Chapter Text
Klaus was always skinny. After being a homeless junkie for most of his life his only money went to drugs. Food was never a priority in his life. Sometimes when he was high he’d eat thousands of calories and not even remember it and other times he would forget to eat for days until Ben reminded him. But even then he still did not feel hungry.
It never bothered him, he didn’t really understand why it bothered Ben if he was honest. So what if he fainted every now and then or if his hair was falling in clumps. Not Klaus. He would usually chalk the fainting to drugs he wasn’t sure how they could make him faint but there wasn’t any other reason that came to his mind. Sure he didn’t really eat but he couldn’t make the connection, he didn’t want to.
When he moved back into the academy that changed and he slowly ate again. Once withdrawals settled down he found himself becoming hungry again. Grace’s cooking was too good to refuse and his body was more than happy to finally get to use his metabolism. He was finally eating normally, he was finally eating. Ben was happy and Klaus was getting used to it. It was a big leap and sometimes he still felt bad but he ate nonetheless. Klaus ate.
But all good things come to an end soon and newly sober Klaus livinging in a house full of ghosts, finally meets a ghost more annoying than Ben. He didn’t interact with her at first, he never does talk to the little ghostys besides when he yells at them to shut up cause one of his siblings is probably saying something important. Turns out that just makes them louder cause how dare he not listen to them babble on out about their little over dramatic deaths.
“Bennerino, how big is the sober thing anyways. Like would you yell at me if I just decided to drop it?” Klaus sarcastically asked his hand grasping his ears after the man with a hole in his head couldn’t take a hint that Klaus didn’t care about him or his insane wife.
“Yes I would yell at you, dumbass.” Ben replied blankly but he did look empathetic for the junkie.
“You're not gonna right?” He asked and Klaus shook his head
“Just jokes, Bentley” Ben gave him a look. A French ghost with no fingers started screaming at him coming directly into his face making the seance jump back.
Klaus groaned and searched around for his earphones. Before a small hand grabbed his own, well not really grabbed just phased through.
“Hey no touching the merchandise” Klaus shivers
“Not what I would call merchandise” a quiet voice responds. Her hands are skeletal and her eyes are haunting as she looks Klaus up and down.
“No! You wound me so” He brought a hand to his chest in mock offence, sparking a smile to Ben’s face.
She stared at him unamused before talking again
“You really could stand to lose some weight y’know? All cards on the table, I used to admire you but now I can see how you’ve changed and how you eat. It’s so disgusting. Look at yourself” Klaus frowned at that. He knew he had gained weight. That's what happens when you eat three meals a day for the first time in however many years. He decided on rolling his eyes before finally grabbing his earphones. He didn’t need any ghost advice, he had Ben.
He didn’t see her again for a week, he was eating dinner with the rest of the umbrella academy. Ever since he saw the little girl his eating has been off but he loved the Friday night ritual. Spending time with his family around the dinner table. Unlike when they were growing up it was filled with talking and laughing there was no reggie to yell at Klaus there wasn’t any stupid earl Carl or whatever his name was on the radio. But most importantly there was no “No talking at the table Number Four” it was just sibling bonding.
Well siblings and a little girl who stared at Klaus who was trying to eat the whole time making him uncomfortable. He tried ignoring her, he did. It’s just hard to not hear her screaming at him, so direct nothing about revenge or a retelling of her death like most ghosts, it was her screaming at him for eating. For being… fat. Klaus didn’t really want to dissect the obvious fatphobia, especially not to a ghost who was currently talking about how gigantic he was. He slowly lost his appetite over the night. Standing for his chair and leaving his plate mostly full.
“Hey Benjamin I might hit the hay early” he clapped his hands flamboyantly before blowing kisses at his family goodnight. Allison and Vanya giggled while Diego hid a small smile and Five grumpily wished him goodnight between sips of a coffee that Mom didn’t allow.
“Hey Klaus” Ben said as they walked up the stairs
“Yes brother dearest”
“I- I could hear her too and you know she isn’t right. You shouldn’t listen to her.” Klaus was taken aback for a moment does Ben not see his weight gain? It’s so obvious. The girl is right he has gained and he is getting fat, Klaus isn’t that stupid to not notice it. He wasn’t denying it, he was just upset she was saying it. But never mind that, he waved his hand at his ghost brother putting on one of his best fake smiles.
“Of course I know Benny boy I’m not that stupid. Only a blind person couldn’t see how sexy I am” he wiggled his eyebrows enthusiastically.
Ben let out a small laugh sounding relieved and they continued their journey to Klaus’ room. The little girl followed and listened a few steps behind. Although she didn’t necessarily have footsteps Klaus could still hear the difference between his heavy footsteps and her fragile steps that didn’t leave a creaking noise on the stairs. Sure he couldn’t hear any footsteps in the first place but he’d like to imagine that’s what they sounded like, well he actually hated to imagine it.
That night Klaus stared at the ceiling, his hand trailed up his blanket to feel his stomach through his shirt. He shivered feeling rolls for the first time in his life. Maybe he should listen to the little girl next time Ben isn’t there, Ben just didn’t get these things. Maybe he should also learn the little girls name. So when Ben finally strolled out of Klaus room phasing through the wall to go check on his other siblings the girl engaged in some friendly conversation with Klaus
“I can see the stomach rolls too, fat ass” Klaus gasped in mock offence. Or maybe he was actually offended.
“That’s not a very nice thing to say, little girl. No that sounds creepy, what's your name ghost bestie” His real Ghost bestie was Ben but he wasn’t gonna hurt her feelings by revealing that shocking information.
“I don’t remember” she said blankly staring into the distance for a split second “call me Ana”.
He laughed slightly at the name choice and knew exactly what she meant. She didn’t seem to find it funny at all. Staring grumpily at him.
“Did you know when you laugh the fat on your cheeks jiggle” she pointed out rudely a venom to her tone
“No. I did not notice” he stated blankly rolling his eyes. He kept that bit of information in the back of his head though, to remember what he needs to work on.
“Maybe you should notice more often. I guess that’s why you look like this. You stopped caring, stopped noticing. It’s sad to see” she paused for a second in fake thought making Klaus shiver.
“I could help you” maybe he did need help. He misses his ribs poking out, he misses his cheekbones. So with a small nod of his head, he agrees. Ana smiled. It was a Grimm dark smile that could only be made by the dead. The ones without any sense of good left in their bodies, any sense of decency. He found himself smiling back.
The next morning would be the first of many where he would finally be getting back into his skinny self. He’d finally go back to that beautiful feeling of starvation and if he can’t have the drugs then he’s gonna have his own type of high. The high you can only get from not eating for days, from running until you're breathless.
He woke up to Ana staring directly at him, her dark gaze scaring the ex junkie. He waved his hello palm at her in a non verbal greeting and pulled himself out of bed. He was immediately stopped by Allison who was walking past his door.
“Oh sorry Klaus I didn’t see you there. I was just getting Vanya for breakfast” She smiled
“Not a problem at all, dearest sister of mine. I didn’t know Vanya stayed the night”
“Oh yeah well you went to bed pretty early but me and Vanya had a sleepover without you. Sorry Klaus but snooze you lose, literally” she let out a small laugh at her own joke. Before waving him off
“Anyways it’s breakfast time Grace made smiley pancakes” she emphasised her point by making a bacon smile on her own face finally leaving Klaus to go get their other sister. Klaus looked over at Ana who simply shook her head. No words, just a simple head shake ‘no’ and that’s all that Klaus needed to decide against breakfast.
He found Ben downstairs watching the family sit on the table while he sat his ghostly ass on the counter. His eyes full of envy of his living siblings.
“Creep” Klaus muttered as he passed Ben causing a scoff from the ghostly sibling. He decided on sitting on the counter with Ben the further away he was from breakfast, the better. He fell into mindless conversation with his favourite sibling but he was mostly zoned out while Ben went off about whatever book he read. He fell into his own thoughts, his little plans for the week and numbers filling his brain. He had never been good at math but when it came to calories and the numbers on the scale he was a genius. He sat like that for a while sometimes zoning back in and listening to Ben's chatter or hearing their siblings talk at the table.
“Hey Klaus” his thoughts were interrupted by Diego calling from the table. Klaus looked over at his bro
“Yes brother dearest?” Diego rolled his eyes at the greeting.
“Are you gonna eat something or what?” He asked and Klaus froze slightly before catching himself
“Oh no thanks I’m not hungry. Wait this reminds of this one time I was with this guy and his girlfriend and-“ he was cut off from his story he was using to distract Diego by the man himself.
“I know the one your telling me”
“Oh really?” Klaus asked semi confused
“Yes it ends with you getting arrested and passing out in the police car then escaping the hospital. I was there after it happened you came to my house, dumbass” Klaus laughed at his brother who returned the gesture with a slight smirk.
“Yes yes!! Wow you know me so well, you probably stalk me as much as Benny boo does” Klaus clapped his hands and then stood up feeling a tad bit dizzy but that’s what happens when you haven’t eaten in 18 hours. It’s just a bit dizzy, nothing big. Nothing at all. He remembers the numbers from when he lived on the streets 24, 35, 56, 72 hours gone without eating at all. 18 hours was nothing to him. He looked at Ana hesitantly and she just nodded her approval. Suddenly fingers snapped in front of him and he completely forget he was talking to Diego
“Sorry what?” He asked. Diego scoffed and left the room and he realised the rest of his siblings were gone. How long had he been standing there?
Maybe he could go 24 hours today. It’s his first counter fast in months, well technically years after ten months in Vietnam. Then he wondered what Dave would think of all this. ‘Maybe that’s why Dave didn't show up?’ He thought to himself and part of him believed it. He didn’t think Dave was low enough to judge someone for their weight but maybe Dave felt the same disgusting feeling Klaus did when he saw his body. Oh. Dave hated him. That makes more sense than any reasons Ben came up with on why Dave never showed up. Dave hated Klaus for gaining weight for being the ugly creature Ana called him. Maybe that’s another reason to not eat, for Dave. Yeah Dave, sweet Dave would like him better like this. Klaus grasped the dog tags and ignored Ben telling him to get something to eat for lunch. He wasn’t hungry anyways.