The evidence board was in shambles the next day, and part of Theo wondered if Spiro had been at the PD all night, changing things and digging up old files. Maybe having Cyrus save his life had been the tipping point to finally render Spiro completely insane.

"Evidence Day again?" Theo guessed, raising an eyebrow at the mess.

"Yep," Spiro agreed, hauling a cardboard box towards the conference room. "No one was using the conference room today, so I figured we'd spread out, try to figure this stupid thing out." The conference room was a room with white board walls, and one long table. Half the place was filled with boxes of evidence by the time they started going through it, trying to make a timeline of Cyrus and the Hunters. But they'd been over the evidence so many times already. Theo almost thought it was a waste of time to do it again. But if it kept Spiro distracted at a dead end, then he was fine with that.

"Okay," Spiro ran a hand through his hair, messing it up even further. The idea that Spiro was slowly losing his mind over this case was growing further in Theo's mind. "Let's start with the big guy himself." He stuck a picture of Cyrus on the wall. "Cyrus Mossberg, known to some as Jared Sage. Why, I honestly have no idea." Honestly, Theo didn't know either. The Jared Sage alias was one of the few things Cyrus never bothered to explain to him. He just laughed every time it was brought up. "Kingpin," Spiro was still talking. "Gang genius, and somehow, has enough morals to prevent a Detective from being murdered... Like seriously though, why would he do that?" He laughed anxiously. "That makes no sense! For crying out loud, you just shot him last week, and he fucking winked at you! What does that mean? What does any of this mean? Vicious killers don't save people." Theo stared at his partner.

"Buddy, how much coffee have you had today?" He asked carefully.

"Ten cups since you brought me home last night. I've been here since five. You don't think about sleep when the dude you hate more than anything saves your life."

"Okay," Theo said, deciding to just go along with and tread carefully through Spiro's impending psychotic break. He looked at Cyrus's picture on the wall. "You know, for a gang leader, he's not that bad a guy."

"Not that bad a-" Spiro stopped, staring at him with bloodshot eyes. "He's a GANG leader! He's- he rigs illegal fights that people die in! He kills people-"

"He hasn't killed anyone-"

"Then he has his cronies do it for him, and that's worse! He doesn't do taxes, his gang is solely responsible for the huge spike in cocaine overdoses we've had over the past few years, he's dirty, and he deserves to rot in jail! I've actually done the work, and there are seventeen different things we can charge him with. Seventeen! Everything from arson to drug trafficking, we could lock him up for."

"Trafficking, yes, but we don't actually have evidence he was involved with the arson-"

"That doesn't matter, we both know he was involved! He's shady, Theo. He's sneaky and slimy and I hate him. The sooner he's locked up in a federal prison, the sooner we can all sleep more soundly." Theo happened to disagree with that one. He slept most soundly when the big bad mobster was curled up like a snoring puppy beside him. But he had a feeling that if Spiro learned of that fact right now, he'd likely have an aneurysm and drop dead. Not a risk Theo was willing to take at the moment, but if today was any indication of how crazy Spiro could get, then his reaction to finding out that Theo had actually been screwing the gangster they were hunting for the last thirteen years would be priceless.

"Alright then," Theo offered. Spiro looked like a borderline mad man now, and his rant about Cyrus left him panting, his hair sticking out like he'd jammed his finger in an electrical socket. "Why don't you take a deep breath, and we'll keep going over stuff, okay?"

"Okay." Spiro sighed. "Mossberg...."

"He attended Rhys University, and that's the extent of our knowledge about his education. Pops up three years after graduation on a security cam, is seen exchanging money for a small shipment of cocaine."

Theo remembered that day all too clearly. He hadn't been promoted to Detective yet, but he had seen the footage as just a regular officer. He and Cyrus were already married, and they'd had a huge fight about the footage and what he planned to do with the shipment. Their relationship had gone underground after that day—Cyrus's idea. He hadn't wanted his own criminal activity to damage Theo's chances of getting promoted. It was only now that Theo started to wonder how long Cyrus had been planning to create the Hunters. Spiro kept talking, his voice still as jittery as you would expect someone hyped on caffeine to be.

"Few weeks later, cocaine sales increased, quickly followed by the numbers of overdoses. We don't know where he's getting the stuff, although my money's on Colombia of course. Whatever it is, it's not like the laced shit they sell in the Northeast. This stuff is pure, unfiltered coke."

"You say that like you have a first hand experience snorting it," Theo joked.

"The only drug I'm on is a desire for justice."

"That was possibly the cheesiest thing I've ever heard you say, and it's not even true. You're a caffeine addict."

"Caffeine and justice." Theo facepalmed.

"Please stop." He dug through one of the files. "More security footage catches Cyrus handing drugs to a man we now know as Jordan Mills." Mills's picture was added to the board, his old mugshot, of course. Theo knew that if they did happen to take the gang down, Mills would be one of the people who he'd feel most guilty about. He was too innocent. The man had made mistakes in his past, yes, but he was a good guy. He didn't deserve to go down for anything the Hunters did. He really was just as much as a loveable puppy as Cyrus said, even if he looked like he could crush your skull between two fingers.

They continued going through, the evidence board growing as they added Felicia, Martin, and now Kramer. Theo knew of at least two more members that hadn't made their list, but he wasn't about to ruin Benny's cover. He didn't know enough about Marcus to sabotage him, and it wasn't really worth it. Marcus was the new guy, according to Cyrus. He hadn't been around long enough for the PD to catch him in something Hunter related. They walked through the dwindling cam footage of Cyrus, the number of times he had been spotted getting lower and lower as they got closer and closer to the present. He had gotten better at staying hidden and at covering his tracks. Theo wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. They went through all the failed drug busts, the leads that had gone to dead ends. Theo couldn't help but smirk as Spiro talked about some of them. It was amazing how little information his partner knew sometimes. Like their lead in Jenks two years ago. They thought they had found one of the main factories where all of the drugs were delivered to, but the planning of the bust took long enough that Theo told Cyrus, and he'd had enough time to move everything. They had broken into an empty warehouse, and while Theo had plastered on a shocked and furious expression, he'd secretly been smiling on the inside. Cyrus was always one step ahead; sometimes two when Theo gave him a tip.

He often wondered if the tips were one of the reasons he and Cyrus rarely fought. Theo would've thought that since they were on such opposite sides of the law all the time, they would clash more in opinions, but they didn't. Cyrus tried so hard to keep what he was doing morally right, even he knew some of it was wrong. He didn't kill people, and he didn't pick fights. He would never admit to the rest of the gang that he was softer than they thought, but he told Theo. He trusted him.

Theo was positive that was the only reason they worked so well together. If Cyrus couldn't trust him with the truth; couldn't trust him with knowing what was going on, then what was the point? How could you have a relationship without trust? Theo trusted him. He trusted him more than anyone. Cyrus understood him and for that, he felt no guilt about giving him information. Cyrus didn't use it against the PD. He didn't hurt people for the fun of it. He didn't even like the violence of it all, but it was just a part of the life he had to deal with. Theo supposed that was how all things worked. Life didn't exist without some pain, and gang life was just where most of it lay. But sometimes the pain got to be too much, and Cyrus needed to take a step back to remember how to breathe. Sometimes you just didn't want to be a gang leader, even though you were.

***

When Theo returned home that afternoon, it seemed like Cyrus was definitely going through one of those steps back. He walked in the door, only to see a giant fort covering most of their living room. The couches had been moved, chairs from the table held up the sides, and a large blanket roof covered the whole thing. Theo stared at the fort. He knew on a rare occasion Cyrus could be immature, but this? They hadn't built a fort since they were drunk college students, and while those memories were a bit fuzzy, Theo did remember that his husband was the king blanket fort builder of the world.

"...Cyrus?" He called out, raising an eyebrow. One of the blanket sides of the fort swung up, and Cyrus poked his head out, grinning at the sight of him.

"Good, you're home," He said casually, as if he hadn't stolen all the covers off their bed. He nodded towards the inside of the fort. "Come join me."

"What-" Cyrus dropped back inside, the blanket falling behind him. Theo shook his head, but he was smiling as he crawled into the fort, staring around them in awe.

The inside of the fort was lined with Christmas lights, illuminating it. The floor was covered in, Theo was positive, every blanket, sleeping bag, and pillow they owned. The TV sat proudly at one end, a stack of movies and snacks beside it. Cyrus sat cross-legged across from him, grinning like a kid in a candy store.

"What's all this?" Theo questioned, smiling and sitting across from him.

"This is the mythical realm of Mossler," Cyrus said dramatically. "In which, we are kings." As if the fort wasn't enough, he produced a pair of hastily made paper crowns, dropping one on Theo's head before crowning himself with the other.

"...Yep, you've officially gone insane and retained the mental capacity of a five year old. Did Kramer hit you too hard for the casino stunt?" Cyrus laughed and shook his head.

"No, I just thought it would be nice to have a safe space for once."

"What do you mean?" He shrugged.

"Well, it just seems like we're always on the run from somebody, you know? Or we're always hiding, keeping secrets, and it never ends because if it did, then everything would come crashing down and we'd end up in prison or something. But I just wanted, for once, for there to be a place where we can just be you and me. A place where nobody could touch us."

"Hence," Theo nodded. "Mossler."

"Exactly. Because no matter how bad things get, The, I promise you, no one can touch us in here."

"You don't make me very many promises anymore." Cyrus's gaze fell to the blanketed floor.

"Well, that's because I don't like making promises I know I can't keep. It just feels like a lie, and I could never lie to you. So now I only make promises I'm sure about." Cyrus paused, looking up at him. "And I'm not sure about much of anything anymore."

"I know," Theo whispered. He looked around the fort, or, Mossler, he supposed they would have to call it from now on. "So, what was your plan here? We just sit around and gossip like teenage girls at a sleepover?"

"I was thinking more along the lines of watching 90's movies and eating an entire family size pack of Oreos with no shame." Theo laughed and tugged Cyrus closer so that he could kiss him.

"This is why I love you."

"Because of Oreos and Mossler?"

"Because you're such an innocent sweetheart."

"I'll have you know I'm the most dangerous criminal in the surrounding five states."

"So cute." Cyrus laughed and headed to set up one of the movies.

As the movie played and they stayed curled up next to each other, Theo couldn't help but notice the feeling of peace that washed over him. Maybe that's what Cyrus had wanted when he built the fort. A place with a sense of peace and safety, where they could be together without having to worry about any prying eyes. They'd always had to hide things in their relationship before. Holding hands for a second before jumping apart when someone saw, avoiding being in the same place at once in case it aroused suspicion. It was exhausting to keep the one you loved at an arm's length all the time. But under the secrecy of the fuzzy comforters and cheap Christmas lights of Mossler, they didn't have to do that.

It certainly sounded like paradise, and Theo knew they would be content to stay in Mossler for the rest of the night. The rest of the week, if their jobs would only let them. But Theo knew better. They couldn't stay in paradise forever. If they did, then sooner or later, someone would come to burn paradise down.