You couldn't get to sleep last night until Wire had settled in. You were afraid he'd leave, which would have been fine except he didn't need to drive drunk. Instead, he eventually took a shower and headed to one of the spare rooms. It wasn't long after that that you fell asleep. But it wasn't a restful night.

You woke up early, before the sun even rose and felt like shit. When you checked yourself in the mirror, you looked like shit too. A quick shower left you looking a little better and when you were dressed and sitting out back with a cup of fresh, hot coffee, you felt halfway decent.

Wire was still in bed and sunlight was beginning to lighten up the treetops. It was still too early for Chopper to come by but you still waited for him with a couple carrots by your side. He'd shown a preference for the big ones with the leafy tops so that's what you usually got him. You let out a sigh and closed your eyes, basking in the growing early morning warmth.

"It's going to be a good day for yard work."

You jumped as Wire plopped down beside you. He was dressed in the same clothes as yesterday since he didn't have a spare change, except his jacket was snugly zipped up. You felt responsible for that. That's what you get for groping him last night. He'd found your coffee mugs and helped himself to a cup. Steam billowed up from the dark liquid and dissipated into the air.

"Um, yeah. It should be."

Boundaries. You had to set boundaries if you were going to salvage the damage from last night. Let Wire know you wouldn't do something like that again so you could still have some kind of relationship with him, even if it's strictly just as friends.

"I'm sorry about last night." You murmured into your mug, gripping it tightly. It was almost too hot to touch, boarder line scalding, but it helped you think. "I shouldn't have done that. It uh, won't happen again."

"....(Y/n)."

You didn't look up but your mouth had worked into a frown and brows had furrowed together. Serious talks like this always bothered you.

"(Y/n) look at me."

Why'd he have to sound so nice? It was more the smooth baritone of his voice than his actual request that made you peek up at him, like you were ready to get chastised for last night's events. Eyes as dark as his should have seemed cold, distant, like smooth obsidian. But all you saw was a level of warmth reserved for people he cared about with a tinge of uncertainty.

"We both had too much to drink and I wanted that to happen as much as I think you did. You weren't at fault, it's not like you were trying to molest me." He smirked at the last part, trying to lighten the mood a bit.

It succeeded in making you blush. It sure felt like you practically molested him. Your hands could still remember how he felt and damnit, you wanted to touch him again. It didn't go well the first time and you wanted another try at feeling him up anyway. Get a hold of yourself you pervert.

"I still shouldn't have done that...wait." You missed an important part there. "You...... wanted it?"

Wire rubbed the back of his neck and stared out into the woods. "Yeah, I wanted you right then and there. But as much as I wanted that, we couldn't, can't actually."

"What do you mean?"

"(Y/n), I know you think you do, but trust me, you don't want a relationship with me. I'm not the right kind of guy for you."

You wanted to argue that but it wouldn't get you anywhere. Besides, you really shouldn't be rushing into anything. You shook your head and picked up a carrot. Chopper would be by soon.

"I've still gotta worry about my ex-fiancé anyway I guess." It was hard to hide the hurt in your voice but at least you got all your tears out last night. "I don't know what's going to happen with that."

"You left, it's done."

You let out a short, bitter laugh. "You don't know my family or my ex-fiancé. It's not done. They'll look for me and if–when they find me, things won't be pretty. It'll only be worse if other people get involved with it."

"You're angry." Wire sighed. "And I don't know what to tell you."

"Nothing. It's not your job to make me feel good. I'll get over it and when my family comes for me.... I'll figure something out."

He reached out to touch your arm but you slipped away, casually propping it up on your knee and fiddling with the carrot. You met his eyes firmly. If he didn't want a relationship you couldn't do this touchy feely thing with him.

Boundaries. Boundaries. Boundaries.

"We're here to help you." He said softly, burying his hand in a jacket pocket like he almost touched something bad.

"You can say that all you want but they've got money. It's not hard to buy someone."

"Do you seriously think we'd sell you out?" He growled.

"Maybe not you guys, but others, yes. And with the way people talk around here, they'd be lining up to give my family the latest scoop on me for a quick payday." You grimaced as you realized that was probably true.

You weren't safe here. Moving to a small town wasn't your brightest idea. It would've been better to move to another city, somewhere you'd just be another face on the street in a crowd of strangers. It would've been easier to hide in plain sight then.

"They wouldn't do that."

"They've been ostracizing you guys for years, they aren't above giving out a little information for some quick cash. People are assholes anyway."

"I don't think you really believe that." Wire picked up the second carrot, placing his empty coffee cup in its place. You'd forgotten about your own mug, still clasped firmly in your hands. It was cool to the touch now, probably too cold to drink.

"I do."

"No, you don't. You wouldn't have befriended us otherwise. You kept Smoker off our asses day one and have done nothing but treat us like regular people since then. You make us feel....normal. Not like a bunch of scary misfits. I just want to know why you won't let yourself feel like a regular person too."

Chopper poked his head out from the trees, extra cautious since Wire was with you. He slowly moved closer, taking a few steps at a time and pausing.

"It's hard to feel like that when you spend your entire life with an imaginary little price tag attached to you. Mama decides our worth and we're supposed to live up to it. When we don't, well, we lose our value quick."

Chopper was a few feet away but refused to come any closer. You tossed the carrot to his feet and he nibbled at it, watching you two the entire time.

"I'm the not the first to outright leave the family like this. I have a sister who did the same thing." You looked Wire right in the eye, hoping he could somehow understand to some extent what your life has been up until now. "She wasn't disowned but the treatment she receives from mama and our siblings is worse, makes her wish she was disowned. I fully expect the same treatment, I know what my value is now."

Wire had caught the pained flash in your eyes. He had the smallest of glimpses into your life and he was at a loss for words. You'd come from two very different worlds. His thought he'd never amount to anything and yours expected everything from you. How could you understand each other?

He opened his mouth to speak but you interrupted him when three familiar heads popped around from the front of the house. You must have somehow missed the sounds of their bikes.

"Hey guys." You plastered on a smile but it lacked the same energy it usually had.

Chopper bounded back to the safety of the trees as you stood up and brushed past Wire to greet the others. The latter was completely baffled by your sudden change in behavior.

"Stole Wire away for the night huh?" Killer joked.

"Yeah, we got to drinking and he had too much to drive home, I wouldn't let him." You chuckled.

"(Y/n)..." Wire murmured just loud enough to earn glances from his friends.

You had your back to him so you couldn't tell what face he was making, but it couldn't have been a good one. The three men in front of you looked confused and a little less jovial.

"All that extra room came in handy. He didn't have to sleep on the couch." You continued on, smiling widely and clutching at your cold coffee.

"I bet it did." Kid grumbled. "What's on today's agenda?"

He wasn't going to pry. Good man.

"Well, the new shed is in, I figured we could do something with the empty garden spots by it, maybe add some flower pots up front too."

"Gardening sounds nice." Heat said. Somehow it didn't surprise you that he'd like that.

"We'll have to go to the store though, get some flowers and all that jazz."

"A field trip then." Wire moved beside you, keeping a slight distance.

"Let's get it done." Kid rolled his eyes. "We're taking the car right? I get shotgun."

You giggled. "Of course you do."

----

The tension between you and Wire had eased down by the time you got to the store but it was still there. It'd be there for a while, along with the twinge of hurt you'd feel every time you'd meet his gaze or accidentally touched him. It was temporary, you'd get over it. You told yourself some things just aren't meant to be and this was one of those things. Rejection was never easy.

But there was a bright side to your day. The guys must have looked a little less intimidating to the general public with you around, filling their arms with an assortment of colorful flowers. They were getting less aggressive or disappointed stares and more curious ones. A couple people even smiled at them. You practically sparkled with glee when an older woman came over and asked Kid to get something off of a tall shelf for her. He went with it without a single complaint, mostly because he was too surprised to catch an attitude.

Interestingly enough, you bumped into Smoker while eyeing an assortment of snapdragons, debating adding some of them to the gardening plots by the shed.

"Shopping are we?" He asked gruffly, picking up a pot of lilies.

"I didn't think you liked flowers Smoker." You smiled.

"They add color." He gave you a small smile back. "I've been thinking about what you said."

He glanced over at the guys who were busy trying to get their armloads into a shopping cart without crushing any of the flowers. You fought back a laugh when Kid dropped one and Heat jumped to save it. Wire and Killer were trying to keep things organized. Four grown ass men worrying over a bunch of plants.

"The guys at the station shouldn't be giving them a hard time anymore. It won't make up for how they've been treated but it's a start."

"I really appreciate that." You picked up some yellow snapdragons. The color was bright and happy, it matched your mood with Smoker's change of heart. "And I know they will too. You should try talking to them sometime, they're real sweet."

"I dunno if I'd say sweet..."

"They're helping me garden today."

"Okay." He grumbled. "That's pretty nice."

You laughed and it got your friends' attention. They moseyed over but kept their mouths shut, not wanting to start anything with the off duty police officer.

Smoker cleared his throat. "How you boys doing?"

They blinked at him like a bunch of confused owls. They must not actually talk with him, but you expected as much. You nudged Killer lightly as you added the flowers in your hands to the cart and he jolted slightly, finding his voice.

"Good. We're good."

The others nodded in agreement. Even Kid was at a loss for words.

"(Y/n) tells me you're doing her gardening."

"And her yard work." Heat added. "It's a lot for one person to do."

"Yeah, she's payin' us for it though." Kid snickered.

"Not yet I'm not."

"What?"

"I told her the first month's free." Wire's mouth twisted into a grin as Kid frowned at him.

"What the fuck man?" Kid went to swat the back of Wire's head but he ducked to avoid it.

"She paid for the lawnmower."

You and Smoker chuckled as they continued to bicker back and forth.

"See?" You said. "They're all bark and no bite."

"Bet, you pervert. I'll take you outside and kick your ass right now." Kid grinned viscously.

"No thanks Terminator."

"Pervert?" Smoker asked. "What have you been up to?"

"Oh she didn't tell you?" Kid's smile widened. "She's got a stash of–" He bounced around on one leg, cradling his shin that "accidentally" got hit by the cart.

"That was Thatch's and he took them home." You blushed and tried to play off that you practically just assaulted Kid in front of your boss. It was an accident, honest.

"Right....I'll see you at work Monday (Y/n), have a good rest of your weekend." Smoker tucked his plant under his arm and gave you all a wave goodbye. You were going to be known as the office pervert when you got back to work thanks to Kid, you could just feel it.

"Sooooo, since when has he tolerated us that well?" Killer asked no one in particular.

"Since he and I had a chat yesterday." You answered. "I guess only Wire knows about that."

"You're going to have to fill the rest of us in on that."

When you got back to the house and were busy gardening, you did. Just like Wire, they mentioned preferring you went to them if you were curious but no one was angry. You decided to pay the guys this time since it was more than just one of them helping and they'd already done more than their fair share of free labor. Wire tried telling you that wasn't what you agreed on but you originally didn't agree on there being more than him. He decided you were right on that and didn't push it.

But he was right on one thing. After they left, you were content to sit outside on your swing and enjoy the newly planted flowers. You couldn't help but appreciate all the color they brought to the house and think maybe, just maybe, Wire was on to something when he said it was time for you to feel like a normal person too.

(A/n)
Two chapters in one day, I'm feeling good my dudes.