Work Text:
is entire life, Blue knew he was destined to do more than just sit around one day. He wouldn't be able to survive living behind a desk until he died. Part of him suspected that was partly why he had jumped at the chance of dancing at such a young age. He was only 19 when he took the job at the bar in downtown Nashville. He knew he looked good and his boss had told him as long as he made sure to not drink until he was twenty one, then he was just fine dancing. It was so much better than sitting at a desk at some college. He was being paid a hell of a lot of money just to look good and take some of his clothes off. It wasn’t hard to do and it was rewarding enough, well, at least the pay was.
Then he was suddenly thrust into the life of his step father and step brother and suddenly his life was completely transformed. He dropped everything and was ready to throw away his entire life for the chance to be a firefighter. The way he had felt after helping that girl at her bachelorette party was like nothing else he had ever felt. For the first time in his life he felt like he had a purpose. Not only in a career, but as a person. For the first time in his life, he felt like he wasn’t a waste of space only in this world to cause his mother problems.
With the help of his newfound team, he finally found worth in his life. It wasn’t easy. He almost threw it all away out of anger when he figured out his father had known him all this time and didn’t tell him. The world had given him yet another chance though. He wasn’t going to throw it away this time. He wanted to serve his city alongside his father and brother. He wanted to prove to all the people who told him his father had left because of him that he wasn’t worthless. He could do amazing things. The world just had to give him the opportunity to.
His life had gone from having absolutely nobody except his mother half the time, to always having someone watching his back and making sure he was okay. He had the sweetest and most beautiful girlfriend. He had the most supportive and strongest team that quickly became his family. Two of them had already been his family. The world was giving him another shot at having the most amazing life and he was going to be grateful and take advantage of every single moment. He was getting a second chance after the hell he had grown up in. He wasn’t going to throw it away.
Unfortunately, that did lead him to some of the habits that he currently had. He didn’t want to have a single weakness that a single person could say ruined his chances. He wasn’t going to let anyone get the better of him. He wasn’t going to let anyone have the ammo to deem him unfit.
He had always been bad about letting others take care of him. Growing up, the only things Mama had done for him was manage his diabetes. If there was any other point he had been injured, she would give him the typical ‘rub dirt on it’ and they would both go on with their days. He wasn’t used to people worrying and cooing over his minor problems, so the transition to the mansion and how worried the Harts always were about him was a change of pace that he didn’t know how to embrace.
It was so much easier to just pretend that he was completely fine when something happened than try to get through the awkward social interaction that came with being taken care of. He was already awkward enough in simple social situations, let alone ones that he had no idea how to manage. He was happy that his new family was giving him grace though. They understood that he wasn’t the brightest socially. They never made fun of him or made him feel awkward about anything he did. He really appreciated that.
His dad and brother were great people and Blue loved his step mom so much. Blythe was the kindest person Blue has ever had the luxury of talking to. He could never thank her whole family enough from how they took him in just like that despite everything else. Despite his mom being an asshole to them. Despite everything his family had done to hers, she never once held it against Blue for that. He knew his mama was a piece of work when it came to people she didn’t like. She would do anything and everything that she could to make their lives a living hell until she felt satisfied enough. Blue didn’t know how to stop her from doing so as she had done it since he was just a little boy. Blythe never held her actions against him. She treated him like another son even though they had never met in person before a couple months ago. She was the gentle mother that his biological mom wasn’t able to be for him.
He would always be grateful for every single thing this family had done for him. Not only paying for things behind the scenes before he even knew his father was alive, but making sure he felt at home in their lives despite it all. For the first time in his life, he felt like he had an actual family. Not just his mama, but a whole group of people that he knew would fight the world for him. They didn’t find his diabetes as a problem or a burden. They just protected him. Kept him safe and healthy no matter what. Blue couldn’t ask for a single thing more.
He loved every single person on his team. He loved the place they gave him in their lives. He lived the worth they helped him find in himself. He loved everything about them.
Contrary to his struggle taking care of himself, Blue was actually actually pretty good at managing his diabetes. He had grown up knowing to watch his insulin and glucose levels. He knew the feelings when he was starting to get low or high on blood sugar. He was good at managing it. His newfound family didn’t think so much. He assumes they watched his other habits and his ability to care for himself. Blue was sure he was sure he would do the same if the roles were reversed, but it did kind of get on his nerves.
There would be times after calls were frequently Don or Ryan would ask him about his sugar levels and check up on him. As much as Blue liked being taken care of, he didn’t like being doubted. He had managed it himself with the help of his mom for his entire life, he didn’t suddenly need help now. He tried to express this to both of his family members, and he could tell they were trying to respect the boundary, but at the same time, he also could see that they were constantly worried about him. Blue wasn’t sure if it was because of the diabetes or the fact that he was a new addition to their lives, but Blue wasn’t helpless and he needed them to see that.
It was a normal night. The call wasn’t anything out of the ordinary per se, but it wasn’t a short one. They had spent a little over 4 hours checking for victims, doing triage, giving CPR, and pulling bodies out of water. Some old walking pathway above a sewer in downtown Nashville had finally gotten over its time. With plenty of people still on top of the bridge itself, the supports had snapped, sending far too many falling into the water below.
While most were able to swim themselves out of the shallow water to reach safety, others had been injured from the fall itself. There had been two broken limbs they tended to. One lady had hit her head and passed out into the water. It was a miracle they were able to resuscitate her on time. Another old man hadn't been able to stay on his feet in the water and was halfway drowned when they pulled him out. The fact there had been no deaths was a miracle.
They had been there forever though. It had also been a long day before that call as well. Blue had woken up late because apparently his charger decided to stop working in the middle of the night. Therefore, his alarm hadn’t gone off and the only reason he didn't completely sleep through his shift was his mom making a ruckus in the kitchen downstairs. He had barely had the time to jump in his car and get to work. His phone had absolutely zero battery and he didn’t have a working charger to fix that issue. He could only hope that someone at the station had a spare or was willing to share their own with him. He had pulled into work seconds from being late. His LT told him he was cutting it close to which Blue tried to jump into his explanation as to why, but Ryan shook him off pretty fast, telling him it was okay, but to not push his luck.
The conversation had gone by so fast that Blue completely forgot about his dead phone and asked his half brother if he had a charger to spare. They were quickly called into their first emergency of the day. There had been two before the bridge collapsed. One was a standard fender bender. Nobody had been hurt. The most annoying part of the call was the constant bickering between the victims on the scene. They both had insisted that the other one had caused the crash. When the firefighters told them they weren’t the ones to talk to about legal stuff and they could be quiet, it only amplified the arguing.
The noise so early in the morning had made his head start aching. The last thing he needed this early into a shift was a migraine. He had popped a couple pain pills once he got back to the truck. They had only pulled back into the station for small seconds when the tones rang again. Armed robbery, store clerk shot. Blue hated these calls. He hated not being able to help at all while Roxy and Taylor struggled with an injury. There were no better paramedics Blue knew than those two girls, but he still hated the feeling that he couldn’t help. Thankfully, the shot hadn’t been to the head, neck, or anywhere else extremely fatal.
The bullet had entered right in his upper arm and they were on the scene fast enough to stop the bleeding before there was any catastrophic damage to the man’s body.
It had been a relief finally pulling back into the station after that call. Their Cap had advised them all to get something to eat to keep their energy up. It reminded Blue that he needed to check his blood sugar. When he had gone to grab his phone, he remembered it was still dead. Shit. That wasn’t good.
He searched the house for Ryan, seeing him standing by the counter, a protein bar in his hand. The second he had opened his mouth to call for his half brother, the tones were once again ringing into his ears. Blue groaned as he quickly threw on his turnouts and climbed into the engine.
That's how he got to where he was now. Four hours of meticulous rescue later. By the time everyone was accounted for and all the ambulances had finally been sent to the nearest hospital, the adrenaline started to wear off. It was then that Blue started to notice his hands shaking. That wasn’t good. He went to reach for his phone in his back pocket only to remember about halfway there that the thing was completely out of battery and still in his locker at the firehouse. Double shit.
Realistically he knew what he needed to do. He needed to immediately tell his dad what was going on and endure whatever scolding and fretting he would get in return for his carelessness. He really didn’t want to have to do that though. He was just starting to prove himself to his team and the last thing they needed to see was that he wasn’t able to manage himself.
He would be able to last to get back to the firehouse, plug his phone in, and see what he needed. He was sure he would be fine. The back wasn’t long at all. He would be just fine. He would make it.
He was very wrong. Turns out, overestimating his body's ability to manage his blood sugar was pretty stupid. They were only halfway back to the station when his skin started sweating drastically beneath his turn outs. It wasn’t the normal sweat of a call. It was the side effect of his blood sugar skyrocketing from the lack of food and him not monitoring it.
Not to mention that the shaking in his hands had gotten significantly worse and his heart was starting to race inside of his chest.
He knew he needed to tell someone what was going on. At this point though, he was already too deep into it. It was embarrassing. He didn’t want to tell anyone besides his dad or brother, as childish as that was, and the engine didn’t exactly offer much privacy. It was only half a ride more. He could hold on. He pressed his shaking hands together, willing his heart rate to slow down just a bit.
He only lasted a couple more minutes before the truck took a sharp turn and his vision spun. His head swirled and the bout of dizziness almost pulled a groan from his throat. He bit the noise back in at the last second and looked around to make sure nobody had heard.
He just needed a couple more minutes. It didn’t matter that his head was spinning and his skin was clammy. He only needed to hold onna bit longer. Prove to his team he wasn’t a waste of space. He was good enough to have this job. He wasn’t a good for nothing burden that the world had shown him to be over and over now.
His vision wasn’t slowly going back. Nausea wasn’t quickly churning in his gut from the dizziness. His skin wasn’t going chilly from the sweat. He was fine. He could deal with it. It was five- maybe four? more minutes.
The world wasn’t blurring. It wasn’t. He wasn’t that pathetic that he couldn’t take care of himself for a single day.
Surely not.
The world tilted.
He was.
He tried to open his mouth to call for Ryan or his dad, but nothing came out. Before he could do anything, everything was tilting and the world went black.
Out of nowhere, Blue suddenly fell forward. Ryan instantly jumped forward, catching his younger brother before he could smash his face against anything. The movement quickly alerted everyone in the truck that something was wrong. Ryan shook Blue’s shoulder, calling his name, but the younger man wasn’t answering. Shit.
He checked his pulse. It was pounding rapidly. Blue's skin was clammy and hot. Ryan reached for his brother's glucose monitor, making sure the thing was active. Then he reached for Blue’s phone. It wasn’t in his pocket.
“Shit,” Ryan cursed aloud. He tilted his brother's head back. Blue’s breathing was labored and fast. Ryan could smell the sweetness coming off of his breath. “We need-“
Before he could even get the words out of his mouth, his dad was beside him. The Captain was unlocking his own phone and opening an app. Ryan quickly realized it was connected to Blue’s monitor. His blood sugar was ridiculously high.
“Run an insulin line.” Don ordered. Roxy and Taylor instantly got to work. They hooked an IV into his arm and slowly began pumping insulin into Blue’s blood. Don rubbed Blue’s sternum harshly and the pain instantly ripped Blue awake. He gasped, eyes flicking around widely before settling.
With Blue now awake, Ryan was immediately less stressed. The younger man was still trying to collect himself when Don opened his mouth.
“Where’s your phone, B?” His father asked. Blue looked confused at first, and then immediately guilty.
“It didn’t charge last night. Was gonna ask, but ran out of time,” He choked out, throat a little sore. Ryan frowned. He could tell that he and his dad were thinking the same thing. Blue should have immediately come to one of them asking to charge his phone up, or at the very least told them when he started feeling bad. It would avoid the whole issue and something potentially going wrong and getting him hurt.
“B, nobody was going to be mad your phone wasn’t charged,” the captain sighed, “You need to tell us if you’re feeling crappy though. Then we can help you before you faint on us, kid.” Blue shook his head.
“I’m sorry,” he started to apologize, but Ryan cut him off.
“Don’t apologize for passing out, dude,” He assured his little brother, “we were just worried about you.” He saw the brief doubt in Blue’s eyes and he gave his younger brother a stern look that Blue instantly turned away from.
“I’m so-“ Ryan smacked him lightly on the shoulder. Blue sighed with a smile and nodded.
“Okay LT,” he settled on. Ryan shifted back, giving the younger man a bit more space to breathe. Blue was going to be fine. They just needed to even out his blood sugar again and get that damn phone of his charged so Blue could monitor it. Neither of the tasks would be that difficult.
Once they got back to the station, Ryan helped Blue out of the truck, making sure his brother was steady on his feet. He ignored the look Blue gave him. He told the younger man to sit as he dug through his locker and plugged Blue’s phone into his own charger.
Blue was a damn good firefighter and a hell of a good person. Ryan just hoped that one day soon he would know he could trust everyone here to have his back. Through the good and bad.
Until then, they would just have to show him.