Work Text:
(Ravi’s POV)
I hurry into Copa Vida, the coffee shop near the station, as I wanted to get coffee before my shift starts. Yes, the station has a coffee maker but I prefer the coffee here. Luckily it’s not busy and I make my way to the front counter and give my usual order to the barista working today.
I get my order fairly quickly and I’m on my way to the door when I accidentally bump into someone.
“I’m so sorry”, I say to the woman I bumped into. “I wasn’t looking where I was going.”
“No, it’s okay. Nothing to be sorry about.” Claims the young woman. She has dark brown hair that goes just below her shoulders, wearing a long sleeve black shirt with light blue jeans. “I’m May”
“Ravi…My name is Ravi.” I respond back trying not to blush. “Well I should probably get going, I need to be at the station for my shift that starts like now.”
“Station? Are you police officer?”
“Firefighter, actually. I’m in my probationary year.”
“Oh that’s cool. I’m a 911 dispatcher.”
“Well maybe I’ll see you around or on the radio.” By now, my shift has started and I know I’m gonna hear it from Buck when I get to the station but at the same time I don’t want this conversation to end.
“Yeah. Umm when does your shift end? Would you like to get dinner sometime afterwards?”
Did she just ask me out? Yeah I think she just did. It takes me a second before I actually respond but eventually I do.
“Uhh yeah. Dinner, I would really like that. I have a 24 hour shift though so maybe tomorrow night?”
“Sounds great!” May responds surprised that she actually asked a guy out.
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It’s been 2 days since I ran into May at the coffee shop. We did end up going out to dinner the night after my 24 hour shift and I had the best time.
We spent most of the night exchanging different stories that we had. I would tell her some of the weirdest calls I responded to and she tells me about some of the calls she has received. I’m not sure the last time I laughed as much as I did that night.
I arrive at the station all cheery as I just got off the phone with May. We were both driving to our shifts and decided to call each other to make the drive more fun.
“Hey guys!” I say as I walk in. Bobby is upstairs starting to make food and Chimney is looking through the cabinets searching for something. Buck and Eddie are having a conversation by the rig like the best friends that they are although they clearly want to be more and Hen is on the rig, restocking and cleaning it, trying to get Buck to help but he is too involved in his conversation to notice.
“Well someone’s happy this morning.”Hen responds getting down off the rig.
“Yeah I guess I’m just in a good mood.” I say starting to make my way over to the locker room.
“Uh huh” Buck says questionably after he started listening in to our conversation.
“Okay well I’m gonna head to the locker room now”
The three of them wait until I leave the room before Eddie says, “So that was weird right?”
“Yeah, definitely weird.” Hen agrees
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“Hey, so what’s up with you today?” Buck asked me as he opens his locker.
I give him a confused look before responding to him. “Nothing, just in a good mood I guess.” I pause, “Is that okay?”
“Yeah of course it is. Just wondering if something was going on.” Buck responds shutting his locker after pretending to look for something like he didn’t come in here just to ask me that.
“Nope.” I want to tell Buck but me and May agreed to keep it private for now so I keep my mouth shut. “Nothing’s going on.”
“Okay then.” Buck says as he leaves the room and I can tell he doesn’t believe me.
I watch as he goes back over to Hen and Eddie shrugging his shoulders before heading up the stairs to where Bobby and Chimney are and they follow him.
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It’s been a month since I went out to dinner with May. She has slept over at my place a few times the past month, last night being one of them.
“May.” I say as I start making my way out of bed. “May.”
“Uhh” She grumbles. “What Ravi?”
“You asked me to wake you up when I got up and I’m awake so now you need to wake up.” I start to put on my clothes for the day.
“I did ask you that didn’t I?” She says starting to sit up in bed and signaling for me to come over.
“Yeah, you did.” I make my way over to her to give her a quick kiss before heading into the bathroom.
When I get out of the bathroom, she is no longer in my bedroom and I find her in the kitchen making breakfast.
“You seem much more awake now.” I say walking over to the stove where she is currently making an egg.
“Yep. Do you want some?”
“Oh yeah. It smells amazing.”
“It’s just eggs.” She says as she puts one on a plate before cracking another egg into the pan.
“Still.”
We end up eating breakfast together and give each other a kiss before both leaving for their shifts since they started around the same time yet again.
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My shift started about 3 hours ago and Bobby is showing Buck how to make Lasagna. Everyone else is sitting on the couches discussing their most recent call.
“Hen, Eddie, Can you come and set the table? Food is almost done.” Bobby asks as he takes off his apron.
“Yeah, Cap.” They respond almost in unison as they get up and head over to the cabinets to get the plates.
“Ravi, can you grab the salad and bring it over to the table.”
“On it, Cap.”
Once the table is set, Buck pulls the lasagna out of the oven and takes it over to the table. Just as everyone starts putting the food on their plates, the bell rings.
“Of course it had to ring right as we sat down.” Buck commented, annoyed partly because he was hungry and partly because no one could eat the food that he made, well claims he made it although Bobby did most of the work.
“Okay everyone pack it up and meet me at the rig.” Bobby announced to the crew as everyone started to get up from their seats.
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(3rd person POV)
The call they got was an office building fire. Along with 2 members of the 133 who were also called to the scene, Hen was to set up a triage center, Chimney and Eddie were to go up to the 3rd floor to tackle the fire from the source and Bobby, Ravi, and Buck were to help evacuate everyone.
Just under a half an hour later, they have gotten almost everyone out of the fire. Bobby, Chimney, and Eddie had just left the building to help the 133 tackle the remainder of the fire from the outside while Ravi and Buck were getting the few other remaining civilians that were still inside, out of the building.
All of the sudden, They hear the ceiling start to crack.
“RUN!!!” Buck screams, realizing it’s going to collapse.
They all start running in a unintentional single file line (kinda) with the 3 civilians in the front, then Buck, and then Ravi.
By the time the ceiling collapsed, the 3 civilians have made it out the door and into the hallway while Buck was in front of the door.
After making sure all 3 civilians were still okay and the dust starts to clear, Buck realizes he doesn’t see Ravi anywhere.
“Ravi!” He screams, getting very worried. “RAVI!”
He starts frantically looking around the room that the ceiling collapsed in with the civilians behind him nervously looking around as well.
“RAVI!” He screams again, before stopping when he kicks something that doesn’t seem like it’s part of the ceiling.
When he looks down, he realizes it’s a helmet. Ravi’s helmet.
Immediately he reaches for his radio.
“MAY DAY! MAY DAY! Firefighter Panikkar is down! I repeat Ravi is down! I need firefighters on the 2nd floor now!”
Eddie who was now helping Hen and Chimney with Triage gives one look to them both before all three of them automatically put their helmets on and run back into the building with Bobby right behind them.
Buck starts trying to move the rubble while still screaming Ravi’s name. Soon after, the rest of the crew arrives to help to try to find Ravi.
After what seems like forever, Eddie sees a part of the back of Ravi’s turnout with the second half of his last name.
“Cap! I found him! He’s under here!” He screams.
Everyone goes over by Eddie and starts to move the big pieces of rubble around Ravi. Luckily some of the rubble sort of formed a wall around him so he didn’t seem to have any life threatening injuries.
They were able to get to him safely, pulling him out of there, one of Ravi’s arm over Eddie’s shoulders and the other over Buck’s as they carried him out of the building over to triage. He was still conscious but had taken in a lot of smoke.
Being checked out by a paramedic at triage, Ravi was given an oxygen mask and was put on a gurney to load him into the ambulance. Before loading him in, the paramedic was talking to Bobby and the rest of the crew.
“He will be okay.” explained the paramedic, “He took in a lot of smoke and probably cracked a few ribs but other than that, he’s good. They will probably want to keep him at the hospital overnight for observation but based on what happened, it could have been a lot worse.”
“Okay thank you.” Bobby turns to the ambulance where Ravi is, “We’ll meet you there.”
Ravi nodded before they loaded him into the ambulance.
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(May’s POV)
“Copy. Code 4. Suspect in custody.” I say, relieved and ending the call. I look over at Josh when I continue, “Yeah I don’t think we can get through a shift without a pursuit.”
“I can wish though.” Josh responds before going back to his desk.
Finally getting a second to breathe after that intense call, I overhear the news on the TV that I didn’t even realize was turned on.
“As the fire at the Tele-Lively office building has started to calm down, part of the ceiling in the 2nd floor collapsed and a firefighter that was helping the remaining few civilians that were still in the building was under that ceiling when it collapsed. It has been revealed that the civilians are fine but the firefighter is underneath the rubble and his condition is unknown.”
After hearing the news reporter and because both my stepfather and boyfriend are firefighters I make my way to the TV to see if I can find out who the trapped firefighter is.
“Do they know who the firefighter is that’s trapped?” I ask Sue who is also standing by the TV watching the report.
“No, if they do they aren’t revealing their name.” Sue answered turning to face me. “It isn’t Captain Nash if that’s what you’re wondering. He did go in to help but he’s not the one trapped.”
“Yeah, thanks for telling me that.” I replied, still worried and I know I’m not doing a great job at hiding it. I’m glad Bobby is okay but I don’t know for a fact Ravi is. I thought about asking Sue what stations responded since I can tell it’s more than one but that wouldn’t be helpful since I don’t know what station Ravi works at. I should have asked him, why didn’t I ask him.
“Unless Bobby isn’t who you are worried about.” Sue continued as she noticed my worry didn’t go away.
“I was worried about him and I’m glad he’s okay but he’s not the only one I’m worried about. My boyfriend. We just started dating a month ago no one really knows we’re dating, but he’s a firefighter and for some reason I haven’t asked what station he’s at so…” I start to ramble off until I’m stopped in my tracks by Taylor Kelly talking again.
“Well, they seem to have found the firefighter and got him safely out of the building.” Taylor Kelly goes on to say as the TV turns to Ravi being carried out and then him being placed on a gurney. “He seems to be decently okay considering a ceiling just collapsed on him. Well this is good news for the LAFD as they finish off this fire.”
“May? You okay?” Sue questioned, snapping me back to the present.
“Uhh, you know my boyfriend that uhh I was telling you about just now. That’s him.” I muttered pointing to the man on the gurney.
“Your boyfriend was the one trapped?”
“Yeah.” I can’t seem to think straight with how much I am worrying about him. Taylor Kelly said he was okay but it was clear she didn’t actually know what was going on.
“Well, what are you still doing here? You should be at the hospital.” She stated putting her hand on my shoulder.
“Well I would like to be but I’m only like halfway through my shift.” I muttered quietly trying to hold back tears.
“May you are a great dispatcher but I don’t think you are going to be thinking clearly enough to be answering calls. Don’t worry about your shift, okay, I’ll have someone cover for you.” She says nodding to the door.
“Thanks Sue.” I say as I quickly grab my stuff off my desk and rush out the door.
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As I pull in to the hospital. I’m trying not to think of all the possibilities. I mean he seemed decently okay on TV but how okay can you actually be after getting hit by a ceiling.
“Hello, how can I help you?” The woman at the front desk says as I approach her.
“Hi, I’m looking for Ravi Panikkar’s room.”
“Just down the hall, on the left, room 107.”
“Okay thank you.” I respond quickly before I vanish into the hallway.
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“The doctor said they want to keep me overnight for observation, but I should be good to leave tomorrow.” Ravi was explaining to the whole crew who followed the ambulance to the hospital. He’s in a hospital gown with a nasal cannula blowing oxygen into his nose. Hen and Chimney were standing on the left, leaving space for the nurses to make sure everything is okay. Bobby and Athena, who arrived as soon as she could, were standing at the foot of the bed. Buck and Eddie were standing beside them towards the right side of the bed.
“Well we are just glad you are okay.”Bobby states, putting his one hand on the foot of the bed.
He’s about to say something else when I come into the room so worried about making sure Ravi is okay that I don’t realize that I recognize anyone in the room.
“Ravi!” I say, running to the left side of the bed, passing Hen and Chimney without a second glance.
“May!” His arms reach out and I give him a big hug which he doesn’t stop despite having cracked ribs. Once the hug ends, I kiss him before taking a seat by his bed, holding his hand.
“Are you okay? I saw on the news and came right down. Sue let me have the rest of the shift off.” I continued the conversation panicking and still not noticing the other people in the room.
“I’m okay, May. Just some smoke inhalation and a few cracked ribs. They are gonna keep overnight but I can come home tomorrow.”
“Okay good. That’s good.” I start to take a deep breath, relieved to know he’s okay. Our moment is then interrupted by Bobby.
“Uhh, May??”
Recognizing the familiar voice in the room, I turn around still holding Ravi’s hand. “Bobby? Mom?”
“Wait, Athena’s your mom?” Ravi guesses looking at me confused.
“Uhh yeah.” I say to him before facing my mom and Bobby again. “What are you guys doing here?” I start to look around the room seeing Buck, Eddie, Hen, and Chimney and start to put the pieces together. I look back at Ravi. “Wait, is Bobby your captain?” He nods.
“Would someone like to explain what is going on here?” Buck adds in, totally confused like everyone else.
“Ravi, when exactly did you start dating my daughter and May why didn’t you mention anything?” Athena joining in on the conversation.
“Well, we wanted to keep it private for now since it’s still new.” I start to tell my mom but get cut off of Buck.
“Wait is this why you have been so happy recently?”
“Yeah.”
“I knew something was up.” He responds proud of himself for knowing that much.
There is a moment of silence before Ravi breaks it looking at me, “Well, this isn’t exactly how I expected everyone to find out.”
“Yeah I’m sorry, I kinda ruined our plan of keeping it a secret for now.”
“No, May, it’s fine. Everyone has bound to figure it out eventually especially Hen.”
“Wait, why especially Hen. I would like to think that we would all figure it out.” Chimney says after being awfully quiet. Seeing the looks on everyone’s faces, he continues. “Yeah, maybe don’t answer that question.”
They all laugh before Athena speaks up again. “Well, now that it’s out in the open, you two need to come to dinner sometime so I can be properly introduced.”
“Mom.”
“May.”
Hearing the tone in her voice, I know that I wouldn’t win the argument so I agree.
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“Are you sure you are okay with going? We can cancel if you don’t feel up to it.” I said while putting on my shoes about to leave Ravi’s for dinner at my mom and Bobby’s. I was hesitant to go with everything that had happened the past few days.
“We are not going to cancel okay, I’m fine I promise.” Ravi explains getting his jacket on.
“Yeah you say that but the doctor said to take it easy for a while.”
“And I will be. It’s just dinner.” Ravi says while seeing that I’m still not sold on going. He makes his way over to me. “Hey, nothing bad is going to happen to me.”
“I know.” I whisper not really believing it. I know all sorts of calls him and Bobby have been on before and all the times a member of the 118 has gotten injured which unfortunately is a lot and over the past 2 years as a dispatcher I know how dangerous being a firefighter can be but I knew that going into this relationship. I won’t let that stop us even it if means dealing with the fear of possibly losing him. “I just don’t want to lose you.”
“And you won’t.” He says pulling me in and giving me a kiss. “Come on. We are gonna be late for dinner if we don’t leave now.”
He grabs my hand as we walk out of the apartment and I never want to let go. I just hope dinner goes well.
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