(A/n)
Okay, so sleepy/grumpy looking Wire is adorable. And Ceejindeed (the artist) draws him with a receding hairline and I love it???? It just seems to fit him.

It wasn't shaping up to be a good week. Sure, the new shed came in and it was perfect but that was about the only good part to everything.

First off, the damn car was giving you problems. It was sputtering constantly, jerking forward every time you'd hit the gas from a stop, and had developed a rattle that was gradually getting louder. It felt like a ticking time bomb under your hands. You'd have to find the time to go in and see the guys about it.

Secondly, there'd been some issue with a guy breaking and entering at someone's home. They apparently took just about everything of value and the townspeople being how they were, heard the news and kept coming in to ask about it. It wasn't their business but that wasn't stopping them. At least half of them had the gall to suggest one of the guys did it while bugging you for details you didn't even have. That was really beginning to grind on you.

If one more person decided to tell you it was one of them, you were seriously contemplating making them eat their god-damned teeth. It was laughable that you worked at the police station and often debated duking it out with people who made you irate. You'd been around your eldest brothers too often. They were always up for some good old fashioned violence to solve their problems.

Speaking of your brothers....that brought you to your worst problem of the week. You knew you had to be forgetting something when you up and moved suddenly. When you figured it out, you spent more time than you'd willingly admit in hysterics. Your dumb ass never did anything about your phone. It was the same one you'd had for a while. Same phone number and all. That meant your family had some way to get a hold of you, which was your main goal from the get go. There was no telling if someone would still want to stay in touch despite you just disappearing on them.

But you hadn't taken into account that you could possibly be tracked. You had kept your phone turned off since you realized that, even cancelled your plan and all that jazz to be extra careful. All you could do at this point was hope you were faster than Katakuri and the rest of your family. That probably wasn't the case though. It took you a whole day after your conversation with him to come to the realization that you'd missed that one immensely important piece of information.

Your next best bet was to hope they assumed you left town after turning off your phone. That was a pretty slim chance too. You were almost tempted to actually do just that, pick up and leave again so they couldn't drag you back to that hell hole they called home. The only reason you didn't was because of the guys. They were the first people you'd liked so much in a long time and that made you hesitate to leave. They seemed to like you well enough after all. It wouldn't hurt to stick around and see if it'd bloom into a real friendship.

For now though, you had to take care of a couple things after work today, even if you were in no way in the mood to do adult things. As soon as you clocked out, you coaxed the car into starting and made a bee line for the repair shop. You got it from the guys and were sure they'd be able to pinpoint the problem and fix it. Or not. Who knew.

It was mildly disturbing when you got to the shop. You didn't remember any part of the drive, you'd been worrying so much. It was like you blinked and were there, a whole ten minutes completely forgotten. You frowned and looked at your hands clutching the steering wheel, knuckles white from the pressure you were exerting. This stress was going to be the death of you.

You jumped when there was a sudden sharp tap to the driver's side window. Kid stood there, scowling away at you. The others were hanging a short distance back, looking at you with a mix of concerned expressions. You hadn't even noticed them there.

With a sigh, you opened the car door, undid your seatbelt, and hopped out. You cut off Kid as he got ready to say something.

"There's a creek running over here right?"

"Um, yeah?" Baffled, he watched you walk over in the direction he pointed.

When you got close enough to it to see the water, you pulled out your phone and chucked it. It had a great, anxiety fueled arch and dropped into the water with a nice splash. It wasn't necessary but you felt a little better knowing the device would be damaged beyond repair now.

"Did we....miss something here?" Heat asked.

"Nope."

"Is that the only reason you came by? There's other spots to reach the creek you know." Killer said, not even questioning why you just threw away something so expensive.

"No. The car is giving me problems too and I was hoping you guys could check it out."

"Whatever." Kid grumbled. "Pull it in to that empty spot."

He motioned to the one empty port in the garage and you did just that. The problems made themselves evident the second you started it up. When you pulled in and turned it off once again, Wire opened your door and reached around your legs to pop the hood. You stayed in your seat and started to zone out as you gave in to your thoughts, trying to figure out how to avoid your family like some antisocial teenager.

"(Y/n)."

Maybe you'd talk to Smoker about what to do if someone, hypothetically speaking, was after you and what legal actions you could take to keep them away.

"(Y/n)."

You could always cut your hair. Color it some funky new shade. See what you could do to hide your more noticable features. That'd make you a little harder to find.

"(Y/n)!" Wire barked at you, immediately making you jump for the second time since you'd come over.

He hadn't gotten loud with you before and the sudden boom of his voice reminded you of Katakuri when he decided to parent you. It was stern and demanding, something you didn't think he could be but here he was, proving you wrong.

"What?" Your eyes snapped around at the men. Wire, Heat, Killer, Kid and back again. They all looked more than a little concerned and you weren't sure how you felt about it.

"What's gotten into you?" His voice was still stern but was now much more quiet, calm.

"I've got a lot on my plate right now."

"City girl can't handle country life." Kid snickered, earning a glare from you.

You'd had it with people giving you attitude and felt ready to deck someone. Kid was getting ready to be that someone.

"Bite me Kid." You snapped. "You don't know the half of it."

He bristled up at your sudden aggression, face morphing into a snarl. "Didn't realize you could be such a bitch."

"Kid, please don't...." Heat frowned disapprovingly.

"No." He growled at Heat before shoving around Wire. "What's your deal girlie? You put on that little show, want us to look at this pile of junk, and then start pitchin' a fit like some entitled princess."

You clenched and unclenched your hands around the steering wheel, staring it down hard like it had the answers you so desperately wanted. It was better than entering a staring contest with Kid. He'd win, hands down.

"Things just aren't going as well as planned." You said, wavering a bit under the pressure from four sets of earnest eyes.

"That's life girlie, get over it."

"I wasn't supposed to leave."

"What?" Kid was about to go back to the front of the vehicle but your comment made him pause.

"I wasn't supposed to move away but I did it because...." You groaned and dropped your head on the steering wheel. The horn started blaring but you didn't move. Life was hitting a little hard right about now.

The men shared confused glances before Wire slipped a hand in front of you, gently pulling your head off the steering wheel to stop the horn.

"Did you want to go on that ride?" He asked.

"The ride?" You repeated. His hand was still keeping you from slamming back down on the horn.

"Yeah, come on. It'll help you cool your jets." Wire gently took you by the wrist and led you out of the car.

"We've got this." Killer said to him. "There's not enough space for four of us to work on it anyway."

"Take an extra jacket for her." Heat added.

Wire waved in acknowledgement as he led you over to their bikes, neatly lined up by the side of the building. Each one had a leather jacket slung over their seats. Wire shrugged on the one sitting on his bike and handed you the one sitting on the blue bike beside it. It was entirely too big for you but you assumed you weren't going anywhere without it. Leather and motorcycles seemed like a silly cliche thing but it served a purpose. Road rash wasn't a pleasant thing and the jackets did a good job of protecting against it if you took a dive.

Wire didn't say a thing as he got on his motorcycle and started it, patting the seat behind him for you to get on. You felt like your first time on one should have been special. It was something you'd wanted to do for so long. But you felt devoid of the excitement you had last time when you almost got on with him. It turned from what you thought should have been an important moment in your life to a chain of zombie like movements.

A hand on Wire's shoulder to lift yourself up, a leg over the bike, and you were seated behind him, unsure of what to do with your hands and your entire field of vision taken up by the broad expanse of his back. The jacket was decorated with a skull and cross bones. A couple knives and flames were behind it while the skull itself had fiery red hair and a pair of goggles on the forehead. It was very much modeled after Kid, you couldn't miss it. You bet the jacket you were wearing had the same design on the back.

"You're going to want to hold on." Wire said over the roar of the bike.

He waited until you awkwardly placed your arms around him, resting your hands on his hips. That was how you were supposed to do this, right? Katakuri never took you out on his bike, you had no clue.

Apparently it was enough for Wire. He revved the engine a bit before taking off slowly. You instinctively held on more tightly, which ended up paying off. He glanced over his shoulder at you with a grin as he hit the main road and gunned it. The force of him speeding up jerked you back a bit and made you yelp in surprise. But it was also thrilling. Your hair whipped around your face, the rushing wind beat against you and got your adrenaline pumping. The landscape passed by as a blur of colors. It was exhilarating. For the first time in a few days, you felt okay, good even.

You couldn't hear it over the wind, but you could feel Wire laughing. It puzzled you at first, then you figured it had to be because you had a death grip on him. Your fingers were digging into his hips and if it wasn't for his thick jeans, you were sure it would've left marks on him. It was a good thing he couldn't see you blush as you loosened up. He wasn't going to let you fall off and honestly, after a short while, you realized it'd take some real effort for you to actually do just that. You'd have to practically throw yourself off the bike.

He slowed down to a more leisurely pace, passing the occasional car. Wire was right, this was helping you calm down. The dull roar of the engine filled your head and blocked out any annoying thoughts, the tilt and sway as he took each turn lulled you into a sense of security. It was the best kind of therapy.

You wrapped your arms around his waist more and leaned forward, resting your head on his back and closing your eyes. You'd apologize to Kid for catching an attitude when you got back but for now, you hoped Wire would take you around for a while longer.

He pulled to a stop at a red light and reached back to pat your thigh.

"You awake back there?"

You nodded, knowing he'd feel your head moving.

"Feelin' alright?"

You nodded again.

His hand lingered on your leg a little longer than necessary as he started up again, the light having turned green. The touch felt nice though and you wished he'd do it again. It'd been some time since you'd had contact like that with someone, something that wasn't harsh or lacking real feeling. You couldn't bring yourself to ask for it, that'd be weird of course. But at every stop, you'd squeeze him lightly and soon enough he figured you out. He'd reach back every once in a while to rest a hand on your knee, like he was checking in with you.

Eventually, Wire pulled up to a small gathering of buildings and pulled into a parking spot.

"What're we doing here?" You asked when he turned off the engine.

"Well, you threw your phone away like it was going to explode or something. Figured you'd want to get a new one?"

One of the buildings was a place that sold phones. It was like Wire knew what your other errand for the evening was supposed to be.

"Yeah, I do need a new one."

"Can't arrange times for us to come do your yard work otherwise." He joked, smiling at you as you clambered down.

You giggled, in a much better mood than before. "Good point."

Wire followed close behind you as you entered the store, just as comforting to have around as when you were on the bike. With him around, you felt like you could take on anything. Maybe even your whole damn family.