[jordans house–saturday morning; about 10 a.m.]
JORDAN GROANED, his thigh radiating pain from where he'd been stabbed. Bracing himself for the hurt, he slowly moved so that his legs fell onto the floor. He shifted his weight into them and stood up, grimacing as pain shot down his leg.
He stepped forwards and Five screeched, sounding more like pterodactyl than a boy.
"Holy shit!" Jordan shouted, falling backwards. He held back a groan of pain and focused on Five, who was holding his stomach. "Why are you still on the ground?"
"Because," Five said, "I fell asleep."
"I told you to get on the bed," Jordan replied, arching an eyebrow. Five looked up at him, face tinged pink. "Aw, little baby." Jordan cooed and bent down to pinch the other boys cheeks; Five slapped his hands away and got to his feet.
"Where're you going? Do you need help?"
"No, Five. I'm going to go take a shower. You can go wake up your siblings." Jordan stood up again, using Five to steady himself, and kissed his cheek. "Have fun."
Five huffed and watched as Jordan carefully went to the bathroom. Then, he went to the attic, where Klaus, Vanya, and Allison were.
~
Allison was curled up in a ball, her hair spread or around her head. Vanya has her mouth open slightly, her face sweaty and hair greasy. She was in desperate need of a shower.
Klaus himself was spread out like a starfish in the nest of blankets, drooling and snoring. Ben wasn't there.
Five took a deep breath and yelled, "Wake the fuck up!"
Klaus sat up faster than lightning, his hair sticking up at random angles. "Dude." He rubbed his eyes. "Rudest wake up call ever. And I was in the fuckin' war."
But then he got to his feet and went downstairs, declaring a need for food.
Allison yawned and glared at Five. "Five, learn to be nicer when waking people up. Now, get out so I can wake Vanya up."
"Why do I have to leave?" Five asked, narrowing his eyes.
"Because you're an asshole and I don't wanna talk to you. Or look at you."
Five scoffed but left.
As he walked down the hallway and prepared to go down the stairs, he suddenly paused in front of Ron's door.
Last night had been a disaster. Ron had listened to the story with few questions (mostly about where Diego was) and an angry face the entire time. Jordan had held Fives hand with a tight grip, and he had drummed his other hand on the table the entire time. After the explanations had been given as to why they had hidden away in the attic, Ron had sat up stiffly and announced he was going to bed. He hadn't been seen since.
Jordan had been upset—so upset, in fact, that it had almost scared Five. They'd sat on Jordie's bed for hours, not speaking but just cuddling. Jordan had curled up underneath Fives arm and lay there, curls tickling the others face, not speaking until he fell asleep. Then, Five had laid his head on a pillow, covered him with a blanket, and gone to sleep on the floor.
But now, with the sun drifting overhead and nearly everyone awake—the sounds of the stove and the teapot could he heard from the kitchen—Ron was still in his room.
Five took a deep breath, cursed everyone he'd ever met, and crossed the hallway quickly.
"Ron?" He called out, knocking gently on the door. "Are you awake?"
"Go away," Ron said. "I'm not in the mood for talking."
"Fine," Five scowled and sighed, grabbing the doorknob and yanking it open. Ron scrambled, pulling his shirt down and glaring daggers. Five gaped.
"Stop fuckin' staring," Ron hissed. "Yeah, I've got boobs. So what?"
"You—you know what?" Five took a step further and Ron folded into himself, brown eyes cutting around the room. "That's unimportant. What is important is your brother. He's like, really fuckin' upset because you're hiding away and not talking to him."
"Well, I'm not gonna talk to him. He should've told me about you guys! He shouldn't have hidden it all away!"
"I agree," Five said. "I do, Ron, I do. But Jordan feels terrible. He didn't talk at all last night. Even if you're mad at him, you have to get out of your room. Go eat breakfast with us, take a shower, sit in the living room and brood—whatever, Ron, just come out of your room."
Ron frowned and the two stared at each—both eyes, rolling hills of meadow green and the lush dark brown of dirt after rain, met and clashed like boxers fighting in the ring.
"Fine." Ron said through gritted teeth, shoving his way past Five. "But you're a dick."
"I'm aware," Five replied, but a small, relieved smile crossed his face. He followed Ron down into the kitchen.
"Ron!" Jordan exclaimed, smiling like an idiot. "You're awake!"
"Don't shit your pants," Ron grumbled, grabbing a piece of toast from Allison. "I'm still not talking to you."
"Okay," Jordan said, but he was still smiling. "Okay."
Five went over to Jordie and slipped his hand into the others, their fingers interlacing.
~{}~
The soapy water felt good to Allison. It reminded her of summer days, watching Klaus and Diego plot against Luther while Ben, Five and Vanya sat on the grass and talked about celebrities or music and she sat inside with Mom, helping her clean up before running up to join he siblings.
"Here," Klaus deposited a few more plates into the gray water, splashing a little onto her. "Ronald McDonald found these in the living room."
Allison sighed. Her memories of warm summer days where replaced by the drizzly cold of April outside, and all but one of her siblings helping to clean the house up.
"We got lucky that my mom didn't explore the house," Jordan said from his position on the floor; he was scrubbing the blood from the kitchen tile. "If she saw any of this? We'd be so fucked."
Allison scoffed and continued scrubbing away at the dirty plates.
"Attic is finished!" Ben announced as he and Luther run downstairs. They stand proudly next to each other with matching grins—both of them look gross from dirt and dust and sweat. Jordan laughs.
"How much did you clean up there?" He asks. Ben shrugs.
"We may or may not have cleaned the entire attic." He admitted. Jordan laughed again, smiling up at them.
"Well, Five is cleaning the bathroom and Ron is cleaning my room and his. Why don't you guys help Klaus and Vanya with the living room?"
Ben and Luther nodded and left, their voices drifting into the kitchen. Allison smiles and started to dry the dishes.
"Thank you guys for helping," Jordan said to her, adjusting his leg. "It really means a lot."
"Well, it is our fault that your house got...destroyed." Allison sighed. "And, we can't fix it all, but we can help."
She gestured to the bullet holes remaining in the wall, and Jordan shrugged. She probably wouldn't even care if she saw them.
Probably.
He dipped his rag into the bucket and then sighed. "Can you get me some fresh water?" He asked, pointing to the pink liquid. Allison nodded and grabbed the bucket.
~{}~
When the clock struck dinner time (six p.m.), the entire home had been scrubbed and dusted and smelled like lemons and cheap Pine Sol. All of them collapsed around the living room as Jordan called the local Hungry Bowie's and ordered three medium pizzas and a few two-liters of soda.
"Okay," Luther stood up from his position on the floor, taking a spot in the front of the room. "We need to talk about Diego."
Everyone perked up. Ron pressed his lips together and took a deep breath.
"We have to come up with a plan to save him. To get him out." Luther continued. Allison and Klaus nod in agreement from their spot on the couch.
"Five," Luther said. "You're the only one who's ever been in The Commission. You need to make up some blueprints or something for us."
Five nods. Jordan, who was currently cuddled up with the shorter boy, had a soft look in his eyes as Five adjusted them so that Jordan was left in the armchair while Five sat on the floor in front of him with the coffee table as a platform to write on. Suddenly, he seemed to realize that he didn't have any paper. With a turn of his head, he looked at Jordan and gave him a confused gaze.
"Ron, go find some paper, please?" Jordan asks. He doesn't respond, but the boy gets up and disappears into the kitchen.
"After we get whatever blueprints we can, we have to get a plan. A soundproof plan. One that has as little variables as we possibly can." Luther continued speaking even as Ron reappeared with a stack of computer paper and a pencil. It was handed to Five, who immediately started sketching something. Jordan moved himself so that his legs where flung over the side and his hand draped itself over Five's shoulder.
"Five, how long do you think you'll need?" Allison spoke up.
"At least another few hours," Five said, not looking up. "Then I should have enough done for us to figure it out."
"Okay," Luther tapped his hip, thinking of something. "The rest of us will try to find anything we can use as weapons. Then, with the blueprints Five made, we can come up a plan."
"Wait, wait—" Ron held up his hands. "Quick question. Uh, where are Jordan and I?"
Fives sketching paused as he glanced up. He looked at Luther, an unspoken word passing between them. Then, his hand drifted up to where Jordan's rested on his shoulder.
"Well," Allison hesitated. "You two...you don't have powers."
Jordan's fingers curled around Five's.
"Logically, it would be safer for you both to stay here." Luther picked up, pressing his lips together as Ron tensed up. "It'd be difficult for you two to help."
Jordan and Five glanced at each other, and Klaus's eyes narrowed. That wasn't your typical Oh-We're-So-In-Love look. It was a We've-Got-A-Secret-That-We-Should-Share-But-Won't.
"Fine." Ron crossed his arms.
"Anyways, we need to prepare for this. We need weapons, plans, back up plans, back up back up plans, blueprints and guesses of where he's being kept, time estimates, supplies." Luther glanced over at the clock. "But first? We need pizza."
A/N:
wow whatta mood
anyways, here's like, one of the only scheduled updates of this week lol. i hope this chapter was decent, and that you have an absolutely lovely day and remember to have a little snack!!!!!!!!