Chapter Text
december 22, 2021
albert
okay, so albert han didn’t actually want to go to chimney and maddie’s christmas party, but he loves his brother and has taken quite a liking to maddie, so he didn’t want to be a douche and say no.
the 118 helped albert the day of the accident, so he felt like he owed them all a solid, and besides, it’s a christmas party, how bad can it be?
albert
should i bring anything?
chimney
whatever you feel like bringing.
albert
not helpful.
he landed on sinckerdoodles, since they were albert and chimney’s favorites as a kid and he could get them for cheap down the street. on the way out the door, he grabbed the santa hat off the rack that buck had left at the house. he was going to put it in his pocket, but somehow it ended up on his head, weird.
chimney and maddies living room was almost miniature compared to other places the han boys have thrown parties. but of course, they made it work. food and drinks lined the countertop, holiday music played quietly in the background as all of maddie and chimneys friends laughed and danced and played games.
“am i late?” albert asked buck, noticing that everyone else seemed to have arrived earlier.
“nah, you’re not the last one to show up.” buck assured the younger man.
“oh, okay, good.” he smiled, relieved.
“you’re second to last.” the blonde smiled, clearing the smile from albert’s face. buck walked away and left him alone at the countertop, he set down the box of cookies, which unleashed christopher and denny to take first grabs. he laughed at them, and walked to the couch, greeting everyone.
he was making conversation with hen and karen when buck yelled; “gangs all here!” with a mouthful of chocolate.
he turned his head, and saw buck standing by the door with a guy he had never seen before. he was no taller than albert, his hair was dark and curly and he wore a red sweater over his white long sleeved tee. he had an awkward smile on his face and a crockpot in his hands that maddie immediately helped him set up.
“who’s that?” albert asked hen, still fixated on the other man.
“oh that’s ravi! the new probie at the 118. you should talk to him, i think you guys will be good friends!” she responded, hitting him lightly on the shoulder.
this wasn’t kindergarten, albert didn’t think he needed to make any new friends, but she kept insisting.
“what’s in the crockpot?” he asked the man as he made his way over to him.
“green bean casserole, it’s my grandmas recipe. she taught me how to make it when i was ten and i’ve made it at every holiday since.” ravi rambled on, excitedly. albert nodded along, when buck or chimney is the one rambling, he can’t find himself to care. but with this guy, he was all ears. he even smiled a little bit, all self consciously though.
“i’m rambling aren’t i?” ravi asked, becoming self aware.
albert chuckled, “a little, but it’s fine. i’ve lived with buck, chimney, and maddie, so i’m used to it.”
ravi laughed in response. “i’m ravi. i work at the firehouse with chimney.”
the other man stretched out his hand. “chimney’s brother, albert.”
the two men made their way to the couch, being forced to participate in guesstures. albert, ravi, buck, eddie, and may competed against chimney, maddie, josh, michael, and bobby.
albert and ravi said close to each other, albert could feel their knees and shoulders touching most of the game, but he wasn’t about to complain.
on his turn, he stood up, quickly missing the warmth of having the smaller man pushed up against him. he pulled ‘moping’, ‘feeding a cat’, ‘sleeping’ and ‘proposing’ out of the box.
eddie guessed mopping within a second, and sleeping was easy. feeding the cat was harder, after “planting seeds!” and “drug dealing?” we’re guessed may finally got it. with just a few seconds left, albert got on one knee in front of ravi and held out his hands with his palms touching. ravi screamed, “proposing!” and albert took the card, scoring 15 points. the whole team was laughing at albert’s ‘old man’ way of getting off the ground. ravi helped him up, resulting in a high five between the two men.
albert had never felt happier, honestly. he wanted to tell himself it was because of the fun party, but deep down he knew it was deeper than that.
as the party was coming to a close, albert noticed that ravi was practically falling over. he had drank way too much, and no one thought he should be driving. wanting to keep him safe, chimney told albert to take ravi to the guest room.
albert complied. he wrapped on arm around ravi’s waist and helped him walk to the guest room, struggling a little bit, but successfully did it.
he helped ravi into the bed, pulling a blanket over him and turning off the light. he smiled at the other man before walking out of the room and getting ready to leave.
as he was saying goodbye to all of the 118 and the rest of the party guests, hen made her way over to him.
“do you like him?” she asked, invasively.
“who?” albert responded, attempting to act clueless.
“ravi! you guys totally hit it off.” she was acting like a hype-woman.
“yeah he’s,” he paused. “cool i guess.”
hen rolled her eyes. “you know that’s not what i meant.”
albert came to a realization. he stopped. “wait.” his voice got quiet. “did chimney tell you i was pansexual?”
hen laughed. “no honey, i’m a lesbian, nobody had to tell me. us gays can spot each other out.”
“well is ravi-“ he started to ask.
“gay? yes.”
“oh.” albert wasn’t sure what to do with that information. as he walked out the door hen jumped in one last time.
“don’t let a good opportunity go to waste.” she said.
albert stood there, mouth open, unsure of what to do.
—
albert couldn’t sleep. or, maybe, he didn’t want to sleep. but he was laying in his bed staring at the ceiling.
around six in the morning he got a text.
unknown
hey, it’s ravi. thanks for helping me out last night, glad you didn’t let me drive. appreciated it man, maybe we could get drinks sometime?
albert
no problem ravi, drinks sound great. what about next friday?
ravi
sure, 8?
albert
sounds amazing.
ravi
cool, i’ll see you friday :)
albert
i’ll see you friday.
the first thing albert han wanted to do when he said yes to drinks was tell his brother. but his brother worked with ravi, and if he wanted this to work chimney was the one person he couldn’t tell.
so he told hen.
“that’s great! i’m happy for you guys!” was her reaction when albert called her to tell her.
his cheeks flushed and he said, “don’t get to excited. it’s not like a date or anything it’s just two guys getting drinks.”
hen rolled her eyes, “okay, well, still. it’s good that you’re ‘making friends’.” she said, mocking the last two words.
when albert hung up, he had the dorkiest middle school smile on his face.