Work Text:
Twenty-seven calls. They had gotten twenty-seven calls within one twenty-four-hour shift. This was not only a firehouse but probably even a district record.
After a few similarly tiring shifts, everyone in the house was equally superstitious, so Mark was sure no one jinxed them. Not even accidentally. They were way too cautious about it.
Each team member had their own little traditions that they almost religiously followed and secret routines they did before, during and after shifts. No one dared to ridicule others for weird stuff or, worse, stop them from performing their usual rituals. There was no shame in driving to the station on one specific route, even when that meant the person might be a couple of minutes late from the shift if there was a traffic jam, or getting dressed in the uniform in a peculiar way, or not talking to others until the first brew of coffee was ready. Most importantly, almost every firefighter was cautious not to say goodbye to loved ones. Instead, they said ‘See you later’ or ‘Talk to you later’. For an outsider, these traditions might have looked strange, even hurtful sometimes. But even the rookies knew not to break these habits if you knew what was best for you and your brothers.
Mark had his fair share of strange little superstitions, too, like jumping over a crack on the stairs at his flat when he was on his way to work, and if he somehow managed to step on it, he climbed the stairs again to make sure he skipped that one cracked step the second time altogether. He placed his helmet a certain way on the shelf, and like all the others, he always made sure not to wear someone else’s helmet because that certainly brought bad luck. That was regarded as a bad omen among his men.
So when a shift had a calmer day, nobody dared to complain about boredom. If there were no more trucks to scrub clean, and everyone had a perfect time on the makeshift training course, they would keep silent when they were getting restless and needed the next dose of adrenaline rush on the field like a common junky. Surely, none of them would want to break their streak of luck of everyone returning alive, mostly safe and sound. Mostly.
Because their job was still dangerous, they faced death almost every time they were out on the field, answering a call. And not every firefighter returned home. That was common knowledge. The more they went out on fire scenes, it was getting more probable that one of them would get seriously hurt. Probably never returning.
Hence if someone was bored out of their mind or found the shift too quiet, peaceful, or calm, they shut their damn mouth and kept their opinion to themselves. His men would never voice their distaste for the well-deserved tranquillity out loud. So, no. Mark was 100% sure no one cursed them and broke their luck.
Which meant this shift was simply shitty.
What started as a beautiful, sunny Tuesday quickly turned into a nightmare within the first five hours.
During the day, Firehouse 21 got divided into smaller teams according to their skills, as they were called to several smaller structural fires and road accidents, and also to a few weirder cases. Like when they got a call to a huge blue-and-yellow macaw that decided to take a rest on the top of a high-voltage utility pole, and they had to use the ladder truck to rescue the ungrateful bird. After the heroic rescue, the awful parrot bit Mark’s pointer finger pretty badly, so with a reddened face, he had to ask their paramedics for a bandage.
They were also called to a woman who went into labour, which was a completely normal occurrence during their shifts. Sometimes, they had to assist even more than one birth during their day. But in this case, the lady’s husband was a fainter who managed to lose consciousness and hit his head on the bathtub. He had suffered a nasty concussion and an open head wound. So, the team had to take both of them to the hospital. Well, all three of them. Fortunately, the mother and baby were in good health at the time of admission to the hospital’s maternity ward, and the father would also eventually recover from his injuries.
Thankfully, none of the cases were particularly challenging, and the longest call was only three hours long. But it was still an extremely exhausting day.
When there was only a bit more than half an hour left of their shift, Mark collapsed on the couch in the common room and rubbed his stubbly face in frustration. The bandage on his finger felt rough against the soft skin under his eyes, so he groaned in annoyance.
He looked up to check on his people. Some of his team members had gone to the bunk room to have a quick nap, and others had sluggishly dragged themselves to the kitchen in hopes of finding freshly made coffee. There weren't any drops in the pot. 'Tough luck', the lieutenant thought sardonically. Mark had also checked earlier and had to be disappointed, but he was way too drained to turn the coffee maker on.
Now, Mark was resting quietly on the couch, staring out of his head like a zombie, sitting on the border of the wakefulness and sleeping. It was like he had to hold himself up, hanging on the precipice of slumber, and he actually wanted to fall into the welcoming abyss of dreams. He didn’t. As soon as the shift was over, he wanted to jump into his car and go home to sleep. Maybe sleeping for a thousand years would be enough to feel like a functional human being again. For the time being, Mark had to stay strong. If he fell asleep now, maybe he couldn’t wake up in time. He just needed a distraction, something to hold his attention long enough so he could forget about the sleepiness.
Just at the right moment, when he almost dozed off, as a divine intervention, Sebastian, their newest paramedic, walked into the room. That got Mark’s immediate attention. It was a poorly kept secret among his men that he had an embarrassingly big crush on the lovely fella. He tried to keep it hidden, but with those nosy fuckers around, it was a matter of time before the paramedic would find out, and he ran the other way whenever he saw the lieutenant just as much blinked his way. Until then, Mark tried to enjoy his company a little bit longer. Workplace relationships had no future anyway, right?
Sebastian, just like the rest of them, looked dead tired, frayed around the edges, exhausted. His curly blond hair, which at the beginning of the shift bounced around his head, was now matted to his head, and a few locks hung in his face. Indicating his fatigue, he also had dark circles around his eyes, as if he had put on makeup to resemble a panda. A very lovely but weary panda, in fact.
It didn't matter how tired the paramedic looked, he was always stunning, stealing the breath from Mark’s lungs. Sebastian and his partner, Heikki, had just arrived back from the hospital after they had to take their latest victim to the emergency room. Heikki was nowhere to be seen, so Sebastian stood there at the door, looking around uncertainly, probably still feeling out of place in the fire station.
"Come here, Seb! There's still some space for you on the couch," Mark called out to him because he couldn't help himself.
Sebastian shot him a blinding smile, his baby blue eyes shining with happiness at the offer. It was unfair how he caused Mark’s heart to palpitate with just one look.
The lieutenant watched as the younger man walked toward him and managed to stumble on thin air, ungracefully falling beside him on the couch.
“Whoops,” Sebastian quaked, and his cheeks rapidly coloured from embarrassment.
“Careful there,” Mark replied, a fond smile crossing his face. He adored this clumsy fool so much (when he wasn’t ignoring the lieutenant and other higher-ups’ direct orders during calls).
The pair of them sat on the couch for a while, counting the minutes for the shift to be over. They chatted about something or other, but both felt dead tired, otherwise the blond would have successfully talked Mark’s ear off, like usual. Sebastian was eventually feeling cold from exhaustion, so Mark let him tuck himself against the firefighter’s side. The taller man wrapped an arm around his shoulder to warm him, and the blond leaned even closer, humming gratefully. Jenson passed by the couch to get some water from the dispenser and smirked at the two of them when he noticed how they sat all cuddled up. He wiggled his eyebrows comically and was about to open his mouth to say something undoubtedly teasing when Mark shut him up with a death glare. After that, Jenson thought better than to annoy his dark-haired colleague further, so he just mimed zipping his mouth shut and retreated toward the bunk room, likely to gossip with Lewis and Nico about what he saw.
“What a bloody git,” Mark mumbled to himself, rolling his eyes at his friend’s antics.
“Hmm?” Sebastian blinked up at him sleepily. He had clearly dozed off for a few moments.
“No worries, mate,” the taller man assured him.
Only five minutes remained before their shift would have ended when the emergency alarm went off, and the announcement came from the dispatch centre shortly after. Everyone groaned, but it effectively woke the Firehouse up. Apparently, there was an early morning car pile up on the highway. A few blokes from the Firehouse’s Second shift were ready to take action, but as it was still technically the First shift’s working time, their captain gathered everyone from the team and rushed out to the site of the accident with the station’s every available vehicle. It meant overtime for all of them, but every cloud has a silver lining. They weren’t first at the scene, so the incident command post went to another squad. That meant once the worst was over and all the needed emergency assistance was provided, Firehouse 21’s First shift was relieved from duty. They got away without having to help with the cleaning up procedures. That was well deserved luck at the end of their nightmarishly long day.
It was already well into the middle of the morning when they got back to the station, knackered as hell. Everyone hurried to the showers, so Mark was one of the last to get a chance to clean himself up after the last emergency call. He was walking to his car, parked at the other side of the block, chatting with Jenson when Sebastian glided past them with his bicycle, evidently in a mad dash to get home as soon as possible. The next moment, both men whirled around at the sound of tyre screeching.
Sebastian was almost hit by a car driven by a livid Fernando.
Mark and Jenson jogger up to them to calm down the furiously complaining Fernando and the visibly shaken blond. While Jenson manoeuvred a fuming Fernando into the passenger seat of his car and took away his car keys, Mark tried to convince Sebastian to take his offer and let the lieutenant drive him home, as the blue-eyed man was at fault in the near accident.
“Darling, I’m pretty sure it’s not a good idea to give Fernando another chance to run you over with his car because he won’t hesitate next time,” Mark persuaded Seb with a gentle shove on the shorter man’s back toward the lieutenant’s car.
He could hear Jenson snort at that and Nando mumbling something inaudible under his nose. They all knew Mark was right.
“I can give you a lift. In your current exhausted state, you are a danger to yourself and your environment,” he offered.
“What about my bicycle?” The paramedic nervously blinked up at Mark. The taller man just sighed in relief.
“I have a bike carrier rack on my car, don’t worry about it.”
“Are you sure it’s not a problem for you? You must be dead on your feet as well,” Sebastian asked with a frown.
“Just get in my car while I secure your bike to the rack,” Mark said, pointing in the direction of his car.
The paramedic didn’t argue, just followed the instructions for once in his life and settled in the front seat. The lieutenant pushed the bicycle to the trunk-mounted rack, lifted it over the hooks, and fastened it in place before checking if it was fixed correctly.
“Bye,” the dark-haired man waved at the others when he finished the task.
Fernando just nodded at him from the passenger seat, still muttering about blond lunatics under his nose, and Jenson gave a cheery wave, leaning against Nando’s car. Mark had no doubt in his mind that his friend would report this whole situation to the Firehouse’s gossip mill. The lieutenant couldn’t even blame him for that. Mark was simply pathetic when it came to Seb.
After both of them fastened the seatbelts, Sebastian entered his address in the taller man’s GPS, and they set off. A comfortable silence settled between them during the drive, which was broken only by the loud growling of Seb’s stomach. The blond flushed an embarrassed red and bashfully asked if he was allowed to turn on the radio.
“Sure, knock yourself out, mate.” Mark easily agreed.
The younger man tinkered with the radio, and the firefighter was actually thankful for the new noise, as his tummy was ready to imitate whale sounds too, from the feeling of hunger. God knows when was the last time he had a chance to eat something. Once Sebastian was satisfied with the music, he leaned back comfortably in his seat. His choice fell on a radio channel that played rock, and he hummed along to the songs. Mark just grinned, saying nothing, enjoying the peaceful atmosphere and trying to steal glances when the other man wasn’t looking.
“You like rock, then?” Mark asked when the news came on the radio channel, interrupting the music.
“Yeah, love it. Especially older songs,” the paramedic answered with a sunny smile. “Oh, hey! You missed the turn to my flat. You can take a turn left on the third block, or I can walk from here if you have had enough of babysitting me for the day and want to go home already. Seriously, it's no trouble for me. I promise to push my bicycle to the building. I won't ride it again today. And I’m really grateful for the lift,” he talked a mile per minute.
“No worries, mate. I know what I’m doing,” the firefighter said reassuringly.
Seb made a soft noise of protest when he noticed that Mark had pulled up to a drive-through.
“I can make us breakfast,” he adorably pouted.
“I’m not doubting your cooking skills, mate, but you are probably not fit to prepare food as you were almost flattened by a car just minutes ago.”
The blue-eyed man just huffed but was wise or tired enough not to argue. Mark ordered a huge amount of food, which was more than enough for both of them: hash browns, ham and egg sandwiches, cheese muffins, chocolate croissants, and decaf coffee. The lieutenant usually didn’t eat in his car, but he was hungry enough to overlook his own rules just this once, and when he pulled up at a parking lot, they wolfed down the food in no time.
“Okay, I admit, getting breakfast was a good idea,” Sebastian said while wiping the corner of his mouth with a paper napkin.
Mark sadly watched the smudge of chocolate disappearing. He would have loved to brush it, or even better, kiss it away and… He shook his head with widened eyes. Where the hell did that idea come from?! His tired brain ran with the craziest, most unlikely ideas, and who knows how long he daydreamed, staring at the other man. His pining was getting out of hand.
“Are you okay?” Seb was looking at him with raised brows, head cocked to the side.
“Hmm? Yeah. Just… aaahn… a bit sleepy,” Mark faked a yawn.
“We should probably head back before we keel over from the lack of sleep.”
“Righto,” Mark replies dejectedly. He couldn't even force himself to try to sound cheerful at the idea of having to separate from Seb. He enjoyed the younger man’s company today too much.
After the successful brekkie run, they chat on the route back. Mark had been mentally preparing himself to somehow slip an invitation to hang out later into the conversation, but thankfully, Seb was faster, inviting him over for tea. If Mark would have been honest with himself, he should have refused him, or asked to postpone it until after they both had a good twelve hours long, uninterrupted sleep, but he just couldn't refuse Seb. Especially since his beautiful blue eyes gazed at him hopefully as he asked.
Once they parked on the street, right in front of the flat, the paramedic ushered Mark to the couch in his living room and hurried to put on a kettle. Once their tea was ready, Seb handed the dark-haired man a steaming mug and sat down beside him. The conversation flew easily between them, as usual, and as time passed, they found themselves sitting closer to each other like a magnetic force was pulling them towards the other. No wonder they ended up all cosied up together on the sofa when there was plenty of space for both of them. It was so nice and comfortable for the time being. Deep down, Mark knew it wasn't wise to fall asleep on the couch, but he had no heart to wake the blond when he dozed off first, with his head resting on Mark’s shoulder. The lieutenant absentmindedly threaded his fingers through Seb’s soft hair, musing about how he could get used to this, the pair of them returning to one of their flats together, having breakfast and chatting, then having a snooze cuddled up on the couch after a long shift. This would be the perfect post shift tradition.
Mark was close to falling asleep too, as he gently brushed strands of curly hair away from Sebastian’s face. He would have loved to smooth down the frown between the paramedic’s brow, massaging the soft skin to ease his tension after this shift from hell. Maybe one day he could do that without being a creep, but not yet. For now, he had to be content with Seb sighing softly, nuzzling his face into Mark’s caressing touches before shifting into a more comfortable position in the lieutenant’s arms.
‘I could really get used to this,’ Mark thought before he drifted off as well.