#adult five becoming their teacher!!! and parenting the hargreeves kids himself since clearly reginald isn't going to do it

[captainkirkk]

Thanks to @pulcheres​ for coming up with this idea, I can’t get it out of my head now

AU where adult Five - who is still grieving the fact that he didn’t get to see his siblings grow up, and realises how fucked up they became under Reginald “abusive motherfucker” Hargreeves - decides to travel back to 2002 and look after these kids himself.

Except he can’t kidnap them outright or kill of Reginald. What he’s doing is risky, but that would completely destroy the timeline.

So he applies to be the Umbrella Academy’s tutor.

He’s a pragmatic genius with extensive combat training; there’s no way Reginald Hargreeves wouldn’t respect him. Five plays the distant, methodical professor whenever Reginald is around - but when he’s gone, he nurtures the shit out of these kids.

He teaches Klaus how to banish ghosts so he has a moment of goddamn quiet. He teaches Allison about moral ethics and the consequences of actions, even if she’s too young to really take in what he’s saying. He teaches Luther how to be a brother, not just a leader. He helps Ben come to terms with the monster locked inside his chest. He pays attention to Vanya. He helps Diego soothe his anger.

He helps them all develop hobbies. Lets them be individuals. Helps them develop coping mechanisms. Gives them the opportunity to talk to someone about their problems (that’s not a robot or a monkey or a child). 

He interferes as best as he can with Reginald. Distracts him, messes up his “experiments”, subtly manipulates him into doing something else instead of torturing his kids for the day. 

It doesn’t ever feel like enough, but it’s better than nothing. And he still gets to be close to his younger siblings and help them, which is all he ever wanted.

There’s a lot the Hargreeves siblings don’t understand about their mysterious new professor. But they begin to trust him. He’s the only person who’s truly in their corner, not Reginald’s. 

Except they have no idea that their professor is really their missing brother, Five.

And Five has no idea how to tell them.