Fic: Iconic (The Umbrella Academy)
Jul. 9th, 2019 10:47 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
redrikkiAfter months in the creative doldrums, I feel like I'm on a role. Finally got around to filling one of the tumblr prompts that's been sitting in my in-box for months. Go me!
Title: Iconic
Fandom: Umbrella Academy
Length: 539 words
Rating: PG
Characters: Vanya Hargreeves, Klaus Hargreeves
Summary: When Vanya learns Klaus is gay from an article in a teen magazine, she's upset for more than a few reasons.
Read it on AO3 or
Klaus came out in an interview when they were fifteen. Vanya found out a month later, reading an article about it in one of Allison’s teen magazines. He’d always been weird about women’s clothes and make-up, but it had never been anything special. It was just one more thing that made Dad frown, like the drugs and booze, or his childish refusal to embrace his true potential.
This was different though. Klaus told some reporter he liked boys and suddenly he was “a gay icon” and “an important role model for the queer community.” Vanya liked girls, she’d liked them for a while now. She’d just never thought to brag about it. She should be the one being lauded as “brave” and “iconic.” Klaus was already a superhero with superpowers. He couldn’t have let her have this?
It wasn’t fair. Vanya tore the magazine in two and the slow rrrrrrrrip seemed to embed itself within her brain. It wasn’t fair. She was shaking she was so angry. The walls were shaking. It wasn’t fair!
“Vanya? Vanya!”
She came back to herself with crumpled bits of magazine clenched in each fist and stupid gay icon Klaus standing in her doorway.
“Are you okay?”
She took a deep, shaky breath, and slowly let it out. “You like boys?”
Klaus’s gaze darted from her face to the magazine and back again. “Yeah. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. Dad--“
“Dad,” Vanya scoffed.
After they came back from the interview, Dad had taken Klaus back to his study and kept him there for over an hour. Probably to tell him how iconic and important to the queer community he was. Klaus had come down to dinner after flushed and trembling, wearing an obscene amount of eye shadow. Everyone had stared at him all through the meal and not one of them had the decency to tell her why.
“I like girls, you know.” Vanya threw it in his face.
“Vanya,” he said excitedly, breaking out in a wide grin, “that’s--“ his face fell. “Does anyone else know?” he asked urgently. “Does Dad?”
He was worried Dad would find out she was gay too? None of them had ever seen her as competition before. Vanya felt a thrill at the idea. “No. Not yet.” She’d save it for later.
“I’m really glad you felt like you could tell me,” he said, putting his hand on her shoulder. “That’s really brave.” Vanya searched his expression for a hint of teasing, but he was oddly serious for once. Then he smiled, bright and almost manic. “Any girls in particular?”
Vanya shrugged uncomfortably. “Not really.” She didn’t really know many girls besides Mom and Allison and that would just be weird. It was more that she liked girls in theory, the way they looked on the street or in their sister’s fashion magazines.
“Well, you’ve got to have a type,” he said, snatching up the ruined magazine and plunking down on her bed like he owned it. “Come show Auntie Klaus what you like.”
The spent the next half-hour of their weekly free time pawing through the pages, talking about the girls and clothes they liked. It was nice. Fun. Almost like they really were a family.
Title: Iconic
Fandom: Umbrella Academy
Length: 539 words
Rating: PG
Characters: Vanya Hargreeves, Klaus Hargreeves
Summary: When Vanya learns Klaus is gay from an article in a teen magazine, she's upset for more than a few reasons.
Read it on AO3 or
Klaus came out in an interview when they were fifteen. Vanya found out a month later, reading an article about it in one of Allison’s teen magazines. He’d always been weird about women’s clothes and make-up, but it had never been anything special. It was just one more thing that made Dad frown, like the drugs and booze, or his childish refusal to embrace his true potential.
This was different though. Klaus told some reporter he liked boys and suddenly he was “a gay icon” and “an important role model for the queer community.” Vanya liked girls, she’d liked them for a while now. She’d just never thought to brag about it. She should be the one being lauded as “brave” and “iconic.” Klaus was already a superhero with superpowers. He couldn’t have let her have this?
It wasn’t fair. Vanya tore the magazine in two and the slow rrrrrrrrip seemed to embed itself within her brain. It wasn’t fair. She was shaking she was so angry. The walls were shaking. It wasn’t fair!
“Vanya? Vanya!”
She came back to herself with crumpled bits of magazine clenched in each fist and stupid gay icon Klaus standing in her doorway.
“Are you okay?”
She took a deep, shaky breath, and slowly let it out. “You like boys?”
Klaus’s gaze darted from her face to the magazine and back again. “Yeah. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. Dad--“
“Dad,” Vanya scoffed.
After they came back from the interview, Dad had taken Klaus back to his study and kept him there for over an hour. Probably to tell him how iconic and important to the queer community he was. Klaus had come down to dinner after flushed and trembling, wearing an obscene amount of eye shadow. Everyone had stared at him all through the meal and not one of them had the decency to tell her why.
“I like girls, you know.” Vanya threw it in his face.
“Vanya,” he said excitedly, breaking out in a wide grin, “that’s--“ his face fell. “Does anyone else know?” he asked urgently. “Does Dad?”
He was worried Dad would find out she was gay too? None of them had ever seen her as competition before. Vanya felt a thrill at the idea. “No. Not yet.” She’d save it for later.
“I’m really glad you felt like you could tell me,” he said, putting his hand on her shoulder. “That’s really brave.” Vanya searched his expression for a hint of teasing, but he was oddly serious for once. Then he smiled, bright and almost manic. “Any girls in particular?”
Vanya shrugged uncomfortably. “Not really.” She didn’t really know many girls besides Mom and Allison and that would just be weird. It was more that she liked girls in theory, the way they looked on the street or in their sister’s fashion magazines.
“Well, you’ve got to have a type,” he said, snatching up the ruined magazine and plunking down on her bed like he owned it. “Come show Auntie Klaus what you like.”
The spent the next half-hour of their weekly free time pawing through the pages, talking about the girls and clothes they liked. It was nice. Fun. Almost like they really were a family.
