Summary: Set in my Gender-Bend universe, Sting Euticliffe has a massive crush on Natsu Dragneel, too bad he keeps acting like an arse whenever he's around her.
Pairings: One-sided Sting/Natsu, Sting/Rogue friendship, Sting/Lector friendship, Rogue/Frosch friendship, implied hero-worship Rogue/Gajeel, brotherly Gajeel/Natsu, Natsu/Luca, implied Sting/Yukino if you squint, and other implied friendship feels.
Author's Note: For Dream Out Loud 18, who literally read my mind when they suggested this (seriously need to start learning occlumency, you guys are starting to freak me out with how often you do this).
Ever since he could remember, Sting had admired Natsu Dragneel.
At first it had simply been because she was the most powerful, strongest, Dragon Slayer in recent history, and as a child he aspired to be just as great and fantastical as she was. Then sometime when he was eleven or twelve, he saw a picture of her, with her wild, untameable, pink hair, and beautifully intense green eyes, and something inside somersaulted, and he had become obsessed with her.
So much so, that he had a shrine to her, filled to the brim of photos, news reports of the damages she had caused, and an action figure of her before Fairy Tail's guild shop had closed down permanently.
Rogue thought it was creepy as hell but Sting would like to point out that at least he fancied a girl and did it normally while Rogue seemed just plain obsessed in a very creepy way for Gajeel Redfox of all people.
Rogue didn't speak to Sting for days after that…..Sting has to be honest, it wasn't much different from any other day.
The eve before the Magical Games changed everything though. They had heard that Natsu Dragneel and Gajeel Redfox had been back from…..wherever it was they were before, it was incredibly vague and confusing (you'd think the fact a good twenty or so people had gone missing for seven years there would be a good excuse as to why and where they have been), but they hadn't really expected they would meet them, until now.
There she sat on her knees, bright yellow and white flowers adorned her hair which was no longer free and wild like in all those photos he had of her but tamed into a braid, and her green eyes wide with confusion
Sting's eyes widened at the sight of her. "You!" he cried out disbelievingly.
Rogue tried to smother a gasp as well. "Natsu Dragneel!" he said, surprised.
Natsu titled her head to the side and stared at them blankly. "Who the hell are you guys?!" she said irritably.
It was a huge blow to his ego.
After all, he had spent his whole life, well, his whole life in human civilisation with access to Sorcerer Weekly, worshipping Natsu Dragneel, and she didn't even know who he was.
If it wasn't for the fact he wanted to appear cool and confident he would have definitely collapsed under those blowing words.
"Hey," a random guy in the crowds of fans shouted, "haven't you heard of Sabertooth's Twin Dragons, Sting and Rogue?"
"They're the cornerstone of Fiore's strongest guild!" Another yelled.
Sting smirked. You had to love the fans, even if they were annoying and knew nothing about personal space, they at least knew how to boost your ego and make you look good.
Much to his frustration though Natsu Dragneel didn't look all that impressed and had turned all her pretty smiling attention to some blonde ponce in a suit that was helping her back onto his feet. They were sharing goofy smiles and their eyes seemed locked onto one another.
(God, what self-respecting man wears flowers round their neck like a girl?!)
"Sabertooth, " the blonde ponce murmured, finally dragging his eyes away from Natsu and focusing onto Sting, "huh?"
Sting ignored him completely and attempted to look directly into Natsu's eyes, it was a bit difficult seeing as she seemed more interested in the blonde ponce (Sting's decided that was definitely how he was going to refer to the enemy from now on.).
"Rumour has it that you're going to be in the Grand Magical Games. Is it true?"
Natsu blinked. "You know about me?" she asked, for some reason that seemed to confuse her. Did she not know how famous she was, really?
"Acnologia," Sting said coolly. He was surprised at how the two Fairy Tail mages stiffened at the name and looked absolutely horrified. Especially Natsu, she had grown up with a dragon after all, you'd think that she was used to them by now. "You're the Dragon Slayer who couldn't slay a Dragon, right?" he grinned, ecstatic to finally find something that could prove he was more impressive than Natsu Dragneel seemed to think. It irritated him a lot that Natsu wasn't in awe of being in the presence of someone as powerful and strong as him. He spent seven achingly long years building up a reputation under one of the deadliest guild masters who never accepted weakness or defeat, and Natsu Dragneel didn't know who he was?! "Are you sure you should keep calling yourself a Dragon Slayer? I used to look up to you, you know," quickly realising how that might have sounded a lot like he didn't look up to her (which technically he didn't as he was a lot taller than her and had to look down) he quickly threw Rogue under the spotlight to by nodding his head in Rogue's direction, "and incidentally this guy was into Gajeel-kun."
Rogue stared at a random building with an emotionless face, showing no sign that he was at all bothered by Sting's actions. "I was only interested in a fellow Dragon Slayer," he said indifferently.
"You're Dragon Slayers?!"
It was definitely another blow to Sting's ego to hear the surprise at that. Didn't she hear the fans talk about him and Rogue, and how they were the cornerstone of Sabertooth's strength? Why wasn't she impressed? Why wasn't she really into talking to Sting right now as a fellow Dragon Slayer? Why was she still glancing at the blonde ponce's direction and brushing her hand against his?!
"Maybe you ought to call us true Dragon Slayers," Sting said smugly as he bowed his head in false modesty, "We could have easily beaten Acnologia."
That was a lie, a big fat one, but Sting wanted Natsu Dragneel to be impressed with him.
"That's easy for you to say," The blonde ponce sniffed disdainfully, "when you've never laid eyes on Acnologia."
Sting's eye twitched slightly in irritation when he caught Natsu Dragneel nodding in agreement before turning her adoring emerald eyes at the blonde ponce's direction. "It doesn't matter if we've seen it or not," Sting said arrogantly, "The point here is I'm the stronger Dragon Slayer."
Lector jumped in at this point and gave a long lecture on the differences between first generation, second generation, and third generation Dragon Slayers while obviously biging Sting up to be the greatest, strongest, and most powerful Dragon Slayer in the history of Dragon Slayers.
You have to love Lector, he was the coolest, sweetest, and most loyal little guy in the world, and Sting had to glow in pride and look just as cool and heroic as Lector was making him out to be.
Natsu, however, didn't seem all that impressed or interested in what Sting was, "Did you Dragons disappear in the year 777, too?!" she asked instead, all excited and determined to get the answers.
Sting faltered slightly. He had a strong suspicion that Natsu would not like his answer, "Well in a manner of speaking…" he trailed off uselessly.
"I will tell you straight," Rogue said bluntly and coldly, "The Dragons who taught us Dragon Slayer Magic were slain by our own hand so we could become true Dragon Slayers."
Sting's suspicion was immediately confirmed as Natsu's mouth dropped open in horror and the blonde ponce gasped melodramatically with his own disgust. "You murdered your own parents?!" Natsu cried out with revulsion. "Why?! Why would you do that?!"
It was probably needless to say that the conversation really went downhill after that. Sting tried to downplay it, make himself look cooler, for some reason the idea of him being so powerful that he could kill a Dragon at a young age really didn't impress Natsu Dragneel.
In fact, after shooting him a deadly glare, she took hold of the blonde ponce's hand and stormed off in a huff especially after Sting promised to show how powerful he was in the arena.
Lector, sadly, was no help either as he seemed to have really aggravated Natsu's cat as well. So now all of Natsu and her closest companions were against him which made it very difficult to ask a girl on a date.
"Thanks," he grumbled to Rogue, "for nothing."
"What?" Rogue blinked with false innocence. "I thought you wanted to appear like a total arsehole to the girl you liked. Isn't that what all the magazines tell you to do?"
"Shut up!" Sting yelped. "You're a terrible best friend! What happened to having my back?"
"I did have your back," Rogue said calmly unfazed by Sting's fury, "you obviously wanted to come across as an all-powerful arsehole, so I helped, and I must say, and I think I did a fantastic job."
"Fro thinks so too Sama!"
Sting sulked the entire way home and would have totally spent the whole night sulking and pining over his lost chance with Natsu Dragneel if it hadn't been for the fucking giant labyrinth that appeared in the middle of the sky.
Beating the crap out of a lot of pathetic people seemed to really cheer him up for some reason.
FTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFT
The advantage of no longer having a girl on the team (though Sting was desperately trying to ignore the weird, Yukino-shaped, hole in his life right now) was that there was no one to embarrass the Sabertooth guild as all of the girls leaped into the cosplaying battle.
Well he says all of the girls, one of them was being dragged kicking and screaming…..literally.
Sting scowled more and more as the girl he liked kept transforming into these really cute and sexy outfits only to keep jumping for the blonde ponce's hand, it turned deadly when she ended up straddling the blonde ponce in a leather corset.
"Ooh, it looks like Natsu Dragneel found a cosplaying partner," Rufus smirked as he shot Sting a pointed look, "And they're really into their roles."
"Hmmph!"
His mood did not improve at the sight of Natsu in a wedding dress fighting off any girl that expressed an interest in the blonde ponce (why? There was nothing attractive about a loser in a suit, which he was, he lost terribly on the first day. It looked like he was going to cry, like a baby).
"It looks like Natsu Dragneel really, really, really, wanted to be partnered with that Luca Heartfilla," Rufus teased. "I think she is quite smitten with him."
"Fro thinks so too Sama!"
"They make an awesome looking couple," Orga joined in with an evil grin.
"Fro thinks so too Sama!"
"Face it," Rogue said flatly, "you could never be as good as a groom as he is."
"Fro thinks so too Sama!"
"Yes, well," Lector said indignantly on Sting's behalf, "she isn't worthy enough to be Sting-kun's bride."
"I didn't want to dress up anyway," Sting sniffed as he crossed his arms, "the whole thing is absurd and stupid and ridiculous."
"And your opinion of cosplaying has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that Natsu Dragneel has not looked your way once since the second game and even when she had it looked like she wanted to vomit on you."
"SHUT UP!"
They did but not because Sting had told them to do it.
They all, the entire stadium, and probably anyone who was watching this on the lacrima screens throughout the nation, all fell silent with traumatised horror when the insane old hag from Lamia Scale decided to rip her clothes off and pose in a swimsuit….
"Oh….." Sting said slowly as he felt his soul leave his body, "dear…..god."
"That is…" Orga shuddered, "so not awesome."
"It's disgusting!" Lector spat out. "What's wrong with you humans?"
"I wish with all my heart that I could actually not remember this," Rufus moaned into his hands, "curse my beautiful mind that can remember everything so well in amazing detail. I will never sleep again."
Rogue blinked, and actually didn't look at all affected as his face was expressionless as ever, and then blinked again. "…I think I am now gay," he said eventually.
"Fro thinks so too Sama!"
And so, the day ended with Sting's foul mood made all the worse by his shared traumatic experience at seeing Lamia Scale's guild master's wrinkly, wobbly, pale, thighs. To make things worse Natsu Dragneel was still all over the blonde ponce, Sting's scowl felt a permanent feature on his face, as she had her legs firmly wrapped round the blonde ponce's waist, her arms round hiss neck, and hands over his face, and leaned into whisper intimately in his ear as the loser wobbled and flail around the stadium.
He really hated that guy.
FTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFT
Fortunately for Sting though everything took a turn around in his favour the next day.
The blonde ponce was soundly beaten by Minerva to the point of sheer humiliation, and Sting relished in seeing his rival for Natsu Dragneel's affections dropped to the ground like the worthless pansy he was, and now he was given his chance to prove to Natsu that he was the powerful Dragon Slayer he had bragged about being earlier that week.
And to add icing on the cake, Rogue was finally given his chance to prove himself to Gajeel. So he was happy too.
So Sting felt he had every right to be smug as Gajeel Redfox and Natsu Dragneel stepped into the stadium for their battle.
The Commentator announced them and proceeded to add drama by reminding everyone how powerful all four Dragon Slayers were but it really wasn't worth paying attention to as Sting was able to drink in Natsu's determined face, her blazing green eyes, and the clenching of her fist.
"I've been waiting for this moment," Sting murmured, "I've been waiting for this for years, Natsu-san."
She didn't reply at all as she continued to stare at him fiercely, so prepared for a fight regardless of her chances to win it, another reason to admire her.
"Remember!" the weird Pumpkin Referee trilled. "You only have thirty minutes, starting now!" he blew the whistle.
"Will you go-"
Natsu immediately punched Sting in the nose and sent him flying across the stadium, Sting managed to dig his feet into the ground and get his footing back before he crashed into something, and moved to defend himself when Natsu then suddenly whirled a kick into his stomach.
"ROAR OF THE WHITE DRAGON!"
Unsurprisingly, Natsu dodged it completely, and as Sting prepared to attack again Rogue had been completely thrown in the air by Gajeel, caught by Natsu, and much to Sting's horror was then used as a weapon by Natsu on Sting as she set them both on fire.
It didn't affect them that much and they were instantly back on their feet. "You really are strong," he said admiringly as he wiped his chin from a cut made when he crashed on the rocky ground, "but I'd be disappointed otherwise. I don't like my women to be weak milksops."
Natsu blinked. "Eh?" she said.
"What was that supposed to mean?!" Gajeel growled. "Are you coming on to her or something?"
"I'll prove to you," Sting said ignoring Rogue's hero, "that I am the strongest, I will show you the hand that killed a dragon, that I am a better choice of a mate than that blonde ponce Minerva creamed earlier."
"WHAT?!"
"White Drive…."
"Shadow Drive
And then they were in the offensive and were forcing the Fairies into the defensive with their attacks. Sting felt a very smug satisfaction in seeing Natsu flustered as she leaped back, crashed into Gajeel, and screamed at him for being in the way, it was good to know he was finally getting to her.
"Come on, come on, Natsu-san," he goaded her as he repeated his attacks, "you call that a defence or are you finally giving into my charms?!"
She crashed onto the floor, face first, and immediately leaped back on her feet, whirled round, face bright pink underneath the dirt, and her fists clenched. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU ON ABOUT?!" She screamed
"Oh for fuck sake, Salamander!" Gajeel barked impatiently as he barely dodged Rogue's attacks. "The arsehole is hitting on you!"
"Of course he is!" Natsu attempted to slam her elbow in Sting's face but he moved out of the way and flipped her over his shoulder, she landed on her feet like a cat. "He's been trying to punch me for the last five minutes."
Both Sting and Rogue froze at that and exchanged bewildered glances…..was…..was she serious?!
Gajeel face palmed. "That's not what hitting you means, you fucking idiot!" he screamed.
"Then what does it mean?"
"THAT HE WAS FLIRTING WITH YOU!"
"And what does that mean?!"
"That I'm going to fucking kill him," Gajeel snarled as he whirled round, and took advantage of Sting and Rogue's shock, and punched Sting hard with his metal arm. "She's off limits to the likes of you!" he growled.
"Why?" Sting spat out. "Because she yours?"
Gajeel stopped attacking and looked utterly disgusted. "You're revolting. As if anyone would want to date Salamander," he said childishly. "I don't want her near you because you're a creep."
It was then when the fighting got completely out of hand. Sting couldn't really remember what happened only that he powered up into Dragon Force at some point, that they almost destroyed the stands, and several people had to run away screaming, and then suddenly the floor beneath them gave out and they ended up in some tunnels.
Still fighting.
It had become difficult to tell who exactly was fighting who though, Gajeel and Sting were determined to kill one another over Natsu, Rogue wanted to fight Gajeel but kept accidentally hitting Sting, and Natsu obviously wanted to murder all three of them as she had no problem hitting all three of them with all she got.
"Fucking hell, Salamander!" Gajeel snapped as he jumped back onto his feet after another kick (with fire) from the only female Dragon Slayer on the field. "Will you quit hitting me?!"
"You're in the fucking way, you moron!" Natsu retorted. "If you just stayed on your side and let me deal with this creep then you won't get hit!"
"As if I'm letting this bastard put his hands on you!"
"What makes you think I would?!"
"Well, you're a bit of a ditz like that," Gajeel said as he held up an arm to fend off both Rogue's and Sting's attacks, lazily glancing at Natsu, "honestly Salamander, that pansy of yours is way too smart for a blonde, all that stupidity had to go somew-OI! DON'T PUNCH ME! THEY'RE THE ENEMEY!"
"Yeah," Natsu spat out, "and you're in my way!"
That was when she grabbed Gajeel by the arm, flipped him over into a miner's cart, and kicked him down the hill.
"It's good to see that you have chosen to ignore that metal head," Sting smirked, "and now it's just us," Rogue coughed but Sting chose to ignore him too, "once I have defeated you, perhaps we could get a meal together?"
"FUCK NO!"
Natsu punched him so hard that Sting almost passed out but he was able to keep his wits, get back into the game, and give her a grin.
"Not original enough, huh?" he admitted sheepishly. "How about dancing?"
"How about you go fuck yourself?!"
"I'm not much of a dancer, either," Sting avoided her kick, "we could do something else. A day at the beach, trip to the theatre, or something more fun, like a wrestling match."
"What part of no, don't you get?!"
"Amusement park?"
"I get motion sickness, you moron!"
"We don't have to go on the rides, we can just play the games," Sting said smoothly as he leaped back and allowed Rogue to take the offensive, "what about the museum?"
"No means no!" Natsu snarled, fire, and much to Sting's growing horror, lighting began to dance on her skin. "I've already got a boyfriend."
I've already got a boyfriend.
I've already got a boyfriend.
I've already got a boyfriend.
At this point Sting completely blacked out and couldn't tell you what on earth happened. He was so shell shocked over having lost Natsu Dragneel before he really begun trying to woo her that he hadn't realised until both he and Rogue were bruised, bleeding, and definitely had concussions and broken bones, that they had lost the battle too.
Natsu stood over them, her dress torn, her skin covered in bruises, cuts, and dirt, her hair broken free from her braid and flapping in the wind with her scarf, and the scariest, deadliest, look in her eyes.
"I will never date you," she said with a terrifyingly calm voice, "you're a parent murderer who boasts about it, cruel, arrogant, and rather pathetic. The guy you laughed at for being brutally beaten up will always be a better man than you."
Those words crushed him completely.
(Meanwhile, the entire Fairy Tail guild were gobsmacked. The moment it clicked that Sting was hitting on Natsu Dragneel had sent them into shock…..because who would want to flirt with Natsu? And then when he outright asked her out and got Natsu completely flustered, Gray collapsed into hysterical laughter (mostly at the thought of someone wanting to take Natsu dancing) while the rest of the male members, and Erza, prepared their weapons to kill the arsehole, and then everyone went into complete shock – they all looked like white marble statues they had turned so pale and stiff – when Natsu clearly said she already had a boyfriend…..what the hell was going on?!)
FTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFT
The next two days had been hell for Sting.
It was one thing to be defeated by a tiny little girl you liked, and then to have your heart broken by her rejection, but it was something else entirely to go through the hell he went through.
They barely made it back to the inn when there had been no one to tend to their wounds because everyone had been ashamed of their defeat. As Rogue clumsily attempted to bind Sting's ribs, Sting found himself missing Yukino all the more, as she always had that gentle, magic touch, with her hands as she tended to them,
Then it was their turn to go through the public shaming for losing when Lector stood up for him and got attacked.
And then Minerva held Lector hostage.
And it had been one hell of roller coaster ride of emotions as he moved to take all five Fairy Tail members only to surrender as he realised they were so much better than him, so much more determined, and righteous, and good…..and that crushing sadness of knowing he could never see Lector again because he had surrendered.
And then that girl came with Lector in her arms, and he had never been happier.
And then the Dragons attacked.
And he had shamefully admitted that he only killed his parent because he was asked to not because he was the strong Dragon Slayer he boasted to be.
And then he had been unable to defeat a Dragon.
And now, here he was at a ball of all things, trying to restore Sabertooth's reputation as somehow he had become the new guild master, and he found himself having to fight for Yukino's return as everyone wanted her.
It was rather infuriating that they didn't realise she belonged with him and the others but fortunately Yukino picked Sabertooth and her happy, small, smile, and tears of joy and relief made Sting's stomach go on another rollercoaster ride.
Urgh the motion sickness….
But now everything had settled, and Natsu seemed to sort of like him – she had smiled at him five times, asked him how he was, and hadn't punched him at all – Sting decided to have one last try at things before they all went home.
And everything was in his favour as the pink-haired girl was all alone at the buffet table while the blonde ponce – fine! Luca – was dancing with virtually every girl in the ballroom.
(Seriously what do they see in him? He's as bland as beige wallpaper.)
"Natsu-san," Sting coughed, "would you like to – OH MY GOD!"
"What?" Natsu mumbled round a turkey leg. "What is it?" Sting froze as she spat out bits of turkey onto his face. "Oh, sorry," she swallowed what little turkey was left in her mouth, and grinned. He could see bits of pork stuck between her teeth, "What's up?"
"I….erm….you….have barbeque sauce down your dress."
It was a nice dress, a pale yellow and pink frilly thing that was decorated with fake flowers, only now it had great big reddish brown stains all over the front.
"Really?" for some reason Natsu didn't found so upset about that. In fact her grin got bigger at the idea. "Awesome!" she trilled. "Now Erza can't make me wear this thing ever again!"
"Erza?"
Natsu nodded solemnly. "She picks out all my clothes, says that if I was left to my own devices I would be wearing the same underwear all week," Natsu rolled her eyes, "I honestly don't see the big deal. I'm a Dragon Slayer, I fight stuff, not look nice for it."
"Erm…." Sting wasn't so sure what to say though he couldn't help but feel a little disgusted at the underwear comment. And he couldn't believe someone who was technically older than him was incapable of eating properly. Even Gajeel, who has been legendary for eating the cutlery at posh dinners, was behaving like a prince. And no, Sting is not exaggerating, the punkish metal-headed Dragon Slayer had tamed his wild hair into a pony-tail, donned on a smart suit, and was gallantly leading the tiniest, blue-haired, mage in his guild round the dancefloor as if she was the princess instead of the actual princess. "Erza's rather scary though…." She had beaten Minerva, enough said, "wouldn't she be rather cross if you ruined her dress?"
Natsu dropped the turkey leg on the floor. "Shit!" she gasped. "I didn't think of that!"
"Never mind, I'm sure it will wash out!" Sting said hurriedly. "Now, I was wondering, would you like to dance with-?"
"LUCAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Natsu suddenly screamed as she immediately rushed to the blonde ponce's side and literally shoved the girl he was dancing with – it was one of the Fairy Tail girl's, and aside from loving indignant that she landed on the floor, the brunette shrugged it off and helped herself to two bottles of champagne as she sat on some other guy's lap – and grabbed the blonde ponce by the lapels of his jacket. "I need Virgo's help! My dress is ruined and Erza is going to murder me!"
Sting watched dejected as the blonde ponce helping Natsu with her dress quickly changed into, somehow, all Sting did was blink and the spirit disappeared and everything changed, the blonde ponce dancing with Natsu, wincing each time she accidentally trod on his foot, but laughing it off in a gentlemanly manner.
Then they started to dance with pumpkin masks on and were literally trapped in their own world of laughter and puling faces.
It was obvious to everyone they only had eyes for one another.
"Never mind," Rogue said quietly (and appearing out of nowhere thus making Sting jump and almost sent a plate of pork chops flying), "You never had a chance with her anyway."
"What sort of wingman are you?!"
"One that didn't want the job," Rogue said flatly, "I have better things to think about that your love life. Like Frosch's flea bath."
Sting scowled, "Oh thanks," he muttered darkly.
"Can you honestly say though," Rogue asked as he gave Sting one of his eerie, all-seeing, all-knowing, creepy stares, "that you still want to date Natsu Dragneel after this week? Knowing how violent, and loud, and noisy, and annoying, and messy, and sloppy, and disgusting, and totally in love with another guy she is."
"You have a point," Sting admitted reluctantly, and then suddenly Natsu Dragneel threw Gray Fullbuster into a table and stomped on his neck with a high heeled foot, and Sting's stomach did a weird flippy thing, "but she's still hot."
"….You have no taste."