A/n: Content warnings in the endnotes.

Allison & Klaus

Someone was in her room. Allison had left her door open this afternoon and now it was closed shut. Locked. It couldn't be Mom; she wasn't programmed to snoop and she only went into the kids' rooms to tidy up, always leaving the door open while doing so. And it couldn't be Dad; strict as he was, so long as the kids stayed out of trouble and followed his training schedule he kept out of their personal affairs.

It had to be one of her siblings. Her extremities felt numb as she imagined one of them rifling through her things. Reading her diary. Discovering her deepest, darkest secrets. Who was it? Sneaky Diego? Overlooked Vanya? Prankster Ben? Whoever it was, she would make them regret it.

"I heard a rumor you opened this door!" Allison shouted.

The door swung open and behind it stood Klaus. She should have known it was the family klepto. He was adorned in her brand-new dress from Neiman Marcus.

That snake! What did he think he was doing? "You jerk!" Allison shouted. She grabbed ahold of the dress and tried to pull it over his head. Klaus squirmed. "Take it off!"

Klaus pulled away, but Allison's grasp didn't loosen. They only stopped the struggle once they heard the sound of tearing fabric.

Klaus's eyes went wide and his face went white. "Not my fault!" he said. With one last tug, he finally pulled out of Allison's grasp and hid on the other side of her bed. Allison grabbed a pillow off her bed and chucked it at his head. He dodged.

"You ruined my dress!" she screamed.

"You're the one who was pulling at it."

"Why are you even wearing it? Get out of it before I make you!" She threw another pillow. This time she didn't miss.

"Why do you even care anymore? Isn't it already ruined?" He flashed a goofy, lopsided grin at her, but it dropped off his face after she threw a third pillow at him. "Stop that!"

"That dressed cost nearly $1000, you jerk."

"Dad gave you that much for a dress? He wouldn't even buy me Heelys for Christmas."

Allison squinted at him, giving him the 'are-you-really-this-dumb-look' until he figured it out on his own.

"Right. The rumor thing." Klaus inspected the damage. The seam down the side of the dress was ripped near the waist. "Sorry."

"Why are you wearing my dress?" Allison repeated.

He chuckled nervously as beads of sweat appeared and dripped down his forehead. His eyes jumped around the room like he couldn't focus on anything.

Probably high, Allison thought.

"Why can't you give a guy a little privacy when he rifles through your things? You're lucky you didn't catch me doing something worse." Klaus grimaced. "I'd get a new toothbrush if I were you. Hey, don't give me that look, my armpit was itchy!"

Two voices echoed from down the hallway. Ben and Diego's by the sound of it. Klaus's expression immediately changed. His jaw went slack and his breath became uneven. Every muscle in his body seemed frozen except for his head and neck. He slowly looked over at Allison, eyes wide. "Don't tell them!" he squeaked, then jumped onto the floor. The bed shielded him from the doorway's view.

When Ben and Diego arrived at the door they asked if Allison had seen Klaus.

"I saw him lurking around Dad's bar a few minutes ago," Allison lied, ready to use a rumor if need be. "You should go get him before he gets himself into trouble."

Ben and Diego headed for the stairs and Allison locked the door again, making sure there would be no more intruders.

"Okay, I got rid of them," she told Klaus. She waited for him to stand back up before she continued. "Want to tell me what's going on?"

Klaus shrugged.

"Why are you wearing my dress?" she asked for what felt like the millionth time.

"Because it looked pretty, okay?"

The words hung between them for a long moment.

Klaus wanted to wear her dress because it was pretty? Allison tried to wrap her mind around that. When she caught him in her room, in her dress, she had thought this was a joke. Like the time he fell down the stairs wearing Mom's heels…but what if that wasn't a joke either? What if he was actually trying on Mom's heels? What if he genuinely wished he could wear such clothing? Of course, he would feel the need to hide such a desire. Their father's strict adherence to gender roles required Allison to wear a skirt even when she was on a mission. There was no way he would accept his son wearing a dress.

"Klaus…are you gay?"

The subtle differences between sexual orientation and gender expression were lost on a teenager like Allison living in the early 2000s. However, her question wasn't entirely without base. Klaus had always tried to insert himself into conversations between Allison and Vanya about boys. Allison had written off such things as Klaus mocking them, but what if he really just wanted to be included?

Klaus chortled as if the answer was obvious. Was it? Had Allison just not been paying close enough attention?

"It's okay if you are," Allison said. "And you can talk to me about it, if you want. I've seen Will & Grace. I know about this kind of stuff."

"I'm not sure if I am," he admitted.

"Oh…well do you like boys?"

Klaus nodded, ever so slightly. His shoulders and arms were clenched.

"Well, then it sounds like you're gay. It's okay. Really. There's nothing wrong with it."

His shoulders finally relaxed and color resumed to his face. With the burden of such a major secret lifted he could finally relax.

Allison took a deep, satisfied breath. She'd done good. She had helped her brother find himself and he would come out the other side of this a much happier and well-adjusted person.

"But I also like girls."

Allison stared back at him blankly. Finally, she managed to say, "Oh." This wasn't right. Was this even allowed? Was it even possible for someone to like both boys and girls? She had no idea. "Are you sure?"

He nodded. "Pretty sure."

"Like, in the same way?"

Klaus rolled his eyes. "No, I only want to hold hands and skip with girls. Of course in the same way! Christ woman! What, is Will & Grace not as good source material as you thought?"

Allison cast her eyes away as she blushed. "Sorry. I didn't mean to upset you. I just want to help." She looked back up. "I saw how scared you got when you heard Ben and Diego coming. I don't ever want you to look at me like that. I want you to know you can tell me anything. Maybe I won't understand, but I won't judge you, okay? That's a promise."

Slowly Klaus nodded, but there was still a sneer on his face. Allison had learned one more thing from what little amount of TV she had been able to get a sneak at during recreation time: When your best friend is down in the dumps about a boy then the best thing you can do for them is some good old fashion girl-talk.

"Okay…so who do you like?" Allison asked.

"Ex'squeeze me?"

"Who do you like? I want examples! Celebrities, fictional characters, whatever. What's your type of guy—or girl? What's your taste?"

"Um…" Klaus said. "…I guess…Justin Timberlake?" He turned as bright as a tomato.

"Oh my God! Yes! I totally get that. Me too!"

A smile broke through on his face, matching Allison's. "And Gwen Stefani," Klaus added.

"Nice! I mean, I don't see her like that, but I can see why you would. She's very pretty."

"And Gerard Way!"

Allison grimaced. "The guy from that emo band Ben likes?"

Klaus nodded vigorously, the smile on his face never faltering.

"Okay, you lost me there."

Klaus giggled and after a moment Allison joined in. This was right. This is how it was supposed to go, just the two of them talking boys (and girls) with no judgment (okay, a little judgment but come on, Allison had high standards). Once their laughter died down Allison added: "You know if you want to borrow my clothes, I guess it's okay."

"Really?" His eyes lit up. She had never seen such genuine happiness on his face before. It must have been so terrible to never be allowed to dress how you wanted or express yourself in a way that felt genuine. She would do whatever it took to make sure Klaus never felt like that again.

"Just let me know first, okay?"

Klaus spit in his hand then offered it to Allison.

"Ew!" She picked one of the discarded pillows off the floor and threw it at Klaus again before running to the other side of the room

Klaus chased after her, giggling with his slobbered covered hand reaching for her. "But we have to shake on it!"

CW: Chapter features a character who is pretty misinformed on the LGBT+ community, but has no malicious intent. Character also pushes another character out of the closet, again, with no malicious intent. The early 2000s were a different time in regards to LGBT+ rights and I attempted to portray the character's reactions and opinions as accurate to the time period.