Chapter Text
It was chaos from the moment the 126 pulled up on the scene. Scared hotel guests were pooling from the building, some screaming, many crying. They were the first to arrive and Owen took up mantle as Incident Commander and TK looked at him for guidance and reassurance as he always had. There was no reason for TK to think that this hotel was significant; that it would be the one that Alex was saying. If anything, there was reason to show it wasn’t the hotel Alex was staying at as it was hardly fancy enough for the man.
Except Alex was there because of course he would be. TK saw him as he went in the building the first time, Alex’s face contorted into anger as he spoke into his phone. The expression had TK flinching as he ran past, having been on the receiving end of that look more than once and the low, unhappy tone that came with it. He shrugged the angry words Alex would say to him in the frustratingly calm and patronizing tone. In this moment, Alex didn’t matter.
TK threw himself into the throes of fighting the blazing fire, following his dad’s orders and, occasionally, Judd’s. At one point, during a retreat from a collapsing part of the building, he caught sight of Carlos doing crowd control and his heart flipped. It was wrong for Carlos to be anywhere that Alex was.
As the fire died down and some of the crowd disappeared into cars and nearby diners, nerves began to fill his belly because every time he scanned the abating crowd, Alex was always till there and, not too far away, Carlos. TK could feel the two worlds getting closer to collision and knew there wouldn’t be anything he could do to stop it from happening. He gritted his teeth and just did what he could to brace for impact.
“TK!”
TK froze, his blood turning to ice at the voice and he closed his eyes as he finished pushing a bag back into the rig. Maybe if he ignored him, Alex would just go away. Unfortunately for him, Alex was persistent and called out again before sidling up and grabbing his arm. TK tried hard not to flinch.
“I’m working.”
“I know.” Alex flashed a smile “Which means you’re obligated to help me, a concerned victim of this devastating fire.”
“What can I help you with?”
“Is everything ruined? They only put me on the sixth floor - my Armani suit!”
“The sixth floor was fully evolved.”
TK relaxed into the hand squeezing the back of his neck. He didn’t have to turn to know it was his dad and Alex blinked before turning to Owen and giving him a flash of his smile.
“Fully evolved,” he said. “So…”
“It means everything on that floor was a total loss. You’ll need to coordinate with the hotel directly for any further information. TK, get on the truck, we’re heading out.”
Ducking his head, TK turned and took the out his dad was giving him. He knew the rest of the afternoon was going to suck, but at least he didn’t have to hide anymore.
With TK safely on the truck, it took less than twenty seconds alone with Owen for Alex to slink away, mixing in with the crowd and assumedly off to yell at the poor hotel staff.
“Who was that?” Carlos asked. “I saw him with TK and couldn’t get over here quick enough.”
“That,” Owen said, “was Alex.”
“Alex?” Carlos questioned. Realization dawned as he said it. “Like Alex Alex?”
“Yep.”
“I guess this explains a lot.”
“Oh, I know it does.”
TK squirmed in the seat Owen had directed him to as soon as they got back from the fire. He’d already been stripped of his turnouts, his clothes underneath mostly unscathed, though he still felt as though he was coated in thick soot and ash. Everyone else got to come back and shower up, but TK got a lecture.
Technically, the lecture hadn’t started yet, but Owen was standing over him, looking equal parts angry and sad with just a dash of disappointed sprinkled in. TK was reasonably sure Owen was just postulating until his mom got there so they could tag team against him and he wouldn’t be surprised if Carlos came to add his two cents too, then everyone he loved could scold him like a naughty child. The very thought had him shuddering.
“Are you cold?”
“What? No,” TK said.
“I thought I saw you shiver,” Owen said. He sighed, slumping against the desk and pulled out his phone.
“Is this going to take long? I’m gross. I want to shower.”
Owen looked back up and blinked, as if just realizing that he and TK were still covered in grime from the fire. He tapped a few more times on his phone, then placed it face down on his desk.
“Let’s go get cleaned up.”
As much as it should’ve bothered TK that his dad was going to shower with him it didn’t. Communal showers in the fire station made that kind of modesty moot and Owen did need to get cleaned too.
Gwyn was sitting in Owen’s chair when they came back his office, tapping away on her phone as was her usual custom, until they came into view. As soon as she saw them, she placed it face down on the desk and came to hug TK before sitting back down.
“Did you know he was here?”
No preamble, just straight to the point.
“Yes.”
“Had you seen him before today?”
TK considered lying, but he’d never been particularly good at it, especially to his parents and, especially, to his mom. She could always suss out a lie; it was the lawyer in her.
“Yeah,” TK sighed.
“Why?”
It was a simple question with a complicated answer that TK himself had yet to figure out. Why couldn’t he have left the past in the past? Things had been good so, of course, TK had to go and fuck everything up. Of course, that wasn’t an answer either of his parents would accept. Even in the thickest part of his addiction, they hated him being self-patronizing.
“I don’t know.”
Gwyn sighed and glazed at Owen who’d taken the seat next to his son and wa snow squeezing the back of his neck.
“Are you sober?”
“I would never get high at work! Never!”
“I know, bud did you break your sobriety when you saw him?” Gwyn was unrelenting, all her usual softness when it came to him turned to razor sharpness.
“No!” TK said. “I saw him, I had an overpriced salad so shitty dad wouldn’t even eat it and came straight home. I wasn’t expecting to see him again, let alone his hotel to catch on fucking fire!”
“Language,” Gwyn said.
The admonishment made TK snort, as if it wasn’t her he’d learned the words from. Under different circumstances, he would’ve pushed back, reminded her that she was the one who’d taught him the art of a well-placed swear after all.
“What did he say to you?” Owen asked.
“What?”
“Alex. What did he say to you?”
“He was asking when he could go in hotel. About his stupid Armani suit. You heard him.”
“Not tonight. When you last saw him. What did he say to you?”
“Why does it even matter?”
“Because, Tyler Kennedy,” Owen said. “For the last few days you’ve been extra tantrum after progressing so much and I want to know what he said to cause that.”
TK’s face reverted back into a scowl and he curled in on himself, bringing his fingers to his mouth to bite at his nails.
“No,” Gwyn murmured, getting up and coming around to pull his hand away. “Don’t hurt yourself, honey.”
“‘M not,” TK muttered.
“You are,” Gwyn said. “And you’re not allowed to hurt my beautiful boy. No one is.”
“He was just Alex,” TK mumbled. “I don’t want to talk about it, okay? I wasn’t even gonna see him again.”
“Why did you have to see him at all?”
“Dad! I don’t know, okay? It was stupid and I’m sorry, but I’m not so fragile or-or small that I can’t handle myself, okay?”
“I don’t think you are. Just, TK, he’s a pretentious, abusive asshole who hurt you and I’m just worried about my kid who overdosed the last time he saw that guy. We had to use the battering ram!”
“It’s not like that dad. Not this time. I’m better.”
Owen sighed and squeezed the back of his neck again. “I hope that’s true, bud.”
TK was surly as he loaded into the backseat of his dad’s car, grumbling audibly that none of this was fair. He should’ve known they’d drug test him over this - especially considering all the tantrums and meltdowns, he really should have expected it. It didn’t mean he had to like it. Not even their reassurances that they believed he hadn’t touched a narcotic helped appease them because they still thought he might’ve gotten back on blockers. The worst part was TK really couldn’t even be mad because he knew he brought this on himself. He could, however, be upset about where they took him for the test.
“No,” TK said, squirming in his seat. He looked out the window and wondered how fast Owen would be able to catch him if he took off running.
“It’ll be fine, TK,” Gwyn soothed. “Can’t you take me anywhere else?”
“This will be fine and besides, he offered.”
“He offered? When did he offer? When did you talk to him about this?”
“I talked to him while you were showering,” Gwyn said. “He offered to have you come over here to do it quickly and discretely.”
“How is pissing in a police station bathroom going to be discrete?”
“Tyler,” Gwyn said warningly. “It’ll be quicker to get the results here and Carlos can run it discretely and easily.”
“You could also just believe me.”
Gwyn sighed and unbuckled herself, coming around to the backseat and opened the door, taking TK’s hands in hers. “Babe, I believe that you didn’t take any kind of opioid. I do worry that you took blockers. You haven’t dropped in days, you melted down last night when we merely suggested you go to bed.”
“You bit my head off for wiping your face,” Owen chimed in. “And Carlos said you tried breaking up with him and then took it back?”
“That doesn’t mean I took anything,” TK scowled. “Maybe I was just tired. And didn’t want my dad wiping my face at work!”
“Well, when it comes back negative, you will have our fullest apologies,” Gwyn said. “Now, come on.”
Carlos was waiting for them just inside the station with his arms crossed, though he uncrossed them as he saw them and he reached to envelope TK in a hug, but TK shrank back and wouldn’t look him in the eyes. It was bad enough having his parents be disappointed because they would always love him, no matter what bad news he got himself into, but Carlos was a different ballgame entirely. He didn’t have to stick around and stay through everything. His tummy twisted thinking of Alex and all he’d said. Alex wasn’t a stupid man and he’d been in a relationship with a Little; surely he would be better equipped to know what others would want long term and it wasn’t going to be watching him suck his thumb or wipe his bottom after he didn’t make it to the potty on time.
TK scrubbed at his eyes with one hand. God, but he was just so tired. Physically from a hard, laborious day at work and mentally from all the gymnastics he had been doing lately. He brought the other hand up to his mouth, chewing on his nail.
“Can we get this over with?” he mumbled. “I wanna go home.”
He let Carlos guide him to a bathroom and sighed as he stayed in there to watch and make sure TK didn’t do anything to tamper with his pee. After handing the filled cup to Carlos, TK washed his hands, and followed him back out and sat between his parents in silence while TK went and sweet talked someone into rushing the lab. He leaned his head against his dad’s shoulder and closed his eyes, feeling his mom start to play with his hair.
Twenty minutes later, Carlos was back with the rapid urine test results, handing over the paper with the negative test results written on it in big, bold, black lettering. He handed the papers to Gwyn who took them and handed them back to him.
“Thank you, Carlos,” Gwyn said. “You can shred those, we don’t need them anymore.”
“I told you,” TK mumbled.
“I know you did, bubba,” Owen murmured. “Let’s go home. It’s been a day.”
Carlos shifted on his heels, not wanting to say anything if it wasn’t his place, but TK opened his bleary eyes and looked at him. He knew he owed Carlos an explanation and, if he didn’t give it to him, then he’d just get Cliff Note versions from his parents.
“Can I go with you?”
“Do you want to?” Carlos asked.
TK blinked over at his parents, shifting and hoping they wouldn’t make him actually ask permission to go over to his boyfriend’s house.
“Go on,” Gwyn said, squeezing his shoulder. “Your dad and I will be okay alone for one night.”
TK curled up on the couch once they got to the apartment and he’d changed into a pair of sweatpants and one of Carlos’s t-shirts. They were both oversized, enveloping him in a hug without Carlos even having to touch him, but of course, he came over and wrapped his arms around him as well, pressing a kiss to his temple.
“Do you want to tell me what happened?”
“You already know it. I know dad told you who I was talking to and I’m sure mom told you even more on the secret call you had with her.”
“It wasn’t a secret and I’d actually called you. She was just the one who picked up.”
Sighing, TK shifted and laid his head against Carlos’s chest, adjusting himself until he could hear the soft beating. It reminded him that he felt safe here with him; he’d never been able to cuddle Alex like this. They were all rough and tough or nothing at all. TK thought that’s what he had needed, but maybe that was wrong.
“He said you’d get sick of me.”
“Why would he say that?”
“Cause I’m little.”
Carlos sighed and rubbed TK’s back firmly, his hand large and comforting. “I thought we’d gotten past that.”
TK shrugged and sighed, sneakily pushing his thumb in his mouth. He was confident with the way he had his head tucked right under Carlos’s chin, the other man wouldn’t be able to tell.
“TK, I really don’t care that you’re little. I care about you because I like you and you being little does not bother me, okay? No matter what your asshole of an ex-boyfriend tries to tell you.”
“I know that,” TK said quietly. “Really I do, but it got into my head. I promise I wasn’t gonna see him again. I thought - I thought maybe he wanted to talk to apologize to me.”
“How did he even know you were here?”
“He saw us the other day. When we went to the farmer’s market. And then he texted me and wanted to meet. I only saw him that time and wasn’t gonna see him again! I promise you! I didn’t like what he had to say.”
“Well you shouldn’t,” Carlos said. “It was all lies. He doesn’t speak for me and he never will, you got that?”
“I’ll try to remember but it might be hard.”
“Then I’ll just keep reminding you,” Carlos said.
TK nodded softly and sighed again, more sleepily this time and closed his eyes.
“Do you want to to go to bed?”
“‘M tired,” TK said. “But I wanna stay with you.”
“I’ll come too,” Carlos said. “You don’t have to do things alone, TK. And when something’s hard, I hope you know you can come to me.”
“I’ll try to remember that,” TK said, keeping his eyes closed and snuggling even closer to Carlos. “Can I go night night now?”
“Yeah,” Carlos murmured, standing and lifting him. “Let’s go night night.”