Oneshot

Slight Sticy, Lucyxothers if you squint, reeeeaallly squint.

Warnings: Written at 3am. There are bound to be ridiculous mistakes everywhere.

The late afternoon sun hung brightly in the cloud spotted sky, the breeze carrying them along almost lazily. The stellar mage lay panting on the ground, a wisp of a wish to join them briefly crossed her mind before she threw herself to the side to avoid the leather heel that smashed into the unfortunate patch of grass that she had just previously occupied a split second ago. Chunks of dirt and greenery erupted from the harsh blow and barely had time to settle before her attacker kicked off to shatter bark with a solid fist as she quickly dodged behind a tree with a ragged gasp.

"You cannot dodge forever!" Her second attacker yelled just as his white fist appeared in her vision, and she reacted too slowly to avoid the blow completely. Grunting in pain, the young woman threw her weight in the direction that the attack had sent her in to increase the distance between her perusers. Nearly tripping over her own feet, she scrambled to find a semblance of balance on the slippery grass while clutching her throbbing left shoulder and panting hard with exhaustion.

Wincing when she tested her injury, she snapped back to attention when her first attacker launched himself towards her with a roar. Releasing a determined yell herself, the blond sprinted to meet him head on, her right arm swinging out as a feint. When he raised his own to parry, she threw her head back and let her feet slide against slick grass, her back drifting against the ground and safely between the other's legs. Quickly grabbing out, she gripped one of his ankles and harshly jerked back, causing his figure to flip and his face to plant into the ground with a hard thud.

He didn't get up.

"L...Loke?" Glancing back to the motionless and still upright Capricorn, Lucy knelt beside her fallen spirit with a mixture of confusion and concern. It wasn't like him to have been taken out by such a meagre attack, his title as the strongest of the twelve zodiac spirits would attest to that, and she was sure she had hit him harder in the past without reducing him to such a state.

Gently threading her fingers through thick silky orange locks, she wondered about the possibility of him suddenly taking notes from Crux and taking spontaneous naps, then feeling incredibly foolish for thinking of it in the first place.

"Are you okay, Lo-UUAAAH!" The Lion literally threw himself over her, his elbows perched on either side of her golden locks and his knees between her wide-spread dirt smeared legs. She could feel the heat in her cheeks quickly burning hotter.

"W-w-w-w-what do you think you're doing!?"

"Lucy." The serious way he spoke her name made her pause. "That attack," he sighed. "If it were anyone else I'm sure their face would have been destroyed and forever smeared with dirt and shame but you knew I'd be strong enough to withstand it didn't you? Oh, that is the love and trust between us!"

She didn't need to crane her neck back to know that the ground surrounding her was lit with proclamations of love and admiration.

"So," she deadpanned. "You're basically upset that you landed on your face."

"Ah-"

"Force closure."

Standing and trying to dust the dirt from her clothes and skin only to seemingly smear it further, the blond heaved a great sigh and gave up the endeavour. Grinning sheepishly to her remaining spirit companion, she made her way towards him while rubbing her sore shoulder.

"How is your shoulder, Lucy-sama?"

"It'll be fine, don't worry!" Waving off his concern, she gave him a reassuring smile. "It was a good hit."

Capricorn returned her smile with one of his own. "I take it that this is the end of our training session. I will see you again tomorrow, Lucy-sama."

"I'll see you tomorrow, thanks Capricorn."

After the spirit disappeared, Lucy lightly grumbled over the likes of overly-affectionate lions and the poor state of her attire as she leisurely walked through the forest, stretching out her limbs while favouring her shoulder. The training sessions with her stellar spirits were not only improving her physical strength, but her magical capacities. When she had first stared training all those months ago, it was difficult enough to fight against one of her spirits for a laughable short amount of time.

However with blood, sweat and tears (although she wouldn't quite admit to the crying) she had built up the strength to get to where she was now. It was quite an effective training regime that she had going for her; each of her spirits were her better at one thing or another and she could use that to learn from them, all the while increasing her magical stamina as she sustained them on this plane. As she got stronger, both physically and magically, her stellar spirits too increased in strength. All in all, it was a win-win situation.

Exhausted, dirty yet feeling quite accomplished and satisfied with herself, Lucy hummed a thoughtless tune as she made the treck back into town. It had been many long months since the last time she had felt helpless and useless in battle-since the Grand Magical Games that she had failed so miserably in. But rather than focusing on the past, she had made something more of herself, and more importantly, a sinfully hot and bubbly bath was awaiting her at home sweet home. She couldn't help the low moan that escaped her at that thought.

"Well, don't you look and sound pleased with yourself."

Spinning on the spot, Lucy whipped her head around so quickly it gave an audible crack. There, to her dismay, was a tiger lounging on a large trees' overhanging branch. Lamenting at her poor luck with felines as of late (and vaguely wondering where his Exceed partner was, who also happened to be a feline), she arched a golden eyebrow and planted her hand against her hip. That irritating smug grin on his face only served to dampen her good spirits. Damn that Sting Eucliffe.

"What are you doing here? And what do you want?" He'd better make it quick because her bath was calling. There had only been a handful of times that she'd encountered the Sabertooth member, and even then the meetings were brief, and her guild-mates had been with her.

"Relax, I'm only here for a mission," he replied in a flippant manner, and she was almost jealous of how graceful he looked as he dropped from the branch. "I was thinking of paying Natsu-san a visit for a re-match, but then I caught scent of a fairy I recognized and came to check it out." He slowly eyed her from her feet up, smirking when he reached her unimpressed glare. "What were you doing, rolling in the mud?"

Instantly bristling, the stellar mage was ready to give him a piece of her mind when she suddenly deflated. Why bother fighting to swim upstream when the river had no water to begin with? The dragon slayer was only looking for entertainment, and she wouldn't be the one to give it to him this time. The urge to get home was stronger than ever.

"Ugh, forget it. I'm going home." The blond male almost appeared flabbergasted as he watched her walk past him before he quickly gathered his bearings and started after her.

Sting easily matched Lucy's pace, their shoulders much too close for her liking and believed they should maintain a minimum of ten feet between them for the sake of her sanity. Not that she didn't appreciate his physic, no, she definitely took her own share of looks when his attention was elsewhere, but Sting Eucliffe was just as easily (and preferably) admired from afar.

"What, no goody-speeches or fairy-preaching? I'm almost disappointed."

The female gave a snort of disbelief. "You really want one?" Taking a glance to the side, she discovered that yes, he was still smiling at her. She supposed it was better than a glare. "Sorry, but I'm way too tired for that, and I don't have the time either." She walked faster.

"Trying to get rid of me so soon? Ha! Could the fairy be afraid?"

She came to a halt and roughly turned to face the other. "What do I have to be afraid of?" Her response was a bitter bite of frustration and irritation, her fraying nerves and his piercing blue eyes getting under her skin.

The dragon slayer grinned at her as he began to stalk in a tight circle around her like a tiger on the hunt for it's prey.

"Fairies, with their glitter and glamour, what else is there to you? Fragile creatures, just waiting to be devoured." A pale finger curled around a few strands of long golden hair, and he chuckled when she jerked away from him. "What would you do if you ventured out of your magical land and into the dangerous world of tigers? Without any of your fairy friends to protect you, shield you."

Pressing against her back, the Sabertooth member leaned in close, his breath fanning against the shell of her ear and her own breath hitched at the contact. "Your rainbow safety veil is torn away and you're left bare for the harsh world of survival of the fittest to shred the delicate wings from you back. You should just live in your fantasy world of naivety, shitty proclamations of love, of your precious nakama."

His voice lowered to an almost growl. "You wouldn't last a second in my world."

Turning her head ever so slightly so that their eyes would meet, she realized how close they were when her nose whispered against his own. Neither of them made to move away, both of them refusing to give in. Lucy didn't know what they were fighting about or how it even began, but she wouldn't be the one to lose. Not this time.

"You may think we're weak, but what about tigers? What would you do if you were to slip into fairy land?" Her hand snaked out to latch onto the threads of fur on his shirt, pulling him even closer against her. "Curiosity would lure you, our glitter drawing you in because it's unfamiliar and you can't wait to touch it. But what you don't know is that your rainbow ball of yarn has suddenly lead you astray, caged you in, tangled around you so tightly that neither your fangs or claws can cut through."

The vixen's other hand curled around his chin, holding his face still as she pressed forward, her nose making full contact with his. A deeper part of her marvelled at how his blue orbs widened with surprise, suspense, and something more that she couldn't put a name to, yet she could recognize that it was just as dark as whatever he was drawing out of her.

"You thought we were fragile and pretty, but all that glamour was merely a veil to cover your eyes from the never-ending depth of the bonds of our nakama, our true strength, perseverance, anger," she paused, her fingers tightened, and once shining-brown orbs darkened. "Our passion. It's easy for a fairy to play with a lone tiger who's been enamoured by our fantasy world. You may think we're an easy meal, but once you've clipped a wing, the rest of us will be upon you, and there won't be anything left for the other tigers to even sniff out. Once you enter the land of fairies, there's no escaping it unless we let you leave."

Sting stood stock still, shock momentarily rendering his limbs useless in front of the fairy that held him captive. His mind was blank, unable to process anything other than the fact that the fairy-Lucy, Lucy was pressed so tightly against him, soft curves and soft skin, tantalizing hints of vanilla and sugar, and her eyes. Something in her eyes called for him, beckoned him like how she said the fairies would, he only needed to lean closer to capture-

"Or something like that." Then she was standing a few feet away from him, fixing silky wayward bangs that had gotten misplaced during their encounter-embrace without a care in the world. He was left gaping at her, even as she turned to him with a triumphant smirk. "Don't underestimate us fairies."

"Oi, Lucy!" Both blondes turned to see a waving, half-dressed ice mage approaching, and the female's face split with a wide smile.

"Gray!"

"I was wondering what was taking you so long to get back. Your bath is probably cold by now." Gray raised an inquiring eyebrow at the unsettled looking Sting. "Your partner is at the guild, in case you were wondering."

"A-Ah." Sting could only stutter a reply as he watched the other male lead Lucy away, their light banter not even registering in his mind.

All he could think about was her, the way her eyes darkened, the feel of her skin, the smell of vanilla and sugar.

He had unknowingly stepped into fairy territory, and he wasn't sure he wanted her to let him leave.

A/N:

I needed to write something short and quick that didn't take much thought but... well... the idea started with Sting and Lucy's conversation and then the training turned out to be really long and... this is quite OOC ahaha. I tried my best, but Lucy came out just not... Lucy... was quite a bit too dark for her character. And I'm pretty iffy about how Sting came out. And my grammar is horrendous.

Anyhow, squint-crack-pairings ftw!

To my HYGT readers, I'm sorry for the lack of updates. Chapter progress is always posted on my profile if you get curious.

Reviews are always appreciated!