Chapter Text
SIX WEEKS LATER
"I think I'm gonna try busking today," Klaus says.
Everyone looks at him with varying levels of surprise. The declaration came out of nowhere—Diego has just finished distributing plates of happy-face pancakes, and the conversation up to this point has mostly consisted of 'Do we have another carton of orange juice?' and 'Pass the maple syrup.'
'Everyone' this morning consists of Diego, Vanya and Helen, plus of course Dave and Ben.
"You only know four songs," Ben says. As he talks, he signs the words that he knows: 'you' and 'four'.
The ASL lessons had been Helen's idea—she made the suggestion the first time she saw Diego interacting directly with Ben and Dave via lip-reading. Vanya inquired at the local community center and found out there were classes running Wednesday nights. They decided to all sign up together—Klaus and Vanya and Diego, and Helen and Eudora. Ben and Dave, of course, didn't have to sign up; they attend invisibly, for free. Klaus refers to it as their 'being dead' discount.
They've only been to two classes so far, and already Ben is feeling pretty thrilled with the results.
"Ben's reminding Klaus that he only knows four songs," Diego reports, having lip-read the words Ben didn't sign.
Klaus visibly manifests Dave and Ben most of the time now, at least when they're at home and in the company of living people who are in the know—so, Vanya and Diego and Helen and Eudora, plus Allison, Patrick and Claire when they visited for a few days a couple of weeks ago.
As long as Klaus is touching Dave and Ben, he can maintain their visibility to the living pretty much indefinitely. Out of direct contact, it gets harder on him, and although at first he kept getting better and better with practice, in the past couple of weeks he seems to have plateaued. He can keep Ben visible at a distance of a couple of feet for an hour or so before he starts shivering; if Ben's across the room, the limit drops to about five minutes.
Right now, Dave has his chair pulled right next to Klaus's and he's snuggled up to his side; Ben just has an ankle hooked around Klaus's, under the table.
"Remember back when you could only point out my deficiencies to me?" Klaus asks Ben. He gives a dramatic little sigh. "Those were the days."
"Four songs is enough, honestly," Vanya says. "Most people won't listen to you for more than thirty seconds. Nobody's going to stick around for more than one song. You can loop through the four that you know all day, and nobody will notice."
"Um, Van?" Diego says. "Are you encouraging this?"
"Why not?" Vanya asks. "I used to do it sometimes."
"I tried it once," Helen says. "I hated it. Most people walk by you like you aren't even there. And it's almost worse when people do acknowledge you. The parents who give their kids the money to put in your case? The little kids run up to you and you have to smile at them?" She shudders. "Give me a symphony hall, an elevated stage, and nobody under the age of forty in the audience, thanks."
Vanya laughs softly, and gives Helen a fond look.
Helen's been staying over more often than not lately. Ben's not sure what story she's told her parents. As far as he knows, she still isn't out to them. She doesn't really talk about it though, at least not around Ben.
Eudora, on the other hand, never sleeps over. Probably because of Diego's ongoing sleeping-on-a-cot situation. Diego has, however, spent a couple of nights at her place.
Klaus thinks that Diego and Eudora are back together. Diego says they're not, so Ben's not sure.
Eudora's life has been fairly tumultuous since the day—six weeks ago now—that Sir Reginald brought her to have breakfast with the governor. By the end of the day, the mayor and the chief of police had both been arrested, along with nineteen other members of the city police force. The political spill-over is ongoing; there were a spate of suspiciously-timed resignations at City Hall, and a municipal election campaign is underway. Eudora had a busy couple of weeks of media interviews. Reginald had some appearances too. Ben didn't see any of them—since they still don't have a TV in the apartment—but from what was reported in the papers, he gathers that Reginald indicated that the Umbrella Academy was involved in the cartel take-down, without giving any specifics about which members of the Academy were back in action.
So far, no media attention has hit their little household, and that's the way they all want to keep things.
"You're at the gym with me this morning, though, right?" Diego asks Klaus. He hasn't stopped looking worried since Klaus brought up the busking idea.
"Yeah, yeah," Klaus says. "I was thinking I could go out after. In the afternoon."
Klaus has been working out every morning for—Ben thinks back—three weeks now? Ever since he got over the bronchitis that developed from the cold he had the day Eudora took down the cartel.
It's become obvious even to Klaus that the routine is really good for him. Diego is almost unbearably smug about it, but Ben's willing to give him a pass since he's so deliriously happy about it himself.
"I'm busy this afternoon, though," Diego says. "I've got the club thing."
The 'club thing' is a boxing club for at-risk youth. Al put Diego in touch with the social worker who organizes it, and Diego's been volunteering as a coach for a month now. Ben's had the chance to observe Diego in this new role a few times, because there have been days when Klaus has tagged along for the company and then sat in a corner reading books with Dave and Ben.
Klaus is not allowed to talk to the at-risk youth. Everybody, Klaus included, agrees that Klaus is nowhere near being ready to be a good influence.
"You don't have to come with me," Klaus says to Diego. "I'm feeling pretty good today. Nine. Nine-point-five maybe."
This is a new thing they've been trying—an idea Diego got from the youth club social worker. Klaus lets them know how he's feeling with a number from one to ten. He's not required to elaborate.
Anything under a six, Diego and Vanya don't leave him alone.
"Anyway, how're you planning to not freeze to death?" Diego asks. It's a reasonable question; it's late January, and they haven't seen temperatures above freezing in weeks.
"I was thinking I could go in the subway," Klaus says.
Vanya shrugs. "That works. You're supposed to have a permit, but if anybody complains security will just ask you to leave."
"How am I the only one thinking this is a bad idea?" Diego asks. "Ben? Dave?"
"I think it sounds like fun," Dave says.
"Yeah," Ben agrees. Klaus has mentioned a few times recently to Ben and Dave that he'd like to figure out some way to contribute financially to their household. This is by far the least worrying idea he's come up with.
(Ben is standing absolutely firm on not helping Klaus cheat at poker tournaments.)
"Okay, okay," Diego says. "I'll give you a ride to the nearest station, after lunch. And you better be back home by five, or I'm coming looking for you, and I will be so pissed off if I have to do that. I'm supposed to have dinner with Eudora tonight."
Klaus looks briefly rebellious, but Dave whispers something in his ear, and Klaus relaxes his shoulders. "Deal," he says to Diego. "And. Y'know. Thanks. For caring and shit."
Diego reaches across the table to give Klaus's hand a squeeze. "I got you, bro."
It's true; four songs is plenty.
Klaus gets set up in a corner of an underground corridor, with his guitar case open in front of himself to invite donations. The walls have a nice echo to them. He works his way through his repertoire, takes a little break and drinks from the water bottle that Diego packed for him, and then starts again from the top.
At this time of day, just after the lunch rush, the crowds are fairly sparse. There are a lot of slow-moving older folk, and parents with preschool-aged children. The latter are the best for actual profit—as Helen had mentioned, the parents seem to enjoy giving their kids quarters to totter over and drop in the guitar case. Klaus meets each one with a beaming, grateful smile.
Ben remembered to have Klaus bring a book with him; a library copy of Camus' The Stranger is tucked in the inside pocket of Klaus's new coat. Ben sits with his back leaning against Klaus, and reads his ghost copy contentedly.
At four p.m., Klaus decides to wrap up. He's made a little over fifteen dollars in loose change.
"Pretty good, huh?" he says to Ben and Dave, scooping some of it into his coat pocket and leaving the rest in the guitar case.
"Well, if you calculate it hourly, that was less than half of minimum wage," Ben points out.
"Yeah, but we all know what my job skills are, and apparently that's off the table now," Klaus says a little ruefully, snapping the guitar case shut.
Ben makes the decision not to say anything about that.
"Can you imagine how much Vanya and Helen would make if they did one of their power-duets in the subway?" Dave asks.
Klaus laughs. "They'd shut down the whole transportation system."
Vanya has stuck with her resolution not to reveal the musical aspect of her power in public. But she and Helen have shared some very intense duets in the apartment.
Throwing the guitar case's strap over his shoulder, Klaus starts heading for the exit. "Anyone want to take bets on how long it is before Vanya says 'fuck it' and becomes an international superstar?"
"You think she will?" Dave asks. "Seems to me she likes her privacy."
Ben shakes his head. "Six months," he predicts.
"What would happen to us?" Dave asks. "If she moves out? Diego can't afford the place on his own, and, um, I'm not sure this busking thing is going to fill that gap."
"What? Oh, sweetie, don't worry, Vanvan's not going to abandon us!" Klaus says.
"Yeah, she's going to need to see Klaus and Diego developing a lot more life skills before she lets them loose in the wild again," Ben says.
Klaus laughs. "Out of left field, Ben! I know I'm a mess, but what makes you think Vanya feels responsible for Diego?"
"He was living illegally in a boxing club boiler room, technically unemployed, and nearly out of savings," Ben points out. "Vanya saw that the two of you were complete disasters, and she decided to rescue you like a couple of pound puppies."
Klaus laughs again, hard enough that passers-by start giving him a wider berth. "Did she tell you this?"
"No," Ben admits. "I'm inferring."
They pass by a blanket-wrapped form, curled up by the edge of the wall. Klaus grabs a handful of the change from his pocket and goes to leave it by their side.
"Oh honey that's a ghost," Dave says quickly.
Klaus stops short in surprise. "Oh."
Ben shrugs. "I wasn't going to say anything," he murmurs to Dave.
The form uncurls, revealing herself to be a woman with stringy gray hair and a dirt-smudged, wrinkled face. She looks ancient, but adjusting for the hardships of street living, Ben guesses she died in her sixties.
"Oh, hi," Klaus says softly. Not tensing visibly, or scared.
The woman blinks up at him, confused. "You can see me?" And then, "I know you."
Klaus tilts his head a little, biting his lip. "I think we've met," he agrees. "I don't remember where."
"We watched the sunset together," she says. "In a park. You had invisible friends, and you said they weren't angels."
"Oh!" Klaus says, and he actually sounds delighted. "I remember now! Dave, she was there the night we met!" To Ben's surprise, he skips over and sits himself down next to the ghost. "Joke's on me—you were right and I was wrong. They're totally angels. Wanna meet them? I can show them to you now."
"Um, I thought we agreed we weren't going to visibly manifest in public?" Dave says. He's had to be very conscious of that—Klaus hasn't managed to control his tendency to accidentally make Dave visible when they're being physically affectionate. If anything, it's been getting worse. So now when they're out in public, Dave doesn't even touch him. Dave ruefully calls this 'army rules,' referring to the way the two of them had to hide their relationship in Vietnam.
"I don't have to make you visible, silly," Klaus says. "She's a ghost. I can give her the power to see you." And then apparently he does, because the woman's eyes widen and she looks at Dave and Ben.
"Oh," she says. "You do talk to angels."
"Mmm," Klaus says. "Sure. And now you are one." Then he looks a little worried. "Sorry. You knew that you were dead, right?"
"Uh huh," the woman says. "Couldn't exactly miss them carrying my body away in a bag last week."
"So ... why are you still here?" Klaus asks her.
She hugs her knees, frowning. "I don't know. It feels like ... my life was one long shit-show. And there should have been ... something else? But there wasn't."
Klaus reaches a hand out to her. She looks at it in astonishment, and then takes it and squeezes it with her own. Which means that Klaus has just given her the power to touch him—Ben is surprised, again, at how open and fearless Klaus is being with this ghost. Her hand is grimy, and her fingernails are long and ragged. "Sorry," Klaus says. "My life's been a bit of a shit-show too. I'm doing better now, though. My name's Klaus, by the way."
"I'm Mary," the ghost says.
"Dave," Dave introduces himself with a little wave.
Ben shrugs, and wonders where this is going. "Ben."
"Would you like to hear a song?" Klaus asks.
Mary nods.
"Okay." Klaus opens up the guitar case. "I'm not going to ask for requests, because I only know four songs. I'll play you my favorite one of them."
He strums the opening of "Soul Kitchen" by The Doors. He doesn't start singing yet, though—he just progresses through the chords.
"By the way," Dave says to Mary, "you can change how you look if you want. When I died, this is how I looked." He flashes briefly into his camo greens, with the mud and the blood and the hole in his chest. And then he's back in the jeans, navy blue wool sweater and bomber jacket that he'd been wearing before.
"Oh," Mary says, surprised. "You were in Vietnam?"
Dave nods. "Died in the A Shau Valley, 1968."
"You're older than you look," she says.
Dave shrugs. "Not sure that really means anything anymore. Once you're where we are. Served with him," he adds, nodding at Klaus. "It's a long story."
Mary looks thoughtful for a moment. And then she changes.
Suddenly she's the same apparent age as the rest of them—mid-20s. Her hair is long and black, and her coppery skin is smooth and clean. She's wearing tight-fitting bell-bottom jeans, a white silk shirt, and gold hoop earrings. She looks at her own hands, and smiles. "I remember when I looked like this."
Klaus gets back around to the top of the chord progression, and starts singing. Dave joins him on the second line. Mary smiles, and joins them in the chorus.
...Stumblin' in the neon groves
Mary drops out for the second verse but nods along. Klaus and Dave sing it, making eyes at each other the whole time.
When Klaus hits the chorus again, Mary jumps back in, and—okay, what the hell, why not. So does Ben.
Let me sleep all night in your soul kitchen...
Klaus plays the chorus twice in a row. The second time, all four of them belt it out at the top of their lungs. Some of the people walking through the tunnel give Klaus bemused looks as they go by—from their perspective, of course, he's singing by himself—and a few of them toss quarters into his guitar case.
Klaus softens his voice when he hits the outro. Mary and Ben drop away, and it's just Klaus and Dave again.
Well, the clock says it's time to close now
I know I have to go now
I really want to stay here
All night
All night
All night
And then Mary starts to dissolve into blue ribbons.
Klaus's eyes widen, and he falters momentarily, but then he repeats the outro, watching Mary disappear;
Well, the clock says it's time to close now
I know I have to go now...
Mary's gone.
Klaus stills the strings with the flat of his hand. He looks at the place where Mary was. "Why did she do that?" he asks, his voice thin and wavering. "Did I ... did I do that to her?"
Dave reaches out for Klaus, but then stops himself. He swallows. "I think most ghosts, if they aren't lost and sad or angry, they ... go," he says.
Klaus ducks his head, and squeezes his eyes shut.
"Not us, though," Ben says quickly. "Dave and I are like ... not even ghosts. We're people who hang out with you all the time and are inconveniently only visible to other people if you put serious effort into it."
Dave gives him a curious look. "Is that how you think of it?"
"I mean, yes," Ben says.
He's never really felt dead. He's felt impotent and annoyed, but not dead.
"I guess that makes sense," Dave says. "Since you were with Klaus all along."
Klaus lowers his head to his knees, setting the guitar to the side. "It's not fair that you're dead," he says. "How does it even make sense that you're dead and I'm not? I'm the giant screw-up. I should be dead a hundred times over."
"Klaus, shut up," Ben says. "I love you and I've been keeping you alive through sheer force of will, okay?"
That wins Ben a choking laugh out of Klaus, but Klaus doesn't look up. A sob follows the laugh.
And then—"Klaus!" It's Diego's voice, echoing off the tunnel walls. And Diego's jogging up to them, and crouching down by Klaus. "Jesus, Klaus, are you crying? What's going on?"
"Three," Klaus says, and dissolves into sobs.
"Three what?" Diego frowns, confused—and then his eyebrows go up. "Oh, three out of ten? Oh, buddy. Okay. I'm taking you home."
Diego puts Klaus's guitar into its case, and gathers up both Klaus and the guitar to bring them out of the subway. Klaus clings to Diego's arm, tears running down his face, biting his lip against his shaking sobs.
Diego's car is parked pretty close to the subway entrance. Diego starts to direct Klaus into the front passenger seat, but then says, "Oh, do you wanna sit in the back so Dave and Ben can sit with you?"
Klaus nods.
Klaus sits in the middle of the back, and Dave and Ben get in on either side. Ben notices that it's not even five o'clock yet—Diego came looking for Klaus early. Anyway, Ben's glad that he did.
"So what happened?" Diego asks, sliding into the driver's seat and turning on the engine.
"Inside the car we can touch you, right?" Dave asks Klaus.
"People might see us but they'll just assume the light's hitting us weird," Ben asserts. Well, it sounds plausible. "Klaus, how about you go ahead and make us visible, so we don't flicker in and out when we're hugging you."
Diego twists his head around for the shoulder check, and startles. "Je-sus! Hi guys. Planning to haunt my back seat the whole way home? I'll try not to get stopped for a speeding ticket, then."
Dave's already got Klaus wrapped up in a firm hug. Ben slides one arm behind Klaus's back, and leans in.
"There was a ghost," Ben adds, in answer to Diego's question. "Do you remember the sign for ghost?" he adds, in an aside to Dave. They did learn it last Wednesday; Klaus asked the teacher about it specifically.
Dave momentarily frees his hands and makes the sign, but points out, "Diego can't see us. He's driving."
"There was a ghost," Klaus says.
"Oh, shit man, that sucks," Diego says. "A mean one?"
Klaus shakes his head and burrows into Dave's arms. "A nice one. I knew her. She shared her gin with me."
"What?" Diego flashes an alarmed look into the rear view mirror.
"Not today," Klaus clarifies. "Back in the fall. When she was alive."
"So ... she was a friend? You met the ghost of a friend? Oh, man, Klaus."
Klaus shakes his head again. "I think I only met her once. But she helped me. I was coming down, and she gave me a drink so I could chase the ghosts away again. And now I'm sober and she's dead."
Diego frowns. "And you're feeling ... survivor's guilt?" Ben is fairly impressed at Diego's determination to untangle Klaus's breakdown. "The city's full of people in trouble, buddy. But you're barely at the point where you can help yourself. You can't beat yourself up over not saving somebody you just met once."
Meanwhile, Dave is holding Klaus, and running his thumb lightly along the side of his face, outside of his eye. Ben knows how important touch is for Klaus; it sucks that they couldn't hold him in the subway tunnel, when Mary first went into the light. Ben notices that one of Klaus's hands is free, so he just takes it up and squeezes it and holds on.
"Klaus, you did help her," Dave says. "You saw her. You talked with her. You let her feel happy for a few minutes. And then she was ready to go into the light."
"And you weren't scared of her," Ben points out, because he thinks that's kind of a big deal. "Not even before you recognized her."
"My power," Klaus says, tightening his fingers around Ben's, "is kind of an unending mind-fuck." He sniffles. "But I think I'm not exactly scared of ghosts anymore."
"Okay," Diego says. He only heard the Klaus part of that, of course. "That's really great." He doesn't sound like he's exactly buying it. And Ben thinks that's valid. It's true that Klaus seems to have gotten over his mindless terror of ghosts, and that's huge. But ghosts are dead people, and they're always going to come with baggage, and Klaus has enough trouble dealing with his own messed-up shit. And the 'ghosts in his head'—the flashbacks to the mausoleum—are still very present; Klaus's diminishing fear of actual ghosts doesn't seem to have made the flashbacks any less frequent or terrifying for him.
Still. He voluntarily sat next to a ghost and had a nice conversation with her. Huge progress.
"Klaus needs hugs," Diego announces as soon as they cross the threshold into the apartment.
"Huh?" Vanya looks up from the sheet music she'd been paging through.
"There was a ghost, it was a lot, he told me he was at a three, I'm putting him on your bed," Diego says. "Klaus, take your boots off."
Soon, Diego has Klaus wrapped up in the comforter on Vanya's bed. Dave is sitting behind Klaus, his knees tucked around Klaus's torso. He's petting Klaus's hair, and occasionally kissing the back of his neck.
Ben leans against Klaus. "How are you doing?" he asks.
Klaus shrugs, and nudges Ben back. And then tugs Ben closer so he can smush his face into Ben's shoulder. Klaus starts to cry.
Vanya eases in and finds a way to lean against Klaus too, without ending up on top of Ben. Ben is currently solid to Klaus and visible but not solid to Vanya, so he appreciates her care in not hugging Klaus through him. "This is okay," she says. "Klaus, we're here."
Nobody's panicking. They've done this a lot of times by now. Klaus will feel better after a while.
Finally, Klaus's sobs dissolve into giggles. That's a thing that happens sometimes. He does the half-crying, half-giggling thing for a little bit, and then it turns fully into giggling, and hiccups. "I can't believe you're all still heeeere," he says. "I suck."
"Nope," Dave says, and kisses him.
"So ... I was thinking hot cocoa?" Diego says. "I'll make it."
"Klaus," Vanya says, "Want me to paint your fingernails?"
Klaus looks surprised. "Really? I didn't think you owned nail polish, Van."
"I bought some for you," she says. "To celebrate your busking debut."
Klaus wiggles his left hand out of the blanket, and blinks his tears away. "Vanvan! Yes! Please!"
Vanya unscrews the top, and wrinkles her nose. "Eugh, I forgot how stinky this stuff was. Anyway, hold still."
Klaus looks at Vanya adoringly as she starts painting his nails with the shiny purple gloss. "I'm glad you're my sister, Van."
She smiles. "Me too."
"I love you guys too," Diego says. "I'm gonna make that cocoa."
"Wait!" Ben says. And then he signs to Diego: "I love you."
Diego grins. "Aw, Ben, you're getting mushy now too?"
"Klaus, tell Diego to just suck it up and accept my love," Ben says.
Diego laughs. "Don't bother, Klaus. I got that."
"Hey you guys?" Klaus says. He's looking at his hand; Vanya's done three nails now, not exactly neatly. "None of you are going to leave me, right? We can all be together forever?"
Ben sees Vanya hesitate, about to touch the brush to Klaus's pinky fingernail. Ben thinks he can guess what's going through her head—she's about to answer the question with logic rather than emotion, pointing out that none of them can really make that promise.
Luckily, Dave jumps in first. "I had to leave you once," he says. "When I died. I'm glad you don't remember it. But now the great thing about me being a ghost, and you being you, is that I can absolutely promise to be with you until the day you die. And then we'll both go into the light, and we'll find out what's next."
"I didn't catch that?" Vanya says.
"Oh, I think Dave just asked Klaus to marry him," Diego says.
Klaus laughs, doesn't deny it, and wriggles his shoulders to snuggle a little more firmly into Dave's arms.
"I'm here for good too," Ben says. "Seriously. You're never getting rid of me."
"I got no plans to be anywhere else," Diego says. "Except making hot chocolate."
"Same," Vanya says, and paints Klaus's pinky nail with one confident stroke. Her smile is a little indulgent now; she's figured out how this conversation is supposed to go, and she's playing along.
"Your turn," Diego says to Klaus.
"Huh?" Klaus says. He's holding his left hand carefully away from the blankets now, and Vanya's just started painting the nails on his right.
"Promise us," Diego says. "No leaving."
"Uhh..." Klaus gives an uncomfortable half-giggle. "Kinda pointless, Deego. We all know what promises from me are worth."
"Nope," Diego says. "No bullshit deflections, Klaus. We all said it. I want you to say it."
Klaus squirms. Vanya accidentally brushes a bit of shiny purple nail polish against the knuckle of his thumb. She frowns. "Whyyy?" Klaus moans. "Why would you even want me to promise that?"
Diego sighs, and sits down on the bed. "Klaus. You come back into my life and suddenly I'm part of a family again. I didn't even know I was missing that, and now I don't want to think about what my life was like without you guys. So it stresses me the fuck out thinking that I'm maybe just one bad day away from losing you again."
"I can't promise not to have a bad day," Klaus points out. "I can't promise I won't fuck up. I probably will fuck up."
"Look..." Diego says, "maybe you will. Maybe you won't—you're a hell of a lot stronger than you give yourself credit for, bro."
"You are," Dave murmurs, squeezing Klaus in a momentarily tighter hug.
"But I'm not asking you to promise that you won't ever relapse," Diego goes on. "I get that you can't do that. I just want you to swear to me that you'll keep trying. That you won't give up and bail."
Klaus shrinks under Diego's sincere gaze. He can't bury his face in the blanket though, because his nails are still wet. "Ben?" he says in a small voice. "How about we make this a team thing. You promise for me, and then you can take over if shit goes down."
Ben doesn't need the look Dave's giving him to tell him it's not a good idea to agree to exactly those terms. "If you think you really need to take a break in a crisis, we can talk about it, okay? But I'd like to hear you make the promise that Diego's asking for."
"Dave?" Klaus tries next. "What do you think?"
"I think you're the most amazing person I've ever met," Dave says matter-of-factly, and kisses the nape of Klaus's neck.
"Klaus," Vanya says, "just promise you'll keep telling us when you need help." She twists the top back onto the nail polish bottle.
"What if I always need help?"
"Then you've always got it," Dave says.
Klaus flaps his hands in the air, examines his nails, and then simultaneously curls himself into a ball and turns around so he can bury his head against Dave's chest. "Okay," he says, muffled. "Sure. I won't run away."
"And you'll keep working on fixing shit, even if it breaks again," Diego insists.
"Promise," Klaus says into Dave's shirt.
"Okay." Diego gives Klaus's back a couple of thumpy pats, and stands up. "That's all I ask. Hot chocolate coming up in ten."
"Are we done talking about feelings?" Klaus asks, still buried in the front of Dave's shirt.
"Hey, you started it," Ben points out.
"Want to start learning a new song while we're waiting for the hot chocolate?" Vanya asks.
Klaus uncurls, and smiles at her. "Sure!"
She smiles back. "I'll get your guitar for you."
"Oh hey!" Klaus says. "There's like ten bucks in the guitar case. That's for you! For rent!"
Vanya's smile twitches a little at the corners, but she manages not to laugh as she says, "Thank you, Klaus."
As soon as Vanya leaves the room, Dave cups Klaus's jaw with his hand and leans in to give him a gentle kiss on the lips. "I love you," he says.
Ben blinks; that's the first time he's heard Dave actually say that to Klaus.
It might not be the first time he's said it, though. They have had some alone time, after all.
Klaus doesn't say anything, he just kisses Dave back. Ben shuffles back a little to give them more space, and forbears to make any sarcastic commentary; Klaus needs this, and Ben's glad that he's getting it.
Then Klaus breaks away from the kiss and leans his forehead against Dave's and says, "Hey, actually? I think maybe I love you too."
Dave bites his lip and smiles, and oh wow, Ben would be willing to bet that this is the first time Klaus has said that.
Vanya comes back with the guitar in hand and Ben jumps off the bed and motions that she should stop. It's great, being visible. She makes eye contact with him and raises an eyebrow in query, but he puts a finger to his lips and just nods towards Klaus and Dave.
"Yeah?" Dave says. "Groovy."
Klaus laugh-snorts, touches Dave's face, and kisses him again. "Yeah," he says. "I get it now. That's what this is. I love you."
Klaus and Dave start kissing again. Vanya shares a smile with Ben.
And then Diego comes back. "Hey, I forgot to ask if anybody wants those little marshmallows? ... Van, Ben, are you seriously just standing there watching Klaus and Dave make out?"
Dave, without interrupting his kissing of Klaus, picks a pillow up off the bed and throws it at Diego.
Diego catches it, throws it back, and unerringly hits Klaus in the head.
"Hey!" Klaus yelps. "What was that for?"
"I figured it would just go through Dave," Diego says.
Klaus splays a hand in the air. "Ben! Deploy tentacles!"
Ben feels his sudden solidity. Shrugging, he pushes a couple of tentacles out, picks up the pillow, and bops Diego in the face.
Vanya backs up a step and holds the guitar in front of herself like a shield, but she's cracking up with laughter.
A five minute pillow fight, a ten minute guitar lesson, and three cups of hot chocolate later, Ben decides that everything is going to be okay.