A/N: i'm sorry i don't know why natsume keeps not appearing. Ha. Ha. Ha.

vii. but the moon still lingered in his weary eyes.

New details were emerging about Goshima Hijiri's murder.

According to "Kai & Ren in the P.M.", he'd been beaten to death with a frying pan from his kitchen and then he'd been stabbed after death too, showing just how "absolutely pissed the guy must have been at Goshima". There was an angry face scrawled on the wall in his blood. No attempt at clean up, but also no foreign fingerprints or DNA traces left anywhere in Goshima's apartment. The apartment security cameras, positioned in the lobby and at the back entrance, didn't reveal any suspicious characters either, leaving everyone involved stumped at what could have happened.

"From what the authorities are telling us, it was a nasty, nasty scene," said Kai, immediately followed by inappropriate, sexually-charged soundbites.

"Not that kind of nasty, Kai!" Ren argued, but with none of the seriousness he should have had. A boo soundbite followed.

"If you have any information about the murder of Goshima Hijiri, please alert the authorities as soon as you can," said Kai, voice suddenly sober. "The investigation is still ongoing and no suspect has been charged with his murder yet. Please help justice be served."

"Well, speaking of nasty," Ren piped up, changing the mood back to ridiculous. "Have you seen the new photographs leaked from popular actre-"

Natsume turned off the radio. He'd had quite enough of that. For some reason, he was always in his car for the half hour segment of "Kai & Ren in the P.M." He could always switch it off, or change stations, but for some reason there was something morbidly fascinating about the show's irreverent and-to be entirely honest-disgusting approach to the news. There was always some joke to be made, even about the violent murder of a local politician. Knowing that there were such horrible people out there, so desperate to seem funny that they'd try to make a joke out of such an atrocity, was interesting.

He drove in silence until he parked at his building and then made his way into the lobby to check his mail.

Shouda was there again. "Hey," she greeted, before shyly turning back to her mailbox.

"Hi."

She'd moved in quite recently, but he only met her the day after he'd seen that horrible house.

"Hi, I'm Shouda Sumire," she'd introduced at his door, carrying a plate of desserts. "I'm trying to greet as many of my new neighbors as I can."

"I'm Natsume," he said, taking one of the desserts. "Thanks."

"No problem," she said. "I'll see you around, hopefully?"

He had shrugged in response at the time, but the truth was they saw each other often. Her apartment was right across the hall from his. She was a relatively quiet neighbor. No loud music, no telephone arguments. No knocking on his door first thing in the morning to blame him for the leak in her shower, like the old guy Jinno from downstairs did. Once, she'd divulged that she worked for the police in the homicide division, newly transferred from a different city.

"So you're all over the Goshima thing, then?" Natsume had said, trying to relate in some way to her, but she turned stony.

"I can't talk about that right now."

So Natsume backed off. He didn't really care that much, anyway.

It was awkward talking to her nowadays anyway, because of how she'd come onto him that one time. He decided he'd check his mail later and took off into the stairwell, always feeling so antsy when Shouda was around.

His sleep was no better and no worse. The cigarette had stayed under the cutlery tray, though he thought of it often, always thought of it. Aoi was settling into her new quarter, already preparing for midterms.

Ruka was getting used to the cadavers, he said, and still invited Natsume over on a weekly basis to play video games or watch a movie and catch up. They'd arranged to meet on Friday, since Natsume didn't have work the next day, so that they could also have breakfast in the morning after the sleepover.

In some ways, despite never having attended college, Natsume still felt like he was living the college life vicariously through Ruka and Aoi, who were always excitedly detailing their experiences of classes, exams, classmates, and dorm rooms.

Natsume made his way into his apartment and saw a small thing scamper across his floor and into the suspicious hole near his kitchenette.

He knew it. It had been a mousehole after all.

Whatever. He'd make no moves to remove the mouse or even trap it. He'd wish it all the luck in the world to eat whatever crumbs were in his cabinets and it was by all means allowed to go through his garbage. After all, he didn't need it anymore.

When Aoi called, same time as usual every week, Natsume called up before the first ring was done.

"How's school?" he asked perfunctorily. "All As still?"

"Natsume…" she began, voice heavy. "Ruka wanted me to talk to you."

"About what?"

"About the murder that happened close to your apartment."

"That was weeks ago," Natsume argued. "Nothing like it has happened since and-"

"Ruka told me you've been hanging out with a shoplifter?"

"I have not been hanging out with anybody, least of all her."

"You promise? You're not spending time in sketchy areas at weird hours of the night?"

"Yeah."

"No, promise me," she commanded firmly. "Promise me you won't be going anywhere in the middle of the night. Promise you won't chat with weirdos. Tell me you'll stay home. Tell me you'll be safe."

"I have been careful. I don't know what Ruka's been blabbing about, but it's not an issue." Natsume sighed and pulled the microwaveable-meal-of-the-day out of the fridge: some stir fry thing. He took the tray out of the box and stabbed a vent into the plastic film on top before sticking it into the microwave. "Don't worry about anything."

"You haven't promised."

"So you're good in school?" Natsume checked.

"What are you-"

"Good with your friends? Your roommates? Your professors are being nice to you? Good. Good, good, good. Well, I guess that's all the time we have tonight."

"Natsume!"

"What a shame," he said. "I guess same time next week? Bye." He then hung up, content to stand there waiting for the microwave to ding.

"Why are you and Aoi talking about me behind my back?" Natsume demanded.

"Why, hello there, Natsume," Ruka bit out sarcastically, swinging his door open further. "Nice to see you, too."

Natsume pushed past him, already fuming, as he had been for a few hours since he convinced himself this was all Ruka's fault. "Why are you and Aoi talking about me behind my back?"

"We're not," Ruka said, closing the door and heading to the kitchen. "And you better take your shoes off! What kind of animal are you?!"

"I'm distracted!" Natsume defended, reaching down to take his shoes off. "Sorry."

"We're both worried about you. You don't even lock your door when you go to work sometimes. You leave your car unlocked-"

"Who'd wanna steal that piece of crap?" Natsume asked reasonably. "The mileage isn't even a real number anymore."

"-You walk around dark alleys whenever you can, you make friends with shoplifters-"

"Another thing: what is up with you and the shoplifter? I mentioned her once weeks ago and you've never gotten over it."

"-You're always getting into fights with people, you make enemies at work, both client and coworker-"

"Okay, enough, I get the picture."

Ruka finally stopped, crossing his arms with a harrumph.

"Get me a beer, would ya?" Natsume slumped onto the couch. "I've had enough of you two calling me about the stupid murder. I have a cop across the hall from me. Actually, to be honest, I don't even know if she's a cop. She's something. Whatever. The point is, I'll be fine."

"You are the least convincing person in the world," Ruka lamented, emerging from the kitchen with two bottles of beer in hand, his stupid artisenal crap. "But I'll leave you be for tonight."

"Thank you."

"Except for one thing."

"Oh, dear God."

Ruka sat beside him on the couch and handed him a beer. He opened his own and seemed to ponder something for a moment. "What did happen to the shoplifter?"

"Hmm… Let's see." Natsume opened his beer and took a big sip since he'd probably need it. "She invited me to her house. So I finally gave in-"

"You went?! Natsume! Not to be a nag but that's literally the kind of behavior I'm talking about."

"Anyway, I went, and her house is this dilapidated piece of crap with rotting wood and broken windows and there's not even a real door. But the worst part is she's living with this crew of freaks that call themselves a family. There was this one guy who was in charge and it was just… Nope. I got out of there real fast."

"When did this happen?" Ruka asked, strangely composed.

"A few weeks ago. Actually, it might have been the very day you were calling me, whining about me not being careful-"

"So you go and prove my point for me?"

"No, I did the opposite. I was careful. I left."

Ruka turned on the TV, but he was keeping it on mute. "Natsume, you've gotta stay away from that crowd. None of that sounded good."

"I have been staying away. I haven't seen her at the store since either." And that did surprise him. She stayed away, just like he'd asked, but that didn't make him as happy as he thought it would. Every night at the store, he'd expect her to whiz past to snatch some juice out of the fridge or bag of chips of a shelf. Every once in a while, the bell above the door would chime and Natsume would get a quip ready for when her face appeared in his aisle, but she never showed. Despite his every wish and the limited time he spent in her presence, she'd become a part of his routine. Change is good, he had to say to himself. Change is good. This is very good.

But it was hard to convince himself of that, not when he couldn't explain that it was somewhat disappointing how she'd truly kept her word about staying away from him.

"Good, but also… I don't really like you being at that store so late anyway."

Natsume shrugged. "Just because my mom is dead doesn't mean I need a surrogate."

"Fuck off." Ruka readied the remote to unmute it. "Just consider the fact that even if you don't care about your life, other people do. Other people need you around. I'd probably go crazy if I ever lost you."

"You won't lose me," Natsume muttered, feeling guilty for his flippant behavior. He hadn't really understood why his best friend and sister had been so adamant about his safety, thinking it was none of their business. But it was their business, because if the situation was flipped, Natsume would be nagging them both too. "But you gotta make sure you're safe too."

"I always am," Ruka sighed, like Natsume knew he would, unmuting the TV.

Natsume was in bed, not going to the store. He was at the kitchenette, not going to the store. He was in the bathroom, not going to the store.

Natsume was out the door when he stopped himself, asking himself why exactly he was like this, if he really had no self-restraint at all, or if the idea of putting himself in hypothetical danger-even after promising his best friend he wouldn't-was something of a rush.

He couldn't decide on the answer and it might as well have been neither. He closed the door behind him and locked it, thank you very much. All the other apartments were silent. Shouda's was the quietest of all, somehow, and Natsume wondered if he was the only person on the planet who was despised by sleep.

He went down to the lobby and took his time with the mail, going through the envelopes and finding nothing interesting, so he just put it all back in the box and then closed it again, leaving the sorting and collecting for some other day.

It was warm outside, despite the darkness. Natsume regretted putting his coat on. He was not about to tie the damn thing around his hips Ruka-style. He'd just have to endure it, sweat and all.

He got all the way down the stairs to the building when he realized he'd left his phone up in his apartment.

Was this trip going to be long? Was he really gonna need the phone? No, it's not like he was going to get lost. But if some freak showed up with a knife? Well, that wasn't gonna happen and Aoi and Ruka were silly for thinking it was at all plausible, especially since nobody was up this late.

Natsume crossed the street and headed to the store.

He heard some screams and shouts, all unintelligible. The voices sounded feminine, like two girls were fighting. Perhaps he was wrong. Natsume walked as slowly as he could, hoping the commotion would resolve itself before he was in view.

He could hear Aoi berating him in his head.

Natsume! she might cry. I thought we'd finally gotten through to you! You don't even have your phone!

Was it too late to go and get it? Surely this would be done and over with by the time he came back down, right?

Natsume peeked past the big building next to the parking lot to look at what the big fuss was.

He spotted two girls in a fight, just as he'd guessed. Their hair was covering their faces and he didn't have much time to observe anyway because just as peeked into the parking lot, he heard a loud thud and the metallic echo of something hard hitting a light post.

He quickly jumped back out of view.

Just one beat of silence and then-

The worst screaming Natsume had ever heard. He'd never known a scream could actually be blood-curdling until that very moment.

"Sunbeam!" the person screamed again.

Natsume could not help it. He ignored all of Aoi and Ruka's advice and ventured into the parking lot.

"Hey, what's going-" He trailed off at seeing the Lemonade Thief out cold on the ground.

The blonde girl towering over her turned to see him, her eyes wide in horror, her hands covering her mouth, tears running down her face even though it had only been a few seconds after the impact.

"I… I didn't mean to!" the girl shouted, pushing past him and running down the street.

He let her go. That wasn't important at the moment.

He approached the fainted girl, Mikan, getting onto his knees beside her.

A million thoughts raced through Natsume's head, thoughts about that house, her family, all the times she'd shoplifted right in front of him, her stained clothing and absolute disregard for personal space and boundaries.

The fact that she was Ruka and Aoi's number one recommendation to stay away from in these dangerous times…

None of that mattered. Right now she was just a girl in trouble, and even his worrywart friend and sister would have to agree that checking on her was the most important thing.

She was wearing quite possibly the worst outfit a person could wear, complete with pants that were several sizes too big for her and a shirt with several stains on it, as well as that bad hoodie she liked to wear.

"Hey," Natsume said gently, shaking her shoulder to see if she'd come to. If she didn't, she'd probably need medical help, and since Natsume didn't have a phone he'd probably need to alert the nearest person around, the cashier, or try to use that payphone nearby, though he doubted it worked anymore in this day and age. The cashier would have probably seen the security footage and he'd be familiar with Mikan by now, and maybe his boss ripped him a new one, and maybe he wouldn't be so quick to lend a hand. Maybe that was all a reach, but there was no way to know for sure. So Natsume hoped that she'd wake up. "Hey. Wake up. Come on, wake up."

She stirred, groaning with pain, her hand immediately reaching for the back of her head. "Ow…"

"Me and your friend thought you were dead." Natsume was relieved to see there wasn't any obvious blood on the ground or on her clothing.

"N-" The girl hesitated, obviously surprised to see him. "Rumplestiltskin! Where's Luna?"

"She got spooked and took off. I think she thought she killed you."

"Oh," Mikan sat up, her hair a complete mess from the fight and her fall. "I kinda thought I was dead too."

"You hit your head," Natsume said dismissively, standing upright. "Come on, get up."

"So rude," she teased. "You're really nothing like the knights that are supposed to save the damsels in distress. The movies lied to me."

"Come on."

He held out his hands for her to take and she accepted, but she fumbled significantly on her way to her feet. Natsume had to grip her by the shoulder to keep her steady.

"I'm feeling a bit woozy," she said with a chuckle.

"Oh… uh…" He'd have to stay with her, then. What if she was concussed? Natsume took a deep breath, coming to terms with his horrible fate. It was the right thing to do, right? Ruka would agree. Reckless, but ultimately good. "Okay, fine. Come on, I'll take you home."

"No!" Mikan snapped, pushing herself away from Natsume. "I don't wanna go back there just yet!"

Natsume rolled his eyes. "Yeah, fucking right. As if I'd ever go back to your nasty place again. I was talking about my home."

"Oh." Mikan let herself be held upright by Natsume, who guided her out of the parking lot and down the sidewalk until they reached the crosswalk. He hit the button to signal for a green light, but since there was no traffic on account of it being three in the morning, he started ushering Mikan across the street during the stop light anyway. "Your place… I've never been. Nope. Never."

He eyed her suspiciously. "You better be fucking joking because the stalker act is getting really unfunny."

She had the sense to look away shamefully. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to be creepy. I just think you're very interesting. I'm just… drawn to you. But I have stayed away, mostly, since you left."

"Mostly?"

She opted not to respond.

One of her arms around his shoulders, one of his around her waist. That was their arrangement. She wasn't heavy, and he wasn't taking on too much of her weight in the first place, so it didn't take too long to cross the street and make it into the building.

The issue was the stairwell.

Natsume sighed as they entered the lobby. "The elevator is unreliable, but I can't see you going up the stairs real quick. The stairs will be hell one way or another, but we'll definitely make it up there in one piece, eventually, after a few hours."

"Two pieces," Mikan joked. "Hopefully we won't fuse together on the trip up the stairs."

"Anyway, the elevator might be better for you, but if it gets stuck and you suddenly need medical attention, we'll be fucked."

"Let's take the elevator. I don't want to go through Hell right now."

Natsume shrugged. "Your choice. My head is perfectly fine." He hit the button to summon the elevator and they waited in the lobby.

They separated and now Mikan was getting used to standing on her own.

The doors opened and Natsume helped the girl into the elevator. "We're going to three," he said, pressing the corresponding button on the panel by the door. He bit his lip the whole ride up, hoping that it would go smoothly, no shut down or hitch.

The doors opened on the third floor and Natsume released the breath he'd been holding.

Mikan stumbled down the hall after him, but she was too off-balance, so Natsume offered his arm for her to hold onto.

He unlocked his door and opened it, allowing her to enter. "It's not much but…" He chuckled. "Nevermind, I forgot who I was talking to. It's way better than your place."

"Hey!" Mikan snapped. "I found that place all on my own! It's hard to find cheap real estate in the city!"

"I bet. And even harder to find free real estate." He closed the door and sighed. "Anyway, you should use the shower. I have a spare towel and once you're clean you can wear some of my sister's clothes."

"You have a sister?" Mikan asked, eyes soft. "What's her name?"

"None of your business. We're not friends. I'm just giving you a place to sleep and then I'll take you to the emergency room or something tomorrow to get you checked for a concussion. You're not staying around any longer than that."

She pouted but dropped the topic.

Natsume squeezed past her to reach the tiny bathroom.

"Right, so we can't both be in here, but if you peek in, I can show you." She obeyed and stayed by the door. "It's all standard, but you have to push pretty hard to get the water started. Here's your towel. This blue one. Don't use the other one. I have a spare toothbrush…" He opened a cabinet and pulled one out of its packaging. "Here. You can use my toothpaste. I have this hairbrush. Hope you don't have lice. Or you can tell me if you do, and I'll just buy a new one tomorrow."

"I don't have lice," she said.

"Okay, well… Nothing else here is too fancy. I have this face cream my sister bought. Not much else." He shooed her away from the door so he could leave the bathroom. He headed to his tiny closet, where Aoi had a whole drawer of her own for the rare occasions that she visited. There wasn't room for a big suitcase of her stuff, so it was better to just have some clothes waiting. One less thing to worry about. "You can take your pick. She has socks and… um… underwear and stuff here too. I don't know." He backed away from the closet, suddenly quite uncomfortable.

When he finally looked back up at Mikan, she was smiling gently at him, looking like she was in a daze, though it might just be that she was concussed.

"What?"

"You're so sweet. I was right about you. You have the biggest heart of anyone I've ever known."

Natsume scoffed. "Whatever. Just do what you need to do, but you have to take a shower."

She grinned. "Oh, but what if my head is really damaged and I pass out in the shower and die?"

"Then die," he muttered. "I don't know, just shout if you need anything."

"Okay, fine."

She picked out some clothes from Aoi's drawer and then went to take a shower.

While she was in there, Natsume opened his laptop and searched through Google for how to treat someone who hit their head and might be concussed. Rest was the number one suggestion, so Natsume figured he'd just let her sleep.

He rummaged through his kitchenette for some microwaveable meals. He didn't know when she'd last eaten, but it would be good to offer something, right? Just in case.

When the bathroom door opened, he was on his knees in front of his mini-fridge. Mikan emerged, dressed in his sister's pajamas and with hair still wet.

"Are you hungry?" he asked.

She bit her lip nervously. "I'm…"

"Is that a yes?"

She nodded.

"Lasagna or enchiladas?" he asked, holding up the two boxes. "Pick whatever. I'll just eat the other one."

"Lasagna?"

"Sure." He stood up to get the meals ready.

"Am I supposed to stay the night here?" she asked.

"You think I'd let you leave my apartment wearing my sister's pajamas?"

"Oh."

Natsume let the lasagna start heating up in the microwave. When he turned around he jumped a little, surprised that she had somehow gotten right behind him. "There's really not enough room here as it is," he grumbled, getting around her. "Anyway, you can eat and then sleep in my bed… if you want."

"Your bed?" Her face was pink but she was still smiling. "What would the neighbors think?"

He responded by rolling his eyes. "I honestly couldn't care less."

The microwave beeped to signal the end of the reheating so Natsume pulled out the tray and placed it on his little table, complete with one of four forks he owned. "Stir it and enjoy."

"A Rumplestiltskin original meal," she teased. "I can't wait."

She was almost done with her meal by the time Natsume's was done reheating. They ate in silence for a few minutes, just chewing on their scant food and avoiding eye contact. Or at least, that's what Natsume was doing. She seemed perfectly content to stare at him throughout the meal.

"So what happened with that girl, anyway?" Natsume asked, keeping his eyes on the black plastic tray in front of him.

"This was the first warm meal I've had in about a year," Mikan mused. "Isn't that weird?"

"Or you don't have to talk about it."

"No, no, it's okay." She chewed pensively, perhaps preparing herself, before she finally started speaking again. "Luna used to be a part of our family before. When I joined, she helped me learn how things were done in our house. We became friends, but she's always been so jealous. She thought Kuonji liked me better so she, uhh…" Mikan giggled. "She tried to kill me."

Natsume finally looked up from his tray to look at her. "What?"

"Yeah, I woke up to her choking me. So she was out of the group until a short while ago, maybe a few days ago, when she came back. And she's different now and everyone forgave her, so I know I should too. Everyone says so but it's really hard-"

"No, that's bullshit," Natsume said. "This bitch tried to choke you in your sleep and then she just comes back and you're the bad guy for still being mad? That's stupid."

He went back to his enchiladas.

"Keeping grudges isn't a good thing," Mikan argued. "I'm being silly."

"When people say that, they're usually talking about, like, 'my friend didn't invite me to a party' or a few mean words. They're not talking about attempted murder." He leaned his head on his free hand. "Besides, she obviously hasn't changed, or you'd be at your shitty little house, and not up here."

"Then, maybe it's a good thing. I've kinda missed you, Rumplestiltskin." She seemed awfully eager to change the subject.

Natsume chose not to respond.

"And I have something to confess." She took a deep breath, released it, and then smiled. "I already know your name. I caught someone talking to you once and I heard it. But I don't think it counts until you tell me yourself."

"You really are a stalker, huh?" Natsume imagined Ruka screaming at him to kick this girl out, whether she was wearing Aoi's pajamas or not.

She's so creepy. It's not right!

But Natsume was really not as bothered as he perhaps should have been. Maybe a little annoyed, but it was hard to be scared of the girl across the little table from him.

He extended his hand across the table. "Hey, I'm Natsume."

Mikan's smile spread across her whole face, like she'd never been happier in her life. She took his offered hand. "I'm Mikan."

"Nice to meet you," Natsume said, shaking her hand once and then retracting it.

"Do you think I have assets?" Mikan asked and Natsume deflated.

"What the fuck?"

"Like, am I kinda sexy?" She looked hopeful and earnest and that made it worse.

Natsume stood up, taking both of their empty trays and dumping them in the trash. "Go to bed."

"Aw, come on!" Mikan cried. "Luna said some very mean things about me and it kinda hurt my feelings. I may be immature but I'm a grown woman and I don't want people to see a freakin' toddler when they look at me-"

"Is that why you were fighting?" he asked incredulously.

"Come on."

"You don't look like a toddler," Natsume conceded, washing their forks. "That's all I'm going to say, so it better be enough."

"Maybe not a toddler, but a preteen? Do I definitely look underage?"

"No, you don't look underage." Natsume hesitated, hands in the middle of drying the silverware. "Wait, how old are you anyway?"

Mikan huffed. "I knew it! I knew I looked like a child!"

"I'm just curious."

"I just turned twenty-four this month." Her eyes widened. "What day is it?"

"Saturday."

"No, I mean, the date."

"The twenty-second."

"My birthday's the seventeenth."

"Well, happy birthday. Go to bed." Rest was the most important thing someone could do after injuring their head and she was being difficult.

"How old are you?"

Natsume sighed for the thousandth time that night. "I'm old enough to be your grandpa. Just go to bed."

He stayed by the kitchenette, leaning on the counter, as he watched her grumpily submit, getting up from the table and shuffling to the bed.

"This is kinda small," she complained. "You sure there's room for both of us?"

"I'm not sleeping there tonight," Natsume replied, not moving an inch.

"Where will you sleep?"

He shrugged. "Well, I probably won't."

She sat on the edge of the bed and shook her head. "No need to be a gentleman. I've slept in the same bed as a boy before."

"There's no room and no point because I probably wouldn't sleep anyway."

Her tone turned indignant. "I'm not gonna steal anythi-"

"I have insomnia." He said it as matter-of-factly as he could, the first time he'd ever actually said it out loud to another person. "So if I get into that bed, I'll just be laying there for hours while you sleep, and that's creepy. So I'll just sit at the table and watch a movie or something."

"You're not tired at all?"

"No, I'm always tired."

Mikan didn't say anything. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you tell."

"That's okay. You can't make me do anything."

"But thank you for telling me anyway," she said sweetly. "I won't tell anyone. Your secret's safe with me!"

"Who the fuck would you tell? Kenji? Murder girl?"

"Kuonji!"

"Whatever."

Mikan tucked herself into the bed, fidgeting for a moment as she got comfortable. Natsume turned off the light for her.

"Thank you, Natsume," she mumbled. "You're the nicest person I've ever met, I think."

"No, I'm not."

"Good night."

"Good night, Mikan."

She didn't say anything else, so Natsume sat at the table and connected his earbuds to his laptop. He did as he'd said, watching the most boring American action film he could find. He kept glancing towards the bed despite the dark.

Somehow he fell asleep before the movie was over, his head buried in his arms as the monster from outer space destroyed New York City.

A/N: if you have left any reviews know that i TREASURE them, that i ADORE them, that i LOVE them, and that we are now best friends! mwah!