You know what?

Klaus never had problems like these when he was living apart from his circus act of a family. Sure, the fourth Hargreeves was prone to getting into trouble rather often here and there perfectly fine on his own, but nothing like this.

Since he came back home, Klaus had acquired a slight concussion from a snow globe (okay, maybe that one was by his design), was kidnapped, tortured, forced into sobriety… and now?

He accidentally time traveled.

To.

The.

Fucking.

Vietnam.

War.

Who does that? WHO does that? Anyone who gets too close to the horror show that is the "Umbrella Academy", that's who.

Klaus didn't really have much time to feel sorry for himself when he "touched down" though. He didn't even understand exactly where he was at first.

Instantly, his ears were met with punishing cracks and BOOMS of deadly power that he could feel in his core. People rushed up around him, moving too fast for Klaus to take in faces or details. They were just army-green blurs, shouting words and phrases that made zero-fucking sense to him.

"Delta-Four, Delta-Four! We've got an NVA situation! Firebase Bastogne. That's Firebase Beta, Alpha-"

"MOVE, MOVE, MOVE! Last one moves out in a body bag!"

"Charlies inbound! Charlies on the wire!"

"Where'd this FNG come from?"

What the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck…

He just wanted some good luck for a change- some extra cash, is all. Something to celebrate his survival from the wonderful Hazel and Cha-Cha like some good speed or even just some purple haze. Klaus didn't care at this point. He just wanted something to numb the end of the world that was transpiring around him right now.

"You got mud in your ears, boy?"

You talkin' to ME?

"No! No, I'm not-"

Klaus blinked, dumbfounded at the dude at the mouth of the tent. Speaking of which- that same exit point looked onto the outside world and man, oh man it wasn't pretty. The sky lit up with streaks of blazing light, smoke dense in the air. Dark shadows of foreign, pointy trees cast up a menacing silhouette of a forest-line that somehow seemed to embody impending evil against the fiery skies behind it.

Hell. That tent opening was the gate to Hell; Klaus was sure of it.

He was too damn sober for this shit.

Someone was yelling something about pants and speaking of which, here were some being shoved at his person right now. Klaus was too stunned to even argue that he'd never be caught dead wearing those cargo atrocities. Instead, he stumbled to pull on some clothes, felt a helmet slapped on his head, and was hurried out of the ratty tent not a moment later.

The next half hour was a blur. Klaus had eventually convinced himself that he had somehow been knocked unconscious and this was all simply a heinous nightmare, just to get himself through the movements while maintaining a small shred of sanity.

One moment he was pressed against a giant man-made mound of what felt like towering sandbags with a gun shoved in his hands, the next he was following a group of men hustling into an underground bunker. He figured it was probably a good idea considering that they were all screaming,

"Brace yourselves! Get underground! B-52s inbound!"

Thank the lawd for that one guy who Klaus first laid eyes on when he arrived in this hell-hole. He had just subconsciously resorted to following him. His face was kind even in the heat of everything, and in a time like this, Klaus appreciated that. He was probably the only person who paid Klaus a second glance anyway.

In fact, once things settled down and everyone was huddled in the bunker preparing for who-the-hell-knows what, Klaus noticed that this guy was paying him much more than just a second glance.

There was a third.

Then a fourth.

Fifth, sixth, seventh… But every time Klaus would feel eyes on him and look over, the curious soldier would look away. His eyebrows would still be knit in an expression of suspicion though like he somehow could sense that out of everything and everyone here, Klaus was severely out of place.

To be honest, if anyone stopped to pay any mind to Klaus, it wasn't all too hard to figure out. Klaus found himself staring back at this dude, finding within him to laugh at himself just a little-

After all of this shit: Dodging invisible but apparently very real bullets, inhaling lung-fulls of smoke and gunpowder, hustling around a large campsite-looking area while trying to keep up with the crowd and not die from whatever the impending "NVA" was… Klaus could still spare a moment to notice he was, in fact, pretty damn attracted to this man.

Still in there, Klaus. He said to himself with reluctant, dark amusement. Thought I lost you there for a second, buddy.

And he did. He was so traumatized this past half-hour that he nearly forgot who he was. But now at this moment while looking at the only guy who may have witnessed Klaus materializing out of thin air, Klaus found himself again.

I'm Klaus Hargreeves. Number Four of Seven in the Umbrella Academy. I was kidnapped and tortured by assholes looking for Number Five, stole their briefcase, and ended up "here". I'm sober. I'm starving. And if it was any other situation right now, I'd totally jump that guy's bones over there.

Klaus actually snickered at himself at that, pulling in the attention of a few men around him. His smiled instantly dropped and he looked down, hiding from their accusatory gazes. It was that moment when the world began to violently shake with each passing BOOM and BAM. He'd never be able to tell exactly how close they were, but Klaus knew they were bombs.

So, in the next half-hour, as they waited out the rain of fire, Klaus started to piece things together. This was some type of war. Out there were some types of palm trees. It was hot, muggy, and hard to breathe. The guys around him looked too damn young to be fighting in these kinds of conditions- a bunch of baby faces in helmets.

It really was those helmets that gave him the ultimate clue. He remembered watching Full Metal Jacket with Diego and Ben when they were teenagers, making fun of Diego and his overzealous need to prove to everyone that he liked violence and therefore, loved the movie.

Full Metal Jacket had been the Vietnam War though, and that couldn't possibly be right. That ended… what? 50 years ago?

"In the clear." A voice crackled over the radio, followed by a bunch of military letters and numbers that didn't mean shit to Klaus. The radio was held by a hardened man on the opposite side of the dugout space who waved them all out. Everyone broke into mumbles and musings, some men pushing and teasing at each other like nothing just happened.

"I want you all set and ready by 0500, understand?" The hardened man ordered. A mix of responses was offered back, most of which calling him "Lieutenant". Klaus took note of it… stay away from that guy. His problems with authority wouldn't prove to work too well in his favor in this situation.

Klaus rushed to the briefcase as soon as he got back to that same tent from before, finally in a stable-enough state of mind to realize that it was probably his only chance out of here… Not before he grabbed his jacket and fished around for a small bag of pills in his inner pocket that was thankfully still present. He popped one just in time for chaos to kick up again.

Christ… No one could relax around here.

Before he knew it, Klaus was being rushed out to a bus.

"Let's go, let's go, let's go! Those Charlies won't stick around and watch you grow beards!"

This gun felt so odd in his hands. It was definitely something he never planned on using. He wasn't even sure if he knew how and after all, this wasn't his fight.

In his other hand, Klaus clutched the handle of his briefcase, trying to hide it from the Lieutenant's sight. He didn't know the rules around here, but no one else was carrying around any personal items and if this one was confiscated from him… game over. Klaus just needed to find a moment to stop, figure out how the hell to work this thing and then zap back home where the air was comfortable and not filled with smoke and fire.

On the bus, Klaus pulled the case from under the seat where he hid it. He examined it more closely like he should've done in the first place.

You know, you wouldn't get yourself into so much trouble if you just slowed down and thought before you acted. It's that simple, dude. Ben had told him on multiple occasions, ever the judgy spirit.

Ben.

Where was Ben? He could really use him right now. There was something… or a lack of something that Klaus felt though. It was like an emptiness or a deep, bottomless pit in his stomach. There was something missing inside of him in a way that he could never explain, but he could say for sure that it had something to do with his brother or his lack-of-brother.

Klaus had a painfully terrifying feeling that Ben wasn't around anymore.

You really did it this time. Klaus told himself as fear gripped his chest and forced his heart to pump at record speeds in order to stay on top of the way his ribs felt like they were caving in. He was in some foreign place, surrounded by strangers, surrounded by imminent danger and was utterly alone. He hadn't had the need to do anything alone for years- Benny was always there, even if it was just to offer up a snide remark or disappointed head shake.

He'd do anything for Ben's sass right now. He'd do anything to be bossed around by him.

Tell me what to do, Ben. Klaus silently pleaded to no one. Please, Ben. I really need you, pal.

He knew his pleas were useless, but the thought of what his brother would say was achingly comforting.

The briefcase… The answer's gotta be somewhere in or on this briefcase. Klaus didn't dare carelessly open it again- being shoved smack-dab in the middle of a war was bad, but with his luck, the next flash would send him to the bottom of the fucking ocean or something.

Almost instantly (and embarrassingly), Klaus found a clue. There were dials and numbers on the side of the case in tiny but intricate typography. The first dial was circled by a range of numbers: 0-20.

The dial was set to 19.

Then there was a keypad of buttons and a tiny monitor above them.

At the moment, the monitor read 68.

After that, another dial. 01-12, set to 4. Finally, another keypad set to 22.

Klaus stared at the tiny details.

19… 68… 04… 22…

1968, 0422…

04/22… 1968.

Well, shit.

Welcome to April 22nd, 1968, dipshit. Klaus told himself, dropping the case to the floor beneath his feet in frustration. His heart pounded in his chest so loudly that he could hear it knocking in his brain.

He time traveled. That's Five's thing! Not his. He was perfectly fine in the second millennium, thank you very much.

Okay, okay… Calm down, Klaus. Just set it back to 2019 and you'll be home. Just find out how to simultaneously get back to America and then-

"Listen up!"

Klaus instinctually shoved the briefcase back underneath his seat. The Lieutenant stood at the front of the creaky bus, his face steely and his eyes even more so.

"We've got solid intel on the whereabouts of the VC shits that just tried to fuck us over at Bastogne. We get them, we take them out, we go back and kick our boots up until the next VC show their ugly faces and then we take them out too. Don't be a dumbass and you might make it through today. Got it?"

Mumbles of agreement. Klaus just stared at the Lieutenant, looking quickly away when he nearly made eye contact. He hated being told what to do, but he especially hated someone yelling at him what to do. He hadn't let anyone order him around since he left the house when he was 17 and finally broke free of dear old Daddy Reggie.

Klaus thought of his family. Maybe they'd realize he was gone for once and Five could come get him. Was there any way to even figure out exactly where... or when he was?

Pfft… That didn't matter anyway: They wouldn't notice. Who was he kidding? The only person who would care to notice was already dead and that'd be no help.

"You just get in country?" Klaus heard a voice from behind him, breaking him from his homesickness and slamming him back into the reality of 1968. He turned to see that soldier that he first laid eyes on upon arriving- the attractive one with kind eyes.

Something about those eyes did funny things to Klaus's chest. Somehow, they soothed some of the anxious tightenings around his heart but at the same time, created a pit in his stomach that grew a whole new nervousness that he couldn't yet understand.

"Oh, uh… Yeah."

Intelligent, Klaus. Real smooth.

The man smiled a bit at this, like he already admired something about Klaus. Number Four couldn't possibly guess what there was to admire about him yet- so far, he was just the out-of-place, confused, slightly horrified guy who materialized out of nowhere.

The guy's smile was one of those ones that was infectious though, and by some miracle, Klaus found himself lightly chuckling too. Maybe it was just the absurdity of it all finally catching up to him.

"Yeah, shit's crazy I know."

It was a simple enough phrase, but it hit some kind of cord within Klaus. It was crazy and Klaus was beginning to think he was the only one here who thought it was crazy… and terrifying, and loud, and chaotic even for someone like Klaus who practically lived for chaos.

"Yeah." Was all he could manage to gratefully choke out.

"You'll adjust."

He wasn't saying much, but it was more than enough. Besides, his eyes did most of the communication anyway. They made it feel like Klaus's insides were melting just a bit… or maybe that was the pill he took earlier.

"I'm Dave."

Dave.

"Klaus."

They shook hands, eyes still locked. Klaus noted that his skin felt softer than he would've expected from someone who must've been soldiering for quite a while.

Klaus, this is a war for fuck's sake. Inappropriate time to be making googly eyes.

His Ben-side of his brain reprimanded. The Klaus-side told him that he had just been through a clusterfuck of shit and he deserved to at least allow himself to enjoy the sight of a hot guy, even if it was 1968 and he wasn't planning on sticking around to let anything happen… as if it even would. For now, he was just hella appreciative of "Dave's" outreach in comfort.

When Dave pulled his hand back, Klaus felt his chest fall a bit. Once again, he was alone in all of this. The moment shared with Dave was nice, but Klaus reminded himself that he didn't even belong here in the first place. Anyone's offer of understanding here could only go so far.

"So what's your schtick, then?" The guy across the aisle from Klaus butted in, eyeing him up. The man wasn't unkind in the slightest- already from his look, Klaus could tell he was a bit goofy… young, too.

"Uh… Late night breakfast foods, molly, live music, nightclubs, walks before dawn…"

"Get a load of this FNG." The guy (more like a boy actually) giggled as if it were hilarious. Klaus was fucking around- he knew that he wasn't asking for his personal hobbies and interests, but the kid laughed harder and more ridiculously than was deserved. It kind of lightened the mood. "Funny guy, huh? What's your war schtick, brother? Standard fire? Close combat? You a sharp shooter?"

Klaus already liked this guy. He could get comfortable easily with someone who didn't take everything so damn seriously. Although, this kid might have been pushing the limits past even Klaus's ability to hide behind jokes and musings. They were being carted off to their possible death and the dude was acting like he was watching stand-up, safe in a dark, sub-par lounge.

"Nah. I'm a lover. Not a fighter." Klaus only half-teased, finding his rhythm and usual fake-confidence again in time to teasingly wink at the placid guy on the other side of "Mr. Giggles". The quiet soldier couldn't help but break into a small smile despite the fact that he looked nervous as hell, rolling his eyes and returning to gloomily stare out the window.

A lot of chuckles erupted from around them and Klaus just then realized that more people were listening in on their conversation than he thought. Suddenly he had the whole bus's attention.

Leave it to you to become the center of attention in 0.2 seconds.

I can't help it, Benjamin. I just have magnetism, is all. Don't hate.

Klaus felt a pang in his chest at that memory of him and Ben.

"So, what? They send us some kind of dove?" A voice came from near the front of the bus. Klaus glanced down to see a scowling man poking out into the aisle, his eyes narrowed cruelly and suspiciously.

Klaus stared right back. He didn't like the vibe that this chump gave out. He didn't even know what that meant exactly, although he could use association clues- Dove? Like as in peace? What- like a hippie?

"Shut up, Eugie." A smooth, calm, but authoritative voice said from behind Klaus. Dave, again.

And this… "Eugie" actually shut up. Klaus saw, and was impressed by the fact, that Dave held some kind of respect amongst everyone there. He wasn't an officer of any sort (not that Klaus would know how to tell that about anyone) but when he spoke, everyone seemed to instantly listen.

"He's not some dove. You're not a dove, right Klaus?"

Klaus didn't look back at Dave. In fact, his eyes never left Eugie's. The man looked murderous already, and Klaus barely just met him.

…And 0.4 seconds to make an enemy. Ben would always say. Even amidst a foreign war in a time in which he didn't belong, Klaus still could never keep his mouth shut once it got going.

"Always been more of a Kakapo, myself." Klaus joked, but it really wasn't a joke. Although those not paying attention chuckled again and broke out into other conversation, Klaus said it more as a challenge. He said it while staring straight into lil' Eugie's eyes with a cocky narrow of his own eyes and suddenly, there was fire in this man's irises. They sat like that in their own moment for a while, Eugie glaring and Klaus who still wore his smart-ass half-smirk.

Enemy made. Too bad for Eugie that Klaus wouldn't be around long enough to hash it out with.

"Nah… He's gonna take out some Charlies today." Giggles said, shaking Klaus's shoulder and jostling him back to their lighter conversation.

"Charlie, who?

Giggles outright barked in laughter at that, slapping his knee and everything. Klaus didn't see what was so funny about that but he nervously laughed to do the only thing he could think to control at this moment- fit in.

"Heh…"

"You're bold for an FNG."

"Heh, heh… Yeah…"

What the fuck's this "FNG" thing?

"Hey! Want to hold my M79? You a grenade man?"

"No, not especially." Klaus cleared his throat, nervously looking down at the huge piece of fireing equipment in Giggles' hand. He flinched away when he offered it to him. If there's one thing Klaus knew about firearms, it was that he was plenty destructive without them as it was.

"You comin' from basic? Right outta boot?"

Boot? What's boot? Basic?

"…Yyyyyyeaaaaaahhh…" Klaus said, more as a question than a confident answer.

"Man… They're getting desperate, sending us all these cherries, man. No wonder we be sending home more bags than bodies lately." A gruff, solemn voice from in front of Klaus sounded. Klaus peaked around the seat to see a man with a dark disposition. He didn't meet Klaus's curious eyes but instead kept his own out his window.

"Don't worry, you've got a good 50-50 chance, Boots." Giggles told him, .

Boots? Is he, Klaus, "Boots" now?

"At what?"

"Surviving."

Everyone laughs at the same capacity as if he just made a knock-knock joke. Klaus turned away towards his window and his eyes widened. He shook his head a little in disbelief.

To say the least, Klaus is a little mortified.

Lush mountains surrounded them like a sea of giant green waves. It was gorgeous… Nothing like Klaus had ever seen before.

"Don't listen to Teddy." Ah... so "Giggles" was actually named "Teddy". "I'll watch your back out there, you watch mine, yeah?" Dave's voice rose above miscellaneous murmurs, pulling Klaus back into the bus. He turned to meet those soft eyes again, noticing how goosebumps erupted on his flesh whenever Dave spoke up.

Must've just been a weird coincidence.

"Yeah, you'll be alright with Dave. Crazy fucker actually signed up to be here. Can you believe that?" Teddy asked, sharing a smile with Dave that told Klaus they had some friendly history together. He imagined fighting for your life side by side would speed up the path to companionship quite a bit around here.

Maybe he and Dave would become better friends.

Klaus, you dumbass. You don't belong here. You're going home as soon as this bus stops and you can sneak away.

"Though, I don't know. Might be dangerous standing 'round a guy like that. Maybe he has some kind of death wish, askin' to be here. Pfft. Crazy fucker." Teddy reiterated, earning a shove to his helmet from Dave who shook his head and smiled. "What about you, Boots? You here on your own? Got some kind of death wish?"

"Well I've died before and it wasn't all that bad." Klaus announced as casually as announcing the weather. He gave a short shrug. He heard someone mutter "Heavy..." near the back of the bus in awe. "But, no. I didn't sign up, really. I'm not supposed to be here."

"Hahaha!" Teddy giggled with that hilarious-in-itself chortle. "None of us are, Boots."

Yeah, but me especially. Klaus thought rather glumly. And he guessed he was "Boots" now.

The bus lurched to a stop.

"Sorry. Hope you weren't too attached to "Klaus"." Dave referred to his new nickname, slapping a hand on Klaus's shoulder before exiting the bus with everyone else. Klaus himself stayed put for a just a bit, his heart rate picking up once again as he formed a half-fleshed-plan in his head.

Get out last, sneak off into the dense forestry, set the briefcase back to his home date and coordinates and get the hell out of here.

As soon as he went to reach down for the briefcase though, a shadow fell over him. Klaus instinctively snapped his gaze upwards to come face to face with the Lieutenant.

Fan-fucking-tastic.

"There a reason you're dawdling, son?"

Son? Klaus swore, he had to be older than this dick. He may have been bigger in muscle and mass, but underneath it all, his face was that of someone that was, if anything, the same age as he was.

"Uh-"

"What's that!?" He so rudely interrupted. Klaus's mouth moved in defense before his brain.

"I said, uh. Sir." He spat sarcastically.

Klaus! Shut up. Shut up. Shut up. Shut up.

The Lieutenant froze, his eyes growing ever so slightly bigger. His muscles bulged and his frame overall tensed. For a split second, Klaus wasn't all too convinced that he wasn't about to yank the barrel of his gun down and unload straight into his face.

"Klaus?" A familiar voice called. His body recognized it before his mind did, his own muscles relaxing at the sound of it. "You coming?" Klaus glanced over the seat in front of him and saw Dave peaking in from the front of the bus. He wasn't looking back at Klaus though. He was staring at the Lieutenant with a tight expression. His eyes were nowhere near the same as they were when they looked at Klaus earlier- they were hard and accusing- like Dave knew the Lieutenant's intentions in harassing the newcomer.

"Excuse moi." Klaus chirped in a theatrical voice as if he didn't recognize the tension of the situation whatsoever. He stood (begrudgingly without the briefcase) and brushed past the muscle-statue of a man and towards Dave.

Speaking of which, he was going to have to keep a list of how many times he owed this guy at this point. First, Dave saved him from the brink of completely cracking up amidst all the hullaballoo, and now he was saving him from his own damn mouth.

"Listen," Dave said as soon as Klaus stepped out into the annoying, blinding sun. He could do without this heat. You spend two seconds outside and you were already drenched in sweat. The bugs were a pain in the ass too. Swarms of little gnat-like insects polluted the air in places you wouldn't notice until you walked right through them.

At least the scenery was nice. The palms… the mountains… the vines… Like something out of a photograph or a movie.

"Hey! Klaus!" Dave waved his hand in front of Number Four's face. Klaus blinked.

"Oh. Sorry, I get distracted."

Dave looked at him with a curious smile, like he had pressing questions about Klaus's odd personality but thought better of asking them right now.

"I was saying that I can only help you out so much, get it? That mouth of yours-"

"-will get me into trouble. I know, I know. I'm constantly fighting a different war against this thing-" Klaus motioned to his mouth for emphasis. "-and it's always winning. Can't help it."

Dave chuckled as they walked side by side, falling into step behind a traveling line of soldiers that made their way through a dense, overgrown field. Klaus wouldn't know until later, but everyone except him would be frozen stiff with buried fear throughout the whole walk. Apparently, you never knew where mines were hidden at any given point at any given place. Every step each of them took could've been their last and everyone knew it- everyone but Klaus who practically skipped along, blissfully ignorant.

"Well don't get mixed up with Mads. He's just a bully who was given too much power for his and everybody else's good. If he gives you any trouble let me know."

"No offense, but if he's the Lieutenant than what are you really able to do about it?"

Klaus kicked himself for how that came out.

"N- not that I doubt your or- or I know anything about this stuff yet, but… I mean, I wouldn't want to drag you down with my-"

"It's okay, Klaus. I get what you mean."

Damn mouth again.

"And I wouldn't just do nothing at least. I've been out here too long to take any shake'n'bake's BS." Dave finished while simultaneously gripping Klaus's cargo vest and yanking him in towards his body just in time to save the newly famed "Boots" from stepping into a deep hole dug into the Earth. Dave nonchalantly let go as if he barely noticed that he just saved his ass again- as if it were just a natural thing by this point already.

Klaus was too distracted by what Dave just said to really pay mind to the maneuver himself… Speaking of which… What the fuck did he just say?

"Do you guys ever speak… You know, English around here?"

Another smile cracked.

"Shake'n'bake: A kid who attended NCO school and earned rank after a very short time in uniform."

"Ah."

Klaus pretended to understand. He was once again distracted though, and this time not by the scenery.

Man, this guy is even more gorgeous when he smirks like that-

NO! Shut up, Klaus. You're leaving soon.

That's what he honestly thought, too. Sure, having to leave the briefcase in the bus after falling under the watchful eye of Lieutenant "Mads" was kind of an annoying set-back, but Klaus promised to have Dave's back on this operation anyway, and he really didn't want to break that promise... as if Klaus could be really any help at all, but still.

After Klaus (hopefully) survived this mission or whatever this was, he'd make it back to the bus where the briefcase would be waiting and he'd return to 2019, marking this off as just one of the weirdest days he's ever had.

He was Klaus Hargreeves though. How stupid of him to assume that anything would be that easy.

"Mmm mmm mmm..."

Klaus looked over at Dave who stared at the back of Teddy's helmet. Teddy turned back as they walked, shaking his head with a giant smile on his face. Dave returned the smile and continued to hum some song that seemed frustratingly familiar to Klaus.

"Don't you start, Katz." Teddy mused.

"Is it stay, is it go?" Dave mutter-sang under his breath, pretending not to hear Teddy. It was obvious that he did though, especially with that mischevious glimmer in his eye. Klaus looked between the two, obviously missing out on some inside joke. "I'm being abused-"

"And I think I should know! Ner, ner, ner, ner..." Teddy picked up the lyrics, singing much more outright and dramatically. He pretended to use his gun like a guitar as he sang the guitar parts. "Dave here is somewhat of an obnoxious musicophile." He then explained to Klaus.

"Melophile!" Someone corrected from the front of the troop.

"Whatever."

Number Four turned to Dave for confirmation. Dave didn't meet his gaze. He was now focusing on their march forward as if he never started this whole thing. It didn't matter though- the rest of the entire group was now carrying on the song, more and more men joining in by the second.

"Come on, baby.

I'm starting to crack.

If you're out to get me..."

"He's got this damn song stuck in our heads since the Bouton Rouge episode in March!" Teddy yelled over the soldiers' out-of-tune melodies. "Always got some song stuck in our heads. This time it's-"

"Yardbirds. It's the Yardbirds, right?" Klaus cut in as soon as his mind connected the dots. Yeah, he knew this song. They were an older band around the time of the Beatles...

Oh, wait. That was now.

He just couldn't remember the song name...

"Mhm." Dave affirmed, smiling kindly at Klaus with a hint of... admiration again? Klaus couldn't tell for sure because he soon turned his eyes forward again, keeping his head down in thought about who-knows-what.

It was Klaus's turn to smile, turning his eyes down as well. Part of him hated himself for being so damn proud for impressing this guy he just met, but the other part of him couldn't focus on one thing for more than a few seconds anyway. All he knew was that he was left with a warm feeling in his chest.

If Klaus had looked up in that moment, he would've caught Teddy looking between the two of them, a suspicious smile of his on spreading across his face.

"Hey! Hey, hey!" The men called out, earning an eye roll from Lieutenant Mads. "I'm dazed and confused..."

Dazed and Confused.

That's what it was- the song. The one that Dave, the apparent music-addict, had forced into the heads of every soldier here.

Dazed and confused... Understatement of the year. Klaus thought.

I can't even express how much research I did for this fic. Thanks, Umbrella Academy, for getting me accidentally obsessed with Vietnam War history.

Sorry, this was a lot to unpack in one single chapter. I had to introduce some core characters like Teddy, Lieutenant Mads, Eugie, and stuff so that we can move forward at full speed ahead.

A few heads ups:

This story is T for now, but I'm leaning towards the idea of possibly adding some very M rated chapters in the future. I've never written "smut" before because I felt like it was unnecessary, but sex is an undeniable part of building a relationship and getting to know one another so I think it's only for the best to add it to this story... any objections? I'm genuinely curious to know.

Also, this is going to be a very thorough start-to-finish story! Of course, my main objective is Klaus and Dave's cuteness, but I never write without other things like plot, historical accuracy, character development, etc. I really want to have fun fleshing out a believable relationship. I'm in it for the long haul and I hope you guys are too!

This story has been so insanely difficult to write- they've barely given us anything on Klaus's time in Vietnam so I have an insane amount of historical stuff to timeline and so much detail to incorporate. It'll be super fun, but give me a hot second to keep on top of updates!

Thank you and enjoy!