power lines / five hargreeves x gn!reader

Recollection of a past

Y/n was always an odd child. It wasn't just the fact that they sometimes went non-verbal, that was fairly normal actually. Or that they were British. But that they had a certain... difference.

Like being able to manipulate reality at will. At age 6 they had a brief period of being able to fly. For a few hours, actually.

Or when they turned a frying pan into a head of lettuce for a week.

That was pretty odd.

It was the good pan, too.

Their parents had put up with it, for the most part. Even if it was an unnatural pregnancy and a magical child. They had refused Reginald Hargreeves' offer when Y/n was born, and they had refused it every day since. It was odd. He had kept making offers for them. It became a little annoying, actually. They wished he would send offers to other people with magical children.

Until that fateful day. Y/n was twelve. And suddenly, their imaginary friend, Ghost, appeared in their bedroom.

"Ah, hello Y/n, I see I've been given a physical body." Ghost's eyes lit up, amused, "Your powers see no bounds."

Y/n blinked.

It was shortly after that their parents called Reginald Hargreeves. They had agreed to raise one child, not two, is what they said. Ghost was joked as "wishing they were never born". Y/n's parents wouldn't tell him which one he had originally wanted, and which one he hadn't known about. They wanted both gone.

Y/n could never remember much about their parents.

And so, Y/n and Ghost were shipped off to the Umbrella Academy. Number Eight, Ghost was given. And Y/n was named Number Nine.

Y/n was very awkward upon meeting the others. Ghost was always the more charismatic one of the pair, Y/n preferring to stay quiet. It was very quickly evident that Reginald had told the group about their occasional bouts of being non-verbal.

After about seven months, Ghost disappeared. Y/n had been trained well enough at that point to have their powers under control. And so, Ghost was gone. Reginald thought it would be too much effort to rename Y/n at that point, so they continued to be Number Nine.

It wasn't long after that Y/n began to make friends with the others. Diego liked to sit quietly with them sometimes, nervous of his stutter and his voice, happier to not have to speak. Klaus liked to insist he could speak for the both of them. Him and Ben would hang around and joke with them. Allison liked to talk a lot and Y/n was happy to sit and listen. Luther offered to show them the ropes and always encouraged them to speak more with the others. Viktor would often let them listen to him playing the violin and sometimes, particularly when Y/n wasn't experienced enough to go on missions, the two would sneak out to Griddy's and get doughnuts. Five and Y/n found similarities in their powers, specifically Y/n's ability to teleport. Five had also inquired about their non-verbal episodes, and as a result, Y/n ended up teaching him some of the basics of BSL.

It felt like a boarding school with their best friends in it. Reginald never felt like a father figure to them, just a teacher. 

Y/n and Five quickly began to get closer. The two would always have secret and subtle conversations in BSL, knowing the others wouldn't understand. Five was often there to translate between them and the others during non-verbal episodes, and Y/n would always be there to be a friendly ear when Five went off on one of his rambles.

Reader, you may remember watching a show involving your friends, in that other universe. And you may remember Five running away when he was about 13.

But that never happened.