Chapter Text
Klaus Hargreeves applauded with everyone else in the large meeting as he watched a guy receive his ninety-day coin and sit back down.
"How about six months? … Nine months?"
"My name's Klaus, and I’m an addict." Klaus walked up to the desk and was handed his own coin. Despite his history of making himself the center of attention throughout his teens and adult life up until truly achieving sobriety, the applause now still made him as uncomfortable as his previous milestones.
Klaus sat back down next to his sponsor Dale while one year and eighteen months went by with no other recipients. He had noticed throughout this month that December was never a popular month for sobriety. Dale had said there were many newcomers in January, but most were rarely seen again after the first month.
"Multiples of years in the month of December?"
"My name's Colette, I’m an addict, and today I celebrate four years." The auburn-haired woman in the speaker's chair stood up to receive her coin and hug. This was the same woman who had announced herself as having just relocated from San Francisco during the visitor inquiry.
After announcements were made, Colette was introduced as tonight's speaker. She stepped up to the podium. "I’m Colette, and I’m an addict," she repeated. As she began her message by stating how she had never imagined ever achieving this much sobriety, Klaus observed her long, curly auburn-hair in braids with wisps of spiral bangs, her cropped T-shirt with smiley face encircled with the words ONE DAY AT A TIME and the impressive sleeves of artistic multi-colored tattoos down each of her arms.
Colette detailed actually having born in Philadelphia to an addicted mother and was immediately taken by Child Protective Services and placed in foster care, until eventually adopted by a conservative couple and raised in a rural Pennsylvania community. By middle school she realized she was bisexual but kept it to herself as her parents deemed non-straight people sinners. She admitted taking her first hit of drugs at fourteen years of age and no longer feeling like the socially-awkward child she had always thought of herself before. Two years later her parents learned of her addiction, as well as her sexuality. They wanted to send her to a Christian boarding school; she instead ran away from home. She lived on the streets in Philadelphia, hoping to find her birth mother, while prostituting herself in order to survive. After learning her birth mother had died from an overdose not long after Colette was born, Colette hitched rides to San Francisco. For a few years Colette partied hard while living on the streets of the Haight-Ashbury district.
Then came Melanie --- or Mel, as she had preferred to be called. A biker woman who had just relocated from Ohio, and who had endured the same amount of rejection from her own parents. The first person who had truly loved Colette for whom she was. Klaus felt a twinge of sadness as he reached for the dog tags inside his Pansexual Pride tie-dyed shirt. He remembered the last time he had conjured Dave, only for Dave to say goodbye to Klaus. Klaus had known he would need to move on, and he eventually would; until he were to meet someone else, however, Klaus would keep wearing the dog tags.
Colette got clean for Mel, she said, and the two had the best relationship either had ever had with another person. Life was bliss. Until the horrible day that Mel's motorcycle was struck by another vehicle, costing Mel her life. Colette went on another bender and spent Christmas, 2015 in the hospital. As she fought for her life, Mel appeared pleading with Colette to get help. She indeed agreed to rehab and had remained clean ever since. She had worked as an office clerk in the tech industry until the company had recently folded. She had just relocated to this city as an office manager of a large and longtime successful corporation.
After Colette was done sharing her story, she called on her sponsor Dana, who had helped Colette move and would be leaving the next day. After hearing next from the meeting secretary sitting beside her, Colette called out, "How about the person who just celebrated nine months?"
Klaus gulped nervously. He hated speaking at meetings. But he couldn’t pass, not with Dale sitting next to him. He slowly walked up to the podium.
"I’m Klaus, and I’m an addict." He cleared his throat. "Um, congratulations on four years. I never thought I would make it to a week, let alone nine months." Klaus thought of what else to say, knowing that his first week clean had delivered him greater challenges than anyone else in the room. Dale had always said, look for the similarities, not the differences. While that might be true, Klaus had yet to hear anyone say that they had spent their first week of sobriety trying to avert an apocalypse. "I was adopted, too, and my dad also didn’t accept my sexuality." Klaus thought back to the day that he had manifested their father to his siblings and the horrible things that Sir Reginald Hargreeves said about him. He was no longer of any benefit to the collection, with or without the poison. And that is why he was my biggest disappointment. "My mom, and my brothers and sisters, thankfully, always have." He looked down at his manicured polished nails, courtesy of Allison's last visit just before Christmas. Allison was now back in Los Angeles with her daughter, but she would be returning in three days for New Year's Eve. "I lost the love of my life before I got clean. At first I got clean…" to conjure him, Klaus thought to himself, but since coming to meetings he decided never to bring up Umbrella Academy stuff. There were people who knew whom he was, of course, but anyone left who they were otherwise at the door; they were solely addicts for at least the next hour. "...for him; and to be honest, for my family, because at the time we all needed each other. And at first I went to meetings because I was required as part of the Lee Brown program." Seeing Colette's confused expression, Klaus continued, "Right. You’re new. Um, it’s a diversion program for addicts in this city. But I realized how important meetings and step-work are as well. My family is very supportive, but none of them are addicts---well, maybe one of my brothers is," Klaus thought of Five and his love of alcohol. "Listening to people's stories and their similarities help, too. Anyway, thanks," he concluded nervously as he sat down.
After the meeting was over, Colette approached him. "Klaus, right?" She held out her hand.
"Yeah," Klaus smiled as they shook hands.
"I knew you were like me," she pointed to his shirt. "Pan Pride, right?"
"Why, yes, darling," Klaus playfully batted his eyelashes. "And I’ll have you know, this is my favorite shirt!"
"Listen, my soon-to-be-ex-sponsor and a few others of us are going out to eat," Colette said. "You wanna join us?"
"Well, Dale's my ride," Klaus pointed to his sponsor.
"What’s up?" Dale responded to talk of his name.
Colette looked at Dale. "I invited Klaus to hang out with us. You can, too, of course."
Dale shook his head. "I can’t tonight. I have to get back home."
"I can give you a ride," Colette offered to Klaus.
Klaus looked at his sponsor.
"You should go." Dale, as Klaus' sponsor, knew how difficult it was for Klaus to make friends in recovery.
"Okay. I just need to call home and let my family know I’ll be late."
Klaus walked to the payphone in the hallway and punched in the numbers to the Umbrella Academy.
"Hargreeves Residence," Pogo's voice came on the line.
"Master Pogo, darling," Klaus purred. "Would you so kindly let the others know that I will be going out with some people from NA and coming home later?"
"I will indeed do so, Master Klaus," Pogo said. "I am glad to hear that you are forming new friendships. I know that your siblings will be, too."
Klaus knew that at least Diego and Vanya would be; and standing next to Klaus, so was his ghost brother Ben, he could tell. Luther had moved into Diego's former room at the gym for the same exchange of custodial work; Al had kept pushing Luther to fight until Luther finally admitted that he was an Umbrella Academy member and thereby wouldn’t be a fair fight. Along with Klaus, Diego and Vanya, Five was living at the mansion, of course; despite his actual age, Five was physically too young to be able to live on his own…despite having done that for decades.
Klaus followed Colette and Dana to a yellow Camaro with California plates. Dana offered Klaus the front seat and Colette drove them to a nearby coffee house. Two other people Klaus had never before met joined them.
"So, how did you get clean?" Colette asked Klaus. "You said at first for the person you lost. Most people do the opposite."
Klaus nodded. "Yeah, I did get high at first," Klaus admitted, recalling the day that Diego had to rescue him at the veterans bar. And he remembered his brother’s words after Klaus admitted his loss. When you lose someone, at least you can see them whenever you want. And he did get clean, and he was indeed able to conjure Dave. But how could he explain this to someone who might not yet know who he was? "My brother helped me get clean after that." He looked at the confused faces of Colette and her sponsor. He might as well say it. Colette, at least, would find out soon enough. "You know of the Umbrella Academy, right?"
Colette looked at Dana, who nodded, and then back at Klaus. "Uh, no. But I wasn’t allowed to watch any TV while growing up."
"That was who I told you about, remember?" Dana said to her. "When I said you’d be living in the same town as them." Then her eyes widened. "Wait, you’re Klaus Hargreeves? "
Klaus sighed. "Yes, I’m the lovely séance."
Dana laughed. "I had such a crush on Spaceboy back in the day. Isn’t he actually working on the moon now?"
"No, he came back after our father died."
"Oh, that’s right," Dana said. "I’m sorry, by the way."
"Oh, don’t be," Klaus grinned. "None of us are."
"That’s right," Dana then again turned to her sponsee. "Their sister wrote an autobiography. Doesn’t paint a good picture of him." Then she looked back at Klaus. "Sorry. This isn’t any of my business."
"So, you used to be famous?" Colette inquired. "Dana knew Robin Williams from meetings."
"That, and I lived in L.A. for a while. You’d be surprised how many actors go to meetings there. Anonymity, of course."
Klaus nodded at Dana. "By the way, our sister reconciled with all of us. She’s actually one of my best friends now."
"Dana!" The barista called out as she placed a drink on the counter.
"Sorry she’s kind of nosey," Colette said to Klaus after Dana got up.
"She’s fine," Klaus said right before Dana rejoined them. "I don’t mind talking about my family."
"Well, I figured out what you meant by staying sober for your boyfriend," Dana said before turning to Colette. "Remember that this was a family of superheroes. I remember that you were able to talk to ghosts."
Colette's eyes widened. "You can really do that?"
Klaus nodded, nervously.
"That was why you started drugs, at least according to what your sister wrote." Dana then looked at Colette's disapproving look. "Sorry. I’m being nosey."
"It’s okay. Yes, I did do drugs so I wouldn’t see them. Then I met the love of my life and lost him. So yeah, I did get clean to see him, but then I stayed clean because…" because we had to keep Vanya from causing an apocalypse, Klaus thought to himself, "my sister needed my help. It’s a long story."
"Well, your family’s business is their own business," Dana said. "So, are you still staying sober for them? And what about this program you’re in?"
"I actually graduated from that last month," Klaus said nervously, feeling like he was being interrogated.
"Well, you know what they say in the rooms," Dana pointed out. "You have to stay clean for yourself, first and foremost."
" Dana! " Colette scolded her sponsor.
As Dana quickly engaged with the two other people at their table, Colette said to Klaus, "I’m really sorry about my sponsor, although she is right."
"I know." Klaus had heard it plenty of times from Dale --- the only person outside Klaus' family (besides his and Vanya's therapist) who truly knew him.
"So, do you mind telling me about your family?" Colette asked. "I mean, all that Dana said was that you were a bunch of superheroes all born on the same day."
Klaus nodded. "Yeah, we were trained as kids to kill bad guys, so I can’t say I had an exceptional childhood."
Colette's eyes widened. "Holy shit, I guess so!"
"Luther, who was known as Spaceboy as Dana put it, has superhuman strength. Diego was the Kraken and can curve anything he throws, and he’s another one of my best friends. Allison, the Rumor---"
"Wait. Allison Hargreeves, the actress?" Colette asked. "That’s your sister?"
"Yeah. She can make people do what she wants by beginning with, 'I heard a rumor.' Number Five can jump through space." Klaus opted not to bring up the time-travel ability.
"Number Five?" Colette asked, confused.
"Oh, yeah, Sir Reggie never gave us names, just called us by our 'number.' Our mom named us, but Five never used it."
"That’s strange."
"Oh, honey," Klaus laughed. "I cannot begin to explain the oddities of that lad. Anyway, my brother Ben, the Horror, died during a mission when we were seventeen."
"Do you mind if I ask…are you able to see him, too?"
"Yes," Klaus waved at his brother standing behind Colette. "He’s here now."
"I’ll leave you alone now," Ben said as he disappeared.
"And then Vanya was the one who wrote the autobiography," Klaus explained. "She grew up without powers and never went on missions with us."
"So, she felt left out, I take it?" Colette guessed. "I can relate to that."
"Yeah, but like I said, we all reconciled after our dad’s death."
"That’s good," Colette said. "I was an only child, and I haven’t talked with my adoptive parents since I left home."
"Diego was the only sibling --- well, the only living sibling, that is --- who kept in contact with me after we all left home. And now most of us are living back at that home."
"So, do any of your siblings work? I mean, besides Allison."
Klaus nodded. "Luther's a janitor at the gym where he lives. Diego used to live there and do the same; he now teaches martial arts there and he’s a professional boxer. Vanya is a professional violinist, but right now she’s taking time off from playing for personal reasons."
Colette nodded. "And you?"
"I’m going to start looking after the New Year. I was in the Lee Brown program for six months and never had a job before that."
Colette shook her head. "I can’t count the number of times I’ve been in jail. Drug use, petty theft, soliciting an undercover PO."
"Oops," Klaus laughed. "Aside from that last one, I went to jail for those, too…and prostitution, of course."
"What offense brought you to the diversion program?"
"I stole an ice cream truck," Klaus said. "Another long story."
As the two continued talking, Klaus was feeling… something. Dale had ordered Klaus not to become involved with someone during his first year of sobriety. But there was nothing wrong with talking, right? And someone with that much sobriety wouldn’t want to date someone with far fewer days, anyway. And that was why Klaus didn’t read too much into her offering of her telephone number as they got ready to leave.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"Nice place," Colette said to Klaus as they pulled up in front of the Umbrella Academy mansion.
"Thanks for the ride home." Klaus opened the passenger door, while at the same time Dana let herself out of the back passenger side.
"Call me tomorrow, and we’ll go to a meeting somewhere. Okay?" Colette offered.
"Okay." Klaus hugged his new friend and exited the vehicle. After Dana took his place, Klaus watched as the Camero drove away.
He liked her. Even if they could never date, he hoped they could become good friends.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"I’d say that went well, right?" Colette said to Dana after they were several blocks away.
"Yep. Like the media said, Klaus Hargreeves isn’t the sharpest tool in that family," Dana snickered. "Keep working on him while I’m back home. Let me know when you get things taken care of so I can come back."