Work Text:
It’s a slow and boring shift when the text comes in, and Carlos is grateful for that, both for the text and the way it interrupts his already long day. Oftentimes, he’ll be in the middle of some important paperwork when he gets texts like this and has to decline, or, worse, at a scene and only able to ignore his phone until it’s too late to head over. On those days, he just hopes TK packs him some leftovers.
(He usually does, even if it’s just a tiny piece of his own dish.)
But today, Carlos is lucky. A slow crime day is always good and safer—despite it being boring—but it’s even better when your boyfriend texts inviting you over to investigate a code seven.
babe, code 7! chili! PAUL’S chili! code 7 emergency!
The message is followed by a string of excited emojis that makes Carlos smile like an idiot at his screen. He doesn’t care about hiding it, but he does manage to accidentally catch the attention of Mitchell, too, who elbows him in the side and says, “Yes, you can take your lunch break now, Reyes,” in that typical you’re not looking but I’m rolling my eyes at you voice he knows far too well.
He guesses he’s spent enough time with her to expect this sort of reaction. She knows all of his faces, but as of late, it’s the happy one when he’s texting his boyfriend that’s most common. Even she picked up on the lack of that during their break-up last year, then proceeded to constantly tease him about it when Carlos struggled to stop texting TK after the ice storm and subsequent coma and reconciliation.
To be honest, Carlos isn’t sure he’s moved on from struggling to stop texting TK. Meh.
“I’ll take the cruiser in case I’m needed,” he tells her sincerely. “Thanks, Mitchell.”
Maybe a few months ago, and before, he would’ve shrugged his way out of her teasing and stayed at work. He didn’t like to be unprofessional whilst on the clock, but, well, when you’ve got a danger magnet boyfriend like TK, any and all contact during the working day is a good thing. And if he can squeeze lunch in with the 126, maybe a private moment or two alone with TK, all’s well in his opinion. Better than well, really.
Besides, first responders or not, they’re still human. And a young couple in love, too.
“APD won’t fall apart if you take a break, you know. We’ll be fine.”
He laughs as he files away the mundane paperwork he’d been filling in for most of the morning and grabs the keys to the cruiser. He knows they can cope without him, but he likes to be at least a little responsible when he can, on shift or otherwise. Sure, he wants to see his boyfriend and wants to have lunch, but he needs to maintain his reputation of being a very good cop.
Dangling the keys in front of Mitchell, he grins at her. “I’ll be available; radio me!”
She rolls her eyes and shoots back, “Say hi to TK for me!” as he heads out of the station, only turning back to wave her off. She just rolls her eyes again, but he's no fool. He can see her smiling, too.
Once he reaches the car, he sends a quick text back to TK.
sounds like a real emergency. i’m on my way x
The journey from the station to the 126 firehouse is a familiar one. He’s driven these roads many a time. Back in the day before Owen Strand took over, it was on the way to see Michelle, typically, or to exchange paperwork with the old captain. When the tragedy hit, he never expected to be coming back here on a daily basis, and he thought the same when the fire that shut the place down happened. Then he and TK broke up, and Carlos assumed 126 lunches were a sure thing of his past.
126 hangs were, too. At least for him.
After the firehouse fire and subsequent condo fire, they hosted the hangs at the Strand household. It wasn’t the same, what with the captain hanging around a little, to quote TK, “like a helicopter parent”, but they all wanted to be around family during such difficult times. Even as things moved on, as the firefighters got posted across various stations and medical transferred into the private sector, they kept meeting up as if nothing had changed. They needed that familiarity; with the stresses of new jobs and new firehouses, it was more necessary than ever. And Carlos… He just slotted into the team. He hadn’t changed his job, but he had lost his house, almost lost his boyfriend; he needed them, too. And they needed him.
The loft felt like the perfect place to host hangs when he first bought it. He kept thinking about it, imagining the whole family in their new home, but when that went south, when he and TK broke up, the only hangs he’d be invited to were sporadic, always by Nancy and never at the Strand household. He’d never turn up for fear of no longer fitting in, no longer being welcome.
Now, things are so, so different. And he knows it.
He parks the car just around the corner, both to not get in the way of any emergencies that may come in and for an element of anonymity. No one wants a cop car in view, least of all him if it results in him having to cut his lunch short. Even if that was the deal.
(What? There’s got to be a low level of selfishness when it comes to Paul’s chili. And maybe TK.)
These days, he saunters into the 126 like he owns the place. He’s confident, calm, and collected, but occasionally, he can’t help but remember how awkward he felt back in the early days of this crew when he’d be hovering outside, wondering if TK would even want to see him. It’s a stark difference, from the man he was to the man he is now, and he loves who he’s become and who he’s gained.
He’s here for the chili, sure, but he’s also here to see TK, so that’s where he heads first. TK’s already sitting at the table, a bowl in front of him, so Carlos just reaches out to touch his chest, smiling down at him. TK’s smile mirrors his immediately, and it does strange things to his heart.
That’s about as far as he gets, though, before Mateo is calling him over—weirdly enough—and pulling him away from his boyfriend. There’s a brief exchange of code seven jokes, TK immediately calling him out with, “Code seven’s cop talk for lunch!” in a way that’s far too proud for Carlos’ heart to handle. Again.
(He thinks, briefly, of the jewelry shop advertising male engagement rings in the window that he passed on his way over here. He wonders, he wonders, he wonders…)
Just as he’s about to dig into his bowl of chili, with a side of corn chips, of course, medical gets called out to a cardiac arrest. Carlos sighs to himself and feels TK poke him in the back on his way out, an affectionate gesture saved for when they’ve no time for anything more. A silent be safe, love you if you will. Because the chili can be as good as anything, but if TK isn’t here to share it with him, Carlos will always feel a little less happy about it.
Still, he gets pulled into a conversation with Marjan about their upcoming hang at the loft, and as they laugh together about Catan, he thinks… this is where I belong. With family.
Mostly TK, he's aware, but the whole 126 are family. Their family.
Even if someone eats the last of the chili, leaving none for medical when they return from their call.
And even if that person is him.
(TK always forgives him with a bit of tactical persuasion. And maybe a bit of his own cooking thrown in. It’s Nancy he should be worried about.)