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TK was restocking the ambulance with Tommy when Marjan, Mateo, Nancy, Judd, and Paul walked up to him and formed a group around him. He picked up his head slowly, a look of confusion on his face. They were all staring at him, but no one was saying a word.
“Hi,” He said slowly and suspiciously.
“Hi,” Marjan responded. TK raised his eyebrows.
“What’s up?” He asked. They all waited a minute before Paul finally responded.
“They’re all dying to know what the TK stands for. They had an argument for like 10 minutes up in the kitchen over what it could stand for.” Paul sounded slightly exasperated. A smile slowly creeped onto TK’s face.
“Don’t say ‘they’ like you aren’t wondering too,” Mateo retorted. Paul took a second before responding.
“Sure, maybe I’m a little curious but I, of all people, know not to worry about or ask someone their ‘real name’ if they use a nickname or a different name.” The group fell silent and Judd rubbed the back awkwardly. TK chuckled and looked down at the bag he was filling.
“Guys, it's fine. Honestly, anyone who spends any kind of time with me always ends up wondering what it stands for. It was only a matter of time until you guys did.” TK explained amusedly.
“Does Carlos know what it stands for?” Marjan asked. TK nodded.
“Of course he does,” TK responded. Nancy let out a mocking ‘awww’ and TK shot her a playful glare.
“I mean that makes sense that you’d tell him,” Mateo said casually. TK grinned.
“Actually I didn’t. He found out himself when I got arrested.”
“Hold on, you got arrested?” Judd asked. TK looked up to see confused and concerned looks on everyone's faces, including Tommy, who TK didn’t even realize was listening.
“Don’t worry about it,” TK responded, letting out an awkward chuckle. There was an awkward silence as the group stared at him, stunned. “Anyway,” he continued, finally breaking the silence. “You guys said you were discussing what it could stand for. What are your ideas so far?”
“We think we have the T,” Mateo said excitedly.
“Oh yeah? Hit me.”
“We’re like 90% sure it stands for Trevor,” Marjan responded. TK snorted.
“Nope.”
“Oh come on!” Mateo exclaimed.
“We thought he had that one,” Nancy said sadly.
“Now see, I didn’t think it was Trevor. I think it stands for Thomas,” Judd stated proudly.
“Sorry cowboy, you’re wrong too,” TK teased. Judd groaned.
“Okay guys, what’s another T name?” Nancy asked the group.
“Travis?” Marjan guessed. TK shook his head.
“Tyrone,” Mateo guessed next. TK snorted and shook his head.
The group was clearly drawing a blank. They all stood in silence, gears in their heads visibly turning. Thankfully, the painful silence was pierced by the sound of the bell alerting them to an emergency.
The call was for a car crash. Thankfully, no one was critically injured, so it was a fairly okay call. As TK, Nancy, and Tommy climbed into the ambulance with one patient in the back, Nancy turned to TK with a wide grin on her face.
“What’s that smile for?” TK asked, turning the key in the ignition.
“I think I figured out what the T stands for. It came to me while I was putting bandages on the guy in the back.”
“Oh yeah?” TK asked. Nancy nodded.
“Tyler. Or Ty.” A grin spread across TK’s face.
“Correct,” TK confirmed. Nancy gasped and cheered quietly. TK laughed, flipped on the siren, and took off.
When the 126 got back to the station, Nancy excitedly hopped out of the ambulance and ran over to the firetruck.
“It’s Tyler!” She shouted to the crew. The crew let out a loud ‘ohhhh’.
“That’s such a common name, I feel like that should’ve been so obvious,” Marjan whined.
When Owen hopped out of the truck, he looked thoroughly confused.
“What are you guys talking about?” He asked.
“We’re trying to figure out what TK’s initials stand for,” Mateo explained. Owen raised his eyebrows.
“And TK is letting you? I’m his father and he doesn’t let me call him anything but TK.”
“Yeah, I think it’s amusing to see them figure it out,” TK explained. “But, when you guys do figure it out, you aren’t allowed to use it. I’m serious. No one is allowed to call me anything but TK” The crew nodded in agreement. Owen scoffed.
"Alright, now for the K," Marjan stated, rubbing her hands together mischievously.
The crew spent the rest of the shift trying to figure out what the K stood for, guessing throughout the day.
“Keith?” Marjan guessed.
“Nope.”
“Kyle?” Paul guessed.
“No.”
“Kaden?” Judd guessed.
“Absolutely not.”
“Kenny? Kenneth?” Nancy guessed.
“God, no.”
“Kaleb?” Tommy guessed.
“Oh you’re in on this now too?”
“It’s fun. Did I get it right?”
“Nope.”
“Kyler?” Mateo guessed.
“Tyler Kyler?”
“I don’t know, it was the best I could come up with.”
“Well you’re very wrong, Mateo.”
This went on for hours, with a new guess every 10 minutes. Each guess was worse than the last. Finally, as they were all getting dressed to go home, Paul strolled up to him with the winning guess.
“Okay this one is a little bit of a long shot, but is it Kennedy? Like the Kennedys?”
TK grinned. “Finally, I was getting tired of hearing your ridiculous wrong guesses.” Paul’s eyes widened.
“Wait, did I get it right?” TK nodded, and Paul pumped his fists in the air, which caused TK to burst out laughing.
TK swore that Paul practically skipped out of the locker room to tell everyone else.
“Guys, it’s Kennedy!” He told the rest excitedly. The rest of the group had surprised expressions on their faces.
“You actually got it right?” Marjan asked incredulously. Paul nodded vigorously.
“Tyler Kennedy is kind of a cool name,” Mateo mused. TK shrugged.
“I thought so,” Owen said amusedly.
“Remember, if any of you try to call me Tyler or anything other than TK I will strangle you,” TK deadpanned. The group sighed, Judd saluted him and let out a playful ‘yes sir.’
The group walked out of the firehouse together, talking and laughing. They greeted the incoming crew as they walked towards the garage doors. TK quickly spotted Carlos leaning against his blue Camaro outside.
“Hey, Carlos,” Paul greeted, waving at the man. Carlos waved back, a smile on his face.
“Hey guys, how was the shift?” He asked them. Marjan shrugged.
“It was good, normal,” Judd replied. Carlos hummed in response.
“You ready to go, Ty?” Carlos asked, turning to TK. TK flushed as he felt all eyes turn to him.
“Wait a minute-” Marjan scoffed. Nancy, Paul, and Mateo burst out laughing.
“Oh so you’re going to let Carlos call you Tyler, but if your own father does it you’ll ‘strangle him’?” Owen asked playfully. TK rolled his eyes. Carlos quickly caught on to what was happening and snorted.
“I guess I’m just special,” Carlos teased. TK shot him a lighthearted glare, which Carlos responded to with a wink.