𝗙𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗔𝘀𝗵𝗲𝘀 ~ 𝗞𝗹𝗮𝘂𝘀 𝗛𝗮𝗿𝗴𝗿𝗲𝗲𝘃𝗲𝘀

~ Chapter Seventy One ~

"Here you go, Stan. This would help you reach the high places," Dusk said as she handed the tween a feather duster. "Make sure to get all the surfaces, behind the tv, bed, all that jazz," Klaus added. "I know how to dust. I'm not a baby," Stanley sighed, getting to work on the room. Meanwhile, Dusk and Klaus stood in the doorway. Though it was her job to watch over the boy, she couldn't help but glance over at her boyfriend.

After about fifteen minutes of watching Stanley dust all the nooks and crannies, the junkie quickly grew bored. He reached into one of the compartments on the cleaning cart, pulling out a tiny bottle of mouthwash. He unscrewed the little cap before swallowing the minty substance. "I didn't know you liked drinking mouthwash," Dusk spoke up as she took notice of his loud gulps.

"Well, not only does it have alcohol, it has that minty taste I like," He belched. Dusk's eyes slightly narrowed, as she couldn't imagine herself drinking mouthwash on a daily basis. The only time she had ever swallowed mouthwash was on accident when they were kids. They turned their focus back to Stanley, who was now dusting the square mirror next to a lampshade. "You missed a spot," Klaus pointed out. 

"You missed a spot on your face, and I'm not complaining," Stanley retorted. "First off, you need to lose the attitude, we're trying to help you out. And second, this was nothing compared to what we went through as kids," Dusk took a sharp breath. "Aunt Dusky's right, Dad once had me doing six months of laundry duty. Six months! Just for pawning one of his stupid priceless artifacts from Mexico. Well, it turns out it did have a price, and that price was $35 for meth, thank you very much," Klaus reflected. "Laundry duty doesn't seem that bad," the tween replied. "Well, it is when you know what your brothers do into their socks,"

Dusk held back the immediate urge to gag, knowing exactly what her boyfriend was talking about. There were many things she wished to forget that happened back at the Umbrella Academy, and that was one of them. "Uncle Klaus, did you get in a lot of trouble at my age?" Stanley questioned. The couple suddenly burst out laughing, nodding at the young boy's question before giving a verbal response.

"Oh, a ton!" Klaus put a hand to his stomach before continuing. "Truancy, larceny, arsony. You know, a lot of the stuff I was doing wasn't even illegal at the time. Have you ever heard of Klaus's Law?" Stanley shook his head as Klaus laid down on the bed, Dusk taking a seat at the edge. "Eh, it doesn't matter. Half the time, I was trying to piss off my dad, Luther, Diego, or Ben," "Sounds like Oppositional Defiant Disorder," Stanley noted.

That diagnosis made both Dusk and Klaus's ears perk up and look at each other, curious to know how he heard about such a thing. "It's typically associated with an argumentative, aggressive, irritable mood. Antisocial, risk-seeking behavior, and impulsivity," Klaus's eyes widened, it seemed to describe him all too well. Even Dusk came to this realization, she knew something was off about him, as nobody else around her acted the way he did. It must've been somewhat of a relief for Klaus to find that out.

"Ding dong, who's at the door? Me! It feels so good to put a name on it, so all the drugs and manipulation and my cult and-" Before he could finish, Stanley cut in, asking if his uncle really had a cult. "Yep, indeed he did. Bunch of creeps if you ask me," Dusk nodded, recalling pinning Keechie to the wall after he tried to grab her butt. "It was the 60s, love. Everybody had one. But the point is that all of that was a reaction to our father and his obscenely high expectations of us,"

Klaus sat up in the messy bed, his shoulder slightly bumping into Dusk's as he continued with his epiphany. "If I set this room on fire, would it be fulfilling? If I was to act out now, who would it even be an opposition to?" Stanley just looked at him confused, before going back to work. And by his definition of work, it was stealing anything that may be valuable in cash. Out of the corner of her eye, Dusk could see him doing something that didn't feel quite right. And as she turned around to face him, she caught him right in the act of shoving keys down his pants.