Chapter 9 – Hide and Seek

Hotel near Hargeon, Summer Time,

Year X792

Sting Eucliffe

The darkness faded into a brighter shade of black, as the early morning light streamed through the dark blue curtains of the hotel room where we were staying. "Mm… morning…" I mumbled as I opened my eyes and glanced around the dim room. As I looked around it took my still sleepy mind a few moments to remember where I was. "Oh… right, the hotel" I voiced aloud in a dozy tone, before I found another feeling that I failed to realise; a warmth beside my person. "What the…" I turned towards the feelings of warmth beside me, stopping in shock as I came face-to-sleeping-face with the pink-haired mage I loved.

Once again it took my mind a few moments in order to process the necessary memories in order to remember why Natsu was shirtless next to me in a bed. After my memories of the previous day returned, I smiled a little. The smile was short-lived, however, as another heat drew my attention and I began to feel uneasy. At least Natsu isn't awake to see me half-naked beside him… with a boner I thought thankfully, as I progressively grew more wakeful. Perhaps it wasn't such a good idea to do this job…

I sighed. "I should probably have a couple of mental pictures ready just in case… well… in case I get too excited" I smirked to myself quietly. Maybe I should think about Makarov I grinned internally. As I thought this Natsu murmured in his sleep, shifting slightly; the action had my heart fluttering. Fuck he's so fucking cute! I cooed internally. Although the situation made me somewhat uneasy, especially if Natsu were to awaken next to me and find me hard, I still got some degree of satisfaction from it at the same time. After a little while, with my fears progressively subsiding, I grew more comfortable lying next to the pink-haired Fire Dragon, and I allowed myself to observe the sleeping male.

This could be my only chance to see him like this… I thought to myself with a contented smile, He's so quiet… and he looks so peaceful. I don't think I've ever seen him like this before.

Watching Natsu asleep made me think about all the times I had interacted with him, countless images filled my head; the Grand Magic Games, the incident with the island springing up from the sea, fighting Tartaros, seeing our Dragons again… Each of these times Natsu and me had fought (both against each other and together), laughed, and even partied, however not once had I ever seen the pinkette quiet. It's so weird, but at the same time… kinda adorable. He looks so happy too I thought as I continued to observe. After a while of looking at Natsu's face, my eyes drifted a little lower, to where his bare chest and arms escaped the folds of the blanket that covered us both. As soon as I did this, I immediately began to feel a heat rising in my pants, however I couldn't help but continue. This is a rare opportunity of course… I can't go and waste it... I chuckled lowly to myself, as my eyes began to soak up every detail of Natsu's visible body, my mind trying to both memorise everything, as well as more imaginatively fill in the blanks that were left by the folds of the covers.

After a little bit of ogling, I noticed Natsu shift and stir, the pinkette murmuring softly to himself. Once again, I was left cooing mentally over the 'cuteness' of the other Dragon Slayer's sleep-actions, however these thoughts were cut short this time by yet another pulse of heat from lower down in my body. "I can't keep this up for much longer it seems" I muttered to myself, "Plus Natsu's bound to wake up soon… I should probably take a shower to wake myself up a bit" I added after a moment. With this decision, and the firm determination not to give in to my wants, I pushed the covering blanket off of my half-naked form, before padding off to the bathroom, in order to have a shower.

/

As I stepped into the cubicle, my body shed of all clothing, I set the water to flow over me in a pleasantly warm flow. At first I enjoyed it however soon unwanted thoughts intruded upon my progressively relaxing state of mind. "This is nice…" I voiced, hoping to try to distract myself from the real reason I was showering at that moment very moment. Although I bet being wrapped up in Natsu's arms would be warmer… "No!" I barked, shaking my head to get rid of those thoughts, "I won't think abo- who am I kidding here…" I stopped after a moment, before looking down at my unsurprisingly erect member. With a sigh, I turned the shower to a slightly colder temperature, however I knew this would have no effect; with my Dragon Slayer sense of smell, I could still smell Natsu in the next room over, and I knew so long as I could smell him, I wouldn't be able to 'calm myself down'. This led me to perhaps my riskiest decision yet; I began masturbating myself off in the shower.

With the scent of Natsu nearby, and my new mental images of the half-naked Fire Dragon Slayer, it did not take me long to cum, however once I had finished I had to immediately begin hiding my actions. To do this, I quickly began lathering my body up, trying to clean off all of the sticky substance from not just my skin, but also the shower tiles, in order to remove every scrap of evidence. If Natsu comes in here and smells this I will literally die of embarrassment I thought with a slight blush, as I prayed that the smell of the soap would cover up any lingering scent of semen. With my self-cleaning done, and the shower sufficiently washed over, I dried myself off with a towel, before sliding my boxers back on and heading for the door. As I left I grabbed my pyjama bottoms that I had brought with me, and roughly folded them, before slinging them over the end of the comfortable-looking chair that was in the corner of our hotel room. I then moved to get changed.

As I re-entered the shared bedroom, however, my changing plan was immediately derailed as I was greeted by a grinning pink-haired Dragon Slayer. "Gooooood Morning, Sting" Natsu beamed at me from the place where he was sitting on the bed, still with the blankets somewhat covering his body, although not nearly as much as they had before I had left. Fuck… from this angle I can almost see… no, don't look. You'll get hard again, you idiot I thought, before I tried to distract myself from the temptation of ogling Natsu once again by gathering up my clothes and putting them on over my boxers. For the whole time that I was changing, Natsu said nothing, although I did notice him give me slight looks and smirks. Once I was done changing, I turned to the pinkette with a frown. "Is there something wrong Natsu, I know my hair's everywhere right now, but it can't be that bad, can it?" I asked Natsu, finally acknowledging his looks and smirks. No sooner had I asked this, did Natsu seemingly break down, as he began giggling and laughing, which made me even more confused than before.

After a moment, the Fire Dragon Slayer had regained enough of his self-control to speak, and he answered my inquiry. "Oh, it's nothing to do with your hair Sting, that's not why I was watching you" Natsu said, before his mouth began to twitch as a smile forced its way onto his lips, "No, I was just wondering whether you did a better job of keeping the shower clean than you did of keeping yourself clean…" he stated, with a lewd smile. Watching Natsu speak, my mind tried to process what he was getting at, until eventually it came to an answer. No… no… No!... no…

"I have no idea what you're talking about Natsu" I commented flatly, before moving over to the dark blue curtains and pulling them apart to look out of the window at the picturesque beach below where Natsu and I would later be working. The pinkette behind me giggled.

"Really? You don't know what I'm getting at?" Natsu asked me, his tone full of sarcasm. "Perhaps I should spell it out for you… it involves you, naked with a-"

"Okay, fine!" I barked, cutting Natsu off with a bright blush evident on my face. "You caught me… now please, don't say it out loud… or else I might as well jump out this window right now, since I'm dead either way" I breathed with an embarrassed quality to my voice that I really hoped wouldn't incite Natsu to torture me any further by saying what it was I had just done.

The Fire Dragon Slayer stood grinning at me for a moment, before shrugging his shoulders and cocking his head. "It's alright, I won't say it… but don't be so overdramatic, what's wrong with you admitting you, just like any other guy, you know…" he raised his eye brows suggestively, omitting the specific word that I desperately wanted to avoid.

I exhaled loudly. If only you knew what's really wrong with me admitting that I just jacked off about YOU… Natsu… I thought. Natsu, observed my reaction for a few more minutes, before chuckling to himself, and finally getting out of bed to head towards the bathroom.

"I think I'll skip on taking a shower this morning… since I don't know just how clean it is yet," he stated, as he padded out of the room. I watched his shirtless body move with a sad fascination, however I did not bother biting back at the pinkette's comments; he was somewhat right after all. "Although, after we're done on the beach, I think I'll shower first!" Natsu called out from the direction of the bathroom. I smirked.

"That's fine, just hurry it up right now. I don't know about later, but if we don't get downstairs soon, the manager said that he wouldn't be able to keep the dining area open any longer than normal, and since it closes in twenty minutes…" I trailed off as I heard Natsu laughing.

"Yeah yeah" the pinkette called, as he re-entered the room, "I get the point. Just give me a minute to get changed and then we can go grab some breakfast" he added with a smile.

I nodded, before making a sharp exit out of the bedroom; seeing Natsu shirtless had already pushed me to the boundary of my self-control, so seeing him undress any further might very well have meant another shower was in order.

And that would definitely mean we'd miss breakfast.

/

We ate breakfast quickly, trying to consume as much of the free food as possible, before Natsu and I headed back up to our room. Once we were inside, Natsu made a break for the bathroom, whilst I decided to take up a perch on the single sofa in our room. As I waited on the pinkette's reappearance, I decided to take in more of the details of the room. It was quite small, although not constricting, with a small, two-seater sofa, alongside a single comfortable chair, as well as a large bed. The cushions, duvet and carpet all followed a strict blue colour scheme, whilst the walls were painted in a complimentary creamy-white colour. Similar to the main part of the room, the adjoining bathroom continued the blue colour scheme, and had within it a small shower, toilet and sink each of which was made of white porcelain, with the exception of the shower. Not bad for a free room… I've been stuck in a lot worse with Rogue before. Although… not quite with the same issue… I thought, as Natsu appeared back from his short venture.

"Something up Sting?" the pinkette asked me, upon entering. I furrowed my brows at him.

"What makes it seem like there's something wrong?" I replied with another question. I was particularly interested in hearing Natsu's answer to this; especially since, if anything, he was the biggest problem I had right at that moment. Natsu seemed to puzzle over my counter-question for a moment, before shrugging and responding in a pretty nonchalant tone.

"I guess you just seemed… distracted… when we were having breakfast. Having second thoughts about this job?" the pinkette stated/asked me. Before I could respond, however, Natsu began grinning. "Or is it that you're still brooding over that thing this morning?" he chuckled.

I narrowed my eyes at Natsu, however instead of quieting him like I had hoped, this action only seemed to incite more laughter from the pinkette. "I'm not brooding over that!" I barked, before folding my arms over my chest and pouting. Natsu came and sat next to me on the sofa, with a big grin on his face.

"It's okay Sting. Despite what people might think about me being childish or whatever, I know that it's pretty normal behaviour for a guy to do stuff like that… although maybe not when he's in a shared hotel room… however… it doesn't really bother me all that much" Natsu said, in a friendly tone. I couldn't help the surprise that rose on my features upon hearing this.

"It doesn't bother you?" I asked, trying to confirm Natsu's thoughts on the matter; as well as guess whether he really was comfortable with this having happened, or was just trying to move over the issue and get on with the job at hand.

"It doesn't bother me" Natsu confirmed, with a slight cock of his head, "That isn't weird, is it?" he asked in a confused tone. I smiled brightly and shook my head.

"No, I don't find it weird, so it must not be" I chuckled, which seemed to make Natsu chuckle too, as the Dragon Slayer slid more comfortably into the sofa next to me. As I watched the pinkette grow comfortable, I couldn't help but smile inwardly, as well as outwardly. Despite my promise to Rogue, I've already been caught jacking off in under a day… and now I've gotta spend the rest of that same day working with my hardly dressed crush… Just to top things off, Natsu is treating this like it's 'normal'… if only he realised WHY and WHO I was thinking about…

After a short while, Natsu and I began to get changed into our beach gear. As I looked upon the pinkette, clad in nothing except for a pair of red, flame-pattern trunks, a final thought came to mind. Today is going to be a very tiring day…

/

We went down to the beach front, to meet the hotel owner. "Ah, you're here!" the short, bearded, gnome-like man said, "Excellent". Natsu and I both smiled friendlily at the older man, before we looked around, noting the presence of two other people, alongside the client. The older owner seemed to notice our glances at the two women that were accomnying him on the fringes of the sandy area of the beach. "Who are these two people?" I asked the man.

The hotel owner waved his arm at thw two bikini-clad females; one a slim-looking blonde, the other a more solidly built brunette. "Yes…" the man said, "These two fine young women are here to assist with your job. You needn't worry about them being paid though, the blond is the sub-manager of this place, and the brunette is one of our three chefs" he added after a moment. I nodded in understanding, before looking to the pair, nodding politely.

"It's nice to meet you" I stated. Natsu nodded in agreement.

"Yeah" he said in a relatively amicable tone. The two women nodded and smiled, before I noticed their gazes drift to Natsu.

"They're both quite capable water mages, and should be of some help to you, since you explained you were unable to use a boat to travel around, I figured that they might be able to help in some way" the older owner stated, before smiling at the two women, "Isn't that right?" the old man stated. They both smiled and nodded at us.

"I'm Lynn, it'll be a pleasure to help two such fine men as yourselves" the blonde woman said with a slight cock of her head, her eyes trailing so obviously over Natsu. Fuck… don't react… I thought immediately, as Lynn's actions instantaneously triggered my protective instincts. As well as my jealousy.

"I'm Coral" the other brunette woman stated, a little more bluntly than her companion, "Like Lynn said, it will be our pleasure to help you" she added with a slight bow of her head, before she sent a gaze to Natsu. "I'm also a really big fan of Fairy Tail, so it's definitely a dream come true to work with you" she stated with a happy expression.

I smiled at Coral's comment, however inside I was screaming. Just fucking perfect… I'm expected to work with these two women! One's attracted to Natsu and is about as subtle as a brick through a window, whilst the other… although she definitely wasn't lying about being a fan, I doubt that's all she is… not with that scent of lust…

The owner of the hotel allowed Natsu and I to both glance at the women, before he began to explain exactly what the plan was that he hoped we could achieve. Whilst the gnome-like man was speaking, I allowed myself to glance at Natsu out of the corner of my eyes. The pinkette seemed to be listening intently to the client. Has he not noticed those two women's stares… or their scents? I thought, as I observed the pinkette as discretely as I could. Despite everything that should have easily given away these two women's intentions, Natsu had yet to react, with him doing nothing except giving each of them a slight smile, before listening to the owner speak. Maybe he just doesn't notice stuff like that… I wondered, after all he doesn't seem to have noticed anything about me… well, except for this morning… I smirked.

Upon completing his explanation, the owner of the hotel allowed for Natsu, me, Lynn, and Coral to get to work, dealing with the unwanted squid in the ocean. As the manager returned to the hotel, Coral and Lynn got to work explaining exactly what they knew already about the squid. I was quite surprised by their diligence, and it appeared that they really were quite capable with their magic, having already lead an underwater investigation into the creature prior to Natsu and I's arrival. "It's basically a very large squid. Not much can be said except for that. It's long, with an arrow-shaped head, and plenty of tentacles, covered in suckers" Coral explained, as she and Lynn stood at the edge of the water, looking down into the sapphire depths.

"It shouldn't be much of a problem for such strong men as yourselves to deal with" Lynn added on, as she gazed between Natsu and me with her usual, thinly veiled, obsession.

"Alright, if that's all. Then I suppose we should get into the water and see what it is we're dealing with ourselves, right Natsu?" I said to the pinkette. Natsu nodded.

"Yeah" he agreed, nodding with enthusiasm, "I wanna see this squid thing for myself".

"Alright, if that's the case, then Lynn and me will use a spell to allow you two to breath underwater. Don't worry about us, though, we don't look it we're both pretty capable when it comes down to using our magic" Coral stated, as she, Lynn, and both Natsu and I all headed onwards, towards the water.

/

Sea near Hargeon, Summer Time

Year X792

Natsu Dragneel

When we entered the water, Lynn put a bubble over my head, in order to increase the length of time that I could remain under the waves. "Thanks" I said to the blonde woman, as we began our underwater search for the squid.

"Think nothing of it" she replied, "It's always my pleasure to help" she added with a smile. I nodded, however I didn't return her smile. Whilst I was quite used to women being smiley and even somewhat affectionate towards, in a guild like Fairy Tail I had seen plenty of this from Mirajane, Lucy and the others. Despite my familiarity with this, however, none of them made me as nervous, or as unsettled as this 'Lynn' woman did with both her words and her actions. What is it about her that puts me on edge? I thought as I swam.

"Hey Natsu, you alright?" a distorted voice called out to me from the watery blue. Looking around I came face-to-bubble-covered-faced with Sting, who was wearing an expression of concern. I smiled to show that I was okay.

"Yeah, I'm alright!" I grinned. Sting nodded.

"Okay, I was just checking… I don't really go on jobs like this, where I have to go underwater. I can fight alright when I'm underwater, however…" he trailed off, clearly unsure of what else to say. I smiled brightly at him.

"It's alright. I've done some underwater jobs before… plus I'm used to fighting like this. But you're powerful on your own, right, so you should be fine" I stated, trying my best to encourage the White Dragon Slayer. Sting seemed to take my words on, as he began smiling at me with that usual confident smile he gave.

"Alright, I'll do my best" he said in a cheerful tone. "I suppose it makes sense that you'd have done stuff like this before, what with people like Juvia in your guild" he added with a nod. I nodded back at him.

"Yeah, she uses spells to let us stay under the water for longer, just like this" I said, glancing at Coral and Lynn, who were swimming to my left, opposite Sting on my right.

"Juvia Lockser?" Coral chirped up from beside me. I nodded once more, which made the woman smile brightly. "I always looked up to her growing up, even when she was with Phantom Lord… however, I don't think I'm anywhere near her level of power in Water Magic yet" the brunette woman stated. I chuckled.

"Yeah, Juvia's pretty strong… but I'm sure you're pretty strong too, right?" I said, hoping that my comment didn't sound too rude to the other Mage. Coral didn't seem to have been offended by my comment, however, as she just smiled at me. Looking back to Sting, I saw the blond was busy looking ahead.

"I can't smell anything under this water, except salt. How about you Natsu?" the blond-haired Dragon Slayer stated. I gave a few experimental sniffs, however just as he said, all I could get was the smell of the ocean around us from within the confines of my air bubble. Shaking my head at this failure, I pouted at Sting.

"Nah, I can't smell anything either…" I said. Sting nodded.

"Okay, looks like we can't smell anything… and with how deep we are at the minute, it looks like we're not gonna be able to see anything either. We're gonna be going in completely blind against something that's designed for these kinds of environments" the White Dragon Slayer complained. I chuckled.

"Yeah, it's gonna be fun, isn't it?" I laughed, much to Sting's surprise. Despite the blonde's evident shock, however, he began smiling cockily.

"I wouldn't worry about finding it" Lynn called out as we continued our deep tour of the ocean. Frowning in surprise, I turned to look at the supposed 'chief of hotel staff'.

"Why?" I asked. She smiled.

"Because if you'd care to look there, you'll see that we've already found the… sucker" she chuckled, as she gestured to a place lower in the sea, near to the seabed. Although initially I couldn't see anything, my eyes soon locked on to the writhing shape of, unsurprisingly, a very large squid.

"Whoa, cool!" I remarked upon seeing the creature. It was indeed a squid, with bright purple skin that was blotched with odd patches of white in some sort of swirling pattern. It also only appeared to have one, bright golden eye, which seemed to stare at us from its position in the depths. "Be careful Natsu, we don't know how long it's tentacles are" Sting commented as I began to move a little closer to get a better view.

"Don't worry, we're just out of reach… I think" Coral commented, as she and Lynn moved around so that they were in front of Sting and me. "However… now that we've found it, we should probably figure out a way to move it" the brunette added with a smile.

Sting shrugged. "Didn't the manager say something about blasting a hole in the rock formation that is stopping the thing from leaving?" he asked. I nodded.

"Yeah" I agreed. Lynn smirked.

"Just removing the obstacle might not be enough to entice the squid to leave" the blonde mage stated, before a slightly wicked smirked formed on her features, "Our unwanted guest may need some encouragement to get going back into the big blue sea".

I shrugged, before looking down at the giant squid again. It hadn't moved from its spot, which intrigued me. Normally, even monsters would come a little closer when people invade on its home turf… so why hasn't this? I wondered. "Hey guys, I'm just gonna get a little closer… I wanna check on something" I stated aloud, before moving downwards without any of them even giving me their consent to do so.

"Hey Natsu, wait up!" Sting called out to me. I smiled.

"Don't worry, I don't think it's gonna harm me" I called back, as I got within a couple of meters of the giant creature. Looking into the thing's eye directly I could see no malice there, although it did seem to have a wariness to it, which manifested in the tentacles that I could tell were poised to strike at the tiniest inclination of danger. "Shhh… I ain't gonna harm ya" I said to the squid, trying to calm the creature as I gave it a quick look over. After a moment, I smiled and began swimming away from the creature again, back towards the other three Mages above.

"Don't do that again Natsu, you nearly gave me a heart attack…" Sting commented as I returned, "What made you want to get that close to that thing anyways?" he added, as I took up my previous position in the huddle we had formed. I grinned knowingly at the White Dragon Slayer's question.

"Well… I don't think it's gonna be a problem making that thing leave" I stated in a marginally cryptic tone that made Sting frown.

"Why?" he asked after a moment of looking back down towards the squid.

I continued smirking as I answered his query. "Because I've figured out why it's been attacking people. I thought it was weird that it had attacked people previously, but not right now whilst we're here… and I think it's because it wasn't really trying to hurt anybody" I explained, "You see, if it really was a storm that washed it into this place, I think it was injured in the rough currents, and one of its tentacles seems to be stuck under a big rock. So when it was trying to grab people, I don't think it wanted to hurt them, but really it just wanted to get their help" I added with a confident smile. Sting, Lynn and Coral all seemed to take this information in for a moment.

"If that's the case…" Coral mumbled.

"We don't need to destroy all the rocks…" Lynn added.

Sting grinned. "We can just destroy the one that is stopping the squid from leaving, right?" he asked me. I nodded.

"Yeah. With our powers that should be really easy too!" I confirmed.

"Great, so if we can do this, then we might be finished even earlier than expected, right?" Sting asked, looking to not just me, but Lynn and Coral also. The two women both nodded in agreement.

"The manager said we could have the whole day off to help you, so the quicker we get this done the better I say" Lynn smiled.

"Seconded" Coral added. Sting and I both nodded.

"Alright then, let's get to work people" I said cockily, as we all began making our way down to the trapped cephalopod.

"Hey, Natsu" Sting stated as we swam.

"Yeah?" I replied, looking to the blond, clad only in a pair of white trunks with a yellow stripe down each leg.

"You're pretty clever, when you're not being an idiot that is" he stated. I shrugged.

"Well… hey, wait! Who're you calling an idiot!" I barked as Sting laughed loudly.

/

"Ah… well that took a little longer than expected…" I sighed, as Sting and I dragged ourselves from the water and stood on the sandy shore, Lynn and Coral not far behind us.

"Can't believe that the squid ended up trying to hug us with those tentacles… I seriously thought I was gonna be crushed for a minute there" Sting agreed, with a slightly fond smile on his face. I chuckled.

"Yeah. It must've thought it was just thanking us, but it really could've killed us if it wasn't careful" I commented, before grinning, "After everything we've done, we'd have to have death by hug written on our grave stones…" I mused slightly. Sting nodded.

"Hah… 'here lies Sting Eucliffe; powerful Guild Master, mighty Dragon Slayer, amazing lover. Killed by an over affectionate squid'. It would be a pretty funny thing to have written" he chuckled. I cocked a head.

"You'd really have 'amazing lover' written on your grave stone?" I mused. Sting shrugged.

"Maaaaybe…" he mused, "Anyways, how are you two?" he asked, trying to redirect the topic of conversation towards the two Water Mages that were accompanying us.

Coral shrugged. "I'm fine. It's not like I'd drown or anything" she stated. Lynn nodded.

"Yeah…" the blond agreed, before she began to make her way over to me, "However it must've been worse for you. How about we get inside and tell the manager the good news… then maybe I can get some of the staff to get towels to help you dry off" she added, in an oddly hollow-sounding tone. I frowned at the woman, who was standing very close to my person. She's a little too close for comfort… I thought.

"N-nah… I'm okay. I can just use my Fire Magic to get rid of all the water" I stated, trying to move a little further away from the woman. Lynn did not seem to get any further away from me; in fact, she seemed to get even closer, as she was now standing practically chest-to-chest with me.

"Well that magic of yours really does sound useful. You can shoot flames even underwater… and you can dry yourself off super easy. Maybe you could help me a little with your flames too?" Lynn asked. I shifted uncomfortably from her touch.

"I could, although it's easier for me to do it on myself… I don't know, but I might burn you…" I stated, before looking to Sting for assistance. Although underwater Lynn had been a little more subdued, now she seemed to be very adamant on getting me to go with her. Why are women always like this?! I cursed inwardly, as I silently tried to beg Sting for his help, much to no avail. The White Dragon Slayer seemed frozen in place, and Coral seemed too intrigued by the whole situation to do anything about it. Come on Sting… please… I prayed.

After a moment, Sting did make a move. "Come on, we need to go and tell the manager the good news" he said, as he reached out to pull me away from the other blonde, who then seemed to tighten her grip on my arm and shoulder.

"Oh, come on Sting, I was just gonna have some fun with Natsu here… we don't need to go tell the old man straight away" Lynn said, "I mean… what's wrong with having some fun with me and Coral for a bit?"

Sting hardened his gaze. "You two have fun by yourselves, Natsu and I have to go tell our client that we've done what we were hired to do" he said in a flat, unquestionable, tone. Lynn pouted.

"Hmph… you just wanna keep Natsu all to yourself, hm?" she stated, not letting me go for anything. Seeing the rising tension, I tried to speak up.

"Well… come on, let's just tell the manager, then we can do whatever we want, right?" I voiced aloud. Sting nodded, and once more tried to tug at my wrist to follow him. Lynn, however, still did not budge.

"Don't you like having fun, Natsu?" she asked me. I shrugged.

"I do like having fun, but-"

"But what, am I no fun?" Lynn interjected.

"No, but still…" I found myself getting too tounge-tied to respond. Lynn seemed take this as a victory, however Sting tried one last time to tug at me to follow him. As I tried to follow, Lynn gave one last tug at my shoulder, which unbalanced me, and sent me crashing to the ground. Sting whirled around as soon as his hand lost connection with my wrist. As my mind recovered from what had just happened, I found myself laying in the lap of Lynn, who wore a victorious smirk. Sting looked to us for a moment, before turning in his place and marching off. "Fine, do what you want… if you want to have fun, then have fun. I don't care" he barked, before marching off towards the hotel, not looking back even once. I tried to get up to follow him, however Lynn's weight still held me down.

"Where are you going?" she asked, in a sickly-sweet tone, that finally sent me over the edge.

"I'm going to find Sting, now piss off. I said I didn't want to have fun right now!" I barked, before dashing off towards the hotel after the White Dragon Slayer. As I ran, a number of thoughts passed through my head.

Where did Sting go?

Why was he so upset all of a sudden?

Why did I not just get that woman off of me to start with?

The answers to each of these seemed to elude me, however one thing was for certain, whatever made Sting get mad all of a sudden, was about me, and not about that woman. That was the gut feeling I got, not that I could explain why I thought that.

/

Hotel Room, Summer Time

Year X792

Sting Eucliffe

I sat on the sofa, with my knees huddled up to my chest. Luckily, I was the one with the room key, so I could enter our hotel room without much of an issue. As I sat in my ball of despair, I wondered to myself why exactly I had gotten so angry. It's not like I believe Natsu wanted to stay with that woman… he seemed just as confused when he was pulled down, however… argh, why am I being so stupid?

The answer to that question was obvious, however I didn't dare say it aloud. "Maybe… I should go apologise, to Natsu at least. It's not his fault she was so determined to have her way" I said, between a few, sorrow-shaken breaths. Although… he didn't seem to be resisting all that much…

"No! He said he wanted to tell the manger too… so why did I react when I saw him dragged down?"

Because it reminded me that Natsu will not be attracted to me… will not ever be mine… the thought filled me with despair almost as quickly as the prospect of losing Lector. I sobbed a little to myself. Pathetic… I'm a Dragon Slayer, and I'm crying over some stupid crush. I'm absolutely pathetic…

I sighed and lay down in a ball on the sofa. "If only I could tell him without having to worry about the guild… I don't care if this affect me, however I know that if this gets out it'll be Sabertooth that'll pay the consequences" I said, trying to push down my sobbing for a moment, and allow myself to regain control. I was quiet for a few minutes, as I slowly calmed down, however soon another thing dragged me from my calmness. A knock at the door.

"Hey Sting, I know you're in there. Please open up" Natsu's voice came from beyond the wood. I didn't move for a moment. Crap… what should I do… if I leave him out there then it'll seem like I'm blaming him, but it's not really his fault. If anything, it was me who overreacted… but can I really manage to keep calm right now? If I feel overwhelmed and run off again Natsu'll definitely know somethings up, however… oh fuck it! I got up and went over to the door.

"What do you want Natsu?" I asked through the door, in as level a tone as I could muster.

"I just wanna speak with you" Natsu replied, he seemed genuine, "Oh… and after you ran off to play hide and seek, I told Lynn to piss off, so you don't have to worry about her either" the Fire Dragon Slayer added after a moment. I couldn't help but smirk a little at hearing that, however I quickly sobered myself, before reaching for the door handle.

"Come in then" I stated, as I opened the door for the pinkette. Natsu nodded and entered, his usual smile on his face, tinted with a little evident concern for whatever it was he thought was wrong. Once he was inside I quickly closed and locked the door again.

"So… can I sit?" Natsu asked as we both stood uncomfortably in our shared accommodation.

I nodded. "You don't need to ask me, this is our room after all" I stated, as I took the single chair, and Natsu sat on the sofa beside me, shifting in visible discomfort at the tense situation in which we were currently stuck. After a few moments of silent thought, the pinkette looked at me.

"Are you gonna tell me what's going on?" he asked. I shrugged.

"About down there?" I replied, nodding my head in the rough direction of the beach, relative to our room. "I guess I just lost my temper because of how she was treating you" I stated.

Natsu shook his head. "No, I figured that much out. What I meant was…" the pinkette seemed to take a moment to compose his thoughts. After that time, he let out a large sigh. "Look, I've been thinking this for a while, but something is clearly up with you. When I asked Mira, she said it was probably because you were stressed out because you are a Guild Master, however I don't think that's it. When we went on that job for Edric at the restaurant, you acted really weird, and then you did again at the Theme Park…" Natsu took a moment to think about what his next words were going to be. Despite everything he said, I dared not utter a single word, my mind somewhat intrigued by what the other Dragon Slayer was going to say. "Every time I've been around you… there's this weird scent too… and recently, I've began to think about it, but… well… I just couldn't stop thinking about what was up with you, and just now, when you stormed off… that smell was still there, and it made me think that this must be about me… so…" Natsu trailed off, his eloquence clearly lost now, as his eyes stared intently into my, trying desperately to search for the answers he clearly, desperately wanted.

Completely enveloped in that gaze I realised that I could not escape my feelings any longer, nor could I continue to lie to Natsu. Without a word uttered, I let out a long, and greatly stressed sigh. "Well… I guess I couldn't hide it as well as I thought" I said, before looking to Natsu with a slight, hopeless smile.

"You see Natsu… I well… I… I… like… you…" I said, in the faintest voice possible.

Natsu did not react to my revelation.

End of Chapter 9

Chapter Hint; Long Awaited Reply