Work Text:
He had been painting when his twin sister came home.
The drab of colour on his brush had barely tiptoed the canvas that the door to their house had slammed-- weakly, but slammed still-- against its jam, and Klaus had immediately raised in alarm. Brushes and knives and palette and rags all were dropped on the nearest surface, and the two steps led him out into the living room, where the door had bounced back to being slightly ajar, brushing a sweetly-scented breeze in the tiny cottage.
His heart crawled, stuttering at the sight of her, wet and bedraggled and clutching at her hair. Her shoulders had curved inwards, her entire body shivering. He hadn't yet uttered a sound, and oblivious, Rain's sob broke the silence. Her fists rose and whacked atop her skull, one-two--
“RAIN!” He cried out, catching her hands in his and turning her around.
Her eyes were huge. Bloodshot, weeping with surprise and her breath shuddered in her lungs. He'd seen her before in these states-- but it didn't stop it hurting each time. Her voice stalled just as much as her lungs, and Rain's stutter worsened a hundred fold.
“Y--y-y-y-y” She tried to gasp, but her bouncing words and heaving ribs tripped her up. Frustrated, her arms tugged, and Klaus cursed inwardly that he had trapped her even more. Her voice broke the syllable into a high-pitched wail, before her sobs broke again, gasping mouthfuls of air as she tried to coordinate anything at all. Klaus offered.
“Rain, can you match your breathing to mine?” Worry had raised his voice an ounce too high-- but he forced the breath through, reaching for the stability of the movement to calm himself as well. His sister tried; for the life of her she tried, but her arms had squeezed against her ribs and her shoulders had hunched so far that she wasn't even able to get a whimper. He stretched a hand before her.
“Here. Can you hold onto my hand and my upper arm?” He had hunched just a little to be at her height, and though Rain gasped a few times, she nodded. Finally, a true breath made it through, and though she quickly shuddered back into staccato lungs, her arms uncrimpled from her sides, and Klaus gently forced her straighter, breathing in and out in a slow dance.
“It will be alright, Rain, I promise,” he assured her, before his left hand came to lightly straighten her spine. “Can you lift your chin for me, my dear?” Again, he breathed deeply, and though she was punching the air from her ribs the way someone dropped something heavy, she was breathing at last. He guided her through two more cycles before he smiled, the hand at her back rubbing affection into her cold, cold clothes.
“I shall embrace you ever so close, Rain-- just a few more breaths first?” he asked her, catching up with her pattern and guiding her again. His sister was still tearful, eyes blurred behind the drops, but she smiled, ever so lightly. Three more cycles passed, before he squeezed her hand lightly, offering her a gentle encouragement as he nodded.
“You can press on my hand when you are ready, Rain. Do you still need me to breathe with you?” She did not press yet, forcing each long drag and sweep of air carefully, but she shook her head at his question. Her voice shook as she stared, but she forced her lungs to still, pushing air with a voice at last.
“T-t-talk to me?” she managed, folding another pattern, and holding it in her ribs before she continued her thought. “Wh-what are you p-painting?” Oh-- he understood immediately.
“You are so clever, my dear,” her brother whispered, and his smile slid into her wet hair. She smelled of salt and algae. No doubt her swim had been out at sea then-- voluntarily or not. Klaus lingered as she repeated the pattern one more time, but he couldn't linger when she so needed the distraction.
“I was painting the sky,” he whispered, weaving his voice in a low song that had been as familiar to her as her own murmured happiness had become to him. “The way it was so infinite from the flank of the mountain-- and the babble of the waterfall where it dropped bellow us. I was painting the stream's stones, smoothed by the water, and such a lovely colour-- like your eyes.”
Her brother cradled her cheek, and she turned her head into the touch, letting him wipe away the tears that still trickled. At last, she pushed against his hand, and released him, gently reaching into his left side, so she could press her ear against his throat, feeling the slow thrum of his heart. Klaus delicately returned her embrace, stilling for a moment, and when she squeezed, he returned the sentiment tenfold. Rain's lungs filled and emptied with an occasional stutter, and Klaus continued his narrative.
“I was painting the whisper of the trees above our heads, and the call of the birds that had chased us on the way; the way the mountain smelled so very ancient, and so very new. The way the new leaves had been almost yellow with youth and eagerness, and the fuller ones had been darkened and beloved under the sun. It was warm that day, but we hadn't needed our ombrelles for once-- since the canopy was thick enough to protect us.” She nodded against his chest and Klaus kissed her brow this time, turning to their shared memories.
“You looked so lovely that day. Your heart was filled with peace, and you smiled serenely as we walked.” Rain shook her head against the steady heartbeat by her ear, and Klaus kissed her hair again, salt and all before he forced himself to move on.
“There were so many colours-- flowers and leaves and clouds. The sky filled our hearts and the sounds cradled us like lost children coming home. We sang together on those rocks-- do you remember?” he asked, though the question was almost inane.
While their day-to-day lives had never quite gotten the bustle of the cities around them, Klaus and Rain only had a handful of moments where they felt the world had stopped for them, and these, they cherished immensely. Emboldened by his sister's steadiness, Klaus brushed her hair back behind her ear, mindful not to knot it, before clearing his throat, and beginning to sing.
It was an old song-- as old as they were-- of little fairies dancing in a creek and plucking raindrops from the flowers over them. He sang of meadow-sweet grasses where the hares and their kits lay in the sun, and the warmth-kissed earth shared bountiful fruits and berries. If Rain had any strength to her, she would have joined him, but the comfort was there nonetheless. When she began rocking from side to side with his ever slight movement, Klaus teased her hair aside again, and began moving them both to the couch.
He didn't expect Rain to balk, her ribs tripping up and her head shaking hard enough to whip her hair about. Halted mid-way, her brother turned to see her eyes wide and worried, her lips pressed to such thinness that they almost vanished. She shook her head again, her heart vacillating too fast once more-- but she forced her breath through the numbness of her lungs.
“I-I am wet!” his sister protested, her cry almost mourning as she refused to step any further in their abode. Klaus squeezed her lightly at his side, brushing a kiss to her cheekbone now that she was no longer tucked in the crook of his arm.
“It will dry?” he attempted delicately. He did not understand her worry, but Rain shook her head so violently again, and he could see that his suggestion had not helped. Besides-- her being wet would lead to her being cold, and no matter the amount of comfort he brought, if Rain was cold, it would not last deeply.
“Do you feel well enough to take a bath, my dear?” he suggested weakly, and though Rain considered it, she was quick to shake her head again. “Do you think you could towel yourself dry then? And get dressed in your nightgown with the green silk robe?” She hesitated again, and Klaus prodded, just a bit, to get her moving.
“Let us wrap your hair up, and when you are ready, I can brush the water out of it for you,” he offered, pushing off one more problem to later-- to when she was steady enough to face it. At last, she nodded, and Klaus smiled gently at her.
“I will set water to boil for a cocoa while you get dressed, but other than that, I will be right by your door- is this alright with you?” She was playing with her lower lip as he spoke, worrying it between her teeth and Klaus had to fight the urge to stop her. At last, Rain's eyes turned to his again, her cheeks flushing a bit more colour under the pallid complexion before she stretched an arm out to their back door, and the sun merrily shining on the wildflowers there.
“Can we-- please?” she wondered, her request so simple that her brother was smiling at once, brushing her hair back and standing to the tip of his toes to manage a delicate brush of his lips onto her cold forehead.
“We will spread the blanket out together,” he promised, unwilling to leave her alone long enough to do so on his own.
He guided her to the linen cupboard, before dragging out their fluffiest of towels-- something Cosette had left behind on her last visit because they were 'so soft, chéri, you need these in your home!' He was thankful for them, if only because Rain sighed in their confines as he wrapped them around her, tickling her cheek lightly with one of them. Her lips twisted ever so slightly upwards, and he counted this as a victory, while he guided her to her room with a hand at the curve of her spine.
“Will you be alright?” he asked one last time before her door, wondering if this would be privacy, or this would be her demons' playgrounds. Rain nodded-- too quickly for his tastes, and her brother lingered, a little lost in his steps. Slender, delicate, her hand came to rest upon his arm and Rain pressed her head to his shoulder again, weaving pieces of herself in the gesture as she could.
“I will be fine,” she paused, swallowing the air from her mouth before she went on with her sentence. “Brother dearest.” Her hair trailed down his arm in its unruly waves, and Rain pressed gentle fingertips to the shoulder she had claimed before, opposite where she was now. “You should get changed too,” she encouraged, feathering the edges of dampness her hair and limbs had left into his clothes. He did not move, not yet, and the hand at her lower back kept Rain from encouraging them both apart.
His eyes were lost somewhere at her collarbone, or maybe her hair, a frown digging furrows between his eyebrows. Rain reached out to him, worried in turn, and her thumb smoothed the pinched skin aside, digging her cheek into her brother's shoulder. His arms tightened around her waist, and a hand rose to support her spine while he tucked her deeper in his embrace.
Just-- just a moment. He just needed one more moment to assure himself Rain would be fine.
It was a lie, though Klaus truly did just mean to let her go after a moment. But his sister's arms rose to wrap around and over his shoulders, her toes skittering the floor to gain the ever slight advantage he had over her, and she squeezed, clutching at him back with all the tightness he had embraced her with. She returned his affections with just as many underlying emotions, nameless things that cobwebbed in his mind, and the support-- the... sameness they shared was... he had no words for it
Two halves of a whole. She felt his worry, just as he had felt her panic, and together, they pulled each other above the waves. He had no words to express how much her support meant for him, and when they finally broke apart, he could see they were useless. Rain's eyes were still reddened by her earlier tears, but they sparkled over the very slight curve of her lips. She was the one to pull him ever so slightly down first, rising on tip toes to press her smile against his temple.
“I love you, brother dearest,” she reassured, and the encouragement had him smiling even as he shook his head.
“I ought to have told you first,” he attempted, feeling bittersweet at her reassurance being so much better than his-- and yet knowing she had heard it regardless. It was his turn to return her gesture, rising to press a gentle kiss to the roots of her hair, both holding onto each other's hands.
“I love you too, my dear.” Their words were sunshine, and each of them could feel their souls bask in their shared reassurances.
The world outside was dangerous; it was dark, and foreign, and so strange that they were often lost within it. But they had each other, despite it. They had each other; through the losses and the fears, the pains and the healing; they had each other, and for that they were so very thankful. They had each other, and for that, they could survive this strange, dark world.