It wasn't the first time this had happened.
Maka Albarn was, by anyone's standards, amazing. She was top of her class, finishing what should have been a two year program in only one. She did her thousand and two hundred 'training' hours happily, and almost anyone she worked with would tell you about her drive and passion for saving lives. She liked being an EMT, and she liked being a paramedic even more.
But it just kept happening.
It was frustrating, because when life or death was on the line, sometimes Maka made decisions that maybe weren't necessarily the safest for her or her hospitals insurance. But she couldn't bring herself to care, honestly.
It didn't really seem to matter to her that at four in the morning as she and her partner, Hiro, drove through the empty streets of Death city, that she ran a red light.
She was in an ambulance. Who cares what the local authorities had decided about emergency vehicles needing to come to a full stop at a red light?
Even when there wasn't a goddamn car in sight.
Even when she was on a call for cardiac arrest.
Even when she could prove that if she had been even ten seconds later to the scene, the man she treated would have died.
How was she supposed to know a red-light camera would catch her and her ambo?
She didn't.
But, it wasn't the first time these things happened.
Like when she pushed Hiro out of the way because he was unsure of going into a dark basement where a woman was screaming out in pain.
Yeah, she should have waited for the cops or the fire department to get there first, but since when did Maka Albarn depend on anyone?
Maybe that situation wasn't the best one to exemplify, because as it turned out, the man waiting in that basement with a large knife was kind of a problem for her… But she had survived. She was just fine, she didn't understand why it was even still something people felt the need to talk about.
Even more so, she didn't understand why that one stupid instance would cause… this.
So what? She had a record for saving tons of lives, who cared if she was almost impossible to insure? Yeah, okay, she was expensive, to say the least.
But she was still pretty sure that shouldn't matter.
She had one of the highest success rates with patients of anyone in the state, let alone her hospital.
And yet… despite all that, here she was.
Transferred.
To a fire hall.
Her lip curled in dismay when she turned into the large, painted red station. She hardly needed to scan the parking lot for her own space, the crisp lettering on the brand-new sign stood out among the others.
"Maka Albarn."
Her own parking spot. Wow.
She defiantly turned into visitor parking, empty for the moment, and parked there.
Probably a rude gesture, but hey, maybe that's what she was going for. As far as she was concerned, it was exactly what she was here.
A visitor.
Besides, she didn't want to park next to the flashy yellow motorcycle anyway. Or, she corrected herself, the flashy yellow death machine.
Honestly, if that was in fact one of the fire halls resident's actual choice of transportation, she was going to hate it here more than she already knew she would.
Now she got the pleasure of working with complete idiots.
It took a few moments of closed eyes and hard swallows to wash away images of mangled teenagers and motorcycle crashes. In those few moments, she also took the chance to collect herself a little.
This was where she had been assigned now, so there was no point in complaining about it. She'd just do what she always did: save lives. It didn't matter where she was, as long as she could keep doing that.
Right?
Sure.
She stepped out of her car and frowned up at the big building, her new home, before walking solemnly towards it
There was a lot of pausing and tentative walking across the parking lot, summed up when she got to the door. She didn't grab the handle, didn't do the whole 'hike up your socks and jump right back in' thing, she just stared at the glass.
Not that she cared, but…
How many more times was she going to get moved around?
She wasn't bad at her job; she just… wasn't the best at the whole 'red tape' thing.
She knew she was abrasive, knew that a lot of other EMT's didn't want to work with her, and if they did they asked to be reassigned fairly quickly. She hadn't really been connected to what everyone else affectionately referred to as their 'work families.' Maka didn't have any sort of family to speak of, except for an overprotective, slutty father.
His position as head surgeon at her last hospital job didn't do much for keeping her there though.
Whatever though, none of this mattered at all.
She finally grabbed the door handle and pulled it open.
Or rather… tried to.
It was heavy! She struggled for a second, her large gym bag falling off her shoulder. She caught it on the inside of her elbow, while simultaneously trying to shoulder-check the door open. Just as she thought she was going to fall into her new workplace in the most embarrassing, unceremonious way imaginable, a strong hand caught the door just above her head.
She froze in her ungraceful acrobatic stance in the door frame, looking up at the man standing in front of her.
"Careful," he grunted, "doors a little heavy."
Yeah, easy for him to say. His arms were a few miles past muscular, but that wasn't what she noticed first about him. His dishevelled shock of white hair is what her gaze fell on instantly. It wasn't made better with the contrast to his black t-shirt, almost forcing her to stare at it.
He stared at her, a little uncomfortable,
"Are you uh… gonna go inside or..?" He held the door open a little further,
She flushed, despite herself, and hurried through the door, not shooting him another glance.
"You're welcome." He said behind her. It was quiet enough that it could have been under his breath, but she heard it just fine.
Great first impression, idiot.
She scolded herself, already appearing too weak to open the goddamn front door. She was hyperaware of the sexism commonly exhibited in firehouses, and being the weak-paramedic-girl was not something she was going to deal with.
She probably shouldn't have been so rude to whoever that was too.
But oh well.
She walked quickly down the main corridor, following signs easily to the chief's office. She didn't pass anyone else, but could hear soft conversations coming from what was probably the common room.
"Miss Albarn!" a large man greeted her before she could even knock on the open door. She was a little taken off guard, but took a firm step in the door,
"T-that's me!" she said, walking further into the room with a gesture from the man. He was tall, with dark skin and a muscular build (she must have forgotten firefighters would be built as hell. She felt scrawny in comparison to it all, to be honest).
"Have a seat," he said happily, gesturing to the chair across from his desk. She complied quickly, putting her duffle-bag on the ground next to her.
"It's nice to meet you sir," She said, trying to keep her face as 'business' as possible. The chief was a little laid back for her taste…
"Oh no, no, no 'sir' unless I'm givin' you orders! Call me Sid, that's the kind of man I am!" Sid smiled broadly at her, and she tried to fake her best 'I'm happy to be here' look.
"Um, okay, Sid."
"Good good." he hummed, looking down at a file in his hands. His expression slid into 'serious' faster than Maka would have imagined possible for the man, "So I hear you're a bit of a trouble maker, hm?"
"N-no, of course not!" Maka tried to squash the burning feeling seeping through her body, "I just—"
"You just don't like following the laws put in place to protect people like you and I." He wasn't scolding her, just telling it like it was. She didn't even reply, just hunched her shoulders a little and glared at a poor, defenceless potted plant in the corner.
"I get it," Sid sighed, putting her file back down on her desk, "But there's obviously a good reason they sent you here."
"To get rid of me," she muttered, crossing her arms over her chest. She probably looked like a grumpy two year old, but she could care less. Sid laughed loudly, startling her a little,
"I like you, Albarn." He laughed before hardening his expression again quickly. It was giving her whiplash, "but I won't be so tolerant of behavior like this," he put his index finger on her file, "so we'll have to work something out."
"Okay." She huffed.
She didn't want to be disobedient or whatever it was, she just got… preoccupied when someone was dying. Sue her.
Oh wait…
"Well!" Sid said, standing to his feet. And she thought he was large just sitting… "Let's go meet the family!"
Family.
The word stung her a little.
She didn't mean to stare up at him wide-eyed, but his warm smiled snapped her out of it. She nodded slowly, standing from the chair and grabbing her bag.
Let's meet the obnoxiously burly firemen and their charming sexism. Awesome.
She followed Sid to a large room, trying to bite back her scowl. One half was an open kitchen and dining table surrounded by old and worn down looking wooden chairs. Across the room were four equally worn couches facing a beat-up television.
That didn't surprise Maka at all, what did was how bored everyone looked. There were a group of people playing cards at the table, a man and woman lounging on couches across from each other watching a cooking show and another watching the toaster for, what Maka hoped was their toast or pop-tart or something cooking. Please God let the woman not have been bored enough to just be staring at a kitchen appliance.
"Yo!" Sid announced, as if he needed to, everyone was already staring at them, "this is our newest EMT, Maka Albarn!"
A few faces seemed to light up instantly, notably the girl staring at the toaster. Maka smiled, trying to relax,
"Hello," she did an awkward little wave to the room which was returned by a few grins. The two lying on the couches stopped caring pretty quickly, going back to watching their TV show disinterestedly.
Sid patted her on the back and then, without another word, turned and walked out of the room, muttering something about being back in a minute.
She hardly had the chance to stand awkwardly alone, the perky girl at the toaster rushing her quickly. Short blonde hair bounced with every child-like step she took towards her,
"Maka eh?" She said, poking at her arm. Maka flinched away, blushing slightly,
"T-that's right," She replied.
"I'm Patti!" The woman pointed to her chest proudly before grabbing Maka around the wrist and pulling her towards the couches. Maka lurched forward, a 'GAH' sound escaping her lips before letting herself be toted along,
"Sissy!" Patti shouted, "New girl!"
"Mmhmm." The girl on the couch replied, waving her hand dismissively, "Maka Albarn, I heard." She finally looked up at her, "I'm Liz. Sorry, I'm uh, pretty wiped right now. I get to go home in an hour," the woman said wistfully.
Maka shuffled her feet a little,
"So, are you two are the other Paramedic team then?" she asked. It was then that the man lying on the opposite couch laughed loudly,
"Liz and Patti? Fixing people up? You've gotta be fuckin' kidding me." His blue nappy hair gave him a distinct appearance, even among the others, "You need some sort of like… what's the word… finesse, to do that shit."
Liz shot him a glare,
"Black Star, I'd kick your ass if I wasn't running on a 23 hour shift."
"Firefighters?" Maka nearly choked out.
"Yeah, you got a problem with that?" Black Star said, sitting up from the couch.
Wow.
Being so preoccupied with fighting the sexism at firehouses she had just… wait, she was the one being sexist?!
"No! No of course not!" Maka raised her hands in front of her, "I think it's amazing!" She stammered.
Black Star raised an eyebrow at her,
"I dono how amazing it is," he shrugged, "I've pulled way more bitches out of fires than you two."
"Because you're old," Patti said, sticking her tongue out at him. Liz laughed,
"Yeah, just cause you've been doing it a couple years longer. Prick." She tossed the remote at him but he caught it easily.
"DOES THIS MEAN I GET TO PICK WHAT WE WATCH?!"
"Fuck no." Liz growled. Black Star just pouted and sunk back into the cushions.
It was at the same moment that Sid re-entered the room, followed by a young woman and—
Oh shit.
White-haired-door-opener.
Liz exhaled happily, jumping up from her place on the couch,
"Eater, you're a god among men."
"Didn't have anything better to do," He shrugged, "Don't mind coming in a bit early."
She high-fived him as she left, calling behind her, "Patti! Let's go!"
Patti bounded behind her,
"Seeya Sid! Bye bye Kiddo!" She waved to a dark haired man at the table, who waved back,
"See you girls at home." The man replied as Soul walked over to the couch, plopping down where Liz had left. Black Star asked him something but Maka missed it. Sid was calling her over.
"This is your new partner, Tsubaki." He gestured to the dark haired woman beside him who bowed a little, muttering a shy but warm welcome. Maka went along with it, used to the formality of being paired with another.
She thought she was out of the woods, ready to go put her things in the locker she knew would be waiting for her, especially when Tsubaki was called over to the kitchen by the now apparently hungry Black Star to make him some food.
She wasn't.
"Oh, and one last thing." Sid said it in a tone that made Maka's stomach plunge. "Soul, you're assigned to making sure this one doesn't do anything illegal."
"WHAT?!" The word came from both parties respectively, but Soul stood to his feet.
"I'm not—what does that even—" Soul sputtered, walking over to the pair, "Illegal?!"
"She has a record of not liking to follow union or regional laws if it gets in the way of her—"
"She is RIGHT HERE." Maka stopped caring about undermining her superiors or being rude or whatever. That seemed to happen when she was angry. Lucky for her, Sid just chuckled and shook his head.
"And she has a bit of a temper."
It was now painfully obvious that almost everyone in the room was watching the little… situation unfold.
"So? Why me?" Soul groaned, ignoring Maka completely.
"You're responsible! Think of it as a compliment." Sid sighed, rubbing a hand against the back of his neck. Maka tried to interject, but was just talked over.
"What! No, she's working with Tsubaki right? Make her babysit!" Soul whined,
"Soul, you and I both know Tsubaki lacks a certain... strictness." Sid said, "she's still technically supposed to be 'keeping an eye on' Black Star right now." Sid made a face as every head turned toward the mentioned pair.
Black Star was currently balancing a large kitchen knife on his nose, while Tsubaki watched on, smiling and clapping, utterly impressed.
"Ughhh." Soul said, "This is so not in my job description."
"Even that's past the point! I don't NEED a… parole officer!" Maka fumed, "This whole discussion has been ridiculous from the start!"
Behind them, Black Star screamed and Tsubaki immediately starting applying some sort of medical care to his face, cooing over him. No one paid it any attention, so Maka didn't either.
"See? Listen to pigtails here!" Soul defended, gesturing to her.
"I beg your pardon?! My name is NOT 'Pigtails!" Maka turned to him, unleashing full force angry-face at the firefighter.
"Jesus!" He brought his arms up, defensively flinching away from her before giving Sid an exasperated look, "How am I supposed to 'control' a ball of literal fire?!"
"You're a fireman," Sid shrugged, turning away, "You'll figure something out."
Soul stammered something, but Sid just waved his hand as he continued walking,
"My decision is final! That's the kind of man I am!"
Soul turned back to Maka, an expression of expectant-pain still all over his face,
"Please don't hit me."
"No promises!" She roared before turning on her heels and stomping off.