Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Lio woke, as he always did, with the sun. This wasn’t due to any special effort on his part, nor did he happen to have a finely tuned internal clock; all this meant was that Lio’s bedroom had an east-facing window in his apartment at the Burnish compound. He woke each morning when the sun broke the horizon, slipping its long, golden fingers through the cracks in the blinds. Sometimes there was an urge to ignore the light and stay under the covers for a little longer, but the undecorated white walls of his room would amplify the brightness and annoy him out of bed all the same.

After making himself presentable for the day, Lio left his apartment and headed towards the canteen. His footsteps echoed in the long, quiet stretches of hallway, but the emptiness of the building felt like a blessing. It had been a year since the rift had been sealed; a year since the Burnish had started to reintegrate with the rest of society. Back then, this place had been overflowing with Burnish who had been freed from Kray’s prison, but who no longer had homes to return to. The compound itself was an old military base, obsolete and abandoned on the outskirts of the city. It had fallen into disuse after the Great World Blaze, having been deemed not fireproof enough to withstand a Burnish attack, but there was nothing actually wrong with the building itself. Now, there were less than a dozen families inhabiting the compound and they would all be moving into permanent housing by the end of the month.

Lio heard voices raised in laughter as he approached the canteen. Just as he was wondering who else would bother to get up this early-- except for Helen, the retired meteorologist and full-time busybody who insisted on making her own coffee-- Lio rounded the corner and was greeted by a familiar shock of blue hair.

“Lio!” Galo yelled at a volume that was inappropriate for seven in the morning, his voice reverberating in the spacious room. He quickly abandoned his conversation partner (sorry, Helen) in favor of bounding across the room to meet Lio. His uniform was absent and he was dressed casually in a sweatshirt and jeans, his sneakers squeaking on the floor as he skidded to a stop. “Lio! Good morning! Do you know what day it is? I brought you coffee!”

“Good morning, Galo,” Lio said, pointedly using his inside-voice, but then Galo pushed a paper coffee cup into his hand. “Oh, thank you. Hey, is this from--”

“That cafe you like that puts cinnamon in the coffee! I asked them to put extra cinnamon in it, just for you. Like, a ton.” Galo winked extravagantly, looking very pleased with himself and bouncing slightly on his heels.

“That’s not really how that works, but I appreciate the thought.” Lio eyed the coffee suspiciously, but Galo was still watching expectantly so he took a cautious sip. He had been fearing an onslaught of cinnamon, but it tasted like it normally did. Lio silently thanked the barista who had had the good sense to ignore Galo’s request. “It’s good.”

“Great! Do you know what today is?”

“Uh, Tuesday?”

“No! I mean, yes, but--” Galo sucked in a breath and his cheeks colored before blurting out-- “It’s our one-year! Happy anniversary!”

Across the canteen, Helen choked on her coffee. Lio leaned to the side, peering around Galo to check on her. “Alright there, Helen?”

Helen nodded and waved her hand in dismissal, even though she was still coughing. “D-Don’t you mind lil’ old me! Carry on.”

“Right.” Lio turned towards the exit and motioned for Galo to follow him. “Come on, let’s get you away from the town gossip. Whenever you two talk, you become a river powering a rumor mill.”

“I’m forecasting some light over-the-pants action,” a sing-song voice called after them.

“That’s not weather, Helen!” Lio snapped while Galo unhelpfully yelled back, “My pants are always ready for action!”

Lio grabbed Galo’s wrist and pulled him out of the canteen. He lead them outside, across the red dust-covered parking lot, to the edge of the road where Galo had left his motorbike parked. If Lio looked to the right, he could see where the road fed back into the skyline of Promepolis. If he looked to the left, he could see the long stretch of land where the desert began in earnest, leading all the way out to the mountains on the horizon. Lio slouched against one of the large, red rocks that edged the parking lot, blinking in the morning light.

“Okay, I’ll bite. What makes today our… anniversary?” Lio wrapped his hands around the paper cup, savoring its warmth. The sun hadn’t yet chased away all of the cool night air and he wished he had thought to grab a jacket.

Galo shuffled his feet in the dirt, looking put out that Lio wasn’t as excited as he was. “One year ago today is when we met. Don’t you remember? I arrested you and everything.”

“Only because I let you arrest me,” Lio smirked. He stuck his foot out and kicked harmlessly at Galo’s shoe. “So, you want to celebrate us being friends for a year?”

“Yeah, exactly!” Galo swung right back into overexcited puppy mode, his eyes lighting up. “A friendship celebration! A friend-iversary!”

Lio hummed thoughtfully and took a long drink. “Shouldn’t our anniversary be a week from now? When we piloted the Lio de Galon?”

“No, I knew when we met that we were gonna be friends.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yeah, really!” Galo nodded emphatically, a grin stretching across his face. “Not everyone can kick my ass as well as you can, y’know? You beat the hell outta me, so I knew right away that we had a connection.”

Lio laughed, feeling lighter than he had in days. It was too ridiculous to admit out loud, but Lio also thought that they shared a connection. It wasn’t anything like the bonds he felt with the Burnish, but it was strong in a way that he couldn’t explain. Maybe it had something to do with closing a rift in space-time while piloting a mecha together. “Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Okay.” Lio shrugged nonchalantly, but a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. “It sounds like fun. Let’s have a friend-iversary.”

Galo let out a whoop and jumped off the ground, punching his fist into the air. “Awesome! What do you wanna do first?”

“Of course you came without a plan.”

“My plan is to have a great day with you, duh.” Galo rolled his eyes in amusement. “Are you ready to go? Do you need a jacket? You can have mine.”

And before Lio could say anything, Galo was already yanking his own sweatshirt over his head and handing it to him.

"Thank you, but I can just run up to my room and--" Lio paused to consider Helen, who was probably still lingering around the entryway with her hearing aids turned all the way up. "Never mind, this is good."

Lio chugged the rest of his coffee and pulled on the oversized sweatshirt. It fell all the way to mid-thigh and he had to roll the sleeves several times so that he could use his hands, but it was still warm and smelled like Galo's shampoo.

"Ready?" Galo handed him the spare helmet.

"Do you know where we're going?"

Galo made an 'I don't know' sound and slung one leg over the seat of the motorbike. "Kinda wanted to drive around for a bit. Let me know if you see something good and we'll stop."

Lio thought that Galo himself looked good in his black t-shirt and stonewashed jeans. He put the helmet on, hiding his blush. "Lead the way."

Galo-- who repeatedly insisted that his bike was an all-terrain vehicle thanks to some upgrades from Lucia, even though Lio had his doubts-- took them on a winding path along the edge of the desert. He was careful to avoid areas where the sand became too soft ("Is sand not a terrain?" "Sand doesn't count!"), sticking close to the hard-packed clay in the shade of the high, red cliffs that jutted out above them. Lio idly watched the dusty landscape pass by, keeping his arms wrapped securely around Galo's waist. He still felt tired and was tempted to rest his head on Galo's back.

"You alright?" Galo's voice whispered in Lio's ear via the helmet's intercom.

Lio sat up straight. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Kinda quiet today."

"I'm just lost in thought," Lio teased him, "Remembering all the adventures we've had together."

"Liar," Galo said, but Lio could hear the smile in his voice.

They left the desert and Galo took them to a dirt road that lead up into the mountains. As the sand gave way to soil, the vegetation changed from rough, spiny plants into lush, green shrubbery. Soon they were encased in trees as well and Lio sighed with relief. The bright desert sunshine had been starting to strain his eyes, even through the visor.

They sped through the woods for another hour, navigating solely on Galo’s whim. Lio thought that he recognized one area of the forest, but when they came to a familiar fork in the road Galo took them right instead of left. "Doesn't the other way lead to the not-lake?"

"We're not going to the not-lake. Too many people there anyway, since all those scientists are still trying to dig up Doctor P's lab."

"Since when are you not a people person?"

"Hey, I'm always a people person." Galo revved the engine and took them a little faster up a steep incline. Lio held on tighter, his chest pressed to Galo's back.

As they went higher up the mountain, the road became significantly bumpier. Once the path had become more tree root than dirt, Galo pulled off to the side and parked in the shade of a giant oak. He yanked the helmet off his head with a happy exclamation and shook out his blue mohawk.

"Whew! I know you're all gung-ho about motorcycle safety, but this helmet really puts a damper on my burning biker soul." Galo used his fingers to make air quotes when he said 'motorcycle safety.' “Everyone knows that motorcycles aren’t safe. That’s part of what makes them so awesome.”

Lio took off his own helmet and tolerated Galo's hands fluffing up his flattened hair. "I know you only have one brain cell rattling around in that skull, but I'd like to keep it intact."

Once Galo had finished fluffing Lio's hair to his satisfaction, they left the bike where it was and wandered through the woods. They pointed out cool-looking trees and interesting plants to each other (Galo was especially good at picking out poisonous plants, thanks to personal experience). After they had been wandering for a while, Galo started trying to identify the different animal-made holes and burrows they passed by, while Lio collected fallen tree nuts in the pocket of the sweatshirt.

"And this one... belongs to a snake!" Galo said confidently, pointing at yet another innocuous hole in the ground.

Lio crouched next to Galo and eyed it curiously. "What kind of snake?"

"Python!"

"Are pythons native to this area?"

"Maybe!"

Lio snorted a laugh and Galo watched him, smiling.

When they were ready for a break, they sat on a log at the top of a slope and threw the tree nuts back into the woods. They made up a game, creating random targets to aim at (a branch, a rock, a clump of leaves) and awarded arbitrary points based on how cool someone's throw was. After Lio's pocket was empty again, they sat in silence for a while, simply enjoying each other's company and the ambiance of the woods. Lio especially liked the sound of leaves rustling in the wind; if he closed his eyes, it was almost like the crackling of a fire.

"You hungry?" Galo asked, trying to glance at the sun through the trees. "I know you usually don't eat breakfast, but it's getting close to lunch now."

"So, you're hungry."

"Nah, I got breakfast pizza in the bike. You want some?"

"I'm sorry, you have what?"

"Breakfast pizza! I put a few slices in a freezer bag to bring with me."

"I'll pass."

Galo didn't push the issue, shrugging like it was inevitable that Lio would come around to breakfast pizza. "Do you wanna talk about what's bothering you?"

"Nothing's--" Lio stopped short at the look on Galo's face. It was an unspoken rule that they didn't lie to each other, but Lio didn't think that using Galo as a sounding board would be any more productive. "No, I don't want to talk about it."

"Okay. I'm here when you want someone to listen."

"I... yeah. Thanks, Galo."

Galo scooted closer on the log so that their legs knocked together. Lio pushed his knee into Galo’s thigh in protest, but then neither of them moved away.

“Do you know how to get back to the city from here? I know we’re southeast of it, but that’s all.”

“I grew up in Promepolis, so I know these woods pretty well. I haven’t gotten really lost out here since I was a kid.” Galo picked up a pine cone and lobbed it down the slope with a ‘whoosh’ sound. It struck the trunk of a tree and bounced out of sight. “Every year, I push myself to explore even further. That’s how I ended up finding that huge frozen lake, so I guess it was useful for something. But didn’t you used to be out in the woods a lot, too?”

“Well, yeah, but I used the Promare to fly. It’s harder to tell where I am when I’m on the ground.” Lio noticed that Galo was staring wide-eyed at him. “What?”

“You’re so cool.”

“Shut up.” Lio stood up and started to wander down the slope. He heard Galo get up and follow, close behind.

“So, you’re not from Promepolis, right? Where’re you from?”

Lio gave him a small, dubious glance over his shoulder. He had thought that not asking about each other’s tragic backstories was also an unspoken rule, but apparently not. “A little bit of all over. As a Burnish, it was easier not to get caught if I kept moving.”

“Do you have a hometown?”

“I do.”

“Do you ever go back and visit?”

“I can’t.”

“Oh.” Galo stopped walking. Lio stopped too, sensing that he had upset him.

“I wouldn’t want to go back anyway, even if I could.” He tried to amend the situation, but that just seemed to make Galo’s reaction worse.

“Lio, do you… not have a home?” Galo looked so utterly horrified by the idea that Lio had to stifle a laugh.

“Of course I have a home. Where do you think you talked to Helen this morning?”

“That’s not--!” Galo was cut off by a flock of small, gray birds that suddenly burst into flight from a nearby tree, startled by the noise. He stepped closer to Lio, going farther down the slope so that he wasn’t towering over him, and lowered his voice. “Listen, I know you said that you were going to stay at the compound until every last Burnish moved out, but... I know that you weren’t on the final housing roster.”

Lio narrowed his eyes. That didn’t seem like information that Galo would go looking for on his own. “Who told you that?”

“You’re not just gonna stay at the compound, are you?” When Lio didn’t say anything, an even more terrible thought occurred to Galo. “Are you… leaving?”

“I haven’t decided.” Lio sighed. “I said I didn’t want to talk about it.”

“But it’s soon. The last apartment building is gonna be done in like three weeks!” Galo was scandalized. He turned to Lio suddenly, his face falling. “Why didn’t you tell me you were thinking about leaving?”

“Because I thought you would only offer me a biased point of view.” Lio winced at his own words. “I’m sorry. You’re right, I should have told you.”

Galo let out a heavy sigh and slung an arm around Lio’s shoulders. “I never thought that you telling me I’m right about something would make me so sad.”

They stood together quietly like that for a few minutes, until Lio couldn’t stand it anymore. He shrugged Galo off and started walking back the way they had come. “C’mon, let’s get you some breakfast pizza.”

As Galo had sagaciously predicted, Lio came around to breakfast pizza. They sat underneath the large oak and chewed on the cold slices. Galo seemed to have run out of small talk and he kept shooting concerned looks over at Lio, who still wasn’t ready to talk but knew that he had to. When they had both finished eating, he took his cue to begin.

"Promepolis was never meant to be permanent,” Lio said carefully. “I didn't mean to stay here for so long. After I left my hometown, I traveled through the desert and helped to liberate and establish Burnish communities. Building shelters, setting up supply lines, fighting off the local law enforcement, that kind of thing.”

“Heh,” Galo chuckled. "So cool."

"Shut up." Lio bit back a smile. "Then I met you and everything went to hell."

“Hell and back!” Galo grinned, but then he quickly sobered. "Lio, I've never met anyone like you. I just-- I feel like we've built so much together in the past year, both literally and imaginatively--"

"Figuratively."

“Yeah, that! See, you've always got my back.”

“It’s just vocabulary.”

“But you never make me feel stupid about it.”

Lio blinked at him in surprise. “I call you an idiot all the time.”

“I know you don’t mean it. Or, you do mean it but in a nice way?” Galo scratched at the shorn hair on the side of his head and furrowed his brow thoughtfully. “Anyway, I just... I think that we could keep building a lot more together, y'know?"

Sometimes, Lio thought that looking at Galo for too long hurt the same way as staring into the sun. "Like what?"

Galo grabbed Lio's hands with both of his own, his eyes sparkling. "Like a rec center! Listen, I've been throwing some ideas around with the rest of the team, and I think that what this city needs is more fun. There's that empty lot down on 5th-- well, I mean it's not empty, it's full of junk, so we would clean that out first and--"

"Galo," Lio interrupted him, tugging his hands out of Galo's warm but clinging grasp, "That sounds like a nice plan, but i definitely think you could accomplish that without me."

"Yeah, but it wouldn't be as cool." Galo pouted, but only for a moment. He leaned forward into Lio's space again, a familiar grin overtaking his face, full of ambition and Galo's personal brand of relentless determination. "All I have to do is change your mind, right?"

Lio leaned away as Galo came closer. "Excuse me?"

Galo stood up and planted a foot on the knot of an exposed root. He put one hand on his waist and the other pointed at Lio. "Mark my words, Lio Fotia, for my word is my bond! I will change your mind about Promepolis and you'll see that it's a city worth living in."

Lio smiled and stood as well. He pat Galo's bicep fondly, then turned away from the sun and started back towards the bike, his expression masked by the shade. "I'll look forward to it."

Chapter Text

Aina startled awake to a loud, incessant screeching. Ever since she had joined Burning Rescue, the only sound that could drag her out of bed was a siren call, so she had it set to play as her phone alarm as well. She groggily stretched her hand out from under the blankets and slapped around on the nightstand until she found her phone, which she promptly swept onto the floor. The phone hit the carpet of her bedroom and the wailing stopped. Aina blinked groggily at the ceiling, where a poster of a famous boy band that she had pasted up five years ago smiled back down at her. She sighed at it.

"Gotta get rid of that thing," Aina grumbled. She threw off the covers and swung her legs out of bed.

The apartment was quieter than she remembered and the absence of sound weighed on her as she went about her morning routine. The kitchen and bathroom were both just as clean as she had left them the night before, which meant that Heris had slept at the office again.

"Why do I even bother coming home on my off days if you're not going to be here?" Aina sighed and arranged her eggs and bacon into a smile on her plate. It made her feel slightly better.

Aina left for work earlier than she needed to and she took her motorbike on a roundabout path through the city. The rest of the world was waking up with her and sometimes people on the sidewalks would wave to her. She waved back, not recognizing all of them, but Burning Rescue had reached local celebrity status over the past year. Summer was coming to an end and the trees were at their greenest, so she made a detour by one of her favorite parks. The recovery project was going well and daily life had returned to something resembling normalcy, save for the several city blocks that had been decimated by the ship and were still quarantined off. The citizens who had lived in the affected area had all been relocated, along with the Burnish. New apartment buildings and housing complexes had sprung up around the city. It was a tight fit, but Heris had been hinting at plans to utilize terraforming technology to expand the city into the desert.

Aina arrived at Burning Rescue and parked her bike in the garage. One of the trucks was gone-- probably out on site of whatever that day's community project was-- and she paused to give her helicopter a reassuring pat before going into the station.

"Good morning, everyone!"

"Good morning, Aina!" Galo was the first to greet her, but then he put his face right back in his breakfast. He and Lucia were the only ones out in the common area and they were both seated at the kitchen table with cereal bowls in front of them. However, there wasn't any cereal in sight and instead an ice cream carton and a small carafe of coffee sat on the table. Aina came closer and peered curiously over Galo's shoulder.

"Are you two eating ice cream for breakfast?”

“It’s an affogato,” Lucia clarified, swinging her legs back and forth.

“Meaning?”

“Means there's ice cream and coffee!” Galo resurfaced briefly to say.

“Galo, please give me a little more credit. It’s gelato.” Lucia waved a spoon at Aina in what was meant to be an alluring manner, but was actually vaguely threatening. Vinny, sitting on her shoulder, squeaked his approval. "Want some? There’s a little espresso left."

"Sure, why not?" Aina plucked a clean bowl from the drying rack and took a seat between the two of them.

"Is that all you're gonna eat?" Galo asked as he watched Aina scoop out a small portion of gelato, as though the issue with her breakfast was somehow the quantity and not the quality.

"I already ate real breakfast."

"Oh, me too! This is breakfast number three."

"Don’t you have an afternoon shift for neighborhood revitalization?” Aina held her bowl out to Lucia, who dumped the last of the espresso into it. Small wisps of steam rose as it started to melt the gelato. "You’ll make yourself sick."

"Remi said that someone with my freaking metabolism doesn't have to watch what I eat. Except he didn't say 'freaking.'"

Aina and Lucia shared a look, then she started to dig into her affogato. "This is pretty good!”

"I'm always happy to over-caffeinate my comrades." Lucia stretched her arms over her head, then pushed her chair back from the table to stand. "I'll be in the truck if you need me."

“Thanks, Lucia!”

Soon after Lucia left, Galo put his hand on the gelato carton but Aina smacked him with her spoon.

"Hey!"

"Hey, yourself! I don't care what Remi told you, you will absolutely make yourself sick if you keep eating." Aina got up to put the carton back in the freezer and returned with a glass of water that she placed in front of Galo. "Hydrate yourself."

Galo drank the water without complaint while Aina worked on her breakfast ice cream. He got about halfway through his glass before setting it down, his expression unusually pensive. "Aina, what makes a place a home?"

Aina paused with her spoon in midair as she considered the question. "I think a home is a little different for everyone. For me, a home is where my family is."

"So, your home is with your sister?"

"Yes, but it's also here," Aina tapped the table and smiled, "Burning Rescue is part of my family."

"Me too!" Galo grinned back at her. "I think that the station-- no, the whole city is my home!"

"You do know a lot of people. That's a pretty big family you've got."

"Yeah, I think I'm pretty lucky to have so many people in my life." Galo's smile slipped into a frown. "How do you help someone find a home?"

"Well, that's kind of what we've been doing for the past year." Aina scraped the sides of the bowl with her spoon. "But that's not what you mean, is it?"

"Mmnngghhk."

"What kind of noise is that?"

"It's... I don't know if I'm supposed to say." Galo grabbed a napkin and started to slowly shred it. "I’m not sure if it's a secret, but I also think it's something I can’t solve on my own."

Aha, Aina thought as she watched Galo tear a tiny pile of snow into existence, There's only one person who can make Galo spin his wheels like this.

"Is this about Lio?"

"Nnnnn- yes."

"You asked him about the housing roster?"

"Lio said he's thinking about leaving," Galo said in a rush, "And I don't want him to, so I have to find him a home and make him want to stay."

Aina pushed her foot against the table, propping her chair back on two legs. She rocked back and forth, thinking. "Have you tried just asking him to stay?"

"I did! I told him about all the cool stuff we could do--"

"Nuh-uh," Aina wagged a finger at him. "Did you say 'Lio, please stay in Promepolis?'"

Galo stared at her, uncomprehending. "Just... ask him to stay?"

Aina nodded. "Have you considered that maybe he's waiting for you to ask him?"

The idea was so absurd that Galo snorted a laugh. "Lio does whatever he wants. He doesn't need an invitation."

There was a prolonged silence, during which Aina sent up a prayer to whatever merciful gods might be watching.

"Sometimes, Galo," Aina said slowly, "People liked to be asked things. You should ask him to stay. Not for the Burnish, not for the city, but for you."

"For me?"

"Yes."

"Ask Lio to stay, for me," Galo repeated slowly, feeling the shape of the words in his mouth. He grimaced and shook his head. "I can't do that."

"Why not?"

"I can't ask for something that selfish! Not from Lio, not from anyone."

Aina sighed and slumped forward, letting the chair legs bang back down onto the floor. "Your funeral, dude."

Gueira took off his gloves and rubbed the back of his hand across his brow. They had been building planter boxes for the community garden for the better part of the morning and his muscles were starting to strain. He surveyed the area while he rested, making sure that the other dozen or so volunteers were still on track with their work. It was mostly the Burnish who turned up for these kinds of events, but Gueira was also pleased to spot some new faces in the mix. Having decided that all was well, he tried to catch Meis’s attention but his friend was still dutifully cutting pieces of plywood with a handsaw. Gueira tried making faces at Meis-- sticking out his tongue, rolling his eyes back into his head-- and when that didn’t work he went for a more direct route: “Psst!”

Meis stopped sawing and raised an eyebrow at him. He watched Gueira make a series of gestures; tugging on his ear twice, making a triangle with his index fingers and thumbs, then opening and closing one hand to mimic a mouth. Meis nodded and put down the handsaw. He responded by putting his palms together and opening and closing them, using his pinkies as a hinge. Gueira shook his head, but Meis only nodded and flapped his hands faster.

“You guys do know that I can see you, right?” Lio had been working on nailing one of the boxes together, but stopped when he had the uncanny sense that he was being talked about. He was proven right when Gueira and Meis seemed to silently consult each other before responding.

It was Gueira who bit the bullet. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but we think you need a hobby.”

Lio frowned. “I have a hobby.”

“Brooding isn’t a hobby.”

“I’m gardening right now.”

“Not really,” Meis said with a slow roll of his shoulders. “You’re just nailing stuff together. A hobby should be something you like.”

Lio’s frown deepened. “I like building things. Doesn’t that count as a hobby?”

“Well...”

Gueira put up a hand, cutting him off. “No, it doesn’t!”

“I mean, if he likes it...”

“Meis!” Gueira hissed, “We have to present a united front.”

“Oh, right.”

"Why are you two suddenly so concerned with how I spend my time?" Lio watched Gueira and Meis have another silent exchange and he wished very badly that he still had the ability to light their shoes on fire. (Well, technically he still could, but it would take longer and have more consequences now.)

It was Meis who answered this time. "I've been taking computer classes at the library. Learning how to code, so that's pretty cool. And Gueira has been dating--"

"She isn't a hobby!" Gueira's cheeks burned. "But, uh, I joined a basketball team. Nothing fancy, just something to do on the weekend. And yeah, we're worried because you don't seem to have any interests outside of the rebuild."

"Except for hanging out with Galo," Meis added.

"Galo isn't a hobby, he's a friend." Lio's tone became clipped and he picked the hammer back up. If he couldn’t burn things, then at least he could channel his aggression into something productive. "And I don't know why this has become an issue."

"Lio, when was the last time you did something fun?"

Lio remembered walking through the trees with Galo; the peace he felt when it was just the two of them, the dappled sunlight sparkling in Galo's hair and eyes. "I went to the forest a few days ago."

"With Galo, right?"

Lio ignored them and went back to hammering, but his silence was answer enough. After Gueira and Meis seemed to take the hint and started to work again, he finally relented. "Okay, fine. I'll find... something."

Lio also ignored their celebratory fist bump.

Soon after, someone called for a lunch break and brown bagged lunches consisting of sandwiches and juice boxes were distributed. The volunteers left the sunny work area, moving into the shade while they ate, or heading to the plaza at the garden entrance where there were vending machines and a mounted TV. Lio watched Gueira chat amiably with one of the women who was handing out food.

“Yeah, I can’t believe that Florida Man got a girlfriend either,” Meis said as he fell into step with Lio. Doing regular perimeter checks was a habit that neither of them had been able to break, so they ate while they walked along the edge of the garden property. “No one would date Gueira if they knew about that foot fungus he got last summer.”

“Is that her?”

“Nah, he hasn’t brought her around yet.”

“Because you keep bringing up the foot fungus story?”

“Probably.”

A sudden clamor caught their attention. Lio half-hoped that it was just a group of children playing, but then he picked out distinctly masculine voices raised in anger. He looked around for the source and saw that there was a crowd gathering in the plaza. Lio dropped his lunch and started towards them, first walking and then breaking into a run. Meis and Gueira followed at his heels.

One of the volunteers was arguing with a man that Lio didn’t recognize and they had attracted a crowd of onlookers. At their feet was an empty paint can that had been repurposed as a collection tin. It was tipped onto its side, coins and bills spilled out onto the ground. Lio approached them and touched the volunteers shoulder, first confirming that he was unharmed, before stepping between them. The stranger he was arguing with towered over him, but the novelty of height had never done much to impress Lio.

“So you’re the one in charge,” the man sneered. “Got bored with arson, so now you’re robbing people! You can’t charge citizens to use their own fucking park.”

"The garden is for everyone," Lio said coolly, keeping his voice low and calm. "If you’d like to use it, all we ask is a small donation for the upkeep."

"I'm not paying for this! This is public property! You Burnish assholes can't just keep taking over every goddamn--"

"This area has been designated as a community garden and we have the appropriate permits. We--"

A flicker of movement at the edge of Lio's vision caught his attention. He snapped his hand into the air, just in time to catch a fist-sized rock that would have struck his temple. He lowered his arm and let it fall from his hand, all without breaking eye contact. Gueira and Meis tensed behind him, ready to retaliate, but Lio discretely motioned for them to stand down. Whoever had thrown it was hidden among the crowd and there would be no way to bring them out without causing more of a disturbance.

"We have just as much right to be here as any of you. Look, it's just a garden. We don't want trouble."

"You Burnish should have thought about that before--"

"...the man of the movement himself, Galo Thymos!"

At the sound of Galo’s name, Lio’s eyes went automatically to the TV mounted above the vending machines. It was a news broadcast and Galo was featured at the front of a suburban neighborhood in his natural state: shirtless, sweaty, and dirt-streaked. His face and chest were flushed with exertion, but he smiled and winked at the camera.

"Tell us, Galo,” the reporter asked, “What's it like to work alongside Lio Fotia, the renowned leader of the former terrorist arson gang, Mad Burnish?"

The broadcast had caught the attention of the stranger as well and he smirked, as though some great truth were about to be revealed by Promepolis’ favorite local hero.

It was a loaded question, but Galo took it in stride. "It's pretty cool! Lio's an awesome guy, he helped me save the world, after all. He's really good at building stuff and bringing people together, which is great because that's mostly what we're doing here." He laughed and gestured to the neighborhood behind him. The camera panned to show a street full of Burning Rescue volunteers; patching roofs, fixing mailboxes, and installing box gardens.

Galo’s good humor was contagious and the reporter smiled too. "That’s wonderful! You’re usually seen as the face of the recovery effort--”

“I can’t complain about that!”

“Neither can I!” The reporter tittered and Lio had a dark thought. “Would you say that the two of you have actually had an equal partnership in this project?"

"Definitely! Lio's amazing and I couldn’t have done this without him. He’s been a huge support-- not just for me, but for everyone involved. It’s thanks to his hard work that we’re able to build a future here, together." Galo smiled at the camera again and Lio felt something like pride swell in his chest. "He's the best partner I've ever had!"

"Oh!" The reporter said, a note of surprise in their voice. "You two are partners? Together?"

Oh no. Lio stared at the screen, the warm feeling in his chest bursting like a balloon as it was overcome by a prickling sense of dread. No, please no, Galo, please sense the tone--

"Yup! Lio and I have shared a connection ever since he hit me in the face with his motorcycle," Galo answered, beautiful and oblivious as ever. "We just celebrated our anniversary."

On the surface, Lio was a calm and placid lake of a man. Internally, he was shrieking at full-volume.

"Thanks for stopping by, but I've gotta run!" Galo pointed in the direction of a forklift that a volunteer had accidentally wedged next to a utility box. He yelled over his shoulder as he sprinted away, “Don’t forget to donate to the new community garden on Central Avenue!”

The reporter wrapped up their segment and cut to commercial. The plaza was silent except for the cat food jingle playing on the TV.

Lio would have been a calm and placid lake of a man, if only his face weren’t as red as a firetruck.

The stranger cleared his throat awkwardly. “Well…” He cleared his throat again and took out his wallet. “Maybe I misjudged you.”

Lio nodded, in a daze, as the man handed him money and left. As the crowd dispersed, a few other people opened their wallets as well. Lio came back to himself as they finished cleaning up the spilled collection tin. Once they were alone again, he looked slowly between Meis and Gueira. “What the fuck just happened?”

“Awkwardness as a tension diffuser,” Meis said approvingly, “We’ll have to remember that one for later.”

“Boss, I think your boyfriend just outed you,” Gueira said, looking far too pleased.

“He’s not--!” Lio rubbed his hands over his face and through his hair. “Fucking-! HhrraARGh!” Lio kicked one of the vending machines. It tilted dangerously before rocking back into place. “Godfuckit, Galo!”

“Lio, your phone.”

Lio hadn’t even heard it. He scrambled to get his cell out of his pocket, hoping that it was somehow Galo so that he could start yelling at him immediately.

It was a text from Heris: Need to speak w you and Galo. Meet at my office in one hour.

Chapter Text

It took Lio the better part of an hour to get across town. The new city capitol was on the other side of the sectioned-off crash site of the Parnassus, which encompassed several miles of city block. While Lio stood on the bus and endured the realities of public transportation, he daydreamed about using his fire to simply fly over the rubble.

The capitol building was a dull monolith of concrete and glass. It had gone up rather quickly and lacked the architectural forethought of Kray’s government office, leaving it rather plain and generic looking. If it weren’t for the seal of the city etched into the glass of the front doors, it would have been almost indistinguishable from the other buildings surrounding it. Its one redeeming feature was the flower garden, full and bright with summer blooms, that encompassed almost the entire area surrounding the building. When Lio stepped off the bus, the first thing he did was take a deep breath to fill his lungs with the sweet, floral scent. He took a winding path through the garden and it eased his mood a little to pass under a row of trellises that were heavy with some kind of fragrant white flower.

Lio was expected, so the pair of security officers stationed at the door waved him through. As he passed through the lobby, he noticed that at least one of the televisions in the waiting area was tuned to the same channel as the one that had shown Galo’s interview. It flustered him to think of it, so Lio picked up his pace to the elevator.

Heris’s office was, predictably, on the top floor. It was a large, spacious area encased by glass on all sides, except for the wall with the elevator from which Lio emerged. Although Heris was the only one there at the moment, it was a space that she shared with several people and Lio passed by six other desks before coming to hers at the end.

“I wasn’t sure if you would come. I’m glad you did.” Heris closed whatever program she had been working on and moved a large stack of papers to the other end of her desk, giving Lio her full attention.

“Where is everyone? They finally get sick of you?”

“Downstairs,” Heris pointed in the general direction with her pen, “It’s Marnie’s birthday.”

“And you weren’t invited.” Lio pulled up a chair and slumped in it, spreading his knees as far apart as the armrests would allow.

“I wanted to have this conversation in relative privacy.” Heris checked her watch. “Do you know where Galo is?”

“I’m not his keeper,” Lio snapped. “You’ll be lucky if he does show. He never checks his phone on a work site.”

“Maybe he would pick up if you were the one to call?”

“Why? Galo and I never call each other. We text sometimes, but I kind of hate having a phone.”

“What? Then how do you plan for things?”

“If it’s related to the recovery or Burning Rescue, then Meis lets me know about it.”

“But,” Heris squinted at Lio like she was trying to fill in a diagram of the Krebs cycle, “What about social events?”

Lio shrugged. “When Galo wants to hang out, he shows up. Oh, but I’m going to murder him as soon as we’re done here. If you have anything you’d like to say to him before his untimely death, now is the time.”

“I saw the interview. I take it you weren’t quite ready to go public.” Heris smiled sympathetically.

“‘Ready to go--’ No!” Lio closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose in a fruitless attempt to stave off a headache. “Is everyone high today? Am I high? Is this what a nervous breakdown feels like?”

“Wait,” Heris frowned, “Are you two not dating?”

“It was a friend-iversary!” Lio let out a sigh so deeply felt that he hoped he might black out from the lack of oxygen. No such luck. Though, he let his head loll onto the back of the chair, surrendering himself to gravity. “Galo and I are not dating. Not that anyone fucking cares.”

Heris steepled her fingers. “Well... I’ll admit I wasn’t anticipating that. But since that’s the case, I’m glad that I have the opportunity to talk to you first.”

“About what?”

“I have a proposition for you and Galo. I want to capitalize on your relationship in order to ease anti-Burnish tensions.”

Lio cracked one tired eye open at her. “What?”

“In order to promote a sense of community and combat the animosity that--”

“Say it plainly or I’m leaving. Ten words or less.”

Heris took a steadying breath. “I want to publicize your relationship with Galo. If you two pretend to date, it would have a significant impact on public thought regarding the Burnish.”

“That’s way more than--” Lio’s eyes snapped open. He sat up straight in the chair, staring at Heris in abject horror. Then, he got to his feet and turned to leave.

“Lio, please hear me out!”

“No, you listen!” Lio reared back around to snarl at her. “You sit up here in your fucking office and you think you can just-- what, manipulate people like Kray did? I know you needed a career change, since you’re such a fucking failure of a scientist, but you’re even more pathetic as a government official.”

Heris remained silent, but unflinching, while Lio ranted. “Are you done?”

“For now.”

Heris stood up and stepped around her chair so that she could open a door in the glass wall behind her. “I’m going to have a smoke. Join me?”

"I... yeah, sure." Lio jammed his fists into the pockets of his jacket and reluctantly followed her out onto the balcony. Part of him still wanted very badly to storm out of the building but another, smaller part of him might have felt slightly bad about yelling at Heris. Besides, he was no longer in a position where he could afford to keep burning bridges, especially if he wanted to stay in Promepolis.

Do I want to stay?

It was windy on the balcony and Heris flicked her lighter several times without getting the flame to catch. Lio rolled his eyes and snatched the lighter away from her, letting Heris cup her hands as a shield around the end of her cigarette while he lit it.

"Thanks," Heris said with a smoky exhale.

"Aina is going to kill you when she finds out."

Heris laughed bitterly and took another long drag. "I'm not at home often enough for her to catch me."

"Isn’t a lack of communication what caused the distance between you two in the first place?"

"Geeze, you're really not pulling your punches today.” Heris sighed and leaned forward onto the railing. "I know very well that I'm not suited for politics or leadership, but after I let myself stray so far from my path… I don’t know if I could ever return to my research, now that I was almost single-handedly responsible for a genocide. At the very least, I know that I’m protecting the right people this time.”

“And enjoying the power that comes with it?” Lio eyed her critically.

“You mean the beautiful view from this office?” Heris smirked and pointed her cigarette in the direction of the crash site. “Yes, after Kray was arrested and the Freeze Force was forcibly disbanded, I took control. After his biggest supporters fled the city when the rioting began, I took responsibility because no one else wanted to. But, honestly, I would love for someone else to take over. I'm just here to assuage my own guilt until someone more suitable can replace me."

Lio surveyed the city stretched out below them. The capitol wasn’t the tallest structure in the area, but they were close enough to the crash site that Lio could see most of the long, dark scar it left on the city. “When are you going to fix that eyesore?”

“I’m afraid it’s still on the backburner. When the recovery project first began, a certain pair of someones were adamant that one of our primary objectives be to fund and provide housing.”

“Housing is a human right.”

“Everyone should have a home,” Heris agreed with a sly smile. “Where is yours, Lio?”

Lio glared at her. “You’re the one who told Galo about the housing roster.”

“I told Aina, which was just as good. And much more sneaky.”

Lio grumbled something that might have been a begrudging agreement and he crossed his arms over his chest. The windiness of the balcony was making him feel chilled, but he didn’t want to be obvious about it since Heris was apparently comfortable even though she wasn’t wearing anything heavier than a cardigan. The next time Heris pulled her hand away to exhale, Lio plucked the cigarette from her fingers and put it to his own lips. He inhaled deeply and forced himself to hold it in, even though he wanted to cough and his eyes watered with the effort. He focused on the raw burn at the back of his throat and the heat curling in his lungs until it was too much and he coughed and sputtered, dropping the cigarette.

“I guess I was done with that,” Heris said sadly as she watched the butt get tossed off the balcony by the wind and tumble out of sight below them. “Anyway, what do you actually think about my idea?”

Lio stared off at a fixed point somewhere in the distance. The warmth of the cigarette was already gone and had left a dry, stale taste in his mouth. “It’s not the worst idea you’ve ever had. But it’s hard to top genocide.”

“Ha ha,” Heris said dryly.

“I…” Lio kept his eyes focused straight ahead and tried to swallow around the lump in his throat. “I will admit that I can see why it might be a viable plan.”

“Oh!” Heris’s eyebrows shot up and her glasses slid down her nose. “So, you--”

“Let’s see what Galo thinks.”

And, speak of the devil, Lio heard the ding of the elevator almost as soon as they were back inside.

“Hey, guys!” Galo had clearly come straight from the work site. He was still shirtless, grass-stained, and there was a gray smudge of dried cement on his right cheek, but he was also carrying two paper plates with slices of cake. “Did you know it’s Marnie’s birthday? I grabbed us some cake!”

“I might have heard something. Thank you, Galo.” Heris smiled as he passed her one of the plates.

Galo pulled up another chair next to Lio’s, close enough that their knees bumped together when he sat down. He held out the second slice of cake between them. “I know you don’t really like cake, but you can eat some of mine if you want to.”

There was only one fork.

“That’s okay, I’m not hungry,” Lio said as he steadfastly avoided making eye contact with Heris. Sure, he and Galo had shared food like this before, but right now it seemed a little too… intimate.

Galo shrugged and took a bite that was nearly one-fourth of the slice. "So, whass goin’ on?”

Heris opened her mouth to say something eloquent and political, but Lio had always preferred a more direct route. “Heris wants us to fake-date so that the bigots will stop trying to stone me.”

Galo immediately choked on his cake and bent double. Lio slapped him on the back while Heris took a regular-sized bite of her cake and tried not to look too entertained.

“Wah- What?” Galo wheezed, setting his plate onto Heris’s desk for its own safety. “Did you say stone?”

“Yeah, someone threw a rock at me today.”

“What! Are you okay?”

“Obviously.”

“Wait--” Galo’s expression changed and Lio watched as the rest of the sentence filtered through his brain-- “Did you say date?”

Lio’s gaze shifted to the floor, so Heris took over. “Galo, you’re a popular icon within the city. I think that if the two of you were seen as being romantically involved--” (Galo’s knee twitched against Lio’s) “--it would not only lend some protection to Lio, but it would also help to improve the reputation of the Burnish as a whole.”

“I’m that popular?!”

“You can buy a keychain with your own face on it,” Lio groaned, “What the fuck do you think?”

“And, even though he doesn’t have a line of merchandise, Lio is popular within the Burnish community,” Heris elaborated. "Your combined influence stretches further than you realize."

"Lio," Galo gasped, going starry-eyed, "Are we a power couple?"

"No," Lio almost yelled, overlapping with Heris’s just as loud, “Yes.”

Lio buried his face in his hands so that only the tips of his reddened ears were visible. He waited for the other shoe to drop, but it never came. Instead, he felt Galo’s hand on his shoulder, warm and reassuring.

“What do you think?”

Lio uncovered his face just enough to glower at Galo. “You’re asking me?”

“You’re the one who’s hiding.”

Lio quickly put his hands down. “I’m not hiding. But, if we do this, it will be like I’m hiding behind you.”

“Think it over,” Heris said as the elevator chimed once more with the return of her coworkers. “But please let me know your decision by this time tomorrow.”

The elevator ride back down was an awkward affair. Lio kept his eyes on the floor counter, watching the number slowly tick down as they descended. Other people got on and off, a few of them even chatting with Galo. Lio was happy to be left out of those conversations, but he could still feel Galo looking at him every few minutes. It was when they were walking back through the garden that Galo finally broke their stalemate.

“Do you wanna get dinner?”

“Are you going to put a shirt on?”

“If it’s required by the establishment, then yes.”

“We should probably do takeout. You really need a shower.” Lio wrinkled his nose as he looked Galo up and down. “And you have cement on your cheek.”

“Really?” Galo scrubbed the heel of his hand over the left side of his face.

Lio grabbed Galo’s sleeve strap and pulled him down until they were close enough for Lio to touch his right cheek. He scratched at the cement with his thumbnail until it flaked off, brushing the last of the gray dust away with the barest touch of his fingertips. As he let go of the sleeve strap, Galo's fingers closed around Lio’s wrist, holding him in place. They stared at each other.

“What?” Lio asked, annoyed.

“Uh, thanks.” It took Galo another moment to let go of Lio’s hand. “Sorry.”

“S’fine.” Lio glanced around the garden, feeling paranoid, but there wasn’t anyone near them. He and Galo had stopped underneath one of the trellises with the white flowers and were mostly hidden from view. “I saw the interview.”

“Yeah? What did you think?” Galo beamed, blissfully unaware of any wrongdoing.

“I wish you had said ‘friend-iversary,’” Lio sighed wearily. Being in a suspended state of outrage for several hours left him burned out. And it was hard to be angry with Galo for very long.

“...That’s it?” Galo pouted.

“Galo, the reason why Heris thinks we already make a convincing couple is because you do shit like tell people we’re celebrating our anniversary and-- no, let me finish,” Lio warned when Galo opened his mouth, “I- I like spending time with you. But, sometimes, your complete disregard for social cues really pisses me off.”

“Aina did warn me about these ‘social cues,’” Galo said, looking appropriately guilty for a change. He rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m sorry. I guess I get carried away when I’m talking about you.”

“No, it… it’s alright.” Lio scratched an itch on his nose, turning away slightly. “I liked the rest of it. Your interview.”

“Yeah?” Galo brightened immediately. “What was your favorite part?”

“The part where it ended.”

“Hey!”

Galo was convinced to put on a shirt and they picked up kangaroo burgers before heading back to the compound on his bike. As soon as they were outside of city limits, Lio rested his head on Galo’s back and closed his eyes for the remainder of the ride.

Galo parked his bike at the back of the lot and started heading for the entrance, but Lio stopped him. "Hang on. I'm not in the mood to talk to anyone else."

They walked around the building until they came to the eastern side, near Lio's second floor apartment. Lio picked up a handful of pebbles and threw them one at a time at his neighbor's window until it opened and a small child stuck her head out.

"Whaddya want?"

"Hi, Neena. Will you please let the rope down?"

"You know the drill. Payment first." Neena opened and closed her hand in a beckoning motion.

Lio nodded at Galo, who took one of the burgers out of the bag and tossed it up to her. Neena made a show out of weighing it in her tiny hands, peeling back the wrapper to sniff it carefully, and taking a tentative bite that she chewed for longer than necessary. She nodded in approval and disappeared from view, but then a long length of rope was tossed from the window. Lio climbed first, bracing his feet against the wall and pulling himself up. Once he was inside, Galo tossed him the fastfood bag and followed at a slower pace.

"Hurry up," Lio hissed at him.

"I have more weight to lift than you," Galo hissed back.

"Yer boyfriend's a whiner," Neena said around a mouthful of burger.

"...I guess." Lio pat her on the head. "He's alright, though."

"If you say so. Can I drop somethin' on him?"

"Not this time."

The window was almost too narrow for Galo, but he carefully squeezed his shoulders through it and tumbled onto the carpet. Neena danced around Galo as he got to his feet, blowing raspberries at him until he let her take a fistful of fries from the bag as well.

"I've got my eye on you, big dude," Neena said threateningly as she ushered them out of her home, slamming the door for maximum dramatic effect. But as Galo and Lio went down the hallway, she cracked the door open to watch them. While Lio unlocked his front door, Galo waved at Neena and she waved back before slamming the door a second time.

"She's getting big," Galo said as he followed Lio inside, closing the door behind them.

"Apparently, they grow a lot at that age. And I've been paying her in burgers for a few months now."

Lio's apartment was smaller than the home that Neena shared with her mother. It consisted of a small entryway and kitchenette area, a bathroom, and his bedroom. The walls were undecorated, as were most of the surfaces. Lio didn't have many possessions, but he did have a few knickknacks displayed on the nightstand (an upturned plastic bin) next to his bed (a mattress on the floor). While Lio dug around in a cardboard box filled with clothes and linens, Galo sat at the edge of the mattress and picked up a keychain from the nightstand. A cartoonish imitation of his own face winked back at him.

"Gueira got me that. He thought it would be funny, for some reason."

"And you kept it," Galo noted with some smugness.

Lio threw a hoodie and a pair of sweatpants in his face. Galo had left them the last time he had slept over. "Don't sit on my bed while you smell like that. Take a fucking shower."

Galo nodded, no longer trying to hide his smile as he put the keychain back and went into the bathroom.

Once Lio could hear the sound of the water running, he fell back onto his bed and kicked his boots off. He suppressed the urge to sigh and rub his hands over his face, since he felt like he had been doing a lot of that today. He wondered what he would have done if Galo hadn't inadvertently saved his ass that afternoon.

Lio must have dozed off at some point, because the next time he opened his eyes Galo was hovering over him. The setting sun highlighted his features with a warm orange glow, sparkling where it touched the water in his damp hair. Galo’s brow creased with worry as his eyes searched Lio’s face.

"Are you still not sleeping well?"

Lio grunted and used Galo's shoulder as leverage to pull himself upright. He ignored the slightly dizzy feeling he got from sitting up too quickly. "No."

"Do you--"

"Can we please just eat?" Lio said, sounding a little too pleading for his own ears.

Galo sat cross-legged next to Lio and passed him a burger and a water bottle. "If you were that tired, you didn't have to wait for me."

"I like eating with you. Especially when you don't smell like the inside of a shoe," Lio added. He took a larger bite than he normally would in an attempt to shut himself up.

"I like eating with you, too." Galo smiled softly.

Lio decided to do the mature thing and dodge eye contact. After he had finished his burger and Galo started on his second one, he finally brought it up. "What do you think about Heris's plan?"

"Anything that stops people from throwing rocks at you sounds good to me."

"Yeah, but," Lio swallowed, "What do you think about the actual doing it part?"

Galo chewed thoughtfully and, thankfully, swallowed before answering. "What would we have to do that's different from what we normally do? You said that everyone already thinks we're dating, right?"

"I talked about that with Heris before you got there. It sounds like it's mostly going to be a social media campaign, but she also wants us to do an interview on Good Morning Promepolis. And then, there would also be, y'know..." Lio gestured vaguely, hoping that Galo would take the hint but all he did was watch Lio and stuff more fries into his mouth. "There would be, uh..." Lio cleared his throat. "There would be some PDA."

"Huh?"

"...Public displays of affection."

Galo's face lit up. "Does that mean you'll stop dodging me when I try to hug you?"

“That’s your priority?” Lio scowled. “Yes, I’ll let you hug me in public.”

“Yuss,” Galo cheered quietly and crumpled the wrapper of his second burger. “Well, I’m on board! How about you?”

Lio was very decidedly not on board, but he tried not to think about himself or the uncomfortable feeling in his chest. He thought of the volunteers from the community garden, of Gueira and Meis, of Neena. His mind drifted back to Galo. “I don’t like the idea of using you as a shield.”

Galo had the nerve to laugh at him. “Lio, you’ve never needed me to protect you. But if this makes it so that you don’t have to fight as much, then isn’t that a good thing?”

“I hate it when you get weirdly insightful.” Lio gave into the urge and let himself sigh again, tipping his head back as he did so. “Okay. Fine. Let’s fake-date.”

“Alright!” Galo held up his hand for a high-five and Lio slapped it woefully.

Galo was technically still on-call with Burning Rescue, so he got up to leave shortly after they finished eating. Lio walked him downstairs and they passed by the canteen, waving to the handful of Burnish families who were gathered for dinner.

“Do you think we should practice talking like a couple?” Galo asked once they were outside. It was dusk and the memory of the sun was a purple stain on the horizon. “Ooh, like, can I give you a cute nickname?”

Lio briefly fantasized about strangling Galo. “You should probably just act like you normally do. You’ll give us away if you put too much thought into it.”

“You got it, firefly.”

“Don’t.”

“Haha, okay!”

“But, maybe...” Lio chewed on his lip. He wondered if it was possible to die from embarrassment.

“What is it?”

“We should, probably, practice the PDA part. Or else, I’ll be the one to give us away.”

“Yeah, it would really suck if I went in for a hug and you decked me.”

“That’s… not just that.”

The air was cooling rapidly now that the sun was gone and Lio shivered. He rubbed his arms for warmth, but it didn’t help since his hands were also cold. Without warning, Galo pulled Lio to his chest and wrapped his arms around him, stubbornly holding him in place. Lio couldn’t deny that his initial impulse was to shove Galo off of him, but he held it in check. He pressed his face to Galo’s chest and didn’t complain, even when he felt Galo rest his chin on the top of his head.

“There we go,” Galo said softly. “Good test run.”

Chapter Text

It was a quiet morning in the Ardebit household, which was nice, but didn’t sit quite right with Heris. She took a slow sip of her coffee and chanced a look at her sister over the top of her mug. Aina, the chatterbox out of the two of them, was unusually subdued.

Aina stopped picking at her breakfast when she noticed that she was being watched. She caught Heris’s eye and smiled. “This is nice.”

“The eggs? I think I burned mine a little...” Heris poked her fork at the crispier end of her breakfast, blackened along the edges.

“Well, yeah, they are a little rubbery.” Aina demonstrated by stabbing her fork in the middle of the eggs on her own plate, lifting all of the yellow glob at once. Its shape did not change. “But I meant having breakfast together. I never get to see you.”

Heris knew that there wasn’t anything she could say to deny that, so she kept her mouth shut. Her eyes lowered in guilt and she tipped her head to hide behind her bangs and the glare of her glasses. Aina huffed and kicked Heris’s shin with one rabbit-slippered foot.

“I just miss getting to spend time with you. You were never at home when you were working for Foresight Foundation and now you’re-- okay, you’re basically running the city-- but I should still get to see you more! Especially since the apocalypse has been canceled.”

Heris managed a small smile. “You’re right. I promise that I’ll make more of an effort.”

Aina smiled and poured an ungodly amount of ketchup onto her plate. “Great! You can start by hanging out with me today.”

“Very funny.”

Aina set down the ketchup bottle with a solid thunk. Her smile was fixed on her face. “I’m not joking. You’re calling in sick.”

“I’m not--” Heris watched with slow-dawning horror as Aina produced a pack of cigarettes from apparently nowhere. A very familiar-looking pack of cigarettes. “...Where did you find those?”

“In your purse.”

Heris’s guilt was temporarily overshadowed by annoyance. “Why were you snooping around in my purse?”

“I was-- I was looking for--” Aina waved her arms and made a sound like an angry tea kettle-- “Fine, I was snooping! You’re never around! You never want to talk about what’s going on with you! And I had to hear from Galo that--”

“Galo?”

“He said you were smoking when he and Lio were at your office.” Aina tore off a chunk of ketchup-coated egg and chewed aggressively.

“Ah,” Heris said with grim realization. Galo hadn’t been present for that part of the meeting, but of course Lio would want revenge for Heris spreading the word about his impending homelessness. That skinny, well-dressed bastard.

“So, here’s what’s gonna happen. One-- I’m throwing these out.” Aina tossed the cigarette pack in an arc across the kitchen. It landed neatly in the waste basket and Heris tried very hard to keep her internal wail of despair as internal as possible. “Two-- you’re calling in sick to work. Three-- we are going to hang out at home all day and enjoy some goddamn meaningful sisterly bonding. Got it?”

Heris frowned. “When did you learn to swear?”

“When did you learn to deflect?”

“...Touché.”

“After breakfast, you are going to change back into your pajamas and we are going to sit on the couch and laugh at the GaloLio interview together.”

“Why are you saying their names like that?”

“GaloLio is their couple name.”

“Shouldn’t it be LioGalo?”

“Heris!”

“Alright, alright.” Heris held up her hands in surrender, her smile coming more easily this time. “I’ll call work and… and say that there’s a family emergency.”

“Damn-skippy!”

“Stop swearing.”

“Sorry.”

"...and welcome back to Good Morning Promepolis! If you missed today's episode, you can stream it on our website, along with an extended version of the interview with our special guests Galo Thymos and Lio Fotia! We talked about the city's aggressive housing project, which will be completed by the end of next week--

The studio audience erupted into thunderous applause. Lio did his best not to visibly react, but he wasn’t used to receiving this type of feedback in a positive setting. Yelling was usually indicative of a fight, or a mob, and between that and the bright lights he felt deafened, blinded, and surrounded. Galo, sitting next to him on the bright red loveseat they shared, draped an arm across the back and leaned close to Lio’s ear.

“Almost there.” Galo’s whisper was nearly inaudible, but he was sure that Lio had heard him since he saw the line of his shoulders relax ever so slightly.

"Yes! We’re all very excited about that!” Lilah, one of the hosts seated in an armchair across from them, waved her hands for everyone to settle. “We also discussed events for the anniversary of the Second World Blaze-- please check online for where you can volunteer or participate-- and we got to chat about where Promepolis's favorite couple likes to grab pizza for date night. Thank you so much, you two, for coming in today!"

“Thanks for having us! We’re happy to be here,” Galo replied, matching her pep.

The other host, Aronzo, had been sipping on what looked like coffee, but didn’t entirely smell like coffee, while Lilah spoke. He set his mug aside on the thin, tall table that was nestled between the hosts’ armchairs. "I understand that you recently celebrated a more personal anniversary as well. Care to elaborate on that?"

"No," Lio said with a smile that could be perceived as mischievous, but was actually a little menacing, and the audience laughed. Galo laughed too and he pat Lio's knee fondly.

"We spent the day together, just the two of us. It was a nice break, since our schedules are packed every day, every week. We don't get to see each other as often as I'd like." Galo looked to Lio, wordlessly asking for confirmation.

Lio rolled his eyes in a show of exasperated fondness and returned Galo's smile. "Yes, it was nice. I'd like to go back there soon."

"Oho! Do you two have a secret rendezvous spot?"

"If I told you, then it wouldn’t be a secret." Lio spoke with a charming smile, but what the cameras didn't pick up was the sound of his knuckles cracking. A threat for only the interviewers' ears.

"Well, okay then! Let's move along to the final portion of our show.” Aronzo picked up a small set of cue cards from the table. “Usually we do a quiz bowl, but since you two are dating we decided to mix it up a bit."

"Ooh!" Galo enthused while Lio tried to tamp down his mounting dread. "What've you got for us?"

There was the pre-recorded sound of a chorus of bells and both hosts put their jazz hands into the air. "The Newlywed Game!"

Lio continued to smile while the audience hooted and clapped, with Galo encouraging them like the filthy traitor he was. Each of them were handed a large pad of paper and a black marker.

"Okay, guys, first question-- Who takes longer to get ready in the morning?"

They scribbled down their answers and held the pads up to the audience, revealing that Lio had drawn an arrow pointing to Galo, while Galo had drawn an arrow pointing to himself.

"Woah! No hesitation there!"

"I have a very particular hair routine," Galo said with a sheepish grin. The audience cheered encouragingly.

"Second question-- Where is your dream vacation?"

Galo tapped his chin thoughtfully with the marker before writing this answer more slowly. Lio first thought of the forest, but he had already sworn off talking about that in front of a live studio audience. He quickly ran through a mental list of things that he knew Galo liked.

"Oho, looks like we have a difference of opinion!"

Galo had written 'THE BEACH!!' but Lio came up with 'Japan.'

"Lio, are you, uh, what do the kids call it.” Lilah snapped her fingers. “A weeb?"

"I picked Japan because Galo admires the firefighters of the Edo period," Lio explained.

"Oh! That's so sweet!" Lilah said, and it seemed like she meant it. "What about you, Galo?"

"I just thought it would be cool to go! I've never been to the beach."

"Well, Japan is an island, so they probably have a few beaches!" Aronzo smiled and flipped over the next cue card. "Here's the next question-- What is the strangest gift your partner has ever given you?"

Lio snorted despite himself and then tried to pretend that he hadn't, purposely dodging Galo's curious look. They both wrote down an answer and flipped the pads over.

Lilah frowned at Galo. "A 'motorcycle helmet' doesn't seem like a very unusual gift? Although, I’ll admit it’s not a very romantic one."

Lio looked at Galo's answer and then used the pad to smack his thigh. "I don't want you to bust your head open! Why is that strange?"

"You haven't actually given me anything super weird, but you do keep buying me safety equipment," Galo pointed out. "Which is a little weird."

"Only because you're so accident prone!"

"Ooh, a lovers' quarrel!" Aronzo laughed, making Lio's cheeks turn pink. "How about you, Lio? What on earth is a 'marshmallow diorama'?"

"Wait, what?" Galo leaned forward to look at Lio's pad.

"Last winter, when you showed me how to make a gingerbread house," Lio began slowly, struggling to keep a straight face, "You made that replica of our first meeting, but all of the people were sculpted from marshmallows."

"Hey, I worked hard on that!"

"You did. I kept it until the ants got to it," Lio said, smiling genuinely for the first time since the cameras had started rolling. The audience cooed adoringly, reminding him of where he was. "Anyway, next question?"

"Alright, final question!” Aronzo flipped over the final cue card. "When and where was your first kiss?"

Fucking-fuck! Lio tried to make eye contact with Galo, but he was already writing something down, his pad propped up on his knee so that it was angled away. Lio quickly wrote down what he knew to be a lie and hoped that they could just roll with it.

"Huh." Lilah looked between their cards. Lio had written '3rd date at Pizzamepolis’ but Galo had written ‘Second World Blaze – Parnassus.’

“Oh!” Galo said, looking at Lio’s answer. “Yeah, I guess the first one didn’t count, since you were--”

“--Since we weren’t dating yet,” Lio finished for him, putting his hand over Galo’s. He wasn’t exactly comfortable with discussing his near-death experience on TV.

“Yup! Since we weren’t dating yet!” Galo agreed. He squeezed Lio’s hand.

Lilah and Aronzo, though skeptical, very politely decided not to argue the semantics of what ‘first’ meant. “Wonderful! Well, thank you both again for being here today! Our guests, Galo Thymos and Lio Fotia!”

The audience got to their feet and cheered, the applause continuing through Lilah’s closing narration. Galo and Lio waved to the crowd, their hands still clasped between them.

When Lio stepped onto the street outside the back of the studio, he let out a breath that he felt he had been holding all morning. “Well. I guess that wasn’t so bad.”

“Not at all. Even though you did have to save my ass at the end.” Galo started walking towards his motorbike, nudging Lio’s arm with his own as he passed by. “I think you actually had a little fun in there.”

“If you tell anyone that, I will adamantly deny it.” Lio caught up to Galo in one long stride and nudged him back. “But, maybe a little.”

Galo smiled in a self-satisfied kind of way and hummed pleasantly. “I’m off for the rest of today. Do you wanna go for a drive?”

“I’d love to, but I can’t. There’s a health fair at the community center later, so I need to stay in the city.”

“But you’ve got a few hours to kill, right?”

“Yeah. Have you got an idea?”

“Several! Come with me?”

“Of course.”

As it turned out, their destination was only a few miles away. Galo took them to an empty lot that sat underneath the intersection of several overpasses, set apart from the taller buildings that surrounded it. Or rather, it was usually an empty lot but now it was filled with a collection of striped tents, food stalls, and a selection of dangerous-looking metal contraptions. The bright colors and cheerful music were a stark contrast to the gray pavement that surrounded it and the mid-morning traffic that buzzed overhead. There wasn’t really a designated area for parking, but Galo stopped his bike near the main gate.

“Surprise! It’s a carnival!” As soon as they were off the bike and their helmets put away, Galo’s hands were in Lio’s hair, fluffing it back up. He noticed the reproving look that Lio gave the balloon arch over the entrance. “Have you been to a carnival before?”

“Yes, but not for a very long time.” Lio closed his eyes when Galo’s fingertips passed through his bangs. “Do you think it will be crowded?”

“Nope! That’s the best part-- they’re only doing a test run today, so not many people are gonna be around. The owners said they’d let me come check it out early since I helped them with that electrical fire yesterday. And the day before that.”

“Wait, are you taking me into a giant fire hazard?” Lio caught Galo’s wrist, his hand stilling in his hair, and smirked. “What happened to your firefighter’s soul, Galo? People will think that your boyfriend is a bad influence.”

Galo’s cocky grin was an answering challenge and he leaned down, gently butting his forehead against Lio’s. “I can handle a bad boy.”

Lio stared determinedly back at Galo, but he began to feel uncomfortable. He blew a small puff of air into Galo’s eyes, making him blink. “I win.”

“You cheated-- woah!” Galo yelped as Lio pulled on his wrist, leading him through the balloon arch.

“Galo, I’m beginning to think that you weren’t being entirely honest with me.”

“What do you mean?” Galo said, while wearing a guilty look that conversely said that he knew exactly what Lio meant. And sure, it had been Lio to suggest that they grab some food and do a quick perimeter check, but it was Galo who had been critically eyeballing every utility box and electrical pad they passed on their walk.

Lio shrugged and decided to let Galo play coy for a little while longer. Just as predicted, there were only a handful of other people attending the carnival, and although the food and game stalls were open, most of the rides were still closed. As they passed by what looked like a huge dragon-shaped canoe that spun its passengers in circles (so many things in this lot were designed to spin people in circles), Galo slowed to look at the control panel by its entrance. Lio took advantage of the distraction to pull down Galo’s shirt collar far enough for him to tuck a piece of funnel cake under his sleeve strap.

“Don’t waste food,” Galo chided as he visually inspected a cable, absently pulling the confection free and popping it into his mouth. He became aware of Lio’s stare and slowly turned his attention back to him. “I mean. I’m not doing work.”

Lio stuck a bigger piece of funnel cake in the sleeve strap. “Liar.”

“They caught fire two days in a row, Lio!” Galo whined, dropping all pretense and chewing mournfully on the second piece of cake. “What if they have another one!”

“I’m sure that one of your more-than-capable coworkers can handle it.” Lio’s hand was partway to Galo with another piece of fried dough, but Galo decided to win this challenge by dipping forward and using his teeth to snatch it out of Lio’s fingers. Lio jerked his hand away, unwilling to get bitten, accidentally or otherwise. “Brute.”

“Then don’t put food on me.” Galo flicked at the powdered sugar that definitely wasn’t coming out of his shirt until laundry day. He frowned at it, then at the last of the funnel cake that Lio held in its greasy paper cup. He grinned and began to raise his arms.

“Galo,” Lio warned him, cautiously taking a step back. “Galo, no.”

“Hey, it’s a couple-y thing to wear something matching, right?” Galo came a step closer, focusing on the cup that Lio held out of reach. “So, you should have sugar on your clothes, too.”

Quick as lightning, Lio took a piece of cake and threw it like a dagger at Galo’s chest.

Galo caught it, holding his hand up to show that the white powder was coating his palm now. He ate the cake and wriggled his fingers menacingly.

One public scuffle later, which greatly entertained several of the bored carnies, the last of the funnel cake was scattered in the dirt and both Galo and Lio had a smattering of white fingerprints on their clothes. Lio had definitely gotten the worst of it; there was almost a full handprint on the small of his back. Galo was so pleased with his work that he felt tempted to sign it.

“Don’t look so smug,” Lio said as he bent to pick up what was now trash cake.

Galo helped him clean up, stealing glances at the handprint he had left on Lio’s shirt. After the third time Lio caught him doing this, Galo said, “Sorry for working. I mean, I did wanna go somewhere that you could have fun.”

“Why is everyone suddenly concerned with the amount of fun in my schedule?” Lio sighed. When Galo gave him a quizzical look, he elaborated. “Meis and Gueira told me that I should get a hobby.”

“Do you not have one?” Galo threw the last of the cake into the trash and they started walking again.

“I thought I did, but apparently not.” Lio started to meander towards what looked like a small two-story house on wheels. “Do you have a hobby? I mean, aside from making all those matoi.”

“Do I!” Galo held up a hand and eagerly counted them off on his fingers. “Whittling, knot-tying, basketball-- oh, I used to do marathons too, but there hasn’t really been one in a while since, y’know, downtown is indefinitely closed.”

“Is… is knot-tying just what it sounds like?”

“Yup! It’s tying cool knots!”

“Out of rope and things?”

“Yeah! Why?”

“No reason,” Lio replied. He seemed relieved but Galo couldn’t imagine why. “I still have that tiny Galo de Lion that you carved out of soap. Wish you’d asked first, though.”

“I know.” Galo smiled, remembering its place of honor next to the toothbrush in Lio’s bathroom. “Hey, wanna go in here?”

They were in front of the brightly colored house, which was for some reason covered in paintings of dinosaurs. The artist had obviously made an effort to make them anatomically correct, but failed in a way that made them almost grotesque. The sign read ‘HoUsE OF MirRoRz.’

“Not really,” Lio said. “But I don’t immediately see any wires for you to poke at, so let’s give it a go.”

There wasn’t an attendant present, so they climbed the aluminum staircase up to the entrance and went inside. It was, as advertised, a house filled with mirrors. Each one was distorted a little differently and the dimly lit interior added to the disorienting atmosphere. Lio quickly grew tired of seeing his reflection squashed and stretched in various ways, but when he reached the end of the first hall he realized that Galo wasn’t behind him.

Lio doubled back and found that Galo was still near the entrance, only five mirrors in. “Are you going to inspect every single one?”

“No!” Galo answered in a strangely gruff voice. “Why would I do it myself when I can bully an underling into doing it?”

“Uh.” Lio stared at him in bewilderment. “Are you okay?”

Galo laughed and put his arm around Lio’s shoulder, tugging him closer so that he could stand in front of the same mirror. This one squashed their reflections, making them appear two feet tall. “Come on, who am I?” Galo switched back into the gruff voice. “I hate it when other people do my job better than me! Also, I have a very intense Napoleon complex!”

“Oh!” Lio switched into a deeper voice, doing his best to imitate Vulcan. “I’m super racist and I kill children for fun! Vulcan!”

Galo made a low, concerned hum and rubbed Lio’s shoulders. “Okay. We got a little dark there, but that’s on me. Let’s find a better one!”

Galo used his grasp on Lio’s shoulders to steer him away from the entrance and deeper into the house. The next mirror they stopped at was set so that Lio’s face and Galo’s pectorals were stretched across the width of the mirror while the rest of their reflection looked like long noodles.

“Got one!” Galo put his hands on his hips and tried for a high, feminine voice. “I’m really good at my job and I care about my friends’ emotional well-being! I hate it when Galo eats until he throws up!”

“That’s definitely Aina,” Lio said with a small laugh. He looked at the reflection of his own stretched head. “I, uh… I have a girlfriend that I’m hiding from Meis, because he’ll tell her about my disgusting foot fungus!”

Galo barked a laugh. “Holy crap, it smelled so nasty! I told Gueira he should boil his feet.”

“That was you?” Lio turned to Galo in disbelief. “I’m the one who stopped that dumbass from trying to boil his feet!”

“No way! He didn’t seriously--”

“You don’t know what you did! I caught him standing on the stove with a pot of water!”

Galo burst into laughter, clutching his sides and bending forward until his head came to rest on Lio’s shoulder. “You ca- hehe - can’t tell me that! Ohgod, I’ll never be able to look at him.”

“It’s not funny.” Lio glared at Galo, but he was still laughing. He ruffled a hand through Galo’s hair, still stiff with gel from the interview that morning, and that got his attention. Galo righted himself and swatted Lio’s hand away, but he was still grinning from ear to ear.

“It’s a little funny.”

Lio turned away from Galo, continuing down the next hallway. Galo was half a step behind him.

“C’mon, no one was hurt. And you can’t tell me that Gueira doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who would try to boil his feet even if he wasn’t Burnish. I know he’s from Florida.”

Lio put up a hand to hide his smile, but Galo had already seen it in one of the mirrors. “The next time you see Gueira, you should ask him about professional stingray jousting.”

“Excuse me, what?”

Lio shrugged, like he hadn’t said anything particularly interesting. He stopped in front of a mirror that stretched his reflection so that he was wider in the shoulders and tapered into a point at his waist, like a triangle of a man. Lio smirked at Galo and flexed his arms in an ostentatious display. “I don’t wear shirts because they explode when I flex! But the only thing that’s more on fire than my biceps is my burning firefighter soul!!”

Galo’s jaw went slack and his face flushed.

Lio wasn’t entirely sure what to do with that reaction, so he kept going, still flexing. “I like to follow my heart and help my friends! I have a good moral compass and find value in protecting others!”

Galo was still staring, so Lio put his arms down.

“I… was my impersonation not clear?” Lio pressed his lips into a thin line, worried that he had done something wrong.

Finally, Galo cleared his throat, shifting his weight awkwardly. An unusually shy smile curled the edges of his mouth. “You like my biceps?”

“No,” Lio countered immediately. “I was- I was being you, and you really like-- I don’t know, being muscle-y.”

“Uh-huh.” Galo sauntered past Lio, still smiling.

Chapter Text

Galo was standing in the middle of a grassy field. It was a bright and beautiful day, but he didn't remember what he was doing or how he had gotten there. A light breeze ruffled his hair and, as he raised his hand to push the bangs out of his face, he noticed that he was wearing a catcher's mitt.

"Hey there, son!" Kray called to him. "Catch!"

Kray tossed a baseball to him in a gentle underhand pitch, but by the time it reached Galo it was the engine pod of the Galo de Lion. The heavy sphere struck the earth next to Galo, sinking partway into the soil.

Galo cocked his head at it, then at Kray, whose eyes burned with an unnatural light. "Aren't you supposed to be in mean dad jail?"

There was the sound of a tired sigh and Lio leaned out of the window of the pod. A strange darkness clung to him, impervious to the sunlight that spilled over the rest of the field. His shirt was in tatters and there was black ash coating his arms from fingertips to shoulder, leaving a dark residue on everything he touched. "Is this the part where I die?"

"You don’t die!" Galo struggled to remember but his thoughts were like mud, sluggish and unclear. He was pretty sure that Lio hadn’t died, because otherwise wouldn’t he be dead, too? Was he dead now? The concept of a world without Lio in it felt inherently wrong.

"Everyone dies, eventually," Lio said with a shrug. The shadows around him bloomed and expanded like drops of ink in water, blotting out the sun; making everything dark, dull, and hazy. He plucked a white flower from one of the vines that tangled around his body, keeping him trapped in the pod, and began to tear the petals off one by one. "Kray kills me... Kray kills me not... Kray kills me..."

"Stop!" Galo reached for Lio's hands but they crumbled in his grasp, breaking into shards of black glass and dust that left shallow cuts in Galo’s skin. The sun was gone and the breeze had become a strong wind, heavy with the smell of ash and smoke, stinging his eyes.

"Galo, it's okay," Lio said gently. Cracks like fractured glass appeared on his skin, starting where his hands had been and spreading quickly up his arms. Galo could hear the eerie creak of breaking glass.

"It's not!" Galo cupped Lio's face with trembling hands and kissed him.

"Don't." Lio pulled away, smiling sadly. The cracks had reached his jaw and were spreading across his face. When he saw Galo watching, Lio turned his head to hide the worst of it and retreated into the darkness. "That won't work twice."

Galo woke with a start and sat up in bed. He was breathing hard and it sounded too loud in his night-dark bedroom. He rubbed a hand over his face and it came away wet.

For as often as Remi would complain about the stupidity of his teammates, the truth was that he actually preferred the company of idiots. Even though they sometimes annoyed him, he appreciated the simple-mindedness of people like Galo. They were easy to read, easy to understand, and had uncomplicated motivations. Remi always knew exactly what to expect out of a conversation with Galo; a booming voice, a ridiculous boast, and probably the word ‘burning’ used at least twice.

What Remi didn’t care for was the quiet, devious type of person.

“Oh, hey,” Remi said with some surprise. He had been expecting a package delivery, but instead it was Lio Fotia who had knocked on the front door of Burning Rescue.

“Hello,” Lio said. “I’m here to see Galo.”

“You just missed him. There was a call for an electrical fire.”

“I see.” Lio shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “Would you mind if I waited for him?”

Remi shrugged, wondering why he should give a fuck, but then realized that Lio was asking to come inside. He stepped back, holding the door open, and made a sweeping motion with his arm.

“Thanks.”

Remi lead him into the common area. He didn’t like that he couldn’t hear Lio walking behind him, his footsteps inaudible even on the concrete. It made the back of his neck prickle. “Haven’t seen you around in a while.”

“I’ve been keeping busy.”

“Haven’t we all? You can hang out in Galo’s room, I’m sure he won’t mind.” Remi turned to face Lio as he gestured to the spiral staircase.

“No, thanks. I’ll wait here.”

Weird. “Aren’t you two dating?”

“Something like that.”

Remi raised an eyebrow at him, but there was no change in Lio’s expression. Remi made a low hum just to fill the silence. “Well, I’m doing some work in the garage, so...”

“Is it something I can help with?”

Now Remi raised both eyebrows. “You don’t have to-- well, actually…” I could give him something he can’t fuck up. “Yeah, alright. Come with me.”

They went down into the basement, where Lucia kept her works-in-process. It was almost as large as the garage itself, having a high ceiling and ample floor space, but it was filled almost completely with what Lio would have categorized as junk. There were huge heaps of scrap metal, dozens of partially assembled mechs, and several work stations that were overflowing with different projects. Luckily, they didn’t have to go very far into the mess. Remi took them to one of the closest workstations; a steel table littered with clamps, cables, metal plates from a mech, and some other tools that Lio didn’t recognize. Next to the table stood a nearly complete Matoi-tech suit.

“I’m helping Lucia with some repairs. Here, put these on.” Remi passed Lio a pair of thick, heavy gloves, safety glasses, and a wire brush. He tugged his own gloves on and pointed at one of the legs on the Matoi. Part of the protective exterior plating was removed, exposing the inner gadgetry. Remi touched one of the newly attached plates, indicating the area where the pieces had been joined together. The paint had been scraped away from the weld area and there was a bumpy metal scar along the seam. He used his finger to flake away some kind of gray coating on the scar. “I’m working on welding the last of this back together. See where this bit is flaking off? That’s called slag. It’s kinda like a leftover scab. I just need you to take the brush and scrape that stuff off, okay?”

“Got it.”

Lio got down on his knees and started to scrape away at the slag on the boot of the Matoi-tech. Remi watched him for a minute, then nodded in approval and stepped back over to the work table. He put on a helmet and flipped the switch on the power source for the stick welder. He was working on repairing a crack in one of the plates, carefully guiding the arc at the tip in a bright, crackling path along the seam, when he noticed movement at the edge of his visor. He turned the stick off and flipped the visor up on the helmet.

"You shouldn't stand that close," Remi told Lio, who had approached the work table and was staring at the cooling metal plate with a strange intensity. "And don't look directly at the arc, unless you want to burn your eyes out. Did you have a question?"

"How does that work?"

"What, this?" Remi held up the electrode for viewing but pulled it away when Lio reached for it. "Careful! Look, if you want to watch, then at least put a helmet on. And don't touch anything."

Lio grabbed a spare helmet from another work table. As he put it on, Remi watched him curiously.

"Okay, don't touch anything," Remi reiterated before closing his visor. He leaned over the table, but had barely touched the plate before straightening again. He jostled Lio with his elbow, pushing him back, then flipped his visor up so that he could experience the full force of his disappointment. "You're still too close."

"Sorry." Lio's reply was muffled under the helmet, but he took half a step back, which still wasn't far enough. Remi put a hand on Lio’s helmet and forced him to step back until he was an arm's span away.

Remi gave Lio a calculated look before flipping the visor closed again, staring at him for longer than necessary as a silent threat not to move. He started to work again, but then stopped when Lio once again came to close. He hadn't moved his feet, but was leaning precariously forward over the work table. Remi put down the electrode with an exasperated sigh that clouded the inside of his visor. He yanked his helmet off to ask if Lio was an idiot, but then he had an epiphany:

Lio was an idiot. He had been an idiot all along! He was just the kind of idiot that knew when to keep his mouth shut so that other people wouldn't know how stupid he was.

Remi's realization was accompanied by a wave of relief. He knew that there was no real way to keep an idiot from hurting themself. All he could do was prepare for damage control.

"If you're going to get that close, then at least put on an apron. Lucia should have something over here..."

An hour or so later, Galo stumbled down into the basement and was surprised to discover two figures working at the welding table. He knew that one of them was Remi, but he recognized Lio-- even though he was encased in a helmet, gloves, and leather apron-- by his black boots, which had more buckles on them than Galo thought was necessary for functionality. Lio held the electrode for the stick welder, moving it carefully along a plate while Remi supervised.

"Hey, guys!" Galo said cheerily, waving to make sure that they saw him. The bright welding arc disappeared and they took their helmets off.

"Hey!" Lio smiled wide enough to show some teeth, which did something funny to Galo's pulse.

"Hey," Galo said again, a dopey grin growing on his face. He brushed his fingers though Lio's helmet-flattened hair. The back of his neck was damp with sweat. "Having fun?"

Lio caught Galo’s hand and gently pushed it away, glancing at Remi. "Yeah, actually."

"Actually?" Remi rolled his eyes, but Galo could tell that he was hiding a smile. "Whatever. Just keep practicing those straight lines, if you want to get better."

Lio's expression came close to a pout, but he caught himself and rearranged his features into something more neutral. "I don't have anything to practice with."

"You can practice here, if you want."

"Really?" Lio asked, forgetting himself and going wide-eyed.

"Yeah, but not by yourself. And not with just any idiot," Remi added with a meaningful look at Galo. "It has to be either me, Lucia, or Varys."

"Yeah, only the specialized idiots," Galo agreed, laughing as Remi punched him lightly on the arm.

"If it’s not any trouble..." Lio faltered, but Galo put a hand on his back to reassure him. "Thank you, Remi."

"No problem."

After Lio returned the borrowed equipment, Remi watched them go back up the stairs. Galo was still trying to fluff Lio's hair and, after a few failed attempts at batting him away, Lio gave up and let him do it. Remi smiled and shook his head before tugging his helmet back on.

"Couple of idiot peas in a dumbass pod."

“You’ve got a lot of nerve, Galo Thymos.” Lio put his hands on his hips and watched Galo dig around in the refrigerator. “Literally calling me over on a phone and then you aren’t even here when I show up.”

“Yeah yeah, I’m the worst! I guess I’ll just have to make it up to you.” Galo closed the fridge door with his foot and held up two plastic bottles of PowerThirst. “Blue or green?”

Lio took the blue-colored drink. “Why did you call me?”

Galo shrugged and uncapped the green one. "Wanna come upstairs?"

No. "Sure." Lio followed Galo up the narrow spiral staircase to the fifth floor, where the dormitories were.

Galo's room was exactly as Lio remembered it; cramped, messy, and surprisingly comfortable. It was just large enough for a twin bed, a wardrobe, and a small vanity that was littered with hair care products. Galo's personal apartment had been wrecked when the Parnassus crashed but, unlike Lio, he had a place reserved on the final housing roster and would be moving into a new home soon.

"Been a while since you've come up here, huh?" Galo watched with mild interest as Lio took off his shoes, revealing a pair of mismatched socks.

"I guess." Lio shrugged in a show of indifference, but he remembered.

After the Second Blaze was done and the earth had cooled, the strange, electric bond between them had lingered. Maybe it was the shared trauma or maybe it was the residual pseudo-science-magic of the Promare, but Galo could feel Lio like an extension of himself. They had moved in tandem as they helped with emergency operations around the city; working, eating, and sleeping in sync. Lio could feel Galo's appetite as his own and he became exceptionally voracious, eating more than he thought was physically possible but never getting a stomach ache. In turn, Galo could always tell when Lio was on the verge of collapsing, the exhaustion weighing heavily on both of their bones, and he would tuck them into his bed at the firestation. Galo tended not to remember his dreams, but Lio had nightmares and they would wake at the same time with sharp memories of ice and ash and death. Sometimes Galo would remember the skylines of cities he'd never seen and felt grief for people he’d never met. Sometimes Lio would press his face to the crook of Galo's neck, shivering and quietly sobbing while Galo held him tight and tried not to cry, too.

Then, after a week of time never spent apart, the abandoned compound at the edge of the city was reopened for the Burnish refugees and Lio went with them. The dreams faded and Galo stopped feeling weirdly cold for no reason, but he was left wondering why his twin mattress seemed so much bigger than before.

"Galo," Lio said in a tone that implied he had been trying to get his attention. "Are you alright?"

"No. I mean, yeah. I'm fine, I just..." Galo dropped onto his mattress with a sigh and Lio sat down next to him. "I dunno. Can I have a hug?"

Lio's eyebrows pinched with concern. Galo never asked; he would simply initiate and leave it up to Lio to either dodge his embrace or begrudgingly accept physical affection. He moved closer and, after a beat of hesitation, touched Galo's shoulder.

Galo wrapped his arms around Lio, hooking his chin over his shoulder. He felt Lio tense, then relax, and return the hug.

"You used to not hate this as much," Galo muttered, eyes closed.

"I don't hate it," Lio whispered after a moment. "It's just... it was easier. When I could tell what you were thinking."

"I never think."

"Idiot." Lio smiled and let himself lean a little more fully into Galo.

"I had a dream about you," Galo said finally. It was easier to talk about when Lio was here; real and whole and safe.

"A nightmare?"

"Yes," Galo paused, then, "No. I mean, it was scary but I wasn't scared. Mostly, it just made me sad."

"Sorry."

"S'not your fault." Galo huffed a laugh and peeled himself away from Lio. "Sorry I freaked out and called you over something stupid."

"It's fine," Lio said, but that felt insufficient so he tried again, "I want to be someone you can rely on. Even for the stupid things."

"You are." Galo’s smile became a little wistful. “At least, while you’re here? I promise not to call you over weird dreams while you’re gone doing desert bandit stuff.”

Guilt sank like lead into Lio’s stomach, but he did his best to ignore that and took the opportunity to provoke Galo. “Oh? Are you giving up on ‘making me see that Promepolis is a city worth living in?’”

“No! But… I don’t think I’ve been doing a very good job.” Galo sighed and flopped back onto the bed, angling himself so that his head wouldn't hit the wall. “The fake-dating thing has been kinda fun, but now it sorta feels like we’re working even when we’re just hanging out.”

Lio tucked a lock of hair behind his ear. “Does it feel like that right now?”

Galo abruptly sat back up and grabbed Lio’s hand with both of his own. “No! I like it when we’re together! It’s just, I dunno, different?” He made a frustrated sound and leaned forward, pressing his forehead against Lio’s and scrunching his eyes shut tight.

Lio could have moved away, but didn’t out of principle. He held his ground, pushing his head into Galo’s with matching force. “Galo, what the fuck!”

“You’re right, it was easier when you could read my mind! So, hnNGGGH!!” Galo pressed harder. “Read my thoughts through osmosis! Special move, Ultimate Thought Diffusion!!”

“Idiot!” Lio grit his teeth and started grinding his skull into Galo’s, finally inching him back and gaining some ground. “Why are you like this?! Wait, no--”

“It’s beCAUSE OF MY BURNING FIREFIGHTER SO--”

Several things happened in quick succession; The door slammed open, Lio turned towards the sound, and Galo arched forward, knocking Lio back onto the bed and sending himself tumbling onto the floor with a heavy thump followed by a groan.

Ignis loomed in the door frame, looking down at Galo’s prone form. His expression was disappointed, but unsurprised. He turned to Lio and nodded.

Lio righted himself and returned the nod. He could see part of his reflection in the vanity, face reddened and hair mussed. Shit.

“Galo.”

“M’here,” Galo groaned again and rolled onto his back, his hands cupped over his nose. Once his eyes were able to focus on Ignis, he sprang to his feet. “Captain!”

“I’ll make this short. We don’t let Remi bring that gator up here, so now that you two are involved--”

“We’re not really--”

Ignis held up his hand and Galo fell silent. “Whatever you’re doing, leave the door open and use good judgement. Got it?”

“Yessir!”

Ignis looked between Lio and Galo once more, then he slowly backed out of the room. Once he was gone and they heard the sound of Ignis’s own bedroom door closing down the hall, Galo made an exasperated sound and pointed both of his hands at where he had just been standing. “See? Different!”

Lio took a long, deep breath and on the exhale he lowered himself back down onto Galo’s bed. He crossed his arms over his chest and closed his eyes.

“Lio?” When Lio didn’t respond, Galo crouched on his knees next to the bed so that he could peer at him. He leaned forward onto the mattress, propping his chin up on folded arms.

“Idiot,” Lio said. “Of course it’s different.”

Galo pouted. “Yeah, but...”

“Of course you can’t send me any thoughts, diffusion or otherwise.” Lio opened his eyes and flicked Galo’s ear. “There’s nothing in there to diffuse.”

“Oy!” Galo put a hand over his ear, but he was grinning. “Well, it doesn’t really matter what else’s going on. I know we’ll be fine.”

“I wish I had your confidence, Galo,” Lio tried to joke.

Galo frowned. He thought of dream-Lio hiding the cracks on his face. “Hey, what do I keep telling you? You and me, we’re connected.”

“The Promare aren’t--”

“Fuck the Promare.” Galo grabbed the front of Lio’s shirt and dragged him closer. Lio looked annoyed and slapped at his hand, but didn’t try to stop him. Galo pressed his forehead once more to Lio’s, but gently this time. “You and me. From the moment we met, and from when you tied me up in a cave, and when you broke me out of jail--”

“That was incidental.” Lio met Galo’s intense stare with his own, determined not to lose.

“Or maybe it was fate .”

“No, I definitely intended to cause a jailbreak in order to further incite havoc. I had no idea that you were imprisoned as well.”

“Let’s call it a happy coincidence then. But how many coincidences have to stack before it’s a pattern?” Galo thought that the glare he was currently receiving from Lio was quite undeserved. “We’re connected. And even if they were just coincidences in the beginning--”

“They were.”

“--I’m actively choosing right now to be a part of your life. And to have that connection with you.”

Lio’s eyes stung and he saw that Galo had seen him, so he grabbed a pillow and hit him with it. “ You -- you can’t just say shit like that!”

Galo tried to take the pillow away, but when he almost had a grip on it Lio snatched it back and held it over his face. Galo poked the pillow somewhere in the middle, where he imagined Lio’s nose was on the other side. “Hiding again?”

“Shut up.” Lio’s voice was low and muffled, but it sounded rough. “Please… shut up a minute, okay?”

Galo opened his mouth to protest, but closed it when he noticed the tiniest shiver run through Lio’s frame. And yeah, the Promare were gone and so was their weird psychic link, but Galo thought that he understood. He pulled back to give Lio some space but stayed at the edge of the bed, pillowing his head on his arms and waiting until he was ready.

Chapter Text

Lio was sitting in his favorite booth in Pizzamepolis-- the one in the very back that was hidden next to the kitchen doors, but still gave him a line of sight to the entrance-- and enjoying a leisurely lunch when Meis and Gueira made an unplanned appearance. They slipped into the other side of the booth, stern-faced and movements tense. Lio put his slice of pizza down and set aside the zoning permits he had been reviewing, anticipating the worst. “What happened?”

Gueira leaned forward onto his elbows. He glanced around the restaurant before speaking, even though it was the end of the lunch rush and there was no one sitting close enough to eavesdrop. "Look, here's the thing. I know for a fact that you are an incredibly smart and talented individual. But..." Gueira clasped his hands together and pointed both index fingers at Lio. "Are you stupid?"

Lio furrowed his brow. He knew Gueira well enough to know that probably wasn't the question he had meant to ask. At least, it wasn't if Gueira valued his life in the slightest. "Excuse me?"

"What he means--" Meis cut in when Gueira opened his mouth, correctly anticipating that he was about to say something worse-- "Is that you’re a very capable leader, but recently we've noticed a few... knowledge gaps."

"Knowledge gaps," Lio repeated. "Like what?"

"Social knowledge."

Lio looked from Meis to Gueira. They were both watching him carefully and he sighed. "Specifically?"

Gueira was too fast for Meis this time. "Specifically, what the up is fuck with you and Galo?"

"You know what's going on,” Lio grumbled. “We're fake-dating."

"Are you though?"

"What the fuck does that mean?" Lio watched Gueira and Meis have a silent exchange. "Please, stop doing that."

"Well, like the Good Morning interview."

"You saw that? I thought you two had an event or something.”

"Yeah, we had a viewing-party-fundraiser-breakfast-thing! Most of the west-side saw your show.” Gueira pointed a thumb at Meis. “This dude made some seriously awesome pancakes."

Meis's chest puffed with pride. "We had chocolate chips and blueberries."

Lio’s Burnish pride was momentarily overrun by his vanity. "You commodified me?"

Gueira put his hands up, palms out in a placating gesture. "The GaloLio fake-dating is benefiting the Burnish community, like it's supposed to. What’re you mad about?"

"I- I'm not sure." Lio frowned. "Why are you saying our names like that?"

"It's your couple name."

"Why is Galo's name first?"

"Branding?" Meis said with a shrug. Gueira shook his head, but Meis elbowed him and he stopped. "Anyway, you two seemed really close, y'know?"

"Yes," Lio said slowly, looking between Meis and Gueira. "That's the whole point."

"Yeah,” Gueira said, just as slowly, “But like really close."

Lio raised an eyebrow and rolled his wrist, making a beckoning motion with his hand. "And...?"

"Here, look!" Gueira brought out his phone, tapping quickly on the screen, and flipped it around for Lio to see. The display showed a gif set from the interview, featuring clips of Galo and Lio sitting together on the red loveseat. Most of them were from the quiz segment at the end; Lio rolling his eyes, Galo looking confused, Lio smacking him with the paper pad, both of them yelling, and-- and Lio, his expression noticeably softer, as he watched Galo make some kind of comically outraged expression. Lio hiding a laugh behind his hand while Galo smiled fondly at him.

Lio's eyes were drawn to the loop of the last gif. Galo's smile was so different than his usual grin-- the one where it seemed like his primary goal was to show off as many teeth as possible. Lio was struck with a memory from a year ago; waking up in a haze, his body aching but warm, Galo smiling over him, looking tired but relieved. 'I lit my first fire for you!'

Meis coughed and Lio quickly put his mask of neutral displeasure back on. Gueira wiggled his phone, looking smug. "Aaand?"

Lio shrugged. "Looks like the sham is working."

Gueira threw up his hands, nearly flinging his phone in the process, and Meis pressed his lips into a thin line. They gave up on quietly consulting each other and spoke openly in front of Lio.

"Never in my fucking life!"

"This has gotten ridiculous."

"Way fucking ridiculous!"

"I figured that with time they would just--"

"--losing my McFreakin' mind here! What do they even--"

"--know that he was basically a child soldier, but--"

"Hey," Lio said, his voice low and dangerous. They both fell silent. "Say what you mean. Or else, I'm going to light your shoes on fire. Right now."

"Boss, you can't--"

“The question isn’t if I can. It’s who will stop me if I do?” Lio gave them an icy stare. However, he was also learning that one of the consequences of staying in one place for too long was that the people closest to him had stopped being intimidated by his ‘tough desert bandit’ persona.

“If you light my shoes on fire, I’ll light your whole face on fire!” Gueira started to stand up, but Meis put a hand on his chest and pushed him back into his seat.

“Okay, here’s a question.” Meis returned his attention to Lio after Gueira had mostly settled down. “When and where was your first kiss with Galo?”

Lio’s face flushed. “We haven’t.”

“Then why does Galo think that you two kissed on the Parnassus?” Meis smirked.

“Ooh! Nice!” Gueira and Meis high-fived without looking.

Lio felt that this conversation was going very badly for him. He crossed his arms. “Because I was on the brink of death and Galo had to breathe my fire back into me.”

“Okay, so like CPR,” Meis reasoned. “Does Galo also think that he’s kissed everyone he’s given CPR to?”

Gueira and Meis fist-bumped, both of them making small explosion sounds.

Lio slumped a little in the booth. “I don’t know.”

“Last one--” Meis paused for Gueira to drum his hands on the tabletop for maximum dramatic effect-- “Are you interested in Galo, romantically?”

Lio chewed on his lip. “Yes.”

“...Huh.” Meis cocked his head curiously. “I thought it would take a little more to wrangle that out of you.”

“Hey Boss, I have a question too-- what the fuck?” Gueira slumped onto the table.

Lio hesitated. He was used to having co-conspirators and comrades, but not confidants. But if anyone could understand, then wouldn’t it be Gueira and Meis? Lio leaned forward, propping his chin up on his hand, pushing the rest of his cold pizza aside. “I’ve been thinking about it and… I’ve decided to leave Promepolis. It wouldn’t be fair to Galo if I started something.”

Meis let out a slow exhale and leaned forward too, so that the three of them were huddled together. “I didn’t think you were really gonna do it. It won’t be the same without you.”

Sometimes, Lio thought, it wasn’t so bad to have friends. “I think it will be different for me, too. I’ve never wanted to stay in one place so badly.”

“Why do you even have to go?” Gueira whined.

“Because the strong have a responsibility to protect others,” Lio said. It was his oldest and truest mantra. “Ex-Burnish reintegration is going remarkably well here, but other cities haven’t been as fortunate.”

“Then, we should come--”

“No.” Lio’s tone brokered no room for argument. “When I leave, you two will be the strongest Burnish voices in Promepolis. This city used to be the flagship for anti-Burnish propaganda, so we absolutely cannot afford to lose our foothold here.”

“Ugh, those are reasons.” Gueira took Lio’s pizza and began to eat it mournfully. “Friday is moving day. You’re gonna head out after we’re done clearin’ the compound?”

“That’s the plan.”

“Did you manage to save up for a bike?”

“Yeah, I built one.” Lio returned Meis and Gueira’s stares. “What? You told me to get a hobby, and it turns out that Burning Rescue has an abundance of scrap metal, power tools, and overly helpful employees.”

“He took our guiding words and used them to build an escape vehicle,” Gueira said to Meis, shaking his head. “What an ungrateful child.”

Lio shrugged. “I said I like building things. What did you think I was going to do? Photography?”

“Fair enough. At least you’re not as dumb as we thought. I was worried that Galo’s stupidity was contagious.”

“What, like mono?” Meis scrunched up his face in disgust and Gueira laughed so hard that he almost choked.

“Maybe it’s something in the pizza,” Lio said wryly as he watched Gueira chomp on the crust.

Gueira pointed the remaining stub of crust at him. “Hey. You’re the one eatin’ lunch here all the time and I know it ain’t for the food. It’s good pizza, but it’s not lunch-every-day good.”

“Must be for the patronage,” Meis said, angling his head towards the entrance. A familiar blue mohawk bobbed in their direction.

“Hey, Lio!” Galo appeared next to their booth, flanked by Aina and Varys. “And Meis!” They high-fived. “And this asshole!”

“Fuck you!” Gueira said companionably, reaching up to slap both Galo’s and Varys’s hands. He moved further into the booth, elbowing Meis along, to make room for Aina to sit next to him.

Meis looked annoyed, but he passed on fucking with Gueira in favor of fucking with Lio. “Galo! What a surprise to see you here.”

“Not really, I’m here almost every day!” Galo slid into the booth next to Lio, while Varys pulled up a chair at the end.

“You don’t say?” Meis’s smile was so self-satisfied that he resembled a Cheshire cat. Lio mouthed the words ‘I hate you’ at him.

“We can’t stay for long,” Aina said. She meant it as both a reminder for Galo and an apology to Lio. “We’re just waiting on a pick-up order.”

Varys chuckled. “It takes a while to prepare eleven pizzas on short notice, apparently.”

“Special occasion?” Meis asked.

Varys and Galo looked at each other and shrugged.

“It’s Wednesday?”

“It’s Wednesday.”

“Y’know...” Meis began, still smiling in a way that let Lio know he wouldn’t like whatever came out of his mouth, “Lio makes a pretty good pizza, too.”

“What!” Galo rounded on Lio, smacking him in the face with his hair. “When did you make pizza? And where was I?!”

Lio decided that he would make good on his threat to light Meis’s shoes on fire, but that was for later. “I had kitchen duty at the compound, like everyone else living there. I’ve definitely cooked for you before.”

“Yeah, but not pizza.”

“Wow, Lio. Rude much?” Gueira had on a shit-eating grin.

“That is a little rude, Lio,” Aina agreed. She was trying to keep a straight face but wasn’t doing a very good job of it. “You know how much Galo likes pizza, and you would deprive him?”

“Yeah! You’re depriving me,” Galo pouted, but only for a moment. He lit up as a new idea came to him. “You should come over and we can make it together! Not tonight, because we’re about to have eleven and that’s probably enough--”

“Aina?” A new voice said.

Lio wondered if someone had stuck a tracking device on him, because now Heris had approached their small group at the back of the restaurant. She didn’t sit, but hovered awkwardly in between Aina and Varys. Honestly, all Lio had wanted was to enjoy a nice, quiet lunch and yeah okay maybe he also wanted to run into Galo, but definitely not with an audience present.

Aina looked as though Heris’s sudden appearance was a bit of a shock for her, too. She sat up stiffly in the booth and Gueira inched away from her. “H-Heris! I didn’t see you there.”

“We’ll talk at home.” Heris looked suspiciously between Aina and Gueira, then she turned on Lio. “Lio, I was hoping I’d find you here. I need to talk to you about moving day, but you haven’t answered any of my messages.”

Lio’s expression soured. “The last time I responded to one of your texts, I didn’t enjoy our discussion.”

Heris looked as though she had several opinions that she’d like to voice about the importance of responding to work emails, but decided not to for the sake of time. “I assume that you’re going to make good on your threat to leave Promepolis. In that case, let this be the last favor I ask you for.”

“…Go on.”

Heris nodded. “I need you to stay in the city for a few more days. Just long enough to attend a... let’s call it a networking event.”

“Wait.” Galo’s head whipped away from Heris to face Lio. “You’re really leaving?”

“Later,” Lio said quietly, aware that he held the attention of the entire table. To Heris, he said, “What do you need?”

“I’ll be meeting with members of the Azalea Burnish this weekend. We’re going to be negotiating a technology trade, but there will also be a social element involved. I would like for you and Galo to attend a formal dinner I’m holding for the event.”

Lio looked to Galo, who grinned and said, “I’m already going. Wanna come? It’ll be more fun if you’re there.”

Lio gave Heris a dead-eyed stare. Of course she had asked Galo first, thereby securing Lio by proxy. “The last favor.”

“Thank you.” Heris smiled, looking relieved. “Now, since the compound will be closed, where will you be staying?”

Lio’s gaze went automatically to Meis and Gueira, but they both refused to make eye contact. He looked around the table, but everyone else was busy pretending to be politely disinterested. Even Varys had taken out his phone and was preoccupied with showing Heris a cat video.

“You should stay with me! I have an extra bedroom-- a guest bedroom. Like an adult,” Galo said proudly. “And we can have a pizza night!”

Lio cracked a smile at that. “With you, every night is pizza night.”

“Is that a yes?”

“Yes.”

Galo grinned and knocked his knee against Lio’s.

“Well, I’m glad that’s settled. Thank you, Lio.” Heris smiled gratefully, then turned to Aina. “I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“Yeah, I’ll be home.” Aina smiled weakly.

“Good.” Heris said goodbye to the rest of the group, gave Gueira a withering stare, and then she was gone.

“Order up!”

“That’s us.” Varys stood and started towards the service counter.

Aina got up as well, but Gueira followed and caught her hand. “Hey. We should probably talk.”

“We should probably plan for your funeral,” Aina groaned. “She’s lactose intolerant, so I didn’t think she would come in here...”

Gueira waved goodbye over his shoulder as he went with Aina. Galo waved back, but Lio was distracted by a tiny lightbulb clicking on over his head. “Is Gueira dating Aina?”

Meis sighed a world-weary sigh as he got up from the booth. “Neither of you understand how hard I work for our friendship.” He fist-bumped Galo and left with the others, taking a portion of the pizza boxes from Varys to help carry back to the station.

Galo was the only one left in the booth, but it was another minute before he said anything. “You’re really leaving.”

Lio nodded. He watched a dozen different emotions flit behind Galo’s eyes before they settled on disappointment. Lio’s throat tightened and his stomach churned, but maybe that was just because he’d let Gueira stress-eat his lunch.

“You hadn’t said anything, so I just thought... or maybe I hoped that...”

Lio pulled out his wallet (a bundle of bills and gift cards held together with a hair tie) and left a tip on the table. “Let’s talk somewhere else.”

They left the pizzeria and walked in no particular direction. Galo was quiet for a long time and Lio hated that this was what it had taken to get him to stop talking. They slowed to a stop when they reached a barricade at the end of a street and Lio realized that they were at the crash site.

“Why did you want to come here?”

Galo raised his eyebrows and a smile slowly made its way back onto his face. “Were you following me? I was following you.”

Lio huffed a laugh and vaulted the barricade, bracing one hand on the cement block and swinging his legs over. He looked at Galo over his shoulder and smirked. “Aren’t you supposed to be the pilot?”

Galo grinned and vaulted over the barricade as well. The street was free of rubble and the buildings were mostly intact here; evidence of previous clean-up efforts, though the ship itself had yet to be dealt with. As they came to an intersection, Lio stopped in the middle of the road and turned to face the Parnassus, or a portion of it anyway. From here, it was a large, dark stretch of metal jutting up from the end of the sidewalk, as tall as any of the buildings. It was impossible to see the entirety of the ship at once unless you were airborne.

“I hate this fucking thing,” Lio sighed.

“They’re gonna start dismantling it next month.” Galo stood next to Lio and regarded the ship. “The tech from the Azalea Burnish is supposed to help.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Heris told me that she’s worried parts of the ship engine will be dangerous to move, but I guess they’ve got something to make it safer. And the Azalea settlement is in the desert, so they want the terraforming stuff we’ve got. Win-win.” Galo glanced at Lio. “Have you met them before? I mean, since they’re from out in the desert.”

“I think that the desert is a lot bigger than you think it is,” Lio teased.

Galo smiled at him, but it wavered and he looked away. “Why didn’t you talk to me?”

Lio’s mouth felt dry. He licked his lips but it didn’t help. “This was something that I needed to figure out on my own.”

“Yeah, well…” Galo rubbed a hand over the back of his head. “Yeah. I’m really gonna miss you.”

“I’m going to miss you, too.” Lio wanted very badly to hold Galo’s hand, so he shoved his fists into his jacket pockets.

Galo moved closer of his own accord, bumping his arm against Lio’s. “Can I come over tomorrow night? I’ll help you pack and make sure that everything’s ready to go in the compound.”

“Almost everything I own fits into one box. But sure, you can help me pack.”

“Since packing won’t take very long, maybe we could make dinner, too.”

“Are you… just trying to get me to make pizza for you?”

“No! But also, yes.” Galo put an arm around Lio’s shoulders and squeezed him affectionately. He steered them in a half-circle, prompting Lio to start the walk back with him. “I wanna get in as much Lio-time as possible before you, y’know, ride off into the sunset or whatever.”

The corner of Lio’s mouth quirked upward. “Galo, whenever you talk about me being a desert bandit, are you imagining me on a horse?”

“No!” Galo said in that same unconvincing tone. But then he followed it up by mumbling, “It’s a dragon. And your boots have little spurs on them.”

“Stupid,” Lio said with a small laugh. He let Galo’s arm stay around him until they needed to cross the barricade.

Chapter Text

[FRIDAY]

During his time at the compound, Lio came to learn that Neena wasn't a child who asked questions so much as she was a child who demanded answers.

"What’s your five-year plan?" Neena leaded forward onto the truck dashboard, avidly watching the road in front of them. She had taken immediate offense to learning that Lio planned to leave the city and insisted on being around him as often as possible. She had even bribed (or possibly blackmailed) Gueira into letting her ride along in the cab of in one of the moving trucks. "Do you even have one of those?"

"Sit back," Lio reminded her. He touched her shoulder and guided her to sit back against the seat.

Neena crossed her arms over her chest in a show of petulance. "I'm worried that you're not thinking about your future. Do you even have health insurance?"

Gueira sat on the other side of Neena, in the driver's seat, and he cackled. "Yeah, Lio. What about your health insurance? Didja get a-- whatchacallit-- get some blood work done? Did you get a physical?"

"I'm about to get physical with you," Lio said. On second thought, maybe Gueira just liked Neena because they were mentally the same age.

"Aww, don’t be like that! Galo might get jealous." Gueira gasped dramatically when Lio reached over Neena and punched him in the arm. "Hey, I'm driving!"

"That's child endangerment," Neena agreed solemnly. "I thought you were better than that, Lio."

"Yeah, Lio!" Gueira laughed when Lio glared at him instead of going for a second punch like he clearly wanted to.

Lio opted for a change in tactics. There was no helping Gueira's teasing, but perhaps Neena could be reasoned with. "Neena, I thought we agreed that since you got to pick dinner last night that you would stop asking about my life choices."

"That agreement was only for yesterday. If you wanna renew our contact, you'd better pay up."

"We made kangaroo burgers for you," Lio grumbled.

"Big Blue made burgers," Neena corrected. "You just ogled him while he cooked."

Lio's jaw dropped. Yes, Galo might have caught his eye when he was shirtless, sweaty, and apron-clad but Lio hadn't expected to be called out on it by someone who was still waiting for their adult teeth to grow in. "Who taught you that word?!"

Gueira laughed so hard that the truck swerved a little.

"Stop endangering me!" Neena yelled.

They arrived at the new apartment building in one piece. It was situated at the far end of the city, at the edge of the suburbs, so it wasn't as large as some of the other buildings that had gone up over the past year. It was only seven stories high, but it had been constructed with family housing in mind so each unit had at least two bedrooms and full amenities, making the building wide and squat.

As Lio exited the cab, helping Neena down after him, Galo approached them. He had finished moving in earlier that morning and was waiting for them out in the courtyard, shirtless and gorgeous in the sunlight.

"Lio!" Galo put an arm around his shoulder, giving him a brief hug. Lio didn't return the gesture but he did lean into it. Neena sighed loudly and Galo greeted her next, picking her up by her waist. "I didn't forget you, Neena!"

"Throw me!" Neena commanded. Galo obligingly lifted her above his head and tossed her into the air a few times. She laughed and slapped at his hands when she was ready to come down. "Now carry my stuff!"

"Alright, alright." Galo winked at Lio as Neena pulled him by the hand towards the back of the truck, where Gueira had started to unload.

Another moving truck and a charter bus filled with Burnish families pulled up behind them, and after that the next few hours flew by. It was repetitive work; up the stairs, down the stairs, lift the heavy thing, dodge other people carrying heavy things. It was hot out, but morale was high and they finished unloading the trucks more quickly than Lio had anticipated.

"We'll take the trucks back," Meis said, waving Lio off when he offered to help. "It's your moving day, too. Go and get settled."

"I'm not--" Lio started to argue but Meis spoke over him.

"Aren't there some things you should take care of before you leave?" Meis put his hand on Lio's shoulder and squeezed it. "Go on, we've got this."

Lio nodded. "Okay. Thank you, Meis." He waved to Meis and Gueira as they drove off and then Lio headed back into the building.

Galo's home was on the third floor, door 307, and someone had left Lio’s box next to it in the hall. The door was cracked and he could hear movement from within; the crunch of cardboard, the rustle of plastic, and Galo… talking to himself? Lio left his box where it was and pushed the door open, swinging soundlessly on its new hinges.

The first thing Lio noticed was the windows. They were huge, stretching almost from floor to ceiling, and light spilled in through the open blinds. The apartments came pre-furnished, but Galo was sitting on the hardwood floor in a pool of golden sunshine and pulling items one by one out of an opened box. He had apparently found a shirt at some point and was flipping through a book. Galo turned the pages at a leisurely pace and sang some low and quiet song. His brow was furrowed as he brought the book closer to his face and Lio smiled when he realized that it was a comic book.

Galo gradually became aware that he was being watched and raised his head towards the doorway. When his eyes met Lio’s, Galo smiled slow and warm like the sunrise. He put down the book, standing up to greet him. “Hey!”

“Hey.” Lio swallowed around the lump in his throat and returned the smile. “Y’know, it’s going to take you forever to unpack if you keep getting distracted.”

“Probably.” Galo shrugged, still smiling. He leaned to the side, peering around Lio as though he might be hiding something behind his back. “Where’s your thing?”

“In the hall. You don’t--” Lio’s protest came too late and Galo brought his box in from the hallway, kicking the door closed with his foot. “Thank you.”

“C’mon! I’ll show you your room.”

“The guest room,” Lio said, following Galo down a short hallway and into one of the bedrooms.

“The Lio room,” Galo corrected him, setting the box by the foot of the bed. “You’re my only friend who doesn’t live in Promepolis. Who’s gonna stay with me besides you?”

Lio felt like being contrary, so he quickly ran through a mental list of Galo’s friends but realized that he was right. The next thing he thought was ‘maybe if you get a boyfriend’ but then he realized that a boyfriend would be sleeping in Galo’s bed. Lio felt envy coil hot and tight in his stomach.

Galo wasn’t sure why Lio was emitting such a dangerous energy, but he felt that now would be a good time for a subject change. “C’mere,” he reached for Lio’s hand and placed a small object on his upturned palm, closing his fingers around it, “I want you to have this.”

Lio opened his hand and found a silver house key. The metal was warm from being in Galo’s pocket and at the end of it dangled the cartoon-Galo keychain. “Did you really buy a keychain with your face on it?”

“Pfft, no!” Galo paused. “Maybe I should? It might be easier to keep track of my keys if they look like me. Anyway, I grabbed your me-keychain while we were packing last night.”

“Rude.” Lio smiled and stuck it in his pocket. “Thanks. I’ll be sure to return it before I leave.”

“What, no! It’s for you to keep.”

“Are you going to lock me out?”

“No! I just...” Galo reached for Lio’s hand again. He held it loosely, his thumb brushing slowly over Lio’s knuckles. “I know that I can’t just pick out a home for you, even though I want to. That’s something for you to decide, but… I want you to have a place that you can always come back to.”

“Galo...” Lio started to pull his hand away but Galo held onto it, his touch firm but warm.

“Lio, I want you to know that I’m always going to be here. For you.” Galo squeezed his hand once and then let go. He smiled and it was full of his familiar optimism, the kind that Lio couldn’t help but to be reassured by. “So hang onto it, okay? For me.”

Lio nodded. He could still feel the lingering warmth of Galo’s touch on his hand. “Okay. I’ll keep it safe.”

“Great!” Galo clapped him on the shoulder and walked backwards out of the room, pointing finger-guns at Lio. “I’m gonna unpack a bit more. Lemme know when you’re settled and we can go shopping.”

“Shopping?”

“For groceries! We’re gonna make pizza, right?”

Lio smiled and rolled his eyes. “Of course.”

Shopping with Galo was nice, but it was nice in a way that Lio wasn’t sure how to gauge since there wasn’t a precedent for it. Sure, they had been out shopping together before, but it was always buying food in bulk for an event or for a communal kitchen. It wasn’t ever just for the two of them, sharing one hand-basket as they browsed the small cookware section for pizza pans. It wasn’t ever them lingering in the dairy aisle and bickering about which cheese was the superior cheese, or Galo making Lio smell every anti-antiperspirant in the toiletries section with him.

The word came to him while they were at the checkout counter and Lio was perusing the cooking magazines: ‘domestic.’

“But I want to help,” Galo whined, laying his head on the counter and making a gusty sigh. He was seated at the kitchen bar, watching Lio mush his hands in a flour-water-and-other-stuff paste in a plastic mixing bowl.

“Has Neena been giving you lessons in being dramatic?”

“No. She calls it ‘being extra’.” Galo made air quotes without lifting his head from the counter, still wearing a forlorn expression. Lio bit his lip to hide a smile.

“We’re making four pizzas, so you’ll get a chance to help. We have to wait for the dough to rise, so I wanted to do this part quickly.”

Galo sighed again, long and drawn out, and dragged himself off of the counter. He got off the bar stool and went into the kitchen, hovering next to Lio as he watched his hands make quick, efficient movements.

“I’ve been told that the trick to making a good pizza is in the dough,” Lio said. He wiped the back of his wrist across his forehead to push the hair from his eyes, leaving a trail of wet flour behind. He was still working out the last of the lumps, but the dough was nearly smooth now. “Not so much at the beginning, but I’ll show you what I mean when we’re shaping it.”

Galo was trying to pay attention, but his eyes were caught on the strands of blond hair now stuck to the flour on Lio’s forehead. “Do you have a hair tie?”

“What? Oh, just the one for my wallet. If you want to keep your hair back-- Galo!” Lio yelped as Galo’s hand slipped casually into the back pocket of his pants.

“What?” Galo pulled out the small bundle of cards and bills that passed as Lio’s wallet. He untangled the hair tie that held them together, leaving the rest on the counter.

“What do you mean what?” Lio said indignantly, but Galo pushed on his shoulder to keep him facing forward and stepped behind Lio.

“Your hair’s getting long again.” Galo combed his fingers through Lio’s hair, pulling it back into a low ponytail. He could see that the tips of Lio’s ears were red, but he wasn’t sure why. “Do you want me to trim it? I found my good scissors while I was unpacking the bathroom.”

“Maybe,” Lio muttered. His hands had stilled in the mixing bowl. “Y’know, Galo...”

“Hm?” Galo finished looping the hair tie and stepped back to admire his work. He flicked Lio’s ponytail and grinned. “All set!”

“...Thanks.”

Lio was still standing immobile when Galo moved back to his side. Without his hair hanging in his face, Galo saw that Lio’s cheeks were flushed as well. “What were you saying?”

Lio gave his head a small shake and his hands resumed kneading the dough. “Could you get out a clean dish cloth?”

While they were waiting for the dough to rise, Galo dragged Lio into the living room to show him his comic book collection. Galo pressed graphic novel after graphic novel into Lio’s hands, speaking animatedly as he pointed out his favorite characters and told a quick recap of their most recent perils.

Lio did his best to pay attention, but his thoughts wanted to drift. He wondered if Galo had given any thought to how he wanted to decorate the apartment, or if he would just slap up a bunch of fire safety posters. He hoped that Galo would still wear a motorcycle helmet even when Lio wasn’t there to nag him about it. He tried to imagine himself in Galo’s shoes, as someone who stayed behind while the person he loved went off and-- was it even okay to call it love? It’s not like there was anything actually between them. They weren’t dating, Galo was just- a dear friend that Lio happened to have saved the world with and also, coincidentally, had a crush on. Maybe they were just bonded by shared trauma and maybe, after some time away from Promepolis, Lio’s head would feel more clear and his heart less conflicted.

“Okay, that’s an hour. The dough should be ready,” Lio said, glancing at the time on his phone. He and Galo went back into the kitchen and cleared a space on the counter. Lio sprinkled flour onto it and wondered for how long Galo would be okay with him having a key to his home. Sure, Galo might welcome a visit after a few weeks or even a few months from now, but what about in a year? How long could Lio keep coming and going as he pleased until Galo came to resent him for it?

“Lio?”

Lio turned towards the sound of his name and Galo clapped both of his flour-coated hands on Lio’s cheeks, sending a billowing white cloud into the air. Lio stared in shock at Galo’s shit-eating grin, but then his eyes narrowed. He slapped Galo’s hands away and, making a dive for the flour bag sitting open on the counter, Lio grabbed a fistful of flour and clapped his own hands together, coating his palms and creating another small cloud. “I won’t allow you to make a fool of me twice, Galo Thymos!”

“That’s big talk for someone with short arms, Lio Fotia!”

While it was true that Galo had reach, Lio had speed. He gracefully dodged and weaved his way around Galo in the small kitchen, never allowing himself to be cornered, and slapped handprint after handprint onto Galo’s back. It was easy to tally points since they were both wearing dark shirts, but they decided to call it a draw after they knocked over the flour bag while fighting over ammo and spilled half of it onto the floor. Well, almost a draw.

“You just wanted to call it a draw because I was winning,” Lio said. He got down on his knees with Galo and passed him a wad of napkins. “But I’ll allow it since I do feel bad about making a mess in your new kitchen.”

“Okay,” Galo said. He picked up a handful of flour and rubbed it into Lio’s hair, pulling the hair tie free.

Another scuffle later, they gave up on cleaning the kitchen until after they finished baking. Lio showed Galo how to stretch the dough out carefully, rather than just flatten it, and tried not to fixate on how deft Galo’s hands could be. It was easy to like the version of Galo who was loud, boisterous, and annoying in an endearing way, but Lio liked this version of him too; the Galo who furrowed his brow in quiet concentration as he used a penknife to carve impossibly intricate details into a piece of soap. He was making that same face now as he stretched the dough to the size of the pizza pan, following Lio’s instructions exactly.

After the first two pizzas were in the oven, the other two on standby in the refrigerator, and the counters and floors were spotless, Galo handed Lio a towel and waved him into the bathroom. “You’ve still got a ton of flour in your hair.”

“And whose fault would that be?” Lio raised one eyebrow in silent accusation. Galo laughed and Lio shut the bathroom door, grinning from ear to ear.

The bathroom counter was littered with the same hair products that Galo kept on his vanity at Burning Rescue, leading Lio to wonder if he had moved it all here or if he actually kept a duplicate set of items. He hadn’t thought to grab his own toiletries before coming into the bathroom, but they were just small bottles of hotel soaps and Galo seemed to have his own small collection of tiny bottles in the shower as well. Lio turned the water as hot as it would go and picked which soap he used based on scent, opening and sniffing each bottle. They all smelled like Galo.

Lio stepped out of the bathroom in a waft of steam and the scent of citrus, dressed in a loose t-shirt and sweatpants. Galo was also wearing a fresh set of clothes and he had just finished switching out the pizzas in the oven, setting the finished ones on top of the stove to cool. He yanked off his oven mitts and was reaching for some of the cheese to sample when Lio was suddenly at his side, smacking his wrist. “You’ll burn your mouth.”

“Sometimes flavor is worth the pain,” Galo said. He was preparing to make a second attempt for some cheese when a different non-pizza smell caught his attention. He leaned closer to Lio and sniffed his hair. “Is that... the bergamot hair mask?”

Lio leaned away from him. “If that’s the conditioner that smells like a spicy orange, then yes.”

Galo crinkled his nose and made an expression that Lio didn’t recognize, but it was akin to amusement. “Did you use a hair mask as a conditioner?”

“What’s the difference?”

“Nevermind.” Galo grinned a touched a lock of Lio’s damp hair, smoothing his thumb over it. “Your hair’s pretty fine, so it probably didn’t need soak for very long. I bet it’s gonna be super soft when it dries. Not that your hair isn’t usually soft, because it definitely is.”

Lio wasn’t sure what to say to that, so he shrugged. He was used to having his appearance commented on, but not in this new ‘domestic’ context; not when he was tired and wearing secondhand clothes that didn’t fit and realizing how badly he would miss the feeling of Galo’s hands in his hair. Or Galo’s hand on his shoulder, Galo’s knee knocking against his whenever they sat together, Galo’s arms wrapped around him.

Galo’s hand moved from Lio’s hair to cup his face, raising his chin slightly so that their eyes met. Lio’s eyes were dry, but Galo’s thumb brushed over his cheekbone, as though wiping away a tear. He smiled and turned away from Lio to dig through one of the drawers. “Did you see where the pizza cutter went?”

"Lio, that was amazing! I can't believe you were holding out on me!” Galo was slumped on one end of the couch, looking like a very happy beached whale.

"Not on purpose.” Lio took a seat on the opposite side of the couch, but then Galo got up and scooted closer to him. “I only recently learned how to make pizza. Paul showed me."

"Paul from Pizzamepolis? With the prosthetic?" Galo held up his left hand, opening and closing it.

"Yeah, he didn't... didn't enjoy physical therapy." Guilt flickered across Lio's expression, but he quickly hid it so that he could avoid hearing Galo’s ‘It’s Not Your Fault, You Can’t Save Everyone’ speech. "But I had him give me cooking lessons for a few weeks and that seemed to help."

"You're so cool," Galo said, smiling fondly.

Lio rolled his eyes and pretended to be annoyed when Galo’s leg knocked into his own, shrinking the angle of his manspread. "Because I know how to make your favorite food?"

"Yes, but also because you're always helping people.” Galo was now close enough that he and Lio were pressed together from shoulder to knee. “I really admire that about you."

"You're always helping people, too."

"Yeah..." Galo sounded wistful, but then he changed the subject. "How long have you been cooking? Are you secretly a pro?"

"Hardly. I know how to make a lot of different things, but I'm not sure if I'm actually that good."

“I think you’re good.”

“Of course you do.” Lio nudged Galo with his elbow and Galo nudged him back. Lio thought for a moment, tapping his fingers on the top of his thigh. "My mother taught me how to cook."

"Your mother?" Galo was almost afraid to ask. Lio hardly ever volunteered any personal information and he had never spoken about his family before.

"Yeah. It was a training tool, to teach me how to use the Promare. Any Burnish has the ability to flare up bright, but then they burn out. She told me that to really utilize my power, I needed to learn how to keep a steady flame burning for a long time. Hence, cooking.” Lio felt drowsy and he let himself lean a little into Galo. It wasn’t very often that he got to be clean, well-fed, and warm all at once. The couch was pretty comfortable too and Lio thought that he wouldn’t have minded sleeping on it even if Galo didn’t have a spare room. “I never thought much of it when I was living with her, but it was useful for when I was out in the desert. I've eaten a lot of lizards."

"Is that hard to do? Keeping a flame going, not the lizard thing." Galo found it difficult to imagine Lio’s power as being limited, especially since he had enough strength to literally set the world on fire.

"For a child, yes. But having the immediate reward of food did make it more fun. We started with marshmallows."

"So, the secret to Lio Fotia’s power is a home-cooked meal.”

Lio snorted a laugh. At some point, his head had fallen onto Galo’s shoulder but he didn’t feel like lifting it. He was so tired of being tired all the time. “I suppose so.”

“Your mom must be really strong!"

"Yeah. She really was,” Lio sighed. His hand was curled into a fist on the top of his thigh, so he opened it and let the back of his fingers touch Galo’s. "Do you ever... I mean, when you were a kid..."

"I don’t remember much about my parents,” Galo said softly. “Or anything before the fire, actually.”

“Sorry, you don’t have to--”

“No, it’s alright. I think maybe I should.” Galo took a breath. “My therapist told me that my brain probably shut off those memories as a response to trauma. Which I think is pretty neat!” Galo laughed, but it was short-lived. “She wants me to work on processing some stuff so that maybe I’ll remember, but... I don’t think I want to. I mean, in the worst case scenario, my parents were jerks and remembering them will make me sad. And in the best case scenario, my parents were awesome and remembering them will make me sad. Maybe some doors are meant to stay closed, y'know?"

"Those are bold words from someone I've seen kick open doors on a weekly basis."

"Yeah, well..." Galo forced another laugh.

Lio wondered what it would be like to live in a city where everyone knew everything about you and your past. He knew that even before he arrived in Promepolis, Galo had already established himself as a local hero. Everyone knew about the young Burning Rescue member and the tragic death of his parents. Everyone knew about Kray. Despite growing up in the city, Galo didn’t seem to have any close friends outside of Burning Rescue. It wasn't difficult for Lio to imagine a young Galo; just as wild-haired, optimistic, and hardworking, but isolated from his peers because of his trauma and highly specific interests. His affiliation with Kray Foresight probably didn't help things either.

"Galo, regardless of whatever happened in the past... you should be proud of the man you've become. You've built a good life here."

"Thanks, Lio. Y’know, I think your mom would be proud of you. You're the strongest person I know! And you make really good food."

"Maybe if the Promare were--"

"That's not what I mean. You are strong."

"...Thank you, Galo." Everything was warm and hazy, so Lio closed his eyes, just to rest them for a bit. He felt Galo shift beneath him and then the touch of a hand carding through his hair.

"Holy heck, that is soft," Galo said, voice low and pleasant. "Do you ever think about growing your hair out?"

"No," Lio murmured, eyes still closed. "Long hair seems like a lot of trouble."

Galo chuckled and tucked a blond lock behind Lio's ear. "That's true. But I think you would look really cool with a braid."

"You always think I look cool."

"Yeah," Galo agreed. His hand dropped away from Lio's ear, his thumb briefly tracing the line of his jaw. "I do."

[SATURDAY]

It wasn't often that Lio woke up feeling comfortable. Irritated? Sure. Cold? Definitely (even with his electric blanket, which he used year-round). But for once, he woke up feeling well-rested, warm, and completely at peace. In fact, the feeling of being comfortable was so unusual to Lio that he forced himself awake in order to inspect what the fuck was going on.

Here is what he discovered: Lio had passed out on the couch and must have stayed asleep for at least ten hours since the living room was illuminated with morning sunlight. He could hear birds chirping from somewhere outside too, a sound that hadn't been present at the compound. And actually, it wasn't the couch that Lio had slept on, but Galo himself.

Galo was lying on his back and he had half of his face pressed into the couch, a trail of dried saliva marking the corner of his open mouth. His arms were wrapped around Lio, holding him snugly to chest, and the steady rhythm of Galo's breathing was almost enough to lull him back to sleep. Lio carefully disentangled his arms from Galo's grasp, laying his chin on folded hands as he watched Galo breathe and dream.

"Galo?" Lio whispered, his voice so quiet that he could barely hear himself speak. Galo showed no indication that he had heard him, his breathing unchanged and his mouth still hanging open. Lio moved his fingertips so that he could feel the beat of Galo's heart and he smiled. "I don't think I've slept that well since... heh, since the last time I fell asleep on you, I guess. Your apartment faces east, too, but I managed to sleep through the sun for quite a while.”

Lio traced a finger along Galo’s collar bone, to the dip at the base of his throat.

"I've never wanted to stay in one place before. I love being able to help people, but I also love the traveling. I've walked through so many beautiful forests, mountains-- and the ocean, Galo! You wouldn't believe how big it is. It's a little scary, actually, to think about how vast and unseen so much of it is, but that's part of why I like it. I wish that..." Lio felt his throat tighten and he tried again. "Y'know, I've always..."

Lio's eyes burned and he lowered his head, pressing his face to the back of his hands. He couldn't say it. It wouldn't make a difference even if he could, even if Galo were awake. It was just another secret that Lio would leave unspoken, left to wither away inside him.

Galo woke to the smell of something cooking. As soon as his sleep-adled brain registered what it was, he sat bolt upright on the couch and shouted, "Pancakes!" He heard Lio laugh and he swiveled his head around to look at him, then clambered over the back of the couch, nearly knocking it over. Galo caught himself on the kitchen bar, leaning over it to confirm that yes, Lio was indeed making pancakes.

"You're right on time," Lio said, picking up a plate that was stacked nearly a dozen pancakes high, and setting it in front of Galo. He was already dressed for the day and his hair was pulled back into a low ponytail again. "Syrup is in the fridge. Could you-?"

"On it!" Galo chirped. He opened the refrigerator and found that there were more things in it than yesterday; a carton of eggs, a bunch of leafy green vegetables, and the brand of sports drink that Galo preferred. "Did you go shopping? How long have you been up?"

"Not long." Lio carefully placed one final pancake on the top of Galo's stack and turned off the stove. "I wanted coffee and thought that you could use a few more things."

"Thanks, Lio!" Galo eagerly attacked his breakfast with knife and fork, stuffing bites into his face as quickly as he could cut them off. When he noticed that Lio wasn't eating anything, he swallowed and pointed a fork at him. "You're not gonna eat?"

"I'm fine with coffee."

"You made these just for me?"

Lio shrugged and preoccupied himself popping the lid off his coffee, stirring it with a spoon. "Do you like them?"

"I love them!" Galo enthused and he returned to stuffing his face. He made a noise, mouth too full of pancake to verbalize anything coherent, and pat the seat of the other barstool.

Lio smiled and rounded the kitchen bar, sitting down next to him. They were close enough that their knees touched and Galo occasionally jostled him with his elbow, but Lio retaliated by poking his ribs. "I can't believe you slept on the couch for the first night in your new home. You should have woken me."

Galo grunted, almost choked, and beat his fist on his sternum until his airways were pancake-free. "Pah! No way, it's like cat rules."

"Cat rules?"

"Yeah! If a cat falls asleep on you, you have to leave it alone until it wakes up. You're stuck there, even if you're hungry or whatever."

"Are you calling me catty?" Lio smirked, baiting him.

"Well," Galo began thoughtfully, missing the joke. He set down his utensils and counted on his fingers as he spoke. "You're a picky eater, you don't like most people and have to warm up to them, and you like to fall asleep in warm places. So, yeah!"

"I am not a picky eater. I told you about the lizards."

"You know what else eats lizards?"

Lio sighed. "Is it cats?"

"It's cats!" Galo grinned triumphantly and picked his knife and fork back up.

Lio smiled and sipped on his coffee, watching Galo over the rim of his cup.

"About time you guys showed up!" Aina had been waiting in front of the formal wear boutique for some time, when Galo and Lio finally arrived. She was wearing a floral print sundress and bright yellow bag, but she stood with her feet shoulder-width apart and her hands on her hips, staring them down.

"Sorry about that!" Galo said with a laugh, rubbing a hand over the back of his neck. "There was a, um..."

"We're late because I didn't want to come." Lio shrugged, impervious to Aina's disappointed stare.

"Not like I wanna be here either, " Aina mumbled, holding the door to the shop open. "I'm pretty sure my being here is just a punishment from Heris."

Galo gasped with genuine astonishment. "For what? You've never done anything wrong in your life!"

"That's an exaggeration, but thank you, Galo." Aina smiled, immediately more at ease. She followed Galo and Lio into the store.

A salesperson accosted them as soon as they stepped inside, but Aina took charge of the conversation when Galo asked to see their 'shinest wares.' There wasn't time for a proper fitting, so the plan was to buy something off-the-rack and pay for a rush alteration to have it ready for later that evening.

"Ooh! How about this one?" Galo brandished an intricately patterned gold and mauve paisley jacket. He wiggled the hanger so that it shimmered in the light.

Aina shook her head. "It's a black tie event."

Galo stared at her, so Lio clarified, "No obnoxious patterns."

Galo groaned in disappointment and put it back on the rack. "I hope this isn’t one of those dinners where there are, like, three different kinds of forks. Why does anyone need more than one fork?"

"For forks sake," Lio agreed with a wry smile, making Galo laugh. He noticed Aina watching them. "What?"

"Nothing," Aina replied in a sing-song voice that Lio absolutely did not trust. If he had learned anything in the past year, it was that the Ardebit sisters were always more devious than they appeared.

Lio wasn't usually one to pry into people's personal lives, but he couldn't help his curiosity. Besides, if anyone was going to get mad at him, it might as well be right before he left town. "So, your punishment... Is this about Gueira?"

"Sort of. I think it's more about Heris realizing that not communicating works both ways." Aina pursed her lips and exhaled sharply through her nose. "But instead of learning to trust me, she's regressed to treating me like a child. And part of her new plan to keep tabs on me is having me babysit the two of you today. No offense."

"None taken," Lio said, while Galo asked, "Does that mean you have snacks in your purse?"

Aina reached into her bag and pulled out a protein bar, but she snatched it away from Galo when he reached for it. "You can have it when we're done. If you behave yourself."

"Yes, ma'am!" Galo saluted her.

Lio smiled and pinched Galo's waist. "You just ate breakfast."

"Yeah, like two hours ago!" Galo grinned back at him, leaning closer to try for a retaliating pinch, but Lio stepped out of range.

Aina pulled a generic-looking tuxedo off a rack and held it up in front of Galo. "What about this?"

Galo made a face. "It's alright, I guess..."

Aina pushed the tux into Galo's hands and spun him around so that he was facing the dressing room. "Just try it on. Maybe you'll get an idea of what you want."

"I want the purple one..." Galo pouted but obediently shuffled off to the dressing room. Once he was out of sight, Aina turned her attention to Lio, following him to a section that was actually his size.

"How about this?" Aina showed him a black tux that was similar to the one she had just given Galo.

"I prefer something with peak lapels." Lio saw Aina frown at the jacket, so he held up a different one and pointed to the sharp angle of the lapels. "The pointy ones."

"Huh. Gotcha." Aina put the jacket back and thumbed through the rack, not-so-subtly watching Lio. "So, you've been to this kind of event before?"

"Not for a long time," Lio replied, purposely vague.

"Yeah? Like for a wedding or something?"

"Something like that." Lio tried not to be too entertained by Aina's noticeable disappointment.

"Well, since you've got it covered, I'm gonna help Galo."

"Hang on." Lio doubled back to the larger side of the rack and pulled out a midnight blue tuxedo with, of course, peak lapels. "Try this one."

Galo looked at his reflection in the mirror and frowned. It had taken a while to stuff himself into the jacket-- the shoulders were too narrow and he was afraid to move now that he had it on. He usually didn’t mind clothes shopping-- even though he did have an aversion to shirts-- but buying something he didn't like and would probably never wear again made the experience tedious. He heard a knock from the outside of his dressing room, so he pushed the heavy, velvet curtain aside, lifting his arm as little as possible.

"Oh, yeesh," Aina said when she saw him. "I definitely guessed wrong on your size. Do you need help?"

"Yes," Galo sighed. He turned around and let Aina carefully yank the jacket off of him. "Are you going to this thing, too?"

"Yup," Aina sighed, sounding just as miserable as he was.

"Are you getting a tux?"

"Nah, I've already got a dress picked out. I don't like neckties."

"Neckties!" Galo groaned in despair. "I forgot about about those."

Aina laughed and gave the jacket one final yank. "You're free!"

"Yes!"

"Now try these on."

"No!" Galo begrudgingly allowed Aina to pile several more tuxedos into his arms.

Aina smiled sympathetically and pat the one on top of the stack. "Try the blue one, first."

Galo grumbled in agreement and went back into the dressing room. The blue tuxedo was easier to put on and actually fit him nicely in the shoulders, plus the jacket flaps were pointy and that was kind of cool. The waist was a little baggy, but that was true of everything Galo wore that wasn't form-fitting. He was admiring his reflection when he heard Lio's voice, so he pulled back the curtain.

Lio was dressed in a black tux and standing on a small platform while an attendant measured the extra fabric bunched up around his ankles. His back was towards Galo, but the dressing area was ringed with full-sized mirrors, so his outfit could be seen from every angle. Galo hated to admit it, but he was jealous of how everything Lio wore looked good on him. Even though he was clearly being measured for alterations, the tuxedo already suited him well. Lio caught Galo's eyes in one of the reflections and smiled. Galo's stomach flip-flopped and he wondered if Lio would wear something similar for their wedding.

Wait.

Galo snapped the curtain shut.

Wait, WHAT?

There wasn't any place to sit, so Galo leaned heavily against the wall.

WHAAAT????

"Galo?"

It was Aina's voice on the other side of the curtain, but Galo nearly jumped out of his skin. "What?! I mean, yeah okay!"

"...Galo?"

"Everything's fine!" Galo's voice pitched up at the end and he cleared his throat. "Super good! Super awesome good-tastic!"

"Are you stuck in another jacket? It's okay if you ripped it, this is all going on Heris's credit card."

"No, I... everything's..." Galo buried his face in his hands and slid down the wall.

"Galo? I'm coming in, so you'd better be dressed."

"Is he alright?"

At the sound of Lio's voice, Galo's stomach swooped again.

"He's fine. Got stuck in a jacket." Aina opened the curtain just enough for her to slip inside. She looked curiously at Galo, who was hunkered down on the floor. “Uh, did you get caught in the zipper?”

“Worse,” Galo groaned, “Aina, I think I’m having a crisis. But not a fire crisis, like a life crisis or something. My heart is caught in a zipper.”

“What?”

“I think I’m in love with Lio.”

“You’re just figuring this out now?” Aina hissed, quickly peaking out the curtain to confirm that Lio was still speaking with the attendant.

“Yes!” Galo hissed back. “That is why I am freaking out.”

“Why are you both so dramatic all the time!”

“What’re you--? Wait, is this why no one was surprised that we’re fake-dating? I wasn’t thinking about--!” Galo ground the heels of his hands into his eyes and let out a dispirited moan. “I just really, really like touching his hair and his hands and being around him all the time.”

Aina crouched down next to Galo, tucking her skirt under her legs. "Okay, let's talk this through. You've got feelings for Lio. What do you want to do about it?"

"Do?" Galo's brain was still trying to filter his past interactions with Lio through this new context, but now he had to think about the future? "I have to tell him, right? That's the-- that's the done thing."

"You don’t have to tell him, if you don't want to," Aina said. Galo rubbed his hands over his face with a disgruntled sound, his voice muffled behind his palms. "Do you want Lio to know?"

"I don't know. I don't know what Lio would--" Galo's hands slid off his face, revealing the pinch of his eyebrows and the downward slant of his mouth. "Lio, he... he wants to leave. He is leaving."

Galo's chest tightened and for a horrifying moment he forgot how to breathe. Wait, no, it was like this, right? Inhale, exhale, inhale-- yes, okay, like that but slower. Oh, but now his eyes were stinging and he tried to focus both on breathing normally and not crying while also still processing the way he felt about Lio.

Galo was glad that they were speaking in whispers since the quaver of his voice was made less obvious. "I guess I thought he was always gonna be there. Ohgod, did I take him for granted? Have I not been cherishing him enough? Aina, do you think Lio feels cherished?"

"Oh, Gal," Aina said gently, putting her hand on his arm, "He's not leaving because of something you did."

"No. I mean, yeah, no. I know that." Galo closed his eyes and inhaled a deep, measured breath. He thought about the things he did know: Lio was leaving. Not because of Galo, but because he was duty-bound and there was no changing that. It wouldn't be fair to try and alter their dynamic now and it wasn't like Galo was dissatisfied with their current relationship. Lio was still his best friend and he had promised to come back and visit, so he would. Because Lio always did exactly what he said he was going to do and Galo had always liked that about him. He slowly let the breath out and opened his eyes. "I'm okay. Thanks, Aina."

Aina searched his face, then nodded. "Okay. What are you going to do?"

"The same thing I always do," Galo forced a smile, but it did make him feel more confident, "I'm gonna play it super cool. But like, in a burning way. Super burning cool!"

Aina made a noise in her throat that Galo wasn't sure how to interpret and she pat him on the back.

As soon as they were outside the boutique, Galo let out a whoop and yanked his shirt off. A group of people waiting at the crosswalk cheered when they saw him and Galo grinned and waved to them.

"Show off." Lio pinched his waist again and Galo yelped, springing a full step away from him. They stared at each other and Lio raised an eyebrow as he watched Galo's face flush. "Alright there?"

"Yes!" Galo announced, yanking his shirt back on. "So alright! Never better!"

"Put this in your mouth." Aina slapped the protein bar into Galo's hand and gave him a pointed look.

"Yes, ma'am!" Galo tore open the wrapper and crammed it all into his face at once. For a minute, the silence between the three of them was filled with the sounds of traffic and awkward chewing.

Aina almost sighed, but stopped partway through the motion, sucking air back into her lungs. "Okay! I'm going to head out. Remember, we're meeting at the hotel early to get ready."

Galo said something incomprehensible and Aina shook her head.

"I don't trust you to not rip the sleeves off your clothes. Just, y'know," Aina tried and failed not to glance at Lio, "Keep it burning-cool until then, okay?"

"Okay?" Lio said. Galo gave her a double thumbs-up and Aina waved over her shoulder as she ran for the green crosswalk. Lio took one of Galo’s hands and pulled him in the opposite direction, back to where Galo had parked his bike.

“Woah, where’s the fire?” Galo laughed at his own joke. “Where do you wanna go? Any place you think you’re gonna miss?”

“The forest,” Lio said without hesitation.

“Mmm, that’s too far of a drive,” Galo reluctantly admitted. “We wouldn’t be able to hang out for very long once we got there.”

Lio stopped walking and Galo almost bumped into him. “Then, what about that cafe I like? After that, I don’t care where we go.”

“Sheesh, that’s it?” Galo thought about resting his chin on Lio’s head, but decided not to. “I really didn’t convince you to like any part of Promepolis, huh.”

“I like the part with you in it.” Lio said this as casually as possible, but he was still disappointed when his words failed to give Galo pause.

“Isn’t that actually all of Promepolis? Or do you mean just the places where I, specifically, have been?”

“Galo, please, I need caffeine.”

They wandered from the coffee shop to the community garden on Central Avenue. Galo tried to stay present and keep himself focused on what they were doing, but he kept distracting himself with thoughts of Lio's impending departure and also what it might be like to hold Lio's hand. Or kiss him. Or wake up together every morning for the rest of their lives.

"Galo."

The sound of Lio's voice slowly dragged Galo's thoughts down from the clouds, like a string trying to reel in a kite on a windy day. They were meandering through the garden, going in no particular direction. There weren't a lot of places in the city that they could go to be alone (specifically non-terrifying places, because the crash site was definitely a non-meandering zone) but the garden came pretty close to seclusion. They had passed a few people on the way in and Lio stopped briefly to speak with them, his voice warm and compassionate. Galo felt his heart kick around in his chest and goddamn was that going to happen every time? Had it been happening all along and Galo had just never noticed until now? It felt kind of nice.

"Galo," Lio said again. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing!" Galo said too quickly. Lio stopped walking and crossed his arms, regarding him with a cool stare. They were standing underneath a row of slender trees with large, pink blooms, so Galo turned his attention to them. "These are nice! What kind of tree is this?"

"Crepe myrtle. What happened in the dressing room?"

"I got stuck in a jacket." Galo had been avoiding Lio's gaze, but after he was quiet for an unusual amount of time, Galo chanced a look at him. He found that instead of being mad, Lio seemed hurt.

"You are many things, Galo Thymos, but you are not a good liar." Lio started to turn away, but Galo grabbed his hand.

"Okay, I sort of had a breakdown. But it wasn’t a big one!" Galo amended when he saw Lio’s eyes widen in alarm. "Just a small one!”

“About me?”

Galo tried to choose his words carefully. "Sort of? Sorry, it just... it kinda hit me all at once that you're really leaving and-- Lio, I don't know what I'm going to do without you in my life."

Lio's jaw dropped, his lips parting slightly before he remembered himself. He reset his expression to something neutral before responding, but he couldn't stop the tips of his ears from turning pink. "Galo, that's..."

"I know. That's crazy, right?" Galo laughed nervously. He forced himself to let go of Lio's wrist because touching him made Galo feel like he was buzzing with electricity. It sparked warm in his fingertips and sent lightning through every inch of his nerves, but in a way that felt good. He wanted to feel it again and again. "But, before I met you, I don't think I really knew how to live for myself. I mean, I love being able to help people, but I also like being useful. And I can’t deny that a huge part of my motivation for joining Burning Rescue was to make Kray proud of me.”

“Regardless of your motivations, you’ve done a lot of good.”

“Yeah, but I didn’t really exist outside of my job. Ignis used to have to kick me out of the station on my days off. I didn't know what to do with myself when I wasn’t training or waiting for someone to call on me. Most of the time I just ended up wandering through the woods for hours. But then I met you, and you were just as bad as me!"

"What do you mean?” Lio had thought that this was a confession, but he was beginning to wonder if it was actually a call-out.

"I mean, not about the recognition thing, but you're addicted to saving people. I saw you and thought 'wow, here’s a guy who’s even more intense than me!'"

"I am not 'addicted.'"

"Yeah? What were you doing for fun before I started dragging you around?" Galo grinned triumphantly when Lio pursed his lips in annoyance. "It's fun, isn't it? Just hanging out and doing dumb stuff together."

"I... yeah, it is." Lio’s chest ached with something that he didn’t understand. He turned on his heel and started walking again. "But now that I have apparently taught you how to enjoy yourself, you should be fine without me."

Galo followed him, taking longer strides to match Lio’s pace. "And what about you? Who's gonna make sure that you take breaks and remember to eat?"

"Galo, I've done a lot of traveling and it’s mostly been by myself. I’ll be fine."

“But--”

"And I know that you'll be fine, too. You have a good network here, a lot of people care about you."

"But don't you wonder what it'd be like if you stayed?"

"Of course I do!" Lio snapped, spinning around to face Galo, who dug in his heels to keep from crashing into him. "But I can't. And it's not because I'm 'addicted to saving people'--"

"I didn't mean--"

"--it's because I've gone from being the leader of a renown arsonist-revolutionary group to a fucking political figure and pseudo-celebrity and I can't just abandon the people who are depending on me, even though I--" Lio clamped his jaw shut, biting down hard on his lip. The sharp silence made the garden seem eerie. A breeze kicked up, rustling the leaves of the crepe myrtles and sending pink blossoms tumbling with the wind.

"I didn’t mean it like that," Galo said softly.

"I know," Lio relented with a sigh, his anger leaving him. He watched Galo cautiously lift his hand and reach out to him, like you would to a frightened animal. Lio closed his eyes and allowed Galo's palm to cup his cheek, feeling the pad of his thumb gently touch his lower lip, next to where he had bit it. He could taste blood.

“Back when you first told me you were gonna move on, I talked to Aina about it. I didn’t think her advice was very good, but now I’m thinking that maybe she was right.”

Lio opened his eyes so that he could frown at Galo. “Those meddlesome sisters like to-- ...what is it?”

Galo’s thumb brushed over Lio’s cheek, his eyes wide with wonder. “Lio, if I asked you to stay in Promepolis, to stay for me… You would, wouldn’t you?”

Lio caught Galo’s wrist and gently pulled his hand away. His gaze dropped, falling somewhere around Galo’s collar bone, and his voice was carefully low and even. “Galo, please don’t ask that of me.”

“I wouldn’t,” Galo said, voice hushed with awe. “I won’t.”

Lio nodded in a stiff jerk of his head. He took a step back, letting go of Galo’s wrist. “I have to go. I promised Gueira and Meis that I would meet up with them."

“Oh.” Galo tamped down his disappointment. "Where at? I can drive you."

"No, that's okay. I'll see you at the hotel later."

Lio quickly left the garden, almost running in his haste. Galo watched him go, his mouth curving into a sad smile. “You’re not a better liar than me, stupid.”

Lio stared up at Gueira and Meis’s apartment building with a sense of foreboding. He hadn’t actually meant to come here, he had just wanted to put some distance in-between himself and Galo. However, Lio had managed to get stuck in his head thinking about Galo, replaying their conversation line-by-line, and his feet had moved on autopilot and carried him here anyway. He considered knocking on their door, but how inconvenient would it be to show up unannounced in the middle of the day? They did have plans to meet up, but not until later that night, so maybe they weren’t even home.

In the end, Lio hesitated for too long and a decision was made for him when one of the city buses pulled up to the curb behind him. Meis stepped out of the vehicle, accompanied by Helen. Although they made eye contact almost instantly, their greeting was delayed by Helen, who was frail and hunched and clung to Meis’s arm as he lead her gradually towards the building. Lio met them at the door to the entrance and held it open as Helen passed through.

“Hey,” Meis said, like it wasn’t weird for Lio to be there. He guided Helen to the elevator and pressed the button.

“Hey, Meis.” Lio greeted him awkwardly. “Helen, shouldn’t you be resting?”

“Bah!” Helen released Meis’s arm briefly so that she could wave a hand in Lio’s direction. “I’ve been resting. I’m on my way to dear Farah’s for the tea.”

“I thought you were a coffee drinker?”

“I am.”

Meis smirked, which was as good as a laugh from him. Lio looked to him for an explanation but he merely shrugged in response. The elevator doors slid open and the three of them stepped inside.

“And where is your dear Galo?” Helen asked sweetly.

“He’s around,” Lio replied, steadfastly avoiding Meis’s questioning look.

“What a nice young man,” Helen said, smiling serenely, but Lio held his breath. “And what a nice piece of ass, too.”

“There it is,” Lio sighed. The elevator stopped and he held the door while Meis escorted Helen to the first apartment on the landing, seeing her safely inside. Once Meis had returned, Lio said, “Can’t say I’ll miss that in the slightest.”

“What, Galo’s ass? Don’t lie.” Meis quipped, pressing the button for his floor this time. “How was pizza night?”

Lio crossed his arms over his chest. “I hate that you did that.”

“Sure you do,” Meis said, but Lio didn’t take the bait so he left it at that. Once they had reached the fifteenth floor, Lio followed Meis out of the elevator and a down a hallway to the home he shared with Gueira. The door was unlocked, so Meis simply pushed it open. “I’m back, so you’d better not be on the couch!”

“That was fast,” Gueira said. He was sprawled out on the couch, dressed in only a t-shirt and boxers, and holding a video game up in front of his face. “Did Farah not have any good tea?”

“I didn’t ask. We have company.”

“Hey, Gueira,” Lio said, closing the door behind him.

"Lio!” Gueira dropped the game onto his face. “Fuck ! I thought we weren't meeting up until tonight. Shit, what time is it?"

"Time for you to wake up, you filthy gremlin." Meis ruffled Gueira's hair, but when he pulled his hand away he looked distastefully at his palm. "You need a bath."

"After this level."

"How many levels have you been saying that for?" Meis clicked his tongue in annoyance and went into the kitchen. “Did you at least mind the curry?”

“Yes, dear,” Gueira groaned theatrically. He shifted into a slightly more upright position, pivoting his legs so that there was room for Lio to sit down, and restarted the level he had been working on.

Lio dropped onto the other end of the couch, letting himself sink into it. Once he was settled, he closed his eyes and let out a sigh through his nose.

"Woah, what's that for, Boss?" Gueira continued to button mash furiously, never taking his eyes off the tiny screen.

Lio cracked an eye open at him. "What?"

Gueira took a deep breath and sighed dramatically. "That. You worried about your fancy dinner? Wish I could go, I bet there’s gonna be some good fuckin’ food."

"I wish you could go for me." Lio slumped against the back of the couch. He tried to will himself to sink entirely between the plush folds, lost forever to that place where all things go when they disappear inside a couch. "I'm not even part of the actual negotiations for the tech trade. I think I'm just going so that Heris can show me off as one half of the Galolio set."

"Ah, arm candy." Gueira nodded knowingly. "At least your last dinner in Promepolis will be a tasty one."

Lio shrugged. "It's a hassle, but it should be fine."

"Then all that sighing must be heartsickness." Gueira didn't need to see Lio's face to know what kind of look he was giving him. "You only sigh like that when someone's being stupid. And if it's not Heris, then it must be Galo."

Lio huffed another sigh. "That one was for you."

"Hey!" Gueira sighed spectacularly loud, groaning at the end. Lio sighed back even louder and Gueira retaliated by letting out a sound that was almost more wail than sigh. Lio kicked his foot and Gueira dropped his game onto his lap. "Fuck!"

"Go take a bath!" Meis yelled from the kitchen.

"You don't know my life!" Gueira yelled back. In an aside to Lio, he said, "He does know my life, but a little mystery keeps the relationship fresh."

"The freezer will keep your corpse fresher!" Meis poked his head into the living room. "I'm implying that I'm going to murder you and stuff your body into the freezer, in case that wasn't clear."

"Nah, I didn't catch that, thank you for explaining." Gueira smiled angelically at him.

Meis's one visible eye glared at him as he retreated back into the kitchen.

"Anyway," Gueira set his game down on the coffee table, "What're you doin' here? Not that I'm not thrilled to see you, but I thought you were having an all-day Galolio extravaganza."

Lio made a vaguely frustrated noise and slumped further into the couch. "I think I fucked up."

"How? Did you light a candle in his house and leave it burning while you were in a different room?" Gueira mimicked Galo's voice, "Unsupervised flames are fire hazards! I prevent shirt-related fires by never wearing a shirt!"

"Shirt-fires?" Lio cracked a smile in spite of himself.

"Yeah, because those washboard abs are too hot to handle." They heard Meis groan in the kitchen and Gueira's grin widened. "Seriously though, you're fine as long as you didn't do the candle thing."

"Maybe," Lio replied noncommittally, prompting Gueira to roll his eyes.

"What was it then? A fight about pizza toppings?"

Lio became very interested in examining the wood grain on the coffee table. "I think Galo just confessed to me."

"You think?" Gueira scoffed

"It was all very convoluted."

"Sure,” Gueira agreed in a tone that meant he did not agree in the slightest. “And what did you say to him?"

Lio made a vague noise that didn't really mean anything.

"Lio," Gueira stared at him with mounting disbelief, "Did you just fucking haul ass over here? Right after he told you?"

Lio’s only reply was to sink even further into the couch.

Gueira howled with laughter. "Ohmygod! You really just fucking did that!"

"I appreciate your support during my time of need," Lio said in a monotone.

"Okay, okay." Gueira's laughter subsided and he wiped a tear from his eye. "Boss, I'm sorry but the right thing to do would've been to stay and talk it out. Now your only option is damage control."

"No, I-- I think I made myself pretty clear."

"Yeah? You sure you weren't pretty 'convoluted'?"

"Why are you asking this reprobate for relationship advice?" Meis said as he reentered the room, balancing three bowls of curry in his hands. He passed them out to Gueira and Lio, taking a seat between the two of them. Gueira refused to move so Meis was partially on top of him. "Aina dumped his ass last night."

"Rude!" Gueira stuffed a spoonful of curry into his mouth and spoke around it. "Be nice to me! I'm very fragile right now."

"I’m sorry, Gueira." Lio immediately felt guilty for never having followed up on learning about them dating. Although, it had apparently ended almost as soon as he became aware of it. "Is that why you're...?"

"Lounging around like a filthy gremlin?" Meis finished for him. "No, he's just like this whenever he doesn’t have someplace to be."

Gueira opened his mouth and chewed loudly. He stopped when Meis reached for his bowl in a silent threat to take it away. "Listen! We were on the road nonstop for the last few years. Fighting, running, hiding all the godfuckin’ time. You think imma squander the opportunity to spend a day doing absolute fuck-all?"

"Didn't you very recently sass me about getting a hobby?" Lio pointed out.

"I've got hobbies! And not just indoor ones. I'm on that basketball team with Galo and Varys." Gueira watched Lio push his food around with the spoon. "And judging from your silence, I'd say that you didn't know about the basketball team."

Lio set down the spoon, his expression tense. Now that he was thinking about it, he remembered hearing both Gueira and Galo mention a team before, but Lio hadn't thought much of it and he definitely hadn't asked any follow-up questions. He glared accusingly at the curry. "Shit. I'm a bad friend."

Meis and Gueira exchanged a look. Gueira shrugged and shoveled more rice into his mouth, so Meis took the lead. "I don't think you're bad, I think you're just out of practice. You've been traveling on your own for a while and this is the first place you've stayed in for a significant amount of time.”

“Thank you for saying so, but I really should have been more involved in your lives.” Lio cupped his hands around the bowl. He wasn’t interested in eating, but the warm ceramic felt nice. “Both of you have been incredibly supportive over the past year and you’ve literally saved my life on several occasions. Gueira, I think it should have been obvious to me that you were dating Aina. If I had been more--”

“Boss, stop, hold up a minute.” Gueira pointed his spoon at Lio, almost hitting Meis with it. “Aina and I were dating in secret. Emphasis on secret. I even left Meis in the dark for a while.”

“You say that like I don’t know your life.” Meis smacked his own spoon against Gueira’s to get it away from his face.

“But why hide at all?” Lio asked.

“Have you met Heris? Y’know, the woman who came very close to murdering billions of people to keep her sister safe?”

Lio considered Heris. “Yeah, okay.”

Gueira blew out a breath. “Also, we weren’t really like dating-dating, I guess? I mean we were definitely doing stuff--”

“Get to the point,” Meis said.

“It was mostly just a secret fling for fun-sies. It stopped being fun when Heris tried to shoot me with her laser-eyes in the pizzeria,” Gueira summed up. “One time, I asked Aina if she thought I was boyfriend material and she said ‘in what context?’”

“Brutal,” Meis commented dryly.

“Yeah, that conversation devolved into us taking personality quizzes online. I still have no idea in what context I count as boyfriend material, but I do know what kind of breakfast cereal I am.”

Lio laughed, but it felt bittersweet. He knew that after he left, his friendship with Gueira and Meis would be put on hold, too.

Meis noticed that Lio still hadn’t touched his curry. "Eat your food."

"I'm not really hungry."

"Did you eat breakfast?"

Lio shrugged and Gueira’s expression took on a pinched look.

"Gueira," Meis said in a warning tone.

"No, y’know what? It's tough love o'clock." Gueira set his own bowl down on the table and turned to face Lio. The seriousness of his demeanor was undercut due to the fact that Meis was still partially on his lap. "You're still running on survival mode, even though you don't have to do that anymore. You're still training yourself to survive on one meal a day and working from dawn to dusk until you're exhausted."

“Not just working,” Lio said in a tone that was nearing petulance, “I have hobbies now.”

“Yeah, you learned how to weld and built a motorcycle in under a week, which is both insane and amazing, but using your free time to craft an escape vehicle negates it from being a hobby.”

“Stop calling it an escape vehicle. I thought you said it counts as a hobby as long as I enjoy it.”

“What I said was that you didn’t have any interests outside of the rebuild,” Gueira threw his hands up in the air, “And I was right!”

"What else am I supposed to do?" Lio said curtly. "The Burnish need me. I can't abandon them."

"The Burnish need you alive. We're not eternal anymore, Lio. Who the fuck are you helping if you work yourself to death?"

"I can't just quit."

"I'm not asking you to quit. I'm asking you to rest." Gueira clasped his hands together. "Fuck it, I'm begging you. Please, rest."

"I can't," Lio repeated angrily, glaring at Gueira. "You don't know what it's like. If I'm the one who sacrifices and if I'm the one who makes the hard choices, then someone else doesn't have to. I choose to lead and protect so that others can live their lives more freely."

Meis looked at him sadly. "But when are you going to live your life, Lio?"

Lio's vision blurred and he turned away, horrified to find himself blinking back tears. He'd never had to consider what came after the war because he hadn't thought that he would live to see the end of it. He'd only ever had to think about what the next day would bring; the next fight, the next meal, the next escape. Everything was cyclical, everything was liminal.

But then there was Galo.

Gueira blew out a breath and picked his bowl back up. "You can stay here until your event tonight, but you have to eat with us."

Lio nodded, not trusting himself to speak. He picked his spoon back up, hand trembling slightly, and took a small bite of curry. Meis and Gueira resumed eating as well and for the next few minutes the living room was quiet except for the sound of spoons clinking against bowls.

"Needs salt," Gueira said. Meis elbowed him in the gut and Lio laughed, rubbing the heel of his hand across his cheek.

Lio had a complicated relationship with hotels. He much preferred their inexpensive counterpart, the motel, which lacked a central lobby and was therefore easier to break into and escape from if should Lio decide to forego the 'payment' part of his stay. But hotels were consistently cleaner, newer, and had nicer soaps. Hotel rooms were harder to steal and required a touch more subterfuge, but the reward was sleeping on a mattress that felt like a mattress instead of a box full of springs. And now, Lio supposed, another advantage was having consistently hot water. It wasn't something he'd ever had to think about while traveling before, but would now have to consider at every place he stayed.

That being said, the Prometheus Hotel was easily the nicest hotel that Lio had ever stepped into without the intention to steal something or set it on fire. It was located downtown near the state building that Heris worked in, but was still far enough from the crash site that the view of the wreckage was hidden by the surrounding skyscrapers. The building itself had clearly drawn inspiration from Greco-Roman architecture and was decorated with white marble and non-functional columns both inside and out. There was a large fountain set in front of the entrance as well, as an over-sized centerpiece for the driveway. It almost as large as a swimming pool but only a few feet deep, and long, vertical banners had also been placed on the outside of the building, proclaiming the hotel's grand opening in over-sized red and white lettering.

Lio received directions from the employee at the front desk and rode the elevator up to almost the top floor. He followed the signs that lead him through several twisting hallways, until he arrived at a door that had a piece of paper taped to the outside of it. It was a message in hastily scribbled pink marker that read ‘THIS ONE, GALO!!’

Aina yanked the door open as soon as Lio knocked, obviously worried that the two of them would be late again. Her hair was down and she was wearing a dark red evening gown that had more tulle than Lio thought appropriate for the occasion, but it suited her well. "Where's Galo?"

"I'm not his-- I haven't seen him for a few hours." Lio bit back a sigh and followed her inside. It wasn’t one of the regular hotel rooms, but a large dressing room. There were two dressing screens, a standing wardrobe between them, and a full-size vanity on one wall, complete with a sink.

Aina glanced at her watch, a dainty piece of gold-rose jewelry that Lio only saw her wear for special ceremonies. "Well, he's technically got five more minutes before I start hunting him down. I'll use the Burning Rescue volunteers to search the city if I have to. Here, go ahead and get changed."

Lio accepted a black garment bag from her and reminded himself to never get on Aina's bad side. He stepped behind one of the dressing screens.

Aina checked the time again. "How is it?"

"I haven't put it on yet."

"Right, sorry."

Lio was already annoyed at having to be here, but Aina's anxiety was so palpable that in another time she probably would have been able to summon a Burnish flare. Lio tried to ease her nerves by talking to her. "So, how did you end up getting roped into a state dinner for a tech deal?"

"Heris said I had to come."

"She wanted you for moral support?"

"Or to keep tabs on me. Or both. She’s a big fan of efficiency." The tulle of Aina’s skirts made a soft crunching sound as she sat down on an embroidered chair. “At least I just have to show up and look nice. Unlike you guys, being specially requested and all that.”

“What do you--”

The door burst open and Galo rushed inside. "I'm here!"

Aina stood up, her dress crinkling angrily. "You're late!"

"No I’m not!"

"Wait-- Aina, what did you mean by that?" Lio tried to recapture Aina’s attention.

"Oh, you’re here! Hi, Lio." Galo rapped his knuckles on the other side of the dressing screen, making it wobble.

"Socialize later!" Aina put a garment bag in Galo's hands and pushed him behind the other dressing screen.

Lio hurriedly finished assembling the rest of his costume and came out from behind the screen. Aina was on him immediately, checking the placement of his cuff links and the knot of his tie. She took a step back and looked him up and down, nodding in approval.

"Lookin' good, Lio!"

They both heard a loud shuffling sound and turned their attention to Galo. He had been peeking over the top of the screen, but quickly looked away once he realized that he'd been caught. Aina bit back a laugh, looking embarrassed for him. Lio cleared his throat and moved the conversation along.

"It's nice, actually. I wasn't expecting much from a rush job."

"Don't sound so surprised! I wouldn't pick a crappy place. But do you have to wear the gloves?"

"Yes, I do. Now, what were you saying about being requested?"

"Heris didn’t tell you?" Aina pursed her lips. "Of course she didn’t. The leader of the Azalea Burnish wants to meet you."

"Galo and I?" Lio's mouth twisted with displeasure. “Do they want an autograph or do they want to murder us? Honestly, I would prefer a murder attempt.”

"He wanted to meet the people responsible for closing the rift. He wouldn’t even take the meeting unless you two made an appearance.”

“So, murder?”

“Please sound a little less cheerful about that,” Aina scolded. Her eyes flitted to Lio’s mouth. “Lio, you're bleeding!"

Lio put a finger to his lip and it came away red. He must have reopened the cut.

Galo stumbled out from behind the screen, appearing strangely winded.

"Galo," Aina sighed. "That is not how a bow-tie is supposed to look."

Lio licked at the blood on his lip and saw Galo’s eyes track the motion. Galo’s eyes flitted up to briefly meet Lio’s before quickly looking away again. "Aina, would you please give us the room?"

Aina looked relived to have an excuse to leave. She grabbed her phone off the embroidered chair and headed towards the door. "Yeah, I'm gonna go check on Heris. Come up to the top floor when you’re ready."

After she left, Lio took Galo’s hand and pulled him in front of the vanity, where there was the most light. Galo straightened his spine and stood attentively as Lio pulled apart his knot of a bow-tie. “You've mismatched your buttons, too.”

“Mm.”

Lio’s hands stopped moving and he frowned at Galo, whose gaze was fixed somewhere just past Lio’s ear. “Why won't you look at me?"

Galo shifted his weight from one foot to the other. "It's... what you're wearing."

Lio blinked and looked down at his clothes. Everything was in place and he had already received Aina's stamp of approval. "What's wrong with it?"

"Nothing's wrong!" A blush colored Galo’s cheeks. "You look really good."

"You look good, too." A bemused smile curled the corners of Lio’s mouth. He took it upon himself to amend Galo’s shirt situation and his deft fingers unfastened Galo's vest, then unbuttoned and re-buttoned his dress shirt with quick efficiency.

"H-Hey!" Galo caught Lio's hands as they re-buttoned his vest.

"What?" Lio waved Galo off and set to work on fixing his bow-tie. He talked to fill the silence as his fingers moved automatically, using long-dormant muscle memory to fold and crease the fabric. "They had to take in the jacket quite a few inches. You've got, uh... what's it called? A 'snatched' waist. Meis assisted with updating my colloquial language. I learned about the difference between coffee and ‘tea.’"

Galo hummed noncommittally. He was still looking away from Lio and his blush had only intensified.

Lio wasn't used to this new version of Galo; awkward, nervous, and quiet. But Lio found him endearing all the same. He closed Galo's jacket, his hands smoothing over the lapels and continuing down until they stopped at his waist to fasten the single button. "I knew this color would suit you."

Galo felt an uncomfortable amount of self-awareness as he remembered reaching into Lio's back pocket to retrieve a hair tie. Because of course it would only occur to him now-- when the back of Lio's knuckles brushed against his bare skin under the guise of helpfulness-- that maybe there was a reason why Lio sometimes couldn't stand being touched.

"Lio."

"Hm?" Lio’s entire body tensed as Galo suddenly pulled him into a hug. "Galo!"

"Sorry," Galo mumbled. He had his face pressed into Lio's shoulder and his voice was muffled.

Lio's hands trembled, so he curled them into fists. He closed his eyes and let himself lean, just a little bit, into Galo's warmth. He sometimes thought that maybe, in another life, it would have been nice if he got to embrace Galo the way he wanted to.

Aina found Heris in the restaurant on the top floor of the hotel. It was decorated like the rest of the hotel with tall columns, marble-tiled floors, and accents in red and black. The low-domed ceiling even had a mock-fresco with small, fat angels and plenty of clouds. Even though they were only expecting to host two dozen people, the entire restaurant had been reserved for them, so it was empty except for the handful of waitstaff that bustled about. Heris was standing near one of the windows, fidgeting with an unlit cigarette as she looked out at the city.

"Your hands are gonna smell gross if you keep that up," Aina said in lieu of a greeting. She resisted the urge to smack the cigarette onto the floor.

Heris tucked the cigarette into her dress pocket and gave Aina a small smile. "They're not so bad before you burn them. They actually smell kind of sweet."

"I'd rather you didn't have one at all, even for smelling."

"I haven't been smoking. It's just for a placebo effect." When Aina continued to look skeptical, Heris sighed and walked over to the nearest table so that she could triple-check the placement of the name cards. "I was hoping you'd be more impressed that I quit cold turkey. Apparently, nicotine is highly addictive."

"If you really haven’t been smoking, then I'm proud of you." Aina floated along behind Heris as she went from table to table.

Heris's smile was still fixed on her face, but she did look a little more tired. "You don't trust me?"

"You don't trust me, either."

Heris stopped what she was doing and turned to Aina with surprise, her false smile gone. "Aina, you're my family. I trust you more than anyone."

"What does 'more than anyone' mean when you don’t actually trust anyone else? Aren’t I just here so that you can know where I am?" Aina said bitterly. She expected Heris to protest or say something political and poetic, like she did so often these days.

“Ah,” Heris said. A slight tremor shook her frame and her eyes abruptly filled with tears, immediately spilling over her cheeks. She blinked in surprise and touched her face, looking at the moisture on her fingertips to confirm it was really there.

“Ah?!” Aina said in horror.

Heris began to move past Aina, using the dazed movements of a sleepwalker. “Please excuse me, I have something to attend to.”

“Heris!” Aina followed her sister, but she didn’t have to go very far. Heris got down on her hands and knees and crawled underneath the closest table, hidden by the folds of the red tablecloth. Exasperation and worry and random medical knowledge fought for control in Aina’s head as she hiked up her dress and crawled after her.

Heris was sitting curled with her knees tucked against her chest and her face buried in her folded arms. “I can’t do this.”

“Host a dinner party? Yes you can, it’s gonna be great!” Aina carefully folded herself into the cramped space and sat next to Heris, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

“No,” Heris choked on a sob, “I don’t know how to do any of this.”

“Sure you can! You’ve already done the hardest part, which is finding the perfect venue. This place looks fantastic!”

“No,” Heris said again, shaking her head. Her voice was thick with tears and she couldn’t stop trembling. “This.”

“Ah,” Aina said, her expression softening. She gave Heris a reassuring squeeze. “Living? Yeah, it does suck pretty hard sometimes.”

“Everyone hates me. The ex-Burnish hate me, my coworkers hate me, my former postman swapped routes with someone new because he hated me--”

“I don’t hate you!” Aina encircled her arms around Heris, wincing when she accidentally banged her knuckles against the table. “And no one else at Burning Rescue would hate you!”

“Lio hates me,” Heris sniffled wetly.

“No, he doesn’t. Lio’s a huge asshole sometimes, but he doesn’t hate you. If he did, then he would have tried to physically fight you by now.”

“I don’t know if that’s true. He probably doesn’t respect me enough to fight me because it would be an easy victory.”

“Well, he would have at least challenged you to pistols at dawn!” Aina said quickly. “Like an honorable duel-type thing, right?”

Heris hiccuped a laugh. She raised her head just enough to push up her glasses and scrub her hands over her tear-stained face. She was still shaking slightly, but she had stopped crying. “Why do you and Galo keep trying to brand him as a cowboy?”

“Not a cowboy, a desert bandit! He’s outside the law.” Aina released Heris and began to gesture excitedly. “Can you imagine if we actually got him to agree to the merchandising for that? Tiny Lio keychains wearing ten-gallon hats, Lio-style black leather pants, an entire line of ascots...”

“I hate it already.”

“Then you and Lio have that in common! He also hated it when Galo and I pitched the idea. Galo made a slideshow, it was pretty awful.”

Heris let out a breathy laugh. “If you want Lio to be nicer, then you’re doing a very bad job of it.”

“Whatever, he loves any attention that Galo gives him.”

Heris smiled and cleared her throat. “I’m glad you’re here, Aina. I... I know that I got a little upset when I found out that you were dating Gueira--"

"We're not dating," Aina said flatly. "He was just my fuck-buddy. And we're not doing that anymore."

Heris scrunched her eyes shut and pinched the bridge of her nose. "I really wish I hadn't heard you say that."

A mischievous smile crossed Aina’s lips. She leaned into Heris and whispered, “Fuck-buddy!”

"Aina,” Heris said in a scandalized whisper, “Don’t swear! I bet this is that awful man’s influence, too.”

“What have you got against Gueira?” Aina laughed. “I know his personality can be abrasive, but he’s a good person.”

“I saw the foot fungus he had last summer!” Heris said a little too loudly. “He came to me because he heard I was a doctor-- and I told him, I have a doctorate, that’s not the same thing-- but he took off his shoes!”

“Lio had to stop him from trying to boil his feet on the stove,” Aina added cheerfully.

“You’re not helping,” Heris sighed. “My point is, I’m sorry I overreacted. I didn’t trust you and I thought that you had purposely been keeping some important part of your life secret from me, but… how can I expect to know what’s going on in your life if I’m never at home? Ugh.” Heris sniffled miserably and wiped her nose on her wrist. “I hate it when Lio’s right.”

Aina smiled fondly at her. "Heris, I’m always going to be your sister, but I'm old enough to have my own life and make my own terrible, foot-fungus choices. I still love you and I always will, but if you want me to trust you, then you need to trust me, too."

Heris returned her smile. “I’ll be better. I promise.”

"I know you will. Now, let’s go fix your makeup. Ready?"

"No. But, yes," Heris said with a tired sigh. She allowed Aina to crawl out from under the table first and then ambled after her.

Aina held onto Heris's hand, guiding her towards the bathroom and waving off a member of the waitstaff who tried to catch their attention. They made it almost all the way to the restroom, but ran into Galo and Lio who had just arrived.

"Great," Heris mumbled.

Aina gently shushed Heris and squeezed her hand. "Hey guys!"

"Hey!" Galo's smile faded when he saw Heris's face. "Heris, are you okay?"

"We're fine," Aina answered for her, "We're just having a sister emergency. I'll meet you in a few minutes."

"Yeah, okay," Galo agreed, not seeming very okay with it but understanding that this wasn't a problem for him to solve. He stepped aside for them to pass, but Lio stayed where he was.

"Heris, you don't need to worry," Lio said bluntly, as though it should be obvious. "You've already eradicated homelessness in Promepolis during your first year of leadership, so your results speak for themselves. If the Azalea Burnish don't respect you, then they weren't worth dealing with in the first place."

Heris stood stock-still as Lio's words gradually filtered through her brain. She nodded, slowly and deliberately. "Thank you, Lio."

Lio returned the nod, then walked past them. Galo followed after, grinning from ear to ear.

Heris stared after them, still partially dumbstruck. "Did Lio just... imply that he respects me?"

Aina laughed. “I think he just gave you a compliment.”

“I wouldn’t go that far.”

“This isn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be,” Galo said.

“You’re just saying that because you have a cocktail glass full of shrimp,” Lio countered. He realized that he should probably be mingling independently with the other guests, but he chose to stay by Galo’s side during the pre-dinner fingerfood hour. It was easier to let Galo navigate their social interactions since he was naturally charismatic and a self-proclaimed people person. Lio piped up now and then with an amusing anecdote or to answer a question about the housing project, but mostly he was happy to watch Galo charm and entertain.

Lio’s mind kept drifting back to the dressing room and Galo’s unusual behavior. Except, it wasn’t unusual, was it? Galo was always hugging him. But he was rarely that quiet...

“Wrong, I have two cocktail glasses full of shrimp,” Galo said as he plucked a second glass off the buffet table. He wriggled his two glasses proudly, one in each hand. “Double-fisting!”

Lio cocked his head and examined Galo as he struck a pose with his many shrimps. “I think you can only say that if it’s alcohol.”

“Or butts,” Lucia said.

Lio jumped half a foot back. “Fuck! Where did you come from?”

“I’ve been here the whole time,” Lucia said. She was wearing a red and yellow striped dress under her lab coat and was also carrying a glass full of shrimp in each hand.

“Are you here for the tech trade or the food?”

“Neither. Both.” Lucia primly raised a glass to her mouth and slurped up two shrimps covered in red sauce. “I got invited to this party by some nerds who follow my blog. I’m basically a guest celebrity, like you two.”

“What?”

Galo made a noise and hurriedly finished swallowing a mouthful of shrimp. “A blog is like an online diary, except everyone can see it and people mostly use them for memes. Lucia also uses hers to post about projects she’s working on.”

“Oh.” Lio touched his chin thoughtfully. “I think Meis has one, too. He uses it for planning and documenting local Burnish events.”

Lucia cackled good-naturedly. “Did you really not know what a blog is?”

“I’m still new to the internet!” A hint of pink tinted Lio’s cheeks.

“Remind me to show you what caturday is, you’re gonna love it. Anyway, some of the Azalea engineers--” Lucia waved a glass towards a group of people in lab coats and a few of them waved back-- “Follow my blog and they wanted to hang out. A couple are history buffs, so the Matoi-tech is a big hit with them.”

“Really?” Galo looked over at the group, bright-eyed with the anticipation of making a new friend.

“Really! Come with me, I’ll introduce you.”

Galo looked to Lio, who smiled and waved a hand dismissively. As fun as it would be to watch Galo lose his mind over someone else who liked matoi, Lio had noticed that some of the Azalea Burnish seemed reserved around him. He was fairly certain that he hadn’t interacted with any of them before, so it made him wonder which part of his reputation had given them pause. “Go ahead. I’ll catch up in a bit.”

“Are you sure? We still haven’t met the Azalea leader.”

“I don’t think all of their Burnish are here yet. So far, I’ve just seen the scientists and what I’m pretty sure are body guards.”

“What would they be if not body guards?” Galo asked, eyeing an incredibly muscular woman who was hovering near the buffet table but not touching any of the food.

“Assassins.”

“Stop talking about murder.”

“If they were assassins, wouldn’t they be hiding?” Lucia asked.

“Good point,” Lio said. “I was thinking of mercenaries.”

“Or, maybe, they’re just some new friends who really like to work out,” Galo said encouragingly. Lucia had finished one of her shrimp glasses and she pulled Galo by the arm towards the engineers. He grinned at Lio over his shoulder. “Future gym buddies!”

Lio smiled and gave Galo a small wave as he was pulled away from him. Just as he was wondering how long he could get away with not talking to anyone, the leader of the Azalea Burnish appeared at Lio’s side, having purposely approached him from a blind spot. Lio knew instantly that it was him, both because of the heavy, fur-lined coat that he wore over his red tuxedo and because Lio realized that he did know him.

“Sorry I’m late,” the leader said with a practiced smile. He was a little taller than Lio, with pale red eyes and dyed jet-black hair that was pulled back into a low ponytail. “I went out to buy a coat. Once the sun has set, this cursed city is absolutely freezing. But I also didn’t want to come, so it’s not like I was in a hurry.”

“What are you doing here?” Lio crossed his arms over his chest and scowled at him.

The leader shrugged and moved down the buffet table to examine a platter of tiny sandwiches that had been cut into neat triangles. “I’m here to negotiate a technology trade on behalf of the Azalea Burnish.”

Lio followed him, still scowling. He noticed that the muscular woman was discretely tracking their movements. “Really.”

“Yes, really.” He picked up a handful of the sandwiches and tucked them one-by-one into a pocket on the inside of his coat. “I usually leave this sort of thing to my wife, but she insisted that I had to be the one to come to Promepolis.”

Lio’s eyebrows started to rise in surprise, but he quickly pinched them back into a frown. “Why did you demand to see me?”

“You’re really asking me that.” The leader gave him a pitying look. It really pissed Lio off.

“I’m not going back.”

“Lio, I asked to see you because I missed you. I’m not here to bring you home, but it would be nice if you visited once in a while.”

“That place is not my home, Aries.”

“So, you’ve made a home here,” Aries verbally prodded, “With him?”

“With-?”

“There you are, Dragonheart.” Galo had reappeared, probably to resupply himself with shrimp. He slipped his hand around Lio’s back and rested it on his waist, pulling Lio closer to him. He smiled brightly at Aries and stuck out his other hand. “Hi, I’m Galo.”

“Galo Thymos. Your reputation precedes you.” Aries shook Galo’s hand. His skin was ice-cold.

“You requested him by name,” Lio muttered angrily. He allowed himself to lean into Galo, but he didn’t uncross his arms.

“As does yours, Aries Azalea,” Galo continued as though Lio hadn’t spoken, but his thumb smoothed up and down a seam along the side of Lio’s jacket. “I heard that your city is the largest autonomous Burnish settlement on the continent! That’s really amazing!”

Aries glanced between Lio and Galo with a bemused smile. “That’s mostly true. Prior to the Second World Blaze, we were able to boast being the largest Burnish-governed and unsegregated city-state. Thankfully, a lot of cities have taken up the call since then.”

“Wait,” Galo took a moment to process what he had said, “That means you had people without the Promare living in the settlement with you? How did that work?”

“The same way it works everywhere when people choose to help their neighbors instead of hate them. As I’m sure you’re aware, not everyone hated the Burnish. There were people without the Promare-- family and friends-- who simply wanted to live alongside their loved ones without fear of being stuck down by those in power. Luckily for them, and for myself, I had the means and the influence to create such a place.” Aries gave Lio a weighted look. “Much like Lio, I find myself driven by a desire to protect others and to connect with them.”

“You may be overestimating our likenesses,” Lio said coldly.

“Perhaps,” Aries said with a small shrug. He smiled at Galo. “Now that I’ve answered your question, perhaps you’ll answer one of mine.”

“Fire away!” Galo said with a wink.

“You might find this an impertinent question,” Aries said with a sly smile, “But I heard an interesting rumor and I’m hoping that you will indulge me.”

Lio tried to psychically beam the word ‘NO’ into Galo’s brain, but it didn’t work.

“Go on.”

Aries’s smile widened and it was like a fox showing its teeth. “Do you ever feel guilty about lying to the public?”

Galo paused for a moment, but his face gave nothing away. “Excuse me?”

“You and Lio have a lot of your popularity marketed on the novelty of being a Burnish and non-Burnish couple. However, there are also reports of you using the Promare in the engine room of the ship.”

“And how did you happen to obtain such reports?” Lio growled.

Aries ignored him, his attention still on Galo. “Just because you were better at hiding it doesn’t mean you can claim to be non-Burnish.”

“That’s what you’re asking?” Galo said with a small, relieved laugh. “Yeah, I used the Promare but it was Lio’s flame. He let me borrow it for a while.”

“He let you borrow it,” Aries echoed. “You mean to say that you gave it back?”

“Uh, yeah.”

“Galo,” Lio hissed.

“How did you give it back?” Aries demanded.

Galo swallowed nervously, the full gravity of the situation hitting him as both Lio and Aries stared at him with remarkable intensity. “I gave it back… carefully.”

Lio stayed silent, but his face burned red and he lowered his eyes to the floor.

"You breathed it back," Aries surmised. The sharpness left his features, replaced with bewilderment. He reached over to the buffet table, grabbed another handful of the tiny sandwiches, and pointed a ham-and-cheese accusingly at Lio. "I don't think you appreciate what a rare and precious thing that is."

Galo opened his mouth to say something, he wasn’t sure what yet, but Aries brushed past him and was gone. He shook his head and turned his attention to Lio. "You okay? You were giving off some pretty powerful murder vibes."

"I'm fine.” Lio closed his eyes and tried to let go of his anger, focusing instead on Galo’s warmth. “Thanks for rescuing me."

"I didn't really do anything."

"I was going to punch him if you hadn't shown up."

"I guess you're not friends,” Galo said. He kept his arm around Lio’s waist and used it to steer him away from the buffet table, taking them to a less populated part of the restaurant where they were partially hidden by one of the large columns. He looked across the crowd to where Aries was smiling politely at something Heris was saying to him. “Anything we need to worry about?"

"No. We have a personal dispute, but I don’t think he’s petty enough to act on it and risk losing the terraformer."

"Oh." Galo’s hand slipped down to Lio’s hip and squeezed it lightly.

Lio opened his eyes and looked curiously at Galo. "Galo, that’s not an ex-boyfriend. He’s sort of my older brother."

"Oh! No, no, I was just, um-- good! I mean, wait, what?!”

Lio shushed him. “Don’t tell anyone. He’s changed his surname and his appearance, so Heris probably doesn’t know who he is either. I like to think that she would have warned me if she did know.”

“Warned you?”

“Aries and I didn’t part on the best of terms. I mean, he’s eight years older than me, so we were never close, but...”

“Oh,” Galo said again, but sadly. “Why did he ask me about the Promare?”

Lio chewed his lip in a way that Galo recognized as meaning that there was something he didn’t want to say.

“Lio?”

“Yeah, I know.” Lio sucked in a breath. "Healing yourself with the Promare is one thing, but being able to heal others with it is a rare talent. It requires not only power and skill, but a synchronization of human will. The chances of success are highest with family members or old friends, people who know each other well. You, Galo Thymos, despite being a non-Burnish and virtually a stranger to me, used the Promare to save my life."

“I have many skills,” Galo smiled confidently, “And you saved my life first."

"Yes, but I was arguably the strongest Burnish alive. You just came out of nowhere and-- and changed my entire world.”

"Literally and metaphorically. Hey, it's like I told you. I knew when we met that you were going to be special to me." Galo tugged Lio closer to him, tucking two fingers under his chin and tilting his face up slightly. “Your lip is bleeding again.”

Lio had put out a hand to keep himself from bumping into Galo, but it had landed on his chest, which wasn’t much of an improvement. He froze in place, his heart beating frantically, as he watched Galo’s eyes lower to his mouth. Lio felt the hot bead of blood on his lip and he reflexively licked at it.

Galo’s hand pressed insistently at the small of Lio’s back and he swayed dangerously forward. He remembered himself almost at the last moment, his eyes snapping open and darting up to meet Lio’s. Galo immediately let go of Lio and took a step back, frantically patting the pockets of his jacket, and tugging the coral handkerchief out of his jacket pocket to offer to Lio.

Lio, still a little dazed and suddenly much colder, was slow to accept the handkerchief from him. He didn’t really think that he needed it, but he pressed a corner of the cloth to his lip and held it there. “Thank you, Galo.”

They both became aware of a change in the murmur of voices and added to it was the sound of chairs being dragged across the tiled floor. Galo peaked around the column and realized that Heris had announced that they were beginning dinner. “Um, hey. There’s something I should tell you.”

“Can it wait?” Lio took the handkerchief away from his mouth and touched his lip. He inspected his finger for blood and found none.

“Yes, but I don’t want to.”

“Galo--”

“Lio, I’m in love with you.” There was silence in the wake of his confession and Galo sucked in a nervous breath. “You already knew?”

“Well, I sort of thought that you had confessed earlier,” Lio admitted.

“What? No, I didn’t!”

“Seriously? What was supposed to be my takeaway from ‘Lio, I don't know what I'm going to do without you in my life,’ huh?!”

“Oh, fuck me. Yeah. Okay, I guess that counts.” Galo rubbed his hands over his face. “Wait a minute. You thought I confessed and you ran away?”

“Yes!” Lio crumpled the handkerchief in his fist. “Yes, I fucking ran.”

“Why?” Galo’s face fell and Lio hated himself.

“You--” Lio’s eyes welled with tears of frustration and he clenched his jaw to keep them from spilling over. “You don’t appreciate how difficult you’re making this for me.”

“I don’t--”

“Guys!” Aina hissed. She had come to fetch them, but her tone changed when she noticed the tension between them. “Are you two okay?”

“It’s fine,” Lio said. He dabbed at his eyes with the handkerchief and then shoved it into his pocket. “Galo, we can do this later.”

“No,” Galo said firmly. “I don’t know how many more ‘later’s I actually get to have with you.”

“We have a responsibility to--”

“I know you’re good at pretending, Lio, but I’m not. Find me ‘later’ if you wanna talk, but I can’t-- I’m not doing this anymore. Sorry, Aina.” Galo ducked his head and started towards the exit, but Lio caught his arm.

“Galo!”

“Don’t.”

Lio snatched his hand back, as though he’d been burned.

Galo tried to leave as inconspicuously as possible, but there was no denying that their raised voices had attracted the attention of the dinner guests. He was grateful when he rounded a corner into the hallway that lead to the exit and he could no longer hear the muted chatter of the crowd. However, Galo had an unexpected encounter outside of the restrooms.

“Oh, has dinner started?” Aries asked. “I got carried away with the hand dryer. Did you know that there are ones that blow heated air? It’s quite marvelous.”

“Listen,” Galo said, glancing over his shoulder to make sure that Lio hadn’t followed him, “Obviously I don’t know a lot about your relationship with Lio, but there’s something I need you to know.”

“Go on.”

“If you invited Lio here just so you could fuck with him, I’m going to kick your ass.”

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me.” Galo glowered at him. “If you’re trying to fuck with Lio, then this me personally inviting you to meet me out front of the Pizzamepolis at three in the morning for an ass-whooping. You’ll be bringing the ass and I’ll be bringing the whoop."

“I requested my brother so that I could see the state of him for myself,” Aries drawled. “But I did invite you, Galo Thymos, so that I could fuck with you.”

“You failed! I am un-fuckable,” Galo boasted.

“No, I just didn’t need to do anything. You’re already fucking yourself.” Aries gave him a pitying smile and walked around Galo, passing back into the restaurant. “I like you, Galo. I hope, for both your sakes, that Lio doesn’t leave you behind, too.”

Galo felt his throat clench and he walked briskly to the exit, rubbing the back of his hand over his eyes.

Aries picked out his name card at the main table, seated between Heris and Bowen, his favorite of the personal guard that had accompanied him. The other seats were filled by Kara, the director of Azalea engineering and Lio, who was staring forlornly at Galo’s empty chair. In lieu of an apology, Aries said, “You’ve probably noticed by now that I enjoy being fashionably late.”

“I’m glad that you’ve joined us tonight,” Heris said with a smile, obviously trying to make up for her associate’s lack of cheer. “And I hope that you’ve been enjoying your stay in Promepolis. I understand that you got to see some of the city earlier?”

“Yes, my entourage and I did a little shopping.”

“And we visited the crash site to pay our respects,” Kara said. “I must admit that seeing it in person is quite different that what I expected.”

Heris paused to give her drink order to a server before responding. “You mean seeing the Parnassus?”

“Yes, but Promepolis as well. The city as a whole is much more lively and friendly than anticipated. I’m impressed that you were able to solve the housing crisis in such a short amount of time.”

“Ooh, does this place have fruit juice?” Aries scoured the menu for the beverages.

Bowen silently turned the menu over for him and pointed at a section on the back.

“I see! Thank you, Bowen.” Aries ordered an apple juice from the server and then turned back to Heris. “We don’t get a lot of fruit out in the middle of the desert. We’ve managed to cultivate some cacti fruits, but results have been mixed since some of them are incredibly hallucinogenic, which has its pros and cons.”

“Yes, I can imagine why that might be an issue,” Heris said lightly.

“Exactly. As you can imagine, I was ecstatic to learn that you were interested in selling the designs for your terraformer. But there was also, you know, the morbid curiosity.”

“What do you mean?”

“Aries,” Kara said.

Aries ignored her. “Promepolis was the capital city of terror for the Burnish when Kray Foresight reigned here.”

At the sound of Kray’s name, Lio’s head snapped up and he glared at Aries.

“Aside from the absurd amount of anti-Burnish weaponry that was produced here, everyone knew that the Burnish who lived here were disappearing from the city and the surrounding areas. We’d heard the rumors of human experimentation, of course, but we didn’t know for sure since the city was considered too hazardous to even send scouts into.”

"You're right,” Lio said. “Direct action has never been your forte. Better to run and hide, keep your head in the sand at any cost.”

Lio held the attention of the entire table. He kept his eyes trained on Aries, but he saw Heris mouth an aghast ‘what the fuck’ at him.

“Now now, Lio,” Aries said placatingly, “Don’t take out your hurt feelings about your lovers’ spat on me.”

There was a small thump and a muted grunt from Aries. Lio had the distinct impression that Kara had just stomped on Aries’s foot, which pleased him a little but did nothing to ebb the rising tide of his anger. It also did nothing to discourage Aries from being a huge prick.

"Your Galo is quite an extraordinary young man. It’s a shame you don’t treat him better."

"Keep his name out of your fucking mouth,” Lio snarled. “If you do anything to Galo, I’ll scalp that ridiculous dye-job and use your own hair to strangle you until your fucking head pops off like a Pez dispenser.”

There was a pregnant pause as the server returned and distributed their drinks. Lio grabbed Aries’s apple juice off of the serving tray and chugged it while maintaining hostile eye contact with him. Heris knocked back her own glass of wine in one, long gulp and gestured for a refill.

"Lio, what on earth could I do to him that you haven’t already done? If mom were here--"

“You don’t get to talk about her!” Lio stood up, knocking his chair backwards onto the floor, clattering loudly. “You don’t get to spend years trying to erase her, pretending you’re not a Fotia, then just to prove a point--”

Aries stood up, also knocking his chair back. “Just because I never enjoyed brutalizing people like the two of you--”

“The strong have a responsibility to protect others! And the Mad Burnish never killed without reason.”

“Sure, never while you were the leader,” Aries said derisively, “But did you never wonder how dear mother built her empire in the first place?”

“Of course I knew,” Lio said in a low voice that was thick with grief. “I had to learn on my own, since you were too much of a coward to remember her. Maybe if you had actually been a decent brother and talked to me I… oh. Oh, shit.”

Heris stood up as well. Lio had gone silent and he was staring once more at Galo’s empty chair. “Lio?”

“Sorry about this, Heris, but I have to go,” Lio said distantly. He took off his jacket, leaving it on his chair, and strode decisively to the balcony door. He threw it open, leaped over the railing into the night, and was gone.

Aina let out an annoyed groan and rushed outside after him. Lucia chuckled at the shocked expressions of her table mates and resumed trying to fish the final maraschino cherry out of her Shirley Temple. “Don’t worry about that. Those guys are always super dramatic.”

“Fuck!” Lio yelled as he landed unsteadily on the steel railing of one of hotel room balconies. He didn’t give himself time to balance, springing up immediately and running along the edge of the railing, leaping off at the end and landing on the next room’s balcony railing, and the next. When he reached the last balcony, he dropped off the edge in a calculated fall, reaching his hands out at the perfect moment to grasp the empty flagpole that jutted out from the corner of the building.

As Lio fell into the swing, he kicked his legs out in front of him, pointing his body so that the momentum would carry him around the curve of the building. It worked and Lio felt a familiar weightless sensation in his gut as he released the flagpole and entered a free fall at an angle, but his eyes were already on the next target; the vertical grand opening banners. As Lio fell alongside the closest one, he reached out and grabbed fistfuls of the red and white fabric, feeling the pull in every inch of his arms as he yanked himself to an abrupt stop.

Lio’s legs dangled wildly for a moment, but he could feel the fabric beginning to rip, so he quickly got his feet under him and ran in a descending curve along the side of building as he let the fabric run through his hands in a more controlled fall. It would have been easier on a flat-faced building but Lio adapted to the troublesome terrain, moving skillfully over columns and stepping around the architectural sculptures. Lio was rapidly approaching the ground now and he could make out the top of Galo’s head as he exited the hotel.

“Galo!” Lio shouted. He watched Galo look around wildly from side to side before finally looking above him, probably from hearing Lio thump along the side of the building. His heart leapt into his throat, both from seeing Galo and from the realization that the banner was tearing much more quickly than anticipated and he began to lose his footing as the speed of his fall increased.

Galo kept his eyed locked on Lio, but he backed up until he was at the edge of the fountain. He cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled up at him. “Kick off! I’ve got you!”

Lio kicked off as hard as he could and let go of the banner, launching himself away from the building when he was still about five stories up. He fell in another descending arch, arms swinging as he tried to change his momentum again, but he was too close to the ground now and he was going to overshoot the fountain--

“Gotcha!” Galo leapt off from the edge of the fountain and his arms lassoed around Lio’s waist, catching him in a spin, and they fell together in a shower of water.

Galo resurfaced first, taking a large gasp of air, and he pulled Lio up with him even though it wasn’t that deep. “Are you okay?!”

The water smelled weird and it was freezing cold, making Lio shiver. “Yeah. Are you okay?”

“Yeah.”

They sat submerged in the two feet of water, Galo holding Lio by his shoulders, staring at each other and breathing hard. One of Lio’s eyes was hidden, wet hair slicked flat over it, so Galo pushed the damp locks back, tucking them behind his ear.

“Lio,” Galo breathed, his surprise changing into delight, “Did you just fall off the hotel?”

“I jumped,” Lio clarified. “I thought it would be faster than the elevator.”

“You weren’t wrong!” Galo wheezed a laugh.

Lio started to smile as he watched Galo, but then he remembered that he was on a mission. He grabbed the lapels of Galo’s jacket and tugged on them urgently. “Why did you say that our first kiss was on the Parnassus?”

“Wha-- What?” Galo was still laughing. “You came down here to ask me that?”

“Tell me!”

“Because we did! Because we kissed.”

“No, we didn’t!” Lio used Galo’s lapels to pull himself up onto his knees and he sloshed through the water, straddling Galo’s thighs. “This is a kiss.”

Lio grabbed Galo by his ears and kissed him hard on the mouth. Galo made a startled “MMN?!”, then a pleased “Mmn” , and he put his hands on Lio’s hips and-- oh. Lio shivered at the heat of him. The chill of the water had been starting to sink into his skin, but every point of contact between him and Galo was so warm. Lio broke the kiss, Galo chasing his mouth with a disappointed whine, but Lio needed the space so that he could peel off one of his gloves with his teeth. With his newly bared hand, Lio fumbled with the buttons of Galo’s dress shirt, but got impatient and ended up yanking it open-- which made Galo gasp, but Lio thought was very efficient of him since the removal of three buttons made it easy for him to slide his hand into Galo’s shirt and touch his skin directly, even if his bow-tie was still in the way.

“Lio, you’re shivering.”

“I’m so pissed that you’re not shirtless right now.” Lio’s gloved hand gripped a handful of Galo’s hair and he kissed him again. He felt Galo shudder underneath him and his hands moved from Lio’s hips to his back, bringing heat and warmth with his touch that Lio could feel through the linen of his shirt. Lio finally managed to get the bow-tie off and ran his hand hungrily over Galo’s skin, from his sternum to his jaw to the back of Galo’s head, his thumb learning the texture of the short hairs at the nape of Galo’s neck.

Galo murmured Lio’s name into his mouth, then put his hands on his shoulders and gently prised him off. “Let’s get you out of the water.”

“Wait!” Lio wrapped his arms around Galo’s neck and pressed their foreheads together. “Galo, I love you.”

“I love you, too.” Galo smiled and rubbed his nose against Lio’s.

“I’m so sorry,” Lio said, the words spilling out of him now. “This is the first time that I’ve… You’re the only person that I’ve ever wanted to hold onto like this. I don’t know what I’m doing. I can’t stay in this city but I--” Lio paused to press his mouth to Galo’s once more-- “I can’t leave you. I don’t want to leave you.”

“Is that what’s been bothering you?” Galo said cheekily, but he was glowing with happiness.

“Yes, that’s what’s been bothering me! I have a duty to protect my people! I’m not supposed to- to daydream about picking out towel sets with you!” Lio flushed red with the admission but he continued blundering forward, unable to stop now that he had started. “I can’t let myself belong to one person but I- I want to eat dinner with you every night! I want to share a mailbox with you and get utility bills with both of our names on it! I want a joint checking account!”

“Shared fiscal responsibility is very romantic,” Galo agreed with bubbling laugh, “But I think that people are usually married before they get that kind of thing.”

“I want that, too!” Lio announced.

Galo’s eyes widened with wonder and he pulled back from Lio so that he could see him better, cupping his face in both hands. “You mean it?”

“Yes,” Lio said miserably. “I think a summertime wedding would have perfect weather. Right at the end of spring.”

Galo whined low in his throat and his eyes filled with tears. “I want a summer wedding, too!"

“Fuck,” Lio said with a laugh. Even though his wet hair was still streaming rivulets of water down his face, Galo could tell that he was crying. “I love you, so much.”

“I love you--”

A high-speed object whizzed past their heads and splashed into the water next to them. It was a red, high-heeled shoe.

“Get out of the goddamn fountain!” Aina yelled at them from the entrance to the hotel. She started to take off her other shoe, but then a loud, flapping sound caught everyone’s attention.

The grand opening banner that Lio ruined had finally torn completely free and the sizable length of fabric fluttered to the ground. Aina retreated quickly inside the hotel as it fell where she had just been standing, piling up on the threshold of the entrance and blocking the doorway. Galo and Lio stared at it in the abrupt silence that followed.

“How long do you think it’ll take her to get thought that?” Galo asked.

“At least a few minutes,” Lio replied, smiling as Galo pulled him into another kiss.

Gueira was laying upside down on the couch, his legs propped up along the back and his head dangling off the edge of the cushion. He was playing a game on his phone when it buzzed with a call from Aina.

“Thirsty for more already?” Gueira teased. “Sorry, but this soda fountain is closed.”

“Um,” said a voice that was definitely not Aina.

Gueira swung his legs around in a haphazard attempt to right himself and ended up falling on the floor. “B-Boss!”

“Yes, it’s me. I’m calling from Aina’s phone because I dropped mine in some water,” Lio said. “I know we were supposed to meet up after the dinner, but I’m postponing until tomorrow morning--”

There was a muffled conversation and Gueira thought that he could hear Galo’s voice.

“Actually, tomorrow afternoon. Late tomorrow afternoon. Is that alright with you and Meis?”

“Uh, definitely! But does that mean--”

“We’ll talk tomorrow,” Lio said, but with warmth in his voice. “And thank you, Gueira.”

“You’re welcome, Boss!” Gueira said, not entirely sure what he was being thanked for.

There was a laugh, some static, and then Aina’s voice came on the line. “What did you say to Lio to make his face do that?”

“Oh, fuck you,” Gueira groaned, pressing a hand over his eyes. He was still lying on the floor and he felt that he belonged there now. “What the fuck happened? Did Galolio ruin the dinner?”

“Surprisingly, no. They had a huge fight and Galo left and then Lio threatened to murder the leader of the Azalea Burnish and parkour-ed down the building--”

“What? That’s so cool.”

“No, it was reckless and stupid. But then Heris winged this great speech about the role of passion in human innovation and everything was fine.”

“Go, Heris!” Gueira hummed approvingly. “She’s scary, but she certainly knows what she’s doing, huh?”

“Who knows?” Aina sighed gustily. “It’s tough being the B-team, isn’t it?”

“Gueira, get off the floor. Bath’s ready.”

Gueira swiveled his head around to look up at Meis. “No. I’m having a moment.”

“I’m not going to argue with you.”

“Good!”

“Gueira, I know it’s not my place to say anything,” Aina said, “But you should really work out whatever you’ve got going on with Meis.”

“That doesn’t mean what you think it means,” Meis said threateningly.

“Wait, what?” Gueira said in response to both of them. He yelped as Meis hoisted him into a bridal carry.

“I’m just saying that maybe you should examine Lio and Galo’s relationship tomorrow and think about how all of you have personal boundary issues.”

“Aina, I’m gonna have to call you back,” Gueira said as he braced one foot and one hand against the door frame of the bathroom, stopping Meis from carrying him any further.

“I don’t want you to call me back! I want you to get your shit together!” Aina huffed and ended the call.

“Take! A! Bath!” Meis yelled, forcing them further into the bathroom with each word.

“Noooo!” Gueira wailed.

Lio stepped out of the bathroom in a waft of steam and the scent of citrus, dressed in a loose t-shirt and sweatpants that he had taken from Galo’s closet. The living room was dark so he approached Galo’s bedroom, knocking politely on the open door.

Galo was lying in bed with his laptop open on his stomach. He smiled at Lio when he entered the room. “Feeling better?”

“Yes.” Lio hesitated, but Galo pat the space on the bed next to him in wordless invitation. He crawled onto the bed, curling himself alongside Galo and resting his head on his shoulder. Lio closed his eyes and allowed a sense of peace to fill him, glowing softly in every corner of his soul. “Why did the water smell like that?”

“It’s chlorine. A chemical used to treat the water and keep it clean.” Galo wrapped an arm around Lio, hugging him to his chest. His internet browser was open on a tab for cellphone insurance, but he minimized it and pulled up a different program. “I wanna show you something. I was supposed to surprise you at Meis and Gueira’s tonight, but we’ve been working a new outreach program.”

Lio cracked an eye open. “Galo, are you about to show me a slideshow?”

“Obviously,” Galo said, pressing a kiss to the top of Lio’s head. He liked having Lio like this, draped comfortably against his side. He double-clicked on a file named ‘Operation Keep Lio in Promepolis.’ “We realized that a lot of the Burnish, like you, either don’t have or aren’t used to having smartphones and regular internet access. So like, if you left and traveled to another city, you were probably just gonna do what you always do and rally people together in person and by relying word of mouth, right?”

“Right.”

“Well, the guys and I-- Gueira and Meis, but also Ignis, Remi, and Varys-- have been in contact with Burning Rescue centers in other cities and we’ve had a lot of positive feedback about setting up a wide-spead Burnish-outreach network within them.” Galo clicked through the slideshow as he spoke, this time landing on a picture of a map that marked a dozen or so large cities that were near Promepolis. “We’ve also talked to a few cellphone brand retailers and the idea for our first big project is this: Get inexpensive smartphones mass distributed to the ex-Burnish and teach people how to use them to access the resources they need, whether it’s for information or for community events.”

“Are you implying that I don’t know how to use my phone?”

“If you did, then you’d already know what caturday is.” Galo clicked to a new slide and it was a poorly rendered drawing of Lio riding a dragon in front of a sunset. He was wearing a tiny ten gallon hat. “So, you would still visit different cities periodically to help set up the initial program or to do a PR visit-- yeah, bad news, the words ‘Lio’s social media’ were thrown around a bunch so there’s that-- but you could live here.” Galo’s hand smoothed over Lio’s hair. “You could stay with me.”

Lio was quiet for a long moment. “When did you even put this together?”

“Uh, to be honest it was kind of a rush job. I started right after you told me you were gonna leave.”

Lio pushed himself up on the bed so that he could stare down at Galo with astonishment. “You put this project together in three days? When did you even have time?”

“Says the guy who built a motorcycle in three days!”

“That took five days!”

Galo laughed and set the laptop aside on the nightstand. He grabbed the front of Lio’s shirt, tugging him closer until his hands were braced on Galo’s chest once more. “What, did you think I was gonna give up just because you said you were definitely leaving?”

Lio smiled affectionately and kissed the corner of Galo’s mouth. “I love you, you stubborn idiot.”

“You’re the idiot.” Galo smiled and kissed him. One of his arms was wrapped around Lio’s waist and the other teased the tag sticking out the back of his shirt collar, tugging on it idly. “You’re the one who was freaking out about not getting to kiss me.”

“You did that, too!” Lio laughed lightly.

“Yeah, for like nine hours! You’ve apparently had a crush on me all year. Embarrassing.”

“You’re the one who said you couldn’t live without me. Oh, oh, and--!” Lio lifted his head, suddenly more alert. “You told everyone on TV that we had an anniversary! You were definitely in love with me.”

“Yeah, well…! Okay, I did that.” Galo hummed thoughtfully and cupped Lio’s face with one hand. He blushed when Lio closed his eyes and nuzzled into his touch. “I think you’re right.”

“I’m right about so many things, you’ll have to be more specific.” Lio unknowingly endangered Galo’s health by leaving a trail of slow, lingering kisses from his thumb to his wrist.

“Lio... I think I loved you all along,” Galo said softly, “I just didn’t notice because my feelings for you never changed. I’ve always felt like this.”

“I want to take you to the beach,” Lio said, his eyes sparkling.

“What?”

“You’ve never been, right? I can take you. I love you and I want to show you the ocean.”

Galo laughed and hugged Lio to his chest, peppering kisses over his face. “Okay, let’s go to the beach.”

“Can we go tomorrow?”

“It’s a seven hour drive, so that’s a no. I’ll need to get a few days off work for that. But we could go to the forest tomorrow.”

“It’s a date,” Lio agreed with a wide smile. He ran his hands through Galo’s hair and kissed him again and again.