Klaus curled around the pillow that Diego had given him. It smelt like his older brother and normally that smell would have been enough to keep the bad memories at bay. It wasn't enough this time. He needed Diego but Diego was working the night shift tonight. Klaus had woken from a hellish dream and Diego was gone.
"It's going to be okay Klaus." Ben murmured. Klaus flinched at the sound of his voice. It was too much, he was too sober. He needed a fix, a high. He couldn't though. Diego had given him an ultimatum, he could stay here with Diego but he had to keep clean or he could go back to the arrangement he'd had with Eudora where she scraped him off the ground of whatever alley he'd crashed in for the night while getting high. Eudora was nice, Klaus liked her, but she wasn't very good at finding him. There were more nights that he slept behind a dumpster or in some John's bed than the one he'd had at her apartment.
"You don't need to be afraid of the ghosts, Klaus." Ben said and Klaus let out a high, watery laugh. He wasn't afraid of the ghosts anymore.
They looked horrible but they couldn't physically touch him.
There were worse monsters that were still alive. Monsters that could hurt him. The front door of the apartment creaked open and Klaus flinched at the sound of boots approaching his room. There was a light tap of knuckles on the frame and Klaus looked up to see Diego standing there with a worried look on his face
"Hey, you alright?" Diego asked and Klaus shrugged. Diego pulled his walky out of it's place on his hip
"Hey Ryan, I'm going to be a few minutes." He said into it. There was a moment of static before the voice of Diego's partner crackled through
"Take your time. It's the first time he's been alone at night." Officer Thorne's voice had a light tone to it. Diego reattached the walky to his hip and came to sit at the foot of Klaus' bed. Klaus eyed him for a moment before sliding down to sit with him.
"What's wrong?" Diego asked and Klaus shrugged
"I can't help if you don't tell me." Diego reminded.
"I don't know. I just feel like I'm about to crawl out of my skin." Klaus murmured. Diego ruffled his hair and Klaus blushed
"Do you want to take a bath?" He asked and Klaus shook his head
"Music?" Diego tried again. Klaus knew he was going through the list of thing that Klaus normally did when he freaked out.
"Already tried it." Klaus whispered, "I need to be able to hear if someone's coming." He added and a flash of understanding crossed Diego's face.
"Yeah, the paranoia gets to me sometimes as well. Why don't you draw?" Diego asked and Klaus frowned
"My book is in Eudora's car. I forgot it there when we went to the park." He muttered. Diego rose and left the room only to return moments later carrying a fresh sketchbook in his hand. Klaus itched to flipp through it and smell the paper.
"I noticed that your old one was getting full so I picked up a new one yesterday." Diego said handing it over. Klaus missed the way Diego's cheeks colored when he passed it over, too absorbed in the weight of the paper. It was a good sketchbook with thick sheets not the cheap kids sketchbook like Klaus' original.
"Thank you." Klaus murmured, stroking the spiral that held the sheets in place.
"I'd better get going. We're getting you a phone tomorrow so don't stay up all night drawing." Diego said and Klaus nodded absentmindedly. He was already thinking about what he was going to draw as Diego left.
