“, Minseok!” Jongdae curses as their shabby car pulls into the back of the fire station, “If I knew we were going to be late, I wouldn’t have even let you wake me up so early!”

“Well,” Minseok retorts, much calmer than his friend, “We wouldn’t have been so late if your piece of trash car hadn’t broken down on the way here.”

Both of them are now out of the car and speed walking as fast as it is socially acceptable to the doors, and they’re still bickering with one another when they walk into the station.

“It wouldn’t have broken down if you didn’t ing stall it! Haven’t you even driven a manual? Oh yeah, that’s right, you come from a classy family of wealth and automatic vehicles, so you wouldn’t understand would you?”

Both of them are now red in the face, but Minseok is considerably angrier because throughout their friendship, the topic of their differing wealth was something never to be brought up. Jongdae came from an average family, but it was no secret that Minseok’s were wealthier, much wealthier.

They both knew that attacking the other’s status of wealth was a low blow, since they found that out from a fight in the past.

Luckily, their fight was witnessed (well, they were practically shouting), and it was broken up.

“Hey, cut that out! You’re already late, so stop making a commotion,” Jongin reprimands as he’s pouring a cup of coffee. He doesn’t even need to turn his back to talk to them.

And then the boys both straighten and turn to the front.

“Yes, sir.” Minseok replies, only to receive a jab in the side from Jongdae.

“ up,” Jongdae whispers through clenched teeth, but he’s ignored by Minseok.

“We’ve already split up the trainees into two groups. Because you’re late, you’re going to be split up. Minseok, you’re with Jongin. Jongdae, you’ll be in Chanyeol’s group,” Sehun commands as he walks out of his office, arms crossed over his chest. It’s a neutral look of his, though it naturally makes him even more intimidating.

“Get changed,” Jongin murmurs after taking a sip of his coffee, “Locker rooms are that way, Chanyeol’s still outside with the trainees. If you’re fast enough, you won’t be late. Last I checked he was taking a roll call.”

And with that, Minseok and Jongdae nearly sprint to the locker rooms because they really don’t want to be late on their very first day.

***

“Ugh,” Luhan groans as he feels sunlight hitting his face. Opening his eyes, he winces at the brightness, and it takes him a moment to remember where he was.

And then he sees Yixing and Kyungsoo sprawled on the bed around him, and then he realizes that they must have fallen asleep in the previous day from all their absurd laughter. Luhan laughs softly to himself in recollection, and that’s when Yixing stirs as well, but he doesn’t wake. Luhan figures that he should try and make breakfast for these two, because they really are lifesavers for taking him in when he had nowhere to go.

And so, Luhan stands as quietly as he can, and the bed creaks slightly. But, he makes it out of the room without a noise, and he grins because, he’s not that bad of a cook, right?

The kitchen’s new, so it takes Luhan a little while to find everything. He’s gotten the toast done because, well, toasters.

The next challenge is scrambled eggs. He does well enough cracking the eggs because there’s only a few pieces of shell in the mix. Luhan considers it a victory.

And then he fires up the pan, and then he really hopes that he doesn’t burn anything.

“Do I put the oil in now…?” he mutters to himself with a hand over the pan, but it’s not even hot yet.

“What are you doing?” Yixing asks, shuffling out of the bedroom groggily, rubbing his eyes sleepily.

Luhan jumps in surprise, nearly dropping the chopsticks in his hand. Yixing chuckles seeing the other so startled.

“Making breakfast.” Luhan responds before turning back to the pan, deeming it hot enough to put a little bit of oil on, “Well, I’m trying.”

“Well, be careful. Most importantly, try not to make a mess,” Yixing advises in a tone that implies that he will have nothing to do with Luhan’s endeavor. He grabs his keys from the counter throwing a hat on to cover his bed head. “I’m heading out to the car to get your camera,” he chuckles, remembering Luhan’s freak out from the day before, “And maybe we’ll finally get a look at your shots.”

Luhan pinks at the memory, and he nods, trying to scramble the eggs he’s cracked.

He hears the door click shut, and shortly after, a half asleep Kyungsoo stumbles out of the bedroom. He sees Luhan in the kitchen and he winces because he can tell Luhan’s pretty clueless.

“Need some help?” Kyungsoo murmurs, though it’s not really a question because he’s already standing next to Luhan, and before Luhan realizes, the utensils are out of his hands and in Kyungsoo’s own.

“Uh, I actually wanted to do this as a thank you, so if you could, you know, give that back?” His request sounds more like a question, and when he reaches for the chopsticks, Kyungsoo only moves further from Luhan’s reach.

“I think it would be more of a thank you if you just let me do this.”

“Oh. Okay,” Luhan relents because it’s quite obvious that he would’ve made a disaster of breakfast.

So as he takes a seat at the table, Yixing comes back from the car with Luhan’s completely intact camera in hand. And breakfast doesn’t take long for Kyungsoo to finish at all. He’s made eggs, and there’s regular toast and French toast as well.

“Eat up,” he says, placing the plates onto the table in addition to silverware and napkins.

“You know, I really wanted to do that, as a thank you.” Luhan insists, hoping that his newly made friends would understand.

“Trust me, I think you showing us your work is thanks enough,” Yixing chuckles as he hands the camera back to its owner, and Kyungsoo hums in agreement as he swiftly cleans up the kitchen.

“Okay, but eat first, pictures later,” Kyungsoo adds as he also sits down, and all of them chuckle and nod as their stomachs growl.

***

“Glad to see everybody is finally here,” Chanyeol’s deep voice booms across the crowd of trainees, who are lined up neatly in rows and columns.

Jongdae and Minseok have only just scurried into formation, changing into the provided clothes in just two minutes flat. They still aren’t speaking with one another, so they guess that it’s good that they’ve been put into different groups.

It’s uncharacteristic to see Chanyeol like this, but when he finally is serious, everybody knows that he means business.

“Before we split into groups, I want twenty laps around the station as a warm up. You’ll be running in two lines. Jongin and Sehun will set the pace.”

Sehun and Jongin are in their training gear, but it’s obvious how well conditioned they are in comparison to the rest of the crew and trainees.

“Don’t you dare fall behind,” Chanyeol warns as the formation of trainees organize into two columns, one behind Sehun and one behind Jongin, “And if you let them lap you, you’re done.”

At first, there’s really no worry amongst the trainees as Sehun and Jongin break into a jog. But, at around the tenth lap, Sehun and Jongin only seem to be getting faster and faster while others are struggling to hold their pace.

“Is..this..” Jongdae huffs, because goodness, he is not in shape, “..supposed to be a w-warm up?!”

Minseok is gasping beside him, and though they’re still angry at each other, they take the opportunity to at least complain to one another.

“God damn, what-“ Minseok breathes between pants, “-did we sign u-up for?”

It’s apparent by the twentieth round who the well trained and out of shape individuals are. The already established crew members are near the front, though they’re a few yards behind Sehun and Jongin, and the completely out of shape individuals have been lapped more than once.

Minseok and Jongdae fall into the middle of the bunch. Luckily, they managed not to get lapped.

After twenty rounds, Jongin and Sehun slow to a stop. Their men are all gasping, the trainees look like they’re about to die, and some are even collapsed onto the ground.

Everyone’s covered in sweat, though the amount ranges. Jongin and Sehun are simply covered in a thin sheen that only serves to make them more attractive under the morning sunlight, whilst others are simply sweating buckets.

“Alright, good work!” Chanyeol calls with a smirk, “If you want to drop out, now is the time to do so. May I remind you, that was only a warm up.”

A collective groan is heard, and slowly, more and more people bow out of the challenge. Even Chanyeol’s surprised by the number who step out. He expects many, it happens every year, after all, but not this many.

“Maybe we went too hard on them?” Jongin asks, catching his breath, and Sehun shakes his head.

“No, we’re going to need the toughest we can find. This summer’s fires are probably the worst we’ve ever seen. And, we can’t afford to lose anyone in a fire simply because they’re not fit enough.”

“True,” Jongin sighs, “I just wish so many hadn’t dropped out,”

Sehun murmurs in agreement as he watches the exhausted men file back into the locker room, but looking back at the remaining individuals, he lets a smile grace his lips.

“But we certainly have enough left,” he responds, scanning his eyes over the gasping men who are practically dripping sweat. He chuckles seeing the two boys from the previous day, Minseok and Jongdae, he remembers.

After a minute’s rest, Chanyeol’s voice is heard again.

“Okay, that break’s long enough! Now, line up behind your respective leaders, and we’ll get to the really good stuff,”

And everyone groans because it’s only about to get harder.