Fixes to the Timeline

Chapter 2

Dave was alive. Somehow, Five had managed to save him and bring him here to the future and now he was alive and Klaus could touch him, hold him in his arms again, and it all seemed far too good to be true. Both he and Dave had already cried until there was nothing left and still it didn't feel like enough. Klaus was happier than he thought possible, but there was a fear there as well, an inevitable despair that always seemed to be waiting for him. It seemed like he could never have any sort of happiness for long.

He'd dreamt of being with Dave before, that he had this second chance only to wake up alone in an empty bed, feeling so empty and cold, the loss making him feel so sick with grief as the sobs were wrenched from him like they had that first day Dave had been taken from him.

Right now, Klaus didn't want to sleep in case that happened again, he simply wanted to hold Dave close so he could be completely sure that this was happening. And if it was a dream? To be completely honest, he'd be fine with never waking up again.

It was a losing battle of course. He had already been exhausted, sleep a thing he only grabbed a few hours of now and then in between the screaming of ghosts. It didn't take him long to pass out. When he woke again, it was with a start, disoriented as he reached out in the dark, frantic and terrified he might not find anything. Eventually, though, his hand touched a very solid and warm body beside him and through the constant background noise of ghosts he could hear the familiar quiet snoring.

Klaus nearly sobbed in relief, dragging himself to curl into Dave. He placed a kiss to his shoulder, trying not to cling to him too tightly, feeling like he'd never be close enough. He wanting nothing more than to wake him up, to hear his voice and feel his touch and the reassurance that would bring. He had to remind himself that Dave was fresh out of a war zone lying low with Five of all people, no doubt he needed the sleep.

Also, he was still hurt.

In the dark, in his borrowed clothes with the blankets pulled up tightly around him, Dave's injury was hidden from view, but Klaus didn't need to see it to remember how it had looked, both then (a hole torn in his chest and an endless stream of blood that Klaus couldn't stem no matter how desperately he tried), and now (stitched and clean and blessedly healing but still so angry and red). Either way it would haunt Klaus. He couldn't lose him like that again.

But Dave was here, alive despite everything. Klaus should be focusing on that, he should be happy. But instead his fears took hold as they often did and he thought of everything else. What if he lost him again to some other bullet? Or, their relationship had existed in a war zone, how would it transition to normal life? What would Dave think when he saw how truly bad off, how useless Klaus was?

Sure, he was clean for the first time in pretty much ever, but that was the bare minimum he should be doing, right? At least that's what pretty much everyone else seemed to think. Despite how much time had gone by since they'd stopped the world from ending, Klaus still didn't have a job and he could still barely function most days. Whereas everyone else had gotten on with their day to day lives, Klaus had stagnated, wasting away in his room, barely better off than he had been when he'd lived on the streets.

He was spiraling now, digging himself deeper and deeper into those dark thoughts, imagining how everything could go wrong, how Dave might look with disappointment in his eyes. Klaus knew this wasn't helpful and he wasn't sure he was prepared to have any of those conversations so instead of seeking reassurance, he disentangled himself from Dave and slipped out of his room.

As much as he wanted to be with Dave, he needed to move even more if only to escape his own mind. And he could use some coffee. It was still early (and it was weird to think that it had only been a handful of hours since Dave had arrived) but at least that meant no one would be up yet so he was unlikely to run into any of his siblings.