Fic: Out of the Bag (Hockey, Brandon Bollig/Sean Monahan, 3300 words, Explicit)

[rsadelle]

Summary: Sean looks over at Brandon because they're practically living together - Sean hasn't been back to his own place in at least two weeks - and if Sean's taking Johnny as a cat home, realistically he's taking him home to Brandon's.

Story on AO3


Johnny - Johnny as a fucking cat - rubs up against Sean's ankles.

"I think that means you get him," Mark says.

"I'm a dog person, not a cat person."

Mark shrugs and gestures at Johnny the cat twining around Sean's ankles. "I don't think that matters to him."

Sean looks over at Brandon because they're practically living together - Sean hasn't been back to his own place in at least two weeks - and if Sean's taking Johnny as a cat home, realistically he's taking him home to Brandon's.

Brandon shrugs a little, then tells Johnny, "You'd better not shed in my car."

The carpooling has been going on long enough that no one thinks anything of that.

Sean picks Johnny up and, because it's Calgary in the middle of winter, tucks him into his jacket to keep him warm.

"Do you think he's, like, aware of us?" Sean asks once they're in the car and out of the lot. "Like, as himself? Or is he just a cat?"

Johnny meows loudly and at length, with an expression on his tiny cat face that looks like the cat equivalent of Johnny's 'you're an idiot and you don't know what you're talking about' look.

Brandon looks at Johnny, then at Sean, and sighs. "Do you want me to take you to your place?"

Sean sighs and tips his head against the seat. He knew someone might figure it out. They both knew that. And he trusts Johnny, mostly. "No."

Johnny makes a questioning meow up at him. Sean rubs between his ears, which works to make Johnny calm down and stop asking questions.


Sean naps on the couch a lot anyway, so it doesn't feel weird to just fall asleep there with Johnny the cat curled up into a ball next to his head. It's weird when he wakes up, though, and goes into the kitchen and doesn't lean against or kiss Brandon because Johnny the cat is batting a bottle cap back and forth across the floor.

Sean accepts the bottle of Gatorade Brandon hands him and leans against the counter next to Brandon to watch Johnny. His phone buzzes in his pocket, and he pulls it out to read Lance's text.

Stop hogging the cat and answer your door.

Sean mutters, "Shit," and holds his phone up for Brandon to read it.

Johnny stops batting the bottle cap around and comes over to meow questioningly up at them. Sean ignores him.

"It's up to you," Brandon says. "Johnny's probably not turning back tonight, so he's going to figure it out unless you want to go home." They've talked about telling the guys, or about the guys finding out on their own, and decided it wasn't worth it yet. Brandon's always given Sean the final vote, though, because he has more to lose, all that future of the franchise shit where Brandon's getting older and already has a Cup ring.

Johnny's meowing gets more insistent.

Sean leans against Brandon the way he didn't when he came into the kitchen. Then he kisses Brandon, ignores Johnny's surprised yowl, and texts back, We're at Brandon's.

Johnny keeps meowing very loudly.

Sean crouches down to get closer to his level. "It's not just you. The only people who know are our families. We can talk about it when you're a human again."

Johnny growls at him a little, but when Sean stands up to lean against Brandon, Johnny rubs up against Sean's ankles, so he figures he's forgiven, at least for the moment.


Lance shows up with a couple of the other guys and four different kinds of cat toys.

"You don't think that's excessive?" Sean asks.

"We gotta give him options."

Brandon confiscates half the catnip toys and stashes them in the bedroom, which also, Sean notices, provides him with a convenient excuse to close the door. Probably a good idea; there's no way to hide the fact that there are two men sharing the bedroom.

At least getting Johnny to chase cat toys around is a good reason for no one to look very closely at the rest of the place.

It's when they're taking turns petting a purring Johnny that Sam asks Brandon, "Are you going to feed us or what?"

"I thought Canadians were supposed to be polite," Brandon says.

While everyone else laughs at that, Sean exchanges a look with Brandon. There's fish in the fridge that Sean bought yesterday for Brandon to make for dinner for them tonight. Sean was really looking forward to that. And now Brandon's pulling up the menu of the Italian place down the street for the guys to choose from. They don't deliver, but it's only a couple of blocks away and they'll do takeout for Sean and Brandon.

Lance wanders off to the bathroom after he makes his choice, and when he comes back, he looks around the apartment like he's looking at it for the first time. Sean lived with Lance; if anyone's going to figure it out just from looking at the place, it's going to be him.

"Monny and I will go get it," Lance says after everyone's ordered.

At least that means they're going to have whatever conversation they're going to have away from everyone else.


"I'll drive," Lance says when they're outside.

"It's three blocks," Sean says. "We can walk it." They have four hands between them; that's probably enough to carry all the food.

"And you know that," Lance says as he falls into step with Sean. "Those aren't the shoes you were wearing earlier. There are two toothbrushes in the bathroom. Are you living there?"

Sean breathes out, his breath turning white in the cold. "Yeah."

For all that he asked the question, Lance seems surprised by the answer. "You- You're really living with Bolls? Like living with-living with, not like us last year."

"You did notice there's only one bedroom, right?"

"Yeah," Lance says, "I guess."

They don't talk the rest of the way to the restaurant, but Lance gives Sean another look when the hostess greets them with, "Good evening, Mr. Monahan."

Sean smiles at her. "Hi, Kelly. Brandon called in an order."

"Let me go grab that for you."

Lance very pointedly does not say anything about it while Kelly goes to the kitchen and comes back with one of the busboys helping her carry their order to the front.

"It looks like you're having a party," Kelly says as she hands over the credit card slip for Sean to sign.

"Just a bunch of hungry hockey players," Sean says. Brandon called in his card, but Sean adds a tip and signs it anyway; it won't be the first time one of them has signed for it when it was on the other one's card. "Thanks Kelly."

Kelly holds the door for them and says, "You have a good night," as they leave.

"So, like, really living together," Lance says halfway down the block.

"Yep," Sean says.

"Does Gratts know?" Lance asks a few steps later.

Sean groans, because, fuck, now he's going to have to tell Gratts before anyone else does. "No," he says. "Just our families, and now you and Johnny. Maybe the other guys if they figure it out like you did."

Lance bumps into him, hard enough to make Sean take a step sideways, but not enough to make him fall in the snow. "Those fuckers aren't as observant as I am."

Sean laughs. "We've been mostly living together for, like, three months. I don't think you're that observant."

They scuffle - carefully enough not to drop everyone's food in the snow - the rest of the way back to the apartment.

Sean helps Brandon get out plates and utensils, and he gets everyone drinks while Brandon breaks up pieces of a plain chicken breast to put on a small plate for Johnny.

They eat spread out over the living room with Johnny trying to get them all to feed him parts of their meals and the rest of them taking turns googling what you can and can't feed to cats.


The guys leave after dinner, without anyone seeming too concerned about Sean staying.

"Boums figure it out?" Brandon asks while they're cleaning up the kitchen.

"Yep." Sean puts his arms around Brandon and leans into it when Brandon hugs him back. "I'm going to have to tell Gratts."

Brandon presses his lips to Sean's cheek and stays there for a long moment. "Tonight?"

"No," Sean says. "But probably soon."

Brandon kisses him. "Okay. You do what you need to do. We'll figure it out."

Sean kisses Brandon a little longer, until he's interrupted by an insistent meow at his feet. Brandon laughs and steps away from Sean.

Sean looks down and makes a face at Johnny the cat, who doesn't look the least bit apologetic. Sean tells him, "You're a terrible friend," before he follows Brandon back out to the living room.

Johnny deigns to sit on Sean's lap and let Sean and Brandon pet him while they watch TV for a while, and he's purring happily by the time they're ready to go to bed.

"Sorry, buddy," Brandon says when Sean lifts Johnny off of his lap. "You're not sleeping with us."

Johnny stalks around in an offended circle while Sean turns the blanket on the back of the couch into an approximation of a cat bed on the couch. "Try this out."

Johnny jumps up and seems to find it to his liking because he settles down in it instead of complaining.


Sean leaves the door to the bedroom cracked when they go to bed so Johnny the cat can get to them if he needs to.

"This is not how I thought today was going to go," Sean says when he's settling into bed with Brandon.

"Me either," Brandon says. He reaches across the bed to pull Sean against his chest. They won't fall asleep like that - they both like their space - but it's nice for a little bit. "Guess this means date night is moved to tomorrow."

"Maybe," Sean says. "If Johnny turns back."

"Mmm, let's hope so." Brandon nuzzles Sean's cheek. "We didn't bring any of his clothes home with us. If he turns back overnight, he'll have to borrow something from one of us."

Sean thinks about that for a second, and then collapses into laughter that lasts until Brandon stops it by kissing him. Sean kisses back, slow and easy.

"We're not having sex with him here," Sean says against Brandon's lips.

"No," Brandon agrees, "we are not. But we can still make out a little."

Sean has no objections to that, and they make out, soft and slow, no urgency or purpose to it, until they're both starting to fall asleep. Brandon mumbles a goodnight as they move apart to get comfortable; Sean mumbles something back that approximates the same thing and hopes Johnny's his usual human self in the morning.


Johnny is still a cat in the morning, which Sean finds out when he wakes up before his alarm because Johnny is sitting on his chest and batting at his face with one paw. At least his claws aren't out.

"Okay, okay," Sean says, putting his hand up to fend off Johnny's paws. "I'm awake. What do you want?"

Johnny meows, and jumps down off the bed. He stops at the door and meows again.

Sean drapes his arm over his face and groans.

Next to him, Brandon chuckles lightly and says, "He's your cat."

Sean groans again, and then heaves himself out of bed and follows Johnny out to the kitchen. "What do you want?"

His answer comes in the form of Johnny circling around the water dish they left out for him and meowing pitifully.

Sean gives him fresh water and gets the leftover chicken out of the fridge to break into pieces for him. "You couldn't wait, like, twenty more minutes?"

Johnny meows at him, and it's obviously an insistence that, no, he could not wait twenty more minutes.

"You're a menace," Sean says. He rubs his fingers over the top of Johnny's head and goes to brush his teeth. By the time he's dressed, Brandon's in the kitchen making breakfast.

Sean goes over to him and kisses the back of his neck. "Morning."

"Morning." Brandon flips the bacon, then turns around and kisses Sean.

Johnny's affronted yowl breaks them apart, and Brandon leans his forehead on Sean's shoulder.

Sean rubs Brandon's shoulder. "I really hope he turns back today." He looks down at Johnny. "I really hope you turn back today."

Johnny's meow seems to agree with him.

Sean steps back and googles what they can give Johnny while Brandon finishes making breakfast. His research shows that they can put a little bit of egg on the plate for Johnny.

Johnny seems pleased by that; he purrs and rubs up against Sean's legs while he and Brandon eat.


They have a little time before they have to go to practice, so Sean sits on the couch with a dangling feather toy to wave around for Johnny to chase. Johnny gets pretty into it, jumping and leaping around the living room to try to catch the feather. It's a lot of fun trying to keep it away from him. Johnny meows forlornly when Sean puts the toy away because it's time to go to practice.

"Sorry, buddy," Sean says. "Time for practice. Are you going with us?"

Johnny meows brightly and runs to wait for them by the door.

"Maybe he'll turn back today," Brandon murmurs as he walks past Sean to the door.

Sean stifles a laugh and shrugs on his coat.

Johnny refuses to be picked up before they go outside.

"There's snow," Sean says. "And you're a cat. You don't have shoes. Your feet are going to freeze."

Johnny keeps sliding away from him and hissing.

Brandon is the one to get Johnny, picking him up by the scruff of his neck and tucking him into his jacket before he tosses his keys at Sean. "You're a cat," Brandon says sternly. "We're taking care of you right now, and we're not going to let you freeze."

Johnny makes a few more protesting noises, but by the time they're in the car, he's nestled into Brandon's jacket and purring.

Sean reaches over at a stoplight to rub behind Johnny's ears. "You'd think he'd be more reasonable than an actual cat."

Johnny makes an annoyed meow, but calms down when Brandon pets him.

"The loss of independence is probably starting to bug him," Brandon says.

Johnny gives out a small meow and butts his head against Brandon's hand.

"I know, Johnny," Brandon says. "We're all hoping you turn back today."

Johnny's purring fills the car, and next time Sean looks over, he's rubbing his whole face against Brandon's hands. Sean's more of a dog person, but it's cute, and Brandon's consideration for other people - even, apparently, when they're not exactly people at the moment - is part of what Sean loves about him.


Johnny's perfectly calm letting Brandon carry him into the rink, but once in the locker room, he demands to be put down and then races around getting pets from everyone and batting at skate laces.

The earlier tussle over going out into the snow seems to have made Johnny be a little more sensible, because he follows the team out to the ice but then hops up onto the boards - it takes him two tries - and watches practice from there.

Sean doesn't see him change back. The last time he looked over, Johnny was a cat delicately perched on the boards. The next thing he knows, there's a distinctly human yelp coming from that direction and he looks over to see a completely naked Johnny swearing as he tries to stand up from the ice.

"Where are those catlike reflexes now?" Lance yells at him from across the rink.

Johnny accepts Mark's hand up and flips Lance off. The way he stalks off the ice and toward the locker room is a lot like the affronted way he stalked off when he was a cat.


It's early enough into practice that Johnny joins them on the ice before they're done. He stays late, but grabs Sean's jersey before Sean can leave the ice.

"Don't leave without me." Johnny stares Sean down.

"Okay," Sean says. "Fine. I won't leave without you."

Sean uses the time between when he's ready to go and when Johnny's ready to go to hand over the car keys to Brandon, hang out with Boums, and have some lunch.

"You don't get to say anything," Johnny says in the car.

Sean doesn't, but he does raise his eyebrows when they go to Timmy's and Johnny orders them both coffee and a box of Timbits.

"I was a cat for twenty-four hours," Johnny says, pointing at Sean. "I'm having Timbits."

"I didn't say anything," Sean says.

Johnny gets back in the car and eats two of the Timbits before he turns the car on. "I thought we were friends."

"Hey," Sean says, "it's not about you. We really didn't tell anyone other than our families."

"We're supposed to be the future of this team," Johnny grumbles. "We can't do that if you're keeping secrets."

"I might not get to keep being the future of this team if we don't keep this one," Sean shoots back. "No one wants to be the team with the first out gay guy on it."

"Any team that doesn't want you on it is stupid," Johnny says, but it's a lot less angry than he was before. He eats a few more of the Timbits as he drives. "I won't tell anyone."

Sean accepts that and Johnny's offer of some of the Timbits as an apology.

"How long have you and Bolls been," Johnny waves one hand around, "whatever?"

"About a year," Sean says. They have a date they decided was their anniversary after the fact, but about a year is enough detail for him to give Johnny. "We've been pretty much living together for the last three months."

"That's a long time." Johnny looks over. "Like, serious kind of long time."

"Yeah," Sean says. "I'm not going to ask him to marry me tomorrow or anything, but it's pretty serious."

Johnny drops him off in front of Brandon's building. "Thanks for feeding me and stuff when I was a cat."

"You weren't going to let anyone else take you home," Sean points out. Still, he reaches out to exchange a fist bump with Johnny before he gets out of the car. "See you tomorrow."


Brandon's watching TV on the couch when Sean lets himself into the apartment. Sean kicks off his shoes and goes over to sit next to him. Brandon puts his arm around Sean's shoulders and accepts his Timmy's cup when Sean offers to share the rest of his coffee.

"Things okay with Johnny?"

"Yeah." Sean reaches up and laces his fingers through Brandon's where they rest on his shoulder. "He said he won't tell anyone, but the guys are probably all going to know pretty soon."

Brandon kisses his temple. "Do you need to call Gratts today?"

Sean sighs. "Probably." He squeezes Brandon's hand. "How about if I blow you and we take a nap first?"

Brandon grins at him. "I thought date night wasn't until tonight."

Sean grins back. "You can consider it a down payment on dinner."

Brandon laughs and pulls Sean up from the couch. "Bed, so I can fall asleep comfortably after you blow me."

"I might take back that offer if you're not going to reciprocate."

Brandon grins over his shoulder. "I might reciprocate if you're lucky."

Sean likes his chances.