Vide Noir | The Umbrella Academy

Six

Chapter Six:

"What now?" Della questioned as they wandered into the edge of downtown, it seemed the south side was more kept up than the others. "Know where any other of your siblings are?"

"No." He huffed.

She pursed her lips, spotting a small diner with their lights still glowing. Della grabbed ahold of the hem of his blazer and pulled him towards it, "You need to eat."

"I'm not hungry."

"You're always saying that." They walked in and found a booth towards the back, shuffling in on either side. "You need to eat to grow, you realize that."

He glared at her, "Do you really want me to throw this spoon at you?"

"You wouldn't dare." She said, gazing around. A few older people mingled at smaller tables, nothing but coffee cups and dirtied napkins in front of them. "This is why you're always so angry."

"I am not always angry."

"Yes, you are. Very much so."

A man wandered over, a notepad gipped tightly in one hand with a pen in the other. He looked between them both, sending a not so sutble glare towards her. Della blinked, sharing a look with Five before the man gruffly asked what they wanted.

"Just a coffee."

"No." Della spoke up, her turn to glare at their waiter. "He'll take a bagel with jam and a cookie, or something, whatever you have. I'll have the eggs and toast, please?"

He scribbled down their order and marched away, Five watched Della as she took a deep breath. "Do you ever drink anything that isn't coffee?"

"Sometimes."

She snorted, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Exactly."

Della shook her head, "Nice to see you have a sense of humour."

He shrugged, brows knotting together. She could tell something was wrong, no matter how old he looked she'd always be able to tell. When he was upset, or worried he would always slouch, more times than not if he was comfortable around you he would no longer snap or try to be witty, but say nothing or be surprisingly apologetic. You could tell by the way his eyes dulled, and the way the corner of his mouth would twitch up every so often as he ran over things in his mind. The waiter returned and slid a cup of coffee towards Five, and even one towards her. She thanked him, ignoring his digging looks as she stared at the dark liquid. Five grabbed a few packets of sugar from a bowl pushed against the wall and ripped them open, dumping them into his cup.

"What's up?"

He was leaning over his coffee, meeting her gaze through a sheet of dark hair.

"We'll find your family, Five." She told him, stirring circles into her drink. "We'll get back home."

Five shifted in his seat, taking a sip from his cup. "Where is home for you?"

Della frowned, finding it suddenly uncomfortable under his gaze. What was home? She didn't have one, not a physical place to call home, she never did. After years working at the Commission, and after meeting Five, it soon dawned on her that maybe home wasn't a place, but a person. That saying had always made her laugh, most times making her even cringe, but now it didn't seem so funny.

"I, I don't know." She slowly said, adverting her attention to the table. "It would be nice to be back in the present again. I guess I'll figure out what to do from there, since I'm not going back to the Commission."

He nodded, "And if they're still sending people after you?"

"What about you?" Della quickly said, "What happens if we save the world and they're still coming after you and your family?"

Five pursed his lips, somewhere in the conversation his expression had soften, and she could really see how tired he was. His skin was pale, and dark spots were slowly uncovering themselves under his eyes. She wondered when the last time he was hugged was, or if he ever received the gesture, based on the stories he always told her of his childhood before getting stuck.

"I guess we should stick together then, make it easier on them." The corner of his mouth twitched up as he brought his cup back to his lips. "They're really losing their game."

Della couldn't help the smile that formed, internally cursing herself. "I suppose. Only to keep it exciting though, right?"

He winked, and she rolled her eyes. Della was thankful when the waiter made another appearance, placing their plates of food down in front of them. She picked up her fork and scooped some eggs up, taking a bite with a content sigh. When she got that bite down, Five was already done one half of his bagel. She watched as he scarfed the other half, downing the rest of his coffee in record time.

"Ok, you're gonna choke." Della snorted, grabbing his arm and bringing it down to the table. "I told you, you were hungry."

"Meh." He muttered nonchalantly, in his Five fashion, sleep pecking at him. Della sighed, scouting out of her side and flopping next to him.

"Look, you got enough energy to get us back to that strangers place?"

"What, Elliott?"

"Yeah."

He nodded, grabbing ahold of her arm. "You think he'll let us crash with him?"

"He thinks we're aliens. You could ask him for anything and he'd give it to you. He said it him himself, you're the one he's been waiting for all this time."

Five snorted, "Did you ever plan on paying for this?"

"Come on and jump." Della whispered, "The man already hates us."

She could see a haze of blue appear around his hands, and just before they vanished, Della managed to swipe the forgotten cookie off of Five's plate with a goofy smile.