I struggled with naming this SO much, you guys have no idea.
Anyways, enjoy some sibling bonding between Ben and Klaus (ft. a perfectly fine Diego)
Ben's favourite thing about being alive was reading all the books he had missed out on during the last decade.
To be fair, he did read some of them while he was a ghost. However, it was hard to get Klaus to cooperate and turn the pages for him — as he literally couldn't do it himself — so he'd consider his new books a win.
There were so many great authors, and the stories were endless. Unfortunately, Ben's time wasn't.
Although there wasn't really a need for the siblings to get jobs — their father happened to be the largest billioner out there — Ben had tried running some errands around the city, to make some pocket money.
He found himself spending all of it on books, and Klaus — being the voice of reason for once — told him to get to the library instead. Which he did, by the way, but nothing beat the joy of holding your own physical copy of Eleanor & Park.
But Ben also loved fantasy novels.
When they were little kids, he used to tell Vanya all about them. His favourite scenario was when Vanya had read said books too, and they talked about all these magical worlds together.
Ben missed being that person.
What he definitely didn't miss was cliffhangers in books.
He almost threw his most recent read out the window when it ended like that. It was such a beautiful story, with well-written characters and breathtaking scenery — Ben could see the mythical world right in front of him — but there was more to it, and it made Ben feel simply unfulfilled.
He had to tell someone.
"KLAUS!"
He didn't even think about it twice when he rushed out his room with his book in hand and entered the bathroom at the end of the hallway without even knocking.
Klaus, who was apparently having the best bubble bath of his life, didn't even flinch. He was buried by millions of bubbles, steam coming out of the bathtub's hot water, and blinding the mirrors in the room.
Ben knew Klaus had noticed him. That smug grin on his face fooled no one, regardless of how much he tried to avoid eye-contact.
"Do I have to run down the hallway again for you to notice me?"
At that, Klaus turned to Ben's direction slightly, faking a gasp. "Ben! I did not see you come in here, my dear brother. How may I be of-"
"Cut the crap, Klaus, this is serious," Ben said, ignoring his brother's jokes. "I finished The School for Good-"
"-and Evil, yeah, yeah, I've heard you say the title, like, ten million times," Klaus finished for him. "You almost had me convinced it's an emergency this time."
"It is an emergency!" Ben said. "You'll never guess what happened at the end."
Klaus turned to his side, resting his head on the bathtub's edge. "Unless Sophia and Cthulhu started dating, I'm not interest-"
"For starters it's Sophie and Agatha, not Sophia and Cthulhu," Ben interrupted him. "And second, they kinda did?"
Klaus coughed, eyes widened. "Wait, seriously?"
"Yeah, seriously!" Ben said. "Sophie was basically dying — long story — and Agatha just leaned in and kissed her? And then they disappeared out of thin air, and I don't know where, the book didn't say!"
Klaus somehow sat up, facing Ben. "Wait, wasn't there like, a prince that was into one of them?"
"Yeah, he-"
Klaus burst out laughing at this, much to Ben's annoyance. "He's stuck playing third wheel to a pair of lesbians! That's a low blow-"
"No, a low blow is that I have no idea what happens next in the book," Ben interrupted, but couldn't help but smile while speaking. "Let me read the ending to you-"
"Oh come on, you don't have to-"
Ben cleared his throat, trying to suppress his urge to laugh. "The kids gathered around Sophie, who-"
"Beeeeeeen-"
"-Sophie, who was-"
It all happened too fast; Klaus splashed a little more water than needed towards Ben, and Ben reacted a bit too late, resulting in the book being soaked wet.
Ben squealed.
"Oops."
"Klaus, you asshole, I borrowed that one!" Ben said, his heart shattered at the sight of the book's ink giving out.
"Oh come on, the library loves you, I'm sure they won't mind-"
"From Five."
"Fuck."
Mutual panic was shared between them, Ben blowing on the book's pages and Klaus almost tripping while getting out of the tub to find some towels. Ben pretty much snatched them out of his hands, wrapping the book in them.
Both of them sighed in relief, sitting down on the soapy floor.
"That was a close one," Ben said out of breath. "I mean, the book is still ruined and I still went through the biggest panic attack of my life, but at least-"
"Wait a second," Klaus stopped him. "Five reads fantasy novels?"
Ben had never even thought about it.
"First of all, rude," Ben said, "and second, holy shit?"
"How did you not notice?" Klaus gestured in confusion. "If Five ever handed me something that's not an empty cup of coffee or an old scarf, I would have flipped."
"A scarf?" Ben asked. "Five wears scarves?"
"Holy shit!" Klaus exclaimed, grinning from ear to ear. "I guess we really don't know Five!"
"Okay, what the hell is going-"
The two brothers turned towards the door as it opened, revealing Diego in his nightwear, who screamed as soon as he laid eyes on them.
"WHAT THE HELL, WHY ARE YOU NAKED, WHAT-"
Diego shut the door closed. Ben had never seen him look so terrified.
"Relax, Diego," Klaus silenced Diego's screams. "Ben was just telling me about his new book."
"Five's book," Ben corrected. "Which Klaus absolutely destroyed, by the way."
"In my defense, I couldn't see how much water was underneath these bubbles."
They heard a pound on the door, and Ben was almost certain it was Diego banging his head against it. "How do you not see anything wrong with this," Diego half-whimpered. "What is wrong with this family?"
"When Ben here was dead, and I was out of juice-"
"Just say drugs, you don't want to make Diego cry even more-"
"-and I was out of juice," Klaus repeated himself, making Ben shake his head, "Ben would talk to me while I was in the shower to distract me from the bad boos!"
"In my defense, he spends like, four hours soaking in water, and there's not much to do while you're a ghost. I was so bored, you can't even imag-" Ben stopped himself, backtracking in the conversation. "Did you just say bad boos? Please never say bad boos again-"
"Anyway, things got out of hand, I went out of the tub to find towels, and alas, we saved the fantasy novel! Woo!"
"Yeah, barely," Ben added. "How am I going to tell Five-"
"Five reads fantasy novels?" Diego asked through the door.
"That's what I said!" Klaus clapped his hands in joy.
"Whatever, just-" Diego sighed. "Put on some clothes and go to bed, it's late."
"You got it," Ben said, getting up.
Klaus reached for the towel in Ben's arms, and Ben pulled away before he managed to touch it.
Klaus tilted his head in confusion, a fake smile on his face. "Ben. I need this to leave the bathroom?"
Ben shook his head. "No way, I want to make sure all the water is soaked out of the book."
Klaus stood up too, opening his arms. "Ben. I need this towel."
"You brought this on yourself Klaus," Ben took a step back as Klaus approached him. "No way, you are not hugging me in the nude."
"Beeeeeen~" Klaus teased, stepping closer.
In an attempt to get further away, Ben slipped on the soapy floor, falling back and into the bathtub, that was still filled with water.
Needless to say, it splashed everywhere.
Ben coughed, grimacing as he spit the soap out his mouth. "Klaus, I'm going to end-"
But it was too late. Klaus had taken ahold of the towel and wrapped it around his waist, heading for the door. "Have fun cleaning up, Benny!"
And just like that, Klaus disappeared. At least he had left the book on top of the radiator, safe from all the water. Well, the remaining water, that was.
Ben leaned back, hating the feeling of water on his clothes more than anything.
Maybe reading books wasn't Ben's favourite thing about being alive; planning his revenge on Klaus was. But first, he had a mess to clean up, and a sequel to borrow.
The distant sound of Pogo scolding Klaus for all the yelling only satisfied that need.