Chapter Text
“Hey babe?” TK calls out to his boyfriend as he walks into their home.
“Hey TK.” Comes from the kitchen.
“Remember how I told you that I thought Mateo had been telling me about the girl he had a crush on, but never told me who it was?” TK asked him.
“Yeah, I do recall you mentioning that after he came to see you in the hospital. Again.” Carlos responded with a raised brow.
After giving his boyfriend an annoyed look, he continued with “Do you remember when I told you that Nancy was into someone, I thought I knew who it was but then with the whole almost dying thing, I forgot about it.” He took off his shoes, placed his bag on the floor next to them, before walking closer to Carlos.
“TK, are you saying that Mateo and Nancy have a thing for each other?” Carlos asks.
“You got it. They won’t admit it though.” TK tells him as puts his arms around the man’s neck, lips grazing his cheek before settling on his lips.
After a few moments of relishing in the act of being together, Carlos asks him “If they aren’t admitting it, then how do you know for sure?” as they sat on the couch.
“One – The day of the snow storm, when we ran into the 129, there was this look in Nancy’s eyes that was just different from how she looks at everyone else. Two – Mateo isn’t always the most subtle, and he HAD to be the one to hand her the MVP trophy. Three – Marj told me that when they were watching the news coverage of the flight from hell, that she noticed that they were grippingly holding hands, then once the plane landed, they super awkwardly broke apart.” TK paused before adding, “I really don’t think she meant to bring up the plane, because she got this guilty look on her face.” He adds as he lays his head back on Carlos’ shoulder, the place he frequently thinks was made specifically for him.
“So, you jumped to they like each other?” Carlos tried to confirm.
“No.” TK replies.
“What? I am a bit lost here babe.” Carlos tells him in a voiced laced with confusion.
TK takes pity on him with “Marj and I think they are secretly dating.”
“That’s a bit of a jump there. What makes you think that?”
“Well, you know how I went to the firehouse the morning before the flight?” TK asks him with a little hesitation.
“Uh yeah, I remember that. Go on.” TK could feel the tension in his boyfriend’s body tighten as he brought up that day.
“Cap and Nancy did a full inventory after I left. They had just finished when my dad called them about the woman on the plane; They were both understandably upset. Marj saw Nancy run out of the firehouse and went to go after her, but when she almost caught up, she saw that Mateo already had her. Nancy was leaning against the wall, with Mateo’s hands on her waist and her crying into his neck.” TK finished with a small smile, happy to have something other than the loss of his mom to think about for a bit. “Paul has noticed a few small things too.”
“Why don’t you just ask them?” Carlos asks like it is a reasonable option. “And why are you smiling?”
“We thought about that, but where is the fun there? How much have they all hassled us? Ganged up on us on game nights, picked on us for being the super touchy-feely couple. Don’t you want to pay them back, at least a little?” TK asked the love of his life with a devilish twinkle in his eye. “The smile is just me imagining turning the tables on them.”
TK could feel Carlos starting to relax against the couch again, no longer holding himself so tightly. However, now that he was relaxing, he was getting more suspicious on where TK was going with this conversation. “Where are you going with this TK?” he asked with another confused brow lift. If TK was being honest, he would also say he saw a little bit of concern in the beautiful brown eyes staring at him.
“I want to set them up on a blind double date.” TK tells him, as if it is the most reasonable solution.
“Why? That sounds like a disaster. Who would we even set up with each of them? And what if it backfires?” Carlos fires off.
“No, babe. We will be the double part. The only blind part will be them not knowing who the other person is. I am going to just tell Mateo it is someone from the hospital, and Marj can tell Nancy that the guy is a new firefighter at the 122 that she worked with in Miami.” TK relays the plan in the most concise way possible, wanting to curtail his boyfriend’s worrying.
“You really think that will work?” Carlos asks dubiously.
“Yeah. Marjan and I already have it all planned out. Marj and Paul will be at the restaurant or whatever too.” TK has to pauses to think before adding “I think they are either worried about how the rest of us will respond or that because they are in the same house, they shouldn’t date.” Ending with an eye roll.
“I guess I can see that. I am still not sure about the plan, or at least how well it will go over, but honestly the focus being on another couple for a bit might be a nice change.” Carlos says with a small smile.
“Perfect. I will start my work tomorrow. For now, though, what should we do for dinner? This planning is making me hungry.” The only response was a chuckle from Carlos and a knock on the door from the Chinese delivery guy.
When Mateo picked TK up for work the next morning, he took the first step in his plan. “Hey Mateo?”
“What’s up?” He asks as he pulls onto the street.
“Do you have plans for tomorrow night?” he asks.
“Not that I am aware of, why?” Mateo answers with a suspicious glance cast his way.
“I want to set you up on a blind date.”
“Why?”
“I met this Paramedic that is really awesome, and I think you guys would really click.” TK stated before adding, “I remember you saying it had been a while since you had met someone you were allowed to like, so when I met her, I knew she would be perfect for you.”
“Do I get any more details? Or did you just expect me to agree out of desperation?” Mateo asks.
“She is tall, dark hair, beautiful inside and out, friendly, protective, funny, and a bit cynical.” TK informs him before adding, “Its not like you are dating anyone else anyway, right?”
“Uh uh yeah right.” Mateo hesitates, then adds “I guess that really leaves me without an excuse you will accept huh?”
“That sounds right to me” TK said with his trademark smirk. “We will meet at Super Thai at 7.”
“Hey bro, what is her name? I should probably know that right?” Mateo asks him as they pull up to the firehouse.
“Oh yeah, you would want a name. It’s Anna.” TK quickly says.
After he changed into his uniform, he went in search of Marjan. He saw that she was standing by the ambulance while Nancy was getting ready for the pre-shift inventory check. Nancy looked wary and Marjan just directed her most disarming smile at her, all he could hear was Nancy relenting with “Fine, if it gets me out of this conversation I will go.” After a moment she added, “wait, who is this dude? And why is it a double date with TK and Carlos?”
“Oh, a new firefighter that joined the 122 a month or so before we opened the 126 back up, I actually worked with him back in Miami. Really nice guy. He is cute, funny, loyal, genuine. You won’t regret it.” Marjan told her. “TK said he was desperate for a night out with Carlos, and I already had plans, so this was perfect.”
TK and Marjan decided to ignore the “I already do” that Nancy mumbled as she turned away. TK nodded his head to indicate to Marj to follow him to the back of the house.
“He agreed too. I told him 7 at Super Thai” TK told her as he made a cup of coffee for himself and his partner.
“Damn, I knew I should have told you I wanted to go to Birdie’s on 12th.”
“Yeah, well you aren’t even technically on this ‘date’.” The only response TK received for that was an eye roll as she went to join the other firefighters while he went back to Nancy with the coffee.
“So, what do you know about this dude?” is the first thing out of Nancy’s mouth when she lays eyes on him. “Thank you” is the second as she takes the proffered coffee.
“Oh yeah, Carlos and I met him a while back. Really nice guy, funny, really cute. He takes a lot of pride in his job.” He fills her in.
“Well, I really don’t think it will matter, I am only doing this so that Marjan will stop trying to set me up with everyone else. She said she will stop after this. I will be holding her to that.” Nancy finishes, significantly more aggressively than she had started.
“Oh, I am sure she will stick to her word.”
“She didn’t tell me where to go or what time or anything? So annoying. Also, I don’t even know the man’s name.” Nancy said a few minutes later.
“His name is Ma-ark. Oh, she wasn’t sure. I had to make sure the time worked for Carlos. Be ready by like 6:30; Carlos and I will be picking you up.” TK is happy when the bell rings for their first call of the day, and she didn’t seem to catch TK almost saying Mat for the name.
Several hours and a few calls later Marjan, Paul, and TK were sitting in the common area with Buttercup while talking about whatever came to mind, while Buttercup kept moving around when he wanted someone else to pet him. They had only been there for half an hour when Judd walked in and asked “Why are Mateo and Nancy arguing outside?”
The other three didn’t bother to answer, just moved as quickly and quietly as possible. Creeping up to the side of the Rigs, using them for cover they were able to hear what looked like the end of the argument when Nancy said “You are the one that doesn’t want anyone to know. I let you know what I have going on, that’s all. Have fun on your date.” She didn’t notice them as she stormed past them to the bunk area.
“It looks like this little scheme of yours is just in time. Although we could just tell them we know.” Paul said as he continued to try to be the voice of reason.
“I honestly thought it was Nancy that wanted to keep it quiet, not Mateo.” Marjan wondered out loud, looking back over at Mateo who was sitting with his head in his hands. “I will go check on her, you two get him.” She had taken three steps when the bell went off yet again. “Change of plans, you get her, and we will take him.” She said she got ready and got into their respective rigs.
After they had pulled out of the ambulance bay, TK shot a quick look over at Nancy “You, ok?”
“Oh yeah. I am fine. Just ready for this shift to be over.” Nancy replied. Fortunately for Nancy, their shift did end not too long after they had gotten back from that last call. TK noticed that she barely even looked at Mateo when she went past him to leave. TK and Marjan exchanged concerned looks as they watched the non-interaction.
“Do you think we are going to far?” Marjan asked TK and Paul as they walked onto the parking lot.
“At this point it may blow up in our faces, but at least you two will not be in the direct line of fire.” TK tells them.
“That makes me feel so much better TK, thanks” Marjan said with a considerable amount of sarcasm.