Partners-Five Hargreeves

Of course, I'm decent dumbass

"Vanya said you could just borrow her old uniforms." Five hands me said uniform.

"Did she really say that?"

"Does it matter?" he smirks.

I smile and shake my head, "Where's the bathroom?"

"You can just get dressed in here." He grabs his uniform out of his closet and walks out.

I look at the schoolgirl uniform in disgust. I never really liked skirts and dresses. I guess I really don't have a choice though, do I? I sigh and begin to undress.

I try to unzip my ill-fitting dress, twisting my arm weirdly to do so, but about halfway through it gets stuck. Of course, it does. I sigh deeply.

"Fiiiiiiive," I call out.

I hear him teleport outside the door. "What?"

"The zipper on my dress is stuck can you help?"

"Are you decent?"

"No, I'm just going to let you walk in on me wearing nothing and ask you to unzip a dress which I already have off. Of course, I'm decent, dumbass."

I can practically feel him roll his eyes but he comes in all the same. I try to suppress a laugh at the sight of him. He's only put on part of his uniform leaving him in just his white button-up, his shorts, and one of his almost knee-high socks only pulled up halfway.

"Not a word. You are the one who needs my help."

"No of course not." I still can't help but snicker and smile widely at him.

I turn around and pull my hair out of the way with one hand and hold up my dress with the other. I feel his cold fingers touch the skin above the zipper.

"God, why are your hands so cold? It's like an ice cube touching my back."

He stays silent and continues to try to work the zipper-free. He tugs it down a little, then tries pulling it up, then down again, then repeats but pulling a little harder.

"Do you mind if I try something different?"

"As long as you get it unstuck."

He lowers his cold hand into the back of my dress, the chilled hand ghosting over my warm skin. He pulls on the stuck fabric while continuing to move the zipper on its track. Finally, this works after about three attempts.

"There. That thing is a pain in the ass."

"Tell me about it. Thanks."

"No problem. Now get dressed we have an apocalypse to stop."

Five teleports into the room as I'm trying to knot my tie.

"I have to go for a bit. You can start working on leads."

I raise my eyebrows at him, "Family stuff?"

"I have the old man's funeral and I'm gonna talk to some of my siblings to see what they unconsciously know." He sighs and walks over to his desk, leaning against it. "I wouldn't mind you coming actually. It might be nice to have you there. You are very good at persuasion."

"I don't know. Sounds pretty personal." I finish the knot and look up at him. He's looking at me listening for the response he wants to hear.

He shrugs, "Not really. We all hated him except for Pogo and Luther. Grace was only programmed to like him so it doesn't really count."

"I'll come only if you promise me we will go get something to eat later. That sandwich was not enough."

"Deal."

I sit on the couch reading Mansfield Park for probably the fifth time. I actually found it on the bookshelf. You wouldn't think that an old, uptight man with seven adopted children would have Mansfield Park but he did. Can't judge a guy with good books.

Five is standing up near the fireplace looking up at his painting. And as if perfectly planned Vanya walks in to talk to her long lost brother.

"Nice to know Dad didn't forget me." He turns around to look at his slightly shorter sister, "Read your book by the way."

"Me too," I lift my head from the book to look at her. She gives me a very small smile.

"Found it in the library that was still standing. I thought it was pretty good, all things considered."

"I liked it a lot actually. I thought you portrayed great and true emotion and it was written fairly well for your first book."

"Yeah, definitely ballsy giving up the family secrets. Sure that went over well."

"They hate me."

"Well, there are worse things that can happen."

"You mean like what happened to Ben?" The room goes silent.

"Was it bad?"

She nodded her head a bit and the room goes silent again. This time the silence is 100x more awkward than before.

I get up and leave the room feeling all the awkward pressure aimed at me being present in the room. I only get to the stairs when Five warps in front of me.

"Hey."

"Hey," I reply.

"You don't need to come to the little funeral if it's too awkward for you. I just thought it might be better to have you there. More bearable to be around those idiots, you know?"

"No, it's fine. It was just a got a little too awkward too quickly. Plus you promised me food so now I have to go."

He shakes his head and at me. "Let's go then everyone is ready to get this over with."