Chapter Text
"You're an asshole" there is some anger in the words of the brunette, but he can't help it.
"You should be grateful" he responds stoically, driving through the streets with care, being a Hargreeves has its advantages because at only 15 years old he can drive his own car
"Grateful?" there's a certain incredulity. "Five, you broke his nose."
" He was touching your ass."
"What's the problem with that?"
Five slams on the brakes and if Klaus hadn't had to put the seat belt on he would have hit the front console. He looks offended at the blue-eyed boy.
"You're going to be my future wife, you shouldn't flirt with other people" Klaus swallows dry because there is a certain sharp edge to Five's words.
He has been hearing those words since he was six years old. At first, they fill him with happiness, being the future wife of your best friend sounds wonderful. Five knows him better than anyone else and he knows Five better than anyone else. They've never needed anyone other than themselves or one of their siblings, but they've grown up, they go to school, and having friends is normal.
He wants to have more friends outside of his family circle. Luther has several friends from his astronomy club, Allison is the cheerleader, Diego is the captain of the basketball team and even his shy twin Vanya has several friends in the school orchestra. So why can't he?
Leonard had seemed like an extremely nice guy. Like the last ten boys who have approached him, and that Five has chased away.
"I'm going to be your future wife, but you never tell me anything"
"There is nothing to say, Klaus, don't be childish" protests the boy who drives
That's another thing that bothers him. Five assures and affirms that they are future spouses, the parents of both have engaged them, there is no problem despite being cousins because really none of them share blood. Five is Reginald's son, but Klaus is not A.J. or Lilian's son, he is her nephew, son of Lilian's younger sister, there is no blood bond.
Despite knowing this, Klaus wants more. He wants Five to tell him that he loves him, that he is with him because he chooses him, not out of duty. He does not want Five to be like his biological mother. She never told Vanya or him that she loved them, she was always clear in telling them that she had them as a mere obligation.
Memories of their traumatic childhood still haunt him. He will never forget that mausoleum in which his mother locked them up.
Is there anything wrong with wanting his " fiancé " to tell him I love you? He tells him all the time, but Five has never even kissed him. He's 14 years old, a year younger than Five, and he wants to start experiencing that kind of thing.
Is Five like his mother? He is afraid of the single idea
"We're here," reports Five, he gets out and turns around the car, but Klaus doesn't even wait for him to open the door.
"Five, please" begs, he shouldn't be begging for love, he knows, it's pathetic
"Klaus" breathes a tired sigh, they have had this discussion too many times "No" firmly denies "I've had enough of this"
"Maybe I do too" Five looks at him in surprise "Five, if you don't tell me something, then I don't want this engagement anymore"
Five laughs, it's pretty funny that Klaus says that nonsense "It's not like we can decide that Klaus, stop being childish"
"It's not childish to want to be loved" his chest is hurting. Five sounds like his biological mother.
"Klaus, love is for weak people," he declares slowly as if he were talking to a child.
He climbs in without even noticing that he leaves Klaus grieving. The brunette just watches the car disappear through the entrance of the mansion. He squeezes his bag tightly, he hasn't even been able to give Five his farewell gift.
Five is an idiot. He leaves in two days and they have a silly argument. He sighs resignedly, tomorrow he will give him the gift. After all, Five would never leave without saying goodbye to him.
Allison looks with some surprise at the valises, looks sideways at Luther, both have gathered to study for Monday's physics exam.
"Oh, Allison, it's so good to be home," says her mother.
"Mom"
The brunette just watches the car disappear through the entrance of the mansion. He squeezes his bag tightly, he hasn't even been able to give Five his farewell gift.
Five is an idiot. He leaves in two days and they have a silly argument. He sighs resignedly, tomorrow he will give him the gift. After all, Five would never leave without saying goodbye to him.
Allison looks with some surprise at the valises, looks sideways at Luther, both have gathered to study for Monday's physics exam.
"Oh, Allison, it's so good to be home," says her mother.
"Mom"
"We must accompany your brother to the airport"
"I thought Five would leave the day after tomorrow," says Luther, surprised
Grace denies with her head " He has decided to move up his flight, he wants to rest before starting his classes".
Allison nods her head, it makes sense, it just surprises her. It's a shame that Five will miss the farewell party she and Klaus have planned. Well, suppose the brunette is the first to know, after all, Five was always in charge of informing Klaus about everything.
"Dear Luther. Can you help us with the bags?"
"Of course, Aunt Grace," Luther accepts, happy to be of help.
Five descends the stairs, wearing quite elegant clothes, Allison turns her eyes, her brother is going to take a twelve-hour flight wearing a suit, a horror. But then, it wouldn't be Five if he was wearing something else.
"Klaus. Is he going to wait for us at the airport or do we go through it?" she asks when she sees her mother and Five getting into the limo
Five doesn't answer and that only manages to make her nervous, Luther frowns on her side. He doesn't like the indifferent look of his cousin. Allison sends a message to Klaus, when they arrive at the airport and don't see the brunette, she worries.
"Are you going to leave without saying goodbye?" Luther asks the question, Grace looks uncomfortable
"Yes, we fought."
"You know what you could cause in Klaus, right?"
"He'll be fine, Luther. He needs to learn to be less childish.
Luther seems to be willing to hit his brother, so Allison takes him by the arm and pushes him away a bit. She may not agree with her brother at all, but she won't let her boyfriend hit him either.
"Call him, tell him what's going on, don't waste time-fighting with him, you know how obstinate he is" she orders the blond. They don't have much time, Five must board the plane in 20 minutes.
He runs through the huge airport, looking for his brother, and the rest of his family. He feels his breath coming in and doesn't even bother to wipe his tears, he doesn't know if he is crying out of sadness, anger or because he feels betrayed.
Five wasn't supposed to leave until the day after tomorrow; it had to be Allison and Luther who told him that Five had moved up his trip.
Why? Why was his best friend leaving without even saying goodbye?
Yes, they had fought, a very stupid one, for even more stupid reasons, but that was not enough reason to leave without saying goodbye. Especially when he was leaving for more than a year.
"Klaus" cried Allison, he looked at her and found her in the company of his brother Luther and Grace
"Where is he?"
he tried to ask, but he had practically run from the parking lot into the terminal.
"Oh, Klaus, he's gone," said his Aunt Grace with some sorrow
No.
No.
No.
Five could not be so cruel. Not with him.
His best friend wouldn't do that to him.
Even if they argued and Klaus said he didn't want the engagement anymore, Five doesn't tend to be cruel. Arrogant and pompous perhaps, but never heartless.
Klaus takes his cell phone and dials Five's number. He rings and smiles hopefully at the sound of a voice, his smile freezing at the realization that it is the operator. He hangs up and tries again.
Again and again.
Again and again.
Again and again.
"Let's go home, Klaus," Luther says with pity.
Grace and Allison watch as Luther has to drag Klaus along, the brunette doesn't even react, he's kind of gone, lost in his own mind.
She arranges her long curly hair behind her ear, her husband looks at her in fascination and can't help but smile pleased. She likes her husband to look at her as if she were a precious jewel. She knows she is a beautiful and powerful woman, but her husband looking at her that way makes her feel loved.
She is usually a cold woman and her husband is cold too. Both have grown up in prosperity and with no other company than their servants and siblings, there is no one in the world who understands each other better than the two of them.
"You look beautiful Lilian" says her husband, smiling flirtatiously.
"If you keep praising me we won't leave this room, husband"
The desperate beatings in their room surprise them both.
"Passing" indicates by putting on her necklace, they are going out to dinner with Reginald and Grace
Vanya's head peeks through the barely open door, the 14-year-old looking paler than usual.
"Vanya" names her husband in surprise when he sees her in that state
"Klaus," says the extremely shy girl "Something is wrong with Klaus" suddenly let's go
At the mention of the youngest son of both, they get up and walk hurriedly to the room of the youngest twin.
"Klaus, darling" A.J. has always been sweeter than she is in these respects, the child looks at the ceiling, pays no attention to them. He has a blank stare.
For a moment Lilian wants to shake her son out of his own stupor, Klaus tends to be very dramatic at times, a behavior they have tried to take away with A.J. and the psychologists. But the woman closes her mouth when she sees the state of the room, no, not the whole room, but the little corner destined for Klaus' paintings. The painting that her son has been working on for the past few weeks is destroyed.
She approaches the bed, ready to discipline him. He is supposed to hand over that painting to be presented in an important gallery. Now that work is destroyed. But her son doesn't listen to any of her husband's words or Vanya's begging.
Klaus is staring at the roof, his green eyes are red from the tears he has shed and he has hurt his lips by tearing the skin off them. The last time her son looked like that he was only eight years old and it was after the twins' biological mother wanted to take them away.
It's not hard to recognize the panic attack when you see it. It just surprises her, because her son hasn't had one in years.
What could have happened to cause such an attack?
Luther's hand on her shoulder surprises her "Mom" respectfully calls her the 17-year-old "Five has left" reports in a solemn voice
She raises one of her eyebrows, yes, she knows that Five has left for a trade, Grace had been very excited and worried about that.
What's new and what's wrong?
Klaus was already aware of that, in fact, his brunette son had bought an expensive gift for his boyfriend.
"He left today. Without saying goodbye to Klaus," Ben finishes, the 16-year-old boy looks angry.
"Oh" is all she can say.
What else can she say when you know Her child is heartbroken?
He descends from the plane in a hurry, jet lag has made him sick and he still has to check-in at the boarding school. He waits patiently for his driver, outside there is a snowstorm, so he takes the opportunity to turn on his phone. Klaus' smiling image is the first thing he sees, he smiles gently.
Klaus is an idiot. He thinks with a certain resignation. He regrets having left early and without saying goodbye, but Klaus is to blame.
The brunette shouldn't have flirted with the idiot Leonard Peabody.
Not only because Leonard was obsessed with Klaus and therefore made him extremely dangerous, but because he was not even up to his family. The Hargreeves and the Carmichael belong to an exclusive elite. They own important corporations. They shouldn't be surrounding themselves with such little people.
It's not jealousy, he's just looking after his future wife.
Besides, it's not as if Klaus needs someone other than himself or one of his siblings. Their future was decided. It was from the moment he asked his aunt and uncle to allow him to take care of Klaus when Klaus was four years old.
At that time Klaus was not even Lilian or A.J's son, was just Lilian's nephew, but he had been totally enthralled by the green-eyed, feminine child.
Why did Klaus have to insist so much on his feelings? They didn't need feelings, they had each other and that was enough.
They were going to be together forever. Words like love and nonsense were out of place.
Klaus' sentimentalism was something totally vain. For him, actions were what mattered.
His actions spoke for him. He always looked after Klaus, accompanied him even when he was bored with visits to galleries or museums, and practically went out of his way to please his brunette. So why did he need to say I love you? That was absurd.
He noticed the missed calls from his brunette. Of course Klaus would look for him, but no, he wasn't going to return those calls. He wasn't going to regret bringing his trip forward and he wasn't going to feel bad about not saying goodbye.
This was just one more lesson for Klaus. His brunette needed to stop being so childish and this was a good possibility for them.
Later he would reward Klaus. Maybe they could go on vacation to Paris. Yes, no doubt when he returned home he would compensate Klaus. Now he had to concentrate on his studies.
The sooner he finished with them the sooner he would return home to his family and Klaus.
He meets Dolores in his first week, he has barely had time to put his things together, the classes are a little more complicated than the ones at his old school, but that doesn't surprise him, Umbrella Academy is an exclusive school for geniuses, he just didn't expect that the homework and the various projects in his new home would take up so much of his time
His mother has called him several times with concern, but he quickly reassures Grace.
He doesn't notice her while he''s talking on the phone and ends up bumping into Dolores in a hallway. That's how their friendship was born.
She calls him an idiot and he calls her clumsy. The teachers force them to work on a project together because of their constant insults, and they do it so well, that they agree to work together for the duration of their interchange.
Mentally he thanks his mother, because if Grace had not been punishing him for not calling Klaus, he would never have met Dolores.
The girl is a wonder among their classmates, no doubt she is someone brilliant and fun, and he finds himself spending more and more time with her without his realizing it.
The blonde seems to love spending time with him too. They enter into an easy, simple, and uncomplicated friendship. They both complement each other perfectly and tend to help each other.
Dolores is his first friend outside of his family.
He doesn't know whether to laugh or call Klaus and tell him that having other friends is okay.
To think that his fight with his brunette started because he was angry that Klaus wanted to have other friends.
As soon as he gets out of his technology project he is going to call his fiancé. It's been over a month and he's been ignoring everyone's calls and messages. He promises himself to be a little more gentle with Klaus.
He will never admit it, but he misses his brunette.
He dials Five's number, has not tried to call him since Grace kindly asked him to let Five settle into his new school. He doesn't want to intrude on Five's life, he misses him very much, but he has agreed that distance is good for both of them.
He doesn't want Vanya to worry about him again. He is supposed to be the older of the two and therefore has to protect his sister. The poor thing had been so distressed by her last panic attack.
But Allison has told him that Five has just won a prize at his student fair. He wants to congratulate him. It will only be a phone call and nothing more.
"Hello" for a moment he feels happy until he notices that it is a girl who answers "Hello" again
Look at his phone, it's Five's number but a girl has answered.
"Not funny, hello," she says again, this time indignantly.
He doesn't understand why there's a girl answering Five's number. Did Five change his number?
"Who's Dolores?" Oh, no, that's Five's voice
"A pervert" answers the girl
Klaus is, for a moment tempted to tell her that he is not a pervert, just someone very stupid.
Klaus hangs up in anger. He ignores his own tears and his heart beating painfully.
Five is right, he is a childish fool.
Slide the brush gently over the canvas, admiring how the colors gradually mix. He tries to pour his feelings over the paint, lately painting is the only thing that makes him happy.
He knows that his family is worried, and he hates every moment of it. He doesn't want to be a burden. So he spends every free time in different workshops. Perfecting his art.
His parents take him to the psychologist again, afraid that he will suffer new panic attacks. He hasn't had them again, but he also doesn't know how to feel comfortable with himself.
In his mind, he blames himself again and again for what happened to Five. Maybe if he hadn't insisted on something that Five obviously didn't feel, at least he'd still have his best friend.
Now he is uncomfortable even visiting Diego or Allison. Especially since Grace has asked him not to bother Five.
"It's nice" he turns to see the man talking to him
"Thank you"
"Although it seems a little sad"
Klaus turns to see his painting, it is quite neutral colors that he has chosen, he smiles a little when he notices that the man is right
"Yes, it looks like it, doesn't it?"
"A heart so young and so sad Should I be offered to beat someone?" he asks seriously, squares his shoulders and stands firm as a soldier
Klaus laughs because it is funny to imagine this man who has a face that only inspires goodness, wanting to hit someone
"No" denies funny "No need, thanks anyway ..."
"David Katz, but you can call me Dave"
"Well Dave, nice to meet you, I'm Klaus"
In Klaus' bag, his cell phone rings repeatedly, but Klaus is too busy listening to Dave's stories while he paints.
Strangely enough, Dave makes him feel happy.