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Carlos is well used to the late nights by now, having gone through his fair share of them since he had started his journey towards a career change. Now he’s left with most of his free time being used to study. He wouldn’t admit it, but it had been something that he had wanted to do for a while. There had just always been something that had drawn him to it all and despite currently being up at midnight, he wouldn’t have changed anything. He takes off his glasses in favour of rubbing at his eyes before gently placing them back on. He figures he’s going to have to call it a night soon.
He rests his chin in his hand, feeling his eyes droop from the exhaustion settling into him. He’s almost fully asleep when he startles awake by a loud sound behind him, followed by a mumbled ‘fuck’. Carlos opens his eyes just simply to roll them and a fond smile pulls at his lips as he turns around in his chair to find TK making his way into the loft. He almost looks like he’s tip-toeing until his gaze raises and finds Carlos staring at him, eyebrow raised.
“Oh.” TK says softly. “You’re up.”
“I am.” Carlos returns in a matter-of-fact tone. “I think the whole building is now because of someone dropping their things in the hallway.”
TK narrows his eyes at Carlos as he sets his duffel bag down onto the floor next to the island and dumps the rest of his things onto the counter. “I tripped.”
“Over what?” Carlos asks, attempting to hold back a laugh but it slips through.
“My foot.” TK mumbles too low but Carlos catches it all the same as TK turns around to begin putting his things away, containers from his lunch into the sink and his keys into the bowl that they keep on the counter. Afterwards, he grabs a bottle of water from the fridge before finally making his way over to Carlos.
“Finally.” Carlos huffs as TK leans down to press a gentle kiss to his cheek.
TK smiles against his skin before he moves to sit down in the chair that’s directly beside Carlos. “Shouldn’t you be asleep?”
“Probably,” Carlos says, chuckling. “Time just got away from me, I guess. Plus, I get to be up when you get home so I think I’m in a pretty good situation right now.”
TK shakes his head but there’s a bright smile on his face. “You’re such a sap.”
“Says the biggest sap alive.” Carlos counters.
“Speaking of which,” TK says and suddenly he’s standing again and making his way over to where he had dropped his duffel bag. Carlos watches him carefully as he pulls a little bag out of it and he walks back over, placing it on the table in front of Carlos. “Happy Valentine’s Day.”
Carlos raises a brow. They aren’t usually the ones to buy one another gifts on Valentine’s Day. They’ll have a nice dinner usually, maybe watch a movie, but they tend to refrain from the actual gift-giving part of everything. That they were both in agreement that being within the company of one another was quite enough.
“You didn’t have to get me anything.” Carlos says as he finally moves to grab the bag. “I thought we agreed on that.”
“I know, but I was at the store to grab some stuff anyways and I saw this. It reminded me of you so I just knew I had to buy it. Plus this is our first Valentine’s Day back together, so it deserves a little rule breaking here and there.” TK explains before he leans closer to Carlos. “Go ahead, open it.”
Carlos grins and removes the tissue paper from the bag before reaching in and grabbing the contents. It’s soft whatever it is and when Carlos finally gets a good look at it, he can barely hold back his smile from growing. A small laugh escapes him as he stares down at the stuffed animal, a stuffed cow to be specific holding a little sign that says ‘I’m utterly in love with you.’
It’s probably one of the sweetest things he has ever gotten.
“So?” TK asks, holding out the word and effectively breaking Carlos from his thoughts. “What do you think? Do you like it?”
Carlos looks up, levelling his gaze with TK’s. Despite the late hour and the fact that he had just gotten off shift, his green eyes are bright and full of nothing but love and admiration. Ever since TK’s latest accident, Carlos has made sure to take in everything he can about TK. He had almost lost him, had almost lost everything between them in the matter of seconds. He will continue to thank the universe for giving them the second chance.
Carlos smiles and pulls one hand away from the stuffed animal and runs it through TK’s hair before trailing down to place it on his cheek. “I love it, a lot. Thank you.”
TK shrugs. “It’s not a lot but —”
“It’s everything, sweetheart.” Carlos says and he moves his hand once again, this time placing it on the back of TK’s neck and pulling him closer to place a kiss on his lips. It’s gentle and full of exhaustion but it has every bit of love in it. When they finally pull away, they don’t move too far away from one another. “I love you.”
“I love you too.” TK whispers back.
Carlos is unsure how long they stay like that, close to one another and just simply sharing space but eventually they are forced to move because it’s not the most comfortable position to be sitting in. Carlos figures it’s definitely time to call it a night and begins to grab his stuff spread out across the table and organise it. TK gets up from his chair and disappears behind him and into the kitchen.
“Did you eat?” TK asks.
“Not since earlier.” Carlos replies, placing his papers into the folders and closing his book. Just as he’s setting his things neatly onto the corner of the table, a takeout box appears in front of him. Carlos eyes it closely before the smell hits him and he immediately knows exactly what’s inside. It’s no doubt his favourite chow mein from the restaurant a couple blocks away. It’s amazing he didn’t pick up on it the moment TK walked into the loft. “Just how many stops did you make on the way home?”
TK settles back down into his chair, his own container in front of him. “I’m pretty sure this was the last one.”
Carlos nods, before opening the container and he can hardly stop himself from digging right into it. There are some words exchanged between them in those moments but they mostly eat in a comfortable silence. It’s not until they are almost done that TK breaks the silence.
“You know I’m proud of you, right?”
“Yeah I do.” Carlos says, setting his fork down. “You tell me every day.”
“I don’t want you to ever forget it.” TK whispers and he leans across the table to grab Carlos’ hand. “I won’t let you forget it.”
Carlos smiles softly. “For the record, I’m proud of you too. You really never fail to surprise me and all this?” He gestures to the take out containers and the little stuffed cow that had been placed on top of his study material. “This is everything, TK.”
“You deserve it. This and so much more. You deserve the world, Carlos. And I’m going to be sure I give it to you,” TK says before wincing and squinting an eye closed. “Or you know, as much of it as I can give to you.”
Carlos chuckles. “You’re a dork.”
TK stands and moves the short distance between them, before dropping back down onto Carlos’ lap. He wraps his arms around Carlos’ torso and pulls him close, resting his head onto Carlos’ shoulder. Carlos manages to move just enough to look at his watch and finds it to be now three in the morning.
“We should head to bed.” Carlos whispers, turning slightly to place a kiss onto TK’s forehead.
“We can always finish the Valentine’s Day festivities then since we both have the day off. I’ll make you breakfast.”
TK hums, already half asleep. “I’d love that.”
Carlos manages to stand while holding onto TK and carries him towards the bedroom. He settles him down carefully onto the bed and TK makes the move on his own to remove his shirt and get underneath the covers. Carlos takes a few moments to rinse water over his face before stripping himself of his shirt and throwing it into the basket. It’s warm under the covers and he and TK instantly gravitate towards one another, their limbs becoming tangled. Carlos stares up at the darkness as TK’s breath begins to even out.
“Hey TK?” He asks quickly before he’s all the way asleep.
“Hm?”
“You already gave me the world.” Carlos whispers.
TK shifts so he is adorably squinting up at him. “What?”
“The day you gave me your heart, you gave me the world. You are it, TK. You’re my world.”
TK’s quiet for a moment before all Carlos hears is a sniffle. TK leans up to press his lips to the corner of Carlos’ before he settles back down, his head on Carlos’ chest. “You’re my world too, Carlos.”
It’s said like a promise being made between the two of them, like they will fight through anything to take care and protect each other’s hearts. In that moment, there in each other’s arms, it feels like the safest place ever, like nothing will be able to hurt them. Like this is all they will ever need.
That it will always be enough.