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They talk, low and quiet. Sometimes they fight. Loud voices echoing through the TARDIS. They never do it in front of the fam though. When any of them enters the room they fall quiet. Only the tail end of the word Contact spoken between them. Something's aren't met for human ears they suppose.
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Hush Little Doctor Don’t You Cry
The Doctor doesn’t like to sleep. Graham finds out why.
Short little fic featuring sleep deprived Doctor and Grandad Graham.
Word Count: 3904
(ao3 link)
---
It would take 1728 boxes of tea to fill the whole ceiling; give or take a couple boxes. That's what Graham thought to himself as he lay in bed, sleep eluding him. He did the math for it, estimating how many boxes were in a row, and how many were in a column. He was confident that he got the right number, but just to be sure he decided to count them, pretending to put each box up. Then he decided to count down, pretending to take each box down. Then he decided that whoever said counting things would make you fall asleep was a bloody idiot.
When he started thinking about how many biscuits it would take to fill the ceiling he decided it would probably be a better use of his time to just get up. Despite his tiredness, it was obvious he wasn't going to fall asleep.
Graham puttered around his room. He read a chapter of the book The Doctor suggested for him. He tidied up his collection of souvenirs. He picked what outfit he would wear for the next trip. Briefly he wondered if he should get dressed, commit to being awake. Instead he pulled on his robe and hoped that a stroll around the TARDIS would tire him out.
Graham shuffled down the hall ignoring all the doors that appeared before him. He usually made a point of opening at least one door to try to get to know exactly what was in the TARDIS, but he wasn't really in the mood to encounter anything weird like an avalanche of bouncy balls. Tonight he was on a mission. Get to the kitchen to make some tea, preferably chamomile, walk around the TARDIS drinking said tea, be tired enough to get some sleep. Graham turned into the kitchen gathering the supplies he needed for his drink. It was the perfect plan.
It was not the perfect plan. He forgot to account for the wild card. The Doctor.
Graham stared forlornly at the shattered mug and the slowly spreading puddle of tea. He turned to the cause of the mess, The Doctor, who hadn't moved from her position against the console, legs splayed out, tools scattered around, looking at him through half lidded eyes.
"Graham?"
"You're a tripping hazard," he said in response.
He watched as she looked between him and the mess on the ground, gears turning in her head as she tried to piece together what happened. "Did you throw your tea on the ground?"
Graham let out a short laugh. "I tripped over your legs." He nudged at them with his foot. "What are you doing lying on the floor?" He already knew the answer. It was clear that she had fallen asleep doing whatever it was she did at night.
"Um," she reached around blindly for one of the tools lying around her. "Maintenance," she said.
"Right," he said, making sure to put all the sarcasm he could into that word. "And do you usually do that with your eyes closed?"
She looked away, twisting the spanner in her hands. "I wasn't sleeping."
He smirked. "I didn't say you were, but since you brought it up you should probably go to bed."
She quickly scrambled to her feet and glared at him. "I'm not tired. I don't need to go to bed." It would've been more believable if she weren't quite literally swaying where she stood. It seemed she came to the same conclusion he did because she leaned back against the console crossing her arms. "I'm not tired," she repeated.
"Doc, you were literally on the floor sleep. You can’t pretend that you weren’t.”
“I don’t have to pretend anything ‘cause it didn't happen.” She pushed away from the console walking around it so that he couldn’t see her face. “Maybe you’re tired,” she countered.
Graham switched tactics. He knew from experience that you could show The Doctor that the sky was blue and she’d say it was green. Then she would convince you that it was green, and when you accepted that it was green she’d say it was blue and take you to a planet that actually had a green sky. There was no winning a debate against The Doctor.
“If you truly aren’t tired then you should be able to lie in bed without falling asleep.” He heard her scoff. “Just for an hour.” They’ve learned that The Doctor almost always responds to a challenge. It was an easy way to try and get her to do something that she didn’t want to do. This knowledge was mostly used by Ryan to get The Doctor to play video games with him. He waited to see if The Doctor would take the bait.
He didn’t see her, but he heard the nervous tapping of her fingers against the console, probably trying to decide if he was tricking her or not. “If you think you’ll fall asleep you don’t have to do it,” he added. Immediately he heard the stomping of feet as The Doctor circled the console to face him. He schooled his face into something that wasn’t a smirk.
“I will not fall asleep.” She jabbed a finger at his chest. She twirled, coat spinning behind her as she strode out the room. “C’mon.”
He looked at the mess that covered the floor, mentally apologized to the TARDIS for leaving it behind, and followed The Doctor out into the hall
As they made the trek through the TARDIS he took a moment to observe her. Despite her objections she projected tiredness. Her clothes were wrinkled and stained, from being worn too long or simply her constant repairs he did not know. She didn’t quite walk in a straight line either. She wavered slightly, feet dragging against the ground. A far cry from her usually bouncy and bubbly self.
Not for the first time he found himself wondering how much she slept. He was always an early riser, but no matter how early he rose she would always be in the console room tinkering with something. He had spoken to Yaz and Ryan and they told him that she was there when they went to bed. She had said early on that she didn’t need as much sleep as the rest of them, but he found her passed out on the ground, so he didn’t think that was quite true.
He gave a soft sigh as she stumbled over her feet for the second time. “Doc, do you even know where you’re going?” he asked. They had been walking way longer than he thought was necessary for a trip to a bedroom, and he could’ve sworn he saw the same blue door three times already.
The Doctor looked up at him affronted. “Of course I know where we’re going,” she said. “It’s my TARDIS. I know where everything is.”
“Uh huh.” They had stopped, standing in the middle of the hallway with a spattering of doors around them. “Then can you tell me why we’re walking in circles?”
She looked around making a big show of looking confused. It wasn’t convincing. “I don’t know what you’re on about.”
Graham pinched the bridge of his nose and willed himself to be patient. “We’ve passed by that same blue door three times now. We haven’t gone anywhere.”
He watched as The Doctor glanced guiltily at the door before looking down at the floor shuffling her feet. He frowned. She was coming up with a lie. The only good thing about her apparent sleep deprivation was that it was getting a lot easier to tell when The Doctor was trying to pull one over on them. “It seems that,” she started slowly, “that the TARDIS is hiding the bedroom. Yeah.” She clapped her hands. “Yup. The TARDIS is hiding the bedroom. On account of me not being tired and all.” She smiled up at him, her sleep-addled brain obviously thinking that her attempt at lying was well received.
Graham frowned down at her, and the TARDIS lights flickered around them. He heard her mumble something under her breath, and he glanced back over at the blue door to see that the light above it was glowing brighter than the others. “Well,” he said, putting a hand at the small of her back to guide her to the door. “If the TARDIS really did hide your room then you wouldn’t mind checking out this one would you?” It was a gamble. He had no idea where that room led. It could’ve led to a shark pit, though he distinctly remembered that door being a more grayish color. He sent up a silent prayer to the TARDIS begging her to turn this room into some sort of a bedroom.
He opened the door. It was dark.
Hand fumbling for the light switch he turned it on to see what looked to be an ordinary, somewhat small, bedroom. There was a small twin size bed in one corner adorned with patterned light blue sheets. The only other item in the room was a wooden desk with a matching wooden chair. The wall held a walk-in closet and another door which led to the bathroom. It was quaint.
“This is your room?” Graham said walking around leisurely. It looked like it hadn’t been used in a while. A fine layer of dust was sitting on top of the desk. It was also very empty. “Don’t got any photographs?”
“Not here,” she said curtly.
He turned to look at her. She was obviously annoyed, arms crossed, glaring at nothing in particular. Or perhaps she was glaring at the TARDIS. “You can go get changed,” he motioned to the closet.
“Graham,” The Doctor tried. “We don’t have to do this.” He only raised an eyebrow in response. A move he perfected on kids who tried to skip the fare or cause trouble on the bus. The Doctor held his gaze for only a couple seconds before wilting and making her way to the closet grumbling under her breath.
When she made her way out Graham had settled himself in the hard wooden chair. He watched as she made her way over to the bed but said nothing. She had changed into a pair of striped pajamas. They looked to be mens and several sizes too large for her. He was suddenly reminded of when he first saw her. Back then she was also wearing clothes that did not fit her. He did not have time to think about what that meant. The Doctor had settled herself on top of her bed, sitting cross legged to face him.
“What now?” She asked.
“Now you actually get under the covers.”
She let out a groan. “I don’t want to,” she whined. Graham felt both eyebrows rise as he watched the childish display. He was surprised she hadn’t started kicking her feet. He hesitated only for a moment before standing up and approaching the bed.
“None of that now.” He started pulling the covers down, making her move to get under them. Doing that was a risky move, and he felt that he may be overstepping his boundaries, but she surprisingly didn’t protest, letting herself be tucked in. “We said that you would lay in bed for an hour, and if you weren’t tired you could get up.”
“But I was on the bed,” she said as Graham pulled the covers over her.
“Yes and now you’re in bed.” He stood up and made his way to the door. “One hour. Don’t get up.”
"Graham," she said softly.
He turned around. She had moved herself back into a sitting position. He thought that maybe she was going to argue with him again, but she didn't. She looked down at her hands that were fiddling with the blanket and her teeth were worrying her lip. This was the most vulnerable he's ever seen her, so he waited in silence for her to gather the strength to say what she needed to say.
"Could you leave the lights on?"
That was not what he was expecting. "The lights?" He looked over to where his hand was resting on the light switch. "You can't sleep with the lights on," he said.
"Yeah. It was stupid of me to ask."
He stood in silence watching her completely avoid looking in his direction, face slowly turning red. "Alright then." He gave one last look before turning back to the door and flipping the switch, plunging the room in darkness.
He heard a hitch of breath and quickly muffled whimper and he had to stop himself from laughing at the absurdity of the situation. "Are you scared of the dark?" He asked.
There was silence, and then spoken so softly that he almost wondered if she'd spoken at all, a response. "No."
He leaned against the door frame letting his head hit the wall behind him with a thunk. He was so tired. He just wanted to go to bed, but … The Doctor. The Doctor who took them on adventures all throughout space and time. The Doctor who could be, admittedly, rude and a bit of an annoyance. The Doctor who would drop everything to help someone she didn't even know. That Doctor was afraid of the dark and too scared to ask for help. He pushed himself off the wall and shuffled over to the bathroom. Who needs sleep anyways.
"Where are you going?" The Doctor asked.
"To use the toilet. Why wait to use mine when there's a perfectly good one right here." He figured he would save her the embarrassment of admitting that she was scared. Go in, pretend to use the bathroom, accidentally forget to turn the lights off when he leaves. A solid plan.
When he got to the bathroom he turned the lights on and sat on the toilet, drumming his fingers. As soon as he had closed the door the sounds of a hushed conversation began outside and he had to assume that she was talking to the TARDIS. He still did not know how that worked and it unnerved him slightly; the idea that the ship was alive. He glanced at the toilet and then quickly banished that line of thought from his head.
Whatever conversation that was happening in the other room ended, so he flushed the toilet, washed his hands, and left.
He came out to a very red faced looking Doctor and a large plush sofa chair, that wasn’t there before, sitting by her bed.
He looked at the chair, then at The Doctor, who was doing an impressive job of glaring at the chair, and then back to the chair again.
"Do you want me to sit down for a bit?" He asked.
"No," she said quickly. A low hum vibrated throughout the room. "Only if you want to," she amended.
He sat. Silence settled awkwardly between them. Despite her tendency to talk a mile a minute about anything she said nothing, and this was completely new territory for him so he didn’t know what to say. He tapped a beat on the armrest of the chair while he listened to The Doctor shift around beside him.
When it seemed like she was ready to explode out of the bed with her restless energy Graham spoke. "Did I ever tell you about my days in school?"
She looked up at him, eyes narrowing in suspicion. "I'm not a child, Graham," The Doctor said sullenly. "You don't have to tell me a bedtime story."
He held her gaze with an amused smile and she huffed, turning back to her sheets, looking very much like the image she was trying to avoid.
Graham continued talking. "I know you aren't. But I don't want you going around thinking I'm some old coward who's scared of adventure. I have my wild side," he joked.
The Doctor shot up and he found himself staring into her eyes. He was reminded then of how alien she truly was. "You are very brave Graham." She spoke intensely, as if it was vital that he understood this piece of information. "You have faced things most people would've run away from. Seen things most people couldn't imagine. You're –"
She broke off letting out a yawn, and Graham took that as an opportunity to interrupt, desperate to get away from the conversation. "Will you please let me tell you the story?" He asked.
She frowned at him, eyes searching his face. He didn't know what she was looking for, but whatever she found satisfied her because she slouched down, hands twisting at the blanket again. A far cry from the ancient being that spoke of him like he was the most important thing in the universe. "I guess," she mumbled.
Graham grinned. "Alright then cockle," he winced as the pet name slid off his tongue, but she didn't object to it. "Get all tucked in and I'll tell you the story of how the Great Graham O'Brien flooded his whole school."
The Doctor made a face but slid down until she was all the way under the covers again. She scrunched her nose. "How'd you manage to flood a whole school?" She sat up again. "Were there aliens?" She gasped. "Please tell me there were aliens."
Graham stifled a sigh. He was trying to get her to fall asleep, not get all excited again. "If you lay back down I'll tell you."
She grumbled under her breath but acquiesced. "Now," Graham began. "I think I were about 16 years old..."
---
In the end, Graham had told the story of him flooding the school, plus three more before The Doctor finally drifted off to sleep. It was strange seeing her like this. With the exception of when they first met and the sonic mine disaster he doesn’t think he’s actually seen her sleep. She looked younger in sleep; all the stress brought about by their adventures smoothed out. But it wasn’t just that. Awake, The Doctor seemed to cast an otherworldly presence. In the moments when she stood still it was like an ancient being appeared in the room, and then just as quickly disappeared.
He was broken out of his musing by a soft whimper. The Doctor was not sleeping peacefully. Her face had scrunched up into an expression he had never seen while she was awake. Her hands fisted at the blankets, and she curled up, mumbling softly. Fear. That’s what he saw.
Is this why you avoid going to bed ? He thought to himself. Why you try to stay up as long as possible ? Graham thought back to the times he woke in the middle of the night, sweat on his brow, a scream on his lips, the terrors of the previous trip fresh on his mind. He remembered his fear and then remembered that The Doctor was so much older and had seen so much more. What is it that scares you?
He didn’t have much experience dealing with other people’s nightmares, but he did have his own. Back before, when he had cancer, when he had Grace, he used to have a lot of nightmares. He was told it was normal for those going through what he went through. He remembered Grace waking him up, holding him close, reassuring him. He knew The Doctor wasn’t much one for physical contact and would probably reject any type of concern directed her way, but he figured one out of three would be good enough for her.
He reached out, intent only to wake her up, but the moment he touched her he was gone.
The first thing he noticed was the smoke in the air. It coated his lungs and burned his eyes. He coughed, struggled to his feet, and looked around. He was at the bottom of a hill. The sky was orange, the grass was red, and fires raged all around. He staggered and made his way up the hill. Overhead he could hear ships, and feel the tremors as they crashed to the ground. When he got to the top he froze at the scene before him.
Destruction. Ahead the remains of what was once a city. Fires burned and buildings toppled. On the ground there were objects. He squinted, not objects. Bodies. Thousand of bodies, some in what looked to be a uniform, others in robes. Old. Young. All dead. He dropped to his knees, an unmistakable feeling of anguish washed over him. A pair of boots entered his vision. They were dirty, coated in red mud and orange tinged blood. They were familiar. His eyes slowly traveled up, taking in the ruined trousers and tattered jumper before landing on a face shrouded by blond hair. They tilted their head, confusion gracing their features.
"Graham?"
Graham fell back, kneeling by the bed. The smell of fire still reached his nose and his vision was blurred. He reached up to find his cheeks wet. What was it that he saw?
“Graham? Wha-?” She slurred, barely awake. Graham flinched, and looked up to see The Doctor looking at him in confusion.
“It’s okay.” Graham reached out, but didn’t touch her this time. “Just a bad dream.” He tried to keep the waver out of his voice. “You can go back to sleep.”
She looked at him. For a brief moment her eyes focused on him. “You’re crying.” She spoke softly, as if she wasn’t sure what she was seeing. Graham smiled in a way that he hoped didn’t show how shaken up he was. It didn’t work. Her face crumpled. “I’m sorry.”
This time Graham did touch her. He reached for her, awkwardly patting her shoulder, and was surprised when she leaned into him. He sat down on her bed letting her rest fully on him. He wrapped his arm around her and rubbed her arm in what he hoped was a reassuring manner. “It’s okay. It’s not your fault.” He was beginning to think that what he had seen was what came from The Doctor’s mind. He didn’t know how that worked, but felt deep in his bones that The Doctor would never intentionally let him see that. The destruction. The fear.
“I didn’t mean- You weren’t supposed to see-”
He cut her off. “It’s okay. Just bad dreams, right?. Everyone gets them.” Apparently it was the right thing to say, as he felt her relax a little bit more in his arms. He repeated the words, adding in other generic terms of comfort. He hoped that it was less what he said and more how he said it, that would offer her support. Little by little the weight against his side got heavier until he had a sleeping alien curled up against him.
Laying her back down on the bed he pulled the covers up, tucking her in. He couldn’t help but let his hand brush back a stray hair from her face. She shifted in her sleep, letting out a small satisfied noise. He smiled sadly at that, knowing it was only something she would only allow herself in her most vulnerable moments. He sat back down on his chair and pushed away the images of the burning city. She was much older than him but he couldn’t help but feel protective of her.
When he woke, she was gone, and his back ached with something furious. but there was a blanket thrown over him and a packet of biscuits on his lap. He knew that while they would never speak of it that she appreciated his help.
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Do You Know What a Thousand Years Does to a Person?
Trying my hand at a Doctor Who fanfic, featuring old companions and a slightly dark Doctor.
Some race has taken a bunch of The Doctors previous companions from their respective timelines. The thirteenth Doctor rescues them all. The past companions are reminded of how scary The Doctor can be.
This fic starts right after she breaks them out.
Word Count: 2109
(ao3 link)
---
Jack slowed down as they entered the main chamber. They had passed tapestries in the passageways as they made their way through the castle. None of them compared to what they saw hanging in the open area. Large woven tapestries were stretched horizontally over the length of the walls. They were periodically broken up by long banners that stretched down from the ceiling. The companions spread out as they looked upon the artwork in awe. The Doctor, Jack noticed, stood her hands in her pockets, rocking back on her heels as she watched them roam around the room.
He turned back to examine the work on the wall. It looked to be depicting several of their accomplishments throughout time. He saw their space travel. He saw their interactions with other planets. He saw their scientific achievements. He felt eyes on him
He turned to see The Doctor staring at him with a slight frown on her face. When she saw him looking, her face brightened and she gave a small wave. The smile didn't reach her eyes.
He turned back to look at the tapestries again. Something about them seemed familiar. He looked over them once more, but instead of admiring them for their beauty he racked his brain for answers. He stopped short when he came to the last one. It was unfinished, that was clear. The last thing shown was a group of beings, hands raised as they surrounded a hole in the tapestry. He reached out and touched it. A rift. His eyes widened and he slowly stepped back, taking in the whole work. He knows where he's seen this.
He plastered a fake smile on his face. "Doctor," he called out. The others glanced up at the call but turned back to the artwork, chatting among themselves. The Doctor stood still, regarding him wearily. He swallowed thickly and motioned for her to come over to him. She did so. Slowly.
He waited until she got within earshot before speaking again. "This artwork is very impressive," he said, turning back to face the wall. He watched her out of the corner of his eye. He saw her relax a little and reached out to run a finger over the rough fabric.
"It really is. It's a fine piece of craftsmanship that was put into this," she said. She looked up at the other pieces hanging higher up on the wall. "This whole room contains the most important parts of their history. Every time they add a new tapestry they shift everything over."
The others had wandered closer as she explained the history behind the area. Jack nodded and thought about how to approach his next question. "Doctor," he said, keeping his tone light. "Where are we?"
She hummed, but did not answer. She stayed quiet for a while and Jack thought she wasn't going to speak until she did. She spoke, but did not look at him. "Nowhere important," she said lightly.
The smile fell off his face. Slowly he counted to ten before turning to face The Doctor. "Look at me," he said gruffly. She didn't move and instead continued to look ahead. He grabbed The Doctor roughly and turned her around to face him.
"Doctor," he said again. "Where are we?"
"Jack," she said softly. She looked at him with those big doe eyes, and he cursed under his breath before asking again desperation leaking into his voice.
"When are we?"
"Jack…" she didn't say more.
He turned around taking deep breaths. He ran his hands roughly through his hair and tried to count to ten. Dimly he registered that the others had stopped talking, instead paying attention to the two of them. He ignored them, instead focusing on his counting. He made it to five before swinging back around to The Doctor. He saw her flinch and knew that he must look furious.
"Doctor," he said. His voice cracked on the word. She didn't answer, instead took a step back, retreating from his approaching form. She continued stepping back as he advanced until she tripped, stumbling. Jack's hand shot out and grabbed her wrist, hauling her back up before she could fall. He looked into her eyes. He didn't see fear. He only saw guilt, and acceptance. His grip tightened.
"I'm sorry," she mouthed. Quiet enough that only he could hear.
"No," he whispered. He could barely hear himself over the roaring in his ears. The Doctor didn't respond, only looked at him sadly. He raised his free hand. He didn't know why. He didn't know what he was going to do. The Doctor didn't move, didn't even try to pull away. He felt hands on him. Grabbing him, pulling him away. He released her and stumbled back.
"What the hell was that about mate?" Graham said angrily.
They were divided. Mickey and Martha stood behind Jack, holding him back. Graham hovered protectively over The Doctor while Yaz and Ryan stood in front of her glaring angrily at Jack. The others stood in between not sure where they should stand. The Doctor herself stood cowed, curled slightly in on herself, holding her wrist tightly to her chest. She didn't look away from him. She looked small and innocent and Jack didn't even think she knew how she looked to the others right now.
"Jack," she said softly. She didn't elaborate.
Jack roughly shook off Mickey and Martha and flexed his fingers. "It's nothing," he ground out. He turned and started walking towards the entrance. "Let's just keep going."
"Keep going?" He heard Yaz shout from behind him. "You just –". She was cut off by The Doctor.
"Leave him be," he heard her say. "He's just stressed out." He shook his head in annoyance and walked away so he didn't have to hear her pacify her new companions.
~~~
The atmosphere in the room was tense. The Doctor had long since left, whisking her three companions off on another adventure. "To make up for them being kidnapped," She had said. She extended the offer to all of them. Jack declined immediately. The others, after looking at Jack and the worried look on The Doctor's face, had also declined, citing various reasons as to why they shouldn't. They couldn't help but note the look of relief that crossed her face when they said they wouldn't come.
Instead they all chose to convene at Martha and Mickey's house. They had sat together in silence for the better part of the hour; sipping tea and nibbling on biscuits. Jack could feel their eyes on him as they tried their best to not watch him as he methodically crushed the biscuits in his hand. It was Mickey who spoke first.
"Alright Jack mate, speak. What the hell happened back there?"
He flinched at the sound of Mickey's voice but didn't answer. He reached for another biscuit and got his hand slapped. He pulled back and scowled looking at the offender.
"Don't give me that look." Martha said unapologetically. "I'm not going to have you waste all my biscuits. And you're definitely going to be cleaning up the mess before you leave."
"Jack," Sarah Jane reached out and touched him on the knee. "What happened?"
He leaned back and ran his hand through his hair trying to think of the best way to explain things. "Lamenskins," he said finally.
The others exchanged confused looks. "Mate, I've got no idea what that is." Bill said. The others nodded in agreement.
"You probably wouldn't," he said. "It was after your time. It was before mine. By a couple of centuries."
"Is that where we were?" Clara asked.
He nodded. "The castle, the area, the group of people. That was Lamenskin. At least I think" He paused. Everyone settled down and leaned in. He looked around at each of them in turn. He opened his mouth and began to speak.
"It’s a bit fuzzy and I didn’t know for sure until I saw the tapestries.” When I grew up the Lamenskins were just a chapter in our history books, but before that they were kinda like a myth. There were all these stories of this amazing race that had pushed the bounds of science and medicine. A race that had single handedly advanced our section of the galaxy far beyond that of other areas. There were so many stories across so many planets of this group whose only goal seemed to be helping others. But one day they just disappeared.
“Over time they sort of became an urban legend. It was only a century or so before I was born that some archeologists stumbled upon their planet. They found technology far beyond anything that we had even seen. But there was no trace of the Lamenskins.”
"You think The Doctor caused their disappearance." Martha said.
"We know what length The Doctor would go to protect us." He said. "We may pretend not to but we're not like the others. We've seen what he, no she, no they. We've seen what they can do."
"The Oncoming Storm," Mickey said softly.
"The Destroyer of Worlds,"
"Time-Lord Victorious,"
They sat in silence, each one trying to digest the information that was told to them.
"We didn't see any bodies." Bill said hopefully. "Could be that she just magicked them away?" Even as she spoke Jack could tell she didn't believe it.
They sat in silence. Nibbling biscuits, sipping tea, avoiding thinking about the obvious fact of what happened to their captors. Jack reached for another biscuit, examining it. Custard Cream. That was The Doctor’s favorite if he remembered right. He closed his hand and watched it crumble to the floor.
"Have you noticed how much this new doctor talks?" Bill asked. It was an obvious attempt to clear the awkward air that had settled around the room, but the others leapt at it like a lifeline. "It’s a big change from grumbly old eyebrows."
Clara nodded laughing. "It really is. I swear she jumped to three separate topics in one minute. I don't know how the others keep up with her."
"They probably just learned to nod at the right places," Mickey said. "I know I did with our Doctor." He nudged his wife.
She rolled her eyes. "It was practically a requirement. I’m glad to see that the tendency to talk indef about things nobody cares to understand still remains." The others chuckled in agreement. "I saw their faces when we first got out. Their eyes practically glazed over the moment she started talking. They are definitely used to that."
"But she is kinda cute tho." Bill said. "What?” She said defending herself. “We were all thinking about it."
Mickey raised his hand. "I wasn't. I'm married.”
They all laughed, and just like that the mood in the room lightened.
"But seriously though," Bill said. "You all knew The Doctor as a man right? It’s so weird."
“I know.”Mickey said, “I can’t imagine her gettin’ out half the trouble she’d get into as a woman.” At the looks he received he added, “not that being a girl has anything to do with it.”
“You’re outnumbered my friend.” Jack said with a smile. “I can’t decide if this new regeneration puts her in more or less trouble. She’s so trusting and excitable. You can see it on her face, she shows every emotion. She’s impulsive- ” He cut himself off in frustration, hands raking roughly through his hair. He liked The Doctor. Honestly, he did, but sometimes she scared him. “It’s what makes her dangerous.”
“You think she could’ve found another way.” Clara said flatly.
“I don’t think she wanted to.” He replied. He slumped, feeling all his years hit him at once. “You guys don’t understand. She’s lived for thousands of years, born to a race that thought themselves superior to everything else. It gets difficult to keep things in perspective. Hell, I’m only human, and have been around just for a fraction of the time she has. It gets hard. When you outlive so many people. It gets hard to keep things in perspective. Sacrificing a whole civilization to save her friends?” He leaned forward and buried his face in his hands. “I know she did what she thought she had to do but…” He trailed off and looked at his friends. Friends he knew he was going to outlive.
"It still hurts. To be reminded of what she's done. What she will do. What she can do. And to know that no matter how many thousands of years will pass, she'll never forget." Jack looked down at his hands. "I know I won't."
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The Eyes Are Watching
Small drabble. Pretend for some reason The Doctor and The Master have to work together. They do and the fam observe.
~~~
They watch them. The two Time Lords who have sequestered themselves in the library; heads bent over books, whispering to each other in a language they don't understand.
They've blocked themselves off. The two of them. The Doctor doesn’t visit the Fam. Not to eat. Not to sleep. They try to talk to her. Try to get her to come with them. She doesn’t leave. She brushes them away. Projecting . . . not annoyance, but disinterest. Somehow that hurts more.
They, The Master and The Doctor, don’t leave the library. They, The Fam, walk into an empty console room.
The days repeat.
Until it doesn’t.
The Master and The Doctor stand in front of the Tardis doors; sharply dressed in tuxes, harsh whispers floating across the floor. The words cut off, when they enter. Two pairs of eyes stare, one more guilty than the other.
They ask questions. Where are you going? What are you doing? Can we come we come along? She responds. We’re just going out. It’ll take too long to explain. It’s to dangerous for you.
The message was clear. You aren’t welcome.
They leave.
They come back.
Laughter rings out; high and bright. It’s a sound they haven’t heard. Not for a while.
The Master and The Doctor stand in front of the Tardis door. Their clothes, burnt, soaked with blood. Their faces, smudged with dirt, and smiling. The doctor didn’t smile. Not like that. Not softly.
They ask questions. Where did you go? What happened? Are you ok?
She responds. Nowhere important. It’s just a little scuffled. Don’t worry it’s not our blood.
They falter, look at each other unsure, all thinking the same thing. When did The Doctor start not caring about blood. When did she start referring to them as our. When did she start laughing with The Master.
The Doctor did not notice. The Master looked on, smug. The Fam looked back unsettled.
The Master put his arm around The Doctor's shoulders. And they watched. And they waited. They Waited for her to stiffen. To push him away. To distance herself. The Doctor did not like being touched. They knew that.
She didn’t.
She leaned into him; and closed her eyes. She did not hesitate, she did not push him away. She did not stiffen up, she relaxed into him. The man that took everything from her. Tried to kill them.
It hurt.
The Master smiles at them. It scares them. He smiles a mean smile, one that strikes a paralyzing fear. The Master looks down at The Doctor. It scares them. He smiles a soft smile, one that shines with love and adoration.
They watch them. The two Time Lords with a relationship they can’t hope to understand.
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Everything’s Going to be Okay
Summary: Mobius and Sylvie didn’t get along. They tolerated each other at best. So he was really surprised that he was the one to talk her down from her panic attack.
Or Sylvie has a panic attack and Mobius calms her down.
Words: 2590
(ao3 link)
—
Sylvie froze, hands flying up to her neck. She grabbed at the collar that Mobius had fastened onto her. "Wha- What is this?" She started backing up from Mobius. "What did you -? How did you -? Why?" Her voice cracked at the end.
Mobius started walking towards her. He had a feeling something wasn't quite right. "Sylvie, Syl-" he stopped as she stepped away in fear, tripping over her own feet. Sylvie kept moving back until she hit the wall. She curled in on herself, pulling at the collar. Mobius was shocked to see tears gathering in her eyes, and was concerned at how hard she was tugging at the collar.
"Hey, hey. I'm backing up now." Mobius crouched down and slowly moved back so that he was sitting across from her on the other side of the room.
He sighed and put his head between his knees. How did this all go wrong?
Loki had left. Loki had left on a trip a couple of days ago. It wasn't an odd occurrence for him to take a trip. When he left he never told anyone where he was going, but he always told them how long he thought was going to be gone. He was supposed to be coming back today. Why couldn't they have held off just a little bit longer? Why did he have to leave?
Sylvie had once said that he was probably off touring all of spacetime. She seemed pretty peeved whenever he wouldn’t let her go with him. Mobius figured it was his way of making amends. He never blamed Loki for leaving. They all needed their time away from the house. He himself had his own trips down to the beach or the lake. He just wished that he wouldn't be left alone with Sylvie.
He and Loki had gotten along great since they moved in, especially after they made their relationship official. Things were not as smooth with Sylvie. Mobius had spent a significant amount of his time before the fall hunting her down, and she spent just as much time evading him and every other TVA agent sent her way. It wasn't the best breeding ground for a kind and trusting relationship.
As it was, they constantly got on each other's nerves. She infuriated him to no end. She needled him. Found every conceivable button she could find in him and pressed each one. She responded to the slightest criticism with an insult and every perceived threat with violence. And to her, everything was a threat.
Mobius had talked to Loki about it one night. They were lying next to each other, Loki’s fingers lazily trailing on Mobius’ chest.
"She doesn't like me,” he said, breaking the silence.
Loki laughed. "Don't be ridiculous."
Mobius propped himself up on his elbow. "I’m serious. She doesn't. She can be civil with me once and a while. But she doesn’t like me.”
"You just have to give her time”
"I know, but-. It's like she's not even trying. I'm putting in all the work. I try to be nice. I try to include her in things. I try to get to know her and she just pushes me away. She gets under my skin."
Loki hummed. "You know,” he started. “She reminds me of myself before I met you."
“Really?”
Loki nodded. “You remember how I was when we first met.”
Mobius smiled. “Yeah, you did get on my nerves for a while there.”
“I think it’s a thing with Lokis. We try our best to push people away because we’re scared of what happens when someone gets close,” he closed his eyes. “You know, she was pretty young when she first got taken by the TVA.”
“She was? I didn’t see it in her files, though I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised. We barely had any info on her.”
“There’s a lot we don’t know about her. I only found out when she first got taken by the TVA by accident. She was just a child and she spent her whole life on the run.”
“Gosh,” Mobius flopped back on his back. “No wonder she hates my guts.”
“Hey don’t worry about it. You’ll get through to her.”
“How do you know?”
Loki smiled and gathered Mobius in his arms. “You got through to me.”
He had realized then that night, that the prickly facade she threw up was a way of protecting herself. A mask. And masks don’t last forever.
To look at her now, clawing at her neck, tears in her eyes. He could hardly believe that she was the same person that he chased and brought in all that time ago. He could hardly believe that she was the same brash, self-confident, violent , person that was standing in front of him just five minutes ago. What he saw before him was that scared little girl that was taken by the TVA so long ago.
He messed up.
"Get it off," she begged. "Please."
Mobius made no effort to move. His heart ached for her, but his arm still stung where her blast of magic had hit him earlier during their fight. He couldn't even remember what they were arguing about. Something dumb he supposed.
"I'm sorry Sylvie," he said. "I didn't know it would be like this." He truly didn't. Sylvie had done a good job with her mask. This reaction was not one that he was expecting. “But you have to keep the collar on.”
Her breath hitched. “Why?”
“Sylvie,” Mobius scooted closer to her. “ Your magic is out of control. You could’ve killed me back there. I’m not Loki. I can’t block everything that you throw at me.”
“I’m s-sorry,” She sniffed. “I won’t do it again.”
Mobius shook his head. “Sylvie. Look at me,” He waited for her to look at him. Her breathing was ragged and uneven. “If I take off that collar, can you honestly tell me that your magic won’t do something that could endanger us both right now?”
Sylvie looked away from him and at the ground. Mobius huffed and moved closer until they were sitting side by side.
“Hey. It’s going to be okay,” he said.
She shook her head, hands snaking up to yank at her hair. “It’s not okay. It's not okay." Her breathing became more erratic. She jumped up. “I’ve got to- I gotta go. I need to leave.”
“Woah, woah, woah,” Mobius grabbed her, pulling her back down. “You need to calm down. Here, scoot forward,” he said. He maneuvered himself such that she sat between his legs. He grabbed her hands, pinning them against her chest. “Breathe with me.”
“I c-can’t.” She stuttered out.
“Yes you can. Take a deep breath in.” He breathed in. “And out.” He breathed out. “That’s good. Let’s do it again.” They stayed like that, breathing together. Slowly but surely Mobius felt Sylvie's breathing change, slowing down from the rapid, ragged breathing that she was doing earlier. After a few more minutes he felt her relax into him. Carefully he released her arms from his hold. "You're okay," he brushed the hair from her face. "You're okay."
They stayed in that position for a while, her leaning back against him, while he held her. He was surprised to see that she had fallen asleep. He was reminded of Loki's comments about the sleeping habits of the other.
It was during the first of many prank wars that the two Loki's seemed to always be having. It usually started off small. Loki stealing Sylvie's food. Sylvie attacking him randomly. It usually ended with Loki transfiguring her into some sort of animal, and refusing to change her back until she agreed to yield. Either that or both of them dropping in exhaustion.
"Why don't you come to bed?" Mobius asked.
Loki groaned, grabbing his head in his hands. "I can't. I have to be on guard."
"This is our bedroom," he said as he got under the covers. "She won't do anything. Besides, she's probably sleeping. Like you should be."
Loki laughed. "Oh no. She doesn't sleep. Not willing at least. The only way you'll find her sleeping is if her body gave up on staying awake."
Mobius rolled his eyes. "Everybody sleeps Loki. Even her." He patted the space next to him in bed. "Now come on to bed. I'm not a part of whatever prank war you've got going on. She won't try anything."
They woke up the next morning completely covered in green paint.
Mobius wondered if he should feel honored that she had chosen him to sleep on. He thought back to the events of the past few days and Sylvie doing absolutely everything but sleeping. He shook his head. It was probably exhaustion then. He still couldn't help the warm feeling in his stomach at the fact chosen to stay with him instead of pulling away.
Their relationship would be irrevocably changed today.
He felt her stir, stiffen as she tried to remember where she was, relax as she remembered where she was, then stiffen again when she remembered where she was.
"Hey," he said, amusement coating his tone. "Have a nice nap?"
She shifted. "Maybe," she mumbled.
Mobius was silent, mentally preparing himself for the conversation he knew they were going to need to have. "Do you wanna talk?"
"Do I have a choice?" She snapped back, though there was no heat in her words.
"We're going to have to have a conversation at some point." His fingers drummed a beat against her leg. "You don't have to do it now if you don't want to."
"I can talk now," she said softly.
"Alright. What happened back there?" He jumped straight in. Neither of them were the type to sugarcoat things. "I've never seen you act that way in the TVA."
Sylvie was quiet for a long time and he watched her patiently. He watched her fiddle with her fingers, and then with the hem of the oversized shirt she always wore, and then the strings that were on the holes of her baggy jeans. He felt her let out a huge sigh and start speaking.
"I don't know," she sounded frustrated at her response. "I mean," she started. "It's just that," she growled and started to bring her hands up to her head but Mobius intercepted them.
"It's okay," he said, rubbing the back of her hands.
"I was scared then, but I couldn't show it. I know what the TV does. I can't let them see weakness." Her hand reached up to brush against the collar before falling back down again. "When you put the collar on it was like I was back there. Except I wasn't. And it was confusing. I don't know." She brought her hand up to her mouth and started chewing on a nail. "I was scared."
Mobius frowned. Her recounting of events sounded like what some of the agents at the TVA went through. A lot of times their journeys into the timeline were mundane. But there were moments when they saw some truly horrific things and some agents suffered more than others. He had his own nightmares of times when he had to places of war, death, and famine.
He realized, belatedly, that he had been quiet for too long. He cleared his throat. "Thank you for sharing with me. It must've taken a lot."
She squirmed in his lap. "I don't like this"
Mobius laughed. "What, the bearing of your feelings?"
"Shut up," Sylvie said, but there was no anger behind her words. “But yeah. It’s weird.”
Mobius' face turned serious. "I can take it off." He said. "If it's causing you that much distress, I can take it off."
Sylvie shifted. "No. I think. I think you're right. I got to get all this," she waved her hand, "under control. I never had to live with other people before. I never had to…" her face scrunched as she cast around for the right word.
"You never had to control your emotions before,” he offered. “Outside of running from the TVA of course."
She nodded. "When I was on my own, I didn't have to hide. But now..."
"But now that you're here around others you try to bottle it all up until." He mimicked the sound of an explosion.
"Yeah," Sylvie said softly.
Mobius rested his chin on top of Sylvie's head. "You know you can trust us right? Me and Loki. You don't have to hide from us."
"Yeah but-"
"But you've been hiding for so long. I know. But you can trust us. We can help you. I can help you."
She nodded. "Ok."
----
Mobius looked away from the TV and up at the doorway. They had long since relocated to the couch, content to mock whatever shows that were playing on their TV. He was sat at the end of the couch, feet propped up on the table. Sylvie was curled up next to him, head in his lap. He played lightly with her hair, the red light of the collar blinking lazily around her neck.
Loki raised an eyebrow at the scene in front of him. “ What is this? ” He mouthed.
Mobius smiled. “ I’ll tell you later,” he mouthed back. He looked back down at Sylvie who didn’t seem to notice the other’s entrance. She was engrossed in the scene playing out on the television.
“Ahem” Loki cleared his throat. He grinned as Sylvie bolted upright from where she was laying. “Am I interrupting something?” Loki said, amusement evident in his voice.
Both Mobius and Loki laughed at her reaction.
Sylvie narrowed her eyes at the two of them. “That’s not funny,” She said sullenly.
“It was very funny.” Loki said. The two stared at each other for a minute. Mobius walked over to Loki. It looked like the two were having a silent conversation so he just stood by. Sylvie turned away first.
“I’ll get you back for this,” she threatened, stretching out on the couch.
“Please don’t. The grass hasn’t grown back from whatever you guys did last time,” Mobius said as he walked over to Loki.
Loki opened his arms pulling Mobius into a hug. “Only for you,” he said. Then he leaned forward to whisper in his ear, "I'm glad you two are getting along.”
"Yeah well, it's a work in progress," Mobius whispered back. "But everyone's gotta start somewhere."
"You guys have a room. Maybe you should make use of it," Sylvie shouted from her position on the couch.
"Oh grow up," Loki
"Why don't you go up," she said mockingly. "And then when you go up you can go do-"
Loki snapped his fingers and a burst of green flew out of them, zooming across the room to settle on Sylvie’s lips. Her eyes widened as she tried to open her mouth but couldn’t.
Mobius sighed, "You're going to have to undo that," he said.
"But think of the peace and quiet we can get."
"We had peace in quiet before you came Loki. Besides, I don't think it'll be worth whatever revenge plan she'll cook up." He winked at Sylvie.
Loki rolled his eyes. "Oh fine." He snapped his fingers undoing the magic. He turned away from Sylvie who was stretching her jaw and back to Mobius. “You know,” he said, walking them towards the door. “If you’re tired of peace and quiet we can go upstairs and make some noise.”
Sylvie groaned. "You guys are disgusting."
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Life is a Work in Progress
As soon as I saw Sylvie scream on Lamentis 1 this plot bunny has been forming in my head. That along with excellent bromance between Loki and Sylvie, and Mobius being able to psychoanalyze the shit out of Loki led to this little idea.
Let’s set the scene. Sometime, some place, once they fix the shit out of the multiverse cluster fuck Loki and Mobius move in together. Sylvie follows, because why not. She spent her whole life on the run. What else is she going to do.
So I present to you
Life is a Work in Progress (ao3)
A short story about the trio being dumb
Read Below
Mobius ran into the room. “What the hell is going on in here?” He shouted.
“She’s throwing a tantrum,” Loki said from his position on the far side from the entrance. He was sat on a small wooden stool in the corner of the room. He looked relaxed, leaning back to rest against the wall, but his hands were tinged with a slight green glow and his eyes were firmly fixed on Sylvie.
After the fall of the TVA and the destruction of the Sacred Timeline the three variants had decided to live together. At least that’s how Sylvie would put it. In reality it was more that Loki and Mobius decided to settle down and get a house together while Sylvie tagged along out of boredom. It made for an interesting living situation. Mobius, who had never known a life outside of the TVA. Loki, who had never known a life outside of royalty. And Sylvie, who had never known a life outside of being on the run. This new living arrangement was one giant experiment. Hence the room.
The room in question was a mess. What had previously been host to a couch, armchairs, a TV, and multiple bookshelves was now a room of scraps. Books were strewn all over the ground, the couch was ripped in half, and the TV was shattered. There were cracks running up the sides of the wall and the lights on the ceiling were either broken or near to it. In the middle of it all was Sylvie.
“What?" Mobius asked incredulously. "A tantrum?” He dragged his hands up over his face and through his hair. “A tantrum?” he muttered to himself. His eyes lit up in realization. “Oh, a temper tantrum. Yeah, ok, ok. We can work with this.”
“I’m not throwing a tantrum,” She growled, punctuating her point with a stamp of her foot. The crack in the room grew larger and dust fell from the ceiling.
“Right,” Mobius said looking at her, then the state of the room, and then at Loki. “Is this a common occurrence?” He asked motioning to the destruction in front of him. “I mean, you did travel with her for a bit. Is this a 'Loki' thing or a 'her' thing.”
Loki scrunched his face. “Oh it’s definitely not a Loki thing.” He said. “I would never stoop as low as to destroy a room in a childish fit -”
“Shut up,” Sylvie screamed. Green sparked at her fingertips. “Stop talking about me like I’m not even here.” There was an explosion blasting away the last few books that managed to hang on to the bookshelf. As quick as a flash Loki sat up, green magic springing from his hands to catch the books that were flying through the air.
Mobius watched as the books floated harmlessly to the floor. “Has she been doing that often?” He asked. A low rumble emanated from the middle of the room. “Are you growling? Wait no nevermind.” Mobius raised his hands. “I’m sorry that I talked about you like you weren’t there, but you need to calm down.”
“Don’t tell me to calm down.” Sylvie said “I am calm.”
Loki barked out a short laugh. “Oh, this is calm?” He waved at the mess in the room. “You’re about as calm as a pack full of -”
Sylvie whipped around to face him, bringing her leg back to kick one of the books.
“Hey. Stop it. Stop. Both of you.” Mobius reached forward to grab Sylvie. “We do not kick things in this house.”
Sylvie narrowed her eyes at him. “Well fine then.” Not looking away from him she slowly raised her hands, green enveloping them. Loki jumped up from his seat, his hands flashing green in preparation to deflect whatever explosion was going to happen next. Mobius hugged her.
Immediately her hands dropped, the green fading away. She looked up at him with a confused look on her face. “What are you doing?” she asked.
“I’m hugging you.” Mobius said
“But why?”
“Because it looked like you needed a hug,”
“Oh.” Sylvie strained to try to catch Loki’s eye over Mobius' shoulder, but the man in question wouldn’t let her move. With a small sigh she, resigned to her fate, settled to rest her head against Mobius’s chest.
They stood like that in silence. Mobius rocked them back and forth, slowly turning so that he could look at Loki.
“What the hell did you do,” He mouthed silently.
“Me?” Loki raised his hand to his chest. “What makes you think I did anything?”
Mobius squinted his eyes suspiciously at him. “We’ll talk later.” He focused his attention on the girl in his arms. He pulled away looking down at her. “Are you calm now?” he asked.
Sylvie nodded, eyes fixed on the floor.
“That’s good,” He praised softly. “Do either of you want to tell me what this was all about?”
“He ate my cookie,” Sylvie said petulantly.
Mobius froze. He looked from her, to Loki, to the things scattered about the room. “All this,” He said in disbelief. “Over a cookie?”
Loki let out a small chuckle. “Yeah. It’s absolutely ridiculous isn’t it.”
Sylvie swung around to face him, shoving an accusing finger in his face. “It’s not ridiculous.” She shouted. “It was my cookie.”
Loki scoffed. “You can’t lay claim to a cookie.”
“Yes I can, and I did. You know I did.”
“I knew no such thing.”
“You liar. I said last night I wanted that cookie.”
“It’s not last night anymore.”
Sylvie curled her hand into a fist, throwing a punch in Loki’s direction.
“Hey. words” Mobius yanked Sylvie back. “You guys are wordsmiths. Use your words.”
“Well technically I’m the only-”
“Loki,” Mobius warned.
“Ok. Ok” He bowed, signaling the other to speak. “My lady.” He said sarcastically.
Sylvie scowled and scuffed her feet against the ground.
“Go on,” Mobius said encouragingly.
After a few more beats of silence Sylvie sighed. “When you ate my cookie,” She ground out. “It made me feel mad.”
“Good good.” Mobius grinned. “Now Loki?”
Loki looked at him surprised. “What? Why do I have to do it? She’s the one that doesn’t know how to communicate.”
“Loki,” He said, no trace of amusement evident in his voice.
“Fine, fine.” He rolled his eyes. “I am sorry that my eating the cookie upset you. I did not think that you would mind.”
“We need to work on the delivery but that’s good.” Mobius clapped his hands. “Doesn’t everybody feel better now?” He bent down to pick up a couple of books. “Now let’s work together and get this room cleaned up.”
“I hope that cookie tasted good,” Sylvie sneered.
Loki leaned over, a predatory smile on his face. “It was delicious,” he said, reaching over to tap her on the forehead with each word. At the last word a burst of green shot out from his fingers pushing Sylvie back.
Sylvie let out a wordless scream lunging towards the man. Loki quickly stepped back while Mobius jumped forward to grab Sylvie around the waist.
“What the hell Loki,” he grunted glaring at Loki as he tried to drag the snarling ball of rage away. “You are so sleeping on the couch tonight, so you better fix this room.”
Sylvie twisted in his grasp, and he grappled with her for a moment, grabbing her arms to pin behind her back. With one hand holding her arms in place, Mobius grabbed the back of her collar with the other, frog marching her out of the room. Together they walked towards the staircase leading to the upper half of the house. He leaned forward. “If you want to destroy something.” He whispered in her ear. “Destroy your own room please.” He turned to shout back towards the other Loki. “And get another cookie too.”
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Got to say my Sylvie head canon is
that she and Loki are total Bros.The way they argue? Sibling vibes.
So in my future headcannon, once all the dust settles Loki and Mobius will be living together and Sylvie will be chilling with them cuz she don’t know how to person.
Home girl spent her whole life running from, and then trying to take down, the TVA. She is not going to know what to do with her life.
Time husbands Loki and Mobius got her tho
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Coming back from the dead to say I fucking love sylvie
Also that I regret searching her tag on tumblr.
Man there is so much salt
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Ok so, did you guys see how happy Diego looked when he found out he was the hot shit at the Commission? I mean for crying out loud herb and him had their own handshake.
So I bet now that they have a briefcase Diego would be hopping down there all the time to hang out with his Commission pals. Meanwhile Five probably isn’t going to be jumping on the Commission bandwagon just because they had a brief change of leadership. They would have to argue about it at some point.
----
There was pop. A flash of blue light. And shouting.
“What the hell is going on here?” Klaus was the first person to reach the foyer peeking in from the sitting room. “I was trying to take a nap.”
Allison was the next with the others filing in behind her. “Oh Jesus Christ. Again?”
“Yes. Again.” Five growled. He had the back of Diego’s jacket gripped firmly in his hand. Diego was awkwardly stooping down trying to accommodate the weird angle.
“Oh I thought it was going to be something important” Luther said.
“This is important -- Hey!” Five stumbled as Diego dropped down and out of the jacket. “What? Get back here.”
“Fuck you,” Diego flipped him off as he walked towards the kitchen.
“Do you want some food?” Vanya asked following him. The rest of the family started to disperse.
“Hold on,” Five popped in front of the two. “We are going to have a discussion about this.”
Diego turned and started walking in the other direction. “There is nothing to discuss-- GAH” He jumped as Five popped in front of him again. “Can you stop doing that.”
“If you stop going to The Commission.” There was a groan from the other occupants of the room.
“I am not going to stop seeing The Commission. They are my friends.”
“They are not your friends. They are not nice.”
“They did promise to leave us alone --” Luther said from his place on the stairs.
“Shut up” Five said, not taking his eyes off Diego. “They are nice now but as soon as you do something to fuck up the timeline, and you will, they will turn on you.”
“It’s not the same commission anymore Five. Face it, you’re just jealous because they like me more than they like you. I’m going to The Commission and you can’t do anything about it.”
There was silence. The two brothers staring at each other. Five’s angry scowl. Diego’s smug grin. The other sibling watched apprehensively from the edges of the room.
Five let out a sigh, all the tension leaving his body. “Whelp.” Five clapped his hands together. “Since we obviously can’t talk about this like adults…” Pop. He flashed away in a light of blue.
Diego scrunched his face up in confusion looking at the spot where Five just was. “Huh?” Just as quickly Five popped back in grabbing Diego by the ear and then popping again moving them a few feet forward onto the stairs. “What the --” Diego sprung forward only to fall down on his butt. He twisted behind him before looking back up at Five. “Did you just handcuff me to the banister?”
“Yeah. It’s called time out.” Five tossed the key up in the air. “I’ll see you when I see you.” He blinked away.
Diego yanked at the cuffs in frustration. “Five this is not funny.” He shouted. He looked around. “Klaus?” He asked hopefully.
“Hey don’t look at me. I’m not getting on Five’s bad side.” He said leaving the room.
“Allison?”
“Maybe if you were smarter about when you leave for The Commission.” She smirked leaning against the door frame. “You’ve got a time traveling briefcase. The least you could do was make back in time for dinner.”
“Vanya?”
She gave an apologetic smile. “I’ll bring you some food.”
Diego sighed before slowly looking up at Luther.
“Nope. I’m not going to help you if I’m your last resort.”
“Luther!”
“Bye.”
---
the handshake
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We all know Diego is going to spend some amount of time moping about Lila. Did she break up with him? Were they even dating? Is she their biological sister? WTF Diego you’re supposed to be smarter than that. Well here’s just a fun little snippit
---
"I'm older than you"
"Yeah well I'm older than you now scooch over".
Diego groaned and rolled over. Five gingerly lowered himself onto the bed with all the grace of the 54 year old man he wasn't.
“Listen. Commission girls, girls like Lila, are different than those you see-”
Diego shot up. “Eww. What the fuck,” He shouted. “Are you seriously giving me the talk?”
Five scrunched his nose. “I’m sure you have had sex by now. I’m just trying to tell that at the commission relationships work a little differently.”
Diego slapped his hands over his ears. “Shut up. Shut up. Shut up. I don’t want to hear it.”
“Diego!” He shouted at his brother's retreating form. “Fine. See if I ever comfort you after a break up. Ungrateful brat.”
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A Trip to the Zoo part 1
Summary: The Hargreeves children get to go to the zoo. It is not all fun and games.
Words: 1358
(ao3 link)
—
"I heard a rumour," she said, when they had all sat down for breakfast, "that you said we could go to the zoo". She sat back in her seat with a smile.
It was only later that she would realize her mistake.
I heard a rumor you said we could go to the zoo.
Said
You said we could go to the zoo. Not, we could go to the zoo. Not, you'd take us to the zoo. But you said we could go to the zoo.
It was only small little word. She wished she knew then what she knew now. That what you said was more important than what you meant. If she did maybe she could’ve avoided this whole mess.
Her siblings watched their father with bated breath. Allison shifted under her fathers stare. It was clear to all that he was trying to resist the effects of her rumor. The excitement and smugness she felt when she first said the rumor slowly faded with each passing second.
Over a minute had gone by before Reginald seemed to give in. “You may,” he said stiffly, eyes locked with hers. “Go to the zoo.”
Immediately whispers broke out among the room as her siblings discussed what animals they wanted to see. Even Vanya joined in on the discussion. Allison couldn’t find it in herself to participate. The rest of the room faded in the background. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest, and Reginald’s stare burning a hole into her. She turned to her plate.
“Silence at the table children.“ Reginald said sharply. “Do not think that this means you’ll get to skip your studies.” He placed his silverware on the table and neatly folded his napkin. “Now if you will excuse me I need to speak to Pogo. This trip will be educational for you. I expect you to be at the door at noon exactly. If you are not there you will be left behind.”
They waited until he left the room before discussions picked up again.
“Oh man.” Klaus groaned, “Pogo’s probably going to have us write an essay or something." He shoveled some eggs into his mouth. "Hey you should totally rumor Pogo into not giving us homework."
"You did a really good job." Luther said.
Five nodded in agreement. "I almost thought that he wasn't going to do it." He shrugged, picking at his food. "Guess he's just as human as the rest of us."
Allison nodded and took a bite of her breakfast.
"Yeah. D-did you see his f-fa-face." They all laughed as Diego tried to mimic Reginalds face.
"No, no it was more like this." Ben shouted before pulling his own weird face.
"What about this?" Vanya asked softly between giggles. The table was silent as they looked at Vanya. Five was the first to crack, letting out a loud snort. The rest were quick to follow and the room was filled with joyous laughter.
Allison gave a small smile as she watched her siblings each compete with each other on who could make the silliest face. This was the happiest she’s seen them all in a long time. She pushed away the feeling of discomfort and allowed herself a real smile at her siblings antics. Whatever consequences she would face from her little act of rebellion she would gladly take to experience the happiness that filled the room.
---
At 12 o’clock sharp Allison and her siblings were lined up by the front door in numerical order. They whispered among themselves. They had been down there for over an hour, being too excited to do anything else.
All conversation ended quickly as they heard the tap of Reginald’s cane and the click of his shoes as he walked down the stairs. Allison stiffened and looked straight ahead. She resisted the urge to fidget. She did not want to give their Father any reason to take away this trip. Out of the corner of her eye she could see her siblings do the same. Even Diego who was always making some small movement, and Klaus who was always testing boundaries stood perfectly still. Everyone knew that this was something not to take lightly.
Reginald slowly walked over to them looking at each of them with a critical eye. Pogo followed behind him. In his hands he held a stack of notebooks. He passed them out to each of the children. Allison looked curiously at the hers. A strip of paper stuck out the side of it. She moved to pull it out before stopping. Reginald didn’t say they could open their books.
“You will not be needing your blazer’s children. Leave them here. Grace will take care of it for you.”
They looked at each other in surprise but didn’t say anything. Reginald waited for them to remove their blazers before speaking again.
“In your books you have a sheet of paper. It has the name of an animal in Latin. Read it. Memorize it. Pogo will be taking the paper before you leave. This is your assigned animal. You are to find it in the zoo and take notes. Tomorrow you will hand in an essay about the animal.” He stared at each of them in turn. “While you will not be wearing the emblem of the Umbrella Academy you are still a part of it and I expect you to act accordingly.” He walked to the door. “You have two minutes to read and memorize what is on the paper. When you are done you can join me in the car. It will be leaving in exactly two minutes. Your time starts now.”
Allison quickly opened her book and pulled out the sheet of paper. Panthera Leo was written in neat elegant script. Panthera Leo. A Lion. It was an easy name to remember.
“What d-did you get?” Diego asked looking over her shoulder. She showed her paper to him. He scowled. “That’s not f-fair. I got the the. P-put, put ter,” He scowled, shoving the paper at her.
“Pteronura brasiliensis” she read.
“But it star, starts with a P.” He threw his hands up. “W-what even is it?”
She shrugged, giving the paper back to him.
“Orycteropus afer?” Klaus exclaimed. “What the fuck is that?”
“It’s an aardvark you idiot.” Five said.
“Oh.” he tossed his paper on the ground. “How do you even know that.”
“I read. You should try it sometime.”
“Hey can you tell me what mine says?” Luther asked walking over.
“Children two minutes has almost passed.” Pogo opened the door. “Time for you to leave.”
“I’ll look when we get there.” Five said popping out the door.
Allison followed her siblings to the car. Reginald was not in the back with them. He preferred to sit up front, only a divider separating them. They sat quietly in number order. Even though he could not see them he could still hear them, and had the uncanny ability to know when they tried to break the rules.
Allison was glad for the silence. She looked down at her notebook, ignoring the mimed conversations going around her. Instead she focused on quelling the feeling of butterflies in her stomach.
---
Allison walked slowly over the lions exhibit. When they had first arrived they had ran all around the zoo trying to see everything they could. Their father gave them no instructions only telling them that they would have to be back at the front gate by five o’clock. It was nearing three.
It was Ben who told them that they should start researching for their essays. He said it was so they could spend the last hour relaxing, but Allison knew he feared what their father would do if their essays were less than satisfactory.
Allison clutched her notebook to her chest and pushed forward. In the mansion solitude was something that was hard to find. Despite how big it was you could always hear or find one of her siblings. She had never been completely separated from them like this. Suddenly she had the feeling that this trip to the zoo had ulterior motives.
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Somebody’s Gotta Take Care of the Riff Raff
Summary: Al doesn’t remember signing up for being a caretaker, but he’s not going to stop his job.
Or Al finds Diego on the street one night and helps him out.
Words: 2906
(ao3 link)
---
Al lit his cigarette and took a drag. He leaned against the brick wall and slowly exhaled watching the smoke disappear into the night. The neon light of the pub’s sign flickered above his head. Inside he could hear the drunken clamor of the patrons.
“Got a light?”
Al turned to see the speaker. “Oh hey Donny.” He fished in his pocket for the lighter. “Yeah I got one for you.”
“Thanks,” Donny said cigarette hanging out his mouth. He brought the lighter to his mouth puffing a few times. “Catch the game?” He asked.
“It was bullshit.” Al grumbled. “That ref had no idea what he was doing. I don’t know who they’re hiring for this shit.”
“I know,” Donny exclaimed. “And the players aren’t much better either. Yeah sure we got some gems thrown in here or there, but the rest. They’re weak.”
“They found out how to game the system. They lost the feeling that it used to have.”
A raindrop fell in between the two of them. Donny pulled the hood of his jacket over his head while Al stepped further underneath the awning of the building. They watched as a group of young men stumbled out of the pub. They weren’t dressed for the cooling weather. Only one wore a hat while the others had on a mix of shorts and light jackets. They garnered looks from passerby’s as they laughed loudly walking down the street.
“So what’s this I hear about your gym being closed?”
“Oh that?” Al flicked ashes off the end of his cigarette. “The pipes fuckin’ burst. Flooded the damn place. The whole floor is ruined.”
“That’s rough,”
“Eh. It was due for a remodel anyway. But the whole thing is gonna be closed until it’s done.” He scratched the back of his neck. “It’s not that big of a loss.”
“Hey Al” Donny hit Al on the shoulder. “Isn’t that your boy over there?”
Al looked to where his friend was pointing. The group that had exited the pub earlier had stopped underneath a light post and were taking turns shoving a man around laughing. They were mocking him, jumping out of the way when he turned to attack whoever was closest. The rain had picked up into a light drizzle.
The two watched as one member of the group, a man wearing a white jacket, took the guy's duffel from him and started going through it.
There was a brief reflection of light as the man lifted an object from within the guys bag. “Hey this fucker’s got a knife.” He shouted.
“Ah hell it is my guy” Al swore. He ground out his cigarette on wall behind him and threw it on the ground. He ran over to the group. “Break it up. Break it up.”
“Stay out of it old man.” The one with the hat said walking towards him. “This ain’t your problem.”
“Yeah well I’m making it my problem. Scram before I call the cops.” He reached past the guy and grabbed Diego by the collar of his shirt pulling him out of the group. There was a sudden clap of thunder and the sky opened up raining down on them.
“Fuck it’s not worth it.” The guy in the white hoodie said. “Let’s go.” He swung Diego’s duffel over his shoulder running off, the others following him.
Al turned to face Diego. He looked worn out. He starred in the direction the group ran in. “They took my bag.” he said dejectedly.
Al sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. Why couldn't the kid just take care of himself. He put his arm around Diego's shoulder. It was a true testament of how tired he was that he didn't tense or flinch like he always did when someone touched him unexpectedly. "Let's get out the rain. I’ll take you home." He led Diego towards the pub, giving a nod to Donny as they walked in.
Al called a car and rode with Diego to the Umbrella Academy. It was a quiet ride. A soft jazz melody drifted back from the radio and the dark interior was lighted briefly by the passing street lights. Al took this time to observe Diego. The kid looked tired. He was wearing the same clothes that he wore when the gym closed two days before. He was pressed against the side of the door looking out at the passing street. He was trying to stay awake but the warm hum of the car was doing its job in lulling him to sleep.
When they arrived, Al almost felt sorry about having to wake him up. He reached out to shake Diego's shoulder. The boy jolted up eyes wide, looking around frantically. His eyes looked out past him and locked on to the building they stopped in front of. His face shifted into horror. He pressed his back against the door drawing his knees to his chest. Al could see him trying to speak but the words didn't come. "P-p-please," he forced out.
"Hey is he ok?" The driver asked.
"Yeah just give me a minute" he growled. He turned towards Diego. "Hey now, hey now. Calm down. "
Letting out soft curses at the size of the car Al awkwardly lowered himself to kneel at the bottom of the floor making himself smaller to the frightened man. He had no idea what set off this attack, but he was pretty well versed in calming him down. He rested a hand on the seat and looked up at Diego. The other man had squeezed his eyes shut and brought his hands up to grip tightly at his long hair. He was rocking slightly.
"Diego buddy. I need you to look at me," Al said lightly. "Can you look at me?" He waited patiently as Diego slowly cracked upon his eyes to look at him.
"That's a good boy," he praised "I'm going to hold your hand. Can you give me your hand?" Making sure to telegraph every movement Al reached for Diego's hand. He watched as Diego's eyes followed his motion. Grabbing on to his hand he carefully massaged it encouraging him to loosen his grip on his hair.
"I'm going to bring it to my chest ok?" Just as before he very slowly brought both their hands to rest on his chest. It was an awkward position. Diego had to lean forward in order to reach and he had to puff out his chest so that they could touch.
He took a couple of exaggerated breaths. "Can you follow my breathing? In." He took a deep breath in. "And out" he let out a gust of air. "Do it with me." He breathed a couple of more times before Diego started to try to match his own erratic breathing with his. "That's a good boy," Al praised. The two of them sat breathing together.
A minute or so passed in silence. Only the sound of them breathing and the rain hitting the roof of the car was heard. Al gave a silent groan thinking about how expensive this ride would end up being. Not for the first time he wondered how Diego became this way. He opened his mouth to ask a question when Diego yanked his hand from his hold.
Al closed his mouth and studied the man before him. He had shifted so that he wasn’t curled against the corner but he still held his hand close to his chest. His face was red with embarrassment and his head was turned to face the seat in front of him but Al could see him looking warily out of the corner of his eye.
“You back with us bud?” He asked. A barely perceptible nod was his only response. “You want to tell me what that was about?” There was silence as Diego stared resolutely ahead.
Al sighed. He knew that Diego often lapsed into moments where he wouldn’t, or couldn’t, speak and it seems like now was one of those moments. He shifted trying to will feeling back into his legs. Time for 20 questions. He racked his head as to what could’ve set this panic attack off. He stretched and caught the reflection of the mansion that was behind him. Bingo.
“Was it the house?” he asked.
Nod.
“You don’t want to go in there?”
Nod.
Al frowned. “Is someone going to hurt you there?”
Pause. Head shake.
Al let out a breath of relief. There was not much that would scare Diego this badly, and call him selfish but he was glad he didn’t have to face it. Unfortunately now that he knew there was no danger in the house he didn’t know what questions to ask to find out why he didn’t want to go in the house. He changed tactics.
“Do you want to stay at my place?” He asked. Diego had only lived with him a couple of times before taking up residency in the gym itself. When he found out that the skinny, bag-o-bones, gym rat he hired was homeless he couldn’t in good conscience let him continue to sleep on the mats. He made him move in with him while they remodeled the boiler room to resemble something of a sleeping place.
Diego shook his head. Al pinched his brow. “Kid I’m not going to let you sleep on the streets for the next three days. It’s bad enough you already spent one night out there.”
Diego brought a finger up to his mouth and started chewing on it. It was tick that Al noticed he did when he was feeling a certain kind of nervous. He doubted the kid even realized he did it.
“Look. Here’s how it’s going to go down. I’ll walk you to the door. If even the smallest thing happens that you don’t like let me know and we’ll leave. No questions asked.” He paused making sure the weight of his words set in. “But. But if we do leave you’re going to come home with me and you’re going to stay there. No sneaking out. Got it?”
Diego gave a slight nod. Al smiled. Sometimes the kid needed someone to tell him explicitly what to do. Opening the car door he got out and waited for the other to do the same. The rain had died down to a light sprinkle. He reached out and put a hand on Diego’s shoulder giving it a reassuring squeeze when he tensed up. Lightly he pushed him walking down the path to the front door.
They stood in front of the door. When Diego made no move to open the door Al reached out to do it himself. It was locked. He thumped his head a couple of times against the door. “Of course it’s locked.” he grumbled. “You don’t happen to have a spare key do you.” Diego didn’t respond, only looked at him blankly hugging himself.
Al was about to leave when locks started clicking from behind the door. It swung open to reveal a boy. They stared blankly at each other.
“You know usually someone would introduce themselves after knocking on a door at 2 in the morning.” He said. His voice was full of the superiority and confidence of someone who thought they were better than everyone and knew it too. The boy's eyes shifted to the man beside him. “I see you have brought my brother.”
Al looked between them. “That’s your brother?” he asked incredulously
Diego shivered. “Five.” he said.
Al sighed. He’s certainly seen stranger being around him. He looked back at the boy, Five. “May we come inside?”
Five stepped aside extending his arm. “Be my guest.” He closed the door after them “Can I offer you a drink.” He asked.
“I’d rather not.” He said. Besides, the kid looked way too young to drink. “I’m just trying to make sure this one get’s home safely.” he tilted his head towards Diego. Diego himself stood quietly, arms wrapped around him as he steadily dripped water on to the floor. His breathing was slightly more erratic as he gazed firmly at his feet.
“He doesn’t seem hurt?” Al could see that while the boy put off an air of disinterest he seemed to genuinely care about the state of his brother.
“Not physically.” Al said. “He just needs to sleep.”
Five nodded, seemingly satisfied with the answer. “I can show you his room if you want to follow me.” He started towards the stairs. Al gently took Diego by the elbow and followed him.
“Who are you to him.” Five asked after a moment of silence. “He obviously trusts you a lot if he’s letting you see him like this.” Then quieter under his breath “I’ve never seen him like this.”
Al stayed quiet. Truthfully he didn’t know how to answer. Their relationship obviously strayed far beyond the typical boss employee relationship. He’d almost say he’d treat Diego like a son, though that wasn’t quite right as he had kids of his own who he didn’t raise to be as much trouble as this one caused him. He didn’t know what Diego thought of him either. Five’s assessment of Diego trusting him came as a shock, because while it had taken him years to slowly break down his walls he knew that he still had a lot of progress to make. In the end he chose the most neutral description of their relationship.
“I own the gym he lives in.” He said.
Five hummed. They stopped in front of a door. “This is his room.” He said. He shuffled, looking for once unsure of himself. “I could get you a towel or…” he trailed off.
“A towel would be nice thank you. And a change of clothes. I don’t know if he would have any here.” He gave a reassuring smile to the kid before ushering his own into the room.
It was clear that this room hadn’t been lived in since he left. It wasn’t dirty or dusty like one would expect, but it was dated. A twin sized bed sat against the wall. It still had the childish sheets of his youth. On the desk sat a stack of papers and some textbooks.
Faster than what was humanly possible the kid returned holding a towel and a stack of folded clothes. “The clothes may be a little big. It’s our other brothers he explained.” He looked past him to Diego who was still standing in the middle of the room. “If you need anything I’ll be down stairs.” He turned and left.
Al turned back to Diego. He pulled out the chair pushing Diego on to it. Tossing the towel at him he bent down to start taking off his shoes. “This is as much as I’m going to do for you.” He grumbled undoing the laces. “You’re going to have to get changed by yourself.”
After removing each shoe he pushed himself to his feet and cracked his back. “Not as young as I used to be.” He muttered. “Go change.” He turned away from Diego. “Let me know when you’re done.”
While waiting he took the chance to further inspect the room. He opened the closet door to find it empty of clothes. It was to be expected. On the ground, however, there were a couple of boxes, belongings that either he, or someone else, couldn’t throw away.
“D-done,” Diego said softly. Al turned around. Five wasn’t kidding when he said that the clothes were big. The shirt hung off him reaching low to hit mid thighs. He was gripping the waistband of his pants in a fist and they were still pooling at his feet.
“Come here” here he beckoned. “Lift your shirt up.” He moved Diego’s hands from his pants and tightened the drawstring as tight as it could go before tying it up in a bow. Satisfied that the pants wouldn’t drop at a moments notice he led Diego over to the twin bed before pushing him down on it. “Under the covers.”
“D-d-ont’ need to be … tucked in” He slurred getting under the covers.
“Yeah yeah. Just making sure you don’t do anything stupid like try to leave.” He sat on the edge of the bed pulling out his phone. “Go to sleep.”
“Creep,” Diego said.
“Brat.”
He stayed long enough to hear Diego’s breathing even out into the tell tale signs of sleep. Then he stayed a little longer to make sure he wasn’t faking it. Satisfied that he wouldn’t be waking up anytime soon he got up and made his way down the stairs. He wasn’t surprised to see the boy waiting for him.
“You’re leaving.” He said.
Al nodded. The kid was a strange one for sure.
“I have a ride waiting.”
“Your ride is gone.”
He looked out the window and sure enough where there used to be a car waiting there was nothing. He let out a huff of amusement. “I think I’ll take that drink now.”
Five poured him a glass “Stay the night. Leave in the morning.”
He shook his head. “I’ll just call another ride” He took out his phone. “Don’t want to overstay my welcome.”
Five shrugged. “Suit yourself.” He raised his glass towards him. “Thanks for watching out for my brother.”
He raised his in return. “Someone has to.”
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Diego Doesn’t Like to Drink. It Makes Him Feel
Summary: Diego doesn't drink. Correction, he doesn't drink a lot. He knew they dulled his powers and he did not like that loss of control
Or what happens when Diego gets his first drink.
Words: 2531
(ao3 link)
---
Diego doesn't drink. Correction, he doesn't drink a lot. He knew they dulled his powers and he did not like that loss of control. Klaus was the one that gave him his first drink, proving himself to be the bad influence that Dad always said he was.
Diego cracked open the door and slowly peaked out his room. The hallway was empty. Checking to see if the coast was clear was merely a formality. Dad had cameras both in the hallways and in their rooms. But he also had a weird habit of walking around at strange hours, and it wasn't good to be caught out of the room by him when he was. Diego shuddered thinking of the last time he was caught after lights out.
Seeing that the coast was clear he slowly stepped out. Carefully he walked towards the stairs. Years of sneaking around the house had taught him which floorboards creaked when you walked over them and which steps to skip over to avoid alerting the whole house of your presence. Diego found the easiest, and most fun, way to avoid the noisy stairs was to slide down the banister. He and Luther always competed with each other to see who could have the most impressive landing at the bottom. Silently Diego slid down the staircase landing into a roll at the bottom.
Diego stayed crouched at the bottom of the staircase. He cocked his head slightly listening for noises. Hearing none he moved forward towards the next room. He started humming a song under his breath that he had heard the other kids sing.
Diego had started sneaking out by himself just to get away from his house and other siblings for a while. He met a group of kids on one of his excursions. They invited him to play spies and other dumb games with them. It was fun pretending to be a normal kid and not Number Two of The Umbrella Academy.
With his back against the wall he peeked around the corner. Seeing it empty he quickly ran from there to the couch still humming under his breath. He crawled out from behind the couch and into feet. Diego froze and then slowly looked up.
“Having fun?” Looking down at him with an amused look on his face was Klaus.
Diego quickly jumped to his feet brushing the nonexistent dust off of his pajamas. “K-k-klaus.” he said. “Wh-what, uh, what are you d-doing?”
Klaus gave a lazy grin. “I could say the same to you little brother,” He reached out to ruffle Diego’s hair.
“Stop it.” Diego scowled slapping his hand away. Klaus had hit his growth spurt first and practically shot up overnight making him the tallest of all the kids. He spared no expense in lording it over his more vertically challenged siblings. Diego took a step back and looked at Klaus. He was leaning against the bar one hand behind the back. He looked relaxed but Deigo could see the tightness around his eyes.
“Ghosts?” he asked.
“Oh you know,” he lazily waved a hand in the air. “They’re around.” he sniffed and flipped a finger to someplace in the distance. “You know my demons.” He giggled. “Why are you wandering around?”
Diego picked at his sleeve. “I was just going to get a drink from the kitchen.” He actually was going sneak out, but he didn’t want to tell Klaus that. Klaus would probably insist on tagging along and Diego wanted that to be just his thing.
Klaus raised an eyebrow. “I didn’t know getting a drink involved rolling around the floor like an idiot.”
Diego flushed. “I d-didn’t know.” He paused “I didn’t know seeing ghost’s involved…” he trailed off and shoved Klaus as he started laughing. “Shut up. What’s behind your back?”
“Nothing, why would you think that”
Diego gave him a look. “I’m not stupid.”
He lunged forward reaching past Klaus. Klaus quickly raised his hand revealing a bottle of dark red liquid. At the same time he turned to the side to avoid Diego.
“Careful” he exclaimed, cradling the bottle to his chest. “This is very precious cargo.”
Diego squinted looking through the dark to see the label. “Is that one of dad’s drinks?”
“Yes, and it’s the best one too.” He held up the bottle. “A fine red wine. Old too. Gets you drunk with style.”
“You drink that stuff?
“You don’t?” He reached over the counter to grab two wine glasses. “I was just about to go up to the roof to take a little sippy sippy. Come on little brother.” He flounced over to the stairs taking no heed of the noise he was making.
Diego sighed taking a longing look at the kitchen before running off to join his brother.
He caught up with his brother as he was struggling to open the door to the roof while juggling the bottle and the two wine glasses. Digeo moved him out of the way and opened the door for him. “Why are you so loud. Dad could hear us”, he hissed.
Klaus laughed. “Dad can’t hear us. And if he could,” He raised his voice leaning out into the hallway. “He can’t do shit -- Woah.”
“Be quiet you idiot.” Diego pushed him through the door.
Klaus shrugged and sauntered over to the small picnic table they had set up on the roof. They had found it in the backyard one day and they all argued what to do with it before Five said that they would put it on the roof. Over the years they found, stole, more things to decorate their rooftop escape. That was when things were good. Before Five ran away. Before Ben died.
“Are you going to join me?” Klaus motioned to an empty chair. Klaus poured them two generous helpings of the wine. “So you’re telling me you’ve never tried ANY of Reggie’s drinks?”
Diego took a glass and swirled the liquid around. He sniffed it wrinkling his nose at the smell. “No.”
“Huh,” Klaus said surprised. “I figured you would’ve. You know, with the amount of times you leave the Manor.”
Diego jerked, sloshing the wine on his hand. He set the glass on the table. “You know about that?” After Five left the siblings stopped their jaunts to the diner to get donuts. It wasn’t the same without him. Diego assumed that everyone else just stopped going out all together.
“Don’t be surprised. We all go out.” He frowned. “Except for that goody two shoes Luther.” He giggled, “or should I say goody one shoe. I don’t think Vanya goes out either, but did we really expect her too.” He took a sip from his glass. “Ah magnifico.”
Diego eyed him warily before reaching out and taking a sip from his own glass. He coughed spitting out the drink. “How do, how do you drink this stuff? How long have you been drinking this stuff?”
“I started when I was 15.” He took Diego’s glass and pushed it back up to his mouth. “You got to just drink through it. It’ll taste better the more you drink.” He paused. “You know even Allison got Luther to drink some.”
Diego grabbed his glass back from Klaus. He scowled down at it. He knew that Klaus knew that he would never let Luther one up him, even if he wasn’t actually here. He took a deep breath before drinking down the whole glass.
“Woah” Klaus clapped. “Now we’re getting this party started.” He poured more of the bottle in both their glasses. “Drink up buddy. I’m trying to finish this whole bottle.”
“So, so, so, Klaus. How long have you been drinking?” Diego took a swig from the bottle. They had long since abandoned their wine glasses and relocated to sitting at the edge of the roof.
Klaus took the bottle back and began picking at the label. “I started when we were 15. Snuck out one night to taste one. I chose a scotch.” he gave a soft chuckle. “It tasted horrible. I almost threw up.”
“Why did you keep drinking it then?” Diego asked.
Klaus sighed and took another sip. “Remember when we were 12 and I broke my jaw.”
Diego smiled. “Yeah you had to drink out of a straw for two months.”
A car drove by breaking the silence of the night. “Yeah well when it happened they put me on some pretty strong painkillers. It was glorious. All the ghosts were gone. I didn’t tell anyone because I didn’t want dad finding out. He’d probably do his stupid experiments.”
Diego nodded sympathetically making grabby hands for the bottle. “Why’d you...wait so long to start drink, drinking then?”
“I didn’t know it would do the same. All I knew was that medicine would.”
“Huh. We all just thought you just got stupider af-after the fall.”
“Chasing that high baby.” He took the bottle back. “Dad was pissed. Said I was becoming a ‘useless junkie’. He had started having mom hide the medicine but at that point I already met Joseph.”
“Joseph?”
“Yeah he’s my weed man. I think you’d like him. Met him on one of my nights through town. It’s a nice feeling but doesn’t really get the ghosts to leave like the pills do. I told him once how I drink cough syrup and then smoke, and he laughed and asked why I just don’t drink regular alcohol.”
Klaus threw a rock off the side. They watched it as it bounced off the ground “Honestly I felt like an idiot when he explained it to me. Here we have a whole wall full of liquor and I’m wasting my time breaking into the medicine cabinets.”
“Hey I wonder if it has the same effect on you?” Klaus jumped up.
“What?” Diego looked up at his brother.
“Well drugs and shit make my powers go away. Do they do the same for you?” He looked around. “Go grab some rocks. Let’s see if we can hit that light post. I’ll give you 20 bucks if you can break it.”
“Fuckin easy.” Diego stumbled to his feet looking for something to throw. The boys hunted the roof top for loose pieces of stone.
“How many you got?” Klaus called out from the other side of the roof.
Diego looked down at his hands. “I’ve got two. You?”
“I’ve got three. That gives you five chances to hit it.”
Diego walked back over to their drinking spot. “No way it’ll take me five.” Diego picked up the wine bottle and took a huge gulp. Tossing his stone up in the air Diego adjusted his stance and threw out into the night. They watched as it arced up in the air heading towards, and then past, the light post. “What?”
Klaus clapped jumping up and down. “Oh boy. Not Mr. Sharpshooter anymore.”
“It’s got to be a fluke.” Diego picked up another rock and hurled it at the lamp post. He watched in disbelief as it went even further off the mark than the first one. “No no no no no.” He dropped to the ground looking for the next rock.
Klaus grabbed him. “Hey are you okay?”
“It’s it’s n-not working.” He shoved him off lifting his hand to throw another rock.
Klaus grabbed his arm and wrestled him to the ground. “It’s not supposed to work. That’s what it does.”
Diego bucked pushing Klaus off of him. He turned around to run but was tackled by Klaus again. Twisting around he threw a sloppy punch at Klaus that was easily deflected. “Calm down.” Klaus shouted. He grabbed one of Diego’s arms pushing it against him. He dropped his weight on Diego while trying to catch his other arm. “Will you just.” He grunted as a fist caught him in the side. He reached out immobilizing his brother. Breathing a sigh of relief he relaxed, catching his breath.
He lifted his head to look down at his brother. Diego’s face was scrunched up and there were tears in his eyes as he glared back at him. “It’s going to be okay.” Klaus said slowly.
Diego relaxed the fight leaving him. He averted his eyes. “I d-don’t. I don’t like it.” He whispered.
“It’ll go away in the morning.” Klaus said he eyed his brother who was doing an amazing job at not letting the tears fall. “If I let go will you promise not to run away?”
Diego snorted. “Yeah, yeah, let me go asshole.”
“Bitch.”
They separated. Diego roughly wiped his face with the back of his hand before drawing his knees up to his chest. He felt Klaus sit down next to him cross legged. They sat like that for a while each of them lost in their own minds
“So they make the gh-ghosts go ‘way,” Diego slumped against his brother.
“Yup” Klaus said popping the p.
“So you can’t see Ben?” he asked.
Klaus tensed and looked down at Diego, then he looked up over Diego’s head. “Nope.”
“I miss him,” Diego said softly, closing his eyes.
“I miss him too.” Klaus threw his arm around the other bringing him close.
They sat together like that, one leaning against the other, watching the empty night streets.
“Well it looks like we didn’t finish the bottle. Guess we have to try again next time bro. Diego? Diego?” Klaus shook his brother panicked. “Diego. Wake up. Please don’t make me drag you to your room. That’s not fair.”
Klaus laid Diego down before getting up behind him and grabbing his armpits. “This is not Karma” he grunted. “This is something worse than Karma.”
“Diego cracked open an eye. “Who you talking to?” he slurred.
“Oh great. You���re awake enough to hear us talk but not awake enough to help yourself get to your own room.” At that point Klaus had dragged Diego to the door of the rooftop. “I should just leave you out here.” He grunted. “You’re lucky I’m a good brother.”
Diego reached up to touch Klaus’s face. “You’re m’ favorite brother,”
“Well I sure hope so. I’d be sad if Luther was your favorite.” He lifted Diego up throwing an arm over his shoulder. “Jesus Christ. How can someone so small be so heavy,” Klaus groaned. “Shut up it’s not funny.”
“Ah, fuck” Diego jerked up covering his eyes with his hands. Almost immediately afterward he threw a hand over his mouth. He swallowed heavily trying to resist the urge to throw up.
“It’s time to wake up sweetie. You’re going to be late for breakfast.” Mom said from by the curtains. Diego groaned and rubbed his head. Mom sat on the bed next to him and rubbed his back. “You’ve learned a valuable lesson in why you should not drink in excess.”
Diego looked at her. “You know?”
“I can recognize the signs of a hangover when I see it.” She smiled sympathetically. “Drink some water. It’ll help.”
Diego flopped back down on the bed. “I’m never drinking again.”
Mom stood up and walked to the door. “Sure you won’t. Don’t forget to show up for breakfast.”
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The Hallway
Everything is scarier at night. Especially a creepy old mansion with long hallways and weird portraits. There’s something at the end of the hallway and it doesn’t look happy.
This was meant to be a drawn as a companion piece to Diego Doesn’t Like To Drink. It Makes Him Feel, but it didn’t quite fit the scene.
So what is this picture. I mentioned in a previous fic that the Umbrella Academy members see a therapist. Diego would always stutter when having to talk about his childhood and often spent most of his therapy sessions not speaking. The therapist suggested he draw out how he feels.
This is one such drawing.
It’s how he sees his childhood home. It’s dark and scary. It has weird pictures that mock him and it seems to stretch on forever. As a kid he was terrified of the dark. As an adult he still prefers some light.
He doesn’t quite know what is at the end of the hallway.
I tried my best at making a creepy drawing even though I’m artistically challenged. I actually like how it came out. Now that I think about it this could be adapted into a creepy pasta or something.
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Diego’s Drawing
Companion piece to Their Refrigerator Looked Like it Belonged to the Proud Mom of a Six Year Old Child
Diego (me) worked very hard on this and is very proud of this drawing
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Their Refrigerator Looked Like it Belonged to the Proud Mom of a Six Year Old Child.
Summary: The Hargreeves siblings adjust to living together in the future.
Words: 1229
(ao3 link)
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It started off as a joke. Diego had drawn a particularly unflattering picture of Five after he flashed halfway down the stairs, fell down the rest of them, threw up and passed out on the foyer.
The picture in question was a crude drawing of a small figure dressed in the Umbrella Academy uniform lying on the floor with a bottle of alcohol next to it. There was also drawn on the ground a puddle of what was probably vomit. To top it all off there were stink lines coming off everything in the picture as well as a speech bubble that said, “I am stupid” written in blocky letters. Diego was very proud of his work. The next morning while his siblings were eating breakfast and Five was nursing his hangover with coffee Diego was finishing his masterpiece.
“Yah know Di,” Klaus said looking over his shoulder. “You’ve got some promise.”
“Thank you.” Diego said tongue sticking out in concentration as he shaded in the background.
Luther looked over the table at the paper. “I like the stink lines,” He said through a mouthful of eggs.
“Ew that’s gross. Close your mouth.” Klaus said as he shoved a piece of toast in his mouth.
“What? You have food in your mouth right now.” Luther pointed. “Do you not see how hypocritical that is?”
“Both of you guys are disgusting.” Allison walked over putting out a plate of bacon. Luther wilted while Klaus laughed snagging one from the plate. “What are you drawing? Oh my gosh is that Five?” Allison giggled covering her mouth.
Five, who had been sipping his coffee and pointedly ignoring the conversation surrounding his more juvenile brothers looked up. “Is that who?” He popped over to Diego before grasping his head in pain. Swearing under his breath he grabbed on to the back of Diego’s chair straightening himself up and looked at the picture. The siblings waited in silence to see his reaction.
Five frowned. “What the fuck.” He lunged for the paper but Diego pushed himself out of the seat and held it out of reach. “Give it here.” He growled.
“No.” He said backing up. “Dr. Huffman said that I should practice drawing out my feelings. You’ll just destroy it.”
Dr. Huffman was his therapist. Actually Dr. Huffman was all of their therapists. Shortly after arriving back to the present day Vanya suggested that they all go see a therapist. ‘Dad had done a number on all of us and a therapist would be good for all of us to work out our issues,’ she had said. There was a lot of push back from the members of the family. Five thought there was nothing wrong with him. Klaus thought there was nothing that could be done that court mandated therapy didn’t already do. Luther was scared that they would bring up his now dead relationship with his sister. And Diego really didn’t want to see a therapist again. He had his introduction with the guys in the asylum in ‘63 and while he wasn’t scared he never wanted to see one again.
In the end it was Allison who first agreed to therapy. It was the shaming, guilting, and pestering that finally got the others to trickle in after her. Luther was easy to convince. He’d do almost anything Allison told him to do. Klaus was next. Turns out having your dead brother be actually dead did not do wonders for your mental health. Vanya got Five to come, who after finding out over half his siblings were seeing the same doctor, became paranoid that they were talking about him. Diego held out the longest. It took being tricked into a group therapy session for him to agree. It was also the fact that one of his siblings ratted him out to Al who said he’d kick him out of the gym if he didn’t start therapy.
Diego didn’t like therapy and he found out quickly that his stutter came back full force when ever he had to speak about the events of his childhood, much to his embarrassment. Therefore most of the sessions were spent with him stubbornly not talking. The drawing his feelings thing was a new method that Dr. Williams was having him try.
“Come on Diego. I just want to see a closer look at your drawing.” Five gave what was supposed to be a sweet smile but came off as frighteningly evil.
“I’ll draw you a new improved one with more detail,” Diego teased. He had slowly relocated himself to the other side of the table.
Five jumped up on the table and there was shrieking as the others grabbed their plates and saved what food they could. “Give me that picture,” He shouted.
“Never.” Diego ran.
“What is going on here?”
Everyone froze. “Good morning mom.” They chorused in unison.
“Good morning dears.” She smiled at them. “Five, you know you aren’t supposed to be standing on the table. Now what was all this noise about?”
Five straightened out his clothes and, with all the pose of the 58 year old man he was not acting like, stepped down off the table. “Diego was just about to show me this lovely picture he drew.” he walked over the two.
Grace looked at Diego who suddenly found his shoes very interesting. “You drew a picture? Let me see.”
Klaus snickered and Diego glared at him. “I don’t really think you need to see it.” He said. “It’s not that good.”
“Nonsense. I’m sure you’re a great artist.” She smiled at him and Five smiled smugly as Diego reluctantly handed the sheet of paper to her. “Oh this is a great drawing sweetie.”
“What?!” echoed through the room.
“Mom? Did you see what he drew?” Five asked incredulously.
“Lay off Five.” Diego beamed. “Obviously I’m a great artist. Isn’t that right Mom?”
“My little Picasso.” She reached up to ruffle Diego’s hair. “I think this would go great on the fridge don’t you think.”
Across the room the three other siblings had descended into poorly concealed laughter.
“Mom. You can’t be serious.” Five followed them to the fridge. “You aren’t going to put that on there are you?”
“Yes I am. I love all the things my children create.” She placed a magnet on top of the picture and then straightened it out. Beside her Diego stuck his tongue out at him. “I better not see you remove this either. Maybe with that up there it’ll serve as a reminder for you to watch your drinking.”
The room went silent. Five watched open mouth as she left the room. Seconds later laughter erupted.
“Holy shit bro. She got you good.” Luther gasped, hunched over his food.
“Serve as a reminder? Who knew Mom was such a savage?” Klaus laughed from his spot on the floor.
“I’m sure Dr. Williams can help you work through that absolute betrayal you faced.” Allison said between giggles.
Five closed his mouth and glared at Diego who was looking at him with a shit eating grin. “This is not over”.
“Hey guys.” Vanya walked in with a yawn. She opened the fridge pulling out a bottle of orange juice. “What’s so funny?” she asked. She closed the fridge and stepped back towards the table before pausing and turning around again. “Is that Five?”
#the umbrella academy#tua#fanfic#drabble#luther hargreeves#five hargreeves#klaus hargreeves#allison hargreeves#diego hargreeves
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Puppy Dog Days
Words: 993
(ao3 link)
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“Uh, is this a weird sex thing?” Klaus asked. “I’m not judging, it’s just that this is weird even by your standards.”
Five looked up from his book. “Oh good you’re back.”
Vanya peeked around Klaus to see what he was looking at. Five was sat on the couch reading a book. That in itself wasn’t strange. Now that he didn’t have to worry about trying to stop any impending apocalypse he was often found reading. ‘You’d be surprised at how few books survived the apocalypse’ he had said. What was strange was that their brother. Their stoic wannabe badass brother was curled up on the couch with his head resting on Five’s lap. His head on Five’s lap. Five I-don’t-want-to-be-touched lap.
“Vanya. Are you sure we didn’t get slipped anything at that coffee shop because it looks to me that Five is lovingly petting Diego.” He shoved his arm in front of her face. “Here pinch me.”
Five let out an annoyed sigh. “I would say that you aren’t on drugs but I can never be sure of that.”
“I take offense to that statement.” Klaus said. “I haven’t taken anything stronger than cough syrup.”
“Anyways,” He interrupted. “Diego here, our loveable idiot, touched something that he wasn’t supposed to touch in The Commission and now, for all intents and purposes, has the mind of a dog.”
At the mention of his name Diego looked up. turned around on the couch so that he was laying on his back looking up at Five with a lazy expression on his face. Now that he moved she could see that he had a pretty unassuming black leather collar around his neck. She stepped closer to the duo crouching down to look at the tag. Dog it read. She knew that Diego had started visiting The Commission much to Five’s dismay. Apparently he liked the ‘celebrity treatment’ that he got there.
“Can it be fixed?” She asked.
“Yes.” he said. “It’s this dumb collar that’s making him this way.”
“Well why don’t you just take it off?” Klaus asked reaching for it. “Seems pretty simple -- OW” He yanked his hand to his chest. “You hit me.” He mock glared at Five. “That hurt.”
“Please, it was only a tap. Besides if it were that easy I would’ve done it already.” Five sneered. “It’s more complicated than that. It’s not just a collar just like these briefcases are not just a briefcase. I’d explain how it works, but neither of you are smart enough to understand. What I need you two to do is keep an eye on him so I can go to The Commission and figure out how to take this thing off him without making him any more stupid than he already is.”
He looked down at Diego who was still smiling up at him. “Isn’t that right.” He cooed. “Don’t you want to be human again.” Diego made a playful noise tongue lolling out.
He turned back to Klaus and Vanya. “He can walk sometimes, but most times he’ll sit on the floor. He is potty trained and he does know how to say a few words. Don’t give him any knives and try not to let him get hit by a car.” He looked back at Diego rubbing his head. “Now be a good boy for your brother and sister.” He popped out of the room.
“Well this is cool.” Klaus said flopping on to the vacated seat.
“This is weird, that’s what this is.” Vanya said. Diego tilted his head giving her a look before bumping his head against her arm. “What do we do?”
“I think he wants you to pet him.” Klaus laughed.
“I’m not going to pet him.” she said. “He’s our brother.”
“Yeah our brother who really wants you to pet him.” Klaus grabbed the sides of Diego’s face. “How can you say no to those doe eyes.” Both Diego and Klaus pouted up at her.
“This is so weird.” She said reaching out to rub awkwardly at Diego’s head. He gave a small bark and grinned at her.
“Oh look he makes noises.” Klaus crowed. “That’s so cute. I wonder if he plays fetch. Hold on I’ll grab a ball.” He ran out of the room.
“Just you and me then huh.” Vanya studied Diego. The collar around his neck oddly suited him. It matched his all black attire that he insisted on wearing all the time. Looking at his attire she saw that it wasn’t what he usually wore. Diego almost never wore shorts yet here he was wearing loose black shorts and a baggy black t-shirt. She also noticed that his hair was held back from his face with the use of bobby pins. “Boy did the guys at the commission sure did have a field day with you didn’t they.”
Diego huffed and rested his head on his hands which she could now see were manicured instead of their usual bitten off state.
“You’re actually kinda cute like this.” She grinned and moved to scratch behind his ear. Diego in turn moved so he was facing away from her. “Awe don’t be mad.” She laughed. “I’m sure you’ll make a ferocious guard dog.”
“I’m baaack.” Klaus sang as he bounded into the room. Both Diego and Vanya turned to look at him. “I didn’t know what he would like to play with so I got a bunch of different things.”
“Yeah I can see that.” She said. He had in his arms three different sized balls, a rope, some clothes, and a slipper. “A slipper?” She asked.
“It’s Five’s” he said. “Dogs love to chew on stuff. Don’t you boy.” He blew kisses at Diego. “Come on. Let’s go outside. You want outsies?” Diego hopped off the couch to follow him looking curiously at the stuff in Klaus’s hands.
Vanya rolled her eyes. “I’ll go get the door.” She said jogging ahead.
#the umbrella academy#umbrella academy#fanfic#drabble#five hargreeves#diego hargreeves#vanya hargreeves#klaus hargreeves#????#dog!diego#crack fic
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