The Divine || Umbrella Academy

Just Jenny

"...and the soul takes nothing with her to the next world, but her education and her culture," a soft voice read aloud the words printed in the book, held aloft in a single hand, the other, gently carding through the dark strands of hair. "At the beginning of the journey to the next world, this education and culture can provide the greatest assistant, or act as a great burden." The way in which each word was enunciated provided a rich image of the picture being painted, with each word he could easily imagine the grand concepts, as though they were his own thoughts brought to fruition.

Despite the lulling atmosphere her words created, Five just couldn't seem to rest.

The hands carding through his hair didn't stop, but brushed along his forehead, descending to curl around his cheek, lovingly. "Is something the matter?"

Five sighed. "No, I'm sorry, keep reading." But Thea had already lowered the book, forgotten on the sofa beside them as she moved forward to peer down at him, her eyes wide and concerned.

"You're restless," she noticed, she always noticed, Five knew, all the little things that he wished she didn't because it only caused her to worry. Sometimes he wondered if noticing all those little things stopped her from seeing the bigger parts, those feelings he had that were always on the cusp of falling out with every next word. "What's on your mind?"

"Would it be too cheesy to say you?" he asked, smiling when she grimaced, clearly embarrassed but also too pleased to genuinely scold him. She flicked his forehead playfully.

"Are you saying that thinking of me has you restless? Am I supposed to take that as a compliment?" she teased.

"Thinking of you makes me feel lots of things, Z. It would take somebody much more poetic than myself to properly describe them."

His words seemed to fluster her; Five found it endlessly amusing just how easily she was taken aback by other's words of affection, despite being such a bleeding heart herself. Extraverted though she may be, Thea was the kind of soul to think the best of everybody else without remembering to offer herself a little love, too.

But that was alright, Five loved her enough for the both of them.

"You do say sweet things, sometimes," she whispered, staring down at him with sparkling eyes, almost unseeing, as if thinking deeply about something. They focused, then, and Five was hit with the full intensity of her stare. "I do love you, Five. You know that, right?"

His throat felt tight. "Of course I know," he said, despite the rapid beating of his heart belaying his words. He knew she loved him; it was impossible not to know such a thing, but still, every time she gave those feelings voice, Five found himself a teenager all over again discovering the horrible emotion called love. "I love you too, Z." He was quite sure his voice cracked at the end, and in an attempt at lightening his own heart, he smirked. "Pretty sure I love you ten-times more, though. Maybe even a hundred."

"Are you making this a competition?" Thea asked, narrowing her eyes but smiling. "Really, Five? You want to compete even in this?"

"I'm a competitive man. You knew that getting into this."

"Of course, how silly of me," she played along, throwing her hands in the air. "I forgot that when I asked you to move in with me it wasn't because I loved your jokes or your sarcasm or the way you smile when you think nobody is looking, but it was your hyper-competitiveness that really stole my heart."

Five wanted to join in, he really did, wanted to push their banter even further like they normally would, but his tongue felt tied. Her words, while said so casually, had struck his chest like an arrow, dead-centre.