AN: Started writing this and realised it was going to get a lot longer than planned, so I'm splitting in 2 parts.
Before Dave, Klaus's longest relationship had lasted three weeks.
Anthony was great, he was amazing. Glistening olive skin, broad shoulders, dark chocolate eyes and perfectly styled raven hair. He wasn't one for dancing but when he made his way through a crowd everyone seemed to part just for him as though he were some sort of deity. He was mesmerising, which was likely why he had followed the man around like some love struck puppy, or creepy-ass stalker, as Ben so kindly put it, through two bars and a nightclub.
It was actually quite pathetic as he was meant to be looking for an easy fling, the hostel was full and he was blacklisted at the local shelter. After the incident back in march that really wasn't his fault, he was going through a rough patch, two of his dealers were off the street and he was struggling to source the substances required to drown out the voices of the dead. It had been years since the one that screamed at him to "Burn it all!" Had pestered him and fire seemed to be the only thing that calmed it. Its not like he meant to burn down half the male dorm, the place really should have invested in cots that were a little less flammable.
It was late fall and the only way he could avoid spending another night freezing his ass off under some overpass was to find some sucker willing to take him home for the night. He was supposed to be hunting an easy target, not following around some guy who was way out of his league, no matter how dazzling he found the man. Which was why he'd been so surprised that when he did try to leave to actually do what he had set out to do in the first place, Mr Perfect had snagged him by the wrist. Surprised, stunned speechless and reduced to an embarrassing stuttering, stumbling mess that couldn't even manage to spit out a simple yes when the man asked he he'd like a drink.
Honestly he'd made Diego's childhood stutter seem like perfectly fluent english. Yet somehow he had managed to make a good enough impression that Anthony had actually asked him back to his place. Even more surprising was that he hadn't been tossed out once morning came like he usually was, instead Anthony cooked him omelette for breakfast, then asked him out for dinner and drinks that evening. After the second night at the man's place, a night were they had simply kissed and gone to sleep in the same bed, nothing else demanded or expected. Anthony suggested an actual relationship and hadn't at all been deterred even when Klaus admitted to practically being homeless.
He had simply said, "Well you are welcome to make yourself at home here."
Anthony was strong as Luther(perhaps a little bit of an exaggeration.) As hot-blooded as Diego, and drew the eyes of all around him like Allison. Klaus was pretty sure he was smitten, despite Ben pointing out he usually went through at least three major crushes a week. But this was different, this time the person he was crushing on not only actually knew he existed, he had actually asked him out. It was almost too good to be true, things like this never happened to him. Part of him was already waiting for the ball to drop, so he really didn't need his over protective dead brother looking for flaws in the guy.
On the fifth day into his new relationship the ball slowly started its decent, perhaps its because he was so smitten that he failed to see it. It was around 5pm and Anthony had just come home from work. He had been lounging at the kitchen island glass of wine in hand, a glass filled at his side for Ben -out of habit- and was just pouring another for his boyfriend when the man came over. Tossing his briefcase on the counter with a heavy sigh that was mixed somewhere between frustrated and exhausted.
"Hard day at the office?" Klaus asked, handing the freshly poured glass over. He didn't actually know exactly what the other man did for a living, though the suit and briefcase made it seem office-y.
Dark chocolate eyes landed on him then, brows pinching slightly in distaste as the man leant forward asking, "What the fuck is on your face?"
"What." He had his own hands gliding over his face then, searching for what the other was seeing. He hadn't really eaten that day so surely it couldn't be food and if it was Ben was an ass for not telling him it was there. Not that it would be the first time, they were brother's after all sometimes it was their job to make sure the other embarrassed them self once in a while. It was when the other licked his thumb and smudged it over his left eye he realised what the man had been talking about.
He had spent the morning out on errand. They were running low on milk and Anthony's special expensive blend of coffee, he had been given a list with the name of the blend and the speciality store it was sold at and some money. Klaus had been glad he hadn't run into anyone he knew on the way because his own special 'medication' supply was running low and he honestly wasn't sure he'd have trusted himself not to spend all the cash he'd been given on pills and powder. He had however purchased as many little blue and white pills as he could with the change on the way home.
So, as he always did when he was going out into town, he'd dolled himself up a little, nothing fancy just his usual flick of eyeliner. Eyeliner that was now more than likely a horrid dark smudge thanks to Anthony's fussing.
"Jesus, go wash that crap off. You don't need that shit on your face." Anthony said, smears of black staining his thumb as he pulled away, moving to the sink to wash his hand. Klaus heading to the bathroom to wash his own face as suggested, ignoring the look his brother sent his way.
"You seriously don't think that was odd?" Ben asked, concern hinted in his voice as they sat on the lounge a few minutes later. "I mean he practically ordered you to wash your make up off, and you love your eyeliner."
Anthony was in the kitchen cooking up a pasta dish, the man didn't like it when Klaus 'buzzed around the kitchen' as he cooked. Which was perfectly fine as he was becoming quite hooked on the 6 o'clock soap on channel five. Klaus simply shrugged his brother's worry off, "Maybe he just likes my eyes better without the make up. I think it's kind of sweet."
The next time bells started ringing for his brother, yet somehow completely flew over his own head was two days later when he'd made breakfast for a change. He'd been woken by one of his usual nightmares, the sun was just starting to creep over the horizon and he really didn't feel like testing whether or not closing his eyes again would drag him straight back to that dark concreted hell. So instead he'd gotten up and headed for the kitchen, first for a glass of water but once he was there he'd figured it might be a nice gesture too cook Anthony breakfast for a change.
On days he still slept when Anthony left for work he made himself cereal, while on days he was awake for breakfast his boyfriend cooked him up a treat. This time he'd return the favour, though he was a little(a lot) more limited on what he could cook. Cooking had never been his strong spot. He decided to go with bacon and egg toasties, because really how hard could that be? He had originally thought to go with pancakes, because who didn't like pancakes. Until Ben had reminded him how disastrous they had proven last time he'd tried cooking them.
"Perhaps next time you could try to get few more pancakes on the plate and a little less on the ceiling, sweetheart." Their mother had suggested with a warm smile that he was sure was hiding a grimace.
Toasties it was, and surprisingly enough they hadn't turned out half as bad as he'd expected, despite the grease explosion when he had put the bacon on the pan when it was a little too hot and may have contained a tad to much oil. And the eggs ended up a little more scrambled then he'd hoped, but with Ben's help, he'd managed not to burn anything. He had the toasties plated and set out on the island counter and was just pouring out three glasses of orange juice -he really needed to stop doing that, when Anthony stepped out of the bedroom.
"Morning~" He sung as he bound over to the man, planting a kiss on his cheek. "I made breakfast."
He trailed after Anthony as he stalked over to the counter, looking down at the plates sat on top, over to the kitchen, then back to the plate. Thick dark brows furrowed as he picked up the corner of one of the toasted breakfast sandwiches. "This is supposed to be edible? It's dripping with grease."
"I may have gone a little over board with the oil." Klaus admitted, "But I did sit the bacon on paper towel for a bit to try and de-grease-"
"And I suppose you expect me to clean that mess." Anthony spat, not caring at all for what Klaus was saying as he pointed towards the mess by the stove top.
"I planned to clean it after breakfast." He pointed out, voice coming out quieter than usual.
"You'd damn well better." The other huffed as he picked up his plate, dumping its contents into the trash can, before dropping it in the sink with a little more force than necessary. The loud clutter in the otherwise quiet apartment, making Klaus flinch. "I think I'll grab something on the way to work. I suggest you stick to cereal from now on."
Klaus let out a little "Sorry." As the man stalked to the bathroom to get ready for work. Pushing his own plate of food to the side, he wasn't really hungry any more.
"You made the guy breakfast, he could have at least pretended to be thankful. What an asshole." Ben shook his head from his spot on the counter as Klaus washed up the two plates.
"Yeah, total dick reaction, I was trying to do something nice... " Klaus agreed, though his conviction wavered a little as he looked over the dark stone counter tops. "Though I did make a bit of a mess, and the man is pretty anal about his high-end, 'professional' kitchen. I mean the guy has two ovens for Christ sake, who the hell needs two ovens." Klaus chuckled, he could barely use one, he'd probably burn the place down if he tried using two.
"Its not like you weren't going to clean it up, I mean come on. Its like the guy cares more about his kitchen then he does you." Ben scoffed back.
Klaus turned around from his counter wiping at that. "Come on Ben, we both know that's not true. He was probably just having a bad day or something."
Little did he know the man would have quiet a few of those over the next two weeks.
That evening however Anthony returned from work a little earlier than usual. An arm full of groceries and bearing gifts.
"I'm home!" He'd called as he shuffled through the door heading straight for the kitchen island to put his bag of groceries down. "I thought I'd cook you up something special for dinner to apologise for being such a grump this morning. My nonna's special osso bucco, it far better than anything any of the Italian joints in town serve up."
He held out a bag then, a paper one with a black and gold logo printed on the front belonging to one of those pricey clothing store's rich folk shopped in. He rounded the island to pass it to Klaus who was making his way over from the lounge. "I got you a little something as well."
"Oh goody, I love presents. Yay!" Klaus clapped enthusiastically, holding out his hands to retrieve the gift bag. "And it's not even my birthday, you're the best." Anthony didn't hang around long enough to watch him pull out the gift, as he walked back to the kitchen to finish putting away his shopping. Still Klaus tried not to let his grin falter as he reached into the bag to pull out the most monstrous shirt he'd ever laid eyes on.
It was such a drab and boring shirt, no flair or style. Actually he was pretty certain Vanya had one exactly the same in dusty blue. Only she'd have brought her's from a reasonably priced store, that didn't charge $120 according to the price tag for something so... Offensive to look at. Not that Vanya was drab or boring, she wore it brilliantly, she wore a much nicer colour and it suited her style, it just wasn't him.
"And such a unique shade of green!" He whispered to Ben "Like someone somehow mixed vomit and swamp slime into a material and made a shirt from it." Before calling "I love it!"
"I thought you would, it's much nicer than the glary stuff you currently have." Anthony replied from the kitchen.
Klaus tried to ignore that statement as he pushed the shirt back into the bag. Waving Ben away who was still making gagging noises at the garment, as he said. "I'd put it on but you know what I'm like with food, I wouldn't want to occidentally stain it."
"Good idea. Best to leave it for Tuesday night, when we go out for dinner with a couple of my friends."
Tuesday night was horrible.
"Hey Anthony! Have you seen my cherry and charcoal fade gypsy skirt?" Klaus called from the bed room where he was digging through his pile of clothes. It was one of his favourites and he'd planned on wearing it tonight. It may be the only thing that could somehow save the god awful shirt he was wearing.
"That red and black thing? I threw it away, I figured it belonged to an old girlfriend or something. Thought I'd do you a favour!" Anthony called back from the shower.
"Seriously." Klaus whined under he breath, black skinnies it was then, he thought as he tossed the clothes back in the closet in a huff.
"So what, he's just tossing you things away now." Ben scoffed in annoyance. "Wow, really found you're self a keeper this time."
"Shut it." He hissed at he brother, pulling his pants on. "He said he thought it belonged to an ex, I wouldn't really like looking at my partner's ex's stuff either."
"He didn't sound very apologetic about it."
Klaus ignored his brother quickly popping a pill into his mouth before Anthony, could walk out and bust him. He had a feeling he was going to need a little extra boost tonight.
The evening started out okay, despite the fact he felt out of place heading out without his eyeliner and dressed in the worlds tackiest shirt. He even had his hair slicked back with some oily feeling gel Anthony had combed through his hair. Yick. Anthony had his own dark hair slicked in its usual manner, silk cherry port shirt and white denim. But then again the man looked good no matter what he wore.
Anthony told him he could have whatever he wanted as they head over to the swanky Italian restaurant across town. Where they met up with clone one, two and three, honestly they had the same hair style, wore the same button ups and black slacks, the only difference was the colour of their shirts, and preceded to order dinner for him. Which was both a relief and an annoyance because, he'd liked to have had a say in what he was eating, but then he had no idea how to pronounce half the dishes on the menu let alone what they were.
He was introduced to the group and then Anthony and the others fell into easy conversation, reminiscing old times and talking work and stuff. Okay he didn't really keep up, they kept using fancy terms and words that he didn't understand like discourteous and impertinent. For for the love of god, just say the bastard was rude like a normal person. Ben, the smarty know it all that he is started out stating the simple meaning to each word, but soon lost interest as Klaus begun to loose interest himself. He tried to join in, he did but he got the feeling Anthony wasn't overly impressed with his input.
At one point they were talking money and investments and crap, like how do you even jump in on that topic. Then clone two joke about some bad investment, so he geniously jumped in with, "Speaking of bad idea's. I snorted a line of sand once for $50... Terrible decision. Like snorting hundreds of tiny glass shards." Snorting out a laugh as he said. "I was blowing sand out my nose for weeks."
At least Ben though it was funny, he'd thought if funny at the time too with all his 'I told you so's.' Anthony friends gave patronising smiles as Anthony suggested he order himself dessert. So he did as suggested and stayed quiet unless someone directed the conversation his way. Thankfully Ben was there, or else the night would have been unbearably boring.
Anthony started bringing home more presents, items of clothing that were so un-Klaus even Ben scrunched his nose at them. And Klaus hid his own cloths in the corner at the very back of the closet to try and stop his own garments disappearing. Because each time he asked if the older man had seen his missing shirt or faded purple zebra print jeans, he always got some diverted answer followed by a quick peck or a I'll cook you up something special.
Anthony may have been the only thing actually keeping him up right at that moment, as he clung to the man as he twisted his keys to unlock the apartment. They had spent the night out clubbing, and Klaus had probably had a few too many of the brightly coloured sweet drinks. He was also a little higher than he tended to get around his boyfriend, he'd rather the guy think him a recreational user.
Giggling as he stumbled through the door tripping over his own feet as he attempted to kick off a shoe, smearing glitter on Anthony's jacket as he clung to his arm to stay up right. He wasn't entirely sure where the glitter came from, but his front was covered in the pink and silver flecks. Someone on the dance floor must have went a little overboard with the glitter before heading out. Kicking the other shoe off landed him flat on his behind with a "Oomph."
Anthony tossing over his shoulder as he neatly removed his own shoes. "Well you're certainly a mess."
"A Hot mess I hope." Klaus chuckled back, nearly knocking a stool over in his attempt to get back to his feet.
Ben just shook his head, stalking across the room to park himself on the lounge, as Klaus threw himself into the olive skinned man. Clinging to the lapels of Anthony's jacket, planting a chase kiss on the other's lips before staggering backwards pulling the other with him. Managing to only knock into two pieces of furniture as he guided the older man to their room.
"Careful, you'll damage the collar." Anthony warned, swinging the bedroom door shut behind him.
"Why don't you take it off then." Klaus stood on his toes to whisper in the other's ear, before claiming his lips once more this time in a deeper kiss.
A hand slipped up between them shoving gently against his chest to push him back as Anthony groaned out. "Not tonight, I'm not in the mood."
"Oh," Klaus purred, shifting his hands up the man's chest. "I'm sure I can soon change that." He gave a coy smile before leaning in to kiss the man again.
For a moment as the other's hand moved from his chest, he though he may have swayed the man, that is until the hand came up to clamp onto his jaw. A little too tight, as he was pulled away once more, "Anthony." He moaned out, hoping to get the other to release his hold, as it actually hurt a little.
"I said I'm not in the mood." His boyfriend hissed back, shoving him away with enough force to send him stumbling back and toppling over as the back of his knees hit the mattress.
He whined out a small. "Owie." Massaging his jaw with his fingers as he sat himself back up. Anthony could get a little rough at times, when things weren't going his way. Sometime Klaus wasn't really 'in the mood' but he usually gave in when the other persisted because wasn't that what good partners did. Though it seemed if Anthony decides he isn't 'in the mood', then that's that, it ain't happening. Not that it mattered now, he guessed, he wasn't exactly feeling it any more either.
"I need a bath. A nice long one." He sulked, getting to his feet and grabbing the tee and sweats he'd taken to sleeping in.
"Try not to wake me when you come to bed." Was all he got in response, as he stalked out of the room and into the bathroom.
He didn't return to bed after his forty minute soak, instead settling into the cushions on the couch next to Ben. His brother sent a concerned look, Ben may not have seen what went on in there but he certainly knew the night hadn't gone as Klaus had planned. "You all right?"
Klaus smiled back, holding up Anthony's phone and his credit card. "I will be." He stated, as he clicked on the tv, volume low, as he flicked through the channels till he landed on the late night shopping one. "They had a killer pair of high top wedges on one of these the other night and I'm hoping they advertise them again."
It was when they had just breached the three week mark that things came to a head. First with his brother then with Anthony. Anthony was at work and Ben and Klaus were in the kitchen having lunch, heated up left over osso bucco, because seriously the stuff was amazing. Though he'd really have to slow down on the leftovers soon, he'd already put on a few kilos now he had a full three meals every day.
Ben was nagging him about Anthony for the third time since he got out of bed this morning. It was starting to really get on his nerves, his brother didn't seem to have anything nice to say about his partner lately.
"Why can't you see how controlling he is, Klaus? I mean look at you, that shirt those pant's you look more like Luther than Klaus, he's trying to turn you into someone you're not."
"Wow, you just can't be happy can you. I'm finally in a stable relationship, I've never managed to hold one person this long, I have an apartment and food. You should be happy, you're always nagging me about finding a stable living situation and now I have." He argued back, sending his brother an annoyed look.
"This isn't how relationships are supposed to work!" Ben shot back crossing his arms as he turned to fully face the other. "He doesn't love you Klaus! And deep down I don't think you love him as much as you seem to think you do. If he truly loved you he wouldn't be trying to change you. He tosses your stuff out and replaces it with his so called gifts. They're not you Klaus, you hate the clothes he gets you, yet you wear them anyway to make him happy. But what does he do for you, huh, what does he do to make you happy? You're not you when your with him, you're quiet and submissive. You've barely smiled all week. Its not healthy."
"Why can't you just be supportive for a change."
"I am, just not when you are with that controlling asshole, he doesn't let you do anything for yourself. He doesn't like you using the kitchen, never lets you out of the house in the evenings unless he accompanies you. You have to sneak out the fire escape while he's at work if you want to go out, because he won't give you a key to the apartment unless he needs you to run an errand, for Christ sake!" Ben argued, pacing the floor as he tossed his arms out in frustration. "And frankly I don't think even remembers your name. How much could he possibly love you!"
"You know what, fuck you Ben!" Klaus snarled back absolutely outraged. What right did Ben have to judge his relationship like this. Quite frankly it had nothing to do with him, so he could just butt the hell out. "Why don't you just mind your own damned business for once. Just because you don't have a life to live any more doesn't mean you get to dictate mine."
With that he turned back to his food stabbing his fork violently into a chunk of beef, because who the hell did Ben think he was. Who he chose to date was nobodies damn business but his own. Just because the man got a little forceful at times and had a short fuse didn't mean they couldn't be happy together. Maybe he had a habit of bowing down when the other's temper flared because he found the aggression a little unnerving and maybe he felt ugly when he wore the clothes Anthony picked out. Because they weren't him, and he didn't like the man who looked back at him when he looked in the mirror, when he dressed like that.
And maybe Ben was right and he didn't really Love the man as much as he thought he did. Perhaps he just thought he was in love, thought he loved Anthony. But maybe it wasn't Anthony he loved but the idea, the idea of a stable relationship, not that he was sure that's actually what he has with the man. The idea of a place to call home and bed he could return too night after night. The idea of not having to worry over if he'd have some place warm and safe to sleep or when his next meal would be. Of some one who loved and cared for him.
He always had Ben and he loved Ben dearly, but Ben couldn't help him any more than he could help Ben. He couldn't bring his brother back and his brother couldn't cure his addictions, god knows Ben's tried. But his brother would never make it past the torrent that was his addiction and the thousand demons inside his head.
The very addiction that assured he would never have all those things he longed for.
And maybe a heavy sinking feeling was growing in his gut and his chest was tightening and tears were gathering in his eyes, because he had just said the most horribly cruel thing to his brother. The only one who stuck with him through all his shit, and was always looking out for him. And didn't have a life to live any more, which wasn't fair, because out of everyone Ben was the least deserving of his fate. A sob escaped before he'd even opened his mouth because he knew he was a horrible wretched person and he could never truly take back what he had just said.
"S-sorry, I'm sorry, Ben. That was.. That was completely uncalled for, I'm an asshole. I-I'm sorry, you know I didn't mean that." He pleaded as he turned back to his brother, only to find he wasn't there.