Home for the Holidays 2019
Prompt: Help
June 2020
Sting was just finishing up his second closed reduction of the day when he heard his name being called over the loudspeaker.
Dr. Eucliffe, paging Dr. Eucliffe. You are needed at the Nurse's Station.
Sting couldn't help the excitement that bubbled up inside him at hearing his name being paged. As a resident, he was qualified for many different types of procedures, but if they were requesting him specifically, that could only mean one thing. Pediatrics!
He looked over at the nurse who had been assisting him, who only grinned at him knowingly.
"Just go, you already did the hard part, I can handle the rest."
"You're sure?" He wanted to take her at her word, but this man was also his patient, and he wanted to be responsible.
"Just go already!"
"Okay, thank you! And take it easy, Mr. Smith, make sure to keep that arm elevated to decrease the swelling."
He walked over to the Nurse's Station, "I'm Dr. Eucliffe. You paged me?"
"Oh, there you are! A little boy just came in with head trauma, might need stitches, he's in Exam 3," the Head Nurse handed him a chart which he immediately opened, poring through its contents even as he walked towards the examination room.
His patient was a 2-year-old Caucasian male, presenting with a posterior scalp laceration. Sting winced; those tended to bleed a lot. Poor kid. The rest of his stats looked fine, well within the normal range for a child of that age.
No pupillary abnormalities, no loss of consciousness or emesis, no changes to alertness or reports of abnormal behavior, so odds of a concussion were probably low. Sting rehearsed the questions he might be called upon to ask if he detected any possible danger to the child. It was always uncomfortable, but the child's safety came first.
As he neared the room, he began to hear the distressed cries of the little boy along with the cries of another child, a sibling, probably. Okay, so two kids to deal with. He knocked on the door of the examination room before entering, catching the tail end of someone speaking. He thought he recognized some of the words, but it had been so quick he couldn't be sure.
"Hey there, I'm Dr. Eucliffe," Sting announced with confidence, having already learned that this helped put the parents at ease. If the parents were at ease, the children would soon follow.
There were three people in the room, a man who looked to be about his own age who had pink hair, which was about all Sting could make out at the moment, and two children. A little girl with the same pink hair as her father, who was crying quietly into his arm, and a much younger boy, who judging by the matted patches of dried blood in his otherwise pristine white hair was his patient.
The combination of pink and white hair reminded him of something, but he couldn't quite grasp what it was. Sting shook the thought away, opting to go wash his hands before checking the boy's head.
The man who Sting assumed was the father looked up at him with worried eyes as the sniffling little boy burrowed himself further into his chest. He mumbled some words to the little boy, rubbing his back in small circles, and this time Sting was sure of it. The man had spoken in his native language, Edolian. He had an accent, though, so it was clear he wasn't from there.
"Can you tell me what happened?" Sting asked, coating his hands liberally with the antibacterial soap before rinsing them off. He made sure to sound interested but not overly so.
"The kids were playing in the house, Hana-" the man stopped to point at the little girl who cried harder at hearing her name mentioned, "was running, and Atlas was chasing her. He just started running recently, and as far as I can tell, he slipped and fell. I think he managed to hit his head on the coffee table."
"You didn't see it happen?"
"No, I was in the other room. I heard a loud noise and then there was silence for a second or two and then Atlas began to scream. I ran over and found him on his back on the floor. There was so much blood; I couldn't get it to stop," he explained, hugging the boy tightly. "We came as fast as we could."
"What about you, Hana? Did you see what happened?"
Hana peered at her father, her eyebrows furrowed.
Sting repeated the question in Edolian, and Hana turned her attention to him, eyes widening in disbelief.
She spoke in quick bursts, her words so fast that Sting had a hard time keeping up. Her story was consistent with her father's but provided one additional detail. Cookies. She admitted she had taken Atlas' cookie, and he had been chasing her to get it back.
"It's all my fault," Hana sobbed, hiding part of her face behind the back of her hand. Carefully a teary eye reemerged to look at her father with shame and sorrow, and her next words made Sting's gut clench.
"Do you think mommy will be disappointed in me when she looks down now?"
The man startled, his green eyes widening in shock before wrapping his arm around her and holding her tightly along with her brother, rocking both of them gently. "Mommy could never be disappointed in you, Hana. She'd never be disappointed in either of you."
He continued to rock the children, kissing their heads, but now Sting could see that his eyes were watery and he had to turn away for a moment, both to give them privacy in their palpable grief and to get his own approaching tears under control.
After getting himself under control, he turned around and decided to say something to the little girl, "It sounds like all this was just an accident, and those happen all the time no matter how careful you are. Even to adults."
When he was sure he had her attention, he pointed at the scar on his eyebrow, "You see this?"
Hana nodded slowly, she was still clutching her father, but her eyes were on him, "Well, this bad boy happened cause I decided to rake the yard last fall. Had a pile of leaves this high!" Sting pointed at his chest. "And well… , it was just too good to pass up."
"Do you like to jump in leaf piles?" Sting asked, smiling as the little girl nodded her head gravely.
"I do too, so I took a running start, and just as I was getting ready to jump—"
The little girl's eyes widened even as she whispered, "The rake."
Sting whispered back, "The rake, it smacked me right in the face and got me this lovely scar."
He could tell that Hana was trying hard not to giggle so he reassured her, "It's okay, you can laugh. My partner did too, still does sometimes." Sting confided with a wink.
"Did you still jump in the leaf pile?" The man asked suddenly, surprising Sting as he'd been getting ready to ask him to move Atlas to the examination table.
"You know I did," Sting grinned, "Worth it too. Now let's get the little guy on the table."
There was something about this man that felt very familiar, and with the additional Edolas connection, Sting was curious if they'd met before. He should have paid more attention to the boy's chart, looked at his information rather than just checking the stats and symptoms, "Alright, so this little guy is Atlas, and that is Hana, what do I call you?"
"Oh, sorry, the name is Natsu, Natsu Dragneel," Natsu replied as he detangled himself from Hana so he could do as Sting had requested.
The last name didn't mean much to him, but the name Natsu, combined with that ridiculous head of hair, set off all sorts of bells. They had met. Even hung out a few times the year before he'd left for Magnolia.
Natsu had been dating his best friend's cousin, there'd been a story there, but Sting couldn't remember it at the moment, he'd have to call Yukino later and ask.
"I thought you looked familiar!" Sting exclaimed, "We met a bunch of years ago in Edolas, I'm Yukino's friend. You were dating her cousin, what was her name?"
"Lisanna," Natsu answered, but he wouldn't meet Sting's gaze.
Sting felt awful, he couldn't believe how insensitive he'd just been. All that training and he'd completely forgotten all of it just because he was excited to recognize someone.
"I'm so sorry for your loss," Sting flinched even as he heard the words come out of his mouth, hating how generic they sounded, especially when they were referring to someone he had actually known.
Natsu held his hand up, "Thank you. Do you think maybe you could take a look at Atlas now?"
"Yes, of course, I'm sorry," Sting was flustered, and that was not the best state of mind to be in when dealing with a laceration. "Why don't you go ahead and move him to the examination table, you can sit with him if that will help to keep him calm."
Sting saw the nurse had already laid out his equipment, so he went searching for the stuffed animals he knew they kept for children, finding them in the third drawer he opened. It gave him something to do as he calmed himself down. He grabbed two of the bears and shut the drawer, taking a box of sterile gloves from the sink area as well.
He handed a bear to Hana, who looked lost sitting in one of the big chairs all by herself. She immediately clutched it to her chest as she stared at her little brother and father, her face still riddled with guilt, but he couldn't help her with that.
Taking a deep breath, Sting planted a smile on his face as he neared Atlas. The boy was watching him warily, his eyes flitting over the famous cartoon characters that decorated the scrubs Sting was wearing underneath his doctor's coat. He did not look impressed.
"Hey there, Atlas, I'm going to take a look at your head in a minute," he wasn't sure how much the boy understood, but he knew that just talking to him calmy would do a lot for his anxiety.
"Can you tell me how old you are?" Sting asked, waiting patiently for a response.
Atlas peered at Natsu, who nodded encouragingly, before lifting two fingers.
"Two, huh? Well, that's quite the coincidence, I'm pretty sure that's how old this guy is. Here, you should have him," Sting offered him the stuffed bear, and after a quick peek at Natsu's face, Atlas took it, his entire face lighting up with his smile.
"Now, I'm just going to take a peek at your head," Sting informed Atlas as he grabbed a pair of gloves from the box he'd brought over.
"This is going to feel a little cold, but I need to clean the cookie crumbs out of there to see what we have to work with, okay?" he showed Atlas the bottle full of saline and waited until he got a nod to get started.
He carefully irrigated the wound, flushing out all the debris to get a good look. Atlas wiggled a bit, but overall, Natsu was able to keep him calm. The wound didn't seem too deep, although it would definitely not have closed well on its own. With a child this small, it was probably best to go with dermal glue since the wound wasn't in a highly visible area, and it would be less traumatic for everyone.
"Alright! That wasn't so bad, was it?"
Hana didn't look very convinced, and she called out to her brother, "Atlas, are you okay?"
"Las, 'kay," the little boy replied.
"So there are a few choices here," Sting explained to Natsu, "I could do regular stitches to close the wound, or I could use something called dermal glue instead. The glue will be faster, and less upsetting for Atlas."
"Uhm, how much does it cost?" Natsu asked quietly.
"Are you visiting, or are you living here now?"
"We just moved back a few weeks ago."
"Well, then it wouldn't cost you anything either way. The health system here is different from Edolas, this would be included in your national health care."
The relief in Natsu's eyes was palpable, making Sting wonder what the guy's current situation was.
"Then, could you do the glue, please?"
"Absolutely, I'm going to need you to hold Atlas steady, though," Sting warned.
Natsu nodded, and the rest of the visit continued without any other issues. On a whim, Sting sang some of his favorite nursery rhymes to Atlas as he worked, and that seemed to help keep him calm. At one point, Hana joined in, and Atlas' smile that Sting had glimpsed earlier made a dazzling return. By the time he was done, both kids were smiling, and even Natsu looked a bit better.
"A nurse is going to come in to explain how to take care of the glue, alright?"
"It was good to see you again," Sting declared as he shook hands with Natsu. Both Hana and Atlas gave him a hug before he left, politely thanking them for their stuffed toys.
Sting almost giggled when he heard Hana ask Natsu if they could come to see him even if Atlas didn't break his head, although he didn't get a chance to listen to Natsu's response, already having to move on to the next case. He jotted some notes on the chart before returning it to the Nurse's Station.
Sting wished he could remember more about Natsu, but it had been too long ago. He was itching to look through the backups of photo albums from his phone, almost positive he'd find some pictures of Natsu and Lisanna there, but there wouldn't be any time for that in his busy work day.
The rest of Sting's shift had been a whirlwind of allergic reactions, burns, chest pains, more broken bones, and very interestingly a foreign object stuck where it definitely shouldn't be.
Despite the chaos of the ER, which he probably loved as much as hated, he found his thoughts returning to Natsu and his family.
Working in the medical field, he'd naturally seen a fair share of tragedy. Death, disease, addiction slowly taking control of a patient's life, unfortunate accidents, or a child that had fallen down the stairs for the third time in almost two months. He had seen it all before and yet it never really stopped affecting him. Today wouldn't be the first time he'd come home crestfallen, and he was sure it wouldn't be the last either.
When he'd taken off his coat and shoes and made it to the kitchen, he found himself overwhelmed by a familiar feeling, gratitude laced with privilege. The twins, who should have been asleep already, were cooing and gurgling on their play rugs, and Rogue was busy preparing dinner, while simultaneously arguing with Alexa.
Sorry. I'm having trouble understanding you right now.
"Seriously, how hard can it be to set a goddamn timer for ten minutes?!" he snapped, turning around to reach for the phone that was on the dinner table and taking care of it himself. The annoyance fell off his face the moment his gaze landed on Sting, showing that he knew what was up without needing an explanation.
"Bad day?"
Sting nodded and gave in to the urge to throw himself at Rogue and squeeze him tightly, to chase away the thoughts of what it would be like to have him ripped away, and having to stay behind to take care of their children by himself.
"That bad?" Rogue wondered, concern evident in his voice as he wrapped his arms around Sting and pressed a kiss to his neck, "Why don't you go cuddle the monsters while I finish up dinner? I've got a feeling they've been waiting for you. Couldn't get them to sleep no matter how hard I tried."
"Really?"
Feeling a little better already, Sting managed to flash a smile. He moved over to the twins, who were eagerly awaiting his attention, and was proudly surprised to see Haku rocking back and forth on his hands and knees. That meant he was trying to move on his own, so it wouldn't be long before he'd be crawling through the house.
"Hey there, little man! Wow, look at you!" Sting moved away from him a little to see if Haku would move closer and although he wasn't able to yet, Sting couldn't help but feel proud at his efforts.
"Babe, have you seen what Haku can do?" Sting called over his shoulder, figuring at the very least he should give Rogue a heads up.
"What was that?" Rogue had begun setting the table for dinner, and he walked over to the living room.
"Haku is getting ready to crawl!" Sting couldn't help but laugh at the look of utter horror on Rogue's face, which was quickly replaced by grudging pride.
"We're not ready! We haven't even put up gates yet. Oh God, and socket covers, I need to go to the baby store."
"Relax, it won't be for a while yet, I don't think you have to turn the house into a fort just yet."
"Easy for you to say!" Rogue grumbled, "Alexa, buy a fifty pack of socket covers."
Safety First fifty pack of socket covers added to your shopping cart.
"Fifty? Do we even have fifty plugs?"
"Whatever, we are putting up gates on your next day off, how many gates do you think we'll need? Alexa, add ten safety gates to our shopping list."
"You're acting insane! Alexa, cancel that last order," Sting got up from the floor and neared the speaker to make sure she heard him since she was being wonky.
Rogue laughed, adding, "I'm just teasing, I noticed Haku was getting ready to crawl a couple of days ago, I already bought all that stuff. We are putting them up this weekend, though."
"Fine," Sting agreed grudgingly, already wondering if he could get Rogue's dad to help. He noticed the table was only set for two. "Is your mom not joining us for dinner?"
"No, she went out with Cana, just us tonight."
"That's nice," Sting commented, grabbing Kuro as Rogue did the same with Haku. They put them in their high chairs, formula already waiting on their trays, along with some small bowls of baby food, which they attempted to feed them as they ate their own meals.
"Do you want to talk about what happened today?"
Sting sighed, not really wanting to talk about it but needing to. "A kid came in with a head wound, and it turns out I knew his dad, I'd met him in Edolas my freshman year. Actually, you met him once too. Remember that double date we had when you came to visit for the holidays? The pink-haired guy and Yukino's cousin?"
"Yeah, something or other might stand out from that night," Rogue divulged as he moved pieces of food around on his plate. He acted nonchalantly but the color rising to his cheeks and the quick appearance of a smile on his lips gave his thoughts away. Once he caught himself, he quickly continued to finish his meal. "How are they doing, did they move back to Magnolia?"
"They did, well he did with the kids, she died."
"Oh, that's horrible! How old are the kids?"
"Hana was already born when we went out that night, so around six, and the little boy is two."
"Do you know what happened?"
"No, I sort of recall Yukino telling me her cousin had died, but I don't remember any of the details, and I can't exactly call her up and say, Hey, how did your cousin die, again? But I remember how nice she was, and how stupidly in love they were, and it's just so fucking sad. You should see him now, he's just... I can't even describe it."
"And it made you think about how you would feel if that happened to us?" Rogue guessed, standing up from his chair before Sting even had a chance to respond. Sting felt strong arms embrace him from behind and the weight of Rogue's head on his own. "I don't know what the future will bring, but I can promise you that I will always do my best to stay by your side."
"I'll hold you to that," Sting insisted with a small smile, leaning into the embrace as best as he could, "I don't know what I'd do without you. But yeah, that was exactly what I was thinking, and then I just felt really lucky but at the same time so sorry for the guy. I mean, I can't imagine what he's going through."
"You care, and that's one of the things that makes you a great doctor, but you can't let it get to you that much."
"I know, but that's hard to remember when you hear a little girl sobbing cause she thought her mother would be disappointed in her from Heaven, or see her joy when she realized someone spoke her language. Or even just how off Natsu looked, I mean I get that he's grieving but they just all seemed so lost."
"It sounds like they made quite the impression on you."
Sting bit his lip, struggling with the knowledge that he shouldn't get involved with patients, but this was different. Natsu had already sort of been a friend before.
Rogue chuckled, "Babe, you don't need my permission to be his friend."
"Huh?"
"It's obvious, at least to me, that you'd like to keep seeing them, or maybe you just want to help them. Either way, all you need to do is call Yukino and ask her for his number. It sounds like he could use a friend, and honestly, so could you."
Sting pondered that for a minute. It would be nice to have a friend, someone who didn't live on the other side of the ocean and who had a few things in common with him. He felt kind of dumb that he hadn't thought about Yukino having Natsu's phone number, but his mind worked differently than his husband's. The more he thought about it, the more right it felt.
Edolas was two hours ahead, and a quick glance at his watch told him Yukino would probably be going to bed soon. Leaving Rogue to clean up for a few minutes, he grabbed his phone and entered Rogue's office, closing the door behind him.
The phone rang a few times, and just as he was about to give up, he heard Yukino's voice on the other line, "Sting? It's kind of late, is everything okay?"
"Yeah, everything's fine. Listen, I need a favor."
xxxx
Sting waited outside of Magnolia Bean, the coffee shop where he had asked Natsu to meet him earlier that morning. It had taken some convincing, but Sting had been determined not to take no for an answer.
He peered at the people on the sidewalk until finally recognizing Natsu walking towards him, his eyes darting to the names of the different shops on that block before finally locking with Sting's and waving shyly.
"Hey, thanks for coming," Sting greeted, opening the door of the coffee shop and following Natsu inside. They ordered some coffee along with a half-dozen humongous pastries the cafe was famous for. Sting insisted on treating since he remembered how concerned Natsu had seemed to be about money.
It was a beautiful summer day, so they decided to sit at one of the cafe's outdoor tables. Sting taking a moment to enjoy it, seeing as he was usually stuck inside on days like this.
"I appreciate the invitation, but why did you call me out here?" Natsu took a sip from the piping hot coffee, not even seeming to notice its temperature before devouring one of the pastries.
"How is Atlas doing?" Sting redirected, not really having a great answer to Natsu's question.
The truth was he didn't know why he was so determined to stay in touch with Natsu. Yes, he had met both him and Lisanna on several occasions when he was in Edolas, but he had left for Magnolia long before they could forge any kind of real friendship.
Still, the man he remembered was very different from the shell that sat across from him now. That Natsu had been loud, obnoxious, and fun to be around, and while it was obvious what had caused the change, it didn't sit well with Sting. Whatever the reason, Sting didn't have a lot of friends in Magnolia, and he wanted Natsu to be one of them.
People didn't exactly look down on him for being from Edolas, but they didn't exactly go out of their way to be friendly either. It would be nice to have someone who shared his language and culture, who would understand if he talked about the places he missed or the food he liked. Maybe he was being a tad selfish, but he knew he could give back as well.
"He's fine, just complains about it being itchy," Natsu replied with a smile, "Thank you for doing the glue, I'd been dreading having to hold him for stitches. I remember how uncomfortable those could be."
Sting chuckled knowingly, "Have a lot of those when you were younger?"
"I never really stopped, I used to work as a mechanic in Edolas, my fingers were always getting stuck in weird places."
"I can't even imagine that, I have to be really careful with my hands," Sting shared.
"So, is that what you're doing now, working as a mechanic?"
"I wish, turns out I can't get hired as a mechanic here. The requirements are different. I have to have a high school degree. That's actually what I was doing when Atlas fell, looking at the Classifieds." Natsu confessed, looking embarrassed.
"You don't have a high school degree?"
"No, I must seem kind of stupid to you, you being a doctor and all. I dropped out of school the last year to go to Edolas to find Lis. Then we got pregnant with Hana. There was just never time to go back and do it. I was working two jobs just to keep us going."
"No, I probably would have done the same," Sting smiled into his cup. He'd left his country and his family behind to be with Rogue, and he didn't regret it in the least. He loved the life they had built together, would probably love it even more in a couple of years when he was finally finished with the crazy schedules.
"So, does that mean you took my advice?"
"I wasn't sure if you'd remember that. I did actually, worked out pretty well. Have two kids of my own," Sting grabbed his phone and looked for a recent picture of the twins, holding it out for Natsu to see.
Natsu whistled, "Identical twins, huh? That's gotta be rough. I didn't remember you at first, but it came back to me after a bit, you were nice to me from the beginning. Not everyone was."
"Actually, your dad delivered both our kids, and your mom taught us how to take care of them," Natsu confessed.
"At the clinic?"
"Yeah, we went there for everything," Natsu admitted.
Sting wasn't surprised. His parents loved volunteering there because, unlike the capricious hospital system, at the clinic, everyone was treated the same and received the same standard of care.
"Well, I guess that means you're stuck with me then. If my dad ever learned I let something happen to one of his kids, I'd never hear the end of it."
"Hana would love that, she hasn't stopped talking about you since we got home from the hospital," Natsu chuckled. "She's had a tough time since we got here, her Magnolian isn't very good yet, so she was really excited when you could understand her."
"Hmhm, I understand how she must feel. I had a hard time fitting in when I first came here as well, and my Magnolian was actually pretty decent," Sting admitted. "But from what I could tell, she's a real sweetheart. I bet she'll be making new friends in no time."
He was just about to bite down on another pastry when he figured this was an excellent opportunity to bring up the dad's club.
"You know, Rogue and I have started going to this club recently. It's for dads and their families, maybe you should come to a meeting or two. There are other kids Hana and Atlas' age. It could be a great way for them to make friends."
He decided to push his luck and added, "and it might be nice for you as well, you know, to build up a network again. The other guys are pretty cool, and we all support each other where needed."
"I appreciate you thinking of me, but I really need to focus on finding a job so I can support my family, I don't have time to be making friends."
"Natsu, you really don't have to do this alone, at least think about it. The club meets at the Community Center on Tuesday nights, starting at six o'clock. You have nothing to lose by trying it out."
"Why are you doing all this?" Natsu puzzled, "We didn't even know each other that well."
"I don't know," Sting admitted, "I like you, and I like your kids, I guess I just thought you could use a friend, God knows I could."
Natsu stared at him fixedly for a few minutes before finally grabbing the last pastry and shoving it in his mouth. "Alright, I'll think about it."
They chatted for another thirty minutes or so before Sting had to get going. He offered Natsu a ride, dropping him off at his house before heading back home to get started on installing baby gates everywhere Rogue could think of.
.
xxxx
Sting had mentioned the Dad's Club at one of the hospital's morning meetings, and the Director of the Pediatrics Department had been so enthused by the idea that she had talked to the Hospital Administrator. Apparently, resources directed at fathers were a rare thing.
Somehow their excitement had translated into making Sting rush to the Community Center during his lunch break to pick up some flyers. He hoped Macao and Gildarts were ready for a potential influx of new members. They'd already gotten quite a few after Rogue's article had been published. As he walked back to the hospital, arms full of flyers, he thought about Natsu.
They'd texted back and forth a few times since they'd met for coffee, and Sting had been optimistic that he would see him at the next meeting, but Natsu hadn't shown up. Rogue had tried to remind him he needed to be patient, but that wasn't really something Sting was good at outside of work.
He headed to the Hospital Administrator's office, dumping the flyers on her secretary's desk. On a whim, he held on to one, dropping it off at his locker on his way to the cafeteria, barely having any time left to eat something before he was due back in the ER.
Sting came home, and when he saw that Rogue was still busy with dinner, he decided to go for a drive. One that conveniently took him by Natsu's house. He parked his car, determined to make one last pitch and grabbing the flyer from the passenger seat he walked to the front door and rang the doorbell.
The door was opened by one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen, and for a moment, he thought he must surely be at the wrong house. She was tall, with long red hair that cascaded down her back in waves, and although she had answered the door in her bare feet, and wearing shorts and a t-shirt, there was an air about her that made her seem intimidating.
"Yes, can I help you?"
The woman did not bother to mask her irritation at being interrupted by a stranger, freezing Sting in place and making him realize that perhaps this had been a bad idea. But he knew this was the right house, and he was determined to get through to his friend, so he bolstered his courage and managed to utter words that did not make him seem like a complete idiot in the eyes of the amazon that stood before him.
"I'm looking for Natsu?"
"Natsu?" Just that word seemed to disarm her, a smile replacing her previous frown. "Come in, come in, I'm Erza Dragneel, his older sister."
Sting tried to remember if Natsu had ever mentioned a sister as he entered their house but came up empty, reinforcing how little he actually knew about his friend.
"Nice to meet you, my name is Sting Eucliffe." Out of habit, he stretched out his hand, and she shook it firmly, still smiling.
"It's so nice to see my brother finally making friends," Erza beamed, "I'm sorry to say he's not here right now, he's out on a job interview."
"Oh," Sting couldn't hide his disappointment, he'd worked himself up on the way there, coming up with arguments and counterarguments to convince Natsu to come to the next meeting with them.
"Did you need him for something?" Erza asked, quickly picking up on his change of mood.
"No, I just wanted to drop this off for him," Sting went to give Erza the flyer but instead found himself accosted by two small children who had entered the foyer to see who their aunt was talking to.
Both children were chattering at him excitedly in Edolian, and as he answered their questions, he could feel Erza's eyes on him. She deftly walked away into another room, and Sting heard the sound of clattering and running water before she returned a few minutes later.
He looked up to see her gazing at them thoughtfully, a small smile playing on her lips as she watched him interact with her niece and nephew.
"You're that doctor Hana has been talking about, aren't you?"
"Yes?" Sting ran his fingers through his hair nervously. Even though Erza actually seemed quite lovely, there was just something about her that reminded him of his strictest professors, and that, in turn, made him feel like a bumbling student in her presence.
She grabbed the flyer from his still outstretched hand, poring over the words on the paper. The jarring shriek of a tea kettle startled Sting, making him jump and causing the kids to giggle.
"I see, well come along, the tea is ready," Erza declared, walking into the kitchen with the children hurrying behind her.
Sting knew he should protest. He needed to get going, back to his own house, and the dinner that Rogue had been preparing, but somehow, he knew that Erza's words had not been an invitation but a demand, and he was loath to anger her.
He followed them to the kitchen, moving quickly to the table to pull the chairs back for both Erza and Hana as his father had taught him long ago. This at least seemed to earn him some approval from Natsu's sister.
She served him tea and cookies, even smiled at him when Atlas tried to climb onto his lap. "He loves cookies," she explained as he helped Atlas settle down.
Sting grinned, remembering the crumbs he'd flushed out of the boy's head and as Atlas munched on his favorite treat Sting took the opportunity to check on how his wound was healing, "Yes, I've noticed, he's a regular cookie monster."
His words made Hana giggle into her hand, further alleviating some of the tension Sting had been feeling.
"So, tell me more about this club," Erza encouraged as she took a bite out of a piece of some sort of strawberry concoction.
As they drank their tea, Sting told Erza everything he could think of about the club and why he felt it would benefit Natsu. He noticed how her eyes began to glint with purpose the more he talked, and just as he was winding down, he felt a familiar vibration in his pocket.
"I'm sorry, I need to look at this," Sting excused himself, knowing Rogue must be pissed that he hadn't returned yet. He wasn't disappointed, he texted back quickly letting his husband know he'd be back soon.
"I'm sorry I really need to go."
"Of course, "Erza replied with a carefree shrug of her shoulders, "You were free to go at any time."
Sting carefully placed Atlas down on a different chair, sliding the plate of cookies over as well. Erza followed him out, walking him back to the front door, she had just opened it for him when he heard the word wait in Edolian.
"Thank you for taking care of Atlas." Sting turned to see a panting Hana holding out a picture for him to take. She had obviously drawn it herself, it showed him taking care of Atlas at the hospital, and Sting found himself moved almost to tears by the gesture.
"Yes, thank you, "Erza added as she pointed to the flyer, "For this as well. I'll make sure he gets it."
And as Sting left the house holding his very first fanart, he couldn't help grinning; he had no doubt Natsu would be present at the next meeting. He couldn't imagine anyone brave enough to say to no to Erza.