Warmanjuary – Day 7: German Breakfast
Fandom: Chicago Fire
Pairing / Character(s): Matthew Casey, Firehouse 51 ensemble
Reader: no reader insert
Rating: General
Tone: Slice of Life / Humor
➤ Part of the Warmanjuary January fic action
➤ Theme: Stoking the fire (warming up January)
➤ Full masterlist
Warnings: none
This wasn’t like you. You had messed up twice in one day. Usually, you knew what you were doing, not today. Between the move to the US and the adjustment to a new job, you had a lot to juggle. It didn’t help either that you were dealing with a different crew every few weeks. You had been assigned to Firehouse 51 for a week now. So, losing your focus on your everyday work shouldn’t have happened, and yet it did.
Last shift you cleaned the turnout coats, which had gone all right. But somehow you got the brilliant idea to remove all nametags and wash them separately. When you went to put them back on, you got them mixed up. Funny enough, you had only taken off the big nametags on the back of the coats-not the small ones on the front. Which made your mix-up hard for others to miss. Hermann had been the first to notice. Thankfully, all Lieutenant Casey had said was:” Normally, old-timers prank the newcomer, not the other way around.” The crew had taken what they believed to be an intentional hoax in stride. Small mercies...didn’t last long.
This morning, Cruz had come in with a burrito for breakfast. You’d thought that it had to be a joke. “That’s your breakfast?” you called him out.
“Yeah, of course that’s my breakfast, best breakfast burrito in town!” he held up his “breakfast” sounding serious.
“Are you kidding?” you tried again.
“Why would I?”
“Because nobody I know eats burritos for breakfast. Admit it, this is a joke.”
Clearly, you had managed to offend Cruz: “Well, whoever you know is apparently not from Chicago. Here, a third of the city will happily eat burritos for breakfast.” He took a breath. “Where are you from, that you never heard of breakfast burritos?”
“Frankfurt, Germany.”
Cruz blinked: “And what do they eat for breakfast there?”
“I’ll show you. How about I bring some German breakfast items next shift?”
And before you knew it, you had agreed to make a German breakfast for the entire station.
The morning after your careless agreement, you compiled your shopping list: bread, cold cuts, cheese, cucumbers, tomatoes, Nutella, a variety of marmalade, small buns, pretzels, salmon cuts, eggs, bacon, orange juice and coffee German style. You shook your head, “Was hast du dir da nur eingehandelt?” – “What had you gotten yourself into?” Well, it was done now. So, back to logistics.
As for the coffee, you’d simply brew it yourself. After six months in the U.S., you’d found the roast and measure of coffee grounds that got you the strength you needed. Typical German bread, small buns, pretzels and cold cuts would be harder to find though.
Thankfully Chicago had quite a German population. It made hunting down breakfast items doable. A quick yelp-search pointed you towards the German bakery named “Rudy’s” not too far from the firehouse and the German butcher’s shop “Thuringer Meats” in Arlington. You had picked up Fleischwurst, Schwarzwälder Schinken and Bierwurst yesterday at the butcher’s shop along with the “easy stuff” from a local grocery store.
All that was left this morning before the shift was collecting your online order at “Rudy’s”. And you decided since you were messing things up without meaning to, you might as well mess with everybody for fun today.
As you entered, the smell of baked goods surrounded you.
You addressed the bakery staff: “Guten Morgen. Ich möchte die Bestellung für Pfüzenreiter abholen.”
The young man behind the counter blinked, but didn’t hesitate: “Guten Morgen. Sorry, could you repeat that in English, please?”
“Sure, I would like to pick up the order for Pfüzenreiter.”
“Pfutzenreiter? I’ll go check.”
“Hu?” He had handled this better than you’d expected. He returned with a basket, filled with three loaves of bread, small German buns and pretzels.
You paid, “Vielen Dank. Einen schönen Tag noch!”
“Bitte schön. Tschüs!” and you were on your way.
At the firehouse you were the first one in, as planned. This way you could prepare the scrambled eggs with bacon and the salmon platter and hide them away with the German small buns. Of course, you also boiled a couple eggs, so no one would generally miss eggs. Then you set the table and went to change.
After roll call and checks, you all went to eat. As soon as everybody was seated with their plates, Lieutenant Severide spoke up: “I don’t know what this is supposed to be, but is sure as hell is no breakfast.”
Shay elbowed him: “Don’t be mean.”
You smiled, “These two were something else.”
Mouch, however, agreed with the Lieutenant: “He’s not wrong. Didn’t think anyone would have cold cuts for breakfast.”
That wasn’t something you could ignore: “Well, clearly you don’t know any Germans. Because we do.”
Now, Cruz added: “I’d take a burrito over this every day of the week.”
“Just bring one for me too.” Dawson mumbled into her food.
At this rate, you might have to try a burrito yourself; they seemed really popular. You looked over to Lieutenant Casey.
He caught you looking at him and just stated: “Well, it's food.”
“Hm, funny thing, though, I smell bacon and eggs.” Hermann grinned in your direction. “So, can we please have those too?”
You had to laugh. Of course he’d figure it out. So, you went and got your hidden treasures.
“Now, you have a complete “Sonntag’s Frühstück!”
“A what now?” Casey smirked.
“A real German Sunday breakfast! You’d better believe scrambled eggs, salmon and buns are reserved for Sundays and special occasions in Germany.” you snorted.
Your colleagues shook their heads and smiled. As expected, they were quick to add the Sunday items to their plates.
Meanwhile you assembled a plate for the Chief. Walking down to his office, you knocked on the open door.
“Hey, come in.”
“Good morning, Sir. I brought you a plate for breakfast.”, you carefully handed it over.
“What’s the occasion?”
“Ähm, I messed a little the last two shifts. So, I made it up to the crew with a Sunday breakfast German style.”, you answered honestly.
Chief Boden nodded, “Good idea.”
With a calm “Guten Appetit!” you left him to his meal and went to clean up the kitchen.
On your way, Casey stopped you. “So, you couldn’t resist winding us up again, hm?” he snorted with a smirk. Placing a hand on your shoulder he added: “Well, done.” Then he went to his office.
Author’s Note:
Guten Morgen – Good morning
Vielen Dank – Thank you
Einen schönen Tag noch! – Have a nice day
Bitte schön – You’re welcome
Tschüs! – Bye
Guten Appetit! – Enjoy your meal
Fleischwurst – Similar to bologna, but milder and more meat-forward
Schwarzwälder Schinken – A traditional German dry-cured ham, cold-smoked and sliced very thin
Bierwurst – A mild German cooked sausage, often seasoned with garlic
Credits:
Line-dividers by: @cursed-carmine
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