REWRITTEN.
The drive was silent, which was fine for both of them. The girl thrived in it and although the boy had spent far too long in it and the mental suffering it brought, he found himself for once not dreading it and finding it peaceful. For years he despised the sound of his own ears ringing from the sound of nothing and no one, but with Violet it was as though his mind knew that this type of quiet was okay.
Rain began pattering down against the windows as they pulled into the parking lot, and once they stepped out, Violet couldn't help but gaze up at the clouds drawing in over the already darkening sky. She embraced the cool drops of water hitting her skin and felt her body relax at the sensation, putting her palm out to watch the droplets roll off of her skin.
Snapping herself out of it, they headed for the brightly lit but seemingly empty diner.
She smiled at Five as he held the door for her, and he acted like he hadn't been caught staring at her admiring the rain for the last twenty seconds.
Seeing the empty seats and hearing the faint music playing in the background, her nerves were immediately settled.
If there was one thing that bothered her it was people. She even saw Five's expression relax a tad as they took their seats next to eachother at the counter.
Five, lacking patience like usual, tapped the bell in raid succession.
As soon as the loud chime filled the silence she hit his arm with a sound of discomfort, ducking her head down.
In truth she was more annoyed at herself for being anxious when the bell was there for the exact reason of getting service, and they were literally the only customers. She hated how her mind worked.
He arched an eyebrow. "It's there for a reason, Vi."
Vi.
How long had it been since anyone had called her that?
Warmth spread across her cheeks but for a different reason this time. She averted her eyes.
She spied movement as he suddenly glanced down and began searching his pockets with a strange sense of urgency. She waited, and when he felt the inside pocket of his blazer his lips raised. He pulled out what looked like a small folded piece of paper and slid it gently towards her.
Violet stared at him, confused for a moment as her fingertips brushed the object. She gently pulled apart the folds as though it would disintegrate in her hands at the slightest of touches, and her lips parted at the photograph that it revealed.
One she hadn't seen in years.
One she had actually forgotten about.
Violet ran through the wall in search of the boy, cloaked, when a figure appeared in a flash of blue just inches from her face.
Her heart jumped and she squealed, fading back into her normal physical form.
Fives eyes lit up with amusement at the sight of her, and when he trailed her figure, he began laughing.
She tried moving but her eyes widened at the strange sensation in her lower leg. She looked down at herself and felt her face flush red. Because she had snapped out of her cloaked form so suddenly she'd got her ankle stuck through the wall.
She covered her face from embarrassment and all she remembered hearing was Fives genuine, hearty laughter.
It made her lips raise behind her hands, despite it all.
"Five!" She hissed in a whisper, breaking out into a set of giggles as she lowered her hands.
"That was incredible," Five said around his chuckles, and his eyes lit up once more with mischief. She tugged at her leg by the knee but it was securely lodged. She could just imagine how odd it looked from the other side of the wall.
She closed her eyes tight and tried to focus on cloaking so that she could freely move through the solid wall, but when she reopened them nothing changed.
Her leg was starting to feel a bit numb, worryingly so.
Five reappeared with a polaroid camera he'd probably stolen from Klauses room and she hit him round the head, trying to grapple for the object as he tried to quickly get them both in the frame to take the picture.
His boyish grin was making her smile but when he stepped out of her reach she attempted to cover her face.
"No!" She whined.
There was a faint click as he snapped the picture anyways.
She ran her fingers over the old photograph. Five was in the front of the frame, an boyish grin on his face, and in the background just over his shoulder she stood awkwardly trying to cover her face from embarrassment.
Violet stared up at him in surprise.
His expression turned serious, but his gaze was softened when he met her eyes.
"Didn't realise it was in my pocket when I left." He told her quietly, a dim light in the back of his eyes. "Still my favourite."
She huffed, blowing a strand of hair out of her face.
Of all the pictures, it had to be the one that perfectly captured her eternal suffering.
She didn't think she had ever seen Five laugh as much as he did that day. Her voice was a whisper. "You laughed about it for weeks."
"Do you remember how long it took you to cloak back out?"
She shook her head.
"Forty four minutes." He snickered, and of course that would be something he'd remember.
She pulled a face at him. "Your fault."
"My fault?!" He exclaimed, staribg at her in shock.
"I needed help!"
"What could I have done?"
She waved her hand in a gesture, stuttering. "It was your fault I got stuck."
"How dare you make such accusations," he mused seriously. "I'm offended, Vi."
She rolled her eyes at his sarcasm. "Deliberate."
"It was an accident."
She gave him a blank look but they both couldn't help breaking off into faint smiles.
None of them feel like mentioning that this was likely the most talking she had done in months, if not longer. All because of him. He just had that effect on her and she doesn't even realise.
The bell chimed above the door and their heads snapped round to observe the stranger walking in with his work coat draped over his arm.
Five carefully eyed the man that chose to take a seat directly next to them, and his metaphorical hackles raised as he became the barrier between the stranger and Violet, who was now busy looking down at her hands in her lap and swinging her feet back and forth.
Finally, when the silence became almost awkward, footsteps approached and the waitress, Agnes, came out with an apologetic smile.
"Sorry, sink was clogged," her eyes swept over the teenagers and landed lastly on the man as she pulled out her notebook and pencil. "What can I get ya?"
"Uh, give me a chocolate eclaire."
She hummed and jotted it down happily. "And can I get the kids a, glass of milk or something?"
Violet and Five exchanged an unamused side glance before he clasped his fingers together in front of him and smiled.
It was so obviously fake that she had to bite her tongue.
"These kids want coffee. Black."
A stunned silence lingers and Violet almost gives away her amusement when she sees the most sarcastic grin she's ever seen on his face.
But then a thought hit her and she kicked him gently in the shin.
"One with two sugars." He added.
Agnes smiled awkwardly, diffusing the tension. "Cute kids."
As she walked away, the three people in the diner took a second to pause and recollect on what she was alluding to. Unanimously, they decide to brush it under the rug and act like it never happened, despite it's strangeness.
As Five began to pick up conversation with the stranger, Violets gaze wandered to the scratches in the counter top. She ran her finger over them absently, trying not to pay attention to the light flickering above where they sat.
The scent of fresh pastries, pies and donuts made her hungry but food was more often than not hit or miss for someone like her. She had a very narrow range of things she enjoyed and was pretty head set on not trying new things because it seemed more like an inconvenience.
She liked anything Grace cooked, especially because she knew to keep her foods seperate on the plate and that she didn't like many vegetables.
She liked sweet potatos though, so instead of piling her plate with veggies, watching her cry for hours and then having to go hungry from refusing to eat, she got those instead. It had taken almost a week to convince sir Reginald that some nutrition was better than none.
She enjoyed egg fried rice too, strangely, but only the take-out kind. Not home cooked or store bought because they tasted different, but if you asked her why she would never be able to tell you. They just did.
And if course, most things from Griddys. They had the only milkshakes that weren't overly sickly and were just the right size portion for her liking. Not to mention she had practically been raised on their glazed donuts. (She didn't like any with too many flavour combinations - and sprinkles were a definite no.)
When they were fourteen Five had gotten her into coffee after a year staight of pestering her to try it.
As Agnes brought over their coffees and slid two little sugar packets her way with a smile, Violet took them eagerly and tore them open with her teeth.
The boy next to her gave her a disapproving glance as she poured the sugar into the drink and stirred it.
It was ironic that he liked marshmallow and peanutbutter sandwiches and would be first to take the dare when they were kids to see who could eat the most donuts in a minute, but he was judging her for putting some sugar in her coffee.
She gave him the same look back.
The stranger with his eclair then offered to pay for the two of them, surprising them.
"Thanks." Five responded for them both.
They both reached for their coffee at the same time to take a sip, Violet playing with the folded photograph in front of her while he turned to the guy once more to ask about an address.
She paid no mind and enjoyed the bitter sweetness of her drink, not even realising she was swaying side to side out of content.
The bell signals the strangers departure and she relaxed ever so slightly, the tension in her shoulders dropping.
She felt eyes on her and glanced to Five in question, finding him watching her with a faint little smile. Her saying stopped as she realised what she was doing.
"Don't stop on my account," he rested his arm on the counter, the other hand nursing his mug. "I like seeing you happy."
Shyly the girl shrugged and averted her gaze, cheeks warming.
She blamed it on the hot coffee.
After a short while of the two just enjoying the faint music in the background and eachothers silent company, Violet began to fidget more than normal and he noticed.
Her foot tapped on the rest on her stool, knee bouncing up and down as she stared off at the clock on the wall.
When she realised she tried to stop herself but couldn't. An unknown anxiety gad gripped her and she knew she didn't have any specific reason to be antsy, but unfortunately her body was reacting. Things had just been going so well, and that the little voice in the back of her head screamed it was all wrong and they did not deserve it.
Her eyes trailed around the diner subconciously, away from the ticking hands of the clock to the flickering light above, then the empty tables, eyes catching the neon signs reflecting in the huge windows.
"You okay?"
She suddenly grabbed his wrist and he snapped his head round to see what she was looking at. Her fingers were like a vice.
"Shit." He swore as they watched armed men in all black filter through the parking lot.
Her heart raced as she searched Five's eyes for an answer of what was going on, but he kept his eyes on the approaching danger past her shoulder.
As the door chimed with the bell and heavy footsteps approached slowly, cautiously, Five then met her eyes.
"When things go bad, cloak and stay behind the counter." He demanded lowly.
Her eyes widened a fraction as she studied his stoically calm expression, the hardness of his eyes and tension in his shoulders.
When things go bad.
Violet now understood that tiny voice in the back of her head telling her that things were going to go wrong simply because, and she now wanted to laugh in the face of Grace - who had spent half of her years trying to convince her not to listen to that voice because it wasn't worth stressing over things that aren't going to happen.