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TK burrowed further into Carlos’s embrace, letting out a soft, contented sigh. It was one of their rare shared days off, and after too many days with too little quality time, TK was delighted to have a whole twenty-four hours to laze about with Carlos. They were currently on phase three of their loose plan for the day (stage one being sleeping in and stage two being Carlos making pancakes while TK “helped”), which consisted of them cozying up on the couch to catch up on the trashy reality TV shows that TK loved and Carlos pretended that he only tolerated for his boyfriend’s sake. But no matter how much Carlos grumbled about the manufactured drama and obvious producer interference, there was no hiding that he got just as invested in the feuds and cattiness as TK did.
Carlos tightened his arms around TK, nuzzling TK’s neck before dropping a few soft kisses behind his ear. “Hey baby?”
“Mmhmm?” TK was a little sleepy and very much wrapped up in the drama unfolding on the TV.
“I’ve been thinking about it a lot, and I’ve decided I want to tell them.”
TK furrowed his brow. “Tell who what?”
“My parents,” Carlos said softly. “I want to tell them the truth. I want them to know who you really are to me.”
This grabbed TK’s attention and he paused the show before tossing the remote aside and twisting in Carlos’s arms so that he could see his face. “Los, you know I love and support you no matter what. But I really did mean what I said—I am perfectly fine with them thinking we’re just friends if that’s what makes you feel safe. I don’t want you to do anything that you’re not ready for just because of me.”
Carlos smiled at his boyfriend and ran a gentle hand through TK’s hair. “I know, and I love you for that. But … doing this isn’t even really about you. It’s about being fully honest and sharing who I am with my parents. And being your boyfriend is a big part of who I am.”
“It’s one of my favorite parts of who you are,” TK said cheekily.
“Mine too,” Carlos replied with a laugh.
TK sat up entirely, nudging Carlos into more of a sitting position against the arm of the couch, and straddled his lap. He looked Carlos right in the eyes, needing to be fully face-to-face for the rest of this conversation. He looped his arms loosely around Carlos’s shoulders. “If this is what feels right for you, then I’m behind you 100 percent. And obviously I hope that it goes really well, but if it doesn’t go as smoothly as you want it to, nothing about how I feel about you or our relationship or our future will change, okay?”
Carlos nodded, kissing TK gently before burying his face into TK’s neck. “Thank you,” he said, his voice a little muffled.
TK pulled Carlos closer. “No need to thank me, love.”
They were quiet for a few minutes, breath syncing as they held each other close. Carlos broke the silence suddenly, lifting his head off of TK. “What if I invite them over for dinner tonight?”
“Tonight? Like … the night that’s happening in a few hours tonight?” TK said, a little taken aback.
Yes, Tyler,” Carlos said with a laugh, “the only kind of tonight that exists.”
“That’s … soon.”
“Too soon?” Carlos looked like he was second guessing himself.
“No, not necessarily. I guess I just didn’t think you meant that you wanted to tell them right away.”
“I—I think I want to do it now before I lose the nerve,” Carlos said, sounding nervous about the prospect of telling his parents for the first time.
TK kissed Carlos gently to soothe him. “Then tonight is perfect.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. What should we make?”
Carlos rolled his eyes. “You mean what should I make?”
“Hey!” TK said in mock outrage. “I was very helpful with the pancakes this morning.
“You chopped, like, two strawberries and then just kept trying to get me to make out with you.”
“Didn’t hear you complaining,” TK said pointedly, a silly grin on his face. “In fact, you were a very eager participant in the making out.”
“Okay, fine, I was. But also it meant that I burned a third of the pancakes. We can’t burn a third of the food we make for my parents.”
“Ha! You said we,” TK said triumphantly. “But I promise I’ll be on my best behavior, both while we’re cooking and while they’re here.”
“Hey now,” Carlos said, his voice serious and warm. “I don’t want you to be anything but yourself tonight. I want them to see the man I’m in love with, not some sanitized version. Tonight is about being honest about who I am and who we are as a couple, okay?”
TK nodded. “I love you so much, Carlos Reyes.”
“I love you too, Tyler Kennedy Strand.”
They formulated a plan for the evening pretty quickly. After indulging in another episode of the show, Carlos called to invite his parents and then went on a grocery run to pick up a few missing ingredients while TK began cleaning the living room and kitchen. Carlos was a habitually tidy person, so there wasn’t a ton of work to do. But there were definite signs of his home being lived in, and TK couldn’t deny the fact that he felt a certain sense of calm and rightness when he found stray belongings of his alongside Carlos’s.
He could easily imagine living with Carlos—their clothes hanging together in the closet, their toothbrushes in the same cup on the bathroom counter, their keys and wallets nestled together in the dish on the entryway table. The thought of coming home to the same place every night, even when they were on opposite shifts, felt both centering and exciting. Until Carlos, the thought of living with a partner had always put TK at least a little bit on edge, but now … it just felt natural, like the logical next step in their relationship. He knew they weren’t there quite yet, but he also knew that they likely would soon, and just thinking about that made him smile.
TK finished up his tidying just as Carlos came home with the groceries, and he met him at the door, taking one of the bags from him and kissing him enthusiastically.
“Wow, that’s quite a greeting,” Carlos said against TK’s lips, kissing him again softly.
“I missed you,” TK said, following Carlos to the kitchen.
Carlos rolled his eyes, but there was no hiding the dopey grin on his face. He began to unload his haul, handing things to TK to place in the refrigerator.
They worked in tandem to get dinner started, or at least as in tandem as they could given that Carlos was extremely proficient in the kitchen and TK was, to put it kindly, an enthusiastic, well-meaning though thoroughly unhelpful disaster when it came to cooking. Carlos would set him a task, and TK would focus on it for a few minutes, dicing onions (irregularly) or measuring out spices (inaccurately) before his attention would flit elsewhere and Carlos would inevitably take over for him.
Carlos found that he didn’t mind this set up, actually. Even though TK’s antics and frequent requests for a hug or a kiss slowed him down considerably, he found that the domesticity of just having TK in the kitchen calmed him and made him feel almost unbearably happy. Visions of a long, disgustingly domestic future together — and TK’s interruptions for affection — made the meal prep fly by.
As the clock ticked closer to six o’clock and he ran out of tasks to keep him distracted, Carlos began to grow fidgety and agitated. The food was ready—pork chops keeping warm in the oven, a salad in the fridge, and bread waiting on the table, so he focused his nervous energy to straightening and re-straightening the impeccably set table.
On his third time circling the table, readjusting forks and water glasses, TK came up behind him, wrapping one arm around him and placing a stilling hand atop Carlos’s. “Relax, baby,” he whispered into Carlos’s ear. “It’s going to be okay, I promise.”
“But what if it’s not?” Carlos said, his voice tight.
“Then I’ll be right here,” TK promised, kissing the spot just behind Carlos’s ear. “I’ll always be right here for you.”
Carlos twisted in TK’s arms, burying his face in TK’s neck and wrapping his arms tightly around his boyfriend. “I love you,” he said against TK’s skin. “Thank you for being here. And for being you.”
TK ran a gentle hand up and down Carlos’s spine. “I love you too. I’m proud of you for being so brave.”
Carlos scoffed. “Brave? Ty, I’m shaking in your arms over telling my parents I’m dating somebody.”
“It’s always brave to share who you are with somebody, love. It’s even braver when you’re scared to do it.”
Carlos was quiet, apparently accepting TK’s explanation. After a few measured breaths, he raised his lips to TK’s and kissed him sweetly.
The doorbell rang then, startling both of them a little. TK tightened his arms around Carlos briefly before releasing him. “You can do this. It’s going to be okay.”
Carlos nodded and stepped away from TK. “You … stay here, I guess. I don’t want to bombard them the second they open the door.”
“Of course,” TK replied with a smile. He dropped a lightning fast kiss to Carlos’s lips. “Go get ‘em, tiger.”
Carlos screwed up his face a little. “Nope. Don’t like that. You don’t get to call me tiger—we can’t both be tiger.”
TK laughed. “Okay, okay. Just go.”
Carlos walked to the front door, and TK took a deep breath. He was trying so hard to be a solid, steady support for Carlos, but the truth was that TK was nervous as hell. Nervous about meeting the love of his life’s parents, nervous that they wouldn’t like him, nervous that they’d push Carlos away or make him regret telling them the truth. A few calming breaths centered him a bit, but not before that twitchy feeling of wanting to get high seized him for a brief moment. He shook his head, as though that could also shake away the craving and focused on the sound of Carlos greeting his parents at the door.
It only took a moment for Carlos’s parents to realize that they weren’t alone in the house.
“Carlitos,” his mother said, “you didn’t tell us your friend would be joining us!”
“TJ, isn’t it?” his father added, walking over to TK and shaking his hand in greeting.
“TK,” Carlos corrected before TK could. He walked over to stand at TK’s side, and TK could see the fear on his boyfriend’s face. It killed him to not reach out and physically provide him comfort, but he was determined to let Carlos take the lead and decide how he wanted the reveal to go.
To TK’s surprise, Carlos reached down and grabbed TK’s hand, squeezing it so tightly that it almost hurt. TK watched a wave of confusion wash over Carlos’s parent’s faces and squeezed back to remind Carlos that he was right there for him.
“TK’s my boyfriend,” Carlos blurted out. “We’ve been dating for almost a year.”
A significantly less than comfortable silence fell over the room, and TK stood there helplessly, completely unsure of what he should do.
“So, when we met him at the farmer’s market a few months ago … you were dating? He was your boyfriend then?” Carlos’s mother said slowly.
“Yes.”
“But you introduced him as your friend.”
TK could practically feel the stress rolling off of Carlos as he answered his mother. “Yes, I did.”
“But why? Why not tell us the truth?”
Carlos sighed heavily, and his voice was strained and unsure when he spoke again. “We never talk about me being gay, mami. Never. I came out to you and that was it; you never brought it up again, you never asked if I was seeing anyone — it was like it hadn’t even happened. I … I didn’t know how you’d react if I introduced you to my boyfriend and you two had to face that me being gay isn’t some abstract idea but an actual reality. And I wasn’t prepared to deal with that when we ran into you unexpectedly.”
Carlos’s mother’s face crumpled a little, as the reality of her son’s hurt and fear began to set in. “I … I’m sorry, Carlos. We were … surprised when you came out to us, and I am not good at talking about these kinds of things.”
“‘These kinds of things’ is my life, ma,” Carlos said firmly, but not unkindly. “I love TK, and I intend to spend the rest of my life with him. I also want you guys to know and love him and for you to know the real me.”
“We do know the real you!” His mom insisted, her voice wavering a little with emotion.
Carlos shook his head. “Ma, if that were true, you would have known that I have a boyfriend. And I know it was my choice not to tell you, but you have to realize that I made that choice for a reason.”
She bit her lip, considering what Carlos had said. “You’re right,” she admitted. “I’m sure we didn’t make it easy for you to confide in us. I’ll do better, Carlos, I promise.”
“Thank you, ma,” Carlos said. He turned to his father, who’d been silent this whole time. “Dad?”
He cleared his throat and nodded shortly. “I’ll try, too, son,” he said gruffly.
His father’s response was underwhelming, but Carlos tried to see it as a small step forward and not let himself be too devastated by it.
“It’s nice to meet you, TK,” Carlos’s mom said kindly, clearly trying to be more welcoming than her husband. “I’m Andrea, and this is my husband, Gabriel.”
“It’s very nice to meet you,” TK said, “You raised a wonderful son.”
Andrea smiled. “Thank you.”
A short, awkward silence stretched between them once more before Carlos spoke up again. “Why don’t you two take a seat,” he said, gesturing to the table. “TK and I will go grab the food.”
His parents sat down as Carlos dragged TK by the hand into the kitchen. The second they were around the corner and out of his parents’ line of sight, Carlos threw himself into TK’s arms, wrapping his arms tightly around TK’s waist. He was shaking slightly and TK could both hear and feel the heavy, deep breaths he was taking to calm himself.
“You did so good, baby,” TK said softly, one hand cradling the back of Carlos’s head and the other moving in long, languid strokes up and down the length of Carlos’s back. “I love you so much, and I’m so proud of you.”
“Love you too,” Carlos mumbled into TK’s neck. He pulled back a hair so he could speak more clearly. “It … could have been worse,” he said, unable to hide the pain on his face.
TK kissed him gently. “It could have. But it’s also okay to be disappointed that it didn’t go better.”
Carlos nodded. “Maybe they just need time?” He said hopefully.
“Maybe,” TK said soothingly. “And no matter what, I’ll be right here, okay? I’m not going anywhere.”
“Promise?”
“I promise.”
“Okay.” Carlos took another deep breath. “Okay. We should get the food. They’ll be wondering what’s taking so long. Why don’t you grab the salad.”
“On it,” TK said, dropping one last kiss to Carlos’s forehead and squeezing him tightly before releasing him. He walked the short distance to the refrigerator while Carlos grabbed the pork chops from the oven.
Baking dish in hand, Carlos looked at TK as though looking for reassurance before facing his parents again. “We’ve got this,” TK said. “You and me together, right?”
“You and me,” Carlos repeated, fondness replacing the stress on his face for just a fleeting second.
“Let’s do this,” TK said. “I have parents to win over.”
A small smile flitted across Carlos’s face, and together they walked back to the table. He had no idea what to expect from the rest of the evening, but he was beginning to believe that with TK by his side, maybe, just maybe, everything would be okay.