fire ; diego hargreeves

18 ; the missing brother

Things hadn't been pretty. Diego had snapped at Vanya; Alex had heard parts of it, as he went in search of Klaus.

He found the bath full of water, lukewarm. It had remnants of Klaus' clothes in, but he didn't find Klaus. But Alex knew he'd been in there. Something was off; Klaus would wander, but he'd be around, come back for his stuff. And the fact that Alex hadn't seen him since before the attack, it had Alex on edge.

Alex sighed as he called Detective Patch. It took a few rings for her to answer, and she sounded sleepy and mildly annoyed when she answered.

"Alejandro. What can I do for you so late at night?" she asked. "Your dumbass boyfriend isn't at the station, by the way,"

"Oh, I know. He's here with me. I'm just calling about his brother,"

He could practically see Patch frowning. "What's up with his brother?"

Alex looked around, sighing as he pursed his lips. "So, I'm sure you know about those psychopaths in masks - they're running around the city, right?"

"I'm not even going to ask how you know about them. Go on."

"Well, I'm at the Umbrella Academy, where Diego used to live. And they just stormed this place. I don't even know why, but Klaus isn't here. He was here before, but I've searched the entire house, and he's not here. I - maybe Klaus left, but I. Something's not right, and I think maybe they took Klaus for- for something, I don't even know."

"Alex, breathe," Patch said, and Alex realised how quickly his breathing had gotten. He realised how badly his hands were starting to shake. Goddamn Klaus for making Alex care so much about him. "These psychos attacked the academy?"

"Shot the place up a bit, yeah, but Klaus is missing. He's - he's an addict. Maybe he just took some stuff and vanished before these pricks came. But ... how likely is that?"

Patch sighed on the other end of the phone. "Alright. I'll message Beeman about it, put a file in for it. Since it's happened so recently, I think we might be lucky on it." She yawned, and Alex felt a little bad for keeping her up so late at night. "Thanks for calling this in. Do the Hargreeves want the police at the scene?"

"Fuck no. I think just you knowing might piss everyone off. Just ... I dunno. Expect Diego at your doorstep in the morning,"

Patch chuckled. "I'll bear that in mind. Get some rest, Alex, for both our sakes." There was a pause in her words. "I'll come by your flat in the morning, maybe pick you up and see if we can find that brother-in-law."

"In-law?" Alex repeated.

Patch made a noise. "Well, you're basically married anyway."

Alex rolled his eyes. "Yeah, right. A few years before something like that happens."

🗡☂️🔥

Morning came, and Alex called in sick to his places of work. Diego had been there with him when they went to sleep that night. They'd held each other, Alex holding Diego tightly as he cried, unable not to. He just had to be there for him as he went through the horror of losing his mom.

It wasn't often that Diego cried, but this was something he had to cry about. It broke Alex's heart when Diego was hurt like that. He couldn't really do anything about it, could he? All Alex could do was hold him and reassure his partner. Diego had left marks on Alex's skin, nails digging in as he cried, and Alex ignored it, doing his best to try and help Diego.

Morning came, and so did Patch in her patrol car eventually. She rolled up to the pavement and gestured to Alex to get in.

"Thanks for this," he said, feeling anxious. "Klaus hasn't called me like he usually does from some bullshit payphone. Getting more worried as the day goes,"