lightningboltreader

[lightningboltreader]

Winter 

"So, tell me everything."

"There's not much to tell, really," Henry says, smiling into the phone when Pez sighs dramatically. 

"Henry. You are young, beautiful, living in an exciting city half a world away, and you say there's nothing to tell?"

"I'm over thirty," Henry counters as he strains his tea into his mug. "I found a gray hair three days ago, and I'm in Georgetown—the most exciting thing I've seen is the neighbor from three houses down trying to fight a ticket for double parking."

"Was he successful?"

"No."

Pez hums. "You should get out more."

"That's not why I'm here. I'm here to work."

"And how is that going?"

"Dreadfully. Everything I write is dull, awkward, and foolish."

Read More on Ao3

#from an icy stoop to a heart melting romance #it’s love #rwrb #fic rec

[lightningboltreader]

RAFAEL SILVA 2021 | 2024

#brian this service 🫡 #rafael silva

[lightningboltreader]

Fic: What if he's written 'mine' on my upper thigh?

summary: Actions have consequences; Carlos wears shorts so of course TK needs to sink his teeth into his beautiful thighs and worship every inch of his skin.

a/n: a year ago we started talking on here and I'm so happy to talk to you daily and call you a friend @herefortarlos. thanks @lightningboltreader for the beta and support <3

#happy friendaversary !!! #911 lone star #lightningboltreader betas

[lightningboltreader]

So @mooshkat did the coolest thing ever and continues to be the best and sent me our baby for if I’m going down, I’m taking you with me as a HARD COPY and it’s so fucking beautiful 😭😭😭😭 with art by me and the lovely @birdclowns as well in side

I’m so 🥺 rn

#SCREAM #911 lone star #this is so fucking cool

[lightningboltreader]

are you the gay who can drive or the gay who can cook

#🚗🚗🚗 #i’m the driver pile in #pls bring snacks i can’t cook

[lightningboltreader]

Artwork for the Fic:

all of my wildest dreams just end up with you and me

Commission for Rachel@sznofthesticks♡thank you!

Made for this artwork♡

Romance Novel cover

TK's socks pattern

#OH MY GOD #all these little details are incredible!! #911 lone star #tarlos fanart

[lightningboltreader]

I haven’t thought about that in years. Maybe I wouldn’t have, if…

#🥹 the micro expressions of joy in this memory #911 lone star

[lightningboltreader]

#i want to watch Gina’s happy dance on repeat #JOY #911 lone star

[lightningboltreader]

Cee’s Art Masterlist (2nd edition)

Tumblr ate the first one

1-6 of the hand painted Hands Series

Hand painted Tamale deleted scene

Hand painted Season One TK

Digital

Seeing their universe for the first time

That’s where his face goes

Let’s have some fun

Pumpkin spice Tarlos

The Lovers

Nanteo

Puppy Snuggles

TK’s Wedding Night

That’s his baby!

Sometimes love is black and white

Mythology pt 1

Bubbles

Cutie patooties

Untitled: uniform

Yellow hoodie kiss

John Wick Au Masquerade Ball Scene

Carlos: baby boy

Paul: King Shit

Marjan

Lou II

Scooby Gang

Eyes of Tarlos

They’re Married

#pffffft sorry for being here??? #lmao i am sorry i haven’t had you and your art for my whole life #911 lone star #love love love

[lightningboltreader]

#the love! #cee this is gorgeous #911 lone star

[lightningboltreader]

thank you for the tags @carlos-in-glasses @heartstringsduet @nancygillianmvp @bonheur-cafe and @sznofthesticks! You're queued :)

-

TK strips methodically once the door is closed behind him and turns the water on. He stares at himself in the mirror and feels as if he’s looking at an ancient portrait of a distant relative instead – there’s some resemblance in the likeness that stares back at him with slightly parted lips and drooping features but there’s a haunted, hollow look behind his eyes and it doesn’t look like the reflection he used to recognize. He looks old and tired, dull like a flickering lightbulb on its last legs, worn out and flat like an overused tire with no treads left to speak of.

It isn’t the first time he’s seen such an empty look on his own face, it’s just the first time in a very long while. TK’s put so many things behind him, anchored them firmly in his past and slammed a door of steel and iron behind them so they can’t follow them into his new life. The only person here who knows the extent of his failures is his dad, and Owen rarely mentions it anymore. TK gave Carlos the middle school book report version but not more than that, and Carlos has never asked for further explanation. TK feels like a gate has been lifted and the ghosts that haunt his past are suddenly swirling around him, and maybe, he thinks as he balls his hands into fists and tries to shatter the mirror with his mind so he doesn’t have to face himself anymore, the gate was made of her.

Tk turns away from it. He steps into the shower, lathering soap into a dark blue bath puff until it’s bubbly and trying to scrub the spiders off his skin. They used to be such a familiar presence. Almost comforting, because they were predictable. It took TK so long and so much work to get rid of them.

Twice, he managed it. Twice he managed to pick himself up and bleed the poison from his system and rebuild. After he lost Carlos, TK’d spent a week terrified that they might come back and he might not be strong enough to resist them, or scrub himself clean a third time afterward. They never did and he was proud of that, even as he drowned in the soul-deep sorrow of lost love. But this is worse than that. Carlos was gone, but he wasn’t gone. The possibility of reconciliation was always floating in the distance, and TK could have reached for it sooner if his pride hadn’t set up so many roadblocks. This isn’t the same. He could reach for his mom but he would be reaching into a void that he won’t be given permission to enter. She didn’t come with him to California but she could have. She didn’t follow them permanently to Texas but she could have. TK can’t follow her wherever she’s gone to this time.

It strikes him as he roughly kneads shampoo into his hair that he’s already forgotten what her laughter sounds like. He can’t conjure the sound of it in his imagination, as much as he tries. He bites the inside of his cheek until he tastes blood and then spits it down the drain, watching as the water pooling around his feet is pink for a few seconds before it runs clear.

Tags under the cut

Tagging @theghostofashton @birdclowns @reyesstrand @strandnreyes @cold-blooded-jelly-doughnut

@actual-sleeping-beauty @thisbuildinghasfeelings @herefortarlos @tailoredshirt @goodways

@alrightbuckaroo @lightningboltreader @freneticfloetry @mooshkat @liminalmemories21

@chaotictarlos @lemonlyman-dotcom @whatsintheboxmh @inkweedandlizards @reasonandfaithinharmony

@never-blooms @sanjuwrites @orchidscript @im-overstimulated-and-im-sad

@jesuisici33 @kiwichaeng @fallout-mars @honeybee-taskforce @vineofroses

@fitzherbertssmolder @safeashousespdf @eclectic-sassycoweyes @laelipoo

#even as he drowned in the soul-deep sorrow of lost love #😭😭 bringing up other sad events to contrast #tk strand #911 lone star

[lightningboltreader]

Thank you for kicking us off & for the tag @thisbuildinghasfeelings !!! 💕 There is such a plethora of early season three fics that I’ve decided to stick to one specific theme.

Break Up AUs

watching from the sidelines by @maxbegone TK tries to be friends with Carlos after the breakup. Feeling like he ruined their relationship, he’s maybe a little too supportive in his efforts to push Carlos to date someone new. Angsty and soft!

Blood on the tracks, fire in the hills by kessthenorthface I will scream to anybody who will listen about this fic for the rest of my life!!! This fic is so angsty and gritty and gorgeous. Ahh!! I left my first comment on this fic! Set 15 months after the breakup, Carlos is now a detective and he’s dating the qb for the Houston Texans. TK has been working tirelessly to pay off his debts and build up his credit, trying to better himself since the breakup. They’re thrown back together when they’re both called to a murder scene and Carlos enlists TK’s help catching a killer who’s targeting young gay men in ATX.

A safe distance by @tailoredshirt TK risks his life to save Carlos, his ex-boyfriend, during a mass shooting incident. Poor TK is left traumatized and agonizes over how/if he should talk to Carlos. Very angsty and juicy!

The Sex Pollen Incident by @hoko-onchi-writes The 126 + Carlos respond to a scene where sex pollen has been released (I’m not at all familiar with this trope!) and of course TK & Carlos breathe it in and need to bang it out. The actual emergency response is really exciting, the TNT dynamics are on point. This one is fun and funny and gives us a really sweet look into both TK and Carlos’s mindsets during the breakup. And then there’s a lotta hot sex 😂

you make me live now, honey by @ithilien-writes Carlos reconnects with Iris during the breakup and she’s the one who ends up moving into the loft. A very well done exploration into what could have happened if Iris came back in season three, and imo the way the show should have done it!!

I Swear I Love You (Te Juro Que Te Amo) by @never-blooms Ex-Mas!!! Noche Buena takes a turn when Andrea invites TK to the party. An absolutely stunning fic!!! I love a good Nocha Buena story and this one was so warm and full of everything I would expect: family, nosy siblings and aunties, chisme, delicious food and so much music!

The Ruins of Wonderland by @carlos-in-glasses Canon divergence wherein the winter storm does not hit, and TK and Carlos both attend Nancy’s 126 hang. In true Cig style this one is devastatingly angsty wrapped up in beautiful descriptive prose and ends with hilarious sex mishaps. I laughed out loud. I died…

Tagging the above authors if they’d like to play and also @paperstorm @herefortarlos @vineofroses @bonheur-cafe @ladytessa74 @literateowl @toomanycupsoftea @reyesstrand @lightningboltreader @liminalmemories21 @heartstringsduet @guardian-angle22 @certifiedflower @noxsoulmate @nancygillianmvp @sznofthesticks @morganaspendragonss @chicgeekgirl89 and OPEN TAG 🏷️

#WHAT A LIST 🍋!!!!!! #blood on the tracks is a comfort fic I’ll read over and over (today?) #excellent picks #excellent summaries #10/10 excellent post #FIC RECSSSSS #911 lone star

[lightningboltreader]

"The point is that when I see a sunset or a waterfall or something, for a split second it's so great, because for a little bit I'm out of my brain, and it's got nothing to do with me. I'm not trying to figure it out, you know what I mean? And I wonder if I can somehow find a way to maintain that mind stillness."

#chris evans

[lightningboltreader]

gonna start asking hockey dudes on tinder if they can define goaltender interference and if they give me any answer other than “i don’t know” i’m unmatching them

#katie my hero

[lightningboltreader]

happy earth day! some gouache paintings I made inspired by this beautiful, lovely & blooming world!

#pretty!

[lightningboltreader]

ANNIE MURPHY photographed by Beau Grealy for The Zoe Report

#🫠 #annie murphy

[lightningboltreader]