[ of course klaus would know. even if it's not been an issue for so many years now, it's hardly like he'd forget — the two of them had always been the two that had hated their powers. when all their siblings took pride in their own, ben remembers sitting next to klaus on the floor in his room in the middle of the night, remembers saying, why couldn't we be like vanya, too, which in hindsight is the worst kind of irony —

but the point still stands. it's part of the reason why ben's tried so hard to be there for klaus — because out of the ocean of terrible that was his power of seeing the dead, ben could be the one good thing to come out of it. make sure that he always had at least one voice to hear that wasn't screaming.

klaus's hand on his shoulder is grounding, and ben feels a little less like drowning. ]

Well, I guess Five got something right. [ his voice sounds like it's coming from miles away.

and then he takes a look at klaus. ]

... you know you're not getting rid of me, even if I can actually talk to other people now, too? [ because he knows klaus. (only, he knows all too well it's not entirely for klaus — because he doesn't know how to exist when it's not in his brother's immediate vicinity, anymore. because being alive means he can die. because he remembers what happened, before, and he knows how easily it can happen again.

god, maybe he should leave, just to spare klaus from it.) ]