A/N: This fic is being written as a thank you to the lovely and kind Vera (Veraa2 on FFN) who helped out my friend and is just generally a really sweet and supportive person so shout out to her! Also, this is more of an intro; it will hopefully get more exciting if all goes to plan :)

Empathy was one of the few things Reginald Hargreeves simply didn't have.

He did, however, have the desire to adopt - own - every child unexpectedly born on October 1st 1989 that demonstrated the potential to do great things, which meant that, soon enough, he was responsible for seven newborns.

He'd hoped for a lot more than seven but some were better than none so things progressed fairly quickly and only minimal fuss was made before the responsibility of seven new lives was given to his trustworthy android, Grace.

Names seemed trivial in his mind so he simply numbered them and placed them in the constant charge of Grace and Pogo, keeping his contact with them limited to monitoring their behaviour and biology for signs of powers or problems.

The first and easiest behaviour to note was the way attachments had clearly formed between several of the newborns. And the most significant of those attachments was the one between the even numbers.

The only one who'd have been able to tell you all about it was Grace.

If anyone had asked her, that is, beyond the superficial level Reginald Hargreeves did, she'd have told them how Number Four had quickly latched onto both Number Six and Number Two, consequently causing the two of them to bond as well.

She'd have explained to them how, on multiple occasions, the three of them had stopped crying as soon as they'd been placed in the vicinity of each other because the comfort of each other was inexplicably more potent than anything she could do.

She'd have smiled to herself when telling them that all the children under her care were beautiful and brilliant but even she'd have to admit there was something surreal and sincere about the way the even numbers had bonded.

That's not to say the others hadn't acted similarly - there was something to be said about Number Five and Number Seven's attachment and the apparent intensity of Number One and Number Three's bond had been quite a surprise - but Grace could point out the connection between the even numbers far better than the others.

There'd been many occasions when Number Six had been restless, twisting and turning, unable to stay still, but an hour with Number Four had always resulted in them both being quiet and hushed and even smiling if it was a good day.

Number Two had quickly developed the habit of clutching onto objects and fingers alike but Grace knew all she had to do to get said objects or fingers away from him was place Number Four next to him since they'd always, without fail, hold on to each other if they could.

When the children were a few months old, they'd started to gurgle and giggle and react in a way Grace had thought was both incredible and ridiculous.

They'd vaguely point at one another and produce sounds Grace couldn't begin to replicate with her synthetic vocal cords, communicating with each other and mimicking her whenever she asked them to do something.

The girls would giggle at an alarming rate but Number Six was almost at their level, smiling whenever he caught sight of anything outside the window - oh, how Grace wished Reginald had noted down the way he'd so adorably grin at flying birds.

As if they were connected, Number Four would pout every time Number Six was unamused by the birds and became quiet, both of them refusing to eat and Number Four even sticking his tongue out at Grace. It would have been endearing had it not been such a pain.

Grace had been quick to notice the way Number Two had figured out how to expertly babble, wasting no time before ordering his favourite brothers around. She hadn't been sure what he was ordering them to do but they seemed to accept it all the same, repeating sounds back to him and happily poking one another for hours.

Quite often, they'd try to keep poking her too.

When they turned six months old, Grace had a hard time getting them to do anything if they didn't agree with each other, especially since the three of them had developed what she could only call some sort of code between them.

While Number Six had decided sitting up was the extent to which he was comfortable moving, Grace had frequently been summoned by a distressed Number Four, who'd wasted no time before crawling around, exploring, experiencing various injuries, and seemingly trying to get her to fix Number Six.

She'd taken care of all of them as fairly as possible but even she couldn't deny that Number Two had spent the most time with her. Number One had been the first to attempt standing up but Number Two had been the one to stretch his tiny arms out at her time and time again because he wanted to walk and it didn't seem to tire him out as much.

If they hadn't been so young, Grace would have said Number Six used to adopt a look of sheer disapproval every time Number Four would find a pen and manage to draw on himself, scribbling patterns she couldn't understand but would quickly wash off so Reginald never noticed.

She had no right to complain but he never seemed to note down anything she'd watched most families make a record of during her research so she was never sure what exactly to tell him when he asked her for progress reports.

Usually, she'd report who'd been the most active and who'd grown the most, or other basic information that she sometimes thought a hospital would ask for, not a guardian. Of course, she'd also report which of the children had been the quietest and who'd been the most difficult as well, just in case he had any ideas for how to help them.

Either way, she'd never report any of the even numbers as the strongest or the bravest but she'd always hope they'd be the best at something more concrete and more rewarding than being attached to one another when they grew up.

Although, in her opinion, being good at being brothers was something to be proud of anyway.

Thanks for reading! Sorry for any mistakes and typos, lmk if you spot any that need fixing :)