The Beach | Tuesday Afternoon

[firehousehimbo]

Instead of spending his shift doing nothing at the station, Buck decided to go find a disaster himself. He took Eddie with him, since trying to find trouble alone was boring. Eventually they ended up at the beach. Maybe they'd find someone drowning, that'd be something to do. Oh, or a shark that needed help again! That was cool.

"I already have sand in my shoes."

[For myself, Eddie, and Eddie (who is also myself). Though it's a big ass beach so if you want to use it for something else, go for it. This here is where Stranger Things spoilers be, so head's up if you want to avoid it]

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[justalittlerepressed]

"That's just being on the beach," Eddie replied, also having sand in his shoes. "It's better than being in the station all day."

[firehousehimbo]

"It is," Buck agreed. "But sand in shoes is still annoying. Lifeguards don't wear shoes, we should have taken ours off."

Whelp. Too late now. Shoes were already sanded.

[justalittlerepressed]

"We're not lifeguards, we're firefighters." Which sometimes involved saving people from the water, yes. But not always! "Though here, the lifeguards might be more busy."

[firehousehimbo]

Buck nodded in agreement. "What with the krakens to worry about. Though I think that also falls under our purview."

If tsunamis did, then krakens totally did.

[justalittlerepressed]

"Did anyone actually see a kraken?" Eddie was going to continue to pretend it wasn't real, but still prepare for the drills, until then.

Also, looking out at the water speculatively.

[firehousehimbo]

"Why would you have alarms for something that doesn't exist?" Duh, Eddie.

[justalittlerepressed]

"So when was the last 'kraken' attack, Mr. Natural Disaster Expert?" Eddie shot back with little huff of laughter. He would not put it past Buck to know, after all.

[firehousehimbo]

Great, now Buck was gonna go to the library to look up kraken attacks on the island.

But later on, because something weird was happening on the beach. Namely a gross, squelchy-sounding portal opening in front of them in the sand with red light coming out of it.

"That's not normal."

[justalittlerepressed]

"No, that is not," Eddie agreed, grabbing Buck by the shoulder in case he wanted to investigate it.

Also, the noises. They were just the worst. Thank god they weren't being described in a closed captioning for the pair.

[shireisburning]

There was a lot of wet slapping in the Upside Down, okay? Very moist place.

You know what sucked? Being attacked by demonic bats, to the point where you were 100% sure you were gonna die. Even had a tearful goodbye with a high school freshman and everything.

You know what also sucked? Being engulfed by one of the Upside Down's wet-ass portals after a supernatural earthquake hits and being violently spit out onto a beach moments later.

Really could have done without that. Sand in open wounds wasn't great.

[firehousehimbo]

"Dude!" A dude totally got launched out of the ground! Bleeding! He shook off Eddie's hand on his shoulder and started running towards the guy. "Come on!"

[justalittlerepressed]

"You saw that too, right?" Eddie asked, running with him to start checking the guy over. "Sir, can you hear us?"

[shireisburning]

"Sir?" Eddie said blearily, smiling even though blood was coming out of his mouth when he spoke. "I'm in high school."

World's oldest high school senior, yep.

[firehousehimbo]

"Shit." Buck had been so convinced that nothing was going to happen today that he hadn't even bothered bringing any equipment with them, medical or otherwise. The guy was bleeding out and they needed to slow it down.

So off went his shirt. "Here, Eddie--"

[justalittlerepressed]

Now they were going to be paranoid and always carrying something with them.

"Thanks," Eddie said, taking the shirt to press to the largest, well, hole in the guy. "You're going to be okay, alright?"

[shireisburning]

Okay, he was dreaming he was on the beach and a dude just took his shirt off. He was so dying. Don't people hallucinate weird shit when they're about to die?

Oh, well. He gone out in the most badass way possible. "Best concert ever."

And then he passed out.

[firehousehimbo]

Well. Maybe it was for the best he passed out. Moving him was gonna hurt.

"We gotta get him to the clinic," Buck said. "Can we move him?"

[justalittlerepressed]

Eddie made a face of concentration as he checked their mystery man's neck for any damage there. "He should be okay to move. We'll need to secure the bandages to keep it in place."

And there went Eddie's shirt!

[firehousehimbo]

This guy didn't realize how lucky he was, having two shirtless firefighters carry him to safety. Some people paid for that kind of thing.

"All right, I'll take the guy's legs," Buck said, moving to get into position. "Maybe we'll find a rickshaw on the way."

They would not, but it was nice to hope for things.

[justalittlerepressed]

"Careful on the stairs," Eddie said, hooking his arms under the new guy's armpits for a stable position.