Chapter Text
The bus rocked as Klaus descended the final step, his solid black converse digging immediately into a fresh, steaming pile of horse manure when his feet first met the ground. He groaned, unable to hide his agitation before peering down at the waste beneath his foot.
“Oh, come on, you have got to be kidding me!” Klaus huffed exasperatedly, kicking the sole of his shoe against the gravel road in hopes of dislodging the remnants. He stopped abruptly in his tracks, narrowing his eyes as he turned when the sound of his fellow pariah’s snickering filled his ears. Irritated by the sudden unwanted attention, he slipped his Raybans over his eyes, distancing himself from his peers and decided to take this opportunity to observe where he’d just arrived; the place that would be Klaus's new home for the next ninety days.
Of course, it was a literal shit show - if that wasn’t the perfect metaphor to epitomize his entire life.
Klaus shivered, running his palms over his bare arms when a breeze tickled his skin. He wasn’t accustomed to being in places quite like this: open plains with rolling hills, fresh air and a copious amount of trees. He grew up in a concrete jungle, surrounded by the ever present traces of smog and traffic. So what was a city boy such as himself doing in a po-dunk place such as this? Well...
Klaus Hargreeves was the sole heir to the Hargreeves Tech Company; founded and operated by his father Sir Reginald Hargreeves. Because of his accomplishments, his father, of course, had become a famously well known Billionaire. If you were to ask anyone on the planet if they recognized his name, they always did for his contributions to the world of technology. Something of which Klaus himself couldn’t even begin to understand or explain. All he knew was that his inventions had left his father very well off since before Klaus had even been born.
Surely, with no other siblings to quarrel with for his fathers attention, they must get along fabulously, right? Well, unfortunately, not. In fact, Klaus and his father were the furthest thing to ‘close’ you could imagine. His memories of his father had never been pleasant ones; even spanning as early as his first memories of his life, Klaus remembered the distaste the man had for him from the start. Klaus oftentimes wondered if his fathers feelings towards him had something to do with the momentous events leading up to his birth.
Sadly, Klaus’s entry into this world was not an easy one. His mother was desperate for a child, and she struggled to conceive for many years. She was immediately in love with the baby growing within the swell of her belly as soon as she knew of his existence. She did everything her doctors told her to do; taking things easy, resting when necessary and eating all the right foods in hopes of having as easy and healthy a pregnancy as possible. But the odds simply were not stacked in her favor.
She had an abundance of complications throughout the duration of her pregnancy; the biggest one no doubt being during the delivery. Klaus was never told exactly what went wrong, all he knew from what his nanny’s told him over the years was that somehow his mother had lost too much blood far too quickly after going into premature labor. In the end his mother was forced to make a decision: Save her own life, or save the life of her unborn baby boy’s.
She chose to save her son.
His mother never lived to meet her pride and joy, and his father never forgave him for it.
Not that Klaus could say he blamed him.
Growing up, the only way Klaus knew his mother was from the home videos he’d watched of her over the years. He learned that his mother was beautiful; she had long, flowing blonde hair, big beautiful blue eyes and a smile brighter than the sun. She was funny, unbelievably smart and talented. She loved to dance, and sing. His mother’s voice was beautiful; her soft melodies often helped ease him to sleep when his nightmares threatened to keep him awake when he was small. It wasn’t any specific song that he recognized, probably her own creation, but it was a tune he’d always remember, and carry with him close to his heart. His mother’s name was Grace, a fitting name for someone who lived her life so elegantly and refined. He still kept the cross stitch she’d made of his name that hung above his crib when he was a baby. It was the only piece of his mother he ever had. The only parent who ever loved him, and he’d never even truly gotten to know.
After witnessing the person his mother had been, needless to say, Klaus could see why his father preferred his mother be alive instead of him.
And Klaus? Well, he had always been a whirlwind of sorts. Growing up his nannies used to call him their little tasmanian devil. Nothing could ever hold him down, or reel his turbulent nature in. Chaos really should have been his middle name. Considering Klaus and his fathers estranged nature, Klaus never had a parental figure to guide him. Due to that, he was forced to turn to whatever he could in order to fill that void within his heart. Unfortunately for him that facet quickly became drugs and alcohol. And boy, did he turn hard. His disorderly nature only got more out of control the deeper into drugs he fell.
In fact, it was his unbridled mischief that got Klaus into the mess he was currently in.
Due to his questionable life choices, and the friends that type of lifestyle garnered, trouble was a staple within his life from an early start. Klaus’s circle of friends were easily recognized as the unsavory sort, but honestly? He didn’t care. They offered him the one thing no one else in his life had ever been able to. Someone to turn to, and something to take his pain away. Although he recognized quickly that his misery never truly would be gone. It was merely shielded - muted, if you will. But Klaus was fine with that. Walking through life in a haze donning his rose colored glasses was better than walking through it miserable. In his eyes, anyways.
Sadly, as the years rolled on Klaus’s lifestyle continued to drag him down a seemingly endless path of poor choices, and deep regrets. He knew he’d really fallen off the deep end, potentially towards the land of no return when even his friends didn’t want to associate with him anymore.
‘You’re going to get yourself killed, Hargreeves!’
‘Slow down, will ya? Save some for the rest of us!’
‘Klaus, stop, that’s way too much!’
‘What are ya, trying to die? You shouldn’t mix those!’
Klaus only wished his friends foreboding warnings had been correct.
He could remember the exact moment that led him here to this boondock-esque place. It was a Friday night not long ago. He was walking towards his home, drinking something strong out of a brown paper bag after scoring a special treat off his favorite dealer. He was high as a kite, and hoping to ride that high for the rest of the night, or maybe even the week if he played his cards right. To be honest, Klaus already hadn’t been having the best day after he’d learned his supposed ‘friends’ were having a get together and hadn’t bothered to invite him. So maybe he had gone a little too heavy with his assortment in a meager attempt to drown his sorrows. It wasn’t until he stumbled into his garage when an admittedly asinine idea popped into his head.
Cock sure of his decision that he wouldn’t allow himself to ever be forgotten - he was Klaus Hargreeves, afterall - he stole his fathers keys from his desk, and took his car for a little joy ride.
Perhaps literally crashing the party by driving his father’s $500,000 Rolls Royce Phantom directly into the pool wasn’t one of his wisest decisions.
Klaus was still laughing when the police arrived…
He had a sobering realization when he was read his rights and placed into the back of that police cruiser. Klaus knew his time was up and that surely we would be going to jail.
But his father had other plans...
Reginald was furious and did believe that Klaus deserved to pay for his wrong doings. However, he refused to allow his good name to be tarnished due to his son's reckless behavior and countless mistakes. So, Reginald worked out a plea bargain with the judge. To him it would be a win-win. Reggie’s good name could stay intact, and Klaus would learn from his mistakes and pay the price by doing hard manual labor - something he’d never in his entire life been expected to do.
The judge accepted his terms and instead of doing jail time, Klaus was to be sent to a reformatory - The Umbrella Tree Academy: Dude Ranch for Misguided Youths/Teens.
“This is just fucking great!” Klaus grumbled, continuing in vain to try to scuff the shit from the bottom of his shoes. He hadn’t even realized when the sound of shod hooves crunching against gravel began to approach him. That is, until someone's obnoxious tisking grasped his attention.
“Yeah, best to watch your step, there’s landmines like that everywhere ‘round here.”
Klaus whirled around ready to scold whoever it was who thought they could address him like some child. Didn’t they know who he was? He was Klaus Hargreeves, and he certainly was not in the mood for this...this...well, this horse shit.
“Yeah, well, who asked you? Can’t you see I’m—”
Klaus’s jaw dropped.
There, riding a dappled golden steed before him, was the most breathtaking man Klaus had easily ever seen. Shocked into silence (for once), Klaus took a moment to properly examine him. He could feel his cheeks flush at the sight of the man’s crooked grin. His own lips twitching up watching as his cropped curls that matched his horse's mane danced in the breeze beneath the rim of his stetson hat. Wow, Klaus couldn’t help but notice how the bright blue of his flannel shirt brought out the azure of his curiously kind eyes.
Klaus fumbled to pull his sunglasses from his eyes to better his view of the man. He quickly realized that his hands were trembling, but he was inclined to blame that on the lingering effects from his rather recent bout of withdrawals.
“Oh, yeah, uh...well, I—” Klaus stumbled over his words, utterly incapable of forming a coherent sentence. He didn’t understand why he felt this way. His tongue felt swollen, his throat a little tight, and he noticed he felt a little woozy. He knew coming down from drugs would be tough, but suddenly he wondered if it wasn't the drugs making him feel this way at all - but this man.
Nah, it had to be the withdrawals...
The cowboys grin grew wider as he watched Klaus’s babbling continue. “Yeah, well, judging by the bus you just rode in on,” he noted, tipping his head in the direction of the oversized vehicle. “My guess is you must be new?” he asked, eyebrow quirking in curiosity.
Fighting the sudden urge to pull himself together, Klaus willed his mouth to snap shut and nodded in confirmation. “Uh...yup.” he said, popping the ‘P’. “Sure am.”
The cowboy chuckled, the corner of his lip tugging into a lopsided grin before leaning forward in his saddle; leather groaning at the shift in position as he extended his hand to Klaus. “I’m Dave.”
Klaus hesitated briefly, breaking his trance by tearing his gaze away from those beautiful blue eyes. Klaus shook his head, his curls fanning his face before taking a moment to ground himself. He knew that he needed to focus, he couldn’t allow his resolve to falter under the watch of some random man - no matter how unbelievably attractive that man may be. Forcing himself to look anywhere but Dave, he trailed his sights to his extended hand, accepting it into his own. Nearly surprised by Dave’s strong grip, Klaus swallowed thickly before introducing himself. “Klaus.”
Dave shook Klaus’s hand, and Klaus noted how his soft grin never wavered before he finally pulled away. He pushed himself up, sitting deeper into his seat; folding his hands over the other across the horn. “Well Klaus, s’nice to meet you. Allow me to welcome you to The Umbrella Tree Academy.”
“T-Thanks.” Klaus stuttered, rubbing anxiously at the back of his neck. Klaus couldn’t help but notice the way the sun shone against Dave’s sweat glistening skin. It was really something special. Christ, he was perfect; like the man was chiseled from granite like one of those famous sculptures. How could this man even exist?
“Well,” Dave said, breaking Klaus from his thoughts once again. Man, he really needed to stop doing that. “I’d better get goin.” He said, gripping his reins in his hand as he nudged his horse's side with his spur.
Klaus watched as the horse turned away, taking the beautiful cowboy along with him. Unable to contain his downright tumultuous nature, he muttered under his breath, “Didn’t know I’d been shipped off to brokeback mountain, but I can’t complain—”
“Whoah,” Dave said, sitting deep in his saddle to halt his horse before turning around to once again face Klaus. “Sorry, what was that?” he asked, cupping his hand to his ear, eyebrows rising attentively.
Panicked, Klaus stumbled over himself trying to find the right words, his palm running down his chest before grabbing a hold of his satchel. “Oh, um...nothing, I uh—I just said I...broke my backpack getting off the plane.” He said, lips curling in towards his teeth, eyebrow cocked in embarrassment. He only hoped Dave would believe this new steaming pile of horse shit.
Luckily for him, it seemed Dave had. He smiled that cute crooked grin of his with a nod when the distant sound of a whistle pulled his attention away from Klaus. Good thing too, it gave him a chance to blow out the breath he hadn’t even realized he’d been holding.
“Ah, I’ve been summoned,” Dave said, looking back at Klaus with that ever present smile. “But, I’ll be seeing you around?”
“Oh, yeah, yeah, absolutely.” Klaus said, rocking back on his heels. “Nowhere else I’d rather be, amirite?”
‘Smoothe, Hargreeves.’ Klaus mentally cursed at himself. ‘More like ‘Nowhere else I could legally be.’
Dave simply exhaled a quick chuckle, tipping his hat. He gave his horse a little leg, pressing the reins against its neck before disappearing against the rays of the sun.
Klaus stood there stunned to silence as he watched him go. “Yeah, I’ll see you around.”