【GaloLio】The way home

※The timeline after Lio joined Burning Rescue.

-

At first he thought it was just a dream, until the wet and itchy touch on his fingers lasted for a while and became more and more real, Leo opened his eyes suddenly, and quickly jumped up from the comfortable sofa in the headquarters of the Flame Fire Brigade. Gallo and Aina who were sitting opposite him were startled.

"What's the matter, Leo?" The young man stood up and was about to walk over, but the white object on the ground attracted his attention, "Wow, it's a cat!"

"Oh? When did you come in?" Aina squatted down curiously. The snow-white cat didn't flinch. It curled up at Leo's feet and licked her paws. Waking up from sleep.

The disturbed boy's expression softened obviously. He tentatively stretched out his hand to scratch the white cat's chin. The little animal raised its head and narrowed its eyes enjoying it.

"This cat is too powerful. It was silent when it came in." Gallo was about to take a closer look, but the white cat subconsciously flinched a few inches.

Aina glanced at the young man teasingly: "It seems that the radiation range of Gallo Timos doesn't include cats."

"Huh?" The young man raised his eyebrows, full of doubts.

Aina stopped talking and began to evaluate the cat: "Although there is no collar, the fur is very clean." She lifted the white cat's front paws and pinched them. "The nails are not long, and they are very friendly. What about the stray cat. I'll make a claim notice, if there is an owner, I will definitely be very worried." The girl stood up, turned and walked towards the workbench.

Leo said "thank you" to the girl full of action, and the white cat followed with a "meow" as if imitating his greeting.The teenager smiled and hugged the white cat into his arms. The little creature didn't struggle at all, and stared back at him with round and moist purple eyes.

Gallo, who was left out in the cold, was not dissatisfied with this. After all, the scene of a good-looking person holding a good-looking cat is naturally beautiful.

-

For the Flame Fire Brigade, whose mission is to put out fires, save residents' lives, and protect public and private property, this temporarily unclaimed white cat has obviously enjoyed good treatment.

Remy only told the team members to be careful not to damage the public property, which was a tacit consent to the arrival of this uninvited guest. Varys instructed Leo to prepare the cat's favorite food-cat food made of a mixture of salt-free salmon and canned chicken.Only Rukia's pet mouse, Winnie, is on the verge of a formidable enemy. When she finds the existence of the white cat, she is so frightened that she hides directly in the owner's bun.

However, the cat's habits are peculiar. It doesn't show much interest in living things such as mice or the sparrows that occasionally inhabit by the window of the lounge. On the contrary, it prefers to stay around people.It occasionally walks around at the feet of members of the fire brigade, and most of the time it huddles on the far right side of the sofa—the corner where Leo is used to sitting—quietly observing the humans around him, or sleeping.

Gallo tried to approach the white cat with cat food, but even if the food was present, he didn't always pay attention to it. He usually leaned over to sniff a few times, and waited until the young man took a few steps back before coming forward to eat, with a very proud attitude. .But if it is replaced by Leo, it will succeed every time.

The closeness of small animals to juveniles is not limited to feeding.

When the firefighters are on standby in every corner of the headquarters, Leo usually reads on the sofa in the lounge or checks the reports for other team members-the far right side of the sofa that remains unchanged-the white cat will climb up the boy's legs and tiptoe Go back and forth on it twice, then get down on your stomach and start snoring.

Gallo was sitting across from Leo doing light weight training with dumbbells. When he saw this scene, he stopped and sat down next to the boy. He leaned his head on the sofa and carefully looked at the boy's eyelashes. They were long and golden. Like being able to hang tiny petals.

"Like a little prince."

A sentence that blurted out without even thinking about it was probably the most apt metaphor Gallo could find in his limited romantic dictionary.

The young man turned his head, saw the blank expression on the other side, and asked, "What about Gallo? A brave knight with a fire-extinguishing soul?" After speaking, he laughed out loud.

The young man felt that there were really golden petals falling down near those eyes, like magic.

He put down his legs crossed on the sofa, sat closer to the boy, and took the boy's hand that was stroking the cat to observe carefully: "Is there any magic in Leo's hand? Why are small animals willing to take the initiative?" So close? Even Pooh." He remembered the intimacy the little mouse showed when he first met Leo, and the big dogs in the neighbors who got along very well with him, but if Leo was present, he would run to the boy first. Wagging his tail to show his favor, even though Gallo was holding the strongest bait of ground beef.

"I don't know," the boy put down the book in his hand, thoughtfully, "I've gotten along well with animals since before, maybe it's a side effect of Promea."

Gallo looked at Leo's frank smiling face, and felt that this was probably the strongest and most tenacious part of the boy. He was talking about Promea - the proof of the identity of the burner, which used to allow him to freely manipulate the flames, but now it has disappeared. When you do your best, you can show such calmness and not timidity.

"Some scientists seem to have said that animals can instinctively judge whether a human's smell is good or evil," Gallo raised the boy's hand towards the ceiling light, the edges of the white skin were semi-transparent, and the position of the knuckles was often A thin callus formed on the maintenance machine, "It seems quite reasonable."

"Really," the young man clasped the young man's thick palm with his backhand, and moved his cheek close to the young man, "What about you, do you also judge the smell of good and evil?"

"Of course, my uncle's reflexes are stronger than animals." The young man proudly raised the corner of his mouth, held the boy's chin with the other hand, rubbed it gently with his fingers, and then kissed his soft lips.

-

The white cat just stayed in the fire brigade headquarters.

The notice that Ina made and posted nearby two weeks ago is curled and yellowed, and the cat remains unclaimed.So after work one day, several people seriously discussed whether to leave the cat or not.

"Do you want to put a collar on it, and then everyone in the fire brigade will raise it together." Varys obviously has the most love for small animals.

"The nature of our work is not suitable for keeping pets. There are many responsibilities for keeping cats for a long time." Seeing that Lucia voted against, Gallo asked, "Oh, don't you just keep Pooh?"

"Because Pooh doesn't need special care," Lucia replied confidently, "just prevent it from getting too fat." The little mouse on her shoulder squeaked in pride or protest.

Remy suggested sending the cat to Love Pet Shop, but Aina gave Gallo a quick look and said, "This cat is closest to Leo, should Leo decide?"

The boy who was called was stunned, looked at the little creature hovering beside his calf, and thought for a while: "I don't think...you don't need to trap it, let it come and go freely, just go where it wants to go During this period of time, we didn’t give it much extra care, did we?” Except for preparing simple food and bathing the white cat a few times, the small animals did not invade their daily life too much. It's just a state of being "in here" and "out there".

No one objected, so everything was back to square one for the time being.

After changing the uniform of the fire brigade and closing the locker, Leo prepared the cat's food for the night in the tea room, and Gallo, who was juggling the motorcycle keys with his fingers, leaned on the sofa behind him and waited.

Even at night, the headquarters of the fire brigade is brightly lit. Once there are fewer people, the lounge will look a little empty and lonely.

The boy walked up to the cat curled up on the floor on the right side of the sofa, squatted down, and gently scratched its neck. The little creature squinted its eyes obediently.

Gallo looked down at the squatting little back of the boy, his eyes fixed on the shaggy lime-blond hair and the slender nape of the neck, and he suddenly moved.He walked behind the boy and squatted down, touched the neck with his big and thick palm, and then moved up little by little, almost covering the boy's entire head.

"What's wrong?" Leo asked in a low voice without turning his head.

"Ah—the hand stretched out automatically for some reason." The young man ran his fingers through the boy's hair and stroked it lightly. "Leo's hair is very soft and feels like a cat's hair."

"Haha, what?" The boy smiled and pulled his hand away from the cat's chin. He fell back and fell firmly into the young man's timely extended arms.

-

Strange to say, on the second day after they discussed whether to officially adopt the white cat, the little animal left the lounge and ran outside as usual in the afternoon, but it did not appear again that night or the next day.

At first, everyone in the fire brigade guessed that the cat might have walked too far and lost its way. After several days of patrol work, they would deliberately detour and search the vicinity again, but to no avail.

They were a little worried and lost, and even Pooh seemed to lose his appetite because of the loss of a natural enemy with no aggressive intentions.But that white cat doesn't belong to anyone here, and doesn't have any identification. Even if it's gone, everything will just return to its original state.So under the pressure of busy work and life, everyone gradually stopped mentioning it, including Leo who was very close to the white cat.

This is a very common thing.

But Gallo Timos doesn't seem to think so.When going in and out of the tea room at the headquarters, he would stare at the far right corner of the sofa from time to time—the little white cat that no longer appeared likes to nest and observe the position of humans the most.

When he saw Leo walk into the lounge from the shower room, the young man suddenly said, "It really didn't appear again."

"Um?"

"I mean, that white cat from before." Gallo put down the energy drink in his hand and gestured to the size of the small animal.

"Maybe it was because we heard we said that we wanted to keep it in captivity, so it used its instinct to escape first. Animals prefer freedom." The boy said this in a calm tone. On the sofa, he walked up to Jia Luo, and waved his palm in front of the young man: "...How come Jia Luo looks more lost than me."

"I think that cat... looks a bit like Leo."

"Are you going to talk about my hair again?" The boy blinked.

"..." Gallo didn't answer.

If only it was hair.The youth thought to himself.The cat suddenly came into the sight of everyone in the fire brigade, no one knew where it came from, and then disappeared after being together for a period of time, and no one knew where it went.And then no one will mention it anymore—and probably will no longer think of it in the near future.

——It’s like a metaphor.

There were only the two of them in the lounge, and no one spoke.Leo just watched him quietly.

In fact, Gallo couldn't explain the wonderful "like losing something" emotion, obviously he didn't pay much affection for that little animal.

...Maybe it's because of the shape.The white cat has soft fur and bright purple eyes. Its eyes are quiet and moist. It walks around people, but most of the time it shrinks in a fixed corner and observes the surroundings. It is neither aggressive nor intimate. people.That gesture occasionally reminded him of the young man beside him—that is, that kind of... the young man with a straight mind was basically stuck thinking about this.

He suddenly opened his arms towards Leo, using his hips as a fulcrum to lift up the slender body. Because of his physique and physical strength, this movement was not strenuous.

The young man, who was more or less used to this, was not surprised, raised his arms around his shoulders, pressed his steamy forehead against the other party, and asked suspiciously, "What's the matter, showing such an expression."

Gallo just raised his chin and didn't answer.

Leo curled up his legs, adjusted his position slightly in the other's strong embrace, touched the young man's dazzling blue hair, and then touched his cheek and chin.When the four eyes meet, the eyes are unconsciously stained with a lot of warmth and nostalgia.

"Are you worried that I will disappear suddenly too?" The corner of the boy's mouth rose.

"Not exactly that..." Gallo paused, and changed his words angrily, "Maybe."

"Gallo Timos, you...you are such an idiot," Leo said, holding his arms tightly with both hands, leaning his head against his neck, breathing gently against his skin, "maybe It has found where it wants to go."

"...Is that so?"

"Yeah." The boy closed his eyes and rubbed his neck lightly.

-Fin-

-

postscript:

1. Afterwards, it was discovered that Vice Captain Remy used his powerful search capabilities to find the owner of the white cat on social media (laughs)

2. I like Gallo Timos, who unconsciously reveals his desire for exclusivity and stubbornness (seriously)