Natsu handing Rogue a jacket, despite being preplanned to make him look like a better boyfriend, and been nice. Rogue hugged it as tight as he could around himself while his two dates argued over who got to be the one to buy him a hotdog from a passing vendor.
Rolling his eyes, Rogue got up and walked over to the concessions stand. When he returned with an undersized and overpriced bucket of popcorn they were still arguing, and the vendor was slowly backing away.
"Guys? I'm good," Rogue called out to them. They looked back and saw he'd taken care of himself on the snack front. Shoulders sagging, they both returned to take their seats on either side of him.
"How are you liking this?" Natsu asked, gesturing to the whole setup. The sunken down racetrack that was barely visible beneath the dust and discarded car parts, the sweaty, noisy bleachers, the people who had paid at the gate to pack themselves like sardines at the edge of the raised up spectators area. "Look, you can see Gajeel squished between six people down there."
Any comments on what he thought of watching people try to kill each other with giant metal death boxes hurtling around loops again and again died in Rogue's throat at the mention of Gajeel in the crowd. Scanning for him proved to be a better use of time than watching cars ram into one another.
Sting shifted just the teensiest bit closer while Rogue's attention was turned and said, "You would have liked a different dating venue, wouldn't you have?"
"Well, this is a lot less obvious than taking two guys two a restaurant," Rogue admitted. Not that he wouldn't have preferred the restaurant. "There may have been better places to go."
"Why didn't you stop us from getting tickets?"
"Natsu was interested."
Sting chewed on his lip. Why did Rogue have to make it awkward for him? Rogue had decided to have his two-timer's date at a venue that Natsu wanted. What a wonderful way to make it clear that Natsu was in the lead.
"After this, we could go down to the lake too," Natsu offered. "We won't get to see the sunset, but we can watch the stars."
"Sounds nice…"
"H-hey!" Sting cried. "You picked this. I get to take Rogue somewhere next."
"No, because you're clinging to our date. We are a couple."
"Natsu, a three person date was your idea," Rogue pointed out.
Natsu silenced himself, but wrapped an arm around Rogue's for good measure. Rogue held his breath and said nothing about too much physical contact.
It didn't last too long. Natsu let go to get up and cheer when a car was sent crashing into the wall of the race track. Didn't it bother him to see all those vehicles? Rogue glanced to his left and saw Sting looking, if not as amused, at least unfazed. Maybe it was just Alex squirming that was making him feel queasy.
Maybe it was labor. That would be a good excuse to get out of the most awkward, least interesting date he'd ever been on. Rogue rubbed his stomach and held his breath, counting off seconds and waiting to see if he'd feel a contraction. Nope. Nothing. Damn it. He knew he was supposed to wait two more weeks before he tried to induce anything, but was it too much to ask for to not be pregnant anymore?
Oh, and also for a chance to escape a date with two people at once.
"Is your stomach hurting?" Sting asked.
"If he's uncomfortable, I can take care of it," Natsu insisted, sitting back down and pulling Rogue close. "You're the reason he's pregnant anyway, so his discomfort is your fault."
"Actually, that idiot who's spell misfired—" Rogue was pulled halfway onto Natsu's lap before he could finish protesting. He decided not to bother arguing that one. He was tall enough and heavy enough that Natsu would regret that in a minute or two.
Until then Rogue pretended not to notice Sting fuming or Natsu beginning to tremble under the weight on his legs and enjoyed his popcorn. They'd given him a small bucket. Lousy, cheap concessions stands. With a giant stomach that the whole town knew about and several months of his boyfriend and ex seeing him eat like a pig, Rogue was beyond caring about appearances. After finishing off the snack he licked his fingers, wiped any remaining butter from the paper bucket, then, grudgingly, got off of Natsu's lap to go get more popcorn.
Natsu didn't invite him back up when he came back, which was fine. Sting also stole a fistful of popcorn, which was annoying, but not the end of the world.
"Are you sure you should be having so much sodium?" Sting asked after eating what he suspected was actually a fistful of salt.
"I don't care," Rogue told him. He was getting thirsty but… he glanced down to the concessions stand again. He didn't want to have to get up and stand in line a third time.
Without being asked, both boys hopped up to get him a drink.
Fine. Whatever. As long as at least one of them came back with plain water, he didn't care. They could go on acting like idiots all night and he wasn't going to do a damn thing to stop him.
The both came back with a bottle of water for him. Rogue accepted the one that took less effort to reach and uncapped it, taking a sip and not bothering to see who looked like they'd just won some petty victory.
Maybe if he went down and found Gajeel, he'd be more interested in what was going on. Rogue sighed and buried his head in his hands. He had to do this. Natsu wanted this, and he couldn't be a bitch and only do what he liked.
"Are you getting tired?" Sting asked.
This time it was Natsu who jumped in with health concerns. "You shouldn't be stressing yourself while you're pregnant. If you need to rest, we can leave early. I'll take you home."
Rogue might have gone for that, were it not for the challenging look Natsu had shot at Sting when he finished making the offer.
"I'm fine," he mumbled.
"If you need anything—"
"I'm fine!"
Sting and Natsu scooted back as Rogue got to his feet. He turned on his heels to face both boys, held up one finger for each, bowed in apology to the rest of the audience, then turned and stormed out of the bleachers.
"What was that?" Natsu asked.
"Did we come on too strong?"
Natsu cursed. "He's really leaving!" He sprang to his feet, stumbling over people as he tried to squeeze out of his row and chase after Rogue.
Sting waited a moment, wondering if he really wanted to chase Rogue down again. It had worked so well last time, after all. When he saw Rogue trying to squeeze his way through the jam packed crowd beneath the bleachers he figured that, if nothing else, it was probably better for the baby not to be crushed between strangers with only a few weeks before being born, and maybe he should go and cut a path... of something. If Natsu was going to lead Rogue out, Sting didn't want to be the jerk who stayed behind to watch people crash into each other. Best go keep Rogue from getting crushed.
Rogue himself was beginning to see the issue. Even when people saw his stomach and tried not to bump into him, whoever was behind them would push them forward anyway. He grunted as one man with a real beer gut pressed against his baby bump, grinning and muttering something about fellow alcohol lovers with breath that said 'love' wasn't a strong enough word for this man's relationship with alcohol. The smell in his strong nose made him reel, and before he knew it he was on his knees, the people in the crowd having shifted, leaving him with no way to orient himself. Where was the exit?
Being on the lower edge of the average height range, Rogue needed to stand on his toes if he wanted to look over the heads of most women and some men. In a crowd made up almost entirely of men, many burly and much taller than he was, he didn't even bother trying. He picked a direction and shoved forward, growling under his breath when people complained. Between the shriek of engines and metal on metal and idiots roaring with chaotic delight, not to mention the stink of alcohol everywhere, Rogue was completely overwhelmed. The next person to piss him off would be neutered, he was sure he could still kick hard enough to do that.
That was his plan at least, but the next person to get on his nerves had done so by shoving him, muttering something about brats needing to be right up in the action. Breaking free of the crowd with the push, Rouge had a moment to register that he'd mistakenly headed towards the racetrack. Then a moment more to see the hand that had shoved him with enough strength to flip him over the protective rail that separated the spectator area and the track
He threw both arms out, flailing and knocking down two other men as he tried to right himself. No use. He managed to get one foot on the ledge from the other side of the rail, but his weight was distributed too awkwardly for him to recover. He swung to the side with the momentum from his effort and slipped off the ledge.
Your center of balance is off thanks to the kid, so be careful, okay?
Rogue twisted as he fell from the ledge, hand shooting out to grab anything, anyone, and stop his fall. The crowd just stared in confusion and slow dawning horror. No one liking the idea of the pregnant boy falling onto the track, but no one thinking to take his hand before he was out of reach.
Since you're putting so much effort into getting along with that idiot, I won't always be there to catch you.
Rogue tried to land on his feet, but his leg twisted and he fell to his butt. He must have jostled Alex, since the baby began to squirm like there was no tomorrow—and there might not be. When he tried to stand, pain shot up his leg, and while one of the magic four-wheelers had swerved to steer clear of him, the giant hunk of fast moving steel it had collided with moments before had no control as it sped his way with more than enough momentum to turn him into a pancake.
Screw pride. Rogue threw his hands over his head and screamed.
"Rogue!" he heard both boys cry.
Peeking out from under his arms, Rogue watched in slow motion as a bolt of fire strike the oncoming vehicle. His relief was short lived, as it only flipped over and kept sliding towards him at breakneck speed.
"Get up!" He heard Sting cry. Giving him no chance to protest, as if he could even get the words out before he was killed, something grabbed his collar and tossed him aside.
Time ground almost to a halt as flew through the air, managing to catch sight of Sting standing where he'd just been, relief and panic dancing together on his face.
But I will do my best to keep you safe.
Then the four-wheeler connected, and Rogue lost sense of time completely.
-x-
STA: I wrote the ending to this chap a little while in advance. Maybe… 8 chapters ago? Yeah. When writing chapter 14 I typed that ending up.
So. Ways I may end the triangle now:
1) Sting is alive enough, and Rogue still goes with Natsu
2) Sting is dead/totally comatose, and Rogue ends up with Natsu
3) Sting is alive enough, and just won Rogue back
Aw, who am I fooling? I'm not going to cut Sting out of the equation like that. 1 and 3 are possible though. See you soon. Next chapie begins with pain killer induced hallucinations—of the non-sexy variety. I toned them down a bit (okay, enough so that it borders on not being a hallucination) but it's still there. Enjoy.