I
“So, what happens now?” asked Hernando once they pulled apart from their three-way hug.
“We're going home,” Lito replied.
“Dani?”
Before she could answer, Lito added, “she’s coming with us.”
Hernando frowned, slightly confused. Dani took that as her cue, “maybe we could swing by my apartment? You can drop me off and have your reunion alone.”
“Joaquin will look for you there,” Lito said.
“I just— I don’t wanna impose.”
Hernando gently put his hand on Dani’s arm. “Dani, let us take care of you.”
After a squeak, she said, smiling as bright as the sun, “I still need clothes.”
“Fine. So it’s settled, we pick up some of your things, maybe takeout too?” Hernando looks at Lito at that. “But first, we need to get you cleaned up.”
II
“I want you to move in with me,” Lito counted three heartbeats before he continued. “Permanently.”
Hernando turned in his direction, forgetting about the veggies on his cutting board. “Are you sure?”
“I am.”
“What about Dani?”
“Oh, you know her. She comes and goes as she pleases. Like a cat.”
“I heard that!” she called from the living room.
Lito felt himself smile. “See? She’s on board.”
“You’re not gonna be able to send me away when reporters come looking for you,” he countered.
“I don’t care about the paparazzi. I only care about you.” Hernando lowered his head, bashful. “Besides, you already spend most of your time here anyway. You can stop paying rent once and for all.”
“I just renewed the lease a couple of months ago.”
Lito, thinking that Hernando was having second thoughts, added, “you don’t have to do it if you don’t want to.”
“Oh, I do. I want to.”
“Then it’s settled,” Lito said, crossing the distance to finally kiss Hernando.
III
“This is insane. You can’t go out there,” said Dani from the backseat. “Fuck these pirañas!”
Lito kept his eyes facing front, where the graffiti read ‘faggot’ in bright white paint.
“Come to my house,” she added. “You took me in. Let me help you.”
He honked to get the photographers to move, but they didn’t budge; if anything, it seemed to make them more determined. Lito backed the car back into the road, not caring if he hit anyone in the process, made a semi-illegal turn, and then he was on his way.
“Dani, are you sure?” Hernando asked.
“If you’re uncomfortable, you can find a hotel. But I’ve got tequila and limes, we can get piss drunk to forget about this.”
Lito didn’t think there was enough alcohol in the world to make him forget about the end of his career, but tequila couldn’t hurt, right?
Once they arrived at Dani's place, he went to the kitchen, where he rummaged through the cupboards until he found Dani’s alcohol, taking a swig directly from the bottle.
“Let me make some margaritas, at least,” Dani said.
“It’s fine.”
“No, no, go change out of those clothes. I can handle this.”
“I don’t have anything to wear,” he replied.
“I’m pretty sure there’s a bathrobe you can fit in in my closet.”
Half an hour later, they sat in her living room, drinking margaritas and painting each other’s toenails. For the first time since the photos were released, Lito felt at ease.
IV
“Dani, Dani, Dani…” Hernando said, a glint in his eyes. “I think that the fact we could all fit in the tub… means it must be ours.”
Dani’s smile was blinding and Lito could feel a twin smile in his own face. After their awkward three-way high five, they called the realtor back. She gave them a disbelieving look when she heard they wanted to place an offer.
“I think I told you it is—”
“Twice, yes,” Hernando agreed. “We still want to place an offer.”
Skeptical, she gave them a form to fill out, after which Dani asked her, “so, what’s your commission rate? I want to put an apartment for sale.”
By the time they left, Dani had saved her contact and they agreed to meet the next day to talk about the apartment. They walked ahead of them talking about the selling points, while Hernando had a fond smile on his face the whole time.
“Hey, are you okay?” asked Lito.
“Yeah, it’s just— this is funny, isn’t it? The three of us.”
“If you’re uncomfortable with Dani—”
“No, no, it’s not that. I’m surprised you agreed.”
“Why wouldn’t I?”
“No reason,” he said, taking his hand. “I love you, you know that, right?”
“I love you too.”
“I love Dani too,” he said. He stopped in his tracks to look at his boyfriend. “Different kind of love, but it’s there, you know?”
“Okay,” Lito said.
“And I know you love her as family too.”
Lito didn’t reply immediately. Instead, he looked over at Dani, who went from acquaintance-he-used-as-a-beard to friend to something else entirely in about a year. He tried to imagine where he would be without her and failed miserably. Maybe he and Hernando would still be living a secret, maybe he’d still have a movie deal in the franchise he loved, maybe he and Hernando would’ve broken up for real when Lito let Dani go back to Joaquin. Maybe, maybe, maybe… it wasn’t important. Dani was family and that was all that mattered.
V
“Sorry, Mom. I am home.”
When her parents and Joaquin left, Dani crumbled, sobbing. Hernando immediately caught her, wrapping his arm around her waist; Lito held her on the other side, kissing her cheek. She smiled when Hernando followed suit, a watery laugh following.
“Come on, family. We need a drink,” Lito offered.
After they settled with their drinks, they continued reading some of the scripts Lito received. Not even the terrible roles could wipe out the smile from his face leftover from the days in Sao Paulo.
That night, they all slept in the big room, while Lito still felt warm from Dani’s words that afternoon. So they are in a relationship. They’re family. Not because of a coincidence of fate but because they chose each other.
Lito would choose them a thousand times more.
+I
“Come on, what’s wrong with you, baby?”
“We have to get to London. I’ll explain everything,” Lito said, wrapping his arms around Hernando as he helped him up.
“What are you talking about?”
“We have to get to London,” he insisted. “Dani, Dani, please.”
“I’m on the phone with the ambulance,” she called from the living room.
“No, please. I can’t go to the hospital,” Lito said.
It took him a few minutes, but eventually, Dani hung up, bringing him an ice pack from the fridge.
Hernando sat on the bed next to him, looking at him as if this was the first time they saw each other. “You said you would explain everything. What did you mean?”
Lito held the ice pack behind his head where he hit his head when he fell. It only worsened the headache he was experiencing from Wolfgang’s torture.
“I think it would be better if we got to London first,” he said.
“I’m not going anywhere until you tell me why London,” said Hernando.
“It’s where we think BPO is holding Wolfgang. At least Whispers will be there.”
Tilting her head to the side, Dani asked, “Who's Wolfgang?”
“One of the seven people I’m psychically connected to.”
There’s a moment of silence where Dani and Hernando exchange a look. It’s a look he’s seen before, the most recent iteration when he thought his career was over. Lito knew, without anyone telling him, that they wouldn't believe him until they saw his cluster.
He visited Riley and Will —who were packing their bags in preparation for their plan— and asked, “can one of you help me here?”
Riley picked up a phone from the table, “what’s Hernando’s number?”
Back in his room, he said “your phone is about to ring.”
Not a beat later, the phone lit up on the bedside table. Hernando looked at it for a few seconds before picking it up.
“¿Diga?” he answered.
“Is this Lito’s boyfriend?” Riley asked in her lightly accented Spanish.
“Yes, this is him. Who am I talking to?”
“I’m Riley. Will and I would really appreciate it if you saw Lito to the airport,” she said. “We don’t know if BPO knows about him or not.”
“Are you calling from London? What’s BPO?”
“I think Lito can explain that if you give him the chance. But we do need him to fly to London. We’re safer together right now.”
“Safe from who?”
“BPO.”
Lito split his attention between Riley in London and his family in Mexico. He didn’t know what look he had on his face, but Will touched his arm reassuringly. “They’ll understand.”
“They will think we’re crazy.”
“Have a little faith in them.”
Back in his room, Hernando hung up and turned to Lito.
“So, what’s BPO?” asked Hernando. Dani sat down next to him, observing the exchange in silence.
“What would you think if I told you there’s a worldwide organization trying to lobotomize me and everyone who’s like me?”
“Everyone who’s gay?” Dani asked.
“Sensate,” Lito replied.
“What’s a sensate?”
“A different kind of human being.”
“Lito, if this is some sort of joke—”
“It’s not. I’m serious. It all started a little over a year ago,” he began, “when a woman named Angelica killed herself…”
Lito gave them the abbreviated version of the events of the past year, skimming over some of the parts that were too gruesome to talk about like Capheus’ encounters with the Superpower or most of Wolfgang’s dealings with his family, it was not Lito’s place to share that.
“And now, Whispers has Wolfgang and he’s torturing him to get our names.”
“That’s horrible,” said Dani.
“Lito, we have to go to the police,” Hernando added.
“Didn’t you listen when I said worldwide organization? They have access to every government and, at the very least, they will put me on a no-fly list if they find out about me.”
“Well, you can’t go to London alone.”
“Family, listen—”
“No, you listen, Lito,” Hernando interrupted. It wasn’t like him to get so agitated. “If this is really happening, if we’re really going to London, we go together or we don’t go at all.”
Lito tried to reason with them. “It will be dangerous.”
“Well, good thing you’ll have me to watch your backs then,” said Dani.
Lito glanced between them and saw similar determined looks. He took one of Hernando’s hands, Dani took the other and gave it a quick kiss, then she stood up with a serious face. “Pack your bags. This time we travel light. Yes, Lito, I mean us.”
“I’ve never been to London,” said Hernando.
“You’re going to love it,” replied Dani.
“Am I? I have a feeling we’re not going to go sightseeing.”
Shaking his head, Lito stood up and caught sight of him in the mirror. He’d need a quick shower before going anywhere, but his heart felt a little lighter already, knowing his family would be with him no matter what.