“Kelly!!”

The boy down the near the double swing set at Pulaski Park turned after hearing his name, his ruffled hair catching in the eyeline of his baby blues as he tried to find the source of the shout. Then quickly, a wide smile came on his face as he saw a flurry of hair and bruised up knees running towards him; her smile was missing her front baby teeth and her wrists were covered with the jelly bracelets her older sister gave her for her 8th birthday. 

His best friend, Y/F/N Y/L/N.

When you reached Kelly, you were quick to pull up your elbow and show off your rocket ship band-aid covering it, explaining quickly how you fell riding your bike the day before but you didn’t cry...this time. After that you pulled the little Severide boy to the jungle gym where the two of you proceeded to start a game of “Monkey-Ninjas” which the two of you had made up at recess a few weeks before. Kelly was never happier than when he was with you; a girl who would play in the dirt with him, and talk about comic books, and didn’t laugh about how he wanted to be a firefighter like his dad. And he was the same to you, being the most important person to you aside from your family. Kelly was there when Michelle O’Keefe called you an ugly hog-goblin (he ended up cutting off one of her pigtails after that), and when you wanted to solve mysteries in your apartment complex’s creepy basement (he only ran away once, but you didn’t judge because you were running right by his side). 

After another hour at the park, you could hear your dad call your name, and you looked over to see your dad waving you over, yelling that it was time to go. You turned back to Kelly and gave a little pout that you two had to be separated. Kelly, hating that sad look on your face and how it twisted is stomach in a way he wouldn’t understand until he was older, gave you a hug with his arms around your neck and squeezed. You returned the hug with the same tightness, maybe even a little more knowing that you were moving in a couple of weeks and you have yet to tell your best friend. But too soon, the hug was over and you were off walking back to your dad as a cloud flew in front of the sun. Just you walking away from Kelly made his world darker.

                                                           ---

The present...

An incessant beeping woke you from your sleep, the blaring noise making your eyes squeeze like they demanded to stay shut. You groaned, how can your alarm be going off already?! It hasn’t even felt like you slept! You turned on your side and slammed your hand into your alarm clock, trying to get the horrid noise to stop. But surprisingly, the beeping kept going. 

Confused, you peaked one eye open at caught sight of your alarm clock, and the time 3:41 am glaring back at you in a bright red light. A cough escaped you as both of your eyes opened, groaning as you sat up and stretched before grabbing your alarm clock. You examined the clock, clearly the noise wasn’t coming from it, as a couple more coughs escaped your throat. That’s when your sleep-addled brain finally decided to wake up and notice that something was wrong with your room. You turned around and noticed that a thin layer of smoke had coated the room, seeping from your bedroom door which led to the rest of your new home. You quickly put your alarm clock down and stood up, walking towards your door. Before you grabbed the doorknob, a flicker of a memory came to the front of your mind.

“Remember Y/N, if you think there is a fire somewhere in your house, don’t just grab your doorknob. The fire might be on the other side. Gently touch it to see if the knob is hot. If not, then its safe to open the door. Okay, Sweetheart?”

The rough voice of your childhood friend’s dad wisped away like the smoke floating around you, and you laid your hand gently around the knob, and when your hand was met with just a cool touch, you opened the door. The rest of your apartment was covered in smoke, but from what you could see the fire was not coming from your home. While coughing a few more times, you quickly made your way to your front door and did the same thing you did with your bedroom door, checking the temperature of the knob. It was warmer than your other door, but not hot so you went to open the door when more smoke pushed its way into your living room. Down the hall of your apartment building you could see the flickering of flames around the apartment right next to the emergency exit. And knowing that the elevator would be out of service because of the fire, you realized you were trapped.

You shut the door and backed away from it, your brain ping-pong-ing ideas through your head of ways to try and get out of this. Another memory flitted through your brain as your breath started to pick up.

“My dad says that if there is like a lot of smoke from a fire, that you got to crawl on the ground like a snake. Just get real low, you know?”

Your body immediately reacted to the memory of him, getting low and crawling like a soldier to your nearest window to push it open. Down 5 floors you could see the flashing lights of the firetrucks and ambulance, small figures in black and yellow coats rushing around trying to help. With a deep breath of Chicago air, you let out a large yell, “HELP!!!! UP HERE!!!”

With your shout, the first responders paused and then started moving faster, and a few started making their way to the ladder on top of one of the firetrucks. Once the ladder started rising to your window, a rush of cold air plus the smoke from the fire made you fall into a coughing fit, lowering yourself back into the apartment as the breaths heaved through your lungs and came out rougher and rougher with each cough. 

“Hey! Fire department, you still there?” 

You stood up slowly and came face to face with a firefighter, his face mostly masked by his full-face mask firefighters normally wore. You nodded before saying, “Yeah, sorry.”

“Is the fire coming from your apartment?” The firefighter asked.

“No, but I saw it when I realized what was going on and checked the hall. It looks like its coming from the apartment all the way at the end of the hall next to the stairs.” You explained.

The firefighter looked like he nodded and went to his talkie on his shoulder, “Casey, fire looks like its from the apartment closest to the emergency exit tail end of the west corner of the building.”

“Copy. Heading there now with Hermann and the hose.” A voice crackled through. After that, the firefighter in front of you motioned you to make your way on top of the ladder, and with every ounce of remaining courage, you followed the firefighter down the steps of the ladder until you had made it to the truck. 

Once your feet were back on solid ground, you took a deep breath of air and coughed, the taste of smoke lingering on your tongue. One of the paramedics, a woman with darker skin and her short brown hair in a ponytail came over and started ushering you to the ambulance where a mask connected to a tank of air was waiting for you. Once you were sat down on the edge of the ambulance and had the oxygen mask firmly on your face, you looked up at the firefighter that helped you out of the window.

“You okay?” he asked, also looking over you. You nodded, taking a couple deep breaths before pulling the mask away from your face a little.

“I’m okay, the cold air mixed with the smoke just messed with my lungs a little bit but I should be okay. Thank you...”

Before you could ask for his name, a voice came back up on his talkie, “Severide, we found a few more people in their apartments, could use a hand here.” The firefighter in front of you grabbed for his walkie and replied before sending you a wave and heading back towards the building. You, on the other hand, sat in shock.

“Severide...” You said, still staring at the space where the firefighter was standing before.

“Yep, that’s our Lieutenant for Squad 3.” The paramedic attending to you said, trying to get you to put your oxygen mask back on, but that just made you turn to her.

“Kelly Severide?”

The paramedic looked at you, tilted her head and nodded, looking at you like she should be worried that you knew Kelly’s first name. “Yeah...How did you know that?”

“Um...Me and Kelly grew up together. We-we were really close until my family had to move for my dad’s new posting in the military.” You explained, still in shock. “I can’t believe he actually did it.”

“Did what?”

“Became a firefighter.” You said. A smile creeped on your face at the thought of Kelly’s childhood dream career actually becoming a reality. The paramedic saw the smile on her face and smiled as well, remembering faintly Shay talking about Kelly’s childhood friend who moved away right before he met Arden, and how Shay could tell that that friend was Kelly’s first love just by how he would talk about their adventures and stories together.

After the fire was put out and a check was made, thank god that no one had gotten hurt too severely, you were about to make your way back into your building when you caught a glimpse of a fireman’s helmet with the name SEVERIDE on the back of it. As the firefighter pulled off his mask, your breath was stolen away with how much Kelly had grown. You could see features of both his parents on certain parts of his face, but really you were just struck with how handsome Kelly had gotten. Before you could stop yourself, you heard your own voice shout, “Hey, Lieutenant Severide?”

Kelly turned and saw you standing there; your hands stuffed into the sweatshirt he assumed you had been sleeping in and your feet bare because of your quick escape. Your smile was something that made him pause, it was warm and wide and familiar, but it didn’t hit him until he saw you pull out one of your hands from your sweatshirt pocket and take your pointer and middle finger and have them tap your thumb a couple of time. It was a tick that you had had since you could remember, almost like you were making your hand look like a bird.

“Y/N?” Kelly said, moving closer to where you were standing. Your smile widened more and you gave a proper wave, Kelly’s heart beating faster and faster as his brain started to catch up. You were here... You were back in the States, back in Chicago...You were back!! 

Kelly didn’t even think before he scooped you up in his arms and started spinning you around in a tight hug. You hugged back just as tight, the smell of smoke and ash and something that was plainly Kelly Severide kicked into your nose and made you more giddy than before. After a few good spins, Kelly finally put you down and got a good look at you. You had grown into your childhood beauty, that’s for sure. Sure, your hair wasn’t as crazy and you weren’t covered in Band-Aids and jelly bracelets anymore, but your smile was the same, and your laughter still made it feel like his whole body was vibrating.

“I-I can’t believe you here, in Chicago?! How long have you been living here?”

“I just moved back about a month ago. After all the travel from my dad’s job, I just wanted to settle somewhere that...that really felt like home. And Chicago was the first that came to mind.” You explained. A whisper of a thought said, you made it feel like home... But you never said those words allowed. 

Kelly was still feeling a high about seeing you again after all these years when there was a call of his name a little farther away from where you two were standing. He turned and saw Casey waving him over, and that’s when he noticed that everything was cleaned up and it was time for House 51 to head back to the station. Kelly turned back to you and smiled sadly, not wanting to leave you so soon after he had found you again, “Hey, we got to head back to the firehouse, but you should definitely stop by tomorrow.”

“Really?”

“Yeah! Are you kidding? We have so much to talk about.” Kelly said as he pushed to have you see him again. You nodded and Kelly gave you the address of the house before he was rushing off back to the truck, and just like that, he was gone.

                                                            ---

The next day, you found yourself walking up to Firehouse 51 with a covered plate of brownies in your hands. You could barely get to sleep the night before from the adrenaline still rushing through your body from the fire and from seeing Kelly again, so even though there had just been a fire in your building, you spent a few hours baking-out your anxiety to make brownies for the firehouse. 

Once you walked in, you saw the gleam of the shiny red trucks and the spotless white ambulance just sitting in the house, looking like they were waiting for their next time to help. Over by the side of one of the trucks, you saw a table with a couple of firefighters sitting at it, playing some card game as they relaxed. You walking closer caught their attention and they stood up, one of them walking over to you and stuffing his hands in his pockets.

“Hi, can we help you?” He asked. 

“Yes, hi. I’m one of the residents from the building fire last night. And I wanted to bring something by as a thanks for everything you guys did.” Holding out the plate of brownies, you smiled as you explained part of the reason as to why you were here. “I’m also looking for Kelly Severide, he told me to stop by today.”

“He did?” The firefighter asked, taking hold of the plate of sweets. “Well, he’s in the common area, so I’ll just tell him that...” He paused, waiting for you to give your name.

“Y/N.”

“That Y/N is here. And thank you for the brownies, by the way. I’m Joe Cruz.” The firefighter said, taking one of his hands and holding it out for you to shake which you did. Joe than left while you made small talk with the other firefighters, and from what you could tell, trying to interrogate you on why Kelly asked you to come by the firehouse. 

A couple of minutes later, Joe came back with Kelly in tow, Kelly catching your eye and a smile inching its way on his face. When he made it over to you, he greeted you with another hug like the night before. “Thanks for stopping by.”

“No problem. Had to see where your working anyway. I mean, with all that talk when you were a kid about being a firefighter, seeing you like this just warms my heart.”

Kelly laughed and then grasps your hand, tugging you further into the firehouse. Just the touch of his hand made your heart jump in a way it hasn’t done since you two were kids. While he introduced you to everyone in Firehouse 51, you two also caught up on everything, how your parents were doing now, how Kelly found out that he was an older brother, and how Benny was still after all these years. When the two of you finally reached Kelly’s office space, Kelly shut the door and took a seat on his bed while you sat down at his desk, swiveling in his chair and getting a good look at everything around you. 

One thing that caught your attention immediately was a old picture sitting on Kelly’s desk; it was of the two of you at the Lincoln Park Zoo when you were about 7 years old. Your smile was missing a couple of teeth as Kelly had his arm wrapped around your neck and yours around his waist. The two of you were in front of the giraffe exhibit and just as the picture was being taken, one of the bigger giraffes swooped his head in to photo bomb the picture. “Oh my god, where did you find this old thing?” You laughed as you picked up the picture.

“My ma found it a while ago cleaning some stuff in the house. Decided to keep it.” He explained. You smiled as you saw your goofy little face, but then your eyes trailed to little Kelly, whose eyes were glued to your younger self. And the smile on his face wasn’t one of goofiness or excitement like yours was; his was warm and you wanted to say almost like he was admiring younger you. When you looked up to point it out to Kelly, you paused as the look you saw in the picture was the exact same one on his face now as he looked at you. “I still can’t believe your here.”

“Y-Yeah, me neither.” You stuttered, looking back down at the photo as you put it back on his desk. 

“You remember the day you left?” He asked.

You scoffed and shook your head, images flooding your brain as one of the most painful moments of your life played out in your memories. “How could I forget? I was crying the whole time. My nose was a literal faucet.”

“I wasn’t any better.” Kelly said, also shaking his head, “I remember our parents having to separate us because we wouldn’t let go of each other.”

“You know I bawled a full 4 hours of that plane ride to Berlin? I was a mess.” You chuckled and there was a deep pause around you, like the silence had thrown a weight on both of your shoulders. “Kelly-”

“I remember when we were 6, and you found out that your grandma passed away.” Kelly interrupted, making you look back up at him, “When you came back from Jersey after the funeral, you locked yourself up in your room for days. You wouldn’t even see me, and that made me a wreck. I just remember that knowing you were in so much pain and I just wanted to fix the world for you.”

“Kelly...”

“So I got prerecorded some VHSs of Full House and Saved by the Bell and bought some boxes of microwave popcorn and marched over to your apartment. You finally opened the door to me and we spent the next 7 hours just binging on popcorn and corny jokes. Being able to see you smile again, even if it wasn’t a full-hearted smile with what you were going through, was the highlight of my week.”

“I remember.” You said, watching as Kelly grabbed your hand and pulled you to sit next to him on the bed.

“When we were that young, I didn’t really understand what I felt for you. But now, I know that I had really deep feelings for you. And I know that they never really went away, Y/N.” Kelly said as he grasped both of your hands in his. You looked down as his thumb grazed the top of your hands, then looked back up to his eyes that were so full of affection, it made your heart stumble in your chest. “And I don’t want to loose my chance now that you are back.”

“Kelly, we barely know each other anymore. Its been so long-”

“I know, I know. But that’s the beautiful thing about dating, you get to know one another. And Y/N, I think that we could make it work. And I know that it is probably a longshot that you even feel the same-”

This time it was your turn to interrupt Kelly with a small tug on his hands, “I did! I-I do anyway.” You stumbled, your face flushing. “Kelly, I would love to go out with you.”

“Really?”

“As long as our first date is to the Lincoln Park so we can remake that picture.” You said with a giggle. Kelly had a rush of excitement course through him as a wide smile grew on his face. He then leaned forward and had his forehead meet yours, his heart beating so fast he was afraid it would pop out of his chest and tell you how deeply he felt for you.

“Anything for you.”

ONE CHICAGO TAGS: @carnationworld​