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

08 || ELEVATOR

Quoting almost the entire first Lord of the Rings movie to herself was something Riley often did, no matter how many times she watched it, she always had to talk along with some of her favourite quotes.

However she hadn't been as quiet as she'd thought she'd been as both Cruz and Otis could hear her, but they didn't mind. Otis especially who could feel the box he'd shoved his feelings into opening slightly, having to slam it shut again every so often.

"Let's hunt some orc." Riley muttered, feeling that chill shoot up her spine at the end music that had soon begun to play as the last line of the first movie was spoken.

It was then she finally looked over at the guys, both of them looking at her with raised eyebrows and knowing smiles.

"I was quoting the movie wasn't I?" Riley asked sheepishly, feeling the heat rise to her cheeks.

"You barely missed a line." Cruz said with a small scoff, more impressed with her ability to quote the movie word for word than anything else.

"Sorry." Riley mumbled, her face nearly as red as her onesie.

"Don't be, we didn't mind." Otis added, trying to make her feel less embarrassed as there was really no need for her to be. If anything, her quoting the movie had him wanting to look up engagement rings before he had to internally duct tape shut the box with his feelings in it and bury it under cement.

"Well, I will try not to do it as much for the next one." Riley said with a clear of her throat, using the remote to switch over to the second movie.

"Ah, yes." Cruz clapped his hand together excitedly. "Time for the best one of the trilogy."

"Actually the best one comes after this one." Riley said casually, a small grin on her face as she remembered back to their little squabble over which movie was best. The one from her very first shift and the moment she realised she was about to end up being closer to Cruz and Otis than anyone else in the firehouse.

"Wrong." Cruz mumbled, stretching out his entire body and making sure he didn't knock anything over and stain the pillows below them.

The guys had brought breakfast with them, given that they'd showed up straight after shift at about 9am, which meant there was now empty containers and half empty cups of orange juice and coffee littered around the place.

"I gotta pee, I'll be back in a sec." Riley paused the movie before it could begin and stood up, her back cracking as she did. She hopped onto the only part of the room that was wooden floor and practically skipped her way to the nearest bathroom, the tail of her onesie swinging as she did.

"Dude, she's killing me." Otis sighed, as well as groaned, leaning his head back against a large beanbag. "I don't think I can do this."

"Then tell her, O. It might not be as bad as you think." Cruz replied, beginning to stuff some of the breakfast rubbish back into the plastic bag, the crinkling of which caught the attention of Riley's pets who kept glancing over incase there was any leftovers.

The intense stares of her dogs were still a little unsettling.

"Cruz, come on. She's with Will... I mean, look at him and look at me. There's no way she'd pick me over him, no way." Otis said a little sadly, running his hands down his face.

"You never know unless you try." Cruz added, patting Otis on the shoulder.

"Try what?" Riley's chipper voice made them jump, Otis' face quickly draining of colour at the thought that she might have heard them. She didn't.

"Oh, it's nothing." Cruz said casually, brushing it off which seemed to work as Riley just shrugged her shoulder and sat back down. "Where's your bathroom?"