Chapter Text
“This is so stupid,” Allison grunted.
“Oh, come on. Nothin’ wrong with a little hard work and exercise,” Diego piped back.
“You know, it’s a bad day when I agree that something is stupid,” Klaus called back.
Diego scoffed, “Klaus, you are literally steering, aka doing the least amount of work. Allison and I are sweating back here.”
“Hey! I’m doing work! It’s not my fault that I’m too classy to sweat!”
“Okay, out of the three of us, Allison is definitely the classiest and she is drenched right now.”
“I have been pushing your piece of junk car for the past twenty minutes in heels. You do not get to make fun of me right now.” Allison huffed.
“I just don’t see why we couldn’t call a tow truck. I mean, we literally have passed so many places where we could have just walked in and asked to use a phone.” Klaus groaned.
“We were literally blocks away from the mechanic. It would have been a lazy waste of money. Quit being annoying.” Diego answered, wiping sweat off of his face with his sleeve.
Allison rolled her eyes, “Yeah, ‘cause we are so concerned about money now that we have dad’s inheritance.”
“Just shut up and push.”
All they had wanted was ice cream. Just a simple cone of ice cream on a hot summer day. Klaus had been excited for an excursion of just the three of them. As kids, Klaus was closest to Diego and Allison, but separately. Diego and Allison didn’t get along as much when they were younger because Allison was very close with Luther and Diego was very not close with Luther. It caused some massive blowouts when they were kids, but ever since The Apocalypse they were all trying to be a family again, and they were surprisingly successful at it. They had all been living together in the mansion. Vanya would go back to her apartment every once in a while to give lessons, but she was at the mansion more often than not. Diego officially moved everything out of his dingy basement dwelling and took up permanent residence in their home. They were all a family once again, but a proper family this time around. They were all making efforts to be there for each other and Klaus had never been happier.
Which was why Diego’s car breaking down on their way to go to an ice cream shop was a bit of a bummer. He had been excited to spend the evening with them! They were going to get ice cream then go see a movie (one that Allison was personal friends with the star of). He knew that his siblings were excited too. They were halfway there when the hood of Diego’s car started smoking, forcing them to pull over. He stopped the car and looked under the hood, which only resulted in more smoke billowing out. After that, the car wouldn’t start again and Diego insisted that there was a mechanic shop close enough to push the car there. Which leads to where there were now. Pushing Diego’s shitty car on the side of the road in the middle of a hot summer day.
“Look, there’s the shop. Told you it wasn’t far.” Diego huffed, pointing to the place up ahead.
“Yeah, you told us that 30 minutes ago.” Allison muttered. Klaus giggled and they pushed and pushed until they finally had the car in the driveway of the garage.
They wandered into the auto shop and looked around. Nobody appeared to be inside.
“Hello?” Diego called, “Anyone here?”
“I swear to God, Diego, if you dragged us all the way to an empty shop I’m gonna-”
“I’m under here!” A voice called out, “Sorry, I’ll be out in just a sec.”
They looked down to see a pair of legs sticking out from underneath a beat-up Jeep. The Hargreeves shrugged at each other. Klaus started wandering around to look at all of the tools while Diego began speaking again.
“Thanks, man. I don’t know what happened, she just died on me. I’ve had problems with her before b...but…” Diego trailed off after the sound of wheels rolling filled the air. Klaus turned to see Diego staring at something with his mouth opening and closing, completely speechless. Klaus looked across to see Allison in a similar state, her eyes wide and blinking rapidly. Klaus turned to see what they were ogling at and felt his jaw drop to the floor. The mechanic was getting up from his position under the car and he looked like he had just stepped out of one of Klaus’ more inappropriate dreams. He must have been the hottest guy that Klaus had ever seen! He was wearing a tight white tank top that showed off his beautiful, beautiful arms with their beautiful, beautiful muscles. His body was smudged with oil and grease and there was a dash of it on his incredible cheekbone. He had sky-blue eyes and a smile that made Klaus’ heart melt. His golden curls were slightly in disarray, giving him the perfect level of dishevelment. God, Klaus could just imagine running his hands through it. He could picture the man grabbing him with his strong hands and slamming him against the hood of the car then-
“Sorry ‘bout that. I’m the only one in today.”
The man stepped forward and extended a hand to the stunned Hargreeves, only to retract it when he realized that it was completely covered in black oil.
“Woops, I would shake your hands but I’m a little messy right now. I’ve been wrestlin’ with this old thing all day. Got me all greasy,” He gestured to the car behind him.
God, his voice made Klaus’ knees weak. He had a sweet southern drawl that made him all the more sexy.
“Not a problem. Like, at all.” Klaus managed.
The beautiful mechanic smirked and Klaus could swear he felt something jolt in his chest at the sight, “I’m Dave. I’m the owner of this place.”
“D-Dave, it’s n-nice to meet you. I’m Diego. This is m-my sister, Allison, and my brother, K-Klaus.”
Dave gave a smile that lit up the whole room, seemingly unaware of the effect he was having on the Hargreeves, “So, what exactly seems to be the problem with your car?”
“Well, I, uh,” Diego cleared his throat, “I think it’s something with the engine, but I’m not entirely sure…”
“Well, lemme just take a quick peek under the hood and see,” Dave walked over and opened up the hood of the car. Klaus felt his soul leave his body as Dave leaned over to inspect the inside. This must be a dream. A crazy, horny, stupid, stupid dream. How can a person this beautiful even exist?
“Dang,” Dave called out, “this is a doozy. How did you even manage to get it here?”
“We, uh, pushed it.” Allison replied.
“You pushed it?!” Dave exclaimed and turned to look at them, “It’s nearly 90 degrees out! You could've called me and I would'a given you a tow!”
“Well I would have loved that but someone was too stubborn to call.” Klaus shot at Diego. They could have gotten a ride from beautiful Dave!! Diego just glared back.
“Jesus, you must be tired. Come on, I have a little lounge area where you can rest while I work on the estimate. Follow me.”
Dave led them into the shop to a small room in the back with cozy couches. The three settled in, trying to wipe the sweat off of themselves when Dave wasn’t looking. Thank god the room had air conditioning.
“Alrighty,” Dave said with a smile, “Yall can settle in, it shouldn’t take too long. Would you like anything to drink? I’ve got some ice cold lemonade with your name on it.”
“Lemonade sounds great, thanks,” Allison gave her winning smile with the response.
“Sweet, I’ll be right back,” Dave grinned and stepped out of the room.
As soon as the door shut Klaus took a deep breath and shouted, “DIBS!”
“What!?” Allison exclaimed, “You can’t call dibs on a person! That’s not how it works!”
“I think I just did.” Klaus shrugged with a grin.
“Nope,” Diego declared, “Either way, I saw him first. I think I get first claim to him.”
“What? Do you even like guys?” Allison asked.
“I’m bi! And besides, how could you not like that.”
“Okay, fair. So we all want him. What are we gonna do about it.”
“I don’t know why you all are acting like you can try anything when I already called dibs.” Klaus shrugged.
“Oh my god. You can’t call dibs on him!” Diego groaned.
“And yet, I did,” Klaus grinned.
“Both of you, shut up. Why don’t we let him decide? Nobody gets dibs, and we all just act...normal. And we see if he is into any of us. Who knows, maybe none of us are his type.” Allison sensibly said.
Klaus scoffed, “I’m everyone’s type.”
She smirked, “Then prove it.”
At that, Dave walked in carrying a tray full of glasses and a pitcher full of lemonade. His hands were noticeably free from oil now and it looked like he had attempted to fix his hair a bit. He smiled as he set the tray down on the coffee table in front of them.
“Here you go! Now, I’ll just take a few minutes to check over the damage and I’ll be right back with an estimate for ya’. I’ll be right there in the garage if you need anything.” Dave was smiling warmly at the three of them. He was met with a chorus of, “Thanks, Dave!”, “No problem, Dave!” and, “You’re the best, Dave!”. Dave smiled wider and Klaus could have sworn that when he made eye contact with him, Dave quickly looked down and blushed. He nodded and exited the room.
“Did you see that?” Diego smirked, “He totally got all flustered when he looked at me.”
“Are you kidding me?!” Klaus exclaimed, “He was looking at me!”
Diego scoffed, “You’re losing it, bro. He looked right at me, then blushed. It was freaking adorable.”
“It was adorable, and it was directed at me!!”
“Oh, boys,” Allison sighed, “It’s all over for you. He looked right at me and said,” she put on a deep, sultry voice, “I’ll be in the garage if you need anything.’ I’m pretty sure he even winked.”
Diego rolled his eyes, “He did not wink.”
“He totally did,” Allison smirked.
As Allison and Diego bickered about the alleged wink, Klaus let his mind wander back to Dave. He was probably bending over the car right now. God, he was out of this world. Klaus could out flirt his siblings...right? He wasn’t so sure. Everything was so much easier before he was sober. Before, he didn’t really even need to flirt. Someone would just start dancing with him at a bar, no introductions needed, and he would be set for the night. Now though...he wouldn’t even know where to start. Dave seemed genuinely kind. Klaus didn’t want this to just be a one night stand or anything- although that would be fun as well, he would take what he can get- but Dave was a true ray of sunshine. Klaus didn’t want to let something like that go. But he was scared. Diego was surprisingly suave and Allison was the most charming person that Klaus had ever met. How could he compete with them?
Dave walked into the room interrupting his thoughts. He smiled wide at them. A small amount of oil had reappeared on his hands.
“Okay, she needs quite a bit of work, so I’ll need about four or five days, but once I’m done she’ll be good as new!”
He gave them a reasonable cost estimate and had Diego fill out a little bit of paperwork.
“So,” Dave started, “Do you have a ride home?”
“Well, we could call, uh…” Diego looked to the other two, “Vanya can drive, right? She can drive dad’s old car?”
Allison winced, “I don’t think she has a license…And Luther doesn’t like driving because he has a hard time...fitting. Five can drive but I know he’s gotten pulled over three times already because everyone thinks he is a small child.”
“So...taxi?” Klaus asked.
Dave cut in, “Oh, no, no, no. It’s nearly 7:00 so I was about to close up for the night anyways. I can give you a ride.”
Klaus perked up, “Really? That would be amazing!”
Dave smiled at him, “No problem at all. I’m just going to change real quick then I’ll be ready to roll.”
He strolled into his office to put on clean clothes. Klaus decided to do a little dance in the meantime, singing, “We get to ride with Da-ave! We get to ride with Da-ave!” Diego and Allison didn’t sing along, but they did smile as they were obviously also excited. Dave emerged wearing a plain black t-shirt and a fresh pair of blue jeans. He had completely cleaned the grime from his body. His eyes twinkled at them as he walked over. Somehow it was enough to make Klaus’ knees feel weak.
“Alrighty, my car’s parked out back. Follow me.”
He led them out and locked the door after them. Klaus tried not to stare too hard at his perfect backside. Dave led them over to his car. Now, Klaus knew nothing at all about cars, but he knew this was a cool one. It was shiny and red and looked like it must have come from the 60s or 70s. It had two black striped going from front to back.
“Woah, is this really your car? This is so sweet,” Diego asked in awe.
Dave grinned from ear to ear and looked adoringly at the vehicle, “Ain’t she a beauty? A 1972 Chevrolet El Camino. She was in pretty rough shape when I got her, but I fixed her up and gave her a little paint job and voila! Good as new!” He pat the hood and looked up at them, “Well, hop in.”
Dave got in the driver’s seat. Klaus saw Diego going for the front seat and decided to tackle him to get it instead. He shouted, “SHOT GUN!” as he leapt through the air and onto his back, knocking them both to the ground. Diego yelped in surprise and the two began to wrestle around on the ground. Allison simply stepped over them and sat in the seat.
After a few moments, the boys on the ground noticed their spot had been claimed and hastily shot up and into the back seats.
“So, where we headin'?” Dave asked when everyone was settled.
“We live on Main Street. Head that way and you can’t miss it.” Diego replied.
“Main Street. You got it.”
“So, Dave,” Allison started, “where are you from?”
“Alabama,” Dave said with a smile, “Lived in a town smaller than you could believe until about five years ago. It was a big change, but I really love livin’ in the city.”
“What made you want to move?” Diego asked.
Dave’s smile dropped and he squirmed in his seat, “Oh, well, you know. People in towns like that aren’t very open to...differences. They are as charming as can be ‘til they find out something they don’t like about you. Here it’s the opposite. Everyone around you is completely unlike anyone you’ve ever met. I love it! The only downside is that people aren’t as friendly when you first meet them. Not too easy making friends out here.” He shrugged.
Klaus blinked. He knew what kinds of ‘differences’ Dave was talking about. He couldn’t imagine being gay in some small rural town like that. Always having to hide who you are. His family had always known. Reginald didn’t pay attention to their personal lives enough to care about their sexual orientations. The only thing that Reginald had said to him when he had offhandedly came out in an interview was, “Number Four. You know attachments make you weak and are forbidden in this household. Do not let this affect your training.” And that was that. The public had mixed reactions, but his siblings always protected him. If someone would go up to him being homophobic, Luther would just punch them. Or Diego would threaten them. Or Allison would Rumor them. As they grew up, things changed and people overall became more accepting. Klaus always feels confident enough to be who he is and doesn't worry about what people think. Sure, he occasionally gets snide comments or nasty glares. But he doesn't ever feel like he has had to completely hide who he is.
But this is New York City. In a small rural town in Alabama...Without super-powered siblings to back you up...Klaus didn’t think he could handle it. He looked over to see that Dave still had his eyebrows furrowed, eyes far away in thought. He couldn’t stand to see Dave upset.
“Well, hey, now you’ve got three new friends right here,” Klaus said with a grin.
Dave’s eyes twinkled as he looked back at him in the rear-view, “That I do.”
They turned down Main Street and drove in front of the mansion.
“You can just pull over here.” Diego said.
“Here? I thought this was the Umbrella Academy mansion?”
“Well, yeah, it is…” Diego trailed off.
Dave looked at them, uncomprehending. Klaus decided to put his HELLO and GOODBYE hands in front of his eyes, palms facing Dave, and shout, “BOO!”
Dave’s eyes lit up with the realization, “What!? So you’re- and she’s- and- holy shit! No way!” He clutched his chest, “I’m sure you get this all the time, but I was such a big fan of you guys. I had posters all over my walls. Literally, one of the first things that I did when I moved here was drive by the mansion and take a quick picture in front. I can’t believe you’re them! Diego, Allison, and Klaus. The Kraken, The Rumor, and The Seance. Jeez, this is crazy.”
The Hargreeves smiled. Klaus usually hated getting recognized. He was sure that Diego and Allison hated it too, but none of them seemed to mind Dave’s ramblings. He seemed so sincere. Completely joyful. Dave’s smile was just infectious, you couldn’t not smile back.
“So, did you have a favorite?” Diego asked with a smirk.
Fuck. Klaus was never anyone’s favorite. People liked him for being ‘the funny one’. But everyone loved The Umbrella Academy for their powers, not their personalities. And nobody thought his powers were cool. How could they when he was standing right next to people who could bend reality or jump through space and time? He was definitely at the bottom of the totem pole. Klaus braced himself for disappointment.
But Dave immediately started stuttering, “Oh, well, I, uh-” He glanced at Klaus and blushed, quickly looking away, “I didn’t really have a favorite, I guess." He cleared his throat, "I don’t know, you all were so cool. Hard to compare, you know?”
Klaus smiled and scooted forward in his seat, “Wanna come inside and check it out?”
Dave’s eyes grew wide, “Really?”
The Hargreeves nodded.
“Well, yeah!” Dave exclaimed. They led him where to park and walked around to the front gate.
They led him inside and he craned his neck to look at everything. He was staring at the room around him completely wide eyed.
They walked into the living room/library to see Five sitting on a couch and reading a book. Klaus could also see Ben lounging next to him. Five glanced up when they all walked in. Dave looked over to see him and his jaw dropped.
“Is that Five?! But I thought- didn’t he-?” Dave stopped stammering and made his way to Five.
“Hi, sorry, I’m Dave. It is so nice to meet you.” He extended a hand to Five, who looked at it with complete disinterest.
“Who’s this?” he addressed his siblings.
“This,” Diego said while stepping forward and casually draping an arm around Dave’s shoulders, “Is Dave. He is a mechanic who is currently fixing my car.”
Five hummed, “I knew that thing was going to crap out on you one of these days.”
Diego rolled his eyes. Allison stepped forward and asked, “Where is everyone?”
“Vanya is giving music lessons right now. Luther went to a meeting for that gardening club he joined. Mom is cooking dinner. And Ben has been fading in and out for the last hour.” He gave a not-so-subtle glance at Dave, then at Klaus, “Now I know why.”
“Okay, that’s not-” Klaus huffed and focused on making Ben tangible. His arms glowed momentarily, followed by Dave jumping in surprise, letting Klaus know that Ben was visible to everyone again.
“Sorry, Ben.” Klaus sighed. They had been practicing with his powers ever since The Apocalypse and he could make him tangible with very minimal focus now, even from long distances. But when he gets distracted by the most beautiful man he has ever seen...well they’ve never run into that obstacle before today.
Ben simply snickered at him and shook his head, “I’m not even shocked.”
Klaus could feel himself blushing but thankfully Dave was distracted with staring at Ben with his jaw to the floor. Ben looked over at him and grinned, extending a hand and saying, “Hey, I’m Ben. It’s nice to meet you.”
Dave gaped and jerkily reached to grab his hand, “Oh, yeah, hi. I, uh, I’m Dave. It’s so nice to meet you. Uh,” he looked from Ben to Klaus, then back to Ben, “I don’t want to pry, but aren’t you, uh- I mean-”
Klaus giggled, “Don’t worry, Benny is still dead. We’ve just been working on my powers a bit so now it’s like he’s alive again instead of being stuck as my Jiminy Cricket until I kick it. Ha! That rhymed!”
Dave stared in awe, “Wow, so this is a new power? I don’t remember you being able to manifest ghosts as a kid?”
“Old power, new power, red power, blue power. It’s kinda unclear. I’ve recently stumbled into the world of sobriety and with it came these new abilities. I haven’t been, uh, sober since before our little team went public, so I’m not really sure when the power would have manifested itself, but I’ve got it now! And I can actually banish the ghosts now! Let me tell you, being able to sleep without having the undead screaming me awake has been the best thing to ever happen to me. Who needs drugs when you can get eight hours of sleep a night, am I right?” He laughed a pitch too high after realizing he was rambling. Dave had his brows furrowed in concern, but still had an encouraging smile on his face.
“Well congrats on sobriety, that’s amazing! And congrats on the new powers.”
Klaus blushed at Dave’s proud smile, “Thanks. It’s nothing.” Definitely not nothing. Staying sober was one of the hardest things he has ever had to do. Withdrawals were a bitch, and even when he got past that, the cravings sometimes would be so overwhelming that he couldn’t focus on anything else. But he was trying, and now he had his family to support him. He even had Diego tie him to a chair at one point.
“Doesn’t sound like nothing to me.” Dave said with a small smile. Klaus blushed further. At that moment, Grace walked in.
“Okay children, dinner is ready! Oh!” Her eyes settled on Dave, “I didn’t realize we had company. Don’t worry, we have plenty of food!” She smiled brightly at him.
“Oh, thank you ma’am, but I don’t want to intrude…”
She tutted, “Nonsense! Come along now, you all have to eat up before it gets cold!”
Dave looked to the rest of the Hargreeves for confirmation but Allison and Diego had already attached themselves to his side and lead him downstairs.
“Our mom is the best cook, you’ll love it!”
“Our other siblings should be home soon too, you should totally stay and meet them!”
Klaus pouted out his lip and stomped his foot as they guided him down, “Why does he only have two arms! I want one!”
Ben snorted and Five rolled his eyes saying, “You all are vultures.”
“Hey!” Klaus exclaimed, “Not all of us have pretty ladies like Delores to call our own! Some of us need to find a kind, and strong, and vulnerable, and beautiful-”
He was interrupted by Five making a noise of disgust and teleporting out of the room. Ben snorted again, “Jesus, Klaus. Vulnerable? Didn’t you just meet him, like, an hour ago?”
Klaus chose to ignore that comment and whipped around to look at him.
“Benny-boy you have got to be my wing man tonight. Diego and Allison are all over him and I need to be impressive.”
Ben rolled his eyes, “Just be yourself! All three of you are trying way too hard. It’s embarrassing.”
Klaus ran a hand through his hair, “Be myself? Who am I, Ben? I have no clue!”
Ben put a calming hand on his shoulder, “You’ll be fine. You’re a great guy. Anyone can see that. Just come downstairs and act how you would normally act. We all love you and he will too.”
Klaus groaned and put his face on Ben’s shoulder, “But what if he doesn’t love love me!”
Ben looked down at him with eyebrows raised, “...Do you want him to love love you?”
Klaus made an indignant noise, “I don’t know! I just met him but I just feel like...I don’t know!”
Ben laughed, “Oh my god, Klaus has a crush! A true and proper crush! I never thought I’d see the day.”
Klaus just groaned some more and buried his face deeper into Ben’s shoulder. Ben smiled and rubbed his hand on Klaus’ back, “C’mon. It’ll be fine. You may be an idiot, but you really like him. Diego and Allison are just horny idiots who are definitely not looking for anything serious right now. Somehow, Dave doesn’t strike me as a friends-with-benefits kind of guy.”
Right. Diego and Allison. Patch and Patrick. They are definitely trying to move on from their exes through a quick rebound. Is Klaus a jerk for trying to swoop in then? He doesn’t think he would be, but he also is the only one who hasn’t recently had a tragic ending with someone he loved. He doesn’t know the protocol here. But Diego and Allison seem fine cock-blocking each other...it’s probably fair game for him to do the same, right?
At the end of the day, Dave might not be in to any of them. All they could do was see if he was interested, and the fact that he has stuck around so far must mean something, right? Who knows. All Klaus knew was that he had never felt like this before, and he didn't want to let it go.
“Fine. But if I look like an idiot, it's your fault.”
They went downstairs.