Klaus Hargreeves (12stepspirit) wrote in chances_rpg, @ 2022-08-21 20:44:00 |
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Entry tags: | umbrella academy: ben hargreeves, umbrella academy: klaus hargreeves |
Who: Ben and Klaus Hargreeves
What: Talking about the future
Where: The Hargreeves kitchen
When: (Backdated)Sunday, August 7
It had only been a week, but the frenzy of being engaged was finally slowing down a bit. Klaus was still excited, still grinning from ear to ear and still had butterflies when he thought about the fact that he was going to marry Clint, but it wasn’t at the forefront of his brain the entire time.
But there was something that he’d been thinking about… with Clint being responsible for Lila, and him being responsible for Ben and all of them living with roommates, he wasn’t sure what they should do about the living situation. He wanted to live with Clint, obviously, and ideally he would just move Clint and Lila in to their space, but he wasn’t sure that was the best idea. Maybe they could move into one of them empty places… as much as he hated to leave Five and Allison, it wasn’t like they’d be far, still in the same building. But it wasn’t fair to Ben to just up and move him either, which left him with a very hard conversation. He knew he would do whatever he could to keep Ben happy.
He had been laying across the couch watching tv when Ben came in. He sat up and grinned at him. “Hey Benny bean.” He pat the seat next to him.
“Have a minute to talk? It’s good, I promise.”
—-
After his initial elation for Klaus's chance for happiness, a pesky little thing called pragmatism began to seep into Ben's thoughts. While his siblings had taken a nosedive into planning the upcoming ceremony, he himself had withdrawn inch by inch, until he was mostly just going to day camp and reading. He was present at dinner, of course, and whenever they had family time, but he was quiet, too.
He wanted so desperately to be uncomplicatedly happy for his brother, but that just wasn't the way his brain wanted to work.
His brain was a jerk.
A stupid, stupid jerk.
And that stupid jerk brain was preoccupied so much that he actually startled when Klaus said his name, and his feet redirected automatically until he was sitting next to Klaus. "Even if it's not good, I'd still have time for you. What's up?"
—
Klaus had been mostly occupied with his own things to notice entirely that Ben had withdrawn, but it was still a vague notion that something wasn’t quite right. Maybe the talk would help. He draped his arm over his brother's shoulder when he sat.
“I kinda wanted to talk to you about the future, you know?” He told him gently, “And I want you to… have whatever it is you want, you know?” He sighed slightly, almost nervously. “With the wedding planning going on… I’ve just been trying to think about everything. You know? And that includes where I am going to live.”
“Obviously, I want to live with Clint, he’s going to be my husband. The thing is… we both live in pretty cramped places as it is, so I don’t know how that would even shake out. And well, he’s got Lila, and I have you— more importantly, like you’re my best friend, you know? Like… you mean so much, and so I don’t want to feel like I’m forcing you to move or do anything just because I’m your adult.” He was ranting, and he barely even know what the point was he was trying to make.
“I want you to move with me, obviously, but only if that is what you want. If you’d rather stay here with Five and Allison, I get it, and I’ll do what I need to do to make that happen, okay?” He finally said in a huff of breath.
—
Sometimes, but especially times like these, when Klaus was sharing things so freely like they'd had twenty years to fall into familiar patterns, to establish a close confidence, Ben sort of envied the other self that got to live all that time with his brother.
Well, live was the wrong word.
No way did Ben want to go back to their world and their time and end up a ghost all over again. He liked living way too much. And he liked living here, with Klaus and Allison and Five and Luther and Sloane and Lila and Cassie and, yes, even Clint. He had no issue with with the guy, especially when he made Klaus smile as much as he did. And he saw the way Clint had stepped up when his brother disappeared and reappeared with new memories, getting take out and delivery so he and Allison didn't have to worry about it.
Ben chewed at the edge of his lip after Klaus finally petered to a stop. It was like he had a line directly to Ben's brain sometimes. A frown tugged at his mouth at the end of his own string of thoughts. "It's stupid that we can't just get a place of our own. One big enough for all of us. We live here, too. I don't want to leave Allison and Five, but I don't want to lose you either. And I know you wouldn't be lost, like we'd still get to see each other all the time, but aren't you afraid that I'll—I dunno—get in the way of your marital bliss or something?"
—
"You won't lose me," Klaus said hoping to reassure his brother. "And if you come with me, you won't lose Allison or Five either."
He shook his head, "but I'm not afraid you're going to get in the way of anything. You're my brother. Even if I'm not your guardian anymore, even if I live in another apartment, you're my partner, remember? You're stuck with me. I will always be just a shout away."
"Not like you'll be the only kid either. Lila will be there. But the choice is yours, I'm not going to make you do anything you don't want to do. I'm not dad."
—
Lila.
Her name made his face go warm, but now wasn't the time for whatever THAT was, because his brother was getting married and things were changing. Ben was pretty sure it was for the better, especially compared to what Klaus had just left.
A pang of guilt dropped like a hot stone through his stomach.
Here he was, thinking about himself, when what he really needed to be focused on Klaus's chance for happiness. Ben shook his head and somehow managed to hitch a smile on his face that wasn't a total lie. "We don't have to figure anything out all at once, right? You still have a little time before you marry Clint and we have to commit to new living arrangements."
Shifting his foot a little, he tapped Klaus's leg lightly. It was about as close he could get to hugging him with a table between them. "Tell me again, how you proposed. But, like, the super special Klaus version."
—
Klaus had a pretty good idea that this was a lot for Ben, and he understood that. He wasn’t sure what the right move was, did he press the point that he wanted Ben to be happy? He wasn’t great at not being selfish. He rubbed his face for a moment, but he smiled at his brother.
“We don’t.” Klaus agreed, “We don’t have to figure it out, but I do want to figure this out together. Me and You. Because you know that no matter what, there is a Me and You— always. Forever even. Two peas in a pod. Like… Waffles and Syrup.”
He didn’t know what else to say, and he didn’t want to push it too much. “Well, you know, I tried to be romantic. I took him to get some food at the Dim Sum place because I was going to propose under the stars in the park, but there are never any stars in the park because of the damn California clouds. And anyway, his ass looked amazing, so I fumbled a bit, and rambled for a little while until I basically shoved a ring at him. It worked out.” He chuckled slightly.
—
Ben, whose face was already warm due to familial affection, couldn't help but grin and laugh at Klaus's colorful retelling. His flush doubled down in his cheeks, but it wasn't like he hadn't walked in on his brother and his boyfriend being affectionate with one another before. Clint was a good man, kind, caring. He didn't have some big, fancy job, but he always made sure he came by with food when the family was going through stuff.
"I'm glad it did. Work out. I think he might actually be worthy of you. At the very least, he seems pretty comfortable with our brand of weird—which, y'know, major bonus points."
—
"Worthy of me?" Klaus scoffed. "I'm working to get on his level." He smirked at his brother.
"He does seem to fit though, doesn't he? I like it. Maybe he will become a Hargreeves, and or we can hyphenate and be that pretentious couple." He laughed.
—
Ben laughed, his grin a true one. Things would be okay. They just had to be. "Hargreeves-Barton really does have a nice ring to it."