Extra draft snippet that is supposed to fit somewhere in 'Agreement' (if I ever get to rewriting it from its fragmented draft stage).

Modern AU. Mostly Rogue being frustrated and blushing.

Originally posted on Tumblr (FlipSideofC)

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Erza mentions there's going to be another concert with Jellal shortly and Rogue is quick to ask for 2 tickets. Erza smiles, but doesn't ask him any questions, for which Rogue's grateful.

He stares at the tickets, clutching them in his fist. Ever since he saw Sting again he's been fighting strong urges to somehow arrange another meeting. He's spent a lot of time pondering what he wants, apart from just spending time with the dork. He wants what they had before, but without the dependency…and the rocky start. How though? Flirting is *not* Rogue's thing. He's used to Sting being the one to initiate almost everything romantic or intimate. He can drop hints - strong hints on occasion - but for that to happen they will have to meet in the first place.

Considering how he 'broke up' with the blond, Sting might not be interested. Then again, Sting used to be obsessed with him and the relationship didn't end due to lack of feeling at Sting's end. However, Rogue is well aware he never revealed he had any deeper feelings for Sting during their time together. Now he'll have to let him know - and that part is not Rogue's strong suit. He might be able to get the message across through psysical means though. Rogue definitely wouldn't mind that.

The tickets offer Rogue a good opportunity to see Sting in a date-like setting. The concert is a public place, but still a reminder of their last Jellal concert, when they fucked like rabbits in a random tent and were all coupely in general. Also, Rogue has never quite forgotten Sting's happiness when he got the tickets - and how happy he himself felt when he saw that. He could just post the ticket to Sting, but he wants to gauge his reaction when he gets it… Rogue is deep in thought when he walks smack into Minerva.

"Sorry!"

"Rogue, how are you?"

"I'm good. How are you…and uh…everyone?"

"I am well and 'everyone' is not doing too badly. On that note, I am meeting the gang at Sabertooth in 5. Why don't you join us?"

Rogue blinks. "I could come and stay a short while. I'm not really dressed for going out."

"Oh I don't think 'everyone' will care about that", Minerva smirks. Rogue flushes slightly.

At the bar, Rogue is pleased to see Sting looking both surprised and happy to see him. The others are a bit too obvious in their smugness, but Rogue ignores them. He wanted a good opportunity to see Sting again and he got that. They talk and Rogue feels pleasantly content and warm being squeezed in close to him.

Later, when he's leaving, Sting walks him out to say goodbye. It's crowded and Rogue is pushed against Sting. When Rogue's not pulling away, Sting takes the opportunity to press just a bit closer. He's not prepared for Rogue to suddenly kiss him though, so it takes a while for him to react. Rogue has the time to think it was a really bad idea before Sting crashes his mouth against his, making a tingle pass all through his spine. The kiss is all Rogue remembers it to be and more. Sting stops after a while though and smiles sheepishly.

"Sorry, too much PDA, right?"

Rogue kisses him again and they lock lips until they're breathless. Afterwards, they pant slightly, resting their foreheads against each other.

"Uhm…" Rogue fumbles with his pocket and hands Sting the tickets. "I wanted to give you these."

Sting looks at the tickets and turns his blue eyes searchingly on Rogue. Curiosity, hope and happiness are quite evident on his face, although he is apparantly trying to reign it in.

"I thought we could go… together." Rogue says.

"Together….like a date - together?"

"Y..yes", Rogue confirms, sneaking another glance at Sting's face. He's smiling openly now. "I'd like that."

"Me too."

"You should probably go home now before I try to convince you I should walk you home."

"I wouldn't really mind, but you're probably right. I'll see you on Saturday."

"It's a date", Sting smiles, still trying to wrap his mind around Rogue's last comment.

His friends roll their eyes when he returns to their table, grinning like mad.

"Guess what? Guess what? Guess what?!"

"You're back together", Orga says.

"You kissed", Minerva smiles.

"You're going on a date", Rufus smirks.

Sting grumbles. "You're no fun."

"Oh come on, tell us all."

Rogue agonizes over what to wear to the concert, but finally settles on the exact same outfit he had last time. With some luck, Sting will find the gesture romantic.

Sting definitely seems to appreciate the thought and since he dressed the same way too Rogue smiles slightly.

The concert is great and they enjoy themselves. Rogue is pleased to notice Sting definitely seems interested. How much though? When they pass a tent, Rogue flushes and Sting grins. Rogue is slightly disappointed when Sting doesn't pull him into a random tent like last time, but they do end up making out a lot, although not enough for Rogue's taste - and there's a lot of people around.

"You free tomorrow?" Rogue asks.

"Yes, do you want to go anywhere special?"

"I'll …think of something. See you at Magnolia garden at noon?"

"It's a date."

For their next date, Rogue choses a very remote place for a picnic. It's a lovely day and Rogue feels happy, especially since Sting seems to be in a very cuddly mood. Laying on a warm blanket slowly kissing is very nice and Rogue is determined to make sure Sting knows he thinks so.

"You know Rogue, this is a very secluded spot… If I didn't know better I'd think you wanted to seduce me."

"I do."

Sting grins brightly. "You do?"

"I thought that was obvious."

"I am not making any mistakes this time", Sting mumbles in his ear. "You're going to have to be clear."

"Are you going to be clear as well?"

Sting raises an eyebrow at that. "Hmmm?"

"What do *you* want?"

"I want to be able to give you anything without you believing you have to give me something in return", Sting says with an earnest look, almost making Rogue blurt out he loves him.

"Ok", he says, smiling slightly.

Sting kisses him again and Rogue tries to pull him as close as possible. Honestly, he did chose this spot so they could do more than kiss, no matter how wonderful it is. Even if it's nice that Sting's trying to be all considerate, he would like to be devoured and preferably also fucked right now. Surely Sting's not expecting him to say so? It's not his thing. Oh well.

"I need you", he whispers into Sting's ear, making him go rigid.

Ah now we're getting to the devouring part. Rogue is happy to note Sting seems to act like his old self. Sting's hands roam all over him and Rogue tries to make it easier to pull down his tight pants, cursing himself for chosing them this day. As Sting disappears downwards Rogue absentmindedly plays with his hair. With Sting's hot mouth on his cock and his talented fingers inside him, Rogue feels everything go hazy, so he can barely hear Sting talking before he stops.

"What?"

"Uhm…I didn't bring any…"

"I did", Rogue says quickly.

Sting grins broadly, making Rogue flush. "Did you now…?" Sting murmurs in his ear, making him shiver. "Did you want me to fuck you Rogue?"

"Yes."

"How do you want me to fuck you?"

"The way you usually do."

"What, hard?"

Sting smirks and starts to open his own pants. He stops and curses though and Rogue wonders why before he hears voices nearby. Rogue briefly reflects if strangling picnicing families is really all that illegal and sighs. Apparantly they're not going to be alone here.

"Let's go to my place", he suggests.

"I haven't seen your apartment", Sting says. "What's it like?"

"It's an apartment building called Fairy Hills. It's full of crazy people. I like it. The manager is really scary though, so I think I'll have to sneak you in."

"She wouldn't approve?"

"Oh she'd approve. She'd approve a lot - and she would never stop talking about it."

Sting grins. They take a taxi to Fairy Hills and Rogue quickly pays for it before Sting can do it automatically, looking searchingly at him. Sting squeezes his hand reassuringly. Rogue pulls Sting with him, hoping to reach the stairs without being spotted by Mira. No such luck…

"Rogue! There you are! Did the big date go well?"

Rogue flushes while Sting looks amused. Mira homes in on him, looking menacing.

"You're the date?"

Sting gulps slightly. Ok, she *is* scary. "Uh… yes?"

"Name?"

"Sting Eucliffe."

Mira looks him over and glares at him. "If you hurt him you're dead, ok?"

"O…ok."

Rogue pushes Sting in front of him towards the stairs, turning to glare at Mira. She looks happy now though and offers him a 10/10 sign. Rogue flashes her a rare bright grin.

"I don't think she likes me", Sting pouts.

"Oh she's extactic, trust me", Rogue says drily, pushing Sting towards the door. "She's wanted to see me madly in love since I moved here. She's probably just a bit annoyed she didn't get to match me with her sister."

Rogue opens the door and turns to check why Sting's taking so long.

"You're in love with me?"

"Yes", Rogue says exasperated, pulling him into the apartment. Seriously, did he have to do all the work this time?

"When did that happen?" Sting asks slowly.

"A long time ago. I don't remember exactly. Does it matter?"

That was apparantly the wrong thing to say, as Sting now looks and sounds like he did when Rogue moved out.

"You know, I seem to recall you saying you wanted to terminate our agreement when you broke up with me."

"I didn't think you'd let me go otherwise."

"You're right about that… and I certainly wouldn't have if I knew about this… For your information it wasn't an agreement to me!"

"It wasn't to me either!"

"So why didn't you just talk to me? We could have worked things out."

"I needed to work things out on my own first."

"And have you?"

"Huh?"

"Worked things out?" Sting looks searchingly at Rogue's face.

"Yes."

"Good. Because I don't think I'd be able to handle you leaving me again."

"I have no intention of leaving you at all." "Ever", he adds, even though Sting looks emotional enough already.

Rogue was happy Sting finally seemed to grasp his feelings, because he was honestly exhausted trying to get them across. This was more emotional talk than he usually crammed into a month… or maybe a year or two… Fortunately Sting seemed to understand that too, since he decided to finally kiss him again. Rogue was relieved they had cleared that up. Now, if they could just move to the bed, or the coach, Rogue didn't care which, because finishing what they started at the picnic would be very nice. Sting suddenly stopped kissing him and Rogue groaned, trying to pull him back.

"I love you too you know."

Rogue blinked and smiled slightly. "I know."

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There, FFNet is finally in synch with my AO3 posts, joy! Makes updating easier...