Remember when I was doing flufftober? When that was a thing? That's still a thing... I just got a little bit (or a lot) behind on schedule.
So here is Tarlos @flufftober day 10: love of my life
Only a month and a bit late! I still plan on finishing all 31 fics - eventually (at least before the end of the year - hopefully.
The washing machine chronicles (AO3)
Owen's washing machine floods his house and he ends up crashing at the tarloft.
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“I just walked through the door downstairs, I’m waiting for the elevator now.” Carlos told TK who had, for some reason, called him to ask where he was when he knew exactly what time his shift ended and what time that meant he would be home. “Which just got here. Why?”
“No reason. Just missed you today.”
It was their five month wedding anniversary and even though they’d both scheduled the day off so they could celebrate together, a 6AM phone call that morning had ruined their plans.
Carlos’ sergeant had apologised but explained that with several of his co-workers either sick or injured, they really needed him. So he had reluctantly rolled out of bed, put his uniform on, and kissed TK goodbye with a promise to call at lunch.
He suppressed a yawn as the elevator door opened and he stepped out into the hallway and made his way to their door.
Only before he could even think of opening it, the door opened and TK stepped out, sliding it closed behind himself.
“Hey baby. How was your day? Did you arrest any bad guys?” He slid his arms around Carlos’ waist and pulled him in for a kiss.
“Uh… no not really... Mostly got caught up on paperwork this afternoon. What’s going on?”
“Nothing. Can’t I just greet the love of my life when he finally gets home from a hard day’s work?”
Carlos frowned.
“Why do you sound like a 1950s housewife? Are you going to fetch my pipe and slippers next?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. I’m just happy to see my husband.”
“You saw me this morning. You know, when we woke up in the same bed. Like every morning.”
“Well… not every morning.” TK argued. “When we’re on opposing schedules sometimes we barely see each other, let alone sleep in the same bed.”
“TK.”
“Yes.”
“What are you hiding in our apartment? Please don’t tell me you lost Lou again.”
“No, no I know exactly where Lou is.”
“Is he in our bed again? You let him sleep on my pillow again, didn’t you?” Carlos sighed.
“No, no, I promise Lou is not in our bed and your pillow is 100% lizard free.”
“Ok then what’s going on? What did you do?”
“What makes you think I did anything?” TK replied, mildly offended, and Carlos just raised an eyebrow at him. “Fine.” He sighed. “Promise me you won’t get angry.”
“You’re making me nervous. What happened?”
“Nothing bad. Well… not to us.”
“TK…”
“I know we had a whole night planned and you were probably looking forward to it, and I was too but I couldn’t just do nothing.”
“Ok…”
“My dad’s house flooded.”
“Flooded?”
“The washing machine… flooded half the house. I’m not sure what happened exactly.” TK told him. “But the house is basically unfit to live in for the next few days.”
“Ok… I feel like I’m still missing some information here.”
“Dad texted me earlier to tell me he was going to a hotel and that he’d see me at work tomorrow. So I called him to ask what was going on, and he explained the washing machine disaster.” TK explained. “And I kind of offered him to come stay with us until they’ve dried out the house. I know I should have discussed it with you first but you were at work and I didn’t want dad to go to a hotel and…”
“TK. Take a breath.” Carlos interrupted him and leaned in for a kiss. “It’s fine. Your dad is always welcome at our place. Did you really think I was going to get angry over this?”
“No… but I know you were probably looking forward to some quiet time together tonight after our plans for today fell through.”
Carlos shrugged.
“We have the rest of our lives to enjoy being married to each other, I think we’ll survive having your dad stay with us for a few days.”
“Are you sure you don’t mind?”
“Of course. It’s not what I had in mind for today, but it’s fine. It’s not like the rest of the day has gone according to plan anyway.”
TK gave him a commiserating look.
“I know. But we’ll make up for it next month. And for our one year anniversary we’re going to Tuscany. For at least two weeks.”
“Really? Do you think you can live without seeing your lizard baby that long?” Carlos teased and TK rolled his eyes.
“Dad and Mateo can look after him. And we can facetime.” He replied. “And he’s our lizard baby. Don’t think you can get out of your parental duties, officer Reyes.” He poked Carlos’ chest for emphasis.
“Wouldn’t dream of it. I promise to uphold my duties as a lizard parent.” Carlos said as if he was swearing on a bible in court.
“Just as long as you don’t have to touch or feed him, right?”
“I fed him last week!”
“You dropped a cricket in front of his little cave and told him to deal.”
“Well he did, didn’t he? It’s good to teach kids independence. You baby him.” Carlos said, trying very hard not to laugh. They’d had the same mock argument many a time before and it usually ended in fits of giggles.
“I love him. You’re still scared of him.” TK argued. “And don’t try to deny it. I’m married to a cop, I know all kinds of ways to make you admit the truth.”
“Oh yeah? Like what?”
“I’m not going to share my tactics with you.”
Carlos laughed and in a split second he spun TK around, back to his chest, and pinning his arms to his sides like he was subduing an unruly suspect.
“What was that about sharing tactics?” he said teasingly and dropped a kiss in TK’s neck.
“You using your police training on me is not fair.” TK complained but made no effort to try and get out of Carlos’ grip.
“Really now?”
“Yeah, you shouldn’t use it on innocent civilians.”
“Good thing there are none of those around, then.” Carlos teased.
TK made a sound that was something between a laugh and an indignant huff.
“You’re mean today. Work makes you mean.”
“Unexpected work does.” Carlos corrected him. “Because sometimes when you plan a day of celebrating your wedding anniversary with your very sexy husband… you get called into work to catch up on paperwork, and then when you get home, your father in law is there.”
“I know…” TK sighed, leaning back against Carlos’ chest when he loosened his grip and just wrapped his arms around his waist instead, resting his chin on his shoulder. “I’ll make it up to you, I promise.”
“Hmm… I’ll look forward to it.”
Suddenly the door to the loft slid open and Owen appeared in the doorway, killing their moment.
“Oh. Sorry to interrupt guys, but I was going to order food. I’m thinking pizza. After the day I’ve had, I need carbs. And cheese.” He announced. “Oh and hi Carlos, welcome home. Sorry to crash your night.”
“It’s fine. You’re always welcome here.”
“Mi casa es su casa, right?” Owen said, seemingly thrilled over using a Spanish phrase in front of Carlos.
“Yeah, something like that.” Carlos smiled before letting go of TK and following them into the house.
After checking Lou was indeed where he should be, and telling TK to just go ahead and order for both of them, Carlos had a quick shower and changed into something more comfortable than his uniform.
He was tired and decided to take out his contacts and wear his glasses instead. In part because he knew TK liked it when he did, but also because he didn’t want to risk falling asleep wearing them again and waking up with sore eyes.
“Hey babe, pizza will be here soon. I ordered the veggie for you and the four cheese for me.” TK greeted him when he walked out of the bedroom.
Carlos nodded.
“Because you couldn’t decide which one you wanted and this way you can have some of both?”
“The perks of having a husband.” TK joked. “Well, one of them.” He added with a wink.
A little while later, the food was delivered and the three of them settled on the sofa for a night in front of the TV.
TK was in charge of the remote, which suited Carlos just fine. It meant he could relax and snuggle up to him while enjoying his food, while TK flicked through the channels roughly twelve times before eventually settling on a sitcom rerun that didn’t require much brainpower to understand.
“For god’s sake TK will you just pick something already?” Owen snapped after TK’s third or fourth round through all of the channels.
“I’m trying! There is nothing.”
“Just leave it at this then. CSI. Everybody likes that.”
“Oh no. No crime shows in this house. This one will keep picking it apart and complain about how they’re doing it wrong.” TK said, nodding at Carlos who just shrugged.
“That’s because they always do.” He argued. “And you’re one to talk. When Louisa mentioned she liked that hospital show, you spent an hour explaining to her all the medical details they got wrong, based on one episode you’d seen.”
“That one episode was really bad!” TK protested and looked at his dad for support but Owen was just looking at them with a wistful smile on his face. “What?”
“You know your mom used to do that too with courtroom scenes in tv shows. She probably still does. God help Enzo if he likes courtroom dramas.” He said with a chuckle. “On one of our first dates we went to see a movie that was popular back then. I don’t even remember what it was… but one of the characters was a lawyer and there were various courtroom scenes and talk about legal stuff.” He smiled. “She ranted about everything that was wrong with those scenes the entire rest of the night. I wanted to get to know her better but she was too busy talking about procedures and how you’re supposed to behave in court. In the end I just kissed her so she would stop talking.”
“Always an effective method.” Carlos commented, grinning at TK.
“I think that’s when I fell in love with her for real. Someone who could get so passionate about legal jargon when she was only a few years out of law school herself. She always had that spark.” Owen said and sighed. “She’s the love of my life. We’re just… too much alike.” He settled on. “Two workaholics together… just doesn’t work.”
“I’m sorry Owen.” Carlos told him.
“No, no, don’t be ridiculous. We had some good years together and something amazing to remind us of that.” He nodded at TK.
“Wait, I’m a something now?”
“Yeah.” Carlos agreed, ignoring TK’s comment. “That is pretty amazing.”
The rest of the night, Owen spent sharing stories about the early days of his and Gwyn’s relationship, as well as some of TK’s childhood.
And even though he loved hearing about little TK, Carlos was ridiculously comfortable in his husband’s arms, and with a full stomach, he was struggling to keep his eyes open.
“Babe, just go to bed if you’re tired.” TK ran a hand through his hair. “You’ve had a long day.”
“I’m fine.” Carlos mumbled, closing his eyes and leaning into TK’s touch.
“You’re falling asleep on me.” TK argued and Carlos was vaguely aware of him turning off the TV. “Come on, let’s go to bed. I’m tired too. I’ll go get you a pillow and a blanket, dad.”
Carlos made himself get up and go brush his teeth while TK helped Owen get set up on the sofa. After he was done he was tempted to just slip into bed and go to sleep but he figured it would be rude not to at least say a quick goodnight.
“You know where everything is…” TK trailed off, smiling when Carlos hugged him from behind and sleepily told him to come to bed. “Just help yourself if you want anything.”
“I’m good. Good night guys.” Owen said, fluffing up his pillow. “Just pretend I’m not here. Do what you always do. I’ve got earplugs.” He held up the items. “Buttercup snores.”
TK rolled his eyes.
“Good night dad.”
“Good night Owen.” Carlos said and gently pulled TK into the bedroom and closed the doors behind them.
He got into bed and got comfortable under the covers while TK plugged in his phone and turned off the lights.
“Good night babe.” He mumbled when he felt the mattress dip beside him and TK wrapping his arms around him.
“Hmm yeah it could be.” TK pressed closer to Carlos, peppering kisses over his neck and chest while playing with the waistband of his sweats.
“What are you doing? TK, no.” Carlos bat his hands away. Suddenly he was wide awake.
“Why not? It’s our anniversary.”
“I know. But your dad is right there outside this door.”
“So? You heard him, he has earplugs.” TK’s hands slipped back under Carlos’ sleep shirt.
“TK, don’t.” Carlos pushed his hands away again and moved away from him as far as their mattress allowed him to. “It feels wrong. Disrespectful.”
“Disrespectful?” TK repeated. “Are you for real? He’s a guest in our house.”
“Exactly!” Carlos hissed. “I love you but I just can’t do this now. Not with your dad 10 feet away.”
“I think it’s a little more than 10 feet.” TK muttered, clearly unhappy with the situation.
“I’ll call Ana tomorrow. Diego will know a guy to help with your dad’s house. And washing machine.” Carlos promised, taking TK’s hand and rubbing his thumb over his wedding band. “Between my mom and Diego, I don’t think there’s anyone left in Austin they don’t know. We’ll fix it.”
TK huffed and rolled onto his back.
“Cockblocked by a washing machine.”
The next morning when Carlos woke up, TK had already gotten up. He took a few minutes to psych himself up, grateful for the late start his captain had offered him, and went in search of his husband.
He found TK and Owen sitting at the dining table, both cradling a mug and looking serious. When TK noticed him, his expression changed into a soft smile.
“Morning baby.” He tilted his head up for a kiss and Carlos was more than happy to oblige. “I was just telling dad about the arrangements we made.”
“Arrangements?”
“Yeah, with your parents.”
“Look, guys, if I’m getting in your way, I’ll just go to a hotel for a few days.” Owen told them. “My shift starts in an hour so I have to get going soon but I’ll find somewhere to stay for tonight. It’s fine.”
“Nonsense.” Carlos said immediately. “You’re always welcome here.”
“We just thought you’d be more comfortable staying with Gabriel and Andrea. They have actual spare rooms. With actual beds. Our sofa is comfy, but not that comfy.” TK added.
“I slept fine last night.” Owen argued. “This sofa beats the firehouse bunks any day.”
“I already talked to Andrea. She’s expecting you after your shift tonight.” TK told him, getting up from the table, handing him his bag and steering him to the door. “And Carlos will call Ana’s husband to work something out for the house, and you’ll be back in your own bed in no time.”
“Are you trying to get rid of me?” Owen said, amused.
“Of course not. Bye dad. We’ll let you know when we’ve figured something out for the house.” TK pushed him out the door and quickly closed it behind him before turning to Carlos. “When does your shift start?”
“Not until noon. Kendrick gave me a half shift to make up for calling me in yesterday.”
“Ok. Noon. I can work with that.” TK glanced at the clock and walked into their bedroom.
“I can work with that?” Carlos snorted. “And they say romance is dead.” He followed TK into the bedroom and saw him sitting down on Carlos’ side of the bed, his phone in hand. “Babe? What are you doing?”
TK held up a hand to signal to him to keep quiet.
“Hi, this is TK Reyes, Carlos Reyes’ husband. I just wanted to let you know he’s not coming in today. He’s got food poisoning. It’s not pretty. We think it was last night’s sushi.” He paused to listen to the other person’s reply. “Yeah that’s right, 363H20. Sergeant Kendrick, yes.” Another pause. “Alright thank you very much. Yeah I’ll tell him. Bye.” TK hung up and threw Carlos’ phone back on the nightstand. “Looks like you just got the day off.”
“Did you just fake me being sick?”
TK shrugged.
“Why not? It’s no big deal. You’ll just have miraculously recovered by tomorrow.”
Carlos shook his head in disbelief.
“You just lied to a police officer.”
“They can’t prove anything.” TK said, pulling Carlos down onto the bed with him, pushing him onto his back and slinging a leg over his while slipping a hand around his waist under his shirt. “I just want my husband to myself for one day so we can celebrate our wedding anniversary in style.” He leaned down and pressed a kiss to Carlos’ lips before moving to his neck. “The city of Austin can just deal.”
“And what do I tell people when I show up for work tomorrow and everything is fine?”
“Just tell them... You spent the whole day in bed and that thanks to your loving paramedic husband, you're feeling much better.” TK grinned and kissed him again. “And I know you hate lying so we better make sure it's the truth.”
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