Author's notes:
So, I may have forgotten about my ff account for a bit there? I am so sorry about that, but thank you lovely person who sent me such a nice message on this fic that made me realize it was missing a couple chapters. Thank you so much and thank you to everyone who is still reading this fic 22 chapters in!
Klaus was getting antsy. Morning was rapidly approaching, which meant they were entering their second day here at the Academy, and he was all too aware that Reginald could come home at any moment. He had poor luck at the best of times, and he'd pushed it much farther than he'd like, so unless he wanted a spontaneous reunion, they needed to get out of there.
He knew Dave shouldn't be on his feet, Grace was taking a look to make sure he hadn't pulled any stitches during his little escape attempt earlier that night. Leaving right now would be risky, but then, so was staying, and Klaus would much rather take their chances out there. They wouldn't be leaving empty handed, though. Klaus found a bag in his old room and filled it with food and clothes, even grabbing a few valuables to pawn for good measure. That greedy bastard probably wouldn't even notice, which was a shame, really.
By the time Klaus was done, he returned to find Dave dutifully breathing into a spirometer for Grace, which struck him as a little odd. It didn't seem necessary to check his lung capacity after a stab wound in the side, but maybe she was just being thorough. Grace seemed happy enough with the results when Dave finally finished and handed it back, so Klaus pushed that to the back of his mind. He had enough to deal with as it was.
"Morning," Klaus said, leaning against the door frame.
"Morning," Dave replied, and there was no reason he should have looked so happy to see him.
"How's the patient doing?" Klaus asked the room in general.
"He's coming along very well," Grace said, then turned to Dave. "Now, try not to move around too much. You still need rest."
"Yes, ma'am," Dave replied.
She squeezed his arm, then went to give Klaus a quick kiss on the cheek. "Be good," she said to him.
"No promises," Klaus replied, which got a laugh from her.
"Boys will be boys," she said as she headed down the hall and disappeared from view.
"Your mom is surprisingly chill," Dave said, once Grace was likely out of earshot. "I was expecting a barrage of questions, showing up like we did. Or did you already get interrogated?"
"Nah, this is nothing," Klaus said, waving a hand. "She's had to patch us all up so many times, I don't think it surprises her anymore. If she even can be surprised, I'm not sure she's really programmed for it."
What?" Dave froze, looking alarmed. "Usually, when I hear the word 'programmed,' it has to do with, like, manipulation and brainwashing."
"Or computers," Klaus shrugged. "She's a robot."
"A r—" Dave snapped his mouth shut, like he couldn't quite bring himself to say it out loud. He glanced around the room as if searching for something that would make this all make sense. Failing that, he looked back to Klaus. "I'm sorry, could you repeat that? Because for a second I thought you said, 'robot.'"
"I mean, besides training a child army, Reginald Hargreeves is kind of a world renowned inventor," Klaus pointed out.
"Yeah, but, a robot? Like, a literal robot? Or just— I'm sorry, I just really can't tell if you're joking right now."
"Yup, a literal robot. Dad built her because he's emotionally stunted and doesn't know what to do with a bunch of kids.
"I think my brain might be a little broken," Dave said, rubbing his temple. "I'm just having a little trouble wrapping my head around it."
"Wait until you meet Pogo."
"What?"
"Don't worry about it," Klaus said, waving a hand. Now probably wasn't the best time to get into it. He'd probably already broken Dave's brain enough for now.
"Wait," Dave said, scrunching his nose at an unpleasant thought. "Are she and your dad, you know, together?"
"Oh, god, no," Klaus said. "He's a monster, but I like to think he draws the line at making a sentient sex toy."
"That's a relief," Dave said, visibly relaxing.
"I mean, he treats her like shit, but he treats everyone like shit."
"How do you feel about kidnapping?" Dave asked.
"I think, in this case, it'd be theft, and you know I'm down with that, but it'll have to wait until we have a place to hide her.
"Yeah, I guess," Dave said, clearly disappointed.
"Speaking of places," Klaus said, holding up his bag. "I think it's time we got out of here."
"Like, now, now?" Dave asked. "I'd feel a little bad just disappearing, like this. I never really got to properly thank her."
"It's fine, she won't mind," Klaus said, holding his elbow to help him stand. "And we can thank her next time when we come to break her out."
"I guess that's—"
They both froze at the sound of the front door opening. It was a very distinct sound. Klaus could remember waiting to hear it as a child, filled with dread, because it meant Reginald was back and their brief freedom from him was over. Or he was bringing back one of his siblings he was doing who-knows-what with during their private lessons. If Klaus' involved being trapped with ghosts, who knew what the others were going through. That was a feeling that was hard to shake. Even now, years later, he still felt it, like ice down his spine, and he shuddered. Ben appeared and they shared a look, and it was obvious that, dead or not, he was feeling something similar. They were near the back of the house, at least, which meant they had a chance of getting out unseen. Or, well, one of them could if the other provided a distraction. They just had to be fast.
"You sneak out the back, I'll distract them," Klaus whispered.
"What? No, I'm not just gonna leave you," Dave whispered back.
"It's fine, they're my family, they'll just be annoyed to see me. You, on the other hand, could be arrested for trespassing."
"Wouldn't put it past him," Ben agreed. Not that Dave could actually hear him.
"Besides," he continued, holding up the bag. "Someone has to sneak out the goods."
Dave looked back and forth between Klaus and the doorway, looking uncertain. Finally, he gave in with a frustrated sound and nodded. "Promise you'll be okay?"
"Yeah, definitely," he lied. He had no idea what to expect, he never did. But that was just all the more reason to get Dave out of there.
As it was, Dave nodded reluctantly and Klaus went to pass him the bag, but it was heavy, so he pulled out a vase and a paperweight he'd swiped and set them aside. Deciding it was good enough, he passed the bag over, ignoring Dave's amused look. Klaus watched a moment as he hobbled off towards the back door, then he took a deep breath to prepare himself.
"You okay?" Ben asked sympathetically.
"Of course," Klaus lied. "Why wouldn't I be?" Thinking ahead, he grabbed the paperweight and slipped it into his waistband.
"What are you doing?" Ben asked with a groan.
"Look, if they stop me from stealing something, they'll be a lot less suspicious about what else I might have gotten up to."
"That— actually makes sense."
Squaring his shoulders, he headed towards the front of the house, Ben looking just as nervous as he felt. They both stopped dead the moment they turned the corner and actually saw Reginald and Luther taking off their coats in the entry hall. This shouldn't have been a big deal, just a brief 'hello,' before he was tossed back out onto the streets, but just the sight of this man brought everything back. Every disappointed look, every dismissive word, every cruel comment. Whatever he tried to be with Dave, this was a reminder of the fuckup he truly was.
Yes, he was a failure and a disappointment. Yes, he lived his life wasting away, slowly killing himself. It didn't really matter what anyone else thought, none of it bothered him, all he cared about was finding that sweet oblivion, any sort of freedom from the ghosts. But standing here in front of him made him feel like he was a scared child again.. It was a fucked up feeling and he had to swallow down bile rising in his throat before he could put on a smile. He wasn't nearly high enough for this.
He had given up trying to please him, to be the good child, so long ago, he knew it was impossible and he'd done all he could to burn that bridge so he could stop feeling this way, but it hadn't worked. He was still his father, and he was afraid a small part of him would always care what he thought. Which just made him want to dig his heels in harder and piss him off more.
"Hey Pops, Luther," he greeted, the two of them looking up in surprise. Ben looked at him sharply, like he'd already done the wrong thing, but he ignored him. Instead, he gestured to Luther. "Still rocking the uniform, I see."
"What do you think you're doing here?" Reginald demanded, and it sent a thrill of old panic through him, flashes of grasping hands in the darkness, his father slamming the door, locking him in with them. He tried to push all that aside. Now would be a terrible time to have a panic attack. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ben stand up a little straighter, as if he was the one about to be scolded.
"Oh, you know," Klaus said airily, gesturing broadly like he did when he wanted to be distracting, to hide anything he didn't want anyone to see. Ben shot him a pleading look, and no doubt he was right, this whole thing would probably go a lot smoother if he was polite and minded his manners, but no amount of behaving and staying in line had ever spared him from the horrors of their childhood, so why bother? He might as well make this as annoying as possible for Reginald, and maybe have a little fun while he was at it. "I just thought I'd swing by and pick up a few things I left here, maybe say hello."
Reginald studied him for a long moment, eyes narrowed in distaste. "You deal with this, Number One," he said, turning away like he wasn't even worth his acknowledgement, like he truly was less than filth. Somehow, it still hurt a little, despite everything. This was best case scenario, he should be relieved, and yet it felt like one more barb to add to the collection.
"Come on," Luther said with a heavy sigh, extending a hand.
"Fine, you caught me," Klaus said, pulling out the paperweight from his pants and dropping it into his hand. "You guys interrupted, that's all I was able to get my hands on."
Luther made a face and set it aside. Then, he grabbed a fistful of the back of Klaus' jacket and started bodily dragging him to the front door.
"What, no hug?" Klaus said, letting himself be pulled along.
Luther opened the front door and shoved him outside, slamming the door before he could say anything else. Propelled by his impressive strength, Klaus stumbled forward, tripping down the stairs and landing on his hands and knees. He jumped back up onto his feet quickly, brushing off his scraped hands, acting as if it hadn't hurt at all.
"Okay, I'll talk to you later, then," he yelled back at the closed door.
"Shit, Klaus, are you okay?" Dave said, abandoning his hiding spot around the side of the building and hurrying over as best he could.
"He was gentler than usual," Klaus said. "I think he really did miss me."
"Come on, let's get out of here," Dave said, glancing back at the front door with concern as he took his arm, as if he was going to support Klaus and not the other way around.
"Hey, it went better than I expected," Klaus said, because he didn't like how grim Dave looked. And he was feeling a little manic. If he stopped talking, to think about his father in any depth, or any of this, really, he might have a breakdown. He could really do with a hit right about now.
Dave didn't reply, and he definitely didn't look reassured. At least he didn't pry. Ben was silent, too, following along behind, looking grim, lost in his own thoughts.
"You guys are no fun," he muttered. The least they could do was joke along. It made things easier.
