Chapter Text
Click, click, click.
That’s his routine these days.
Click, click, click.
Wake up, go to work, come back to Galo’s apartment to try and figure out the paperwork he has to do to get decent housing for his people.
Just a few months ago, he thought he would die before he could ever have a routine in his life.
Well, one that wasn’t just “survive.”
One that wasn’t “fail.”
“Lio!” He hears called out as the door swings open, Galo entering triumphantly, “I’m home!”
Not bothering to look up from the laptop he was given, Lio greets back, “Welcome home.”
“You can at least pretend to sound happy to see me!” The other man complains as he removes his work gear, “I’m stuck at the station for two days and I don’t even get a kiss hello?! What the heck man?!” He complains. “Are you still working on that proposal thingy?”
“Obviously,” Lio dismisses as he hears Galo approach the couch, focusing one ear to determine his location (In case he tries to choke him/ Galo wouldn’t do that), “I’m trying to work out something with the building permits, so it’s going to take some research.”
Moving to sit down with one cushion between them (Because Lio’s an idiot who’ll black out and punch him if Galo tries to move closer) Galo takes a breath before saying, “You know…if you’re having trouble with some of this stuff,” and Lio knows what he’s going to say before he does, he’s been saying things like this for months, “I think some of the guys I talked to at the rehab place said they used to work with stuff like that before they were Burnish, so maybe they could-”
“It’s fine, I can handle this.”
“If you just asked, I’m sure they’d-”
“It’s. Fine.”
Furrowing his brows, Galo shoots back, “Lio, if there’s a way to make it easier to get this done, you should do it! And if they probably know more about it than you, they can probably do this without messing something up!”
“So this is about my incompetence then, is that what you’re implying?” He says with plenty of bite behind the passive tone of his words.
“What?! No! You’re good at plenty of things, but you just learned how to use a computer! Getting help from someone who knows more about something than you is just doing what makes sense!”
“Yes, I suppose I should listen, after all you’ve always been such a pillar of rational thought, Galo Thymos.”
“UGGGHHH!” Galo groans, flapping a hand over his eyes, “Why do you have turn everything into a fight?! You know I’m just trying to help, and you’re just being stubborn!”
“So you would prefer me to bother people that are trying their best to reintegrate into modern society then figure this out by myself?” He snaps back.
“No,” Galo denies, “I’d rather you get help from someone who knows what they’re doing so there’s less of a chance something gets messed up and you hate yourself for it!”
“…”
“You know I’m right.”
“That must be exciting for you to finally experience.”
Sticking his tongue out and blowing a raspberry, Galo smirks in victory, “Diss me all you like, this round goes to the Great Galo Thymos!” Thrusting his hips out triumphantly, Galo hoots and hollers his own cheers, circling around the seated Lio.
“If you keep that little dance of yours up,” Lio remarks, “Then you’ll have to remove your pants for the next round.” Eyes flashing as he leans into Galo’s ear, pulling him down by the shirt, he whispers seductively, “I’ll give you something to thrust against.”
Blushing red like a cherry, Galo bounces away, covering his face and jerking in all directions, squealing, “GAAHHH! Lio, you perv! Why is everything sex with you?! You’re filthy! Filthy, filthy, filthy!”
Smirking slightly (Because he’s too broken to smile, Galo wants to see it, but he can’t, he’s worthless) Lio shoots back, “Why are you such a prude? With how often you strip in the middle of the day, I don’t think there’s a person alive that would even consider you were such a pure, untouched white lily before I got to you.”
“GAAAAHHHHHH! You can’t use pretty words like that for sex!”
“But I thought you liked it?” He asks in feigned shock. “All those nights, calling you my beautiful darling, the lovely flower blooming right in front of my eyes, releasing gorgeous songs of pleasure as I-”
“LIO! STOOOOOOOPPPPP!” Galo demands as he goes to cover Lio’s mouth, stopping just before he makes contact at the sight of Lio flinching, “Oh…sorry,” he says mutedly, animated reactions stalled (Lio always ruins his day).
“It’s fine,” Lio excuses, going back to work, “I was overreacting, it was ridiculous.”
“Lio, you weren’t…You just…GAAAGGGHHH!” Galo says in exasperation, “What’s going on in your head isn’t dumb, you’ve got every right to be messed up over what happened, so if it freaks you out, that’s what happens! You can’t control it, so stop beating yourself up about it already!”
“I should be able to tell the difference between a Freeze Force officer and you,” Lio dismisses, “The fact that I can’t is just a testament to my shortcomings.”
“Lio.” Galo starts as he slams the top of the laptop, “Human brains screw with people and dig stuff out to make things harder on you. There’s no point in blaming yourself for stuff you can’t control, okay?”
“…”
“Okaaaaay?!” Galo says again, leaning in and shaking his head with puffed cheeks and wide eyes with furrowed eyebrows.
“…tcch,” Lio concedes, chuckling slightly, “You are completely determined to never let any negative emotion flow throughout your apartment, aren’t you?”
“‘Our’ apartment,” Galo stresses, “The same one whose kitchen looks like it hasn’t been visited since I left for work! When was the last time you ate, Lio?!” He interrogates, pointing a finger accusingly at the smaller male.
“I had a package of powdered sugar donuts earlier,” Lio dismisses as he opens back up his laptop and begins typing again, “I’ll be fine.”
“That’s not a meal!” Galo scolds, “Wait a minute…” He says with wide eyes as he begins to realize, “When did you eat those?”
“Hmm…” When was it?
“Lio…” Galo whimpers.
“Ah!” Lio says as he remembers, holding a finger up in realization, “Yesterday morning.”
“LIO!” Galo shrieks, “YOU HAVEN’T EATEN SINCE BEFORE WE LEFT FOR WORK YESTERDAY MORNING?!!!”
“Obviously.” Lio says indifferently as he types.
Angrily grumbling as he starts to pull at his hair, Galo finally stamps his foot and takes a breath, smacking his cheeks as he regains control of himself. “Okay,” he breathes out, “I am going to go cook you dinner, you stay here and think about how stupid you are.” And with that, Galo turns and marches towards the kitchen.
“That’s not necessary,” Lio tries to protest, finally turning his head towards his partner, “You just got off of an overnight and two all day shifts, you don’t need to waste whatever energy you have left on me.”
“Making you food is not a waste,” Galo shoots back as he begins tying on an apron, “You have just as much of a right to eat as anyone else, so quit bitchin’ and wait.” Closing his eyes and smirking, he declares, “And the Universe’s #1 Firefighting Idiot, the Great Galo Thymos never runs out of energy!”
He’s lying, there’s bags under his eyes and he’s yawning, the adrenaline from work barely emitting half as strong of an output now that he’s focused on cooking, but Lio knows better by now then to try and get Galo to admit it.
“All your naps at work say otherwise,” he settles on, temporarily feeling enjoyment from Galo’s offended squawk.
He’s exhausting himself for you, you’re the one who messes up everything and he’s the one who has to take care of it. He’s given you a comfortable life and you can’t give him one thing he wants in return. You’re using him.
Gritting his teeth, Lio turns back to his work.
You’re just like Foresight.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
The curry’s good.
Galo didn’t put much spice in it, something about it hurting the stomach lining and Lio needing to ease into eating properly.
“Lio?” Galo says, interrupting himself in the middle of some story involving Heavy Machine Operator Truss and a herd of cows, “You’re doing it again.”
“Hmm?” Lio hums before Galo gestures to his plate, “Oh.” He says at the food he was dividing unconsciously for the others. “Sorry, it’s a habitual response to food.”
Sighing, Galo says, “I get it man, and you’re a total saint, I love that about you, but the other Burnish are all right now so you can worry about yourself from now on. Finish up your food.”
Giving a slight glare at Galo’s patronizing demands, Lio remarks, “It’s too much for me to finish anyway, the proportions you give are outrageous.”
“That’s the point!” Galo argues, “You need to eat a little more everyday so your stomach gets used to food again! It’s all shriveled up from disuse!”
“I’m not even hungry at the moment…”
“That’s because your body’s too tired to realize it’s starving!” To further illustrate his point, Galo rushes to crouch behind Lio and, in an incredibly ridiculous voice attempting to replicate a Russian accent, says, “Lio, why? Why won’t you feed me? I’m so hungry, why won’t you eat the food your super cool boyfriend makes you? If you don’t eat soon, I’m going to waste away into nothing! WHY?”
Giving a slight chuckle at Galo’s antics, Lio takes a few more bites to humor him, stopping at about half of the plate being cleared.
“I…”
“Can’t eat anymore?” Galo observes, getting to his feet.
“I’m…sorry…”
“Don’t be!” Galo dismisses, “We just gotta work on it, a bit more each day, remember?” Grabbing Lio’s plate, he adds his own clear one and heads for the kitchen.
“I don’t mean…to waste food.”
“You’re not wasting anything,” Galo tries to placate, “This just gives you leftovers for tomorrow; if it’s too much for you, you’ll get sick and hurt your tummy.”
“Yes, but-”
“I know you appreciate it Lio,” Galo cuts him off as he starts washing the silverware, “So you don’t have to prove anything to me, I’m happy just to see you eat something, dude.”
To that, Lio spends the next few minutes watching Galo clean up, the other man refusing help.
He wants to be held. Lio can tell, he’s noticed Galo keeps rubbing his shoulders on things, twisting one leg around the other, sneaking glances at Lio’s arms.
But Lio can’t do that.
If he tried, there’s a good chance he’d end up trying to burn Galo’s face off; when he realized that wouldn’t work through his panicking, he’d turn to clawing Galo’s eyes out. This is due to Lio’s inability to tell the present from the past, another ridiculous weakness that he has.
Fortunately…
“Galo?” He calls out, gaining the other man’s attention, “How tired are you?”
…He has ways to get around it.
“I’m not tired!” Galo protests, “I’ve got energy comin’ out my heels!” He declares, shuffling his feet in demonstration.
“That’s good to hear,” Lio says in a sultry voice, “Because I was thinking you could help me warm up tonight.”
Eyes widening, Galo says in a daze, “You…You mean…”
“Yes.”
“We’re finally gonna see how many of my sweaters I can put you in at the same time?!” Galo squeals in excitement, eyes sparkling, “I’m thinking we can make it to six before we start seeing any problems!”
“What,” Lio says in exasperation, “No-Galo we’re going to have sex.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah.”
“Okay!” The other agrees, finishing the dishes, “See you in a few minutes!” And with that, he rushes off to his bedroom.
He doesn’t have any problems with sex.
Sex doesn’t give him any bad memories.
The contact there doesn’t kick his perception out, it grounds him.
It’s the only way he can hold Galo.
It’s pathetic.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Pulling out of a panting Galo, blushing, face showing utter pleasure, Lio’s warm.
Not in the normal way, but the one that fills you up inside and makes you feel like everything is going to end well, that everything is fine.
It’s not, but Lio appreciates the momentary euphoria.
“Lio…” Galo pants.
Still riding the high from sex, Lio can let Galo touch him, lace their fingers together, nuzzle their noses together once Lio lets him know it’s alright.
A signal that takes the form of Lio stroking Galo’s cheek with a small but completely fond smile.
Galo eagerly acknowledges it.
Several moments of pure bliss follow, Lio wishes it would last forever.
Forever is cut short by the paranoia closing back in on his consciousness.
Pulling back, forcing himself to ignore Galo’s whine in protest, Lio gets up, collects his clothing and begins his return to the living room.
“Lio…” He hears Galo mumble, resigned but with the ever-present hope that nothing can seem to evaporate.
“…” Lio forces himself not to look back.
“Stay.”
“…I’m sorry.”
Exiting the room, hastily shutting the door Lio paces quickly to the couch, harshly landing himself onto the seating place and reopening the laptop with more force than necessary.
Click, click, click.
He’s a terrible partner.
Click, click, click.
He failed at being a leader.
Click, click, click.
He’s struggling with basic skills every person should have.
Click, click, click.
His people have been traumatized because of his incompetence.
Click, click, click.
He’s traumatized people because he couldn’t control himself.
Click, click, click.
He’s completely useless.
Click, click, click.
And he seems to be the only one that knows this.
Click, click, click.
Cold.
In his chest, all around him.
Warmth, gone with the Promare, along with whatever worth he had.
What’s left of him?
Click, click, click.
Nothing that anyone can use.
Click, click, click.
He will still try.
Click, click, click.
He will find a way to give his new life worth, he will be someone useful in this world of peace.
Click, click, click.
He just needs to keep pressing forward.
Click, click, click.
He will not stop.
Click, click, click.
He cannot stop.
Click, click, click.
If he does, there is no purpose in his continued existence.