You're All I Need: Squeal of "Transfer to Help Himself"

Chapter 4- New Probie? No Problem!

Mateo finished his probationary year two days ago. Now he is a certified firefighter and his team couldn't be happier for him. Since he finished his probationary year, Owen has to pick another probie. He has been looking nonstop since before Mateo's year was up. There were a lot of properties to the probie that had to be thought of. They had to be supportive, hard-working, non-discriminatory, and effective...yeah it was a lot to go through. Owen had gone through almost the whole stack of papers he was given by the chief before coming upon someone who caught his attention. Their name was Winter. They were non-binary using they/she pronouns, they were top of their class and had the highest marks. They were punctual and gave 100 percent through the academy. Yeah, this was the person Owen would choose.

The team was getting the station ready for Winter's arrival. They were due tomorrow for their first shift. TK was resting on the couch and Buck was hanging the sign. He loved decorating for welcomes and welcome backs. He had planned both of Chimney's welcome-back parties and did most of the decorating. He had also planned the Christmas party almost two years ago when Eddie first joined so he could see Chris. Buck just loved making people happy. TK had been amused when Buck had pulled out a whole box of decorations from his closet when they heard that the new probie would be starting this week. Even Owen was a little surprised. Buck had messaged the group chat asking who wanted to decorate the station even though it was their day off and everyone had agreed. Although, Grace had to drag Judd along and Carlos couldn't make it because he had a shift.

Buck wanted to make everything perfect for the probie. He wanted them to feel welcomed and for them to feel safe. He even asked Paul, TK, and Carlos to help make them comfortable being Non-binary in the firehouse seeing as Paul is trans, Buck is bi and TK and Carlos are gay. Buck thought if Winter saw them being carefree about their sexuality and gender, they would feel more comfortable. TK just recorded videos of Buck bossing people around with how the decorations should be and banned a few of them from the kitchen when they kept making a mess instead of baking desserts. Owen had just sat back and watched the others running around under Buck's direction before joining in himself.

Buck had Marjan clean out a locker and put the nameplate on there. She even got to decorate it a little. Judd had been put in charge of hanging other kind of decorations and Mateo was in charge of cleaning the rec room. The only other people allowed in the kitchen were Grace and Paul. Paul was making a cake that everyone could enjoy while Grace was decorating the desserts. It was perfect. Even B shift was helping when they weren't on a call. Buck was satisfied.

Everything was done by 6pm and Owen invited everyone who could out to eat. TK and Buck were required to go, seeing as how they rode with Owen. Mateo wouldn't turn down free food. Judd had already planned to go out with Grace so they declined and headed out. Paul and Marjan agreed to go as long as they could choose the place. Owen had texted Gwyn and asked if she wanted to and she said she'd meet them there. Marjan and Paul had decided on Alzer's Barbeque which had halal choices for Marjan.

They were having a great time. Buck felt a little bad for the people around them with how loud they were. Mateo, ever the class clown, had BBQ sauce over his face and was spreading it. Owen just shook his head and watched his team. They were a family and it showed. He couldn't have chosen any other people, these people were perfect. They worked well together and just had that vibe. He was worried about the probie coming in, worried about how they would fit in, but if how his team quickly accepted Buck showed him anything, Owen could trust that Winter would fit right in.

After a couple of hours, everyone decided to part ways. Owen brought TK and Buck home and stayed outside with Buttercup and Gwyn for a little, leaving TK and Buck alone. They went into Buck's room, which had most of TK's things in there, and cuddled on the bed. "B, how do you think the probie will act tomorrow?" TK asked. Buck just rested his head on TK's and replied, "I think they will be scared, kind of like how I was. It will probably take them a while to connect with us, but I think they will be ok. I mean, we are one of the most accepting stations in Austin. All of our team is diverse. I don't think there would be a reason for Winter to not fit in". TK just snuggled into Buck's side and turned on the T.V. They decided to watch a movie before falling asleep. TK chose a Harry Potter movie and was watching intensely as he had never seen one before. Buck had seen every movie and read the books, as it had been one of his many interests. They fell asleep right after the first few minutes, which Buck had laughed about the next morning.