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“Something on your mind, brother mine?”
Klaus giggled as he took another swig from the whiskey bottle. One benefit of the new timeline was that none of his siblings were even pretending to give a single fuck about his sobriety, and ever since their little showdown with the Sparrows, Klaus’ favourite hotel manager Chet had quietly informed them that they were welcome to any of the hotel’s luxuries, including but not limited to, the bar, which Klaus had delightedly taken advantage of.
He suspected, when Chet did not bat an eye at the dead bodies in his foyer, that the hotel manager was as unrufflable as Klaus remembered from his own timeline, and the careful offer was not made out of fear, as one would expect, but rather out of a sort of vindication toward the so-called heroes that seemed to have this city under lock and key.
“Hey Lutherrr,” he called again, snapping his fingers to get his brother’s attention. “Hellooo? Can you hear me in there?”
Luther blinked at him, then slumped into the seat beside him without a word. Klaus frowned but before he could say anyone, Luther was grabbing the bottle from his hand and Klaus was cursing himself for his earlier thoughts.
“Hey- no!”
Luther stared at the bottle for a moment before bringing it to his lips and beginning to drink. Admittedly, it took Klaus a full two seconds of open-mouthed shock to comprehend the scene in front of him, before he quickly whisked the drink from Luther’s hand.
“Luther! Buddy! We don’t turn to alcohol for our problems!”
Luther didn’t even bother glaring at him for that one, which was good, because Klaus was fiddling anxiously with the lip of the bottle already. Because last time he’d seen Luther drunk-
No.
Things were different now. Luther was different. Anyone with half a brain could see that Luther had changed. He cared, like he always had, but he was better at expressing it now. He took the time to listen. Had less of a tendency to go all Number One on them.
And Klaus…
Logically, Luther couldn’t hurt him. Not permanently at least. Klaus could handle it if he did. But still, Klaus kept the whisky in his hand carefully close to his body, away from Luther. A voice in his head, one that sounded awfully like Ben, pointed out that even if Klaus could handle it, didn’t mean others could.
“Hey,” he tried again. “Are you alright, Luther? Did I miss something? Did something happen?”
Thankfully, Luther didn’t reach for the bottle again, and it was an incredible show of self-restraint that prevented Klaus from taking his own swig, because Luther was being quiet and intense and it was making Klaus uneasy in a way that he wanted to drown out.
“I had a fight with Allison,” Luther said finally, slow and uncertain of his own words.
Klaus smiled with barely concealed relief, relaxing back against the bar. This he could handle. “Oh, she’s been doing that a lot recently, huh? I wouldn’t worry your pretty little head about it, Luth. What’s a little tiff between siblings?”
Luther’s eyes went back to the bottle of whiskey. Klaus tried again.
“Was it a lovers’ quarrel?”
Luther jolted. “What?”
Klaus waved a hand. “Oh come on, everyone knows about that weird incestuous thing you guys had going on.”
Luther was silent for so long that Klaus knew he’d crossed a line. “I… kissed her.”
A salacious smile. “Ooh?”
“She- she rumoured me to kiss her. To want her.”
Klaus’ smile dropped. The air was colder.
“It was my fault,” Luther said, swallowing thickly. “I- I shouldn’t have brought up Sloane-”
And at that moment, staring up at his brother, confused and ashamed and guilty, the world snapped into a jarring focus that he hadn’t allowed since Ben’s death.
“Jesus Christ, Luther,” Klaus breathed.
He placed down the bottle on the counter and reached for the words that Diego had never been able to articulate properly, that the first responders had never spoken, that Ben had somehow known all the same.
“Shit like that?” he said gently. “It’s never your fault, okay? That’s never on you. You didn’t force Allison to do anything. That was all her.”
Luther wouldn’t look at him. Wouldn’t meet his eyes.
“And Luther, what she did?” Klaus said, still softly, still firmly. “It’s fucking inexcusable.”
“What she did? She just-”
“Just nothing,” Klaus asserted. “Luther, she assaulted you.”
Luther shook his head. “No- Klaus, I kissed her. She pushed me off.”
“She still forced you. You didn’t have a choice.”
Weakly. “But- but I’m a guy.”
Klaus sighed. “This stuff can happen to anyone, Luther. Guys too.”
Luther was silent. Klaus braved placing a hand on his shoulder.
“I’m sorry about what I said before,” he offered genuinely. “I shouldn’t have joked about it. If I’d known-”
“Of course,” Luther interrupted. “I mean, how could you’ve-” He cut himself off.
Tentatively, Klaus wrapped his arms around his brother. Luther was much broader than they’d been as kids, but Klaus was definitely the one who could get closest to giving a proper hug. Some of the tension eased out of Luther, leaning back into him ever so slightly, and Klaus resolved quietly to do this more often.
The pleasant buzz he’d been enjoying before Luther came in was gone. Of course, reaching for the bottle again to revitalise it was tempting, but he had bigger priorities now.
“Is there anything I can do? What do you need, Luth?”
Luther’s shoulders were trembling under him, just. But he wasn’t crying. Number One never cried. Number One never showed weakness.
“I think I- just need to get away. From Allison. For a while.”
“Sure,” Klaus agreed. “Let’s go, Luth. I’ll drive.”
He could hear the smile in Luther’s voice. “You don’t have to come with me.”
“Are you kidding? Road trip, baby! Oh do I have some sights for you. You ever been to Kansas? They’ve got this huge ball of twine, right up your alley, big guy. Unless you had somewhere else you wanted to go, of course.”
“I’d like to see Sloane. But Klaus, you don’t have to come, really.”
Klaus shook a hand at him dismissively, finally releasing Luther from the hug so he could look him in the eyes. “A trip to the Sparrow Academy sounds great. And between you and me, Luth? I’m not too fond of Allison right now either.”
Luther’s smile was slightly less strained. “Can you even drive?”
Klaus patted him on the shoulder, and Luther allowed him to pull him up. “Only one way for you to find out, isn’t there, buddy?”
“So despite the fact that our two families are at war, you chose to seek sanctuary here?”
Klaus watched Luther and Sloane talk quietly, ignoring Ben’s heavy stare. A crow tilted its head at them, cawing loudly. Ben rolled his eyes.
“You grew up, same as we did. You’d know about the need to keep your family safe, wouldn’t you?”
Ben was quiet for a moment. “I thought I did. Until I walked two of my siblings into a slaughter. By your family.”
“The old man isn’t with us.”
“Someone has to pay.”
Klaus tutted, eyes lingering on the tender way Sloane cupped Luther’s cheek and the reverent smile Luther gave back. “The best way for me to keep my brother safe was to bring him into the home of those who tried to kill us earlier this week. Do you think that the best way to keep your family safe is to go to war right now?”
A pause.
“How do I know the oaf won’t hurt Sloane?”
Klaus scoffed. “Luther would fling himself butt-naked off the roof of the Academy if it would make Sloane happy.”
“And you?”
“We’re both here for sanctuary from our sister, aren’t we?”
A short silence. Klaus wondered if Ben also saw the sparkle in Sloane’s eyes as she laughed at something Luther said, effortlessly linking their hands together.
“As long as you behave, you have my word I won’t let your sister into our house. I’ll think on the rest of it.”
“Thank you.”
Ben inclined his head. “For our families.”
For our families, Klaus agreed. Anything.