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❛ ᴛʜᴇ ʙ. ʙ. ᴇꜰꜰᴇᴄᴛ​​​​​​​​​​. ❜ ° . ༄
- ͙۪۪˚   ▎❛ 𝐓𝐄𝐍 ❜   ▎˚ ͙۪۪̥◌
»»————- ꒰ ʙʀᴏᴛʜᴇʀʟʏ sʜᴏᴠᴇ ꒱　


❝ WE CAN LAUNCH CORN
DOGS INTO SPACE & GET
MARTIANS HOOKED! ❞

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Klaus, Ben and Alexa were in the girl's room doing homework— or at least, Ben and Alexa were doing homework. Klaus was sitting in Alexa's spinny chair as he swiveled around in lazy circles. The blonde figured on a scale of one to ten of how high her brother was he was about a four.

She'd become surprisingly good friends with the duo since Five disappeared, even tolerating Klaus' craziness— at least to some extent. There was a comfortable silence in the room which was occasionally interrupted by giggles let out by the curly-haired boy in her chair. This was interrupted by him gasping loudly as what would be called a thought for a normal person came to him. "Guys, guys, guys— I've got it!"

He'd had his head tilted back but now he was looking between their unimpressed faces as he waited for a reaction. 

"I hope it's the answer to number eleven," Alexa said grumpily. 

Ben's face lit up. "You're having trouble with that too? I got—" 

"Guys," Klaus whined. 

Ben rolled his eyes. "Fine, what's your idea?" 

"We launch corn dogs into space and get martians hooked!"

"Why?" asked he flatly.

"I don't know, it's just an awesome idea!"

The blonde glanced at her not-high brother. "I think it's Ben's turn to use your single brain cell."

The said teen let out an indignant protest and Klaus snorted. "And how many brain cells do you have Alexander the Great? Like, ten?"

She gave him an amused look and stuck her tongue out at him. "At least that's nine more than you, idiot."

He grinned at her. "UWU." 

Alexa looked at him incredulously as she asked, "how the hell did you say that out loud?" 

☂☂☂

Alexa let out her umpteenth sigh in the last ten minutes they'd been sitting outside the Meritech building. They'd seen nothing in that much time and Five preferred sitting in silence than talking. The blonde had brought along her lesson plan for a future class but as the state of the world was up in the air, she wasn't too focused on it.

"This is so boring!" she groaned. "At least when we were younger we were too scared of disappointing dad to notice."

Five didn't move his eyes from the entrance of the building. "If it helps, you can worry about disappointing me."

Alexa snorted. "Sorry, but you're not as scary as a psychopath."

The boy rolled his eyes since she didn't really know everything. If she did, he was pretty sure she'd take that statement back. Suddenly, he leaned forward as the doctor— Lance— walked up the steps of the building and disappeared inside. Alexa had noticed and commented, "and now we wait. Can we at least play twenty questions or something?"

He didn't answer as he turned around and unzipped the bag that held Dolores. "Sorry you were in there for so long." He paused before he added, "no, I'm not drunk. I'm working."

The blonde sighed as he placed the mannequin in between them. He seemed to hear something she 'said' and answered, "yes, it's about the eye thing. This is the place that it's made— or will be made."

Alexa shifted in her seat and looked down at the papers in her lap. It suddenly hit her: she might not see another Monday. While that normally would've been a good thought, the circumstances surrounding it weren't. Looking at the boy next to her, she said, "hey, uh, I gotta go make a phone call. I'll be right outside, okay?"

He nodded, seemingly unaffected, but she gave him a worried look as she opened the door and stepped out. Pulling out her phone, she quickly dialed the number and prayed that it would be picked up. She gave a breath of relief when she heard the voice on the other line. "Hey Dyl." Dylan Harper was her best friend, the only one she really had, and she realized she might never see him again. "I uh, needed to let you know that I won't be able to make the lunch we planned next Saturday."

"'Okay, Al, what about the week after?'" his voice answered, warm and comforting.

A lump formed in her throat and tears pricked her eyes again— she was really getting tired of that feeling— "I. . . uh, can't. You know how I had to get a sub because my father died?" His assent sounded from the other side. "Yeah, well, the project I told you about also figured itself out."

"'Oh my god, Al, that's amazing,'" he exclaimed excitedly. After all, he knew how much she'd longed to bring Five home. "'I totally get why you won't be available. Hey— maybe he could come and I could finally meet this famed time traveler!'"

A small smile formed on her lips; Dylan had always been lighthearted. Unwilling to disappoint him, she said, "yeah, of course. But, uh, was there anything that you have on your bucket list that you really wanted to do?"

There were several things on his list, but Dylan only answered, "'yeah, why?'"

"I'd, uh, hurry up on that, then. Take some time off work. They won't mind."

Her voice sounded funny in a choked-up sort of way and he grew concerned. "'What's wrong, Al?'"

"Nothing. . . nothing," she said (there was no way she could tell him about the end of the world.) "Just a suggestion, yeah?"

"'Right. . .'" he sounded unconvinced.

Looking down the street, she was surprised to see a familiar bulky outline making its way towards the van. Alexa didn't want to hang up but she quickly said, "hey, uh, I gotta go. But Dyl?"

"'Yeah?'"

"You know I love you, right?" She didn't mean that in a romantic way but she did see him as a non-dysfunctional brother.

She could almost hear him smile as he said, "'I love you too, Al. Try to have fun with your family, okay?'"

"Yeah," she replied before she hung up.

Luther approached her as his eyes narrowed suspiciously. Klaus stood behind him and grinned brightly at her which immediately clued her in on his current mental state.

"What are you guys doing?" Luther demanded.

Alexa narrowed her eyes at him. "None of your business, moonboy."

He let out an irritated huff and pushed past her to yank open the door to the van, struggling to get inside. The blonde followed Klaus to the back of the van and both of them climbed over empty bottles and other trash.

"You okay?" Luther asked Five.

He snapped back: "you shouldn't be here. How did you find me?"

"Oh, uh—" Their large brother jerked his head back, causing both of them to turn around.

Klaus was forcefully dancing with Alexa, who didn't look super happy to be in the position. "Hey, a little privacy guys? I'm trying to get to know my wife!"

He ducked and squealed as a can flew past his head. Alexa threw Five a grateful look as the boy yelled: "get out! You can't be here. We're in the middle of something."

Finally freed from her brother, Alexa popped her head between the seats only to be shoved to one side as said man struggled to get a view. "Any luck finding the one eyed man?" he asked.

"What's he talking about?" Luther asked.

"Does it matter? It's Klaus," Five replied snarkily. He received a hit on his arm for that, causing him to look at the blonde. 

"That's my husband you're talking about." The boy rolled his eyes.

"Yes! I knew you cared about me!" came the exclamation next to her.

To get things back on track, Five asked, "what do you want, Luther?"

"Um, so Grace may have had something to do with dad's death. So we need you to come back to the academy, alright? It's important."

Alexa snorted. "Mom? Killing dad? I don't think so. If she was capable of doing it she'd probably have multiple murders on her hands by now." The three of them turned to look at her in surprise and Alexa realized she'd probably said too much. "Uh, I'm just saying— like, she'd have killed dad more than once." And me, she added silently in her head.

Five scoffed. "Important? You have no concept of what's important."

Klaus interrupted them, "hey— did I ever tell you guys about the time I waxed my ass with chocolate pudding?" He chuckled. "It was so painful!"

The blonde rolled her eyes as a faint smile appeared on her lips but Luther glowered at him. "What are you still doing here?" Then he turned to his sister. "And aren't you supposed to be teaching or something?"

"What, I need an excuse to hang out with my family?" Klaus protested.

Alexa followed up with: "I have a concept of what's important."

Ignoring her, Luther glanced at his brother. "Well, you see, we're trying to have a serious conversation."

"I-I'm incapable of being serious? Wife, back me up here!"

Alexa smirked. "Sorry, but I have to agree with Neil Armstrong here. Remember your corn dog idea?"

His expression brightened. "Oh yeah! I forgot about that. Hey, Luth, did you see any Martians in space?"

"She's got a point," Five interrupted him. "You should get out."

He did so with much grumpiness but no one in the van noticed. "What the hell are you up to, Five?" Luther asked.

"Believe me, you wouldn't understand."

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

"Well, last I checked I'm twenty-eight years older than you."

Alexa cut in, "well, last I checked, I'm the only one who has a life."

Five only briefly glanced at her as Luther asked, "you know what your problem is?"

"I'm really hoping you'll tell me."

"You think you're better than us. You always have, even when we were kids. The truth is you're just as messed up as the rest of us. We're all you have and you know it."

Alexa sighed, having heard Five complain about the incompetence of their siblings often enough to have learned his rant by heart. "He doesn't think he's better than you," she corrected her brother. "He knows he is."

She was rewarded with a sharp nod— if they'd been alone, he would've acknowledged it more, she knew— but he continued: "I've done unimaginable things, things you couldn't even comprehend—"

"Right," Luther said, unimpressed.

"—just to get back here and save you all."

Their attention was drawn to the corner store as Klaus ran out, his arms filled with stolen goods. A store cop quickly followed him. "Out of my way, bitches!" he cried as he slammed into the side of a taxi.

"Although I'm starting to wonder if that was the wisest decision."