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it was christmas eve.
a cold December in 2017. Klaus is— Klaus is compromised to say the least. he is not high, he never was, not when its christmas and people are actually expecting him to be sober.
it is rare that people expect him to be sober. much less expect of him at all. so he made sure to stay sober. no matter how hard it is, no matter how awful it is, for it is the only time of the year someone is expecting him.
it was their family tradition, or was their family tradition until Ben chose to fly to South Carolina, cutting them all off after his heated argument with their father. then Luther left,packed his bags and went away, not saying where he was going, not saying if he was even returning. Klaus is not certain he would. Five, their brother who refused to use his birth name anymore, left the moment he was old enough. he packed his shit and shipped himself off to england. studying in a honorable school under a scholarship. and Klaus highly doubts that their brother would ever come back.
so that leaves the four of them. Allison, Vanya, Diego and him. Klaus doubts that Diego would be joining them today. not after the fiasco that happened back in July. he's not even sure if Allison would come. but she said she would and Klaus would just hope for the best.
with shaking hands, Klaus slowly pushed the doors open, letting his shaking feet enter the diner. it was empty, mostly empty. as he had expected since it is a christmas eve and it would be insane to be out in a donut shop when everyone is celebrating.
he sauntered in, changing his pace when he saw someone was seated at their booth. he grinned, a forced smile stretched over his lips. hoping it would be enough to cover the haunted look in his eyes as he stepped beside the table, looking at the people seated.
"Allison, Vanya! fancy seeing you at this lovely evening" he greeted, voice high and shrill with faux happiness in it as he watched his sisters startle out of their awkward silence.
he looked at both of them, contemplating which side to seat in, feeling as if he would choose more than just the seat if he were to pick a side. so with a flourish. he twirled at he pulled a chair from the table beside them and plopped in it
" i am sad that our darling Diego wont be accompanying us tonight" he sighed, eyes flitting between the two of them, not missing when Vanya flinched and Allison tensed. he would never not see his sibling's tells to their emotion.
"maybe he would've been here if someone didn't write that goddamn book" Allison snarled out, making Vanya cower for a second before she glared at her sister. "it wasn't aimed for you-" Vanya started, hands slamming at the table, sound echoing on the gloomy diner and Klaus flinched. resisting the urge to cover his ear and cower beneath the table as he looked at his sisters
"can we not" he couldn't help but to cut in voice tired and droopy as he leaned in. "it's fucking christmas eve. we can all go back to hating each other tomorrow but for fucks sake i want a good christmas day" maybe it was because he was sober,or because he was hungry, tired and lonely that his defenses crumbled a little bit.
"i'll behave if she behaves" Vanya conceded after a few tense second and Allison scoffed. Klaus waited, a second into two into three before Allison sighed, a defeated tune on her painted lips before she nodded and Klaus grinned, the same faux smile in his face
"let's order in and walk around afterwards" he decided and the dinner went on a blur. a donut turned into two, then into five and a solid eight before the three of them decided to stop.
"don't you have a coat Klaus?" Allison asked as they were walking out of the diner, eyes scanning his body. Klaus knew he was underdressed to say the least. he wouldn't survive the winter in his mesh top and wind braker alongside with his skirt and boots but he had to make do with what he has— or what he managed to salvage.
"left it at my house" he lied, acidic words burning into the roof of his mouth. a grin, faker than the last slid into his face but he doubts his siblings could tell. they never really did, or maybe they did and couldn't care less. he doesn't know what was worst, so he never asked
"well that's stupid of you" Vanya muttered, sliding up between them, tongue more loose as she is not so sober anymore. "we all know i am stupid" he muttered before sliding his arm to snake into his sister's shoulder before running off, dragging her by the neck as he heard Allison laugh while Vanya complained as bubbles of laughter seeped through her protests.
Klaus laughed. high and shrill and a tad bit hysterical as he slowed down, fingers automatically curling over her sisters collar and pulling her a step back to steady her for he knows that if it weren't for his precaution. his sister would've face planted on the snow.
"you are such an asshole" Vanya shrieked but her voice is light, gone were the tautness it yielded at the diner and Klaus grinned bigger, hearing Allison's laugh from a not so far distance and he chuckled.
"i was just walking! it's not my fault you have ten inch long legs" he teased. yelping when he felt a pinch on his skinny rib, swearing as his cold skin got pulled. "you are cold" his sister muttered, both of them panting as they waited for Allison to wade on the high snow to reach them
"i run cold" he reminded Vanya, his head onslaught with memories of their previews christmas eves, with him getting told that he is cold whenever he curled up by a sibling and he would always respond with i run cold, even if he doesn't really know if he run cold or if his heart finally decided to show how cold it is through his skin
"Allison run faster you slow bastard" Klaus hollered, partly to remove the image in his head, of him curling alone in the fireplace long after everyone has retreated to their bed, shaking like a leaf. "she really is slow" Vanya grinned out, and Klaus felt happiness in his heart when he saw how sincere his sisters smile is, despite it being so small it barely showed on her face.
"i see you two talking shit 'bout me" Allison huffed out, moments later when she finally catch up on them and Klaus grinned, feeling as if he is making a caricature of happiness in the way he is grinning. he hopes he is partially succeeding.
"only the best" he hummed, snaking his arms around both of his sisters' shoulder as they walked with no concrete destination in mind
they walked, boots sinking into the cold snow as laugh bubbled through their mouths, giggles escaping as they retold the experiences that they all shared, of the childhood innocence that they once possessed. of the stolen moments where they got to be children running after their mother's billowing skirt and not as the monsters their father turned them into.
Klaus grinned, bubbling stories threatening to spill over and burn if he didn't rein himself so he did. mouth running stories, but carefully leaving out the pain. all of them not telling about the dark ache that they all shared, all of them masking it with jokes and lighthearted reminiscing of what they once were, minus the cold dark scars and the horns attached into their heads, a caricature of their own father
"if it wasn't christmas we wont be seeing each other" Vanya blurted out, all of them standing outside the arcade like a bunch of lunatics and Allison sighed, mouth forming a sneer and Klaus cleared his throat loudly. "well thank fuck its christmas then" he boomed, grin too sharp and too frantic and he silently begged them to get along for a few more hours.
"thank fuck its christmas" Allison echoed, the same sad tone in her voice mirroring Klaus and all of them nodded, as if in agreement to attempt to be civilized, happy family for the night.
"i always wanted to get a teddy bear at this buggers" Klaus announced the moment his pockets are heavy with arcade tokens, hands slapping an ancient claw machine and Vanya grinned.
"remember that time that Ben got us all teddies. all of us but—" and Klaus sighed. pout returning full force at his lips, a mirror of what he wore 15 years back, when all of them sneaked out to the arcade for christmas, their nose runny from the cold. Ben run out of tokens and the stuffed animal that Klaus wanted was left trapped inside the glass box, forever depriving him of a gift from his favorite brother.
"all of us but me" Klaus sighed out, hands slamming down a stack of token on top of the machine, shoulders curling onto himself as he spread his leg forward, almost comically wide, looking as if he is a giraffe eating on the floor as he lowered himself low enough that he could see the claw machine perfectly, cursing his tall stature the whole time
"come on, come on people go pick out your choice" he called out, voice loud and laced with humor as he watched his sisters peer through the dusty claw machine. eyes moving from toy to toy to toy. "i want the crocodile" Vanya announced a few moments later, fingers pointed towards a crocodile, perched between an octopus and a llama.
"and i want the yellow cow" Allison murmured, eyes darting towards the yellow cow perched on top of the crocodile, and Klaus grinned. " and what would Claire want?" he asked, startling Allison.
"Claire would—" she started, faltering when she couldn't tell what does her daughter want. "would want anything from her uncle" and Klaus nodded, knowing his sister is making for an escape on the conversation. while on other days, he would've pushed harder, dug deeper with the intention to hurt he simply just grinned, picking a huge stuff toy below the crocodile that Vanya picked
it took ten tries, a hundred curses exchanged between the three of them, light punches delivered to the arm and a hard kick from Vanya when Klaus almost got the cow but fell on the claw the last second before Klaus has finally managed to get the first one on their list
"jesus fuck Vanya. i would be black and blue tomorrow" Klaus groaned out, tone teasing as he rubbed his sore arm, hand thrusting the cow towards his sister before cracking his knuckles.
"get my crocodile" Vanya grinned out, eyes enraptured on the crocodile, missing an arm with a pin that said "armless crocs" and Vanya thought it was the ugliest version of crocodile that she saw and therefore would not leave the arcade without owning it.
"it would look good next to the pig that Diego got you twelve years ago" Allison whispered, both of them holding their breath as Klaus successfully lifted the crocodile into the claw.
"please fuck please" Vanya murmured, eyes weirdly moist at the memory that urged into her, of her brother punching the claw machine and all other sticking their hands on the broken glass, grabbing the stuffed toys nd bolting to the snowy street just because Diego got impatient and punched the machine, breaking it in the process
they all waited with baited breaths, eyes trailing at the claw as it slowly but surely dropped the price on the hole and Klaus screeched, high pitching noise of excitement as he clapped fast, grin genuine for a second
"this is fucking fun" Allison murmured when all is said and done and Klaus is struggling to get the toy for Claire, a huge dinosaur with an embroidered "i am not a nugget" on its belly.
"please please please" Klaus begged after the dino got clawed for the fifth time now and he squealed when the ancient claw machine finally grasped the dino tightly. slowly but surely dropping it off and Klaus screamed, ignoring the shouts of the owner as Allison grabbed the toy and straightened back up
Klaus sobered, knowing what would happen next. they would get out, exchange empty promises and part ways, never seeing each other again before the next christmas.
"well that was fun" Klaus murmured, playing his part in this fucked up part of their night. the horrible part in a messed up play performance, the part where they all pretend that they would call and stay in touch even though they all know they would not.
"yeah it was" Allison sighed out, all of them walking out of the arcade, standing outside like a bunch of bumbling idiots. "we should do it all again" it was Diego's line, not Vanya's. but since their brother ditched they only got to hear Vanya say that empty promise
"yeah we should" Klaus said, voice lace with faux cheer because he knows they would not. he knows that they know. and he knows that they know that he knows but none of them act like they know so at least Klaus gets to have this. the stilted conversation in the middle of a cold road.
"with that in note, i have to go" Allison said after a minute of silent and Vanya nodded, starting to turn towards her way home. Klaus waited as they reached far enough from him that it created distance but not too far that they couldn't hear before he screamed "wait"
and his sisters stopped and Klaus grinned, a skeleton of a smile ghosting in his chapped lip.
"this was the best christmas ever" he screamed, laughing manically before he ran away, knowing that he lied because nothing could top the christmas when they were all young and innocent and happy but no one would know otherwise.
at least he gets to keep these. these memories of their christmas, of their joy, of their reprieve from being siblings that are destined to hate each other. at least he gets to keep this.