afiendishthingy



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  1. Public Bookmark 7

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    Summary

    Two nights, six years apart.

    In early 2020, newly arrived in Austin and still finding his footing, TK and his new friends Paul & Marjan visit Austin's iconic Bat Bridge. Despite a mishap involving one very spooked firefighter (Paul swears he's not afraid of bats) and a phone jettisoned to the bottom of the Colorado River, they bond over their new city and dare to imagine what their futures here might look like.

    Six years later, TK revisits the Bat Bridge, this time with Carlos & Jonah. He finds himself reflecting on the boy he was that night, and everything his life in Austin has come to be.

    ---

    “Who’s Carlos?” Marjan asks, a teasing glint in her eye, voice pitched an octave higher than usual.

    “He’s no one,” TK yelps, lunging for the phone.

    She snatches it away and holds it over her head, grinning.

    “Oh yeah? Well why does No One want you to get tacos with him some time?”

    The phone buzzes in her hand. All three of them freeze.

    “Oh my god,” Marjan breathes, lowering the screen back to eye level. “No One just sent a selfie. And he’s really hot.”

    Language:
    English
    Words:
    5,762
    Chapters:
    2/2
    Comments:
    45
    Kudos:
    75
    Bookmarks:
    7
    Hits:
    771

    11 Jun 2026

  2. Public Bookmark 18

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    Summary

    Insane though it is, the first thought that comes to mind is that he can’t die right now, because he has dishes to wash.

    Language:
    English
    Words:
    6,596
    Chapters:
    1/1
    Comments:
    8
    Kudos:
    86
    Bookmarks:
    18
    Hits:
    1,145

    25 May 2026

  3. Public Bookmark 25

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    Summary

    TK and Carlos (aka Santa Claus) might be even more excited than four-year-old Jonah about their first Christmas as a family of three, but a phone call with Enzo reveals something from the past that causes TK to spiral over what could have been. With Carlos, Owen, Andrea and Jonah all putting their arms around him, TK holds on extra tight to everything he loves.


    When they arrived to bring Jonah home, he was waiting for them in the school foyer, standing in the looming shadow of Governess Burgin who would not let him run to them. Carlos, in his snow-pocked coat and wet boots, got down on his knees and told Jonah everything was going to be alright. His brown eyes glittered – and TK saw it. By looking at each other, they could see the future. They could touch it. Warm hugs, tears, lessons, thriving. In that moment – on the floor of a school in snowy Switzerland, there were two fathers in the making and a little boy who would grow up to tell everyone he knew: “My papas – they’re my best friends.” It was all there.

     

    And it's all here, now, with Carlos wearing this old, musty, silly Santa Claus outfit that Gabriel Reyes got at discount, bargaining his way through a garage sale in 1995.

    Language:
    English
    Words:
    14,240
    Chapters:
    3/3
    Comments:
    111
    Kudos:
    138
    Bookmarks:
    25
    Hits:
    2,528

    25 May 2026

  4. Public Bookmark *

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    Summary

    TK had been through a lot. He'd been shot. He'd torn his stitches. He'd bled. He'd nearly drowned himself in dirty water while saving Ellen. It had been a lot. He should have expected that it wouldn't be as simple as a quick trip to the ER and a few extra stitches. Nothing was ever that easy.

    Language:
    English
    Words:
    14,993
    Chapters:
    5/5
    Comments:
    81
    Kudos:
    949
    Bookmarks:
    227
    Hits:
    23,291

    13 May 2026

  5. Public Bookmark *

    Tags
    Summary

    “We can go again. We can go dance again. Whatever you want,” TK bargained.

     

    Bargaining. TK's mother had said her son did that only when he was truly desperate. When he wanted to stay up late, push his curfew, put off rehab. He was doing it now.

     

    Carlos wouldn’t be able to give into it this time, even though he wanted to.

     

    If they were going dancing, he’d have to be able to stand up and that wasn’t an option right now.
    *
    Carlos is attacked. This is how he recovers.

    Language:
    English
    Words:
    25,765
    Chapters:
    6/6
    Comments:
    179
    Kudos:
    649
    Bookmarks:
    125
    Hits:
    14,855

    13 May 2026