Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply

Fandom: The Umbrella Academy (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe

Relationship: Ben Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves, Number Five | The Boy & Klaus Hargreeves, Stephen Strange &Klaus Hargreeves, Tony Stark & Klaus Hargreeves

Character: Klaus Hargreeves, Howard Stark, Stephen Strange, Tony Stark, Friday (Marvel), Ben Hargreeves, Number Five | The Boy (Umbrella Academy)

Additional Tags: Stephen Strange Trains Klaus Hargreeves, IronStrange, Protective Klaus Hargreeves, Parent Tony Stark, I don't know how to tag this to be honest, Inspired By Tumblr, Ghost Howard Stark

Stats: Published: 2019-02-28 Words: 1436

Title Not Now Howard by Merlin_Wolfgang_Trades_Hale

Summary:

"What's wrong?" Stephan asked him after their morning meditation. "I thought our lessons were going well."

"They are. I can see Dave with more regularity and Ben can play a full game of patty-cake with me." Klaus replied.

"So what's the matter?"

"Howard Stark keeps showing up, wanting me to manifest him so he can talk with Tony...and I don't know what to do."

"Guten Morgen." Klaus said as he came into the kitchen.

Five was the only one there with his usual cup of coffee and whatever science journal he was reading that day. His brother rolled his eyes but didn't look up from his readings. "It's one in the afternoon."

"Is it my fault your sustain yourself on a breakfast beverage?" Klaus asked as he stretched and reached for his own cup. As much as he likes to make fun of his brother's caffeine addiction, since becoming sober, coffee has become his life source as well.

"Stephen got a new brand imported from Colombia." Five replied with a smirk. He knew Klaus loved coffee now as much as he did.

"Oh goody!" Klaus cheered happily. "We're being spoiled, but I don't care."

Klaus found the new shipment and took a long whiff before starting the machine to brew it.

"Klaus, please."

"Aw fucking Christ. Can't I have my coffee first?" Klaus demanded of Howard Stark's ghost.

"What?" Five asked with a confused look.

Klaus shook his head dismissively. "Nothing. Just...a specter that can't wait for my business hours."

"Ah. Well with your sleeping schedule, can you blame him?"

"Five we've talked about this. You're not funny."

"Klaus, I just want five minutes. Please."

"No! Coffee first." Klaus said as sternly as possible before fixing himself his coffee to his liking. Sitting across from Five he reached for the paper that's always available on the table. "Where are Diego and Peter? Out on patrol?"

"I don't know. FRIDAY?" Five asked the AI.

"Masters Diego and Peter were out on patrol earlier. About an hour ago Colonel Rhodes came by and invited them for lunch."

"Awe...I like Rhodey." Klaus pouted.

"It's movie night. He'll come back later." Five told him.

"Ooh~ Whose turn is it?"

"Vanya."

"I hope we're watching Pan's Labyrinth. She loves that movie, and so do I." Klaus downed most of his coffee before standing up. "Well, I'm off. Ta~"

"Klaus."

"Not now!" Klaus growled and focused on his powers and made Howard vanish.

"That was harsh." Ben stated.

Klaus scoffed. "No, it wasn't. And it'll only work for about half an hour."

"Why not hear him out?" Ben asked.

Klaus had quit his harder drugs but kept his smoking habit. His life wouldn't let him exist without some nerves. Smoking helped and it added to his aesthetic. Pulling one out of his pack to light one he shrugged. "I don't wanna hear it?"

"Why?"

"Ever the curious kitten, Ben."

"I'm dead. What else do I have going on?"

"Fair point." Klaus conceded. He took a puff of smoke before letting it out with a sigh. "Daddy Tony is everything old Reggie never was. He's caring, he's helpful, he's witty, he's loving. He's also just as tormented and broken as we are because he's got the same daddy issues!" He exclaimed.

Ever since Diego got himself adopted into the Stark-Strange family, he(and Ben), Five, and Vanya kinda followed along. Five loves being around other intellectuals who also understood the importance of the apocalypse and helped stop it. Plus Tony has built the perfect coffee machines and each man has different favorites that are of the highest quality and sometimes imported.

Vanya came to visit once, and the two dads were immediately protective of her and not just them. Pepper, Happy, and Rhodey have helped Vanya a lot with her anxiety, depression, and loneliness. She's much happier now, sort of crushing on Pepper and the apocalypse was averted.

Diego, who started it all, had run into Peter a few weeks after he'd been bitten and helped him get the hang of being a vigilante. Really Diego just wanted a Robin to his Batman. With each night they were out there, Peter and Diego got closer and Diego became a big brother to Peter. When Diego got really hurt once, Peter brought him to his new home with his dad and got him patched up. He got a free upgrade on his suit and weapons, and bail money for whenever he got caught.

Stephen and Tony were glad someone was out there watching Peter's back when they couldn't always. They knew Diego's past, and as Klaus mentioned before that Tony knew what it was like being raised to be something grander by an enthusiastic billionaire...Tony saw some part of himself in all of the children. The angry fighter in Diego, the vulnerable and lonely child he used to be in Vanya, the sarcastic smart ass who really cared about the stupid world but didn't always show it in Five...and in Klaus?

In Klaus, he saw the part of himself he was the most. The tormented soul who tried to numb the pain away and party off the loneliness. The guy who still smiled and laughed even if it was forced, who had a morbid sense of humor as a defense mechanism, who didn't have any sympathy anymore from the world and always judged by what his father told the world he was.

"Yo...you spaced out again."

"Did I? Sorry. What was I saying?"

"Tony Stark has daddy issues."

Klaus giggled, "Boy, doesn't he? He would have made a grand Hargreeves."

"You're getting stronger. You manifest me every day." To prove his point, he raised his hand to high five.

Klaus has gotten so much better with his powers that it was instinctive and natural now for him to solidify Ben to actually do the high five.

And it was thanks to their other dad. Stephen Strange. When he wasn't talking quantum mechanics or astrophysics or whatever with Five, Stephen liked to train with Klaus. Their powers and abilities were different, but Stephen was sure that the meditations and warm-ups or baby steps he took at the beginning of his magical journey would help Klaus. Wong also had a few books about psychics and death that helped Klaus expand his knowledge to the point that he now can also do that astral projection thingy.

"I've heard part of his story, Ben. He's a bit kinder and emotionally there than dad but...it's still fucked up. Wanting a better world and preparing Tony because he failed to make a perfect world doesn't excuse what he did. Tony was just as lonely, just as angry, and left just as broken. We...we were lucky. We had each other. We were freaks." Klaus admitted, "But we weren't alone...and yet. Vanya suffered a ton. Felt invisible. And after you died...if I had been stronger...manifested you back then...it wouldn't have been so bad...right? He failed to teach us properly! If he were like daddy Tony or daddy Stephen, he would have found a way that worked and not insist that his way was the only way! There were other ways! But they were just too stubborn! Too narcissistic and too concerned about with their pride and reputations to really give a damn about their fucking children!" Klaus yelled and then turned to face the ghost of Howard that had manifested in his rage earlier than intended.

"I'm not going to let you speak to him because you don't fucking deserve it, asshole!"

"What's wrong?" Stephan asked him after their morning meditation. "I thought our lessons were going well."

"They are. I can see Dave with more regularity and Ben can play a full game of patty-cake with me." Klaus replied.

"So what's the matter?"

"Howard Stark keeps showing up, wanting me to manifest him so he can talk with Tony...and I don't know what to do."

"Oh," Stephen stated, stunned.

Klaus nodded solemnly. "Yeah...any suggestions on what I should do? And please don't say 'follow your heart'."

Stephen smirked, "I won't. I refuse to be that cheesy. I'm proud that your powers are coming along. They're powerful and interesting...and can have some bad sides along with the good. Tony's parents were...a bit part of why and how he became the Tony we know and love today. Speaking with his dad will be...intense. Good or bad, I can't really say. Both possibly. It might be best to ask him if he wants."

"Yeah. That sounds about right."

"We don't have to do it now," Stephen told him.

"We?" Klaus echoed.

"If you don't want to tell him alone, I'll be there with you."

"That's so sweet. Though I'm rarely alone. But Ben doesn't always count."

"Ouch." Ben deadpanned.

"You're dead, shush," Klaus told him. Then turned to Stephen. "Wanna get brunch?"

"Of course. Waffles?"

"You've read my mind."