Certain Demolitions: Play a Fantasia

Summary: Everything that did not make it into Certain Demolitions, and some spinoffs of the story, too. 1. "Is that Klavier?" Mander asked. "He's grown up since I've last seen him." Munich, 1934: Kristoph is running late for class, so he takes Klavier to university with him.

Genre: General/Drama

Rating: T because war and stuff like that might be mentioned.

Disclaimer: All the disclaimers in the original fic still apply.

Additional: You're welcome to take the cold plunge into this if you want, but I'm going to warn you in advance that this will make more sense if you've read Certain Demolitions.

Chapter 1: Many Things, But Never Friends

[Status: Cannon in the context of C.D.]

"Is that Klavier?" Mander asked, looking at the younger Gavin who was dancing with another guest. "He's grown up since I've last seen him."

That's because the last time I saw you was six years ago, and not nearly enough time has passed since then, Kristoph thought, but he didn't say anything. – Certain Demolitions, Chapter 4

Munich, Germany

1934

It has not been Kristoph's day.

His meeting with his father's attorney that morning had run long, much longer then he had expected, which had caused him to be late getting back home, which was going to cause him to be late to class if he didn't hurry.

And today was examination day.

To compound this problem, Klavier was home, on holiday from his school, and Kristoph had not had time to stop at the Rosenbaums and see if Frau Rosenbaum would mind Klavier for the afternoon. He was not even sure that the Rosenbaums were home; he had thought they were traveling this week.

But by the time he makes it back to the house there's not even time to ask Frau Dreier to mind Klavier for him. By the time he gets over there and explains things, he will be out of time for anything else.

There's only one thing that he can think to do: Klavier will have to come with him.

Kristoph enters the house and sprints up the stairs, though he knows he'll pay for that tomorrow. He arrives at the top of the stairs and listens. The sound of guitar music is audible, and after a moment he determines that it's coming from the front of the house, not the back, and heads for the library.

"Klavier!" He calls as he enters the room. His little brother, who has been leaning over a music book open the table with his fingers working automatically on the guitar as his mind processes the notes on the paper, looks up, curious.

"I have to go the University and you have to come with me."

Klavier seems excited by the idea. "Really?"

"Yes. But you have to behave, understand?" Kristoph really does not have time for this, and he's starting to feel frazzled, and he doesn't like it. Klavier hasn't really grasped the meaning of the term "control freak" yet, but his older brother is rapidly becoming one.

"I will." Klavier promised.

"Good. You'll have to be quiet, too, so get some books or something to take with you." Klavier darts past him, heading for his room. Kristoph leaves the library after flicking the light off (Why did he even have that on? It's the middle of the day.) He goes to his bedroom, unlocks the door, and lets himself in.

His book bag is sitting near the door, and he picks it up, grateful that he'd had the forethought to pack the things he would need for class before he left that morning. He strips off his bow tie, replacing it quickly with a pale pink tie, and adjusts his navy blue suit jacket.

Klavier reappears in the doorway a moment later, holding a book and a stack of paper. Kristoph takes them from him without comment and shoves them into his bag with his school books. Klavier is wearing a bright purple dress shirt under his black suit. No tie, no bowtie, just that dumb livery collar with the "G" from the family crest on it that he's taken to wearing these days. Normally Kristoph would say something, about the collar at least, but he doesn't have time today. Instead he takes his bag and his cane and starts steering Klavier towards the door.

"Will I get to sit in class with you?" Klavier asks as Kristoph hurries down the stairs. He has no problems keeping up with his brother, who is already starting to regret that run up the stairs earlier.

"Not today. I have exams today." Kristoph said. "You'll have to sit outside the classroom and be very quiet."

Klavier gave him a dirty look. "I'm not a baby. I know how to be quiet."

They were out of the house now; Kristoph turned back to lock the door. "I'm just reminding you, that's all. Come on. I'm going to be late as it is."

(-)

To Kristoph's relief, he arrives at the door of his classroom at Munich University with five minutes to spare. There are some benches out in the wide hallway near the classroom. This is where he leaves Klavier.

"I want to be able to walk of class when I'm done," Kristoph instructs him as he takes a pen and pencil out of his bag, "And see you."

"I'm not a little kid." Klavier shoots back. "I won't wander off."

"Good, because I'm counting on you." Kristoph said, handing his bag to his younger brother. Having his textbook with him would only have been useful if he had gotten there with enough time to study, and that was no longer the case. "I'll be back as soon as the exam is over." He said, and then vanished into the classroom, keeping his cane with him.

A few more stragglers streamed in as five minutes became three, then one, and then a man came over and shut the classroom door.

For a little while, Klavier reads the book he brought with him, but then he gets bored. He ends up on the floor next to the bench. Klavier takes Kristoph's textbook out of the bag and starts to look through it. The section he opens the book to is about the history of criminal law in Germany. He's engrossed in it within minutes.

Klavier isn't keeping track of the time so he doesn't know when exactly the man with short, sand-colored hair and brown eyes comes into the hall and spots him. The man walks over and takes a closer look, but Klavier is still reading, oblivious. It isn't until the man is standing over him that he looks up suddenly.

"You look familiar." The man said pleasantly. "In fact, you look like a classmate of mine, Kristoph Gavin."

"He's my brother." Klavier said suspiciously.

"You must be Klavier, then," The man said.

"Who are you?" Klavier did not sound like his suspicions were allayed at all.

"I am Heinz Mander." The man said. "It's nice to meet you. Do you mind if I ask what you're reading?"

Klavier does mind, actually, but he doesn't want to be rude, so he holds up the book so the man in front of him can see the cover.

"That's quite a big book for someone of your age. Do you understand what you're reading?"

"Yes." Klavier tells him shortly, feeling angry now that someone's questioned his intelligence. He wants to tell the man in front of him that he's been reading "big books" for years now, in three different languages, but he doesn't. Kristoph would tell him it sounded too much like bragging, if Kristoph overheard what Klavier wanted to say.

"Klavier?" Someone calls his name, and Klavier recognizes Kristoph's voice. The class must be over; people are streaming out of the room. Both Klavier and Mander look up as Kristoph comes toward them. "There you are. Are you ready to go?"

"Yes." Klavier responded quickly, shoving things back into the bag and handing it to Kristoph.

"Hello, Gavin." Mander said.

"Herr Mander." Kristoph said coolly.

"I was just talking to your little brother here." Mander says, smiling at Klavier. Klavier doesn't like it, and moves closer to Kristoph.

"I'm sure." Kristoph replies, noncommittally. "But we need to be going home, so if you'll excuse us…" He puts a hand on Klavier's shoulder, and starts steering him back the way they had come earlier that afternoon. In his other hand he holds his bag and cane.

Mander catches him by the arm as he starts to turn away. "Gavin, have you considered what I've said about joining the Party?"

Kristoph smiles. It's not a nice smile.

Klavier notices this fact. Mander does not.

"I have not had time to consider it in any detail." Kristoph replies.

"You should." Mander said, and it sounded vaguely like a threat.

"Unhand me, please." Kristoph responds, and it's also a veiled threat. Mander releases his hold on Kristoph. "I'll look into the application a little more." Kristoph says, and then walks away with Klavier.

(-)

Back at the train station, Klavier asked, "Who was that man?"

"A classmate." Fortunately that class is over as of earlier this week, which should cut down on the risk of Kristoph having to see Mander again.

"What Party did he want you to join?" Klavier asked, looking up at his big brother.

Kristoph hesitated, not sure that he wanted to explain the present political situation in Germany to his little brother. "He wanted me to join a political party."

"Are you going to?"

"I don't know."

The train pulls into the station, and they board for the trip home in silence.

[A/N:] I can't find anything about public transport in Germany, so we're gonna fall back on trains. Again. I looked up clothing for young adults and kids in this era: smaller versions of adult clothes! Which is actually right for today, too, now that I think about it.

Filling in a little hole here, because I was was writing CD last night and I thought (SPOILERS:) "Mander sure seems to know who he's looking for when he starts trying to track down Klavier. And it could just be because the Gavin brothers look so much alike, but he'd still have to know that somehow." Chapter 4 of CD, though, has the situation that I added at the beginning of this chapter, so I thought I'd explore that a little bit. I'm trying to run on vague age, still, but if I was forced to narrow a window here, I would say Klavier is 10-12, and of course, Kristoph is eight years older then Klavier.

I have a couple other ideas I'll probably be posting here, too.

Please review.