i don't know if you've ever noticed this, but first impressions are often entirely wrong. you can look at a painting for the first time, for example, and not like it at all, but after looking at it a little longer you may find it very pleasing. the first time you try blueberries, you may find them too strong, but when you are older, you may want to eat nothing but blueberries. matthew, when priscilla was born, did not like her at all, but by the time she was six weeks old, the two of them were thick as thieves. your initial opinion on just about anything may change over time.

i wish i could tell you that the six siblings' first impressions of their uncle reginald and their cousins were incorrect, as first impressions so often are. but these impressions - their cousins were strange people, and their uncle reginald's house was a depressing prison - were absolutely correct.

the following morning, matthew was the first cousin to wake up. after a few minutes, he heard priscilla was already awake.

"well, good morning," matthew said, his voice still half-groggy.

his little sister giggled. "matt!"

he chuckled, swinging his legs over the side of his bed, he stood up, gazing at his little sister, who was looking up at him with innocent eyes. "yep, it's big bro matt, at your service." he picked up the toddler, nuzzling her cheek with his own, making the little girl giggle.

matthew continued to nuzzle her, planting a few mock bites on her cheek. "mwuah! mwuah! mwuah!" he set his giggling sister on the floor. "there you go, cilla. go on, explore a bit."

ella woke up, rubbing her eyes. "did anyone get some decent sleep?"

"i still can't believe they have their training so late at night. what kind of kids have to train until the crack of dawn?" vivienne groaned.

the six siblings got ready and left their room and were greeted with the quiet of the house, which was almost eerie after the sounds of fighting and orders being shouted in the training room that they had tried to sleep through the previous night.

"are they awake?" fredrick asked to no one in particular, seeing that his cousins weren't present in the hall at all.

"i don't know," vivienne said, looking around. "maybe they're all still asleep."

matthew glanced at the clock on the wall next to the room's door. "it is still pretty early. they might still be in bed."

"i'll go check on them." ella volunteered. her older sister tendencies were arising again.

"you don't have to do that," fredrick said. "they're not going to explode or something just because they're in bed."

matthew was trying to flatten his curls in the mirror. "he's right. they're probably just relaxing this morning."

ella looked to the hallway, which she assumed was the hallway where her cousins were sleeping in. she didn't know which hallway though, but she did know that five slept farther away from the rest of his siblings. 

matthew, who was finally able to comb his curls down to an acceptable level, looked at his sister curiously. "what's wrong? you look like you want to go somewhere." 

"maybe our cousins are in the dining room." ella said. "come on, let's go check."

the dining room was empty, it's large table bare and the chairs pushed neatly under it. there was only one noticeable thing in the room, a small silver bell resting on the table.

matthew looked at the bell for a moment, then looked back at his other siblings. "so, they're not here. big shock."

"orbis." priscilla said from matthew's arms. who's gonna ring it?

there was a brief pause among the siblings as they all looked at each other, silently debating who would have to ring the bell and risk waking up their cousins.

just then, grace, the robot nanny, came into the room with a polite smile on her face. the children all knew that they could trust grace, since she was at least nice to them.

grace rang the bell, and before long, all seven of their cousins came down for breakfast.

each one of them looked like they didn't quite want to be there. klaus, who's eyes looked like they had just opened, was rubbing his eyes when he entered. vanya was quietly following behind the others, and ben looked like he'd rather be anywhere else in the world at that moment.

they were in their uniforms, which was probably the only thing that the six siblings had seen them in. other than the green tracksuits and the blue pajamas, but the one thing that was the most prominent on their cousins' clothes, was the umbrella insignia.

they all stood at their seats, the ordinary hargreeves, not knowing what to do, followed their example. and then they all sat down to eat once reginald arrived and sat down.

ella and matthew set camille and priscilla in their high chairs before sitting down to eat.

as they sat down to eat in awkward silence, reginald glanced over the six siblings, who were quietly eating their food, with a curious look.

"you children are surprisingly well behaved," he said. his voice sent chills down the siblings backs.

ella gave him another polite smile, before going back to her food.

more awkward silence. 

"last night's training was satisfactory." reginald broke the silence, facing his children. "you all need to work on your speed and strength, though. with the current power level, you would get absolutely destroyed in a real fight." 

the six siblings sat and listened as uncle reginald talked to their cousins, looking like they were watching their friend get scolded by their parents.

"number one. your punches were powerful, but far too slow. you could be taken down by a weaker enemy just because of the time it takes you to make impact."

luther looked down at his half-eaten plate of food. "yes, sir."

"number two," reginald continued. "you need to work on your aim and precision. i'm impressed that you can hit a target from such a distance, but you cannot be so sloppy when aiming."

diego clenched his jaw to keep himself from replying to his name being called out. He quietly nodded at reginald's comment, forcing himself to not give any kind of attitude.

"number three, your performance was satisfactory. the only thing i can say is that you have to keep up your stamina. you'll be of no use in a fight if you've passed out from exhaustion."

allison nodded, her face blank as she silently listened to her father's observations.

"number four, i appreciate the efforts you put into trying to master your powers, but your focus is too all over the place. you need to work on your telekinesis separately from your communication skills with the dead. you'll only hinder yourself if you try to do them at the same time."

klaus nodded, looking slightly more interested in the food on his plate than what he was saying.

"number five, you continue to surprise me," reginald said bluntly. "your improvement over the past week has been remarkable. your ability to focus has become better, now you need to work on how much you can focus at one time."

five, who's eyes had been fixed firmly on his plate until he was called out, raised his eyebrows in surprise. "yes, sir," he said, looking very slightly pleased.

"ben, your powers are impressive, but you mustn't be so timid to use them. you're afraid of what you can do, and that's only going to be problematic for you and the rest of the group." 

ben didn't verbally respond, only nodding his head and taking a big bite of the food on his plate.

reginald's gaze turned towards his ordinary nieces and nephews. he regarded them  for a moment. then he spoke. "your cousins are remarkable. all of them have extraordinary abilities."

they all nodded, trying not to look like they saw their uncle criticizing his own children right in front of them.

"each of them has a unique power," reginald continued. "they're capable of things beyond your imaginations."

matthew and fredrick exchanged a brief look, realizing that uncle reginald was attempting to showcase his own children as a tool to show how inferior they were.

reginald gave a small smile. "of course, you ordinary beings also have your... talents. perhaps you will learn to use them for greater good in the future."

the table went silent. the way reginald said "ordinary beings" stung slightly.

that breakfast was the most awkward breakfast in the history of awkward breakfasts.

the second the six ordinary ones were alone, matthew said, "you know what this is? bullshit."

ella jumped. "matthew! language!"

"it doesn't matter!" matthew yelled back, kicking one of the beds. "it doesn't matter!"

"matthew," ella said, glancing at priscilla, who she was currently holding, "you're scaring her."

"well i don't care!" matthew shot back, kicking the beds again. "he's treating us like we're nothing more than useless peons compared to his own kids! have you ever seen your friends have their parent call them 'ordinary?'"

"matthew-" vivienne began, slowly placing camille on the mattress.

"and he was criticizing all of them right in front of us!" matthew continued, his annoyance rising with every word he said. "he was picking out every little, microscopic detail he sees in every single one of them! they're his kids. how the hell can he pick them apart like that?!"

fredrick was trying his best to keep an eye on camille. "matt, calm down. you're upsetting the younger ones."

matthew turned toward fredrick, his eyes burning. "i don't care! they should know how messed up all of this is! we're practically treated like we're lower than them, just because they have powers and we don't!"

can you just shut up?!" vivienne snapped.

"don't fight!" ella said, standing in between them. "matt, stop it, please. look, we... we're all a bit upset, okay? but we can't take it out on each other. for better or worse, we're all we've got now."

matthew was about to reply, but fredrick spoke up. "she's right. fighting over something stupid like this won't solve anything."

he placed a hand on matthew's shoulder. "matt, i know it feels like we have no control anymore, but that doesn't mean we have to fight each other now. we're stuck here, and we have to stick together."

they stared at each other, and then matthew sat on the bed, staring blankly at nothing. after a second, ella sat next to him, still holding priscilla. camille crawled over, while vivienne and fredrick sat on the floor.

the room was quiet for a moment, save for the sounds of fredrick trying to distract camille with the toys.

he spoke up again. "what do we do now? we have to spend summer vacation here, with our cousins- who, I should mention, are all crazy- and uncle reginald, who's obviously a control freak who thinks just because he's the adult in this situation he can treat us like dolls he can just pick up and put away when he feels like it."

"but we have pogo and grace." ella said, "they're the only sane people in this house, anyways."

"true, they're about the only two that don't seem like they're completely gone in the head." vivienne chimed in.

matthew was still sitting on the bed, quiet, with an almost dead expression in his eyes.

priscilla crawled out of ella's arms and sat on his lap, playing with the threads of his sweater. 

matthew looked at priscilla and a small smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. He scooped her up in his arms and held her close, his eyes returning to life. he didn't say anything, but he didn't have to.

fredrick, noticing the difference in matthew's demeanor, spoke up again. "look, the only other thing we can really think about is dealing with our cousins."

"right." ella said bitterly. "our extraordinary cousins."

author speaks:

rip the six ordinary hargreeves you would have hated how your cousins ended up