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It was late in the morning after Luther’s first rave. Klaus had just done his rounds with his handheld bell to ensure he and Five were awake and ready to hear his oh-so-bewitching discovery after conjuring their father whilst passed out on the sticky floor of a club last night.
He was in the middle of brewing his pot of coffee when he heard the front door slam followed by some rushed clambering up the steps. He barely had time to call out and ask who was there, but the question was answered a few minutes later when in walked Diego wearing his all too familiar harness and an all too unfamiliar expression. Number Two looked worn out, beat down, like he’d been up and out all night and day.
“There you are,” Klaus greeted with a warm smile. “Just in time for the family meeting I’ve called. Did you just get here? Where’ve you been?”
“Jail,” Diego said back as he sauntered into the room. “Long story.”
Klaus paused in surprise. He could tell by his hardened face that he didn't want to talk about it, so he shook the feeling off and raised the coffee maker in his grip up to Diego’s line of vision with questioning eyes. Diego shook his head, wordlessly declining the cup of caffeine.
“Suit yourself,” Klaus shrugged, placing it down on the counter and going over to open a dishware cabinet. “Gonna make breakfast, did you want—“
“Where’s Luther?”
Klaus blinked once before breaking out into a soft giggle in memory of how he caught him not more than fifteen minutes ago, sheet wrapped around his naked torso while the strange woman he’d apparently brought home from the party sat prettily on his mattress.
“Probably trying to figure out the most polite way to get rid of his uh… furry fetish one night stand. Should be down any minute.”
Diego raised an eyebrow. “One night stand, huh? I didn’t think he had it in him.”
Klaus nodded as he fetched teacups from the kitchen cabinet to set the table for him and his three other brothers. Ben gave a gentle smile after he placed his in front of him, but sat quietly.
“He got pretty wasted after discovering that our dear old dad sent him to the moon for nothing,” Klaus explained. “I tried to talk him out of it but he was so upset, I swear my ass still sore from when I fell on it after he shoved me away.”
Frenzied confusion flashed across Diego’s features at that. Ben noticed, but Klaus didn't, too busy setting the mugs down on the table in the spots that’d soon be occupied.
“Back up, what do you mean he shoved you away?”
“Well I tried chasing him, you know, to stop him from leaving to go get all fucked up, but he didn’t wanna listen so he pushed me down. Slid me across the floor like a god damn Swiffer,” Klaus laughed, seemingly nonchalant about the situation even though it did bruise him a bit in more ways than one. “Better than the minute before that when he nearly choked me out. You’d think I’d be used to it but I’m not particularly accustomed to the whole… crushing of the windpipe part.”
Diego’s eyes focused in and darkened. They lowered to Klaus’ neck as if to check it and make sure there were no visible imprints on his skin, then glanced back up.
“He did what?”
“Oh, relax. He was angry that I couldn’t contact dad at the time. It wasn’t that bad, it didn’t last very long—“
“Luther choked you?” he asked incredulously, taking a couple slow paces forward.
Klaus exhaled and leaned slightly against the edge of the table. “Diego, calm down, it sounds worse than it was, he was just—“
“He was taking advantage of his powers for no good reason is what he was doing!” he bellowed. “You weren’t sober enough to do what he wanted so he attacked you?!”
“Don’t be dramatic, he didn’t attack me—“
Just as Klaus got his sentence going, Diego casted his attention elsewhere as the man in question found his way into the kitchen. He was quite obviously sulking, hood over his head accompanied by a mopey expression, but Diego was anything but sympathetic.
He drew two knives from his person and chucked them through the air. Luther’s back collided with the nearest wall, the sharp points pinning him up against it by the extra fabric of his cardigan.
“Diego what the hell?!” Luther shouted, squirming to get free from the sudden hold as Diego pulled a third knife and held it up.
“Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t.”
“Diego!” Klaus yelled.
“What is this about?!”
Diego came closer to his rival sibling and pointed with the blade as he spoke, threatening.
“I’m not around for one day… one day and I hear you’re getting rough with Klaus?!” he boomed. “Shoving him? Choking him like he betrayed you by caring about your sorry ass?”
“Diego, I already told you, it really wasn’t a big deal.”
“You shut your mouth!” Diego barked as he whipped around, pointing the knife in Klaus’ direction before returning his fiery stare onto the real perpetrator.
In those few seconds, Luther had yanked the knives from out of the wall and started toward his brother to defend himself. Diego ducked when he half-heartedly swung to push him and kicked the taller one hard in the abdomen. Luther stumbled back with a quick save from falling, but Diego continued the fight, running over to elbow him down in the shoulder with a hop and pull his sweater over his head from the bottom to temporarily block his vision.
Number One punched the air blindly and Diego took the opportunity to bulldoze him to the ground with an intimidating grunt. Luther scrambled back up quickly, pivoting and laying a weak punch on Diego’s face. He was far too down and sapped of energy to put up a real fight this morning, which gave his brother the upper hand.
When Klaus turned to Ben in a panic for help, all he received back was a blasé shrug from the leather clad boy.
He normally didn’t mind their brawls. If anything, sometimes he encouraged them. But among all the reasons the two fought in their lives, Klaus himself had never been one of those reasons until now. It didn’t help knowing that Luther was already feeling awful and that Diego was probably on edge as he’d apparently just been arrested.
“Guys! Guys, cut it out, come on!” he begged as he rounded the table. “Knock it off!”
Diego grabbed the arm Luther threw his punch with and twisted it, distracting him while he tossed the knife in his other hand down to slice the side of his ankle. His knees buckled and he fell for the second time, wincing and grabbing the ankle that got cut, finally accepting defeat as Diego collected his blade from the floor.
Looking down at his much bigger sibling, Diego pointed with the weapon as he did previously.
“You don’t touch him, you understand me? You don’t touch him. You don’t lay a finger on him. Not ever.”
From the terrible series of events that unfolded the other day to now, Luther’s face read as distraught as a result of it all. Klaus watched from behind his defensive brother and actually found himself feeling bad.
“It was a freak moment. Rage, impulse. I didn’t mean to hurt him, alright?” Luther growled. “It just happened. You and I fight all the time, Diego, you’re a hypocrite.”
“When you and I fight, we fight equally, and there’s a motive,” Diego snapped. “Klaus didn’t do shit to you, Luther. That newfound grudge of yours against our asshole father has nothing to do with him and you hurt him for it. You can kill him if you lose enough control, do you realize that?”
Luther opened his mouth to say something but decided against it almost instantly. He was tense and silent while he inspected his wound. It wasn’t deep, yet enough to make him bleed through his pants. Despite succeeding at shutting him up, Diego’s stance showed that his fury hadn’t subsided.
“Any time after this you decide you wanna hurt one of us, it’d better be me, clear? The others don’t deserve to get pummeled because daddy hurt your feelings. So don't let it happen again.”
Diego would be the first to admit that he wasn’t a perfect brother by any means. He tore into his siblings to no end, but if there’s one thing he wouldn’t do, it was get dangerously physical with one of them without some solid justification.
Klaus helplessly glanced back and forth between the pair and Ben watched, amused.
“So are you gonna say something or are you just gonna stand there?” he asked, arms crossed over his chest. “I mean, any day now.”
Klaus glanced at Ben before gingerly approaching the vigilante and placing his hand where his neck met his shoulder.
“Hey,” Klaus cooed with a gentle squeeze. Diego turned to him and his expression softened on its own. “Look at me, I’m fine now. I’m fine. Okay?” Klaus chuckled. “We’re all fine. It was a one-time thing, totally in the past. No time to fight, anyway. We have bigger things to talk about, don’t you think?”
Diego nodded so subtly that Klaus barely caught it. He patted the hand that Klaus was touching him with and held it there for a second before taking it and moving it off him. “He’s just lucky he didn’t leave a mark behind.”
“All right, tough guy,” Klaus winked. “Claws away.”
Making perfect timing for his entrance, Five did a small morning stretch, strolling in wearing his blue flannel pajamas and a cranky wrinkle between his brows.
“Can I get a cup of…”
Gaze bouncing from Luther on the ground holding his bloody ankle, to Diego with a stained knife in his grasp, to frozen bug-eyed Klaus, he sighed.
“Do I even want to know?”