Chapter Text
TK stretched his legs as he stepped outside of his new home with Carlos. The weather was perfect, unlike how it had been for almost a week, with the unusual amount of rain they’d gotten. But now the sun was shining and there was a slight breeze, perfect for a jog. He’d been eager to explore their new neighborhood and since he didn’t have a shift for a few more hours, now was the perfect time.
It had taken a while for he and Carlos to find a new place, after the last one burned down. TK had been there when his dad got the house in Austin, but he’d been pretty much along for the ride. This time, he had equal input with Carlos and it was exciting. While he’d loved Carlos’ old place that had eventually become both of theirs, TK had to admit that it was nice for them to start off in a new place together. They were still settling in, but their individual touches were everywhere and he loved it. It was so much different than settling for whatever apartment he could afford in New York.
The new place wasn’t the biggest, but it was all they needed. The living area was spacious and he couldn’t wait to have everyone over for get togethers. They even had an extra bedroom, in case anyone wanted to stay over. And the proximity to both of their works was so nice. TK really couldn’t ask for things to be going better for them at the moment.
He put his earbuds in and started on his way, jogging casually down the sidewalk. Carlos was originally supposed to be with him for this excursion, but he’d been called into the office for some sort of paperwork emergency. They’d been in the middle of christening the en-suite bathroom when the call came in, so TK had energy to burn.
The neighborhood was quiet, with good spacing in between each property. It was a good mix of young couples, families, and retirees. His old apartment in New York had been a bit trashy, but now he felt so domestic. He’d even been eyeing a few spots in the yard that would be good for starting a garden. TK was so far removed from the kid who only cared about scoring pills to have fun and he couldn’t be happier about it.
He stopped at a corner to catch his breath, stretching his legs again. It wasn’t that he was in bad shape, he was just less of a jogging type of guy. TK preferred quick bursts of exercise instead of long, drawn out cardio sessions. But Carlos liked to go for runs, so he was going to learn to like them too. Any excuse to spend more time together.
“Dagnabbit!” a woman exclaimed from the yard TK was standing next to. He took out his earbuds, peering over at her as she fought with a shovel that was stuck in the dirt.
“Do you need some help?” TK called out to her. She jumped a little hearing his voice, spinning around quickly. When they made eye contact, he could’ve sworn she went a few shades paler. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.”
“Brian?” the woman whispered, reaching a hand up to cover her heart.
“Uh, my name’s TK. I just moved into the neighborhood. Are you okay?” TK asked, wondering if he was going to have to start providing medical assistance. If he gave one of his new neighbors a heart attack, they would definitely have to move.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” the woman mumbled, blinking rapidly as she seemed to come back to herself. “You looked like… nevermind.”
“That’s okay, but again I apologize for scaring you. Did you need help with something?”
“It’s my shovel. Somehow I’ve gotten it stuck,” the woman replied, gesturing to the tool standing next to her.
“If you’d like, I can try to pull it out?” TK offered. The woman nodded, so TK walked up the path to where she was, giving her a bit of a wide berth, in case she was still skittish. He wrapped his hands around the wood of the tool, giving it a sharp tug. It was no Excalibur, so the shovel came out easy enough, but TK could see why someone a bit older would have trouble getting it loose. The woman looked about a decade older than his dad and had that friendly grandma look to her. Maybe he’d get some cookies out of this.
“Thank you so much,” the woman said sincerely.
“Not a problem,” TK shrugged off, glancing down at her little garden. There were pretty blue flowers blooming all around. “These are really beautiful. What are they?”
“They’re plumbagos. Fairly easy to grow in this Texas heat.”
“They don’t smell like any flowers I’ve seen before,” TK said, taking in the earthy scent.
“Oh, that’s the sage you’re smelling,” the woman chuckled, pointing to the light green plants that were closer to the ground. TK chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck with the hand that wasn’t still holding the shovel.
“I don’t know much about plants and gardening, but I’m thinking of putting something in sometime soon. Carlos would probably love having fresh sage for some of his recipes.”
“Is Carlos your dad?” the woman asked.
“My boyfriend,” TK replied, watching for any negative reaction. He hadn’t run into that kind of trouble down here yet, but you never knew who would take offense to that. It wouldn’t stop TK from being honest though. He had nothing to hide.
“Well, if you ever need any tips for your garden, you know where to find me,” the woman said kindly.
“Thank you for the offer,” TK said, glancing at his phone that beeped in his pocket. Carlos was on his way home, after the issue at work had been settled early. That meant they still had a bit more time to finish what they started before TK had to start his shift. “I should get going. Gotta get ready for work.” That was a much better excuse than needing to leave so he could screw his boyfriend.
“Oh, what do you do?”
“I’m a paramedic.”
“Very exciting,” the woman commended. TK hummed in agreement, holding out the shovel for her to take. The woman’s fingers lingered against his as she took it back and TK forced himself not to react. She surely hadn’t done that on purpose.
“Well, it was nice meeting you,” TK said as he quickly walked back to the sidewalk. He stuck his earbuds back in and started jogging back in the direction of his house, sending one last friendly wave over his shoulder. TK was halfway home when he realized he’d never even got the woman’s name. It didn’t really matter, since he wasn’t planning on taking her up on her offer. The internet existed for a reason.
That little hand graze reminded TK of the story Carlos had told him once, about being hit on by a bunch of older women in the early days of his career. TK couldn’t blame them really, since his boyfriend was a total smoke show, but he didn’t like to be on the other end of it. He was probably reading into something that was an honest mistake, but his gut told him otherwise. The way she’d looked at him had been strange too.
TK pushed all those thoughts out of his head as he approached his house, just as Carlos was pulling into the driveway. He grinned, picking up the pace so they could reunite that much quicker. Carlos climbed out of the car, leaning against the driver’s side door as he watched TK coming towards him.
“Missed you,” TK said, pulling him down into a kiss.
“We weren’t even apart for an hour,” Carlos chuckled, running his hands lightly down TK’s back. TK shivered at his touch, moving to nip at his neck.
“Doesn’t mean I didn’t miss you,” TK purred, feeling his arousal stirring deep in his gut. “Had to go for a run to distract myself.”
“Is that why you’re all sweaty?” Carlos asked, leaning back even more against the car as TK pulled a move that made his knees go weak.
“How about we finish what we started in the shower?” TK suggested, slipping his fingertips down the front of Carlos’s pants so he could pull him toward the front door.
*
“I don’t know how I feel dirtier getting out of the shower than I did going in,” TK panted as he laid on Carlos’ chest, trying to catch his breath. They never made it out of the bathroom, starting off in the shower before moving to the floor on top of a towel when things got too slippery. Carlos was worried that TK would hurt himself, since everyone was convinced he was accident prone. That wasn’t even true, but it didn’t stop everyone from joking about it. Judd even stuck one of those “days since incident” signs up in the kitchen of the newly remodeled fire station.
“Well, after what you did with your mouth,” Carlos growled, rolling his hips a bit.
“No, don’t start that,” TK whined, pushing at Carlos’ stomach. “I don’t have time for another round. And I don’t think my body can take it.”
“That’s right. You did do a few different kinds of cardio today,” Carlos chuckled, reluctantly standing them both up. TK shivered without Carlos’ body heat to warm him, quickly darting into their bedroom to put some clothes on. “How was your jog?”
“Not bad. The neighborhood is really nice,” TK replied, snagging one of Carlos’ APD sweatshirts and throwing it on over his tee. “I think we’re gonna like it here.”
“Meet any of the neighbors?” Carlos asked, bending over to slide on a pair of boxers. TK watched in appreciation. “I think the couple two houses down just had a baby. Should we send them something?”
“Maybe we can check to see if their car seat is properly installed. New parents used to come to the station all the time in New York. Dad and I ended up getting certified in it,” TK suggested.
“I was thinking a casserole, but that’s fine too. Less food allergies to worry about,” Carlos shrugged.
“I did meet a neighbor a few streets down. She needed help getting her shovel out of the dirt,” TK mumbled, biting the inside of his cheek as he knelt down to tie his shoelaces.
“Everything okay?” Carlos asked, noticing the subtle change in his mood.
“Yeah, it’s fine,” TK waved off. Carlos didn’t need to know he had a possible cougar encounter. “Actually, I kind of embarrassed myself. I mistook the smell of some sage she had growing for her flowers.”
“Understandable, since you don’t really know your way around the kitchen,” Carlos teased.
“Watch it. You’re about to sass your way out of the herb garden I’m planning,” TK warned playfully.
“Have you ever grown anything before? It might be harder than you think, especially down here.”
“I’m still in the preliminary planning stages. But I’d rather grow something useful, than some boring flowers.”
“Flowers aren’t boring, they’re beautiful. And I like surrounding myself with beautiful things,” Carlos said, letting his voice go a little husky as he crowded TK back toward the bed.
“Want me to get you some flowers? One of those fancy bouquets like they sell at the farmer’s market?”
“Maybe.”
“Consider it done,” TK whispered, falling back on the bed and pulling Carlos down on top of him. They could make out for at least five more minutes before he absolutely had to leave. Due to their schedules, they wouldn’t both be back home at the same time for about 18 hours, depending on how their shifts went, so TK wanted to make the most of the time they had left.
“You’re gonna be late,” Carlos groaned a few minutes later, running his tongue along the shell of TK’s ear.
“Says the guy who is on top of me,” TK huffed, pushing at Carlos’ shoulders until he rolled off. He had to readjust the front of his pants before he could stand up.
“I’m gonna stop by the grocery store after my shift. Anything in particular you’d like me to get for you?” Carlos asked, running a hand down his face as he came out of his lust filled daze.
“I was thinking strawberries, chocolate syrup, and whipped cream,” TK said, smirking when Carlos perked up at that idea. “The kitchen is next on our list.”
“It is not fair to say things like that before you leave me here alone,” Carlos groaned.
“You gonna arrest me officer?” TK taunted, darting out of the room with Carlos hot on his heels. They kissed their way down the stairs, with some fancy footwork on both their parts.
“Want a ride?” Carlos offered, pinning TK up against the door.
“Always, but then I’ll never get to work,” TK grinned, reaching around to squeeze Carlos’ butt.
“You’re terrible,” Carlos scoffed, giving him one last kiss on the nose before backing away.
“See you out there, maybe,” TK sighed, walking backwards out the door. “Maybe we can come up with a secret signal for when we see each other in the field, but can’t talk.”
“Okay, Carol Burnett,” Carlos snorted, tugging at his earlobe. TK smirked, mirroring the motion as he finally turned and began his walk to the fire station. Everything felt so right in a way that it never had for him before. He had a great boyfriend, a job he loved, and friends that he considered family. TK was ready to live the rest of his life like this.
Neither of them noticed the woman who was staring at them from down the street.