Chapter Text
It had been nearly two years since the Second Great World Blaze. This was both a long and short time ago depending on who you asked. It was the duality of opinion that caused Galo to be unsurprised, yet disappointed to see that “#LioFotiaIsAMurderer” was trending on Twitter. The young man pursed his lips at his phone, thumb still stuck to his screen where it had stopped mid scroll. Of course prejudice against the Burnish still existed - it was difficult to dispel what was so carefully cultivated for decades. Hell, there were children born and raised within the confines of Burnish hate; people who have gone their entire lives knowing nothing but anti-Burnish propaganda. Lio - who had quickly been shoved into public sight - had withstood the brunt of the pushback. It had been quite some time since the latest conspiracy theory had been dredged up against the boy - long enough that Galo had started to wonder if they had finally ended - and he couldn’t help but be angry on the other’s behalf.
Well… There were some selfish reasons in there too. He strongly suspects that public opinion has shaped Lio’s decision to keep him at an arm's length. He could practically hear Lio say something ridiculously self-sacrificing like: “I don’t want you to get hurt because of me” or something equally as dumb. Galo had not been shy about his interest in the other man, but Lio danced around his feelings, graceful and teasing, spinning around him endlessly like a bird out of reach. Or a wolf circling its prey, depending on the day. He was thrilled that after months of hard work and charm (and begging) the spiral was finally coming in closer and a dumb little hashtag may be threatening to force the former leader’s orbit out again.
Galo shifted his body on his couch, though his thumb and eyes remained firmly glued on the light blue tag. He needed to get dressed - he had work to go to and nothing good would come from looking through the opinions of people who knew nothing of anything but spoke as if they were experts. It would do nothing but piss him off, he told himself, so he shouldn’t click on it.
And he didn’t. And he was very proud of that fact until he got to Burning Rescue.
“Did Lio have a boyfriend before?” Remi had asked him five seconds after walking in the break room. No preamble, no small talk. Straight to the point without even looking up from his phone. Galo decided to return the favor and though he faltered a little at the question, he refused to look up from his very important task of pouring coffee into his mug.
“I don’t know,” he answered. “‘Before’ when?”
“If your answer is ‘I don’t know’ then why would the timeline matter?”
Galo tried his best to keep his scowl from becoming audible.
“I figured he would have talked to you about things like that,” Remi continued. Galo could hear him adjust his glasses, but he still didn’t want to turn and see. Instead he focused on putting the coffee pot back in just the right way so that the handle was in a good spot for easy grabs later.
“He’s an adult. I’m sure he’s been in a relationship or two before,” Galo said matter-of-factly. “Why?”
“Do you not know that he’s trending again?” At this, Galo finally turned around with a deep sigh.
“He’s not trending, some lies about him are.”
Remi looked at him out of the corner of his eye, brow creased in worry. “So you think the photos are fake then?”
Galo paused at that. “What photos?”
Remi opened his mouth to answer but the sound of the break room door slamming open cut him off. Lucia burst through in reverse on a rolling chair, screeching to a halt right before Galo’s toes.
“Galo! Good to find ya. I got some new tech to test out!”
Galo gave a weak smile. “Sure, Lucia, that sounds great. Remi was just-” He trailed off once the other man held up his phone for the other to see an image of two people posing in front of some building. Lio smiled brightly in the picture, seemingly mid-laugh as the other squeezed them together with an arm swung around Lio’s small shoulders. “...Who posted that?”
“It was in the tag,” Remi answered before Lucia reached up to snag the screen away.
“Ohh, yeah, Lio’s ex-lover!” she chimed, happily rolling out of Remi’s reach as he attempted to take back his phone. “You know, I was gonna ignore it, but I bumped into this guy this morning on my way here and he looked like one of those private-eye types outta movies and I got to thinking how interesting it’d be to solve a mystery, so I read all about it this morning. Tough break. Wonder if he’s seen it yet.”
“What do you mean?” Galo asked, eyes following the tiny woman as she rolled around the room, scrolling her way through the phone. A well-timed kick to the wall sent her rocketing away from Remi’s hands.
“I don’t know, he looked very ‘noir’ with his hat and jacket.”
“No, I mean- what is so mysterious about it?”
“Did you not see the tag?”
“I saw it, but I didn’t look at it. It’s always nothing but bullshit so...”
“Well, not this time from the looks of it.” Lucia chimed. “Though, if I just saw the pics without the explanation I would’ve thought ‘boy and older cousin’ or something - not two people dating. But I guess Lio has always looked like he was twelve.”
“Hey, now…” Galo started. He knew Lio wouldn’t like that very much - even if Galo himself thought it was true on occasions.
“Oh, please,” Lucia scoffed with a cackle. “It’s not like I can’t relate to that myself- Ah! Found it!” A quick swat and wave of her hand batted away Remi’s as she read a tweet aloud, mimicking a falsetto unbecoming of most human beings. “My name is Aleka. Ellias was my brother. Before he became known as the Burnish terrorist, I knew Lio Fotia as my brother’s boyfriend. For years they dated and were happy. They lived together and my brother was so in love. I can’t imagine what he went through the night he was murdered by the love of his life. My brother was burned alive and he never got justice - Lio Fotia has never paid for his crimes.”
“All that in one tweet?” Galo queried as Remi finally managed to snatch back his phone.
Once she was finished playfully sticking her tongue out at the vice captain, Lucia replied. “Well, the tweet itself was just hashtag: ‘Lio-Fotia-is-a-murderer,’ but it included a screenshot of Notepad or something. Plus, she tweeted out a bunch of pics of Lio and this Ellias guy as proof so the story’s picked up pretty fast.”
Galo’s eyes went downcast, troubled by the news. “But… it’s not true, right? Lio would never…”
“If it is true, he probably didn’t do it on purpose, “ Remi offered. Galo looked up, and though the taller was still shielding his phone from Lucia and his face was pinched in a disgruntled frown, he was looking at Galo with just enough concern to be noticeable to his teammate. “You know how it was when Burnish awoke. If anything happened, it was likely a complete accident.”
Galo was horrified at the implication. “Oh god, do you think so? Do you think Lio Flared and his boyfriend got caught in the crossfire?”
“Quite the tragic backstory,” Lucia remarked, rolling out in front of him. “Seems fitting for someone like Lio. Why don’t you ask him?”
Galo sucked in a breath through his teeth. “I don’t know… ‘Hey, did you accidently kill your ex?’ That’s kinda a personal question to ask somebody.”
“Sure it is! But you know, his personal business is already real impersonal now that it's accessible to anyone with a phone or working computer.”
“I guess that’s true…” he said, hand rubbing at his neck anxiously.
“Think of it this way: how are you gonna defend Lio from these people if you don’t first hear the truth from Lio himself?”
“Lio is perfectly capable of handling himself,” Galo mumbled. “I’m not gonna ‘defend’ him against a bunch of strangers online.”
“...Anymore,” Remi added on, causing the other man to suddenly grow flushed.
“I-I promised Lio I wouldn’t!” he protested.
“Ha! You acted like such a simp,” Lucia cackled. Galo ignored her in favor of typing away a message to the former Burnish asking if he was free tonight for dinner at his place.
“I believe what he was doing actually classifies as being a ‘white knight,’” Remi corrected.
Lucia shot something teasing back, but Galo barely had time to chime back into their argument when his phone pinged and Lio’s message appeared on screen.
“Is this about the twitter thing”
He cursed under his breath. He typed out “What twitter thing?” before quickly erasing it. He wasn’t very good at lying and Lio was very good at staring him down with a cruel, unflinching gaze when he suspected a fib, making Galo squirm until he broke.
“Cant i just want to eat dinner with u?? ^v^;;” is what he went with instead. He put an emoji at the end to make sure he didn’t sound accusatory. After all, Lio was not completely off base, but he did want to spend time with the young man just the same as usual.
The reply back was almost instantaneous: “We can talk about it but don’t try to make small talk for 30 minutes beforehand as if you don’t really want to know”. This message was trailed behind by another a few seconds later. “Sorry that sounded mean. I’d just rather get right into it”
Despite his worried mood, Galo chuckled to himself at the apology. He had long since gotten used to Lio’s cut-and-dry manner of communicating, but someone must’ve said something to him.
The firefighter was vaguely aware of his teammates’ discussion growing in volume as he texted back. “Lol its fine no offense taken. :) Would u rather meet sooner then? For lunch?”
“No,” came the reply. “Dinner is fine. I’ll come over to your place after your shift.”
“Ok. Any requests for food?”
“No. Anything is fine.” Galo frowned at that. Lio wasn’t picky by any means, but after spending several shared meals together where he personally bore witness to Galo’s habit of “shoveling in the same pattern of balanced garbage” (Lio’s words, not his) down his throat, Lio made a point to choose what they ate together to introduce “variety” (again, Lio’s words - which Galo thought was rich coming from someone who he caught with bags full of processed crap the second time they met).
“He must be worried…” he spoke to himself right before his skull rang with a painful twack . His hand flew to clutch at his head, sharply spinning around to see where the attack came from. Lucia looked guilty, but swiftly placed the blame on their teammate.
“Remi threw his phone.”
“Because you kept trying to grab it!” he shot back. “It slipped.”
“Well! Do you want to look up these definitions or not?”
“Look them up on your own phone!”
A gruff voice interrupted and the three snapped their attention to their captain. Ignis stood, arms crossed in the doorway. “Team meeting,” he said, turning away right after. He left no room for argument or explanation, but that was how the captain operated. Burning Rescue trusted his judgements enough to respect that, but Remi and Galo shared a nervous look regardless. It was unusual to have an unscheduled meeting so suddenly - especially since everything has been relatively peaceful since they had been downgraded to normal fire-watch.
---
A door creaked behind him and Lio’s pen stilled.
“Hey, Boss…?”
Lio sighed. “For the last time, Gueira, I am not mad at you, that is just how I text.”
“It’s not that,” the other man huffed. Lio had been working on a draft for an upcoming proposal since the middle of last night - he was on a roll and he wanted to finish. Hardly in the mood for interruptions, he turned only slightly to look at Gueira, poking his head around his door.
Lio’s frown deepened. It was unlike his former general to act so diffident. “What is it then?”
Gueira made a variety of strained facial expressions at the ceiling. He had his mouth open, but the only thing that came out was a drawn out auuuhhhmm .
“You’re trending again.” he heard Meis call out from their shared living room.
“What? Again?” Lio groaned. His pen finally thrown to his paper, work abandoned. “What is it this time? Did I tell the surgeon general to fuck off to Mars? Sneeze in the direction of a sacred chinchilla? Actually-!” he held up his hand before Gueira could reply. “I don’t want to know! Each thing is more ridiculous than the next. I don’t even want to hear it!”
“You are gonna wanna hear this one, Boss.” the red-head insisted. He leaned against the door and gestured into the apartment’s living room. Lio could see Meis on the couch, craning his neck to see inside his room.
“Why?” he asked with a glare.
Gueira returned the favor with the addition of a finger jabbed in his direction. “Don’t make me pick you up and bring you in there.” Lio could hear Meis sigh and mutter something under his breath.
“You wouldn’t dare.” Gueira gave him a resolved look, rolled his shoulders, and marched on to call his bluff.
“Asshole!” Lio spat. He grabbed under his seat and locked his ankles around the base of his rolling chair to fend off the taller’s strong tugging. “I have work to do! Leave me alone!”
“You’ve gotten rusty, Boss,” Gueira remarked. “This is now an easy victory!” Lio barely had time to register the man’s hands on his backrest before he was whipped out through the door. Mere seconds later, the wheels caught on the rug and Lio crashed in a heap next to the coffee table.
Meis looked down upon him, exasperated. “You two,” he began with a deep sigh, “are exhausting.”
“I got him in here, didn’t I?” Gueira shouted. His volume was way too loud considering his proximity, which is a fact Meis tiredly pointed out to him.
“I am working ,” Lio repeated bitterly. He supposed he wasn’t at all intimidating from his spot splayed out on the floor, but he was determined to continue his attempted act of unmovable defiance.
“You’ve been working since forever,” Gueira bemoaned, nearly whining as he hopped over the couch to settle in close to Meis.
‘Exaggerated as always,’ Lio thought, rolling his eyes.
“You are in desperate need of a lay. Ow-! ”
Lio’s eyes flicked up toward his two generals.
“Idiot. ” Meis hissed. Gueira, rubbing at his ankle, suddenly looked very sheepish.
Lio sat up, slowly becoming aware of a growing tense atmosphere in the room as silence spread out between them. “What is going on here?” When neither of the two responded immediately he asked again. “Did something happen?”
“Well,” Meis paused to clear his throat. “This girl got on Twitter and it’s kind of… concerning...”
“What girl?”
“Uh-” Gueira nudged the other and held up his phone for reference. “Her name is Aleka.”
“Aleka?” Lio echoed. His eyebrows knitted together in confusion for a beat before his brain placed the name and his expression fell. “Oh.”
“Yeah...”
“...What-” Lio shifted his position, suddenly finding the way he had been sitting far too uncomfortable. It didn’t help. “What did she say?”
“She called you a murderer.”
“Ah.” Gueira, slouched up against the Meis, tapped against his phone case. It was an unconscious habit, but it drew Lio’s attention. “Let me see,” he said, reaching out for the device. Much to his surprise, Gueira reacted by pulling it closer to him.
“That’s not a good idea, Boss,” he quickly explained.
“Why? What else did she say?”
“She also posted some pictures,” Meis revealed. His tone was placid, but both of his hands were out now, palms pushing downwards softly as if he was trying to calm an animal. Lio hadn’t even noticed he had rose to a stand until then, looming over the coffee table at them.
“What kind of pictures?”
“We just don’t want you to get stressed out, Boss.”
“I’m not stressed!” Lio insisted, sounding quite stressed. The way his voice strained ever so slightly had the two other men sharing a concerned, skeptical look. “Let me see what she said!” Once more, he held his hand out. When neither budged, he continued with a huff. “If you don’t show me I’ll just go and look it up myself.”
“I’ll hold the phone up and you can read it,” Gueira asserted. Lio’s arm fell to his side and his body pitched in frustration.
“Why?” he asked, agitated.
“Because we don’t want you scrolling through the replies.”
“Why?” Lio repeated, tone moving into upset.
“Because they’re mean!” He stared at the red-head, insulted.
“They get really personal, Boss,” Meis explained.
“And you think I can’t handle that?”
“This is different.”
Lio groaned at that, pinching the bridge of his nose to dispel a headache he felt coming on.
“Fine. Whatever. Hold it up.” Gueira complied and held the screen at an arm’s length for Lio to lean over and read. The former Burnish watched their leader carefully, but his expression stayed in the realm of stony annoyance as he read through the small speech. He instructed Gueira to scroll down only once and it was only when he reached the end did his face twist firmly into a scowl. “That bitch.”
---
“As some of you may already be aware, there is a gathering of people outside the station right now.” The blank, confused stares from his seated crew told Ignis that they were, in fact, not aware. “It is important,” he continued, directing his sunglass-covered gaze to Galo, “that we do not interact with them. It will not help anyone if we do.”
“Why are they here?” Aina asked.
Ignis moved his attention to her, shifting on his feet from his spot standing at the head of the table. “They are under the impression that Fotia is here and they are demanding to speak with him.”
“But he’s not here,” Aina pointed out with a skeptical grimace.
“They have been informed of that, but I suppose they don’t believe it.”
“Great…”
“What are people pissed at him for this time?” Varys queried.
“He’s trending again,” Aina told him. “Twitter.”
As Vayrs pulled out his phone to investigate, the captain went on. “Just go about your jobs as normal and by the end of the day everything should be fine.”
Unfortunately, things were not fine.
Not even an hour later and a couple sets of news crews had shown up to report on the protest, which only served to rile the crowd up with each passing hour to the point where they could now hear them from inside the station. Galo was pretty positive that they did not have megaphones when they started but they sure did have them now.
“I’m not saying that they shouldn’t be able to protest if they want to,” he said to Vayrs, squinting at the basketball hoop. Galo found it harder to aim with the faint roar of people outside distracting him. “But Lio isn’t even here, first of all, and second of all, they have no proof that he even did anything! All they have is that Lio went on at least a few dates with some guy who happens to be dead now.” The basketball left his grasp and twanged off the rim. “Damnit.”
“If that,” Vayrs remarked, tossing him another ball. “Have you seen the pictures?”
“No,” he admits. “Well, Remi showed me a few, but I don’t know if that was all of them or only some.”
Varys hums, watching the shorter spin the ball idly in his hands. “Well, they appear close in them, I’ll say that, but hardly lovey-dovey. More domestic than anything I’d expect of pics I’d think a couple would take.”
“What kind of pictures would a couple take?” Galo asks. This time, when he shoots, it swishes in.
“You know, like pictures of their hands laced together or in romantic settings like sunset beaches…” Varys shrugs. “Maybe modern Instagram has ruined my perception, but I would think there would be at least one picture of a smooch on the cheek or something.”
“So, what? Do you think maybe they weren’t dating at all?”
“Maybe, if we want to look at the best case scenario, the dude is actually a relative or a friend or something and this girl is twisting things to try and get something out of Lio.” Galo tossed the man the ball.
“I guess that could be possible too,” he said, unable to stop the small smile from forming.
“Hey, how old is Lio now?”
Galo blinked. “Twenty-five. Why?”
“Just curious,” Vayrs answered. He lobbed the ball in a perfect arch - as always. “I was trying to figure out the timeline in my head for that girl’s claims and it doesn’t really add up.” With a grin to his friend he added: “Sounds like it’s likely bullshit. So don’t worry so much.”
Galo nodded resolutely, spirits lifted considerably. “I’m sure Lio will clear this all up tonight.”
“Ask him where he found the Fountain of Youth while you’re at it!” The laugh of the bigger man was booming and Galo couldn’t help but feel even better in its presence. “I thought maybe he looked like that cause he was Burnish and they heal up practically everything. Kept him young lookin’. Now that I know he’s always looked like that, I’m deadass jealous.” Another shot at basket, another goal. “Man, I’d kill to not have to worry about these damn crows feet I’m getting.”
“Well, I’m jealous of you! I want your hands.”
Vayrs’ laughs again. “My hands?!”
“Of course!” To demonstrate, Galo scoops up the basketball. “What takes me two hands to handle only takes you one!”
“And what use is that?” Vayrs shakes his head. “Trust me, man. You don’t want my body type - it’s hell trying to find anything to fit into. Clothes, doors, a bed…”
“Yeah well, if I had your hands I could say shit like ‘they call me handsome cause I got some hands. ’”
His friend shakes his head with a wry smile. “Have you been trying those lines out on Lio?”
“Yeah, but it’s not working out so great,” Galo replied. His smile hadn’t faded, but his shoulders slumped.
“I wonder why.”
Galo opened his mouth to defend himself, to say that he knew the line was dumb but he had hoped that maybe the ‘dumb humor’ angle would be something Lio would be into, but he was interrupt by a surging of voices.
The room stopped, as the distant voices of anger suddenly didn’t sound so distant anymore. Even Aina could hear them through her music and looked up.
“Are they inside?” she asked, bewildered. The group hustled to a set of double doors leading out to the garage. If one were to go through it, they would find themselves on an elevated catwalk, set above the concrete floor by about two meters that wrapped around the room so that the team had easy access to the various parts and entrances on their equipment and vehicles. This proved to be more of a hindrance at first as one such Burning Rescue truck was parked directly in front, blocking their view from whatever commotion was happening as they all attempted to peek out. Once they heard Ignis’ calm yet commanding voice, however, they crept out onto the metal walkway and peered over the truck.
“Inside of this building is private property,” the team heard bouncing off the garage walls. Ignis’ back was to his crew’s lookout point, but the captain knew how to make sure he was heard from any point. The crowd of people was trying to duck their way under one of the garage doors and a small gathering had already made it through, with only Ignis at the helm to impede them. “You are not permitted to be in here. Leave now.”
A female voice replied, though she was hidden from Burning Rescue by their boss. Her tone was biting, but too low to understand what she said.
“Outside is public property and you are free to do that. Once you enter this building it becomes private property and no longer permitted.”
The other voice was in the middle of her response when someone shrill with a megaphone interrupted, “WE DEMAND FOTIA SPEAK FOR HIS CRIMES!” This declaration was met with an enraged cheer and Galo could briefly see someone directly in front of the captain turn around and wave their arms at the crowd.
“They must’ve pried that door up and open with a picket sign or something,” Lucia hummed.
“Or they yanked up a stop sign,” Aina muttered.
“I’m calling the police,” Remi sighed.
“By the time they get here Cap. will probably have them all dispersed,” Vayrs pointed out.
“Yeah, but we should still file a report.”
Vayrs nodded, and as Remi turned away back to the break room he was able to get a clear view of Galo at the opposite of their line-up. He saw his jaw clench at another blast from a megaphone. “Galo, don’t-”
The young man had already heaved himself off the catwalk, his feet making a heavy clap against the smooth concrete. The crowd was well aware of his existence before he even began his march to the other end of the garage and started yelling out too many things to comprehend. Ignis merely turned his head to acknowledge his approach, but waited until he was beside him to speak.
“Galo, go back inside.” It was a statement merely for propriety - he knew it wouldn't be that easy to turn him back when he got that determined glint in his eye.
“Lio is not here!” Galo called out over the crowd. “And you yelling about him will not change that fact! Go away!”
“Liar!” The word came out so unexpectedly close to him that Galo almost jumped. A woman stepped out from around the sturdy form of the captain to face her new target.
Galo thought she looked tired. The shadows under her eyes weren’t heavy in the way that dark circles tended to be when they sagged on people’s faces, but they were dark and deep set. Galo wondered if it was genetic or if she hadn’t been sleeping at all for an extended time.
The thought of genetics brought up a thought in Galo, so he asked: “Are you Aleka?”
“I am.” she answered strongly. Her features were so soft and rounded that the anger in her voice barely made a crease in her forehead, but Galo could see it in her sharp eyes and he felt himself falter a bit. This was not at all how he had pictured Lio’s assailant to be.
He had wanted her to be an unseemly woman who would stand on her toes to shriek in an entitled tone, with gaunt cheeks hollowed out from too many fad diets and a hideously outdated haircut, box-colored in patches at home.
But Aleka was none of these things.
She was old - Well, older than him, but younger than what the captain probably was. In her thirties, if Galo had to guess (and this, to the man who had only just turned twenty-four, was old), but she was pretty. Her eyes were bright, but hardened. She was Lio’s height and looked up at Galo with the same indifference to that fact. Her voice was not sharp - it did not sound like the grinding nor scraping of metal - rather like a ringing of a railroad crossing from afar. It was unobtrusive, tractable even, but warning.
“Who the hell are you,” she had demanded of him and Galo at first did not know in what manner to answer. It was so much easier to argue with the image of the misleader in his head than the person in front of him who seemed honestly upset.
“My- I work here,” he said finally, avoiding his name for now. “I am a part of Burning Rescue and Lio is not here.”
“That a lie,” she repeated. “You know that job offers for public service positions have to be filed through the local government office, yes? And that anyone could get that information if requested?”
“Fotia was offered a position here but turned it down,” Ignis spoke evenly, as the woman turned to glare. “He is not employed here and thus is not here currently nor is he expected to be here anytime in the future.”
“Yeah!” Galo added helpfully. “So take your nonsense elsewhere!”
Aleka turned back to him, glowering. “Nonsense?” she hissed. “He killed my brother.”
Galo glowered right back. “Lio would never do that.” Her frown deepened, but she spun on her heels the very next moment and faced the crowd.
Someone from the mob handed her a megaphone. “Everyone! Outside. We will convene at a later date.” Handing back the device she looked over her shoulder at the pair. “This isn’t over. Not at all.”
Galo rolled his eyes. “Okay, lady.” Every new upset surrounding Lio was over faster than the last, and gained less and less following with every new lie. This was a trend Galo took great comfort in.
---
Lio had let himself into Galo’s apartment (“if you won’t accept my offer to put a roof over your head, at least take a key!” he had told him). The open concept of the place meant that Galo knew the moment he arrived and appeared in front of him before Lio even had a chance to shrug off his jacket.
“Hey!” the chipper man greeted. “You’re here!”
“I am. Are you cooking?”
Galo looked himself up and down in response, spatula in hand and bright pink apron draped over him. If Lio squinted, he could make out some of the fading text of something clever written on it. He couldn’t remember what it said anymore nor what color it was supposed to be. It seems like forever ago that Lio ruined it while trying to re-learn how to do laundry in a machine.
“No, I just like to dress like this for fun,” Galo quipped with a smile. “I’m making pancakes and bacon.”
“For… dinner?” Lio asked, trailing behind into the kitchen.
“Yes, for dinner!” he tossed over his shoulder. “I know how you like your sweets, but I wasn’t about to serve you a cake as a meal.”
Galo thought he heard Lio mumble something along the lines of “I don’t like sweets that much” or some other embarrassed lie, but he chose to let it slide instead of starting up their usual teasing banter.
“How was your day?” he asked instead and was met with stony silence. When he turned away from his latest pancake he saw the shorter man glaring at him from his perch on a bar stool.
“What did I say about small talk?”
“Wha- It’s not small talk, really…” Galo explained sheepishly. “I really do want to know…. You know… with all this… stuff, happening…”
Lio sighed, scowl relaxing. “It was fine. Until I was told about ‘all this stuff.’”
“Ah.”
“And then I saw Burning Rescue on the news,” Lio said pointedly. “That certainly didn’t make me feel any better.”
“Ah…” Galo repeated. “Sorry…”
Lio shrugged. “She had a whole horde of people, I saw. Why was she even there?” Then, cautiously he added: “For you?”
“No, no,” Galo said hurriedly. “She thought you worked there. Got record of your job offer through the public offices or something.”
“Did you...talk to her?”
“Yeah, but only ‘cause her and, like, a third of the crowd broke into the place and the Cap and I had to tell them all to leave.”
Lio’s brow creased in worry at the information, but it didn’t match his jesting tone. “Did you and Ignis have to tell them to leave or did Ignis tell them to leave and you joined in uninvited?”
“You know me too well,” Galo laughed. “I know you told me not to defend you like that anymore, but I couldn’t help it! They wouldn’t go away!”
“No, it’s fine. It wasn’t just about me, your place of employment was involved too.” After Galo set a plate of food and some silverware in front of him Lio said a small “Thanks.” Galo wasn’t sure if the gratitude was for the food or his actions earlier that day. By the time he had served his own plate to the kitchen island, Lio had begun nibbling on his food.
“You’re so cute when you do that,” Galo said sweetly.
Normally, Lio would huff and pout and insist that “cute” was not a word to describe him, but all he offered back this time was a half-a-second smile and just as brief eye contact.
Galo frowned. “You know, if you don’t want to talk about this now, it’s totally okay-”
“No, I need to,” Lio interrupted.
“You don’t need to do anything for my sake if it’s gonna make you uncomfortable,” Galo insisted.
“Yes, I do,” he insisted back. “It’s important that you know.”
“But, do you want me to know?”
Lio paused for a bit, thinking it over. “Yes,” he answered resolutely.
“Okay so…” Galo thought maybe he could wait until they at least finished dinner. He hadn’t even touched his own food yet, but he was mostly worried about the ever scrawny Lio across from him that was still only nibbling on the same strip of bacon like a carnivorous rabbit.
However, Lio did make a point that he didn’t want to tip-toe around the issue, and, as direct as Lio tended to be, he doubted that it was said to spare Galo’s feelings or anything. So, to respect his wishes, Galo supposed the best course of action was to just jump right in. “So, what really happened then?”
Lio looked up at that. “What do you mean?”
“Like... This Aleka person was saying that you were dating her brother and you… I don’t know, killed him? She called you a murderer. So why don’t you start by telling me what really happened?”
Lio blinked owlishly at him. If Galo didn’t know any better, he’d say he looked confused. “That is what really happened.”