"You guys are doing what?"

You woke up from a nap with Wire when the guys came over with arms full of overnight bags and various other items. They left a little while after your ex and the cops and your boyfriend talked you into relaxing on the couch with him for a while. You passed out while he apparently did not. You couldn't expect him to after getting up not even two hours ago.

"We're staying with you until this blows over." Kid scooted you over to the side and stepped in, dumping his stuff on the couch you were just laying in a bit ago.

"That's not necessary though. I've got Wire here."

"And now you have all of us." Killer brushed past to copy Kid.

Heat had the decency to glance at the full couch and keep his armload. "What room do you want me in?"

"Um, I've only got two spare rooms guys."

"I can take a couch." Killer offered. "Problem solved."

"Doff–Doflamingo won't be trying anything again, there's nothing to worry about." You shook your head and rubbed the fresh bandage Wire had plastered across your cheek earlier.

"What about your family? There's a lot of those fuckers, who knows what kind of bullshit they'd try to pull." Kid slid to the floor with his back to the couch, making himself at home.

"I can tell you exactly how it'll go." You began picking up his stuff to take to one of the spare rooms. The guys weren't going to let you kick them out and even though you told them it wasn't necessary, the company was nice. "I'd bet money one of my older brothers is going to come by and try to guilt me into going back and I'll tell them no. They'll leave and then send someone else to try. Rinse and repeat until either I buckle or they run out of siblings to try to convince me."

"What's the worst they'd do?" Heat asked.

You paused and thought. "I dunno, manipulate me into thinking everything's my fault and I owe them for them 'coming to my rescue.'" They liked playing the blame game, it wouldn't be anything new.

"They can fuck off." Wire growled from behind you.

You didn't hear him walk up but his presence was more than welcome. He was helping gather all the stuff. Heat had gotten the idea and already took his belongings to one of the rooms and was back in the living room.

"I wish it was as easy as telling them that."

"It might be with some muscle backing you up." Killer said confidently.

You laughed. "I appreciate the thought but you haven't met my family. A lot of the men outweigh you guys."

"Seriously?" Wire quirked an eyebrow at you.

"I'm not just a little small in general, I'm tiny for my family. Trust me, I'm an oddity for Charlotte genes."

"All the more reason for us to be here." Heat nodded along.

"They aren't going to beat me up guys."

They all stared at you like you told a very distasteful joke.

"Whether they want to or not, you've got added security." Wire said. "You won't even know those three are here, it'll be fine."

----

You loved Wire, but boy was he wrong.

A couple days passed without incident but you weren't prepared to handle a house full of men. Kid was a slob, he left clothes, games, and beer cans on just about every empty surface he could find. Killer had the opposite problem, he cleaned constantly. He'd go behind Kid and clean up his messes, which probably didn't help his friend's bad habit, and when there was nothing left to do, you could see him visibly twitching at times. Heat would go from hovering non-stop to completely disappearing for hours on end.

Wire was the most normal of the bunch and the one you were most accustomed to. When the others became too much for you to handle, he'd whisk you away to the backyard or your room for some quiet time. You were doing your best but sitting and waiting for someone from your family to come knocking was turning you into a nervous, moody mess.

At least none of them complained about that. They'd probably be the same way if their family was trying to force them into arranged marriages too. Still, Wire had dealt with your attitude for as long as he could and decided the best way to get you to relax a bit was take you out on a bike ride. It'd worked before and he had nothing to lose by trying again.

He dragged you out of the house that had become both your safe haven and your self made prison and tugged a leather jacket on you while you scowled at him, pouting and insisting you didn't want to go.

"You need fresh air." He said, giving you a kiss before you could tell him no again. "Staying cooped up won't help any and you'll be going back to work again soon. Garp won't put up with your attitude so you need to shake it before he decided to give you an earful about it."

Garp gave you the rest of the week off our of the kindness of his heart but Wire was right. If you came back snapping at everyone, he'd tear into you. He was very no nonsense.

"Fine..." You huffed and waited for Wire to get on the bike before hopping on behind him.

He took off and you were a little annoyed that you immediately enjoyed the feeling of the wind whipping against your face. It was a warm day, too warm for the jacket when Wire would stop at lights. The lack of a breeze made the leather stifling until the bike moved again. It wasn't too warm to slide your hands under Wire's jacket and feel along his chest though. The mesh of his shirt rubbed against your fingertips and gave you something to tangle your hands in while you felt him up.

"Pervert." He rumbled under your touch as he chuckled. The wind made him hard to hear but you just barely caught it.

You simply giggled. He was right, the ride was putting you in a better mood.

He took you all around town, not really having a destination but just enjoying being on the move and doing something besides stewing in your emotions at home. When he had taken you down every road in Aufork and decided you were no longer moody, he took you back. It was probably a good hour long ride, the perfect amount of time to appreciate it without getting tired of it.

When you got back you changed your mind and wished it lasted longer. The others had left, probably to give you a little more space since Wire was with you. They wouldn't be gone long, but they'd already been gone long enough for someone else to have made themself comfortable on your front steps.

"You know them?" Wire asked, immediately tensing up.

"Yeah. He's one of my brothers." Said brother stood and smiled when he saw you. It was a genuine smile at least. As soon as Wire parked the bike, you got off and pat him on the arm. "He won't be a problem, I'll be fine alone."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, we actually get along."

"Alright." He kissed you and shed his jacket, taking yours as well. "I'll be inside, holler if you need me."

He passed your brother, giving him the slightest of nods before slipping inside. Your brother waltzed up to you, his long lavender hair swaying along his back, the crows feet at the edges of his eyes becoming more prominent as he approached. There was a large scar cutting down over his left eye. He'd gotten it before you were ever born and never spoke about how he got it. You were still always curious about it.

"You found yourself a nice little piece of paradise here (Y/n)." He pulled you in for a hug and you let him. "I haven't seen you for what, two years now?"

"Sounds about right Cracker. Mom's had you busy with work?"

"Always. There's never been a shortage of work." He chuckled, sitting back on the steps. You joined him, positive this meeting would be nothing like the one with your ex.

Cracker was one of your older brothers, in his mid forties. He took to you right after you were born and quickly became his favorite sister. Katakuri held the spot for favorite brother. For the past couple years he'd been moving around the country, taking care of the more long distance business deals for your mom.

"So I'm going to get to the point." You looked out into the street. Avoiding making eye contact was easy, but he was a big guy and it was impossible to try and pretend he wasn't there. You'd settle with what you could. "I'm not going back and I'm not going to marry Doflamingo."

"I figured you'd say that." He shrugged. "To tell you the truth, I wasn't very happy when I heard that from mama. But I thought you might have a decent enough reason and wanted to hear it from you."

"I thought you'd be the most angry about all this." You couldn't hide your shock. He was beyond loyal to your mom, anyone who went against her immediately earned his dislike.

"I may have also heard rumors from some of the others that you talked about him mistreating you."

"He did." You huffed. "And I won't put up with it anymore."

"Not with a new boyfriend around huh?" He snickered and you couldn't help but blush.

"He's good to me."

"I can tell." Cracker poked at what had to have been a mark on your neck, grinning when you batted his hand away. "You seem to be in better spirits in general too. When I left you were always a little on the sullen side."

"I don't remember being that way."

"It's hard to see it when you live it every day."

"I guess I was never good at being a Charlotte then."

"Nonsense, your baking is top notch. How's that going by the way?"

"I just got back to it, so I'm a little rusty."

"Back to it? When did you stop?" He was swaying lightly, bumping into you from time to time. Cracker was always a casual toucher. He had to keep the tough, older brother facade going on even though he was very affectionate.

"Not long after I got stuck with Doflamingo."

"Ah." He nodded. "I'm glad you're cutting things off then, you look like you're doing good now."

"So if you aren't here to chew me out, why'd you bother coming around?" You didn't mean to be rude, but it seemed like he was stalling.

"Obligation. Mama wanted me to convince you this is the biggest mistake of your life."

You scoffed. It was far from that. "Why else?"

"Maybe I was excited to get to see my little sister again." He flipped some of his hair in your face playfully. "I was supposed to see you at the wedding but if that isn't happening..."

"Okay." You giggled, pushing the lavender locks away. "I get it."

"On a serious note, why don't you tell me your real reason for leaving?"

"That's it Cracker, he was an asshole."

"No it's not." He frowned. "I know you, you wouldn't suffer through something only to give up halfway through. Something changed and made you want to leave. Don't tell me I'm wrong, I've got all the details from at least half our siblings."

Cracker was a goofball and a lot of people assumed that meant he wasn't all that bright either. Truth was he was one of the smartest people you knew. He had a habit of catching things no one else could, not even Katakuri could have caught the little details he did.

"Okay, you're right." You mumbled. "But I don't know if I can tell you."

"I won't tell Mama on the condition that you tell her or big brother Peros yourself the next time you see one of them."

That was something you had already been debating doing. It wouldn't be pretty but it'd keep them off your back. The hard part was being able to put up with the face to face confrontation.

"They're going to hate me for it."

"It can't be that bad."

You gave him a look that said it all.

"It is that bad, isn't it?" He actually looked concerned for you without even hearing it.

"I'd be lucky to have even a handful of you guys still like me."

"Would it help if I said I'd love you no matter what?"

"Yeah." You murmured, hugging your legs to yourself.

"Okay, I'll love you no matter what the problem is (Y/n), promise. But you're still going to have to tell it to the people who have a say in all this."

You looked at him out of the corner of your eye. "I went to the doctor not long before I left. I was having...lady problems and they weren't solving themselves. They ran some blood tests among other things, I'll spare you the details."

"Much appreciated."

"Turns out I'll never be able to have kids and what's the point to any of this if I can't do that?"

"Oh." He shifted around, going through a few different facial expressions before he settled for an empathetic frown. "Yeah they aren't going to like that."

You let him have his moment of silence so he could chew on that bit of information.

"Shit." He grimaced. "I would've left too. I can't think of a scenario where mama doesn't lose it. Do yourself a favor and talk to Peros, not her."

"Planned on it." You were relieved he was, as far as you could tell, okay with it all. "I've already been hit once for leaving and I'd like to keep the numbers down."

"Who hit you?" Anger flared up behind his eyes.

"Doflamingo." You showed him the healing cut. He'd already seen it, there was no way he could have missed it, but now he knew where it came from.

"That motherfucker is going to pay for that."

"I appreciate the thought but we both know he won't."

"You're not filing charges?"

"I was going to, but it wouldn't do any good. He'd find a way to weasel his way out of them."

"You know what?" Cracker slung an arm over your shoulders. "They can all go fuck themselves. You stick to your little slice of paradise. Your own happiness is going to be the best revenge."

You laughed. "I'm glad mom sent you."

"Me too.....just don't tell her I said she should go fuck herself. Or big brother Katakuri."

"My lips are sealed."

Wire popped out hesitantly, obviously checking on you. "Everything good?"

"Yeah." You chirped. "Wanna join us?"

He looked between you and Cracker and then sat on the other side of you. The steps were just barely wide enough to fit all three of you but it worked.

"I guess introductions are in order." You scooted back a little so they could see each other. "Wire this is Cracker, Cracker, my boyfriend Wire."

Wire didn't do anything until Cracker extended his hand. "Nice meeting the guy taking good care of my sister."

That one sentence made him break into a small smile and give his hand a good shake. "Nice meeting someone from her family that isn't a complete jerk."

You all laughed. This didn't turn out as bad as you thought it would.