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There were few things in life that made Carlos Reyes shake his head and question his judgment about dating TK Strand.
Walking into their bedroom to find him dressed in the world’s ugliest sweater though, well that was one of them.
“You cannot wear that.” He hadn’t meant to sound so harsh, but there was no way in hell he was leaving the house with someone who was dressed in such a monstrosity.
“Excuse me?” Although, judging by the smile on his boyfriend’s face, he didn’t seem to think anything of it.
“That… whatever that is… you cannot wear that.” He had questioned many items in the other man’s wardrobe, but none of them, and he meant none, compared to whatever this was.
“Why not?” Did he really need to explain this to him right now?
The man was smart, right, how could he not know that he looked absurd?
“Because it’s hideous!” And that was being nice.
“Did you miss the point of ‘Ugly Christmas Sweater Contest’?” No, in fact, he had not missed the point.
Although he wondered what on Earth had possessed Owen to host such an event.
“Well you’re surely going to win it if you wear that disaster.” Which, he figured, was probably what TK was going for.
His competitive streak was nothing if not strong, and he and Paul had been battling it out since Halloween to see who could win the most anything.
“First of all, I love this sweater. Second of all, I want to win, that’s the whole point of a contest.” He knew it, he just wanted to win, and he certainly was going to with that ugly thing. “Third of all, I’m telling my mom on you.”
“What does Gwyn have to do with this?” He couldn’t fathom the woman walking into a store and buying that thing.
“She bought me this sweater!” Carlos felt himself raising an eyebrow as TK placed his hands on his hips and huffed.
“No way. Gwyn has much better taste than that.” It was true though, in fact, so did Owen, so where TK got his horrible taste in clothing Carlos had yet to figure out.
“That’s insulting.” He crossed his arms over his chest as he stared him down, refusing to give in and take off the hideous thing.
“I’m calling her, because I don’t believe you.” Grabbing his phone from the bedside table he quickly opened the device and scrolled to find Gwyn’s name.
“Don’t you dare!” TK looked almost offended and Carlos couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Too late.” And then he pressed the Facetime button and threw on a smile.
“Carlos!” Gwyn’s smiling face came onto the screen and Carlos watched as TK beamed at the sound of his mother’s voice. “I thought you guys weren’t going to call until Friday night.”
“Change of plans.” And then he was shoving his way in front of the camera, attempting to knock Carlos out of the picture all together.
“Ignore him mom. He’s losing his mind.” If anyone was losing their minds, it was surely TK.
“I’m not the one wearing that…” And then he gestured to the man beside, making sure to hold the phone out so that Gwyn could get a full view of what her son was wearing.
“What is that?!” Gwyn seemed just as shocked and confused as he had a few minutes and it gave him a tiny bit of pleasure knowing that she clearly had no idea where her son had gotten that thing from. “Tyler Kennedy, have you been shopping with your father again?”
“What? I love this sweater. And you bought it!” The accusatory tone in TK’s voice was clearly something he got from Owen and Carlos bit his lip as he watched Gwyn scowl back at him.
“I sure as hell did not.” See, he knew it, Gwyn would never spend money on such a thing.
“You sent it to me.” TK crossed his arms over his chest and watched as his mother began racking her brain.
“No…” She huffed out, and then a look of realization came over her face and she bit her bottom lip before hollering out. “ENZO!”
“Oh no.” Apparently Enzo was in trouble, for what Carlos wasn’t sure, but Gwyn looked like she was ready to murder him. “You let Enzo pick out the ugly sweaters? I thought you had learned your lesson.”
It was then that the other man appeared on the screen behind Gwyn, laughing hysterically as Baby Ben joined him.
“No. No. No.” Gwyn turned around and pointed at him and he simply shrugged before adjusting the baby to his other hip.
“They’re awesome, right TK?” Of course Enzo would think this was funny, the man had horrible taste and he clearly had passed that along to TK.
“I mean, I love it.” Carlos rolled his eyes as he watched Gwyn scrub at her face with her right hand.
“Please tell me you didn’t buy us matching sweaters, En.” He found himself holding his breath, watching as Enzo nodded with a huge smile on his face.
“Of course I did. I even got one for Benji.” Oh no, poor Benji, starting him off on the wrong foot already.
It wasn’t fair to that poor kid.
He was too young to know any better too.
“You did not!” He was glad that it appeared as though Gwyn echoed his concerns.
“And Carlos too!” Oh hell no. “Please tell me you opened your package.”
He had not, in fact, opened the package from Enzo that arrived yesterday, and he was now suddenly angry that he hadn’t.
Maybe he would have been able to burn the thing and feign innocence if he had gotten to it before TK knew that he had one too.
“Haha, yes!” The look of joy on his boyfriend’s face was almost enough to convince him that he could wear it. “We are going to rock Christmas pictures with these!”
“I, am not wearing that.” There was no way he could leave the house looking like that.
“Fine. You’ll be all alone then.” Not that he and Gwyn seemed to mind. “Benji thought they were hilarious!”
“He’s seven months old! He thinks everything is hilarious.” The kid wasn’t helping his case because he was still laughing in Enzo’s arms, his little hands clapping together when he noticed his brother on the end of the camera.
“Come on Mom, it’ll be fun!” TK beamed and clapped his hands together too, watching as Enzo joined in.
“No.” Gwyn shook her head back and forth and huffed, refusing to give in to her boys.
Good for her.
“Gwyn.” And Godspeed, because Enzo was nothing if not convincing, and so was TK, and to be honest, who could say ‘no’ to Ben?
They were all screwed and he knew it, Gwyn must have too.
“No.” Her resolve was crumbling, he could tell, and he feared he would soon be alone in the hatred of ugly sweaters.
“Will it make you feel better if I tell you that I got Owen one too?” Oh no, no, that was never a good sign,
“No! He’s just insane enough to think it’s wonderful!” Sadly, it was true.
The man took his holiday traditions very seriously.
And Ugly Sweaters were just enough to break him of his normal well dressed self.
“Dad and I better not match tonight.” That image made Carlos chuckle and now he suddenly couldn’t wait to show up and watch mass chaos ensue at the sight of them in the same sweater.
“Hey, Carlos can wear his and then you can be the three musketeers!” Oh Enzo was going to get it the next time they were in town.
“No!” There was no way in hell he’d be caught dead wearing the same ugly sweater as Owen Strand.
“Let me know how the contest goes, boys.” And then Gwyn was pulling the phone close as she growled. “TK, I’m gonna go murder your step father.”
“Have fun!” And then the line went dead and they were left alone once again.
It was silent for a few minutes as TK stared him down, his brow furrowing as he no doubt tried to use some kind of Jedi mind trick on him.
“I am not wearing that sweater.” He couldn’t, he wouldn’t, no, not now, not ever.
“Oh come on Carlos, it’ll be fun.” Fun, what about this screamed fun? “Besides, it was really nice of Enzo to buy you one too.”
“Enzo clearly has no fashion sense.” Which made sense as to where TK got it from.
“Actually, he does, he just takes holidays really seriously.” Oh so that was what they were calling it these days.
“He dresses up as Cupid on Valentine’s Day doesn’t he?” He could totally see that, actually, and sadly, he would probably make poor Benji participate now too.
“No, but he does have these ridiculous Easter Bunny ears that he wears for like a week straight.” Of course he did.
“I… I’ve got nothing.” He couldn’t believe this was the family he was going to marry into some day.
“Come on babe, we’ll be the cutest ones there.” And then TK pulled out the smile to end all smiles and Carlos felt his heart stop.
He knew that he couldn’t say ‘no’ to him when he did that.
“I highly doubt that. I’ve seen the sweater Grace got Harlow, we don’t stand a chance.” Although, he was fairly certain that the four month old didn’t count in the contest, because, let’s be real here, there was nothing cuter than a baby in a Grinch costume.
“She doesn’t count.” At least TK knew the rules didn’t apply to the princess in question.
“If your dad is matching us…” He would surely die on sight if that was the case.
“He won’t be.” TK seemed awfully certain of that as he crossed his arms over his chest and stared.
“How do you know?” He wanted, no, needed, to make sure that there was no chance in hell that he’d potentially be matching his future father in law.
“Because he and Michelle got matching sweaters and they’re downright hideous.” He had originally thought that Michelle had been the one to pick out those sweaters, but now, well now he wondered if maybe Owen had been behind it all. “Now come on, if you don’t get dressed soon we’re gonna be late.”
“That’s fine by me.” He crossed his arms back and stared in return, boring into his boyfriend’s soul as he huffed.
“Carlos…” But TK gave him that smile again as he moved toward him and held his hands out.
A peace offering wasn’t going to work this time.
“Fine. Give me ten minutes.” And then he was moving toward the bedroom door, dragging his feet behind him as he went.
“You had better have the sweater on when you come out of the bathroom.” TK called after him and he rolled his eyes.
“Fiiiiine.” He dragged out, throwing open the office door and grabbing the package out of the chair.
He was going to kill Enzo for this.
“I love you!” Lies, it was all lies.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” He pulled the box open and groaned, the bright silver and red tinsel on the sweater’s front staring back at him. “I’m gonna kill Enzo!”
“Not if mom kills him first.” He couldn’t help but chuckle before yanking his t-shirt off and pulling the sweater on, letting out a sigh as he smoothed his hands over the front of it.
“Better?” He asked as he walked into the bedroom, watching as TK’s smile grew ten fold.
“You look adorable.” His hands were on Carlos’ cheeks before he knew what was happening, and then he was kissing him, soft and quick, but enough to make it worth it. “Everyone’s gonna love it.”
“If anyone takes pictures, they die.” TK laughed as he wrapped his arms around his neck and held him close, pressing another kiss to his lips.
“Understood.” He whispered as his fingers dragged through his hair. “Now let’s get going!”
And then he was turning on his heel and grabbing Carlos’ hand, dragging him behind him as he headed for the door.
He wasn’t so sure that this was a good idea, but making TK happy was important to him, so he’d do what he had to in order for that to happen.