#Fluffy Tarlos

[chicgeekgirl89]

Rating: T Characters: Carlos Reyes and T.K. Strand Summary: In the early days of their budding relationship, T.K. and Carlos discover some of each other's more adorable characteristics. Or, five times T.K. learns adorable things about Carlos and one time Carlos learns something adorable about T.K. A/N: Thanks to @bluenet13 for the title help on this one. It's been on the back burner for a while and it was time for it to fly free. Also working on a reverse 5+1 companion for it, so keep your eyes open for that...someday... Tagging: This is more than seven sentences, but please accept it anyway. Thanks to @strandnreyes, @bonheur-cafe, @carlos-in-glasses, @cold-blooded-jelly-doughnut, @ladytessa74, and @lemonlyman-dotcom. Tagging @liminalmemories21, @welcometololaland, @carlos-tk, @louis-ii-reyes-strand, @im-overstimulated-and-im-sad, and anyone else who would like to share your Seven Sentence Sunday! Read on AO3

Glasses

T.K. is brushing his teeth in Carlos’ bathroom. Usually his daily oral hygiene wouldn’t be a notable event, but today it feels monumental. Because it’s Carlos’ bathroom. And T.K. is brushing his teeth. Because he’s staying over. Because they’re together. Like really together. Officially. 

He smiles goofily at his reflection in the mirror, his mouth still full of white paste and toothbrush. He’s happy. Really, truly, deeply happy.

He opens up Carlos’ medicine cabinet one handed as he continues brushing away and realizes that while he remembered to bring a razor he did not remember to bring shaving cream. “Hey babe,” he calls around his mouthful as he turns around and pokes his head back into the bedroom, “can I borrow—“

His eyes find Carlos on the bed and he immediately chokes on his toothpaste and has to rush back to the sink to spit it out. He wipes his mouth with the back of his hand before turning and marching back through the open doorway. 

Carlos looks at him, amusement on his face. “You okay over there?”

“Since when do you wear glasses?”

Because he is. Carlos is sitting in his bed, shirtless, hair soft and wildly curly after his shower, a paperback in his hands, and a pair of glasses on his face. Glasses that T.K. has definitely never seen before in his life. Glasses that are kind of knocking the wind out of him.

“Since the fourth grade?” Carlos says. 

“But I’ve never…you’ve never worn them when I’ve been here.”

“I haven’t?” Carlos scrunches up his nose in thought and it makes him even more freaking adorable. “Are you sure?”

“I think I would remember my boyfriend morphing into Clark fucking Kent,” T.K. retorts.

Carlos chuckles. “I only wear them at night when my contacts start bothering me.”

“You should wear them more often.” The words are out of T.K.’s mouth before he even realizes it. He feels wildly out of control of himself right now and who could blame him? His already incredibly fucking hot boyfriend now looks like an incredibly fucking hot librarian and it is making T.K. think some very, VERY dirty thoughts.

Carlos raises his eyebrows. “Why?” A slow, lazy, self-satisfied smile spreads across his  face. “You think they’re sexy?”

“God yes.”

T.K. is across the room in two seconds flat, scrambling onto the bed and pulling Carlos’ face to his for a bruising kiss. Carlos immediately drops his book and responds in kind, mouth open and inviting as his hands grip T.K.’s hips and pull him close. “You called me your boyfriend,” he says when they finally break apart for air.

“I did,” T.K. says, diving back in for another taste of Carlos in glasses. It’s completely different than regular Carlos. It’s nerdy. And hot. He loves it.

“You’ve never called me your boyfriend before,” Carlos says breathlessly, grinning so wide it’s like the sun has come out. “I like it.”

T.K. grins back at him. “Me too.”

Socks

“Oh my god,” Carlos says as T.K. collapses onto his chest and presses kisses into his sweat sticky skin. “How does it just keep getting better?”

“Because we’re amazing,” T.K. mumbles against his pecs, his eyes already heavy with sleep. “So. Freaking. Amazing.”

He takes a few breaths and feels his body relaxing as sleep pulls him down. He snuggles deeper into Carlos’ chest, eyes drifting shut. He’s nearly out when he feels Carlos shift beneath him.

“Where are you going?” he asks, tightening his hold on Carlos’ torso to keep him from moving.

“I’ll be right back. I just need to put some socks on,” Carlos says, pressing a kiss to his hair. 

T.K.’s eyes pop back open and he props himself up to look at Carlos’ face. “I’m sorry, what?”

“I’m going to put some socks on,” Carlos repeats.

Things still aren’t computing in T.K.’s brain. “…why?” he finally asks slowly.

“Because if we’re going to sleep I need to wear socks.”

He was looking for clarity, but now he’s even more confused. “I don’t understand.”

“What is there to understand? I’m putting socks on to go to bed,” Carlos says, looking equally as confused.

“But…why?”

“Because otherwise I might catch a cold,” Carlos says with a laugh, gently pushing T.K. off so he can get to his feet.

T.K. blinks a couple times trying to get his bearings and then rolls over, sitting up with the sheet wrapped around his waist. “That is not how colds work. Like not even close.”

Carlos returns and sits on the bed to pull his socks on. “I know that,” he says.

“And yet you’re still putting the socks on,” T.K. says.

“My mom always made us wear socks to bed when we were kids.”

“Is she coming over?” T.K. asks incredulously.

“No.”

“Then why are you wearing them?!”

“Because she always made us!”

T.K. takes a breath. “Let me get this straight. You are going to get into this bed with me, fully naked, except for socks that you’re going to wear because your mom made you do it when you were seven?”

Carlos pauses. “Well when you say it like that it sounds stupid.”

“Your words, not mine.”

“I just like it okay? I’ve done it forever. I can’t sleep without them,” Carlos says defensively as he slides back into bed beside T.K. “Is this some kind of a dealbreaker for you?”

“Nope,” T.K. says. “Just trying to understand. If wearing socks to bed is what does it for you, then by all means wear the socks.”

“Thank you,” Carlos says, giving him a peck on the lips and turning out the light before pulling T.K. close and snuggling in to go to sleep.

T.K. gets comfortable and closes his eyes, but he can’t stop the thoughts running through his mind in the dark and quiet of the room. He sits up and turns the light back on. “I really need you to tell me that you understand that you can’t catch a cold from not wearing socks though.”

Romance

T.K. loves being in Carlos’ condo without him. He likes it better when Carlos is around obviously. But he feels so special that Carlos has given him a key and invited him to share his space. It means he trusts T.K. enough to let him be here alone where it’s peaceful and calm, unlike his dad’s house which somehow feels crowded even though there are only two of them there most of the time.

Carlos’ place feels more like home than anywhere else has in a long time.

He takes his shoes off when he arrives and dutifully puts them away, then grabs a mineral water and a yogurt out of the fridge before collapsing onto Carlos’ couch. “Ouch,” he says with a frown as something pokes into his back from behind the throw pillow.

He reaches behind him and pulls out a book. It’s not unusual to find books around the condo, Carlos is a big reader, but the brightly colored cover on this one makes T.K. pause and raise his eyebrows. The Spanish Love Deception is the title and when he flips it over to read the back he learns that Catalina Martín is in desperate need of a date for her sister’s wedding and her mortal enemy at work seems to be her only option.

He’s rifling through the pages when the door opens and Carlos walks in. “Hey,” he says, smiling as his eyes meet T.K.’s. “When did you get in?”

“Like fifteen minutes ago,” T.K. tells him as Carlos slips off his shoes and then comes over to press a kiss to his lips. “I found this behind the throw pillow.”

He holds up the romance novel and Carlos takes it from him. “Francesca must have left it here,” he says, referring to his sister. “Looks like her kind of book. I’ll text her and let her know you found it it.”

T.K. doesn’t think about it again for a couple of weeks until one night when his dad cancels their dinner plans and he spontaneously heads to Carlos’ instead. “Hey, it’s me!” he calls as he pushes the door open.

“T.K.?” Carlos appears at the top of the stairs, one hand behind his back, looking a little frazzled. “I thought you were going to dinner with your dad.”

“He bailed,” T.K. says, adjusting his overnight bag on his shoulder as he takes the stairs two at a time, giving Carlos a peck on his lips when he reaches him. “You okay?” he asks, taking in the weird expression on his boyfriend’s face.

“Yeah, yeah, of course,” Carlos says, even as a minor amount of panic is flickering through his eyes. “I just didn’t know you were coming.”

T.K. looks him up and down. “Do you have some other guy in your bedroom?”

“What?! No!” Carlos says quickly.

“Were you watching porn?”

“Of course not!” Carlos says, but there’s a deep blush rising up in his cheeks. 

“What’s behind your back?” T.K. reaches for him, but Carlos steps away out of his reach.

“It’s nothing,” he says.

T.K. raises his eyebrows in amusement. “You know you are so freaking bad at lying, right?”

“Can we just drop it?” Carlos asks, desperation creeping into his voice.

T.K. takes a step forward so that Carlos is forced to back into the wall and then reaches around him and plucks the hidden object from his fingers. It’s another book, the cover bright blue with the title The American Roommate Experiment on the front. T.K. recognizes the name of the author as the same one from the book he found behind the couch cushions and his eyebrows rise. “Oh. You were reading porn.”

“It’s not porn,” Carlos says. “It’s a book.”

“Are you telling me there’s no sex in this book?”

“I…don’t know yet,” Carlos says, dropping his eyes. “I haven’t gotten that far.”

Delight is spiraling through T.K. as he fully realizes what’s going on. “That was your book a couple weeks ago. Not your sister’s.” He can feel his eyes start to sparkle with mischief. “You like smutty romance novels.”

“I don’t like them because they’re smutty,” Carlos says quickly. “I like them because…I like them.”

“You like them because you’re a big old softy romantic,” T.K. says, poking him gently in the chest. “Do you watch Hallmark Christmas movies too?”

The silence that follows tells him all he needs to know. “You do,” T.K. says happily. He could not be more thrilled about this new discovery.

“I grew up with four sisters,” Carlos defends himself.

“Please tell me you read Fifty Shades.”

“I would never,” Carlos scoffs. “Those books are not an accurate depiction of the BDSM community.”

“Oh my god you’re adorable,” T.K. tells him. 

“No, I’m, no don’t call me that,” Carlos says, clearly embarrassed.

“You are,” T.K. tells him, wrapping his arms around Carlos’ waist. “You are the most adorable boyfriend the world has ever seen.”

“Are you going to let this go, or is this something you’re going to talk about forever?” Carlos asks.

“Mmm definitely the second thing,” T.K. says as Carlos sighs with long suffering. “Now how about you take me to your bedroom and teach me some of the things you’ve learned from these books?”

Scaredy Cat

Sharing new things with each other has become a complete delight for T.K. So when he finds out that Carlos has never seen a single one of the Halloween movies, he declares the need for a marathon during the month of October and immediately goes over to his dad’s to dig out his DVD’s. No way is he dealing with ads breaking up the masterpiece that is Michael Myers. 

He’s popped popcorn, pulled out all the throw blankets, and even gone so far as to make up a bloody looking mocktail to really get them in the spirit of the movies. Now he’s just eagerly awaiting Carlos who has gone out to fetch their pizza.

He’s pulling down plates from the cupboard (Carlos refuses to eat pizza straight out of the box like they’re “college frat bros”) when the door opens and his boyfriend returns, pizza in hand. 

“Perfect timing!” T.K. says, eagerly taking the box from him and handing him the gory looking cocktail in return. 

“Oh, wow,” Carlos says. “This is…something.”

“I found a recipe online,” T.K. tells him excitedly as he dishes out pizza slices onto plates. “I thought they would be fun!”

“So creative,” Carlos says, poking at the gummy eyeballs that T.K. ordered online and added for extra pizzazz.

“Okay,” T.K. says as they settle onto the couch, his excitement at an eleven. “So, John Carpenter and Debra Hill wrote this in like ten days, which is crazy, and Carpenter got paid ten thousand dollars to write, direct, and score it. They built a cinematic masterpiece, the go-to film for horror, and they did it in ten days for ten thousand dollars. Can you even believe that?”

“Sure can’t,” Carlos says with a shake of his head. 

“We’re starting with the original Halloween,” T.K. tells him as he flicks on the television. “1963, Michael Myers versus a bunch of teenage girls. We’ll skip a few in the middle, Halloween: Resurrection isn’t worth anybody’s time, and while Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers does feature a young, fresh faced Paul Rudd, it has too many flaws to be worth watching.”

“So we’re skipping two out of…”

“Thirteen,” T.K. tells him.

“I guess I should have taken the month off of work,” Carlos tells him, sending him an odd, tense sort of smile.

Come to think of it, Carlos’ whole body feels a little tense too. If T.K. didn’t know any better, he’d think Carlos was nervous. But he chalks it up to worry over getting pizza grease on the couch and hits play as he snuggles into his boyfriend’s side.

They’re still snuggled together as Michael takes a knife to his teenage sister and T.K. doesn’t miss the way Carlos stiffens even further over the bloody scene. Or the way he seems to get more and more tense as the movie progresses. “You want another drink?” T.K. asks after Michael murders the Wallace’s dog.

Carlos shakes his head, his lips pressed together in a firm line, eyes a little wider than normal as he stares at the screen. He gasps audibly when Michael appears in Annie’s car and when T.K. looks down he finds that Carlos is gripping the edge of the couch cushions so hard that his knuckles are going white. 

By the time Michael starts going after Laurie, Carlos’ breathing has gone rapid and T.K. carefully slips his fingers under the edge of his sleeve to find his pulse racing. Not a surprise given the contents of the movie, but Carlos’ face has gone almost white and and he’s sitting so rigidly T.K. is afraid all of his muscles are going to lock up. 

“Carlos,” he says quietly, but Carlos doesn’t respond, eyes glued to the screen, his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down as he swallows hard.

“Carlos, are you okay?” T.K. asks again, reaching for the remote.

He’s too late. Michael appears out of nowhere and Carlos jumps to his feet with a shout, hands going to his hips as he paces a couple agitated steps back and forth. 

T.K. finally gets his finger on the button to pause the movie. “Carlos, hey, look at me,” T.K. says, feeling legitimately concerned.

“No I—it’s fine. I’m fine,” Carlos says, hand making chopping motions as if he’s trying to convince himself as much as T.K. “Go ahead, turn it back on. I’ll just um, I’m just going to—“

“You’re shaking like a leaf,” T.K. says.

“No I’m—it’s good,” Carlos says even as a car honks outside and he flinches violently.

“It’s not fine,” T.K. says. “You hate it. Let’s watch something else.”

“We can finish—“

“Carlos, you look like you think Michael is coming after you personally. We’re not watching anymore,” T.K. says with a chuckle, using the remote to flip over to live TV, Bobby Flay declaring loudly that he will not be beaten at his own culinary game this time.

“Thank you,” Carlos sighs, collapsing back into the couch.

“When were you going to tell me you hate horror movies?” T.K. asks.

“Never,” Carlos says, running a hand through his hair. “You were so excited and I thought maybe it would be okay.”

“But?”

“I begged my parents to let me watch It with my sisters when I was ten. I didn’t sleep for like a month after that and ever since…” he shivers, “I just don’t get why people like them.”

“It’s pretty cute you know,” T.K. says with a fond smile. “My big tough police officer being scared of horror movies.”

“Cute or pathetic?” Carlos says with a roll of his eyes, finally starting to look like himself again now that it’s vegetables being chopped up instead of people.

“Cute,” T.K. tells him definitively, pulling him close. “Now come here. I promise I’ll keep you safe.”

Paparazzi

The radio is blaring when T.K. walks in from his shift, so loud that for a second he thinks he’s walked into the wrong condo. A quick glance around reveals that no, this is indeed Carlos’ place, although there’s no sign of Carlos anywhere, and it takes him another moment to realize the music is actually coming from upstairs.

He climbs the staircase, the music getting louder with each step and by the time he’s reached the top it’s changed from something in Spanish to Lady Gaga and is blasting so loudly that it feels like he’s at a live performance rather than in his boyfriend’s bedroom.

That’s when he finally hears the singing. Not Gaga herself, although she’s hard to ignore. No. Someone is belting out the lyrics from behind the bathroom door, slightly out of tune, but with the most passion T.K. has ever heard.

He opens the door quietly, the sound intensifying as the spray of the shower joins the fray. 

“I’M YOUR BIGGEST FAN, I’LL FOLLOW YOU UNTIL YOU LOVE ME! PAPA-PAPARAZZI!” Carlos bellows from behind the semi-frosted glass of the shower door.

T.K. crosses his arms and leans against the wall, a grin on his face as he watches the blurry silhouette of his naked boyfriend scrubbing away at his hair while he sings along. He makes it through the rest of the chorus and another verse before he turns around and lets out a yell. “Jesus Christ!”

The water turns off immediately followed quickly by the music as T.K. laughs. Carlos opens the shower door, poking his sopping wet head out. “What the hell? How long have you been standing there?” he says, clearly torn between fury and embarrassment.

“Long enough,” T.K. says, handing him a towel before returning to his position against the wall, watching appreciatively as Carlos pulls it around his waist and steps out, water glistening on his skin.

“You realize that’s really fucking creepy, right?” Carlos asks as he double checks that his towel is secure.

“I can’t believe you didn’t invite me to the concert,” T.K. says fully aware that he is smirking and enjoying every second of watching Carlos squirm.

“Yeah, well, there’s a reason for that,” Carlos says, looking down at the floor, his cheeks flushed from more than the heat of his shower.

“Do you always sing in the shower?”

“No.” But he doesn’t meet T.K.’s gaze when he says it.

“Yes,” T.K. says gleefully. “Why don’t you ever sing when I’m here?”

“Because some things are better left in private,” Carlos tells him with a glower.

“Babe, come on,” T.K. says, taking a step forward and putting his hands on Carlos’ hips just above where the towel is sitting. “I love knowing stuff like this about you. It makes me feel like you’re mine. I get to see these little parts of Carlos Reyes that other people don’t.” He quirks an eyebrow. “Unless you also put on performances in the precinct showers.”

“Definitely not,” Carlos scoffs. His hands come up to rest on T.K.’s biceps. “You really don’t think it’s weird? I know I’m not a good singer.”

T.K. kisses the tip of his nose. “It doesn’t matter. It makes you happy. And that’s all I care about.”

+ 1: Ticklish

Waking up with T.K. had been his dream for months, but he wasn’t completely surprised when it turned out not to be a reality. It turns out T.K. doesn’t wake up with anyone. In fact he barely wakes up at all. He has to be dragged out of bed and plied with coffee and a shower before he’s even remotely functional. 

When questioned about how he can wake up and immediately go to work when the alarm bells go off at the fire station, T.K. looks at him like he’s crazy and says, “That’s different.”

So Carlos contents himself with waking up beside T.K., pressing a kiss to whatever part of him is poking out from under the blankets, and then greeting him more officially when he finally stumbles out of bed usually an hour or two after Carlos.

He’s just finished his workout when he hears T.K.’s alarm going off followed quickly by a muffled thud as T.K. predictably sends his phone flying to floor in his attempts to turn it off.

Carlos smiles and wipes a towel across his forehead before stowing away his weights and jogging back upstairs. T.K. is buried under the blankets, only the top of his head poking out. “Morning,” Carlos says softly, bending over to kiss his forehead.

T.K. reaches up and catches his arm, tugging him downward. “Come back to bed,” he mumbles. 

“I’m all sweaty,” Carlos says with a laugh. “I need to go take a shower.”

“No staaay,” T.K. groans, tugging more insistently.

Carlos rolls his eyes but he concedes, sitting down on the mattress and pulling the blanket down enough to reveal T.K.’s face. “Are you going to get up?”

“It’s our day off,” T.K. tells him, eyes still tightly shut.

“It is.” Carlos leans closer, a fond smile on his face. “And if you don’t get up soon it will be over.”

He pokes T.K. in the ribs good-naturedly and immediately receives a sharp backhand across the face. “Ow!” he yells, rearing back and clutching his nose. “T.K. what the fuck?!”

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” T.K. yelps, and Carlos can feel him scrambling to get upright in the tangle of their sheets. “Oh my god! Are you okay? Let me see!”

He reaches for Carlos’ face, but Carlos pulls back. His nose feels like it’s been smashed into a thousand pieces, but he rubs at it experimentally and it seems to be intact. Another check shows no blood on his fingers, so he’s probably all right, but damn. It hurts. “What the hell was that for?” he asks grouchily, sending T.K. a glare.

T.K. looks sheepishly down at the sheets. “Um, well, I might be just a little bit ticklish?”

Carlos blinks at him. “No you’re not.”

T.K.’s forehead wrinkles in confusion. “Yes I am?”

“T.K. we’ve been together for like four months. I would know if you were ticklish.” He knows T.K.’s body intimately. Where he can touch to make him moan, to make him gasp, to make him arch his back. If T.K. were ticklish, it would have been revealed long before now. 

“It’s just that one spot on the left side of my ribs,” T.K. tells him. “If your hands start to go there I just take them and move them somewhere else. You’ve never noticed?”

Huh. Carlos sits with that for a second replaying as many of their sexual encounters as he can remember. “I guess…I guess not. Why did you hit me though?” he asks with a frown.

“Ah.” T.K. blushes. “I always move your hands because I can get a little…violent when I get tickled. It’s kind of a panic response.”

“And instead of telling me this you just waited for me to discover it by accident and nearly broke my nose in the process?”

“I kind of forgot honestly. It’s just become a habit to move your hands,” T.K. tells him.

Carlos snorts out a laugh. “Oh my god.”

“Oh my god what?” T.K. asks warily.

“Oh my god…that’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard,” Carlos says, full on laughing now. 

T.K.’s face breaks into a smile and runs his tongue over his bottom lip. “It is kind of dumb.”

Carlos leans forward and cups his chin, pulling him in for a real kiss. “You’re cute,” he says. “You and your ridiculous ticklish spot.”

“You’re cute too,” T.K. says, then wrinkles his nose. “But you kind of stink.”

“Oh I do?”

“Yeah you do.”

Carlos wraps his arms around T.K. while he yells in protest, holding him tightly as they fall onto the mattress together. It’s disgustingly adorable. And Carlos wouldn’t trade it for the world.  

[wtfuckevenknows]

No. 1

Yes, please send me all the fluffy prompts, always 🥰🥰🥰

1: a kiss good morning.

Today was THE day! TK had a hard time falling asleep last night, being awake long after Carlos succumbed to sleep. But he was SO glad they decided to go against tradition and not spend the night before the wedding apart. Eventually, TK drifted off in his fiancé’s arms one last time.

Surprisingly TK was the first first one to wake, slowly coming to in the soft glow of dawn shining through the windows. He was still curled into Carlos’ side, their legs tangled up together, his head pillowed on Carlos’ sculptured chest. 

TK found himself smiling. Today, a couple of hours from now actually, he would get to call Carlos his HUSBAND.

He was so giddy with happiness, with love for the man sleeping beside him, he just had to wake him up by peppering kisses all over his handsome face.

You can find the other prompt fills here or on ao3.

Send me a Ship and a Number and I will Write a Kiss

[championrevali]

The way this broke me- he thinks he's not gonna see Carlos again- ands just looking at a picture of the two of them

[endlessfighter]

y’all, this one shot was supposed to be smut... just some soft couch sex... but so far it’s just tooth-rotting fluff! I’ve only written 600 words so far and already gained 3 new cavities 😂

[tarlos-spain]

Don't stop dreaming just because you had a nightmare

Chapter 06

When Carlos entered the house, Andrea was on the couch reading a magazine. She turned to him, took off her glasses and left them on the table, and rested the magazine on her lap as she watched her son. She looked calm, but Carlos assumed that when you are a mother of three, you are able to keep your cool in the face of really complicated situations.

Carlos put his things down on the arm of the couch and took a seat. He was shaking, he hadn't noticed, but Andrea did, she grabbed both his hands and squeezed them tightly. He looked into the bedroom, it was in semi-darkness but he could see TK's figure without any problems, curled up on the bed.

"How is he?"

"He's trying to sleep, but I don't think he's getting any. He's too upset, he has a stomach ache, from nerves I think and I think he's afraid of having nightmares."

"How...? I don't even know how to ask."

"He's exhausted, he was crying when I arrived and making himself vomit didn't do him any good. I made him some tea to calm him down and got him to go to bed, but he said he didn't want to sleep until you arrived. Maybe he was so tired that he fell asleep."

Carlos felt lost. He wanted to help TK with all his might, but he didn't know what to do. As a policeman he had faced all kinds of situations, but it was much easier to help victims of rape or some kind of attack when they were strangers.

But this was beyond him.

TK had suffered a brutal attack, had been beaten nearly to death, had been raped, the trauma would be a part of his life forever, and now he was struggling with the fear of an unwanted pregnancy with the baby of one of those bastards.

It was almost amazing that he had stayed on his feet until that moment.

"Do you want me to fix you something to eat or..."

"I just want to go with TK."

"Don't get mad at him."

"Get mad at him? I couldn't get mad at him. I don't even know how he got here in one piece. I'm furious with myself for not being there to help him, with fate doing this to TK and with the bastards who hurt him. It kills me that I don't know how to help him."

"You just have to be there by his side and let him tell you what he needs."

"It seems like a small thing to me, but that I can do."

Andrea nodded and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "I'm here for whatever you need."

"Do you have a time machine to keep TK from suffering through all this?"

"I'm sorry, my love. I wish. but I'm sure that between all of us, we'll manage to make him feel good again." He kissed him again and rubbed his back. "Anyway, I'm going to prepare something to eat, maybe later, TK will feel a little better and want to eat."

Carlos made his way to the bedroom and looked at TK's body. he was motionless, maybe he had finally been able to fall asleep after all. But right away he saw that his body was moving up and down, from the sobs buried with the pillow.

He slid a hand over TK's back and noticed that he was shaking, not from fear, but his sobs became more intense.

"I'm sorry...Carlos, I'm so sorry. I'm a horrible person and I understand if you hate me."

"I don't hate you my love, I could never hate you."

Carlos settled onto his back, wrapped a hand around his waist and pressed his body against TK's. Since the rape they had not been intimate at all and Carlos had no idea if he would ever be again. But sex seemed of little importance these days, when TK was barely able to be alone at home without letting his ghosts get to him.

"But..." TK tried to pull away, struggled with it, though he barely had the strength to do so and in the end let Carlos's embrace be the only thing he felt around him. "I don't know if it's your baby and... I've taken pills Carlos... I've taken two pills to try... I wanted to abort... no, I didn't want to... I don't know... I was afraid... I am... I'm afraid that I'm growing inside me a creature that is not yours... I feel my insides burning. But then I imagined it was yours... and the nausea got stronger."

"Shhh." Carlos stroked his head and kissed his neck. "That's it... Mom told me, she said you threw up the pills."

"Is your mother still here?"

"Sure, you think she was going to leave you alone?"

[literateowl]

For @sugdenlovesdingle who requested some Tarlos stray animal shenanigans for participating in election day show and tell.

TK slides the door closed and gently sets the box he's carrying on the floor. “Hey babe, come here. You'll never guess what happened at work today.”

Carlos crosses the room to greet his husband and notices the box has several holes cut into it. He’s almost afraid to ask.

“What's in there?”

TK carefully removes the top revealing a fluffy yellow gosling that starts squawking at them. “The poor duck was totally lost on a call we had today. I couldn't find any sign of her family. I named her Daisy. Like Daisy Duck.”

“First of all, I think this is a gosling.”

“Daisy Goose then.”

Carlos hums at TK’s interruption. “Second of all, you didn't try animal control before you decided to bring her home?”

“They took a look and said she's old enough to try to survive on her own. But she's so small and was on a busy street. I wanted to help, can we keep her?” TK has his sad puppy dog eyes dialed up to eleven.

“How do you suggest we keep a goose in our 3rd floor loft apartment?

“Just like any bird? My mom had a pet bird for years.”

Carlos pinches the bridge of his nose in frustration. “That was a domesticated Macaw, not a feral goose. Very different.”

“But–” TK suddenly dissolves into laughter. “Okay, I'm out of arguments. You should see your face.”

Carlos raises his eyebrows in confusion.

“Of course we're not keeping the goose, baby. I already texted your mom. Your parents are going to come get her after dinner and take her to your family ranch.”

Carlos pinches his husband’s side in retaliation.

“Hey!” TK yelps and then smirks. “You believed me for a second there.”

“You don't exactly have a track record to prove otherwise.”

If you would also like to participate in my election day show and tell the information and rules are here in my pinned post

[guardian-angle22]

911 LONE STAR REWATCH 2024 ↳ favorite things I noticed or appreciated more upon rewatch

1.02 Yee-Haw

Judd hugging the pillow in therapy. he's a giant teddy bear who needs his own teddy bear. someone get this man a big fluffy stuffed animal.

paul and mateo with the cats. also i'm pretty sure the cat with paul is the same cat they bring back as buster in s2/3. we love a hollywood kitty.

sleepy!tk. that's it. send tweet.

more Cowboy Judd! there will be a cowboy hat roundup at the end of this season.

and speaking of the cowboy stuff in this episode, can we briefly just admire how gorgeous those shots of them on horseback were? (ngl I might use some of this footage if I ever want to make another gif-based-on-a-fic for a cowboy tarlos fic)

we could chat about the significance of this dinner scene, carlos being so into tk immediately, the poor communication, the pain tk was in, the soulmates of it all, etc... but instead I'm only here to point out carlos in his ruined button down just... tits out.

[rmd-writes]

Intimacy Prompts: 1 or 18 (or both lol) for tarlos 🥹

Because I’m using these prompts to try to shake words loose after a bout of writer’s block, these are all just whatever I can come up with in <20min and barely edited 💖

Happiest of birthdays to you, Brian! I hope you have a fabulous day 🎉🥳 Thank you for the mid-conversation plot bunnies, the fic titles and, of course, your friendship 💖💖💖 hope you like this ficlet x

1. hugging them from behind, laying their head on the other’s shoulder and/or 18. moving closer in bed

“Hey baby,” TK calls.

“Hey babe, how was your shift?” Carlos asks over his shoulder and then listens to the sounds of TK taking his shoes off by the door, dropping his bag on the floor next to the console table and rifling through the mail briefly.

“Long,” comes the reply and TK is there with his arms wrapped around Carlos’ waist and a kiss to the back of his neck.

Carlos tips his head back to kiss TK quickly and says, “Just give me a sec, this will burn if I leave it.”

“I’ll be here,” TK murmurs into Carlos’ shoulder before resting his head on it. “Can we eat on the couch? I’m so tired.”

“Why don’t you go shower and change? By the time you’re done, dinner will be ready.”

“I’m offended that you think I need a shower. Had one at the station before I came home. A patient puked on me,” TK explains.

“Is that what that smell is?” Carlos jokes.

“Hey.” TK pinches his side but Carlos can hear the smile beneath his weary tone.

“Really though, will you feel better if you change into something else?”

“Just need you.”

They eat on the couch, with TK in the corner of the sectional facing Carlos with his feet tucked under Carlos’ thigh as TK tells him about his shift and Carlos opens his laptop on the coffee table to show TK the villa he’d found for their upcoming trip to Tuscany. TK’s eyes light up just like he’d imagined when Carlos shows him the view from the balcony in the master bedroom – a view visible from the bed if the doors are open. He’s just as excited by the secluded swimming pool on the property.

He follows TK into the shower after he manages to spill his tea down his shirt after dinner, and despite TK’s earlier insistence that he was exhausted, it’s not long before Carlos finds himself pressed against the tiles lost in the feeling of TK’s soft lips, the sweep of his tongue and the slide of their wet bodies together.

“You got time to lie down with me before your shift?” TK asks around his toothbrush.

Carlos sticks his head into their bedroom to check the time. “Little bit. No time for round two,” he warns.

“Too tired anyway, babe.”

“That’s what you said when we got into the shower.”

“Ten minutes max,” Carlos says as they climb into bed.

TK yawns. “I’ll be asleep before then,” he insists. “I wanna be the little spoon, c’mere.”

When TK rolls onto his side, Carlos slides in closer, tucking his knees up behind TK’s knees and winding an arm around his waist. TK takes his hand and tangles their fingers together, pressing a kiss to the back of Carlos’ hand before curling their hands into his chest.

“Love you,” he sighs into the pillow.

“Love you too,” Carlos says, kissing TK’s neck.

It’s only a few minutes before TK is snuffling softly and Carlos edges away from him slowly and gets ready for work, pressing a kiss to TK’s forehead before he leaves. Their conflicting shifts mean it’ll be a couple of days before they see each other at home again.

Three days later, Carlos wakes to the familiar weight of TK’s head pillowed on his chest and his fluffy hair tickling his chin.

“Mmm, you’re here,” TK murmurs, voice rough with sleep. “Missed you.”

Carlos pulls him over so that TK is lying on top of him. “Missed you too,” he says, before drawing him down for a kiss that’s languid and slow, until it’s not.

If you want a little peek into their Tuscany trip, you can read it here.

(You can read all of my intimate moments prompts here)

[tinyluminaryzombie]

@feedthefandomfest FULL BINGO ❤️❤️❤️❤️

List of fics below (jily / tarlos / firstprince)

Love Confessions: there's nothin' like a mad man by @athenasparrow

Sleepy Cuddles: Hug and Roll by AshJuillet

Post-Coital Cuddling: Accidental Magic by @missgryffin

Soulmates: Soul Searching and Soulmates by @annasghosts

Short and Sweet: Drunk With Power by @annabtg

Family Fluff: Spitting Image by @charmsandtealeaves (wip, not pure fluff but the angst makes the fluffy family moments so beautiful!)

Platonic Cuddles: The Couch Chronicles by @jamesunderwater

Fluff and Humor: Erasmus Lovegoods’s Guide to Brewing Love Potions by @thelighthousestale

Fluff and Angst: gives me shelter by @theghostofashton

Sleepy Kisses: Sleepy Sincerity by @noxsoulmate

Couch Cuddles: I fell victim to the sound of your love by Multifandom_damnation

Love at First Sight: Why Do You Think I Ran by @lemonlyman-dotcom

Domestic Fluff: take it, it's yours by @marjansmarwani

Falling in Love: Should I Keep on Waiting? by @bonheur-cafe

Romantic Fluff: i couldn't be more in love by @fallout-mars

Tooth Rotting Fluff: Baked With Love by @kiwichaeng

Fluff and Crack: Taking Things Into My Own Paws by @bibliothesoph

First Kiss: Henry and the Charisma Vortex by @hillerskas

Fluff Without Plot: call it what you want by vibrantsaturn

Forehead Kisses: Constellations on your skin by zseori

Cuddling and Snuggling: leave me here with you by @egoanesthesia

Fluff and Smut: Single Sad Sack Seeking Same by @sparklepocalypse

Comfort: Floral Flirtations by coldbrewreaper

Holding Hands: Shall I Compare Thee? by earth_to_alex16

[emsprovisions]

Em gimme the insight on why you chose a dog, this dog breed fr Lizzy and how you plan for fics in general? <3

Hey Michelle!

I’m so happy to talk about Lizzie and I am so glad you asked 😄 so she is actually the brainchild of me and @ironheartwriter! We plan on writing a collab fic sometime soon about Lizzie’s origins, and Lana actually was the one to suggest an Australian shepherd after I said they need a medium-sized dog for the loft, and it needs to be fluffy. We wanted her to have heterochromia, and I imagine her being a little more brown and white like the first picture below, but really either is okay.

We chose a dog for Tarlos just because they seem like dog people. TK loves dogs, he’s always wanted one, and Carlos needs a pet he can pet. I also have a personal hc that Carlos had a stereotypical crusty white dog growing up just because many Hispanic families do 😂 (mine included)

Carlos definitely had her trained by someone that works with police dogs and she often goes to the firehouse with TK. Marjan absolutely spoils her. Aussies are pretty high energy dogs so we wanted a dog that TK could take to the firehouse to run around.

She’s the best dog ever and loves both of her dads so much 💕

As for your second question, my fic planning process is sort of all over the place. I often start fics without an ending in mind. So Lana has been an amazing brainstorm buddy for me lately, who has really helped me narrow down ideas and helped me with direction and scenes when I’m head empty.

Right now I have a long fic I’m in the process of writing that I entirely outlined for. So I have this whole fic planned out, which is really helping keep up my enthusiasm for writing it! I usually do this with my longer stories, but with my oneshots, I typically figure it out as I go along, or I’ll have some scenes in mind I want to make sure I include.

Generally, a lot of my writing starts out of just having vibes in my head and then I try and figure out a storyline for it from there. Lately for example, I’ve had a lot of vibes and feelings to write a TK fic centered around his relationships with both Gwyn and Andrea, but I haven’t really nailed down what I want it to look like or what I want to accomplish with it. Or even if it should just be two different fics. It’s just sort of these feelings I know I want to capture.

I also have a knight au I want to work on but I’m having trouble starting it because I need to research more on knights. But I definitely know what the middle parts of that fic look like and I have a vague idea for an ending.

So really, my fic planning is very sporadic 😂 sorry this got a little long and rambly but thank you so much for asking 🥰💕

[chicgeekgirl89]

Paper Rings

Fandom: 911 Lone Star

Characters: T.K. Strand, Carlos Reyes, Gabriel Reyes, Andrea Reyes, Owen Strand, Paul Strickland, Mateo Chavez

Rating: K

Summary: Five times T.K. and Carlos made progress on their wedding planning and one time they didn't.

Read on AO3

Venue

“Okay,” Owen whispers, darting a glance around the room to make sure no one is listening. “Here’s the plan: I’m going to tell them I have to use the bathroom. While they’re distracted, you sneak out the side door. I’ll get the car and meet you.”

“They have the keys,” Gabriel whispers back. 

Owen thinks for a moment. “We could rush them?”

Gabriel shakes his head. “There are three of them, and they’re faster and stronger than us. We won’t make it.”

Owen sighs. “I guess I’ll have to hot wire it.”

“You know we can hear you, right?” Carlos says from where he, T.K., and Andrea are standing a mere five feet away in the ballroom they’re all checking out as a possible wedding venue.

“Damn it,” Owen mutters before turning toward them, a bright smile on his face. “Oh uh, we were just discussing how beautiful the…sconces are. Right Gabriel?”

“Oh yes,” Gabriel agrees. “Excellent uh, lighting in here. Very…bright.”

“Thanks for the input,” T.K. says with a smile and a roll of his eyes. “That’s definitely our main focus in choosing a wedding venue, good lighting. Right babe?”

“Definitely,” Carlos mock agrees, putting an arm around T.K.’s waist.

“You know, if we’re annoying you, we can leave,” Owen suggests in that voice he uses when he’s pretending to be sincere. 

No one is falling for it.

“Absolutely not,” Andrea says flatly. “I want the two of you where I can see you. Every time you’re together you cause trouble.”

“But wouldn’t it make more sense for you to bring us along to the things we’d be useful at?” Gabriel tries. “We don’t know anything about wedding venues. A barn versus a ballroom? Who cares! Now when the cake tasting rolls around…”

“Yes,” Owen jumps in to agree. “I think we’d be excellent at cake tasting. And very bad at floral arrangements.”

“If you keep dragging us around now we’ll be too tired to help when it really counts,” Gabriel says.

Both of them look hopefully at the rest of the group. Carlos and T.K. exchange a glance while Andrea shakes her head disapprovingly. 

“Look,” Carlos says finally. “We know that looking at wedding venues and researching photographers and addressing invitations—“

“You’re going to make us address invitations?” Owen interrupts in horror.

“Dad!” T.K. sighs, giving him an exasperated look.

“Sorry,” Owen says, holding out a hand to cede the floor back to his son’s fiancé. “Go on Carlos.”

“We know that doing all of this isn’t really your thing,” Carlos continues, ever the peacemaker. “But we want you to be involved.” He looks at T.K. who nods in agreement. “It’s important to us that we do this as a family.”

Owen and Gabriel both deflate a little bit. “Well,” Gabriel says slowly. “I think I liked the second space today better.”

“The vineyard?” Andrea asks.

“No,” Gabriel says. “No the…what do you call it? Homestead?”

“That was number four,” Owen says. “And I agree. You want something with indoor space. No need to invite the elements to ruin your day.”

“Is this even the right size?” Gabriel asks, starting to wander the space. “You need room for the guests spread out.”

“Well we’re keeping it pretty small,” Carlos says. 

“But even still, you need space for food, for dancing, you don’t want your guests tripping all over each other,” Owen says. “And aesthetic wise this carpet would have to go. Do you think we can rent flooring?”

“We’re not renting flooring,” T.K. says, but his words fall on deaf ears as the two men start talking about the building’s structural integrity and clocking the number of fire exits.

T.K. looks at his fiancé an exaggerated grimace on his face. “We made a mistake, huh?”

“Oh yeah,” Carlos says.

“Don’t worry. I’ll round them up,” Andrea says, patting Carlos’ shoulder. “Oye! You two! Vengan! No one needs you to check the fire extinguishers, vámonos!”

Suits

“Dude, you cannot wear that to your wedding,” Paul says seriously as he eyes T.K.’s suit.

“Why not?” Mateo asks. “I think he looks dope as hell.”

“Yeah why not?” T.K. asks, brushing off the front of the floral patterned jacket, then turning so he can see the matching pants better in the mirror. “I like it.”

“There is no way Carlos is going to let you wear that,” Paul says with a shake of his head.

T.K. just smiles. “Hey babe?” he calls.

“Yeah?” a reply comes from across the room where they’re separated from Carlos by a curtain. 

“Can I wear a sage green floral suit to the wedding?”

There’s a pause and then, “Whatever makes you happy.”

“See?” T.K. says with a smirk. “He wants me to be happy.”

“Uh huh. Mrs. Reyes?” Paul calls. “When Carlos paused just then, did he make his ‘contemplative, thoughtful face’ or did he make his ‘blank look of long suffering’ face?”

“I have to say it was the latter,” Andrea calls back.

Paul gives T.K. a look and T.K. frowns. “Well if he could just see how great I look in it, he’d probably change his mind,” he says loudly.

“We agreed not to look,” Carlos calls back.

“No you agreed. I was forced to comply,” T.K. mutters. He sighs and looks the suit up and down again. “Maybe for the rehearsal dinner.”

The decision to go together to look for wedding attire had been born out of time constraints and Andrea’s desire to see both men try on suits. Their dads had been fired after the venue fiasco, so they’d each brought along a couple friends and family members to give opinions. The decision not to see each other on the other hand, had been entirely Carlos citing tradition. T.K. wasn’t a fan.

On the other side of the room Carlos examines himself his own mirror. “I think I liked the first one better,” he says.

“Ohhhhhhh my god, just pick a suit, they all look exactly the same,” Francesca whines from where she’s reclining in a chair between their mom and Adriana.

“Cesca!” Andrea scolds. 

“I’d like to remind you that you were not invited to this,” Carlos tells her. She and Adriana had shown up out of the blue, having tracked Andrea’s phone to the tux shop. So despite firing both Owen and Gabriel, they still had unwelcome guests at this appointment. “Unless you’re going to be nice, you can just be quiet.”

“You need opinions,” Adriana says, not looking up from where she’s scrolling her phone. “Tía’s just going to say you look great in everything.”

“Well he does,” Andrea says. “I have beautiful children.”

Carlos snorts and rolls his eyes, then studies himself again. “I’m putting the grey one back on.”

“Ugh!” Adriana and Francesca both groan in displeasure.

On the other side of the curtain, things are looking up. “Now that is a good look,” Paul says when T.K. comes out for the fifth time. 

“Yeah, you think?” T.K. asks, brushing his hands over the three buttons on the vest. This suit is blue, with a light pinstripe running through it, and he’s really liking the look without a jacket.

“You look fly,” Mateo says, giving a low whistle. 

“We could do matching pocket squares,” the store associate who’s been helping them says. “To tie the two suits together.”

T.K. nods and straightens the grey tie around his neck, looking contemplatively at himself. “Carlos!” he calls. “Did you find the one you want?”

“I think so,” Carlos says.

T.K. turns and immediately strides toward the curtain. 

“Whoa, hey! Where are you going?” Mateo asks as he and Paul jump to their feet to follow him. 

“To see Carlos,” T.K. says. 

“But he—“

“T.K. don’t—“

“Babe, I’m coming over!”

Carlos has about three seconds to react before T.K. comes through the curtain. “T.K.!” he cries, spinning away with a hand over his eyes. 

“I’m not looking!” T.K. calls back. 

There’s a shuffling sound and then a small thump and Andrea says, “T.K.! Cuidado mijo!”

Seconds later Carlos feels someone press up against him until they’re standing fully back-to-back, familiar fingers sliding between his own. “Hi,” T.K. says.

“Hi.” Carlos fights back a smile. “We said no looking.”

“I know, but someone needs to see how the suits look together,” T.K. says. “My eyes are closed, I promise.”

“Paul?” Carlos asks.

“He’s telling the truth,” Paul confirms. “Almost killed himself getting up on that pedestal with his hand over his eyes.”

“You’re ridiculous,” Carlos tells him. 

“And you love it,” T.K. says, squeezing Carlos’ fingers. “So?” he says to the rest of the group. “How do we look?”

“Extremely stupid,” Adriana says immediately. “But also hot.”

“Yeah you look great together,” Mateo says.

“Mom?” Carlos asks, but he doesn’t get a response.

“She can’t talk, she’s crying,” Francesca says on her behalf. “It’s just suits ma! You’ve seen them both in suits before!”

“But not their wedding suits,” Andrea finally says in a watery voice. “My boys, you’re really getting married.”

They really are. 

Cake

“And so THEN I said that we should probably find a different way to get him out, but Nancy said we should keep trying…”

Carlos listens to his fiancé ramble on at a mile a minute as they walk toward the next bakery on their list. They’ve already been to three today and T.K. is so hopped up on sugar that he hasn’t stopped talking in over ten minutes. 

Carlos is also feeling a little bit over-sugared; they should have taken his mom’s advice to spread these out over a couple days, but he’d wanted to get it checked off his list and today was the only day they were both free during regular business hours for the next two weeks. 

“And can you believe he wrote that song in a single day and then recorded it, I mean it’s unbelievable—“

He’s still reeling from their first three appointments; the first place had wanted $600 for a basic cake plus more for anything custom, the second had tasted stale and flavorless, and the third had been good, but the owners had rushed them through the appointment, giving both Carlos and T.K. a bad vibe. 

“Maybe I should just bake it,” he says, interrupting the flow of T.K.’s tangent, which has moved onto something about a meteor shower next week.

T.K. pauses for a moment and shakes his head. “I knew this was going to happen.”

“Knew what was going to happen?” Carlos asks.

“I knew that you were going to get all picky and not like any of the cakes we tasted,” T.K. says.

“Be honest, have you ever had a good wedding cake?” Carlos asks. “They’re always dry and tasteless and it seems like a huge waste of money. We could put it toward our honeymoon instead.”

“Baby,” T.K. stops walking and takes both of Carlos’ hands in his. “It’s not that I don’t think you could bake a wedding cake. It’s that I don’t think you could bake our wedding cake.”

Carlos just raises an eyebrow and waits for T.K. to explain his cryptic statement. 

“I love you,” he starts and Carlos rolls his eyes. “But I also know you. And I think, that in the days leading up to our wedding, you might start to feel a little…stressed. I really don’t think you want the added responsibility of baking a cake for a hundred people, do you?”

Carlos’ shoulders slump. “No. But what we’ve seen so far today isn’t very promising.”

“Well then we’ll just have to keep trying,” T.K. says as he loops his arm through Carlos’ and starts walking again. “I will selflessly commit to visiting every bakery in this city until we find you the perfect wedding cake.”

Carlos laughs. “You just want more cake.”

“Eh, that’s just a perk,” T.K. tells him with a wink, pulling open the next bakery’s door.

The space is bright, and modern, display cakes placed artfully around the room. “Hi,” the woman behind the counter says brightly. “Are you Carlos and T.K.?”

The appointment goes perfectly. The designs are unique but within their price range, the owner, Katie, is beyond helpful and takes her time, and everything they try is so good they struggle to choose a favorite. They leave two hours later with signed paperwork and an additional box of cake samples to take home. 

“See?” T.K. says. “Told you we’d find one. I get to have a wedding free of cake stress, and you get to check something else off your list. It’s a win-win.”

“I should never have doubted you,” Carlos says.

Engagement Photos

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” T.K. calls as he rushes into the loft, hurling his bag to the floor and kicking off his shoes into a haphazard heap. 

A last minute call had put them well into overtime and he knew that his fiancé was going to be sweating his late arrival since they were now fifteen minutes late for their engagement photo session. 

“I just have to jump in the shower and then I’ll be ready, ten minutes tops, I sw—“

The rest of his assurances die on his lips as he enters their bedroom and finds Carlos laying out his clothes on the bed. “Hi,” T.K. says, eyes slowly looking his fiancé up and down.

Carlos has on dark jeans and a grey button down, a narrow tie completing the look. His curls are artfully tousled the way T.K. likes them best and he smells incredible. He’s hot, and judging by the look in his eyes, he knows it.

“Hi,” Carlos says, a small smirk quirking his lips as he straightens up and leans over to give T.K. a peck on the lips.

“You uh, you look great,” T.K. tells him.

“Thanks,” Carlos says. “You look like hell.”

“Long shift,” T.K. tells him, feeling the weight of it in his bones. He’s not actually sure how he’s going to muster up the energy to smile for six hundred photos, but this is important to Carlos and Andrea, so he’s going to figure it out. 

Carlos reaches out and touches a spot behind T.K.’s ear. “Is this blood?”

T.K. winces and pulls back. “Yeah last guy was a gusher. Took us forever to get the rig cleaned out, that’s part of why I’m so late.” He pauses and cocks his head. Carlos looks calm and assured, not frantic the way he’d thought he would be. “Speaking of which, why aren’t you freaking out? If we don’t get these done today we won’t have them in time for our save-the-dates.”

“I already called and asked if Maria could push us a half an hour. She said it was no problem,” Carlos says. 

T.K. feels himself sag in relief. “Have I mentioned that you are the best fiancé in the entire universe?” he asks.

“Mmm I think maybe once or twice,” Carlos says, running a hand over T.K.’s hair and cupping his face. “But I like hearing it. And you don’t need to keep apologizing, it’s not your fault that your shift ran long. It happens.”

“I know, but I don’t want you to think this isn’t important to me,” T.K. tells him. “I know I wasn’t initially very…open about engagement photos.”

In fact he still thinks they’re kind of stupid. But Carlos and Andrea really want them, and he’ll do anything to make Carlos happy, even if it means getting dressed up and fake smiling for two hours.

“I know you care,” Carlos says. “You don’t need to worry about that.”

“Well I’m still going to make it up to you later,” T.K. tells him, tugging gently at his tie.

“Oh, I fully intend to let you,” Carlos says, eyes going a little dark. Then he puts his hands on T.K.’s shoulders and turns him toward the bathroom. “Now go shower.”

“Love you!” T.K. calls over his shoulder.

“Love you too!”

Gift Registration

Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

“Oh my god, please stop,” Carlos says, taking hold of T.K.’s wrist to prevent him from scanning yet another random item. “This isn’t laser tag.”

“But it’s fun,” T.K. tells him as he breaks Carlos’ hold and spins around to zap another box, effectively registering them for a decorative glass swan that Carlos immediately removes from their list via his phone. He’s also had to remove an industrial cappuccino maker, a box of tampons, five XXL t-shirts, and a cotton candy machine in the last fifteen minutes alone. When he’d suggested they go register for some wedding gifts, he clearly hadn’t thought through the childlike joy that a hand held scanner would give his fiancé. 

“So what exactly do we think is the limit on what people will buy for us?” T.K. asks as he scans a set of dinner plates with little flowers on them.

“I’m pretty sure a Maserati or a Lambo are probably off the table,” Carlos says with a wry smile. 

“You’re the one with the car fetish babe, not me,” T.K. tells him, smiling when Carlos immediately looks around to see if anyone heard him.

“It’s not a fetish,” Carlos replies, his voice low. “It’s just an appreciation for fine machinery.” He immediately realizes his mistake and tries to correct. “T.K. don’t—“

“I appreciate your fine machinery,” T.K. says with a grin, setting the scanner on a shelf so he can slide his hands into Carlos’ back pockets and tug him closer as his fiancé rolls his eyes. 

“You just can’t pass up an opportunity to be a flirt, can you?” Carlos asks.

“I really can’t,” T.K. says, pressing a quick kiss to his lips. “Seriously though, we don’t need any of this stuff. We already have towels and pots and pans and champagne glasses.”

“It might be nice to upgrade some of our things,” Carlos says, picking up a box. “Marlon Blendo the Second?”

“Can’t we just tell everyone to give us cash?” T.K. asks as they wander down another aisle where he immediately zaps a dog bed shaped like a cheeseburger. 

“I think that’s probably frowned upon,” Carlos says. 

“We’re a cop and a paramedic. We don’t need…” T.K. taps a box close to him, “a breadmaker. We need to pay our bills.”

“That’s the most romantic thing you’ve ever said to me,” Carlos says dryly. He looks around the store. “I think we’re done here, right? We can go home and look online.”

“But I want to scan more stuff,” T.K. says, pointing the scanner at a pink and purple unicorn bean bag chair. 

“What if I buy you boba on the way home?”

T.K. raises his eyebrows. “Are you bribing me like a toddler?”

“Bribery, love, is there really a difference?” Carlos teases. 

T.K. considers this for a moment, then sets the scanner down. “Fine. But I’m getting a large.”

Invitations

“Mom I don’t think—No I’m not! We said we—“

T.K. listens from the couch as Carlos switches between English and Spanish. He’s been quietly arguing with his mom for nearly half an hour and he looks spent. He’s run his hands through his curls so many times that they’re sticking up all over the place and his forehead is pinched tightly in the middle, creating a V over the top of his glasses. 

“I’ll ask T.K. No, Mom, that’s it. I’ll talk to him. Okay. Okay. Adiós.”

Carlos hangs up and sighs, letting his head flop forward onto the table. 

“You okay?” T.K. asks when he doesn’t get up.

“My mom wants to add ten more people to the guest list,” Carlos says, his voice muffled by the stack of invitations he’s mashed his face into. “Three family friends, my great aunt and uncle, and five cousins from New York.”

T.K. frowns. “I didn’t know you had any family in New York.”

Carlos lifts his head, a look of long suffering on his face. “I didn’t either. I’ve never even met them. So I don’t know why my mom thinks they should be invited to our wedding. We told her we wanted to keep the guest list small, but this is the third time she’s called this week and I—“

“Hey,” T.K. stands and joins him at the table, rubbing a hand over his back. “It’s okay. We’ll figure it out.”

“I don’t know what’s gotten into her. She’s not usually like this. She’s turning into some kind of Mom-zilla.”

“She’s excited. She wants to show you off.”

Carlos still looks miserable. “I didn’t know that weddings were this much work. When my sisters got married I just kind of showed up.”

“Why don’t we take a break?” T.K. suggests. “It’s late, all the wedding stress will still be there in the morning.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of,” Carlos sighs, looking down at the stack of invitations in front of him. When he looks up again his face has gone from exhausted to something that T.K. can’t quite interpret. “Marry me.”

T.K. blinks a couple times. “Pretty sure that’s what we’re already doing babe.”

“Marry me now,” Carlos says, and there’s a tinge of desperation in his tone.

T.K. checks his watch. “At 10:37pm? I don’t think there’s anywhere to get married right now, except for Vegas. And that’s a really long drive. You’ll be late for work tomorrow.”

“I don’t care,” Carlos says, looking a little manic . “I don’t care about any of it. I just want to marry you.”

It’s so genuine and sweet and T.K. feels his heart melt a little bit, even though he knows Carlos very much does care and that’s how they’ve gotten here in the first place. 

“Let’s go to city hall tomorrow,” he continues, reaching for T.K.’s hands. “We don’t need flowers or favors or…or…or save the dates. We just need each other, right? That’s all that matters?”

“Yes,” T.K. says with a soft smile. “That’s all that matters.”

Carlos sags in relief. “You really don’t care about the rest of it?”

“Carlos I proposed to you in the middle of the night without a ring, of course I don’t care,” T.K. says, running his thumb soothingly over the back of Carlos’ hand. He chooses his next words carefully. “But baby, I think you do.”

Carlos doesn’t say anything, he just sits staring down at his lap in defeat, so T.K. continues. “You’ve worked so hard on all of this and it’s going to be amazing. We don’t need it, but we deserve to have an awesome wedding that our friends and family can be a part of. And if you wake up tomorrow morning and decide you still don’t care, then I will run down to city hall with you the minute they open the doors.” He pauses. “But remember that your mom will murder us. And then Marjan will bring us back and murder us again. So our wedded bliss will be short lived.”

“I’m just so tired,” Carlos says, looking defeated. “I don’t know if I can deal with six more months of this.”

“Then let me help,” T.K. tells him. “I will call your mom tomorrow and work out the guest list, okay? And we can divide up whatever else is on your list to get done this week.”

Relief washes over Carlos’ face and he leans forward, wrapping a hand around the back of T.K.’s neck and pulling him in for a kiss. “Thank you,” he says.

“You’re welcome,” T.K. says, their faces still only millimeters apart. “Do you want to get ready for bed?”

Carlos nods and hums an affirmative, leaning in and brushing their lips together again and then again.

T.K. smiles against him, acutely aware of the half lidded, familiar look in Carlos’ eyes. “Is me taking over wedding duties a turn on?”

Carlos nods and kisses T.K. a little more firmly this time.

“So not actually bed then?”

Carlos shakes his head and gently pulls T.K. to his feet. No more invitations are addressed that night. 

[heartstringsduet]

You're the cause of celebration

Summary: Valentine’s Day is cursed to them. Good thing they celebrate February 20th from now on.

a gift for @sugdenlovesdingle for the @tarlos-secret-cupid event. I really hope you enjoy this fluffy fic !! 💓

“Babe…I’m pretty sure Valentine’s is cursed for us,” TK says as he heaves the second case of glass water bottles into the shopping cart. They both know Carlos will end up having to carry them later. Carlos tells himself it’s a good work-out. Handling the now heavier cart with one hand, he places the other on TK’s lower back as they walk on. “And you thought about this now because..?” “Because of that stupid pink aisle that I know is just waiting around the corner to taunt us.” “Yeah, I’m sure they made Valentine’s displays in all US stores in case we come around,” Carlos jokes. TK gives him a disgruntled look — a look that is forever classified as adorable in Carlos’ eyes. “Ha-ha. You know what I mean, though. We haven’t exactly lucked out on Valentine’s the past few years.” He’s not wrong, Carlos thinks, as they enter the pink-and-red candy aisle.

read more 🍑

[paperstorm]

For the love of God please tell me something good and happy and fluffy! I had a terrible dream last night that Tarlos broke up again in Season 5 and now I'm a super sad panda! 😭😭😭

OH NO!!!! They will never ever break up they are SOULMATES, they can only stand one instance of being away from each other. Okay how about imagining them dancing on their balcony on their honeymoon. Maybe they have a first floor villa somewhere warm and tropical, where they can leave the doors open and left warm ocean breezes drift in, and they get home from dinner and they were dancing at the restaurant but the happy kind, lots of laughs and upbeat music and TK doing his goofy shimmy because he isn't a good dancer and Carlos holding his hips and moving them together sensually and carefree. But then when they get back to their villa, cheeks hurting from smiling so much all night, they step out onto the balcony/patio and Carlos holds his hand out, wordlessly pulls TK close. Wraps his arms around TK's waist, TK's arms go around Carlos's neck, hugging so tight and swaying slowly together. There's no music so Carlos hums, some song he remembers from his childhood that he hums sometimes while he's cooking so TK recognizes the melody and Carlos's voice low and resonant in his ear feels like home.

[carlos-in-glasses]

cig (please note my autocorrect for some reason made that cgi???) anyway. questions for you:

what was the most enjoyable part of where all this love comes from to write?

what finished fic of your own is the closest to your heart (for any reason)?

do you have any big writing plans for 2024 (aka a particular fic or otherwise)?

what is your favourite blend/brand/type of tea?

what is your go-to writing hairstyle (mine is unhinged pineapple ponytail directly on top of head if that helps)?

Greetings Lola! ❤️ Noted about your autocorrect thinking you were trying to send an ask to computer-generated imagery. Thank you for these questions!

For Where All This Love Comes From: The most fun was the Titanic roleplay moment because I was making myself laugh. I also loved writing the father son scenes - in particular between TK and Owen. Something about them hooked me and I was in the flow each time. I also loved writing Gutiérrez. I'm very taken with him now. I want them to bring him back to the show so I can have more fodder with which to write him.

There are several that are very close to my heart, but I think I have to give it to Fire Island. Technically I think it's good storytelling, but beyond that, emotionally it had a big impact when I was writing it - I read it aloud to my boyfriend before I posted it and we both cried; feedback I've had through comments, asks and DMs has been truly moving. It's about something real, which plenty of readers will remember and have been rocked by in some way. I guess it just feels a bit 'deeper'.

I'd love to write another Tarlos novel over the summer - something fluffy. I don't know if I will achieve that, but I have an idea brewing and I'd be very happy if I manage it. I've also started dreaming up a sequel for When Soulmates Swim. I really only have one image in my head...we'll see what happens!

Breakfast tea with milk. I drink Yorkshire Tea because they don't use plastic in their tea bags anymore. It's a strong brew, and very popular here for good reason.

Hair has to be scraped back off the face, tied up high/held firm by one of those big claw clip things. No styling; not a priority. I'm sure I make for a very sexy sight when I'm writing.

[c2-eh]

Omfg I have not seen 911 lone star but I always get tarlos gif sets coming across my dash and CHARLOS AS TARLOS WOULD ABSOKUTELY OWN ME

listen. listen to me. they're so compelling. tk and carlos' storyline is so good. angsty, but fluffy and sooooo full of love it's crazy. also there is this one thing. tk (charles in my au) is not particularly short per se, but he likes to makes himself smaller and little in Carlos' space, because he feels comfortable and has no problem to let Carlos lead them. because Carlos' love is soft but so so strong and he actually loves to let himself be consumed by it. also Carlos and his dad lore!!!!! In both universes!!!

and like. LOOK

LISTENNNNNNN !

IT'S THEM. Thank you

[sugdenlovesdingle]

🐶📷🎶 for the Tarlos asks!

🐶 What are TK and Carlos' favorite dog breeds? Which one do they get if they eventually get a dog of their own?

I can see Carlos wanting a "real dog" - like a German shepherd or maybe a staffie or some other average size breed (like Labrador size-ish). But probably also something fluffy like Buttercup because you can't tell me he wouldn't love cuddling a big fluffy beast when TK is at work.

TK would pick the saddest looking little bundle of misery at the shelter (adopt, don't shop, people) and go "I want that one" and just love it and spoil it and give it the best food/treats/toys money can buy. No matter the breed or size. If it's a tiny chihuahua it's coming home with them, if it's a Great Dane Carlos better make sure there is room in the Camaro for a crate - and they'll have to invest in a bigger bed because the "baby" sleeps in bed with them.

📷 Walk us through the different photo albums TK and Carlos keep on their phones.

I feel like TK is too chaotic for actual albums - other than how his phone sorts his pictures automatically. He'll take pictures of everything. Carlos looking exceptionally beautiful (just watching TV at home in his oldest and comfiest pjs), pictures from their catan hangs, selfies, some nsfw pics and videos (Nancy learnt the hard way not to scroll through his camera roll), random stuff he comes across when he's at work and sends to Carlos - which can be anything from a cute dog to funny holiday decorations. And every single pride flag he sees in June - no matter how small. He does have every picture of their wedding and some of his mum marked as favourite for easy access.

Carlos is a lot more organised and not really one to take pictures of random stuff - though he's doing it more now than back when he and TK first met. The first time he puts his new uniform on, TK is at work and he sends him a mirror selfie, he gets a string of 😍🥵🔥 back and 5 minutes later a video call request.

i think he has albums for important stuff like birthdays and family events. He definitely has every picture taken at their wedding saved in special album. A few he's taken himself, but mostly from their family and friends. His favourite picture is one of the two of them during their first dance his mum took. it's one where he has his back to the camera but you see TK resting his head against Carlos' and just looking blissfully happy. he uses it as wallpaper and lockscreen on his phone and he just likes to look at it whenever he's having a bad day. It's also one he shows to people asking about his husband or his wedding. That and the post cake smash kiss.

He DEFINITELY has some pics and videos that are meant for TK's eyes only and they're carefully hidden away and will never see the light of day.

🎶 It's time to expose these boys' spotify playlists! What are TK and Carlos' favorite genres, artists, songs, etc.

Oh man - don't get me started on music, we'll be here a while lol

I don't use spotify so the boys don't either - fact.

I think TK has a pretty broad taste. Anything from showtunes to the new Linkin Park - and everything in between. He'll sing along to the latest pop sensation that's on the radio 24/7 or something more underground he'll have discovered on insta or a local band playing in a bar or busking on a street corner. I think he's always looking for something new that catches his attention.

Carlos grew up with Latin music from his parents but his sisters were both BIG into boybands so he still knows practically every Backstreetboys/Nsync song by heart. He generally likes music he can dance to but TK has introduced him to some cool bands too over the years and he likes a bit of rock here and there. Though he's more into indie and singer songwriters with a nice melody than the wall of noise TK sometimes likes to listen to. But if he comes home and sees TK airdrumming along to one of his favourite songs he just enjoys the view of seeing his husband happy and carefree. He has a full album of happy TK on his phone too.

thanks for asking, these were fun!

full list tarlos asks