Under Pressure.

chapter eleven , Mr. April & Miss June

a/n : Buck is the sunshine while Emery and Eddie are the sunshine protectors

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Emery didn't want to think about last night. It was humiliating and if anyone found out. Especially, Buck Emery might just crawl under a rock and never see the light of day again. So, Emery was just gonna do what she has always done.

Pretend everything was okay.

"Okay, that's not bad—that's not bad!"

Chimney deadpans at the giggling girl. "Em..."

Emery covers her mouth, "I don't know why I'm laughing." She shakes her head. "It's just...did you really need to use an inflatable pool animal?"

Chimney raises his brows, "See? This is why I need your photography expertise!"

Emery bunches her shoulders, "I adore when men need me." She bumps Chimney's hip and he stumbles off to the side with a laugh. Emery and Chimney start to slow their approach to the gym area when they see Buck adding more weights onto the bench press. Then they see Eddie hitting the bag and it all makes sense.

"Oh, God, can Buck please put his dick away?" Emery wrinkles her nose. "At first, it was funny, but now it's just—"

"Embarrassing?" Chimney adds.

"Yes! And annoying." Emery nods.

Chimney and Emery continue their walk to the gym area. Emery slips her gloves on and grips the arm bar. She pulls herself up with ease and lowers herself down. The girl continues to do pull ups, then out of the corner of her eye, she sees Buck pull out his phone that was attached to a selfie stick. Emery dry heaves. "Oh, God!" She laughs.

Buck stops flexing in front of the camera from the sound of his nemesis' laugh. He rolls his eyes and he meets the mischievous glint in Emery's eyes.

"You still use a selfie stick? How old are you, 10?"

"I know a lot of people who still use them." Buck replies with his brows raised.

Emery frowns and cocks her head to the side, "Who, your frat boy roommate?"

Buck's expression falls and he doesn't answer, which gives Emery her answer.

"My niece uses one." Eddie says, hoping to help Buck out. "She's 12. So, not only 10 year olds use them."

Emery frowns, "Oh, yeah, you're right, Eddie. Not only 10 year olds use them. 12 year olds do too!" She then gives Buck a cheesy smile. Buck's jaw clenches and he turns to Eddie. The new firefighter winces, "My bad."

Buck rolls his eyes, he holds his selfie stick back up and holds his arm up. He starts snapping pictures of himself. Emery rolls her eyes and shakes her head at the light he was taking the pictures in. It was so atrocious.

"You're in the wrong light, man." Eddie speaks out.

"Some of us don't need lightly to look good." Buck replies in a curt tone.

"Some of us are intelligent to know that this lighting is too flat and bleh." Emery pronounces. "Seems like you're not one of those people." She winces. "Better luck next time, though."

Chimney looks at Eddie and Emery. "What you do you guys mean by 'the wrong light'?"

"It's like Em said." Eddie says. "The light in this room is flat and blue. Makes you look soft."

Emery pouts her lower lip and she looks back at Buck, who overheard what Eddie said. There was something deep in Emery's mind that told her to give Buck a break. Especially after his 'break up' with Abby. Emery tried to find some way to sympathize with him due to her situation with William. But, alas, Emery was ignoring everything about that.

"Yeah, I can totally see the softness oozing from you, Buck."

"You know what, Emerson?" Buck snaps at the curly-haired girl.

Emery winces, "Uh-oh, full name." She releases the arm bar and her sneakers come into contact with the floor mat. "What, Buck? Don't you want to hear more about how you could make your muscles look lean in a warmer light?" She looks at Eddie. "Right, Eddie?"

Eddie raises his brows from the tension. "Uh, right..." he looks at Chimney. "I can show you." He makes his way over to his bag.

Emery starts to walk toward Eddie, but Buck grabs her arm. The girl turns to the angry boy and she arches a brow. "What's wrong, Diaz got your tongue?—"

"I know what you're doing." Buck's tone was low, which caused Emery's stomach to tighten. She then knits her brows together from the feeling. It wasn't as if she liked Buck. Emery knows she doesn't. But for some reason the huskiness in his voice, made her body grow hot. She was intrigued, but she hated it.

"Yeah? And what is it I'm doing?" Emery pulls her arm from his grip.

"Taking Eddie's side. Trying to piss me off." Buck keeps a look of anger on Emery.

Emery raises her brows, "Maybe...or I could be agreeing with him because he's just trying to help, but you can't stop waving your dick around to see it." She scoffs. "You say that you're not the same person, you were when you first came to the 118 and yet here you are. So full of yourself..." she looks at him with utter disgust. "...that's why I don't like you, Buck."

"You can't put your ego aside for one minute in order to see the bigger picture." Emery turns on her heel and makes her way over to Chimney and Eddie. Buck couldn't even say anything to that, because he didn't believe it. The last thing he was going to do was take advice from Emerson Sharpe.

Emery raises her brows, "Did you send those into the calendar?"

Eddie nods his head, "Yeah."

"These are amazing, Eddie." Chimney says.

"You know, it's kind of cheating." Buck voices. "Submitting pictures by a professional photographer."

Eddie laughs, "The photographers 12. She's my niece." He informs. "She's a master at the iPhone filters."

"Your niece did this?"

"Yeah."

"And I thought I had some major picture taking skill." Emery chuckles.

"Well, if Em wasn't taking my picture, I would definitely ask your niece to." Chimney says.

Emery nods her head, she then throws her arm over Chimney's shoulders. She pinches his cheek with a laugh as he groans. "I like you, Eddie. I really do, but I'm basically Chimney's campaign manager." She shrugs. "And with his hotness and my photography skills, we're gonna kill the game."

Emery and Chimney fist bump.

"Ah, you know, you really shouldn't get his hopes up like that, Em." Buck calls out.

Emery knits her brows and looks over at Buck. "I'm sorry?" She takes her arm off of Chimney's shoulders.

"No offense, Chim." Buck says.

"No offense taken, Evan." Chim's response was curt.

Emery raises her brows, "You know what, Buck? Just when I thought I couldn't hate you anymore—you exceed my expectations!" She raises her voice. "And what just because Chim doesn't have blonde hair and blue eyes—you think he can't win?!" An unstable laugh leaves Emery's lips, causing all the men's eyes to widen. "No, no, no—he's going to win! He is going to win so hard!" She points between Eddie and Buck. "We are going to destroy the two of you!"

Emery looks at Chimney, "I am fired up!"

Chimney smiles, "I can see that. And as much as I appreciate the protectiveness, you're scaring me."

"Which means I am scaring him." Emery taps at her temple. "Mind games."

Chimney slowly nods his head with a frightened smile across his lips. There were two things Chimney was afraid of. Snakes and Competitive Emery. Emery becomes cutthroat when she's competing. It doesn't matter who she's going against. When she was younger she played a family football game at a cookout. She tackled her 5 year old cousin to the ground and instead of checking on the crying child, Emery did her victory dance. Emerson was 10 years old.

"What's your problem, man?" Eddie asks Buck.

"Okay, you."

Emery and Chim turn to Eddie and Buck. The curly-haired girl raises her brows.

"You're my problem. Your comfort level." Buck says. "You're not supposed to just walk in here like you've been here for years. It's meant to be a getting-to-know-you period..."

Emery and Chimney look at each other. They all have experienced the difficult getting-to-know-you period. But for Hen, Chimney, and Emery; it was because everyone looked at them as minorities. Buck had a difficult getting-to-know-you period, because he was incredibly unlikeable.

"...you're meant to respect your elders."

"You're not his elder, Buck." Chimney speaks.

Emery nods her head, she gets on the ground and starts doing sit ups.

"Look, I in no way meant to, uh, be too familiar or step on anybody's toes." Eddie holds his hands up.

"You're not stepping on our toes. Just his." Emery voices as she sits up. She lays onto her back again and sits up.

"I know you're going through some personal stuff right now." Eddie says.

Chimney and Emery stop.

"What personal stuff?" Buck scoffs.

"I know your girlfriend recently broke up with you and you're coming to terms with that." Eddie says.

"No, I'm not." Buck huffs. "And she didn't break up with me. Who told you that?" He snaps his eyes over to Chimney.

Chimney awkwardly goes back to working out. Then, Buck snaps his eyes over to Emery. She rolls her eyes, "Eddie, I said 'he hasn't come to terms with it'." She then scoffs. "He didn't relay my message correctly, apologies, Probie."

"I'm just saying I hear that you're a good guy from everyone but one person..." Eddie says. Buck obviously knew who that one person Eddie was referring to. "...I'm sorry you're going through pain, but...you don't need to take it out on me or be threatened by me. We're on the same team."

"Why would I be threatened by you?" Buck pulls his brows together.

Emery lets out a low laugh, "He is so threatened..."

"Exactly. There's no need to be." Eddie chuckles. "We do the same thing. I've just done it while people are shooting at me is all."

Emery sits up and she makes and 'oh' with her mouth. A small giggle leaves her lips. "I appreciate you, Eddie Diaz!"

Eddie walks away and laughs, "I appreciate you, Em."

"We're not broken up!" Buck calls out.

Emery and Chimney laugh out loud at Buck's anger.

☆

"I think that it's, um, a little...overwhelming."

Emery knits her brows, "Overwhelmingly good...?"

Hen raises her brows, "Sure, sure..."

Emery and Chimney look at each other. Chimney looks back at the picture of him holding a dog. "You think it's ridiculous."

"No, no, I mean..." Hen slightly opens her mouth, then she laughs. "Chim, I kind of think the whole thing is ridiculous."

"Hold on, hold on..." Emery holds a hand up. "...do you think Chim doesn't have a shot either?"

"The pictures are cool. I just—I don't have these answers for you, Chim." Hen bunches her shoulders. "I'm not into beefcake calendars."

Chimney sinks in his seat with a deep sigh.

"Why is this so important to you?" Hen asks.

"Because growing up, I never saw any heroes who looked like me." Chimney explains.

"We get that." Hen says.

"I mean, not on TV, not in movies. We're always the computer geek who hacks into the system for the white guy or the Tong drug lord. Or the guy in the dry cleaners in a fabric softener commercial."Chimney explains. "I mean, you know, when a kid thinks of a firefighter, do they think of me? Do they think of you or Emery?"

Emery bites the inside of her cheek and looks at her hands.

"Yeah, but we're not taking our shirts off for that calendar." Hen states.

Chimney nods his head. Emery swipes her tongue across her lower lip, thinking. "You know what, Chim?" She looks at her friend. "How about we take these pictures again, this time...in the way you want them?"

Chimney looks back at the pictures. "This was how I wanted them."

Emery's expression falls. Chimney the shakes his head and closes the laptop. "Never mind." He gets up from the couch.

"Chim—"

"No, I don't know what I was thinking." Chimney shakes his head. "I can't compete with these guys. Maybe ten years ago. And that's only because they'd be 12." He walks down the stairs.

A lump forms in Emery's throat. She looks at Hen and she had the same look of sympathy. "We need to do something for him." Emery says. "I know I wanted Chimney to win so it can show that not just the conventionally attractive can win, but..." she shrugs a shoulder. "...I want Chim to win for himself too."

Hen smiles softly, "Yeah, and you did an amazing job with those photos."

Emery raises her brows, "I know!" She sinks deeper into the couch and Hen pulls her brows together.

"Hey, Em. You okay?"

Emery sputters her lips. "Eddie and I went for drinks last night." She explains. "I got wasted and went to William's place to apologize."

Emery swallows the lump in her throat and Hen turns to her, noticing the girl's attitude dim down. "Em, what happened?"

Emery scratches above her brow. "He was with another woman."

Hen blinks, "I'm sorry—what?"

Emery closes her eyes and leans back in her seat. "There was a woman in his apartment with nothing on but...the shirt that he always let me wear." She bunches her shoulders. "It was The Muppets Tee." Emery loved that shirt so much.

It seemed like it was all hitting Emery now. William cheated on her. Emery exhales, "He gave up on me because...I was too much."

"Emery—"

"She was blonde." Emery places a hand over her eyes. "Blonde, tall, beautiful..."

"Emerson, hey..." Hen touches her arm.

Emery looks at Hen with embarrassment. "I wasn't even going to tell anyone. Because it's like...really embarrassing." She scoffs. "I make fun of Buck about Abby and here I am...can't even keep a relationship."

"I'm sorry, Emery." Hen whispers. "And whatever William chose to do, was not your fault, okay?"

"But, I could've tried harder." Emery exhales. "William was my first relationship after Helena and I fucked it up. I...I pushed him away. That part is on me."

Hen let's out a soft breath and her shoulders sag. She wraps her arms around Emerson. Emery inhales a soft breath and hugs her back. "Why am I always ruining my relationships?"

"That's not true." Hen rubs her back.

Emery closes her eyes. Yes it is. She pulls away from the hug and wipes her nose. "I'm gonna go and organize the supply closet." She stands up. "Thank you, Hen." Emery gives her friend a small smile before getting up from the couch and leaving.

Hen watches Emery walk down the stairs and she exhales through her nose. Not only was Hen going to do something to help Chim out. But she was going to do something for Emery too. She hated seeing her best friends like this.

☆

"What is it, a YouTube prank?"

"Don't judge."

Emery rolls her eyes and runs up the stairs.

"Followers equals cash."

Emery raises her brows, "How much cash are we talking?"

"No way in hell, Em." Chimney says. "I won't let you stoop to that level."

"Dammit..." Emery whispers.

The firefighters make it into the backyard where a boy was with a microwave over his head.

"What's his name?"

"Jessie."

"Jessie, this is Captain Nash, LAFD. Can you hear me?"

Jessie doesn't even move.

"All right, he is totally cut off in this thing." Emerson states.

"Let's get some screwdrivers, try to get this frame off."

Emery grabs a screwdriver into her bag. She unscrews the screws from the frame of the microwave.

"What do you got, Hen?" Bobby asks.

Hen checks his pulse, "Pulse 120, BP 150/110."

"He's panicking." Buck states.

"All right, he's starting to choke."

"Saliva's probably aspirated through the breathing tube." Hen says.

Jessie suddenly stands up and the microwave lightly hits Emery, which causes her to stumble back. "Jessie, hold on!" She calls out.

Jessie starts to stumble around and bump everyone out of his way. Emery's eyes widen when she sees Jessie get closer to edge of the pool.

"Jessie don't—"

The boy falls into the pool, the microwave weighing him down. Emery dives into the pool and swims down to the bottom. She grabs one side of the microwave that was on Jessie's head. Emery lifts up the one side, but she couldn't fully pull him up. Frustration rises in the girl. The other side of the pool splashes and Emery moves her head to the side and sees Buck swimming down to her and Jessie.

Buck looks at Emery and she looks at him. They both had a mutual understanding. They lift the microwave up and swim toward the shallow end of the pool. The three resurface from the water. Emery and Buck drag Jessie out of the pool.

"His pulse is weak." Eddie informs with his fingers against Jessie's neck.

"I have no respiration." Hen states.

"Is there a plastic bag in there or something?" Chimney asks.

"Yeah, we put it on his head before we lured the concrete. Please don't let him die, he's my best friend since kindergarten."

Emery quickly grabs the screwdriver again. gnaws on her lower lip. She goes back to undoing the screws. "Guys, we don't have that much time to get him out."

"How much time do we have left?" Buck asks.

Emery glances at him, "30 seconds."

"No response to sternal rub." Chimney announces.

"Pulse is facing. Still no respiration." Hen speaks.

"All right, Buck, once we get this frame off, you and I gonna go hammer and chisel on that block."

"Staring compressions!"

Eddie grabs another screwdriver and helps Emery with the frame. The frames on each side of the microwave fall off. Buck and Bobby start to chisel the cement off. Emery takes a step back. Her eyes shift to Buck as he raises the sledgehammer above his head. He brings it down on the cement and Emery arches a brow.

As soon as the cement cracks apart, they pull it off Jessie's face. Chimney continues compressions on Jessie and Hen places a breathing bag over the man's face. She pumps the breathing bag rhythmically.

Jessie quickly sits up and inhales a deep breath before coughing. Emery rubs Jessie's back. "Just breathe."

"Hold still, hold still! Shay Reed here, fans."

Emery looks up and sees the guy recording. She raises her brows, "What the hell?"

"And today's Shay-nanigan is maybe our most intense yet!"

Emery stands up and walks over to the kid.

"Are you filming this?" Bobby asks, his voice getting loud.

"Yeah, bro. If we didn't film it, it didn't happen."

"You were just crying like two minutes ago." Buck states.

"Yeah, two minutes ago, he was gonna die. Now, he's gonna live and be a legend."

Emery runs her tongue across her teeth.

"Say hello, Shay's Army—"

"All right, enough of this shit!" Emery grabs the phone and hands it to Bobby.

"Good bye, Shay's army!" He drops it on the ground and kicks it into the pool.

Emery snaps her eyes over to the two boys. "You do realize your friend is still hacking up a lung, right now. And neither of you checked up on him." She scoffs. "I mean, look at him! You almost lost your best friend since kindergarten!"

Buck raises his brows at Emery's snappiness. It was the first time that it wasn't aimed towards him. He could get used to that.

Emery steps closer to the two boys and they grow nervous. "Appreciate what you have. Before you lose it." She inhales a deep breath and looks away from them. She notices everyone staring at her and Emery raises her brows. She clears her throat and adjusts her wet shirt. "We should get him to the aid car, right?"

☆

Emery stands in the kitchen with Chim. "I can't believe you eat celery." She wrinkles her nose.

Chimney turns to the girl with his brows raised. "I'm sorry, is this coming from the girl, who is obsessed with olives? Like, you do realize they have like a high level of sodium, right?"

"Olives are good!"

"No, they're not!" Buck calls out and shudders.

Emery rolls her eyes, "Everyone can't have taste." She bunches her shoulders.

Chimney grabs a celery stick and holds it out to Emery. "Just try it."

Emery purses her lips and grabs the celery, she dips it in the peanut butter and sighs. "Lord, help me." She takes a bite out of the celery and chews it. Emery wrinkles her nose and shakes her head. "I can't do it, it's the smell and the taste. I am all good—where are my olives!"

Chimney laughs at the girl as she spits into the trash can.

"Okay, everyone, I've got an announcement to make. Bobby calls out. I just got off the phone with the people from the calendar."

Emery immediately becomes disinterested. She walks over to the fridge and opens it. Emery grabs the jar of olives.

"They have made their choice."

"Well, no hard feelings no matter who won." Buck says to Eddie.

Emery grabs a fork and scoffs.

"That's good, Buck, cause they didn't pick you." Bobby says.

Buck clicks his tongue, "Well, it's obviously a fix."

Emery looks at Chimney and holds the olives out to him. Chimney shakes his head, "No—"

"I tried the celery. Now try the olive." Emery shakes the jar.

Chimney grabs a fork and grabs one of the olives. He eats the olive and his eyes widen. "Oh, god!—That's too salty."

Emery frowns, "For real?" She eats an olive and blinks. "I can't taste it. I guess I'm just better than you, huh?"

"They didn't pick him, either."

Buck raises his brows, "No, you?"

"No."

Bobby turns to Emery and Chim. Emery raises her brows and slows her chewing. She looks at Chimney with a smile.

"No way. You got to be kidding me." Chimney says with a mouth full of celery."

"No. Congratulations, Chim! Or should I say Mr. April!"

Emery laughs and throws her arms in the air. "Way to go, Chimney!"

"No way. Are you serious?"

"You're a calendar boy, now." Bobby says.

"You serious?—"

"He's serious!" Emery jumps up and down. "You won!"

Everyone makes their way over to the kitchen. Emery wraps her arms around Chimney and he hugs her back. "I'm proud of you, Chim!"

"Also..." Bobby starts.

Everyone looks at him.

"...it seems that they wanted someone else from this station in the calendar this year." Bobby says. "Someone who has nonstop sent their pictures in since they first got to this firehouse."

Everyone looks at the curly-haired girl. Emery blinks, "Wait—wh-what?"

Bobby nods his head. Buck's mouth hangs open and he looks at Emery. "Her?"

"Yeah, me?" Emery lets out a confused chuckle. "I didn't even send any pictures in."

"Neither did I." Chimney says.

"I know, but I did." Hen shrugs a shoulder.

Emery looks at Hen with her brows raised. "What?"

"You both wanted this." Hen says. "And I know how much you guys needed this."

Emery presses her lips into a small smile. "Thank you, Hen."

"Yeah, come here!" Chimney pulls Emery and Hen into an embrace.

Emery laughs softly and hugs them back. "Wait, so, what month did I get?"

"I'll let you guess, but here's a hint." Hen says, pulling away from the hug. "People will be seeing you in a two-piece while lifting 250."

Emery's mouth hangs open, "I'm Miss June?" She gasps. "I'm Miss June!"

"Congratulations, Emerson and Chimney." Eddie gives Emery a high five then Chimney.

Everyone congratulates the two. Buck walks over to Emery, "You know, I actually have never seen that picture of you." He leans against the counter.

Emery hums softly, "Yeah, well, guess what? You finally will." She bites her lower lip and smiles. "Because I am Miss June." She then starts to dance.

Buck pulls his brows together but he lets out a stifled laugh.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything."

Emery turns and sees Athena approaching the group. Bobby walks toward her and Emery pulls her brows together. She watches Athena kiss Bobby. Emery's mouth opens and she lets out a dramatic gasp. She holds her hands up.

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!"

Bobby turns to them. "What are you guys looking at? There's no more announcements."

Hen turns to them, "Pay up."

Emery sags her shoulders, "Dammit..." she drops her hands to her side and digs through her pockets.

"Wait a minute, wait a minute, you knew?" Bobby asks.

"Sir, you first you two were happy at the same time, then you were both pissed off at the same time." Hen explains. "It wasn't hard to figure out."

"I think I'm losing my touch." Emery pouts her lip. She holds the cash out to Hen.

"And, uh, you good with this?" Athena looks at Hen.

"Girl, I'm just mad at myself for not fixing you up in the first place." Hen says.

Athena looks at Emery. "What about you, Em?"

Emery smiles, "I'm Miss June. I am okay with anything!" She claps her hands together. "I'm just mad that I lost my money."

Emery eats her olives and looks at Buck. "Hey."

Buck turns to her with his brows pulled together.

"Thanks for helping me out with Jessie." Emery says.

Buck chuckles, "You don't have to thank me for that. All animosity aside, we're a team, Sharpe."

Emery keeps her eyes on Buck's for a moment and she raises her brows. "Yeah, sometimes I kind of forget that. So..." she awkwardly punches his arm. "...go team."

Buck raises his brows, "If I knew this was going to make you nice. I would've wanted you to become Miss June from the beginning."

"Don't get too excited. Me being candor with you, is a one time thing." Emery lets out a soft chuckle and walks away from the boy. She stops and turns to Buck. "Also...I hope you figure everything out with Abby."

Buck squints his eyes at the girl, a suspicious look across his face. Emery lifts her shoulders, "I'm serious, Probie."

Buck's suspicion for Emery's sincerity falls when he notices her looking off to the side. She was embarrassed to even be this genuine with him.

"Oh." Buck bites the inside of his cheek. "Well, thanks, Em."

Emery presses her lips together and gives him a curt nod before walking away from him. Buck pulls his brows together, weirded out by the sincere side of Emerson.

Emery makes her way over to Chimney and Hen. "So..." she leans against the counter. "...did you really use my two-piece picture of me for the calendar?"

Hen turns to Emerson and she raises a brow. The woman lets out a breath, "Okay, you caught me..." she chuckles. "...the pictures I used for you and Chim were candid."

Emery knits her brows together, "What do you mean? Like, our families give them to you?"

"No, like pictures from articles." Hen says. "With you guys being actual heroes. Not some facade like floating on top of an inflatable pool unicorn."

Emery rolls her lips into her mouth and lets out a snort. Chimney's face heats up with embarrassment. "I was desperate, okay?!"

Emery laughs and wraps her arms around Chimney and Hen. "You guys are the best."

Hen and Chimney look at each other. A smile forms on their lips from Emery's contentment. They gladly hug the girl back.

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author's note.

Idk which trio I'm going to love more...Hen, Chimney, and Emery or Emery, Buck, and Eddie

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