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It was a rare day when Station 118 was near silent. Actually, it wasn’t, if it was a calm (not q word, never q-word) night. But this wasn’t a calm night. It was four in the afternoon.
Bobby climbed the stairs to the loft, intent on getting a jump on dinner prep, when he discovered exactly why everything was so calm and silent. And he wasn’t exactly happy about it.
Across the couches and chair were his team, faces buried in video game consoles. It wasn’t Mario Kart (he’d banned that three months ago when Buck and Chimney got into a fight about who exactly cheated to let Hen win, it wasn’t pretty), or any of their normal games.
It was Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
The game had released a while ago, during the beginning of the pandemic. The only reason Bobby was even aware of it was because both May and Harry had begged Athena and himself for a copy each. It had been a worthy buy, as it kept them occupied on their downtime.
It actually worked wonders, as Hen and Eddie had bought the game for their boys as well, so that all three of them could play together without having to be in the same room. The wonders of the internet and social distancing.
(Buck had made fun of Eddie for weeks afterwards, after Eddie’s overreaction to Hildy. Eddie’s response to that was a simple “Earth to Dumbass, this is at least moderated!” Buck still hadn’t let it go.)
In fact, Buck had joined in to “supervise” at Eddie’s “reasonable suggestion”. Or as Chimney said, got conned into it because Christopher. It was common now to see Buck with his grey Switch sitting on the couch in the evening hours, playing along with the boys.
But that didn’t exactly explain what he was seeing now.
Hen was camped out at the table, Switch propped up in front of her, and a notebook of notes next to her coffee. Chimney sat in one of the armchairs, grumbling about scorpions. Eddie and Buck were together on the couch, as they often were. Buck’s game was on, but he was leaning over to look at Eddie’s instead, muttering about resources.
Footsteps from behind Bobby made him aware that his guest for the evening had arrived. Athena had the night off for once, and had decided to come help with dinner, since May was at the call center and Harry was with Michael. As she came into the loft and surveyed the room, she couldn’t help but lightly chuckle.
“Children, all of them. Should they be having this much screen time?” This was not what she was expecting when stopping by the 118 this afternoon.
“No, no they should not. It may be a Saturday, but there’s always work to be done.” Bobby had to shake his head ruefully. At least they weren’t causing trouble or pranking the probie or acting like actual children.
“You do realize we can hear you, Cap,” Buck’s voice came from the couch. He didn’t look up at them, but instead kept pointing at something on Eddie’s screen. “Chores are done, dinner is prepped in the fridge.”
Chim pipped in next. “The boys wreaked havoc on Buck’s island. He blackmailed us into fixing it.”
Eddie chuckled. “You were right there with them, Chim. You took Maddie’s Switch and everything.”
And Hen had to comment as well. “It’s all fair in love and war. Don’t mess with Denny’s flowers, you wouldn’t be having this problem, Buckaroo.”
The man in question gave an indignant squeak. “Excuse me? I ran through one of his flowers. It wasn’t on purpose. Things happen. I even offered to replace it, or give him Bells. They come back quick! They didn’t need to strip my island of all of my fruit, and all of the resources I hid! It was highway robbery.”
Bobby and Athena had to share an eye roll while listening to their squabble. Some of LA’s finest firefighters, acting younger than their own children. But it was also hilarious.
Bobby finally cleared his throat. As funny as this was, he had to be their captain. “Alright, enough. Switches away. We’re still working, and there’s always-”
The alarm went off.
Immediately, every Switch was stored away and the team was bolting down the stairs. Athena moved towards the kitchen, laughing.
“You’d better hurry, Bobby. Wouldn’t want the kids to cause trouble.”
“I’ll see you at home, Athena. Don’t be surprised if I come loaded with video game consoles. I think it’s time to put them all in time out.”