#twpcountdowntothewedding

[cold-blooded-jelly-doughnut]

A Clock Chimes Softly Twelve for Midnight

Written for @tarlosweeklyprompts Countdown to The Wedding #16: The Big Day (Wedding Day). It's the night before the wedding, and despite the traditions of their respective religions, TK and Carlos cannot bring themselves to spend the night apart. With Carlos's grief so fresh, so overwhelming, the boys spend the final hours before the wedding day taking comfort in each other, trying to help each other heal.

(Rated E)

The night before the wedding is a quiet one, soft as baited breath in the loft. TK cooks them a tasty, simple dinner, and Carlos returns from the market just as he’s plating it up, a jigsaw puzzle tucked under his arm, supposedly his only intriguing find of the day. TK’s eyes go to it, and from across the room he can make out the colours of the puzzle from its picture on the box. Blues and yellows. It’s birds, maybe, and TK opens his mouth to ask, but then doesn’t. The words turn to ashes when he meets Carlos’s gaze, finds his fiancé looking guilty, drawn into himself, shoulders bunched. He’s making himself look smaller than he is, right here in their home, so TK doesn’t mention the puzzle. He kisses Carlos’s temple and serves him dinner, reaches out to touch Carlos’s fingers across the table, and finds himself unable to pull away. They each eat their meal with one hand.

Read the rest on AO3

[carlos-in-glasses]

Complete 20k fic of 4 chapters - all chapters are now on Ao3

The Center of the Maze

TK and Carlos have never found themselves on the easy path – yet, somehow, every path they've taken has led them to this moment, together.

Or, 7 times they thought they would never get married, and one time when they actually did.

Written for @tarlosweeklyprompts Countdown to the Wedding. Prompt: "I Never Thought I Would Get This Day".

Chapter 1 - 2020

TK has a crisis while on the road to Austin – and – Carlos meets an interesting man while attending the scene of a crash on a rainy night, only to see him again at the honky-tonk.

Chapter 2 - 2021

TK finds his way back to Carlos after their first big fight – but – months later, Carlos can’t find his way back to TK after their biggest fight of all.

Chapter 3 - 2022

Grief-stricken TK finds himself in the middle of a reckoning mid-air – and – months before, Carlos holds vigil at the bedside of a man who doesn’t even want him in his life…

Chapter 4 - 2023

TK and Carlos go for a run while they await the results of Owen’s test for the Huntington’s gene – and – after a journey through hell and back, Carlos Reyes marries the love of his life, TK Strand.

Read on Ao3

[tarlosweeklyprompts]

TWP EVENTS: COUNTDOWN TO THE WEDDING

I like coming up with these themed type events so to countdown and celebrate the Tarlos Wedding I'm hosting a Countdown to the Wedding event! From May 1 - May 16 I will post a daily prompt for people to create for. Creations can be anything: fic's, art, gifs, ect.

Rules:

The work has to be Tarlos Centric

No minimum word count

You may combine the days if you would like

All fic's are due May 31 - the day after I will post a Masterlist of all the fic's created for this event

If you write smut, please use appropriate tags

Always use appropriate tags for any works

Tag @tarlosweeklyprompts and use the tag: #twpcountdowntothewedding

Have fun! If you have any questions, please message me or send the blog an ask!

Prompts:

May 1: Bachelor Party

May 2: Suit Shopping

May 3: Color Scheme

May 4: Cake Tasting

May 5: "Do you regret asking me to marry you?"

May 6: Family

May 7: Alone Time

May 8: Love

May 9: Cold Feet

May 10: Rehearsal

May 11: "I never thought I would get this day."

May 12: Traditions

May 13: "I'm ready to spend forever with you."

May 14: Spending the night apart before the wedding

May 16: The Big Day (Wedding Day)

[taralaurel]

Title: my very own

Relationship: Carlos Reyes/TK Strand

Rating: T for themes

Word Count: 950

Summary: TK writes his vows.

Carlos Reyes is going to write vows made of poetry. TK just knows it. The man has always had a way with words when it matters, stringing them together like a soft song. A man who answers a spontaneous proposal with "a thousand times yes" like he is some carefully crafted character from a Jane Austen novel doesn't just show up for his wedding with some platitudes plucked from Google or Hallmark.

It's a little intimidating, if TK is being honest.

Read on AO3

@tarlosweeklyprompts (Countdown to the Wedding): "I never thought I would get this day"

[lightningboltreader]

Only a Lifetime

“Sitting there, watching you with Lou Two, it just struck me so hard - how good you’d be with a kid. How amazing it would be for that little girl or boy when you came home and asked how their day was. When you stroked their hair and listened to them. How much love they’d see in their daddy’s eyes.” Carlos’ eyes start to fill with tears and he lifts his hands to gesture as he goes on, growing louder and more impassioned. “You have so much love to give TK. And I don’t know if I’ll ever want to…do that, if that’s something I can give you. But I don’t know if I can take that away from this world either. How am I supposed to make peace with denying your love to others who need it?” His tears spill over and stream down his face now. Carlos returns his hands to his lap and lowers his voice. “How am I supposed to watch you with just me and Lou Two when you could be out there -“ “Babe, stop,” TK interrupts sternly, “that’s enough.”

Read more on AO3.

For the incredibly sad prompt "Do you regret asking me to marry you?" by @tarlosweeklyprompts.

[carlos-in-glasses]

I've posted a new fic on Ao3!

Written for @tarlosweeklyprompts Countdown to the Wedding.

Day 8 Prompt: LOVE

With Infinity Folded Into It

When TK proposes to Carlos, Carlos reflects on when they said "I love you" for the first time. ___ “Marry me.” Carlos stares. Carlos has just been proposed to. By TK Strand. TK Strand has just proposed to Carlos Reyes. TK Strand, who Carlos loves more than anyone in the world. TK Strand, who defined love at first sight, who Carlos was ready to propose to the day they met, but instead had to settle for asking the guy to dance. TK Strand, who just wanted something casual, until he didn’t, and then they broke up anyway, and then he nearly died and they got back together, and so many sad and intense and wonderful things happened, and then he brings a lizard home to cap if off. TK Strand who is chaotic and impulsive and passionate and the strongest, funniest most beautiful person Carlos has ever met. He has just proposed. This is everything Carlos wanted. But there is still something in Carlos that can’t believe this is real...

Read on Ao3

[cold-blooded-jelly-doughnut]

Not Without You

I'm an angsty boy today, so please enjoy another angsty boy (TK Strand) having a late night moment. Written for @tarlosweeklyprompts Countdown to the wedding prompts #5, "Do you regret asking me to marry you?"

Ten days before the wedding, TK cannot sleep. It’s the kind of insomnia that feels claustrophobic, the kind where one minute he feels still enough to try to drift off, and the next like there’s something crawling under his ribs, something he doesn’t want to look at, like he could claw his own skin off if it meant getting away from it. He works on not digging his nails in.

Read the rest on AO3

[cold-blooded-jelly-doughnut]

I Only Need You

In the run up to the wedding, Carlos's bachelor party ends with something he couldn't have imagined...

(Rating E for sexual content. Heed the AO3 tags).

There comes a point, edging towards midnight on the night of his bachelor party, when Carlos wonders if the only reason he and TK are celebrating on separate nights this week is so their friends have an excuse for two parties. He drinks more wine than he usually does, and Nancy talks him into doing shots that taste like peppermint, makes it a race—a race Carlos is glad to partake in until he starts to think it’s a race to see who throws up first, and promptly bows out of the running. Mateo mocks him mercilessly for it, and Marjan slings an arm around his shoulder as he staggers towards the comfortable chairs, and says something that piques both his interest and his anxiety.

“Almost time for the big finish,” she says, and Carlos goes as still as his thrumming body will let him.

“Big…?” Is all he can manage.

Read the rest on AO3

Written for Tarlos Wedding Countdown Prompts #1: Bachelor Party. Thank you @tarlosweeklyprompts for the prompts and inspiration.

[cold-blooded-jelly-doughnut]

Tarlos Wedding Countdown Masterpost

Here is a list of all the fics I've written (so far) for @tarlosweeklyprompts Tarlos Wedding Countdown Prompts. Thanks so much for pulling these prompts together! They're honestly so much fun.

:readmore:

May 1: Bachelor Party (rated E) Carlos gets a surprise in the form of a "big finish" at his bachelor party.

May 2: Suit Shopping (not rated) Carlos's emotions get the better of him when he and TK find the perfect wedding suits.

May 3: Color Scheme (not rated) During a disagreement about appropriate colour schemes for their wedding, the conversation turns to homophobia, internalised homophobia, and the notion of hiding their true selves, even at their own wedding.

May 4: Cake Tasting (rated E) Carlos is in charge of exactly how TK gets to taste the last of their potential wedding cakes.

May 5: "Do you regret asking me to marry you?" (not rated) TK can't sleep, plagued suddenly by a terrifying notion he realises he should have raised with Carlos before. He wakes him up in the night to discuss it.

May 6: Family (not rated) When Carlos gets injured on the job, TK rushes to be at his bedside.

May 7: Alone Time (rated E) The boys figure out how they need to celebrate TK's negative diagnosis.

May 8: Love (not rated) In which TK misses his mom, and Carlos's old trauma comes back to haunt him. These are the things they have to help each other through.

May 9: Cold Feet (not rated) A bedtime story. Carlos gets home late, and doesn't mean to wake TK up but he does. Cuteness ensues.

May 10: Rehearsal (not rated) Carlos shares his vows with Iris, and is almost caught in this act when TK comes home.

May 11: "I never thought I would get this day." (not rated) Over breakfast, the boys discuss how much their impending marriage means to each of them.

May 12: Traditions (not rated) In which TK can't shake the sadness of missing his mother, so he and Carlos lean into an old tradition to feel close to her.

May 13: "I'm ready to spend forever with you" & May 14 Spending the night apart before the wedding. (rated M) TK and Carlos must part for the final night before their wedding, but their finding it hard to leave the other alone.

May 16: The Big Day (Wedding Day)

[cold-blooded-jelly-doughnut]

A Victory Momentous

Written for @tarlosweeklyprompts Countdown to the wedding prompt #3: Colour Scheme. Huge thanks to @carlos-in-glasses for both the inspiration for the idea, and for the beta read.

“Come on, TK,” Carlos says, making a face that fells TK’s enthusiasm instantly. “Purple and gold? It’s a little…flashy.”

Flashy.

The word hangs between them, stinging like a blow, and TK’s eyes drift slowly to Carlos from the laptop screen—a Google search brimming with purple cakes, gold ribbons, the colours blended beautifully on example invitations, on ideas for table decorations. TK goes statue still in his seat at their dining table.

“What do you mean by that?” he asks.

Read the rest on AO3

[carlos-in-glasses]

Sharing a fresh link now all four chapters are up on Ao3.

20k words, rated M.

❤️ 🧡 💛 💚 💙 💜❤️ 🧡 💛 💚 💙 💜❤️ 🧡 💛 💚 💙 💜

The Center of the Maze

TK and Carlos have never found themselves on the easy path – yet, somehow, every path they’ve taken has led them to this moment, together.

Or, 7 times they thought they would never get married, and one time when they actually did.

Written for @tarlosweeklyprompts Countdown to the Wedding. Prompt: “I Never Thought I Would Get This Day”.

Chapter 1 - 2020

TK has a crisis while on the road to Austin – and – Carlos meets an interesting man while attending the scene of a crash on a rainy night, only to see him again at the honky-tonk.

Chapter 2 - 2021

TK finds his way back to Carlos after their first big fight – but – months later, Carlos can’t find his way back to TK after their biggest fight of all.

Chapter 3 - 2022

Grief-stricken TK finds himself in the middle of a reckoning mid-air – and – months before, Carlos holds vigil at the bedside of a man who doesn’t even want him in his life…

Chapter 4 - 2023

TK and Carlos go for a run while they await the results of Owen’s test for the Huntington’s gene – and – after a journey through hell and back, Carlos Reyes marries the love of his life, TK Strand.

Read on Ao3

[taralaurel]

Title: the elephant in the juice bar

Relationship: Carlos Reyes/TK Strand

Rating: T for themes

Word Count: 2.5k

Summary:

“Tell me every terrible thing you ever did, and let me love you anyway.”

― Sade Andria Zabala, Coffee and Cigarettes

Coda/Missing Scene 1x10

"What if I trip and take you down with me?"

"And what if you trip and I catch you instead?"

@tarlosweeklyprompts (Countdown to the Wedding): Love

Read on AO3

Me: Siri, play "The Night We Met" by Lord Huron

Siri: Again?

[cold-blooded-jelly-doughnut]

Cake Tasting

Written for @tarlosweeklyprompts countdown to the wedding prompt #4: Cake Tasting.

(rated E for sexual content).

“Here,” says Carlos. “Try this one.”

“Mhm,” says TK, casting a cursory glance at the plate sat before Carlos. They’re sitting on the floor together at the coffee table, backs against the couch, taste testing the dregs of potential wedding cakes now they’re alone and better able to judge clearly. Their parents have big personalities, and sometimes the quiet is simply easier. TK reaches for the fork in Carlos’s hand, but Carlos pulls it out of reach.

Read the rest on AO3

[cold-blooded-jelly-doughnut]

Four Suits

Please enjoy this silly little story, which is about as much fluff as I've ever written. Written for @tarlosweeklyprompts wedding countdown prompt #2: Suit Shopping.

Four suits. This, evidently, is the number it takes Carlos to reach his quiet breaking point.

All of the suits have been beautiful, and every one of Carlos’s minute reservations about them, every whisper telling him this isn’t the one, have only been obvious when he looks at himself, studying the reflection frowning back at himself in the long mirror on the door, tugging at the hems of the jackets, overthinking the fit of the pants.

The first one suit too boxy on him, the second too plain, and the third a little too eccentric, none of them quite matching the fireworks in his heart when he thinks forward to that day. May 16th. There’s a hitch in his throat every time he thinks about it, like shopping for these suits is the one thing hurtling them closer to the reality of their wedding day, the one thing making it real.

Read the rest on AO3

[cold-blooded-jelly-doughnut]

Cold Feet

Written for @tarlosweeklyprompts Countdown to the Wedding prompt #9: Cold Feet. In which I take the prompt all too literally. Big thanks to @carlos-in-glasses for the early read and beta! <3

On Thursday, late, Carlos drives home through the still of the city at night. His shift ended on time for once, and he was able to clock out the moment his watch ticked over to the hour, a slow night, paperwork filed, gun and handcuffs sealed back into his locker a little earlier than usual. It’s refreshing, almost, but still it’s after midnight, streetlights warm and windows dark, barely any cars on the road to meet him, barely any headlights to squint against on the road that leads from the precinct back to the loft. The shift was good and the journey home is easy and eventless, the perfect road back to comfort, back to his bed at last. The perfect road back to TK.

Read the rest on AO3

[taralaurel]

Title: i got you (to love me so)

Relationship: Carlos Reyes/TK Strand

Rating: T for themes

Word Count: 6.4k

Summary:

TK throws them a bachelor party. After the line dancing, drag queens, and karaoke are through, they have a few things they need to say to each other.

"Hey baby, this was supposed to be a surprise but one of your fellow officers brought up the great point that you might accidentally shoot someone if we just all jumped out and turned the lights on while you have your gun out. Which, in hindsight, is an excellent point and I will rethink any surprises for you in the future. Please holster your weapon, cowboy, and come inside. Love, TK"

"PS - really, this is a good surprise. I'm not like being held hostage or something and trying to trick you. Don't shoot me."

"PPS - also don't shoot me after you find out what is happening because we talked about not doing this but I couldn't help myself because I love you too much."

Read on AO3

(@tarlosweeklyprompts - Bachelor Party)