#carlos and tk be like: look at us hey look at us
Text
getting past the wounds of love “What are you smiling about?” Paul asks with a raised eyebrow in the rear view mirror. “Got a text from Officer Hotstuff?”
“Shut up,” TK says with a roll of his eyes as Paul and Marjan snicker in the front seat.
“Come on, Paul, it’s not even like that.”
“Oh yeah?” Paul teases as he puts the car in gear. “It looked pretty ‘like that’ the other night. You shoulda seen them, Marj. TK was grinding on that sweet, straitlaced boy so hard I thought we’d have to use the jaws of life to separate them. Officer Dreamboat was looking at TK with those giant heart eyes. He’s already in love.”
“Oh my god,” TK whines. “He is not. We’re not even dating. We’re just …hanging out”
“Sure, whatever you say dude. I mean, I’ve never dry humped someone I’m ‘hanging out’ with in the middle of a club, but good for you I guess.”
love in a series of bursts & inches Carlos has always seen him, flaws and all, as a whole person. He remembers his life back in New York, when he was fresh out of rehab and trying to figure out the kind of person he wanted to be now that he was sober. He was clean but he felt haggard and beaten down, his mind was warped, full of voices telling him he’d burned all his bridges, that he’d ruined any chance of a fulfilling life, of ever finding people who wanted to share in his life. He was unlovable, unreliable and most certainly undatable.
He thought he’d left any chance he had at a future back in that drug den, on a dirty slab of cardboard littered with discarded rubber ties and dirty needles. […]
But when he met Carlos on the side of a highway under glistening streetlights with a steady stream of sideways rain pelting their faces, he didn’t see TK as broken. Carlos didn’t look at him, clad in his hoodies, walls built up a mile high, bristling at the mere thought of someone getting close enough to hurt him, and see him as damaged goods. He saw him for the whole person he was, and everything he could be.
Why Do You Think I Ran Carlos has cataloged all of TK’s laughs; his delighted giggle, the small under-his-breath snort when he’s laughing at his own joke, the soft little gasping chuckle that only comes out during sex. The laugh TK lets out right now is Carlos’s favorite, the one where he scrunches his eyes and shows his teeth. The one he reserves just for Carlos.
Call Me If You Get Lost “TK? Carlos?” she says behind gritted teeth, “What the hell?”
“Hey Nance,” Carlos says as TK pushes past her into the room. A frantic movement to his left captures his attention, and he turns to see Mateo flailing around on the floor, pulling his boxers out from under the nightstand.
“What is this?” TK cries at the same time Nancy swings around and shrieks.
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?”
“Whoa…” Carlos reacts as he enters the room.
“What is he doing here?” TK asks with a finger pointing in Mateo’s direction, he feels like he’s going into shock himself.
“It’s not what it looks like!” Nancy’s still shouting. She rounds the bed and grabs a sweater from a chair, hastily pulling it over her head.
“It looks an awful lot like you’re having a clandestine affair with Mateo,” Carlos helpfully chimes in. He points to the unmade bed, “Exhibit A!”
Carlos turns to TK with a small smug smile and whispers, “See, I told you I was good at this.”
“Damn, babe,” TK preens, “Hot and smart. You really should take the detective’s exam. You would totally crush it.”
Como Te Quiero Yo (how I love you) On the morning of the third day of their honeymoon, TK is now regretting the fact that their parents put them up in the honeymoon suite. While it is nice […] all the walls are clear glass. Sexy last night when TK tempted Carlos into the shower. Not so much right now, when Carlos has a clear straight view of him where he’s sitting, hunched over in pain on the toilet.
“TK?” He calls from the bedroom, face scrunched in concern. His voice comes muffled through the glass walls, “Babe, are you okay?”
“Don’t look at me!”
“Okay, I mean… It’s kind of hard not to.”
“Carlos, I swear to god.” TK shouts, his own voice echoing off the tiles. He tells himself it’s to be heard, but his volume is just as much fueled by embarrassed desperation.
“Okay,” Carlos says. And if TK didn’t know any better, he might detect a hint of amusement in his voice. But he knows his husband isn’t a stupid man. He doesn’t have a death wish. So there is no laughter in this hotel room.
“Umm, what do you want me to do?” Carlos asks again, eyes steadily trained on the wall on the other side of the room.
—and—
“I’m sorry you’re sick, babe,” Carlos says, gently guiding him towards the bed. When TK whines in response he says, “and I’m sorry I laughed at you this morning.”
“Mean.”
“I’m always gonna laugh when you get the gurgle guts.”
“Wow, Carlos,” he whines, laying back on the bed and covering his face with a hand. “You should have included that in your vows. ‘I vow to be the caretaker of your wild heart... And to laugh at you when you’re dying from dysentery.’”
“What is this, the Oregon Trail?”
“Ahh! Carlos!”
All Your Colors Make Me Feel Alive “Carlos it’s,” TK stutters, “it’s okay now. I don’t feel that way now. But it’s always gonna be there. I might feel that way again.” He stops and bites his lip, runs a hand across his eyes. “I have a better support system now. I have Marj and Nance, I have you. I have resources. But that doesn’t mean it won’t ever get that bad again.”
Carlos nods, rubbing the back of TK’s head but not attempting to interrupt.
“I don’t expect you to wanna stick around, to want to deal with that.”
“Baby,” Carlos says quietly, fighting to keep his voice even, “what do you mean?”
“I know—” TK sniffs, running a sleeve-covered hand over his face, “I know I’m not easy.”
“I don’t need you to be easy, TK,” he puts a hand under TK’s chin to tilt his head up. Needs to be sure he hears this. “Hey, look at me.” When TK lifts his eyes slightly to make eye contact he continues. “I just need you to be alive. Okay, baby? Whatever you need.”
Thank you for the tags @filet-o-feelings @bonheur-cafe @sznofthesticks @freneticfloetry @vineofroses @ladytessa74 and pretending like @liminalmemories21 tagged me 🥰
Tagging @nancygillianmvp @chicgeekgirl89 @welcometololaland @carlos-in-glasses @thisbuildinghasfeelings @paperstorm @thebumblecee @reyesstrand @lightningboltreader @never-blooms @decafdino @your-catfish-friend @literateowl @tinyluminaryzombie @herefortarlos @doublel27 @strandnreyes @chaotictarlos and OPEN TAG 🏷️
41 notes
·
View notes
Text
Using my GMT time zone privileges to post a little earlier than usual. Here are the boys in a little diner. We are getting so close to the scene I’ve built this ENTIRE story around 👀👀💛
“Baby?” he asks. “You okay?”
“Yeah,” Carlos says, a heat rising in his cheeks at how easily TK has seen him. “This is just, uh…probably the most amount of total strangers I’ve ever kissed someone in front of.” TK grins.
“Yeah?” he asks. “Wanna do it some more? Anyone says anything, I’ll punch them in the mouth for you. I’m a boxer, you know.” Mischief settles deep in TK’s expression, makes him look younger, accentuates the wildness in him, the boldness. He leans back from Carlos slightly, reaches across himself to pinch his own bicep. He makes a face of exaggerated approval at what he finds, pursing his lips, giving a nod. He looks like a douchebag, and he knows it. There’s a spark in his eyes that could rival the sun. Carlos laughs, and tumbles deeper into love.
“You’re a complete dork,” Carlos laughs. He reaches out, emboldened by TK’s confidence, by his lack of shame, and gathers a fistful of TK’s hoodie in his hand, right at the collar. He pulls TK closer, relishing the way TK laughs softly as he goes. Carlos only closes his eyes when TK’s lips are against his once more, and they sink into one another as the din of chatter around them fades further into the background, mingling with the acoustic music and the push and pull slide of the front door opening for new customers. TK tastes like the peach iced tea sitting half finished at his elbow, and Carlos doesn’t think he’s ever felt this free before. His heart soars with it, so full it practically aches.
It’s Carlos who breaks the kiss this time, biting his lip against the notion suddenly stirring within him – that a blowjob in the bathroom might not put too much of a dampener on their performance in their respective fights tonight. And TK is watching him, smiling warm and small and expectant, brow arched as if he can read Carlos’s mind, as if their hearts and their bodies pulse in tandem now, like some unseen barrier between them has simply been felled.
But then TK’s eyes slide from Carlos’s face, snag on something over his left shoulder, and TK’s whole expression slips.
Carlos opens his mouth, stomach lurching downwards. The worry barely has time to hit. He presses his tongue to the roof of his mouth, but doesn’t have time to say TK’s name.
“Well,” comes a voice over his shoulder. “Hey there, stranger.”
No pressure tags below the cut 💛
@orchidscript @birdclowns @carlos-in-glasses @irispurpurea @heartstringsduet @lutavero @largepeachicedtea @lightningboltreader @louis-ii-reyes-strand @lemonlyman-dotcom @goodways @bonheur-cafe @catanisspicy @chicgeekgirl89 @fitzherbertssmolder @freneticfloetry @ambiguouspenny @three-drink-amy @redshirt2 @tarlosmalec @herefortarlos @noxsoulmate @never-blooms @meditating-honey-badger @thisbuildinghasfeelings @mikibwrites @sanjuwrites @inkweedandlizards @paperstorm @jesuisici33 @three-drink-amy @theghostofashton @thebumblecee @basilsunrise @wandering-night19 @wtfuckevenknows @sugdenlovesdingle @rachelsversion1 @taralaurel @rosedavid @reyesstrand @rmd-writes @detective-giggles @hoko-onchi-writes @welcometololaland and YOU if you see this and aren’t tagged (I love you all I just have a small brain)
89 notes
·
View notes
Text
Festive Friends- Read on AO3
Rating: T
Words: 8600
This one is for @strandnreyes as part of the @tarlos-santa 2023 exchange! I chose the prompt: AU - Carlos and TK unknowingly have each other for the office secret santa exchange. Up to you if they’re pining idiots, “enemies”, secretly dating, or anything else! Hope you enjoy and have the most festive of holidays!
“Good morning Mr. Reyes.”
Carlos looks up to find the office intern, Mateo, standing cheerily next to his desk, a stack of envelopes in his hand. “Good morning Mateo. And again, you can call me Carlos. Mr. Reyes really isn’t necessary.”
“Sorry Mr. Reyes, I’m just not really used to being like, a real adult yet I guess,” Mateo says sheepishly.
Carlos keeps a chuckle to himself and doesn’t admonish the kid again. “I understand. Whatever you feel comfortable with is fine.”
“Cool. Thanks Mr. Reyes. I brought your mail over for you.”
“Thank you,” Carlos says, accepting the stack from him.
“Can I get you anything? A coffee? Oh! I think Mr. Strand has some new kind of energizing smoothie or something in the break room. Although, it looked kinda gross to me,” Mateo says.
The thought of that smoothie sends a shiver down Carlos’ spine. He hasn’t known Owen Strand for very long, but his health nut tendencies have quickly become too much for Carlos’ taste. “No, that’s okay. I don’t need anything right now. Besides, your job here is to learn about the business, not fetch everyone’s coffee.”
“Right. Yes. Learning. I love learning all the things. Hey, are you coming to the office tree lighting on Friday afternoon? I heard they’re gonna have those little pigs in a blanket.”
Carlos’ eyes dart back to his screen and the half finished email staring at him. “Um, yeah. I’ll be there for a little bit.”
“Awesome!” Mateo seems genuinely thrilled and Carlos once again has to bite back an amused smile. The kid is ninety nine parts enthusiasm and one part overly helpful. “Well I’ll let you get back to it. Lots of…what exactly does HR do?”
“Emails,” Carlos says. “Lots of emails.”
“Right. Sounds fun. Good luck with that!”
Mateo sends him a parting wave and then disappears around the side of his cubicle.
Things have been absolutely crazy at PD and Sons since they merged with 126 Designs a few months ago. Owen Strand had been brought in to manage the merger and insisted on hiring a significant number of new staff. Onboarding the new hires like Mateo has been a ton of work, especially since Owen insisted on being extremely involved in the entire process. Carlos has been in non-stop meetings for weeks and today is the first day he hasn’t felt completely overwhelmed in forever.
He flips through the stack of mail, tossing a few random flyers in the recycling, and setting aside the important envelopes to open later. He wrinkles his forehead when he finds a folded up piece of red paper at the bottom of the stack. When he opens it his eyes immediately widen in horror.
What. The. Hell?
“Lexi.” He stands up and looks down into the cubicle next to him where his work wife is busy with some kind of design project. “Why did I just get a paper telling me who my Secret Santa is this year?”
“I signed you up because I knew you wouldn’t do it otherwise. It’s the season of giving and part of that means giving up your Grinchy ways and pretending like you’re interested in getting to know all the new people in the office,” Lexi says without looking up at him.
His jaw drops. “Okay, first of all, I’m not uninterested in getting to know them. I just haven’t had time to get to know them. And secondly, I hate Secret Santa. Nobody ever really knows what to get you, so you end up with all this random crap and candy that you don’t want and it all sits in a drawer for three or four years until finally you throw it out.”
She finally stops and turns to look at him. “Wow. Okay Uncle Scrooge. First of all,” she echoes him, “it’s not Secret Santa, it’s Festive Friends. Not everybody celebrates Christmas. Get your terminology right. And secondly, it’s not about getting good gifts, it’s about spreading joy for the holiday season. So take the Christmas tree out of your ass and start fa la la-ing with the rest of us.”
“Lexi,” he grinds out her name between his teeth and quickly glances around to make sure no one is in earshot. “I got T.K.”
Lexi is the only one in the office who knows what an incredible disaster meeting T.K. Strand has been for his life. A week after the PD Austin and 126 Designs merger the entire office had gone out for drinks. One thing led to another, which led to another, and ultimately ended up with T.K. very naked in Carlos’ bed.
They’d been incredibly hot and incredibly heavy for a couple weeks after that, sneaking around together, making out in the supply closet, booty calling each other in the dead of night, and Carlos had been so ridiculously happy. T.K. Strand had turned him into a horny freaking teenager.
And then he’d made the mistake of surprising T.K. with dinner. He’d thought it would be romantic. That it might move them from booty call status into something a little bit more permanent.
But T.K. had freaked out, stormed out, and shut Carlos out of his life. Thank god his cubicle is all the way around the corner on the other side of the building. They barely have to see each other except for the occasional awkward brush in the break room or men’s room.
Carlos’ heart has been more broken than he’d like to let on, not to mention his ego is bruised too. The whole thing has made getting to know the other people from 126 Designs like Marjan, Paul, Nancy, and Judd very awkward.. They’re T.K.’s friends. And he doesn’t want to piss T.K. off anymore than he already has.
Of course he has to interact with T.K.’s father, Owen Strand, he is the manager after all, but other than that he’s kept everyone else at an extremely polite and professional distance.
So finding T.K.’s name in his hands is like a punch in the gut.
“Good,” Lexi says, surprising him. “You’ve been pining for him for weeks anyway. Might as well do something about it.”
“Lexi, this guy hates my guts,” Carlos says. “He doesn’t want presents from me.”
“I’m sure he doesn’t hate you. You’re Carlos Reyes. No one hates you.”
“Please switch with me.”
“No.”
“Lexi!”
“No! I got Paul. I already have ideas. I’m not switching. It’s only three gifts, you’ll be fine.”
“Three?! I thought Secret Santa was only one gift!”
“God, do you even read your email? It’s three gifts in the week leading up to the holiday break. This will be good for you. Now go away. I’m working.”
Carlos sinks back down into his chair, misery settling in his stomach. This is going to be absolute torture.
He takes another look at T.K.’s scrawl. His writing looks hurried in a way that suggests he’s so excited that he can’t be bothered to slow down and shape his letters more carefully. It has that same kind of frenetic, joyful energy that drew Carlos to him in the first place. Now the only energy he exudes toward Carlos is coldness.
Carlos catches himself tracing his fingers over the letters of T.K.’s name and balls them into a fist before forcing himself to read T.K.’s answers to the Festive Friends questionnaire. T.K. has written down that he likes sour candy, Harry Styles, boba, and interesting tea flavors. He doesn’t like black licorice, the Mets, or anything with alcohol.
Carlos frowns at that. He doesn’t remember T.K. mentioning anything about alcohol during their weeks together. But then again, they didn’t exactly spend much time talking. Their mouths had been occupied with other things.
It feels unfair to have this scrap of T.K., to get this little glimpse into his life. These are things he doesn’t want Carlos to know. He made that clear when he stormed out the door of Carlos’ condo and left nothing behind except Carlos’ fractured heart.
He takes a breath and squares his shoulders. It’s just a stupid office tradition. They’re colleagues. They’re going to have to become cordial at some point. Maybe this is how he can start to smooth things over. Besides, it’s not like he has to talk to the guy. That’s literally the point. To keep it secret.
This is going to be fine.
It is not fine. It’s not fine because Carlos is the type of person that agonizes over gifts. And in this case, there’s even more pressure because the gifts have to be perfectly impersonal so they don’t say, “Your dick was life changing and I don’t think I’m ever going to recover because now you hate me and I don’t really know why.” He’d much rather they say, “I’m fine and I don’t ever think about you and that thing you did with your tongue that one time.”
Ugh.
He arrives Monday morning the week before Christmas with a gift bag in hand, a Yankees baseball cap tucked inside. It’s a lame gift. Perfectly impersonal. And the rest of his gifts for the week aren’t much better. There’s a small part of him berating himself for not doing a better job. He could at least try. The guy broke up with him, he didn’t murder anyone.
But then he remembers how miserable he was in the days after T.K. had stormed out. Whatever. He didn’t sign up for this anyway. T.K. deserves his boring gifts.
The office is quiet as he makes his way to T.K.’s cubicle. Even just the sight of his desk makes Carlos’ heart ache a little. There’s a picture pinned to his bulletin board of T.K. with their other co-workers, Marjan, Paul, Judd, Mateo, Nancy, and Tommy all smiling and having fun, clearly out for a night on the town together. He’d known 126Designs was small and that was part of the reason for the acquisition; to bring on a tightly knit team to help their own, but seeing T.K. so happy with them all doesn’t really feel great.
He’s been so preoccupied by his own shopping that he completely forgot that he is also getting gifts until he steps into his cubicle and sees a bright green bag with little white Christmas trees all over it. He inspects it carefully, relieved to find there’s no glitter anywhere.
He hates glitter.
There’s a little card attached to the handle and when he opens it it reads “Hope you have a Write Christmas- FF.” It takes him a second to figure out that FF must mean Festive Friend.
He carefully extracts the tissue paper and looks into the bag. It’s office supplies. Pens, post-its, a new stapler, blue paperclips, and a ball of rubber bands.
The pun on the card makes sense, even if it is as terribly lame as the gifts inside. At least it’s practical. He can always use new pens.
“Hey!” Lexi pokes her head in. “Ooh what’d you get?”
He shows her the bag and she nods in approval. “Your Festive Friend knows you like office supplies. Nice.”
“If you’re expecting a thank you for going behind my back on this, you’re going to be waiting a long time,” Carlos tells her as he sits down and opens up his laptop.
“Pretty sure people with that attitude get coal in their stocking,” she tells him, flipping him off before heading to her own cubicle.
It’s midway through the morning and Carlos is about to make yet another phone call when Owen Strand steps into the middle of the bullpen. “All right, attention everyone!” he calls.
The ambient sound of typing and low chatter ceases. “Thank you,” he says. “I just wanted to remind everyone that we have our first team building activity this afternoon. So if you have anything scheduled this is your last chance to rearrange. Mandatory fun is in store for all!”
Carlos bites back a groan. He is really not into mandatory office fun. Especially when it means he’ll be in close proximity to T.K. But he’s also not one to flaunt the rules, so he’s going to have to suck it up and deal.
No one has been allowed in the conference room all morning and when one o’clock rolls around Owen waits at the door with a massive grin on his face. The man is clearly thrilled with whatever he’s cooked up to torture them today.
When Carlos walks through the door he sees why. The tables have been covered in red plastic tablecloths and every two feet or so sits a pile of materials like graham crackers, marshmallows, frosting, and candy. It’s immediately obvious how they will be team building today.
“All right everyone!” Owen says when they’re all assembled. “As you can probably guess our team building activity for today has taken a turn for the festive. And I’ve taken the liberty of assigning you all a partner to work with. Each team will be assembling a pre-determined part of our gingerbread village. Paul, you’re with Marjan.”
They immediately turn and high five, clearly thrilled.
“Nancy with Lexi, Judd with Tommy, Mateo with me,” Owen flashes him a smile and Mateo lets out a whoop.
Carlos’ stomach drops. That leaves him with—“T.K., you’ll be with Carlos.”
Fuck.
“Send one person to grab your pre-assigned building assignment! Remember this is not a competition. We’re all working together to build our village. Just like it takes a village to run a company.”
There’s a brief silence in which everyone internalizes what a dumb, schticky thing Owen has just said and then he claps his hands. “Okay, get to work!”
Everyone claims a spot around the tables. Carlos takes a paper slip from Owen and then looks around to find T.K., who is sitting across the room with his back to Carlos.
Carlos reluctantly walks over and sits in the empty seat next to him, all the while wondering if he can fake sick or claim a family emergency to get out of this. When he finally looks up at his partner he recoils in shock. T.K.’s lip is split and swollen, and there’s a dark ring of bruising underneath his right eye. “What happened to you?” Carlos asks, a surprised reflex releasing the words from his mouth before he can stop them.
The look T.K. sends him immediately reminds him that they’re not friends anymore. It’s full of vitriol and misery and…Carlos looks a little closer. Pain. There’s a rawness there that Carlos doesn’t remember seeing before.
“Sorry,” he says. “I just…that looks like it hurts.”
“Doesn’t feel great,” T.K. agrees, his voice stiff. “What are we supposed to be making?”
Carlos looks at the paper. “Police station.”
“Perfect. Way to read the room Dad. ACAB and all that,” T.K. grouses as he reaches for a pile of graham crackers and immediately begins squeezing icing all over.
“Um,” Carlos hems and T.K. stops.
“What?”
“Don’t you think maybe we should make a plan first?”
T.K. sighs and dramatically drops his piping bag onto the table. “Fine. Do whatever you want.”
“No I—I didn’t mean—” Carlos struggles to find the right words. “It’s fine. Let’s just try and get something standing first. That’s the hardest part anyway.”
They spend a couple minutes in silence gluing graham crackers together with icing and using some marshmallows to prop them up until they have something that roughly resembles walls and a roof. “You’re kind of good at this,” T.K. says.
It’s the closest thing to niceties that they’ve shared in weeks.
“I have a lot of nieces and nephews. Not my first gingerbread house. Although it is my first police station,” Carlos admits.
“Cool,” T.K. says, then winces, his lip clearly hurting.
“You sure you don’t want to tell me what happened?” Carlos asks, feeling a little emboldened by T.K.’s compliment.
T.K. shoots him a glare. “You’re kind of annoying. You know that?”
“So I’ve been told,” Carlos says, trying to let the jab roll off his back. “But I know you’re new around here and you’ve obviously gotten into some trouble. Sometimes it helps to talk things out.”
He gets silence in return. God what the hell is wrong with this guy? He’s literally just trying to help. “Fine. You don’t have to tell me. But you should probably tell someone before whoever gave you that shiner comes back to give you a matching set.”
T.K. goes quiet, fiddling with the icing bag in his hand. When he speaks his voice is soft.“I went to a bar last night.”
“Ah. A little drunk and disorderly,” Carlos says, aware that he’s being snarky and not caring in the least. “So you have an idea of how the inside of this police station should look then.”
“I wasn’t drunk,” T.K. says quickly and Carlos remembers his Festive Friends answers. He looks down. “I just went through a really bad break up. Like nuclear bad. And then I relapsed.” He looks around and lowers his voice. “I relapsed with substances.”
Oh.
Carlos sets down the graham cracker in his hands, his full attention now on T.K. as memory slices through him. “I tried to pour us champagne during dinner. I’m such an idiot I’m sorry—“
“It’s fine, ” T.K. cuts him off quickly, like if he gets interrupted now he won’t ever be able to find the strength to share this again. He fiddles with the peppermint wrapper in his hands. “Ever since I’ve gotten here it’s just…it’s grey. And I just feel numb all the time. So I went out to a bar looking for trouble. And I found it. Big time. I guess I just…I wanted to feel something.”
He’s pulled in on himself, his body looking vulnerable and wounded. Carlos gets it now. The overenthusiastic sex. His no-strings attached mentality. The complete meltdown during dinner. This is a man who has been hurt, and he’s struggling to find a way to heal. Carlos had unknowingly probed at the wound in his soul and T.K. had lashed out. It makes sense, even if it wasn’t fair.
T.K. looks miserable and despite their history all Carlos wants to do is make him feel better. “Judging by that lip, I’d say mission accomplished,” he says, trying to lighten the moment.
“You’re really busting my balls right now?” T.K. asks, an unreadable expression on his face.
“No,” Carlos says. “I’m busting your jingle bells.” He tries and fails to hold back a smile at his incredibly stupid joke.
T.K. blinks at him. “That’s terrible,” he says, but he is also struggling to keep his face neutral.
“And yet you’re smiling,” Carlos says. He feels lighter, like there’s been an ominous blizzard hanging over him in the weeks since they stopped seeing each other. Now it feels like the snow has finally started to fall and all the ugliness of the bare world in winter is being covered in a fresh layer of soft white powder. There’s a sense of hope to it.
“I’m laughing at how stupid it is,” T.K. says.
“Well laugh while you work,” Carlos says, reaching for a bar of Hershey’s chocolate to put on the roof. “I know your dad said it wasn’t a competition, but Marjan and Paul seem to be working on a second story. So I’m not sure they know that.”
Together they finish the roof, adding on lots of dripping icing as snow and icicles. Carlos carefully starts to add windows while T.K. works on the landscaping.
“Tommy I don’t know why you’re trying to make me do these little details when you know I’ve got fat fingers,” Judd is saying across the way as he and Tommy try to add a steeple to their church.
Marjan and Paul’s apartment building does indeed have two stories and they’ve somehow managed to chisel out actual windows in the graham crackers. Lexi and Nancy are creating a ski chalet that includes a chairlift, and Owen and Mateo’s fire station sports a fire pole made of pretzel rods.
“There,” T.K. says, plonking a creation down in front of where Carlos has crafted a front door out of Kit Kats.
Carlos raises an eyebrow. “What is that?”
“A snowman.”
Ah. Now Carlos sees it. There are two marshmallows stacked on top of each other and T.K. has shoved pretzel sticks in each side for arms. There is a lifesaver on each one and they’re connected by a thread of Twizzler. “What’s on its arms?” he asks.
“Handcuffs,” T.K. says.
“The snowman is getting arrested?”
“Or getting ready to do something kinky.”
“In front of a police station?”
“Some people get off on a little exhibitionism. Don’t judge Carlos,” T.K. says, a smirk on his face.
Damn it. They should have stayed mortal enemies. Now that they’re talking again, Carlos feels the urge to drag T.K. into the nearest cubicle and kiss the shit out of him. He didn’t need to go to a bar to find trouble. He could have shown up on Carlos’ doorstep and gotten into plenty.
Carlos’ attempt at a police cruiser has them both laughing; the oreo wheels keep falling off the rice krispie body (which T.K. snuck out and stole from the break room and has loudly been declared illegal by half the staff in the room) no matter how much icing he uses to try and stick them on.
“Stop eating our building materials,” Carlos admonishes a few minutes later when he goes for another red gum drop and finds they’re nearly gone.
“Why? They’re delicious. Tis the season for sugar,” T.K. says.
Carlos goes to give him a look and notices a dab of frosting on the corner of his mouth. “You’ve got some—“ He mimes brushing it away.
T.K. grabs a tissue and wipes, but misses completely. “No other side,” Carlos directs without success. “Here just, let me.”
He swipes the tissue from T.K.’s hand and dabs carefully, taking care not to pull on T.K.’s split lip. Their eyes meet and a heat passes between them, setting Carlos’ bones on fire. He clears his throat. “Got it.”
“Thanks,” T.K. says quietly.
They spend another half hour decorating before Owen makes them put all the buildings together into a little town while he snaps a picture for the company social media accounts. It’s actually pretty adorable once assembled and Carlos goes home that night strangely optimistic about what the rest of the week has in store.
Tuesday is business as usual and by the time Wednesday morning rolls around Carlos finds himself excitedly driving into work, his gift for T.K. in the passenger seat. He’s scrapped all his other gifts and spent the last two days looking for better items. Last night he visited a local tea shop and probably went a little overboard. They’d definitely upsold him on a few things and he’d let it happen because Monday’s gingerbread decorating had put a kernel of hope in his chest and…it can’t hurt to make sure T.K. likes his gifts, right?
He drops off T.K.’s gift bag and is only mildly disappointed when he walks into his own cubicle to find his desk is empty. It doesn’t matter; at least, that’s what he tells himself. Honestly, he’s not surprised. People are terrible at doing Secret Santa, it’s very likely that his person has forgotten him in the hustle and bustle of the holiday season.
He heads to his desk and gets right to work because they’re all heading out early to help with a toy drive at the local fire station; another of Owen’s brilliant ideas to encourage office camaraderie. It means he has a lot more to take care of than usual to try and make up for the lost time, and by mid-morning he’s in desperate need of a second coffee.
He’s about to get up and make one when his phone rings. It’s Ernie, their security guard from downstairs informing him that there’s a delivery waiting for him. Confused but intrigued Carlos heads for the elevator.
“Hey Ernie, all set for the holidays?” he asks when he reaches the desk on the ground floor.
“Just about. Got a couple more things to pick up today, but then I should be good to go,” Ernie tells him. He nods toward a bag and a coffee cup on the desk. “That’s for you.”
“Thanks.”
Carlos picks up the white paper sack and has to hold back a snort when he sees what’s written on the side. Hope the holidays don’t make you “cronuts”- FF. He peeks inside and inhales the scent of cronuts from Twiggy’s. Cronuts are a massive weakness of his, and a sip of the coffee tells him it’s made just to his specifications, a little bit of cream, no sugar. Whoever his Festive Friend is, they know him well. His suspicions are definitely leaning more and more toward Lexi.
He gets back in the elevator and when he steps off he nearly runs over T.K. “Whoa, sorry,” he says, holding up the coffee so it doesn’t spill all over T.K.’s chest.
“Lunch?” T.K. asks, nodding toward the bag.
“A snack from my ‘Festive Friend,’” he says. “Cronuts from the Twiggy’s.”
“That place is great. Enjoy,” T.K. says.
“Do you want one?” The words are out of his mouth before he can stop himself. God he’s needy. “I um, I got two and I can’t eat both. They’re really only good fresh, it’s not like I can save one—“
“Sure.” T.K. thankfully interrupts his ramble and the affirmative response sends a jolt of electricity through him.
They step into the break room and T.K. boils some hot water for tea before settling down across from Carlos at one of the high top tables, a kitschy little vase of fake flowers between them.
Carlos pulls out the cronuts and puts each one on a paper plate. They’re decorated for the season as little Santa bellies, and hopefully they’re as delicious as he remembers. He slides one toward T.K. before picking up his own and taking a massive bite. He has to hold back a groan. They’re freaking amazing.
When he looks up he finds T.K. staring at him with an amused smirk on his face. “Sorry,” Carlos says, feeling his cheeks heat. “I um, these are my favorite.”
“So I can see,” T.K. says, the smirk widening a little. “The last time I saw that look we were both way more naked.”
Carlos feels his entire face go red at the reminder. He finishes chewing his bite, trying not to let memories of said naked time take over his brain. “So your dad,” he says. “He’s really into the holidays huh? We’ve never had so many festive office events.”
“Yeah my dad doesn’t really do anything by half measures,” T.K. says. “I think he might be overcompensating on the holiday cheer a little bit this year. The move down here was kind of a lot and I haven’t exactly been a bundle of joy lately, so he’s trying to fix it with cocoa and faux Christmas wreaths.”
Carlos takes another bite and thinks carefully about his next move. This new dynamic between them still feels tenuous, and he doesn’t want to fracture it. But at the same time, he can see the unfiltered hurt in T.K.’s eyes and he longs to help bear the weight of it. “You mentioned a breakup the other day,” he says quietly. “Is that part of why you came?”
T.K. blows out a breath and looks down at his cronut. “It’s the whole reason we came.”
Carlos watches as he wrestles internally and he’s just about to say that T.K. doesn’t have to tell him anything, when T.K. starts to speak again. “I had a boyfriend, in New York. Alex. We were together for like…I don’t know, a year I guess? He was the first boyfriend I’d had since getting sober and I wanted it to work so badly. Like this relationship was proof I finally had my shit together, you know?”
Carlos nods.
“I had this plan, I was going to propose to him. Had a ring, a restaurant, the whole thing. I was basically down on one knee and he—he told me he’d been cheating on me. With his spin instructor.”
Something hot and violent shoots through Carlos. “That motherfucker,” he says, before he can stop himself.
T.K. looks up in surprise and lets out a startled laugh.
“Sorry,” Carlos says. “That’s just…wow what an asshole.”
“Yeah he definitely was,” T.K. says, looking a little more relaxed now, as if Carlos’ angered sympathy has put him more at ease. “For a long time I think. I can look back on it now and see little moments. We only ever went where he wanted to go for dinner. He was always busy when I asked him to meet my friends. There was stuff I was overlooking because I was trying to prove to everyone else that I was stable.”
“I get that,” Carlos says.
T.K. shifts a little. “I went home after that, found a bottle of pills and…took them until I couldn’t feel anymore. My dad had to bust down the door to save my life.” He shrugs. “And that’s how we ended up here. He knew I needed to get away, so he took me as far as he could get.”
He looks up at Carlos. “I’m doing better now. Well, kind of.” He indicates his black eye. “But that’s why I freaked out on you that night. It wasn’t the champagne or anything you did. You were—you were so kind to me Carlos. I just wasn’t ready for it. And I’m really sorry that I walked out on you.”
The urge to reach over and touch him, to hold his hands and soothe away the hurt that’s painted into the lines of his forehead is overwhelming. But he’s not sure T.K. would be into that so he grips his own thighs instead. “Thank you for telling me,” he says. “That all sounds really difficult. I’m sorry I ambushed you. And I’m sorry I wasn’t more understanding when I realized you were uncomfortable. I think um, I think my ego took a little bit of a hit,” he says sheepishly.
“Oh you think Mr. ‘I Know It Doesn’t Look Like a Lot of Work’?” T.K. asks with a grin.
“Hey, that fish took me like three hours to make,” Carlos teases. “You missed out.”
T.K. sobers a little and fiddles with his cronut again. “I think I missed out on a lot.”
Carlos opens his mouth to offer a response, but Lexi pokes her head into the break room. “Carlos, your phone is ringing off the hook.”
“Coming,” he says, sliding off the stool and picking up his plate with the last couple bites of cronut on it. “Are you going to the toy drive this afternoon?”
“Boss dad said be there so yeah, I’m going,” T.K. says. “Thanks for the cronut.”
“You’re welcome,” Carlos says and then hustles back to his cubicle, where his phone is indeed ringing off the hook. He shoves the last bite of cronut into his mouth as he sits down, chewing furiously before he picks up. “This is Carlos.”
An HR crisis means Carlos is the last one to leave the office and arrive at the fire station’s toy drive. He looks for T.K. as soon as he gets there, but Lexi pulls him over to a table where they’re taking donations for one of the local food pantries.
“So,” Lexi says as they fill boxes with canned beans and stuffing mix and mac and cheese, “looks like someone’s back on Carlos Reyes’ nice list. Although with the way you were looking at him, seems more like you’d prefer he stay on the naughty list.”
“Lexi!” Carlos hisses, looking around. “There are kids here!”
“Oh they can’t hear me,” she scoffs, handing him a bag of flour. “They’re all at the make-an-ornament station.”
Carlos looks over and finds T.K. hunkered down by that very table, laughing and smiling as he helps a couple kids glue pompoms and sequins to colored paper. It’s adorable and Carlos’ heart melts a little at the sight.
“See? That look right there. You’ve got it bad. You want him to jingle your ba—“
“I’m going to remind you that I’m your HR rep and you probably shouldn’t finish that sentence,” he says quickly.
“Fine.” She rolls her eyes. “But you two did look pretty cozy in the break room earlier. The great branzino war is over I take it?”
“Yeah we had a good talk,” Carlos says.
She clears her throat. “You can say thank you anytime now you know.”
He furrows his brow. “For what?”
“For making you do Festive Friends and fixing your broken heart.”
“My heart was not broken,” he scoffs.
“You have been acting like you’re in the last ten minutes of a Hallmark movie for weeks. Time to finally realize you’re in love and kiss under the mistletoe,” Lexi tells him.
“Just because we’re friendly now doesn’t mean we’re going to kiss.”
“Okay. Sure. Believe whatever you want.”
There’s a massive influx then from a church group and thankfully the matter is dropped for the rest of the night.
On Friday Carlos stops at home to change his clothes before heading to a local bar for their holiday party and the big Festive Friends reveal. He puts on a pair of dark jeans and winces when he pulls on the ugly sweater that Owen insisted they all wear. As far as they go, his is pretty tame, albeit with a bit more sparkle and pizazz than he usually goes for. It says Feliz Navidad in tinseled letters with some primary colored pom poms decorating the rest for good measure. It had been part of a family white elephant a few years ago and has sat in the back of his closet since for good reason.
He gabs the box he wrapped up for T.K. on the way out the door. It’s nearly as brightly colored as his sweater. Generally he tries for a more sedate theme in wrapped gifts, but T.K. is so vivacious and colorful that he broke into the stash of wrapping paper he usually saves for his nieces and nephews.
He’s nervous as he drives and he can’t quite put his finger on why. Is it because he wants T.K. to like his gift? Because things between him and T.K. have shifted in a more positive direction and his stupid heart can’t quite stop believing that tonight might be like that first night at the honky tonk? Is it because he feels very stupid in this sweater and he really hopes everyone else obeyed Owen’s instructions from the email invite?
Probably all of it.
Ah well. At least if things don’t go well there will be liquor around to help drown his sorrows.
There’s immediate relief when he walks in through the doors of the bar and sees holiday themed knit-ware all over. “Hey Carlos, glad you came,” Owen says, greeting him at the door in a sweater with a massive reindeer head on the front.
“Mr. Strand,” Carlos says, giving him a nod.
“Carlos we’ve been over this. You can call me Owen,” Owen says, a tinge of good natured exasperation in his tone.
“Yes, right, sorry” Carlos says, embarrassed. Didn’t he just chide Mateo for the same thing last week? Somehow this seems different. And definitely a weird way to address the man who fathered his most recent hookup.
“Go ahead and grab a drink, there’s hors d’oeuvres, I highly recommended the stuffed mushrooms, and then when the time feels right make sure you deliver your gift to your Festive Friend,” Owen says brightly. Then he leans close. “I got Judd a new belt. Italian leather, handcrafted, this thing is a masterpiece. He is gonna love it!”
“I’m sure he will,” Carlos agrees.
“Oh! Nancy! Come on in!” Owen gives Carlos a pat on the shoulder and moves past him to greet her.
Carlos says hello to Judd and his wife Grace, his eyes searching the room and finally landing on T.K. who is standing at the bar chatting with Mateo. Carlos’ heart flutters at the sight of him even as he tries to figure out what the heck is knitted on the back of his sweater. It appears to be a long, yellow tail, but that can’t possibly be right, can it? He takes a breath and then abruptly loses courage and goes to find Lexi instead. “Nice earrings,” he says when he gets to her table.
“Thanks,” she says, pushing her hair back so he can see them better. “They’re from my ‘Festive Friend’ Marjan.”
“Great,” Carlos says as he grabs a chip from a bowl on the table. “Did you give Paul your gift?”
“Yes, he is thrilled with the crime novels I got him. He hasn’t read that author yet so hopefully he likes them.” She gives him a look. “Why do you still have T.K.’s?”
“I haven’t seen him yet,” Carlos says defensively.
“You mean you saw him and you’re too chicken to go over there because you’re having feelings and don’t know what to do with them,” she says bluntly. “Are you going to ask him out when you give it to him?”
“I—I don’t know,” Carlos says. “That seems pushy.”
“You two were practically making out in that break room.”
“We were literally sitting three feet apart,” Carlos says dryly.
“Fine. You were emotionally making out.”
He wrinkles his nose. “That’s not a thing.”
“I think you should ask him. It’s Christmas. The season of miracles. And wishes. And Santa shit. This is your chance!” she says enthusiastically.
“How much have you had to drink?” he asks.
She scoffs. “This isn’t drunkeness. It’s my Christmas wish that you grow a pair and ask T.K. out.”
“That is a terrible wish,” Carlos says.
“Well it is what it is. You wouldn’t want to break a girl’s heart at Christmas would you?”
He opens his mouth to respond but Paul calls Lexi’s name and beckons her toward him. “That’s my cue,” she says, hopping off her bar stool. “Gonna go kick Paul’s ass at darts. Good luck!”
And with that she’s gone, leaving Carlos alone with his feelings and his gift box. He stares at it for a moment and gives himself a stern pep talk. It’s a gift. Not a marriage proposal. If T.K. hates it, it’s whatever.
“Hey Carlos.”
He’s waited too long. He looks up to find T.K. standing on the other side of the table, a smile on his face. Carlos can now see the front of his sweater. Some kind of lizard smiles at him, clearly the front end of the tail he spotted before. Above it are the words “Merry Crickets.” It is truly the most hideous thing he’s ever laid eyes on, but somehow T.K. makes it look adorable.
“Hey,” he replies..
Excellent. Great. He’s crushing this.
“Nice sweater,” T.K. says, taking a sip of the drink in his hand.
“Thanks. This is some party. Your dad is quite the host.”
T.K. rolls his eyes, but there’s a fondness to it. “Just be grateful I talked him out of chartering a party bus. And roller skating.”
“Your dad thought our holiday party should be at a roller rink?”
“He was going with an 80’s holiday theme at first,” T.K. says. “It took a lot of bargaining to get him down to ugly sweater instead. I think he was an event planner in a former life.”
“He definitely has a flair for it,” Carlos agrees. He looks down at the present in front of him. He should have gotten a drink before doing this. “So um, actually, I’m your Festive Friend. Surprise. This is for you.”
He slides it across the table and T.K.’s eyes immediately light up. “Can I open it now?” he asks eagerly.
He looks like a kid on Christmas morning and it’s so endearing that Carlos can barely breathe. “Yeah, yes, it’s all yours.”
T.K. pulls off the bow and rips open the paper, lifting out the soft yellow sweatshirt inside. He doesn’t say anything for a moment and Carlos feels a flutter of nerves. “It’s—“
“The sweatshirt Harry Styles wore in New York last summer,” T.K. says. His tone is almost reverent, his thumbs moving back and forth to stroke the material. “Oh my god. I have Harry Styles’ sweatshirt.”
“I’m pretty sure it’s not the exact one he wore,” Carlos says, feeling sheepish. “But I know you like him and hoodies so it seemed right.”
“It must have taken forever for you to find this,” T.K. says.
“Oh, no, it was…it was no big deal,” Carlos says, omitting the entire night he spent on instagram combing through Harry’s outfits of the last few years and trying to find them for sale.
“Thank you Carlos,” T.K. says, sincere gratitude in his voice. “This is amazing. All your gifts were amazing.”
“I mean, that hat was kind of lame,” Carlos says, still embarrassed that he bought something so generic.
“No it’s great! I’m going to wear it the next time I go to an Astros game,” T.K. says, a twinkle of mischief in his eye.
Carlos chuckles. “Yeah good luck with that.”
“Did you get your last gift yet?” T.K. asks casually.
Carlos shakes his head. “Not yet.”
“Any guesses who it might be?”
He has no idea. There’s no one in the office that knows him well enough to send him cronuts besides Lexi and he knows she had Paul. “No,” he says. “Usually I’m pretty good at figuring this kind of thing out, but everyone in the office is so new I haven’t really been able to get a read on anyone.”
“Marjan?”
“She had Lexi.”
“Paul?”
Carlos looks around until he finds him standing in a corner next to a Christmas tree, laughing at something Lexi just said. “I don’t think so. He’s from Chicago, I doubt he would know about Twiggy’s.”
“Judd?”
“Something tells me he wouldn’t know about cronuts either,” Carlos says with a laugh. “I feel like it has to be someone who knows me pretty well, but Lexi is the only one—“
His eyes land on T.K.’s face and he knows. He can see it in his eyes and he feels stupid he didn’t realize it before when T.K. used that false casual tone. “You?” he asks in surprise. “You’re my Festive Friend?”
T.K. reaches into his back pocket and pulls out an envelope. “Merry Christmas,” he says as he hands it to Carlos.
Still in a little bit of shock Carlos carefully lifts the flap on the envelope to reveal a printed out email inside. “A cooking class?” he asks, looking up to search T.K.’s eyes.
T.K. nods, a flicker of nerves flashing over his face. “It’s bruschetta, pasta, and a dessert. A husband and wife team run it out of their home. I thought, I mean you obviously know how to cook, but I thought it might be fun.”
“It sounds amazing,” Carlos says genuinely. He’s always wanted to try his hand at homemade pasta.
T.K. nods and takes a breath. “I um, I got you two tickets. You can take whoever you want, but I—“ He runs his hands nervously over his jeans. “I know I fucked things up between us, so I was hoping that maybe this could be kind of a do-over for us. If you want?”
“Yes,” Carlos says immediately. It’s embarrassingly fast and absolutely gives away how badly he wants them to try again, but he doesn’t care. “Yes I would love a do-over.”
“Yeah?” T.K. asks, his eyes full of hope.
“Yeah,” Carlos says. A smile plays on his lips and he’s about to thank T.K. for his other gifts when something occurs to him. “You little shit!” he says incredulously. “You bought me those cronuts and then sat there and ate one like you had no clue who’d given them to me!”
T.K. sends him a wicked smile. “I was counting on your holiday generosity,” he says.
“How did you even know about that bakery?” Carlos asks.
“You mentioned it,” T.K. says. “I don’t know, it was the second or third time we hooked up. I saw a flyer for them on your fridge and you told me how good they were.”
“You remember that?” Carlos asks in surprise. After their blowup he’d convinced himself that he was just a warm body for T.K. to be with, another notch in his bedpost who’d meant nothing to him.
T.K. looks at him, his face serious. “I remember all of it Carlos.”
The words make his heart swell and he hysterically wonders if this is how the Grinch felt when he heard the Who’s singing on Christmas. “I remember too,” he says. “It was incredible.”
“That first night, in the honky tonk. Best bathroom hookup of my life,” T.K. tells him.
“Only bathroom hookup of my life,” Carlos says.
“Yeah, I know,” T.K. says with a roll of his eyes.
“How could you know that?”
“Because you kept looking around like it was the most unsanitary thing you’d ever seen in your life,” T.K. tells him. “So I made it my mission to make you forget all about it. Pretty sure I succeeded.”
Carlos flushes as he thinks about T.K.’s mouth and his hands and the way they felt on his body. “You definitely did.” His gaze drops to T.K.’s lips. “God, I want to kiss you so badly right now.”
T.K. smirks, clearly please that he’s turned Carlos on in the middle of this bar. “What’s stopping you?”
“Um the fact that all of our co-workers are here. And also your dad,” Carlos says with a laugh.
As if on cue Owen’s voice rings out over the crowd. “All right everyone!” He claps his hands a couple times. “If I could have everyone’s attention please! Thank you all for coming to the 126 Designs holiday party. I have a little surprise up my sleeve. Tonight, we are going to be participating in some holiday karaoke!”
A bar employee rolls a karaoke machine in out of nowhere to cheers from the crowd. “Did you know?” Carlos asks.
“No,” T.K. says. “But I can’t say I’m surprised.”
“Get on over here!” Owen encourages them. “Judd! Let’s hear a little Deck the Halls buddy!”
“Come on.”
T.K. reaches for Carlos’ hand and pulls him toward a side door. “Wait, what about karaoke?” Carlos asks.
“Do you really want to stay here and listen to my dad attempt a version of Santa Claus is Coming to Town?”
Carlos considers this. “Actually…”
T.K. laughs and tugs him again. “Come on Reyes.”
They step outside into the night, the door closing behind them. It’s quiet and the air has a slight chill. Nothing that would even hint at a white Christmas, but enough that it feels like the holiday season instead of the dead of summer. A few stars have managed to permeate the light pollution and the moon shines brightly above them.
The side of the restaurant is lit by a single streetlamp, giving them just enough light to see each other, but also the illusion of privacy from anyone else who might be walking by. T.K. leans against the brick of the wall and tugs Carlos toward him, dropping his hand so he can grab his waist, his thumb pressing into the crease between Carlos’ thigh and his hip through his pants. “Well,” T.K. says, the cocky ass smirk on his face that shoots something hot through Carlos’ veins. “Go ahead. Kiss away.”
Carlos looks around in fake concern. “Mmm, I don’t know. Someone could still see us out here.”
“Don’t worry,” T.K. pulls a sprig of mistletoe from his pocket and dangles it over their heads. “I swiped this from inside. Now you have to kiss me. Christmas rules.”
“Oh is that right?” Carlos asks with smile, pressing in a little closer, and lifting a hand to run it through T.K.’s hair before sliding it down to cradle the back of his neck.
“Definitely,” T.K. says.
Carlos doesn’t waste another second before leaning in and fitting their lips together. The sparks inside him whirl and dance before bursting into full on flames. It feels like coming home.
T.K. opens up and invites him in, their bodies coming flush together, searching for as much contact as possible. Carlos fists one hand into T.K.’s hair, the other landing solidly on his lower back and urging him closer, while T.K.’s roam everywhere, traveling Carlos’ biceps, his chest, his back, his ass, and everything in between.
Carlos slots a thigh between T.K.’s legs, pressing into him and T.K.’s head falls back against the wall, eyes closing as he lets out something between a groan and a sigh. Carlos smiles and uses the change in position to press kisses into the sensitive spot just below his ear. “I missed you,” he says in between breaths.
“I missed you too. Am I going to have to report this to HR?” T.K. asks.
Carlos pauses and pulls back, sending T.K. a withering look. “Haha,” he says dryly. “Thanks for reminding me that I’m going to have my hands full with this one in the new year.”
“My ass is quite a handful,” T.K. says with a smirk. “But you can handle it. It’s just a little bit of paperwork. And someone got you really nice pens for the holidays.”
“Yeah someone did,” Carlos says, poking him in the side until he squirms. “Speaking of paperwork, you owe me a thank you note for your gifts.”
T.K. bites his lip. “Why don’t you take me back to your place and I’ll do a little better than a thank you note?”
Fuck. Carlos swallows hard. “What about the party? Won’t your dad be upset?”
“I’m spending Christmas day with him. He’ll live.” He slides a finger along the waistband of Carlos’ jeans. “We can go back in if you really want to though. I do a mean rendition of Jingle Bell Rock. We can stand in there with all of our co-workers and you can try not to think about how good I’d make you feel if the two of us were in bed together.”
Carlos strokes a thumb across T.K.’s cheek. “As much as I would like to hear you sing Jingle Bell Rock, I think I’d rather take you home.”
T.K. gestures toward the street. “Then lead on Festive Friend.”
It’s the merriest Christmas Carlos has had in a long time.
#Tarlos#Tarlos Secret Santa#tarlossanta#tarlossanta23#Festive Friends#Office AU#Christmas#Secret Santa#Christmas Fluff
50 notes
·
View notes
Note
Carlos definitely told TK to hop on and TK hold on like a baby koala and Carlos carried him to bed and sat against the headboard with TK wrapped around him with his face buried in Carlos’ neck and just breathing each other and letting their scent mingle after that I believe Carlos helped TK bathe just like he said and they fell asleep holding hand with their foreheads touching
"I'm getting snot on your shirt," TK mumbles.
"It needed to be washed anyway," Carlos replies. He rubs TK's back slowly, palm sliding methodically up and down over the soft cotton of his hoodie.
TK sniffs, and Carlos tightens his arms around him. He's scared, too. It's an atomic bomb of bad news, and he's had far less time to process it than TK has. The idea of losing him has always terrified Carlos, no matter how it might happen, but this way seems particularly awful. Carlos isn't going to lie to TK and say he isn't scared. But they will tackle it together, like they'll tackle everything for the rest of their lives. Of that, Carlos is sure.
"I love you so much," he whispers.
TK makes a soft, hurt noise and buries his face more completely into Carlos's neck, tears leaving his skin damp.
"I love you, too," TK whispers back. "I didn't mean it. What I said before. Please don't leave me."
"Never," Carlos promises him. "Never ever, baby. You're mine."
TK nods.
Carlos kisses his cheek, leaning out of the hug so he can see TK's face. It's still red and swollen, streaked with tears, his eyes pink-rimmed and sad. Carlos takes his cheeks into his hands, using his thumbs to wipe some of the moisture away.
"Let's have a shower," Carlos suggests, because he can't let them sit here marinating in fear and heartbreak any longer. He's never been good at being still, he has to do something. "I'm all gross from work."
"You're not gross, you're perfect," TK argues, and for just a moment that makes him cry harder.
"Hey," Carlos murmurs to him, ducking down and not letting TK look away from him. He tracks his eyes, smiling at him when TK's gaze meets his.
"What?" TK asks.
"You are beautiful. And funny, and brave, and brilliant. You mean everything to me. Everything about you is my favorite thing. And you're all mine, okay? Forever."
TK sniffs again and nods. "Okay."
"Let's have a shower."
"You really do wanna bathe me, huh?" TK asks, finally cracking a smile through his tears.
Carlos brushes a few more tears off his cheek and then kisses his heated skin. "Yeah. I really do. You had an awful day. And then sat here for hours waiting for me. Let me take care of you."
TK nods. He stands when Carlos does, letting Carlos put an arm around his shoulders and give him a squeeze as they make their way toward the bathroom.
Carlos sits TK on the closed lid of the toilet. He starts the shower, angling the nozzle away from the door so water doesn't splash onto the tiled floor. TK blows his nose noisily, hiccupping once or twice and looking up at Carlos. He seems so small right now, the bright light of him so diminished, and Carlos likes him small sometimes, but not like this.
He unbuttons his own shirt, letting it fall off his shoulders and to the floor. When he steps closer, TK lifts his arms up like a little kid waiting to be undressed and Carlos chuckles fondly. He bends down, pushing up the hem of the maroon hoodie and getting it off over TK's head.
Carlos can't help leaning in further and pressing a kiss to TK's lips. TK hums softly into it, and stands when Carlos pulls gently at his hand. He undresses them both the rest of the way and then helps TK into the shower, taking only a moment to drink in the stunning sight of him. TK is the most beautiful thing he's ever seen, and despite the heaviness of this moment, Carlos is so excited to spend the rest of his life with this man.
TK holds out a hand, reaching for him, and Carlos takes it and steps into the shower after him. He moves in close, wrapping TK back up into his arms under the warm, soothing spray.
#911ls asks#i hadn't thought of Carlos actually getting to bathe him but this inspired me#911 lone star
118 notes
·
View notes
Text
WIP Wednesday
tagged by @strandnreyes, @paperstorm, @im-overstimulated-and-im-sad, @heartstringsduet, @redshirt2, @bonheur-cafe, @orchidscript, @lemonlyman-dotcom, @three-drink-amy, and @kiwichaeng. Thank you.
I've enjoyed this Valentine's Day spiciness we've had going on today, so let me add some more. Random note in the margin of my draft is . . . anyway I can make this about Valentine's Day (answer - tbd, have to look at my timeline).
He's been craving Thai food all day, and wondering if he can talk TK into ordering tonight instead of cooking, marshaling his arguments in the elevator, and proactively caving on asking for them to make it spicy. He can always add chili oil if he wants. He’s halfway through, “Hey baby, wanna order in tonight,” when he sees TK. Empirically TK isn’t doing anything particularly seductive. He’s got his head bent while he fastens his watch. But, he's wearing black jeans. The ones that cling to his thighs and ass. The ones that hug everything. The ones that he wears when he wants to derail Carlos's entire train of thought.
He stops, hand on the door, staring. TK looks up at the sound. "Hey baby."
He manages to focus long enough to close the door, stepping in to TK for a kiss. "Hey." The fabric of TK's shirt under his hands is soft and a little clingy, the kind of fabric that makes him want to pet at it, pet TK. "You look nice." He looks like sex. "Did I forget something? An anniversary?"
TK shakes his head, leaning up to bite lightly at the corner of Carlo's jaw. "I thought maybe we could go out tonight."
He pulls away far enough to look down at TK, and wonders if he's been broadcasting something he hadn't intended for TK to pick up. TK bites harder at the edge of his jaw and then soothes it with a kiss, and presses something into Carlos's hand. "Been a while since we had fun."
He frowns at TK, playing catch up. "You've been busy."
TK nods. "I know. And this weekend I cleared my calendar." He leans in to nip at Carlos's ear, and he sucks in a sharp breath. "I've missed you." TK slides a hand down to where Carlos is still holding whatever TK handed him and opens his palm out flat and Carlos obediently looks down to see what he's holding.
He looks up at TK sharply. It's the remote to a vibrating plug. The one that TK is holding in his hand. The one they haven't had time to play with in a while. TK kisses his way up Carlos's neck, a kiss punctuating each word. "Every. Good. Boy. Deserves. Fun."
He smirks, turning the remote over in his hand. "And you've been good?"
TK looks up at him from under his lashes. "So good." He steps in closer, nudging a thigh between Carlos's. "I thought you could put this in me, and then we could go out. We could make out on the dance floor, make everyone jealous. Then," he flexes his thigh into where Carlos is already half hard, "you can take me home and fuck me."
He dips his head, curving a hand around the back of TK's neck, licking along his collar bone where it's exposed by the loose collar of the shirt. "What if I can't wait that long? What if I want to fuck you in the club?" TK's breath hitches sharply. "Push you up against a wall." He runs a hand down TK's back to his ass, and then down, following the seam and pressing hard, just to hear TK moan. "You'll be slick and open for me, a little desperate." He pulls back enough to see where TK's biting his lips red. "You're already a little desperate for me."
TK breathes out. "Officer Reyes, I'm shocked. Are you suggesting we commit acts of public indecency?"
He tightens his grip. "Maybe you're enough to make a good man break his leash."
TK sways into him, and makes a discontented noise when Carlos's phone buzzes loudly. He doesn't take his eyes off TK as he digs it out of his pocket and glances at the screen. "It's Matt. He's parking. He has something he needs us to look at."
tagging @jesuisici33, @carlos-in-glasses, @guardian-angle22, @herefortarlos, and @lightningboltreader
40 notes
·
View notes
Note
19 for the prompt list <3
19. ‘it made me think of you.’
Did NOT expect this to be a little over 900 words, but I hope you enjoy it all the same <3
--
First Responder's Fair is home to many things; double fried foods, rigged carny games and at the moment, a very confused TK Strand.
"Wait," TK sucks his teeth, to which Nancy grimaces at. "You mean to tell me the sweet tea down here is actually," TK pauses. "Well, sweet?"
Nancy and Tommy share a look across the picnic table while TK takes another hearty sip. Nancy begs the question she didn't think she'd ever have to ask. "What made you think sweet tea wasn't sweet?"
"It never was up north, tasted more like dish water than anything."
Tommy, then, begs the question she didn't think she'd ever have to ask. "TK, why do you know what dish water tastes like?"
"My friend Cash used to work at the Sally's Diner back when we were in high school, bet me ten dollars that I wouldn't drink from the dish sink from the after lunch rush. He thought I couldn't, or more so, wouldn't do it." TK smiles smugly. "Guess who left Sally's that day ten dollars richer."
"And was out sick from school the following three days because he got food poisoning." Owen adds as he sits down, joining them at the table. His hands full with two corndogs and a frozen lemonade. "Had to rush him to the ER because he kept complaining about stomach pains."
"So I guess it wasn't a question of couldn't or wouldn't, but more of a shouldn't." Tommy jokes, breaking off a piece of her funnel cake.
"Nice to know that you taking up residence in the ER isn't just a Texas thing." Nancy rallies and TK feels like he's been attacked by all fronts.
"My newfound stomach of steel would argue it was worth it."
"It wasn't." Owen is quick to interject.
"Anyways," TK goes to change the subject. He points at the corndogs in Owen's hand. "Dad, corndogs, where?"
Owen tells him where the booth is and TK makes it his mission to scout it out. He stands up, and treks his way over. He sees both Isabella and Evie standing in line for cotton candy, alone. His eyebrows furrow when he doesn't see Carlos anywhere.
Last he saw them, Carlos was taking them to the ring toss in hopes of coming home with a new pet goldfish. For the girls, not TK, which Carlos made absolutely clear.
"Hey girls, where's Carlos?"
"Milk bottles." They both say at the same time. TK thanks them, and walks around until he finds the milk bottles. He sees Carlos before Carlos can see him. Even from a distance, he can see Carlos is uncharacteristically sweaty and his curls have started to break free.
As he walks up, he watches Carlos throw a baseball and raise his arms in cheer before he winces and lowers his right arm.
"Babe," TK says as he gets closer. Now that he's closer to Carlos, he can see the beads of sweat dripping down his face and the ring of it around the neckline of his shirt. TK's confused, it's hot out, as expected, it is Texas, after all; but it's not that hot. "What's going on?"
Carlos starts when he realizes TK is next to him. He was so focused on the pyramid of milk bottles in front of him. "Oh no," Carlos responds. "You weren't supposed to see, it was supposed to be a surprise."
"Here you are, sir." A man in a red and white striped shirt hands Carlos a stuffed orange lizard. Carlos goes to reach for it with his right hand but changes to his left hand.
"And this is for you." Carlos holds out the stuffed animal to TK who stares at it, slightly perplexed, slightly in awe and even more slightly in love.
TK reaches for it, and Carlos smiles at him like he's worth every curl unfurled. "Babe," He grabs Carlos' left hand, careful not to irritate the right one. He pulls them aside, out of the walk way and earshot of the carny. "Did you throw out your right arm trying to win me a stuff lizard?"
"It made me think of you," Carlos affirms, wiping at his face on his shirt sleeve. "I couldn't not get it. Who knew it would be level to training day for the academy." He rotates his arm, trying to gauge the pain.
"Well, this just means I get to give a slow, sensual massage later tonight." TK whispers into his ear.
"TK," Carlos smirks. He nods to the ring toss they're standing next to. "Not in front of the gold fish."
TK stares at the stuffed animal in his hands. It's eyes are a little too close together, and it's smile is a little crooked, but he loves it all the same. That said, TK begs the question he never thought he'd have to ask. "Babe, how much did you spend on this little guy?"
Carlos is silent, trying to think of the best answer. The last thing he wants to do is tell TK he spent close to ten dollars worth of quarters on a stuffed toy that probably cause ten cents to make. "Baby, you know my love for you is priceless."
TK rolls his eyes, but his smile really gives him away. "You're so cheesy."
Carlos grabs TK's hand again; he suddenly finds himself having a real hankering for corndogs. "You love it."
TK laughs, "Not really," He pulls Carlos is for a kiss that tastes like sugary sweet tea. "But I love you."
send me a soft fic prompt!
92 notes
·
View notes
Text
Hey y'all. Wednesday again, huh? Here's another snippet from ...chapter 12? 😬 Might be the first time I mention the most important OC in the story ;) And one of the few times the snippet is nothing but sweet haha.
thanks for tagging me @three-drink-amy @birdclowns @inkweedandlizards @inflarescent @alrightbuckaroo @jesuisici33
“Hi,” he says, unable to tone down the fondness in his voice.
“Hey,” TK echoes and smiles wider. His eyes looks greener today, a vast field in spring, that Carlos gets robbed of looking at longer when TK slides out of his arms.
“So I thought we could go to the Bronx Zoo,” TK says, already rummaging through the shoe shelf. “My parents used to take me after the divorce, because I was obsessed with the petting zoo and I knew how to throw temper tantrums. They had sheep and goats and I got to watch the baby alligators sail like little boats.”
Ignoring the last part, Carlos snorts. “You’re such a city kid.”
“Hey, I’m sorry we can’t all grow up in ‘small town’ Austin,” TK mocks with ait quotes no less. “As if you had a petting zoo in your backyard.”
“I did actually,” Carlos corrects him. “I grew up on a cattle ranch.”
TK lets his sneakers sink and his jaw goes slack. “Wait, how did I not know that? I have a right to hear all about you cuddling with cows and wearing a cowboy hat and dungarees.”
“I never wore dungarees.”
“You didn’t say anything about the cowboy hat though.”
For the second time today, Carlos thinks of his childhood home and envisions a bright summer day lying with TK in the tall grass, under the sky free of skyscrapers, rather than the cold, tight room he’s felt so lonely in the years before Arturo drew him out, and the years he locked himself back in after his cousin moved away.
Carlos walks in further, sliding off his own shoes and putting them neatly on the side before approaching TK and looping his thumbs through the belt loops of his khaki shorts. TK willingly lets himself be pulled in.
“I’ll trade you a photo of me with a cowboy hat if you show me an embarrassing photo of you as a kid," Carlos offers.
“Dude, do you really think I’m shy about photos of me? I could get my photo albums out and slot in the old home videos right away. Make popcorn and spend the next five hours listening to you telling me how cute I was.”
I tag whoever wants to play <3 (tag me back so I see) &
@reyesstrand @strandnreyes @carlos-in-glasses @whatsintheboxmh @herefortarlos @wtfuckevenknows @freneticfloetry @ambiguouspenny @goodways @lightningboltreader @lemonlyman-dotcom @ladytessa74 @fitzherbertssmolder @paperstorm @rmd-writes @welcometololaland @liminalmemories21 @chaotictarlos @cold-blooded-jelly-doughnut @thebumblecee @carlos-tk @wandering-night19 @noxsoulmate @orchidscript @theghostofashton
54 notes
·
View notes
Text
9-1-1 Fic Recs: Friends With Benefits Edition
[Buck/Eddie recs + a BONUS TK/Carlos rec]
all good things come to an end (but it's not the end) by wafflesofdoom (Rating: E, ~10,700 words)
“Okay, hear me out,” Buck said. "What if we have sex?”
[...]or, craving intimacy during quarantine, buck and eddie strike up a friends with benefits situation. because it couldn't possibly go wrong.
All This Love I’ve Borrowed by lobotomite (Rating: M, ~30,900 words)
Eddie insists he forgives Buck. He even does a convincing job of acting like it. But there's one thing Buck knows, and it's that things don't just go back to normal - not like that, not for him. So he sets about pushing Eddie into letting everything out so Buck can finally make it all up to him.
He didn't expect the making it up to involve the bedroom, but if that's what it takes, he can't say he minds.
Bad Neighbors by firstdegreefangirl (Rating: E, ~25,200 words)
Eddie's new neighbors are keeping him up all night. He calls on his best friend for a little taste of their own medicine.
bro·ken by kristen999 (Rating: M, ~32,100 words)
Forced to take shady side jobs to pay his bills, Evan Buckley doesn’t think he’s ever seen such rock bottom. Until he meets Eddie Diaz, a man even more desperate and alone. Season 3 AU.
Glue by prosperdemeter (Rating: T, ~85,500 words)
“It’s just…” Connor shrugged. “No offense, man, but… you’re twenty-five. Do you really want to be spending so much time falling for a guy with a kid?”
“I’m not falling for him.”
--
A month away from graduating the LAFD Academy, Evan Buckley gets introduced to new recruit Eddie Diaz and things certainly change for both of them after that. (A S1 rewrite)
Helping Hands by captainmintyfresh **WIP** (Rating: N/A, ~31,200 words)
When Buck told Eddie he missed sex he'd thought he'd maybe get some sympathy, or hell, a little bit of empathy, an 'I feel that, brother'. He thought he was someone who he could whine to about his sexless days. He definitely hadn't thought it would end with Eddie naked in his bed the morning after but, well, he's really not complaining.
i don't think that we should have friendly sex, anymore by wafflesofdoom (Rating: M, ~7,400 words)
it starts with a flood, swimming shorts, and a garbage bag - and it sort of spirals from there.
or, when buck's apartment floods, eddie gets a roommate, and finds himself in a friends with benefits situation with his best friend. it could only go swimmingly. get it? swimmingly.
I Hit the Accelerator (But the Car was in Reverse) by extasiswings & letmetellyouaboutmyfeels (Rating: E, ~68,100 words)
When Buck is forced to confront the truth about his breakup with Abby, having casual sex with his hot new coworker seems like the best rebound idea.
Unfortunately, that hot new coworker turns into his best friend. But best friends can keep having sex with each other, right?
There's no way this could possibly go wrong.
if I'm honest, it felt like love by allyasavedtheday (Rating: M, ~9,300 words)
“I- it felt good, right? And neither of us are really in a place to want to date right now but maybe. You said you needed comfort so maybe that’s all it has to be?”
“You mean this could be a…regular thing?” Eddie looks confused but not at all opposed to the idea which is more than Buck expects, honestly.
[...] Buck and Eddie try friends with benefits. It's great, easy, exactly what they need. Except for the fact they're in love with each other.
Stuck on Fast Forward (Throw Away the Blueprint) by extasiswings (Rating: E, ~42,800 words)
“Sounds like the problem is you think casual sex with a stranger or finding someone new to date are your only options.”
Eddie’s brow furrows. “Aren’t they?”
“I mean, there’s always…someone you already know. Who you’re already comfortable with.”
[Or: Frank gives Eddie therapy homework, Eddie misunderstands the assignment, and Buck is just a really supportive friend...right?]
upon reflection by jeremycarver (Rating: E, ~24,800 words)
Buck doesn’t think, just says, “Hey Eds, you wanna?” Half to wipe that caught-out look off his friend’s face and half because, well. Buck doesn’t not want to. It would be fun, something to do to pass some time in the most stressful month of everyone’s lives.
Eddie sits back so he’s between Buck’s thighs instead of on top of him and is slow to answer. Buck waits, and finally he answers, “Should we?”
or, Buck and Eddie get into a friends with benefits situation that quickly spirals out of control.
We’re Just a Matter of Time by zeppazariel **WIP** (Rating: E, ~181,100 words)
"He's staying, you know," Eddie murmurs. "He didn't even—we never even discussed it. It's like it's a foregone conclusion that he's just going to...stick around the whole way and help with everything."
"Well," Hen says slowly, eyes sparkling, "of course."
Eddie huffs a laugh. "Right. Of course."
yearning from wanting you by farfromthstars (Rating: M, ~18,300 words)
[...] while christopher is at camp, buck and eddie strike up a friends with benefits situation. it doesn't really get complicated until the kid comes back.
*BONUS FIC*
(A Buck/TK friends-with-benefits fic featuring: endgame Buddie and Tarlos; Buck & TK sharing a braincell but also being good friends through their mutual heartbreaks; Eddie and Carlos being jealous; and happy endings all around)
Friends With Benefits by scarletmanuka (Rating: E, ~29,600 words)
What if TK and Carlos broke up after the whole 'this is my friend, TK' incident?
TK is in LA for a few weeks to get away from everything back home. He texts Buck, asking if he wants to 'get together'. Buck has just watched Eddie head off on a date with Ana, final proof that he'll never get to have the relationship that he wants with Eddie so he happily agrees.
But they both know that the other isn't the person that they want to be with. Dumbass and Dumbasser come up with a plan to show their true loves just exactly what they're missing out on.
#911 fic rec#911 abc#eddie diaz#evan buckley#buddie#911 on abc#fic rec#goneaway:911#911 lone star#911 lone star fic rec#tk strand#carlos reyes#tarlos
115 notes
·
View notes
Text
WIP Wednesday
Thank you for the tag, @lemonlyman-dotcom @thisbuildinghasfeelings @paperstorm @sznofthesticks @carlos-in-glasses @sugdenlovesdingle @birdclowns @heartstringsduet @actualalligator 💝
This is the beginning of a very self-indulgent fic that I have no idea if this will go anywhere-
“You want us to help?” TK asked.
His dad shook his head. “That’s okay. I think we got it between the two of us”. He lightly punched Judd on the shoulder. “Let’s punch it, Chewie”.
“I did not agree to that!” Judd called as he got up to follow Owen. “And this doesn’t make you Han!”
TK rolled his eyes- his dad could be such a dork- when he noticed the look on his boyfriend’s face. “Babe, you okay?” TK asked. “Does your lemonade taste alright?”
Carlos nodded. “It’s fine. I was just trying to decipher why your dad called Judd ‘Chewie’”.
“Chewie like Chewbacca,” TK told him. “It works cause Judd is so big, but my dad will call anyone that who’s taller than him- he wants to be Han Solo so bad”. This made TK chuckle, but the look on his boyfriend’s face told him that he had no idea what TK was talking about.
“What’s a Chewbacca?” Carlos asked, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
TK bit down on the inside of his cheek. He didn’t want Carlos to think he was laughing at him, but the way he asked that was the cutest thing TK had ever heard.
“Chewbacca, like from Star Wars, babe,” TK explained. “Big tall furry creature that walks on two legs”.
“Oh”. Carlos nodded. “Gotcha. I don’t really have a lot of Star Wars knowledge”.
“Thats okay, baby” TK said as something else occurred tk him. “Hey Carlos, what’s your favorite movie?”
“Ummm….” Carlos thought about it for a minute. “I don’t know. I’ve never thought about it”.
“Really?” TK asked. “Is there anything you’ve seen a lot?”
“Not really”. Carlos shrugged. “I guess I don’t have one”.
It’s late- but open tag if you haven’t posted something and still want to 🫶
26 notes
·
View notes
Text
Whumptober #22
Whoops, I missed it by like an hour. It's fine!
My sincerest apologies to any Texans reading this, I have definitely just fudged all of the geography (and we’re just going to pretend that the 126 responds to any call anywhere near Austin) :’)
xxx they never saw us coming, ‘til they hit the floor
“9-1-1, what’s your emergency?” There isn’t an immediate answer, but Grace thinks she can hear someone breathing. “Hello, can you hear me?”
There’s a short pause and then, “Grace? Thank god, I hoped it’d be you.”
Grace’s stomach drops and she sits up a little straighter. “TK, is that you?”
“Yeah, it’s me. Listen, I--we need help. We got in an accident and Carlos, he--he’s stuck, I tried to get him out but I couldn’t do it and he’s stuck and I--”
“Hey, hey, hey. TK, slow down honey. Where are you?”
“I--I’m not sure, exactly. Uh, we were headed--headed west on 71, maybe fifteen minutes outside of Austin?” His voice is taut, and Grace knows the tone well. It’s the kind of tone that comes when someone is on the verge of panic and trying very hard not to be. “Is that--will they be able to find us? I don’t--”
“That’s good enough, TK,” Grace says, typing quickly. “Help is on the way. Can you tell me what happened?”
“The car rolled. Something darted into the road, just came out of nowhere. Carlos swerved to miss it--oh, god, Grace!”
“Hey, TK. TK, I need you to listen to me. The best thing you can do for you and for Carlos is to stay calm. Take a deep breath for me. Are you still in the vehicle?”
TK takes a deep, shaky breath. “No. I was able to get out.”
“Okay, good. Are you injured?”
“No, Grace, I’m okay. I’ve got a--a burn on my arm, from the airbag I think, but I’m okay.”
“What about Carlos? Is he conscious?”
“Yeah, he, um. He says he’s not hurt but Grace, he’s stuck and I’m--” He lowers his voice. He sounds like he’s on the verge of tears. “People who are trapped in a vehicle have higher rates of critical injury. Broken bones, blood loss…Where are they?”
“The 126 is on their way to you, TK.” Grace speaks calmly, doing her best to sound reassuring. “They’ll be there soon. Can you--TK?”
The line disconnects suddenly, and Grace’s heart jumps. She immediately reaches for her phone, pulling up TK’s number so that she can call him.
It goes straight to voicemail.
xxx
“Grace? Grace, are you there?” TK looks at his phone. No signal. “Damn it!”
“What’s wrong, TK?”
TK takes a deep breath, trying to calm himself down a little before he turns to Carlos, walking back to the wrecked car. “Lost signal. How are you doing, you still breathing okay?”
“Yeah, I’m okay,” Carlos says, and smiles a little. “Ready to be out of this car. What about you, are you okay?”
“I’m fine, babe,” TK says. It’s mostly true. His chest and stomach hurt a little, but it’s probably just from the seatbelt. “Grace said the 126 is on their way, it shouldn’t be long now.”
“Good…Hey, I’m really sorry I totaled your car.”
“Carlos, the car is the least of my worries right now.” TK can’t help the anxious edge to his voice. He looks down, running his fingers nervously through his hair. “It’s replaceable. You’re not. You’re sure you’re not feeling dizzy? No pain?”
“TK, look at me.” TK looks up to see Carlos staring at him, brown eyes wide, brow pinched. “I promise you if anything starts to feel wrong, I’ll tell you.”
TK is about to answer when his attention is drawn by the distant sound of sirens and he lets out a long sigh of relief. “Here they come, thank god. We’re gonna get you out of there.”
The engine has barely stopped before Owen is off of it and running to TK’s side.
“Hey, TK, you okay?”
“I’m fine, Dad,” TK says. “We need to get Carlos out of the car.”
Owen lifts his eyebrows. “We don’t need to do anything.”
“Dad, I can help. I want to help, he’s my husband, I--”
“I know,” Owen interrupts, putting his hands on TK’s shoulders. “I know, believe me. But right now, you are not a first responder, you are a victim. You need to let us work.”
TK feels a surge of frustration. “I am not a victim.”
“Hey, TK.”
TK turns at the sound of Tommy’s voice. She nods at Owen.
“I got ‘im, Cap.”
Owen nods back, then turns to the 126 crew. “Alright, let’s get started on that extraction.”
“Come on, TK,” Tommy says gently. “Let’s get you checked out.”
“I’m fine Captain Vega. I need to be with Carlos, I--”
“Hey, hey. We’ve got ‘im. Nancy is over there making sure he’s alright while they get him out. Now I need to make sure you’re alright, too. Bandaging that arm, for instance.”
TK looks down at the nasty burn on his left forearm and sighs. “Fine.”
It’s with no small share of reluctance that he allows Tommy to lead him to the back of the ambulance, though he keeps his eye on the car and the 126 and Carlos, barely paying attention as Tommy takes his vitals.
“Heart rate’s a little elevated,” Tommy says, “but you’re under a lot of stress, that’s to be expected. I’m gonna wrap that arm up for you now, okay?”
TK hisses a little as she wraps a bandage around his forearm and she looks up at him.
“Sorry about that. All done.”
“Thank you,” TK says, standing, ignoring the pain in his middle as he does so. He can ask about that later. Right now, he just wants to be as close to Carlos as he can. Tommy follows him, bringing a gurney along as they move nearer to the car.
It takes another ten minutes to get Carlos out. He’s got some scrapes and bruises, but as they load him onto the gurney he, miraculously, actually seems fine, smiling and even cracking a joke. The relief is almost too much for TK, and he actually gets lightheaded as they get onto the ambulance.
“You’ll both need to be checked out at the hospital,” Tommy says as they start toward the hospital, “but your vitals look good, Carlos. The two of you are extremely lucky. I’ve seen a lot of car accidents in my time, and not many people are able to just walk away.”
“We’re gonna be okay, baby,” Carlos says, looking over at him as best he can with the neck brace on and reaching over to take TK’s hand in his own. He frowns a little. “Hey, TK, you alright? You’re clammy.”
“Uh…” TK takes a deep breath, then closes his eyes, leaning forward to put his head between his knees. “I’m a little dizzy. It’ll pass…”
He feels a hand on his arm and Tommy says, “TK, I’m gonna take your vitals again.”
He blacks out for a second as the blood pressure cuff tightens on his arm. He’s distantly aware of Carlos’s voice.
“TK? What’s wrong?”
And then Tommy’s, in that professional tone she gets on serious calls. “His pulse is high and his blood pressure is dropping. He might be bleeding internally. TK, you with me?”
And then everything fades.
xxx
#whumptober2023#no.22#vehicular accident#911 lone star#fic#car crash#collapse#tk strand#carlos reyes#911 ls fic#whumptober#my writing#my fic#whump#whump fic#tarlos
39 notes
·
View notes
Text
Sick baby cow
Summary: TK wakes up to a hot boyfriend.
Pairing: TK x Carlos
Word count: 1.1k
Warnings: sick character
a/n: So, this is just a quick one to get back into writing. Hope you like it :)
Masterlist
TK wakes up in the middle of the night. Not due to the raging storm that held Austin captive for a few days now. Not because of the rattling windows, the loud clashes, or the lightning that is as bright as broad daylight. Not even because of the annoyingly dripping faucet in their bathroom that held him awake for days on end.
No, the reason is a whole other one.
Tk feels hot. Not the kind of hot that you get right after waking up when your body slowly comes to terms with functioning at its fullest. And not the kind of hotness you feel on hot summer nights when the blanket feels suffocating but sleeping without one is awkward.
No, TK feels hot, but solely on his back. He’s lying on his side, facing away from his fiancé. But Carlos is not that far away, merely a few inches at most. Tiredly TK rubs his eyes, blinking sluggishly and tired until he feels like his eyes can keep open for more than a second. His eyes first travel to his phone. He taps it, noticing that the time’s something past two in the morning. Then he let out a sigh. He just finished a twenty-four-hour shift with back-to-back calls and little to no sleep. Carlos had the day off, and TK is not saying that the man did nothing all day; he knows Carlos did. It’s not his nature to just sit around and wait for him to come back. Carlos is a person that gets restless if he’s taskless for too long. TK knows he worked out because he saw the dirty clothes in the hamper. Carlos also did the dishes, cooked a few meals for the coming shifts for them both, and probably cleaned the loft.But now TK is a little annoyed because Carlos dares to wake him up like this, unconsciously, of course. It’s not like he means to, and TK knows it.
TK turns a little and nudges Carlos carefully before he speaks. “Carlos, babe, scoot away. You’re too hot to cuddle.” All Carlos does is mumble; otherwise, he’s lying still on the spot, his arms still somewhat slung around TK’s hips.“Babe, come on,” Tk whines tiredly, grabbing Carlos’s arm to push it away, but he halts for a second. Even his arm feels pretty warm. Tk furrows his brows, sits up, and lets Carlos’s arm slip into his lap. Then he turns to switch on the bedside lamp just to have a closer look at Carlos.
The man does look kind of pale. His usually brown skin is ashen, a sheen of sweat covering his forehead. Even his bed hair, which TK usually adores, looks pretty sad. “Babe?” Carefully, he lets his fingers glide over the hot skin of Carlos’s forehead and cheek, trying to rouse his man. But it’s no use; Carlos doesn’t make a sound and doesn’t move. He just keeps lying flat on his stomach.TKs hand wanders from his face to his neck, finding it equally hot. Then it wanders further over his back. The white tank top is clammy to the touch, soaked with sweat. “Babe, wake up. Carlos! Come on; you have a fever. You’re burning up.”
“Mhh…” Carlos moans in his sleep, his arm instinctively tightening around TK’s thighs.“Baby, come on.” He shakes Carlos’s arm, strokes his cheek and hair until Carlos’s brown eyes slowly make an appearance. He blinks a few times, sluggishly and tired. TK can see the fight in him, the way his eyelids are so heavy they slip shut every few seconds. “Wha-?” His voice is silent, wrecked, really. He sounds hoarse, and the tiredness in his voice almost makes it sound like he hasn’t been sleeping for a very long time. “Hey, babe. How are you feeling?”
“Tired… What’s up?”
“You have a fever.”
“Huh?” Carlos blinks a few more times as if he can’t really comprehend what TK just told him. “Yeah. So, anything else despite being tired?” TK studies his lover’s face. Carlos’s brows are furrowed, face a mask of concentration, of thinking. “Body hurts.” Carlos rolls on his back with a groan. “Okay. Give me a second.” TK is out of bed and at the dresser in seconds. He grabs a pair of boxers and a new shirt. He looks at the material and then changes his mind, throwing it back where he got it from. He quickly slips into the bathroom, searching for something to help with the fever, and wets the washcloth that lies on the rim of their bathtub. Then he’s back by Carlos’s side. “Sit up, yeah? I’ll help you.” It’s a bit of trouble. Carlos is sluggish and slow, lacking the strength he usually sports in the morning. Even on the night of TK’s proposal, he had more energy. But lastly, they manage, and TK can even coax Carlos out of his damp clothes and into the new Boxer shorts. Then he somehow manages to sit Carlos on the ground and quickly strips the bed of the sheets. His lover’s side is drenched, and TK feels he might feel better in clean and dry sheets. “Hey, babe. How about some medicine? And a quick bath?”
“NO bath. Tired.” Carlos whines, his eyes slightly open, cow eyes appearing with a cute pout. TK has to smile a bit and strokes his lover’s cheek. “I know. I brought a washcloth.” He gives Carlos the medicine and tries to wash the hot skin as fast as possible, which Carlos doesn’t make easy for him. He squirms and moans the whole time, claiming to be cold, which the shorter man promptly ignores and softly shushes Carlos. “Tk… Bed? ‘M tired.”
“Yeah. Yeah, ok.” TK smiles again and helps Carlos up. The man stumbles a bit, and TK is sure that he would have fallen on his face if not for his reflexes to grab him around the waist and his arm. He guides him the few feet back to bed, helps him to lie down, and pulls the fresh blanket up to his hips. “All right. Feel better a bit?”
“Hmm…” Tk watches as Carlos closes his eyes and quickly slips back into a deep sleep. He’s slow and rounds the bed to slip back into it. This time when Carlos gravitates to him to snuggle, TK opts for throwing his own shirt on the ground and letting his sick boyfriend cuddle him. Maybe it will help him feel better in the morning.
63 notes
·
View notes
Text
Remember when I was doing flufftober? When that was a thing? That's still a thing... I just got a little bit (or a lot) behind on schedule.
So here is Tarlos @flufftober day 10: love of my life
Only a month and a bit late! I still plan on finishing all 31 fics - eventually (at least before the end of the year - hopefully.
The washing machine chronicles (AO3)
Owen's washing machine floods his house and he ends up crashing at the tarloft.
---
“I just walked through the door downstairs, I’m waiting for the elevator now.” Carlos told TK who had, for some reason, called him to ask where he was when he knew exactly what time his shift ended and what time that meant he would be home. “Which just got here. Why?”
“No reason. Just missed you today.”
It was their five month wedding anniversary and even though they’d both scheduled the day off so they could celebrate together, a 6AM phone call that morning had ruined their plans.
Carlos’ sergeant had apologised but explained that with several of his co-workers either sick or injured, they really needed him. So he had reluctantly rolled out of bed, put his uniform on, and kissed TK goodbye with a promise to call at lunch.
He suppressed a yawn as the elevator door opened and he stepped out into the hallway and made his way to their door.
Only before he could even think of opening it, the door opened and TK stepped out, sliding it closed behind himself.
“Hey baby. How was your day? Did you arrest any bad guys?” He slid his arms around Carlos’ waist and pulled him in for a kiss.
“Uh… no not really... Mostly got caught up on paperwork this afternoon. What’s going on?”
“Nothing. Can’t I just greet the love of my life when he finally gets home from a hard day’s work?”
Carlos frowned.
“Why do you sound like a 1950s housewife? Are you going to fetch my pipe and slippers next?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. I’m just happy to see my husband.”
“You saw me this morning. You know, when we woke up in the same bed. Like every morning.”
“Well… not every morning.” TK argued. “When we’re on opposing schedules sometimes we barely see each other, let alone sleep in the same bed.”
“TK.”
“Yes.”
“What are you hiding in our apartment? Please don’t tell me you lost Lou again.”
“No, no I know exactly where Lou is.”
“Is he in our bed again? You let him sleep on my pillow again, didn’t you?” Carlos sighed.
“No, no, I promise Lou is not in our bed and your pillow is 100% lizard free.”
“Ok then what’s going on? What did you do?”
“What makes you think I did anything?” TK replied, mildly offended, and Carlos just raised an eyebrow at him. “Fine.” He sighed. “Promise me you won’t get angry.”
“You’re making me nervous. What happened?”
“Nothing bad. Well… not to us.”
“TK…”
“I know we had a whole night planned and you were probably looking forward to it, and I was too but I couldn’t just do nothing.”
“Ok…”
“My dad’s house flooded.”
“Flooded?”
“The washing machine… flooded half the house. I’m not sure what happened exactly.” TK told him. “But the house is basically unfit to live in for the next few days.”
“Ok… I feel like I’m still missing some information here.”
“Dad texted me earlier to tell me he was going to a hotel and that he’d see me at work tomorrow. So I called him to ask what was going on, and he explained the washing machine disaster.” TK explained. “And I kind of offered him to come stay with us until they’ve dried out the house. I know I should have discussed it with you first but you were at work and I didn’t want dad to go to a hotel and…”
“TK. Take a breath.” Carlos interrupted him and leaned in for a kiss. “It’s fine. Your dad is always welcome at our place. Did you really think I was going to get angry over this?”
“No… but I know you were probably looking forward to some quiet time together tonight after our plans for today fell through.”
Carlos shrugged.
“We have the rest of our lives to enjoy being married to each other, I think we’ll survive having your dad stay with us for a few days.”
“Are you sure you don’t mind?”
“Of course. It’s not what I had in mind for today, but it’s fine. It’s not like the rest of the day has gone according to plan anyway.”
TK gave him a commiserating look.
“I know. But we’ll make up for it next month. And for our one year anniversary we’re going to Tuscany. For at least two weeks.”
“Really? Do you think you can live without seeing your lizard baby that long?” Carlos teased and TK rolled his eyes.
“Dad and Mateo can look after him. And we can facetime.” He replied. “And he’s our lizard baby. Don’t think you can get out of your parental duties, officer Reyes.” He poked Carlos’ chest for emphasis.
“Wouldn’t dream of it. I promise to uphold my duties as a lizard parent.” Carlos said as if he was swearing on a bible in court.
“Just as long as you don’t have to touch or feed him, right?”
“I fed him last week!”
“You dropped a cricket in front of his little cave and told him to deal.”
“Well he did, didn’t he? It’s good to teach kids independence. You baby him.” Carlos said, trying very hard not to laugh. They’d had the same mock argument many a time before and it usually ended in fits of giggles.
“I love him. You’re still scared of him.” TK argued. “And don’t try to deny it. I’m married to a cop, I know all kinds of ways to make you admit the truth.”
“Oh yeah? Like what?”
“I’m not going to share my tactics with you.”
Carlos laughed and in a split second he spun TK around, back to his chest, and pinning his arms to his sides like he was subduing an unruly suspect.
“What was that about sharing tactics?” he said teasingly and dropped a kiss in TK’s neck.
“You using your police training on me is not fair.” TK complained but made no effort to try and get out of Carlos’ grip.
“Really now?”
“Yeah, you shouldn’t use it on innocent civilians.”
“Good thing there are none of those around, then.” Carlos teased.
TK made a sound that was something between a laugh and an indignant huff.
“You’re mean today. Work makes you mean.”
“Unexpected work does.” Carlos corrected him. “Because sometimes when you plan a day of celebrating your wedding anniversary with your very sexy husband… you get called into work to catch up on paperwork, and then when you get home, your father in law is there.”
“I know…” TK sighed, leaning back against Carlos’ chest when he loosened his grip and just wrapped his arms around his waist instead, resting his chin on his shoulder. “I’ll make it up to you, I promise.”
“Hmm… I’ll look forward to it.”
Suddenly the door to the loft slid open and Owen appeared in the doorway, killing their moment.
“Oh. Sorry to interrupt guys, but I was going to order food. I’m thinking pizza. After the day I’ve had, I need carbs. And cheese.” He announced. “Oh and hi Carlos, welcome home. Sorry to crash your night.”
“It’s fine. You’re always welcome here.”
“Mi casa es su casa, right?” Owen said, seemingly thrilled over using a Spanish phrase in front of Carlos.
“Yeah, something like that.” Carlos smiled before letting go of TK and following them into the house.
After checking Lou was indeed where he should be, and telling TK to just go ahead and order for both of them, Carlos had a quick shower and changed into something more comfortable than his uniform.
He was tired and decided to take out his contacts and wear his glasses instead. In part because he knew TK liked it when he did, but also because he didn’t want to risk falling asleep wearing them again and waking up with sore eyes.
“Hey babe, pizza will be here soon. I ordered the veggie for you and the four cheese for me.” TK greeted him when he walked out of the bedroom.
Carlos nodded.
“Because you couldn’t decide which one you wanted and this way you can have some of both?”
“The perks of having a husband.” TK joked. “Well, one of them.” He added with a wink.
A little while later, the food was delivered and the three of them settled on the sofa for a night in front of the TV.
TK was in charge of the remote, which suited Carlos just fine. It meant he could relax and snuggle up to him while enjoying his food, while TK flicked through the channels roughly twelve times before eventually settling on a sitcom rerun that didn’t require much brainpower to understand.
“For god’s sake TK will you just pick something already?” Owen snapped after TK’s third or fourth round through all of the channels.
“I’m trying! There is nothing.”
“Just leave it at this then. CSI. Everybody likes that.”
“Oh no. No crime shows in this house. This one will keep picking it apart and complain about how they’re doing it wrong.” TK said, nodding at Carlos who just shrugged.
“That’s because they always do.” He argued. “And you’re one to talk. When Louisa mentioned she liked that hospital show, you spent an hour explaining to her all the medical details they got wrong, based on one episode you’d seen.”
“That one episode was really bad!” TK protested and looked at his dad for support but Owen was just looking at them with a wistful smile on his face. “What?”
“You know your mom used to do that too with courtroom scenes in tv shows. She probably still does. God help Enzo if he likes courtroom dramas.” He said with a chuckle. “On one of our first dates we went to see a movie that was popular back then. I don’t even remember what it was… but one of the characters was a lawyer and there were various courtroom scenes and talk about legal stuff.” He smiled. “She ranted about everything that was wrong with those scenes the entire rest of the night. I wanted to get to know her better but she was too busy talking about procedures and how you’re supposed to behave in court. In the end I just kissed her so she would stop talking.”
“Always an effective method.” Carlos commented, grinning at TK.
“I think that’s when I fell in love with her for real. Someone who could get so passionate about legal jargon when she was only a few years out of law school herself. She always had that spark.” Owen said and sighed. “She’s the love of my life. We’re just… too much alike.” He settled on. “Two workaholics together… just doesn’t work.”
“I’m sorry Owen.” Carlos told him.
“No, no, don’t be ridiculous. We had some good years together and something amazing to remind us of that.” He nodded at TK.
“Wait, I’m a something now?”
“Yeah.” Carlos agreed, ignoring TK’s comment. “That is pretty amazing.”
The rest of the night, Owen spent sharing stories about the early days of his and Gwyn’s relationship, as well as some of TK’s childhood.
And even though he loved hearing about little TK, Carlos was ridiculously comfortable in his husband’s arms, and with a full stomach, he was struggling to keep his eyes open.
“Babe, just go to bed if you’re tired.” TK ran a hand through his hair. “You’ve had a long day.”
“I’m fine.” Carlos mumbled, closing his eyes and leaning into TK’s touch.
“You’re falling asleep on me.” TK argued and Carlos was vaguely aware of him turning off the TV. “Come on, let’s go to bed. I’m tired too. I’ll go get you a pillow and a blanket, dad.”
Carlos made himself get up and go brush his teeth while TK helped Owen get set up on the sofa. After he was done he was tempted to just slip into bed and go to sleep but he figured it would be rude not to at least say a quick goodnight.
“You know where everything is…” TK trailed off, smiling when Carlos hugged him from behind and sleepily told him to come to bed. “Just help yourself if you want anything.”
“I’m good. Good night guys.” Owen said, fluffing up his pillow. “Just pretend I’m not here. Do what you always do. I’ve got earplugs.” He held up the items. “Buttercup snores.”
TK rolled his eyes.
“Good night dad.”
“Good night Owen.” Carlos said and gently pulled TK into the bedroom and closed the doors behind them.
He got into bed and got comfortable under the covers while TK plugged in his phone and turned off the lights.
“Good night babe.” He mumbled when he felt the mattress dip beside him and TK wrapping his arms around him.
“Hmm yeah it could be.” TK pressed closer to Carlos, peppering kisses over his neck and chest while playing with the waistband of his sweats.
“What are you doing? TK, no.” Carlos bat his hands away. Suddenly he was wide awake.
“Why not? It’s our anniversary.”
“I know. But your dad is right there outside this door.”
“So? You heard him, he has earplugs.” TK’s hands slipped back under Carlos’ sleep shirt.
“TK, don’t.” Carlos pushed his hands away again and moved away from him as far as their mattress allowed him to. “It feels wrong. Disrespectful.”
“Disrespectful?” TK repeated. “Are you for real? He’s a guest in our house.”
“Exactly!” Carlos hissed. “I love you but I just can’t do this now. Not with your dad 10 feet away.”
“I think it’s a little more than 10 feet.” TK muttered, clearly unhappy with the situation.
“I’ll call Ana tomorrow. Diego will know a guy to help with your dad’s house. And washing machine.” Carlos promised, taking TK’s hand and rubbing his thumb over his wedding band. “Between my mom and Diego, I don’t think there’s anyone left in Austin they don’t know. We’ll fix it.”
TK huffed and rolled onto his back.
“Cockblocked by a washing machine.”
The next morning when Carlos woke up, TK had already gotten up. He took a few minutes to psych himself up, grateful for the late start his captain had offered him, and went in search of his husband.
He found TK and Owen sitting at the dining table, both cradling a mug and looking serious. When TK noticed him, his expression changed into a soft smile.
“Morning baby.” He tilted his head up for a kiss and Carlos was more than happy to oblige. “I was just telling dad about the arrangements we made.”
“Arrangements?”
“Yeah, with your parents.”
“Look, guys, if I’m getting in your way, I’ll just go to a hotel for a few days.” Owen told them. “My shift starts in an hour so I have to get going soon but I’ll find somewhere to stay for tonight. It’s fine.”
“Nonsense.” Carlos said immediately. “You’re always welcome here.”
“We just thought you’d be more comfortable staying with Gabriel and Andrea. They have actual spare rooms. With actual beds. Our sofa is comfy, but not that comfy.” TK added.
“I slept fine last night.” Owen argued. “This sofa beats the firehouse bunks any day.”
“I already talked to Andrea. She’s expecting you after your shift tonight.” TK told him, getting up from the table, handing him his bag and steering him to the door. “And Carlos will call Ana’s husband to work something out for the house, and you’ll be back in your own bed in no time.”
“Are you trying to get rid of me?” Owen said, amused.
“Of course not. Bye dad. We’ll let you know when we’ve figured something out for the house.” TK pushed him out the door and quickly closed it behind him before turning to Carlos. “When does your shift start?”
“Not until noon. Kendrick gave me a half shift to make up for calling me in yesterday.”
“Ok. Noon. I can work with that.” TK glanced at the clock and walked into their bedroom.
“I can work with that?” Carlos snorted. “And they say romance is dead.” He followed TK into the bedroom and saw him sitting down on Carlos’ side of the bed, his phone in hand. “Babe? What are you doing?”
TK held up a hand to signal to him to keep quiet.
“Hi, this is TK Reyes, Carlos Reyes’ husband. I just wanted to let you know he’s not coming in today. He’s got food poisoning. It’s not pretty. We think it was last night’s sushi.” He paused to listen to the other person’s reply. “Yeah that’s right, 363H20. Sergeant Kendrick, yes.” Another pause. “Alright thank you very much. Yeah I’ll tell him. Bye.” TK hung up and threw Carlos’ phone back on the nightstand. “Looks like you just got the day off.”
“Did you just fake me being sick?”
TK shrugged.
“Why not? It’s no big deal. You’ll just have miraculously recovered by tomorrow.”
Carlos shook his head in disbelief.
“You just lied to a police officer.”
“They can’t prove anything.” TK said, pulling Carlos down onto the bed with him, pushing him onto his back and slinging a leg over his while slipping a hand around his waist under his shirt. “I just want my husband to myself for one day so we can celebrate our wedding anniversary in style.” He leaned down and pressed a kiss to Carlos’ lips before moving to his neck. “The city of Austin can just deal.”
“And what do I tell people when I show up for work tomorrow and everything is fine?”
“Just tell them... You spent the whole day in bed and that thanks to your loving paramedic husband, you're feeling much better.” TK grinned and kissed him again. “And I know you hate lying so we better make sure it's the truth.”
36 notes
·
View notes
Note
hey desi! it's nice ask week, i hope you're well and don't mind me coming into your inbox :)
what's your favorite lone star episode?
who is your all time comfort character?
what's your favorite song/album right now?
Hello my sweetest, Rachel 💖!! Sweetie, the day I mind you coming into my inbox will be the day I am no longer a pansexual liberal, so not a chance of that ever happening 😂.
Ohh why would you ask me that!! Okay, favorite overall Lone Star episode, and not just for 1 or 2 scenes, has to be 3x13 "Riddle of the Sphynx". That episode just gave us sooo much good Tarlos! We got supportive and jealous/sassy and then understanding Carlos. We got TK attending meetings and doing what he has to do to take care of himself! We got so much tarlos physical affection and that amazing dining table scene!! I recently watched that episode again and that scene blows me away every time, Ronen and Rafa acted their butts off! We get tarlos communicating, even if it's messy communication at first, and so many iconic lines!! "It feels like he's getting pieces of you that I don't" "You don't want those pieces" "I do, I want all of it" "You have all of me, Carlos." Just throw me off a bridge why don't you 🥲, and it's one of the few episodes where I know all the tarlos dialogue word for word. @heartstringsduet are you proud of me 😊. Then TK being affected in the field and being depressed about his own mom, looking at photos telling Carlos, "I'd give anything to feel like that again", and Carlos realizes he is in way over his head and that this isn't about him, it's about TK and what he needs so Carlos gets over that insecurity and reaches out and makes sure TK has the support he needs 🥹 And then the infamous "I love you" with TK "Heart Eyes" Strand and Carlos' understanding "I know." Every tarlos scene in this from beginning to end of episode is amazing and impactful and leaves me an emotional mess every time I watch it 💖
who is your all time comfort character?
All time comfort character you ask? 🤔 After thinking about all the fandoms I've enjoyed and been a part of over the years, please don't come at me for saying the obvious of TK 😅. He's the first live action character that I have loved this much, and there are so many reasons for that! One of the biggest being how he has been through so much hardship in his life but he is so unselfish and sees the best in people and still has so much love to give!! He is sunshine personified but he is still very much a real person with flaws and baggage, but he is constantly working to take care of himself and be a better person! I've had similar, not exact of course, experiences in my own life and have come out the other side better for it! It took a lot of time of course and I needed to be in a place where I had the power to make my own decisions and I love that about TK too, that the show constantly shows that his decisions to get better have ultimately been his own! And him being an openly gay character who is proud of his sexuality was primarily what drew me to him and the show in the first place 🥰
what's your favorite song/album right now?
Ohh always love a music question! Haha and probably not what you're expecting but my favorite album lately has been Bo Burnham's "Inside (Deluxe)" edition. It's such a fantastic special and I watched the deleted scenes not too long ago and have not been able to stop listening to "Five Years". The chorus is so damn catchy and I wish it was longer and the line "Everyone's a feminist until there is a spider around" makes me laugh every time 🤣.
#Thank you so much for the nice ask rachel ❤️!!#And thank you to anyone else that actually read all of this 😂#sznofthesticks#desi answers#Nice ask week
13 notes
·
View notes
Text
I was tagged by @carlos-in-glasses @sznofthesticks @heartstringsduet @cold-blooded-jelly-doughnut and @orchidscript. Thank you!
She likely isn’t supposed to relay a message to anyone else, but Carlos bets on his authoritative tone being enough to sway her and he wins that bet. In a regretful voice, she says, “I’m sorry to inform you that his mother has passed away.”
Carlos’s heart sinks. He’d been clinging to hope it wasn’t true, and the inside of his mouth goes dry as his mind tries to make sense of the fact that it is.
“She was struck by a bike messenger,” the woman informs him. “The ambulance came in about an hour ago but she hit her head on the pavement, she was pronounced dead shortly after the paramedics arrived.”
“Jesus,” Carlos whispers, scrubbing a hand over his own mouth.
In front of him, TK slowly crumples. Carlos watches at half-speed as the love of his life lowers himself down to the floor, feet tucked under him and hands braced on the ground.
Quickly, Marjan is moving toward him. She drops to her knees and touches his back. “Hey, talk to us.”
“My mom’s dead,” TK answers in a tiny voice, and Marjan’s gasp is sharp and her eyes are wide as she looks up at Carlos.
Tags under the cut!
Tagging @theghostofashton @birdclowns @thisbuildinghasfeelings @strandnreyes @reyesstrand @goodways @alrightbuckaroo @lightningboltreader @mooshkat @liminalmemories21 @lemonlyman-dotcom @whatsintheboxmh @inkweedandlizards @bonheur-cafe @reasonandfaithinharmony @thebumblecee @never-blooms@freneticfloetry @im-overstimulated-and-im-sad @jesuisici33 @tarlosluvr @kiwichaeng @fallout-mars @honeybee-taskforce
44 notes
·
View notes
Text
Thank you for the tags @carlos-tk @thisbuildinghasfeelings @inflarescent @lemonlyman-dotcom @alrightbuckaroo @cold-blooded-jelly-doughnut @strandnreyes @sanjuwrites @heartstringsduet @whatsintheboxmh @herefortarlos 🩷
Something from Flashback Fic (which I'll start posting on Sunday!)
It's 2021, the day TK and Carlos break up. Carlos is drawn back to the honky-tonk...
Smiling politely but tearfully at the barman, Carlos orders a tequila slammer.
The barman blinks. “Excuse me?”
“One tequila slammer, please,” Carlos repeats, “Actually make that two!” He’s only ever had a tequila slammer during Austin Pride, at a pop-up bar with rainbow awning called Mermen on the Rocks. The silver tequila was mixed with red food dye to become pink.
The barman raises an eyebrow. He’s an older guy – a gray-bearded biker type in a leather waistcoat. His arms are covered in aged, greening tattoos of snakes curling around daggers, thorny roses growing around crucifixes. “How about one shot for the road, and then you get a taxi home and drink lots of water, son?”
“No, no, no!” Carlos appeals with flare. “I can’t go home. I have to stay right here.” He spirals a finger and then bounces it against the bar. “Right here.”
“Why can’t you go home?”
“I don’t have one. I mean I do. I’m a homeowner.”
“Okay.”
“But I was staying with my…my…” Carlos keeps swirling his finger in the air, like he’s aiming to land on words visible only to him. “But! You know. Sometimes.”
“Ah. Yeah,” The barman smiles. He has a gold tooth. Shiny. “I think I get what you’re saying.”
“Thank you. You’re the only one who does.” He’s also the only person Carlos has talked to since TK fled from him at 2 p.m. this afternoon.
“Women trouble,” the barman says definitively.
“Something like that.”
“We’ve all been there.”
“I haven’t.”
“No?”
“I mean. I have. Literally with a woman.”
“Uh huh.” The barman surreptitiously fills a glass with water and pushes it towards Carlos slowly.
“But this is different. TK’s different.”
“Flowers. Chocolates. A groveling apology. It’s all we’ve got.”
“But I didn’t do anything wrong.”
The barman stifles a laugh. “You almost certainly did.”
“All I did was buy an apartment for us. Without mentioning it. But like…it was meant to be a happy thing. A nice surprise. It was meant to be, like…hey I got you a piece of forever, and this piece of forever has great light, and it’s near clubs and that really good bakery. You know?”
“Sounds like a good forever to me.”
“I thought so.”
“Have a little water, son.”
Carlos seizes his glass of water in both his large hands, like he has the dexterity of a three-year-old. He sips from it gently. “This is good,” he says, as if the barman has given him something new and delicious. “My partner is totally sober. My ex, I mean.” His voice cracks as he cries. “I haven’t been drunk like this in a long time.”
“That does not surprise me.” The barman sighs and hunches, leans his folded arms on the bar to create a little privacy with his shadow. He lets the strange man cry in his presence, as many have done before.
“We had our first dance here. First kiss. First–”
“Son, look at me and listen,” the barman says firmly. Carlos does. He looks into friendly blue eyes surrounded by crinkled skin. “Tomorrow is a new day. You sober up yourself, and then you take that pretty girl the biggest box of chocolates your money can buy, and the biggest motherfucking bunch of roses too. You get down on your knees and tell her you love her with your whole dumbass heart. I’ve got no other advice for you, than to try.”
Tags below + open tag!
@eclectic-sassycoweyes @im-overstimulated-and-im-sad @inkweedandlizards @redshirt2 @louis-ii-reyes-strand @jesuisici33 @three-drink-amy @orchidscript @basilsunrise @mikibwrites @fitzherbertssmolder @ambiguouspenny @wandering-night19 @catanisspicy @sugdenlovesdingle @noxsoulmate @theghostofashton @paperstorm @reyesstrand @goodways @bonheur-cafe @freneticfloetry @rosedavid @chicgeekgirl89 @spaghett-onaplate @liminalmemories21 @never-blooms @welcometololaland @rmd-writes @ladytessa74 @lightningboltreader
❤️ 🩷 🧡 💛 💚 💙 🩵 💜
#wip wednesday#flashback fic#cig fic#my fic#tarlos fanfic#cig tagged#I'm so exicted to upload chapter 1 soon!
63 notes
·
View notes
Text
Thank you for the tags @dumbpeachjuice @clottedcreamfudge @welcometololaland! As per Lola’s request, here is more teachers!
He narrows his eyes at her, shaking his head in confusion. “You asked me to wingman for you.”
“No, I just used wingman as a gender neutral term,” Nancy corrects. “In reality, I spotted a man who seemed very interested in you and I plan to help a friend out.” She grins, incredibly pleased with herself.
TK’s first instinct is to turn it down, to say he can’t. But there’s no real reason why he shouldn’t hook up with someone. He has no attachments to anyone — despite some frustrating feelings he may be harboring. But maybe going home with someone new would shake that out of him. Maybe he needs someone new.
He ignores the unsettled feeling in his stomach and nods, urging her to lead the way. “Let’s do it,” he says, following her as she winds toward the bar. Falling in next to her, TK glances to his right, wondering who she supposedly has her eye on for him.
“Hey,” she says. When he looks over at her, her back is turned to him. “Have you met my friend, TK?”
Nancy pushes off the bar and he finally sees the person she’d approached; something new settles in his stomach — confusion with an overwhelming sense of rightness.
“Carlos?” he asks, his brow furrowed. The last person he’d expected to see in the bar, to get set up with by his coworker is the very person he can’t get out of his head.
Laughing, glancing from TK to Nancy, Carlos says, “Actually, yes, I have met him.”
“Wait, what?” Nancy asks, her gaze bouncing between the two of them like she’s watching a tennis match. “You two know each other?”
TK tries not to think of how many different ways he could answer that question. “Yeah,” he says easily, “he’s Jonah’s teacher.”
No pressure tagging: @rmd-writes @carlos-in-glasses @cold-blooded-jelly-doughnut @strandnreyes @alrightbuckaroo @bonheur-cafe @indomitable-love @everwitch-magiks @cha-melodius @catanisspicy @lightningboltreader @heartstringsduet
39 notes
·
View notes
Last Seen Blogs
bssaz97
Lancaster Shipper
scalproie
Ice-Cold Heir of them tiddies lmao
uranus1blog
Kübra's Story
fiffles
fifi
eris-sol
Eris