#tarloscupid24

[carlos-in-glasses]

Search and Rescue

15k, E - complete and on Ao3.

Dear @honeybee-taskforce - I am your Tarlos Secret Cupid! 🥰 💘 I hope this fic brings you as much joy to read as it brought me to write. This is how I have interpreted your prompts!

On their first Valentine's Day as husbands, Carlos surprises TK with a trip to adopt a retired police dog – not expecting to come home with a goofy, boisterous golden retriever who failed all his training. But not all heroes are ultra-smart German Shepherds who wear dog-sized bulletproof vests. And sometimes, when it comes to gifts, great minds think alike.

******

"Please, baby. Please. I've never felt this way about anything." TK pauses. "Except you."

Carlos bites the side of his lip. When he’d imagined adopting a dog, a goofy golden with a thing for shoving his head and body into every available crevice – and who had failed different types of training to the point where he was given up on – was not something he'd factored into the fantasy. But, when he looks at his husband and Cuddles, he undisputedly sees the purest of all sights: A boy and his dog. He sees himself, aged six, when he was introduced to Rocky as a pup. He especially stayed by Carlos' side throughout his difficult teens, like he knew he needed a friend to come home to. Carlos said the words, “I’m gay,” to Rocky long before he spoke them to any judgmental human. Rocky loved him just the same, and kept the secret.

Read on Ao3:

Chapter 1: Big Heart

Chapter 2: Cuddles and the Gang

Big love to @cold-blooded-jelly-doughnut for the beta, to @lemonlyman-dotcom my chief US advisor who has taught me much, and @welcometololaland for advice and emotional support along the way too!

Thank you so much to @tarlos-secret-cupid for organising! ❤️🩷❤️🩷

[honeybee-taskforce]

My piece for the Tarlos Secret Cupid, written for @heartstringsduet !!

Summary: A glimpse of five different Valentine's Days over the course of TK and Carlos' relationship. Carlos takes TK out to dinner, TK attempts to cook dinner, Tarlos goes clubbing, Carlos struggles cooking, and finally Tarlos goes back to the honky tonk! I. Before Season 2 II. After 3x4 "Push" III. During Season 4 IV. After Season 4 V. Five Years Later

Rating: Explicit (Explicit Sexual Content)

[read on AO3]

[heartstringsduet]

You're the cause of celebration

Summary: Valentine’s Day is cursed to them. Good thing they celebrate February 20th from now on.

a gift for @sugdenlovesdingle for the @tarlos-secret-cupid event. I really hope you enjoy this fluffy fic !! 💓

“Babe…I’m pretty sure Valentine’s is cursed for us,” TK says as he heaves the second case of glass water bottles into the shopping cart. They both know Carlos will end up having to carry them later. Carlos tells himself it’s a good work-out. Handling the now heavier cart with one hand, he places the other on TK’s lower back as they walk on. “And you thought about this now because..?” “Because of that stupid pink aisle that I know is just waiting around the corner to taunt us.” “Yeah, I’m sure they made Valentine’s displays in all US stores in case we come around,” Carlos jokes. TK gives him a disgruntled look — a look that is forever classified as adorable in Carlos’ eyes. “Ha-ha. You know what I mean, though. We haven’t exactly lucked out on Valentine’s the past few years.” He’s not wrong, Carlos thinks, as they enter the pink-and-red candy aisle.

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[sugdenlovesdingle]

Here it FINALLY is, even though it's well and truly the 15th here, my @tarlos-secret-cupid valentines gift for @carlos-in-glasses

As usual time and my tendency to procrastinate aren't friends and it's way too damn late (or early) and I really needed to go to bed about... 5 hours ago... but I hope you like it!

It's a combination of one of the tropes you said you liked - Alternate first meeting and a pre-valentines date/first valentines day together.

Luisa gets her hands on Carlos' phone and decides to take matters into her own hands to fix her brother's love life.

Love online (AO3)

It wasn’t like Carlos hated spending time with his family, or even really minded. He liked most of his relatives just fine, especially his nieces and nephews and younger cousins. The problem was that all of them in one place at the same time was usually chaos and downright exhausting.

The kids always wanted him to play with them, while his mother and tías made it their mission to find out everything they could about his life.

Even his non-existent love life.

Still, he was nothing if not a good son, and he didn’t want to upset his mother by cancelling on her for Sunday dinner with the family, and definitely not one that doubled as her birthday party.

So he turned off his car’s engine and made himself get out and walk to the door.

He rang the doorbell and mentally braced himself for the usual madness that ensued whenever the family was together for any kind of occasion.

“There you finally are. Why are you dressed like that?” Luisa stepped aside after opening the door. “Are you moonlighting as a stripper?”

“Funny.” Carlos rolled his eyes at her and walked into the house. “I came straight from work. I didn’t want to drive home and then all the way back here.” He took off his jacket. “Where is mom?”

“In the kitchen, gossiping with tía Lucy and tía Carmen. And the rest of the family is…” she waved a hand around and Carlos nodded.

“I’ll go say hello to mom and then get changed.” He told her. “By the way, do you have a charger? My battery is almost gone and my charger is at home.”

“I think I have one in the car. I’ll get it and plug your phone in.” She held out her hand and Carlos reluctantly handed it over. “Don’t read my messages.” He warned her.

“Why? Got a secret boyfriend we’re not allowed to know about?”

“Yeah, right.” Carlos mumbled. “Just don’t go through my phone, ok? It’s called privacy. You might have heard of it.”

“Like you when you used to read my diary, you mean?”

“That was one time! I was seven!”

“One time I know about.”

“You used to read Ana’s diary all the time.”

“You have no proof of that.” Luisa said and slipped past him, out the door to her car.

Carlos sighed and went to greet his mother and tías.

“Hola mama. Happy birthday.” He said and leaned over to give her a hug and kiss her cheek. “Did you get my flowers?”

“Yes, they were delivered this morning, they’re beautiful mijo, thank you.” She noticed his uniform. “Did you come here from work? You work too hard cariño.”

“It’s fine mom, it was a slow day. And I’ll have a few days off from Tuesday.”

“Maybe you should talk to your father, let him talk to your captain to not make you work so hard.”

“I’m fine mom, I promise. Nobody needs to talk to anyone.” He insisted and let her fuss over him for a few minutes before making his way up to his childhood bedroom to change into his regular clothes.

By the time he made it back downstairs, his mom was distracted so he quickly grabbed himself something to eat and went in search of his sister, and more importantly, his phone.

He found her in the living room in her favourite armchair, scrolling through her phone.

Only when he took a closer look, he realised it wasn’t her own phone in her hand, but his.

“Hey, what are you doing? Give me my phone!” Carlos tried to grab his phone from his sister's hands but she quickly moved out of his reach.

“I will, when I'm done with it.” Luisa replied. “Don't you have any sexy pictures of yourself on this thing?”

“Why would I? And why do you care?”

“Nobody is going to be interested when you look like any random guy in the street.”

“Interested? What? What are you doing?”

“Wait, I think I have some cute pictures of you from tía Lucy's birthday party last summer.”

“Cute pictures? What do you need cute - oh no. No you’re not.” He tried to grab his phone again but she stuffed it in her bra and turned her attention to her own phone.

“Ana come here and look at this. What do you think of this one? Does this say boyfriend material?”

Ana came over and looked at her sister's phone screen.

“Are you trying to find him a boyfriend?” She turned to Carlos. “You can't find your own dates now?”

“I can but she stole my phone.”

“He needs to get laid.” Luisa explained. “He's way too wound up and stressed lately. A hot guy in his bed would take care of that.”

“And you're going to find him one?”

“I'm going to give him a push in the right direction. Come on, help me out, it's for a good cause.”

“To get Carlos a boyfriend?”

“Yes! If mom finds out he's seeing someone, she'll obsess over that and stop fussing over us. She'd stop making digs at your parenting style.”

Ana considered her sister's words for a second and then pulled out her own phone.

“I still have pictures from when we went to the waterpark with the kids. If we crop them out those pictures are definitely going to get him a guy.”

Carlos ran a hand through his hair and sat back on the sofa, wondering how this was his life.

“Oh that one is nice!” Luisa said, looking at Ana’s phone. “If you crop it like this, the guys will be fighting to get in his bed.”

“Have either of you considered that I might actually be seeing someone already?”

The two women paused what they were doing.

“Are you?” Ana asked.

“No he’s not. I ran into Iris a few days ago. He’s single. She told me.”

“Iris doesn’t know everything about me.” Carlos argued, wishing once again his sister didn’t know his best friend that well.

“Ok which one should I put as profile picture? The waterpark one?” Luisa asked Ana. “Or maybe one in uniform? Is that allowed?” She briefly turned to Carlos but didn’t wait for a reply.

“This one is nice. He’s actually smiling in it.” Ana said and sat down next to her sister. “We need to do something about that profile too. Just Carlos, 28, Austin, cop isn’t going to make anyone take an interest.”

The two of them spent the next half hour working their magic on Carlos’ profile until they were satisfied.

“Ok, so, what kind of guy are you looking for?” Ana asked. “Does he have to be Latino?”

Carlos shrugged.

“I don’t know. Maybe.”

Luisa frowned.

“What kind of answer is that?”

“I don’t know, Lu, I don’t really think about that. If I like a guy, I like him, but not because he is or isn’t Latino.”

“Fine.” She sighed and turned her attention back to Carlos’ phone. “Oh ok this guy is cute! Originally from DC but lives in Austin now. What do you think?” she showed him a picture of a fairly attractive guy who looked like he’d just stepped out of a tanning salon.

“He’s ok.” Carlos replied with a shrug even though he could tell neither of his sisters were actually listening to him.

“Oh he wants an open relationship. Are you ok with that?”

“Does it matter? You'll decide for me anyway.”

Luisa rolled her eyes at her brother and went back to swiping through the app.

“Oh look at this one!” she quickly flashed him the phone screen again. “He's cute! And he has a dog! You like dogs.”

“Hmm.”

“Oh he's from NYC. Wow. And he's a firefighter and paramedic.”

“Good for him.”

“Wait, do I swipe left or right for yes? Never mind, I found it. Ooh he's swiped on you too! He likes you hermanito!”

“Let me see.” Ana told her. “Oh he is cute. Nice eyes and kind to animals. What more do you want?”

“To actually get a say in anything to do with my own love life?”

“Is that his name? TK?” Ana asked.

“Yeah. Looks like it. Probably a nickname.” Luisa replied.

“Who goes by a nickname on a dating app?”

“Someone with something to hide. He’s probably married with three kids and a golden retriever.” Carlos commented.

“You don’t have to marry the guy, Carlitos. Just hook up with him once. Or twice if he’s good in bed.” Luisa said with a wink. “Oh he’s messaging you! He’s keen!”

“He’s messaging you more like.”

“Should I reply?”

“No, no you need to reply yourself.” Ana said to Carlos.

“I said hey back.” Luisa said, getting up and dropping Carlos’ phone in his lap. “Thank me in your wedding speech. Or name your first born after me.”

“I thought I didn’t have to marry him?”

“You don’t. But this guy is your type and I know you.”

“What does that even mean?”

“That you should probably talk to the guy.” Ana said, pointing at the phone in his lap, before getting up and following her sister into the kitchen.

Carlos reluctantly picked up the phone and unlocked it. He looked through the guy’s profile and had to admit he was cute. He had a nice smile and there was a hint of mischief in his bright green eyes.

And he’d be lying if the picture with the big fluffy Bernese Mountain dog wasn’t one of the cutest things he’d seen in a long time.

Suddenly he remembered Luisa had started a chat with him and he tapped out of the pictures and back to the conversation.

So you’re a cop?

Carlos read the line over and over, not sure how to reply. He wasn’t interested in satisfying the guy’s uniform kink, or get a lecture on why all cops are assholes.

 - Yeah. Is that a problem?

Not to me. I do have one question though.

- Have I ever shot anyone?

No. Do they let you take the handcuffs home with you? 😉😇

Carlos laughed and decided to keep talking to this TK guy. He told him about himself a little, and TK told him he’d only moved to Austin a few months ago and could do with someone to show him the best places to go in the city.

And I don’t just mean your bed. Though judging by your pictures, I wouldn’t hate that.

Carlos blushed a little but found he wouldn’t hate that either. In the end they decided to meet up for a drink that Wednesday on Carlos’ day off.

Which he was definitely not telling his sisters about.

He spent most of his Wednesday cleaning his house and his bedroom, and put clean sheets on the bed, even though he’d only changed them a few days ago. He didn’t want to assume, but it was in his nature to be prepared for anything.

Especially if that anything would turn out to involve TK in between his new clean sheets.

His phone buzzed in his pocket and when he checked the notification, he saw a new message from TK.

A picture of himself in front of a mirror in a bedroom with the caption What do you think?

He was wearing a black button down shirt with some kind of print on it and dark jeans. He looked great, yet all Carlos’ brain managed to come up with were three fire emojis.

Careful with those fires officer. You don’t want them getting out of control.

- It’s ok, I have a date with a fireman tonight. I’m sure he’ll keep me safe.

Carlos shook his head as he reread his last reply.

“Congratulations, that’s the worst reply anyone ever sent.” He mumbled to himself.

Though TK didn’t seem to mind. He sent him a laughing emoji and a firefighter one.

Firefighter. It sounds more badass.

- You run into fires for a living, you don’t need a word to make you more badass.

TK didn’t reply and Carlos decided to look through his own wardrobe to find something to wear. He’d just decided on a green t-shirt that was maybe a little too tight across the chest, when his phone buzzed again.

This time TK had sent him a short video of himself standing in front of the same mirror in the same bedroom, but undoing the buttons on his shirt with his free hand.

“One button? Or two? Or three? Or more?” the TK in the video asked and all Carlos could do was stare at the exposed skin.

 - Two is probably the limit. Or else we’ll never make it to the bar.

And that would be a bad thing?

- We’ve never even met. I could be an axe murderer!

Good thing I know how to handle an axe.

TK sent him another winking emoji and told him he’d see him in a few hours.

Carlos got to the bar early, and found a table close enough to the door so he’d see TK when he walked in, but hidden from view enough that he wouldn’t get stuck talking to someone from work if they’d happen to come in.

When TK arrived a little while later, Carlos’ mouth went dry at the sight of him. He’d looked good in the pictures and the video, but he was even better looking in person.

He looked like a model and Carlos felt severely underdressed.

“Hey, Carlos right?” TK walked up to him with a smile on his face and Carlos got up to greet him, letting TK pull him into a hug.

“Actually, I’m Raul, Carlos is my evil twin.” He joked and immediately scrunched up his face and shook his head. “Sorry.  I don’t know why I said that. That was my attempt at a joke. I’m not usually this much of an idiot.”

TK laughed and sat down at the table.

“It’s ok. You’re pretty cute, you’re forgiven.”

They talked for a while, sharing stories about their lives, jobs, families and friends, but the conversation soon turned flirty when TK noticed the mechanical bull on the other side of the bar.

“Have you ever ridden one of those?” he nodded at the bull.

“Once or twice. But I grew up on a ranch, I could ride a horse before I could ride a bike.”

“Really? So you’re a cowboy?”

“Yeah I suppose.” Carlos leaned over the table so TK would hear him without having to shout over the music. “I could teach you how it’s done.”

TK looked at him and the mischievous spark Carlos had seen in his profile pictures was back.

“Lead the way cowboy.”

Carlos managed to convince the guy operating the bull to forget about their one person at a time policy and let them ride together.

TK climbed on first and held out his hand for Carlos who wanted to climb on behind him, but the other man stopped him.

“I won’t know what to do if you sit behind me, will I?” TK said innocently. “You better sit on the other side.”

Carlos hesitated for a second but quickly climbed onto the bull when the next person in line yelled at him to get a move on.

And instead of facing the bull’s head, he sat facing TK.

“Hello cowboy.” TK grinned. Putting the hand that wasn’t holding onto the saddle on Carlos’ thigh.

“Hey.” Carlos replied, slipping an arm around TK’s waist, not bothering to hold onto the saddle.

“Ok, ready? 1… 2… 3…” the guy operating the bull said and pushed a button so it started moving.

Slowly at first, spinning around and bucking only a little.

“This isn’t so bad.” TK commented and Carlos laughed.

“It’s only just getting started.” He said and an unexpected movement from the bull pushed TK forward and had him grabbing Carlos’ hips with both hands for support. “Just go with the flow.” Carlos told him.

“Easy for you to say!” He protested but didn’t seem to mind when Carlos held him a little tighter.

“It’s all in the thighs. Just squeeze and let the rest of your body move with the bull.”

The bull started moving faster and bucking wilder, making TK all but move into Carlos’ lap, which neither of them minded in the slightest.

Only trying to hold onto both TK and make both of them stay on the bull proved to be too much for Carlos’ cowboy skills, and soon they were thrown off and ended up in a pile of limbs on the mats surrounding it.

The spinning bull had made them dizzy and they laughed as they tried to get up.

Carlos managed to get to his feet first, but when he held out a hand to pull TK up, the other man stumbled and ended up pulling them both down on the mat again.

TK had somehow ended up half on top of Carlos, but instead of trying to get up, he put his hands on Carlos’ face and kissed him.

Someone yelled at them to get a room but Carlos couldn’t even begin to care when TK was kissing him like that.

“I’ve been wanting to do that all night.” TK admitted when they broke the kiss.

“Me too.” Carlos replied, the dopey smile on his face matching the one on TK’s.

“Alright fellas, move along please. You aren’t the only ones wanting to have a go at taming this beast.” The bull operator said and looked like he was about three seconds away from dragging the both of them off the mats.

They got up and Carlos wanted to go back to their table but TK pulled him into a dark corner, pushed him against the wall, and kissed him again.

Kissed him in a way that wasn’t entirely suitable for a packed bar.

Especially not when his hands slipped under Carlos’ t-shirt and Carlos’ own hands had somehow undone two more of the buttons on TK’s shirt.

“Wait, wait, wait.” Carlos managed to clear his mind enough to speak when he felt TK’s hands on his belt.

“Don’t you want to?”

“I do… I really, really do… but… not in public.”

TK suddenly seemed to remember where they were and took a step back as he looked around.

“Right… sorry.” He looked embarrassed and Carlos swore his cheeks were turning red.

“My place is close.” He said and kissed TK again, hoping he understood everything Carlos was trying to tell him.

It turned out TK was really good at reading him and within half an hour, Carlos discovered that TK without any clothes and in his bed was by far his favourite version of him.

And he was actually really good at riding.

* 4 years later *

“Are you happy?” TK asked softly, wrapping his arms around his new husband’s waist and resting his chin on his shoulder.

Carlos smiled and turned his head slightly for a kiss.

“I’ve never been this happy in my life.”

TK moved to stand beside him.

“Me too. I never thought I’d meet the love of my life when I ended up here.”

“Hmm.” Carlos agreed, resting his head against TK’s. “I’m glad you ended up here and didn’t stay in New York.”

They watched their guests dance and laugh. TK’s dad was dancing with Ana, while Carlos’ mom was talking to TK’s mother and entertaining Jonah, and his dad in the middle of a serious conversation with Mateo.

Though Carlos had heard him laugh and call him chico a few times throughout the night.

“We should say a few words so we can get out of here and start our honeymoon.” TK said. “I’ll go drop Lou off with my dad.”

Carlos looked down at his husband’s hands and only then noticed the bearded dragon they’d bought a while ago, and TK had insisted be their ring bearer, looking more content that ever before.

“Wait, he’s part of the family, he should be here when we thank our guests.” Carlos said, grabbing his glass off the table and tapping it with a fork. “Can I have everyone’s attention please?”

“You can all go back to enjoying the free bar in a minute.” TK joked and some people laughed.

“My husband and I just want to thank you all for coming.” Carlos started and smiled at TK when a few of their friends jokingly booed him for being too cheesy. They hadn’t stopped referring to each other as husband ever since they’d said “I do” earlier that day.

“Really guys, it means a lot to us to be able to share our day with all of you. But we also want to get out of here and start fully enjoying the honeymoon suite.” TK said and laughed. “So shut up and listen.”

Carlos laughed.

“I second everything my husband just said. But I also want to give a special shout out to Luisa, since none of this would be happening if it wasn’t for my dear sister’s utter disregard for privacy.” Carlos said and paused for laughs. “She stole my phone and told me to thank her in my wedding speech or name my firstborn after her…” He paused and looked at TK holding Lou. “An actual child might be a while away… but our lizard child is proud to share a name with you, Lu. Only since he’s a boy, we decided to call him Louis instead.” He grinned and stroked Lou’s back with one finger. He wasn’t entirely comfortable around the animal, but TK adored him so he’d learn to love him too.

And he’d be damned if he was going to let a little phobia get in the way of getting one over on his sister.

“Wait… you named your lizard after me?!”