#diego hargreeves x oc

[shadowbriar]

Diego Hargreeves - Patches

Pairing : Diego Hargreeves x (she/her) Reader Word Count : 1.2k Warning : None. Notes : This might be the introduction of a story I'm working on. I cannot guarantee that I'll have the commitment to continue until it's end so don't have too much hope for this. I am open if you have any The Umbrella Academy requests at the moment, so do hit me up! If you like this story and would like to support me, please visit my kofi page and perhaps get me a coffee?☕

He got eight of them.

For the longest time in her life, she’s never understood the silly yet cruel joke life cursed upon her. To be able to heal everyone but herself, no matter the wound or injury one might have, she’ll cure it in no time, so long as it wasn’t inflicted on her.

Once, it wasn’t this pathetic nor lonely. She had her brothers and sisters to weather to storm through. There were Pogo and Mum to share cookies and stories with. It’s been years since she felt such comfort and to have to drag her feet back to the house that had turned itself from a warm home into a prison before the last days of her departure is surely weighing on her heart.

“Welcome home, dear.”

Her heart was filled with warmth once the familiar motherly voice greets her. The corners of her lips curved into a big smile as she dropped her bags, running to the dearly missed figure, “Mum.”

It took the bot a couple seconds to return the embrace. No doubt that she’s been lacking a lot of upgrades ever since she left. When the two broke the hug, she stared at the ageless caregiver with fulfilled eyes as it stared back at her with its bright smile, blank and not blinking. This might have been the most home she could feel while she’s here.

“You’re not supposed to come,” another voice echoes from the stairs.

“Diego, that’s not very nice.” Mum scolded lightly “Your sister has returned to us.”

The boy showed a thin smile to the bot, patting her lightly on the shoulder, “I think Pogo was looking for you, Mum.”

With a slight nod, the android excused herself out of the room.

Now if Grace’s presence lightened her heart, the sight of this black suited man certainly plummets it.

“You look awful,” She greets, noticing the scars that litter his face “Surely couldn’t find a better nurse than me now, can you?”

“Please,” Diego snorted “You’re more of a deadweight than a nurse, if ever.”

Ouch.

She lets out an exasperated exhale, folding her hands in front of her chest in defence, “Well, I’m not here for you and I don’t take joy either on coming back to this circus, so if you could just get yourself off that non-existent high horse—”

Before she could finish her words, Diego had already walked away as if she wasn’t there to begin with. His back becomes the abundant evidence that whatever bad blood they had years ago is still staining his skin.

It wasn’t always like this, him and her. In fact, they were the inseparable two growing up. If Luther had Allison, Diego had her. The many times she healed his wounds had led them to grow closer as the years went by. He was the one with the most injury to heal, after all. The most careless in battle out of the eight, never backing down from a close combat. Though he would always come out triumphant, a little cut here and there would be something he never escaped from.

“Don’t mind him, he’s giving us all the sour comments,” Allison said as she linked her arms to her “I’m glad to see you.”

She smiles at her sister, squeezing her hand slightly in reassurance, “As I am to see you.”

—-

“You should really learn how to dodge a punch, Diego,” She says as she runs her thumb through his bruise “One of these days you’re going to go home and I may not be able to heal you.”

“Is that a loss on your part or my part?”

Her eyebrow rose, purposely pressing on his bruise without healing it that he winces a little, “Or maybe I just won’t heal you, that’s definitely a loss on your part.”

“As if you’ll ever do that.”

“Is that a challenge?”

Diego tries his best to bite the grin but it proved to be an even harder task than to back out of a fight. He stares at her fondly, finding the jitters in his stomach to amplify the longer he stares yet it feels impossible for him to break the contact. Perhaps she casts a little of her magic everytime she heals him.

“Don’t stare at me like that.”

“Like what?” He asks.

“Like Klaus stares at a bottle of gin,” She says, now examining his other cuts “Like I stare at Mum’s cookies.”

Diego smiles.

“Like Luther stares at Allison.”

“Would it be so bad if I stare that way?”

The wake from the unintended nap hurts her head. Her bed is much smaller than she last remembered with her feet slightly dangling on the edge and how the pillows have certainly lost their fluffiness. Everything in her room stays the same yet at the same time, everything has changed.

—-

Diego defeatedly threw himself to the sofa. He sighs, his knuckles cracking as he tries to ball his fists. The tidal wave of emotions were beating him black and blue in silence. It feels as if he was swallowed by a giant blackhole with no light nor guidance to get out of.

There was no need for him to be rude to her, he knew that. He didn’t want to do it, but seeing her back in their house, hugging and talking to Grace, hurts. It took him years to try and ignore the ghost of her. She was the one force that would fuel his mornings and ease him to sleep at night. She was the one soul that he would always go to seek refuge. She was the one that he would lay his life on the line for without a second of doubt.

But he had to lose it all after one stupid night.

A night that he would never be able to grow out of, both from the horror and the guilt. Diego shut himself out for days following that terrifying night, locking his doors and skipping meals as he tries to think of all the what-if scenarios.

What if he stayed home that night?

What if he forced her to stay home that night?

What if he saved her before she saved him?

What if?

Mindlessly, he reaches for a knife on his left chest. It was a stranger to the rest of his knives collection. Compared to the polished lightweight knives he tucked in his suit, this one butter knife was rather dull. It would serve no harm to anyone, yet he kept it closest to his heart as if it was his most prized possession.

Diego stared at the knife. His brows knitted, examining the item as if it held the answer to all of his questions. Or perhaps some guidance. Anything to help him keep his sanity and not lose the plot now that she’s back in his life. Was she staying or was she leaving for the night? He wasn’t sure. But even if she is leaving, the hours he’d have to spend with her would suffocate nonetheless.

His thumb traces the engraving on the knife’s handle. A little trace of an infinite loop that had somehow become his stress outlet: the number eight.

[jpnriikicore]

── it’s always nice to see you

paring digeo hargreeves x fem!reader, word count 1.5k, genre fluff, summary clingy drunk diego visits reader, authors note takes place in season one ( masterlist )

it’s a cold winter morning. you stirred awake when you heard rustling that sounded like they were coming from outside, so you got up and walked over to your window. you frowned when you saw the one and only diego hargreeves who was clearly drunk stumbling around in your front yard.

you sighed rolling yours eyes, your feet patted as you walked downstairs and making your way to the front door, so you could stand on your porch and lecture him.

you turned on your coffee pot before unlocking your door to lean against your doorway. your arms crossed and your eyebrows raised at his state on your front porch.

"diego."

"yes?"

diego asked, grinning innocently and innocently with his arms behind his back. he had a small blush spread across his face due to him being under the influence of alcohol at the moment, but the blush deepened quite a bit once he saw you. he stared at you with a lovesick gaze but tried to hide it.

diego asked, grinning innocently with his arms behind his back. he had a small blush spread across his face due to him being under the influence of alcohol at the moment, but the blush deepened quite a bit once he saw you. he stared at you with a lovesick gaze, but tried to hide it.

"what are you doing?"

you asked, your feet patting against the hard wood floors as you pour your hot coffee into a mug.

“i was… uhm…”

he trailed off for a moment, trying to think of an excuse for what he was doing at your house at this hour, but unfortunately couldn’t think of any good excuses.

“…iwas just uh, patrolling the area, is all.”

you blowed on your coffee as you walked back over to your screen door. he lied bluntly, making eye contact with you and tilting his head innocently. he was a pretty obvious liar when under the influence.

my free hand reached out to push open the screen door gesturing with my head to come in.

“come in, hargreeves.”

diego raised an eyebrow at the sudden shift in your attitude, but shrugged slightly and obliged by your request to come into your home. he walked inside quietly and peered down at you, standing before you and towering over you.

“why did you ask me to come in?”

he inquired curiously, fiddling with his fingers as he continued to peer down at you. he really wanted to take a sip of whatever liquid you were drinking. he hoped it was alcohol.

your teeth bit up on your top lip.

“you and i both know your not here patrolling the area."

“w—what!? i totally am!”

diego lied bluntly, crossing his arms over his chest defensively. he refused to admit defeat, even while he was drunk. he huffed quietly and looked away from you, a pout was now present on his face.

“…fine, you got me.”

he admitted defeat begrudgingly, running a hand through his hair as he groaned internally at his defeat. he truly just couldn’t hold his liquor.

“…i just… missed you…”

your shoulders shook as a chuckle escaped from your lips. you sat your mug down as you leaned againist the kitchen counter.

"i can tell."

“…how do you know?”

diego asked curiously, tilting his head innocently and curiously. he was confused on how you figured out that the real reason that he was here was because he missed you, considering you have a… not so happy history with one another. at least… not until a few weeks ago.

"when you get drunk you get clingy and you get these love sick puppy dogs eyes."

that…hit extremely close to home for the drunken diego. his cheeks instantly heated up even more upon hearing that. while sober, he was never clingy. hell, he didn’t even like pda or showing a lot of affection.

…but it was completely different with you.

he cleared his throat and took ahold of the collar of his black long sleeve, tugging at it and pulling it away from his body slightly. that should’ve given him a little more airflow, right?

"c’mon let’s sit."

you spoke pushing diego into the living room onto the couch. this wasn’t your first time taking care of him while he’s drunk.

diego huffed quietly in annoyance when you shoved him into the living room but obliged by your request nonetheless. he made a beeline for the couch, sitting on the couch and resting his chin in the palm of his hand. he peered up at you inquisitively, raising an eyebrow and humming quietly.

”…can i have some of whatever you’re drinking…?”

he inquired, tilting his head a bit innocently. he wanted it, for obvious reasons.

"it’s coffee."

you spoke, kneeling down to take off his shoes.

“…aw mannn…"

diego groaned quietly as he was disappointed that it was not an alcoholic drink. he then looked down at you taking off his shoes and was even more flustered because of it.

“…why are you taking off my shoes?”

he inquired curiously, tilting his head innocently. he was more than sure that he could take off his own shoes, but he let you do it regardless.

"i don’t like shoes on my rug."

diego looked like he was about to protest against what you said but then decided not to since he was not in the mood to start an argument with you. a soft sigh escaped him as he nodded quietly.

“…that’s reasonable.”

he mumbled under his breath quietly, looking away from you. he felt flustered from your close contact and your gentle nature, but he wouldn’t dare to tell you that.

"so, what did you realize this time?"

you asked, walking over to set his shoes at the door before returning to the couch to sit next to him.

diego sighed quietly and ran a hand through his hair. he was silent for a little bit, thinking to himself and trying to articulate all of his internal feelings for you into a sentence.

“…that…”

he paused for a moment before finally taking a deep breath and sighing quietly. he looked away from you, not having the courage to look you in the eyes while confessing this to you.

“…i think I’ve developed a…small crush on you.”

"really?"

“y—yeah…”

diego nodded sheepishly, blushing uncontrollably and fiddling with the sleeves of his long sleeve in a flustered manner. he peered down at his sleeve silently before slowly lifting one of your hands and intertwining it with his as a small way to show his love to you.

“…yes, i have.”

he confirmed quietly, a soft and yet wobbly smile formed on his face as he peered at the intertwined hands.

"i would kiss you, but i think you drunk a little too much tonight."

“awww…”

diego frowned, tilting his head innocently and giving off the best puppy dog eyes he could to try and sway you to give in to him. It usually worked on you, but would it be the case tonight.

“…pleaseee?”

you pressed a kiss on his cheek.

“I will give you a real kiss in the morning…if you’re still here and remember this conversation."

diego was overjoyed that he got the kiss on the cheek, but was clearly displeased with the fact that that was the only form of contact you’d give at this moment.

“can’t I get a kiss right now?”

he inquired, frowning quietly as he peered at you innocently. he could get really clingy and affectionate when he was under the influence, and he really wanted to give you all the love he could.

“ughhh….”

diego grumbled quietly under his breath as he was clearly disappointed with your response. he then wrapped an arm around you, pulling you into a gentle hug and resting his chin on your shoulder with a soft sigh.

“…does this satisfy you…?”

he questioned softly, gently rubbing soothing circles on your back as he hugged you close to his chest.

you pressed your lips against his.

diego’s eyes widened a little bit, clearly not expecting you to just randomly kiss him in the middle of hugging him. then again, the two of you have kissed each other randomly, so it’s not that unexpected.

he deepened the kiss, humming quietly and closing his eyes as he pressed his lips against yours. he slowly backed you onto the couch a little bit. It was clear that he really wanted more.

you gasped in the kiss as he backed you onto the couch.

diego deepened the kiss further as he gently placed you down onto the couch. he pinned you against it, wrapping his arms around your waist and pressing your chests together.

he then gently pulled away from the kiss, panting quietly and resting his forehead against yours. the kiss deepened from an innocent, affectionate one to a passionate and loving one within seconds.

his pupils were blown wide, clearly wanting so much more than a simple kiss.

"it is always nice to see you."

© JPNRIIKICORE, 2024

[snazzynacho]

HAVEN, chapter one

Diego Hargreeves x Fem!OC (Seasons 1-?) (First time writing for tua and Diego so bear with me)

(Originally titled “Sketchy” then “patience”)

Read on AO3

Read on Wattpad

Summary: Beth meets Diego in a sketchy alley. He is beating someone up and she happens to be nearby. She asks if he needs any help. He seems to say no, but she sticks around for some reason anyway. She ends up saving him from a night at the police station and for that he’ll forever be in debt.

Warnings: Usual tua violence 🤷🏻‍♀️.

Fandom: The Umbrella Academy (Netflix)

Edited: 30th aug 2024

Chapter One:

The sky is pitch black. The street lights are dim, with one flickering occasionally. Beth trudges along the uneven pavement, scuffing her shoes. She should really be more careful considering they're the only pair she owns.

The night brings out all sorts of people. Criminals, creeps, the homeless, to name a few. It's a good thing Beth's all three.

Joking. She's not a creep.

She's desperate though. Being homeless is boring, to say the least. Most people ignore her when she's asking for the tiniest amount of money. Anything to get by.

A grunting noise brings her back from her thoughts. It seems to be coming from the alleyway up ahead. She hopes it's not something gross...

Beth hears another noise - a plea. Peering over the side of the brick wall into the albeit sketchy alleyway, she sees a man standing over an injured man on the ground. Another plea from the man on the ground happens before a big blow seems to knock him out. The man doesn't stop kicking him though.

"Need any help there?" her voice startles the man just as much as it startles herself. Why is she talking to a random man in an alleyway?! Especially one who’s driving his boot into another man’s stomach?

"What—?!" He quickly grabs a dagger from his pocket and aims it at Beth.

"Actually, I think you do need help. The cops are around the corner, so you might want to pack it up." For some reason, she continues. She studies the kicking man better this time, taking a couple of steps closer. She doesn’t recognise him at all and concludes that he doesn’t look like too much trouble. Only an off-brand Batman, black eye mask and all.

"Goddamnit..." The man huffs and lets the man on the ground fall to his side, knocked out. “How do you know they're coming, anyway..?"

"I have spidey senses," Beth says jokingly. "What are you doing out here in the dark, Batman? Beating up passers-by? Oh! Should I be scared?" She twists her head to get a better look. The man on the ground is bleeding from his nose, possibly from a punch.

He rolls his eyes. "Ha, ha, very funny. You wanna know what I'm actually doing? I'm tracking down a criminal."

"I think you've done more than track him down. Huh. So you really are Batman." She cocks her head to the side, looking at what he's wearing in the dim orange glow from the streetlamp. "Spandex and all." She can't help but laugh.

"Hey, it's not goddamn spandex!" He glances down at his outfit, suddenly a little self-conscious. "Uh... It's like a leatherish material. Very cool, not at all spandex. Anyway, shut up!"

"Ooh, 'Hit a nerve there," She mumbles and picks up her bag, still smiling at herself at the amusement of the situation. Beth starts to turn away before turning her head back at him, "You coming or what?"

He blinks in surprise. "Huh? Wait, where are you..?" He hesitantly walks over to her, staying a few feet back, a bit distrustful.

Sirens blare in the distance. "Away from the police. Duh." She rolls her eyes playfully.

He snorts out a laugh, glancing over his shoulder. "Yeah, yeah, lead the way, then. Smartass..."

They begin to walk until a different cop car skirts up the road towards them. Its blue and red flashing lights blind the two of them momentarily.

Diego puts his hand up to block his eyes, swearing under his breath. He moves a bit closer to Beth to avoid the headlights of the police vehicle.

"Dammit..!"

"Shit. Come on!" Beth grabs his hand and darts for the next alleyway.

He stumbles after her quickly, a little startled by her sudden action. He can feel his heart thumping in his chest, due to the adrenaline of nearly getting arrested.

The both of them run through back alleys, dodging and weaving through side streets. She knows exactly where to go, and soon, they reach their destination.

They're both huffing and puffing and Beth soon starts chuckling. The entire bizarre situation and leftover adrenaline are humorous to her.

He pulls his hand away from hers, feeling a bit embarrassed by the physical touch. He leans up against a wall, trying to act casual. "Ah... That was close. You've got some good timing, don't you."

She curtseys as a joke, proud of her accomplishment.

"How the hell did you notice the cops so easily anyway?", He mutters, running by your side, "Are you some kind of clairvoyant or something? Super hearing?”

She snorts. "No. I noticed it while I was walking, a couple of blocks away. Then, I came across the sketchy alley you were in. It's not like I have a superpower or anything." She laughs and shakes her head.

"I thought you said you had your 'spidey senses'?" he smirks.

"Well, that power must be weak now, since I can't figure out your name,"

His smirk immediately falters, replaced by a mildly shocked expression. He blinks in surprise and raises an eyebrow at her but she can't figure out why.

"It's Diego,"

Diego. She likes that.

"And yours is?"

"Beth."

Diego glances away, a little awkward.

"So, Beth, what is this place?" he glances around the abandoned-looking room. The wood is all dirty and broken. There's a clump of blankets in the corner and he realises it's a small makeshift bed with a candlelit lamp beside it.

"Where I live," she shrugs her shoulders and awkwardly turns away, trying not to listen to her anxiety screaming at her that he's making fun of her, or judging her negatively.

"You... live here...?" Diego looks at her with an unreadable expression, his eyes wide. He thinks the place looks unsafe, to say the least.

"Yeah, It's not much..." Beth laughs awkwardly and places her brown bag down carefully on the floor. The heavy weight of the situation she’s lived in for the past year bares down on her. It’s easy to grow used to troublesome circumstances. Feeling comfortable in the adverse.

Diego looks down at the dirty, dusty floor, a frown forms on his face. He then looks over to the bed again, his eyes linger on it for a moment, and his eyebrows furrow. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay. I call it the dump,"

He smiles at your halfhearted joke, but a frown returns at the reality of it.

"Why don't you go to a shelter or something? You can't stay here, it's... it's..."

"A dump?"

He stays quiet for a moment, a little taken aback by how bluntly she speaks about the place she calls home. He has so many questions. "How long..." He pauses, looking back at her. "How long have you lived here, exactly...?"

"A few months. A year. It's all the same." She shrugs like it's no big deal. He clenches his jaw. This shouldn't be a surprise to him. There are homeless people everywhere, it just... it just didn't occur to him that she's one of them.

"A year..?" He repeats, the disbelief clear in his voice.

"It's all I have. You can stay here until those pesky cops leave,"

His expression softens, and he can't help but feel a little guilty for saying anything at all after hearing that. He can tell she's getting uncomfortable with the subject. So, he nods.

"I... Thanks," he manages to choke out, his voice low. He‘s awkward, leaning against the wall and crossing his arms.

"It's no problem," Beth says quietly and pulls a chair for him to sit in while she sits on her bed. In that moment she realises how reckless and naive she's been. She just met a man who beat up another man in a sketchy alleyway and took him back to her home...she could have been beaten up. Or killed. Or worse…

Diego glances at the chair, a bit conflicted. He wonders why he doesn't just leave. He's hidden from the police more times than he can count. He’ll be fine on his own. Always have, always will be.

Although he is unaware of the internal dilemma she's having, he is unsure of what to say now. The awkward tension lingering in the air is almost palpable. However, he forces himself to sit in the chair.

His hand finds his way to his mask, remembering he still has it on. He takes it off in one smooth motion, and ruffles his hair.

"...So..." He says, breaking the silence. "Why are you living alone in a... place like this? Like-" He cuts himself off, his voice lowering."How'd you end up here?”

"Oh. You know, life happens. Life doesn't turn out the way you thought it would." This is the best she can say right now, especially with the part of her who can’t believe how handsome he is, now she can see his face properly.

He pauses, eyeing her carefully as she speaks. He can sense a hint of something in her voice that he can't quite pinpoint. He chooses his next words very carefully, hesitantly speaking up. "I know life's a bitch, believe me," he says with a scoff. He shifts in the chair, glancing around the place once again. The thought of her current situation continues to bother him for some reason. "Life can be... difficult."

She nods in agreement.

He sighs and leans his head back against the chair, letting his eyes wander over the dirty, run-down space around him. They linger on her for a moment, as he quietly studies her face in the dim candlelit light.

"Hey..." He speaks up suddenly, his voice a bit quieter. "How old are you, anyway..?"

"Twenty-seven,"

He hums. "Thirty,"

"Well," she clears her throat, "I think we've established that you aren't going to kill me because you would have done it already." Beth chuckles, "Tell me about you." She chirps up, intrigued to know more about the mysterious dagger-wielding man in spandex—she means, leather.

He blinks in surprise, not expecting Beth to turn the conversation onto him. At this moment, he realises she seems to know nothing about The Umbrella Academy, that he is one of the forty-three children born spontaneously with superpowers.

Diego is unsure of what to tell her. He's so used to people knowing exactly who he is, from the Umbrella Academy. After a few seconds, he lets out a deep breath with a smile. "Me, huh?" he says, and plays with his fingers, "Uh, well, there's not much to say. I'm a pretty typical dude." He pauses, his eyes dart around as he thinks about what to say. He glances over at her. "I guess... I guess the only thing that's... that's worth mentioning is, I like knives." He doesn't seem to want to go further with his life story either, which kind of comforts Beth.

"Wow. you don't say," she teases.

He laughs and grins at her with raised eyebrows. "Oh, ha, ha. Very funny," he retorts, feigning annoyance. "Yeah, I like knives. They're practical and they're damn cool," he says, putting his hands in his pockets. "It's not some weird obsession, I promise. Just a... hobby, let's say. A very dangerous hobby." A hobby. That description should do for now...

He suddenly realises he's rambling. He never talks about himself like this. He clears his throat and leans back a little in the chair, avoiding eye contact.

His eyes travel down to his feet, focusing on the worn black leather of his boots and he can't help but think about how normal this felt, how easy Beth and him seem to talk, even though this entire situation started as anything but normal. Throughout Diego's whole life, he's used to having to keep his guard up, but now, with Beth, he feels like he can actually relax.

He glances back at Beth. Her hair, which he realises now is quite messy, swishes and sways and falls along her back as she crouches down, and begins to empty the contents of her tatty brown bag. Beth freezes, though, for a second.

Beth doesn't want him to see all the cans of food she's managed to scavenge and embarrassment washes over her. She decides to quickly take out one can for later, and secretly swap it with the sharp metal instrument she stole moments ago — one of Diego's daggers. It's nothing personal, she says to herself, as she zips the bag close, slides it aside and smiles up at him.

He, of course, is oblivious to Beth stealing from him. And she would like for it to stay that way. The dagger will come in handy for her. She's sure he has others. In fact, she can see some more on the harness he's wearing. Batman.

Diego raises an eyebrow slightly, his eyes tracking the movement of the bag out of the corner of his eye. His senses tell him something is wrong, but he can't pinpoint what exactly. He brushes it off, however, as he glances at the time on his watch instead. "Jesus," he mutters to himself. "It's already one in the morning." The adrenaline is finally wearing off, and the realisation sinks in that it's the middle of the night, he's in the dingiest part of town, and he's alone with some girl he's just met.

Diego glances over at Beth, watching as she fidgets with her fingers, seemingly lost in thought. He thinks once again how odd it is to have such a normal conversation with a near stranger. He has not opened up much to anyone in a long time. "I better get going. I haven't heard any more sirens."

Beth seems to jump from his voice, a bit startled. She clears her throat, quickly nodding in agreement.

"Yeah, probably." A brief moment of silence falls between them. "I'll see you around, I guess...?"

Diego smiles and says goodbye. She can feel her heart sink as he starts to walk away, reaching for the shabby door. She tries not to show how she feels as she plasters a smile on her face. Before he leaves though, he swiftly turns on his heel, facing Beth again. "Thank you ever so much for your hospitality," he feigns a posh accent and pretends to tip an imaginary hat he's wearing.

His lips curve up into a cheeky grin as he says this, his eyes flickering jokingly at her. She can't help smiling a little at Diego's playful action, her mood lightening immediately. He glances at her one last time, "Bye, Beth." Then he turns around and heads out the door.

After she cooks dinner, she lies down on her bed. Beth thinks she will dream of dagger-wielding Diego forever.

___________

A/N: the way she's so unbothered about him kicking somebody 💀

I have a tua blog btw! It is @nacho-hargreeves

[optimistictalia]

saw a tua clip literally yesterday and I forgot how much I love this MORON HEHEH 🫶

I think I’m ready to move on…. By simply… PRETENDING SEASON 3 NEVER HAPPENED!!!!! THANK U ALL FOR STICKING AROUND FOR THIS HEALING JOURNEY!!!! 🫶😁

[anxious-copper-wp]

I THINK ILL WRITE A DIEGO HARGREEVES FANFIC WITH BRENNA D’AMICO AS THE FACE CLAIM 🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔

(Which has the same scenario thingy as my last post with Lila bringing Stanley.)

[mattmurdocksthighs]

OCs + THEIR LOVE INTERESTS

FROM THE WILLOW ACADEMY [OC MASTERLIST]

charlotte rutherford + diego hargreeves

margot rutherford + viktor hargreeves

[ballerinarina]

LOVE ON SUBWAYS AND TAGETES

FIVE HARGREEVES X Fem!OC

Synopsis: On Christmas, Five and Lila manage to return to their timeline after seven years of living together, lost. Izabela notices that something is strange, but it is only when Diego and Five engage in a discussion with confessions that she realizes that she has been betrayed. While everyone heads to the van to prevent the end of the world, Izabela asks for a few minutes alone with Five to settle things, dot the i's and cross the t's; Word Count: 3.2k Tags: spoilers, angst, cheating, fluff, slightly canon divergence (but Lila x Five/end of S4 still happened)

Note: It's been years since I tried to write something (and I never tried to do it in English before), but I hope it worked out! You can listen to the FANFIC PLAYLIST HERE and here you can read about my OC, but it's perfectly enjoyable to read it knowing nothing about her, or imagining youself in her place! I wrote thinking that they both look ± 20 years old. Please enjoy and tell me what you think! ♡

CLICK TO PORTUGUESE VERSION

Something was off, Izabela could tell as soon as her eyes fell on Five. The boy had never been the really outgoing, smiling or affectionate type, but at that moment he didn't even seem present in Diego's living room. His unstable and lost look, the worried wrinkle on his forehead and a tense and insincere return of affection when Izabela welcomed him into the kitchen with a hug put her on alert.

It had always been easy for her to read him, but a hint of confusion seemed to be beeping in her mind now. Keeping her distance and giving him space — at least until he could organize his own thoughts —Izabela was sitting on the arm of the sofa next to her husband, without touching him, just with her senses attentive and worried as she observed him like an enigma.

A tired sigh escapes her mouth as she foresees that Five's anxious restlessness combined with Luther's comments about the apocalypse could only result in nothing good. It was Christmas Day and, from the bottom of her heart, as unlikely as it was, Izabela was wishing that the end-of-the-world problems had magically resolved themselves — or at least been paused, as the previous moments of tranquility seemed to suggest. Not unexpectedly, they were not, so sure enough: as soon as she gets up and heads to the kitchen, mentally using the excuse of taking the Brazilian mayonnaise salad out of the fridge to get away from the depressing subject, she hears Five's stressed voice picking a fight with his brothers.

Escaping the realization of the apocalypse as an existence in her mind (for the fourth time) was her goal as she grabbed the tray and the dishes, trying to distract herself from Diego and Five's argument. With the kitchen right in the next room, the attempt was naive and failed: Izabela could feel the anxiety rising up her spine. She had never seen her husband so hopeless, but not even for a second found this behavior strange among the others. She herself couldn't take it anymore and, good heavens, she hated loud noises, hated missing Christmas, hated her brothers fighting — even though she wasn't much less temperamental than them —, hated not understanding what was happening to Five, and, most of all, hated the end of the world.

She opened and closed the drawers of that house that wasn't hers on impulse, more as an outlet than really interested in finding cutlery to serve the mayonnaise, when she felt her body freeze at the sound of Diego's voice cutting through the air.

“Is something going on between you two?”

Below her, the sought-after steel spoons and forks gleamed, reflecting her pale face and no longer showed interest in any meal.

“Diego…”

“Holy shit!”

In her ears, Five's silence pierces more than any of those sharp knives could. Refusal is the modus operandi that Izabela's mind immediately activates, only retaining strength amidst the shock to slightly shake her head in denial to herself. She thinks she must have misunderstood, sharpens her ears, holds back her despair. But no.

Five and Lila were having an affair.

To Izabela's anguish, Diego and his wife's voices were the last things she wanted to hear, but they were the ones talking, talking, talking amidst the suffocating silence that settled over the house like a funeral, squeezing her chest and leaving her breathless. Five and Lila were together.

Why? Was that why Five was acting strange? How had she not noticed before? When had she lost her husband? At what point had Five stopped being the person she trusted most in the world? In what world had she stopped being the person he trusted most? Why hadn’t he told her himself? Had she done something wrong?

“Yeah. You think I’m gonna buy that bullshit?”

Not even noticing when it began a state of near hyperventilation, Izabela's breathing only catches when Five's voice finally silences her thoughts:

“She’s telling the truth, all right? We got lost. We couldn’t find our way back.”

“We were searching for seven years, Diego…”

A gasp. No. No, no, no — it is horror what gradually fills every cell of Izabela's body, like blood spreading across a carpet.

Seven years. The pieces fit together almost in slow motion in her head, with her mouth half open, wanting to cry, but unable to emit even a single sob. It is towards the open door that her body turns without even needing an order, but it is her own steps that seem to weigh a thousand tons, and it is on the threshold that she stops once again. Leaning on the doorpost, without the courage to step outside and face her husband. Her husband, from whom she had lost seven whole years.

“We were chased, attacked, shot at…”

Each of Lila's words of explanation numbs her from afar as they settle into her diaphragm like stones. As if 45 years without Five hadn't been enough. As if the imminent end of times wasn't enough. It all sets up a scenario so desperate that it turns all sadness into apathetic disgust on her tongue.

Claire’s interruption comes like a ghost that straightens her posture and wipes away the moisture that escaped as it pooled in her eyes. Pursing the lips in bitterness, the information of Ben’s location is an almost physical reminder to Izabela that, whether she likes it or not, she will have to be part of the Umbrella Academy once again, so repressing all this futile conflict is her only option at the moment.

Swallowing the feelings, however, doesn't take away the agony in her heart and, with a shaky sigh trying to regain her composure, she fails to maintain the cool when her eyes meet the back of Five's figure as she enters the room. More than ever, Izabela wants to be practical, to go prevent the end of the world once and for all while stifling any thoughts about this terrifying situation playing with her head, but she knows she would never be able to win any fight like that. In a mirror of her unconscious distress, she exchanges glances with Klaus, the only one on the couch who noticed her in the corner of the room. "I just need a few minutes. Please." he doesn't need words to understand and, with a certain pity, he doesn't hesitate to stand up and encourage the rest of the family towards the van, distracting them with some Klaus-style comment that Izabela honestly can't process.

Feeling her presence as he had for so many years in his past, Five turns around, meeting Izabela's gaze, who mentally catalogues the worst nausea she has ever been condemned to feel when looking at her husband and wondering if she finds a stranger there. The eyes trying not to run over every detail of that face only now notice how much sadder and tired it seems compared to the last time she outlined his features. The silence traps them in a trance in which she finds herself unable to think of anything to say, until she hears the living room door slam, looking away at it and noticing that it was closed. The boy sighs and purses his lips; they were alone.

“I’m so sorry.”

“Is it true? Everything Lila said?” going back to stare at him, the words slip through her mouth, almost like an escape “Did I miss seven years of you?”

“All this time I tried to come back, Izabela…”

A quick shake of her head, Izabela crosses her arms in a tic. What he tries to justify, with such a cautious voice, had never been the question for her.

“I believe you.” pause “And… even if it’s not true, Five. It’s been seven years.”

“Yeah.”

That wasn't the tightness in her chest. She knows Five well, she knows her brother and husband well, and knows how he had spent decades trying to return to his family before. Even if, at any time in these seven years, he had hesitated, Izabela would never have the arrogance to judge his willpower in the face of emptiness. No, her cholera is another. Trying to keep her voice serious, she feels that what she wants is not to fight, that unlike her brother Diego, her anger is not against Five but against everything in essence. She finds herself unable to rid herself of a deep desire to slit her throat, she bites her lip.

“Do you love her?”

“Bela…”

“Please.”

After so many years of the tradition of emotional constipation that has branched out in the family with half-truths and poorly spoken subjects, when Five holds his wife's gaze, he already knows that she would not accept him doing the same thing that Lila did to Diego. Avoiding the subject is the easiest thing to do, but Izabela, so emotional, has also always been the most logical Hargreeves in dealing with emotion, so he knows very well that she, while staring at his green irises so dejected and hesitant, prays for an honest answer.

“I do. I love her a lot, Bela.”

It is no less painful to hear what she already imagined she would hear: the mind seems to be in standby mode, slowly assimilating what so quickly pierced her heart. Trying hard to accept the new reality rationally, the only disturbance on her face is her eyebrows furrowing for just a second, struggling to suppress the urge to cry that rises in her throat, her gaze scanning the wall in the background and then turning back down.

“So you don’t love me anymore?”

Five perceives more of a statement than a question. He opens his mouth to try to answer, but then closes it, his face saddened and his voice not found before himself. It is when she does not hear a response that the so-called new reality hits Izabela, surrounding her in fear, making her look at him with a neutral voice and expression contrasting with her trembling pupils.

“Five… you don’t love me anymore?”

“That’s not fair to you…”

“No… Look.” her voice is dually firm, but by a thread, shivering him “Don't lie, but don't let me die without having that answer.”

If before the tension between the two could be described as funereal, it becomes even more so. The prospect of an imminent death coming out of Izabela's mouth is so strange to Five's ears that it hurts as if he were the one who lost seven years of his wife. Even in the midst of all the daily hopelessness in her life, when finding herself facing the end of times Izabela used to at least pretend to have faith. The lack of such works as a disillusionment for him. Despite having lost his own a few years ago, he only embodies this in himself when he realizes that not even Izabela thinks it is worth believing that she will have another chance to say what was not said.

“I couldn't.” the answer simply comes out of him due to the disturbance of perception “I couldn't stop loving you, even if it were a centenary, Bella. I've never stopped thinking about you, not for a single minute of these seven years.” Five shakes his head, lowering it, scared to finally verbalize anything at all about the subject, especially to the person he was most afraid of doing. He barely feels room to hate how he stutters, lost like just a boy. How he hesitates. “But… when…. when my heart started loving Lila… I had so much fear of coming back to you, precisely because not even for a moment I stopped loving you too.” his cheeks begin to get wet with the tears that throughout his life he has always repressed, but that only ever escaped in the presence of the girl in front of him “Coming back to you meant concretize it, and that's not fair to you, you... you know I'd rather rip my heart out with my own hands than hurt you. But I couldn't help myself…”

His greenish eyes, now so moist, return to Izabela and are surprised to notice what Five identifies as tenderness amidst the restrained and painful crying that accompanied his. Not that his wife wasn't towards him the most tender human being he had ever had the fortune to live with, but precisely because he had failed her so much, he knew he deserved her anger. What he receives, however, is the anguish in his chest intensifying when Izabela approaches and puts her forehead to his, cupping Five's cheeks in her hands and sighing a lament:

“Please. Tell me you still wanna stay with me.”

Silence, he gasps in agony.

“I don’t mind, Five.” Izabela feels as if she is short of breath, so much she longs for confirmation of her request. Any attempted neutrality was lost when the words of the husband, who's always so strong, made it clear how exhausted he seemed in the face of his own feelings. Five had been her weak point for as long as she could remember, and, knowing every comma of what once shaped his pain, being able to see it now makes her desperate, above all and any problem. “I lost seven years of you, Five, I… I almost lost you forever… Please. Maybe the world will end today, but if it doesn’t… Stay with me.

It shouldn’t be Izabela the one asking for anything in this scenario. But if Five still loves her — and, God, she can see that he does —, she finds herself willing to fight the feeling of humiliation tingling in every part of her body. More than anyone, she knows how much the boy believes in his core that he doesn’t deserve any mercy or love as payment for his countless past sins. Izabela sees his affliction before her and, as she has done all her life, she could never give up on her husband like that. He gasps with his brows furrowed, trying to hold back his tears, when a sudden flash illuminates the girl’s mind, that finally sees the edge of the inevitable abyss in which she finds herself.

“Even if… even if you stay with her too… Just… don’t leave me…”

Such insensate words being uttered set up the exact moment when Five breaks, nodding his head in despair and wrapping Izabela's waist in a frightening fragility — which she herself would never have expected to witness in him on a day and in a mood like the one they were experiencing —, marking the beginning of a salty, bereft and hasty kiss, with neither having any idea on who did it.

The bodies of each spouse, once accustomed to kissing for hours on end, this time witnessed an emotional suffocation that soon left them short of breath. Five finds his reason trapped in Izabela's incongruity, who even facing a scenario like the apocalypse and the most logical devastation of what she should feel for him, still thinks and utters such an altruistic and utopian possibility. It is uncomfortable. Hiding his wet face in the girl's shoulder, he hugs her tightly and she immediately clings to him, wrapping her arms around his nape and trying to find in the fingers that intertwine in his locks any physical difference that would mark the years that have passed in him.

“I shouldn't do this to you.”

“No. No. Five.”

“Izabela, it's not fair” he tries to repeat it for the third time, but she interrupts him and repeats herself too:

“And I don’t mind. Damn, Five... You survived. You came back to me. And if loving her kept you alive... That’s… that’s okay with me.” If Izabela is honest with herself, she admits how every word she utters never fails to sound absurd to her. Jealous since she was a child, she deeply hates finding herself in this scenario and, yes, she wants to at least scream in rage. The truth, however, is still intrinsic to every sentence she is saying, no matter how strange it may sound to herself. Faced with this situation, greater than all the rage she feels is the memory of her husband alone for 45 years with the only trace of what he believed to be love coming from deliriums about a broken mannequin — this is what makes her sicker than any unusual situation of infidelity. The realization that Five saw himself once again in front of the horror that has endured his entire life fades any absurdity in the impulsive words she has been speaking, because it is replaced with the relief that at least this time he was not alone. He, in reflex, hugs her tighter, fearing this being a lie. It is with the man she loves most so fragile in her arms that she reaches the certainty that, if in order to survive in the midst of despondment, Five needed to find love — human, real —, her love for him can indeed overcome any other feeling she may feel in the face of it. Izabela pulls away from the hug, connecting her eyes with his and guiding her hand from his hair to his cheek, in a sweet caress accompanied by the melancholy of a weak smile. “When we save the world… Tell me about her. Tell me about you both.” in immediate reaction he frowns, a slight protest as if he assumes that this would only hurt her, but she continues “Five, I love your heart. And this… is part of it now… Let me know. We'll find a way.”

Five hesitates. Izabela is very good to him, always has been. He sees in the affectionate look she gives him the pain his wife is feeling, but he also sees how genuine she is in everything she says. The suffocating dilemma makes him want to die, hating to cause such displeasure to someone he loves so much, but it also makes him wonder if he has gone mad and is just trapped in a dream, so Kafkaesque was the dread he has felt of this moment for the last few years. He kisses her, briefly, leaning in with a sigh and praying in gratitude before joining their foreheads, nodding in agreement, agonized.

“Fuck, I missed you so much…”

“Good to have you back, Five.”

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

Like the misfortune of flowers burning in a fire, Izabela, however, never gets to have Five lying with his head on her lap in a moment of affection, reciting about how much he loved her even from a distance. She also doesn't hear her husband's cautious voice telling her about the dangers that left his life hanging by a thread countless times during those years away, or about the unplanned feelings he experienced. She never had to get used to how their marriage would adapt when he sorted out his pending love with Lila, because such plans never came to fruition, just like the ones to sort out with his brother Diego.

The existence of this love, — of these loves — intertwined by the knots that constituted its universe, was eternally erased in two marigolds that, I like to believe, only survived the rebirth, the wind and the storm due to the hope and lull watered shortly before the end on the vestige of cherish that fought in the hearts of the two lovers.

Five and Izabela Hargreeves.

N/A: What do you think? I'd love to read your opinion!

[anaargent]

Ok but like... Five in Harry Potter PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE i know it's very unlikely but like just imagine him and his siblings in Harry Potter, with reader please 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

You caught my favorite hyperfocuses, I wrote something simple, but I would like to go into more depth in the future.

FIVE HARGREEVES X READER

You were sitting in the shade of a large willow tree, making the most of the small moment of respite with the Hargreeves siblings. You weren’t sure when or how you had gotten pulled into their mess, but you were more than grateful for it. You smiled, watching Klaus and Ben at the edge of the lake playing with a frog, levitating it back and forth.

“This is disgusting, you idiots.” Allison threw the frog away as she pulled Viktor, who was resting his feet in the icy water, away from the mischievous siblings. “Will we have to put up with this until we grow up?”

“Don’t be so optimistic, we’ll have to live with them until the grave,” Viktor said, smiling, as he hugged his sister, who was whimpering in frustration.

Not far away, Diego and Luther were in the act of interacting with what you charitably called Luego’s fan club, a medium-sized group of girls and a few boys, who seemed enchanted by the Gryffindor bigwigs. They posed and flexed their muscles while their fans sighed in amazement "this is all natural babe, you can squeeze it" Luther said showing his biceps.

It was a funny fact, as much as the grumpy old Reginald Hargreeves was a perfect example of a Slytherin, almost all of his children went to different houses. Viktor and Ben went to Hufflepuff, they were kind souls, usually the first to offer help to their brothers and friends. Diego and Luther went to Gryffindor, the hat barely touched their heads, it was quite obvious to you that the two hotheads went to the house of the impulsive and courageous. Klaus was a stranger, after about ten minutes the hat left him in Ravenclaw, along with you to your great pleasure, there was never a dull moment with someone like Klaus around. Allison had gone to Slytherin, always standing out in the class, the girl was a perfect example of talent and discipline mixed with a rebellious and independent spirit. Finally… "There you are, I've been looking for you everywhere" Five says, pulling you out of your contemplative moment, shoving a chocolate cupcake into your hand and plopping down on the grass next to you "What are you doing here alone? Don't tell me you finally realized I'm the best of them and now you just want to hang out with me" he smirks as he looks at you.

You just laugh, shaking your head "If you were any bigger your ego would fill the common room, you know that, right?" Then you stop for a moment and take in the view. Five was still wearing his Quidditch uniform, just like you, his moss green t-shirt was worn and wet from intense training, his hair was a messy wave of strands slightly damp with sweat, giving him a wild look, which perfectly matched the playful and challenging eyes of its owner.

You sighed and shook your head, not wanting to be caught dissecting every part of Five, he already had a lot of self-confidence.

"Just watching?" Five smiles, leaning closer, his breathing still labored from the tiring workout, the light puffs of air hitting your cheeks.

You contemplate for a moment, pouting as you bite into the cupcake, Five's eyes darting between your eyes and lips, he wasn't good at disguising his intentions, maybe he wasn't even trying to "wanna taste?"

Five looks at you hopefully, his mind racing with the question - what were you trying to insinuate? "I will."

You move closer to him, your shoulders touching under the cool grass, the light wind carrying Five's scent from him and intoxicating you with the mix of moss, parchment, sweat and something that was only his. Then you place the cupcake on your parted lips and quickly stand up laughing and heading over to where Klaus and Ben were still playing with floating things "Forget this loser, come here and levitate worms on Allison" Ben waves with a cute smile at you.

"We're not done here yet, sweetie, I'll see you at the Quidditch game this Saturday," you hear Five shout in the distance, and you fight the blush that rises to your cheeks.

[mozart-in-a-gokart]

My Thoughts On How Five Could Have Had A Romance In Season 4 That Doesn’t Involve His Siblings Or Lila

You guys voted for it so…

Here it is! So far it’s been an overwhelming majority telling me to share so here you go! There’s only two ways IMO that the introduction and execution of giving Five a love interest could have been done well.

I’ve never taken a screen writing class and this all may sound very fanfictiony. For that I am sorry. This is the first time I’ve actually posted a full rundown of a character that I’ve created online for people to read about, consider, and discuss with me! Also This post is so VERY long. I MEAN IT. I will not make you scroll through it if you aren’t interested! More below!

You can scroll down if you don’t wanna read any of the introductory info. It makes more sense if you do though. Your life though man! I’ll have it separated from the actual story bits!

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!Start of Introductory Information!

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Basic Character Information

I have given both love interests neutral names and tried to be as gender neutral with how I’m writing this as possible.

I am fully FOR the idea of Five being an Ace or Aroace icon. I adore his character and fully embrace all variations of him. (That being said I wish I had the ability to shove the home wrecker version of him we received in season 4 underwater and hold him there until I see the bubbles stop.)

Both of these options for love interests can and are intended to be open to being ace or non-ace regardless. These are just ideas that can be tweaked!

Also If you all like these I am debating writing either of the options into a few one shots? However, If you all hate them I won’t. (If you like anything you read in here I fully encourage you to use bits of it if you like the ideas. I love seeing people write stories and come up with their own versions. You all inspire me and helped inspire these characters!)

Both these versions of love interests would have bits of common background.

Both of these variants would start off as someone that he is established to work with at the CIA. (These organizations do not just let people do whatever they want whenever and with whomever they want.) They could have written it similar to season one with Diegos relationships. How Diego had this established life in an organization that he left. Diego established ties and interpersonal relationships with his coworkers which is not out of the norm. Acquaintances, Friends, rivals. All normal things that could develop between Five and a coworker similar in age to his physical body over the course of a SIX YEAR PERIOD.

Both of them will always take Five at his word. Neither variant of love interest would distrust him. Both know he’s not one to beat around the bush. If he says something he means it. Five is a blunt character regardless of how tired of all the work he’s doing all the time. This is an established character trait of his. The love interest would be USED to how BLUNT he is.

To Establish Age And Timeline: Five is stated to be in a 13 year old body in season 1 and that ends in April. Seasons 2 and 3 happen over the course of a few weeks for him. Then season 4 happens and he’s about 19 physically. I’m pushing season 4 so it’s more like a 7 or 8 year time-skip instead. Having Five be in a relationship like this ace or not at physically 19 is just odd for me. It feels wrong. So in order to make a romance work in this situation you’d need to push it further down the timeline. Make Fives physical age 20 or 21. It makes the audience feel better about seeing him involved with someone, Ace Or No Ace, and it allows for more wiggle room when they explain he’s now working for a government agency. People would be more inclined to believe he’s allowed to work for the government because he’s at the very least physically an adult man now. (Aiden Gallagher is 20 years old so him actually playing a 20-21 year old Five is not out of reach) — With that in mind both love interests would be the same physical age as Five and were recruited to the CIA because they were prodigies in their respective fields, but they went through training and recruitment with Five during the 7-8 year period we don’t get to see during the start of season 4.

This bullet is just so you understand some of the choices I make later in my run downs: Five has always just kind of done what he wants and gone where he wants so I think there’s a great opportunity for a running gag or even just a fun plot point about how in order to keep tabs on Five both love interests have their own special way of tracking him. (Explanations further below)

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!End Of Introductory Information!

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The Actual Characters

1—: Optimistic Opposite Partner : his handler researcher he always calls, personable, soft, NEEDS approval, and a prodigy

For this post let’s refer to Optimistic Opposite Partner as, Ash

2— Pragmatic Mirror Partner : his work partner, stubborn, practical , dry, Hot headed, and always left out

For this post we’ll refer to Pragmatic Mirror Partner as, Morgan

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Both Ash and Morgan would highlight different aspects of Five’s character in, at least from my point of view, very delightful ways. I think characters like these would be a great addition to the story if we got more episodes to insert them and add more interactions with All of The Umbrellas. For now however I will only be inserting them into the story that we got so there’s less interaction with the whole Hargreeves family. I will however do what we all know is right and disregard the cannon ending. I will be writing this under the assumption that the show would end how I detailed in my previous post where I detailed how I thought season 4 should have ended. That post can be found HERE.

Another Note: I’m not writing fully fleshed stories just bulleted versions of arcs and scenes I believe would have been better than what we got. Specifically and mostly following the “lost in the subways among the timelines” bit.

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Main Key Ash:

Five - Blue Text

Ash - White Text

Diego — Green Text

Lila — Pink Text

Luther — Orange Text

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THIS IS WHERE THE ACTUAL STORY BITS START

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Ash

They are the cute and fun character that eventually gets pushed a little too far.

They are the person Five is calling at the CIA every time he needs background research done. And I mean every single time.

When you think of this dynamic think Varric and Zhu Li From LOK mixed with a dash of Garcia and Morgan from criminal minds. Ladybug And Maria from Bullet Train.

The first time we see them is when he gets out of the meeting with his boss in that first episode. Maybe Give goes to his office and there they are set up across from him with a quirked eye brow.

“So how’d it go? Wait let me guess? Not well?”

“I really don’t need this from you right now Ash.”

“Too bad.”

“You know what I really need is—“ he stops as the camera focuses on a to go cup of coffee steaming on his desk already.

“Why did you—“

Ash gets up “I figured you’d need it. You got a party to get to. Lots of screaming kids.” They wave as they walk out the door. “If I were you I’d chug it! Have a good night!”

We see five irritated beyond belief silently indicate that Ash has a point, pick up the cup and drink from it with no hesitation. In one scene we establish that at the very least Ash knows Five very well and Five seems to trust Ash because he without hesitation accepts the coffee and takes the advice to chug it.

Ash Tracks him through his phone. He has a government issued one. It needs to be used like this because as we saw in the show in other seasons, Five just goes where he wants. He did that when he had powers. He does it now. As his research assistant THATS EXTREMELY FRUSTRATING. A scene that could happen is

“I can’t believe you’re in ‘New Grumpson right now.”

“I told you to stop tracking me.”

“How else am I supposed keep tabs on you Five? You never tell me where you’re going. What am I gonna do when you need back up? Just throw a dart at a map and hope I’m right?”

“Look can you just send me the file I need”

“I can’t just fax it anywhere it’s classified.”

“It’ll be fine just—“

“Too late I’m already here.”

Five gritting his teeth and looking up to see them getting out of a car waving the file at him. His siblings are there and it’s amazing for them and us as the audience to watch Fove unravel in front of us. We feel like an older sibling watching him be pushed around by someone he can’t retaliate against. Five shakes his head and just takes the file from them. If done right this interaction could be something that feels like it happens every single mission he goes on at some point.

It’s obvious to everyone else that this person cares about Five deeply already, but Five just kind of takes them for granted. He doesn’t not care about them. He just doesn’t realize how much he relies on them. This is communicated nonverbally through the show in the CIA building. (Ex. Like when he’s in the office and in the middle of explaining something and walking Ash is anticipating and handing him things to help him make his point before he realizes he’s going to need them. They’re his bubbly little shadow at the office. There could even be a scene showing this if it wasn’t 6 episodes and 10 instead. At some point Five is at the office and he reaches to his side or in front of him and he doesn’t even realize there’s nobody there with him. Like there’s a shot of their usual desk in the corner exactly as it was the previous scene when Ash left it. They aren’t here today and they are always here. It throws him off. We get to see him be a little taken aback by it.

Ash gets pulled into the Cleanse mess because they bring him a file in the Christmas town and get caught up in the gun fight.

Five tries to blink them out of the fight and they both end up in the subway.

Personally I like the idea of Five getting on the train and the door closing before Ash can get on. The train leaves and Ash tries to run after the train but is too cautious to try following the tracks. They don’t know how to leave the station and they don’t wanna abandon Five, so they’re just kind of stuck there. They walk around the platform for a few minutes and end up sitting on the bench and just as they do the train rolls back into the station. Five walks off the train having done what he does in cannon, albeit a little more unnerved. In the other timeline he gets off the train at the next station and leaves the platform. He discovers it’s an alternate timeline. He gets back on the train and goes back and gets off the train in front of Ash. He’s been gone for ten minutes almost but it was only 5 minutes or so For Ash. Ash sprints at him. Five is surprised to be hugged by Ash and hugs them back for a second before they quickly lets go and hold each other at arms length purposefully. Five doesn’t even let them speak. He just cuts in before Ash can and tells them how its alternate timelines. At this point there’s no use in hiding it from Ash and they’re here in the subway with him so they ought to know.

Ash is more spiritual and fate oriented as a character. They take Fives abilities to blink specifically to the subway as a sign of it being important. Lila still convinces Five to check out the subway again and they do. He encounters himself. They both come back, and Ash is the one whose been looking into The Jennifer Incident File for Five. He meets them at the office and they fill him in on the file.

Ash is the one who gets him to really think about Ben before he goes to Reginald’s mansion. They comment on the file explaining

“This is a somewhat biased account, I’ll give you that. It’s the guys you were fighting against so there’s always gonna be an amount of “he said she said”. But the guy who wrote this seems to be blunt as hell. Very factual presentation of everything. No punches pulled about how badly he fought or how his team failed to achieve goals.”

“What are you saying?”

“What I’m saying is… History is written by the winners Five. I don’t know your dad well. Hell I don’t know him at all, but I gotta ask… Is he the kinda man who would lie about this stuff? Is he the kind of man you could trust to tell you how you actually won? What do you remember?”

Five squints at them. “Nothing… I wasn’t there… but it’s an interesting thought.” He gets up and walks around to Ash’s desk.

“I try.” Five starts to leave and ash calls out after him “I’ll let you know if anything develops on this end.”

Five waves the copy of the File at them in aknowledgement and disappears out of the office door

Ash comes out with them to the Alpaca farm when they get the call about it. They’re standing with Five And Lila when she tries to convince Five to go back to the subway again. Five agrees he’ll go and take a look but not with her. This irritates Lila. Ash tries to level with Lila and this annoys her. She snaps that it’s none of Ash’s business and to stay out of it. Lila snapping at Ash is Five’s cut off. He tells Lila she isn’t coming with him to the subway because of her attitude right now. She’s acting way too impulsively right now and he’s not going to risk that. She needs to take a breath go regroup with Diego and Luther. Keep tabs on them. Lila is irritated by this and storms away. (This may be out of character for her but I truly have never understood Lila as well as other characters. I’m so sorry.)

Ash asks if they can come with. Five is about to ask them if they’re serious? He just denied Lila why would he bring Ash? Ash says that they’re just curious about this all honestly. Plus it’s always better to bring someone to watch your back. Five reluctantly agrees because Ash is right. Plus they’ve kept a very level head through all this. If something happens he can just bring them home. It’ll be fine.

So he brings Ash with on that second run to investigate and everything with the sparrow academy timeline happens.

Then as we know they both end up getting stuck.

They roll past their stop.

“Five? Wasn’t that our—“

“Stop? Yes. Yes it was.”

The montage of what happens down there wouldn’t really be a montage it would be an entire episode or at the very least half of an episode dedicated to following them over the course of these six years. (If it was a montage though, the song I feel like that would be amazing in vibe and fit would be “You’re Dead” By Norma Tanega)

We would get a lot more scenes above the subway when they’re looking for supplies and gathering information. Fighting things that are on the surface in these other timelines.

This version of Five is one who is coming at the fact he’s stuck in a never ending nightmare universe like this again as if it’s a personal slight against him. Like of course, of fucking course it happens to him again. OF COURSE. When his family needs him this happens AGAIN. (It’s a very self centered way of looking at it. The fact Ash is there and also dealing with this is not even on his radar at first. Ash's feelings about this don’t even register to him until later because as a defense mechanism he’s automatically slipped back into ‘survival apocalypse’ mode. ‘One problem at a time’ mode. ‘This physical problem in front of my face is what I’m focusing on’ mode. we can tell when he finally picks up on Ash's feelings about being stuck here but he doesn’t say anything to them about it. His character has never been good at approaching people gently and while they’re in survival mode gently isn’t really an option.

Ash is obviously so scared about the fact that they’re trapped there and don’t know how to get home. They just don’t want to show it. They put on a brave face the whole time and we watch it crack.

Ash can seem to sense Five’s irritation and just slips into doing what they do best. Following Fives lead.

So Five makes a plan. They are both agents for the CIA so they both should be able to survive out here. They both spend months staring at the map terminal and physical map, trying to decode it and it gets more and more frustrating for five. But Ash is trying their best to stay optimistic on purpose. You can tell it’s somewhat forced but still somewhat genuine.

Ash is also doing what they do best. Assisting Five. But at the beginning it seems like it’s much more difficult. Apocalypses and time travel aren’t anything they trained for. Plus their survival training was minimal since they joined the CIA as an analyst not a field agent. They aren’t sure what Five needs. There are moments we see Five hold out his hand out of habit and Ash just stares. They don’t know what he needs and it’s unsettling for both of them. Five realizes he has to reach Ash what they need to do out here and you can tell it’s irritating to him.

A full year passes and Ash's optimism seems to fade but they’re getting better at knowing what needs to be done to survive in the subway. They get better at anticipating things that are needed. When they talk Ash's smile doesn’t seem to reach their eyes as much. Five doesn’t notice this still. Five always seems slightly annoyed that Ash is always so upbeat.

Year two you can tell the smile isn’t barely real at all but Ash still pokes fun at five along the way. Ash is the one trying to keep them both feeling human. They have to force Five to do things like wash clothes, eat, sleep, comb his hair. Five is visibly irritated by it. He doesn’t want to be dragged away from the problem but he always begrudgingly acknowledges that Ash is right.

It’s around the middle of year 3 that they both break. Ash offers to help five shave (similar to how Lila does in the show) because he’s doing a god awful job of it. He hasn’t had to do upkeep like this since the first apocalypse and even then he just let his beard grow out then. We see Ash in the “mirror” Five is using to shave and even he can tell the smile is so forced it hurts to look at. Five glares at them and breaks his silence. He snaps at the about how shaving isn’t fucking important. Getting back home is important. At least when he was alone before he didn’t have to worry about some chipper chipmunk of a person following him around like a lost puppy. He berates them about the fact that they’re so chipper all the time and how irritating it is when all he needs to do is work. He Berates them for trying so hard at it. Why won’t they just admit that this all sucks. It’s awful. He wants Ash to get mad. He wants Ash to blame him. Ash needs to blame him. He implies that Ash doesn’t seem to care at all about the fact that they’re stuck here and that’s when Ash snaps back.

Ash isn’t smiling anymore. They go off at five about how much they care and how selfish Five has been. They know this isn’t a game. They understand the stakes. Theyre trying so fucking hard he has no idea. They’re just trying to keep it together because of they don’t they’re gonna go insane. (Essentially they lose it at him and tell him how much of a selfish prick he’s being.)

The two end up screaming back and forth at each other all sorts of things that devolve into nothing insults about little things that have annoyed them about each other (we as an audience get an insight into how well these two really know each other with how insanely specific some of the stuff is)

“At least I don’t gag when I skin a rabbit!”

“Oh I’m sorry apocalypse boy? Does my lack of enthusiasm towards skinning small animals upset you? I’m so so sorry you dad never let you have a pet rabbit! But some of us still—“

“Yeah, yeah, I remember your pet bunny. You’ve only mentioned sir pumpernickel 300 times. Im sorry you used to love one 👏🏻but 👏🏻we 👏🏻have 👏🏻to 👏🏻eat👏🏻this 👏🏻one 👏🏻to 👏🏻live👏🏻 so stop gagging and get it done.”

Ash then says something along the lines of “ You know? You talk about your ‘dad’ and you pretend you’re nothing like him, but you act exactly the same. Pompous and arrogant. So wrapped up in your need to stop the apocalypse and ‘save your family’ that you don’t give a shit who you hurt to do it!”

With that Ash storms off out of the station to whatever world they’ve stopped in.

Five is stunned by what they’ve said and lets them go still half shaven.

He turns back and tries to keep shaving and after a few minutes he realizes what he’s said to Ash.

He stops shaving and washes his face off. He goes up after them. He finds them washing clothes in the river he sits next to them.

Five helps them finish washing clothes. It’s silent the whole time. They bring clothes back to the station he offers Ash the barber knife. It’s an olive branch. Ash takes it.

We then get the shaving scene but it’s Ash and Five. The scene is silent save for the scraping of blade against skin. Then Five speaks.

“I’m sorry.” A pause. “For saying all of that and for treating you like—.”

“It’s okay. Stop talking, or I’ll end up cutting you.” More quiet scraping.

Five waits til Ash is finished shaving him and wiping off the knife before he speaks again. He says he’ll do better.

“Yes, yes you will.” There’s another pause “or else I’ll only shave half your face next time.”

This is the first time Five cracks a genuine smile in YEARS. Ash smiles back. There’s a renewed sense of understanding. A silent deal is struck essentially. Be kinder to each other in this.

The next two years we get scenes that are more gentle between the two very similar to the ones we get in the actual show. Five is more open to teaching Ash things about the worse parts of hardcore survival. Which in turn helps Ash feel more useful and lightens the load on Five. He can trust them to handle themselves more.

We watch them Slowly moving closer too each other over the course of the train rides. Falling asleep with heads on shoulders. Cooking for one another. Interspersed with scenes of them just entertaining themselves with the other. Reading from books they find in these universes. Playing chess together, cutting hair, sewing up cuts. Light Play fighting in the rivers they wash clothes in eventually leading to the sixth year five months two days conversation.

It happens just after a scene where we watch Ash set Fives Broken leg.

That’s RIGHT the reason they end up in the green house is a legitimate reason in this one.

Five loses his footing hunting in a previous scene and falls down a hill. He blinks and lands haphazardly on rubble in the subway startling Ash who has to immediately jump into action and help.

Ash after setting and wrapping Fives leg tells him that he needs to rest. They have to settle somewhere and let his leg heal. Five doesn’t want to stop but has to concede that Ash is right. Ash starts packing up the camp and they brainstorm where would be the safest place to rest. Five brings up the greenhouse.

“The one with strawberries and that fun little office room?”

Five nods. “It was pretty clean and there was a desk there. I can still work on figuring out this subway while I’m bedridden…”

Ash rolls their eyes at him. “Like you’ll actually stay in bed once I make you a set of crutches.”

Five glares at them as they finish packing things up.

“Don’t be such a baby. It’ll only be for a few months till you can put weight on it. We aren’t giving up.”

And here’s the big change from cannon. THEY DONT GIVE UP.

They do rest there. Five recuperates there. He’s the one messing rolling about in a chair scribbling things down in a notebook while he messes the strawberries in the greenhouse. Ash goes Hunting instead.

They do have their cute little cottage core moments but they don’t give up. And it’s not in the green house that the strawberry throwing happens. It’s a basket of clothes that Ash brings in while five is WRITING IN THE JOURNAL trying to decipher the glyphs from the subway.

Ash throws socks at five instead of food. That conversation about winter happens and Ash DOES FALL but it’s into the handmade wheelchair that Five has been using while healing.

Five is always holding a notebook in his hands. I cannot emphasize enough HE IS STILL WORKING TO FIND HIS FAMILY.

THATS when the kiss moment happens.

“Was that not okay? I’m sorry. I know this isn’t the time—“

Five cuts them off with a kiss again and that’s answer enough.

They don’t ask if it’s weird because ITS NOT. They are two people with and established back and forth coming together in this moment.

Five finds the journal on one of his first trips out since his leg has healed enough to walk freely. The dinner is an anniversary dinner but more so to celebrate his leg healing. He shows it to Ash IMMEDIATELY. There is no fear of returning and losing them to someone because Ash is not married to his brother. 👀

Ash and Five end up staying in that greenhouse together while they make sure the journal is legit and figure it out together for a few days.

They finally figure out how to get home using it.

They wait a week to gather supplies to help them to continue on in case the journal screws them over and they got it wrong

Before they leave green house they have one last candle lit dinner and say good bye to it. They leave it all set up and all their things strewn about. Because the things don’t matter they’re going home together and there’s no question of will this last after they’re home because they don’t need to question it. Of course they are. It’s the same as Diego and Lila in season 2 and 3. There’s no questioning it.

They will stay together.

We get a fun scene at Lila and Diego’s house with the whole family talking about everything but Klaus is staring at Five and Ash. He is looking them up and down because they aren’t wearing suit jackets and pants anymore. They’re both in casual. Five is wearing his sweater vest and Ash is wearing jeans and a flannel. Diego calls it out.

“What is this then? No offense to, Ash, right? But why’re you here?”

“I vaguely recall asking you the same question about lila back in 63.”

“Lila’s different”

Lila has picked up on what five has indicated and his body language

“Not sure how different the situation is Di.”

This is when everyone on the couch picks up on it. Allison and Klaus immediately react silently. Klaus open mouthed impress and shock Allison bewildered looking at Ash for confirmation. Ash maybe makes eye contact with Allison and looks away a little embarrassed.

Diego looks at Lila confused “what do you— wait— You’re!” Diego accusatorially pointing a finger at Five. “Since when?!”

“My love life isn’t important right now Diego”

Only when Five says this does Luther pick up on it. He’s got a look of bewildered awe on his face and He looks right at Ash and addresses them.

“Wait, you two are dating?”

Klaus and Allison gag on their water like we got in cannon.

Ash looks like they truly have no idea what to say and five holds the bridge of his nose.

“Really not important right now. Can we get back to what’s important? Like the apocalypse? namely Stopping it?”

They continue their regular conversation about stopping the apocalypse

All of them leave and pretty much everything that happens leading up to my version of the “Cleanse” happens

These next bullets happen in the universe where my version of the ending is cannon once again you can read it here.

They have a meaningful moment on the subway after they’re all speeding away we get him asking them if they regret knowing him. Knowing what was gonna happen. Ash looks at him funny then says they could never.

“Besides. If we do get to live whole new lives… that means you still owe me all the years that we would’ve gotten in this one. Also a pet rabbit. You owe me a pet rabbit too.”

Five laughs “Of course.”

Five is holding them closely when the train hits the reset point.

The next we see them both is when the I detailed as his wife in the polkadot blouse comes walking into the classroom. Now Fives spouse in the true timeline, full name Asher Delores Murphy (Male/Female/ Or Nonbinary) Also PHD is wearing dress pants and a polkadot button up shirt

Maybe in the scene where they’re gathered around a tv in the physics building we see a rabbit cage in the corner. Five got them their rabbit that he owed them.

That’s Ash character arc. Five never stops looking and he falls in love with a character who is always willing and able to meet him where he’s at. Match his energy. Understand him without having to say anything to him. Someone we get to watch learn and teach Five to not shoulder a burden alone. Someone who carries the weight of the world alongside him, while simultaneously bringing out the human side of him that we as the audience rarely get from him.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Morgan is Different. Morgan is more one sided rivalry to realization that it was actually just tension all along. Fighting with him and being on his side and willing to go down with him in the end.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Main Key Morgan:

Five — Blue Text

Morgan — White Text

Lila — Pink Text

Klaus — Purple Text

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Morgan

They’re one of the CIA’s newest recruits and very similar to Five from season one. Also a prodigy.

Desperate to prove themselves

They don’t understand why Five keeps getting sent out into the field and they’re being denied the opportunity

“We’re the same age! We have the same experience! We’re technically partners! Let ME try for once!”

Five almost seems to pity them at first which absolutely infuriates Morgan

The first time we as an audience are introduced to them, is when they’re the one who comments on Fives lateness instead of the blond bespectacled operative we aren’t even properly introduced to in season 4

Five doesn’t need to have his suit handed to him he already has remembered it and is wearing it walking in the building.

Morgan is leaning against one of the pillars and they are quick to fall in step with five on his way.

“You’re late.”

“I am aware.”

“If you were aware, you wouldn’t have been late. Do you even know how to read a clock?”

“If anyone is gonna lecture anyone about time it’s me. I’m certain I know quite a bit more about how time works than you do Morgan.”

“Oh really? That’s interesting because last I checked, when you decide on a time to meet and a person gets there after that arranged meeting time, it means they’re late. That’s how time works.”

Five just sighs his defeated sigh and ignores them

He used to deal with worse from his siblings when they were younger. He’s completely fine with this. it’s almost welcomed by five it’s nostalgic for him in a way(the fact he’s never completely phased by the jabs you can tell is infuriating to Morgan)

At the last minute Morgan stops Five before he opens the office door and makes five look at them

Five has been wearing that gross mustache the whole time they’ve been talking

Morgan rips the mustache off Fives face and Five recoils

Morgan makes a quip about the mustache before pushing open the door and five walks in with them scowling

There could be a small bit where Morgan could also be suspicious of Five not checking in when his brother is kidnapped

Morgan is also in the room when Five blinks for the first time in eight years in their shared office.

We can tell what Morgan’s space and what’s fives space. Five’s is overly organized with books of mathematics strewn about and a chalk board covered in equations. Morgan’s side is covered in puzzle books. Sudoku, word scramble, decryption puzzle books, anagram puzzle books, books on linguistics, cryptograms. Notebooks with sticky notes just sticking out of every page. Morgan is obviously clever. Curious, a puzzle solver. Needs a challenge.

They just turn around and Fives just gone. They are fucking baffled. They think he walked out in the middle of a conversation. Rude!

Morgan leaves to get something and they come back and Five is falling into the chair bewildered and starts to keel forward.

Morgan is once again baffled. Then their face pass through a few emotions. Starting with irritation then suspicion And finally landing on concern

“I thought you’d left. In the middle of a— Are you alright?”

“No. I don’t think I am…” Five gets up and grabs his jacket and says he’s taking a sick day.

Morgan is absolutely taken aback. “A— You’re? Okay?”

Five ends up doing his thing and driving with his siblings up to New Grumpson

He calls Morgan from the pay phone and has them look into Sy Grossman and Jennifer Grossman

We watch it play out in a vertical split screen.

Morgan gives him the information but you can hear them just before Five hangs up

“There’s no one listed living in New Grumpson under those names Five. Are you gonna—“

“Thanks Morgan. Gotta go”

“Wait! Five! I’m your partner! you can’t just—“

Click.

The audience sees Morgan is slamming the receiver into the dock of the phone over and over again. This happens while the screen transitions Morgan off screen and focus back on Five

Everything that happens in New Grumpson still happens

Five ends up in the subway and comes back

They escape in the van and get into an accident

Five calls again and we get another vertical split screen. This is the call about running the Chrysler and Morgan is sick of this after Five hangs up this time. Instead of lingering on Five we linger on Morgan.

They’ve run the address and they message it to Five but instead of just leaving him to it that first time they meet him and his family at Gene and Jeans apartment.

Five is irritated but Lila doesn’t seem to care and Diego is trying to be cool for Morgan because they’re also from the CIA

Diego leaves and while Morgan is investigating something on the other side of the room Lila asks the blink question and they have that conversation with Morgan in the room.

Morgan doesn’t know what blinking is but it’s something they latch onto because Five can’t do it.

“What is it five? What do you mean by blink? You have to let me in! I can help!”

they’re poking him when Lila says to get back on the horse and grabs Five.

“Don’t!”

All three of them end up in the subway

Morgan is absolutely horrified and nearly throws up

“Oh my god! What did you do?! What is this?! Am I in hell? Is this 9-5 commuter hell?!”

Morgan is visible my freaking out in the background while Five and Lila argue about what she’s just done

Lila doesn’t care she’s just kinda whatever she doesn’t fully work for the CIA like Five does, she’s just doing it to feel alive again , same as Diego wants too. (look at that they’re Diego and Lila are husband and wife and they want the same thing? Who’da thought it?)

They are straight up just going to leave Morgan on the platform as when the tarain pulls into the platform (Morgan is not part of the family yet they are tagging along at this point.)

Morgan doesn’t wanna be left alone so they jump the train with the other two.

“Where you going to leave me there?!”

Simultaneously “You’d’ve been fine.” “Yes.”

“We’d have come back for you…”

“At some point”

“Probably”

Morgan glares at them both and is silent pretty much the whole rest of the trip. Lila cracks a joke at them about their crack about ‘commuter hell’ but Morgan scowls and ignores her

Five comments on how Morgan is taking this remarkably well. Morgan’s response is very curt and the only real response they give for a while

“I work for the CIA. Secrets are what we do. I will ask you more questions about those secrets when I’m no longer trapped in a weird freaky subway with you.”

EXTREME FORESHADOWING.

“You aren’t trapped. Trust me. You’d know it if we were trapped here.”

Everything happens like it did before with the breadcrumbs commentary and being shot at by OG timeline Five

Morgan and Five deal with being shot at like pros and Lila is as she was in the show not the best at it and they all get on the subway. Lila is last this time.

They come back to apartment they blinked out of and learn about the file. from here on out Morgan refuses to leave Five alone.

Morgan comes with to Reginald’s house. They’re there for the conversation about Ben’s death and the mind control.

Five has obviously filled in some details on the way and Morgan is able to deduce details themselves and provide an outside perspective

All of the siblings are a little weirded out by the fact Morgan is there. They ask who Morgan is and Five tells them that Morgan is his partner. (This could be the fun start of a joke where Five NEVER elaborates on that word and all of the siblings are like what does he mean by Partner? But all of them refuse to ask because they know he’d never tell them.)

Reginald, Diego, and Allison I think wouldn’t appreciate Morgan being there but Five would actually stand up for them.

I don’t know how he would or what would be said but it feels like it would be a weird kind of turning point for the trust between the two

Then finally they get to memory machines and I’m not sure if he would let Reginald restore his memory or not. (If he did I think he’d tell Morgan to shoot Reginald if this looks like it’s going bad. And Morgan would respectfully agree to.)

Everything happens like normal and they get called out to the Alpaca Farm Massacre site where Ben murdered all those people

The conversations are the same including Lila convincing Five to use the subway except this time Morgan is present for it

Morgan Volunteers to go with instead of Lila

“I have the training. I think It would make more sense for me to go.”

This is when Lila snaps. She, like Diego, wants to be important to the mission but it’s more subtle than Diego. She doesn’t just wanna be a mom but also a bad ass and this subway stuff is scratching her itch and filling her need of getting out of the house and away from Diego for a bit. Morgan is threatening that.

“How on earth does it make more sense for you to go? I was raised an assassin and what are you some CIA puppy? New recruit Wanna prove yourself so badly? Think you’re tagging along on a fun adventure? It’s not fun. It’s life or death. I have way more experience with that than you’ll ever have.”

Five is staring at Lila a little taken aback at the outburst but Morgan is impassive and gentle in their response.

“i recall how dangerous it was Lila, but unlike you, I don’t have any family. I am, for lack of a better word expendable. If something happens Five can leave me behind and come back to let you all know that route is bust. It makes more sense for ME to go with him.”

We can focus on five and Lila’s reactions to this response. Lila seems embarrassed and agrees respectfully that

“yeah um yeah sorry no you make a good point. I gotta report in anyway.”

(I’m so sorry every time I try to write for Lila I feel like I’ve written garbage for her. I’m so sorry. She deserves better than me.)

Five doesn’t say anything to Morgan about that but you can tell it’s struck a cord with him. He doesn’t like the idea of that. Of Morgan thinking they’re expendable.

Diego walks over to Lila and they converse same as before while Morgan and Five walk over to their CIA boss they have the same conversation about babysitting Diego and Luthor maybe this time also Lila.

Morgan maybe mentions talking to Lila and Diego seriously about joining the CIA.

Five is once again taken aback by how considerate Morgan is being.

Everything happens leading up too Morgan and Five walking into the subway and just before they do five asks if Morgan is sure about this. Morgan agrees that yes they are.

“Field work like this is why I joined the CIA. I wanted to do big things and i don’t think it hets much bigger than trying to work out how to use an inter dimensional subway station to save the world from devastation.”

Five nods his head in a conceding motion and he blinks them into the subway.

When they get there Morgan pulls out a little book from their pocket and starts writing down more of the symbols from the walls and train.

We get a conversation about this where Five asks Morgan about it, and says he recalls them doing the same thing when they were on the subway earlier.

Morgan shrugs and explains that they’ve always enjoyed word puzzles.

“I’ve always thought that Decryption was just a more fancy way of saying puzzle, and you know how great I am at those.”

Five makes a sound of concession once again and we get our first real grin from Morgan. Morgan isnt being hostile this time and it’s shocking.

“Besides! It’d be good to figure out how to read what’s written on the walls. Could be helpful and it may be the key to understanding this place and why it’s here.”

Morgan is trying to be fun and interesting because they’re excited. They’re is excited that they’re finally in the field. That’s all they’ve been asking for. They just wanted to be allowed to try.

As the two board the train we hear Morgan comment out loud about how alien the symbols look. They aren’t typical symbols like other symbolic languages. They maybe comment on certain similarities to other ancient languages that are dead that scientists haven’t been able to place but that they’re still different. Gosh they wish they had their textbooks to study this better. That’s fine though. This note book will help when they get home.

After that the same things happen that Five did with Lila in the other timelines on this excursion with Morgan. (I.E. Traveling back in time in the sparrow timeline and all that with Five exasperatedly saying they aren’t going to wing this and it was a terrible idea. He’s immediately calling the mission and saying it’s a bust.)

Morgan runs into the train with him and tries to convince him that it’s fine! They can’t quit after only one attempt.

They’re having a back and forth about this still on the train when the train passes their stop.

Five notices and has to quiet Morgan

“That was our stop.”

“What?”

“We just passed our station.”

“What do you mean what’s—“

The PA comes on and we hear garbled reversed speech and then “express”

Simultaneously “Shit.” “Shit!”

Instead of just a shot of the tunnel flashing green we get a shot of them inside the train looking at one another and both look shaken

“Five?”

A flash of green and we move on

Then it’s same thing as before we get a montage of the two losing their shit at one another over the fact that they’re lost. Which similarly to the other love interest before eventually the becomes mutual respect, care and love for each other.

It’s different from the previous love interest because they’re both “trained” as field agents. Both would have survival skills except one of them is also trying to solve an insane decryption issue at the same time.

While we watch this version of Five trapped in the Subway with Morgan it becomes clear to us as the audience that we are essentially watching the same thing we did in season 1, where Five was trapped alone, but with two people instead. In this case too we realize Morgan is taking on Five’s role from the original timeline. They are the one who seems to feel this intense drive to understand this particular problem. Five having done this all before becomes the Delores of the two. A support system. Always Helping and trying to keep Morgan sane. He recognizes and feels like he’s watching the same thing happen to Morgan that happened to him in season 1. However this time the key to understanding this isn’t something he can solve with mathematics. It’s words and he’s never been great with those. Sure, he can speak plenty of languages, but he’s never had to translate an entirely new language from scratch before. Morgan is the only one of them that has experience with that. Morgan is the key this time.

We get to see the years progress through Morgan’s “Notes” and it’s a montage set to “Dear God — Remastered” by XTC

The Notes are along the outer edges of the screen and the scenes we watch are super imposed on top of the “notebook” itself like we’re watching it on the books

The first year it’s just a bunch of wild scribbles Morgan isn’t writing anything down in it slowly. They’re frantic because they wanna get home. We see five and them arguing the same as we watched him and Lila do in the original

The second year they’re both in survival mode. Cooking food and making fires collecting supplies.

The notes are more organized. There are some sketches of the platforms. The symbols are better sketched at the top with more care. Morgan seems to be trying to visually keep track of stations

Year three is when the notes start to get more and more clear but still no words or even letters are decoded. There are notes about how time feels like it’s passing but “is it really?” Time is resetting every stop they make. Is the subway taking them back in time of freezing time everyone they’re in it? There’s a scene of Morgan scribbling angrily on the book and throwing it down the train car and falling down on the bench.

We watch Five get up like he’s done this a million times before (we get the sense he definitely has) and pick it up. He walks back over, slides it into Morgan’s pack and sits down next to them. Morgan leans into Five’s shoulder looking somewhat defeated. Five seems surprised by this but doesn’t push them away.

We get the chess scenes and in this variation they find a deck of cards so we get a billion scenes of them playing card games.

Year four the notes in the margins are sharp. Morgan is getting better at sketching the same things over and over. We start to see questions pop up about repeating letters and why doesn’t there seem to be any? Sketches of the PA system. Sketches of the train car’s interiors.

This is the year where there’s more laughter and intimacy in the interactions between them. There’s the visions of them caring for one another. In various ways Morgan bandaging Fives hand. Five fixing a dislocated shoulder for Morgan. Morgan shaving Five and Five cutting Morgan’s hair.

Year five is when interesting questions start popping up in the margins of the screen. We see sketches of the door mechanisms form in the train. Questions like is it possible to drive? WHO is driving? What is driving? Do we want to know? Can we get in there? A sketch of the drivers car through the window of the train but it’s impossible to see through a blacked out window in the sketch. A caption of “drivers car impossible to reach. new plan is the old plan?”

This is the year becomes clear there’s real feelings forming between the two but they are also looking really tired. Morgan starts falling asleep tucked next to Five.

Morgan just keeps staring at the book and you see scenes of five taking it from them and pointing to the sleeping cot or handing them food. They reluctantly take it and sit right next to Five and eat with their head on his shoulder

Year six is when the margins start fading from the screen and we pan up away from the book

A string of symbols on a page and the word “Station” circled. A double sided arrow connects the two as we pan away from this we see it’s written on the pages of the book that is in Morgan’s hand. They’re clutching it in one of their hands as they sleep and l are in the same position we saw Five a Lila in under the umbrellas.

The six year montage ends not with despair but with a kind of hope

So the next time we see them their conversation isn’t about giving up. It’s about really sitting down and cracking into this. Morgan really thinks they can solve this. But it’s just so hard to focus like this. It’s off hand in reference to moving around on the subway

“Morgan, what do you need to solve this. Anything you need we’ll figure it out. You need to tell me what it is though.”

“If I could just.. I don’t know… sleep. Like really sleep. In a bed… bathe? Shower, if I can? I know I could get this… WE could get this… We’re so close…”

Five agrees and they have a conversation about instead of staying in the subway going somewhere to work in peace where they don’t have to scrounge. Just for a while until they’ve fully cracked this.

They debate and land on that greenhouse so they GO THERE to sit and decode it

We get a scene of them setting up shop. Just after they’ve cleaned up. And it’s a nice scene like you get in any romance show or movie where the characters are seeing each other for the first time in a new light for real. (like a wow look at you I never realized just how nice this person is to look at?)

And we get a few scenes throughout the episode of them slowly but surely solving it. More letters going up in a bulletin board connected to symbols with twine and other things salvaged. Interspersed with moments of them eating dinner and playing cards. Playful throws of paper. Morgan excitedly running in with a record player and putting it on. They drag Five away from the bulletin board and start dancing. Five argues they should keep working but Morgan says that if they don’t take breaks they’re gonna go crazy staring at the symbols so please just dance. Do something for himself you know?

Five kinda has a moment that you see where he recalls that’s exactly what happened with him originally. He NEVER stopped and he went insane on the OG timeline.

So he takes a real minute not like the games before. Just a real minute to dance.

The two laugh Morgan trips Five catches them

Five’s holding them close

They look in one another’s eyes.

“What are you doing?”

“Something for myself.”

He kisses Morgan and Morgan reciprocates.

AND BY GOSH BY GOLLY WE HAVE A WELL BUILT RELATIONSHIP THATS KiNdA ONE SIDED RIVAL TO LOVER

The last scene we have of them in the greenhouse obviously more time has passed

Five does the same thing he did for Lila. He makes Morgan something. I think Five fixes them up a Rubix cube or even whittles them a cool wooden hand held puzzle. Like one of those puzzle balls or even a puzzle box that has something else in it? Idk. I just feel like a ring or any type of jewelry is too cheesy and fast to be in the box So maybe it’s just the box. Morgan loves it and gives Five something in return. They’re like it’s not as crazy as a hand carved gift but they took some time between solving the decryption to go and find him something special. It’s a mug that used to say “Life Is About More Than Coffee.” but coffee is crossed out with red paint and in big red letters it says Apocalypses so it now reads “Life Is About More Than Apocalypses”.

Five can’t stop laughing when he looks at it. It’s stupid. It’s a dumb joke that’s really insensitive to him the more you focus on it. He’s told Morgan all of stories about all 3 of the apocalypses he’s experienced in his life during these six years trapped here with them, but for some reason the fact they took time out of their day to repair this cracked mug and personalize a stupid word play joke at his expense makes him lose it. This also happens the same day they completely decode the alphabet. THEY CAN GO HOME BECAUSE THEY ARE ABLE TO READ THE MAP NOW. (I can’t begin to tell you how mad I am that that alien language was never talked about once. Or the fact that they never considered trying to decode it at any point? They’re stuck in this subway… LEARN TO READ THE SIGNS)

They’re excited but you can tell after the hype dies down it’s a little sad. They kind of liked this existence here. It was simple. Five could sit and do old man things and just keep them alive. He wasn’t the one the solution hinged on so he gets to rest a while. Morgan was spending their all of their time solving a HUGE puzzle. It was kind of heaven for both of them.

They pack up everything that’s needed and leave the deck of cards and a half solved crossword puzzle book they found previously on the table. Something for whomever comes across this place to find.

They have a conversation just outside the greenhouse about what they’re gonna do about what they’ve become when they return

Morgan responds by taking Five’s hand

“One problem at a time right? We’ve decoded the subway. Next is stopping the apocalypse. Then, after that’s done and we know for a fact that we can still stand the sight of one another while other people are present, we’ll worry about filling out the relationship paperwork at the agency.”

Laughing. “There’s paperwork for that?”

“Yes. Lots of boxes to check and forms to fill.”

“If it makes you happy.”

“It does actually. Soothes me.”

Five picks up their bags. “Once more into commuter Hell?”

“I said that one time!!”

There’s a flash of blue and the camera holds on the playing cards and their initials carved into the table (childish maybe Fanfictiony? Probably? I’m not a screen writer!)

I think we also deserve a pleasant little scene to replace when they get back and there’s the whole Lila/Five dramatic cheating reveal on Christmas at her families house 👀👀👀

It would be them all regrouping at Lila and Diego’s house because they get back and it makes sense to regroup there

They walk in holding hands. Five helps Morgan in and refuses to let go of them the whole time they regroup.

The funny stuff comes from everyone on the couch, while explaining their info, trying to figure out what is going on with Five and Morgan.

Five is sitting on the arm of the chair Morgan is in, his arm is around them and finally Klaus is the one to break tension and be like

“Obviously the elephant in the room though… what is THIS!?”

And just motions to five and Morgan and five and Morgan get to explain how the subway was a bust and they got trapped there for almost 7 years

Lila tries to push to use the subway again and they all get in an argument about using it

She argues that Morgan decoded it so they can read the map now.

Five argues back that they decoded how to get back here, it would take weeks to figure out which specific world would be the one they needed to do all of what they wanted

Lila is angry that they didn’t map that while they were stuck

Morgan jumps in with the are you kidding we were stuck there seven years because that’s how long it took to figure out how to read the map all while trying to survive. Sorry that wasn’t enough for them all.

Essentially we get that argument but then the same things cascade like before. Things fall apart and we end up at the end of the world again. Once again my version of the cleanse occurs. (Because I refuse to acknowledge the real ending and think all of them deserve happiness and to live. Sue me.)

These next bullets happen in the universe where my version of the ending is cannon once again you can read it here.

Morgan and Five’s moment of the subway train is not exactly the same as Ash’s but kind of similar. Five asks apologizes for the fact Morgan’s first ever field mission was ending like this. He asks if they regret getting involved with him now that they know what’s happening.

“Are you kidding me? This is the kind of mission kids get told stories about and then join the CIA because of. I got to decode an alien language, time travel, possibly save the world, and fall in love with a super hero… I almost hope this resets because…”

They put a hand on Fives cheek. “I’d love to do this all again… I only got to complete one mission with you as my partner so, please find me? Even if you forget me? Find me. So we can do more big things together.”

“Of course…”

Five is seated with them on the train bench. He’s holding them with one arm and holding his family with the other when the train hits the reset point.

Again the next we see them both, is when the person I called his wife in the polkadot blouse comes walking into the classroom. Now Five’s spouse in the true timeline, full name Morgan Delores Murphy (Male/Female/ Or Nonbinary) Also PHD is wearing dress pants and a polkadot button up shirt is handed a puzzle box when they sit on Five’s desk in the final montage.

In the scene where they’re gathered around a tv in the physics building we five holding a mug aloft. Five drinks from it. It’s personalized to say “Life Is About More Than Rocket Science.” They’re still the same couple who make the same jokes and give the same gifts. No matter what timeline.

That is Morgan’s Arc. Someone who desperately wanted to be Fives equal and prove themselves. Someone who Five saw himself in and refused to let become him. Someone who is helped through the speedrun version of what happened to Five and comes out the other side fulfilled, safe and supported not wired up, scared, and paranoid. Morgan’s character is essentially meant to be a mirror to reflect all of what Five has been doing to others back at him. So Morgan becomes Fives equal by literally experiencing a smaller scale version of what Five went through and being allowed to process it all along side Five in real time.

Thank you so much if you’re still here! I appreciate you taking the time to read this. You’re amazing. If you liked this or have thoughts on it, I would love to discuss these things more with you! Message me! I want your feedback! If you hated this don’t message me. I’m terrified of your feedback! I’m so sorry, and if I could erase it from your memory, I would. Please forgive me.

Thank you so much for reading this far if you have!

Have a wonderful day!

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Extras if you want:

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These are other things I think would be great but have no clue where they could go In the timeline or where they’d be appropriate:

A scene where five asks Morgan about how they were enjoying field work and Morgan says to remind them to tell the boss they never want to go into the field EVER again.

A bit with Ash where it’s established that they always pick up ( I cannot emphasize enough that no matter WHAT TIME. THEY ALWAYS PICK UP) and this is mentioned at some point in the story. maybe they get kidnapped by Gene and Jean. (This is if it’s a 10 episode season and there’s time for this)They don’t pick up. And this is something that Five is immediately shaken by.

I didn’t explain how Morgan would track Five in their outline but it would be kind of a gag I think. Morgan pops up in places where Five asks how they found him. Morgan always replies with

“I put a tracker in your ____”

it’s always a different piece of clothing. His socks. His Tie. His jacket. His hat. His Shirt. and the next time five pops up he’s either removed that piece of clothing or replaced it. The reality? It’s in his shoes. The tracker is in his shoes. And when this is finally revealed to Five in the subway he can’t stop laughing. Of course. He only has like three pairs and one pair is exclusively for work of course that where Morgan would have planted trackers. God he’s an idiot. Morgan is very proud of themselves for this.

An interaction as follows when they’re in the subway or maybe when Viktor says Five’s name:

“Max huh?”

“Yes, it’s short for Maximillian and I hate it. Please don’t start.”

Laughing then “Don’t sweat it. I understand. I’m not a huge fan of my name either.”

Five gives them a curious look.

A Sigh “My Full Name is (Morrigan/Asher) Delores Wilcox.”

We get a shot of Five’s whole demeanor shifting, like he’s been punched in the gut. He’s short circuiting. He’s blank. No fucking way. No FUCKING way. No fucking WAY. That is NOT their middle name. (If he had a nickel for every time he’d been stranded somewhere in time for a great many years with only someone named Delores for company, he’d have two nickels which isn’t a lot but it’s insane it’s happened twice)

Love interest takes this as a sign he hates it too.

“Yeah see?! Even you think it’s awful. God damn it! Please don’t—“

“It’s wonderful.”

“What?”

“I love it. It’s perfect for you.”

“Really? You don’t think it’s too fancy?”

“I think it suits you…”

“Oh, well… thank you.”

There’s silence while they go about doing things. Five breaks it suddenly

“Weird question but… how do you feel about sequins?”

“I love them?”

“I fucking knew it.”

“What?”

[skysblueming]

my playlist to you read your fanfics/smuts <3 enjoy!

[miniskirtmods]

𝐃𝐀𝐃

parings ˚ The Umbrella Academy x sibling!oc x Tom Hansen

warning(s) ˚ mentions of death, oblivious crushes, nicknames: gorgeous, sweetheart . . . (please tell me if I missed any!)

synopsis ˚ Ruby Hargreeves locks up her shop and and decides to spend some time with one of her co-workers, Tom. They both enjoy their evening of strolling in the park and eating at her now favorite Italian restaurant until they take a look at the news that’s playing near their booth: “Moments ago, police reported the death of the world’s most eccentric and reclusive billionaire, Sir Reginald Hargreeves”.

word count ˚ 2.1K

authors note ˚ might create a mood board of little miss Ruby Hargreeves sooner or later and I may even introduce her powers 😼

Tom raises an eyebrow, him and Ruby stepping off of the curb and waiting and waiting for the walk signal to cross the street. “Wait. Wait, so. You were homeschooled your whole life? What about other people, you just— never talked to other people as a child?” His gaze was curious, the look of someone who’s already trying to piece together the puzzle for himself.

“Do my siblings count?” She questioned before displaying a straight smile, tilting her head upwards in order to look at his face. 

A chuckle escaped his lips, a small smirk resting on them quickly after. The walk sign blinked to the simple illustration of a person walking colored in bright, white led lights, indicating to the pedestrians on the other side of the street to cross safely. The pair followed, stepping out onto the street, taking strides down the crosswalk.

“No, I mean— other than your siblings. You’ve never had playdates with other kids in the neighborhood?”

Ruby looked ahead, hands in her coat pockets to keep them shielded from the cold breeze that whistled through the streets of New York. She brought her shoulders closer to her ears in an attempt to make her scarf cover more of her face. “I wish. My dad kept us secluded unless we were needed on special occasions.” Special occasions as in missions. Missions that her father had sent them on when “the world needed us most”. His exact words. We were young, naive, and super powered — most of us at least —, we believed everything the man would seep into our brains.

However, Ruby hadn’t told him the entire truth when it came to talking about her past. Only allowing small fragments of it escape her lips, gracefully leaving out the huge factors that made them the Hargreeves. She felt guilty for lying to him sometimes, but they weren’t going to come back to her..right?

Tom’s expression turns concerned as he walks alongside her, eyes fixed straight ahead. He knew a thing or two about a shitty life and a shitty father. Maybe that's what made him so empathetic to your situation. He’d always been an open ear to your stories and now was no different.

“Damn..” He muttered, shaking his head gently. The next question is on the tip of his tongue, and it takes him a moment to decide whether or not it was too personal to ask. Maybe it’d be best to leave it at that— leave it for another day, but curiosity got the better of him and he just couldn’t shake the thought.

“I, uh… I don’t wanna, like.. push your buttons,”

He muttered, his flicking to her and then returning to the sidewalk in front of them. “But… I guess I’m just wondering y’know.. why your dad kept you all isolated like that.”

Her eyes widened at his question. It felt like she couldn’t let a word out of her mouth, feeling a large knot form in the center of her throat, “I—” She stammered embarrassingly, avoiding making even a second of eye contact with him. Her eyebrows frowned as she was trying to think of something to say, I need to come up with something. Tom had expected her to push the question away, feeling a bit too personal now that he’d asked it. He can’t help but notice the strained look that crossed Ruby’s face, the way she paused for a moment— how she suddenly looked a bit like a deer in headlights.

“..I don’t really know, maybe— he wanted to keep us safe?” It sounded like she was asking him a question about her own lie. A lie that only felt true for a couple of years in the academy. 

He nods gently as she responds, but a part of him knows that there’s definitely more to your past than you’re telling him. Perhaps now just wasn’t the time to find out. “Yeah. I uh.. I guess that makes sense.”

Ruby gently nodded her head. There was silence, it wasn’t awkward but she felt like she had to say something at this moment. Her eyes darted from store to store until a bright red sign caught her eye: “SUPPER: Italian Cuisine”  She tilted her head to the right, noticing that the restaurant looked like it could handle a walk in and a smile grew on her face.

“So.. you have an appetite for some Italian? There's a restaurant just down the street.” Ruby lifted her gloved hand and pointed to the brightly decorated area just across the street. She looked up at the brunette to grasp a reaction, catching an immediate smile finding its way onto Tom’s face at the mention of Italian food; his stomach seemed to have the same reaction as well, a low rumble escaping from his belly as he perks up at the mention of it. 

“Oh, yeah! We should— we should definitely check it out. Y’know, I’ve been meaning to go for ages. I’m starving now just thinkin’ about it.” He grinned; a laugh escaping his smile soon after.

Not even a moment later, a wide smile crept onto her face once she heard the low growls of his stomach at the mention of food, dimples on full display for the whole world to see. “Guess that’s our sign to go! What else is going on tonight?” I ask rhetorically..”

“Nothing else going on. Just each other”, he thinks as the words escape her lips.

He smiles, gesturing his hand out to allow you to take the lead. He’s quick and happy to follow after you; the walk down the sidewalk to the restaurant seeming to only fuel the duo's excitement.

“Lead the way, gorgeous.”

.       .       ☂︎       .       .

The pair soon arrived at the Italian place. Ruby’s gaze darted over the interior of the booth they were seated at and then to the menu that hung out front. Her eyes scanned over the options before they flicked over to Tom, taking note of the way his hand dangled so close to hers. His fingers so slender and his skin so pale, contrasting with hers beautifully. They would look perfect intertwined together.

Thinking of their hands together, an almost nervous smile rested on her lips as he gently brushed his fingers against hers.

“This all looks so good.” Ruby muttered.

“Mm.. it does.” He hummed in agreement; his fingers brushing against hers in a teasing manner this time. 

The gesture was lighthearted, and he couldn’t help the almost-flirtatious smile that teased his lips. His eyes brightened up for a moment, a look of confidence behind them as he gestured out to the restaurant.

“Maybe.” Ruby giggled, imitating the movements of his fingers onto his own hand. The sound of her giggle sent a shiver down his spine, making his smile grow ever so wider. She slowly trailed her eyes up from her menu to the brunette sitting in front of her, catching his gaze already on her. Her breath caught in her throat as she couldn’t help but stare deep into his dirt colored eyes. The eyes that carried a remaining glimmer, his teeth gently raking over his bottom lip in an attempt to hold back all of the flirtations he so wanted to throw at you. 

“Save some room for me,” He quipped. “It’d be a real shame if you started eating without me. Might even have to take a bite from your plate.”

She playfully rolled her eyes at his comment, “Fine.” Adding a dramatic sigh at the end. “Whatever your majesty requires.” She rolled her wrist theatrically as she attempted a British accent, slightly bowing towards him with a snort.

Tom shook his head at her attempt at a British accent and the excessive bow. “Ohh,” He snickered. “Watch out. I like it when you get sassy.” God, he loved this. He loved how it always felt second nature between the two of you to flirt and play off each other. It was natural— and every time you took each other on, neither of you could get enough of it.

Soon enough, the waiter made her way to the table and introduced herself to us before asking us what we would like to order. We started with our drinks and went ahead to order our meals. 

“We’ll take one order of Fettuccine Alfredo, and a Chicken Alfredo, thank you.” He finished, his gaze moving from the waitress to the menus, picking them up in order to hand them to her. The waitress nodded, writing it down on her notepad before giving a smile and a polite nod before taking the menus and walking off to grab our drinks. Then, in a flash, she was setting our drinks down onto the table.

Tom shifted back in his own chair, returning his gaze to you once again as a playful look returned to his eyes. 

“Shirley Temple, huh?”

Ruby picked up her drink and brought it to her lips for a sip. “Mm.. “ She hums in contentment as she swallows the drink, her eyes flicking over to his face with that familiar gleam in them. “What’s wrong with my order? Do I have too much taste for your liking?”

Tom’s gaze flicked once again as she took a sip from her own drink, the red hue of the Shirley Temple staining her lips ever so slightly. His eyes took a moment to study the faint stain, the sight drawing his attention once her words finally registered in his head. A smirk spread again, the man shaking his head as he let out a small scoff.

“No way, sweetheart. You can drink whatever you damn well please.”

.       .       ☂︎       .       .

By now, Tom had already taken several fat bites out of his Fettuccine, the sight causing his stomach to ease almost instantly. A quiet groan of satisfaction escaped him between bites, the taste of the Italian food feeling like heaven in his mouth. With the taste of the food still on his tongue, his eyes drifted up away from his plate and over towards the woman in front of him. “How ‘bout you? This new place got the Ruby stamp of approval?”

She frantically nods her head, swallowing the creamy pasta in a heartbeat after letting her taste buds dance against the tangy cuisine. “They’ve got more than my stamp of approval..” She paused and took another ball of pasta into her mouth, taking a moment to swallow before speaking once again. “If I had to, I would give my soul away just to eat this.”

Tom chuckled, the sound still slightly muffled from the food in his mouth. Swallowing his food, he rested his chin in his hand and stared across the table at you.

“Your soul, huh?”

He joked, resting an elbow on the table casually to lean closer into the conversation. “Y’know, if food is all it takes, there’s a few other things I wouldn’t mind having from ya’.”

The fork clanked against Ruby’s front teeth as she paused mid-mouth stuff, eye flickering to his face moving just a bit closer to hers.

There it was: the opening he’d been waiting for. The playful look in his eyes shifted slightly— the glint now becoming a little more mischievous as he leaned in forward a little more. “Well..” He murmured. “I have a few ideas.” His eyes moved down to your lips, even covered with white alfredo sauce, a sight he knew was enough to make the atmosphere between the two of you that much hotter.

Before Ruby could react, the TV to the right of their booth played the obnoxiously loud news intro, allowing for the entire restaurant to hear whatever was going on in the city recently. The entire restaurant had fallen silent now, all eyes focused up at the TV screen that hung above. On the screen, a reporter sat inside of what appeared to be the news studio. The headline of ‘Sir Reginald Hargreeves Is Dead’ was displayed in all caps at the bottom of the screen.

The reporter began to speak: “Moments ago, police reported the death of the world’s most eccentric and reclusive billionaire, Sir Reginald Hargreeves.”

In a matter of moments, the atmosphere changed. What was once playful flirting suddenly made way to shock and concern. Ruby’s eyes grew wide at the sight on the screen as she took in the news. ‘Hargreeves’ 

Tom’s gaze then flipped over to Ruby’s, his expression shifting once again at the look on her face. One word left her lips:

“Dad.”

[shadowbriar]

Diego Hargreeves — If the World was Ending

Pairing : Diego Hargreeves x (she/her) Reader Word Count : 5k Warning : Smut, MDNI! Angst but it ends with fluff. Season 4 references. Synopsis : After the Cleanse, Diego wasn't sure why he was brought back to the original timeline. Notes : Inspired by JP Saxe, Julia Michaels - If the World was Ending. If you like this story and would like to support me, please visit my kofi page and perhaps get me a coffee?☕

Diego wasn’t sure how he suddenly found himself standing in front of the Academy once again. He tried to look around, noticing the panic in the eyes of the passersby and how there were cars crashing by the road. Some of the buildings were ruined, rubbles and debris decorating them. An alarming view that raises his vigilance, especially since he couldn’t find any of his other siblings in sight.

Rushing inside, Diego tries to call for the names of his siblings. He runs around the hallway, calling for anyone in hope that they could regroup and think about what’s going on. Make a new plan to figure out the strange timeline they’re in, but the Academy was eerily quiet. No other soul was present— not even Pogo nor Grace.

He wasn’t sure if this was supposed to happen. If the Cleanse was supposed to kick him back to this timeline or if they’ve succeeded in stopping the Apocalypse at all. The uncertainty was daunting. He desperately needed to see someone, someone familiar who he could take refuge to, but as the only sound echoing through the house was his own, Diego understands that he’s left all alone.

“Think, Diego, Think,” He mutters to himself as he runs back to the living room.

He tries to make sense of the unfamiliar setting. Studying the Academy as he tries to find any piece of clue that would be useful to help ease his anxiety. Spotting some newspaper by the table, Diego ran his desperate hand through his hair and grabbed it. His blood ran even colder as he read the date: April 1, 2019. The day of the Apocalypse.

Just as he tries to compute the new information, an earthquake shakes the ground. It was powerful enough to make the chandelier rattles, threatening to fall from the weak bolts that were loose from the tremble. The books by the cabinets were falling, vases broken and furniture displaced. If this was the start of the Apocalypse, with none of his siblings around, Diego was sure that there would be no way he could escape nor stop it.

And so he runs back to his room, grabbing his car keys that he hasn’t seen for far too long. He’s lived one too many lifetimes coming in and out of foreign timelines. Perhaps it has only been a few days in this one since he was gone, but it certainly wasn’t the case for him. Still, the sight of the item patiently waiting for its master to return brought a short-lived sense of comfort in his heart.

The road was in chaos by the time Diego drove the car out. People were trying to flee the city. Sirens blaring, children crying as their parents try to keep them collected. Diego’s palms were wet. He’s got no idea of what’s happening nor what to do. He doesn’t know how to help, how to save anyone from this terror. For once, Diego felt entirely helpless.

Another quake was felt as he got to the main road. His heart was beating erratically, distracted by thoughts of her safety. Is she home? Is she out drinking? Is she in the living room, chilling and watching television?

It’s been far too long. Perhaps in this timeline it might only have been a year since they last saw each other, but for Diego, it would be an understatement to say that it felt like forever.

He wasn’t even sure why he felt like he needed to see her now. The thought of her hasn’t entered his mind as intensely, given how the task at hand was much more demanding, but she lingers still. In the split moments where he realised that the plan was spoiled or that they would need to figure out a way to escape to another timeline, he would always wonder if there would be a time where he could see her again.

A part of himself was grateful that they ended their relationship before the whole Apocalypse thing started to play. He wouldn’t have the heart nor strength to call it quits with her, knowing that the world was ending and that he couldn’t be with her to share their last moments. He was shamefully grateful that his inability to truly show her what he felt fueled the arguments that ultimately led to their separation. For once, Diego was glad that his flaws have done him more good than harm.

The sky was dark by the time he reached her place. He let out a breath of relief when he spotted her car outside, parked neatly in front of the house that he used to call home. There wasn’t much damage done to this neighbourhood, despite the bins and trees that now litter the road. Her house was in good shape too. Knowing that she’s safe was like a breath of fresh air after being suffocated by such an aggravating situation.

Wasting no other second, Diego runs to her door. He presses the bell a little too impatiently, desperately in need to see her in person.

“I said, I’m coming!” She yells as she opens the door, clearly disturbed by the uninvited guest but all anger evaporates once she recognises the man on the other side of the door “Diego?”

—-

By the third quake, she knew that something wrong was happening. They’ve never had this many earthquakes before, let alone ones that happened one after the other within a short period of time. The worry in her heart starts to bloom as more things in her house fall and shatter, wondering if there’s anything she should do in such a situation.

How long should she wait until someone instructs them to evacuate? Where should she go? What should she do?

Diego would’ve known what to do, she thought. She tried to imagine his reaction, the way his alert eyes would be all wide and the rigidness of his shoulders. He wouldn’t be afraid of what’s to come. He would try and save her, even when she wasn’t sure she needed saving. He would be busy rushing her under the tables while he stood and watched the post.

An involuntary chuckle escaped her lips. Yes, that would be Diego alright. Always too busy trying to save the world without giving himself the chance to register the danger he’s putting himself into.

It wasn’t that she was scared of the earthquakes. No, it was something she could weather through still. But it surely got her thinking about the time she had with him. How, through the many times he saved her, made her realise that she’s gotten a little too attached to the safety net he’s set around her. How he would always put everyone else before him, never one to complain about getting bruised or scratched when it comes to saving someone.

She remembers that one night clearly, when they went drinking and stumbled in the house. How she landed on top of him without making it past the kitchen, giggling like they were on the clouds of nine. She would always remember the gentle touch he would always reserved for her, the way his frown turns into a smile every time their eyes met, and how he would bring the warmest laughter to the house.

But such bliss was short-lived once she realised Diego wasn’t ready for forever. There’s still so many things he needed to do, so many people he needed to prove, that the words she showered him with felt like a passing buzz with no lasting meaning. She knew that it wasn’t his fault. Diego has got too many scars and wounds to heal before she could ever place the weight of guilt on his shoulders, but she too couldn’t wait forever. Perhaps forever isn’t for everyone, afterall.

When the eighth earthquake happened, she gave it a good twenty minutes before finally coming out of the kitchen table. The television was broken, plates and mugs smashed on the floor, and her carpet is now stained with wine that she was supposed to enjoy. The house was a real mess but given the harrowing nightmare, coming out without a single scratch is something she could feel triumphant of.

She lets out a sigh. The phone lines were down, no internet through her cells. It was practically impossible for her to get any information about her friends and family, about Diego if she wanted to drop a text and ask if he’s alright, unless she got out of the house and drove herself down to the gym. That is, if he still lives in the gym. But with everything that’s happened, how they haven’t talked ever since the split, and the chaos the road must’ve been in right now, she figures to just wait and perhaps send him a voice message in the morning.

Her train of thoughts were abruptly broken when someone rang her bell. They were pressing without a pause, making an everlasting ring that only amplifies the headache in her head.

“I said, I’m coming!” She yells as she opens the door, clearly disturbed by the uninvited guest but all anger evaporates once she recognises the man on the other side of the door “Diego?”

Diego blinked. He too was appalled the moment his eyes met hers. Looking surprised to find her there as if he didn’t drive himself in a disastrous traffic for hours down to her house, “I— Are you— I was just—”

Neither of the two have the words to express their emotions right now. Relieved, yet baffled. Supposed, given the calamity, it would make sense for them to try and see each other. But how was he supposed to explain that the world was ending? And what was she supposed to say when she was just thinking about him?

“Are you alright?” Diego asked.

“Yeah,” She nods, taking a step closer to him “Are you?”

Diego flashes a smile, “I— I meant to come earlier, but the traffic—And there were so many car crash— And the trees—”

“You drove here? Why?”

“I wanted to see you,” He confessed, a long sigh escaping his chest “I don’t have anywhere else to go.”

Without a thought, she pulled him for a tight embrace. She clung onto his neck, burying her nose to the crook of his neck as she stood on her tippy toes. He smelled different. Perhaps he’s changed his cologne, no longer wearing the one she gifted him a couple of years back, but she wasn’t in any place to complain right now. Having him by her side, having the warmth of his body pressed to hers once again, was more than she could ever ask for.

Diego was frozen when she first hugged him. It took a couple of seconds for his brain to register that it was real, that it wasn’t just some cruel mindgame his brain was tricking him into. He rests his hands on her waist, slightly lifting her so she wouldn’t be so sore from the tippy toes cause he wasn’t about to let go anytime soon.

“I’ve missed you,” She whispers.

“I’m sorry.”

She pulls away a little, standing on her feet as she tries to study his face. There were a few new scars that she’s unfamiliar with. The moustache was something new and the way he styled his hair was different. It feels as if she’s staring into a different Diego than the one she knew before.

“What a year, huh?” She says, tracing one of the new scars that was on his left cheek “Still couldn’t keep yourself out of trouble, I assume?”

Diego flashes a small smile, looking slightly embarrassed from the commentary.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, I’m just really tired,” He answers truthfully, feeling the ache in his bones slowly settling in “Do you think I can lay down for a minute?”

She nods, the concern in her eyes magnified, “Of course.”

And so she led him into her bedroom. The one place where they once called ours. Diego lays gently on the bed as she busies herself with cleaning up the mess that was scattered around. The quake wasn’t giving her any kindness, especially now that she’s got a guest to crash.

“I’ll go and make you some tea.”

“No,” Diego says fast, taking her hand before she could leave the room “Could you just lay down with me? Please?”

“I don’t think that would be a great idea, Diego.”

“Please? I promise you won’t regret it.”

She hesitated, knowing granting his wish might mean a different thing for the both of them, but seeing how desperate he looks, the way his eyes were filled with plea and the fragility of his voice, she couldn’t help but to nod and give in.

Diego scooted to make room for her on his right side. He places his arm under her head, pulling her close as he tries to be a comfortable makeshift pillow. Her right hand instinctively found itself resting on his chest. There was a sense of contentment filling his heart. Like the missing puzzle piece he wasn’t aware he’s lost was finally found. He plays with the strands of her hair, listening to the steady sound of her breathing.

“If the world was ending, you’d come over, right?”

Her brows furrow, looking up to face Diego that looks as if he’s got a million questions running in his head, “What are you talking about?”

“If you knew that the world was ending, you’d come over and stay the night, wouldn’t you?”

“Don’t say such things, we just had eight earthquakes, Diego.” She answers, trying to dismiss his questions “The world isn’t ending.”

“But if it was, would you?” He persists “Would you love me for the hell of it?”

She propped herself on her elbow now, looking closer into him. Diego still looks conflicted. He looks as if he’s holding a secret, something so terrible that he couldn’t even let it escape his lips even if he wanted to. His eyes were radiating despair, lips tucked into a droopy smile. She’s never seen him looking this strained, but she knew that he was trying to save her once again, from whatever it is she might never know, but she was surely glad he’s here to be her knight.

Answering his question, she places a soft kiss on his lips, “The sky could fall upon us and I’d be holding you tight, Diego.”

All hell broke loose the moment those words escaped her lips. Diego was quick to turn her on her back, now pinning her down as he kissed her desperately. He sneaks a hand under her shirt. The warmth of his palm was startling, making her gasp between the kisses. His hand rests just below the clasp of her bra. A tease for the poor unexpecting woman.

But she wasn’t one to be a passive rival for such a game. Her legs found themselves encircling his waist, in her own way trapping the man in her grasp. Her fingers tugged on the strands of his hair. Satisfied moans escaping his lips. The taste of ecstasy was brewing in their stomach.

“Wait, Diego—,” She called, panting as she tried to pull away “We need to talk.”

Diego stopped his doings, looking into her with confusion and alarm, “Okay.”

“I just— I need to know that it will be different this time. I need to know that you want what I want. I need to know that you’re ready to settle with me. Forever, not just for a month or two,” She explains “Otherwise, we’ll only repeat the same mistake.”

It stings to hear her call their past a mistake, but Diego understands where she’s coming from. He’s ready for her. All the fights and running, trying to save the world from one timeline to another, made him realise that he’ll never be more ready to be with her than now, but to promise her forever? When he wasn’t even sure if there would even be a tomorrow? Would the remaining hours of April 1, 2019 be enough to be called forever?

Gently, Diego removes the hand that was under her shirt and cups her face instead. He smiles softly, staring into her with the most loving eyes she’s ever seen, “After everything I’ve been through, settling in with you feels like a pass to heaven.”

Her grin grows once more. This time pushing Diego down to the bed, flipping their position until she’s sitting on his waist. She kisses him once again, only parting their lips as she pulls his black jumper off of him. Her fingers wander around his chest. Multiple new bumps and scars were raising her brows that she had to sit up and take a proper look at his body.

“Are those.. Bullet wounds?” She asks as she spots the scar on his arm “What happened to you?”

“Long story. Tell you another time,” He says in a hurry, sitting up and kissing her neck “There’s so much talking in this, my balls are getting blue down there.”

She lets out a chuckle, “Always so impatient.”

“Only for you, babe,” Diego answers fast “Only for you.”

It took no time for Diego’s lips to travel back to her's from her neck. His kisses were getting more vigorous, more desperate as the pants he’s wearing feel much tighter. The movement of her hips on top of him wasn’t doing him much good. He was slowly turning blue, indeed.

With no difficulties, Diego slides her shirt over her head. He kisses the exposed skin of her shoulder, leaving a wet trail of love as he explores the skin he’s been deprived of. The smell of her skin was intoxicating. It gives him a great swell of pride as her sultry moans echo in his ear. He still knows his ways with her sweet spots, afterall.

Still with his lips busy on her skin, Diego’s hand swiftly unclasped her bra. The sudden exposure of her breasts were making her timid, instinctively trying to cover herself with her hands, but Diego knew her a little too well, proving her attempt to be futile as he led her hands to rest around his neck instead as his lips moved south. Loud gasp escaped her lips as Diego’s mouth found itself sucking on her throbbing bud. Her hands pulled his head closer in reflex, making Diego to mentally bite a smirk.

“I’ve missed you,” He says, looking up to see her in between her tits “All of you.”

She pulls his face closer, kissing him. Diego took this chance to switch their position, laying her gently on the bed without breaking their contact. Their bare chests were pressed against each other. Only separated by the thin layer of sweat that was forming on their skin.

Diego tugged harshly on the seam of her shorts. There’s just too many barriers, too much fabric that came between them. He grunted in annoyance when his fingers failed to undo her button without breaking the kiss. Diego pulled away curtly, frowning as he looked down to her shorts and unbuttoning it in a disapproving manner.

“Don’t ever wear those shorts again,” He grumbles, chucking the piece of garment carelessly.

“I like those shorts.”

“Well, I don’t,” He retorts “We’re throwing them out first thing in the morning.”

She chuckles at his frivolous whine, watching as he shimmied her underwear down, “You’re pathetic.”

“Pathetic, huh?” 

Diego’s calloused thumb runs through her fold without a warning, making her squeeze her thighs from the sudden jolt of arousal. A cheeky grin spreads on his face, satisfied with the shriek she lets out. His other hand now rests on her thigh, giving the most gentle form of encouragement for her to widen his opening.

Her eyes were locked on his as her leg follows his lead. The smile on Diego’s face returns, looking a little too satisfied with her obedience, “Good girl.”

She burrowed the back of her head into the pillows once his fingers found its way back to her heated mound. Her hands desperately gripped on the sheets, trying to suppress her moans as his movement turned rudely.

Diego watches with pride the way her back arched with each circular motion he does to her sensitive area. His mouth went back to her tit, sucking on the other breast that he’s yet to taste. His other arm slides under her back, pressing her chest to his mouth as if there were still space for them to eliminate.

Feeling his fingers to get slicker, Diego gave her clit a crude squeeze before aligning his fingers to her folds. The sudden intrusion left her gasping, her fingers unintendedly scratching on his arm from the tension.

“Shh, it’s just me,” He whispers, now kissing his way up from her chest, to her jaws, and ultimately her lips “Do you want me to stop?”

“No,” She breathes, pulling him close by his shoulder blades “Just kiss me while you do it.”

Not having to be told twice, Diego wasted no time and kissed her. He repositioned himself, having his passive forearm as support as his other hand busied itself with her. Her moans were uncontainable as his fingers reached the deeper, warmer depth of her. He increased the pace of his thrusts, curling his fingers as he felt her walls tightening. The knot in her stomach was threatening to burst. It was clear to see with the way her head fell back in bliss with each strike, but Diego was in no mood to stop. He wanted her to reach that extent of pleasure.

Her fingers clawed on his back as she reached her peak, leaving moon shaped marks on his skin. Diego groans from the slight sting but pays not much mind to it. He loves a little scratch from a good sex, a little bruise to look at in the morning that he wears like a badge of honour.

There wasn’t even a split second for her to breath before Diego’s lips travelled back down. He moves further south, locking eyes with her as his lips slowly find themselves in front of her folds. His hot breath was making her shy once again, almost closing her legs in reflex before he could pin them with his arms.

Diego clicks his tongue in disapproval, “Let’s not play any more games, shall we?”

Not waiting for an answer, Diego lifted her legs and rested them on his shoulders. With no warning, he runs his hot tongue across her fold, making her moan in undeniable pleasure. His moustache was giving a burning feeling in her inner thigh but before it could settle, Diego would erase it with his wet tongue.

The hot and wet sensation was driving her to cloud nine. With each swirl of tongue and cruel sucking that Diego does, she could feel herself losing the last strands of sanity. Her grip on the sheets have now moved to his head, tugging a little mean to the roots of his hair. Involuntarily pressing him a little closer every time he hits that one sweet spot.

Those throaty moans have slowly turned into needy, piteous whimpers. Clearly overstimulated from all the torture Diego was putting her through. His hands were pinning her hip in place. Not letting her buck away from his brutal assault. With a sinful moan, she finally came for the second time.

She tries to sit up, gathering the few will power she has left in her body to reach Diego’s waistband, “My turn.”

“No,” He says, pushing her hands away gently as he kisses her in apology “I’m literally two seconds away from bursting. You can pleasure me another time.”

“Are you sure?”

“No,” Diego frowns “But I’m not taking risks. I want you.”

“Well, let me at least help you get out of these pants.”

Diego watches as her dainty fingers unbuckle his belt, slowly undoing his pants and pushing it down his legs. He swallows a low groan as her hand palms his shaft. He pulls her for another kiss, passionately devouring her lips and tasting every corner of her mouth. He leads her back to lay on the bed, positioning himself on top of her as he leans on his forearms for support. He guides himself to her entrance, fingers dancing around the area to help redistribute enough slick before he slowly inserts himself.

Her claws find themselves back to his back, creating new scratches the moment she feels his length enters in a slow and controlled ease. Diego was grunting from the blissful restrain. A low sinful prayer escaped his lips. The warmth of her walls were drowning him, feeling as if they were swallowing him whole.

“You okay?” He asked, ever the gentleman.

She nods, eyes closed and mouth quivering in bliss.

Diego started his movement at a steady pace, letting her body adjust to the size of him that has been absent for a little too long. He kept the speed for a good few minutes before hastening his movement in a steadfast thrust.

“Fuck, Diego,” She breathes, biting on his shoulder from the overwhelming sensation.

There were no words that Diego could utter. Too busy trying to find the best angle where he could reach the desired depth. His thrusts were getting more vigorous with each retreat and return of his length within her, finding her moans to be the very fuel to boost his movements.

Deep, hearty grunts were all he could make now. Diego places his hands under her head, using his fingers as cushion so that the crown of her head won’t hit the headboard with each ferocious thrust. He nips on her neck, kissing and licking the spot before the pain could sink. Neither of them cared which of the sounds were louder— their moans or the creak of the bed.

“Diego—”

“I know,” He cuts, feeling the walls around him contracting “I’m right behind you.”

She pulls him for a kiss. Her hand guides one of his to rest on her neck, encircling his fingers around. Diego pulls himself away, watching as she closes her eyes when he squeezes her neck a little.

“Always so beautiful for me,” He praises between his pants, diving right back to kiss her “Mine. All mine.”

With one last thrust, Diego struck her core with all the pressure it needed to implode. He followed right after, just as he promised. The kisses he gives her slowly turn into soft and gentle ones as they begin to wane from their highs. His body tenderly loitered on top of hers, careful not to put too much weight that might suffocate her.

She runs her hand through his hair. Gently combing through it with her fingers. She kisses his forehead softly, brushing her thumb over the scar on his right side before planting a kiss there too. Diego always looked most charming laying on top of her like this.

“Did I do good? Was that enough to repent for my past sins?”

A crips chuckle escaped her lips, “For now, yes.”

“Great,” He says as he repositions himself, now laying on his side to face her “Now we can forget the past and focus on the future.”

She smiles, gazing into the beautiful man in front of her before giving him a sweet kiss. Something has changed in him. Something that made him look a lot more reliable. Like the past year they’ve spent without each other has finally knocked some sense into his head. Perhaps he really did go through something that changed him for the better. Perhaps the bullet wounds on his arm hold a bigger story than just another vigilante act he pulled. Perhaps the world really needed to end for him to finally understand how some people in our lives matter more than most, even if we felt like we needed to prove something to everyone.

Diego pulls her close to his chest, letting her hear the beating of his heart that has now gone to a steady pace. The clock by the bedside table haunts him. A couple more hours until the day ends and he’s still unsure if the Apocalypse was still happening. But even if the world was to end in their sleep, even if she was to be stripped away from his arms, at least he’s tried to show her just how much he loves her.

Even if it was done in borrowed time.

—-

Diego’s eyes flutter open. The brightness of the sun was hurting his eyes but he’d rather go blind than to move a muscle. The blinds of her bedroom were broken, making the light from outside reflect harshly on his face.

He looks down to see her still fast asleep on his chest. The events of last night play blissfully in his mind, recollecting their joyous reunion with a satisfied smile. He plants a soft kiss on the crown of her head, silently confessing his vow that he’d never leave her again, Apocalypse or not.

And that’s when he realises it. The day has come. It is officially April 2, 2019. The Apocalypse should’ve happened yesterday, yet it didn’t. There were only earthquakes that indeed have caused quite the damage but far too weak to be called the Apocalypse.

Eight earthquakes, she said. Perhaps the quakes were the signs of him and his siblings finding their own timelines. He only felt six quakes, maybe because he was the second to land on his timeline. If that was the case, then they’ve not only successfully stopped the Apocalypse from happening, but have also gotten the chance to rebuild their life, wherever they might be now.

She stirs a little as her slumber finally comes to an end. She looks up to see Diego with a smile, stealing a peck from him like a drunken woman, “Good morning.”

“Buenos días, mi amor.”

“Are you feeling better?”

“Much,” He answers, kissing her lips once again “All thanks to you.”

She smiles, basking in the love that he’s showering her with.

“Everything is going to change from now on,” He whispers to her softly, pulling her closer “It’s only gonna get better, I promise.”

[waitingandwishing]

WHO WILL PRAY FOR YOU?! WHEN YOUR BODIES GONE? 😫❤️

i dunno abt you but nerdy prudes must die has consumed my life once again and im thinking about adding a line into one of the things im writing

[snazzynacho]

Send me some Diego Hargreeves fanfic/oneshot requests please!! (No smut)

(I can’t guarantee I will write any but I’m curious and need inspo and I want to practice writing 🫶)

[optimistictalia]

haven’t been able to stop thinking about my og oc x canon it couple 🤭💕

I would say happy tua finale but I’m under the impression that we are not celebrating sooo happy tua DEATH to all who celebrate (me!!!)

additional comic I drew up back in 2021 when I first conceptualized missus Tasha, of her trying to communicate with ghost Ben. that’s always been one of my fav tropes of tua fan fictions, when the author finds ways for either the siblings or the reader to talk to Ben, and it’s always old ghost tropes like FLOATING BOOKS OOOO or OUIJA BOARDDDD. I just did pen and paper LMAO like he picks up the pencil and writes out his responses to her questions.

maybe more Natasha content soon?? I missed her yall… and this show I GUESS 🙄 LOL

I will now ramble under read more about all of my tua takes and grievances :3

as sad as I am to see the show end up the way it did, I saw this all coming back in season 3 and that was half the reason I stopped watching all together. From the assault plot (which enrages me no matter what show or writing does that shit), to them making Lila basically the carbon copy of her shitty ass mom, with her kidnapping a kid the same way she was; it was just awful and I couldn’t bring myself to watch it.

I always felt so weird that I couldn’t stomach any of the new writing the way everyone else could, but seeing everyone finally realize that it wasn’t just a “choice” but what it is, TERRIBLE WRITING, highkey healed a part of me and my feelings towards that show.

SORRY IF THIS IS WEIRD AND PERSONAL but it felt wrong of me to just post this and not say something, esp with how much this show has been apart of my work and this blog. Like it means something to me and it would be disingenuous to pretend it doesn’t!

kisses and hugs 💕 I hope you’re okay.

[anxious-copper-wp]

YOO! I JUST HAD A RANDOM IDEA FOR AN UMBRELLA ACADEMY FIC- well, technically I had a scene idea, so we all know about Lila bringing Stanley and claiming he’s her and Diego’s son in season 3, BUT! I had an idea.

So, instead of Lila claiming stanley as her and Diego’s son, he’s the oc\reader and Diego’s son. So she like, brings him from the future while the oc\reader is UNKNOWINGLY pregnant, and Lila uses it as some sort of test, like maybe in the future the oc\reader and Diego are struggling to be parents so she brings him to the past so they can try to prepare? (ALSO! In this, stanley would ACTUALLY be Diego’s son, because that part of season 3 was cruel 😭😭😭)

I don’t know if this is confusing or not 😭😭