Hey guys! Day Two of Stinerva Week, coming at ya!
I feel like this went better than First Date, mostly because I covered a topic that's at the forefront of why I ship Stinerva to begin with. I also think I have a better grasp on Minerva's character in this chapter, which is saying something. How do you write an alpha bitch who's only being treated with kindness for the first time in her life (even though this is a year removed from the Tartarus arc)? Ah well, hope you enjoy this either way.
I do not own Fairy Tail or its characters, Hiro Mashima does.
Even a year removed from her time in Tartarus, Minerva still felt sometimes like she didn't fully belong in Sting's incarnation of Sabertooth. Yes, she had learned to joke with her guildmates, but calling them nakama still felt strange to her. Though she had managed to put on a facade, she (and perhaps her friends) knew that even a year of true friendship couldn't fully erase a lifetime of having strength as her defining trait beaten into her.
But that didn't matter right now. She had completed a simple job (Sting wouldn't let her take any long jobs today for whatever reason), and she looked forward to an evening of relaxation. Perhaps she would indulge herself in that bath soap Yukino had given her for her birthday. The renegade dark mage she defeated had turned out to be a former member of Succubus Eye, which triggered memories of Tartarus, and of her forced Demonization, and she wanted nothing more than simple comfort at the moment. Having arrived at her apartment complex, Minerva turned the key and stepped inside...
...And regretted it instantly.
A plume of smoke emanating from the kitchen and the smell of burnt metal greeted the Territory mage. For a moment, she stood in stunned disbelief, before her eyes found - and would have killed if they were able - her idiot and incompetent chef of a Guild Master. "Sting..." she said dangerously. "What is this... travesty?"
"Oh... Princess," said Sting sheepishly. "You're back already."
"I was gone longer than I anticipated being," Minerva deadpanned.
"I wanted to surprise you..." said Sting.
"Well, consider me surprised. I had not expected my new pot to be utterly destroyed so soon after I paid 15,000 Jewels for it!," said Minerva, her voice growing more venomous with each word.
"It wasn't supposed to turn out this way, I swear!"
"You know you have no business preparing food!" said Minerva furiously. "Do you remember the fiasco that was the guild's Founding Brunch? At all?! And where in the name of Yakuma is Lector?! Surely he would never allow you to embark on such idiocy!"
She was answered by a nervous shuffling of paws from under the table, which turned out to be Sting's red-furred companion. "...Hi, Lady..." Lector greeted nervously.
She stared down at Lector imperiously. "Lector... please tell me you did not condone Sting preparing food," she said. "Lie to me if you have to, I don't care!"
"Sting-kun wanted to make a nice meal for you to celebrate you coming back to Sabertooth!" Lector cried. "I swear I told him to have Rogue-kun and Yukino-chan help him, but he said it was his responsibility as your Master to do it himself... He just wouldn't listen!" By this point, Lector was bawling. "You know how Sting-kun can get! In terms of pure stubbornness, he can surpass all of Fairy Tail put together! I told him you'd be angry with him, but-"
"Sting..." Minerva said in disbelief. "Is this true?"
"I... Yes, Milady," Sting admitted.
Minerva was absolutely floored by this admission. Even a year later, kindness was still a relatively new concept in Sabertooth - especially to her - so to hear that her Master, the man she had become wholly devoted to as she began her slow climb out of the darkness, had insisted on celebrating her return to Sabertooth in such a way, despite not knowing the first thing about the way he had chosen to do so, was almost enough to bring her to tears. "Fool," she said, willing her eyes to stop watering. "I never asked for this!"
"Good thing too," said Lector. "That way, at least you're not disappointed, yeah?"
"Sh-shut up, Lector!" said Sting, clearly embarrassed by the whole endeavor.
"Well, since your little... gift, for want of a better term... didn't exactly pan out, I shall prepare a meal for us," said Minerva. "I happen to have spaghetti and meatballs I was saving for the weekend.
"Um... actually..." said Sting, going over to the stove and revealing two pots, one full of burnt pasta, the other crusty sauce and blackened balls of meat.
"Of course," sighed Minerva angrily. There went that plan. "Fine. We'll have grilled cheese and tomato. You will watch me cook yours, and you will repeat what I have done when cooking mine. Am I understood?"
"Yes, Milady!" said Sting, happy enough that Minerva was allowing him to save face on his plan.
As it turned out, grilled cheese was easy enough for Sting to grasp. Minerva's sandwich was a little burnt, but she had nipped that problem in the bud. Either way, it was a stepping stone, and she would have to teach him a few more simple recipes before even thinking of letting him cook something like spaghetti and meatballs.
But there was something still bugging her about what Sting had hoped to accomplish. "Tell me something," said Minerva. "You have the whole of the Sabertooth Guild at your disposal, including many members who are undoubtedly better chefs than you could ever hope to be. Yet you still insist upon preparing me a celebratory meal yourself. Why, then, do you not at least allow Rogue and Yukino to assist you?"
Sting was silent for a moment, pondering Minerva's question. Finally, he spoke. "I guess it was just a matter of pride for me," he said.
"I heard Lector the first time," said Minerva. "He said as Master you felt it was down to you to do it."
"That's... part-true, at least," said Sting. "The truth is, when you left, I couldn't help feeling it was all my fault."
"What?"
"I surrendered to Fairy Tail," said Sting. "I blew our big chance to win the Grand Magic Games. If I had won - at least in my mind - you wouldn't have had any reason to leave. And I felt it was down to me to save you, to bring you back."
"Was that seriously your entire motivation this whole time?" said Minerva angrily. "I haven't thought about that loss in a year! Not since I came back! If you had defeated Fairy Tail, we would have learned nothing of what it means to have comrades! Yes, I would have stayed, but I would never have learned it was okay to be weak so long as I could be strong with my guild!"
"So stop blaming yourself for my arrogance! There is accepting the burden of your comrades, and then there is accepting needless blame! My transgressions are my own, and I can live with them because..." At this, she looked down blushing.
"Because?" Sting prompted.
"Because I have a kind Master who can show me the way," Minerva finished. "One whom, for the first time I have true loyalty. And one whom I trust..."
She leaned in and cupped Sting's face in her hand. His face grew redder with each passing second. Their lips were so close...
"...Will replace the new pot he ruined by this time next week," she finished, gripping Sting's chin like a vice.
"Owowowowow! I will! I promise! Now let go!" said Sting in pain.
"Good," said Minerva. "Now, hopefully you failed to ruin dessert?"
"He was willing to buy that, at least," said Lector.
"There is a God," declared Minerva.
Okay, much better ending this time! Honestly, I love when I can come up with these trollish endings. But I will say, while I'm happy Minerva got her redemption, she doesn't really have much character shown post-Tartarus. I hope that changes in the next few chapters. So until tomorrow's prompt (which I should probably work on now), good night from Nightlingbolt.