Fireproof

Dave glanced around at his apartment - it was late evening and the sun had already gone down. In the farthest corner, Ben was sitting with his legs crossed reading intently, his head resting on his palm. There was loud music coming from Kenzie’s room - a moment later her door opened; she and Sally plodded out and rushed pass the couch. They plopped to the floor in the basket filled with toys next to the TV, they chatted and giggled as the pulled out whatever toy they were looking for to complete their little plays.

Klaus was laying down over the couch, his head in Dave’s lap - in the perfect position for him to absently brush through the dark curls. His eyes were peeled on the screen and he chuckled as someone splashed a glass of champagne into someone else's face in the cheesy reality TV show he had picked out for the night.

Dave was having trouble focusing on the program, his mind was simultaneously far away and basking in the stark present moment. The chaos somehow culminated into a unified chorus of their life - between the women yelling at each other on the TV, the girls giggling, the indie pop wafting from the kid’s room, the steady turning of Ben’s pages and the Klaus’ amused hums and throaty laughs as he watched the screen - all backed by the distant sounds of the city outside.

It was impossible to remember the cold silence that used to consume the walls of this apartment - it was just a distant memory that couldn’t invade his veins anymore.

“Have you ever wanted to get married?” Dave’s voice was low and forcefully casual.

“Sure- “ He laughed, “I feel bad for the fool who’d want to marry me though.”

Dave’s eyes landed back on the screen where a very upset woman with so much makeup was doing a talking head, pointing accusations at the camera.

“Hm.” He responded thoughtfully.

***********************************************************************************************************

“Momma, where do babies come from?” Kenzie leaned forward from the backseat as their car turned off the paved highway and onto a dirt road.

Sally was staring at an Ipad not paying any attention to the conversation or events happening around them but Ben literally leaned away from his niece and the content of her sudden question that came out of nowhere.

Klaus sighed and brought his legs up to his chest, getting comfortable in the passenger side seat, “People with vaginas shove ‘em out.” he said, matter-of-factly, flipping through the radio stations with his free hand.

“Did I come from a vagina?”

He glanced behind his seat nonchalantly, “Yeah - Yeah, you came from hell’s vagina, pumpkin.”

Kenzie nodded smugly, “Sweet.”

Then just like that she continued to squirm against her seatbelt, watching the countryside fly past them, impatiently kicking her legs out. “There’s so many cows…” She observed, then continued idly talking to Sally and Ben about anything and everything that was coming through her head.

Dave glanced over to his boyfriend and shook his head with an impressed smirk. Klaus winked at him and continued to mess with the radio even though they were currently turning into Nora and Alyssa’s driveway.

As he got out of the driver’s seat, Dave turned back, closing his eyes and taking a deep inhale. He patted the small square outline in his pocket for the hundredth time that week, just making sure that it was still there. No one seemed to notice this, Kenzie was scrambling out of the car and Ben was trying to coax the Ipad away from the ghost child.

Klaus came around to his side just as their little fireball escaped and ran towards the house where Nora had just come out and was standing on their slightly bare front porch. He instinctively pulled an arm around his partner’s waist, careful not to touch Rot-rot’s vessel which was hanging by it’s little arm from Klaus’ hand.

He sighed, “I can’t believe I’m on blood demon duty-- This is why pets are overrated, the parents just end up taking care of them even though the kids are the ones that want them!”

“Better than him getting into the vents again and making the whole house smell like rotting meat.”

Klaus made a face at the memory along with a short “uagh.” Tucking the lightly clattering doll under his arm and glancing over at where Kenzie was pointing to a moderately sized pig pen where the animals were lumbering around lazily in their muck and Nora seemed to be explaining the several types of animals they had out on the farm.

The place was vibrating with activity and animal sounds - chickens, pigs, a few cows, a couple horses farther away, a donkey and a few small goats running around. Not to mention the cats meandering around, all of them drawing closer and closer to the demon child on the porch and the dogs which had to be penned up while Kenzie was visiting (Klaus learned very quickly that dogs and demons didn’t mix)

Klaus chuckled as a small goat made a beeline for the porch and began to nuzzle against Kenzie’s hand. She giggled and happily began to pet the needling animal with delight while Nora watched with some vague confusion.

“Maybe it knows my baby-daddy?”

They were coming to the end of their vacation and Klaus finally seemed somewhat relaxed at his sister’s home. He was in a sarong skirt and a light tank top, he had been growing his hair out and it now fell to his jawline. He turned back to face Dave for a brief moment and it stopped the other man in his tracks.

“Let’s party!” He did a lazy cheer and began to make his way towards the house while Dave watched him go. He jumped with a yelp when a chicken ruffled its feathers suddenly and made a loud bawking sound, Klaus shook himself and shot a sheepish look back towards his boyfriend.

Dave patted his pocket and swallowed nervously.

***********************************************************************************************************

Their evening was surprisingly quiet, Nora had set up the fire pit with a round of stumps for chairs and gotten hot dogs and the ingredients for s’mores. Dave felt bad that he was so distracted, it was a special moment, seeing his sister with Kenzie and Sally - as they explored the farm and talked around the fire but his mind was far off and his nerves were shot.

He wished that his uncle Brian could have been here - despite everything, he did miss him even if he felt bad about it. He shouldn’t have been so surprised by how quickly he turned on his own nephew but that didn’t mean that his words didn’t hurt. Not that it even mattered, Nora was rarely on speaking terms with their uncle Brian anyway.

He didn’t want to think about that.

“It’s getting pretty late, we should head home soon.” Ben stated, calmly at a certain point and Dave’s stomach dropped as he realized how long he had been putting this off.

Ben’s suggestion was met by a wave of arguments from the children who were having the time of their lives chasing lightning bugs and jumping into the ghost stories that were being passed around the fire.

“Look, you’ll thank me after all your sleeping schedules are messed up for a month.”

“Narc.” Is all Klaus replied with - he was busy pulling a marshmallow onto a stick. The open bag next to him on a stump crinkled as an invisible force tried to stealthily burrow it’s chubby little body into the bag.

“No marshmallows for you - you little sugar addict.” Klaus pulled something out then closed the bag. Dave could only imagine the indignant little blood fiend sitting on the stump after being denied marshmallows for the fifth time that night.

“I’ll be right back…”

“M’kay…” Klaus was watching his marshmallow go up in flames and critically waiting for the perfect moment to blow it out.

Dave left the fire and went into the house, he glanced behind him before he shut the door and patted the box in his pocket one last time. He shouldn’t have been this scared but he was nonetheless and he didn’t know why, didn’t know if it was normal or if this was some deep rooted self hatred cropping up again.

Either way, he found his way to the kitchen and opened up the fridge. He went directly for the bottom drawer where his sister kept the beer and pulled one out - he opened it and started drinking it as quickly as he could, desperately trying to shave off the edge as his time was running out.

He was about half way through it when he heard someone clear their throat and he jumped, looking towards the entryway. Ben was standing there with his arms crossed, his head was tilted and he was staring at Dave with both confusion and slight amusement.

“You good?”

Dave felt like a teenager being caught with alcohol for the first time, “Uh - yeah, I mean-” He cleared his throat, “Sorry. I’m just trying to take the edge off a little.” Then he added, “Please don’t tell Klaus?”

“You’re an adult, you can do what you want.” Ben was trying to sound unbothered but Dave could sense that he was a little worried, no doubt because of his history with alcohol, both with Klaus and Klaus’ past partners.

Dave sighed and poured the rest out in the sink. It didn’t taste that good anyway. He glanced out the window and could see everybody else around the fire, could see Sally sitting on Klaus’ lap while Kenzie seemed to be poking things into the flames.

“What’s going on?”

Dave and Ben were always honest with each other so it had been difficult for him to keep this from the ghost. He didn’t realize how close they had become until he tried to hide something from the guy he would always go to to vent.

“Look, I probably should have talked to you about this first anyway.” Dave opened his mouth and closed it, thinking carefully. This just always seemed like such a delicate subject in this family.

“I want to ask Klaus to marry me - And I’ve been putting it off for a while but I want to do it tonight.” He laughed, “I guess my nerves got the better of me.”

To his surprise, Ben’s face lit up “Holy shit, that’s great!”

“Yeah? So, you’re okay with it? Look, I feel bad about not talking to you first. I was raised with the whole ‘ask for the parent’s blessing before proposing’ and in hindsight I should have just asked for yours since you’re one of the most important people in his life.”

“That’s debatable but Kenzie for sure would have spilled the beans after 30 seconds.” He laughed, “But as for if I’m okay with it - hell yeah, are you kidding me? Klaus made his first credit card payment last month. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me - Us--I mean to him” He quickly corrected himself. “--And I’d be honored to have you as my brother in law.”

Dave smiled, “That means a lot coming from you, Ben. But I’m worried that this isn’t the right thing to do. I’m worried that it’ll scare him off.”

“Klaus loves you, and no matter what fucked up things he’s got in his head I’m sure you guys will be able to work through it. And as for if it’s the right thing to do? What made you want to ask him in the first place?”

Dave glanced outside and watched as Klaus stood up, stretched and walked out towards the middle of the yard. “I guess, one day I just realized that he’s the only person I want to spend my life with so-- what am I waiting for, you know?”

************************************************************************************************************

Dave was sitting slightly hunched over a 5000 piece puzzle splayed out over the kitchen island. He had decided to take some time off to work through some things as suggested by his therapist, however, he was literally out of projects to work on and Klaus was probably going to flip out if he built another bookcase so here he was, working on a particularly difficult puzzle depicting a pack of wolves against a snowy background.

He was stuck on a particular wolf and had a pile of pieces separated, sorting through them trying to find the right piece when the front door opened and Klaus came in like a gust of wind. He dragged himself through the house, tugging off his scarf with a long sigh.

“You would not believe the day that I’ve had - This lady came in asking me to do an exorcism on this music box--” His hands waved idly in the air, “Said it was a ‘family heirloom’ that had gotten mixed up with some bad juju or whatever. So I humbly obliged only to find out after I had already opened it - that it was possessed by the spirit of her fucking baba yaga type ancestor which she wanted to release to fuck up her cheating ex.”

He groaned, “So, of course it immediately flew back into my face and possessed me!”

“Been yakking and shaking all day…” He shuddered.

Dave watched him as he opened the fridge and pulled out a root beer, twisting off the cap and tossing it into the sink, he put a hand up and continued, “Luckily - Liev and Nova brought me a banana split for lunch so you know--” He circled his stomach with his hands and made a face, “It didn’t want to be ‘up in this’ for very long. Ended up having to release it into the wind.” He snorted, “I’m sure that won’t come back to haunt me.”

He chuckled and plopped a small spray bottle onto the island, “Here - If I wake up in the middle of the night super pissed at some dude named Chandler just spritz me a couple times in the face with that.”

Klaus draped an arm around Dave, giving him a quick peck on the cheek. With his free hand he reached down, picked up a piece and slotted it perfectly into the empty space Dave had been struggling with for the past 20 minutes.

Dave’s mouth opened but he didn’t have a chance to say anything before Klaus took another sip of his soda and asked sincerely, “Do we have any TUMS?”

Dave sat back and stared at him in awe - he blinked and then knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was going to have to marry this man.

*******************************************************************************************************

“You’re both so weird.” Ben said with a smirk, “But maybe that’s why you’re so good in this family.” He walked up and patted Dave on the back, “Whatever you choose to do, you have my blessing.”

“Thank you.”

He gave the ghost a quick hug then immediately found an extra tooth brush and tried to get rid of the scent of alcohol on his breath before taking a deep breath and going back outside. He found Klaus standing in the middle of the front yard alone, everyone else seemed to be doing other things.

Dave moved forward slowly towards the middle of the yard, Klaus’ eyes were turned up at the night sky like it was the first time he had ever seen it. He didn’t blame him, it was beautiful out here in the outskirts of the city where the light pollution was minimal. Dave used to look up from his apartment window and long for the ability to see the stars with the same kind of clarity that he had when he was a child.

Now, under the blanket of a gorgeous, never ending sky that he had missed so much, he couldn’t take his eyes off Klaus and the way he stared up as if he were reading the stars and they didn’t make any sense.

He shuffled closer, feeling mesmerized by the scene in front of him - sometimes the world around him seemed distant and fake. Like everything was separated by a thin sheet of glass but in this moment he could feel everything and it felt real and warm.

Klaus glanced at him and sighed longingly, “You’re right - It’s beautiful…”

He looked away and continued to soak up the clear summer, country sky.

Dave patted the box in his pocket, “Klaus?”

“Hm?”

He kicked himself, he wasn’t good at this - finally Klaus’ eyes left the sky and landed on him. “Klaus, I- You know that I wouldn’t know what to do without you, right?”

Klaus glanced around, slightly confused, “Are you okay?”

“I just need you to know that you’re everything to me - you know that I love you but sometimes I worry that you don’t understand everything. Before I met you I was stuck in the cold and then you showed up and- and it was like you brought the sun back into the sky.”

He cringed, he had written down what he wanted to say but now he was forgetting it, “I’m sorry if that doesn’t make any sense - What I’m trying to say is--” He put his hands up, “My life with you means everything to me and I know sometimes I’m stuck in the past and I’m sorry about that but I know that in 50 years the only things that’ll matter will be the memories that I’ve created with you -”

He pulled his fingers through his hair nervously, he could feel his face heating up with every word. Klaus stared at him, mouth slightly agape.

“And I know that this isn’t just for you - so I want you to know that no matter what you say - it doesn't matter what you choose - the promises don’t end whether or not you say yes - I just won’t be able to live with myself if I don’t make it clear now that I want to spend my life with you- I want to be there for you and for Kenzie for the rest of my life.”

“David, what are you doing?” Klaus’ voice broke.

He got down on one knee and pulled out the little box that had been stuffed in his pocket for the past 5 months, he opened it to reveal a humble gold and emerald ring.

“Klaus, will you marry me?”

Klaus whined and his arm lifted to cover his face, he stumbled away for a moment then came back to face Dave offering the ring.

“Are you sure?” He asked, in a broken whisper.

“I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life.”

Klaus’ face twisted in emotions and he rubbed at his eyes before taking a deep breath and stepping forward, “Christ on a cracker, Dave - I - I mean, yes. Yes , I’ll marry you - you poor fool.”

Dave felt a rush of relief that almost toppled him over, instead he stood up and opened his arms as Klaus rushed forward, curling into his chest with a soft whimper that he wasn’t expecting. He pulled back and cupped his face in a motion that had become so common in his life but always reminisced to the first time he had kissed him, years ago in that hotel room.

Klaus stepped back again before finally hesitantly reaching out and plucking the ring out of the box and holding it out in the moonlight. He watched as it glinted beautifully, pressing one palm against his chest, “It’s beautiful, I- “

“I’M KING OF THE CATS!” Kenzie rushed past them, arms out victoriously- a small herd of lovestruck barn cats trailing intently behind her - yowling like someone had opened a can of food. They eagerly ran after the demon child, either in instinctual reverence to the dark powers or because she had a pack of hotdogs - probably a little of both.

Sally was giggling hysterically at the edge of one of the barns - apparently she was standing at the finale of the race and was waving a piece of cloth like she was an official flagman in a Nascar event.

Klaus’ head snapped back at the sound and before he could continue the sentence, the ring vanished before Dave’s eyes and Klaus jumped like he had been shot. “You little shitheel!” He snapped and bolted away, presumably after Rot-rot.

And just like that their quiet evening turned into something more their speed. Dave ran after him, having no visual que for the situation, although, he understood it pretty well at this point. Klaus hit the side of the pig pen and vaulted over it with surprising speed before Dave could even reach out and yell for him to stop.

Klaus landed in the muck, “Motherfucker!” He snapped and dove forward, grabbing at the blood fiend in the mud and filth. He slipped and fell around as the small demon skirted through his fingers and then got stuck in the muck.

“I’m about to put you up for adoption, you little --” His hands were wrapped around something and he seemed to be digging into its mouth.

“Klaus - Be careful--” The pigs were getting up and meandering to the scene in front of them - nervously acknowledging the blood fiend that was up in their business.

“What’s going on!?” Kenzie and Sally had stopped their playing and were now staring at Klaus wrestling the round fiend. The cats caught up to her and she truly did look like some kind of feline child demi-god with the way they seemed to be yowling and rubbing against her legs, getting into fights over who was closest.

They rushed forward to get a better view of the pig pen.

Two of Klaus’ fingers disappeared then they reappeared and he was holding a goopy emerald ring, “Got it!” He looked over proudly and his eyes widened, “No, no, no - Don’t bring the cats - Kenzie, don’t bring the --”

A split second later the herd of barn cats were jumping over the fence at the attention of their little hell messiah, directly into the muck, covering Klaus in felines and a new spray of mud. They immediately began attacking something that Dave couldn’t see and Kenzie crawled through the pen before he could stop her.

Nora and Alyssa were already running over to see what the hell was going on - Dave was strangely proud of being able to showcase just how strange his little family was to his sister since he was pretty sure she thought he was making a lot of this shit up.

“He liquified! Here- Just grab everything- we’ll try to find all his bits…” Klaus mumbled, annoyed.

He had slipped the ring on and Dave a brief moment to appreciate how it looked before he was scooping up mud soon joined by the girls who started to catch all of Rot-rot’s defensively liquified body.

Dave laughed, he couldn’t help it and he laughed so hard he had tears in his eyes. He glanced up at the never ending clear sky then jumped over the fence and landed in the muck with the rest of his family where he belonged.