Work Text:
Bored.
That’s what he was feeling after waiting for his dealer for what had to be over an hour by now (It had only been thirty minutes).
Bored and impatient.
“Ugh this is useless!” He cried dramatically as he spun around to face one of New York many dark and dingy allies.
Klaus didn’t usually give up on waiting for his dealers, especially when the ghost started to weigh on the touchy side. But after an hour of waiting past their agreed meet up time, he was bored stiff and decided to see if any of his other dealers were in the area.
Ben gave him a disapproving look. Klaus though it looked a lot like a look a middle aged woman would would give her teenage daughter with nipple piercings.
“What?” Klaus asked with a hand on his hip and a roll of his eyes. Honestly he was kind of fed up with Ben and his holier than thou jugyness.
~~
Klaus Hargreeves is definitely not someone capable of taking care of himself. Much less another living thing, yet here he is. In New York. In an alley. With a baby in his arms
Yeah. They were fucked.
Klaus was just waiting for his dealer when he (Ben) noticed a strange noise coming from the alleyway behind them. Now normally one should avoid strange noises in an alley at night, however this strange noise sounded an awful lot like crying.
After a bit of searching they found a box with a baby inside, wrapped in what used to be a light yellow colored bundle. Klaus had no idea what to do and was silently panicking, staring at the small (but mighty in lung capacity) thing inside of a filthy dumpster. Ben, the rationale in this situation, was somehow able to break him out of his panic and convince Klaus to pick the baby up.
They were so small and fragile in Klaus’s hands; he felt as though he might drop them and break them like everyone says he always inevitably does. Klaus’s arms shook with panic, cold, and withdrawal as the baby snuggled closer to him for warmth.He shakes a little less, but fears of dropping them a little more.
But instead, the body quiets and the alley falls silent (or as silent as New York can be) except for the baby’s soft snuffles every now and then as it falls to sleep. Klaus releases a breath he didn’t realize he was holding as Ben tells him that he needs to get the baby and himself out of the cold.
So instead of using the money he… earned for drugs, Klaus buys a nights stay at a motel for the baby, Ben, and himself.
And despite the many ghost screaming for help that night, Klaus (with a lot of Ben’s help) was able to make it through the night and focus on the tiny bundle next to him.
Klaus Hargreeves watched with pure wonder as his kid hopped around their apartments living room singing some nursery rhyme he learned from some other kid at the park. Mattie was three now and Klaus had been completely sober for two years.
The first year of Mattie’s life, Klaus had had a couple of relapses, but nothing he and Ben couldn’t solve together. It got easier once he remembered who he was doing this for.
When Klaus found Mattie in that alley, his (Ben’s) initial plan was to take the baby to the police, but now he couldn’t imagine giving his boy to someone else. His baby. Klaus was ripped from his thoughts as he heard Mattie ask to play with his Uncle Ben.
That was another thing he and Ben had figured out together. Klaus happily made Ben corporal and smiled as Mattie and Ben giggled about something the kid had whispered in his ghost uncle’s ear.
Overall Klaus had gotten better with his abilities. Sure the ghost still screamed and begged, but his kid and Ben being able to talk and form a relationship was more important to him. Ben was the only other family Mattie had, see as Klaus had put off telling his siblings about his life for the past three years. Occasionally he would see Diego around town or get a call from Vanya asking if he was okay, but overall his sibling’s influence in their lives was next to zero.
An really Klaus didn’t feel that they needed to know. If they wanted to know where he lived they could call, and so far the only ones who did were Vanya and Diego and Klaus was plenty fine with that. Having Ben and Mattie in his life was more than enough for Klaus.
So, Klaus joined his two favorite people in the world (even if one was a ghost) in the living room. They spent the rest of their lazy Sunday afternoon playing and watching tv together.As the Sun fell from the sky and the Moon rose in the dark, Klaus and Mattie fell asleep watching tv on the couch, and if Klaus complained about a sore back tomorrow there would be no one to blame but himself.
/
Ben watched as his brother slipped into unconsciousness beside his nephew. The tv continued to play in the background as the two slept and Ben watched in with rapt attention as the reporter covered the passing of one Sir Reginald Hargreeves.