Being a firefighter is a tough job in itself, no matter where you live—well unless you live at one of the poles or a place without matches, electricity, or, well, fire, but really.

It’s even tougher if you live in a hot-as- place like Texas, or Arizona, or better yet, a dry-as- place like the desert. But then again, there really isn’t anything there to burn in a desert, is there?

Note to self: Add desert to ‘List where firefighting is easy’.

But if you’re Oh Sehun, chief firefighter of Squadron number four in Yosemite National Park, rooted in the central-eastern portion of good ol’ California, work can be tough.

Even so, Sehun likes his job, even though the hours can be terrible. He has to be ready for emergency calls, whether the emergency is in the park itself, or in the local city, Mariposa, California, or whether it’s in broad daylight or in the middle of the night where the only creatures up are the nocturnal animals and the occasional blogger.

But, he likes his job because:

1.       It pays well—hell, it better pay well!

2.       He works with his best friends since high school (how they all decided to go for the same occupation, he has no idea, though he has a feeling Chanyeol had something to do with it, but that’s a story for later).

3.       And finally, what more satisfaction could you get from life helping and saving people? (Other than being a famously perfect billionaire—no, a trillionaire—that has won the Nobel Prize for solving world hunger, creating world peace, and discovering a cure to every last sickness or virus on earth.)

So therefore, Oh Sehun loves his job, because really, how is he going to miraculously solve the entire world’s problems if the highest degree he’s gotten is his high school diploma?

Don’t misunderstand or anything, Sehun was a great student, much better than his fellow firefighter Jongin in high school, but he figured college would only cut down the amount of time he could spend helping people. And he figured right, as proven by the shiny badge on his uniform, indicating his title as chief.

***

It’s in the middle of a school field trip when the alarms go off, red lights flashing and blinking repeatedly. All but two kids—well they’re really teenagers who are almost adults, it’s a senior trip for those interested—panic, running and flailing with arms over heads, hands over ears, and eyes reflecting fear nonpareil to that of an apocalypse.

The two who aren’t scared out of their wits calmly move away from the flailing mod and out of the way of the fire trucks that need to pull out of the garage (but can’t because of the endless number of students that don’t seem to understand the fact that the ear-splitting sirens won’t shut off until the trucks are dispatched).

The students finally calm thanks to efforts of all the firemen once they had their suits on, and Sehun catches one last glance at the two that didn’t panic.

Jongdae and Minseok, he remembers—only because Minseok was the only one that genuinely seemed interested (he was even taking notes) and Jongdae because the little troll would not stop pestering Minseok, though Sehun had a feeling the boy was just as interested as his friend, if not more.

As Joonmyeon pulls away from the fire station—and yes, he was specially trained to drive the truck after joining the academy (let’s just say he didn’t quite meet all the physical requirements of being the types of firefighters his peers were, but he’s a damn good driver, if not the best, so everyone just leaves it at that)—Sehun thinks with an internal chuckle that he may have seen Jongdae’s cheeks pink after Minseok had pulled on his elbow to tug him out of harm’s way from a mass of fleeing students.

“What’s so funny?” Joonmyeon’s voice brings Sehun back from the depths of his mind, and Sehun shakes his head.

“No, it’s nothing.”

Joonmyeon can only grunt in answer as he weaves expertly in and out of cars, sirens blaring as a fire is seen on the horizon.

***

The flames are really no big deal for Sehun and his crew. Jongin and Chanyeol’s teams are here too, but Sehun’s team is the best, hands down.

They’re in and out of the flaming clothing shop for their routine check for trapped people in just minutes. With the all clear from Chanyeol as he makes his way out of the smoke, the hoses come on and the fire’s out and settled within the hour.

Thanks to the speed of three expert squadrons, and of course, Joonmyeon’s driving, the building structure was still solidly intact, and clothes in the back storage room didn’t have a single speck of ash or dirt (though they reeked of smoke until after the third wash).

And all in all, it was an easy job for all three teams.

The fire might have been overwhelming in the eyes of any other fire station in the country, but Sehun, Jongin, and Chanyeol are sure to thoroughly train their crew, both with physical conditioning and on-site experience during their trainee years.

The fire trucks pull away leisurely from the curb to go back to the station. All the students have cleared but two, and Sehun smiles to himself seeing who they are.

As the crew members leave the parked trucks to de-suit, only mildly tired from the day’s job thanks to their physical condition, Sehun’s approached by the two boys.

“We’d like to apply for your intern training-this summer-as soon as possible.” They say almost in unison, their opinions differing at the end.

Sehun chuckles at their eagerness and motions them to follow him into the office, still in his suit and smelling faintly of smoke.

“Come on, I’ll get you two the paperwork.”

A/N:

Sorry that this chapter only really introduces Sehun in depth with only a few other characters, but this is going to be a long story, and I didn't want the chapters to be too long in length. Instead of having really long chapters, I'm planning on updating more often with medium length portions to avoid confusion and just having my story be too messy. 

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