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Klaus crouched down behind a bush, watching the entrance of the tent. This wasn’t where Five had sent him - to Vietnam on the night of the 20th of February 1969 - but that was just too bad. He had his own mission to complete, the thing he was supposed to do for Five would just have to wait.
Finally, his past self emerged from the tent. This was what he’d been waiting for. He always used to go out for a smoke around this time. Klaus watched for a few moments, then snuck up behind himself, chloroformed rag in hand. He wrapped an arm around other Klaus’ waist and brought the rag to his mouth. The other Klaus struggled for a few moments and then he was out. Klaus gently dragged him further into the jungle, before stripping his clothes to change into. He tucked his long hair into his helmet as best he could and then made his way back to the tent.
Klaus gasped when he saw Dave, sleeping peacefully in his cot. God, he was beautiful, his chest rising and falling. Klaus crouched down next to the cot, taking a few moments just to watch him sleep. He could watch Dave all night, but he had something important he needed to do. He ran his hand along Dave’s arm, and Dave stirred slightly and cracked open an eye.
“Klaus, what are you doing?” he mumbled, still half asleep.
“Come for a walk with me?” Klaus whispered.
Dave closed his eye and snuggled deeper into the cot. “What time is it?”
“It’s late. Come for a walk with me?”
“Go back to sleep, Klaus, we’ll be walking plenty tomorrow.”
Klaus ran his fingers through Dave’s hair. He missed this so much. He missed every single thing about Dave. “Dave please,” he whispered shakily, “it’s important.”
That got Dave’s attention. He opened both eyes this time and looked at Klaus. “Is everything alright?”
“Yeah,” Klaus replied. He didn’t want to worry Dave. “But I just… I really need to talk with you. Okay? Will you come for a walk with me?”
Dave looked at him for a moment with concern, then he nodded and got up out of his cot.
———
Dave rubbed his face and tried to stifle a yawn when Klaus finally stopped walking and turned to face him. He looked at Dave like he hadn’t seen him in months, and he seemed to be struggling to find the words to say whatever he brought Dave out here for, which was unlike him. It was getting difficult not to worry.
“Okay, so what did you want to talk about?”
Klaus swallowed. “I have a bad feeling about tomorrow.” He said, with a slight tremble in his voice.
Dave sighed with relief. This he understood. “Oh Klaus, that’s really common.” He said gently, bringing a hand up to cradle Klaus’ cheek. “A lot of guys feel that way sometimes, I do too. Out here something bad could happen every day. We’re all really scared.”
Klaus shook his head. “No, it’s not that. It’s more than a feeling, I’ve seen it. You’re going to die tomorrow.” Dave had never seen Klaus so distressed.
“That must’ve been some dream…”
“No, it wasn’t a dream. It really happened!” Klaus shook his head, almost confused by his own words. “Or will happen, tomorrow.”
“Klaus, it was a dream…” Dave said, letting his hand slide down to Klaus shoulder and then giving it a squeeze. He was so tense.
“Dave please… please, you have to believe me! If you go out there tomorrow you will be shot in the chest, and you will bleed out and you will die. Please… you have to leave this place.”
Dave let his hands drop and took half a step back. “You mean go AWOL?”
“Yeah, Dave, I mean go AWOL. What’s the problem, you hate it here.”
Dave shook his head. “How are we gonna leave the country? Do you happen to have a rowboat on you by any chance? Or maybe we should just swim across the Pacific Ocean?”
“I have another way out of here.” Klaus hesitated slightly. “This is gonna sound… I have a briefcase that can take us anywhere in time and space.”
Dave furrowed his brow. “What?”
Klaus took a few moments, then he licked his lips and continued. “I’m from 2019. I stole this briefcase from these people - bad people, they deserved to be robbed, trust me! Anyway, I thought the briefcase maybe had something valuable inside so I opened it and it… brought me here. And then you died and so I went back and I destroyed it because… I don’t know why, I was upset, I wasn’t thinking. It’s been nearly 4 years and I finally got this opportunity to come back here, to this night, to try to stop it from happening. I have another briefcase and I can take you wherever and whenever you want to go.”
Dave waited for the punchline, but there wasn’t one. “If this is a joke, I don’t get it. Although I am impressed. You’re commitment is really-”
“This isn’t a joke, Dave.” Klaus sighed and squeezed his eyes shut for a few moments. Then he opened them and looked at Dave, removing his helmet, and… and…
Dave couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Klaus’ hair flowed down past his shoulders. Dave reached out with fascination and tangled his fingers in the long hair. He opened his mouth to speak, but he didn’t know what to say.
“Do you believe I grew this overnight or do you believe I stole a time travelling briefcase?”
“Uh…” Neither option seemed very likely.
Klaus rolled his eyes and took Dave’s hand. “Fine, I’ll prove it to you.” He guided Dave deeper into the jungle to where he saw… another Klaus, with the familiar shorter hair, lying on the ground, unconscious and naked. Dave rushed to his side and checked for a pulse, sighing with relief when he found one. He gently lifted Klaus’ head and held him, then he turned to the long haired Klaus.
“Why is he naked?”
The long haired Klaus shrugged. “I needed his clothes.”
Dave shook his head and felt the short haired Klaus’ hands. They were cold. Klaus always felt cold, even in the oppressive Vietnamese heat, but he always said it didn’t bother him. Dave took Klaus’ hands in his own to warm them anyway.
“He’s fine… I’m fine.” The long haired Klaus said. “So… do you believe me?”
Dave looked at the long haired Klaus, then back at the Klaus in his arms. Dave had died. Or would die tomorrow. Four years ago from the perspective of the Klaus who stood before him. He knew of course that either one of them could die at any time on any day. Most days he tried not to think about it. He’d go mad if he did. He just took each day as it came, and would worry about tomorrow later. But he was thinking about it now. The day had finally arrived, and it was tomorrow. And he thought about something else as well. What if it had been Klaus? Four years… Dave had lost people to the war, of course. Good friends. And it was always hard to lose good people. But he knew losing Klaus would be different. He didn’t want to imagine what it must have been like for Klaus. Dave nodded. “I believe you.”
Klaus sighed. “Okay. Good.” Then he picked up the briefcase which was lying next to the Klaus in Dave’s arms. Dave hadn’t even noticed it. “So, where to Katz? All of time and space to choose from.”
Dave thought for a moment, then gave Klaus a sly smile.
Klaus gave him a smile back, but shook his head. “No…”
“I didn’t even say anything!”
“You don’t want to go to the real wild west, you want to go to the wild west of the movies, and I can’t take you there. Try again.”
“Alright, well you pick.”
Klaus tapped on the briefcase a few times, then: “All the draft dodgers go to Canada, right? Should be safe enough… Same date, same year.”
In truth, Dave didn’t care where or even when he was, as long as he was with Klaus. He nodded.
“Alright.” Klaus fiddled with the briefcase, then looked at Dave. “Hold on.”
“To what?”
“To me.”
“Wait, how… how does it work?”
Klaus shrugged. “No clue.”
Dave looked at the Klaus in his arms. The long haired Klaus didn’t intend to leave this Klaus behind, did he? Dave wasn’t about to let that happen. He took the short haired Klaus’ hand and placed it on the briefcase, holding it there in place with his own. The long haired Klaus looked at their hands for a few moments, then flicked open the latches of the briefcase with his thumbs.
———
“Oh my god, Klaus, these pants are at least two sizes too small.” The long haired Klaus had bought them civilian clothes and paid for a motel room for a week, and after getting changed himself Dave struggled to get the still unconscious short haired Klaus into the pants long haired Klaus had bought.
“Once they’re on they’re gonna look hot, trust me. And you’re welcome.”
Dave sighed. “I can’t get them on.”
“Alright, so leave me naked. Even hotter.”
Dave peeled the pants off and took Klaus to the motel room bed, putting a blanket over him. He ran his fingers through Klaus hair and then cupped his cheek, running his thumb back and forth. “How long until he wakes up?”
“I don’t know, a few hours I guess.”
Dave went over to the couch where the long haired Klaus was sitting, and sat beside him. This Klaus was looking at him so wistfully. “This must be really weird for you. Seeing me alive after… you said four years?”
“Sort of,” Klaus said, “but in a wonderful way.”
Dave smiled. He wanted to touch this Klaus, but he wasn’t sure if he should.
“I guess it must be weird for you too. Being told you’re gonna die tomorrow.”
Dave shook his head. “I don’t know… I guess I know