Chapter Text
When Drip had sent his application letter for the Piston Peak Air Attack team he honestly had never thought he’d actually get accepted. Sure, the place had a reputation for being short-staffed but he had a record. His training had gone over less than well, involving more than a few little accidents resulting from something he had done.
Or not done… Half of the stuff on my record is simple rookie mistakes. They happened to everyone!
But he had purposefully tried to test his boundaries. More than once. It was simply in his nature. Truth be told, he wouldn’t even have made it through the academy if it hadn’t been for the sudden opening in smokejumping that provided him with an outlet for his more dangerous tendencies. The only problem was that Smokejumpers were rarely needed nowadays and the places that did hire them only took the best of the best. So when Drip got an acception letter together with the request to start as soon as he could, saying that he was surprised was the understatement of the century. Never once had he thought he would actually get a job in firefighting. Not after the disaster that had been his first training day and had ended with him in the chief’s office and an hour-long rant about his incompetence. It hadn’t been the only one. Still, Drip had never given up, determined to see his dream through, and here he was.
I still can’t believe it… I’m going to be an actual firefighter. I’ll be a smokejumper!
It was an awesome feeling. Especially now that he was standing here, in the almost legendary-looking park and surrounded by ten smiling faces. Okay, nine smiling faces and one very stern-looking helicopter, but the gesture was nice.
“Welcome to the team, Drip.”
The helicopter’s voice carried a certain warmth, deeply hidden under the professionalism but Drip could still hear it. It caused him to smile. He had often heard that small teams were especially tightly knit and very protective of each other. The prospect of being a part of that was exciting.
Maybe I could actually belong somewhere for once.
Just as he had finished the thought he found himself surrounded by a car, bulldozer, saw-car, and a raketool digger, all beaming at him and quickly pulling him into their midst.
“Welcome to the Piston Peak Smokejumpers! I’m Dynamite, I’ll be your captain, and these hellions over here are Avalanche, Blackout, and Pinecone.”
They sent each other knowing smirks before Dynamite leaned in to whisper conspiratorially.
“I got a look at your record. That’s some impressive stuff you got there. Am I correct in the assumption you’ll be one of the adrenalin junkies?”
“Uhm… Yes?”
“Perfect! Welcome to the inofficial crew of troublemakers!”
Dynamite’s grin widened and the other mechanisms chuckled.
No way…
“Wanna get a tattoo to celebrate the occasion?”
“Er…..”
The saw car's question took him off guard. Everything was happening so fast, he barely had any time to process it. At his confused stare, he received a pat on the back from the raketool digger who started shoving him towards what appeared to be their hangar.
“Come on guys, you’re scaring him off! Let the poor guy get settled first!”
She seemed to be the most level-headed of the bunch, though Drip could clearly see the mischievous glint in her eyes as well.
This is definitely nothing like I thought it would be…
He had expected things to continue as they had in the academy, strict and very tight on their rules. Nothing like this! It was all a little overwhelming. Out of the corner of his eyes, he could see the helicopter, his chief, reaching for his bags, only belatedly remembering that he had set them with an ink trap to explode when being towed. He had originally planned to lighten what he had thought to be a dull welcome.
“Wait, don’t!”
But it was too late, the ink exploded all over him, drowning out his surprised yelp in a fart noise for good measure.
Oh fuck!
For one moment it was dead silent around the center space, everybody just staring at their chief who seemed frozen in time. Then the Jumpers simultaneously burst out laughing, nearly toppling over from the force of it as they watched Blade try to shake off some of the ink. At that moment he had a great similarity to a pouting dog. Drip couldn’t help it, he had to laugh as well, especially when the mechanic suddenly jumped the helicopter and started smearing the ink around even further.
“Maru!”
Blade was wheezing as Maru began to tickle him, effectively keeping him pinned and wearing the evilest smirk Drip had seen to date.
“Serves you right Blade.”
“No it doesn’t, what did I do?!”
“Well, for starters, you didn’t laugh!”
Next to him, Avalanche was crying tears of laughter.
“CONSIDER THIS YOUR INITIATION, YOU’RE OFFICIALLY ONE OF US!”
There was a loud groan from Blade as the Jumpers whisked Drip off, carrying his luggage to their hangar.
“That was awesome! And here I thought we would have to educate you in the art of proper pranking…”
“Did you see the look on his face?”
Drip nodded, still grinning, albeit a little nervously.
I just hope Blade can take a joke… Otherwise, I’m well and royally screwed…
And he really didn’t want to mess this up, especially now that he knew this team wasn’t even half as dull as he’d thought they would be. As if sensing his worry, Blackout reassuringly bumped his side.
“Don’t worry, Blade knows how to take a joke as long as it isn’t dangerous. He just likes to act tough.”
Relief swept through him at that, allowing his smile to feel more natural.
“I take it you do this often then?”
At that, all four of them snorted.
“Literally all the time!”