Allison was the last person to leave the house, and when she was preparing to move out, she asked Luther to leave with her; he initially said yes, but when the eventual day came, he panicked and turned her down.
On hobbies:
Growing up, he liked reading (he's a voracious reader of both fiction & nonfiction, and has stacks of books around his living space at all times), and assembling and painting miniatures. After everyone left, he did a lot of jigsaw puzzles and played pool.
He has a nigh-encyclopediac knowledge of music — collecting records being one of the only 'hobbies' he could really indulge in, under their father's thumb — and was really good at selecting specific records for specific siblings.
Luther can get ultra competitive during board games. He broke a table once when losing at Monopoly.
Loves reading poetry, and his favourite poet is Walt Whitman. He started writing some of his own poetry while he was up on the moon, although it is terrible.
Each morning, Luther starts his day with a dawn workout and a shower. He likes to read while working out in general, because of the efficient multitasking and because secretly he's more of a nerd than a gym rat.
On food and vices:
One of the few treats for the Umbrella Academy after a job well-done was for all the kids to be allowed some ice cream. Luther's favourite flavour is plain chocolate.
Luther's metabolism runs naturally high, which may or may not be related to his natural superpower. Back home and in the past, in lieu of any other vices, the only thing he could do was snack on things as comfort food. Grace's cooking was a source of serious comfort as well (cf. the smiley face pancakes).
Related to the above: when depressed, he's at risk of bingeing and over-eating.
After their father's death, and caffeine thus no longer being banned in the house, he started drinking coffee. He likes it with cinnamon.
He's also incorporated some alcohol into his coping mechanisms and as a common social lubricant, though he's still more austere than not. He only drinks enough to ease his social anxiety a bit, never enough to lose control of himself. Very exceptionally bad circumstances might lead him to drink heavily; recreational drugs remain a No 99.9% of the time. (Although he should probably blaze up in order to chill out, lbr.)
He blames himself for Ben's death; mostly because Reginald told him so at the time. (A team leader's job is to be responsible for your team; their faults fall on your shoulders.)
While still learning his own strength, he once accidentally broke Klaus’ arm while rough-housing.
Luther's not exactly canny enough to be a proper perfect leader — but he's actually really good at keeping his temper in a high-stakes situation and working to calm down the others on his team. His patience was one of his most valuable traits as Number One (although Diego was the best one at winding him up, and sometimes succeeded). Thanks to trying to keep Sir Reginald appeased, Luther developed a walking-on-eggshells type of wary personality, hyper-aware of conflict within the house, and ever-desperate to tamp it down at all costs and keep the peace.
Sidebar: When he does lose his temper, he doesn't lash out with words; it's all physical, and losing his tight rein of control over his strength for once.
Luther knew about Allison's secret spot at the attic window, and they used to sit there together. During his solitary years in the house, he used to go sit there by himself when he was upset, too.
The kids would sneak out to the diner together sometimes for midnight snacks. Luther once ate so many donuts that he puked.
About the lounge space in the basement:
Can you talk to me about the kids’ lounge space? I’ve read that it used to be a butcher shop that they took it over.
The Academy is built into a tenement block. The adjacent buildings would have had half-basement businesses in them like the West or East Village. The idea is that if you go down some steps, here’s an old butcher shop that’s been closed awhile.
The kids busted a wall out from the main Academy into this space and said, “Hey, this is cool. We’ll convert this into our own space away from dad. This is the one space where we can be free to be who we are.”
We talked about a number of what kind of business could it have been: Chinese restaurant or dry cleaner or whatever, things that were common in places like the East Village. But we settled on an old butcher shop. *
“We were thinking that this shop just closed down after Hargreeves bought the building,” Worthington says. “The kids discovered it, busted through a wall, and turned it into their own lounge, because they wanted something that Hargreeves wasn't a part of, where he wouldn't check on them because they're so restricted otherwise. They wanted a space to be free.” *
Of the off-limits objects in their father's study: Luther named a skull 'Yorick', and the kids stole one of the cursed idols and kept hiding it in each others' rooms. *
Still doesn’t talk much during meals, having been taught to eat in complete obedient silence while listening to their father's lessons. Old habits die hard. (Nowadays, though, he might vary it up a bit by listening to podcasts over breakfast. His favourite is the MoM-equivalent of Stuff You Should Know.)
Big fan of astronauts & polar explorers, thanks to their unique combination of meticulous preparation and planning, but also bravery, scientific research, and derring-do. His childhood hero was an astronaut codenamed St. Zero, who vanished on a mission to Mars.
His three biggest regrets, in no particular order: Saying no to leaving with Allison. Going on the solo mission that almost killed him. Locking Vanya up.
Luther and Five are twins, though they don't know it themselves yet.
CW: SELF-HARM & SUICIDAL IDEATION: In his four years of social isolation on the moon, Luther would receive regular weekly calls from Reginald for status updates. The schedule started slipping, however, and eventually became monthly; Reginald got distracted, increasingly forgot about him, and forgot to send up enough food. These years were the worst of Luther's life. He was depressed and suicidal, and occasionally hallucinating (per research into long-term social isolation) as his mind tried to interrupt the endless monotony. He also self-harmed in an attempt to get his skin off, but it always grew back the same; hence the strange jagged scars all over his body.
"We figured, over time, that Luther would have tried to remove the skin, or patched it with other skin, but it didn't work. He hates the way he looks, and he's severely depressed about it. In my head, there were times on the moon when Luther thought about ending it all, because he’s so torn up after the accident." *
Unlike some of the other Hargreeves, Luther never uses nicknames ('Di', 'Vee', etc). He always refers to them by their proper first name or, in a combat situation or emergency or when he needs them to take him seriously, their numbers and codenames.
trivia & headcanons.