Concerning CATS

Author: TolkienkookAD/Aly

Category: RENT

Recommended listening: Anything from CATS. Preferably 'The Jellicle Ball'

Genre: Romance

Pairing: Angel/Collins, Tugger/Mistoffelees speculation

Summary: Angel loved the musical CATS.

Let's get one thing straight. I am not a Chelsea boy. I do not call things 'Fierce', I do not snap my fingers in Z formation unless I am very drunk, and I do not watch musicals.

Especially ones about pussycats.

Let's get another thing straight. While she is not exactly a Chelsea boy either, Angel definitely calls things fierce. She snaps her fingers in Z formation, and she loves musicals.

Especially ones about pussycats.

I'd actually never seen CATS, to the tarnish and shame of my identification as an upstanding homosexual. I've been told it's a spectacular work of art, that the film adaptation is equally good, that it is every gay boy's dream to dance in it, not to mention that life is not worth living if you haven't seen CATS at least once.

Blah, blah, blah, Angel. Can we please watch something good? Like, not about dancing cats?

Somehow it doesn't always work out that way, which is why I'm currently under court order to keep my ass on that sofa, while she puts in the DVD. Really stealing that TV and hooking it up for her was not one of my better plans. Actually, not burning that DVD or throwing it out the window the minute she came home with it last month was the mistake. She's been bugging me about it since.

The things I do for love. You'd better appreciate this, Ang.

"AHA!" I jump about a mile as she finally gets the DVD player to work and I settle down again as she fiddles with the remote, attempting to press play. I sigh and do it for her. She swats my arm. "I could have done that myself," she says.

Really. No gratitude.

We turn out the lights and settle down on the couch, her curled up in my arms, and I think that maybe I can suffer through an hour and a half of this. She takes my hand and places it on her head pointedly, and I laugh and skritch her hair. She loves it when I do that.

Really, sometimes I think I'm going to just about explode with the amount of love I have for her. She's everything I need.

But that doesn't change the fact that she's making me watch CATS. Skinny bitch.

But oddly enough, aside from the creepy eye thing they got going on with the beginning, I was sucked in from start to finish. Grissabella was my favorite—I nearly cried when she got chosen. It was so perfect.

Angel sighs contentedly in my arms and I remember that I have to pretend I hated it. Give me a break. It's what we do.

She twists around in my lap, (you're driving me frickin' wild here, Angel.) and eyes me knowingly.

"What?" I ask, indignant. Her lip twitches, and she gives way to laughter. "Don't even lie, Tom Collins. You loved it."

I grumble, "Yeah, yeah. I liked it." She laughs some more, and reaches her hands to my face. I close my eyes as she runs her hands down my cheek and around my ears. After a few minutes of contented silence I ask her, "Who was your favourite character?"

"Mistoffelees," She answers sleepily. It's late, and we're both getting a little tired. "I always thought there was something going on between him and Rum Tum Tugger. They'd make a cute couple."

I smile against her fingers, which are now running back and forth over my lips. "That they would," I answer. I scootch down the couch so I'm lying down, and she's encircled in my arms. I reach for the remote and turn off the TV. We're left in velvet blackness, and I can barely see her.

I know she's there, though, because I feel her whisper to me against my cheek, "Thanks for watching with me, love." And she presses her lips against mine with a sweetness I can't express in words. I don't let her pull far away after, and we fall asleep with our lips just barely brushing each other's.

A/N: Awwww! I got into CATS again recently, and wanted to write some A/C fluff having to do with it.

I struggled a lot with the characterization of Collins. I wanted him to be kind of patronizing, older brother like, but still kind of unable to hide the sweet self he really is. Did I do okay? Review and tell me!

TKAD