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Luther heard a small knock on the frame of his open bedroom door, startling him out of his monthly rearranging of all the model planes and trinkets he had on his shelf. He looked up from the small music box in his hands, his fingers too big to wind the turning peg anymore.
“Oh, hey Five,” Luther greeted as he turned to see the small figure in the doorway, his shoulders hunched and his hands stuffed in the pockets of the hoodie that he was wearing. Luther thought that he remembered Viktor wearing the same hoodie just the other day, Five spared no time in stealing clothes.
As he stood in the doorway, Five rocked on his heels, eyes narrowed while he examined the room like a predator examining prey. His gaze shifted from the empty shelves on Luther’s wall, then to the pile of trinkets on his bed, and then back to Luther, all in quick succession.
He always seemed like he was looking through Luther rather than at him, something far away in his eyes that lingered every once in a while when he stared at them. But Luther had long since gotten used to his observations. He did it a lot, it was hard to still be uncomfortable about it.
“Can you take me to the Library?” Five asked bluntly after a momentary pause, he raised one eyebrow expectantly.
Luther wasn’t able to hide how the question caught him off guard. He was sure Five noticed something on his face because he almost backed up out of the doorway, one foot scuffing against the wooden floors, easing himself down on his heel as if he were prepared to make an easy escape if the situation turned into something unsavory.
Why was Five asking Luther to take him to the library? Normally Five would just go himself, coming up with some sort of suitable method of transportation himself whether that meant walking, taking the bus, or even risking the over-exertion of a long-distance spatial jump.
Nowhere in his normal library visits did he ever accommodate another person. They were honestly lucky if Five told them whenever he was going to the library, although he had been doing a little better at doing that lately. At least since the last time they had almost got the police involved because he had disappeared for well over a day.
If it were anyone else, Luther probably would have told them to go to Diego or Viktor or someone else who could drive legally. He was cleaning his room, something he had been putting off for the past few days and was just now getting started on. And if he were being honest, he hadn’t been prepared to leave the academy today, and so found himself inappropriately dressed for going out in public.
But it was Five in front of him right now.
Five who never asked anyone to take him somewhere. Five who rarely even told them where he was going half the time. Five who had been struggling to adjust to normal life without an apocalypse looming overhead because he never had an actual life outside of total annihilation.
Five who got lonely whenever he was alone in a room for a couple hours, even if the house was still full of life.
Whenever Five deviated from his regular habits, Luther couldn’t help himself but worry. Five was not the type of person to break routine or do anything out of the ordinary. He went to the library by himself, and he never asked someone to take him. He got there by himself, did what he came to do by himself, and then got home by himself.
“Okay,” Luther said without even making a decision in his head. “I need to get dressed first.”
“I’ll wait downstairs,” Five responded with a small nod, an unreadable expression crossing his face, somewhere halfway between relief and excitement.
Five was always difficult to read. He didn’t show emotions like a normal person, his expressions were always slightly off, and the gestures he made didn’t seem to mean what everyone else thought they did. Luther couldn’t help but wonder if that was from the isolation, or if he had picked things up from his time at the commission.
Five stared at Luther for a second longer, examining him like he had done before, and then he turned and walked away, leaving Luther a little baffled and slightly concerned. But, well, it was Five. They had all been in a near-constant state of slightly concerned when it came to him.
Luther got dressed as quickly as he could into something a little more presentable to appear in public, tugging on his gloves as he made his way down the stairs. His heavy footfalls revealed his location easily and so it was no surprise that once he got to the foyer, he noticed Five staring right at him from his small perch sitting on the plush bench.
He had a stack of books in his lap, his hands resting casually over the cover of the topmost book, his fingers drumming idly against the spine. They were all thick books, not textbooks, but no short feat either. Luther couldn’t believe that he had managed to read them all since the last time he had gone to the library.
Well, he supposed that Five didn’t have much else to do with his day, and he did spend a lot of the time reading. So maybe it actually did make sense.
“You ready to go?” Luther asked although he had no idea why Five would be waiting in the foyer if he wasn’t ready to go.
In response, Five simply nodded, gathered his books in his arms, pressed them tightly to his chest, and pushed himself up to his feet.
Luther grabbed the car keys on the hook by the door, still not fully sure why Five had asked him of all people to take him to the library. Yes, he knew how to drive and could do so without getting pulled over, but he didn’t fit well in normal vehicles, and it was a bit of a hassle for him. Anyone else could have had an easier time taking him. So there had to be some other reason why he wanted Luther to go with him.
And he knew that it wasn’t because Luther was the only one home. He knew for a fact at least Diego was home because Luther had seen him pass by earlier in sweatpants and a tank top.
They piled into the car about as ungracefully as a seven-foot-tall ape man and a scrawny kid carrying a pile of heavy books could. That is to say that it went poorly and that Five would probably be having a couple fresh bruises on his knees later.
But then they were off to the library, the radio playing some random pop station softly, and the air conditioning rattling with the effort of a several-year-old engine barely able to keep up. Five sat silently, knocking his heel against the side of the car quietly, idly fidgeting. It didn’t bother Luther who had dealt with louder thumping noises during his time on the moon.
The library wasn’t far away, ten minutes at most. Luther was about to pull up to the front to drop Five off and tell him to call when he wanted to come home, figuring that Five wanted to spend some time alone and thoughtfully pick out his books.
But then, Five looked over at the entrance to the library and then at Luther and asked, “Do you want to come in with me?”
And because it was Five and this behavior didn’t make sense for him, Luther said, “Sure.”
He parked the car and followed Five inside, unfamiliar with the massive library that they had arrived at. Luther had only been in the library a handful of times in his life, although it had never been to just get a book and read. Maybe he should try that sometime. Maybe not today, but that was something that he would like to do.
Five immediately zeroed in on a small hole in one of the walls with a “book return” label. He shoved his books in the hole one by one, listening to the heavy thump, loud enough that Luther grimaced each time. Five then turned, surveyed the shelves of books all around them, and then set off in one direction that to Luther, seemed completely random.
“When did you ever have time to get a library card?” Luther asked, shuffling awkwardly behind Five, and trying not to draw too much attention to himself in the process. Five was at the library often enough that he had to have some kind of Library card. Although Luther didn’t know what kind of information was needed to get a library card, he was sure Five didn’t have it.
“It’s Viktor’s,” Five responded easily, shrugging his shoulders lightly, reaching into his pocket to reveal an old dingy-looking card. “He doesn’t use it that much anyway and I needed something to do.”
“Oh,” Luther hummed to himself. He supposed that made sense. They were never really allowed to leave the academy when they were younger, let alone go to the library for anything but a mission. That must have been one of the things that Viktor did once he left.
Five led them up a set of stairs to the second floor, looking around once more at the shelves of books around them, surveying the subjects. Then he apparently decided the selection on this floor wasn’t to his current taste and took them up another flight of stairs to the third floor.
Luther didn’t know if he was supposed to follow Five around or if that would be weird. He always felt awkward hovering behind people, especially when he was a good few heads taller than them. This feeling was exacerbated with Five.
Spotting an empty table just a few shelves down, Luther nudged Five’s arm, “I think I’m going to sit over there. Let me know when you’re ready to go.”
Five looked from Luther to the table. He nodded once and stalked off to find some interesting books for the week.
Trying not to break the chair or the table, Luther gently eased himself down on one of the relatively small wooden chairs. It creaked when he sat down and Luther froze, expecting the worst. But it held, and he could relax comfortably in the quiet space while he waited for his brother.
The library was pretty empty at the moment, only the occasional person passed by with one or two books in their hands. Nothing like the massive stack that Five had entered and probably would exit with. He heard someone cough from behind him, so at least one other person was sitting nearby, maybe waiting just like Luther was.
It seemed like the third floor of the library was populated with science and history books. A couple magazine racks and some old newspapers, but nothing that Luther would consider too interesting. Five was always reading these kinds of books, physics, math, and sciences. It was always about his own research and things he could apply to his powers. Ever practical.
Maybe it would do Five some good to read something that wasn’t only solely practical to his powers. Something fun. Something that might get his mind off of every awful thing that went through his head all the time. Luther might suggest that when Five came back.
In the meantime, Luther was stuck doing a whole lot of nothing besides twiddling his thumbs and watching the occasional person walk by, or a librarian pushing a cart. Librarians paid him no mind, but the occasional average civilian sometimes cast a curious glance in Luther’s direction. He was starting to regret picking a table out in the open.
But before he could decide to pick a new table, a mop of familiar brown hair turned the corner from one of the shelves. Five returned carrying a large book that looked like it was about math.
“They always have a good selection of math books,” Five said, setting the book down on the table Luther was sitting at. The cover advertised some form of advanced calculus with a crazy circular pattern underneath the title.
“I’m sure you’re the only one checking them out,” Luther said lightly.
Five hummed in amusement, “Probably right.” He idly turned the cover and flipped through a few pages. “It’s better that way, then I don’t have to wait for the good books.”
“That’s true,” Luther watched Five flip through the pages of the book, the numbers and letters on the page looking like nothing more than gibberish to Luther, who knew about as much math as their father bothered to teach them when they were younger. Which wasn’t a lot.
“I’ll be back,” Five decided, shutting the book and starting to walk away before Luther could even say anything.
Luther stared at the book on the table, it seemed heavy. That’s probably why Five had asked Luther to come along. He needed someone to watch his books while he found other books, or someone to hold such heavy textbooks, even though Luther knew Five wasn’t as weak as he looked. Even in a thirteen-year-old body, he could hold his own.
Since there was nothing else to do, Luther thumbed through the pages of the math book, reading a few incomprehensible paragraphs here and there, staring at figures of equations or diagrams that made no sense. All of it was way too advanced for Luther who only knew a few more practical applications of physics and math for spaceships and stuff like that.
A few minutes passed, and Five returned with another book, something about matter and mass and a little smaller than the other one, awkwardly shaped in a way that would make carrying uncomfortable.
“Why don’t you pick something a little more interesting for me to look at while I wait,” Luther said, mostly as a joke since he wasn’t necessarily bored thumbing through the intelligent books that Five wanted to read. Five seemed to take that seriously though, staring down at the books he had already selected with a furrowed brow as if he couldn’t understand what was uninteresting about them.
“What do you like to read?” Five asked, way more genuine than Luther would ever have expected.
“I don’t really read much, I’m just kidding,” Luther waved his hand dismissively, “it’s fine.”
Five blinked at him, but then shrugged and disappeared back into the maze of books.
That repeated a couple more times, Five would return with another book, Luther would flip through it for a while until Five would return with another one and then Luther would switch. It wasn’t too boring. Five was very talkative today, more so than normal, and he would stop to talk to Luther for a little bit until he went back to look for another book.
It was nice. Luther didn’t get to talk to Five much. Five was often grumpy and snappish, he rarely engaged in much conversation, opting to stay behind and listen to the various conversations going on around him, occasionally chiming in with a sarcastic comment of his own. It was a lot different than what Luther remembered when they were younger.
Maybe in a way, this was nice because it reminded Luther of when they were both kids and they had to beg Five to shut up because he had been rambling for too long and they had other things to discuss in their rare moments of free time.
Luther was hoarding a stack of about five books at the table when Five returned again with another book. He hesitated before setting it down on the table, almost as if he were embarrassed which was weird, he didn’t think Five was ashamed of pretty much anything.
When Luther saw the cover, he understood Five’s sudden sheepishness.
It was about the moon and the surrounding solar system with a massive high-quality image of the Earth’s moon right on the cover.
“You don’t need a book to tell you about the moon,” Luther said, almost jokingly, “I could tell you all about it myself.”
Five shifted his weight from foot to foot, hovering right next to Luther at the table. “What was it like on the moon?”
Luther was surprised, no one really asked about his time on the moon except for the occasional awkward curiosity. Five had never asked about it, although he always listened whenever Luther answered other people’s questions. And even then, those were always slightly glamorized versions.
That wasn’t what Five wanted though.
“Lonely,” Luther said, leaning back in the wooden chair with a heavy creak. “It was beautiful at first, well, it was always beautiful, but that seemed to make the loneliness easier.”
Five stared at Luther intensely, and the weight of his stare seemed to hold a lot more than just curiosity. There was a certain kind of sadness in the understanding on his expression. Luther would indulge any of his questions with honesty. There was no point in hiding any details from Five.
“Must have been quiet,” Five sat down on the other chair at the table, fidgeting with his hands.
“Yeah, I listened to a lot of music though,” Luther admitted, “I had plenty of CDs to play.”
Five swallowed and nodded, “That’s nice at least.”
“It was good when I had something to focus on, a sort of routine,” Luther continued, staring at the book Five had just brought, flipping through the pages with graphics of the moon and other nearby planets. The pictures didn’t do any justice to the real thing. “Wake up, eat breakfast, stretch, take samples, study previous samples, etc. I had something to do, a purpose at least. I knew why I was up there and what I was supposed to be doing.”
“But that never lasts…” Five mumbled absently, no longer looking at Luther while he talked.
“Did you have a routine?” Luther asked, “In the apocalypse… that is? Or was it just surviving to see the next day?”
“Kind of both…” Five said, “I tried to stay in one place for a while, and when I was there I could count supplies, fix things I needed, talk to Delores… stuff like that. But I was never in one place for long, eventually, the supplies always ran out.”
“And then the routine kind of starts to fall apart?” Luther asked, knowing what it was like the moment he stopped caring, the moment he started to lose hope, and the moment the peaceful silence became agonizingly quiet. Five probably didn’t have music or anything to listen to in the apocalypse.
“Yeah,” Five agreed and they both went silent for a while. Luther continued to flip through the books, not really looking at it anymore.
Luther glanced up to see Five glaring at the table, his expression tight and dangerous.
“I’m glad to be back on Earth,” Luther said, trying to lighten the mood a little bit.
“I think I would’ve liked to see the moon just once,” Five decided, leaning his chin on his hand with his elbows on the table.
“You probably would’ve loved the view,” Luther smiled faintly, almost laughing to himself. Five shrugged but snorted in what almost sounded like a laugh.
“I’m glad to be back in a non-destroyed Earth too,” Five finally admitted, looking off into the distance shelves, not really focusing on anything.
“Back where we belong,” Luther nodded.
“Mostly,” Five fidgeted with his hands, twisting his fingers in a way that almost would’ve been painful if Luther had copied him.
Five stared at the pile of books on the table, including the one that Luther was still flipping through.
“I think I’m ready to go back now,” he decided, “I’ve got enough books.”
“Okay,” Luther agreed, since he was really only here for the ride, well, he was here as the ride. He didn’t need to look at anything himself.
Five leaned over the table and gathered his massive books in his arms with a slight effort, hauling them close to his chest so he could take them to the counter. Without even looking at the card, Five punched in the account numbers with surprising speed and scanned the books he picked out. Luther offered to carry the books but Five refused, claiming he could do it himself.
Then soon enough they were back in the car and Luther was pulling out of the library parking lot.
“Thanks for taking me,” Five mumbled, looking out the window.
“No problem,” Luther said easily. He was just happy to get to spend some time with Five, something he had neglected in their youth and since he had gotten back.
They drove in silence for most of the way back to the academy while Five flipped through the books he got with his thumb, feeling the pages slip against his skin. If he tried to actually read them, Luther was pretty sure he would get car sick, although Five never admitted it, he had seen him stumble and wobble a few times after getting out of the car.
Then they were back at the academy and the spell that had fallen between them was over.
“Let me know if you read anything interesting,” Luther told him earnestly.
“I will,” Five said with a nod and disappeared to one of the various hidden corners in the academy to read his books. Luther returned to his bedroom to continue cleaning and rearranging like he had been doing before, just like nothing had happened at all.