Work Text:
“I’m smiling, look!” Claus said as he used his index fingers to pull the corners of his lips into a smile. “I’m happy.”
“Claus…” Lucas trailed off, watching his older brother try and fail to convince him of some sort of twisted happiness.
“This is what you want, right?” Claus spoke again as tears fell from his human eye. “You want me to be happy. You don’t want to see me hurt or upset or crying or-” He cut himself off as he sniffled.
The blonde took a step towards his brother, earning a scared glance and multiple stumbling steps backwards from the ginger. Lucas wanted to be at least a little offended by it, but he couldn’t bring himself to hold anything against Claus for being fearful. He wasn’t scared of his brother, not by a long shot! But The Pigmask Army did a few numbers on his mental state. He would be scared of his own shadow if it came down to it.
“Please don’t.” Was the only thing spoken after a previously unbroken silence.
Lucas was perplexed, he couldn’t understand what Claus meant by that. Taking a step back didn’t help, the freckled ginger still had his wide eyes fixated on the ground.
Slowly, the younger leaned down so that he could catch the others' scared gaze. It worked, but he still seemed rather frightened by the motion. Claus was lost in his own head, it seemed. Almost like he was trying to find a way to work with Lucas so he wouldn’t get hurt.
The things that The Pigmask Army had put into the thirteen year olds head were awful. Lucas didn’t know exactly what happened there, but one conversation with Master Porky Minch himself gave enough insight. So did Claus shaking like a leaf every time someone was within five feet of him.
“Hey Claus?” Trying to snap him back to reality proved little result, he still wasn’t completely used to being called Claus again. No matter how many memories filled his head.
Now comes the challenging part. If his brother ever got like this, Lucas could usually talk him down before it got bad. Sometimes fate had other plans though.
The blonde sucked in a sharp breath. He was going to feel guilty after this but the options he had were slim. Lucas started taking a few steps towards his fearful brother who wasn’t reacting to much. Still lost in his own head, poor Claus.
Lucas didn’t think long before he put his hand out and snapped his fingers. Immediately Claus was back and standing straight up. He looked terrified, and the guilt that the younger had been anticipating hit him full force.
When Claus finally gained back the full gravity of how close they were, he tripped over himself trying to move back and get some personal space. Sitting on the ground and catching his breath was a smart idea, so Lucas didn’t make a move of any kind.
There was a long silence between the two. The sounds of Claus trying to control his breathing while crying was keeping both of their minds occupied.
“Claus?” Lucas asked after the pause. He got a response this time, his brother looked up at him with tears streaking down half his face. Even his mechanical eye seemed like it was having a difficult time under the emotional stress.
“Yeah?” He spoke, voice completely hoarse from crying.
“I’m going to sit down in front of you.” He waited for a response as he watched Claus process what was being said. “Alright?” All he got in return was a small nod yes.
Lucas slowly sat down and kept an eye on Claus, making sure his brother was fine with this motion. Said kid hardly moved, mostly just his eyes watching as closely as possible.
“Hey Luke?”
“Yes?”
There was a long pause before another answer.
“Can I get a hug?”
As soon as Lucas nodded yes, Claus might as well have tackled him. Thank god they were on the floor already.
The younger could hear his twin hiccuping and sniffling, that being all the confirmation needed to know he was crying hard again.
“I’m sorry.” Claus said suddenly.
Yet again, Lucas was confused. “For what?”
“Crying, being scared of you, thinking you might hurt me. It’s just…” ‘things the army taught me.’ Lucas filled in the rest himself.
“It’s alright Claus, it’s not your fault. Nothing was.” The words were simple, but it’s what Claus needed to hear. He tightened his grip on Lucas but relaxed a small bit. After being known as a crybaby for so long you get used to knowing comforting words. What others need to hear.
And Lucas knew Claus best. They are twins after all.