the morning had been fraught with danger ; the tips of sidney’s fingers still suffering a dull throb from where they’d come too close to spilling the coffee pot, mind still trapped in a dreamless haze. waking with the rising sun having had few hours of restless sleep happened now and again, he knew, having had such bouts ever since he was a teenager.
it was due to stress, plain and simple. stress of learning of a father’s affair, stress of moving for an indeterminate amount of time, stress of not knowing when a job would come next. rationing his money like he still sometimes rationed food for himself as a phantom impulse from a time when he’d be told to ‘ lose two inches by spring. ’ stress, he thinks. it’s just stress.
the morning had been fraught with danger ; burnt coffee and careful fingers, the restless sleep of a restless mind, and the sudden, aching, desperate need to go outside. so without much thought to the contrary, he’d rolled out of bed a quarter past seven and was soon slipping on his sneakers, all the while tiptoeing throughout the house in an effort to emulate a church mouse.
sidney had nearly made it out the door ––– not a single true destination in mind apart from not here ––– when there was the pitter-patter of pitter-pattering clacking claws and a small boof from the general area surrounding his feet. he paused, looking down. ❛ oh. ❜ and again, ❛ oh no. ❜ but the incessant hope of a tentatively wagging tail only boofed once more, and before sidney could argue, he had a leash in his hand.
the chill of the early morning air came as a welcomed relief the moment it hit him, as he stepped out from the confines of a temporary home. the bright eyes of his sister’s dog were doubly quick to soothe his worried mind ; the same sound of clacking claws ––– though dulled against pavement ––– was thrice as easy to follow. with no real destination in mind, he let the dog lead the way ( whom his sister had cackled at naming bark twain, and whom sidney had affectionately come to call nugget due to the pup’s miniature size ; and even, on occasion, nugbug ).
and letting nugget lead him any which way was just fine. he could let his mind settle, let it wander, let himself look out to the morning sun without fear of wandering too far. that is, until nugget spotted an orange tabby bathing in a sun spot outside the doors of the avalon fire station. it was almost as if it happened in slow motion. ❛ oh. ❜ and again, ❛ oh god. ❜ before the little dog is suddenly slipping his collar and dashing off at truly terrifying speeds, leaving sidney frozen in his spot and only thinking to shout, ❛ bark ! ❜ which he knows must make him sound like an utter lunatic ––– damn akida and her stupid puns ––– before sidney is taking off in hot pursuit.
which, of course, lands him running smack dab into the solid chest of one of the firemen exiting the station house, and bark twain slipping right through the cracks. ❛ oh–––––– ❜ stuttered, hands coming to grasp a firm chest in an effort to right himself before he’s jerking away as if he’d been burned, and stumbling back. ❛ oh, fuck. ❜ doe eyes uncharacteristically wild as they sweep up from a chest to the freckled face of his neighbor, for christ’s sake. ❛ oh, it’s you. ❜ he swallows, thick, and blinks twice. ❛ ––––––i think my dog just slipped past you. ❜
pre-occupied with the fishing in pocket for phone, lucas is only aware of the commotion happening two feet away when a yowl precedes the orange blur that speeds past his feet, an unidentifiable blur following closely behind. he barely has time to register that the first is flame before another object is colliding straight into his chest, exclamation slipping automatically past lips in surprise, ❛ what ❜
it takes a moment for fog of sleep deprivation to clear so he can see who exactly just ran into him, arm reaching out to steady shoulder without thinking ; it’s when the stranger steps back that he realises it’s no stranger after all, eyes widening minutely in realisation. sidney’s flustered expression doesn’t go unnoticed, and when he speaks the pieces fall into place.
❛ astute observation. ❜ an answer to which statement remains unclear, comment offered without much preamble ; usually there would have been a lightness to tone, a teasing lilt of amusement that came naturally to the extrovert, but today words are stilted, clipped. he’s hungry, tired, and not at all ready to — quite literally — bump into his ( undeniably attractive ) neighbour, let alone make idle conversation when there’s a dog loose in the station.
body moves on autopilot, barely twenty seconds passed since flame and his pursuer disappeared inside ; dropping his duffel at the boundary of bay doors, he’s already moving towards the sounds of raised voices, a crash that sounded suspiciously like tools knocked free of engine’s confines leaving him anticipating the worst.
❛ lópez ! ❜ calls to the first crew member he sees, her attention on something obscured by the bulk of the truck he’s passing behind ; when fellow firefighter turns, he’s half-expecting an expression akin to thunder, not the laughter that lines the creases around her eyes. he’s waved over with a breathless ‘oh my god, lucas, you gotta see this’, and as corner is turned his own smile rises unbidden, despite his sour mood.
what progress the crew had made on equipment check was currently littering the floor, paper and tools lining walkways ; said crew were standing in a semi-circle around the mess, oblivious, their attention fully devoted to the scene ahead. flame, ever the show off, was perched almost regally atop the ladder of an adjacent engine, paws dangling over the edge as if teasing the small dog that was trying his best to reach the cat to no avail, whining up at his foe. lucas snorts, smile growing wider, and joins the majority of the group in taking a video of the occasion, ❛ hey, sidney looks like his bark's worse than his bite. ❜
