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Five stares at me in complete and utter shock, jaw slack open and eyebrows raised. "You have powers?" he asks, a tremor in his voice betraying his emotions. I sigh sadly and answer, "Yeah. I can transform into literally anyone who makes eye contact with me. I'm basically a human chameleon." I add the last sentence in a weak attempt to lighten the mood.
I slowly morph back to myself; shutting my eyes and imagining my s/c skin tone, my h/c h/cd locks of hair and my so-called stunning e/c eyes. When I reopen my eyes, I'm back in my regular body. "Woah!" the boy exclaimed, "That was epic! You literally had these gold sparks surrounding you and then you went back to normal. How'd you do that?" I place a finger on my lips in a shushing gesture with a wink, "It's my little secret."
Number Five still looks astonished but he quickly rearranges his features into his apparently regular cool façade, "Remarkably impressive, Y/N. But wait, when you transform, does that mean you have my powers?" "You have powers too?" I inquire, so surprised I'm wondering how I was even able to string together the words to form a coherent question.
"Yeah. What did you think, you were the only one?" Five scoffs, but he quickly stops when he realises that's actually what I believed. "I mean... my mother always told me I'm a freak so I guessed I was alone in this," I mumble, recalling the many times she had berated me for my useless ability.
The boy's expression softens slightly and he changes the topic upon noticing I'm uncomfortable, "My powers are traveling through space." I gesture towards the sky with an awed expression, "Like outer space? Have you been to the Moon?" He raps my head gently with his fist, "No, silly. Like through different spaces in a room. Here, I'll show you."
Five smiles smugly at me before practically disappearing. A bluish portal opens up in front of him and he just walks right through it! I gasp and spin around in confusion, "Five? Where are you?" Suddenly, I feel two hands on my shoulder and I scream. "Gotcha!" Five whisper-shouts in my ear. I punch him playfully and scold, "Meanie! I was scared, okay? Also, stop it, that tickles my ear."
The corners of Five's mouth quirk up in a smile, "You're ticklish?" "Yeah." I catch sight of Five's smirk and speedily say, "Wait no-" Before I can finish he leaps onto me, tackling me to the ground before tickling me all over my stomach. "Ahh! No stop!" I can barely speak through my laughter.
He tickles me mercilessly and I feel like I wanna get away and - suddenly I morph into him before vanishing, rematerialising behind the boy. Clutching my aching sides, I say "Hah! I saved myself!" He grins widely at me before yelling "You have my powers too!"
The excitement is contagious and soon the two of us are whooping with delight in the tiny space under the slide. It's a miracle nobody had found us yet.
"That's amazing! Now I can tell my dad to let you come to the Umbrella Academy, if you want to of course," Five blurted out. "Well yeah I want to!" We high-five each other before dissolving into a fit of giggles. "By the way, can you change back? Cheering with myself is pretty weird." I chuckle and nod.
He rolls his eyes and is about to say something when we hear a voice calling him from the distance. "Oh, that's Mom. Come on, let's go!" He grabs my hand and roughly jerks me in his direction, prompting me to pull my hand out of his grasp and massage my sore wrist while glaring at him. I happen to glance at my watch while doing so and suppress a panicked scream.
It's already half past three.
"Oh no. Oh no. Oh no," I hyperventilate. "Y/N, what's wrong?" he asks me, concern lacing his voice. "My-my mother. She said to be back before three and it's 3.30. I'm gonna be in so much trouble," I'm freaking out now. I recall the last time I was late; I bore the bruises and scars for a month.
Five places a comforting hand on my shoulder. "How about this, we go back to the Umbrella Academy and ask my dad to talk to your mother to see if you can stay with us?" I clutch the lapels of his blazer with a huge hopeful smile wiping away my former melancholy, "You'd do that for me?" Five rubs the back of his neck, blushing, "I mean, yeah. We only just met but you're really nice and cool."
I squeal and fling my arms around his neck, securing him in a tight hug. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" He seems awkward at first, but slowly, nervously he wraps his arms around me in return.
After a moment of pleasant silence, we come out from under the slide. I can see the silhouettes of 5 other children lined up near the swings and Five and I quicken our pace. He smiles fleetingly at me and I grin back.
This is hopefully the start of a new life, one where I can live each day without fear and with some friends by my side.