l i t t l e l i o n m a n | t h e u m b r e l l a a c a d e m y

2 . 5

kindest cut

✩ ° . * . ° ✩

it took sebastian a few minutes to calm stan down, but once the kid was breathing normally the two snuck out of the room and headed downstairs in search of cleaning supplies.

they passed the umbrellas on the way back, and five frowned when sebastian didn't even acknowledge him, instead shoving stan forward by the shoulders.

diego noticed too, and broke away from the group, following the boys. five rubbed his temples but allowed him to leave.

diego marched up the stairs and caught up to them quickly. he whistled sharply. "stan! sebastian!"

both kept walking quickly.

he jogged to them and grabbed each by the shoulder. "what is all this?" he asked, inspecting their armfuls of acid and and clorox wipes.

"well, um, you told me to clean up my own mess," the younger kid offered. "i just have to thank you for teaching me such a valuable lesson in personal responsibility."

diego scoffed. "yeah, i'm not buying that." he looked to sebastian. "what's going on?"

the curly haired teen shrugged. it's being taken care of.

he grabbed his sleeve. "you got blood on you." he looked to his son. "so do you! come on, someone start talking- signing- whatever!"

stanley swallowed. "you gotta promise you won't be pissed."

✩ ° . * . ° ✩

diego knelt down and stared at his brother's body. he gently closed the eyes and stood, sighing. "what did you do?" he asked, voice dangerously quiet.

"nothing."

sebastian elbowed stan and shook his head. truth, he wrote on his notepad. it's his brother.

he groaned and stepped towards his dad. "we were just messing around, and it was fine...until the gun went off."

diego slowly looked around, and his eyes landed on the bottle of acid. "and you were gonna dissolve the body?!" he cried.

sebastian flinched at his anger, but stepped forward anyway. it felt disrespectful to swallow it! he signed in stan's defense.

the kid's face broke. "i didn't want you to hate me or send me to prison!" he sobbed.

"hey, hey, hey, i don't hate you," diego reassured him. "i just...can't believe it, okay? all the stupid shit klaus used to do. i used to think he could survive anything, and now he's dead."

"i'm really, really sorry," stan told him, reaching out to hug his father.

while they were speaking, sebastian had been wrapping klaus up in the rug he'd died on. he stood, holding up the rug proudly.

diego squinted as he took the rug from him. "that was...fast."

i've had practice.

"not even gonna touch that. now come here, grab that end."

diego and sebastian dragged the rug stuffed with klaus to the elevator while stan played with a lighter.