#and i survived the proximity! 😄

[vacancy90]

[lire-casander]

Congratulations on the 400 followers! Happy to be one of them! 🎉🎉🎉

For the prompt — angst + forced proximity trope for Tarlos. From the list, I couldn’t decide between #4 and #19. So writers choice? Either one would be great! 😄

hi hi! thank you so much for this prompt, and for being such a supportive friend! as you may already know, i’m really bad at choosing so... have a bit of both prompts?

#4 ~ an accidental brush of lips followed by a pause and going back for another, on purpose.

#19 ~ one person stopping a kiss to ask “Do you want to do this?”, only to have the other person answer with a deeper, more passionate kiss.

start our lives with a kiss [817 words] | on ao3

warnings: alternate universe - carlos reyes is a firefighter

It's weird, to be back in New York, so soon after everything , and not being able to run up to Alex’s doorstep. It's weird to stroll the streets he knows like the back of his hand alone, without fingers intertwined with his own. It's weird to breathe the same air as Alex knowing that they will never be, that they'll forever remain the promise of a broken future.

It's weirder to be stuck in the city with Carlos Reyes of all people — Carlos Reyes, his best friend, the soulmate TK hadn't expected to find after Alex, and definitely oblivious to that fact.

TK sighs as he looks up at the Manhattan skyscrapers. Not so long ago he was the one saving people off those buildings, one way or another, and still it feels like a lifetime ago. He’s so distracted that he misses a hole on the ground and trips over it.

"Woah, Strand," Carlos calls out, grabbing TK by the elbow and steadying him. "Be more careful. I don’t want to be the one to tell Captain Strand that his son has opened his skull by tripping over nothing. "

"It wasn’t nothing," he mumbles. He frees himself from Carlos' grip and plants his feet more securely on the ground. "There’s a hole, right there."

"Sure there is," Carlos teases him, turning around and stepping away from TK, who sighs in relief.

There's no way he's going to survive this trip if Carlos insists on being so close to him.

Paul keeps telling him to just go for it, to take a leap of faith because Carlos is definitely not Alex, and he won't hurt TK like that. And he knows he should believe Paul — he's rarely mistaken — but TK is aware that what he has going on with Carlos is great. He doesn’t want to mess with it. They work together — Carlos as a firefighter and TK as a paramedic — and it would make for a very awkward situation if he decided to pursue anything.

They keep wandering around, randomly taking turns to choose their path, stopping at red lights and marveling at the immensity of the city, all the while TK chastised himself for his lack of self-awareness and his complete clumsiness.

He's so deep in thought, so lost in his own mind, that he doesn't even notice the light they're at turning red. He simply keeps walking. TK hears a commotion, there are voices, and all of a sudden he's being pulled backwards and into Carlos' arms. Not really registering what's going on, he looks up just at the same time as Carlos leans down, and their lips brush together accidentally.

It's not a proper kiss, and yet it falls down on TK like waves crashing into the shore — a force of nature that cannot be stopped.

He moans into the motion, jerking his head back when he realizes what he's doing. Carlos frowns at him for a nanosecond before diving back in and claiming TKʼs lips in a seating kiss.

"You okay?" Carlos mutters into TKʼs mouth, breathing ragged.

"You—you saved me."

"I wasn't about to let you get run over by a truck."

"Thank you," TK whispers, finally comprehending the awkwardness of their moment. He tries to pull away but Carlos’ grip on him only tightens.

With a low growl, Carlos pulls him back against his chest and drops a kiss on TKʼs temple before looking into his eyes as though asking for permission — like TK would ever deny Carlos anything — and kissing him once again.

TK almost short circuits into the feeling of lips on lips and tongue licking into his mouth when he parts his lips just slightly. Almost.

He pulls away with the last ounces of willpower he has left, but Carlos isn't letting go, so TK is trapped in between strong arms in a situation he's not sure he’s understanding, despite it being taken out of his best dreams.

"Do you really want to do this?" TK asks in a hushed voice. He’s so sure that his words haven't carried on, not in the busy streets with all the honks going off around them and the people rushing past them. "Like, for real?"

Carlos shoots him a weird look — a mix between fond irritation and desperate need — and gives TK a reply in the form of another passionate kiss that TK has no qualms in reciprocating.

They will have time later to talk — to find out that Carlos volunteered to this trip in the hopes that the forced proximity gave him the courage he needed to talk to TK about his true feelings — and they will definitely be using just one of the beds in their shared hotel room tonight, but for now they are content with meeting each other in the middle of the street in Manhattan, surrounded by a reality that's forever changed for them.

celebrate this milestone of 400 followers with me!