The house had been thick with tension for the past couple of days and Ben hated it. He hadn't come back to life just for everyone to be upset. He hadn't come back to life so that everyone could walk on eggshells.
What was worse was that the one person that could fix it wouldn't tell anyone that was going on. She instead holed herself up in her room, only coming out when dad made her. It was weird, since being back Five and Vanya were attached at the hip and now they were trying to put as much distance between them as they cold. None of the siblings knew why either, it was just like one day they decided to stay away from each other. When they asked Five what had happened he merely just glared at them and carried on with their days.
It was slowly killing both of them though. Five became sloppy, unable to concentrate and therefore was punished by dad. When it came to Vanya's training she refused to work with Five which in turn mean that it was harder to train her as her emotions where all over the place.
As such he decided to find Five and demand answers, they needed each other, and he would be dammed if he let their stubborn arses continue a pointless argument. As such Ben set out to look for Five. He checked the bedrooms, the hall and even the library but came up empty. It wasn't until he realised that Five could be outside that he decided to search the grounds.
He was about to give up hope when he heard a noise from in the greenhouse. Ben wasn't sure why they had a greenhouse as the only one that ever stepped inside it was either Vanya or Pogo. Their father had decided that whilst Vanya was useless the least she could do was grow food for her siblings.
When he entered the greenhouse, he found a body on the floor, shivering. He wasn't surprised considering it was the middle of winter. Cautiously he inched towards the small frame and gasped when he realised it was Five. He had never seen Five looked so defeated, it looked like he had been crying. He looked up to Ben, not even attempting to move as Ben sat beside him. Silently Ben took off his coat and wrapped it around Five.
They sat in intense silence. Ben listened to Fives laboured breathing, scared for his brother. Five had never shown weakness before but now he looked utterly defeated.
"Are you here to tell me I'm a waste of space too?" he asked. Ben eyes him, surprised.
"No, why would I do that?" he asked. Five merely grumbled.
"Everyone else thinks it. I think it so why shouldn't you?" he asked. Ben lowered his head, he admitted that he expected to be fighting with Five right now. He wanted answers but not like this, not with Five so broken.
"Five… what happened?" he asked. Five tensed
"I hurt Vanya," he said. At this Ben tensed, there was no way in hell that was true. Vanya was the one person Five was nice too. When asked what happened Five looked down, remorse flickered across his face.
"We… we were arguing. I don't know what about but the next thing I know I'm saying that I should've left her behind" he whispered.
Emotions ran over Ben like a truck, first, he was angry, the upset before finally settling on the concern. It was rare for Five to admit his faults and even rarer for him to show any emotion other than indifference. Yet here he was, absolutely terrified.
"I've lost her Ben… I've lost her and now I don't know what to do" he whispered. Ben placed an arm around Five.
"You haven't lost her; I don't know if you've noticed but she's used to your bullshit. She'll learn to forgive you" Five shook his head, adamant.
"No, I've lost her, and you know what I deserve it. Vanya is the light in an otherwise crappy situation but even she can only be pushed so far." Ben sighed, he wanted to make Five feel better but didn't know how. Suddenly Ben stood up and offered a hand to Five.
"Come on," he said assertively. Five eyed him but accepted the hand nether the less.
"What are we doing?" he asked. Ben dragged him out of the greenhouse.
"Well, firstly you're going to shower and put on fresh clothes because no offence you stink. Then we are going to prepare Vanya's snack and you are going to op into her room and grovel until she sees you are being truthful" Five was opposed at first. He had never grovelled in his life, but Ben shut him up with a look before the two started on Vanya's favourite treat.
A week later everything was back to normal and it was then that Ben knew. If it was anyone else Five wouldn't have been as upset or terrified and Vanya wouldn't have forgiven so easily. He grinned as the realisation hit him. It seemed there really was no Vanya without Five and no Five without Vanya.