🚨🚨🚨SPOILERS FOR LOVE GAME🚨🚨🚨
Carlos vs. TK - this one has a special place in my heart. I've adapted something I wrote in a response to a comment left on Ao3. I hope no one minds!
I tossed and turned about Carlos vs. TK for ages before I wrote it - who would win, how it would play out, how they would approach it. It was really clear to me as soon as I'd written chapter 3 and 4 that Carlos was the logical winner. Many people (including myself) were rooting for TK, but at this point in the fic, Carlos is written as the better player, so I think his win was inevitable. TK has a skillset that is very niche and an undeniable natural talent, but Carlos has been working his ass off while TK has been on hiatus. Carlos is primed and ready and TK is still dusting off the cobwebs.
Obviously, chapter 5 is TK POV, and TK is a bit of an unreliable narrator at times. He's hot headed and quick to temper, and I think that coloured his perception of Carlos here. Yes, the net thing appeared rude, and seemed out of character for Carlos, but TK doesn't give him the benefit of the doubt, so I intentionally left that point unclear (Carlos really did apologise, TK just didn't see it).
As to Carlos' feelings during the match, my view is that Carlos is a consummate professional in every universe. He has a serious allergy to letting anyone down. He simply CANNOT not try. He had to win this match, and I believe that to do that, he had to almost turn himself on auto pilot and just focus on playing the best tennis he could. He had to, because there was no option to concede and compromise on his morals or his sponsors or all of his training. TK means a lot to Carlos - but we know Carlos has a very strong understanding of right and wrong, and I don't think it was wrong for him to try and win in the circumstances. Actually, it would have been wrong of him to throw the match, even though he KNOWS it will upset TK.
As Carlos says in chapter 6, I think he put his blinkers on, and once he saw TK was losing the plot, just played the most aggressive game he could to end the match quickly. I think it really hurt him to see TK hurting, and he would have wanted to be a source of comfort for him. So knowing he was not only not able to be that source of comfort, but in fact was the source of the discomfort, would have been extremely difficult for Carlos.
After the match, I think Carlos went and did his post match press conference, cool down and massage. I think he spoke with his team about how worried he was that he'd upset TK. I think Paul (who has always seen right through him) probably helped a lot by convincing Carlos that TK would eventually forgive him. Tommy would have stroked his hair and told him that he made the best out of a bad situation. Andrea would have hugged him and praised him for having a big heart. Gabriel would have patted him on his (uninjured) shoulder and said "you did what you had to do, mijo" and Tío Fernando would have had no sympathy for TK at all 😂 Tío Fernando I see as a great guy - just very utilitarian, and we come to see that he softens towards TK later.
Lastly, Carlos would have been a complete mess by the time 4 hours had passed. I believe he would have wanted to think the best of TK - that he hadn't gone and relapsed - but certainly the story TK told him in Paris would have been playing on his mind. He would have texted Judd, Nancy and Mateo incessantly, asking for any updates. He would have texted TK over and over. He would have called TK so many times his voicemail filled up. He would have gone out for a quick walk around the block himself and then run back to the hotel just in case he missed TK coming in, and then sat on the edge of the bed with his head in his hands when TK wasn't there. I didn't write Carlos as particularly religious in this fic (although his family is Catholic), but I think he would have prayed anyway. He would have been constantly asking himself what he could have done better, or whether he should have withdrawn, or whether he should have let TK win.
I don't think he would have been thinking about his feelings for TK necessarily - I think in that moment he would have been far more concerned for TK's health and safety. He just wanted TK to come back to him in one piece, and then he'd deal with whatever came next.
Sorry for the long explanation! I have a lot of feelings about Carlos vs. TK, and I know a lot of other people did too!
Love Game - Chapter 5 - Volley
