#anyways rip to the guy having to catch up on the 117 replies

[apinklion01]

Prev's tags: #for context: the idea of the miserable american lunch has been a chinese meme for a while now#so naturally they wanna see from the source#and this is like the best possible fucking answer bc it's worse than anything they've come up with LOL#< tags from different user#LOLLL#so cute everyone is typing bilingually#i went to google for examples of the chinese netizens talking about this#they're like 'my coworker only ate a sweet pepper for lunch???' 'mine only ate a carrot'#they call it 'white people food' and 'lunch of suffering' and the redbull and cigarette is really funny but yea it's 100% extra worse#the examples chinese netizens have are like.. low calorie meal prep lunches. like cold sandwiches; carrots; an apple; salad; charcuterie#like starbucks meal packs#like yeah... guilty... those are very american lunches. but the cigarette and redbull is fucking hysterically worse than the stuff#they were already aghast about#and part of the reason why they moved towards these 'bairenfan' (white people food) is bc its low effort meal prep#normally homecooked meal is pretty labour intensive right; definitely takes some time and planning#but with 996 work culture (9am-9pm; 6 days a week) young workers in china are feeling overworked and exhausted#and that adds another layer to the cigarettes and redbull guy; who's saying he's working really really long hours and this is all HE can do#all around people are having rough lunch hours

[ssfghfrrggf]

Burning

https://archiveofourown.org/works/25286518

Eddie’s not sure if it’s the incessant beeping blaring through the air or Chris’s loud cries that ripped him out of his sleep first; frankly it doesn’t matter, it isn’t really even something that registers as important. What’s important is the smoke detector is blaring, Christopher is screaming for help, and now that Eddie’s awake he can actually tell that the air is almost too thick for him to breathe.

***

“You’re up late,” Hen comments and sets a mug of coffee down next to Buck’s arm. He can feel the heat of it against his skin, and wishes he could find comfort in it.

“It just feels wrong not having Eddie on shift,” he shrugs and reaches for the mug. Truthfully, he can’t sleep with Eddie not there. He does it all the time, but something about tonight… he just wishes Eddie were there with him. They aren’t technically supposed to share bunks, but they do it anyway. No one knows they do it, except maybe Hen; the only reason Buck suspects she knows is because she’s Hen and knows everything.

“And you can’t sleep because he’s not in bed with you?” Hen says knowingly.

Buck ducks his head trying to hide his smile. He’s never been good at holding a poker face.

“It’s just tonight I guess,” Buck replies looking back up at Hen. “I sleep without him all the time. Tonight I’m just lonely I guess.”

Hen smiles understandingly and pats his hand gently. “It’s what? 4:00 a.m. now? That gives you four more hours until the end of the shift. Four hours and then you go home and curl up in your boyfriend’s incredibly muscular arms.”

“Four hours? How am I going to survive that?” Buck declares and leans back in his chair, only half kidding. Four hours might as well be four years. “Who even gets a cold here? It’s L.A. colds shouldn’t be a thing.”

“You’ll survive, Buck,” Hen promises with a tired smile.

“So, why are you up?”

“The sound of your pining woke me up and I couldn’t go back to sleep.”

“Ha ha,” Buck says dryly and sips the hot coffee.

“No, I got up to go to the bathroom and I saw that you were up,” She replies shaking her head. “You should go back to bed and at least try to get some-”

Hen is interrupted by the tones sounding, ringing through the sleeping fire house.

“So much for trying to sleep,” Buck is about to say, but the words die in his throat at the voice coming over the intercom rattles off the address… Eddie’s address.

He’s up before he even knows what he’s doing, and like a bullet from a gun he’s running for the pole. He usually takes the stairs, there’s less of a chance of breaking your ankle and they’re just better in every way but one: the pole is faster.

***

“Chris!” Eddie shouts, but really comes out as more of a choked cough, as he stumbles into his son’s room. He knows he should be crawling, the air is more breathable close to the ground and visibility is better, but he doesn’t care about any of that. Moving on his own two feet is faster and will get him to Chris faster.

“Dad!” Christopher yells back as Eddie reaches his closed bedroom door.

“I’m here buddy,” Eddie coughs and feels the door handle before attempting to open the door. The smoke sticks in the back of his throat and stings at his eyes as he twists the handle and pushes against the door. Nothing happens.

“Dad, what’s happening?!” Christopher’s panicked cry is muffled by the door separating them.

“Chris, listen to me,” Eddie manages to wheeze, “I need you to get low and get away from the door.”

Eddie casts a quick glance over his shoulder at the smoke filled hallway behind him. He can’t see any fire yet which is a good sign, at least so far. Brief afterthoughts of flashovers and backdrafts do flash through his mind as he tries the door again, but he pushes those thoughts away. It’s too soon for any of that. The door refuses to budge. Biting his lip, Eddie tries a third time, this time he throws his whole weight against it, but again nothing happens. He tries again, this time he hits the door so hard it makes his shoulder ache; he sinks to the floor in a coughing fit and tries to blink the thick smoke out his eyes. He can now see an orange glow reflecting off the smoke down the hallway from him. On a good he almost definitely kicked the warped door open, but it’s not a good day. He’s been in bed for the past two days with a cold so bad he thought his head was going to explode, and it’s made him weak. Weak and tired, and now the smoke is only making everything worse.

“Okay new plan,” Eddie rasps, barely managing to get the words out. “I need you to break your window and jump out.”

It’s only a four foot drop from Christopher’s window to the ground. He’ll get some scraps and bruises from jumping out, but he’ll be fine. He’ll be safe.

“What about you?!” Christopher cries. The hoarseness in his wail only makes Eddie feel all the more helpless. He’s a firefighter, he should be able to do something… anything, but he can’t breathe let alone bust down a warped door.

“I’ll be fine, just… Chris, you gotta break the window,” Eddie chokes and sinks to the hard floor. The air is a little clearer close to ground, but he barely pays attention to that. 

“But-”

“Now Christopher!” Eddie all but shouts, and catches a mouthful of bitter smoke. He can see fire now, even through the thick smoke filling the air. “You have to do it now.”

The reply he gets is the sound of glass breaking; almost immediately the fire at the end of the hallway flares up, and now Eddie can feel the heat coming off it.

***

Buck is out of the truck before it’s even come to a full stop and before Bobby can even tell him to wait. Another crew, the 117, is already on the scene, but Bobby knows that’s not going to stop Buck from muscling his way straight into the burning. There was a time when Bobby would’ve done the same thing, in fact there was a time when he tried to the exact same thing. It’s Buck’s family in that house. Eddie and Christopher are the whole 118’s family, but they’re Buck’s in a special way.

“Buck wait!” Bobby shouts after him, running to catch up to him. If Buck hears him, he doesn’t reply. He’s making a B-line for the little house belching big red flames into the night sky.

“Buck!” Bobby tries again, louder and firmer this time, and grabs Buck’s shoulder.

“I need to get in there,” Buck says and makes an attempt to shrug Bobby’s hand off him.

“No, you need to wait!” Bobby snaps and tightens his grip. He can see Christopher sitting on the back bumper of an ambulance getting air. There’s no sign of Eddie.

“No Bobby! I have to-”

“You’re too close on this,” Bobby interrupts. They’re all probably too close on this one; he knows Buck won’t stand for getting benched, but he might stand for sitting with Christopher. The kid has a calming effect on Buck, not to mention someone who he actually knows should be there with him.

“Bobby-”

“Go be with Christopher!” Bobby orders and points toward the ambulance.

Buck freezes and blinks like he doesn’t believe his eyes. “But-”

“Go be with him,” Bobby says a little more forcefully and gives Buck a nudge toward the kid.

Buck hesitates, turning his head back toward the burning house and for half a second Bobby thinks he’s going to tear away toward the building anyway, but instead he swallows whatever lump has surely risen in his throat and he takes off at a fast jog in the direction of Christopher and the ambulance. He lets his  gaze linger on Buck as he embraces Eddie’s son for a few seconds before turning his attention to the captain approaching him.

“I understand this house belongs to one of your guys,” the other captain says as she comes to a standstill next Bobby.

“That’s correct, did he get out already?” Bobby asks hopefully, craning his neck to look around the scene again looking for some trace of Eddie.

“I’m afraid not,” she replies. “I have a team of guys in there looking for him now, as well as a hose team making an offensive attack from the inside.”

“Where do you want my people?” Bobby asks, letting his gaze wander back to the burning house.

“Start running hoses,” the other captain replies. “And have your paramedics on standby.”

“Yes ma’am,” Bobby says, turning his back on the blaze. He wants more than anything to go in and look for Eddie himself, he’s one of his firefighters. More than that he’s family, but there’s a chain of command, one that has to be followed for the safety of every firefighter on the scene. The 117 were the first on scene and therefore have incident command. Frankly he’s surprised that the captain is going to let the 118 take point on the medical side of this call.

“Is there someone who can come be with the kid?” She asks, glancing over her shoulder at Buck and Christopher. “He should go to the hospital to get checked out. I can send him in our ambulance, but it���d be less scary if someone he knows goes with him.”

“Yeah, I can send one of my people with him. He knows them all,” Bobby says and turns to go to where Buck is sitting with Christopher on the back bumper of the ambulance.

“Any news?” Buck demands, jumping up as soon as his gaze meets Bobby’s.

“They have teams inside looking,” Bobby says. “But Buck, I need you to ride to the hospital with Christopher so he can get checked out.”

“But I need be here, what if they need me? What if Eddie needs me?!” Buck argues desperately. “I already called Carla, she’s on her way; she can come be with Chris.”

“Buck, you’re too close to this,” Bobby says firmly. “Stay with the kid.”

As turns to go, Buck grabs his arm and yanks him back around.

“Bobby, you have to let me stay,” he insists.

“Captain Nash, is your guy coming?” One of the firefighters from the 117 asks before Bobby can say anything. They’re already prepping the ambulance for take off.

“Buck, go with Christopher. I promise we’ll take care of Eddie.”

Buck hesitates.

“Captain, we gotta go!”

“Buck-” Bobby breaks off as Buck’s eyes widen in horror and focus on something behind him.

Bobby turns his head to see two firefighters emerging from the black smoke dragging a limp body with them.

“Eddie!” Buck cries and before Bobby can do anything he’s sprinting across the yard.

“Captain-”

“Go,” Bobby tells the two paramedics who are still waiting. “Get the number for Carla and have her meet you at the hospital. Christopher knows the number.”

And then he takes off after Buck.

*** They already have Eddie on a stretcher by the time Buck reaches them.

“Eddie! Eddie!” Buck cries and falls in next to the stretcher being wheeled toward the waiting ambulance.

“Buck?” Eddie questions softly. His words are muffled by the oxygen covering his mouth and nose.

“Yeah, it’s me. I’m right here,” Buck promises and slips his hand into Eddie’s.

“Chris…?”

“He’s fine,” Buck chokes, as he follows the stretcher into the ambulance. “Everything’s going to be okay.”

Eddie manages a weak smile, but doesn’t say anything else; Buck turns his gaze to Hen, who has climbed in behind him. There’s concern on her face, but when she notices Buck looking to her, she gives him a reassuring smile.

“He’s going to be just fine,” Hen promises. 

“Yeah,” Chimney agrees. “He’s got smoke inhalation and a few first degree burns, all nothing some oxygen and morphine can’t fix.”

“You’re sure?” Buck asks looking between Hen and Chimney who both look very sure of what they’ve just said.

“We’re sure,” Hen says reassuringly and gives Buck’s hand a comforting squeeze.

He believes them, but he still can’t push back the worry still bubbling up inside of him. There can always be complications with smoke inhalation. If the air was too hot it could’ve burned the insides of Eddie’s lungs which could cause bleeding and easily kill him, or there could’ve been chemicals in the smoke that will cause problems later, possibly even cancer, or the smoke inhalation in addition to Eddie’s cold could cause an infection and make him get even more sick.

***

Eddie wakes up with a heavy weight resting on his chest, for half a second he feels like he’s still trapped in the hallway of his house, choking on smoke and suffocating, before realizing it’s Buck’s head that’s resting on his chest. His boyfriend seems to be out cold where he is, half sitting in an uncomfortable looking hospital chair and half slumped over the bed. Eddie smiles and rests one hand on Buck’s head, running his fingers through his hair.

“He fell asleep,” Christopher says, making his presence known.

“I can see that,” Eddie says as quietly as possible so he doesn’t accidentally wake Buck up. 

His son smiles at him from his own hospital chair. “He was really tired.”

“I bet,” Eddie says in agreement. “What do you say we keep letting him sleep?”

“Yeah,” Christopher agrees. 

“Hop up here, buddy,” Eddie offers. “We’ll join him.”

Christopher doesn’t waste a second clamoring up onto the bed with Eddie and curling up next to him. He wraps his free arm around Chris and holds him close. He’s safe. They’re both safe. Everything is going to be okay.