Under The Influence: A Klaus Hargreeves Fanfic | Umbrella Academy AU |

Kickin' It Old School

"So you were homeschooled." Willow Jean repeated with her mouth full of vegetable lo mein. "That's so cool, so was I."

"No shit." Klaus was scarfing down his own dish of sesame chicken. He'd offered to pay for their food, with his lack of anything financial to buy the food, but Willow insisted on paying to his relief. "Did your daddy teach you how to gauge other kids eyes out too?"

"He did not." Will scoffed, almost choking on her Chinese food. "Did yours?"

"No, no," Klaus insisted, flailing his hand dramatically "just a hypothetical."

He watched her as they sat on the floor of her apartment; she wasn't lying when she said it wasn't much. They were sitting on the floor eating over a coffee table, which was the second piece of furniture in the living room aside from the beaten blue velvet couch. Her utensils were plastic, and the apartment, which was just a studio, had a mattress sitting on the floor without a box spring.

Her face wrinkled up in the sweetest way when she laughed; her round cheeks had very tiny freckles on them that she said got darker when she tanned. Her hands were small, but her fingers were long. Willow Jean said that they were artist hands, and that's how they were supposed to be. Klaus remarked on how she was almost short, to which Willow laughed and said that she stopped growing for a while but had grown a whole inch in the past year alone. A box of high heels sat in the corner, next to a milk crate full of blue jeans.

"What's with the jeans?" Klaus asked, pointing his chopsticks towards the crate.

"Guys leave their pants here a lot." Willow shrugged and put more food into her tiny mouth. "I fit nicely into men's jeans, so I keep them. But separate from my regular clothes because they have weird vibes."

"Creepy." Klaus notes. "You really get around, Willow Jeans."

"That's a first." The girl pursed her lips and snickered. "Congrats."

"It won't be the last." Klaus promised, wondering silently how many different men had been in that room with her. It made his skin crawl to think about it.

"What, are you a virgin or something?" She raised an eyebrow at him and cocked her head, giggling.

"I hope not." He shuttered. "I would have a lot of explaining to do to a handful of people then."

"What's wrong with my pile of jeans then?" She asked, standing up and heading towards the kitchen.

"Hey, I didn't mean to upset you, Jeanie," He called out in a faux-apologetic tone "I'm just wondering who's wearing the pants in your relationships."

"I'm not in a relationship." Will called back, grabbing two glasses and a bottle of brandy in a crystal decanter. "I'm a call girl."

"Oh." Klaus paused, his mind running with the idea. "That's an interesting profession."

"It's just to pay for school." Willow said quickly, pouring a glass about halfway full and handing it to Klaus before pouring herself one as well.

"How did you get into it?" He wondered out loud, though not directly at her. For a moment he wondered if it would be becoming of him to get into that trade.

Willow shrugged. "Someone in the alley asked me if I ever modeled before. I told him no, and he took me to a brothel and now I have my own phone here."

"Quite fancy." Klaus clicked his tongue and set his food down, reaching for the drink. "So you're self employed."

"I work under someone." The girl took a long drink without flinching. Klaus fell in love almost instantly.