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Five held his wrist up to the fluorescent light of the public bathroom, and decided his tattoo was sufficiently covered up. He put the cap back on the sharpie and tucked it back into his jacket pocket. Five turned his attention to the grimy mirror. He rigorously assessed his face, did he look recognisably like the boy he had been at thirteen? All those years stranded in the harsh conditions of the apocalypse had definitely taken a toll on his skin... and his moustache added another layer of disguise. He slipped on his large black sunglasses and considered whether they would make him look like an imbecile. He decided they would, but he was going to wear them anyway. If she realised it was him, the consequences would be catastrophic.
Harsh knocking came from the other side of the door. “Hurry up!” shouted some kid, who was undoubtedly crossing his legs and dancing around to make sure he didn’t pee himself. Five sighed and unlocked the door to leave.
—
When he read Extra Ordinary: My Life as Number Seven for the first time, he remembered thinking how remarkably stupid it was for Vanya to name the store she worked in. Now though, he was very grateful for that tidbit, as he marched his way down the avenue to find it. He paused suddenly, causing a business man behind to collide with him and call him a “Jerk off.”
There was college aged Vanya, through the large front window of the music store. He never found her body, which in many ways he was grateful for. Seeing the others was horrific, he didn’t want to see his two favorite siblings’ bodies too. Unfortunately, Vanya’s book informed him that the reason for Ben’s body being missing was decidedly more tragic than hers.
What if he sounded the same? His aged and lowered voice would definitely add ambiguity, but he was tentative to take chances. Five definitely couldn’t do accents, dad had been very strict with them about speaking as plain old, standard American English as possible. He had however forced them to learn languages. Five and Klaus in particular, Five since his father had hoped he could spatial jump into other countries one day, and Klaus so he could commune with all of the dead - not just the American ones. Dad had insisted they learn their languages with convincing accents, incase they ever needed to fake being citizens of whichever country they were performing a mission in. Vanya had learnt languages too, but that had simply been because dad wanted her to have a thorough education. No effort was put into making her learn correct accents; she would have no clue Five was faking his.
The bell above the door chimed as Five stepped into the music store. He made a beeline for Vanya, who nervously sank into herself when she saw him approaching. “Excuse me, does anyone in this store speak Spanish?” He inquired in Spanish, knowing she spoke it fluently herself. Or, she did when they were thirteen... hopefully she hadn’t forgotten.
She shifted uncomfortably, her eyes scanning to see if she could find any of her Hispanic coworkers to pass him off to. “I do, sir.” she replied meekly. Her accent was terrible.
—
“If your grandson is new to learning, I would probably recommend one of these.” Vanya gestured towards the cheap, brightly colored violins. Five nodded, trying to seem like he couldn’t decide. He couldn’t just buy the first thing she showed him, he had to keep talking to her.
“Uh huh... do you play?” Vanya looked away, clearly uncomfortable with the attention. “Yes, I’ve played since I was a kid.” she replied gently.
“I would love my grandson’s teacher to be someone like you, you seem like you would be patient.” he smiled down at her, it was incredibly disorientating for him to not still be the same height as Vanya. “His teachers a real bitch” he chuckled. Vanya slowly gave him a small smile, blushing slightly. Clearly, she was not used to compliments. “I... I teach.” she shyly informed him.
—
Five stood staring at Vanya lovingly whilst she rung up his violin. After he left, he was going to donate it to the nearest thrift store he went past on the way to his mark. Every now and then, she would look up to meet his eye and smile - before getting back to the cash register. He gathered from her demeanor that he wasn’t coming off as a creep, more as a grandfatherly figure - which was a huge relief, to say the least.
“Is that everything, sir?” She politely asked before finalising the sale. “I... just need your number.” he uttered. Vanya recoiled and furrowed her brow. Five panicked once he realised what that sounded like. Dear god, that was disgusting - he’d leave that shit to Allison and Luther. He threw an apologetic hand up, “I- I meant for arranging lessons!” Five spluttered out. He could feel his face growing as red as Vanya’s. A weight seemed to be lifted from her shoulders as she made a noise of understanding.
“I’m sorry, sir... I just thought...” she looked deeply humiliated, no doubt kicking herself for thinking anyone would make an unwanted advance towards her in the first place. “No!” He threw his hand up again, “That’s what it sounded like...” he placated. She threw him a kind smile. “$30 please.” Five reached in to his jacket to pull out his wallet. He felt his fingers brush against Extra Ordinary as he did, sending a shiver up his spine. If he pulled the book out right now he could possibly inadvertently cause the early apocalypse. He hoped him even talking with Vanya wasn’t enough of the Butterfly Effect to set that in motion. “Thank you.” he murmured as he slid two crumpled bills onto the desk.
Five leaned in towards Vanya conspiratorially, “Don’t put this in the tip jar, I want just you to have it.” he whispered as he subtly placed $20 into her hand. She looked taken aback. “Just because you’ve been so helpful, today, speaking Spanish and everything.” he chuckled.
“Gr...acias?” Vanya murmured with a raised eyebrow. She grabbed a business card from the counter and scribbled her own number down on it. Five felt guilty that he was going to disappoint her by not eventually arranging lessons for his fake grandson. Vanya gently placed it into Five’s outstretched hand and gave him another genuine grin.
“It’s been so nice to see you.” Five choked out, hoping it wasn’t obvious in his voice how cut up he was. Vanya looked confused, but accepted his handshake “...you too.” she added in a bemused tone.