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Klaus rested his hand on the doorknob, trying to work himself up to open it. “Come on, you can do it.” Ben gently assured him from his side. Klaus shook his head frantically, he couldn’t do it. “No, I can’t go back there.” he whispered, hating himself for sounding so pathetic. Ben clicked his fingers so they could make eye contact, they’d finally stopped trying to tap each other on the shoulder. They still occasionally tried to whack each other when they were mad, though. “You’re not going back there.” Ben smiled kindly, he had a look of hope in his eyes. Klaus didn’t want to let him down, but he just couldn’t do it. “It’s just a closet.” he reassured Klaus calmly. Klaus still bit down on his lip in anxiety, hard enough to taste iron.
“Look, I’ll phase through, and that way you know you’re not going to be alone when you go in, okay?” he suggested supportively. Klaus sighed with anxiety, already feeling his breathing start to verge on hyperventilation. He didn’t want to listen to the stupid therapist, she was an asshole anyway. Ben began to look quite depressed, so Klaus reluctantly forced himself to nod. Ben grinned in return, and phased through the door. “It’s definitely just a closet.” Ben stated jokingly. Klaus thought it would be rather funny if he just walked away, he wondered how long Ben would stand in there waiting like an idiot... no, he decided that would be mean. Even for him.
Placing his hand back on the doorknob, Klaus tried to push down the feeling of dread as he turned the knob and pulled the door back. The closet was pitch black inside. He flinched backwards, almost landing on his ass with how severely he recoiled. Klaus felt so stupid for being so on edge because of a goddamn closet. He was utterly pathetic. “It’ll just be dark for a second until you turn on the light!” Ben placated, sounding eager and determined. Klaus nodded sheepishly, cautiously edging towards the darkness. He stuck his arm in the room, feeling himself start to enter into a full blown panic attack. They were going to yank him by the arm, drag him into the mausoleum so they could torture him. “It’s okay, I swear.” Ben softly promised. Klaus tried his best to steady his breathing, anxiously moving his hand across the wall to find the switch. A slight wash of relief hit him as the light flickered on. He still had to go inside though... and close the door. He couldn’t do this. He definitely couldn’t do this.
“You can do this, I promise!” now he could see Ben again, Klaus could make out concern in his expression. Tears fell from Klaus’ eyes as he shook his head nervously. He couldn’t even bring himself to speak, he knew only whimpers would come out. That would be mortifying. “I’m too sober.” he eventually forced himself to sniffle out. Ben shot him a dubious look, before remembering how distressed Klaus was and letting his frown melt. “You basically have no pupils, Klaus.” he flatly stated, clearing trying extremely hard not to sound judgemental. Klaus scrunched his eyes up in frustration, he hated when Ben was right. Even though he was so petrified his heart felt like it was going to burst from his chest, Klaus shuffled into the closet and incredibly slowly pulled the door closed. He flinched once again, his breathing getting caught in his throat as flashes of them jumped out at him.
“Hey, hey, hey...” Ben delicately uttered as Klaus suddenly slumped down to the ground. He crouched down beside his brother trying to make eye contact. “It’s okay, come on... open your eyes.” he begged, feeling worried about what Klaus was seeing when he scrunched his eyes closed like that. Klaus shook his head manically, his chest rising and falling unbearably fast. Maybe this was a mistake, Ben thought. What if Klaus got so triggered it pushed him over the edge? At least they weren’t going to be alone, that was somewhat comforting - since Ben couldn’t physically do a thing to help if needs be. Klaus clasped his hands tightly over his ears, repeatedly chanting things under his breath in between gasping for air. Ben couldn’t really believe he’d finally convinced Klaus to do this, he thought he would have refused forever... maybe he’d have had good reason to do so. He looked like he was going to keel over.
Ben knew he couldn’t have such unimaginable claustrophobia forever. He couldn’t even go to the bathroom without coming out an anxious mess. “Klaus!” he raised his voice when his brother tore a hand from his ear and began to scratch at his own face. “Please stop!” he yelled, hoping to god Klaus would hear him. His pleas to be let out were getting louder. Ben felt so freaking guilty, this was all his fault. He knew deep down that his brother couldn’t go on without being able to even close the door to a small room himself. He could barely even manage the car. They had to at least try to make things more manageable, he couldn’t keep having episodes like this.
More light streamed into the closet as the door was pulled open by a highly disturbed looking Diego. Ben gulped, he knew Klaus was humiliated to do this at Diego’s place - but they had no where else to do it. His therapist had been useless, she said she just wanted to talk about things - even though that didn’t help Klaus in the slightest. Ben knew she was just spooked by Klaus, wanting to have as little to do with him as possible. It was a relief that their brother had returned from the grocery store. Ben knew Diego wouldn’t judge Klaus or bring it up again. He was grouchy and standoffish, but he was protective deep down. “The fuck did you take?” Diego grunted, bending down slightly to flick his vision across Klaus’ face. He snatched his hand from him once he noticed his brother was starting to bleed. Klaus literally shrieked, Ben knew he was utterly petrified of them suddenly being able to touch him.
Diego jumped back slightly, looking like he was going to call an exorcist. Klaus apprehensively opened his eyes, wincing deeply - waiting to see what terrifying creature had grabbed him. He began to embarrassingly sob with relief when he realised it was Diego.
“What did you take?” Diego repeated slowly, getting closer to his brother again. He wondered if he needed to call an ambulance. He wasn’t sure what they would even do, but Diego didn’t know how to handle this. He didn’t even know what the fuck this was. “Nothing!” Klaus yelped, still barely able to breathe. That was obviously bullshit, but that was low on their priorities right now. Diego rushed to grab a paper bag from his kitchen, spilling his groceries all over the place. “Here, breathe into this.” he instructed, awkwardly passing it down to his brother. Klaus shoved his face in it, rapidly blowing it up and down. Diego didn’t know if this actually would calm him, he’d just seen it on a movie. It was worth a shot.
“Please let me out.” Klaus whimpered, taking a break from the paper bag. Diego frowned, he didn’t know what the hell that meant. He cracked his knuckles, feeling nervous about whatever was going on. Klaus really didn’t need to start getting addicted to whatever drug this was. He had enough shit going on as it was. “Do you...” Diego confusedly glanced to the wide open door and back down to his brother again “need a hand?” He felt so goddamn uncomfortable. Klaus nodded desperately, so Diego timidly reached his arm down to help his brother get up. As soon as Klaus had staggered out of the closet, Diego let go of his hand. He felt like he wanted to go douse it in bleach. Not because he touched Klaus, just because he touched someone, period.
His brother staggered over to the couch, plonking himself down and shoving his head between his legs. “Do you need to go to the hospital?” Diego mumbled awkwardly, wondering if he’d ever felt this uncomfortable in his entire life. He had no idea what the fuck was going on. Klaus dragged his head up and shook it frantically, more fear growing in his eyes at the suggestion. “Just need a minute.” his brother hoarsely explained, though it was hard for Diego to make out given his gasping for breath. “Okay.” Diego forced himself to smile softly, stumbling over to his chair so he could keep an eye on his brother. Diego felt unimaginably out of his depth. “Take your time.” he muttered, spinning a knife in his hand at great speed.
—
“I’m proud of you.” Ben admitted bashfully, glancing down to his feet. Klaus giggled nervously, getting ash from his cigarette all over himself since he was still shaking like a leaf. “Proud of me?!” he repeated incredulously. “I’ve never been more pathetic in my life.” he wheezed, sounding deeply self-deprecating. Ben shook his head softly, looking back up to his brother to offer a kind smirk.
“You’ve definitely been more pathetic.” Ben teased. Klaus went to playfully kick him in the shin, only his foot phased through. They both shivered ever so slightly and snorted to themselves. “We need to stop doing that.” Ben quipped, glad at least his brother smiled - even if it was a painful reminder that he was dead. “Can’t believe I finally came out of the closet to Diego.” Klaus chuckled, sounding thoroughly amused at his own terrible joke. Ben groaned, tutting scoldingly at the horrendous pun.