trashbinned | call me out!

"What makes you so sure we will?"

Klaus counters with a smile and stretches his legs far out in front of him before he looks over at Vanya. "I mean come on, look us now. Everyone's infinitely hotter, we're all working together, who could resist the pull of family bonds at a time like this!"

But the concern is real enough and he can't help but worry what will happen to them in this place where they don't exist. If he lets himself follow the path of thinking, it could mean that wherever they came from doesn't exist anymore.

He sighs, reaching to swipe the flask for another drink, hissing at the burn of the liquor on the way down.

"You're stuck with me, anyway. And my army of drunken ghosts if you really want them. What fun."

She shrugs and gives him a small grin. "Unwavering pessimism?"

She watches him stretch out, looking as if he has no care in the world, even when she knows he must. They all do.

"Stuck?" She repeats, despite knowing that she heard him right. She tries not to think about all the times that they had left her out. Shut her out. But that had been before. Before she'd decided that she needed to try to shut the door on them.

They were all in it together now. She was one of them. Possibly the most dangerous.

"I'm sorry about Ben." The words fall out of her before she can even sense them coming on and she stills, clenching her jaw and waiting for this moment to shatter between them. For the walls to come back up. For those warm, dark eyes of her brother to shutter shut and dismiss her.

She lets out a stuttering breath. "Klaus, I never meant to hurt him."

Klaus doesn't know what he expects Vanya to say, but when she apologizes for Ben, he turns to look at her with wide eyes, surprised.

"Oh, Vanny, no..." Klaus breathes, reaching a hand to squeeze her forearm. Something squeezes deep in his chest, because the pain and the fear she feels now is something he's carried with him all of his life. From the moment he summoned Ben and turned him away from that white light all those years ago, to the moment Ben faded away, Klaus could neve shake the feeling he was responsible.

"You didn't hurt him. You could never hurt him. Some spirits aren't meant to stay around as long as they have and let me tell you, Bennyboy and I go way back. If anything, I'm the one that caused him trauma over the years. I mean, can you imagine? Living with me for most of your adult life? Ugh." He rolls his eyes but he removes his hand from Vanya's arm, only to loop his own around her shoulders and tug her into his side. "So quit all that silly thinking you're doing there. You've done nothing wrong."

He pauses, thoughtful, and looks away from her for the first time. "I told Ben he didn't have to go, back when he died. I always thought it was my fault he stayed around, that I messed up the whole afterlife for him, you know? Talk about a buzzkill."

Klaus is probably the only person in the entire world who can call her that and not make her want to ask him to stop. She lets out a deep breath at the squeeze of his hand, sinking into his side when he wraps his arm around her.

She wraps her arms around him in a loose hug, grateful that he doesn't take this as one more reason to push her away, and rests her head on his shoulder.

"He chose to stay," she says, softly. "He wanted to make sure you knew that. Whatever trauma you caused him, he must have thought it was worth it."

"Oh there was plenty of trauma," Klaus laughs softly, tilting his head so that it rests against hers. "But I guess he and I were a real Thelma and Louise situation, you know?"

He laughs at the thought, but it dies down to a sigh seconds after. He's glad she dropped in like this. Even at the ends of worlds this family finds itself again, and if there's nothing else left for them, they have each other.

"Little shit. Feelings are very complicated and unnecessary. That he took advantage of that is a real low blow, but he always did get the last word." He huffs and lifts his head to press a kiss to her crown.

"But he brought you back, so I guess we're all the lucky ones."

The tenderness surprises her and overwhelms her, especially because she doesn't feel deserving of it. She swallows, forcing a smile and pulling back just enough to look at her brother.

"You're amazing, you know that?" Fondness shines in her eyes as she clears her throat and looks away. I've missed you. Something she hasn't been able to say just yet.

She sighs, pulling her arm from around him. "I'm going to go get some coffee. Do you want me to bring you back some?"

"Moderately mediocre at best, but by all means, don't let me change your mind."

Klaus laughs and draws away from her, hands falling back into his lap, if only so he can fumble with the pack of cigarettes.

"Dear god, coffee would be heavenly," he breathes around a new cigarette pressed between his lips. "And I'll even keep your side of the bed nice and warm for you while you're gone. We have a lot of catching up to do, missy, so don't try and skip town on me."

He lights the cigarette and takes a drag, exhaling a cloud of smoke on a laugh. "I mean that. But don't let poor, sentimental old me stop you. Caffeine is the nectar of the gods, Vanya, deprive us no longer."

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