*warning — this chapter contains potential spoilers for s2 if you haven't seen it*
Klaus awoke first, only to see Ben sitting besides him, staring at him.
"Jesus!" Klaus hissed, "do you not have anything better to do?"
"Unfortunately, no." Ben sighed.
Klaus carefully unwrapped his arms from around Beatrice who was still sleeping peacefully besides him and sat up to face Ben.
"What do you want?" Klaus asked, lowering his voice.
"Nothing, really..." Ben sighed again.
Klaus raised his eyebrows questionably.
"Fine. I want to try something, and you won't like it." Ben said.
"When do I ever like anything you suggest?" Klaus replied.
"Please..." Ben seemed desperate.
"What is it?" Klaus asked, impatiently.
"Remember when I walked through you that one time and it felt weird?"
Klaus shivered, "unfortunately."
"I want to try it again but this time I want to see if I can possess you." Ben suggested.
Klaus looked down at Bea, then sighed, "okay, do it before I change my mind... and don't do anything weird."
Ben grinned, "I won't."
Klaus stood up and closed his eyes, bracing himself for whatever Ben was going to do.
Ben walked through Klaus, hoping his plan would work. It felt weird and uncomfortable, but it worked.
Ben looked down at Klaus' body who he now possessed, smiling. He didn't exactly want to leave Beatrice alone asleep on the roof, but she looked peaceful... besides he'd explain later.
Giddy from being able to feel again, he ran outside the greenhouse, letting the wind blow through his hair... or Klaus's hair.
He headed down the fire escape and headed back into the academy, running his hands across the walls.
Five spotted him first, "are you seriously high right now?"
"Five!" Ben exclaimed, wrapping his brother in a hug, "it's me! Ben!"
Five squirmed out of the hug, furrowing his eyebrows, "right..."
"I possessed Klaus, I know... it's weird, but it's really me." Ben said.
Five looked dubious, but accepted it, "it's not the weirdest thing I've seen today. It's nice to be able to talk to someone normal again."
Ben couldn't stop smiling, "it's nice to talk to you too, little brother."
Five looked like he was going to say something sarcastic but stopped himself, "see you around, Ben." He said as he disappeared again.
Ben looked around for his other siblings, he'd missed them so much, being in Klaus's body wasn't ideal but if it was the only way to talk to them he'd put up with it.
He spotted Diego next, he worried about Diego like he did with Klaus. When Diego spotted him Ben waved, "Diego! I've missed you."
Diego frowned, "I saw you last night, idiot."
"No, it's me, Ben." Ben tried to explain, Diego had always been suspicious of everything and this was no different.
"If it's really you tell me something only Ben would know." Diego's brows were furrowed, observing Klaus/Ben in front of him.
"Luther sniffs Dad's underwear." Ben said, straight faced.
Diego's frown faltered, "it really is you, Ben." He tan towards his brother and wrapped him a hug.
Ben gripped his brother tightly, making up for the years of lost time.
"What's it like being stuck in Klaus's body?" Diego asked after a long silence.
Ben chuckled, "horrible."
Diego laughed, something he didn't do often, Luther walked past and the pair burst into hysterics.
"Something funny Klaus?" Luther asked, stopping besides them.
"That's Ben in Klaus's body." Diego said, holding in his laughter.
"Sure it is, it's nice to see you again 'Ben'." Luther shook his head and walked off.
"I've missed you so much, Diego... all of you." Ben sighed.
"I've missed you too, brother." Diego said softly, his eyes slightly glazed over.
"You need to see Alison and Vanya!" Diego exclaimed, Ben followed behind him as he knocked on Alison's bedroom door.
"Alison." Ben exhaled as soon as he saw her open the door.
"Yes, Klaus? Is something wrong?" She asked, glancing between the boys.
Vanya appeared behind her, Ben felt emotional seeing his sisters again.
"Is he ok?" Vanya asked Diego.
"That's Ben... possessing Klaus's body." Diego explained.
"If this is some kind of joke..." Alison began.
"It's not, I promise." Ben said, rushing towards them and bringing them in for a group hug.
The girls squeezed him tightly, even Vanya who wasn't extremely affectionate.
"I can't believe it's really you." Tears glimmered in Alison's eyes.
"I don't know how much longer I can stay, but I just needed to talk to you guys... I've been watching you for so long it's nice to finally be able to hug you all and tell you that I miss you." Ben said, pulling Diego in for a group hug.
"We've missed you too, Ben." Vanya said softly.
A patter of footsteps behind them made them all pull apart, "Klaus?"
Bea was confused as to why they'd called Klaus, Ben. He'd mentioned he had a brother who died when they were younger but he didn't talk about him much.
Ben smiled at her, "hi Beatrice. It's nice to finally meet you, I'm Ben... I wanted to try to possess Klaus and well, it worked."
"Oh, it's nice to meet you too, Ben." Bea smiled, slightly confused but accepting nevertheless.
Ben stepped away from his siblings for a moment, "before Klaus kicks me out of his body, I want to thank you for making my brother so happy."
"Thank you, Ben." Bea gave him a quick hug before letting him return to his family.
Later that night, once Ben had spent time with his family again, Klaus took back control of his body returning Ben to his ghostly side-kick status.
"Enjoy yourself?" Klaus asked as he walked back to his room.
Ben smirked, "yes."
Luther walked past him again, shaking his head, "hi Ben."
Klaus frowned, "I'm Klaus."
"Sure." His brother shrugged and headed into his bedroom.
Klaus reached his own bedroom and found Bea waiting for him. He closed his door and sat besides her on his bed.
"So you have another cool power." Bea noted.
"Kind of. I don't remember what he did whilst he was inside of me... wait - that's not what I meant." He said, slightly flustered.
"Don't worry, he didn't do anything weird." Bea assured him.
"Thank god." Klaus exclaimed.
"So are we still on for tomorrow? I kinda missed you today." Bea said quietly.
Klaus grinned, "oh, you missed me?" He said jokingly.
She hit him playfully, "you know I actually preferred Ben in your body."
"Ouch, that hurt." Klaus feigned being sad.
She stood up, "so, tomorrow?"
Klaus nodded, "tomorrow it is. You better not plan on letting Ben possess me again as the lesson."
"No promises." Bea giggled, walking out of his room leaving Klaus staring after her.
The feeling he felt whenever Bea was around was indescribable, and he had no idea what to do about it. He made a mental note in his head to talk to Alison about it — she was a girl after all and was always good at giving advice.
☽
most heartbreaking thing about s2 besides klaus/dave is ben saying "can you hug me as i go" 🥺 anyways hope y'all enjoyed this little filler chapter, i needed ben in here somewhere !! & thanks for 70k reads <3