#tua secret santa 2020 | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

writing-processing · 3 years

Text

TUA SECRET SANTA - AU Fix It!

Klave, Klaus and Five shenanigans, Dave and Luther bonding, and apocalypse aversion in season 1! Please enjoy @fanthings !!! I haven’t written a fic in a very long time but I had a lot of fun writing this. I’m sorry if it isn’t suuuper great as I had to forgo finishing editing so it could be in on time. But I’m happy with how it flows as is. Happy Holidays! <3 @secret-santa-klaus

They were done. The war was over and Dave and Klaus made it back to the states, their arms draped around one another’s shoulders. They’d found themselves in Texas with nothing but a couple satchels and a briefcase that Klaus would have refused to take his eyes off of if it weren’t for Dave’s smiling and relieved face.

Dave’s family welcomed him home with open arms, and Dave refused to leave his “buddy Klaus” whose family didn’t even write back when he’d write. (Really, Klaus wrote letters for Ben and had them thrown into the fire. Dave saw this only once and decided that it seemed complicated enough not to ask about… And yet...) Of course, Dave’s family took the lil oddball in as soon as he hit them with appreciation for Dave, but Dave wouldn’t let him have it and launched into the story of how Klaus had saved his life.

Soon enough, eleven at night came to pass and both soldiers retreated to Dave’s old room, ignoring instructions to set up the second mattress on the floor. At just past eleven that night, though, Klaus turned to Dave and came clean. About everything.

“Dave,” he breathed, hands shaking a bit. Dave moved to close the door before settling his hands over Klaus’ trembling ones. In a worried hush, he whispered, “What is it? Are you okay? Did everyone overwhelm you—”

“No,” Klaus said. “No they’re lovely.” He smiled.

“Then, what’s wrong?” As Dave asked this, Klaus’ eyes flitted towards his briefcase, and as he looked back at Dave, his nose scrunched before tears began to well in his eyes.

“Oh, honey.” Dave caught Klaus’ first few tears with his thumbs but soon, he had an armful of boyfriend and tears staining his best shirt. Still, he hushed this precious, precious man, and rubbed at his back soothingly. Once his tears subsided, Dave asked, “What’s your bag, sweetheart?”

Klaus giggled a bit and pulled away shaking his head. “Oh, you know...” He trailed off.

“Well? Why not sit down then?”

“That’d be good.”

They sat and after a beat, Klaus spoke. “Davey, I’ve gotta tell you. Something.” Dave moved a little closer to Klaus, if possible and looked at him so earnestly that Klaus’ heart melted all over again. He took a deep breath and continued. “It’s really, really gonna sound crazy, so I just need you to listen until I’m done. Okay?” When Dave nodded, Klaus launched into the details of his life, which could only best be described as ludicrous. Once Klaus finished explaining, Dave nodded solemnly and cleared his throat.

“Well,” he started. “Klaus, it would definitely explain a lot,” he laughed. “But I’m still not quite sure. Just. I— Wow. I never thought...” Klaus turned his gaze to his hands where he was picking at his cuticles nervously. Dave interrupted this by taking his hands again. “But either way. Real or not, I still… Well, Klaus, I think you would know this by now. Maybe not, but I love you.” Klaus inhaled sharply.

“Really?” he whispered.

“Yeah,” Dave said with complete certainty. “Yeah, Klaus, of course. A-and I— you don’t have to—”

“No, Dave, yes. Yes, I love you too.” Klaus laughed a little. “I love you too.”

Dave smiled so bright, Klaus just had to kiss him. Only, then, the door opened.

It was well past 3 in the morning by the time Dave and Klaus were back outside the front door of Dave’s childhood home. Their few belongings in hand, the two men made it to a nearby park to talk over what would be next. Dave’s mother had made it very clear that Klaus would never be welcome again, and that Dave made it clear that he chose Klaus. He only stared blankly while they walked, not a tear shed.

“At least you met them,” he whispered once they’d sat down on a bench. Klaus fiddled with the briefcase.

“Dave, I’m so sor—”

“No, Klaus. It’s, well.” Dave paused. A single tear dropped. “Well,” he continued, “I don’t think I quite expected much else, if the truth ever did come out. I guess it was better sooner than later in case anyone got attached, or-or tried to set us up with some girls down the block or somethin.”

“Doesn’t make it hurt any less, Davey,” Klaus reassured, as he set his head on Dave’s shoulder. They both sat like that, contemplative in their own rights, until the sky started to turn a slightly lighter shade of blue and the birds started to interrupt their thoughts. Klaus sighed.

“Dave, d’you remember what I told you tonight? About, y’know, the future?”

“Klaus,” Dave started. “Is that what you want? Cause, you know I’d drop everythin’ for you right now. But are you sayin’ you’d go back to it all for me?”

“It’s just...” Klaus hesitated. “You know we could be together there. It’s not like it is here. We wouldn’t get hassled. And— well, I can start over. Ben always said it wasn’t too late to change my mind. I never did until. Well, until I knew I loved you, Dave. It’s just that you’ll be stuck there. We can’t come back n visit your mom or redo anything, you know that?”

“Well, ain’t that life anyhow, Klaus?” Dave smiled at him in the morning rays of daytime and Klaus knew he wanted this, too.

“Then,” Klaus said, standing. “How about we test this briefcase, yeah?”

“That sounds like a plan to me.”

They were gone in a flash.

The two veterans silently tiptoed into the academy and safely made it into Klaus’ childhood bedroom.

“Well, I dunno about you, but I need a long bath. Haven’t had one in a long time. Wanna join me?” He smiled serenely, both knew that this wasn’t a suggestive suggestion, however suggestive it could have been. So Dave smiled back and shook his head, looking around.

“I think I’ll have a look around. A bit of revenge for your time at my ol’ place...”

“Take your time, then, babe,” Klaus said, already rummaging for a towel. “I’ll be a bit. If you get tired, go ahead n get some sleep.”

“I will,” Dave promised. And so, Klaus readied his bath and left his headphones in his room, just in case Dave needed something

Halfway through his bath, though, came a series of shouts that sounded distinctly homicidal and threatening.

“WHO ARE YOU? The commission absolutely would not have sent you. How did you get this briefcase, and what is your business here?”

“Um, sorry, I’m with Klaus? He’s in the bath.”

“Yeah, right.”

It was Five.

Klaus scrambled for a towel and burst into his room after barely securing said towel around his waist.

“Five, goddamn it. This is Dave. Chill out little man.”

“Klaus,” Five sneered. “Why would you bring a man from another time to 2019? Jesus, do you understand nothing of time travel?”

“I had to.”

“Yeah, okay. Great. We’re dealing with this after I’ve used this.” He said this while taking the briefcase. “Good bye.” with that, Five was gone. After an exasperated giggle, Klaus closed the door and finished drying off before the two fell into a deep rest in his childhood bedroom.

They awoke to a loud clanging coming from downstairs sometime the next day. The both of them got some clothes on and rushed downstairs to find a drunk Luther in the sitting room, while an upset Ben followed them. Overwhelmed, Klaus turned to Dave.

“Hey honey, this is Luther,” he said, glancing at Luther worriedly. “He needs to sober up a bit and get out of his head. Can you talk to him? I have to go deal with something else.”

“Of course, Klaus. Just come back soon, okay?”

“I’ll try.” He smiled tightly, eyes shifting, before he kissed Dave’s cheek and wandered off, mumbling to something on his way out. Dave turned to Luther.

“So, Luther, yeah?”

Things came to a head on the night of Vanya’s concert, which Klaus and Dave were invited to when Klaus had gone to introduce Dave to her. Dave was taken aback by the world he’d been thrust into but he didn’t think he’d come across someone thinking it okay to lock someone up. The army didn’t lock people up when they were dealing with PTSD. Well, they didn’t really do anything, but this certainly was not part of it.

“Luther,” Dave started. “I know you’re scared. I understand. I don’t really know much of what’s going on, myself… That’s not the point though. This isn’t something, someone we can just lock up and put away. We need to help her.”

There was silence. No one was sure of what Luther was thinking but after another moment, he surprised everyone by turning open the lock and letting Vanya out. Klaus ran in and grabbed his sister, Diego and Allison on his heels.

The night passed and Five cornered Klaus.

“What changed? Did I save the world? Is it over? Where’s Vanya?”

“Vanya’s fine.” And Klaus explained everything, with the occasional input from Ben or Dave. When he was finished, Five was quiet.

“Is everything okay?” Klaus asked.

“I think so,” Five laughed, actually laughed. “Klaus, I think you saved the world!”

“Me?” Klaus looked at Dave. “What?”

“Yeah, it makes sense. You’re the only other factor here, and I really don’t think it was me. If you hadn’t gotten a hold of that briefcase, I wouldn’t have known for sure that it was Vanya, but you also wouldn’t have brought Dave back or gotten sober enough to have Ben tell Vanya what was going on while she was in the bunker. God. Wow.”

And so the family celebrated and moved forward, past April 1st, 2019, and past the trauma that had been uncovered, into the life ahead of them.

#klave #klaus hargreeves #dave katz #tua #the umbrella academy #luther hargreeves #five hargreeves #tua secret santa #tua secret santa 2020 #im posting this at like the last 30 mins in the day it was due to be posted by so forgive me please #i hope you like it because i really did put a lot of thought into the outline and planning of it but i just havent written in a long time #much love!

24 notes · View notes

niftybottle · 3 years

Photo

@is-jus-me @secret-santa-klaus Here is your gift!

Luther wanted to throw a party to celebrate Allison getting 50/50 custody of Claire, but life under Reginald’s thumb did not give him much experience in celebrations, so he approached Vanya and Diego for help, as the two siblings (apart from Allison) with the most functional post-umbrella lives. Unfortunately neither of them have too much experience themselves, so they all found a copy of “Party Planning for Dummies” and are gonna figure it out together.

About Luther’s sweater - I have a headcanon that he’s gotten into knitting - it takes a lot of concentration, but I think being able to make delicate things helps him feel a bit better about his body, and as a bonus helps cut down on the expense of finding clothes that fit him.

#tua secret santa #tua secret santa 2020 #Vanya Hargreeves #Luther Hargreeves #Diego Hargreeves #The Umbrella Academy #my art #I have way less experience drawing guys #hope they turned out okay

22 notes · View notes

shizuoi · 3 years

Text

TUA Gift Exchange

it’s finally time! happy holidays @malecacidd, i was your gift provider for this tua gift exchange, and i now humbly present to you a modern college au benji fic (♡˙︶˙♡) hope you enjoy!

also, big thanks to the mods @secret-santa-klaus for setting this up, it was such a fun time!!

There’s something special about the hell that is a college finals week. Too many lecture slides crammed into too few days, essays that have no right being as long as they are, group project members that refuse to answer your texts; the list goes on and on. It’s not all bad though; sometimes, if you stay up late enough, you get to see the sky turn colors you’ve never witnessed before. That is, unless you’re stuck in the basement of the only 24-hour library on campus.

Ben scrubs his face desperately, equations and snippets of his essay swimming on the backs of his eyelids. Almost there. Just one more paragraph of writing, and then two more chapters-worth of PowerPoint slides, and then…coffee? He checks his phone blearily, calculating in his head. A quick nap. And then coffee.

“Have you tried refreshing the application? You might need to log in again.”

Ben blinks, peering over the top of his desk divider. It’s nearly 4AM, most people usually have the etiquette not to speak so loudly. He spots the perpetrator, a young woman peering at another person’s computer screen.

“You think I haven’t tried that, Jill? What are you here for, if you can’t help me?” The owner of the computer snaps. At that, Jill straightens, hands on her hips.

“Look, it’s not my paper on the line here. If you want me to help you, act like you have some manners. Got it?”

The other person shrinks back with a murmured agreement, and she turns back to the computer at that, fingers flying over the keys. Ben blinks, dazed. That was hot. Maybe he’s sleep-deprived, maybe he needs to consume something that isn’t caffeine, but still, people standing up for themselves and taking no shit is always attractive, in his eyes.

Focus, Ben. Come on.

Ben shakes his head, forcing himself to look down at his notes.

(Full fic on AO3)

#text #tua secret santa #tua secret santa 2020 #my writing #tua #6 #tua jill

22 notes · View notes

fuckreggiehargreeves · 3 years

Text

Klaus Hargreeves was planning to spend Christmas Eve at his sister Vanya's wedding. This was a solid plan, and would be one of the better celebrations he's attended. His new sister-in-law, Sissy, was a wonderful woman.

The universe obviously says no to this mostly peaceful plan, and sends a drunk Dave Katz his way.

for my secret santa @writing-processing. something funny to end the year with, hope you like it!

[@secret-santa-klaus]

#tua secret santa #tua secret santa 2020 #klaus hargreeves #dave katz #tua #the umbrella academy #umbrella academy #klave #klaus x dave

22 notes · View notes

katgreeves · 3 years

Text

a case of the biggest cards (a tua holiday fic)

Cards, muffins on the way, and a slightly tired (tipsy) family that have competitive and snarky written in their bones and running in their veins. A sure fire way for total absolute mayhem on earth. Oh this is gonna be fun. Klaus can't wait."

Or: The Hargreeves make the best of their royal fucking up of the timeline and spend Christmas Eve together at last.

heyyyyyyy @a-fucking-velociraptor it’s me your secret santa for @secret-santa-klaus!! wanted to do a little sibling bonding fic for you and then I went overboard LMAOOO I hope you like it anyways and happy holidays!!! I hope you’re having the best times this season!!

it’s also on ao3 to read for your reading pleasure!! (if you have an ao3 acc by all means lemme know so I can gift it to you on there!)

Fine hands move quickly to practiced motions. Long, nimble fingers sent cards flying as they shuffled around in the deck.

The five of them were all sitting on the floor, wrapped around a worn coffee table and leaning against the sofa and armchairs around them. Assorted pillows strewn about to comfort them, they were slowly going through the 3 bottles of whatever shitty drink they had trusted Diego with getting for the night. One of them was already empty.

Since the whole Dooms-didn’t/Apoca-nope-lypse/The Sparrow Academy timeline fuckery to the highest of degrees, they were all pretty much left in the dust. After a not so great first encounter with the “Sparrows” (none of them had even begun to comprehend the big emo looking elephant in the room, let alone address it to each other) they were promptly kicked our of the Hargreeves mansion. It took a while after that, but eventually they found a flat somewhere in the city for cheap to hide out in. The place wasn’t really cozy, totally not big enough for all of them together, but it was a roof over their heads to keep them safe enough till they could figure how to bring back their own timeline and finally have this behind them once and for all.

If that even existed anymore.

Klaus leered tiredly at the movements. Had it been himself dealing with the deck, he’s sure it would not be nearly as graceful, instead the cards would probably move clumsily with his fidgety hands and scrawny fingers, spewing all over the place. Then again, it might just be the signature “Rumor Charm.” Alli made everything look elegant, it was one of her best skills, one she gained with no powers, no rumors, that she did without even trying. It was just her.

“Allison. Darling sister of mine. While this in no means to rush you at all, I just want you to know that I’ve murdered entire Commision boards in shorter amounts of time that you’re taking right now.”

That, the source of the uncannily on cue quip, was Five. The grouch wasn’t letting up his smartass act up for one bit, even for the goddamn holidays. How predictable.

“First, you’ve only killed one commision board. Second, this is a Christmas Eve party, aka fun night party, aka we are not having discussions of our more colorful histories for one night party, please-”

“Can we actually start the game? I hear Santa hates it when he's’ trying to do his job and sneak like a ninja or whatever only to see six idiots in a small dingy, dark as shit living room bickering over cards and oh wait- they've been at this since when?”

All eyes focused on whom that voice belonged to, which was Diego. While he was working at defrosting himself of his bitter and snarky facade, it didn’t really help that he was both tired and annoyed as shit at the wait right now.

“Quite a bold accusation that Santa wants to see any of us after all the shit we’ve pulled Di.”

“Even if he did, does he even know how to find us now? You know, technically not existing anymore and all-”

“What did Allison just say guys-”

“Hey Vanny, we’re just-”

“Okay, I think it’s time we get this show on the road shall we?” Allison pointedly interrupted with, brandishing the now shuffled deck of cards to veer the group to their original intentions (She does that a lot nowadays).

“Thank goodness. At the rate that we’re going it’s only a matter of time before we become itty bitty old grannies sitting on porches in rocking chairs.” Vanya crooned, scrunching up her face at the end to emphasize her point.

“Five’s essentially a grandparent already Vanya-”

“Well, he’ll just become a jurassic fossil I gue-”

PWACK

“Five!”

“That-” he gestured to the pen in Vanya’s hand he has just whacked her in the face with (Klaus had admittedly, bursted out a sharp spark of laughter at the sight) “is what happens when you are the only one I tolerate slightly more than average and you use this weakness to lead me to a complete and utter betrayal.”

“Betrayal?”

“You know, we actually promised Luther we’d let him bake in peace this time.”

Indeed, as Allison had oh so clearly reminded them, while the others were engaging in whatever was going on right now, Luther was trying baking some red velvet muffins (“No, don’t look at me like that, this is a totally normal amount of food coloring to put in the batter. They have to be the brightest red guys! Come on, it’s Christmas!”) in the kitchen close by. He was in there a lot nowadays, essentially becoming their new Grace in terms of their meals. He claimed it was a cathartic process for him, and in return they all just enjoyed the free meals.

“Jokes on Luther if he’s dumb enough to actually belive that.”

The last comment earned an eruption of laughs all around the table, a scandalized “Vanny!” here and there. Such was expected from their Vanya, the now youngest of the group (and isn’t that wild? Their entire lives were dictated by nothing else but the fact they were quite the peculiar, unlucky septulets and time travel and fucking Dallas took even that away from them). A complete contrast from the Vanya that was so long ago, sarcasm and laughter were her now weapons of choice as she’d talk and tease non stop about anything with a grin. Honestly, good for her.

With cards now flying across the table, it was time for the real shit. The game was one that Klaus had actually taught them. It was one of the many “souvenirs” that he had brought back from Vietnam. He had learnt it, along with the rest of his squadron from one Private Darren Teow. “T” for short, although the boys called him “Croc” after an embarrassing incident where he was the main star of a disaster march across a riverbank (oh boy was that a wild day).

His parents had come to the United States back in the early 40’s for a chance of something new, and for their son, a chance of something better, a life of his own that could be so grand.

“And what a real great life this is, isn’t it?” He had said one night, a one in a kind night where the jungles were silent of the noises that shook them all for once and instead was filled with the laughter and cheering of the squadron as days old beer was being passed around like candy. Raising his can in the air, the bitter cynicism in his voice rang clear. “Trying to save my head from blowing up to bits everyday on the floor these fucking jungles. A goddamn blast if I’ve ever seen one. Three cheers for the Land of the Fucking Free-”

It wasn’t played as much as a usual game of poker, but whenever there was a fleeting moment here and there, or nobody had any cigs left to bet after Katz snatched them all (Rule Number 15 of the 173rd: Do not let that All-American face and charm fool you. That man will have your rations in his godly chiseled arms and the palms of his hands before you can even put down a card).

Sometimes, when he and Dave were cooped up in some motel room in Saigon during leave, trying to avoid another Sky Soldier who would try and drag them along for a night on the town, they’d decide to play it together, just the two of them. And by that it meant Dave would offer to play a round of poker, and Klaus would beg to play this instead for a “fun change of pace, you know?”

“You mean, when you don’t want to eat utter shit at the hands of your awfully gifted beloved and can’t face the fact that you can’t keep a straight face for shit?”

“Be thankful you have a god gifted jawline from Adonis himself, or else I would have busted out of this motel aeons ago.”

“What can I say if I learnt it from the best?”

“Fuck you Kitty Katz.”

“I love you too, starlight.”

“That’s it, you are disqualified for hitting me with that sappy shit. I love you too.”

He smiled, chuckling softly at the memory as his hands reached for the familiar chain of cold steel around his neck, the motion second nature at this point. God, Klaus missed that dork so much.

Teow had called the game Big Two. At the very core of it, spades’ the best, then hearts, then clubs, and last and very least: diamonds. The bigger the better. Except for two. That little fucker gets you far. Put down as many as you can at rapidfire speed. First one to finish their cards in hand is winner winner chicken dinner!

He wishes Ben were here. God knows how much that little shit would be enjoying this right now.

The cards were swiftly dealt. He inspected his hand, as the others were talking about theirs. On top were the first two cards, two threes.

The game carried on as a normal one, duets of cards spilling on the table. And then, a lull as yet again his siblings had started another feud. This time, Diego was convinced Five was cheating somehow. Hell, knowing the little menace, he probably was.

Klaus must have dozed off somewhere, because it was only when a hand slammed into his shoulder that his head whipped back to the table, about to mutter a quick apology to what he expected were a circle of tired faces. Instead, he saw a cacophony of grim expressions. Something was going awry.

“What’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“Klaus-”

“You know, the last time I checked, I was the Seance around here-”

“Klaus-”

Klaus mocked a gasp, dramatically placing a hand on his chest as he feigned a look of shock on his face. “No! Don’t tell me you all are putting a Lila on me-”

“Five’s on his last card!” they all exclaimed, exasperated by Klaus’ usual antics.

Oh. Well, that's where the problem quickly emerged. Shit.

“Put something! Anything! Don’t let him win!” Allison shrieked.

“How can she? He’s got some damn strong cards there!” Diego added.

They had to be pulling his leg. Already? Things had just started getting good around here. Or you know, Klaus assumes it was before he was lost in wherever the fuck his mind went. But alas, a hesitant glance at the table and indeed, on the stack of cards, were two aces. Goddamn aces. Scouring through his hand, a sigh came over the medium. Those were some goddamn miracle cards.

Again, if only Benjamin was here. Sure, after their last poker fiasco, the little shit would probably decide to just screw him over again cause he had such a fun ride the last time around. But still, it was at least better than nothi-

Wait. Eyes perked up as Klaus saw a lifeline of a card in his hand.

Aces may have been big.

But they weren’t the biggest.

And with that a couple of two’s were places on the table, and Klaus, with a calm, low tone uttered-

“Last card.”

An array of sounds could be heard. Gasps, exasperated groans and sighs echoed across the table as cards were chucked in the middle in a show of surrender. Five glared daggers, as one would at the person who caused their defeat. It didn’t really matter to the medium anymore because-

“Victory is mine, bitches.”

A scoff, then an eyeroll before Five uttered “Beginner’s luck.”

“I’m the one who told you how to play you little shit.”

“Well, then it’s just a stroke of luck then. The game’s all chance anyways.”

“You goddamn pri-”

“Could it kill you all to be a bit quieter?” Luther asks, cutting the action as he finally stepped into the room.

“Lutherino!”

“Big guy finally decided to show up huh?”

“My apologies Razor Boy, didn’t want to give you guys burnt shit now, didn’t I?” he says, placing a pile of whatever he had made on the table, which was met with an applause all around. Oh damn they looked good.

“You guys only love me for cooking, don’t you?”

“Well, now that you’ve said it-”

“Five!” With a whack on his shoulder, Allison chided the former assassin while scooting a bit into Diego, patting the empty space she’d just created for Luther to plop into.

“Think you could come in with a cute little apron, you know, really sell into the chef role you’ve set for yourself here? One with an abundance of frills, preferably.”

“No, absolutely not Klaus. Now pass me the goddamn cards to shuffle before you guys start some shit again.”

“Wow, our Numero Uno now joins in on the gambling fun? Whatever happened to our ever so righteous bro bro?

“Klaus, I worked with Jack Ruby for a year. You don’t wanna know half the things I’ve witnessed.”

And that was it. That was their breaking point. It wasn’t long before the whole room erupted into laughter and wow this is so good.

It isn’t perfect. They all struggled to fit, it was way too chilly for comfort even under assorted layers of tight knit sweaters. Their hearts still panged for what they had already lost and what they were afraid they could still lose.

But, they were all together, and they haven’t been able to say that for so long. So, they could set all those worries and lingering annoyances aside for a bit to just be. Right here, right now, enjoying the warmth and joy of each other’s presence in a way they never thought they’d be so lucky to feel.

Later that night, Klaus resolves that if ever found Teow again, he’d have to thank him.

#tua #tua secret santa #tua secret santa 2020 #The Umbrella Academy #klaus hargreeves #vanya hargreeves #Allison Hargreeves #five hargreeves #diego hargreeves #luther hargreeves #ben hargreeves #Dave katz #klave #look man they're all just bastards and I just think they're neat #tv: the umbrella academy #mine: writing #damn this is the first fic I've published HELP AJSKLDJAS

21 notes · View notes

zontiky · 3 years

Text

after sunset

here’s my @secret-santa-klaus gift fic for @datiyaknowsshit! i hope you like your gift, happy holidays! <3

read it on Ao3

***

It’s late.

Ben’s head feels cotton-stuffed, everything coming through muffled. The streetlamps do little to clear his vision, all muted yellows and oranges dancing over dark purples and blues. And blacks. Ben is accustomed to black.

When he died, it was black. For a second that stretched into hours and days -- or at least, that’s what it felt like -- there was nothing. The darkness engulfed him, surrounded him like he was miles deep underwater. The blood on his skin was invisible, hidden away in the depths of the darkness. And then--

And then there was light.

It blinded him. Seared itself into his retinas, so bright and damaging he wanted to claw his eyes out and scream. The light beckoned him, and he was drawn to it, like a moth to a flame -- drifting closer, and closer, feeling himself start to catch fire, feeling himself fall to pieces, feeling himself be torn apart from the inside out--

And then there was a different light. A blue one, shining on his hands from behind him, dim and almost invisible from how close he was to the white.

His steps -- was he walking? did he have legs to walk on? -- stuttered. He turned away from the light, past the darkness and into the blue glow -- and walked away.

He thinks the light didn’t want him to do that. He felt it screaming at him to turn back, to come back, to find himself a place where he belonged. Tires scratched and a bicycle bell rang and seventeen-year-old Ben opened his eyes to a funeral.

Thirty-something-year-old Ben closes his eyes and leans the back of his skull on bricks that must be rough. He doesn’t feel them. He only feels the subtle warmth emanating from them -- they’re only warm because he’s colder than them.

He’s always colder than things, now. He can’t even remember how it used to be before.

Ben wonders what Klaus would say if he asked him. Then he snorts, because yeah, right. Hey, bro, what does it feel like to be alive? I seem to have forgotten. Care to describe it to me?

He’d never hear the end of it. Klaus still brings up the time he tried to lean on a wall and fell through.

(Sometimes he wonders how far he could fall, if he let himself. If he just… let go. Ben has fallen through walls, chairs, bookcases. Is it that far a stretch that he might be able to keep falling? Through the floor, through the ground, and just… fly through the earth and drift off into space. Endlessly hurtling in the suffocating darkness.)

(Ben is so fucking familiar with darkness.)

Vanya used to leave the light on for Five. When he was gone and they were waiting for him to come back. Five came back too late. Ben is bitter, sometimes, over it. Nobody ever left the light on for him. Nobody thought Ben would come back.

Nobody believed Klaus when he told them Ben already did.

He blinks. His eyes dazzle.

It’s fucking stupid. He can’t feel anything, he can’t smell, taste. Be seen like any other person would be. But his eyes dazzle -- numbly, painlessly -- and he reaches up to rub away the sparks out of habit.

He blinks again. Everything flashes blue, and then -- nothing.

Well.

Not nothing. Not like that. Regular nothing. Brick wall, streetlamps, moths flying around the bulbs. Ben sighs and lets his head roll to the side where Klaus is parked in the car. Technically, it’s just his car -- but Ben likes to pretend they co-own it. So he has at least something material to claim as his.

Klaus is sleeping in the back seat. He’d cut the engine and said, you’re in charge of waking me up if we get carjacked.

Ben said, how am I supposed to wake you up anyway?

Just scream really loud or something, I don’t care.

Ben made a face.

Or don’t. Klaus turned onto his side and curled into the seat. Whatever.

His chest is rising and falling. Ben raises his hand and presses it to his heart. He takes a deep breath, and feels nothing.

Ben shifts, leaving the wall like he was a part of it all along. His fingers brush against the brick as he steps away. He settles on the hood of the car, tipping his head back and looking at the clouds that hide the lightening sky and leave the sliver of moon shining through. He hears Klaus shift around in the back seat.

The night is young no longer. The dark purple is fading to a washed-out lavender at the corners of the sky. Soon the sun will come out and will feel nothing as it hits his skin.

He closes his eyes and waits for the sunrise.

#tua secret santa 2020 #tua secret santa #ben hargreeves #tua #the umbrella academy #nik words #misc

20 notes · View notes

malecacidd · 3 years

Text

Sneaking Out for Snowmen

This is my @secret-santa-klaus gift for @undead-supremacy!!! I hope that you like it and happy holidays!!

Yes the title is incredibly cheesy but it's not a song lyric so I feel like that deserves a few points FKZKDKZKDKS

For context they are twelve years old in this! And there are no warnings!! Only fluff 😌😌

Read on ao3 (Please tell me if you have an ao3 account so that I can gift it to you on there!!)

Ben normally didn't sneak out of the academy with his siblings, but that night was different.

Usually he didn't go out for fear of getting in trouble. Trouble always meant punishments, and punishments always meant no food, or more training. The Horror didn't like it when Ben didn't eat, which was the reason that Ben didn't like it when he didn't eat.

But, the day before that night, it had snowed. It had snowed for the first time in a year or so, and when Diego and Klaus had come into his room that night, he couldn't say no to sneaking out with them.

He had only snuck out a few times in his twelve years of life, but he knew that 9:00 was way too early for their father to already be asleep. What they were doing was fairly risky, but he didn't really care as he pulled on his coat, quickly walking out of his room after Diego and Klaus, shutting the door quietly behind him.

They snuck down the stairs quietly in single file, pressed against the wall where they knew the camera pointing at the stairs wouldn't catch them. They knew that their father was probably watching it, waiting for someone to disobey him just so that he could punish them.

Ben shook the thought off, grinning as Klaus threw open the doors and bouncing outside, kicking snow up in the air as soon as Diego shut the main doors quietly behind them.

"And we're out!" Klaus said as loud as he could, earning a shush and a snowball to the face from Diego.

Ben couldn't help but giggle at the way Klaus sputtered, brushing the snow off of his own coat before grabbing a handful of snow and throwing it in Ben's general direction with a grin.

Ben immediately closed his eyes, throwing his hands in front of his face to block the snow that never came.

He lowered his hands when he heard Diego start to laugh, opening his eyes to see Klaus crossing his arms. Ben grinned, running forward to push his brothers down into the snow.

What he didn't expect was the way they dragged him down with them, both immediately teaming up to cover him with snow.

He sat up quickly, brushing snow out of his hair and glaring at Diego and Klaus as they laughed.

After only a second of sitting in the snow, Diego's eyes seemed to light up as he thought of something. He jumped up from his place on the ground and turned to each of them with a smile.

"We should build a snowman." He said, excitedly clapping his cold hands together.

Klaus groaned from beside Ben. "But we don't have anything to put on it! All we have is snow."

Diego rolled his eyes, crossing his arms. "So? I've never made a snowman before!" He turned to Ben. "Have you ever made a snowman before?"

Ben shook his head, moving up from the ground to stand beside Diego. "I think it would be fun." He said, and Diego nodded, turning his gaze back to Klaus, sticking his bottom lip out exaggeratedly.

Klaus rolled his eyes, but smiled as he stood up, brushing the snow off of his pants. "Yeah, sure. But don't come crying to me when he turns out to be just as ugly as you guys."

"Hey!" Ben shoved his shoulder, but couldn't hide his grin as Diego ran to find the perfect place for their snowman. He moved to grab the hat off of Klaus' head. "Maybe we can use this to make him look better?"

Klaus snatched it out of his hands, putting it back on his own head with a huff. "Noooo." He whined, dragging the word out, "It's my hat, not the snowmans."

"Fine," Ben sighed, rolling his eyes and moving to sit next to Diego, who was already rolling together snow for the snowman's base. "I'll do the middle and Klaus can do the head."

Klaus collapsed onto the snow next to them, and they got to work.

It took about twenty minutes, but eventually they were done. Klaus even gave up his hat for the snowman, who they decidedly named Jeremy.

He wasn't the greatest snowman, considering he was their first one. But they all definitely thought that he was perfect.

They did eventually get caught. About thirty minutes after they had finished building Jeremy, they were a little too loud during their snowball fight, and Reginald had come out of the house, pointing his cane menacingly at them as he yelled something about free time only being on Saturdays.

They didn't get lunch or breakfast that next day, but Ben found that he couldn't seem to care all that much, despite the Horrors painful movements in retaliation to his empty stomach.

His brothers smiles when they realized that the snowman was still there in the morning was enough to keep Ben satisfied until dinner.

#tua secret santa klaus #tua secret santa klaus 2020 #tua #the umbrella academy #klaus hargreeves #ben hargreeves #diego hargreeves #malecacidd fic #tua secret santa #tua secret santa 2020 #em writes

19 notes · View notes

patrickswayzeme · 3 years

Text

Happy Holidays everybody! Sorry this is a bit late! This is my Secret Santa gift as part of @secret-santa-klaus

My gift is for @skull-w-cigarette , I hope you like it!

Note: this takes places in some kind of alternate timeline where the Hargreeves meet up on a less of an urgent timeline in the 60s. Around the same time but maybe a few weeks later, closer to Christmas. I apologize for the plot not being better thought out, I just thought of the idea and ran with it. Hope you like it! (I also apologize for the lack of a cut, I’m on mobile, I will fix it as soon as I get to a computer)

Allison had almost forgotten her alibi. She grimaced as she looked down at the shopping bags on her arm, filled with hurriedly bought presents. Whatever size shoe that was, she did not think it was actually her husbands. She hadn’t actually went out to go shopping on a Saturday afternoon. She had been having lunch with her sister, which she knew she didn’t have to hide from her husband, but the truth was she wasn’t ready to explain it all. Yes, she had one sister but no her sister didn’t remember who she was and yes they were all adopted. Once she got to that point, she would have to explain who had adopted them, and it was going to keep getting more and more complicated after that. He had already been spooked by two of her brothers and she was going to get to explaining everything, she promised herself, but she just needed a little more time. She let out a deep breath before opening her front door. She smiled as soon as she did and noticed that Ray had decorated while she was gone. The Christmas tree was up and covered with tinsel and there were already presents wrapped under the tree. “Awww” she couldn’t help murmur audibly. He was so sweet. She felt a pang of guilt in her stomach when she thought of the poorly chosen shoes and the half-baked lie he would never suspect.

“Ray?” She called, the smile could be heard in her voice “don’t worry about hanging the mistletoe. You don’t need the help.” She joked in a sing song voice, peaking around corners in search of her husband.“Honey!” Rays’ familiar voice exclaimed, coming out of the kitchen, his arms wide open ready for a hug which Allison immediately excepted. Hey!” She playfully smacked his hand when he tried to look in the bag. “No peaking!” She scolded. Ray chucked and backed away “sorry sweetheart, I just can’t help it!”Allison quickly stuffed the bags in the coat closet, promising herself she would buy better gifts later. Ray excitedly grabbed her hands and started gently pulling her to the kitchen. “Now follow me, I got something to show you!” “Did you decorate the kitchen too?” Allison asked excitedly.“Not quite” Ray winked as he slipped behind her and covered her eyes. “No peaking” he repeated, laughing. Allison smiles impatiently. She heard some kind of scraping sound? No, it was more like a slobbering and a scraping sound and then heavy breathing. “What on earth do you have in here, Ray?” She asked, still amused but growing skeptical. “Surprise!” Ray exclaimed when lifted his hands over her eyes to reveal a small golden colored dog happily eating from a brand-new doggy dish in the kitchen floor. “A dog, Ray? It’s a bit early for Christmas...l” she began slowly, not wanting to hurt his feelings but I little surprised he had never asked her about pets before making this decision. She rationalized that perhaps pet buying wasn’t considered as series of a decision as it was in the future and resisted the urge to get upset. Ray put a calming hand on her shoulder, noticing the worry creases on his wife’s forehead. “Now don’t worry!” He calmed “He’s not for us, he’s for your brother!”

Allison’s eyes went wide. “My brother?! Ray, which brother of mine do you think would be capable of this kind of responsibility…Klaus can barely take care of himself, and I think Luther would like a dog, and could probably take care of one, but I don’t really know where he’s living right now, and his current job is kind of unpredictable…and a pet could be used as leverage…” Ray took Allison’s hands in his own and gently pulled her closer to him. “Baby, slow down. He’s for your little brother! How old is he 11? 13? Where have you been hiding him?” Allison took a deep breath as she realized which brother he must have met. “Five?” She asked. “Pardon?” Ray asked, obviously confused. “He’s…five…years…old?” He asked, slowly. “I mean I know he’s young, but he definitely seemed older than ten….is he a leap year baby or something?” Allison waved her hands in a criss-cross motion. Even though she had regained her voice, she still used motioned with her hands more than she used to. “No, sorry…that’s his…nick-name. Five…” She backed up to lean against the counter. “I’m sorry, when did you meet me ‘little’ brother?” “This morning actually. It was a little scary at first. I came down a little late for breakfast and he a was just sitting at the kitchen table drinking coffee. It was kind of cute though, after you know, the fear of an intruder wore off.”

Allison nodded. “Okay...what did she say?” “He just asked where you were and I said you were out but he could stay or I could drive him home but he said it was fine and he would stop by later, downed the coffee in the cup and left. I don’t think I’ve ever met a kid that...sophisticated before if that’s even the right word.” Allison laughed “theres a lot of word you could use to describe my brother.”

Alison felt hot breath on her ankles and looked down to see the puppy jumping on her legs, desperately trying to jump up closer to her face. She had almost forgotten about him. He had finished devouring his food and now wanted attention. She scooped him up in her arms and scratched his head.

“Aw, Ray you really shouldn’t have, but he is adorable...” she nuzzled the puppy’s head with her chin and pouted. “can we keep him?”Ray laughed “if your brother doesn’t want him then, sure.” He said warmly. “I guess we should ask his..your...parents?” He said slowly and unsure, hoping Allison would jump in with some more enlightening information. She didn’t. She took a few moments before putting down the wriggly puppy in her arms back on the floor. “Let’s go sit down and talk.”

Ray’s biggest take away from Allison’s limited explanation of her siblings seemed to be that Five was living somewhere alone. Or at least somewhere unknown. She had tried to explain that wasn’t really as alarming as it seemed, he could take care of himself. “He spent years alone” she explained. That only made Ray more concerned. “He’s staying with us.” He kept saying definitively. “At least for a little while.” Allison tried to explain that it was probably impossible to convince him of this and that he might be staying with her brother, but he was insistent. “Won’t people ask questions if we..?” “Have a little white boy living with us?” Ray finished “yes they will. But we’re going to figure it out. He is your brother and even the simplest of minds are going to have to accept that.”

When Five came back the next day, Ray found him in the kitchen again, sipping coffee out of the same mug. “Is she here?” He asked politely but matter of fact, looking up from his coffee to briefly flash a polite smile before looking a way again. There was something so unusual yet familiar about his demeanor that Ray found a bit unnerving but also kind of amusing.

“She is...but before she comes down, there’s something I want to show you.”

Five cocked an eyebrow. “Okay...” he looked at Ray for a a minute, sighed then got up.

“Wait one second!” Ray said excitedly, holding up a finger before dashing into the other rooms

Five sighed again and sat back down to finish his coffee. He thought he might just sneak upstairs to talk to his sister or better yet, leave through the kitchen window. He decided against it if not just for curiosity’s sake. Although he didn’t think that Allison would be able to stay with her husband since they had to go back home and fix the timeline, he did want to at least make sure he was as nice and as well meaning as he seemed.

“Okay you can come into the living room now!” Ray called. He was sitting on the floor, under the Christmas tree holding a box, that seemed be struggling out of his grasp. He had been gently holding down the lose fitting lid and let go as soon as he saw his brother-in-law. Out a sprang a little golden brown puppy right towards Five. Five took a step back and cocked his head at Ray in confusion. “A..dog?”

“Uhh yeah...he’s for you..” Ray was suddenly a bit flustered. This wasn’t the reaction he expected. Did he just buy this boy a dog because he had never got one as a boy, he briefly wondered. “Allison and I..well we were hoping..”. “We wanted to let you know you could stay here.” Allison’s voice cut in. Ray turned to see his wife smiling in the doorway.

“The lady of the house has spoken!” Ray said as he walked over the to her and kissed her forehead. “Good morning, dear.” He murmured.

Five looked at the couple incredulously.

“I won’t be doing that. I’m staying with our brothers and another guy. It’s all good.”

Ray started protesting, Allison just looked at her brother with a thin lipped smile, totally unsurprised. She touched Rays shoulder, to let him know it was okay.

Five got up and dusted himself off “Allison, let’s catch up some other time. This address.” He handed her a card with small neat handwriting. “I will be taking Mr. Pennycrumb though.” He said matter of factly, reaching to shake Ray’s hand. “Thank you, Raymond.” He said before scooping up the puppy and going out the front door.

Raymond looked dumbfounded at his wife who just shrugged. Ray laughed, leading Allison to laugh. “Let’s go get some breakfast, sweetie.”

He said taking her hand.

“This morning actually. It was a little scary at first. I came down a little late for breakfast and he a was just sitting at the kitchen table drinking coffee. It was kind of cute though, after you know, the fear of an intruder wore off.”

Allison nodded. “Okay...what did he say?” “He just asked where you were and I said you were out but he could stay or I could drive him home but he just said it was fine and he would stop by later, downed the coffee in the cup and left. I don’t think I’ve ever met a kid that...sophisticated before if that’s even the right word.” Allison laughed “theres a lot of word you could use to describe my brother.”

“Aw, Ray you really shouldn’t have, but he is adorable...” she nuzzled the puppy’s head with her chin and pouted. “can we keep him?”

Ray laughed “if your brother doesn’t want him then, sure.” He said warmly. “I guess we should ask his..your...parents?” He said slowly and unsure, hoping Allison would jump in with some more enlightening information. She didn’t. She took a few moments before putting down the wriggly puppy in her arms back on the floor. “Let’s go sit down and talk.”

There was something so unusual yet familiar about his demeanor that Ray found a bit unnerving but also kind of amusing.

“She is...but before she comes down, there’s something I want to show you.”

Five cocked an eyebrow. “Okay...” he looked at Ray for a a minute, sighed then got up.

“Wait one second!” Ray said excitedly, holding up a finger before dashing into the other rooms

“Okay you can come into the living room now!” Ray called.

He was sitting on the floor, under the Christmas tree holding a box, that seemed be struggling out of his grasp. He had been gently holding down the lose fitting lid and let go as soon as he saw his brother-in-law. Out a sprang a little golden brown puppy right towards Five. Five took a step back and cocked his head at Ray in confusion. “A..dog?”

“We wanted to let you know you could stay here.” Allison’s voice cut in. Ray turned to see his wife smiling in the doorway.

“The lady of the house has spoken!” Ray said as he walked over the to her and kissed her forehead. “Good morning, dear.” He murmured.

Five looked at the couple incredulously, absent minded petting the puppy that was climbing all over me.

“I won’t be doing that. I’m staying with our brothers and another guy. It’s all good.”

Ray started protesting, Allison just looked at her brother with a thin lipped smile, totally unsurprised. She touched Rays shoulder, to let him know it was okay.

Raymond looked dumbfounded at his wife who just shrugged. Ray laughed, leading Allison to laugh. “Let’s go get some breakfast, sweetie.”

He said taking her hand.

#tua secret santa #tua secret Santa 2020 #tua fanfic #Allison Hargreeves #five hargreeves #raymond chestnut #allison chestnut #almond tua #long post #allison x ray #almond #mr. pennycrumb #tua #the umbrella academy s2 #the umbrella academy

17 notes · View notes