Work Text:
Come on! Take him, Chris!”
“Get him in the ribs!”
“He’s open on the side!”
“Are you all plotting against me?!” Street shouted at his teammates, who were down below the boxing ring.
Since they weren’t on call, the team decided to use the extra time to train and spar with each other—starting with Chris and Street.
Why couldn’t his friends be normal? Normal people would want to use the extra time to sleep or hang out doing non-stressful things like sleeping.
He was so tired.
He’s been working for two days straight without sleep. Each of his teammates had managed to take a quick nap sometime during the strenuous 48-hour period, except for him.
Every time he had tried to fall asleep, something or rather someone woke him up and ordered him to do something.
Since he was the newest member, he was the designated errand boy of the team. That fact didn’t really bother him. He had trouble napping anyway and trying to nap at work was impossible with Luca and Tan.
However, he does regret not taping his eyes open before he began training with Chris. She was merciless. Lethal. He was so going to die or get his head chopped off. Either way wasn’t good for him.
“Woah,” Street barely managed to duck in time. He swiveled around Chris to avoid a punch to the face, which probably would’ve knocked out a few teeth. He liked his face very much how it was, thank you very much!
“Suck it up, Street!” Tan taunted.
“Finish him, Chris!” Deacon yelled, grinning ear to ear—boy did she listen.
He attempted to jab her in the ribs when she unexpectedly grabbed his arm, effectively tugging him off balance. Then to finish him off completely, she swiped his feet out from under him a second later.
Needless to say, he went down hard.
His back slammed into the mat, causing all the air to expel from his lungs.
His teammates groaned in sympathy for him then congratulated Chris.
Street didn’t bother moving. He just laid there in defeat, too tired to move. Maybe if he passed out they’d let him stay asleep.
“Hondo!”
Street turned his head from where it rested on the mat to look at the man who had called his commander’s name.
The man was bulky with muscles, so seeing him compressed into a small suit was hilarious. “Hey man, I need your boy Street.” The Sergeant explained, crossing his huge arms and causing the suit to almost rip.
Street hid back a smirk when Chris shot him a Is this guy for real? look.
Hondo glanced back at Street, who made his face blank and shrugged. He was just as confused as they were.
“What do you want him for?” Hondo asked, not willing ready to surrender his teammate without knowing why and what said teammate was expected to do.
The man sighed as if he was annoyed at the question, “I need the youngest members of the SWAT teams for an important meeting.”
Deacon came up to stand behind Hondo, “You must be mistaken because Street isn’t the youngest, Chris is.” The woman in question walked up to stand on Hondo’s left.
The man furrowed his eyebrows and reached into his back pocket to retrieve a paper, probably with the names of people he was ordered to collect. He surveyed the paper, searching for what he needed.
Street sighed and thumped his head against the mat. Guess he was found out now. He’d had a good run.
The man hummed and clicked his teeth together, “No. Jim Street is the youngest member of your team. He’s twenty-five. Chris is the second youngest at twenty-eight.”
With startling unity, the team whipped their heads around to gape at Street, who was apparently their youngest member.
Street didn’t even bother to look back at them. He could feel the heat of their eyes on the side of his face, but he continued to stare up at the ceiling.
Luca cleared his throat, and Street rolled his eyes before turning his head to the side. The older blonde man raised his eyebrows. “Didn’t think that you would mention how young you actually are?”
Sighing, Street pushes to a sitting position. “Never really came up?” Street offered, trying to get out of trouble, but by his teammates' looks, they were not persuaded.
He searched his friend’s faces for anger and betrayal, but all he was met with was amusement and some disappointment.
As soon as his gaze met Hondo’s brown irises, his own eyes dropped to the mat. Unable to meet his commander’s eyes because he didn’t want to see the disappointment that was sure to be shining in them.
“Well, now that that’s settled, Street come with me.” The Sergeant in the suit ordered, slipping the sheet of paper back in his pocket.
Street groaned and lazily rolled out of the ring. Seriously, he never got a break. Maybe he could talk his team into sleeping when he came back. Yeah…probably not.
“Kid,” Hondo’s voice stopped Street as he passed by him, “we’re going to talk about this later.” He assured him, leaving no room to argue. There was no point in fighting it anyway. Hondo had this thing about him that makes you want to confess everything to him.
“Go, we’ll see you when you’re done.” Deacon said, patting him on the back. Street nodded reluctantly and followed the suit guy.
—//—
“Twenty-five?!! Man, I haven’t been twenty-five in over ten years!” Luca exclaimed.
“Yeah, I didn’t think he was that young,” Tan muttered, crossing his arms on the metal table in front of him and leaning forward.
Chris hummed in thought, “He always seemed a little immature. It’s actually not that far of a stretch once you think about it.”
“It’s impressive that he’s already in SWAT at that age. I was still a cop at twenty-five.” Deacon commented.
Hondo stood up, “Well, this doesn’t change anything. He passed the tests, he earned his way here, and he’s done fine since he got on this team. We just continue as usual.”
“But Hondo— “
“That’s final.” Hondo cut off Luca’s interjection. “He’s a little on the young side, so what? He can pull his own weight, and if he goes astray then we lead him on the right path. We’ll be like the other siblings he never had. Deal?”
The team nodded. “Deal.”
Hondo smiled, “Good.” He walked around the table to claim the seat next to Chris.
They were silent for a few seconds until Luca broke it. “This explains why he’s so reckless!”
“Oh yeah! And his bike!”
“The running into danger.”
“His crazy driving!”
“That one time when he— “
The team continued recounting stories of Street’s crazy antics, including some of their own. Slowly, they let the idea of having a pseudo-sibling that was so much younger than they sink in until they finally made peace with it.
Chris had always been the baby of the group, but now she had a “younger sibling” that she could protect and watch over. She was especially fond of the idea. She never liked people treating her like she was helpless; not that the team made her feel inferior, but sometimes their protectiveness felt a little too smothering. Street needed to feel a little smothered, and it was taking the heat off her.
Personally, Luca was psyched about this new revelation. Now, he and Street could play video games and go to wicked parties together—well, even more so than before. It’d be awesome! Another younger sibling to add to the list!
Tan was a little unsettled but slowly began liking the idea after a while. Street and he have had this competition over anything and everything. They were always a little rough with one another. Now, he finally had come grit to tease him with—it was going to be awesome!
Deep down Deacon always knew that Street was youngest. It was in the way he acted, talked, and puffed himself up with false bravado. Deacon’s played the ‘dad-role’ so many times, obviously with his own kids, and also with his younger teammates that the idea of Street being so much younger than him didn’t bother him. Street would for in like he always had—maybe even more so— and the team would give him the support he needed.
Hondo forced down the overwhelming wave of protectiveness that surged when he thought of younger siblings and younger kids that he’s had to watch out for in his life—Street was no different. Yes, Hondo was disappointed that the kid hadn’t trusted him enough to tell him his age, but he couldn’t really blame him. He was pretty young, and he’d just wanted to fit in with the group. Hondo will have to watch out for him more in the future. Street had the most years in front of him, so the team had to help him keep those years. They were his family now. They’ll protect him and vice versa because that’s what true families do.
So, Hondo shed a fond smile and leaned back to listen to the badgering of his teammates. Tan and Luca provoked each other to an impromptu arm wrestling match, and it all went downhill from there.
Yep, they were a true family.
—//—
When Street came out of the ‘meeting’—if you could call it that—he was dead on his feet. If someone asked what the meeting was even remotely about, he would be completely lost because he had no idea whatsoever.
It had been the most boring two hours of his entire life. He’s not exaggerating. Muscle man droned on and on about…well, Street didn’t really know, but it was something boring. It didn’t help that he was exhausted and almost fell asleep every time the man turned around to his freaking projector screen.
Blinking through the tired gaze, Street dragged himself over to the locker room. He only stopped when he reached his locker. He sighed, leaning his head against the cool metal doors of the lockers. The cold sensation felt amazing on his achy forehead. When he got this tired he always managed to get a headache—never fails.
The door leading into the locker room opened with a sharp creak, sending spikes of pain through Street’s skull. A second later, multiple footsteps echoed off the concrete floor, which only further added to the pain.
Street ignored whoever came in and tried to sort his jumbled thoughts through his headache. He was so tired that he couldn’t think straight.
A hand landed on his shoulder, making him jerk and knock his already hurting head against his locker. Street hissed and gripped his head as his brain seemed to throb. “Ow!” He could never catch a break!
“Sorry, man. Thought you heard us.” Tan apologized and tugged Street to face them.
Street nodded absentmindedly and rubbed his hands down his face, “It’s fine. Just jumpy, I guess.”
“What’s wrong?” Deac asked, causing Street to squint up at him as if he was trying to place who he was and what was begin asked of him.
“Um…” Street licked his dry lips and closed his eyes, “It’s just a…just a headache. I need to sleep for about twenty-four hours to make up for all the time I didn’t sleep.”
“You didn’t sleep at all the past two days?”
Street shook his head and leaned against the lockers. He trusted them, so he closed his eyes and listened, trying to rest his sore eyes.
He heard rustling from his teammates and tried to think about what they were planning, but it was too much work.
“Come on, Street. Let’s get you home.” A soft voice said to his left. A hand grasped his arm and another arm was thrown around his shoulders.
In a flash, he was led out of the station by his teammates and into a warm car. He practically melted into the leather seats. Sighing in relief, he buckled his seatbelt without prompting and sat back, eyes still closed.
Somewhere above him, he heard his teammates say their goodbyes before leaving. A second later, someone got in the driver’s seat and off they went.
The familiar lull of the engine accompanied by the sound of the driver’s humming was enough to push him over the edge into sleep.
—//—
The next time he woke up, he was sitting in Hondo’s car in front of his apartment building. His friend must’ve shaken him awake otherwise he probably wouldn’t have woken up.
Street groaned and rubbed his eyes, “Thanks for driving me home.” The last word broke off into a huge yawn.
Hondo huffed, “Don’t mention it, kid. Now go get some sleep, you look like roadkill.”
“Ha. Ha. Very funny.” Street grumbled and lethargically got out of the car.
In a swift moment of clarity, Street paused and leaned in the open door to look at Hondo. “Sorry for not telling you guys…I should— “
“It’s fine, kid,” Hondo said, calming Street’s growing fears. “You know you can trust us with these sorts of things, okay? We’re your team. Your family. We’ll be here for you whenever you want to talk.”
Street gave a real grin, “I know. Thanks, Hondo.”
“Get some sleep. I’ll see you Monday morning.” Hondo smirked.
Street patted the top of the car, “See ya.” He closed the car door and shuffled his way up to his apartment.
He didn’t hear the roar of Hondo’s car engine until he was safely tucked away inside his apartment. Street fondly shook his head. Hondo would never stop being the older brother everyone needed.
After locking his door, it took Street a matter of seconds to discard his shoes and collapse into bed.
Finally, he got to sleep.