My Ant and Dec One shots

🧡 Firefighters

Have a couple of firefighter fics in my drafts and I'm surprised this one got finished first since it's very long. But I enjoyed writing it so hopefully you'll enjoy it too.

When you imagined a firefighter you imagined a big 6ft 6in guy with broad shoulders on which you could balance a tray and a rippled 8 pack which had been specially designed to grate hard cheese on.

So maybe that's why people always laughed when I told them I wanted to be a firefighter?

Looking at me, I didn't look like your usual fire-rescue type. But that was the whole point of my job.

I was small, below average height for a male actually and not exactly tall for a woman either... I was also pretty flexible... not to brag, but my lean physic and background in dance meant I was good at twisting my body into positions most men would struggle to imagine without wincing. Where most firefighters were bulky, I worked on not only being strong but also as quick as possible.

See my job, was to fit into the tight spaces no other normal sized person could. To climb over bits of debris through tight gaps that would usually take hours to open up.

It wasn't an official job role because I was kind of the first person of my size to meet all the requirements to become a firefighter. But after my training in the academy I got noticed and was taken out to be specially trained in confined-space rescue.

Ever since I was little, I'd dreamed of being in the special rescue unit 88. They were the top of the top in fire rescue. They were the guys and gals that were called when the firefighters were out of their depth. The only way to get in was having years of experience in lower level units before you could move up. Unless, you got scouted by their chief.

I got scouted. My ability to run through burning obstacle courses faster than any other cadet fighter got me noticed. Of course because of the size of me they doubted I could carry a person out safely so I did that too, sure i struggled a little more than most guys when I was carrying someone bigger than me on my back, but because of all the time I'd saved getting in, the fires hadn't spread fully and so I was safer the entire time.

Anyway so that's how I made it here. Stood outside the garage bay in my new uniform cargo pants and t-shirt, carrying a duffel bag on my shoulder that weighed a tone and very scared about my first day.

I felt like the new kid at the academy again. Only the Academy hadn't been full of fully-fledged firefighter veterans. These guys were the best in the business, legendary amongst the ranks of emergency services. I was damn lucky just to have been considered let alone selected. 

There was only so long I could stand there awestruck and not be late, so I kicked myself a little to stand straighter and walked confidently into the engine garage.

There was no one about, I looked around confused, trying to work out where I was going.

"Uh... hello? I-I'm here for my induction?"

There was no reply so I did a spin to see if I could locate the chiefs office.

Thats when I set eyes on someone watching me. He was stood at the top of one of the firemen's poles on the top floor balcony, just studying me for a second.

When I tilted my head he frowned deeply, "You're the new guy?"

I adjusted my bag on my shoulder so I could stand a little taller, "Aye."

The man raised a curious eyebrow, "Little short for a firefighter don't you think?"

"Your chief didn't seem to think so."