Chapter Text
If one more person tries to talk to TK about how great his dad is he thinks he just might scream. Now don't get him wrong TK agrees that his dad is pretty great and normally talks like this wouldn’t bother him but after the tenth or so person coming up to him to sing his dad’s praises it’s getting a little old. He finds an excuse in a waiter passing by with a tray of water to get out of his current conversation. He grabs the glass and makes his way to another spot in the room losing the woman who tries pushing the conversation in the process.
TK fidgets with the collar of his suit for a second before going back to sipping his drink to make himself appear occupied. It’s not the first time he has pulled this exact same move tonight and it probably won't be the last. He takes in the room around him all of the first responders here dressed to the nines trying to schmooze all of these rich people into donating to the first responders funds.
Now TK knows how to be a kiss up and appear charming to people with money that is not the problem here. The problem is when firefighters from other stations come up to him talking about his dad not stopping trying to see if TK will put a good word in for them to be transferred to the 126. Which frankly TK finds pretty insulting even if he did have the ability to do that he wouldn’t especially when the people asking him are reeking of desperation.
His eyes scan the room now looking with one purpose and he quickly spots what he is looking for. He sees Carlos on the other side of the room talking with a group of people. He takes a minute to appreciate how handsome he looks all dressed up effortlessly charming the people he’s talking to. If TK was them he would be immediately handing over a large sum of money.
Lost in his thoughts of drooling over his extremely hot boyfriend TK is brought out of it by the feeling of his bladder. He has been keeping very hydrated tonight and all the water he has been drinking to get out of polite conversation is making its presence known. His mind drifts to the hall where the bathrooms are and remembers the long line he saw for it earlier. It’s his best bet to head over there now not knowing just how long the line will take.
As he is making his way over there he hears a meek voice trying to get his attention. “Um excuse me, are you TK Strand?”
TK has to stop himself from groaning, it is not the end of the world for him to be stopped for a little bit, he just doesn't really feel like having another conversation about his dad right now. Still he forces a smile on his face to not appear rude in front of the donors around him.
“Yeah that’s me, and you are?”
When he turns he sees a man who seems to be in his early twenties looking extremely nervous fiddling with his cufflinks on his jacket.
“Oh, right sorry, I’m James. And uh… well I heard that recently you went from being a firefighter to a paramedic. I was thinking of doing that too and had a few questions I wanted to ask you. If that's okay?”
At this TK’s face lights up from a fake smile to a real one his mind now racing with pointers he could give the guy. “Oh! Yeah, ask me anything. I would love to help in any way that I can.”
TK then spends the next hour talking to him about what he needs to do to get certified and how even if he chooses to stay a firefighter it would still be a good idea to get certified anyway. To be prepared as well as to be able to keep his options open.
They exchange goodbyes and the guy is on his way. As soon as he is no longer distracted it’s like a sledgehammer slammed into his bladder. He is subtly twisting in place trying to ease the tension but not make a scene with all these people around. He is kicking himself for getting so sucked into the conversation and completely forgetting he was heading to the bathroom.
He knows that it is absolutely imperative that he gets in the bathroom line now! That any other detour would spell disaster for his now aching bladder. He starts to weave his way through the crowd trying his best to not jostle his bladder in the process. He is almost to the exit of the large room when an older woman stops right in front of him. He is forced to come to a screeching halt and he can feel the pee sloshing around in his bladder as he does so.
“Oh pardon me young man.”
TK looks at the woman again and freezes in his tracks when he realizes who it is, all of them being briefed beforehand about her family. It’s Donna Monroe, one of the wealthiest people here and one whose family almost always writes a big check for the department.
“I am so sorry Mrs. Monroe, I really should have been watching where I was going.”
He sees her wiping off a few drops of champagne from her long black dress that he can tell just by looking at it cost more than three times his yearly salary.
“Nonsense I’m the one who stepped in your way. Say, aren't you the Strand boy?”
“Yes ma’am I am.”
“Oh, I see you are picking up on our southern hospitality already.”
TK forces himself to laugh at that, “Well I’m trying my best.”
His bladder takes this moment to pulsate with a frantic need. He has to subtly squeeze his thighs together, his clammy hands gripping on to the sides of his pants tightly. Hoping that she doesn’t notice. If he were talking to anyone else right now he would have excused himself but he can’t think of any way out of this conversation.
“Your father has really made a splash in his time here. With a reputation like his I should have known he would do great things.”
He has to fight to not cringe as her choice of words makes his bladder constrict. “Ha, yeah he does like to shake things up.”
He is now stuck here as she rambles on about his dad asking him what it was like working with him. As well as trying to dig into the details of their family life. TK keeps his polite smile on his face and answers every question she asks. As he wonders what is the nicest way he can get out of this conversation.
He then spots a life line in the form of Carlos walking by them. And TK jumps at the opportunity. “Carlos,” TK calls out, getting his attention before grabbing the crook of his elbow with his hand pulling him over to where they are standing. “Mrs. Monroe have you met my partner, Officer Reyes?”
“I can’t say that I have. It's a pleasure to meet you.” She then holds out her hand for him to shake his hand.
He reaches out to shake her hand and TK makes sure to keep his own grip on his other arm as he does so. “The pleasure is all mine ma’am.”
“My you too boys are such charmers.” The two of them shoot her a bright smile at that. And then of course she directs the conversation right back to Owen. Fortunately Carlos takes the lead in the conversation to take some of the pressure off of TK.
TK has to resume his twisting from earlier to try and quell his now ever present need. He is glad Carlos is there now because he can’t even begin to pretend to focus on anything other than how bad he needs to pee. He stands there suffering for another few minutes before he is struck by a realization. Duh it is so simple and he uses the hand gripping Carlos’s elbow and quickly squeezes it twice. He waits for Carlos to respond with a squeeze or a pat of his own and… nothing. TK then tries again hoping this time he will understand but also knowing they never talked about the sign being reversed so Carlos might not even be clocking what he is trying to do.
He tries it one more time this time squeezing a little bit harder hoping it will help get a crossed the message. He is then able to see the realization dawning on Carlos's face twisting with understanding. Carlos quickly patted the back of his hand before drawing his attention back to Mrs. Monroe.
“You know Mrs. Monroe, Captain Strand is here tonight. I just saw him standing on the other side of the room and it looks like no one is talking to him now.”
Her eyes widened in excitement “Really?”
“Oh yes, and I’m sure he would love to talk to you.” He then points her in the direction of where he last saw him. She quickly says goodbye to them before going to find him. “Thank you so much. You boys have a nice night.”
Carlos waves her off, “You too ma’am.” He then turns his entire attention to TK with an extremely guilty look on his face. He starts to quickly lead them the rest of the way out of the room and apologize along the way. “I am so sorry baby, I should have been paying closer attention. I should have known what you were doing the first time.”
“Carlos babe, It’s fine really. You got us out of there, that's all that really matters right now. Although we probably will owe Dad an apology for throwing him to the wolves like that.”
That gets a snort out of Carlos, “Come on now she wasn’t that bad.”
“No but I’m sure her husband is really going to love seeing her drooling over my dad in person.”
“You do have a point.”
“Of course I do it just- Oh god no!” TK cuts off their banter at the awful sight in front of him. The line to the bathroom is even longer than before. Panic overtakes his body as he sees what seems to be at least a twenty minute wait if not longer.
He feels Carlos pull TK closer to him rubbing one of his shoulders trying to ease some of his tension. His concern now radiating off of him he lowers his voice to ask, “Are you going to be okay?”
“Yeah I’ll be fine, let's just get in line now.” But even as he is saying this TK is not fully convinced it’s true.
Time feels like it is completely standing still. The only reason he knows that time is actually moving is the bathroom line slowly inching forwards every few minutes or so. His twisting has evolved into a full on pee dance switching between marching in place to frantically bouncing but even that doesn’t seem to be helping much anymore. His bladder spasms causing him to freeze for just a moment as his need to take over his whole body. As he clenches all the muscles in his body he finds himself squeezing tightly onto Carlos’s hand he is holding. Carlos is looking at him worry filling his eyes as he opens his mouth to say something.
But TK leans in close and whispers in his ear before he can say anything. “I really need to go. There is no way I can wait in this line anymore. What am I supposed to do!” His voice speeds up as he is talking the panic clear as day as he speaks.
Carlos takes action after that, gently tugging TK by the hand to the entrance of the building taking him to the car. Whispering reassurances to him along the way. “It’s okay baby, I’ll find somewhere open nearby. It will be faster than waiting in the line.”
Once the two of them are alone in the car TK becomes much more vocal about how much he needs to pee. “Oh god, oh god. This is bad, this is so bad! I feel like I’m going to burst!” He just keeps repeating things like this while frantically bouncing his legs up and down.
Carlos hears how panicked TK is and feels his own panic start to raise at seeing just how upset TK is. But Carlos forces that feeling down and focuses all his attention on finding any place for TK to relieve himself.
“Oh god, hold it hold it. Oh no, wait, n- ah” A loud gasp cuts off what TK is saying as he feels a large jet of pee shoot out. He slams his hand between his legs trying to use all of his might to not pee anymore. He sees Carlos look at him out of the corner of his eye as he turns the wheel of the car. TK feels a blush start creeping up his neck but doesn’t remove his hand. “Sorry, I just need to go so bad.”
“Hey baby you're always telling me there is nothing to apologize for. The same applies to you, do whatever you need to do babe.”
TK is silent for a few minutes, the only sound filling the car is TK’s ragged breathing as he tries desperately to hold on. He then lets out another loud gasp as he feels more pee leaving his bladder entering his groin and he has to clamp down even harder than before to contain it. “Oh shit, no please!” He then directed the next part at Carlos. “Ah! I need to pee so bad! I can’t stop it.”
“I know baby, I know. I’m so sorry. It’s okay if you can’t wait any more. It’s all okay.”
Carlos is doing everything he can to soothe TK, knowing how awful he must be feeling right now. When on the street ahead of then Carlos finally spots a store that’s open. It’s a small convenience store with a few cars in the parking lot but Carlos sees the green glowing open sign and starts driving there.
“TK, baby there is a store on the next right. Do you want to try and make it inside?”
TK sniffles slightly before answering, while he is not super sure of his ability to not pee his pants before he can even find the bathroom. He knows the only other option at this point would be peeing his pants in Carlos’s car and if there is a chance he can avoid that he is going to take it.
“Yeah, okay lets try.” With that Carlos is pulling the car into the parking spot making sure he is parked right next to the door. He quickly gets out of the driver's seat and slams his door shut before hurrying over to the passengers door. He helps TK out of the car and the two of them rush through the door, the bell jiggling as they slam the door open.
Carlos’s eyes scan the store quickly but doesn’t see a bathroom sign. He decides the quickest option is to ask the cashier. “Uh excuse me, where is your bathroom?”
The cashier just glances over at them, being one of the few places open at this time of night he is used to people rushing in here looking desperate. So he is not even fazed in the slightest at the sight of TK red in the face bouncing in place with his hand between his legs. He just points them to the back corner of the store. But as they are rushing that way he calls after them, “Try not to make a mess of my floors.”
TK whimpers when he hears this, mortified at the idea while also being at the very end of his rope.
“Just ignore him baby. You are doing so so good. You're almost there.”
TK listens to Carlos’s words of encouragement and lets them replay over in his mind as they make it to the bathroom door. He bust in without any hesitation and positions himself in front of the urinal. However it really is just like a full on roll reversal as his shaking hands struggle to undo his belt getting even more frantic now that he is inches away from the urinal.
But having anticipated this Carlos is quick to come up behind him and reaches around to undo his belt. “I got it, you start working on your fly if you can.” Having been in this position many times now he knows the best thing to help at this moment. After minimal finessing Carlos is able to get the belt open and makes quick work of undoing the button right after. “Alright got it.”
With that, that is all the prompting TK needs to pull his still leaking penis out of his underwear and point it directly to the urinal. It takes a second for him to really get started going after the strain he put on his bladder but then the whole bathroom is filled with the loud gushing sound. He is so relieved he feels his legs start to give up out from under him. But luckily Carlos is right there to help support him. He lets out a quiet sigh of relief as his head dips back pressing gently onto Carlos’s shoulder.
Once he is finished TK just stands there for a second back fully pushed against Carlos’s front taking a second to collect himself. After he is able to wind back down the first thing he says is. “Maybe the two of us should stop wearing belts.”
TK felt Carlos’s laugh vibrating through his chest to his back. “I would fully agree to this but both of our uniforms require belts.”
TK pulls away from Carlos and starts redoing his pants taking in the damage as he does so. He is embarrassed to see a large wet spot taking up the entirety of the crotch of his pants. Without even having to say a word Carlos is shrugging off his suit jacket and hands it over to TK to cover up. So TK quietly ties it around his waist and makes his way over to the sink to get himself as cleaned up as he can.
Carlos doesn't want to force TK to talk if he doesn’t want to but the guilt he was feeling earlier creeps back in and he just has to say something. “Look I am really sorry for not realizing what you were trying to tell me right away. With how much you help me it sucks that I failed to help you in the same way.”
TK turns the sink off and faces Carlos he makes sure to keep his face soft as he reaches out a hand to Carlos. He doesn’t say anything until Carlos has grabbed his hand. TK starts rubbing his thumb in miscellaneous patterns on the back of Carlos’s hand.
“You did help me babe. Besides I don’t think those few minutes would have really made a difference. The bathroom line would have been just a long and I would have been in pretty much the same spot. And if you really still feel like you messed up just remember it for next time.”
“You know I should really be the one comforting you, not the other way around.”
This just makes TK shrug his shoulders, “Well I’m pretty much okay now. Sure, I was shaken up while it was happening but now that the panic has subsided, I just want to get home and change out of these pants.”
“Well then let's go and once we get home I’ll make sure to take extra good care of you in the shower.”
“I’ll definitely never say no to that,” TK then gestures to the door with the hand that is not on Carlos’s, “Lead the way.”