𝐻𝒶𝓅𝓅𝓎 𝒯𝑜𝑔𝑒𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇 - 𝐵𝑒𝓃 𝐻𝒶𝓇𝑔𝓇𝑒𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓈 𝓍 𝑅𝑒𝒶𝒹𝑒𝓇

Part I

"Morning, honey." Ben mumbled groggily, feeling Y/N's soft lips litter his face and neck with kisses.

"Morning." She greeted, peering down at his face, "How's your shoulder?"

Ben winced as he stretched before sitting up in bed, his eyes flitting down to the area on his bare shoulder which was covered in bandages that Y/N had put there the night before.

"Sore... but I'll live." He gives his girlfriend a boyish grin.

"Is this because of those people from last night?" 

"Yeah."

"They shot at you while you were entering the house?"

"No."

Y/N raises a delicate eyebrow as she looks up at him from where she lays. Ben leans back against the headboard, his eyes focused on the sunlight streaming through the floor to ceiling windows of their bedroom.

"Last evening... I went to go look for Five."

Y/N's eyes widen, she scrambles to sit up on the bed, her back gently touching the headboard besides him.

"Did you find him?" She asked, sighing in disappointment when Ben shakes his head.

"But I did run into those goonies... Before you guys did." Ben begins, "I went in the alley behind Griddy's to look for Five... they followed me there."

"What? Why?" Y/N asks in confusion, tilting her head.

Ben's eyes meet hers. He gently takes one of her forearms, and places it besides his, their matching umbrella academy tattoos side by side.

"Because of this." He declares, "They had a drawing of it... The academy logo. They showed it to me and kept asking where Five was. I managed to fight them off, and they left me alone... but I knew they'd go for the academy next."

"And... You got this in the confrontation." Y/N understands, placing a gentle finger just underneath where the bandages ended. Ben smiles reassuringly.

"It's nothing," Then his smile drops, "but they're still looking for Five."

Y/N nods softly. It's silent for a few beats before she swings her legs over the edge of the bed, her feet landing in her slippers. She stands up before looking at Ben over her shoulder.

"We should go to the academy and try to get a lead on Five... and Klaus."

"Klaus..." Ben breathes, remembering that more than one of his brothers was MIA, "he didn't come home last night at all?"

Y/N shakes her head, making her way to the ensuite bathroom in an almost determined manner. She wasn't going to let her family be apart from her if they now only had 5 days to live. 

"No, but when I find him, I'm dragging his ass back here."

"You do that," Ben yawns, getting out of bed as well and going to lean against the bathroom's doorframe, "and... Is everything alright with Vanya?"

He watches Y/N tense as she stands at the bathroom mirror, staring at her reflection. She seems to ponder the question for a bit before shrugging, and commencing her morning routine.

"I don't know," she admits honestly, "Diego, Allison and I made her feel... unvalued. I'm really regretting it."

Ben frowns softly, continuing to watch Y/N as he reflects on her words. He understands that Vanya often felt left out from the other academy members as a child... and it seems those feelings didn't stop resurfacing even after she published her book.

"I guess you should apologize to her..." Ben suggests.

"Definitely," Y/N agrees with a soft sigh, "Today's going to be a busy day."

Her boyfriend only grins in agreement, knowing that they've got a lot on their hands. He's prepared to deal with whatever it takes as the only Hargreeves child with a functioning braincell if it means that his family will be together before the apocalypse ends them all.

But just how much he'd have to deal with on this day, Ben had no idea.

...

Author's Note
Crawled back out from hell to deliver you guys this update 😭