Chapter Text
It became something of a habit that Five and Willa would end up working on their homework together, largely that was Five helping her out with Italian and Ancient Greek, something he turned out to be shockingly great at, way better then Willa, and Willa, in return, tried to repay the favour by…well, basically just being herself, because it turned out that Five needed zero help in any of his subjects. He was passing everything perfectly, much to her disgust and secret admiration, and so she found herself rather confused by why he was even bothering to help her out in the first place. He got nothing out of it, he even seemed to find her chatter annoying, but yet…he never once told her to bugger off or even to shut up, the most she got was a glare or eye roll, and reminder to ‘Concentrate, Wills’. It was all very bizarrely nice and friendly, for Five.
“He likes you, obviously, babe,” Klaus told her within literally an hour of being back home from rehab, Willa having confessed to him how she and Five had been hanging out a lot since he’d been gone, when he’d asked for the household gossip. He’d said it as if it was common knowledge, too, while applying Allison’s stolen (Allison had already stolen it to begin with…) eyeliner in the bathroom mirror, “He’s got a huge thing for you, didn’t you know?”
Willa had just about toppled off the edge of the bathroom vanity in shock, gaping at him in disbelief and horror…because even though she so had a massive crush on Five herself, the idea that said feelings might be returned was…well, frankly, terrifying. She liked the idea of crushing on Five from afar and secretly, she hadn’t told a soul about it, in fact, not even Vanya, because it felt safe. She’d never crushed on a real person before, so crushing on someone real and someone she knew, and lived with, was just a lot to try and deal with, she didn’t know how all that dating stuff even worked, to be honest. She knew she liked Five because she felt differently about him then, say, Diego, but aside from that she was clueless. Movies and TV from when she was nine was what she had to work with…maybe she ought to think about stealing one of Allison’s secret romance novels she had stashed under her mattress.
“He does not!” she’d spluttered, mortified, face burning bright red.
“Oh, my sweet summer child…” Klaus had lowered the eyeliner to turn and peer back at her, a rather indulgent smile across his lips, eyes clear and, for once, not bloodshot or hanging out of his head with fatigue. He even reached out and pattered her knee, like he was somehow sixty years old all of a sudden and dealing with a tiresome child, “You’re so young, Willy-Billy…”
“We’re the same age…”
“…so innocent! You hold onto that innocence, now, don’t go rushing off to try and be all grownup…”
“Klaus, seriously. Stop it. This isn’t funny. Five doesn’t like me, he doesn’t like anyone, let alone me…”
She might as well have been trying to talk to the damn bathroom door.
“…Have you ever seen how he looks at you?” he’d asked her lightly, going back to doing his eyes.
Willa had blinked, confused, “Um…you mean the glaring thing he does all the time?” she’d asked slowly, puzzled, “I mean…yeah, I’d kind of noticed that. He’s always got that homicidal look about him…”
“Nah, not that one. I mean the one he has whenever he looks at you, when he thinks he’s being all subtle and smart, like the rest of us don’t have eyes…”
“Are you high? Already?”
“Wills,” he’d sighed, and rolled his eyes at her and threw her another look…it made her frown slightly, not used to seeing Klaus look so serious and sincere, “I’m telling you; he looks at you like you’re this…this insane maths problem that he’s trying to solve…”
“That…doesn’t exactly sound very complimentary, Klaus…”
“But…” he held up a finger, only to point it at her sharply, eyes deadly serious, “Five loves maths, he’s, like, obsessed with numbers and all that shit, remember? Always has been, even when we were babies, he’d literally solve stupid math problems to try and sleep, which is totally weird and psychotic, if you’re asking me…”
“You’re…you’re nuts,” Willa could only laugh, shakily and a little alarmed, “Sorry, Klaus, but…no way. You’re so wrong”.
Sadly, Klaus wasn’t the only one to seemingly be convinced that Five was in love with her or something insane like that, Vanya was pretty positive about it, too, though she’d been a little more subtle about it when she’d noted, almost ideally one afternoon, how Willa and her hadn’t worked on any projects together in a while. How it seemed like Willa and Five were always paring up for any group stuff these days, how Five seemed almost disappointed when he’d been paired up to work on a project with Ben that very same day, even though Five and Ben got along really well…Come to think about it, Vanya so wasn’t being that subtle, after all.
Willa, naturally, told her as much.
“You’re not being subtle, Van,” she said with a small huff, scowling with mock concentration as she flipped through the pages of her history textbook about the Russian Revolution, hoping that if she seemed as if she was busy researching, like they were meant to be, then Vanya would just stop talking about Five already.
“It’s just interesting, is all,” the dark-haired girl had said, voice light and airy, while sitting on the floor across from Willa in Willa’s bedroom, far to interested in adjusting pillows about them to make a comfortable cocoon, of sorts, for them to work within for the next hour…or until one of them started getting sleepy, probably Willa, since Vanya didn’t have to do the same training that the rest of them did…
Willa sighed and briefly closed her eyes in annoyance, suddenly wishing she’d been paired with Luther right now, and Luther sucked at history. If it wasn’t music or space related, then Luther didn’t seem to care that much, pretend as much as he tried for daddy’s sake. Usually, Willa was thrilled to be paired to work with Vanya, sure, she wasn’t that keen on history, either, but she was fun, and they got along well…normally. Tonight, apparently, was a rare exception to the rule.
“Vanya,” she began firmly, looking up from the pretence of looking through her book to pin the other girl with a level stare, “I know what you’re trying to say without saying it, and I’m telling you, right now, Five doesn’t like me like that”.
“Why wouldn’t he?” she frowned back at her, looking a little confused, regarding Willa with an oddly soft glint in her eyes, “Why couldn’t he, Wills? I know Five can be…well, very Five, but he’s got a good heart and he’s different with you…”
“No, he isn’t. Not different, no special treatment or looks or…or whatever else you and Klaus reckon you’ve seen…”
Vanya simply gave her a slightly worried frown, “Why are you so upset?” she asked, looking genuinely a little concerned now, peering at her with a vaguely startled and alarmed frown, “You know…I’m not trying to upset you, Wills…”
That made Willa pause, and look properly at Vanya, a flash of guilt briefly squeezing her heart. Of course, sensitive and ever perspective, and always timid Vanya, would immediately assume that her increasingly heated and annoyed mood was directed at her, or worse still, caused by her. It wasn’t. She wasn’t even annoyed, exactly, more…frustrated, that everyone seemed to have an opinion about her and Five, that everyone seemed to think they were meant for each other or whatever. Never mind the fact that she felt rather embarrassed by the idea that people were thinking about her like that. Was Five thinking about her like that? That she liked him? Oh, God, please, not that. Never, ever that. She’d have to, like, dig herself a hole to China and it still wouldn’t be far enough. Maybe she’d have to check with Luther about how close they might be to getting a shuttle to Mars.
How did other people handle all this crushes and dating stuff? How did anyone even get married? It all seemed like just so much embarrassment, it terrified her to imagine trying to tell someone (Five) that she fancied them, let alone asking them out on a date or whatever, what if she got laughed out? Or teased? Or what if they didn’t like her back? Even if they did agree to go on a date, that still didn’t mean they liked her…right? Maybe they just felt sorry for her or something. It was all just…just…Gah! To much, way, way too much!
“Jesus, Wills? You okay?”
“Huh?” Willa asked a little blankly, blinking as she looked back to see Vanya staring at her, wide eyed and looking just about ready to leap onto her sock covered feet, alarm written plainly across her features. She gave her a slightly dazed, bewildered look, “Yeah?”
“Yeah…you are, ‘Okay?’ Or ‘Yeah,’ you’re having a stroke, ‘cos you just went super pale and all weird looking, kinda all…vague looking”.
Oh, God, she was now officially starting to freak out Vanya, not just herself with her own insane mental gymnastics trying figure out dating and all that. She needed to stop and just…probably never think about all that stuff again. Or get a book. Maybe she’d consider sneaking into Allison’s room later and seeing if she could grab one of her stashed novels, she knew she probably had something of relevance hidden under the loose floorboard beneath her window. Something that didn’t contain just a series of gross Victorian style smut that Allison had almost wet herself giggling over. If she never had to read the word ‘Bosom’ ever again, she’d live happily.
“Eh…” Willa hastily tried to get a grip, forcing a tight, slightly stiff smile, reaching up to anxiously tug at the end of her ponytail, “Yeah, yeah, I’m…I’m good. Totally fine, just…got thinking about something”.
She still didn’t look convinced, “Right…” she said a little dubiously.
This is what comes from living in a house with a bunch of kids, all of whom brilliant liars and excellent at covering up their own tracks under the pretence of an overbearing parental figure. They could sniff out a lie without seconds. Probably also didn’t help that Willa wasn’t doing a particularly stellar job of lying right now, either, but…whatever. She was going to just claim that Vanya was basically a human lie detector and spare her dignity, what was left of it.
“Look, V,” Willa cleared her throat, and forced herself to sit up straighter, meeting the other girl’s dark brown eyes as steadily as she could, “It doesn’t matter if Five likes me or…or if I like him…” she had to almost chock out the words, feeling like it was a confession of some awful sin, but she managed, barely, and somehow kept her gaze on Vanya, even, “It’s never gonna happen, no matter what, so…there. Let it go, we’ve got more important stuff to be worrying about…”
“Why couldn’t it work out?” Vanya cut in, frowning at her in confusion.
“Because…” she floundered for a second, before latching on to the best and most obvious excuse she had, “Your old man would never let something like that happen under his roof, would he now? I’d probably end up in Russia or something if I even got caught looking to long at Five, and we both know he likes Five way more than me, so naturally, it’ll be me who gets shipped off…”
Actually, now that she said it out loud, maybe it wasn’t that terrible of an idea…
“You might be surprised what stuff dad turns a blind eye to, Wills,” Vanya said quietly. She glanced at the door and then leaned slightly closer, and Willa, intrigued, leaned forward, too, “Just look at Luther and Allison,” she whispered to her, giving her a pointed look, “Everyone knows Luther’s had a crush on Allison since we were six, no way dad doesn’t see it”.
“But…” she grimaced, disgust contorting her features, voice just as low, “Luther and Allison…I mean…I know what you mean, but their siblings, V. Nothing can ever happen, like…for real…right?”
It had always been a rather unspoken, but rather gross point of observation to Willa that Allison and Luther apparently have a thing for each other. She had initially assumed it was just Luther who fancied Allison, but after a while she came to realise that it wasn’t so one-sided, it was just that Allison was better had hiding it then Luther was. It boggled and disgusted her, truly, to think of it, they had literally been raised as brother and sister, and yet they’d developed this weird sort of crush on one another. She’d read a book on psychology, one of the few that Reg kept in the library, and it had touched on briefly about cases of long-lost siblings who had been attracted to one another after being reunited, but Allison and Luther had been raised as siblings. Sure, biologically, there was nothing wrong with it and, probably, even legally it might be okay in some places around the world, but to Willa it was just gross. She didn’t get how two people who had grownup thinking of each other as brother and sister could start looking at one another like that.
And she’d thought her situation with Five maybe liking her back was something to freak out over, this was a whole other level of freakout stations.
“I…” Vanya stopped, and frowned, eyes dropping down. She anxiously toyed with the top edge of her sock, plucking it against her knee.
“Van?” Willa eyed her, “What is it?”
She sighed and shifted, glancing at her beneath her lashes, “I…walked in on them kissing a few months back,” she confessed, voice hushed and eyes hastily dropping away again, as if nervous, “They were so angry, Will, I…I wasn’t going to tell anyone, but…”
“I swear, I won’t tell anyone, Van,” she promised immediately, eyes widening slightly with shock.
Luther and Allison…kissing…Oh, God. She didn’t want to think about it, didn’t know what to even do or say about it. Maybe it was just…just an experiment, like how school kids snuck kisses with each other just to see what it was like, but…yuck. Gross. On so many levels, it was wrong, and she didn’t know how to respond, what to think, how to even feel.
“I think it’s just…just this place, Will,” Vanya said softly, voice soft and tired, weighted with a heaviness that no twelve year old should carry in their voice, “The only real love we’ve ever known has been from each other, I suppose it’s probably only natural, in a twisted way, that Luther and Allison would end up taking that to a different level”.
“You’ve got Grace,” Willa pointed out gently, heart breaking. Could it be that simple? That Allison and Luther were simply so desperate for love and touch, that they’d end up turning to one another, even in the most perverted and twisted sense.
A strange, sad little smile crossed her lips, then, “Mum’s dad’s creation, isn’t she?” she said quietly, almost warily, “How much of what she says or does is even her? If any of it?”
Willa didn’t have anything to say to that, because there was nothing that she could say. But her heart arched and once again, she was reminded in a painfully bittersweet way how lucky she was to have spent nine years loved and adored by her real, human, flesh and blood mother.
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Willa found it difficult to pretend like she didn’t know about Luther and Allison as the weeks slipped by, it was hard to pretend like she didn’t know about how close they’d really grown, and even harder, perhaps, to struggle to not demand from either of them how they could possible do that sort of thing with one another when they were supposed to be siblings. God, she hadn’t even been raised as a Hargreeves, but she had come to view Klaus and Vanya as almost siblings like figures in her own head, and the very idea of even thinking of Klaus in that sort of context almost filled her with nausea. But she some how managed to keep back the urge to ask, somehow managed to keep even the urge to corner Five and question him about what he knew or thought about it all at bay, even though she desperately found herself craving to know.
Surely, Five knew, like them all, and found it just as unsettling as she and Vanya? What did he think about it? What did he know? He and Luther weren’t close, but he and Allison seemed to get along okay, though, again, they weren’t overly buddy-buddy, but perhaps he’d caught something, like Vanya had. He was always popping up out of no where in the house, what if he’d popped up one day and caught…No, no, stop, Willa! No more thinking about it, no more wondering what the hell those two go up to, she didn’t want or need to know, she didn’t. She was just being morbidly curious, probably distracting herself from thinking about Five, (Which, wasn’t even helping, since she was still managing to think about him even in relation to this, somehow), and it needed to stop.
Speaking of Five…of course, because her brain seemed to have developed an obsession on the kid that was bordering on pathological, Willa was starting to become convinced that the kid was up to something. It was from spending so much time around him these last few weeks that made her realise it, but he was, she was positive. She even caught him scribbling away in a journal a few times, only to quickly snap it shut when he realised she’d arrived for their study session. She also noted that he had began pestering his father for an increase in personal training, something she’d overheard by coming across Five and Reg speaking at the end of one of their classes one day, having left behind a scrunchie in her haste to leave.
“…another four hours a week, Father,” Five had been saying, sounding oddly hopeful, but determined, and something about his tone made Willa think he’d rehearsed this speech before, “I’m close, I know I am, I just need…”
“You are far from close, Number Five,” the old man had barked sharply, and Willa, having stilled just outside the door, almost flinched, “You have years, decades, even, of preparations ahead of you before you are even close to attempting such a feat!”
“But I’ve read all the books, I’ve done all the calculations, I know I can do it, just let me try…”
“Are you in need of something, Number Seven?”
Willa gasped and very nearly dropped her books, cheeks heating at the sharp call. Heart pounding with guilt and the realisation that she’d been caught, thoroughly and very obviously caught eavesdropping, Willa slightly sheepishly moved to stand within the doorway, finding Hargreeves Senor peering at her cooly through his monocle, while Five stood before his father’s teaching desk. She couldn’t bring herself to look at Five, though, she just couldn’t, but she felt his glare burning her flesh, searing it.
“Eh…” she’d cringed slightly, shifting awkwardly, “Just…forgot my scrunchie, is all…”
After that mortifying experience, she had expected Five to go back to their old way of ignoring her, she’d expected him to act like she didn’t exist unless he strictly needed to, expected him to perhaps corner her and threaten her into silence or something of the sort…but he’d pretended like nothing had happened. Still, she’d felt his gaze linger a touch on her, and for once she knew with certainty that it wasn’t because he possibly fancied her, but rather it seemed almost probing, almost calculating. As if he was assessing her. She acted like she had no clue, never once alluded to hearing anything or suspecting anything, and things went on as per their new little normal.
Still, it lurked, unspoken in the back of her mind just what Five might be up to, what secrets he might have, but she didn’t feel quite ready to try and ask. Perhaps she never would. She did, however, keep a closer watch over him, kept note of his scribbling away in his journal whenever they had a moment of spare time, paid close attention to the increasingly restless and resentful looks Five would send his father’s way as the months slipped by. It all had to mean something, she just didn’t have enough information to know what, yet.
Their Thirtieth birthday came and went, bringing with it their customary mini birthday party at the Academy with cupcakes and presents from Grace and Pogo. They ended up going on a trip see the Statue of Liberty, which of course include a five-thousand-word essay about its history, but it had been a nice day out, one that didn’t include getting shot at or nearly killed. Sadly, though, they were swiftly reminded of their hero life the next day, when Reg announced that some teen magazine wanted to write a piece on Willa and Allison to celebrate their birthday with their readers. Allison had been thrilled, Willa mortified, and even more so when they spent the next twenty four hours being ruthlessly drilled in how to respond during the interview, what they were allowed to say, what not to say, how to dodge an awkward question that might be snuck in that hadn’t been vetted by old Reg…and then there was the whole photo session, which Allison had almost wept with joy at. Again, Willa had positively dreaded it, even if it was nice to get to wear normal clothing again.
“You look really pretty, Wills,” Vanya told her brightly, smiling at her from across their shared booth at Griddy’s.
“I feel like a poodle,” Willa sighed heavily, scrunching her face up slightly.
They’d snuck out, as had become their own little custom, in order to celebrate their birthday as they thought they ought to. As they wanted to, truth be told. They’d started their little evening out by bowling a few rounds at the bowling alley just down the street from the Academy, another favoured haunt of theirs, before nipping in for a late night (Early morning) donut. This had all taken place after Willa and Allison had gotten back from their photo op and interview, still done up in the hair and makeup, even if the uniform was back, Reg having sent them off to bed immediately upon arriving. Personally, Willa thought Allison was the one who looked pretty, she had some sort of shimmery eyeshadow on that made her dark eyes look glittery, while her already very lovely, smooth skin looked utterly flawless and glowy, hair glossy and her natural curls bouncy. Willa’s hair had been curled into large curls about her face, while the few red dots she had marking her skin had been covered up with thick, flesh tone paste. Her eyes had been rimmed with light kohl, making them look larger, while a light dash of forest green had been brushed across her lids. It still all felt a little odd on her skin, but she was slowly getting used to it. She did kind of like the pink gloss they’d used on her lips.
It tasted like strawberries.
“You look fabulous, babe,” Klaus cooed, and suddenly seemed to appear out of nowhere to drape himself over the back of their booth, right between Willa and Ben. He grabbed one of her curls and playfully tugged on it, making her roll her eyes and lightly bat his hand away. He grinned and, ignoring her hand, continued playing with the curl, “Who knew little Willy-Billy was such a hot model babe?”
“Are you high?” Five scowled at him darkly, lifting his gaze, for the first time since they’d sat at their usual booth, to pin him with a near homicidal look. He had his journal carefully positioned in front of him, but just slightly hidden from view by his forearm of his left arm.
“What?” Klaus mocked blinked, and gave him a bewildered, confused look…Willa mentally prepared herself for what was about to come, already inwardly grimacing, “You don’t think Wills is a hot model babe, Fivey?”
“I think your idiot looking to get punched, Klaus. Go away before I gladly punch you”.
“You still didn’t answer the question, though, don’t you think Wills is a…”
“Klaus,” Willa cut in hastily, feeling her cheeks warming beneath all the heavy foundation. She could see a funny little muscle starting to twitch in Five’s right cheek, and it was making her very nervous, largely because she knew that Five would lunge at the kid and she was kind of in the direct line of said lunge right now…, “Would you stop it?” she battered his hand again, still toying with her curl, pointedly, trying hard to shift the focus off Five, “What are you trying to do, leave me a bald spot or something? Bugger off”.
“But it’s so pretty!” he curled the lock right around his finger, leaning in even closer, examining her hair carefully. She had to crane her neck on an odd angle to let him, rolling her eyes in bemused fondness at his weirdness. God, she loved the idiot, but when he was high, which he was now judging by how blown his pupils were, he did get a little handsy and random, like right now. It didn’t bother her, though, she knew it was all just Klaus being Klaus, but she didn’t want him dragging Five into it right now. He then sniffed at the lock of hair and made a loud, exaggerated noise of pleasure, “Ooh! And it smells so good, like honey and coconut!”
“Jesus, Klaus,” Diego’s voice, sounding slightly muffled around a donut, sounded from somewhere off to the side, “Would you keep it in your pants? Some of us are trying to eat ‘round here…”
“That’s it!” Five snapped, and slammed his journal closed with enough force to cause their table to rattle, a truly scary angry scowl across his features as he rose abruptly, grabbing for a fork, of all things…
“Oh, come on,” Allison huffed, again, from off to the side, away from where Willa couldn’t currently see, “We’re so gonna get kicked out over this one…”
“You’re dead, Klaus,” his voice was frightening calm and level, even though his teeth were bared savagely.
Klaus merely blinked at him blankly, “What’d I do?”
“Wills,” Ben hissed, causing her to dart her eyes over to the kid sitting on her left, “Do something. Now”.
For fuck’s sake, why did everything have to end with death threats and possible murder attempts with this lot? Why couldn’t they have a normal night out, after sneaking out of their totally weird house/school, between their crime fighting part time gig? Was it too much to ask to just have a nice evening of bowling and donuts? Like…really?
“Sit down, Five,” Willa huffed, glaring up at the boy looming above her and Klaus with a bloody fork clasped dangerously in his hands, “You’re not going to stab your brother with a fork, for fuck’s sake”.
“He’s asking for it!” he gritted out, adjusting his grip on the fork.
“Did not!” Klaus retorted instantly, not helping in the slightest. He then went and looked innocently to Ben, “Did you hear me ask to get shanked by a fork by Five, Benny?”
“I’m not getting involved in this…” Ben muttered, and hastily ducked his head and picked up his pencil, going back to sketching something on his napkin, as if murder wasn’t about to be committed at their table.
Willa almost scoffed. Right, don’t get involved, Ben, but he sure wanted to throw her to the wolves, and she wasn’t even entirely sure what the hell had happened. Klaus was just being Klaus, he was always teasing her like this, he’d always make comments about her hair, call her ‘Babe’ or even playfully tug at her braids or pigtails. It was just him; she didn’t mind it, she knew Klaus was pretty physically affectionate with his siblings, those that let him. He was always hanging off Ben or Diego, hell, she’d even seen him doing the same hair tugging thing to Allison and Vanya. It was just him.
“This is stupid,” she rolled her eyes, turning her attention back to Five. She reached up and absently tapped Klaus’s hand, and this time he did unravel her hair from his finger. It didn’t even hurt. She furrowed her brow at Five, watching as he seemed to intently track the movement, lips thinning tightly and jaw locked tight, near painfully. Was he…no…no way…jealous wasn’t possible…was it? “Five?”
His gaze flickered to her, before he suddenly seemed to shift his stance, something shifting in his face and melting into an apathetic, blank scowl. He scoffed and his body loosened up, his hold on the fork relaxing, until he shot Klaus a dark look and tossed the fork carelessly back on the table, where it fell with a loud, metallic clatter. He flashed them all a sarcastic edge smile.
“Yeah, this is stupid,” he agreed, his tone cool, “It’s getting late. We should head back”.
It perhaps said a lot about them all that the rest of his siblings all seemed to pay such little care about his behaviour, all of them checking the clock and then proceeding to start collecting up their things, silently seeming to just agree. Even Klaus, though shooting Five a quick look and then a small smirk at Willa, seemed utterly unconcerned by the fact he’d almost gotten stabbed, merely pattering Willa on the shoulder and waltzing away to sling an arm around Diego’s shoulders…Willa remained in her seat a moment long, feeling briefly bewildered and confused. What the fuck just happened? Why had it happened? And was this family so messed about that they really didn’t blink at the idea of Five cracking it so violently and randomly, that he’d almost stabbed his brother?
Almost four years of living with this lot and she was still totally, and completely, reminded on a near daily bases of how much of an outsider she still was to them all.
“What just happened, Van?” she turned to the other girl, voice low and a frown across her features, lost.
“I think…” Vanya said slowly, voice soft, a thoughtful crease between her dark brows, “Klaus just tried to prove that Five really does like you, Wills”.
If that was the case…then this family was serious, seriously messed up. How the hell did anyone think that goading one’s brother into nearly stabbing them in a fit of jealousy was somehow the best way to prove something like that?
“Would you move it, Wills?” Ben huffed at her, and lightly nudged her shoulder, bringing her firmly back to reality, again just proving how little the lot of them seemed to care, Ben seeming just annoyed that she hadn’t instantly leapt up and started moving, like the rest of them had. Even Vanya had immediately started tidying up her dirty napkins to throw out, ever one to try and be as inconvenient for everyone, including waitstaff, as ever.
For a second, Willa found herself throwing him a bewildered look…only to stop herself from asking him if he had just witnessed what she had, and why he wasn’t more concerned by it. It wouldn’t do any good.
“Fine, Benny, fine, keep your hair on…”