Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Dave was glad he woke up when he did, because when he opened his eyes, Klaus was halfway out the door.

“Klaus,” Dave croaked.

Klaus swiftly spun around to face Dave, shocked to realise he was awake already. He winced from the spinning and put a hand to his head, but his face quickly changed to a smile, “morning.”

“Morning, Klaus,” Dave smiled back.

“I was just going out to get some fresh air. It’s really… you know , in here. Don’t know how many toxins I would’ve breathed in last night,” Klaus laughed. He was going to run away and Dave knew it.

“Wait, can I come with you?” Dave asked, quickly standing up. “We can go get breakfast. Ah, but I need to get actual money first.”

“Why don’t you go to an ATM or a pawn shop or something then, and I’ll wait outside here for you?” Klaus casually suggested.

“Or we could do it together?” Dave wished he could do all this in the normal people-who-have-never-met-each-other way, but he didn’t have much choice right now because Klaus was going to disappear and Dave might not have as much luck finding him next time.

“What a wonderful date: going to get money out together,” Klaus said sarcastically.

“It’s… not a date. I just… want to get to know you better without you running off on me.”

“Moi? Run off on you ?” Klaus put a hand to his chest. “I would never .”

“Please, Klaus,” Dave cautiously reached out his hand. “I just… can’t lose you. Please stick around for at least one more day, and if you still don’t like me, you can leave.”

Klaus just snorted. “Look, I know my sex is out of this world, but it doesn’t mean you have to be so fucking clingy. So I’m heading off now.”

“We didn’t have sex,” Dave blinked.

“That might explain why you were on the floor and I was on the single bed, but you’re not fooling anyone; no one gets this attached without it. And I have things to do, so g’bye, creep,” and Klaus was off before Dave could catch him again.

Damnit. How did he fuck that up so badly? Maybe he should’ve just shown him the briefcase which would have proven the time travel, instead of relying on his words. But it was too late now…

Dave sank onto the bed that Klaus had slept in and stared at the roof until he ended up drifting off again against his will. He was tired from the rough sleep he’d had on the floor, plus the late hour he’d gone to sleep and the early hour he’d woken up.

Dave was awoken again by the end of his bed sinking down slightly. Blinking his eyes open, Dave realised there was someone sitting on his bed. They were slumped slightly and their arms were crossed. Dave started panicking until he managed to wake his eyes up enough to realise he was looking at Klaus, who was glaring into oblivion.

Dave sat up. “You came back.”

“It wasn’t exactly my choice,” Klaus muttered, still looking at the wall opposite.

“I wouldn’t force you to do anything-”

“No, I mean Ben made me come back. Little shit is always bossing me around,” Klaus grumbled, and then after a pause, “I do so always listen to you, why else would I be here? No, don’t even start!”

Dave decided it was best not to question Klaus. “So, do you want to get breakfast together after all?”

Klaus finally turned to Dave. “Sure, except it’s more like brunch now. Maybe you can explain this whole ‘time travel’ thing to me.”

“Oh, you remember me telling you that?”

“Nope,” Klaus got up and grabbed Dave’s arm. “C’mon, I’m starving.”

Dave smiled and his face warmed up, but he tried to hide it as he stood up and left the motel with Klaus.

First, he went and exchanged his remaining cash for modern cash. Apparently Klaus had already done that with his share, and already spent the money he’d made with it.

Dave took Klaus to the cheapest nearby café he could find. Looking at even these cheaper prices, he suddenly realised he needed a job. The money he had was probably only going to last a couple of days, and Klaus didn’t have any money nor did he have a job. Too bad he was never going to receive his Veteran’s income. Well, he’d probably still go back once he figured out the briefcase, but for now he needed a job. Anyway, that was a problem for later. Number one task: getting Klaus to stick around.

“Can I order the waffles?” Klaus looked up at him with puppy eyes.

Dave laughed fondly. “Of course you can.”

When the waffles arrived, Klaus’ excitement was one of the cutest things Dave had ever seen. Dave tried to bury his blush in his arm with a fake cough.

Klaus immediately dug in as Dave still waited for his food, and he was halfway done already when Dave received his.

“You still want to know about the time travel?” Dave asked.

“Obviously. But first, what’s your name?” 

“Oh,” Dave hadn’t even realised that he hadn’t told Klaus his name yet. “We’re getting serious enough now that we’re exchanging names?” he joked.

“You already somehow know my name so it’s only fair. Plus, you bought me waffles . I think I need to know the name of my sugar daddy.”

Dave choked on his food a little and had to take a moment to recover. “Um, my name’s Dave.”

“Cute. So onto the time travel tea.”

“Well, I know you because we fought in the Vietnam War together. This is going to sound crazy, I’m sure, but you suddenly turned up one day, and you sort of claimed you were a time traveller from the future. And I guess you were telling the truth, because seven months later I opened up your briefcase, and, well… I ended up here. Yesterday, but 50 years in the future for me.”

“I’ve heard crazier, just didn’t know briefcases were magic. So this other Klaus is future me and you’re from the past?”

“Yeah,” Dave was relieved he’d just accepted it so quickly. “But you don’t know how the briefcase works?” That would mean he wouldn’t be able to explain to Dave how to use it.

“Like I said, never heard of magic briefcases. So I’m going to need some proof that you’re not just making this shit up.”

“Uh, I do have the briefcase back at the motel, but I don’t think it’d be safe to open it.”

“Then tell me about myself.”

“You have six adoptive siblings, your dad was abusive but he’s dead now, and-”

“Wrong. My dad’s not dead.”

“Oh. I guess that’s going to happen.”

“Fuck yeah! But that’s not good enough. For all I know, you’re just some Umbrella Academy fan. That would explain a lot.”

“I’m not, I swear. You like to draw sometimes but you never show anyone. The only ones people have seen I’m assuming are the ones you said are on your walls and roof in your childhood home, and the ones you showed me. You’re good at it, good at making meaningful pieces. And you’ve been through so much , ever since you were born, and you’ve never gotten a break. That’s part of the reason you do drugs, but that’s also just traumatised you a lot more… But I promised I’d always be there to help you get through the day. So that’s why I’m here. So I can help you.”

Klaus was staring at his waffles. “I still don’t believe you,” he mumbled.

Dave’s heart clenched as his hope started falling apart again. “I can tell you more?” he suggested desperately.

“No. I get it. You know everything about me,” Klaus lowered his gaze to his legs. “But I don’t believe I could get that close to a person, or that they’d actually care about me. That doesn’t happen to me.”

“I know that, Klaus. You told me I’m the only person you’ve ever actually loved. You told me about some of your past relationships. I promised I’d be better than them and teach you how relationships are actually supposed to work. Of course, I was still new to being with someone I actually loved too because I’d only just realised I was gay, and everything we did had to be in secret. But when we both said we loved each other, and we meant it, I think that was the best moment of my life.”

Klaus abruptly stood up. “Go find some other junkie to use your stupid manipulation tactics on.”

Klaus left the café, leaving his half-eaten waffles and Dave’s heart on the table.

Dave buried his head in his hands that slowly started to dampen. He didn’t know how it was possible for him to just keep fucking up like this. Dave knew Klaus had believed him deep down, but it had been too much for him. He should know Klaus better than this, he should have known he’d freak him out with all that. He should have been more gentle. Instead, he was such an idiot he’d scared him away again, probably permanently this time.

Ten minutes later, Dave was still in the same position, and he would have stayed like that if it weren’t for the concerned waitress breaking him out of his trance. He quickly paid and left for the motel, where he tried to fall asleep again because he was even more exhausted now. But his body simply wouldn’t let him rest, it just made him repeat the conversation in his head over and over, making Klaus look more freightened each time.