After the Umbrella Mod (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
umbrellahandle) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
aftertheumbrella2019-04-23 11:18 pm
umbrellahandle) wrote in aftertheumbrella2019-04-23 11:18 pm
The past is never dead.
This post is for anyone that wants to play out or post any established backstory for their characters. It is grouped by the development stage of the 43, but is open to anyone wanting to play in these time periods. Please indicate in the subject line or the post itself if it is a ficlet, open to others, or closed to a few.
Childhood [1989-2001]
Childhood trauma does not come in one single package.
Teenage Years [2002-2007]
It's difficult to decide whether growing pains are something teenagers have or something they are.
Young Adult Years [2008-2018]
I can't go back to yesterday, because I was a different person then.
Timeline Estimated Timeline based on the Netflix Show.
Childhood [1989-2001]
Childhood trauma does not come in one single package.
Teenage Years [2002-2007]
It's difficult to decide whether growing pains are something teenagers have or something they are.
Young Adult Years [2008-2018]
I can't go back to yesterday, because I was a different person then.
Timeline Estimated Timeline based on the Netflix Show.
- October 1, 1989 - 43 women around the world give birth simultaneously, despite none of them showing any sign of pregnancy until labor began.
- October 1989 - March 1990 Eccentric billionaire, Reginald Hargreeves, tracks down and adopts 13 of these children and establishes the Umbrella Academy.
- 1993 - Reginald Hargreeves develops and creates Grace to be "Mom" to the Umbrella Academy.
- September 2002 - The first exposure of the Umbrella Academy as superheroes to the public. Reginald Hargreeves selects Team A for a mission to stop a bank robbery.
- Also September 2002 - Number Five vanishes.
- 2007 - Ben Hargreeves is killed while on a mission. Shortly after, Diego is the first to leave the Umbrella Academy.
- 2014 - Vanya Hargreeves writes a tell all book about the Umbrella Academy.
- 2015 - Luther Hargreeves is gravely wounded while on a solo mission and administered a primate serum to save him. Shortly after he leaves for a long-term mission on the moon.
- February 2019 - Sir Reginald Hargreeves dies under mysterious circumstances. Number Five returns saying that the world will end in twelve days.
Childhood [1989-2001]
2001 -- Derek & Nathan -- preventative measures
Years ago, dear old Dad established that the best course of action on the full moon is to push Derek until it becomes apparent that there's no more room to push. If he could be forced into control, then he'd be less of a thorn in the side every month. Whenever it failed, the next step was to send in one of the other siblings with the ability of accelerated healing to take the brunt of Derek's bloodlust to protect the others. Mostly Reginald, Derek will suspect in restrospect in his older years, more so than the other children.
Derek's eyes, green and determined are the first things to shift abruptly in the middle of a sparring match with Allison. He can feel the change coming and his eyes, glowing an icy blue now, shift away from her as he pushes his sister away with what little self-control he still has left, and they settle on Nathan because they find him before they find Peter. The look says it all as Derek's face shifts into the wolf and he growls, his attention moving back to Allison, daring her to tell him she's heard a rumor, with a menacing glance coupled with descended fangs.
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"I don't have to remind you of what you can do, do I?" he'd scold, the anger and disappointment showing in his face at the fact that Nathan wouldn't use his powers on his brother. It always feels like a test, one that Nathan doesn't care to pass, and who knows. Maybe that's one more reason Reginald never considers him for the main group, but that's fine with him.
Just how it's fine with him that he can be here to help Derek. As his face shifts, Nathan is quick to step in as he tries to subtly motion to Allison to get out of dodge. With a low whistle under his breath, he tries to get Derek's attention back.
"What, don't want to play today?" He says it tauntingly, as if to redirect his aggression his way. "C'mon, grumps. Don't leave me waiting."
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The taunting does it, just like it always does, and Derek's slight 12-year-old body, now denser with the transition, lunges at his brother angrily, claws out and intending to sink into his shoulders in an attempt to knock him off his feet.
He can hear their father in the background, vaguely, rushing the rest of the siblings out of the room and when one of his sisters trips in her hurry, the starving wolf inside of Derek forces him to scramble up in an attempt to attack the weaker party.
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And then Derek lunges, and Nathan pretends to try and get out of his way as he attempts to dodge him. If he’s easy prey, he figures, he’ll get bored. He has to make it interesting, right? Either way, though, despite all the training that Reginald puts them through, he can’t compete with the level of agility that Derek has. He feels the way his claws dig into his shoulder as they go down, and Nathan tries to keep him engaged (or, rather, focused on him) by trying to fight back.
But then Derek’s focus shifts and Nathan’s eyes widen as he realizes what’s happening. Derek is faster than he is, but still, he kicks as hard as he can to knock Derek off balance and trip him before he can run after their sister.
“What, done with me already?”
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"I'll kill you," Derek growls, low in the back of his throat, just for Nathan, as his eyes flash icy blue. It hardly sounds like him. It's not a threat, it's a warning that comes out sounding like a threat because his voice isn't his voice when his face is contorted into this form and his teeth have turned into fangs.
He lunges for Nathan again to try to latch back onto him to pin him to the floor, wiping out with his claws in an attempt to distract his brother with some pain.
Teenage Years [2002-2007]
2004 - Derek & Vanya - Still lacking control
Derek is tired. He's so tired of the lack of control. He's been trying like his life depends on it to just be able to get through a training session without wolfing out, but he just can't get it together when the full moon is approaching. His siblings have to lock him up when the full moon is actually present.
All Derek wants to do is to get through a training session in his human form, fighting with his fists instead of someone having to subdue him until he could be calmed down enough to put the claws and fangs away again.
No wonder he's on the B Team. He'll never get moved to A if he can't perform better than someone already on A and, at this rate, he's lucky he's still the Number 1 on the B team.
Derek isn't the only one who struggles, but he feels like the only one who accidentally hurts people sometimes, when he does. It can't keep happening.
Still with his wolf face, Derek moves away from the door and drops heavily onto the bed, taking his face in his hands and willing the human face to take back over.
Re: 2004 - Derek & Vanya - Still lacking control
For years she watched with interest and jealousy as her siblings developed their powers, some with more control than others, and the chosen few taking the coveted top six spots. She had no idea why she was Seven. At this point, she had stopped caring. Or at least that was what she told herself. Jealousy had turned to bitterness at this point, and Vanya did what she was told and forced herself not to think about it.
It was hard not to think about her siblings though. She knew which of her siblings had no problem with their powers, and which of them struggled. If you struggled, you didn't get dad's favor. If anyone in the house knew how hard that was, it was her.
Vanya had noticed the frustration growing in Derek that day. He still lacked control, and Vanya couldn't blame him. As far as she could tell, he was literally trying to control a wild animal that inhabited the same body as him at all times. That couldn't be easy.
After training had ended she debated back and forth about checking on him, eventually her concern for him winning out. He was one of the siblings she got along with after all. At the very least, she didn't think he'd slam the door in her face or tell her to go away.
When she reached his doorway, his head was in his hands. He probably already knew she was there though. Still, she knocked on the doorframe anyway. "Hey." she said gently, her gaze on the ground in front of him rather than on him. "You okay?"
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When she knocks, though, he knows she's stopping to check in on him. That is one thing Vanya is pretty special for doing. Derek isn't close with all of his siblings, but he's pretty close with most of them and Vanya is the only one who always seems to know when he needs to be checked in on and in spite of being the only one with no abilities, she's the only one that never has the slightest bit of fear mingling in her scent when she does it. They've all seen him hurt somebody when he can't get himself under control. He's usually paired with a sibling who heals faster when they're sparring too close to the full moon in training, but all the same. She's seen the damage he can do accidentally but she's never worried that he'll hurt her. At least, if she is, she's damn good at hiding it.
Derek lifts his head and while his face is back to normal, his eyes are still glowing and his fangs are still descended. He shrugs, unwilling to admit that he isn't, but also unwilling to lie to her.
"Thanks for helping keep time today, Vanya," he says, avoiding the question. Derek tries to go out of his way to show her appreciation for the mundane bullshit their father keeps her busy doing. He knows the things their father says to her. He knows how some of their other siblings feel about her. To Derek, Vanya's lack of "special" abilities is just a lack of annoying powers and an ability to excel at giving a shit. So while the others sometimes lean in the same direction as their father regarding Vanya, Derek does whatever he can to make sure she doesn't feel useless or worthless when she's with him.
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Vanya tilted her head and regarded her brother, his eyes, his teeth, but mostly just his body language. His lack of an answer spoke volumes.
When he thanked her she laughed, brief and annoyed. Just not at him. "Yeah, right. It's not like he gives me a choice anyway." She didn't want to do it. Because she didn't want to watch the others beat themselves up anymore. Deep down she wanted powers but had been lying to herself for so long to try and deal with the rejection she really didn't want to watch them train anymore. She hated watching them tear themselves apart over it.
She had a theory his number system was all bullshit anyway. They'd all had the same numbers since they were babies. They never changed, and he had no way of knowing who was going to grow up to have the most useful powers or be in the most control. If he'd known, Vanya would never have been Seven. Maybe she'd be Zero. Or just nameless until Mom.
Vanya stepped into his room and took a seat a couple of feet away from him on the bed. "I know you want to impress dad, but I'm not actually convinced he's ever impressed. I hate that you beat yourself up over this."
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He sighs, looking over at her, shaking his head. "It's not just that," he replies. There's no point in denying that he wants to impress their father, because he does. Of course he does. He wants on the A Team so bad he can taste it sometimes and everybody knows it. Derek doesn't make it a secret.
"I just want to be able to do it, you know? I don't want it to matter what time of the moon's cycle it is," he sighs. "I just want to be able to do it and control it and not hurt anybody or have to be locked away because I got too riled up. I'm tired of being...bad at this."
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It wasn't a fair comparison really. "You can't compare yourself to the others who do have control. All Luther has to do is not break people when he shakes their hand. Allison just has to stick four words in front of whatever she wants." Klaus and Ben still had some trouble, and Five...well, he pushed too far and then he was gone. "Your abilities are so much more complex." She doubted anyone else would be having better luck.
"Bad things can happen if you push yourself too fast too." Their dad should know that, they'd already lost one sibling. He had been right about Five not being able to jump yet, but of course he couldn't be bothered to really sit down and explain to Five. He had been way too dismissive.
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That's when he finally smiles a little, though. He appreciates the comforting words, even if he's not sure he believes them. Some of their siblings have complicated abilities; Vanya is cherry-picking the easy ones to make him feel better. Derek appreciates the sentiment more than she probably realizes.
The smile falls away again when Vanya goes on and his head bows slightly. One brother pushed to death and the other missing in action indefinitely. "Yeah...that's no joke..." he replies, frowning.
A thought occurs to him and Derek smiles a little, looking back up at his sister. "Maybe your superpower is being the best at making people feel better when they're upset," he says with a little shrug. "It's no Rumor, but I happen to think it's pretty damn useful."
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She's selecting the easy ones to prove a point. The easy ones had the control. As far as she could tell, anyone who had more complicated powers still struggled. Maybe on different levels, but there was a very obvious difference from her point of view.
She just shook her head, looking down at her own feet. "I don't have any powers. You're just one of the few people who talk to me like I'm a whole person so I actually care and you actually listen." She was definitely no Rumor. "You could always have Allison tell you that you're going to figure it out." she wasn't being serious, she doubted Derek would ever go something like that and Vanya didn't blame him one bit.
Understanding trying to control powers was something she'd never get, but she did know what it was like to feel useless, and what it was like to never win their fathers favor. It was hard to ignore, and hard to get out of your head. But Derek had more on the line.
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"We just haven't figure it out yet," he assures her for the billionth time. Even Derek's not sure that he believes that anymore, now that they're older, but he keeps with it. Derek hates that Vanya doesn't feel like she's a real part of the family, so he tries to give her reasons not to feel that way.
"And you are a whole person." He nudges his shoulder against hers and gives her a stern look. "Quit picking on my sister. I punch people that pick on my sister," he reminds her. That's true. He's hit a couple of his brothers over it in the past. He still would. He always will.
Looking away again, Derek takes a deep breath and lets it out again in a huff. "If you think I haven't actually seriously considered that, then you don't know me at all," he says, only half-joking. If Derek were confident that Allison would leave it at that and not try to make it better by telling him she heard a rumor he can control himself, taking away that very thing forever by giving the control unintentionally to herself just by saying it, he would've asked her to by now. "She wouldn't do it, anyway," he says, dismissively, making a face.
Derek scrubs his face with both hands and then clears his throat. It's his typical way of forcing himself out of whatever funk he's in. "You wanna go to Griddy's?" He doesn't finish the implication that the invite is to go eat donuts until they make themselves sick, mostly because it's a thing they haven't had the heart to do as a group since the group was splintered by the losses of Ben and Five.
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She was an ordinary person. In the rest of the world that was the standard. In this house, it meant basically broken or less than. So she just shrugged. She was not planning to the turning the attention to herself. "You can't do that. I'm tiny and it's me so it doesn't count." she said with a smile.
"Considering it and doing it are two different things. And there's a difference between you controlling it and Allison controlling you, so I already know you're not going to." she said with a shrug. "And can't say I blame you." She might do it, if she was asked the right way. Allison was really good with her powers.
Griddy's was a place she hadn't been to in a while, at least not with all of them. It was one of her favorite places because everyone was so focused on donuts and stuffing their faces, and just having fun. It was almost like a weird sanctuary. "I never say no to donuts. They're like the perfect temporary distractions from life."
end?
Derek huffs a soft laugh and nods. "Your superpower is you're the smartest one, you can read us all like books," he teases, pushing himself to his feet and turning to face her, holding out a hand to help her up, as well. If she's willing to indulge with him so that they can both forget for a little while, then Derek isn't going to miss the opportunity to roll with it.
"It's true, they really, really are. Let's go."
Young Adult Years [2008-2018]
Klaus & Sally and the Big Blow Up
Her future really is heading in the direction that she and Danny want. And they'll get there. She has to remind herself every so often when she pulls up to the townhouse feeling like it needs so much work still. The figure on the stoop, though, catches her attention as she puts the small four-door into park. There's a small smile on her face because Danny isn't home yet....so she won't have to deal with the two of them and any issues that the two of them obviously have. She really can't help but wish that they could get along better, but it's obvious that the issues there aren't going anywhere.
Killing the engine and stepping out of the car Sally waves at the brother waiting on her stoop. "Hey, come help me carry in these groceries!" She demands, a smile on her face for greeting as she jerks open the back hatch. There is a part of her that is glad she doesn't have to do it all herself - making several trips back and forth considering Danny isn't home. "What brings you my way?" Is the followup, given in a teasing tone.
She can only imagine that he needs something, or maybe a place to crash. She, honestly, hopes it's not the latter considering the fact that there have been blow-ups between the two. For now, though, she's got time and it's just nice to see Klaus in one piece again.
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"Do I look like the help?" he swings both arms wide, in exaggerated disbelief that she would dare expect such effort from him, though he's making his way down the steps to grab a few of the bags from her car all the while. "Nothing really," He lies easily with a shrug, helping her cart groceries in the house and even starts putting them away. Probably in all the wrong places, aside from the obvious freezer things. Hope Sally wants her kitchen wildly reorganized.
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It's much quicker work with two of them, honestly, and it's easy to let the both of them in and head for the kitchen. What isn't quite as quick is trying to move things - even while she's putting others away herself. Peanutbutter doesn't go with the plates, Klaus, really? Still, there's a smile on Sally's face. "So just a visit, then, lucky me." Sally holds up the cereal, giving it a little shake back and forth - as if it's the most tempting thing in the world. "You hungry?" She shakes the box again. "Mi casa and all."
She's not sure how long until Danny gets home, but she's pretty sure that they have some time. And considering the fact that they get along so poorly Klaus won't want to stay by the time her fiancee gets home. For now, though, she'll just visit - and fix her kitchen.
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He wrinkles his nose at the cereal offer, "No. Not for that, anyway." He laughs and finishes helping her out with the groceries. "So... how're things? You know- with you and your boy and..." he waves one hand in a vague sort of circle. "All of...that." Subtle, Klaus, truly, an art he's mastered, here.
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Not only does he not care for Klaus, but even if he didn't realize it was her brother responsible for it he's always skewed a little toward jealousy. She's not entirely sure why, considering she's never looked anyone else's way, but there's no reason to try and set him off on purpose either.
"I tried." Sally levels Klaus with a teasing look as she gets a glass out of the cabinet - now that everything seems to be where it actually belongs. She goes for the freezer for some ice, head tilted to the side to see her brother. "Things are good! We're picking some paint colors for the house tonight - and we've made a few wedding decisions here lately too." Not enough to actually plan anything just yet, but more generalized ones. Still, it makes Sally happy because it's something considering they're doing this a bit out of the order that is both traditional and what they had initially considered. The house is important, though...but so is the wedding, obviously.
"How are things with you?" sally asks, returning the favor after she pours herself a little bit of juice before sitting her cup on the counter and hopping up there to sit, arranging her legs so that she's comfortable there before she takes a sip.
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"These," he produces a box of microwave breakfast sandwiches, "I might be more into." He grins and pauses in his grocery-gathering to tear into the box and pop one in the microwave. Putting groceries away is hungry-making business, mmkay.
He leans back on his arms, braced against the sink, watching her as she talks. He had a habit of that, with Sally especially, especially since Danny came around and started existing within her orbit. She's changed, but he doesn't think she sees it. Isn't sure he could provide a list of things the scumbag she's engaged to changed in her if asked to provide, even. But it's there, quietly haunting the edges of everything in his sister.
"Me?" Both brows lift at the sudden turn around of that question. "Oh, you know. Great," he sweeps one hand out in front of him before returning it to rest behind him. "I met this guy, he owns the club, you know the one downtown-- Pandora?" He frowns, considering it for a moment. That didn't sound right. "No, uh-- Purgatory!" He snaps and points at her, somehow emphasizing the point that he got the name right finally. "Anyway, he's totally letting me run a tab he's paying for right now and it might be the best thing that's happened to me in awhile." He smirks mischievously.
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Win-win.
The nod is an automatic response, cup in hand, and eyes on her brother as she listens to how things are. Nothing, really, surprises her with him - the things that come out of his mouth, especially now, are never predictable, so she isn't shocked that he found someone to let him run a tab at all. She's not sure if she wants to know what he's done, or what he's going to do, to deserve that, honestly. "I think I've heard of the place in passing from some of my girlfriends - do I even want to ask how you met the guy?" Sally's eyebrows are up as she looks at Klaus, figuring the answer is probably a very confident no, but still.
It isn't that Sally hasn't been to clubs, but since getting with Danny she doesn't really go out like that anymore. Once upon a time she totally would have been a little more interested in checking a place like that out - even if just to go out and dance, but Danny's not really a fan. And she's settling down, after all.
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She doesnt want to dig into whatever reciprocity is going on on Klaus' side. She has a feeling, even if she isn't one of the more protective siblings - for the most part - she might not like it. And just on the off-chance that she doesn't it's better to keep them both from going down that road. Or at least that's what she's going with. And she doesn't want to have to tell Danny about it and hear the judgement, or anything else later because she doesn't hide much of anything from him - she's going to marry him, after all.
"Mooooving on." Sally says, shifting on the counter. "The music any good at Purgatory? Because if you can't dance there you know it's not a great club, no matter what kind of deal you've got going on."
Derek & Diego - Diego gets kicked out of the academy
Derek didn't need more than that. Diego isn't and never has been the type to wear his heart on his sleeve, so when he proactively shares something that's bothering him, Derek knows that it's big. He texts back that he'll meet his brother at the nearest bar to the academy and he finds Diego already inside, perched on a stool with a half-empty pint in front of him by the time he gets there.
Tucking his keys into his pocket, Derek makes his way inside and settles himself on the stool beside his brother, signaling to the bartender to get him a drink, as well.
"Put the rest of his on my tab," he says as he hands over his card in exchange for a pint of his own. Derek takes a drink and looks over at Diego. "You want to talk or just drink?"
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Turned out, he hadn't proved a single thing. Except maybe that he was done taking orders from other people. Hargreeves. His instructors. The Law. They could tell him what to do for the rest of his life and it still didn't change the fact that they weren't the one doing it. He wasn't not going to take down some scumbag just because he didn't have the proof he needed to take him to court. He was done looking the other way. Maybe if he'd said something years ago, there wouldn't be a statue of Ben in the courtyard.
He doesn't look up as Derek sits beside him. Though he gives a small huff when he says to put it on his tab. "Drink," he says, picking up his beer and taking a long swig. He looks over at Derek. "Especially if you're paying."
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"Least I can do," he replies simply, taking another drink. If he's going to get trashed, he shouldn't have to drink alone and Derek's the ideal drinking partner because he doubles as a designated driver. No matter how much he drinks, it never seems to touch him. Only that one time when he'd been sixteen and he had a few one night, he'd been down for the count, drunk as a skunk. He still doesn't know why it was just that one night and only for a few hours. It doesn't really matter. He remembers that he'd felt it coming on and if he starts to feel it today, he'll nurse the one he's got until Diego's done. "You'd go broke paying for mine," he points out with a smile that falls a little short of his eyes.
It sucks not being able to change anything or make Diego feel better. He knows how hard Diego worked, but some part of him must have known. Derek had. Derek had always known that Diego wouldn't make it as a cop; he hates bowing to other people. Hates taking orders. Derek can't blame him. He'd never tried to stop his brother or give him any reasons not to try, though, because hey...Derek could've been wrong.
He wishes he had been.
For a long moment, Derek's quiet, then, drinking in solidarity and silence. Diego doesn't want to talk and Derek can't think of anything to say that isn't a question, so he just doesn't say anything at all. When the pause in conversation has drawn out for several minutes, he knocks back the rest of his beer and motions for the bartender to serve them each another.
Finally, when the new drinks are placed in front of them, Derek looks over at his brother again. "You could help me get my business off the ground," he offers. "Flipping houses. You'll love the demo step," he adds. The smile still doesn't reach his sympathetic eyes. "Blowing out walls is cathartic."
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He drinks his beer quickly enough to keep pace with Derek and nods at the bartender when they put another one in front of him. He takes a long sip. He should be pacing himself, but now that Derek's here there's no point. He knows he'll look out for him if he gets shitfaced and that's the plan. He would've gotten shitfaced whether or not Derek came or not, but now that he's here there's an added level of need to do it as quickly as possible.
"You mean come and work for you?" Diego looks over at Derek with a smirk and shakes his head. "No thanks." He can't look at him long, that sympathetic look in his eyes pisses him off even though he knows it has no right to. He tries to shrug off the defensive walls rapidly coming up around him. "Though if you want some of those walls blown out for free let me know. I could throw a hammer around."
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Even as he says it, even as he thinks to himself how much fun it could be to start a business with his brother, Derek already knows that Diego will only double down on the negative response. He'll see it as charity, even when Derek doesn't think it is. He'll see it as pity when it definitely isn't.
"Any time you want to help out on demo day, you're welcome to it," he says, letting the subject otherwise drop. If Diego think he's going to do it without getting paid, he has another thing coming, because Derek pays anyone who helps him out, but all the same. He would welcome the company.
He looks over at his brother and watches as he drinks, deciding it's probably time for him to set the pace and Diego doesn't really disappoint. Derek keeps pace and prepares himself mentally for what he's pretty sure is going to end up being an exhausting night. Whether Diego's drunkenness takes him to dark and angry places or dark and brooding places, Derek is going to have to pick up the pieces — which he's good at — and put them back together again — which he's not as good at. If he does a decent job, he won't see Diego again for a while. If he does a terrible job, God only knows when or if he'll see him again and Derek sees so little of his siblings as it is. He can't really afford to mess this up.
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Still, it means something that Derek offered, even if he can't accept it. Derek has always been one of the softest of them, even if he pretended that he was just as tough as the rest of them. He'd been kind when the others hadn't. He'd stood by Diego even when he was being an idiot. That kind of loyalty meant something, even if Diego wasn't in a place to thank him for it right then. Or maybe ever. There was a reason Derek was one of the few siblings he actually stayed in touch with.
"Yeah, give me a couple of beers and I'm there." He lets it drop also because he knows Derek won't understand his stubbornness and he's not going to point out that Derek doesn't really need him to succeed. They both know that on their own. He'll probably make a few bucks boxing Friday night. People will pay to see a Hargreeves go slumming. He won't lose a game, but he will take a punch or two if it means more money to get a place to sleep.
"How's business anyway? You meet any girls or just plumbers with big cracks?"
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Derek shrugs a little to answer the question, taking a sip. "Not bad. But no, I haven't met any girls unless you count the stylist. But that's not really what you're asking, I'm pretty sure, so no, I'm still not getting laid," he replies with a small smirk. He has a handful of siblings who always want to know about that; whether he's seeing someone yet, because out of the lot of them, he always seems to be the one that stays out of the dating scene entirely. Sometimes he misses the sex, for sure, but it's just easier not to get all tangled up in that nonsense; he always gets hurt.
Taking another drink, Derek lifts his eyebrows. "What about you?" He wants to ask about Eudora but he doesn't know if that's still a thing and the last thing he needs to do is unwittingly kick his brother when he's already down if it isn't still a thing.
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He's teasing, but it could be an option that Derek hasn't considered. He's the more chivalrous out of all of them and Diego knows for a fact that taking things from all business to all bedroom can be one hell of a nice trip. "It's good to have someone you got things in common with to come home to."
He sighs and takes a long drink of his beer. "I got 99 problems, but that ain't one." He grins but it doesn't come close to reaching his eyes. "Who needs that anyway, right?" He shrugs and takes another drink. "You're probably better off on your own."
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Another laugh escapes him, this one more hollow and dry. "If I wanted to come home to someone I had things in common with, I'd just rent a two bedroom and live with one of you guys," he points out. "It gets messy. I always fuck it up, anyway. It's better like this."
Taking another drink, he nods a little and motions to the bartender for another round as he sets his empty glass back down. "You know, she'll come back around. I have a feeling," he says, keeping her name out of his mouth because Diego almost definitely won't want to hear it right now He knows Eudora a little, but his werewolf nose knows her enough to have read the chemosignals when she'd been around the few times he'd run into them together. She loves Diego. So, Derek shrugs a little. She'll be back. For now, more drinks.
"You know it would be costing me a lot less money if we just hit up a liquor store and went back to my place than staying here, right?" he asks, although part of him thinks that maybe that's a portion of the allure of being here. Spending someone else's money is always better than spending one's own. If he were DIego, he'd be taking full advantage of it. Getting kicked out of the Academy has earned him that, today, at least.
no subject
He ignores the comment about Eudora, knowing full well who he's referring to and decidedly choosing not to even go there. She's the last thing he wants to talk about right now. He can still see that mournful disappointed look she'd given him when he'd been packing his shit. Who was he kidding? Even she'd seen him fucking up coming from a mile away.
"You're right," Diego says, picking up the beer the bartender just put in front of him. He chugs it down and sets it on the bar before pushing himself off the bar stool. "Let's go."