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Going out with the 126 was always a bit of an adventure. Carlos never quite knew what he'd be getting into, but chances were he wind up enjoying himself. Ever since that first night in a bar and asking TK to dance, Carlos had tried to learn to just roll with whatever ideas the firefighters came up with. Which was how he found himself being dragged to a karaoke bar Friday night instead of one of the team's usual haunts.
And here's the thing- Carlos isn't a karaoke guy. Sure he likes music, and he can sing decently well, but the few times Carlos has had to witness karaoke before it's been pretty painful. Crimes against music had been committed, and Carlos had to remind himself he couldn't actually arrest drunk frat guys for that alone. Seriously though, at a certain point, it was almost impressive to be able to sing a song so badly. All of which meant that when TK had told Carlos the firehouse wanted to try out a new karaoke bar on the other side of town Carlos didn't have very high expectations. But even after a few months of dating him, Carlos was virtually incapable of saying no to TK, especially when he was excited about something, so Carlos followed the others out to the bar. Captain Strand even tagged along, having managed to finish up his paperwork early. Which was how Carlos found himself at a table right down in front of the stage with the rest of the 126.
Judd had sung a country sing Carlos wasn’t familiar, and Paul and Captain Strand had both taken what to Carlos’s mind was the smartest path and opted not to sing at all. Mateo was up on stage right now with Marjan, having somehow managed to rope her into a goofy version of Don’t Stop Believing. Carlos wrapped his arm around TK’s shoulders and smiled. This wouldn’t have been his first choice, but he was still having fun.
“So TK,” Judd grinned at him from across the table. “You and Carlos here going to sing next?”
TK chuckled. “How ‘bout it babe?”
Carlos shook his head. “I’m gonna have to go with your dad and Paul on this one.”
Captain lifted up his drink and nodded at Carlos. “Smart man.”
"Fine," TK smirked. "I'll just have to sing by myself then."
Mateo and Marjan finished their duet and took a bow. TK climbed over Carlos to move towards the stage, Paul and Judd whooping. Captain Strand smiled.
"That was a wise choice, Carlos. Believe me when I say my son takes this very seriously."
Mateo and Marjan climbed down the steps to the stage slapping TK on the back as they passed him. Mateo squeezed back into his seat, and Marjan grabbed a quick drink of her water.
“What Carlos, you didn’t want to sing with TK?” Marjan asked.
“I’m good just watching.”
“But singing is all the fun.” Mateo laughed giddily.
Carlos shrugged. He watched as TK started thumbing through the song selections on stage. TK had a bit of an intense look on his face, and it looked to Carlos like he was looking for something particular.
“You gonna pick one sometime tonight?” Judd called up to him.
TK smiled and flipped Judd off, still flipping through the songs.
Captain Stand chuckled. “I told you he takes karaoke very seriously.”
Carlos wasn’t exactly sure what the Captain meant by that, but he was pretty curious to see. TK smiled on stage, somehow looking brighter than all the stage lights around him. It looked like TK had finally chosen his song.
TK punched his selection into the machine and walked back to center stage. The music started up, the first few notes drifting out of the speakers. Carlos couldn't quite place it yet, but he felt like he'd heard it before. And then TK opened hit mouth and started to sing.
“Walk in your rainbow paradise. Paradise… Strawberry lipstick state of mind. State of mind… I get so lost inside your eyes. Would you believe it?”
TK was good. Really good. Carlos felt his jaw drop a little. He’d had no idea TK could sing, and judging from the shocked expressions on the faces of the other firefighters, Carlos wasn’t the only one. Captain Strand smiled to himself and took a sip of his drink.
“You don't have to say you love me. You don't have to say nothing. You don't have to say you're mine." TK grinned and looked right at Carlos. And now, of course, Carlos remembered where he'd heard this song before. It'd been playing in TK's car the other day when he picked Carlos up from the station after his shift. Carlos had thought TK just had the radio on, but watching him perform the song Carlos suddenly had his doubts. TK didn’t even have to look at the screen to keep nailing all of the words. He just stared at Carlos, with a flirty little smile. Carlos shook his head and smiled back. Clearly, TK was feeling a little smug.
“Your boy’s got some pipes!” Judd chuckled and slapped Carlos on the back. Carlos nodded unable to tear his eyes away from TK.
“Honey. Ah-ah-ah. I'd walk through fire for you. Just let me adore you. Oh, honey,” TK actually winked at Carlos, pointing out at him from the stage. Carlos could feel his cheeks heating up a little as people looked over to see who TK was singing too, and caught more than a few jealous looks being levied his way. Carlos didn’t hold it against them. TK looked positively sinful up on the stage. The lights caught every inch of his gorgeous face, and those eyes Carlos loved seemed to almost glow. Carlos swallowed hard. The song itself was sweet, but TK was adding a sultriness to it that was putting Carlos in some real danger of embarrassing himself. Getting a hard-on in public over his boyfriend singing to him when TK's dad was just two chairs down from Carlos was not something he ever wanted to have to live down.
TK just kept singing, even dancing with the microphone stand a little, grinding his hips up against it. Carlos had never been so jealous of a piece of metal in his life.
“Ah-ah-ah. I'd walk through fire for you. Just let me adore you. Like it's the only thing I'll ever do. Like it's the only thing I'll ever do…”
“Whoo!” Marjan laughed. “Boy’s got game.”
“Yeah.” Mateo smiled. “Why didn’t you tell us TK could sing Cap?”
“Honestly I just didn’t think about it.” Captain Strand smiled proudly. “It’s just one of those things he’s like doing you know?”
“Did you get him lessons or something as a kid?” Paul asked.
“Nah.” Captain Strand chuckled. “TK just got lots of hours singing back to his CDs and music videos.”
Carlos can just imagine how cute a younger TK would have looked bopping around his room and singing to himself. The thought helps hold off some of the less pure impulses TK’s performance is giving him.
“You're wonder under summer sky. Summer sky. Brown skin and lemon over ice…” TK grinned even wider, his eyes boring into Carlos’s. Carlos blushed all over again. “Would you believe it?”
Mateo shook his head watching TK. “I got to say, I never would have imagined TK being a One Direction fan.”
“Is that what that is?” Judd asked.
"Harry Styles," Marjan said with a little smile. "To be more specific…”
Mateo nodded. “Some of my nieces love him.”
Captain Strand burst out laughing. “Well trust me, your nieces would have had nothing on TK.” He smiled fondly. “That boy had more posters of the band tacked than I could have imagined. If he hadn’t already told us he was the shirtless boy band posters would have been a pretty good give away.”
That gets a pretty good laugh out of the group, Carlos included. He’d had his own share of celebrity crushes growing up. Captain Strand pulls out his phone to pull up some old pictures, but Carlos will have to ask to see them later. He can’t tear his eyes off of TK long enough to really enjoy them now. The song is starting to wind down, but TK is still going all out, and the crowd clearly loves him.
“I'd walk through fire for you. Just let me adore you. Oh, honey. Ah-ah-ah. I'd walk through fire for you. Just let me adore you. Like it's the only thing I'll ever do.” TK wrapped both of his hands around the microphone and kept swaying gently with the last bit of the song. “Ah-ah-ah. It's the only thing I'll ever do, it's the only thing I'll ever do. I'd walk through fire for you. It's the only thing I'll ever do. Just let me adore you. Oh, honey. Ah-ah-ah, oh, honey. It's the only thing I'll ever do, it's the only thing I'll ever do. I'd walk through fire for you It's the only thing I'll ever do. Just let me adore you It's the only thing I'll ever do.”
TK smiled wide when he finished, and took a little bow. Carlos was proud to say he got the loudest applause of the night so far, and it said something about his performance that even Marjan’s competitive hackles were soothed. TK bounded down the stairs looking very pleased with himself. Judd got up to clap him on the back, but Carlos stayed in his seat. TK slipped back down next to Carlos and took a huge sip of his water.
“So you’ll walk through fire huh?” Carlos said.
“Yeah.” TK grinned. “You know, certified firefighter and everything.”
Carlos laughed. “Right…”
“So did you like it?” TK asked a little knowingly.
Carlos took a second to make sure the rest of the 126 wasn’t looking at him before he subtly guided TK’s hand up his leg. “What do you think?”
TK smirked, a pleased glint in his eyes. “I’ll take that as a yes.”
“That’s definitely a yes.” Carlos shuddered a little. “I didn’t know you could do that.”
“Yep.” TK laughed. “Harry Styles is my jam.”
“Clearly.” Carlos leaned in closer to him, wrapping his arm back around TK. “You know I might have to ask for a more private encore later…”
TK beamed up at him. “I think that could be arranged.”
The rest of the night was a blur for Carlos. He couldn’t have named any of the other songs people performed if his life depended on it. But come Monday he was still humming the notes to TK’s performance when he walked into work.