Fic: To Fight Another Day - Chicago Fire, PG, Angst, Gen, Pre-Series, Matt, Severide & Andy
Just a little Chicago Fire fic, to get us all through the mini-hiatus! This one is for oxoniensis, because I was power-reading all her episode posts and I got this overwhelming urge to start writing this fic immediately. My first Chicago Fire fic, thus completing my fall over the edge into this fandom. Just a little pre-series contemplation with Matt, Severide & Andy - PG, Angst, Gen, 561 words.
Title: To Fight Another Day
Author: The Artful Dodger / dodger_sister
Fandom: Chicago Fire
Category: Angst, Gen, Pre-Series
Characters/Pairing: Matt Casey, Kelly Severide & Andy Darden
Rating: PG
Warnings: None.
Spoilers: None.
Summary: Matt contemplates what life can take from you.
Word Count: 561 words.
Date Written: 01/07/13
Disclaimer: Chicago Fire does not belong to me. I wrote this story for fun, not profit.
Feedback: Bring it. dodger_sister / TheArtofDodger@comcast.net
Beta’d: Nope.
Author's Notes: Chicago Fire has really started to hit me hard. And then reading through oxoniensis’s fannish episode reviews, I got kind of overwhelmed with All The Feels and had to stop in the middle of reading to go write this story - my first Chicago Fire fic! I guess I was just in the mood for a little imagery and foreshadowing. And also, some Casey & Severide time, but I’m always in the mood for that!
Dedication: For oxoniensis, whose delight over this show tipped me from teetering on the edge of this fandom to falling straight over the side!
It’d been a slow day and to be honest, Matt liked days like this far better than Severide did, days where time almost stood still, where the world outside the firehouse barely even existed.
He was leaning against the front of the building, legs outstretched, hands shoved into his jacket pockets, the sun barely visible behind the overhead clouds. Across the street, in a small patch of grass and sunshine, two little boys were running and leaping. They wore towels tied around their necks like capes, superheroes saving the world from imagined danger.
The dark-haired boy held a stick aloft like a sword and his friend, blonde hair lightened from the now dwindling summer sun, held his own stick like a bow and arrow.
As Matt watched, it became clear to him how unaware these two boys were of the world around them, lost in their own land of endless possibilities and adventures, everything right at their fingertips.
“What’s that about?” Severide asked, leaning up against the wall next to Matt and nodding at the two little boys. “They causing trouble?”
“No, not yet,” Matt said. “Give them a few more years though.”
“Come on,” Severide said and nudged his shoulder against Matt’s own, “Not all teenagers are as terrible as you were.”
“I was an angel,” Matt told him in mock disgust.
“Sure you were. And I was a virgin,” Severide said and couldn’t keep the grin from his face, eyes crinkling at the corners.
“Just thinking,” Matt said, more serious this time, “They really have no idea, do they?”
The boys were fighting something now that only they could see, some imaginary giant or another, towering over them.
“How’s that?”
“What the world will do to them as they grow up,” Matt told him. “It’s not all dreams and fantasies, you know.”
“You’re in a mood,” Severide said with a scowl and brought one hand up, gripped tight at the back of Matt’s neck and pulled until he was resting the top of his head against the side of Severide’s own. “Don’t be so sure the world will beat them down, Matt,” he said, soft and sure against the other man’s hair. “We grew up to be superheroes. So can they.”
“You don’t think the world takes more than it gives?” Matt asked him, unsure now despite knowing all the things the world had taken from him.
“No,” Severide said and curled his fingers in the short hairs on the back of Matt’s neck. “Not even a little bit.”
Someone cleared his throat loudly behind them then and the two men pulled apart to see Andy standing there, grinning at them like a delighted child.
“If you two ladies are done playing Dear Abby, there’s food on the table,” he said.
Matt took one last look across the street at the boys, watched them defeat their invisible foe and cheer like the world had been saved. Perhaps it had.
Then he pulled away from the wall and let Andy drape himself across Matt’s back so he was dragging the man along behind him with each step, Severide nudging their shoulders together as they made their way towards the smell of dinner.
Outside, the sun had disappeared behind the clouds and raindrops had begun to fall, the two boys forced inside by the oncoming storm, living to fight another day.
The End
Title: To Fight Another Day
Author: The Artful Dodger / dodger_sister
Fandom: Chicago Fire
Category: Angst, Gen, Pre-Series
Characters/Pairing: Matt Casey, Kelly Severide & Andy Darden
Rating: PG
Warnings: None.
Spoilers: None.
Summary: Matt contemplates what life can take from you.
Word Count: 561 words.
Date Written: 01/07/13
Disclaimer: Chicago Fire does not belong to me. I wrote this story for fun, not profit.
Feedback: Bring it. dodger_sister / TheArtofDodger@comcast.net
Beta’d: Nope.
Author's Notes: Chicago Fire has really started to hit me hard. And then reading through oxoniensis’s fannish episode reviews, I got kind of overwhelmed with All The Feels and had to stop in the middle of reading to go write this story - my first Chicago Fire fic! I guess I was just in the mood for a little imagery and foreshadowing. And also, some Casey & Severide time, but I’m always in the mood for that!
Dedication: For oxoniensis, whose delight over this show tipped me from teetering on the edge of this fandom to falling straight over the side!
It’d been a slow day and to be honest, Matt liked days like this far better than Severide did, days where time almost stood still, where the world outside the firehouse barely even existed.
He was leaning against the front of the building, legs outstretched, hands shoved into his jacket pockets, the sun barely visible behind the overhead clouds. Across the street, in a small patch of grass and sunshine, two little boys were running and leaping. They wore towels tied around their necks like capes, superheroes saving the world from imagined danger.
The dark-haired boy held a stick aloft like a sword and his friend, blonde hair lightened from the now dwindling summer sun, held his own stick like a bow and arrow.
As Matt watched, it became clear to him how unaware these two boys were of the world around them, lost in their own land of endless possibilities and adventures, everything right at their fingertips.
“What’s that about?” Severide asked, leaning up against the wall next to Matt and nodding at the two little boys. “They causing trouble?”
“No, not yet,” Matt said. “Give them a few more years though.”
“Come on,” Severide said and nudged his shoulder against Matt’s own, “Not all teenagers are as terrible as you were.”
“I was an angel,” Matt told him in mock disgust.
“Sure you were. And I was a virgin,” Severide said and couldn’t keep the grin from his face, eyes crinkling at the corners.
“Just thinking,” Matt said, more serious this time, “They really have no idea, do they?”
The boys were fighting something now that only they could see, some imaginary giant or another, towering over them.
“How’s that?”
“What the world will do to them as they grow up,” Matt told him. “It’s not all dreams and fantasies, you know.”
“You’re in a mood,” Severide said with a scowl and brought one hand up, gripped tight at the back of Matt’s neck and pulled until he was resting the top of his head against the side of Severide’s own. “Don’t be so sure the world will beat them down, Matt,” he said, soft and sure against the other man’s hair. “We grew up to be superheroes. So can they.”
“You don’t think the world takes more than it gives?” Matt asked him, unsure now despite knowing all the things the world had taken from him.
“No,” Severide said and curled his fingers in the short hairs on the back of Matt’s neck. “Not even a little bit.”
Someone cleared his throat loudly behind them then and the two men pulled apart to see Andy standing there, grinning at them like a delighted child.
“If you two ladies are done playing Dear Abby, there’s food on the table,” he said.
Matt took one last look across the street at the boys, watched them defeat their invisible foe and cheer like the world had been saved. Perhaps it had.
Then he pulled away from the wall and let Andy drape himself across Matt’s back so he was dragging the man along behind him with each step, Severide nudging their shoulders together as they made their way towards the smell of dinner.
Outside, the sun had disappeared behind the clouds and raindrops had begun to fall, the two boys forced inside by the oncoming storm, living to fight another day.
The End