By Zephyria 
“What’s going on here?”
Wilkins, who had noticed the commotion, belatedly rushed over. DeAndre hesitated, looking back and forth between the man lying on the ground and the paramedics, before finally speaking.
“Uh, well, you see…”
He hesitated, unsure if he should say exactly what he had seen, when suddenly another guy stepped forward and shouted.
“Miller hit that man!”
Following him, other guys came out one by one to support his claim.
“That’s right, I saw it too! Miller kicked that man!”
“He kicked him in the head while he was down.”
“That man is the owner of this house. I saw him sitting there blankly a little while ago, so why would he be lying here like this? Miller must have done something!”
“Okay, hold on. Alright, I get it. Whoa, whoa, calm down.”
Wilkins soothed the clamoring team members, showing them the palms of his hands. Then, he turned his head towards Grayson, who was standing blankly in the back, and asked.
“Why did you do that? What happened?”
Grayson let out a sigh of disbelief before speaking.
“That man was trying to go into the Fire…”
He had only said that much when jeers and shouts immediately erupted.
“So, you were trying to help again?”
“I thought I was wrong about you, but you’re still the same!”
“You crazy bastard, I’m the crazy one for trusting you!”
Seeing the guys yelling and even throwing punches, Grayson just found it all tiresome.
“Ah, annoying…”
He shook his head, repeating the words that Dane always said. Seeing this, the team members became even angrier and started screaming.
“What? Annoying? A man is dying, and that’s what you say?”
“You’re a crazy bastard, a crazy bastard!”
“It’s a disgrace to have someone like you as a fellow firefighter…”
Ignoring the flood of resentment, Grayson simply turned around and walked away. Amidst the guys who were still shouting, Wilkins’s cry could be heard.
“Alright, alright, everyone stop and let’s finish the remaining tasks. Are you going to stay here all day? We need to clean up and go home! Come on, move! Now!”
The team members grumbled continuously but had no choice but to scatter as ordered. Thanks to that, the noise subsided somewhat. Grayson grabbed a plastic bottle from the fire truck, twisted off the cap, threw it away, and gulped down the water. Only after emptying the bottle in one go did he seem to come to his senses. He looked up at the sun, blurred by the flames, and suddenly remembered.
Ah, I want to kiss Dane.
Desire Me if you can
After finally extinguishing the remaining fire and regaining his senses, Dane tidied up the hoses and then looked around. The man who was always hanging around him was nowhere to be seen.
It doesn’t make sense that someone that big could be so unnoticeable.
After securing the hoses, Dane looked around and spotted DeAndre, approaching him to speak.
“Have you seen Grayson?”
“Who?”
Dane repeated, since he didn’t seem to understand right away.
“Grayson Miller.”
“Ah, Miller? Ah…”
The second exclamation sounded strange. Dane frowned, and DeAndre, who had been hesitating, had no choice but to start talking.
“There was an accident. Well, um…”
“That bastard is really trash.”
Another guy suddenly stepped forward and cursed. Dane, still frowning, looked back and forth between him and DeAndre.
Desire Me if you can
Grayson was sitting far away, staring at the ground. Quite some time seemed to have passed. Was the fire completely extinguished yet?
Dane must have heard about it by now, right?
It was obvious what Dane’s reaction would be. He would curse at him and get angry again. Shit, he cursed under his breath and scratched the back of his head wildly. That’s when he noticed someone’s shadow at the edge of his vision. Grayson raised his head and blinked in surprise. A very tall man was standing there, looking down at him. A tense silence hung in the air for a brief moment. Seeing Dane open his mouth, Grayson anticipated what was coming. He’s definitely going to curse at me…
“What happened?”
Dane suddenly threw out the question.
…Huh?
Grayson wondered if he had misheard. Did he curse at me, but my ears just made up something else?
Of course, that didn’t make sense. As proof, Dane wasn’t angry at all. With the same indifferent expression as usual, he was just looking down at Grayson. As if he genuinely wanted to hear what he had to say. Grayson, who had been staring blankly up at him, opened his mouth a beat late.
“…Didn’t you hear?”
“What happened?”
Dane repeated the same words again. There was no way he hadn’t heard. The team members must have excitedly told him everything in detail, as if what they saw was the whole story. And they must have repeated the same accusations they had hurled at Grayson earlier. But, that must have been the case.
But Dane was still standing in front of Grayson, asking what happened and waiting for an answer. Grayson, looking up at him, slowly moved his lips.
“…That man, he suddenly tried to go into the Fire.”
“So?”
“I was thinking about just leaving him… but then I thought about what Dane would do.”
Dane’s eyes wavered for a moment.
“…You thought about what I would do?”
Grayson nodded at the quiet question.
“I thought you would stop him. So, I grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back, but then that man suddenly got angry and attacked me…”
Dane didn’t rush him to continue and waited. Grayson, watching his expression, continued to speak.
“He tried to hit me, but then he saw the axe and went for it, so I just kicked him to stop him from grabbing it because it was dangerous.”
The confession was over. As Grayson’s voice, which had been calm until then, disappeared, silence returned. Dane was still just looking at him. Grayson, who had been quietly waiting for a reaction, moved his lips.
“Did I… do something wrong again?”
His voice was no different from before. A nonchalant voice as if nothing had happened. But Dane could see it. That Grayson was trembling slightly.
Dane’s eyebrows furrowed. Seeing the corners of his mouth slowly rising along with them, Grayson was momentarily flustered. What was that expression supposed to mean? Was he smiling, angry, or about to cry? As he was feeling confused, Dane reached out his hand. He placed his hand on Grayson’s head, who was just watching him, and gently opened his mouth.
“No, you did well.”
The hand stroking his head was incredibly tender. At that moment, the anxiety and despair that had been filling Grayson’s insides disappeared all at once.
“R-really?”
Dane smiled and nodded at the surprised voice.
“Yeah, you did great. So, don’t worry.”
Following that, he moved the hand that had been stroking his head in front of Grayson.
“Let’s go, we need to tell those idiots the truth.”
But Grayson couldn’t readily take his hand. Looking back and forth between the hand in front of him and Dane’s face, he asked, still half in doubt.
“…You, you believe me?”
“Yeah.”
Dane answered without hesitation to the hesitant question. Following that, he simply offered a reason.
“If it’s you that I know, you wouldn’t have just hit that man. That man must have given you a reason, so you could beat him to your heart’s content.”
“That’s right.”
Grayson’s face gradually brightened.
“Yeah, you’re right. I never hit someone first. It was self-defense!”
“If he was wielding an axe, then it’s self-defense.”
“Right?”
Dane is taking my side. He’s saying that everything I said is right!
Grayson’s cheeks flushed red as he couldn’t contain his excitement. At the same time, his ears were flapping rapidly. Seeing that, Dane smiled and reached out his hand again. Only then did Grayson grab his hand tightly and stand up in one swift motion.
“You said that I would have stopped that man, but that’s wrong.”
Dane said to Grayson, who was facing him. As Grayson paused and looked down at him, he casually added.
“If it were me, I would have kicked the axe away instead of hitting that man. And then I would have secured a witness before hitting him. If you just hit him, you’ll end up like this if you mess up.”
Following that, he looked at Grayson with a face full of laughter.
“Now you’re just going to be bothered by being called to the committee. Too bad.”
Dane’s face was full of playfulness. Like a child teasing a troublemaking classmate who was getting into trouble. Seeing that expression, Grayson also relaxed and laughed.
“Nathaniel will have to take care of the lawsuit. I’m Miller.”
Confirming that he had returned to his usual self, Dane lightly patted Grayson’s back and took the first step. As he followed behind, Dane, who had gone ahead towards his colleagues, shouted loudly to call them.
“Hey, you bastards. You’re spouting nonsense without even knowing what’s going on…”
The guys, who were almost done with the cleanup and preparing to go back, stopped in confusion at Dane’s shout. Grayson slowly moved forward, watching Dane, who had lightly run over to them, saying something to them.
…Oh.
It felt like something was stirring inside his chest. A feeling like a warm flower was blooming inside his chest. The feeling of that flower spreading throughout his body made his head go blank.
It’s Dane.
Grayson gave a name to that flower he was feeling for the first time.
This is Dane.
“Come over here, Grayson. These idiots want to apologize.”
Just then, Dane turned around and shouted at him. Flowers bloomed on Grayson’s cheeks as well. With a face flushed red, Grayson nodded. His face was brightly smiling as he ran towards Dane.