#like i'm actually sick and antsy doing it but i can't stop like that kinda hooked. (boooo. i have more important shit to do...)

[skrunksthatwunk]

wait why is dmc1 good

[tello-fellow]

Heyyyyy so guess who had the bright idea to fill out "my ship in 5 minutes" at 2 AM last night. Meeeeeee. Headcanons below the read more!

I've been the biggest Corney fan since I was in elementary school and that hasn't changed at all. They take up space in my brain and I needed y'all to see them.

Headcanons for Corey and Laney!

- Corey and Laney are bi4bi

- Corey uses any pronouns and Laney uses She/He

- Laney is one month older than Corey despite being shorter than him

- Corey confessed first despite Laney falling first, she was ready to just take her feelings to the grave meanwhile Corey realized on some random Sunday that he'd been falling for laney for years and called her up with a "Lanes, just found out something crazy! I'm in love with you, wicked right?"

- Corey's antics are what cause their arguments most of the time but he's quick to apologize when he realizes his actions may have hurt or bothered Laney. Laney's quick to forgive them cause she can't stay her favorite frontman but it does take some time for her to process how she feels.

- Corey doesn't know what personal space is, she has no concept of a personal bubble she's always getting into people's faces but Laney is the biggest victim of this. Although they don't verbalize their affection anyone with eyes can see that Corey loves hanging off of Laney at any given time. If you need to find them they're probably resting their chin on Laney's head or using Laney as an arm rest. Laney's affection is also physical contact but not to Corey's extreme, he also vocalizes his affection more than Corey does.

- The creators have confirmed that Corey is the jealous type so I ran with it, he's never worried someone will actually take Laney away from him cause he knows how much Laney loves him but he still gets antsy when someone takes up too much of Laney's attention. When he gets like this he ends up trying harder than he needs to to get Laney's eyes back on him. Laney doesn't get super jealous, he's secure in his relationship with Corey and knows that the only thing Corey will ever love more than him is his music and he's okay with that, it's something he really loves about Corey he wouldn't dream of taking that away from him.

- Despite not getting jealous Laney can be over protective, she knows Corey is a natural magnet for chaos and worries about them getting hurt all the time. She knows they can handle themselves but it doesn't stop them from following Corey just in case they need her help. Corey never worries too much about Laney cause they know she can kick anyone's ass if she really wants to, obviously they worry sometimes too but they know she can handle herself with or without them.

- They were each other's first relationship, they'd only ever had feelings for each other

- Corey cooks and Laney does housework. Laney can cook but all her food is super bland, Corey knows how to add flavor to any meal so they agreed he'd be the one to make their meals. Corey also does housework but he's not as efficient as Laney, Laney actually takes her time to make sure everything is clean while Corey just wants to get everything done as quickly as he can so he can get back to his music.

- Out of the two Laney is the better caregiver when either of them get sick. Corey does his best but he sometimes forgets to do certain things when he doesn't have Laney to help him remember, like taking medicine, using a cold compress, and actually resting. He kinda panics when either of them get sick cause that puts his music on hold for too long. I like to think when Corey gets sick in order to help soothe his need to play Laney brings out his bass and starts playing songs Corey likes so he'll rest. Laney's voice helps him sleep.

- Corey yaps, she loves to yap it's all she does and Laney loves to just sit and listen.

- Laney has chicken scratch penmanship, the only person who can understand what she writes is herself.

- I don't want either of them to die for the other but if one of them was going to it would be Laney. Corey's got a brain full of crazy schemes so he can come up with a solution to save both of them on the fly and while Laney can match his energy she doesn't have his crazy brain so she'll only be able to see one solution. Although that solution would break Corey beyond repair and she knows that but she'd be selfish in that moment because she can't love in a world without Corey. No music would ever be able to soother her brokenheart but she hopes he'll at least keep playing even if they're songs of sorrow.

- Corey proposes first, it's a crazy even that goes wrong in every way possible but it's still beautiful for them. He gets Kin and Kon to help and their shenanigans only make it worse. Laney says yes obviously. There's not world where she could ever say no to Corey

[sunjaesol]

juke | human au | title: fearless // taylor swift

✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨

As they were walking up the front lawn of her childhood home, nerves wrecked her body. Even her hand, snug in Luke's, felt clammy and sweaty and suffocating. God, this was such a mistake — going home, not him. He didn't even realise what he had gotten himself into by falling for the youngest darling of the matriarch.

Or rather, she shouldn't have fallen head over heels for the swoon-worthy Luke Patterson, but she never really stood a chance.

But everything had happened so fast! One second banter easily flowed between them, warm and easy flirtatiousness without consequences, the next she was at IKEA helping him pick out a bookshelf while he somehow knew whenever she needed pizza and a good cuddle. They were very much in a committed relationship, something the Molina women very much frowned upon.

It wasn't as if they were all deeply scared of love and relationships, but the Molina family was a matriarchy. All women raised families on their own, no man to help. Divorced, cheated on, died, a donor, infertile and therefore adopting children — men were of zero priority.

So, coming home with her boyfriend whom she deeply loved? Definitely a risk. She was surprised he was still standing, that she hadn't scared him enough yet.

Spinning on her heels in front of the door, she shot him an anxious smile. "Are you... sure you wanna do this? We're, like, really intense."

Luke smiled, tender. "Do I wanna meet the family of my girlfriend? 'Course I do." When her expression didn't change, he added, "Jules, just 'cause they all did the 'no guy' thing, doesn't mean you have to follow that, right? And I'm not scared."

Oh, God. His courage was as admirable as it was stupid.

She chuckled, antsy. "You haven't met my mom though."

His smile widened as he dipped down to kiss her, gently, hands caressing her cheeks. For a moment, stress fled her system.

But then the door flew open.

"There you are!" Mom exclaimed, a glass of red wine in one hand and music booming over her shoulder. "And is this the boy toy?"

"Mom!" Julie grumbled, embarrassed to be caught kissing (God, she's twenty-three!) as well as putting Luke in a bad position.

First impression of him: seeing him kiss her beloved daughter on the doorstep. Great.

"Hi," Luke said, dazzling her with a smile while he stuck his hand out. "I'm Luke. And I'm, uh, older? So..."

"Meh," Rose trailed, lamely shaking his hand. "Still a boy toy. Anyway, come in! Food's warm!"

Following her mom inside, Luke shot her a strange look, like it was only registering now all her tall tales were, well, true. Shrugging with a sheepish grin, she placed their shoes and jackets in the wall closet and then made the agonising trek to the loud, jumbled chatter.

As expected, all the California-based Molina women were present. Which meant ten, including her, all staring at Luke like he was a weird specimen. Her hand squeezed his beneath the table in support, and he was finally squeezing back just as tightly.

Was it bad she felt some sick pleasure he understood how fucked he was? Probably. It seemed warranted.

When everyone had their plates filled, the interrogation began.

"So, Luke, how old are you?" Victoria asked.

"Twenty-five."

"Going around town with a twenty-three year old?" She sniffed. "Interesting..."

"Do you have any siblings?" Donna inquiried.

A wry grin ticked up his lips, sensing the irony of the situation. "I, uh, I'm an only child, actually. Mostly raised by my dad, 'cause my mom worked long hours."

Shoving a fork of meatloaf in her mouth, Julie withheld a guttural wince at his words. Luke Patterson was the poster child of everything the Molina's didn't like and she brought him in their cave.

"What do you do for a living?" Abuela croaked, peering intensely.

His smile didn't falter, but instead widened. "I'm in a band, but I also bartend a couple of nights a week."

"A band, huh?" Mom leaned forward, intrigued. "Has Julie told you I used to be in a band?"

"How can I not, mom?" Rolling her eyes, Julie added, "You'd tell him anyway..."

"I was in The Petal Pushers, the best protest punk-rock feminist group of the 90s." Her fist punched in the air as she spoke and Julie could imagine the fingerless leather gloves and purple streaks as she did. "What kinda... band do you have?"

Her endearing Luke didn't read the warning signs humble himself, so he enthusiastically perched himself at the end of his chair as he said, "Punk-rock too, actually! Yeah, we're really killing it right now at all the clubs."

She smirked. "I'm sure you do."

"What are your plans with Julie?" Elena asked, one of her cousins.

Both her and Luke froze at that. Shit. That... was not something they've discussed. A relationship of seven months was still pretty fresh, not ready for a confrontational talk about futures and plans.

He scraped his throat, briefly let his gaze flicker to her, and then uttered, "I'm, uh, a one day at a time kinda guy."

Julie cringed, not hiding it this time. To her, it was an alright, albeit lame answer. But to her family? Horrible. So, so horrible. Gah, she had to put an end to this!

Abuela scoffed, nearly choking on her hard seltzer. "One day? At a time? What is this, the 70s? My little girl deserves more than carpe diem!"

Mimi hissed. "Wrong, wrong answer, boy toy."

The questions kept shooting at lightning speed, each one more outrageous than the other, while Julie's grip on her fork tightened and tightened in anger.

"How many times a week do you shower?"

"What's your least favourite colour?"

"Do you pick up women? Is that how you make extra money?"

"What's your view on children?"

"Can you handle spice?"

"How did you even find our darling, huh? Did you lure her into that bar of yours?"

"Is Luke short for Lukas, or Lucrative?"

"Alright, enough!" Julie screamed, standing up with a stomp of the foot.

A hush crossed the table, aghast and surprised, her mother perpetually amused as always (too many in drugs in the 90s, she presumed) while Abuela feigned to be sleeping. 'Resting her eyes' would likely be the excuse.

"This is insane! Stop acting like this and start treating Luke with a little respect!"

From the corner of her eye, she vaguely noted he was staring at her, gobsmacked. He did well, given the circumstances, but she couldn't just idly sit there and let him take all this shit.

Mom puffed, leaning back in her chair. "We haven't been disrespectful, Julie."

"You have, mom! Can't I just have a boyfriend without—"

"We've invited him," she interrupted. "That's enough of a courtesy."

And before Julie could fire back, furious beyond belief, Rose added, "You know how the Molina cookie crumbles, honey. No men stay. Not for long, anyway."

That smug response made her explode. "Mom! Can you just for once—?!"

"I love her though," Luke quipped, shy.

The fight halted instantly, all ten women gawking at him like he just spoke a new language.

And he did, to Julie at least. Luke loved her? Even after all of this? She obviously knew he wasn't impartial to her, those seven months equalling tenderness and partnership like nothing she's ever experienced before, but... love? He was in love with her?

How could she abide by the 'Molina Women Rule!' rules when he confessed that, no hesitation or stutter heard?

And so, Julie's heart melted. "You love me?"

"Of course, I do," he whispered. "Why else would I be here?"

Elena nodded, sympathetic. "Good point."

Unable to stop her smile from becoming a dazzling, lovesick beam, she repeated his words with as much conviction as she could muster. "I love you too, Luke."

Abuela shot up from her sleep with a cough and a snicker. "Yeah, right."

Mom waved her glass around, congratulating them. For the first time tonight, her tone held kindness instead of poorly veiled contempt. "That's very sweet, Luke. Tell me in seven more months how you're feeling then."

Though Julie couldn't expect her to suddenly change her ways. Damn.

Mimi scowled. "We're letting 'I'm a one day at a time kinda guy' slide?"

Disgruntled chatter rose again, and that was her cue to go. Tapping Luke's shoulder, she mouthed home — something she hadn't done before and wasn't sure which apartment she meant either, but it left flutters in her chest regardless — and he nodded in understanding.

Oh, God. He loved her. That still hadn't set in.

"And if you'll excuse us, me and Luke are going," Julie continued. "Thanks for dinner, mom."

The woman laughed, baring all her teeth. She clearly had a fun time. "See you at Victoria's birthday, mi amor. And Luke? Who knows!"

He forced a chuckle at her remark. Awkwardly bouncing on his heels, he waved at all the ladies. "It was really cool to meet you all. Now– now I know why Julie's so incredible. So... thanks." A true smile appeared. "This was great."

No one said anything after that. Abuela gurgled her drink and her cousins prodded at their leftovers, mom peering at her like she was trying to find something. Sometimes, Julie and Rose were so alike, and other times, they were complete strangers. She liked that. It kept dinners like these exciting, she supposed. Mom seemed to think the same.

They bid goodbye one last time with a kiss on the cheek, and then they hurried out the door. A giggling breath left as the cool wind hit her skin. Luke was buzzing with adrenaline, unable to keep his limbs still.

Clambering in her car, the comforting quietude wrapped around them as the doors slammed shut. A beat passed. No one spoke.

"What the fuck," he whispered, horrified. "What the fuck. What the fuck did just happen? What the fuck—"

Julie squealed. "You love me!"

"That's what you got from that?!"

"Of course!" Her arms curled around him, teasing. "You love me!"

"That shouldn't be the most surprising thing tonight, Jules," he grumbled, though a playful shimmer sparked within his beautiful eyes. "I thought I was, y'know, obvious."

She shrugged, bashful. "It's always nice to hear, no?"

"Oh, man," he sighed, eyes flickering across her face as though he couldn't decide what to focus on, as though she was indescribably stunning. Her heart swelled tenfold at the thought. "I love you, Julie. So fucking much. Even with your crazy family."

Laughing, she reached forward and kissed his lips, fingers pressing in his neck and their silly grins preventing them from deepening the warm touch.

"Let's go," he mumbled, noses nudging, eyes hooded and pouring with the love she somehow hadn't noticed before. "Before they're ready for round two."

But before he could move away, she kissed him again, better this time, and cherished his sigh when they slowly seperated.

"I love you too," she whispered. "Like, a lot."

He grinned, breathless. "Good to know."

Victoria's birthday was four months later, and Luke attended as well. And also for Mimi and Elena and mom and Abuela and Donna and every other Molina member. And when Julie got surprised with a 24th birthday party, she figured out Luke and mom combined their powers to host it.

Molina women were independant and lived life by their own rules... which included Julie.

Loving Luke Patterson unconditionally probably made her the most unique Molina of all.

✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨

@bluefirewrites @blush-and-books @ourstarscollided @thedeathdeelers @pink-flame @constantly-singing @willexx @unsaid-emily

[holdmecloser-gandydancer]

5, 12, 15, and 29 for barry :O??

from this headcanon prompt list! (still accepting!)

5) What’s their sleeping schedule?

so i feel like Barry is probably one of those people who try to keep a decent sleep schedule because he *knows* his limits and he *knows* that once you lose some hours of sleep, you don't just get them back. I feel like normally in bed by midnight at the latest, up by seven am.

HOWEVER, I think sometimes when Barry's busy trying to crack the secrets of the universe, the insomnia he had for a few semesters of college rears its ugly head and he's incapable of going to bed by his own choice. (there's a small addition to the mostly ignored Starblaster chore chart for this - "Physically make Barry go to bed" and only Dav and Lup are ever really successful in this)

12) Something small that they enjoy?

mmm I think just in general the smell of campfires and the first cold day of winter. The one that makes your nose go a little pink and the one that makes hot cocoa taste that much better. and waking up early only to realize that he actually has like three more hours to sleep

15) Biggest pet peeve?

since it says pet peeve, i'm going to go with some insignificant annoyances and all that. I think Barry hates having his schedule thrown off. Like, not a sleep schedule or anything but if he says he wants to be somewhere at a certain time and he doesn't get to start going to that place with ample time, he gets super antsy about it. Punctuality is very important to Barry.

29) Any past injuries?

Not really any injuries pre stolen century, though I do think he got real sick as a kid for a while. He got better, obviously, but I think he lost a good chunk of time just...being stuck in his room. All that spare time gave him the chance to become enamored with the very fine mechanics of the planarverse and the idea of traveling between planes. But he still can't shake the feeling that his trajectory may have been completely different if he didn't have to just. Stop for almost a whole year. I think the few friends he did have at that time just kinda drifted from him? And it wasn't malicious, they were all kids and it was scary. Barry was sick and he wasn't getting better for a while. Heavy shit to deal with.

Also like, that helped strengthen his relationship with his mom. I genuinely think that Barry's best friend for a lot of his life was Marlena (when she was alive, at least).

[evesbeve]

Request: try as he might, klaus just can’t figure out how to conjure Ben, and the others are getting antsy, but Ben *can* possess klaus, and it’s the only way Ben has to interact with his siblings. How they feel about it is up to you, but I’d love to see the siblings reactions to Ben-as-Klaus

I’ve had this ask sitting in my inbox ever since quarantine began so... months ago. This is kind of sloppy because I really wanted to get it out before S2, but I hope you enjoy anyway!

___

Title: take my face, and desecrate

Summary: The first time it happened, it was an accident. After all, possessing your brother is a simple mistake that can happen to anyone. Right? (In which Ben possesses Klaus, and they have to tell the others.)

(Read on AO3)

___

The first time it happened, it was an accident.

Klaus had just gotten out of rehab—almost ten days clean, the longest he'd been in a long time—and was on his way to meet with his dealer. Needless to say, Ben wasn't exactly happy about it.

But what could he say? 'Hey Klaus, maybe you should lay off drugs for a while, you know, since you overdosed and all?' No. It didn't matter what Ben said, so he didn't. The best he could hope for was for Klaus to go through the process safely. After all, Ben wasn't too keen on other ghosts following them, even if he'd learned to tolerate them.

Things were different this time.

For starters, there were barely any ghosts around, and even those that were there kept mostly quiet, hiding in alleys, not daring to take a step closer to Klaus. Most importantly, though, that… thing Klaus' dealer had just handed him, a crumbled plastic bag with Klaus' fix and a needle that was, hopefully, disinfected, it made Ben shiver.

"Are you sure you're not up for waffles or something?" Ben asked as Klaus led them in a dark alleyway.

"Out of money," Klaus said, his voice almost shaky. "And it's not like you can eat."

Usually Ben would have gotten upset at any remark related to him being a ghost, but there were other matters at hand. "It's never stopped you before."

Klaus suddenly came to a halt. He didn't spare Ben a single look as he leaned against the wall to take the cocaine and a metal spoon out of his pocket. He bit onto the spoon's handle so that he could empty the contents of the bag on it. "Doesn't matter," he said through grunted teeth. Ben's eyes were pinned on the bag—Klaus emptied a third of it, then shoved it back in his pocket with force. The lighter came out next, and Klaus held it underneath the spoon. "As I said, we're out of cash."

"Treating ourselves to a five-star alleyway then?" Ben asked. Bringing up the issue of where Klaus would be spending the night seemed like a good way to ignore the anxiety rising in his chest. "You think they'll have room service this time?"

A snort escaped Klaus, causing a portion of the drug to spill on the floor. Ben secretly wished all of it would.

His question was ignored, of course. Klaus was much too focused on his task now. Ben could tell by the way his muscles tensed up and his hands shook. An addict, thirty seconds away from his fix. A child, terrified of the ghosts that lurked in the dark.

Klaus took the needle out of his pocket, and Ben's shiver returned.

"Sure you wanna do this?" he said without missing a beat.

Klaus, now filling the needle with the drug, chuckled. "It's little too late for second thoughts."

"No, Klaus," Ben said. "I really mean it. You can't—"

Klaus groaned, taking the spoon out of his mouth and holding it with his free hand. "Right, you're just worried about me, as always."

Ben bit his lip, his eyes falling on the needle in Klaus' hand. Klaus didn't really do drugs that required needles—pills were much more convenient, you could just pop one in whenever—but when he did, he always had the decency of being careful, and that wasn't it; the needle was crooked, slightly rusty, and had definitely been used before.

"Listen, I know you want—need this," Ben said, doing his best to ignore how shaky his own voice was. He needed to be calm. Patient. For Klaus, and for his own sanity. "But hold on just a little longer, okay? We'll find something else."

Klaus huffed.

Patience, Ben reminded himself. He couldn't let this go south. "Klaus, I mean it, that needle—"

"That needle is what's gonna make the ghosts shut the hell up!"

But Ben had had it. And so he finally let himself be angry. "Oh please! There aren't even that many."

"Oh, so that's what this is about then?" Klaus gritted through his teeth, a smile that couldn't mean any good decorating his face. "Benny the Friendly Ghost wants to wait for his dead friends to appear before Klaus gets rid of them? I get that you're sick of me or whatever, but they're dead, Ben."

"That's not fair," Ben said. He knew it was just words, just Klaus being Klaus, trying to get to him as always, but it didn't make them any less hurtful. "You don't mean it. You're just mad that I'm right."

"No," Klaus said. "I'm mad because I need this and you're in the way." He threw the spoon on the ground, cocaine all over. It didn't matter; what Klaus wanted was already in the needle itself. He raised his sleeve and tested the needle's pressure a bit. "Only you're not really, are you? In the way?"

They're just words.

"Because you're dead. It's your word against the real world."

He doesn't mean any of it.

"Anyway, it benefits both of us. You won't need to yell me awake from another ghost ambush. You can take a nice stroll instead, or whatever it is that you do when you're not playing guardsman."

But words be damned, did they make Ben furious.

Without missing a beat or even thinking about it, he took a step forward to grab the needle, slap it out of Klaus' hands, to do something to stop this and then—

Ben wasn't really sure what happened.

The first thing he noticed was that he was, indeed, holding the needle. He could feel it in his hand, his fingers wrapping around its plastic texture coated with sweat from having heated it up too much until suddenly he could feel much more than that.

He could feel the midnight breeze against his skin. Could feel the weight of his clothes. The ground against his feet. The splitting headache, his eyes trying to blink it away, his nose wrinkling at the smell of garbage from the bin next to him.

Ben could not see Klaus.

"What the f—what the FUCK?!"

Ben was certain—almost certain—that the words had come out of his mouth, but that definitely hadn't been his voice. "Klaus?" he said again just to test things out, but nothing changed. He coughed, in hopes to clear his throat a bit. He kept telling himself that was all it was, a bad cough, completely ignoring the fact that ghosts didn't get sick.

'What the hell just happened?'

It was due to the echo in his head that Ben noticed; it wasn't Klaus that had went away, but rather Ben himself. He finally let go of the needle that still clutched in his hand, more than happy to finally see it fall. Only it wasn't really his hand. And this wasn't really Ben. At least not his body.

He turned his palm around, inspecting it. The word Hello was written on it, with black ink, never to fade away. On his other hand, Goodbye. Ben scanned his body from head to toe as well as he could without a mirror and felt himself—only that he wasn't really himself, was he?—tense up in his coat. Klaus' coat.

'Ben—'

"I don't know!" he yelled. Did he even need to yell, if he was apparently inside his brother's body? Could Klaus read his thoughts? If so, did he already know how confused he was, how scared he was, how—

'I do,' Klaus said, or thought, or whatever this was. 'Ben, how are you doing this?'

"I don't…" Ben mumbled, surprising himself when the words weren't in his voice once more. "I just wanted to take the drugs away."

'More like you wanted to punch me.'

"Same thing," Ben said. "I think. I'm—I can't think." He couldn't help the laugh that escaped him, wondering if that was his doing, or Klaus'.

Ben took a deep breath, leaning against the wall for balance. None of this made sense. It didn't make any sense at all. He couldn't possibly be possessing Klaus.

Unless.

"My name is Klaus Hargreeves, and I am an idiot," Ben said, to prove to himself that this was real, and maybe, just maybe, to piss Klaus off.

'Hey, rude!'

Ben smirked. "And Ben is my favorite brother, and always, always right."

'Stop lying.'

"And I will listen to everything he says from now on."

'Ben!'

"Sorry, sorry," Ben said. He tilted his head back, looking up to the night sky. "I just… Holy shit."

'That's an understatement.'

"It's kinda cool though."

'Wow, you're really taking this way better than I thought you would.'

Ben frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?"

'I'm high, aren't I?'

The frown didn't last for long. He found himself giggling again, and somehow, he could tell Klaus was laughing too.

Maybe things weren't so bad.

For an accident, it happened quite often after that. It took them a while to figure out how it worked, but in the end, this whole possession thing was indeed not that bad after all. Most of the time. Sometimes.

Ben really wanted to hate it, but it was hard, considering it was his only connection to the real world. He got to actually taste the waffles they got every Friday night, and interact with other people—he did not regret forcing Klaus to join a book club one bit—and even got to make a few acquaintances. He couldn't use his real name, but it was nice.

In exchange for sharing Klaus' body, Ben dealt with the drugs.

When Klaus' cravings became too much, he let Ben take over. Of course they never really went away—Ben couldn't help but feel the tiniest bit bad for all the times he yelled at Klaus to get his shit together—but he knew that being there helped Klaus.

Until Five came back. Until they learned about the apocalypse. Until Dave.

When Klaus dug up his secret stash in his room, and Ben found himself wanting to punch him in the face, he did. Ben didn't go through him, didn't go in him, he punched him, with his own body and limbs, like he had never died.

It was yet another power they'd need to work on.

It wasn't as if they had the time to understand it, though. It happened two more times after that; when their home was falling to pieces, and when Ben released the Horror for the first time since his death. After that, every day was a haze, as they frantically tried to stop the apocalypse.

So when they finally did, and their siblings requested to see Ben, neither of them knew what to do.

"We need to tell them," Ben had said while pacing in Klaus' room.

"Then let's show them."

A few hours later, they found themselves in the living room, surrounded by their family as they eagerly waited to talk to Ben again. Ben could feel the anxiety rising in his chest, and not even burying his hands in his pockets seemed to help. The others were expecting to see him—not Klaus. It wasn't as if they had much of a choice though.

Ben shared a reassuring nod with Klaus, and let the rest happen.

"There," Ben said, stretching his new form. It was oddly comfortable, more comfortable than having his own body manifested, although he supposed that was because Klaus hadn't learned how to do it properly yet.

There was a moment of silence, in which Ben found himself staring at his siblings—or rather, being stared at by his siblings. And yet, regardless of how intense their stares were, it was more than clear they had no idea who they were face to face with.

"Well…?" Luther said. "Where is he?"

Ben had to fight the urge to laugh, Klaus' urge to laugh, but a huff slipped out of his lips anyway. Ben glared at his brother; mentally, at least.

"Klaus," Diego said, as he fiddled with his blade. "Where's Ben?"

Ben swallowed, then took a deep breath. This was it. He'd been waiting for this moment for years, trying to come up with the right words to say, the right way to move, to simply exist, and now that it was finally here, he—

'Christ, Ben, do you need help opening your mouth or someth—'

"Hi," Ben said in Klaus' voice, shutting him up. Not that he could actually block Klaus out, but he hoped he got the message across. Ben cleared his throat, looking down and shoving his hands in his—oh, right. Klaus' leggings didn't have any pockets. He clumsily crossed his arms instead, leaning against the wall. "Hi," he repeated, the words coming out much more clear this time.

"No."

It was Allison who spoke first.

Even though she'd been the first one to apparently figure out what was happening, she was staring at him with the most dumbfounded expression Ben had ever laid his eyes upon. It wasn't as if he could blame her though. He'd hardly believed it himself, the first time it'd happened.

"What do you mean, 'no?'"

"Christ, Luther," Five mumbled, his tone stuck between annoyance and disbelief. "Can't you see? Or do you have that much of a pea brain—"

"I don't understand either," Vanya interrupted, and Five immediately shut up, as if he was ashamed of his comment. "You guys can see Ben?"

"Not… quite," Allison continued, taking a step closer to him. She scanned him from head to toe, again and again, a question hanging from the tip of her tongue. "You're… No."

"Yes," Ben said, because what else could he say?

'I mean, it's just a suggestion, but you could start by telling everyone what's going on. Although I'll admit, having them figure it out themselves is much more—'

Maybe Klaus did have a point.

Ben cleared his throat again. "I know that's not what you were expecting but…" he tried to look past Allison's gaze, but she was standing a bit too close for comfort, and looking past her only made him lock gazes with another sibling. "It's all we have. For now."

Allison shook her head, finally taking a step back. "I need to sit down."

It was at that moment that Klaus decided to burst into another flare of giggles, and this time Ben hadn't been prepared to block it. The sound that escaped him ended up being something between laughter and straight-up choking, which startled not only Ben, but everyone else in the room as well.

Ben pinched himself on the back of his hand and pounded his right foot on the ground in order to steady himself, finally taking over control again. "Are you going to let me do this or not?" he said firmly and out-loud, because Klaus was obviously not in the mood to listen.

"Let you do what?" Luther asked, helping Allison to sit down on the couch. "Klaus, this makes no—"

"It's not Klaus though, is it?" Diego interrupted. It looked as if he was about to jump at Luther with another insult, but he pointed his blade to Ben's direction instead. "Not just him, anyway."

Vanya was the next to get it. Her eyes widened, shock mixed with curiosity, the way they always were when she was intrigued ever since they were kids, and oh, how much Ben had missed that. "I thought Klaus was going to conjure you."

Ben shrugged, finally letting his mouth curl into a smile. Klaus did nothing to fight it. "That was the plan."

"This makes no sense," Luther said again. Ben could feel the next spiral of laughter building up inside him, and he almost let it out to mess with Luther. "Klaus, where's Ben—?"

"Klaus is Ben, you moron!" Five said. He was the first to actually voice their realisation, and he clearly wouldn't have been able to hold it in for much longer. His attention was turned back to Ben, strongly resembling Allison just a few moments ago. "The question is how?"

"Nice to see you too," Ben said. He hadn't expected Five to break into tears per se, but he was the slightest bit disappointed that his first reaction had been to play detective instead of asking him how he was or something.

'Don't take it too personally,' Klaus popped in. 'Remember the funeral? You know that's just how he is.'

'All too well,' Ben thought. And then, 'Now shut up, please,' because keeping up with five other people was hard enough already. Having an internal monologue in—

'—my body,' Klaus finished his thought. 'Technically you're the invader.'

'At least I'm not the annoying one.'

'I think they're talking to us.'

'What do you mean?'

'To you, actually.'

'What? Klaus, I don't—"

"… this been going on for?"

Ben blinked. Diego had been in the middle of talking to him about, about what, really? And when had Ben sat down? No, not Ben, Klaus had. He must have gained back control and settled on the chair next to the fireplace as they were arguing, and now everyone was staring at them, at Ben, and he had no idea what was going on.

"Sorry?" Ben said, feeling his cheeks burn with embarrassment.

"I said, how long has this been going on for?" Diego repeated the question.

Ben considered replying honestly, but something, someone, in the back in his head told him to lay off the details for a while. "Long," Ben said, playing with his hands on his lap. "I've, uh… I've talked to you before."

"You've talked to us?" Allison asked, her eyebrow quirking up.

"No," Ben quickly corrected. "Just Diego. Once or twice." He tried to shove the rest of the words in the back of his throat, but… "More like, thrice, fourice, fice—Klaus, come on, these aren't even real words!"

Diego let out a huff, finally taking a seat of his own on the other chair. "Jesus, that's…"

"Crazy, I—we know," Ben said, and then forced himself to cough the rest of the sentence away, before it turned to a direction he didn't want to follow. Klaus had always been a pain in the ass to control when he wasn't feeling up to cooperating, but now he was sober, and his powers were much stronger than Ben's stubbornness.

'It's because I'm bored.'

'It's because you're an asshole.'

"What about the Icarus Theater?" Luther asked. "You were… You were you, back then. So why aren't you…?"

"In my own body?" Ben offered, and chuckled. Willingly chuckled. "The thing is, we don't really… know how this works. Manifesting, I mean. Not that this is any better, but—"

"Interesting," Five said, his chin resting on his hand. "Dad always talked about how Klaus had only scratched the surface of his powers, but this…"

Ben couldn't help but agree. It'd been years since that night in the alleyway, and he still couldn't wrap his head around what was happening. Having to explain it wasn't exactly helpful either.

"Mom made cookies," Vanya said, breaking the silence. "I could go and bring some, assuming, uh… can you taste them?"

Ben smiled. "I can. Cookies sound great."

'Booo, I'm not in the mood for cookies.'

'Too bad. We're having them.'

'You have too much of a sweet tooth, my stomach's gonna hurt for days.'

'Not my problem right now. Vanya offered us some cookies, and therefore we're having—'

"Sorry sis, it's gonna have to be a hard pass on this one," Klaus said, and it took everything in Ben not to punch himself in the face. "Maybe after some actual dinner, we could—Ben for Christ's sake, cut it out!"

'You're being so unfair. This isn't about you, it's about me and the others!" Ben finished his thoughts out loud.

"Uh, guys?" Luther said. "What is happening?"

Ben stood up, tensing his body up as much as he could, to stay in control. "Klaus is just being a wonderful brother—shut up! You're being a dick!"

"Kl—Ben?" Allison said. "Are you feeling okay?"

"We're fine," both of them said. It was an odd feeling. Ben felt his body shaking, even though it wasn't. Not really. "I just need to—we're sitting down again—no we're not—yes we are—stop being ridiculous, you're making a fool out—sorry, whose body were we using agai—it's not my fault you can't bring yourself to manifest a single—that's not fair—you're not fair—I swear to God, Ben, I'm going to—"

It all happened in a blink of an eye.

For starters, Ben was definitely not in Klaus' body anymore. He could see Klaus staring down at him with wide-open eyes, while Ben's body collapsed on the floor, as if he had been literally thrown there, and it hurt—

It hurt.

His fingers curled around the fabric of the carpet, and he pushed himself up into a sitting position. He rubbed his head with one arm, his eyes never leaving Klaus'. Once he got on his feet, he was going to kill him. He was going to kill him, because somehow he managed to make the pain permanent, and his head hurt, and—

"Ben?"

He jumped, his eyes locking with Diego's. Then Allison's. Then, slowly, everyone else's.

"You guys can see me?"

As always, it'd been an accident.