Galo Thymos had been under many stressful situations in his life. He's been imprisoned by someone he admired, piloted a giant robot to save the world, and even set the whole world ablaze, antithetical to his fundamental firefighting ideals. But now, he was stressed out about finding a good gift for the man that had set his heart ablaze: Lio Fotia.
It had been a year since the whole Parnassus incident and they had gotten to know each other better. And during that time, Galo's birthday had come to pass. The whole Burning Rescue team had gathered to celebrate it. They had pizza instead of a cake (candle and all), played a couple rounds of their favorite video game and gave some gifts to him as well. Remi gave him a nice little cologne bottle, Varys gave him a new set of weights for home exercise, Aina gave him some gloves for riding his bike, Lucia told him he'd get hims some new upgrades on his mech, Ignis gave him some shades, but the gift that impacted Galo was Lio's.
It came in a simple, black little box. Galo had looked at it for a second.
"Are you proposing?" Galo said jokingly.
"Just open it," Lio answered.
Galo did. And it was wonderful. It was a necklace with a glass matoi. Galo stared at it, inspecting it as it glinted in the afternoon sun.
"Is it alright? I can change it if you would-" Lio spoke but was interrupted by Galo's large hug.
"Thank you, it's perfect," Galo simply answered. Lio hugged back. Galo was unaware, but Lio was silently celebrating in his mind.
"Mhm" Ignis cleared his throat. Both of the idiots realized that they were hugging in front of the team and so decided to stop doing so.
"When's your birthday?" Galo asked on their way back to their apartment.
"June 17th, why do you ask?" Lio asked, hanging tight to Galo as they went through the streets of Promepolis.
"No reason" answered Galo. But he did have a reason. He was going to give Lio the best present he could get him. That small token of the glass matoi had meant everything to him. Their souls had been fused once, but it still felt like there was a connection, and he wanted to honor it.
Before it was a small flame, but with that gift, with that spark, Galo's feelings turned into a wildfire. Galo now more than ever, seeked out Lio.
He seeked out his fluffy hair, his eyes, the way he said "idiot" in such a playful manner, the way he would actively listen when Galo rambled on about any topic. He seeked Lio in his entirety. Even with his stubbornness, his way of overworking himself each waking hour, his temper, and his intense love of spicy food.
And Lio seemed to seek him out too. He hugged Galo and seemingly only him. He only really fell asleep around Galo. Lio seemed to trust him no matter what. He would let his walls down when they were alone, sharing pizza and watching an action movie. There, Lio would still be Lio, but be more open, more willing to relax and not have to be the representative for all the Ex-Burnish.
But Galo didn't want to possibly betray that trust. What if all this openness came from a place of friendship rather than something else? What if all these signs had been misread? He didn't want to ruin what they have. He didn't want to taint the memories of the movie nights. He didn't want to ruin that time they went to the hills and had a nice picnic. He didn't want to scorch these memories with the perhaps unrequited love for Lio.
So the perfect gift would have to do. All this burning love would have to forge the perfect gift. And it would be satisfied, hopefully.
But the days had gone by, faster and faster, until Galo realized that he now only had a week to solve what to give Lio Fotia. All that pining had left him with little time to give the perfect gift to the target of his affectations.
With the clock against him, Galo went to the only place that could possibly give him answers: Meis and Gueira.
He found them where they usually worked helping out Ex-Burnish with food and shelter. He approached them as they were finishing helping out a mother and her daughter.
"Yo Galo!" Gueira shouted.
"Hey Galo! What's up?" Meis shouted as well, noticing Galo's saddened disposition.
"Hi guys, I have… a bit of a problem"
"Well, what is it?" Gueira asked
"See, I really wanna give Lio something truly special. Something perfect! But I only have a week to figure it out! So I wanna ask you guys for any ideas since you were his generals when you were the Mad Burnish"
Both of them stared at Galo for a minute before looking at each other. In those moments, with their brains combined, they figured out the puzzle.
See, they had noticed the stares, the extended contact and the comfort that Lio particularly had with Galo. Lio had even asked them to help him brainstorm the perfect gift for Galo. They had looked around until they found a glass blower that could make incredibly complex designs. They had even asked Lio : "why go through all this trouble for a birthday gift?".
"I just…" Lio had said "I want to give him something perfect because he was the perfect gift that the universe gave me. Because even though he only picks action movies whenever we do movie nights, he lets me pick which one. Because he's always there when I need him. Because even though he does not make me whole, he compliments me and I compliment him. But I don't want to ruin it all, so I'll simply give him this as a token of all these feelings"
Back in the present, Galo stared at them confused as to why they were staring at each other for a solid minute.
"So…will you help me?" Galo asked cautiously.
"ABSOLUTELY" They both said as they hopped on their motorcycles "We might have just the thing"
Galo hopped on his own bike, trusting the chaotic duo to lead him to the perfect gift. Through the semi-destroyed city of Promepolis they went on, going through some of the debris of the Parnassus ship, the death machine that had promised the salvation of humanity. It gave all of them chills as they passed by. But eventually, after several odd turns and "shortcuts", the three riders arrived at their destination.
Galo looked at the shop and stared in awe. It was…perfect! Why hadn't he thought of it before? He ordered the gift, waited, and finally grabbed it three days before the big day.
Those three days were painful for Galo. He had gotten the gift, but now he had to keep it a secret. He couldn't tell Lio about it and he had to hide it well so that he wouldn't accidentally find it. But he managed to do so without any real hiccups.
The day arrived, and they once again celebrated at Burning Rescue headquarters. This time, it was celebrated with a cake, a spicy chocolate cake but a cake nonetheless. This time, it was a bit of a calmer party but people still had fun. And it was finally time for the presents.
Galo's heart was beating like crazy. It was as if his heart itself wanted to leap out of his chest. But he was able to maintain it within its body once it was his turn to give a gift.
He took a little black box from his coat.
"Are you the one proposing now?" Lio joked.
"No, but…" Galo said, opening the box, revealing a glass ring with the design of the dragon that Lio had created during the Parnassus incident, tears and all.
"... it is a ring" Galo finished the thought. He suddenly felt something hugging near his waist. He looked down and there was Lio, hugging him.
"Thank you, it's beautiful," Lio said, looking at Galo with watery eyes.
Ignis signaled the rest of the gang to leave the two idiots alone, some of them exchanging money due to fulfilled bets.
They were in each other's embrace, not wanting to let go, not wanting to ruin the moment. Both of them wanted to stay silent, move on with their feelings and not risk what they had. But Lio took a leap of faith.
"Galo, can I ask you something?"
"Sure, what is it?"
"I… this may sound strange but you are the sun to my moon. You make my days seem brighter and every day I spend with you is a day well spent. So, do you want to take a chance on me? Do you want to be together?"
Galo grabbed Lio's hands and paused for a moment. Lio was terrified, he thought it was all over. Then Galo lowered himself, looking directly into his eyes.
"Yes! A million times yes!"