YOOOOO I should really be asleep right now omg I have school tomorrow what am I doing. For reals though I was just creeping on Tumblr when it came to my attention that today is the first day of STINGYU WEEK! AH! And since I ship Yukino with both Sting and Rogue and have never participated in a ship week before, I decided I'd get in on some of the action. Yee. So be expecting Stingyu one shots for the rest of the week (assuming I'm able to stay motivated for that long)
The day of their meeting was as clear as crystal in his mind, despite the many years that had passed since that time. After all, it was one of his most important memories, so it was only natural that he should hold onto it tightly. Perhaps playing the entire scene over in his head on a daily basis was more or less overkill, but hey. It meant a lot to the white dragon slayer.
He was about twelve years old. Still no more than a child, still worshipping the very ground that Natsu Dragneel walked on. And, of course, still best friends with Lector (He had yet to meet Rogue; those two wouldn't cross paths for another few years, unbeknownst to young Sting at that point).
Despite all of the time that passed between when he was a child and the Grand Magic Games, his personality hadn't experienced very much change. In fact, if anything, it was worse back then, before he had anyone to put him back in line if he got too out of hand. He was, to put it bluntly, a cocky asshole. He was definitely the kind to make mountains out of molehills. If he so much as killed a bug, the entire kingdom of Fiore would've heard about it within an hour. If that were the case for a mere insect, I'm sure you can imagine the magnitude that the news of his killing Weisslogia reached. He thought he was the greatest thing around (Except, of course, for Natsu Dragneel, who was in an entirely different league than Sting at that point in time), and this way of thinking was projected onto the young Exceed.
Lector just ate up everything that Sting said or did, being quite young and impressionable at the time. If Sting made a big deal of killing the dragon, Lector made three times as big a fuss over it. Sting was his idol. Sting was to Lector as Natsu was to Sting (or perhaps even more). Naturally, his unbridled love of the dragon slayer resulted in much gushing over his immense power. Sometimes, however, said gushing was done in the presence of the wrong company.
More often than not, actually, that was the case. "Sting is the greatest, the greatest! He killed a dragon all by himself!" The cat would exclaim.
These exclamations were immediately met with ridicule.
"Sting Eucliffe? He's just a child, that's impossible!"
"Stupid cat, dragons haven't been around for years."
"Yeah, as if he's that strong."
Young Lector, unaware that it was possible for even one person to undermine Sting's greatness, was quite taken aback by the negative response that he often received. This was enough to upset him beyond words.
Nearly every day, Lector would return to Sting with tears in his eyes, bawling over the fact that no one believed him, that they were all being mean.
Sting would promise to beat them all up and to prove it to him, and then the cycle would just repeat itself the next day. After a while, it just became routine.
One day, however, the pattern was broken.
Sting had decided to go out in search of a guild ("I can't let all this awesome go to waste, can I?"), and stated that it was far too dangerous for Lector to come along with him until he came across something. After all, he hadn't the faintest idea where it was that he was going, or what he could be facing. Lector (begrudgingly) agreed, and he found himself wandering the town, bored and alone.
He stopped by a little restaurant and managed to swing some free fish from the owner, tried on different colored vest for what was easily hours before deciding he liked his current vest the best, and saw all the sights there were to see in such a tiny town. It was noon on the first day of Sting's absence and the Exceed was already incurably bored.
He just wandered aimlessly around, weaving in and out of little shops. Nothing he saw particularly piqued his interest. He did hear one conversation on the street, however, that was grounds for him to stop and listen.
"Did you hear about all those Fairy Tail guys?"
"Stuck on their 'sacred island' or whatever, right?"
"Yeah. And it's their best members, too. Salamander, Titania… You've heard of 'em, right?"
"What a waste. That Natsu kid was real tough."
"I heard he took out the leaders to two dark guilds. Strong guy, too bad he's gone."
No matter how hard he tried to fight it, Lector couldn't hold the words in any longer than he already had. He marched right up to the two men, inserting himself into their conversation with the words, "Sting Eucliffe killed a dragon! A real live dragon, all by himself! He's a lot stronger than anyone in Fairy Tail!"
They stared at the little cat for a moment before bursting out into laughter, one saying, "Sting Eucliffe? That little brat that's always hanging around here singing his own praises? That's a nice story, little kitty. Now, how about you go drink some milk?"
Lector felt tears begin to well up in his eyes. He was certainly loyal to Sting, but his flaw came in his oversensitivity. "Really, I'm telling the truth! Sting was raised by the white dragon Weisslogia, and then he killed him! I swear it happened!"
This just caused the men to laugh harder. The second one chimed in this time, saying, "Oo, now you say he was raised by the dragon? Does he breathe fire, too? Sprout his own wings and fly?"
The two men were just cracking themselves up, tossing back and forth oddities and insults about Sting. Lector, however, felt the tears begin to roll down his cheeks. Why didn't anyone ever believe him? Sting was great! The greatest!
"H-hey, leave him alone."
Lector's eyes traveled up to find a young girl with light hair, perhaps about Sting's age, wedged between him and the two men. He peered around at her face only to find that despite her brave actions, her dark eyes were wide in fear.
"Oh? And who are you, missy?" Asked one. Their laughing had ceased now. "You here to add to kitty's story, hm? Here to tell us that you were raised by a dragon, too?"
"I'm Y-Yukino Aguria. D-don't make me say it again, l-leave the cat alone." Her voice sounded authoritative enough, if you weren't listening closely. If you were, however, you could hear the quakes and squeaks laced amongst her words.
"Big talk from such a little girl," noted the second, his voice dangerously low. "I'll let you in on a secret, hon; we're wizards. Be a good girl and take your kitty and get out of here before you get hurt, you hear me?"
"I'm a wizard, too!" Announced Yukino, still rather obviously feigning her confidence. She dropped a hand into her pocket and extracted a golden key, holding it in front of her at a length, as if the sight of the key itself would be enough to deter the men.
"That's it, you brat," Growled the first man. "I'm out of patience."
He got into a stance to perform a spell, but Yukino was quicker.
"Open, gate of the scales! Libra!"
As soon as the words were out of her mouth, the spirit appeared, glaring dangerously at the men in front of her.
"Libra, increase their gravity!" Instructed the girl, beginning to gain genuine confidence now that her spirit was at her side.
The spirit nodded, not saying a word as she moved to fulfil the order. Both men immediately sank to their knees, apparently struggling to stay up even that much.
Yukino smirked, reveling in her accomplishment, when the second man's face moved to match hers.
"Tough luck there, kiddo. Know your opponent before you attack."
Just as easily as Libra had pushed them down, the men rose back up again, the second continuing to speak as they did so. "I just happen to use gravity magic as well."
Now Yukino was worried. She recalled the spirit, knowing there was nothing she could do now. She made sure that Lector was still behind her before stepping slowly back, hoping that she may somehow be able to slip away.
She was still in the range of their magic, however. With a devilish grin and an upward swipe of his hand, Yukino and Lector found themselves suspended midair, unable to move. Yukino cringed, struggling against the hold of his magic, but was still unable to do anything to fight it off.
By now the fight had gathered a crowd. People murmured among themselves about a man doing this to a young girl, but no one stepped in to put an end to it.
His hand remained up as the two floated, but his muscles were tensed, clearly prepared to slam them back into the ground at any moment that he pleased. "I hope you learn your lesson, li-"
"White Dragon's Roar!"
Seemingly out of nowhere, there was a huge blast of white light, knocking both men back into a building. In the moment of surprise, the man's control over the pair's gravity was lost, and Yukino dropped gracefully to the ground, Lector held tightly in her arms.
"Are you okay, kitty?" She asked gently, but the Exceed was too surprised to answer. What was Sting doing here?
The blonde boy strolled leisurely up to the scene, clearly unafraid that anything may happen to him.
"Care to explain what you two were doing with Lector and this girl?" He asked in a threatening tone once he had reached the two, lying in the rubble with fear in their eyes.
They had mocked Sting before, but after experiencing his power firsthand, they weren't eager to feel any more of it, just staring up at the child before scrambling to their feet and running off.
Sting watched them go with a satisfied smirk before turning back and checking on Lector and Yukino.
"Sting, thank you!" Lector immediately exclaimed, eyes all but glowing with his admiration of the dragon slayer. "What are you doing back here so soon? Did you already find a guild?!"
Sting nodded excitedly. "Yeah, did you know there was one just the next town over? It's called Sabertooth - they're all really strong! I'm so lucky that they were so nearby!"
He and Lector exchanged a few more excited words before he remembered that there was someone else there, and he turned his attention to Yukino. "Thanks for helping out Lector before I got here. What's your name?"
She blushed (rather profusely) before turning her eyes to the ground. "I-I'm Yukino. A-and it's no problem, I d-didn't want the cat to get hurt."
"Yukino, huh?" Sting repeated, quite liking the way her name just rolled off of his tongue. "That's a pretty name. And you're a Celestial wizard? That spirit you summoned was pretty cool! Have you ever thought about joining a guild?"
She just shook her head, still refusing to meet his eyes, though her blush deepened at the statement that her name was pretty. "I d-don't like to fight, I wouldn't d-do well in a guild…"
His face fell slightly. She seemed sweet, he really would've liked to get to know her. "Well… if you ever change your mind, come to Sabertooth, okay? They're super strong, and I'll be there, too! My name's Sting, if you ever want to come find me!"
She giggled slightly before her smile fell once again. She was so shy. "W-well, thank you for saving me. I suppose I ought to be going now."
With that, she turned and began to walk away, Sting calling out, "Bye, Yukino!" after her. She smiled, raising her hand to reply with a wave. "Bye, Sting," she whispered more to herself than him, unable to fight the grin that found it's way onto her lips when she said his name. She quite liked the way it just rolled off of her tongue, too. Maybe she'd have to brush up on her fighting.
~7 YEARS LATER~
Yukino took a deep breath, staring up at the large building before her. Was she really going to do this? Was she really about to walk in there and join a guild, pretending she was any good at fighting?
Before she could have any second thoughts, Yukino pushed open the door.
She didn't know what she had been expecting, but it certainly wasn't this.
There were twenty, maybe thirty mages within the building, all sitting scattered among many tables and conversing among themselves. It seemed like a relatively calm place. Yukino would've breathed a sigh of relief if it hadn't been for everyone's eyes turning to stare at the intruder the second she set foot through the door.
Her eyes scanned the crowd for a master, someone she could discuss potentially joining with, when she saw him.
Her eyes were drawn to a tiny table in the middle of it all where just to boys sat. One with long black hair, and one with spiked blonde hair. The memory of when she was a child hit her, and she immediately recognized him as Sting.
He looked up out of curiosity, wondering just what it was that had captured everyone's attention, before breaking into a lazy grin upon their eyes meeting.
"I see you've finally taken my advice, Yukino."
She felt her heartbeat increase at the sound of her name in his voice. She didn't even know this guy, but she'd be damned if she wasn't the slightest bit attracted to him.
As she stood there, her brown eyes locked with his blue, she didn't know. She didn't know all the events that would befall them in the future. She didn't know that within just a few weeks, she would be head over heels in love with him, or that within a few years they would be married. But she felt a strong pull towards him; she knew that this was where she was meant to be.
So, fortifying her nerves for what felt like the thousandth time that day, she let out a shaky breath before replying, "Take me to the master. I'm ready to join this guild."
And the rest is history.
This was a bit longer than I intended whoops I got kinda carried away since I haven't written in a while. Oh well. I think it's cute. And y'all had better think it's cute because I lost precious sleep to write this. Ugh. I regret it already. But I haddddd to finish it today because it wouldn't be day 1 anymore by tomorrow. Ugh. Anyway please review and all that jazz. It really makes it a lot more fun for me to write when I hear what you guys have to say about it.