1994:

Riley – that’s what their mother and Pogo called them now.

The child liked the name.

Even if they didn't understand why their father didn't call them that and still addressed Riley as 'Number 8'.

Anyway, the child stood in the middle of the room and focused on their shield.

They just recently found out what Riley's power was and it would take a while before the child could fully control the shield.

Their Father, Pogo and their Mother stood by the little machine that shot balls in their direction.

It was Riley's job to make sure none of their siblings got hit by the plastic balls.

And so far it worked.

After some time passed, Riley felt confident enough to take a look around.

Luther and Diego worked on their combat skills, under Pogo's guidance. 

Klaus, who left the protective shield for a secound, threw balls that he grabbed at Ben.

Which was good training for Ben, who used his tentacles to fend off the balls.

Allison stood at the small board and tried to solve the puzzle.

And Five was standing not far from Riley, trying to jump.

So far he had only succeeded twice– the first time unintentionally and the second time intentionally.

Riley watched him for a few moments.

"Number 8, concentrate."

Riley looked away from Five and saw the yellow shield flickering.

The child stabilized the shield and smiled slightly.

At the same moment, Five tried, successfully this time, to jump.

He disappeared and stood next to Riley a blink of an eye later.

They smiled at the boy. Five smiled back.

Reginald closed his notebook and turned his gaze back to the children as Riley patted Five on the shoulder.

And suddenly all seven children disappeared and reappeared two meters to the left of where they were standing a second ago.

"Number 8, what did I just tell you?"

~~~~

"Ouch."

"Five, stay still, then it won't hurt as much," said Riley.

Riley was currently stitching up the small wound on Five's shoulder. They carefully cut the thread and put the needle away.

After that they grabbed a band-aid with locomotives on it and carefully stuck it onto the sewn-up wound.

Then they placed their fingertips on their lips and then on the plaster. 

"Done," said Riley.

While Riley put away the things they needed, Five put on a new shirt.

He grabbed a bag and motioned Riley to follow him.

Five opened the window and climbed out onto the fire escape.

He gave Riley his hand and helped them climb out the window, too.

Riley climbed down the fire escape first, followed by Five.

"Damn it, where's Dad's stuff?" they suddenly heard Klaus' voice.

Klaus was standing in the dumpster looking for something.

He threw the garbage bags back and forth and even carelessly into the alley.

"Klaus, don't throw garbage on the ground", said Riley and crossed their arms in front of their chest.

Klaus' head popped out of the dumpster.

"Oh, don't worry, I'll put them back, when I'm done."

The teenager didn't believe him.

But they had to trust their Brother, because they and Five had more important things on their minds.

"Shut up!" Klaus said after a moment.

Riley looked at him, thinking for a second that he would speak to them but he did not.

"– I'm trying to find whatever priceless crap was in that priceless box so that Pogo will get off my ass!"

Riley landed in the alley, still looking at Klaus.

They wondered who he was talking to.

"I'd ask what you're up to, Klaus," Five spoke as he landed next to Riley in the alley. "But then it occurred to me… I don't care."

"Five, be nice," Riley said.

Five rolled his eyes and Riley gave him a look.

"Hey!" Klaus addressed the two. "You know there are easier ways out of the house, right?"

"This one involved the least amount of talking," Five explained. "Or so I thought."

"Hey, hey, hey, so... You need any more company today?" asked Klaus, leaning against the dumpster.

"I could, uh... clear my schedule," he added, taking a sip from his hip flask.

"Looks like you've got your hands full," Riley said, looking disapprovingly at the flask he was holding in his hand.

"Oh, this? No, no. I can do this whenever," Klaus assured. "I'm just–"

Riley's brother slipped and disappeared into the dumpster.

Riley and Five heard clattering.

"I just misplaced something. That's all. Oh! Found it! Thank God!"

Klaus sighed, reappeared, now holding an old bagel in his hand.

Don't do it, Riley thought. But Klaus bit into the old bagel. The teenager grimaced in disgust.

"Delicious," Klaus said unconvincingly.

“I’m done funding your drug habit,” Five said.

He and Riley turned at the same time and walked towards the van.

"Come on! You don't–" Klaus tried again. "Maybe I just wanna hang out with my siblings."

"¡Mi hermano!" Klaus called after Five. "I love you! Even if you can't love yourself!"

"We love you, too", assured Riley, as they reached the van.

The boy opened the car door for Riley before getting into the driver's seat himself.

Which was unusual, because normally Riley was the one who drove.

~~~~

Five parked the van near the entrance to the lab where the eye was made… or still would be made?

Riley wasn't sure.

Five didn't take his eyes off the entrance, while twirling the wedding band he now had to wear on his thumb.

Riley brought a book from home and was already on the second chapter.

The boy looked at them for a moment with a fond smile while they were reading.

Five was glad they were with him during the apocalypse.

He knew it sounded selfish– he knew that it was selfish.

But if he hadn't taken Riley with him back then, he would have spent all those years alone and he and Riley would never have found each other.

After all, it took him long enough to realize that he not just liked them.

That he saw them as more than a friend or a sibling.

Five remembered it very well.

That specific day, the two barricaded themselves in their hideout.

It wasn't much but it sheltered them both while the sandstorm past the city they staying currently.

Riley and Five sat together by the fire. Riley was reading the book they just found that day.

From the look on their face, Five could see what was happening in the Book.

After all these years he managed to learn to read their face.

When something nice happened, they smiled and when something unpleasant happened, they wrinkled their nose.

At that moment, Riley looked up and noticed Five looking at them.

Riley smiled at him and then looked back at their book.

Later, Five realized it was that smile. That smile had made Five fall in love with Riley.

Five was brought out of his memories by a knock on the window.

"Five! Riley!"

Luther opened the door.

Riley climbed out of their seat

Five wanted to tell Luther to go away and Riley to sit back down again, but they already stood behind the two seats.

"What are you…" Luther mumbled and tried to squeeze into the passenger seat.

"Oh, my God..."

Luther managed to sit down and close the door.

Five and Riley looked at each other, before turning back to Luther.

"You okay?" he asked the teenagers.

"You shouldn’t be– How did you find us?" Five wanted to know.

"Um…"

Riley, Five and Luther turned around.

Klaus stood in the back of the truck, dancing with himself.

"Hey, a little privacy, guys."

Five threw a drinking can at Klaus

Without hesitation, Five threw something, Riley couldn't see what, at him.

"Get out! You can't be here! We're in the middle of something", Five told his brother.

Klaus ignored that, walked up to the seats and stood next to Riley.

"Any luck finding your one-eyed man?" asked Klaus.

"No," Riley replied and the other teenager shook his head.

“What’s he talkin’ about?” Luther wanted to know.

"Does it matter? It's Klaus."

Riley lightly hit Five in the back of the head.

"He's our brother," they hissed.

The teenager actually showed a little guilt for a moment, but it quickly disappeared.

Riley left it at that and turned away from Five.

Klaus looked at them thankfully and they smiled back.

Five rolled his eyes and addressed Luther.

"What do you want, Luther?"

"Um... So, Grace may have had something to do with Dad's death," Luther began to say. "So I need you to come back to the academy, all right? It's important."

"'It's important'. You have no concept of what's important."

"Hey! Did I ever tell you guys about the time I waxed my ass with chocolate pudding?" Klaus tried to change the subject. "It was so painful."

Riley had to suppress a smile.

"Did it work?" they wanted to know.

Klaus' face lit up.

He knew that they had a lot on their mind. But he was glad that at least they tried to care.

He opened his mouth to say something, but Luther interrupted him.

"What are you still doing here?" he asked Klaus.

"What? I– What?" Klaus stuttered. "I need an excuse to hang out with my family?"

"We're trying to have a serious conversation."

"What, and I'm incapable of being serious? Is that what you're saying?"

"Luther’s got a point, you should get out," said Five.

"What?" Klaus muttered

"Guys, when it comes to family, Klaus has a right to be there," Riley pointed out.

"Thank you," said Klaus. "So what's it about?"

Luther and Five didn't answer and looked ahead through the window.

Klaus then climbed out of the van.

"Fine!" he said.

"Klaus, wait–" Riley tried to stop him, but Klaus slammed the car door shut right in front of their face.

"You're both complete idiots," Riley hissed at Luther and Five.

"And yet you married one of then," replied Five, grinning sarcastically at them.

"Don't make me regret it," Riley muttered.

The corners of Five's mouth twitched upwards. He knew full well that they didn't regret it and never would.

"What the hell are you up to?" Luther changed the subject.

"You wouldn't understand," said Five.

"Try me. Last I checked, I'm still the leader of this family."

Riley rolled their eyes.

They didn't understand that Luther still valued it so much. After all they were adults now.

"Well, last I checked, Five and I'm 28 years older than you," Riley replied.

Five nodded in agreement.

"You know what your problem is, Five?" asked Luther.

"Really hoping you'll tell me."

"You think you're better than us. You always have. Even when we were kids–"

Luther made a short, dramatic pause.

"But the truth is, you and Riley are just as messed up as the rest of us. We're all you two have. And you know it."

"I don't think that I'm better than you, Number One," Five corrected his brother. "I know we are."

Luther said nothing in response. There would be no point in discussing this with Five. 

"I've done unimaginable things, things you couldn't even understand."

Riley knew only too well what unimaginable things Five meant.

They knew that Five hadn't told them everything and even he wouldn't forgive himself for some things.

Riley knew that. They saw it in his eyes sometimes. This fear that Riley would leave him if they found out.

The teenager would never ask Five about these things.

And they also knew that they would never leave Five.

Five had never told Riley but they were the reason he was still sane.

Everything he had done, all the missions he had gone on, he had done it to protect Riley.

He hadn't told Riley, but Riley knew

It was the way Five always treated them well and took care of them.

The two of them had been through so much together. They are a team and they would stay that way as long as they lived...

... just as they promised each other.

"Right," Luther interrupted Riley's thoughts.

"Just to get back here and save you all," Five muttered.

As if on cue, Klaus ran around the street.

He had his pockets and arms full of candy and was running away from a police officer.

"Hey, bitches!"

The policeman kept blowing his whistle and shouted "You, get back here!"

Men were walking on the street without thinking about it when a taxi had to slam on the brakes to avoid hitting Klaus.

"Out of the way, asshole!"

"Now I'm starting to wonder if that was the wisest decision," Five commented on the scene.

He glanced briefly at Riley, who twisted their face into a painful smile.

"I'll take care of it."