Friday Fics Fix - Outside Society's Neat Little Boxes

 

'“I think you’re right. It looks nice on you,” Vanya offers, a small smile curling on her lips when Klaus lights up.'

Argh the bitter-sweet angsty cuteness here!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*ahem*

This fic got me in the feelings, OK? 😅

This is a The Umbrella Academy (TUA) kid fic, set when the Hargreeves siblings were still at home, living at the academy.

...Because this series leaves so much space for fic authors to play with, let's be honest.

I don't usually read all that many kid fics - because they just don't tend to interest me. 

But TUA kid fics have the fertile ground of a school/family of dysfunctional child superheroes, so I do tend to read a few more kid fics from this fandom!

(Fandom notes:

A kid fic is a fic which features the main characters as children. This only really applies to characters who are adults (or sometimes older teens,) for all or part of canon.

Canon is the 'official' stuff in the book/film/whatever)

It's a simple little fic about Klaus and Vanya experimenting with clothes and gender non-conformity (GNC.)

GNC is an ultra-broad category for people who do not follow the societal conventions of gender norms. It's not a gender identity, but the non-conforming way in which some people present within their gender.

Basically, yes, it's vague af and includes anybody and everybody who considers themselves to be included - especially, but not limited to, Queer people 

(...both of these characters are Queer in canon btw! Woo!)

Men in dresses is one of the most obvious examples of being GNC, but even that's dependent on cultural context (Scotsmen in kilts are gender-conforming, not GNC, for example.)

It's an individual expression of who you are - so basically, it's v. go-with-the-flow.

But some people get their undies in a twist about other people displaying GNC.

Girls with very short hair, boys with nail polish, men with corsets - some people would prefer we settle ourselves in an idealised and suffocating version of suburban White America, circa 1950, and stay there.

Which is both ridiculous, and severely limiting to the prospects and freedoms of women and girls in particular. #JustSaying.

Via Giphy

While this fic treads lightly on the bigotry (thank God,) it also captures the utter humiliation of a casual and callous dismissal of someone who's stepped outside society's neat little boxes.

...And that's what's so captivating about it.

It's got the joy and the pain, all wrapped up in one.

(Also, the 'pants' in the title is trousers, not underwear, because the show (and possibly the fic author, who knows?) is American)

A couple of Content Warnings then:

- implied Queerphobia

- implied sexism/misogyny

- implied child abuse and neglect

- family issues, because Umbrella Academy

This week's fic, then, is:

Skirts, Pants, and Polaroid Pictures by Vanya_My_Beloved

Have you read many kid fics?

Are 'pants' trousers to you, or underwear? 😅

Talk to me! 😘💬

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Related Reading:

• Friday Fics Fix - Being Everything You Are

• Friday Fics Fix - Change Is The Only Constant

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