From Me to You

"Whatever would you need a name for?" Dad demanded, glaring down his nose at her with one eye glinting behind his monocle.

Number Seven knew she was not the bravest of her siblings, but there were times she wanted something so badly her fear of her father went away and she felt like she was. Clasping onto his sleeve, she begged, "Please? You gave everyone else one!"

He shook her off and stepped back. "No," he snapped. Now sneering at her, he said, "What good would it do to give such a useless girl a name of all things?"

Number Seven felt her heart twinge and her lip begin to shake. There were many things she knew were not worth fighting for, like purple paint to change the walls of her room to something prettier, or to be able to train next to her siblings, it wasn't even worth her time to try and ask for a shampoo that didn't smell so astringent. Yet she persisted for this.

What Number Seven would give to be more than a number!

"But Dad—!" she began only to but cut off by her father putting up one a large, stern hand.

"Stop this nonsense at once!" he roared. Straightening his jacket, he growled, "I am far too busy to deal with you and your tantrums."

Her shoulders fell. Dad wasn't going to listen to her today. He had his mind made up and she was forever going to be a number to him and never a girl. Eyes shining, she watched him mutter to himself as he left the room for what she assumed was his study. Alone now in the foyer, Number Seven shuffled over to the staircase and took a seat on one of the first steps. Softly, she started to cry to herself. She should know better by now than to mope around and feel sorry for herself given how often she was rebuffed by not only Dad, but her siblings, yet…

She had really thought maybe she could convince Dad just this once to listen to her and treat her the same as her brothers and sister.

"Number Seven…"

Quickly, Number Seven scrubbed away her tears and scrambled to her feet. When she turned to look where the voice had come from, she saw it was Number Five hovering just past the doorway to the living room. His expression was a little guilty, but mostly angry. At who, she wasn't sure. Had Number Four and Six pranked him again? All the same, she offered him a shy smile. "Oh, hi Number Five," she said only to cock her head and murmur, "no, that's not right. I guess I should call you Vanya now?"

Vanya's jaw already taut turned even more rigid as he shook his head at her. "Don't, Number Five's fine."

She frowned. Why wouldn't he want to go by the name Mom had given him? It sounded so nice. Had one of their siblings teased him? Number Seven hoped not, but if they had… "I think Vanya sounds very handsome."

He crossed his arms and looked to the floor as he grumbled, "I don't know how Mom came up with them. Allison, Luther, Ben…" he trailed off only for his face to scrunch into an expression of disgust as he spat, "Vanya." Her brother then uncrossed his arms and sighed. When he lifted his gaze to meet hers, she saw silent laughter glittering in it as he said, "I guess it's a step above Klaus or Diego, right?"

Number Seven giggled, she hoped neither of her brothers was around to hear them. Klaus would feel just awful if he thought they'd gotten the worst of Mom's names and Diego would probably stab Vanya for insulting their mom's naming abilities. "Yeah," she agreed.

Vanya's features once again morphed into something serious as he told her, slowly, "…You know you don't need our father's permission to have a name." Now next to her, he put a hand on her arm and offered, his voice kind in that way she only ever heard when they are alone, "We can think of one together if you'd like."

She looked away. As nice an idea as it was… "He won't call me by it."

Her brother let his hand fall off her arm as he sighed. "You think he's going to call us by our names?" he sneered. Throwing up his arms, he said, "It's all a formality! Something for us to go by when we're interacting with the public."

Number Seven winced. "Still," she whispered, "I wish just for once…"

"What?" he demanded when she fell quiet, never finishing her thought.

"Nothing."

Vanya grabbed her wrist, giving it an insistent tug. "Come, say it, Number Seven."

She bit the inside of her cheek and eyed her brother uneasily. Did Number Seven dare to say what she was really thinking? Would he get upset with her for pointing out all of the unfairness she was made to deal with? Her voice not even a whisper at first, Number Seven said, "Well, you all get to do everything together. Train, learn, have your portraits painted…" she paused to take a shaky breath as tears of frustration began to bud in the corners of her eyes like they had when she first heard her siblings calling each other by their new names. "Now he took you guys aside and gave you names when I was practicing my conversational French with Pogo."

Instead of annoyance or impatience for her baby-ish complaints of unfairness, Vanya's grip slid down her wrist to her hand. He squeezed her fingers and said, "I'm sorry, Number Seven."

She blinked back the tears and smiled at her brother. "It's not your fault. You're just all doing what you're told."

Vanya snorted and let go of her hand. "You want to know something?" he asked as he put his hands in the pockets of his shorts and looked to the steps behind them.

"What?"

He turned his gaze back to her and smirked. "Vanya would suit you a lot more than it does me."

She frowned at Vanya. What silliness was this? It was so unlike her brother. "No, it's a boy's name."

Vanya rolled his eyes. "So was Ashley," he said. Lifting a hand in the air, he began to uncurl his fingers one-by-one from a fist as he listed names, "Lauren, Darcy, Lesley and thousands more were too. You can make it both."

Number Seven gnawed the inside of her cheek harder. Maybe Vanya wasn't being silly at all. Maybe he really did want to give her his name. But that didn't mean she should let him, right? It was his. "Mom gave it to you…"

"Yeah, and I don't like it," he returned. Eyes scrutinizing, he demanded, "You do, though, right? You weren't just saying you did?"

Number Seven realized this was it. This was the moment that would end with either her having a name or no. She was still afraid she was taking something from her brother she shouldn't, but even more, she wanted a name. And Number Seven really did like Vanya. It sounded so handsome, just like she told her brother. Finally, after a long moment of deliberation, she whispered, "I do."

A grin flashed across Vanya's, no, he was Number Five again, face. "Then you'll be Vanya from now on and I'll stick to Number Five."

Stricken with sudden guilt, she tried to take back her decision. "I can't take this from you, Va—"

He slapped his hand over her mouth. "Number Five," he said, "I'm Number Five and you're Vanya now."

Vanya was washed over with both euphoria and fear. "Dad won't like this," she whispered.

Her brother jutted out his chin and proclaimed, "Well, tough luck for him. If he kicks up too much of a fuss, we'll just go have a chat with Allison. I'm sure she'll be happy to help us out."

"You really think so?" Vanya asked Number Five, hopeful that he knew what he was talking about and Allison really would be all too happy to help them.

Number Five swung one of his arms around her neck and began to steer her up the steps. "Sure," he replied, smirking. "Especially once I agree to do her chemistry worksheets for her. She absolutely hates them."

"V— Number Five?" she stammered.

"Yes?"

Vanya popped up on the tip of her toes and pressed a ghost of a kiss to his cheek. "Thank you."

He brushed his fingers over his cheek as his face turned a rosy pink. Not looking at her, he whispered, "It's not a problem, Vanya."

While Vanya can be a girl's name, it's also a fairly common nickname for Russian's named Ivan. I thought it'd be interesting to explore the what-if of if this was just another way of Reginald excluding and isolating Vanya, but instead of like in so many cases, it was fixed by one of her siblings. By Five, the only one without a real name, in particular.

Thanks for reading!