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“How. Just how.”
That was about all Carlos could say as he walked up to the 126’s ambulance. Just… how did his boyfriend get in these situations, especially since he switched to being a paramedic so that he wouldn’t end up in the back of the ambulance after a scene.
And what a scene it was. The 126 ambulance had been called to one of the more… rowdy bars in Austin, after a brutal bar fight led to police intervention. Luckily, there were only a few injured parties that would actually need medical transport, as most people just got punched in the face.
TK had been with one of the more serious patients, who had been cut up thanks to his attacker’s hidden knife. The man had been unconscious while TK was prepping up… until he woke up swinging, knife of his own in hand after having it concealed in his sleeve.
The paramedic had immediately leaned back, but had taken a few good slashes before the officers on scene could subdue the much larger man. Once he was in handcuffs, he had calmed down and actually apologized (to the surprise of every first responder), saying that the last time he’d been knocked out in a bar fight, the guy had tried to finish the job. TK had accepted the apology and had even taken the time to finish bandaging the man before he was taken into custody, ignoring his own wounds and everything.
Once everything was cleared up, Tommy and Nancy dragged their accident-prone friend to the back of their ambulance and started treating the steadily bleeding slashes in his skin, one of which just wouldn’t slow down. Nancy had also taken the time to quickly text Carlos that TK pulled a TK, since the man wasn’t at the scene. And of course, he walked up to see TK sitting miserably in the back of the ambo, uniform half off, and a decent amount of blood dripping.
It was a sight.
“For the record, Babe, this wasn’t my fault,” TK said, voice turning to a whine when Nancy started cleaning a cut on his eyebrow. “Ouch, that hurts.”
Carlos had the good nature to roll his eyes. “I know. But you have to be the most accident prone member of the AFD at this point.”
TK shrugged carefully, trying to not move his arm from Tommy’s tight grasp while he did it. “It’s not my fault all the crazy just seemed to come after me.”
“Nope,” Nancy cut in, smirk clear even as she finished her last butterfly stitch. “You just have a magnet strapped to you that just attracts the crazy.”
Tommy and Carlos both had to chuckle at that. It was true, at least. The man had spent an alarming amount of time in the hospital since arriving in Austin, to the point that several of the nurses knew him by name (and had gone to defend him after the ICU nurses had spoken out of turn in front of Carlos; what a scene that had been). He’d been doing better though, after his stint in a coma following the ice storm. It had been almost four months since he’d been injured on the job, which for him was a record.
“You’re done,” Tommy said, leaning back. TK looked down at his wounds. Both of his arms were carefully bandaged, hiding the three slashes that the man had given him. Plus there was the cut above his eye. But that was it, luckily. “Carlos, I’m sending him home once we get back to the 126, if your shift is almost done.”
The man in question nodded. “It’ll be done by the time you get back. I’ll pick him up. It’ll give his father time to worry over him.”
TK paled at the thought. “Oh no. Tommy, send me with Carlos now. Dad plus the rest of the 126? You know how they’ll act! They’ll be overbearing and freak out and everything.”
Carlos smiled as he turned to walk back to his cruiser. “I’ll be there in an hour! Nancy, don’t let him order an Uber before I get there.” Behind him, he could hear TK loudly berate him, over Nancy’s agreement to the plan and Tommy’s laughter on the subject.
The man he loved may have been injured, but at least for once he could leave him in good hands and smile. They were alright.