Archive of Our Own

Sometimes, Galo would sneak a peek into Lio's hiding place - a plant, of all things, hidden under sheet moss covering the dirt - and remind himself that the ring there was his size. Black metal, tungsten alloy, made to endure extreme temperatures without hurting him, because Lio thought of everything. He had no idea what kind of plant it was hidden under, and didn't intend to find out, because the more he played dumb about it, the more positive he was that Lio wouldn't know that he'd found that ring.

He wasn't good at lying, or hiding things, but he thought he was doing a pretty good job. After all, Lio still didn't know about the ring Galo had already bought. He decided not to use it once he found Lio's, though; Lio wasn't the most proactive when it came to romantic gestures, so it must've taken a lot for him to get that far. Galo couldn't take that away from him. He hid his own on the top shelf of one of the kitchen cabinets, where Lio couldn't reach. Perfect hiding spot.

There was a chance they weren't ready, but it was a small one. It was more like the world wasn't ready, but Galo had never been more sure of anything. Lio was a fixture in his life he intended to keep. And… Well, the subject had come up before, in passing.

In their own little world, sometimes Galo had to remind himself that there weren't event venues ready for use yet. There wouldn't be a nice big wedding until the world, or at least Promepolis was rebuilt, but it would still happen. Someday. He was determined.

Every day was going so well. After the second blaze, the world was rebuilding. Some real progress had been made, there were homes built for almost everyone who'd been displaced and the former Burnish. Sure, a lot of it was rushed and needed to be fixed up before it could be permanent, but it was hard to look at the way things were turning out in the city and not think that things were looking up.

The former Burnish had a lot of their own stuff to work out, which often flew over Galo's head, but he tried to be supportive every time Lio had a heap of new things to work on - things that made him stare angrily at his tablet for hours on end. All Galo needed to know about it was that Lio was working hard and doing the right thing, and he could make sure that little crease in his brow could disappear when it needed to by casually leaning into his space to steal just a mote of his attention away from whatever upset him.

If Lio called him an idiot, it was always with this tiny smile that took any edge off of the insult.

As a matter of fact, it was hardly an insult, in his opinion. Whether he was an idiot or not, Lio seemed to like him anyway.

The nights were great, living with someone. He'd been alone for some time, but since inviting Lio to stay in his life, it really felt like he had a family again, something to come home to. He didn't sleep at work just to avoid coming home to an empty apartment anymore.

Even if a crowded bed was something new he'd gotten used to, it was a good feeling. Lio didn't actually take up a whole lot of space, and he seemed to like the way Galo insisted on cuddles. Maybe he liked it. Lio wasn't always the easiest to read, but he never rejected it, and that was enough for Galo to call it a win.

Mornings were special; lazy, sometimes naked and comfortable, sometimes rushed because they would put off getting out of bed until the last possible moment. But they usually began the same way; Lio's morning voice was a little hoarse, maybe somewhat cranky, but he greeted him sweetly. A kiss good morning. They sometimes made breakfast together without burning the food or themselves, joking with each other and having just a fantastic time.

It was remarkable, the change Lio had brought into Galo's life in such a short time. It had only been a matter of months.

In mornings, if he woke up before the alarm, he could take a precious few moments to brush Lio's hair back and admire his absurdly pretty face, and remind himself how goddamn lucky he was. As soon as his world was turned upside down by a betrayal, he'd found someone as fiercely loyal as Lio and bonded with him. Lio would hide it, but Galo had caught word that he'd thrown down with some jerks who said 'some stuff about Galo' - he didn't know the details, but there was something awesome about it (though it possibly violated his probation, so hopefully he wasn't caught or reported for it). Nobody had gone to bat for him before. Kray had his image to protect, and… Well, actually, he was pretty sure his Burning Rescue unit would defend him, but he'd never seen it come up personally.

Then the alarm would go off, blaring a loud emergency siren and spinning red and blue lights, and Lio would immediately throw it against the wall. That was fine. Lucia made it pretty durable for him. He'd flop back down next to Galo lazily and snuggle close, murmuring "good morning."

Just as every morning since they'd started living together. It was a wonderful routine.

"Good morning," Galo answered with amusement. "Ready to get up?"

"No. You kept me awake too late," Lio answered, muffled against Galo's skin.

"Says the guy who jumped me the minute I got home last night." That was not a complaint.

They had a healthy relationship.

Lio let out a long sigh and Galo decided to pet his hair a bit longer, relaxing. They'd showered before sleeping, so they didn't need to rush out of bed (they would've had to take turns, or else they'd be in the shower way too long, because of reasons). "What do you want for breakfast?"

"What do we have?" Lio had just a little more energy; among the many ways he'd changed recently was his newfound enthusiasm for home-cooked meals. He'd explained that he was so used to canned and preserved foods that he'd probably find anything Galo made delicious, but that didn't really lessen the value of that cute expression he made when he put that first bite of Galo's cooking into his mouth. He didn't even know he was doing it. Galo loved it.

"Well, if you recall, I arrived with groceries yesterday," Galo reminded him, sitting up and dragging Lio with him. "If you didn't smash all the eggs when you tackled me, we should have a bit of everything."

Lio groaned, still lounging against Galo's chest. "I didn't tackle you."

"Wasn't complaining," Galo chuckled and kissed the top of his head.

"Then make me a bit of everything."

"I can do that. You'll have to let me get out of bed first, though."

Lio groaned again, but managed to pull himself away and rubbed his eyes. "Hold up. I'll help."

It may have been hard to believe, but Lio, in spite of definitely not being a morning person, was an early riser on most days. He didn't like getting out of bed, but he would always get up at the same time as Galo, or earlier. A sense of responsibility, perhaps. It was only with Galo that he ever complained about it (even if those complaints were just a bunch of unhappy noises). Only with Galo did he ever express that kind of petty discomfort, and let his mask fall.

They dressed for the day, Lio looking fancier by far. He worked in an office most mornings, because as he explained it, he could learn a lot, and it paid well, allowing him to save up for once his probation was over (plus his boss was an awesome woman who helped his legal defense when charges were brought up against him, so Lio probably felt that he owed her). Galo stuck with firefighting, because it was his dream and he loved it, even if fires weren't quite the same as he'd grown up resenting, and they weren't fighting back the way he was used to. Lio volunteered with them twice a week, too, which was amazing and wonderful and fun as hell.

In spite of Lio's demand for everything, he seemed to have changed his mind and settled for bacon and eggs. Easy enough.

Since they had different destinations that morning, Lio left just a few minutes before Galo, with a kiss goodbye and a "see you later" and "let me know if you want me to bring you something," because Lio was always such a thoughtful boyfriend. A great guy.

With an extra few minutes to kill before leaving, Galo dared a glance at that plant: long, flat and variegated leaves, no flowers. Tall. The sheet moss had been disturbed, but not by him.

Yeah. Today would be great. Every day would be great.

There weren't any fires to put out that morning, so he and Varys improvised a game of table tennis using shoes to entertain themselves for a while until Ignis told them to cut it out. A few months prior, their job was completely different and much heavier, cleaning up rubble and assisting with construction. In recent weeks it had become apparent that the buildings needed professionals of a certain skill level to work on them; firefighters couldn't replace plumbers or electricians (well… some of them probably could, but they shouldn't). So they were back to being firefighters. And apparently, they were also great PR for the new governing body, but Galo let that sort of thing fly over his head. He was honest in interviews and smiled for pictures (and maybe flexed, just a bit, knowing Lio would see them and be amused later), and that was all that was expected of him.

Noon rolled along, and Aina made a pot of coffee.

"Are you going to start staring out the window for him again?" She asked, "You're like a dog waiting for its owner to get home."

"An apt description," Remi joined in. "We're just lucky he doesn't tear up the furniture whenever Lio is away."

"Hey!" Galo argued, "What's wrong with looking forward to seeing him!?" Not the best argument, but Aina chuckled at him.

"Nothing is wrong. It's cute how you get bored with your whole body and start pacing by the door."

"I do not!"

"Yeah you do." Varys too! The traitor!

"Every day he's scheduled to show up, anyway. Otherwise you just bug one of us," Lucia sipped her coffee with distaste, then added more sugar.

"Nuh uh!" Great argument.

"Yuh huh," Lucia drawled. She looked sleep-deprived, but she'd been given assignments where most of them hadn't. Construction was easier with mechs, and she was an expert. She was also not very enthused about the work, because the restraints on her designs made it less fun. Galo understood that pain well. What was the fun of a mech if it wasn't awesome?

Luckily Lio ended the conversation by walking in, the subtle clinking of belt buckles and the sound of his boots - slight heel, though he insisted it wasn't because he was self-conscious - making an echo through the garage. He was carrying three large boxes of pizza balanced precariously on one hand, which was probably just barely enough for everyone in the station to have lunch, and he promptly handed them off to Galo so he could remove his jacket.

"Hey, thanks!" Galo cheered.

"I know you didn't ask, but I was in the mood for it," Lio explained needlessly, "and it was on the way."

"Roughly translated from Lio-speak, that means he was just being sweet and thoughtful," Aina teased, just quietly enough that Galo barely heard it. Lio didn't deny it, so either he didn't hear or it was true and he couldn't.

Lio laid his jacket over the railing and took a seat with the others, completely neglecting to either hug or kiss Galo. But it was forgivable, he'd brought pizza. Plus he'd never seemed all that fond of blatant PDA in the first place. Didn't hate it, but never sought it out like Galo would.

Really, Lio just didn't like any unnecessary attention on him. It was too bad he was ridiculously attractive and people would stare at him no matter what.

Galo set the pizzas on the table between everyone and dropped to the seat right next to Lio, invading his space just a bit. He always did. "So how was today?" He was getting into the habit of asking Lio that every time they'd been apart for any measure of time. Maybe that was clingy.

"It was fine. I take it you spent your morning goofing off?"

"He sure did," Varys answered for him, opening the first pizza box and helping himself.

"Says the enabler." Aina chimed in, handing out a few paper plates to the people with manners (just her and Remi, really).

"You guys keep making me look bad," Galo complained, but he knew that was pointless. They'd always make fun of him, but in a loving sort of way.

"Don't worry about that," Lio hurried to tell him, "I already know you're an idiot. They won't disillusion me." Even as he said that, he softened his words by leaning in, a sly tilt in his smile.

"You sure about that? We've got some stories, Fotia. We could absolutely ruin this guy for you." Lucia said pointedly.

"Please don't." Galo almost pleaded with her, pretending he didn't hear Lio chuckle.

In spite of saying he was in the mood for it, Lio didn't eat more than one slice, and he just kind of nibbled at it without enthusiasm. He was nervous about something. Galo, meanwhile, ate as much as he could, fighting with Varys over the last slice. He was also a little nervous. Probably the same reason.

He didn't see where Lio might've been hiding anything. Maybe in that jacket he'd thrown over the railing. It didn't actually matter.

Ignis stepped in after they'd eaten and clapped a hand over the rail. "Police are shorthanded. Get in uniform, we're helping them out."

"Did something happen?" Aina asked before the others could.

"Protests. It's not looking good." His grip tightened on the rail, barely noticeable, but Galo saw it. "Lio, you're going to have to stay away from this assignment."

"Huh!? What's with that?!" Galo was indignant on Lio's behalf, but Lio sat there calmly.

"Anti-Burnish, I take it?" He didn't even look up at Ignis, his eyes darkened.

"You got it. I don't want you at the counter-protest, either. Stay away from Main Street for the rest of the day."

"Well, I'm not going to sit here twiddling my thumbs, either," Lio grumbled. "I'll head home."

"Hey, what about--" Galo started, grabbing for Lio's arm as he stood. He couldn't bluntly say anything about plans Lio might or might not have secretly made. "Uh."

"What?" Lio looked puzzled.

"...Nevermind. I guess I better go get ready." The others, aside from Lucia, had already started toward the lockers. She nursed her coffee, knowing she was pretty much exempt from crowd control duties even if Lio was the only one told not to go.

"Galo," Lio grabbed him right back, tugging him to bring him a little closer so he could speak quietly. "Be careful, okay? People know how you're connected to me."

He could feel himself grin at the word 'connected'.

"Seriously, Galo! These people are angry, and they're bound to recognize you. I'm a target on your back."

"You're worried about me. That's so cute," Galo teased. "I'll be fine. Promise."

Lio seemed to relax, just a little. "Just don't let your guard down, okay?"

"Ugh. If anyone raises a hand to him, I'll get names so you can hunt them down," Lucia interrupted them. "Now quit being gross so we can get to work."

Lio flushed, looking troubled, but had no retort. "I'll see you at home," He settled on, leaning up closer to steal a kiss before he left, which was either to make Galo happy or to annoy Lucia. Galo bid him goodbye and watched him exit, and once the door closed behind him she made a gagging noise.

"You're just jealous!" Galo declared, but then she gagged harder.

"Go change, idiot."

Instead of arguing more, he stuck out his tongue and left to go change, as instructed.

He didn't love that uniform; he used to like it for all it represented, even if it was a little stiff, but things had changed. The stiff fabric felt too tight around his neck, and it carried a particular scent since the last time he'd worn it. Kray's cologne. He'd tried it on, attempting to be more formal, because he was about to be on stage next to his hero, and now it burned his nostrils and made his eyes water. "Hey, Varys?"

"Hmm?"

"Can I borrow your body spray stuff?"

"Sure thing." Varys tossed it at him, and Galo applied it liberally. Sandalwood. Better. He handed it back.

It still burned his nose, but at least it wasn't for the same reason. It didn't make him like the uniform any more, either. He'd learned that Lio was very much turned off by men in uniform, after all, so if he could get away with never wearing it again, they would both be happy about it.

But he had a job to do, and they set out to block off roads to control the flow of traffic around the demonstration. As much as he'd have liked to see their signs get trampled, he knew better. People were allowed to express their stupid, wrong opinions, and unfortunately it was his job that day to make sure of that.

He blanched at the sight of some of them. Someone had drawn up a wanted poster with Lio's face on it, with some derogatory and violent words, and he decided to just… Not face them. Out of sight, out of mind.

Aina stood beside him, also looking especially grim. All of them liked Lio, all of them supported the ex-Burnish, so this job would end up leaving a terrible taste in their mouths.

"Careful of the guy in the mauve shirt," Aina warned under her breath, barely audible underneath all the shouting and obnoxious chants. "I think he's the one spreading all those nasty rumors and making violent threats."

"I think he's Ex-Freeze Force. Are you sure it's him?" Remi leaned over to discuss it with her. "If we can ID him for sure, we can make an arrest."

"Looks like the profile picture he uses, right?"

"...Unfortunately, that's not enough to go on, but he does."

Galo frowned, "...Which color is mauve again?"

They looked annoyed.

"It's like… a dusty purple-pink-brown," Aina explained, then looked back at Remi. "We can at least tell the officers to keep an eye on him, right? He's saying some awful things…"

"Yeah, I'll take care of that. Hold the line here, I'll be right back."

As Remi walked away, Galo turned to see this mauve-shirt-guy. He was carrying a posterboard with a noose drawn on it, and the words They can't burn rope now!, completely tasteless and cruel. Galo felt sick.

How could people muster up so much hatred now that the Burnish weren't even Burnish anymore? It made no sense to him. As soon as he'd been confronted with the pain the Burnish endured his entire worldview had changed, and now that the knowledge had become public, everyone should be wising up about it, right?

"Hey, it's alright. They've been all talk so far." Aina touched his shoulder. "As long as nothing escalates, this will be over soon enough."

"I've never hated my job before," Galo told her, lowering his gaze to the pavement. There were patchwork repairs in it from the Parnassus crash, but it wasn't permanent.

"...I know," She patted his back with sympathy. He wasn't a child, he could deal with unpleasant things, but this crossed a line he wasn't aware existed. He was so close to turning around and starting a fistfight - or at the very least, running off to the lake to cool down. He knew that acting out here wouldn't do anyone any good, and considering his ties to Lio, it could even damage the cause they both cared so much about.

Over the next few hours, the crowds started thinning out, thankfully. Ignis announced that they could leave once the size was manageable for the police, and Galo just wanted to get home as soon as possible, hug his not-an-arson-terrorist-because-it's-more-nuanced-than-that boyfriend tight and sleep off his frustration. It was too early for sleep, but he couldn't stomach dinner so he figured he might as well skip it and move right on to bed.

Lio had that ring with him today, Galo suddenly recalled. He was absolutely not in the right headspace for that, but it still brought a fluttering feeling in his stomach and he thought maybe, just maybe he'd work through it by the time he was with him again. 

As he climbed onto the truck he was grabbed by the shoulder and yanked backwards. He had pretty good balance, but someone had been trying to knock him down, and because it was so sudden they'd almost succeeded. "The hell?"

"The hell is wrong with you, man?" It took Galo a few seconds to recognize mauve-man. "You were the Hero of the city and now you're shacking up with that freak arsonist? You betrayed Governor Foresight!"

Mauve looked a lot more red than it had before.

Aina hopped down to get in the guy's face, but Galo had already grabbed the front of his shirt and completely lost his cool. "Galo, no--"

"Governor Foresight betrayed all of us!" He shouted, "Lio was just trying to save people!"

"Who the hell do you think you are? The Governor was putting those freaks in their place! They should have died!"

"Then what do you think should happen to you?! Because they're all better people than you are, asshole!"

"Galo, stop!" Aina grabbed him and his grip on the man's shirt loosened just enough for him to take a few steps back.

He spat at Galo's feet, and Aina growled "oh that's it" and socked the bastard in the jaw.

It wasn't so bad, he thought. Just a bruise on the side of his face, not even very big. Lio kept scowling at it.

"So. Suspended?"

"Yep. Totally not my fault, though!"

Lio let out a long sigh across the table. He'd prepared dinner. He wasn't the best chef in the world by a long shot, but he could follow a recipe as well as anyone else (unless he forgot the timer. He was used to instantly cooking his meals, after all, so having to time it out was hard for him). Not only had he made a home-cooked meal, he made it look fancy. Lio liked going the extra mile.

He had a feeling that if Lio was thinking of proposing, Galo had screwed that up with his news. Oh, well. Maybe next time. Galo could be patient if he tried hard enough.

"According to Lucia, you got into a fistfight," Lio prompted, tone dry.

"Well-- I mean, I didn't throw the first punch! Aina did!"

Another long sigh. "Must've been bad, then."

Galo frowned. He could tell that self-sabotaging thoughts were running through Lio's head, because he did that sometimes. He was probably somehow blaming himself for the fight. Which… wasn't entirely out of left field, but it was still wrong. "Hey. Those guys were assholes. Who cares what happens to them?"

"Your bosses, for one," Lio reminded him. "Are you getting into any more trouble than that?"

"Nah. Ignis decided the harshest punishment is to suspend me."

Lio just barely showed amusement.

Any other day it really would have felt like punishment. He did love being a firefighter.

"So, is Aina suspended too? Since she threw the first punch, after all." Lio sounded somewhat skeptical, but they both definitely knew Aina was capable of it.

"No, I took the blame for it," Galo looked down at the table, away from Lio's eyes. "She was standing up for me, after all." And now he had proof that his friends and coworkers at Burning Rescue had his back no matter what. That was amazing.

"That's just like you," Lio smiled fondly, and Galo barely glanced up to see it. "That likely pissed her off, though."

"'Course it did. Too late to change it now, though." He lifted a piece of meat to his mouth and chewed it. He had no idea what it was, but Lio wouldn't poison him, so that was fine. Galo was always down for trying new things. "Besides, I wanted to punch him first."

Lio's smile faltered, but didn't entirely disappear.

"So did you spend all afternoon cooking? This is really good!" He spoke around a mouthful.

"Not the whole time, no." Their conversation changed course to lighter topics, deliberately avoiding anything heavy, like protests or riots, or rings. When Galo glanced back at that plant, the sheet moss had been flattened back down, so obviously Lio had put it back.

That was fine - Galo knew it would happen when Lio felt the mood was right. Maybe he just didn't like seeing the bruise on Galo's face, didn't want that in his memory. Something sentimental like that. Lio wasn't the most sentimental person, but he could be a closet sap when he felt like it.

He could also be a bit of a brute; once they were preparing for bed, Lio immediately threw Galo onto the mattress and started stripping him, which was. Yeah. Pretty awesome. Yanking the black shirt over his head first, then with more care, sliding off the sleeve covering his scars.

"What's got you all worked up?" Galo shot him a grin, and Lio looked down at him, straddled his waist and frowned.

"Shut up," he commanded, resting a palm on Galo's chest and looking him over, inspecting every inch of his skin that was exposed. There was one other bruise, and Lio touched it gently with worry in his eyes.

"It's not that bad," Galo tried to reassure him.

"It shouldn't have happened."

"C'mon, you know my job is dangerous, I've come home with way worse." It wasn't the best way to reassure him, but it was also true.

Lio said nothing, but sighed yet again, leaning forward and hiding his face against Galo's neck.

The problem was that Lio couldn't stand for people hurting each other. A fire was one thing, that wasn't intentionally aiming punches at Galo (..well, not anymore). That guy and his friends, they'd wanted to hurt him. To make it worse, Galo had been mad enough to hurt him right back. Lio was willing to fight, but he didn't like seeing the people he cared about being hurt. It was a cute trait, not that Galo would say so. It would be cruel. Lio had every right to be upset, he'd seen his friends go through so much worse than a fistfight.

"Just be careful."

"You, too," Galo told him. "Don't go places alone if you can help it. The things they were saying…"

"I'm used to being hated. I don't care what they think of me."

"That's-- Lio, no." Galo sat upright and cupped Lio's face in his hands. It made his cheeks look a little funny, but he withheld any laughter since the subject was so serious. "What they think doesn't matter. But--"

"When did this become about me?" Lio poked him in the ribs, right on the bruise. "I'm used to being cautious. I'll be fine. You, on the other hand, are a dumbass that got into a fight today."

"Ow- hey! I didn't start it! And next to those jerks, I look like a genius!"

In spite of himself, Lio laughed at that. "There's probably some truth to that."

"Yeah!" Galo leaned in, kissed him loudly, and then let go of his face. "Now c'mon, I thought you were starting something exciting. Follow through, will you?"

Lio was exasperated, but rolled his eyes and pushed Galo down again. "Fine. I think, as punishment, an hour of edging."

"What!" Galo blurted out with a half-laugh, incredulous. That sounded like hell. "Make it two."

"Fine." With that, Lio whipped off Galo's pants and got started with little bites and open-mouth kisses down his chest and stomach, careful with the bruise, one soft kiss there to acknowledge it and then moving lower, but not quite low enough; he was in some sort of playful mood no matter how much he'd been worried. He left marks - a bite right above his hip, and another on his neck as he moved upwards again, a playful squeeze of Galo's pecs and grinding against him.

A strange thing about Lio was the admiration of Galo's scars, which were his next target. He kissed the rough skin and traced his fingers along the marks until he'd reached Galo's hand, and he held it for a moment.

"I'm going to make a mess of you," he promised, "get you so worked up-- then, I want you to wreck me."

Galo shivered. "Yeah… Yeah, you got it." Since they'd started sleeping together, he'd learned Lio's likes and dislikes rather well, he thought. Occasionally, he'd like being treated roughly. They were both flexible about positions, liked it both ways, but it had become obvious that he really liked having Galo inside of him. If he wanted anything specific at any given time, he'd either drop hints at it or demand it. He'd never beg, he'd never demean himself for anything and would sooner kick Galo out of bed than allow himself to be picked on even half as much as he picked on Galo.

His smile was sly, and his attention shifted. He got to work, and Galo obediently tucked his arms behind the pillow under his head. As long as Lio wanted to toy with him, Galo wouldn't interfere.

He'd just voice his appreciation when he could. If he kept his voice. Lio knew what he was doing, after all, and was damn good at it.

From the first wet trail along the underside of his cock Galo knew he was in for some suffering. Lio hadn't even removed his gloves yet, his grip dragged like leather. As tempting as it would've been to watch, there was a good chance his heart wouldn't be able to take it, so he kept his eyes squeezed shut, noting every little sensation as he met it. Lio's soft, fluffy hair on his thighs, tickling his hips when Lio dipped his head just low enough. His warm mouth, gently scraping teeth on his skin. Judging by his movements, he'd started jerking himself off while at it, which Galo had to peek at. Beautiful. The way his body curled over Galo and the muted sounds he tried to hide deep in his throat that Galo could feel...

Just. Everything. Lio was everything, and Galo was the luckiest guy in the world.

He was vocal enough that Lio could easily tell whenever he got too close, and there would be a torturous chill where Lio pulled away. The gloves came off at some point, Lio's fingers slicked and teasing his ass until Galo was nearly sobbing, but it felt so good.

It probably wasn't two full hours when Lio finally sat up, feeling around his jaw with his dry hand, but it felt like long enough to give it a pass.

"Sorry. Does it hurt?" Galo managed to ask, his breathing still shaky and his voice cracking.

"Of course it does," Lio gave him a look sort of halfway between annoyed and enamored. He wasn't above making comments that Galo was too big, but that never stopped him from doing things like this (Galo thought maybe it wasn't that he was too big, it was just a problem with Lio being too small - not his dick, just in general, he was tiny).

"...Are you taking a break? C'monnn, you can't do this to me, I'll die!" Galo whined, and it brought a grin back to Lio's face.

"Just a minute or two. You can sit there and watch," he said, stripping his clothes off one-handed (the slick hand squeezed Galo's thigh).

Galo could be obedient, even if he was impatient. He watched Lio pop open the bottle of lube and get more on his fingers. He watched Lio start fingering himself, straddling his waist to give him a good view, and his mouth started watering. It was its own kind of torture, just having to look and not be allowed to participate. He started squirming uncomfortably and Lio leaned close, letting Galo enjoy the sound and feeling of his heavy breathing against his cheek and neck. 

"Have you punished me enough yet?" Galo very nearly pleaded. He didn't mind sounding pathetic, because it seemed to strike a nerve with Lio, it made him more merciful. And sure enough, Lio decided to grind against him and steal a kiss.

"I suppose so," he murmured against Galo's mouth.

That was a good enough signal for him; Galo pulled his arms free and wrapped them around Lio's body, one hand firm on his ass. "Ready?"

"Do it." Lio moved his arms so that Galo would have an easier time flipping them over, because he knew that was coming - as much as Lio liked riding him he couldn't very well wreck himself. Actually, he probably could.

Once Galo pinned him down, he pushed inside of him with all the impatience Lio had been expecting, earning him a stunning reaction when Lio threw his head back and gasped. He might've rushed it. Lio liked it that way, so he didn't feel bad. In fact, he felt fantastic.

"Hopefully, you can last," Lio teased, somewhat unconvincing as his fingers trembled.

"After all of your hard work, I doubt it." But he'd do his best. He needed a slow pace to start, and Lio's limbs wrapped around him. "Feelin' good?"

Lio hummed a positive response right next to Galo's ear.

He was so hot inside, so tight, Galo tried to keep his mind distracted by biting Lio's neck, focused on leaving a mark he'd probably regret later. Lio liked it, so he wouldn't regret it much, but there was always something a little troubling about visible marks on Lio's otherwise flawless skin; he went so long unable to scar, he was so smooth and pretty, any bruise or bite mark looked horribly out of place. And Lio liked to make sure they were visible. If Galo made one low enough, Lio would end up wearing shirts that would hang off his shoulder just so it could be seen.

While he didn't see much appeal in marking him, the biting drew some tasty sounds out of him. Gasping, whimpering, and if he was feeling good enough, he'd even start screaming Galo's name and well, Galo couldn't resist that.

Their neighbors hated them, most likely.

He gripped Lio's waist and moved harder, making Lio yelp (and it sounded like he giggled a bit too, which was cute and very worth exploring sometime), "Ah, there-- That's perfect, Galo."

Lio's nails scraped his back and eventually his hands moved to his face, tugging him down and giving him forceful, insistent kisses that just barely muffled the sounds in his throat. He also nuzzled Galo's cheek, where the bruise had formed, and kissed him there.

"I'm almost--"

"Go ahead," Lio urged him on, his legs tightening around Galo's hips.

Truthfully, it was already a miracle he'd managed to last that long, but he really couldn't hold out another second or he'd die (no he wouldn't). He went hard to finish, hoping that would push Lio over the edge along with him, and squeezed Lio's smaller frame in his arms.

It was better when they finished together, but there was no chance of that. He made an attempt to keep going, but Lio nudged him back, pushing him out. "Don't force it, I'm fine," he sounded playful. "I already finished once."

Galo, still catching his breath, laid himself down beside Lio and tugged his body closer. His little spoon. "While going down on me?" He teased, "That's kinda hot."

"I like your whining." Lio didn't argue or try to pull free, just snuggled close.

Rather than leaving Lio unsatisfied, Galo wrapped a hand around his cock and moved lazily. "Yeah, well, I like yours too."

"I don't-- I don't whine," Lio protested with an adorable stutter.

"Really? I guess I need my ears checked then."

"Shut up." He had a very obvious whine in his voice, but rather than laughing, Galo nuzzled into his hair and picked up the pace until Lio tensed and spilled over his hand, climaxing almost quietly. Another mess to clean up, but Lio didn't move. Apparently that night would be a 'wait until morning' kind of night.

Galo sighed deeply, hugging around his waist. "Love you."

"Love you, too."

He thought he sounded too tired, so after a few seconds, he reached and felt around for their sheet to pull it over their bodies so they could just sleep. Sure, they'd feel gross in the morning, but it wouldn't be the first time.

And it wasn't the first time that, in the middle of the night, he felt his boyfriend shivering from nightmares. Rather than wake him, he held him closer, but not in a way that he'd feel restrained.

He gently stroked his skin and whispered sweet words until Lio calmed without even waking.

He never told Lio he'd been doing that, figured Lio might be embarrassed or upset about the fact that he'd had nightmares enough to wake Galo - he was positively mortified every time he had some sort of breakdown while he was awake, and tried to hide them as best he could. But nightmares were a part of Galo's life for a long time, too - and he knew he'd managed to wake Lio up a couple times because he was noisy about it, and Lio would calmly wake him and reassure him in whatever way he needed, but Lio himself? He suffered quietly. Years in hiding, years of being a leader and suppressing his own fears for the sake of his people, they weighed on him in so many ways.

It was easy to tell that he was more relaxed nowadays, since he could sleep heavily enough that it took either Galo's thrashing about or the noisiest alarm in the world to wake him properly, whereas before he'd wake and have a knife at someone's throat so quickly if they did so much as take too loud a footstep.

They both had the kind of issues that needed some kind of help, and while they helped each other, he wondered if it was enough; he wondered if they ought to get actual therapy, or maybe a therapy dog or something. He didn't know what would help Lio in the way Lio had helped him just by being there, but he had a feeling Lio would reject help anyway. That's the kind of person he was, he'd never be all that comfortable sharing his problems with others. He'd come to rely on Galo a bit, though.

At some point in the night Lio had rolled over, his face under Galo's chin, and Galo pulled back just enough to look at him.

Galo's nightmares had been a lot less frequent since Lio agreed to live with him. Even if he still had a few, it went from two or three times a month to maybe once a month, which was a remarkable difference. He had other unpleasant dreams regarding at least one person who would never be a part of his life again, but they weren't nightmares, they just hurt.

And then he'd wake up to Lio's face, and it was like nothing else mattered. Maybe it was stupid. Not that stupidity would ever stop him.

Suspension or not, Galo still showed up at the station the next day. Lio was scheduled there for the afternoon again after working all morning at the office, so Galo would've been bored out of his skull if he'd just stayed home.

He brought the leftovers from the dinner Lio made to share with the others. It was a lot better than the first handful of tries at cooking, so maybe Galo was showing off for him a little bit, sharing just how much Lio had improved.

"You bagged yourself a trophy husband, huh?" Remi said, taking a bite. "It's a little weird, but I like it. What is it?"

Galo flushed at the first part, knowing it was a tease and there was no correct way to respond to it, but the rest he answered, "I'unno. It's really good though, right?"

"Love the seasoning, but it's kind of chewy," Aina said, holding out the tupperware for Varys to have a taste too. She had apparently forgiven Galo for taking the blame for the fight the day before.

"Is he okay with you sharing his food? Aren't you just going to embarrass him?" Lucia asked around a mouthful.

"Eh, it's worth it," Galo said proudly, hands on his hips. His friends enjoying his boyfriend's cooking, it was just kind of awesome.

He'd be back at work properly in just a couple days, but he'd still show up when he wasn't supposed to be there, not just because Lio was there part-time, but because he liked it there with his friends. He was never the stay-at-home type who could just watch TV or whatever.

So he'd just keep annoying his friends/co-workers like any other day of his life. Even if Ignis gave him a sour look, it wouldn't deter him.

Galo made a conscious effort not to wait by the door for when Lio arrived, lest he get more of those comments about his obsession, but the second he heard someone walk in, he spun around expectantly. Frankly, the shoes were making the wrong sound, and he should've noticed that faster, but it wouldn't have mentally prepared him for who it actually was.

Biar Colossus stood in the doorway, posture straight as ever, face unreadable under miles of makeup. She didn't acknowledge any of the team, but marched straight up to the Captain's door, rapping on it twice and letting herself in. She was carrying a gray box in one arm. The whole team had been watching her as if mesmerized.

"Shouldn't she be in prison?" Lucia asked, grouchy-voiced.

"Her skirt was almost floor-length. She was probably hiding an ankle monitor," Aina looked displeased. "So the same punishment my sister got, I'm guessing. Just doing her job, my ass."

("Do you want your sister to go to prison?" Varys quietly asked her.

"It'd do her some good," she answered, huffing irritably.)

The others agreed silently. Galo still didn't know what to make of her presence. It was unsettling in all of the worst ways, because he'd never seen her without Kray walking two paces ahead of her.

He'd actually made a point of keeping up with what happened in the trials of all the members of the Foresight Foundation. The ones he knew were complicit, especially, and so he'd known about Biar's verdict and subsequent lack of a sentence. Of particular interest were the ranking officers of Freeze Force, who he knew deserved the worst of it. They were still in court, as far as he knew from publications. 

Kray, meanwhile, had quietly surrendered and been locked away. Ever careful to avoid public backlash, or admit his errors - just disappear, instead.

Biar Colossus was simply a bad omen. She never would have stepped foot inside the firehouse before, so whatever brought her there was bound to be bad.

"We'll probably find out what that's all about eventually," Aina said with a frown, trying to draw Galo's attention away. She was right. No use dwelling on it.

He pulled out his phone to check the time, and saw a message from Lio.

I'm so sorry. Just talked to Ignis a bit ago, will be home this afternoon.

It was from a little less than an hour ago. He'd missed it while driving over. Well, he'd just spend a little more time with his friends before he went home to Lio, that was all. He didn't know what there was to be so sorry over. Lio could be a little dramatic at times.

"So, are you guys planning anything for Friday night?" Galo asked, "If not, let's--"

"Yeah, yeah, we can go for pizza," Remi shrugged. "Or, better yet, invite us over and serve us more of your boyfriend's food. That's a change of pace."

"That does sound pretty fun," Lucia grinned at him.

He brightened, really glad that they'd enjoyed the food enough to suggest that. Even if it was just following a recipe, Lio had done a great job, after all, and deserved praise for it. "Uh, if Lio is okay with it, sure! I'll ask him when I get home."

"Oh! Let's make it a movie night!" Aina suggested. That was a great idea; Lio had never seen a bunch of movies that got referenced every now and then so things would fly over his head, and he hated that. Galo thought it was cute, but everything about Lio was either cute, amazing, or hot.

"Okay! What movies should we watch?"

They'd successfully distracted him and dragged him into a very important discussion over the cultural impact of this or that film and why they should or shouldn't watch it together. They weren't even close to settling on one before Ignis called out to Galo from his office door and gestured for him to come inside.

Well, if Biar hadn't shown up a bit ago, he'd assume he was getting in trouble. But no, she changed things. The others paused for a moment, then hesitantly carried on the conversation as he walked away. Their voices trailed off as he reached the door, it clicked behind him and he felt oddly detached from reality.

"Take a seat, Galo," Ignis told him, voice gruff, but gentler than usual.

Biar looked up at him, expression unchanged. The box sat in her lap.

"Uh, what's going on?" He asked with a laugh, plopping down in a chair about two paces away from her, both faced Ignis's desk. He could hear a distant ringing, but he couldn't tell if it was real or if it was stress.

"Per Kray Foresight's instructions, I'm to give this to you," She said, holding out the box.

Galo took it. It was heavier than he thought it would be, a textured material with Kray Foresight's name on it, on a little metal tag, along with dates.

"He passed away two days ago. Officials didn't want it to go public."

The ringing became louder.

"He-- what?"

She pulled a slim folder out of her dress jacket, slightly bent where it had formed to her body. "His suicide note is in here. Would you like it?"

"Su--"

"Galo," Ignis spoke firmly, in an attempt to ground him, and maybe it was appreciated. Reality was still out of reach, but at least he wasn't falling further from it. "You don't have to accept that if you don't want to. I know this is a shock."

"It's… Yeah…" He was surprised that his hands were steady, holding that box of ashes. Kray, a man that towered over the city, could fit in tupperware now. Was stuffed into a box in Galo's hands. Somehow, that had been Kray, and yet looking at it he couldn't get the thoughts to overlap properly. It was just a box of dirt. "...Why? Why me, I mean."

Biar adjusted her jacket after he took the folder from her. "In spite of circumstances, you were the person closest to him." Her still face spoke volumes. She was an employee, not a friend. All of the people around him were always paid to be there. He'd never known Kray to have a friend, and definitely not a girlfriend - a fact that he once regarded with a certain level of hope that now made him feel slightly queasy. "He knows-- knew the kind of person you are. He knew you would respect his wishes."

"Again, Galo: You don't have to. It sounds a hell of a lot like Kray just wanting to take advantage of you, and have the last laugh." Ignis was glaring at Biar, who remained still.

"...Why did he do this?"

"It's in the note," Biar said, but then a flicker of emotion crossed her face, like sadness, or regret. "Though I'm not sure how true it is. He was never good at accepting defeat."

"I'm not ready for this--!" Galo sputtered, his vision stretching as his eyes welled up - he wasn't sure why he said that, or what he meant by it. Those were simply the words he found rising to the surface. Common sense was still somewhere in him, and he knew that no one expected him to be ready, no one expected this to happen and his distress was justified. But common sense wasn't reaching him very well, and he was struggling. He didn't know where he was or who he needed to talk to, or even who was in the room with him anymore. He was simply holding a plastic box full of ashes of a man he'd been attached to for over a decade.

Biar lowered her head, looking away from him. Ignis folded his arms.

He didn't know what he was supposed to feel, but at the moment, it was all overwhelming sadness.

There was animosity in recent memories, but there was a gentle hand holding his own as a child, if he dug deep enough to find it. There was a smile when he said something endearingly stupid, and sure, maybe that smile was all a lie, but it was tied to Galo's own feelings of mirth, and something like family. Whatever Kray had thought of him, he'd spent most of his life looking up to him with admiration, love and trust. And now he was looking down at a heavy gray box full of ashes and mixed emotions, and a physical pain erupted in his chest.

He didn't remember going home, but he remembered Lio had been waiting for him, and he dashed to the door to hold him and give him comfort - and that was ridiculous, Lio hated the man, and rightfully so! He shouldn't be comforting Galo now, he ought to be cheering or something-- but no, Lio wouldn't. Lio wasn't like that. If someone was suffering, Lio could never celebrate.

"Don't cry," Lio pleaded softly. He was probably thinking that Kray wasn't worth his tears, but he was too kind to say it out loud just yet. He wasn't wrong, Kray had proven himself to be a monster. It was just… everything else.

"M'not," Galo told him, followed by a sniffle. "How'd you find out?"

"It was announced on the radio. I didn't know you'd be at the station or I would've met you there, I'm sorry." His fingers rubbed shapes into Galo's back, a little pattern to calm the both of them. "...Is that--"

"Yeah."

"Why do you have it?" Lio was glaring at the box under Galo's arm, and the folder in his hand.

"Don't know. Guess he wasn't done messing me up."

Lio's eyebrows furrowed, and he took the box from Galo to set it down on the table by the door. It was the smarter thing to do, but for some reason Galo kept wanting to hold onto it, and almost protested. "Galo. What can I do for you right now?"

"I--" Galo hesitated, then gave up. He needed to be his usual self - he still was his usual self, he was just overwhelmed and didn't know how to deal with it. "I want a ton of pizza. And maybe some ice cream. And I wanna eat it in bed without anyone complaining about crumbs."

Lio almost smiled. "Alright. I'll order it. You get changed."

"First, um…"

Lio paused, waiting.

"...Nevermind, it can wait. Later." He dropped the folder on top of the box without any sort of care, rubbed his eyes, and walked into the bedroom. Lio didn't question him, just provided anything he asked for that day without any complaint.

He still didn't know what he was meant to feel. There was simply a Kray-shaped hole in the world, and he worried about what would fill it in.

"Your suspension is lifted, but you don't have to come in if you aren't ready," Ignis told him on a speakerphone call in the morning. "And if Lio needs the time off too, he can have it."

It was a somber sort of morning. Mildly overcast, but no rain predicted. No wind. Lio had made coffee for the both of them, and was sitting by the window, watching the streets below and pretending he wasn't listening to the call. Galo didn't even have the stomach to drink coffee that morning. He wanted more junk food and soda.

"Thanks Captain. I'll… I'll come tomorrow."

"Alright. Feel free to change your mind." It sounded like the end of the call, but neither of them hung up yet, so Ignis spoke once more, "There's going to be trouble now that the news broke. Both of you better be careful. If you need anything, you should have it delivered. We'll help out when we can."

"Got it. Thanks."

And then silence filled the room when he hung up. It was impossible to know what to say. Lio was still silently staring out of the window, and Galo was still sitting in bed like he'd never bothered getting up. His head hurt, his throat hurt, and his chest hurt, but he didn't want to be sitting still all day.

Maybe he could take Lio out to the frozen lake, and they could reminisce about saving the world- but that directly related to Kray, so that might not work. Most of Galo's life was tied to Kray somehow. He was only just splitting off and then, well, this.

"Galo."

"Hmm?" He snapped his attention in Lio's direction, and Lio calmly turned to face him as well, but didn't get up.

"Do you need to put his picture up, or something? I would understand."

"Nah." He didn't even need to think about that. It would be too uncomfortable. Even if Lio would understand, it would make him upset. It would make them both upset. As much as he wished all that time he spent admiring Kray wasn't wasted on a lie, it wasn't possible to rewrite history. "Wanna go somewhere?"

"I somehow doubt I'd make it out of the building," Lio said, gesturing out the window.

Galo hopped out of bed and walked over to see what he meant, finding protesters in front of their building. "You've gotta be kidding… How did they even find out you live here?" He clenched his fist, genuinely growing furious by the second.

"Rumors spread easily." Lio bore an air of nonchalance that actually pissed Galo off even more, but not exactly toward Lio himself, just-- it was messed up that he could regard people treating him this way like that. Like he wasn't bothered, like it was inevitable that people would loathe him, want him dead.

People could change their minds, they just had to open them first, but nobody seemed willing to do that anymore, and that was infuriating.

"We could take the rear fire escape, if the neighbors will let us through their apartment," Lio suggested. "Even if they're annoyed with us, at least they aren't going to lynch me."

Galo was almost amused by that. "That's a good idea. Lemme grab toast or something and we should go."

Lio nodded and smiled at him warmly, which helped. It was such a little thing, but… But it was real. It wasn't a smile that hid secrets, it wasn't a sweet lie that would turn Galo's world upside down. And if he ever needed proof, there was a shiny ring hidden in that planter that provided everything he needed. He hoped it wouldn't be too much, clinging to Lio like that.

Instead of toast, he scarfed down a breakfast bar, and as an afterthought he grabbed the folder with Kray's note, handing it over to Lio when he went back in the bedroom to change.

"Can you read this, and tell me if I should?" Galo asked him. "If it's too tough for you, I get it. I just--"

Lio flipped the folder open and started scanning the pages before Galo could even finish explaining himself.

Sheepishly, he started changing his clothes while Lio read the note, then he started watching Lio's expressions change as he kept going. It was never a pleasant expression. He either looked at the pages with annoyance or anger, but otherwise he did his best to keep a poker face.

As he reached the final page, he shut the folder, set it down on the windowsill, and sighed. "...Let's get going."

"...Yeah. Okay." Lio probably needed time to process it, too. Kray was a big part of his life in a way, as well; it would make sense if this messed him up. Galo shouldn't have asked.

"I'll drive. I'd like to go somewhere outside of town with you." Lio said. "You've shown me your 'cool off' spot. Let me show you mine."

It was nice of Louise, their neighbor, to let them out the fire escape. She didn't seem happy to see them, but she didn't bother slamming the door in their faces either. She didn't hate them, maybe. Blamed them for a couple sleepless nights, perhaps.

Lio had driven them well out of Promepolis, through the wastelands beyond the border that Galo had never been to in his life. They were driving for hours, toward the volcano he said he'd been trapped in for a week, and they stopped at some crumbling old structures where the ground was too rough to drive on.

"What's this place?" Galo asked, following in Lio's path toward the broken pieces of concrete ahead.

Lio turned his head to answer, and then stopped once they were close enough to see in finer detail. "This was all of my hopes and dreams, as a Burnish leader," He said, wistful. The wind was stronger outside of the city, but it was still a calm day overall. Strands of hair fluttered in his face as he turned back to look at it. "This was going to be where we built a place of our own. We were so close."

"...I'm sorry."

"You know it isn't your fault. And I certainly know that now. The blame for this falls on one man alone." He stepped closer to the rubble, kicking a large stone over and kneeling to pick up a ragged doll. It was a heartbreaking scene.

"And you come here to cool off?" Galo asked, skeptical.

"Once or twice, I have. Just to remind myself of what's important, and what can be accomplished now, with the worst obstacles out of the way."

"...Oh."

"Galo, I won't tell you not to read that letter. But I'll warn you that every word is either a lie or an exaggeration meant to put him in the history books as a hero," he said, painfully sincere. "So please, whatever you do, just don't let it reach anyone else."

So Lio had brought him here to remind him that his opinion on Kray would always be colored by this, a massacre. He could never see Kray the same way Galo had while growing up, he could never know a side of Kray that may or may not have existed for someone else. He could only know the monster.

The thing was, his view of Kray wasn't wrong. He was a monster that thought he was going to be a living legend by throwing away the lives of Lio's people.

Galo nodded, knowing Lio's request was reasonable - and for all Kray had done to the Burnish, he'd earned at least that much, so Galo would do it for him regardless of Kray's wishes. "Captain thinks Kray's taking advantage of me like this."

"He absolutely is," Lio agreed. "He always has been, apparently. I hadn't realized to what extent…"

"...Did it say something about me?"

"Enough," Lio answered, folding his arms and shrugging his shoulders just a little. He still held the doll, which was kind of cute with him holding it like that. "You were enamored with a lie, and he made use of that. He apologized for it, but I doubt he meant it."

Galo lowered his head. Not in shame, exactly, but something close to it. "Enamored, huh?"

"I don't think less of you for anything you felt towards him, Galo. You don't have to look like that." He walked closer to Galo with a little shiver, and Galo wrapped an arm around him. Apparently, his physiology had changed during his time as a Burnish, and he'd always be more sensitive to cold, which was why he did things like wearing gloves even at home. It wasn't a problem, Galo would never be unwilling to warm him up somehow.

They stood in silence for a minute longer before Galo spoke up again. "Let's go home and burn it. Well, you can burn it. I'll stand by with a fire extinguisher." He managed a grin.

"Are you sure?" Lio asked, quiet. "Will you read it first?"

"Don't need to. You have a good memory, so if I ever change my mind, I'll ask you for the cliff notes."

Lio laughed lightly and nodded once. "Alright. We can do that, but let's stop by and check with the Burnish orphanage first. Just in case he wants this back." He added, looking down at the doll. It needed to be washed pretty badly, Galo thought, but he didn't say it.

Regardless, the little boy was thrilled to have it back and the caregiver on-site said they would clean it up for him. Something good came out of the day. The children were positively giddy to see the both of them, and happily cheered goodbyes when it was time to leave, as their caretaker told them to stay safe.

Galo liked kids a lot. Lio was great with them. It was one of those things that maybe they ought to talk about, eventually.

On the roof of their building, Lio had placed the folder in a metal trash bin and held the lighter out, but before he could light it Galo grabbed his wrist.

"Wait. Wait, let me."

Lio just looked at him, a little stunned.

"I just-- If I'm gonna light one more fire, let it be this one."

Lio's expression warmed, and he turned the lighter in his hand to pass it to Galo.

"It's not the same as the sparks between us, of course," Galo grinned at him, enjoying Lio's amusement. "This feels like something I've gotta do myself, though."

So Galo set the second fire of his life - third, if the one he and Lio started together counted. He was a little nervous watching it, knowing intimately the dangers of fire, but ultimately he just felt relieved. Lies, pain, and betrayal, all fluttering upwards in flickering embers.

They returned to Burning Rescue the next day without any fanfare, choosing to arrive together when Lio was scheduled. Nobody asked Galo to justify that decision, thankfully; it was obvious that he was just being clingy. Plus, Lio really couldn't go anywhere without an escort yet. There were people furious over Kray's death, pinning it on Lio for whatever stupid reason, and they kept crowding outside of their building until the police were called, probably twice a day.

It couldn't make less sense to Galo. Kray's death was his own weakness, his own fault. To blame another man for his faults was downright stupid. And Galo was an expert in stupidity.

"You two doing alright?" was the one question acknowledging the recent news, asked by Varys, and Lio shrugged at it while Galo said he thought so.

There were finally fires to put out, caused by riots, and one grease fire at the pizza place because the pizza cook was struggling to deal with his disability after… everything. It kept them busy, at least, so Galo's mind couldn't freak out more about Lio's safety, or Kray's death, or anything else. See a fire, put it out. Easy. Much better, required little to no brain power (a point that the others had tried to argue against, but there was no use in that).

Crowds dwindled when the rain started coming down, and the calls stopped coming in - except, Ignis told him, Remi and Aina in confidence, calls coming in condemning them for having Lio volunteering there. He fielded each call himself and told them to kindly fuck off, but it didn't feel great knowing that there were people willing to be so vocal against a guy just trying to redeem himself. Maybe if Kray had tried the redemption route, the city wouldn't be such a mess now.

"One of my friends works for a news station," Aina suggested, "Maybe we can get some sort of public statement out for him."

"The protesters are just a very vocal minority," Remi said with a frown. "I doubt we could change minds, but if we could get the indifferent people to start caring about this more, it could help."

"I'll give her a call," Aina pulled out her phone and scrolled through her contacts, pacing in the break room.

"He's really good under pressure, but I don't know if this is a good idea," Galo decided to say. "He's already got a lot to deal with now."

"Well, ask him if he's willing to do it, then." Ignis seemed to think it was a good idea, and he was a lot smarter than Galo was, especially when it came to things like PR, so Galo would just have to trust him. "He was helping Lucia and Varys test out something."

They were all so tense. Remi was holding a mug so tight that his knuckles were white. Aina looked exhausted. Well… They'd worked hard. Things were rough, they were thinking of ways to make it better. It'd be okay.

He found Varys first, but he was hooked up to some machine Lucia was tinkering with. "Don't ask," he said, so Galo didn't.

Lio was off to the side, leaning against the wall with his phone to his ear. "Yeah. Meet me here in ten."

"Who was that?"

"Gueira. I need to head home. The neighbors caught someone trying to break into our place."

"Wait, why?!"

"Not sure. They called me after they called the cops," Lio said, pocketing his phone.

"I'm shocked you two are on good terms with your neighbors," Lucia called out from under a console where she was making adjustments. "I'm still pissed about that time you two were too noisy in the bunk room."

"What! We never--!!" No, wait, they had. Just the one time, high on adrenaline and unable to calm down after a wildly busy night shift. His face felt super warm.

Lio, on the other hand, laughed about it. He took that sort of tease really well. According to him, there wasn't the option for much privacy among the Burnish; the small community always seemed to know everything, so he'd just learned to live with it. Galo would've died of embarrassment. "Anyway. He and Meis are meeting me, so don't worry about my trip home. I'll try and figure out what happened." He pulled his jacket on while he spoke, looking calm, but Galo could tell there was a lot more to it. He wasn't okay. "I'll see you later," he said, leaning up and giving Galo a kiss goodbye.

"...Oh! Wait, I'm supposed to ask you something!" Galo grabbed his arm before he could walk away, and Lio looked uncharacteristically startled over it. "Um. Aina's talking to her friend from the news station, and she was thinking you could release some kind of statement. Would you be okay with it?"

"...I'll think about it," Lio answered, eyes lowered. "There's not a whole lot I can do or say right now. People are just mad. They need to burn it off."

"Okay," Galo let go of him, "I'll let her know. Tell me when you find out what happened at home, okay?"

"I will," Lio nodded and forced a smile before he turned to leave.

Once the door closed behind him, Varys cleared his throat. "I can't tell if he's scared to death or completely unflappable."

Lucia scooted out of the machinery and stretched her arms. "Somehow, I think it's both," she decided.

"I don't think it's like that, exactly," Galo scratched the back of his head as he thought aloud. "It's definitely for my sake that he's acting so strong right now."

"He'd act strong anyway, that's just how he is." Varys pointed out.

"Not around me, he isn't." Galo frowned again.

"Well, if you want him to take the kid gloves off when handling you, speak up."

Lucia snickered at the word 'handling'. "Meanwhile, you wear your heart on your sleeve. Even when you don't wear shirts."

It might've been a good time to change the subject, he thought.

He pestered them to try and figure out what the new experiment was, but eventually Lucia kicked him out, and it was just about time to clock out anyway. Aina chose to walk him home, just to be on the safe side after hearing about the attempted break-in. "Things suck right now," she told him once he opened the door and they could both see Lio was safe inside. "But if you need anything, you can call me, okay?"

The rain was coming down rather hard. Lio was watching it by the window, a coffee mug in his hands.

"Yeah. Thanks, Aina."

She left, the door fell closed, and Galo took a deep breath as he joined Lio by the window. No protesters, nobody on the streets.

The silence might have been awkward between anyone else, but to Galo, he just felt comfortable enjoying Lio's company and nothing else. He wanted to switch his brain off and bask in it.

Eventually, Lio agreed to appear on television - not to give his side of the Kray story, but to attempt to draw focus to other problems, other things people should care about way more than a dead man. But the questions were all aimed in a way that Galo felt uncomfortable watching. They were going to make everything worse.

The rain continued, on and off. From his window, colorful umbrellas looked like blooming hydrangeas along the streets. The crowds didn't grow, luckily, but there were still angry people who didn't have proper outlets, and they'd kept spitting awful insults at both of them.

Nothing came of the attempted break-in. Police couldn't do much with it, no one was caught and nothing was stolen. Security cameras were going to be installed within the next few days. The neighbors actually looked at them with sympathy when they saw each other, not annoyance as usual. (Normal people might've been more annoyed to have their neighbors drawing so much attention. He liked this better).

The gray box had migrated to the coffee table one day, while Galo tried to figure out what to do with it. Lio told him that the note said Kray requested something, but it wasn't a reasonable request so it was better ignored. He'd ask if he needed ideas, but he kind of wanted to scatter it outside of the city.

Or, the ultimate punishment for his betrayal, he could have his ashes added to the mass grave for the Burnish he'd killed. After all, Kray was a Burnish too. None of them had bodies anymore, but the ashes that were recovered were buried in a memorial that was currently blocked off, for fear of vandals. But that would be cruel to the deceased Burnish already buried there.

When he asked Burning Rescue what he ought to do with it, Lucia suggested flushing it down the toilet and Aina warned him that it'd probably clog the drain, as if he would've taken that suggestion seriously.

A staring contest with a box was a foolish thing, but he kept it up longer than he should have, until his eyes irritated him and he was too frustrated to go to sleep.

At least he wasn't alone. If he didn't have any sort of 'family', he wouldn't have managed to handle having those ashes at all.

After a week, the box remained, and it seemed as though the riots had completely ended, the anger snuffed out by the continuous rainy season. Out of caution, Galo still hovered over Lio's shoulder when they went anywhere, just in case anything happened, but so far, things outside were finally feeling calmer.

"Now that things have started to wind down, let's revisit that invitation for dinner," Remi sat across from Galo and Lio in the break room.

"What invitation?" Lio, who was leaning on Galo's shoulder and flipping through notifications on his phone, barely seemed to be paying any attention.

"Oh, did Galo not mention that to you? He brought in some of your leftovers and had us all try it," Aina said. She was sitting on the countertop, right beside the coffeemaker. "So we thought about having a movie night at your place, and having you cook again. It was pretty good."

"...Nice to know you all still don't know how boundaries work," Lio commented dryly. He smiled though, which ruined it. "Wait-- You ate that?" He suddenly looked up at Remi.

"Yeah. Why? Did you slip Galo something weird in it?" Remi frowned.

"....No. It's nothing."

Galo watched the exchange curiously (first because the idea of Lio slipping him something was silly, since he absolutely would never have to do that to have his way, then because Lio's reaction was weird). "Would you be up for it?" He hoped so. The idea of having friends over just felt nice, like they needed that change of pace.

"I suppose so," Lio conceded, "But I really don't know what everyone likes, so you can't just leave it all up to me. You're better at cooking anyway."

"You're getting so good at it though!" Galo argued, but he actually didn't mind. Cooking with Lio sounded fun. It was fun.

"Okay. So, Friday?"

"Yeah! Friday sounds awesome."

That box stayed on the table.

If they left it there long enough it would gather dust, which maybe was deserved.

After a particularly stressful Thursday in which Lio was called into court to testify against Vulcan, Aina came by that night with two heavy bags of groceries. The others were still insistent on playing it safe, not letting them go places alone just in case. It was a sweet gesture, but he could tell Lio was getting annoyed. He'd confessed that he hated being cooped up places for too long, and mournfully said he'd try to get better at it, but Galo wouldn't make him - he hated feeling trapped just as much, maybe.

Trapped in a small cell, his own heavy gray box that was supposed to be his final resting place, it had probably changed him somehow. But he didn't talk about that if he didn't have to. Lio never made him talk about anything that made him uncomfortable, and he'd somehow dodged anyone else asking him about it.

"Do you guys need anything else?" Aina asked, helping them put away the last of the groceries. "Since I'm free anyway."

She didn't want to go home. Galo could tell. "We don't need anything, but you can hang around if you want," Galo told her, noting how relieved she looked at that.

"Your sister?" Lio asked, adjusting his gloves. Galo wasn't planning on bringing that up, but… When Lio cared about someone, he listened to their problems, urged them to share hoping to help. One more of those cute traits.

"Yeah. Since she's under house arrest, she's hard to be around so much. It's not a huge deal, I just need a break." She waved it off and smiled, hopping to sit on a barstool at their counter. "So, did you have plans tonight?"

"Since we're under house arrest," Lio started, trying to put away a dish on a high shelf, "It's hard to be around him so much. I need a break."

"Hey!" he could tell it wasn't meant to offend him, not really - just a joke - but if he didn't react to being picked on, Lio wouldn't do it, and that was unacceptable. More importantly, Lio could not get to that shelf, for multiple reasons. Galo took the dish and put it up, admiring Lio's little pout. Yeah, maybe he could do it himself by climbing on the counter or something, but Galo was hiding something up there Lio wasn't meant to see, so he'd just have to keep being pouty and accept the help.

"See, you do things like that just to annoy me, don't you?" Lio complained, reluctantly moving on to organize the shelves that were within easy reach. And, Galo noted, less fragile things. His hands had started to shake, just barely. Nerves, perhaps. Nothing debilitating, so Galo wouldn't draw attention to it. He'd never embarrass Lio like that in front of other people.

Aina giggled at them, knowing it was a joke. "You two bicker like family already," She mused.

"Well, we're kinda like family now," Galo beamed, "I think so, at least."

Lio paused and looked at him, then at Aina. "I hope you weren't comparing our relationship to yours with your sister."

"Nope. I was thinking about my parents," she stuck her tongue out at him, playful. "Married for years. Ready for kids. All of it."

Lio almost dropped the stack of plates he was trying to put away, but he hid it very well. Galo was not meant to notice.

Galo felt embarrassed too, a little. His face was warm. But he was grinning like an idiot, appropriately.

"...You guys took that too well," Aina told them, with equal parts suspicion and disappointment.

Lio nonchalantly shrugged. "It's not like the topic has never come up."

"We're way ahead of the game, right? A flawless partnership!" Galo announced, gesturing dramatically.

Lio rolled his eyes, "Unfortunately, opposites do seem to attract…"

"Oh, you love it!" Galo pointed accusingly.

Lio didn't answer, probably because he didn't want Aina to hear, but Galo caught a glimpse of a tiny smile on his face.

Aina looked at them somewhat sourly. "I can tell I'm in your space. I'll find something else to do tonight--"

"You don't have to," Lio announced, "Even if you just want to watch TV or something, you're not a bother."

It wasn't really what Galo had expected Lio to do - if someone wanted to leave he would usually shrug and let them leave, not urge them to stay. Aina looked just as surprised, but didn't comment on it.

"...Okay then, I can stay awhile longer. I'll go see if anything good is on TV."

As soon as she stepped away to find the remote, Galo stood a little closer to Lio and grabbed around his waist, casually. "Everything okay?" It had been such a little thing, yet that was probably the most concerning; Lio wasn't a wilting flower who would shy away from telling Galo if something was wrong. He didn't dodge this sort of discussion, he confronted it. So if he did something a little weird, like telling Aina to stay, it was just weird enough for Galo to ask him about it.

It was okay; Lio was bound to be stressed out that night. Galo just wanted to support him as best he could. Having to be in the same courtroom as the Freeze Force had to be ugly.

Lio leaned in, but Galo noted that he was fidgeting a bit.

"Anxious?"

"Somewhat." Lio answered almost meekly. Galo had made it worse by drawing attention to it, it seemed.

"Anything you need to talk about?" He combed Lio's bangs back and kissed his forehead, and Lio flinched back.

"No. Just give me a few minutes alone, it'll pass."

"Got it. Just call out if you change your mind." Galo knew better than to smother him, so he retreated to sit on the couch with Aina for a while. Lio walked passed, his footsteps losing their steady pace as he turned to look at the table in their living space, but he didn't say anything about it, instead moving right by and into the bedroom as though he had tasks to do in there.

Aina was just channel-surfing, looking for anything that might've been interesting, but she wasn't completely absorbed in it. "He's pretty good at hiding it, huh?" She asked at a level the television's volume would easily hide from the other room. "I guess most of us would have no idea about his PTSD if he doesn't want us to know."

Of course she noticed, though. Either that, or she was making an educated guess, but it wasn't a shot in the dark; she liked Lio enough to notice, and she was empathetic to things like this.

"If anyone who lived through half the shit he's been through didn't have it, I'd be amazed," Galo answered. "But yeah. He still tries to keep it from me when it's bad, sometimes."

"Then why keep me here?" She asked, but it was unlikely even Lio knew the answer to that. She chewed her lip thoughtfully for a few seconds, then turned to Galo, "Do you get that way sometimes, too? You're surprisingly well-adjusted, emotionally, so I thought…"

"I mean. Once in a while, I'll wake up in a cold sweat and stuff," Galo did a poor job of dodging. Of course he'd suffered trauma, of course it still affected him in ways that didn't entirely make sense. He wasn't the smartest guy in the world, obviously, but that didn't mean he wasn't still hurt by things. He just dealt with them better in a lot of cases, because it was easier to shift his focus and not worry about what hurt him. Lio, on the other hand, his mind was always full of thoughts and worries and plans, he could never shut off the part of his brain that brought his traumas back to the surface. Being simple-minded was just… easier. "I'm the opposite of him though. I'd never ask to be alone," he added, knowing he probably shouldn't admit to his neediness so readily.

"I doubt he wants to be alone," Aina frowned. "Maybe it's just… the wrong company."

Galo made an indignant noise, but before he could spout a stupid argument about how he was Lio's boyfriend and he was not bad company, thank-you-very-much, she gestured at the box on the table, and Galo's jaw snapped shut.

"If all the Burnish turned to ash when they died, maybe having that here is like storing Kray Foresight's actual corpse on your coffee table, to him at least."

Galo hadn't considered that before - he knew that Lio was uncomfortable with it, to a certain degree. He kept it covered when he was in the room, with random crap that was on the table - newspapers (which were somehow in print again, though he couldn't begin to fathom how that happened), documents from work, a jacket, whatever. But Lio had been desperate to be supportive about Kray's death, so he probably was hiding more discomfort than Galo noticed.

"I don't know that it's that extreme for him, but I can't say it isn't, either," he told her, with a frown. "I need to figure out something to do with it."

"You will," Aina reassured him. "I get it- you want to honor the memories of the guy you knew before the lies came out, but you still know he's a liar and that's going to make things difficult."

"And a murderer."

"That, too." She nodded, and they lapsed into an easier silence.

He was no closer to an answer for what to do with those ashes, but at least he knew that people around him understood the dilemma. Whatever he felt for Kray before, his hero, his idol, it was all fake, but he'd still felt it. He couldn't erase that feeling of elation whenever he saw Kray smile for him even if he knew now that it was a mask put in place over a foul grimace, a wish that Galo would just fuck off and die. It didn't erase anything, just added a tragic layer to it that made the decision that much harder.

Aina changed the subject, thankfully. "Have you considered getting him a dog? One of those support ones? A lot of first responders have them, you know."

"I have, actually!" He brightened up, "I don't think he'd go for it though. He'd feel weird accepting that kind of help, don't you think?"

"I guess… Why don't you get one for yourself and let him spend time with it, too?" She smiled, still flipping through channels. "Probably for the best. He'd want a wolf or something crazy like that."

"That's…" Galo paused, thoughtfully, "That's awesome. He should totally have a wolf."

"...What have I done…" Aina rolled her eyes and sighed, landing the TV on a classic pre-blaze movie about athletes and giving up the search for anything better. "You can't have a wolf."

Galo didn't have an argument for that, just a displeased noise, and he stretched out his legs to relax more and wait for Lio to come back. It didn't take him too long, maybe five minutes, and he gave no outward signs of his episode other than a slight redness around the eyes that was probably only visible to Galo, who noticed every little thing about Lio no matter what.

Galo chose not to acknowledge it, because it was obvious that Lio didn't want him to. Instead, he dragged him into the fun hypothetical dog conversation. "Hey, Lio, if I wanted a dog, what kind should we get?"

Lio sat right beside him on the couch, leaning against him so he wasn't too close to Aina as well. He gave a puzzled expression. "You want a dog?"

"I'm thinking about it!" Galo grinned. "Any preference on breed? Since it'd be your dog too, in a way."

Lio gave it less than five seconds of thought. "...Well, you were raised by wolves, may as well stick with what you know."

Galo and Aina both snorted loudly, and Lio jumped at the response, just a little wide-eyed.

"Man, I should've put money on that," Aina had actual tears in her eyes from laughter. "Or were you listening to us?"

"You guys were… guessing what kind of dog breed I'd pick?" Lio continued to look puzzled and Galo just hugged him tight, pulling him into his lap (which he protested briefly).

"Aina thought you'd want something badass like a wolf."

"The word was crazy." She corrected as she caught her breath.

Lio looked suspiciously at them, which was fair; the subject of dogs had to have come up somehow, and he could see Lio figuring that out by his expression. Even if he was too stubborn to accept help at times, he'd at least accepted that people wanted to support him because they liked him and wanted him to be happy, so he should just shut up and accept their goodwill now and then. If Lio figured out what the dog idea was meant to be for, he didn't fuss, just hummed quietly and relaxed into Galo's lap.

"With a studded collar," Lio added with an amused smile. "And razor-sharp teeth."

"I'm starting to worry you two are seriously going to get a wolf…" Aina blanched, staring at them. "You can't. It's illegal to buy them, you know, they're wild animals."

"I tamed Lio Fotia, leader of the Mad Burnish! I can totally tame a wolf!" Galo announced, hugging around Lio's waist.

"Who tamed who, exactly?" Lio elbowed him in the ribs.

"Ugh, don't flirt when you have guests, please?" Aina tossed the remote at them and Lio caught it. "And seriously, Galo, your landlord would never allow for a wolf. They barely allow dogs!"

"Well, they--" can't ban a service animal, Galo wanted to say, but he had just about enough sense not to say it yet.

Besides, even he knew the wolf argument was a silly one. But a big, proper dog that could double as a guard dog might be for the best, all things considered. So he'd keep it in mind.

Lio chuckled tiredly and tilted his head, pressing against Galo's cheek for just the moment. Mindless and affectionate, he could almost have assumed it was done just to annoy Aina again, but he knew better. He wanted it, it helped him calm himself (even if he typically didn't seek out affection in front of people).

Galo squeezed tight and their guest, who they weren't supposed to flirt in front of, gagged loudly.

In spite of little to no interest in the movie at first, they all became invested enough to watch the sequel next, and got into a heated argument about it more than once, devolving into laughter each time, which was great, because Aina's laugh was sweet and Lio's was everything.

"D'you want to crash on the couch? It's getting late," Galo offered to Aina once he noted the time - almost midnight. They'd lost track.

She checked her phone, "I can still make it home--"

"At this hour? Alone? Not happening. Either we take you home or you stick around."

"Jeez, fine. I can't let you guys walk around at night either. Not until you have your big bad wolf-dog," she teased with a smile. "Lemme borrow something to sleep in."

Galo tossed her a shirt that was bound to be too large and Lio found shorts she could sleep in. Neither of them were going to give her a perfect fit, but it was good enough. After laying some sheets and a pillow out on the couch while she changed in the restroom, Lio also left a spare blanket - it was definitely not cold in their apartment, but he had a skewed perspective on temperature. It was cute.

He caught Lio eyeing that box again, but he didn't know what to say about it - just one more night. He would either decide on what to do with it by morning, or he'd hide it in his locker at work so Lio wouldn't ever have to see it again.

Aina came back out of the restroom before he could think of something to say along those lines, but… It was probably fine? Lio never brought it up either.

"Okay, I've accepted your gracious invitation," She joked, stretching her arms out over her head, "but I swear, if you loud idiots keep me awake all night I'll never trust you again."

"Just sleeping! We're just sleeping, promise!" Galo exclaimed, looking over at Lio for confirmation.

"...That's a shame. Ah, well." He was probably joking.

He watched Lio and Aina exchange amused glances, and felt better about the situation again. Aina was good at lifting Lio's spirits, it seemed, which was formerly a special skill only the ex-Burnish (and Galo) had.

As safe as they all felt together in the apartment that night, it became easy to forget that a group of angry, unpleasant people knew where they lived and had already tried breaking in. 

So when the door rattled in its frame, it took a few extra seconds to really absorb what was happening; sometimes there was a slight rattle when the upstairs neighbors were letting their young children run through the hallway, but it was midnight. Sometimes it just rattled on its own, as the building was new and still settling. They all knew it wasn't that, of course. Lio dashed in front of them, holding an arm out as though to assure Galo and Aina that he was going to protect them - that's the sort of person he was, even without his fire, but Galo wasn't about to let Lio take on an intruder alone and stepped up as well.

"Galo? Stand back, I--"

"No, I've got this!"

"You two are so dumb," Aina hissed, dialing the police on her phone.

...Yeah. That was probably the smartest option.

The rain had started up again, harder than before and leaving long trails of distorted city lights on the windows. Lio kept staring at it, answering the police when he was asked questions but otherwise silent. Seething.

Nobody had gotten in, but nor had that been their goal in the first place; on the front door, in brightly-colored pink and light blue paints - the choice in color was lost on absolutely no one - someone had painted a noose with fire in it, a symbol that had been gaining popularity with obnoxious, horrible people. The security cameras had been installed, but saw nothing but a person blocking the view of their face with a mask and doubling down by holding a black umbrella.

Aina seemed relieved to be there with them, as if she'd prevented anything worse from happening (which she might have). She was perched nervously on the couch while Lio stood at the window and Galo sat on the floor, frustrated and determined. He wanted to be pacing but it hadn't made the tension in the room any easier to deal with.

"I think that's all we need for now. Get some sleep, you three," The police officer told them, standing up and tucking away his tablet he'd been taking notes on. "Or, maybe the paint can still be cleaned off. It doesn't look like the quick-drying kind."

"Thank you for the suggestion, officer," Aina smiled up at him, friendly but tired.

Lio, who didn't trust anyone in uniform, finally shifted his weight and began to walk away from the window as the police left. The tension in the room got worse, not better, as the door clicked shut.

Galo thought the cleaning up suggestion was actually a good one, and grabbed an old towel to start scrubbing the paint away, but he didn't say a word, grinding his teeth in frustration as he propped the door open and vigorously washed away at it. The edges had mostly dried, needing more elbow grease to get rid of them, but at least he wouldn't have a death threat aimed at his boyfriend on the door by the time he was done.

"...We can buy paint thinner in the morning, Galo," Lio told him.

He was too stubborn to listen, scrubbing harder.

Lio huffed, annoyed, but shrugged.

"I'm gonna let the captain know what happened," Aina said while tapping a message on her phone, altering the topic without changing it. "Knowing him, he'll say we're a liability and we shouldn't come in tomorrow, but… Well, he'd probably be right. We're missing out on a lot of sleep."

"Puts a damper on those Friday night plans, doesn't it?" Lio noted.

"Were you excited for it?" Aina asked, surprised but happy.

"...Not especially. All those groceries you brought over shouldn't go to waste though."

Galo listened to them discuss possible ways to still salvage the night, but he didn't say anything, just kept scrubbing, the two colors mixing into an ugly mauve that he desperately tried to wash away. It started leaving ugly smears instead of removing paint, so he had to pause at some point to go rinse off the towel, and then kept going.

"...Galo, really, you've gotten enough of it off for now. Wait until morning." Lio looked at him with more concern than annoyance, and Galo felt himself growl in frustration.

"I just--" His grip on the towel was tight enough that streaks of paint and water ran down the door. "I don't get it. I don't get how someone could act like this, or think this way."

"Galo…" Aina stood and looked at him with sympathy.

"Really? You don't get it?" Lio folded his arms. "You were the same as them before, weren't you? Inundated by propaganda, forced to believe that I was just a murderous terrorist, right?"

Galo froze. No, he'd never been that bad, he never threatened to kill anyone - but that wasn't Lio's point at all, so he bit his tongue.

"Galo, the reason people act like this is obvious to me. And it's on the damn coffee table." His tone was fierce and controlled, the harshest he actually ever sounded when facing Galo. And he'd started to look kind of mad, which wasn't a face he generally wore toward anyone. He'd seen Lio irritated plenty of times, but not mad unless… Unless he was facing down Kray Foresight, when his emotions flared out of control.

Damn. Galo had been such a jerk without meaning to. His boyfriend had been so patient, burying down all he felt just because he was being an indecisive idiot about a stupid box. That's not what came out of his idiot mouth, of course, instead snapping back with, "Why didn't you just say something? Idiot!"

Off to the side, he saw Aina covering her face with her hand.

"I'm the idiot?" Lio bristled, "God, you're so thick-headed. I know you were attached to him, Galo, but--"

The sudden pause had all three of them teetering on-edge. Lio's gaze lowered and Galo somehow knew he was holding back something he'd regret saying. He did have a lot more control over that sort of thing than Galo ever did. But he'd still thought it, which was going to bother the both of them.

Something about Kray. Something regrettable.

"...I'm leaving. I'll stay with Meis and Gueira tonight."

"Fine!" Galo huffed irritably as Lio grabbed his keys and jacket and pushed past him into the hallway. He was moving quickly, and Galo watched him for a moment and thought he saw him rub his eyes, but it was hard to tell from behind.

"Are you fucking kidding me? You're both idiots! Galo, you're the biggest idiot I've ever met!" Aina shouted, pushing him out of the way to go after Lio. "What kind of absolute goddamn moron lets his boyfriend leave at three in the morning after getting a death threat painted on his door? Idiot! Asshole!"

He grabbed her arm to stop her, but he did know she had a point. Also, Lio would be pissed if they followed him. And he clearly needed space. It wasn't an easy situation.

She wrenched free and glared at him, "If something happens to him, you're going to regret it for the rest of your life, Thymos."

He'd already disappeared down the hall. And Galo's stubborn idiot brain was making things ten times worse. "...I don't want to upset him more. I'll call his friends and let them know to look for him. And then I'll… Get rid of the ashes."

"Dumbass. Fine. I'm making sure he gets to his bike safely, you keep being your stubborn, stupid self."

And then she disappeared down the hallway as well, leaving Galo feeling like he wanted to punch a hole in the wall. But she was entirely right, so he grabbed for his phone and called Gueira on the way to the garage. He and Meis used at least half of the same words Aina used to describe him and Lio.

Considering the situation, it was entirely fair. Lio was an idiot for leaving, and Galo was an idiot for… a lot of things.

Aina was standing by Lio's parking spot, sniffling. "I tried to tell him we could just force you to take the couch for the night," she said. "Why the hell are you both so stubborn?"

Galo's immediate indignation over the very idea of being relegated to the couch had to be tamped down quickly, because even if the thought of being kicked out of his own bed was bad, the alternative was worse. He ran his hands through his hair in frustration, trying to think but unable to get past the obvious thought that he should go after Lio immediately. Maybe it'd piss Lio off, but it was the only realistic option.

"Okay," He took a deep breath. "I'll follow him. You stay upstairs in case he comes home?"

She took a long look at him and held up a finger. "You have one hour. Then I come looking, too," she announced. "I've got a really bad feeling, Galo."

As much as he hoped Lio would arrive there safely and tell him he worried too much, he was getting that bad feeling too.

He arrived at the group home that Meis and Gueira were living in, and the spot they'd saved for Lio's bike was empty.

He called Lio's phone, and Aina answered - it had been left at home.

He tried to reassure himself that Lio was tough as nails, and clever enough to avoid anything dangerous, but he couldn't know that Lio was safe unless he found him.

And when he found Lio's bike, but not Lio, his heart sank. It was on its side next to a dumpster in an alley, of all places - somewhere Lio wouldn't leave his precious, hand-built bike in a million years. The spokes in the back tire were damaged beyond repair, and a lot of damage to the front where he assumed it must have crashed. Shattered plexiglass crunched on the pavement under his feet as he propped the bike up, thinking he could bring it back to Burning Rescue and have it all fixed up.

It was four in the morning and it was pouring down rain - if it had just been a crash, Lio would've sought shelter in the nearest unlocked building, but after checking the convenience store across the street and the apartment building beside it (the only two buildings not sealed with door codes), there was no evidence Lio had been to either one. As if that wasn't infuriating enough, the clerk at the convenience store was acting spaced out and tired - oh, was there a crash? Maybe that's what I heard earlier. If Galo were more impulsive… and yeah, he was impulsive, but just enough not to throttle the kid for being high at work while Galo was very clearly losing his mind over the whereabouts of his boyfriend.

Aina kept her promise and helped him look. Meis and Gueira didn't answer their phones and didn't answer the door when he went back to check again, so he just told himself they'd joined the search too. Or maybe they'd taken him somewhere. Anything.

At seven in the morning, Lucia sent out drones to help look. She did her best to invade every security network to get CCTV footage, but most networks were unreliable since the second blaze, still being restored.

And at sometime after nine, his phone finally rang.

"You're Galo Thymos?" The voice on the other line asked him. "We have you as an emergency contact for Lio Fotia. He was brought in to the Central Promepolis Hospital this mor--"

"What happened?!" He shouted into the line, making Aina flinch and the person on the other line continue irritably.

"Please come in and we'll discuss--"

He hung up and dashed to his bike, not wasting a second to even explain to Aina what the call had been. It was fine, she was clever, and she ran after him and climbed on the back before he could take off. 

Somewhere, he had a rational thought that it might be good for her to be around, because he was tired, frustrated, and angry, and she'd probably help him rein it in (even though she was tired, frustrated, and angry as he was). Of the many thoughts that rattled about in his head in a panic, very few were rational.

He probably should have stayed on the line, at least demanded to know that Lio was alive, maybe gotten more information about his condition, but he was sleep-deprived, soaked to the bone and scared.

Aina held him back from scaring the first staff member he encountered and like a reasonable human with a functioning brain, directed him to the front desk, where the receptionist had to call and get permission to divulge any room numbers - a practice used to protect celebrities, criminals, or people thought to be under some kind of threat (Lio being a neat mix of all three, technically).

"Remember how you told me once--" Aina paused to yawn "--you had to show self-control, for the governor's sake? Doesn't apply to Lio at all, huh?"

"Lio's different!" Galo insisted, maybe too loud. "He… actually likes me. Even if I'm an idiot loudmouth."

She looked a little amused, but sighed and said in a sarcastic tone, "Sometimes I really do think love is blind."

"I mean… It was, I guess," Galo conceded, disheartened.

"Not anymore," She agreed, patting him on the back in reassurance.

A short, slim doctor with graying hair walked up to him and gestured for Galo to follow him after a terse greeting. When Galo demanded answers, the doctor simply ignored him until he'd gotten too loud - might wake patients, the doctor told him, guiding him to the elevator and up to the fifth floor.

Several wings of the hospital were in need of renovation after the blaze, so Galo wasn't as familiar with the layout as he was before, as someone who was a bit of an accident-prone dumbass who escaped a brush with death about once a year. Fifth floor used to be maternity, if he recalled right. That was obviously not the case anymore (aside from irrational, tired and very momentary panic he felt for a second there).

In the elevator, the doctor didn't make eye contact but explained that Lio had needed minor surgery, and wouldn't be released to go home for probably a week at least, but he'd be okay.

At least that much was a relief. "What happened to him?"

"Now that he's awake, you can ask him yourself. A police officer will be joining you as well." He led Galo to Lio's room and stood beside the door, gesturing for him to go in alone. "Ah. Some friends of his are with him, too. Try to keep your volume under control."

Inside, he saw Meis and Gueira first, crowding around Lio and making him look so small in that hospital bed. He had plasters on his face and arms, his hair was a little flattened and disheveled from the rain, and he was hooked up to an IV. And… he looked a little delirious and sleepy, like he was on strong pain medications, but he still smiled when Galo and Aina came into the room.

He was also handcuffed to the bed on one side, but Galo tried to ignore that.

"Hey, jackass," Gueira greeted him first. "How come you're the first spot on his emergency contacts?"

"I live with him, Gueira," Lio reminded him.

"Why is Meis second, and I'm not on there at all, huh?"

"Meis wouldn't yell at emergency room nurses," Lio answered again, dryly. "Are you really going to sulk about this all day?"

"I'm not sulking!" Gueira insisted, and Meis stood and grabbed him by the arm.

"I'll get rid of this one for you. I suspect you have some apologizing to do," He told Galo with an annoyed look as he dragged Gueira out of the room over his protests.

That was right about the moment Galo realized he'd been staring, misty-eyed and uncharacteristically quiet. "...Hey. Are you okay?"

He didn't step forward, too awkward, but Aina shoved him hard enough to force him right up to the bed before she decided to leave the room as well. "I'll tell the others he's okay," she announced before the door clicked shut behind her.

They were both silent a little longer until Lio almost laughed. "You look like shit."

"Look who's talking!" Galo shot back, grinning. If Lio was gonna make fun of him, it relieved a whole lot of his worries at once. "Want to talk about what happened?"

"Maybe," Lio looked away, taking Galo's hand and squeezing it. "Mostly, I want you to go home, get a shower and some sleep. Eat something." Like he could so easily tell just from damp clothing that Galo had been outside for hours without sleep looking for him. Well, maybe there were other signs.

"I might," Galo pulled the chair Meis had been using closer to the bed so he could sit in it and lean on the mattress while he talked to Lio. "First, do I have to hunt anyone down for revenge?" Not that Galo was really the revenge-seeking type, but he'd make an exception for Lio in a heartbeat.

"Of course not. You think I'd allow anyone to put me in the hospital without returning the favor right away?" He looked a little smug. "All three of them were admitted at the same time I was."

"Three!!" Galo repeated, incredulous. "Damn. You're amazing. I already knew that. What'd you do to them? How messed up are they?"

Lio did laugh then, and winced. His chest was in pain, so the laughing was probably good for his lungs to recover, but it would hurt for some time. "One pulled a knife, so I snatched it and cut their faces on the left side. In case they'd need to be identified later."

"You're smart," Galo said, admiringly. He'd been in enough fights before, but rarely with someone who'd genuinely wanted him dead (just the one time, really). He'd never had to think on his feet about having to ID his attackers later. Lio was really good at survival, and on the other hand Galo was just lucky as hell. "...How bad is it?"

"I'm okay," Lio insisted quickly. "Aina was right, I should have known better than to leave. I'm sorry."

"Fine, be sorry, but this really isn't your fault," Galo felt himself pout about it, "You've done nothing wrong."

Lio sighed, and that seemed to hurt him as well. "I shouldn't have kept things from you, but I knew if I said something about his ashes bothering me, you'd be under even more pressure…"

"Well, yeah. So?" Galo put his elbows on the bed and rested his chin on his free hand. "I should've noticed anyway."

"But I was hiding it, so you wouldn't have-"

"Wanna keep blaming ourselves for it back and forth, or should we move on?" Galo teased him gently. "I still want to know how bad it is. I wanna know when I can take you home again."

Lio frowned, most likely because he didn't want to answer, but quietly he listed off the worst of it. "Fractured ribs, collapsed lung. Hairline fracture on my leg, so they don't want me walking on it for a while. It's not that bad."

"How is it not that bad? Lio, that's really bad!"

"It's not the worst I've dealt with-- just, I guess the healing process is going to take a lot longer."

Galo tried to accept that quietly, but it wasn't going to be easy. He supposed he'd seen some of it - Vulcan manhandling him and kicking his spine so hard it looked like he'd been snapped in half, for example. He'd heard about the torture and experiments. But Lio didn't have the ability to heal up as instantaneously anymore, which was going to be a real challenge for him. And he could scar from it. That would take some getting used to as well. "Can I see?" He asked; he had medical training, to some extent, so he wanted to make sure everything was really okay, to get a feel for how much Lio had actually been through.

"...Sure," Lio agreed, and awkwardly shifted to accommodate as best he could manage with one wrist cuffed to the rail on the other side of the bed (Galo knew it was unfair, but he also knew that until some sort of police investigation, they'd have to keep him under close watch. Fighting back shouldn't violate his probation, but nothing was that black and white, even if it should be in some cases).

Galo was gentle, peeling back the first plaster that had bothered him the most, right above Lio's eyebrow, then followed by the one on the side of his face beneath it. Looked like bad scrapes, but they'd been cleaned and treated well, so they shouldn't scar. There was an ugly bruise on his neck, but bruises usually healed fine.

Another ugly scrape on his shoulder when he pushed the hospital gown out of the way; Lio must've landed pretty badly. This would've gone right through his leather jacket.

It was rude, but he lifted the gown to see the absolutely grotesque bruising on Lio's chest, and a small set of stitches where a tube had been used to drain excess air from the collapsed lung. Lio didn't fight his probing, but he looked embarrassed.

His wrist had been bruised badly, too, likely from being held down. Galo could guess how the fight had gone by the injuries, but he was sure it hadn't been completely one-sided. Lio was tough, and if he said he'd put those guys in the hospital it was probably true.

Before he could get under the sheet to check his leg, Lio made him stop. "Cut it out," He demanded. "You'll get me all worked up."

Somehow, that was hilarious, and Galo snorted. He was tired.

"Galo," Lio said pointedly. "You should get some sleep."

Galo leaned back in his chair and agreed.

"Go home, Galo," Lio laughed at him, speaking softly to avoid aggravating his injuries. "Get some rest, some food, and a shower. After the police come to ask me questions, I'll sleep too, okay? You can come back after you've rested."

"I miss you," Galo complained. "But… Yeah, okay."

Lio wouldn't push him out without reason.

"Galo," He spoke even softer, if it was possible.

"What's up? Need me to bring you anything?" Galo leaned closer to hear him better.

"I need a favor."

"Sure, whatever you want!"

"...Take care of the dieffenbachia."

"The what?"

"The plant," Lio answered, tone sharp. "You know how to see if it needs water, right?"

Galo's eyes widened, and stung.

"Just… feel under the moss to see if the soil is damp. Can you do that?" He gripped Galo's hand so tightly, as if it could hide that he was shaking.

"Y-yeah. I can." Galo was such an idiot, tearing up at that. He wasn't supposed to know, but getting all weepy was going to be a dead giveaway. He tried his best to hide it, but something in the way Lio's expression started to change told him he did a poor job of it. "I'll do that. Right now!"

He shot out of his chair and as forcefully as he dared, he leaned over Lio and kissed him. It would've been nice to give him a big, crushing hug, but that'd be out of the question for months now.

When he bolted out of the room he called back "Love you!" just in case Lio could possibly forget that. Aina had started to doze off in a chair outside and was startled awake.

"Already?"

"Yeah. I'll take you home and come back later," He told her with a wide, stupid grin that she looked suspicious of.

But, well, she'd just have to stay suspicious for a little longer.

Galo decided that the dieffenbachia would have to wait until after he'd slept, showered and eaten. He needed to work up the nerve.

So once he was ready, he sat in front of the plant, staring at it with determination and folded arms, as if to be threatening. The potted-plant-hiding-place's natural predator, Galo Thymos.

He wondered if Lio had gotten enough rest, or if he should just snatch the box and rush back to the hospital right away. He'd barely slept, himself, too anxious about this moment. Lio was probably the same, plus the mountain of pain he must've been in. It'd be best not to keep him waiting too long.

The plant itself had been a housewarming present from Remi; it wasn't the most useful of the housewarming gifts they'd gotten, but it was still nice, gave the place a sweet touch of green, gave Lio a convenient hiding place since Galo never remembered to water it. It looked well cared for, probably didn't actually need any attention, which was good because Galo wasn't thinking about the plant itself at all.

He pulled the sheet moss back and tugged out the little plastic bag the box was hidden in, getting dirt on the floor. He'd vacuum later. It wasn't explicitly a proposal, but Lio knew what he was doing, so it sort of was. Galo finally had an excuse to take the ring out and try it on and admire it. Lio had amazing taste. The metal band was somewhat thin, but it was sturdy and nice to look at, and fit perfectly (after he panicked a little, trying to remember which finger on which hand was supposed to have it).

Maybe he ought not to wear it yet, make Lio do it properly. But no, that was pushing it. Lio had already been nervous, and it was a little sad…

He leaned back until he was lying down on the floor, looking at how the ring caught the light in the room. Why had Lio picked that moment? He didn't like that he had to question it. His mind would get carried away with the worst possibilities if he stayed there thinking about it.

Thinking was useless. Galo wasn't really any good at it, anyway.

He hopped to his feet and almost walked into a wall because he was too enchanted to look away from his hand.

Pulling himself together, he grabbed the ring he'd bought from the high cabinet, excited to finally share that with Lio, and… Then, he grabbed that box off the coffee table. He still had no idea what to do with it, but he'd keep it somewhere else. Maybe he'd shove it in his locker at the station.

When he opened the door to leave, the smears of paint were all washed away. A post-it was stuck in its place that said "Finished cleaning it up for you. Hope things are alright! -Wes & Lou" and it made Galo feel all teary-eyed again. He had pretty nice neighbors. Maybe he ought to soundproof the bedroom to be nicer to them.

While trying to sneak the box into his locker at work, he bumped into Varys, who was shockingly observant and grabbed his wrist almost right away.

"Damn, rookie, when did you have time for that? Isn't he in the hospital?"

Galo shushed him dramatically. "It's not official yet!! Don't tell anyone!"

"Fat chance of that. I demand details," Varys teased with a grin, "You can't keep this from us for long."

Frustrated, Galo pouted, "I'll text you later! Gotta talk to Lio about it first."

"Alright, alright. Better get to it, it's pretty hard to miss on you."

He wondered if that was a good thing - maybe because it was shiny and stylish, so it stood out? Or it just looked out of place on him? Well, whatever. He shoved the box in his locker, hopped on his bike (with a short, regretful glance at Lio's wrecked one, some spare parts sitting beside it where someone had already started repairs because everyone loved Lio and wanted to support him and that was awesome), and zipped back to the hospital.

Perhaps his mood was impossibly good for someone whose boyfriend was being hospitalized. He was doing his best to keep focused on the positives. That was something he was good at.

The doctor was in the room this time, and barely looked up at Galo from his folder filled with Lio's x-rays. "Ah, you're back. You can remind him to try coughing or deep breathing when he feels up to it. I'll come check in another few hours." And then he swept out of the room, having barely made half a second of eye contact.

"...What's his problem?" Galo asked, momentarily distracted by the doctor's rudeness.

"I like him," Lio said with a short attempt at a laugh, "his bedside manner sucks, but he knows what he's talking about."

"Bedside manner is important!"

Lio shrugged, which seemed like it hurt. "It's not everything. I like that he's straight to the point."

And then, once they fell silent, Lio's face turned bright red.

"...Oh, shit. I can't believe I told you that--" He hid behind his hands (blessedly, neither of them cuffed to the bed now).

"What! Don't tell me you regret it already!" Galo turned red too.

"Of course I do! I'm on strong painkillers, Galo, I was clearly talking nonsense!" Ah, he was so embarrassed his eyes were watering. It was probably rude to find that cute, "This is terrible timing, and-- And I was waiting for you to do it first!"

"Uh, what?"

"I know about the ring you hide in the cabinet, stupid!" He probably shouldn't be raising his voice, but he was doing it anyway. "That's a terrible hiding place!"

"How could you know about that!" Galo demanded.

"I'm short, Galo, not a moron! What did you think would happen if I needed something from the top shelf while you weren't around?"

"...W-well I knew about the plant, too!" Galo shot back, as if that was even remotely the point.

Lio groaned and fell back on his pillow, giving Galo a few extra seconds to re-think that response.

"...You really knew about it, huh?"

"Of course I did."

"That makes this a lot easier, then!" He decided, taking a seat on the bed next to Lio's legs and taking his hand, pulling his own ring box out of his pocket.

"...Other left," Lio corrected him quietly.

"Right! I mean, uh. Yeah," He hurriedly grabbed Lio's left hand and slipped the ring onto it, pleased with the perfect fit. He'd borrowed one of Lio's perfectly-fitted gloves to get the measurement, so he was worried about that. He thought it might be too big - then again, Lio's weight was a lot healthier than it was when they first started living together (he was still scrawny, but less malnourished-looking). "Let's get married, Lio."

Lio was still embarrassed and cute, but he looked down at the ring on his hand with what could be called a smile and a half-nod. "...This timing is awful," he pointed out, "I had plans to celebrate this, you know. Good ones. The kind of thing you can't get away with in a hospital."

"We'll just have to remember to celebrate once you're out of here," Galo told him, grinning and feeling his face warm up. Then he leaned over Lio, very careful of his injuries, and gave him a kiss. Truthfully, it would be months before they could 'celebrate' as hard as Lio would like, Galo would be too mindful of injuries until he was certain they were completely healed. Even now he was gentle, careful of the bruise on Lio's neck and the bandages when he touched the side of his face.

In spite of his embarrassment, Lio reciprocated sweetly, no more complaints.

Incomprehensibly giddy, Galo nuzzled the uninjured side of Lio's face and earned himself a soft laughter. "Stay with me forever."

"Yeah," Lio agreed, "Galo Thymos, you're stuck with me."

"Good!" He cheered, combing hair out of Lio's face.

"That said, you can't spend every day here until I'm discharged."

"I'm at least staying today, c'mon!" Galo argued, playful. "Can I get anything for you? Non-hospital food, maybe?"

"...It's cold in here," Lio said, looking guilty that he was bringing that up. It didn't feel cold to Galo, but Lio could be freezing in the middle of summer, so he wasn't the best judge. "They won't adjust the temperature or give me blankets. Stay close a little longer?"

With a wide grin, Galo assisted Lio in sitting up so Galo could squeeze in behind him and be his backrest. Very convenient for keeping him warm and for hugging him. The kind of thing Lio pretended he didn't absolutely love.

He weaved their fingers together, the metal bands touching, and he couldn't help but admire that.

Hospital beds were not made for cuddling, but they made it work just fine.

"I'll get rid of the ashes before you're out of here," Galo promised, quietly against Lio's uninjured shoulder.

"Galo," Lio said with a sigh that probably hurt, "You could slap a bow-tie on the box and call him your best man. I don't care."

"But you do!" Galo insisted, "And even I don't want to keep holding onto it. I just don't know what to do with him that makes sense."

Lio paused, not arguing that he didn't care again, instead completely silent while he considered it. "...He wanted to be scattered over the city 'he built'. You could do that, if you wanted. I had thought the city wasn't the same as it was before, but… Well, I was proven wrong."

"No, you were right!" Galo told him. "Just because three assholes live here, that doesn't ruin the whole city."

He meant it; there were more than three of those jerks, obviously, but they weren't everyone. They weren't the kind neighbors that cleaned up the paint off of their door while he was sleeping, or the pizza place that hired a handful of new ex-Burnish employees to help their cook with his disabilities, or the orphanage that took such good care of ex-Burnish children. There was good in the city, and it wasn't hard to find. Some people were just going to be jerks, and Galo would never understand them. He didn't want to understand them, it felt like a waste of time.

Lio could've made a number of arguments, but instead he leaned back against Galo, nice and cozy, and accepted it. "So what will you do with the ashes, then?"

"...I guess… I'll bury them."

"An unmarked grave?"

"It's for the best. We know a lot of people would want to vandalize it if they knew where it was."

"That's true," Lio was smiling. He would've been first in line for that, maybe. "Where do you think?"

"Outside of town somewhere?"

"You don't have to decide right now. It's really okay."

"Okay…" Galo hesitated. "Lio, would it be tactless to scatter them over what he destroyed, instead?"

Lio reacted with a shudder, and shook his head. "It's spiteful," he said, "But it suits him, after what he's done to you. To all of us."

Galo sighed and adjusted his arms around Lio - still not too tight, just secure. He would stay there until Lio kicked him out, because he could only imagine it would be difficult to sleep alone after such a day.

It rained the next day, too. Galo stopped by the hospital in the morning to whine at Lio about how tough it is to sleep alone, and to bring him another blanket and some breakfast that was hopefully tastier than anything the hospital was giving him, but Lio kicked him out so he'd have to go to work. Which was totally fair.

At work, the rain still kept their calls to a minimum, so Galo started working with Lucia and Aina on repairs for Lio's bike.

("Perfect opportunity for upgrades!" Lucia had said with a grin.

"He'll be mad," both Galo and Aina warned her. She seemed unfazed.)

There'd been some fanfare over the engagement, as well. Varys had not kept quiet, and Galo wasn't even upset. Each of them grabbed his hand to peek at the ring at least once with their own commentary.

"A good balance of form and function," Remi said approvingly. "Just like him."

"It's tasteful. Be sure to get a chain if you want to wear it on while you're on the job, though," Ignis told him. "It may not melt, but it'll mess your hands up if you let it get too hot."

"...To be honest, he showed it to me after he picked it out. It looks great on you!" Aina teased. "It's like a perfect match to the one he's wearing now!"

It took a few days to get the bike back to the condition Lio kept it in, and despite warnings, Lucia decided she wanted to tinker with it a bit more. Galo spent every free moment at the hospital, and started to understand what Lio liked about his doctor. He also got to know Meis and Gueira a lot better, though that had been even less pleasant.

They grilled him for hours to make sure he was right for their 'boss', then acted disappointed that Galo seemed to pass their test. He didn't get it, but it was still kind of nice to get to know more people who cared so deeply for Lio. After a while, he and Gueira especially started to feel like friends. Great minds think alike (as do the not-so-great minds).

Every time he visited Lio, he invaded his space on the hospital bed, hoping it provided some extra warmth.

The rain finally stopped the day before he was meant to take Lio home, and for the first time in two weeks, Galo didn't spend his free hours at the hospital. Instead, he strapped the box of ashes to his bike and left town, traveling the desert by memory alone. His memory for names was pretty bad, but he was good with directions, and even with so few landmarks, he found his way back to the ruins Lio had shown him before.

He carried the box deeper into the structures than he'd ventured that day with Lio; it probably wasn't safe, but it was remarkable. Lio was right, they'd been so close. There were plant boxes lining the sunny side of the structure, still growing what he assumed were vegetables. There were worn but comfortable mattresses, pools for washing. They'd worked out everything they needed to live.

Galo climbed on top of the ruins and sat with the box in his lap, deep in thought.

"You were my hero," He said, ignoring the silence. "But you were never a hero, were you? You couldn't even stand to live with a single failure. That's why you wanted me dead. That's why you died."

Swinging his feet in his perch, he wondered more about Kray's life compared to his own.

Compared to Lio's.

Lio was a hero, no question about it; he'd failed time and again, but he always came back and fought for what he believed in. For what was right.

Galo called himself a hero sometimes, and even he had to admit that was a little obnoxious. But he'd always done his best, he'd always bounced back and made good on promises. He saved people.

Kray… Murdered his mentor, stole his research, and used it to build an empire on his ego. Even the first time Kray had made a mistake he was willing to admit was a mistake, he turned it around and used it to fuel that ego even more, using Galo as a prop. A disposable prop. Even that was better than the last choice he made.

It took a minute or two for Galo to get the box open; it had a tricky latch, and needed a screwdriver, but he forced it with a piece of debris rather than driving all the way back into town to get one. Inside, Kray's ashes were sealed in a clear plastic, like a sandwich bag. Not quite the dignified death Kray probably expected, but that was fine.

Galo peeled it open and held it out, giving it a shake to let the ashes scatter on the calm winds.

Kray couldn't live with his failures, but he'd exist here, with this one monstrous crime he'd committed. He'd be here, scattered among this failure until time forgot him.

Some ashes fell heavier, and some fluttered lightly off somewhere else.

"Bye, Gov," Galo said quietly as the last ashes fell from the package.

A while later - possibly about an hour, when the strange feelings subsided and he was starting to feel bored instead - he packed up the box to dispose of it when he got back to the city.

He still felt as though he wasn't completely ready to accept Kray's death.

But that was a failure Galo could live with, and learn from. And he'd move on to better and brighter things, as always.

"Don't princess-carry me into the apartment, Galo," Lio thumped him on the head with a fist to keep him from picking him up. "I can walk."

"Hey! Ow!" Galo stuck his tongue out and picked him up anyway, "I'm excited, so I wanna. Welcome home, Lio!"

"Put. Me. Down." Lio glared, arms folded loosely over his still-sore chest. He'd been cranky ever since seeing what Lucia had done to his bike (while he could acknowledge they were improvements, having them done without his knowledge was upsetting).

Galo pretended he was going to drop him and Lio yelped and grabbed hold of him. He was really pushing his luck, but he was thrilled to have Lio back home. "We can start planning the wedding now," Galo said dreamily before Lio could get mad at him all over again. "Man, it's so great you're back. I'm gonna spoil you rotten. You cool with that?"

"Absolutely not," Lio said, knowing full well that he'd be ignored.

"I think maybe April or May next year!" Galo carried Lio to the bed and set him down, pretending he wasn't getting the crankiest look in the world directed at him. "Can we have a tiered pizza instead of a cake? D'you think they do that? Oh, and should we have a band or a DJ?"

"Galo. Shut your mouth," Lio clapped a hand over Galo's face. "...Tiered pizza? Seriously?"

Galo licked his hand to make him remove it and Lio grimaced. As if Galo's tongue hadn't been just about everywhere on Lio's body before. Hands weren't weird at all. "Just thinking outside of the box."

"We probably can't have that big of a wedding, Galo. I'd hate to think that we'd plan it out and then have to cancel because of a bomb threat or something."

"Wow, that's a negative thought. How unlike you," Galo frowned, leaning his elbows on the bed. "I want to have a huge party. Invite everyone. All the former Burnish, the neighbors, everyone."

"What put you in such a positive mood?" Lio asked warily.

"You're home!" he answered. "Plus, Vulcan's sentencing is coming up. Looking forward to seeing him get some comeuppance."

Lio reached over and petted Galo's hair with a soft smile on his face. Not nearly as excited as Galo was, but still, it was warmer than he'd been a minute ago. "And you're thinking public opinion will change, if he's put away?"

"Not overnight," Galo beamed up at him. "But those guys who went after you are being punished too, right? So sooner or later people are going to have to accept that they can't keep the whole anti-Burnish thing up. They can't keep messing with you or the other Burnish without expecting some consequences."

Lio's smile was brighter than a second ago. "Ever the optimist."

"That's why you love me, right?"

"No, that's not why," Lio said with a laugh. He didn't add anything else about that, but Galo wasn't bothered. "You haven't forgotten, have you?"

"Forgotten what?"

Lio placed his hands on either side of Galo's face and tugged him closer for a kiss. "We're supposed to be celebrating."

Ah, he had forgotten. His heart skipped a beat and he raised himself to sit on the bed properly, beside Lio. "You sure you're okay to do that?"

Lio gave a nonchalant shrug. "This is the longest we've gone without since I moved in with you, you know. I'm getting impatient."

"Well…" Galo felt his cheeks getting warm again. "I did say I'd spoil you rotten."

"Good. Get to it."

"Yes, Boss!" He cheered, leaning over Lio and kissing his face where the wounds had healed as he started unbuttoning his fancy blouse (Lio wore all kinds of fancy silk shirts - silk was good at trapping heat, apparently, but there was always some stylish flair to them).

"Oh, leave that on--"

"Nope," Galo insisted. "I need to see. Don't hide injuries from me."

"Tsk. Fine."

"Let me be gentle with you," Galo almost purred against Lio's ear, sliding the shirt from his shoulders.

The bruising was still there, patchy and discolored, but it looked much better than it had been in the hospital, more like it was healing, but still tender. Galo ran his fingers over it without any pressure, and Lio shuddered. 

"Does it hurt?"

"Not a lot," Lio said. It didn't sound like a lie, but he was the type to downplay his injuries and thus, couldn't be trusted.

"If I hurt you, you'd better tell me," Galo warned him, kissing his jaw, his neck, then his collar. As carefully as he could manage, he breathed a kiss over the new scar over Lio's ribcage, where the stitches had recently been removed.

"It's impossible for you to hurt me," Lio assured him. "Unless you wanted to."

" That's impossible," Galo agreed, starting to work on Lio's belts.

"Exactly." Lio assisted him with his stronger hand (the one on the less-injured arm), tugging the belt free and tossing it aside.

He hadn't quite figured out where he wanted to go with this. No matter what Lio was expecting, there was no way Galo would take it far enough that it would complicate any injuries. So he'd have to stop before Lio was a breathless mess, which was a shame, but he could save that for later. "How's your neck feel?"

"All better," Lio tilted his head to show there was no trace of the bruising from before.

Galo bit him, not too hard, just to try and see how Lio would react to it. He was rewarded with Lio squirming, and running fingers through his hair. He could tell breathing too deeply was going to be painful, so he'd have to keep being gentle. Lio may have liked it a little rough, but Galo would just hope he wouldn't be disappointed.

Lio tugged at Galo's shirt, trying to get it off, but Galo offered no help, just kind of chuckled as he reached down the front of Lio's pants. He wasn't kidding about being impatient. His brows furrowed and his breathing trembled, and Galo paused.

"You okay?"

"Of course," Lio said quickly. "There's… It's weird that there's a ring on your hand. Does that make any sense?"

"Not really, but I say dumb stuff that makes no sense all the time, so I think I know where you're coming from," Galo teased, grasping Lio's erection in his hand and smiling wide. The ring was body-temperature now, so it shouldn't make a difference, but it did anyway. Because Lio was feeling all sappy and sentimental, so of course Galo wanted to push that button more. "Hey, where do you want to go on our honeymoon?"

"Our-- Oh." Lio shuddered again. Cute. "C'mon, let me touch you too, at least."

"We could save up and go overseas. What do you think?"

"Galo!"

"I've always wanted to see Ja--"

"We can go wherever you want," Lio was trying his best to pout while being jerked off, which resulted in one of the cutest expressions Galo had ever seen. "Just, let me--"

Galo kissed him quickly, just to interrupt. "We should take dancing lessons, for the wedding," He was pushing it hard. Lio knew exactly what he was doing, but couldn't stop it from affecting him. He writhed under him until he'd managed to rub his thigh right against Galo's crotch, firm enough to get somewhere with it but not enough to stop Galo from being obnoxious.

"Y'know, I looked up flower meanings to see if we should wear boutonnieres," Galo continued. "Red camellias mean 'you're a flame in my heart'. That's what I think we should have."

Lio clamped his mouth shut and made a low-pitched groan behind it, squeezing his eyes shut.

Even though it was horribly fun, Galo thought that was a good stopping place for picking on Lio. It'd come back to him in due time, hopefully when Lio could manage to breathe deeply without hurting himself. He pulled himself free from his pants and rubbed his dick against Lio's, stroking them both in one hand together.

That seemed to satisfy Lio just enough, he made no further complaints or demands other than tugging Galo closer in a hug around the shoulders, nipping at his lip.

"Love you," Lio murmured. His words were parted with short, shallow and possibly pained breaths. They wouldn't be taking this any further yet. "We could… We could stay in a traditional ryokan, on our overseas honeymoon."

Galo's heart soared. "Have you been doing research?"

"W-well, I couldn't let you drag me to the other side of the world without knowing about it," Lio's face was cutely pinkened, the short breathing was even somewhat cute, if he ignored the reason for it. "...I want to try an onsen."

Galo nuzzled Lio's neck and kissed him there a good dozen times, "Jeez. You're the best. I love you."

He quickened his pace, and Lio hugged him tight, muffling a cry into Galo's shoulder and digging fingers into his back. Galo let him ride it out, and followed not long after.

Finally, Galo pulled his shirt off and cleaned the modest mess off of Lio's stomach.

"...Galo Thymos."

"Yeah?"

"Give me… A month or so," Lio said, his hand resting over his sore, bruised chest. "I'm going to fucking destroy you."

"Looking forward to it," Galo agreed gleefully, kissing Lio's cheek again. "Until then, try to pace yourself." He watched Lio calming down, feeling drained and at peace, the way he usually would when they got up to way more than what they just did. "Do you think I should take your name? Galo Fotia?"

Lio pulled a face, looking up at the ceiling. "No. Doesn't sound right." After a few more seconds of consideration, he turned to Galo and answered a little more seriously. "As much as it annoys me, we're public figures. Changing our names would be kind of meaningless, since nobody would use them."

"Could be nice, on paper at least," Galo argued, winding his arm around Lio's waist. "We could use both of our names."

"Mm," Lio agreed, rolling his body closer to Galo and enjoying his warmth. "Spring is fine. I already know how to dance. And that's a fine flower choice."

Galo breathed a soft laugh and hugged gently. "Want to just stay in bed like this for the rest of the day?"

Lio hid his face. It was usually because he was either embarrassed or had a cold nose. Could just as easily be both. "Sorry. I want to do so much more to you."

"Know what's great?" Galo started petting Lio's hair affectionately. "We have the rest of our lives for that."

He still dreamed sometimes of Lio's body crumbling away, now with the added detail of a ring clattering on the cold floor of the Parnassus engine room.

Lio still had nightmares too, and if Galo ever asked, he'd try to dodge. Galo never forced him to talk about it. He was still on leave from work and volunteering due to injuries, and it was easy to tell he was on-edge about it. The nightmares increased in frequency, and Galo wasn't enough to help him.

So, after work, and after doing a little bit of reading online, he grabbed his buddy Aina and dragged her out to help him with a very specific task that he'd borrowed a car for.

There were dog breeders in Promepolis, usually toy breeds were the most popular in the city, but in the mountains nearby, he found all sorts of big, proper dog breeds. The kinds that would make someone feel safe even if the world was against them.

He found a wolf hybrid, and she was gorgeous.

"Your landlord will be furious," Aina told him as he lifted the little puppy in his hands for the first time. She had her arms folded and she was looking at the mother-wolf behind a tall fence, wary. "You just bugged them to have the soundproofing panels in your place, now you're dumping this on them? You're getting evicted."

The puppy chewed on Galo's fingers. She was adorable! "Nah, I told them I'm getting a service animal. Besides, nobody could evict this cutie. Or the other one I live with!"

"I'm telling him you said that."

"Please don't."

Aina, scowling, inched closer to the mother-wolf, holding a hand out to the gate without passing through the fencing. Mother-wolf sniffed, then licked her hand. "You heard the breeder. She's going to be really hard to train. You have to follow really specific steps to keep her behavior in line."

"Lio and I are up for it," Galo grinned. "She'll be a great addition to our little family. Maybe she can ride on the truck sometimes too. Firedog! Fire wolf!"

Aina still looked skeptical. "Galo, this is a dumb idea," she decided, "But fine. You make dumb choices all the time and they work out okay. So what's her name?"

"I'm gonna let Lio name her," Galo answered, warmly. He was glad Aina was coming around. "You're cool with puppysitting when it's time for the honeymoon, right?"

"Don't push your luck."

"But I always do! And it turns out okay, doesn't it?"

"Ugh. Get in the stupid car. I'm driving us back."

She hadn't said no.

The puppy was adorable, mostly black-gray fur with a white spot under her neck, and big yellow eyes. On the car ride, she liked sulking under the floor AC vent and making whiny noises. Aina had fully come around when it came time to present the surprise to Lio.

"Can I hold her? You can do a big flashy entrance with both hands while I hold her."

"Hmm? Oh, I thought I'd Lion King-style present her to him. You know, like--" He held her up dramatically and Aina slapped his back.

"He's shorter than you so that would just be rude. C'mon, let me hold her!"

"You'd better not bond with her more than me," Galo frowned, handing the puppy over.

Aina started baby-talking at it right away and got puppy-smooches all over her chin. Rude.

Galo flung the door open and Lio, who'd been standing beside the window, jumped. The soundproofing worked both ways, and now they couldn't hear into the hallway anymore.

"You're so late, what were you--"

"Lio, look!" Aina dashed in ahead of Galo, "Isn't she precious? Galo picked her out for you."

Sneakily, she looked over her shoulder at Galo and stuck her tongue out. She'd completely stolen his thunder.

But… The look in Lio's eyes made it okay. He gingerly took the dog into his hands and stroked her fur, listened to a weird puppy-whine as she wriggled in his grasp. "...You got us a dog?"

"A wolf-hybrid!" Galo said proudly.

Lio lowered himself to the floor to set her down and she chewed on his gloves until one came off, then she kept chewing a hole in that instead. She was going to be trouble.

"What're you going to name her?" Aina prompted him.

"Effie," Lio answered immediately, as if the name had been resting on his tongue for years, waiting for this exact moment. "I like Effie."

Galo sat down beside Lio and tried to take the glove back from her, only for her to turn it into a tug-o-war game. Puppies were unreasonably cute. He was just a little worried that she'd swallow it, so he wrestled it away from her. "Effie is cute," He agreed. 

Aina sat as well, watching them fondly.

Lio leaned on his shoulder quietly, reaching to pet her more. "...Thank you," he said, barely audible. "You weird, impulsive idiot. I love her."

"Not weird, passionate!" Galo corrected him.

Aina stayed just a little longer, helping them set up a spot for crate training and a food dish, and finally left just before it got dark out. Lio didn't let the puppy out of his sight the whole time.

As the months started passing by, Effie outgrew her crate and slept with them in the bed. Eventually, Galo had to fight for bed space. Her favorite treat was the last bite of pizza crust when Lio decided he was full and he tossed it under the table for her. She was so very spoiled.

And she howled along with their alarm clock every morning. Galo was convinced they could make a viral video of it if Lio would stop trying to murder the alarm every time it went off.

They decided to train her to react to impending panic attacks by nosing at their fingers to grab their attention, startle them out of it before it started. She picked up on it well, even if she wasn't suited to other service tasks, too excitable. And she couldn't pass any qualifications for a service animal otherwise; she would bare teeth at anyone walking too close to Lio when she was in public. In a way, that was a good thing, and in others it was sort of bad. As long as it never escalated from there, it'd be okay.

She didn't erase nightmares, no, but she made things remarkably better.

Wedding planning began in earnest. Tiered pizzas were indeed a thing, and camellias would be available in April (but it's tricky, the florist informed them, because they don't last well after being cut from the plant). Lio started teaching Galo to dance, tripping over the overgrown puppy that kept rushing between their legs like it was a game they were playing.

("Where did you learn?" Galo had asked.

Lio flashed him a coy smile, "My upbringing was a little odd, before I became a Burnish." And that was all he said on the matter, as though it explained anything.)

According to Ignis, the anonymous calls he'd been fielding about Lio had almost stopped. He still got one a week, maybe, but it all sounded like the same person, and Lucia was going to trace the call next time. The protests thinned out and vanished after the men who attacked Lio were each given a few years in jail for it. Even if the people involved weren't ready to open their minds and change them, at least they had to think twice before spouting hatred towards Burnish they didn't even know.

At the very least, he'd managed to convince Lio that nobody would picket their wedding, so they could make it as big as they wanted.

Galo designed invitations himself, aiming to impress Lio with calligraphy he'd been practicing. Lio teased him at first, but was definitely impressed.

Things were finally coming together. Starting to feel real.

Firefighters weren't really able to celebrate much around Christmas or the New Year. Too many electrical fires or firework mishaps, they were on call enough that they were too exhausted to celebrate themselves (and thankfully, they had really sweet neighbors who were happy to look after Effie).

But they had some downtime, and the squad decided to use it to offer opinions on the catering menu.

It was a perfectly good distraction. Galo still wasn't used to a New Years that he didn't call Kray once midnight struck, though it was the second year in a row that he didn't.

Couldn't.

"I get that you guys want pizza, but that's not very balanced," Remi pointed out, pouring himself a coffee and sitting down across from them in the break room. "And what about dessert?"

"I have other options in mind," Lio said, massaging the side of his hand that had gotten light burns at their last call. "I talked Galo into a buffet."

"Thank goodness, you're reasonable. Although a buffet with Galo and Varys in attendance might be pricey."

"Hey!" Galo protested, but he couldn't deny it.

"So, what else will you serve?" Remi asked Lio.

"Traditional sides, a vegan option, and I'm leaving the rest up to the chef. Oh, and alligator skewers."

Remi choked on his coffee and spat it out down the front of his shirt. "What skewers?"

Galo felt himself sweating.

"Alligator."

"You eat that?"

"...You said you liked it when Galo brought in my leftovers," Lio hid a smile behind his own mug, sipping at it and drinking in Remi's horrified reaction knowingly.

It was a little mean. But Galo loved to see it.

"Are you nervous?" Lio asked him, helping him adjust the flower on his lapel. Red camellia, just as he'd asked for. They chose to keep their other decorations simple. Battery-operated tea lights, some loose greenery.

They wanted to keep the decorations simple. Lucia and Varys, on the other hand, decked out the venue with fairy lights and ribbons and all sorts of nonsense. It was touching, kind of.

"'Course not. I'm only getting married, no big deal," Galo smiled and touched the side of Lio's face, pretending there was a single hair out of place so that he had the excuse. "Saving the world, now that's something. Ask me next time we have to do that."

"Something's on your mind."

"Nope, empty-headed as always."

"Galo Thymos-Fotia," Lio was unable to keep a straight face saying his name like that, which really took the edge off of it. "Tell me."

With some hesitation, Galo started by leaning in and kissing him. It bolstered his nerves and he was able to stand a little taller. "I used to imagine this day with him here."

Lio's expression changed, looking almost worried. "...Like, marrying him, or him just… being invited."

"Well-- I mean, over time it changed. The guy I thought I knew, I would've asked him to be Best Man! Or even to officiate! But that guy never existed, so…" He couldn't deny that there had been times when the way he looked at Kray was deeper than just childish hero-worship, or admiration, but he couldn't talk about it with any kind of pride.

"I understand," Lio nodded. "The captain is a better choice for officiant, anyway. And even if Aina isn't technically a man, she's a far better choice as well."

Galo nodded quietly. 

 "You never asked if you were gaining in-laws, Galo."

"... I figured you'd tell me, if you wanted."

"We've both lost people we were close to. People who weren't who we thought they were," Lio explained. "I know what it's like. And I know you won't just get over it, but I want you to know that you can tell me anything."

"And it won't bother you?" Galo asked, chest aching at the invitation. "Because it's him, I mean."

"It'll bother me if it's bothering you," Lio continued, "But starting today, we'll be married. Kray Foresight can't come between us, as a man or as ashes. So I won't be bothered in the way you're thinking."

"Aw, jeez," Galo swept Lio into a tight hug, mindful only of the delicate flowers pinned between them, not of long-healed injuries. Lio didn't protest at all, just held him close and stroked his back.

"Ready?" He eventually asked.

"...Yeah," Galo set him down and beamed at his partner brightly, taking his hand and squeezing. "I've been ready for this."

No one ever said life was easy, but some select parts of it could be; walking down an aisle lined with fairy lights and blood-red flower petals, hand in hand with the man he'd spend his life with? Easy. Being with Lio, getting here, it was the simplest thing that had ever happened in his life.

Lio was sturdy, their relationship was uncomplicated, and he'd never have to let go.

Because letting go wasn't possible. Releasing the ashes only gave them freedom to scatter and cling to every shadow of every doubt in his mind, and over time they would have to lose their grip on their own.

And Lio's hand was firmly wrapped around his, secure and unwavering.

Together, they would catch up with someday's promise, and meet every day head-on.

They would wake up to the raucous symphony of howling and sirens, they would exchange sappy-sweet romantic greetings and take the dog out for a morning run - and if Lio needed a breather sooner than expected, well, that was okay.

They'd make breakfast, go to work as always, and after another month or two of saving up, they'd leave for the most amazing honeymoon ever.

And it was okay if those ashes wanted to trail behind him halfway around the planet, because Lio could face him with a reassuring smile, dust him off and keep him moving forward.