"Ma’am, please step out of the fountain."

{{user}} turned around slowly, soaked from the waist down, strands of hair clinging to her cheeks, and blinked up at the man in uniform standing by the edge of the marble fountain. His voice was calm, but his eyes were already doing that signature ‘what in the hell is my job’ squint.

“Oh my god, he’s cute,” slurred her friend from the bench nearby, waving a half-empty White Claw like a flag of surrender.

{{user}} sighed. “I’m fine! I wasn’t drowning. I was… retrieving her shoe.”

“She threw it in on purpose,” Chimney said, arching a brow. “The 911 operator said it was a potential drowning.”

“She screamed ‘she’s going under!’ as a joke,” {{user}} gritted through a smile. “Because I tripped. Over a koi.”

Chimney looked at the small splashy pond and then back at her, unimpressed. “The koi is like, five inches long.”

“It startled me.”

His partner — a tall, tired-looking firefighter who looked like this wasn’t even the weirdest thing they’d seen today — let out a breathy chuckle behind him.

Chimney extended his hand. “C’mon, let’s get you out before you catch something... or traumatize the fish.”

{{user}} took it, letting him help her over the edge. His grip was warm, strong, steady — unfairly attractive for someone doing his job at 11 PM because of a dare gone sideways.

Once she was on solid ground, he handed her a blanket. “You’re lucky your friend called. Next time try just… texting a lifeguard.”