"You're staring at him again."
"What?"
"Sting. Dude." The pink headed teenager jutted his face out in utter disbelief. In the few seconds he'd kept his mouth shut, his best friend had already started his little dreamer-boy routine again.
"Dammit, no, I'm not staring, not staring at all."
Natsu just looked at his friend, smirking. "Who would've known, Sting Eucliffe, the ladies man, crushing over a little—"
At this, Sting snapped completely out of his reverie. "Ladies man? Asshat, you know I've been out for what, three years already?"
Natsu's smirk didn't leave his face. "Doesn't stop them." he said pointedly, nodding to a gaggle of girls whispering at a table near the end of the court. When Sting turned to look, they erupted in a small poof of giggling all at once, not at all attempting to be discreet in their watching them. Sting gave a small, annoyed huff before turning around, awkwardly steepling his fingers on the food court table.
It was particularly pleasant weekend morning, sometime after eight, sometime before noon— a perfect time of day, really, for Sting to be not working. His shift over in Forever 21 would start in another ten minutes, and well, it was safe to say his delaying actually getting to the store was a bit of a routine. Every Saturday or Sunday that he came in, he had the same routine— drive to the mall, buy breakfast, then lounge around the food court with Natsu till the last minute.
As previously suggested by Natsu, Sting hadn't been all that successful at hiding his recent infatuation— or, to be more blunt, recent infatuator. Sting wasn't exactly embarrassed of it, I mean, anyone looking at the bab— guy couldn't help but realize. Realize that he was way too fucking hot.
The guy had only started showing up a couple of days ago, and it hadn't been long before he caught Sting's eye. Every morning for the last five days, he would show up at promptly 10am and sit at the same exact chair in the cafeteria, in the corner next to the artificial poinsettia bushes. Then he would open a black book, slip on a pair of (surprise!) black reading glasses, and read, for at least an hour, before promptly getting up and walking out of the cafeteria.
Natsu had teased him enough times, saying that he never knew Sting was into the emo type, which, you know, was pretty much true, but it barely subdued Sting's crush. He thought the group of girls that seemed to find him every other second were a bit stupid not to be noticing the hunk reading a book over there. Honestly, were they blind? Who could overlook those red, devilishly handsome eyes, skin as smooth as marble, that raven hair that seemed to fly in the indoor mall's breeze. Even from thirty feet away, Sting thought they were probably destined. He sighed, resting his chin in his palm and continuing to stare at his overblown crush.
"Jesus christ, are you even listening to me?"
"Huh?" Sting raised his head, and his friend groaned. "Dammit…"
"Just talk to him," his pink haired friended told him, slurping from his tall drink.
Sting shook his head, taking the opportunity to glance back at the dark haired guy. His eyes remained ever focused on his book. Gods, he was handsome.
"Sting, if you look over there with those dreamy eyes one more time, I'm gonna call Gajeel and make him give you the looking-tough-in-public talk again."
Sting's eyes widened in horror. "Not thelooking-tough-in-public talk," he whispered.
Natsu nodded, crossing his arms. His face was totally serious.
Sting fell back in his seat, groaning. Yes, the proud, fabulously hot, Forever 21 employee was stressing out over a boy. He hadn't had a date in months, and then this guy comes in, and it's like flirting became an entirely different language for Sting. Forget flirting— the one time the guy raised his head, Sting had turned around so fast that Natsu spilled his drink. He couldn't even look him in the eye.
"Hey, isn't that Gajeel?"
Sting turned in his seat to look where Natsu was pointing, raising his eyebrows when he spotted their friend. The teenager was groggily scratching his fingers through his long hair, and, to Sting's greater surprise, seating himself directly in front of Sting's crush. Sting sat up a little bit higher in his seat, nowhere close to being discreet. His crush looked up at Gajeel and smiled the tiniest bit, opening his mouth for the first time to say something Sting couldn't hear. Gajeel let out his usual gruff of laughter and the two seemed to hold a steady conversation for a minute. Sting's heart sank. Gajeel wasn't gay, but at this point it didn't register in Sting's mind— he could only focus on the fact that Gajeel was talking to the hunk like an old friend, and he was not.
Natsu and Sting had both been intently staring at the pair for over a minute before something that Sting would never have expected to happen happened. Both Gajeel and the man turned to Sting at the same time, startling him. His cheeks betrayed him and flushed aggressively as the man he'd been staring at for days looked him straight in the eye for the first time, lip tugged to the side and eyes curious. Sting gulped, but couldn't find the strength to look away. After a moment of the man looking him up and down he seemed to make some kind of decision and turned to Gajeel again.
To Sting's utter horror, both Gajeel and his crush stood up, making their way over directly to his table. He whipped around in his seat, eyes wide. Natsu seemed to be confused as he was, but nowhere as nervous. "What do I do?" Sting whispered frantically, but his friend only shrugged.
"Yo, this is Rogue, the one I was talking about." Gajeel introduced, suddenly appearing at the table. Sting diverted his eyes from the literal god standing behind him and focused on Gajeel. "This is Sting, and Natsu."
"Oh, the one that needs a place to live?" Natsu asked, interested. He extended a hand to the stranger. "The name's Natsu."
The words slipped from Sting's mouth before he could censor them. "He just said that, asshat." The teenager froze up, realizing that that might have sounded rude to a stranger, when it was in fact a quite affectionate name Sting had adopted for his friend.
To his surprise, though, Rogue only gave a small laugh, and Sting's muscles relaxed, turning in his seat to finally face the man.
The stranger nodded politely to his grinning friend, accepting the handshake. "Rogue." He had a dark, scratchy, and yes,hot (at least, in Sting's opinion) voice. "Gajeel told me that… Sting? That you're looking for a roommate." If it was actually possible to choke on his own spit, Sting would've, but instead he opted with making a bewildered face, averting his eyes to Gajeel for an answer. The taller man didn't change his straight face, but if one looked close enough, they'd notice his lip quirking to the side.
Realizing that everyone else was waiting for him to speak, Sting cleared his throat, looking hard enough to Gajeel that the man had no choice but to look back. "You didn't tell me you were going around telling people." He said this with a hint of accusation in his voice, or maybe more than a hint, Sting never was great with subtlety. Gajeel opened his mouth to speak, but Rogue cut him off without thinking about it.
"Gajeel didn't tell you?" Rogue asked, just realizing. "I apologize, then. I was planning to treat you to dinner tonight, maybe get your number and talk about rent, but—"
"T-treat me to dinner?"
"…Yes." Rogue said slowly, tilting his head. "But you're probably busy, I'm sorry for bothering y—"
"I'd love to."
Rogue raised his brow. "You'd love to?"
"8 o'clock, the Oliver Garden on Route 1. Bring a check book." Sting said, trying his best to look cool. Or tough-in-public, whatever. Either way, he was squealing like a girl on the inside.
"That'd be perfect," Rogue concluded, showing a rare smile. With a nod to him, and then Gajeel and Natsu, he turned and walked away. Sting gazed after him.
"Oi, lovebird's got a date, has he?" Gajeel said, snapping his fingers in front of Sting's face. The blonde scowled, wacking his fingers away.
"Who else did you tell I was looking for a roommate?" he asked, trying his best to look irritated.
"No one." When Sting's eyes narrowed the slightest, Gajeel continued. "Flaming Hot Cheeto here told me you had a crush on Rogue yesterday. You're welcome."
Sting looked surprised, then annoyed again. "I don't have a crush on him." he muttered, crossing his arms. Gajeel and Natsu exchanged a strange look, then bursted into laughter, doubling over. Sting's wretched blush returned to his face, and he stood up, swatting at his guffawing friends. "H-hey, shut up!" His efforts were without success and he stood, embarrassed, as the two friends slapped their knees in hysteria.
Although not in the best mood, Sting figured the teasing was worth it. After all, it meant he'd be seeing Rogue later. Which Rogue, you ask? The hot one. Really hot. And Sting was going to dinner with him. Him. The super fucking hot one.
The laughter abruptly died in Natsu and Gajeel's throats as the high pitched squeal emitted from their friend's mouth.
