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It was a warm day in Austin. Not that it was usually cold but after the ice storm, TK was enjoying the sun and warmth more than he ever had before. The paramedic was laying on the grass, one arm behind his head and his eyes closed, hiding by his softball cap to avoid getting a sunburn on his face, relaxed. He could hear the yells of Marjan and his father and the well recognisable laughs of Mateo and Judd too.
TK frowned when the light of the sun disappeared from behind his eyelids and it all became darker. He opened his eyes, blinking to get used to the light of the day after closing his eyes for more than a minute and smiled when he recognised his boyfriend standing above him with a soft smile on his face.
“Hi, babe.” TK said.
“Hey. What are you doing?” Carlos asked, grinning at him.
“Relaxing. I’m tired.”
Carlos shook his head and squatted next to him, putting his hand in TK’s hair and caressing it gently.
“Tired? You haven’t even actually played yet.” Carlos said with a laugh, staring lovingly at his boyfriend.
They had gotten back together a month ago, soon after the ice storm was over and TK was back to cherishing every little moment they shared together. After having a long talk about what happened between them that had made them drift apart and while TK was recovering from his stay in the ICU, they had both decided to take it slow. Carlos was still living in the house they had bought together and they knew that when they were both ready for it, TK would be joining him to live there and they could start their lives together again.
TK leaned his head into Carlos’ hand and the man slowly let his hand fall from TK’s hair to his cheek, smiling when TK turned his head and kissed his palm.
“Are you gonna stay there forever?”
“Possibly.” TK replied, closing his eyes again. “You should be happy, it’s one less threat for your team.”
Carlos let out a loud laugh at that and TK opened his eyes, frowning at him.
“What?”
“Babe, I admire the faith that you have in yourself but you’re definitely not a threat to our team.”
“What do you mean?” TK asked, raising on his elbows to hold himself up.
“I’ve seen you practise, you’re about as good at softball as you are at bowling.” Carlos said, with a smile on his face and putting his hand on TK’s.
TK pouted and pushed himself on his hand to stand up, slightly staggering because of how long he had been laying down. Carlos put one hand behind TK to catch him just in case. The paramedic turned to his boyfriend and pointed his finger at him.
“I’m going to go play now and I will score.”
“Sure you will.” Carlos said, with a non-convinced nod.
TK squinted his eyes at him and turned around to leave and join his team on the field. He startled when he felt two arms caught his waist and Carlos brought him to his chest, TK’s back resting against it. He felt his boyfriend pressing a kiss on his neck and stopped a smile from appearing on his face.
“Now you’re just trying to distract me because you’re afraid to lose.” TK said, crossing his arms on his chest but slowly letting himself lean against Carlos’ strong and warm chest.
“Or I just really missed holding you.”
“We’ve been there for an hour, at least. We woke up together this morning.” TK pointed out, putting his hands on Carlos’ arms.
“Yeah but I always miss holding you.” Carlos said against his neck, peppering soft kisses on it before kissing the back of TK’s head.
“I miss you holding me too.” TK admitted, turning his head to look at Carlos and leaning in to kiss him.
Carlos turned TK in his arms so he would face him, and put one arm around TK’s waist, his other hand resting on the man’s hip before deepening the kiss. TK wrapped his arms around Carlos’ neck and his hand started to play with the curls escaping his softball cap.
“Hey pretty boy! Stop fraternising with the enemy!” Judd’s loud voice was heard from across the field.
TK started smiling widely and pulled away when it stopped him from kissing Carlos. Carlos was looking at him with a smile on his face and he shook his head, faking annoyance while TK turned around to look at Judd.
“If Grace was here you would do the same thing!”
“Yeah, but she ain’t there and our score isn’t good enough yet!”
TK rolled his eyes at him and turned back to face Carlos, finding him staring at TK with his very lovely cow eyes. During their short break up, TK had dearly missed Carlos looking at him like that and he was going to enjoy them even more than he did before, even if they still completely wrecked him.
“I guess I have to go save the day.” TK said, cheekily before winking.
Carlos let go of his waist and smiled when TK blew kisses in the air to him before he pretended to catch one and held it to his heart. TK shook his head and jogged to his team as did Carlos, smiling at Mitchell when she came to stand next to him.
TK joined his team, failing to avoid Judd turning the softball cap he had on his head, some of his hair escaping by the front hole of his hat. Owen turned to his son and offered him the bat so TK could try to strike the ball. Nancy and Tommy encouraged him from their positions while Judd put his hands on TK’s shoulders.
“They’re probably going to send Carlos in to distract you but I need you to stay focused, brother.”
“I can stay focused in front of Carlos.” TK told him.
Judd made an unconvinced noise and squeezed his friend’s shoulders before softly pushing TK towards the base. TK swung the bat to wake up his arms after not moving for some time and look at his feet to find the spot he was supposed to be standing on. He looked up and sure enough, Carlos was standing a few feets from him, throwing the ball in the air with a teasing smile on his face.
Carlos had turned his softball cap so the front would be facing behind him - just like TK’s was - and some of his curls went through the hole, making Carlos look even hotter than he usually did to TK, if that was possible. TK watched as his boyfriend leaned on one hip and flexed his biceps as if he needed to train them before throwing a ball, knowing full well what affects his arms had on TK.
“Play fair, Reyes!” Paul yelled from his spot on the field, making the 126 and some of Carlos’ coworkers laugh.
Carlos turned to his friend and smiled at Paul before turning back to look at TK, winking at his boyfriend.
“Are you done?” TK asked, trying to sound annoyed but the smile on his face was just proving the opposite.
“More like are you ready?” Carlos asked back, raising an eyebrow at him.
“Go for it.” TK nodded at him, gripping tightly his bat and raising it at his shoulders.
Carlos furrowed his brows and threw the ball in direction of TK who swung his bat and missed the ball. He swore under his breath and the catcher sitting behind TK threw the ball back at Carlos who was grinning at his boyfriend.
“It’s fine, son! You’ll get the next one!” Owen said loudly from the back of the field.
“You ready, babe?” Carlos asked TK with the same teasing grin on his face.
TK glared at him before repositioning his feet on the base, raising his bat once again. He saw Carlos mentally preparing himself to throw the ball and while it felt nice to finally be in sync again with him, TK wanted to throw him off a bit.
He stared at Carlos and smiled before mouthing an “I love you” to his boyfriend when he was about to throw the ball. Now, this was in no way the first time he had said it nor the first time he had said it since they had gotten together but those words were still rare to hear while they worked up their relationship again.
Carlos startled and made his throw average at best, TK smiled when he saw the ball arriving in front of him and hit it as hard as he could before letting the bat fall on the floor and running on every base under his friend’s cheers and yells, avoiding Carlos’ coworkers who were trying to stop him. TK managed to make his way around the whole field while the rest of Carlos’ team were looking for the ball and once he finished, Paul and Nancy jumped on him, hugging him and congratulated him for scoring. He hugged them back and tried to avoid Judd’s strong pat on his back and his father pinching his cheeks, in vain.
“Good job, son!” Owen said proudly like TK had just achieved something far more important than just scoring a point during a friendly-ish game.
“Thanks, dad.”
“The sixth inning is done so we’ll take a break and then we’ll finish this game and win.” Marjan informed TK and Owen, joining them while being followed by Tommy, Mateo and Louis - a member of the B-shift who got along with them and had accepted to join their team when they realised a player was missing.
The 126 went behind the railings, Tommy and Owen handing all of them bottles of water. TK opened his and gulped down a third of the bottle. Judd had excused himself to call Grace on Facetime and see her and their daughter and TK joined Paul, Nancy, Marjan and Mateo who seemed in the middle of a conversation about what they would do once the game was over, Nancy and Paul wanted to stay at the field and spent the rest of the morning there before going to eat lunch together meanwhile Marjan and Mateo were fighting for them to go mini-golf now that it was repaired from the lava incident last year.
“Excuse me, can I steal your miraculous striker from y’all?” A warm voice TK would recognise everywhere asked from behind him.
“Sure, as long as he comes back in one piece.” Nancy replied, glaring at Carlos for a second before a wide smile appeared on her face.
TK huffed and closed his water bottle before following his boyfriend away from the benches. He leaned against the railing and Carlos stopped in front of him, staring at him.
“What?”
“Mouthing “I love you”, huh?” Carlos asked. TK would’ve worried Carlos was annoyed by that technique of distraction if it wasn’t for the soft smile the Texan had on his face.
“It worked, didn’t it?” TK asked, putting his arms around Carlos’ muscular waist who looked marvelous in that outfit.
“It did but I’m sad I didn’t get to hear you say it out loud.” Carlos said, cupping TK’s face with one hand, softly caressing his cheekbone. TK took off one of his arms from Carlos’ waist and grabbed his boyfriend’s wrist, resting his hand on it and caressing Carlos’ skin before looking at him in his beautiful brown eyes.
“I love you.” TK said, smiling softly at him.
He saw the exact moment Carlos melted under his words and when his eyes turned into his cow eyes. Carlos brought up his other hand and cupped TK’s face with his two hands, kissing his boyfriend deeply and lovingly. TK tightened his grip on Carlos’ waist and deepened the kiss before they had to both pull away to breathe. TK pecked Carlos’ lips one more time before he wrapped both arms around the man’s neck, feeling Carlos’ arms wrapping themselves around his body and TK simply enjoyed being held by Carlos’ strong arms and enjoying his natural’s warmth. He pressed a soft kiss under Carlos’ jaw before speaking.
“The others were talking about doing something later, you wanna stay with them or we could do our own thing?” TK asked, nuzzling against Carlos’ neck.
“Hum, I haven’t seen them in some time, well before today at least, so we could spend the morning with them and then spend the afternoon together at our-my place.” Carlos corrected himself quickly.
“You can say our place, baby. We’re going slow but I definitely want to live here soon, with you. I love you.”
“I love you too, babe.” Carlos replied, pressing a kiss to TK’s forehead.
“And I definitely agree with your idea, now comes the important part,” TK said, pulling away from the hug. “Lunch or mini golf?”
“Well I’m about to be beaten by a bunch of smug firefighters and paramedics, so I’ll go with mini-golf. I have to try saving the bit of honor I have left.” Carlos replied with a serious look on his face.
TK chuckled and pecked his lips one more time before grabbing Carlos’ hand in his and leading him to the 126.
“Let’s go tell the rest, careful Paul and Nancy might get angry at you for not picking their option.” TK joked.
Carlos shook his head and smiled when he saw the rest of TK’s team sitting together, Owen squeezed his shoulder when he walked close to his boyfriend’s father and Tommy smiled warmly at him. They sat on the bench, Carlos being at the end of it next to TK who was sitting beside Nancy.
“Hey guys, what do you wanna do next?” Mateo asked, leaning from Nancy’s side to look over at the couple.
“Carlos wants to do a mini-golf, he wants to have a win today after we destroy their team in a moment.” TK replied with a grin on his face, his hand resting on Carlos’ thigh and patting it gently. Nancy and Paul faked an annoyed groan at their loss of going for lunch sooner than they wanted.
Carlos rolled his eyes but turned his head to press a kiss on TK’s temple before wrapping an arm around his boyfriend’s shoulders. Nancy smiled at them and patted TK’s cheek.
“I missed seeing you guys together like this.”
TK smiled at her before turning his head, smiling at Carlos too before leaning in to peck his lips.
“I missed it too. So much.”
“Me too.” Carlos said quietly, tightening his grip around TK’s shoulders so the New Yorker could lean against him, smiling when TK put his head on his shoulder.
They stayed there for a minute or two, listening to Nancy and Mateo banter about who would be the best at mini-golf while Paul and Marjan were in their own little conversation on the other side of the bench. Judd came back from his phone call and accepted the bottle Tommy handed him while Owen was on the field, training his hand to throw the ball while launching it at Buttercup, clapping and praising the dog when he brought it back.
“Time for the last inning!” Carlos’ coworker shouted from the field where the rest of his team were finding their positions.
The 126 stood up and they all started running towards the field, Paul leaning to say something to Mateo who started laughing and almost fell on the ground if it wasn’t for Nancy catching him by the back of his jersey.
TK turned to Carlos and pecked his lips before grabbing the front of his shirt and leaning against him.
“Good luck, baby.” He whispered against Carlos’ lips.
“I’m actually going to need it. You guys are weirdly good at this.”
“Mm, Marjan is talented at every sport really, Paul and Mateo trained together inside the firehouse and almost broke windows before they started to get the right swing and my dad spent days training in the backyard once he learned about the game.”
“I misjudged you earlier, you’re actually good at this.” Carlos said, kissing TK’s forehead.
“Well I can’t expose all my secrets to my opposants,” TK said with a teasing smile on his face. “Judd and Nancy weren’t really good either at first but we made it work.”
“Reyes! Come on!” Mitchell yelled at him.
“Strand! Move your pretty face over here!” Paul shouted at the same time
“I’m coming!” Carlos and TK yelled at the same time before smiling at each other.
They parted away and the ten minutes after that were filled with screams and cheers from both teams. TK had been asked to be a batter and after two fails he had managed to score one more point for their team, after that Marjan had asked him to be the pitcher and to do everything in his power to make Carlos fail his strikes. And TK had tried, really tried, but Carlos had been on a baseball team in high school and he knew how to hit a ball so anything TK attempted as a distraction had failed.
After Tommy and Paul managed to bring them more points, their scores were close, the Austin FD only had the upper hand with two more points, freshly delivered by Marjan who bumped her fist with TK and Nancy’s on her way before doing some sort of secret handshake with Mateo. Carlos’ coworker - Jason - who had been the one to instigate this softball game in the first place took his place on the batter’s spot, readying himself for Owen’s launch. TK watched as his father started to prepare himself to throw the ball only to be stopped by the whistle of their referee, signaling the end of the game.
The 126 cheered and jumped into each other’s arms. Judd caught Marjan in his arms and raised her in the air, Mateo jumped on Paul’s back with a loud cheer while Nancy and Tommy hugged. TK looked around and hugged back his dad when Owen came to him, squeezing his shoulders before hugging him. TK turned back and smiled when he saw Carlos coming to them, not looking sad at all about the loss of his team. TK jogged to him and Carlos opened his arms so the paramedic could easily fit in them.
“Good job.” Carlos said, kissing TK’s head.
“Not too disappointed that your team lost?” TK asked, looking at him after pressing a kiss to his jaw.
“Not at all,” Carlos said. “You guys trained more than we did for sure. You deserved it.” He added before wrapping one arm around TK’s waist and leading them away from the field to the bench where the 126 was starting to reunite.
“Reyes?” A voice interrupted them on their way and made them both turn.
Mitchell jogged to them and smiled at the pair.
“Is there something wrong?” Carlos asked, making the little frown appear between his eyebrows.
“No! No, I just wanted to congratulate TK on his team’s win and to say goodbye.” She said with a smile.
“Well, thank you,” TK replied with a smile of his own. “Some of us are going to a mini-golf after. You wanna join us?”
“I’m busy this morning but thank you for offering, Strand.” Mitchell added, TK nodding at her words. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Carlos.” She added with a nod to the other man.
“See you tomorrow, Sara.” He replied, smiling.
They watched her leave and turned back to their family. They were all packing their stuff, Judd quickly left to get back to Grace and Charlotte and Tommy excused herself before leaving, saying that she would spend her day off with her girls too.
“What are you doing this afternoon?” TK asked, elbowing softly at his father.
“I’m not sure yet. Maybe I’ll stay home with Buttercup.” Owen replied with a smile, grabbing the leash of their dog. “I think we both need to rest from this exhausting game.”
TK nodded and smiled when his father turned back his softball cap so it could actually protect him from the sun. He had one of his nostalgic smiles on his face as if he remembered doing this exact thing to a 6 years old TK in Central Park during the middle of summer.
“See you at my place? Or will you stay at home with Carlos tonight?” Owen asked, nodding to Carlos who was talking to Paul.
“I haven’t decided yet but I’ll text you.”
Owen nodded and whistled for Buttercup before waving at everyone and leaving the field. TK turned back to his friends and joined them, sliding himself under Carlos’ arm and leaning against his chest before wrapping his right arm around the man’s waist. He listened as Paul and Carlos discussed one of the last books they had both read and TK closed his eyes, listening to Carlos’ comforting heartbeats for a moment before Nancy, Mateo and Marjan joined them, excited to go to the mini-golf and then later, to a food truck specialised in tacos that Mateo swore were the best in Austin.
Marjan and Nancy took the lead of the group after they all decided to walk there since the mini-golf was surprisingly not that far away from the softball field. Mateo grabbed his bag and jogged to join them, falling in steps with Nancy while Paul stayed back with Carlos and TK who were walking hand in hands.
“What are y’all gonna do this afternoon?” Paul asked them, putting his hands back in his pockets.
TK shrugged and looked at Carlos.
“I thought we could spend the rest of the day at our place, watching TV or something else,” Carlos said while shrugging a little. “If you want to.”
“I’d love to, babe.” TK replied, bringing up Carlos’ hand to his mouth and pressing a kiss on the back of it.
Carlos smiled at him and leaned down to kiss TK’s head quickly before turning back to Paul.
“And you? Any plans?”
“Well, Marjan wanted to check out a movie at the cinema so we’re probably going to do that,” Paul replied with a smile on his face. “I think Nancy and Mateo were planning on going to the ice rink to go skating but their plans might have changed.”
“They didn’t get enough of the ice yet?” Carlos asked, raising his eyebrows.
“Apparently not.” Paul said with a laugh before changing the subject of their conversation and asking Carlos what he had thought about the cliffhanger at the end of the book they mentioned earlier.
TK focused on their conversation, asking a question every once in a while and watching as Carlos passionately talked about a character or a particular moment of the book while Paul was agreeing (or not) with him. They arrived at the mini-golf and after an hour and a half, it was obvious for everyone that Carlos, Marjan and Paul were the best at it, scoring the most points and digging a huge gap between their scores and TK, Nancy and Mateo’s. They spent some time trying to comfort a grumbling Mateo who had regretted bringing up the idea of going to the mini-golf in the first place.
To cheer him up, they all went to the tacos place and they all had to admit, it really was the best tacos TK, Marjan and Paul had eaten after two years in Austin. TK kept it to himself but he had to admit Andrea’s tacos could easily rival those and with a smile to Carlos, he understood that his boyfriend was thinking the same thing. After lunch, they all went their separate way; Mateo and Nancy did go into the direction of the ice rink, telling their friends that neither of them knew how to skate but they would help each other learn, Marjan and Paul went to see their action movie at the same time, waving at TK and Carlos before going into Paul’s car who had driven them to the field that morning and TK and Carlos went back to Carlos’ place - their future home - and they spent half of the afternoon, watching the new season of Queer Eye and falling asleep into each other’s arms, right where they belonged.