Work Text:
TK couldn’t help himself when it came to work. He threw himself into his job and he gave it all he could, and then some. After he recovered from his brush with death, TK tried to work as much as he could, and Owen saw his son overworking himself, but there was no way that he could tell TK to stop taking shifts or even schedule TK less than everyone else because he would just find something else to fill his mind with.
That’s what TK did. He worked and worked and worked, waiting for the worst, expecting it. Even though he was waiting, it surprised him every time. He knew he shouldn’t be surprised, but no matter what happened, every single time without fail, TK was shocked.
Three and a half months after returning to work, TK’s clearing a house after a fire. There’s a teenage boy in his turnout coat and helmet running ahead of him. TK’s half running through the house, when the rest of the house gets compromised, causing concrete and glass to come raining down on TK. He didn’t get hit with much, and it luckily missed the teen.
TK was hit badly enough that he was knocked to the ground by the force of impact, but he wasn’t stuck under anything or injured. Or so he thought until he tried to extend his arm. When he attempted to extend his arm, that’s when the shock waves of pain shot through his entire arm and he yelped.
There was absolutely no way he could let anyone know about this. He had to get out of the house and deal with it himself. TK knew that if his father found out that he got hurt again, he’d never be allowed to come back.
Thankfully TK was already nearly out of the house when it completely collapsed so he didn’t have to go far to get out. He made a beeline for the ambulance and grabbed a pair of tweezers, some gauze, and some saline. Hopefully this would work.
Unfortunately for TK, Carlos chose that moment to round the ambulance and spot TK focused on his elbow and whatever he had in it, hissing and swearing in pain. He bit down on his lip and tried again, whimpering in pain when he couldn’t get it out.
“Want some help?” Carlos asked, trying to wait until TK didn’t have the tweezers anywhere near his body before making his presence known. TK jumped and looked over at Carlos and nodded. “What did you even do?” Carlos asked, reaching down and grabbing his belt and undoing it, holding it out to TK.
“Carlos, wha-”
“Bite down on it, this isn’t going to be pleasant,” Carlos interrupted, making direct eye contact with TK as they switched tools. TK didn’t put up a fight, he just gave Carlos a sad look and put the belt between his teeth, closing his eyes and breathing hard.
TK felt the cool metal of the tweezers and took a sharp intake of breath and held it while Carlos grabbed for the first piece of glass in TK’s elbow. He heard Carlos swear under his breath and then the tweezers were back at his elbow.
“Gettin’ kinky on shift, huh boys?” Michelle’s voice floated through and TK actually considered throwing the belt at her. “TK, you don’t look so good…”
TK spit the belt into his hand and glared at Michelle, saying, “I know, thanks for mentioning it. Now, if you’ll excuse us, we need to get this out of my elbow so I can go finish up doing my job.” He slid the belt back between his teeth and lifted his bad arm up for Carlos to inspect again.
“Do you want any anaesthetic or any pain medication, TK? That’s gotta hurt,” Michelle asked, watching as TK shook his head and in return, he got a pleading look from Carlos. TK responded to his boyfriend’s look with a petulant whine, the belt still held tightly between his teeth.
“Michelle, can you get the debris out of TK’s arm while I hold him. I don’t think he understands how badly this is going to hurt and I don’t want him to flail and further injure himself or you,” Carlos glared at TK and handed the tools over to Michelle, who set them out to clean.
Michelle picked up the tweezers and walked over to where Carlos had gotten TK situated on his lap, holding the smaller man so he could wail into Carlos’ uniform shirt. Michelle worked slowly, checking out the extent of TK’s injury, just because of how uncomfortable and in pain he was.