THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY
fragments || five hargreeves x reader

CHAPTER TWO: YOU REMIND ME OF MY LENORA

Written By: peachyhxlland

°•.☆.•°

"September 1, 1963." You read out from the newspaper. You and Nick have been staying at Elliott's for 4 days now. While you're looking for any relatives that know you, Nick is looking for a new home around Texas.

You were finally out of that uniform of yours. You didn't know how you got it in the first place which was surprising. Elliott kindly gave you clothes and you were thankful for that. He didn't throw the uniform away and instead hang it in your new room.

It was finally night time and Nick's about to come home. You set the newspaper down, walking towards the board of Elliott filled with some pictures of the people he saw from the sky. It was black and white so you couldn't really see.

The first guy looked like a homeless one because of his clothes and his slim figure. 'Poor guy had to dragged into a mess. Maybe he just wanted to eat something but he suddenly got sucked in a portal and landed here. Oh, what am I saying?'

Then you turned to the next picture, a woman with long curly locks of hair and an odd looking clothes that doesn't fit the fashion style in 1960's.

You moved your head to see a bulky man on another picture. You leaned a bit closer until a sharp pain struck in your head like someone shot a harpoon right in your brain. Placing your palm on your forehead, you sighed heavily.

"Got any luck, (Y/n)?" You jumped in surprise and looked at Nick, who asked after he entered the room. You shook your head, frowning. "Not even a little bit. Maybe no one knows me here."

"You sure about your name? Maybe you're also confused with your name." Nick teased, earning a glare from you as you threw a pillow at him. "Yes, I'm sure (Y/n) is my name."

"Would be easier if you know your last name," Nick said as he threw the pillow back at you. "You don't even remember your own last name."

"Well, I assume my surname is Russell. I'm just not sure if it's true."

"Well goddamn." Nick gasped. "Russell's my surname."

"Stop kidding around, Nick."

"No, really. My full name's Nicholas Russell."

You stared up at him, blinking. "That's a big coincidence, my friend."

Before Nick could respond, a flash of blue light appeared outside the building on the alley. You and Nick ran towards the window, pushing the curtains aside to see a blue portal-like in the sky. Then portal spat out a black-clothed man that looked like a ninja. He landed on the floor on his feet. 'Huh. Superhero landing. He kinda looks like a vigilante. Like Batman but... a zero budget one.'

You heard a faint flash and with that, you knew Elliott has taken a picture again. You watched as the strange man looked at his surroundings. Before he could look up and see you, he heard a scream from a distressed woman and like a hero, he ran towards the danger to save the damsel in distress.

You on the other hand dashed into the front door but Nick stopped you. "Woah, woah, woah, woah, easy there, cowgirl. Where are you going?"

"To follow that man."

"(Y/n), no. Didn't you see his appearance? He looks like a dude who's ready to rob a bank."

"Maybe he's a harmless guy and actually saves people from bad guys trying to rob a bank. Nick, remember what Elliott said?"

"Elliott has said a lot of things."

You rolled your eyes. "When he said that I might've fallen from that weird portal thingy. That portal just spat out that man. Maybe he has answers!"

"(Y/n), please. I know you want to know what happened to you and find your family but approaching that man will be dangerous. I bet he's got no answers from the questions you have."

"But—" You cut your own sentence when you saw Nick's concerned look. You looked back at the window where you saw the black-clothed man before sighing and nodding. "Yeah, you're right. Maybe there are more of them out there. I-I can wait."

"Thank you." Nick softly smiled. "If another one comes in, I'll come with you when you approach them." Nick turned around, removing his baseball cap from his head, tossing it on the couch.

"Why are you being so nice to me?" You asked, crossing your arms.

Nick turned to you, a strand of his curly hair slightly covering his right eye. Nick sadly smiled at you. "You remind me of my Lenora."

Before you could respond, he went to the bathroom and didn't wait for your response. You blinked in confusion, tilting your head with a sigh. 'Who's Lenora?' Shaking your head, you grabbed his baseball cap and stared down at it. 'Kind of familiar.'

You brought the cap back down and looked back at Elliott's board full of pictures. You looked back to the muscular man, feeling a bit of anger inside you. 'Why the hell do I feel mad at you? I don't even know who you are.'

"I saw another one!!" You jumped in surprise at Elliott's excited outburst. Nick opened the bathroom door, peeking his head out with a toothbrush inside his mouth and his lips covered in toothpaste. Elliott walked and jumped in circles as you and Nick exchanged looks. "Did you two see it? A-And that landing? Wow!"

"Yeah, we did." You chuckled, resting your arms on your hips. "You know, Elliott, instead of taking pictures, why don't you just approach them?"

"Because they might be spies or dangerous," Elliott answered simply. "We always need to be careful, (Y/n)."

"I tld her tht." Nick responded but muffled because of the toothbrush and toothpaste. You frowned at them both. "Well, we don't know that. And we'll never know that if we don't approach them."

Nick sighed, spitting the toothpaste at the sink before looking back at you. "Do you have a death wish or something? If we approach them, we might get killed. They look like dangerous people."

"Yeah, especially that cool-looking dude," Elliott added with a nod.

You sighed. "Okay! Fine. But if another one comes in, we'll approach them together, okay?"

Nick nodded, putting his thumbs up. "Yeah. As soon as I get a gun."

"Nick, no."

°•○●○•°

"NO!" You screamed. You gasped out of the air, sitting up instantly. You clutched your shirt as you breathe heavily, sweating. You had a dream while you were sleeping and it wasn't a pleasant one. It was about a grumpy-looking man experimenting on you with a chimpanzee as his assistant. Then you were frozen by them when the experiment was a failure.

"You alright?" Nick asked causing you to jump when you heard his voice. He was standing by the door, his hand holding the doorknob, and had a worried look on his face. "I heard you screaming. Were you hurt?"

"N-No. Just an awful dream." You admitted, wrapping yourself with your blanket. "It felt so real, though."

Nick entered your bedroom and sat beside you, rubbing your shoulders. "It's just a dream, it's alright."

"They were experimenting on me. Needles, electronic devices.." You told him, shivering. "It was awful. And then, when the experiment failed, they froze me. I was asleep, frozen, for how many years. I didn't know if I could ever wake up. It was scary, Nico."

Nick paused, his eyes slowly widen in shock. He immediately looked down at you, speechless. "I— wh-why— how— what did you just call me?"

"Oh, sorry. The name just came to me and just called you by that. I'm sorry."

"(Y/n). Nico is my nickname."

"I thought it was Nick?"

Nick looked down, his hands let go of your shoulders and laid down on his thighs. "Everyone calls me Nick. Nick is a shorter name for Nicholas. But Lenora wanted a different nickname. So she called Nico. When she kept on calling me that, our family started calling me Nico."

"Who's Lenora? Your girlfriend?"

Nico stifled a laugh. "I ain't having a girlfriend. No one likes me. But, uh, no. Lenora isn't my girlfriend. She was my little sister."

You immediately figured out where she was. Seeing that she was nowhere near Nico when you first met him, you assumed the worst. "I'm sorry."

"It's alright." Nico sighed. "She wasn't even my real sister. We were orphans but my father's parents adopted us. We treated each other as siblings."

"I-I'm sorry if I have to ask but... how did she die?"

Nico shut his eyes close, pressing his lips together as if the memory of her death was too painful. "She... she killed herself... with her unborn child."

You gasped softly, covering your mouth. You couldn't judge his sister. You were that she must have her reasons why she took her own life away. You placed down your hand on Nico's shoulder, comforting him. You couldn't imagine the pain he's going through right now and it pained you to see him like this even if you two have known each other only for 4 days.

Nico held your hand back, sighing. "I'm sorry for being protective towards you even if we know each other for only a few days. You just remind me so much of my Lenora. But no matter what your decisions are, I'll support you. At these times, we need to have each other."

You smiled at him and nodded. "Thanks, Nico. For being a great friend."

-•-°-•-°-☆

All chapters were made and ready to publish. The chapters will be published every Tuesday and Thursday at 6 pm (Philippine Time).

I'll be disappointed if you guys still don't know who Nick is xD the clues and hints are very obvious by now xD

Also, originally titled "Like Batman But A Zero Budget One".

ALSO ALSO! I won't be updating the next chapter on Thursday until January 2 (or January 1) because I'll be taking a vacation with my family in my province which means no wi-fi. Advance Merry Christmas!