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There was a second, waiting with bated breath, that Five had sincerely hoped that Vanya would be able to shatter the wine glass. Just like Reginald had tried to get her to when they were four. He waited, hoped, and nothing.
Vanya dropped her stance, slumping down a bit in defeat, obviously dejected. They’d been working on her training for nearly two hours, with very little results. There had been a few early successes, five glasses were nicely shattered, seven had been cracked beyond usage but not shattered, and the remaining five glasses, all of which had been ‘borrowed’ from the bar, remained in perfect condition.
Five knew that, if he really wanted to, he could push Vanya to keep practicing, to either shatter or crack another wine glass. He could, and she’d listen. But, that sounded like something Reginald would do, and that was the absolute last thing that Five wanted to do. Emulate Reginald in any possible way, but especially not when he was with Vanya.
Rather than continue on training, and when Five noticed the saddened look on Vanya’s face, knowing that she was blaming herself for not being able to magically have perfect control of her powers in an instant, despite how convenient it would be if she did, he instead decided that he was going to get her to stop being upset and be happy, well, happier.
Trying to think of ways he could accomplish his goal, preferably without causing too much noise or using his powers, considering that Reginald still didn’t know that they knew about Vanya’s powers, along with all the manipulation and lies he’d spread to the rest of them to keep her from finding out, Five figured it was best to be as discrete as possible. The only way they’d been able to be in the training room, practicing Vanya’s powers in the first place was because someone, who will remain unnamed, accidentally took out the camera that had been set up and Reginald hadn’t been able to get it fixed. (A few missing parts and tools helped with slowing the process)
Then, it hit him. The perfect idea.
“I’ll be right back.” Five told Vanya, waiting for her to give him a short, still sad, nod before jumping into Luther’s room. Unsurprisingly, he found Luther and Allison sitting together on Luther’s bed, awfully close for people who still denied being in a relationship. Children . “I need to borrow your record player Luther.” Five said, one hand already on the device, the other pulling one of the few classical records that were a part of the collection Luther had, one that Vanya had mentioned as one of her favorites. (Not forgetting that she’d enjoyed listening to it, despite Luther only playing it once as ‘He’ ( Allison ) had claimed he didn’t like classical music that much.
Before Luther, or Allison, could protest Five, and Vanya, borrowing his record player, Five jumped back into the training room, finding Vanya picking up some of the bigger shards of glass from the wine glasses, most of which were already in the bin Five had been storing them in after taking them from the bar. But, when he landed Vanya quickly, and carefully, stopped picking up glass shards and looked over at him, thankfully already in a slightly improved mood since he’d left for a mere minute at most.
“Five,” Vanya said, “why do you have Luther’s record player? Are we gonna use it for more training?”
There was a mixed look of sadness and interest on Vanya’s face, while Five shook his head telling her, “Nope. We’re gonna take a break from training for a bit.”
“Then, why bring the record player?” Vanya asked him.
Five, rather than immediately answering her, not ignoring Vanya’s question, he plugged the record player in, after settling it on a box that did not hold glass shards near the sole outlets in the training room, and carefully set the record onto the player and dropped the needle before jumping to Vanya’s side.
And, rather than being a bit startled like anyone else would’ve been, she gave him a small, excited smile before it practically dissolved in front of him, before she asked, “What are we doing then Five?”
Again, rather than immediately answering her, again not ignoring Vanya’s question, Five instead took a hold of one of Vanya’s hands and guided it to his shoulder, taking a hold of Vanya’s other hand while his first hand settled, carefully, onto her waist.
At first, Vanya has been tense, unsure of what he’d planned; but as quickly as she’d tensed, Vanya relaxed in his hold, a playful smile on her face met the smirk on his. “Do you trust me?” Five asked, even though he knew her answer before the nod and soft ‘yes’ spilled from her lips, emboldening the smirk on his face ever so slightly more as he told her, “Just follow my lead.”
Five, as the one with more formal ballroom dance training, because that was something they needed to learn, took the lead while Vanya, who knew more than Five had suspected, and would definitely ask about later, simply followed. While they dance, Five, not that he’d’ve told Vanya, could feel her pounding heartbeat in the palm of her hand, and also felt it slow, until he could no longer feel it quite as easily, just as Vanya rested her head on his chest. Never had Five been so pleased to be in a child’s, although now they were roughly seventeen, body, relishing in the whole three inches he’d gained on Vanya.
As much as he wished they could stay like that forever, silently swaying together to the music, not really dancing anymore; they both knew they’d have to return to reality, and the forevermore eternal hell of living under Reginald’s roof, again . And the telltale sound of a clicking cane, indicated that Pogo was nearing the training room, and, in turn, causing to Vanya quickly pulling away from him with a look of panic.
In yet another quick decision, Five took a hold of Vanya’s hands and jumped them both up to his bedroom, abandoning the record player which was going to most definitely get Luther into trouble if Reginald found it, but Pogo hopefully wouldn’t say anything about it.
Upon landing in his bedroom, Vanya, who was not nearly as used to spatial jumping as Five was, nearly toppled over; and would have if Five hadn’t still had a hold on her hands, keeping her steady. “Are you okay?” Five asked, having waited a moment as Vanya regained her balance, who gave him a quick nod.
Just as Five was about to ask Vanya about their next training session, she perked up mere seconds before the bell Grace used to call them for meals rang out, giving them a five minute warning. Vanya, seemingly suddenly, regained a newfound confidence; one Five didn’t see often, but loved seeing. There was a look in her eyes, one that Five very much liked, as it often led to something he’d wanted to do with Vanya for nearly fifty years.
Vanya pushed up onto her toes, Five leaning down slightly, his lips meeting hers. Every time they kissed, it gave him the same rush of excitement, and oddly
nerves
, just like he’d felt the very first time they’d kissed. The night before he’d left, forever seared into Five’s mind as the biggest mistake he’d ever made in his life. Pushing the tainted memory away, Five cupped the side of Vanya’s face, ignoring the slow burning in his lungs as what had started as a simple kiss evolved into a near makeout until a knock on Five’s door startled both of them.
“Five?” Ben, at least is was their least intrusive sibling, “Are you coming?”
While Vanya frivolously tried to fix any stray hairs on her head in preparation for dinner with Reginald, there weren’t any out of place anyhow, but regardless, Five called back to Ben, in hopes of avoiding any further questioning or scrutiny, “Yeah, I’ll meet you down there.”
And, it worked. Ben left with the parting message through the door along the lines of ‘seeing him soon’ and ‘he better not be late’ before walking away. He waited for Vanya to tell him when Ben had walked back downstairs, their brother not wanting to be late to dinner and incur the wrath of Reginald. And once Vanya told him the coast was clear, Five took a hold of Vanya’s hands again, jumping into her abysmally small bedroom. Five waited for Vanya to, once again, regain her balance before pressing a quick kiss to her lips, and telling her “I love you, Vanya Hargreeves.”
Five, being the narcissistic man he is, waited for Vanya to tell him, “And I love you, Five Hargreeves.” dissolving into childish giggles and a bright smile on her face; which undoubtedly caused a smirk, a smile, to find its way onto his own face before he jumped downstairs to face the proverbial devil.