still sticking there after his race through the rain.

He had been waiting for someone to tell him that for almost as long as he could remember. It was almost soul-crushing to finally hear it now. He hadn’t realized how scared he had been and for how long until someone finally reassured him that he was going to be okay. He felt like he was breaking apart into a thousand tiny pieces only for the kind woman next to him to put him back together with nothing more than the solid warmth of her hand on his back.

“I’m sorry for breaking down like this,” Viktor apologized when he was finally able to contain his sobs.

“You don’t have to apologize for crying, my dear,” she immediately placated. “I understand that the introduction to this can be very overwhelming and you’ve already had a very long day. Would you like to go and lay down for a while or would you prefer that I explain some things to you?”

“I-I don’t think that I’m going to be able to sleep with everything going on in my head right now,” he answered.

She gave him a nod of understanding. “An explanation is due then,” she stood up from where she had been kneeling beside him. She moved back behind her desk and removed a huge book from the bookshelves there. She brought it and her chair around the desk so that she was sitting beside Viktor. She opened it and revealed several very old photographs. “A peculiar is someone that is different than the usual people of society. Sometimes they have abilities, like what Allison did to you where she was able to mind-control you with her trigger phrase. Sometimes they’re like this man here, who could contort himself into any shape.”

“Isn’t that just hyper-extendible joints?” Viktor asked as he looked from the picture to Grace and then back down.

“I suppose that it is. But they are still considered peculiar. There is a range of peculiars, which is what we with these abnormalities call ourselves. There are those who can blend in with a normal society and those who cannot. Invisible men, for example, have to reside with other peculiars because there is no way that they could fit in with the majority of society. Some peculiars also find it more comfortable to be with their kind because they know that they will not get hurt or ostracized.”

“Right,” Viktor nodded. Grace was slowly flipping through the huge album to show him more photos of peculiar people, and Viktor realized that it was something she was using to soften the blow of what he was being told. It made it easier for his brain to focus on what she was saying while he was looking at something that held half of his attention.

“Another thing that makes a peculiar the way that they are instead of just a normal person with some sort of birth defect is their ability to pass through loops. This one is going to take a bit of time to explain,” she cleared her throat. “There is a special peculiar called a ymbryne. They are most often women and have to be born female to possess these powers. They have the ability to transform into birds and they have some control over time, which allows them to create something called loops. I am a ymbryne, which is why you will hear my wards calling me ‘the bird’.”

“So a loop is a time loop?” Viktor asked. “That’s… complicated.”

“It is, yes,” she nodded. “You’re doing very well in taking all of this in. Some of my other wards were not as gracious when I tried to explain it to them. A loop is a day that repeats over and over again to try and keep the peculiars inside safe. It means that the normal people inside of the loop go about their day over and over again while the peculiars do not age. The rest of the world continues outside of the loop, and if a peculiar were to get a certain distance away from the ymbryne and loop entrance then they would be able to live from that point in time forward.”

“The loops have an entrance?” Viktor asked. He didn’t want Reginald to be able to find him and he had been hoping, when he heard Grace explain about how normal people couldn’t pass through loops then he would have to be safe. He hadn’t realized the implications of what she had been telling him quite yet, though.

“Yes, that’s where you came through. Most people pick somewhere a little harder to get to, like a cave or a tunnel. I heard about someone having one in a cairn somewhere in Wales. But I have all of my wards in this big house in the city, so I had to improvise. Before I chose today to be the day that I used as my loop I decided that it was going to be in that closet in Griddy’s Diner because of how my wards loved it. That was how you found it, I assume?”

“I hid there in the modern day. It’s… um, it’s not running in 2019. The whole thing is all smashed up and broken so I thought that it would be a good place to hide and then when I opened the door again it was like it was in its heyday. Which was kind of confusing.”

“I can only imagine,” Grace commiserated. “I think that’s all you need to know for today when it comes to loops and peculiars. Did you have any other questions?”

“You mentioned something about Sir Reginald and Dr. Pogo. Were those the two that were chasing me? And what’s a wight?” Viktor asked. Diego seemed pretty set on the fact that he had to be one, so he wanted to know what that was to know how offended he should be the next time he saw the other boy.

“Right, yes,” Grace sighed. “I don’t want to get too in depth to it, but wights are individuals who used to be peculiars and went through something awful. They are now on a warpath that would result in all peculiars dying so that they can rule as gods. They are identifiable through their eyes which have no iris or pupil.”

“Okay,” Viktor nodded. He was grateful that she wasn’t unloading everything on him at the same time and was being clear about that. It made him feel more sure that it would get explained to him eventually and helped him understand everything he was being told now.

“Reginald is one such creature. Dr. Pogo is a peculiar animal that he has managed to persuade to help him on his case. Reginald wants to capture as many peculiars as possible so that he can experiment on them. That happened to one of my own, actually,” Grace glanced towards the door. A smile flickered over her face and she called, “Five, you can’t just sit behind there and eavesdrop if you’re going to be so loud!”

There was a pop and then a crackle that sounded awfully close to electricity before a teenager around the age of thirteen popped into the room. He looked a little disgruntled that he had gotten caught but his chest was still puffed out in unearned pride. He had his hair cut in such a way that it only covered about half of his forehead and a few of the strands hung over his eye. His jawbone and cheeks were just beginning to lose their baby fat but his eyes were so much older than anyone who was actually thirteen would have.

“Would you please show our new guest to the bathroom so that he can wash up? Viktor is going to be staying with us for some time,” Grace explained. She turned back to the aforementioned teenager and then said, “I know that you most likely have a life to get back to, so we’ll discuss what we’re going to do to get you back to that safely if at all possible once you’ve had some time to rest. Five will get you some clothes to change into and then show you where you can stay.”

Viktor nodded. He got up from the chair and then turned to the other boy. Five gave him a once over before he jerked his head towards the door and said, “Come on then.”

They both left Grace’s office and headed back down the intimidating hallways of the house she had for her peculiar wards. “Your name is Five?” Viktor asked before he could stop himself.

The boy smirked as he turned back slightly so that he was looking at Viktor again. “A lot of peculiars have strange names. This one fit me best so I stuck with it. What’s yours?”

“Viktor,” he replied immediately. He knew, logically, that no one here was going to be able to figure out what his deadname was and torment him with it like they had back when he was in foster care but the idea of it scared him.

The duo traveled in silence the rest of the way through the house. Five stopped short outside of a small room. The door was open to reveal a cozy looking space. It had white walls with a single bed that was made up with soft looking blue sheets and two pillows. It had a dresser in the corner and a nightstand next to the bed. Viktor could just barely see a similarly sparse looking bathroom through the bedroom. “This is where you can stay while you’re with us until you decide to stay here permanently. I have to go get some clothes that will fit you from the attic but I’ll leave them on the bed. You can find anything you’d need to shower in the bathroom, extra towels are always kept under the sink. It was nice meeting you, Viktor.”

Before he could say anything, Five blinked away with the same pop and then crackle of electricity.

Viktor turned his head back to the room and rolled his shoulders. This whole situation was very weird, but something about it just felt right. He supposed that if they decided to murder him while he was in the bed that they had provided him then it would be a good way to go. He shut the door behind him, though he didn’t lock it because he knew Five would be returning. He then crossed through the bedroom and into the bathroom. He had been tracking flecks of dark mud through the entire house, which he felt slightly guilty for.

Once he was in the bathroom, he sat down on the closed toilet and pried his shoes off. He sat them down on the floor next to the toilet before he worked on undoing his jeans. He pulled out his phone and set it on the counter next to the toilet before he carefully laid his binder down on top of the device so that he didn’t have to risk it getting wet.

He turned on the shower while he collected the items that he would need. The soaps that he found were all non-scented so he didn’t have to worry about them being more feminine smells that might trigger his dysphoria. He pulled two towels out from underneath the sink and placed them on top of the toilet.

Once the water was hot enough, he got in and showered as quickly as he could. He was eager to get clean and to stop being naked because the feeling was so uncomfortable for him. It was harder to do than normal because of the huge bruises that were growing along a few of his ribs from wearing his binder for too long and that fall he had taken. He knew that this meant he wasn’t going to be able to wear one for a few days and that was not what he wanted to be thinking about.

He tried to put it as far out of his mind as he could while he finished up. He dried off and then wrapped a towel around himself as he peaked out into the bedroom. Just as Five had promised, there was a folded collection of clothes on the bed and the door was still shut. Viktor crossed the space between them and then picked through what had been provided for him. There was a pair of comfortable looking gray sweatpants, a pair of black boxers, and a purple shirt that was about a size too big for him.

He changed into them quickly before he gathered up his phone and binder from the sink. He deposited both of them into the bedside drawer of the nightstand and then returned to the bathroom. He placed his converse into the tub and ran the water again so that he could remove all of the mud from the fabric. It worked well because of the nature of the shoes and he was able to leave them in the tub to dry. He flaked off as much of the mud from the bottom of his pants as he could before he dumped the towels and his clothes into the hamper on the back of the door into the bathroom.

The last thing that he did in the bathroom was brush his teeth.

Viktor hadn’t felt as clean and safe as he did in that moment in a long time. He wasn’t sure that he had felt like this ever before in his life and he didn’t want this feeling to go away. He knew that the world he had stumbled into was strange and probably held more secrets than he could imagine, but he was already enjoying it immensely. He had a soft, warm bed to sleep in for at least a few hours and he knew that Grace would be amicable to giving him something to eat when he woke up. He was going to enjoy it here, he knew that.

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charliedawn · 9 months

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Hi! Can I request how the Slashers will react to their favorite nurse having an engagement ring on her? And they actually fell in love with her. (Also, can you add Five please 🥲, he's very much my comfort character.)

Five Hargreeves :

Five was the first to know.

He knew just by looking at you. The way you almost glowed and were smiling from ear to ear all week made him suspicious. And then, the coup de grace…The ring. He was sitting at his own private bar when you joined him and his eyes were immediately drawn to the shiny ring. Suddenly, everything clicked and he stared at the drink in his hand…his hand shaking slightly.

"…So, you found someone ?"

He was happy for you, or at least he tried to convince himself he was.

He wished you would say no. He wished you would realise how much you meant to him at that exact moment…but you didn’t.

Your smile almost burnt him when you answered affirmatively. He took a big gulp of his whiskey—savouring the burn. He knew it was impossible. You were a nurse. And he was…just a kid. You would have never seen him as anything else. And it made him rage against himself for even entertaining the idea you would ever consider a future with him. Physically, he was too young. And mentally ? He was too old…You would have never worked.

So, he smiled and raised his glass to you.

"Congratulations, Y/N. You deserve it."

Once you were out of the room, that glass went flying across the room to end up shattered against a wall…shattered like Five was.

Jack Torrance :

Jack is good at hiding his emotions—even from himself. He had spent weeks wondering if he should ask you out on a date. He had spent his time thinking and planning and rehearsing what he would say and do. He thought it would be his moment to shine and leave all the bad shit behind…But then, he saw the ring.

"Hey. That’s a…That’s a nice ring you got there."

He smiled and said he was happy for you. And you believed it. Of course you did. Because, he was a good comedian. The best. He had learnt to just drown his emotions when he died, because if he was to feel anything…He’d lose himself. He had to suffer the loss of his family, his career, his life…What was one more loss to the lot ?

However, once you were out of the room ? He lowered his glass and his shoulders shook as he gripped the glass tightly in his hand to breaking point…He was too late. Again.

"Damn it…"

That was Jack’s true reaction to the news. He was disappointed for sure. He knew he should have acted before…But, what was the point ?

What would you have done with the ghost of a past long forgotten ?

He just started drinking again and chuckled bitterly at his own misery. He had wished for a better end, but that end had just slipped through his fingers like a dream…He would maybe write about it later ? But, what was the point ? He could write his feelings, but you’d never read them.

Pennywise :

You were at the dinner table and when Pennywise sat in front of you, he could feel that something was different. The other slashers were strangely quiet, so of course he’d have to ask.

"Why is everyone so quiet ?! Please. Tell me someone died !" He snickered, but nobody answered. Finally, he looked at you and tried to find the reason for the sudden silence…You then showed him your ring.

"Pennywise. I am engaged.", you announced with a smile. His own smile dropped.

He knew perfectly well what engagement meant. He understood now why all the others were so quiet. He could read their emotions. All of them were disappointed…He just didn’t know why until you had shown the ring…

"…Congrats."

"…Thanks."

That was the most awkward congratulations you had ever heard. He glanced back at your hand. Even though he had tried to sound genuine, he couldn’t bring himself to smile again. It was the first time you had seen Pennywise so serious.

He then decided to avoid you. You didn’t understand why, but he simply vanished. He didn’t even show up at meals anymore…

When something upsets Pennywise, he tends to avoid it. So, he decided to avoid you. He knew it was a childish and nonsensical reaction to the news…But, he couldn’t being himself to care. Because, he understood perfectly the feelings of the other slashers.

He never thought he would have to deal with emotions again…But, it seemed like he was wrong.

Michael Myers :

Michael stayed silent. He had nothing to say…

Well, he normally doesn’t say much, but this time you could actually feel the awkwardness in the room. He knew he didn’t have the right to dream…but, he still did. You were the only one who truly understood him and that Myers had ever spared. He wanted you to love him. But, it didn’t matter at the end…

He wrote down on his notebook:

Congratulations.

Even you could feel that he didn’t mean it, but you didn’t comment on it. However, he didn’t expect it when you removed his mask and stared at his face—studying his features. He wasn’t smiling. His teeth were clenched and his eyes were dark.

"…Michael.", you muttered softly and raised your hand to stroke his cheek…but he grabbed it before you could.

"Don’t."

He could see the pity in your eyes and it hurt more than anything. He then retrieved his mask and walked away. He couldn’t pretend to be happy about the news. And now, you knew about his feelings too.

Bo Sinclair :

Bo was working on a car when he asked you to hand him a tool. When you did, his eyes caught the ring around your finger and he suddenly forgot all about the tool. He grabbed your arm and stared at the offensive jewel in frightening silence.

"…Bo ?", you called him after a while.

When he saw you with that ring, it made him tick and realise that you had a life outside of the hospital—one he had no idea about. And it made him mad. You had never seen him so quiet before and he didn’t answer. He finally released your arm and left without a word. After that, you had trouble catching him and when you eventually did ? His reaction wasn’t the one you expected.

"…Whatya want from me, Y/N ?! A congrats and pat on the fuckin’ back ?! Alright. Congrats ! And hope you have a great life with yer fucker !"

He took out his frustration on you. Bo usually handles his emotions with his fists and his words. But, of course he wouldn’t come to hands with you. So, he’d either ignore you or be harsh with his words. Or, he’d go out to a bar and start a fight. Anything but confront you about his feelings and confess that he was jealous.

Jason Voorhees :

Jason was angry. The moment he saw the ring on your finger, he knew what it meant. His mother had carried hers for years and he had inherited it. He thought you’d be the one carrying his ring, but it seemed he had waited too long. His reaction would first be denial before he would suddenly break everything in his path and try to start a fight with anyone he’d come across. Jason doesn’t handle emotions very well and most often than not, he’d break things in order to let his frustration out.

He spent hours in the forest chopping wood and no one dared come to check on him—except you.

"Jason…?"

He didn’t answer, but he was there. You could hear him breathing and you sighed before sitting on a log. You waited for him and soon enough, he sat down next to you and you noticed how his whole body seemed tense.

"Jason…It’s not because I am engaged that I will forget about you, you know that right ?"

He still didn’t answer. He was doing his best to remain calm and when you moved to touch his shoulder—he recoiled from your touch. It was the first time Jason was reacting this way with you. And what he did next made your eyes widen in shock. He retrieved his mother’s ring from his pocket and wordless put it in your hand.

By the time you understood what he meant to say, he was already gone.

Freddy Krueger :

"~How sweet…"

He gave you the best fake smile he could muster before turning around and leaving. Truth is ? Freddy was the less angry out of all the slashers. He doesn’t believe in marriage or engagement or anything…The only problem he had with you being engaged was that he had lost his chance getting into your pants. Or, that’s the reason he’d give to anyone who would ask. Because of course you’d be faithful. You were the only person in the hospital who ever gave a shit about him.

You were kind and honest and fuckin’ perfect. So, of course Freddy didn’t stand a chance in hell. You were the complete opposite of him. You were an angel and Freddy was a demon. And that made him love you and hate you even more. It hurt…But, it didn’t matter. Because, he was already broken to begin with.

Norman Bates :

He thought he had a chance, but the moment he saw the ring…something snapped in Norman. It started with a twitch of his jaw and suddenly, his smile was gone. There was nothing left in his gaze than an intense emptiness—a void which seemed to swallow you whole. He took a step forward and for the first time…You were scared of him.

There was something murderous in his eyes—something dark.

When he leant forward, your heart hammered in your chest, but he simply smiled knowingly before kissing your cheek.

"Congratulations, my little angel."

There was not a single word in that sentence that he truly meant, and you both knew it all too well. But, you smiled and tried to hold back the tears. You left and Norman was left with his regrets.

Penny :

"Why ?"

You turned around to face Penny. He was the last one. He didn’t understand, but his expression changed to cold numbness as he repeated.

"Why, Y/N ? You know how we all feel about you…That ring. You knew what that ring would do to us…So, why ? Why hurt us like this ?"

You had always suspected Penny to be smarter than he pretended to be…but you didn’t think he would be the first one to figure it out. Your expression softened as you tried not to cry.

"I’m sorry, Penny. Turns out I wasn’t as special as you all thought I was…"

It was simpler this way…It was better than to admit that you were scared. You thought you were past the fear…but, it seemed not. There was still a fear to be conquered. You had grown too attached to the slashers. And of course you knew how they felt about you, but so did you. You felt so strongly…but, you couldn’t do anything about it.

You were human. And you still had a life outside of the hospital. They couldn’t understand…but, you hoped that with time they’d understand. You only had one life, and you couldn’t give them false hope. You couldn’t be with them forever, and that ring was a reminder. Not only for them, but for you as well.

Penny snarled and grabbed the hand where the ring was to glare at it. He hated it. He didn’t want to see you belonging to someone else than him…It affected him more than he cared to admit.

Suddenly, he wrapped his hand around your ring finger and you suddenly felt a sharp pain. He released you, but then you heard a series of metallic sounds hitting the floor. When you looked down, your eyes widened as you saw your ring—shattered in pieces.

You looked back up at him, but he was gone.

The message was clear though.

He would never accept it…

#fandoms #imagine #fanfic #pennywise 2017 #pennywise 1990 #slashers #pennywise x reader #michael myers x reader #freddy krueger x reader #jason voorhees x reader #five hargreeves x reader #jack torrance x reader #norman bates x reader #bo sinclair x reader

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mangoshorthand · 5 months

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ugh, ok listen. its stupid and cheesy and overplayed but i love the caught under the mistletoe trope. its stupidly corny and as annoying as christmas is, my dumb ass falls for it everytime. you’re my favourite writer for five, and if you could write something for this (or hit me with a bat to improve my taste) that’d be rlly cool. if not, dw and happy holidays.

Stupid, cheesy and overplayed? You just described my entire body of work! I've struggled writing for a while so I hope people enjoy this. Merry Christmas, weirdos x

Twelve Feet Away From the Mistletoe | Five Hargreeves / F Reader 2.8k words

Viktor was a friend of a friend who gradually became your own.

He was supportive when you lost your job in September, and was even more practical help when you lost your apartment around Halloween.

“There are like forty spare bedrooms. Technically I can do what I like with six of those since I own a seventh of the house. Plus you wouldn’t get in anyone’s way. There’s like…so much room.

“Viktor, that’s kind but I’ll be fine. My parents say -”

“Don’t your parents live outside the city?” he interrupted, “I think it would be easier to find work if you’re here.”

“Yeah, it would, but I can’t pay any rent.”

“I don’t want rent. Stay a few months. Be my guest. I could use someone to help me deal with my crazy family anyway. It’s weird being back in that house.”

And so, you’d accepted. It was hard to refuse Viktor anything.

‘Crazy’ was one word to describe his family. ‘Volatile’, ‘noisy’ and ‘infuriating’ were some others.

And none were more infuriating than Number Five.

You met him the first night you stayed, while Viktor was thrashing you at pool as the pair of you got gradually drunker on Moscow Mules. You weren’t really enjoying the game, but you were enjoying hanging out with him, and you’d just mis-cued spectacularly as Five entered the room.

The first thing you noticed was his scowl. The second, third, fourth and fifth thing you noticed was his looks.

Dark. Pale. Jaw a razor lined angle, nose long and imperious. He moved with quick, confident grace as he crossed the room. It was as if every thread of carpet his shoes touched had been waiting until that moment, just to pave his way, and now all other treads to come would be incidental to the floor’s true purpose. Hands thrust self-assuredly in his pockets, he seemed to look down on you as if from a great height, although he was barely an inch taller.

Cold green eyes looked you up and down.

He cut a fine figure, but an arrogant one. Despite his looks, your overriding impression was only of rudeness, so you met the challenge of his gaze unflinchingly.

After a moment surveying you, he turned to Viktor.

“Luther’s looking for you.”

“Why?” Viktor asked.

“No idea. I’m not your secretary.”

As Five’s gaze shifted back to you, Viktor took the hint and introduced you.

“She’s a friend of mine,” he said, by way of explanation, “she’s lost her apartment so she’ll be staying for a while.”

Five sighed at this, shaking his head at you with a dark chuckle.

“Is there a problem?” you asked, politely.

“No. No problem,” he said, though his tone making it clear that there was, “It’s only that I’ve seen this play out a dozen times: my brother has a habit of picking up waifs and strays.”

“Don’t be dickhead,” Viktor murmured.

Five shrugged, smirking.

“Letting me stay for a few weeks because we’re friends is hardly ‘picking me up’, you said, bristling, “I’m sure Viktor will ask for your opinion when he wants it.”

Five smiled that infuriating, sarcastic smile of his. Even then, when you were angry with him, looking into his eyes was an experience you noticed for the way it made your heart beat.

“I guess I’m just a little protective,” Five said, delicately, “I know how susceptible he is to a sob story."

He looked at you insolently for a beat longer before addressing his next words to Viktor.

"Don’t let her take advantage of you.”

“Come on, Five,” said Viktor, almost wearily, “I can decide who’s taking advantage for myself.”

Five scoffed, at this, expressing doubt as clearly as if he'd spoken it.

Stinging with the injustice of Five’s snap judgment and his infantilization of his brother, you ground your teeth. You knew Viktor had a tough time as ‘Number Seven’ (always being told he wasn’t good enough), and for a moment you thought you could see that in Five’s treatment of him.

“Your brother’s a grown man. So why don’t you fuck off and go back to torturing small mammals, planning your next school shooting or whatever your We Need to Talk About Kevin - looking ass likes to do?”

Five looked back at you, in slight surprise, studying your angry face. After a short moment, he gave a tiny shrug and made a small noise of assent.

Then, looking back at Viktor:

“Do you want Thai food later?”

When he was gone, Viktor assured you that you’d just made as good an impression as it was possible to make.

You doubted this, however. Five rarely spoke to you beyond a good morning and a good night. He was polite, but nevertheless guarded.

It was strange, on the few occasions he had deigned to strike up a conversation with you, he took two routes: he'd either draw you out for no reason other than to challenge you on your opinions, or else ask odd combinations of questions. There was nothing odd in themselves, but in aggregate they felt...strategic. He asked what you liked to do, whether you lived with a roommate or partner in your last place, how you and Viktor met, how well you knew each other…the list went on.

Perhaps he was still scrutinizing you, ensuring that you weren’t trying to use his brother in any way.

It stung to feel that he still suspected you when you’d done nothing but accept a friend’s offer of help, but you were soon able to put it from your mind in the wake of the enjoyment you got from staying there and hanging out with the rest of Viktor’s family. Over the few weeks you were there, you indulged Luther, chatted animatedly with Diego, and laughed with Klaus and Lila.

But still, and despite his polite superciliousness, only the oldest brother drew your eye as soon as he entered any room.

He unnerved as well as attracted you. Sometimes, you thought you caught him watching you, peering over whatever book he was reading with a steady look of contemplation. As soon as you noticed it, however, you concluded it was probably just absent-mindedness: you found him staring into space or at one of siblings just as often.

You found a new job by mid-November, but Viktor persuaded you to wait for your first month’s paycheck to come in before you put down a deposit on a new place, so when it came to your last night staying with them there were half-assed string lights and tinsel hung haphazardly around Hargreeves manor.

Those on the tree and the fire crackling in the grate were the living room’s only light. In the flickering, warm glow, even Luther’s piss-poor attempt at decoration looked passable.

With Christmas music playing softly in the background, the booze had been flowing. Ill-advised mulled wine followed ill-advised eggnog followed ill-advised mimosas, leading Luther and Sloane to already stagger off to bed.

Sprawled on one of the couches, Viktor leaned towards you, lowering his voice so as not to be heard over the noise of Klaus and Diego arguing over who had most right to the final gingerbread man.

“I'll miss you, but at least when you're gone Five's crush might calm down."

“What?” you asked, too quickly to pass off as true ignorance.

“Come on, he’s been staring at you for the past three weeks.” Viktor smiled, teasing in his tipsiness, I’ve never seen him like this,” he added, fondly.

“Yeah, whatever.” you said, brushing this off with a roll of your eyes, “If he’s been staring at me, it’s probably only because I piss him off more than anyone else in the room.”

“We all piss him off.” Viktor said, reasonably, “Everyone he likes pisses him off.”

You looked at him doubtfully.

“Pretty weird way to be.”

Viktor shrugged.

“Well, he's definitely interested. The other day he asked if there was anything between you and me. Why else would he ask me that?"

You looked at Five covertly from the corner of your eye.

“Probably just checking I’m not some gold-digger moving in on that sweet sweet Hargreeves dough.”

“I don’t think he cares about the Hargreeves dough,” Viktor replied.

“Yeah, well,” you murmured, hoping that this would be the end of the conversation.

But Viktor didn’t oblige you in this. The drink was making him uncharacteristically tenacious.

“He’s into you. I’m sure of it. So you don’t like him?”

You sighed deeply, your own mild intoxication making it harder to bullshit him.

“I’m not saying he isn’t hot,” (Viktor visibly cringed at this remark), “but why would I be into someone who looks at me like I’m a problem?”

“I think that’s just his face,” Viktor said, more uncertain now, “but I hear you.”

The conversation moved on, and you chatted with the family lazily as, one by one they all filtered off to bed. Soon, it was just you, Five and Viktor who, when you turned to look at him after Klaus’s departure, had fallen asleep on the couch.

Five caught sight of this and let out a small laughing breath. At the sound, you caught his eye and smiled, sharing the moment of humor.

At this reception, he got slowly up from his armchair and moved over to your couch. His usually confident movements were smaller than usual. If you didn’t know better, you might have thought he was uncertain in this approach.

“Too much eggnog,” you said, as he sat down, nodding at his snoring brother.

“Mhm.” Five agreed, “There’s not much of him and he’s no drinker.”

You fell back into silence. He was only a few inches from you now, and it was awkward; strangely awkward. you were just thinking how best to excuse yourself and whether you should wake Viktor, when Five spoke again.

“So, you’re moving into your new place tomorrow?”

You cleared your throat. There should be nothing uncomfortable about this. This was just small-talk with your friend’s brother.

...Your friend's brother who apparently hated your guts yet had also appeared in your dreams virtually every night since you met him in varying states of undress.

Pulling yourself together, you turned to face him with a passable impression of ease.

“Yeah. I’m all packed. The moving van will be here around 11.”

“Hm,” Five said.

It was a single syllable, yet its ambiguity in tone made you look at him more closely.

He noticed.

“Will you decorate the new place for christmas?” he asked, quickly.

“Probably not,” you said, trying to keep your tone conversational, “my parents are away this year so I’ll be doing Christmas alone. There’s no point in unpacking it all just to put it away again in a few days.”

Giving himself thinking time, Five shifted, letting out a little sigh as he repositioned himself. Holding his glass of whisky on his knee, he leaned back, resting his head against the couch cushions and watching you from beneath the dark hair now falling over his eyes.

“That seems a shame,” he said, finally.

You shrugged, mirroring him unconsciously, leaning back against the cushions so that your faces were just over a foot apart

“There’s always next year.”

“You’d be welcome here.” he said, seriously, “It was nice having you for Thanksgiving.”

“I’d never assume Viktor would invite me.”

“But I’m inviting you.”

You looked at him with a confused expression, which he interpreted correctly:

“What? Is it too much to imagine I want you to be there?”

'Yes', you wanted to say.

“You called me a deluded hippy at Thanksgiving.”

“That’s not necessarily a bad thing. You’re a progressive…an idealistic progressive.”

He smiled, and your eyes flicked uncontrollably down to his lips.

“And I only said that because you called me a fascist,” he continued, unaware of your unruly gaze flicking guiltily away from his mouth, “I know you weren’t being serious, but I don’t take that sort of accusation lightly.”

He responded to the question posed by your expression:

“I spent a lot of time in 1930s Munich. Not nice.”

You stole another glance at him and caught his grim face; handsome features clouded by too many dark memories.

“I’m sorry,” you said, more softly than you’d ever spoken to him before.

“Don’t worry about it,” he replied, “I guess I’ve not given you the best impression.”

“No,” you said, disclaiming the idea unconvincingly, “it’s not exactly that…”

He raised an eyebrow skeptically, and you chuckled slightly.

“Well, I got the impression you wouldn’t like me to come to another family celebration, anyway.”

“And now I want to correct that impression.” he said, seriously, “I’d like to spend christmas with you. With all of us, I mean.”

You’d been looking into his eyes for too long now, fine lashes framing them, his pupils blown in the low light. Somehow, those eyes always gave you the impression you were being assessed.

…And for the first time, it occurred to you that perhaps you were being assessed: just not in the way you’d assumed.

You blinked and looked down, though you didn’t move your head from beside his.

“Thanks Five,” you replied, after a silence of seconds that felt like minutes. “I’d like that.”

He smiled again, the corners of his mouth just twitching. It was as if he was trying to conceal just how much you accepting his invitation meant, but the lines around his eyes betrayed him. As you smiled in return, he couldn’t contain it further, and those gorgeous lips broke into a genuine, unrestrained smile.

And somehow, over the course of the conversation, your heads had shifted to a distance of no more than six inches apart.

You could feel his exhales on your cheeks.

“I heard you and Viktor talking tonight.” he said, voice low, “He’s right about me.”

You felt the heat rising in your cheeks as he continued.

“I don’t think you’re a problem. Far from it, actually.”

“Oh,” you said. It was all you could say as he inched ever closer to you.

You could have counted each of his eyelashes.

“And I also know that you think I’m hot,” he said, emphasizing the word with the ghost of his usual shit-eating grin back in his eyes, “so why not take the opportunity of being under the mistletoe and kiss me?”

You looked up to where he’d indicated. Across the room, above the fireplace, there was indeed a bunch of felt mistletoe, tied with a red, velvet bow: exactly the sort of decoration Luther would buy.

“But we’re not under the mistletoe,” you said, hoping to give your racing mind and beating heart some time to take stock of this, “it’s twelve feet away.”

Five’s eyebrows twitched, and he looked quickly from you to the mistletoe and back again.

“Let me fix that,” he said, and suddenly your upper arms were caught in his grip.

Air crushed in on you as you both disappeared in a flash of blue, and then rushed away as you rematerialized beside the fireplace, mistletoe hanging overheard. You swayed from the surprise of unexpected teleportation, holding onto Five’s lapels for dear life as you tried to stay upright.

But his arms were around you, strong and solid. And his mouth was on yours, soft and yielding. You breathed his breath; tasted the sweet burn of scotch on his lips and felt yourself kissing him back, responding to a careful passion that you could sense might go further but for his self-restraint.

His hands left your arms and came to cup your jaw, rising gooseflesh following the path of his fingers at the nape of your neck. You shivered at the sensation and deepened the kiss, your fingers automatically starting to gently tug into his soft, eucalyptus-smelling hair.

He made a low, appreciative sound against your lips but then, perhaps conscious of his brother sleeping on the couch, broke the kiss and stepped away.

You could do nothing but stand there: surprised, dazed, yet anxious to recapture his lips. The kiss had felt like one, shining, crystalline moment as it happened, but now it had already retreated too far over the horizon for you to stay satisfied.

You opened your mouth to say…you didn’t know what, but, grinning his infuriating grin, he held up a single finger to silence you.

“I'll see you on Christmas Eve. Stay a couple of nights.”

You nodded, mutely.

“It’s forecast to be cold though, so if you get cold in one of the spare bedrooms you could always-”

Now it was your turn to hold up a finger and silence him:

“Don’t ruin this with a crappy pickup line.”

He nodded sagely.

“Noted.”

And with a small wink, he vanished in another of those blue flashes.

Read part 2 >>

Request masterlist >> HERE

Tag list: (please comment to be added or removed): @thebearmage, @nevbrooke-555, @fiannee

NOTE: I take Five requests, I'm fairly versatile in what I write (fluff, smut, angst, psychological character study- I'll try it all) but I will consider them on a case by case basis. See masterlist for request status and more.

#the umbrella academy #the umbrella academy imagine #umbrella academy x reader #the umbrella academy five #umbrella academy number five #umbrella academy five x reader #umbrella academy five x you #five hargreaves x you #five hargreaves x reader #number five imagine #five hargreeves imagine #number 5 imagine #number 5 x reader #number five x you

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desperate-daydream · 1 year

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HIII I LOVE YOUR STORIES AND I WANTED TO REQUEST SOMETHING. could you write a one shot about Five Hargreeves being all tired and fluffy and cuddly with his husband? set in season 1 when he got a shot wound and his siblings took him home and Grace patched him up. The husband is very protective of Five (dominant too) so he sits by him in bed reading a book until he wakes up and then forces him to stay in bed because of his condition (he wanted to go after his siblings or smth) and so Five decides that it's not worth fighting his lover because he won't stop either way so he gives in and cuddles into his lover like the little spoon he is 🥺

☂️ Umbrella Academy

❀ Five Hargreeves x (male) husband reader ⚣

A/N: Oh, of course. That‘s a really cute idea. And thank you! It isn‘t very long unfortunately but I hope you‘ll like it anyway.

tags/warnings: plays in season 1, the storyline is a bit different I guess, you‘re Five‘s husband, mentions of a shot wound

You stay in bed

The first thing Five noticed after blacking out because of his shot wound were your hums. He was usually hyper aware of everything you did. You just had caught his attention from the very first moment.

Though it wasn‘t in a positive way at first. You were the only one other than the Handler to actually dare telling him what to do. Although, you only did it out of concern. Five had this habit of wanting to manage things alone and therefore often pushing his limits too hard.

In the end, your dominance and professionalism were intriguing to him. He couldn‘t help but fall in love with you. You had even married after accomplishing one of your several missions.

It had been as clear as day that you would come with him wherever he decided to go. Even through time to save the world and especially his siblings. Well, now you were both in the bodies of your teenage-selves.

And Five was shot. He turned his head slightly towards you as he regained all his other senses and memory. Then he remembered his goal to save the world - and his damn siblings.

He tried to sit up but you had already noticed that he was awake and quickly put away your book to get out of your chair and hold him down.

„Hey, no no no. You stay in bed.“

„But-„

„No but. You were shot. Even a man like you needs rest.“

He really couldn‘t go against your words and the stare you gave him. Alone your eyes made him give in and he laid back down. He sighed and looked up at you with a pout and big eyes - one of the faces he only ever would dare to show you.

„Then at least cuddle with me.“

You smiled faintly. „Of course, darling.“

You helped him scoot over before laying down next to him. His arms immediately went around you and his hands gripped into your shirt as he put his face in the crook of your neck. He inhaled deeply and you felt him relax in your arms when you started gently combing through his hair.

When you had first seen him in his cute school-boy glory your protectiveness had skyrocketed. Seeing him like this now made you want to wrap him in layers of protection and hold him close to you at all times.

But you couldn‘t and shouldn‘t so the only thing you could do was make sure that he stayed in bed a bit longer to let his wound heal. You were able to convince him to stay there for a day or so before even you couldn’t hold him - and to be honest also yourself - back any longer.

You went to the next point of the stop-the-apocalypse-plan while you hovered close behind your husband. A protective shadow while Five did his thing.

#five hargreeves #five hargreeves x reader #five hargreeves x male reader #x male reader #male reader #x trans male reader #trans male reader #husband reader #dom reader #gay #the umbrella academy #umbrella academy

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asteriismos · 2 years

Text

lovers & liars - ben hargreeves (closer part two)

PAIRING ◆ sparrow!ben hargreeves x umbrella!reader

WARNING(S) ◆ SMUT, DIRTY TALK, unedited, piv sex, unprotected sex, fingering, oral (fem receiving), my writing.......

SUMMARY ◆ a part two of closer.

WORDS ◆ 4.9k

NOTE ◆ the people have spoken.

You woke up early in order to get out of the shower, because there was no way that you were going to even attempt to show your face in The Sparrow Academy looking the way that Ben left you last night. When you woke up, you almost thought that you dreamt of the whole thing and it hadn’t actually happened, but when you got into the warm shower and studied your body, you knew that you hadn’t been dreaming at all. What happened last night really happened, and now you weren’t even sure what to do with yourself.

You were supposed to hate Ben. He was the enemy and he was an arrogant asshole that didn’t think about anyone but himself. But when you closed your eyes all you could think about was his hands on your body, reaching for your throat and squeezing, and then pushing your legs apart in order for him to push himself - No. You needed to get your act together and finish your shower. Rinsing off the sweat and whatever remnants he had left on your body as night off, you got out of the shower and wrapped a white towel around you, wringing out your hair and taking a moment to look in the mirror once again in order to think of an idea on how to hide the marks that were high up enough to where you couldn’t hide it with a turtleneck. You knew that there was one in the closet of the room that they had given you while you were held hostage.

The steam from the shower seemed to lighten them a little bit, and it was harder to see his handprints. But they were still there, almost as if they were messages from him that he had been here and there and that wasn’t all that he managed to do with you last night. It was still early and you had yet to hear anyone get up. Rummaging through the cabinets, you were able to find some older looking makeup that matches your skin color fairly enough. You weren’t an expert at covering up bites and marks but you seemed to do a pretty good job, at least enough to where no one would pay much mind. If anything, they looked like similar bruises you had gotten from fighting the Sparrows only a few days ago. You got out of the bathroom and changed into clothing that was tighter fit than your normal clothing, but they seemed to have a niche for it.

Soon enough you could smell breakfast being served, and you finally got the courage to make your way down there. Christopher was there, along with Alphonso, Sloane, and Jayme. Fei and Ben were nowhere to be found and that made you nervous, knowing that they were the only two people who knew of what happened last night. Fei didn’t know that Ben and you had sex, but she definitely knew that you were thinking about Ben more than you should have. Minutes went by and there was still no sign of them and you started to settle, drinking your coffee and helping yourself to the healthy meal that had been prepared by Grace. Sloane was talking about something but you weren’t necessarily listening, especially when finally Ben decided to make an appearance.

He was dressed in a tight dress shirt and those black pants he was always wearing, and his shirt was unbuttoned enough to see the gold chain sported around his neck. You cringed to yourself, rolling your eyes and wishing that you had gotten to mark him up so he wouldn’t be able to wear those dumb shirts for a few days. Ben saw that you were staring and you could’ve sworn you saw a small smirk before he sat down, next to you as always, because why would he dare break up his little tradition now – especially after last night. He remained somewhat quiet, only quipping that you were too slow at passing the fruit bowl and you had half the sense to throw it onto his lap. But you didn’t and instead stayed silent. There was no way that you were going to give him any pleasure by messing with you.

But your plan seemed futile, because Fei turned to face you and asked, “So Y/N, I heard you awake so late last night. What were you up to? We wouldn’t want our favorite hostage plotting an escape so soon.”

You opened your mouth to speak, but was slightly faltering because Ben’s hand came and reached for your thigh under the table. You almost jumped, but composed yourself before doing so and instead glared daggers at him, making direct eye contact as he acted like he was doing nothing. So you turned to his sister, avoiding the fact that Ben’s hand was sliding farther up your thigh, and saying, “No reason. Just couldn’t sleep, that’s all. The city is a lot different than Dallas, I’m not used to it anymore.” It was a good enough cover that for a moment you were almost certain that Fei believed it, but you knew that she was feigning understanding and instead was angry that you were able to dodge the situation. Ben’s hand pulled away and you took a moment to look at him, seeing a slight smirk on his face that he covered up by taking a sip of coffee.

The rest of breakfast was uneventful. Ben didn’t as much look at you let alone even utter a word in your direction, and the rest of the Sparrows went off to begin their day, a lot of them were heading to the rec room to run on the treadmills. That meant that you would be left alone to do nothing, because you didn’t want to train with them, they weren’t your family and they were your captors. So you watched as one by one they left, until it was only you at the table and you finally decided to stand up, walking out of the dining room and into the hallway back to your assigned room. As you were about to turn the corner, you heard two voices talking and quickly realized that it was Ben and Fei.

You halted your movements, pressing your back against the firm wall and slowed your breathing, making sure that you were silent as you listened in on their conversation.

“I heard you.”

“You didn’t hear shit,” Ben countered, his voice laced with the same amount of condescending narcissism you had gotten used to and knew all too well. “Nothing happened after you told me what Y/N was thinking about.”

You sighed to yourself, realizing that Fei was beginning to get even more suspicious. This was the last thing you needed. If they somehow found out . . . It would get to your family and who knows what would happen after that. How were you supposed to explain that you had slept with the enemy? Not only that, but it was Ben, who you thought had been dead for years. It was something that needed to stay a secret. Though by the sound of it, it sounded like Ben was trying his best to cover up what happened.

Fei tutted her mouth. “You act like you’re the leader of this team who doesn’t have a care in the world, you think that you can just parade around in those uptight turtlenecks and everyone will just listen to what you have to say.” You almost wanted to start clapping, Fei was really laying it down on Ben. “But newsflash: No one is going to listen to you if you get caught up in a lie. Now, I don’t care if something happened between the two of you, but her family will. We should send her home.”

“Not until they tell us what happened to Marcus. If you don’t want me to be number one so bad, Fei, then maybe you should be getting information on our brother instead of questioning what I do in my free time,” Ben stated. You heard Fei grumble something that you couldn’t hear and footsteps receding in the opposite direction, which meant that Ben was alone in the hallway. You took that moment to turn the corner finally and come face to face with him, seeing a scowl on his face and his hand clenched up, like he wanted to punch something but there was nothing there for him to hit. “Didn’t anyone tell you that it was bad to eavesdrop on other people’s conversations?”

You shrugged your shoulders. “Wasn’t really that hard. It’s a big house but the walls have a tendency to bounce off sound. I should know, I grew up here just like you. Same old house, same old bullshit.” That part was true, there was just something about this house that sometimes made you think that your dad purposely built it as such. There seemed to always be a reason for things like that. “Plus, if you didn’t want me to eavesdrop, then let me go back to my family. I don’t want to be in this house anymore, it’s like I’m a teenager all over again.” This house brought memories of your childhood that you didn’t want to remember, and it didn’t help that yet again you felt trapped.

“You know that I can’t let you go. Not without Marcus.”

“My family wouldn’t take Marcus, we don’t even want to take part in whatever war you’re trying to wage. My brothers and sister have been through too much.”

Whatever you said, Ben wouldn’t believe you. And you knew that if the roles were reversed, you would probably feel the same way. You would do anything to save your family and you knew that Ben, under all of the egotistical qualities he had, felt the same way about his family. It was hard for you to think of him as an actual person because of the way that he carried himself, but the more you stood in the hallway, looking him in the eyes, the longer you began to understand his motives a little better. You still weren’t sure what he tried to gain from sleeping with you . . . Was there even a motive? Or was he giving into his temptations despite you being the enemy? Despite spending his whole life training to not give into his desires?

This was one of the first moments where the two of you weren’t bickering with each other. The only other time was last night, and even then you two were being mean to each other while fucking. It felt nice to finally let go of all that anger and to just be calm with him. You hated to admit that you liked it. Maybe if he was like this more, then maybe he would be more tolerable.

Ben walked towards you, the dark hallway only being illuminated by the light above the two of you. Your breath hitched in your throat, allowing him to step further until he was a mere few centimeters away from you. He stood taller than you and inched his head down until you were face to face, close enough to feel his breath on your face, the same way it felt last night. It took everything in you not to press your lips against his own. The tension was thick enough to cut with a knife, both of you silently wondering who was going to cave in first. His hand came up to grab onto your cheek and you thought that this was it, Ben was really going to kiss you again. Your eyes fluttered closed and he inched closer . . . closer . . . Your heart was pounding in your chest and your mind went blank. All you could think about was him, touching him, feeling him, allowing yourself to give everything just to him. As your lips brushed his own, Ben pulled away, making you open your eyes and open your mouth to say something. But when you opened your eyes, Ben was already halfway across the hallway and turning the corner. You heard his footsteps recede up a flight of stairs and he was gone, leaving you alone to wonder what the hell was going on.

You pressed your back against the wall and sighed.

Ben didn’t show up for the rest of the night. For a moment you saw him at dinner when he requested to have his own sent up to his room. All of this avoidance from him was making you nervous, wondering if there was something that you did wrong to make him angry or upset with you. But there was nothing that you could think of, he had simply changed his mind right before kissing you. It made you curious and also furious, wanting to know why he thought that he had the right to treat you like that. If he didn’t want this to happen, why had he let what happened last night happen? He was playing games and you were through with it.

You left dinner early to confront him, knocking on his door and not giving him the time to answer, instead opening up to his room and closing the door. “What the hell is your issue? First you sleep with me and then once you’re finally getting your way again, you just leave? And now you’re avoiding me,” You stated. “What the hell is wrong with you? I want to go. You’re going to let me go now.”

Ben stood up from his desk. “What’s wrong with me? What’s wrong with you? First you come here with your pathetic siblings like a fucked up Brady Bunch claiming that this is your house and then fighting us when you won’t leave. And then you stole my brother, our number one. What the hell is wrong with you?”

“We didn’t take your fucking brother. And why do you even care? You’re not even negotiating with my brothers, you’re just keeping me here. I’m not something that you can just keep forever, Ben, I want to be with my family again and never have to deal with you motherfuckers ever again,” You spat. Your words were harsh but you were so angry. “And what the fuck was that in the hallway?”

He gave a small smirk, like your yelling didn’t even phase him. “You’re mad I didn’t kiss you?”

“That’s not what I-”

“It is what you meant. Just admit that you want it to happen again.”

“I don’t,” You said. “It’s you who made the first move.”

“You didn’t push me away or tell me to leave, you wanted me to kiss you so much that you stood there like a dumb idiot minutes after I left. Just admit it.”

Taking a leap, you started, “I did want you to-”

He didn’t hesitate to give you what you wanted, grabbing your face with both of his hands and moving the two of you away from the door, slowly inching you towards the bed and helping you rest on your back, the silk sheets against the back of your arms and neck. Ben was quick to follow, climbing on top of you and connecting his lips onto the skin right below your jaw. His lips were soft like snowflakes falling onto your skin, creating a masterpiece on your skin like you were his canvas. The other marks that were there from the night before seemed to hum, like your body was excited that Ben was finally back. It sent shockwaves to your core, igniting a feeling you felt only the first time that he had kissed you.

Seeing how well your body responded to him, well, almost drove Ben crazy. You were so willing, so ready for him that his mind became cloudy, the only thing he could make out was his thoughts of you. Nothing about the war between your two families, what would happen if someone were to stumble into the room somehow or if someone heard what you two were doing . . . None of it seemed to matter to him, he just wanted you. His lips trailed down from your jaw to your neck, paying extra attention to the places that made you breathe out more than the others. Your hands found their respective place in his hair, feeling the softness of his hair between your fingers.

Your clothes suddenly felt foreign on your body, you wanted them off, you wanted him off so that you could see all of him again. He seemed to hear your thoughts, humming against your skin and pulling away, pressing a hard, firm kiss to your lips and helping you get out of them, and in turn you helped him get out of his. This time was less harsh than the other time but there was still a sense of roughness. You weren’t sure what you wanted from each other the first time, but this time there was more of an understanding. More of a want.

Ben’s body was like nothing you imagined before. Sure, you had seen him without his shirt on and you had seen a part of it last night but the rest was something you weren’t expecting. He was breathtaking . You knew that he had a nice body because of all the training and countless amounts of physical strain he has been through, but looking at those abs that he had, along with the sun kissed skin he had, you felt your throat close up. The thought of him being on top of you again was driving you crazy.

His hands came to your hips, fingers toying with the fabric of your underwear that was the only thing blocking him from seeing you fully. His eyes scanned you, taking in the sheer and utter beauty before him. He wanted to kiss, lick, and nip on every single inch of skin on you. He wanted to learn each and every single curve, hear every story behind your scars, and know just what touches would have you squirming from underneath him.

Your whole body felt hot, needing to feel the release that was beginning to build up from all of his kisses and your imagination running its course. “Ben,” You breathed out, not knowing how to form into words what you wanted from him. Of course he knew, he could see your eyes filled with a lust, thinking of something almost sinful, something he was sure he was emitting himself. He knew exactly what he was going to do to you so that he could hear the plethora of moans that he knew you had just for him, wanting to hear his name come off of your lips in pleasure.

His head ducked down and kissed your hipbone, fingers hooking under your underwear and slowly sliding them off. Your eyes stayed on his actions, mouth forming into an ‘O’ when you realized what he was going to do. He was going to use his mouth on you. These were only things that you thought in your deepest, darkest fantasies, like he had reached into those parts of your mind and did exactly what you wanted.

As if Ben was just tempting you, he pressed another slow kiss to the inside of your thigh and then did the same thing to the other side. Your hips lifted up only slightly, showing him that you couldn’t wait much longer. A chuckle left him, eyes reaching your own and saying, “Eager?” You weren’t even ashamed when you shook your head, keeping eye contact with him as he licked a bold stripe right up your slit. It felt as if an earthquake hit your body, your back arching and hands gripping onto his hair.

He hummed against you, liking the way that you responded to his actions. If he had it his way, he would sit here with you like this for hours on end, bringing you up to that high place again and again until you were a wrecked mess before him. It made him simply go crazy to think that he was the one to hear those moans and profanities that slipped from your cherry kissed lips. Ben’s own thoughts made him groan out, a noise that you played on repeat in your mind as your eyes screwed closed.

Your thighs quivered beside his face, attempting to squeeze shut so that you could keep him there forever. But his hands came and held them in place, fingers digging into your muscles that gave in to his touch like it was nothing. You were putty in his hands, the only movement you had was your hands pulling on his hair and the arch of your back while he lapped his tongue against you with no mercy.

“Stay still,” He told you, pulling away for a moment to lick what was left of you on his lips. You nodded, chest heaving and heart sinking at the loss of contact. But Ben didn’t leave for long, his mouth on your clit accompanied with one of his fingers circling your entrance. You nearly lost it when he dipped his middle finger in experimentally, gauging your reaction. You could feel the coil in your stomach start to tighten, which only amplified once his finger pushed into you all the way.

You didn’t even attempt to try and censor the obscenities that came out of your mouth, mixed in rhyme with his name. Ben. Ben. Ben. It was the only word that felt real in your mind.

You waited for that final jump towards a euphoric end, but it never came. Instead Ben pulled away from you and his fingers left, making you feel uneasily empty. Opening your eyes, you saw that he was pulling down his boxers, taking his cock into his hands and watching as you almost became slack jawed.

And with all the courage that you mustered up, you gave him a nod, wanting him shamelessly again. You were sinfully feeling like you were Persephone, cutting up her own slice of pomegranate and looking right into Hades eyes as she tasted the fruit, securing your fate that you would stay with him. You would stay with Ben and keep doing this over and over again. Suddenly you didn’t care what your family thought or what anyone thought, you were sealing your fate with him.

He nestled between your legs and you could feel his tip press against your entrance. Air was caught in your lungs, sitting up on your elbows so that you could see as he eased himself into you. A sting of pain and a subtle feeling of pleasure was seated inside of you, watching as his cock was enveloped inch by inch. Ben hissed at the feeling, you were so goddamn tight and he never wanted to stop from being inside of you. Once all of him was inside, he leaned over so his head was in the crook of your neck, pressing a kiss to your searing skin as you adjusted to him bottoming out.

You urged him to continue, thinking that the discomfort would soon go away with time. And you were eager to get all of him that you could, temptation coming forward instead of reason. He pulled out all the way then eased himself back in, continuing the slower pace and watching your reaction before him, your hands reaching to his back and finding their place there. One of his hands kept your legs open, taking you by your thigh and hoisting it up.

It took all that he could muster to not just ram into you, the want starting to cloud his judgment. He wanted to milk every single second of this moment, there wasn’t one thing that he wanted to stop himself from doing. “You feel . . .” He started. “You feel so good.” That alone, along with the raspiness in his voice, made a fire erupt in your stomach. You sighed in response, eyes fluttering closed once again.

And then you whispered, “Go faster, Ben.” You needed him so bad you felt like you were going to explode, lust enveloping the both of you.

He didn’t need to be told twice, and he gripped onto the leg he lifted up, beginning a slightly faster rhythm that had you arching your neck and eyes rolling to the back of your head. Ben was so big, stretching you out in just the right way that had you almost keeling over if he hadn’t had such a tight grip on you. Your one leg wrapped along his waist, heel digging into his back while his pace increased.

This angle he had you in made you yelp and moan shamelessly, not caring if anyone in the house could hear you as you yelled his name like a prayer. His pace finally became a fast rhythm and you found comfort in being able to finally feel nothing but pleasure with every deep stroke he made.

In this place, it was only you and him. Like you were in your own little place of paradise where you could explore each other in every way. There was nothing that could take this moment from you or him, this moment would forever be engraved in your mind for many years to come, remembering the way that he moaned out your name and the way he looked when you opened your eyes to peek at his face. His brows were furrowed, sweat beading on his forehead and mouth spilled open saying nothing but your name.

He made you feel so good, so euphoric that the fire grew and grew, becoming a wildfire raging inside of you. And you looked so heavenly to him, the way that your eyes only looked at him, breasts bouncing with every harsh thrust he gave you. You took him so well, like you were made for only him. His hips brushed against your own, hand coming up to caress your cheek, forcing you to look him in the eyes.

You weren’t going to last much longer. Not with the way that he was pounding into you with sheer force you didn’t know was possible until now. But you didn’t want this to end, you never wanted this to end in fear that things would go back to the way they were before. You would have to try and forget that this ever happened. It wasn’t something you wanted to do and didn’t even know if you had the strength to do it.

You made a guttural noise, teetering over the edge of what felt like a wave of bliss. This was it, there was no way that you could keep yourself from it now. It only took a singular deep stroke of his cock to send you right over the edge, your back arching and body spasming, his name rolling off of your tongue in the most sinful way you have ever said it before. Your hands gripped for any part of him that you could reach, groping his muscles to keep him close to you. He didn’t stop moving inside of you, making you ride it out even harder as he chased his own high.

You were so sensitive as he fucked into you, giving you no mercy. He groaned as you came, watching the way that your eyes screwed shut and mouth opening in as you sucked in harsh breaths. You could feel his cock twitch inside of you and you knew that he was close, wondering if he was going to cum inside of you or pull out before he did. He did the latter, taking one more deep stroke before pulling out. Ben was about to start stroking himself with his hand but you rushed with your own to meet him there, using your own and pumping a few times.

A string of profanities came from his lips as he came, white hot liquid spurting onto your stomach, dripping like beads coating your skin. He had no shame as he shuddered, muscles flexing with every passing second. He drank in your body, seeing how wet you were for him, how soft your hand was on his cock, how much he longed to see you like this more times before you would go back to your family. And soon enough he was finished, the only thing between both of you was both of your panting breaths.

Ben moved to grab something on the floor, realizing that it was the shirt he had on before and moving to wipe your stomach off, dropping it to the floor and coming to lay down next to you. You winced for a moment as you moved to look at him, his own eyes staring at the ceiling. He didn’t push you away or tell you to leave his room. Instead the two of you just laid there with each other, you were listening to his labored breathing finally begin to slow to a normal tempo.

Your mouth opened to say something, but was interrupted by a knock on the door. You jumped and Ben’s hand came to grab onto your arm. “Who is it?” He asked.

“It’s Sloane. Y/N’s brothers are here, they want to talk.”

Your eyes widened. “All of them?” You didn’t even care that she knew you were in there with him, you were sure that the whole house knew at this point.

“Just two. One that keeps asking for coffee and another that keeps playing with his knives.”

Well, this should be fun.

#ben hargreeves headcanons #ben hargreeves fluff #ben hargreeves imagine #ben hargreeves smut #ben hargreeves #ben hargreeves x reader #the sparrow academy #the umbrella academy fanfiction #the umbrella academy imagines #the umbrella academy #luther hargreeves #diego hargreeves #allison hargreeves #klaus hargreeves #five hargreeves #viktor hargreeves

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non-plutonian-druid · 11 months

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Also! Hey yall! I wrote a fic! It was for masked author so it was a ~secret~, but now everything's revealed so I can tell y'all! This is probably the only fic I will ever write (which is part of why I wanted to use it for masked author; I wasn't sure I'd ever get another chance), and I worked really hard on it, it would be cool if y'all checked it out!

It's kind of an Alice in Wonderland au, but mostly its about "hey it was pretty fucked up that Reginald made a robot that used to be a real person, do we want to unpack that maybe" and "wow we never got to see real human Grace's opinion about any of this huh"

#the umbrella academy #tua #tua fic #grace hargreeves #and also: everyone else #grace tua #somebody give me an excuse to analyze my own writing choices to you. id *love* to #im tempted to invent a writing tag because the comedy of having a writing tag and then theres exactly one thing in it appeals to me #actually #my art #what! writing IS art

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ur-fav-inactive-writer · 5 months

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𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐊𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐈'𝐥𝐥 𝐁𝐞 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐘𝐨𝐮

Klaus Hargreeves x Sister!Reader

Summary; Most people hate their siblings. This is not the case for two of the Hargreeves. A big brother, his baby sister, and a whole load of chaos.

CW: cringy tries at inserting lyrics, swearing, a bit angsty, mention of drugs, bad writing ig, not proofread

WC: 1908

On an early Saturday morning, the Hargreeves' children were awoken by Pogo. They were all fourteen at this point and were used to being awoken early in the morning to do training. They reached for their training gear, but Pogo stopped them.

"Ah, actually, today your father needs to discuss and announce something, so training is delayed for the hour" All the Hargreeves children were confused, but dressed themselves and lined up in the living area. Their father came into the room and, to their surprise, was holding a small infant. They gasped in surprise, staring at the child. "Children, this is number 8. They, like you, have powers. They have the ability of water manipulation, and I will be raising them alongside you."

They all stared at the child, taking in their features and their peaceful expression. Klaus stared at them; he felt a strange connection to this kid. Reginald placed the child into a bassinet and left the room, and ordered the siblings to get back to training. They all wanted to stay for a moment and process what was going on, but Grace shooed them out of the room. Klaus stepped outside so his mother would get off his back but went back into the living area once she'd left. With shaking hands, he reached for the baby. He gently picked up the child, and her eyes fluttered open and stared at Klaus. Her expression changed to one of confusion, and Klaus panicked, thinking she would begin to cry. Much to Klaus' surprise, the baby began to giggle. At that moment, Klaus just knew he'd have a special bond with that little girl.

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*4 Years Later*

Klaus really did love her. He did. But not even his love for her could make him stand the thought of spending a second longer in that house with his cruel father. He felt terrible. Most of the Hargreeves' children had left home already, moving out and pursuing a new life. Klaus had held off on this for a while, wanting to stay for (Y/N). But he just couldn't take it anymore. He wanted to stay and protect her, she still had at least twelve more years here, and God knows what their father would do with her once none of her siblings could defend her. After the fight Klaus had with his father, though, he couldn't stand the thought of staying in that house anymore. He felt horrible, he couldn't leave without a goodbye, but you were nowhere to be found at that point, likely somewhere with Grace. He sighed, collecting a few of his things that he didn't mind leaving in your possession. He grabbed a photo of the two of you from his nightstand. The photograph captured one of you and Klaus' many good memories. In the photo, you were on Klaus' bed. Klaus was tickling you, and you were laying on the bed, shrieking, giggling, and kicking. You had a bright grin, and Klaus was looking up at you with pure adoration in his eyes. He felt tears swell in his eyes, reminiscing on that precious moment, but he blinked them away. He grabbed your favourite glittery gel pen and began to write on the back of the photo.

Dear (Y/N/N), I'm sorry, but I have to go. You need to know that I still love you, though. You're the most amazing little sister in the world, and I'm gonna miss you. I'm sorry for leaving you but I can't stay any longer. I'll see you soon, sunshine. I'm gonna miss you so much.

- Klausy"

He felt horrible for leaving the poor girl behind; she was so small and vulnerable. He'd come back for her someday. He put his things into a pile and left the photo and note on her bed. A tear rolled down his cheek as he went to leave your room. Just before he left, he grabbed one of your stuffed animals. You and Klaus always played with it when you were little. He shoved into his bag and walked out of your room. He shut the door, climbed out his window, and didn't return to the Hargreeves' mansion for years.

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*12 years later*

You were 16 by now. It had been a long time since you'd seen any of your siblings, and you missed them dearly. You hadn't seen or heard from Klaus since he left that note on your bed. It broke your heart when he left, he was your best friend. You still had all your brothers belongings that he left in your room and kept whatever he left in his bedroom. You were 4 when he left and had grown a ton since he had left. It had been 4 years since you had seen any of your siblings. The last one of your siblings you saw was Luther before he went to the moon, even then, he didn't ever talk to you much. You liked watching the news or movies to see your sister, Allison, or your brother, Viktor, or even your other brother, Diego. Your father had recently passed away, and you were devastated. He was a cruel, cruel man, but he was still your father. However, this meant a funeral would be held.

You prayed that Klaus would come to it, wanting nothing more than to see your favourite brother again. It was finally the day of the funeral. You changed into your black dress, with tights and your black converse. You got dressed and applied your makeup before heading downstairs. There was a knock on the door, and you ran down the stairs to answer it. Your eyes blew wide to see it was Klaus. You went to leap on him, but he stopped you. His eyes were bloodshot, and he seemed out of it. You quickly realised that he was on drugs and likely didn't recognise you, considering how much you had grown up since he last saw you.

"Klausy?" You said quietly, in shock. He stared at you, perplexed, until he remembered that nickname. "Oh (Y/N/N)!" He shrieked and hugged you tightly. "Oh, how I missed you, sunshine!" You smiled happily and hugged your brother back tightly. It was weird to see him now, he looked so different. But it had been 12 years of no contact, and you also looked drastically different, so you couldn't say much.

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*a few hours later*

You had spent your last few hours greeting your other siblings and doing other random things but spent the majority of it bonding with Klaus. He was amazed at how grown up you now were and felt a pang of guilt, knowing he missed all of your childhood. You both went over what you had been up to for those past few years and Klaus listened intently to every word you said.

It was nearly time for the funeral when you heard something outside. Everyone rushed outside, and you saw something that looked like a bright blue portal. You stared in confusion, hidden behind your brothers. Much to your surprise, a boy (who looked a couple years younger than you) fell from the portal. All your siblings seemed shocked to see him, as if they knew him, but didn't expect him to be there. He looked somewhat familiar, but you couldn't put your finger on it.

"Does anyone else see little number Five? Or is that just me..?" Klaus said, unsure if the drugs were causing him to see things.

The boy looked around, staring at the faces of his siblings. "Shit."

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You had now properly introduced yourself to Five and realised where you recognised him from. He was in the painting over the mantel. He knew of your existence from Viktor's book but was somewhat glad to formally meet you. It was now time for the funeral... it didn't exactly go down well. Diego made some ballsy remark, and it all kicked off. Him and Luther began to shove each other. You watched, eyes blown wide. You were stood with Klaus underneath his pink umbrella. Klaus watched as they fought, pushing you behind him and putting his arm out in front of you. Your breath hitched, you were scared at the sight. Klaus encouraged the fight until he saw your reaction. He covered your eyes, "Oh cmon, not in front of the kid!" As the words fell from his mouth, they crashed into Ben's statue. You heard the crash and Allison bluntly say 'Well, there goes Ben's statue.' Klaus did enjoy watching fights but wanted you away from the scene.

You sat down on the sofa, shaken by the scene. You knew Diego was violent and ballsy but you never expected him to do such things. You were staring into space, paying no attention to your surroundings until you felt the sofa dip beside you. You turned your head to see Klaus. "Hey sunshine, so much for a funeral, huh?" He laughed breathily, taking a puff of his cigarette. You looked down, Klaus noticing your dejected state. He put an arm around her. "Cmon, sunshine, no need to get down about it, they're just moody old men. They'll be fine." You smiled softly up at your brother and he grinned at you.

"There's that smile, huh." He said, attempting to make your smile even wider by tickling you. You began to shriek and giggle as he poked at your ribs. He laughed softly, remembering the picture he had left on your bed all those years ago. The memory was bittersweet, he loved it but couldn't help but associate it with abandoning you all.those years ago. He vowed to never leave you like that ever again.

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*dallas, texas, 1963*

It had been a while since you ended up in Dallas, after going through that portal. Luckily for you, you landed with your big sister, Allison. She took you under her wing, allowing you to live with her. She told Ray that you were 16 and just looked a bit old for your age and that she had you when she was in her teens. Ray loved her and believed it, he accepted you as his own daughter. But nothing made you stop missing your big brother. Allison sent you to school in order to not arouse suspicion. You weren't the biggest fan, but it helped you to keep your cover. One day, you'd had a pretty shitty day and stormed into the house. You hoped to collapse onto the sofa and just lay there. As you slammed the front door you heard a man's voice as well as Allison's. You peeked into the living room, seeing Klaus. "Klaus?!" He looked up at you, "Oh, sunshine! Just the girl I wanted to see!" He leapt up from the sofa, taking you into his embrace. Allison smiled, opting to leave you two to have a moment. He pulled away, wanting to see how much you'd grown since you last saw each other but noticed your tear-stained cheeks and red eyes. "Whoa, whoa, woah, what happened to you sunshine?"

"N-nothing, it's fine." You sniffled, averting your gaze to the floor. "Talk to me, what's going on?" With this, your eyes teared up again, and you broke down crying, explaining what had happened. Klaus held you, stroking your hair and consoling you. "It's gonna be okay sunshine, you should know I'll be there for you." You smiled up at him weakly, and he dried one of your tears. "If we have each other, we'll both be fine." He said with a soft smile.

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A/N: I'm aware this is a bit shit but im js tryna get back into writing so i tried this out :) hope you like reading it <3

TAGLIST: @book-place @shefollowedthestars

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d1ana-m0nd · 7 months

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╭─► ❝The Servant: Umbrella Academy's Servant❞

Five Hargreeves × Female! Reader || Written by Diana (d1ana-m0nd)

➢ Description : It's a well known fact that Sir. Reginald Hargreeves adopted 7 children to save the world from it's impending doom. Though, the number of children will change from 7 to 8 once a close friend of his, Rita Rossweisse was on her death bed and requested him to take in her child, who fortunately was born on October 1st 1989.

➢ Word Count : 4,553

➢ Links : Masterlist && Character Profile

Chapter 4: Man on the Moon

Ever since the other numbers chose to leave the academy, Number One and Number Zero were the only numbers behind left. Luther mostly spent his day lazing around, uncertain of what to do next as he awaited for Mr. Monocle's missions. Y/N kept herself busy by doing her assigned chores and helping Pogo and Grace around the house, and visited Vanya from time to time under Mr. Hargreeves' orders.

Today was the same routine for Number One. The only difference was that Luther thought it would be a great idea to ride a bicycle around the house, whilst drinking a container of milk. The servant noticed this through the CCTV and giggled but, you cut off your amusement short because you had orders to follow through.

You turned on the PA system and called over the larger male's attention. "Attention, Master Luther. Mission alert. I repeat, mission alert. Mr. Hargreeves' request for your presence in his study room."

The dirty blond male stopped his shenanigans and hastily placed the bicycle against the wall, as he hurried to his room to dress up into his superhero suit. Once he finished dressing up, you escorted him to his father's office.

Heading to his father's room you couldn't help but, sneak glances towards his direction. Was he comfortable with you? Is he fine with working alone in missions? Would he mind if you assisted him?

"Do you have something on your mind Y/N?" Luther quipped, most likely catching onto the smaller girl's glances.

You let out an airy chuckle, "I'm sorry, It's just… I'm worried for you."

The larger man raised a brow, "Why would you be? I've handled a lot of missions by myself, this one is nothing new to me."

"I suppose you are right," You sighed and added, "Though that doesn't mean you can handle everything yourself, sometimes you need other people to help you."

Number One nodded, "Yeah, I see your point but," he ruffled your hair, "You have nothing to worry about, I'm Dad's Number One for a reason."

You forced yourself to keep your lips into a smile; You didn't want to tell him that being number one means nothing when it comes to life threatening situations…

"Also, Master Luther, please refrain from messing with my hair." You reminded him as you tried to salvage the neatness of your hair, which made the larger male giggle.

When you've both arrived at Mr. Hargreeves' office, you were quick to stand by the patriarch's side prepping his tea as he spoke to Luther.

"There's a biochemical substance, unknown, but dangerous, especially in the wrong hands. As my Number One, I need you to deal with the threat." The older male commanded as he jotted down things on his priceless notebook.

"I'm ready. But, uh..."

"Yes?"

"You don't need to call me by my number anymore." Number One requested.

Mr. Hargreeves' and you were intrigued by Luther's words. Why would he point out something so miniscule and have no importance to the mission?

"Why not?" Mr. Monocle inquired, his sharp gaze on Luther.

The larger male stiffened under his father's gaze, it made him feel small but pointed out. "Because I'm the only one left."

"Ah." The older man didn't seem surprised by his son's statement, though he shrugged it off as he went back to writing where he left off.

"Ouch. I'm totally not here." You sarcastically thought brushing off the pain of being ignored, was Luther even aware you were still in the same room? Or did he forget you were still there?

When Luther left the room, you raised a question to the head of the Hargreeves' family, "Mr. Monocle may I raise a question?"

The older male merely nodded and gestured for you to shoot your question.

"Why am I not sent to missions with Luther? Wouldn't it be better for him to have assistance rather than doing them alone?" You mused, subtly pointing out the dangers of doing the mission by himself.

"Ah. Simple," Mr. Hargreeves' paused as he drank his tea then spoke, "You will serve as a hindrance. Number One knows how to deal with missions by himself without my orders. You, on the other hand, would need guidance on every step of the way. Which is something I don't need in missions."

You couldn't help but bite your lower lip. Your throat was clogged with colorful words that were wanting to be spewed at the patriarch's direction, though you knew your situation better now. You were merely a servant in everyone's eyes, not a person who wants to help…

Unexpectedly, the mission Luther was sent to almost got him killed. The last thing he'd witness as a human is gunfire going off, metal clanging, air hissing, loud clattering and banging as he battled with his opponents. The whole fight ended with the larger male groaning in pain, as his body was covered with bullet wounds, knife slashes and burns from the fight. Making haste, you and Grace hurriedly pushed the wheeled stretcher to the infirmary.

"Hurry! Let's get him inside. Get that gear off him." Reginald ordered you and Grace to assist him.

The injured Luther was wheezing in pain as you took out the scissors and cut away the gear that was in the way.

"Paddles. Quickly!" Mr. Hargreeves' commanded, Grace charged the paddles then placed it on Luther's chest. The paddles whirred and buzzed but Number One was unresponsive.

"Again."

You turn up the paddles and increase the voltage. Whilst Grace charged it up and placed it on Luther's chest awaiting for his pulse to become more stable but got nothing.

The monocle cursed as he saw no improvement, "Damn it! Bring me the serum. Pogo."

Pogo walked up to Mr. Hargreeves' side and gave him the serum that was mixed with your blood and Pogo's, a modified serum that could save his life. The older man hurriedly inserted the serum into Luther's veins and pushed the liquid into him. For a moment, everyone went silent since Luther wasn't wheezing in pain anymore, unsure of what to do next, but they left the room as soon as Reginald told them to.

ㅤㅤㅤ❲ T H E ☕ S E R V A N T ❳

It was early in the morning, most likely around 5 am. Pogo woke you up to share his discovery with you. Groggily, you followed his lead, when your eyes met a deactivated Grace, your eyes widened, immediately awakened from your tired state.

“Mr. Pogo, was this part of the plan or did the masked people do this to her?” You murmured, your hands gripping onto the fabric of your sleepwear.

The advanced chimpanzee wore a sullen look glancing at Grace, “Mr. Hargreeves expected this would happen but, he didn’t plan to do this to Grace.”

“So it’s the masked people then… By any chance, did Mr. Monocle anticipate that other people would get involved?” You asked your eyes narrowed at the ground because you didn't know how to take your anger out.

“Yes, yes he did.” Pogo replied which made you sigh, this made you think one thing.

“Mr. Pogo… does Master Hargreeves not trust me?”

The formal chimpanzee looked away, guilt weighing his heart. “I’m afraid not.”

You could not help but feel like crap. As the servant of the Umbrella Academy and as Number Zero, you've done everything in your power to please Mr. Hargreeves and serve his family. However, in his eyes, what you were doing was not good enough, you were not trustworthy enough. As the servant of the Hargreeves family, were you not perfect enough… Did he see the cracks? The flaws you have tried so hard to hide? You could not help but blame yourself for being so incompetent and being unable to keep up to their expectations.

The older chimpanzee noticed that the servant seemed bothered by his admission, based on how she was staring into space whilst she fiddled with the fabric of her pajamas. He decided it would be best to redirect their discourse.

“Y/N you should use this opportunity to run away now. You plan to monitor Five right? Leaving now will give you a headstart.”

You shook your head no, ”I cannot… Master Luther’s already suspicious of me, I would not want to create any more discord between us.”

“Understandable," Pogo nodded, " Please inform the others that are left behind, regarding the state we found Grace in.”

The servant bowed to Pogo and did as you were told. You informed the ones who were left behind in the academy: you told Diego before he departed early in the morning, you looked for Vanya but couldn't find her, the same could be said to Klaus, you told Allison and planned to tell Luther but the Rumor stopped you claiming she would tell him herself.

You were planning to start doing your chores along with Grace's tasks but you suddenly recalled Klaus' absence. His absence worried you a bit, because his 'disappearance' occured after the masked people came to terrorize the house looking for Five.

“By any chance Miss Allison, have you seen Klaus? I can’t seem to find him.” you questioned the older woman, hoping her answer would ease your worries.

The woman in curls shook her head but wore a small smile, “Don’t worry about it Y/N, he’s probably out there doing his own thing. You have nothing to worry about, he’s a grown man and he can take care of himself.”

You forced yourself to smile once again; you understood that she meant well but it felt wrong to brush off Klaus' absence at a time like this. Though you told yourself that maybe you are just overthinking things, might as well redirect that energy to the chores that needed your attention.

ㅤㅤㅤ❲ T H E ☕ S E R V A N T ❳

It was a cloudy day, Lance, the prosthetist, spent his morning walking his dog. Once he finished taking his dog out for a walk, he carried the dog and headed to his car. Unaware of the danger he'd face the moment he stepped foot into his car. He unlocked the back door and carefully placed his dog on the backseat then went to the driver's seat to start the car.

Out of nowhere, someone blinked to the passenger seat. Before he could react, a knife was pressed against his neck by the brunette boy that had been "harassing" him, rather, threatened and scared the crap out of him for days.

"Oh, Jesus!"

"One chance. That's all you've got. One chance to tell me exactly what's going on in that lab." Five placed the blade against the prosthetist's neck, harder.

"I... I manufacture prosthetic devices for fake patients. I bill the insurance companies and then sell them for cash on the black market." Lance rambled, sweating bullets as he feared for his life.

The boy brought up, "Including eyeballs?"

"Yeah, they're my biggest seller. I mean, they sell like hotcakes. I... I've got a list, a waiting list, probably 20 buyers."

"So, the serial number I told you..."

"Uh, could've already been bought. Yes, off... off the books."

The brunette boy glared at Lance and sighed, "I needed that list, Lance. Names and numbers, and I need it now!"

"I don't have it!" The prosthetist exclaimed but, Five pressed the blade further into his neck. "I mean, not on me. The only copy's in my safe at the lab."

The boy withdrew the blade and sat on the passenger seat comfortably, like he owned the car. "Well, you start the car, then. 'Cause we're going on a field trip."

Lance let out a sigh of relief, "Okay."

"Now." Five threw a cold glare at the doctor's direction.

Despite being half Lance's size, Five's glare was enough to urge him to start the car, "Okay."

ㅤㅤㅤ❲ T H E ☕ S E R V A N T ❳

Once Luther woke up and was caught up to speed with the situation, he made a beeline to Five's room with Pogo and you in tow. The larger male rummaged through Five's things and room to look for something of use. At the moment, you and Pogo were trying to reason with him.

"Like I said, Master Luther, Number Five hasn't lived in this room since he was a boy." Pogo said watching over the comically larger male crouching and looking for something that could help him.

Luther nodded, "Yeah, I know, but we need to warn him. He doesn't even know we were attacked. He doesn't know they're looking for him, he doesn't know…"

Unexpectedly, a new pair of footsteps caught everyone's attention, everyone's eyes were redirected to the man in leather who just entered Five's room. It seemed like he had the same plan as Luther.

"What are you doing here?" Diego narrowed his eyes to Number One.

"Uh..." Spaceboy sighed then shifted his attention to his brother, "Do you know about Mom?"

"Y/N informed me before I left." The Kraken said and added, "It looks like you got what you wanted, one way or another, right?"

The whole room was silent with the latino's remark. The dirty blonde merely sighed in response to his brother's remark. Their relationship has always been like this after all, one upping the other over the smallest of things.

"Wanna tell me what you're doing here?" Luther questioned the other male.

"Looking for Five." The knife wielding vigilante briefly replied.

"Let me guess, you're gonna save the day." The larger male snided, as he rolled his eyes knowing his brother's antics.

Diego narrowed his eyes at Number One, "It's what I do. Asshоlе."

"Really?" Spaceboy stood up and looked his brother in the eye. "Last I checked, you mopped floors."

"And what do you do? Sit on the moon for four years, waiting for orders?"

Although that insult wasn't directed at you, it stung. Though you wouldn't voice that; what you said and felt didn't matter at the moment.

"Keep on being a loyal soldier after everything our father did to you."

"Master Luther and Master Diego, arguing will not be of any help in trying to find Master Five." You tried to meditate the situation but your words fell on deaf ears as the men kept arguing.

"What? You mean save my life?" The larger male defended his father.

"No, I mean... turn you into a monster."

Luther let out an exasperated sigh in response to his statement. He tried so hard to hide it from the others but they now know the truth. It was embarrassing to say the least, even though he knew he couldn't hide it forever. He couldn't help but wish they didn't see this side of him.

"Can't hide it anymore, champ." Diego mockingly pointed out.

"He had a difficult decision to make, and he made it." The dirty blonde defended their father again.

"Grow up, Luther. We're not 13 anymore."

"Making difficult decisions to save others, is what leaders do, by the way." Spaceboy desperately added, as he tried his best to paint their father in a good light.

The latino scoffed, "He sent you on that mission all alone. Almost got you killed."

"Yeah, well at least he was there. Where were you? You and everyone else in this family? You walked out." Luther hissed as he glared at Number Two.

"Everyone, please calm down-" You tried to pacify the situation but got interrupted instead.

"And thank Christ that I did, or I would have ended up just like you." The Kraken looked at him in disgust as a eureka moment occurred in his head. "Let me ask you a question. When you watch one of these nature shows…"

"Diego, please." The advanced chimpanzee begged knowing where he was going with his question.

"Does it turn you on?" The knife wielder wore a smug expression that angered Luther. It tempted Spaceboy to physically wipe off the expression on Diego's face.

"So what? Is he just an animal to you, too now, Diego, huh? Don't-"

"Enough! This house was attacked. We barely got out with our lives. And Grace... she wasn't so lucky. Your brother is missing, and this is how you rise to the occasion? Take your nonsense elsewhere. Now." Pogo's voice boomed which caught everyone off guard.

"Sorry, Pogo." Luther apologized.

"Yeah, sorry, Pogo." Diego muttered.

"Wow. It's almost like I wasn't here trying to calm them down as well." The girl silently remarked, hating the fact that no one in this household took her seriously. Was it because she looked like a little girl?

ㅤㅤㅤ❲ T H E ☕ S E R V A N T ❳

By some miracle, Luther and Diego decided to team up with you to go look for Five. They added you to their search party, since you were the one who Five kept by his side ever since he came back, and you probably had an inkling of where he was heading to. Number One was hesitant to let you join but Number Two managed to 'persuade' him. The Spaceboy, the Kraken, and the Servant headed to where they last saw the van was parked.

"This is it. He's still here. This is Five's van. Go. Go." Luther urged the others to hurry.

They - Diego and you - did as you were told and hurried. You opened the back door whilst Diego and Luther fought over the passenger seat, until Diego gave up as he rolled his eyes and reluctantly opened the sliding door at the back. The three of you looked all over the van for any signs of where Five was.

Diego whistled loudly, "I know where to find Five." He took out Vanya's autobiography, the first page littered with equations and a library stamp. The library was hours away from their current location.

"I should stay behind just in case Master Five plans to come back here." You said, assuming the possibility he would come back to the van.

The dirty blonde seemed hesitant to let you stay behind without anyone keeping an eye on you but Diego butted in before his brother could say anything nonsensical - his words, not yours.

“Yeah, we need someone to check on the van just in case he comes back, just message me if he comes.” Number Two ordered which you bowed to.

They left you behind to head to the libraries that were nearby, with Luther occasionally peeking over his shoulder making sure you'd stay in the van. You sat on the passenger seat and waited for Five to show up.

As time passes, you grow bored, your attention drifting from one thing to another. Suddenly, you saw two well dressed people entering the prosthetic building. They wore similar suits to the masked people but, you couldn't verify if they were the same people since they didn't wear a mask. Out of caution, you called the police over the nearest phone booth and reported them about suspicious individuals entering the building.

Just in cue, Five arrived at the prosthetic building. As he and Lance were heading to the entrance of the building, the brunette smelled something familiar - fire. Alert coursed through the boy's veins, he hurriedly ran to the entrance of the building. The fire from within the building roared and the fire alarm rang for help, which increased the adrenaline and his pace. He was about to enter the entrance and try to salvage the only lead he had, only to be pulled back by his collar, the glass shattered and exploded which grazed Five.

The flabbergasted brunette sat on the pavement watching as his only hope to save the world was burning right in front of him. He felt helpless watching it all burn away, it was the only thing he could do, as he thought of one thing, we are all doomed.

"Master Five, are you alright?" You asked as you removed your hands from his collar and crouched to his level, a worried look etched onto your facial features.

"What are you-" Five was taken aback by your presence then narrowed his brows at you. "How long have you been here?"

"Long enough to see the masked people come in…" You muttered looking away, you had a gut feeling he would lash out on you again.

"Why didn't you stop them!?"

"I didn't know I was supposed to stop them, I assumed you were already inside, that's why they came in. Plus, you told me to stay out of your way last time, so I just called the police again-" You tried to explain only to be interrupted by a glare and Five scoffing at you, "You're useless!"

"You haven't changed one bit!" The brunette hissed, venom seething through his words; It made you flinch. You tried to assist him to stand up, only for your hand to be swatted away.

"You are still a puppet waiting for someone to pull your strings. You can't even think for yourself without someone's orders! Is it that hard to think for yourself just for once?!" The boy exclaimed angrily as he stood up in his own accord, without your assistance.

"You know my goal is to stop the apocalypse but, you let this happen."

"I'm sorry, I didn't know I was supposed to -"

"You not knowing does not cut it! You just lost me the only lead I had!"

You froze in your place, as you fidgeted with your skirt's frills. Five was right… Despite following orders, you have caused nothing but trouble to him and everyone else. You have tried your best to help everyone but, why do you keep messing up everything?

"Rossweisse, If your plan all along was to sabotage me then, expect me to get rid of you. Luther already told me you might have something to do with the old man's death and I could care less about that but, you getting in my way is something I won't stand for." Five declared as you watched him walk away, again. A heavy weight on your heart.

You left the front of the burning prosthetics building, noticing the sirens were getting louder, to avoid any more attention you sat on a nearby park's bench, Five's words deeply engraved into your head. The only thing that brought you back to reality was the sound of your phone's notification going off.

You did as you were told and met up with Diego and Luther. You carried Delores, whilst the larger male carried the drunk Five in his arms. Throughout the whole walk, you were quiet because your own thoughts were clouding your head.

"Well, we can't go back to the house. It's not secure. Those psychopaths could come back at any moment." Luther pointed out.

The latino suggested, "My place is closer. No one will look for him there."

The brunette in spaceboy's arms belched, which made the dirty blonde sighed and gave Five a 'look'. "If you vomit on me..."

"You know what's funny? Aah! I'm going through puberty." The boy scoffed then continued speaking, "Huh. Twice. And I..." Five chuckled under his drunken breath, "I drank that whole bottle, didn't I? That's what you do when the world you love goes bye-bye. Poof, it's gone. What are you guys talking about?"

"Two masked intruders attacked the Academy last night. They came looking for you. So I need you to focus. What do they want?" Luther questioned, eagerly awaiting answers from the boy in his arms.

"Hazel and Cha-Cha." He drunkenly answered with a poor attempt of a smile.

"Who? You know, I hate code names." Diego remarked as he played with the knife in his hand to calm his nerves.

The boy explained. "Ah, the best of the best. Except for me, of course."

"The best of what?" Spaceboy pestered his 'younger' brother.

"You know, Delores always said she hated when I drank. She said it made me surly…"

"Well, you certainly act the opposite of it." The girl internally pointed out, as Five was more tamed than his usual self.

"Hey!" The male in black leather impatiently shouted.

The drunk Five smiled drunkenly, unaffected by Diego's impatience, "Hm? Yeah?"

"I need you to focus. What do Hazel and Cha-Cha want? We just wanna protect you." Number Two reasoned, only for his worry to be scoffed at.

"Protect me? I don't need your protection, Diego. Do you have any idea how many people I've killed? No. I'm the Four frickin' Horsemen. The apocalypse is coming." The brunette explained then vomited over Luther's shoulder then went back to sleep.

The 'Five search party' arrived at Diego's place, which is the Boiler room underneath Al's place. Luther carefully placed the sleeping Five on Diego's bed. Whilst you placed Dolores on an empty chair and sat beside the top half of a mannequin.

The latino took one good look at the boy's sleeping figure, "Funny. If I didn't know he was such a prick, I'd say he looks almost adorable in his sleep."

"Well, don't worry. He'll sober up eventually. Be back to his normal, unpleasant self." Luther muttered, keeping his voice down, while you silently agreed to his statement.

"Yeah, I can't wait that long. I need to find out what his connection is with these lunatics before someone else dies." Number Two said as he paced back and forth.

"All that stuff he was saying before… What do you think he meant by that? Y/N, do you know what he meant by it?"

You were about to answer Luther's question but footsteps that were approaching Diego's room caught everyone's attention. The vigilante cautiously approached the door and readied his blade as he cracked the door open ready to throw it at the 'intruder'.

"You throw another one of those goddamn knives at me, I'm pressin' charges!" Al exclaimed angrily, most likely exasperated by how it was a common occurrence.

Diego let out a sigh of relief and fully opened the door, "What do you want, Al?"

"I ain't your secretary." The gym owner snarked with a grouch, "Some lady called for you, said she needs your help."

"What lady?" Number Two placed his blade back into place, curious about the lady Al was referring to.

"I dunno. Some, uh, detective. I think she said her name was, uh, Blotch or somethin'." The old man tried to recall as he scratched the back of his nape.

"Patch? She needs my help…"

Al nodded confirming the name was what he heard then added, "She needs you to meet her at that motel, a dump on Calhoun."

"When?"

"About half an hour ago. Uh, said she found your brother."

"Well, that doesn't make sense…" Diego looks at his 'missing' brother who was currently snoozing on his bed.

"Klaus…" You muttered and then pointed out, "He hasn't been home since the shooting, the masked people probably took him as hostage!"

"Go. I'll wait here," Number One said, well more like gave his brother permission to leave. Without another word, Diego slammed the door closed as he ran.

"...With them." Luther muttered as he glanced at you and Five. The awkward atmosphere reigning the boiler room.

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anapotatowriter · 25 days

Note

Hi there! I saw your requests were open and I absolutely adore your writing.

I am officially back in my Edmund Pevensie era (sorry Five Hargreeves, LOL). Do you mind writing something based on Save The Last Dance For Me by Michael Bublé?

Save the last dance for me

Edmund Pevensie x Reader

A/N: HI DARLING BESTIE! THANK YOU FOR THIS REQUEST, I REALLY LOVED DELVING INTO SOME TROPES I COULDN'T FIT IN MY PREVIOUS WORKS! I really loved this song, and gained random inspiration from a Bridgerton clip- Did I get up in the middle of the night, and write this whole thing under 3 hours until 2:34 in the morning? Yes, yes I did. Did I do this when I am meant to be studying for my finals? No comment. I hope you like this story. If you don’t, feel free to message me, and I’ll make whatever changes you would like! Also, bonus points to people who can get the different references I have made in this fic~

Summary: Edmund Pevensie is from Narnia. Y/N L/N is from Terenbithia. They are supposed to be enemies, but are they really?

Contains: Fluff basically, a little, teensy-weensy bit of angst, some political rivalry that I *really* didn't explore, a secret relationship, some use of fan language that I think is inferrable??? and a bit of jealousyyyyy! Also, my writing is trash in this fr fr.

Requested: Yes

Now you can dance every dance with the guy

Who gives you the eye, let him hold you tight

And you can smile every smile for the man

Who held your hand beneath the pale moonlight

“We now announce Queen Y/N L/N, Queen of Terebinthia!”

I stepped out from behind the double doors that announced the entry of each royal guest arriving at Cair Paravel. Light applause rang out as I stepped down the stairs, a smirk gracing my face. Four distinct members in the room didn’t bother hiding the subtle displeasure on their faces—the kings and queens of Narnia, enemies of the Terebinthian courts, and thus my enemies. My dark green dress was sewn just to contrast the yellow, red, purple, and blue of the royal members of Narnia, reflecting the political tensions between the two kingdoms. The black lace fan that hung off my wrist reflected the age-old Narnian diamonds, another symbol to rub salt in the wound. My eyes, however, wandered to the younger king, whose silver crown glinting in the candlelight was rivalled only by the sharp flicker in his caramel-brown eyes.

I stayed as far away from the four monarchs as possible, mingling with the population of royalty surrounding us all, a ruse to put up for the family. “Queen Y/N,” said a voice behind me. I turned to meet the eyes of the prince of Archenland, his blonde hair hiding the gold crown he donned. Prince Orlando’s eyes roved over my appearance, a breathless gasp escaping as he said, “Queen Y/N, I simply must have your first dance.” “It would be an honour, Your Highness,” I responded, curtsying slightly, looking up at him through my eyelashes. I opened the fan in my hand with a light flick, bringing it up to my chest and fluttering it, bringing the prince’s attention to the diamonds that adorned my neck and the lace of the fan. My eyes flickered beyond Prince Orlando’s shoulder, meeting the similarly entranced eyes of King Edmund. A secret smile graced my face as the fan “slipped” out of my hand and onto the floor. The eyes of King Edmund and Prince Orlando followed its path, the King stepping forward only slightly before resuming an indifferent posture. I glanced down at the fallen fan, my lips parting slightly in mock surprise. The prince bent on his knee to pick up the fan, just as Edmund’s jaw clenched subtly as he stared at us. Orlando held up the fan to me, my eyes flitting away coyly before meeting his again.

I held my wrist out to the prince, making him gulp slightly when I slowly removed the lace gloves that adorned my hand. He widened the fan’s strap and fit it around my wrist, his fingers brushing against the recently uncovered skin. But my eyes were focused on Edmund, who watched the fluttering glove as if it had done him a personal disservice. His vision flitted to my wrist, and then to my eyes. He gazed in my direction with extreme focus, making my hand tremble slightly as I replaced the gloves on my hand. Orlando offered his hand to me, which I accepted, and joined the dance floor. Moments later, the brunette king joined the throng of dancers with a partner of his own. I smirked as I curtsied, taking hold of the prince’s hands. The prince, whose blue eyes met mine eagerly, pulled me in closer with his grip on my waist. I gripped his shoulder subtly, before manoeuvring into a spin and out of his arms. The moonlight filtered through the windows of Cair Paravel, casting a light blue hue along with the orange from the candles. Despite the dim lights of the ballroom, I could feel the pair of eyes belonging to Edmund boring into me, making goose bumps rise on every inch of my skin.

Baby, don't you know I love you so

Can't you feel it when we touch

I will never, never let you go

I love you oh, so much

You can dance, go and carry on

I glanced at Edmund for a moment, who was already staring back with an unrivalled intensity. A drop in the music signalled a switch in partners. My hands immediately left those of the prince, seeking their return to the place of comfort. Home, home, home. Warmth, comfort, and callouses which marked my heart, my hips, my body, my love. I twirled over to the man next to me, Edmund immediately taking hold of me as my dress whipped around me. His fingers dipped tantalising low on my waist, just far enough from being deemed scandalous. The warmth of his palm cut straight through the layers of satin, silk and net that adorned my dress as if they didn’t exist. His hand grasped mine firmly, intertwining our fingers as a means of saying, “I will never let you go.” The moonlight littered over his freckled cheeks, the adoration in his eyes making my heart thud pathetically against my chest. The world around me seemed to disappear as I gazed into his eyes when light applause around us broke me out of my reverie. The music had stopped, indicating the end of the dance. The fan that hung off my wrist was clasped in my hand again. I manoeuvred the fan and swiped the open fan along my cheek. He chuckled under his breath, glancing away quickly before looking back and bowing. As his face dipped just near my ear, he whispered, “I love you too, Y/N… I love you oh so much.” I smiled cheekily at Edmund, curtsying in response before walking back to Prince Orlando for another dance without a glance back.

'Til the night is gone

And it's time to go

If he asks if you're all alone

Can he walk you home, you must tell him no

“Are you going to be travelling home alone, Queen Y/N?” asked Orlando, his eyes flickering with concern. “You need not worry yourself, Prince Orlando. I can do just fine myself,” I replied, smiling. “I can drop you home, Queen Y/N if that would be safer or more comfortable for you.” “No, Prince Orlando. I appreciate your offer and kindness, but I will be fine,” I replied, sharper than intended. He nodded his head in understanding, bowing deeply one last time. He took my hand and grazed his lips against my gloved knuckles before walking out of the ballroom. I caught the eye of Edmund, who was conversing with one of the foreign dignitaries. As if sensing my gaze, his eyes shifted to meet mine. I took my fan into my right hand, placing it in front of my face for a few moments. His eyes glinted in recognition as I walked away, an invitation to follow me. I stalked through the halls of Cair Paravel, which I had crossed through multiple times in the cover of darkness and shadows. I finally emerged through the trap door into the Cair Paravel Gardens, the lingering scent of something citrus infiltrating my senses. As I admired the view, the scent of the gardens was drowned by the smell of coffee and old books. Before I could turn around, Edmund wrapped his arms around me, pulling me into the warmth of his chest. A sudden chill raced down my spine as King Edmund's arms enveloped me, the temperature from the cool gardens contrasting against the warmth of his embrace, making me shiver slightly. “Hello Darling,” he whispered, not wanting to disturb the tranquillity of the gardens. Snippets of music still drifted from the ballroom, but the incessant chattering of crowds was silenced. And there we stood, hidden by the hedges and wisteria-festooned walls of the gardens.

'Cause don't forget who's taking you home

And in whose arms you're gonna be

Save the last dance for me

Oh, I know that the music's fine

Like sparklin' wine, go and have your fun

Laugh and sing, but while we're apart

Don't give your heart to anyone

And don't forget who's taking you home

And in whose arms you're gonna be

So darling, save the last dance for me

“So, are we going to do anything, or just stand around? Because I must admit darling, I am getting rather bored,” I murmured. I could feel the way the corners of Edmund’s lips upturned against the joining between my neck and shoulder. “Maybe I should have taken up Prince Orlando’s offer of taking me home,” I said jokingly. Edmund chuckled lightly, before abruptly spinning me around and gripping me so I faced him. “Don’t forget who’s taking you home, darling. Would be a dam shame to miss out on me for some prince of Archenland,” he quipped. “You might have danced with Prince Orlando, but I'm the one whose arms you’re going to be in tonight.” “May I have the honour of your last dance, Queen Y/N?” asked Edmund as a new song began to play in the background. I chewed lightly on my lower lip, feigning contemplation as I said, “Oh I don’t know. I mean, the music’s fine, but I have already had my fun for the day, I think.” I placed the handle of my closed fan against my lips and pretended to think, watching as Edmund’s eyes tracked the shape of my lips. “Ask your question out loud instead of through your fan, and maybe I’ll agree,” responded Edmund, quirking his eyebrow. I looked away from his gaze and murmured a small, “Kiss me… please.” Before I could finish the last word, his lips pressed against mine softly, the tension leaving my shoulders almost immediately. His hands moved to my gloved ones, tugging at the fingers of the glove gently before pulling the gloves off. His hands traced the newly exposed skin, moving up my arms before placing one on my waist and holding the other one. I shivered at the contact with the skin of his palm, the hardened scars from battles finding their home in my hands. He pulled me into a slow dance, slowly, slowly, slowly tugging my heart to his. “Don’t ever give your heart to anyone else,” he said in my ear, a trace of insecurity running through his words. “I will always save my last dance for you, Edmund Pevensie,” I said in reply, holding on to him like it was my last day.

So darling, save the last dance for me

Oh baby, won't you save the last dance for me

Ooh, you make a promise

That you'll save the last dance for me

Save the last dance

The very last dance

For me

“Darling, save the last dance for me?” asked Edmund, holding his grip over my light blue gown that matched his outfit. “You have asked the same thing at every ball the last 5 years, and my answers never change, darling. I promise that I’ll save the last dance for you,” I replied, kissing him softly on the cheek. As he moved away from me to make his entrance into the ballroom and greet the royalty visiting our home, his sleeve caught on the black fan that dangled from my wrist. He lifted his wrist to his eye level, bringing mine up in the process. Instead of separating the fan from the button on his sleeve, he removed the fan from my wrist, leaving it bare. The diamonds on the fan, once a symbol of the enmity between two lands, showed the union between them. He opened the fan and brushed it against his cheek before walking away, a smile on his face as he glanced back one last time. “I love you, too,” I said to no one, the ring on my hand glistening in its position up high. I shook myself out of my reverie as the person at the doors declared, “We now announce Queen Y/N Pevensie, Wife of King Edmund of Narnia, and Queen of Terebinthia!”

#narnia #edmund is hot #edmund x reader #edmund pevensie x reader #edmund pevensie #edmund fluff #narnia x reader #x reader

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silky-slinky · 2 years

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NOT WHAT IT SEEMED !

FIVE HARGREEVES X FEM!READER PAIRING !

TW: MENTIONS OF BLOOD !

FIVE HARGREEVES MASTERLIST !

A/N: I HAD SO MUCH FUN WRITING THIS, THANK YOU TO THE PERSON WHO REQUESTED THIS !

Five abruptly stood up from his chair, knife planted on the wooden table in front of him. All eyes were now on him, awaiting his next move. You were standing next to Grace, a robot who has formed a bond with these unusual children. Being one of the caretakers in this home, you've grown attached to these children. Much like the other caretakers, Pogo and Grace.

You didn’t quite know the reason why your age was exactly like theirs, all you knew was that you were forever in debt to Sir. Reginald Hargreeves. Based on what Reginald had told you, someone unknown left a baby on his doorstep.

For months Reginald tried to track down the person that sent you. To no avail, he gave up and made you one of the caretakers instead. You’ve been thankful for Reginald all your life, yet there was no denying he had his bad sides to him. Well for one, you weren’t allowed to eat with the others, only after them. Ben had given you a piece of his meal one time, and of course, you both got in trouble.

Nonetheless, you adored these children, these children have been your somewhat siblings. Ben and Viktor were the closest friends you had, not that you had many of course, only them. Except for Five Hargreeves, you didn’t know why he hated you so much, and so you reciprocated that feeling towards him.

Everyone knew the hatred you had for one another, you both get into arguments about everything. Which you both get into trouble for on a daily basis. Once, you both argued about how salt was made.

“But I’m ready. I’ve been practicing my spatial jumps, just like you said.” Five appeared right next to where the old man sat, Herr Carlson’s voice still ringing loudly throughout the house. You rolled your eyes in annoyance at his words, how could he get so cocky?

“See?” The blue light disappeared from around him in a blink. Reginald looks fed up with his son’s stubbornness about time traveling.

A drink was in Reginald’s hand as he attempted to tune out Five’s words. “A spatial jump is trivial when compared with the unknowns of time travel.”

“One is like sliding along the ice, the other is akin to descending blindly into the depths of the freezing water and reappearing as an acorn.” Your brows furrowed in confusion, everything Reginald had said was going from one ear to the other. You pitied these children with Reginald’s poor parenting choices, he used them as weapons, not loving them as children.

Like Five had read your thoughts, he spoke up. “Well, I don’t get it.”

“Hence the reason you’re not ready.” From the corner of your eye, you could see Viktor shaking his head at Five, to which he, of course, ignored. That was how stubborn Five Hargreeves was.

“I’m not afraid.”

“Fear isn’t the issue.” Reginald quickly replied. “The effects it might have on your body, even on your mind, are far too unpredictable. Now, I forbid you to talk about this anymore.”

By now Five was about to bolt towards the door. “Number Five!” Reginald called out, Five ignored him once more. “Y/n! Chase after Five!” Reginald turned to look at you. Simply giving him a nod as a reply, you chased after the boy.

You quickly went out the door, seeing Five’s back at a small distance, small enough for your hand to reach out for his arm. As you reached for his arm, you got dizzy, a new environment engulfing the both of you. Five glanced at his back, seeing you there, looking like you were about to throw up.

“You stubborn bitch!” Your words seethed with anger as you tried to fix yourself.

“Why’d you come along?” By now people were staring at two children bickering, one had a uniform on while the other had an apron.

“I was sent here!” You argued back. “I wasn’t about to join you willingly!” Five had enough of you, getting ready to blink again. Not caring how he would leave you there if he did blink. As you saw what Five was about to do, you quickly held onto his arm.

A relieved sigh left your lips when you saw how he was still in front of you. Unbeknownst to Five, you were still with him. Your hand now tugging on his sleeve, Five blinks yet another time. This time it was destruction around both of you, rubble everywhere you looked. Fire in some places; smoke permanently in the air.

“Holy shit.” Five was too occupied in regret to care about what you had to say. You both stood in silence, basking in the smokey air, the different atmosphere. For once in Five’s life, he pitied you. He pitied you for being stuck with him when you were only obeying your master’s orders.

Days, months, and years passed by after you both got stuck in the apocalypse. You’d had grown to give Five a chance of redeeming himself, how he treated you when you were children. He did admit that he, himself didn’t know why he was so cruel to you in those years you were in the academy.

“Holy shit, indeed.”

The hatred you once had for each other blossomed into something more romantic. You didn’t know how it did or when it did develop into something more, but you kept each other sane throughout it all. Two children, barely even teenagers survived their way through the apocalypse. You both did everything you could to survive, eating scraps of food, doing anything to keep yourselves from being insane.

You both quickly learned that you were one of the 43 children born on the 12th hour of October 1, 1989, after you made a bowl of soup unintentionally. It explained how you would have things in your room that you didn’t remember having earlier. You and Five experimented with your newfound powers, you could summon close to anything. From weapons to shampoo bottles, it was endless. Yet, of course, your power had a limit, you could only summon things that could be handheld.

Five on the other hand didn’t stop looking for a solution to stop his siblings from dying, to stop the end of the world. A day came that a woman working for The Commission named The Handler, stopped to pay a visit. In her words, they’ve been watching you and Five. She gave a job to both you and Five, knowing your capabilities with your newfound power.

Many more years later, you and Five were the best assassins The Commission had to offer. You never did like the smell or taste of blood. There were many nights when you’d wake up in a cold sweat, Five would be there comforting you.

Five had the agility and strength on the battlefield, while your precision in aiming helped him. He was relieved every time you do missions together, he knew you got his back while he had yours. Of course, with his stubbornness, he refused to have a partner other than you. In his words, “I’d rather do it alone if you’re not with me.”

You got married when you both had spare time from all the missions, running away from The Commission to get eloped. It was arguably the best day in Five’s whole lifetime. Despite being in love with each other, you both still had your differences. Arguing here and there, but never forgetting to not sleep when the other is mad at the other.

When Five told you that you’d be ditching The Commission and go back in time to the other Hargreeves, you were ecstatic. Here you were, arguing with Five yet again about how you were back in time, but in your teenage bodies. The Hargreeves siblings could only watch in complete confusion at the two of you.

“I told you I could help!” Grimacing at your changed voice.

“You already helped!” Five argued back.

“I helped you by giving you a pen, Five! A pen!” You scoffed in disbelief, crossing your arms to your chest.

Five couldn’t help but smile at your state, a thing the others didn’t fail to notice. You fought a smile creeping on your face as Five slithered an arm to your waist. “Please shut up.” You were about to reply when he pressed his lips against yours, a dramatic gasp from Klaus could be heard.

“When did this happen?” The Hargreeves siblings say in sync.

THANK YOU FOR THIS REQUEST !

- ★

#tua #five hargreeves #hargreeves #the umbrella academy #x reader #five tua #five tua s3 #the umbrella academy s3 #five the umbrella academy #tua s3 #tua s1 #five hargreeves x reader #five x reader #five hargreeves x y/n #five #five hargeeves x you #five hargreeves x fem!reader #my fave one so far #i like this ngl

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sissytobitch10seconds · 1 year

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The Midwife Called Vik

Fandom: The Umbrella Academy Summary: Among the streets of Poplar are all kinds of people. The most generally respected are the nurses and nuns, even if some of them are a stranger than most. Warnings: Mentions of miscarriage, a pregnant trans man, and 1950s-typical bigotry Word Count: 8,605 Ship(s): Viktor Hargreeves/Five Hargreeves, Klaus Hargreeves/Ben Hargreeves, Diego Hargreeves/Lila Pitts, Jayme Hargreeves/Alphonso Hargreeves, and Sloane Hargreeves/Luther Hragreeves

Archive link!

A/N: So I recently started watching this show and it was all I could to do watch a the first four seasons before I started combining my obsessions. I really liked the way that this turned out and I have a small headcanon for how everyone got set into the world in this AU. I hope that you all enjoy! Stay sissy and bitchy everyone <3

No one paid much attention to the fact that Vik's hair was too short and that pants were where a skirt should have been. In public, the name was Viktoria Hargreeves. A good English name with a Russian twinge to honor parents and a homeland long lost. At home, around the husband and trusted family, he was Viktor. When it was just him and his husband, he was Beloved.

It was a dangerous world to be the person that he was, so they did it in a way where nothing would reach the public ears and he could be safe. Fashion trends were already beginning to change and if anyone asked why he had done away with his skirts while he had gone away for his nurse’s training then he fed them the same lie about it being easier to bike around when not wearing a skirt. The truth was that the idea of having to wear a skirt every day for the rest of his life was enough to send him into a panic attack. The same was given for the reason that his hair was cut so short, he just told people that it got in the way when he was trying to work.

All in all, he had done a good job of hiding his transgender identity while still being able to live in a way that made him more comfortable. People had a larger problem with his homeland than how he presented himself to the public, especially after he got married. It was very disconcerting for a lot of the less traveled folk to hear that he was still Russian Orthodox, as his parents had raised him to be before they had to hurriedly send him from the Soviet Union, instead of being Church of England or even Catholic like his husband was.

He loved his job and the people that he worked with, enough that a couple of comments about his odd appearance or his choice of worship wouldn’t drive him away.

When he woke up that morning, it seemed like the sea had lurched out of the harbor where it belonged to berate their windows with steady, heavy droplets. He could hear the crackling of thunder and see small flashes of light far off in the distance, where the majority of the storm was. He had seen far worse even when he was living in England and going to school in the bit that was further inland, but this was nothing compared to some of the winter storms he had gotten while living in the Soviet Union.

Viktor rose slowly from the bed so that he didn’t disturb his sleeping husband and then got on with his day. He had just finished changing into the midwifery uniform that he would wearing throughout his time of being on call and helping the citizens of Poplar when the very man that he had been trying not to disturb joined him.

“The storm is quite bad,” Five informed him as he leaned down and kissed at Viktor’s neck.

The other man let out a small hum as he held onto his lover’s forearms and leaned back against him for warmth and comfort. Viktor was short with a boyish figure, most likely because of the absence of meals and rest in his youth after the war. He had mousy brown hair that clung to his forehead and around his ears with hazel eyes set behind full lashes. His cheekbones and jawline were easy enough to mistake for that of a man’s from the people that didn’t know him. Five, on the other hand, was tall and thin. He had grown into them now, but when he was a teenager his limbs had been so long that they looked like they belonged to another man entirely. He had dark brown hair that he had cut in such a way that it hung almost all the way down to his cheek on one side while being cropped close to his head on the other. He had the most mesmerizingly sharp face and the deepest green eyes that Viktor had ever seen.

“The storm isn’t that bad,” the pregnant man replied softly. He let out a small sigh as he felt his husband’s hand drift down so that it was resting over the top of his stomach. He had just begun to show, so the bump was easily hidden beneath the rain coat and cardigan that he wore when he was working to keep warm. It was enough that the people that knew him well would be able to tell without it, which was why Five was holding onto it now as he tried to make his point. “мой милый,” Viktor laughed.

“It really is howling. Perhaps you should extend your rest at least one more day. I’m not sure that I want you venturing out in those winds,” Five replied. His accent was growing thicker with every word that he said, just as it often did when he was upset. Five had grown up deep in the rural-most parts of Ireland with his mother and grandparents, so he had a very distinct accent that he had tried to stamp out in favor of speaking like his old college professors, but when he was worrying it came out stronger than ever.

“It’s nothing as bad as I faced when I was living back home. There was a reason that my parents sent me over here and it wasn’t just because I was non-conforming,” Viktor said softly. He missed both of his parents dearly, as well as his homeland, but he knew that he would never be able to return to either of them. Something about pregnancy made him rather melancholic with homesickness, though. “I think that if I stay here any longer then I am going to go insane. I want to go out and see my patients and my friends again.”

Five considered it, his lips pursing into a fine line. He glanced back at the crib that they had already prepared at the foot of their bed, anxiously anticipating the newest arrival to their little family. “Alright, fine. But the moment that you start to feel poorly, you are to call me and come home or to the nunnery to rest.”

Viktor squirmed so that he was able to turn around in his husband’s arms. He threw his hands up so that they were threaded behind Five’s neck and dragging him down just far enough that he could press their lips together in an adoring kiss. “I am going to be fine, Five. I know that you’re just worried about us, but I’m already further along than I was last time and I’ve been resting for the last week. If something bad happens, then you will be the first to know so that you can help stop it. Alright?”

The taller of the two adorned a soft expression on his face as he leaned down and pressed a kiss first to his husband’s forehead, and then one to his lips. Finally, he got down onto his knees and placed his hands on either side of Viktor’s hidden bump before he leaned forward and kissed the roundest spot. “You be good for us, we’re expecting to meet you this winter.”

“And we will,” Viktor reassured him. “My mother said that she knew with me. And she had lost three before I was born.”

They stayed there for a moment longer, Viktor’s hands threading through the long locks hanging down onto the right side of Five’s face while his husband rested his forehead over where their baby was safely tucked away, awaiting their debut to the world. But they both had patients to attend to that wouldn’t be able to wait, so they went their separate ways. They were able to eat together and share another comforting moment by the front door of their home, but after that they both knew that they would be unable to see each other at least until late that night depending on how Viktor’s day went.

He had left his bicycle at Nonnatus House, so he was walking to work with his favorite black umbrella perched over his head to keep him dry from the pouring rain. The way that the wind nipped at his nose reminded of being back home in the Soviet Union. When he had first moved to Poplar, he had trouble acclimating to the rain and lack of snow. Some days it still troubled him, even though he had been living there for well over five years.

Several people greeted him when they recognized him on his way to work, waving to him from their safety under their own umbrellas or underneath the awnings of shops and homes. Several children were dressed in thick wool coats with hats stuffed onto their heads as they ran around, catching raindrops on their tongues and splashing in all the puddles that they could find.

The East End was about as poor as the town that he had grown up in, so it was comforting to see that even though the people in England worshiped differently than he did and didn’t speak his mother tongue, they were still the same. People living in poverty or destitution, people that were unable to work and that hadn’t yet been rehomed, were the same all over the world.

Nonnatus house stood tall amongst the rest of the buildings surrounding it. The red brick and Gothic architecture was one of the first things that Viktor remembered about moving to Poplar, so it was a welcome sight once he finally arrived. He walked up the front steps very carefully so that he didn’t slip on the slick wet gravel or uncleaned steps. Marcus had been rather overworked with a burst pipe in the basement so it made sense that they hadn’t been cleaned in a while.

He opened the grand doors and then quietly shut it behind him. He shook off his umbrella before doing so, casting the droplets down onto the cement instead of on the clean floor of the nunnery. He placed his umbrella on the hook and then removed his woolen coat before setting it on the hook over the top of that.

“Vik? Is that you?” a sweet voice called out from down the hall, near the sitting room where the nuns and nurses gathered when they weren’t running the clinic or attending to housecalls.

“Yes it is! I’m finally being allowed back to work,” he beamed as he turned to face his dear friend.

Sloane was the tallest woman that Viktor had ever seen, especially when it came to the underfed and malnourished that seemed to litter the streets of Poplar. She had long blond hair that she kept back in braids or a ponytail, away from her face. Her skin was tanned caramel from her years working a farm in Wales when she was younger during the war. She had the sweet features that every woman longed for, even if they came with a rather undesirable height.

“I’m glad that you’re back! It’s been so dreary around here without you,” Sloane informed him sweetly as she wrapped her arm around his. The two of them had grown very close when Viktor had first moved to Nonnatus house as Sloane was only six months his senior, so had very weak bonds with the rest of the midwives at the time. Everyone, other than the nuns, serving now had come after the duo had started their work a half decade prior.

Viktor pressed a hand to the lower part of his stomach since they were in the relative safety of the hallway. Sloane was one of his closest friends so she had been told both about his gender and the baby despite the married couple deciding that they were going to keep the pregnancy a secret until they were more sure that it was going to stick this time. They had picked her out of all their friends because of her medical expertise and talent at keeping secrets. “You know how Five can get when he’s worried about something.”

“You do feel better, don’t you?” she asked, pausing so that she could turn and look properly at her friend.

He nodded and the stress sloped off of her shoulders. “Don’t worry, I do. Five wouldn’t have let me out of the house with all this rain unless I was in tip-top shape,” Viktor explained with a small laugh. He loved his husband more than he thought he would have been able to love anything in the entire world, so the fretting and worrying was comforting instead of annoying.

They walked the rest of the way into the nunnery so that they could join the others where they were getting their morning rounds. The head nun of the convent that they were working with rose and walked over to the duo. “Oh, Nurse Hargreeves, it’s so wonderful to see you again! I was worried that you wouldn’t be able to return to us before the baby boom. We’ve got fifty scheduled this week alone,” Sister Grace tutted with a small shake of her head. She was one of the kindest people that lived on the East End, which was why she was in charge of the convent and all of the nurses that served it.

“My husband has instructed me not to let you work me too hard just in case something like that takes me out of commission again, but I am back to be of help in any way that I can!” he beamed.

“I would suggest that Nurse Sparrow finish her tea as quickly as she can and then the two of you can leave on your normal rounds. You’re to visit Mr. Herschberger, Mrs. Patch, and Mrs. Velonos at the start of your day and then we’ll let you know if there are any deliveries that you need to attend to when you get back. Be safe, alright?” Grace said.

Viktor gave her a nod. He waved to the other nuns and nurses that were gathered around the living room table. Two of them had been on call last night so were absolutely exhausted and having a soothing cup of tea with their breakfast before they went to bed. Another was going to be waiting for the phone while Sloane and Viktor were out about town. Sloane quickly pushed past her friend and into the living room so that she could attend to the muffin that was half eaten on the table.

He was glad that he was going to be able to go out again, because he didn’t want to deal with some of the prying that the older nuns just couldn’t help themselves with. Viktor gave them all a polite nod and then explained that he was going to be on his way before he turned and left to get his coat again. He left his umbrella on the hook where he had put it after coming in so that he could ride his bicycle without being overly hindered by it. The bag full of sterile tools that he would need for the rounds he was to do was right where he had left it, securely in the back compartment of his bike.

---

He rode through the town as quickly as he could to avoid the rain, though he didn’t really notice it dampening his hat and coat since they were both fairly waterproof. When he got to the apartment where his first appointment of the day was being held, he parked his bike against their wall and then got his tools out of the back where they had been safely tucked away. Viktor made his way through the front door of the apartment and then up the rather perilous steps so that he could get to the specific room that he was looking for. Once he found it, he paused and then wrapped his knuckles against the wood. “Nurse calling! Mr. Herschberger?”

The walls of the apartment had paint underneath wallpaper, both of which were beginning to peel. The floors were warped from years of wear as people walked through them and the general dampness caused by the lack of proper glass in the hallway facing windows. It was clean enough and the younger, able-bodied tenants took care of the rats and mice with a cat that they kept. It made the apartment complex a bit more inviting than some of the others, as well as the company inside being absolutely lovely.

The door opened and revealed another one of Viktor’s good friends, though he didn’t happen to be Viktor’s patient for that day. Ben was a tall asian man with a shock of black hair that he kept carefully combed back. He had dark eyes full of hurt and angst for the world, which was well earned at this point. Despite the run down apartment that he lived in, he kept himself looking well manicured in the hopes that someone would finally give him the job that he deserved. He had been doing well until the anti-asian sentiment that settled across the people’s mind due to the Japanese involvement in World War II, regardless of the fact that Ben was Korean and his family had been living in England for two generations prior.

“I’m glad that you’re back. He was being a right pain to the other nurse that they were sending to tend to him while you were off duty,” Ben said as he stepped to the side.

He closed the door securely behind Viktor and then walked quickly through the apartment to where the aforementioned man was laying back on a sofa. The windows were opened just enough to let in some of the breeze, though Ben had the foresight to place a towel on the spot on the floor that would be getting damp because of the rain. The apartment was about as run down as the rest of the building had been, but it was kept clean by Ben in his free time.

“Klaus, were you giving my replacement a hard time?” Viktor chided.

The aforementioned man let out a dramatic sigh and tossed his head backwards. He was lanky and thin despite not being able to get up and do much because of the injury he had sustained when he had been fighting during the war. His dark brown hair fell into perfect ringlets around his face and neck, and his eyes were green in the same way that Five’s were.

“How could I let them tend to me when I knew that you were the only one suited for the job?” he asked, throwing his hands out to the side. His ‘HELLO’ and ‘GOODBYE’ tattoos were prominent on his hands when he did so, and Viktor knew that was the reason he was so fond of that gesture.

“Uh huh, I’m sure. You weren’t just hazing her like you were with me?” Viktor asked. He set his bag down on the edge of the couch and the knelt down on the floor next to his friend. Viktor had originally met Ben and the two of them had immediately bonded because they both found out that they were queers in a part of the world where that kind of thing still had to be kept very hush-hush. Later, Viktor had been introduced to Klaus as one of the wards that he was going to be taking care of as a district nurse and found that he already knew Ben. They were another of the few people that knew about Viktor being who he was and not just Nurse Hargreeves or Vik.

Klaus turned his head to the side and smiled that wide, toothy smile that meant he knew he was doing something wrong. Viktor rolled his eyes and unbuttoned the first few inches of his top so that the wound he had come to inspect was visible. “Mind moving Dave so that I can get my work done?” he asked, gesturing his head down to where two sets of silver dog tags were hanging low on Klaus’ chest.

There were very few people that Viktor ever felt truly sorry for. Most had let their sour hand in life turn them into bad people that shouted at each other or abused their children. Klaus, on the other hand, had been drafted into the second world war when he was only eighteen and then lost the love of his life in the very battle that had given him the festering wound on his chest. Klaus carried Dave with him everywhere, even though they had only been involved for nine months and he was married to Ben now (in the eyes of each other and their friends, the law and the public certainly wouldn’t allow it). Viktor couldn’t imagine how he would feel if he had lost Five and he remembered the pain of his first ever girlfriend choosing a man and a marriage over him.

“I suppose I will, if you have to get on with your duties and can’t just drink with us,” Klaus sighed. He reached down and carefully removed the dog tags from around his neck. He wound the silver chain around his hand so that he could make sure he wouldn’t lose them while he couldn’t wear them.

Viktor was used to this by now since he had been helping Klaus for at least three years. He let out a little laugh and shook his head as he replied, “You know that I can’t drink. I’m working.”

He brushed his fingers over the edge of the wound and then winced when he saw that green puss was beginning to form in the dead center where it was at its worst. “Have you been taking care of this since you’ve chased the other nurses out?”

Ben, from the other room where he was preparing Viktor some tea as he always did, said, “You know that he hasn’t! I’ve barely managed to corral him into the bath most days so making him clean the wound that’s causing him all his pain is absolutely out of the question.”

The nurse let out a small sigh, though he knew that was going to be the answer. According to Klaus’ mother, a kind yet strict woman that Viktor had only met once when Klaus was first moving in, he had always been a very self destructive person. He seemed to have no care for his body or understanding that it would be around forever if he didn’t take care of himself. He drank too much, smoked too much, was frivolous with sex, all to fill the void that chronic night terrors and a war he was too young to fight in had left him with.

“Well, we’re going to have to clean that out. I know that’s your favorite part,” Viktor chuckled. That was his one way at getting back at his friend for not doing as he was always instructed to. Whenever Klaus let the wounds get as bad as they were currently, he had to clean them out with antiseptic that stung like nothing else.

He got out the tools that he needed while ignoring the complaints coming from his friend. He immediately got to work, which he was only allowed to do after shooting Klaus a sharp look that let the veteran know today was not the day to mess with him. Pretty soon the wound had been cleaned and dressed, and the dog tags replaced right over his heart where they belonged.

“I want you to try and keep it clean and dry this time, alright? I’m not going to be able to come and change it as often as I usually do so it’s going to fall to you and Ben to do it,” Viktor instructed them firmly.

Ben handed Viktor the cup of tea that he had made, sweetened with condensed milk just how he liked it. He leaned down and kissed Klaus sweetly on the mouth, a gesture so intimate that Viktor felt lucky he got to see it.

“Are you sure that you don’t want a drink?” Klaus asked once Ben had moved so that he was sitting in an armchair next to the couch that his husband was on. The veteran reached behind the sofa and then pulled up a bottle of alcohol with ease despite the wound pulling painfully at both sides of his chest.

“I told you this before and I’ll tell you as many times as you have to hear it, I’m not allowed to drink when I’m on call and working,” he reprimanded playfully. He adored his friends and he would have gladly had a small drink with them if they had been his last patients to visit before he was going home and he had not been pregnant.

As if he was able to read Viktor’s mind, Klaus tilted his head to the side and smiled wide. “When’s the baby due then, Vik?”

The midwife flushed and laughed as his hand cupped the small bump hidden beneath his uniform and sweater. “Is it that obvious?” he asked as he looked down. No one else had commented on it, which was unusual because a pregnancy from one of the nurses was a big deal to the patients that they came to see. It meant change in their already chaotic lives, something not a lot of them wanted to deal with.

“It’s not, I’m just good at spotting this kind of thing,” Klaus beamed, obviously very proud of himself.

Viktor let out a nervous laugh of relief. He and his husband had been anxious since they had realized that his period hadn’t come for at least two months. It had been a scramble to make sure that he could still fulfill the work that he did around the community while also keeping the pregnancy a secret until they could be sure that it was safe to tell people. They were trepidatiously excited for the months that were to come and the lifetime that they would have after that.

“The baby’s due in about six months, should everything go according to plan,” he then explained when he realized that neither of the men in the apartment were going to let him leave without giving them some kind of answer.

“If you have a baby shower promise that you’ll invite us,” Ben said as he rose to let Viktor out of the apartment.

“I will. And knowing Five the baby will be baptized Catholic, lest Efa Hargreeves have our heads. You’ll both be invited to that as well,” he chuckled. He bade them both goodbye before he turned and went about his way.

---

By the time that he got to the front door the complex, he found that the mister for his next appointment was already standing there. “Officer Patch? Has something happened with the baby and your missus?” he asked, worry shooting through his spine so that he was standing ramrod straight.

Diego quickly shook his head, eyes filled with guilt. “Lila chased me out of the house this morning because Stan and I were being too loud. I just dropped him off at school and figured that I would give my favorite nurse some company on the way to the next appointment. If that’s alright with you, of course,” he added the last bit nervously.

Viktor’s features softened and he gave a nod. “I was actually going over to the flower shop for my next appointment, so maybe by the time that we get there she’ll have forgiven you,” he chuckled.

Diego let out a small groan at the thought of returning so soon after Lila’s outburst, but he began to walk beside his friend anyway. Diego’s family had moved from Mexico when he was no older than three, so he didn’t remember it much. He still spoke Spanish fluently because his parents had thought that it was very important to teach him. He now served as an officer for Poplar’s police department, so he and Viktor saw a lot of each other. Diego was relatively tall with a scar that stretched from one cheek to the ear on the same side of his head. He had skin that was tanned from birth and world-worn because of all the time he spent outside. He kept his hair cut short to his head and his body as fit as possible. He was one of the most trusted officers in the entire East End.

The two of them walked quietly before Diego asked, “How has Klaus been doing? I haven’t seen as much of him as I usually do.”

“I think that Ben has been keeping him out of trouble while I was on my leave. It’s harder for the other nurses to know the ins and outs of his language so it’s better for him to rest when I’m not there to help,” Viktor explained. “But I think that he’s doing well enough to be out and about again soon. Especially if Ben decides to take him on more walks to get their groceries.”

“Good, good,” Diego nodded. Just like Viktor was, he was also very familiar with the needy and underprivileged individuals in the neighborhood. Diego took care of Klaus just as much as Viktor did, though in a very different way. The two of them were good friends as well.

The rest of the short walk to the flower shop that Diego’s wife Lila ran was spent with them chatting about their lives. Viktor questioned how their eldest, Stan, was doing. Stan had been adopted from Germany when Lila was overseas as a spy and codebreaker during the second world war. It wasn’t necessarily abnormal for people to come back from their service with children, but it had been a little shocking for her to return with a three-year-old grasped in her arms.

Viktor gave a goodbye to his friend before he let himself in the front door of the flower shop. He admired some of the newly arrived peonies next to his favorite flower, purple tulips, while he waited for his patient to finish up with some of the customers that had been there when he arrived. They cleared out of the store once they had gotten their orders and bouquets, leaving him alone with his friend, “I’ve come to check your quarters for when baby comes,” he explained. “And I need to give you a check over since you haven’t been showing up to the antenatal clinics like you’re supposed to.”

The woman in question gave a playful sigh and a roll of her eyes. Lila was just a couple inches taller than Viktor, though she wore platform shoes when she wasn’t carrying about seven pounds of baby on her front, which usually made her taller. She was wearing a long cream colored sweater with a checkered dress that sinched under her chest and above her round stomach. “I know I’m supposed to go to those things but Stan doesn’t have school on the weekends so it’s hard to get away from the shop, especially now that it’s spring.”

He let out a little sigh as he moved to the side of the counter door. Lila walked over to the door and flipped the sign so that it said she would be open in a bit before she walked the nurse through the shop up to the apartment above it. Viktor had been up there before when he was visiting her earlier in her pregnancy and when he and Diego were catching up, so he knew that it was already going to be mostly passing the inspection.

He was glad that he was back at work, having to take a break after half a decade of being on his feet every day while working had been absolutely Hell for him, but at the same time he was beginning to remember all the little things he didn’t really care for when it came to this job. He walked up the stairs to the apartment where the Patches lived, including Diego’s sister who was staying with him while they tried to save up enough money for a home so that they could rent out the flat above the flower shoppe and all live together. Diego’s parents had been very adamant about that when he got married, Viktor distinctly remembered several of the complaints that he had to listen to Diego gripe about around the time of his wedding.

“You know where the bathroom is. Diego and I still sleep alone, Eudora insisted on sharing with Stan when she moved in with us,” Lila said as she motioned her head towards the respective things that Viktor had to ask about. He had given her the run through of what he would be looking for when she first came to the clinic and told him that she thought she was pregnant. He knew that with the chaos of a twelve-year-old it was a little bit hard to keep a flat as clean as it needed to be for a home delivery.

Viktor walked through the apartment as he surveyed the walls and the floors to make sure that there were no mouse holes or mold growing underneath the paper. Everything was up to code, which meant that it was time for him to examine the baby since Lila hadn’t shown up to her last several appointments.

She had worked with him, which was a surprise since she usually put up a fuss and insisted that she and the baby were fine. He knew that word of his almost-episode and subsequent husband-imposed house arrest had gotten around Poplar very quickly, but he didn’t know that it would affect Lila of all people. He was ushered out of the shop and apartment so that she could get back to work after being reassured three times over that she would ring him when the baby came, if she had any concerns, and that she would let one of the other nurses come with the birth pack.

---

He rode his bicycle to his last scheduled visit of the day before he got to go back to Nonnatus House for lunch and any deliveries that he might be called out to. He was hoping that the day would be rather quiet so that he could reassure Five that both he and their unborn child were fine despite the downpour. The rain had lightened up during his last two calls so that it was more of an annoying drizzle than anything that was going to get him drenched or help him catch cold.

Viktor parked his bike outside of the tall apartment building that he was prepared to go into. The couple that he was seeing was nice enough, even if the wife had a mean tongue about her and was rather reclusive. She had been very difficult to persuade at the beginning of her pregnancy, but she had come around to Viktor when he had realized that he needed to handle her with the same sharpness that she handled everyone else with. Jayme was becoming a dear friend of his, and he was hoping that the visit would be a pleasant one.

“Mrs. Velenos?” he asked as he knocked on the door and waited to be let in.

When the door opened, he was met with the husband instead of the wife as he had been expecting. Usually, when he came calling in the middle of a weekday, Alphonso was off at his job. He worked at the same butcher shop that Five’s mother had before she was bade to retire back to the countryside to help take care of her own parents. He was a tall man with short brown hair and warm brown eyes, but his face was marred with scars from an incident during the second world war.

He clicked his tongue and moved to the side so that Viktor could walk in. “Good morning,” he greeted pleasantly, as he always did when he was dealing with the family members of his patients. Alphonso was just a little bit softer than Jayme, but still liked to be dealt with a roughness.

“Did they not tell you what happened?” Alphonso asked once he finally shut the door behind Viktor. The house seemed to have taken a bit of a dreary look to it where chipper livelihood usually stayed in the corners. It was something that was so prominent in the front rooms and the places where the couple spent more time, which is why Viktor enjoyed coming to visit them whenever Jayme couldn’t make it to the clinics like she should have.

“No, Sister Grace just told me that you were the last on my rounds today. Did something happen?” he asked worriedly as he set down his pack on the kitchen table. He glanced around the home to try and figure out where the missus of the house was. Usually Jayme was very quickly present whenever anyone was in her home, very protective of all of her things and her space.

Alphonso turned towards the stairs that led up to the bedroom. He let out a small sigh and said, “I guess that it’s possible we could have forgotten to telephone. It was a rather traumatic experience for us, after all.”

“Mr. Velenos, what happened?” Viktor asked. He was becoming more and more worried as the information that he needed refused to come to him. It was growing into his stomach and beginning to slowly spread throughout all of his limbs. He had become familiar with that feeling during the war and then it later adapted so that it happened whenever something was happening with his patients. The other midwives and nurses called it a superpower, but Viktor always thought that it was a mix of nerves and good observational skills.

He motioned for the other man to follow him and then stepped through the house. Viktor glanced around at the items scattered on almost every surface, something that Jayme was usually railing on her husband for since she liked to keep a relatively clean house. It was odd that the home was in the state that it was in, compounded only by the fact that Jayme herself was nowhere in sight.

“The pregnancy was going fine. We missed one of the appointments that we were meant to go to but Jayme said that everything felt fine. She was glowing…” he paused, a heartbroken expression taking over his marred features. Viktor had been working as a nurse and a midwife for as long as he could, so he immediately knew that look and it sent cold shivers through his entire body. “Then one morning we woke up and she started bleeding. Didn’t stop until yesterday night.”

Viktor stopped and looked directly at the husband of his patient. “Where is she?” he asked, making sure that his voice was filled with enough urgency to convince the man he did need to see her but not so much that Alphonso might mistake it for something being critically wrong.

“Right through here, up in the bedroom,” he pointed to the end of the hallway once they were finally up the stairs.

The midwife gave him a nod of acknowledgement and then hurried down the hallway. Once he got to the door, he paused so that he could wrap on the wood and let the person inside know that he was there. “Midwife calling, would it be alright if I came in?”

Just like when he had been at the front door of the home, the door opened and one of the occupants was revealed. Jayme was still in her nightdress, though it was a different one than the item that Viktor had seen her in when he first dropped in on her to check on the pregnancy. Her eyes were dull and her hair was pulled into a messy braid that was more flyaway than braid at this point.

“You don’t have to be here,” Jayme said tiredly. She leaned heavily against the doorframe with an exhaustion that Viktor had seen in many women before and knew that he would see in many women after. “Didn’t Alphonso tell you? I lost it.”

He gave a small nod. He didn’t reach out to touch her since he knew that Fei, a blind woman that lived next door, and Alphonso were the only ones that were permitted to get away with that. “I know, he did. That’s exactly why I need to be here. Mind letting me through?”

Jayme thought about it for a moment, her eyes boring into the nurse’s until she finally gave in. She shifted to the side and allowed Viktor to walk into the bedroom. She shut the door behind her and then drifted over to the bed, where the covers were upturned next to her nightstand, like a ghost might.

“How are you feeling?” Viktor asked, setting his bag down on the edge of the bed.

She was quiet for a bit as she lowered herself down onto the bed. The midwife sat down next to her so that he was close enough to reach out and offer her comfort should she need it but far enough away that she didn’t feel crowded. Jayme turned her head towards him as she said, “I don’t know why you’re insisting on staying here. You don’t have to, I’m not pregnant anymore.”

Viktor let out a little sigh. It was hard to lose something that you had so much hope for the future in. “I know what you’re going through, Jayme. That’s why I’m here.”

“How would you know what I’m going through?” she nearly snarled, the venom dripping from her every word.

Viktor didn’t jump back, he felt no hurt or anger. He knew what kind of pain she was in and he was the safest place that she had to release it. Her husband was going to be going through something similar though also entirely different, but she loved him and wanted to keep him so he was off limits. Viktor knew how to deal with that kind of anger because he had both felt it himself and seen it before in some of the other women he had helped in his career.

“I’m pregnant again,” he admitted. It was the only way that he felt like he could say it. Phrasing it any other way would have made it all too real, the event that had happened what felt like a lifetime ago now.

Jayme’s brows furrowed and she turned so that she was looking at her midwife with a serious expression. “What do you mean again? I know you, I think I would have notice if you had a bump or even a little one running around if it was from before you came here.”

He took in a deep breath. He knew that this was something she needed to hear, and now that he had admitted the pregnancy to someone other than his husband and the close friends that had been able to decipher it, he figured it would be easier to talk about. Jayme intimately knew the pain that he had gone through as well, since she was in the middle of going through it herself. “Around two years ago, my husband and I realized that we were going to have a baby. We were very excited about it. Then one day I started to get these small little stomach cramps. I ignored them. As nurses, we’re taught to put things aside so that we can help others. I pushed myself too hard when I was riding my bike back to Nonnatus house and by the time I got there, my entire uniform was soaked with blood. I had lost the pregnancy and it was on display for everyone to see.”

She listened intently to the story that he was telling. As soon as he got to the hardest part, the part where his voice faltered awkwardly because it was so hard to speak the words out loud. “I know what it feels like to lose a pregnancy because I already have. I know what it’s like, to feel like you entire future just slipped out from your hands without anyone asking you. I know what it’s like to feel as though you disappointed everyone around you without ever meaning to. But I promise that it does get better, as all grief does. Your next pregnancy is going to be the most nerve wracking experience of you and your husband’s life, though,” he chuckled weakly.

Jayme tilted her head down and let out a little sniffle. She wiped at her face with the sleeve of her nightdress and then collected herself. “It’s not something I ever expected to happen to me. I knew that it happened, I knew that other women experienced this kind of thing, I knew that it was a possibility. But for some reason, I never considered that there was a chance it could happen to me or my baby,” she held her stomach with one hand.

“No one ever does. You want to think about the future in the best way possible because pregnancy is such a hard thing. It’s not something that you think about because you’re too busy looking forward to having your baby or worried about what will happen after birth. It’s okay to be sad about it too, you know,” Viktor murmured. She had reached over and taken his hand at some point when he was talking to her, so he rubbed over the back of her thumb.

She tilted her head down every further so that her hair was a black sheet around her face. Viktor remembered doing that when he was younger, before he had decided that he was going to keep his hair short. Her shoulders began to shake as tears wracked her form and the grief overcame her for what might have been the first time since her miscarriage. She was well and truly feeling everything that she had been bottling up inside until she got the permission she needed to feel it.

Viktor sat with her, holding her hand the entire time.

---

The day felt like it had been going on forever and also no time at all once he got back out on the busy streets. Sloane had been doing an appointment a few houses down, so they were walking their bicycles down some of the busier streets where they wouldn’t be able to ride side-by-side as they talked. She kept turning to go down the streets that were closer to the piers, and Viktor knew why. He let her steer them that way so that they could catch a glimpse of some of the cargo ships while they came in and out of the docks.

The wistful look on her face when she caught the edge of the harbor was something that he hoped she wouldn’t have to live with for the rest of her life. “I just wish that he would come home. Or choose some kind of career that wouldn’t take him away from me for so long,” she sighed.

“I think that these pay better than anything he’d be able to get with his skills that would keep him in town. He’s probably saving up so that he can whisk you away to the countryside,” Viktor teased.

Sloane giggled and her face turned bright red. She was so enamored with her beau, it reminded Viktor of when he had first met his husband. Sometimes he missed the giddy feeling that came with first falling in love, but he adored what he had now. “I know that he has his reasons, he told me that himself the last time that he was here, but I do miss him so dearly. He can barely even spend any time in town with me because our schedules so rarely match up,” she pursed her lips.

“I’ll tell you what. If it’ll actually cheer you up, then I will take all of your patients the next time that he’s in town so that you can have some actual time with him. Sound good?” he asked as he turned slightly so that he could see her reaction better.

She looked at him with the kind of adoration and appreciation that only someone who had been given exactly what they wanted could have. “Would you really do something like that for me?”

“Sloane, we’ve been friends for the entire time we’ve been working as nurses in the London, of course I would do something like that for you!” Viktor laughed. They had just gotten to the edge of where the docks were visible, so Sloane parked her bike and then leaned against the railing so that she could look out over the rolling waves. It wasn’t anything like the ocean where Viktor had come from, but the Thames held a reassuring noise to it that he couldn’t find anywhere else in London.

The duo stood there in silence for a moment as they took in the cool breeze from the river and the sound of people working all around them. Viktor turned to go back to his bike so that they could make it back to the house before they were missed, when he paused. He leaned back against the railing so that he was facing inland and watched as the tall, blond stranger walked over to them.

Luther was a hulking mass of man. He was easily seven feet tall with shoulders so wide that sometimes he had to go through a door sideways just to be able to fit. He had buzzed blond hair and the sweetest smile that anyone was possible of possessing, one that hung heavy in his eyes even when he was frowning. When he noticed that Viktor was looking, he held a finger up to his mouth so that the smaller man wouldn’t say anything.

Slowly, Luther approached Sloane and then wrapped his arms around her once he had gotten close enough. He whirled her around in a circle with her squealing excitedly the entire time. When he had finished, he set her down and she was able to wiggle until she turned around and could wrap her arms around him. “I thought that you weren’t going to get back for another month at least!” she gasped.

“I managed to pull some strings by being the best sailor that a cargo ship has ever seen, so we’re back a little bit early. I also have a weeks leave,” he beamed. He leaned down and kissed her sweetly on the lips.

That was when Viktor had decided that he had seen enough. “I’m going to take up some of your patients today Sloane, but I did promise Five that I wouldn’t push myself too hard so despite your wonderful surprise you are going to have to come back to work in an hour or two,” he called over his shoulder.

He didn’t get a response but he knew that his friend had heard him. He hoped that there wouldn’t be too many soon-to-be mothers calling in with their labors in the next couple of days if he really was going to be filling in for Sloane. He didn’t want to face the worrying and fretting of his husband anymore than he already had to.

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