The umbrella academy: In which Five gets all the love he deserves

Untitled Part 41

Klaus and Five were alone when he had noticed. He and Five were talking, well more like he was talking and Five was listening. Or pretending to listen. Anyway as he was bitching to his little brother about how annoying Ben can be, with the said ghost throwing him a death glare, he noticed how Five was shaking his hands from time to time. And if he wasn't shaking them then he was cracking his fingers.

Five looked at his brother when he saw that he had stopped talking. Following where he was looking, he saw that he was looking at him how he was shaking his hands or cracking his fingers. Klaus opened his mouth to say something but Five blinked away.

"What was that for?"Klaus asked Ben.

Ben shrugged. "You caught him stemming. Maybe he got embarrassed or something. Knowing Five he would avoid you for a while or he would try to hide it."

"But...But.But its nothing wrong with that"

"Good luck in convincing Five of all the people that it's nothing wrong"Klaus knew that Ben was right. Five is a stubborn shit and he would think that stemming is a flaw that would need to get rid of it. Hell for all he knew he had done this all his life. He doesn't even want to imagine what their father would have said or done if he had seen him stimming. In the Apocalypse had been alone. While a horrible thing, at least there hadn't been anyone there to tell him that it was not normal what he does. And when he had got in the Commission. Well, that people are as worse as their father was.

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Ben was right. Five did start to avoid him for a while. Every time he tried to talk with him, Five was blinking away or saying that he was busy. When he was forced to be with all his family, he made sure that his hands were always in his pocket. But there were times when he was forgetting that. Like for example, one day at breakfast, Five was either half asleep or he was with his mind somewhere else, and he hadn't even noticed that he was drumming his fingers on the table.

The others looked confused at their brother's action. When Diego opened his mouth, most likely to tell Five to stop the incessant drumming, Klaus kicked him under the table. When he looked at him Klaus glared at his brother. The others looked even more confused but Klaus only shook his head. He knew that if the others would open their mouth to ask questions Five would get embarrassed and he would leave and ignore everyone else. And if one of them would tell him to stop then it would make him feel bad. And no way in hell he would let that happen.

There had been other occasions like this where he had stimmed without noticing. He was either biting his nails or cracking his fingers, or flicking them. And the others while quiet, they still looked at him, despite Klaus hisses at them to stop. He doesn't even know why it's so interesting in watching their brother stemming. Unfortunately, what Klaus feared happened. Five had watched his siblings watching him as he was shaking his hands. Shame appeared on his face and he blinked in his room.

Alright. That was the last straw. He doesn't want for Five to be embarrassed with himself anymore. So after he told the others that they are all idiots, he walked upstairs. "Fivey?"Klaus asked as he opened the door and he peeked inside.

Five was in his room. He was lying in the bed and he was watching at the walls scribbled with equations. For a second he thought that he didn't notice him. But then he spoke. "What do you want Klaus?"His voice was not harsh or demanding. But... defeated. Which was concerning. "Here to make fun of me? Or maybe to hit me over my hands? Or yell at me to stop with my weirdness and act normal?"

Klaus frowned. He was angry. Not at Five. But at the people that filled the kid brain with all that bullshit. "Not at all, little brother," Klaus said as he closed the door and he climbed into the bed beside Five. Five was hiding his hands in his pocket so Klaus took them out. "You don't need to hide them Five"

"Of course I do. I will until I get rid of the problem."

"But you don't need to get rid of the problem as you call it. I thought that you are smarter than this Five. Stimming is something normal, not something that you need to hide or abnormal"

"Stimming?"

Klaus hummed as he ran his fingers through Five hair. "Yes. What are you doing repeatedly when you crack your finger or shake your hands or drum your fingers, it's called stimming"

"And is it really normal?"Five asked and he looked at Klaus with such a hopeful look, that matched his voice. One that plead with him to tell him that it's normal and he wasn't a freak. And Klaus's heart broke.

"Of course Fivey. It's very much normal. I promise", he said softly. "Let me guess. Dear old dad knew about it and he wasn't very happy about it"

Five shook his head. "I think that I was around 5 years old when I started to stim. When our dad found out. He always hit me on my hands with his cane when he was catching me"Klaus gritted his teeth as he heard that. Their father was a monster. It wasn't a secret. And this is another proof of that. A good father would have sat their kid down and treasure him that everything is alright and that its nothing wrong. Not hitting his son's small hands with a can. "When I arrived in the Apocalypse I didn't need to hide because there was no one there. But when I joined the Commison it was like dad over again. The Handler always told me to stop, because I will not be able to focus on the missions and it would affect the way I'm holding the gun. "What a bitch. Though bitch was too little to describe that witch.

"You don't need to worry about them anymore. They are all dead now. And I promise that I will never tell you to stop. Never. And neither would the others. You don't need to hide it from us. We will not judge you. And I promise that if the others would make fun of you, I will kick their asses", he said with a chuckle.

Five smiled at Klaus. "Thank you, Klaus. Really. I needed this. I needed to know that I'm normal"

"It would always be my pleasure to help you", Klaus said as he kissed his forehead. "You can always come to me with your problems and I will help you"Five nodded.

Despite Five's conversations with Klaus, there were times when he was always hiding his hands. When he was either in public or with the other siblings. But at least he wasn't hiding when he was with Klaus. And that was a start.