"You know how many major arteries go through your shoulder, right?" Pucca chimed from the kitchen. She stood over my sink doing a few dishes, a chore I basically begged her not to do. I wanted her to take it easy as much as she wanted me to.

"I feel like you already know the answer to that."

"Three." She hobbled out to where I was sitting in the living room. "That knife could have hit any of those three, you know? Do you know how lucky you got?" Pucca seemed mad all of the sudden. I had no idea where this was coming from, why it was happening, or how to stop it.

"I...uh..."

"Why didn't you move!? You could've been killed!" Her voice cut through me deeper than that knife ever could have. I couldn't say I was too surprised to already be in the dog house before we even had any kind of title to what our relationship was at this point.

"I did move."

"Yeah, right... in front of... me..." Her yelling tapered off into thought. "You moved in front of me... Why? I could've gotten out of the way!"

"COULD have. I panicked, Pucca. What if you hadn't moved? That knife would've gone straight into your-"

"Head." She finished, quietly. "Tobe, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell, I'm just a wee-bit protective, and... I was really worried."

"Pucca, you don't have to apologize, I totally understand why you're mad about it. I'm fine, in the long run, at least. It was just kind of instinct though, you know? Protect what you love, and whatnot."

"Love?" She smiled her mischievous little smile. "Ching wasn't kidding!" She said, excitedly.

Great. She DID tell her about that. And now she's making fun of me.

She hopped over to the couch and sat beside me on my un-stabbed side and grabbed the opposite side of my face with her little hand, pulling my whole head down so that she could actually reach to kiss my cheek. "You don't have to actually admit it, but that accidental use of the word is SUPER cute." She beamed, kissing my cheek a couple more times. I still couldn't figure out why Garu hated this so much, I've never felt more special in my damn life.

"You're perfect, you know that?" I asked her. She interrupted her adorable little barrage of pecks to look at me like I had just spoken I tongues. "I'm sure you hear that all the time, but-"

"Not from anyone it's ever felt so genuine from..." Her cheeks reddened. I've spent all this time trying to figure out what Pucca wanted, or how to make her happy. But I was finally figuring out that she just wanted to feel loved. Romantically, of course. She may be one of the most platonically loved people I'd ever met.

I gently grabbed the bottom of her chin and lead her lips to mine. My hand trailed down to her waist, and I slowly pulled her as close as I comfortably could at the angle we were sat. Pucca took very little time readjusting herself. In one fluid motion, she moved one leg over me, straddling my lap, never breaking the kiss.

I barely knew what I was doing. I wasn't experienced in any of this. I tried my best to do what felt right for her. I wasn't about to screw this up by getting too excited. My hand sat at her hip, the bottom of her sweater grazing my fingers.

It didn't take very long for a tender kiss to turn into a make-out session I was woefully underprepared for. This was the worst time every to only have use of one arm. I took my only free hand, and moved it to her lower back, pulling her even closer to me. I broke away from her lips and quickly moved to her soft jaw, and down to her neck. As my lips met the delicate skin on her neck, I felt her whole body shudder a bit as she let out a breathy, surprised little squeak.

That killed me. Every stupid male part of my brain wanted to just take her, right then. But I wasn't ready to go THAT far, yet... Unfortunately, Pucca could definitely tell that those thoughts were crossing my mind. She WAS sitting on my lap...

I switched to the other side of her neck, rewarding me with that same feeling of her body melting against mine. That same little sound. I kissed her skin carefully, as not to leave any marks. Her head fell back, and her body slowly became more and more fidgety. My fingers slowly found their way under her sweater, gliding across the unbelievably soft skin of her lower back and up to her waist.

She smiled as I brought my lips back to hers, and just held her close. This was a moment I never wanted to lose. It felt so unreal.

However, it did come to a rather abrupt end. A loud 'bang' sound from within the house quickly and thoroughly ruined the mood by scaring the absolute hell out of both of us.

"What, are you getting shot at now, too?" Pucca half-jokingly asked. "What was that?" I kissed her cheek and helped her off my lap.

"I have no idea, but I'm going to pretend like I do." I told her as I stood up.

"I love a man with pretend confidence." She laughed.

I could hear... something. "Do you hear that?" We both stood silently, listening. "Is something... hissing?" I asked. After a moment, she nodded.

We stood listening for the direction of the sound for a few minutes "The hell could that even... Oh, shit."

I ran over to a closet in the hallway that held my water heater and my furnace. It was the furnace. I took a moment to try to figure out exactly what that sound was.

Oh. "Hey, Pucca? Would you please go outside? And leave the door open."

"What? Why? What happened?" She hopped over to where her crutches were leaning.

"I... will explain in a minute." I said, trying desperately to remember where the stupid lever to turn the gas off was on this thing.

"Is your furnace... leaking gas...?"

"I will happily give you the answer to that question in a moment. An outside moment. Away from the gas leak."

"But, what about-"

"Pucca, please? For my sake, I'd rather know you weren't literally getting poisoned by my AIR. I'll be fine, I promise. I can just never remember where the lever thing is."

She made a very annoyed face. "Fiiiine. Just, hurry it up please. I'll be really mad if you die." She said as she made her way out the door.

Well now I had to find the damn thing fast, so I wouldn't have to get two lectures about irresponsible choices in one day.

It took about two minutes, but I finally found it. Who puts the lever to turn off GAS in the BACK? My dad, that's who. Stubborn old man... I took a moment to open a few windows throughout the house, so that we wouldn't be stuck outside forever.

I walked out the front door to find a very concerned-looking Pucca. Her concern switched right back to light annoyance pretty quickly upon seeing me. "Find it?"

"Yeah, my dad installed the stupid thing at such a weird angle." I was feeling a little light-headed, so I sat on the ground beside where she stood. "You feel alright? Carbon monoxide can be a bitch."

"I feel fine, do YOU feel okay?" She asked, crouching down to me. "And do NOT say that you're 'used to it' or you're moving to town."

"No, but I'll be good after I sit out here for a few minutes I think. That shit makes you feel awful FAST..."

"No kidding... How on earth did it just break like that?"

"It's really old. And I'm not the best at getting things like that inspected." I laid down on my back, as sitting up was making me a little nauseous. "Why'd this have to happen when it's literally snowing? It won't be replaced for weeks..."

"We won't let you freeze to death, we'll figure something out..." She said quietly, now fully sitting next to me, hand relaxed on top of my head, stroking my hair with her thumb. "This isn't your week, is it...?"

"I've had worse weeks. I'm selfish really glad you've been here."

"Me too." She smiled and kissed my forehead. "There's no one I'd rather be freezing my ass off with.