Ben put his hood up, sinking further into the corner of the leather armchair. Around him, music blared and teenagers yelled and laughed and grinded on each other, lost to the pounding beat. A can of beer sat forgotten on the coffee table in front of him. Ben had stopped drinking as soon as he felt the warm tingle pulsing through his body. He had to stay alert to make sure Klaus didn't do anything stupid. Now that he thought about it, Ben hadn't seen Klaus in a while.

Ben stood up, scanning the hazy living room for his brother. Even in an environment like this, Klaus had a tendency to stand out from the crowd, so worry started to bubble up in Ben's chest when he didn't immediately see him there or in the kitchen. Ben shouldered through the crowd of drunk, sweaty teenagers, making his way upstairs and calling out for his brother. Halfway down the hallway, he heard a familiar laugh behind a cracked door.

Ben peered through the crack, his eyes finding Klaus instantly. His brother lounged on a king-sized bed in the middle of the room, a few other teens crowded around him. One guy was holding his arm, palm up, pressing a needle into the crook of his elbow. Klaus winced at the sight of the needle disappearing under his skin, and Ben felt the Horrors writhing in his chest as he heard the guy say, "Don't worry. You'll like this, I promise."

Another guy pushed a shot glass into Klaus's hand, guiding him to knock it back and Klaus giggled, his smile dazed. A girl sat close to Klaus's side, mouthing along his jaw and neck, her fingers clumsily undoing the buttons of his pants, and he did nothing to stop her. She pulled his shirt over his head, her mouth moving to meet his, and he did nothing to stop her. She pushed him to lay on his back on the bed and he did nothing to stop her. This is exactly why Ben still came to these parties.

Ben burst through the door, making its occupants jump. The girl scrambled off of Klaus. "Benny!" Klaus slurred.

"Come on, Klaus," Ben hissed, taking his brother by his wrist, "We're leaving." He sat Klaus up, helping him back into his shirt and deftly re-buttoning his pants.

"What? It was just getting good!" Klaus whined, smacking Ben's hands away weakly and flopping back down on the bed.

"It's late and you're high. You can't defend yourself. It's time to go." Ben pulled him into a sitting position, holding him up when Klaus slumped over.

"I didn't need to defend myself. Everything was fine." He slurred his words, leaning heavily on his brother.

Ben raised an eyebrow, and sat beside his brother. "We've been over this. You can't consent if you're not sober."

"For fuck's sake, Ben, I'm fine. You're acting like she was trying to rape me or something. It was just a bit of fun."

Ben held on to Klaus's arm and pulled it over his own shoulder, hoisting his brother upright. "It felt like fun now, sure, but you would have regretted it later."

Klaus grunted, apparently not deeming Ben's statement worthy of an answer as he led him down the stairs and through the crowd. He grabbed Klaus's jacket on the way out and closed the door behind them, muting the thumping bass of the music. Ben kept his brother's arm tight over his shoulder as they took the chilly sidewalks and alleys back towards the academy. Klaus giggled and stumbled next to him, his breath fogging in front of their faces and sweat running down his neck. Ben kept a sharp eye out for muggers, confidant that the Horrors could protect them if they ran into trouble. They reached the fire escape and Ben pulled Klaus through his bedroom window, depositing his brother on his bed. He was about to leave for his own bedroom when his brother's voice stopped him.

"I don't need a babysitter, y' know."

Ben sighed, sitting at the foot of Klaus's bed. "I would believe you on that if you didn't insist on getting dangerously high every time we go out."

"I can still take care of myself. I train just as much as you and the others. I can fight."

"Not when you're high," Ben insisted, resting his hand on his brother's knee. He understood why Klaus did drugs. When Klaus's powers first started to develop, Ben had been there, watching his brother sob into Diego's shoulder and cower away from the invisible spirits that insisted on torturing him. He watched Klaus become dependent on anything that could distract him from the screaming ghosts, whether it was the company of one of his siblings or some kind of scheme. But Ben was also there when Klaus realized his efforts weren't enough; that the ghosts were never going to leave him alone. So he'd started drinking, and then smoking, and Ben watched as his brother immersed his life in drugs, alcohol, and any living company he could find. Ben has tried it too once, when Klaus was first dabbling in smoking pot and taking a few sleeping pills from the infirmary. The idea of muting his powers, of becoming numb to the Horrors living under his skin had been so tempting, but in the end he couldn't bring himself to continue.

So Ben understood what drove his brother to drugs, but that didn't mean he approved of it, especially when Klaus got high and left himself at the mercy random strangers. "I don't want you to get hurt, Klaus. Not when there's something I could've done."

Klaus grit his teeth. "Well all you're doing is ruining the party."

Ben seethed, a white hot spike of rage digging into his skull. The Horrors writhed in his chest, clenching around his lungs and his heart, begging to be let out. Ben hated going to these parties. The only reason he went was to protect his brother. The least Klaus could do was pretend to be grateful. "Fine. I'll stop going then." Ben stood quickly and turned away from Klaus.

"Fine." Klaus's voice was tight with some emotion Ben couldn't identify.

"Fine. Goodnight." He hesitated, his hand over the light switch, before he thought better of it and left the lights on, closing the door behind him.

Klaus's POV

True to his word, Ben no longer shadowed Klaus when he went to parties, and Klaus relished every moment of his newfound freedom. At the next party he crashed, he flounced from room to room, embracing a new level of confidence that stemmed from not having to worry about his overbearing brother hanging over his shoulder all the time. He flirted shamelessly and swallowed down everything he was handed without even checking what it was. He was magnetic; the center of attention, and he adored it.

A few guys in particular held most of Klaus's attention. They were all older, all attractive, and absolutely all hammered, and they danced around Klaus, competing for his favor. It made Klaus feel desired: a feeling which was a rare commodity in his household.

The night wore on and reality slipped away. Heat engulfed him, and he shed his shirt. People still crowded around him, watching Klaus shift and change before their eyes. Klaus was an instrument only satisfied by praise and reverent touches, and everyone gathered around to play him; to run their hands down his bare sides and make him shiver out a sweet melody. Then he was a hot air balloon, heat rising and building in his body until he was floating high above the ground (somewhere in the back of his mind Klaus realized the connection between his altitude and the pills he had taken), but a pair of ropes like strong hands held him to the earth by his hips and he found himself straddling a faceless man's lap, his naked body drenched in sweat. The man caressed his waist and Klaus was on a pyre, his hands tied behind his back, flames licking the bottoms of his feet and climbing his body as sickly sweet smoke filled his lungs and Klaus could only gasp for air as he was burned alive until everything faded to black.

Regaining consciousness was like trying to balance on one foot on a sheet of slick ice. His lashes were weighted down with lead but he forced them apart, and the living room ceiling came into view. A fan turned lazily overhead. A cool breeze drafted over his bare legs and stomach. He shivered.

Klaus turned his head slowly, surveying the room around him. The music had been turned off and teenagers were strewn across the dark living room, either passed out in precarious positions or chatting softly over joints and cans of beer. He sat up slowly and his head spun like a top. Klaus groaned, pressing into his eyes with the pads of his hands until he saw stars. It was at times like this Klaus wished Ben was still around, helping him back into whatever clothes he had lost and dragging him back to his own bed, but Ben had given up on Klaus. He wasn't coming, and Klaus didn't need him anymore.

Klaus stood up, took a step, and immediately fell to his knees groaning as spikes of pain shot through his body. Whatever he had done during the party had royally fucked him up. He grit his teeth against the ache that had settled deep in his bones and stood again, looking around for his clothes. He found his pants hanging over the arm of the couch he'd woken up on but his underwear was nowhere to be found, so Klaus shrugged and pulled on his pants. His shirt had gone missing too, but he found his coat by the door where he left it and he tugged it on, buttoning it over his bare chest.

On his way out, a hand came out of nowhere, slapping Klaus's ass and making him jump. "Nice work back there, kid," a guy laughed.

Klaus grunted to acknowledge him and slipped out the front door, making his way back towards the academy. Ghosts hung out in the shadows in the edges of his vision, but they didn't approach him or say anything to him, so the drugs and alcohol probably hadn't faded from his system yet.

When Klaus made it back to the academy he pulled himself into his room through the window, groaning as his legs hit the floor a little more roughly than intended. He stripped off his jacket and flopped down on his bed, falling asleep quickly to the sound of Diego and Ben talking softly across the hall.

Diego's POV

Diego stayed up late into the night laying around his room with Ben, giggling and joking with him and taking swigs of stolen liquor from their father's cabinet. Ben laid on his stomach, his eyebrows scrunched up in concentration as he drew something in his sketchbook in pencil, and Diego sat against the wall, twirling a knife between his fingers.

Ben erased a line with a little more force than necessary. He'd been distracted all night, and if Diego had to guess he would say it was because of Klaus. The two of them had some sort of fight, though Diego had no idea what it was about. Usually when he and Ben hung out at night Klaus would hang around too, but he was otherwise occupied, probably with drugs.

"What's wrong, Ben? You seem upset."

Ben sighed and moved on to another part of the sketch. "It's Klaus. I told him I would stop following him around all the time and I heard him sneaking out tonight. He doesn't take care of himself like he should. I'm worried he's going to get hurt." Diego nodded. It was no secret that Klaus was nothing short of careless with his own wellbeing. The idea of him going to a party all on his own brought up all sorts of worrying images of the trouble he could get himself into. "I know what you mean, but at some point Klaus is going to have to learn to be independent. You can't be by his side watching out for him for the rest of his life."

"I know that, but I can't help but worry. You know how he can get."

"Klaus is an enormous drama queen. If something bad happens, I'm sure he'll come to us."

Ben stared down at the sheets, not saying anything, his expression unreadable. He shifted to massage his chest with his fist, reminding Diego of the deadly creatures that were constantly living under his skin.

"I'm just… Would you mind checking up on him in the morning? I'm afraid he's still mad at me."

"If it'll make you feel better, then sure."

The next morning, when Klaus didn't show up for breakfast, Ben was the only one to look concerned. It wasn't uncommon for him to skip out on meals, especially if he had snuck out the night before, though usually if that was the case Ben would be missing too. The two of them were usually attached at the hip, so seeing Ben at breakfast without Klaus by his side had the others all sharing concerned glances, daring each other to say something. Finally Luther, as always, took the lead.

"Six, where's Four?"

"Why are you asking me? I'm not in charge of him. Klaus is probably just sleeping in."

Luther raised an eyebrow. Grace came up behind Diego, spooning some more scrambled eggs onto his plate. "I'll go wake him up and bring him his breakfast," she hummed, smiling softly, "Klaus gets so tired sometimes." Luther scoffed.

Ben made eye contact with Diego, reminding him of their agreement from last night. "It's okay, Mom, I'll take it to him. I'm finished anyways."

"That's sweet of you, dear," Grace kissed Diego's forehead and handed him Klaus's plate. Diego smiled back at his mom before leaving the kitchen, trying to ignore the feeling of Luther's eyes boring into his back.

Klaus's door was still shut tight when Diego came to it, and Diego pressed his ear to the painted wood. He heard Klaus mumbling softly to himself, his words occasionally interrupted with quiet sniffles. Was he crying?

Diego rapped his knuckles on the door and heard Klaus's voice cut off abruptly. "Klaus? Can I come in?"

"Um… no." His voice was thick with tears.

"I have breakfast."

"…Come in." He swung the door open to find his brother, half naked, curled up in the standard gray bed sheets, his face hidden in the blankets. His exposed neck was littered with bruises. No, Diego realized, those were hickeys.

"Shit, dude, what happened?"

"I don't know..." He said quietly, still hiding in the blanket. Diego set the food on the desk, then sat himself on the bed next to Klaus.

"You don't know?"

Klaus scoffed. "Well obviously I can guess. Woke up naked in some house. Covered in hickeys. You don't even wanna know what my ass looks like right now."

"Fuck."

Klaus laughed darkly, sitting up and wiping his face with his arm. His wrists were red and raw. His eyes were rimmed with red and black eyeliner streaked down his cheeks. "You can put it that way, yeah."

"Had you ever…" Diego trailed off, unsure of how to word his question. "You know…"

Luckily Klaus picked up on what he was saying. "Was it my first time? Yeah, I think so."

"Fuck."

"I should apologize to Ben. He was right. I'm a fucking disaster."

"Klaus I…" What was he supposed to say? That he's sorry? Sorry just felt hollow to him: the words of someone who didn't really care. Sorry wasn't going to fix his hurting brother. What would Ben say? "I-It's going to b-be okay." Dammit, Diego hadn't stuttered in so long. He took a deep breath to compose himself.

Klaus choked out a sob, then reached up to touch his throat which was ringed with finger shaped bruises. He shook his head stubbornly. "What do I do, D?"

"You do what you always do. Brush it off and move on your life. It's just sex anyways." His words came out sounding a little more desperate than he intended, like he was begging Klaus to just forget it ever happened, but Four didn't mention it.

Klaus chuckled, wiping his eyes again. He looked so small and sad, sitting there on his bed, half naked and wrapped in bedsheets, covered in hickeys and bruises and smudges of makeup. Looking at him, Diego was hit with the sudden urge to protect, and he scooted closer to Klaus and wrapped his arms around his brother. Klaus sniffled, then whimpered, then broke down sobbing into Diego's shoulder. Diego didn't say anything, just squeezed Klaus tighter and waited for his cries to taper off.

Diego shed a few tears of his own, mourning his brother's innocence, but he did his best to hold himself together. Klaus needed him to be strong right now. Later, in the privacy of his own bedroom, Diego would allow himself to fall apart, cutting notches in his wall: one for each injustice their father had carried out against him and his brothers and sisters, silent tears streaming down his cheeks. Someday, Diego would use his powers the way he wanted to: to rid the world of terrible people like Hargreeves, but for now all he could do was sit there on Klaus's bed and hold on to his grieving brother.

Diego carefully carded his fingers through Klaus's hair, noting the way his uniform jacket was getting noticeably wet with tears. He made a mental note to change it before Reginald saw him. A glance at the clock told him time was running out before physical training started, so someone would be looking for him any minute.

"Klaus," Diego said softly, nudging his brother, "Training is going to start soon. They'll be missing us."

Klaus sat up, sniffing and wiping his eyes. "You go without me. Tell them I'm sick or something."

"You sure, man?"

Klaus waved him off, laying back on his bed. "Yeah I'm good. You go get ripped."

Diego eyes Klaus's bare torso, taking in his protruding collar bones and ribs. "Make sure you eat, okay?"

"Yeah yeah I know. Get out of here, bro." Klaus curled up in the blankets again, not making a move to grab the plate of rapidly cooling breakfast from his desk, but Diego knew how stubborn he could be when it came to being told what to do. If Klaus didn't want to eat, not a single soul, living or dead, could make him.

Diego closed the door softly behind him, turned around, and almost ran straight into Ben. Six stumbled back, his eyes wide and guilty. It was pretty obvious that he had been listening at Klaus's door.

"How much did you hear?" Diego said, moving across the hall to his own room.

Ben followed him, stopping at the door frame. "Enough."

Diego gave him a once over out of the corner of his eye. Ben was leaning on the wall, one hand rubbing his chest absentmindedly. If Diego had the ability to summon monsters from another dimension to attack bad guys, he would sure as hell be tempted to unleash them on whoever had taken advantage of Klaus.

"It's my fault," Ben said, his voice small.

Diego grabbed a new jacket out of his closet and slammed the door with a little more force than necessary. "Why do you say that?"

"If I had been there…" Ben leaned heavily against the wall, sinking to the ground and resting his chin on his knees.

Diego shrugged on his clean jacket then moved over to Ben, squatting on his toes to be at eye level with his brother. "Ben, you're not going to be able to shadow Klaus for the rest of his life. What happened to him sucks, but it wasn't your fault. Klaus is tough, he'll be okay." once again, Diego could only hope desperately that what he said was true. He knew that Klaus's morbid powers left him crippled: always falling behind the group, always weakened and desperate for a way to be numb to it all. Diego looked down on Klaus for running away from the pain instead of facing it like a man (but he guessed Klaus had always been a little further away from manhood than the rest of his brothers). Did using drugs to mute his powers make Klaus weak, or just resourceful?

Diego caught Ben shaking his head as he walked out, but he didn't think too much about it.

Ben's POV

For the next week, Ben observed from a distance as Klaus dirteriorated, since he wasn't going out nearly as much as he usually did. Klaus got by on what weed and alcohol he could get his hands on in the academy, but Ben knew him well enough to be able to tell that he was itching for something stronger. The few drugs he had on hand weren't going to be enough to keep the ghosts at bay for long. He heard Klaus sobbing and begging to be left alone in the small hours of the night, and he sat awake in his bed, leaned his head on the wall between their rooms, and longed to go in there to comfort him.

He couldn't help but feel like he'd failed Klaus. He'd dismissed his brothers habits and his parties as him being frivolous and careless, even though he knew the real reason Klaus did the things he did. He was suffering. He needed a distraction, anything to pull him away from his terrible powers (Ben understood exact how that felt). Klaus needed help and support, and Ben had abandoned him; left him to waste away. Klaus had gotten hurt, and Ben wasn't there. His stomach twisted, but this time it wasn't the monsters inside him. yeah

A soft thump from outside alerted him of Klaus opening his window and stepping out into the fire escape that they shared. Ben peeked through the blinds, spying his brother as he sat down on the window ledge and lit a joint. He was wearing ripped black skinny jeans and a floral tank top that was split deep down the sides, and he glanced around nervously, his knee bouncing. He clearly didn't intend to stick around the academy tonight.

It was now or never.

Pulling up the blinds, Ben popped open the locks on his window with his thumbs. He saw Klaus side eying him as he pushed it up and slipped out into the warm night. He sat on the ledge next to his brother, his significantly shorter legs dangling slightly over the ground. Smoke clouded in front of their faces. A homeless guy dug through the garbage a ways down the alley.

"Here." Klaus passed Ben the joint and lit himself a new one. Ben shrugged and took a short drag, trying to hold in the cough that built up in his chest before he blew the smoke back out, turning away so Klaus couldn't see the way his eyes watered.

"You going out?" Ben asked.

Klaus chuckled. "Why do you want to know? It's not like you're gonna come with me."

"Klaus."

Klaus gave Ben a long look out of the corner of his eye. He took another drag and blew smoke in Ben's direction. "Yes?"

"I'm sorry."

Klaus stiffened. He hadn't been expecting that. "Why?"

Ben turned to face him, one socked foot digging into the metal grate under him. "I shouldn't have abandoned you. And I shouldn't have assumed that you need protecting. You're just as capable as the rest of us. I'm sorry."

Klaus swallowed. He looked out onto the street, watching people walk by; looking anywhere but at Ben. "Fuck, Ben. No, I'm sorry. You were just looking out for me. I took you for granted."

Klaus was right. He had taken Ben's protection for granted, and it had made Ben angry at first, but he just wanted his relationship with his brother back. When they had first crashed some random teen's party it had been the two of them together, just going out to have a good time. It was later that it had become Ben trailing after Klaus, constantly keeping out a sharp eye for danger. Ben just wanted them to have fun together again. "How about we just call it even."

Klaus leaned over and rested his head on Ben's shoulder. One of his skeletal hands reached out and looped around his wrist, his fingers gently prodding his pulse point. Ben didn't comment on it. "I'd like that," Klaus whispered.

They sat there for a while, just smoking and watching people walk by. It was nice being by Klaus's side again after they spent so long avoiding each other. Klaus and Ben were the only members of their dysfunctional family that truly hated their powers, and spending time together always helped to remind Ben that he wasn't alone. Klaus and Ben were always there to comfort each other. When Klaus was overwhelmed by the ghosts swarming around him, Ben was there to offer a distraction, being a living presence for him to focus on. And when Ben felt his control slipping and the fear of tearing his family apart crashed down on him, Klaus was there sitting next to him, completely unafraid.

"So… are you still going out tonight?"

"It depends, are you coming with me?"

"Do you want me to?"

"Well, not dressed like that. Come inside, I'll find you something to wear."

Smiling, Ben followed Klaus back through his window. It looked like everything was going to be okay.