Natsu was only three days into his new medication when he started pushing Gray to take another job. "You should have more saved up, in case anything happens," he insisted. "Or if you want to go a while without working again."

After two weeks of constant nagging, Gray gave in and dropped Natsu off at Lucy's, quizzing her on proper Natsu care (in Natsu's presence) and vocalizing his concerns that Natsu was trying to get him out of town before testing how effective his new medicine was. Once both Lucy and Natsu were sufficiently annoyed with him, Gray took off for work.

On the offhand chance that Gray might pop back in with one last thing to make sure they were careful of, Natsu and Lucy held off for about fifteen minutes before feeling confident that he wouldn't catch them.

"You aren't going to trick Sting into taking you on a job, are you?"

"He knows I can barely walk. When I borrowed the guild's lacryma last night, he said I wasn't even allowed to help him shelve any of the books at his new apartment."

"Sting owns books?"

"I didn't believe him either. He's gonna show me first thing when he picks me up."

They smiled at the idea of Sting indignantly trying to prove he was literate for a full three seconds before Lucy said, "Gray's going to kill you for this."

Natsu's good mode deflated immediately. "Gray already gets to tell me everything I can and can't do for my health. He doesn't get to control who I'm friends with on top of that."

"But I'm sure he'd rather you be upfront about it. If you let him know before he left, what's the worst he could do?"

"Not leave. He isn't broke yet."

"He has to work eventually."

"And I want to see friends I haven't had a chance to spend time with and get out of town now. Besides, it gives Gray a break from having to constantly worry about me."

Lucy suspected Gray worried ten times as hard about Natsu when he wasn't there to watch over things, but kept this comment to herself. Instead, she said, "He'll still be angry to hear you lied. Especially after the last time you snuck off once he took a job."

It was a low blow, considering how that ended, and she felt guilty making Natsu cringe.

"Th-this is different. I'm not going to try and push myself. I'm just staying with someone different than he thinks I am."

"When you forget your anniversary, he's going to bring this up, and you'll need to buy him twice as large of a bouquet to make up for it," Lucy teased.

"We're not married. We're not dating. He isn't even interested in me."

"I still think you should probe. I can try and ask him for you."

"Okay, Mira."

Lucy grimaced. "Yeah. I deserved that one."

-o-

It took Happy several hours to make the trip to pick Sting up and bring him to Magnolia. By then Natsu had settled into Lucy's, begun to question whether or not Sting's invite was sincere, lamented his decision to talk Gray into taking a longer job, and resigned himself to five days of being teased about his crush. It was a pleasant surprise when Sting showed up after all.

"Sorry," he said when Lucy opened the door for him. "Minor disaster at the guild this morning. Rogue wouldn't let me leave. Apparently he already handles everything else, so I'm stuck with damage control."

"Apparently?" Lucy asked.

"Paperwork is boring," Sting answered.

Lucy rolled her eyes at that, but Natsu, who had done his fair share of guild paperwork while helping Mira around the guild, held up a hand for Sting to high-five.

Slapping Natsu's hand, Sting asked, "You're all packed?"

"Since I got here."

Lucy nudged Natsu's suitcase forward with her foot and asked, "Will you need any help getting his luggage onto… um… off of the train?"

"Nah." Sting gestured to Happy and Lector. "I've got people for that. Gray has my address right? He knows where to pick Natsu up."

Lucy froze in the middle of lifting Natsu's bag for Sting. Natsu would have frozen in the middle of standing up, but realizing that he wasn't in any condition to try and hold himself in a half standing position, instead slowly lowered himself back into Lucy's chair.

"You forgot to tell him I'm taking Natsu, didn't you?"

"Forgot might not be the most accurate choice of words," Lucy admitted. "But I'll be sure to let him know where to find you two when he gets back."

If the admission that he didn't have Gray's approval to look after Natsu bothered Sting in any way, he didn't show it. He maintained a pleasant, casual smile as he passed the suitcase on the Lector, and helped Natsu up from the chair and onto his back without commenting on that detail at all. But then again, Gray had made it no secret that he didn't like the blond.

"I should probably have some sort of apology ready for him," Natsu said.

"Take him out somewhere nice," Lucy suggested.

Sting paused. "Can he do that?"

"I can't," Natsu informed him. "It would all end up on Gray's dime anyway, which isn't an apology."

"Pester him into doing something nice that's free, then," Sting said. "Make lunch and beg him to go on a picnic. That's what Frosch does whenever Rogue's in a bad mood."

The idea of Frosch preparing food sounded incredibly dangerous to Natsu, but for him to prepare something for Gray didn't sound like a terrible idea. If Happy pushed a chair over to the kitchen counter, he could sit on it and cook something that way. How hard could it be to put together some sandwiches and wash a few fruit?

"I've got a better idea," Lucy said. "Next month there's going to be a meteor shower. I'll invite the two of you, and you can make food for you and Gray then. There's a few good hills to watch from, so I can just give you two directions to one, and then Loke and I will watch from the other and pretend we just gave bad directions when he asks the next morning. He'll never let me hear the end of it if I don't call him out to watch, but we can give you two some privacy."

Sting cocked his head in confusion. "It's not really an apology once someone else invites—"

"You can get in on this too," Lucy decided, clasping Sting's hands. "You don't mind if Gray likes you less, do you?"

"Can he do that?"

Lucy nodded. "Natsu, you said Gray doesn't like how Juvia always acts around him, right? So here's the plan. Sting, when Gray picks him up, act jealous."

"I'm not jealous," Sting said, looking back and forth between Natsu and Lucy and trying to work out what was happening. "Why would acting jealous make him more angry? Don't you want him to think this is alright?"

"No. Trust me. Act jealous. And call him love rival. Don't even say my love rival. Say it like it's his name." Lucy, having been Juvia's imaginary love rival a great many times, could imagine how Gray would feel to be on the receiving end of this. As the one who always heard the cry of a love rival sound whenever he so much as nodded in another living creature's direction, Gray would no doubt think of Juvia immediately. "Let him know Natsu's yours."

"Um… Are we still apologizing?"

"That can happen later. You have to help Natsu with this now."

"I'm not sure this is a good idea," Natsu threw in.

"If nothing else, it's a good prank," Lucy said, which lit a spark in Natsu's eyes. "Can you do this, Sting? Just pretend to be Gray's rival for Natsu's love."

Sting shrugged, having given up on trying to get a full explanation out of Lucy. "Yeah. Sure. Replace name with 'love rival'. I can do that. See you next time we sneak behind your friends back for no apparent reason."

"Sounds like a plan! You two have fun."

-o-

"See? Books."

"Okay. But do you read them?"

Sting rolled his eyes. "No. I just collected enough books to cover every wall in the room because I think the spines look pretty when you line them all up."

"I knew it."

"Anyway, if you get bored around the house, feel free to look at any of them. Or call me. I can pick one out for you, if you have trouble pulling them off the shelf."

"I'm not that weak," Natsu snapped, and to prove it, he reached out to pull the closest book he could get his finger on off the shelf.

It didn't budge.

Seeing Natsu's horror, Sting patted him on the shoulder and said, "Don't feel bad. All the shelves are overstuffed, so the books are backed in tight. Now that I've got the room for it, I'm probably going to get another bookcase."

Sting grabbed a book to demonstrate. The thing didn't move an inch when he casually tried to pull it back, and even when he yanked, it resisted. He had to brace one hand against the shelf and visibly strain to pull the book out, and when he did, four more popped out with it.

"We should have brought Lucy with us," Natsu realized. "She'd love this."

"Nah. She was acting weird. What's up with that love rival thing any—"

"Nothing!"

"—way…?"

Sting turned slowly to look at Natsu with a knowing grin. Natsu, in response, bent down to pick up the books that had fallen onto the floor when Sting proved his shelves didn't like to give up their goods.

"H-hey! Don't bend over so fast! I seriously thought you collapsed just there." Sting dropped down beside Natsu and gathered all the books in his arms. "Besides, remember the deal? No helping me shelve things. Lucy gave me the full report on your condition and if you have another attack, it is not going to be on my watch."

"I can lift a book."

"Then you shouldn't have agreed that you wouldn't."

"Jerk."

Dropping the books sideways on their shelf to be properly put back in place later, Sting gestured to the couch. "Take a seat. We can talk while I get dinner ready. And stop making that face at me. Your main caretaker already doesn't trust me with you. Wouldn't you rather I prove him wrong by being totally responsible?"

Purely for the sake of being difficult, Natsu continued to stick his tongue out at Sting the entire time the blond helped him over to the couch, and even craned his neck to continue doing so as Sting set to work in the kitchen.

Sting took enough time to pull out a cabbage and start chopping before he asked, "So what did Gray do?"

Puzzle by the question, Natsu said, "He took an escort job. He's helping some ambassador make it to Pengrande."

"Okay. Cool, I guess. But what did he do that makes him special?"

Natsu shrugged. "I guess it's especially annoying when he's the one who tells me what I can and can't do. Since he's usually the one telling me that, and he does more telling me not to do things than approving of them."

In all fairness, no one really needed to tell Natsu when he could do something. When he was in good health, the law was more a list of helpful suggestions that a set of rules to obey, and since falling ill he still helped himself to every last freedom and capability he still had. It was annoying nonetheless when Gray kept telling him what was off limits, even if Natsu had been forced to admit with the latest attack that Gray was right to be so anxious about everything.

"So he nags you and then up an leaves you to fend for yourself in the middle of town." Sting shook his head. "I don't know what you see in him."

The wording was vague enough for Natsu to feel comfortable with the assumption of Sting's ignorance, but then Lector spoke up and crushed that illusion.

"For someone so blunt, Sting's really bad at words. He wants to know why you like Gray."

Cautiously, Natsu said, "I like everyone in the guild."

"You try to make everyone in the guild jealous by pretending to be a love rival?" Sting asked.

"Shut up!"

"Didn't think so."

Natsu stuck his tongue out again. Sting grinned in response and resumed chopping.

"Rogue's coming over, by the way," Sting said. "Do you want me to keep pestering you while he's here, or are you going to tell me what's up with you and Gray before then?"

That was playing dirty! Natsu wouldn't put it past Sting to tell anyone and everyone, too. Not to mention that Frosch was bound to say something the next time they saw Gray, even if Rogue agreed to keep quiet.

"Nothing… really. I like him is all, and I told Lucy and now she wants us to get together."

This omitted a great many details, such as the hope spot that was Gray not returning Juvia's feelings, the beach trip, the odd way Gray seemed to take interest in Natsu only to say something to reinforce that they were only friends, and the mentions of Lucy. Actually, that Gray was beginning to refer to Lucy as someone Natsu was already or else ought to be involved with was something Natsu needed to mention to Lucy. Especially since the frequency with which Gray made these references was steadily increasing.

Sting, however, was largely satisfied with the bare bones answer. Rather than press for more details, he said, "I still don't get what's so likable about him, but I can try and help you make him jealous, if you want."

"If he doesn't get jealous, it should still give him a heart attack if you act like Juvia, so please do."

-x-

STA: I once threw my boss into panic mode because I dropped into a crouch really fast, and she thought I'd fallen. It's really common for our patients to fall, so we always have to be on alert for anyone who might suddenly lose their balance and tip over.

Anyway, I have this headcanon that Sting's a bookworm while Rogue can be a total TV addict couch potato, but because of their temperments everyone always assumes it's the other way around, and Sting can never convince anyone that he's well read while Rogue can never convince anyone that he has no idea what they're talking about when they try to discuss books with him.