#the tarloft

[doublel27]

other than the items pointed out during push, are there certain items in the loft that u associate with tk ? the art visually stands out to me as largely from carlos, but i'd be curious to hear ur thoughts if u feel like sharing !

Oh, that's a great question! Thanks for asking.

For one, the whole style of the loft feels closer to TK than the townhouse ever did. There's big windows and open space and a huge comfortable couch. The brick and industrial feel is also very lower Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn. TK's apartment looked to be Hell's kitchen, so not far from where the industrial stuff would have been.

I think also the bed linens are more TK/The Strands than the very dark striped option Carlos had in the loft previously. The plush, white and cozy looking is similar to the spread we see Owen with in season 2 when Gwyn is around (my beloved).

I also feel like TK is the reason there is a bowl behind the couch where the mail and keys go. I headcanon pretty hard that TK is ADHD and having things VISABLE is essential for that.

While I agree the art feels like Carlos, I feel like the photos of them around the house are TK. Carlos had no family photos in the loft that we saw. While in TV terms his family hadn't been cast in season one, I think TK's the one that takes pictures and prints them out and gets them framed. Or he says "We should get this one framed" so many times that Carlos does it...whichever way it goes. But I think that's definitely a TK thing. He has his mom's photo albums and Owen has pictures of TK on the fridge and around the house.

The kitchen is definitely Carlos's domain. As is, I would argue, the dining room. Those are very loudly Carlos to me.

[howtosingit]

I have to assume there’s a walk-in closet behind that door because there is absolutely no way that Carlos Reyes folds all of his uniforms and pants and suits in a small dresser that he shares with TK... you know that man has all of his clothes ironed and pressed - and TK’s as well. 

[doublel27]

on a lighter note: Catherine and Carlos being alone in the Tarloft together waiting on Owen and Sadie and TK to get back. I can only imagine their conversation. "These Strand men, amirite?"

You’re right, dear nonny and you should say so. You got a micro fic out of this ask, so enjoy.

✨✨✨✨

“So is…is it always like this?” Catherine asks from where she’s perched on the edge of the sofa.

Carlos clicks back 45 seconds on the video. “You get used to it,” he tells her absently.

“Really?” Catherine asks, disbelief lacing her voice.

“No,” Carlos answers, taking his glasses off and rubbing a hand over his face. “But I keep hoping that I might one day.”

Ever since that rainy night he met the Strands, Carlos life has not been the same. He’s dealt with more chaos in the last two years combined then he had in the previous twenty-six. What he has gained in the wake of that chaos, though: a man who loves him even knowing all of Carlos’s idiosyncrasies, a better relationship with his parents than he ever thought possible, this life that seemed like a dream sometimes and Carlos was afraid to say too much lest it disappear.

“TK’s worth all of it though, so,” Carlos offers her with a smile and a shrug.

“Is Owen?”

“I think that’s for you to decide. But you kept seeing him after he kidnapped you so, maybe?”

Catherine sniffs. “It was a light kidnapping.”

“Mmmm,” Carlos murmurs, turning at the video again. “And a brief anthrax scare.”

Catherine laughs brightly at that. “Stop it.”

“TK keeps most of the damage to himself, except the loft, but I blame our dads for that one.”

“Do I want to know?”

Carlos doesn’t want to talk about it. At least their dads have been honest that they’re working together this time. He picks up his glasses and slides them back on. “Probably not. Let’s see what we can find on this tape.”

[doublel27]

5+1 loft 👀💛

Thank you Nea! I love this fic. I'm so close to being done. You're getting a part I just wrote today that I've added to it, about Carlos and the cross. Largely inspired by Rafa's interview.

Carlos pulls it out, the heavy red box, remembering her wrinkled hands pressing it into his own. 

“Your abuelo would have wanted you to have this.”

“Abuela.” “He’s so proud of you, Carlitos. As are we all. Trust in God and it will all work out.

Carlos flips open the lid revealing the golden cross his abuelo had worn everyday Carlos had known him. It used to peek out from the middle of his buttoned up work shirts, gleaming bright in the sunlight over the white undershirt. Sometimes Abuelo would finger it, hold it in his hand, and look at the sky before heading off to do the next thing that needed to be done on the ranch. His abuelo’s relationship with the cross and God had always been quiet, introspective instead of the loud, performative relationship some people have with religion.

Religion and Carlos have been uneasy companions since a priest gave a particularly nasty speech about the dangers of the flesh and the varying levels of sin, despite the fact that all sin was sin. He’d been twelve when Carlos realized that the unholy desires the priest veered into might be something that had to do with him. The older he’s gotten through, the more he’s realized that priests are men and that maybe they speak for themselves and not always for God. 

All Carlos knows is that ever since his life burned to the ground, nothing makes sense and he hasn’t been able to recover his footing. Every attempt to get things under control has caused him to slip a little further. 

Carlos takes out the cross on its thin chain, considering. It’s old but well cared for, not a bit of tarnish. It still shines like it has since his earliest memories. 

It takes a moment of fumbling, but he undoes the clasp and refastens the cross around his neck. The weight of the chain and the cross, light as they are, rests against his nape. 

Carlos still can’t answer anything about his relationship to God, or the church, or what his Abuelo would have thought of who Carlos is now. Something about wearing the cross feels right though. 

Ask me about my WIPs

[doublel27]

Okay but hear me out:

(Foregoing the fact that when Carlos started furnishing the apartment him and Tk may have been broken up because I know that he still furnished the apartment thinking about making it a home for them)

Carlos going to a shop to buy a mattress for the new apartment and actively not wanting a bed too big because Tk sleeps on top of him anyway and the shopping-clerk trying to convince him to get a king-sized “for when he has night-guests over” and him arguing that he wants a smaller one cause his boyfriend gets cold at night and they like to cuddle and want their bodies always touching each other at night.

Did my mind come up with all of this just by seeing Carlos and Tk sitting in front of their bed? Yes

Am I ashamed? No

Hello! Agreed, Carlos only furnished the apartment with TK in mind and I agree he likes a cuddle. Nothing bigger than a queen sized bed for these two. In fact in my last fic, my current pinned post, Carlos enjoys Owen’s full sized spare room bed for just this reason.

I also think the bed he had before he knew TK was coming home and maybe the couch. But I do headcanon that one of the reasons it was so easy to move TK in was because Carlos didn’t finish furnishing the loft until he knew TK was coming home.

If I ever finish my 5+1 for the Tarloft we’ll get into that process.

Have no shame. I love it

[doublel27]

I would love to hear your thoughts on what in the Tarloft is more TK vs more Carlos if you’re up for it! Because we know Carlos led the charge on the design but I keep wondering where he might have shifted with TK in mind

Hey nonny, thanks for this ask! I am sorry it took so long to get to it.

I think the TK things are (beyond the TK things that Carlos expressly moved in during 3x04) are the location: downtown, near good dancing, the polished concrete floors, the lofted style - mostly brick and metal. It's got a delightfully posh, modern New York feel.

The Carlos of it all: the dark colors Carlos gravitated to in the loft are still present through most of the furniture in the place: dark woods, dark fabrics etc. The art and knicknacks are probably Carlos, if I'm honest, as are the plants. But I think he defintitely designed this place with TK's style and likes in mind instead of just his own.

I think the photographs are for both of them, as we didn't really have family photos in the condo that I remember (but I could be wrong, and if so tell me). But it's nice seeing these little bits of the life

TK may occasionally bring home something that Carlos has to home somewhere, not that he minds. But Carlos definitely likes an Aesthetic (capital a) and gets design mags and probably has a pinterest account for moodboards and color schemes. I think TK likes this about Carlos, and the house as a whole, as evidenced by his joy at seeing the finished loft.

Also, nothing will ever be cuter than Carlos covering TK's eyes because he hasn't "seen the apartment finished" and he wanted to show off their house to the man that will be his husband.