"Anything worth doing always starts as a bad idea."

-

CHAPTER FOURTEEN — FRIEND OR FOE

Klaus groaned from his room.

I peeked in as Five stumbled into me from behind.

He let out an 'oof' before stepping past me and knocking on the door. "You okay?"

"Hey," Klaus replied shakily, turning to look at us. "Yeah, I just... Long night."

Five chuckled. "More than one, from the looks of it."

"Yeah," Klaus feigned a smile.

I crossed my arms. "Don't remember the dog tags."

"Yeah, they belonged to a friend," Klaus grunted.

I caught Five's eye before looking back at Klaus. "How about that new tattoo?"

"You know, I don't even remember even getting it," Klaus turned to look for it. "Like I said, it was a long night."

"You did it, didn't you?" Five asked.

Klaus almost grinned. "What are you talkin' about?"

"You know I can recognise the symptoms, Klaus," I said, striding into the room.

"Symptoms of what?"

I exhaled. "The jet lag-"

"-full-body itch," Five continued.

Klaus sighed.

"Headache that feels like someone shoved a box of cotton up into your nose and through your brain," I added. "You gonna tell us about it?"

"Your pals, when they broke into the house and they couldn't find the two of you, they took me hostage instead," Klaus looked up at us.

"And in return, you stole their suitcase," Five grinned.

"Yeah. I thought there was money in it, or I could pawn it, you know, whatever."

"Same old Klaus," I murmured, sitting down on the bed beside him and threw an arm across his shoulders and into a side hug.

Klaus sighed. "And then I opened it."

"And the next thing you knew. you were...where?" Five asked. "Or should I say when?"

"What difference does it make?"

"What diff-uh-Okay, how long were you gone?" Five pressed two fingers to the side of his head.

"Almost a year."

"A year?" I jerked in surprise.

"Do you know what this means?" Five asked.

"Yeah, I'm ten months older now," Klaus smiled.

"No, this isn't any sort of joke, Klaus," Five said sternly. "Hazel and Cha-Cha will do whatever they can to get the briefcase. Where is it now?"

"Gone. I destroyed it."

I looked at Klaus in disbelief. "What?"

"Poof," Klaus made a small explosion with his hand as he grinned.

"What the hell were you thinking?" 

Klaus rolled his eyes. "What do you care?"

"What do I care? We needed it, you moron, so we could get back! We could start over!" Five shouted.

"Just...Just..." Klaus stumbled out and headed out of the room. 

"Where are you going?" Five asked.

"Interrogation's over, just...leave," Klaus replied.

Five grunted as he snatched a notepad and grabbed a pen from Klaus' nightstand.

"Five, wait!" I shouted as I dashed out of the room to follow him but he was already gone.

"Zero, I have something to do," Five said.

"What is it?" I asked, my eyes darting to the papers clenched in his hand.

"Nothing much, I'll pop by later," he replied, his hands tightening over the papers.

"Alright," I nodded.

-

-

I sipped the whiskey in my hands, spinning slowly around on my stool as Klaus emerged into the entry, his eyes darting to the chandelier on the floor suspiciously.

"What happened here?" He asked as I finished the drink and placed the glass aside, heading towards him.

"You look like shit," Diego replied, clutching a briefcase.

"Why, thank you, hey, where are you going?" Klaus shot back, still staring at the fallen chandelier.

"Nope," Diego shook his head.

"What?"

"I'm not giving you a ride."

"Oh, come on," Klaus groaned. "You know I can't drive."

I chirped in. "Can you give me one then?"

"I don't ca-" Diego stuttered.

I grinned as Klaus clapped Diego on the shoulder. "Okay. great, I'll just get my things. Two minutes."

Diego sighed, tilting his head to look at me before waving me to join him. "What's your plan?" He asked, opening the door.

"I just-I had to go out," I sighed, dragging a hand through my hair as I followed him to the car. "I can't just stay here and stare at the walls."

He nodded, clamping his mouth shut understandably.

I flopped on to the backseat as Klaus stumbled out of the house quickly.

Diego scrunched up his face as he started the engine and pulled into the road.

"You okay?" Diego asked Klaus after a moment of silence.

He didn't reply, instead brought the bottle of liquor in his hands to his lips, and chugged down the alcohol.

"Wow, this is a first. My brother Klaus is silent!"

I smiled weakly at Diego's attempt to brighten up the mood in the car, patted Klaus and took the bottle from him, throwing my head back and taking a few gulps before handing it back to him.

"Last time you were this quiet we were twelve. Ran down the stairs wearing Grace's heels, tripped over and broke your jaw," Diego said. "How long was it wired shut again?"

"Eight weeks," Klaus breathed shakily.

Diego sighed. "Eight glorious weeks of bliss."

"Hey, just...just drop me off here," Klaus straightened up.

Diego raised his eyebrows at me and I shrugged back as we pulled into the parking lot of VFW Lakeshore Post.

"You sure you okay, man?" Diego asked as Klaus got out of the car, his hands fumbling with the handle.

Klaus sighed without a reply and walked into the veteran bar.

Diego and I exchanged a quick glance.

"Park the car," I said.