I could barely remember actually laying down in bed, but here I was, waking up to my bedroom already full of light. I fumbled around, feeling for my phone. It was sat on my nightstand, plugged in. I was really impressed with myself, I didn't remember plugging it in. I'm not the best at remembering to do that when I'm not an ex-human-kebab.

Grabbing my phone, I looked at the time. It was almost noon. I had a missed call from Pucca, and a few from the Ninjas, but that was pretty much every morning. They were needy people.

As the sleep fog went away, and the harsh reality of life sunk in, the pain in my shoulder really made itself known. I felt a little better in the rest of my body, but man, that shit hurt.

Standing up sucked. Not because my legs were sore or anything, I was just lightheaded as hell. I guess I didn't exactly eat much, yesterday. I stumbled to my bathroom, groaning to myself. "Maybe Pucca was right about the painkillers..." I muttered to myself as I did my morning business with one hand, which was weirdly difficult. I was a two-hand man.

I took one look in the mirror and gave up on my appearance basically immediately. The idea of even brushing my hair sounded physically impossible right now. I wandered out of the bathroom after washing my... hand, and turned towards the living room. I was immediately caught off guard. The stain on the floor was totally gone. I'd been dreading cleaning that up...

"I AM right about the painkillers, you know." Pucca's voice chimed from the kitchen. I about had a mini heart attack.

"Yeah, and what makes you say that?" Maybe she didn't notice that she scared the actual bejesus out of me.

She poked around from the kitchen, smiling. "You did. Literal seconds ago." Well, she's got me there. "Sorry for startling you!" Damn it... "You should really lock your door after someone stabs you, you know. I could be a weird psycho killer and there would be nothing you could do."

I walked over to her. "That's super comforting, thanks."

She wrapped her arms around my waist and looked up at me, still beaming. "No problem!" She giggled. She was really freaking cute... "How ya feelin' today? Can I assume like absolute shit?" I was caught off-guard. I don't think I'd ever heard her swear before.

"You'd be so wrong.. I'm... Nah, you're right. I want to die."

"Welp, I can't let that happen. Sorry, Champ." She smiled.

"... Champ?" I asked, as she just laughed away.

Her crutches were leaned up against the archway between the kitchen and the living room. There were a few little packages all kind of scattered around the kitchen. One sat empty, next to a little pot on the stove, another empty one by a bamboo steamer that definitely wasn't mine on the counter, and two others sitting on the couch. There was a small pile of envelopes sitting on the table beside the couch.

"How long have you been in here...?" I asked her. I didn't mind what the answer was, it didn't creep me out or anything.

She cocked her head to the side a little and her eyes looked up. "Uhh... I called you around nine... I stopped at Ching's on the way here... I probably got here around ten? I figured you were still asleep, so I figured I'd come and help with the floor. That could not have been fun with one hand." She smiled.

"I'm assuming all the things lying around are yours, then?" I chuckle at my own obvious question.

"I mean, I brought them, but they aren't all mine. They're all yours!"

I raised an eyebrow. "... Huh?"

"You really aren't used to the idea of getting gifts, are you?" She asked, an almost sadness in her voice.

"Not... really... How did you even carry all of these here?"

She smiled and grabbed my hand, very quickly hopping on one foot over to the front window, dragging me behind her. She pointed outside. "New scooter! Now with front AND rears security cameras. Kind of overkill for a scooter, but I don't think my uncles would ever risk me having a security-free one again. It took enough begging for them to let me buy that one!"

"So no more long-distance crutching?" I smiled.

"Unless this one decides to explode, nope!"

"Please god, no more exploding vehicles, please."

"Yeah, the fire really looks like it messed up your lawn."

I stared down at her. "Obviously, the grass is what I care about."

She smiled her sweet little smile, and leaned on the window sill, looking out. "It snowed a little while you were asleep. I'm so excited for it to start sticking. I love the snow." She snickered. "Got anything YOU love, Tobe?"

Well, I guess I'd been right about Ching calling her. These two worked QUICK. "Of course. I love the snow, too." I smirked back at her. She made a cute little scrunchy-face back at me.

"Oh! Hey, I have food for you. You must be starving, go sit!" She said, as she hopped her way back to the kitchen.

"How did you manage to find time to clean my floor AND cook?" I asked, walking over to the counter to sit, as she asked.

"I didn't really, just heating this back up." She places a bowl of noodles in front of me. "Uncle Linguine asked me to bring you those."

"Wait... really? I thought your uncles wanted me dead."

"Not DEAD... Not now, at least... They trust my judgment, I think. They might want you dead, a little. But not for impromptu sleepover reasons, anymore. More like... Protective Uncle-dead."

"Somehow, I get it entirely. I think Linguine read me like a book when I brought you home that day."

"Oh, and what was that books about, do tell?" She asked, clearly already knowing the answer.

"About a grown-ass man who doesn't know what he's doing, but knows that he REALLY likes you..."

"I think I like that book. The main character is really cute." She pecked my cheek, smiling away.

"You know, you never told me what's in the other boxes. My lack of gift-receiving in my life has made me TERRIBLE at surprises." I tried to play off how red I could feel my face getting.

Pucca pointed to the steamer on the counter. "Those are pork buns that Ching made you this morning. She said you looked pale and that you needed something with a lot of iron when she saw you last night." She pointed to the boxes on the couch. "The one on the left is a couple of sticks of dango that Dada got you. The one on the right IS from me, and you have to wait!"

I was actually shocked. I genuinely thought Pucca was joking when she said they were gifts. And the envelopes... I bet those are cards...

Now all I had left to wonder is if people were warming up to me because they're actually talking to me a little bit, now, or because I saved someone they all care about. A mix of both? Who knows.

"They're good people, you know." She said so quietly, it was almost a whisper. "I know that you still aren't ready to put yourself out there in the world or anything, but, you can trust them. You don't have to, I wouldn't blame you if you didn't, honestly. But you can if you need to." She leaned down and kissed me, taking care to not bump my shoulder. "Don't feel like you have to rush into being an extroverted people-person that you aren't. I like YOU, not what you think you should be to make me happy."

"Thanks for exploding in front of my house, Pucca."

"Thanks for being HOME when I exploded in front of your house!"

We both laughed together. Thank god that she also had kind of a dark sense of humor.