Standing at the entrance to their laundry room, T.K. groaned loudly. Hands full balancing a laundry basket of his own, he used his foot to push the mountain of clothes that was blocking the door, piled treacherously high with carelessly tossed towels and an assortment of gym clothes. Now being able to actually see the laundry machines, T.K. noticed that both the washer and the dryer were full and there were even more clothes tucked in the corner of the room. Considering there were only two men living in the house, and only one of them was gay, there were way too many dirty clothes here than there should have been.
Sighing, T.K. restarted the machines, because honestly, he wasn't sure how long the clothes might have been sitting in the machines, and headed back to his bedroom. He was hoping to find a piece of clean clothing to head to work in. After double checking his closet, and sniffing a couple pairs of sweatpants that were half hidden under the bed, he finally settled on a pair of navy sweatpants that didn't smell too badly and a long-sleeved grey top. A bit casual, as the top was a baggier than his normal style, but he would be able to change right into his uniform as soon as he got to the station.
Running down the stairs, T.K. grabbed a mineral water from the fridge and dashed out to where his dad was waiting in the car for him. He noticed his dad giving him a slightly odd look, and figured that it was just because he was running behind. T.K. quickly muttered a quick apology and then popped in his ear buds and tilted the car seat back to chill before their shift.
Owen and T.K. pulled into the fire station just five minutes before they were scheduled to start, which was late by his dad's books. Apologizing to his dad again, T.K. darted out of the car to go change into his uniform, but he was startled by the slow clap that Paul started when he entered the station.
"What the hell, man?" T.K. said, not understanding Paul's actions but being slightly embarrassed all the same.
"The walk of shame, T.K.?" Paul replied with a smirk, still clapping. "You know man, it's a clear sign when you are wearing a shirt that says 'Reyes' across the back."
"What?!" T.K. said, tugging on the back of his shirt to see the Austin PD logo along with his boyfriend's name on it. No wonder the shirt felt a little big on him. "Shut it, Paul, my dad's right behind me," T.K. replied, blushing an even deeper red.
"Well, unless Carlos was hiding under your bed, I think this was more the case in not doing your laundry, son." Owen's voice boomed out from behind T.K., mortifying him even more.
"Ugh, you guys are the worst," T.K. sighed, putting his head in his hands. He started shuffling towards the locker rooms. "I'm just going to get changed now, so, yeah, see you in a few minutes. And no one needs to say a word to the rest of the team about this." He glared as hard as he could at Paul and his dad and then headed off.
Paul waited until Owen moved towards the kitchen to get his morning coffee. Then Paul quickly slid out his phone, snapped a photo of T.K.'s back before he disappeared out of sight, and texted it to Carlos, asking him if he was missing any laundry. After all, T.K. had said not to tell the rest of the team, but he didn't mention anything about not telling Carlos.