#klaus w glasses unbelievable

[thedevilsrain]

from eroica with love characters in project a-ko 2!!!! (in hd!)

[wykart]

Fifty-one years (and one day) later

Part 1 (ao3)

Summary: Dave doesn’t die in the war and Klaus has no reason to leave the past. Fifty-one years on and he finds himself back at the time he left the world he knew, now eighty years old. He decides to pay his siblings a visit. 

He stood outside the building, looking at those stupid umbrella patterns on the glass-panelled doors, starting to get cold feet. He clutched the briefcase tightly in one hand, an object that had haunted him for the past fifty years, a reminder of who he’d been, where he’d come from. He never told Dave the truth, there was never any need, though he had always suspected that there was something strange about Klaus – the things he knew, the way he spoke, the secrets he kept. 1968 had been a fresh start, no strings attached, all the hardships and shortcomings of the past left behind. Now here he was, staring the truth in the face. He had to say goodbye, one last time, even though he suspected that his siblings wouldn’t have noticed if he’d just disappeared without an explanation. He’d lived a good life – not that they’d care – but it was over now. Dave had passed some time at the beginning of the year, and Klaus’ reason to go on had passed with him. This was all that was left now. One last loose end to tie off. He shut his eyes and pushed through the nerves. Walking up the front steps on old, stiff legs, he entered the academy.

…

“So the apocalypse is in three days, the only chance we have to save our world is – well – us.”

“The umbrella academy,” Luther offered, helpful as always.

“Yeah, but with me, obviously. So if you all don’t get your side-show acts together and get over yourselves –” Five looked at them, one, two, three – of course, he thought. “Have any of you seen Klaus?” Five thought that getting himself back here was supposed to be the difficult part, but now Klaus had apparently gone wandering off. They needed every single one of them here, working together, just to stand a chance against whatever was coming. He didn’t have time for Klaus’ antics, not when they only had three days left. 

“No,” Allison sighed, “I haven’t seen him since the other day, the family meeting before those psychos showed up.”

“Damn it” Five cursed, setting down what had been Allison’s take away coffee cup. “we need everyone.”

“Relax, he’s probably just off getting high somewhere ,” Diego offered, unbearably calm given the urgency of the situation. “Those psychos had him hostage but he was already gone when I found... when I got to the motel.” None of them understood what was really at stake here, they all still saw him as the kid he’d been, raving about the end of the world as if it were a game.

“You know what Diego, no, I won’t just relax, or maybe you don’t care what happens to the world and everyone in it.”

“Well, I sure don’t.” A haggard voice sounded from outside, in the entrance hall. An old man came hobbling in, hunched over and white-haired. He had a more… colourful way of dressing than your average member of the elderly. He certainly had a dramatic way of butting in on a private conversation.

“Who the hell is this guy?” Allison asked, looking toward Luther for some sort of explanation.

“Hey old timer,” Diego drawled, looking on with bemused disbelief, “this is private property.” Five, however, noticed a familiar-looking briefcase that the man was clutching in his white-knuckled hand.

“You know, I’m surprised you even noticed I was gone, so I suppose you get points for that,” the man continued, walking towards the four of them and their confused expressions. “Good luck with the whole end of the world thing,” he smirked, “I just came to deliver something.”

“What the hell is going on - Five?” Luther asked, but Five was too busy trying to piece all of this together. Of course, the situation all made perfect logical sense – it was the emotional hurdle that he found it more difficult to surpass – because this couldn’t be happening.

He sighed. “It’s a 90 year old man wearing eyeliner, Luther. Who do you think it is.”

The man gave a bemused chuckle. “Well excuse me, young man, I am eighty-one, and quite frankly offended.” The sarcasm, the way he brought humour into the most inappropriate of situations…There was something about the way he moved that was painfully familiar to all of them - then he waved, both hands, tattoos sagging and deformed on worn, wrinkled palms. Hello. Goodbye. Klaus.

“What the fuck?” Diego gasped, staring as the old man, who none of them could bring themselves to think of as Klaus, smiled broadly.

Five smirked, impatient, and – as unwilling as he was to admit it – sad. “Klaus,” he said, a statement rather than a question. Klaus nodded. Looking closer, he could make out his brother’s features under those sagging jowls, that wrinkled skin. Heavy lids sunk over green eyes, a long face topped with whitened curls.

“What, no,” Allison said, still staring, “that’s not - Klaus?” Klaus winked and waved at her. She looked as if she was about to throw up.

“Wait, wait a second,” Luther announced, playing the leader as always, trying to maintain order as they all fell apart. “Five, what’s going on?”

Five ignored him. “What happened to the briefcase?” He asked.

“Oh, that,” Klaus waved him away, “it’s right here, I came to return it.” He jiggled the case in his hand, offering it to him.

Five shook his head. Klaus was unbelievably stupid – of course, so were the others, but this was a whole new level. “Why didn’t you just use it, it would have taken straight back here.”

Klaus rolled his eyes, lifting up one hand to inspect his nails absent-mindedly. As if his sibling’s horror didn’t mean a thing to him. “Yeah, well, I didn’t want to come back here as a matter of fact. You know,” he sighed, looking off into the distance, and into another time, “I had a great life – and apparently now the world is ending in three days so I’m extra glad I stayed away from all that. Good luck though.” He flashed a smile and turned to leave, dumping the briefcase down at his feet unceremoniously.

“W-wait a second,” Five stammered, glaring after him, “you’re just leaving?” He couldn’t believe it, everything was going wrong. They needed Klaus, as strange as it felt to admit, and the Klaus they’d known was as good as gone.

“Well why not little bro, I’ll just go sit by the grave of the love of my life and watch to world burn - that is, unless you all manage to stop it, which will be a spectacle in itself.”

“You get it off Hazel and Cha-cha?” Five asked, remembering what Diego had said about them taking him hostage. Those two were brutal, and it was a miracle that Klaus had managed to get away at all. He wondered what they’d done to him, something so horrible that he’d felt the need to run away from everything else? Or had Klaus been looking for an escape like this his whole life – from his siblings and his father’s legacy, and his shame at the gutter or addiction and squalor he’d burrowed himself into.

“Yeah,” he chuckled, “I thought it’d be full of cash but I got one better, a way out of this dump,” he sighed, “you know, it seems like it all happened just yesterday – oh wait – it did!” He laughed, high-pitched and sarcastic in the way he did at self-deprecating jokes that were more sad than funny. None of the others laughed.

“1968?” Five asked, based on the age that Klaus had given. Klaus nodded. “Nice,” he smirked.

“So, what,” Allison puzzled, “that thing’s a time machine?”

“You got it sis,” he gave her double finger guns, winking. Five still couldn’t get over uncanny feeling of looking at an eighty-year old man with black nail polish. “You know, I was all up in that original hippie business, let me tell you, they don’t make drugs like those anymore, and the clothes... incredible.” He smiled, whimsical. “Anyway, just came to say goodbye, good luck, see you again never - oh, and don’t bother coming to the funeral.” He flashed them all a devilish smile, and waved an appropriately-tattooed hand as he turned to leave.

Luther called after him. “You can’t just abandon this family Klaus!”

“Yeah, he’s actually right on that one, we need everyone here to stop this thing!” Five added. Klaus gave them all a middle-fingered salute over his shoulder as he walked out, fishing a cigarette out of his pocket.

The four remaining Hargreeves turned to each other, all of them lost for words. “Well,” Five shrugged, “that certainly makes things more difficult.”

Diego was staring at the spot where Klaus had been standing moments earlier. He looked close to tears. “This can’t be happening,” he muttered, straightening up and making for the exit.

“Diego, wait!” Allison called after him, but he paid no attention. Moments later, the doors slammed, and the three of them were left in yet another uncomfortable silence.