Up To Speed

Cut me some Slacks

Mystic Falls Men's Wear smells like cardboard and dirty gym socks. It always has and likely always will. I warned the Mikaelson siblings before we came inside but both of them still wrinkled their noses at the stench. Hopefully neither of them start gagging. That would be bad for everyone.

"Let get a few basic things that you really need and everything else can be picked up at the mall in Richmond when we have more time." I power walked to the sock and underwear racks. Moving to grab a couple packs of black socks in different lengths. "What size are those shoes Finn?"

Finn's head tilted to the side with his brows furrowed. "What is size?" Rebekah replied to him in the same foreign language he was speaking yesterday while motioning him to look at his shoes. He lifted his right leg to look at the sole of his boot. "Fourteen."

"And they fit? They're not too tight or too loose?" I questioned.

He hummed as he looked down at his feet. "I believe they fit."

I nodded and proceeded to toss three packs of socks into the cart. The next aisle was underwear. Figuring he wouldn't know the size I pulled out the tried and true method of parents everywhere. I walked behind him and hooked my fingers in the back of his pants flipping the band inside out to read the tag. Rebekah stood just a foot away staring at me open mouthed and wide eyed. Her eyes only grew wider when Finn gave no reaction to my fingers in his pants.

After releasing the boxers I moved to the shelf looking for the same size. "Okay the ones you were wearing yesterday were regular boxers, judging from the material today's are boxer briefs. Which do you like better?"

"Wait you saw Finn's boxers yesterday?" Rebekah squeaked, her face red with embarrassment.

"I saw her underwear as well. Calm yourself sister." How Finn kept a straight face through that I'll never know. I was barely holding back the laughter that bubbled up at her scandalized reaction. "The briefs Mindosia." Biting my lip to keep the giggles at bay I found a row of boxer briefs in the right size and grabbed several packages.

I turned the cart toward the pants section leaving the siblings to trail behind me. At least from Kol's track pants I know that he's an extra large in sweats. How that translates to men's jeans I have no idea.

"Rebekah this is going to take a while if you want to pick out some tops. He's a two X in everything with sleeves." The blonde looked warily between her brother and I before heading to the shirts.

As she stalked off to the other department I grabbed a few pairs of sweats and athletic pants. When we got to the jeans I was just grabbed a few pairs and held them up to Finn's body. The two were definitely too small and the third was way too wide. The fourth and fifth pairs seemed promising so I grabbed two more of similar sizes before dragging Finn into one of the dressing rooms.

"Why are you just staring at me? Take your pants off!" I turned and hung the four pairs of jeans on the little hook by the mirror. I could see Finn behind me removing his boots and pushing the dress pants he was wearing to the floor. I pulled the first pair off the hanger and turned back around. "Try these on."

I watched as he pulled the jeans up his calves only for them to get stuck at the bottom of his thighs. He sighed as he pushed them back off and traded them back to me for the next pair. The second pair didn't go up much farther than the first maybe an inch or two.

"Maybe the third times the charm?" I groaned out as I passed him the third pair.

While he shoved his feet into the jeans he asked. "What does that mean?"

"Well it's a saying, like a phrase that people say when they hope to get lucky on the third try if they have failed twice at whatever they are doing." I explained "Hey it worked! These look great. Are they tight? Pinchy? Itchy?" I slipped two fingers in his waistband to test the tightness like my dad used to do to me. Before pinching a spot of denim on his thigh and pulling to test how roomy they were.

"They fit girl." Finn's clipped reply startled me a bit. Looking up at him his green eyes had that manic look from yesterday by the stairs. His lips were set in a firm line. "No pinches or itches." Those strange thin black veins appeared under his eyes for just a split second. If I wasn't studying him so closely I wouldn't have caught it.

I reached up and softly touched the area under his eye in curiosity. The skin was smooth with no sign of the veins. His encircled my wrist pulling my hand gently away from his face.

"Don't Mindosia. It isn't safe." His voice was rougher than usual, the accent thicker. "You are in a dangerous position already."

"Because of what Elijah—" My words cut off as the invisible rope wrapped around my throat squeezing until I couldn't speak. I could only stare at Finn's sympathetic gaze and pained frown as he watched my attempts to talk about what his brother said.

The realization dawned on me and I was horrified to see just how true his words were.

Elijah said I could not speak about anything I saw or heard inside their house. I got away with mentioning Finn's underwear but speaking of that psychos demands was apparently too far.