The first time she noticed him was the battle between him and Gray Fullbuster at the Grand Magic Games.
His talent was all she cared about.
The second time she saw him was when Sting and Rogue brought her back to the guild after Tartaros.
He administered medicine to her wounds in a quiet, gentle, and efficient fashion.
The third time she saw him, she knew she was falling in love with the man.
"Orga, you bastard!" The light dragon slayer yelled, slamming his fist into the thunder god slayer's face.
"You lose, you snooze!" came the deep bellow of laughter. Orga took Sting's punch but it appeared to hardly do any damage. Instead, he laughed it off. He looked unrepentant for his actions as he finished the last of his (or rather Sting's) meal.
"I'll teach you a lesson," Sting cracked his knuckles, "that you should really respect your guild master."
As the two's argument escalated into a fight, that seemed to border on dangerously destructive, the other members ran running for cover under the tables or out the door.
"We told Sting to take a break, and this is what he does? What an idiot." Rogue said with an exasperated sigh, glancing up from the stack of papers on his desk.
"Fro thinks so too!"
"Leave him be, other you would just be wasting your time." Minerva didn't spare a glance at the chaos, focused on the paperwork before her. The office doors blocked out most of the noise from the ensuing chaos outside in the guild hall. There were several desks for guild members to work on. However, they were all filled with stacks of paper. It had only been a few months since Sting had taken up the role of guild master. Compared to the other guilds such as Blue Pegasus, Lamia Scale, and Fairy Tail- He was the most inexperienced at his job. Although he was doing surprisingly well in keeping the members in line, he failed miserably at the paperwork. Apparently every time that Sting did it, there ended up more work then when he first started. The first few times, Sting made numerous mistakes. Pieces of the document papers would be found missing in the preliminary check- misplaced in a different, irrelevant document or slipped into the trash. He often signed the wrong places or he forgot to submit the paper by the deadline. This earned Sabertooth much criticism from the Magic Council.
In the end, the others had taken it up on themselves to do it.
Settled in a luxuriously upholstered chair, Minerva leaned back into the cushion to a more comfortable position. Crossing one leg over the other, the folds of the dress she wore fell to the side to reveal a slender, long legs. The slit up the side leaned a bit more to risqué, a hint to the lingerie she wore. Not that the sight mattered to the shadow dragon-slayer nearby.
She and Rogue had a routine. Minerva would handle the more technical matters while Rogue would handle other matters related to the Magic Council. This usually included the immense amount of complaints. Yukino often helped too, so they left matters of missions, member recruitment and other miscellaneous tasks up to the young girl as well.
Minerva focused on the paper before her attempting to sift through long-winded fine-print and technical jargon. Yet she could sense someone approaching.
The mess of papers made it difficult for her to see who the intruder was.
The footsteps stopped in front of her, the sound of the unexpected yet familiar masculine voice interrupted her concentration. "May I be of assistance milady?"
Rufus Lore stepped forward into the line of view with a flourished bow as way of greeting.
Meeting his dark-green eyes gave Minerva a jolt, leaving her heart beating a little faster. Fingers clenched at the papers a little harder then it should, crumpling the sides.
Her expression and voice did not betray her emotions. Schooling her features into one of nonchalance, she paused in the reading to contemplate the blonde-haired man in front of her.
"Were there any troubles with the mission Rufus?" The tone of her voice relayed her concern.
The mission had required a mage of the S-class level. The client had asked for an ancient artifact guarded by complex runes. Sting had sent Rufus, whose abilities were suited to the task required. But as far as Minerva had heard, the mission was supposed to take two weeks. It was still four days short of the deadline.
"It finished earlier than the expected time. It seems it wasn't as difficult as it the client made it to be." He glanced at the doorway. "I told Orga that I would check-in with the guild master but it appears he is occupied." His light emphasis on the word guild master, along with the twinkle of amusement in his eyes did not go un-noticed. "Ms. Yukino mentioned that we were understaffed, thus I came to offer my services."
The last part made Minerva's mood drop a bit. Of course the celestial mage would be the first person he would want to see.
"Sting will come back soon, it should be finished by then." It wasn't quite a lie, the term soon based loosely on one's definition of time.
"The mission this time must have been a difficult one, why don't you go home and take a break?" Her tone brisk, and authoritative. She answered before he could protest. "You've been gone for more than a week. We can't afford to have one of our S-Class members in bad condition. Go."
"As you wish milady."
The memory-make mage left the room, the click of the door resounding through the room.
Minerva's gaze trailed from the door to the other occupant of the room. Rogue's eyes met hers, despite his stoic expression, she knew he wanted to say something. Perhaps it would be something along the lines of using the other mage's help.
"If you hadn't refused, it could have been a date."
The dark-haired man was sent flying into the wall with the flick of her wrist as Minerva resumed her work.
Preview for the Next Chapter:
At first, Rufus had only been observing her as he did with everyone else. Over time, he had been drawn by that radiant smile and it became something he always thought about. He looked forward to the times he could see her whenever he entered the guild hall. Her kind words always brought a smile to his face. This was the emotion that was likely known as attraction, he presumed.
—
It's a short chapter, a bit of an introduction to the story! This story leans more towards the stereotypical side since I'm still getting the hang of this creativity thing /sobs There are a ton of amazing writers and I hope to learn from them. For now, let me know what you guys think of it and if I should continue writing it~ I know Minerva x Rufus is quite an odd couple but I couldn't imagine her with any one else considering the ideas/OTPs I have for Sting and Rogue 3 I have so much fantasies in my head but a hard time putting it down in words T_T