InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "gingers rule"

Klaus Hargreeves (12stepspirit) wrote in chances_rpg,
@ 2021-10-23 13:21:00

Entry tags:

!gamewide plot (generic), marvel: steve rogers (mcu), umbrella academy: klaus hargreeves, ~!game plot: bat swarm

Who: Klaus Hargreeves and Steve Rogers
What: Seeing Bats
Where: Outside of the front of the Station
When: Saturday Night
Warnings: Death, War, PTSD

Despite being around for several months, mostly in a shelter, Klaus still had adjustments to make. He stayed out a lot at night, thats where the people like him deserved to be. He ran a hand as he walked back towards the apartment. He was a little tipsy, but it wasn’t as bad as he had been known to be. He was just… pleasantly numb.

He heard the weird chittering sound of bats and looked up. “Weird.” He muttered to himself, but didn’t think anything of it. He spotted the small swarm and was entranced by them temporarily, watching their erratic pattern.

And then everything around him seemed to melt and change, instead of a chilly air and tall buildings. He was surrounded by trees and swamps and humidity. He went to push his hair back, and realized he was wearing a helmet. And… fatigues. The chirping of the bats turned into the sounds of bullets echoing all around him.

“Klaus, down!” He heard the voice, but it sounded far off. He knew who it was, it was Dave, and in his confusion he turned around, trying to figure out how the hell he’d gotten back to Vietnam. He found himself on his knees, next to his boyfriend. He knew it what was going to happen, but he couldn’t focus, he needed to save him.

“Dave, Dave, Dave” Klaus started but before he knew it, the man next to him was bleeding again. “Dave---” He sobbed. He found himself trying, futily, to stop the blood again.

When he came too, he was still standing in front of the station. Tears where streaming down his face, but he wasn’t sure how long he had even been crying for. His hand, shaky, came to clutch at the dog tags, his and Dave’s, that were constantly around his neck. He let out a sobbing breath. He fell to his knees and he began to look at his free hand, expecting to see Dave’s blood still on it. He was shaking and sobbing and he thought he was going to throw up.

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do_this_all_day
2021-10-24 03:30 pm UTC (link)

Steve heard it first: the sound of someone in obvious distress. He'd been on the phone, listening to the same in various forms, for the past few hours at the Crisis Center he'd just started volunteering at earlier in the week. Still in training, of course, since it was a process; he'd had a shadow while fielding his first set of calls. All those sad and lonely people—Steve may not have been Captain America anymore, but it hadn't dulled his need to help in the slightest. His steps hurried as he rounded the block, and then turned into a run when he spotted the huddled figure just down from the Station's main entrance.

Slowing on approach, he stopped to crouch a short distance away. The last thing he needed to do was scare the poor guy with his size. Even with the streetlights and accent lighting on the building itself, the man had his head tipped down and it was dark enough that he couldn't make out his face. Steve kept his voice low as he said, "Whoa, hey. Sir? Are you hurt? Do you need assistance?"

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12stepspirit
2021-10-24 09:03 pm UTC (link)

Slowing on approach, he stopped to crouch a short distance away. The last thing he needed to do was scare the poor guy with his size. Even with the streetlights and accent lighting on the building itself, the man had his head tipped down and it was dark enough that he couldn't make out his face. Steve kept his voice low as he said, "Whoa, hey. Sir? Are you hurt? Do you need assistance?"

It took a moment for the words, that sounded distant even though the man was right in front of him. He felt like he was there and not at the same time. “I just.. I just need a break.” He gasped out. He didn’t even move, he just let himself fall into a sitting position on the sidewalk. His hands released his dog tags finally, letting them clang together against his chest. He rubbed his face, but he was still shaking. He looked back up at the other man.

“Normally, I would tell you what an adonis like body you have, but fuck, I can barely think straight.” He pulled on his shirt to dry his face. “Flashbacks are a bitch.” But it felt… more real than that.

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do_this_all_day
2021-10-28 12:07 am UTC (link)

Instinct made him reach out for the man's shoulder in an attempt to stabilize him when he fell back, but it was no more than a glancing touch before Steve remembered all the lectures he'd gotten at the shelter about doing Too Much. But even this admonishment wasn't enough to keep him from rolling back so he could sit too, watchful and concerned. He knew the other man's face now, but the name hadn't clicked just yet.

His gaze went to the tags momentarily. Funny, in all this time, Steve had never had ones of his own. Seemed horribly presumptuous of the United States government—or just another reminder that he'd never really belonged with all those people in uniform. He shoved the thoughts aside and gave a shallow nod and a dry chuckle. "I also feel like I should point out that 'straight' has nothing to do with a compliment like that, but this doesn't seem like the time or place for that kind of back-and-forth."

His smile turned soft and understanding. "They are. That. A bitch. I've had a few over the years." He put out his hand, but didn't expect the other to take it. "Hi, I'm Steve. You live here, right? I saw you around the network some. You want me to get you home? I don't mind in the slightest."

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12stepspirit
2021-10-28 02:39 am UTC (link)

Klaus chuckled, his mind still a million miles away. But he could appreciate that the other man was trying to joke with him. "Typically has very little to do with me in general." Klaus shrugged his shoulders again, "neither here nor there."

Klaus took the other mans hand, and shook it. His hands were still shaking and his movement was a little more forced than it typically would have. Fuck, he needed a drink right now. "Klaus. Klaus Hargreeves. And yeah, I live here."

"We just met and already you want to take me home?" He teased. "I just... " he looked up into the sky again. Still no trace of the bats. Maybe they hadn't been there at all. It wouldn't be the strangest thing that ever happened to him. He tried to remind himself where he was. San Francisco. 2023. Whole new world. "Yeah. OKay. Cool." He stood unevenly for a second. "Like Margeritas?"

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do_this_all_day
2021-10-30 04:10 am UTC (link)

Steve snorted at what was clearly a kind of defense mechanism, but he was neither ruffled by it, nor offended. At least it wasn't violence or anger. Something in the cold of Klaus's hand and the haunted look in his eyes as he glanced upward made Steve reluctant to let go of his hand as he got to his feet with the other man; it reminded him of the thousand yard stare Buck still got from time to time. If it hadn't been his hand, it would have been his shoulder or his elbow. There was no way Steve was letting him fall back down to the hard concrete again if he had any say in the matter.

He gave a small, wry smile and finally let go so he could shrug both shoulders. "I've heard of them, but I've never tried one. I was more of a whiskey guy way back in the day, although just a sip was usually enough to knock me on my ass." Chuckling, he nodded toward the entrance. "But maybe I'll like the taste, even if the alcohol doesn't do much for me. Never fear, your virtue will live a long and healthy life around me. Let's get you inside, at the very least."

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12stepspirit
2021-11-03 08:05 pm UTC (link)

Steve's hand was warm, distractingly so, and was surprisingly grounding. Klaus relaxed slightly, trying to push the haunting echos of his nightmare out of his consciousness. He could still feel his heart pounding though, and when he blinked, it almost felt like he could hear the gunfire.

"I've never been picky." Klaus admitted. He remembered times in his teens when his father had kicked him out for the night and he was still to young to buy the alcohol he craved. Sometimes, that meant drinking a cocktail of stolen rubbing alcohol and mouthwash while laying in a the crypt, just to keep the ghosts at bay. "Margarita's are great if they are done right... and luckily for you, I know how to do them right."

Klaus moved towards the apartment building, his eyes still sweeping back and forth as if war could break out around them at any second. Klaus let out a barking laugh. "My virtue is long dead, Handsome."

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do_this_all_day
2021-11-05 12:55 am UTC (link)

"Never had the money to be picky, until I woke up to a bunch of military back pay with compounded interest, and even then it didn't mean a damn." Truth was, he'd given a lot of it away, mostly to charity or setting up silent trusts for the great-grandkids of his old war buddies, if he could find them. Even then, he walked away with enough to live on in relative comfort.

But that was neither here nor there, and it was definitely not now.

Steve stayed close enough to Klaus as they walked that their shoulders brushed from time to time, but it was just so he could react fast enough if the other man stumbled again. Even still, he couldn't help the hot flush that crawled up his throat and left the tips of his ears pink. It's not like he was a stranger to compliments, but deep down in his soul, he was still that skinny, awkward, gawky kid from Brooklyn that no one looked twice at. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure I left my virtue in an Austrian forest in the middle of Winter, unless you want to believe the propaganda. I more meant the alcohol wouldn't make me take advantage of your inebriated state. Not that I've— Well, never mind that. As distracting as this topic is, I'm sure you don't want to hear about my 75 year dry spell."

Except now that he'd said it out loud, he had a feeling he'd just doomed himself. A little desperately, he plowed ahead. "Saw your tags. Where'd you serve, if you don't mind me asking? We don't gotta talk about it, if it's still too fresh, though."

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