In a Tree

A/N: Set a couple of weeks after Turnabout Succession. German translations at the end.

A Saturday morning in May, 2026

Klavier Gavin stood at the window of his apartment, drinking a cup of cool water (lubricate the vocal cords and you sing so much better). His gaze was fixed on a large, sturdy tree across the road. It had a thick trunk, covered in leaves and low but sturdy branches that intertwined with other branches as they grew up towards the sun. It was the perfect climbing tree. Almost like the first tree he ever climbed 19 years ago.

*Flashback*

A Saturday morning in May, 2007

Klavier Gavin, aged 5, had woken up early to the sunlight streaming through his bedroom. He never slept in on Saturdays – he was too full of energy. Usually, he'd run into his parents' room and wake them up but the last time he did that, Vati hadn't been happy when Klavier had jumped on his stomach. Accidentally of course, but Klavier could still feel the death glare from his father's eyes bore into his soul when he closed his eyes. Not this morning. He would pick on the only other member of the family - his older brother.

'Kristoph, Kristoph, Kristoph, Kristoph, Kristoph!' Klavier didn't yell, but he spoke loudly as he ran into his 14-year-old brother's relatively dark room and jumped on the end of his bed. Kristoph who had been sleeping on his side peacefully, simply groaned and rolled over onto his tummy with his head in his pillow. That didn't stop Klavier (nothing did, really). He opened Kristoph's curtain, flooding the room with light. Kristoph wrapped the pillow around his head to block it out. Klavier then grabbed Kristoph's glasses and, putting them on, paraded around Kristoph's room saying loudly, 'Hi, I'm Kristoph Gavin. I wear glasses and have long hair that I like to flick to look cool. But really, I'm boring and I love my cute, not boring little brother Klavier.' He giggled wildly as Kristoph exclaimed in protest, but before Kristoph could take his glasses off his little brother, Klavier had run into their parents' room repeating his little imitation, 'Hi, I'm Kristoph Gavin…'

Kristoph turned over in his bed, so that he faced the ceiling. His eyes still closed due to the light, he had a smile on his face as he laughed gently at Klavier's imitation of him. Klavier was pretty cute, but Kristoph would never tell him that. Kristoph opened his eyes to see Klavier run back into his room, running around with his glasses still on. Kristoph hopped off the bed and, after chasing Klavier for a little bit, pick him up and retrieved his glasses from his squirming, loud little brother before setting him back down.

'Kris-toph!' A little frown formed on the little face and Kristoph had to suppress a laugh.

'Klav, they're my glasses. When you're as big as I am, you can get your own.' Kristoph fixed them on his face.

'But why would I need to when I can just wear yours?' He pouted. He may have been 5 but he could argue with his older brother just as well as anyone.

Kristoph sighed, 'Because, kleine Bruder, they are mine. And I will always wear them, so you can't wear them.' Klavier huffed but Kristoph didn't pay any attention. He was too busy brushing his flaxen, shoulder-length hair and fixing it into a twist.

'Kris… why do you fix your hair like that? You look like a girl.' Klavier didn't understand these things, Kristoph told himself and sighed again.

'Ok, Klavier, go away now.' He almost said it in a sing-song voice but it wasn't a menacing or annoyed tone of voice that he spoke with. It was calm, as if he was telling Klavier what he had learnt at school the previous day. Klavier narrowed his eyes – he knew better than to argue with his Großer Bruder. He huffed again and walked out to the kitchen to join their parents – he had spent some of his boundless energy and was hungry.

Klavier can be such a drama queen, Kristoph thought to himself as he finished his hair. Immaculate as always. Satisfied with his appearance, he joined his parents and Klavier in the kitchen.

The Gavin's house was modest but had both a backyard and a front yard. In both yards were gardens and trees but the best tree in Kristoph's opinion was the one in the front yard. It was about as tall as a two storey house. It was beautiful in autumn, gathered a pretty amount of snow in winter and was the perfect climbing tree in spring and summer. The base was thick and about a metre tall at which point, the tree split into various thick, weight-bearing branches that started low and steadily grew higher and higher, eventually overlapping with each other. The point where the branches diverged from the trunk created a nice sort of seat and a good starting point to climb the tree. Today was a particular nice day for climbing trees and so Kristoph, having finished breakfast and changed out of his pyjamas, walked out into the sun heading straight for the tree. He had reached the base and was about to lift his leg up to the branch when he heard,

'Kristoph, Kristoph, Kristoph, can I climb the tree with you too? Please?' Klavier practically shouted to the whole neighbourhood and Kristoph felt slightly embarrassed. He was 14, too old, really, to be climbing trees. He had hoped to be relatively inconspicuous to the rest of the neighbourhood until Klavier decided to announce to the world his plans for the morning. Kristoph rolled his eyes.

'Klav, have you ever climbed a tree?' Klavier obviously hadn't remembered this crucial fact, but the shrug of his shoulders told Kristoph that he didn't think it was a necessary fact, 'Nein, kleine Bruder? Well that is a problem…' Kristoph paused, feigning thoughtfulness.

'Oh, bitte, Kristoph, bitte! Can you show me how to climb a tree, bitte?' Klavier pulled the puppy dog eyes. This child knows exactly what works on me, Kristoph thought, frustrated. He could never refuse Klavier when he pulled the puppy dog eyes, and Klavier was well aware, using it to his every advantage.

'Ach, fine, Klav,' Kristoph picked up his little brother, who shouted with joy, and stood him in the little seat spot between the top of the thick trunk and the base of the sturdy branches. Klavier stared upwards, transfixed by the network of thick and thin branches and the sun streaming through the leaves. He grabbed a small branch and tried to pull himself up to place his foot on a thick branch that was waist height on him, which caused the small branch to snap. Klavier looked at Kristoph with a mix of 'oh-dear-what-have-I-signed-up-for' and 'is-this-supposed-to-happen' on his face. Kristoph laughed,

'Nein, nein, kleiner Bruder. Place your foot there.' He pointed to a thick branch that was knee height on Klavier, which Klavier did, 'Ja, now place the other foot there,' He pointed to a slightly higher branch beside the one that Klavier's foot now rested on, 'Wunderbar. Now put your hands on the branch up there and… there, Klav. You've started climbing your first tree. Do you think you can keep going?'

'Ja, Kris.' And with that, Klavier kept climbing and climbing until he was about ¾ of the way up the tree before he stopped. Kristoph had watched him climb, quite fast to Kristoph's surprise, and saw the reason Klavier had stopped.

He was stuck. Not as in physically stuck between branches. There were just no more branches to climb that could hold Klavier. He looked at the thick branch that his feet were on – it was nice and flat here so he sat down on it, in no danger of accidentally falling now. He looked around and saw that he couldn't go up, but when Klavier looked down at his brother… it was a long way down. Klavier didn't mind heights, but from up here the branches just looked like criss-cross bunch of sticks that he didn't know how to navigate safely back down to his brother and solid ground.

'Uh…uh… Kristoph?' Klavier's voice had a hint of anxiety through it as he spoke, 'Kann ich bitte etwas Hilfe?' Kristoph knew Klavier was really worried now – he only slipped into fluent German when he got really emotional, like now.

'Of course, Klavier. I'll go get Mama and Vati and then be right back, ja?' Klavier nodded tentatively and watched his brother jog into the house to tell their parents. He was starting to wonder how long his big brother would take when he saw him jog back to the tree and wave at Klavier. Klavier waved back as Kristoph smiled and started to climb up as well. He was almost double Klavier's height and definitely heavier than him, but Klavier just watched in fascination and admiration at how nimbly his brother climbed the tree. Soon enough, he was sitting almost level with Klavier, comfortable nestled in a fork of another branch.

'So, what are Mama and Vati going to do?' Klavier watched his brother flick some hair out of his face and fix his glasses on his face. He may have climbed a tree, but Klavier had to admire how calm, cool and collected his brother was.

'Well, at first, they laughed,' Klavier pouted, he hated being laughed at, 'but then Vati told me to wait with you, while he got the ladder. So here I am.' That made Klavier feel better, 'So, Klav, what shall we do while we wait?'

'Ach, I know! Let's play I-spy!' Kristoph smiled and obliged. Klavier giggled, 'Achtung, Großer Bruder, you should watch out as I am the best at this game.' He smiled confidently, almost arrogantly, Kristoph noticed. I wonder who else he'll charm with that confidence and that smile when he's older, thought Kristoph but then he shook his head. Klavier growing up was a weird thought for now, so Kristoph started off the game.

'I spy with my little eye, something starting… with b.'

'Ah… bee!'

'Nein.'

'Butterfly!'

'Nein.'

'Bird?'

'Nein.' Klavier gave some more thought before answering,

'Bus!'

'Klavier, do you even see a bus around here?' Ignoring his brother's pout, he asked, 'What are we sitting on in the tree?'

'Oh, branches! See? I told you I'm the best at this game.' He smiled with that confident, almost arrogant smile again. Kristoph just rolled his eyes, 'Ok, now it's my turn, Bruder. Uhhh, let's see. Oh! I spy with my little eye, something that starts with L.'

How predictable can you get, Kristoph said to himself before confidently answering, 'Leaves.'

Klavier almost laughed, 'Nein.'

Kristoph was stumped. Looking around, he couldn't see anything else that started with L except for a couple of things that he doubted were what Klavier had spotted. But he tried anyway,

'Light?'

'Nein.'

'Hm… ladybug?'

'Nein. Do you give up yet?'

'Nein. Let me think…' Kristoph hoped that whatever Klavier had spotted was real, 'a lady?'

'Nein, Kristoph. Do you give up?'

'I said nein, didn't I?'

'Ja, but you're not doing very well in this game so I'll give you one more chance.'

'Fine. Is it…letterbox?' He asked, glancing at their little grey letterbox that looked quite small from up in the tree. Klavier just giggled,

'Nein. That's all your chances, Kristoph! Shall I tell you now?'

'Well I don't really have a choice, do I, kleine Bruder?' Klavier just giggled and pointed to the side of the house as he said,

'Ladder.' Kristoph looked to where Klavier pointed and didn't see anything for a couple of seconds before their father walked around the side of the house, carrying a ladder with him. Kristoph looked back at Klavier who was now giggling cheekily and said,

'That's not fair, Klav. You couldn't even see Vati carrying the ladder when you started your turn.'

'Ah, but I knew it would come if you took long enough to guess what it was.' Kristoph had to smile, Klavier did have a point. He waved down to Vati, who was now at the base of the tree and setting the ladder up. When he leaned it against the tree, it sat in-between Klavier and Kristoph while the top of the ladder reached a little higher than Kristoph. Their father held the ladder securely and instructed Klavier how to go down the ladder. Slowly but steadily, Klavier shuffled along the branch he was sitting on, towards the ladder and grabbed it, his feet finding firm footing on the ladder rungs. He slowly made his way down. Kristoph made sure Klavier had reached the bottom before he climbed down too. When he reached the bottom, Kristoph looked at Klavier. His little brother gave him a big smile followed by a firm hug as he said,

'Danke for showing me how to climb trees. When can we do it again?' Kristoph touched his glasses and smiled.

*PRESENT DAY*

Klavier smiled a little sadly at the tree. That memory was the first of many occasions that filled his childhood. He and Kristoph had always done everything together, until Kristoph had moved out of home when he became an fully qualified attorney. He was never quite the same when Klavier saw him from then on. They had led slightly different lives, too. But, growing up, he had still admired his big brother and aspired to be just as cool, calm and collected. He even did his hair like Kristoph, finally appreciating the style. The sad smile remained on his face as he realised how deluded he'd been. The wound that his brother had recently caused would take a while to heal. All of Klavier's happy memories were now tainted with sadness when he thought of how he would most likely never see his big brother smile or laugh good-naturedly again. He had changed from those happy memories 19 years ago.

He finished his cup of water and walked away from the window. He had other people to stand by him. He had friends that he knew were like family now and he was content with that thought. Although, with a smirk, he couldn't imagine that they'd all go and climb trees with him.

The tree stood there, across the road, people passing it by. It waited to be climbed but its limbs remained untouched.

A/N:

kleine Bruder = Little brother
Großer Bruder = Big brother
Mama = Mum
Vati = Dad/Daddy
Kann ich bitte etwas Hilfe? = Can I have some help, please?

I had a lot of fun writing this – can we all just take a moment to imagine how cute 5 year old Klavier would be? 3 3 3 Also I'd like to think that Kristoph definitely found Klavier somewhat cute but still wanted to 'inspire' Klavier to be like himself. I think this will be one of the only mostly happy fics about Klavier and Kristoph but it is from a happier time.