Entry tags:

happiness is

Chapter Eight - Cat's Out Of The Bag

Plaything

Title: Cat's Out Of The Bag (08/??)
Author: so_jayded
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 2,021
Genre: Hancest



Taylor

We left the theater with Princess tucked safely in my bag again. Zac rolled his eyes at me when I set Princess down outside the car and waited a few minutes for her to do her business. I didn't want her to pee all over my bag, the car, or me, so I let him have his little laugh at my expense.

"We're still going to Memory Chest, right?" I asked as I set Princess down in my lap in the front. "I have to get her a book."

Zac sighed as he started the car. "You've got the cat with you, Tay."

I shrugged. "I'll just put her back in my bag."

"You could hurt her, wandering around the store."

I reached across the armrest and grabbed Zac's right hand. "I'll be careful. Please, babe?" Pet names. Pet names usually got me my way.

Zac sighed and turned left, heading out towards Memory Chest rather than back towards the apartment. "You are so lucky I love you," he said and I grinned.

"I am the luckiest guy in the world. I don't know what I'd do without you."

"Starve, probably. And kill puppies."

I squeezed his hand hard. "Hey," I said, frowning. "That's not funny. I so would not kill puppies."

Zac chuckled and shrugged. "Who knows how different our lives would be if we didn't love each other? I mean, it didn't happen that way so I don't think about it."

I sat up, cupping Princess in my free hand to keep her from slipping off my lap. "You never think about it? At all?"

Zac shook his head, his hair flying into his face. I reached up and pushed it out of his eyes. "There's no reason to think about it," he said, glancing over at me briefly before refocusing on the road. "I mean, Taylor, I don't want to think about not being with you. We'd probably be miserable."

I shrugged and stayed quiet, stroking Princess' fur and Zac's knuckles at the same time. I thought about it sometimes. I thought about what it would be like to be with someone publicly - maybe because I just wanted to think about what it would be like if the fans knew I was taken instead of just thinking I was secretly sleeping with groupies and making them sign NDAs . I'd thought about it more when we were younger and still struggling with the idea of being brothers in love. It was harder then because we'd both been hiding from everyone and the idea of not having to hide was like a light at the end of the tunnel. I guess I never thought I could be open and be with Zac.

"Do you think about it?" My eyes snapped open and I looked over at Zac. He was focused on the road, but he kept looking at me out of the corner of his eye, concerned. "Taylor, you're happy, right? Where is this coming from?"

I squeezed his hand, trying to be reassuring. "I'm more than happy, Zac, and you know that. I just think sometimes... that maybe if we hadn't let ourselves fall in love with each other that our lives would just be so completely different. You might've gone and gotten a groupie pregnant or something." I paused and grinned. "Or maybe you'd've gotten caught giving Justin Timberlake a hand job. Who knows?"

Zac's nose crinkled up in disgust. "Oh, gross, Tay. Totally nasty."

"Is Nick Carter more your type?"

He let go of my hand and swatted my arm playfully, but I knew from the look in his eyes that he really was worried that I wasn't happy. That was stupid. Of course I was happy. I'd just practically suggested that I wanted to get his name tattooed on my ass for our anniversary. That was typical Zac, though. He got himself worked up over the littlest, most insignificant things.

Zac pulled the car into the lot and parked. He slid around in the seat so he was facing me and he leaned forward, pressing his forehead against mine. "You're my type," he said, and I almost didn't remember why.

"Oh," I said quietly, closing my eyes and reaching up to thread my fingers through his hair and scratch gently at his scalp. "I'm glad."

He nearly purred in content. "I thought you had to go shopping?"

"This is nice, too," I said, then I shushed him with a soft kiss.

Eventually we broke apart and I tucked Princess back into my bag. "We're going on vacation," I declared when Zac had finally pulled himself out of the car.

"We are?" he asked, surprised.

The alarm chirped as we walked toward the door and I nodded. "New Zealand, maybe. You can go see where they made Lord of the Rings and I can sit on the beach and knit."

"And who'll watch the cat?"

I shrugged. "Tabby."

"And by Tabby you mean Isaac?"

I clutched my bag carefully as I went through the doorway, careful not to jostle Princess too much. "He owes us. We're watching Tabby over our anniversary. Our tenth anniversary." Zac followed me to the shelves of books with a hand basket. I picked up a few books - a pink one with little ribbons printed on the front and another one with little kitten paws all over it. "Paws or ribbons?" I asked Zac, holding them both up in front of me.

Zac glanced between the two. "Isn't the ribbon one for like, babies? We didn't have a baby, Tay."

"She's my baby. It's not like we're going to have kids." I stuck the ribbon-covered book back on the shelf, though, and set the paw-print one in the basket. "I need to get pages now," I said, grinning, and pulled Zac down another aisle to where the pages were. I picked through the packages of sheets and put a few into the basket - mostly ones for Princess, but a few for my other scrapbooks, too. "Can you look for some music ones?" I asked him. "Or, like, ones with footprints on them? I still have tons of pictures from the last tour I need to put into that scrapbook."

Zac nodded absently and started to walk down the aisle, glancing from side to side, looking at the pages. I grinned and let my gaze fall on his butt for a second before I shook my head and picked out a few more pet pages. He came back after a few minutes and held up two packages of paper and some new edgers. "You don't have these, do you?" he asked, waving the edgers in front of my face.

I shook my head and took them from him. "Aw, this one is awesome!" I glanced around, found no one, and gave him a quick peck on the lips. "Thank you."

He smiled up at me, that face-splitting smile that always made my heart melt, and then Princess meowed loudly. "Time to go," he said, shaking his head. "Before we get kicked out."

****

Zac slipping into bed woke me up from my half-sleep. "What time is it?" I murmured, cuddling up against him and resting my head on his shoulder.

"A little after three," he whispered back. "Sorry, I was playing WoW."

I chuckled tiredly. "Nerd."

He reached up and tilted my face up. "You're the one who spent half the night playing arts and crafts."

My eyelids drooped tiredly and I laughed again. "It's not arts and crafts. I have to finish Tabby's sweater, and I wanted to make a new scarf..." I felt Zac's finger press against my lips, silencing me. I opened one of my eyes half way and looked up at him. "What?" I asked.

He shook his head and leaned down, bumping his lips against mine. His fingertips slipped underneath the comforter and tickled against my stomach. I sighed into the kiss and bit down gently on his bottom lip. He tugged on me gently, pulling me on top of him and whimpering when my hips shifted against his and pressed against his erection. My eyes caught on Princess looking up at me from her little kitty bed and I frowned against Zac's neck.

"Hon..." I whispered and Zac groaned. He bit down on the side of my throat and I gasped. "Zac, no-"

"Why not?" he asked miserably into my hair.

I shifted awkwardly. "The cat's watching."

He actually pulled away then and stared at me incredulously. "Are you kidding me, Tay?"

I shook my head and slipped off him, back onto my side on the bed. "She's watching, Zac... I don't want to, like, scar her." I frowned. "Can you imagine what her little brain would think?"

"She's a cat, Tay." He sighed. "If you don't want to, you just had to say. I wasn't going to make you have sex." He ran a hand through his hair. "I'd never, like, force you. You know that. I hope you know that."

He shifted under the covers and then shoved them away. "Zac?" I asked, concerned. "Zac, hon-"

"I'm going to take a shower," he said. His voice was somewhere between irritation and worriedness. "I'll be back later."

"Zac-"

He shook his head as a way to cut me off and it worked. I slumped back down against the pillows and pulled the comforter up around my shoulders. The bathroom door slammed across the hall and I curled up against Zac's pillow, trying to fall back asleep to the sound of the water hitting the tile. I knew I probably should've gotten up and followed him, but I didn't want to start an argument at three in the morning and I was tired, so I stayed against the mattress, waiting.

****

I stumbled into the kitchen the next afternoon with Princess in my arms. Zac hadn't woken me up for breakfast, which was really strange. He wasn't in the kitchen cooking, and he wasn't on the couch, either. I set her down on the tile and set out some kitten kibble while the coffee perked in the pot. "Zac?" I called as I filled her bowl with milk. "Zac? Where the hell are you?" No answer. Unless he'd fallen asleep in the spare room - which he'd never done before, because we'd never had a fight so bad that he felt like he couldn't come to bed - he just flat out wasn't home.

I poured myself a cup of coffee, leaned against the counter, and tried to wake up. When I turned around to put my mug in the dishwasher, I spied a note on the counter by the coffee pot. How I'd missed it when I stumbled in, I didn't know, but I had. I picked it up and scanned it quickly.

Tay-
Couldn't sleep. Went for a drive. Will be back later.
-Zac

I worried my bottom lip between my teeth as I set the note down and scooped Princess up from where she was, scurrying underfoot. "Where did Daddy go, huh?" I asked her quietly. "Should I call him?" She mewed softly against my chest and I brought her up to my face and kissed her cute little nose. "Yeah, I'll give him a call.

Sighing, I picked up the home phone line and called Zac's cell. A tinny version of 'Crazy Bitch' issued from the living room and I followed the sound out there. Of course. The phone was sitting on the coffee table, by his laptop where he'd been puttering around on the 'net and playing World of Warcraft the night before.

"Damn it!" I said angrily, throwing the cordless down on the couch and falling face-first into the pillows. "Who doesn't bring their cellphone everywhere? An idiot, that's who."

I sighed and pulled the blanket off the back of the couch and tossed it across my legs. Grabbing the remote, I settled down against the pillows facing the TV and turned on the Lifetime Network. I didn't even feel better when Princess curled up against my stomach a little while later.

NEXT