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Somehow, Klaus had thought saving the world by avoiding the apocalypse would feel different. More like he actually did good for once. More accomplished. Instead it was almost four months later and he was lying on his old childhood bed, blankly staring at the white ceiling. He just felt extremely empty, which could be partly blamed on the fact that Ben wasn’t there by his side. It was almost laughable how much he missed his brother’s constant presence by his side ever since the almost-destruction of the world. He knew Ben was proud of him that he somehow managed to stay clean and sober, which resulted in his powers growing, which ultimately resulted in Ben running around the house without Klaus by his side. He still had to concentrate when he wanted Ben to be corporeal, but it had gotten so easy to make him visible, that Klaus didn’t even need to actively think about it. Which was great for Ben and their siblings, but not great for Klaus himself. Because – let’s face it – he still couldn’t stop the other ghosts. Just like right now. He forced himself to continue looking at the ceiling while a woman with obvious tire marks decorating her squished upper body was screaming at him. He didn’t want to see that. Or the man he knew was standing directly in front of his closed door, steadily dripping blood from his gutted stomach, who was pulling his intestines behind himself every time Klaus had to leave his room and he followed behind. The little girl playing football with her own head in their garden was almost funny, in a really morbid way, but he still didn’t want to see that. Never, if possible.
In a way he was incredibly jealous of his siblings. They had powers they could just not use if they decided to. Like Allisson did. Granted, Luther ended up being a bit ape-like, but that wasn’t a result of his super strength, but of a combination of their father and a mission gone wrong. Even Vanya, who had only known of her powers for a few months, had managed to control them pretty well. Everyone trained with her as well as they could – five most of all – and she learned more control in way shorter time than they had imagined possible. Which was good, considering she could destroy the world. But Klaus was still jealous. He wished he could just stop seeing the ghosts, but instead of learning to do exactly that, he felt like they were growing louder and – most importantly – more. It almost seemed like the longer he stayed clean the older the ghosts got. He was afraid that it wouldn’t take long anymore and he would be able to see the ghosts of old Egyptian slaves, or something similar horrifying. Who knew how many ghosts haunted the museum a few streets down? All the ghosts running around from graveyards were honestly more than enough.
With a painful growl his stomach reminded him that he hadn’t eaten the whole day but preferred to just stay in his room where there was only one ghost. Really no one should be surprised that the old Hargreeves Mansion was usually flooded with ghosts. Five alone brought hundreds of them. He felt bad that he was thinking like that, but once again he was mind-numbingly thankful that Ben was dead and there were no ghosts following his brother around. Ghosts didn’t haunt ghosts, just the living who usually couldn’t see them.
Another painful growl forced him to finally stumble off his bed. A glance to the clock in the corner of his room told him that he indeed had spent nearly all day in his room. It was almost time for dinner, no wonder he was so hungry. Not being constantly high forced him to actually listen to his body’s demands. Which was healthier, but also took a lot of time to get used to after so many years of neglect.
As he left his room he ignored the ghosts following behind him as well as he could, his hopes still there, albeit small, that they would just leave him alone if he ignored them long enough. It would be a first, but he couldn’t do more than hope and internally beg at this point. Which they didn’t do, of course. He had never told Ben, at least he wasn’t aware if he did, but he could feel a slight cold wherever a ghost tried to touch him. It was uncomfortable and he was pretty sure that was the reason why his skin was constantly cold, but he couldn’t say for sure. Maybe he was just naturally cold.
The kitchen was empty when he entered the room. Food was still bubbling in huge pots, but their mother wasn’t there, probably using the time before dinner to clean or do some other kind of housework. Klaus liked their mother’s cooking and intended to eat with his siblings, but a glass of milk would help him until it was time for dinner. He grabbed his mug off the rack and started to rummage through the fridge in search of the milk, distantly wondering where all his siblings had disappeared to. He was just about to finally take a sip from his mug when he heard someone call his name, a voice he hadn’t thought he would ever hear again.
Klaus heart was pounding, almost like it wanted to jump out of his ribcage, when he turned around to the see the voice in person. His hands started to shake slightly as he finally laid eyes on the man standing just a few steps in front of him. “Dave.”, he gasped, disbelief coloring his voice.
He had tried for months to conjure Dave, had tried his best to stay clean and sober out of fear that he just couldn’t see Dave because there was still alcohol or drugs in his system. It had taken Diego a long time to coax him out of this mindset. Took him a long time to convince Klaus that maybe he couldn’t see Dave because he didn’t die with regrets. That he was happy while by Klaus’ side and thus didn’t have a reason to haunt him. It had taken some time for Klaus to accept this idea, but at one point he had looked at Diego’s concerned face, at Ben’s equally as concerned face behind him, and had smiled slightly. He hadn’t tried to conjure Dave ever since.
And now he was standing in front of him, staring at him with a blank face, and Klaus couldn’t believe his eyes. “Dave!”, he sobbed loudly, still rooted where he stood. “It’s your fault.” He needed a moment to comprehend what the dead man was saying. “What?” “It’s your fault that I’m dead! You killed me!” Dave shouted and took a menacing step forward. Klaus stepped back out of reflex, his thighs hitting the edge of the counter. “What? No, Dave I didn’t kill you!”, he sobbed almost unintelligible. “You got shot by enemy fire! I tried to save you!” The ghost took another step forward, his eyes empty and haunting. “You killed me! You shouldn’t have been there! I would have survived without you there! It’s your fault! I died because of you!” The longer he talked, the louder he got and his voice blended in with the other ghosts groaning and shouting for Klaus.
Suddenly the ghosts tried to grab for him again, Dave tried to grab for him, shouting his name and screeching that he was at fault, he had to help them, he, Klaus, Klaus, Klaus, Klaus! Somewhere in the back of his mind Klaus registered that something wasn’t right, the earth was shaking, then his legs couldn’t hold him anymore and he slid down the front of the counter. He tried to make himself as small as possible, his legs folded against his torso, his eyes shut closed forcefully, his hands covering his ears and he mumbled, screamed for them to go away, to leave him alone, nononononopleaseno! He could feel them tearing at his clothes, scratching their nails over his bare arms, pulling at his hair and then – warmth. Someone was hugging him, someone living, and the heat almost felt too hot on his cold skin. Klaus sucked in air like he had been drowning just seconds before and when he opened his eyes, he could see chaos. His siblings were standing around the room, but everywhere lay broken plates and glasses, the pots had fallen from the stove and spilled their content over the floor, some chairs had fallen over. “What...?”, he asked wide eyed and confused. He was still gasping for breath, but he lowered his arms enough to grasp for Diego’s sweater in a silent plea to not leave him alone.
“Congratulations, you have more powers. Could you now explain please why you decided to make all those ghosts corporeal and tear down the house?” Klaus’ eyes jumped to where Five was picking up his broken mug with disdain on his face, then closed his eyes and pressed his forehead against Diego’s shoulder. “Let him calm down first. He sounds like he’s going to pass out any moment” Allisson’s still weak voice. “He almost destroyed the house! He better has a good explanation for endangering all of us!” Luther, always the same disappointment as their father in his voice. “Don’t talk to him like that!” It was still strange to not just hear Ben defend him, but to also know that the others could hear him. “Boys, calm down, please…” Vanya’s voice was calm, but stronger than she had been before the world almost got destroyed.
Klaus could feel his breath coming shorter and shorter which lead to more panic because he didn’t want to freak out, not now, not in front of his brothers and sisters. For once in his life he didn’t want to be seen as a pathetic drug addict. Before anyone could say anything more Diego stood up and pulled Klaus up with him. “You can continue fighting, but we are leaving.” Klaus could hear the others exclaiming and demanding various things, but Diego ignored them. Instead he slowly led Klaus up the stairs to one of the big bathrooms and didn’t let him go once. Even when he sat him down on the edge of the bathtub and started to prepare a bath, he took care to always touch him somehow.
Now that the shock was mostly over Klaus could feel how shivers were shaking his body and he helped gladly to take off his own clothes. It was a bit surprising for him that Diego didn’t stop him from taking off his underpants as well, but he wouldn’t complain. Slowly he sunk into the almost too hot water. “Thank you.” “Don’t mention it.”
Diego stayed kneeling in front of the bathtub, carefully cleaning the bloody gashes where some of the ghosts had scratched him, and asked in such a soft voice Klaus could almost feel his heart aching: “Do you want to talk about what happened?” For a long moment Klaus just closed his eyes, then he turned slightly so he was facing Diego. He still couldn’t look at him, though, and instead kept his eyes on Diego’s hands working on his forearm.
“It was Dave.”, he sighed, almost inaudible. “He suddenly appeared, and I was so happy to see him again, you know? Then he accused me of murdering him. He said it’s my fault that he died. That he would have survived if I had never been there…” Tears were slowly dripping down his face and Diego carefully wiped them away with his thump, his other thump slowly stroking over Klaus’ bony wrist. “Then all those ghosts tried to jump me and I freaked out. I don’t know why I made them corporeal, it wasn’t intentional, but I couldn’t stop it. Thanks for getting me out of there…”
Diego made a dismissing noise. “Don’t mention it. You know, you scared us a lot. We were training in the gym when suddenly the whole house started to shake. At first we thought it was Vanya, then we thought it was an actual earthquake. But then we could hear you screaming, begging for someone to stop, to go away. I was really scared when we finally got to the kitchen and everything was flying around wildly and all those ghosts were crowding onto you. I must admit I might have freaked out a bit at first, but it was relatively easy to get past those ghosts and to you.”
Klaus stared, his mouth slightly open. “I’m responsible for that chaos? But I already have powers. I can’t control those, how am I supposed to control new ones? What if I hurt you? Or one of the others? Vanya has already more control over her powers than I ever had, what if I’m the dangerous one? Maybe Dave was right and I’m actually responsible for his death…” Diego let Klaus murmur on for a few moments, then he placed his hands to frame his face and carefully turned his face to look at him. “Klaus, calm down. You aren’t dangerous. At least not any more than anyone else in this goddamn family. You aren’t at fault for Dave’s death and you won’t hurt us. We’ll help you train your powers and you’ll be awesome with them.”
Klaus was silent again, just looking at the other one, then he nodded. “Okay.” It was unsettling to see the usually so lively and overactive man so meek. It was just completely unlike Klaus should be. He nodded again, then pulled his hands away and stood up. “Okay, I’m gonna leave you now. Take your time.” He turned around to leave the room, but a hand around his wrist stopped him. Surprised he turned back to the man lying in the bathtub. “Can… can you stay here?” “You want me to kneel in front of the bathtub?” Klaus stared up at Diego, fighting to suppress a blush. He wasn’t the type to blush for anything because he usually didn’t feel shame, but he somehow felt vulnerable at the moment. “No, I…” For a moment Diego contemplated letting Klaus stutter his way through his sentence, but he already knew what he wanted.
Diego remembered how Klaus used to sneak into Ben’s room after nightmares. Sometimes he came to Diego himself, small and frightened, and shaking so badly that Diego thought he would shake apart if he didn’t hold him together somehow. He couldn’t remember when it stopped. Maybe after Ben died, maybe before. But he remembered how Klaus used to sneak into his room and when Diego didn’t tell him to get lost he always slipped into bed with him. The first few times he stayed at the edge of the mattress until Diego decided to pull him closer. That was Klaus’ cue to turn around and burry his face in his big brother’s chest, the more direct skin contact the faster he calmed down again. All of them knew that they were born the same day, but somehow they had established this hierarchy in which Vanya and Klaus were treated as the youngest and Diego used to think of Klaus as his little brother. A long time ago. At some point he just couldn’t do that anymore.
He felt a bit awkward taking off his clothes in front of Klaus, without his running commentary and lewd looks checking him out and making the situation almost comedic, but he could see how he wasn’t in the right mindset to be his usual obnoxious self. Instead he saw out of the corner of his eye how a faint blush spread over his cheeks and he tried to look without seeming that he looked. It was almost cute. “Scoot over. It’s too cold.” Klaus slid over slightly to the side, indicating that Diego should slip into the bathtub beside him and Diego wondered how out of it he must have been when he thought they could fit side by side. Instead he sighed and pushed him a bit towards the other end of the bathtub, just far enough that he had enough space to slide into the tub behind him. It was almost funny how stiff Klaus was when he pulled him back against his chest. “Hey, relax. Everything is alright.”, Diego mumbled into his hair, his hands steadily stroking up and down his upper arms. It took a few minutes for Klaus to relax, but as soon as he did he turned around to curl up in Diego’s lap. The water was still pleasantly hot and one of Diego’s arms sneaked around Klaus’ waist while the other one stroked through his hair.
“We promised Vanya that things would change after we stopped the apocalypse. That includes you as well. You have new powers you can’t control yet, but that’s okay. We are here for you and we will help you control them. Dave’s death wasn’t your fault, either. You can’t blame yourself for things out of your control. I am so proud of you for how much you changed in the past few months. We saw those ghosts today and if that’s something you have to endure every day, then you deserve all of our respect.” A small giggle escaped Klaus’ plush lips and he turned his had a bit up, his ear still firmly pressed against Diego’s chest. “Don’t let that hear Luther or Five. I don’t think they would like it if they had to respect me for anything.” He felt almost bitter remembering all those derisive glances he still received from his brothers every time he didn’t act like they expected a normal person to.
Something that almost sounded like a growl escaped from between Diego’s lips before he could stifle it. “Ignore them. That’s what I do.” “You try to do, you mean.”, Klaus snickered. “Yeah, okay. I try to ignore them. It’s pretty difficult to ignore a giant and a grandpa when they are always up in your face, don’t you think?” He was glad to hear Klaus giggling again. It seemed like he was returning to his usual self, little by little, and Diego would never admit it out loud, but Klaus had almost scared him a bit with how withdrawn he had been.
They fell silent again. He continued stroking through the soft hair and the thumb from his other hand stroke softly over the spot where he had his hand laying on Klaus’ side. After a few minutes he could feel Klaus’ long fingers softly grazing the skin where his tattoo was. He couldn’t suppress a shudder and a soft sigh at the touch and for a short second he could feel Klaus stopping, but then he continued. It wasn’t long after when Klaus sat up again. “It’s getting cold…”, he mumbled. Diego was still feeling pretty warm in the water, but he also knew how cold the other one’s skin always felt and nodded. He stood up and pulled the thinner man with him up before he stepped out of the water, grabbed a towel and wrapped it around Klaus who had stepped out of the water as well. Once again Diego noticed how thin he was. There really had to be done something about that. He grabbed a towel for himself, then lead the again shivering man to Diego’s room where he proceeded to help Klaus in one of his sleep pants and a shirt that looked like Klaus was drowning in them and checked on his arms. There were red streaks, but he didn’t think bandages were necessary. While Klaus toweled his hair dry, he put on some comfortable clothes as well and then slipped into his bed. He waited for Klaus to finish, then pulled him underneath the blanket with him where he wrapped the blanket tightly around them. Klaus wiggled around until he was comfortable in Diego’s arms, this time with his head resting against Diego’s shoulder and his hands fisted securely in his shirt.
Diego knew he had to talk with Klaus about the elephant in the room sooner or later, but he decided that could wait until the medium was completely himself again. They had time.