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Sitting in Klaus’ hotel room, Ben planned to obnoxiously stare at his brother until he would eventually acknowledge him. Ben needed his attention. “No.” Klaus bluntly grunted, refusing to face Ben. He was preoccupied by vegetatively staring at nothing, since he was high out of his mind. The blank ceiling seemed to be utterly fascinating to Klaus.
“Pleeeeaaaaase.” Ben whined for the tenth time today, desperate to feel even the tiniest bit involved in this wedding. Being able to wear a suit would hopefully allow Ben to trick his brain a little bit... to slightly convince himself he was actually in attendance. Ever since they’d arrived here, Ben had been making a strong effort to somehow grant himself a suit, but it seemed only Klaus was capable of doing those kinds of things for him. Wearing his cool but far too casual outfit at Allison’s wedding tomorrow would just be a reminder of him being a ghost. Even if only Ben and Klaus could see said outfit, it would still be something Ben was conscious of. Something blatantly signalling his lack of life and involvement.
His brother sulkily shook his head, unwilling to even attempt conjuring a suit. Although Ben knew Klaus was terrified of conjuring another ghost by mistake, there just wasn’t any chance of that. His power was probably more dead than Ben was. Ben just wanted him to give this a shot. One shot. On the off chance that it would work. “You conjured me the book.” Ben petulantly reminded Klaus, glancing down to the book in his hands. The book he was absolutely sick to death of, no pun intended. “Yeah, when you died! That was like four years ago, I’m not as... clear headed anymore!” Klaus coyly drawled, avoiding referring to his majorly increased drug dependency. Beginning a lecture about denial wouldn’t be wise right now, since Ben needed to manipulate Klaus into helping him. Did Ben feel kind of bad about manipulating his brother? A little, but Klaus pretty much deserved it.
“If you try then I’ll leave you alone until tomorrow.” Ben craftily negotiated, aware how keen his brother was to get up to excessive Hollywood debauchery. Having Ben tagging along definitely put a dampener on those plans, making Klaus extremely irritated. Which was rich, since Klaus was probably the most irritating person known to man. Although Ben purposefully steered clear of Klaus when he was... busy, Ben was intending on stubbornly being clingy today. Purely to use his absence as calculative leverage against Klaus. Just as predicted, that offer sparked enthusiasm from Klaus - prompting him to finally look at Ben. “Let’s go shopping!” his brother animatedly agreed, confusing the hell out of Ben. “Why would we need to go shopping? I’m dead.”
—
To be perfectly honest, shopping wasn’t strictly necessary - but this was a good excuse. Klaus had stolen the wallet of a guy in the hotel lobby to pay for the cab, and the guy was apparently filthy rich, so this trip out was going to have multiple objectives. “How tall are you? You’ve definitely gotten taller since you died.” Klaus tittered at the absurdity of that, still not understanding why his brain felt the need to allow Ben to grow. Would Ben look the same if he were alive, or did Klaus just invent adult Ben? How much was reality and how much was Klaus’ imagination? If Ben’s aged appearance was all an illusion, he owed Klaus a thank you; he was sexy, but not in the way Luther would think that about Allison. It was brotherly sexiness. Flicking through the racks of suits, Klaus gave a side eye to the snooty worker who was watching him like a hawk. Setting fire to some expensive suits would be good payback...
“Does it really matter?” Ben exhaustedly answered, pissed that Klaus was just using this task as an excuse to go shopping. His brother was clearly deep in his brain, thinking about something that was surely nonsensically reckless. Clicking in Klaus’ face, Ben irritatedly repeated his question. Being around him when he was this high was always like pulling teeth. “Well I want it to fit.” Klaus ridiculously remarked, like that made even an ounce of sense. It wasn’t going to be the actual fabric Ben was wearing... at least he didn’t think so.
“How and why did you even put me in this?” Ben gestured down to his outfit, though he wasn’t complaining. When he’d first been conjured, it had been a surprise how he’d appeared. Firstly that he wasn’t still gorily torn to pieces, secondly that he was wearing a whole new outfit, and thirdly that the outfit wasn’t insane. That would’ve been precisely the stupid move Klaus would’ve pulled. At least Ben wasn’t dressed in his brother’s fashion sense for eternity. He’d have probably gotten over his fear and walked straight into the light.
Airily shrugging, Klaus beckoned for the judgey worker to come nearer. “Do you have a tape measure?” The haughty man nodded and cautiously went to get one, still not taking his eyes from Klaus. “Take a picture, it’ll last longer.” Klaus passive-aggressively teased, winking at the guy just to weird him out. Klaus was becoming steadily displeased with his distrust. If anything, that attitude just made Klaus more intent on stealing from this store. Or burning its pricy merchandise. Maybe both, why not?
“I don’t know, I didn’t do it on purpose...” Klaus murmured to Ben, trying to recall the thought process behind that fantastic outfit. It was hard to remember anything, quite frankly. Apart from the things Klaus desperately wanted to forget... Forcing his thoughts back to Ben’s current clothes, Klaus tried to stop his mind straying into a traumatic rabbit hole. The outfit was unquestionably stylish. Klaus had had good taste for a teenager who had to wear a goddamn school uniform every day. “Just be glad I didn’t conjure you in those little shorts.” Klaus giggled at the image of adult Ben in those things. That would’ve been hilarious, what a missed opportunity!
“Here we go, sir.” the worker unenthusiastically began to measure Klaus for a suit, which wasn’t wanted. Though it would be enjoyable to make the man more uncomfortable than he already was. Allowing him to take measurements for a few moments, Klaus unnervingly smiled at him the whole time. “You smell amazing.” Klaus vigorously sniffed at the worker, solely to make him cringe. Ben reprimanded Klaus when he became too intensely unsettling, making Klaus focus back on his original desire for the tape measure. “Ah, ah, ah!” Klaus playfully scolded the guy, stealing the tape from his hand. It wasn’t for Klaus, it was for Ben.
“Stay still.” Klaus dropped the end of the tape to the floor, measuring up Ben’s adult height. This wasn’t at all helpful for conjuring, Klaus was just randomly curious. His brother looked mightily infuriated by this action, which Klaus felt was ungrateful. A man should know his height. Even if he was dead. What size were Ben’s feet? If Klaus could miraculously conjure him a suit, then his casual shoes would look completely wrong... that wouldn’t be good enough. He’d need some loathers. Glancing down to his own feet, Klaus compared the size against Ben’s. What color loathers would he even wear? What color suit? The options were presumably never ending...
Clicking his fingers in Klaus’ face, Ben was frustrated by the inane tangent he could see spiralling in his brother’s brain. Again. “You’re like... 5’9.” Klaus vaguely stated once he’d focused again. Great. Very helpful. Ben didn’t give a shit. He just wanted a goddamn suit. “Can you just try conjuring something?” Ben wearily begged, losing patience for this tedious experience. And Klaus in general.
“Even if I can magically conjure a suit, what if you get stuck in it forever?” Klaus tried to talk his way out of sticking to his promise, sending Ben puppy dog eyes. Ben stayed stony faced, not giving in. It didn’t matter if Ben couldn’t change out of an overly formal suit for the rest of his afterlife, he just wanted to feel involved in the wedding. “I’m not gonna lie to you, Benny, I can’t conjure shit.” Klaus chuckled, haphazardly flinging the tape measure at the justifiably alarmed worker.
Clenching his jaw, Ben stormed out of the store, too bitterly disappointed to face his brother. This wedding was going to be an incredibly difficult time for Ben. He was overjoyed for Allison, he couldn’t be happier for her. But she didn’t even know he was here, no one did. His entire family were just going to look right through him, like Ben didn’t even exist. They hadn’t all been together since Ben had died, he hadn’t had to be ignored by them as a collective since that period. The mental anguish it caused hadn’t lessened, if anything it was intensified since it was now Allison’s big day he was missing. None of their siblings would ever believe Klaus if he tried to convince them... it would just cause fiery arguments. Allison didn’t need that on her wedding day.
Shit. Klaus rushed out of the store after his brother, which seemed to give the worker a huge sense of relief. Ugh, Klaus should’ve set fire to at least one suit. “I can try, I’ll try.” Klaus placated, feeling an element of remorse for being such a selfish prick. Though he had no intention to stop being a colosal narcissist after he’d humored Ben for a minute. Ben smiled in a way that was clearly forced, glumly staring down at his shoes of unknown size. Were they like a 9? 9.5? Maybe he could make Ben stick his ghostly foot into one of those measurement thingies. Could Ben even physically remove his shoes? Was he like a Bratz doll and his shoes and feet were joined together?
Focus, Klaus! “I’m just reeeaaally high, I don’t want you to get your hopes up.” This was a lot of pressure for Klaus, pressure that he knew he couldn’t live up to. Ben would with absolute certainty be let down by him. Like usual. “Can you just try?” Ben flatly asked, sorrowfully meeting Klaus’ eye. They were around one minute away from Ben bringing up him being dead as a guilt-tripping tactic, Klaus knew that much.
Regretfully sighing, Klaus tensed his hands into fists - even if he knew nothing would happen. A suit, a suit, a suit. A ghost suit. For a roughly 5’9 ghost. “Come on...” Klaus frustratedly muttered, watching his hands stay firmly powerless. “Come on!” Klaus groaned, growing stressed by the lack of blue light emerging from his hands. People on the street were visibly concerned, but that was nothing new for Klaus. There was no change happening to his hands, no feeling of his dormant power igniting. Nothing. Nichts. Nada. “I’m sorry, I can’t.” he whispered with a wince, dejectedly relaxing his hands.
That was to be expected for Ben, but at least Klaus had made the effort to try. For once. “Don’t you think you can make the other ghosts less scary if you could do that for me?” Ben finally said the question that had been in his mind for years. It was a topic Klaus got all pissy about, so Ben tried to tiptoe around it. The effects of Klaus’ power were certainly stronger for Ben, but there was some chance that this rule would apply to the other ghosts too. Maybe they didn’t have to be quite so frightening, just like Ben. The scowl on his brother’s face answered for him, evidently wanting to avoid any discussions surrounding this. “It’s not the same.” Klaus cagily replied, which they both knew was total guesswork. He just needed an excuse to be a junkie. “Look, I tried okay? I tried. Now leave me alone, you said you’d leave me alone.”
Not wanting to be scarred for life afterlife, Ben let his brother leave on his own. Hopefully Klaus wouldn’t get distracted by a bender and miss Allison’s wedding, that would be a kick in the teeth for Ben. There was nothing he wanted more right now than to be able to properly attend, rather than be there as a ghost. A suit probably wouldn’t have made much difference to Ben’s feelings of resentment and isolation anyway, it would’ve just been like putting a bandaid over a bullet wound. At least he knew his height now... that was kind of cool. Couldn’t Klaus have made him a little taller though? That would’ve been appreciated by Ben. As long as he didn’t look like a teenager anymore, Ben resolved that he didn’t care too much. Being an adult soul with a kid body would just be goddamn embarrassing...