COPYCAT ✾ The Umbrella Academy

{ EIGHT }

I stand behind one of the pillars in the lobby, ignoring uncle Luther's God-awful singing as Diego walks around gathering bottles of liquor from around the bar. I don't exactly know why I'm hanging around, but they haven't noticed me yet, so I guess I'll stay until they do, or until I get bored.

Suddenly, uncle Luther stops singing, and I glance around the pillar, realizing he and Diego are now staring at each other with identical quizzical expressions. "What's with the bottles?" Luther asks with a start. "Molotov cocktails," Diego answers. "What's with the music?"

"None of your biz," Luther answers as Diego picks up one of the cassettes he's listening to and examines it. "Phil Collins. Neil Diamond. Are you making a mixtape?" Diego asks loudly, realizing what his brother's doing. Luther stares at him for a moment. "Shouldn't you be spending time with your kid?" He suddenly asks.

"Dude, I got that parenting thing down, all right." Diego shrugs. I roll my eyes. Yeah, right, he has "how to parent" down in a day and a half. Luther looks at Diego for another long moment. "Oh, you mean that kid?" He suddenly asks, pointing a finger in my direction.

As I meet my father's eye, I gasp, ducking back behind my pillar. How the hell did Luther see me? "Jesus Christ," Diego mumbles to himself, and a second later, he's standing in front of me, arms folded and scowling but at the same time looking slightly impressed.

"The hell are you doing? I told you not to be here." Diego says. I glare at him. "You should know by now that I don't listen to you," I say. "And what's a Molotov cocktail? Is it a drink?" I ask out of pure curiosity. "No," Diego says as we start walking. "Can I try one?" "No!" "I've had beer, you know," I state.

"It's a homemade bomb, okay?" Diego says as we start up the stairs. "Sweet. I can help." I say. "Ever made a pipe bomb? 'Cause me and Stanley have. We've blown up tons of mailboxes back in Berlin. There are secrets in the mix." "Mm-hmm?" Diego hums. He stops on the stairs to look at me, and I shut up, realizing I've said too much to the man I'm supposed to not like.

"So what's my job here, and how much you paying?" I ask, settling my hands on my hips. Diego looks at me for a second more before walking over to the elevator and pressing the call button. When the doors slid open, he grabs my arm and leads me inside.

"Your job is to study the inside of this elevator, okay?" He says, making it sound super important as he gestures to the four walls before pressing every floor button. My face scrunches. Does he really think I'm that gullible? I know what he's trying to do. "Until I get back." He finishes, stepping off the elevator.

I'm glad Luther isn't too far away and that I can still sense his aura because by copying his strength, I manage to push the elevator door open before it closes. I clear my throat, and Diego, who turned around (celebrating too early), whips back around and his jaw drops.

"You know, If you're gonna get rid of me, you gonna have to try a lot harder than that," I inform him, crossing my arms. "And I get it, you didn't want a kid, but you should have thought about that before." I turn on my heel, about to run up the stairs before I remember something and turn back.

"You know, you should really take your family's advice and actually try to get to know your kid before you push her away," I say. With that, I run up the stairs, leaving Diego to watch me as I go. With I hope, something to think about.