firefly | zhong chenle

CH7

"if you want to survive here. you'll have to suck it up and stand back up"

-

"Fuck that idiot" She panted as she finished her third lap. She was already completely out of breath and her legs were barely functioning. Her hair was up in a messy ponytail and she hadn't washed her hair three days. The firefighter life basically equates to shower once every three days whilst living like you're in military camp.

If it couldn't get any worse, rain began bucketing down on her. Each droplet sending shivers down her spine as she cursed one last time and continued on her lap. Her hair stuck to her face and she could physically feel her body begin to weaken at the coldness of the weather.

Chenle watched from inside his office, his eyes floating between his work to the girl running laps outside. The dim lighting of his office created this calm ambience that juxtaposed the harsh, pouring rain outside. His door opened and Jeno walked in, taking a seat next to the boy whose eyes were now locked on the doctor that was barely managing to jog.

Jeno had one look at Chenle, and dipped his head to chuckle "If you're worried, it's not hard to tell her to stop"

Chenle ripped his eyes from the girl, flipping the pages of his documents that was previously in his hands "I'm not worried"

"Sure" Jeno clicked his tongue, laughing once again and leaving the room. Chenle swallowed the lump in his throat, clutching the pen harder.

"Whatever" Chenle rolled his eyes, taking one glance at the girl through the window and stood up from his seat. His body acted on his own accord as he left the room. The moment before he exited the building, he took a glance at the umbrella sitting at the doorway, and with one swing of a hand, took it with him.

Dashing out into the cold with an umbrella above his head, he hated himself for acting soft hearted when he knew he needed to hold up the expectations of being the captain of this station. He knew everyone needed to suffer the same consequences if they did something wrong, but Chenle didn't know why he was giving in to an exception.

"You're done for the day" Chenle dead panned as he joined her in her run, holding the umbrella above their heads. The twos footsteps fell into the same syncopation.

"What?" Arin slowed to a walk, the umbrella being shoved into her hand before she could even process what was happening "You said to do 10"

He didn't even respond before he ran off, with his hand above his head to make a futile attempt to shield himself from the rain as she stood on the track, with an umbrella in hand and a startled expression.

"If I only needed to do 4, then tell me bitch" She scoffed. Walking back to the station with her entire body trembling from the rain, she placed the umbrella down at the entrance. However, when she entered, she halted. What caught her eye was a tumbler, placed on the floor of the entrance door. Picking it up, she opened it to have fumes suffocate her face and the smell of ginger and hot tea filling the air.

Naturally, her gaze fell on Chenle's office, where the lights had just switched off and the faint sound of footsteps echoed down the corridor. Arin laughed softly. Suddenly she wasn't so mad that Chenle made her do a couple laps around the track. Whether it be making her do less laps that she was meant to, or giving her hot tea and an umbrella, she seemed to have discovered that Chenle cared a lot more than he makes himself out to.

Arin smiled "Didn't even let me thank him"

;

"Good morning!" Haechan called from downstairs as Arin stood upstairs. Haechan titled his head upwards to the hole that had a pole sticking through it. This is how the firefighters got down to the ground floor quickly when they have missions.

"We'll do this good morning thing when you tell me how to use this" Arin had been staring at this pole for the past half an hour, contemplating how she was going to use this in the future without falling and cracking her neck

"Just grab it and slide down" Haechan shrugged "Don't think too hard about it. I need to head off to training"

"Wait that's-" Arin groaned as she watched Haechan leave her vision. Arin sucked a deep breath in, reassuring herself as she wrapped her hands over the pole. She had never been afraid of anything when she was younger, but heights never seemed to suit her. Whenever she looked down at even a small platform, she could feel her world begin to spin, objects morphing into other objects and her breath beginning to shallow. But avoiding it made her feel weak. Being afraid and wanting to appear brave was something she put up with for years. Because all she wanted was to help people live a life without fear.That's why she became a doctor.

"Here we go" Arin squeezed her eyes shut, and slid down the pole. Her hands were burning, her body flying downwards at a speed that she couldn't even comprehend. Till she landed somewhere, soft. Rather. Didn't quite feel like the floor.

Arin snapped her eyes open, to be faced with a pair of familiar chocolate eyes and the same reassuring and firm embrace she's felt before. This same warmth that made her feel protected.

The brief moment where they just stared at each other lasted for a second, before she was dropped and landed hard on the floor.

"Ow" Arin winced, hissing at Chenle.

"It's literally a pole in the ground. You're being over dramatic" Chenle crossed his arms over, leaning against the wall.

"Asshole"

"If you want to survive here" Chenle crouched down to stare at her. Their gazes clashed again "You'll have to suck it up and stand back up"

a/n
idk if it's just me but whenever it's super cold and whenever someone's sick, drinking ginger mixed with hot tea is like the best remedy