dead upon arrival || ben hargreeves

//5: number five//

 2005

Sneaking out had become the new regular, not for just ben and pandora but for the rest of the siblings as well. Pandora often found herself sneaking into Ben's bedroom or Ben sneaking into her's on nights where they wouldn't sleep, talking out whatever that had happened.

"Besides having extensive training after it, how was school?" Ben asked Pandora, who he'd been sitting next to on her bed.

"Oh, today was the last day," Pandora nodded, "It was just the usual, everyone saying goodbyes, wishing them a good summer, making plans, signing yearbooks that sorta thing..... But, I started a fight."

"How come?" Ben asked, not entirely surprised.

"Same jerk as always, one of Marin's team members on the cheer squad got jealous cause Marin got squad captain for the next season and not her so she got the 'bright' idea to start rumor that Marin slept with some jock to ruin her reputation," Pandora summarizes, "So I walked up to her and called her out on her bullshit."

"And then what happened?"

"She got embarrassed and tried to slap me, but at that point, since it was self defense, I punched her and accidentally broke her nose," Pandora shrugged, "I was in the principal's office for a while and I missed the assembly... But I wasn't gonna stand by while that rumor was being spread."

"You didn't use your powers did you?" Ben asked.

"God, no. Then I would have gotten suspended," Pandora shook her head, "Oh! I forgot to tell you! The pattern for Diego's blanket came in!" She sat up straighter as a smile spread across her face, "The yarn came in too, it's so soft and thick, and it's made out of real wool too! He's going to love it, but I gotta look for yarn for Klaus's next—"

She was cut short by Ben leaning forwards, pressing his lips just on the corner of her mouth, a failed attempt of a kiss.

"Ben, did you just try to kiss me?" Pandora asked.

"I tried my best," Ben was turning more red by the second, pulling backwards, "I mean, it was totally out of the blue and I totally missed and..." he trailed off, not knowing what to say.

"If you wanted to kiss me Ben, you could have just asked," Pandora whispered, forcing Ben to meet her eyes before leaning in and pressed her lips to his, forming a long overdue kiss.

Present day

"What do you mean you can't find Klaus? He's literally impossible to lose," Pandora shook her head, then rubbed her face, "Oh my god Ben, where did he go?"

"I don't know. He escaped the hotel, stole the kidnapper's suitcase, got on a bus, opened the suitcase, then suddenly he was gone in a flash of blue light. I couldn't follow him so I came back here."

Pandora started to pace back and forth in the room, running hands hands through her hair, "We gotta find him, we gotta find him now."

"Five is waking up now, you have to help take care of him, we can talk more about it when we have time." Ben said, his head shaking slightly.

"You're right, you're right." Pandora said "I gotta go, I love you." hse gave him a quick kiss, then transferred back into her body

...

Five had been in and out of sleep the entire night, mumbling nonsense both asleep and awake. This left pandora restless, only giving short moments to go back and talk to ben throughout the night. But once Five had woken up fully, he finally told Luther the same thing that he had just a day prior.