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“Sure, Dad,” TK says as he signals into their driveway. He wouldn’t have before, not when there are no other cars around, but Carlos likes him to, so he does. “We’ll talk soon, I promise.”
“And talk to Carlos about that New York trip,” his dad replies. “I’m sure Jonah would love to come.”
TK smiles to himself, adjusting his parking slightly. “Yeah, he would. I’ll talk to them both.”
“Good. Have a good evening, son.”
“You too, Dad. Love you.”
“I love you, too,” his dad replies, and a moment later, he hangs up. The resounding beep echoes through the car, and TK pulls on the parking brake before he forgets, then switches off the engine. He grabs his phone and the keys, hopping out of the car with a smile on his face, waving to their neighbor opposite as she gets home from work before he heads inside.
It’s a little later than he expected to be home, but he knows Carlos won’t mind. It just means he would’ve dealt with bed time whilst TK was out, so TK opens the door as quietly as possible, remembering to lock it behind him. It’s a safe neighborhood, but Carlos just prefers to know their door is locked, that they’re safe behind it, and TK likes that, too.
As expected, downstairs is completely quiet. There’s a light on and evidence of dinner left, no doubt something Carlos will insist they clean up before going to bed, and whatever it was, is if there are leftovers, smells really good.
With it, thoughts of Carlos letting Jonah help out in the kitchen fill his mind. He smiles widely, huffing out a breathy laugh and shaking his head as he reminds himself to make sure they’re all home for that tomorrow. He will be now he’s had his meeting for the week; he just hopes Carlos can be, too.
Only taking a moment to grab a glass of water, TK is soon padding upstairs.
Truthfully, this place has felt like home since the very first moment they viewed it. TK remembers the feeling, remembers how much he loved it from the very start, but nothing quite compares to this. Now that it’s theirs, now they’ve lived here for a couple of months, hosted their housewarming party, gotten it decorated in the way they want it, they’ve fallen into something of a routine that TK wants to last a lifetime. He just adores all of it.
This evening, he finds Carlos in Jonah’s room, sitting on the edge of the bed as he reads him a story, and TK can’t stop the beaming smile from taking over his face when he pokes his head around the door.
From here, it looks like Jonah is already asleep, clutching his favorite Jellycat dinosaur from Andrea.
TK knows Carlos, though, knows that his husband refuses to leave a story in the middle, but from what he can both see and hear, he recognizes that this is the second to last page, too. Carlos’ voice is soft and quiet, barely a whisper, undoubtedly so he doesn’t wake Jonah, just so he can finish the story as if Jonah will hear it in his dreams.
TK doesn’t think he’s ever been so in love.
He waits for Carlos to close the book, then he carefully pads into the room. Carlos doesn’t notice him as he leans down to kiss Jonah’s forehead, so TK whispers out a hey so he doesn’t make Carlos jump. Sure enough, it works, Carlos sending him a fleeting smile, so once Carlos has tucked Jonah in, TK leans over to drop a delicate kiss to forehead, too, then follows Carlos out of the room.
Carlos leaves the door ajar, so TK stays quiet until they’re in their own room, the door shut, Carlos pulling him into his arms.
“Hi, baby,” he murmurs.
“Hi,” Carlos replies with a kiss to his neck. “How was the meeting?”
They part, and TK sits on the end of the bed, watching as Carlos fiddles with his cuffs. “It was good. Sandra was there, though. And—get this, babe—there weren’t any donuts this week.”
Carlos pulls a face. “Oh, no. How did you cope?”
TK giggles. “I had to talk instead of eat the whole time.”
“How taxing.” Carlos leans down to drop another kiss to the corner of his mouth. “Are you feeling okay?”
“I’m feeling good,” he replies, but even after so many years, his heart flutters at Carlos asking. The way he’s so soft and caring like that, the way he watches as he waits for an answer. “I’m sorry I’m back later, though. I bumped into Nancy after, so we grabbed a coffee.”
Carlos shrugs that off. “Jonah and I played cars before bed. Apparently the dinosaurs were too tired to play tonight.”
“Adorable.”
Humming, Carlos sits down next to TK and bumps their shoulders together. “I’m glad you got to see Nancy.”
“Me too,” TK murmurs, “but I love coming home to you.”
He loves it so much. He doesn’t get to, not much, because he’s the one here looking after Jonah whilst Carlos is at work, but he goes to his weekly meetings at the Y, and that time after, like tonight, is his favorite. He loves the house, of course, but he loves his family so much more than it just makes him happy to be here.
Carlos smiles at first, like he can’t help it, then he quips, “Even when the dishes need doing?”
TK laughs, leaning into his husband. “Always.”
“You say that now.”
“I mean it,” he promises, his eyes shining when they meet Carlos, so Carlos smiles back once more.
—
It’s been one of those days. Long and stressful with too much going on, not enough downtime, and Carlos feels like he’s been out of the house for three weeks by the time he pulls into the driveway.
Once he kills the engine, he sits there for a moment and lets out a long breath. He doesn’t hate his job, but sometimes, on days like today, part of him wants to. Mostly, it’s fine, it’s good, he’s making a real difference. Today, the exact opposite is true, and the stresses of every second seem to pile up on his shoulders until he’s ready to crack under the pressure.
There’s a light on upstairs, though. It’s late enough that he thought TK would be asleep by now, likely taking up most of the bed in ways that both amuse and annoy Carlos. He loves it, he does, but when his husband flat out refuses to move, well, Carlos really doesn’t want to argue with that tonight.
Still, any thought of that is disregarded by how pleased he is that TK is likely awake.
Carlos heads inside. It’s so much easier to be quiet now they aren’t relying on a rolling door into what was essentially one big room. There are walls and doors and a whole floor between him and Jonah sleeping upstairs, so even if Carlos does accidentally close the door a little more heavy-handedly than he means, he knows there’s very little chance of waking up their little boy.
It happened in the loft one too many times. He couldn’t always be quiet, struggled to make dinner or wash the dishes without making too much noise, but they don’t have that problem anymore.
Sometimes, he can’t quite believe that they have a house big enough for both now and the future, and it makes his heart sing when he remembers.
Tonight, it seems like a distant dream that he pushes aside in search of what he has now.
The kitchen is tidy, thankfully, so Carlos breathes a sigh of relief. He dumps his bag into his office, bypasses Jonah’s dinosaurs on the family room coffee table, then heads upstairs with some of that tension from the day already dissipating. He’s glad. Even now, even though he has everything he could dream of, he’s sometimes held back by the past, sometimes left in a pit of fear after a bad shift, but most days, like today, his home reminds him of what he’s got, of how far he’s come, and who’s here for him at the end of every day.
He finds them both, TK and Jonah, in their bed together.
“Hey, you two,” Carlos whispers, not sure if Jonah is asleep until he gets two wide brown eyes watching him. “Oh, no, what’s wrong?”
Jonah looks up at TK, then back to Carlos, so TK strokes his hair and whispers something to him. He sends Carlos a tight smile, then Jonah says, “I had a bad dream, Papa Carlos.”
“Oh, sweetheart.” Immediately, Carlos heads over to the bed, ignoring his usual no outside clothing on the bed rule so he can be at Jonah’s level. “What happened?”
“He won’t talk about it,” TK murmurs. “I just heard him crying, but he won’t…”
“Monsters,” Jonah says. He pokes his bottom lip out, shaking his head. “Don’t like monsters.”
Carlos’ heart goes out to him. He cuddles closer to TK, and Carlos wants to join them, to hold both of his boys and make sure they’re both safe, but he’s already thinking about how he can help Jonah. He wonders if they can make a game out of monsters, maybe tomorrow, something like draw pictures of them or make a sock monster.
And the thing is, no matter what happened at work today, no matter how much stress he was under there, none of that matters now he’s got a much more important issue to deal with.
“I know, cariño,” he says to Jonah soothingly. To TK, a beat later, he asks, “Is he staying here tonight?”
TK nods a little. “He was really upset. I can’t…”
“I know.” Carlos presses a kiss to TK’s forehead, then drops another one to Jonah’s head. And maybe they should let him stay here with them, but truthfully, Carlos doesn’t care about the should and shouldn’ts of parenting when their four-year-old is distressed. One night won’t hurt. It’s been an adjustment moving into the house from the loft for all of them, but no one more than Jonah, so all Carlos wants is for him to be okay.
“Are you coming to bed, baby?” TK asks instead, and Carlos sends him a small smile, nodding.
“Let me grab a quick shower.”
TK nods back, and Carlos can’t help but peck his lips. He hates getting up off the bed, hates leaving them both, but he reminds himself he’s only going to the bathroom, not going far, that he’ll be back soon.
Regardless, at the door, he murmurs, “I love you both,” and TK smiles back.
“We love you, too. Right, buddy?”
Jonah nods. “Love you, Papa Carlos.”
It sounds more like lub you, but Carlos’ heart couldn’t be more full if he tried.
As he steps into the bathroom, he realizes this is what it’s all about. His family, his home. Coming home to them every single night, and being so content to do so.
“You’re lucky, Reyes,” he mutters to his reflection.
In his mind, he hears TK counter, “That’s Reyes-Strand to you.”
Either way, they’re family.
—
TK giggles like he’s a drunk teenager, and Carlos loudly shushes him as he fumbles with the door key. They both laugh at that, and it’s not funny, not at all, but to them, it feels like the funniest moment of the night.
Then again, they’ve spent most of the evening laughing. They’ve been on a date at a fancy restaurant Carlos has been eyeing for months. TK surprised him with the reservation—and a night of babysitting from Grace and Judd under the guise that Jonah and Charlie are great friends who deserve a sleepover—and it’s felt like their first successful date all over again. TK is giddy. He’s been smiling from ear to ear all evening, and Carlos hasn’t been any better.
If any of the neighbors see them, they’ll think they’re drunk for the way they’re acting, but TK has been drinking mineral water all night, Carlos just a single glass of wine with dinner, so it’s not alcohol they’re drunk on.
Maybe it’s love, Carlos thinks fleetingly.
They’re still laughing when they get the door open, and they don’t have to be quiet tonight, but they both press their lips together once they’re inside.
Then, Carlos carefully pushes TK against the door and kisses him.
It’s been so long since they’ve done this. So long since their sex life has been anywhere but the confines of their bedroom. TK can’t lie and say it doesn’t feel amazing to be pressed against the front door in ways that reminds him so much of their early days, but he wouldn’t change their life now for more of this again.
If anything, when he rips Carlos’ shirt, when Carlos can’t get their pants off fast enough without nearly tripping over, it feels new and exciting in ways that makes their relationship feel fresh again.
Nights like this are perfect, but every other night at home is perfect, too.
Afterward, once they’ve washed away the evidence of what they’ve done, picked up buttons and joked about buying Carlos another new shirt, they curl up together in bed under the covers. They’re so close, always are, yet still, TK catches Carlos’ eye, smiling.
“What?” Carlos asks with a laugh.
TK shakes his head and kisses Carlos’ chest. “Just love you.”
“I love you, too.”
“I love our life together.”
“Me too, babe,” Carlos murmurs. Their eyes meet again, and he lets out a breath. “You’re missing Jonah, aren’t you?”
“I’m not used to him not being here, is all.”
“I miss him, too.”
TK’s lips twitch. “I know you do, baby.”
“But…” Carlos pecks TK’s lips. “Tonight has been fun.”
“It has,” TK agrees. “But every night with you is fun.”
Something familiar and comforting settles into Carlos’ chest, and he pulls TK closer, squeezing him tight. “Yeah, our lives are pretty perfect now, aren’t they?”
TK hums back.