Ravi burst out of his last meeting of the morning, a myriad of Huseda's instructions still wheeling through his head. He had the territory's longest checklist on his slate, an overflowing schedule, and one thousand decisions to make. And he felt lighter than air. He soared on Yorune-level energy.

Striding through the halls of the ziggurat, he did his best to ignore the wide-eyed stares and fluttering whispers all around him on his way to the elevator. It was weird being recognized by strangers in the week that had followed the announcements. But it had been undeniably awesome to call his mother after his formal commission and listen to her triumphant and very incoherent shouting at having seen the broadcast. She'd visit soon, and he'd get to show her the lightship. And more importantly, she'd meet Lio.

Anticipation and nerves spilled into his stomach like twinkling foam. Goddess, she was going to fucking love Lio. He couldn't keep from bounding out of the elevator as soon as the doors retracted, skidding across the marble of the ziggurat's main floor. People opened the doors for him like he was a Commissioner. The Fennec region heat pelted him as soon as he was outside, but three more strides carried him to his waiting hov and the cool embrace of air conditioning.

The ride back out of Raffaret and up into the mountains was long, but nowhere near long enough for all the tasks he needed to accomplish. He bent over his slate, fingers flying, only pausing to review an occasional update missive from Jossen. The crew was hard at work on the site that was to be their new home. And apparently, taking too many snack breaks for Jossen's liking.

A flurry of construction had extended the old mag lane directly up to the ridge where Opalina had once been hidden in the mountain. Their new home base was closer to Wrath's Mirror, and Yorune had started blueprints for an extensive complex of labs and residences. For the time being, they were staying in a set of spacious and slightly overdecorated trailers sent directly from the capital. As Duhar liked to say, they were fancy people now.

Clambering out of the hov and down to the site where the crew was at work, Ravi was pleased to see that his fancy people had made progress. He took a dirt ramp down into a deep pit and followed the line of a sturdy sandbag wall. Nearly ran into Teres hauling a pair of fresh bags.

"Com, welcome back!" She slung the bags down and wedged them into their place in the row. "How was your meeting?"

"Which one?" Ravi gave her a wry smile. "I've got plenty to fill everyone in on. But it looks like you've all been productive without me." They walked together, turning a corner to see Orvaska and his sister each slapping a sandbag into place. An arm's length beyond them, a sloppy pile of bags devoured where the rest of where the wall should have been.

Ravi's eyebrows lifted. "What happened with this part?"

Teres rolled her eyes. "That's Lio and Aziri's section, and they've spent all their time arguing about how to move sandbags faster instead of actually, y'know, moving sandbags."

"You should not stand there, Com," Onfenka said, leaning around Teres.

Ravi stepped out of the area she indicated. "Why n—"

"Incoming!" Lio's distant screech provided a nanosecond's alert before a sandbag sailed out of the blue overhead and thudded down where he'd been standing. "

"Got it," Ravi said, eying the sandbag at his feet. He barreled back toward the nearest ramp and up out of the pit, just in time to see Lio and Aziri wrestling another sandbag into what looked like a catapult.

"Hey, assholes!" he bellowed, before they killed someone.

Lio straightened and shaded his eyes with one hand, grinning like a fool. And in spite of himself, an answering expression lit up Ravi's face and his tingling limbs and his aching heart as he closed in on Lio. At least until he remembered he had to start a lecture on the safety hazards of sandbag projectiles.

He donned a glower and crossed his arms. "Aziri, Lio, why is your part of the wall so unfinished?"

Immediately, Aziri pointed at Lio. "It was your boyfriend's fault."

Ravi concentrated on not blushing. He and Lio had told the entire crew about their relationship as soon as they all left the Commissioners. There had been an embarrassing lack of surprise, and no small amount of teasing. He was never going to get them to shut up about how they were apparently so obvious even Jossen had picked up on it.

Lio's mouth popped open. "How dare—Aziri, we came up with this idea together! Both of us!" He turned back to Ravi. "Not of all of us are malfing muscle-bots like Orvaska and Teres. Those sandbags are heavy, and we thought there must be a better way to move them."

"Yeah." Ravi pointed behind them to the neat piles of supplies they'd organized earlier. "Like that wheelbarrow."

Lio and Aziri both looked at the innocuous wheeled cart, and then back at their completely unnecessary death-by-sandbag contraption.

Orvaska's voice floated from the pit. "It would not work, Com. Because Aziri has back problems. And many other problems. So many."

"Shut up, Orvaska, or I'll bean you with a sandbag!" Aziri roared.

"Okay," Ravi cut in. "I think you've probably flung enough sandbags around. Get down there and fix the mess you've made of the flood barrier."

He watched them march toward one of the ramps, still bickering and poking each other. Ravi let his helpless grin reemerge and trotted off to locate Yorune.

It was evening by the time they hiked back to where the trailers waited near the Amphitheater. His boisterous crew traipsed to the sprawling mess hall, while Ravi pulled Yorune and Jossen into the muster room trailer they were using until the systems tests on the lightship were completed. He meant for it to be a quick conversation on upcoming plans, but by the time they finished, dinner was over and it was well and truly dark. Ravi brought his slate to the empty mess hall and kept working while he wolfed down cold leftovers.

Scrolling through his task list, he ambled out of the mess hall. He'd accomplished a few things today, undoubtedly. But he still needed to respond to an unholy amount of missives and send an adjusted copy of the construction blueprints to the Commissioners and follow up with the coms from the support units soon to arrive and he'd promised to review Yorune's proposal for a gigantic lightning attractor before it went to the Archcom.

Maybe he should be nervous. Or overwhelmed. But somehow, the thought of everything he needed to do thrilled him. It felt like riding the crest of a propulsive wave. And he liked tackling things that no one had ever done before. No day was ever the same.

On instinct, he glanced over to where the immense lightship was parked in the middle of the Amphitheater. It was a dark, smooth silhouette against the backdrop of the star scattered night sky. Far less intimidating than it used to be.

Ravi stopped walking when he noticed someone sitting on the lip of rock at the edge of the Amphitheater. He tucked his slate away in a pocket and crossed out of the circle of trailers.

"Hey," he said, once he was close enough for Lio to hear him. "Are you talking to the ship again?"

Lio started and swiveled around on the rock. "Oh, hello!" He shook his head furiously. "Nope, definitely not sitting here chatting to a lightship. That would be absurd. What a silly thought. I'm far too serious a person for such foolishness. Obviously."

Ravi slid down next to him, his leg brushing Lio's. No matter how many times he did this, it always sent sparks rolling beneath his skin. He would never be entirely immune to Lio's touch, and he didn't want to be.

"Well, don't let me get in the way of whatever incredibly serious business you're conducting, Alior."

Lio's glance dashed from him to the lightship. "Shh," he stage-whispered, eying the ship. "The guy I was telling you about is here now. We have to stop talking about him."

Ravi snorted and leaned over to kiss Lio's cheek. "You and the ship better be saying good things."

"Always," Lio murmured. His palm curved against Ravi's cheek, tilting him into a soft, lingering kiss that dissolved every single thought in his head other than getting as close as possible to Lio.

When they finally eased apart, he tucked his head against Lio's shoulder and sighed. "I missed you today."

"Really? As I recall, you spent a large portion of the afternoon yelling at me." A grin glittered in Lio's voice.

"C'mon, you were firing sandbags around like a failed target practice, and then you almost set Rosareen's hair on fire with the—"

"That was an accident!" Lio poked him. "Can we please return to the topic at hand?"

Ravi snatched up his poking finger and kissed it. "Which was?"

"You being desperate for me all day." Lio dragged his finger back and forth across Ravi's bottom lip, and Goddess help him, his bones might've melted a little.

"I think I said I missed you, not that I was desperate." His damn ragged voice betrayed him.

Lio nipped the side of his neck and then his lips were hot against Ravi's ear. "Need a little help getting desperate, do you?"

"I..." He closed his eyes against the sensation of Lio hand slipping up under his shirt. Whatever authority he managed to summon during the day completely deserted him at night. His blood pulsed too hard through him. "Work," he whimpered. "I still have work...I need..."

Another kiss stole the rest of his attempt to be responsible. Lio's hand crept down to stroke the very evident sign that Ravi did not want to do any work at all for the rest of the night.

"Were you about to say you need to get fucked up against the wall of a shower?" Lio purred. "Because I had the same thought."

Fuck, Lio had picked up too quickly on his weakness for messing around in showers. The thought of being soaking wet and vulnerable and pinned against a wall combined with the heat of Lio's hand palming his dick through his uniform was irresistible. Ravi almost keeled backward right there. Missives and blueprints could wait.

"Yes." It came out half a gasp. "Yes, that is exactly what I was going to say. Please do that."

Lio laughed and stood, reaching out both hands to help him up. Ravi slung his arm around Lio's shoulders as they walked, and by the time they made it to his trailer, he was so lost in kissing it took him several tries to find the door.

Buthe did find it and even managed to get it open. Epic feat, considering the wayLio was distracting him. The door to the rest of his night, and the rest of hislife. Ravi didn't wait. Laughing, breathless, giddy, he stepped in and pulledLio over the threshold, into his arms.