Tarlos One shots

the big break

prompt by me
between seasons 2 and 3 the Tarlos breakup from my perspective

The fire had been a month and a half ago after insisting to Owen that they could get an apartment in the meantime while they looked for a place Owen protested he lived in a big house with plenty of space with 4 bedrooms while Owen and Mateo were only occupying 2 of those it was no trouble for them to stay as long as they needed while they sorted out everything

after the fire it was a lot of hours and a lot of paperwork luckily Carlos's insurance for the condo covered it they both had some money in savings and their jobs paid well so they weren't in such a tough spot they sat on their bed in their room looking on Zillow for places to lease when Owen came in "hey what did you guys want for dinner?" Owen said coming into their room "Dad you promised to start knocking ." tk said looking at his dad "I know sorry I just love seeing your face every day." Owen smiled "Dad you see me pretty much every day anyways when im not living here ." Tk laughed "I know but I don't see Carlos every day." Owen smirked "Ugh Dad don't be weird ." tk laughed as Owen walked around the side of the bed "You guys not finding anything ?" Owen said, "Not yet ." Carlos said "Well if you guys do I would be more than happy to put the down payment for it. after all, this is my fault ." Owen said looking at the two "Dad we're not gonna let you do that ." tk said, "Yeah Mr. Strand you letting us stay here is more than enough ." Carlos said rubbing tks leg "Fine ill make it up and housewarming gifts ." Owen teased "Dad-" tk said as Owen cut him off

"Carlos you have been dating my son for 2 years now - you need to learn that you can call me Owen." Owen smiled " Right - sorry Mr. Strand .." Carlos said softly " shit fuck - Owen ." Carlos said as Owen laughed

"and about dinner any suggestions ?" Owen asked "im not hungry probably gonna skip tonight ." tk said softly "Carlos will you tell this boy he needs to eat ." Owen teased " I've tried to tell him ." Carlos smiled "I'm making you a plate anyways promise you will eat it sometime." Owen said "I promise ." tk mocked

a few weeks later

when tk got home from work Carlos called him from the bedroom "Babe im back ." tk said coming through the door and putting his keys in the bowl
"Babe I think I've found something ." Carlos said tk came into the room joining Carlos on the bed "A loft downtown it's in our price range and it's our style ." Carlos smiled as tk clicked through the pictures "How is it not taken already?" tk said "I know right they have a tour tomorrow - did you wanna go see it ?" Carlos asked

" let me see if I can get Nancy to cover my shift ." tk said

the next day they toured the place "It's a great buy but it won't last long it's exactly what everyone's looking for right now it's downtown close to a lot of great shops ." the realtor said Carlos looked at tk before looking back at the realator "could we put down the deposit for the lease today ?" Carlos asked "Oh you didn't hear did you ?" the realtor said "Hear what?" tk asked "The seller is looking for buyers, not renters ." she said

so after realizing that wasn't in the cards for them, they decided to keep looking

they agree to tour another place and Carlos takes tk back to the same place "Babe this is the same place we just looked at ." tk laughed " wheres the realtor anyways is she meeting us here ?" tk asked looking around "It's ours ." Carlos smiled "Wait they agreed to lease it ?" tk questioned, "not exactly .. after we left that night I put an offer in and the owners excepted it ." Carlos said "Surprise." Carlos smiled "Don't worry put your name on the lease we are co-owners .." Carlos said holding up tks keys but tk wasn't smiling "Carlos we agreed we were gonna look for a place that we could afford .." tk said exaggerating the we " we can afford it tk I just put the down payment down - the mortgage is in our price range so it works out great ." Carlos said, "I thought you'd be thrilled ." Carlos said

"This is what we wanted our dream place why aren't you happy ." Carlos said "we agreed to keep looking because I wanted to help with the down payment ." tk said, " tk I did this for us ." Carlos said "I don't want to feel like im just crashing at your place again Carlos." tk said throwing his hands up in the air "that's not what the condo was tk ." Carlos said "Yes it was I didn't own the place I didn't help you buy it all I did was help contribute half of the rent every month ." tk said

"tk the condo wasn't just my place it was yours too." Carlos protested "You don't get it do you ?" tk said "My credit is fucked up cause of my stupid decisions I do not want to fuck yours up because of my idiotic choices ." tk said grabbing his coat "Tk where are you going ." Carlos said "im going home Carlos." tk said, "So that's it your just gonna leave ?" Carlos said "I don't want you to keep fucking up your life for me Carlos.." tk said biting his lip "Go ahead and leave like you always do ." Carlos said "What does that even mean ?' tk says turning around "It means that for the whole time, I've known you when things get good, you go and fuck them up for yourself ." Carlos says looking at Tks face tk just nods "yeah ." tk bites his lip before leaving
Although the words "were over ." were never spoken they were present Carlos didn't want to live in the home he had bought for the two of them but he had no other option so he moved into the loft he slept in the bed that he hoped to share with tk he didn't see tk on calls which was his favorite thing about work it was like tk took scissors to the rope that tied them together