It was a long day of fruitless searching. Funny at times, but fruitless nonetheless. Their trinket had metal on it, making Kid very handy for searching for it over long distances without having to deviate from the hiking trails. That meant you got to avoid all kinds of cacti and snakes. You never knew what was hiding near the trails but it was usually nothing fun.

You still scrambled over large rocks and sidled along steep drops in your desperate search for an item Kid described to be about the size of a baseball. As the day wore on, both of you felt your decent moods from the morning waste away until you were both snapping at each other. You made him put on sunscreen before going out but he still managed to slowly burn until his one arm was a harsh shade of red, along with his neck and face. That was actually the reason you had to call it quits.

Kid wasn't happy about it but he'd be glad he didn't stay out longer soon enough. The drive home was pretty quiet. He was stewing in his annoyance and you were debating if feeding him would make him a little more approachable. In the end, you decided it wouldn't hurt to try and took him by a sandwich shop. He was grumbling the whole time you went through the drive thru, but the second you handed him some food, he snatched it up and started eating the same way he did last time you got fast food.

You didn't touch your food until you got back to the house and sat comfortably in the living room. And by that time, Kid was finishing up on his second giant sandwich and eyeing a third. Law was still gone but you doubted he'd be back for a while. He probably didn't have to worry about burning like Kid did and even if he did, he didn't have anyone there to stop him and head back indoors for a break.

When you both were finished, Kid looking to be in a more decent mood after eating enough for three people, you decided to address his sunburns.

"So you're going to want to take your shirt off." You said as you pulled out a bottle of aloe from the bathroom and dragged the ottoman in front of him. He watched you curiously as you sat on it, facing him.

"Are you trying to flirt? I don't think you're doing it right but okay." He snickered as the shirt came off over his head and fell to the floor.

"No." You frowned and pinched his arm.

"Ow! Don't be a bitch!" He snapped.

"You're burned all to hell and it's going to hurt tomorrow. But it'll hurt a lot less if we slap some of this on you." You waved the bottle in his face and he grabbed it.

"What's it supposed to be?"

"Aloe."

"Like the plant?"

"Yep, now let me see your arm."

He didn't stop you from grabbing his hand and stretching his arm out so you could slather him in the stuff. There was obvious instant relief written all over his face. Sun burns always hurt worse the second day, but that didn't mean they were fun to deal with on the first either.

"What happened to you being scared of us?" He asked as you let his arm go and scooted closer to get his face.

"I dunno." You answered honestly. "I'm not sure if I stopped caring or if I decided you guys aren't as mean as you say you are."

He chuckled. "I'm going to bet you stopped caring then. We are mean, at least I am. As far as I know, Law's just a little bitch."

"That's rude." You smacked his cheek lightly after smothering it in aloe. "He's more considerate than you sometimes."

Kid scoffed but didn't argue with that. He went through your shit, Law hadn't. That immediately made Law more polite in your book.

"So that trail had nothing." He noted. "How many more are there around here?"

"A lot."

"Gimme numbers."

"I'd have to look into it but I'd say there's at least 20 more in the area."

"That's bullshit." Kid groaned. "It'll take ages to search all that."

You kept quiet, not wanting to mention all the streets and neighborhoods that you'd probably have to look through as well. There was really no telling where the object was. It was like looking for a needle in a haystack. You'd be lucky to come across it in all reality. There was always the chance they'd give up when they figured out it'd be such a challenge to find. But that was probably wishful thinking on your part. If they were willing to threaten a stranger, force you to accommodate them, and claim to be from another world for one little thing, you doubted they'd ever call it quits. Not after going through such great lengths.

"I'll do some research, get all the trails and public spots figured out for us to look through. Maybe see what I can do to make this go faster." You frowned as you started thinking about how much time that was going to take. School work may have to get pushed to the side for a bit but it may get them out of your hair faster. It was a decent trade off.

"Good." Kid nodded.

You jumped when the back door opened and closed loudly while the redhead just stared over towards the kitchen, his neutral expression shifting to a look of distaste. When you glanced over your shoulder, a very disheveled and annoyed Law was standing in the kitchen doorway. He must have had about as good of luck as you two did.

"You look like shit Eustass-ya." He commented as he moved further in to sit in the rocking chair.

"Well that makes two of us." Kid sneered back.

He was right though, Law looked like he'd fallen at some point and covered himself in dirt and mud. You weren't happy with how that was going to dirty up the cushions he was sitting on.

Law sighed, clearly not amused. "That's beside the point. Clearly none of us found the orb."

"It is the first day of actual searching." You reminded them. "I'd honestly be surprised if it came up that fast."

They both looked at you like it was strange to suggest it wouldn't just fall in their laps day one.

"Well we wanted this done fast." Kid grumbled.

"I do too, trust me, but you guys know nothing about this area and have no clue as to where that orb might have landed. That gives us nothing to work with. This is going to take time. And maybe, maybe if we're lucky, we can find it within a week."

They shared a very unhappy glance and you could tell they were both not liking that time frame. Not like you exactly were either. Like you told Kid, neither of them exactly scared you anymore, but that didn't mean you wanted them around. It was a full time job taking care of two strange, grown men. But then again, a part of you was looking forward to the idea of teaching Kid the basics of driving manual. You actually were interested in spending some time with him in some twisted way.

If you felt the overbearing urge to get closer to the guys on a more personal level, you'd be okay saying it was some kind of Stockholm syndrome nonsense. It'd be close enough.

"So are we going to keep doing it the same way?" Kid asked both of you.

"Maybe for a couple more days." Law replied. "I can only search our immediate area to a certain distance before it'll be smarter to take a vehicle and check other locations."

"And neither of you can drive." You noted.

"Unless you teach me like you said you would." Kid grinned, eyes full of hope.

"I never said I'd teach you for sure."

"So you're just going to drive us both around?"

"I've been doing that so far. It won't be anything new." You shrugged. "When Law decides to start searching in other locations we can drop him off on our way to wherever we need to go and then come by to pick him up later. Or we can all stick together. That's up to you guys."

"Divide and conquer." Law said flatly. "Spreading out will make it faster so we'll keep up with that."

"Okay. And like I told Kid, I'll look into all the different trails and other places we can check. It'll be easier to get an actual time frame put together for this and then it won't be so haphazard."

"That's probably the closest we'll get to a real plan." Law sighed. "I'd say we're done for the day, we can pick this up tomorrow."

----

After that short meeting, you all split up to do your own thing until they both came back to you, hungry. It was hard to tell who was worse about food, the men or Hobbes. Scratch that, your cat was at least cute and therefore, more tolerable. And though he was picky at times, he still somehow felt less picky than Kid and Law. Anything involving bread was instantly denied and Kid wouldn't stop asking for cabbage rolls. You'd never made them before. In fact, you didn't even know that was a food until he started pestering you about them.

After taking care of them and caving under Kids demands that you make the rolls in the future, you cleaned up the kitchen and hid away in your room for some much needed rest. Just being around those two was exhausting. You washed up and burrowed into bed, plans for the next day already forming in your head. But the small bit of peace didn't last long.

You fell asleep to your thoughts and then felt like you were promptly torn from sleep by nightmares. They all seemed to involve your new temporary roommates and Wren. In one, you all sat out back together, chatting like a bunch of old friends. That one was harmless enough. But they quickly took a turn for the worse and the one that woke you involved Wren's funeral. You went to see her body, to say goodbye you assumed, and were horrified to see her corpse was half rotten in the all too clean casket. Flies buzzed around her, occasionally landing on her face and exposed arms before taking to the air again. There was no smell as it was all a dream, but you were still able to imagine what it would have smelled like.

You stumbled closer to the corpse only to have someone tug at your shoulder and twist you around. It was Kid. He was dressed the same way he was when you first met him, a stern look on his face as he kept a hand on each of your shoulders.

"Forget about her. The dead won't help us get home."

And then you woke.

There were the wet trails of tears on your face and a deep set feeling of unease in your gut. Shitty dreams always left you like that. And it was too difficult to stay in bed and try to pretend your mind didn't just make all that up. You needed to get up and take your mind off of it.

With that in mind, you got up and took a blanket with you to the living room, curling up in the couch in the dark room and grabbing your computer. If you were going to be up anyway, it wouldn't hurt to do some of that research.

The bright light from your computer made you squint as you tried to read the time. It was only a little before midnight. You'd hardly got any sleep and probably wouldn't get any more tonight. After wiping the dampness from around your eyes, you got to work. There was a lot of places to check and the more you looked into it, the more you found to search.

You had to snag a pencil and paper to create an ever growing checklist. And then directions had to be taken down for the places you had no clue of how to get to. It would've been so much easier if Law let you have your phone back but that wasn't going to happen so you wouldn't plan on it.

It took a bit for you to notice but Hobbes didn't go to bed with you. It was safe to assume he decided to follow one of the guys to bed since you didn't hear him around the house. Besides the scratch of your pencil as you wrote and the occasion sifting of paper, it was still. Well, not exactly. It was quiet enough that you could hear Kid's snores if you focused on the happenings in the home.

It was then that you heard a door open and the soft murmurs of a voice thick with sleep.

"Will you stop bothering me if I let you out Hobbes-ya?"

You checked the time again. It was about three in the morning now. Law came into view with your cat padding after him. That solved the mystery of who the feline had decided to bunk with for the night.

"(Y/n)-ya?" Law puzzled over your bundled up form. "What are you doing up?"

"Couldn't sleep." You turned back to the computer in your lap, adding another spot to check on the list. "So I figured I'd do something productive."

"Hmm." He hummed as he passed by, heading to the kitchen.

There was the sound of running water and then he came back into view with two glasses of water. He plopped down beside you and offered you a glass. As you accepted it, curious as to why he was being so nice, Hobbes jumped up and curled up in the small space between you two.

"Did you want to talk?" He offered.

You were about to turn him down but the words stuck in your throat. It wouldn't change anything, talking to an almost stranger about your worries and problems. But then again, it just might.

"I guess if we're both up and you really want to."

"Sure." He smiled slowly, the sleepy look in his eyes giving way to interest. "Since we're both up."