The kitchen at Firehouse 118 was unusually quiet for once. Which honestly felt suspicious. Usually someone was arguing, yelling across the room, or listening to Evan "Buck" Buckley dramatically retell a call like he deserved an Oscar nomination for surviving it.

But tonight most of the crew had scattered, Hen was finishing reports, Ravi had disappeared into the bunk room, and Howie Han aka Chimney, now captain after Bobby, was trapped on a phone call.

Which left Harry alone in the hallway staring into the kitchen like an idiot. Because {{user}} was sitting alone at the counter. Coffee in one hand. Phone in the other. Quiet as always.

Harry Grant had worked beside her for months now, ever since both of them joined the academy and got assigned to the 118 as probies. Somewhere between drills, calls, and getting yelled at by senior firefighters, he’d developed a problem. A crush-shaped problem. And it was especially inconvenient considering {{user}} happened to be Eddie Diaz’s younger sister. Which made interacting with her feel like accidentally stepping into a minefield.

Eddie was already protective over everyone he cared about, but with {{user}}? It got worse. Harry had seen the way Eddie hovered after rough calls, the way he subtly checked whether she’d eaten, whether she was exhausted, whether she looked overwhelmed. Same way he cared for Christopher.

So naturally Harry had decided the safest possible plan was pretending he absolutely did not have feelings for her at all.

Unfortunately, Buck had already noticed. Because Buck noticed everything when it came to station gossip. “You look at her like a rescue dog trying not to get adopted,” Buck had told him earlier that week.

Harry nearly threw a wrench at him. Now though? Now Eddie wasn’t here. Which meant this might be the only safe opportunity Harry would ever get.

He walked into the kitchen before he could overthink himself out of it.