Sweet As Honey (Five Hargreeves/The Umbrella Academy)

2

Five Hargreeves had heard fleeting whispers about the quiet, young girl who appeared the only one closer to his age than everyone else.

The words 'her favourite' had crossed the corners of the pristine halls more than once, enticing his curiosity, but along with the rest of the field agents cautious glances they snuck her way in the cafeteria, he decidedly (and wisely) came to the assumption that she was someone to keep his eye on.

At first glance, she reminded him of one of his sisters back home, and that thought along left a funny pain in his chest. Head down, meek as a mouse, in her own world of thoughts sitting alone wherever she went and never really going out of her way to speak to anyone. Not that he had seen, at least.

She had a distinct pattern to her, however. Always on time for meal times, never a minute too early or late, always sitting at the same table, in the same corner chair situating her at the back of the hall. Perhaps to avoid unwanted eyes, perhaps to avoid the dull, monotonous chatter that spread through the cafeteria day in and day out. And he noticed no one ever took her seat, if they could help it, whether subconsciously or consciously he wasn't sure.

She always wore her uniform, not as neat as he did, save for the jacket. He found that odd, too. Mostly that she was allowed to wear a black hoodie instead of the blazer over her crisp white shirt and charcoal tie. No one else seemed to bat an eye at it, so it had to be normal, but to Five it was decidedly not - and prompted the curiosity of why she was allowed to go against the strict uniform code.

Her favourite danced in the confines of his brain when he first crossed her path on the way to The Handler's office.

He was just leaving after a dull, unnecessary mission report that was most certainly to just keep an eye on him; the Handler definitely didn't trust him and he didn't blame her.

She was heading straight up to the door, head down, picking at a scratch along the back of her hand after knocking twice. Not overly loudly, certainly not aggressively, and within a second the door opened for her.

Just before he turned away he caught sight of the Handlers pleased smile as she let the girl in. Her favourite.

Five had been made to wait outside before entering. And he hadn't been greeted at the door like she had, certainly not with a smile as wide as that one.

Something off about the girl had his curiosity piqued, but after a couple more weeks, he noticed something else.

She was following him.

Not properly following him, but mostly with her eyes. In the cafeteria, he'd feel a pair of eyes on him. In the halls. But when he'd turn, he'd catch just a glimpse of her brown hair as she turned the corner and went another way to him entirely.

With the whispers about her, what he had seen, and what he was figuring out now - Five Hargreeve's decided she was up to something, The Handler had something to do with it, and he didn't like it.