fire ; diego hargreeves

10 ; the explosion

Alex danced around his apartment slightly. He was listening to Victory Over the Sun by Biffy Clyro. He quite enjoyed the songs he had found of theirs. And he was glad he lived alone; his dancing was terrible. He could feel a little bit free and normal for once.

He hadn't seen Diego in a few days. And Alex was too nervous to message him. Maybe he had gone too far by kissing Diego's cheek? Had that been weird of Alex to do? Was Diego one of those straight guys that hated affection like that?

But he was listening to his music, trying to forget all the weird and bad things in his life. He wanted to be normal for a moment. He was going to be normal for a day. The song changed, something about mountains, still Biffy Clyro. It was a nice song. He hummed along, barely hearing the knocking on the door, but it was still audible. Alex moved towards it and looked through the peephole and saw it was Klaus. Alex opened the door.

"What's up, man?" Alex asked. Klaus looked on edge, looked desperate. He looked like he'd come down from a high. Alex moved to the side so Klaus could come in. "Your brother needed to be bailed out the other day. He owes me fifty bucks."

Klaus looked like he wasn't listening. His face was gaunt and he looked starved. "I-I-I-I need some cash," he said, looking around Alex's flat. "I ran out of my-my stash. And the fucking dead don't shut up! They talk and scream and drive me insane." He turned and looked at Alex, grabbing his upper arms. "I need to make them shut up!"

Alex pulled Klaus to the sofa, sitting beside him. "You need to sleep and you need food. I don't have any money, Klaus, and nothing in this flat is worth pawning off."

"I'd not pawn your stuff," Alex raised an eyebrow. Klaus pulled a face. "OK, I would."

"Stay here. I'll get you some food." Alex got up and went to the fridge and grabbed some food for Klaus.

Klaus snorted when he saw the sandwich. "Cold turkey sandwich?"

Alex shrugged as he sat next to Klaus. "One of many ways you could quit, cold turkey," he said. Klaus giggled and shook his head. "When was the last time you were sober?"

"I don't know. I'm sobering up now?" Klaus waved his sandwich before taking a bite. "You're a real bitch, y'know?"

"Because I don't want my friend to die from an overdose? And I don't want to find you dead in the streets?" Alex asked, knees up to his chest. "Klaus, I know no-one is ever going to know what it's like to have the dead screaming at you, but using drugs to drown them out isn't gonna help. Sober up, learn to control your powers and then you can get rid of the ghosts without drugs,"

Klaus contemplated it for all of a millisecond. "I prefer feeling numb." Alex punched his arm. "Hey!"

"Next time I see you, you're either gonna be dead, or close to it." Alex said. And he was right and Klaus knew it; his cheekbones were sticking out drastically and his eyes had sunk into his skull. Klaus looked like a living skeleton. It was unnerving.

"Do you always manipulate people like this?" Klaus asked, eating the sandwich.

"Only the junkie friends I want to see get better." Alex shrugged. "Have you been to rehab?"

Klaus groaned. "Rehab fucking sucks. I tried," Klaus looked like he was suddenly going to start crying. "Fucking ... Diego had me go. I promised him I would do my best to get off this shit. But when I went they did fuck all. They don't - don't regulate shit there."

Alex frowned. "What the fuck? So what, they don't keep any evidence of therapeutic benefits, or any data?"

Klaus shrugged as he shook his head. "I went to five rehab buildings and - and none of them did anything. I just sat around, sober and listening to dead junkies screaming at me." He looked over at Alex and shrugged again. "After a while you kinda get sick of trying to ask for help you won't get,"