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"Daddy! Look! That girl has pigtails like me!"
TK laughs softly as his sweet, three year old daughter, points to a girl that has her hair done the same way TK did Macy's that morning.
"She does! Maybe you should go and say hi. I bet she's just as nervous as you are for your first day." TK says, encouraging his daughter to talk with the other girl.
Macy wasn't shy, not in the slightest, taking after her dad with a fearless attitude. She walks over to the girl not even glancing to see if TK is following her - she knew that he would.
"Hi! My hair matches yours." Macy said to the girl. The other girl seemed much shyer than Macy and after looking at her for a moment turned and hid her face in the pants legs of the person with her.
“Sorry, she’s a bit nervous for her first day.” The person with the other little girl says with a soft chuckle.
TK’s eyes leave his daughter for just a moment, flickering over to the person who spoke and oh he’s a pretty man. TK knows that he stares longer than he should but he can’t pull his eyes away from the other man. He takes in his soft, brilliant smile the soft, dark curls that fall onto his forehead and made TK want to reach out and push them out of his face and see if they were as soft as they looked. The other man had a kind face, one that made TK want to spill all his secrets because he was sure that the man standing before him would keep them and protect them.
He does a quick look at the man’s hand, trying to see if there was a ring but there wasn’t - though that didn’t have to mean anything TK knew plenty of men who didn’t wear rings and were married - and tries to stop his thoughts about what it would be like to ask the man out for coffee. TK didn’t need to start dating again, he was content in his life - or that’s what he kept telling himself.
Before TK realized he was staring and lost in his thoughts, the man in front of him clears his throat and chuckles, holding a hand out.
“My name is Carlos.” He says, pulling TK out of his thoughts.
TK blushes and shakes Carlos’ hand. “I’m TK.”
“Does that stand for something?”
“It does but-”
“It stands for Tyler Kennedy!” Macy says proudly as she looks between the two.
TK gives her a look that lets her know they were going to talk about her blurting his name out later and looks back at Carlos.
“As my daughter has let out, it’s Tyler but I like to be called TK.” TK says with a shrug.
“Then I’ll call you TK.” Carlos says before looking down at Macy who was still trying to talk to his daughter. Carlos bends down to the two little girl's level, wrapping a calming arm around his daughter. “Isabella, this kind little girl is trying to talk to you. Do we ignore people?”
TK watches as Isabella shakes her head but still hides her face now pressed against her dad’s shoulder. Carlos looks at her fondly before turning his attention to Macy.
“What’s your name?” He asks her.
“Macy Marie Strand.” She says, causing both TK and Carlos to laugh. “Isabella has the same hair as me.”
“She does, she likes to wear her hair in pigtails. Did you do your hair this morning?” Carlos asks, hoping that if he makes conversation with her, Isabella might be less shy.
“No, my daddy did it. He does my hair all the time and he’s really good at it.” Macy says, pointing up at TK with a bright smile.
Isabella turns her face slightly and looks at Macy, not saying anything yet but just looking at her. In the next moment the daycare teacher comes out and starts to gather the kids to take them in. Isabella looks panicked and holds on tighter to Carlos, not wanting to leave her dad.
Macy sees this and with a determined look she holds out her hand to Isabella.
“It’s okay, you can stay with me today and we can have fun. Daddy says daycare is a lot of fun and they have lots of toys and things for us to do!” Macy says and TK's heart warms at how sweet his daughter is.
It takes some more prompting and a few more minutes of both Carlos and Macy talking to Isabella but eventually the little girl takes Macy’s hand and allows her to walk with her into the daycare building.
“Your daughter is sweet.” Carlos says, standing back up and offering a kind smile to TK. “I’m glad that Isabella has met a friend. She was really nervous about having to go to daycare and not being home with me or her grandparents.”
TK nods. “Macy was nervous too but she likes to try and push past feelings that scare her.”
Carlos nods. “Well, I hope they have a good day.”
TK nods. “Yeah, me too. I hope you have a good day too.”
“Thank you, you too.”
-
TK spends most of his working day thinking about Carlos, which was dangerous because he didn’t need to develop any crushes on anyone, let alone cute, could be single, dads that may or may not like men. TK didn’t have time to date around and have people come in and out of his daughter’s life. He was fine being single.
Or that’s what he told himself but he and everyone around him knew that he wasn’t happy going home to an empty bed and nobody to keep him company other than his daughter.
“Okay, spill it Strand, what’s got you smiling?” Nancy asked, giving him a bottle of water as they sit down for the first time all day.
TK unscrews the lid to the water bottle and takes his time taking a drink to try and avoid Nancy’s question.
“Can’t I just be in a good mood?” TK deflects.
“Yeah, but this smile is more than just having a good day,” Nancy presses. “You’ve got a twinkle in your eye that isn’t usually there. What did you do? Meet someone?”
TK sputters, the drink of water he was taking spilling down his chin. He tries to recover, wiping the water away but the damage is already done. Nancy squeals and bumps his shoulder with hers.
“You’ve got to tell me now. Who is it and when did you find time to meet someone between work and chasing Macy around?”
“I didn’t, it’s nothing. There is nobody and there is no story to tell.” TK says with a shrug. “I just bumped into someone dropping Macy off at daycare this morning but that’s it. Nothing is going to come of it.”
“You say that now but you’ve got a look at you. Whoever this was, you can’t stop thinking about him.”
Thankfully TK is saved by the ring of the alarm, letting them know they have another scene to go to.
-
To TK’s mild disappointment, Carlos wasn’t the one who picked up Isabella later that day. Instead it was an older woman who had similar features to Carlos and TK made the assumption that it was probably Carlos’ mother. It made him wonder where Isabella’s mom was or even if there was a mom - or any additional parental figures - in the girl and Carlos’ life. Not that it mattered. It definitely didn’t matter because, as TK had told Nancy, nothing was going to come of it.
But the universe - and his heart - had other plans.
Over the course of the next couple of weeks he and Carlos naturally fall into a routine. Each morning they would arrive at the daycare center early to allow their daughters to talk and play a little bit - the girls had quickly become fast friends and wanted to spend as much time together as they could - and Carlos and TK would talk about random things.
TK learned that Carlos was a cop and in turn told Carlos that he worked as a paramedic with the 126 and they both thought that it was funny they hadn’t run into each other on the job before. They chalked it up to the hours they worked and the fact that TK hadn’t been around too long.
TK learned that Isabella had been a safe haven baby and that Carlos had fallen in love with her when he met her and offered to take her in as a foster until they could find a permanent home. It turned out that permanent home was with Carlos because once he had her and shifted his life to include her he didn’t want to give her up. It was hard, being a single parent and being a cop, he told TK but he managed it with the help of his family.
In turn TK told Carlos about his messy divorce and how Macy has been in the middle of it, but once his ex had decided that he no longer wanted TK that included him no longer wanting Macy so TK was able to get full custody without any problems. He told Carlos about how he moved them to Austin from New York to get away from everything and start over fresh.
They sympathized with each other how hard it was to be a first responder and have a young child. It was easy for them to relate to each other and soon their talks went from being every morning while the girls played before daycare to being in the evenings and random parts of the day once they exchanged numbers.
TK could feel himself slowly falling for Carlos with each new thing he learned about him. He knew that Carlos’ favorite color was green, that he was an absolute pro in the kitchen, and that he would move mountains for his daughter. He learned that Carlos volunteered at the local LGBT+ youth center and made sure his daughter knew that no matter what he would always love her and encouraged her to be herself. The more TK learned about Carlos and the more that he spent time with Carlos, the more TK wanted Carlos to be in his life.
He told himself that he could accept just being friends with him and watching their daughters become friends and grow up together, that he didn’t need anymore than that. Besides, Carlos hadn’t shown any interest in TK beyond friendship and wanting Isabella to be friends with Macy.
That was fine. It was fine because TK wasn’t lonely and he definitely didn’t think about Carlos often when he was drifting off to sleep and he didn’t think about what it would be like to wake up to the handsome man laying next to him. Nope, he didn’t do that.
Things changed, though, on a chilly December morning. They both arrived at the daycare center at their usual time, the girls immediately started chatting and playing, helping each other to build a snowman. TK greets Carlos with his typical smile and hello, and while Carlos greets him back he seems to be distracted thinking about something.
TK tries to start a conversation a couple of times but after the third time it fizzles out, he doesn’t try again and lets the morning pass with a quietness that wasn’t usual for them. It made his skin itch and his fingers twitch, wondering if he had said or did something wrong to have Carlos not want to talk to him.
He tries not to think about it as he watches their daughters play, the friendship they had formed was a fiercely close one and Macy had gotten Isabella to open up more. He watched as they laughed together, finding the perfect decorations for their snowman before the daycare lady was coming out and ushering all the kids to come inside.
TK watches as the girls go in and then stands there awkwardly for a moment, not sure what to do. He glances at Carlos who’s watching him intently, like he’s trying to figure something out and TK blushes under his gaze, his body feeling warm despite how cold it was outside.
“I, um, guess it’s time to leave.” TK says awkwardly, laughing softly. “I hope you have a good day.”
TK gives Carlos a tight smile and turns to leave when he feels a hand on his arm, stopping him.
“No, um, I’m sorry for being weird today. It’s just..” Carlos shifts, teeth scraping across his bottom lip as he struggles to say whatever he wants to say. “I just, I’ve been standing here trying to figure out how to ask you out for coffee. I have a free morning and I was… if you’re not busy, if you don’t have to go into work right away I thought we could maybe go on a date?”
Carlos cringes at himself at the same time a slow smile spreads across TK’s face.
“You wanna go on a date with me?” TK asks, a warmth blooming in his chest and despite what he’s told himself about how he doesn't need to date anyone he can’t help but feel excited about a date with Carlos.
“Yeah, if you want.”
“Yeah I do want to. There’s a coffee shop a few blocks from here, can I meet you there?” TK suggested.
Carlos grins and nods. “Yeah, that works.”
TK smiles and walks back to his car, a smile on his face that he knows isn’t going to disappear that day. Maybe it was time to allow himself to fall and get caught up in another person, his heart had been alone for too long.