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Klaus doesn't have a driver's license, and for very good reason, too. Too bad his siblings aren't too keen on listening to him still, though that definitely changes after the fact.
Fact being:
"Klaus, start the fucking car!" Diego shouts as he, Five, Luther, and Allison book it out of the warehouse, gunshots ringing behind them.
Klaus' eyes widen and he quickly turns the key, the car rumbling to life as the doors slam. Before all of his siblings even enter, Five is yelling at him to drive while pushing him into the driver's seat.
"Drive, fucking drive!"
"I can't! That's a horrible idea-" Klaus tries to get back out but Five digs his nails into his forearm and screams.
"We'll die, you imbecile! Press the gas!"
Klaus panics, the suddenness of all this taking its toll, and he moves the car into drive, slamming on the gas pedal.
The car peels down the abandoned road with a squeal, the gunshots still raining behind them, few nicking the bumper.
Klaus is breathing heavily, knuckles white and eyes wide as he stares at the road. He knows how to drive. He knows.
And it's okay for around thirty minutes, they've gained enough distance to breathe freely, but Klaus' breathing is still sporadic at best, and his hands tremble on the faux leather.
Klaus glances at the three huddled ghosts on the side of the road, wailing. It's a family, the dad is pierced with a pole through his chest, the mom's right side of her head is caved in, and the child seems to be broken in half, connected only by tendons and ligaments. They're all littered with glass.
Klaus shivers and darts his eyes back to the road.
"I-I can't do this. We need to pull over-"
"Do not even think about stopping this car, Klaus!" Five hisses, and Klaus slams his jaw shut with a click.
It's only seconds later a ghost manifests on the console with an ear-bursting shriek. Klaus flinches violently and his hands jerk on the wheel, swerving the car wildly on the, fortunately, desolate road.
A roar of noise.
"Holy shit!"
"Oh my god! I am never getting in a car with Klaus as driver—"
“Jesus fucking Christ! Watch the road, dumbass!"
"How the fuck did you do that!? You are literally only staring at the street-!"
Klaus slams a hand on the dash, breathing shallow and heart pounding as he freaks out.
"I told you I can't do this!" Klaus can hear the low whine in his throat as his eyes water and he tries to ignore the wailing man. "I can't fucking drive with all this! You don't understand-!"
Klaus' voice fails him then as a choked sob escapes him when another ghost pops into the middle of the road. He doesn't have any time to swerve around it, which evidently isn't needed as he goes right through it, but he flinches again so hard that he slams back into his seat.
"Pull over! Just- pull over. I'll drive." Five swears under his breath. And Klaus immediately parks the car, his whole body shaking as he steps out of the car.
Klaus stands by the passenger door for a moment before entering, leaning his head on the hood of the car and burying his hands in his hair. He sobs just once before he swallows it down and forces himself into the car.
Five begins driving steadily once Klaus has gotten situated, lips tilted down in what Klaus can only assume is disapproval.
Klaus curls his legs up onto the passenger seat, leaning his head on the window and squeezing his eyes shut. He presses his fingers into his eye sockets until he sees stars.
It's silent for all of five minutes.
"What the fuck was that." Five breaks it, glancing at Klaus and biting his tongue from saying more when he sees his brother's ashen face.
"I can't drive," Klaus whispers.
"You can drive, we all saw it." Five rolls his eyes with a scoff. "Why don't you tell me what I really wanna know."
Klaus' fingers bruise his forearms with their death grip as he stares at the apparitions outside the car.
"I see ghosts." Klaus says it like it's a new revelation. But he elaborates, because he'd rather not deal with Five's wrath at the current moment. "They don't- they don't follow the rules of the road. They'll appear in the middle of it, or, sometimes, they can pop into the car. And it's not too easy to pay attention to the road when I have someone wailing in my ear, or when I see I'm going to hit someone, who may or may not be dead. Cause it's hard to tell sometimes."
Klaus winces when the crying gets louder, pressing one of his hands to his left ear, closest to the console.
"There's- there's one in here?" Five asks, eyes glancing around for a quick moment. He doesn't know much about his brother's powers, but that was a lot of new information stacked into one.
Klaus nods, but he doesn't dare look to his left, "He's trying to blow out my eardrums."
"You think we're gonna-"
Luther's cut off by Diego, and Klaus misses the scathing glare his brother throws to the other.
"Make him visible."
"Not a good idea." Klaus croaks.
"It's alright. I know what's coming, so we'll be fine." Five reassures, but that's not really what Klaus means.
If Klaus has learned anything from this trip so far, it's that he's not going to be listened to.
His hands alight.
"HOLY FUCKING SHIT!" Diego swears, jumping back from the man, whose legs were inside his own.
Five flinches back rapidly, eyes widening as the endless shriek enters his ears. He stays steadily on the road besides the small jerk of his flinch.
"Oh my god! Oh my god!" Allison tries to scoot further away, staring at the man's completely flattened abdomen. Her skin is flushed and sickly pale, she has to look away and hold a hand to her mouth as her stomach stirs uncomfortably.
The man's gone as quick as he came, and Five has the realization that Klaus is still dealing with the deafening noise, and conversing and listening all the while.
"How... how long has he been there?"
"Since I swerved on the road." Klaus responds quietly, eyes zeroed in on the greenery outside that's slowly morphing into more of a cityscape. They're getting close to home.
"Fuck." Diego curses to himself and tightens his hand on the handle of the knife he had been fidgeting with.
It's not the shock of learning about Klaus' powers that's fucking Diego up the most; it's the fact that they're thirty-two years old and had lived together every day for sixteen of them, and he had never fucking thought to ask. And he never knew ghosts were like this. He could've known so long ago, and maybe helped Klaus, that's another regret to add to the list.
It's silent the rest of the way, no one really knowing what to say to break it, as that's usually Klaus doing that. But he doesn't seem to want to talk anytime soon.
Really, he looks like he wants to jump out the car door, and Five's not too sure he wouldn't so he checks the locks to make sure. It's fortunate they get to the Academy soon enough, though Klaus immediately disappears off to the bathroom.
None of them have found anything to say anyway.