A Slow Burn // Brian 'Otis' Zvonecek // Chicago Fire ✔️

32 || ONE YEAR LATER

- 1 year later -

Even after being together, and living together, for an entire year, Otis never got tired of waking up next to Riley. Whether she be curled up away from him, her bright orange hair spread across the pillow. Or whether she be nestled against his chest with her arm draped over his stomach. There was nothing Otis would rather see first thing in the morning than his beautiful girlfriend.

The early morning sun shone through the gap in the curtain, filling the room with warm rays of light as Otis lay peacefully in bed, his eyes glued to Riley who was still asleep next to him. Their alarm would be going off any minute now but instead of waking her up, he figured he'd let her sleep and allow himself a few more minutes simply gazing at her.

But like the saying goes, all good things come to an end and soon enough, the beeping of their alarm made Riley stir in her sleep. She rubbed her face against the pillow, her nose scrunching up slightly in the way Otis always found simply adorable. Then, she rolled sleepily onto her side, her arm flopping out next to her as she blindly felt for the alarm clock, knocking multiple things over like she always did the morning of every shift.

Riley let out a small groan as she finally found the button for the alarm, shutting off the beep. She heard Otis chuckle to himself over her dramatic nature and she lazily turned to him, finding him laying on his side looking at her like he'd been awake long before he was meant to be.

"How long have you been up?" Riley yawned, pushing some hair out of her face so it didn't end up in her mouth.

"Little while." Otis breathed out, one hand raising towards Riley to move a loose strand of her hair from her face before he gently cupped her. "You're cute when you're sleeping."

"If we call in sick to shift then you can watch me sleep all day." Riley hummed, moving herself a little closer so she could kiss him.

"Sounds like a good idea." Otis whispered against her lips before he kissed her again, his hand moving round to cradle the back of her head while his other arm slinked around her waist, pulling her closer.

"Hm..." Riley hummed out around a chuckle. "If you wanted to do that..." She said with enthusiasm, her eyes glancing down to their pressed together bodies. "...then you should have woken me up before the alarm went off, instead of watching me sleep."

"We have time." Otis exhaled, pressing his lips back against hers.

"We really don't." Riley breathed out, allowing Otis to kiss her one last time before she moved her mouth just next to his ear. "But if you're lucky I might let you pull me into the showers later."

"Don't think I won't." Otis replied almost breathlessly as Riley pulled back, placing gentle kisses along his jawline before she rolled away and sat up on the edge of the bed, her legs hanging over and her feet touching the soft carpet beneath them.

Otis did the same, only on his side. He rubbed his hands down his face and then up into his messy hair. Waking up was the easy part for him, but actually getting out of bed? That was the part he hated.

"Hey, you have a bruise on your back..." Riley pointed out before she began shuffling across the bed towards him, softly touching around the edge of the blackish-blue mark on Otis back.

Ever since Otis' diagnosis with ITP last year, both of them had kept a good eye out incase any more bruises showed up on his body. Thankfully though, over that past year there had only been a couple small ones, the usual for a firefighter, but still, he got them checked out and they were all good.