A Slender Child

Chapter Nine

CHAPTER NINE

I walked out of the bedroom the next morning, still in my pajamas, and set about making breakfast. From the kitchen I could see our guests snoozing away in the living room. Trendy had claimed the couch bed right away and was sprawled there, snoring lightly. Splendy was on the air mattress on the floor, hugging a teddy bear to his chest. He had a slight smile on his lips as he slept, probably dreaming about candy and rainbows and unicorns and glitter.

Just as I was finishing up the bacon, a tall, pale man in expensive looking red silk pajamas leaned against the counter next to me. "You slept in that?" he asked incredulously as he took in my baggy sweat pants and old t-shirt.

I rolled my eyes. "I didn't realize that I was required to be red carpet ready even while I slept," I said sarcastically, but I smiled to let him know I was only joking.

He stroked his chin with long pale fingers in a thoughtful manner for a moment. Finally he said, "I think I'd like to take you shopping today. Just the two of us."

I sighed and grimaced. "Sadly one of the things about being pregnant is that all the cute clothes don't fit you anymore," I told him.

He put his hand on his hip. "Boo, I am the Trender man! By the time I'm done with you, you'll be the sexist prego girl there ever was! Don't worry, we'll find you something that even JLo would be jealous of," he promised with a smirk.

"Something I can afford hopefully?" I asked with a raised eyebrow. After all, I had a baby on the way. I didn't need to be spending several hundred on clothes for myself.

Trendy almost looked offended. "Of course I'm the one paying for it!" he exclaimed. When I started to protest he interrupted. "Think of it as an early baby shower present or something," he said. "Really, I insist."

I sighed and then smiled at him. "Okay, I guess," I agreed. "We'll leave after breakfast, if that fine with you?"

"Who's leaving after breakfast?" A voice asked from the doorway.

A smile spread across my face as I turned towards that oh so familiar voice. "Morning Slendy," I greeted him as I went over to him and got on the tips of my toes to give him a quick peck on the check. "Breakfast's almost ready. You want your egg over easy?"

He nodded. "Who's leaving after breakfast?" he repeated.

I started fixing his egg. "Trendy and I are gonna go shopping," I told him, looking up through my eyelashes to see Slendy's reaction.

He cocked his head to the side looking bemused. "You want to go shopping? With HIM? Why?"

Trendy puffed up his chest at the indignity. "Brother!" he gasped, "Just because SOME people," he looked Slendy up and down pointedly, "don't appreciate fashion doesn't mean all people do!"

Slendy raised his brow. "Her sense of fashion isn't what I was questioning," he said coolly.

Rolling my eyes I held Slendy's breakfast out to him. "You should've started questioning my sanity a long time ago," I joked.

He took the plate and gave me a quick kiss on the forehead. "Oh believe me, I have," he said with a grin.

I giggled and turned back to Trender, who was just staring at the two of us in amusement. "And how do you like your eggs?"

An hour later I had eaten, showered, and was dressing for my shopping trip when it occurred to me. How was Trender - just as inhuman looking as his brother - going to go shopping in public? I mentally face palmed for not think about that before.

I came out of the bedroom wearing a loose gray and purple striped sundress that was still tight over my stomach for all that it wasn't fitted - it was one of the few remaining articles of clothing that I had that weren't maternity and still fit me - and my purple converse.

"Hey Trender?" I called.

"In the powder room hun!" I heard him reply. "Just finishing up my make up!"

'Make up?' I thought questioningly. I walked towards the open bathroom door and peered inside. The counter top was strewn with all assortments of powders and gels and make ups that looked like what you would find in a Hollywood dressing room. The man reflected in the mirror was so different from what I had expected, I gasped aloud. Before me was the Trender man ... with a face.

He dabbed a bit of powder on his cheeks and looked at me in the mirror. He grinned at my expression. "How do I look?" he asked.

He looked, well, amazing! His clothes were stylish and completely wrinkle free. He wore his normal dark jeans and white dress shirt, but wore a brown sweater vest instead of a regular sweater. His shirt sleeves were rolled up to his elbows and a single gold chain bracelet hung from his left wrist. He was still shockingly pale white, and his face had the same long slender shape, but he'd used the make up to add dimension to his face and added just a hint of color along his cheek bones. He'd also drawn in eyebrows and there was a pale blonde wig on head head, artfully fluffed and styled to give it a perfect-without-trying look. The wig also served to hide the fact that he lacked ears. To anyone not in the know, they were just hidden in the shaggy mess of hair. Just the slightest hint of pink was on his lips to define his mouth, which usually would have been invisible when it was closed. The only problem were his eyes. There was still nothing there.

"Wow Trendy, you look great," I said. "But what about...?" I trailed off and gingerly I pointed to my own eye, my unfinished question quite clear.

He chuckled and pulled a pair of sunglasses out of his back pocket and put them on, effectively hiding his last inhuman feature. "Ta-da!" he sang.

I was quite impressed. He actually looked like a normal human, and not a bad looking one either - he was actually fairly handsome.

I grinned widely at him. "So this is how you go out in public," I said. It all made sense now.

"Mhmm," he said while he used a small brush to add a little more color and definition to his lips. When he finished that he turned to me and took in my appearance. He shook his head, but didn't comment on my outfit, which surprised me. I'd been expecting a disapproving outburst at my mixing sneakers with a dress and lack of make up.

When Trendy and I walked into the living room, Splendy took one look at his older brother and snickered. I could tell that if Slendy had had eyes, he would have just rolled them. Trendy showed them a rude gesture and I giggled at the crude display of brotherly love. Then Trendy grabbed my hand. "Come on Sky, let's go have some fun!" he said excitedly.

I barely had time to squeak out a good-bye to the two younger Slender brothers and blow Slendy a kiss before we were gone, slender walking into the back corner of the mall. I blinked in confusion. This wasn't the mall near the apartment. I'd never been here before. This mall was too fancy and WAY to expensive looking to be any place I would have been familiar with. A couple walked by us, talking quickly in some other language that I recognized as French. I looked up at Trender.

"Welcome to my beautiful Paris," he said, sounding overly excited and a little proud. He inhaled deeply and smiled "My, it's good to be home."