Author's Note: On this chapter: Reginald's A+ parenting proving its uneffectiveness.
Thanks for the loads of kudos! I can't mention all of you but I can give a particular shoutout to the reviewers and favs/bookmarkers EverythinggStayss, erindickens802, Yomu, Wisteria115, SpadesQueen, Veera2, Skeleton-Lady, antonia147, JacksNervesOfSteel and OreoUnicorn103. Man you are too many! And a special mention to shinotomosuke2
Sorry for the time it took me. I hope you like the chapter. It's quite a bit longer than I hoped it would.
Let's keep in mind that they're all kids just entering adolescence. None of them is exactly as they are at 29. Let's also keep in mind that Sir Reginald is a bad bad parent. And a hypocrit.
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12 January 2002
7:00 AM
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Klaus
.
Klaus was woken up by Mom's cheerful voice and not-so-cheerful bell ringing. Sure enough, the day seemed to be determined to go on about normally just like Dad had said it would.
He was absolutely exhausted. He probably needed eighteen hours of rest, though he wouldn't mind sleeping a week if he could. His head wasn't throbbing anymore, which was a blessing, but it had been left with a sinking feeling that made it really hard for his neck to lift it up. His nose was pretty roughed up and sensitive from all the scrubbing he had done against his sleeve, and he had a small puddle of slobber on his pillow thanks to all the clogging. Worst of all was his arm. He knew it wasn't broken, but it was so sore it felt like he had a cramp on his muscles, which didn't help as he tried to rub his stinging and puffy eyes to push sleep away. Klaus unbottoned his pajama's shirt and pulled his shoulder out carefully to peek at the top of his arm. Yeah. That was a huge bruise.
"Dickhead," he complained to no one.
Klaus waited for Mom to come call him again before sighing and leaving his warm bed. He looked at it with a sorrowful look, already dreading the night before it even came.
Everything went out just as normally as Dad wanted it. The same morning struggling for time in the bathroom, the same silence during breakfast, the same whispered prayer from an old man that had been coming by for some days and to whom Klaus refused to look at, closing his eyes and hoping he'd go away. The same routine walk to begin training. Even Mom's morning greeting was the same, though she did kiss him on the forehead and Klaus felt her smile was a bit warmer than usual.
Overall, despite some small signals on some of his siblings - mostly more yawning than usual (except for Ben - Ben had all the signals and Klaus was getting nearly constipated by proxy with all that internal turmoil clearly going on with his brother, so he did his best to reassure him with nods and small smiles for the time being) - it looked as if everything was alright. Diego was probably a bit more bitter than usual, maybe. Five more bitchy than usual. Pogo seemed a bit kinder in his short answers. But Dad was acting completely normal as if absolutely nothing out of ordinary had happened the night before, though on that one case he shouldn't really be surprised at all. So Klaus played along too. He was too tired to do otherwise. He dug up strength from somewhere - probably acceptance more than anything - and did just like his father wanted. Made snarky comments when Five beated every single one of them in training. Encouraged Allison to aim for Diego's shin and encouraged Diego to do the same, which made them both clash and sprawl together on the floor. Got a scoff out of Luther when he complained about his arm not helping him. Hoped he was just daydreaming of a voice instead of actually hearing it.
Dad didn't so much as look at him.
It was even more tiresome to pretend like that. Ben was still frowning and worried and, in reality, so was Klaus. But everyone wanted to act normal, so he had to do it too or he'd be yelled at and called a crybaby again.
It was really not alright. And it didn't really work.
Dad still didn't look at him anyway.
Thankfully (or not) it didn't last too long. It was until he saw Vanya take her pills before lunch time.
So he had an idea.
Klaus being Klaus, it wasn't a good one.
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Luther
.
Luther inhaled sharply as he saw Diego waiting in the corridor with his back leaned against the wall and arms crossed. Knowing what was coming, he walked right past him. The irritated snarl he got almost served as a small satisfaction.
"How's your day going, Number One?" Diego provoked.
"Don't call me by my number," Luther commanded him. Diego's scoff annoyed him a lot and Luther turned back at him. "What do you want, Diego?"
"Yeah, let's all pretend everything's alright," he said. "It's much easier to just look on the surface and act as if stuff will just disappear if we don't think about it much, right?"
Luther shrugged. "I didn't see Klaus acting up. Well, not differently from usual. Did you?"
"You were an asshole," Diego cut him, straightening himself and uncrossing his arms. "You had no right to just roughen him up like that."
"I just grabbed his arm," Luther countered, though he felt that pinch of guilt in his chest again from remembering how Klaus whimpered when Dad dragged him.
"You were an asshole. I saw you use your strength."
If he'd used all his strength, he'd have teared Klaus' arm off. "He tried to hit me, didn't he?"
"You know fully well Klaus can't fight against you. You just hurt him because you wanted to."
"Tell me you didn't want to do the same thing," Luther said to provoke him, but it was true and they both knew it and so Diego was forced to bite back his words. His face grew warmer.
"I didn't."
"No, you didn't. You didn't because you were scared of Dad," he accused, and now Diego was really getting mad.
"And you just wanted to show off. You hurt him just because you could!"
"You wanted to do it too!"
"I wanted to help him so Dad wouldn't be mad at him," Diego snarled, lowering his voice just a bit not to attract too much attention. "You just wanted the problem gone so you could please Dad and go back to bed."
Luther bit the inside of his cheek but stood his ground. "Well it worked, didn't it?"
"Yeah, maybe for you and for Allison in your little corner, but me? Hell, Vanya even more than me, we had to listen to him crying for almost an hour before Mom finally calmed him down."
"You think we didn't hear him too? He wasn't exactly being quiet," Luther replied, knowing that wasn't Diego's point but not wanting to give in. "We can't let Klaus have his way. He just wants attention because his powers aren't as good as ours. We don't have to put up with that. We're thirteen, we're not children anymore."
Diego was increasingly increduluous. "Did he seem like he was acting up to you? Seriously?"
"Overreacting. Yes." Luther clenched his jaw when Diego scoffed and shut his fists. "So he had a nightmare. We all have nightmares sometimes. None of us makes a fullout panic out of it."
"Then that means he needs something to help him rather than just be shoved aside because he's troublesome or just act like things are alright."
"So you're saying Dad's wrong?" Luther dared him just to see how far he'd go, though he was shutting his fists slowly.
"I... I- y-y-yeah. I do."
"Good job there, Diego." Luther knew that was a low blow, but it was just as valid. Diego wanted a fight, so every punch mattered. "Like you said, you didn't do anything. You were too coward to do anything."
He counted a second before Diego jumped at him. It was still a moment longer than Luther thought it'd be, so he was more than ready. Diego went for a swing at his head and Luther ducked, trying to punch him on his ribs but being blocked before he could. Diego snarled and aimed a kick to the groin that Luther deflected too, but earned a headbutt as a reward.
"Guys!"
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Allison
.
"What happened this time?" she asked, wanting to just smack them both on the head before getting any unecessary answer. They were always fighting, seriously, it was annoying. "Luther! Diego, stop!"
They didn't really hear her. They slowed down somewhat, but Diego used the break of seemingly dropping the fight to throw a fist to Luther's face and this time the hit landed. Luther staggered back and snarled before charging against Diego, picking him up by the waist and throwing him against the wall.
"Guys! Stop it! I'm not going to let you just behave like stupid children."
"Well tell that to Luther!" Diego complained, hitting Luther's back with his fists and elbows to free himself. Luther did let him go, not because the hits though, only because he stood up straight and headbutted Diego hard. He groaned loudly and threw his hands to his face, right above his eye. "You son of a-!"
"Diego! Luther, stop it!" Allison yelled even before seeing blood running from Diego's eyebrow. Luther was bleeding already from his lip too. "Look at yourselves, you idiots!"
"He's the one that started it!"
"It was you, you asshole!"
Allison stomped her feet against the floor when those two idiots threw themselves at each other again and decided she wasn't going to put it up with it.
"I heard a rumor ..."
"Allison, don't!"
"...that you stopped-"
"Number Three."
Allison gasped and jumped on her feet. Dad was standing just behind her. With all the commotion, she didn't even hear him.
"Dad..." she started, her heartbeat so loud in her ears it was suddenly hard to think. "I was just-"
"Do not use your powers on your siblings ever again."
"I'm sorry-" she tried, but Dad didn't really bother to let her speak before turning to Luther and Diego.
"You two. You will skip meal time."
"But Dad, he was the one-" they said pretty much at the same time, pointing fingers at each other.
"Go to Grace and have her see those cuts. Now." He waited impatiently for the two boys to exchange glares. "I swear, I don't understand what's going on with all of you. It seems like you are all deciding to be a band of brainless buffoons rather than rational and responsible creatures."
It was probably puberty. But that was something Dad wouldn't likely take as a justification.
The boys started moving while Dad continued in the direction he was originally headed. Allison followed suit after her brothers, her head lowered and biting her lip.
"You were gonna use your power on me?" Luther asked with his voice down. Diego scoffed quite loudly.
"I just wanted you two to stop fighting," Allison replied, looking at Diego, who casted a bitter look at both of them.
"So you think I started it?"
"It doesn't matter who did, I was going to end it."
"You didn't have to meddle," Diego complained. "Much less trying to use your power."
"Well, I didn't use it, so you two can stop whining. At least it worked, didn't it?" she said with a shrug, and Diego scoffed in such a disdainful way it confused her.
"You two spend way too much time together," he whispered before approaching Mom, who was standing in the dining room and starting to set the table together with Vanya.
"Oh, boys!" she said as soon as she laid eyes on them. She waved her head and smiled softly. "What happened to you two? Don't tell me you've been fighting again."
"Of course," Allison replied instead of them.
"Let's take a look at that," she raised her hands to attend to Diego first, frowning a bit. "Oh, children. Come along now, we'll get you better fast so you can come have your lunch."
"Actually, we're grounded," Luther replied. The sullen look made him look like a big blond baby. "We can't have lunch."
"Oh. Well, then..."
"Don't worry Mom, we'll help set the table," Allison offered at once. Vanya nodded too.
"I'll help," Klaus said as well, coming from another door to join them. He blinked as he looked at Diego and Luther and their bloodied faces. "Wow. What happened to you two?"
"Nothing," they replied in unison.
"What do you think?" Allison answered instead not too covertly while Mom took them with her to the corridor.
"Ah," Klaus sent them another look before turning towards the smaller kitchen to pick up where Mom and Vanya had left off. "Luther's fan club continues to grow, I see."
"Klaus," she called firmly.
"Don't even try to go and defend big brother One, he can do that just fine," Klaus replied, not without a big chunk of dry irony that made Allison roll her eyes before she recalled that last night had been... well, just last night. It almost seemed it had been a while already.
"You know how Luther is," she started.
"Uh-huh."
"You know he didn't mean..."
"Uh-huh" he repeated.
"You can't be mad at him. He didn't hurt you, did he?"
"No, of course not. I'm a strong superhero like all of you, right, sis?"
"I mean... I haven't talked to you yet. You had a-"
"Don't worry about it, I'm fine."
Allison bit her lip and turned her eyes to Vanya, who seemed almost startled as if she had been caught evesdropping their conversation and quickly turned to the kitchenware she and Mom had started to prepare. Klaus glided towards her and picked up a tray with food before she could.
"Oh, Vanya, my favorite non-superhero sister, let me help you with that."
"Thanks," she said quietly. Allison blinked but decided to ignore the little exchange, stocking up a pile of dishes.
"You're setting the table?" Ben peeked into the kitchen. "Can I help?"
.
Ben
.
After he quickly helped bring a bunch of tableware to the dining room, he tried to catch up to Klaus, but he immediately realized there was something going on. His brother was actively quite dedicated to setting the table for lunch, which, admittedly, wasn't exactly the most telling or suspicious thing in the world, but it was enough to alert Ben, who had spent the entire morning struggling with ways to talk to Klaus and let him know without words how guilty he felt for last night. While Klaus had acted reassuringly even without really needing to, now he seemed aloofed to Ben's concern. He was focused on what he was doing, sure. But that dedication to a trivial task wasn't aloofness. It was intent. Ben knew Klaus well enough to almost physically feel the intent in his actions, and as a result, he felt anxious for not knowing what was going on. He couldn't just want to set the table for the sake of it. For all his virtues, Klaus was far from being the most sensible person out of all of them.
"Klaus."
"You know, you're driving me crazy with that face," he replied over his shoulder without even looking.
"What face?" Ben asked, confused for a moment.
"You've been looking at me like I'm about to break and you're just about to push me to the floor. I'm not," Klaus replied. He lowered his voice mid sentence when he saw Allison return to the kitchen. He grabbed two glasses and sent another reassuring look at Ben before passing by him without saying anything else. While that simple gesture hardly worked to ease Ben during the morning, now it made him frown.
"Klaus," he called again. He saw how Allison looked at him when she passed them; he wondered if she had had any conversation with Klaus about the nightmares. "I've been wanting to say-"
"You don't need to say anything, you didn't do anything wrong," Klaus completed before Ben could, and before he could try to add anything else, his brother had already glided towards the table, quickly setting the glasses he carried so he could readjust some dishes for Vanya to lay down another pot of food. "Sorry, that wasn't helping there."
"It's alright, Klaus, thanks, really."
Klaus gave a quick smile that wavered down when he shivered like he had just got chills out of nowhere. Ben saw him send a look at an empty corner of the dining room and quickly scram back to the kitchen. Ben looked at the empty space, realized what it was and felt a slight chill down his spine, hurrying up to catch up to Klaus.
"Klaus," he tried again.
"Ben, seriously."
"Don't try to tell me everything's just alright, because-"
"I'm alright. See? Haven't I behaved the whole morning?"
"You're not alright," Ben said firmly, not really himself fully knowing where this sudden awareness was coming from. He simply couldn't shake that gut feeling, not to mention that he knew last night hadn't been easy on Klaus. And if he was seeing or hearing someone just now in the dining room, that might make him snap or something and Ben didn't want to go through all that stress again. "I know you."
"I'm setting the table. Can't I set the table?"
"Of course you can."
"Then let me set the table."
"Klaus," Ben tried again. "You said you'd talk to me if something was wrong."
"But there's nothing wrong. I'm fine."
"I know you. What's going on?"
"Well, I'm going to be fine."
There it was.
"What's going on, Klaus?" he asked, dreading the answer but fearing even more not knowing whatever idea Klaus had and not gauge its consequences before he put it to action. "What are you gonna do?"
Of course, Klaus snorted dismissively. "You sound like I'm about to end the world or something."
"What are you gonna do?" Ben repeated anyway. Nothing Klaus would do would be that harmful, but Ben didn't take out credit in Klaus' ability to make bad decisions... to screw things up, putting it plainly. Expecting more dismissiveness, he tried to make some guesses at what Klaus might be planning.
It wasn't that easy to guess, with the amount of bad possibilities there were. No doubt, whatever it was, it was caused by the previous night. Klaus wasn't really a vengeful person, so it wasn't likely he'd do anything harmful to... Luther? Luther might be a source of rage after that show of strength. Dad... no, there wasn't even a point to think about that, Klaus wasn't vengeful. He was much more prone to harm himself with poor judgement, affecting others as consequence. And poor judgement after yesterday... rash behavior, most likely. Klaus hadn't been particularly rash yet, so he was about to be. Either he was about to show everyone how hurt and scared he was, or he was going to find ways to stop feeling hurt and scared. Lying about it, like he had been doing through the morning, didn't change the facts, whether or not some people probably thought it did.
Ben should have deduced it when he saw Klaus hover around Vanya. He didn't, and he felt like the most stupid person on earth a minute after he heard a loud crash in the kitchen.
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Vanya
.
Vanya felt the crash of the platter in her very bones. She turned immediately and saw Klaus hopping away from the potatoes that scattered through the floor, hissing in embarrassment.
"Damn," Klaus cursed, looking up at her. "Sorry."
"It's alright," she replied, feeling dumb for her heartbeat having rushed up. Allison and Ben came to the kitchen to see what had happened, and again she felt that irrational sense of blame as if she had done something wrong, or people would assume she did.
"Sorry, I dropped the platter," Klaus replied at once. "You think there's enough food?"
"I think so..." Vanya replied, thinking on the food they had already set on the table. Mom would definitely notice though.
"Can you finish up in the dining room?" Klaus asked Allison and Ben as he picked a broom and started to sweep the mess.
Vanya went to pick another one broom to help him, but her heart was taking a bit too long to settle down and it was annoying her for how unreasonable the startle was. She hadn't been the one to do it and Klaus didn't mean it. It happens, so she shouldn't feel that way. Sighing, she picked up her pill bottle and took one out.
"Hey, Vanya. Can I ask you something?" She looked up as she swallowed. Klaus had a small smile on his face and was losely holding the broom. "What's the name of your pills again?"
Vanya blinked, looking at the bottle. "My pills? It's here, why-"
So simple. So utterly and childishly simple.
She felt as if she had missed a stair step the moment she extended the pill bottle to Klaus. It was like she realized her mistake immediately but her body simply continued to move and Klaus just dropped the broom with another loud crash and snatched the bottle from her hand. Her heart flew up to her mouth and blocked her scream for the full moment Klaus needed to start running.
"No! Klaus!" She hopped over the shards and potatoes and tried to run after him. "Klaus! No, give it back!"
He didn't answer, of course. He was so fast, Vanya had never realized how fast he could run, they always trained more than her but he shouldn't be that fast, and Vanya certainly didn't make for a good pursuer. She could barely catch her breath when she climbed up the stairs and her legs felt like they wanted to turn into jelly but she saw Klaus bang the door of his bedroom shut and she pushed herself forward.
"Klaus, please, Dad will be angry at me!" His door wasn't locked, obviously, so Vanya just turned the knob and stormed inside right on the instant Klaus began coughing and rubbing his chest. Vanya took a terrified second to understand what he had done.
"Jesus Christ, how can you swallow these dry?" he complained, and Vanya's eyes fell to the unmade bed where Klaus had dropped open the bottle and all of her pills were scattered on. She rushed to them and immediately tried to scrub them all in fistsfuls, looking for the orange bottle and finding it on the floor.
"These are my pills, Klaus! You can't take them!"
"Aren't they good for your nerves?" Klaus said with a light tone, though he still coughed again while Vanya dropped to her knees and tried to fit as many pills inside the plastic bottle at once as she could. "I need some for my nerves too."
"You shouldn't have taken them away! Why did you do that?! Why don't you ask Dad to get some for you too?"
The familiar anxiety clawing at her chest didn't let her notice Allison and Ben had followed after them. She barely heard them at the bedroom door, focused on hiding all the pills away fast, and even though she had just taken one minutes ago, she poped up another pill by reflex.
"Klaus! What did you do?" Ben demanded.
"I can't believe it," Allison rebuked with a palpable fury. The four of them inside the small bedroom turned it into a crowd. "Klaus!"
"Dad's gonna be so mad at me-" Vanya let out in a whisper. This was her only real task, the only real actual command she had: take and keep her pills. It was so simple even an extra ordinary person like her could do it. And she failed it. What if they were bad for Klaus? That didn't make much sense - they were for her nerves, so he was right to assume it'd help him - but what if... he shouldn't take them! "Dad's gonna be so mad at me!"
"What's he gonna do to you?" Klaus said, still rubbing his chest. "He's not gonna punish you with anything."
"Of course he will!"
"Do you plan on telling him?" Klaus cut her. "Cause I don't."
"You stole her pills," Allison accused and Klaus immediately raised his hands.
"I didn't steal anything! I just wanted to see what they were called!"
"Klaus!" Ben had to voice out as Allison shook her head in disapproval and Vanya's mouth gaped as she was just about to say he was lying - he had taken a pill, she knew he had. "You took one, didn't you?"
"No!" he denied promptely and Vanya's small relief for Ben's quick deduction was crushed. "Are you two gonna tell him? I didn't do anything!"
"You stole her pills! Why'd you do that if you didn't want to take them?"
"I just wanted to see! Why is she the only one who gets pills? I need some too."
"So you took one!"
"No!"
"Klaus, apologize to Vanya," Allison demanded, helping Vanya up.
"Sorry, Vanya," he said so automatically and so empty Vanya had to swallow hard. Although her breathing was settling down and she felt her hands much steadier as she hurried up to gather the rest of the scattered pills, she was biting the inside of her cheek and looking at Klaus with a glare. He knew what he had done, and he wasn't going to admit it to Allison and Ben. "Sorry, sorry, okay?"
She was so mad. Klaus was lying, and Vanya shouldn't be the one that had to carry that burden. He lied! He lied about the whole thing, he dropped that platter on purpose to scare her, to make her take her pills out so he could steal them. He lied about it, so what if he kept lying and she was forced to do the same? Or at least pretend it didn't happen? That was lying too. He was shoving that over to her because now she had to lie for him while knowing he had done a wrong thing, or decide to tell the truth and face those consequences... but what consequences did she have to face, anyway? Wasn't telling the truth the good thing? But if she hadn't let him steal from her to begin with-
Her thoughts were cut and turned into a punch to the gut when she turned around and she saw Dad at the door. All color drained from her face and she shoved the pill bottle in her uniform pocket.
"Dad."
She couldn't see Klaus, but she imagined the look on his face. Dad stepped away from the door, commanding them without a single word. They marched outside in absolute silence, and sure enough, she peeked at Klaus by her side and saw he had gone pale too. His gamble didn't last long at all, certainly not as long as he hoped it would. It was almost staggering how all of Vanya's doubts about being confronted with any of this were so fast to be put down.
Dad didn't ask what was going on. He just stood there, looked straight to Vanya's eyes, and even through the two pills clogging up her heart and brain, she still felt a pang of nervousness.
"Did Number Four steal your medication, Number Seven?"
Vanya's eyes dropped and she pinched her hands together. Dad knew; he just knew. Had he heard the commotion? Had he guessed, or... how did he just know?
What was the point of even thinking about lying now? It wasn't as if she could lie to Dad to begin with, but... she was so scared. Because telling the truth would prove she had messed up, she let Klaus steal the pills, that's how Dad would feel, and he would be angry with her. She messed up, she couldn't do anything right. So how could she know what was the right thing to do now?
Before she could decide the best and less harmful way to tell the truth, Klaus spoke up. "Dad, I-"
"Silence, Number Four."
"But I stole them," Klaus insisted, making Vanya's breathing fall short. She felt Ben and Allison stiffen too. What was he doing? "It's what I was going to say, I took the pills from her."
"I did not ask you a question, Number Four."
"But I'm telling you-"
"Number Seven, answer me."
Vanya looked at both of them and pinched her hands harder, trying to somehow sooth herself with that pain.
"Yes, Dad. He took the bottle and ran away."
"Did he take any of your pills?"
Vanya swallowed hard even as she saw Klaus moving beside her. "Dad, I'm right here. Why don't you ask me if-"
"Because you lie, Number Four," Dad answered him directly and Vanya felt Klaus waver slightly. Before she could fight against the thought, she realized a part of her was suddenly grateful he had taken one of her pills; they weren't magical pills, but they helped, a lot...
"I don't lie." ...Perhaps a bit too much. Just because it made the problems feel less heavy, those pills didn't make the problems disappear. "It was a joke, I didn't want to steal her pills. It was just a joke."
"Number Seven. Answer me. Did your brother take any of your pills?"
"I didn't," he lied.
"I..." she wasn't a good liar; she couldn't even lie to herself. How could she pretend she didn't know what Klaus had done?" "I-I don't know. I don't think..."
There was a loud snap and Vanya nearly jumped, her eyes wide. Klaus stumbled back and Vanya froze on the spot, unable to move her face to Ben or Allison, stunned at the sight of Klaus with his hands tightly covering his mouth. His breathing got heavy and she literally felt how the tears were rising to his eyes because they certainly were rising on hers.
Dad didn't really hit them. The mere threat he might was more than enough to make them dread, and yet all of them had had some form of tap on the back of their hands or on their wrists throughout their growing up, warnings to stop doing whatever they might have been doing at the time. Vanya didn't remember ever seeing any of them get slapped.
Dad didn't move for a moment. His hand fell back slowly, which made the moment seem even worst than it already was, giving it no room for questioning or doubting what had just happened. Everything was so quiet it made Klaus' muffled breathing sound terryfing.
"You're grounded, Number Four," Dad said solemnly. "Go to Number One and Two. You will skip meal time too and I will talk to you later."
Klaus didn't reply. The hands covering his mouth strangled the sound of the sob that he was fighting in and Vanya saw the tears falling slowly. She swallowed hard again, waiting for Dad to turn to her and extend the punishment, waiting for the cold words, terrified he might hit her, but nothing come. He merely commanded the three of them to go to the dining room at once.
Vanya didn't dare look up at him, or Klaus, or Allison or Ben. They didn't look at her either. They marched down the stairs in stunned silence and she realized faintly that, just like yesterday night, everyone was just leaving Klaus alone crying. At least now she wouldn't be forced to listen to it again.
.
Five
.
Sometimes, being considerably better than everyone really did have its perks. He wasn't the first choice of invitation for silly ideas or front-seat spectator to family beefs, and he would sometimes get caught in the aftermath of something that he didn't quite catch.
It wasn't hard to fill in the blanks, though. What was interesting this time was how extensive they seemed to be.
Five looked at the half empty table and hardly managed to surpress a scoff. The absences weren't surprising, really. Luther and Diego were frequently grounded at the same time, for obvious reasons, and Klaus was a logical outcome too. Just because he hadn't start screaming or banging his head against a wall first thing in the morning didn't mean he was alright and last night didn't happen. He was bound to do something reckless, if not for anything else, simply because he couldn't deal with the causes of his breakdown alone. Obviously, Dad wouldn't compromise his posture: he wouldn't do any different than his own way, and his own way was to pretend nothing had happened until it inevitably did - therefore proving, to him, that he had plausible facts to justify just keep doing everything like he wanted. In his head, it'd always make sense and be the right way.
Klaus, and all of them for that matter, were stupid if they didn't see it.
Three of them were grounded for whatever reason, and the other three were looking as though they were too scared to dare to breathe too much.
What a stellar day. No doubt Dad was very satisfied.
And it was just lunch time.
.
Diego
.
Diego was tightly crossing his arms in front of his chest, trying to ignore the throbbing pain on his eyebrow and tapping his foot impatiently when Klaus appeared at the door of the infirmary. Diego frowned as a way to say hello.
"Great, now I have to be with two morons instead of one. You're grounded too?"
Klaus shrugged and dragged his feet. Diego frowned a bit more when he took a better look at his face, seeing a clear red flush on the bottom half of it. His lips seemed a bit swallowed and there was redness around it, like he had hit his mouth somewhere somwhow. He then noticed the trails of tears on his cheeks. Klaus rested his back against the wall beside them and sliding down to the floor, crossing his legs and loosely crossing his arms on his lap.
"Did you have another tantrum again?" Luther provoked, but all he got was another shrug.
"How's the arm?" Diego asked, glaring at Luther. If he had to be here with the two of them, he knew for sure whose stupidity he'd prefer to put up and side with.
Klaus shrugged again. "Hurts. Luther's a dick."
"Yeah, no shit Sherlock," Diego scoffed.
"I'm right here, morons," Luther complained. Diego scoffed harder and Klaus shrugged for the fourth time.
"I didn't sleep well, I get headbutted, and now I gotta sit with you two," Diego moaned. "Thanks a bunch."
"I guess that was my fault, too," Klaus said quietly.
"Don't get cocky," Diego replied. "You know what's your fault."
"Yeah, I do."
"If only you used that stubborness for useful things," he continued, though the harshness of his voice dropped down a bit in hopes Klaus would understand his point without having to say it. He heard him all that time locked in the bedroom. He hadn't liked it one bit, and not really just because it kept him awake for another hour. "Whatever you did now, it wasn't a good use."
Klaus scoffed quietly. "Yeah. I wonder. It wasn't as if I could ask and ask and ask the old cavern troll to get anything out of him. I doubt even I am stubborn enough to do that."
Diego blinked and found himself scoffing. He turned to Luther just to see how the big baby processed the words.
"You're talking about Dad," Luther said eventually.
"You're the one who said it," Klaus replied.
"Don't do that again. Show some respect."
"Or what? You're gonna try to tear my other arm off?"
"Don't be stupid, Klaus, I didn't hurt you that much."
Klaus sneered and pulled his legs closer to his chest. The three of them fell silent for a moment, after which Diego turned his face to Klaus again. There was a fresh watery glint on his cheek, and the redness around his mouth was still clear. Diego breathed out quietly. He wasn't just going to ask him what was wrong; things didn't work that way with him. He had subtler ways to do it.
"What did you do now, you idiot?" Yeah. Subtle. "Did you have a breakdown again?"
"I'm actually quite calm," he replied dryly. "It doesn't feel too bad. I wouldn't be always frowning if I could hear all this quiet all the time."
"Since when do you frown?" Diego asked, getting yet another shrug as answer.
"I meant Vanya."
"What does she have to do with anything?"
Klaus shrugged one more time and Diego frowned in annoyance. Was he trying to be annoying with all that dismissiveness? Why the hell was he so stubborn with only the bad things?
Diego didn't get a lot of time to dwell on that. He heard Dad's footsteps approach and turned to the door to see him step inside. Lunch time was already over; suddenly, Diego felt his stomach growl.
"Have you three thought back on your misbehaving?" he asked, purposefully wanting them to answer and not passing with an embarrassed silence. Luther and Diego replied and groaned respectively, but Klaus didn't say anything. Dad didn't really seem surprised. "Number Four. I asked you a question."
"Am I allowed to answer now?"
"Klaus," Luther hissed before Diego could.
"That pouting behavior only shames you, Number Four, not me," Dad said with his voice even. "It was your own actions that led you here and you will learn to face the consequences of it."
"I didn't do anything."
"You did exactly what a weak person would, and prove yourself even worse by insisting on your lie."
Klaus' eyes widened. Diego saw the moment something lit up in his brain and he moved his face up to Dad. He seemed to struggle for a moment to believe whatever it was he had realized, but color vanished from his face all the same and his lips parted without any word coming out, just staring at Dad who stood unflinching even after the harsh words.
"...you lied."
Diego felt his body straightening up as if he had been stung with a needle and how Luther did the same as well. Dad's face fell slowly towards a frown that became heavier by the second.
"What did you say?"
Diego yelled mentally for Klaus to be quiet and tried to silently tell him that with his eyes but Klaus wasn't looking and wouldn't really have cared either way.
"You lied," he repeated louder instead. Luther stood up and Diego followed by reflex, unsure why exactly he had done it. He looked at Klaus in confusion, seeing the hurt in his face and how his eyes were watering from it. "You lied."
"I don't lie, Number Four," Dad said plainly. "Your irresponsibility is turning into arrogance and disrespect and I will not tolerate it."
"You knew I was gonna do that," Klaus voice broke. A tear fell down on his face. "You knew... you knew, you were just waiting to see when I would do it."
Diego frowned, not really following what was going on but seeing that, whatever it was, Klaus was right; the coldness in Dad's expression was striking. Luther didn't really seem interested beyond his outrage for Klaus' disrespect, and while Diego was undeniably surprised with it as well, there was clearly something wrong behind it. And it didn't seem to be Klaus.
Klaus didn't seem angry. If Diego had to try and find a word for what he saw on his brother's face, it was 'broken'. It wasn't disappointment or disbelief, and it was more than hurt. It was just broken.
Dad didn't seem to care. If anything, his face grew even colder. "You are the sole responsible for your actions, Number Four. It's your responsability to-"
"You lied," Klaus insisted, and more quiet tears followed. "You just pretended like nothing happened because you knew it'd make me do something, that I'd try to make it better somehow."
Diego ignored Luther's pathetic outrage and focused on Dad because the sight of Klaus was becoming too much to bear, only to find out Dad was a much worst one.
"Your actions are your own, Number Four. You are weak, and this just proves it."
Klaus dropped his eyes when he caught his breath despite the increasing number of tears. "Why... why didn't you... you could've... told me you'd get me pills too, or-"
"You are not to take any medication you do not need."
"But I need it!" Klaus raised his voice but it was damaged from that hurt. "I can't sleep! I want to be able to just lay in my bed and sleep and not have to fear I'm gonna wake up with a corpse standing over me and calling my name!"
"Ghosts cannot harm you, Number Four."
"I don't care if you don't think they can! They do! They hurt me by not shutting up! They hurt me by showing me the horrible ways they died! I can't do anything for them, and they're destroying me!"
"Regardless, I did not lie to you. Do not try to turn your misconducts around and pin blame on others."
"Dad, listen to me, please-"
"You lied about having overcome your fear," Dad cut him, making Klaus cower back.
"It doesn't matter if I'm scared of them or not, what matters is that I can't function with them, Dad!"
"Your whole purpose is to function with them, Number Four." Dad corrected sharply, making Diego blink and Klaus cover his face with his hands, his body jerking slightly. "You lied to your sister, and you lied to me. Hiding behind tears and lies will not change anything. Lying has severe consequences, as you will learn. It's about time for you to face them and learn properly once and for all."
Diego almost feared that Klaus wouldn't back down, not even with the warning/threat, but he seemed to give up. He sank slightly more on the floor, his face still hidden, and Dad decided to leave him there.
"You two can go," he said to Luther and Diego. "Your study time is about to start. You'll stay here, Number Four."
Klaus didn't say anything, didn't complain, didn't break down crying. He just kept fighting a losing battle with the silent tears. Diego pressed his lips and did his best not to speak, because while before he'd wonder 'what was there to say?', now he was sure there'd be a lot. And he'd face just as a bad punishment as Klaus would.
"You know, you're right," Luther said quietly when they were alone in the corridor. "Klaus is stupidly stubborn."
Diego bit down his tongue and remained silent.
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to be continued
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Author's Note: A little hint: manipulating emotionally fragile children and punishing them in the fashion to come will not teach them not to lie, it'll just teach them there's no point in trying to ask for help and that you need to do whatever you can to help yourself.
Seems like DSBM is the soundtrack of this fic.
Thank you for reading. Feedback is appreciated.
Next chapter: Some 'educating' through a subject matter I find quite heavy. Warnings will be added.