#i should really come up with an umbrella tag for all these reports huh

[brandwhorestarscream]

G1 Reports for Blurr & Wheelie 👀

Subject 1660 - Codename: Blurr

07-24-1992

Initial Report. Content: Discussion of Subjcet History and Suitability. Discussion of Experimental Tecnique Y16.

Attending Personel: Dr. >REDACTED<, Sabrina Diaz - Subject Physician, Dr. David Nelson - Subject Psychological Health Expert

Subject 1660 is exactly what we've been waiting for. A promising young man with an active mind and body, someone with not only talent but a genuine love for his craft. Though officially documented information on his status pre-Playcare, outside of standard medical records, is lacking, interviews conducted with previous acquaintances were all consistent.

'Extremely high-energy, playful, and competitive to a fault,' to quote a previous coach, Subject 1660 has been confirmed to be involved in soccer, track, and the Pioneer Scouts program until very recently. Big dreams, this kid: a Mrs... hmm, ahem, sorry, a Mrs. Rivers even told of dreams to be an Olympian someday! Quite a lofty goal, for someone not even in the double digits yet.

Subject's psychological health has declined considerably since the accident. Very low mood, outbursts of anger, declarations of self-loathing, virtually no appetite, and an unwillingness to even attempt to get out of bed with the use of a walker.

I have begun the introductory phase. Through carefully constructured conversation over the next several weeks, I will carefully guide Subject's thoughts as with previous moderately-successful case 1428. His body is already in a weakened state of recovery, he cannot be operated on now, but I do think I can have him ready and perhaps even eager for the procedure by the time he is ready.

...eager, Nelson? Need I remind you even 1428 still isn't happy-

Without hope, the brain is highly impressionable, especially an undeveloped one shortly after a traumatic experience. Here is one with serious dreams of becoming the peak of our species, ripped through a windshield at 120 miles an hour, and watched the light leave two other people's eyes before having half of it's limbs amputated. This brain has been tailor made for this! It's a miracle that it's undamaged, and with proper sculpting could be better than we ever dreamed: forget obedience, by the time I'm done with it, it'll be singing our praises inside it's new body! I'll have it desperate for the procedure in a matter of weeks, and-

Nelson. You're ranting again. I don't care about... whatever that was, as long as it's demonstrably successful-

It will be! Oh trust me, it will be.

...

Subject 1683 - Codename: Wheelie

03-29-1993

Incident Report Transcript

Attending Personel: Sabrina Diaz - Subject Physician, Abigail Drew - Game Screening Manager

Alright, Drew. What happened?

I- um- you see- he-! Ok. Ok, ok, ok. Everything was normal. Everything was fine. Little guy and I are attached at the hip. First group comes in, we test their strength and stamina and patterns and stuff, they go through, no one's extraordinary, we send em on their way. Next train comes in, same thing again. They head off to the Build-A-Bot section and I go to reset the whole thing for the next one... and I turn around, and poof! Little dude is gone. I call for him, I use the clicker, I get his little treats out, but he's not comin' back. I put the system on pause and check around the room. He still doesn't come out. Then-

The point Drew, for christ's sake! HOW did you LOSE HIM?! His collar, your monitor, security measures, how did everything fail?! What, did, YOU, DO?!

Woah, hey, I didn't do anything! I've got the monitor right here, and-

Give me tha- WHERE is the REAL ONE, DREW?!

Wha- but I- this is the one you gave me!

...

Um... M-Ms. Diaz...?

...

Security, please escort Employe #33749 to the disciplinary office immediately. Nightwatch, please be alert and prepare to dispatch for the location and retrieval of Subject 1683.

[the-writerly-night-owl]

When Rain Is Good Luck

Mother of the Year/ Thomas Mendez x MC

Summary: it’s raining, and Thomas expects his day to be ruined, but who knew that the bad weather on his wedding was good luck.

Authors Note: So I was going to write an Open Heart for today but pushing back for tomorrow (it fills it better). Instead it’s mother of the year story in honor of the book ending. I wish it wasn’t and I’m pretty sure I’ll do a couple of more with this book (especially Luz and Thomas). 

Also wondering if anyone would be interested in seeing a story with Guy’s point of view? Like how he’s alone and his ex has this new life and catches a sweet moment kind of thing? Let me know. For the 41 days of cheer day 13: weather. Happy reading. 

Thomas looked down at the weather report his eyes wide before silently cursing under his breath. No. No. Nooooo, he thought desperate at the weather forecast. It was going to rain on today of all days.  That meant that he had to move the party inside and that wasn’t going to be nearly as fun if they couldn’t grill anything. Dang it, he just wanted today to go over well.

Frowning he rubbed his head for a moment. Too bad he couldn’t call Gloriana about it, because one she was with Alma. Two she didn’t even know about the surprise party afterward anyway.

“Dad!” called Luz from down the hall. She threw open his door before flying over and landing on top of the bed. “It’s Friday! You have to get ready the wedding is at noon. Woo, we get to miss school for the wedding!” With each word she was bouncing little by little.

“Luz come on, I have to braid your hair!” called Lucia down the hall. He glanced at the clock and surprised to see that it was ten already. Oh no. Ok not only was the weather going to ruin his wedding day but he was going to be late too.

Shooing her out the door Thomas found his favorite green tie and the rest of his nice clothes. Making sure he looked okay did he check his watch and start toward Luz’s room. To think the one next to hers would be Lucia’s.

From the door he stopped and smiled watching them for a minute. Lucia had done some sort of double French braid before combining it into one. Luz making sure that their dresses were okay before slowly putting everything on. They looked beautiful dressed in knee length gowns perfect for the courthouse and everyday wear.  

Stomach flip flopping he went into the room and sat down at the edge of the bed.

“You girls look great,” said Thomas rubbing his leg a little. “Luz do you care if I talk to Lucia alone for a minute?”

His daughter smiled at him before turning to the door.

“I’m going to wait in the car,” she said before tapping a finger on her wrist, pretending she was wearing a watch. “Don’t be late, we can’t have everyone waiting.”

With that he was left alone with Lucia who had finished putting her hair supplies up. Smiling shyly at him Lucia sat down next to Thomas on the bed. It was quiet before he took her hand and adjusted so he could sit directly in front of her.

“Today is a big day for your mom and I, but I know that it’s going to be a big day for you too. You’ll have another dad in your life and a sister,” he said taking a breath watching for her reaction. Lucia just nodded solemnly but didn’t say anything. “I know we talked about it before and I just wanted to check in with you. Do I still have your blessing to marry your mom?”

Lucia’s eyes grew wide before breaking out into a laugh and nodded her head up and down empathetically.

“Of course, Thomas, you’re great and you really make mom happy. I can’t imagine you not being with her. I don’t think that you need my permission, but it’s still a yes.”

A bit relieved that she said he just pulled her into a hug before kissing the top of her head. Lucia grinned before kissing his cheek back.

“You’re pretty strong Lucia Day and I would’ve hated to hear you say no,” said Thomas before pulling her off the bed and then down to the car.

Luz was impatiently waiting before waving for them to hurry. That was just a short talk, but they must get there on time. Gloriana was going to be waiting and he couldn’t wait to see her walk down that aisle. Even if it was just at the courthouse.

To his dismay it was starting to rain as they pulled into a parking spot. Producing umbrella’s, he headed inside to find that Alma was already there looking for them.

“Come on lover boy, nearly everyone is here the only person that’s not here yet is Eiko and she told us that she would be. Did you leave the key so that Marcus could get in to start setting up for the party?”

She wheeled over as they started down the hall. He nodded filling her in on that they would have to move everything inside. Lucia had taken one of his hands as he smiled at her Luz had ran ahead to get the front row seats.

“Thomas,” said Lucia as they stood just outside the doors of the courthouse wedding room. It was a pretty sweet set up if it wasn’t raining the stain glass would be beautiful. Plenty of light and could seat up to twenty even though they only had ten. “Congratulations, I can’t wait to move in with you and Luz next week.”

She hummed going forward and sat on her mother’s side of the church. Thomas just walked down the aisle first reaching the justice of the peace. The girls had stood together talking to themselves. His parents had made it in and waved to him. Eiko had slipped to an empty seat near them. Levi had taken a seat on Gloriana’s side of the room. Thomas had to frown as he saw Guy sitting there. Probably because his days with Lucia technically started when school let out. Whatever the reason he was there, he wasn’t going to push it.

Despite the rain thundering down and he could hear the excited chatter from behind the door. Finally, the doors in the back had opened at precisely noon sharp.

Gloriana walked down the aisle holding her dad’s arm. A gorgeous lace white gown showed off her every curve. The gown simple to wear anywhere as it reached midcalf length and her hair thrown up into intricate braids.

“Ahh don’t you two look nice,” teased the justice of the peace, Bernadette who had met them after jogging one day.

Gloriana had smiled at him nice and wide twirling ever so slightly to where the dress fanned out. Her brown eyes bright and wide as they met each other’s.

“Thomas and Gloriana, today you enter as individuals, but you will leave here as husband and wife, blending your lives, expanding your family ties, and embarking upon the grandest adventure of human interaction,” said Bernadette.

Taking each other’s hands Thomas squeezed hers as the final I dos were said.

His lips had found hers at the words you may kiss the bride his arms encircling her waist. Now this, this was the best part of his day. Gloriana had cupper chis cheek before parting. Lucia and Luz cheering from the sidelines.

“I love you Thomas and I can’t imagine not having you in my life,” she said softly. “You know they say it’s good luck to have rain on your wedding day.”

They heard the thumping again from above as he shook his head. “Huh, you think I should have known that,” he said teasing her keeping her close to him.

Straightening up they stayed close together just smiling nonstop.

“Wait, before everyone leaves, we do have something that I want to say,” said Thomas as Lucia and Luz stood up. “Girls?”

“Our surprise is that we have something waiting at home mom.” Lucia paused for a moment not sure what to call Thomas’s house now. After all she was moving in with them next week.

“It’s party time mom,” said Luz cheerfully as Gloriana pulled her into a hug from behind. “Everyone here is invited except…” She paused and seemed to catch herself before playfully turning around. “Unless you are free Bernadette.”

The adults just laughed as Thomas was relieved that she didn’t say Guy. Although he did like how his face slacked at hearing Luz call Gloriana mom in front of everyone. Forgetting about that situation Gloriana had laced her fingers through his.

“You planned a party?” she asked, “well that is great gift.”

“And it’s gets better,” he whispered kissing her cheek softly. There was nothing that could get in their way. “Alma said that she would watch Luz. We could…”

“It’s perfect,” she said grinning. “Who know we might get a baby of our own.”

He flushed and started to stammer before just shaking his head. They were still young enough to have another baby. Who knows? Maybe he would have a third beautiful daughter come along. Still holding hands, they walked out of the courthouse hand in hands ready to party.

Tag list: @ramseyandrys @adrianadmirer  @fluffy-cat-whisper  @paisleylovergirl @elainew13 @itsbrindleybinch @brightpinkpeppercorn  @darley1101 @mfackenthal @jlpplays1 @writerapprentice @indescribablechoices @wildsayeed @princess-geek @perriewinklenerdie  @lilyofchoices @flyawayboo @itsbrindleybinch @symonde @am-i-invisible777

[cowboy-crimez]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: The Umbrella Academy (TV) Rating: Not Rated Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Number Five | The Boy & Diego Hargreeves Characters: Diego Hargreeves, Number Five, Eudora Patch, Chuck Beaman, brief Klaus Hargreeves, brief Vanya Hargreeves, Mentions of Allison Luther and Ben Additional Tags: Alternate Universe, No Apocalypse, Trans Character, child!Five, he is a Teenager, maybe a bit ooc but hey the charter of rights promises me liberty and i'm taking it, Coming Out, Time Skips Summary:

eudora and beaman are surprised to find out diego has a kid; they're more surprised when they see what their relationship is like

The first thing that tips Eudora off that something weird is happening, is the fact that Diego is wearing a tie. Not just some shoddy clip-on tie, or one that he clearly borrowed from some other detective, like when he has to give a testimony on the stand, but an actual hand tied tie.

The second thing is his absolutely foul mood.

“Jesus, what’s got your panties in a bunch?” Beaman asks after Diego snatches a cup of coffee from him. His question makes Diego scowl more. Surprisingly, instead of just telling him to fuck off, he actual answers.

“I have to go to this bullshit interview with my kid’s principal because my smartass of a son has behavioural issues, which I already fucking knew, and I told them last time I had to go to a parent-teacher interview, I said, ‘He doesn’t like other kids, he won’t do class participation, he’s not going to play games with other kids, he just wants to sit down and learn and read and then go home’ and they said, ‘Oh, Mr. Hargreeves, I’m sure that’s not true, we can get him out of his shell!’. Well! He’s out of his fucking shell now and he’s telling other kids that they’re fucking dumbasses!” Diego seethes, jaw tensing more and more as he goes on.

Eudora and Beaman stare at him, jaws dropping. Diego takes a breath.

Eudora clears her throat. “I didn’t know you had a kid.” Beaman nods in agreement.

Diego looks at them. “He came in like two weeks ago with my brother to give me my house keys.”

They both cast their memory back, trying to remember if either of them had seen a kid with Diego’s eyes, or hair, or mouth, or skin tone. The only kid they remember seeing Diego with was a pale boy with brown hair, who seemed to be mouthing off to an annoyed Diego. The kid came in with Klaus, and given the stories, she heard of him, and their similar colouring, she has presumed that the kid was his or Dave’s. In retrospect, Eudora guesses the kid and Diego had similar noses.

“Oh,” she says. “Well, uh good luck, I guess.”

Diego nods, grabs his coffee and stalks back to his desk.

--

Eudora doesn’t feel as bad that she didn’t know that Diego had an entire child without her knowing, once she realizes that nothing about him or his workspace advertises the fact.

He has no pictures of anyone at his desk - not even his mom, and Eudora knows how much he loves her - much less any pictures of him and his kid at a baseball game or birthday party. His wallet is sans photos as well; she knows because once she had to dig through it to find a ten dollar bill to pay for some take out they ordered on a night shift. Even his phone screen is just a default black.

The only thing that could possibly point towards the fact that he’s a father is his phone calls when he’s working late.

The Captain is really breathing down everyone's necks to get the crime stats in, and after a brief server crash that erased twenty minutes worth of work for everyone, he’s screaming that everyone is staying an extra three hours to get them back on track. It’s already six, so people groan and start to call and text their significant others and kids that they’ll be late for dinner or bedtimes.

Eudora sees Diego roll his eyes once the Captain goes back to his office, before digging his phone out of his pocket. Usually, he’ll go and walk outside to make phone calls, but he must be feeling tired today because he stays seated.

Eudora hates feeling nosy, but she figures, I’m a detective, and Diego is sometimes a partner, so she should know this about him right?

He clicks on a contact, then puts his phone to his ear.

“Hey,” He says, voice neutral, “I’m gonna be home late tonight. Hm? No, it’s just work stuff. Listen, there’s leftovers in the fridge from last night, if you’re still hungry after you’ve had that then you can order a pizza or something. If I find an empty pizza box and the leftovers, I swear to god, I’m feeding you plain mashed potatoes for a month. I should be back home before you’re asleep, but I’ll let you know if I get held up anymore. Make sure you do your home- oh, you’re already done? Okay, good job. Okay, see you later. Wait! I just remembered that you’re grounded… uh…. If you watch tv, make sure it’s off by the time I get home so that I can pretend that you’re actually being punished. Oh, you do that anyway? Great. Okay, bye.” He hangs up, slips his phone back into the pocket of his leather jacket, and goes back to staring at a report he’s trying to type up.

Curiosity takes over Eudora.

“So, uh, that was your kid?” She asks, leaning over to talk to him.

Diego nods, “Yup.”

“You have a son, right?”

“Uh huh.”

She waits for a follow up that never comes.

“What his name?”

“Five.” He squints at some writing, before backspacing and retyping a line. Eudora blinks.

“His name… is Five?”

“Yeah, he refuses to go by anything else.”

Eudora nods again slowly. “How old is he?”

“He’s fourteen but he acts like he’s a fucking twenty seven year old business major with the attitude that he’s got.”

Eudora furrows her eyebrows. Fourteen? Diego turned thirty less than a year ago. That means he had the kid - got someone pregnant! - when he was sixteen, maybe fifteen. She leans back into her chair.

“Oh.” She says, suddenly understanding why Diego never barged into work showing everyone new baby photos like Martinez from I.T. did a few months ago. Why he doesn’t go around showing off awards or certificates that Five has won. She gets why he doesn’t have any photos of a young kid on his shoulders at his desk, or why he doesn’t go around bragging about his son’s - Five’s - accomplishments.

A lot of people their age have kids, yes, but only around the ages of five or six, maybe even if they started a family early. Baby pictures of Five would also be high school pictures of Diego. To Eudora’s knowledge, Diego is single and has been for at least a few years. He was single when he entered the police academy too, when he was twenty-one, too.

Five’s mom probably isn’t in the picture, hell, maybe she never was in the picture, to begin with.

Eudora made a lot of mistakes with people at sixteen, but never one that resulted in a kid.

She looks over at Diego, still squinting at the screen and typing away, and more than anything feels sympathy for him.

Still, she thinks, turning back to her own work, it’s a bit sad that he seems to ignore the fact that he has a kid when he’s at work.

--

It’s three weeks later when Beaman looks up from his desk and sees a kid walking towards Diego. He’s wearing a school uniform, knee socks and all, and looks incredibly bored. He has a backpack on but is still carrying a notebook in his hands.

He makes his way to Diego’s turned back, raises his notebook, and lets it drop to the ground. It lands with a loud SMACK that makes every cop in a two-metre radius jump. Diego isn’t an exception, with the way he jerks around, hand finding his holster.

When he sees the kid, he sighs.

“How many times do I have to tell you not to do that?”

The kid shrugs, before leaning down and picking the notebook up. He takes off his backpack then puts the notebook into the bag.

Diego looks at the clock on his computer. “We have a few minutes, let me finish this then we can get going, okay, Five?”

The kid groans, but nods, dropping his backpack at Diego’s feet and stalking off towards the kitchenette.

Beaman wheels his chair over and asks, “Who’s the kid?”

“Five,” Diego replies, “My son.”

Beaman sputters, before managing an “Oh, okay.” and returning to his desk.

After a few minutes, Diego, seeming satisfied with his work, logs off the computer and starts to gather his things. Five returns with a paper cup that steaming.

Diego glares, “I told you not to drink any more coffee today.”

“Yeah, well, you also told me not to drink alcohol and yet somehow I know how to make a margarita.”

Diego sighs pinches the bridge of his nose, and says, “Just pick up your shit and let’s go.”

Five grabs his backpack, before hastily walking out.

--

“You know, I saw Diego’s son today,” Beaman tells Eudora in the breakroom later, “He was… something else.”

Eudora nods, “They don’t really look related, do they?”

“No, not really. I mean, I guess they have similar noses, but that’s about it.”

Eudora takes a sip of her tea. “He’s… older than I would have thought.”

“Yeah,” Beaman lets out a whistle, “Diego must’ve had him young.”

“He really doesn’t seem like the parenting type, does he?”

“That he does not.” Beaman thinks about Diego’s remarks to Five before leaving.

They both nod, feeling vaguely guilty about talking about Diego’s parenting behind his back, before finding a new topic to talk about.

The next day, they don’t bring up Five to Diego.

--

Vanya doesn’t dislike Five, in fact, she loves him dearly, would be willing to put down her life for him if he needed it. Five has made her life better in many ways; his existence helped her and Diego’s relationship immensely, him always wanting her to teach him how to read music, how to play the piano or violin has made her a better teacher, and she loves watching him light up as he gets carried away on some tangent about math, or physics or space. Overall, Vanya can’t imagine her life without Five being somewhere in the background.

It’s just.

He listens to her even less than he listens to Diego, which already, isn’t a lot.

She supposes that’s to be expected. Diego is Five’s dad, the highest authority the kid recognizes besides his own, which means that all his aunts and uncles fall below that.

Klaus doesn’t mind the fact that Five never listens to him or Dave, in fact, Vanya thinks he enjoys basically being equals with the fourteen-year-old. Five only listens to Ben occasionally, since Ben can usually use reason to convince Five one way or the other. Sometimes Five listens to Allison, the new(er) mom able to appeal to the childlike tendencies that Five tries to pretend don’t exist. Anything Luther says Five ignores on principle, a fact that brings a smile to Diego’s face.

But, Vanya? She knows that Five respects her authority more than other aunt or uncle - that doesn’t mean he likes her more though, she has learned over time. He just respects her more.

She thinks it’s because she always tried to listen to him when he was younger. She never tried to speak over him or dismiss him outright. She didn’t want him to feel like she did.

When Five was really young, he used to sneak into her bedroom when it was supposed to be his nap time. The naps were partially for Five, and partially to give Diego time to get out all the aggression he couldn’t let out around a kid.

Five would watch as Vanya practiced the violin, or sit on her lap as she read, or sometimes actually nap on her bed while she studied.

Not much has changed, considering she comes home to her apartment some nights, to find Five asleep on her couch.

“You cannot keep breaking into my apartment!” She says, making tea for both of them, waiting for Diego to come to pick Five up. He sounded annoyed over the phone, no longer surprised by Five’s antics but still irritated by them.

“So long as you continue to leave your windows unlocked, I certainly can.”

“I live on the second floor!"

“Rapists can climb!”

Vanya closes her eyes and breathes through her nose. She grabs the cups of tea and brings them over to the coffee table.

“Why did you even come over, Five? It’s late, it’s cold, I know that it takes at least forty minutes on the bus. Why did you come all the way over here?” Maybe it’s a by-product of literally growing up with him - albeit in a very different stage of development - that made Vanya so attuned with Five. She never had to pull the parent card, like Diego did (he was the only one who felt comfortable doing that as a teenager), and she never felt comfortable to just ‘become friends’ with Five, as Klaus and Ben did. She didn’t distance herself or wait for Diego to beg her for help to start a relationship with Five. She’s really, not that she wants to admit it, the closest thing to a normal aunt that Five has.

Five looks at his lap and in a soft voice, he said, “I got into another fight at school and Diego had to pick me up. He was really angry and he yelled at me in the car, and then I yelled back, and then he had to go back to work.” Five’s voice gets impossibly quieter, “I felt really bad and I didn’t want to have to see him right away when he was done work. So I came here.”

Vanya looks at Five’s hunched over figure. Sometimes she forgets how young he is, how young Diego is to have him. She moves over to sit next to him and puts a hand on his shoulder.

“Look, Five, I get that. But you can’t keep leaving home without calling or leaving a note. Diego worries about you, and when he worries, so do I. And regardless what you may believe - or may want to believe - Diego is your father and does think a lot like you,” she can see Five rolling his eyes. “He’ll understand if you let him."

Fifteen minutes later Diego is waiting at the door as Vanya gives Five a hug goodbye. She gives Diego a look before he leaves, and tells him to drive safe.

Vanya doesn’t know if her speech had any effect on Five, or if she helped the situation at all. All she knows is that from then on, Five texts her letting her know that he’s climbing the fire escape to break in.

--

Diego gets a knee to the chest and what’s probably a broken rib a few weeks later. This is on top of the stab wound to his shoulder. Eudora finishes up with the arrests, before going over to the ambulance that he’s sitting in, watching as he winces trying to get his shirt over his head.

“Got a new scar to add to the collection?” She jokes, seeing the paramedic laying out tools, getting ready to stitch Diego up.

Diego finally pulls his shirt all the way off, groaning as he brings his arms back down, “Oh yeah, you know me, can never get enough.”

Eudora laughs before her eyes fall to Diego’s chest. Two symmetrical scars lay underneath his pectorals, only just slightly paler than the rest of his skin.

“When did you get those ones?” She jerks her chin towards his chest. He looks down and seems a bit embarrassed when he looks back up.

“Uh, got them before the academy, way earlier.” Eudora wants to follow up but then sees him tense as the paramedic starts to disinfect the wound, letting him know that the first stitch will come any second.

She always finds it funny that Diego will brush off a stabbing or a bullet wound like it’s nothing, but even mentioning needles will make him pale.

“Hey, so uh, will Five be worried about you?” She asks, figuring that there’s no better way to distract Diego than to get him to talk about his son.

Diego snorts. “Five? No way, he’ll probably make fun of me for being too slow to dodge a knife.”

Eudora hums, pretending like that’s a normal response. “What was he like when he was young?”

The paramedic is starting the first stitch, and Diego’s face gets pinched. “He was a fucking angel as a baby. Quiet, didn’t cry, ate his food. Didn’t last long though, turned into a demon as soon as he could walk and talk. Sometimes I think that he’s making up for lost time by being mouthy now.”

Eudora’s about to ask another question and is surprised when he continued unprompted.

“You know, a lot of parents say things like, ‘I loved my kid the moment they were born’, or even before they were born. My dad, he… well, I didn’t want a kid at sixteen, I mean, who the fuck does? But, I was acting out, and I was angry at that age, and he thought that going through with it would be the ultimate punishment and the ultimate lesson in responsibility. So, even though I didn’t want Five, I had him. And the whole time leading up to his birth, I was thinking, ‘I can love him when I hold him, I’ll love him as soon as I set eyes on him’, and then he was born and I held him and I just. I don’t know. I didn’t feel anything. I didn’t hate him for ruining my life, but I also didn’t love him. I feel guilty as fuck about that now, but I was sixteen, I had to quit my swim team to take care of this kid, I had to quit archery and track, I couldn’t go out to parties anymore, none of my friends wanting to hang out with me, and my siblings didn’t know how to treat me anymore, all my time I was just looking after this thing that didn’t even look like me. But as he got older - as we both got older - I guess I learned how to love him. And I really do love him, I would do anything for him now.”

The paramedic is almost done with the stitches, and Diego looks just about ready to faint.

“I just, I wish I had him at a better time. I wish I could have loved him from the beginning. I think he knows that I didn’t love him at first.” The paramedic ties off the last stitch. “I think that he’ll always hate me because of that.”

Before Eudora can say anything else, Diego’s eyes roll back as he faints. The paramedic catches him, lays him onto the stretcher and says, “Low blood sugar, probably. He’ll be back up in no time.”

Eudora nods, deciding that this is the type of conversation that she won’t repeat, and that she can’t bring up again.

--

Five never says so, but days with Diego aren’t really as bad as he pretends they are. They’re lounging on the couch after a day of errands, visiting Grace (Five refuses to call her grandma, at this point, not even he knows why), and a visit to the library so that Five could get an extension on a book he hasn’t quite finished reading.

To top it all off, on the way home they stopped at a cafe, and Diego let Five order the biggest coffee on the menu without complaint or comment.

The show on television is garbage, and Five would rather be reading his library book, but he’s so comfy underneath the blanket Diego threw over him, and despite the amount of caffeine he ingests daily, he can feel his eyes slipping closed.

He’s only slightly roused when he feels two strong arms around him, lifting him from the couch. He just curls in on himself more, and he can faintly hear Diego chuckle but it sounds and feels a million miles away.

Five feels himself being placed on his bed, hears Diego tugging at the comforter until it’s over Five’s shoulder, and the pressure as he tucks him in, something he hasn’t done in almost a decade. He barely did it before too.

Five assumes he’ll leave right away, so he starts snuggling into bed, but then his sleep addled brain is surprised when he feels Diego petting his hair and whispering,

“Goodnight, kiddo,” a term Five never lets him use, and then he feels Diego kiss the side of his head, an action Five never lets him do. “I love you.”

After a second that lasts an eternity, Five hears the door to his room close, leaving him alone in his room.

If he sleeps any better than night than usual, he racks it up to coincidence.

--

Beaman is at a club with his friends on a Friday night. It’s not a common occurrence, but his friend got a promotion and wanted to celebrate. The club they’re in isn’t strictly a gay club, but he can tell there’s a lot of gay people in it. Not that he has a problem with that, it just means that he doesn’t think he’ll be heading home with anyone tonight.

It’s just after ten when Beaman finishes his drink and heads to the washroom. As soon as he opens the door he can tell that people are going at it in the stall. The grunting and moaning can be heard over the muffled music when the door is closed, and he can see the two different pairs of shoes underneath the stall door.

Usually, Beaman would hightail it out of there, but he’s already pleasantly drunk, and he really has to piss, so he just shrugs and uses the urinal. As he’s zipping his pants back up he hears one last grunt and some heavy breathing.

Beaman is just finishing drying his hands at the sink when the stall door opens, and who else than Detective Diego Hargreeves walks out. Beaman turns around after recognizing him in the mirror, and Diego stops in his tracks, mouth gaping.

Beaman has to say, he never expected Diego to own leather pants.

The other man - oh lord, the man Diego was having sex with - walks out of the stall, slaps Diego’s ass, before saying, “Call me sometime, baby.” and walking out, not before throwing a tied condom in the trash.

Diego and Beaman stay frozen.

After a minute Beaman clears his throat. “So, I guess Five won’t be getting a sibling anytime soon.”

Diego lets out a laugh that, even in his slightly drunk state, Beaman can tell is forced and pinched.

They’re saved from any further awkwardness when a skinny dude wearing a skirt - Klaus, Beaman remembers - bursts into the washroom, yelling, “Brother dearest, did you have a good time?”

Diego whips towards him, immediately saying, “I’m going home now.”

Klaus pouts and says, “Ugh, Dave wants to leave too, you guys are so boring. But, fine, let's go. ”

Diego almost sprints out of the washroom.

On Monday, Beaman can barely make eye contact with Diego without blushing.

--

It starts out a fairly quiet day. Eudora hands in all her completed files and reports before noon, interviews a witness and manages to organize her desk before everything goes to shit.

Before she even sees what’s going on, she hears a voice demanding, “Let go of me, you goddamn creep!”

Diego’s head snaps up, eyebrows furrowing when he sees Davidson, the beat cop, leading Five by the arm through the precinct.

“Five?” Diego asks, eyeing the cut on his cheek, bloody knuckles, and the blood around his nose, “What happened?”

“He got into a fight with a classmate. Happened outside school grounds. A bystander called, I recognized him, figured I would let you handle it since the kid’s parent decided not to press charges.” Davidson turns to Five, “You got lucky this time, kid.

“Fuck off, pig, don’t call me ‘kid’.” Five spits.

Eudora can see Diego’s jaw tense as he says, “Thank you, Davidson.”

Davidson’s hand isn’t even off of Five before Diego is standing and pushing Five into the chair next to his desk.

“Five, what the fuck were you thinking?”

“I was thinking that Eric is a little bitch who thinks he’s better than me, so I wanted to prove him wrong. I miscalculated and got my ass handed to me.” Five says, blunt as ever. Diego pinches the bridge of his nose.

“You can’t go around fighting everyone-”

“Why not? You do.”

“Yeah, because I’m allowed because I’m a cop. You’re a kid.”

“Don’t call me a kid.” Five hisses.

“I will stop calling you a kid when you stop fucking acting like one,” Diego replies.

“Well, maybe I’ll stop ‘acting like one’ when you stop acting like you’re my dad.”

“Five,” Diego starts with a warning tone, “I am your dad.”

“No,” Five says, voice raising, not that it matters since just about every cop on the floor is staring, “You’re not. You’re just some fuck up who got stuck with me and now thinks he knows what’s best for me.”

“Fidel Victor Hargreeves, I swear to god-” Diego seethes, voice suddenly impossibly quiet, but before he can finish Five yells over him again.

“Or what? What will you do, Diego? Ground me? Make me switch schools again? Finally going to send me away like you always wanted?! Guess what Diego, I don’t need you, and I don’t want you around! I’d rather have an actual mom or dad, or better yet, nothing at all, instead of whatever the fuck you are!”

Diego seems stunned into silence, and after a second of heavy breathing, Five starts to get up from the chair to try and walk away.

Quick as a whip, Diego’s hand shoots out, pushing him back onto the chair and handcuffing him to the desk.

“What the fuck, Diego?” Five shrieks.

If Diego’s voice is watery, no one will be brave enough to comment, “You got into a fight - assaulted someone. I’m not letting you leave this precinct alone. And since I’ll have to clean up your mess - again - that means you have to wait here until someone can pick you up.”

For a second Five is still, until he lashes out trying to kick Diego.

“If you keep throwing a tantrum I will throw you into a holding cell,” Diego says, before grabbing his phone and walking away.

“Fuck you, you fucking fascist!” Five screams after him, but as soon as Diego is out of sight, he just crosses his arms the best he can and hunches over in the chair.

Eudora looks around, sees every other cop in the homicide division still staring at Five. Thank god the captain is out at a meeting today, she thinks. “Okay, the show’s over, folks, let’s get back to work!”

She waits a minute, watching everyone slowly get back into their work, before going to follow Diego.

Anytime he needs to make calls he goes out to the old stairwell that has surprisingly decent reception. It’s too narrow for two way traffic, so most people avoid it, which is why Diego prefers it over the roof or the break room.

She opens the door to the stairwell slowly, peeking in she sees Diego sitting on a step, hunched over, palms pressed to his eyes.

“Hey,” she whispers, trying not to surprise him. Her efforts fall short, as he shoots up, hands falling away from his eyes and sniffs. His face is wet, eyes red.

“Oh hey, Patch,” he says. “I called fucking Luther of all people - figured he was the only one physically strong enough to carry Five out of here. He was busy though, so Ben is coming to get him.”

Eudora nods, closing the stairwell door behind her as she goes to squeeze in next to Diego on the step. It’s a tight fit.

He refuses to look at her, an occasional sniffle still sneaking out of his body.

“So, Fidel, huh?” She asks, not having planned to find Diego crying.

He lets out a garbled laugh. “Yeah, I wanted his name to be Spanish, you know, keep heritage or whatever. But then he refused to learn Spanish, and then we got into a fight when he was five, and since then he refused to go by anything besides that: Five.”

“He’s pretty stubborn.” She says, trying to be diplomatic. Diego nods, and for a minute Eudora thinks it’ll all be okay.

But then another sob wracks it way through Diego’s body and he chokes up, “C-c-could you leave me a-alone, please?”

“Yeah, bud, yeah, let me know if you need anything.” She says, almost relieved to leave this situation.

Ten minutes later, Diego comes - eyes red, face damp - to unlock Five’s handcuffs as he passes his son to Ben.

He sits down at his desk, takes a deep breath, and goes back to work until seven pm when he goes home.

It becomes another thing that no one talks to him about.

--

Eudora never realized that in all her years of knowing Diego, she’s never been to his house.

They’re on their way back from a crime scene when Diego mentions he lives in the area, and Hey, do you mind if we stop by for a minute, I forgot my flash drive on my bedside table, and suddenly Eudora is waiting for Diego to unlock the door to an apartment.

She doesn’t know what to expect. She knows his family is loaded, but she half expected him to live in an abandoned warehouse that doubled as an underground boxing ring. The apartment building that he lives in seems nice, nicer than most single cops with his salary could get (the perks of inheritance, she supposes), but it isn’t obnoxiously expensive. The halls could do with a fresh coat of paint, and Diego has to jiggle the doorknob just right to unlock the door.

“Come on in,” he says, after the door is open, “You want coffee, water?”

“Uh, just water,” she replies, looking around the entrance way. Against the wall there’s a neat row of Converse, Nikes and combat boots next to equally neat pairs of Birkenstocks, runners and leather shoes. The size difference is almost comical.

The entrance gives way to the living room, where a comfortable, but worn looking sofa and armchair sit around a chipped coffee table in front of a tv. There’s some complicated looking textbooks on the table, and the bookshelves surrounding the tv seems to be half books and half knickknacks.

Diego returns from the kitchen with a glass of water for Eudora, and says, “Just give me a minute,” before going down the hall to what Eudora is presuming is his bedroom.

She takes a sip and looks around the living room. There are more pictures on the walls than she would have presumed Diego would allow. Family photos, clearly taken before Five was born, with Diego smiling plastically with his siblings, his father looking regal and harsh, his mother beautiful and sweet. Photos of him as a teenager with Klaus and Ben, grinning with beers in their hands. Pictures of him with medals from a swimming competition, hair plastered to his face, huddled in a hoodie. He looked softer than she expected him to look as a teenager, somehow. Then she spots the pictures of Five.

The newer the photos are, the happier Diego looks in them. There’s a photo taken just last year, judging by the sling on Diego’s arm - an injury he gotten while trying to force a door open - showing him grinning wide next to a straight-faced Five, holding a trophy. A picture of Five at maybe age twelve, him scowling at Diego’s hand on his shoulder, Diego himself smiling softly. Five sitting on a swing, around age ten with a slight grin on his face, Diego looking tired but content. Then there’s the older pictures on the bookshelf. Pictures of a grinning toddler and a frowning Diego, pictures of Diego holding a bundled up baby, surrounded by his siblings who look awkward, his mother who looks as sweet as always, and a father who looks smug. Pictures of Five alone, playing with blocks and laughing.

Still no picture of a mother, Eudora notes. Only Diego’s family, or Diego himself. She wonders where the mom must have run off to if her absence was agreed upon or a surprise.

She finishes her water, and Diego comes out from the bedroom with a lanyard with a bunch of USB sticks hanging from it. He locks his apartment when they leave, and Eudora doesn’t ask any questions about Five’s mom. It wouldn’t be polite.

--

Five is nearly finished reading his latest library book when he hears a sharp knock on the door, the only warning he gets before it swings open.

“You know the point of knocking is to wait for the person to say ‘come in’.” Five turns the page without looking up.

“Nah, it’s to let the person know that someone is coming in,” Diego replies. He sets down a bowl of strawberries on Five’s bedside table, grabbing the empty mug instead. “Good book?"

Five hums, eyes still glued to the page.

“‘Yes, Diego, it is a good book, thank you for bringing me food,’” Diego says in a comically high pitched voice.

Five grumbles, but Diego laughs and leaves the room. When he hears the door shut, Five looks up and glances at the bowl beside him. He reaches over, grabs the biggest one and takes a bite out of it. It’s sweet and the juice runs down his palm, making him scramble as to not get it on the pages of his book.

He brings an empty bowl out later, and he talks to Diego about his book for an hour.

--

Eudora gets a Twitter notification before Diego gets the phone call. It’s sad, that school catching on fire, but it’s doesn’t seem relevant to bring it up in conversation. She doesn’t even think about the fact that she’s only ever seen Five in a private school uniform.

They’re just driving, patrolling an area where a witness apparently saw a suspect, even though they both know it’s a dead end. Eudora is behind the wheel since Diego said he wanted to be able to look over the witness statement as they drove.

Diego’s phone keeps vibrating in his pocket, so finally, he picks it up with an irritated, “What?”

Eudora looks over just in time to see his face fall.

“What? When? What do you mean- Is Five- What do you mean you don’t know? What- Fine, okay!” He hangs up almost frantic.

“What was that about?” Eudora asks, almost amused.

“Five’s school caught on fire, and they can't find him, but I know he’s there because I dropped him off this morning, and I need to get there right now,” Diego says all in one breath, looking like he’s a second away from crying.

“Oh damn,” Eudora says, flipping on the sirens and running through a light.

They’re at Five’s school in less than ten minutes, Diego spending the whole time nearly working himself into a panic attack. Eudora pulls up as close as she can to the school, it already surrounded by other parents and emergency vehicles, and before she’s even parked, Diego is jumping out of the car, sprinting towards the crowd of people.

He does his best to push through the crowd without knocking anyone over. After a few minutes of struggle, he manages to break through to the front of the crowd, where all the ambulances and school children who haven’t been picked up yet are waiting.

“Five! Five!” Diego calls out, making a few heads turn. He doesn’t see him, so he’s about to keep moving when he hears a garbled whine.

Diego’s head whips around, finally spotting Five sitting on the back of an ambulance, an oxygen mask strapped to his face, struggling against the paramedic who’s trying to keep him still. Diego dashes over to him.

“Five, oh my god, Five, are you okay?” He asks him desperately, hands shooting out to hold his face.  Five lets out another whine, and Diego realizes his arm and shoulder are wrapped with gauze and bandages.

“Oh, Five,” Diego says softly, making sure not to put too much pressure on him as he wrapped Five into a hug. He half expects Five to struggle and push him away, but instead, Five just presses closer and takes in a shaky breath.

And then he starts to cry.

“D-D-D-” Five starts to choke out, and Diego just shushes him and pets his hair, “Dad, I w-was scared, and - and - and there was smoke and-”

“Hey, hey, hey,” Diego interrupts, hearing Five’s voice get more brittle, more gasps for air in between words. “It’s okay now, I’m here, Dad’s here, Five.”

Five nods his head shakily and takes another gasping breath.

After a few minutes, Five calms down enough to extract himself from Diego’s chest, face red and blotchy, tears still glistening on his cheeks. The paramedic tells Diego that Five got minor burns, but they aren’t serious, shouldn’t even scar, but that he should still take Five to the hospital, just to make sure everything is fine.

He removes the oxygen mask from Five’s face, and instantly Five is back to clinging to Diego like his life depends on it. Gingerly, Diego wraps his arms around his son and lifts him up, Five’s skinny legs locking like a vice around his hips.

“Come on, kid, let’s get you to a hospital,” Diego whispers.

“Do we have to, dad?” Five asks, “I’m tired.”

“I know, kid, but you can sleep in the car.” He says, before remembering that Eudora drove him. He looks around and finds her in the crowd. She stands awkwardly, not knowing if she should stand away from blubbering families, or if she should get closer to Diego.

Diego walks somewhat awkwardly, trying not to jostle Five too much.

“Hey, Patch, you think you could drive us to a hospital?” He asks, although he already knows she’ll say yes. As expected Eudora nods and starts to show him to where she hastily parked on the sidewalk. They make a brief detour to let a random school official know that Diego is taking Five to a hospital, so they don’t have to keep calling him.

Eudora opens the backdoor to the car for Diego and is only slightly surprised when instead of depositing Five in the back and climbing into the front seat, Diego gingerly sits down in the back, still holding Five in his arms. He rearranges Five’s skinny body so that he sits across Diego’s lap.

“Seatbelt,” Diego mutters, making Five sighs as he helps to buckle it across the two of them.

Five falls asleep on the cautious drive to the hospital, waking up periodically to cough. Occasionally Eudora peeks at them through the rear view mirror, sees Diego rub circles on Five’s back or whispering to him softly. She also feels embarrassed to see these acts of affection, like a voyeur or a peeping tom, given how cold and distant Diego and Five tend to act towards each other in public.

Eudora pulls up to the hospital and she has to help Diego out of the car since he doesn’t want to wake up his sleeping child.

“You know, he’s almost cute when he’s sleeping,” Diego jokes quietly, as he does his best to get a grip on Five’s legs.

Eudora laughs, but it’s tense. She agrees with the statement, but it’s hard to make a quip back when she can see the bandages around the kid’s arm getting darker with plasma and blood. They stand awkwardly for a moment.

“Do you think you could also call the captain and just let him know why I won’t be back at the station today?”

“Oh, yeah, of course, totally,” Eudora says quickly, already dreading the conversation.

Diego smiles, “Thanks, Patch, I owe you one.”

“Don’t worry about it.”  Another moment of silence.

“So, yeah, uh, thanks.” And then Diego is off, walking towards the automatic doors.

Eudora waits until the two of them have disappeared behind layers of glass, before getting into the car and driving back to the station. Diego takes three more days off of work but no one has the gall to bring it up when he comes back.

--

Beaman feels like he’s dying after Diego walked him through his normal work out. He mentioned wanting to switch gyms, and Diego offered to show him his usual routine.

“Holy shit, no wonder you look like that,” he pants out, making Diego laugh. Beaman decides that dignity isn’t worth it, and hunches over, hands on knees as he takes deep breaths.

“You get used to it.” He says, simply, though there’s still sweat running down his face. He lifts the bottom of his shirt up to wipe his face.

And Beaman doesn’t mean to stare, but he was looking in that direction anyway, and he’s pretty sure Diego just did that to show off his abs, but then Beaman is face to face with yet another scar and holy shit-

“How’d you get that one?” His mouth asks before his brain can tell him not to. Diego makes a confused noise. Beaman jerks his head in the general direction of Diego’s stomach.

“That one.” He’s looking at the long vertical scar, going right up his stomach. It looks old, in some lights it probably isn’t noticeable at all, but with the rest, Diego’s skin bright and sweaty, the darker, somewhat crooked line stands out starkly.

“Oh,” Diego looks down and quickly drops his shirt. For once he seems awkward talking about it, “It’s from a surgery I had a long time ago. It didn't go well. I don’t want to talk about it.”

The terseness of his reply takes Beaman off guard, but he quickly recovers, nods, and says, “Fair enough.”

He still finds it strange, though, how open Diego is about every other mark on his body, but he won’t push it.

Especially not after Diego showed him how hard he could punch.

--

“Hey, Diego,” Eudora starts before she thinks better. They’re at a bar, celebrating closing a case, and she’s probably drunken more than her fair share, but then Diego offered to pay for the next round and it wouldn’t be polite to decline, even though the question she’s about to ask is anything other than rude, “Diego!”

“What?” He laughs a bit at her slurring, taking another sip of beer.

“Where’s Five’s mom?”

Diego just about chokes on his drink. “What?”

“Where is Five’s mom?” She asks, slower and louder.

“Why do you need to know?” Diego frowns.  

“I’m just wonderin’,” she says, “Just ‘cause you’re always taking care of him, and you haven’t dated anyone in a while, so I was just wondering-”

“He doesn’t need a mom,” Diego cuts her off, almost angry, “He has me.”

“I’m not accusing you, or anything,” Eudora says, even though just saying that makes it sound worse, “Like, I said, I was just curious about her.”

For some reason, that comment seems to upset him more.

“Five doesn’t need a mom, he doesn’t need another dad, I’m his parent, his dad. We don’t need anyone else.” Diego almost growls out. He’s gathering his things before Eudora has a chance to backtrack or apologize, and before she knows it he’s gone.

The next morning Eudora' s head is killing her and she narrowly avoids vomiting while brushing her teeth. Her memory of the night previous is fuzzy, but she remembers enough to know that she clearly hit a nerve and was out of line.

She walks into work wearing sunglasses and carrying two coffees. She silently sets one down on Diego’s desk, earning a raised eyebrow from him.

At lunchtime, he tells her that Five got in trouble at school for talking back to a teacher, and the only reason why they haven’t kicked him out is that his marks are so good he brings up the curve of every class he’s in. He looks at her, almost as if testing to see what her reaction is.

Eudora hums. “Well, I’m sure you have it under control.”

Diego looks at her for another second, then shrugs, before telling her about a show he saw a few nights ago.

Eudora figures that means she passed.

--

Shockingly, it isn’t a knife or a bullet or a hammer or even a machete that lands Diego into the hospital this time; it’s a car. Arguably it’s the most normal injury anyone in the homicide division can recall Diego being the victim of. He was doing surveillance on the street when the suspect got spooked and decided to drive off - right into Diego. He keeps repeating that it’s not a big deal, even after he has his leg in a cast and a doctor telling him that he should stay in the hospital for a few days so that they can check his ribs and head.

Eudora and Beaman decide to wait until his family show up when Diego turns to them with a wince and says, “I need to call Five, can I have a phone?”

Beaman phone is in his hand so he just passes it over. Diego types in a number and winces again as he puts the phone again his ear.

“Hey, kiddo- I know, I know, you don’t like being called that. Someone called you, right? Yeah, I’m in the hospital. No, I’m not dying, don’t sound so excited. Listen, before you come - because you are going to visit me, you little sociopath - can you grab some stuff for me at home? Yeah, clothes, stuff like that, I also need you to get my, uh, stuff out of the bathroom. Under the sink. I’m supposed to do it today, but they wanna keep me here for a bit and I just don’t wanna get off track again. Thanks. If you call Ben or Klaus they might be able to drive you here. You’ll just take the bus? Okay, see you later.” He hangs up and passes the phone back to Beaman.

It’s less than an hour later when Five walks into the hospital room carrying a backpack. He’s out of his school uniform, but he’s still wearing a button up shirt under a cardigan.

He nods at the detectives when they say, “Hello, Five.”

Five looks at Diego and snorts, “Getting fragile, old man?”

“Shut up,” Diego says, groaning when he sits up. “Did you bring my stuff?”

“When you say it like that it makes it sound illegal.” Five says, drily, as he unzips the backpack. He pulls out a first kit, and Eudora is about to ask why Diego needed a first aid kit in a hospital when Five unzips that as well and pulls out a needle.

He walks over to Diego, who immediately looks uncomfortable.

“Can you move this gown without scarring my eyes?” Five prompts and Diego nods and moves it to the side, revealing his stomach and that long scar that is oh so visible in the harsh, hospital lighting.

Five takes the cap off the needle, and Diego closes his eyes and takes a deep breath.

“Three, two, one,” Five counts down, before plunging the needle into Diego’s stomach. He slowly injects the contents of it, Diego holding his breath the whole time. After a few seconds, Five removes the needle, walking over to the biohazard disposal box on the walls.

“I should have brought all the other ones and just thrown them out here.” He comments, before going back to the first aid kit and pulling out an alcohol wipe and a bandaid.

Beaman clears his throat, “Um, what was that?”

“What was what?” Five asks, passing the items to Diego.

“What was up with that, that needle?” Eudora asks.

Five raises an eyebrow, “What do you mean?”

“What was in it?” Eudora presses on, undeterred by Five’s tone, which suggests he thinks she’s an idiot.

“Testosterone.” Diego supplies, just as Five’s opening his mouth.

That only prompts more questions.

“Why are you taking testosterone?” Beaman asks before his eyes widen. “Oh my god, is it for your boxing? Are you doping”

Five scoffs, but Diego ignores him. “No, it’s totally legal, I have a prescription.”

“Why?” Eudora asks.

“Uh, because I have to, otherwise my body will change back to what it was before.” He looks at the confused faces of his friends. “I’m trying to tell you I’m trans, but I guess it isn’t working.”

Eudora and Beaman gape for a few seconds.

“Can I leave? This is weird for me.” Five interrupts, clearly not caring about the revelations going on inside the room. Diego rolls his eyes.

“You can wait outside.”

“I’m going to the cafeteria.” Five says, not waiting for an agreement before he leaves.

For a few seconds, the room is silent.

“So,” Eudora starts, “You’re trans?”

“Yes.”

“And this never came up before because..?”

“Because it was never relevant and I didn’t want you to know.” His face is unsympathetic when a brief wave of hurt crosses their faces. “It isn’t against you or because I thought negatively about you or anything, it’s just really personal and I don’t like a lot of people knowing about.”

“Is this why you don’t date?” Beaman asks before he seems to catch what he said. “Sorry.”

“I mean, partially. Part of me not dating is also because I’m a cop, and part of it is because of Five.”

Another wave of silence comes across the room.

“And Five is…?” Eudora starts, hoping Diego will understand what she’s asking.

“Five is my kid. I had him when I was sixteen, as in I gave birth to him. Well, actually I had a real nasty c-section because he was upside down. His other dad fucked off somewhere, I don’t care and neither does he.”

The two of them nod.

“Not to be rude, but does Five act the way he does because of… this?” Beaman asks carefully.

Diego snorts. “No, you’re not the first one to ask. He acts like that because he’s a dick, I love him but he is, and he spent the first five-ish years of his life in a house with my siblings and father. So, he was bound to get kind of messed up, I just didn’t think it would result in so many goddamn suspensions."

Beaman and Eudora ask a few more questions before they lapse into a new silence. Five comes back with a cup of coffee that makes him pull a face every time he takes a sip.

“No one is holding a gun to your head, you don’t have to drink that,” Diego says after Five nearly gags into the cup.

“Fuck you, Diego, I do what I want.” He eyes Diego’s cast, “And you can’t stop me.”

It’s almost comical how only a few minutes later Five is fluffing Diego’s pillow before saying, “I’m going home now.”

“Want a ride?” Eudora asks, police brain switching on, viewing Five not as her friend’s son who could probably talk his way out of a mugging, but as a skinny minor, walking through the streets of New York in the late evening.

Five eyes her for a moment, before saying, “Okay.”

They say their farewells to Diego, him making Five promise to go to school the next day.

Eudora isn’t sure what she intends to accomplish or attain from giving Five a ride to his house. Mostly he’s quiet in the backseat, occasionally giving directions, even though Eudora knows her way to Diego’s apartment.

“So, how’s school?” Beaman tries, the silence suffocating him.

“I know Diego tells you how it’s going, you don’t have to ask.” Well, that didn’t work.

They’re almost at Diego’s house, and the curiosity is eating away at Eudora.

“Hey, Five,” She asks. Five hums, looking out the window. “Why don’t you call Diego ‘dad’?”

“Why would I?” Is his response, which throws her for a loop.

“Because he’s your father?”

“The terms mom and dad are possessive terms that came out of the middle class, nuclear family dynamic; a dynamic that I did not grow up with and one that I continue to not be a part of.” He looks over and makes eye contact with her through the mirror, “Besides, what teenager wants to be called ‘dad’?”

Eudora struggles to find a response, but Five presses on. “Diego and my’s relationship is fine, regardless of how unconventional it is. I grew up in a house full of weird fucking people, but Diego was still the only one who could - or at least tried to - raise me. He taught me how to tie my shoes, and read, and gut a fish, and drive, and shave, and how to dress myself. Any deviations from the norm are intentional. If you think something is wrong with the way I act or the way he raises me then you can keep it to yourself, because someone already called social services once and that was a really weird month for everyone involved.”

“I think,” Beaman butts in, “that as long as both of you are happy, then there’s nothing to be concerned about.”

Five seems satisfied with that answer and looks out the window again.

Something clicks in Eudora mind. “Wait, did you say he taught you how to drive? You’re fourteen!”

--

After that, not much changes. Diego goes back to work but is put on desk duty until his cast is off. He still keeps a lot of things private, doesn’t brag about Five’s accomplishments or put pictures of him on his desk. But one day Diego invites Eudora and Beaman over for dinner, saying something about how Five was staying at a friend’s house to work on a project so he was planning on drinking and watching movies.

They have a good time, nothing crazy happens, but when Eudora gets up to get another beer from the fridge she looks over at the bookshelf in the living room and sees all the old pictures of Five. Five smiling with building blocks, the grinning toddler and the frowning teenager. And in the front is a new addition.

Right in the front, in a new frame, even though the actual picture looks worn as if someone's touched it a lot over the years, is, what Eudora is guessing, the first picture of Five ever.

Still pink and slimy, Five is in a blanket, gazing up at a sweaty, tired looking Diego. He looks young, younger than sixteen, but that might be due to the look of confusion and anxiety on his face. He still looks muscular, but his face is softer, and Eudora can see the clear signs of breasts under the hospital gown. His siblings are crowded around the hospital bed, all smiling stiffly at the camera, and Diego’s mother has her hand on Diego’s shoulder.

Eudora remembers what Diego said about not feeling anything when Five was born, and it may be because she’s tipsy, and she’s seen Diego give Five hugs goodbye, and texting him in the morning to remind him to have breakfast, and calling him to let him know that he went grocery shopping so his favourite chips are in the cupboard, but Eudora begs to differ that he felt nothing.

Because despite looking tired, and sweaty, and confused, and anxious, he’s smiling. Not like his siblings are smiling, not like he’s only smiling because someone told him to, but he’s smiling the way he does Five forgets to tell him off for calling him ‘kid’, or when Five hugs him back, or when Five says ‘thank you’ without being told. There are smiles specifically reserved for Five, Eudora has realized, and in that picture, she sees the first one ever.

[amidalogicdive]

Permission

Title: Permission

Rating: General Audiences Fandom: Final Fantasy XV Relationship: Noctis Lucis Caelum/Nyx Ulric Characters: Noctis Lucis Caelum, Nyx Ulric, Regis Lucis Caelum CXIII, Yama-chan Additional Tags: First Love, First Dates, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Disaster Date, good food, Mutual Pining, Dorks in Love, Asking Permission, Kissing, Cuddling & Snuggling

Ao3 Link: http://archiveofourown.org/works/12515232

OCT. 26 - Dates: First Dates

-

In his many years as a Kingsglaive, Nyx had seen this room more times than he could count. He knew every corner, secret entrance and potential point of attack that existed. It was his job, his duty, and the glaive was proud of the heights he’d reached over the years. So, if someone had told him a year ago he’d be standing before the king for a personal matter, he wouldn’t have believed it. But here he was, back ramrod straight, hands clenching together at the small of his back as he glanced up at his Monarch. Nyx cleared his throat, trying to hold his gaze, praying to the Six that he wouldn’t sound as nervous as he felt once he opened his mouth. As for King Regis, the man who’d saved his life, he simply watched him with a mixture of confusion and amusement.

“Sir Ulric?” The glaive visibly jumped as his name echoed in the long corridor. “You requested this audience, and yet it seems you have not the words to speak?” His tone was tender, the laughter he wouldn’t voice, obvious in the creases and wrinkles around his green eyes.

Regis was a good man, a kind man, and always had been. Yet as Nyx stood there in the throne room looking up at his King, a legitimate feared for his existence washed through him. If the king wanted, he could easily have him beheaded or make him disappear, and no one would be the wiser. For a moment Nyx brain tried to talk some sense into him, reminding him that Insomnia didn’t behead people. Nyx told that sensible side of him to go jump off the fucking Wall. “I'm sorry Your Majesty, Sir." Yep, he sounded nervous. "Well, you see, I've... I have come here asking for your permission."

Leaning on his cane a bit more than I necessary, Regis shifted in his seat. “Permission?” The King knew Nyx well, and it wasn’t due to the flood of reports that Drautos sent about the rebellious warrior. Nyx was loyal, honest, and a good glaive who he’d trusted enough to train his own son. He also knew Nyx would never set up an audience for mere favors, so Regis knew this was important. “Nyx Ulric," Smiling, he tried to calm the glaive before him as he spoke. "you are a good man who has done much for Insomnia, for the throne. There is little I would deny you. Come now, feel free to speak your mind, we shall see if naught can be done."

“Thank you, Majesty. I just wanted this done the right way.” While he felt honored by the words; inside he was just praying he wouldn’t be struck down by the King’s own magic the moment his request was voiced. “Your Majesty," Mustering what little courage he had the moment, Nyx took a deep breath and... well took the plunge. "I would like to officially ask your permission to take your son out on a date.”

“A date?" Regis could honestly say he hadn't been expecting that from the glaive before him. "Date. Oh..." His eyes widened. "So there is... oh my. I see.”

Swallowing hard, Nyx knew what was coming, and his brain couldn’t help but repeat it like a mantra in his head: 'Fuck, fuck, fuck I’m a dead man. I’m gonna be burned to a crisp all for the love of a little brat.' Closing his eyes, Nyx waited for the hammer to fall and put him out of his misery.

It would be days before Nyx would see Noctis again…

-

“Nyx!” The glaive glanced up from the documents in his hand, smiling as the young heir of Lucis ran across the arena towards him. "Sorry, I'm late. Overslept."

“No worries little prince, did you enjoy your trip out to Wiz's with Prompto?"

Noctis shrugged, grabbing the edge of the half wall Nyx was currently leaning against and pulled himself up. "Yeah, I guess so. It's definitely more of a Prom thing, the whole chocobo obsession. I mean, it was nice, we got to hang and his mom paid for the trip so we rented the caravan right at the outpost." Ocean depths met his own icy orbs as the prince smiled. "So, yeah I enjoyed it because he did. Well that and neither of us get out of the city much, so it was a nice change."

"I'm sure it was."

"Oh, I got some fishing in too." Hitting his boots against the wall, Noctis nudged his shoulder into the glaives. "Brought you home some fish I caught, so yeah, overall I can't really complain.”

“Fishing? You must have been in heaven, and thank you for thinking about me, little prince. ” He nodded, eyes shifting to look around the arena for a moment. Seeming content to find they were alone, Noctis leaned over and placed a kiss to his lips. Nyx returned it, tasting a flavor that was sweet and uniquely - his Noctis. "Mm, I missed you too."

"Better have, glaive." Leaning back on his hands, Noctis let out a sigh. "Would have been a nicer trip if you'd come with us. Iggy is fine, but he's just... overly cautious about everything." Brushing his hands off on his pants a moment later, pale fingers wrapped around ashen braids as his eyes roamed over the glaive. "I really hate that training is the only time we can find to be together. That, or I have to sneak out just to have coffee with you."

Smirking at those words, Nyx leaned into the touch and placed a kiss to his jaw. "Then how about a real date? You, me, and a whole night to ourselves? Does that sounds nice, my little love?"

"Sounds great, but how are we pulling that miracle off, Nyx?"

"Well, while you were gone I asked your dad. Some home I survived his protective wrath and he said yes."

"Wait, you asked my dad? You told my dad about us?!"

Nyx couldn't stop chuckling at the look on Noctis' face as he nudged his way between his legs. "I told your dad I wanted to do this right." Wrapping his arms around the prince's waist, Nyx placed another kiss to his jaw. "I asked him if I could take you on a date. Surprisingly, he was ok with it, and permitted me to ask you."

"Permitted, huh? Kinda a big word for you there, glaive."

The comment was teasing, and still, Nyx couldn't help but pull him down for a proper kiss. Not that he would admit it to Noctis, but it was kinda addicted to the brat. "Gotta impress your dad somehow," He whispered, pulling back slightly. "The six know my track record with Drautos isn't gonna do shit for me."

"Mm, very true." Wrapping his legs around the glaives waist, Noct's hand rose, his thumb running over the crow's foot tattoo on his cheek. "So, a real date?"

"Yeah, a real date. Anything you want, I'll make it happen; that is if you say yes?" A small nod and a kiss signified his answer. When they pulled apart, Nyx couldn't help but lick his lips and grin. Yep, no doubt, undeniably addicted to Noctis. "So, what'll it be?"

There was a flash of uncertainty, "Your place? I want you to cook for me, real traditional Galahdian food." Agreeing to the terms, the prince's face lit up with delight. "Friday night? Nothing's going on Saturday... so maybe I can even stay over?"

"That sounds amazing, baby."

"Well then, glaive;" Resting his forehead against Nyx own, Noctis smiled. "I leave it to you."

-

Friday morning had come, and Nyx had planned every moment of the day out. He'd wanted everything to be perfect because Noctis didn't really deserve less than that. Unfortunately, as Nyx knew more than well, plans fell through and there was nothing that could be done about it.

The first sign that this day would not go as planned he'd been on his way to the markets. Nyx should have ignored the phone when it started to ring, but he was a man of duty, after all. Turned out that Drautos had called an emergency meeting, all were required to attend, no excuses. Cussing all the way to the Kingsglaive compound, he was less than pleased when it was just a change to routine and policy that could have waited. Some stupid paperwork had taken two hours to complete, that he could have easily done Monday. Once they had finished with the mandatory meeting, which Nyx had partially used to plot out his revenge against the Captain, he dashed for the door only to be met with a wall of water. A literal downpour had descended upon the Capital City. Cursing his awful luck, Nyx ran for his apartment, making it there in under ten minutes and only half drenched.

Despite the lost hours, Nyx felt he could still make this work and give Noctis the date he deserved. Pulling the meat from the fridge, he went to grab the spices and remembered he'd never made it to the market. The last-minute meeting and rainstorm had thrown him off, and he could only blame himself for overlooking the needed trip. So there the glave stood, half drenched in the middle of his tiny kitchen, meat ready to cook and missing half the supplies he'd meant to get earlier. Nyx knew he had to salvage this mess of a situation, and fast.

So, Nyx did what any logical person would do in this situation: Nyx improvised. Now, this might have worked in his favor if he hadn't of walked off for a few minutes to take a quick shower and change. A few minutes that saw the makeshift sauce that he'd tossed together start to burn. By the time Nyx had noticed what was happening, half the meat was overcooked and burnt to a crispy black, the rest was still half raw. He had no idea how it had happened but knew dinner was off the table, literally.

There was nothing he could do to salvage the mess he'd made, he knew this. Nyx also knew that Noctis would be showing up at his door in roughly thirty minutes. There was only one thing he could do at this point that might save this date. Grabbing an umbrella, Nyx made his way up the stairs from his apartment and to the small road above. He already knew he'd owe the prince a wonderful second date, so if he couldn't cook Galahdian, he'd buy it. A few blocks from his home he’d found his destination, taking the stairs down to the eatery two at a time.

“Yama-chan, I need your help.” The man arched a brow, looking at the glaive who was standing before him somewhat flushed and out of breath. “Look I got a date, no, it’s not just a date. It’s a big deal date. I was supposed to cook and all this shit happened. Now I have,” He looked at his watch for a second. “Fuck, twenty minutes to make this work and they want Galahdian. Real Galahdian and I know you half-ass it for the people around here but, please help me?”

“Ok, ok.” The man behind the counter thought for a moment, nodding and then kneeled down to pull out a few things. “I just happened to have some stuff here, let me see what I can do. Take a seat.” Nyx did as he was told, mostly because Yama-chan looked like he would kill him if he didn't. Taking a deep breath, he waited while praying to every god that his people; and Insomnia, believed in that this would work out for the best. It was ten minutes later when the cook waved him over and smiled. “Look I had some of the seasonings from my house here, it’s about as traditional as I can get without being in Galahd. Good luck, you owe me a story on how it went."

”You are a lifesaver, my friend!“ A quick check of his watch and Nyx knew he had just enough time to make it home and possibly get set up before Noctis arrived. Dashing up the stairs, he finally felt like everything would work in his favor - but the Astrals were cruel creatures. Turning the corner, Nyx ran right into another pedestrian, knocking them to the ground. Thankfully the food hadn’t been dropped, which made him breathe out in relief. ”Shit, I’m sorry. I’m in a rush and didn't see..." As he spoke, Nyx looked down to help the stranger, pale eyes widened in recognition. ”Oh fuck.“

Unmistakable sapphire eyes met his own, a scowl forming on the young man's face as he reached up to accept the help. "Nyx, what the hell?" Noctis. Of course, it had been Noctis, and he hadn't just fallen. Nyx had knocked him back into a puddle of mud that had gathered near the edge of the walkway.

"Baby, shit. I’m so, so sorry." Shifting the umbrella and food into one hand, he assisted the prince with the other. "I'm, I just I was... rushing to meet... you." Knowing that the day couldn't get any worse, Nyx stood there and held the umbrella over them both. Though, for Noctis, it was pointless since he'd been soaked in muddy water. Rubbing his hands off on the front of his shirt, the prince shook his head. "Sorry, it's just been a really bad day and now I've dragged you into it. Everything's going wrong, and I," Sighing, Nyx rubbed the back of his neck. "I wanted this to be special."

Dark eyes glanced up to meet his own, cupping his cheek. ”Nyx, you don't have to try so hard. I already love you. All I need is you, that makes me happy." Acknowledging the words with a nod, Noctis stood on his toes to kiss him. "Now, please take me to your place. I need a shower and a warm change of clothes."

”Yeah. Come on, Little Prince.“

That was how the supposed perfect first date ended with Noctis in the glaives oversized sleeping clothes, and the two curled up under the covers of Nyx bed. Beside them was a tray with take-out Galahdian, a roll of paper towels and a few bottles of cheap beer. Noctis seems perfectly content, curled up against his boyfriend as they watched some stupid Insomnian reality show on the television across the way and ate.

Taking a bite from one of the skewers, Nyx had to admit that Yaya-chan did a damn good job on the food. Feeling a kiss pressed to his cheek, he looked at the prince curled up against him. "What was that for?"

"Mm," Noctis cuddled a bit closer to him and laid his head on the glaives shoulder. "this might not be what you wanted, or what I expected; but this is pretty close to perfect. Thank you, Nyx.“

A grin pulled at the corner of his lips, laying his cheek against Noct’s hair. "You're welcome, love."

Yes, everything was perfect, even if nothing had gone as intended. They were together, enjoying one another's presence and the peacefulness of the evening. In the end that was all that mattered, right? They were together.

"You know you owe me another date to make up for this, right?" While it was said as a joke, Nyx couldn't help but agree.

”Yep, completely.”

[story-teller3]

- Resident Evil - Stasis - Chapter 1

Rain poured as a woman walked with her black umbrella, earphones in her ears tuning out her surroundings but she was also completely aware of them. A black SUV passed by slowly, she felt eyes on her. She felt uneasy, holding her bag closer as she picked up her pace. Another couple minutes passed, by then the SUV passed by her 3 more times. The woman began to worry and decided to let them be aware that she noticed, she stopped and took out her ear buds as she pulled her phone out and decided to make a call. As the phone rang she noticed that the SUV stopped behind her pulled over on the opposite side of the street. “Hey you reached Claire, sorry I missed your call. Please leave a message.” The woman cursed and called another number as she turned into a park, “You reached the voicemail box of Darren Staye, leave a message.”

“Black SUV, no license plate, can’t see the driver nor passengers. I’m really scared I’m at Huston park. If anything happens I love both of you.” The woman hung up the phone and placed it in her bag. She closed her umbrella and let the rain hit her, she heard someone walking up behind her. “If I come with you, you won’t hurt them right?” Her voice shook, her grip on the umbrella tightened until her knuckles were white. She turned slightly to face the person with a weak smile, “I’ll only come with you if you promise me that you won’t hurt them.”

“Quite the rain fall we’ve been having, huh Jamie?” “Quite and there’s more to come with that hurricane coming! Thankfully we will be only getting the rain fall.” The weatherman spoke as a young woman sat on the sofa in a living room, she looked at the time and sighed. She went upstairs and into the bathroom, brushed her teeth and started the shower. As she got out she looked at her phone and saw a text from her brother, ‘Have you spoken to Allie?’ 'No? Thought she stayed at the office why?’ 'Nothing I have a voicemail from her but it’s all sorts of fucked, can’t hear shit besides static and rain.’ 'She’s probably fine.’ 'You work today?’ 'Yeah, only a 4 hour shift. :/’ 'Cool I work late tonight soooo’ 'Ight. See you later.’

She set her phone down and finished her makeup. As she put a beanie on her short hair and went to her room, put on a pair of black leggings with a light pink spaghetti strap tank top. Grabbing a black sweater open sweater and placing it on her bag, she hurried down the stairs and grabbed a pill bottle along with a large bottle of water. Running back upstairs she got her bag and and sweater then running back to the kitchen grabbing the water, pills, and her car keys. She pulled into the parking lot of the mall and hurried inside to her store. “Hey Claire.” She heard a voice say, she smiled and waved, running into the employee lounge tossing her bag into the corner and throwing her phone into her locker. She hurried to the terminal to clock in as she saw her stores Human Resources, “You’re late.” She said, “Yeah I know. My brother kept me on the phone.” She lied but mentally noted that hey she wasn’t completely lying, she was actually talking to her brother earlier. “Doesn’t he know you work?” HR said with an attitude, Claire stood there biting her tongue, “He does, not my fault my sister hasn’t been heard from in days, but you know…I work.” Claire snapped back with a smile. She walked out to her counter putting on her sweater cover up and name tag, “There you are! Thought you weren’t coming in.” Her supervisor, Cody, said. “You know, I have seriously thought about just not coming in. Money you know. Only reason I’m staying.” Claire chuckled, Cody laughed “Same.”

“Will that be all?” Claire smiled as she placed a customers items on the side to take off security tags, “Well I have coupons but you know your store is notorious for them not working.” The customer said smugly, Claire thought about how many times a day she heard that, and how badly she wanted to smack them for being assholes and not reading the back of the coupons. She looked at them and smiled, the customer went on as two men came in and walked up to her supervisor, out of the corner of Claire’s eye she saw Cody point at her and all three walk over. Cody came around and said “I will take over here don’t worry. They need to talk to you.” Claire’s stomach sank and nodded, she walked around the counter and to the two men. “Claire Staye?” Asked one of the men, “Uh yes..? Is there a problem did something happen?” Claire nervously asked, “Can you come outside with us?” The other motioned towards the doors to the parking lot, “I would rather talk here.” She said firmly. “Well, alright have you seen this man before?” They held a photo out of a man, “No I haven’t, should I know him?” Claire took the photo and then looked at the men, “He worked with your sister.” The one man said, “My name is detective Harrison, this is detective Jones. One of your sisters coworkers called us saying she hasn’t been seen in over 72 hours.” Claire looked at them and tears welled up and she looked at the photo closer. “W-why can’t I-I remember who this is?” She began to sob and her legs gave out “Oh god something has happened to her and I’ve ignored her.” She sobbed. One of the men got down and hugged her, she held onto him and cried.

-4 years later-

“Happy birthday Claire.” Her brother placed a small round cake in front of her, “It’s your favorite, red velvet.” A woman said smiling softly, “Thank you Meredith.” She weakly smiled. Meredith hugged her brothers arm after he lit the candles that were in the shape of a 19. She blew them out and her brother and Meredith came around and hugged her. “So what did you wish for?” Meredith smiled, “If I tell you it wont come true.” Claire smiled. “Well let’s have some cake!” Her brother cut a slice of cake for everyone. Claire looked at them and then at her cake, “You haven’t touched your cake yet, Claire.” Meredith said worried “Claire are you alright?” Darren said placing his hand on hers. “I-” Claire looked down and fiddled with the fork as her eyes teared up “I miss her.” She covered her face and sobbed. Darren came around and hugged her “I miss her too, Claire.” He held back his own tears as Meredith came around and hugged them both, “Its been four years. Will she ever come home?” Claire cried into her brother shoulder, “We can only hope.” Meredith said.

“So how was your birthday?” Cody asked as she and claire carried pillows out and stacked them “Meh it was alright. Darren and Meredith took me out to eat and Darren got waaaaay to drunk.” Claire began chuckling “He was saying how when he, Allie and a family friend were in high school they went out and Allie some how got stuck in metal fence.” Claire covered her mouth trying to stifle her laughter as she saw customers walk by. “Since the day my mom passed my sister and brother have been the only parental figures I’ve had. I never saw my sister as that kind of person.” “What kind of person is that?” Cody asked “A fun one.” Claire looked down. “Any who so how about that sale?” Claire changed the subject and as the two chit chatted the supervisor phone rang, “Hello?” Cody said “Yeah sure.” Cody motioned her finger up mouthing 'I’ll be right back.’ Claire gave the thumps up and went back to stocking. As she stocked her mind wondered, she thought of the lowest point her family went through.

~~~~~~~~~

Allie cried softly as she placed a light blue nightgown into a box, she picked up a picture frame with a woman and a little girl. Allie stood up and looked around the room, it looked like a hospital room even though it was once a normal bedroom in her childhood home. She sat on the edge of the medical bed and stared at the photo, tears hit the glass. A soft knock came from the door, “Hey.” Darren said “You missed the wake.” He said walking in as Allie wiped her eyes “I know.” She choked out, “Claire needed you today.” Darren crouched in front of her, “She has us now. And only us.” His voice began to break “Allie please moms gone. She left Claire in our hands.” Allie hugged her brother and sobbed loudly “I want her back, Darren. I want mom.” Darren hugged her tight and whispered “I do too, Alison. I do too.” Claire watched from the closest through the slits in the door, she hugged her stuffed bunny and sobbed softly. As she cried the doors opened and Allie stood in front of her, “Claire? How did you get there, sweetie?” Allie said as she kneeled down and pulled the crying Claire closer, “You guys are gonna leave me with a new family aren’t you?” Claire said softly through tears. “No we’re not.” Darren said squatting looking at her wiping a tear from her eye “You’re our sister, mom had you later than us but you are our sister.” Allie said “Yes we hate you sometimes but we love you more than anything.” Allie hugged her tightly and Darren hugged them, Claire’s head rested on Allies shoulder she hugged them back.

~~~~~~~~~

Darren sat at his desk and typed up his latest report, as he typed his desk phone rang, “Go for Darren.” He said “Darren its Meg. Come down here I’ve got something.” Meg said quickly, “What is it?” She had Darren’s full attention. “It’s Allie, we have a hit.”

/sorry if the tags are weird. Also sorry I haven't posted./ — everything belongs to capcom and the original characters belong to me: Alison Staye Darren Staye Claire Staye Meg Harriet Cody Barren "Mom"