Even The Dragon King Has Feelings

by Don Cheadle

The Alvarez War is over. He used everything he had to get everyone home, whether it be those damns seeds inside him, or even his very soul. In the peace that follows, one thing becomes clear; Fairy Tail won. Natsu lost. (AU)

16. Sixteen

One week before Edolas...

---

"Hey Sting?"

"Yep?"

The demure breeze that passed through the empty nighttime streets of Magnolia was neither warm nor cold, but tousled Natsu and Sting's hair and clothes nonetheless.

"I owe you one."

Sting shot Natsu a pair of finger guns as he clicked his tongue, "Don't mention it dude."

Natsu drew his gaze away from the closed shops and cafes lining the seasoned cobblestone street and let out a sigh much too raspy for Sting's liking.

"No, it means a lot, to me and Erza," he said, recalling how she cradled her new saber as if it was her first born the entire walk back to Fairy Hills, "I couldn't really stand the idea of her feeling all awful after these past few days."

"Erza being… well… Erza, I knew it'd take something big to reassure her. She ain't got the best history of being fair to herself." Natsu explained.

Sting laced his fingers behind his head and shrugged, "Like I said, dontcha worry about it. It was kinda fun, I miss hanging out."

Natsu's hum was low but genuine, "Me too."

"I uh… wanted to…" Sting paused as he turned to his fellow dragon slayer, concern slinking from the alley ways to pinch his face into a grimace, "I wanted to ask, everything all good with you?"

The black coal of Natsu's eyes used to have enough energy in them to power every locomotive on the planet, but now, whether it be a trick of the light or not, his eyes seemed to be the most dull of grays. Much like the sleeping city streets around him, in Natsu's eyes was emptiness where there once wasn't.

"Oh. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, all good." Natsu reassured, his scarred lips pressed into a papery thin smile, "I'm just…."

"Thinking?" Sting offered with a murmur.

"Yes. That." Natsu agreed, huffing out some air before bringing up his shoulders, "I've been doing a lot of that."

"Hey no, I getcha. After everything with the war and Acnologia, after everything you did, I'd be having myself a good ole' think too." Sting's tone was rich with understanding.

"I really do miss gettin' together for shenanigans and sparring. It's been a while since we've seen each other hasn't it?"

Natsu's scarred lips pursed as he cringed, "Yeah, about that…"

"What's up?"

"I just wanna say sorry for earlier, barging in on you and Yukino, that was mega uncool." he began with an awkward tilt of his head.

"That? Nah," Sting brushed it off with a broad gesture, "you ain't got nothing to apologize for. If anything, it puts me at ease."

Natsu sent him an odd look.

Sting draped an arm around his shoulders, his grin stretching from one ear to another, "That tells me Yukino's got shooters out there."

"Out there in the big scary world," Sting began, slowly dragging a hand in front of him for emphasis, "There are tons of nasty peeps that would wanna hurt her, so knowing she's got you looking out for her is mad reassuring."

Natsu's hands fidgeted in his duster's pockets, "I dunno bud, I was out of line. It ain't right to just jump you like that. I don't know why I did it, I trust the hell out of you, it's just…"

"Big brother instincts," Sting clapped him on the back, "You got it in spades, it's like one of your best qualities."

"Dude, if you didn't wig out seeing me and her like that, then I would have thought the skinwalker finally got ya." Sting guffawed.

"Pfft, nah, I would kick it's butt. Speaking of," Natsu's throat bobbed as he swallowed, "We ever gonna go track one down?"

"I can't, I'm basically booked for the rest of the week." Sting shook his head, inhaling the wafts of fresh pine that oozed from the park they passed.

"Not even tomorrow?"

"Nah, got a double date. Remember those? The ones Yukino and Lisanna used to drag us on? It's like that, except there is actual dating involved."

Natsu popped a brow, displeased, "And the other couple?"

"Minerva and Rogue."

Natsu huffed dramatically, his eyes finally shimmering with an ounce of light, "Too good for me? Well good luck on your date!"

"I will!" Sting shot back with a faux sense of hurt.

"That doesn't even make any sense!" Natsu crowed.

"I know!"

"I'm free tonight though." Sting added quietly after a beat.

"Is Rogue up?" Natsu asked, voice now louder against the desolate lanes of the city streets.

Sting rushed a few paces forward before he swiveled on his heels to walk in reverse, "Nah, he is most likely getting all cuddly with Minvera."

"Hey now don't knock cuddlin' man, it's like the best thing." Natsu stated, to which Sting quietly muttered his agreements.

"Ooh, how about Gajeel?" Sting queried.

Natsu removed his hands from his pockets to shrug, "Probably reading books about how not to accidentally drown a baby. He's avoiding trouble these days if I had to guess."

Natsu began to have second thoughts.

"Maybe we should, I dunno, take a cue?" Natsu thought aloud, remembering Erza's last words before she slid back into her room.

---

Erza stopped in front of her the door to her room and turned to regard Natsu, affection, gratitude, bright in her dark chestnut eyes.

"Alrighty, this is your stop." Natsu announced with a whisper, still grinning ear to ear at the sight of Erza tenderly cradling her new gifted blade.

Erza's normally stalwart voice wavered with emotion as she murmured, "Thank you Natsu. Truly, I-i'm…. I-i…."

Natsu ceased her shuffling and silence with yet another hug, grappling her up into his arms to squeeze her tight enough for her feet to leave the ground.

Erza would rather be the one doing the hugging, but with how balming and warm Natsu's touch was, she found herself melting against him.

"I love ya Erza, never forget that." he stated, "No matter what. Don't care how many times I gotta remind you."

Erza could not stop herself from snuggling back into Natsu. She hated to admit it, but she was probably hooked on his warm hugs now.

Erza leaned her face forward, burying a head of scarlet hair into the bend of Natsu's neck. Just a few seconds there informed her why Wendy seemed to love doing this.

From over Natsu's shoulder, she could see Sting waiting at the end of the one of Fairy Hill's hallways, wearing a cheeky smile.

He wasn't supposed to be here, technically neither of them were, but he and Natsu had been too deeply engaged in one of their usual obscure conversations for her to make him wait outside.

Sting and his sly smirk only got deeper as he made a playful gesture to his chest, a nonverbal way of announcing just how touched he was.

As pleasant as the embrace was, Erza found her stomach roiling as embarrassment shot through her.

She wasn't supposed to get embarrassed. It simply wasn't for her, she didn't like how exposed a blush made her feel, but one formed on her face regardless.

She wasn't supposed to blush, or lose her composure, or get uncomfortable. She was Erza Scarlet, not a blushing maiden.

However, the longer she pondered it, the less her skin crawled at her own reaction.

Maybe, at the end of the day, it wasn't just embarrassment, maybe it was a raw surge of affection and emotion that she wasn't sure how to properly express.

Erza thought back to what ways she could return some of the happiness Natsu had given her.

Tactile.

Natsu was a very tactile man. He loved his affectionate touches, he loved his knee brushes and his shoulder bumps and elbow nudges, and for certain people, he loved his cheek and forehead kisses.

And on the other side of the coin, if dealing with Gray or Gajeel, Natsu usually enjoyed giving a nice right uppercut to the kidneys.

So, Erza decided to try and return those same actions. With awkward yet tender ambition, she grabbed the sides of his head and pulled his scarred cheek against her puckered lips.

The kiss itself was clunky and loud, like a mother trying to embarrass her child in public. Except her floundering wasn't on purpose

Natsu broke apart into silent laughter, a snicker weaseling its way out between his teeth every so often.

"Hey!" Erza hissed with indignation, still careful with her volume.

"Nah, nah, nah, I'm sorry for laughin'." Natsu squeaked out.

Erza backed out of his hug and looked to Sting. The Sabertooth guild master had swiveled his head to gaze down an errant hallway, but his twitching lips told her all she needed to know.

"Erza, Erza, relax, that was fine, for your first cheek kiss, it wasn't half bad." Natsu assured, "Sting, how would you rate it?"

Sting made a 'so-so' gesture with his hand, "6 outta 10, stiff, but had a lot of heart."

"See? You'll get better." Natsu encouraged.

Erza let out a sigh as her shoulders slumped, an amused chuff of her very own escaping her.

"Go get some rest Erza, okay?" Natsu said, hands hooked in his duster pockets, "I'm sure that cheek kiss took a lot outta ya."

Erza had already opened her door and had one foot in her room, "Tell anyone about that Natsu and I'm cutting off your arm."

The familiar sound of Erza's threat merely made Natsu smile even more.

"Nah, that'll be our secret. Right Sting?"

"I'm going to Sorcerer's Weekly with this."

"See? It's safe with us." Natsu informed dutifully.

Erza fought valiantly against a yawn as she once again requipped the blade she had taken out several times already back into safe keeping. The pink color on her face, the warmth, the buzz, the tingle she now knew was more than just embarrassment darkened to match her hair.

"Good night Natsu."

"G'night Erza, love you, I'd close your window to keep out the skinwalkers."

"I'll keep that in mind," her smile quickly fell as her eyes roamed Natsu one last time, "Natsu… are you going to be okay? With everything that's happened to you?"

Natsu deployed his signature smile, "Yep, I'll be right as rain in no time. If you're happy Erza, I'm happy."

Erza's shoulders got lighter, "Are you sure?"

"Erza, I'm fine, I promise ya," Natsu repeated, "I'll be back to normal, and'll be back to annoying you in no time."

"I can't wait," Erza murmured softly, moving to shut her door before a thought popped into her head, "Hey, you two boys."

All of the sudden, the barren hallway felt even darker as a scarlet beast crawled from the shadows.

Erza left and the all powerful Titania emerged, her eyes glowering with authority from behind her bangs as she looked between Natsu and Sting.

"Both of you, no trouble."

Usually she would be met with pathetic whimpers and a squeaky 'a-aye sir!', but all she got were two salutes of acknowledgement.

Somewhat satisfied, she finally closed the door.

"Hey Sting, what were we talking about again?" Natsu turned his shoulders down the hall towards Sting, who leaned against the corner where the hall took a sharp right.

"Uhh…" Sting's eyes traveled just about everywhere in thought, "Something about ravioli?"

Natsu began his approach, still very careful to not awaken almost a dozen sleep guild mates.

"Oh yeah, so our planet, it's super hot in the middle, right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"And there are tons of layers n' stuff, right?"

"Uh huh."

"That means our planet… is like a ravioli." Natsu finished.

Sting gave that a moment to settle.

"Okay, counterpoint, hot pocket." Sting told him.

"Oh dang. Didn't think about it like that. "

Sting pushed himself off the wall, "Yeah, but let's not talk about it here. If we wake someone up, our bodies might never be found."

Natsu uttered his agreements, reading the names inscribed on each of the doors he passed.

His strides fell to a complete stop as he read a name that did terrible things to every single nook and cranny in his chest.

"Hey, you good?" Natsu could hear Sting call.

Quickly, Natsu shoved all that he felt deep down into a place nestled behind his heart and allowed himself but one shuddering breath, "Yeah, let's go."

Sting obliged and turned the corner, and Natsu followed.

But not before he gave the name on the door, a door that led to an unoccupied room, one last glassy eyed glance.

Messily scribbled into the wooden plate that hung there was the name 'Mavis'.

---

"What if Erza finds out?" Natsu proposed the scenario as if it was worse than the sun exploding.

Sting rolled his eyes, "She'll never find out, that's the point of lying."

"Still, let's not get too wild." Natsu paused, throwing glances down the empty intersection they found themselves in, "Last time we decided to have that much fun I woke up in that little boat like 75 miles off the south coast."

Both dragon slayers came to a stop, Sting tapping his foot as he impatiently explained, "I told ya dude, we needed international waters for legal reasons."

"And I told you, I was unconscious during the safety briefing!"

Crickets chirped wildly from bushes as they both went silent in thought.

"How about a spar?" came Sting's suggestion as he bounced on his heels.

Surprisingly, Natsu didn't jump at the idea. The offer for a spar always made Natsu bounce with excitement.

No one loved the idea of an honest fight more than he did.

"What sort of spar?" he questioned carefully, "Is this like boy's night?"

Sting missed boy's night, he had so many fond memories of shenanigans and sparring involving four dragon slayers and one ice mage. Those six months between the Grand Magic Games and Tartaros were easily the best months of his life.

Natsu frowned, "Uhh…."

Sting's fingers played with his vest's many buttons, "We can't do boy's night anymore man, those are too intense, and I doubt Porylsucia would be happy to see us doing them again. Neither would Yukino."

"Well, that's good, got some cobwebs to shake out but I don't want to get too intense." Natsu stated, his stare distantly caressing a few rustling bushes that hugged the park's entrance to their left.

"Me and Rogue have been clashing fists and keeping at it with the training this past month and a half." Sting shared as he stretched, grunting, "I know I ain't got a chance in hell agains-"

Natsu cut him off, sharp and quick, "Sting, don't. That's not how us dragon slayers roll."

"I know, I know, I'm just double checkin' you ain't the skinwalker," Sting laughed through his nostrils with rapid exhales, "Although that racoon is staring at us, think it's one of them?"

Natsu turned his head to see a racoon had indeed crawled out from the mess of neatly trimmed brambles and leaves nearby, its beady eyes far too intelligent as it darted between the two dragon slayers.

"Lemme check." Natsu announced as he made a move for it.

He came back with bright red claw marks littered across the scarred curves of his face.

"Yeah no, it's legit." Natsu confirmed as he watched the hissing animal race across the street back towards the park.

"Hey, you can never be too sure, that's how they getcha."

Sting exhaled, "Alright, if we're doing this, I'm gonna go get Rogue. Unless you know any other dragon slayers that are up and ready to rumble?"

"Laxus doesn't really do the whole 'sparring' thing, wait, what about Cobra?"

Natsu's question made Sting tut as he scratched his jaw, "Good question, I haven't seen him since after the war."

"Yeah, I saw him flirting with someone in your guild."

The amber bulbs of the street lamps that populated the street sides suddenly combusted as Natsu's pupils shrunk, "What!? Who?!"

"Don't know her name, seems like the sweetest girl though." Sting wasn't taken back in the slightest as shards of glass rained down upon the concrete around him.

"Do you know how little that narrows it down?" Natsu heaved.

Sting narrowed his eyes at the empty park bench nearby, "Uhh, lemme think, she had dark purple hair I think."

"Kinana?! Oh hell naw, that's not gonna happen!"

"Why not?"

Natsu frowned tightly as he explained, "Because Kinana is the human equivalent of like-like... like a lamb. She's too sweet, he's too rough."

"I dunno, me and Yukino are getting along just fine." Sting mentioned in an attempt to put him at ease.

Natsu's worn knuckles popped loudly, an audible promise for action, "I'm gonna go have myself a little chat. You in or out? Ya can't tell anyone about this, and you can't ask about it later."

Sting was quiet for a moment.

"Yeah sure, why not?"

The words were still fresh in their flight off Sting's tongue when Natsu decided to dart down a nearby alleyway, leaping over a dumpster and onto a rooftop. Sting laughed and gave chase.

The two managed to race their way down several city blocks, sliding between buildings like snakes between blades of grass before Natsu abruptly screeched to a stop in front of the library, his heels leaving streaks of upturned pavement in his wake.

Sting, not too far behind, asked, "Hey, what's up? We all good?"

Natsu turned to face him, his frown even deeper against his scarred cheeks.

"You have any idea where the guy lives?"

"Pfft, no clue. I was following you man." Sting responded honestly.

Natsu's head jerked back as he let out a bearish groan of frustration.

"Wait, wait, wait," Sting said, "Didn't you just apologize for jumping me for something like this?"

"Oooh, yeah yeah, I did, didn't I?" Natsu recalled sheepishly, "Sorry, got tunnel vision."

Sting did his best to throw in some reason, "I get Cobra ain't the soft and mushy type, but c'mon, he's a good guy."

"Yeah…." Natsu caught a breath, "You're probably right."

"It isn't like they were smooching or anything, more like Cobra was doing his best to seem as cool as possible."

Natsu stared at him with his sunken gaze, "Why would I care if they're kissing?"

"Cause uh… couples do that?"

"Okay yeah, but me and Lis kiss all the time." Natsu pointed out with a dose of naivety.

Sting knew better and didn't jump to the conclusion he knew was false, "That's different man, I've seen it, that's on the cheek and the forehead and nose and your scars and all that wholesome stuff."

He wiped at his nose with a simper, "Heh, I'm talking more lip to lip stuff, like what you saw me and Yukino doing."

Sting's eyes suddenly bulged, "Wait a minute, please don't tell me you go around kissing people on the mouth?" he questioned, jabbing a finger at Natsu's scarred lips.

For no reason, he decided to try and dribble them, only for Natsu to ward him off with a chomp. He pulled his finger away just in time.

"Uhh, no. But yeah, me and Lis did that too." Natsu stated, nonplussed.

Sting normally would have choked on his own spit, but once again, Natsu had such an oddly innocent view of physical affection that he asked for clarification.

"What time period are we talking about here?" he questioned, eyes narrowed into curious slits.

Natsu popped a brow, "What?"

"When did this happen?"

"Uhh, when we were kids. She liked to play pretend, I was the dad, she was the wife, Happy was the son." Natsu responded all too eagerly.

Sting almost cooed, almost.

"First of all, that's cute as hell," he began with a snicker before holding up a finger, "but, that's still different from what I'm talking about."

Sting slid next to him and rested an elbow on his shoulder, "Look chief, Natsu, my brother from another dragon, I'm not talking platonic love, that's your area of expertise."

"Let me put it this way, would you wanna kiss Lucy the same way you would kiss Lisanna?"

Sting could see deep thought paint across Natsu's blemished face before eventually,

"Oooooh…..yeah, it's like that time me and Luce kissed and it was super nice."

"Wait, what? You and Lucy…?"

"Kissed, yeah, Asuka dared us to."

"Alright, well, how was it?" Sting asked, leaning in intently.

Natsu tilted his head back in thought, "Made my lips tingle. I liked it."

"See? Now ya get it." Sting voiced his approval, "So when you and Lucy finally-"

Natsu gave a ragged cough in his fist, interrupting, "That's not….."

"Not what?"

Natsu shuffled away and sniffed, "Not really, in the uh… cards right now. Y'know? Us? Me and Luce?"

Sting's smile dropped, although his eyes remained filled to the brim with sincerity in spite of the churning in his chest, the tightness clogging his nose and drying his throat.

Sting sucked in an inhale that wasn't big enough to soothe his lungs.

"W-well, anyway, it's important y'know the difference given how cuddly you are." he explained, "There is a fine line between platonic and romantic affection, and you my friend sorta tend to blur that line."

"Look, all I'm saying is that she is… she's super into you." Sting finished as he swallowed his chest ache down, deep down, for later digestion.

Natsu rubbed his cheek, eyes narrowed, "What? No she isn't. M-me?"

"Yeah. You."

"I'm not sure-"

"Dude, I get your perceptiveness is a complete roll of the dice sometimes, but it's super obvious." Sting rested a fist against his hip, putting on a coy smile in the same way Yukino would make him wear a shirt she picked out for him. Begrudgingly.

It was so blatantly obvious Natsu had been harboring those special feelings for his partner for at least the entire time Sting had known him, but to go beyond not doing anything about it, to actively state it wasn't gonna happen, it made Sting's skin itch.

"Look, let me use good ole' Lisanna as a point of comparison here."

Natsu frowned, "Me and Lis, it ain't like that. Being like…t-that… wouldn't really make us any closer than we already are."

"I know, dude, I know," Sting wasn't sure his laugh was forced or not, "But, you and Lisanna are the only people I've ever met that can have a whole ass conversation with only eye contact. "

Natsu was trying to follow along, sliding his weight from one heel to another again and again with a ponderous scratch of his cheek, "And the point is….?"

"Now, let's drag Lucy into this equation. Now, I want you to think real, real hard about this," Sting advised as he grabbed Natsu's shoulders, doing his best to push away the pressure in his chest that burned and ached.

"When is the last time Lucy looked into your eyes for longer than a few seconds without getting all flushed?"

Natsu picked at the scar tissue near the edge of his nostril as he sorted through his memory banks intently. Clinking his canines together, he thought. And he thought some more. And some more.

"I got nothin'."

Sting clapped his hands together in victory, "Bam! See? There, I told ya! That's a classic sign."

"Of what?"

"Oh Natsu, you sweet summer child, you don't speak the language of loooove, the language of subtly," Sting swooned, gesturing flamboyantly, "It's a difficult language, but with a little nudge from your old pally Sting, I think I can teach it to ya."

Natsu stared at him blankly, "Can we go fight now?"

Sting's sigh rang ragged as it bounced off the forest of brick walls and buildings around them, "Yeah yeah, let's go fetch Rouge."

"Oh," Natsu suddenly perked up.

"What's up?"

Natsu bounced on his heels with the eagerness of a child who had been given too much sugar,

"Can we stop for snacks?!"

---

The long angular hallways of Sabertooth's dormitories were quiet and narrow, and above all else, overwhelmingly dark.

"Hey Sting?" Natsu made sure his whisper was dulcet upon earlier Sting's request.

A few paces ahead, Sting crept across the tile floors with ease, "Yeah?"

"Remind me next time to get snacks for the trip back next."

Closed doorway after closed doorway they passed, hunched over as they took wide strides with the same presence of mouse slithering between floorboards in hopes of not getting caught.

"Oooh yeah, that's a real good idea." he agreed as he stopped, having come to a flat fork in the hallway.

As if checking a busy downtown city street, Sting peaked his head out to look to his left and right.

"Alright, the coast is clear. I'm pretty sure Yukino is in bed."

Natsu stopped hugging the beige walls, his brows unfurrowing, "Okay, good, I don't wanna get in trouble with her."

Sting snickered, "You ever seen her angry?"

"Yukino? Angry? That doesn't seem physically possible," Natsu blanched, following Sting as he went left, "We sure we talkin' about the same girl here?"

Sting swallowed a giggle, "I dunno how to describe it, when she gets angry, she gets real quiet. Is Lucy like that?"

Natsu shook his head, "Nah, that's more Lis. She does this little stare and she kinda shakes her head. Lis don't get cross with me often, hasn't since we were kids, she has tons of other people to do that for her."

"Does she speak through her teeth?"

Natsu snapped his fingers and pointed at Sting, "Holy crap, yeah, that's exactly what she does."

"Welp, that's Yukino to a 'T'." Sting told him, moving with a sense of familiarity through the lifeless hallways that Natsu couldn't.

"You probably ain't ever seen Yukino pissed, cause she really likes you."

"Well I like her too, she's great." Natsu announced with his signature sincerity.

"She is great." Sting agreed with a low laugh, coming to a stop yet again in front of a door. The scent told Natsu it was Rogue's room.

Sting put a finger to his lips and reached for the doorknob.

The two dragon slayer's absurdly acute hearing seemed to switch on at the same time as they digested the muffled sounds that seeped through the hollow wood of the door.

They could hear it, all of it.

All of it.

The rhythmic creak of a mattress, the labored breathing, the distinctly feminine whimpers and masculine grunts, the tender pleasured call of names being tossed into the air with little care for those who might hear.

Sting and Natsu both made a face before looking at each other.

Natsu gave a soft gasp as he leaned forward, "Are they kissing?" he asked in the same way a child would try and pry his friend for a playground secret.

Sting cautiously stepped away, running his hands down the length of his face with a rankled groan, "Among other things. God I had no idea that we're down that horrendously bad."

"Should we… check if they are alright?"

Sting's lips pursed, "I think they're plenty comfy dude."

Sting slithered away from the door, Natsu following with a confused frown, his nose scrunching after he took a whiff of the pheromones that poured from the room.

Natsu followed Sting, unsure what they were doing next.

"Are you sure?"

A strange hushed mix between a guffaw and a cough burst out from Sting's lips, "Dude y'know what sex is right?"

"Course I do, Lis told me all about it," Natsu fiddled with his collar, "Stick the thing in the thing and bam! You get an egg."

Despite the blankets of darkness that stretched across them both, Sting's eyes narrowed further as if trying to inspect the dozens of crevices on Natsu's face for signs of insincerity.

He came to a stop to question, "Is this a bit you're doing or do you genuinely not know?"

Natsu's over exaggerated shrug and his poorly fought against smile told Sting everything he needed to know.

"Wait a minute, did you actually know what kissing on the lips actually meant?" Sting hissed accusingly.

"What's kissing on the lips?" Natsu said blankly.

"Dangit dude, stop pretending to be dumb! Your way too good at that."

Natsu brushed off shoulder smugly, "Thanks, it comes pretty naturally to me."

"Man, why'd ya let me prattle on about that?" Sting asked, pouting.

"Because it was funny watching you act like your some love-guru."

"Hey, I was giving ya sound advice." Sting stated, "So was all of that just you joshing around?"

Natsu shook his head, "Nah, I really do need to have a serious talk with Cobra."

Sting huffed, and they resumed their creeping strides. Natsu couldn't help but cast the bedroom a glance one last time.

"So, those two, really? Who would've thunk?"

"Don't get me started." Sting chuffed lightly, "Them getting together has sorta ruined our whole dynamic."

"What dynamic?" Natsu laughed quietly, "You call her 'milady', and that's like… it."

As Sting glowered, Natsu threw a glance over his shoulder, "Hold up, wait a minute, Frosch? Where is he?"

"Oh," Sting scratched his shoulder, "He got lost again."

Natsu looked back at him, surprised, "How long has the lil' man been gone?"

Sting tilted his head upwards, clicking his tongue, "Uhh… a good few hours I'd say."

"Should-" Natsu stopped to sneeze, "-should we go look for him?"

"Nah, this happens a lot." Sting waved the concern away, deciding to head to the bar to wait out Rogue and Minerva's…. activities.

"He'll be fine."

---

Kinana valiantly fought against a yawn, but that battle wasn't hers to win as her pale lips stretched wide and noise escaped her.

Closing the door to the bathroom behind her, the toilet still swirling as it flushed, she wiped the sleep from her eyes despite her intent to return to bed.

Ivory light soaked parts of her room as it shone through the open window adjacent to her bed, letting her see movement beneath the plaid sheets. Kinana glanced around her room for anything else out of the ordinary before approaching to grab and twist the fabric.

Peeling them back, she was pleasantly surprised to see a bundle of fur and a tiny frog onesie.

Her eyes went wide with sleepy delight, "Frosch?"

Frosch uncurled himself and stood up, rubbing his eyes to blink unsteadily at her.

It wasn't exactly uncommon for Sabertooth's exceed to lose sight of directions and wander into all sorts of places.

Frosh had found himself walking into Fairy Tail's guild hall numerous times to the point it was a bi-weekly occurrence.

And each and every time he'd get showered with love and croons from the guild's swooning female population. If it wasn't for Lisanna hand delivering Frosch back to Sabertooth, Fairy Tail might have just kept him.

Kinana blew air from her nostrils, bemused, "Frosch honey, this is Fairy Hills, I think you're a little turned around. Again."

Frosch stood up, his teeny nose scrunching in thought as he scanned the inconsistently lit room.

Eventually, he squeaked with that awfully cute voice of his, "Frosch thinks so too."

Kinana held her hands out and cooed, "Alright, c'mere baby, let's get you back to your Dad."

Frocsh didn't miss a beat and happily waddled into Kinana's arms, letting himself be squished against her chest. He purred as she scratched the top of his head through the fuzzy texture of his pink onesie.

Kinana switched him from one arm to another as she went to throw on a coat and slip into some sandals, "You know Frosch, Sabertooth is on the south side of the city." she informed him.

Frosch looked up at her, tail curling around her waist,

"What's 'south'?"

Kinana tittered, her laugh bouncing like a fairy on a dulcet breeze, "Well that about explains your problem."

---

"I'm sad that I believe in gnomes. It stands against every scientific thing I've learned. But dammit, they're out there." Sting finished their conversation as he rummaged through one of the many fridges tucked behind Sabertooth's main bar.

Natsu, still swirling fervently on one of the rotating stools in front of the marble countertops behind him, gave a hum of agreement.

"S-so how long do we have to wait for them to finish?" Natsu asked before the dizziness consumed and he crashed to the floor.

"Uhh, ten to twelve minutes, depends on how long they've been doing this."

Natsu pulled himself up, "Huh, that doesn't hurt anymore." he muttered.

"What's that?" Sting called out.

Natsu slid back into his seat and dusted his pant legs, "Nothin'. Wait, wait, wait, how do ya know how long it takes? Cause that was like a super specific answer."

Sting was silent as he fell to one knee and stuffed his head inside the fridge.

Gently slamming his hands on the bar, Natsu shot to his feet with an appalled gasp, "Sting, you wench!"

Sting retracted himself from the open fridge, "Hey, who taught you that word!?"

"Secondly, why are you surprised dude, you literally caught me and her making out this mornin'?"

Natsu's mouth slowly fell open, "Oh, yeah, forgot about that." he said as he sank back into his seat.

The silence that fell between them was seldom interrupted by awkward coughs of creaking wood.

"Look, just cuz' you," Sting pointed hard at Natsu, "ain't gotta sex drive, doesn't mean I can't have one."

Sting turned back to sorting deep through the fridge, glass bottles and containers clinking against each other as he sifted through them.

"Hey! I got one of those!" Natsu protested, frowning like a wronged child.

"What? A sex drive?"

"Yeah, that!"

Sting's snicker seeped through his closed lips and overpowered the low hum for the fridge, "Well, where is it?"

"It's uhh…" Natsu scratched his scalp, "In my other pants…?"

"Heh." Sting's laughter was immediately cut off, "Freakin' Orga, stop taking my orange juice!" he was surprised that it didn't come out as a snarl.

"I'm serious!" Natsu exclaimed incessantly.

"I know, I know, I've seen how ya look at Lucy in a bikini." Sting leaned back on his haunches and wiggled his eyebrows at Natsu, "You look like you're gonna eat her."

Natsu said nothing, blowing air through his nostrils.

Sting carefully pushed the fridge door shut and got up, "I've also seen how she looks at you. She's madly in-"

"Why is everybody so freakin' obsessed with this stuff?!" Natsu huffed before gathering a mouthful of his scarf to chew on.

Sting scratched his neck, scanning the dark shadows caressing his guild hall, "I dunno, but looking at it now, romance and sex and all that stuff, it can be pretty great."

"I ain't saying it's not, but man," Natsu spat out his scarf and looked off to the side, shaking his head slowly, "it feels like that's all people talk about. Besides, lewd stuff just sorta falls outta the sky wherever I go."

"I hear that."

"It's at its worst when me and Lis try to spend time together. Everybody is bugging us about romance and stuff and I'm just tryna spend time with my Lisanna." Natsu complained.

Sting giggled, "Dude, to be fair, the way you phrased that ain't helping your case. Besides, you and Lisanna do act a lot like a couple."

"Really?"

A fervent nod was his response.

"Yeah, you guys are always holding hands and speaking softly," Sting explained, his small smile not suggestive in the slightest, "Don't get me wrong, it's super sweet, and I know better, but yeah, I can see why people think you and her are a thing."

"I-i…. yeah, that's fair."

"Heck, you and Lisanna behave like a couple way more than you and Lucy. You and her act like siblings, siblings who want to ba- you know what? I'm not gonna finish that thought." Sting cringed at himself.

"It's still annoying though." Natsu mumbled as he wiped his nose, "Everyone else looks at me like I'm crazy when I don't wig out at the sight of every set of boobs I see."

"Is there something wrong with me?" The question made Sting's face stiffen with a frown.

"Not at all." Sting assured softly, "Look man, your brain's just wired a little differently than most, you think about fighting not… you know what."

"We were trained to fight from a super young age, and then you get thrown into a guild like Fairy Tail were everybody overreacts when something remotely sexual happens, then yeah, I can see why you would get burned out caring about that stuff." he explained carefully.

"In the end, you are right, there is a lot more enjoy in the world then sex and romance." Sting finished sensibly.

"But," Sting added, chuckling, "we really did go on double dates with Yukino and Lisanna. I get it, it was a platonic date-if that's even a thing-but yeah, people are gonna talk because of that."

"They were fun." Natsu remarked fondly.

Sting agreed, "They were, we hated it at first because Yukino and Lisanna just dragged us along, but hey, you and I are buds now."

Sting moved to open and look through the high hanging cupboards and cabinets on the wall behind the bar with the intent of finding something to snack on.

"Y'know, I never got to thank Yukino for that." Natsu said.

"For what?" Sting's hum was distracted as he held a box of goldfish in one hand and a bag of chips in the other.

"Reaching out to Lis like that. No one ever does that."

Sting's perilous decision making process was cut short as his brows furrowed and he turned around, "Say what?"

Natsu leaned in and lowered his solemn voice, "I don't think there is a person in the guild that don't like Lisanna, but nobody ever goes out of their way to spend time with her besides me and her siblings. She has to be the one to chase down interactions."

"But ain't she like your guild's armchair therapist?" Sting asked, a pit forming in his gut, "I heard she started going to school to make it official, make a career out of it."

"Yeah, she is, and she loves being able to help people." Natsu confirmed, "Don't get me wrong, she has friends, but before Yukino, people didn't really go up and talk to her unless they need social advice, and even then, people are more likely to go to Mira."

Natsu sucked in a breath, sharp yet ragged, "Outside of her siblings, a lot of people… sorta forget she's there. After she returned from Edolas, she got about a week of attention before everyone…."

Sting had to swallow hard. Suddenly he wasn't that peckish.

"Heck, she raised Happy just as much as I did, but he doesn't try to interact with her all that much." Natsu managed to get out, "I left Happy with her after the war ended, and I think that's the first time they've been together for any extended period of time since she came back from Edolas."

"Ain't she basically Happy's mom?"

Natsu had more right than any to reply, "Yeah, she is. She loves him like a mom too. That's about the only berserk button she has, is when someone messes with Happy."

"She was there to see him off the first time I took him on a job, and to this day, she's there to greet him every time me and him come back, fish in hand."

"Dude…" Sting drew off, his lips drying at an alarming rate.

"It's not like she's lonely, but I've seen her go whole days without anyone talking to her besides Mira and Elfman." Natsu said, his whisper shivering with emotion.

Sting cleared his throat, "H-how.. How does she feel about this?"

Natsu's body tightened up, eyes flashing with bereavement.

"She's fine with it. That's a uh… trend with her, she's content with a whole lotta crap she shouldn't be." he answered with such caution Sting knew there was a lot more to this then what Natsu was revealing.

"I mean this is Lis we're talking about here, she ain't the type to draw attention to herself. She may be fine with it, but I'm not." Natsu stated emphatically.

"It's hard to explain properly, y'know? I'm not trying to say anybody is doing anything wrong, but I'm not trying to pass this off as something that don't matter. But, ya get the issue, right?" Natsu looked to Sting expectantly, a bothered frown curling his lips.

"Nah, I getcha man. Nobody in Fairy Tail is lonely, everybody is loved, but Lisanna is the closest to being lonely. Is that what ya trying to get out?"

"Holy crap yes!" Natsu swallowed, his incessant shuffling finally settling as he leaned back, "Ever since she's been back, on every other Wednesday, I spend the entire day with just her. No Happy or Lucy, no guild, just us, just Natsu and Lisanna."

That made Sting smile, "What do you guys do?"

"We go on a picnic, go for a hike, sometimes we take a small mundane job." Natsu listed off several wonderful memories, "Sometimes we visit where the grass hut we played in as kids used to be. In the end, it doesn't matter what we do, as long as I'm spending time with her. "

"Didn't matter if the rest of my team wanted to go on a job, or if I wanted to train, Lisanna came first." The conviction that rang in Natsu's words was stronger than any steel.

"Worst part about all of this is that if I say, hang out with her the day before, she suddenly thinks that is all the time I'm gonna give her, and she just assumes I'm doing something else on Wednesday."

There was a rare twinge of genuine earnest frustration in the way Natsu scoffed to himself. Sting's chest continued to hurt, but given how uncommon it was for Natsu to share his honest thoughts on something as serious as this, he kept quiet.

"Lis was my first friend at Fairy Tail, ya know?" Natsu revealed, his predilection for his childhood friend taking the shape of a thin yet warm smile,

"Before Erza was proud of me, before Gray had some sort of respect for me, before Lucy and Wendy and everyone else, was Lis. From day one, she has been in my corner."

"You probably need to drill it in her head that she's entitled to your time more than just about anyone." Sting suggested, unable to keep his own grin down.

Natsu's torso bobbed as nodded in staunch agreement, "Yeah, I'm thinking one of these days I'm gonna drag her on a long job, maybe get Happy to come along too and finally get onto him for not paying attention to his own mom."

"It's frustrating, but I'll never stop reminding her she still has a place in my life." Natsu stated.

"Anyone ever tell you that yer a damn good friend." was all Sting had to say as he wiped at his eyes.

"Nah, I ain't got nothing on Lisanna." Natsu replied as he glanced away, jaw tight.

"Funny thing is, you can take that 'people forgetting she's there' thing, multiply it, add a bit of being treated like the guild's butt monkey, then apply it all to Elfman." Natsu redirected tightly.

"Well even I know that," Sting leaned back against the sink behind him, "Poor dude seems to have drawn the short stick in every aspect of his life."

"Elfman's a real trooper dude." Natsu stated, the discomfort weighing down his posture giving way for admiration, "I wish I could take stuff on the chin like he does."

"Well, how does he feel about all this? Mirajane too?" Sting curiosity got the best of him as he stuffed the snacks back into the cupboard behind him.

"Well, Mira's super busy, and Lis ain't the type to tell people about what's botherin' her. Elfman though," Natsu paused, "Well, he's the best big brother on the planet for a reason."

Such high praise earned a cocked blonde brow from Sting, "Wow, really?"

"Yep, I wish I was half the big brother Elfman is. I make Wendy worry and cry too much for me to compete with him."

"So what'd he do about it? He start screaming at people to find out why they weren't hanging out with his baby sis'?" Sting's chortle rang through his throat as he pondered that mental image.

"Nah," Natsu shook his head, "What he does do is every thirty minutes, on the dime, he stops brawling or yelling and goes over to her to check up on her. Every thirty minutes, me and Gray timed him, exactly thirty minutes."

Sting did his best to stifle his burst of laughter into a hushed rattle of small stones, "Dude, I swear, does being a big brother give you mystical abilities n' junk?"

"Hmm, I mean, sorta," Natsu answered as he scratched an ear, "It's more of uh, I ain't got the words for it…." he thought aloud, snapping his fingers over and over again as if it would speed up the process.

"A supernatural awareness?" Sting offered helpfully.

Natsu's scarred profile brightened as he jumped on the point, "Yeah yeah, that, yeah, that's exactly it! All I know is that I just know when someone's up to no good with Wendy."

"If you're that sharp with Wendy, no wonder Elfman's instincts are so precise. Perks of being the oldest I guess." Sting concluded quietly.

"What?" Natsu blinked at him, "Elfman ain't the oldest, Mira is, he's the middle child."

Sting's bright eyes bulged, "No way! Really?!"

"I know, but when I was a kid, it was pretty obvious, Elfman was a real shrinking violet. Didn't have a lick of talent in him, both Lis and Mira were naturally much better magic users, and well Mira was a super prodigy."

"Elfman? Timid? Natsu, that might be the most mind blowing thing you've told me today." Sting revealed, rubbing his forehead.

"So what changed?"

"Uh, Lis got sucked to Edolas. You ever been told about that?" Natsu asked with a gesture.

"Yukino mentioned that once, Lisanna probably told her."

"Well, it's quite the story, but we all thought she was dead." Natsu began, clicking his tongue a few times before exhaling heavily, "Mira was a shell of her former self, lost all her spunk, and Elfman stepped up. Worked hard to be as strong as he could be."

"Hold up, let me guess." Sting interrupted, an almost sympathetic smirk smearing his lips, "Mira got her mojo back one day and Elfman got tossed back down to where he was before. I in the ballpark here?"

"Home run, Sting." Natsu didn't sound very happy as he nodded.

"I figured, knowing how fate seems to hate him." Sting surmised.

"Funny thing is, the dynamic stuck, even after Lis came back. So he ain't the oldest, but he is the 'big brother' if that makes any sense."

Sting readjusted his vest, "Nah, I getcha. Elfman's a different breed, ain't he?"

"He's a real man. And he's been working his butt off in private for a really long time now." Natsu's tone wore such heavy authority as if he was stating a simple undeniable fact.

"He rebuilt the whole guild hall more or less by himself y'know," Natsu shared, drawing a wide eyed look from the Sabertooth guild master.

"Oh boy I'm getting all the best Fairy Tail gossip tonight aren't I?" The thoroughly invested Sting said as he rubbed his hands together, "Your guild is wild Natsu."

Placing an elbow on the counter top, Natsu propped his head up against a fist, "You got no idea Sting. We don't have to get into it, we can talk about your guild if you want."

"What, nah, you got me all interested, ya can't skimp out on me now." Sting firmly denied the offer, "Besides, what we heard in the hallway is the most interesting thing to happen around here since the war."

"Didn't ya say Orga nabbed your orange juice?" Natsu asked.

Sting's face curled into a pout as he growled, "Yeah, and if he's doing that again he's gonna be on finding Frosch duty."

"Anything else, any other new goobers or characters you wanna share with me?" Natsu said.

"Well, I can tell you some new things I've learned," Sting leaned back to stare at the mess of rafters above, "Sorano doesn't seem to understand the concept of pants, Minerva is actually a pretty good cook, I'm not entirely sure what team Rufus is batting for, and no one has ever seen Dobangal's face."

"Sting, there's a lot to unpack there. Wait, did you say nobody's ever got a glimpse of that ninja guy's mug?"

Sting pursed his lips and nodded slowly, "Nobody. We're pretty sure he was born wearing a ninja outfit. I asked him about it, but he told me he wasn't born from a womb, but from 'the shadows'."

Sting coughed into a fist, "Now, let's get back to the good stuff. You told me Elfman rebuilt your guild?"

"Yeah, and by himself for the most part." Natsu explained reluctantly, massaging his sore throat, 'When the guild reunited, and all the crying and hugging stopped, we realized we didn't have a guild hall. But before anyone could get to work, Elfman asked us to let him do it alone."

"There is no way everyone was okay with that." Sting muttered.

Natsu winced as he thought back , "We weren't, but it was the way he said it, we really didn't have a choice. 'I'm the one who destroyed it, let me be the one to build it.'"

Sting's response was a low whistle of awe that sharply snapped the silence the range of their soft conversation couldn't reach.

"So, while everyone else spent their time catching up with each other, celebrating all the birthdays we missed, Elfman rebuilt the guild."

Sting rubbed his cheek, "That had to have taken super long."

"Almost three days." Natsu blurted out.

Sting's brow scrunched, "What?"

"He worked for almost three days straight. Erza tried to get him to stop, but he wasn't having it."

"Dude, he told Erza no?" Sting's mouth slunk open, "My man really was going through it."

"Sting, he's been going through it for like five years." The remark was a bit more terse than Natsu intended it to be, his voice slapping away the comfortable mood Sting was trying to maintain.

"After all was said and done, and we got ourselves a spiffy new guild hall, Elfman just… didn't talk about it. He denied any credit, as far as he was concerned he did what was required of a true man."

"I'm telling ya, the Strauss family is built differently." Sting came to the conclusion he probably should have already arrived at.

"Bein' apart of Fairy Tail, gives us the ability to do the unreasonable." Natsu stated, pride saturating every syllable.

Natsu's rough cheeks crumpled as he smiled, "Y'know they tried to legally adopt me when I was a kid. Mira may have been super rough around the edges back then, and she wasn't exactly nice, but there has always been a nurturer inside her."

"Ha! Really? Natsu, how would that even work?"

Natsu grinned and shrugged, "No clue. They settled for deeming me an honorary member of the Strauss family."

"There any benefits to that?" Sting tilted his torso forward with interest.

"I can raid their fridge anytime I want." Natsu answered smugly.

"Man you have it made."

Natsu laughed and licked his lips, "Yeah, I really do, don't I?"

With a groan, Natsu leaned back in his chair and stretched his arms high into the air, "How long have we been chatting? Shouldn't they be done by now?"

"It depends," Sting explained, "Ten minutes is the sweet spot if round two isn't on the table."

Natsu's frown moved like a tidal wave, rupturing the rest of his face into a look of unease.

"Wait, people do this more than once at a time?" he asked.

"Well, girls can go again right away, us guys have a cooldown-"

"Sting, why are you telling me this like I'm taking notes?" Natsu interrupted.

Sting scoffed, almost offended, "Because you should be. You need to write this down and put it in your back pocket, trust me."

Natsu's head was left drifting once again, the lapse in conversation giving them both time to unload hefty exhales from their lungs.

There was an established danger to the two dragon slayers hanging out, if they weren't careful, they could lose hours of time to their banter and conversations.

Natsu turned back to Sting, eyes intent, "Can I ask ya something?" he murmured softly.

"Man, the skinwalker did get ya."

"What?"

Sting moved forward to bow against the countertop, "Dude, you've never asked before letting a question fly, no matter how personal. Look at the conversation we just had."

"That's one of the greatest things about us hanging out, no filters. We don't walk on eggshells around each other." Sting reminded.

"I know, I know, but this question is a doozy." Natsu expressed an unusual burst of worry.

Sting shrugged, not bothered in the least, "Well, shoot."

Natsu twitched in response, clearing his throat one time too many, "When you and Yukino are…"

"Having sex?" Sting thankfully finished the question for him, his response almost mechanical.

"Yeah, when all that is goin' on, aren't ya afraid you might hurt her?"

The question made Sting's eyes narrow, and for a second, something sharp and hot settled in Natsu's gut.

"Whaddaya mean?" Sting's tone wasn't cautious, rather purely curious.

"Yukino's a tough cookie, I know that, but with how strong you've gotten, aren't ya ever worried?"

Sting hadn't broken eye contact, he had only tilted his head.

"Like what if you accidentally turned on Dragon Force?"

The quiet facade Sting put up was broken as the hard lines of his face shattered and laughter spilled out.

"Dude, dude!" Sting cackling was near silent as he waved his hands in front of him, "Yukino's way too vanilla for that, Dragon Force is way too intense for her."

Natsu's shoulders weren't as heavy as he watched Sting's half hearted attempt to restrain his giggling.

"Look Natsu, a lot of things go on when the mood's right, but Dragon Force isn't for bed." Sting told him as he circled the countertop and slunk into a stool one down from Natsu

When Natsu leaned back, he was surprised to find a backboard to the stool, "So you're not scared?"

Sting gave him yet another shrug, "No, not really. She ain't the rough type in bed despite how much ass she can kick."

"Okay, but you, what about you? It takes two people to do that, I know that." Natsu pressed.

Sting folded his arms, voice warmed with mirth, "Ya think I'm rough?"

"No dude, it's just…" Natsu's nostrils flared as the dark depths of his eyes twinkled with memories, "We both know how our instincts can get, sometimes it's hard to keep your mind straight."

"Yeah, but that's during a battle. Sure, your mind isn't exactly straight when it goes down, but…" Sting drew off in thought, trying to reword his next answer carefully.

The stool squeaked as Sting adjusted his back, "Look, there's a different kind of intensity during sex, and its plenty different from battle. There's similarities, sure, but it's distinct for the most part."

"So you're not scared? Scared you might accidentally bruise her or something?" Natsu whispered, repeating his question.

"Heh, well, when I leave a bruise, it's for a reason." Sting simpered, "But nah, not really, I trust myself. This is more of a Rogue question given what we just heard."

Natsu's head drifted off to the side as he stared at the layout of the guild hall, a layout wildly different than the one he was used to, a layout he could navigate with all five senses robbed from him.

After a few beats, he brought his shoulders up.

"Okay, thanks."

Sting's golden brows popped, "That's it?"

"Yeah." Natsu's cadence rode the edge of being curt as he finally settled in his seat.

Sting did the same, propping his feet up on the empty stool between them.

"I'm gonna take a shot in the dark and say that question wasn't really about sex… was it?"

Natsu swallowed, "It was that obvious?"

"Look man," Sting frowned at the haggard face his fellow dragon slayer made, "People have been talkin' crap about ya for a long time, whether it's your intelligence, or your 'lack' of control."

"Some of those people are people you greatly admire, so it stands to reason, those words are gonna have some effect on ya." Sting figured.

Natsu's gaze continued to bounce from nowhere in particular to nothing of interest.

"Some of them are right." he murmured after a few beats, Natsu's tone almost as quiet as the slumbering walls around them.

"Hah, no," there was an edge, sharp and gleaming, to Sting laugh, "not a ton of people ever give you the benefit of the doubt. Most of them, yes, even your friends, are more or less talking out their ass."

Sting leaned forward, eyes darkening, "I have seen first hand the things you are capable of. I felt it for myself."

A chill clambered up the rungs of Sting's spine as he sorted through memory after memory. His jaw muscles tightened.

There was no awestruck amazement or glowing praise to wet Sting's words as he spoke, "I know better than anyone the type of things you can push yourself to do. And to this day, I still struggle to fully wrap my head around it."

"That bein' said, I've also seen the type of person you are around Lisanna, around Wendy." he added, hopefully scanning the battlefield that was Natsu's face for any signs of eased tension.

"I remember one day we were sparring, and you were kicking my ass as usual, and all the sudden, ya stopped. Just stopped. You turned that 'fight mode' off because you remembered you promised to take Wendy and Chelia to some fair or somethin'." Sting recalled.

"For years I have watched you turn that switch on and off with no issue. You snap between killin' mountains to being the sweetest big brother I've ever seen just like-" he snapped his fingers for emphasis, "-that."

Natsu felt something, good memories maybe, tug at his sternum.

"Whatever you're telling yerself, whoever you're listening to, they, or it, are wrong." Sting stated firmly, "You ain't some crazed pyromaniac, you've got so much love to give man."

Natsu splayed his fingers across the lower half of his ragged face to hide his lips.

"Dang." he sighed.

"What?"

Natsu pulled his hand away to reveal a jagged smirk, "Those words really just came outta ya' mouth."

Sting barked a laugh, "Hey! C'mon dude I get it was corny but I'm serious!"

"Look, look, I'm just workin' off the scraps your giving me." he defended, puffs of amusement coming from his nostrils.

"I remember taking the girls to that fair that came into town every so often," Natsu's smile briefly returned to its usual size, "I made sure they both went home with the biggest prizes every time."

"See? That's what I'm getting at!" Sting jumped back onto the point eagerly, "You and Chelia were practically strangers at the time and you treated her as if the world had delivered you a second little sister. That ain't something a destructive psycho would do."

Natsu wished to move further downstream on the current of their conversation, and it showed in the way he gave a low chuff and picked at his nails.

Sting was too hasty when picking their next topic, thinking back to his and Erza's brief exchange.

"So is it true you paralyzed Raven Tail back during the games?"

Natsu's eyes sharpened, "What?"

Sting doubled down, "Back during the Grand Magic Games, Erza told me you demolished Raven Tail because they tried to ambush Wendy."

There was an eerie sense of neutrality in Natsu's expressions as he looked up and off to the side in thought.

"Nah, it wasn't the whole guild, just one idiot." he revealed quietly.

Sting was given nothing to work with in terms of tone, so he continued to press.

"And…?"

"And what?"

"How bad did he get it? Did you really paralyze him?"

Natsu shook his head, the dark depths of his eyes now blacker than the shadows curled up in the corners.

"No."

"So that was just a rumor?" Sting asked.

"Yep."

A frown just about grew on Sting's lips as he watched every part of Natsu, to his face to his posture, remain stolid.

"Hey, if you don't want me asking about it…."

A sigh barreled past Natsu's teeth as he worked his jaw, "No, no, it's fine."

Sting's seat got a lot more comfortable at that.

"So, what really happened, what'd ya do to that coward? Walk me through that night if you don't mind."

There was nothing in the way of sound but the rather dry sound of Natsu rubbing his cheek for several seconds. Every so often, Sting watched traces of anger race across the inscrutable coal of Natsu's eyes.

"It was past curfew, and Wendy hadn't come home yet," Natsu began, "Me and Lucy were freakin' out and we're going to go look for her. Erza tried to stop us, told us we would be breaking the rules for the games."

Sting couldn't fight the tug that pulled his lips into a deep frown, "She conveniently left that out."

"So, whaddya do?"

Natsu put it bluntly, "I told Erza I love Wendy far more than I would ever fear her, and left."

Pride shot through Sting, but he didn't act on it.

"I uh… found her in the gardens outside the palace, the whole thing was a maze." Natsu continued, voice much tighter than before. Sting could finally see morose memories swirl across Natsu's expression.

"Some dickhead in a mask had Wendy and Carla cornered. My best guess is that they were trying to drain her magic or scare her or something." Natsu croaked.

Sting leaned forward and whispered, "And…?"

"H-he… Wendy had a real nasty shiner, and Carla… she had her magic drained, she was knocked out..." Natsu drew off, white knuckling the countertop with enough force to make the marble groan.

"Sting, can I ask ya something?" His prompt was sharp.

Sting's stiff nod made Natsu look him in the eye, "Have you ever been angry?"

"Like really angry?" Natsu's salient hiss made a rattlesnake's sound dull.

Sting could feel his throat close up, he pondered the mental image of a crying Wendy with hot tears racing down the tender slopes of her horribly bruised cheeks as she clutched her unconcious exceed.

Sting suppressed the urge to slink outside and go level a mountain range. A growl brewed low in his throat despite his best efforts to keep quiet.

"W-well," Natsu swallowed thickly, "I was scared. Scared of just how angry I was."

"I was all smiles as I told Wendy to go back, Gray and Juvia found her in the streets crying right after, they took her back to the dorms, and got Carla some help."

Sting nervously licked his lips, "Then…?"

"I trapped him in the gardens with my fire, let him scamper around, trying to find a way to escape."

Sting guessed Natsu hadn't created an escape.

With a tone that could sour flowers with its poison, Natsu stated, "Then I broke every last bone in his legs, and left the bastard there so he could crawl back to his pathetic guild."

"Woah." the remark slipped out from between Sting's open lips, "Dude…"

The air cracked as Natsu slammed a palm on the counter and shot to his feet, snarling,

"Hey! That bastard thought it was a good idea to try a corner a 12 year old girl and her exceed! He had it coming!"

"Natsu-"

"No! He tried to touch my Wendy! He hurt Carla! Anyone touches either of them and I start turning mountain ranges to glass floors!" Natsu's usually merry voice reached a baritone that practically rattled the city.

For just a moment, the usual fire in his eyes made a thunderous return, lighting up the dark guildhall with their roaring ferocity.

Sting stood up and deployed his guildmaster voice, intent on putting a stop to Natsu's outburst, "Natsu, relax! You wanna wake the whole guild!?"

Natsu was snapped from his rant as he blinked rapidly and glanced sheepishly at his surroundings. His adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed his anger down into his throat to nestle it in one of the many lonely corners of his stomach.

Sting's hard stare remained on him as Natsu slumped back into his seat yet again.

"Sorry." he mumbled shyly.

Sting softened the mood with a chortle, "Natsu dude, I get it, I really do. I know better than anyone how deep that bond goes."

Sting thought it odd how Wendy could bring out such patience and gentleness in Natsu, but at the same time be the catalyst for unleashing an unfathomable unstoppable force of nature.

This time, Sting chose to plop down on the stool directly to Natsu's right, clapping his back.

"If me or Gajeel or Rouge were in that position, I promise you Natsu we would have done the exact same thing. You got my support for doing what you dude, full send." Sting offered his approval, albeit speaking much more hushed than his fellow slayer.

"Anyone who tries to hurt our Wendy gets the hands, no question." Sting said, adding with a remedying grin, "But, let's keep our voices down, Sorano ain't too happy when people disturb her beauty sleep."

Again, Natsu rubbed his shoulder and gave a low, "Sorry."

"Would ya stop apologizing?" Sting's soft shove was playful as his laugh bubbled in his throat, "It's that protective attitude that makes you Natsu. Don't ever apologize for being protective."

"It's super freaky ya know?"

Natsu eyed him, "What is?"

"How whenever Wendy is around, you somehow mature mentally like ten years, but when she leaves your IQ drops back down to room temperature." Sting pointed out as he returned to his spot, propping his feet up on the stool between them yet again.

"Hey, thanks- wait a minute."

Sting quietly laughed into the back of his wrist, "I'm joking, you're smarter than you let on, but it's like your brain gets 100 million more neurons whenever she's around. You suddenly know what sexual innuendos are too, its dare I say it, a near 180 turn for you."

"Those neurons, is that a lot?" Natsu asked as he settled back into his seat.

"No idea."

"Heh, while the topic of Wendy is still relevant, didya know she can sing?"

A smirk caressed Sting's face, "Ooh, really?"

Natsu smiled back at him, nodding, "Yep, she sounds like an angel. I saw her and Chelia performing at Lamia Scale."

"Wendy, performing? But she's so…. Wendy. Being shy is just a part of who she is." Sting said, "Well, have you let her live that down?"

Natsu put a hand over his chest, appalled, "What do you take me for? Some ameatur big brother? Of course I haven't, I hummed that tune the entire trip to get Juvia."

"Now I got some fuel to work with her next time I see her." Sting said as he spun zealously on his stool with devious intent.

"It's sorta weird though, she kept asking me if I liked her performance." Natsu mumbled in recollection.

Sting stopped his spinning and blinked a few times, "Why is that weird?"

"Natsu, Wendy lives off your approval. It don't matter what everyone else thinks, as long as she makes big brother proud, she's happy. You should know this."

Natsu scratched his chin, "Yeah, I know, it's just, she seemed… I dunno, clingier than usual after me and Luce picked her up. It ain't a bad thing by any means, but it was weird."

"Did you consider the fact she missed her big brother after not seeing him for a whole freakin' year?" Sting proposed patiently, "Didn't you miss her?"

"Of course I did." was Natsu's enthusiastic reply.

"Well that goes both ways, how did she react when you guys reunited?"

Once more, Natsu's eyes warmed as he brought bittersweet memories to bear, "She barreled into me, knocked me on my butt, and cried into my chest."

"That sounds about right. Did that surprise you?"

"Well no."

"Kay', Natsu, what exactly is the issue here?" Sting tried to clear up.

"There ain't any issue, I'm just… shooting the breeze I guess." Natsu rubbed at the sides of his face, thumbing the quarter of an inch deep scar across his cheek, "I'm glad we get to catch up."

"Me too." Sting hummed his agreement.

"Hey, look, if you have any questions about the war, about what happened with Acnologia, you know you can ask? You're entitled to answers."

Sting shook his head at the offer, "We'll talk about whatever you wanna talk about, it's a nice change of pace from you letting me rant for half an hour about why toast is overrated."

"You sure?" Natsu pressed.

Sting took in a deep breath, and spoke heavily, "Natsu, the questions I wanna ask you are the ones you aren't gonna answer. Questions like, 'are you okay?', 'have you talked with anyone about the war?'."

"I'm fine, you don't need to worry about me." Sting must have heard that sequence of words at least a thousand times, each instance with little to no variation.

"You are my friend and you are my brother, it is my job to worry about you. Just like it is your guild's job to worry about you." Sting's rebuke was sharp.

Sting's face softened, "Look, if you ain't ready to revisit stuff, then I ain't gonna force you, but that don't mean I'm not going to be a little worried about you after you disappeared for a month and a half."

Natsu's expression bounced wildly between gratitude and solicitude.

"Yeah, that's on me, bookin' it like that. And I'm sorry if I've been a little off tonight."

"Off?" Sting asked, fingers laced together over his chest as he too tilted back.

"Being quiet, asking about adult stuff."

Sting's snort was drier than any desert, "Natsu, I get that you liked to ham it up in front of people to keep the mood light, but don't think anyone is exempting you from havin' adult conversations. You're a grown dude, grown dude talks have to happen."

Natsu visibly relaxed, "Thanks."

"You can thank me by telling me what you've been up to. Resting I hope?"

"Something like that. Although I got the random urge one day to start renovating stuff."

"Ah, your a guy, that just happens." Sting informed him, voice softening as he asked, "Anything else?"

"Oh, yeah," Natsu's eyes brightened, "Me and Juvia took a few jobs!" he informed with a chirp.

"You and Juvia?"

"Yep! She's great, me and her are buds now."

Sting gave a quiet laugh, "You make friends with just about everyone Natsu. Well, how'd it go?"

"It was pretty chill, she uh... told me some things I needed to hear. But the job itself wasn't too wild, it was helping perform a coup I think, I had to pull two tectonic plates together by the end of it though."

Sting shrugged, "Sounds pretty low key to me."

"Other than tonight, and hangin' with Juvia, I guess the most exciting thing I did was spend some time with Asuka."

"That's got to be better than any therapy session." Sting remarked, finding it impossible to keep in a smile.

Natsu leaned back, lacing his hands behind his head, "Uh huh. I don't really have to think about anything else other than her. Just me and my niece, and wherever she is dragging me to."

"Where'd ya guys go this time?"

"Aquarium. She really likes the dolphins."

Sting whistled, "Man, you pamper a lot of people, huh? You buy Wendy whatever she wants, you go do whatever Asuka wants, like dude, I do not take you for a guy who has a lot of cash."

"I have tons... that got lost in a boating accident, along with all of Alzack's guns."

"Ah, ya hate to see it." Sting said knowingly.

"Yeah, being an adult feels weird sometimes." Natsu sighed, "Thanks for not making a thing out of it, and thanks for letting me talk about adult stuff."

"Like hiding wealth from the government?"

"Exactly."

"Don't mention it," Sting waved him off, "Although the Dragon Force during sex thing is out of pocket, even for us."

Natsu refrained from repining at that being brought back up as Sting quietly giggled to himself.

"Look, I get it, your Dragon Force is the meteor that killed the dinosaurs," Sting began, chasing down eye contact from his fellow dragon slayer to little success.

"No, that was Dad." Natsu added quickly.

"Regardless, your Dragon Force is a part of you as a dragon slayer, it ain't nothing to be afraid of." Sting advised, brushing away blonde bangs from his forehead so he could scratch his scalp.

"Like, have you ever accidentally left it on?" Natsu asked, "Wendy did one time when me and her were napping, like I woke up and she's curled up against like she always is, still asleep, in Dragon Force."

While Sting did chuckle, he gave a slow shake of his head and reassured, "Well, Wendy's Dragon Force seems to work a bit different than ours. She mastered it in a year, it took me and Rogue at least three or four."

"I noticed how quick she picked that up," Natsu acknowledged, "Somehow her Dragon Force makes her look even cuter, somethin' I didn't even know was freakin' possible."

"Yeah, she was really jazzed to show me after you suplexed that mook war good," Sting scratched his arm before gesturing to his hair, "Her hair turned pink and she did this adorable little twirl and curtesy, my heart just about melted into my shoes."

"I know I said her situation is probably different, but I think it'd be plenty wise to look at your lil' sis as an example when handling Dragon Force." Sting continued to pursue the subject, his gentle suggestion still coming out insistent.

Natsu said nothing, glancing down at his knees to engage in thought. Sting let a defeated sigh slip, and chose to back down. This was the most Natsu had really talked about his own Dragon Force, so he decided to take a win where he could.

"Let's tuck that away for the time being, how about that?" Sting offered softly with a reassuring smile and tilt of his head.

Oddly enough, Natsu began to glance around at random, peeking beneath the bar and over his shoulders as if there were demons huddling in every sliver of shadow.

"What?"

"Do you think he's here?" Natsu whispered as he ducked his head, sounding alarmed.

"Who?" Sting narrowed his eyes at him, now slightly uneasy, "What's goin' on?"

The silently panicked Natsu yet again greedily stole brief glances from the guild's corners before he leaned in even closer.

"The 'time being'? Is he here?"

Sting let a long and loud groan slip, "You suck, y'know that? You are too good at playing stupid."

"Thank you, I don't have to try too hard."

Natsu's lack of trenchant tone made Sting chuckle again, this time the motion coming from deep in his belly.

"You know you don't always have to play that bit? You weren't doing it with Erza earlier, and she didn't seem all that bothered by it."

Natsu frowned, "Well, she's got a lot going on right now, so that wasn't on her mind most likely."

"Oh yeah, can I uh…. Ask about that? I know, I know, I just said I would let you decide this stuff, but…" Sting said tentatively, "I think I know what's going on, but I wanna hear it straight from the dragon's mouth."

Natsu's eyes narrowed, almost dazed, "You already know?"

Sting's exhale was so heavy it nearly shattered the floor boards when it tumbled from his lips. Sliding out of his chair, he rounded the bar again before reaching beneath the counter. Natsu watched as he withdrew a rather thick newspaper and tossed it in front of him.

"The whole town knows about it bud, anything involving Erza is gonna get tons of attention."

Natsu felt his stomach shrivel up and drop like decaying autumn leaf as he scanned the front page headline.

'She-Devil and Titania's reign comes to an end; underdog Gray Fullbuster triumphs in dominating fashion. Fairy Tail's pecking order left in ruins.'

Beneath the headline was a photo of Gray, his Devil Slayer mark shrouding half of his form in darkness, gripping the forearms of the kneeling Erza and Mirajane.

"I should have expected this," Natsu rasped as he rubbed his jaw, cursing "Stupid freakin' reporters."

The newspaper crinkled as Sting grabbed it and began to reread the story his guild had been discussing just about all day, "Hey, what's with Gray's tattoos? A bit freaky lookin', aye?"

"It's his Devil Slayer mark. I don't know much about it, but its the real deal as far as I can tell."

Sting's eyes went wide, "Oh damn, he's a slayer too now?" he tried to let out a tension easing laugh, "Hopefully he'll stop considering himself the black sheep outta all of us, back when we were training he was the only one of us guys who wasn't a slayer."

Natsu sent him a flat look, "Yeah no, this Gray we're talking about, I don't think he's ever had a positive thought about himself in his life. He makes Lis and Gajeel look cocky in comparison."

Lightly gnawing on his tongue, Natsu's hand searched for something to fiddle with, eventually finding the end of his scarf to twist and twirl around his fingers.

"He ain't gonna like this."

Sting didn't look up from the newspaper, "Why not?"

Natsu licked his lips, and his silence had never been so loud.

"How's uh… how's Sabertooth's job flow?"

"Pretty good, we're not as popular as Fairy Tail, but we get plenty of business."

Natsu swayed back and forth in his seat, "Sting, you ever notice the lack of, well, 'difficult' job offers?"

"Define difficult for me, bud." Sting asked as he took in Gray's appearance in the photo. Gray was very good at looking like a bad guy, a little too good.

"Assassinations, human trafficking, slave trade. Ya know, putting a stop to all that stuff, making sure it doesn't happen."

This finally earned Sting's concentration as his gaze snapped to Natsu.

"Those are a little too hardcore for my guild man, we may have been ass hats in the past, but we didn't murk people like that, even if they really did deserve it." Sting denied carefully.

"But have you ever found it odd you don't get those offers to begin with? Why your guild has never gotten a job offer to assassinate a dictator or something?"

Sparing the offer board on an adjacent wall across the guild a glance, Sting shrugged, "N-no, not really. Why did you ask?"

Natsu answered the question with another question, "And have you ever picked up how Gray is easily the least popular member of my team?"

Sting stopped reading entirely, "Yeah, just another case of someone not getting proper respe-"

"That's on purpose." Natsu cut him off.

"Sting, he lives in me and Erza's shadow for a reason. Lisanna and Elfman, that's entirely on accident, but with Gray, he's real careful with that stuff." he explained, leaning forward to maintain eye contact.

This was no longer talk about guild gossip, Sting could feel a grim revelation on the precipice of being revealed. He gave a slight shuffle.

"He must really value his privacy, huh?"

Natsu's lack of smile told Sting all he required about the conversation they were about to have.

"Remember Erza fightin' those 100 beasts during the Grand Magic Games?" Natsu prompted as he clasped his hands together.

"Course I do, people are still talking about it to this day. It was pretty rad." Sting confirmed.

Natsu briefly looked at his folded hands, murmuring tightly, "Yeah, I betcha a good amount of jewel Gray has probably done something like that, we just don't know about it."

"W-why?" Sting more or less wheezed in response, his train of thought in anarchy.

"Look, him being this strong don't surprise me one bit, I trained with the guy for months, but why keep something like that on the down low?" Sting questioned.

"We know what Gray wants us to know."

Sting's cheeks puffed as he let out a flustered breath, "Is he like a spook or something? I thought Gajeel was the one doing odd jobs for the magic counsel."

Natsu didn't comment on that, "Sting, read the full story, and tell me how many people are surprised he could do that?"

Sting reluctantly flattened the newspaper out and finished scanning the news story.

After a minute of silence, the air had grown stuffy.

"Y-yeah, a lot of people can't seem to wrap their head around this. Why?"

"Because as far as the world, and my guild, is concerned, Gray is a somewhat above average mage whose most notable feature is his stripping habit." Natsu put it bluntly, "Lucy and Wendy have potential, Erza is Erza, and I blow stuff up, but Gray is… there."

Sting winced, "I always noticed people treat him a mid carder; not weak, but not really strong compared to S-class."

"Man, I hate the comparison game." Sting groaned out as he folded the newspaper beneath his arm.

"The game gets played, whether we like it or not, it would be pretty stinking naive to call it unnatural." Natsu remarked blandly.

"Look, this is all super cryptic and creepy, but can ya just get to the point? What does Gray's lack of reputation and what type of jobs my guild gets have to do with each other?" Sting's foot began to tap as he frowned.

Natsu's tone was pensive, "Gray takes the 'wet' jobs, Sting."

Sting's skin grew itchy, and his foot tapping stopped as an indescribable shudder ran through his innards, "Oh…..oh."

Surprisingly enough, Natsu elaborated, "Sometimes a giant monster doesn't need to be slain, sometimes an ancient artifact doesn't need to be found, sometimes a dark guild doesn't need to be infiltrated….."

Sting shivered as he was looked in the eye and told, "Sting, sometimes a lot of very bad people need to disappear very quickly."

Sting's mouth opened at least a dozen times as he frantically overturned every wrinkle in his brain for some sort of response. He struggled to comprehend how much this put things into perspective.

The comatose guild hall around him felt a lot colder, its shadows that infested every crevice a lot thicker, as if Rogue himself was spectating.

"I-isn't there…?" Sting drew off.

"What?" Natsu cocked his head.

"Isn't there already a group that does this s-sorta stuff? W-what's his face, blue hair, strong for no reason, personality of brick? Doesn't he run a g-group like that?" Sting stammered.

Natsu shook his head, "Jellal and his team bring people to justice. Gray puts people in the ground."

Sting rubbed his collar bone, "W-well then…"

"It's messy, and he's never gonna get credit for it, but more grounded stuff like that, it needs to be done, because this stuff happens a lot more than ya'd think." Natsu explained somberly.

"At the end of the day, Gray gets in the gutter, gets his hands dirty, and the rest of the guild is free to get into all sorts of trouble." Natsu said.

"Natsu, you sure you should be telling me all this? Yeah the stuff about Lisanna and Elfman hurts my chest, but this…."

"You're the guildmaster, it's your job to monitor what jobs your guilds get, right?"

"Well yeah, but I'm guessing Gray doesn't want people to know about this."

Natsu shook his head, "No, Gray has always wanted to let you in on this, you deserve to know considering you have to look after your guild. He's always wanted you to know that if some job slips through, you take it to him."

"I've had at least a hundred hours of conversation with the guy, this probably should have come up." Sting remarked honestly.

Natsu was slow on the uptake, scratching at his own hair before finally speaking, "Maybe he doesn't want you to see him any differently. The Gray you know, and the Gray who does that stuff aren't the same."

Sting's grimace softened, "Y-yeah, fair enough."

"Speaking of, how many people do know?"

"Just me and Gramps."

Sting coughed, "Really? Just you two? Doesn't he ever need help?"

"No, he's too good to need help, and even if he did, no one in the guild has the stomach for that line of work. He does it so no one else has to." Natsu reminded him.

Sting rubbed his cheek, glancing at his feet, "It's that bad?"

"...Yeah…."

Sting's gaze snapped up and over, "Wait, how do you know?"

Natsu's look soured and he glanced away, "I got curious, why he was taking such easy jobs, and ended up following him one time."

"A-and…?" Sting knew he needed to keep his curiosity in check, especially in regards to something like this, but Natsu had been oddly forthcoming today.

Then again, Natsu was never quiet when expressing concern or singing praise for his guild.

"You don't need to know." Natsu said.

"Forget I asked." Stung muttered, trying his best not to toy with these new thoughts too much, to little success, "What does the magic council have to say about this?"

Natsu snorted, "Why would they do anything about it? Someone does their job for them without all the government hassle, all they have to do is sit there and get paid to not do their jobs, as usual." he explained, tone acerbic.

Sting was silent for a few moments as he hoisted himself up to sit on the counter top, his back to Natsu.

Sting flipped through the newspaper's wrinkled pages, very eager to move on, "Well, the opinion pieces on this aren't very well thought out." he said as took in the mountains of words before him.

"Are they ever?" Natsu shot back.

"Fair point."

"Ooh, ooh, apparently Mauricio's is bringing back the double bacon-which, ya know, the bacon sandwich with bacon instead of bread?" Sting shared exuberantly.

Natsu's brows popped, "Huge if true."

"Let's see, there's a sale on dusters, so you can continue to wear the same thing every day." Sting quipped.

Behind him, Natsu scoffed, "First off, I'm wearing two sleeves now, completely different, secondly, this is rich coming from the guy who unironically wore gloves that went past his elbows. Might as well wear a turtleneck if you wanna get beat up."

"Hey, you're in no place to be sitting in judgment of neck wear, you got a scarf on."

"Scarf gang for life, besides…."

There was a rustle of cloth and movement behind Sting, prompting him to swivel his torso to see Natsu had tied his scarf diagonally across his torso.

"Can some goober wearing a turtleneck do this?" Natsu prompted smugly, "I can also use it a headband, a ninja mask, and if the situation calls for it, I can use it to choke out Gajeel whenever he tries to steal my fries. And lastly, my personal favorite, I can wrap it around Wendy whenever she gets cold. Scarfs are versatile, turtlenecks aren't."

"Ehh, is that what your neck looks like?" Sting remarked with his brows furrowed, "This feels wrong."

Sting turned back around, "Didn't you used to wear just a vest or something?"

"Yeah, but uh, I could tell the guild didn't like looking at my scars." Natsu's tone continued to be more dynamic than any roller coaster ride, dropping to solemnness in an instant, "I ran it by Lis and Luce and they let me change."

"Why'd you have to run it by them?"

"They control my fashion." Natsu revealed, sounding truly defeated.

Sting sucked in air through his teeth in a wince, "Lisanna and Lucy? That's the superpowers uniting dude."

The haunted Natsu uttered, "I don't stand a chance Sting, they each take an arm and it's all over for me, they drag me to like a thousand stores, and I'm trying on thousands of dusters that look exactly the same."

"That's rough buddy." Sting shared his sympathies, and Natsu didn't respond, presumably holding himself as horrid memories racked through him.

A small lull in their conversation finally arrived, and they both said nothing for a few moments.

After another minute of silence, Sting couldn't find anything else in the newspaper not relating to Gray and the fight. He sighed in defeat and begrudgingly dragged himself back on topic.

"Why?" Sting began with a question.

"Why what?"

Sting thumbed back to the front page to scan for anything he had missed, "Why would Gray not like this being' made a thing? Is he scared that all the stuff he does can get tracked back to him and the guild?"

"No," Natsu spoke tersely, "He isn't secretly famous in that line of work, he's a ghost, he's made sure of it. He doesn't leave a trail."

"Would it have to be the argument that broke out at the end? Did he not like you breaking up the fight before it could finish?" Sting finally revealed how much he knew, rereading the end section of the column that vaguely detailed the tension the fight had left between guildmates.

"Gray could have ended the fight any time he wanted, him using his slayer powers was entirely unnecessary." Natsu practically spat in disapproval, although he was quick to draw himself back and let guilt soak the contours of his scarred face.

"Is that what the argument was about?" Sting said.

Natsu folded his arms across the counter top, burying his head in the crevice of his elbows, "Sorta," he mumbled.

"Hey, ya know you can talk to me man, I can tell this is bothering you, and I wanna help." Sting had never been so upfront with an offer like this, but given the circumstances, he bet on a hail mary, "Could I get the full story?"

"Sure."

"Wait, r-really!?" Sting gawked, staring wide eyed at Natsu as if he were stargazing.

Natsu straightened his back and sat up, "Yeah, it's best I get an unbiased take on this."

Sting had to squish his excitement at this breakthrough down beneath his tongue as he spoke, "Well, lay it on me bud, I'm happy to lend an ear."

"What about Rogue and Minerva?"

"Eh, don't worry about it," Sting brushed it off with a swipe of his hand, "This is about the time they'll start round two."

Natsu grimaced as Sting made his way over to the fridge, "You want anything?"

"What do you have?"

Sting peeled the fridge door open yet again and bent over, "Uh, a lot of milk, strawberry milk, chocolate milk, almond milk-"

Natsu gasped, "Almonds don't have boobs how is this possible-"

"-goat milk, and two percent milk." Sting finished listing off their options.

"Where's the other ninety eight percent of that milk?" Natsu asked as he curled his scarf back around his neck.

Sting gave a paltry shrug, "Humanity isn't ready for that sort of power."

"Alright, do you have anything to eat?" said Natsu.

Sting absently tapped his chin as he scanned the fridge's innards, "Uhhh…. We have…a bunch of bags of shredded cheese."

"Sting, do you take criticism?"

"Not without crying, no."

Natsu's mouth flattened, "I'd lay off the dairy dude."

"So you don't want anything?" Sting prompted impatiently.

Natsu was quiet for a few ticks, "I could go for some strawberry milk."

"Alrighty then," Sting chirped in approval, "Let's start from the top."

"Wait, wait, wait, one last thing." Natsu admonished, tilted his head in the direction of the guild halls doors, "Before we get into this, are we absolutely sure we shouldn't be looking for Frosch right now?"

"Trust me Natsu, he gets lost a lot. The worst that has ever happened is he got arrested in a nearby town and we had to bail him out."

Natsu's forehead crinkled in surprise, "Arrest? What'd the little guy do?"

"Apparently, three charges of tax evasion." Sting responded.

Natsu pumped a fist in approval, "My man."