By your window

29.

.oO°Oo.

"Where are you taking me, then?" Five casually asked as they strolled down the street, hand in hand. Marben shrugged.
"Nowhere specifically...I thought we could improvise, do everything normal kids do and you never had the chance to...or nothing at all. Whatever you prefer, actually".
"So...you took me on a date without having a plan about it?".
"Maybe I'm just taking you somewhere quiet where 'to dump your body and make it difficult to identify it'...". At that, Five guffawed and wrapped an arm around her neck.
"You're too fond of my 'skinny arse', like you love to call it, to cause it any harm" he snickered, kissing the top of Marben's head.
"You're right, you lucky sod...hey, isn't that Klaus?". Following the girl's pointed finger, Five squinted his eyes to try and see more clearly the features of the boy who was just then sneaking into an alley not far from them.
"Uh...yes" he reluctantly agreed, eyes burning holes in his brother's back. "Come, let's cross, if Klaus gets into that alley it means it's not frequented by decent people".
"But shouldn't we stay around to check nothing bad happens to him?" asked Marben, vaguely resisting when Five tried to push her towards the crosswalks.
"He's trained to fight, remember? He could handle it". The boy could tell his girlfriend wasn't too happy to leave Klaus on his own, which annoyed him a little, but said nothing; he merely guided her to the most respectable part of the city, where there was no danger of meeting drug dealers or thugs, and forced himself to put his own jealousy to sleep: if on the one hand he felt moved by the knowledge that Marben could be protective of his siblings, on the other he was not willing to share her attentions with them. His brothers and sister had already taken everything, from his birthday to the Academy's best rooms, the precious time their Father could use to train him in time-traveling. He didn't want to give them anything else.

Chatting and trying to decide where to go and what to do, the two of them reached the Park without even realizing it. Finding the gates still open they sneaked in.
"Oh" said Marben in a soft voice when she noticed the trees surrounding them, "Here, now it looks like a real date!".
"Yeah" Five agreed, looking around and appearing unusually at peace. "A little more romantic".
The two exchanged a sweet and intimate smile, without saying anything because they had long since learned their silences were often worth a thousand words; their fingers, already entwined, tightened even more around each other, and for a moment finding a suggestive spot in the city to visit or choosing which forbidden activity to try, was no longer important...
"Five? What are you doing here?" someone asked, forcing Marben and Five out of their reverie. Turning abruptly, the two teens met the gaze of one of their least favorite people.
"What am I do...what are you doing here, Loofah!" peevishly snarked Five, and Marben burst out laughing right away, earning herself a proud smirk from her boyfriend and an abashed glance from his brother.
"Why is she laughing?".
"An inside joke I'm not going to explain, you wouldn't understand it anyway".
"What do you mean...".
"Hi guys!". Turning on their heels again, Marben and Five found themselves face to face with another one of their least favorite people.
"Oh, of course there's Allison too!" exclaimed the blonde girl, sounding enthusiastic but dripping with a sarcasm that didn't go unnoticed.
"Of course" Five settled, and at that point the sarcasm must have been too much, because Allison seemed to be uncomfortable.
"So...what are you two doing here?".
"Same thing as you lot" Five answered, annoyed once again.
"As in 'take advantage of dear old daddy's absence to sneak out of the house and mess around a bit like normal kids'...you guys are trying to take 'normal' to a whole new level, though..." added Marben, to then burst into a loud laugh again. Allison looked at her suspiciously.
"Is she drunk?" she asked Five, who gloated at the sight of his amused girlfriend.
"Just allergic to idiots, I'm afraid".
"Five, I swear...".
"Oh, just ignore him, Luther. You know how he is". Turning her back to Marben and Five as if to completely exrase them from all existence, Allison approached Luther with a smile and offered him one of the hot dogs she had held until then. "If you know what I mean...I have prepared a feast!".
"Don't do that ever again" Marben severely ordered to her, abruptly interrupting her own laughter, "Not the 'feast' part, mind you, the 'ài hév pweppéw'd éi' one".
"She's right, it sounded pretty offensive!" chirped Lear walking up to them, Vanya securely clinging to her arm.
"Nooooo, y'all got out too?" Allison joyfully asked her sister; not far away, Five muttered an unenthusiastic 'Yaaaaay' while glaring daggers at Lear, and earning himself an elbowing in the ribs from his girlfriend.
"Hi, Vanya" Marben went to hug her student, deliberately ignoring Five's pained gasps. "Wait, Lear, if you're here who is...".
"I asked Diana if we could swap places on Myery's deathbed tonight, otherwise I would have missed the only opportunity to go out with Vanya from here to who knows when...".
"Wait, is your cousin alright?" Allison unexpectedly asked to Marben, who was taken aback by the other girl's concern.
"Yeah, she just likes to complain a lot, when she gets the flu. Thank you".
"How many people I don't give a damn about, all crammed together..." mumbled Five, leaping away with a yeet when Marben looked at him with hostility in her eyes. Luckily, Klaus' flamboyant appearance saved him from an exemplary punishment.
"Hey, beautifolks!".
"Beautifolks?" several voices repeated, some curious, some confused and others simply annoyed.
"Yeah, sort of a mashup between beautiful and folks..." Klaus clarified, sounding extremely self-satisfied with his invention. Luther, though, didn't appreciate the creativity.
"I did get that!".
"Well, beautiful...ish, I guess" Klaus mumbled, ignoring Luther and examining everyone else's oufit; only then did Marben realize that Allison and Luther were dressed decently, but the other Hargreeves hadn't managed to get away with it much better than Five.
"Anyway. Whatcha doing, having fun without me?". A chorus of voices objecting to Klaus joining the group rose immediately. "Hey, this really hurts my feelings! It's offensive!" the poor boy whined, putting a hand on his heart and taking on a distraught expression, credible but which Marben identified as studied all the same. She hated that it was, it meant Klaus was used to being poorly treated by his siblings and to feigning emotion on command. So she defended him without a second thought, and Vanya took her side.
"He's right, you guys are assholes!".
"I'm happy you're here, lieber Bruder". Klaus sweetly smiled back at his sister, squeezing her hand.
"Danke schon, kleine Schwester".
"Well, we might be assholes, but at least we don't fill other people's hairdryers with talc!" snapped Allison out of the blue, piqued. Five rolled his eyes and the sweet moment was over.
"Jeez, here we go again...".
"That wasn't just me!" forcefully objected Klaus, raising his hands in a placating gesture when Luther stood up.
"Hey, accomplices are not to be betrayed, douchebag!" accused Five, alternating threatening glances at Klaus and cautious ones at Luther; Klaus, on the other hand, chose not to worry about the super-strong brother and to focus entirely on the scrawny one.
"Oh, aren't they? Served you well, then, when I mixed the leftover peanut butter with salt last week!".
"Was that you?".
"Oh, dear..." sighed Marben, covering her eyes with nervous hands.
"What the hell is happening?" Lear snickered, confused but also amused by the situation. Vanya, instead, tried to be the responsible one and coax her brothers back to reason.
"Guys, come on...".
"Now that I think about it...who did replace the toilet paper in the west wing third floor bathroom with insulating tape?". Everyone fell silent and turned to look at Luther.
"I only know he gave me his coke after he'd been shaking it for ten minutes solid to see if it would explode..." Allison mumbled, pointing at Five.
"HA! Do you remember that time Ben said 'Let's put Luther's hand in hot water while he's sleeping!' and I was like 'But first we should burn all his clean underwear!' and you went to steal a lighter from Dad's study?" Klaus asked Five, who surprisingly let go of his customary frown and started laughing with him.
"Guys, why can't you just love each other, since you're allowed to stick together?". Next thing Vanya knew, Klaus was in full combat mode.
"Careful, little Vanya. We know it was you who put shaving foam on Diego's strawberries while Mom wasn't looking".
"HOW...'We' who?" Vanya asked, outraged, but Klaus had already forgotten her.
"And we also know who did put the kitchen nut in the shower head...Allison!".
"WHAT? Why?" Luther blurted out.
"I wanted to prank Five, not you! I swear!".
"Trust her, she's telling the truth. Pity that I sensed the trap and made you go first...".
"Yeah, and do you know what else is a real pity?" Marben intervened, without looking at any of them. "That you all didn't sense trouble, busy as you were waging war amongst yourselves over childish nonsense. Because I think Diego may be in the shit, up to his neck".