☂︎︎ HOUSE OF SHADOWS ☂︎︎ - five hargreeves

* 𝙰 𝚂𝚙𝚊𝚛𝚔 𝙰𝚐𝚊𝚒𝚗𝚜𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙽𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 *

Shrugging his inside-out coat tighter over his shoulders, Five set a small stack aside and handed the rest back to a restlessly fidgeting Ben. "This is for Cassidy," he said.

Klaus kicked a stone on the ground and hit a wandering pedestrian in the leg. "I wish she was here, we could get there faster."

"She wanted to come. But Dad's got her on a tight watch since what happened in training a couple days ago. Says her illness has gotten worse. He won't even let her out on missions."

Ben shrugged. "He told me the public would make her uneasy. It's not safe for her."

"Fresh air could do her good. All this "self-isolation" is ridiculous. She'd want to be out here with us, which is why," Five smacked Klaus' hand away from the bills in his hand, "we're buying her something nice."

He continued frowning as they walked, his sharp green eyes narrowed. No one had been allowed in Cassidy's room since he'd snuck out after her training incident. All that persisted was the faint scratching of the needle stringing out broken verses of "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" coming from under her door. Despite that, there was nothing that signaled she even lived in the room.

Five, Klaus and Ben all unanimously decided to buy her a present with the money they "borrowed" after a shootout at seemingly weekly intervals ended up exploding into a gang war in the sewage system under a bank.

Who'd notice if a couple hundred dollars went missing? Perks of being a superhero: blame could be a fickle thing.

They walked across the short browning lawn into the poorly roped off barrier that separated the city around them from the bright brilliant lights of rides and food stalls. Klaus and Ben were gone with money and tickets before Five could stop them. He was left alone, in his insideout uniform and his shoes that were feeling tighter by the minute.

For the remaining time of the two and a half hours he was finally left alone (Klaus had forced him into the funhouse with him and Ben dragged him along to a few rigged games) he pushed past groups of colorful people, most of them teenagers and examined the sales booths. Apparently style was in limited supply, as everything was either neon, sequined or had so much artificial color that Five felt his eyes would bleed.

He finally settled and picked a red pair of earrings and a black hoodie for less than thirty dollars. Cheaply priced were the items only in the fact that Five had stolen them both after the vendor insisted he needed an adult present inorder to buy anything. He appeared, grabbed the items, set down some money and disappeared all with a series of small pops.

Sighing and slurping down a soda, he waited for his brothers' tornado of undeniable racket to come tearing through the crowds as it usually did regardless of public morale. Ben could usually keep Klaus contained for a time, yet it was still at best limited.

Bubblegum pink, baby blue, and artificial almond yellow popped and spun around Five as he bobbed on the back of a white pony. Keeping content as he vaguely watching the other children on the carousel.

Some had their parent's with them, and it made him uncharacteristically sad. A father picked up a little boy and playfully wrestled with him in line for popcorn. The boy had his eyes.