#CARLOS REYES YOUR COMEDIC SKILLS

[watmalik]

I feel like I'm meeting your parents.

[pragmatic-optimist]

☀️ IBoatedHere 👀

send me a ☀️ + your ao3 and i’ll tell you my fav fic(s) of yours 

Rae!!! I went back to read through my bookmarks to help me with this ask. This led to me re-reading each fic (again) and realizing the task of picking favorites would be a tall order. In order to narrow this down, I decided to choose from fics that I have not commented on previously. But in the time it took me to answer this ask, you shared two more incredible stories. I stuck to my original choices, but there was a moment of second guessing. So thanks for making this harder! 😆

Prepared and Shared:

This story is a GIFT to Carlos Reyes fans. I don’t think it is a secret that Carlos is my favorite character on this show. I am pretty vocal about it. 😂 Sometimes one of the hardest things about being a Carlos stan is the limited details we get about his backstory. So this story was much needed and appreciated. You gave us the insight into Carlos’ background we've been craving and it’s a lovely journey from beginning to end. In addition, you also provide us with a wonderful explanation of where he gets his gourmet chef skills and love of cooking, along with an excellent depiction of how cooking is an extension of his caretaking.

Several parts of the story were excellent codas for season 1 and 2. Specifically, I love the moment you wrote following the 1x02 dinner scene. I won’t spoil it here for folks, but what you wrote is canon in my head. The way you wrote Carlos in that scene, the insight into his thoughts after that spectacular failure of a meal, and TK’s disbelief that Carlos could still be so Carlos after everything? Glorious tension and I ate it all up.

Your entire depiction of TK and Carlos’ relationship and its progression? ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

THE FRENCH TOAST. THE DOG TREATS. So much teasing. These scenes were incredibly funny and profoundly heartwarming at the same time, which are two key elements I associate with your writing. You consistently have me back and forth between these emojis: 🥺🤣😍

The Reyes Family + TK dinner scene was SO GOOD. The Andrea and TK stuff you write is some of my favorite, I love their dynamic so much. I really want them to be BFFs, even if Carlos will pay the price lol. We know he will secretly love it.

The flash-forward had me grinning like a damn fool. I want to give a special shout-out to your Judd (you capture his voice exactly as it is on the show). The back and forth between Judd and TK, plus everyone else in the scene, was reminiscent of a classic sitcom comedic moment. 

I remember you once mentioning that you wanted to write Carlos in a way that makes him as complex of a character as he deserves to be. This is just one of several stories where you accomplish this goal. You’ve done a stellar job of fleshing out his character in a nuanced way and it feels authentic to the Carlos in canon. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

A Shared Weight:

Surprise, surprise. Another Carlos-focused fic. Lol. I chose this story because it contains so many of my favorite things: TK being a soft, supportive boyfriend; the 126 rallying around Carlos; FOUND FAMILY FEELS; an Andrea and Carlos mother/son moment; the Reyes family ranch as the setting (I am very emotionally attached to the Reyes ranch and we’ve never even seen it in canon 😂).

Everyone being there made sense and every job/task they had fit them so well. Again, this is another moment I wish we could see on screen. Sometimes on 911 LS, it feels like the writers are stuck on how to bring the whole group together outside of work. They really leaned into game nights and parties this past season, which I did enjoy because it gave necessary screen time to characters we love. I just wish we also had them come together as a group to rally around Tommy towards the end of the season. I love the quiet moments as much as the celebratory moments between the characters. This story was a great example of how to use a quiet moment to build meaningful relationships between the characters. You wrote all of the interactions here so beautifully. 🥺

Quality Andrea and Carlos scene. I love their chat about found family and TK. I’m actually a little emotional thinking about it as I write this. Carlos Reyes is a mama’s boy and no one can tell me otherwise.

The end scene with TK and Carlos. Once again, you had me 🤣😍🥺. It was perfectly them. 

I really love this story and the focus on having Carlos be comforted/supported when he needed it most. He is definitely not the type to ask for help to avoid feeling like an inconvenience or a burden. You wrote this before 2x12 and up until that point, we had only seen Carlos being a pillar of support for TK and Michelle. So reading this story was especially touching because we had not yet seen Carlos being cared for in this way on screen. You are really keeping Carlos fans fed through fanfic, bless you.

Honorable mentions: When You Think You Are In Pieces (There are many parallels between Judd/Grace and TK/Carlos in canon. This story does a nice job of mining one of those parallels so that Judd can help TK come to an important understanding about his relationship with Carlos. Loved it.) + This Is How You Fall In Love (I am such a fan of missing moments, especially ones focused on key moments in a relationship. I really enjoyed this, each scene for each stage was well-executed. Honesty and Stability were my favorite. Everyone should read this one, I can’t believe this was your first Tarlos fic. You were knocking it out of the park right out of the gate.) + Soapy Dishwater Drips (Sometimes nonlinear writing confuses me because I get a little lost. Lol. But this was great, each vignette was better than the one before it. This is the kind of story that makes the reader fall even more in love with TK and Carlos’ relationship. I reached the end and knew I would be back to read it again and again).