Fandom Fire Station, Friday

[designateddadfriend]

The fire station was on fire. The fire station. Was on fire. Travis had already spent his entire morning putting out various fires around the station, yelling about how much he hated irony. Especially when his fire extinguisher kept catching fire, too.

And of course, nothing was helped by the station alarm constantly blaring, the way it would -- he presumed -- if there was an actual fire emergency in town. Only instead of telling him what trucks were needed, or anything else useful, it just kept saying "There is absolutely no cause for alarm" when clearly there was cause for alarm. Because everything was on fire and also if there was no cause for alarm why was the alarm going off?

"The wings are not on fire."

"What wings?!"

[open! Insp 1, Insp 2]

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[stykera]

The last time the fire station had been on fire Travis had died. It hadn't stuck, at least. And despite the entire island being apparently intermittently on fire nobody seemed to be dying at all today so Stark was keeping himself together far better than he had any right to at the moment. Maybe all that rest earlier in the week had helped.

"I don't like this," he said simply when he walked in after his stop in the park. "Are you alright?"

At least Stark himself was not currently on fire? Anakin had put out the fire on his shoe!

[designateddadfriend]

"I'll be fine once I finish putting out all these fires!" Travis said, aiming an industrial size foam hose at Fandom's fire engine.

Which was somehow on fire.

Because why not?

[stykera]

"They're all over the island," Stark pointed out. They'd been on his shoe a little while ago.

"My apartment." He had definitely screamed, yes. "The bakery. The park. The pond. I don't know that you can put them all out."

Not that he minded watching Travis at work, of course.

[designateddadfriend]

“THE WHOLE ISLAND IS ON FIRE??!!”

Stark. This was not helping!

[stykera]

"There are flames but nothing's burning." Yes, he knew that sounded ridiculous.

"My shoe had some, at the park. Anakin took care of it." Stark very helpfully held out his foot to show that it was not in any way charred.

"But yet, it's everywhere. I think. Everywhere I've seen today, at least. I don't like it."

[designateddadfriend]

Travis stared at Stark. He stared at Stark’s shoe. He looked at the engine, which he’d still been spraying with foam.

The foam was on fire.

“. . . W H A T”

There were not enough methods of emphasis available in this medium to properly express the level of his incredulity.

[stykera]

"That's...I...I have no idea what to say to that," Stark managed eventually.

At least neither he nor Travis were currently on fire? Currently. It could happen.

[designateddadfriend]

“I.” Travis dropped the hose, staring at the flaming foam. A year and a half on this acid trip of an island, and this. This was what finally broke him. “I just.”

He was going to stand here shaking his head for awhile. Mouthing and occasionally stuttering out “I” sounds.

[stykera]

"Travis?"

Stark was watching him carefully now, concerned. "It's just the island."

He took a few steps closer, reaching out a hand.

Now was not a good time for a tiny flame to sprout from the side of Stark's mask, was it?

[designateddadfriend]

"^{That's not how fire works!}" Travis squeaked.

[stykera]

"I know," Stark said soothingly.

Blissfully unaware of anything that might be happening to his mask. BLISSFULLY.

"It doesn't make sense but so many things don't make sense here. You're alright."

Travis, you were hooking up on the regular with a guy whose face was half glowy light. You lived a weird life now.

[designateddadfriend]

Yes, but there was weird and there was things he was used to being the expert on not working how they were supposed to.

He finally looked away from the flaming foam back at Stark. "It's -- oh my god!"

Please pardon the firefighter flinging himself bodily at you, Stark. He was attempting to put out the fire on your face.

Literally. This was not a come on.

[stykera]

It wasn't his face it was his mask. That was totally different.

"Wh-" Stark didn't have a chance to get out anymore than that before he was tackled.

"Ow. What?!" Sorry about trying to shove you away, Travis.

[designateddadfriend]

"Roll," Travis ordered. Then actually took a moment to look again. He appeared to have gotten it. "Your mask was on fire."

[stykera]

"I didn't feel anything," Stark said. "Until you knocked me down."

He reached his hand up to pat at his mask. Good thing his arm was mostly healing up. "Was it really?" That was more disturbing than his shoe. "I...thank you?"

"Although, if you wanted me to lie down you could have just said."

[designateddadfriend]

“Uh. Yeah. Instinct. Stop, drop, and roll, right?”

Travis, you know he doesn’t know what that means.

[stykera]

He did not, in fact, know that meant.

"...What?"

Stark wasn't making any move to get up yet, mind you. He was just looking up at Travis with a slightly confused expression on his face.

[designateddadfriend]

"That's what you do when you catch fire," Travis said. "You stop running, get on the floor, and roll around to smother the flames."

Look. He was grasping desperately at the basic rules he knew in the face of reality refusing to abide by those rules. It was a thing, okay?

[stykera]

"I try to avoid catching fire," Stark pointed out. "But that's twice today. I'll have to do better."

Yes, do better at not letting the island do something he had no control over whatsoever. That was a thing that would totally happen!

"I'm fine," he added after a pause, reaching up to cup Travis's cheek. "Are you alright?"

He would absolutely not be this calm if Travis were to catch fire with these strange flames. But then he'd seen Travis engulfed in flames here before.

[designateddadfriend]

"Am I --" Travis started, and shook his head. "I -- no, I am not alright! The fire retardant foam is on fire! your metal mask was on fire! And -- and -- and it's not burned, which of course it's not burned because metal doesn't burn but that should mean it can't be on fire and why is everything on fire, Stark?! Nothing about any of this is alright!"

[stykera]

"Nothing about it makes sense," Stark agreed, keeping his voice quiet. "But nothing is really happening it just looks like it's happening. You're ok. I'm ok. Everything is fine."

It was rare that he got to be the calm one in this sort of situation. Very rare. But he knew something that worked on him when he started babbling and needed to be stopped and so he moved his hand to the back of Travis's head and pulled him down a bit for a kiss. Maybe that would help?

[designateddadfriend]

"Everything is not --"

Oh. Okay, he was being kissed now. That definitely at least shut him up.

Travis melted just a bit into it, pressing his forehead to Stark's feeling the cool surface of the mask (which had been on fire and thus shouldn't be cool and yet).

"So . . ." he said, quieter now. "What, we're hallucinating?"

[stykera]

"Not hallucinating," Stark assured him, keeping his hand where it was. "It's there it's just...not real fire. More of an illusion? I don't know. Fire that isn't hot. But it's fine. I promise. You're fine."

Stark was also fine and not at all on fire at this exact moment!

[designateddadfriend]

That was true! Travis's turnout jacket, on the other hand, was absolutely on fire now.

Not that he'd noticed yet.

"Okay, but. I can't just. Not deal with the fires."

[stykera]

"I know," Stark said, nodding a little. "That's who you are an-"

He stopped mid-word, eye going wide. "You!"

Well, Travis had just sort of explained stop drop and roll so Stark was just going to roll. With Travis.

[designateddadfriend]

"Whuh --"

And they were rolling. The flames, fortunately, mostly responded to things like smothering the same way regular flames would, and politely and promptly went out.

"Was I on fire?" Travis asked, trying to peer around at himself. "See? It's freaky!"

[stykera]

Stark had watched Travis consumed by flames in here once before so he was going to be a bit (a lot) clingy for a few moments. More than a few.

"You were," Stark said before hiding his face against Travis's neck.

"I know it's not real," he added, voice muffled. "But..."

[designateddadfriend]

Travis tended to forget about that without regular reminders, since, you know, he didn’t remember any of it.

“But it’s freaky,” he said again, patting Stark’s back. “I get it.”

[stykera]

Stark remembered it very clearly.

"It looked too much like last time. But we're fine. You're fine. We're both fine," he said, not sounding entirely sure of himself as he lifted his head to look at Travis properly.

[designateddadfriend]

"Last time," Travis echoed, then blanched. "Oh crap. Guess I should be glad Liz isn't around."

[stykera]

Liz was off having enough trauma without that!

"...yes," Stark agreed. He hadn't actually stopped clinging yet.

"But we're fine." He'd sounded so much more sure of that a few minutes earlier.

[designateddadfriend]

"Yes," Travis agreed. He patted Stark's back again reassuringly. ". . . Should we go upstairs?"

There wouldn't be less fire there, but there would be more beds!

[stykera]

This week was just the two of them spending time comforting each other, wasn't it?

"You don't need to take care of things?" Things that weren't Stark. "Fires? In case someone calls?"

But the idea of beds was promising. Especially after the tackling and the rolling and the kissing and clinging.