#appen

     “Oh, I was just getting-uh, some water. I’m going back to bed now,” Klaus jerked a thumb behind him. The man at the end of the hallway staggered forwards. Why was he limping? “Whoa, dad. Are you okay?” he took a step forward, squinting in the darkness. The outline of the man’s bald head was illuminated by a streetlamp through the hall window. That’s not dad. Klaus staggered backwards in horror. 

     “The car,” The man croaked. “It hit me, just outside.”

     Without thinking, Klaus ran into Vanya’s room, twisted the lid off the container and dumped its contents into his mouth. He swallowed the pills. He dropped to the ground, squeezing his eyes shut and pulling his knees to his chest, hands tightly clamped over his ears. He waited for the drugs to kick in, breathing heavy. He rocked back and forth. I took Vanya’s meds. I took Vanya’s meds. I took Vanya’s meds. She needs those. What if she has a panic attack? It’s your fault. Dad’s gonna flip. He’s going lock you in that mausoleum as punishment. He’s going to take away all your drugs. It’s all your fault. He gasped for air. He couldn’t breathe. He opened his eyes, staring into the empty hallway. His brain felt foggy, a familiar numbness that would have been calming in any other situation. He tried desperately to catch his breath, dragging his nails down his neck in an attempt to ground himself. 

     “Klaus?” Vanya said groggily. She snapped awake as soon as she saw the state he was in. She dropped to her knees beside her brother, who turned to face her with wide eyes. She held his shoulders to stop his rocking. “Breathe, breathe. Just relax, calm down. What’s wrong?” Klaus shook his head, closing his eyes tight.

     “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” he whispered over and over.

     “Look at me.” Vanya spoke over him. “Are you safe? Did you take something?” Klaus sobbed, pointing at the bottle he had dropped on the floor. Vanya breathed a sigh of relief. At least she knew it wasn’t dangerous. “It’s okay, you’re alright.” She could see he was still panicking. She pulled him into a hug. “Klaus, it’s alright. I can cope without them for 2 days. I’m not going to tell dad.” 

     “You’re not?” He whimpered.

     “Of course not.” She spoke in her most soothing voice. “I’ll be okay. And you’ll be okay. There were only two pills left, that’s not too high a dose.” He nodded, knowing she couldn’t see him. She slowly pulled away to look him in the eyes. “We’re both going to be okay.” She smiled. “Okay?” Klaus nodded again, the tears still falling. Vanya got to her feet and held out a hand. “C’mon. Let’s get you back to bed.” Klaus took it, pulling himself up. He felt groggier, like his head was full of cotton. It was pretty mild compared to his usual stuff. Vanya kept a hold on his hand as she led him back to his bedroom. She finally let go when he sat on the edge of his bed. 

     “Should I go, or...?” Vanya seemed back to her usual self. It hurt Klaus to see her like that, so unsure. She was so good with speaking a minute ago.

     “Yeah, yeah. I’ll be fine.” He lied through his teeth as he wiped away his tears. He had finally stopped crying. Vanya paused.

     “Listen, I know you’re not fine and- well, I don’t want to push anything, and if you really want me to leave I will, but I don’t mind staying. If you want me to, I will.” She looked Klaus in the eyes. She had stopped looking people in the eyes long ago. Klaus looked down at his hands. He really did want her to stay, just until he fell asleep. He knew that no one would be here-he took those pills for a reason- but he still felt bad waking her up, stealing her medicine, and then making her stay up afterwards. He sighed.

     “I’m sorry.” He slowly met her gaze.

     “I already told you it’s okay. You have an addiction. It’s an illness, I can’t blame you.” She shrugged.

     “I-yeah, I suppose so.” he said softly. “Could you stay?” He blurted it out before he could think. “Please?” He added quietly.

     “Of course.” Vanya sat down beside him. Klaus shifted himself closer to the wall and draped his blanket over his legs.

     “Just until I fall asleep.”

     “I’ll stay here all night if you want me to.”

     “I couldn’t ask you to do that.”

     “Why not? Sleeping here is no different than sleeping a few doors down.”

     “I don’t want to wake you up.” 

     Vanya smiled sympathetically at him.

     “You do. I know you have nightmares. I think we all do. I can hear you talking in your sleep from my room.”

     “Oh.” Klaus avoided her eyes. He didn’t know that she could hear him. Though, he supposed that was a bit naive; he could hear his siblings’ yelps whenever he stayed up on a drug trip. He’d just figured they had learned to ignore it by now. He thought they slept through it.

     “Go to sleep.” Vanya’s words brought him out of his thoughts. She tossed his blanket over him. He giggled. He pulled it off, revealing her grinning face. God, he hadn’t seen that grin in a while. Klaus hit her with his pillow. “Ow!” she hissed, laughing as hard as he was. “Shhh, we don’t want to wake Dad!”

     “You’re the one shrieking like a little girl.” Klaus smirked. Vanya narrowed her eyes. She grabbed the blanket, pouncing on him. She covered him in it and grabbed the pillow, using it to beat him mercilessly. “Hey! Stop it!” He cried. He struggled to free himself from the blanket, but Vanya was pinning it down with her knee. “What happened to ‘don’t wake up dad?’”

    “You started it.” Vanya dropped the pillow, sitting back and brushing her hair out of her face. Klaus finally got the blanket off himself. They burst into laughter as soon as they made eye contact.

     “Well how do you expect me to fall asleep now?”

     “Just...lie down.” He complied and she pulled the blanket over him. 

     “Well if you’re staying all night you’d better lie down too. Do you want your own blanket?”

     “Sure.”

     “There should be one by the foot of the bed.” He pointed to the floor. Vanya pushed herself off the bed and sure enough, there was another blanket crumpled on the floor. She grabbed it and sat back down, pulling it over herself. “Lie down” Klaus whined, drawing out the last syllable. Vanya rolled her eyes as she shifted herself down, propping herself up on one elbow.

     “Happy? Now go to sleep.”

     “Tell me a story?” Klaus smiled, looking up at her with puppy-dog eyes.

     “Once upon a time there was a boy named Klaus who was dumb and made his sister stay up too late because he was being a dummy. He wouldn’t stop talking so she smothered him with a pillow. Finally, he rested. The end.”

     “Aw that was such a sweet tale. If I ever have kids, I’ll tell it to them every night.”

     “You’d better.” Vanya laughed.

     “I will. My husband will be so confused.” Husband. Vanya could hear her heart pounding out of her chest, her face blushing. He was gay. She knew he was gay. Everyone did. But he just brought it up so casually. How? She could never admit it that easily. She had never told anyone that she was...

     “Or wife, I suppose. I don’t know. Who knows.” He looked up at the ceiling, gesturing as he spoke. “I just find it so hard to choose. Because there’s guys. And have you seen guys? But there’s also girls. And it’s like... I’m supposed to pick one? You know what I mean?” He turned his head to look at her. 

     “Uh, yeah, I do. Yeah, I’m- I’m bi.”

     “Me too! Or pan. I’m just whatever.” Klaus beamed. Vanya smiled, somehow feeling relieved. She knew Klaus wouldn’t care, but coming out was so terrifying. 

     “Didn’t expect this little coming out party.” Klaus chuckled. He closed his eyes. His eyes flew open and he rolled onto his side. Vanya jumped. “Who was your first gay crush?” She could feel her face heating up again. 

     “Who was your first gay crush?” She deflected.

     “Casey Jones.” Klaus sighed dreamily. Vanya laughed.

      “Of course it was.”

     “And you?”

     “....Daphne.”

     “From Scooby-Doo!?” He gasped. “I love that. She’s amazing.” Vanya nodded. It was odd to talk about it. She was so used to ignoring it.

     “As much as I love this, we really do need to get some sleep.”

     “Boooo.” Klaus pouted. Vanya gave him a look. “Alright, alright. But you have to tell me about all of your crushes tomorrow.”

     “Only if you tell me yours.”

     “Gladly.” 

     Vanys rolled her eyes. She laid back, fixing the blanket about herself. Klaus curled up into a ball, pulling the blanket tight around himself.

     “Goodnight,” she said softly.

     “Night night.” He replied.