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

09 || WELCH

Riley eyed Otis carefully, unsure where to go from here. Trying to get a read on him wasn't easy, his face remaining emotionless as he stared back at her, waiting for her to make her move.

It was intense, the world surrounding them seemed to have stopped spinning as Riley chewed anxiously on her lip before she finally went for it. Extending her arm, the card landed atop the deck, a grin rising on her face.

"Plus four."

"Oh come on!" Otis groaned, the singular card in his hand would have given him the win had Riley not been so hard to read. "This is unfair."

"Shouldn't have became a firefighter if you couldn't handle the heat, Otis." Riley teased, her words coming out a little more flirtatious than she meant them to, but Otis hadn't even noticed. He was too busy scowling as he had to add four extra cards to his pile.

"You two are playing a dangerous game." Mouch called over from his spot on the couch, his eyes not bothering to look up from his newspaper. He remembered all too well what happened the last time a game of Uno was played in the firehouse.

He hadn't been all that thrilled when he had pay to replace that window from his own money.

"We're fine." Riley brushed him off, waving a hand over her shoulder in the general direction of where he was sitting. "It'll be over soon. I'm only two cards away from winning."

"We'll see about that." Otis grumbled, setting a green two atop the pile.

"Oh, will we?" Riley crossed her arms in front of her, leaning her elbows on the table as she looked at Otis. "Care to bet on it?"

"Oh, absolutely." Otis replied with a small chuckle, mimicking her motions. Normally the flirty tone in which she was currently sporting would have floored him, but he knew now that they were just friends and he'd learned to accept that. At least that way he'd still get to hang out with her, especially now that she was officially the third member of team Crotis, now known as Crotisly.

It had been almost five months since their adventure into Middle-Earth, their Lord of the Rings marathon to be exact. Five months since Riley had joined fifty-one and since then... Cruz, Otis and Riley had become practically inseparable.

However, that didn't mean there weren't times when Riley almost had Otis on the floor by how she acted, the things she said or even how she looked. But thankfully they seemed to happen a lot less now that the box he'd stuffed his feelings into was buried deep inside him.

"Oh boy, this should be fun." Mouch mumbled, the crinkling of his newspaper following as he tossed it aside and got to his feet.

"If I win..." Riley began, thinking of what she could possibly want from him. She didn't need money so that was out the question, but there was one thing she might enjoy. "If I win, I get to drive the truck for the rest of the month."

"Ooo." Mouch added, like their own little commentator. He always did like a good bet and he knew how much Otis liked driving the truck. And so did the others, all of whom began the fill the room.

"What's going on?" Herrmann asked, the coffee pot clattering as he lifted it and filled himself a cup.

"We have a little competition going over a game of Uno." Mouch replied, a small grin on his face as he heard Herrmann sigh.

"Oh boy. This ain't gonna end well." A loud slurp of coffee followed suit as he sat down at the end of the table, his own memories of the last Uno game not so great either.

"Relax Herrmann, Riley and I can be civil." Otis said hesitantly, he hoped they could be civil. It wouldn't be good to be on Riley's bad side. She had weapons.