Zack:
As Zack heard the school bell ring to signal the end of the day, He smiled slightly as he collected his things and rushed out the door. He kept his head down and looked at the ground as he made his way out the doors. Once he got to Eli's truck, he leaned against the door and bit his lip. He had his backpack slung over one shoulder as he waited for Eli.

The sun was setting. Its red, weak sunlight slowly disappeared from the horizon as the cloud floated lazily above. On the 5th floor of a school building, a male student stared out from the window, his eyes had a glazed look like he was thinking hard about something. He sighed as the bell rang and abruptly stood up, putting all his books and notebooks inside his large backpack. Elisa Roderick did not have a good day. He had lost sleep last night because he had to finish an essay and a research which he should finish three days ago. And then, out of no where, his father decided to lecture him about the importance of his role as the heir of the Roderick family in the morning. He almost arrived late to school and the fangirls were worse than usual. The teenager seriously wanted this day to over already or he might explode at anytime. He ignored a girlish squeal as he pushed a girl away, honestly didn't know which entity he had offended today. Eli groaned as he checked the time. He was late for his meeting with his Zack. He hoped the younger boy wouldn't be too mad at him. He really did try to be on time. He really did. Taking a deep breath, Eli pushed his depressed thoughts to one side and focused on arriving to his meeting place.

As he strode confidently to the truck, Eli noticed that Zack had already been waiting for him there. The guilt about letting his lover waited for him was eating Eli alive as he shyly walked to Zack and greeted him as gently as he could. Kissing Zack's forehead, Eli apologized "I'm sorry, love...for arriving late" He continued with a frown "I really had a bad day today" Looking into his lover's eyes, Eli asked, almost afraid to hear the answer "I hope you're not...too mad at me?"

As Zack waited at the truck, several people walled by. He tried looking down as they went, and it seemed to work. The only thing that they did was shove him against the car harshly. He was surprised how gracious they were then, maybe because of earlier. Eli knew a lot about the school, but Zack wasn't sure if he had heard about the beat down the guys had on him. His blue-black hair covered the black eye for the time being. He saw Eli coming shortly after they had left. He was just glad that Eli hadn't seen it. He didn't want anyone getting into a fight. When he saw Eli walking towards him, he automatically blushed; the boy was incredibly attractive, his broad shoulders, red hair and everything about him made Zack feel even less attractive.

"I'm not mad at all, babe... " He stood from his slouched position , flinching a bit from where he was beat by the guys earlier. Looking around before doing so, Zack hugged him around the waist since he was slightly shorter than him. One of the things he had always hated about himself was his petite figure. It was nice to hug him after all of the day. He felt safe there with Eli, "I missed you a lot... I'm sorry you had a bad day." Zack looked up to see Eli's face, butt as he did, his hair fell from his black eye for Eli to see. Quickly, Zack looked back down. He let go of the hug and backed up, looking at the ground.

Sam:
Checking his watch, Sam wondered where his trainee was. He looked around the firehouse one more time for Chris and then begun sipping the coffee in his hand. It was a cold day out. Sam had been training Chris for over a month now and actually had grown to like the younger boy quiet a bit. He nodded as the rest of his team made their way in the fire station this morning.

Chris:

Christopher stretched his body, and yawned subtly, before taking a sip of the coffee in his hand.
He didn’t really hate cold mornings like this, but he did prefer warmer weather.
Unfortunately the weathercast didn’t feel the same way, cold mornings the next 5 days. Though, they could be wrong, couldn’t they?
When he walked past a shop, he saw his reflection in the window.
“Great” he mumbled “Eye bags, the new fashion statement” he said sarcastically.

the fire station was a 20 minute walk from his apartment, fortunately a starbucks was placed in between.
When he finally stood in front of the fire station, a smile appeared on his lips.
He had taken a liking to his new mentor right off the bat, and he enjoyed the other man's company a lot.
They had only known each other for a month, but he already saw Sam as one of his closer friends.

He drank the rest of the now cold coffee, as he made his way to the building with some of his new collegues.
A warm breeze hit him when Christopher opened the door, making the hair on his arms stand up. It was always nice and toasty in here.
He waved at Sam when he spotted him, before throwing out the empty cup in the nearby trashcan.
“Good morning, did you sleep well?” He said merrily and unzipped his leaf green jacket.

Sam:
When the new kid entered the fire house, Sam smiled over at him. "Yeah, well, As much as a man can I guess." He put an arm around the young man and led him to the lockers, handing him his new uniform, " I rekon you've earned this... We're gunna be training in full gear today, so go ahead and change." Sam peeled off his coats and shirt untill he was bare chested and pulled the under armor on top of his chest, as he did often.

“I rekon you've earned this...” Sam said suddenly, handing him a set of bunker gear.
He already knew that a bunker suit could weigh up till 70 lbs, so it was kinda heavy holding it.
We're gunna be training in full gear today, so go ahead and change." Christopher felt genuinely happy about the fact that he had been given his own protective equipment, but he didn’t have time to celebrate right now.

Chris took off his shirt and stood with the cotton T-shirt in his hands.
It would probably take a little while before he would have gained some muscles. He wasn’t skinny or anything, the hint of abs. Oh, the only thing was to train a little bit harder.
He glanced at the other man, and he felt a slight burning sensation in his cheeks.
Blushing? He took on the T-shirt and crawled into the large protective pants.
Well, Sam looked good everyone could see that, then why was he getting flustered over another man’s body.
“Sam, I’m turning 21 two weeks from now, you wanna come celebrate with me and my sister? Everyone at home is busy, so they can't be there” Christopher said and placed the trouser straps on his shoulders.
The truth was that his sister would probably cancel too; she and her boyfriend were going on a vacation, and she didn’t know if she could make it back in time.
It sucked a bit, living away from his family.
He would get lonely sometimes.

Sam:
As the other man changed, Sam stole a brief glance, but his face remained unchanged. Once they both were suited up, Sam turned around to face Chris in order to answer his question, "Sure, I can come... and shoot, if you're turning twenty-one you ought to be drinking till you see beer your eyes."

Chris:

The suit was heavy but he had to get used to it.
It was nice that he could come; now he had that less to worry about.
Christopher laughed a little at the beer remark. Truth be told, he had a low alcohol tolerance.
It probably wouldn’t take long for him to be drunk, so it should be a place close enough for him to walk home from. How annoying.

“How does it feel? You know, to be drunk?” he asked with a goofy expression on his face.
He had tasted alcohol before, but he had yet to be completely wasted. His biggest problem would most likely be the hangovers.

Sam:
With a smile on his face as he led Chris to the back door that led to the building they used for training, Sam glanced back at him, "Well, it's different for everyone, but almost everyone has a hangover, though mine normally ain't that bad." He opened the door for Chris and began walking towards the building. Sam was a relatively calm drunk, but if he got drunk enough he would get really over protective of people. When they reached the training building, Sam had a smirk on his face, "You never get drunk before, boy scout?" He smiled and then looked up to the top of the building. It had seven stories. "You get up to the roof, you come to the edge so that I can see you, then you come back down to me." He pulled the stop watch for his pocket. They would start with real fire soon enough, but this was what they were required to do for now.

Chris:

When he heard the “boy scout” comment, Christopher grinned and stuck his tongue out.
“No, and what about it? I have an absolutely horrible alcohol tolerance; I get a little fuzzy after just one beer, so I’ve never been really drunk”.
He looked at the tall building; there was a nice view from the roof top.
"You get up to the roof, you come to the edge so that I can see you, then you come back down to me."
When Christopher heard Sam say this, the building suddenly looked taller than before.
He sighted heavily before walking over to the door.
“Allrighty, I’m off then...” he said looking at the stop watch.

He found the stairway and headed for the roof. Since Sam was measuring how fast he could reach the roof and back, he should hurry up a bit.
If the lights hadn’t been on, he wouldn’t have been able to see anything.
At the 5 floor, the bunker suit felt way heavier than before, and his throat was starting to get a little sore. “I’m gonna end up falling down these stairs on my way back” he mumbled.
He reached the exit and walked across the roof to the side where Sam would be able to see him.
Christopher leaned in over the railing, gave a whistle, and waved shortly.

He headed for the exit, and the trip down went a little faster. A little too fast maybe, because when he was about to go down one of the stairs he tripped and fell, bumping down the stairs on his butt until he reached out and grabbed onto the railing.
“OW! My *ss!”
He winced when he tried to walk, but no help to find. It wasn’t like he had twisted an ankle.
Shortly after he reached the entrance, panting like a dog as he walked out of the door.

Finally, he was done. Christopher let out a moan of exhaustion, his legs were killing him.
“Man...I thought i was in better shape than this, hurts” he said, unzipping the jacket.
He rubbed his aching behind, trying to gain a little composure.
“When i said that i was going to fall down the stairs, i didn’t think it would be a freaking prediction! Sh*t” he growled before looking at the guy who had made him do this in the first place.
“So? How was it?” Christopher asked enjoying the cool air.

Sam:
As he saw the obviously worn out man coming out of the building, he made his way over to him, not rushing. "You should sit, Chris... How did you fall?" The questions were ones that now came to him automatically, as he had been a firemen for what seemed like forever now. Not trying to seem pushy, but knowing the chief would need the resulst in today or both their asses would be on the line, Sam looked at Chris, "You think you can still do the live fire test? In this one, I'll be inside the building in case you don't finish... but I have to warn you, it's a lot harder." He was worried about the man and hoped he would do okay in the fire round, but who knows. There were three dummies on three different floors, one on the top floor, and the building would litterly be on fire at the time, along with other obsticels that hadn't been there before. Sam would have to stand at the entrance and watch the clock.

Christopher gave a tiny smile and looked down at the ground.
He became a little bit nervous, every time people would talk about the fire test.
But Sam would be there if anything went wrong, so he shouldn’t be.
“No, I’m totally fine” he said and gave a little laugh “I can’t sit down the next five minutes, i slipped and fell on my butt and so, it’s a bit sore but it’s ok”.
Thinking back, it was actually a bit comical.
“Say, Sam... Could you explain a bit more about the fire test? I don’t wanna go inside a burning building, not knowing what to expect”.

The smile slowly disappeared, leaving a worried expression on Christopher’s face.
He had begun breathing normally, but he didn’t close his jacket.
He took a deep breath and sighted, he needed to relax.

Sam:
Sam looked over at Chris and then at the building, "Well, the fire will take the whole building, then dummies will be placed in three different locations on three different floors. One will be on the roof. You have to get one dummie, bring them to me on the first floor and then go back and get the next... As for what to expect, it'll be painful... and don't feel bad if you don't get it the first time, a lot of people have to keep re-trying until they qualify."

How many is a lot? Christopher thought to himself.
“Will there be other people, besides me? Y’know, other trainees?”
He clutched his hand, trying to swallow the lump in his throat, before relaxing.
If he didn’t succeed, he would just have to try again.
Christopher took Sam by the wrist, walking towards the other building.
“I’m sorry, but I need a cup of coffee”.
He let go of the man about halfway, to take off the helmet and the Nomex hood.

When he entered the building, He was almost knocked over when one of the other trainees.
The tall girl, with the stunningly red pixie cut, had jumped on his back so he nearly dropped his helmet. “Kelly! Let go of me!” Christopher yelled, bending over so he wouldn’t fall.
Kelly pouted while letting go of the blonde boy.
“But you are just too adorable, i couldn’t control myself” she said and winked at him.
“Unfortunately” she said and sighed, “You a crushing on somebody else”.
“Stop it, please!” he mumbled and turned bright red.
“We’ve been friends since forever, and you still won’t tell me who it is... how mean”
“I already told you that it’s private, private!” He growled “And shouldn’t you be getting ready for your exam about now?”
Kelly suddenly got pale and started looking around the room, “oh, yes, Uhm... i was looking for Annie! I’m such a dunce!” She gave Christopher a hug before scurrying off to somewhere.

“Sam, I’m sorry about that. She has a tendency to jump people; i hope it didn’t bother you”.
He said looking at his mentor.

Sam:
When the red-haired-girl mentioned he had a crush, Sam blushed and looked at the ground. He didn't know what to say, I mean what do you say at times like these? He simple smiled and shook his head, "Nah, so is she in school or-" As he said this, they were walking to the break room. The fire captain was sitting in the corner with some coffee himself, Sam nodded at him, "As for the other trainees, well we don't have that many right now, so they are all doing theirs on different days, the building is only made out of non-flamable crap so... " He remembered how much metal was in there, and sharp metal at times too. When he did his trial, he sliced his leg open rounding a corner.

The captain slid a clipboard across the table, "Sign your life away before the trial, boy." He then leaned back in his chair and sipped his cup and watched the two men.

Chris:

“She’s a high school senior. I bet she was looking for her study partner, Annie. He said following Sam.
“Why aren’t there more trainees?” Christopher asked raising his eyebrows, “Isn’t it every little boys dream to drive in a fire truck?” He laughed a little before walking into the break room.
Christopher smiled briefly at the fire captain, before taking out two mugs from the cupboard.
“Non flammable crap you say? Well, that’s a relief”

He noticed that Sam was spacing off a little, so he poured him a cup of coffee.
Wondering what might have crossed the other guy’s mind.
For a short moment Christopher’s face lost its color, when the captain asked him to sign the sheet of paper fastened to the clipboard.
He took the pen lying on the table, and wrote his name on the stippled line.

He pushed the clipboard towards the captain and leaned against the small kitchen counter.
“What going on in your head right now, Sam?” he asked taking a sip of the steaming coffee.

Sam:
With the paper being signed, the captain left and went back to doing whatever it was he spent his time doing. Sam was relieved he was gone, and looked back to Chirs, who he was now standing what would normally be awkwardly close. Somehow it didn't feel awkward though, it was comfortable.

"I was just remembering me test..." Patting his hand on his leg, he smiled, "Sliced it open pretty bad, but I mean... it's not much compared to some other people." Sam knew that the scar was just one of the many on his body, but that one was kind of his initiation into the group. Turning to grab something from the cupboard, he accidently knocked into Chris and spilled the hot coffee all over Chris. "Oh, my God I'm so sorry!"

Chris:

Christopher could feel the warmth of Sam’s body, when they stood this close to each other.
He felt content when they were standing like this, even though his heart was beating like crazy.
The only inconvenience was, that Sam would be able to see his face if he blushed, which would be a bit of a problem.

When he heard the other mans belittling comment about the scar he had gotten during the test, Christopher seized a piece of Sam’s sleeve, about to say something like, “Normal people get a scar like that during an operation” asking the man to stop cheapen everything he’d say about himself.
Unluckily, the coffee mug was knocked out of his hand before he could say any of this, and everything that came out of his mouth was a loud “OUCH!”.

He took off the white cotton t-shirt, now dyed brown, faster than a speeding bullet to avoid any burns, but a reddish mark had already been left on Christopher’s chest.
“No, it’s not your fault. Shit happens”. He said opening the cold tap. “Say, will you pass me a cloth, or a towel?” he said, looking at the ceiling, taking deep breaths.
It hurt, but he had to stay calm.

Sam:
Sam grabbed a towel, still standing close to him as he placed it in Chris's hands. Taking his other hand, Sam put in on Chris' neck. He bit his lip and blushed slightly, pulling Chris in close. Sam kissed him gently and then stepped back, turning around. He said nothing for a while, and then he whispered, "I'm so sorry..."

Chris:

When Sam handed Christopher the towel, he placed it under the running water, before pressing the cold moist piece of cloth onto the burn.
“Thanks” he mumbled closing his eyes. Christopher looked surprised at him, when he suddenly felt Sam’s hand on his neck. He had never been standing this close to the other male before, it made the hair on his arms stand up.

“Hey, Sam, It’s just a burn. It isn’t something to worry about you know?” He said in a low voice.

His mind went blank when Sam unexpectedly started to kiss him. The only thing he could think of was the feeling of how nice it felt, being kissed by him.
He wondered if this had been the reason, he had looked so worried before. But when Sam pulled away, Christopher was left utterly speechless.
Why did he say sorry? Couldn’t he tell that he liked it?

“Hey” Christopher said, leaving the towel in the sink “You’re not just toying with me, right? Cause if this is just a joke, it’s a pretty mean one” he said with a trembling voice. He discreetly took Sam by the arm, turning the other man around so they would face each other.
“Don’t say sorry, please” He said subtly.
The pulse pounded in his head as he pressed his lips against Sam, placing a hand on his neck.
Closing his eyes, as he wrapped the other arm around the older male’s waist

Sam:
Sam held onto the boy he had been training all these weeks now. The whole time he could feel the pull of him, and how much he wanted him, but he had not been able to do anything about it. He put a hand on the cabinets that they were now against, and picked Chris up, setting him on the table top of the kitchen, his other hand on Chis's face, pulling him into a deep kiss.

Sam's breath was heavy as he opened his eyes after the kiss, He kept his face against Chis' face and ran a hand on his cheek, "We can't do this right now... not here..." He bit his lip and kissed the boy's cheek softly, "And... It's no joke.." His face was filling with red as he blushed from what he had done. No one in the station knew of this, but he had showed it to Chris.

Taking a step back, Sam bit his lip and looked around, "Um... -" the door then opened, it was the chief, telling them that they needed to hurry up and do Chis' test. Sam nodded as the chief left the room. He apparently had seen nothing of it.

Chris:

Christopher’s head was literally a huge mess.
One moment he was trying to get some answers to why he had been kissed, and the next he was sitting on the kitchen counter with his arms around Sam’s neck.
His head was spinning when his mentor kissed him. This time there was no hesitation.

It wasn’t as if he hadn’t been kissed before, since he had been in a couple of relationships.
They were all very sweet girls, but it was as if something was lacking.
There had been no butterflies in his stomach, and his body didn’t feel all tingly, this was a whole new sensation.

When the fire-chief dropped by to make a short visit, Christopher’s complexion went from pink to ghostly white. Had he seen them? What would he say if he had seen them kiss?
He tried to smile, and seemingly he hadn’t noticed anything. Some of the colour returned to his face after the fire-chief left.
He had always thought that his crush was doomed to be a one-sided love when he fell for Sam.
Christopher felt extremely relieved when Sam said that he wasn’t making a mockery of his feelings for him.

He caught himself chuckling and covered his mouth as he laughed softly; it was as if a huge weight was lifted from his shoulders, breaking the tension that had filled the room earlier.
“I’m so happy” he said and slid off the table. “I was feeling a little jittery when you apologized after.. You know..Kissing me”
Christopher picked up the stained T-shirt from the floor, blushing slightly once again.

Sammy:
Sam smiled at the boy and put and arm around him, "Come on, let's go test you." He walked with Chris out to the building, which was ready to be set on fire.Sam sighed and looked up at the building, whenever you're ready, just tell me and I'll light it up. He looked around and made sure no one was there, then looked at Chris, "What happened in the kitchen, that can't happen here again... We can't get caught... but... what happened was real, at least for me..." He didn't know how to ask the boy if he liked him back. It was awkward to ask Chris. He bit his lip and looked up at the building and then back at Chris.