It was probably because he wasn’t expecting to see him, but the sight of Kris looking so small and tired in one of Leon’s old shirts that was about five sizes too big for him knocked the air from Remi’s lungs. Kris stopped at the threshold of the doorway of the house when he saw Remi, his eyebrows raising.

“Hi,” Remi mouthed at him, then stroked Stef’s hair. “Hey, hey,” he said soothingly. He hugged her small frame as his mom rubbed her back. “Stef, what’s wrong?”

The people around the barbecue watched with sympathy as Stef hiccuped and pulled away from Remi, wiping her eyes. “You saved my baby boy,” she said. “Thank you.”

Remi glanced awkwardly at Kris, who shrugged. “I was just doing my job, ma’am,” he said. “But it was my pleasure. I’m damned glad we got Kris out of that fire.”

“How many times do I have to tell you not to call me ma’am?” Stef chuckled, relaxing a little.

“Sorry,” Remi said. It was just habit for him to be polite.

Kris shoved his hands into his jeans pockets and offered Remi a small smile. “Thanks,” he mouthed. It was strange seeing him subdued. Ever since he’d come out in high school, he’d been larger than life. Even though Remi hadn’t had much to do with him, it was always obvious when Kris Novak was in the room. He was the life and soul of the party.

Remi’s mom stepped in and wiped Stef’s mascara off her face with her thumb. “Now, now,” she said firmly. She steered her over to a vacant seat and pressed a homemade mojito into her hands.

They had been best friends as long as Remi and Leon had. Remi couldn’t even remember a time when their moms weren’t close. He was glad Stef had someone like his mom to look after her. Even if she was a little overbearing, she cared deeply about the people in her life. After Leon’s dad skipped out on his family several years ago, Stef didn’t have her husband to rely on anymore. But with a best friend like Bettina Washington, she was in good hands.

“Everything’s fine,” Remi’s mom insisted. “Don’t you go stressing yourself out over what might have been.”

“Damn right,” Leon said. “We’re all still here, thanks to Remi. I think that deserves a toast.”

“Here, here,” said Remi’s dad from over by the barbecue. He raised his tongs while everyone else lifted their glasses and bottles. “You’re a real American hero, son.”

Remi didn’t want to burst their bubble while they were being so sweet. That was the closest Clive Washington would ever get to sappy. But that kind of talk made Remi really uncomfortable.

“Honestly, it was a team effort,” he said. He glanced at Kris again. Remi would hate Kris to think he pulled him from that blaze for the glory or anything like that. “We were just doing our jobs.”

Kris placed his glass of cola down on the table and walked over to Remi with his hand out. He was still kind of on the small side, but having seen him half-naked, Remi now knew he was pretty compact under that oversized shirt. Remi wasn’t sure why his brain felt he needed to remember that in this particular moment, but Remi coughed and tried to clear his mind as he shook Kris’s hand.

“Job or not, honey bee,” Kris said, “I’m seriously grateful.” He had a firm shake despite his hand being a lot smaller than Remi’s.

“Take a compliment for once, Remi,” Jamila said with a laugh, bouncing Kendra on her knee. “Besides, aren’t you happy you finally got to do something exciting for once rather than rescuing cats from trees?”

“We heard about that!” Darcy said gleefully. “Dad said Bishop told him you fell into a pool!”

As the party laughed good-naturedly at Remi’s expense, he relaxed a little. For some reason, it was really important to him that Kris didn’t feel like his traumatic experience was a fun day at work for Remi. But Kris was laughing as Darcy recounted Remi’s kitten adventure for those that didn’t already know.

Kris looked more like his usual self as he chuckled along with the story. The purple tips of his white-blond hair meant he always looked that bit extraordinary, but laughing brought the sparkle back to his eyes. It made Remi happy to see that despite going through a tough time, the fire hadn’t burned away his spirit.

“Son,” Remi’s dad called out. “Come give me a hand with these ribs, would you?”

Remi’s dad was the king of the barbecue, despite never caring that much about safety. Remi came over and moved the propane tank to an acceptable distance, hoping his dad didn’t notice. While his dad never had much to offer in the kitchen, as soon as they lit that gas, he was the one in charge. ‘Barbecuing is a man’s job,’ he had always told Remi.

Remi’s dad was a big fan of men’s jobs and women’s jobs. Remi had thought he was just traditional growing up, but when Jamila had Kendra, their dad had jokingly complained a fair amount about ballet classes and everything being pink. He took every opportunity to drop hints that Jamila and Thom needed to get on with having a boy so Remi’s dad would have someone to throw a football with in the backyard.

Remi had made the mistake of suggesting Kendra was probably capable of catching a ball only once. His dad had taken the genuine suggestion as a hilarious joke and moved the conversation onward.

Gender roles were a simple matter, as far as Clive Washington was concerned. He liked that his son was a firefighter and his daughters worked in offices. That suited his world view nicely.

So what did he think of Kris?

Leon was big and tough like Remi, so there had never been a problem with their friendship. But when it became common knowledge that delicate, arty Kris was gay, Remi’s dad had scoffed ‘no surprise there’ and not mentioned the matter again. Remi glanced between his dad and Kris as they plated up meat from the barbecue.

Was Remi’s dad comfortable with Kris’s presence? Or was he okay with Kris being gay because he slotted into that acceptable effeminate category that had been so stereotypical in the media while Remi was growing up? Was Kris the ‘right kind’ of gay or did Remi’s dad dislike him anyway and was just being polite?

Having Kris in their house made Remi desperately want to know. He suspected his dad had opinions on the issue, but Remi couldn’t be confident what they were. In that moment, he wanted to know that his dad was okay with Kris. That his being gay, no matter how he presented it, was okay.

Because he suspected it wasn’t. Deep down, Remi knew a big part of why he had shied away from expressing any bisexual inclinations was due to the fact that it would rile against his dad’s notions of what it meant to be a man. Remi was a tough guy.

Tough guys didn’t kiss other guys.

“That chicken’s catching, Remi.” His dad’s voice cut through his thoughts. Before Remi could look down at the barbecue, Kris looked up, prompted by Remi’s dad, no doubt. So Remi realized the same time as Kris did that Remi had been staring at him.

Shit. Remi felt his cheeks heat up as he hastily used the tongs in his hand to turn the chicken legs. “Sorry,” he mumbled. “I’ll have the burned ones.”

Ava shook her head and raised her hand. “I love burned food right now. This baby has strange taste, I’ll tell you that.”

The group laughed, taking the focus off Remi. But he glanced at Kris again. He didn’t want Kris to think…what exactly? Why had Remi been staring at him? Yeah, Remi didn’t want to think his dad was a bigot, but it was something more than that.

“So, Kris,” Jamila said as she tried to persuade Kendra to try a slice of tomato. “Are you going to be living with Leon until everything gets sorted out?”

Kris shot Leon and Ava a smile when they looked uncomfortable. “No, there isn’t really room for three adults, not with the baby set to arrive any time now,” Kris said. He shrugged and squeezed his mom’s hand. “Mom let me stay on her couch last night.”

Remi’s mom tutted as she bustled around the patio, topping up people’s drinks. “Stef, that apartment is barely big enough for you. Surely you’re not suggesting Kris stays there in the long run? This could take months to sort out, right, Remi?”

Remi blinked in surprise. But he figured he actually was the authority in the group on the matter. “You mean Kris’s apartment?” he asked, flicking his gaze between Kris and his mom. “Uh, yeah. It could be a while before the insurance all gets straightened out. The fire investigation team will need to determine the cause of the blaze. With such a big building and so much destruction on the lower levels, it might take a while.”

Stef shook her head and patted Kris’s hand. “I don’t care if it’s a tight squeeze. Kris doesn’t have a job or a place to live right now. He can stay with me as long as he likes.”

Kris nodded and sighed. “Honestly, I’m just glad to be alive right now,” he said genuinely. “I don’t really mind where I live. Plus, Mom has a great hair dryer,” he added, making the ladies in the party laugh.

Remi should have seen it coming. His mom always had to fix everything, after all. But she spoke before Remi could anticipate her meddling.

“Nonsense. Remi has a spare room. Kris could stay there, couldn’t he, Remi?”

Remi almost dropped his tongs. “What?” he asked.

His mom waved her fingers toward Kris, whose eyebrows had shot up almost into his white-and-purple hair. “You’re not going to let Kris camp out on a couch when he could have a bed and his own room, are you?”

“Oh, no,” Kris spluttered. “I wouldn’t want to impose. Remi literally carried me from a burning building. I couldn’t ask him for any more.”

“Impose?” Remi’s mom repeated with scorn. “Son, you and Leon are practically family. You could stay with us, but wouldn’t you rather stay with someone your own age? Remi doesn’t have enough friends outside the firehouse, anyway.”

“Mom,” Remi growled, trying not to get flustered. “I have friends. But – uh – Kris, of course you’d be more than welcome.” He actually thought it was a terrible idea. As much as he liked Kris and didn’t want him to be couch surfing, the two of them had nothing in common. Living together would most likely be awkward as hell.

Remi’s dad scowled. “I’m sure Kris has friends like him he could stay with, Bettina,” he said, his eyes on the burgers he was flipping. “No need to put Remi out.”

Remi bristled. Friends like him? In other words, other gays.

Remi still wasn’t sure how his dad felt about Kris, whether he actually did have an issue with him because of his gayness. But Remi could take a wild guess and figure out his dad didn’t want Remi to be associated with someone like Kris in case it tainted him. Maybe it was fine for other people to be queer. But Remi’s dad didn’t want his son associated with people like that.

“He wouldn’t be putting me out,” Remi said firmly, meeting Kris’s gaze. “I think that’s a great idea, Mom.”

“That’s really decent of you, buddy,” Leon said. The relief was clear in his voice as he held his girlfriend’s hand and Ava rubbed her expanded belly. “We really wanted to help, but it’s hard.”

Kris shook his head. “Oh honey, I know,” he said to his brother, clearly flustered. “But I couldn’t, Remi. You’re the sweetest, but it’s too much.”

Didn’t he want to stay with Remi? Or was he just being polite?

“Kris is fine to stay with me,” Stef insisted.

But Remi had made up his mind. He could still see his dad shaking his head from the corner of his eye. However, it just spurred Remi on. Plus, his mom was beaming at him. She didn’t care Kris was gay or what people would think of him staying with her son. As frustrating as her meddling could be, in this instance she was right. Remi needed to step up.

“No, Mom’s right. Kris can have his own room. I don’t want any rent, but maybe you can help out a bit with groceries.”

“O-of course,” Kris spluttered. He rubbed the back of his neck and bit his lip. “Goodness gracious me,” he said, hamming up his Texan accent. “You really are my hero, aren’t you, darlin’?”

Remi gave a one-shoulder shrug and tried not to feel embarrassed again. “It’s the right thing to do, isn’t it? I’m happy to help.”

Yeah, he and Kris had nothing in common. Remi had no idea what they would talk about – if it would be awkward as hell or, worse, they would piss each other off within the first week. But damn it, he wasn’t going to back out now. If his dad thought it was only manly to help people when Remi was on the job and their lives were in danger, that was his issue. As far as Remi was concerned, it was just as manly to open his home to someone who was practically family in a time of need.

And if some people got the wrong idea about Kris moving in with Remi because of Kris’s sexuality, that was their problem.

It wasn’t like there was anything between Kris and Remi. Kris didn’t even know about Remi being kind of bi and if he did, he probably wasn’t interested in Remi anyway. Just because they were going to be two queer guys living together didn’t mean anything was going to happen. Remi didn’t feel anything even remotely sexual about Leon’s younger brother, in any case.

Sure. He was cute and had a hell of a lot of style when his clothes hadn’t all been wrecked in a fire. But he was so different from Remi. Remi wasn’t even sure Kris liked him all that much. But right now, he didn’t need a friend. He needed a roof over his head. Remi would try his best and not put his foot in his mouth. Then hopefully the two of them would get along just fine.

The situation would only likely last a couple of weeks if they were lucky. What was the worst that could happen?