Disclaimer: Not mine, not even one bit.

Author's note: This story is inspired by the 'Happy Endings' episode where Max and Jane share their semi-secret love for the Chicago firefighters. If you want, its episode 10 of season 2, it's the end that was most hilarious. It's a great show in any case, you should watch it anyway.

Summary: Kurt Hummel is working as a bartender in one of Chicago's hip gay clubs; Noah Puckerman is one of Chicago's finest firefighters. What will happen when they meet?

..oo00oo..

Open your eyes

Chapter One

The music was loud, the bases beating in sync with Kurt's heartbeat, the lights were blinking and swirling hugging the mass of bodies on the dance floor with a multitude of colors, it was yet another busy weekend night at one of Chicago's most popular gay clubs 'Vicious', but Kurt paid no mind to that, busy mixing drinks and serving. Usually he liked working as a bartender- all those pretty boys fighting for his attention couldn't be bad for the ego, and when he put his game-face on and flirted back he usually left the bar with a hefty pile of bills. Tonight however, he was really not in the mood to be nice or flirty and even though he knew that his tips will suffer and his boss, Santana, will be pissed with him he didn't care, he just wanted to go and home and practically counted the minutes until his shift was over.

There was a bad vibe in the air. Kurt couldn't quite put his finger on it or explain it even to himself but something wasn't right. Shaking his head and telling himself it was stupid Kurt carried on serving drinks, because as long as he kept himself busy time will fly. Walking over to the storeroom Kurt took a moment to compose himself, this was ridiculous, he had work to do and nothing bad was going to happen except to his tip jar. Grabbing the can of olives he came for Kurt stepped back behind the bar when he saw it- a flash of orange in his peripheral vision, only this one didn't come from the dance floor, which was on the other side of the club. Putting down the heavy can of olives Kurt dragged an empty case of beer to stand on and get a better look over the heads of people around the bar.

There it was, and Kurt was never one to believe in any sort of premonitions or signs but this was downright freaky- flames were going up, licking the walls seeking more flammable material to feed their hunger. The fire broke out in a relatively disused corner of the club but it was spreading fast, and no one seemed to notice!

Trying to be as discreet as possible as to not cause a mass panic Kurt made his way to the DJ stand and tried to get Sugar, the DJ on call's attention. When he finally managed to do so he pointed at the fire, hoping Sugar will get the message, turn off the music and tell everyone to calmly head towards the exit, only when Sugar spotted the fire she began to scream hysterically instead. Kurt sighed and rolled his eyes, for someone who had a razor sharp tongue and cultivated an 'I-couldn't-care-less' attitude, Sugar was far too easy to succumb to hysterics. Climbing into the DJ stand Kurt grabbed Sugar's shoulders and shook her, fighting the tempting urge to slap her face,

"Turn off the music and tell everyone to make their way out calmly!" He ordered the frightened girl who seemed to take courage from the fact someone could keep a cool head and nodded mutely. Kurt jumped off the DJ stand and rushed to the storeroom to get his cell phone. In the background he heard Sugar's voice rising shrilly through the club, yelling dramatically for people to run for their lives and the break-out of collective hysterical outburst. Kurt rubbed his face tiredly, and thanked his lucky stars he wasn't in anyone's way. Dialing 911, he asked the pleasant voiced lady to send a fire-squad to the club.

When Kurt ventured back into the club he was pleased to see that almost everyone was out, looking around him he could see the fire spreading fast, and an alarming thought crossed his mind- the toilets! Usually it was one of the busiest parts of the club, though not often used for their designed purpose, and thank god Santana flat down refused to even think of installing a dark room in the club. The toilets were located not far from the fire and usually people who went there weren't exactly listening to what went on in the club. Grabbing a towel Kurt dipped it in the half melted ice bucket, soaking it through before he pressed the cold, wet fabric to his face, covering his nose and mouth and made his way to the toilets.

Banging on every door and bending over to make sure there were no legs, he yelled for people to get out, coughing heavily in the thickening smoke. After making sure no one was left behind Kurt stumbled back into the club, his eyes were streaming and blurring his vision and his lungs felt like they were about to explode. The smoke was much thicker now and he could barely see his way when suddenly a tall shape loomed before him, and a yellow-clad fireman gripped his arm. Kurt felt dizzy and numb as he was passed from hand to hand leading him out of the club until he was pushed down to sit and an oxygen mask was pressed against his face.

With the soothing effect of the oxygen his lungs eventually stopped burning so much and breathing became easier. Kurt could feel his head clearing as well and he was able to grasp what was going on around him. He was sitting on the back steps of an ambulance, while all around him lights of red and blue flashed. Kurt looked over at the club, from the outside it looked almost normal, except for the heavy stream of smoke pouring through the doors and firemen who were running in and out, wearing masks and carrying hoses. Not far from there stood a group of club goers, looking terrified and excited at the same time, herded together behind a police yellow tape line, like a coop of clucking chickens.

Santana was running towards the club, her baby, tears in her eyes and screaming and cursing at the top of her lungs. A burly officer grabbed her around the midriff, trying to prevent her from charging headlong into the fire. She struggled against him, but he won't let up until she collapsed to the ground, sobbing pitifully while her girlfriend, Brittany whispered in her ears and tried to comfort her.

"How are you feeling?" Kurt looked up to see a paramedic bending over him with a soft smile and a thick Irish accent. Kurt pulled away the mask and tried to smile, opening his mouth, "Don't try to speak yet," The paramedic, Rory, as his nametag read, said pleasantly as he pressed a stethoscope under Kurt's shirt to his back listening to Kurt's lungs. "You've inhaled quite a bit of smoke, though you did good blocking most of it with the wet towel." Walking back to stand in front of Kurt, Rory gave another one of his cheerful grins, "You're going to be just fine, but I want you to sit here for a bit more and breathe in the oxygen. I'm going over to check this lot." He said and pointed the huddled mass behind the police tape, looking a bit concerned. Kurt smiled behind the mask and raised his eyebrows at Rory who seemed to really start fearing for himself at Kurt's reaction. Smoothing down his uniform shirt he took a deep breath, grabbed his first aid kit and marched on bravely.

Kurt sat on the step obediently, breathing in the oxygen. Now that the adrenaline and fear were wearing off he was starting to feel the fatigue settling in and he became very aware of how dirty he was, he wondered whether he should ignore Rory's instructions and just go home. Weighing the pros and cons of skipping Kurt failed to notice someone approaching the ambulance until a friendly voice greeted him. Looking up Kurt nearly swallowed his tongue, and he was mightily glad for the oxygen because he was pretty sure he stopped breathing for a second there,

On the side of the ambulance door leaned a fireman, which in itself wasn't that strange as the place was crawling with them, but this particular fireman was someone Kurt never believed he'd meet in real life, and wasn't it just Kurt's luck to meet the man of his dreams, literally, when he looked like he just rolled out of someone's fireplace. Because this was not just any fireman, this was Mr. August, and Kurt felt the heat rising to his cheeks and was very glad the man could not read his mind because if he knew half the stuff they've been up to in Kurt's prolific imagination he'd run to the hills screaming. Putting both hands on his mask to cover for his embarrassment Kurt nodded mutely.

"I just came by to say that I think it was very brave of you to make sure no one was left behind." The man said, flashing a million volt smile that did strange things to Kurt's stomach and he could feel the blush intensifying. Up close the man looked even better than he did in the calendar, despite the fact he was wearing much more. "I'm Noah, by the way." Kurt took another deep breath, wondering if it was the oxygen or Noah's presence that were making his head feel light and slowly lowered the mask,

"Kurt." He said, wincing a little as his voice sounded raspy and burnt in his ears. Noah smiled again and stuck his hand out and Kurt gingerly shook it, swallowing hard and trying to hold it together before he did something really stupid. Luckily Rory chose this moment to return, looking a little disheveled and dropping his kit loudly in the ambulance behind Kurt's back,

"Blimey, they're a lively bunch, no mistake about that!" He said exasperatedly and Noah let out a hearty laugh that was warming Kurt's insides through,

"It's the uniform; they go mad for them, that's why none of us is going near them. We kinda need to keep them on." Rory let out a snort of laughter, but Kurt noticed he was pulling his collar a little tighter around his neck. Pulling his stethoscope again Rory pressed it against Kurt back, and Kurt jumped a little at the coldness, as Rory didn't bother blowing on it this time round. Locking eyes with Noah, who was still leaning casually on the ambulance door like he didn't have anything better to do than stare at Kurt with that soft smile, Kurt was very glad Rory was listening to his lungs and not his heart otherwise he'd have to explain why it was beating so fast and that was one explanation he wasn't thrilled to give, not while Noah was still there.

"Well, you're right as rain," Rory declared, "You should head home and have a good night's rest. Your throat will feel a little scratchy for a few days but it's nothing a good load of tea won't cure." Kurt nodded in thanks and handed back the oxygen mask, feeling like he was giving away his armor and rose to his feet. Using the fact that Noah was distracted by Rory asking him a question Kurt slipped past them and hurried home.

When he reached his door he realized that his wallet, coat and keys were left in the storeroom of the club. Fishing out the spare key from its hiding place under the hallway plant he hoped that there will still be something to retrieve tomorrow, because he really didn't feel like having all his cards replaced, not to mention- his fabulous coat. Opening the door Kurt walked into the kitchen and gratefully sank into a chair, feeling the ache in every muscle. Mercedes, his roommate and best friend, burst out from the other room,

"Kurt! Oh my god! David called and said there was a fire at the club, I was just on my way there to see what happened!" She cried, babbling in a slightly panicked tone, "What happened to you, were you hurt?" Kurt shook his head,

"Minor smoke inhalation, I'm fine." He said, his throat still feeling raw, and Mercedes reached out to touch him but changed her mind at the last minute and Kurt wondered just how dirty he actually was,

"You sound terrible; you want a glass of water?" She asked and went to get one without waiting for a reply, "I'll make you some green tea with honey, that will sooth your throat," She continued talking as she put the cattle on to boil and placed a glass of water in front of Kurt. Only when the first gulp of water washed over his gullet did Kurt realized how thirty he was, it was as if the smoke had dried out all the membranes of his throat and the water were doing wonders to sooth the ache. "So, tell me what happened." Mercedes said as she sat down, placing a hot cup of tea in front of Kurt, who smiled in thanks.

"I don't know, I saw the fire and luckily we got everyone out, but I left before it was over so I don't know what caused the fire or anything." Mercedes looked vaguely disappointed at the meager explanation and Kurt knew she was expecting something much more blood chilling and heroic but that wasn't something he could provide at the moment.

"So, were there any worthy looking firefighters around?" Kurt almost choked on his tea; this was so like Mercedes- once she got the worry out of her system she turned straight to the gossip. Kurt blushed furiously which only spurred Mercedes to look more gleeful, "I knew it! Who was it?" Kurt lowered his head, refusing to look at his best friend,

"Mr. August." He mumbled and Mercedes squealed happily,

"Oh, this is too good! Tell me everything!" Kurt let out a small sigh, looking like a lost little puppy and Mercedes frowned, this was not the way it was supposed to go, Kurt was supposed to be all starry eyed and giddy with excitement, going on and on about how hot Mr. August was in real life and swooning, yes, definitely- Kurt should be swooning, not upset. "What did you do?" Kurt shrugged, "Oh, god, please tell me you didn't tell him about that fantasy with the firemen pole." Kurt's head snapped up, his eyes narrowed,

"Would you stop reading my journal?!" He cried out, but Mercedes only shrugged,

"Learn to hide it better." She said with a pleasant smile and Kurt just shook his head, if he didn't love Mercedes so much he probably would have killed her a long time ago. Besides, he mostly wrote down those fantasies to keep her happy anyway, the really good ones he kept to himself, "So, what happened, what did you say?"

"Nothing, he came over while I was getting oxygen and said that I was brave for making sure everyone was out of the place." Kurt shrugged, trying to brush off the whole thing even though a part of him was over the moon that Noah thought he was brave, that Noah thought about him at all- but most of him was realistic enough to know that it didn't really mean anything. "His name is Noah."

"Noah," Mercedes said, rolling the name on her tongue, "I don't really like that name, too… vowel-y." Kurt shrugged, he's never really thought about the name before but if he was honest with himself he kinda liked it, it was soft, like a moan… Oh, great, here we go, he thought, this will not end well. "So, why did you run away? I thought you were fantasizing about this guy for ages."

"How would you like to meet, say, Mr. February looking like this?" Kurt gestured on himself and Mercedes winced in sympathy. If Mr. February showed up in front of her while she looked like Kurt did right now she'd probably off herself on the spot. Kurt let out another soft sigh and rose to his feet, "I'm going to take a shower and then to bed." He announced.

Standing in front of the bathroom mirror, Kurt got the first real look of himself tonight and the person looking back was in a worse shape than he imagined. His hair was a complete mess, sticking out in odd angles, his face was covered with patches of black smears, his eyes were puffy and red and there were tear tracks running down his cheeks, accentuated by the soot. The lower half of his face was relatively clean thanks to the towel he pressed against his mouth and nose but that only served to make him look more like a very badly made-up chimney sweeper from a very low budget school production of 'Mary Poppins'. Shaking his head at himself he stepped into the shower.