"Something's holding up traffic, I'm probably gonna be late for work."
Natsu yawned, tapping his fingers against the steering wheel of the car and peeking out the window as he talked to Gray over the Bluetooth. Hythe Street wasn't usually backed up this early in the morning, but they were at a standstill right now, and horns were starting to blare around him.
"What's going on?" Gray's voice was quiet, and Natsu could barely hear him over the sounds of traffic.
"I have no id-"
"Get the fuck off the road!" someone shouted. Natsu frowned, seeing the man in the car in front of him press on his horn as he yelled. "Some of us have places to be!"
"Jesus," Natsu grumbled, leaning curiously out the window. "Chill, dude."
"Is there an accident?" Gray asked.
"Don't think so," Natsu said. There was an SUV turned sideways across both lanes – now that he was paying attention, Natsu could see that oncoming traffic was blocked too. There were no sirens, though, and nobody appeared to be hurt.
"Hurry the fuck up!" Angry guy was shouting again, and Natsu leaned further out the window. He could just see a head of blond hair moving toward the SUV, and as the figure got closer, Natsu realized it was a guy about his age. He was moving awkwardly in a crouch, steadfastly ignoring the shouts and blaring horns.
Shit, he's cute, Natsu thought, taking in the man's dark tan and bright pink shirt. As he leaned further out the window, Natsu suddenly realized that the man was helping a turtle cross the street. He wasn't touching it, just guiding it through the traffic, and Natsu nearly cried at the sight.
"Is everything okay?" Gray asked.
"Gods, yeah," Natsu said quietly, watching the turtle. "I think I'm in love."
Natsu ended up being nearly half an hour late for work, but when he'd told Lucy about the turtle, she'd nearly teared up and had immediately forgiven him for having to open on her own. Now it was lunchtime, and Natsu was sitting at one of the tables in the café, flipping through his phone.
"You're the asshole that held up traffic this morning!"
Natsu looked up from his coffee to see the guy from the truck standing near the door of the café, gesturing angrily.
"I'm sorry if you were late for something," said a voice with a soft, unfamiliar accent. Natsu leaned back in his chair and was pleasantly surprised to see the turtle guy. He was even cuter up close – soft blond hair, eyebrow piercing, pink shirt with Magnolia Zoo written across the front and a tiger cub underneath.
"I was late for a meeting!" the angry guy insisted, crossing his arms over his chest. "It was just a damn turtle."
"Tortoise," the blond man corrected with a smile. "It's a common mistake. And gopher tortoises are actually an endangered keystone species, they-"
"I don't give a shit what kinda damn turtle it was," the other guy growled. Natsu glared at him. "Don't block off traffic for it, people got places to be." The man crossed his arms over his chest and scowled.
"I'd be happy to buy you a coffee to make up for-"
Before he could finish, Lucy called out the angry man's order, and he grabbed it from her, jostling the blond guy and spilling coffee across his shirt.
"Dude," Natsu said. He was on his feet and halfway across the café before he realized what he was doing. "Don't be a dick."
"Excuse me?" The angry man turned around to scowl at Natsu.
"I said, don't be a dick," Natsu replied, turning to the blond man, who was dabbing at his shirt with a napkin. "You okay?"
"Fine," he said quietly. "It's all right, I-"
"No, it's not," Natsu said, turning back to the truck guy. "You're being an asshole."
The truck guy gave Natsu a dirty look, turning back to Lucy and gesturing at her.
"Where's the manager?" he growled. Lucy snorted, raising her eyebrow at Natsu, who gave the guy a smug grin.
"You're looking at him."
It didn't take much convincing for the man to leave, and as soon as the café door was closed, Natsu turned around.
"You okay?" he asked. "Lemme buy you another coffee." He took the dirty napkins and tossed them in the garbage. "I'm Natsu."
"Sting," the man replied, making a face at the coffee stain on his shirt. "And you don't have to-"
"I want to," Natsu insisted, already stepping behind the counter. "What do you want?"
A few minutes later they were sitting back at Natsu's table, coffees in hand and two slices of banana bread on a plate between them. Sting pulled his phone out of his pocket, checking a message before setting it down on the table. Natsu caught a glimpse of his background and his eyes widened.
"Is that real?" he asked, pointing to the phone. Sting nodded, turning the phone to face Natsu. It was a picture of Sting, hand resting on the nose of a full-grown lion.
"That's Lector," Sting said, smiling fondly at the picture. "Here, look." He took the phone back and opened up his photos, then passed it back to Natsu. This photo was of Sting touching foreheads with an enormous white tiger. "That's Frosch!"
"Holy shit," Natsu said, glancing up at Sting and then looking back down at the photo. "This is the cutest fucking thing I've seen in… ever."
Sting's cheeks turned pink under his tan and he looked down at the table, playing with the rim of his coffee cup. "I, uh, work at the zoo," he said, almost shyly. Natsu couldn't place his accent – maybe Australian – but it was adorable. "I'm a zoologist, I just got to start working with the big cats a couple years ago."
Natsu flipped to the next photo, realizing belatedly that he should have asked Sting for permission, and nearly melted at a picture of Sting and a taller man with dark skin and black hair, both petting a lion cub and laughing at each other.
"Your boyfriend?" Natsu asked, wondering why in the hell there was pang in his chest as he asked. He was in love with Gray, so why did it matter that this stranger – who was, admittedly, incredibly cute – had a boyfriend?
"Yeah!" Sting brightened, taking the phone back and smiling. "His name is Rogue, he's a wildlife photographer. We met at the Panthera Cat Sanctuary – I was doing my residency and he was taking pictures of the cats."
"That's… incredibly cool," Natsu said, looking around the café and then giving Sting a wry smile. "I, uh, own this place. Not nearly as awesome as cuddling lions."
Sting laughed, playing with the braided leather bracelet around his wrist. "I mean, coffee's important," he said, gesturing to the cup in front of him. "I've never been here before. We just moved, actually."
"From where?" Natsu asked.
"South Africa," Sting replied, giving Natsu a shy smile. That explained the accent. "Little place called Greyton, it's a couple hours away from Cape Town."
"That's quite a change of scenery," Natsu said.
"Mm." Sting picked at the banana bread and dug out a chocolate chip, popping it into his mouth. For some reason, Natsu couldn't help staring at Sting's fingers as he licked a bit of chocolate from his thumb.
Shit, Natsu thought. Gray's gonna kill me.
Gray didn't kill him. When Natsu got home that evening, he managed to find a picture of Sting on the zoo's website – one of him sitting in between several lion cubs. The adoring sound Gray had made when he saw the photo had been incredibly gratifying.
Three days later, Sting popped into the café again, just as Natsu was getting ready to the leave for the afternoon.
"Hey!" Natsu motioned for Lucy to give Sting his coffee for free, then leaned against the counter next to Sting as he waited. "How're the kitties?"
Sting laughed, running a hand through his hair. His shirt today was bright blue with pawprints running up the side and the words Panthera Sanctuary printed underneath.
"Good!" he replied. "Wanna see some more pictures?"
Gods, do I ever, Natsu thought, leaning over to see Sting's phone. Sting smelled like mown grass and sunscreen, and he talked excitedly about a new lion cub named Zara, gushing over her paws and pointing out the markings on her forehead.
"… and Frosch is a white tiger, but he and Lector were raised together so they're best friends," Sting said as they exited the café and stepped out into the sunshine. "They were bred for the carnival zoo near Cape Town and the sanctuary took them in, so I've been with them since they were cubs. They got rehomed to the zoo here so I followed them!"
He stopped suddenly, as if just realizing they were outside.
"Are you… going back to work?" Natsu asked, hoping the answer was no. Sting shook his head, glancing down at his watch.
"Nah, Rogue's working stuff out with the moving company, he's still up in Scarborough and won't be back until tomorrow, so I was gonna wander around and get to know the neighborhood."
"I happen to be an expert in this neighborhood," Natsu said, grinning and looking around. "Want a guide?"
Sting's face lit up and Natsu felt a twinge in his stomach. It was the same sensation he'd had the first time he'd gotten Gray to smile, two years ago when they'd met in the first aid office at the ski hill where Gray worked.
The twinge was quickly followed by a wave of guilt and confusion, and Natsu shifted uncomfortably.
"I'd love that," Sting said, rubbing the back of his neck. "It's a lot bigger than Greyton. Only about three thousand people there, not counting the tourists."
They wandered away from the café towards Commercial Drive, with Natsu pointing out important locations – the grocery store, the donut shop, the board game pub where he and Gray spent Thursday evenings.
After an hour or so, they ended up in the park, standing at the gazebo on the end of the dock. Sting leaned against the railing, staring out at the pond and watching the birds.
"Look," Sting said quietly, pointing to a turtle that blended into the foliage at the edge of the water.
"Is that the same one from the other day?" Natsu asked, squinting at it. Sting shook his head.
"Nope, that was a tortoise," he replied. "This is a Blanding's turtle. Look, you can see the yellow stripe on its chin."
"You know a lot about animals," Natsu commented, glancing sideways at Sting.
"Well, I wouldn't be a very zoologist if I didn't," Sting replied. The lilt of his accent was captivating, and Natsu felt the pang of guilt again. He hesitated, feeling his phone in his pocket. After a second, he pulled it out.
I know this sounds weird, but you mind if I invite cute guy for dinner?
He sent the text to Gray, an anxious feeling in the pit of his stomach. He wasn't sure this was a good idea – sure, they could be friends, especially since Sting (and Rogue) were new to the area – but the feelings Natsu was getting were… confusing.
Sure, I was gonna make pork chops, Gray replied. Wanna pick up some beer on the way home? Love you.
Love you too, Natsu typed back quickly. He glanced back up at Sting, who was still staring at the turtle with fond fascination.
"Hey, do you uh… wanna come over for dinner?"
"Holy shit, he's adorable."
Gray's hand squeezed Natsu's hip as he whispered in Natsu's ear. The two of them stood in the kitchen, leaning against the counter and peering into the living room at Sting. He was sitting on the couch with Happy on his lap, and Happy was purring contentedly.
"Yeah." Natsu chewed on his lip, then turned to Gray. "I don't…" He trailed off, sighing in frustration. "Maybe this wasn't a good idea. I'm sorry."
"No, it's…" Gray took a deep breath. "It's okay? I get it?" He squeezed Natsu's hand, then pressed a kiss to his cheek. "We can talk about it later, okay?"
"Mm." Natsu turned and kissed Gray gently, then pulled away and grabbed a beer from the table. "C'mon, let's go eat."
The awkwardness that Natsu had felt at first faded away quickly as they ate. Sting asked a million questions about Gray's work, telling them that he'd only seen snow a handful of times.
"I've never been skiing," he said around a mouthful of salad.
"You should try," Gray offered. Sting gave him a wide smile, and Natsu could almost see a blush beneath Gray's dark skin.
After dinner they sat in the living room, feet kicked up on the coffee table, chatting like they'd known each other forever. Sting's eyes were bright as he talked about Rogue, waving his hands animatedly and showing them some of Rogue's photography on his phone.
"He's really great with animals," Sting said, flipping to a picture of Rogue and the white tiger. "He did a piece on Frocsh and Lector for National Geographic a few years ago."
"He sounds awesome," Natsu said softly, wishing the frustrated feeling in his stomach would go away.
They finally called a cab for Sting at nearly midnight after making plans to go out for dinner with him and Rogue the next weekend. As he went to leave, Sting hugged Natsu, then surprised him by kissing his cheek. Sting immediately pulled back, running a hand over his face.
"Shit, sorry," he said quickly. "You don't really do that here. I didn't mean—"
"It's okay," Natsu said, swallowing heavily. "That's- it's fine." Sting looked uncertain, but repeated the gesture with Gray before waving goodbye and heading down to the cab.
"What…" Natsu looked up at Gray, moving back over to the couch and sitting down heavily. Gray joined him, turning sideways and throwing his legs over Natsu's. Natsu ran his hand over Gray's thigh, taking Gray's hand in his and tracing his palm.
"I… really like him," Gray said hesitantly, not looking at Natsu.
"Same," Natsu said quietly. "Is that- that's weird, right?"
Gray didn't answer, just pressed his fingertips to Natsu's, then slid their fingers together.
"I mean, he's got a boyfriend," Natsu continued, sighing and tipping his head back onto the couch. "And we've got each other, and I love you – you know that, right? It's not… it doesn't mean anything bad about us?"
"I know," Gray said, squeezing Natsu's hand. "It's… I get it. It's weird, but I get it."
They sat in silence for a bit, and after a while Happy jumped up onto Gray, curling into a ball on his stomach and purring. Gray scratched absently behind his ears, jumping a bit when Natsu's phone buzzed.
"It's from Sting," Natsu said, chewing his lip. "Thanks again for supper, it was great. Looking forward to next Friday!"
"Fuck," Gray said, rubbing his face and looking up at Natsu. "We are so screwed."