#tua reader

His silhouette leaned against the doorway, arms crossed over his chest and legs crossed at the ankles. He always had a flair for the dramatic. Showing up when you least expected it, carrying on a conversation that had started without you. Most times it was a conversation where Klaus said something to upset him.

But this time, you knew what he was talking about.

It was a conversation you had been meaning to have.

With a heavy sigh, you pushed away from the counter, dusting your hands of the excess flour. You opened your mouth, but quickly shut it, rethinking your approach. Looking up at him, you found he was already staring back at you, his brown eyes somber yet curious.

“You’ve got a million reasons to hesitate,” you sang hesitantly. Holding his gaze, your voice turned wistful. “But darling, the future’s better than yesterday.”

The fan continued to whirr as, despite his better judgement, he waited. Ears straining, heart hoping to hear more.

“I wasted so much time on people that reminded of you,” you trailed off, shaking your head, and reaching behind to untie the apron straps from around your waist. “Gave you a million reasons to walk away.”

He whispered your name in reproach, his head turning away. He couldn’t let himself hope that someone like you would be interested in starting anything with something like him. You only knew half of it after all.

“I’ll build a house out of the mess and all the broken pieces…” your voice grew closer. When your circled to stand in front of him, his eyes hesitantly lifted to meet yours. He could see the hope clear upon your face, as a smile tugged at the corner of your mouth. “I’ll make up for all of your tears. I’ll give you the best years.”

Your hand reached for his, but he pulled his arms tighter across himself, fear trembling through him.

“I’ll give you the best years,” you promised as your fingers lifted to his face. Seeing your intention, Ben’s eyes squeezed shut, his face twisted in anticipation of the inevitable disappointment to follow. But instead, you continued to sing. “Past love, burned out like a cigarette, I promise, darling, you won’t regret the best years.”

With a controlled exhale, his body slowly relaxed.

If he was alive, he knew exactly what he would do. He would raise his eyes to yours and take your reaching hand into his. He would pull you close to feel your softness against him, to smell the vanilla and cinnamon in your hair.

And he would murmur his own promises: I wanna hold your hair when you drink too much and carry you home when you cannot stand up.

You would look up at him in surprise before clutching onto the front of his jacket and pulling him deeper into your kitchen. He would spin you across the linoleum floor as he sang, You did all these things for me when I was half a man for you, then lift you onto the counter. Plant his hands on either side of your legs and lean his forehead to rest against yours.

I wanna hold your hand while we’re growing up.

But it wasn’t real.

Eyelashes raised and he stared at you with the deepest sadness you had ever seen.

“I can’t,” he said. “You can’t live your life with a ghost.”

“You are no ghost to me, Ben Hargreeves,” you said with such a force of certainty, you had him second guessing his own reality.

When your fingers finally brushed his face, two dry pads on his cheek, he jerked back in surprise.

Wide-eyed and slightly panicked, his hand lifted to his face, covering the space you had touched.

He had felt that.

Felt you.

.Saturday Night is Karaoke Night!

Thank you for requesting, nonny! I hope you liked it. 💜

I had slipped into my room after a long, strenuous day of training, beginning to dress up in something more comfortable. As I finished up and had started making my way back to my bed, I hear a soft knock on my door. My feet padding softly on the wood flooring and cracking the door open to reveal Klaus. His eyes look red and watery, and he sort of fidgets while he waits for me to let him in.

"Klaus, what are you doing?" My voice is soft but questioning- not angry though, just worried. Klaus liked to visit late in the night quite a lot, for numerous reasons. He still surprised me and caught me off guard, though. "Come in."

He shifts through the door, allowing me to close it quietly behind him. I direct him to the bed, and he gingerly sits down, his legs hanging off the edge. He was acting awfully un-Klaus tonight. Sitting beside him, I wrap him in a big hug and allow him to cuddle closer to me. "Baby, what do you need?" I coo.

I can hear him mumbling into me, and I nudge him to remind him to speak louder(being loud was something he always excelled at, but sometimes- if he was sad- he'd get very, very, quiet). "Can you do my makeup?"

"Oh, Klaus- why didn't you just tell me?" He shrugs, "Here, I'll get the stuff out, why don't you wash up- clean your face a bit."

Klaus nods excitedly, a big, goofy smile gracing his face when I oblige to his request. He jumps off the bed, his footsteps out of the room being far too loud for the time of night that it was. But I laugh it off, being glad to see his sillier antics again.

While I wait for him to return, I rummage around my drawers for my makeup. We weren't allowed out for much else other than training or saving the world, and it wasn't like we had jobs or allowances either- and yet it was never too hard to acquire makeup. Perhaps, slightly illegal sometimes, but it worked.

Because of that, I didn't have much to play around with- except a few items for special occasions such as tonight. I knew Klaus loved dressing up, and the one time he tried on Grace's heels(not great after falling, but I could tell he was having fun in the moment). He always had the most exuberant style, so I knew when I was pulling out the glitters and shimmers, and the bright pink eye shadow- that Klaus, too, would love it.

I could imagine his face lighting up when I show him what was in store- I giggle at the thought, and Klaus(who finally came back from cleaning up) gave me the oddest look. One brow tilted down, and the other raised, the look asking me, 'what's so funny?'

"It's nothing, nothing." I wave it off, grabbing the makeup and piling it on to the bed. "Klaus, c'mon!" I cheered quietly.

He jumps on to the bed again, sitting in the middle, criss-cross applesauce style. I'm kneeling on the edge of the bed, sorting through the various goodies sprawled against the bed. I can see Klaus eyeing a gorgeous, golden liquid eyeshadow. "Can we do this one?" He nearly shouts this, picking and opening up the tube before I can even respond.

I erupt in giggles as he tries putting it on like lip gloss- "Klaus, it's for your eyes! I've got something similar we can try later, though."

"Fine, ruining all the fun, though," he pouts, but I can see a signature smile of his cracking through. "Can we do it like yours?"

"There's a lot less glitter involved- you sure?"

"With the glitter, then?"

"Of course, we can!" I can hear Klaus squeal in excitement as I begin sorting out what we'd need. I hop off the bed to grab a nearly forgotten handheld mirror from my drawers. I come back, crawling to the center of the mattress- kneeling, so I'm centered in front of him.

I had nearly finished up his eyes, the pretty pink on his lids, and golden sparkles on the ends and corners. I still had to line his eyes and apply mascara, though- which had been especially difficult. Klaus is a bit of a wild child, and somewhat restless. After the first half of the process, he was ready to get up and move around- leaving me to convince him to let me finish.

"Klaus, settle down- it's gonna get in your eye!" I explode into a roar of giggles, my hand shaking slightly along with my voice. I inspect his face, frowning as I find a tiny, black smudge on the outer corner of his eye. "I can try to wipe it off, but we might have to redo this part..."

Klaus picks up the mirror again, admiring the eye look so far, "No," he whines in protest.

"Really?" I smile, hopefully.

"I like it like this- it's special!"

"Mm, it is- it matches well with you."

"Calling me special?" He teases, and I can see his lips curl into a smirk.

"Very," I giggle, peppering kisses against his cheek and down his neck. He cuddles his face in the crook of my neck, reminding me we hadn't quite finished. "You're gonna mess it up before we're done, babe."

He lifts his face, "It sure feels done."

"No, not quite." I find a small, pink in tone, nude lipstick, and unscrew the top. "Just smile for me."

He does as asked, replying, "Is this good?" through closed teeth. Though it comes out more as "Isth thisth good?".

"I love when you smile like that- but a little less, okay? We can't have this getting on your teeth." He brings his lips closer together, presenting themself in a faint line. "Yeah, that's better."

I press the tip of the product to the middle of his top lip, pushing it softly across- being very careful around the corners- then repeating on the bottom. He breaks out into a grin again as I finish applying, which I give him a look that says 'still not done.' It makes little butterflies flitter about inside me, seeing Klaus appear so happy. I made a mental note to do this more often with him.

Picking up the second to last item, I spread it smoothly against his lips- they appear glossy with hints of gold when I pull away. Then the blush- which may have looked better with the more natural looks I sported- but would work just as delightful on Klaus. The container makes a small click as I pop the lid open, running my hands gently against the little brush inside. I picked it up, swirling it in the rectangular pan, and tap it against the container to allow the excess pigment to fall off.

His eyes look on to me with this sense of wonder, as I tenderly brush it along his cheeks. He picks up the mirror again, admiring the look. "Thank you, Y/n," he excitedly throws his arms around my neck. "I love it so much!"