A/N: Frosche and Lector are based off an adorable real-life white tiger/lion couple named Cameron and Zabu.
Sting's character (and the cubs Lily and Carla) are based a lot off Giles Clark, a British tiger expert who hand-reared a pair of tiger cubs from the Australian zoo. BBC has a fantastic series on it called "Tigers About the House" which you will not regret watching, I promise. They're adorable!
Sting watched the city blur by out the window of the taxi. Downtown Magnolia was noisy and colorful, and every few blocks the pounding of music from a club spilled out into the night, accompanied by people with cigarettes and loud voices.
It was so different than home.
Sting pulled out his phone, swiping to the photo of him and Rogue with baby Lector. Rogue's soft smile made Sting's chest tighten, and he hesitated for a second before opening up their text conversation.
Hey babe, how's it going? I miss you. Sting typed out the message, then deleted it, sighing. He tried again – Thinking about you, hope everything's good – before deleting it as well and finally replacing it with, Babe, I'm pretty sure I'm in love, and you're gonna be too.
Only a few seconds passed before he got a response – Please don't tell me you adopted a kitten already.
Sting snorted. No kitties, promise.
The cab driver pulled up in front of his building and Sting hopped out, passing the driver a handful of what he hoped was the correct amount of cash and then taking the stairs two at a time up to their apartment.
He'd just locked the door behind him when his phone began to ring. Rogue's name popped up and Sting swiped it to answer.
"Hoesit," he said, kicking off his shoes and then heading for the bedroom. He flopped down onto the mattress – they still didn't have the box spring yet – and yawned.
"Hey, you," Rogue said softly. "Love you."
"Mm, love you too," Sting said, flopping back onto the mattress and sighing. "Bed's too big without you."
"Yeah, this hotel sucks," Rogue said, and Sting could hear him running water in the background. "So, what's this about falling in love? The cute guy from the café who invited you for dinner?" He could hear the amusement in Rogue's voice.
Sting sighed, running a hand over his face. "Yeah, I… he's got a boyfriend."
"You knew that already, didn't you?" Rogue asked.
"Yeah, but it turns out his boyfriend is also super hot," Sting said, voice almost petulant. "And funny, and it turns out his grandparents are from Johannesburg."
"Oh?" Rogue definitely sounded interested now.
"Hang on," Sting said, "lemme send you a picture."
"You took a picture of him?" Rogue asked.
"I… might have told him I wanted a picture of their kitty to show you," Sting said defensively. He pulled up the most recent picture on his phone – Gray pressing his nose to Happy's while Natsu looked on fondly in the background.
"Is the cat even in the picture?" Rogue teased. Sting stuck out his tongue, even though Rogue couldn't see him, then hit send.
Several seconds later, Rogue said, "oh."
"Right?"
"He's… very pretty," Rogue admitted. "So, on a scale of the scuba guy to the airplane steward last week," he added, a teasing note in his voice, "how in love are you?"
The rest of the week passed by in a blur. Between getting settled in at the zoo, unpacking some of their belongings, filling out a thousand forms for Immigrations, and finding their way around the city, Rogue and Sting were exhausted. By the time Friday came around, they were both eager for a break.
"You look great," Rogue murmured, coming up behind Sting and kissing his neck. Sting smiled, tipping his head against Rogue's and staring at their reflection in the mirror.
"I like that shirt," Sting said, turning around in Rogue's arms and playing with the collar of Rogue's dark red dress shirt. "You look very respectable."
Rogue snorted and kissed Sting's nose, then leaned back, running his thumbs over the back of Sting's hands.
"You're nervous," Rogue commented, raising an eyebrow. Sting blushed, looking down at their entwined fingers, a pattern of dark and light.
"I dunno why," Sting admitted, squeezing Rogue's hands and sighing. "It's... I dunno, I really want you to like them? Not just cause they're both cute and funny and—"
"Breathe, love," Rogue said, bringing his hands to Sting's hips and pulling him closer. "It's gonna be fine."
The restaurant that Natsu had picked out was decorated with brightly-colored paper lanterns, and catchy music wafted out onto the patio. Sting easily spotted Natsu's bright pink hair, and pulled Rogue through the crowd toward where Natsu and Sting were seated.
"Hey!" Natsu said when he saw them, standing up and smiling. "You must be Rogue. I'm Natsu." He reached out and shook Rogue's hand, then gestured to Gray. "This is Gray."
"Aangename kennis," Gray said hesitantly, and Sting watched Rogue's face light up.
"Praat jy Afrikaans?" Rogue asked, holding onto Gray's hand for several seconds longer than necessary. Gray shrugged, rubbing the back of his neck and nodding hesitantly.
"Ja, 'n bietjie," he replied, sitting down and gesturing for Rogue and Sting to sit across from them. "My grandparents taught me some."
"So why don't you have a cute accent then, babe?" Natsu asked, sticking his tongue out at Gray. Sting felt his cheeks flush when Natsu looked up at him and raised his eyebrows.
"Because I grew up in Canada, moron," Gray said, smacking Natsu's head. Natsu made an indignant sound, but didn't retaliate.
"So," Natsu said, turning back to Sting and grinning. "If you're from Africa, why-"
"I swear to god, if you quote 'Mean Girls' I'm gonna send you home," Gray said, kicking Natsu under the table and giving Sting an apologetic look. Sting frowned, but before he could reply, the waiter came to take their drink orders.
Their food came quickly, and Sting's anxiety disappeared as the four of them began to talk. He'd been worried that Rogue wouldn't fit into the easy rapport he'd felt with Gray and Natsu the week before, but he'd clearly been anxious for nothing.
"—so he tried the black diamond route," Gray said, gesturing with his fork at Natsu, "despite never having skiied before, and—"
"Look, in my defense, I was trying to impress a cute guy," Natsu interrupted. Rogue, who had had several glasses of wine by this point, looked over at Gray and nodded.
"That's a fair—"
"It wasn't me," Gray grumbled, elbowing Natsu and ducking his head. "He was trying to impress the Australian guy at the top of the ski lift."
"What can I say, I have a thing for accents," Natsu said teasingly. Sting didn't miss the look that Natsu shot his way, and he looked away quickly, playing with his food.
"Anyway," Gray continued, turning back to Rogue. "He broke his foot and three fingers, ended up in the first aid office where I work and was a huge baby about it."
"It hurt," Natsu protested. Sting was distracted by the way Natsu's lip stuck out in a small pout, and then he saw the expression on Gray's face. Gray was pretending to be exasperated, but when he looked at Natsu, something in his eyes softened.
"Of course it did," Gray said, reaching over and brushing some stray hairs out of Natsu's face. "But I kissed it better, remember?"
Natsu grinned, leaning in and kissing the tip of Gray's nose, and the warmth in Sting's cheeks matched the embarrassment on Gray's face. Sting glanced over at Rogue, and was surprised to see a soft, affectionate look in Rogue's eyes as he watched Gray pretend to push Natsu away.
Sting's fingers found Rogue's under the table, and Rogue glanced over at him, squeezing his hand as his expression changed from fond to apologetic. Sting shook his head – don't be sorry.
"So, how are you guys settling in?" Natsu asked, turning his attention to Rogue. Rogue looked startled, eyes wide under the light of the colored lanterns. Sting leaned in, answering for Rogue as Rogue took another sip of wine.
"It's different," Sting said, feeling the beers he'd had bubbling up into his brain and making him feel light. Everything was soft and the street lights were casting a silver glow over Natsu's hair. "More... there's lots of people." Sting smiled at Natsu. "We've only gotten lost twice though, thanks to you showing me around."
Natsu's expression turned almost shy, suddenly, and he ducked his head, looking away. "Anytime," he said, leaning against Gray's shoulder. "'s not every day a, uh, pretty guy needs my help."
Sting's cheeks flushed darker and he looked down at his plate, willing his heart to stop doing a stupid dance in his chest. Fuck, Natsu was cute when he was flustered. Natsu blinked a few times, clearly realizing what he'd said, then turned to Rogue with his hands raised apologetically.
"Shit, s-sorry, I'm—"
"Sting is pretty," Rogue agreed, and Sting was fairly certain that Rogue wasn't looking at Natsu's eyes as he talked. "You 'n me have... good taste." Rogue's gaze travelled slowly over to Gray, who looked slightly taken aback.
"'s true," Natsu said, leaning back against Gray and grinning at him. "They're both pretty."
"You're drunk," Gray said softly, speaking to Natsu but not looking away from Rogue. "You only call me pretty when you've had too much to drink."
"That's... slander," Natsu said, frowning at Gray and leaning further back in his chair. "I'm an excellent boyfriend." Under the table, Sting felt Natsu's foot brush up against his, and he startled. Natsu moved his gaze slowly from Gray to Sting, taking another slow sip of his beer and then winking at Sting.
Sting nearly choked on his drink, but he didn't pull away.
"He should say it... more often," Rogue said slowly, brow furrowing at he looked intently at Gray. Then he swallowed and leaned back in his chair, staring at his wine glass. Sting felt like he should be jealous, but instead he found himself giggling.
"Oh my god, you're adorable," Natsu whispered, and Sting was half-convinced that Natsu didn't realize he'd said the words out loud. Sting stared at Natsu for a second, then looked over at Gray, who was trying to hide a smile behind his wine glass. "Shit, maybe I am drunk," Natsu said, blinking and looking down at his beer.
Rogue snorted, and then they were all laughing, giving each other tipsy grins and nudging each other under the multicolored lights.
They sat at the table for a long time after their plates were cleared away, drinking and trading stories about their lives.
"So... you basically get to cuddle tiger cubs all day?" Natsu asked, wide-eyed as Gray flipped through pictures on Sting's phone. The older ones were of Lector and Frosch – both full-grown now – and the newer ones were of a pair of tiger cubs that were almost three months old.
"Well, not cuddle, really..." Sting said, then laughed. "Okay, yeah, Lily and Carla – the cubs – are pretty playful and they do like to snuggle. I'm actually gonna be helping them learn to swim next week."
"Fuck, I don't know if I wanna be you or da—"
Gray's statement was cut off by Natsu kicking him in the shin. Sting frowned as Gray glared at Natsu, then sighed and handed Sting's phone back to him.
"Why don't you guys come visit the zoo?" Rogue suggested. Gray's face immediately lit up, and Sting couldn't help the rush of affection that washed through him.
"Really?" Gray asked.
Sting nodded. "Yeah, if you come on... Tuesday? That'd be perfect. I should be done around five, I can show you around if you want?"
"I think you broke Gray," Natsu teased, and Sting couldn't look away from the excited look on Gray's face. "He's a huge dork about cats."
"Shut up," Gray grumbled, bumping Natsu half-heartedly with his shoulder. "I just... really like cats. They're great."
"You are so drunk," Natsu giggled, kissing Gray's cheek. Gray hummed, leaning against Natsu and smiling at Sting. Rogue squeezed Sting's hand under the table again, and Sting willed himself to stop blushing. He was pretty sure it wasn't working.
"'m just having a good time," Gray protested, going to take a sip of his beer and pouting when he found it empty.
"You've had enough of those," Natsu said, taking the bottle from Gray and setting it at the other end of the table. "We should..."
He trailed off, looking back over at Sting and Rogue. Sting's stomach twisted as Natsu's foot slid up the back of his calf, eyes searching Sting's face for... something. A few stray hairs had escaped Natsu's ponytail and were hanging in his eyes, and Sting was already leaning across the table to brush them away when he caught himself and fumbled, patting the table and pretending he'd been reaching for something else.
"We should, uh—we've got a lot of stuff to unpack tomorrow," Sting said quickly. He didn't want to leave, and he was fairly certain Rogue didn't either – considering the way he was looking at Natsu and Gray – but Sting felt uncertain, suddenly. Like he was treading a line he wasn't supposed to cross.
"Yeah, no, we gotta... too," Gray said, leaning back and looking over at Natsu. Even under his dark skin, Sting could tell Gray was flushed.
Sting and Rogue flagged down the first taxi that showed up, and there was an awkward moment where everyone stood near each other, shifting and looking uncertainly at each other. Then Gray stepped forward, pulling Rogue in for a hug and kissing him on the cheek.
"Totsiens," he said softly, and Sting watched a small smile cross Rogue's face as he returned the words and the gesture. Then the tension between them all broke and there were hugs and kisses all around.
"See you on Tuesday," Sting said, holding Gray's arm for a minute longer and then forcing himself to let go and wave as they got into the taxi.
Rogue gave the driver their address, then leaned back against his seat, letting out a loud sigh. Sting's stomach twisted and he rubbed his face, afraid to look at Rogue.
"Hey," Rogue said gently, taking Sting's hand and squeezing it. "It's okay."
Sting sighed, lacing his fingers with Rogue's and staring out the window.
"It's not... just me?" he asked. Rogue laughed, shaking his head and leaning over to wrap his arm around Sting.
"No," he said, kissing Sting's hair. "It's not."
"I don't know... it seems..."
"Wrong?" Rogue asked. Sting nodded, trying to sort through the tangled mess of emotions in his chest. The contented buzz from earlier was fading, quickly turning into a thrumming ball of anxiety.
Rogue pulled Sting closer, running his fingers down Sting's arm. "It doesn't feel wrong," he said softly.
It doesn't, Sting thought, staring out the window and watching the lights go by as they headed toward their new home. But what does that mean for us?
Afrikaans Translations
(note: these were all translated for me by my friend from Cape Town, so I hold her responsible for all errors :P )
Hoesit = Hey/how's it going
Aangename kennis = Nice to meet you
Praat jy Afrikaans? = You speak Afrikaans?
Ja, 'n bietjie = Yes, a bit
Totsiens = Goodbye
