five; the umbrella academy
Sabrina had been waiting outside her apartment building all day. She didn't have any shifts to work which meant she had nothing to do, so she was hoping to see anything suspicious and ultimately fight for the good of the people. She could test her luck at being the hero Jack wanted her to be, maybe even prove her abilities to herself. But, to her rotten luck, the day had been quiet. There was only the odd jaywalker or accidental shoulder knock between two strangers, nothing bad. It sucked.
Sighing deeply and pushing herself to her feet, Sabrina shoved her hands deep into the pockets of her leather jacket, kicking a rock from the pavement onto the road. She watched the stone rolled out a few feet before it stopped idly, sitting still. She held in a bored groan. Of course, the time she finally wanted to put her power to good use, nothing was happening.
"You again," a familiar voice caught her attention, and the woman glanced up quickly to see a man stepping out of a beat up car. It was him. "Hey, Brie."
"Diego," she nodded in greeting, before quirking an eyebrow. A weird feeling had bubbled in her stomach, something she only got when he arrived. It was the idea of a thrill, of some kind of exhilaration. "You're not stalking me, are you?"
"Small city," Diego smiled softly, crossing his arms as he stepped towards her. Sabrina felt a tingle in her fingers as she usually did when she sensed danger, though this time it was strangely subdued. Maybe it was because he was capable of hurting her, but he wouldn't. "We're bound to see each other from time to time. What's with the double jacket? You know winter's over, right?"
"Are you really one to talk?" she retorted at the jeer towards her hoodie and leather jacket, and he chuckled in response. It was a strange relationship they had formed. They didn't see each other on a daily basis, yet when they talked there was a certain ease. It was refreshing and exciting, nothing that Sabrina had ever experienced before.
"So, what're you doing out here?" he inquired, standing opposite her and leaning against the railing to the porch of her apartment building. "People watching?"
"Trying to keep an eye out for crime," she admitted, and he tilted his head in amusement. Of course he thought it was funny. She frowned. "Once again, are you one to talk?"
"Sitting outside and hoping something bad happens isn't how it works," Diego said, pulling out a knife from his leg holster and twirling it between his fingers. "If you go out looking for trouble, you might not find it. You need to let it happen."
"And I suppose you know all about that?" Sabrina hummed, leaning forward a little bit with curious eyes. Diego scoffed lightly, though his lips remained upturned. "Why don't you teach me your ways? You can be my vigilante mentor."
Diego didn't even bother to consider. "Absolutely not."
Sabrina groaned and reached out to grab his arm as he began to walk back to his car. He was too quick though, and left her awkwardly catching air. "C'mon, we could be a team!"
"I've been part of a team before," Diego huffed, opening the door to the driver's seat and climbing in. Sabrina pursed her lips and hesitated, before rushing over to the passenger seat and practically diving inside. The man looked over at her in an unimpressed fashion, and she smiled sheepishly. "I don't want to get you into any danger."
Sabrina shuffled around in her seat so that she was facing him. He stared at her expectantly, trying to guess what he was about to hear. "But I want to get into some danger. My life is so boring, and besides, what's the point in having powers if I can't use them?"
Diego sighed softly, before he turned the key in his car, taking off down the street. "Belt up, Brie."
Sabrina complied without question. She felt her heart beat a little faster with excitement as he turned a few corners, moving back onto the main street of the city. It took them about five minutes, but eventually they made it to the large house with umbrella signs printed everywhere. Sabrina stared out the window as Diego turned his wheel and pulled into the alleyway behind the building. He parked the car and looked over at the woman in the passenger seat.
"Is this your place?" Sabrina quirked and eyebrow, and he tensed up a little, as if looking for the right words to say. He didn't seem comfortable here -- it was a clear change in his demeanour.
"It was," he muttered. "When I was a kid. I live in the boiler room of the local boxing club now."
"Upgrade or downgrade?" Sabrina quipped, and Diego chuckled.
"Anything's an upgrade from this place," he responded, before opening the door and stepping out, his boots hitting the road. Sabrina followed, her stomach swirling with both eagerness and fear, not knowing what to expect.
Diego led her through one of the many doors in the building, his fast pace leaving Sabrina to nearly fall into a run to catch up. She hardly had any time to appreciate the beautiful architecture of the building, as she was far too busy trying not to lose her new friend.
"Diego, welcome home," a frail voice greeted the two adults as they made it into the main sitting room. Furniture and antiques littered the room; Sabrina wasn't too fond of it all. It was quite clear whoever owned this house wanted to boast their wealth, their status. Looking at Diego, he didn't seem at all like the place he was raised in. Sabrina glanced down and held in a gasp at the sight of an ape in a full suit with a walking stick and spectacles. "You've brought a friend?"
"This is Sabrina," Diego muttered, and the woman took a step forward to shake the chimpanzee's hand. "Sabrina, meet Pogo."
"It's wonderful to have you here, my dear," Pogo hummed, watching as Sabrina moved back to be by Diego's side once more. A polite, yet confused smile remained on her face. The monkey then looked back at Diego with a questioning look. "I wasn't aware you'd be coming to visit."
"Neither was I," Diego muttered, before crossing his arms in slight discomfort. "Dad here?"
"He's in his study," Pogo responded, and Diego nodded once, averting his eyes.
"Good, that means we won't see him," the sharpshooter didn't hesitate in saying, and Sabrina pursed her lips slightly awkwardly. "C'mon, Brie."
Sabrina waved farewell to Pogo and continued to follow Diego through the gigantic home, taking her time now to stare at everything. She looked forward and made a face of shock as she realised she didn't know where Diego had gone, and she quickened her pace, looking back and forth until she saw him walking down a hallway. She huffed as she caught up with him, tucking her hands in her pockets. "Why couldn't Pogo have told me about the dangerous shit? Seems like the kinda guy who knows what he's talking about."
"He does, but he also tells my father everything," Diego grumbled, weaving around corners and leading her down a hallway until they made it to an empty bedroom. He then turned and faced her, holding his hand out for her to take. She complied, and he pulled her further inside, looking solemnly at the bed and discarded belongings. "This was my brother Ben's room."
Sabrina's eyes scanned the room, taking in movie posters and several notebooks piled on top of each other on a mahogany desk in the corner of the room. She pursed her lips and exhaled softly. It was cold and void of life, leaving her to assume the worst. "Did he...?"
"Yeah," Diego muttered, before leading her out and into one room over. "This is Klaus' room. He's a junkie who can speak to dead. I have no idea what he's doing or if he's even alive."
Sabrina felt her heart racing a little as they moved on.
"This is Vanya's room," he nodded towards the smallest bedroom of the household. There were pictures of musicians on the wall and a small bed, though not much else. "She's somewhere in the city, doing whatever. Probably writing another book about our family."
Sabrina didn't dare comment on his distaste towards his sister.
"This is Luther's bedroom," he pointed towards one of the two rooms at the end of the hallway. "He's on the moon. That's Allison's, she's a big shot movie star."
"Doesn't sound as bad," Sabrina tried to lighten the mood, and Diego looked back at her with a serious expression.
"To my father, my name isn't Diego," he told her. "My brothers and sisters names aren't Klaus, Allison, Ben, Luther and Vanya. I'm number two. The rest are one to seven. We're assets to the monster sitting upstairs in his study. We were trained to kill, to try and fix the broken world. It sounds good on paper, but we were kids. It's no wonder all of us are gone now. It's dangerous, and there's no point. I only try to help save people cause I don't know how to do anything else. I don't care about putting myself in harm's way cause that's not what I was raised to do. I was raised as an experiment. Don't let yourself become one too."
★☆
hello!! hope you enjoyed the chapter, it was a weird one to write cause the relationship between brie and diego is unconventional but let me know what ya thought??
another gorgeous submission by glitterhyyung !! thank you love!!
submissions by filmnoir_ !! thanks dude!!!