Falling | zaylor ✓

New Zealand

[#ZacBottoms]

Long story short, Zac invited Taylor to New Zealand. How could he say no? Not only did Taylor find New Zealand to be a beautiful country, but it had been a while since the two had seen each other face to face.

It was a very long journey. Taylor couldn't lie and say it was enjoyable to be stuck in just airplanes and airports for so many hours. Sitting in the cramped space of an airplane seat for even a few hours at a time was far from fun, but the trip from Nashville to a random European country to New Zealand was even worse. Luckily, since he'd been touring internationally for years, it definitely was not nearly as terrible as long flights had been when he began touring. He was used to exhaustingly long flights. And all of the sleeping he did on the flights over helped.

But getting off the plane was always the best part. Especially so when he was able to walk off to see Zac.

He was forced to wait some time until he was finally allowed to get off. His entire body ached, his back sore and legs tired. He carried the two large bags he had brought with him, his backpack on his back. The guitarist walked towards the baggage claim area to search for his friend. After a bit of scanning the area, he spotted a lost-looking Zac Farro.

The drummer was standing there, looking all around for his friend. He held up a sign made of cardboard, YORK written sloppily. He did rush the creation of the sign. He wanted to make it seem like Taylor was some snazzy guy who had hired a chauffeur or something.

Taylor couldn't help but stop where he was and take a moment to admire his friend from afar. The way he looked adorable with that pout on his face. He looked back and forth, all around the area. He pulled his red beanie further down on his head so that it was nearly down to his eyebrows.

Taylor continued walking closer, which caused Zac to finally spot him. His entire expression transformed from one of sadness to one of utter delight. He kept the cardboard sign at his side as he ran faster than ever before. He wasn't even fast anyway, but he ran like hell towards Taylor.

They ran right into each other, Zac's slightly larger body running into Taylor's, causing him to move back a bit. The two embraced, not sharing a single word. But no words were needed to express the thoughts that the two of them were both thinking.

I missed you.

Instead, their simple actions were enough. Taylor was sure they were receiving some weird looks, and Zac was fairly sure of it as well. But that was the very least of Zac's concerns, so as Taylor tried to push his friend off, Zac only held on tighter.

"Get off, Z, I can't breathe," Taylor whined, certainly exaggerating how tightly he was being held.

Zac unwrapped his arms from around his friend's body and gave him a pat on the back.

"Here, let me help you with that stuff. You must be exhausted. Let's go to the place I've been staying."

And so they went to Zac's car and he drove back to the house he'd rented for the time spent in New Zealand. And Taylor fell asleep. And Zac couldn't help but smile over the stupid faces he made and the even stupider noises he'd make. Mostly just mumbling nonsense, but there was occasionally a word that could actually be understood, but it was always some random word that had nothing to do with the word that had been spoken ten minutes before.

When they arrived, Zac was tempted to allow Taylor to sleep. But there was too much tempting sunshine and way more to get done. As cute as Taylor looked, he still looked cute awake.

He shook the guitarist awake, causing Taylor's eyes to open. He squinted over the sight of Zac. As if God was trying to get the two to fall in love, light shone perfectly on Zac's pretty face. Taylor smiled.

"We've got things to do. Come on, it's beautiful here. Let's go to the beach, there are these rocks that I like to go to. You can see everything going on," Zac explained.

Taylor brought all of the bags he brought with him into the guest room of the house Zac had been renting with all of the other people that had joined him on the trip. Even with everyone else, all Zac could seem to focus on was Taylor.

They didn't end up going to the beach that day. But they did several times throughout the weeks Taylor was present in New Zealand. And part of Zac died (in the best way possible) each and every time Taylor would pull off his shirt.

But it was exactly the same for Taylor, the way he felt towards Zac. Except he had reacted the same way back when Zac was still part of the band.

And one day, it was just them two. None of Zac's other friends. Just the two of them sitting together on the beach. All that was with them was the sound of the ocean, the waves crashing.

Taylor was skipping rocks. He'd throw them, flicking his wrist each time. Each time, Zac would ask him how the hell he was so good at it, while the drummer couldn't get one skip out of the rocks he would use.

But there was a special moment shared between the two of them. Zac stared at Taylor, Taylor stared at Zac. It wasn't awkward by any means. If anything, it was perhaps comfortable. Taylor was so taken aback by the way Zac looked. It was a weird sort of attraction. He didn't think anything of it. Just friends, right? No homo, no homo.

But one thing was for sure, one thing that Taylor had thought. There's no way anyone else could ever look that good with a mustache.

They shared laughs, talked about how much they really did miss each other. Reminisced. Zac even brought up the time on Warped Tour where he had been given a hickey, but Taylor immediately changed the subject. Something about the conversation just made something within him angry.

And just before they left and head back to Zac's temporary home, he paused.

"Wait. Look at this," Zac spoke, referring to the beautiful scenery around them. Taylor turned back around and took a look. He hadn't focused on it, but it was truly beautiful. The small little island that could be seen across the water. The very, very blue sea. It was all amazing. But, as cheesy as it is, the most beautiful thing to Zac was none of that. It was nothing that had been done thanks to Mother Nature, but it was the beautiful boy that was just mere feet away from him.

The way he found such amusement in the little things. Like skipping rocks, or seeing which one of them could eat more. Zac always won, by the way, and it would only result in both of them feeling sick.

He went to take a picture of the surroundings. Some of his favorite things. Nature, beauty, and Taylor Benjamin York. Taylor turned his body a little bit, spotting out of the corner of his eye that Zac had been snapping a photo. He raised his hand, forming a peace sign with his fingers.

The solo artist chuckled, stepped forward, and brought his arm around his curly-haired friend.

"Let's go get some food."

And that was all he needed to hear.