#ftlgbtales writer

[ftlgbtales]

for the drabble requests - can you do trans Sting and nb Rogue stingue?

It was strange, how much could change in a lifetime.

Raios Cheney. Charlotte Eucliffe.

They had both known from a young age that they would be together forever, but neither of them could foresee this.

“How do I look?” Sting asked, pulling his suit lapels and spinning away from the mirror.

“Incredible.”

Rogue approached Sting slowly, smiling, circling their arms around Sting’s waist.

This was his first suit, one that they had chosen together. Sting had been excited, and even if Rogue did not fully understand the relevance they were simply pleased to see their boyfriend happy.

“This is the first year that I’m excited for the ball.” He sighed against Rogue’s chest, threading his fingers through their hair.

“I still haven’t decided what to wear yet.” Rogue sighed, and Sting offered an empathetic smile.

“That dress you bought was beautiful.”

“Yeah…” Rogue winced. They enjoyed clothes of all capacity, knew that Sting loved them regardless, but not everyone outside of the guild understood their gender… or lack thereof.

And that was the dilemma: if they wore a suit, they felt as though they were presenting as too masculine, and if they were a dress then that could issues for both their boyfriend and their guild. It was frustrating, and Rogue was tired of thinking about it. They were considering going in a t-shirt and jeans, or simply just not bothering at all. That would solve their problems. But the latter in particular was not a viable option, not when this was the first ball with Sting out to the public as a man. Rogue had to be there for him, because they knew how much of a big deal for Sting this was.

“Either way,” Sting began, pressing his lips against Rogue’s cheek. “You’ll look lovely.”

Their lips met, and it was sweet. They had fallen in love as a boy and a girl, and now they stood together, a man and his partner. Rogue wanted to be with Sting forever, and was planning for such strong emotions; they had already chosen a ring. Now it was just a matter of time.

Knowing that they had that, that all the time in the world was theirs, was a beautiful and euphoric feeling. Rogue was getting dizzy from it, from the indescribably bliss of an eternity with Sting. And they realised that it did not matter what they wore. People would still talk, and Sting would still love, and the world would move on without any serious damage. All Rogue had to worry about was the next step, getting down on one knee and asking the man of his dreams to be with them forever.

It was a daunting prospect, but they were ready. With Sting on their arm, Rogue felt as though they could face the world. And with Sabertooth’s ball looming ahead, they really just might.

We will be closing this 500 word drabble game tomorrow, so if there are any last-minute ideas which you would like to see then please send them asap :)

#Anonymous #mod mollie #ftfanfics #ftlgbtales #ftlgbtales writer #Stingue #sting x rogue #gaymirajane #ftlgbtales500drabbles

[mdelpin]

Lyoke Week 2019 Prompt: Warmth AO3 | FF.Net

Stellar Performance

Summary: When Lyon learns of Gray's feelings for Natsu he decides to enlist Lucy's help to get the two stubborn mages together. Loke volunteers to act as a go-between for the two mages, but due to Fairy Tail's usual nosiness, Lyon ends up fake dating Loke instead.

Chapter 1 

Somewhere in Crocus, x-791

“Stay focused, this is a war zone!”

Lyon kept his eyes on their surroundings trying to stay ahead of the never-ending throng of dragonlings. He thought Gray would heed his warning, so he was surprised to hear him continue to speak.

“Juvia, listen for a sec. There’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you for a while now.”

"Whatever something is, I'm ready to hear it..."

“I mean it’s not that big of a deal but—”

Lyon listened on in disbelief. Could his idiotic foster brother be choosing this moment to confess his love for Juvia? It didn't make sense, Gray had said over and over he wasn't interested, so why now? Lyon hoped not, he really was enamored of the blue-haired water mage, and he'd wanted to spend some time with her in Crocus if she'd allow it.

A rustle of falling gravel caught his attention, and he saw a small group of dragonlings climb over the rubble and ignite their breath attacks, all focused on the spot where Juvia and Gray were standing.

“Juvia move!” Lyon yelled in desperation, it was too late for him to do anything himself. Gray moved and shoved Juvia out of the way, but Lyon didn’t even have time to breathe a sigh of relief as something much worse than Juvia being attacked unfolded right in front of his eyes.

A multitude of beams converged to pierce Gray's body, now occupying the space Juvia had, only seconds earlier,  Lyon could just watch as Gray collapsed to the ground with a dull thud after one last beam pierced his head.

"GRAAAAAAAAAY!" Lyon screamed in agony, suddenly not caring about the dragonlings or anything else, not now that his last remaining family member lay dead in front of him.

That's when things got decidedly strange, for suddenly, like a granted wish that he never knew he'd asked for Gray was standing in front of him once more and the same situation was playing out again. For a moment Lyon thought he'd somehow tapped into some new ability, one that let him see the future, but he could see that all of them looked disconcerted and he heard Gray utter words he hoped to never hear again.

"I died?" Gray examined his body, reassuring himself that he was still alive. Meredy reminded them where the dragonlings had come from, and this time Gray was ready, attacking them with his ice. They left the area as quickly as possible.

Lyon could tell that Gray was still shaken, but he fought on as he always did, interiorizing his feelings to analyze them later. Lyon was determined to talk to him about it before they left back to their respective guilds. The last thing Gray needed was one more thing to fester in his already overburdened soul.

The opportunity arose after the Grand Magic Ball. Lyon watched with disgust as Juvia continued to fawn over his brother, but this time Lyon was paying attention. The loss he'd been forced to witness had made him hyperaware of every little thing Gray said and did. It was the only way to really gauge how Gray was doing since he would never voice anything serious. Everything in Gray's body language screamed leave me alone, and for the first time, Lyon realized that Gray had been telling him the truth the whole time.

Lyon had expected Juvia to apologize, to realize that her constant behavior around Gray had been part of the reason for his death and to change, but she acted as if nothing had happened and that irked him. His brother had almost been taken away from them, and she was going on about being Juvia 2.0 or some other nonsense. He realized then that his feelings for her had diminished after the incident.

Gray told her off, and even then she refused to accept it, continuing to attempt to cling to him. Thankfully Natsu showed up just in time to horrify everyone with his antics. Lyon turned to say something to Gray, and that's when he noticed, even though Gray was smiling he looked troubled. He decided to ask Gray if he wanted to leave the ball.

There were no bars open, so with a mischievous look they stole a few bottles from the party and left before anyone could notice. They walked around the ruins of the city, each drinking from their own bottle, unconsciously heading towards where it had happened. They sat among the rubble and continued to drink, taking in the destruction they had been such a central part of.

“Are you okay?” Lyon asked before cursing himself. What a stupid thing to ask, of course he wasn’t okay.

Gray laughed nervously, his hand shaking as it moved to touch the spot where the final beam had pierced his head.

“What was so important you had to tell Juvia right then?” Lyon wasn’t sure Gray was drunk enough yet for him to probe but sitting in the ruins of where he’d watched Gray die was making him antsy, he’d rather be anywhere else.

Instead of answering him directly Gray seemed to be having a conversation with himself, “I died and I never even told him.”

Now Lyon was confused, who was Gray talking about? “Him?”

"Natsu," The name came out in a whisper, but Lyon still heard it and while it shocked him to learn that his brother harbored feelings for his rival it also felt oddly right.

He knew there was a lot of history between the two men, he supposed it wasn’t surprising for feelings to develop. Gray had always closed himself off from people, but from what Lyon had seen on Galuna Island and while fighting the Oracion Seis, Natsu was able to get through to his brother better than anyone else.

It begged the question, did Natsu feel the same way?

“I -- there’s still time, somehow you got a second chance, just tell him now.”

“Why would he want me?” Gray once again laughed, “I’m a mess and he’s--”

"Also a mess?" Lyon added helpfully, thinking of the Fire Dragon Slayer and his constant penchant for destruction and chaos.

"No, no," Gray's words were starting to bunch up on each other, and he waved Lyon's words away making him wonder if Gray was really that drunk or merely trying to get out of the conversation.

"Warm," Gray smiled blissfully as he said the word, his eyes almost shut, but even so Lyon had to acknowledge he hadn't seen him look so happy in years. It was a look Lyon recognized from shared evenings sipping hot cocoa with Ur when they were children, and it filled him with a longing for those simpler times.

Gray opened his eyes, his body swaying a bit,  "Don't wanna scare him, need him."

Lyon stared, he couldn’t remember the last time Gray had said so many words about how he felt in one sitting.  He must really be drunk.

Gray uttered one last phrase before collapsing in the same spot he’d died, “So tired of being cold.”

He'd passed out leaving Lyon to figure out how to get him back to his room. He was somewhat honored that Gray had confided in him, even if he'd had to be extremely drunk to do so. As he carried his brother back, he began to think about how he could help him out. If anyone deserved to be happy, it was Gray.

o-o

Front of Lamia Scale Guild - Margaret Town x-792

Natsu raced headfirst into a horde of monsters screaming “Get outta my way!” as he headbutted his way through, intent on getting his Exceed, Happy, back from Chelia.

Lyon couldn't help but chuckle at his idiocy, which he'd come to find oddly endearing. He watched as monsters flew left and right in Natsu's wake. Lyon could tell the Fire Dragon Slayer had gotten a lot stronger this last year, it was evident in the way none of the monsters were attempting to get back up. His thoughts quickly went to his foster brother and wondered with amusement what Gray would think when he saw Natsu again.

Gray had been a source of worry for him for the last few months, he'd disappeared entirely off the radar. No one seemed to know where he'd gone to and with Fairy Tail disbanded there was no easy way to keep track of its mages. Still, he'd hoped that Gray would have made a point to stay in touch every once in a while, let him know he was alright. Lyon worried about him after all.

The monsters charged ever closer to the Lamia Scale guild forcing Lyon to halt his thoughts and focus his attention on them. He got into his Ice Maker stance and was already freezing the monsters when he noticed a bright light glowing next to him. He gave a quick look to make sure that Lucy was okay and saw a man standing next to her.

He was tall, his lean body accentuated by the fitted suit he wore. He had a head of messy orange hair, and even though it was nighttime, he wore sunglasses. Lyon was intrigued as to where he'd come from but soon remembered that Lucy's magic consisted of using her keys to summon spirits from the Celestial Kingdom. This must be one of her celestial spirits, although he couldn't be sure as he had not heard her invoke any.

He continued to fight the monsters keeping his eye on how Toby and Yuka were faring, ready to lend a hand if needed. Every once in a while when there was a lull in the attacks Lyon's eyes would make their way back to the celestial spirit, he now knew to be called Leo. His magic exuded a warmth that immediately appealed to the ice mage. Leo was clearly skilled at fighting, dispensing a large number of the monsters with barely any effort. He caught Lyon's gaze and winked as he continued fighting by his master's side.

Just as quickly as the attack started it was over, they could only assume Natsu, Wendy and Chelia had defeated the mages from Orochi’s Fin that were behind it. With no enemy left to fight the mages made their way back inside the Lamia Scale guild and sat at the bar to celebrate their victory.

Lyon sat next to Lucy, there were things he wanted to discuss with her without any of the other Fairy Tail mages around.  He ignored the celestial spirit who had chosen to sit next to him, figuring since he was contracted to Lucy anything Lyon said to her should be held in confidence.

“Have you heard from Gray?” Lyon came straight to the point, it had been months since he’d heard from his brother and he thought if anyone knew where he might be it would be one of his teammates.

He could see he was wrong the moment he saw Lucy’s face become serious.

“I tried to keep track of everyone, but I lost Gray some months ago,” Lucy looked down at the table, “I’m sorry.”

Lyon shrugged into his drink, “No need, I lost track of him too. I don’t know why I’m surprised, after everything that happened at Tartaros I can imagine none of you was too keen on company.”

“I’m just worried about him you know, that was a lot to deal with,” Lyon sipped his drink slowly pondering how to bring up what he wanted to know,  “At least Natsu looks well.”

Lucy’s lips curled into a sad smile, “He does, but I can tell he still hasn’t worked through anything. Those two, huh?”

They clinked mugs in a silent toast to their friends. After a few minutes spent coming up with ruses Lyon decided this was one case where honesty would work better. “Can I ask you something?”

Lucy smiled at him, intrigued. She knew Lyon wasn’t much of a talker. “Of course.”

“You and Natsu, are you together?”

Lucy, who had been mid drink, spit out the contents of her mouth all over Lyon. "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!"

Leo began to laugh. “Are you interested in her or him?”

“Sorry?” Lyon turned his attention towards Leo as he looked around for something to wipe his face.

Leo removed a handkerchief from his suit pocket and smiled as the flustered Lyon cleaned himself off. “The name is Loke by the way.”

“Thanks, “ Lyon gestured at the handkerchief, “I’ll get it cleaned for you.” He stretched out his hand towards the celestial spirit and introduced himself, “I’m Lyon.”

Loke shook his hand firmly, “Ah, so you’re Gray’s foster brother, I’ve heard a lot about you.”

"As for my earlier question, I find humans tend to dance around the questions they really want to ask. I was just trying to save you both some time."

"Uhm, Natsu I guess," Loke was looking at him appraisingly, and Lyon was not prepared for the sharpness of his gaze. He realized that his words could be misinterpreted, "Oh not for me, for a friend."

"A friend, you say?" The gleam in Loke's eyes made no effort to hide that he didn't believe Lyon's words, but his smile was amused like he was sharing a joke only he and Lyon understood.

"Leave him alone, Loke," Lucy chastised her spirit, Loke was a flirt, and she'd seen the way he was looking at Lyon.

"No, Lyon. Natsu and I are not together," Lucy's smile was a bit sad around the edges, but Lyon couldn't detect any animosity. "The truth is Natsu's heart has belonged to someone for a very long time, I never really had a chance."

“Oh, so there is someone," Lyon was disappointed, he'd hoped he could help Gray, but if Natsu were already involved with someone else, he would have to respect it. "Does Gray know?"

At this point, both Lucy and Loke began to laugh together.

“What’s so funny?”

“No, Gray doesn’t know,” Loke took the initiative, talking although Lucy was smacking his arm yelling at him to be quiet.

“I will close your gate!”

“Actually, Princess I came here on my own power so you can’t. Besides, if he knows something then maybe Natsu could get what he’s always wanted. He’s your friend, don’t you want to help him out?”

Lucy became quiet and looked around nervously, probably worried Natsu would return soon.

"Is Gray the friend you're referring to?" Loke once again got straight to the point, and Lyon found that he really liked that about the spirit. He found himself nodding in agreement before he realized he'd just betrayed his brother's drunken confidence.

"Excellent!" Loke grinned, "I've known your brother for years, but I could never get him to admit to anything."

“Wait, you’re saying that Gray likes him back?” Lucy squealed, all vestiges of her earlier nervousness gone. “That’s wonderful!”

“Not so loud,” Lyon hissed, “I’m not supposed to know.”

He looked around to make sure no one was paying attention to their conversation.

“Are you sure about Natsu?” Lyon pressed Lucy.

"Y-yeah," To Lyon's surprise, Lucy's face had turned beet red at his question. Loke was laughing at her with uncontrollable mirth, and the sound made Lyon smile despite his confusion.

"She caught him jer--" Loke attempted to explain, but Lucy began to punch his chest repeatedly.

“Shut up! You promised you’d never tell anyone about that!”

“She’s sure,” Loke grinned, once again winking at Lyon.

“Oh,” Lyon blushed as well, although he wasn’t sure whether it was because of the implication that Natsu touched himself to thoughts of his brother or Loke’s wink beginning to affect him. He decided to go with the former, it was more comfortable than thinking he might be interested in a man. Not even a man, a celestial spirit.

He shook his head trying to clear all thoughts other than figuring out how to get Natsu and Gray together out of his mind. “So, now that we know, what do we do?”

“I think it’s obvious, we try to get them together,” Loke looked over to his master, awaiting her approval.

“I think it’s a bad idea, they’re both really private... but if we can somehow get them together,” Lucy mused, chewing on a lock of her hair, “Maybe they can help each other get through Tartaros.”

Lyon nodded in agreement, “But how do we go about it, if I start spending time with Lucy won’t it seem a bit strange? No offense.”

"You're right, so I can be the go-between. I can come and go as I please as long as Lucy doesn't need me," Loke shrugged, "Besides, it's about time those two idiots got their act together, and...I'm not averse to seeing more of you."

Lyon wasn't sure what to make of that last comment, so he just ignored it, telling himself Loke was just friendly. He kind of wished that they'd come up with another solution, Loke unsettled him, but he could put up with it for Gray's sake.

"Once we find Gray and get everyone back we'll come up with a plan," Lucy's excitement was contagious, and all three of them clinked mugs.

Talk moved on to other things, and by the time Natsu arrived with the girls they were all laughing like old friends.

@fuckyeahlyoke

#fairy tail #lyoke #gratsu #ftlgbtales #lyokeweek2019 #lyon x loke #natsu x gray #ftlgbtales writer #lyokeweek2k19 #ftlgbtfic #ftfanfics #my edits

[izukillme-moved]

freefall

fandom: fairy tail

ship: erza scarlet/mirajane strauss

for: @oceanwaves-blog (yup, ik i said i’d do an aesthetic/poem, but the poem turned out so depressing and idk how to make aesthetics at all XD) hope you like this!

genre: romance, fluff

words: 421

summary: mirajane's eyes are a sparkling, shimmering blue, like the sea and the sky and the stars all rolled into one, and erza can feel herself falling all over again, but she doesn't mind.

she's been freefalling ever since she met mira, anyway, so what's new?

---

erza swallows, mouth dry, as she kneels down slowly. mira's back is turned to her, eyes fixed on the sky sparkling and shimmering with diamond-like stars, the view more than perfect from the balcony of their shared studio apartment.

"mirajane strauss," she says, and mira whirls around, hand flying to her mouth in stunned silence as she takes in the fact that erza is kneeling down, hands behind her back. it's easy enough to connect the dots.

tears well up in her eyes, and erza soldiers on, bringing the box out from behind her back.

"we've been together for a very long time now. ever since we were, what, sixteen? that's eight years today. it's flown by so fast, it seems like hours more than years. every second with you is so perfect; i want to spend the rest of my life with you. you make me feel like i'm flying, mira. so will you marry me and make me the happiest woman on this planet?" she asks, voice tapering off to a hopeful whisper.

"oh," mirajane breathes, pink flooding her cheeks. "oh, erza,"

she falls to her knees in front of erza, collapsing into her arms, full-on crying now. she shakes and sobs, murmuring, "yes, yes, yes," over and over into erza's shoulder. erza pulls mira closer into the embrace, holding her girlfriend - no, fiancée - as she cries in happiness.

her heart soars with a sudden pride and joy, and then erza is crying, too. they hold each other like that for a very long time, just basking in each other's presence, souls warm and full and happier than either have ever been. erza's messy sobs quieten soon, as does mira's own soft weeping.

mira extricates herself from the hug and falls back on her knees, gaze locked on erza's. erza can't help but be sucked into her, just like always; her perfect, round snub nose, her too-kissable rose-petal lips, her dark skin that sets off her white hair so beautifully... mirajane is exquisite, and erza is drowning in her, drowning every minute, mirajane all she breathes and feels and sees, and she can't help but want to be suffocated by how much she loves this woman.

mirajane's eyes are a sparkling, shimmering blue, like the sea and the sky and the stars all rolled into one, and erza can feel herself falling all over again into the bottomless abyss that is mirajane strauss, but she doesn't mind.

she's been freefalling ever since she met mira, anyway, so what's new?

#erzajane #erza scarlet #mirajane strauss #fairy tail #mirza #ft #ftlgbtales #ftlgbtales writer

[ft-wwtdp]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Fairy Tail Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Laxus Dreyar/Freed Justine Characters: Laxus Dreyar, Freed Justine Additional Tags: Sleepy Sex, Fluff and Smut, Injury, Sleepy Cuddles, Frottage, Clothed Sex, Shirtless, Coming In Pants, Sleeping Together Series: Part 13 of When We Take Different Paths Summary:

Laxus and Freed are exhausted and injured, but they still manage to get up to mischief. It's just a bit creative.

(Fic #6 for When We Take Different Paths MLM week.)

Subitted by @friendlyneighborhoodfairy

#fairy tail #wwtdp #wwtdp fics #wwtdp slash #fraxus #submission #ftlgbtales event #ft alt ships #ft lgbt+ #ftlgbtales writer #ftlgbtfics #ftlgbtales #tired

[xnovamore]

With The Stars as Witness

Happy Femslash Fairies! I’m to upload as much femslash as I can this month so were starting off with erlu.

Read on Ao3

Lucy Heartfilla was the most beautiful enigma she had ever attempted to solve. Somewhere along the way, Erza just stopped trying.

Lucy loved stargazing. It was one of the first things Erza learned about her. Truthfully, Lucy loved a lot of things. She was a mix of a perfect compliant princess with a rebellious free-spirted warrior who never stopped until she got what she wanted. She had Erza wrapped under her spell from the first time they met.

The day they met Lucy flashed her the sweetest royal smile with a red-hot blush on her face. Erza had assumed that this would be just another mission protecting shy and timid, yet undeniably beautiful, princesses from the outside world.

That idea disappeared the second she was alone with the princess. Sure, she noticed the looks the other woman sent her over the dinner with her father, and judging by the king’s frown she would bet her sword that he noticed too, but nothing could prepare her for just how alluring Lucy would be. With a coy smile, quick tongue, and a tug on her wrist, Erza found herself defying the king’s very strict orders to keep the princess inside the castle to accompany the girl on an unprompted shopping spree for non-armored clothes for Erza.

As great as that armor makes your arms and shoulders look, you need non-battle clothes Erza.

Ah you’re so beautiful! I mean you were already beautiful, but you look so soft in this dress!

Gosh Erza you’re so pretty. You’re going to make me fall in love with you!

See Erza Scarlet was a battle-hardened warrior that had long perfected her stoic face to intimidate anyone she met. All that fell away when Lucy instated on helping her try on dress after dress all the while telling her how beautiful she was or toned her arms and legs were. Honestly, she thinks she saw drool when Erza tried on a dress that looked more like lingerie. She couldn’t tell which of them blushed more. They finally left the shop with Lucy’s arm locked around her’s and their multiple bags of dresses on the way to be delivered back to the castle. As the princess’ bodyguard, she had insisted they return home but Lucy wasn’t ready for their day out to end just yet. A soft, curvy body pressed against her’s and a plea to stay out longer turned into a trip to the nearby kingdom to visit some friends of Lucy’s (whom her father doesn't know about of course). Gosh Erza was weak, but watching the princess smile and laugh with her friends while keeping her arm around Erza’s more than made for it. When Lucy turned to wink at her after dropping her arm to instead clasp their hands together, Erza decided she would allow herself this one moment of weakness. Just this one. 

It was pathetically easy for Lucy to get them up onto that hill. After spending a day with the bubbly flirtatious blonde with a warrior’s spirt and a heart of gold, Erza would move mountains for her. She would fight the toughest meanest monsters in the world if it meant keeping this girl safe and by her side. She was already that deep under her spell. So, when Lucy asked if Erza wanted to see the stars, the only acceptable answer was yes.

They stood there as Lucy pointed out different constellations accompanied with anecdotes about the stories behind them. Her arm was now wrapped around Erza’s waist and her head laid on top of her shoulder. Erza hummed into Lucy’s hair to show she was listening and inhaled the princess’ sweet scent. She smelled like strawberries and Erza desperately wanted a taste.

Which is why she remained close when Lucy lifted her head to smile at her.

“Hey Erza,” she called so soft and sweet. “I can really see myself falling in love with you. It’s a bit scary honestly. Does it scare you too? This instant connection between us? You feel it too right?”

She didn’t answer, but given the way Lucy softly pushed their lips together, she felt as though the other woman knew exactly what she was thinking. She let the blonde guide her hands around her waist, over the curve of her ass, and to the clasp holding her dress together. They came together that night with the stars as witness to the union of two newfound lovers, or rather, two souls reuniting again once more.

#femslash fairies #ftlgbtales #ftlgbtales writers #ftlgbtales fics #erlu #my writing #my post #drabbles

[oceanwaves-blog]

So I know I could leave comments on all the stories that was post since "When we take different path " started but most of the time I just don't know what to say even if the story is so good, so here's a little message to all the writers of this event: you did an incredible work! I had so much fun reading each of your stories so far and I'm looking forward for what will come next!

We don't say it often but you're all amazing and I'm so glad we're all part of this!

So thank you, all of you, for your stories that I read before I sleep or when I wake up and Thank you for your stories that I could see myself through.

@ftlgbtales

#ftlgbtfics #ftlgbt #wwtdp #wwtdp fics #when we take different paths

[littlemissheartfilia]

What My Reflection Is

Part of my contribution to @ftlgbtales first October event and personally one of my favorite additions to The Rolling Pin universe.

Summary: Sting Eucliffe's day could not get any worse. He was drowning in responsibilities, stress, and just plain losing control of reality. Little does Sting know how much his friends already see his struggle. So he learns that no matter what Rogue will be there for him.

Pairing(s): Stingue, Yukinerva

Setting:  Modern day AU. This exists within a universe I set up in a OS ages ago. The OS is The Rolling Pin if you wanna check it out on AO3? Also takes place the morning after Protect What’s Yours. Not at all necessary to read those in order to understand this though, everything’s self explanatory.

Sting looked out of the arched brick windows wishing he could find their beauty today. Every day since he started working at The Rolling Pin coffee/bakery shop he had loved to stare out those windows. Vines framed the sides of the glass, hanging in perfect aesthetic formation with the red brick of the building.

Only a month into living in Sabertooth square and working this job and Sting had already filled a scrapbook with various polaroids, prints and scraps of memories from his time working here. He liked looking back at the scrapbook sometimes when the pressure of being on his own in a new place got to him.

Yes this place was lovely, but today the beauty of it fell on blind eyes. Sting found nothing about today lovely at all. When he moved here he had still had some money left over in a bank account for emergencies. But now that so many weeks had passed most of that was gone to handle rent and daily expenses.

Sure he had a job but cashiering at the local bakery meant he was only rolling in doubt and uncertainty rather than the big bucks. He’d been trying for a long time now to make a name for himself as a photographer but every post on his website was like screaming into the void. No one heard and no one cared. To top it all off Sting hadn’t had the money to keep paying his medical bills and had fallen behind on his T in favor to keep paying rent. And when he fell behind on his T bad things happened. This time he’d started bleeding.

So here was Sting, bleeding and in pain, hunched over the counter at his work watching customers happily munch on their donuts. Even the sight of food made his stomach churn. He hadn’t eaten anything all day but at this point he doubted he could even force food down his throat.

He had tried for most of his shift to ignore the pain and his humiliation but he still had two more hours to go and Sting was ready to drown himself under the nozzle of the coffee maker while it was on full blast. At least he was here alone with Yukino, so no one else had to see his shame. The particular no one he was worried about was Rogue. Saturday’s were his days off and the bakery was small enough to be run smoothly by him and Yukino, so Sting was safe for today.

Or so Sting thought. No sooner had he told himself it was a good thing his boss wasn’t here than did the wind chimes sound, signaling the front door opening, and Rogue strut in. He was in the most dressed down apparel Sting had ever seen on him, just jeans and a Tee that featured the logo of some heavy metal band Sting didn’t recognize.

But his hair was still pulled back into that too attractive ponytail and Sting’s knees grew weaker than they already were. He nearly bit down on his tongue in shock. Sting quickly stood up straight, definitely not leaning his head into his hand with a bored expression while at work behind the counter. Definitely not unprofessional.

“Heeyy,” Sting called trying to let the word drag out so Rogue would think it was nothing more than a friendly greeting.

“Afternoon, Sting,” Rogue said naturally flashing him a perfect smile. Yukino came around the corner carrying a tub of dirty dishes and stopped by Rogue with a sweet smile.

“Hello, Rogue. I thought you didn’t like to come in on Saturdays?”

Rogue chuckled and scratched at the back of his neck. Even the way he rose his arms was attractive. God, I’m so gay. Sting thought as another wave of pain hit him and he scowled. And miserable...oh yeah. He quickly looked away, pretending to be busy messing with the pastry display even though it was already arranged to perfect symmetry.

“I don’t,” Rogue replied. “But apparently Minerva forgot the books here yesterday so she asked me to get them.”

Yukino sighed and said in an overly sweet voice, “She’s still hung over huh?”

Rogue gave a half scoff half chuckle. “Yeah. But she insists on doing the finances. I even told her to take today off but she wouldn’t have it.”

Yukino’s laugh was as lovely as the wind chimes on the front door. “She tries very hard, doesn’t she?”

“Almost too hard,” Rogue agreed. “Anyway keep up the good work.” Rogue gave her a pat on the arm and she nodded, disappearing behind the door of the kitchen with her tub of dishes.

Rogue walked over by the counter where Sting was still fumbling with the pastries. “How are you holding up?” came Rogue’s deep voice. Even though Sting knew he was there he hadn’t been expecting a chat and the sudden address startled him. He jumped, hitting his head off the top of the glass display.

“Ah!” Sting yelped rubbing at the top of his messy head of hair. Gods he hoped he didn’t look as horrible as he felt. Up close like this Rogue would definitely notice. “Jus-Just fine,” Sting said none too convincingly.

Rogue raised an eyebrow. “I’m sorry I had to call you in today. But after Lucy left to go pursue her big writer’s break we’ve been short some really capable workers.”

Sting shrugged. “‘Is fine. Liquor doesn’t get to me as much as it does Minerva.” Sting tried for a chuckle but even to him he sounded unenthusiastic. “Glad I can be your secondhand fill in, though.” Ah yes, the only thing Sting knew how to do when nervous. Self-deprecate your way into a joke and out of a conversation.

Rogue gave him a patient smile as he moved behind Sting and began searching the register drawers for the book of the store’s income and expenses. “You’re much more than that by now, Sting. You’re part of the family.”

Sting scoffed and returned to trying to look busy, this time he chose a rag from his waist apron pocket and wiped down non-existent spots on the counter. “We’re a family now? What does that make me, the adopted son you just can’t wait to send back into the system or the step-child that’s only in the family from a previous marriage?”

Rogue gave him a sly look and tried for a chuckle. If Rogue was going to say more Sting never got to hear it. A horrible retching sound came from the front of the store. There was a taller glass display that held the pastry specials on top of the register counter. So his view was blocked but Sting saw enough to catch a little kids head ducking by a table and the sound that followed after it.

Rogue lifted an eyebrow. “That makes you the poor sap who gets to clean that up,” he finished. Sting groaned and feigned annoyance but he knew better than to argue with the boss.

Groggily he stepped out from behind the counter and walked over to where a very distraught mother was soothing her sons back while he groaned into a napkin. As soon as Sting approached she looked up horrified. Sting didn’t think he looked that bad today?

“Is everything ok?” Sting asked in his nicest voice.

The mother was the one to reply, shaking her brown head of hair. “I think he just had too much to eat.” Then she leaned into her son and whispered into his ear though Sting could still hear it, “I told you you should have stayed home today, you’re not well enough.”

The son grimaced but he was done puking and he pulled the cloth from his mouth to grumble, “‘m fine, mom.” He spat into the napkin, folded it and wiped his mouth once more with the clean end.

Sting looked over the contents of the boys stomach on the floor. Crouching down Sting made eye contact with the kid who had to be little older than twelve. “Do you want a water or anything? On the house?”

The kid gave him a nasty side eye up and down then turned his head away. “You’re bleeding through your pants,” he said loudly and clearly. Sting’s eyes shot wide open. “Gross, get away from me, fag.”

“Markus!” the mother reprimanded before shoving her child to the front door and barely looking Sting’s way. Subconsciously Sting looked down, he was indeed bleeding through his only pair of white pants. It had gotten so bad a blotchy spot even appeared on the small section that hung down from his navy blue apron.

When he stood up he could practically feel liquid running down his leg and to make things worse that kid’s outburst had every eye in the small bakery staring at him. Someone shuffled behind the counter and Sting turned to see Rogue staring blankly at him. Soon Rogue’s eyebrows scrunched together and he began to walk around the side of the counter, abandoning the little black book they used for their finances in his stride.

Sting swallowed roughly. His heart was pounding, he couldn’t stop sweating and that puke right under his nose made him queasy. Top it off with Rogue’s confused gaze as he strode forward and Sting wanted nothing more than to evaporate.

Before Rogue could reach him Sting stumbled backwards and held up a hand. “I’ll get the mop,” he said and practically ran to the back room.

Yukino caught sight of him from the open door to the kitchen, her gaze curiously following his movements completely unaware of anything that just happened. She must have sensed Sting’s urgency though as he ripped an empty mop bucket from under the industrial sink and began filling it.

Yukino walked over, concern in her face. “Are you-”

“No,” Sting answered curtly without any explanation, already starting to rip off his ruined apron. “Rogue needs a mop out there,” he said then left the back room, with the tap still running water into the bucket, to slip between the register counter to the customers bathroom. It was the only bathroom they had in this place. He locked the door with finality praying to any god that would listen that Rogue hadn’t just witnessed everything he thought he had.

It wasn’t like Sting had ever formally come out before. By the time he realized he was trans it was senior year in high school and his father had helped him so much with the transition. But he was about the only person who did. Sting’s slow transformation didn’t go unnoticed by the students or faculty but he had never really told anyone either.

His senior year didn’t end like all the other kids did; in happy memories and scholarships for college. His senior year ended in medical bills and miserable life experiences. This town was supposed to be an out from that. Sabertooth Square was supposed to be his do over.

It had worked for a while. He found friends that took him for who he was and he never had to explain to them his gender. Though they never knew him in the past so they probably wouldn’t have known anyway. Well they definitely wouldn’t have known if this didn’t just happen.

“Oh my god…” Sting breathed, beginning to hyperventilate. “Did that really just happen?” He stared at himself in the mirror and nearly flinched. He looked so pale, a few of his tan freckles stood out. But they were usually so light that they couldn’t be seen on his face. Only when he was sick or low on blood sugar was he ever pale enough for them to show. He didn’t think he was either right now but so much was wrong with today why not add another thing to the list?

Sting’s blonde hair was messy, sticking back in spikes like it usually does but the front was limp and sweaty. He had bags under his eyes that he didn’t think were there before but maybe the flourescent lights of the bathroom were just getting to him. He hated his own reflection. He began to despise the reflection that stared back at him with such uncertain eyes, just like he had years before his transition. All that anguish he felt was just swimming under their glossy surface begging to come out.

He blinked a few tears away and turned to sit on the toilet. Head in his hands he tried to control his breathing. He had to get out of these clothes somehow. It was only an hour and a half until he got to go home damnit why was this happening now?

His heart leapt out of his chest when he heard someone knock on the door. Out of habit and stupid reflex he croaked out, “Be done in a minute!” Voice obviously too high pitched and cracked to sound casual.

“Sting?” Rogue’s deep voice sounded through the thick pine door. “Is everything ok?”

Sting just stared at the door for a while. He didn’t know what he could say that wouldn’t jeopardize everything. He didn’t want Rogue to know he was trans. Not until after he was able to afford bottom surgery and maybe not even then. He’d sooner completely forget his birth gender than admit to anyone what he was.

“Listen, if you wanna take the rest of the day off,” Rogue continued and Sting sucked in a loud sob. “I’m not gonna keep you here after that. I’ll pick up your shift until someone else comes in.”

Now it was all Sting could do to keep his sobs quiet. He hoped Rogue couldn’t hear them through the door but he was so hopeless and they sounded loud even to him. There was no way Sting could answer Rogue with his lips contorting the way they were. And he didn’t trust his voice not to crack or hiccup through a sentence.

“Sting,” Rogue’s voice dropped an octave. It turned soft and Sting wasn’t ready for the change. “You don’t have to hide. I’ll have Minerva bring you some fresh clothes then you can go home, alright?...Please just let me know you’re alive and I don’t have to call an ambulance.”

Sting took a deep breath. “I’m fine,” he answered finally and thought he heard Rogue breathe a sigh of relief through the door. “Just-” he bit his lip. “Rough day, y’know.”

Rogue was silent for a while and Sting almost thought he had walked away. “Can I come in?” his voice was quiet, tentative.

Sting’s laugh surprised even himself. “You don’t wanna see this.”

“C’mon, man, I’ve seen you drunk and dancing half-naked on my kitchen table. What else is there to hide?”

Sting had to suppress an inward sigh but he rolled his eyes. Begrudgingly he stood up, another wave of cramps hitting him as he did and unlocked the bathroom door. Rogue made sure to open the door just enough for him to squeeze through then shut it again quietly.

Sting didn’t know what to do. So he just stood there, arms crossed over his chest, almost shivering from nerves.

“I knew you looked beat this morning but suddenly it’s like you aged ten years,” Rogue joked and Sting had half a mind to slap him.

“Kids, huh?” Sting tried for a chuckle and smile but fell terribly short. “They say the darndest things.”

Rogue looked down at his feet before replying. “You don’t have to be ashamed. No one here is judging you for something like that. If that mother hadn’t left so quickly I would have made sure to get a name so I could ban them from coming here.”

Sting shook his head and turned away. “You don’t have to be so drastic.”

Suddenly there was a hand on his shoulder and it shocked him just how much he tensed under it. “Sting, I mean it. I don’t tolerate that kind of hate. And I tolerate you being so down on yourself even less.” Sting’s gaze dropped. Wow, I’m crying, he thought. Huh, weird.

“I’ll pick up the rest of your shift today and call Minerva. She can walk to your place to pick up some new clothes, hangover or not. You wanna wait in the backroom? Or should I just kick everyone out of the store to save you the embarrassment?” Rogue said with a smile in his tone.

Sting chuckled through his tears. “Stop being so nice to me, I’ll choke.”

To his delight Rogue chuckled back. “Get used to it, Eucliffe. I treat all my employees like family.” Rogue thought for a moment. “Actually better than my own family. But you should see them during get togethers, you wouldn’t blame me.” There was a tense moment where Sting took some deep breaths to try and stop shaking. Rogue broke the silence by placing another hand on his shoulder and bringing him in for a hug.

“You’ll be okay,” Rogue whispered into his ear.

Only as long as you keep holding me. Sting thought it, but kept his mouth shut as his eyes closed involuntarily. He tried to breathe in Rogue’s scent but couldn’t smell anything. Because Rogue already smelt like home.

Bonus:

“What did you mean you’ve seen my dance naked on your kitchen table?” Sting asked suddenly pulling away from Rogue’s embrace.

The other boy just chuckled. “Half-naked,” he corrected. “You tend to take your shirt off when you drink too much.”

Sting’s eyes widened and he felt his heart spike with adrenaline. “Sooo..?” He trailed off the question was in his mind and on his face but he couldn’t voice it.

Rogue nodded and crossed his arms over his chest. “Yes we saw your top surgery scar.” Sting’s eyes widened further than humanly possible. Mortification crept up his spine like an old friend. Rogue took one look at Stings face and his expression softened. “No, no don’t look so scared. Most of us already knew anyway and-”

“MOST OF YOU ALREADY KNEW?! Most of who?” Sting blurted out. He was afraid his voice could be heard even from outside the bathroom but he was too nervous of everything to care.

Rogue paused and began counting on his fingers. “Well it was the week after Lucy quit...so actually only me, Minerva and Yukino were there.”

Sting took a deep breath. He couldn’t believe he’d already outed himself like this. He ran a hand through his greasy hair and took a few pacing steps. “How did you already know?”

Rogue giggled and looked away sheepishly. “Well there was this other time you got drunk…”

Sting groaned and threw his head into his hands. “I’m never drinking again.”

#fairy tail #wwtdp fics #stingue #hi i love trans!sting #he is a gay mess and i love him

[pan-princess-levy]

title: and just a touch of concealer 

summary: 

mira fixes a small misunderstanding between her youngest employees. turns out, it's sweeter than she'd expected 

[modern setting, coffee shop au] 

pairings: erza scarlet/mirajane strauss, rogue cheney/sting eucliffe 

rating: general audience

#erzajane #stingue #ftlgbtfics #ftlgbtales #ftlgbtales writer #monnywrites #yay i did a thing

[ftlgbtales]

Gray x invel where the guild slowly accepts that Gray’s dating zeref’s literal former right-hand man? I say former cause I’m hoping he’s redeemed or smthg

“I’m dating Invel.”

The guild fell quiet, with Lucy toppling from her seat and Natsu rising from his angrily.

“You’re dating the bastard from Alverez?” Natsu hissed, and Gray glared.

“He isn’t a bastard, you snot-nosed brat.”

“He tried to kill you!”

“Natsu, you’ve tried to kill me!”

With a petulant pout, Natsu fell back to his stool, arms crossed and chin jutted defiantly.

“Never seriously, though.”

Gray sighed, stretching out his limbs. He knew that this would not be easy; the Alverez wound was still fresh, with some of the guild members still recovering from their wounds. But if the guild could forgive Gajeel and Laxus, then he would have to persevere. Their hearts were large, and they would forgive Invel, too. He had to believe that they would.

“How did this happen?” Erza asked, eyes narrowed. She was sceptic, but restraining from any harsh opinions which she held. He appreciated that much, at least.

“We became sparring partners. Our magic is compatible and he’s very intelligent. I’ve learned a lot of techniques from him already.”

Laxus smirked, resting his hand on Gray’s shoulder,

“I bet you have.”

The ice wizard swatted him away, face already flushing scarlet. Natsu was still pouting, and Lucy was too shocked to speak, which rarely happened, but Mirajane offered a tentative smile, placing a plate of food in front of Gray.

“Are you sure about this, Gray?”

He nodded,

“Absolutely.”

And then Mirajane’s smile widened into something more genuine. Her eyes squeezed shut and she clapped her hands.

“Then I’m happy for you.”

Erza hummed her agreement, slamming his head against her armoured chest, and when his gaze turned to Lucy she squeaked.

“If you think he’s changed then I believe you.”

“He’s working with the reformed magic council currently, debunked myths about Zeref and helping to create accurate accounts of what happened in Alverez.” Gray’s gaze fell to his lap. “They say it should lessen his sentence time.”

That was the deal, but whether it happened or not still remained a mystery. Invel was trying, was doing his best on this new continent to help the people who had once been ordered to hurt, and that was all Gray could ask for; that he would do his best, and that the guild would forgive him.

The members of Alverez who were left in Fiore faced trial soon, and Gray would was going to be there, no matter the outcome. He did not love Invel yet, but he was fond of him, and that affection spurred Gray on, made him stronger and wiser, an altogether more capable wizard. No matter the sins of the past, Gray would always be grateful for that, and if he believed that they could build a happy future together then he hoped that his friends could believe it too.

#Anonymous #gray x invel #mlm #ftlgbtales writer #fanfiction #grayvel #mod mollie #ftlgbtales500drabbles

[mdelpin]

AO3 | FF.Net

This was written for @adhdnatsu who is the 3rd Place Winner of the @ftlgbtales 300 Followers Raffle we did a few months ago. They requested Igneel and Natsu fluff and I really hope they enjoy this. :)

Dragons Can’t Cannonball

"Where are we going?" Natsu asked excitedly from his spot on Igneel's enormous back. They were flying up in the air, and this was unusual so early in the morning.

For being a dragon, Igneel was very particular about his schedule. Mornings were for teaching Natsu about reading and practicing his letters. Physical and fire magic training took place in the afternoons. While the evenings were filled with hunting, and cuddling on a full belly. All in all, it was a pleasant schedule, but Natsu hungered for adventure.

"You'll see, youngling," Igneel replied with a touch of mischief in his voice, making Natsu think they would be embarking on a great adventure. They flew for another hour before landing in a vast valley. Natsu got off the great dragon and looked around. His face fell as he took in his surroundings, this couldn't be it. There was nothing here.

“Why are we here?” Natsu whined, frustrated that his hopes of adventure had been dashed.

“You seem disappointed, Natsu,” Igneel remarked containing his amusement as best he could.

“Well, it’s not that,” Natsu was quick to not hurt the dragon’s feelings, “It’s just… what are we doing here, Igneel?”

"Well, what can you hear?" Igneel asked almost nonchalantly, and that's when Natsu knew there was more to this place than met the eye.

He extended his new enhanced hearing as much as he could and listened to the sounds all around him until he could make out something. Natsu strained even more and was able to make out the sound of running water. Natsu looked at Igneel with a confused expression and ran towards the noise. He ran through a grove of trees, the sound of the water getting louder and louder until he finally saw a large waterfall. He was running so fast he almost ran over the edge.

Igneel came behind him slowly, the trees impeding his movement. He snorted, “I guess your hearing has improved after all.”

Natsu ran towards him and gave him a big hug, “I take it back, this place is great. Can we go swimming?” He waited for Igneel to give his approval before finding a spot where he could safely dive into the water. He jumped in and was soon splashing around and frolicking happily.

He was having a grand old time when he heard a rather undignified cry of "King Dragon Splash!" and with a start saw Igneel run off the side of the cliff and let himself fall into the water with a resounding splash. Natsu found himself flying in the air along with many fish and a large amount of the water supply that until a moment ago had been residing at the bottom of the waterfall. There was a loud thundering sound in the air that Natsu immediately recognized as Igneel's laughter.

Natsu felt himself begin to fall and he flailed his arms trying to control his descent, soon landing on top of a scaly belly.

Igneel was still laughing, "You should have seen your face?!" Natsu thought he could almost see tears coming out of those giant yellow eyes. He wanted to pout, but the fact was it had been hilarious, and his heart warmed at the sound of his father's laughter.

He lay on his back and made himself comfortable, letting the sun dry his body. After a few minutes, he grew bored of this and plopped on his belly, peering into the water to try to spot any marine life, although he knew Igneel had probably scared most of them away.

“Hey Igneel,” Natsu crawled up closer to his father’s face. Igneel shook his head a little, the warmth of the day making him drowsy.

“What is it?”

“What are you gonna teach me today?” Natsu asked curiously.

“Just this,” Igneel waved his arm at where they were.

Natsu thought about what the dragon could mean, looking around at the waterfall and the rest of the beautiful scenery that surrounded them. “I don’t understand.”

Igneel smiled lazily, “It’s all well and good to learn how to fight, use magic, and all the other things I try to teach you. But every once in a while, it’s also important to just relax and enjoy yourself, to spend time with the ones you love and remind yourself of what it is you’re fighting for.”

Natsu remained quiet as he thought about Igneel’s words, his nose scrunching up cutely, making Igneel smile.

“Ok, look at it this way. Why do you fight?”

"To win of course!" Natsu jumped up and down on Igneel's body, and after some more thought he added, "And because it's fun!"

“Well yes, that’s nice of course, but that’s not why you should fight. You fight because you want to protect someone or something. It could be as simple as seeing a place like this exist for others to enjoy or because a friend is threatened or even just because it's the right thing to do," Igneel explained slowly, knowing sometimes it took Natsu a little while to grasp more abstract concepts.

“I’d fight to protect you,” Natsu said seriously as he hugged as much of his father as he was able to surround with his small arms.

Igneel’s voice was gruff and full of affection, “I know you would, and as fierce as you are I don’t envy anyone who gets in your way!”

Natsu's chest puffed with pride at the rare compliment. He thought the lesson was over, but Igneel continued. "What I'm trying to say is, Natsu, you can't fight all the time, sometimes you have to stop and enjoy the world around you and just be for a little while.”

Natsu looked at Igneel seriously, “That sounds really boring.”

"Oh yeah?" Igneel's grin became mischievous again, and he managed to somehow flip and have Natsu land on his back. He quickly took off and flew as fast as he could with Natsu holding on for dear life, his initial screams of fear quickly morphing into squeals of glee as Igneel began to dance in the air, doing acrobatics that made Natsu's heart dance as well.

“I love you, Igneel,” Natsu yelled into the air.

“I love you too, Son.”

#fairy tail #igneel #natsu #fluff #ftlgbtales #ftlgbtales writer #ftlgbtfics #ftfanfics #raffle winner #adhdnatsu #my edits

[ftlgbtales]

Minerza + promises

The sky was grey, the air cold, and Minerva felt as though she was about to cry. Even after all this time, the words of her father still echoed within her:

Don’t let people see your weaknesses.

So she choked it back, held in the emotions which were crippling her. The air she breathed was glass, scraping her lungs and ripping at her throat. She felt sick, and exhausted, but knew that sleep would be lost to her. Instead, she watched Erza pack, followed each and every movement that the red-head made religiously, inscribing the shape and smell and essence of Erza into her mind, as though this was the last time they would ever see each other.

And it might be. Minerva did not know, and that terrified her. She was used to being powerful, and amused, even wry, but fear? This was new, and Minerva hated it, hated how it coiled around her stomach, crushing it until the tigress could taste bile.

“I’m sorry.” Erza’s voice was small, her gaze not even trying to meet Minerva’s.

“If you meant that then you would tell me where you were going.”

“I can’t.” Erza pleaded. “The job is secret, you know how it is.”

She did, of course she did, but that did not make Minerva feel any better. Her girlfriend was leaving to do a dangerous mystery job, and Minerva did not know what it was, how long it would take, or if she would ever see Erza again.

“So you don’t trust me to keep a secret.”

Erza’s gaze hardened, her brows knotting together. That used to be a look which excited Minerva, but now it made her feel worse.

“That isn’t fair, and you know it.” Erza sighed, her gauntlet-clad head massaging her temple. “It’s client confidentiality, Minnie. If I could tell you, I would.”

The use of her nickname just pushed Minerva closer to tears, so she dug the heel of her hands into her eyes, sliding against the wall until she hit the floor.

“I’ll miss you.” It was barely even a whisper, but Erza caught it, and in a moment she was by Minerva’s side, requipping into her comfortable clothes and cupping Minerva’s face in her hands.

“I’ll miss you too, love.” Erza took a shaky breath. “Every second of every day until I return.”

“When will that be?” Minerva asked, hopeful that the answer had changed since the last time.

“I wish I knew.”

Erza rested her forehead against Minerva’s, their lips not quite touching, and Minerva savoured the moment, because she did not know when she would have one like this again.

“This isn’t the end, Minnie. I promise you that.”

Minerva nodded, adjusting her face so that their lips brushed slightly,

“And I promise that I’ll be here when you get back.”

That was all she could do, and it was painful, but love often was. Minerva would rather have this promise than not have Erza at all, and when Erza stood to leave, Minerva followed, already counting down each minute until her girlfriend was in her arms again.

#raioseucliffe cheney #erza x minerva #minerza #wlw #ftlgbtales writer #fanfiction #Mod Mollie #ftlgbtales500drabbles

[mdelpin]

Shadowlight Week 2019 Prompt: Scents AO3 | FF.Net

A Scent Like No Other

Summary:  When Sting was younger his dragon told him he had a soulmate and he would easily recognize him by his scent. Now, Sting ventures from town to town doing his best to survive on his own, but always searching for that one person made just for him.

Please, don’t make me do this! I have no one else.

Sting, your journey is just beginning. Even though it might not feel like it now, you won’t be alone for long. There is someone out there the universe made just for you, a soulmate. For me? But how will I know who they are?

You will know them by their scent. Even though you will encounter other smells that will call for your attention, your soulmate will have a scent like no other. They will know you as well, and once you find each other, you will want for nothing.

I'll miss you, Weisslogia. And I you, little one. Be strong and may the gods smile upon you. Now, become a true dragon slayer.

Sting woke up from yet another nightmare of killing his foster father. Over the years it had become a bit easier. He'd finally grown to accept that in the end, it had been a merciful death. Nowadays he thought more of the words Weisslogia had told him.

Sting tried to hold on to the hope the words gave him, but it was hard. Ever since he'd somehow woken up in front of a huge gate, the world had been nothing but a myriad of loud sounds and unpleasant smells.

He'd fended for himself as best he could, but he'd yet to meet too many people that would go out of their way to be kind to a young boy on his own. Sting had already escaped several situations where people initially appeared kind but changed their tune once they'd gained his trust, demanding grueling work for little food, while others had tried to beat him into submission. So he managed on his own, scrounging for food and finding defensible places to sleep.

One day he sauntered into a town, and as he walked through, a group of boys took offense to him. They came at him, fighting him with not much skill but a lot of anger. There was a faint smell that caught his attention, but he didn't think much of it at first, too busy defending himself from the unprovoked attack. Sting had learned early on from his first scuffle some months earlier that he was a lot stronger than most boys and he could easily hurt them if he wasn't careful.

It wasn't that he particularly cared for their well being, he'd just learned the hard way it would bring the wrong sort of attention. It was only after he'd immobilized all of his attackers that Sting was able to find the source of the scent. It was a small cat, but different than a typical housecat. For one, he could use a type of magic that gave him access to wings, allowing him to fly. He could also talk, and he did so often and loudly. He informed Sting that his name was Lector and he didn't really stop talking after that. Lector was loud, and a bit of a braggart, but Sting loved him on sight. From that day on, they traveled together, each gaining strength and confidence from the other.

It was nice to have company, Sting was able to show affection to another being again and receive it in return. He was content even though, more often than not, Lector got him in trouble. His constant bragging of Sting's fighting skills to anyone who would listen had earned Sting many a fight from people who wanted to test their strength against his.  As much as Sting wanted to yell at Lector to stop, he couldn't. Sting knew that Lector was proud of him and he didn't mean any harm. On occasion it even earned them some jewels, allowing them to eat better than usual.

Today was one of those days, Sting had some jewels in his pocket, it wasn't a lot, but it was enough to buy them some food. They followed the mouth-watering smell of food towards the market of the village they were currently walking through. Sting immediately grew alert as a strong scent caught his attention, it was somehow a combination of all of the things Sting liked the most, and he hurried towards it, only to be knocked flat on his back by a dark-haired boy who looked to be no older than him.

The boy got up quickly, holding a loaf of bread to his chest. He muttered an apology before looking behind him and running as fast as he could away from the market. Sting had still not gotten up, the wind knocked out of him not by the fall but by the realization that the scent that had drawn him came from the boy. His heartbeat quickened in his chest as he remembered Weisslogia’s words.

Sting looked behind him to see what the boy had been so afraid of and spied a large man running towards him and yelling Thief. Quickly understanding the situation, Sting stuffed his hand in his pocket and grabbed his jewels throwing them at the man and running in the direction the boy had gone. He ignored Lector’s outraged cries about their missed meal and set about tracking the enticing scent.

The boy must have been a fast runner because Sting had to follow the scent all the way to the woods that were just outside of the town. Given his enhanced senses Sting was able to locate him while he was still a fair distance away. The boy sat underneath a copse of trees, tearing chunks of bread from the stolen loaf and feeding them to a cat that looked somewhat like Lector, although it was green in color.

Before Sting could get any closer, the boy lifted his head and scented the air, a joyful look blooming across his features as he put the loaf down on a small blanket to get up and walk towards Sting.

They met in the middle and stared at each other, wide-eyed and open mouthed, before saying at the exact same time.

It’s you!

Sting laughed and introduced himself, “I’m Sting,”

Rogue smiled warmly, “I’m Rogue.”

Rogue grabbed Sting's hand and led him back to the blanket his cat was sitting at. They sat down, and Rogue immediately broke off a large chunk of bread from his loaf and handed it over to his new friend.

From that moment on Sting and Rogue remained together, their bond growing stronger by the day and as Weisslogia had foretold they wanted for nothing.

A/N: This is my first entry for Shadowlight Week. I don’t write these two very often as main characters but I hope you enjoy anyway! The next installment of this will be posted tomorrow and is called High Hopes.

@shadowlight-week @fuckyeahstingxrogue

#fairy tail #shadowlightweek2k19 #stingue #ftlgbtales #ftlgbtales writer #ftfanfics #stingxrogue #sting eucliff #rogue cheney #weisslogia #lector #frosch #ftlgbtfics #my edits

[mdelpin]

This is another request sent in by @ceruleanshockwave , it once again turned out longer than I had anticipated. I hope you like it!

109: "Why are you naked?"

Gray walked home. He was tired, his solo mission had not at all gone the way he'd expected. He'd had a hard time finding the object his client had requested, not to mention that the woman had failed to say the object was cursed. Gray had to wait an additional week to get the curse removed, all in all, a job that was supposed to take one week had ended up taking a month.

A month away from Magnolia, from Fairy Tail and his insane guildmates. Usually, that would have been something to smile about, Gray loved all of his nakama, but sometimes the noise was just too much for him. Outside of his frequent brawls with Natsu, he tended to keep to himself. Solo jobs gave him some peace and quiet, recharged him to where he could tolerate and occasionally take part in the craziness. This time, however, being away for so long had been torture.

After months of false starts and misunderstandings, he and Natsu had finally gotten together. Both of them were very independent, and neither one of them had been in a proper relationship before so they were wholly unprepared for the needs that came with it. He sped up when he saw the first town marker that mentioned Magnolia, anxious to see his Dragon Slayer for the first time in a month.

Just thinking about Natsu was making Gray smile — those brilliant green eyes that were usually brimming with mischief, the smile that made Gray's heart skip a beat, that incredible body that Gray had only recently begun exploring intimately. It was late so he wouldn't be able to see Natsu until the following day, but as he walked home, he made plans, hoping that Natsu was not off on a job.

Gray entered his house only to be greeted by an unexpected sight, the house lights were on. He instantly became wary, dropping his bag on the floor and placing his fist on his open palm as he made his way up the stairs. He checked his bedroom first hoping that maybe Natsu was staying there waiting for his return, but it was sadly empty.

"Not so rough, asshole!" A familiar voice came from the bathroom, Gray hurried to see who Natsu was talking to.

"You weren't exactly gentle yourself, Natsu," Gray froze when he recognized his brother's voice. Natsu and Lyon? Those two couldn't stand each other. What the hell were they doing in his bathroom, and why did it sound so dirty?

Gray tried to calm down, this was his brother and his boyfriend, the two people that he trusted most in the world to not do anything to hurt him, well emotionally anyway.

"I can't believe this is happening," Natsu grumbled. Gray could hear his brother grunting with exertion, and he'd had enough.

He pushed the door in and wished he hadn't. Both Lyon and Natsu were standing in his bathtub completely naked, their clothes all over his bathroom floor while a bowl filled with some sort of solution lay on the floor next to the tub. Lyon was scrubbing Natsu's back roughly with a brush, hard enough that the skin looked raw. Lyon's body seemed much the same.

"What the hell is going on here?" Gray shouted, caught somewhere between betrayal and disbelief.

"Gray, I swear It's not what it looks like," Natsu looked horrified, and he hurried to assure him, Lyon at least had the decency to look embarrassed although he made no effort to cover himself.

"Oh yeah, why are you naked?" Gray yelled at both of them, and now that he had stepped into the bathroom he was assaulted by an ungodly smell.

"Are you done?" Natsu snapped at Lyon who shrugged and continued to scrub Natsu's back much to Gray's anger.

"Don't get mad at me Pinky, this was your idea," Lyon replied, his tone as irritatingly calm as always.

"Natsu?" Gray tried to express his objection to the situation, but the smell was overpowering. "What is that smell?" Gray was beginning to gag, so he backed out of the room only staying long enough to give an ultimatum, "I will wait for you downstairs, and if I don't like your explanation we're through."

Gray left without waiting for Natsu's response. He could hear the two of them arguing and decided to make some hot chocolate to calm himself.  While waiting for the milk to warm up, he opened all the windows in his house to let some of the smell out. As upset as Gray was, he wanted to trust Natsu, he couldn't really believe that either of them would hurt him this way and even less with each other. So he waited for what felt like an agonizingly long time.

Both men came downstairs wearing nothing but towels, Natsu looking unhappy while Lyon mostly looked bored.

"What happened to your clothes?" Gray asked, seeing Natsu in that state was distracting, especially after just having seen him naked.

"I burnt them," Natsu explained before launching into an explanation, he looked scared and it made Gray feel a little bit better, "I swear it really isn't what it looked like. I would never hurt you like that. Hey, eyes up here." Gray blushed as he was caught ogling his boyfriend.

"I'll go get us some clothes from his room," Lyon went back upstairs returning fully clothed while handing a change of clothes to Natsu who quickly put them on. Lyon stood with his arms crossed in front of his chest watching as the drama unfolded.

"Now, explain to me why the two of you were bathing each other in my bathroom."

Natsu sighed, "You were gone for so long I wanted to do something nice for you, and I know how much it bothers you that Lyon and I don't get along, so I went to Lamia and asked him to go on a job with me."

"You and Lyon went on a job together?" Of all the things Gray had imagined as he waited, that was not even on the list, and he couldn't help the chuckle that escaped him as he imagined how that must have gone.

"What's so funny about that?" Natsu frowned seeming upset that his gesture was not being appreciated.

"Nothing, nothing" Gray chortled trying to ignore the glare he was getting from both mages, "Go on."

"It took some convincing, but he agreed," Natsu continued, "We were just supposed to beat up some Vulcans, but we were arguing the whole time, and we managed to startle a family of skunks."

"They all sprayed us," Natsu's nose immediately wrinkled at the memory and Gray could only imagine how terrible that must have been for his heightened sense of smell.  "We tried to go back to the guild, but Mira wouldn't let us inside, she mixed us some solution and sent us away. My house was too far, so we came here. We figured it would go faster if we just did it together."

"I'm sorry you had to see that, but I swear to you nothing happened," Natsu reassured Gray, even though the ice mage no longer looked worried. He was too busy holding his sides as he doubled over, tears streaming out of his eyes as he imagined Lyon's reaction to being sprayed by a family of skunks.

Gray finally got control of himself, wiping the tears from his eyes and getting three mugs out for the hot cocoa. "Alright I believe you, that smell was pretty bad, I can understand you both wanting to get it off you as quickly as possible."

He poured the hot cocoa in the mugs and passed them out. They sat in tense silence drinking their cocoa until Lyon finally spoke up.

"I was wrong about him," He admitted to Gray, "Natsu cares about you a lot, I'm sorry I gave you such a hard time."

"Pinky, it was fun beating up Vulcans with you, but don't ever come get me for another job," Lyon said gruffly, "Next time, maybe just ask me for a drink?"

"Yeah," Natsu grinned sheepishly.

"I'm gonna go, I know you guys have a lot of catching up to do, and frankly I don't want to hear it."

Gray got up to show Lyon out when his brother leaned over and looking straight at Natsu whispered something in Gray's ear that made his entire face turn beet red and earned his brother a punch. Lyon only laughed, closing the door behind him.

"What was that about?" Natsu asked curiously.

"Come to the bedroom and find out!" Gray grinned as he raced up the stairs with Natsu right behind him. It had taken a month, but he was finally right where he wanted to be, with his Dragon Slayer by his side.

#fairy tail #gratsu #prompt request #ftlgbtales #ftlgbtales writer #ftlgbtfics #ftfanfics #natsu x gray #gray x natsu #natsu dragneel #gray fullbuster #ceruleanshockwave

[mdelpin]

Shadowlight Week 2019 Prompt: Symbols AO3 | FF.Net

High Hopes

Summary: After traveling aimlessly for several months Sting and Rogue happen upon an old issue of Sorcerer Weekly. Fascinated by the world it describes they use the magazine as a guide, determined to find other dragon slayers and maybe a place to call home. 

Companion to A Scent Like No Other.

Disclaimer: All Fairy Tail Characters Belong To Hiro Mashima

Sting and Rogue began traveling together immediately after meeting, walking with no clear destination in mind as they followed the roads from one town to the next. Sting would talk cheerfully about anything that popped into his head while Rogue would listen with a small smile on his face. Their cats had also hit it off and would hold their own conversations.

Rogue didn't mind the constant chatter most of the time, but after months of traveling alone, he couldn't deny that occasionally he missed the silence. Still, everything was so much better ever since he'd literally run into Sting. Rogue had a new friend that he felt connected to in a way that he didn't understand very well yet, but it soothed him to know that it was a forever kind of thing. His dragon Skiadrum had told him so, and Rogue had no reason to question it.

That was another thing, Sting was the first person Rogue had ever talked to that believed him when he said he'd been raised by a dragon. No one else had, they'd either made fun of him or complimented him on having such a wild imagination. It was nice to be able to talk about Skiadrum and hear about Weisslogia in return. Sting had white dragon slayer magic, the opposite to his shadow and they'd had a lot of fun afternoons testing their magic out on each other, inadvertently learning to fight together. Something which had come in handy the few times they'd been attacked.

Neither of them had yet met anyone else who could use magic, a fact they'd thought odd. They both remembered waking up in front of a large gate and had begun to wonder if they'd somehow ended up in another world, one that didn't have magic. They didn't worry about it much, they had their cats and each other, and that was more than they had before.

On this day Rogue had a headache, probably caused by hunger. It had been a few days since they'd had a full meal and Sting's constant chatter was starting to get on his nerves. He tried to disappear into his shadows for a bit, but it wasn't helping much.

“We need to find food soon, “ Sting pointed out with concern, “You don’t look so good.”

Rogue kept walking, his eyes never straying from the road ahead, "I'm fine, let's just keep moving." His stomach chose that moment to betray him and rumbled. Sting decided not to comment, only raised an eyebrow and smirked.

“Shut up!”

“I didn’t say a word,” Sting did his best to look innocent but had to laugh at Rogue’s annoyed expression. “We’ll just have to liberate some food.”

“You know I don’t like stealing,” Rogue pointed out.

"Remind me how I met you again?" Sting grinned, and he moved out of the way of Rogue's punch, a bit too easily for his liking. He looked at Rogue worriedly, they really did need to find some food.

“Fine, we can try to see if there’s any food behind a bar or restaurant,” Rogue grumbled. It was their compromise, it wasn’t technically stealing if it had already been thrown away. Sometimes if they timed it right the person throwing out the food would take pity on them and hand it to them instead. Sting hated digging through the trash probably almost as much as Rogue hated watching him fight for jewels.

They reached the next town by early afternoon, but by then Rogue was practically swaying on his feet. Sting found the local pub easily enough, and for once they were fortunate, a woman saw them and took pity on them, bringing them inside and sitting them at the counter. She returned quickly with two large bowls of soup.

“Here you go darlings, eat up, “ The lady smiled at them kindly before flipping through the pages of some sort of magazine.

Sting and Rogue ate quickly, sharing their food with their cats. They looked at the magazine with interest, and when she went to the kitchen to get to work, she left it for them to look at. It had a lot of pictures of people on it.

"Sorcerer's Weekly," Rogue read out loud, he opened it and looked through the pages.

“You understand what that says?” Sting looked at Rogue with something akin to admiration.

“Sure, can’t you?”

Sting shook his head.

“You don’t know how to read?” Rogue looked at his friend with surprise.

“I guess not?” Sting ran his fingers through his hair in an embarrassed gesture, “Is that bad?”

“No, I’m just surprised Weisslogia didn’t teach you, is all,” Rogue was quick to comfort his friend. “Would you like to learn? I can teach you.”

Sting shrugged not seeing the use, “What does it say?”

Rogue used his finger to trace the words, mouthing them as he read. Sting's curiosity was piqued when he noticed his friend becoming more excited.

"This magazine, it's all about wizards," Rogue pointed to some of the pictures, "That's what they call people who use magic! It sounds like they join places call guilds?"

His brow wrinkled as he continued to read and try to make sense of the information.

Sting began to look at the pages with more interest. Maybe they could join one of these guilds.

“Does it say anything about dragon slayers?” Sting asked with barely contained excitement, they had both been wondering if there were others.

Rogue grunted at him in reply but kept reading to himself. He read through the rest of the magazine before looking up to give him a proper answer, “I didn’t see any mention of it, but they talk about all sorts of magic. Here listen to this…”

Rogue read out loud to Sting, and he listened intently, fascinated by all the different types of magic even as he looked at the pictures with interest. The barmaid came back out to check on them and smiled when she saw them poring over the magazine.

"Alright kiddos, I can't have you in here when customers arrive," She looked thoughtful for a moment and added, "I live upstairs. My son won't be home tonight, so if you want, for tonight only, you may stay in his room. You're welcome to keep the magazine, I'm done with it anyway."

Sting and Rogue talked together quietly and agreed to stay the night. It had been a while since either of them had been able to sleep comfortably. She showed them the room they were to sleep in and told them to take a bath before returning downstairs. They rested for the remainder of the day.

o-o

From that day on, Sorcerer's Weekly became their guide to magic and magic users in Fiore, which was the name of the kingdom they were in. Rogue began the long process of teaching Sting how to read with it as well. It was a challenge because the White Dragon Slayer was not a very willing student. His memory was much better than any actual desire he had to learn. He'd quickly memorize the words and would recite them to get out of practice, much to Rogue's displeasure.

As a result, Rogue had begun teaching him how to write as well, figuring Sting would have a harder time faking that. Every night before they went to bed they would use sticks to draw the symbols in the dirt, so far Sting had only really enjoyed learning how to write their names.

They had looked at all the guilds that were listed in the magazine. There were plenty of them, but the ones that stood out the most were: Blue Pegasus, Fairy Tail, Phantom Lord, Lamia Scale, Quattro Cerberus, and Titan Nose. Sting and Rogue still had no idea which one to try to join.

Several months had passed before they found another issue. They were scrounging in the trash for food again, much to Sting's displeasure but there had been no other choice. They hadn't even been able to find anyone to fight for days. Among the contents of the rubbish bin, there was a slightly ripped issue of Sorcerer's Weekly, which had somehow remained miraculously dry. It was a more recent one judging from the date.

Sting grabbed it excitedly, shaking off the trash that covered it but after looking at it for a few minutes, he could only frown and hand it over to Rogue, while he continued to search for food. Rogue hid his smirk hoping that this little experience would encourage Sting to try harder.

Once they had secured some food, they found a place to spend the night and sat outside eating. Rogue read the magazine eagerly, they'd already figured out that being featured in the magazine was a symbol of success in the wizarding world and sometimes on their long walks they would make up outlandish reasons why they would be featured in it. It was a fun game, and it helped pass the time. Sometimes the cats would join in, and their reasons always made the two of them laugh.

"Sting!" Rogue had been planning on making Sting work on the magazine some, but he couldn't contain his excitement at what he'd discovered.

Sing looked over at Rogue’s excited tone to see him pointing to a wizard with pink hair. This wizard had not been in the previous issue.

"There're more of us!" Rogue waved Sting closer, "This guy's name is Natsu Dragneel, he's a Fire Dragon Slayer, and he's in Fairy Tail."

Sting had figured that part out from the red guild mark on the wizard’s shoulder, both he and Rogue had already memorized the marks of all the guilds they were interested in.

"Oh, you're gonna love this," Rogue continued in an amused tone, "Apparently he weaves a path of destruction across Fiore. It says here he single-handedly destroyed the port of Hargeon while going after a slave ring, I wonder what that is? On second thought, maybe we should keep you away from him."

Sting stuck his tongue out at his mate and examined the picture with interest. “Does it say anything else?”

“Let me see… has a rival in his guild, uses dragon slayer magic... uhm not really?” Rogue answered, “Mostly that he’s destructive and they make fun of his search for his dragon.”

“Wait, his dragon is still alive?” Sting was almost bouncing with excitement. They hadn’t seen a dragon since waking in front of that gate in Crocus.

Rogue shrugged his shoulders, “He seems to think so at least.”

Sting remained quiet as he thought about this for a while. He thought this Natsu wizard sounded interesting. Maybe they should go find him, he was a dragon slayer like them, he might be able to help them.

“Oh wait, there’s another one,” Rogue informed Sting as he continued to read, “It looks like Phantom Lord has a dragon slayer too.”

“What kind of destruction does he do?“ Sting grinned excitedly.

"It doesn't say, he's mentioned in a picture. Look," Rogue pointed to a large man with long spiky dark hair and red eyes, "It just lists his name, Gajeel Redfox, and that he's an Iron Dragon Slayer. You think they know each other?"

"They must, right? I mean, we found our way to each other pretty quickly, didn't we?" Sting pointed out.

“I think our connection is different,” Rogue reminded him, “It doesn’t mean that all dragon slayers are soulmates.”

“I guess,” Sting replied without much interest. He supposed Rogue was right. The two men were in different guilds after all and Sting could no longer imagine being separated from Rogue for that long.

“I bet Gajeel is different from Natsu,” Rogue said dreamily, imagining a dragon slayer more like him. Smart, patient, orderly.

Rogue thought out loud, “I think we should find them.”

Sting could only smile, he loved it when Rogue said what he was already thinking. That was until Rogue added, “We should go to Phantom Lord.”

“What?! No, we should go to Fairy Tail, “ Sting disagreed, already thinking of how much fun it would be to challenge the older dragon slayer.

"Why? We already know stuff about Natsu, we don't know anything about Gajeel," Rogue's voice sounded strangely infatuated, and Sting didn't like it one bit.

“There’s only one way to settle this,” Sting got up and got into a fighting stance, “Whoever wins gets to pick where we go.”

“Fro thinks it’s too late to fight. You should play rock, paper, scissors instead,” Frosh smiled sweetly at both dragon slayers.

“No,” Sting groaned, “Rogue cheats.”

“I do not!” Rogue replied, outraged by the accusation. It wasn’t his fault Sting always picked rock, there were just so many times he could pretend to lose.

“Fine.”

Rock, Paper, Scissors...Shoot

“Damn it!” Sting whined, arms crossed in front of his chest, “You always win!”

Rogue rolled his eyes at his partner, but inwardly he was excited about heading to Oak Town, where the magazine said the Phantom Lord headquarters were located. He couldn’t wait to see what Gajeel was like. They drifted off to sleep in a tangle of limbs as they always did, their two cats snuggled into the warm nooks their bodies created.

o-o

When they set off on their journey, they hadn't realized just how far away Oak Town was from their current location, since they walked most of the time their progress was slow going. They'd been walking for almost a month before their luck improved. They'd been able to catch a ride with a farmer for a large chunk of the remaining distance. They would now only have to walk for a day or two to get where they were going.

Sting could tell Rogue was nervous, his patience was shorter than usual and he’d spent the last few days training, challenging his magic until he became too tired to continue. It was obvious that Rogue was determined to impress this Gajeel, and it irked Sting. He didn’t like this odd fascination his mate had for the dragon slayer.

“I don’t see what’s so great about this guy,” Sting complained to Lector, “You don’t hear me talking about Natsu all the time.”

Lector only laughed, not wanting to point out to Sting that he did indeed talk about Natsu quite a lot.

Even though he was disappointed to not be going to Fairy Tail, Sting couldn’t wait to see the inside of the Phantom Lord headquarters, naturally curious as to what a guild was like.

He tried to ease Rogue's mind, working harder at learning to read to help distract Rogue from whatever was getting him all worked up and paying more attention to him in their quiet moments. It seemed to work a little. Sting found he liked caring about someone more than himself, and when Rogue responded to his shows of affection, it filled him with great satisfaction that kept him warm for hours at a time.

"So, uh have you thought about what you're going to say when we find Gajeel?" Sting asked Rogue as they walked towards Oak Town, they would be arriving at their destination sometime mid-morning. They had earned some jewels at the last town, running errands for a merchant and Sting was looking forward to treating Rogue to something with part of it.

“No, what were you planning on saying to Natsu? “ Rogue asked curiously.

"Say? Talking's your thing, I'm gonna challenge him to a fight, " Sting declared, eyes gleaming as he punched the palm of his hand to show his intent. Rogue looked over at him with a weird expression he couldn't decipher, but he shrugged it off. Sting figured that if Natsu were even half the person he thought, the challenge would be appreciated.

Rogue still looked nervous so Sting did something he didn't often do, he grabbed Rogue's hand in his and squeezed it. Rogue smiled up at him, and Sting could feel his cheeks flush at the gesture. He looked away but left his hand right where it was, and they continued to walk in this manner. They arrived at their destination still walking hand in hand.

Sting couldn't help but notice that Rogue seemed more sure of himself and he felt happy to be able to do that much for him. They didn't talk about the mate thing often, but it was at times like this that Sting felt it strongly. It was a sense of rightness, a feeling that this person was someone he was meant to be with.

They stopped a man to ask for directions to the guild, and he peered at them strangely. He remarked, "What's left of it is over that way, keep walking straight for another ten minutes or so, you can't miss it."

The man's words set them on edge so they ran straight ahead only to be met with a large pile of metal debris that seemed like it once might have been a large structure. It had clearly seen better days, currently looking like a battle had been waged within its walls. Although walls was a very generous term at this point. Sting wanted to go explore the inside, but Rogue gripped his hand firmly to keep him from doing so.

Rogue gaped at what was left of the Phantom Lord Guild, “What happened here, and what of Gajeel?”

Sting could only shrug his shoulders, “Well, I mean clearly there was a fight.”

“Yes, that much is obvious, but Phantom Lord is the strongest guild in Fiore, what could have done this?”

“Why don’t we go ask someone, the people in town might know what happened?”

"I don't want to leave yet," Rogue protested, and Sting somewhat understood. Rogue had built this moment up in his mind, and it had not gone in any way he could have anticipated. He needed time to process.

"Okay, you stay here. I'll see what I can find out," Sting offered, and Rogue looked at him gratefully.

Sting ran looking for someone he could ask, but not many people seemed to be about. Instead, he found a small business that sold Sorcerer Weekly, he figured if something that big had happened, they would probably have reported on it. Just as Sting suspected there was an issue with a picture of the destroyed guild hall on the cover hiding among some newer issues. He used the jewels he'd been planning to spend on Rogue's gift to pay for it. It saddened him, but he reasoned Rogue needed this more.

Sting found a bench and struggled to read as much as he could. He felt someone sit next to him, and he didn't even have to look to know who it was, but he did anyway and was bewildered by the affectionate gaze Rogue was giving him.

“You were reading that for me?”

“Well yeah, you were upset,” Rogue smiled broadly and gave Sting a quick hug.

“Thank you.” Rogue settled more comfortably next to him, “What did you find out?”

"I— I don't think you're going to like it," Sting frowned, not sure how to tell his mate that his hero was not what he'd imagined.

Rogue's eyes narrowed slightly at Sting's statement, but he waited patiently for him to continue.

"It says that Gajeel attacked and injured some Fairy Tail wizards and then destroyed their guild hall causing a war between Fairy Tail and Phantom Lord." Sting looked down at the ground, "I'm sorry."

Rogue touched the magazine still laying on Sting’s lap, “May I?”

"Sure," Sting handed the magazine over to Rogue and watched him read the article. He wasn't sure whether he should be concerned that Rogue seemed to be taking everything so well.

"I guess you were right, we should have gone to Fairy Tail," Rogue commented drily before his eyes moistened as he told Sting, "I'm proud of you, you read really well."

Sting basked in the unexpected praise, and when Rogue handed the magazine back to him he tucked it into his bag, understanding now was not the time to look at the rest of it. "What do we do now?"

"Well, we're in a new place, might as well check it out." Rogue got up and started walking. Sting knew Rogue wasn't as okay as he was trying to act, but chose to give him space to deal with things in his own way. Sting, along with the cats, followed after him and they spent the day distracting themselves from the disappointment of a wasted journey.

o-o

It had been over a week since they'd found the remains of the Phantom Lord Guild and they'd yet to decide on what to do next. Sting was hesitant to bring it up when Rogue so clearly didn't want to talk about what had happened, but he didn't like staying in one place for too long. It brought unnecessary attention from adults, it was safer to keep moving and try their luck in the next town.

They'd found a playground in a park in the middle of town a few days earlier, and even though neither Sting nor Rogue had any interest in the equipment, both Lector and Frosch adored it. Sting decided they should go there, Rogue tended to relax while watching the cats play and it might be a good time to introduce the topic of moving on.

They found a large tree to sit underneath where they could comfortably watch Lector and Frosch chase each other and climb over the equipment. Sting took a moment to enjoy Rogue’s rare smile before taking out the Sorcerer’s Weekly he’d bought and placing it between them.

Rogue looked down at the magazine and tensed up. Sting was worried, this type of conversation was more of Rogue's thing, but he knew it was needed.

"What's wrong?" Sting tried to sound calm, even though Rogue's unhappiness had been making him crazy.

Rogue sighed, “It’s just different than what I expected.”

“What did you expect?”

“I don’t know exactly, I just… I thought guilds were places for wizards to use their magic to help others, and earn jewels doing it. That doesn’t sound like what happened here.”

“It wasn’t,” Sting shrugged, “That doesn’t mean all guilds have to be dicks.”

“He’s right you know,” An unfamiliar voice entered their conversation, “I’m sorry to intrude, guilds and wizards are kind of a passion of mine.”

Sting and Rogue turned to see a blond man sitting near them on a blanket. He had a large amount of food, and he eagerly offered them some. They looked at each other before accepting some sandwiches and sitting closer to the man.

"You like that magazine?" The man asked with curiosity as he peered over at the issue they had.

Sting and Rogue nodded, and that seemed to make the man happy. "Cool cool cool! Anyway, there are a lot of guilds in Fiore, and they're all different. Some are light, and some are dark, there are even some independent ones."

"Wait, what's a dark guild? Was Phantom Lord one?" Rogue instantly became interested in the conversation. They hadn't really been able to come into contact with anyone who knew much about this stuff. Until they met this man, Sorcerer Weekly had been their only source of information.

"Phantom? No," The man snickered as he tossed them some water bottles, "They were just greedy… and proud. Dark guilds are ones that do things that are forbidden by the Magic Council, like kill people for jewels."

Sting and Rogue gaped at the man in horror, some wizards would kill for jewels?

He tapped his head with his fingers, “Don’t worry, there are less of those than Light Guilds. Let me see, where to start? Okay, well you do know that only about ten percent of the world’s population are magic users?”

Sting and Rogue shook their heads in response. "No? Well, that's how it is, and most of them are in guilds."

"Guilds come under the Magic Council, which is kind of like the wizards' police. There are all kinds of guilds, and they're all different, but the one thing they have in common is that wizards can join and use their skills to take missions and earn jewel, just like you said. " He smiled at Rogue, "Many rivalries exist of course, but guilds are forbidden from fighting each other, which is why Phantom Lord was disbanded."

“Do you know what happened to Gajeel?” Sting asked, wanting to give Rogue some peace.

"Black Steel? Yeah sure, he joined Fairy Tail as did Juvia Lockser, one of the Element Four." The man answered, chuckling when the two boys looked at him in astonishment. "Strange, huh? Even though they were bitter enemies, Fairy Tail accepted them into their guild. That's just how they are."

“Of all the guilds, Fairy Tail is my favorite, “ He opened his jacket and showed them his pink Fairy Tail shirt, “If I were a wizard that would be the one I would want to join. They’re so cool!!!”

"You're not a wizard?" Rogue was surprised, considering all the man knew, he'd expected him to be a member of some guild.

“Nope, I just write about the wizarding world, I’m Jason,” Jason pointed to the cover of the magazine which had his name listed on it.

At his admission both Sting and Rogue began to talk excitedly, asking him so many questions the man had to laugh, "Hang on, let's finish eating first, I'll answer your questions after we're done."

Lector and Frosch came over then, and the boys shared some of their food. Once finished, the cats took a nap on their dragon slayers.

Jason spent another hour talking to them, at times getting even more excited than the boys. He told them about different things that had happened in the last few months — like several guilds working together to take down a dark guild called Oración Seis, and more recently Natsu and the rest of Fairy Tail destroying a gigantic mechanical dragon in Magnolia.

Sting and Rogue learned a lot more in that hour than what they’d been able to glean from months of reading the magazine and Rogue could see the longing in Sting’s eyes to be part of the excitement.

Jason recommended they should check out Fairy Tail and Blue Pegasus as they had the kindest and fairest Masters. Fairy Tail, he pointed out, was especially good with younger kids. He explained that a lot of the current group of famous wizards had been orphans who had grown up there.

Jason finally bid them farewell, but as he was collecting his trash, he stopped for a moment. "I just realized, I never asked you what your magic is."

Sting grinned cockily, "I'm a White Dragon Slayer, and Rogue is a Shadow Dragon Slayer."

Jason's eyes almost popped out of his head, "Dragon slayers?! Cool, cool, cool! " Jason noted excitedly. With a grin, he added, "If you ever do meet Salamander, watch out for his right hook, it's pretty fierce." He rubbed his jaw remembering the last time they'd met.

He opened his bag and grabbed a copy of the newest issue of Sorcerer's Weekly, handing it to Rogue, "Whatever you decide, I look forward to writing you both in here someday." He gave them a final wave and walked away.

"So what do you want to do?" Sting was glad they had met the reporter. Rogue seemed to be in much better spirits.

"Let's check out Blue Pegasus first, and then we'll head to Fairy Tail," Rogue answered and when Sting began to protest he explained, "I think we'll end up at Fairy Tail, but I just want to make sure we consider all our options first."

Sting agreed, but he didn't look very enthused by the plan.

o-o

Sting had no desire to go to the Blue Pegasus Guild. Even if the Master was great, he'd seen the images of some of the wizards in Sorcerer Weekly and he'd not been very impressed. They looked like pretty boys, and Sting had no interest in that. He wanted to fight, to train, to help others and go on adventures. He wasn't sure how he was supposed to do that while dressed in a suit and catering to customers, but Rogue was determined to go check it out and at least it took them away from Oak Town.

Rogue was the one navigating this time, and Sting was happy to let him do it. He tried to keep his lousy mood to himself as they made their way to wherever the heck they were going, but Lector was baiting him, and he was reaching his limit.

They stopped to rest, and Sting took the magazine out of his small bag and immediately began to read. This had become a routine of sorts, Sting would try to make sense of the articles without Rogue's help, only pointing out the words he had trouble with. Rogue noticed with pride that Sting needed less help every day. Sting didn't do it for long periods, complaining that it made his head hurt, so Rogue wasn't surprised when he set the magazine aside after a few minutes.

"Do you remember much before the gate?" Sting gazed at him with a hopeful expression.

Rogue thought about it and shook his head, he had a few memories, but they were vague, and as time went on he forgot more and more. The last vivid memory he had was of killing his dragon, just like Sting.

"I've been thinking about that more and more," Sting massaged his temple with his fingers, trying to stop the headache he could feel forming, "Do you think the other dragon slayers remember the gate as well?"

Rogue could only shrug his shoulders, and he suddenly felt guilty for leading them away from the answers they'd been seeking for so long. He wasn't sure why he was so determined to do that. Rogue was well aware that Blue Pegasus was not a good fit for them, based on what Jason had said it was a very social guild. The wizards had to interact with their clients regularly which was something he not only wasn't very good at, but he already knew he wouldn't enjoy. Although Sting could probably manage just fine.

Maybe he was just afraid of being disappointed again, or perhaps he was worried that Sting would like Natsu better than him, although he recognized that was ridiculous. He just knew he wanted to extend the time that they had alone together for as long as he could.

"I don't know, I don't think it really matters, to be honest," Rogue replied, "Do you think we'll like being in a guild?"

Sting had no answer to that, he still had no idea what to expect, “It will be a change that’s for sure, but it would be nice to be able to earn jewels and have regular meals, and be around other wizards,” Sting added dreamily. “We can go on adventures and fight monsters.”

Rogue found himself smiling at Sting’s expression, “You would think of fighting and adventures.”

“Well sure! What do you think it will be like?”

“Noisy,” Rogue looked down at the ground, “Lonely.”

"Lonely?" Sting balked at the thought, "How can you possibly be lonely? I'll be there with you. Always." He scooted over to where Rogue was and sat behind him, wrapping his arms around him in a hug. Sting placed his chin on the other's shoulder. "Is that what's been bothering you all along? You think that once we join a guild, you'll lose me?"

Rogue gave a small nod, and Sting growled in response. "That's never going to happen, Rogue, you're my mate, and if anyone tries to get between us, they'll have to answer to me."

Sting felt the tension in Rogue's shoulders decrease after hearing his words, and he found himself sniffing his mate in a way he never had before. It was an urge that was both new and strange, he didn't know what to make of it or how he felt about it, but he couldn't deny that Rogue's smell comforted him. When Rogue was by his side, everything was good with the world, and Sting realized that if Rogue felt the same way, his fear was understandable. He wouldn't know what he would do if Rogue were taken away from him.

“We can make other friends and still have each other,” Sting reassured him before letting go and standing up. “We should get moving if we want to get to your precious Blue Pegasus,” Sting winked before offering his hand to his mate.

“I’ve been thinking, we don’t have to go there if you don’t want to,” Rogue offered, feeling a bit better after they’d talked, “We can just head to Fairy Tail.”

“Nah, you’re right. We should check out other guilds before we make our decision, plus I can’t wait to see you in one of those suits,” Sting doubled up laughing.

“You’d look pretty good, “ Rogue mumbled under his breath, Sting still heard him and laughed harder.

“I still don’t get how they expect us to fight wearing one of those monkey suits.” Sting rolled his eyes, “Too much effort if you ask me.”

“I get the feeling they don’t fight much,” Rogue pointed out.

“Ugh, you had to remind me,” Sting grabbed Rogue’s hand and smiled, “Lead the way.”

Rogue turned away but not before Sting noticed a fascinating expression on the other's face. It seemed he wasn't the only one having strange feelings. He grinned contentedly.

It took them another week to walk to the Blue Pegasus Guild, and it was equal parts uncomfortable and pleasant. Something had definitely changed between them, although neither one seemed to be able to pinpoint what it was.

Sting could have sworn that when he had woken up that morning, Rogue had been sniffing him, it was odd, but he didn't mind. How could he when he'd done the same thing himself?

There was a different feeling of closeness between them than what had been there before. Where at night they'd always slept in a tangle of limbs, during the day they rarely touched each other. Now fingers were occasionally grazing as they walked, furtive gazes were met before both quickly looked away. It was new and exciting, but it also made them awkward around each other as they tried to figure out what it meant.

Sting was almost glad to see the large building with the Blue Pegasus guild symbol on the front in the distance, thankfully in one piece. His stomach was littered with butterflies seemingly involved in a hostile takeover, and he wasn't sure which was the cause, Rogue or taking their first real step into finally immersing themselves in the wizarding world.

They stood in front of the building staring at the doors until Rogue took the incentive of walking up the steps. When he noticed Sting was still standing at the bottom of the stairs, Rogue grabbed him and dragged him as gently as possible to the entrance doors. He squeezed Sting's hand once before letting go and opening the doors, urging him inside.

They entered and took in their surroundings, it was mid-afternoon, and the guild was surprisingly empty. A few people were sitting at the bar drinking, but the general mood of the place was gloom. Sting thought he heard soft crying. It was not at all what they'd expected, and they didn't know what to do. They looked at each other in consternation, should they return later?

They had turned around to leave when they heard someone address them.

"Can I help you, boys?" The voice was soft but kind, and when they saw the owner, they were able to recognize the Blue Pegasus Guild Master, Bob, standing behind the bar. He was bald and dressed in shorts and a cami with small wings on his shoulders.

"I'm Bob, the Master of this guild," Master Bob gestured towards two open stools at the bar. "Would you like some food? It looks like you haven't eaten a proper meal in a while."

Both boys nodded eagerly at the offer, and Sting made his way towards the bar, sitting on one of the stools the Master had suggested, while Rogue occupied the one next to his, their cats sharing another. Master Bob looked at Frosch and Lector and sniffled. "Let me get you some food, and then you can tell me why you're here."

The boys thanked him and took a better look around while they waited. There were several areas with comfortable chairs and sofas littered throughout the space as well as regular tables like you would see at a restaurant, but they were all empty.

Master Bob came out of what must have been the kitchen with four plates of food, and this action endeared the man to the two dragon slayers, no one else had ever treated their cats to their own food before. The guild master waited until they were done eating before speaking.

“So, what brings you here?”

“We were interested in learning more about your guild,” Rogue informed him politely.

"Ah, so you're wizards. Were you interested in joining?" Bob's demeanor had become a bit more reserved, but his features were still friendly.

"That depends," Sting pointed at the somber expressions on the few people inside the building, "Is it always like this?"

“Sting!”, Rogue hissed at his rudeness.

"No, it's alright. It's a fair question," Bob took a deep breath before explaining, "It isn't usually like this, no. We've just had some distressing news."

"Is everything alright?"

"No, you see, something terrible has happened," Bob lamented, "I suppose it can't hurt to tell you, it'll be general knowledge soon enough, it's already in Sorcerer."

The guild master grabbed the latest issue from underneath the counter and placed it in front of them. "Our friends at the Fairy Tail Guild were attacked by the black dragon Acnologia during their S-Class trials and they, along with the island they were on, have disappeared without a trace."

"Some of our members are leading the search party, but there's been no word," Bob's tears had started up again, and he tried to wipe them away. "A lot of the other guilds are helping as well, but we're all starting to lose hope. I'm sorry boys, you picked a bad time to visit."

Both Sting and Rogue goggled at the man in front of them in shock. Rogue watched Sting grab the magazine and go through it with something akin to desperation, but Rogue couldn't find the will to do so.

There were no words to express his feelings of loss, even though Rogue had never met these people he'd been getting ready to join them. He was also excited to hear that there were still dragons around, it was something both he and Sting had wondered about for a long time. But there was also the grief that came from knowing he'd never see his own dragon again.

Rogue couldn't really understand how the events Master Bob had told them about could have happened. He knew that Natsu and Gajeel were among the strongest in the Fairy Tail guild and also dragon slayers. They must have been on the island but if that were true, how was it possible that the dragon had bested them when both he and Sting had no trouble killing their own dragons at a much younger age? It made no sense.

Sting, ever his opposite, seemed to be in a rage. He'd slammed the magazine on the counter prompting Master Bob to look at him with concern. He'd been about to say something when Sting got off the stool and stormed outside.

“Is he okay?”

Rogue needed to go after his mate, but he also wanted to be respectful to this man who had been so kind to them already. He looked over at the page that Sting had been looking at, it had a picture of all the S-Class candidates climbing onto a boat in the port of Hargeon, Natsu and Gajeel easily recognizable among them. "Natsu and Gajeel were heroes of ours, we'd wanted to meet them," he said in the way of explanation.

“Go to him and take this if you want,” Bob offered the magazine and Rogue grabbed it gratefully. He wanted to read more information on what had happened, but he really needed to get to Sting. “We’ll be here if you want to come back and talk some more about joining.”

Rogue nodded and gave a quick wave before rushing out of the building, already tracking Sting’s scent. Both cats followed closely behind, their expressions nervous. He finally found him quite a ways away, doubled over and out of breath.

"Hey," Rogue went to touch Sting's shoulder, but he bucked away roughly. Frosch began to cry as he saw how upset Sting seemed to be and Lector remained blissfully quiet.

"How?!" Sting yelled angrily, "How could they not have defeated it?"

"I don't know Sting, we don't know anything about this dragon, maybe he was just too powerful."

“Some dragon slayers they turned out to be,” Sting roared with scorn, “Why have we been wasting our time on those losers? We’re already stronger than they ever were.”

“Calm down,” Rogue asserted, wincing at the pain he could hear in his mate’s voice, “You don’t know that, they gave us direction when we had none. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

"How can you be so damn calm about this, don't you get it?" Sting continued his tirade but this time some of the anger was directed at Rogue, "Everything we were working towards, it's gone!"

Rogue worked up his courage and surrounded Sting in an embrace, holding him with all his strength as the dragon slayer tried to fight him off.

"Let it out," He whispered in his mate's ear.

Sting slumped and began sobbing in the safety of Rogue's arms. Rogue remained quiet, knowing his words would only make things worse. He didn't really know what to say anyway, he needed to read the magazine, to understand everything that had happened. Rogue couldn't help but feel that there had to be more to the story than what they already knew. The Fairy Tail Master was a Wizard Saint and from what Rogue understood that made him even more powerful than dragon slayers, yet he had gone down with the rest of them. Nothing was adding up, and this bothered him.

“It’s all a lie,” Sting finally muttered as he pushed Rogue back gently.

“What is?”

"Everything we've read in that stupid magazine," Sting explained, as his breathing slowly returned to normal, "It's just a popularity contest, and we fell for it. I bet you Natsu didn't do half the things it said."

Rogue disagreed, but he remained silent on the topic, not wanting to rile Sting up any further. "Master Bob offered to talk to us again another time…"

"NO, I'm not joining his weak ass guild no matter how nice he is," Sting snapped. "I'm not going to be some pretty boy, I want to be strong. There is only one thing I've learned throughout this whole journey of ours, and that is that the only one I can truly depend on is you."

"What are you saying?" Rogue protested, "You don't want to join a guild anymore?"

"I'm saying I'm only interested in joining the strongest guild in Fiore, and until we find it, we'll train and fight anyone who gets in our way." Sting sounded eerily calm, and Rogue didn't know what to do or say to change his mind.

This new plan of Sting’s made him nervous, he’d been looking forward to having a support system, a place to live, regular meals. Rogue was tired of living day to day, always struggling and scrounging for the little they had, but he could also see Sting was determined at the moment and he thought that if he just let him get it out of his system Sting would calm down and change his mind. Rogue could only hope he didn’t come to regret it.

o-o

- Six Months Later -

Rogue watched with boredom as Sting defeated yet another contender, barely even breaking a sweat. He looked around at the number of men and even women that were lined up for the chance to defeat the dragon slayer. It looked like today would be another good haul.

He'd tried fighting as well, but he really didn't care for it, and Sting had been doing so well they'd decided it wasn't needed. Occasionally they would put on a sparring match to get some attention, then Rogue would just be responsible for the jewels. Lector would help by doing what he did best, bragging about Sting's fighting ability, while Frosch would hide in Rogue's clothes not wanting to see Sting get hurt.

They'd realized early on that they couldn't make the fights look too easy if they wanted to make jewels, so occasionally Sting had to take some hits. It wasn't too bad, the regeneration that was a part of their magic allowed them to heal quickly, but it still made for some uncomfortable nights.

They'd spend a few days in a town, fight until they ran out of contenders and then move on to the next one. Sting had yet to be defeated, and they made a fair amount of jewels, allowing them to stay in cheap inns and be able to afford regular meals.

Rogue still didn't enjoy having Sting fight, but they were comfortable enough, which had reduced some of his reservations about not joining a guild. They'd been approached by several along the way, but Sting would refuse them all, repeating that he was only interested in joining the strongest one.

Although they were careful enough to not show it in public, their relationship had naturally progressed from the initial awkwardness into an understanding of sorts. They held hands and cuddled with occasional hesitant kisses, neither feeling the need to go any further. It was more of a promise of things to come when they were older, there was no hurry, both remained confident in their dragons words that they had been made for each other and so had all the time in the world to pursue this feeling they still didn't really understand.

Rogue brought his mind back to the present, and with a grimace, he saw a man he'd noticed in several towns. This man was much older than most of the people who frequented their fights, and he was huge with powerful bulging muscles. His hair was long and white though he kept it tied back in a braid, his mustache and beard were also long. A large, red beaded necklace decorated his neck. He never lined up to fight, only watched Sting with an expression that made Rogue nervous. If Rogue had to try to describe it, he would say the man looked at Sting with hunger. He'd mentioned it to Sting a couple of times, but of course, Sting saw nothing wrong with it.

"You worry too much, he probably just likes to watch me fight," Sting shrugged it off like he did most things, and Rogue tried to believe that was all it was, but something just felt off about this man, and it was setting off all sorts of alarms in his brain.

He bandaged Sting up swiftly having lots of practice, and they packed their bags, ready to leave this town behind in the morning and move on to the next one. The cats were already asleep on the bed and Sting took advantage of the silence to lean in and kiss Rogue, making him smile and distracting them from noticing the man who was watching through the window. They climbed into bed and kissed one last time before falling into a restful sleep in each other's arms.

The next morning they enjoyed a hearty breakfast before beginning the long trek to the next town. The sun was shining, and Sting was in high spirits, most of his scrapes from the previous day already healed. Lector and Frosch flew around them chattering happily amongst themselves while Rogue let himself relax and enjoy his companions.

He felt an unexpected sharp jolt in his back and thought he might have been stung by an insect, but that thought was clearly replaced by panic when he felt immense pain all over his body as it began to spasm outside of his control. Rogue realized much too late he'd been attacked by some sort of magic. The last thing he heard was Sting screaming out his name.

Sting tried to grab Rogue before he collapsed on the ground, still not sure what had happened but knowing Rogue was in trouble. Before he could even touch his mate, a tall, muscled boy with long green hair had already grabbed him and carried him away from Sting.

Sting roared in protest, immediately calling on his magic and readying his breath attack. He hadn't used his magic often during his fights, but he and Rogue sparred regularly, and neither was the type to pull their punches. They were both stronger than they had been when they first met.

"That's right, that's what I wanted to see, boy," Another man appeared before him, fitting the description Rogue had mentioned just yesterday and Sting was furious with himself for not listening. Rogue was usually not a worrier, he should have heeded his words. He could hear the cats freaking out, and it set him even more on edge to know they were scared.

"Let him go," Sting snarled, his magic ready to burst out of him at this point, as it realized his mate was in danger.

"Oh, I intend to," The man said, his voice tainted with malice and Sting could feel tremendous magical energy emanating from him. "All you have to do is fight me. If you beat me, I will return him to you safe and sound."

“And if I don’t?”

"If you don't, then you, along with the weakling, will have to join my guild."

“Rogue is not weak!¨ Sting bristled at the insult.

The man shrugged in disinterest, “Maybe he is, maybe he isn’t, that isn’t my concern at the moment. Show me how strong you are boy, I won’t go easy on you.”

Without another word, the man rushed at him, and Sting had his hands full getting out of the way of the attack before unleashing his own. To his dismay, the man was able to dodge his breath attack and had pinned him to the ground in the next instant.

He was incredibly fast for his size, but Sting was able to wrestle his way back out. He'd never fought anyone he hadn't been able to beat easily, and his confidence shattered, his mind beginning to doubt every move he made, slowing him down as fear set in with every rough hit that slammed into him as the older wizard overpowered him. Before Sting had a chance to use his magic again, everything exploded around him.

His ears were ringing, his insides were throbbing, and even though everything was blurry, he could see Rogue's outline in the other boy's arms. He held back the tears that wanted to come as he realized how badly he'd manage to bungle everything up.

When his hearing finally returned to normal, he heard the man he'd been fighting talking to the boy holding Rogue. "Tie him up, if he's any good he can join the guild; otherwise we can use him to keep the other one under control."

Sting tried to get up, to keep fighting, but his movement caught the man's attention, and Sting felt tremendous pain as the man kicked him on his side hard enough to hurl him several feet in the air and possibly break something if the crack he heard was any indication.

“Admit defeat brat,” He laughed heartily, “You’ve got spirit, I’ll give you that!”

Sting felt himself being picked up and draped over the man’s shoulder.

“Welcome to the Sabertooth Guild, you may call me Master Jiemma.”

Master Jiemma and the other boy walked side by side, each carrying one of the dragon slayers and their bags. Sting could only whimper as he took in Rogue's unconscious form. He knew full well it had been his pride that had gotten them here. He had time for one last thought before he lost consciousness.

I’m sorry, Rogue. I promise I’ll find us a way out of this.

A/N: I got a little carried away with this one, but I liked the idea of Sorcerer Weekly as a symbol, cause what a skewed vision of the world that would be! It was also a nice way to move them from place to place.

Will be continued Thursday in His Own Destiny for  the Prompt: Command

#fairy tail #shadowlightweek2k19 #stingue #ftlgbtales #fanfiction #prompt: symbols #ftlgbtales writer #ftfanfics #ftlgbtfics #sting x rogue #sting eucliffe #rogue cheney #lector #frosch #jason #master bob #hurt/comfort #my edits

[mdelpin]

Lyoray Week 2019 Prompt: Aftermath AO3 | FF.Net

You Left Me Behind

Summary: All Gray remembered was Lyon trying to cover his face as he screamed out Gray's name, then it was just a jumble of loud, jarring noises and pain followed by blissful darkness. Gray had woken up at Mass General Hospital days later with both knees broken from the impact and a new liver, Lyon's dying gift, transplanted inside of him. Now it was time to say goodbye.

Gray got out of the car slowly, not that he did anything quickly these days. Natsu had been kind enough to take the day off from work to bring him to the cemetery knowing how important this was to him.

However, now that Gray was here he couldn't seem to move past the front gate. He heard the car door shut behind him. Heard Natsu's steps as they neared him, felt Natsu's hand squeeze his shoulder.

"Do you want me to stay with you?" Natsu asked quietly as he hugged him from behind, putting his head on Gray's shoulder. "I know this is hard for you, tell me what you need."

Gray squeezed the hands that were clasped around his middle gratefully. It was what he needed, just a little push to get him going. This was a visit that had been a long time coming, he'd kept putting it off for so many reasons, but there were a lot of things he needed to get off his chest, and unless he told them to Lyon directly they would feel meaningless.

He took a shaky breath and leaned on his cane to steady himself. "No, I can do it."

Just a few months ago he would have barked that out or lashed out at Natsu for assuming he wasn't capable of doing something but he'd finally lost the chip on his shoulder, and a lot of that was thanks to Natsu.

"I brought you a chair, I thought you might get tired standing there for a long time. Let me at least put it there for you, and I'll come back to the car."

Gray turned around slowly and captured Natsu's lips in a gentle kiss. "Thank you."

Natsu smiled at him, touching his forehead to Gray's before letting go and grabbing the chair that he'd set down. They walked together quietly, following Loke's instructions to Lyon's grave. Loke had offered to come as well, but some of the things Gray needed to get off his chest were too personal for him to share with anyone but Lyon.

True to his word, Natsu set the chair down and after making sure Gray was settled walked back towards the car. He'd come back and say his own words when he retrieved the chair.

Gray held on to his cane tightly, staring at the headstone Loke had so lovingly picked out. There was a large bouquet of roses in a vase that was part of the base, letting him know Loke had been here recently.

Lyon Vastia September 5, 1997 - September 14, 2017 Beloved son, friend, and fiancé Though you will be missed, we know you'll be watching over us from your place in the stars

Gray smiled at the message, that must have been Loke as well. He'd always been a nut for anything to do with astrology.

"Hi, I guess," Gray ran his fingers through his hair not sure what to do with his hands. It was stupid to feel this nervous talking to someone who wasn't even there. "I'm not really sure how to do this. I've only really ever visited my parents' graves."

He looked around to make sure no one was close enough to listen to him. Once he was satisfied, he cleared his throat and began speaking.

"I've never been good at long flowery speeches, so I guess I'll get to the point," Gray immediately tensed up, and had to remind himself that this was the reason he was here. "Was it my fault? Did I distract you by talking?"

He remembered the car ride well. Lyon had been driving, they'd both been tired but excited to make the long drive to Boston. They'd been scouted and offered a spot in the Boston Bruins training camp. If they performed well they'd have a real shot at playing on an NHL team. It was a dream they'd been working towards since they met in their first Squirt League thirteen years ago.

"We were so close, Lyon!" Gray didn't attempt to hide his frustration, he was sure Lyon could relate, "I heard they replaced us with Invel and some other guy I'd never heard of. God, Invel was such a dick, remember?"

No one had been able to satisfactorily explain how the crash happened. The other driver had been drunk, that was true, but Lyon hadn't attempted to brake or veer away from the oncoming car. All Gray remembered was Lyon trying to cover his face as he screamed out Gray's name, then it was just a jumble of loud, jarring noises and smells and pain followed by blissful darkness. Gray had woken up at Mass General Hospital days later with both knees broken from the impact and a new liver, Lyon's dying gift, transplanted inside of him.

The tears finally started to come, "I see Loke every day, Erza offered him a job at the house while he got himself together. I know he doesn't blame me for what happened, but I do. I was in the car with you. Why did I survive when you didn't? You had so much more to live for and Loke, he's so sad, even though he doesn't like to show it. He misses you, and he's stuck taking care of me. How fucked up is that?"

God, I was so angry at you for leaving me behind. You were the one I always measured myself up against and with you gone, I was so lost. What was I supposed to do without you? I know I never said it, but you were my best friend."

"Damn it!" Gray wiped his eyes with the back of his hand, although it didn't help much. These had been a long time coming, and he knew he'd have to let them all out before he could truly move on.

"I know I gave you a hard time about Loke, and even though you never complained, I'm sorry. I didn't really mean it. I think I was a little in love with you for a while there, but I was too stupid to realize it. Seeing how happy you were with him, it- it hurt in a way I didn't quite understand."

To his amusement he found himself avoiding looking at the headstone as if he thought Lyon could judge him through it somehow.

"I really wish you could have had the life you were planning, and I promise you that I won't waste mine. I'm only alive because of you, although it feels weird knowing that a part of you is inside of me."

Gray chuckled through his tears, "Couldn't resist saving my ass one last time, could you? Gotta admit that threw me for a loop at first."

Gray showed the cane to the headstone, "I've had to slow down, and I'll never be able to play professionally. At first, I believed my life was over, but then I'd think of you and how you would never give up and well, I couldn't let you be better than me could I?

Natsu has helped a lot too, he got me to put skates on again for the first time since the accident. I taught him how to ice skate, can you imagine that? Me, ice skating for fun and trying to show someone else, I have to believe you laughed at that one if you were watching. He's trying to convince me to start training and maybe work up to joining some sort of pickup league, but I don't really know if I want to play hockey without you."

You were the best friend I could have asked for, and I can only hope that I was the same for you. I— I loved you, Lyon and I miss you every day. There, I said it."

"I can almost hear you laughing at me you know," Gray snorted as he got up from the chair. "I'm sorry it took me so long to come see you, I promise I'll be by more often, and... I'll watch over Loke for you," He paused before adding a teary, "Goodbye Lyon. Thank you... for everything."

Gray grabbed the hockey puck he'd put in his coat pocket that morning and placed it on top of the headstone. It was the first goal he'd gotten past Lyon back when they were ten, and he'd held on to it ever since. "Someday, I know we'll get to play again."

He turned around and walked back to the entrance, Natsu already walking towards him. Gray hugged him tightly, fully aware of how lucky he was to be alive and have Natsu by his side.

Gray let Natsu go pay his respects and continued his walk towards the car, his mind caught up in memories of two young boys who's fondest wish had been to become professional hockey players.

Visiting Lyon's grave had made him feel a bit lighter, but he knew some of the sadness he felt would never leave him, Lyon had been too big a part of his life for him to ever be able to forget.

Natsu put the chair in the trunk and got in the driver's seat, turning his head towards Gray. "Home?"

Gray smiled and leaned his body as close to Natsu's as the middle console would allow, putting his hand behind Natsu's neck and nudging him forward for a kiss. Natsu looked surprised but followed along, allowing himself to be kissed.

"Let's go out to lunch," Gray suggested, "I think it's time I took you out on a proper date, don't you?"

It was time for him to stop hiding in his house. Yes, he'd had to let go of his biggest dream, but that didn't mean he couldn't make new ones. Gray would never stop missing Lyon, but he could move forward and live the best life he could, for both of them.

A/N: This kind of goes with a story I'm writing. I've only got the first chapter done, but I always knew I wanted this to happen, even though it didn't really fit into the scope of the story itself. So I decided to go ahead and write it out for Lyoray Week

@lyoray-week

#fairy tail #lyorayweek2019 #ftlgbtales #lyoray week 2019 #lyon & gray #gray x natsu #prompt: aftermath #lyon x loke #ftlgbtales writer #ftlgbtfics #ftfanfics #brotp #my edits

[mdelpin]

This is for a request sent in by @ceruleanshockwave . There were several in the original request so I will post them individually as I write them. It turned out longer that I’d planned but I hope you like it V!

98 “Not sure if you could tell, but I’m not exactly a people person.”

Gray knew it was a mistake to go to the guild before he'd had his morning coffee but he didn't have any at home, and if he was late for their team meeting he knew Erza was going to tear him a new one. He tried to wake himself up, but being an ice mage cold water didn't do squat and warm water just annoyed him by reminding him of both the insistent water mage and the frustrating fire dragon slayer before he was ready to deal with either of them.

He put on some clothes, not even bothering to see if they matched, what was the point, they'd probably be off before he even reached the guild. Especially since he was already anxious. If he could only get there before Erza, he could get some coffee from Mira, and everything would be alright. He walked with single-minded purpose, his features set in a scowl he wasn't aware of, causing people to veer out of his way quickly. He stared after them in confusion but shrugged it off and continued on his trek to the guild.

Somewhere along the way, he noticed people's expressions changing and a woman whacked him with a newspaper yelling "You should be ashamed of yourself!"

He looked down at himself, irritated by the woman’s actions and verified his shirt was already off. Fuck, why does that keep happening!

"It's a medical condition!" he snapped at the woman. He gave a cursory glance behind him trying to locate his shirt, but when he didn't see it, he just continued walking, his mood deteriorating with every step.

He managed to reach the guild building without losing any more clothing although it had required all his concentration to do so. Gray saw a glimpse of red hair but it was still a ways away, Erza was talking to some local. For once, something was going his way. He hurried inside and headed towards the bar ignoring the water mage that began to head his way the second he set foot in the guild. A quick glance told him that at least Natsu wasn’t there yet.

“Gray-sama, you’re here!” Juvia immediately began to follow him, either not noticing or not caring about the dark aura that surrounded the ice mage.

“Good morning, Gray!” Mira greeted him with her usual sweet cheer.

“Hey, Mira,” Gray replied trying to sound as civil as he was able given his mood, “Do you think I could have--”

A loud crash was heard from the kitchen. Mira turned her attention to the commotion, her face morphing to one of anger.

“Natsu Dragneel, you’re supposed to be cleaning the mess you and Happy made, not making it worse!” Mira’s usual sweet tone sounded like it was coming from her Satan Soul even though she had not transformed.

“That sounds terrible, Mira, but could I please bother you for some--” Gray tried again, starting to get desperate. He knew Erza would be there any minute.

“It’s not my fault!” Natsu yelled, “What kind of idiot leaves puddles of olive oil on the floor. Fuck, I’m bleeding!”

“That would be you!” Mira screeched and headed into the kitchen with Wendy scurrying behind her to look at Natsu’s wound.

Gray slammed his head on the bar before taking one, two, three deep breaths. Ok, so this was going to be a little harder than he'd anticipated. No biggie, Gray could just get the coffee himself. He got up from his stool and walked around behind the bar looking for the coffee maker. Once he'd found it, Gray hunted around for the coffee ignoring the metallic noises and screams that were still coming from the kitchen. He poured the coffee into the filter and realized to his dismay that all the water was in the kitchen where Mira and Natsu seemed to still be going at it, no way he was getting in the middle of that.

Juvia, seeing his dilemma started to squeeze water out of herself into a cup, more than happy to be helpful to her beloved. Her eyes had turned into hearts, and she was already squealing about being inside her Gray-sama.

Gray was so desperate at this point he almost considered it, but the idea of drinking down Juvia even with coffee and sugar added in was more than he could handle that early in the morning.

"Just no," Gray told Juvia roughly. Her face fell, and she rushed off in tears and now Gray had a new problem. Gajeel was glaring at him from his table, and had now stood up and was heading his way.

Gray’s frustration was turning into rage, all he wanted was a goddamned cup of coffee before he had to deal with the rest of his team. Why the fuck was it so hard? The kitchen was beginning to look more appealing every second, but Gray stood his ground.

He saw Lucy come in the doors and look his way gauging the situation before walking right back out presumably to get Erza.

“Do you always have to be such an asshole to her?” Gajeel smashed his fist on the bar.

Usually Gray would have apologized, and he'd probably apologize to her later, but he was just done. "I wouldn't have to be if she ever listened to a word I say," Gray snapped.

“That still doesn’t give you the right,” Gajeel was still yelling at him, and that combined with the noises coming from the kitchen were enough to make his right eye start twitching.

“Gray, stop this at once!” Erza stormed into the guild with Lucy following. Her booming voice adding to the cacophony that Gray couldn’t take anymore.

“THAT’S IT, I’M DONE!” Gray yelled at the top of his lungs, his emotions flaring out of control and encasing everyone in the guild in his ice.

“What the hell, Ice Princess?” Natsu yelled from the kitchen. To Gray’s surprise, Natsu started laughing.

Gray could smell the heavenly smell of black coffee coming from somewhere in the guild, so close he could almost taste it. Natsu came out of the kitchen covered in scratches but holding a large mug of black coffee.

“Here you go,” Natsu handed him the mug, an amused and somewhat fond look on his face, “Run out of coffee again?”

“Not sure if you could tell, but I’m not exactly a people person,” Gray replied gratefully as he cooled down the contents of the mug enough to be able to drink them down in one gulp.

“You don’t say,” Natsu scoffed, “What’s your feeling on dragons?”

“I think right now I could kiss one,” Gray said truthfully.

“Go right ahead,” Natsu grinned at him and closed the distance between them, for the first time openly expressing what Gray had been trying to figure out for the last few months.

Gray looked at Natsu in surprise but quickly put his arms around the dragon slayer and kissed him, not wanting to waste the opportunity. Natsu kissed him back eagerly.

"We should talk," Gray grabbed Natsu's hand in his, and they made their way out the guild's back door.

"GRAY!!!" a chorus of voices yelled after them, but he paid them no mind, more interested in the flush in Natsu's cheeks and the feel of his warmth on his fingers.

“As soon as I get out of this, I’m gonna kill that Ice Freak,” Gajeel growled as the door slammed shut.

#fairy tail #gratsu #prompt request #ftlgbtales writer #ftgbtfics #ceruleanshockwave #natsu x gray #gray x natsu #natsu dragneel #gray fullbuster