Frei let him. She seemed happy.

That seemed to make Fin blush a little more, but he pretended he wasn't. "... Where now?" he asked. "Back home?"

Frei shrugged a little.

Fin blinked before shrugging back.

Frei dumped all Fin's new stuff in one of the pods before yawning a bit. It looked like she wanted to head back.

So Fin suggested that they head back.

Frei flew them back before accompanying Fin to his room. She immediately started putting some of the posters.

Fin let Frei decorate how she wanted - it didn't matter too much to him.

So Frei took out the other items and started to decorate his room further. When she was done, it did look homey-er. She when sat down on his bed and looking over his work.

Fin glanced around at everything to before nodding his head a little.

Then Frei got up and started to sort his clothing in her strange way again.

Fin sighed a little, but let Frei do her thing. As long as she didn't try to touch his underwear.

She did.

As she started to open the drawer, Fin immediately went over and shut it.

Frei blinked and then looked at Fin, confused.

"... Don't sort those," Fin explained, keeping a hand on the drawer so she couldn't open it up as he took care not to look at her.

Frei blinked again before shrugging slightly and moving on.

Fin let out a small sigh, relieved.

When she finally stepped back, appearing satisfied, the clothes appeared totally randomly organized.

Fin looked around, confused once again. But he didn't ask.

Over the next few days, Frei was absent from Fin. Something about a youtube video.

Laurel hardly spoke to anyone, staying with her animals. She only spoke to Fin occasionally and it was light chatter, nothing about the lab. She seemed to genuinely want to be his friend.

True to his word, James gave Yue total space.

Wolfe met Raven that first night but then was busy for the next two.

Rosen came back to see Long the second day, he seemed mostly back to normal though he never mentioned the shower. He dragged Long off to give the birdhouse to Laurel. Laurel was clearly passive aggressive to Raven but thanked Long sincerely for the house, reassuring him that the finches would love it. There was almost a whole flock of them now.

--

On that third day, Nic finally found a trace of Kale. He was headed inland and it looked like he had left the trail of 'bread crumbs' on purpose.

Fin treaded lightly around everyone the next few days. It still wasn't clear what Fin's opinion of Laurel was.

The morning after their argument, Yue started looking into ways to get that collar off and any other explanations she could find into why James has changed so much.

Regardless of Wolfe's busy schedule, Raven tried to keep the initial excitement around as long as possible, leaving vanilla candies and mini carrots around occasionally.

Long continued to keep mostly to himself even with his new found freedom. Rosen didn't see the ribbon again either. As he got stronger, he started getting in shape again and falling into a fairly regular, rigorous routine that probably resembled something he had been used to in the Yin Long.

Nic made an effort to check in once every day or two to keep Laurel in check. When he found the breadcrumbs, he let Wolfe know and explained their supposed purposeful intent. Somewhere in there was an implied, "Something probably happened to him, which is why he left the trail."

After Tulip had laughed for a minute or two, she smirked at Yue, "I thought you would tire of that collar pretty quickly," she announced.

Rosen soon made it a habit to break into Long's routine with other projects. When Long was just waking up, Rosen rolled into his room with racks of clothing all Long's size, "You're picking out some clothes today," he announced.

Wolfe told Nic to keep following the trail, trusting that he would handle himself.

"How do I get it off?" Yue repeated, not finding it quite as funny.

Long pulled the sheets a little tighter around himself as he blinked sleepily at Rosen. He looked like he still thought he was dreaming.

So Nic kept following the trail.

Tulip shrugged, "I'd have to blow it off. James was being a little too serious when he designed it. He really wanted you."

Rosen clapped his hands a little, "C'mon, get up!" he exclaimed before jumping on his bed.

"How much of him would be left after blowing it off?" Yue asked, face serious. "I really want the old James back."

The jostling around seemed to at least convince Long that he was awake. But he didn't seem too excited to get up.

Tulip tilted her head a little, "But you didn't trust the old James," she stated bluntly, "All you did was yell at him."

--

Rosen started tugging the blankets off of him.

"He was flirting so much with other girls, I didn't think he was serious!" Yue replied back, clearly terribly frustrated with all this. "Now that I know, I want it back the way it was."

Long tugged back, but it didn't look like he was wearing a shirt.

Tulip raised her eyebrows, "Well aren't you a piece of work," she chuckled, "You think James can just spring back to being the way he was with a snap of your fingers?"

--

Rosen chuckled, "What? You can't show a friend your chest?" he teased.

"Well, blowing that collar off is the first step, right?" Yue asked, irked.

--

Long didn't say anything, but the way he tried gathering the sheets back from Rosen said that he was uncomfortable with it.

"Sure," Tulip replied with a shrug, "But what happens if he flirts with girls again? Will you flip like you did before?"

--

Rosen rolled his eyes a little before pulling an expensive looking, look shirt from the rack and tossing it at Long. It had tiny floral details that were hardly noticeable but there.

"I did not flip," Yue snapped. "And I get that he'll flirt with other girls once it's off; I mean, he is a rock star and male. But I know for sure he's not just playing me now."

--

Long stared at it for awhile, expression neutral, before carefully slipping it on.

"Funny... that it took James going to this extreme for you to see that," Tulip mused, "I can take the collar off," she explained, "But I can't guarantee that James will be the same. He's forced himself inside the mold of the man he thought you wanted."

--

Rosen smiled, "It suites you," he nodded.

Yue was silent for awhile before replying, "I'll just be more explicit this time." Then she turned to walk off.

--

Long didn't seem to know what to think as he got out of bed, now in a nice shirt and basic sweats.

"I didn't say it could get it off safely," Tulip stated with a small giggle.

--

"Do you like it?" Rosen asked, "The material's really soft."

Yue glared back at her. "Blow his head off, and I'll blow off yours," she replied before continuing to walk off.

--

Long blinked before rubbing the material between two of his fingers.

"Touchy," Tulip giggled before going off to find James. It wasn't long after that James was looking for Yue.

--

"Like it?" Rosen pressed.

Yue was a little difficult to find. She was in the kitchen, listening to something with ear phones in as she got something to eat.

James came in and for the first time in a long time, he was pissed off. He grabbed the plate of food Yue was eat and hurled it against the wall, "Stop playing games with me!" he shouted at her.

Yue actually jumped a little, taking the ear phones out, face a little fearful. But she didn't say anything.

--

Long shrugged a little, expression still indifferent.