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( how many times do i have to say goodbye tonight? )

chapter seven!

THE MORNING HAD BEEN EVEN MORE AWKWARD THAN VINCENT WOULD HAVE THOUGHT. The air was awfully tense and so was Five beside him. Vincent had barely slept at all, but had woken up when Five moved away from his side quickly and stood up. Vincent had opened his eyes slowly with a small groan of annoyance, glancing over at a wide-eyed Five who turned away from Vincent's gaze and moved to look through the yellow pages Vincent had found the night before.

Vincent had rolled his eyes. He knew this would happen, knew Five would never want anything to do with him. He knew Five would turn away, get tense and awkward if they ever even touched slightly. Five was starved of human attention anyway, Vincent knew he needed it in some form. Although, Five did not want that human contact with Vincent. He supposed Five would never want to talk about it, never want to explain why he laid against Vincent's side like it was the most normal thing in the world.

But Vincent didn't mind. He had liked the night before, liked the way Five was acting in his sleepy state. Nice to him, calling him old nicknames he thought he'd never hear again. He had always missed that. Five was the only person to ever show him even an ounce of kindness and he missed that. It wasn't wrong to miss something that made him happy. It wasn't wrong to want Five close to him in a entirely platonic way. It wasn't wrong for him to want Five to like him again, to call him Vince and smile at him more.

Vincent just wanted to be content. He had never asked to be necessarily happy, all he ever wanted was go just be at least content. He wanted to wake up in the morning and be able to smile gently at the simple idea that he was alive. He wanted to live with the known fact that he was loved and that someone wanted him here. But he could not. It seemed that no one wanted him here or even came close to loving him. Vincent didn't even want a particularly romantic relationship, something utterly platonic would be fine. Although, every friendship he'd ever had was based on him being funny enough to stick around.

Not with Five, though. With Five his friendship was so much more. Vincent rarely had to say something purposefully crude to make Five laugh. He didn't have to be a silly try hard that's only goal was to make people cackle with amusement like he'd always been. Five hadn't seemed to ever care about that.

Sure, Five and Vincent had shared a few rare laughs here and there. But they had never been from purposeful jokes on either party. The first time they had ever made each other laugh so hard their stomachs hurt was when Five had tripped over an electronically charged toy, yelping embarrassingly loud when it turned on and began to move. Five and Vincent had looked up at one another, smiles slowly curling at their lips before they both broke into laughter. They had laughed for a good 5 minutes.

The times after that weren't nearly as climactic, but they still made Vincent smile when he thought about them. He missed laughing over simple things like that. He missed not having to force a laugh around people he did not enjoy being around.

It seemed that, even still, the one person Vincent had a genuine smile around was Five Hargreeves, the bastard. Everytime Vincent was around him, an incurable grin would make it's way onto his face and he'd gravitate closer like his life depended on it. He didn't know what it was about Five that made him smile. That made his heart race and his face grow a fiery red for no explainable reason. Perhaps Vincent only wanted Five to see him in the way he saw Five. With a sense of pride and happiness, comfort that came around when he was around him. He wanted Five to smile when he saw him like Vincent did. He wanted Five's heart to race and palms to sweat like Vincent's did. He wanted Five to step closer and wrap his arms tightly around Vincent, hug him close for a long while.

Although, that would also never happen. A sense of being loved and being cared for was something Vincent Leblanc would never feel the privilege of having. His parents had hated him, Five hated him, his old friends who were now old and hunched, used him as their own personal joker. Vincent supposed he was impossible to love. He supposed he was simply repulsive in that manner.

Maybe he was difficult to love for the same reasons he did not love himself. He talked too much and was too vulgar. But if he shut his mouth he was too quiet and too boring. If he smiled wide he was too preppy and if he smiled lightly he was too sad. If he cried he was a pussy and a "poor excuse of a boy" and if he didn't cry he was emotionless and cold. If he tried to hug his friends he was called a pansy and if he stayed far away from them he was accused of hating his friends. It was a neverending cycle of things that would never ever seem to stop. He would always be contradicted and there was no way to make anyone happy.

Perhaps Vincent was just not meant to make anyone happy. Perhaps he was made to be a pawn in the game of others, the pawn in which they look back and think "maybe I shouldn't have done that." But they already did. And now it's messed the pawn up, created a whirlwind in his mind where everything he does is a contributor to the pool of hatred for himself that lays in the pit of his stomach. The idea that he's not meant to be loved lays atop it, playing in his mind over and over again like a broken record.

Vincent hadn't realized he'd had his hands placed over his face and his knees pressed up to his chest until he heard the voice of Five. "Vincent, you should probably get up. We have to go to the prosthetic place." Five spoke, back to his authoritative nature. Although, Vincent did not miss the slight tinge of gentleness to Five's voice that had not been there early in the day before.

Vincent had pulled his hands away from his face, moving to stand up slowly with a groan. "Why the hell are we doing this anyway? It's an eye, Five. Finding out who owns an eye won't do shit." Vincent grumbled under his breath, tired. He had barely gotten any sleep the night before, spending most of it staring down at a peacefully sleeping Five. Having Five so close to him throughout the entire night did not prove to help him sleep whatsoever. But he did eventually in an uncomfortable position, with his head digging back into the headboard painfully.

Five rolled his eyes, "It is not just some stupid eye. It's important. Extremely important. Luther... Luther was holding it in the end of the world." He spoke, voice growing softer and slower towards the end. Luther. Five's older brother, the one with the overly large muscles.

Vincent turned to face Five with furrowed eyebrows. "What? Weren't we the only two alive? You never told me shit about that." He started, stopping his beginning of a rant when he saw the tiny glare from Five.

"He was dead, Vincent. Along with my entire family." Five huffed, slamming the yellow pages shut hard. "Didn't you see your dead parents at one point? Weren't you sad?" He hissed out.

Ah. Vincent's dead parents. He had indeed seen them at one point, had told Five the whole story with a bit of holes in it. Vincent chuckled, shaking his head. "I did. But I wasn't sad." He shrugged, walking past Five to begin walking out of the motel room.

Five furrowed his eyebrows, following quickly. "How were you not sad? They're your parents.." He spoke, clearly not understanding it. He stayed close to Vincent's side, but didn't dare for their shoulders to accidentally touch. He couldn't handle the embarrassment.

Vincent chuckled again as they walked towards the prosthetic company, which was indeed only a few minute walk away. "They didn't love me, I did not love them. Understandable enough for you, Hargreeves? You should get that more than anyone." He spoke.

Five rolled his eyes. "That is not true. My father did not love me but I still cared when he died." He spoke, shrugging. He still didn't get it, and Vincent wasnt going to bother to tell him.

Vincent stayed silent as they walked, silent for a little until he opened his mouth. "You know who's hot?" He started, "Your sister. Both of your sisters, actually. Vanya and Allison." He continued. "I mean, I'm the gayest of the gays but they're stunning." He grinned.

Five rolled his eyes. "What does this have to do with anything? Stop trying to make me angry with you." He huffed out, crossing his arms over his chest like an angry toddler.

Vincent laughed. "I like talking. And pissing you off is so much fun!" He grinned. "It's kinky too. Want me to call you daddy?" He joked with a loud laugh.

Five rolled his eyes, flipping Vincent off. "Disturbing. That's so fucking disturbing." He chuckled lightly. "Just stop talking, Vincent." He spoke, but Vincent didn't miss the hint of a smile curling at the corners of his lips.

Vincent and Five walked the rest of the way in nearly complete silence, save for a few crude words from Vincent that resulted in Five slapping him on the shoulder hard. Once they got to the large building, Vincent's grin halted before coming back.

The pair had walked in, Five with a posture so greatly comparable to Vincent's. Vincent looked almost deflated beside him, other than the grin that overtook his lips and crinkled at the corners of his eyes. 

The pair both walked inside, Five talking to the receptionist before they got into an elevator and went up to the room the woman at the front desk had told them to go to. Five was rolling the eyeball between his fingertips, something that grossed Vincent out to no end.

The elevator dinged and they both stepped out, walking in the sterilized room over to a man, who looked rather confused to see two young boys in the building. "Uh... can I help you?" The man questioned, unkempt eyebrows furrowed. Vincent recognized him as the man from the photo with the blond woman Five had showed him the day before.

"I need to know who this belongs to." Five spoke casually, showing the man the glass eyeball but not handing it to him.

"Where did you get that?" The man asked, clearly confused as to how Five could have possibly just gotten an eyeball.

"What do you care?" Five questioned with a raised eyebrow. "I found it at a playground, actually." He shrugged, Vincent letting out a laugh from beside him that he masked with a cough. "Must have just," Five clicked his tongue. "Popped out." He chuckled, stepping closer. "I want to return it to its rightful owner."

"Oh what a thoughtful young man." The woman behind a desk spoke softly with a smile to which Vincent laughed, rolling his eyes. "Thoughtful indeed." He repeated with a grin.

Five chuckled lightly. "Yeah.." He trailed off. "Look up the name for me, will ya?" He spoke, a bit harshly. The woman's eyes widened at the sudden change in attitude.

"Uh.. I'm sorry but patient records are strictly confidential." The man spoke slowly, seeing Vincent's raised eyebrow. "That means I can't tell you."

Five rolled his eyes. "Yeah, we know what it means." He huffed, turning to glare at Vincent for a moment.

"But I'll tell you what I can do." The man began, speaking slower to them like they were tiny children. Vincent knew Five would not like that. "I will take the eye off your hands and return it to the owner." He spoke. "I'm sure he or she will be very grateful so if I can just-" The man reached out to grab the eye.

Five pulled his hand away, not allowing the man to get close. "Yeah, you're not touching this eye." He chuckled darkly.

The man's eyebrows raised in surprise. Now, you listen here, young man." He began, cut off by his own grunt when Five grabbed his collar and pulled him down to eye level roughly.

"No, you listen to me, asshole!" Five snapped. "I've come a long way for this, through some shit your pea brain couldn't even comprehend, so just give me the information I need, and I'll be on my merry way." Five grumbled, clearly annoyed. Vincent grinned from behind him. "And if you call us "young men" one more time, I'm gonna put your head through that damn wall." Five huffed out.

The woman behind the desk gasped. "Oh, dear." She spoke simply, making a move to call security. Five rolled his eyes, pushing the man back before walking out of the building with Vincent close behind.

They walked out, Five fuming with absolute irritation. Vincent chuckled. "Come on, Hargreeves. You're not gonna give up that fucking fast, are you?" He spoke.

Five rolled his eyes. "Of course not. I'm gonna ask my brother for help." He spoke, beginning to walk towards the Umbrella Academy mansion.

Once they'd gotten to the home of sorts, Five guided Vincent up to a room where a shirtless man with an odd pair of leather pants and no shoes on laid in his bed, playing with a lighter and talking to another man who sat at the end of the bed.

Five walked over, standing in front of the shirtless man, who looked over and grinned at the sight, sitting up quickly. "Klaus." Five greeted, nodding his head. "I need your help with something." He said simply.

Klaus, Five's brother who could see the dead, tilted his head to the side, raising his eyebrow. "With what? I can't just go around leaving teenagers favors." He joked with a wider grin, his white teeth peeking out. Vincent liked this guy.

Five rolled his eyes. "I'll pay you." He spoke, to which Klaus perked up. "20 dollars. Nothing more." He sighed, clearly not wanting to do that part. Vincent did not know why.

Klaus grinned. "Well suredy do, little bro." He snorted in amusement before looking over at Vincent. "And who's this? Boy toy?" He questioned, quirking up an eyebrow curiously.

Five was about to speak when Vincent cut him off. "Vincent Leblanc." He grinned. "Your brother loves me. Just fucking lays on all the layers of love he can." He spoke over dramatically, grinning wider when Five groaned.

"I do not!" Five protested, looking at Klaus, who's smile never left his lips. He looked utterly amused, laughing as he clapped his hands.

"Never expected to pass on the homo tendencies to you, Five. You're a lucky one. Could have been Luther who got it and then what the hell would we all do? Gay Luther is too powerful for all of us." Klaus joked with an almost cackle. "Wouldnt he be?" He asked, glancing over at the younger looking Asian boy who sat at the end of the bed.

Five looked confused, furrowing his eyebrows. He clearly did not see anyone where Klaus had looked, but Vincent did. Vincent definetly did.

Five raised his eyebrow. "Who the hell are you talking to?" He asked Klaus, to which klaus jumped and looked over.

Klaus grinned. "Well our dear brother, of course." He spoke loosely, glancing back over at the boy.

Vincent furrowed his eyebrows, stepping closer to the boy sitting at the end of the bed. The boy was staring right back at Vincent with wide eyes, clearly confused as to how he could possibly see him. The boy spoke up. "Uhhh.... Klaus, he can see me. This kid can see me. He can see me. What do I do?" He spoke quickly, speaking fast. Vincent laughed a bit.

Klaus's head snapped over quickly to look, furrowing his eyebrows. "You can see him? You can see Ben too?" He grinned wider than ever. Vincent looked up, nodding a bit. "Oh yippee. The more the merrier. Are you dead too?" He questioned.

Vincent stood up straight, looking around with a chuckle. Five looked entirely confused, Klaus looked ecstatic and the Ben boy on the bed was at a loss for words. "Not that I'm aware of. Pretty positive I would know if I was dead." He spoke, glancing back over at Ben for a moment.

Five raised an eyebrow. "Let me get this straight.... you both can see Ben? Klaus and I's dead brother?" He asked, clueless.

Klaus laughed. "I've been seeing good old Ben from the very day he died. Which you were not there for, by the way. Ben will never get over it." He gasped overdramatically. Ben rolled his eyes, muttering a "I did get over it."

Five furrowed his eyebrows. "Then how is Vincent seeing him too? Klaus I understand because that's his power but.... Vincent how can you see him?" He spoke.

Vincent shrugged. "I'm a fucking idiot, darling. You're asking the wrong person." He chuckled, shaking his head.

Klaus spoke up. "Now I too am a fucking idiot, but it probably has something to do with the fact that Ben is an interdimensional tentacle man." He shrugged with a grin.

Vincent shrugged. "Probably. I can go into different dimensions but I've never really done it. Guess that works out." He chuckled a bit.

Five huffed, rolling his eyes. "Well, it doesn't matter anyway. Klaus, I need you to do something." He got back on topic, looking up at Klaus.

Klaus sighed, looking back at Five. "Lay it on, Five. What is it you need me to do?" He grinned. "I'll do practically anything for a 20. Except for stripping. That's an extra 10 bucks." He spoke.

Five chuckled lightly in slight amusement. "Need you to pretend to be my father. I have to get something." He spoke, sparing details purposefully.

Klaus jumped up with a wide grin. "Perfect! I'm down. What should I wear?" He spoke excitedly, clearly on board with little to no convincing beforehand. Vincent grinned, he really did like this man.

Five rolled his eyes, "Something fancy. The fanciest thing you own. Please don't make it weird." He spoke.

Klaus huffed. "Fine! But... some of my clothes are in your closet. I stored them there when you were gone." He spoke slowly.

Five huffed. "Why would you do that?" He chuckled lightly. Klaus rolled his eyes with a grin.

"I have many clothes, Five! You're a bad gay." Klaus sighed dramatically before he began walking towards Fives room, everyone except Ben following. Ben disappeared instead.

"I'm not gay!" Five snapped back a bit, annoyed as they stepped into his room. He moved to sit on his bed. His room looked just as sophisticated as Vincent thought it would. Despite disappearing at the age of 13, his room was already something that exuded maturity.

Klaus laughed. "You tell yourself that, kid. You'll learn once you get a dick in your mo-" He was cut off by Five teleporting over to him quickly.

"Klaus! Shut the fuck up. Get in the closet, someone's coming." Five hissed out, pushing him into the closet in the corner of the room.

"Oh now you're forcing me back into the closet!?" Klaus joked with a wide grin, getting into the closet before Five closed it. Vincent simply sat down on Five's bed whilst Five looked out the window.

Vanya stepped in, a sigh of relief falling from her lips.

Vincent decided he did indeed like Vanya, but she seemed utterly suspicious in a way Vincent couldn't explain.

Vincent swore he'd figure her out.

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A/N: fuck I realized I missed the part where he goes to the prosthetic place and I had to go back in and add it so this chapter is super long lmao. also it's trash but its 3412 words lmao.