You were set for a busy weekend. The guys were supposed to come by today, in theory at least. And then tomorrow would be a few of the Newgate boys to take care of the shed roof. You doubted you'd get much quiet time but that was okay with you. Living alone in a big house sucked most days but you were adapting. Having people over the next couple days would be helpful though.
You woke up early in the morning, made coffee, and sat out on the front steps. It was going to be a warm day for sure, you could feel it already beginning to heat up even though the day had hardly started. You were smart and dressed for this time of year's changing weather; jeans, tank top, and a button up thrown over it, sleeves rolled up to your elbows. Wire would be proud of you, looking like you were a real part of the town.
You were zoning out, sipping your morning brew and eyeing the too tall grass when the sounds of motorcycles broke you out of your reverie. They were earlier than you thought they'd come but that wasn't exactly a bad thing. It'd be a good idea to get everything done before it got too far into the day and too hot.
Of course you smiled when they all pulled up, clad in leather and jeans, looking as grouchy as ever.
"This all looks like shit." Kid immediately started grumbling as they all walked up, motioning to your yard.
"It does...good thing I hired a bunch of guys to do all this work." You smirked.
"Where do you want us?" Killer asked, ready to get things done.
No one was mentioning anything about last week but you could guess by their relaxed demeanors and the way they talked they were over it. You were more than happy with that. Mission befriend the neighborhood idiots was back in action.
"Um, Kid I'd appreciate it if you could clean out the gutters, I've found a ladder you can use. Heat could I get you to trim the hedges? Killer, if you could mow the lawn? And Wire, I actually bought something the other day and I could use your help putting it together."
And just like that you had the men scattered and attending to your yardwork. Wait till the neighbors saw this.
"So what'd you get?" Wire asked as he eyed the big box sitting by the front steps. He hadn't noticed it until now.
"Porch swing. Never had one and I thought it'd be nice."
"Instead of buying your own real furniture you bought this?" He shook his head, lips twitching into a slight smile as he bent down to open up the box.
"Everything in the house works just fine."
"You aren't bothered it's all basically hand-me-downs?"
"Nothing wrong with secondhand furniture."
"And never were there truer words spoken."
You laughed at that. It was nice to see Wire had a good sense of humor.
For a while, you focused on pulling out pieces of your swing and putting it together. This wasn't something you'd done before and Wire could tell but he let you take the lead, seeing that you wanted to learn. He'd correct you when you needed it and offer a second set of hands. You glanced up every once in a while and noticed his face was slowly scrunching up into something akin to frustration or displeasure.
"Something bothering you?" You asked casually, still focusing on your little project.
"You're not angry at us." He said gruffly.
"No."
"Why not?"
"Why should I be angry about something that happened last week? What's done is done."
"You're real forgiving."
You giggled. "I try to be."
That got a smile out of him. "Just so you know, we all feel dumb about it and we're sorry. I know Kid won't say it, the others might or might not." Wire shrugged. "But it's none of our business what you do and it shouldn't decide how we treat you."
You couldn't stop grinning at him like a fool. And the more he rambled on the wider your smile got until he frowned at you.
"What?" He asked, confused.
"I wasn't expecting an apology or anything. You're just being real sweet."
If you were ever known for one thing, it was being straightforward and Wire wasn't planning on you saying anything like that. He turned away, a slight blush dusting his cheeks.
"Well it makes sense to apologize for being an ass."
"You're not wrong."
A bead of sweat trailed down the side of his face and you realized he had to be burning up in his jacket. He hadn't even pulled the hood down since he'd come over. You'd taken off your button up a while ago as it had gotten warmer and even in your tank top you were working on breaking a sweat.
"Why don't we go inside for a minute and get everyone some water? I think we're all due for a break." You suggested.
Wire needed to cool off and you'd been going at this for about an hour now.
"Sure." He looked relieved. Maybe you could talk him into taking off that damn jacket.
He followed you inside, temporarily abandoning the swing. The second the two of you were hit with the cooler air from the house, you let out sighs of contentment. Air conditioning was a wonderful thing. Wire soon saw he wasn't really needed to help you with this but was more than happy to down a full glass of water when you placed it in front of him.
"You know, you wouldn't be so hot if you took that sweater off." You refilled his glass and made three more for the others.
"Yeah... I'm more comfortable with it on."
"Are you embarrassed about something?"
He almost choked on his second glass. You hit the nail on the head, so to speak.
"I'm sure it's already quite obvious but I'll say it anyway." You continued. "This is a judgement free zone so you don't have to worry about anything like that here."
"You say that now..."
"C'mon Wire, you know I don't care. And I'd really rather you not give yourself heatstroke out there."
"Okay, just don't laugh."
"I would never!" You said with mock offense, gasping and holding a hand to your chest for added effect.
He grinned at your theatrics as he tossed his hood back and unzipped his jacket. With it open, you could see both the instantaneous relief of the cool air hitting him and the worry of you judging him. You fully expected to see some graphic shirt from a silly show or something, or maybe a bare chest covered in scars. The thing he was stressing about was technically a shirt, it was a fishnet top. The neck was high on it which explained why he had the jacked zipped up to the top all the time.
It was different, seeing such a big, tough looking guy so unsure about showing you this. You decided to do what you thought was the best thing to draw his attention away from it; be an absolute dork.
"Holy hell." You pulled at the edges of his jacket so you could see more. "Dude you are ripped."
"What?" Wire was a little taken aback, arms held up slightly as you tugged him around.
"What's going on here?" Killer asked.
The other three had walked in, presumably to cool off. It had to be quite the sight, Wire with his jacket open for once, letting a small woman ogle his chest.
"Did you guys realize how buff Wire is? Like really, I feel like you have to work out non-stop to get muscles like these." You giggled and he smiled, too caught up in your antics to care about much else. Mission accomplished.
"She decided it was too hot out for sweaters." Wire elaborated.
"So she's taken to stripping you." Kid snickered. "Way to harass your employees (Y/n)."
"I'm not harassing him." You huffed, releasing Wire. "I just wanted him to be more comfortable."
"That's great that you don't mind, but your neighbors won't be as nice." Wire said, getting ready to zip back up.
"Want a little bit of advice? There's always going to be someone who didn't like how you live your life. If you spend all your time trying to please everyone you're only going to make yourself miserable." You gently pulled his hands away from his jacket. "You do you and let them be the spiteful, annoying people they are. Dress however you like and they can all fuck off."
"...Can we call you any time Kid needs a pep talk?" Heat pointed to his redheaded friend who immediately sneered at him. "He gets in moods sometimes."
You chuckled. "Sure."
The guys took turns listing off the times Kid had lost his cool over one dumb thing or another but you weren't really paying attention to that. You took your social cues, laughing or adding input whenever they looked to you for something, but your focus was on Wire. He looked so much nicer when he smiled and seeing him so at home in his own skin, made you feel something you didn't think you'd be able to for a long time. The warmth that made its way into you had almost become unfamiliar. It was nice to know you could still feel it.
----
The chores were finished by midday and your home looked like it belonged to a responsible adult once again. The guys were beat and all kinds of sweaty by the end of it. Even you had a damp spot going down your spine and felt like a shower would be a good idea. But you were happy with the progress you made with the small group of men.
They seemed to gain a little bit of respect with you not being a judgemental bitch about how Wire chooses to dress and the man himself went back to helping you build the swing without covering himself back up. The neighbors tried shooting him distasteful looks but you shot glares right back in their direction when Wire wasn't looking. You'd have no problem causing a scene if they couldn't leave him alone.
He felt comfortable wearing what he did and it gave you a bit of insight into him. He wasn't just some gruff, stoic guy that everyone assumed was a bad person. Wire liked to joke and have a good time, but he seemed to care a little too much about what others thought of him. And you'd be damned if you'd let people take advantage of that.
You sat on your newly built porch swing, swaying back and forth as you listened to Killer and Kid banter about something small. Heat was sitting in the grass, just enjoying the feel of the sun on his skin, he was a real nature boy from what you saw today. And Wire was fiddling with his bike. It was completely clean, not a speck of dirt to be seen on it, but he still somehow found something to wipe off of it.
"Oi! Let's go get lunch, I'm starving." Kid's eyes sparkled with the thought of food as he made his way to his bike.
You figured they'd be leaving soon. Everything was done after all. They'd be back in a week to do this all again though.
They all headed over to their bikes but paused to look at you.
"You coming or not?" Kid asked.
"Huh?"
"Come get lunch with us." Wire waved you over. "You said you were interested in bikes, I'll let you ride with me."
"Oh, okay." The invitation was surprising. You didn't think they'd want you tagging along.
Something at the back of your head told you not to do it. It was an old habit. A small part of yourself always said no when you wanted to say yes. In the past, you would have listened it it, encouraged by everyone else in your life telling you something like that was too dangerous. But not today. Wire wouldn't let you hurt yourself, you were pretty sure at least.
It was exciting just approaching the bike. The thrill of getting to do something you "weren't supposed to" was there. This was what you've wanted to try for ages and here was your chance.
Wire hopped on and grinned at you, seeing your visible happiness with something so simple for him. They probably didn't get the same thrill you did. You had placed a hand on his shoulder and were getting ready to throw a leg over the seat when your phone buzzed angrily on your pocket. Of course you'd get a call now.
You were hoping it was Smoker or someone else at the station wanting to know if you'd like more hours. It was unnerving when you checked your phone and saw it wasn't.
"What's the matter?" Wire asked.
Your face had fallen into a frown without you realizing it.
"Um, I don't think I can go with you guys actually. I gotta take care of this."
"You sure?"
"Yeah." You didn't sound so sure. "Thanks for the offer though."
"Lammmmeeee." Kid scoffed.
"We'll catch you later then (Y/n)." Heat called as he started his bike.
"If you ever want a ride later, I can take you." Wire offered. "Just let me know."
"Thanks." You smiled but it was hard to hide the disappointment you held in your eyes. There went that chance.
The guys all left and your phone stopped ringing. You mentally cursed yourself for making it so you'd have to call back. He wouldn't appreciate it.
If anyone else had called, you would've had no problem never answering it. Well, almost anyone. But it had to be the one person you couldn't bring yourself to ignore.
Why did it have to be him?