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Carlos hated having to be the one doing the chasing, and still here he was, pushing his luck with a new yorker nonetheless. A new yorker with the prettiest green eyes. With very strong opinions about everything he didn’t know. The fittest body and a fellow public servant, a firefighter, which made him impossibly hotter by any of Carlos’ account. On his scale, truly a 10/10. Not to mention, by any means, the things TK could do that made Carlos’ eyeballs roll all the way to the back of his head... City boy had some serious moves. But, still, TK’s hot-and-cold demeanor could be extremely irritating. But, if his friend Michelle had any authority to give life advice at all, he’s doing exactly what he’s supposed to be doing: taking the risk and swallowing his pride.
Sure, he knew the guy had been through his fair share of emotional disappointment and several other issues that were responsible for him having so many emotional walls that were hard to knock down, even by himself. Carlos was always confused about what gear they were on, he was never in control of their little fling and by any of his standards these were red flags. He had always been the kind of guy that liked things to be simple, safe, traditional even. One could call him a hopeless romantic. TK’s presence challenged the way Carlos saw the world and interacted with it; and that alone was enough to drive him crazy. TK was under his skin, and on his mind, all the time, and Carlos couldn’t shake him off. It pissed Carlos off in so many levels, and pushed him to his limits and maybe he was actually masochistic for letting it go on. Even though the first time Carlos tried to do something nice for TK and actually have a date with him turned out into the biggest failure of the century. After the scuffle that got TK arrested; they were able to communicate a little bit better – at least enough for them to agree to go out, as an item, with Paul just to cheer him up. But not enough for Carlos to actually know more about TK, or for their pacing around this thing to click. It always seemed one step forward, two steps back with TK; and it was starting to get a little tiresome.
But, all in all, they were still here for each other, if a late night booty-call, for some mindless chatting or some favors.
Like any millennial from a major metropolitan area, TK had a lot of idealistic life resolutions. And being a new yorker, he had to grow up with some limitations and querks that could only be observed in that specific holy ground. For example, the delusion that New York was the center of the universe and that nothing else mattered, but also an almost indescribable pleasure on the process of taking the subway. It is, indeed, hard to manage owning a car in cities with real estate prices so absurdly high that they’re almost impracticable; it was impossible to find a parking spot therefore what’s the use of owning a car if you cannot take it out of you own garage? Provided that you could find a garage to rent. Also, the whole green deal the new generations have. In conclusion, TK never had a car. He never planned on having one. Anywhere he needed to go, he’d always take the subway and when he needed to move something, he either asked his dad for his car – preferably for his dad to drive him – or rented a small truck. In Texas, however, everybody had a car. Not only a car, but the biggest pick-up trucks and SUVs in America. You know, the entire “everything is bigger in Texas” deal. It was so annoying… But after all, TK was grateful that if he had to move to Texas, at least it was the progressive pearl of the state, Austin, where nobody gave him a second look when he swooped by in his electric scooter. “Keep Austin weird” was their motto, Carlos taught him.
However, every once in a while it came a time in a man’s life when electric scooters and Ubers weren’t enough.
With very few options in his plate, considering every person he knew here were either working with him and on a shift or sleeping with him, TK gave in, swallowed his pride and called Carlos. It took four ringing tones for him to pick up, but it was enough for TK’s leg to start bouncing in anxiety. Carlos pushed buttons in him, even though he did his best to pretend to himself that he didn’t.
“Heeeey, TK. What’s up?” Carlos said in the other end, trying miserably to sound casual.
The fact is, TK knew Carlos would be at work today, and he knew a patrol officer wasn’t supposed to answer personal calls on duty. Specially Carlos, the pristine knight in shining armour that wore his professionalism as a secondary badge. The little intercourse alone was enough to earn both eyebrows raised very high by Officer McAddams, Carlos’ partner for this shift, that like everyone in the police department, knew how much Carlos valued following strictly the rules. Always doing things by the book, no matter the cost. For many of his colleagues, Officer Reyes was often seen as uptight, even. It didn’t help that McAddams had been the arresting officer the night TK pulled the bar fight stunt and with whom Carlos had to make a deal to take the case. So, he knew exactly who his partner was talking to. Even though using your phone during work hours was something everyone did, it was not something that anyone had seen Carlos do before. His whole face, from the tip of his ears to the very last visible part of his neck went blushing crimson under the gaze of his co-worker. The only thing Carlos could hope for was to not get caught on camera using his phone while driving a police car. In the half second that took for TK to respond, Carlos slowed down and almost let the engine die; when actually he should’ve just pulled over. His mind raced through a variety of scenarios, none of which were pleasing to think about.
It was even more awkward that they hadn’t texted in the last two days. And that they never actually had been in a proper phone call since they met.
“Hello, Carlos, I’m really sorry. I know you’re at work, I would never mean to put you in a bad position, I hope it’s OK for you to talk right now” TK practically chewed the words in a rapid pace that almost made it hard to understand. Carlos let out the breath he didn’t know he was holding.
“Of course, anything for a friend” Officer Reyes responded, giving the due emphasis on the word so his partner, who was sitting two feet away from him would stop making all those weird faces at him, and mouthing words he could not focus on at the moment. Also, Carlos double parked in an avenue that had some traffic at the time. At the end, McAddams turned on the light-bar and sighed. “I mean… Yes, I can talk. What happened?”
“You know how I told you about my dad’s cancer? Well, he’s in chemo right now and ever since he told me, I made my mission of never letting him go through it alone again… But when we moved to Austin we didn’t bring any furniture and neither the new firehouse he was supposed to build from the ground, so-”
Rolling his eyes, Officer McAddams leaned closer.
“Get to the point, Tyler. We’re double parked and your weak-kneed boyfriend is gonna get us in trouble”
Carlos eyes went wide at the audacity McAddams was showing right now. But most of all, his stomach revolved at the reaction TK could possibly get from being associated with a label he put so much effort to being away from.
“Sorry! Oh my God, I’m so sorry! If you need, I can just-”
“No, TK, keep going. Just… Maybe get to the point?”
“Long story short, I need to be there but also need to pick up some stuff for the house from the store in the other side of town, because today from all days they’re not delivering and I put this for later the entire week and if I don’t get it for like, yesterday, I may actually avoid losing my dad to a cancer just to lose him to a heart attack. Also, my shift starts in 20 minutes. I guess what I’m saying is… Can I borrow your car?”
“God, TK, you should’ve leaded with that” Carlos took a breath and considered carefully, what he was about to do. He could see perfectly, TK chewing the inside of his cheek, his whole body agitated, anxiety taking over as he pushed himself to do something so out of character like asking for help. It was true: he loved his car and he never let anyone touch it. Drive it? Never, ever, ever. His sisters would die if they ever knew he let someone else drive his Camaro before any of them, whom have been asking for it for years. It was his baby, the amount of time he spent each week shining that car was unbelievable. He couldn’t stand the idea of anyone else behind his steering wheel. But then again… TK and his damn green eyes. He battled his instinct of self-preservation for just a heartbeat before he decided to say ‘fuck it’. “Of course you can. Here’s what you gonna do: you’re gonna pull your firefighter badge and you’re gonna head for the station. There, you’ll ask to talk to Sergeant Ocasio. She’s in charge of the officers. Say you’re going in behalf of Officer Reyes. I’ll radio the station and tell them you are an acquaintance and have an emergency and need to have access to my locker. Sergeant Ocasio will guide you to the lockers, my combination is eight right, seven left, eleven right. Got it?”
“Eight right, seven left, eleven right. Ok, got it”
“Fine, my keys are on the left front pocket of my jeans inside the blue backpack”
“Thank you, Carlos. Thankyou, thankyou, thankyou. You don’t know how much you’re saving my life right now”
“I’ll stop by the fire-station when I get out and I expect my car to be exactly the way it is, got it?”
“Yes, yes, I got it. Thank you so much for this, Carlos. I promise I’ll repay you, whatever you need, I mean it”
“Nah, don’t mention it. Now go, it seems like you’re in a hurry”
“Ok, thank you, bye”
Carlos didn’t even had a second to contemplate what the hell had just happened or what he had done before McAddams spoke again:
“What are you waiting for? Drive!”
—§—
As expected when you don’t consider your life choices with proper care, the consequences always come in a way you’re not ready to pay for. In Carlos’ case, when he got back to the station that afternoon, from the moment he stepped his foot through the door, he could feel the eyes of all of his co-workers all over him and he knew he had been the gossip of the department that day. And knowing the people he worked with, possibly for the rest of his career.
The first thing anyone did was to whistle at him. And then all hell broke loose while he wanted to shove his head on the ground like an ostrich. Carlos hated being the center of attention. It also triggered him because all of the bullying he had to put up growing up, so he was going through a nightmare in broad daylight.
“Well, well, if it isn’t our very own lover of the hour”
“So you have a thing for boxers, huh?” Somebody made a joke about TK’s bar-fight, because of course they would, the bastards.
“Maybe he’s just weak for the heat!”
“Firefighter, Reyes? I thought you respected us more than that!” There was, indeed, a friendly feud between cops and firefighters in some places, that was no lie… Austin was one of those places.
And so it went on and on, generally about the unprecedented lack of decorum from Mr. Perfect Officer Reyes; but some guys went deeper, congratulating TK’s (and it was not like Carlos could sincerely disagree with) easy-on-the-eye plump bottom.
He didn’t even take a shower, just changed out of his work clothes and got the hell out of there the fastest he could; before remembering he lived too far to walk home. Cut to a mortified Officer Reyes asking for the Sergeant of the next shift if he could find him a patrol to give him a ride to the 126 th Fire-station.
And thus he ejected himself out of the backseat forty minutes later, but not without hearing a “Make sure you hit that right, Reyes, because it seems like there might be a lot of competition forming back at the precinct!” from his dickhead fellow officers before rushing inside the fire-station like a gazelle.
As soon as he stepped in side, Marjan, who seemed to be pretending to count some items in the firetruck, called:
“Howdy!” She said, trying an accent that didn’t suit her at all.
“Hm, hello. Do you know where I could find TK?”
Her face only twisted a bit with a half laughter before she screamed:
“Pretty boy, visitor for you!”
Carlos still didn’t understand all the name-calling that went around in the 126, he himself preferred to keep his workplace clean and impersonal because that’s how he believed; according to all the books he read on productivity; that efficiency was easily attainable. Which just made his little scene earlier even more out of character for him and he couldn’t even think about it without wanting to jump off of a bridge for the pure embarrassment. He still couldn’t believe the things he was doing for this man.
However, he surely could understand the appeal of giving TK pet names. Even though he had to at first, because TK didn’t tell him his name before they had sex for the first time. Now, ‘Tiger’ had kinda grown on him, and he suspected it did it for TK too, since Tyler Kennedy was not an option.
Speaking of the devil, here came TK down the stairs, looking cute as usual and Carlos wanted to beat himself up for being so weak for this man. All it took was one look from TK and all his resolve would come crumbling down like a sandcastle.
“Oh, hey! How are you, Carlos?” TK came closer and said hello by pulling Carlos into a brotherly hug, hoping to be enough to satisfy what he knew was Marjan’s inquisitive look burning holes in the back of Carlos’ neck.
It did not stop her from making a comment though: “So we’re in first name basis now?”
“I hope you were able to do everything you had to -”
For TK’s luck, before Marjan had a chance to tease more; Paul came crashing in to save the day as soon as he heard Carlos’ voice.
“Oh, hello, Paul!” Carlos greeted nervously.
“Hey there, buddy…” Of course before any more attention came to the scene and Owen, who was just in his office one floor above came to see what the fuss was about – and TK was not ready for that conversation -, TK made a signal with his eyes, for Paul to take Marjan the hell outta there. Which he did. And only fueled more the fire of her curiosity. TK knew that at this rate his house of cards would come crumbling down very soon, but he was so deep in it that he didn’t know how to get out anymore. So he’d keep lying.
“Marjan, why don’t you come why me? I think we should discuss some items from the inventory you did today; I think the numbers might be wrong” Paul said.
“But I…”
TK took the split second of distraction to pull Carlos out of there.
Both men stepped outside to the warm evening of Texas.
Carlos spoke first.
“So… What was that?”
“That is the consequence of having co-workers sleeping four feet away from you. Everything gets too personal, too fast. I guess every class of first responders have their little sub-culture… I know in New York it was like this. Cops and firefighters didn’t always get along and any competition between departments would be a recipe for disaster. But whenever in need, we closed ranks. Never in the line of duty I had a single moment of doubt about the work of cops. Even when I answered a call in the middle of an active shooting”
Carlos just stood there. Looking at him. And the more he stared, the more nervous TK got and the more non-sense he felt he was speaking. Actually, Carlos was just perplexed that TK could actually speak that many words. It was than Carlos learned that when anxious, stressed or nervous; TK simply wouldn’t shut up. He was also pacing around a lot.
“What? Is there something on my face?”
“No! No, it’s just that… Today you’ve thrown more words at me than in the last two months”
“I’m sorry… I told you I’ve been through some hard times before moving here and now that I’m here I’m having a hard time getting over it. I’m working on it”
“I hope you are. But I’m actually here about my car…”
“Oh, yes! Right. I’ve parked it in the back alley. I promise it’s perfect”
“I hope it is. Because if it’s not I’ll have to cuff you, you know that, right?” Carlos offered a playful smirk.
TK chuckled. It was not the worst option and TK hoped the crimson blush that took over his face and neck didn’t give it away that, in fact, he had thought of that possibility when feeling himself. He would never admit it. Never in a thousand years.
“Wouldn’t you like that, Officer Reyes?” He shot back. He gave a side smile, not actually hiding what he was thinking about, and right there Carlos knew exactly how that night would end up.
Carlos took a deep breath.
TK motioned to guide him to his car.
“So… Were you able to do what you had to do? It seemed like a lot” He didn’t break eye contact. One exchanged look was all it took for them. Yes, lust was steaming off of their pores like it always do when cold water meets burning steel; and if sex was the only way Carlos could get close to TK, he would take it.
“Yes! Yes I did, thank you, again. I made it here more than one hour late and had to buy lunch for this guy from the other shift, but all in all, it did the trick. My dad never needs to know” TK bumped shoulders with him.
“I’m glad. And you don’t need to thank me, anything you need… Just, it would be nice if it came with a little heads’ up the next time?” He forcibly laughed.
They turned the corner behind the fire-station. His baby was parked by the dumpster in a street that was… Well, exactly what you’d expect for in an abandoned-for-six-months fire-station. Grass growing from the cracks in the asphalt and not a single soul in sight. It might’ve been dangerous, since from inside the fire-station nobody could see his car here, but then again, that was the point.
“Sure, sure. You’re right”
TK fished the keys from his front pocket and placed it in Carlos’ hand, still looking into his eyes.
It was a moment.
Carlos clicked the alarm.
TK licked his lips and Carlos’ eyes followed the motion.
“You know, I owe you one now. Whatever you need, just say the word”
Carlos opened the door.
“Yeah?”
TK was in his personal space. Chests touching. Like if he was daring Carlos to… Do something.
“Yeah”
It was Carlos that licked his always-glossed-lips now.
“I wouldn’t mean to be inappropriate… And you’re still on the clock”
“And?” TK trailed off, pressing forward until Carlos was trapped between him and the car.
There was definitely something growing between them and it was not only the sexual tension. Carlos realized that, maybe, this was TK’s plan all along. Or maybe just a worth-it bonus. Either way, TK was in full uniform and there’s only so much one can expect of a mortal man.
“W-what if someone shows up?”
TK dropped to his knees.
He looked at Carlos with those flamed green eyes and batted his eyelashes like it was the most innocent thing in the world.
Belt and zipper undone before he could even formulate another thought.
“Wouldn’t that be the funniest part?”
—§—
The next morning, Carlos woke up in a very light mood. He was rested, fed and satisfied. Very satisfied after another one of TK’s after-midnight visits. No staying over, as usual, but at least he talked more and seemed more relaxed, more at ease around Carlos. However he did have the excuse of having to work in the morning. He climbed on his electric scooter and left, to which Carlos objected about his safety just to be shushed, mumbling something about a long shift and his bad luck for it was Judd’s turn to cook.
Carlos’ shift wouldn’t start until that afternoon and he was looking forward to making a vegetarian lunch to eat peacefully before work. He hopped in his car, ready to hit that organic market he liked, already humming the first song of his “light morning” playlist. Carlos had one playlist for every situation. He was organized like that, thank you very much.
What he did not expect, however, was to be assaulted by trap beats the instant he touch the power-on button in his radio.
He jumped in his seat and had to stop not to miss a turn.
What in the heavens name?
How the hell did Ariana Grande ended up in his radio?
Specially at that volume at 7:30 in the morning?
He quickly pressed pause. Something must’ve been wrong with his board computer or his Spotify account. So he kept one eye on the road and scrolled through a playlist he never saw before in his life…
Ariana Grande, Selena Gomez, One Direction, Harry Styles, Demi Lovato… Who the hell was Blackpink?
In a playlist called ‘Bops’?
Carlos never listened to that kind of music. He didn’t even know of the existence of half of these songs or artists and those he did know where because of social reasons: parties and clubs and radio stations.
He clicked on the home button, but the home page showed suggestions that Carlos never seen before. So he went for the settings menu and…
There it was, TK’s Facebook picture and his name.
TK must’ve logged on his Spotify the day before and forgot to log out. Suddenly, all the annoyance he was feeling for not having his morning soft rock right away was replaced by curiosity.
He thought about it for a second. He knew nothing about TK. Nothing real, consistent, actually and if it wasn’t for that dumb arrest; he wouldn’t even know the guy’s name.
It was a little petty, but maybe if he poked around a little bit, at least he would come out of it with a little more understanding of something more of what TK liked. So he went back and took a second look at the playlist.
Ariana Grande… Hm. He did remember TK mouthing to a pop-banger song that, in retrospect, could’ve been only sung by the popstar and Carlos wouldn’t be able to place the lyrics to it even with a gun pointed at his head. TK was throwing it back in his lap… And his mouth followed every word. Carlos didn’t pay attention then, with his mind running to other – more physical – activities. But now, it made sense. TK was a big city guy, he followed every trend, was on it in every new thing that came out. It made sense his musical taste would be so in sync with nowadays musical charts.
He scrolled carefully. So this was TK. A tiny part of him anyway, but at least a little bit more than he had and knew of at the moment. So he would take it.
He turned down the volume and started the playlist again, just to know what all the fuss was about. And he kept streaming it, all the way to and back from the market, where he got distracted and bought way more groceries than intended.
It was… Not his cup of tea so far in life, but he could not deny it was very uplifting. And catchy.
So if on his way to work he took a glass bowl of salad and a few vegan hamburgers, snick into the 126 th Fire-station – which luckly was empty, everyone out on a call – and left it in the dinner table with a ‘For TK’ note on it all while continuously humming to Into You (by Ariana Grande, now he knew); nobody could blame him.
The same way nobody could blame Michelle when she was the first one to walk in the dinning area and immediately recognize Carlos’ handwriting in the note. And for the trouble she went through to convince everyone that it was a gift from the community and it was safe to consume, which she did in a concerning easy way, she reserved herself the right to skin Carlos alive for the juicy details later on.
And if Paul fished the note from the trash can when no one was looking, he would also reserve rights to torture TK for the rest of the week.
Specially making police sirens sounds whenever the captain was within ear shot, being closely followed by Marjan who didn’t take long to connect the dots.
It felt like they’d never live that down. But at least they were dumbly screwed together.
It wouldn’t be the first time, after all, two idiots danced around the elephant in the juice bar that everyone could see except them.