CHECK, PLEASE! Short Stories

Flames of Love

Title: Flames of Love

Summary:

Eric R. Bittle discovers just how far love can go.

Warnings: Fire. Lots of Fire.

Published: 01/22/2020

Words: 543

Eric R. Bittle loved his team.

His love was unconditional. However, there were times when his love could be tested.

Like now, when the kitchen was on fire.

Literally.

Eric often found that he was one of the first in the Haus to go to bed, regardless of the fact that he always thought he was a night owl. Hockey players, however, seemed to be nocturnal. While Eric struggled to stay awake past 11pm, his team could pull all-nighters while still being in perfect shape for a literal game the next day. The coaches weren't happy when the boys decided that was an okay thing to do, but that didn't stop them from doing to approximately 4 more times.

He had gone to sleep early, preparing for a test the next day.

He didn't know what time it was when the smoke alarms blared in his ear.

In the doorway to the kitchen, he saw what could only be described as a crime scene: smoke billowed in the air, grown men screamed, someone Eric didn't recognize was crying.

And the sink was on fire.

The. Sink.

"Pour water on it!" Someone suggested.

"Where am I supposed to get the water from, dumbfuck, the sink is on fucking fire."

Eric watched as the scene played out in slow motion, dramatic music playing in the background.

"Stop!" he tried to shout when he got ahold of himself.

No one listened. Or heard. Or even noticed him.

His heart began to race.

"Everybody!" He screamed. "Outside! Right Now! Call the fire department!"

Everyone stopped, the alarms and fire still going on around them.

"Do we have a fire extinguisher in this damn house?" Eric shouted.

Chowder, standing beside him, muttered something inaudibly.

"What?"

"The fire extinguisher is on fire." He repeated.

Eric stood dumbfounded as the fire spread to the cabinets.

With the exasperation of a elementary school teacher, Eric rubbed the bridge of his nose and calmly told everyone to go outside or else they would regret their own birth.

Standing outside in the pitch black, 10 grown men in pajamas and several layers of ash stood huddled together to keep themselves warm. They watched in awe as the flames in the kitchen grew, even becoming slightly disappointed when the fire department showed up to stop the fire.

"Hey, that was a lot of work! Do you know how hard it is to set a fire extinguisher on fire?"

The fire captain sighed and asked for whoever was in charge.

"Why, that'd be me." Eric didn't try to hide his southern charm. In fact, he may have even used to it to his advantage.

"How the fuck did this happen." The fire captain asked.

"Why sir," He channeled his inner Blanche, "I just don't know what wrong with these boys, I was asleep when this went down."

"I would suggest you take anything flammable out of the house. Literally. Hockey players merely existing is a fire hazard in itself."

"Of course, sir, why I would never want anyone to get hurt."

The fire department left, and as the boys walked in like the final shot of a movie, panning in on the entrance, Eric realized he wouldn't trade these boys for the world, even if it meant the fire department had their number blocked.

A/N: Um, yeah. Guess whos back babey. I've changed a lot in the past few years (holy shit y'all it's been like, a year and a half since i updated? i'm bad at math?) anyways i hope this is a nice surprise. lol love yall.