Head canons

Heels (TUA)

1174 words. taken from thesevenumbrellas on Tumblr. TW: addiction, abuse, angst

     Klaus had on a pair of Grace's heels. He was wearing his Umbrella Academy uniform, but heels instead of the shoes Reginald had provided. The Hargreeves siblings were planning on going to Griddy's for the day, and Klaus was going to wear the heels. Allison taught him how to walk in them, and he could walk almost was well as he could in flats.
     Klaus went downstairs to meet his siblings at the bottom of the stairs. He found Reginald instead. He almost turned and went back upstairs, but Reginald saw him.
     "Number 4," Reginald said. "You will not leave the house in those shoes."
     "Mom said it was okay." Klaus said. He shouldn't have said anything.
     "I said you will not leave the house in those shoes." Reginald said. "Take them off. Now."
     "But Da-" Klaus didn't get to finish his sentance.
     Reginald hit Klaus in the face with his cane. Klaus let out a cry of pain as he fell to the floor, clutching the side of his face. Grace, Pogo, and the other six siblings ran in to see what was wrong. Grace knelt down beside Klaus to see what was wrong. Pogo made sure the rest of the siblings didn't get in the way.
     "He's broken his jaw." Grace said, standing up.
     "What happened?" Ben asked.
     "Is he okay?" Diego asked.
     "It appears that Number 4 fell down the stairs." Reginald said.
     Klaus tried to tell everyone what really happened, but he let out another cry of pain instead. Diego and Ben helped him stand up and led him to the car. Grace couldn't do anything about a broken jaw, so they had to go to the hospital. Allison, Vanya, Five, and Luther followed them to the car, piling in behind them.
     Reginald made sure Klaus was barefoot before they left. Allison suspected something was up, but in the car on the way to the hospital wasn't the time to question it. Luther thought it was for the best. Klaus didn't need to wear things that would make the Academy look bad. Five felt sorry for his brother, but that was the most he thought about it. Vanya didn't think anything about the accident being Reginald's fault. In her eyes, she was the only one who was treated like garbage. Diego and Ben were the most skeptical. Ben would never say anything, but Diego did.
     "How did Klaus fall down the stairs?" Diego asked.
     "He was wearing Grace's heels and he tripped." Reginald said.
     "He's walked down the stairs before though." Diego countered.
     "He tripped, Number 2." Reginald said, ending the conversation.
     On the way to the hospital, the ghosts either made fun of him or felt sorry for him. Some said that if he dressed like a normal person, that wouldn't have happened. Others said they hoped he got better. A few were mean and scared him, causing him to cry out, which was painful.

     When they got to the hospital, they had to wait in the emergency room for twenty minutes before Klaus could see a doctor. The ghosts were horrible, so many people had died in the emergency room. Klaus sat as far away from Reginald as he possibly could without sitting in a potted plant. Diego and Ben sat with him, each of them holding one of his hands because of the ghosts.
     After twenty minutes, Klaus was able to see a doctor. When the doctor asked what happened, Reginald told her that he got into a fight with one of his siblings. The doctor said they would have to wire Klaus's jaw shut for it to heal properly and started to prep him for surgery. Reginald was lucky Klaus wouldn't be about to talk for two months, his secret would have been be exposed.
     When Klaus was out of surgery, the morphine kept the ghosts at bay. For two months, the ghosts were at bay due to pain meds. For two months, Diego and Ben watched their brother get addicted to pain medicine, to being left alone. After the wireing was taken out of Klaus's jaw, he was on pain medication for another three months. Reginald was disgusted with the addiction, but relieved that he didn't remember how he was really hurt.

     Klaus was only taking perscription drugs until Ben died. That was when he moved on to harder stuff. Diego tried to keep Klaus away from them, but when he had to leave for the police academy, there was nothing he could do. When he was kicked out of the police academy, he looked for drug dealers. He would show them a picture of Klaus and tell them not to sell to him. When he found out that they did, the police would get anonymous tip about the dealer.
     Ben couldn't do anything to help Klaus. Once, Klaus told Ben how he was really hurt all those years ago, saying he never forgot. Ben tried to get him to tell Diego, but Klaus refused, saying he had to tell someone who couldn't tell anyone. Every time Klaus overdosed, Ben felt like it was his fault. He couldn't help that he died, but that didn't stop the guilt.
     Vanya felt sorry for her brother. She realized that all of them were abused differently. She saw Klaus's addiction as a way to cope with it. Vanya out of all the siblings knew what it was like. She didn't think she could live with out her medication and knew Klaus must feel the same way. She knew it was different and sympathized with him.
     Five read about Klaus's addiction in Vanya's book. He was never close to Klaus, but saw it coming in the few months before he disappeared. He knew Klaus couldn't stand the ghosts. He thought that if Klaus was a little smarter, he would have thought of the addiction to suppress the ghosts sooner. Five didn't approve of the addiction, but recognized how hard it was for his brother.
     Allison missed the brother that wanted his nails painted and tips on eye liner. She forgot about his injury though. If she would have looked a little closer, she would have figured out that Klaus didn't fall down the stairs. When she got famous, she supported addiction charities. She talked about the dangers of addiction. Diego found it hypocritical that she didn't make sure Klaus was okay, but went on talk shows telling how her brother had an addiction and how she wanted to help people like him.
     Luther didn't approve of Klaus's addiction one bit. He also didn't do anything to help. He sneered at Klaus or turned away when Klaus came asking for help. When he went to the moon, he forgot about his junkie brother. The only sibling he thought about was Allison.
     Reginald never knew that Klaus remembered how he broke his jaw. He didn't care enough about Klaus to care that he was addicted to drugs. Reginald's main concern with Klaus's addiction was that he couldn't use his power anymore.