darker_london | Okay, no. (Peter, Klaus and Caleb) (Reply)

Caleb was sitting on the sofa beside Peter, telling his step-father all about his school day when Klaus re-entered the Kemp family home. He had been gone for three days and part of Peter hoped that the poor man had gone back to the Beyond where he belonged. His father was dead, and he had only been brought back by Peter's angelic wife as a mistake. A mistake that should have righted itself a long time ago.

"Father?" Peter asked, resting a silencing hand on Caleb's knee. "Is everything okay?" Peter asked the question with trepidation. Klaus had been back for well over three weeks and Thomas had always said that was about when the pull from the Beyond started in, and if the grip from being needed on Earth was still strong, eventually, to Klaus, it would feel like he was being torn apart and there would be nothing he could do.

Klaus' eyes flicked to the young boy on the sofa and chose to reply in German to spare Caleb the details. "Ich war mit Gabriel. Aber ich musste zurückkommen. Peter. Es tut mir weh." Klaus looked sick and worn and he wouldn't admit to pain unless it was bad. And Peter knew it. The image he had of his father was the ever-silent tyrant who never admitted to pain or feel or...feelings. And now he was in front of his son, saying he was hurting.

"Wie schlecht?" Peter asked, just to be sure. And maybe just a little bit because he wanted his father to have to say it out loud.

"Sehr schlecht. Bitte, Peter. Hilfe mir?

"Natürlich, Vater. Ein Moment." Peter turned to Caleb and he patted the boy's shoulder. "I have to help Klaus with something. Is that alright? You can tell me the rest of the story before bed?"

"Sure!" Caleb said, jumping off the sofa, as happy as ever.

Peter stood so he was not being dwarfed by Klaus, and he gently rested a hand on his father's shoulder. "Thomas says it hurts less if you eat something. I'll make you a sandwich and we can talk about this."

"I won't have you treating me like one of your pet demons," Klaus growled at Peter.

Instantly Peter felt his stomach clench and he nearly shrunk away from the man who had caused the first fourteen years of his life to be quite joyless. And then something inside him stopped and Peter stepped into front of his father, standing tall. "Right now you need my help. So shut up and cooperate or go back to Gabriel and have your secret affair everyone knows about now so you can ignore the rest of the world again. The pain will only get worse, Father. Just like losing Margaret only hurt more the longer you avoided dealing with it. Just like having a wife who lost her mind didn't get better by hiding the fact that you were fucking her little brother to make yourself feel better!"

Klaus stared at Peter, and his cold, hard face narrowed into a glare. "How dare you-?"

"Yeah, I give a shit that you're gay, Dad. Let me tell you something, no one cares. No one is going to hate you because you're gay, they hate you because you're a mean man! I don't care who you fuck. Fuck Uncle Gabriel silly for all I care, but don't hide it any more!"

"Peter-"

"No! Don't stop me because I have things to say to you, dammit!" Peter was on a roll now. He couldn't stop. "You say you hate my wife because she's Spanish, but what you hate is the fact that your family is so full of disgusting people who would have disowned you had they known the truth. You had to hide who you are and that sucks and I'm sorry. I don't have to hide who I am. I can marry my beautiful wife and raise our beautiful children, and if I wanted, I could have married Thomas instead. And I would be accepted, and happy, no one would disown me or disinherit me because you are dead. But your father wasn't. You had to conform. And I'm sorry for that but stop taking it out on me and stop taking it out on my wife and kids. They don't deserve your bullshit and I had enough of it growing up. You know...when you used to write hateful letters about how you feared I was a pansy and I was going to grow up gay. Like you. Not that you admitted that to anyone except Gabriel. I feel pity for you, Father. I am sorry you weren't able to be happy. Maybe if you tried, you could be happy now. You don't have anything to lose any more." At that, Peter took a deep breath and then he waited.

Klaus was silent for a long time, staring at his son as Peter laid out all the pains and horrors of his tumultuous life. And when silence had stilled the room, Klaus hung his head. "I do need your help, Son. I'll do anything you tell me to do."

It wasn't an apology nor an admission of guilt. Klaus hadn't confirmed his tryst with Gabriel, but he hadn't denied it either. But he was going to listen.

It was a start.