–The police suck ass.

You decided to text Wire while you stewed in your annoyance. You marched to your car, slamming the door shut as you wiggled around in the seat and headed home. The drive back to your house wasn't long, but you still couldn't wait to see his reply when your phone dinged.

–And here I thought they did a pretty decent job.

That wasn't sarcasm, but Wire's honest to God opinion on them. The police and people treat him badly but he still only had good things to say. The man was too good for words. When you pulled up into your driveway and parked the car, you texted him back.

–I mean, I guess they do alright, but they're still jerks.

–Who said what?

It was like he knew.

–Smoker was just talking smack and I told him to go shove it.

–Isn't he your boss?

–Technically no. Garp is.

Garp was the head of police at the station. An older, likable guy with a good sense of humor and an even better work ethic. He had to be the best boss you ever had.

–Smoker was telling you about us, wasn't he?

It was just a text, but you could still practically feel the apprehension from Wire. And you couldn't lie to him.

–He was talking about thinking you guys were the ones behind the burglary. Everyone keeps suggesting that and I got tired of hearing it. Told him it couldn't have been you guys and he kinda let me know why the town doesn't like you guys to justify it. It was stupid though. They're all holding a grudge over something they really shouldn't and it makes me understand why Kid gets so grumpy.

You said grumpy, but what you really wanted to say was it pissed you off with how stupid the whole ordeal was. You wanted to start a fight with Smoker just to put him in his place, yell obscenities at the townspeople, the whole shebang.

Instead, you went inside, grabbed a bag of lettuce from the fridge, and headed out the back door to see Chopper. He'd been coming around a lot more often lately and you figured he'd help you settle down. Sure enough, after sitting around outside for a few minutes, the deer showed up. He'd made your backyard his home and that was just fine with you.

You waved around a lettuce leave and he trotted up happily. The deer had gotten very trusting with you and would now eat straight from your hand.

"Hiya bud." You greeted him as he started munching away.

His eyes never left you. He trusted enough to let you feed him but that didn't mean he wasn't always alert. His ears swiveled around, catching the smallest of sounds as he pawed the ground. You could see the beginnings of new, velvet covered antlers forming on his head. Give him a few weeks and he'd have a brand new set.

The snack break was going well until your phone dinged in your pocket. You'd almost forgotten about texting Wire. Oops.

Chopper jumped back, startled by the noise and headed back for the safety of the woods. He never stuck around long anyway.

You pulled out your phone, tucking the rest of the lettuce under an arm.

–Did you want to do drinks?

That was not the response you were expecting. Did that mean he wanted to talk more? Or were there other implications that you weren't seeing? Only one way to find out.

–Sure.

–I'll be by with some in a bit then.

It would have been a good idea to ask if the others were coming over as well but you hesitated to do so. Asking might seem strange. If he already planned to bring them, it might suggest you didn't trust him. If he didn't, well, it might suggest the same thing now that you thought about it. It was more of you wanted more time with just you and him but weren't quite sure if that was a good idea.

You hadn't been living here long. You didn't know a whole lot about Wire or his friends. Not to mention you just got out of a relationship your family, or at least Katakuri, wanted you to get back in. Getting close to Wire may not be a good idea. But you still wanted to. For now, you could be patient and spend time with him as a friend. Let things blow over with your family, see how life goes, and then you can try and see if he'd be interested in you.

Yeah.

That sounded like a good plan.

You could play it cool today, whether only he came or it was the whole gang. Just gotta be your usual, calm, confident, and somewhat snarky self. Easy.

And then he came over. You were going to greet him at the door, let him in all friendly like, only to mentally panic when you saw him. Wire came alone which honestly made sense now that you thought about it. He would have asked if it was okay for the other guys to come. You stood in the doorway, a smile plastered on your face as you watched him pull a couple six packs out of his saddle bags and walk up.

He must have been home before coming over, or at least not at work. His jeans, though torn and gaping at the knees and faded, were clean. A solid black jacket was unzipped and open, showing off his fishnet top and chiseled torso. Boots peeked out from under his jeans and scuffed along the driveway, stopping right in front of you. Wire gave you a confidence filled, lazy smirk, like he knew you had just finished looking him up and down.

What could you say? You had good taste in men. Not many could wear a fishnet top like that and not look like a man whore. Yet he made it look like it was a completely normal thing.

"It's hard to tell with there not being much fabric there and all, but is this one a different color?" You pushed up onto your toes and plucked at the thin collar of his shirt. It was navy blue and last time you could have sworn he wore a black one.

"I have a few different ones." He answered with a chuckle. "Can't wear the same one all the time."

This was going smoothly. The panic you started out with settled down to a nervous, self-conscious flutter in your gut. You felt like a teenage girl fawning over her young, hot teacher. You could fantasize and chat him up all you wanted but that was it.

"Where do you even get these?" You asked as you led him around back. It was a nice evening, nice enough to stay outside for a while longer.

"You thinking of wearing something similar? I doubt your boss would approve."

You started with a snort but were soon blushing. It's not a good idea to think of what you'd look like in one of those tops, especially when you think about it not including a bra.

Wire chuckled again when he saw how red you were. "Just pulling your leg."

The two of you sat down on the steps to the back door and Wire popped the caps off of two beers, using a handy little pocket knife he had in his jeans, and gave you one.

"Speaking of your boss...." He trailed off.

"Oh, yeah." It made sense he'd want to talk a bit more about that. "Smoker's not my boss," You reminded him. "but yeah, he spilled the beans. I'm pretty sure he gave me the full story, from the police perspective at least."

"Gimme the cliff notes version."

"Hmmm, said you were a bunch of trouble making teens, decided to have a party in a local farmers barn, whole thing fell apart, quite literally, and Kid suffered the worst of it. Not quite a meat grinder but I don't think barbed wire is much better."

Wire nodded, looking out into the trees as you took the moment of silence to knock back some of your drink. He was sitting close enough that his leg brushed yours occasionally. And you were never exactly big, but he dwarfed you in comparison. Being so close reminded you how much bigger he was. You hoped he liked girls your size.

"They probably told you it was all our idea too." Wire grumbled.

"Yep."

"It wasn't. Not completely anyway. They'd never say it but the mayor's kid was all about it too, he was in on a lot of the organizing. Getting other people to show up and all that."

"Why leave that out?" You felt like you already knew the answer. Didn't hurt to ask anyway.

"Didn't want to ruin his or the families good reputation so they pinned the blame solely on us. Figured since we were trouble anyway, it wouldn't make a difference."

Wire was hunched in on himself, scowling at nothing and the whole world, all at the same time. You'd be just as moody if you'd been dealt the same cards in life as them. Couldn't blame him.

"Sometimes I wonder what would've happened if I told my family the truth instead of just leaving like I did."

"The same truth you have yet to tell us?" His smile was contagious.

"Yet? What makes you so sure I'll tell you?" You giggled and finished off your first bottle. Wire was already on his second when he handed you another. It wasn't a competition, but you felt the need to keep up.

He shrugged. "You seemed like you wanted to talk about it before."

"I think I do....but it's real personal."

"Personal like our barnyard mistake?"

You blushed. If someone else had told your secret, you'd be pissed, among other things. It was something you'd want to tell people yourself. It wasn't hard to imagine the guys would have rather told you theirs personally.

"I'm sorry. Smoker just offered up the information and I was curious. I should have told him to can it."

"It is what it is." Wire bumped his shoulder to yours. "But next time you're curious about something, come to us. We don't bite."

"I feel like Kid does."

"Nah, he's all bark. I like to think he was a moody teenage girl in a past life and that personality just never left him."

You almost spat out beer as you started laughing. "Is that why he wears the lipstick?"

"Hey, maybe it is." His eyes lit up as he laughed with you.

----

It was a good evening. You eventually ordered dinner and the alcohol didn't last long. Keeping up with Wire, a man easily twice your size, was no easy task but you did it. It left you drunk and him very tipsy. He would've been better off but you offered to share some of your own alcohol once what he'd brought ran out.

You soon found yourself curled up on a living room couch, legs tucked neatly under you. Wire was on the opposite end, positioned with his back against the arm so he could face you. His arms were thrown over the couch, legs propped up on the empty cushion between you two. The two of you were giggling away and the room was spinning around you. Each fit of laughter made it spin harder and every time you tried to focus on any one thing, you felt like you'd fall over.

"So you're telling me you've got a pet deer that you feed every day?" Wire's head lolled back as he chuckled.

"Yeah! His name's Chopper and he's a reeeeaaal cutie." You gasped. "Ohhhhh maybe you can see him in the morning! He might even let you feed him."

"Tomorrow?" Wire blinked a few times before it dawned on him. "Oh yeah, we've got yard work to do tomorrow."

"Mhmmm." You nodded, making the room blur into a mix of colors and odd shapes. "And you probably shouldn't drive home like.....this."

"Drunk off my ass."

"I've got a spare room." You grinned. "Never thought it'd come in handy."

"Lemme text the guys so they know I didn't disappear on them." He groaned as he moved around to dig his phone out of his pocket and squinted at his screen as he carefully typed out a message. "Fuck, I can't tell if this makes sense."

"Let me see." You crawled forward and snatched his phone. Nothing like two drunkards trying to send one coherent message. You giggled madly as you read his unsent text. "This spelling is awful."

"Can't be that bad." He reached to take his phone back and you tottered over, a small "oof" leaving you as you fell into the cushions.

"I'm still fixin' it, hold up." You laughed as his smiling face came into view above you.

"There's nothin' to fix, they'll figure it out." He grumbled with an amused tone.

You tried keeping the phone out of reach, holding it as far as you could past your head. Wire had no problem stretching and plucking it out of your hands. It gave you a good view of his well toned chest through the webbing of his shirt. You were filled with the sudden urge to feel if his muscles were as smooth as they looked, if his skin was as warm and inviting as you imagined it would be. Your fingers twitched as you tried to not give in to your urges. It was just the alcohol talking.

But when his eyes met yours, you couldn't fight it. They were warm, playful, and past that, hungry. There was a quiet, palpable tension in the air. You could almost taste the sudden build up of mutual desire as your fingers wove themselves through his shirt. He shuddered the second your nails grazed along his chest.

The phone fell to the ground with a thud and his hand grasped at your waist as he lowered himself to press his lips to yours. It was gentle but only for a second. When you didn't reject it, he became almost aggressive with it. Teeth nipped at you, his tongue flicked out to wet your lips, a rumble left his throat and he squeezed your sides until you gasped. It was rough, passionate, and you couldn't deny him.

Some part of you was insisting this wasn't a good idea but that was background noise. Alarm bells went off in the back of your head like some distant memory but between Wire kissing you like he would never get another chance and the way he jerked against you when you brushed a thumb over his nipple, you couldn't hear them. But maybe Wire could.

He pulled away suddenly, panting hard and eyes darker than ever before with a swirl of emotions. "We're drunk." He licked his lips, one quick motion like he was trying to still taste you. "We're drunk. We can't do this."

His hands found yours and untangled them from his shirt. But he lingered, trying to touch you for as long as he could before ultimately releasing you and getting to his feet. He looked confused, like he didn't expect things to get out of hand. There was a heavy frown replacing the smile he wore for the better part of the evening and he was avoiding eye contact, glancing around at anything but you.

"I–I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that." Why did you feel guilty suddenly? Guilty and hurt.

Your vision blurred as tears started to form. No, you wouldn't do this. You wouldn't cry in front of him over something so stupid.

"Um, the spare rooms are down the hall on the right. You can use either one. Towels are in the linen closet by the bathroom if you want to shower."

You stumbled to your feet and moved around Wire, careful not to touch him or let him see your face. He made no move to stop you and you made it to your room before you started really crying. It didn't help that everything continued to spin from the alcohol.

(A/n)

I decided to just use the past few days as a break from writing so I don't burn myself out and I'm glad I did. I was itching to finish this chapter yesterday and got some of it done but I was working through the tail end of a migraine and couldn't keep up with it. I think it worked out great though, I had time to think through how I wanted the rest of this chapter to go and I'm happy with it~