#nonbinary five

Five shifted uncomfortably in front of mirror, grabbing at the chest of their faded grey t-shirt and pulling on it and letting it go. They watched as the shirt fell on their chest, eyeing it closely. They turned to the side and examined their side profile.

“Flat, good.” He mumbled to himself before turning to where Dolores sat on the chair behind them.

“I know I shouldn’t exercise in this,” Five rolled their eyes, “but I’m not about to ask Vanya or Allison for a sports bra. I’ve done it before, love. I can do it again.” They were adamant about that. They knew they would happily oblige but they just couldn’t do it. They were never the one to ask for help, especially about this.

During the apocalypse, Five never necessarily had to worry how the world perceived their body. There was no one to impress, no one to “pass” in front of. They were wearing a binder the day they left and they wore that thing until they were around 25 when it just became too uncomfortably tight on their body. They used whatever they could find in the scraps and garbage surrounding them when they felt they needed it. They distinctly remember using a discarded, polka dot tank top and wrapping it tightly around their chest. Dolores particularly approved of that fashion decision. But with the impending doom of the world and saving their family, dysphoria wasn’t really the most forefront of issues on their mind those 45 years.

Since coming back however, it was all they could think about. The way their chest curved out like it shouldn’t, the way their waist curved inwards, their hip protruding outwards...They don’t get why these things equal female. All they know is that they’re uncomfortable being assumed as such.

The siblings had a bi-weekly training regimen to get some sort of routine back in their lives. It involved Allison leading their mile jog/run warm up at the park, Luther helping them with push ups and other core exercises, then Diego instructing them on martial arts. It worked for them for the most part. Allison made sure at the start they each had their own routine to lead to avoid conflict between the Luther and Diego. The last thing the Hargreeves wanted was to be pinned up against each other again. No more rankings, no more number one and two. Just Luther and Diego, two brothers working together and helping their family out.

“FIVEY WE’RE LEAVING NO-” Klaus shouted from the bottom of the stairs just to be interrupted by their sibling appearing right in front of him.

“Okay bud, you really gotta stop doing that! You’re gonna kill me.” Klaus clutched at their heart, clearly spooked by their sudden appearance.

“You’re telling me you’re not used to that by now?” Five scoffed, walking past their brother to join the rest of the family in the van.

“You’re right. Not sure why I even bother to ask, silly me!” Klaus flailed his arms dramatically and followed his sibling.

“I’m thinking we go an extra lap today, yeah? We’ve been making better time so I think we’re ready for that push.” Allison whipped her head around from the driver's seat, Luther seated next to her since it was the only place he could fit.

“I’ll uh, try my best I guess.” Vanya retorted shyly, messing with the handle on her hydroflask.

“Don’t push yourself if you can’t, okay? We don’t need anyone overworking themselves here.” Diego commented from next to her and rubbed her arm so she would stop fidgeting with her bottle. He sounded like a big brother.

“Yeah, it’s not a competition. Just do what you can, yeah?” Luther quipped, staring at her reflection in the mirror until she met his eyes.

“Mmm, I won’t. I promise.” Vanya had a small smile on her face and gave a nod, clearly thankful that they cared enough about her to even worry. They all had been working on that; they made sure to include Vanya and affirm her whenever they could. They spent too many years doing the exact opposite and they all saw how that turned out.

The rest of the drive to the park went by in relative silence, Klaus’ comments about his new workout ensemble being the only things filling the air.

“Look, it’s mesh AND lace up! These athleisure companies really did not have to go off that hard!!” Klaus stuck his leg out for his siblings to ‘admire’ his attire, his bright pink sneakers in front of Five’s face.

“Magnificent. Now let’s get out.” Five deadpanned, lightly slapping Klaus’ legs and waited for everyone to pile out of the van.

They all started their stretches, Klaus making unnecessary moaning noises. They all were used to it by now, ignoring the glances they were receiving because of their eccentric brother.

“Is Ben joining us today?” Five asked, leaning down to touch their toes.

“Nah. He doesn’t really needa workout. He’s blessed with a good bod and all. He’s sitting on the bench over there though,” Klaus pointed to the bench on their right and winked, “He enjoys watching us suffer, sick bastard.”

Five hummed and nodded in response.

“Makes sense.”

“Okay y’all, we ready?” Allison was already jogging in place, her curls that were wrapped in a bun on top of her head bouncing.

“Let’s go!” Luther exclaimed and they were off.

Allison had always been the most agile of the siblings, her stamina being pretty impressive. She didn’t do five years of soccer for nothing. Diego was on her heels, keeping up with her quickened pace. Luther was a foot behind them. His big body wasn’t as easy to move around but he was still in better shape than Klaus, Five, and Vanya.

The last three jogged at their own pace, always ending up being almost half the park size away by the end of their jog.

“You doin’ okay?” Five breathed, glancing at their sister. Although small, Vanya tended to tire quickly.

“Yeah, mm good!” She huffed, “You?”

“Peachy.” They replied.

They could feel the tightness forming in their chest, the ache in their ribs starting to throb. They just had to make it four more laps today, they could do it.

By the end, as expected, Allison and Diego ended together, Luther just 30 seconds after them. They waited for another 2 minutes for the rest of their siblings to join them at the table, catching their breath and rehydrating as they did so.

“Fucking finally!” Klaus made it to his brothers and sister, his fist in the air victorious.

“Good job, Vanya!” Allison gave her sweaty sister a half hug as she handed Vanya her water.

“Th-Thanks.” Vanya breathed heavily, happily accepting the hug and water.

Five made it to the rest of them a minute later than Vanya and Klaus, clutching at their side. They all turned to them, obviously confused as to why they were late. Usually they finished before Vanya and Klaus, not after.

“You good, sib?” Diego scanned their body, obviously taking in how they were holding themselves.

“I’m fine, no need to worry. Just tired today I guess.” Five waved their hand, attempting to dismiss their concern. Luther handed them their water and they chugged half the bottle in one chug, sighing loudly once finished.

“You okay to start the crunches?” Luther asked cautiously, placing his water down on the table.

“Of course.” Five snapped, already walking to the grassy area and getting in position.

The other siblings followed suit, all forming a line of Hargreeves on their backs. Luther still stood, walking down the line.

“Okay, so today we’ll do 25 crunches, 10 sit ups, and finish with 30 bicycle crunches. Everyone ready?” Luther asked, scanning down the line of his siblings before laying down next to Vanya on the very right. They all gave a chorus of affirmations.

“Go!”

Diego immediately went ahead and finished the workout within 2 minutes, working on ultra fast mode. Even though this wasn’t competitive, he always liked to finish first for himself. Or to at least beat his time.

Luther finished not long after Diego, Allison immediately following. That left Klaus, Vanya, and Five again.

“Just one more crunch Vanya, you got this.” Luther encouraged his sister, watching her wince in discomfort.

“Nicely done!” He high fived her, which caused her to giggle.

“If I don’t have rock hard abs after this, I am suing ALL OF YOU!” Klaus flopped his limbs down dramatically, not finishing the last 15 bicycle crunches.

They turned to Five who was still on the sit ups. They were counting to themselves, slowly. Every time they pushed themselves up, they would take a sharp inhale.

“Five, if you’re not feeling it you don’t have to finish.” Diego said from their left, placing a hand on their shoulder when they were upright.

“Nonsense, I’m fine!”

“Five.” Klaus’ tone suddenly changed as he stood up and planted himself in front of them. He bent down and placed his hands on their knees, forcing them to look at him eye to eye.

“What? Can’t you see I’m trying to finish here.” Five snapped, clearly annoyed at their brothers antics.

“How long have you been wearing your binder?” Klaus raised his eyebrow.

“Irrelevant. I uh,” Five was trying to form a sentence, his mouth gaping open and close, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” They quickly looked away, about to go down to the grass to start the next sit up before Klaus stopped them with a hand on their shoulder. He pulled his shirt at the collar slightly to the right revealing a black binder underneath.

“Ben was right! Five, buddy, you can’t do this! You could seriously get hurt!” Klaus’ voice was filled with concern as he pulled Fives chin with his finger, forcing them to look him in the eyes.

“I’ve done it before, no problem I,” Five took a deep breath, their face getting hotter, “I’m sorry.”

“I have plenty of compression sports bras, Five. You’re more than welcome to wear them. Or we can get you your own.” Vanya said softly as she made her way to her sibling, plopping herself to their right.

“We care about you. We don’t want you getting hurt, okay? Just let us know next time, please.” Diego wrapped his arm around their shoulder as his sibling curled in on themself.

“I just, I hate seeing them, you know? They’re not...not supposed to be there.” Five spat out, their vision starting to blur with tears.

“You don’t have to do shit like this alone anymore, remember? It’s okay to ask for help.” Allison said softly from behind Five. She ran her hand through their hair, stopping at the nape of their neck and placing a gentle but firm grip.

Klaus leaned forward and wrapped his arms around his the smaller sibling, Vanya doing the same. Eventually all seven of them were in one, big cuddle hug pile.

“Okay, little trouble breathing.” Five mumbled in Klaus’ shoulder, causing an uproar of giggling from Klaus. Which in turn made everyone else bust into laughter.

They all fell over, laying flat on their backs as the giggling persisted. Diego ruffled Five’s hair, “Lets call it in early today. Five, we need to get you out of that binder. Pizza and Netflix marathon today sound good with everyone?”

“WOW! Diego ‘my body is a temple’ Hargreeves wants pizza! Never thought I’d see the day!” Klaus gasped, poking at Diego’s shin.

“Well don’t get used to it. We’re doing taekwondo 8 am sharp tomorrow.” Diego retorted knowing quickly.