"If you make a mess, Gray's gonna kill you."
Natsu's voice was hushed, and Sting glanced over at Gray, who was snoring slightly, arm tucked under his head. Rogue was facing him, knee between Gray's legs, head resting against Gray's chest and arm thrown over Gray's waist.
"He doesn't look so scary when he's sleeping," Sting commented, pulling out his phone and snapping a quick picture of Gray and Rogue. He quickly made it his phone's background, smiling at the photo fondly, then ducked back into the blanket fort that he and Natsu had made.
Natsu snorted, carefully readjusting the bowl of popcorn that was tucked between him and Sting. "Say that again when he finds butter stains on his… what are these, a thousand thread count sheets?"
Sting shrugged, tucking his phone back into his pocket and leaning over to grab some popcorn from Natsu's fingers with his teeth.
"We could move out into the living room," he suggested quietly, yawning and shuffling so that he was curled up under Natsu's arm, head resting on Natsu's shoulder. Natsu kissed his hair, then grabbed another bit of popcorn and fed it to Sting.
"Bed's comfier," Natsu argued, reaching out with his foot and pulling the laptop closer. "Besides, they sleep like they're dead. They won't hear us."
Sting hummed in agreement, reaching down and tapping the 'play' button on the laptop. When the movie intro started, he glanced over at Gray and Rogue, but neither of them moved. He breathed a quiet sigh of relief.
Twenty minutes into the movie, the popcorn was gone and Sting was humming along happily to the music while Natsu combed gentle fingers through his hair.
"Feelin' better?" Natsu asked softly, kissing Sting's forehead. Sting nodded, tapping out the rhythm of 'Under the Sea' on Natsu's thigh. "You're squirmy."
"It's cause it's catchy," Sting insisted, wriggling under Natsu's hands. "Up on the shore they work all day, out in the sun they slave away!"
"Shhh," Natsu whispered, giggling and trying to cover Sting's mouth. "You're gonna wake them up and Gray's gonna banish us to the living room."
"But baaabe," Sting protested, nipping at Natsu's fingers, "I gotta sing along or I'll die."
He tipped his head back and looked at Natsu with wide, sad eyes.
"You're pathetic," Natsu said, laughing and kissing Sting's nose.
"I'm adorable," Sting argued. "While we devotin' full time to floatin' under the seeeeeeeeea!"
There was a groan from next to them and Sting immediately reached out to the laptop, hitting 'pause' and glancing over at Gray and Rogue. Gray cracked one eye open, frowning at the two of them.
"Do you know," he said slowly, voice thick with sleep, "what time it is?"
"Uh…" Sting looked sheepish, glancing at the clock that read 3:54 am.
"It's not time for… this," Gray hissed, waving vaguely at the two of them. "That's what time it is."
"But we're—"
"It's four in the morning," Gray groaned, grabbing a pillow and covering his face. "Go make out in the living room and let the rest of us reasonable people sleep."
"We're not making out!" Sting protested, covering his mouth when he realized how loud his voice was. Rogue mumbled something and pressed his face to Gray's chest.
"Then what are you…" Gray rubbed his eyes, pushing himself up on one elbow and peering over at Natsu and Sting. "Are you eating popcorn? On the new sheets?"
"Look, it was my idea," Natsu said, putting out his hands placatingly.
"Of course it was," Gray grumbled, running his fingers through Rogue's hair as Rogue stirred awake as well. "Now look what you did."
"Sorry," Sting said, chewing on his lip and looking down at the hem of his pjs. "We can go."
Gray's frown softened at Sting's hesitant tone, and he reached out his hand.
"What's wrong, sweetheart?" he asked, voice gentler. Sting shrugged, rubbing his eyes.
"He had a nightmare," Natsu explained, wrapping his arm tighter around Sting and kissing Sting's temple. "We were watching a movie to take his mind off it, that's all."
"I didn't want…" Sting trailed off, letting Gray squeeze his hand. "I just wanted to be close to all of you guys. I didn't mean to wake you up."
"Sweetheart," Rogue said softly, rolling over until he was facing Sting. "Are you okay?"
Sting didn't answer, just turned and pressed his face into Natsu's neck. Gray sighed, nudging Rogue to move closer until the four of them were all touching – Rogue with his head resting on Sting's lap and Gray holding Sting's hand.
"You could have woken us up," Rogue said, running a hand over Sting's thigh.
"It's okay," Sting mumbled. "I kinda, uh, headbutted Natsu by accident and woke him up. I didn't wanna wake you up, too."
"C'mere," Gray said softly, grabbing the edge of the blanket and moving it so that all four of them were cuddled up underneath it. He rearranged several of the pillows until Sting was curled up in between the three of them. "Better?" he asked, and when Sting nodded, Gray reached out to the laptop and hit 'play.'
Halfway through 'Kiss the Girl,' Sting fell back asleep, snoring softly, wrapped up in his boyfriends with a smile on his face.