"I might be listed in the phonebook but that's no reason to-!" You exclaim to no one in frustration. It takes your four tries to decide what to text back.

You: Mr. Decken this is kind of unsettling.

Decken: My options were limited. I just want to be able to apologize for everything properly.

You: I already accepted your apology, nothing else is needed.

Decken: I am deeply sorry, I just want to be able to convey that properly.

You: You already have.

Decken: Please, Miss (Y/N). A single cup of coffee.

Decken: Think it over.

You make a face, but you don't know what to say. It's obvious that no matter how you handle this it's going to horribly sideways, and you're worried about pissing this man off when he already knows where you live. Doubly so because you live alone for the most part.

You: I'll think it over. Have a pleasant night, Mr. Decken.

"Die in a fire," you grumble at your phone. You consider for a moment to tell Kid about this new development, but you're fairly certain that the red head would just bury the source. You might not have any love for Vander Decken, or people like him, but you also did not want experience going to court over a murder.

You make sure all your doors and windows are locked before you grab and a shower and head to bed. You don't sleep terribly well, but you do manage to get some rest out of all the tossing and turning. Every little sound seemed to jolt you awake, and you were surprised to learn how noisy the apartment complex was at night – and how much of it you had been sleeping through already.

When you woke up the next morning you grunted at your phone in aggravation.

2 Texts.

Decken: Good morning, Miss (Y/N), I hope you slept well.

Red: Hey Mouse, the guys're doing breakfast in a couple hours, lemme know if you wanna tag along.

You text Eustass back first.

You: Just woke up, am I too late?

Red: Nah, still another hour.

You: K – that's enough time to grab a shower. I'd love to come along.

Red: Cool.

Pulling yourself out of your bed you pull off your pajamas and get the shower running. You send a text to Decken, only because you don't want to know what he'll do if you ignore him – at least not until you've decided how to deal with him.

You: Well enough.

You toss the phone onto your bed and grab your shower, letting the warm water at least ease some of the greasy feeling that comes from texting with Decken first thing in the morning. Your arm started to ache while you were getting ready, so you wrap it up and pull out the sling. After you get dressed and grab a hair-tie – you'd get Kid or Killer to pull it into a ponytail for you – you check your phone.

Decken: That's good to hear. I hope you have an enjoyable day, let me know about that coffee date soon 😉

You make an involuntary face and can't think of anything to reply with. The wink at the end made your skin crawl, and you almost felt like you needed to apologize to the emoji for being abused like that. You tuck your phone away and slip your wallet in another pocket. After a few moments there's a knock at the door.

You reach for it to open it, but pause, unsure.

"Mouse?" Eustass' muffled voice comes from the other side after a moment passes. Relief washes over you and you open the door.

"Hey," you greet him and hold out the hair tie. "My arm's throbbing, can you put my hair up for me before we leave?"

"Sure." Kid gives you a look as he steps in to grab your brush. "You alright?"

"Huh? Yeah. I didn't sleep so hot last night and, uh, I don't know. I guess I was worried I'd open the door and someone else would be standing outside." You admit.

Kid grunts but doesn't say anything more as he pulls your hair into a ponytail. He's not as good as Killer is at it, but it's functional, and you just need your hair to stay out of your food. The two of you leave and head out into the lot. There's two people with Killer you've never met before, and Eustass gives you a quick introduction.

"Heat and Wire." He says, pointing first to a guy with some impressive tattoos – wire tattoos you notice, despite his name, and then another guy who is simply tall, and looks a little introverted, despite his overall metalhead vibe.

"(Y/N)," you say, extending your left hand at first and having the sling tug. You grumble and extend your right hand, and Heat and Wire both shake it. You look past the two new guys and look up at the monstrous looking truck. "I think I know that grill."

Kid smacks his hand against his face and groans. "Aw, fuck Mouse, I didn't even think about that. Beast's the only thing that could hold everyone."

You laugh, it's a light and cheerful sound. "It's alright. I enjoy riding around in Victoria, but I'm not mad at, uh, Beast?" You look around to the side of the truck and look from the door to yourself and back a few times. "Okay, I'm not mad, but how do I get in?"

You lift your leg as high as you can while still bending your knee and your foot doesn't clear the step up into the truck. You hear Killer nearly choke, and Heat and Wire are trying to stifle their laughs. Kid's attempt to keep a straight face is failing miserably, but you're impressed he's not just crying with laughter at this point.

"Sorry Mouse." He apologizes and holds out a hand. "May I?"

Consent is sexy. You feel the heat rising in your face as you realize you've been rather consistently equating sexy to Eustass Kid since the courtroom debacle, and you nod. Kid stands behind you, grabbing your waist with both hands and lifting you easily into the cab of the truck, completely bypassing the step up.

You find yourself sitting between Kid and Killer, with Heat and Wire in the back seats. The truck is positively massive, and even the taller men in the back have plenty of room. You're fairly certain you could fit in the glove box, the whole vehicle just feels so BIG.

"I feel like a fucking mascot." You grumble, acutely aware of the size difference between you and your surroundings.

This time Kid does lose it, and you can hear Heat and Wire nearly dying in the back seats. Killer's shoulders shake but he keeps the truck, and himself under control. You can't help but smile, despite the fact that you hadn't meant to create such chaos. Kid's crying by the time he manages to stop roaring with laughter. There's soft chuckles and snickers for almost the entire ride to the diner where you all have breakfast.

Getting out of the truck is almost more harrowing than getting into the truck. It's just a little jump, but the fact that you have to leap into the air to get out of a vehicle throws your sense of perspective off. Kid reaches out for you with a grin, and you put your arm out.

"No, shoo, shoo." You say waving him back. "I can do this." You're already trying to gage the distance, and realize that it feels awkward with your arm in a sling, and that's a frustrating revelation because why does having your arm in a sling throw off your perspective?

He snorts, and steps back as you awkwardly hop from the truck and land with a soft grunt. The drop was a little more distance than you had expected, but you kept your balance and got out of the Beast on your own. It was a little win, but it was yours.

"Okay, everything is weird with one less hand." You say, looking up at Kid. "Does that ever go away?"

"Eh, I think so. You just... adjust." He shrugs. "But I've never had to leap out of a truck."

You give him a look and resist the urge to smack or kick him. You're fairly certain you'd be more likely to break your hand or foot if you tried, and especially with your hand you couldn't risk injury. You lost your spare.

Breakfast was fun and delicious, the diner wasn't a greasy spoon, but it wasn't any place too fancy either. You got to know Heat and Wire, much as you could get to know anyone over a single breakfast. They promised to come around and visit, and you were officially welcome to come by the shop when you were ready to. Heat and Wire had been keeping the place running while Killer and Kid were looking after you.

The four of them were obviously very good, long-time friends, but you were kind of amazed at how easily all of them made you feel comfortable. They never left you out of the conversation, and if something came up you didn't follow, someone managed to give you the context you needed for it. You had joked you felt like a mascot in the truck, but as time went on, you felt more like you were part of the group.

Whatever the group was. There was certainly more to what these guys did than just run a car repair shop. You got the distinct impression that you were getting a glimpse of the underside of the city. You should be making plans to ghost these guys once your rehab was done, but the more time you spent around them, the more comfortable you felt.

Luffy had wanted you to join his gang at one point, and they were doing really good for themselves, within the parameters of how "really good" could be attributed to people existing outside the law. You never considered yourself to be a rebel, or an outlaw, and the idea of being in a gang or some sort of mafia family seemed absolutely absurd.

Just the other day you felt bad about admitting that you lied to a marine officer. You'd make a terrible criminal. Then again, Luffy was honest to a fault, and things worked out for him. Maybe you just needed something different.

Something that wasn't routine.

Did people have a mid-life crisis in their 20s? Cause this was starting to feel like a mid-life crisis. Lose your hand, go on adventure, do crime. Who were you kidding, your routine had been blow to hell and back already, you didn't need an adventure, you needed a hand.

"You alright?" Killer asked, as things were being finished up and they were getting ready to leave.

"Yeah. Just a lot of things bouncing around in my head." You admit with a smile. "Adjusting to the new reality, adjusting to new friends, adjusting to adjusting. I mean, my life was the text book definition of routine until a week and a half ago." You take and breath and let it out slowly. "I just... was sitting here thinking that this new reality isn't terrible, and the fact that it doesn't feel terrible felt kind of odd."

"Sounds like the adjusting to adjusting part is at least going well."

"Yeah. I really have you an' Kid to thank for that." You admit, a soft smile on your face.

Getting back to your apartment was more of the same, but in reverse. Kid lifted you into the Beast again, and this time when you got back to the apartment complex you did accept his help in getting back down. Just being able to hold his hand while you stepped down was enough to do the trick.

When you got back into your apartment you stared at your hand for a moment, remembering his warmth, and the shape of his hand. He had you by a good foot and then some, and so it wasn't surprising his hands were bigger, but your hand felt cold. Eustass was warm.

Suddenly remembering him putting your hair into a ponytail makes your face flush and there's a twist in your heart you're not sure what to do with.

The only thing you can think, is that your hand and your apartment are cold.

And Eustass Kid is warm.