Work Text:
It had been a nice afternoon.
Maybe a too nice afternoon. It was not usual for a city this big to be so calm, taking into consideration it was really cold outside and the holidays approached.
Everyone needed to warm up their homes, in one way or another. By using heaters, electric warmers, braziers, electric blankets, fireplaces, you name it, anything able to provide heat was always welcome in the coldest months of the year.
Also everyone cooked a lot, got distracted a lot while doing said cooking, forgot about their stove a lot as they chatted away. Mistakes happened, errors occurred and irresponsibility was a thing, too.
Working at the fire department was definitely not easy, especially not while in holiday season with all the possible fire hazards being constantly running in the background of every home.
Yunho was checking on their equipment at the station for the second time that day, already having trained his body to keep up with how physically demanding the job was. He was bored and that was a good thing, he loved to be bored on the clock for that meant no one was in immediate danger, but damn if it wasn’t driving him mad to not have anything to do.
He was in process of rolling up on of their longest hoses when the bell rang. Just half a second later he was moving fast on his feet, running to his locker to get into his fire resistant overalls, sliding the straps over his shoulders and getting the cloak on.
San had already started the truck’s engine as Mingi loaded everything they would need and, passing him by his side, Jongho got inside ready to depart. Yunho climbed to the passenger seat of the cabin and off they went as they got the location, some instructions and a brief summary of the situation at hand.
Yeosang’s voice was low and calm as he explained that they had a small domestic fire that had escalated up too quickly to put out, just a mere few streets from the station. A second story, possible small gas fugue with at least two people inside.
With the sirens blaring and going at the maximum speed the streets allowed, they got to the building fairly fast. They could already see the flames escaping outside from one of the front windows.
Making a turn and positioning the truck in optimal position, San stopped and let the engine die. All four got out and marked out the area, deciding on a plan of action no minimize casualties and maximize success.
“Jongho, you’re up with me,” Yunho ordered, getting his helmet on, watching Jongho nodding and doing the same. “We all have heard Yeosang, be alert. San, Mingi, get the ladder and stay down here as we go in. Everyone, to work! Don’t get hurt and don’t die, understood?”
“Understood!”
It was just a small sentence he liked to say, no matter the mission they were sent to, because it served as an actual reminder of how dangerous their job was and it also gave his men courage to keep going.
Once they managed to safely get inside the apartment, most of the fire already extinguished from the rest of his squad efforts, Jongho looked for the people trapped inside while Yunho sought for the origin of the fire.
Everything was dark with smoke. Taking slow but tentative steps further inside the apartment, Yunho followed the orange hue until he found himself in the kitchen. Of course it was the kitchen. Water from their initial response covered most of the floor and furniture, water drops falling from every surface but still there was a portion of the room still set ablaze.
It was the stove. A quite old one, at that. The gas leak theory took more solid shape by the second. Yunho aimed his extinguisher at it, pulling on the trigger to free the substance to kill the flames.
The room stopped being bathed in angry orange and only the smoke remained to make it all dark again. He got close to the stove and made sure there was nothing that could kickstart the fire again.
Perfect, now the only thing left to do was find the people that were reported to be inside and they would be done. Jongho reported that he was bringing someone out already so at least one more person or even two remained trapped there.
Yunho moved fast but safely through the apartment, going to the rooms that were past the kitchen. Jongho had already marked the checked ones and that left two more to revise in search of more people.
He opened the first door, the bathroom, but no one was in there, just water on the floor as the drain was plugged and the tap left open. Yunho closed it before heading out for the last closed door.
Using more force than he should have, Yunho opened the door getting inside fast and determined. He scanned the room and from the corner of his eye he caught on something. Or rather, someone.
The guy was covering his face with a shirt, breathing rapidly and rocking his body back and forth, hitting the wall he was sitting against, right beside the door. He was in the middle of a panic attack or something of the sorts, but he also looked almost dissociated as he stared in front of him, not even noticing Yunho’s arrival.
Yunho got before him, crouching down and checking on his reaction. That way, depending on it, he would know how to act exactly. The young man finally acknowledged his presence and let go of the shirt he was holding over his nose. He said something but the firefighter was not able to understand it, although that told him that he at least was there with him, in a way, that he was responsive.
“I am getting you out of here!” He yelled through his helmet, locking eyes with him and making him understand that he was there to bring him to safety at last.
The man started to cough and launched his arms forward, wrapping them around his neck suddenly. He had no time to properly react to that but, as soon as he felt the man’s hold around himself, his training and conditioned response was triggered. He slid one arm under the guy’s knees and got to his feet, fast and secure.
With so much care and with a million manoeuvres for their own safety, Yunho finally made it out of the apartment.
Once on the street, he saw the ambulance and made a direct line towards it, ready to leave the man in the paramedics’ care but as he lowered him to the back of the vehicle to be recognised by them, the guy’s arms tightened around him as he buried his face into the crook of his neck, right between the helmet and the thick, plastic-feeling coat.
“Hey, it’s over,” he said calmly as he managed to take off his helmet with one hand, dropping it beside them on the floor. “You’re out of there, you’re safe now.”
But the guy was not budging, he tightened his hold even more as Yunho sensed how his whole body trembled. His eyes searched for anyone to help him to get the man off him so he could be properly checked and finally he crossed gazes with Seonghwa, the paramedic in charge.
‘Help’ he mouthed at him, frowning with worry and his friend ran towards them.
After some time, with a bit of struggle, they managed to separate the man from him. When Yunho looked at him in the eyes, he saw his stained tanned skin and the clear tracks that his tears left behind on his cheeks. He was quite handsome but his face was marked by the fear.
Yunho was about to go back to join the rest of his squad when he saw the man muttering something under his breath.
“Wait… My kitty. Oh god, my baby!” He raised his head from where he had been looking down at his hands, more tears rolled down his face, gathering on his chin. “Please, my cat— Please, save my Kkamyo!”
His sobs increased and he was full on crying at the moment.
“Please, let me tend to your wounds,” Seonghwa was trying to contain him as he looked at Yunho, a silent plea written all over his face. “The firefighters will get your kitty back, right Yunho?”
“Ye-yeah. I’ll do everything in my reach to find your Kkamyo,” he tried to be reassuring with a smile, sighing lightly when the guy seemed to relax a bit. “Let him take care of you in the meanwhile, you need to be good, okay? We don’t want the hurt to get worse. Can I get your promise?”
The young man just nodded as he extended his hands towards Seonghwa, who just took them and inspected his skin. He took advantage of that little window where the man had calmed down a bit to pick up his helmet and getting it back on, ready to go back inside.
He made a beeline towards his truck to warn his squad about what he was about to do when he saw San already holding a black bundle of fur in his arms. He took his helmet off once again, this time placing it in its rightful place in the truck along his gigantic jacket.
“How-”
“Jongho,” he simply answered. “He went back in to make sure there was no one else in there and he found this baby really well hidden, so he picked her. He gave her to me as soon as he got out of the building.”
“Where is he now?”
“Triple checking,” Mingi answered then. “I have already tidied up the hoses and all, now we just have to determine the danger solved and that’d be it.”
“Perfect, well done guys,” he praised them for their work. He re “Mind if I bring this little thing to her papa? I think he’d appreciate to see her alive.”
“All yours,” San laughed, passing the fairly large black cat onto his arms. “Careful, she doesn’t like to be held much.”
“Noted.”
In no time, Yunho was back at where he had left the guy with Seonghwa, fighting to keep the cat still against his chest and watching with both pride and pity how Seonghwa was wrapping some bandages around the man’s hands, because that meant that he had kept his promise but it also meant that he had been hurt.
The guy still hadn’t realised that the firefighter had gotten closer so, when Yunho as much as opened his mouth to make himself known, he got startled. His eyes were unfocused but soon he found out that Yunho was holding his cat with great effort to not let her go and, just as he did back at the apartment, he made grabby hands at him. Yunho chuckled and gave in, passing the cat to his owner.
“Kkamyo, baby,” he said, burying his nose into the cat’s belly, holding her like one would a baby. “You’re okay.”
A smile spread in his face when the cat meowed back at him, placing her paws against his face and complained about being held.
“Thank you, thank you thank you thank you!” He exclaimed, looking back at him with tears clinging once again to his eyelashes.
“My colleague got her early on, but I’d check with the vet if there’s anything wrong from all the smoke.”
“Okay, will do…” he turned back to the cat and started playing with her, sporting the prettiest smile Yunho has ever seen. Yunho also had noticed how he was still trembling, so with Seonghwa’s permission, he picked one of the metallic blankets the paramedics always kept in the ambulance and covered him with it.
“Still, I’d like to thank you, for saving us-”
“Wooyoung!” A strained voice cut him in as another man joined them, also wrapped in a foil sheet, just like him. “Shit, are you okay? I could not get to you and I was worried, I also don’t know where Kkamyo is and oh-”
“I’m good Joongie, Kkamyo is, too,” the man—Wooyoung—cooed into his cat’s face, not even looking at him.
“Thank fuck you’re okay, I’d go insane if I lost both of you because of a fucking soup…”
“Nah, you’re not getting rid of me that easy.”
“Wooyoung, I mean it, you know I can’t live without you…”
“That’s because I do all the cooking,” the man rolled his eyes. “It’s okay Joong, you can say it, you only keep me close because I provide and you’re a disaster waiting to happen…”
“Well… It wasn’t me who burnt down the kitchen,” the newcomer said, playfulness in his voice.
“Fuck you, too soon,” Wooyoung answered, but if Yunho had to go by his tone and expression, he was not actually mad at his… boyfriend?
Their light banter made Yunho relax a bit, for it meant that they were both feeling better already after such traumatic experience but, at the same time, it raised a question that the firefighter didn’t know concerned him like, at all.
To be honest, now that danger was out of the equation, he couldn’t help it but to remember how perfectly he had fit into his arms, just how nice his weight had felt against him. Now that he could take a better look at him, he was handsome, too. Longish dark hair framed his tanned face. His nose the most beautiful nose he has ever seen. His lips the juiciest, almost rivalling Mingi’s. His eyes were so entrancing, one with a monolid and the other with a double lid that captivated Yunho to the point of getting lost inside his gaze. Dark orbs stared back at him all of a sudden, catching him off guard.
Yunho was sure that he looked red as a beet now that he was caught staring, but he hoped the guy would think it was due of the high temperature difference from back inside the apartment and the street.
“Uhm, sorry, now that you and your boyfriend are here-” shit, he should have not said that, already seeing how the blue haired man—Hongjoong—twitched an eye and tilted his head as Wooyoung stretched his lips into a mischievous smile, but anyways, he must continue with his mandatory speech “-you must know a few things about what will happen now.”
He didn’t stop talking, stepping over his own words with nervousness as he recited the same thing he has said a million and one times, just wanting to finish and go already, he had embarrassed himself enough already by assuming things.
“I know this will be difficult until everything is sorted out. I wish the best for you two.”
And with that, he bowed down and turned around to go. Yunho was halfway to the truck when someone stopped him by closing a hand around his wrist. Wooyoung appeared before him, a bit breathless.
“Hongjoong is not my boyfriend!”
“Wha-”
“No, shut up, let me talk first… just… let me catch my breath for a minute, will you?”
“You should have not come running like that behind me, you just inhaled a lot of smoke, give your airways a break,” he couldn’t help it but worry about the man’s recklessness. “Please, take care of yourself…”
“I… Okay, but! How else was I going to stop the handsome firefighter from going away without having given him a little ‘thank you’ gift to show my appreciation? For saving my life!” He panted in front of him, one eye closed as he found it difficult to regain his breath. “I was not about to let you go just like that, sir.”
Saying that Yunho was perplexed was cutting it short. He looked behind Wooyoung and saw how Mingi, San and Jongho were all staring at him with knowing smiles in their faces. It was definitely not the first time that he had gotten proposed at on the clock, but it absolutely was the first one he was interested in.
His squad all raised a thumbs up in his direction.
“Oh? And what would that be?” Yunho decided to enter his game, making use of his newfound confidence, leaning slightly forward and right in front of the guy’s face, loving every second and dying to know where this was going.
“I could give you a kiss, but that’s maybe too cliché and a bit invasive for you, taking into consideration how we just met because my stove exploded no more than an hour ago…” Yunho couldn’t help it but to mourn a little inside, he would have loved that kiss. “So instead, I’ll give you my number and we can figure out the rest. How does that sound?”
“Actually, I love that idea… But a kiss on the cheek is very welcome, grannies love to give me those.”
Wooyoung smirked and grabbed him by the nape of his neck, bringing him down to his height slightly as his other hand joined the first one, circling his neck and, without further warning, Wooyoung jumped on him.
“Catch me!”
Thank god for the firefighter reflexes and training, for he managed to pick him up effortlessly and without dropping him nor losing his own balance. Yunho looked at him, surprised, as he laughed freely. When his laughter died down a bit, the man eyed his lips slightly, Yunho saw, before taking his jaw and turning his face away, successfully pushing his lips against the skin of his cheek. Their warmth left a tingling sensation on his skin once Wooyoung separated from him.
“I was not gonna be lesser than an old granny, you know?”
“Of course not,” Yunho chuckled, keeping him in his arms as if he weighed nothing. “Thank you, I really appreciate it.”
“Just you wait, fire boy, I got more of those where it came from,” he said with a smirk.
He closed his eyes and puckered his lips forward, making kissy lips at him. Yunho knew that he was mostly joking, being playful and all that but, looking back at him, he couldn’t help himself but to stare at his mouth, looking really, really inviting.
How easy would it be to lean forward and close the gap? How easy would it be to kiss him right then and there?
Yunho debated with himself, telling his selfish self that it was not nice to assume things and take a kiss against someone’s will while that other part of himself reasoned that that’s precisely what Wooyoung really wanted by offering his lips.
Apparently he took too long to decide, and a cheerful laugh made him snap out of his trance. The firefighter looked at him, scanning his face as he laughed without care until it slowly died down, slowly opening his eyes to look down at Yunho’s lips, slowly starting to bite his own. Suddenly he was back at looking into his eyes and something in his gaze told Yunho that his life would turn upside down from that very same moment.
He already felt the familiar sparks invading his chest, hoping to start something with Wooyoung, whatever he would allow him.
“So, should we proceed with that number exchange, huh?”