"Daddy, welcome back! I'm so- Dad? What happened to your arm?" Felix's smile dropped and was replaced by a frown as he looked at his Dad's casted arm.

"This is nothing, bub. Just a broken arm. Nothing biggie." Chan assured his son with a playful wink and a wide grin, Felix doesn't have any of it though.

Someone then just scoffed behind them, it was Changbin who was already out of his uniform and just sporting a muscle black tee, if Felix is staring, no one seems to notice it- thankfully.

"Nothing biggie? Sure. Tell that to the doctor."

That made Felix pull out from his sudden daze, his Dad's well being should be the first priority here, "what did the doctor say?"

"He should rest so his arms too for a week as as stubborn as you, you have his DNA anyway, for sure he's not gonna listen. So we'll make sure he'll not carrying big guns around in a week." Minho butted in.

"We don't even have guns here, let alone big guns." Chan paused to roll his eyes playfully at his teammates. "The only big here is-"

"You know what I mean, Bang." Minho doesn't have any of it as well, he's taking this seriously because he knew how stubborn Chan is and they're worried, purposely avoiding Chan's attempt of telling them their old joke.

"Fineeee." Chan sighed as he prolonged the last letter to end the discussion. Chan was so grateful to have these wonderful people around him but sometimes they acted like they're older than him for god's sake.

"Dad, I want pizza." Felix suddenly said, taking Chan's attention back towards him.

"For lunch?" Chan raised his brows, amused but also in concern.

"Please?" But damn was he so weak at Felix's puppy eyes. He's not gonna say no to that look plus to redeem himself for being a freak father again earlier, he thought of indulging his son to what he wants once in a while.

"Fine." Chan said, smiling and ruffling his kid's hair using his unharmed hand before turning to look at Changbin

"Changbin, please do order pizza for Felix." Changbin was on it while Felix celebrated and thought of it as a win, "Yeyy!"

"For the rest of us, I don't trust pizza for our lunch, let's have real food please." Chan said one last time before softly dragging his son with him upstairs.

"On it!" Hyunjin yelled when he's about to enter the kitchen.

 

"Well, seems like it's not only Changbin who's whip for Felix." Hyunjin snickered as he was on his way to their kitchen to cook for lunch, not everyone will be getting full by having pizza alone. Some of them needed real food to function, say for example: Han Jisung.

"Come on, Hyunie, let's cook lunch!" Speak of the devil.

Hyunjin scoffed, "let's? More like I'll cook while you just watch."

"Ey, come on. You love me." Jisung said like it's a fact. But maybe it was a fact. Maybe he's whipped too, whipped to a certain squirrel.

 

Chan was about to talk to his son, while waiting for their food to be ready but the thought was forgotten when he heard a knock on his door's office.

He puts his reading glasses down on the table before saying, "yes? Come in."

It was Mr. Park, a friend and an official of their department. He's been here a lot of times that he knew his way in and out of Chan's engine house. Chan brightens up upon seeing the man. He is their asset since they need a lot of materials from the main office. Just a month ago, Chan's been requesting new coats for his crew but as always, it got rejected just like Chan's other requests from some months ago. Just because they're not on the top of the rank list anymore doesn't mean they'll be mistreated like this. They still needed proper materials for safety and to do their job properly.

Chan stands up from his swivel chair and welcomes the man with a friendly side hug.

"Hey, Chan."

"Mr. Park, how was it?"

"I'm sorry, Chan. I did my best but they're not listening to me anymore." Chan lowers his shoulders at the news. This again.

"They want your office to be diminished by the end of the month. You have to pack up your things by then." The finality of the man's tone made Chan flinch and he felt helpless, he's letting his crew down.

"They can't do this to us. I-"

"I'm sorry, Chan. I just relayed the message to you."

Minho was about to call the captain for lunch and he didn't mean to eavesdrop and hear snippet of what they were talking about. He knew all about the situation they were facing, he's not blind. He felt pity for the captain, he's been owning the responsibilities alone. Their captain has suspected that the fire incidents going on their place were not accidental but planned with unknown reason— yet. But that was just Chan's theories although Minho himself always found the fire incidents fishy...they don't have enough proof for that too so it's better to just shut their mouth.

"Oh, looking good, Minho." Said Mr. Park as he gone out of the door, saw  Minho standing by the doorway.

"Hey, Mr. Park." He just bows in respect to him, he just hopes he's on their side. 

"Cap, lunch!" Minho called and a few seconds, there's a smiling Chan exiting his office.

And even if Chan is smiling throughout lunch, Felix sitting in his lap while happily eating pizza, it was obvious that he has problems he didn't want to share judging by the dark circles around his eyes and by the constant moving of his fingers to massage his own forehead or to pinch his nose bridge. Minho didn't know how to help him, he just sighed as he bit on his pizza. Jisung nudged him.

"Hey, don't sigh in front of the food!" Minho rolled his eyes.

"Wow, for once, you uttered something right, Han." Hyunjin commented and everybody that surrounded the table laughed.

 

 

Days went by and the following fire incidents were coincidentally correct based on Chan's theory map, it's his own copy of the map of the city, there he marked the buildings and establishment that were ominously burnt out throughout the districts. If Chan is correct with this, according to the map, the next building to be put on fire will be at District 3's restaurant. Chan has to swallow a lump in his throat, what should he do? He didn't know how to open this up with the upper ups, for sure they wouldn't listen to him.

"Dad?" Felix poked his head inside, weekend is boring and even if he knew his Dad's always busy with all the fire incidents going on and if not, he's still in his office doing paper works, but he's bored and he has nowhere to go.

Chan then puts aside the map on the corner of the table as nonchalant as he can muster before beckoning his son to get inside.

"What's the problem, bub?"

Felix eyed the map and the folders with it then to his Dad, "is that your theory map?" Of course Felix has been in his Dad's office a dozen times, he already saw that map and he knew what it was about.

"Don't worry about it, bub. It's not yours to worry about." Chan stands up from his chair and slings an arm over his son's shoulders and guides him to the couch in front of the coffee table.

"I'll practice, Dad. I'll be a firefighter someday too!" Chan giggles, his son is so cute and he's sure that he's gonna be a good firefighter in the future, even better than him. Chan takes this opportunity to talk to Felix about what he did to him last week.

"Bub, forgive Daddy for scolding you last Friday. I'm sorry, I should not scold you like that." It took him a week to apologize to his son, he sighed, he really should learn how to manage his time. He knew he'd been neglecting Felix so much and he wanted that to change.

Felix shoved his face onto his father's neck just under his chin, wrapping his slight short arms  around Chan's broad shoulders, "it's fine, Dad. I'm being bad."

"You're not bad, baby. You're just a rebellious teenager. It was me who always vent out my stress on you which was so wrong. I'm sorry, my baby."

Felix giggles, he doesn't mind being babied by his father, it's like their own form of bonding. Then he turns serious while looking at his father, he too has something to confess because he's been a very bad son and he's just realizing it now.

"I've been bad. I didn't know it before that it was bad to think of you as dead instead of Uncle Bang."

Bang Yongguk, Chan's older brother and Felix's Uncle (and his favorite person more than his own Dad), died on a questionable fire incident at District 1. He was the former Captain of Engine 9. When his Uncle died, he wished it to be his Dad instead because he didn't like his Dad sometimes, he's annoyed at his constant nagging like all he saw of Felix was his mistakes and often scolded him for it.

But as the time passed by, Felix accepted the reality that his favorite person was gone and he learned things about his Dad too. He knew how his Dad's been struggling the most emotionally when his Uncle died. He wasn't ready to be the next Captain of Engine 9, all those years he knew his Dad's been struggling so much and was always yearning for his dead brother. There were countless of sleepless nights trying to figure out how to be the captain of the house, wishing for his brother to be there with him so he could guide him.

He was Felix's favorite person because he was so cool, so calm and confident, so caring and compassionate and he missed to see all of those things to his Dad because he was focusing on his Uncle . Recently, he saw how stressed his Dad was, and he saw how his other hyungs were trying to be there for his father even if he didn't share anything, even if he owned the responsibilities alone. And that's when he knew that his Dad is so cool, calm and confident, so caring and compassionate too. After all, they're brothers right?  Felix realized that yes, his father is right, he's a rebellious teenager.

"Well, it was obvious. He was your favorite," there's a sad and an amusement in his tone, "I would change fate if I could."

Felix panics by the sadness of his Dad's voice. He quickly looks at his father's face, cups his cheeks into his tiny hands. Up close, he sees Chan's dark circles under his eyes.

"No, Dad. I wouldn't want it the other way. I mean I didn't want Uncle Bang to die but things happened and I have accepted it long ago. I'm glad that you're still here with me."

"Really." It wasn't a question for confirmation, it was a teasing remark because Chan found his son cute when he's rambling.

"Really! You're cool, Dad. And I love you." Felix knew how his mother died upon giving birth of him and he grew up with his Dad and his Uncle Bang with the other hyungs, and his Uncle died too, he must really treasure the moments with his Dad from now on.

"You know I love you too right?"

"I know that now, Dad. I know." Felix smiles making his eyes into a cute slit that it's hard for Chan not to attack his cheeks with kisses.

"Aw, you're so cute, bub. I'm sorry again for venting my stress out on you."

"No, you're right. I need to study and take those quizzes every Friday. I promise I will never ditch class again and I promise I will study hard."

"Aigoo, my future firefighter is so cute. Thank you, baby." Chan kissed Felix's cheeks and his button nose that it led down to his neck, tickling the kid with kisses until Felix is giggling and squirming on the couch.

There's someone clearing their throat by the doorway that made Chan stop attacking his son with his long overdue kisses. There's a smiling Changbin standing there in his uniform and a helmet in his other hand, "u-uhm, I'm sorry to ruin the moment but uh— we have a situation."

Oh, they didn't even notice the alarm blaring all over the house until now, there's a snippet of chaos outside the office.

Felix then grinned at his Dad, "Dad, can I come?"

"Okay." Felix brightened at that.