Cat

Cat Chapter 12

"Hey." Tac looked up at Jared and forced a smile. "You're here alone?"

"Yeah, Terry is running an errand for my grandfather." He said - trying to hide the disappointment in his voice. Howard's party was fun, particularly because of his new girlfriend. Watching him flutter about trying to quell her jealousy when ever he so much as thought about talking to someone else. Tac was keeping an eye on her should she get violent - not all abusers were male. "Plus we're taking a little bit of a break."

"That sounds familiar." Dana snorted when she over heard them. "Why didn't you do it, he's your grandfather. That way Terry could be here and you wouldn't."

"Shut up." Tac brushed her off. He wasn't really in the mood for anyones snide comments.

"Truth hurts - you really thought you were so special didn't you? That since you're dating him he'd actually show up." Dana went on. "Tell me, Tac - where does he sleep now?"

"Dana come on." Jared said. "Don't kick him when he's down." She just rolled her eyes when he defended Tac. "If you ask me I hate it when people ask for a 'break' - it's like you're waiting around for them to dump you."

"Thanks Jared." Tac said sarcastically.

"What I meant was... if you wanna go hang out some time while you're on your 'break', I'm open." Tac looked at him sharply when he said that. "I'll actually show up.

"Ah... sure!" Tac got his number and smiled as he walked off to mingle. His cheeks a little flushed as he glanced back at Tac.

"You're unbelievable." Dana said.

"Thank you." He chuckled.

"That was not a compliment. You two jumped into your 'affair' so fast you didn't stop to think about if you were actually compatible. And now that you're spending time together it's not working so you're just moving on to the next guy dumb enough to fall for your cute act."

"Oh we're compatible. Terry fits really nice up my—"

"You're disgusting." She scoffed.

"Then why are you still talking to me? If I'm such a despicable creature then be gone, Dana! Don't lower yourself by talking to me." She glared at him for a second longer before she walked off - undoubtedly going to tell Jared how horrible he was. He was frustrated. He didn't want to give up on Terry but he had been completely ignoring Tac lately in favor of training. They didn't even patrol together - Tac often found himself on the opposite side of the city because Terry lit out to handle something else. More evident now that Terry was out on a case and Tac was covering for him at a party.

He was trying, really he was but something had snapped in Terry after the ordeal with Shriek. Finding out more than half the city didn't give a shit about his efforts to clean up the streets of Neo Gotham left him feeling severely despondent. It was weird seeing Terry like that. Terry often hid his pain so nobody worried about him. He didn't need validation everyday but he needed something. And if Tac didn't figure out what he could do things would only get worse.

The party was in full swing and Tac texted Terry just to see where he was. But before he got an answer Howard and Cynthia got into a huge fight. He chalked it up to random teenage drama until Cynthia tossed Max across the room. Tac acted without thinking - when Cynthia stalked towards her he drop kicked her away. "Back off." He growled. She got up and grabbed for him but he slipped right between her legs.

Dick's training was paying off, he was able to evade her while the others cleared out of the house. He spotted Jared over her shoulder and waved him out. She got a hold of him and tossed him like he weighed nothing. Tac crashed into the dining room table and slid all the way across it before one of the legs broke and sent him tumbling to the floor. He got up as Cynthia came for him. She kicked the table and it knocked him into the wall behind him.