Converted Hosie Oneshots

Stealing Clothes

By:UnholyHelbig on Archiveofourown

She didn't notice it at first. It was something subtle like a mosquito bite or a dull ache after a long day on her feet. Hope never paid much mind to what she wore- because what she wore was always embedded in gold and blue. Always stamped with the crest of the Salvatore school. It was easy to misplace something when everyone had the same exact thing in their closets.

But when she started to circulate a couple of t-shirts (and on occasion a blazer that was telling of her brief foray with the Stallions debate team) she knew something was up. Maybe a mix up in the extensive laundry rooms. Hell, Hope even considered gnomes that got off on pilfering random objects that happened to take from in her wardrobe.

She breathed in a steady heaping of the soap-soaked air and frowned down at her half-empty basket of clothes. There was no stock in that saying about the half-drained glass. The way she saw it, she was losing clothes and whoever was stealing them was gaining something.

"Oh! I'm sorry I didn't know someone else was in here." A soft voice sounded from behind her. It made her skin prickled with heat. "I can... leave."

Josie Saltzman was struggling with her own bag of unwashed clothes. They weighted her down from one side and her cheeks were reddened from the journey down here. The basement was cold, she wore a flannel that looked oddly familiar over a Stallions hoodie.

"No, it's okay," Hope said, offering up a sort of smile. "I'm just finishing up."

"Oh, okay" Josie let out a breath of relief, walking towards the washing machine as Hope reached down and grabbed a pair of pants and another t-shirt from the dryer. She could feel Josie's eyes flick to her every couple of seconds.

"Have you had any clothes go missing?" Hope shut the dryer with a small click.

"Huh? No-"Josie's words rushed together. "I mean, not me personally but anyone could have sticky fingers around here. It's a big school. Really big."

Hope had let the conversation die and left Josie to it before she ascended the stairs to the old Salvatore school. It had always been extravagant and dark and gave her a good picture of the brothers who owned it before it was turned into what it was today. Still- she wished it was a little more up to date with a laundry room on the actual floors instead of what used to be an old wine cellar.

There was an instant warmth that enveloped her as soon as she walked down the hallway towards her room, laundry perched on her hip and thinly veiled discontent on her face. She set the basket down and went to open the door, pushing her way into the room.

A crimson and black flannel sat draped across the nicely made bed. Hope blew air out of her nose and picked up the piece of clothing. Gnomes, yeah, definitely gnomes.

The next time Hope noticed something missing, it was a sweatshirt. One that wasn't marked with anything blue or yellow, instead it was a simple gray sweatshirt that had an embroidered M against the front. She had never understood her families need to brand everything- but when she stole it from her aunts closet one spring break, she couldn't help but to sleep in it every night.

Tonight, when she started to rifle through her closet, she noticed it was gone. Admittedly she had stripped herself of it earlier in the day and left it on her closet floor. But she still expected it to be balled up in the corner where she had left it.

Hope let out a grunt of frustration and pulled the closet shut again, settling on pulling on a t-shirt and flopping down on her bed. These gnomes were going to get it, she decided right then and there, as soon as she saw them pilfering another item of her clothing, she was sure to drop kick one.

"Hope?"

She shot up quick enough to see stars in her eyes. That didn't' sound like a gnome. In fact, it sounded like Josie Saltzman. She stood, leaning against her doorframe with a guilty look on her soft features and something grey clenched between her fingers.

"I wanted to... I think this is yours?" She thrust her hand forward with the sweatshirt in it.

"Oh?" Hope stood and crossed the small expanse to meet Josie halfway. She sheepishly handed over the sweatshirt. "Where'd you find it?" 

"I uh, I'm kind of the one that took it."

"Oh,"

Her voice was less leaden that time. So, Josie was the one that had been lifting all of her clothes these last few months. Shrinking her wardrobe drastically. It was hard to feel any type of anger towards someone who looked so innocent. Someone who always seemed to color inside the lines no matter how hard Hope, or even Penelope, tried to lead the marker away.

Lizzie. Lizzie, she expected this from.

"I'm really sorry," She rushed out in a breath. "You left your shirt the other month and I accidentally brought it up to my room and it was super comfy so I just kind of fell asleep in it. Then I took your flannel and promised I wouldn't take anything else after that but then I saw your sweatshirt and-"

Josie took in a long heaping of air, Hope studying her "It's really hard to sleep sometimes. And somehow... I don't know, it just helped."

Josie had been an insomniac since they were kids, but Hope hadn't paid much mind to it before. She was fine for a long while, sleeping through most of the night if not to wake up just as the sun peaked over the horizon. Hope would struggle to sneak in late at night, all the while avoiding the third floorboard from the front door because it moaned. And Josie would always be sitting in the kitchen bathed in warm light. They had a silent agreement.

Hope realized she was still talking, taking her shoulders and squeezing them slightly. "Jo, it's okay."

"What?"

"I said it's fine. I'm not mad."

"you're not?" Josie let her shoulders slump in relief as she stood up straighter. "Wait, why not? I physically stole something that's yours."

"mm, you're not helping your case." Hope let her hands fall to her sides. She grasped at the sweatshirt she had thrown onto the bed. "But in all honesty, you taking my sweatshirt is better than the alternative. If it helps you sleep, then you can wear it. Never hurts to have something comfortable around."

Josie narrowed her eyes. "What was the alternative?"

Gnomes. "Don't worry about it."