Drip had been staying in his room for three days. During that time there hadn't been a single wildfire. He was nearly done with his masterpiece when there was a knock on the door. "Drip, you in there?!", a female voice shouted. This startled Drip, nearly causing him to knock over a can of paint. However he caught with his claw before its contents could spill. After that, he went to get the door. He opened it, revealing Dynamite to be the one who was knocking. "Hey, Dynamite!", he uneasily greeted her with a sheepish grin, "How are you." Before she could answer, Dynamite noticed a paintbrush in Drip's claw. Squinting her eyes she asked him, "Why do you have a paintbrush. Drip finally realized that and tossed the brush to the side. "Oh, that?", he replied, "I was just…um…moving some stuff around." The look on Dynamite's face told Drip that she wasn't buying it. Drip backed up and tried to close the door, but Dynamite drove forward and put her front tire between it and the frame, preventing him from doing so. Knowing it would be futile to resist, Drip sighed and reluctantly opened the door to let her in. Dynamite was surprised by this. She'd never expected to see Drip like this. "It's as if he's keeping some kind of secret.", she thought. Dynamite drove in slowly, not wanting to scare Drip who was drooping his eyes downward at the ordinary concrete floor. Dynamite looked around to see what was inside and was astonished at what she discovered. Ten feet away in front her, there was a rather small painting resting on an easel. The painting showed a very detailed Dynamite on the stage of a nightclub. There was a microphone in front of her that she was singing into. She had her eyes closed as her lips were gently puckered while singing. In the real world, Dynamite's eyes widened with surprise. "It's…beautiful.", she said in shock. She turned around to look at Drip, but saw that he was nowhere to be found. "Drip!", she exclaimed while driving outside to see where he'd gone to. Dynamite looked in all directions, but Drip was nowhere to be found. Sighing, she looked back at the painting. She never expected a colleague, let alone Drip, to fall in love with her like that. "How long has he been hiding his feelings for me?", she mentally asked herself. Wanting to find out, she set off to look for Drip. As she rounded the corner of the building, she happened to catch Dipper and Cabbie in the middle of a deep kiss. Dipper moaned a little as the two planes pressed even more into each other's lips. Dynamite's eyes widened when she saw this. She slowly reversed in the opposite direction. "Well, that was unexpected.", she thought to herself.
After an hour of searching, Dynamite was still trying to find Drip. The search had led her all the way to the woods. Then she noticed that the sun was setting. "Where could he be?", she asked with worry. "Drip!", she called out. "Where are you, Drip?! Drip!" Then she heard a faint cry in the distance. "Help!" Alarmed, Dynamite sped off toward the direction that it had come from. Soon she found herself in front a ravine. "Help!", the voice cried again. Dynamite peered down into the ravine and saw Drip at the bottom. "Drip!", she called to him. Drip looked up and saw her above him. "Dynamite!", he exclaimed with joy, "Thank Chrysler you're here!" "I'll get you out!", Dynamite yelled. She turned around and then lowered her winch cable down to Drip, who grabbed it with his claw. Dynamite immediately started pulling with all the strength she could muster. Once Drip was near the top, Dynamite pulled one last time and Drip was finally out. Drip let go of the cable and went towards Dynamite. Then he noticed that she tried to move some more, but couldn't. "What's wrong, Dynamite?" "No gas.", she replied simply. "I'll push you back to the base.", Drip offered. But Dynamite stopped him. "First I want to ask you something, Drip. Why me?" Drip winced at that simple question. Then he slowly began, "Because you are a very special person." Dynamite was taken aback at this. "I don't think I'll ever find another woman who's as beautiful, headstrong, courageous and determined as you. I may act silly, but I only do it so no one can be the wiser about me caring about you. I wanted to keep it a secret not from you, but from the others. When we were trapped by that falling tree, I pulled you out of the way so you wouldn't get hurt. That's how much I care about you. I will do anything to keep your picture off the wall, even if that means mine taking its place." "No!", Dynamite snapped. This made Drip shut his mouth.
"I won't let you die either, Drip! If you did, then I'd be guilty of surviving! We all have to make it out alive! You know that!" Drip tried to counter that statement, but he couldn't. Deep down, he knew she was right. Dynamite saw the dejected look on his face. "Look.", she said with a sigh, "I really love that beautiful painting of me. But why couldn't you just ask me out?" Drip suddenly gave her a confused look. "You mean…I didn't have to paint that picture?" "Don't think you painted that picture for nothing.", Dynamite said, "It's just that I never expected someone, let alone you, to give me a painting. I gotta say, it's beautiful. That's some talent you have." "Can we stop talking about the painting now?!", Drip said to her, "It was supposed to be a surprise, but you saw it before I could show you!" As he raised his claw to make a gesture for his next sentence, that was when Dynamite made her move. Though she had no fuel, she still lunged forward, pressing her lips into his. Drip's eyes opened wide as he started to figure what was happening. But after a moment or so closed his eyes and lowered his extended claw to keep her from moving away from him. Once he lowered the claw, he retracted it to pull her into the kiss even more. Dynamite gasped at this, but the move only made her want to stay with him. "What a kisser!", she passionately thought. "MMMMMmmmmmmmmmmm…..!", she moaned. Drip pulled her even closer. This allowed him to press his tongue onto hers. This made Dynamite react by opening her eyes and trying to back away. Drip let her do so by raising his claw. Dynamite had a shocked expression on her face. Panting, she looked at Drip and saw that he was looking at her. This created a tense moment of silence between them. "What's wrong?", Drip asked her with concern. "Nothing.", Dynamite replied, "I didn't expect a French kiss at all. I'm not saying I don't like it, but it's not my cup of tea." "Oh.", Drip muttered in realization. Dynamite noticed his dejected expression. She rolled forward and put a tire on his cheek to comfort her fellow smokejumper. "You really want me that badly?", she asked softly. "Uh huh.", Drip replied. "Then I will make sure we spend as much time as possible together.", she cooed, "Why don't we go back to the base? I have some oil in my fridge." Drip gave a weak smile as he gazed into her striking green eyes with acceptance. He then got behind her and pushed from behind with his claw. The pair started going through the woods, making their way home as the sun had finally set behind the mountains, creating a still somewhat red-orange glow.
THE END
Author's Note: I'd originally intended to make this story a oneshot, but sometimes things don't go as planned. In this case, it got too long. But that's just how it is when writing. You never know what will be typed next.