Work Text:
Vanya knew she should put her violin down, her neighbors would complain about her practicing so late. She just felt so bland and lacklustre next to the others in her orchestra. Especially Helen. Vanya dejectedly placed her violin back into its case, and put her sheet music back into her binder. Vanya didn’t actually know what time it was, she had been too scared to check - if she knew how late she’d probably been keeping up her neighbors, she would feel so guilty. It was definitely coming up to the early hours of the morning though, if the sky was anything to go by. A knocking came from Vanya’s front door, startling a gasp from her. Oh god, she thought, someone was clearly complaining about the noise. Vanya bit her lip nervously as she walked over. The knocking sounded like it had a rhythm... something by Destiny’s Child. Vanya wasn’t sure, she wasn’t really invested in pop music.
“Bonjour!” her brother exclaimed when she opened the door. He had a split lip and what looked like a newly forming black eye. Vanya pushed the door slightly more closed. She was considering whether she should quickly slam it, put the latch on, and reopen it. “Relax, I’m not going to rob you.” he drawled as he barged in to her home, uninvited. His actions seemed to be directly at odds with his words.
Vanya timidly closed the front door, and uncomfortably shifted her weight from foot to foot, feeling like a guest in her own apartment. Being around her siblings tended to instantly make her feel insignificant and ordinary. Her brother plonked himself down onto her armchair, hanging his head upside down over the arm. “Can I... help you?” she mumbled, sounding thoroughly confused, and out of her depth.
“You were the closest person I knew with a first aid kit.” her brother shrugged. Ouch. She knew it wasn’t exactly a social call, but it would’ve been nice for him to have at least pretended he wasn’t just using her. He was number Four though, and she was number Seven - so she complied and shuffled into her bathroom to get the kit.
—
“What happened?” Vanya mumbled as she ran antiseptic over the wounds on her brother’s face and knuckles. He wasn’t even wincing, which she found odd considering how much of a drama queen he was.
Klaus sighed wearily. “Oh, you know...” he looked off to his side, pursing his lips. Vanya assumed he was either coming up with a lie to spin to her, or he was just ashamed to admit whatever stupid thing he’d done to deserve such a reaction from someone. “just had to go and be all faggoty...“ he sang, though his tone couldn’t hide the deeply hurt feeling in his words.
Vanya flinched slightly upon hearing that word said so casually. “I take it that’s what someone called you?” she mumbled, getting a fresh piece of gauze and dipping it in the antiseptic.
“Yeah...” he almost whispered. “It was my fault really,” Vanya lifted her sights from his knuckles up to his face, furrowing her brow. How could it be his fault that someone was a homophobe? “Should’ve known he was straight.” Klaus chuckled, rolling his eyes at himself.
“This wasn’t your fault, Klaus.” she gently assured. There was no excuse for what had happened. Klaus opened his mouth, Vanya guessed it was to make some kind of internalised homophobic statement about himself. She hated to talk over her siblings, she didn’t feel worthy of interrupting them - but she had to this time. “We get treated like this just for existing,” she paused her dabbing of his wound to meet his eyes “you did nothing wrong, people will always have an issue.” She bashfully looked away from his eyes as she realised what she’d said.
“We?” he whispered, which wasn’t something he did very often. It took a lot to make him quiet. Vanya busied herself with rummaging through the first aid kit, trying to find some bandages. She didn’t expect to hear him release a loud snort. Her stomach churned. Was he laughing at her? “I knew you were gay!” he giggled “I called it!” Klaus turned to look over at Vanya’s empty couch, a smug grin on his face.
Vanya raised an eyebrow at her brother. “It’s not exactly hard to guess.” she glanced down at her men’s button up. Klaus wheezed. She wasn’t sure if she’d ever felt he was laughing with her, not at her - until right now.
“Yeah, me too.” he gestured to his current outfit. It was... a lot. “Wanna know something hilarious?” Klaus grinned like a maniac “I think Allison is the only other one to know.” Vanya let out a little snort. That was quite funny, you didn’t need a gaydar to work out Klaus wasn’t straight.
“Straight people can be so clueless...” she mumbled, shaking her head slightly at the thought of anyone assuming Klaus was straight.
—
“Does dad know?” Vanya questioned gently as she handed Klaus his cup of coffee. He seemed like he could need it. Klaus looked down into the mug and scrunched up his nose, looking firmly unimpressed.
Klaus scoffed “I told him to piss him off, when we were fifteen.” he groaned, “He was all like,” her brother cleared his throat, and began to speak in a snooty British accent “courting is strictly prohibited, Number Four!” he barked. His impression sounded nothing like their father, but it was silly enough to make Vanya snort. “I was so disappointed!” Klaus whined pathetically “he didn’t even mention the fact that I wanted to court boys!” he scoffed at what he considered to be absurd. Klaus took a tentative sip of his coffee and grimaced. Vanya chose to ignore that, he was ungrateful towards everyone not just her. “Does he know about you?!” he asked mischievously.
Vanya watched her hand move the teabag around in her cup, feeling pretty bitter. “No,” she sighed gently “he’d have to actually know I exist for that.” she could hear the aggrieved tone in her own voice. Klaus wheezed, seeming to miss the fact that she was actually hurt. No surprises there.
He heaved himself up from Vanya’s armchair, blinking his eyes woozily. Vanya couldn’t even tell if he had a head injury, he was so weird anyway she wouldn’t be able to notice. “I need to go, my little lesbian.” he sang at her, patting her on the head like a dog.
”I think I might be bi...” she murmured, though even she was unsure why she bothered to correct him. Her brother sent her an incredulous look as he scoffed dismissively. Surprisingly, that didn’t actually offend Vanya. He was probably right, it was most likely compulsory heterosexuality. She pulled herself up from her couch to walk with her brother to her front door.
After she’d pulled the door open, her brother stopped in his tracks, winced and let out a gentle hiss. Vanya put her arm out to steady him, assuming a bout of pain had come on. “Can I get some money?” he instead awkwardly requested. Vanya pulled back her hand, feeling like an absolute idiot. He’d probably already stolen from her whilst she was in the bathroom, or making the coffee he neglected to drink.
But Seven ranked below Four... Vanya sighed as she trudged over to her kitchen counter so she could grab her wallet. It was strangely comforting to know they shared their sexuality, but it didn’t change the fact they shared nothing else.