Chapter title is from the same song title by Fun.

Enjoy!

Ben

After the storm of media that they just left (or escaped from, depending on who you asked), the quiet that fell over them inside the limo that muted all the noise outside came as a complete surprise.

A beat passed with no one speaking—even Klaus was uncharacteristically quiet—and not for the first time did Ben wish he had the ability to read minds.

"I don't know about you, but I kinda want to eat," said Tony to no one in particular. "Anyone?"

By the looks of it, Ben's siblings weren't in a rush to go back to the tower as well, and Ben admitted that he could somewhat understand. It was as if there was a need for catharsis for the evening's events and to mull over what it all meant from now on.

"Sure. I think I can eat too," Ben replied with an encouraging smile to Tony. He elbowed Klaus who seemed to be muttering to himself thoughtfully. "Klaus too. I heard his stomach rumble during the press con."

"Hey," Klaus whined. He sighed. "Benny's right though. I think I'm a bit hungry after talking about dishes we're yet to try."

Tony appeared to be satisfied. "Great. Let's go then. A bit of a drive so you guys will be hungry as well later."

Luther frowned. "Will it be a good idea right after…?"

"I know the owners." Tony rubbed his chin. "Good people. No one will bother us there. I think."

With no one else expressing their disagreement, Tony called to the driver, "Happy, you know the place."

"Shawarma?"

"Shawarma."

Shawarma was nice, Ben decided after his third bite. Not a taste for everyone's palate, that was for sure, but Ben was a fan already. And after years of not being able to eat food, how could he not?

They ate at a relative pace. Tony was right that the owners were a pleasant elderly couple who ushered them in despite the closed establishment and not asking anything but merely smiling fondly at Tony's companions.

And yet, there remained the same silence, and when the mood continued to be unchanged, Ben heard Tony clear his throat, "You know I still haven't signed anything officially, right?"

Everyone at the table stared at him.

"I mean, if you want to back out, I won't mind. Pepper won't too. You get to retain the guest status. It's not so bad."

Tony made it sound so simple earlier this morning the process of him officially adopting them when in truth, there was more beyond the mutual agreement on both parties. Of course, they would agree. Tony, despite his demeanor of casualness, had treated them better than Dad so far. And, no, that was hardly an exaggeration observation or a rushed judgment; Ben knew because he could see with his own two eyes how his brothers and sisters were faring without the weight of the impending Apocalypse on their shoulders. There were Five, Luther, and Diego who weren't quite settled yet like Klaus, Allison, and, to Ben's delight, Vanya, though the latter was gradual progress (progress, nonetheless). They all have varying degrees of reaction to their newfound situation, but Ben could confidently say that their given time would do them better.

"And you?" Five spoke, his food untouched. "Do you want to back out? You saw the video, and you saw for yourself how we are. We're not normal children, Stark. We have powers. We're considered aliens even though we're humans. We're more than a handful compared to the children that live here on your Earth, on your world."

"Thanks for stating the obvious. Why haven't I seen those telling signs the moment I took you in?" Tony remained unfazed under Five's critical gaze. He huffed out a breath. He wasn't eating yet, now that Ben noticed. "No, kid, I won't back out. Not after I declared it in public. That's why I'm asking you all because it's up to you in the end. I can retract my statement but don't expect that it'll be because I decided to have cold feet."

"How about Pepper?" To Ben's surprise, it was Diego who asked. "What did she say?"

"Believe it or not, she just sent me a huge thumbs-up. There'll be a lengthy discussion later, that's for sure, but it won't be on the matter of whether it's a good idea of taking you all in under our care. Likely about her schedule and all that since she'll like to be around most of the time now and not away. If it's not clear yet, she likes you all already."

"The S.H.I.E.L.D. Director won't be happy with the stunt you pulled," Luther pointed out. "He expects that making you our legal guardians will be under his terms."

"To be fair, buddy, Fury's never happy with me and will hate me the utmost if I haven't been proven useful as an ally." Tony shrugged nonchalantly. "Fuck him and his S.H.I.E.L.D." He blinked, seemingly catching himself. "Don't tell Pepper I cursed in front of you."

There was a snort from a different table where Happy was discreetly listening to them. He refused Tony's insistence that he join them on the table, but Happy just said that there clearly was a conversation there between Tony and the Hargreeves, and Happy wasn't about to intrude during a family discussion.

"Don't worry. I don't think he'll bother with us for a while," Allison interrupted, a glint of mischief in her eyes as she drank.

Oh. Oh, right.

Vanya hid a smile, and Ben chuckled at what passed as an inside joke between the three of them.

At the collective inquisitive looks, Ben said, "Let's just say Allison made sure that the agents he expects to get a formal report from will be submitting a detailed paper on why they should be given a raise and why the new equipment, in the kindest term, ineffective; against children, no less."

Tony looked at Allison as if he was staring at her in a new light. "My, aren't you marvelous today, young lady?"

Allison smiled with pride. "I live to impress."

As if a flick of a switch, the blanket of tension was slowly dissipated by a smattering of conversations as to what transpired during the staged bank robbery and how it compared to the legitimate bank robbery that served as the Umbrella Academy's inaugural back in their own world.

Ben sat back with a hum, quietly eating at the easy lull on the table once Happy joined them as well and Tony finally introduced him as a close friend, and, amazingly, Iron Man's official bodyguard, much to Happy's own chagrin and Tony's amusement at Happy's expense. Happy even offered to drive them around the city; just say the word, he said. Cool guy.

Ben believed he might take up Happy's offer sooner, preferably with his brothers and sisters. His first objective in mind once he got to be outdoors again would be to find a grassy knoll and rub his feet on the soil.

For now, he would be finishing his shawarma. It was a damn good food after all.

Five

He woke up with something soft on top of his feet.

Five peered and found the cat curled comfortably. At the slight shift though, it awoke with a wide yawn and a small purr directed at Five. They blinked at each other for what seemed to be full two minutes before Five decided that this wasn't how he wanted to spend the morning—the rest of it, anyway, since he actually slept through his usual waking hour without his alarm. Odd.

He cleaned himself up, with the cat following his every movement within the room. Once he was done and ready to join the others, Five stared down at the cat that was looking at him expectantly. After a moment's consideration, Five gathered the cat and bundled it under his arm to bring with him.

He placed it down with its bowls of food and drink and poured a measured amount of cat food and water. Five observed it briefly as it munched its breakfast and knew that it would be fine on its own.

It didn't have a name yet, and thinking of one at the present was a rather… mundane task that for some reason he wanted to put off for a while lest he—what, exactly? Fall into a sense of banality that not once got equated in his life and what befitted his actual mental age?

Fast-pace, the Ancient One called it. Five called it not monotonous.

Five shook the thought away with mild distaste. Too late to have a mid-life crisis. Or too early.

The first he found was Allison and, surprisingly, Klaus who were both glued to a smartphone and grinning among themselves at what they were poring over. They noticed Five and briefly explained the egregious articles they found about them that sprung up online overnight. Klaus snickered particularly at the unflattering shots they had during the press con and asked Allison to download all the pictures available.

Five didn't want to know what Klaus would do with his own smartphone once he got ahold of one. Something told Five that it would be soon that even he might receive one for himself.

Luther remained presumably out for his morning jog. Diego's absence clued Five that he joined Luther for the first time. Good for them.

Ben and Vanya were, predictably, together for breakfast and experimenting on their plate with sliced fruits and syrups. Whatever the result was edible, judging by the way Vanya's eyes lit up at the taste. Ben beckoned Five to join them, an invitation that Five accepted but declined the offer of tasting the bowl with a curious mix of peanuts, milk, cereal, and bits of banana.

There was a fresh cup of coffee on his hand by the time Five drifted to the nearby window, the sound of his siblings' chatter a pleasant background noise in the otherwise uneventful morning where they were alone by themselves, no Stark, no Pepper, no Bruce. Just them.

With his view, Five could spot outside two familiar buildings: the bank and the Sanctum. A glance to his brothers and sisters assured him that they would be alright on their own without him for a moment.

Five set down his half-empty cup and excused himself.

There was an interesting new addition to the rooftop by the time he arrived: two chairs and a small table with a fresh pot of coffee and two cups.

"Good morning."

Ah, so he was expected.

The Ancient One said nothing of his sudden arrival and merely offered Five the seat opposite her. She poured them both like a good host that she was.

"I thought you don't have coffee," Five said. It smelled stronger than the one he didn't finish.

"We do have a couple of coffee beans in the back. Not all of them are partial to tea, I'm afraid." She put a sugar cube into her own. "Did you have breakfast? If not, may I invite you to the kitchen?"

"I'm good. Thank you."

A companionable silence settled down on them before she spoke again, "Forgive me if my prying disturbs the tranquil morning, but is something bothering you?"

"Can't I just drop by for a social visit?" Five asked wryly.

She smiled serenely. "I would have thought as much if not for the deep-set frown you have."

Five didn't even know whether she was teasing or not. He also didn't know how to answer the question.

She allowed him to wallow in silence, patiently waiting for him to draw out a response. "I saw the interview last evening. You all handled it quite well. Your sister, especially," she commented amicably. At Five's raised eyebrow, she smiled again. "We are not so primitive to not have a television and internet."

"Right."

"Based on what she said, you've decided to make your stay longer then?"

Five pursed his lips. "Maybe. Not much of a choice." He leaned back. "I'll be frank; I did not expect that statement to come from her. Out of all of us, she was the one who had something made for herself before we landed here. She had a family, a daughter. A niece that I never even met." Five looked away. "I told her first that there was a high chance we might not get back at all. So long as she knew I would try my best, she said."

"It does not sit well with you, how easy your sister, and the others, have easily settled here," she concluded. "Even more so, you do not want the same to happen to yourself."

Five realized that it was useless to lie to her face. "Yes. In a way," he said shortly.

"If your own sister who you said has the one to lose the most should you not return can make the most out of your newfound lives, then what is stopping you from affording the same for yourself?"

"Because I know that it won't be the best option for me," Five bit out. "I've seen and lived through a life of constant motion that I don't know how to settle down and stay put. I get antsy if I don't do anything."

"I'm not saying that you become stagnant," said the Ancient One, her calm tone unwavering. "I'm certain that an intellectual like you will find a productive endeavor while you let yourself grow naturally this time around." She folded her hands. "To my understanding, you've lived years ahead of your siblings. Tell me, in those years, how many of those were you a child?"

Thirteen was the numerical answer, Five thought. He was a child for thirteen glorious years under Reginald's care and tutelage that Five didn't heed. Then immediately after jumping to a barren future with no means to get back and discovering that his siblings died with the world, Five stopped being a boy, thrust to a harsh reality that he was surrounded by the dead with no one but himself. There had been no transition from childhood to adulthood. Five skipped the steps as easy as jumping from one place to another.

He might as well have the same predicament as Ben who managed a few years ahead of Five before his abrupt death. The difference was that the boy that had been Five died only to be reborn a bitter and lonely adult.

What was Five if there was no Apocalypse to stop?

"Quite an eventful evening you had," she remarked suddenly. Five chanced a look at her and discovered that she never expected him to answer her question in the first place but more to put his mind into perspective. "I do hope it did not withhold you a good night's rest."

Five shook his head, not hesitating to take the opportunity to change the subject. "Slept well, actually." A first for him in a long while, he believed. "The cat woke me. I think."

"Oh? The cat seems fond of you then. Does your friend have a name?"

"No. It escapes my mind to give it one." Not to mention, rather pointless.

"Your friend might still be waiting for one given how affectionate of it to you already."

Five glanced down to his dark coffee. "Probably."

"You can bring your cat next time if you wish," she suggested. "Or your brothers and sisters even. It'll be an honor to meet them."

Five realized that he didn't dislike the idea. "One day, maybe."

The Ancient One nodded at the promising answer that signaled another bout of quietude. Five, for once, found no urgency but only good company and coffee as he leaned back further to his seat, graciously accepting the refill.

Small steps.

The cat was back in his room upon his return, and Five wondered briefly who dumped it back to his bedroom.

Or maybe it found its way back on its own. Five wouldn't be surprised.

It went to his side in an instant when he sat down on his bed, purring at him as it sat on his lap. Five's fingers made their way to its fur, carding its head and back.

"Are you okay with the name Dolores?" he asked.

He was far from expecting an answer, though the contented purr she elicited was enough.

Tony

Tony was far from neglectful when it came to his projects, but he had been particularly remiss lately on this one in the past few days that it was as if he hadn't touched on this one for quite some time.

According to Jarvis, as relayed by Klaus, Tony was ahead of his schedule already after diligently burning the midnight oil since the aftermath of the invasion. After all, he hardly needed the recovery after the incident, though at the back of his mind, he probably did, albeit not for superficial reasons. A rest from all the weariness of his mind, at the very least.

And the opportunity arose again to have one, Tony thought. He would be stupid not to take it this time despite the manner it presented in the form of seven children looking for, well, a home, as they put it.

Tony stared at the blaring screen and thought, why not?

With half of most of the work done, Iron Legion continued to steadily progress by itself, and give or take a few more months, should Tony be convinced that it would be necessary to get back to it again immediately, the project should be finished.

It started as a distraction of a sort, and Tony was filing it for later as another distraction for something more… special that needed careful attention and mindfulness.

Tony turned off the system temporarily. Let it be said that he listened to Edwin Jarvis, alive or not.

If the late Jarvis was presently where Tony was, Tony couldn't help the smirk that he threw to an empty spot.

Tony left his workshop with Jarvis the AI turning off the lights after him without any prompting.

TBC