Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Why?

That was the only thing Lio could think as he sat on the bathroom floor of Burning Rescue’s main building, his shirt tossed to the side and his hands wrapped around his chest. God, it hurt. He hadn’t had a binder on for this long in a while. When he was with the other Burnish, he’d been able to take it off at least periodically. Those close to him knew. Most didn’t, but again, most didn’t ask. There were more pressing issues to deal with, such as surviving constant attacks and whatnot. When they were in hiding and safe from any outsiders, Lio spent most of his time inside, away from everyone else.

Things were different now.

Now he was a member of Burning Rescue, the very team of firefighters that he had fought what simultaneously felt like years and only minutes ago. It had actually been a couple of months, give or take.

The team had been working around the clock to stop a huge forest fire, and he hadn’t had time to take a break in at least sixteen hours. He hadn’t realized how long it had been until suddenly he couldn’t breathe, and it felt like his ribcage was, ironically enough, on fire. He’d nearly passed out in the main room, then rushed into the bathroom without a word.

“Lio? You’ve been in there for twenty minutes, you good?” called Galo from the other side of the door.

“I’m fine- GH- I’m FINE-“ Lio gasped in pain as he tried to inhale. He wanted to take the binder off so badly, but the others didn’t know. He couldn’t just show up with spontaneously grown breasts.

“He’s fine, he’s just- uh- struggling!” Lio heard Galo yell to the others, who were presumably in another room.

“Shuddup...” mumbled Lio.

“Are you alright? You sound like you’re having trouble breathing,” Galo said, his voice quieter as if he only wanted Lio to hear him.

“I’m... fine... Galo...”

There was a clicking noise. Lio realized too late that it was the sound of the lock being picked.

The door opened. Lio shut his eyes. He heard Galo step into the bathroom, then the door closed.

“Yeah. I thought so,” said Galo.

Lio slowly opened his eyes. Galo was kneeling down in front of him, concern filling his face.

“What... do you... mean...?” asked Lio, talking in shallow, hoarse breaths.

“Change out of the binder, and then we’ll talk, ‘kay?” said Galo.

“What... the... how did-“

“ Change out of the binder . You’re gonna hurt yourself. Here, hold on.” Galo left the bathroom and entered a few moments later with a dark blue hoodie. “Here, take it. It’s mine, so it’ll be- uh- a bit big on you, but it’ll work.”

Lio just stared.

“I’ll leave for a few minutes so you can change,” said Galo, turning around and closing the door behind him.

A million questions raced around in Lio’s head. How did Galo know? Why was he so serious, but not angry? Was that how he expressed anger? Lio shook his head. This didn’t make any sense. Nonetheless, he forced himself to take off the binder and change. He was practically drowning in Galo’s hoodie, but at least he could breathe a lot better.

“Can I come in?” asked Galo from the other side of the door.

“I guess,” said Lio. The door swung open and Galo entered again, closing it behind him. He stifled a laugh as he saw Lio.

“I think you’re being eaten by my hoodie,” he said.

“A...apparently,” said Lio. “Are you not... upset?”

“What, about the hoodie eating you? Cause that’s-“

“ No! About... about...”

“...Oh.” Galo stared at Lio for a moment, his expression unreadable. It was unsettling- Lio was only used to seeing extreme emotions on his face. Finally, Galo held up his index finger and turned to the cabinet above the sink. He rifled around in it for a moment before pulling out a tiny bottle.

A bottle that Lio instantly recognized.

“That’s... testosterone,” said Lio.

“Yeah. It’s my extra bottle. I keep it here in case I’m working during T shot day. You can never be too prepared, y’know? I had to miss work for a while ‘cause of top surgery, so I don’t want to miss it ‘cause I forgot to give myself a shot.”

“You’re...?”

“I’m trans, yeah. I’m lucky enough to have super supportive parents, so I transitioned real early.”

“But... wasn’t Kray...”

“He actually didn’t know,” said Galo. “When he saved me I was already on blockers, and I just never got around to telling him. Knowing him now, he probably wouldn’t like it very much.”

Lio looked at the floor. Most of his questions had been answered, but he was still too confused to figure out exactly what he should say. Instead, he reached into the whirlwind of thoughts and pulled out the first one he grabbed, realizing too late that it most likely wasn’t what Galo wanted to hear. It also wasn’t something he had prepared himself to say. But he said it anyway, mostly by accident.

“I never got the chance to tell my parents.”

Galo’s face fell. “Oh. I... I’m really sorry, Lio.”

Lio looked away. “I didn’t mean to, uh... say that. Sorry.”

“No, no, I...” Galo ran his fingers through his hair, then looked back at Lio. “I’m... I’m really sorry. That’s awful.”

“It’s not like it’s your fault,” said Lio with a sigh. “I obtained testosterone illegally for a while, but I’m on my last bottle now. I guess it was good that you found out, since I’ll have to taper off of it soon.”

“What?! No! I mean, unless you want to, I’m sure you could get a prescription,” said Galo quickly.

Lio shook his head. “I can’t.”

“What? Why not?”

“I can’t see a- actually, it’s... it’s a really stupid reason. I’ll spare you the sob story.”

“I can’t find a workaround if you don’t tell me the problem,” said Galo, opening the cabinet to put the bottle of testosterone back in.

“There’s nothing you can do, anyway. It’s...” Lio fiddled with the drawstring of the hoodie, avoiding eye contact with Galo. “I don’t do doctors.”

“Huh? Why?”

“They’re... they’re too close to...” Lio didn’t finish the sentence out loud, but Galo seemed to understand. Too close to the experiments Kray ran on the Burnish . Too close to the way so many Burnish had died. “I panicked every week just giving myself a shot. I don’t think that going to a doctor would be a good idea.”

“Yeah, that... makes a lot of sense. I’m really sorry,” said Galo, shaking his head.

“It’s fine. I’m fine.”

“No, no, I... hmm...” Galo pulled a thinking face, then grinned. “I got it! We’ll level up like a video game!”

Lio blinked. “...What?”

“We’ll start small. I’ll call a... I dunno what they’re called- one of those house doctors!”

“House doctors,” repeated Lio. “Like a... house... cat...?”

“No! Like- one of the doctors who comes to your house instead of you going to the office! They can do a check up to make sure everything’s okay, then we’ll do the testosterone stuff, and then next time we can go to the office to pick it up but not for an appointment, etc. etc. etc. That way we can like- ease into it!”

“...We?”

Galo scoffed. “What, do you think I’m just gonna leave you to do this yourself? I follow my burning firefighter soul, and right now it’s telling me that you need the man juice!”

Lio stifled a laugh despite himself. “It’s not a bad idea, all things considered.”

“Awesome! I’ll call the doctor as soon as we get back, since you’re staying at my place right now. Oh, and feel free to keep the hoodie! I’ve got plenty. Just stay away from the binder for a few days, ‘kay?”

Lio nodded, neatly folding the binder up and pocketing it in the hoodie. Galo flashed a grin and started to turn away, but Lio called out to him first.

“Wait.”

Galo turned around. “Yeah?”

“Thank you, Galo.”

Galo reached out a hand, then hesitated. Lio said nothing, but he didn’t back away. Galo placed his hand on Lio’s shoulder, and Lio let himself smile.

“Anytime!”

Chapter Text

It had been two days since, well- Lio didn’t know exactly what to consider that day. Either way, things seemed to be somewhat normal again- or as normal as they ever were.

“You know, it’s really hard to make dinner when you’re sitting above me,” said Galo, who was attempting to cut up a tomato while also stirring a pot of unfinished soup.

“The fridge is a perfectly reasonable seat,” said Lio, who was watching Galo while sitting on top of the fridge.

“I haff chfairs. Mlike- six,” said Galo, who had decided against cutting up a second tomato and stuffed the entire thing in his mouth instead.

Lio rolled his eyes, but a small smile tugged at the edges of his lips. “I prefer to be high up.”

Galo snorted and started to say something, but then stopped himself.

“What?”

“I was gonna say something, but you’d probably kill me,” said Galo in a very matter-of-fact manner.

“Ah.”

There was a silence. Lio could practically see Galo’s brain trying to stop the words from tumbling out of his mouth. Finally, he caved and choked back a laugh. “Is it because you’re 5’2?”

“Wh- shut up!”

Galo laughed, pouring the soup into two bowls. “C’mon, we gotta eat.”

Lio gave an exaggerated sigh and climbed off of the fridge, taking a moment to fix his hair. “How do you get your hair to stay in the same place all the time? Mine seems to hate me.”

Galo snorted as he sat down across from Lio at the table. “There’s a reason it takes me so long to get ready in the morning. Which reminds me...” he trailed off, but just as Lio was about to ask if he was alright, he continued. “You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to, but weren’t you, uh... shirtless? Like... before?”

“...Oh. Yeah. Right.” Lio looked away for a moment. “Sort of, yes. It was... like a partial prosthetic. Like a binder, but more advanced. I kind of stole the materials from Kray, but you know.”

Galo laughed and nodded. “You do what you gotta do. But then why...?”

“I wore a binder afterwards because it was the safer option. I had just been avoiding using a binder when I knew I would most likely be in a fight. I’d rather not be outed by my chest.” Lio took a sip of his soup, and Galo nodded.

“Yeah, understandable. I didn’t know Kray’s scientists had that sort of thing. I guess they had a cosmetics branch, so it makes sense that they’d have...” Galo paused. “‘Fake skin’ sounds really bad. You know what I mean.”

“Yeah.” Lio continued eating in silence for a moment, then slowly asked, “does the rest of the Burning Rescue team know you’re...?”

“Trans? Yeah. They’re all chill about it. By the time I joined the team, my top surgery scars had faded, but I told them anyway just in case. I had other people to fall back on, so I decided that if they weren’t accepting, I didn’t wanna work with them anyway. Ignis took a little while to fully understand what I was talking about, but he’s very accepting. They all are,” he said, smiling gratefully.

“Should I tell them?” asked Lio, propping his head up on his hand and scooping the vegetables out of the bottom of the bowl with his spoon.

“You’re asking me?! That’s your choice, not mine!” said Galo, sounding almost offended on Lio’s behalf.

Lio shrugged. “You know them better than I do.”

Galo sighed and nodded thoughtfully. “I say do it when you’re ready. They’ll accept you for sure, but they can wait. You gotta be ready too, y’know?”

“...Okay. In that case, I’ll let you know.”

After a few minutes, the topic of conversation changed, and before long it was starting to get late. Galo went to bed first. Lio noticed that he had managed to maintain a fairly regular sleep schedule even on his days off, which was baffling to him. Most of the Mad Burnish never had anything even remotely close to a sleep schedule, and his brain seemed to still be following that routine. Eventually, he dragged himself into bed, switching the lights off.

He put the hood on Galo’s hoodie over his head, closing his eyes. It smelled like him. His last, fleeting question before he drifted off to sleep was how long he’d known what Galo smelled like. A while, he thought drowsily, because he smells like safety.

#

“Lio, wake uuuuuuupppppp. Lioooooo! ”

Lio opened his eyes to see Galo standing over him, holding an alarm clock. The batteries had been taken out. Lio vaguely remembered doing that, although he couldn’t remember exactly what time in the morning the stupid thing had started its blaring.

“Five more minutes,” he grumbled, turning over in bed.

“How did you manage to wake up, unscrew the battery cover, take the batteries out, and then go back to sleep ?!” asked Galo, his voice sounding simultaneously annoyed and impressed.

“I dunno. Tired,” mumbled Lio.

“Well, c’mon. Gueira’s been at the door for like- ten minutes,” said Galo.

“Wh- huh? Gueira...?” Lio sat up, rubbing his eyes.

“Uh, yeah? The Burnish guy with the cool hair?”

“No, I know who Gueira is, that wasn’t what I meant.“ Lio reached for his binder, which was lying on the nightstand, but Galo grabbed his arm.

“You’re still healing. I can tell him you’re sick,” he said quickly.

“It’s... it’s fine. He knows. I just...” Lio fidgeted with the drawstring of Galo’s hoodie. “I don’t know.”

Both of them jumped at the sound of someone pounding on the door. “AYO!! GALO! BOSS! YOU THERE?!”

Lio sighed and sat up, wincing as his ribs ached slightly from the effort. He was feeling considerably better than how he was for the first couple of days, but it still hurt some to move around. He combed his fingers through his hair, then gave up on trying to fix it and flipped the hood over his head again.

He followed Galo out of the room and over to the front door, where he could hear the sound of footsteps pacing back and forth. He opened the door and was immediately greeted by a familiar face.

“Hey, Gueira.”

“Boss!” Gueira’s voice was a mix of excitement and concern. “You hadn’t texted or anything in a couple days, so I decided to come by to see what was up. Galo was being weird about it,” he said, looking over at Galo.

“No, I wasn’t! I said he was fine!” Galo protested.

“Yeah, which is suspicious. Aina said you both left work in a hurry and that you had the next two days off, but you weren’t at the pizza place. You two are always at the pizza place!”

Lio sighed, shaking his head. “I just... I had a binder on for longer than I should have, that’s all. Don’t worry about me.”

An unreadable emotion flickered across Gueira’s face. “Oh. Okay. Just... just be careful, yeah? Can’t have you collapsing on us.”

Lio nodded. “I will. Thanks, Gueira.”

“Sure thing, boss!” said Gueira. “If you need anything, just shoot me a text. Should I tell the others you have a cold?”

Lio considered for a moment. “No, tell them I’m busy with paperwork. They’re more likely to believe that, seeing as I’ve practically been drowning in it ever since reconstruction started, not to mention the legal things.”

“You got it!” Gueira’s face turned slightly more serious, an expression that was very rarely present with him. “Stay safe, boss. Don’t go putting yourself in danger.”

“I’ll be safe. I think he’d probably lose it if I wasn’t,” said Lio, gesturing to Galo.

“Words of truth!” said Galo with a grin.

“Alright, good! In that case, later!” said Gueira with a wave. “Let me know if you need anything, the other Burnish and I seriously owe both of you for, like, saving us and stuff.”

“We will!” said Galo, waving as Gueira began walking away. “See ya!”

Once Gueira had left, Galo turned to Lio, looking slightly confused. Lio looked up at him.

“What?”

“He still calls you ‘boss,’” said Galo.

Lio nodded. “Yeah, they all do. I guess I never told them to stop. I don’t mind, though- it doesn’t really mean that I’m their leader anymore. It’s more of a nickname than anything now, and it’s nice that they aren’t all reverting to using my full name. That would be like... like if the Burning Rescue team suddenly stopped calling you an idiot.”

“Oh, man. Yeah, that’d be weird. Like they didn’t think of me as a friend anymore,” said Galo.

“Yeah.”

There was a silence as the two of them stood there for a moment, lost in their own thoughts.

“The doctor’s coming tomorrow,” said Galo. “Just a check-up. I asked about the testosterone thing, and they said it shouldn’t be a problem to get you a prescription. I didn’t outright say that you’d been on it illegally, but the phone lady was a Burnish and said she wouldn’t hold it against you.”

“Oh. Thanks,” said Lio. He walked through the front doorway, then leaned on the porch railing, watching a group of bicyclists race past on the sidewalk.

“Yeah, of course.”

There was another silence. This one felt less natural. Lio wanted to say something, but small talk wouldn’t help. Galo seemed to realize this too. He stepped outside and shut the door behind him, then stood next to Lio at the railing.

“This is... this is gonna sound really stupid,” said Galo slowly, “but... you do know why I saved you, right? Because whenever it comes up in conversation, you make it sound like I saved you because I felt obligated to.”

“That was random,” mumbled Lio.

“Yeah, I know. It’s just been bugging me.”

Lio sighed. “I don’t exactly think it was because you felt obligated to, not in that way. But you would’ve saved anyone in that situation. Even Kray. You’re just... like that. Don’t get me wrong, I’m extremely grateful, I just... I don’t know why it’s a big deal that it was me .”

Galo stared. “You think I would’ve done that for anyone ?”

“Well... yes, probably. Am I wrong?”

“Yeah,” said Galo. “If it had been almost anyone else, it probably wouldn’t have even crossed my mind that I could do something. I would’ve tried to get help, or gotten Kray involved. With you, I took a risk. And not the kind that I usually take, either.”

“Why?”

Galo paused. Lio could practically see his brain working to find the right words.

“...I needed you to live.”

“But why didn’t you try to get help? Why was I any different?” asked Lio, staring at the grass as he leaned against the railing. “...Why me?”

“I honestly don’t know what was going through my head at that point,” said Galo. “But if I had to hazard a guess, it was probably because of Kray.”

“Kray? What about him?”

“Well, I had just found out you’d been betrayed by him. I didn’t wanna risk someone else betraying you, too. I couldn’t let you die.”

Lio let out a soft laugh. “You barely knew me.”

“I knew enough,” said Galo with a small smile. “I knew you were brave. And a good leader. And someone who wanted the best for the people you cared about. I knew that you were intelligent, probably much more than me. And, despite the fact that our first impression of each other was... not the best, we got past that. I knew with everything inside me that you were somebody worth saving.”

Lio’s breath hitched in his throat. He hadn’t expected Galo to say something so... deep. Not only that, but... Galo really thought that about him?

“I guess I never really properly thanked you for saving you, did I?” he said slowly. “Thank you, Galo. For saving me, and for...” his eyes glanced upwards to meet Galo’s, “everything else.”

“Yeah, of course.” Galo brushed his bright blue hair out of his eyes and looked at Lio, his usual grin returning to his face. His eyes looked even brighter in the sunlight, so much that they were almost blinding. And Lio couldn’t help but look.

It was in that moment that it suddenly clicked in Lio’s brain. He understood now. He was falling for Galo.

And there was absolutely nothing he could do about it.