nebulochaotic | (no subject)

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WHO: Allison and Klaus Hargreeves
WHAT: Finding Klaus trying trying to summon Ben
WHEN: Today
WHERE: Apartment 103
WARNINGS/NOTES: The Hargreeves come with their own warnings lbr. To be safe: Angst and probably mentions of crappy childhoods, substance abuse, etc.

Keeping herself busy hasn’t been all that difficult. Between sparring sessions with Five and Derek, working on her new business, keeping an eye on Klaus, and taking care of two dogs, Allison has managed to keep herself in motion as much as she can. It does nothing to her sleeping issues, and she still finds herself partaking on the occasional cigarette when the stress from not being home along with the constant reminder of her daughter being gone catches up to her, but...it’s not like there’s much else she can do about those, anyway.

Overall, though, she doesn’t hate this place. She hates not having Claire around, there will never be a day when she doesn’t. The rest, though? She finds herself not really minding this. She’s now used to sharing an apartment with two people, mainly because she feels like she lucked out with her roommates. It also helps that Klaus and Five are just a few doors down. She wishes that Vanya, Luther, Diego, and Ben could be there and enjoy this slice of normalcy that she and her brothers are experiencing, but she can only hope that one day they’ll show up.

For now, Allison does what she can to make up for all the time lost between her and her brothers. She has never been sister of the year, and the healing wound on her neck is a testament to that, but she’s trying. She wants to be a good sister, so aside from finding ways to spend time with her brothers, she has started dropping off snacks (along with coffee, in Five’s case) after going grocery shopping. After leaving a care package at Five’s and Prim’s apartment, she heads over to see Klaus. After knocking, though, and not getting an answer, Allison lets herself in with the key he had given her. She has ice cream for him, after all, and other perishables in her quest to also get him to eat something healthy, but just as she finishes putting things in the fridge she realizes that the apartment isn’t as empty as she had originally figured. She can suddenly hear Klaus muttering something, and she walks over to his room to check on him.

At the sight of him, though, she doesn’t know what to say. Allison remembers the way that he had summoned Ben at the theatre, when the world ended, and the way he had his hands in fists as they glowed. And that’s what he’s doing right now, but...there’s no ghosts around. At least none that she can see, and her brow furrows slightly in concern because she can guess who he’s trying to look for. For a moment she just waits along with him, silent, but when his shoulders slump, Allison finally ‘speaks,’ her voice quietly projecting in his head.

“Hey. Are you okay?”

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Klaus can't pinpoint what made him try and conjure Ben in the first place, but he's been sitting in the middle of his bed attempting to recall his brother for the past hour. In the trying, he's suddenly very aware of how new and strange his abilities are to him, even after thirty plus years of struggling to stifle them.

"Come on," he mutters between gritted teeth.

His hands glow and the effort it takes makes his heart race, his brow prickle in sweat. Channeling everything from the night at the Icarus, no matter how far he calls or reaches out into the spirit realm, nothing answers. He presses his fists into his mattress for a few seconds before he lets out a defeated sigh.

He's angled away from the door just enough he doesn't necessarily notice that it's Allison there, used to the way Radar might peer in and say hello or his newest roommate might skulk about. But her voice makes him jump, whole body giving a start that nearly sends him tumbling off the bed.

"Christ on a fucking cracker, I might be a ghost myself if you do that again," he wheezes dramatically as he sits up. He probably looks a mess, what with the dark circles under his eyes, tousled hair, shirtless. Or just another day ending in Y for one Klaus Hargreeves. "Fancy seeing you here."

Allison cringes when he startles, and the look on her face immediately shifts to something more apologetic. In her concern for him she had completely forgotten how much he could take him by surprise, and she mouths a silent sorry.

She doesn't step out of the room, though, or leave altogether. Hell, the sight of him makes her take a step closer, cautiously, as if testing how close he wants her. If he doesn't seem to mind it, she will walk over to him and sit right next to him, huddled together like when they were kids. If he shows any signs that he doesn't want that close proximity, though, she would understand and is ready to stay where she's standing.

"Sorry, I...brought over some food and let myself in when no one answered."

"Oh I won't bite too hard," he says, if only to diffuse the tension in the air, to throw on that easy sort of flippant guise. It's a suiting up, of sorts, even if he doesn't mean for it to be.

He shifts on the bed, dropping his feet to the floor instead of tucking them up under them, if only so that once she's sitting, they're all but shoulder to shoulder. "I was practicing my meditation. I should probably make some vague attempt at it if I'm supposed to be a great and almighty thought leader, after all."

The grin that works its way across his lips feels surface deep, and he avoids looking at his own hands, choosing instead to gaze out the window and the complex grounds. "But how kind of you to bring food. I'm just a waif of a thing, I might waste away were it not for the dutiful care of my dearest sister. Though we drowned ourselves in pizza and bread sticks and that really shitty powdery cheese last night and I think my heart might have just run screaming straight out of my chest at the horror. But a girl's gotta eat."

"Uh huh."

Klaus is good at bullshitting, and she knows that. His response doesn't surprise her at all, and for a moment she doesn't even interrupt him as he rambles about food, and pizza. She's listening to him, but while Klaus is busying himself staring outside, Allison is looking at him, taking in his expressions before she nudges him gently with her shoulder.

"So...did you find who you were looking for during your meditation?"

Not what. Who.

As much as he'd like to think he could fool her, redirect her attention to one of his frivolous little stories, he knows better. He's doing a piss poor job of hiding his unease as well, without the absolute mess of alcohol to wash it all away.

He sucks in a deep breath when she asks and he shrugs his shoulders, a little airy laugh spilling from his lips. He drops his eyes to his hands, fingers curling and uncurling.

"Mm. That's the thing. Spent the last hour knocking and no one answered. Except I don't exactly have a key to let myself in." He nudges her shoulder in return, faintly leaning into her.

The moment that Allison feels him leaning against her, she shifts her position just slightly so that she can wrap an arm over his shoulders, giving him a gentle squeeze. Everyone in their family has such different powers, that in some ways it creates a sort of disconnect in situations like these, where they are isolated from each other considering they can't exactly relate to what they're going through.

But, while Allison has no idea the weight of what he's dealing with, she empathizes. More than that, she wants him to know that while she may not get it, he's not alone, and she'll be here as much as he'll let her.

"I'm sorry." It's sincere, and while she knows that she has nothing to do with it, it's almost apologetic because she wishes like hell that she could help him with this. "I know this sucks and isn't helpful, but it's probably all just timing with the portals. You've seen how we all landed at different points, even if we're from the same time. Just because he's not here now, doesn't mean that he won't get here at some point."

"Yeah, yeah, all this time traveling portal bullshit's getting old."

After all, Five had something to that effect as well. That he didn't necessarily fail to bring his brother over with him, but more that it was just how this place worked. But the idea of Ben alone, wandering in an apocalypse captured in time while they're here playing happy little family sure does strike a chord sometimes.

He sighs, leaning into her a little more once her arm settles around his shoulders. "Just had to give it the old college try. Make some fucking effort so when that asshole does turn up I can force him to hang out with Ethel for a week and see what good that does him. Turnabout's fair play, you know, you sneaky bastard." Shrugging out of her hold, he flops backward onto the bed with a sigh. His room's an absolute mess, a chaotic jumble of clothes and overturned comforter, shoes kicked off to one side, like a man constantly running, even now. He reaches for her hand, though, despite all his drama. His other hand toys with the dog tags around his neck, the motion absent minded and soothing.

"When I died for Luther's drunk ass and hung out with daddy dearest, he said I hadn't even scratched the surface of my abilities. Impressive shit. Blue hands and some corporeal ghosts. I can introduce you to the old hag out front, but she isn't part squid, so it's a real buzzkill."

A sympathetic smile crosses her lips when he explains he just had to try, and Allison nods slightly as if to say she understands. And, god, does she understand that. If she had his powers she doesn’t doubt that she’d be doing the same thing. Hell, if she could Rumor someone to get her siblings and Claire back, she’d do it without a second thought.

When he lays down, Allison just shifts her position again so that she can face him better. The moment his hand reaches for hers, she immediately takes it, giving it a gentle squeeze.

She freezes, though, as he continues speaking. It’s almost as if a record scratches in her head, making it impossible to fully capture his words because she’s too focused on the first part. About when he died, and... what? Luther had tried to tell her about Klaus seeing Reginald, but Allison had been too busy ignoring him since she had been so upset about Vanya. She knows for damn sure that she’d remember if Luther would have mentioned Klaus dying, though.

“Whoa, hold up. When you what?”

Edited 2020-08-19 00:40 (UTC)

"Oh, right," Klaus murmurs, looking thoughtful. "I assume I died. Hit my head something terrible and when I opened my eyes, poof! I was being led around Heaven— or it was probably Hell all things considered— and got a really lovely shave from that terrible asshat we occasionally refer to as father."

He laces his fingers with hers, not unlike they might have when they were kids. How many times did he wake up with Allison curled up at the foot of the bed after one of his training sessions? How often did she stay by his side like this while he had nightmares and heard the walls whispering to him?

"I could barely get anyone to believe me when I told them I spoke to dad. What did you think I was going to do? Oh, by the way, I kicked the bucket at that shitty rave, but don't mind me, just leave me to rot on the dance floor. Go on to save the world without me." He drapes his free hand across his forehead.

This is easier than talking about Ben, anyway.

Feeling his fingers interlacing with hers manages to keep her grounded as the disbelief of what she’s hearing keeps her unable to do much more beyond staring, because she still can’t believe it. Klaus had died. He had died and seen their father. Initially she had just assumed that he had managed to summon him and that was how he talked to him, but there’s just no way she would have even thought he could die and come back to life .

Looking down at their hands together, she focuses on the fact that he’s here. That he’s obviously alive and well. The way her heart feels like it twists in her chest is similar to when she would hear that he had overdosed, how she would feel when she would fly over to see him even if it was just to speak with his doctors. How she would remind herself that he was okay, he was alive. That was all that mattered.

...wait, did that happen before? Allison always figured that he would be lucky and have nothing more than a scare before he got thrown into rehab again, but did he...

“I’m sorry,” she finally adds, turning back to him. “I wish I would have been there.”

At the rave, when he told them about the encounter. The statement is applicable to both. Would she have believed him? She wants to think that she would have.

“Has that happened before? Are you... Are you okay, or does it have any long term effect on you?”

Edited 2020-08-19 03:28 (UTC)

Klaus forgets that many of the things that seem every day to him might not be as ordinary for his siblings. After all, they've all led drastically different lives, and to think he could ever really understand their abilities in the context of their lives? Well. He'd be on the losing team every time.

"Oh don't be, please, it's actually morbidly entertaining. You know that creepy falling feeling you get every now and then when you're trying to sleep? It's like that. A little blink and ta-da you're back on your own two feet again."

He screws his face up when he considers whether situations like that have happened before, but he knows very well they have. The worry in Allison's voice, however, brings him pause. "I wake up perfectly fine," he chooses, finally sitting up again instead of opting for the melodramatic. "In fact, it can be quite cathartic sometimes, if you know what I mean," he wiggles his eyebrows to imply something else altogether.

Adjusting to a life of luxury after the apocalypse and everything that came before it is still a little jarring for Klaus. A lot has happened in the last year, after all, and this just adds to the pile. "I'm fine."

Well, she thinks, at least he's not riddled with something major after something like dying. And he doesn't seem to necessarily be saying that for her benefit. It doesn't change the fact that she necessarily likes it, because Klaus is still her brother and she's still protective of him, but the fact that he is okay helps.

"Okay," she 'says' with a sigh, giving him a look. In the back of her mind a sudden thought manages to worm its way in, wondering if he would go as far as trying that to see if he could find Ben that way, but she doesn't bring it up. The last thing she wants is to give him that idea, if he's not thinking about it, and if he is... Well. All the Hargreeves have their own way of doing things, consequences be damned, and if he already has that idea then she doubts she'd be able to change his mind about it.

"Did Dad at least tell you anything useful, or was it as hellish of a conversation as I can imagine?"

"He tried. I woke up too soon." In hindsight, he can't help but wonder if his father was going to actually warn him about Vanya, about what the apocalypse hurtling toward them looked like. But then again, the old man might have been trying to get one final jab in, hard to say.

"He made it very clear that I was a grave disappointment. But there was a barbershop down there in hell, I'm not kidding. You tell me how comfortable you'd be with dad holding a razor to your face while he reminisces about old times, bad grades, and his casual suicide. Really touching heart to heart."

But something in that moment struck a chord, triggered something in him whether he wants to admit it or not. He's still sober after meeting with his father, and there's something to be said for that. "So I thought I'd listen to the old bastard one more time and figure out what the hell it is I'm supposed to be good at. He's nowhere to be found, thank the holy heavens, but I had a quick peek. Things get a little quiet when you don't have someone watching you eat, shit and sleep every waking moment like you have for the past decade."

Allison just listens, trying to keep herself from reacting when he mentions Reginald saying he was a grave disappointment even if unconsciously her brow furrows into a frown. She can’t help it. She had always hated the way their father used his words to cut them at the knees, ready to ‘teach them a lesson’ with his words and how he could manage to make them feel two inches tall. Past a certain age, Allison would start biting back, being insolent, as Dad would call it, and apparently that hasn’t gone away in all the years she’s been gone from home.

“Leave it to him to pick such a weird ass place to meet.” Because apparently even in his afterlife appearance, he finds a way to have the upper hand as he held a razor to Klaus’ face.

She gives his hand a squeeze. “For what it’s worth... Not to say Reginald was right. I just never got a chance to say it, but you did great that night. You and Ben. We would have probably died before we could have even tried to get to Vanya, if you hadn’t been there and if you hadn’t used your powers. I hate how he tried to ‘prepare you’ for it,” she adds, the same look of disgust towards their father that she would get as a kid mirroring in her face, “but...you did great, Klaus. And you’re doing so good now, too.”

"Like I said, best shave I've ever had."

He laughs easily at himself, absently running a hand over his face. He shifts uncomfortably when she starts in about the night they left, as though the compliments make him uneasy even if he releases her hand with a flourish to gesture wildly in front of him, like his arms are the very tentacles that burst from Ben's chest. "Yeah, well, old Benarino did all the heavy lifting anyway. Did you know that little jerk had the audacity to punch me in the face? Fifteen years of listening to him whine and all I get is an astral punch."

He drops his hands back to his lap. "I miss that little shit." He finally says, rolling his eyes. "He's about as charming as a nagging, control-freak parent with a speak to the manager haircut, but this whole quiet and alone thing might be worse. If you ever tell him I said that, though, I will deny all claims and swear to the high heavens that you're just a madwoman whose brain was addled by the wonders of Time Travel, I'll have you know."

Allison doesn’t share the laughter, because she’s still irritated at Reginald for his shitty meeting spot. But, well, Allison still has a lot of unresolved issues with their father plus her protectiveness over Klaus, so it’s not a good combination.

Frowning slightly when he shifts the compliment to Ben, she swats lightly at his leg. “Oh yeah? Didn’t realize he could do that all on his own without you being the medium for it.”

She’s not trying to harp on him, but at the same time she wants him to know what he did was important. It hadn’t been just a fluke, and what he did mattered.

Her expression softens when he says that he misses Ben, though, and her lips quirk slightly in a small, sympathetic smile. As much as she misses Ben, it’s not like she has had the same experience that Klaus has had. She can’t imagine how it must be like to have him around for so long, and now he’s just gone.

“Your secret is safe with me, don’t worry. I still hope one of these days the portal will bring him back. That he and the rest are just fashionably late and making us wait.”

"They're being very rude, taking my job like that. I'm the one that's always very fashionable and very late, not any of the rest of you."

He huffs in mock offense but it fades as quickly as it comes, and he runs a hand back through his hair. Going silent for a few moments, he simply listens to the noises of the city outside. He has to come to terms with the fact that things will always be a little lonely, that they would be from the moment Dave died on the battlefield, to the day Ben somehow finds his way back to that obnoxious, bright light.

For years now he's engrossed himself in the fast-moving, break-neck world of wild parties, careless sex, loud music. He held on to the fringes of both worlds, neither of which he truly belonged, the real and the Academy. He toed the line between both, inelegantly and without apology. And he'll continue to do so, because that's just part of who he is now, even if the drive behind it has changed.

He releases a little breath and smiles finally, the warmth of it reaching his eyes. It's a genuine side that his other siblings don't see nearly as often, and yet his sisters seem to draw it out of him with ease. "I'm glad you're here, Al." He settles his head on her shoulder again, closing his eyes.

"They are, aren't they. I think that gives you the right to give them crap when they finally show up."

A small smile twists at her lips, but otherwise stays silent as he works through this. When it comes to their family, Allison has the tendency to sometimes bulldoze herself into a situation. As graceful as she can be with everything else, sometimes she's a bigger force than she intends to be when it comes to these things. And, while she wants so desperately to help him, she's trying to remind herself that he has to work through this on his own. She can't crowd him, because she doesn't want to spook him, or make him clam up.

So, instead, she just sits there. And she'll sit there and be there for him as long as he'll let her. That part, at least, won't ever change.

Resting her head against his, she smiles. Despite all the years they spent apart, Allison is thankful for the fact that this hasn't changed between them. "Me, too. And if you ever need me to sleep on your floor like when we were little, just so it won't be so quiet in here, just say the word. I think I can still fit myself somewhere in here."

"And let a world renown movie star and budding fashion designer sleep on a floor? Heavens, no. As you can see, Big Brother up there had the grace to give us beds fit for adults. A novel concept."

After a particular growth spurt, his feet always hung off the bed when he tried to sleep. And after couch and bed surfing much of his life, it's nice to have a bed that's his and fucking comfortable.

"I think I'm overdue for my afternoon nap, anyway. So if you're feeling dozy after I dumped all of my undead ghost angst on you, feel free to stay. And if you say I snore, I won't believe you." Klaus slowly peels himself from her shoulder and slides up onto the bed, a haphazard sort of grace to the way he maneuvers around her to flop on the far side of the bed. He wriggles around enough to get under the large, thick comforter, an old army blanket he bought from a second hand store tucked underneath. "Being this beautiful takes a lot of work, and a girl needs her beauty sleep."

Now if only he could find some way to stop the war from exploding behind his eyes every time he tried to close them, leaving nothing but the glare of bombs and fire and death written all across his dreams.

Allison breathes out a silent chuckle, rolling her eyes slightly as if saying so what? She'd sleep on the floor. Maybe after cleaning it a little bit, considering the state of her brother's room, but at least the sentiment is there.

"Fine, I won't tell you if you do snore, I'll just save it for blackmail later."

The thought is said with a playful, fake "innocent" look as she tosses a pillow at him before taking her shoes off. She'd say she's not tired, and that this is just to keep him company, but if he ends up falling asleep she will more than likely follow suit considering she has barely been getting three or four hours of sleep lately. Gotta love make up, and the fact that she knows how to hide those things pretty well.

The sight of the army blanket registers, but she doesn't say anything about it. She just curls up next to him how she used to when they were younger, thankful for the fact that this also hasn't changed.

"...I'm glad we don't have to squeeze ourselves in your old bed. This is most definitely an improvement."

"Oh you don't miss it?" The laugh that bubbles out of Klaus' chest at his sister's playful comments is spontaneous and deep. He rolls over, all flailing limbs, and all but squishes her into his arms, even daring to rub the stubble of his goatee against her temple, all playful and ridiculous.

"The sensation that simply breathing with send us tumbling off the bed? That our feet hung out of the blankets? The lack of absolute personal space? The creaky fucking floors when Mom crept around and didn't tell dad you had sneaked out of your rooms?"

He grins and gives her a tight squeeze and drops a silly, noisy kiss to her hair before he releases her, flopping back to his side. He readjusts the duvet, sending more of the blanket her way. "Though I'm still an unapologetic, obnoxious cover hog. Don't you worry."

If she could laugh properly, she would do so as he squishes her and rubs his stubble against her temple. As it is, Klaus will be able to at least feel her laughing even if it's not audible, with the way that her shoulders shake in that familiar fashion even if she pretends to make a face.

"God, no," she responds with a grin. She'll always be thankful for the fact that Mom always kept their secrets, that she turned a blind eye whenever she'd catch them out of bed. There will always be a part of her that will hold contempt for that old, creaky house, but despite all the shit they endured at least they had nice moments. Glimpses of light at the end of the tunnel that helped them hang on.

They're full grown now, and that old house is destroyed. Their father is dead. It's funny how that alone had been a liberation on its own, but even now she half expects Mom to peer her head in to remind them to be quiet, that their whispering is not exactly so quiet anymore.

Snatching her part of the blanket, she grins. "Well, I guess there's some reassurances in that some things stay the same. I'll try to not kick you off the bed."

Not that she'd kick him, necessarily, but considering the tight space before, moving wasn't exactly easy. Leaning over, she kisses his cheek before setting her head back on the pillow. "Now pipe down, before you start blaming me for missing your beauty sleep."

"If you manage to kick me off this bed then you will be demoted to the floor. I had a black eye for a week when you did that last time. Absolutely demolished my tween love life. Who could ever love a face so hideous!"

So much has happened between their father's death and this moment, yet Klaus can't help but feel more like himself now than he has most of his life. Maybe it's the freedom from the Academy, the confidence in his abilities, the fact that they're all back together? Maybe. But a tiny part of him revels in the moment now, because for the first time in his life, he doesn't feel absolutely terrified about the future. Sad, maybe, unsure, but not scared.

"Oh, fine, fine, don't be such a nag," he waves his hand at her, almost dismissively, even if his voice still catches with a laugh.

He rolls onto his side and nestles into the covers. It's a restless minute or two before Klaus finally goes still, the lines of his face softening as he drifts off into sleep.

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