video | un: fotia

[burningfree]

[Lio had never really used the video feature on his phone before, but he figured this was probably the best way to showcase his, uh, problem.

So he was laying down, with his phone pointed down at his face, and he looked absolutely miserable. His face was bright red, dark circles under his eyes, and his hair was stuck to his forehead with sweat. Anyone could tell just by looking at him that he had a nasty looking fever.]

Hey. [He swallowed, his mouth dry and his voice all nasally.] Something's wrong. I'm somehow burning hot and freezing cold at the same time, and I can't breath through my nose. I thought I was just tired this morning but it's getting worse. I think I might be dying.

[Of course, in actuality, Lio Fotia had gotten sick for the first time since childhood, and he didn't know what was going on. Galo was out at the moment, otherwise he wouldn't have bothered with a network post and would have just grabbed him, but being slightly delirious, this was his next best idea.]

Comments

[burningfree]

Galo's been teaching me most of these things...

[Galo was a saint for putting up with Lio's ignorance on this kind of stuff, in fact.]

Being sick is like... [Lio made a face as he thought about it. He barely knew how to describe it...] Something happens to your body that isn't supposed to happen. You don't feel right, and I guess most of the time it's caused by some kind of germ....

I don't know. I've never been sick before.

[terribletwos]

galo. wait, i know a galo. i met him during a fight with those weird cultists. are you the friend who didn't want him to go there/

[ Sorry he got totally distracted from the germ talk. ]

[burningfree]

[Whoa, someone he hadn't mentioned Galo to before? What were the odds of that?

Lio looked a bit bashful at the memory of Galo defying his wishes.]

Ah, yeah. I wasn't aware you were there with him. I hadn't explicitly asked him not to go, but I'd made it clear that I didn't support the attack on those people. I chewed him out for it afterwards, especially since he'd managed to get himself badly hurt.

[Lio furrowed a brow, biting the corner of his lip.]

... He called me a friend? Was that during the fight?

[terribletwos]

[ Roxas cocks his head at that bashful reaction, not that Lio can see through a text-based connection. ]

yeah, he said something about you having bad experiences with people like the moon knights.

he might have used partner. but it's the same, right/ my best friends and me are also partners.

[burningfree]

[Oh, if it had been during the fight, that was before...

Had Galo already been calling him his partner before they'd made it official...? Hah, the blush on Lio's face was probably noticeable, as his heart fluttered in his chest. Well, they'd already been acting like a couple even before they finally kissed. Still, that was sweet.]

No, it's not the same for us. A lot of people are like you and use it platonically - to mean friends or coworkers or business partners.

For us, we're romantic partners. He's my boyfriend.

[terribletwos]

why are you surprised by him using it then/

[ Though he's never heard Kairi or Sora refer to each other that way. Or even Axel and Isa. ]

[burningfree]

We weren't together yet, when he left to join that fight. It wasn't until after he got home that I told him how I felt...

[Well, more like showed him.]

... I think we were both pretty obvious, to be fair. He can be pretty thick-skulled but he's good at picking up on other people's emotions. Maybe that's why he called me that.

Were you looking out for him during the attack?

[terribletwos]

he doesn't have a great fighting strategy. i was trying to draw attention away from him.

[ He's nice enough to not give away that Galo had been trying to take on the cultists with little more than his fists. ]

it's nice you were able to tell him your feelings though.

[ Not that Roxas really understands romantic love fully yet. ]

[burningfree]

Yeah, you don't have to tell me twice... his fighting strategy tends to be rushing in and hoping for the best. At least back home he had his gear to protect him and help him fight, and a team he fought with, but here he's naked and only has me.

[Maybe for the best... probably not a great idea to give Galo a mech suit with no oversight. Galo really did work best with his whole team - Lio had seen as much when they'd performed rescue operations in the aftermath of the Parnassus disaster. Though of course there was something to be said for his partnership with Lio as well.]

Mm... I tried not to admit it to myself at first. We had too much going on, back home, for me to get caught up in something like that. But it was impossible to ignore once we got here.

[terribletwos]

[ Yep, that is exactly what he did. ]

gear/

and why wouldn't you want to admit it/ i thought love's supposed to make people happy.

[burningfree]

Yeah, gear. Galo was part of a fire rescue squad, and had to contend with burnish like me. Normal humans don't really stand a chance against burnish, so units like his would use mechanical gear to protect them.

And like I said, there was a lot going on... I've been too busy for romance for several years now, leading the burnish and keeping them safe, and things got only more complicated after I met Galo.

But being in this place, separated from all the responsibilities I had back home... I think made it easier for me to stop ignoring it.

[terribletwos]

sounds like the stuff engineer likes to mess with.

yeah, i think it's been that way for a lot of people. it's easier to focus on personal stuff when you don't have to worry too much about constantly fighting.