Spider-man groaned in the back seat of the fire truck in utter exhaustion. Fire chief Williams looked in the rearview mirror and snorted at the sight of the superhero slumped against the window. It had been a long night after a fire had broken out in an apartment complex in the less fortunate side of town.
Meaning
The building violated almost all of the fire codes and the material used for the building wasn't holding up to the inferno. Leaving Spider-man and the fire department frantically working to douse the fire and to save the occupants. Spider-man was the one who was all over the place. He would save victims, take over for a little bit and hold the hose while someone else grabbed something from the truck. Before dousing himself in water only to rush back into the building. Leaving him exhausted.
"How are you doing back there Spidey?" Spider-man slowly picked up his head and looked at him.
"I'm pretty sure I have the lungs of a smoker now." He finished his statement with a small cough before letting his head fall again. One of the other firefighters in the back patted his back reassuringly. Williams shook his head, maybe if Spider-man had waited a little bit longer for them to get there, he wouldn't be feeling like that. The rest of the drive was in silence as the chief drove back to the station. The only thing that could be heard was the sound of the streets and the quiet snores. With one more look in the rearview mirror, the chief withheld a laugh at the sight of the three grown men slumped against each other. All of them dead asleep. Lopez, the assistant chief, noticed his stares and turned around.
"Aww," she cooed," look at them all tuckered out." She took out her phone and took a picture before turning back around.
"Blackmail material," she claimed with a wide smile on her face, her hand holding up the phone triumphantly. Williams rolled his eyes before pulling into the station and put the truck into park and switching it off. The change in the environment made two of three firefighters in the back snort awake.
"Alright boys, let get everything off and clean everything up."
"Ughhhhhhhhhhh."
"Can't we just do it later?" Williams got out of the truck while Lopez answered them.
"Last time we did that, we were scrambling to get everything together when we got a call." Lopez smiled at their groans before getting out of the truck herself. The three men and woman started to unload everything from their fire truck, putting everything away after cleaning it properly.
"Hey, we're missing a set of tanks." At her words, all of them turned and looked to the fire truck. Realizing that they had all left the superhero in there.
"Sion," Williams gestured with his head towards the truck, "go and get Spidey, he probably fell asleep." Sion nodded his head while yawning and walked over to the truck.
"Hey," he knocked on the window before opening it up," time to get up Spidey."
"-Ah!" Spider-man yelped as he tumbled out of the truck and onto the shop floor, groaning loudly when he landed.
"…you just could have asked you know?" Sion cringed at his exhausted voice before reaching in and grabbing the oxygen tanks Spider-man had place between his legs.
"Sorry about that Spidey, I thought you were awake." Spider-man tiredly waved him off.
"Mm, 'ts fine." Sion slammed the door closed and lugged off the pair of empty tanks to storage. Williams eyed Spider-man, wondering when he was going to get up. After a couple of minutes of Spider-man just laying there on the cement, he spoke up.
"Spider-man."
"mmm."
"Are you just gonna lie there?"
"yea, I'm- "Spider-man yawned loudly and smacked his lips before continuing, "I'm too tired to move…" his words trailed off and within a few second, light snores could be heard coming from the man. Williams rolled his eyes before striding over to the hero. Gently tapping the side of his face to rouse him.
"When's the last time you slept?" Peter groaned as the chief lugged him to his feet.
"uh…what's today?" Williams gestured to Lopez that they were going to the nap room, prompting a nod in return.
"Tuesday."
"…oh, Wednesday was the last time I was able to go to sleep…I think." Williams shook his head in disappointment before pushing the hero onto the bed.
"When's the last time you ate a full meal?" Spider-man settled down with a sigh.
"…Yesterday, the 5th precinct bought me some lunch." Williams hummed his answer before throwing the blankets over the hero.
"Get some sleep Spidey, Ill wake you up in two hours." He stood by the door and turned off the lights once he heard a quiet 'ok'. Closing the door, he flipped the sign over, showing that there was someone in there so the others could be quiet. The others walked up the stairs and saw the sign.
"Spidey's in there?"
"Yep. I said I'll wake him up in two hours."
"Alright, I'll put an alarm for seven hours." Williams stopped and looked at Lopez, wiping away a false tear.
"you know me so well." The firefighters rolled their eyes before quietly opening the door. Quiet snores drifted out from the open door.
"Awww, look at him," Lopez took out her phone and took a picture of the sleeping spider. Who was all curled up in the blanket with the top of his face barely peaking out," More blackmail material for me."
(Six hours later)
"Son of-! "Williams and the second shift all turned to the nap room, where they could hear someone fumbling around in there. Williams started to chuckle as the door flung open.
"You said you would wake me up in two hours!" the fire chief withheld a chuckle as Spider-man tried to run out of the room but ended up tripping over the blanket that was still wrapped around his legs.
"Oh?" he tilted his head like he was confused, "I must have lost track of time." Spider-man finally got back onto his feet and after taking the time to throw the blanket back into the room, he ran out, screaming over his shoulder.
"Like hell you did!" it immediately quieted down once he left.
"And like that, he's just gone like wind." His comment incited a chuckle from everyone.
"You did that on purpose didn't you?" Williams smiled into his coffee.
"I have no idea what you're talking about."