"Oh that one!" Grandpa bustled down the racks of clothes to stand before a mannequin dressed in something pink, frilly, and very Wendy-ish. Behind him, Lovino's head fell a bit to the side as he tugged a quiet Wendy along. Ivan brought up the rear, more interested in the clothes on the racks and trying to place them with other clothes he'd seen here and there to create outfits.
Grandpa pointed up at the dress again, smiling down at Wendy, "What do you think?"
Wendy shrugged slowly, her eyes not lifting high enough to even look at the dress. Lovino sighed, tugging her closer to his side as he smiled kindly at Grandpa.
"I think it's rather nice," He said, "Ivan?"
"Wendy's style." Ivan nodded before reaching out to pluck a jacket from one of the racks, "If you pair it with this I think people will like it."
Grandpa frowned at Wendy, but when his attention was drawn to the jacket his eyes lit up and he nodded, "Oh how cute!"
"How about we try it on?" Lovino asked Wendy, dropping to one knee so they were eye-level. Wendy shrugged, still not looking at the dress.
"Ivan, help me find someone to get it down for us." Grandpa nodded, "Lovino stay here with Wendy."
Lovino was only to happy to do so, watching Ivan and Grandpa march away he looked around until he spied a bright orange tank-top on one of the racks, a tiny thing that probably belonged in the toddlers section.
He stood up and grabbed it, draped against his chest and grinning at Wendy, "What do you think? My style?"
Wendy rolled her eyes, but Lovino took it as a victory when her mouth twitched upwards.
"I certainly don't mind seeing you dressed like that."
Lovino spun around to see none other than Romeo standing behind him, eyes hooded as he looked Lovino up and down.
"I certainly don't mind seeing you wearing only that."
"Hi… Romeo…" Lovino swallowed, stepping back until Wendy was once again at his side.
"Hello Cinny, small world isn't it? I stopped in here to see if they had anything and I find you!" Romeo beamed.
"We're just here for Darling," Lovino shrugged, only at the last second recalling Wendy's "stage name". Wendy flinched when she heard it and Lovino squeezed her shoulder in apology.
"Who's we?" Romeo frowned, looking around the store, "Is Grandpa here?"
"And Sunflower." Lovino nodded.
Romeo's eyebrow arched at the mention of Ivan but it was fleeting as he reached out to embrace Lovino's neck, "Oh I've missed you Cinny! We need to go out again."
"That… sounds nice."
"I sense hesitation!" Romeo sang as he ran his fingers through Lovino's hair, "Don't worry, I won't drag you to another dinner or something-we can do what we know you're good at."
"Ah… that's not… well-"
"Romeo?" Grandpa cried as he approached, flanked by Ivan and a staff member, "Oh where have you been!"
"I know! I just got busy and it all slipped away from me!" Romeo laughed, releasing Lovino and turning to embrace the older man, "I need to come by sometime, I know."
"I've missed you-it feels like you really get me, you know? I miss that."
"Well I certainly get your tastes, you know there's this restaurant I took Cinny here too-I don't know how much he liked it but I think you'll just adore it."
"I'll see how my schedule is when I get back to the house." Grandpa nodded before turning to the store associate as they tried to hand him the dress, "Thank you dear. We'll be quick with it I promise." He then turned and dumped the dress in Ivan's arms, "You two take Darling here to the dressing room. And do try to hurry, we don't want to inconvenience anyone more than we probably have."
Lovino was glad for the escape, immediately taking Wendy's arm and practically flying towards the dressing room, Ivan on his heels. He didn't look back until they were disappearing through the doorway but when he did he caught Romeo's eye. Romeo winked at him and Lovino felt his face redden almost immediately.
"I don't like that guy," Ivan remarked as he carefully pulled the dress from its hanger.
Lovino groaned, sitting on one of the benches and covering his head with his arms, "I wish he would just go away!"
"Maybe we'll get lucky and work will call him on a business trip." Ivan said, although he sounded the least hopeful.
"Maybe you'll get lucky and we'll have to move." Wendy suggested, voice flat as she took the dress, "Do I have to?"
"Yeah, sorry." Ivan shrugged, reaching out to tuck hair behind her ear as he smiled apologetically. Wendy groaned and disappeared inside the dressing room stall and Ivan turned back to Lovino.
"We'll say the dress is perfect, even if it isn't, and maybe we can get out of here. He said we only really needed something for Wendy anyway."
"But that opens up the potential for Romeo to buy me!" Lovino groaned.
"That is such a weird name-Romeo." Ivan chuckled, "It's like he's trying to be made fun of."
"I think being rich has him protected Ivan."
"Still, must wonder what he lived with as a kid."
"I hope it was horrible." Lovino muttered, craning his neck to see outside the doorway. Romeo and Grandpa looked to be deep in conversation, they were talking a mile a minute and Grandpa was waving his arms and gesturing to the dressing room-his usual sales pitch routine perhaps? Then again, it wouldn't take much negotiation to get Romeo to buy him so… what? What could they be talking about?
Grandpa was tight-lipped about his conversation. There was no gushing or bragging as they left the store, the new dress and it's jacket swinging in the bag on his arm as he hurried them to the car. Instead he started going over Wendy's potential as "one of the team"-causing the small girl to sink lower and lower into her seat until Ivan eventually pulled her closer to his side. Lovino watched from the passenger seat, wondering how much that little girl could take.
Home had never been a more welcome sight-it brought the hope that Grandpa would stop talking. Which only came half-true. He went from brainstorming Wendy's potential to listing out chores and orders for all three of them as they walked up the drive and into the house. The General was in the kitchen with Peter, Mattie wasn't anywhere to be seen. Lovino wondered if a client was over, or if Mattie had somehow managed to hole up in their room for the afternoon.
It seemed like they'd only just closed the door when Ivan heard a car pull up, and he looked through the window to see Ludwig climbing out and limping towards the door with Gerhalt close behind.
The door opened again with a triumphant swing and Gerhalt stepped through looking cheerier than he had in a while. Ludwig seemed more relaxed, the tension missing from his shoulders and there was a dark bruise peeking out from under his t-shirt.
"How'd everything go at Theodore's?" Grandpa asked, taking their coats and throwing them on the hooks by the door.
"Perfect," Gerhalt grinned, "In fact Ludwig did so well Theodore slipped him a little extra on our way out the door."
Grandpa's face split into a wide smile as he turned to beam at Ludwig, reaching out to ruffle his hair energetically.
"At'a boy Luddy!" He chuckled, "I knew you had it in you!"
Ludwig's cheeks were burning red and he smiled shyly back before being allowed to limp further into the house, where Lovino stopped him with a sigh and had him climb onto his back. Ludwig was quiet on the walk up the stairs, seeming to look everywhere but the back of Lovino's head. Lovino on the other hand began to hum to himself, throwing open the door to their bedroom where they found Mattie curled into a ball on his cot asleep. There were bruises marking him too, although it seemed whatever client he'd had wasn't all that worried about if people saw.
Ludwig still wouldn't meet Lovino's eye as he was set down, choosing to focus on the cot as he limped forward and collapsed across it.
"Luddy?"
"I'm okay." Ludwig mumbled into his sheet, body limp. Lovino plucked the stuffed dog from the floor near the cot legs and turned it over in his hands.
"Okay… good." Lovino nodded, "Just checking." He sat down gingerly on the cot, careful to not touch Ludwig, afraid he'd recoil away.
"But you know… if you weren't… that'd be okay too." He whispered, setting the toy across one of Ludwig's hands. Like a snake presented with a mouse, Ludwig wrapped his arms around the dog and pulled it close to his chest. When he said nothing more Lovino decided it would probably be better to leave him alone to sleep. He got up with a groan and stretched his back, detouring on his path to the door to walk over and run his fingers through Mattie's hair. The teenager didn't wake, but he groaned in his sleep a bit and curled somehow tighter around his polar bear.
As he reached the door he heard Ludwig sniffle a little.
Katya woke before her alarm that morning. She shot up in bed, breathing hard and twisting this way and that as she tried to clear the image of three small children from her head. She panted, clutching at her heart while the alarm sounded beside her, scaring a shriek from her.
Just a nightmare, she told herself, just a stupid, awful nightmare… she reminded herself to not pay attention to it. You never pay attention to those sort of dreams. She did allow herself to reflect over the fact that it was three kids now, instead of the one, who glared at her accusingly from the open bathroom doorway. Sometimes they were covered in blood, sometimes they were just deathly pale. The point was though, they were dead-and Katya had only herself to blame.
But that was enough for her, she forced herself to stop and focus on other things as a wave of nausea passed over her.
She briefly wondered if she should call Mrs. Micnat-maybe persuade her into letting her do something around that house today but it was possible the woman wouldn't even answer the phone. Mrs. Micnat had become very withdrawn, keeping to sulking in her bedroom where Katya was sure she heard sobbing from time to time. The children's rooms remained closed off, almost like both Katya and their mother were pretending the kids had locked themselves in for some cruel and twisted sort of punishment.
Yesterday Mrs. Micnat had appeared in the kitchen only long enough to tell Katya to take a few days off, smiling tearily as she mused the poor girl had gone through enough without the added burden of more housework in a house that didn't belong to her. Katya knew she musn't have meant it, but the way Mrs. Micnat told her to take paid leave felt like a grim reminder that she was in fact not part of the family, that she had no business being around these people even though she was in just as much pain as this woman who she'd come to adore.
Katya had smiled, a dark hole tearing through her heart as the fear this was the beginning of goodbye materialized, and thanked her employer for the vacation.
With nothing much to focus on, Katya turned her attention towards her sisters room. Silent as a tomb only because it's occupant was passed out in the bed. Even Natalya found it too much of a challenge to try and sleep with metal pumping through the air around her.
Natalya's room was a dark and dreary mess, Katya nearly tripped and broke her neck three times as she picked her way through the clothes and books littering the floor. She spied a few plates, some still covered in food unfortunately, hiding under the bed too. Natalya's hand brushed one of the newer ones as she slept, half-hanging off the bed.
Gently, Katya shook her sister's arm. Natalya groaned, swatting weakly in Katya's general direction but still missing her completely.
"Off… go'way… No!" Natalya jerked her head upwards to snap at her sister, blinking sleepily before dropping back to the pillow and frowning at Katya, "What'dya want?"
"Well it is Saturday…" Katya whispered, although she wasn't quite sure why, "I was wondering if you wanted to have a shopping day with me?"
Natalya frowned, propping herself up on her elbows as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, "Shopping day?"
"Yeah, check a few thrift stores, see if there's anything good. We could even stop at that ice cream shop you're so fond of."
Natalya sighed, flopping back to the warm comfort of her mattress before nodding tiredly, "Give me ten more minutes though."
Katya smiled, reaching out to ruffle Natalya's hair before turning and carefully making her way out of the room. When she looked back, Natalya had already slipped back into dreamland.
About an hour later, after much begging, coaxing, and bribing, the two sat in their beat up old car that pittered down the street towards the central part of town. Despite Natalya's tired grumbling during the drive, her face lit up as they pulled into the parking lot of the thrift store. She didn't even wait until Katya had fully parked before muttering,
"Gotta go pop some tags Kat-only got twenty dollars in my pocket." And just like that she was gone, zooming towards the store door.
Katya groaned as she parked, shaking her head before hurrying to follow Natalya inside. The smell of mothballs assaulted her first thing past the door, floor wax and old women perfume mixing at the edge of the odor. Anything they bought would have to be washed… maybe twice.
Natalya's pale blonde head bobbed up and down along the racks, Katya wondered how she moved so fast. She'd always been fast, as a little girl Katya would send Natalya to swipe things she didn't think she herself had the speed it called for. At the time, her sister had also been much shorter, making hiding under things a commonality.
She wondered briefly if Natalya was still a quick pickpocket… just in case.
Katya still found it hard to face Mrs. Micnat. She should have seen that car, noticed it didn't belong-maybe done something about it. Maybe if they'd all been a bit more careful, a bit more aware of some lurking danger, then… then…
Katya swallowed a rising lump in her throat and approached Natalya, yanking something dark colored off the rack and holding it up to her sister's back.
"What do you think?" She smiled as Natalya turned around, raising an eyebrow at the ripped black t-shirt with the odd white spot in the stomach.
"Weird… and not the fun weird." Natalya frowned.
"Oh well," Katya sighed, throwing the shirt back on the rack and beginning to finger through the clothes surrounding it, "I think there's a few here that might suit you."
"I don't like the designs," Natalya complained, "And this one is way to sick-I'll die of heatstroke."
"What about this?" A blue blouse with a large black bow at the front, Natalya loved bows didn't she? There was that ratty old one she wore almost every day as a kid.
It'd been a gift from-
"Nat! Look over here!" Katya looped her arm through her sister's and dragged her towards some of the more dressier items. A long, slinky black dress peeked out between some of the poofier skirts and prom ensembles. Katya held it up, reaching forward to drape it along her sister who kicked a foot out and found the end of the dress was pooling on the floor below.
"It's to long-hey maybe it'll fit you?"
Katya swallowed again, glancing at her larger chest and back at the tight-fitting dress. Natalya sighed, dragging her sister towards the dressing rooms lining the back wall and nearly threw her in alongside the dress.
"And don't come out until you're hot!" Natalya cried, turning her head to search the rejects rack. She could have sworn she saw something worthy of her eye. She was right, a Rush T-shirt hung abandoned among the more gaudy church dresses and she squealed.
Katya on the other hand, was groaning as she tried to make the zipper close the last part of the dress. It refused to budge however and she felt her face grow hot. This was a constant problem, nice clothes never wanted to fit; and with her kind of salary finding anything tailored to her body type was more than a chore, it was suicide.
Abandoning all hope of closing the zipper, Katya stepped back to look the rest of the trainwreck over.
But… it wasn't a trainwreck actually. Katya couldn't stop herself from grinning, but the dress actually looked nice-even if the back hung open. The fabric's design bent and twisted along with her body, creating a sort of streamline effect that had you look her up and down constantly. The black actually seemed to slim her chest instead of showing it off like most dresses did, leaving her not feeling like a total whore trying to sell herself to whoever she talked to.
Timidly, she stepped out the dressing room door. Natalya looked up from the t-shirt she'd been admiring and began to look her over critically. Katya bit her lip as Natalya circled to the back, tried not to flinch as her sister's fingers reached out to touch the horrible zipper.
"I bet I could alter it here in the back," Natalya said, "Maybe give it a shorter zipper and open up the back a bit more? Or perhaps we give it a lace back and add more fabric so there's enough?" Natalya circled back around to the front, "Other than that, I think this is perfect for you."
Katya beamed. Oh her wonderful, resourceful sister! What would she do without her?
Katya grinned and pulled her sister into a hug, giggling a bit when Natalya grunted in surprise and tried to squirm away like a disgruntled cat-hissing and everything. She stalked off, back towards the clothes while Katya disappeared into the stall to change.
Natalya used to love hugs, used to tolerate a lot more physical contact than she did nowadays really. Katya was certain part of that had been due to the trauma of losing… But nevertheless, it hurt over the years as she withdrew from Katya's arms more and more. Natalya seemed to abhor being touched, the mere thought souring the look on her face. Katya didn't understand, if it were her she'd never want to let go.
Tentatively, she reached out to touch Natalya's shoulder. Natalya looked to her and smiled, holding up her own clothes as she asked if Katya was ready to check out.
The rest of the day would consist of perusing thrift stores, accumulating rock band t-shirts and clothes that would need to be altered for Katya to be able to breathe in. The ice cream shop welcomed them excitedly with open arms, Eduard and Ravis smiling eagerly as the entered. Natalya eyed the confectionaries excitedly, pointing to every odd flavor with a hungry glint in her eye.
The day was a nice one, nicer than Katya probably deserved if she was honest with herself, and it ended with a smiling Natalya wishing her goodnight and leaning over to peck her cheek before disappearing into her room for bed.
It was one child Katya hadn't failed, one child she wouldn't be seeing in her dreams staring accusingly down at her.
And that was all she could ask for.