CHILDREN / BEHAVE

Dave: *chokes on his drink*

    Klaus wasn’t awfully clued up on the goings on in the world, he rarely read a newspaper or watched the news but he had camped out in libraries and there was very little to do in a library than reading. He vaguely remembers reading something about the Starks when the Avengers first appeared on the scene; Tony, the boy genius, parents dying in a horrific car accident leaving him with a massive fortune and a massive company. He remembered being a kid and having similar profile-esque articles in teen magazines. He also remembered being unanimously voted for the sibling who spent the longest in the bathroom in the mornings and before missions.       He looked at Ben again, for reassurance. What was he supposed to do? None of them had ever met or even heard about their birth parents. He supposed Reggie didn’t bother to get to know any of them personally but of course, Grace knew and when they each asked where they were born she was happy to let them know. It was nice to feel like he had more of identity rather than being ‘Number Four’.  Ben shrugged in a ‘what’s the worst that could happen’ kind of way. Klaus set his glass down and moved a little closer to Tony, sticking out his ‘Hello’ tattooed palm with a half-smile and said “I’m Klaus. It’s nice to meet you.” because it felt polite to introduce himself. 

Klaus sighed sadly.     There was always a big part of him that wasn’t even sure if he WANTED to kill himself, he would make an exquisite corpse, but he’d miss things. He just needed that relief from the ghosts that screamed out and demanded his attention, he needed to be numbed from the reality that none of his siblings took him seriously. He’d be out in 72 hours and back on the sauce and not much would change, he suspected. He’d probably be back within a fortnight.      When Diego took his hand, he sighed again - shaky this time- and his fingers curled firmly around it. He was a very tactile person, because of the ghosts, it was nice to touch something that was real -- especially in moments like this when he was coming down from a high that almost killed him and didn’t completely have a firm grip on reality yet.  His eyes fluttered, he didn’t have the energy to speak but he wanted to tell Diego not to leave. He wanted to make him promise but his whole body ached. It took him only seven minutes to drift into slumber and he stayed there undisturbed for one hour and twelve minutes exactly. It was around the thirteenth minute that he started to stir; his knees curled up closer his chest, he let out soft whimpers and the machine monitoring his heart rate made it obvious that his heartbeat was slowly growing more and more rapid.

Klaus felt hideous. Physically and emotionally.    He wasn’t out to make Diego feel bad but he wanted honesty and at this point, there was no POINT in lying. He normally did; he was good at faking a smile and pretending like he was okay, but he’d been doing it for as long as he could remember. For as long as he’d been old enough to get his hands on drugs and alcohol he’d been acting like it was ENOUGH.     When Diego sat beside the bed, Klaus’ head lulled the other way so he wouldn’t have to look at him. Diego had always been there when he needed him, he probably put the most effort into him of all his siblings and Klaus appreciated that.  But the question he put before him was one he couldn’t answer.        “When I take JUST the right amount it’s beautiful,” he answered, the sentence causing strain on his throat, he had to pause and swallow. “the ghosts stop screaming and they fade away and---” He swallowed again, “I don’t feel anything and it’s nice.”  He dropped the hand closest to Diego and moved it to the edge of the bed, stretching his fingers slightly as if he were silently hinting for Diego to hold his hand because he just needed SOMETHING real. Pretty soon the withdrawals would kick in and everything would get dark again.

‘We can help you’    That made him chuckle as he brought a hand up to his cheek to wipe a tear from his eye. Last he checked, none of his siblings took him seriously. They didn’t NOTICE him, and that was probably his own doing.  He didn’t WANT to be helped so they’d given up and they were in too deep to go back on that.   Klaus avoided eye contact but he could see Diego in his peripheral vision -- he couldn’t bring himself to face the disappointment in his eyes. He became very aware suddenly of how dry his mouth was, he tried to speak but his throat hurt, and his stomach protested at the procedure it’d just endured but still he forced himself to muster a “Yes.” in response and that was all he was going to give because Diego wouldn’t understand.       None of them would ever understand.