A/N: Answer to an ask on the gratsustingue-the-ot4 tumblr. ^^
Cats
Sting came home to find Rogue's (clothed) ass in the air and his head down by the dark crack under the sofa.
"I'll be waiting here whenever you decide to come out from under the couch."
"What?" Sting said.
"Hello." Rogue wiped his knees off as he stood and held up a plate. "Cheese?"
"Sure…?" Sting took a slice to nibble. It wasn't often they fed the cats human food, but sometimes the cats got treats.
"I fed him a snack," Rogue explained.
"Doesn't he…you know, get enough food?" Sting said, trying to be delicate.
Rogue, to whom the cats were basically gods, glared at him. "What? Really? You're one to talk."
Sting gaped at him. "Did you just…"
None of them had ever shamed him about his weight.
"You did first," Rogue retorted, twisting and heading to the kitchen.
Sinking down onto the sofa, Sting let out a breath. This wasn't exactly what he expected to come home to. He knew he could be thinner. But he liked the way he looked, too, and he felt good in his body and…
Bleh. He wanted to cuddle one of the cats: someone who never bothered with the energy to judge him. That was what was nice about cats.
Bending down, he peeked under the sofa.
"Happy," he called gently, clicking his tongue.
Something moved in the darkness under the sofa, then everything moved, and then Sting screamed.
"What is it?" Rogue gasped, rushing into the room to the echo of Sting's ear-shattering shriek.
He found Sting curled on the sofa, arms around his legs, eyes wide.
"What's going on?"
"The sofa," Sting panted, "under…"
Disembodied laughter made Rogue frown.
With a snort, Natsu pushed his head and shoulders out from under the couch. Sting gave another little scream and huddled tighter, before gasping out, "Natsu!"
Natsu was laughing too hard to respond, knees hitting the bottom of the sofa while he squirmed and making the whole thing thump on the carpet.
"Natsu," Rogue sighed. "Did you have to?"
"I didn't do anything!" Natsu protested, grinning. "Sting just poked his head down there and freaked out."
"I thought there was a cat down there!" Sting yelled. "I didn't expect a human."
"Oh my god," Rogue snorted. "Wait, you thought I fed one of the cats cheese?"
"Sometimes you do," Sting shrugged. He played with his fingers a moment. "So that's why you said that. You thought I was talking about Natsu."
"Well, yeah. I thought you heard me talking to him when you came in."
Natsu shook his head.
"Glad to know you don't think I eat too much, darling," he told Sting, extracting an arm and poking Sting's leg.
"And for the record, I don't think you do, either," Rogue spoke up. He and Sting looked at each other, the gaze finally communicating. "I like you how you are. I just reacted because I thought you were…"
He shook his head.
"Nah, Sting is kinder than that," Natsu broke in, struggling the rest of the way out from under the sofa and plopping down on top of it.
"So what were you doing under there?" Sting asked.
Natsu shrugged. "Two of the kitties were sleeping down there, and I wanted a cuddle, so I joined them."
"You could've cuddled with Rogue."
"He was on the phone at the time."
"Aww." Chuckling, Sting scooted next to him and wrapped him in a hug. "You can have human snuggles now."
"Mmf," Natsu said happily against his shoulder.