Oh shit. Oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit.

You panicked as you stared at your phone first thing in the morning. In your drunken stupor, you'd told Kid you loved him. While that was bad, the worst part was he didn't say anything back. That could mean so many things.

He could've gotten caught up in work and didn't have the time. He could have decided that he didn't really feel anything for you and didn't want to say anything. Or it could be the complete opposite. Either way, not knowing was stressing you out. It would've been so much easier to relax if he gave you a solid answer back, even if it was a rude, snarky one.

You didn't even know if you really loved him. Drunk you sure did. As far as you could tell, you liked him now. You enjoyed his company and found yourself relaxing around him more than you ever had in the past, despite his career choice. Last night you did miss him and the gang. A lot. Enough that you decided to drink to..... Okay. Maybe you did feel something for him.

You groaned as you got to your feet, ignoring the pounding headache all the drinking gave you. So much for the glass of water you had the night before curbing it. For now, you were going to have to find other ways to keep your mind busy until he came back so you could try and convince him you were just too drunk to know what you were doing.

That drew an even louder groan from you. Why should you care what he thought about the text? This whole thing was some stupid arrangement from the get go. You were his on call fuck buddy for the longest time. It wasn't supposed to turn out like this. You were just too selfish to share and now you'd caught feelings. What kind of twisted bullshit was this?

You stomped into the bathroom and stripped to take a shower. It'd help your hangover and possibly wash away your thoughts of Kid along with the grime from cleaning last night. Or so you thought. If anything, it gave your mind more time to wander to him. His rough smiles, fiery attitude, passionate kisses, the way he touched you....

Nope. Time to stop while you're ahead. Do not think about him. He'd probably laugh at you for how your mind traveled, smirk with snobby pride at how flustered he left you. Hell, you could think about the most abstract things and still probably find a way to connect it to him. Getting the redhead out of your mind was going to be no easy task. Especially with so little to do around the place. You could get creative though. It was just a few days.

----

The only other time you'd ever seen such a clean garage or workspace was when you stepped foot in the brand new auto repair place back in your home town. This place was far from new, but it almost looked like it was, minus the oil stains on the concrete of course. You weren't sure if that could ever be cleaned up.

But besides that, the place was impeccably clean. There was no dust or dirt in sight. You'd cleaned each individual tool if only for the sake of staying busy. They were still new but apparently things got dirty around here real fast and they were no exception. You even reorganized them. There was a slim chance the guys would appreciate that though. They each had their own way they liked to organize their tools and you completely disregarded that. At least it kept you busy.

The office was a mess as well so you spent time fixing up the space and filing all the paperwork they had lying about. That was actually pretty easy. Killer had some sort of filing system that you were able to follow and get everything in it's proper place. The bottle of bourbon you had taken up to the room was in the back of the liquor cabinet, far out of sight and out of mind. You'd never drink that stuff again. Not after that episode a couple days ago.

You had to admit, you were rather proud of the work you put in and were excited to see the guys' reaction when they saw the fruits of your labor. But you doubted it'd stay this nice forever. You'd give it about a week after they got back to work here for it to be ruined. And that even felt generous to you.

Now you were hit with a new dilemma. There was literally nothing else to clean. You'd given Kid's room the same treatment along with the bathroom. Both were beyond spotless and there really wasn't anything else to do around here. You were dying to get out for some fresh air but that couldn't happen until the guys got back. Hopefully that was soon.

You could figure out roughly how much longer they'd take to finish up whatever they were doing and figure out if Kid hated you or not after texting him. Seeing him again had you nervous but you'd figured out what you'd tell him. Even practiced it in the mirror a few times. You were prepared for the worst but hoping for the best. Even if you didn't quite know what the best would be in this situation. You were taking it one day at a time.

It ended up being around midday when you were upstairs and heard the side door to the garage slam open. Common sense would have told you to stay put until you could confirm it was Kid or someone else you knew. But you were to on edge about seeing him again to think about that. Lucky for you, it was Kid and the rest of the guys.

You smiled when you started coming down the stairs but the look quickly turned into a worried frown when you noticed they were all covered in cuts and bruises. They looked like they were just coming back from the losing end of a bar brawl.

"A-are you guys alright?" You asked as you rushed over to them.

Wire and Heat were leaning on each other tiredly for support while Kid and Killer shuffled in by themselves. Blood dripped steadily from a cut on Kid's neck, staining the floor red and leaving a trail as he moved closer to you.

"Yep. Just tired." Killer said. You noticed he had that strange mask on and watched him fumble for the clasps that kept it in place.

You rushed forward to help him get it off, unlatching it with ease and tugging it away from his face.

"You guys look like shit. Should I get that guy for you? What's his name again..." You frowned as you set the mask down on one of the work tables and though hard about the man in question. He was the doctor down the road, the one Kid didn't like.

"Law. And no." Kid grumbled as he plopped down in one of the work stools.

"Let me get the first aid kit then." You ran into the office and grabbed what you wanted before heading back out.

Killer was now sitting on the floor with his back to the wall, head leaned back and eyes closed. Heat was on the steps and Wire was taking up another stool. Every one of them looked ready to pass out. You decided to start with Killer and work your way around the room.

Because of his mask, his face was fine but you still moved his hair out of the way to double check. Then after a bit of poking and prodding, he directed you to the worst of his wounds. As far as you could tell, no one needed stitches of any kind but you were going through a lot of alcohol and cotton swabs at a terrifying pace.

When Killer was all set, you moved on to Heat. He wasn't keen on you poking at him so he wasted no time showing you where he needed attention and helped wherever he could. Wire was more content to just let you do your work without saying a word. None of the men gave you any fuss over the sting of alcohol or the amount of bandages you covered them in.

Kid was all that was left and while you almost wanted to avoid him, the cut on his neck needed attention. You took the last open stool and rolled it over to him, sitting right in front as you tilted his head to the side to get a better look at the cut.

"You cleaned the place up." He said, flinching slightly as you cleaned up the wound. It was no longer dripping and it wasn't all the deep from what you could see. It was just a bad spot to get cut.

"Oh, yeah. There wasn't much to do. I should've brought a book or something."

When it was all bandaged up, you moved to his real hand, flipping it around as you checked for anything major. It was all scuffs and bloody knuckles more than anything.

"What were you drinking the other night?"

It took you a second to find the will to respond. "Bourbon." It came out quiet but still echoed in the rather empty space.

"I'll have to drink some of that. If it can give you guts I wonder what it can do for me." He chuckled while you blushed.

The well thought out response you had so carefully practiced went out the window. You couldn't remember what you were going to say or how you wanted to say it. Time to improvise.

"It was just the alcohol talking."

"Go home guys. We'll start again tomorrow." Kid growled and the others got to their feet.

He didn't speak again until Wire closed the door behind him and it was just you two.

"Was it really?"

"I uh, I don't...." You knew. But you weren't going to say it.

You moved on to his chest, hands now cleaned up. There were a few deep purple bruises and a couple cuts. Nothing you could do to help them but clean them up and let them heal.

"You don't what?"

"I don't know Kid. Can we just say I was drunk and forget about it?"

"Did you miss me?" He took on a more teasing tone and you looked up to see that damn smile. The proud one that made his eyes sparkle. You adored that smile.

"You need sleep. You're tired."

"I need bourbon and an answer."

"You're going to bed." You got up to pick up the littered swabs you'd left across the room and Kid followed you around.

"Not yet I'm not."

"Don't talk back Kid."

"Excuse me?"

"Did I stutter?" You whipped around to face him with a hand on your hip. "You look like shit and need to rest. Get your ass to bed."

"Fine. But not until you answer me." He wrapped his metal hand around your arm and pulled you closer. "Did ya miss me?"

You held his adamant stare quite well, until he cracked into another smile. Then you buckled.

"Yes Kid. I missed you." You said with a sigh. What were you going to do with this man? He was going to be the end of you.

"Cute." He chuckled as he sauntered off to the office.

You finished cleaning up your mess and eyed the bloodstains on the floor. Those would have to come up later. Kid wasn't doing what you told him to and that was getting to be a little annoying. Now you understood how Killer felt when he suggested things to his boss only for them to be ignored. Oh jailbait, how do you do it?

"Kid! Bed's not in the damn office!"

"No but bourbon is." He came out holding the bottle you had been drinking out of just a couple days ago. "I have to say, I'm impressed how little it took to get you shit faced."

He swished it around, noting that you didn't really get far into the bottle. Yeah, you were a lightweight. Or as you liked to call it, a cheap date.

"Alcohol lasts longer that way."

"Well not today. Come on, you're coming to bed with me."

He snickered at your protests, pushing you up the stairs ahead of him.

"I gotta clean up the blood Kid!"

"Tomorrow."

"It'll stain permanently if I wait that long."

"That's fine."

You groaned as he flopped into the matress, pulling you down with him. He had you pinned to his chest with the metal limb as he worked the cap of the bottle with his other. You stopped trying to wiggle out of his grasp when the arm tightened around you. There was no fighting machinery.

"You know, I missed you too (Y/n)."