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Klaus likes watching clocks.
It's not a bad thing. It's a great way to pass the time (no pun intended), and surprisingly entertaining. He watches the small hand move ever so slightly as the big hand circles around it. He likes the hear the chime when another hour passes. He likes watching clocks.
Klaus is also sarcastic.
Klaus taps his foot to the ticks of the neon clock as his siblings argue about their next move. They’re in a diner across town, hoping to be just far enough from the Sparrow Academy and fake Ben. That swoopy hair with blue streaks is not very Ben and he just looks weird.
“Well, what the hell do we do? We don’t even exist in this timeline.” Luther exclaimed, slamming his fists unto the table. Vanya quickly reached for her water, grasping the slippery glass with shaky hands.
“That’s not exactly true. Unless Dad killed us, we’re all out in the world. We were just never adopted by Dad.” Five pointed out. He lowered his finger and read the menu for the 13th time, finally closing it.
“Well, I doubt we’re all here so we can go do whatever we want!” Klaus says, returning to the conversation. He smiles at glares and scolding faces, then he stares in confusion. Before he could ask what he did wrong, Five interrupted him.
“That’s a stupid idea, Klaus. We don’t have time to do whatever we want all the time. Unlike you, we actually have something to contribute to the group.” Five rolls his eyes and continues to talk about his plan, grasping at straws at this point.
Klaus can only stare in shock, with tears polling in his eyes, threatening to spill out if he didn’t do anything. After everything he’s done for this family, he’s just pushed aside again?
Bullshit.
Grateful that he took the end seat, Klaus swipes Allison’s bag, then gets up and leaves, fuming at his siblings. As he passes the window of his siblings’ booth, he rightfully flips them off and walks down the street.
He rummages through the bag, feeling bad that he took his sister’s things, but happy that he found money. $200, not bad.
Since this is a different timeline, there are some subtle changes to the world he used to live in, but mostly everything is the same. Including the hair salon.
He walks in, flinching slightly at the bells ringing as the door swung open. He approaches the counter and dings the bell.
An old lady with colorful curlers in her hair approaches the other side of the counter, a wide smile plastered on her face as she takes the cigarette out of her mouth.
“And what can I do for a young fellow like yourself?” she asked, already writing down something before Klaus could even speak.
“I’m looking for a hair makeover. Like braids or something. Just to get these gorgeous looks away from my gorgeous face, you know?” He said, crossing his arms on the counter, smiling at the lady.
“I know just the thing.” She takes Klaus’s hand and plops him on one of the many black chairs. She allows the sheet to fall gracefully onto his lap as she fastened the clip around his neck and got to work.
Klaus, facing away from the mirror, could only feel the tugging of sections as his hair began to form two symmetrical dutch braids.
As quickly as she started, the old lady spun his chair around and he saw the magic that was done to his hair. He felt the braids over and over again, feeling himself in the mirror, having one of his dreams come true.
“Oh my god, thank you! How much do I owe-”
“Nothing, dear. Not a cent. Thank you for coming in” The women said with a heartwarming smile.
“Oh, that's very sweet of you, ma’am. If you don’t mind me asking, you don’t happen to have some black eyeliner lying around? My face feels dreadfully bare.” Klaus saw the woman's eyes light up, as she spun around and scurried to the backroom to come back with a skinny plastic tube.
He expressed his thankfulness before eagerly grabbing the eyeliner out of her hands and got close to the mirror. He lifted his eyelid, putting on the makeup as messy as possible. He wasn’t going to add anything, but after a whole week back together with his mess of a family, his under eyes were looking rough.
After doing the second eye, he smeared it around, reminding himself of the simpler times, when all he had to worry about was when his next high would be. He hugged the old woman in gratitude, left $7 as a tip, and ran out of the hair salon in the direction of the piercing shop.
The next is simple. Klaus asks for an eyebrow piercing, Klaus gets an eyebrow piercing. He gets it on his right eyebrow, so it just looks more badass. While he’s at it, he gets some basic ear piercings, because who doesn’t want to poke metal through themselves?
After thanking and paying the man in the shop, he walks out, feeling like a new man.
Who looks like he just got back from a messy funeral.
Lucky for Klaus, he remembers his favorite clothing store was just a couple of blocks away. Eager to get out of these smelly clothes, he runs to the clothing store in search of the one thing that makes him feel amazing - a skirt.
Sure, they aren’t Allison’s designer skirts but these will do. He runs up and down the aisles until he finds the perfect outfit.
He goes to purchase the items then to the dressing room to change into his new attire. He twirled in the mirror with his new black skirt, a tucked-in yellow button-up, and no shoes. Klaus doesn’t need shoes, they just suffocate his feet.
He walks out for the last time, leaving his clothes from the barn in the store. As much as Klaus loved that outfit, he never wanted to see them again.
He was so happy that he cleaned up so nicely and was excited for his siblings to see his new look.
Oh.
Where did they go?
Klaus knew he was forgetting something.
At first, he thought to himself, ‘screw them, they don’t need me, I'm just the stupid drunk of the family’ and he truly felt that. After countless times that Klaus has contributed to his family, they still treated him like garbage. What a bunch of assholes.
He didn’t even notice that he walked up to an old motel until he heard a screaming match break out from the top floor.
He could recognize those voices anywhere.
As he walked up the stairs and in front of the room, he heard shushing from the inside, a voice telling them to shut up.
‘Do they think I’m the commission?’
He knocks on the door, saying “Guys it’s just me, Klaus. Let me in, it's cold as shit”
He heard muttering from the other side of the door as the locks, one by one, clicked and dinged, a cold glare meeting Klaus as the door was opened.
Klaus walked in, almost laughing at his siblings' shocked faces, and plopped on one of the king beds in the room.
“So what did i miss?”
And as his siblings reprimanded him for going out and exposing himself at a time like this, Klaus's eyes couldn't help but wander to the clock on the wall.
Tic.
Tok.