smoking kills - klaus hargreeves | the umbrella academy

chapter nine

klaus didn't want to admit it in any serious manner, but he really liked marie. there was something thrilling about her. maybe it was simply exciting to have a friend outside of his family, exciting to stay up late talking to someone and sneak them in. or maybe there was something about her, specifically, that he simply couldn't get enough of.

marie would never admit it out loud, but never before had she felt the way klaus made her feel. maybe it was the exhilarating danger of talking to a stranger and sneaking into his house late at night. maybe it was the mutual understanding of awful fathers and wanting to forget about life. maybe it was just simply klaus.

over the course of a few weeks, those two facts combined to create a friendship, as well as a routine. marie would climb up onto klaus's fire escape and knock on his window until he let her in. they would talk and joke around. klaus would complain about his father and his powers. marie, in turn, would complain about her own father and other little annoyances of her life. they would never talk very seriously about it, always cracking jokes and using vague language, but that was all they needed. they didn't need to get super personal. klaus would usually suggest that they drink or get high to cope. marie would alway refuse until one day, something was different.

it had been about a week since klaus last saw marie. she tapped on his window, having climbed up the fire escape. he was laying in his bed with his eyes closed. she didn't think he was asleep, due to the fact that he was laying flat on his back and on top of his blanket, arguably an uncomfortable position. his face scrunched up as she tapped, which would imply that he heard her, but he didn't open his eyes.

"klaus?" she said. she wasn't sure how soundproof the windows were, but she figured she would try talking anyway. she tapped again. "klaus?"

klaus finally opened his eyes with an annoyed look. when he saw marie, the annoyance was quickly replaced with surprise. he scrambled to open the window for her and let her in. he smiled. "hey marie! sorry, i thought you were a dead person. they've been bothering me all night. it's been awhile! what brings you here?"

"no worries." she climbed inside and sat across from him on his bed. her eyes gazed across the room, avoiding klaus's eyes.

"marie?" he asked.

she blinked and looked at him. "yeah?"

"why are you here?" he said, carefully.

"you don't want me here?" she faked a frown. "what happened to all the flirting and the whole 'love at first sight' thing?"

"babe, i always want you here. i still feel a spark between us," klaus chuckled. "i just want to know why. you seem tense. if i didn't know any better, i'd say you're acting a little bit... sad."

marie simply raised an eyebrow at him.

"well?" he said, gesturing for her to answer.

she sighed and looked down. "it's my birthday. i'm not sad about it, i'm just..."

"marie!" klaus grabbed her hands in his. "your birthday? wow! that's amazing! and you chose to spend it with me? oh, i'm flattered. you know at some point i had to get second thoughts and think that you really didn't think much of me—just one measly little friend in your fruitful life—but it turns out i was right about you! we have a spark, a special connection! we need to celebrate! for your birthday, i mean—not our special connection. although if you want to do something fun for that, i can think of a few things."

marie scoffed and tore her hands away from his. she said, sarcastically, "celebrate. yeah, sure."

"oh, don't tell me you're a birthday hater. today's all about you, and you're gonna hate the day? transitive property says that you hate yourself and i really can't deal with that kind of thing." klaus stood up and held out a hand. "so come on, let's just celebrate."