#lndnrs

“Everyone loves you, Ty,” Carlos says, still moving his thumb in a calming rhythm as he drives. “This party is a way for us to show it.” 

“i don’t need all this to know that, though,” TK says, feeling warmth creep up his neck. He remembers the stress he felt he put on his parents, not only having a birthday so close to the holidays but by being a product of their marriage that eventually failed. They were still friendly, sure, but TK can’t just forget the plethora of times a party was thrown for him just so he could forget his dad was three hours late or his mom had to slip away to handle a big client. 

“Hey, if it’s too much, we’ll come up with an excuse, okay?” Carlos offers, understanding immediately because of course he does. “We’ll—we’ll say one of us isn’t feeling well, though I guess that’s not the best course of action when almost everyone we know has medical training—”

TK feels the dopey grin spread over his face as his boyfriend rambles. Carlos finally trails off and catches the look on his face, a small smile of his own pulling at the corner of his mouth. 

“What?” 

“I just love you,” TK says, squeezing Carlos’ hand tight. “And thank you. But I think I’ll be okay. I just,” he waves a hand in a vague motion next to his head, “get a little too caught up in here, sometimes.” 

“I know,” Carlos drags his thumb over his knuckles once more, before he’s parking the car right in front of Grace and Judd’s place. “And Ty?” 

“Hm?” TK turns his head and is met with a gentle kiss, slowly blinking his eyes open when Carlos pulls away. 

“I love you too,” Carlos smiles, and TK rolls his eyes and huffs a laugh but feels his heart beat rapidly nonetheless. 

He’s a little apprehensive as he gets out of the Camaro, fidgeting with the cuffs of his sleeves, as he follows Carlos to the front door. 

But it turns out that his found family loves him more than he could imagine, because they know him. They know he didn’t want them to go crazy for his birthday, because once they walk into the living room there’s tasteful decorations and various platters of food set up, but it’s just family present. Marjan tackles him into a hug first, ruffling his hair when they pull away; Judd eventually blocks his path until he can smack a kiss to the crown of his head and fist bump him. 

“Grace, you didn’t have to—” 

“You better not finish that sentence, TK,” Grace says, cocking a brow at him. He lifts his hands in response. “It was an honour to pull this together for you, because you deserve it, love.” 

He knows his face is warm, but he doesn’t care. “Thank you.” 

She pulls him in then, for a signature Grace-Ryder-hug that’s all swaying and arms squeezing tight around his ribs. He gets a kiss to his cheek, too, and he stalks back toward Carlos and Paul with what he knows is a huge grin on his face. 

The whole night is low-key, everyone gathered around to chat and drink and stuff themselves on Grace’s cooking. That is, until the lights suddenly dim and TK hears the beginning of his dad’s tone-deaf attempt at singing “Happy Birthday.” 

“Oh, god,” TK mutters, pressing his palm over his face. Carlos just pulls him closer, arm around his waist as he sings quietly into his ear, everyone else joining in at various levels of enthusiasm. Eventually his dad ends up in front of him, cake proudly displaying a candle in the shape of a 27, the light flickering against his face. 

TK glances around the room as the song comes to an end, and he’s smiling even as he shakes his head and dramatically takes a deep breath to blow out the candle. 

When he’s passed a piece, he can sense something happening by the way the air seems to shift around him. 

“What’s—” TK trails off, fork in his left hand and flimsy paper plate in his right, glancing over at his boyfriend. 

Who, deep down and just like his friends, is an absolute menace. 

“There might be one tradition we didn’t tell you about,” Marjan says, already grinning gleefully. 

Carlos slowly comes closer, and TK realizes what’s about to happen too late because in what feels like a nanosecond, he’s suddenly got his piece of cake smashed into his face. 

The team howls with laughter, as his mouth falls open in shock and he wipes two handfuls of icing from his eyes. 

“Reyes!” TK shouts, already chasing after him, the others in attendance snickering as they move out of the way. 

“Baby, come on,” Carlos tries to say through his laughter, but eventually he’s backed up against the wall with nowhere to go. 

“Don’t I get a birthday kiss?” TK asks, far too innocently, and Carlos holds him at arm’s length as the others start chanting for them to kiss, several teasing oohs filling the room. TK really lays it on thick, puppy-dog eyes and all, and sees the exact moment Carlos melts. 

“Like I could ever refuse you,” his boyfriend murmurs, reaching forward to gently wipe away as much of the bits of cake and frosting stuck to his lips as he can. 

It doesn’t do much about the rest of the mess on TK’s face, but neither of them seem to care, as the moment Carlos’ thumb drops from TK’s bottom lip he’s lurching forward to kiss him, trying to pour all the love and gratefulness for this night into one press of their lips. 

They’re grinning into it like always, and eventually TK’s frosting-smeared hand comes up to cup Carlos’ cheek, and Carlos’ hands drop down to TK’s sides, and the last thing they’re worried about is cake or their friends standing all around them. 

Someone—probably Judd—yells at them to get a room. TK flips him off, lovingly of course, before he kisses his boyfriend once more to get the point across. He pulls back and almost breaks down in tears with the force of his laughter at the sight of Carlos’ face.