Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Throughout all of his years of struggling to stay alive. Five Hargreeves has never found himself aimless in life. But after being abandoning his siblings in this new timeline. He had promised himself, that no matter how hard how impossible, or how difficult. That he would stop the apocalypse for good. No matter what it takes. He's exhausted and probably hasn't gotten sleep in years. But no matter how much he wants to hate his siblings, he couldn't find it in himself to hate them.

He's also sure that no matter what his siblings did. A minuscule amount of love will always persist in the deep darkest depths of his heart no matter how hard he tries to push it down. And believe him, he's tried. Ever since getting to this timeline, that's all he's tried to do. But he's failed each and every time. It would be selfish if he let them all die again. They'd never have to know if he managed to stop it for good.

So that was his plan. Stop the apocalypse and he'd never have to bother his siblings again with warnings that almost always ruined their lives. Five knows that he's ruined most of his siblings lives. Only some of them had managed to fix it themselves before. But now things are different without their powers. Last he's heard of his siblings. Viktor had owned a bar but didn't seem to have many friends. 

Luther was still searching for Sloane. Which was sad comforting the fact that he really still seemed to believe that Sloane was somewhere out there waiting for him. Don't tell anyone but Five hoped that he would find her. Allison was living with her husband, daughter and Klaus in LA. Sparrow Ben was nowhere to be seen. Which was typical of him. Diego and Lila were celebrating their daughter's birthday. And Five was in the CIA.

On his end, Five is preparing for the end of the world as we know it. It's his way of attempting to save his family one last time. He promised himself that this is truly his one last time mission. He knows that it's bound to happen in this timeline, again. But he has no idea of what it could possibly be. Going off of what happened in the last timeline, there was remotely no knowing what could happen to set it off this time. But he always had a feeling that it would happen again.

The same paranoid feeling came when he entered this timeline. Like it'd never go away, no matter how hard he attempted to escape it. It was like the apocalypse followed the Hargreeves everywhere they looked. No matter how hard they tried to be happy, make themselves better. It always found some godamn way to come back.

His goal stayed the same as always. To end the apocalypse and to save his family. No matter what it takes. He guesses that includes his extended family now too. Considering Lila and Diego now have two daughters. He's happy for them, but he doesn't think he could look at them knowing they could die. And he's sure that he wouldn't be that good of an uncle anyways.

Seeing his two nieces from anything other than pictures, fully knowing there's a chance that they could die. Is just too much for him. He'd rather not get attached until he can stop the apocalypse from happening. Even if he did somehow stop the apocalypse, he wasn't even sure if his family would want him in their lives again. So Five was honestly preparing to live his life alone again.

He wouldn't be surprised if the rest of his family hated him at this point for how cold he was being. He hasn't seen them physically from anything other than phone calls in two years. Diego had tried convinced him a few times to talk to his nieces over the phone, but he rejected his offer.

He doesn't feel like a part of the family anymore. It all just felt.. so wrong. He couldn't be normal after what had happened. No matter where he went, the apocalypse was two steps ahead of him. Waiting to follow. And he was sure that it would come back. It always did. He tried, but he could always tell that he was a bit of a downer when he came to any family gatherings.

So he stopped coming to them at all.

Despite everything he says about his family. He could confidently tell you that he was proud of them after all. The only thing is that he'd never say it to their faces.

He was glad Klaus had stayed sober for so long. Which was knowledge he came across as a result of stalking Allison's instagram page. The CIA gave him full rundowns on civilians and even ex-hollywood stars personal accounts. There were many pictures of herself, Claire, and Klaus in them. Claire seemed like a smart girl, noting at how proud Allison was of her grades. She often said how she took after her uncle in that sense.

As a result of the complete reconstruction of this timeline, Claire was Raymond and Allison's daughter. Allison's ex in the first timeline was nowhere to be found. Allison had attempted to reconcile with the rest of the family. And so far.. she was receiving mixed messages. Five wasn't sure if that was for the better or worse. But, either ways. After forging a few documents. She had clearly fucked up the rest of their siblings trust of her when she reset their timeline to what it is currently.

Somehow, most of his siblings had managed to somehow live near each other. Which made it easier for Five to stalk all of them. Lila and Raymond were now legally their in-laws. Diego and Lila had gotten married, and engaged rather quickly after their first daughter, Grace was born.

When Five had first entered this timeline after separating from his siblings. He had managed to find a legal way to get through college (it took a while but he had managed to pay off a foster couple to pretend to be his foster success story.) He had gotten a high school diploma, after a few weeks of hell on earth.

And he had immediately applied for the CIA as soon as he was done college. It was easy to keep tabs on his siblings that way, and to make sure any outside threats didn't harm them. It was also a sure fire way for him to know if the apocalypse was coming again. If anything, he was sure the CIA would have some information if it were to occur again.

Thank god his siblings had no idea that he was stalking them. Because then, he'd never hear the end of it.

Working for the CIA wasn't all bad. He picked up multiple cases, and went undercover for each and every one of them. It got easier to pretend to be someone else other than Five Hargreeves. He never found himself getting lost in identities that weren't his, but he found that being someone else, for once was relieving.

He took a sharp breath in as he entered the CIA headquarters. He had gotten off a faux AAA meeting called "The Keepers Function." The group wasn't at all what it implied. It was mainly serving as a support group for people who believed that they were in the wrong timeline. To Five's utter horror, it seemed like people other than they had realized that something was off.

It was akin to the Mandela effect. In which multiple people in their group recall his father, Reginald Hargreeves adopting seven superpowered children who were called The Umbrella Academy. Where others do not. Some of them don't even recall children called The Umbrella Academy at all. Some of them can recall The Sparrow Academy and how they had mysteriously gone missing.

But none of them are believed, for the right reasons. As they just look crazy. Luckily, the timeline seems to have fixed itself. Meaning that many people thought those who remembered the other timelines were crazy. It was as simple as that. But despite Five's better judgment, he had found himself at this meeting faced with people who remembered their original timeline. That must have meant something, right?

He sighed, he wished that at least one of those people at the meeting was sane. But none of them seemed even alike to sane at all. Except that some man had offered him a real meeting, whatever the hell that meant. But Five didn't have enough time to figure that out. He had to report his findings to Director Kelly.

Director Kelly was the much older middle aged man who ran the CIA. He made sure that the group ran accordingly, and was much more competent than his former bosses at the commission ever were. So, it was a rather nice change of pace to have someone competent in charge for once.

He nearly jumped as Derek immediately appeared at his side. "You're late." He muttered with a worried shake of his head. Five sighed. "Yes, I am aware Derek." He muttered, frowning deeply. "What took you so long?" The other male asked him in confusion. Five shrugged in response. "I just.. needed to get more information." He answered.

Derek Anderson was another agent at the CIA, who worked specifically with Five as his faux assistant of sorts. Derek was a year younger than Five was. Only by one, but he had the same emotionally maturity as him. Well, mostly. He had been helpful on missions they've both partaked in. And so far he hasn't nearly gotten him killed, so in his opinion Derek's not so bad.

Derek narrowed an eyebrow at him. "Somehow, I don't believe that." He muttered. Five rolled his eyes at him. "Believe whatever you'd like Derek." He muttered with a shake of his head. His shoes tapped standing the marvel floor do the headquarters as they kept moving.

Derek glanced over at him. "Mustache." He said as he passed him his suit. Five smiled at him slightly. "Thank you, I don't know what I'd do without you Derek." He muttered as he shrugged his uniform on over his shirt. Derek just gave him a look. "I'm sure you'd forget to cut the tags off your clothing." He muttered jokingly.

Five glared at him slightly. "That was one time—" He defended quickly. The other man cut him off. "Two times actually." He corrected. "Once during Project Scarlet, you almost left the office without with your tie's tags still on." Five stared at him in confusion. "How do you even remember that—" Derek just snorted. "Five, I remember everything. I'm observant." The bleached haired male said proudly.

Sometimes Derek being a little too observant, did not work in Five's favour. But despite that, they had managed to have an amicable friendship, or whatever this was. He knew that Derek didn't necessarily want him to die, based on the fact they have been on missions together in the past. So that was enough for Five to begrudgingly trust him.

But he still kept his guard up, just in case. Derek then continued his scolding. "Second time was during Project Mannequin. Where you forgot to cut the tags off your vest and almost stole a mannequin from a store. Which didn't correlate to the mission at all." Five held out a grimace at that memory. Look, him attempting to steal another Dolores wasn't his best moment.

But in that moment all he wanted was to see her again, so could you blame him? He had saw a mannequin in the window he was passing on the way to his mission when he saw her. Derek hadn't stopped scolding him about it for weeks. And judging on his words from right now, he still wasn't over it. Five knew that he could be reckless sometimes. But never once has he had someone call who'd call him out on it.

Five gave Derek an unimpressed look. "Okay, Derek. I am aware of how many times I've been uncooperative and distracted but–" Derek narrowed an eyebrow at him. "But?" He questioned after a second. Five's words died at his throat. "I was going to insult you back with something. But I'm too exhausted to come up with something right now." Derek just chuckled in response. "Yeah, that sounds like you."

The other man just grinned at him. "And the the record, Five. I am not insulting you." He muttered. He stared at the other man in confusion, stopping in his tracks for a second. "What?" Derek nodded. "I'm just worried for your safety. If you're not focused on the mission. Something could happen." Five scoffed. "No way, that would never happen to me." He insisted.

Derek looked at him. "Are you sure? I don't know about you." He pulled out his employee keycard to let the two of them into the centre of headquarters. "But I like to say, better safe than sorry." Five scoffed slightly. "Fine, fine. I promise I'll be more careful." Derek pointed at his still mustache'd face. "Five, mustache." He reminded him.

Five's eyes widened. "Crap, right." He muttered as he painstakingly ripped the mustache off his face. He grimaced in pain. "Ow, fuck." Derek tried to hide a laugh behind his hand. Five turned to glare at him. "Shut up." Derek snorted, he gave him an annoyed look in response. "What?" Derek asked. Five rolled his eyes at him. "You know what Anderson." He scoffed. 

Five often tended to get too lost in his thoughts about his family and saving the world. That he often, more than not got distracted in his daily life. Which led on more accounts than another, to Derek having to bring him back to consciousness. Their job required them to stay alert at all times, thank god he wasn't a snitch. "He's waiting in his office." Derek muttered as they climbed up the stairs.

The two of them sat across from Director Kelly, exchanging glances at each other as Five explained the results of his investigation to the Director. "So, Mr. Hargreeves." Director Kelly muttered. "What have you found so far?" He motioned for him to start talking. Five nodded, taking a breath in.

He passed over the Director a file he had written, while he was taking notes of all of the going-ons at the meeting. "The Keepers function mainly as a support group, but with strong cult-like tendencies." He muttered. "Membership is rapidly growing across all metro areas in the US, as well as Europe. It's all there in my report, sir."

Director Kelly nodded swiftly. "And what's the organizing principle?" He asked him cooly. Five answered quickly. "They believe we're all somehow stuck in the wrong timeline." Derek looked at him out of the corner of his eye. Five tried to avoid his gaze by focusing on the Director.

The older man nodded. "Well... just a bunch of loony tunes, if you ask me." The Director mutters. "Drop this Keeper nonsense." He told him. "Move on. I think it's time you got back to your other cases. Ladybug, Panama, Chicken Wing." He could list on, but Five wasn't so sure about going back to his other cases now.

He frowned deeply at the older man. "But, sir, I am making progress with this." The elder man cut him off. "Now, you listen to me. You have the makings of a fantastic spook. A suspicious mind." He continued despite the fixed grimace on Five's face. "A love of complexity and detail." He felt a swell of pride that the older man had noted that.

The Director continued. "A certain maturity that most of my young agents lack. Play your cards right, you'll be running this place someday." Five had the urge to sigh, but he nodded. "Thank you for saying that, sir." He tried to keep the bitterness out of his tone, but he then that it wouldn't matter anyways.

Five scoffed immediately as they exited the room. Glaring at the floor in frustration. "I can't believe this." He muttered, having the urge to rant as him and Derek walked out into the hallway. Derek looked at him with a frown. "You really wanted to explore that case, didn't you?" He asked. Five nodded, scowling slightly.

The other man stared at him in confusion. "Why?" He muttered. Five grimaced. "It's a long story. You won't want to hear it." He insisted with a shake of his head. Derek kept prodding. "Five, we've been on nearly fifty missions together. I doubt anything you say will sound crazy to me at this point." He told him rationally. Checking his phone for the time.

Derek spared another glance over at him. "It's 3:30. I've got time. All the time in the world actually." Five had the urge to scream. "Seriously, you really don't wanna know." He insisted with a shake of his head. Derek stared at him, crossing his arms at him. "Five." He chastized. "We've nearly died together multiple times. I think we've gone past that at this point."

Five groaned in annoyance. "Seriously, I really don't want to have to explain this again to anyone-" He insisted, sighing loudly. Derek sighed. "Five, if you don't want to. I won't force you. But you have to tell me something." He just stared at him. Five grimaced. "Okay, fine. I'll take you out to coffee if you want to know so badly!" He shouted.

Derek could only narrow an eyebrow at him in confusion. Really? That loud? The expression on his face seemed to say. 

The other agents in the hall turned to stare at him in confusion. He didn't even realize he was shouting. "Sorry." He muttered, wide eyed as the other agents suddenly looked away from him. Derek snorted. "Look, I'm sorry. But that was funny." Five groaned. "Dammit. Now they think I'm taking you out or something."

Derek narrowed an eyebrow. "An angry invite to coffee. That's new." He said sarcastically. Five huffed. "Okay, I'm sorry for yelling. But I don't want people to get the wrong idea or anything." He nodded at him. "Yeah, I know. Really, it's fine." He shrugged. Five grimaced. "Still, that was rather rude of me." He took a deep breath in.

Five took a sharp breath in. "Okay, you know what. Fine." He turned to look at Derek, who was still behind him. "I'll tell you if you promise me to not tell anyone else. Alright?" The other man's face immediately brightened. "Deal." He held his hand out for the other man to shake. The blonde immediately shook his hand back eagerly. 

As soon as he had shook his hand, Five suddenly had gotten a call on his phone. He groaned in annoyance and immediately gave the blond an apologetic look. "I'm sorry, hold on. Give me a second." He muttered as he turned around to take the call. Who could be calling him now?

Immediately as he answered the phone, he heard the familiar voice of Diego over the line. "Five!" His brother said happily over the phone as he held it up against his ear. "Diego. How you've been doing?" Five asked his brother politely. He couldn't say that he wasn't curious as to why Diego was calling him all of a sudden. But he a feeling he was going to ask him something.

Five's fight or flight skills immediately went into haywire over the phone. "Diego, is something wrong?" He asked him in confusion. "Is Grace sick? Did something happen?" The only thing he could think of happening was that something bad must have happened. So, that would be the only circumstance in which Diego would call him in.

However, Diego seemed confused on the other line. "Uh.. no. Gracie's fine actually." He brother muttered affectionately, his love for his oldest clear. "But uh.. I've been wanting to ask you something. And.. look Five. I know it's last minute but.." Somehow Five could tell where this was going. "Grace really wants to meet you." He said, Five suddenly felt a stab of relief in his chest. "So, she is okay?" He sighed in relief.

Diego answered him quickly. "Yes, Grace is fine. But. She really wants to meet you Five." He held in a grimace at his brothers words. "Diego- I don't think that's a good idea." He started to say. His brother immediately interrupted him. "Five, please. Gracie's always wanted to meet her Uncle Five. We've told her stories about you." He said quickly. 

And by we, Five can only assume him and Lila. Diego's anger issues had really seem to calm down ever since he became a father. Five wouldn't say it to his face, but fatherhood looked good on him. The older man continued. "You're her favourite, Five. Stories we've told her of a time travelling assassin who wants to save his family from the apocalypse. You're practically her hero." He laughed softly.

Five felt his chest tighten with something foreign. "Oh."  He muttered, for once rendered speechless. Diego continued. "So, she'd really like it if you'd come to her birthday, Five. She's seven now." He was about to reject his offer until he continued. "And she, I mean we." He corrected himself quickly. "Would really like you to come." He finished. Sounded nervous in a way he hadn't ever heard his brother sound before.

Five didn't know what to say to that. He had heard Grace's voice a few times, but he hadn't realized he had been that set on meeting him. He didn't notice the way his hands clutched onto the phone attached to his ear tighter. He breathed in shakily. Diego was asking him to come. Despite their issues in the past. For some reason, his daughter wanted to see him too.

He'd probably feel worse if he disappointed the kid more than his brother. He thought about it for a long time, conflicted. He didn't need to get his family involved in his shit again. But if he didn't stay long hopefully they wouldn't ask much about what he's been up to. After a long few seconds of deliberating his option, he came to an abrupt decision.

Five sighed softly, pinching his nose. Hoping he wouldn't regret this. "Fine." He muttered softly. 

He felt his voice soften significantly not of his own free will. "Just because Grace wants me there." He muttered. Diego just laughed over the line. "Not for us, huh?" He joked. "You can take a friend with you, if you want. If it makes you feel any better being surrounded by a bunch of kids for a few hours." Five immediately shut him down. "Not a chance." He muttered over the call bitterly. Diego didn't respond to that. "So, I'll see you then. Right?" His brother asked.

Five, despite himself agreed. "Yeah, yeah, fine. I'll see you then, Diego." He muttered as he hung up the call. As soon as the call ended. Five ran his fingers through his hair stressfully. "Godammit!" He muttered loudly to himself. Derek's gaze flickered at him in concern. "What crawled up your ass and died?" He asked curiously. His eye twitched as he cats Derek an annoyed look.

Five held in the sudden urge to wince. "I have to go to my niece's birthday party." He murmured unhappily. Derek smiled. "Oh. that sounds fun. Where is it?" He asked. Five sighed deeply. "I.. I have no idea actually."He answered. Derek frowned in response. "You're going to a kids birthday party.. and you have no idea where you're going?" He interrogated him.

Five felt like he was loosing what was left of his patience today. "Yes, Derek. That's exactly what I mean." He frowned. The other man shrugged at him. "I'm sure your brother will send you the location soon." And behold, as soon as Derek had said that. A notification had popped up on Five's phone. He scrolled through it to check it out. It had taken Five a while to master how to work an iphone, but he had managed to figure it out.

He read the name of the birthday location on his phone. "The party is at.. Lil' Monkey's Playhouse. Where the hell is Little Monkey's Playhouse?" He complained in confusion. Derek frowned. "Wait, let me look at that." Five sighed and passed him over his phone. "Here." He said. Derek looked it over. "Oh, that place. My younger siblings used to go there for their birthdays as a kid." He muttered.

Derek was hyper aware of the fact Five struggled with technology. But he didn't question it, like most things in their odd relationship. He was patient enough to help him even when Five got frustrated. It wasn't his fault that these godamn phones are so hard to figure out! In the apocalypse all modern iphones were probably destroyed. They weren't allowed to have phones when they were younger anyways, per Reginald's strict rule.

Five looked at the other man in surprise. "Really?" He muttered in surprise. "Yeah, if you don't know the way. I can take you." He offered with a small smile. Five thought it through for a second. He has always hated using Google Maps, for some reason he had never been able to figure it out. It was even harder to try and use siri to find the nearest coffee shop.

He couldn't imagine how hard it would be to find the location with how fast the directions went. Begrudgingly, Five sighed. "Okay, fine." Derek grinned in response. "Yes!" He cheered. Five shut him down. "Only on the occasion that you don't tell anyone about the clothing tag things." He muttered with a sigh. "If my siblings heard about it.. I'd never hear the end of it."

Derek smiled at him. "Deal, lovely doing business with you Mr. Hargeeves." He rolled his eyes at the other man slightly. "Yeah, yeah. Whatever. We should probably stop for a present on the way.. it would be rude to arrive without a gift.." He muttered. Derek nodded attentively. "Right." Five frowned. "What do little girls like to play with these days?" He asked aloud.

Derek shrugged. "I have no idea. Transformers?" He muttered in response. Five took a deep breath in. "Guess we'll have to figure it out then." He mumbled as they walked outside into the parking lot.

After Five and Derek had painstakingly gone to the toy store across the street. They had managed to pick out a Royal Princess Calico Critters Set. Which, for the record was an awful name. "She'll like this right?" Five mutters in confusion as he shook the box delicately in his hands.

Derek stared at the toy in thought. "Right, well." He continued. "My sister, she liked those toys as a kid. So I'm sure Grace will like it too." He determined with a shrug.

Five gave him a look. "You have a sister?" He murmured in confusion as they stopped at a red light. Derek nodded hesitantly. "Yeah, I do. And a younger brother." He smiled at the thought of his siblings which was the opposite of what Five felt for his.

Five nodded, before muttering something faintly. "I have... seven siblings actually. Including me." He wasn't sure if he'd regret giving him that information or not later. Derek gave him a surprised look in response. "Really?" He asked. Five glared at him in confusion. "What?" He answered in confusion. Derek just gave him an amused look. 

He shrugged. "It's just that.. you don't look like you have a bunch of siblings." Derek said observantly. Five huffed. "Well, if you must know." He sighed deeply. "We're all adopted, but they're technically.. older than me." He hated having to admit that. Derek looked like he had just won the lottery. "Now, everything makes sense." He snickered slightly. 

Five hit his arm gently. "Please, shut up. And save me the embarrassment." He complained in annoyance. Derek put his hand over the wheel. "You don't look like the youngest out of seven." Five gave him a frustrated look. "I don't want people to know." He said miserably. 

Derek laughed softly. "I'll take this to the grave then, promise." He told him like it wasn't a big deal. Five frowned but nodded. "You better." He tried to sound threatening, but Derek for some reason never seemed to be threatened by him. Maybe it was the fact he's nearly died in front of him so many times that took the edge off. 

They drove out of the toy store when Derek spoke again. Five wasn't sure how to keep up with him sometimes. He was basically forced to interact with him. It was just common courtesy, nothing other than that. "How come you don't talk about your siblings much?" He asked. Five frowned uncomfortably. He was sure that Derek was just doing this to bug him. But he when he looked back at him, he actually looked like he was genuinely curious. 

He made a face, like he really wasn't sure how to word this in a way that the other man couldn't question him beyond it. "It's a long story. But let's just say. They haven't always believed me when I was trying to... warn them of something." He mumbled. Derek went quiet, just letting him get the words out. 

It wasn't often that someone didn't speak over him. He was so used to getting spoken over by his siblings that at some point he had gotten used to yelling to prove his point.

He continued. "So, I just haven't associated with them for a while because of it." Derek nodded, like he understood. Like it wasn't a big deal. He wasn't even sure if he'd ever asked Derek about his life, but he still listened to Five's rants.

Despite all of the years that they have worked together for. But Five still isn't any closer to figuring out Derek Anderson. For a while, Five was fully convinced that he was an agent send by the commission to mess with him. He had believed this only based on the fact that they had worked a little too well together on their missions.

Derek had actually listened to Five. Which was an oddity within itself. Nobody listened to him. For once, it was nice to be listened to. But in the back of his mind, he was sure that Derek's intentions in working with him were nothing but good. He had been so sure, but Derek had to go and ruin that too!

For few times that he had tried to find any connection between Derek and The Commission, he had found none. Which completely infuriated Five to no end, because if The Commission wasn't messing with him. Then surely, god was messing with him then. It was always hot-wired into Five Hargreeves to be suspicious of every and anyone's intentions.

He had been so sure that Derek was suspicious. Everything about him seemed too good to be true. He was his colleague, there must be a catch to that somehow. He found nothing, zero to the point where it frustrated him. To where he had quickly realized that he needed to know what made Derek tick, which is a completely normal thing for him to want to know.

He hadn't even considered how close they had gotten. Five had promised himself not to get attached to anyone other than his siblings. And he fully intended on keeping that promise. So either Five had finally gone completely insane, or maybe he had finally found someone who matched his wit. He had decided on the latter, a little begrudgingly. But it was a start.

So far working with Derek wasn't so shitty. So Five didn't have much to complain about, other than the fact Derek seemed to like joking at his expense. He never sounded like he actually meant it though. It was a different tone than he's ever heard his siblings say about him. Five is aware that he's a piece of work, but they don't have to say it outloud.

Derek had joked about it in a less painful way. It didn't feel so annoying coming from him.

He glanced over at the other man a little too long for a second. Derek stared at him in suspicion. "What? Is there something on my face?" He muttered in confusion, attempting to keep his eyes on the road. But Five could tell that he was staring at him out of the corner of his eye. He stayed quiet for a second, like he was still trying to figure him out.

They had known each other for a while at this point. He wasn't sure if he had ever asked Derek about himself. He frowned as he glanced over at the other man one last time. "Why are you helping me?" He asked in confusion. He frowned. "You have nothing to gain from it." He muttered, for once unsure of someone else's inactions. Derek narrowed an eyebrow at him. "We're friends, aren't we?" He said simply.

Five went quiet at those words. Out of all of the things that Derek could have said. He hadn't expected to hear him say that that. There was a beat of silence that passed between the two of them again as they drove across the road. For once in his life, Five wasn't sure what to say. He didn't have any insult or complaint at his lips this time.

He could feel his eyes widening slightly in surprise. He hadn't thought that Derek would've even considered him a friend. He'd only thought of them as coworkers. Simple colleagues, nothing more nothing less.

The moment Derek's car pulled into the play place. Five stared up at the green and brown colourful sign with a distorted expression. "Jesus christ." He muttered under his breath. "This place really is for children." He murmured under his breath. Derek shrugged slightly. "Can't tell you how many times I've had to live through a birthday party at this place." He made a face, seemingly remembering something.

Five blinked, nodding slowly as he looked up the sign. "Well, I can blame you. This place actually looks like hell on earth. For adults, because clearly kids love this place.. for some reason." He muttered helplessly. "Well," Derek muttered."We should get in there." He encouraged.

Five gave him a confused look. "What?" Derek squinted at him in concern. "What? Did you hit your head or something? Obviously I'm coming with you. You still owe me." He just stared at him. His eyes widened slightly. Oh right, he realized that Derek still wanted to know what his deal was. 

Five actually hadn't intended on keeping that promise. But Derek wasn't one to forget things easily. Five just shot him another one of his trademark unimpressed glares. "Seriously?" He asked. Derek only stared right back at him, motionless for a second. He could see other cars in front of the playplace from the window. 

For once Five's glares didn't set someone off. Because Derek just ignored him and opened the car door. "Too bad, I'm still coming." He singsonged in response. Getting out of the car before Five could argue. He held in the urge to grimace as he got out of the car. He slammed the car door shut and just grumbled underneath his breath to himself. 

Derek was grinning like he won something. Five, however vowed that the game wasn't over. Whatever the other man was trying, he could easily one-up him. He groaned in annoyance as they walked to the entrance. Derek had his hands in his pockets while Five opened the door. "Let's just get this over with..." He grumbled to himself. 

Derek just smiled in response. "Mhm." He hummed back dismissively. 

As soon as they stepped inside of the playplace. Five immediately wanted to leave. "God, I hate it already." He muttered grumpily as he stared at all of the bright lights in the room. It was much too bright and too loud. Some kiddy electronic music was playing over the speakers in the large building. 

Five felt Derek pull his arm. "Come on, you're already here. It's not so bad once you get in there." Five huffed. "Fine." He grimaced. He was only doing this so Diego would leave him alone. After this he'd never have to see his family again until he figured out how to stop the apocalypse.

It seemed that Five was the one of the last of his siblings to arrived. Since immediately when Diego saw him, his face brightened. He wasn't sure he ever saw his brother look so excited to see him. Diego clasped him on the shoulder wine the brightest grin he had ever seen. "Five! It's so good to see you." He said.

Five stared at him in confusion. Awkwardly patting his back in return. "Right... yeah." He muttered in with awkward confusion. He could see Derek looking at him extremely amused out of the corner of his eye. Five had the sudden urge to die right then and there.

Diego, however wasn't finished. "Well, it's great to see you man. Really." He told him. It was weird to hear his brother be so earnest about something. It confused the hell out of him. "I... uh.. Thanks Diego." He muttered in surprise. He noticed that there was a bright red party hat on his head. He looked way too excited to be wearing that stupid thing on his head. 

Five snorted. "Nice hat." He muttered amusingly. Diego just rolled his eyes at him in response. "Grace wanted me to wear it." He said, smiling softly mentioning his eldest. Five smiled slightly. "Well, I'm sure she's happy you listened to her." He muttered, awkwardly patting him on the shoulder. 

Diego hesitantly let go of him after a second. He then turned around. "Who's your friend?" He narrowed an eyebrow at him in confusion. Five and Derek stared at each other awkwardly. "Uh.. well.." Five muttered, trying to wrack his brain to find the words.  "We're co-workers." Derek immediately said, grinning at his brother. 

Diego nodded slowly. "Righhht." He pointed at him like he didn't fully believe him. "Okay, good to know." He didn't seem to question it too much, thank god. "Anyways." His brother continued. "Come over here, the rest of the family's over at the table. And you can see Grace." He told him with a grin. "Sound good?" He said much too enthusiastically to be his brother. 

Five looked completely stunned. "Yeah.." He muttered, squinting at Diego in confusion. "Who are you are what have you done to Diego?" He said outloud in confusion. His brother just fully grinned at his words. "Yeah, yeah. I get it. I've changed." He laughed. "Hold on, I've gotta get the pop, I'll be right back. Alright? You enjoy yourself. Grace will be happy to see you." The older man said quickly. 

Diego patted him on the back again on his way out. And within seconds he was gone. Derek looked like he was trying not to laugh. Five's immediate reaction was to glare at him. "Shut up." He mumbled turning to look at him. The other male just snorted at him. "I'm sorry. Your family is just very interesting ." He stifled out in response. 

He turned away from Derek's prying eyes to look around for anyone else familiar. Frankly, he wasn't even sure where he was going. Derek followed behind him, clearly amused at Five's situation. He just kept walking until he saw someone he recognized. 

He reached a large table tucked into the corner of the venue when he finally saw somebody he recognized. He internally gulped as he saw 5 out of six of his siblings in the distance. Derek turned to him. "You nervous?" He asked him. Five scoffed. "Obviously. I haven't talked to them in anything other than a call in..." He trailed off. 

Derek didn't say anything else to that. Five just sighed, and took a deep breath in. "Fuck, let's get this over with." He muttered again. Walking towards the birthday table. As a soon as he arrived at the table, half of his siblings had turned to look at him with varying expressions on their faces. Five could already feel the headache that he was about to have.

Derek being here meant that Five possibly couldn't get out of leaving early since he apparently still owes him. Which is already annoying over itself, but Five had managed to learn how to improvise over the years. He can work with this. He's had to work with worse situations. This shouldn't be so difficult.

Considering most of his siblings have the mental capacity only mentally ill middle aged adults could have. Which wasn't a lot. He loves his siblings, he really does. But in his experience none of them have the best emotional intelligence. Which considering their upbringing was granted. He stared at his siblings, a strained expression on his face as he looked each of them over.

Everyone was here other than Diego, who had just left to go grab the pop for the kids he assumed. Lila seemed busy watching over the kids playing just a few meters away in assorted places. So he wouldn't have to talk to her right away. He was sure she'd have a few words for him after not talking to everyone for so long. He'd rather not have to deal with her being annoying for now. Even if she is technically his sister in-law now.

Each of his siblings stared at him with an assortment of varying expressions on their faces. Klaus was the first one to come up to him. Immediately when he saw him, he grinned largely. "Oh, hey Five!" Klaus waltzed over to him excitedly with a large characteristic grin on his face. "It's so good to see you Five— Oh. I'm gonna give you a hug, brother. Just for you! Alright?" Before Five could ever protest. Klaus wrapped his arms around him in a tight hug.

He could see Derek attempting to not laugh at the extremely uncomfortable look on Five's face as his brother squeezed him tightly. God he is going to kill someone later, he just doesn't know who. The first thing he noticed about his brother, was that he barely smelled like any drugs or alcohol anymore. It seemed that he had actually been able to stay sober for all this time.

He'll be the first to admit that he was suspicious of his "sobriety" at first. But, it really seems like he changed. He grimaced slightly when Klaus hug started to become constricting. "Klaus! " He shouted, complaining loudly in a warning tone. His brother immediately let go of him. "Ohh, oops, sorry buddy. I just.. got caught in the moment. Y'know." He muttered as he fumbled through his pockets to grab a pack of hand sanitizer.

Five narrowed an eyebrow in confusion. "I— you know what. I'm not going to question that." He muttered under his breath. Klaus looked up at him. "Did you say something?" Five blinked. "No." He lied. His brother's attention span, however did not seem to change whatsoever. His other siblings were staring at him in shock. Five narrowed his gaze at them slightly. "What?" He said. "Is there something on my face?" He asked.

Luther blinked softly. "Klaus hasn't let any of us hug him in forever." Five stared at the man in confusion. "What?" He muttered in concern. Klaus, however seemed too busy layering hand sanitizer all over his hands. Klaus just shrugged, a unbothered smile on his face. "I like to take extra precautions. Also, I think Five is the most clean out of all of us." The others just stared at him, not knowing what to say.

Viktor gave him a hesitant smile. "It's good to see you, Five." He found himself smiling back at his brother. Out of all of his siblings, he probably liked Viktor the most. He was the one he probably had the most connection to back when he was stuck in the apocalypse. At least he knew what he looked like. It was one of the only things keeping him alive back then. Viktor's book was what kept him up with his siblings future before he inevitably got back to them.

He took a breath in. "It's good to see you too, Viktor." He said to him. He meant it more than he had to the others. "How's your bar?" He asked. His brother blinked in confusion, before he remembered. "Oh, I told about that. Didn't I? Yeah, yeah. It's good." He muttered. "Me and my girlfriend yeah we—" Klaus interrupted with a shocked expression on his face. "Girlfriend?" He grinned at their brother excitedly. "Girlfriend!" He shouted again.

Five groaned in annoyance. "Klaus- please." His brother just shook his head at him. "Oh, poor little Viktor has grown up... oh my god." He pretended to wipe fake tears out of his eyes. Viktor just laughed in response. He seemed to be taking Klaus' shenanigans better. He had only talked on the phone with Viktor a few times, but he's seemed to be doing pretty well based off the conversations they've had in the past.

Klaus was probably the sibling he hasn't called much. He only talked to him a few times because he wasn't in the mood to have to hear or deal with Allison after she messed the timeline up last time. She had taken everyone's trust and had completely broken it. It seemed like she was still trying to fix it, considering the expression on her face right now. His sister waved at him awkwardly. "Five, nice to see you." She muttered in a tone he wasn't sure how to describe.

She sounded slightly nervous but calm at the same time. Five nodded curly at his sister. "Right, you too Allison." He muttered. "How's Claire?" He asked. The woman gave him a strained smile. "She's playing with the girls right now." She told him. "They're obsessed with her, despite the fact she's older." Lila grinned as she walked over to them. "I think it's sweet." She said as she placed a birthday cake onto the table.

Lila smiled slightly as she saw him. "Five! Mate. How are you?" Five grimaced slightly. "Er.. I'm fine." He wasn't sure what to say to her. "How's work?" She asked. Five shrugged. "Eventful." He said quickly. Derek snickered from beside him. Five was quick to shoot him a glare to shut him up. Luther walked over to him and wrapped an arm around his shoulder. "Five, buddy. I can't tell you how good it is to see you." Luther said.

Five nodded slowly, surprised. "It is?" He muttered in confusion. Luther grinned at him. "Yeah!" He said excitedly. "It's been so long since we've had the whole family together! And now you're here. So, it's like a big ol' reunion!" Five gave him another strained smile. "Right.." He muttered, trailing off. Luther patted him hard in the back. Five nearly choked. "Jesus, Luther." His brother gave him an apologetic look in response. "Oops, sorry." He said.

Five noticed that one person was notably absent. Sparrow Ben was nowhere to be seen. Last he heard of him, he had gone to jail or something like that. He looked at his siblings suddenly. "What happened to Ben?" He asked. The others exchanged conflicted looks. "We don't know." Allison was the first to answer. Luther frowned. "Yeah, we lost touch after a while.." He seemed a little sad remembering it. Viktor patted their brother in the shoulder as an attempt at comfort.

That was odd. Ben was gone. He technically wasn't the Ben they had all hoped for. But.. he was still inexplicably Ben. He frowned slightly at that piece of information. He'd have to figure out what the hell happened to Ben later. While Five was overthinking, it seemed that his siblings had finally noticed Derek's presence. Each of them had a different look on their face as they sized the bleach haired blonde up.

"Uh.. Five." Luther muttered awkwardly, the first out of his siblings to talk. "Who's that?" He muttered in confusion, pointing at Derek. His other siblings turned to look at Derek all at the same time. 

Klaus shook his head at Luther in disappointment. "It's not nice to point Luther!" He complained. Viktor frowned. "Isn't it weird to not point out people?" Allison shook her head slightly. "No, it's rude to point out people." At this point Five was loosing braincells from the amount of stupidity his siblings held when they were all together.

Sometimes Five thought he was the only one who carried a braincell whenever all of his siblings were together. It seemed like he was the only one who had common sense sometimes. And dear god, he had hoped and prayed his siblings wouldn't notice Derek. His siblings weren't known to be that bright, so he had been holding out on that. Five let out a long sigh. "This is Derek." He said, pointing at the other man. Five was somehow already exhausted at his siblings antics.

Lila had a look of realization on her face as she looked between himself and Derek back and forth. "Ooh, Five's got a boyfriend." She said. And immediately all hell broke loose. Five has never ever in all of the year that he's lived wanted to kill himself more than in this exact moment.

Dear god someone put him out of his misery, please. Derek looked equally as gobsmacked as he was. Klaus eyes widened as he stared at them.

Klaus gasped. "Five, you have a boyfriend??" He said excitedly, like he couldn't believe it. "Oh my god. Oh my god!" Five's face immediately burned with embarrassment. "No, no, no, no!" He exclaimed loudly, clearly denying their claims. "He is not—" His siblings interrupted him. Luther blinked. "You have a boyfriend? Really? You?" He muttered in surprise. Five hissed. "I do not have a boyfriend—"

Viktor interrupted him again. "Five, if you have a boyfriend. You can tell us." He encouraged him. And he looked completely serious too. Five for the first time in his life didn't know what to say. "He's not my—" Five was interrupted somehow, again. 

Diego finally came back with the cake. "Whoa." Diego narrowed an eyebrow at them all. "What's all the ruckus about?" He asked in confusion. Klaus grinned widely looking way too excited to tell Diego. "Five's got a boyfriend! Five's got a boyfriend!" Klaus repeated proudly.

He's never even more embarrassed in his life. Allison smiled softly. "Oh, that's sweet. Finally someone who can deal with Five's assholerly." She sounded a bit to happy to say that outloud. He just scoffed at his sisters comment. "I— what. I'm not-" Five sputtered in response to his sister's allegations, that were clearly false!

Diego grinned widely. "Ha!" He yelled. "I knew it! I knew he couldn't just be your coworker! No one looks at their coworker like that!" Five's face just burned harder. God he's never wanted to strangle every single one of his siblings more in his life. 

Lila grinned at him mockingly. "Wow, you. A boyfriend? Really. Great job mate." She patted him on the shoulder proudly. Five's eye twitched. "He isn't my—"

Klaus grinned excitedly. "Soooo, when's the wedding buddy? Ohhh, can I be a groomsman! I love Weddings—" Viktor stepped in to defuse the situation. "Uh, Klaus I think you're getting too ahead of yourself." He tried to get their brother to tone it down a little. 

Lila snickered. "Ooh, who'd wear the dress?" She asked. Allison snorted. "I'd pay to see Five in a wedding dress." She mumbled inbetween a drink. Viktor sighed. "Guys- let's not make this more of a big deal than it is." Diego shook his head at him. "No, no way. This IS a big deal. Someone who can actually tolerate Five romantically?" Klaus nodded in agreement. "Yeah- I thought he was still banging that mannequin." He said quietly. 

Five could feel himself loosing all of his patience in one full swoop. "Can all of you just shut up for one second? Shut up!" He snapped. Everyone immediately went quiet at that at that.

Five's face burned in embarrassment. He huffed angrily. "I mean, can you all just let me explain." He groaned in annoyance. His siblings always had some way to mess with his head, no matter what it was. 

"Ooh.. awkward." Klaus admitted under his breath. He quickly shot his brother a glare. Five took a deep shaky breath in. "Derek, is NOT. My boyfriend. He's my co-worker." He told the rest of his family sharply. The others just stared at him blankly. "If you guys had just listened for a second and let me explain-" 

Diego just grinned at him. "Okay." He shrugged. "Whatever you wanna call it, buddy." Five's eye twitched again. "Oh my god." He held his head in his hand. "Why are you all like this?" He asked. His siblings and Lila erupted into laughter at his obvious horror.

Viktor patted him on the shoulder sympathetically. "It's okay Five, I believe you." He said. Five sighed. "Thank god, someone in this awful family has to." He grumbled. 

He turned to stare down each one of his siblings. "All of you, if you say anything again. I'm going to kill you." He could hear Luther snorting in response. None of them ever took him seriously. Derek had a mixture of shock and disbelief on his face. "I can't tell if we beat the relationship allegations or not." He muttered over to him.

Five just sighed deeply. "Please, just Ignore them. They're... idiots." Derek just laughed in response. The others had gone back to talking amongst themselves now.

Diego was taking a lighter out of his pocket in preparation for the birthday cake. Five was slightly relieved they weren't talking about him anymore. He couldn't handle anymore embarrassment.

The party so far, only seemed to be enjoyable for the kids. Other than the fact some of his siblings had beers in their hands. "Where'd you get those?" He asked Luther, narrowing an eyebrow at him. "Oh, from Lila." He responded, taking another swig of his drink.

Five stole the drink from his brother's grasp. "Give me some of that." He mumbled as he drowned the bottle in one. Klaus let out a wince as he looked at him.

Luther frowned at him. "Jesus. Easy on the drinking, Five." He shot his brother a glare. "I think I need something a little stronger than coffee right now." He mumbled miserably.

Derek gave him a concerned look  as he set the present they had brought bf or Grace down on the gift table. Lila cooed. "Aww, you brought my little one something. You do care." She grinned, clearly trying to get a rise out of him. "Please, I didn't want to be the only one who didn't bring a gift." Five muttered, finishing off Luther's drink.

Lila held her hand to her heart dramatically. "Sure you do, but Grace will be delighted to hear that you got her something." Five held his tongue, no witty remark would have felt right to say back to her after mentioning Grace.

He's not sure why he cares so badly about the attention of a kid he hasn't even met in real life yet. All he knows about the kid is that she's somehow smarter than her parents. Which is saying a lot, because they're both emotionally stunted idiots.

Them creating a child with semi-intelligence was actually unexpected. Five turned to Allison. "Oh, right. Where is your husband anyways?" He asked. Allison smiled slightly at him. "He's grabbing the piñata for Grace. He'll be back soon." Diego nodded in agreement. "I didn't want an East side piñata for Grace." He whispered to him with a grin. "Those east side ones are always shitty." Five was confused as to how Diego even knew that, but he let it slide.

Derek came back with two beers. "Here you go, you finished the other one right?" He muttered as he opened his bottle. Five shrugged. "I stole Luther's." He said with a grin. Derek gave him a look. "I'm surprised he didn't punch you or something." He mumbled. Five narrowed an eyebrow at him. "Luther? No way, that guy couldn't harm a fly. That added in with the fact that I'm almost 100% sure that he's a stripper just confirms it for me."

Derek snorted. "Yeah, your family is way more interesting than mine." He chuckled. "I assume family gatherings without you must be interesting." Five shrugged. "I guess, I wouldn't know." He said.

Derek gave him a look. "I guess we're never beating the relationship allegations then." Derek shrugged, recovering from his previous shock earlier. Oh so, now he found it funny. Five grumbled to himself. "Seriously?" Derek narrowed an eyebrow at him. "What was that?" He asked.

Five rolled his eyes at him. "Nothing." He grumbled again.

Derek snickered softly. "Cheers?" He offered, holding out his bottle next to his. Five just smirked in response. "Fine, cheers." He murmured, clinking their bottles together. They both took a swig of their respective bottle. Five, however drank a lot more than he was probably supposed to. Being at a child's birthday party and all.

It seemed that Diego had set the two packs of pop he had brought in from earlier. Suddenly hoards of children came running out from different directions of the room to grab one. "Oh my god. That is a lot of kids." Derek murmured, sipping more from his bottle. Five gulped down the last of his a few seconds later. He could see the smiling face of the birthday girl passing Diego her pop can to help her open.

Diego probably had the softest look on his face that Five's ever seen. He kissed the top of the little girl's head and opened her pop can happily. Lila was a few meters away, periodically fixing their other daughter's hair. And with that Five felt the burning from the alcohol in his throat. Maybe he shouldn't have drowned that one so fast.

He sighed, tossing the bottle out to the nearest can. He watched the other kids around their parents. Five often wondered what family looked like to some people. Five definitely had a different feeling of what family looked like than others did. To him, his only family was his siblings and him against the apocalypse. Come to think of it he didn't even know Allison's husband that well.

He was sure that he was.. including himself in on his family who had probably become much closer since he's last seen them. So he was effectively an outsider. Just like he had predicted. Now he kind of wished that he had more to drink. Before he could try and find another bottle. He could see Lila and Diego coming up to him over on the sidelines.

Derek was engrossed in something Klaus was saying, that guy seemed to get along with everybody. And he wasn't sure why. Sometimes he envied the way Derek could just fit in anywhere he wanted to. It was rather annoying on missions though. As if Derek wasn't a frustration enough. He saw Diego grinning at him as he held the hand of his daughter, dragging her towards him.

Diego patted his daughter on her head. "Sweetie, do you know who this is?" His brother said, in a tone that he was sure meant he was surprising her with something. Five however, was confused. Was he the surprise? He narrowed an eyebrow at Lila in confusion, who just smiled at him innocently in response. Seems like she's not going to even dignify him with a response.

Grace looked up at him with the most innocent face he had ever seen. Five just waved at her awkwardly, taking his hand sour of his pockets. Diego smiled as he turned back to Grace. "That's your uncle." He told her with a soft smile. The little girl's face brightened. "Uncle Five?" She asked, eyes lighting up in disbelief. 

Five wasn't sure if the weird feeling in his stomach was nervousness or the urge to throw up. He hadn't expected talking to the poor kid would be this hard. He probably wasn't going to live up to what she was expecting.

The girl just stared up at him with wide eyes. Five swallowed thickly. "Hi, Grace." He muttered awkwardly trying an awful lot to not look like he felt so out of place here.

He bent down slightly to meet the girl's eyes. "Uh.. hi, kid." He whispered to the girl hesitantly. "So," He said. "You're turning seven, huh? Are you excited?" He asked her. Grace's smile somehow brightened. "Yes!" She exclaimed. "Daddy said that you might not come. But.. I told him that I knew you would." Five felt his heart soften for one of the first times in years. "Yeah?" He asked.

Grace nodded. "Yeah!" She rambled excitedly. "Daddy and Mommy didn't want me to get excited so- they told me they don't know if you're coming. So they said that- they don't know so they can't tell me. But I knew you were gonna come." She giggled softly. He patted the girl's head. "Well, I'm really glad that I'm here Grace." He told her, and for the first time he meant it.

He gave her a small smile. "You're gonna have the best birthday, right?" The little girl only nodded in response. "Yeah!" She said, grinning ear to ear. Five nervously held his hand out to hers. "High five?" He muttered to the girl hesitantly.

He was well aware of how ironic it was that he was the one saying this. But he wanted to do something nice for the kid, since she was apparently looking forward to this. For a reason he didn't yet understand.

Instead of taking his gesture for a high five. The little girl wrapped her arms around his neck in a tight hug. She was so small that he had no idea if he was supposed to hug him back. He didn't want to accidentally hurt her, so he just let her hug him tightly while he blinked slowly in confusion. He could see Lila snickering softly in the background. While Diego was grinning like he won the lottery.

Once the little girl let go of him. She ran back to her parents, surely to bombard them with questions. And Five was left to process what had just happened.

He stood there stunned for a few seconds as his older siblings crowded around him. "Wow." Luther muttered. "Grace likes you a lot more than she likes me." He said bluntly. Klaus snorted from beside him. "Well, I'm not Gracie's favourite. But I'm sure a close second. I take pride in being Claire's favourite though." Viktor laughed softly. "I don't think I'm any of the kid's favourite.." He muttered.

Lila shook her head at him, Grace had run off somewhere to go play with her friends and sister. "Nah." The dark haired woman muttered. "Coco, she adores you." She assured him. "I think you're her favourite, and Luther is her second favourite." Luther smiled. "Really?" He asked. Lila nodded. "Yeah, that little rascal asks about you all the time." She mutters.

Klaus pouted. "Do they not like me?" He gasped in shock. Diego rolled his eyes at him. "They do, but you're their hypochondriac uncle. Not much fun to be had there." He snickered softly. Klaus just huffed in response. "Well. I'm going to therapy for that. So, there!" He said, like that was somehow proving a point. Five was not done being shocked.

Derek passed him a can of pop. "Why do you look like you had two aneurysms?" Five glanced over at Derek motionless for a few seconds. He suddenly snapped himself out of it. "I didn't expect her to hug me." He mumbled. The others all gave him amused looks at that.

Diego just chuckled. "Well, Gracie's always been the affectionate one. She ambushes me and Lila daily." He explained, moving to stand beside his wife. Five quickly opened his new can of pop. "Well, now I do feel like I was ambushed." He muttered, taking a sip of the fizzy drink. It was a lot fizzier than the alcohol from earlier. He grimaced at the taste.

Lila smiled at Five, un-mockingly for the first time today. "You just made her day, aren't you lucky?" She said with a soft look on her face, watching her daughter play a few meters away. Five just blinked slowly. "I have no clue what to follow that up with." He murmured. Taking refuge into another fizzy sip. Diego hummed softly. "Well, you should be proud." He encouraged.

Five wished he didn't finish his bottle a whole lot more now. This is something that he doesn't really need to think about right now. The implications are too much for him. He just shrugs helplessly. "I guess so." He mutters. Diego grins fully at him. "That's the spirit, buddy." He pats him on the shoulder hard again.

Five couldn't process the rest of the time passing as he was stuck in his thoughts. He listened in on his sibling's conversations and added in accordingly at necessary times. And watched as the young children ran around the venue. The odd part was that Five could see why his family loved Grace so much. Despite the fact his siblings didn't always get along, the kids seemed to put their childish bickering on hold.

The kids played for at least half an hour more. He couldn't tell anymore. He had tuned out the others talking in the background a while ago. "Five!" Luther said, smiling at him. "Derek said the two of you for the CIA? Is that true?" He asked him excitedly.

Five tensed up nervously. "Well-" He tried to explain himself. Derek quickly interrupted him. "He's just modest. He's good at his job." He said, acting like he was helping.

Five held in the urge to grimace. He just nodded slowly. "The CIA is top secret if you're wondering. Can't tell you a whole lot." Allison looked impressed. "Really? The CIA?" She asked. "Wow, must have taken a while to get there." She said in shock. Five shrugged. "It wasn't too bad." He shook his head slightly. It might have been harder if he was anyone else, but for him it was like taking candy from a baby. Not that he'd want to take candy from a baby.

Klaus grinned proudly. "Aw, our little Five is all grown up." He sniffled, looking like he was about to cry. Viktor patted his shoulder sympathetically.

Five just rolls his eyes at his brother's childishness. "Yeah, yeah." Five didn't need his siblings to be too impressed. "I knew I could do it." He said. Viktor smiled softly at him. "Well, I'm glad. And.. I think we're all glad that you're here. Right guys?" He turned to look at the others.

The rest of the Hargreeves just nodded. Moments later Ray burst into the room, holding an extremely large llama piñata. He set the piñata on the ground next to them as he approached their table. Allison blinked softly in confusion. "Wow, that thing's a lot bigger than I expected." Klaus looked like he was about to make some kind of dirty joke, until Claire approached the adults.

"Are we going to have cake yet?" Claire asked, staring at her mom and assortment of aunts and uncles. She blinked in confusion as soon as she saw him. "Uncle Five..?" She muttered in confusion.

Five awkwardly waved at her. "Hi, Claire." He muttered. She blinked again. "Cool." She turned to address her dad. "Uh.. Dad. Did you carry that entire thing here?" She asked.

Raymond just nodded in response. "Yes, I did." He smiled. Klaus smiled. "What a guy, huh guys?" Luther laughed. "Nice man." He complimented him as Ray sat down at the table. The older man stared at Five in confusion. "Oh! You're here too Five?" He asked.

Five squinted at the rest of the adults. "Why is everyone so surprised to see me?" He asked, completely concerned. "I do call you people. You know that right?" The rest of his family could only snicker in response.

Derek patted his shoulder with sympathy. "Maybe you don't call enough." He suggested, chuckling slightly. Five swatted his hand away at his words. "Shut up, please." He told him, holding in the urge to roll his eyes at him again. Five was peacefully drinking his new bottle of beer, thank god for Diego. When all of a sudden, the doors opened at the entrance of the playplace again.

Five stared at his other siblings in confusion, who looked just as lost. "Uh... what's going on?" Klaus muttered in confusion the others all exchanged confused glances.

Even Lila and Diego were confused. Their questions were all answered immediately once Sparrow Ben waltzed through the door. The Hargreeves eyes all widened in shock, like they had just seen a ghost.

Sparrow Ben.. let's say. He looked a lot different than the last time they had saw him. He was wearing an outfit that their Ben would have worn. Klaus seemed the most affected by his presence. Claire sat down next to him, rubbing his hand comfortingly.

Sparrow Ben has glasses on, and a large gift box in hand as he walked over to them. He had a smiled on his face as he waved at them all.

"Holy shit." Five muttered, wiping his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing things. Sparrow Ben was wearing glasses, he smiled at them all like their Ben did. It was weird to see so many things they had learned to characterize the Ben they had lost in this version of Ben. "Is that—" Luther started to say in shock. "I didn't think he was gonna show." Luther muttered in shock. Diego turned to look at him in confusion.

"Wait, wait, you invited him?" Diego asked their brother in confusion. Luther nodded slowly. "Yeah, I sent him a Facebook invite actually. I didn't think he was actually going to come.." Luther muttered slowly in shock

Ben waved at them all eagerly. "Hi!" He said, in a way that was so nostalgic of Umbrella Ben. His voice sounded so painfully awkward in a way only Ben could manage to say. "H i ." Five said in unison with his siblings. They all sounded as shocked as he was.

Klaus stared at Sparrow Ben in confusion. "Oh, wow! Benjamin. What are you doing here?" He asked in confusion. He had an expression on his face that just seemed a little sad and hopeful at the same time.

Ben just shrugged. "Well.. Luther invited me. So, I thought I'd come. Since he invited me." He muttered. "And my therapist's been telling me that.. I should talk to people more." He explained slowly. 

Ben had this look on his face that told Five that he wasn't being entirely truthful. But his odd earnestness didn't leave any room for Five to call him out on it. It was weird how different Ben was acting. Did this have something to do with the timelines coinciding?

Did that possibly bring their Ben back too? So many questions ran through his head at the scene playing in front of him.

His other siblings seemed shocked to even see Ben. He wasn't exactly their Ben, but he was a reminder of him. Sparrow Ben placed a gift onto the table. Lila winced as she attempted to thank him. "Oh wow, this is unexpected. Thank you.. Ben." She trailed off slowly. Ben just smiled at her in response. "Yeah, no problem." He said a little too amicably.

Sparrow Ben suddenly not hating them? That was weird. Derek seemed the most lost, trying to figure out why everyone else was so confused. Raymond was in the exact same boat. The two just exchanged a confusion look at each other.

Sparrow Ben took a seat at the birthday table. A little too casually. "So." He drummed his fingers onto the table absentmindedly. "How.. are all of you." He said hesitantly.

Luther nodded, smiling slightly. "Good." He said softly. Diego nodded in agreement. "Mhm, good." Now they were just becoming awkward. "Glad to see.. you worked on yourself Ben." Klaus said awkwardly.

Ben looked confused for a second, until his eyes widened and he nodded profusely. "Oh, yeah. Therapy. It's great." He said.

Five was the only one who noticed Ben's hiccup. He narrowed his eyebrow at the man in confusion. Somehow he got the feeling something was off. But he couldn't prove it.

A couple of awkward minutes later, Grace came waltzing in with the biggest smile on her face. She pulled on her mother's sleeve to ask her something. "Ma, piñata time?" She asked hopefully.

Lila blinked softly in confusion, before nodding and smiling at her daughter. "Oh! Right, yes of course sweetheart." She said as she stood up and looked at Diego and Luther. "Can you two hang up that thing?" She asked.

The two men nodded in response. "And you." Lila said, turning to Five. "Go with them and make sure they don't mess up." Five wasn't sure how they could mess that up, but he nodded anyways.

After a few minutes of Luther and Diego bickering over how to set the piñata up. The large llama was hoisted up onto the ceiling of one of the little play areas that slightly resembled a house. The llama was sitting up straight, it looked slightly huge now that he looked at it more closely. Assortments of children from Grace's birthday party lined up to get a chance to hit the piñata.

Grace was first in line, and behind was her little sister Nicole (More affectionately nicknamed Coco, as Viktor had told him.) Diego smiled at his daughter as he held a blindfold in hand. Five gave the young girl a thumbs up on the adults side of the room. Grace's smile brightened as she closed her eyes for her dad to pull the blindfold over her eyes.

Diego twirled his daughter around four times before he put the baseball bat into his daughter's hands. Grace was surprisingly aggressive for a seven year old. She hit and punched at the piñata with her bat, the other kids stepped back in her newfound bloodlust for piñata guts.

Five smiled proudly as the girl kept hitting at the poor thing. He just clapped along with the kids. Diego's eyes widened, laughing nervously as he noticed the lolls the other parents were giving him and Lola. "Uh.. Gracie honey. It's your sister's turn." He muttered, and immediately Grace stopped. "Sorry, Daddy." She mumbled as he pulled the blindfold off her eyes. The piñata was nearly open.

Diego smiled at his daughter softly. "It's alright Gracie." He turned her over to got back to the other adults. Allison was the first to congratulate the girl and hug her tightly. "Great job birthday girl!" She grinned at her, kissing her cheek softly. Grace smiled, before she was grabbed by the arm by one of his other siblings to probably congratulate her.

The rest of the kids attempts at hitting the piñata were far less aggressive than Grace's had been. Coco struggled a bit to do as much damage as her older sister, but she was still give a high five by Allison for good measure. Grace jumped over to him excitedly. "Did you see how I did Tio?" She asked him excitedly. Five nodded softly as he bent down to look at her better.

He nodded at the young girl. "Yeah! You did great, Grace. Good job." He praised her, ruffling her hair softly. "Very aggressive. You did me proud kid." He whispered into her ear, she grinned brighty back at him in response. Diego and Lila cooed from behind them. Five had half the mind to glare at them, but he didn't. He just rolled his eyes at the parents.

Grace stood next to him as the rest of the kids attempted to open the piñata. A few minutes passed of a few kids failing to open it, when there wasn't anymore kids left. "Oh, shit." Diego muttered to himself. "I don't think we planned for this to happen." He muttered. Klaus snickered loudly. "Wow, Grace. You beat the piñata a little too well!" Grace just smiled happily in response.

Lila winced slightly. "Crap, okay." She tried to think of someway to figure this out. "Shit, shit, shit." The woman muttered to herself stressfully. Diego's eyes widened as he got an idea. "Wait, guys. I have an idea." He turned to look at his siblings with a grin in his face. "Oh, no you can't be thinking—" Allison started. Diego nodded. "Yes."

Five blinked in confusion. "What?" He said in confusion. Allison sighed. "Well-" Klaus suddenly realized. "He wants us to hit that thing!" He smiled like a child on Christmas. Five blinked. "Wait, really?" He said in shock. 

Viktor laughed. "Wow, that's.." Diego grinned in response. "C'mon guys. We can pretend that it's dad." He snickered softly. Ben nodded immediately. "I don't know about you, but I'm all for getting your anger out on Dad."

Allison sighed. "But the kids-" Diego shook his head at her. "Won't care. C'mon. They just want the candy. They don't care how it happens." He rationalized, waving his hand at her dismissively. Allison frowned. "Fine." She said finally. "If that thing's dad.. can we go all in?" She asked.

Diego nodded, grinning wickedly. "Oh, absolutely." Klaus took a breath in. "Watch out Dad. We are coming for you!" He shouted excitedly.

Diego picked up the blindfold back up from the table. He bent back down to look at his daughter. "Gracie, this might get ugly. So, look away if you have to. Alright?" He told the girl, who just giggled in response. Diego pointed at Allison. "Allison, you're up." He commanded her up to the piñata.

Allison looked hesitant. "Diego—" Their brother shushed her in response. "Imagine it's Dad telling you to rumour Viktor." He encouraged her. 

Allison had a stone cold look on her face then. "I think I can do that." She mumbled. Claire grinned from her place next to Ray and Klaus. "Yeah! Go mom!" She cheered loudly. Ray clapped his hand together as equally as excited. Klaus stopped for a moment as Diego spun their sister around.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Klaus stopped him before said before running to the radio on the table.

He quickly connected his phone to it, swiping through something to get to the right song. "I've got some mood music in mind for this." Klaus muttered as he pressed play onto the radio. The song started as Allison went up. She recognized  the song at the first chord. "I... is that Britney Spears?" She muttered in shock. "Yes!" Klaus shouted. "Just start hitting!" He yelled.

Five wishes he could lie to you and not tell you that Britney Spears didn't start to play. But it did. As soon as Allison started to swing, Britney Spears "...Baby One More Time." began to play. Five's eyes widened in shock. "Oh my god." He muttered. Pulling Grace further away from the line of fire. Diego began to pull the piñata up to make it harder for the adults. So, Allison's first swing didn't land.

Britney started singing when Allison landed her first hit. "That.. actually felt pretty good." She muttered. The entire party erupted into loud cheers. Five clapped with an excited Grace. She seemed to be enjoying the acts of aggression. Five wouldn't admit it, but this was kind of fun.

Allison continued to swing and miss as Britney sang about her loneliness. Allison was at this point close to dancing with how she was maneuvering.

Next up was Klaus. Who's approach was to actually dance. Diego spun Klaus around four times. And Klaus started to dance around attempting to hit the piñata. Diego kept pulling the thing up and down, and back again. Klaus twirled around and got a hit in. Britney only became louder as he danced around again. The other kids were laughing in amusement at his performance.

He had managed to catch another hard hit until his turn was over. He high fives Claire and Grace as he pulls the blindfold off. Five wouldn't lie that the song wasn't catchy. Ben decided to go next. His hits were just him running around aimlessly trying to find the piñata while Diego taunted him with it.

He had finally gotten a hit right to the beat of the music. "Hah! Screw you Dad!" Klaus shouted loudly.

The kids erupted into cheers again. Ben swung and missed again, flailing around to get another one. Five winced in sympathy. Most of the party had backed up at this point. Five safely kept Grace in his arms, so she couldn't get hurt. Not for any other reason of course.

Ben had managed to get another hit once more. The whole party cheering as he shoved his blindfold off, grinning and sweating.

Luther went up next. Diego spun him around more than four times for good measure as he pulled the blindfold on. Luther's hits were back and forth, attempting to hit hard. But ultimately kept missing. He sometimes hit too high or too low. Diego pulled the piñata up and down. Luther groaned in annoyance. "Oh come on!" He complained loudly.

A few seconds passed as Luther struggled. Diego snickered loudly. He pulled the piñata down to give him some mercy. Luther finally landed a hit, it had almost broken the thing. But he had hit it too weakly. He hit it again a few seconds later. Another weak one. The rest of the party clapped for him as he peeled the blindfold off again, laughing.

Five looked down to look at Grace. "Who do you think's gonna that thing?" He asked her curiously. Grace shrugged her head. "I dunno... If Uncle Luther can't do it.. maybe Daddy can." She muttered under her breath. "If Daddy can't do it, Mommy can. She can do it better than him." She clearly had more faith in her mom than her dad. 

Five snorted in response at her words. "That's.. actually not a bad guess." He agreed, nodding at the little girl.

Diego himself went next. Lila grinned as she spun him around six times. "Leave some for the rest of us, alright?" She said with a small laugh. Diego shrugged. "No promises." The blindfold was then tied around his head. At this point the song was at its halfway mark.

Klaus cheered loudly for their brother. "Woo! Come on Diego!" Grace clapped her hands together. "You can do it Daddy!" She shouted.

Diego grinned as he began to swing. Lila commanded the piñata up down in annoyance. "Oh christ. Why is this harder blindfolded!" He complained as he jumped up to hit the piñata, but then it was back onto the floor again. He groaned loudly in frustration at his losses. "Dammit Lila!" His wife only laughed loudly in response.

He kept at it until he landed one hit. He jumped excitedly. "Alright, I can do this. This one's for you Gracie!" He shouted for three birthday girl. As he landed on last hit. That indeed wasn't the one to open the piñata. Diego pulled the blindfold down in confusion. "Ah, dammit." He muttered, shaking his head in disappointment.

Lila snorted and kissed him on the cheek. "You get an A for effort, love." She laughed softly. Diego just smiled, the fact he didn't open the piñata didn't matter anymore after that kiss. Grace seemed happy anyways. "Good job Daddy!" She gave him a thumbs up. Britney continued to sing more of her loneliness lyrics and signs when Viktor went up.

Viktor was spun around four times by Diego. He held the bat in his hands tightly. "Alright, Dad. I'm gonna get you." He muttered determinedly as he started to swing. He immediately landed a huge hit. A bit of candy falling out of the piñata as kids cheered loudly. Diego began to sweat, he lifted the piñata up and down to make it harder for Viktor.

Viktor began to swing again, missing twice. He took a deep breath in as he jumped twice and missed. "Come on Viktor!" Five shouted to his brother. Viktor continued to swing until he landed a hit. The kids cheered again.

Bits of candy falling out. The kids were kept from running out into the entire thing was hit open. Viktor pulled the blindfold off, smiling. "That.. was actually kind of fun." He said.

The party cheered loudly again. Coco gave Viktor a high five as he rejoined the other Hargreeves. Five wasn't sure how they were going to get that thing open if they didn't have anyone else to go. Moments passed as the rest of his siblings began to eye him. "What?" Five muttered in confusion. "It's your turn, buddy." He hit his back hard.

Five nearly jumped in surprise. "What?" He muttered in confusion. Grace stared up at him. Gasping loudly. "Come on Uncle Five! You can do it!" She encouraged, tugging on his sleeve bursting with excitement. Five quickly responded. "I don't know Grace—" He said hastily. Diego looked at his brother. "Five, come on!" He encouraged him loudly.

Five shook his head quickly again. "Oh— I couldn't." He insisted. Grace looked over at him. "Please, Uncle Five?" She begged. She was giving him the puppy dog eyes. He sighed deeply. "I can't believe I'm going to do this.." He grumbled to himself. "Let's go Five!" Klaus shouted again.

Five swallowed down his nervousness. Derek gave him a thumbs up as Diego threw the blindfold over his eyes. The song was at its climax as his turn started. Five could hear the piñata moving up and down. If he could figure out the pattern, he could definitely hit this thing wide open.

He took a deep breath in, and stepped forwards. HIT ME BABY— The song echoed inside his head. Then he moved few meters to the left, then to the right. And he hit. He hit as hard as he could possibly muster. It brought back memories of when he had killed the board of directors. He had replicated that same hit as he hit the piñata.

The song had ended. He had landed the hit in time with the last lyric. HIT ME BABY, ONE MORE TIME—

Children started screaming around him, running up to the piñata as it fell to the ground with a pop. Candy was flying everywhere as kids scrambled to get under the thing. Five had already pulled his blindfold down to see all of the kids cheering and grabbing what candy they could off the ground.

Grace immediately grinned as she ran up to him and gave him the biggest hug. "You did it!" She shouted excitedly. Diego was scrambling to steal some candy from the other kids to grab some for his daughters in the floor. Five just gave Grace a small smile in response. "You were right. I could do it." He muttered to her. She smiled again at his words.

Five snickered slightly as he lolled at his brother. Who only fake glared at him in response. "Hey kid! Those smarties are for Grace!" Diego shouted as he took smarties from another kids hand. Klaus ran up to him. "Five! You did it." He exclaimed proudly. Allison nodded. "Great job." She smiled at him in approval.

Five shrugged slightly. "It was nothing." He said. Luther snickered. "Ah, so humble." Derek nodded in agreement. "Too humble." He agreed, laughing. Five could only roll his eyes at them. Ben was quiet, but still smiling with the rest of his siblings. He couldn't recall Sparrow Ben ever being that quiet. Viktor smiled at him. "Really great job Five." He told him proudly.

Five just smiled. "Seriously, it was nothing guys." He insisted. Grace just smiled. "You were like a superhero! You saved us from being without candy!" She sounded very convinced of the fact. The others could only laugh slightly at her words. He was only a little flattered by how highly she thought of him. Only a little. 

The rest of the party went on without a hitch. Everyone sang happy birthday to Grace. And everyone was sent on their way home. Five noted that the cake didn't taste half bad. He had gone for another piece, but no one called him out on it thankfully. Grace was bursting with energy, until the end when they finally ate her birthday cake.

The moment she started yawning, the adults started to make preparations to go home. Luther helped Diego and Lila carry the assortment of presents Grace had managed to accumulate out into their car. While the others stayed to helped clean up. Viktor had to leave early to go back home to his bar the next morning, so he was the first of them to leave.

Five and Derek stayed to help the others clean up. Ben was somewhere else with Allison and Klaus cleaning the birthday table up. While him and Derek were throwing away some cans kids had left behind. " Soooo. " Derek muttered as he kicked a can. Five glared at him and picked it up. Throwing it into the recycling bin. "Did you enjoy the party?" Derek asked.

Five shrugged. "I guess." Derek smiled. "Maybe you should go to them more often." He suggested. Five huffed. "We'll see." He said stiffly. Derek frowned at him. "Really, Five. Your family seems fun." He muttered, but didn't push him more. Five sighed. "Yes, I am aware. That's.. just the problem." He muttered.

Derek stared at him in confusion. "Then why is that the problem?" He asked. Derek seemed too eager to understand him, and Five didn't get that. It frustrated him, but he knew Derek wouldn't let up if he didn't tell him.

Five just sighed deeply. "I don't know. Okay. Just— please don't ask me again." Derek went quiet at his pleading. "Fine, I won't. But you still owe me." He said, insistent.

Five frowned. "Yes, yes. I know." He muttered. He was exhausted. Too much had happened today and he hadn't even begun to process it all. Derek stared at him in concern for a second.

He clearly saw that Five was struggling with something. Which wasn't ideal. Because no one usually noticed when Five was struggling. He could deal with his shit on his own.

He didn't need anyone to comment on it. He sighed again and looked Derek right in the eyes. "Tomorrow." He said suddenly. "I'll tell you tomorrow." He said finally. Derek nodded. "You better, or I'm never gonna let it go."

Five sighed again, but nodded. "Okay, understood." He murmured quickly in response. 

They finished cleaning up 20 minutes later. It was dark out when they finally made it out to the parking lot. Diego was carrying a sleeping Grace into the car. He noticed Five and Derek walking out, and waved at them. Derek smiled enthusiastically and waved back eagerly. Five waved back stiffly.

Lila was buckling Coco into the car while she smiled at him as they passed. "Later Five! And your not-boyfriend." She called out to him, snickering softly at the red that began to invade Five's face. He groaned in annoyance. "God, I think I hate her." He muttered to himself.

Luther had left with Ben, who needed a drive home. Luther told him he wasn't even sure where Ben lived, but he'd tell him when he found out.

Viktor's car was still in the parking lot when they had walked out. But that wasn't the weirdest part. Viktor was nowhere to be found. Five had a bad feeling settle in his chest when he realized that.

He tried to tell himself maybe that was his paranoia talking, and that Viktor was in a different car. Maybe he had run out of gas and gotten an uber. Something like that.. but Five couldn't push away the bad feeling that he got. Derek stared at him in concern, his face softening. "What's wrong?" He asked him as they walked to his car.

Five shook his head quickly. "Nothing." He said immediately. "I'm sure it's nothing." He swallowed slightly. Klaus had already left with Allison and her family. But Viktor's car was still here. He told himself that maybe someone had just picked him up, or maybe that he had forgotten something in the playplace.

But he couldn't beat the sinking feeling in his chest. He didn't need to think about that right now. He just wanted Derek to drive him home, and go to sleep. That's it. He'd worry about if Viktor was okay tomorrow. He was sure that he'd call him the next time and tell him that he's fine. Five felt so sure of it.

But the doubt didn't leave his mind as Derek drove them out of sight of the dark, the quiet parking lot.