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Chapter Text

It was a beautiful day outside, birds were singing, flowers were blooming, and Rogue thought it a good idea to walk to Dragon Slayer Academy, with his hair in his iconic messy bun. He had spent his days reading books about dragons instead of going outside and hanging out with friends like the other popular kids did; instead, Rogue preferred to spend his time studying for exams, reading books about dragons, or cleaning his specs and his cat, which was correctly named Fresh. Fresh walked alongside Rogue, avidly listening to what Rogue had to say about the latest dragon. “So yeah, I also read about this fascinating dragon that could breathe air, isn’t that so cool?” Fresh responded, “Ribbi-“but their words were interrupted by a crash behind them. 

“Hey, you there…” the voice behind them spoke as he got to his feet.

Rogue recognized the voice, Sting, one of the popular members of the school. He was also Rogue’s old childhood friend and a close neighbour. They weren’t exactly very familiar platonically anymore, but Rogue had learned a lot from the things Sting had said and done during class time. That, and Sting did occasionally greet him in the hallways, as though they were still best friends.

“Rogue”, Sting said, “I was just up that tree to help get my cat down, you wouldn’t mind taking a photo of me, would you?”

Many thoughts went through Rogue's head. Was this another prank? Like that time Sting asked Rogue if he wanted to hang out. Of course, Rogue was pretty smart; he knew that was a prank and declined before his reputation was ruined, but he didn’t see how any harm could come of this, so he took out his phone with a sigh and snapped the photo. 

Before he knew it, Sting had walked off, to which Rogue ran over, asking, “Hey, do you not want me to send the photo to you?”. Sting grinned at Rogue, teeth shining in a way that put Rogue in a trance, “Nah, you can keep it,” before sauntering off into the distance.

Rogue was left frozen on the spot as Sting left the scene, cat under his arm like a Dragon Ball player with their ball. He looked down at the photo he now had of Sting; his smile was so pretty it made him think about something other than dragons for once, in fact, it even made him blush a bit. Rogue walked towards school, wondering if there may have been more to Sting than what meets the eye.

Chapter Text

Eventually, Rogue finally arrived at his locker and began putting away his books about dragons (He didn't trust anyone else being near them, so it was safer to keep them in the lockers). Once his bag had a bit more space freed up, he put Fresh into the bag and zipped it shut. The closer to Rogue that fresh was, the safer they were. After putting his books away, he shut the locker, and who was behind the locker door but Sting himself, leaning so casually against some poor stranger's locker door. “Hey Rogue, still got that photo I took of you?” he asks, as though the photo was taken weeks prior and not 20 minutes ago.        

“Yeah… what about it?” Rogue asks, adjusting his glasses and trying to hide his blush at the thought of the photo. “D- do you want it?”     

“Nah, I still don’t want it. Just had to make sure you didn't delete it. You have no idea what some people would do to get an opportunity like that with Sting Eucliffe himself!” He laughs charismatically, “But I was wondering if you’d like to join the Saber Tooth club. We’re running low on members, and I thought you’d fit right in. It's suuuuper cool, you'd be stupid not to join, and I know you're not stupid.”        

“S-sure,” Rogue responded timidly, “I gotta go to class now… bye, Sting…”      

Sting smiled and waved as Rogue left the scene, before beginning to put his things into his locker. His locker consisted mostly of sports balls and pictures of his cat. When he closed the door, who was behind it but Bickslow himself, barely able to stand, his cheeks were as red as a very red dragon, and his abnormally long tongue was hanging out. He was incredibly embarrassed talking to the legendary Sting.     

He quickly pulled his tongue back into his mouth to speak, “H-h- hey, sting, I have a gift for you…” he says, handing over an envelope to Sting, who opened it curiously. It was filled with money. “I- I borrowed it from some children I scared- I- i- I mean cared for…”      

Sting counted the money, about 12 dragon dollars, and punched Bickslow on the shoulder playfully, “Thanks, man, I appreciate it. It’s a shame you're in the Fairy Tail club; otherwise, I’d totally get you a spot in the saber tooth club.” Bickslow squealed at this,  his cheeks now as red as an even redder dragon, “T-t-thanks stingy… I- I won’t forget this….” He said before running off while squealing and knocking down every student in his path. Sting shook his head with a smile, then continued his journey to class, with absolutely no plans of showing up on time.

Chapter Text

Rogue arrived at Dragon Studies class carrying his textbooks close to his chest. He went to his desk in the back corner of the class, where nobody would bother him by trying to talk to him or peer pressure him into ‘being social’. It also came with the benefit of letting him daydream about dragons… and standing up to Bullyslow… and impressing Sting. Speaking of the angel, Sting entered the class, casual as ever, giving finger guns to the teacher before heading to his desk a few seats away from Rogue’s. But Sting would never acknowledge Rogue; he was just too cool for him.

Rogue's stalking was interrupted by the teacher's voice. “Right, everyone! "I have all your mock exams marked and ready to be handed out.” 

The teacher said, before getting up and handing out all the exams with no enthusiasm for the task. Rogue read the 100% on the corner of his exam paper, with the words ‘See me after class’ written underlined by the teacher in red ink. Fear shot through him. Rogue gulped. Was he in trouble? Had he failed to reach the pass mark? He began to shake from the dread rushing through him.

After the papers were handed out, the teacher spoke with an exasperated look on his face. “Class, I’m very disappointed in your marks; the number of fails was unacceptable, and most people didn’t meet the class average. This is the third time I've lowered it this semester. There were very few exceptions to this, whose marks I’m not disappointed with”. The last part was said looking directly at Rogue, which made his fear skyrocket. The teacher was especially disappointed in him, specifically; He knew it. Why else would the teacher look at him? Why would the teacher want to see him after class? It all lined up, Rogue failed this exam, and he was going to have to completely retake the year at the academy. 

The shaking continued until his glasses fell off his face and onto the floor. Another testament to his failure of a life. Awkwardly, Rogue climbed under the desk and searched for, and found his glasses, wiping them with the end of his sleeve and pushing them onto his nose... maybe he could just stay down here, maybe if he spent the rest of the class under the desk, he wouldn't have to acknowledge his poor performance.

After a bit more time spent under the desk, he changed his mind and returned to his seat. A true dragon slayer would face any opposition, no matter how terrifying it was.

The teacher spent the rest of the class going over the paper while Rogue frantically looked for what might have disappointed the teacher, dreading after class when he would receive his inevitable lecture. A bit of time passed, and the bell rang out, signifying the end of class, and also the end of his hopes for a happy future. 

Everyone slowly left, each talking about their marks as they poured out of the room. The teacher had also left to get himself some coffee. Rogue thought he was the only one left until he looked slightly to the left and saw Sting at his desk, looking calm and chill as ever, as he stood up and made his way to the teacher's desk, looking as though he were on holiday with how casual and relaxed he seemed. He almost seemed excited, clutching his paper enough to damage it. Standing next to Sting was difficult enough for Rogue; what if he broke down in front of him? What if Sting's cat didn’t like him? Or worse, what if Sting laughed at him?! Rogue felt like fainting at the thought of it.

“Oh, how the great Rogue has fallen,” Sting joked, “The teacher called me up because of how much better my mark is than usual. I just know it.” The self-assured smirk on his face was enough to convince Rogue he was right.

Rogue couldn't help but blush and stuttered as he tried to get a word out, but all he could say was “Y-yeah heheh…” Professor Strauss entered the classroom again and sat before them, setting his now-empty mug of coffee with the 3 other empty mugs of coffee that were also at his desk. He adjusted his tie and turned to Rogue, who gulped again. “Rogue Cheney, your test was... remarkable. I don’t believe I’ve seen an essay about air-breathing dragons as thorough and detailed as yours in all my days of teaching. You truly understand the source material. Hence, you achieved full marks on the mock exam; the real thing will be no problem for you, you just have to be more confident.” Sting's jaw dropped at the word that Rogue got full marks. Rogue blushed a lot at Sting’s awe and simply nodded, but the relief flowing through him was immense, and he couldn't entirely hide it with his sigh. The teacher then turned to Sting. “Sting Eucliffe, do you know why I made you stay back?”

“Yeah, because I finally passed an exam!” Sting exclaims confidently, putting his hands on his hips and posing like a model. This single action practically turned Rogue’s pupils into hearts by itself. He was starting to see the appeal in Sting, was he really catching feelings for someone so unattainable?.

“It does seem that your failing streak has come to an end…” Strauss acknowledged and took Sting’s paper, before crossing out the ‘50%’ and writing a big 0. “And your cheating streak has begun.” The teacher stood up suddenly, causing Rogue to yelp in surprise, “Sting Eucliffe, you were very clearly looking at Heartfilia’s test as she answered the questions. You even tried to ask her for answers. Why would you even do that? It’s a mock exam. This doesn’t count towards anything! You are almost useless, Sting Eucliffe. You couldn't even think for yourself enough to write your name down without almost accidentally writing hers. Which brings me to the reason why I called both of you here today.”

Rogue blushed in confusion and looked up at Sting, then back at the teacher. Sting's expression dropped, realising he was caught in the act, and he stopped posing, much to Rogue’s dismay. The teacher looked back at Rogue again and took a softer tone, letting out a disappointed sigh.

“Rogue, you’re a smart kid, and you shouldn't have to deal with this. Unfortunately, I've been left with no choice, which is why I've decided that you are going to tutor Eucliffe until he can reach a C+ in dragon studies. Every day during lunch, instead of reading books about dragons, Rogue, you're going to put that knowledge to good use and teach it to him. And before you ask, no, you don’t have a choice. The two of you will be locked in the classroom through lunch until it ends.”

Rogue blushes and gulps in fear, “O- o- o- okay… Professor… Strauss…” Rogue looked over to Sting, who was too busy looking out the window, eating his exam paper because its colour looked tasty to him. He looked back at Rogue and Mr Strauss and spit the paper out, “Oh, sorry, were you saying something?”

Chapter Text

That day at lunch, Rogue arrived at the classroom as he usually did to read books about dragons for his breaks, but this time he was incredibly nervous as he knew that Sting would be there, and HE would have to talk to him the entire time, Rogue may be able to get a passing grade every once in a while, but conversing with someone else for more than 10 minutes was FAR too much for him. He could barely talk to his distant relatives and neighbors, but Sting was a whole new can of dragons. This was THE Sting Eucliffe, the man who could even befriend the postman from sheer charisma. And his cat Doug too, people say that Doug used to be an untamed BEAST of a cat, unlike Fresh, who spent all his time in Rogue’s school bag making frog noises.

Rogue looked around the classroom but couldn’t see Sting anywhere. Had he bailed out on him? Did he think that rogue wasn’t cool enough that he’d rather fail his final exam than hang out with him? It made Rogue shiver. Then he felt footsteps behind him, feeling the sudden urge to say a quote from one of his books on dragons. “He’s right behind me, isn’t he?” he rhetorically asked to nobody in particular.

Sting put his large, strong hand on Rogue’s shoulder and spoke cheerfully and with enthusiasm, “Hey Rogue! Ready to teach me about drag-“ but Sting’s powerful hand had completely caught Rogue really off guard, and he jumped out of sheer shock and fell to the ground. The collision with the ground was painful, but it was completely shadowed by the feelings brought on by Sting’s presence. When Rogue opened his eyes, he couldn’t see anything but the vague shape of Sting before him, kneeling in front of him. His glasses! Where were they? Rogue could barely see without his glasses, and if he couldn’t see, how would he read the newest issue of Dragon Weekly?! But then his vision was cleared as Sting, the angel in human form, placed Rogue’s glasses on his face. Sting's hand just barely brushed against the side of Rogue's head as he put the glasses on, and he blushed like there was no tomorrow. It all reminded him of a time long gone now.

Many years ago, Rogue and Sting were childhood best friends, and one day while they were playing dragon tag (Tag but Rogue wouldn’t shut up about dragons as he ran for his life), Sting easily caught up to Rogue and tagged him a bit too hard, pushing him into the mud and knocking his glasses off his face. That day, as Rogue was on the floor, looking for his glasses, he gained a newfound respect for Sting and his caring nature when he gave them back to him.

Back in the present, Rogue managed to regain his composure, “There we go, much better. Can’t teach me about nerdy dragons if you can’t see now, can you?” Sting said jokingly, “Come on, let's get this started.”

Rogue nodded in response, and they made their way over to Sting’s desk, where Rogue sat down on the seat next to Sting’s. Sting opted for a different approach and sat up on the desk because he was just so cool like that. It took a while, and he started slow, talking about common knowledge to him, like the great dragon war, red dragons, stuff like that. He spoke mostly through stuttering and blushes, but eventually, Rogue got into the rhythm of rambling about dragons, even the more niche ones that didn't matter for the exam, and Sting seemed to be genuinely listening—or at least looking at Rogue’s book as he spoke.

As Rogue spoke, his mind wandered to what it would be like if Sting and Rogue were together, Sting taking Rogue's hand and affirming to Rogue that dragons were cool. His mind wandered to more mature fantasies, too, when suddenly Sting grabbed Rogue's wrist and pulled it away from his notebook. “Rogue…” Sting spoke, sounding rather ominous. 

Rogue didn’t realize what was going on, and his cheeks went as red as the reddest dragon out there, and he unintentionally let out a little squeal. What was Sting doing? He was being so bold. It was just like the book Rogue had read about 2 dragon slayers falling in love.

“Is that me?!” Sting said, looking at the sketch Rogue must have drawn subconsciously of Sting while he was thinking about him and talking about dragons. This embarrassed Rogue so much and his cheeks maintained their redness, like a prize tomato at a country fair. Or like a red dragon. “This is so well drawn, I like how much more attractive you made my face look, thanks man!” he exclaimed, playfully punching Rogue's arm. Rogue had no plans of washing that arm any time soon. “I like those little diagonal red lines you put under my cheeks, they make me look so much more awesome, I'd totally look amazing with those battle scars. But only the toughest dragon could get me looking like that.” He says, pointing to the blush lines Rogue had added to Sting's cheeks.

“W- w- we should get back to… studying… probably…” Rogue said, blushing once again. He looked at the corner of his eye and saw Sting's cat Doug staring directly at Rogue with a smirk that looked almost impossibly big. The cat knew. Doug knew what Rogue was.

He was about to talk about dragons again, but then the bell went off, indicating the end of the study session and the start of the next class. Sting and Doug left the classroom first, and Rogue and Fresh left second, with Rogue blushing much more than the average person would or should blush.

“Ribbit,” Fresh announced, before hopping back into Rogue’s school bag.

Chapter Text

On Rogue’s way home from school, he suddenly stopped as Sting put a firm hand on his shoulder (Rogue blushed).

“Heya Rogue, wanna walk home with me? We are neighbours after all.” Sting said with a smile of his reflective, shiny teeth. Why had rogue never considered this option? It was a completely new idea, since every day Rogue made sure to walk on the opposite side of the road to Sting so it was something entirely different to walk with him, it felt like getting privately escorted by a celebrity.

“Yeah, sure…” Rogue replied, cheeks as red as the red dragon that I mentioned in the last chapter.

And so they began to walk home, Sting was talking about his friends and the Sabertooth club, while Rogue was busy thinking about dragons, or books about dragons, or Sting, who he just couldn't get out of his mind. Then Sting brought up Bickslow, “Bickslow is such a chill dude, he gave me a bunch of money for free without me even asking for it. He may seem mean to people sometimes, but all you gotta do to gain his respect is to Strike Back.”

“Strike Back?” Rogue asked, perplexed.

“Strike Back. I’ll sing you a little song to explain it.”

Sting cleared his throat and began to sing beautifully

“Your odds are slim,

The walls are thin, cavin’ in

But there is still a way, you see -

In just 1 mere percent of chance there’s possibility

I won’t sit back, and accept the hand we are dealt,

A fate that’s thrown out by someone else

There is a future I can see

One I hope you’ll share with me

Strike back (go excited)

Get them out of your way,

(You don’t care) if along the- Oh wait, wrong song, my bad.

Bring it on ‘cause I’m just gonna grow up in the battle EY

Pushin’ (past) the limit – I’m still burnin’ with fire

An’ for our future, I am fightin’

I gotta drown this nightmare

And ain’t nobody gonna stop me

Forget the past – ‘cause we’re livin’ in the present 

I ain’t scared of my past – and now in fact,

Forever I’m screaming out for my pride!

Now I never wanna see you cry

I will be screaming till you find the way 

I’m never falling down,

I will be soaring straight on through my destiny!

Now I gotta keep your smile bright

I’ll give my everything to find a way

I gotta burn off the pain, for you and me

So now the rest of me can rest in peace

Now I’ll Strike Back

Inside my mind,

I pound the wall one more time

With all of the bitter pain I feel 

I don’t care what my chances are,

I will never run in fear

Today the rain will continue on

And it’s all I know but never will wear me down

When there’s still a future I can see

There’s still future I can see

One I hope you’ll share with me

Yeah we’re head-to-toe in daybreak

Soldiers, follow me now!

Don’t you ever stop, we pay it back in spades right

In a flash, (in a flash) we wanna hit that playback

This is the time, to keep on living through the misery

Struggle – Sorrow

They’ll disappear like bubbles

But no one can extinguish my own eternal candle 

I’m screaming out for your pride!

This fire burnin’ in my heart

It will keep lightin’ up to part the way

Nobody can blow out my fire – It’s destiny

I’ll rise above it, all eyes on me

There is no time to hesitate

I won’t lose sight of it – I’ll make a way

Don’t blind your eyes, if you’re lost on the way!

Not gonna lie, I’m gonna be your light

So take my hand!

 Ey, what are we living for? 

I live – for – this –####

We gotta stand up and go with the pride

It’s like the run rising way over the clouds

We gotta stand up and go with the pride

It’s like the run rising way over the clouds

Now I never wanna see you cry

I will be screaming till you find the way 

I’m never falling down,

I keep on soaring straight on through my destiny!

I gotta keep your smile bright

I’ll give my everything to find the way

I gotta burn off the pain, for you and me

So now the rest of me can rest in peace

Now I’ll Strike Back

This fire burnin’ in my heart

It will keep lightin’ up to part the way

Nobody can blow out my fire – It’s destiny

I’ll rise above it, all eyes on me

There is no time to hesitate

I won’t lose sight of it – I’ll make a way

Don’t blind your eyes, if you’re lost on the way!

Not gonna lie, I’m gonna be your light

So take my hand!"

Sting finished, and Rogue reached out to take his hand, only for him to quickly add, "Oh yeah, by the way, that last part was metaphorical, don’t actually take my hand.”

Rogue blushed bright red and frowned with disappointment. Was Rogue unworthy of Sting’s attention? Did he not deserve to hold his hand? What a dumb question, of course he didn’t, Sting was amazing, he was a sports ball enthusiast, a genius, a singer, what next?

“Well, it seems like we’re finally home, see you tomorrow for Saber Tooth club Rogue!” Sting said with a wave as he turned away. Rogue blushed and waved too as he left.

Chapter Text

Rogue had been nervous through all his classes today because of… You guessed it, Sting Eucliffe. Today was the day that Rogue was going to be attending the prestigious Saber Tooth Club after school. He feared that Sting’s friends wouldn’t accept him, or worse, that Sting would see how bad he was with other people and would get mad at him for it! Rogue had recently heard about a concept called Murphy’s Law, which meant anything that can go wrong will go wrong, which Rogue is mentally using as his excuse to consider what the worst possible thing to happen would be. It was clear to him that that would be him accidentally referring to one of Sting’s friends by the name of a dragon. There wasn't possibly anything worse that could happen in his mind.

He arrived at the door where he was told the club was hosted. Rogue made sure he looked good in his outfit; he wore his hair in a messy bun and adjusted his glasses before going in. He didn't want another incident like the day prior, where they fell off his face out of clumsiness. He couldn't make Sting go through the effort of putting his glasses on for him; it was too cruel... yet his mind still lingered on that memory as a happy moment.

“Rogue! Dude! You made it! C’mon, I’ll introduce you to the others,” Sting cheered with a friendly smile, his teeth shining bright like a diamond, but all Rogue could focus on was the fact that he was the only other guy there. He had 2 girls on either side, were they his girlfriends? Was Sting straight? Did he have a harem? Were they merely his concubines? These thoughts rushed through Rogue’s mind. He nervously approached with a blush on his cheeks, “Hi…” Rogue murmured quietly, sitting at the table they were all sitting at, “I’m Rogue, I l- like dragons… and stuff…” he blushed furiously, he had already brought dragons into the conversation, what a fool. He might as well have come in wearing a sign that says 'I have the plague!' Rogue was such a foul creature, a nerd. while Sting was a celebrity, an idol, a jock. He didn’t stand a chance. Rogue wasn’t like other guys; he was worse. At least, that's what he thought.

The others laughed, “Your pretty funny” said one of the women, though Rogue didn’t recognise her. The other girl, Rogue did recognise, “Yeah, you’ll fit right in with us” Yukino said with a friendly smile. “Want me to tell you your future? I’m an expert with astrology.”

Rogue was about to answer when Fresh wriggled out of Rogue’s bag, “Ribbit!”.

Sting smiled and gasped, “You have a cat too? You should totally leave it with my cat, Doug for a while. They’ll be besties in no time!” he exclaimed, scooping Fresh up under the arms and placing him down with doug who began whispering all sorts of things in Fresh’s ear that worried Rogue. He briefly wondered how Sting didn't notice Fresh the first or second time they met, but other thoughts plagued his mind at the moment. Mostly about how Doug seemed like a bad influence. Rogue turned back to Yukino to see that she had already pulled a table over and had a silver ball out.

“So I’ll just need you to answer my questions, and I’ll tell you you’re future. What’s your full name? Right, I know that already from Sting, Rogue Cheney. What’s your favourite animal?” Yukino asked with a tilt of her head

“I-I really like cats-“ Rogue was promptly interrupted by Sting's exclamation, “You’re a catboy too?! Awesome!”

Rogue blushed bright red. Did Sting not know what a catboy was? Rogue had to save him from further embarrassment, “S-sting… I- I don’t think you’re using the word catboy right…”

Sting tilted his head, an oblivious grin on his face. “Sure I am, it’s just a dude whose favourite animal is a cat, right?”

“N-no… catboys are boys that are half boy, half cat and go nya~ when people feed them fish.” It seemed Rogue said the ‘nya~’ part a bit too high-pitched and in character compared to what else he said,  because everyone there looked at him in horror. “They also say UwU when they notice-“ Yukino decided to change the topic.

“Rogue, my next question is about relationships. I have a boyfriend and I love him very much (the others don’t believe he’s real though), I’m pretty much a romance expert. So, are you in a relationship currently?”

Rogue blushed; now was his chance to show that he was single and ready to mingle to Sting, “N- no… single… pringle…” he stammered out with a second blush in a row. He got his message across, but he made a complete fool of himself in doing so.

Yukino picked up a sheet of paper, “My fortune for you: You will have your first kiss before the end of the year.”

Rogue could barely speak, he looked at Sting to see his reaction but noticed that Doug was staring at him, Smirking from ear to ear. He knew what Rogue was. The other woman, who wasn’t really paying attention or participating, spoke up. “Oh yeah, I’m Minerva by the way.” Rogue really didn’t know anything about Minerva for some reason, he had seen her in corridors but knew nothing about her, probably because the author doesn’t either, she seemed just a tad. “We have two more members but one usually hangs out with others, she's yukinos sister. Sorano. The other, well, she wasn’t in school today. She’s called Lilac. She doesn’t go to school very much so don’t expect to see her often.”

Then the bell rang, signalling the end of the chapter, meet up with the Saber Tooth club.

Chapter Text

The next day, Rogue was on his way to class. The moment he walked in, he froze as he saw who the substitute teacher was to be. Mr Dragneel. The reason this was so bad was that today was the dreaded day they were receiving the dreaded sex talk. Rogue sat at his seat and his cheeks went red at the sight. On the board was big, cursive writing that said “Sex”. In the corner was Mr Dragneel’s full name, also in cursive, “Lacarde ‘Sex Man’ Dragneel”. Nobody else calls him that but him, he’s a janitor for dragon's sake. He isn’t qualified for this talk. But then he began speaking.

“Hello students! Your previous teacher was unfortunately found to be ill from a certain poison. So that means that I, the sex man, will teach you about” Lacarde hit the board with a stick, pointing to the word “sex”. Upon further inspection, there was a sheet of black paper covering up the other half of the board, which perplexed Rogue, also making him blush with anticipation. He couldn’t help but look at Sting to see if he was as embarrassed as Rogue was. Of course not, Sting was amazing, he was practically laughing. Then Mr Dragneel pushed the sheet of paper away to reveal in big bold letters the word “GAY”.

“That’s right, ladies, you can all step outside because this lesson is for the men of the class, sex with women is pointless anyway,” Mr Dragneel said nonchalantly, opening the door and watching as all the girls of the class begrudgingly left. “There, now. What is sex, you may ask? Well, when 2 men love each other very much, they go at it real hard and ############# # ################ #################################### and then they ########### ###### ######### ###########. Now, I need 2 volunteers to demonstrate” Rogue could see Doug out of the corner of his eye, staring at him with his iconic smirk.

“Rogue Cheney, Grade A student, come up, I need to demonstrate how to go at it with a man safely so they don’t end up pregnant. Sting Eucliffe, you can come up too.” What a coincidence. The two reluctantly went up to the front, side by side. Rogue thought correcting the teacher might be a good idea to clear something up.

“S-s-sir?” Rogue said, getting Lacarde’s, I mean sex man’s attention, “I-I don’t think men can get pregnant…”

Lacarde slapped the back of Rogue’s head. “Wrong! I have made many men pregnant in my adventures!”. Sting snickered and Rogue blushed, looking down, ashamed of himself. “Now, Rogue! Turn around for us to continue the demonstration!”.

Rogue slowly rotated 1 degree at a time when the bell suddenly went off, saving Rogue's life.

“Alright fine, all of you get out of here!” Lacarde scowled, evidently rather annoyed, “You’ve escaped the sex man for now, but let me tell you it is not the end!”

Chapter Text

“And that’s why I’m going to stay as far away from Mr Dragneel as I possibly can,” Sting said, causing laughter to erupt from the rest of the Saber Tooth club. Rogue was so amazed at Sting and his storytelling, he really did just have a way with words, it almost made him imagine what would happen if Mr Dragneel had enough time for the demonstration. The idea filled him with both dread and curiosity. “Anyway, it’s getting to that time of year, and you’ve heard me talk about it enough. It’s going to be the last match of the Dragon Ball season! The Saber Tooth Cats are going up against the Fairy Tailed Sprites, and I’m playing team captain! And you guys are, of course, going to be watching!”

Rogue leaped from his seat in joy, “Woohoo! Go Saber Tooth Tigers! Nya! I-I mean meow…” he said, blushing as he sat back down on his seat in shame. Sting reached over and patted Rogue’s back, “That’s the spirit! Oh, Rogue, you wouldn’t mind staying behind a while after? There’s something important I need to tell you.” The rest was a blur of Sting talking about the Dragon Ball sport while Rogue continued to overthink, though it was made less stressful by the soothing, energetic, confident voice of Sting Eucliffe. After the club meetup ended, Sting closed the door, leaving them basically trapped in there. Rogue wondered what Sting would need to close the door for, and why it was so private. Did Sting want to kiss him? Please let it be that Sting wants to kiss him, Rogue thought. The idea appealed to him greatly now.

“This match is very important for me, Rogue, which is why I’ll need your help… You have a cat, yes? So you have experience with this sort of thing… So I need you to…”

“I do!” Rogue exclaimed with joy, barely even listening to what Sting said, simply assuming he wanted to propose.

“Awesome! I’m not sure that’s accurate grammar, but thanks for accepting. I appreciate it, dude. I’ll leave him with you before the match.” He said before getting up and walking out of the classroom. Rogue proceeded to sit under the table and think about his actions (and dragons) today, wondering why the hell he thought Sting was going to propose to him.

The day of the big game came by quickly, and nothing of plot relevance happened until then. Rogue arrived at the pitch early, carrying Fresh by the head. On the way to his seat, Fresh decides to speak, “Sting’s cat Doug told me to tell you that he knows how you feel about Sting. What did he mean by that?”

Rogue brought fresh close to his face and spoke with a commanding tone, “Silence, silly creature.”

Fresh responded with a ribbit and they arrived at their seat. Rogue sat down and placed fresh in his lap, but he froze up the moment he saw Sting on the pitch, looking back at him, shirtless. Rogue had completely forgotten that the required uniform for Dragon Ball was to be completely shirtless. Doug was being carried like one might carry a dragon ball, under the arm. Sting came running and went to Rogue’s seat and plopped Doug down on his lap, “Thanks again for offering to take care of doug during the big game. I should get going now, I gotta huddle up with the rest of the team to discuss the gameplan.”

Rogue swore he could feel a nosebleed coming on.

There was a sudden rumbling in the bleachers. “Ah, the dragon must be a feisty one for this match. Nothing worth panicking over.” Sting acknowledged without any fear showing, scratching the back of his head casually. Rogue gulped, squeezing the two cats close to him in fear. Doug spoke, “Cool it, cat boy. If the dragon attacked us, it would be pretty tough.”

“But would you lose?” Fresh asked, watching Doug with awe in their eyes

“Nah, I’d win,” Doug responded coolly, causing Fresh to gasp loudly.

That was when the game began, the two teams charged towards the Dragon Ball in the middle of the court. Natsu Dragneel, captain of the Fairy Tailed Sprites and it's respective club, looked fierce as ever, being faster than Sting, he easily picked up the dragon ball and dodged out of the way of Sting's attempted tackle, making his way to the goal. He was promptly incinerated by the dragon who had just been released, only a pile of ash being left behind. It was a rookie mistake, the goal of Dragon ball was to pass the ball around your team like a hot potato while getting it to the goal so the dragon doesn’t kill you or your teammates. Death was just an occupational hazard, so it wasn't worth fussing over to Rogue.

The match continued, and the scores were neck and neck. Rogue was completely invested in the match (and Sting’s abs) that he didn’t notice the sudden disappearance of Fresh and Doug! When he realised what had happened, he sprinted from the bleachers in tears as he began running out of the stadium to look for the two cats. On his way out, he bumped into Lucy Heartfilia, who was pretty friendly. He had seen her in the library getting books while he read about dragons regularly.

“S-s sorry Lucy! Gotta go! I lost something and it’s an emergency!” Rogue said as he ran past her

“Hope you find what you're looking for!” Lucy called to him with a friendly smile as he ran off.

He searched everywhere, classrooms, cabinets, and he even did a few interrogations. But it seemed like no use. “WHERE IS FRESH?!?!?!?” he screamed, tears like waterfalls as he made his way back to his seat sadly. He was having trouble keeping his inner dragon from bursting out; he was angry, and you don’t want to anger someone like Rogue. He could kill everyone if it turned out that Fresh was dead. But as he was heading back to the stadium, he heard cheering and looked up, the dragon was flying laps around the pitch, chasing the remaining members of the Fairy Tailed Sprites down. even Bickslow, lead cheerleader of the Fairy Tailed sprites, was chanting for the saber-toothed cats, or at least, it seemed like that. Maybe he was just shouting at someone. With closer inspection, there were 2 blobs atop the dragon… no, 2 cats! Fresh and Doug! The referee blew the whistle to signal the end of the game. The 2 cats leapt off the dragon, hand in hand, as Sting caught them in his arms, walking over to Rogue

“Rogue, where were you?! You should’ve seen what happened, it was so good!” Sting exclaimed, god, sting looked so muscular and tall and strong and buff when shirtless. 

“Y-yeah… I was doing stuff…” he says with a blush

Sting laughed, “Typical rogue, so enigmatic. I’m gonna head back to the changing rooms now. Thank you so much for minding the cats, I owe you one.”

Sting was then promptly carried away by his teammates to celebrate the victory with some shirtless drinking off-screen in the boys locker room.

Rogue then sat on the bleachers for another hour, cuddling fresh and crying (while thinking about how cool that dragon was).

Chapter Text

Fresh was living comfortably on Rogue’s lap when they’re shoved to the side as Doug (Sting's cat) sits down next to him.

Fresh stood up and waved at him, “Ribbit! Hi Doug!”

Doug crossed his arms like a cool dude, “Hey, kid. Wanna get some ice cream when the catboy isn’t paying attention?”

“Sure!”

The two suddenly felt a rumbling from the dragon being released and were pulled up against Rogue..

“Cool it, cat boy. If the dragon attacked us, it would be pretty tough,” Doug said, bapping Rogue across the face to snap him out of it.

“But would you lose?” Fresh asked, watching Doug with awe in their eyes

“Nah, I’d win.” Doug responded coolly, causing Fresh to gasp loudly.

“You're so cool, Doug…”

“Yeah, you're not so bad yourself, kid.” Doug said, smirking widely before whispering in the frog ear of fresh’s onesie “Lets get outta here while Cheney here gawks at the dragon.”

Fresh nodded, and they hopped off Rogue’s lap.

5 minutes later

Fresh and Rogue sat comfortably under the bleachers with an ice cream each (though the ice creams were very big, so they had to use 2 hands to hold them).

“Mmm, this tastes yummy!” Fresh exclaimed as they licked their ice cream

“Not bad kid… not bad…” Doug responded, shaking his head before asking, “Tell us your story, kid. How’d you meet dragon boy up there?”

“Woah, no one’s ever asked me that before… well, I guess I might as well tell you.” Fresh paused a moment before beginning to talk, “A long time ago, I lived with a group of cats in the forest, but then I got lost. I tried to follow the river home, but I couldn’t get back. It was so scary. That was when I ended up at Rogue’s house. He gave me a towel to dry me off from the rain and took care of me while he talked about dragons. After I was clean, he offered me some clothes to stay sheltered from the rain, he gave me an old onesie he had as a baby, a frog onesie… that was when I found how much it resonated with me, and I knew that I had to stick with him no matter how big a loser he is…”

Doug nodded along as he heard the story, “How wholesome… my story is a bit more dark. But it starts similarly to yours. A long long time ago, I also lived with a group of cats, but the group of cats I lived with were gangsters. They lived in the city, not the forest. They didn’t live off the land, they lived off stolen money and catnip. We went around robbing people for fun, especially gay people. Like Rogue,” he added, pulling Rogue’s house keys out of his jacket, causing Fresh to gasp in shock and awe of Doug’s skills. “Anyway, one day we found our next victim. He had just been kicked out of his apartment for some reason or another, and we were about to make his day a lot worse… until I saw the tears in his eyes. When I saw those, I stood between my comrades and this stranger, because I felt something, a connection. I had to  fight ninjas, assassins, samurai, all to prevent them from getting to my soon-to-be owner… we’ve been inseparable ever since…” Doug said, looking off into the distance.

“That’s so sad… I’m so sorry you went through all that. Ribbit!” Fresh said.

“Y-yeah… your gang were all bakas…” a voice spoke emotionally from the side.

The two cats suddenly looked to see Bickslow himself sitting cross-legged in the grass, wiping a tear from his eyes by licking it away, “S- sorry, I didn’t mean to intrude, can I… say my piece too?” Fresh was reluctant, given that they had seen what Bickslow did to Rogue, but he was crying, and Doug had decided to answer anyway.

“Go ahead, kid, tell us ya story.” Doug nodded, speaking in his deep, masculine voice.

“A- alright, well it all started when I was a mere boy…” he spoke, trying to keep himself from having an emotional outburst. “My parents never loved me as a child, so they kicked me out of the house and left me to fend for myself in the wild when I was only 18… that was when I found this strange cat ear headband accessory, it was soft, it felt nice on my head, even if It got soggy from the rain, it was that day that I started a new life, living as a catboy in the wild… I lapped up water from rivers with my tongue and said nya… but I can’t do that anymore…” a tear runs down his cheek, “My voice is too raspy… anyway, one day when I was by the river lapping water, a little kitty cat grabbed hold of my tongue and wouldn’t let go… that’s why my tongue is so long. It was one of the most eventful days of my life. Anyway, that cat invited me to her pack, which I accepted, because I needed new friends. That went well for a while, until they learnt I couldn’t fly like they could… so one day they all flew off and shouted insults at me and even stole my cat ear headband… so I ran, I ran as fast as I could on all fours and that was when I found an abandoned building and lived out my days in. Oh yeah I also joined the dragon slayer academy at some point too…”

The cats moved to either side of him, patting his back as he cried, though doug was rather skeptical of the story.

Fresh decided to speak first, “Wow… you and Rogue could totally be friends if you were nicer to him.

Bickslow suddenly raised an eyebrow and all the tears were gone, “YOUR ROGUE’S CAT?!?!?!” before picking them up by the scruff of their neck and carrying them out of the bleachers before throwing them high into the air. Doug leapt into action, climbing up bickslows back and leaping off his head, flying into the air and catching fresh as they fell.

“Close call kid” Doug said, before hearing a dragons roar behind them “He’s right behind me, isn’t he…” before the dragon bumped into them, knocking them out of the air. But thankfully, Doug was fast, he grabbed hold of the dragons horn and pulled the two of them onto the back of the dragon like it was nothing!

“Dracarys!” Doug shouted, making a pop culture reference.

“Woohoo!” Fresh exclaimed as they flew around the stadium.

This lasted about 5 minutes, chasing around the team members of the Fairy Tailed Sprites, until Doug noticed Sting looking up at them, so he grabbed Fresh by the onesie and leapt off the dragon like a stuntman, landing in stings arms safely. Sting returned Fresh to Rogue safely and the eventful day came to an end.

On the way back from the match

Sting was walking, a tad unsteady from drunkness, Doug on his shoulder, when he decided to ask, “How was being babysat with Rogue?”

“Not bad kid, not bad…” Doug responded coolly

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Rogue felt like he was going to be sick. Today was the day everyone received their exam results, and Sting thought it would be a great idea for the Saber Tooth club to meet up to discuss their results for this important exam.

So, here was Rogue. Sitting in the room where the meeting will be hosted. 15 minutes early. To have time to prepare an excuse for why his results were so horrible. Fresh sat on top of the paper. Almost concealing the wretched 99% written on his exam. Rogue blushed in embarrassment. His glasses fogged up in the heat, but he couldn’t bring himself to wipe them. He was an idiot, and he might as well look like one, too.

Sting burst into the room, lighting it up with his smile alone. Waving his paper around wildly. Followed by Yukino, Minerva… and Bullyslow. Why was he even there? Didn’t he have children to bully?

“Rogue! Rogue! Hey, are you doing something new with your glasses? They look good man.” Sting leaned into Rogue’s face. Rogue blushed even harder from the proximity. He hated it when Sting called him ‘man’ in a bro type of way. He wanted Sting to call him his man. Not even giving Rogue a chance to recover. Sting shoved his exam paper into his face.

“Look! I actually passed! Without cheating!” Blinded by Sting’s shining teeth, it took Rogue a minute to register the results. 56%. 1% above the pass threshold. Rogue tried to give his congratulations, but it just reminded him that everyone will think he’s stupid for his own results. Sting’s way too smart to be here, he managed to pass the test without reading a single dragon book, and that was Rogue’s forte! They might even kick him out of the Saber Tooth club because of how useless he is!

“You’re so talented Stingy kun~!” Bickslow exclaimed, twirling the plume on his ugly helmet. Looking at Bickslow, Rogue remembered the kiss they shared on fioremas. It took a whole tube of toothpaste before he felt like he wouldn’t pick up a disease from the incident.

“Thanks, Bicks! You’re always so kind!” Sting replied with a grin on his face. “But Rogue is the real talented one. Without him tutoring me, I never would have passed the exam.”

Rogue blushed at such praise from Sting, but it drew everyone’s attention to him. Leading to the inevitable question to be asked. “What did you get, Rogue?”

Too embarrassed to even register the asker. Rogue lowered his head. Coincidentally, Fresh thought this was a fantastic time to jump down from the desk. Leaving his exam results out in the open for everyone to see.

Here it comes, the rejection Rogue’s been expecting the second he joined the Saber Tooth club.

“Wow!” That was Yukino.

“Impressive.” Minerva (or M’Lady as she forced everyone to call her. Rogue does not understand how that one started.) said.

“See, I told you! Rogue’s amazing!” Sting cheered. Clapping Rogue on the back. They are just being nice to him. Rogue looked up to Bickslow. Expecting Bickslow to make fun of him. However, he just stood wide-eyed. Rogue found that face creepy. It reminded him of that time Bickslow bashed his head into a toilet so hard the toilet seat cracked. Leaving Rogue with the ugly scar over his nose. Why couldn’t he at least get a cool scar like Sting’s? It complemented his flawless face perfectly. Rogue caught Doug smirking at him through the corner of his eye.

“I just knew from our Horoscope readings that the results would go well!” Yukino said revealing her results. 74%. Followed by M’Lady revealing a 94%.

Rogue wished he were half as smart as the rest of the Saber Tooth club…

Bickslow didn’t even take the Dragon study class, so he had no results. There was no reason at all for him to be here, in Rogue’s professional opinion. Fresh ribbited in agreement, reading Rogue’s thoughts. This is why Fresh is the best frog cat anyone could ever have.

Or at least that’s what Rogue thought, before Bickslow started giggling and grabbing onto Sting’s arm. “Stingy baby, it’s time for you to get your late Christmas present!” Bickslow pulled out a terribly wrapped bike shaped present.

“Aww you really didn’t have to!” Sting unwrapped his present in such a beautiful way, leaving Rogue breathless. Only to reveal…

A crack toilet seat. The cracked toilet seat Bickslow smashed his head into. His blood was even still on it! That was over a year ago, how did he even have it?!

“Wow Bickslow. How did you know I needed a new one of these? Thank you dude! I even can’t accidentally eat it, thanks to the red pattern on it!” Sting looked so happy Rogue forgot that he should be really creeped out. Seriously how did Bickslow get that? And why?

Rogue didn’t dwell on it because Sting turned his attention to him.

“That reminds me! I got you a late Christmas present too!” Rogue blushed. Surely, he misheard him.

“Y-You really didn’t have to Sting.” Rogue stuttered hiding his cheeks with his hair.

“Of course I did! You’re my friend! Plus I want to thank you for helping me study.” Sting looked almost shy, as he pulled out Rogue’s present.

When Rogue reached out to grab the gift, their hands touched. Rogue blushed so hard his glasses steamed up again. Sting chuckled at the reaction. Probably thinking Rogue is weird.

Rogue gently unwrapped the present. Trying to will himself to stop blushing, feeling everyone in the room stare at him. Including Doug who was smirking again.

It was...

A cat ear headband?!

“You said you like cats right?” Sting smiled, blissfully unaware of the torture he was putting Rogue through.

What did the cat ears mean? Did Sting. Did Sting want Rogue to become his pet catboy? Did Sting want to show him off to the school on a leash? Did he want Rogue to curl up on his lap at night and bap doug away when he got close? Did Sting really want this? No. No surely not. Sting was too cool to know the significance. But if Sting asked him to he would totally accept, this was Sting we're talking about after all.

Whilst Rogue was distracted. Sting ate his exam paper. To treat himself for doing so well on the exam. Yukino talked about the adorable present her boyfriend got her. Her boyfriend that’s allegedly from… Seriously? It would be more believable if she said he was from Canada.

Rogue was interrupted from his thoughts by the classroom door opening. Everyone held their breath as none other than Mr Lacarde ‘Sex Man’ Dragneel entered. Humming a song he couldn’t sing aloud, for the lyrics were X-rated.

No one made eye contact as Lacarde changed the bin bags. Doing his job for once. Leaving the room soon after.

Everyone looked at each other. Blinking. Sting was first to crack. Laughing harder than Rogue had seen him laugh before. Everyone soon followed suit. Relieved they did not have to deal with Lacarde today.

Taking it as a sign. The Saber Tooth club wrapped up their meeting.

As Rogue left, he held the cat ears close to his chest. Vowing to never take them off. At home that is. No way is he wearing them in public. Unless Sting wanted him to.

Chapter Text

Rogue was chilling in his room, reading a book about dragons, wearing a dragon onesie and his cat ear headband. It was quite comfortable on his head, despite how uncomfortable it looked. Fresh was perched on his lap, purring away. This was the life: cat ears, dragon onesie, books, and time all to himself.

Suddenly, his dragon father burst into the bedroom, “Rogue! My mother is in critical condition, no time to change, get on my back, we’re flying to the hospital.

“Rogue… It’s so good to see you again. Still learning about dragons, I see…” the old dragon woman coughed, “I fear these may be my final few  weeks Rogue… my little dragon… so listen to my words carefully…”

Rogue stepped forward and nodded, taking the old dragon's paw, “I’m listening, tell me…” he said, wondering if Sting's grandparents were still alive.

“Rogue… you always were my favourite grandchild… I only want what's best for you… So… before my dragon days come to an end… I’d like to see you with a girlfriend… a pretty one that matches your interests…” Rogue’s grandmother was unaware of Rogue’s bisexuality.

“I-I will… I’ll make sure of it… to make you proud, grandmother…” Rogue responded, wiping tears from his eyes, before she began coughing a lot, and the doctor sent them out. Rogue’s father left early out of sadness, and Rogue leaned against the wall in pondering. Rogue knew he could seduce a woman into pretending to be his girlfriend, but what would Sting think? At that moment, Lucy Heartfilia emerged from a different patient's room with a similar expression to Rogue. She came over to the wall next to Rogue and leaned up on it.

“Hey Rogue… nice dragon onesie”

“Nice snake onesie.”

“Thanks. What are you in for?”

“Grandma is in critical condition, she wants me to get a girlfriend before she dies… I really don’t know what to do. What about you?”

“Grandpa is in critical condition, he wants me to get a boyfriend before he dies… I really don’t know what to do.”

The two pause, then Lucy perks up,  “Wait a minute… are those cat ears?”

Rogue blushed and pulled his hood up to cover them, “N- no… bad hair day…” he said, “See you at the academy…” Rogue speedwalked away, embarrassed. School would be interesting tomorrow, because this was the search to find a girlfriend

Chapter Text

The next day, Rogue was putting extra care into his appearance for school. Instead of a messy bun, he put his hair into a clean bun, and instead of wearing his glasses, he wore shades with dragons on them, because he’s cool like that now. Even fresh thought so, exclaiming “You got mad, rizz Rogue-meister!” Rogue blushed slightly but thought that he needed to stop letting fresh stick around doug, he’s a bad influence. He picked up Fresh by the leg and put them into his bag, zipping it up, putting it on and heading out to school.

On the journey to school, he saw Minerva walking to school with a bottle in hand, she seemed to be walking funny. Rogue decided to approach her anyway.

“Hey milady… You wouldn’t be able to pretend to be my girlfriend for me, would you? M- my grandmother is dying and-“

“Pah! Save me the sob story Cheney.” she wobbled a bit and bumped into him, almost knocking his sunglasses off his face, “I’m many things, but a liar ain’t one of them. So I’ll tell you the truth, you won’t find anyone in the saber tooth club willing to do this. I got my eyes on sting (but the gods couldn’t make him see me the same way), Yukino’s mad in love with her boyfriend, Sorano would walk all over you, and Lilac isn’t even here these days, you probably haven’t even met her yet. Try branching out, start talking to women outside Sting's radar.”

Rogue blushed a bit and nodded, “Right, thanks…” he said before quickly walking away. Was Minerva really in love with Sting? Did he have even more competition? As he  walked away he could hear Minerva singing loudly, taking a swig of her bottle,

“Why do good boys hate bad girls, I’ve had this question for a really long time! I’ve been a...”

Rogue couldn’t make out the rest.

The corridors were crowded as usual, and Rogue barely made it to his locker. Sting must have already gone to class since there was no sign of him anywhere. Then Rogue spotted his next opportunity, Mirajane Strauss. He decided to approach casually, trying not to be too forward since he didn’t know her all that well, so it wouldn’t work out in his favour. Then it came to him, what would sting do? He would be confident, really confident.

“H- hey Mirajane… can we talk?” Rogue asked her. She turned around and tilted her fedora, “M’lord. Come, we can talk in private.”

Minutes later, the two were in an empty abandoned storage room. “I’ve thought about what you’re going to say and… I accept! I will be your wife. But-“

“A- actually, I was going to ask if you could be my fake girlfriend for a while until my grandmother dies so she doesn’t die with a broken heart… a more broken heart…”

Mirajane's eyes widen, and then she tilts her fedora down, “All men are the same. You just couldn’t handle a sigma female like me… I bet you don’t even like women, you're probably a misogynist.” She reached into one of the boxes and pulled out a katana

“I-I’m sorry, I’ll just go…” he goes to the door.

Mirajane holds the katana's handle, “Your sky daddy can’t save you now… when you make a sigma female angry, you awaken her inner demon, and you don’t want to awaken my inner demon… nothing personnel, kid…”

But Rogue had already left, not wanting to see her inner demon. God Mirajane was so cool, the way she used her katana like a professional and talked about how much of a sigma female she was… Rogue could only wish he were that cool. He had to get a fedora sometime…

He decided he had had enough of being a professional flirt for the time being, so he went to class as normal. Maybe a 1 hour dragon studies lesson could help him come up with pickup lines.

During the lunch break he moved to his next lucky woman. This time, he was going to take a different approach; he was going to use a pickup line on Kinana, one he made up himself.

“Hi Kinana, are you a dragon? Because when you fire- when you're hot- when you-“

Rogue suddenly feels a sharp strike to the side of the head.

Above him stood Laki, “I expected better of you Cheney. For trying to hit on Kinana, I’m gonna punish you…” she said, taking out a whip from nowhere in particular and pulling on it. “I’m going to tie you up in my torture chamber and step on you until you start meowing and calling me your dying grandmother's name… and I’m gonna burn all your nerdy books about dragons…” she threatens with a smirk. Rogue would have been into that first part, but a line was being crossed with calling his dragon books nerdy. With a burst of strength, he leaped in the air and did a backflip, kicking Laki in the face before running across the wall to escape. As he kicked her, she made a noise that sounded suspiciously like a moan for fanservice reasons. How did she even know his grandmother was dying? Anyway, once he was a safe distance away, he turned a corner and bumped into Lucy Heartfilia, who was also running. “Rogue?” Lucy said, confused, “Why are you running?”

“ROOOGUE!!!” Laki screamed as she stormed through the corridor, cracking her whip.

“Her. What about you?”

“LUUUCYYYY!!!!” Juvia screamed, also storming down the corridor from the other end.

“Her. Quick, I know a place…” She pulled him through the door to the second abandoned storage room today and locked them in. They were safe now.

Lucy spoke first, “Let me guess, you were trying to find someone to fake being your girlfriend and used a pickup line on the wrong person, resulting in their friend personally insulting you and awakening a newfound rage?”

Rogue nodded, kinda confused

“Same here. It seems people aren’t as willing to start fake relationships as I once thought…” Lucy said, sitting down on the floor. Rogue sat down next to her, thinking about how easy it would be for Sting to get a fake girlfriend. He could just make one offhand comment in class and Rogue reckons he would be able to get an entire fake harem!

“Wait, what if… YOU became my fake girlfriend?” Rogue asked, blushing

“R- really? You would do that? T- That’s a genius idea? Killing 2 birds with one stone! Rogue, you're so smart!” Lucy said, also blushing.

Rogue let out a sigh of relief, knowing this was all over. So did Lucy.

“Meet me at my place tomorrow after school, we’ll need to get to know each other if we want to do this convincingly.”

Rogue nodded in agreement.

Chapter Text

Rogue was incredibly nervous (and blushing), after all, he technically had a girlfriend now, even if a fake one. He was preparing to leave, just dressed as himself, no special outfits for the occasion, as he didn’t want this meetup to end up like finding a girlfriend did. Fresh was on his shoulder, giving Rogue some words of encouragement.

“Don’t worry, rogue-meister. Your old lady will be in the coffin sooner than you can tell Heartfilia about your favourite dragon.”

Rogue needed to keep Fresh away from Doug at all costs; it was having a serious effect on him. Besides, Rogue was kinda secretly excited for it; he had never been at a girl's house unless it was with a bunch of friends, so it was going to be very exciting. And if they went to her bedroom, it would be like exploring a brand new land… he wondered what girls' bedrooms were like for the longest time. Were they perfect spaces of happiness and joy? Were they filled to the brim with snakes? Did they store the secrets to the universe? Time would only tell.

Rogue thought it best to pack some things to signify his interests for the eventual circumstance that it came up. So he put a few books on dragons in his backpack, put a plush dragon on top, then put fresh in with them before deciding he was set for the meetup, and left the house.

Thankfully, Lucy didn’t live far for plot reasons, so he didn’t have all that long for his fear to grow. Not long after leaving, he arrived at Lucy's house (5 minutes early) and knocked on the door. He heard a rush of footsteps, and the door opened. Lucy stood there smiling, teeth very shiny and reflective, just like Sting. Her cheeks seemed ever so slightly red as she saw him.

“Hi Rogue! So glad you could come, almost thought you were going to bail on me hahah. Thanks again for agreeing to this. You have no idea how many people I had to ask to get to this point. Come on in.” Lucy greeted him cheerfully, but in a way that sort of unsettled Rogue; he wasn't exactly used to such joy and happiness in one person. Rogue accepted, heading into the house of mystery. 

Her house was surprisingly normal, at least it seemed that way. he followed her as she brought him to the living room, gesturing that he sit down on the couch with her.

“S- sorry about what happened to Natsu, I’m sure his death was-“

“Nah, it’s not that big of a deal,” Lucy responded, interrupting Rogue. It was pretty surprising for Rogue, given how Natsu was the leader of the Fairy Tail club before he died, the very same club Lucy was an active member in, he had heard. Perhaps Rogue read into that wrong. 

“Now, we need to pretend to be in a relationship… I wrote up a schedule for what we can do to learn about each other.” She takes out a clipboard and briefly glances at it. Rogue reaches over to take it, and she swiftly pulls it away with a blush, “O- on second thoughts, maybe I’ll keep this to myself. For now, we just have to learn about each other…” 

The next 20 minutes were spent having the worst small talk imaginable. After what felt like hours of trying to come up with a conversation topic, Rogue thought of the best possible question. One that would surely strengthen their bond.

“What do you think of the weather-“ his question was interrupted by a bizarre hissing sound “What was that?”

“Oh, it was just my… food! Yes, ovens…” She exclaimed nervously. Rogue suspected nothing. “M- maybe we could go up to my room now… is that alright?”

Rogue’s cheeks went bright red. What did she have planned up there? Was she gonna propose to him to make the relationship official? Rogue was so excited internally as she brought him up the stairs. Rogue was no dating expert, but he was pretty sure this was third base. and opened the door. Lucy’s bedroom was NOT what Rogue was expecting, or rather, it sort of was in a way. It was filled to the brim with snake-based memorabilia, the wallpaper was snakeprint, the desk was snakeprint, on a hook attached to the door was the snake onesie she wore when they met up at the hospital. Where Rogue had a dragon bed, Lucy had a bed inside a giant snake head. Where Rogue’s bookshelf was filled to the brim with books about dragons, Lucy’s was filled with books about snakes. She really was just like him for real, but all the snakeprint sights hurt his eyes a lot if he looked at them for too long.

Lucy blushed nervously, “Welcome to my room… yeah… I like snakes quite a lot.”

“I-I really love dragons… they’re cool…” Rogue said, “M- maybe we could talk about snakes and dragons tog-“

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGHHHHH”, a voice downstairs screamed; Rogue recognised it instantly. Fresh.

Rogue sprinted out of the room and dived down the stairs, landing with a perfect roll. He entered the living room to see that Fresh had been taken hostage by a snake, getting coiled up by it. Rogue didn’t care what happened; he wouldn’t let Fresh die. Even if it meant fighting a snake. In a single backflip, he leapt over the snake and pulled fresh out of its grasp by the ear, holding him close as he landed, letting out a defensive hiss as he looked the snake in the eyes. He heard a voice behind him call out, “Down, Plue. I’m so sorry, Rogue, that’s my pet snake, Plue.” She picked up the snake, talking to it, “The cat is a friend, not food.” The snake let out a sad hiss.

The two went back to the bedroom and sat down on her bed, both blushing as they did so. Neither had shared a bed with someone of the opposite gender, even if they were sharing it as a bench.

“S- so for this part of getting to know each other, I thought it might be necessary to practise p- p- public displays of affection…” she said, not just her cheeks going red but the horizontal middle area of her face, like an anime girl in one of those dragonime Rogue had heard about.

“Right, that makes total sense,” Rogue agreed. He was going crazy inside. He could practise for Sting when they eventually got together, in his dreams... “W- well, should we start then?”

“R- right, rip the bandaid off…” Lucy said, closing her eyes and bringing her hand towards his. Rogue decided to be brave and keep his eyes open. Their hands got close enough, and he held her hand. It felt surprisingly nice, her hand was smooth and warm in his, though it was quite small. His thoughts wandered to how Sting's much larger hand might feel engulfind Rogue's... “W- wow, I thought that would be a lot harder… we’re pretty good at this…” Lucy spoke breathlessly. Rogue thought the same, though he was mostly just imagining it was Sting and not Lucy he was holding hands with. “Maybe we could practise romantic walks outside? L- like in the movies?” Rogue asked, feeling a bit more comfortable around Lucy. She was pretty similar to Sting after all, extraverted, blonde... he couldn't think of very much else. but that was still enough for him.

“Y-yeah, good idea…”

It wasn’t long before the two were walking outside together, holding hands and making their way through the neighbourhood. Rogue couldn’t believe he was actually doing this. Was this what confidence like Sting could let you do? He felt stronger because of it. Life was good. They kept walking down the street, taking in the familiar sights, telling each other random facts about snakes and dragons. Though his confidence slightly wavered at the thought of explaining this to his father, it would be rather embarrassing.

“R- Rogue? I- I think I’m ready…” Lucy said, turning to face him, “I’m ready to try hugging…”

Rogue gasped, “S- so soon? I- I guess it’s worth a shot…” he says, surprised at the boldness. He faced her too and stepped towards each other, wrapping their arms around each other in an awkward imitation of a hug. 

“Rogue…” A voice spoke from the side, quiet and surprised. Rogue’s head whipped around, and Lucy pulled away at the sight of… Sting?! Oh, Dragon Gods, Rogue had completely forgotten he lived nearby. This was terrible, Sting was going to get the completely wrong idea, he would think they’re in a relationship, and all would go to hell. Rogue began to feel dizzy; his head hurt. He stumbled into Lucy, who managed to catch him and lead him back to his house. All that went through his mind, though, was Sting.

Chapter Text

Today was a big day; Rogue and Lucy were going to hold hands. In public… At lunch, that is, because Lucy is busy cheerleading for the first match of the new Dragon Ball season. Meaning Sting was gone too.

Rogue sighed, he hadn’t talked to Sting since he caught him and Lucy hugging. Which was only yesterday, but that didn’t mean Rogue didn’t miss him. He also still needed to explain that he and Lucy weren’t in a relationship and were only fake-dating for their dying relatives. The only good thing coming from Sting’s absence was keeping Fresh away from Doug’s influence for a little while.

Walking into class made Rogue’s already bad day worse, as they had to get into groups of two. Rogue has gotten used to Sting being his teammate, but he wasn’t here, so he had to settle for someone else. Glancing over his classmates, Rogue began to walk towards Minerva.

“Milady, can we- “

“No. Piss off, Cheney,” she hissed. Taking in Rogue’s pathetic face before adding. “I’ve got a banging hangover, can’t cope with you or your dragons for the next 36 hours. Especially after dealing with Sting’s sorry ass all night.”

“Is something wrong with-” Minerva cut him off again, holding her hand out.

“Talk to the hand Cheney. This conversation is done.”

Message received, Rogue backed away, ready to continue his search for a teammate.

“Wait.” Minerva called out, “Cat stays here.” She tapped her desk. “That cat is my teammate, can’t deal with anyone else today.”

Why didn’t Rogue think of that? What sort of best friend was he to not even consider Fresh being his teammate? Rogue took Fresh out of his bag by the tail. Setting them on Minerva’s desk. Before melancholy continuing the search for a teammate. Faintly hearing Fresh ribbit their goodbye.

Sting would have no issues finding another teammate. He was so cool, and everyone loved him. Quite literally. Rogue would soon need two hands to count his love rivals.

Everyone else seemed to have a teammate already. Laki glared as he passed her and Kinana. Mirajane, whilst without a teammate, just sombrely tilted her fedora down. Rogue has run out of people to team with whom the author is allowed to put here.

Embarrassed, Rogue blushed, feeling like he was about to cry. No one wants him to be their teammate. He should’ve seen this coming. People only tolerate him because he hangs out with Sting now. Without Sting, he’s nothing. Not even Fresh is by his side. Maybe he should just fake being sick, go home, and drown his sorrows in dragon books. No. Not with his mission.

“Rogue, do you want to be my teammate?”

Whipping his head around, Rogue saw Yukino walk in, holding one of those massive teddy bears you can win at fun fairs.

“Isn’t she darling? My boyfriend won her for me!” She squealed. Holding the bear close and smelling it. Rogue found the obvious sniffing a bit off-putting, but he’d be a hypocrite to judge. He’s smelled the cat ears Sting gave him a concerning number of times.

“Well? Do you want to be my teammate?” Yukino asked.

Rogue feverishly nodded. Now people will stop looking at him and thinking about how much of a loser he is.

The rest of the morning period was uneventful. Rogue and Yukino worked on the simple research task they were given. Completing it just before the bell rang.

“My horoscope was right again today!” Yukino giggled. “It said our star signs are very compatible in friendship, and this task proved it.” She explained packing up her things. Rogue doesn’t even know what star sign he has, but Yukino probably knows what she’s talking about. Although he spent most of the class thinking about Sting, he’s not sure much happened on the friendship front between him and Yukino.

As he left class with Fresh in his messy bun (who now smelled suspiciously like alcohol), Bickslow tripped him up, letting out an angry grunt. Missing the interaction, Yukino smiled and waved her hello to Bickslow. Now realising Rogue wasn’t alone, Bickslow decided to skedaddle.

“He must be in a rush.” Yukino mused. “I didn’t even get to introduce him to Lola.” She flattened the teddy bear’s ears for emotional emphasis. Rogue could’ve sworn that thing didn’t have a name two hours ago.

“Thank you for being my teammate, but I have somewhere to be,” Rogue said, blushing. What were people going to think of him? Holding hands in public and so soon. But Rogue needed the practice and soon, so his grandmother won’t die sad.

“Oh! Are you going to see Sting? I’m going the same way to meet up with Sorano.” Rogue was actually going to meet Lucy. However, the thought of meeting up with Sting is much more enticing. Lucy would understand if he was a little bit late. Right?

“Yes?”

“Let’s walk together then.” Yukino pointed the way with one of Lola’s paws.

“R-right.” The sooner he sees Sting, the sooner he can clear up the misconception about him and Lucy dating.

The bus carrying the sports teams was pulling away when they got there. With no Sting or Sorano in sight. Which was fine. Maybe they went to get food or something. Rogue could understand; he was hungry, and so was Fresh if the way they were trying to eat his hair was any indication.

Rogue was about to turn around to go find Lucy when a sparkle caught his eye. He knew that sparkle from anywhere, Sting’s shiny teeth!

Yukino caught on as well. “They’re over there.” She said, pointing in their direction.

“Hey Sora-“ Yukino’s words got caught in her throat. As Rogue’s eyes widened in horror.

Life suddenly moved in slow motion. Sting was leaning in for the kiss. Sorano leaned in too. It was like they were the only two people in the world.

As their lips touched.

Rogue’s world went dark. Metaphorically and physically, he fainted again.

Chapter Text

It was a Sunday, and the newest season of Dragon Ball was coming up, so Sting had to train for it. So he and Doug headed out for a game of fetch. Even though Doug was a cat, it still provided great training, so they went to the nearby park and began playing. All was going well, until Doug decided to up the ante. “Alright, I’m gonna throw this one real hard. Get ready to run, kiddo…”  He used both hands, raising the ball above his head, and launched it. Sting ran like the wind. Doug wasn’t kidding; the ball went really far. Sting ran and ran until he finally found it by the housing area. He looked up, it was familiar. Rogue lived nearby, he remembered from when they played here as kids.

Then he saw him… hugging a girl?! Rogue had a girlfriend?! This was news to Sting, and with closer inspection it was… LUCY HEARTFILIA?!?!? Sting knew that Rogue was a pretty handsome guy and could probably get with someone as pretty as her if he tried, but never did he expect it to actually happen; he just didn’t think Rogue was the sort… worst of all… Sting still didn’t have a girlfriend yet. Rogue Cheney had a girlfriend, and Sting didn’t, and he was even having public displays of affection like hugging her and holding hands. He turned around to see that Doug was right there waiting for him. In a single leap, Doug was on his shoulder. “I need to get a girlfriend, Doug… Hold on tight.”

Sting began sprinting, faster than ever. As soon as he arrived at his intended location, he knocked frantically on the door.

“SHUT THE HELL UP! I’M COMING!” Minerva said, until she opened the door, calming down instantly, even smiling a bit, “Oh, hi, sting! What brings you to my neck of the woods?” She asks, leaning against the door frame, smile growing a bit wider.

“Minerva, I need a girlfriend,” he says. Minerva froze, cheeks going bright red as she took another swig of alcohol. Was it really happening? After all the rejections and times he didn’t return her feelings, did he finally want her? Then he said the dreaded words. “So I need you to tell me Sorano’s address.”

God damn it. “Oh yeah, I’ll write it down here… knowing how you forget things,” she mumbled, scribbling it on a sticky note, surprisingly cohesively for someone so intensely drunk. She hands over the sticky note, slams the door shut, and heads to the basement to get some buckets; bottles wouldn’t do to contain the alcohol she was going to drink.

“Thanks-“ the door was slammed on Sting. He recovered and began sprinting again, Doug snickering to himself on Sting’s shoulder. Eventually, he arrived at the address and knocked frantically. It wasn’t Sorano that answered, but Yukino. Though it did make sense, given that they were siblings. She looked a bit different though, she wore her dressing gown and looked a tad disheveled, but she had quite the grin on her face, and her cheeks were red, like a dragon ball set on fire by a fierce dragon.

“Oh, hey, Sting. What brings you here?” she asked curiously, tightening the dressing gown a bit as an assurance that nothing beneath could be seen.

“Oh, I came by to see Sorano. Can you get her for me?”

“Oh yeah, she’s in her bedroom doing her hair. Come on in.”

Minutes later, he was in Sorano’s room, sitting on her bed as she sat at her dressing table brushing her hair, not really paying much attention to sting, so he decided to begin stating his case.

“…So that’s why I need you to be my girlfriend. I promise to say I love you whenever that’s how I feel, and I’ll kiss you lots, even when Rogue isn’t looking... sometimes... if you're nice.”

“Yeah, yeah sure, I’ll be your girlfriend, whatever, but you gotta do me a favour. Yukino’s ever-present, annoying as #### boyfriend is with Yukino in her bedroom, can you go over and shut the door for me? They’re too loud in there, or rather, Yukino is, but it's HIS FAULT, so can you go over and shut the door for me? Thanks.” Sting nodded and got up and headed out of the bedroom, shutting Yukino’s bedroom door. He heard a lot of giggling in there and didn’t want to question it.

He sat down on Sorano’s bed again, “Why do you hate Yukino’s boyfriend so much anyway?”

“Oh, it’s a long story…” she said, sighing, “A while after he came to the area, he confessed that he had feelings for me. Though it was the first time we had spoken, so I was a tad confused, but I liked him, he had this presence to him like he could run the world if he wanted, dictating everything that happens and stuff, you get me? Anyway, we went out on a date and then he CALLED ME BY MY SISTER’S NAME. Apparently, he had been talking to my sister for a while on their Ifiornes, and his glasses were being repaired, so he couldn’t tell the difference between us, so he thought that I was his sister. The nerve of that guy…” SLAM! Sorano turned her head, “And he’s gone, good grief…” It seemed that during the story, she had been brushing her hair more and more aggressively out of annoyance.

Chapter Text

Sting felt like a model walking through the school corridors, even more so than usual. With his girlfriend by his side, he felt like a whole new man, he HAD to let all his friends know. The problem was that Rogue was nowhere to be seen, nor was Yukino, though that made sense, he had to get to school extra early to catch the bus for the dragon ball match today. He peeked inside Minervas class and saw she was sleeping so he decided not to disturb her. All the while, Sorano was being dragged along on this escapade trying not to get her dress dirty. Eventually, Sting found someone to show his girlfriend off to, Bickslow! Bickslow would surely be proud of him; he was a good friend, even if a bit clingy.

“Hey, if it isn’t Bicks himself, great to see you. Guess what…” Sting said, practically giddy. Sorano rolled her eyes, choosing not to give much dialogue.

“What is it?” Bickslow asked, looking at Sting in awe, blushing intensely. But Bickslow knew exactly what he was going to say next, and it excited him so much, he was going to be confessed to! He hadn’t even seen Sorano, whose arm was linked to Sting’s. Bickslow used to be a lesser man, he merely wanted to play with Sting and cuddle and kiss him and lock him up and love him, but since then, Bickslow had matured, now he knew such a relationship with the legendary Sting was completely impossible, the dynamics wouldn’t be maintainable because of the sheer disparity between the two, Sting, a God among us, and Bickslow, his humble servant.

“I got a girlfriend! Me and the big S herself got together!” Sting exclaimed, “Isn’t that amazing?”

“O- o- o- o- oh… right… c- c- congratulations Sting-kun…” he stuttered with a weak enthusiasm, that seemed to convince Sting, “I- I- I knew you could do it… I- I gotta go to class now… b- bye Stingy… senpai…” he said, before turning on his heel and running off into the girls bathrooms and crying in one of the stalls.

It should have been him! Bickslow did everything he could to earn Sting’s love! He showed up every day to be by his side, he supported him in all his endeavours, but all Bickslow wanted in return was some love… was that too much to ask for? Had he licked too many of other people's belongings? Did he need to be more like a cat? Bickslow knew that the disparity was too much, but he would have gladly settled for a master and pet relationship; in fact, that’s exactly why he licked things so much, to practise for the day when Sting would inevitably say he wanted to adopt him… Bickslow began to meow quietly to himself to reassure himself that it wasn’t over.

Meanwhile, Sting headed out of the school. He had a dragon ball match that he had to get to after all, “Can you stop dragging me around everywhere? It’s getting on my nerves…” Sorano asked with a grunt, but Sting had no time for that; he had a match he needed to get to

Eventually, he returned to the school. It was lunch time, so most of the students weren't in this area of the school. To his surprise, he saw Rogue with Yukino, who seemed to have a stuffed bear for some reason. Anyway, Sting wanted to tell Rogue about what was going on, but decided to show it instead, and turned to Sorano, pressing his lips to hers and kissing her in the hallway. Though it lasted surprisingly long, as Sting didn’t really know how long people were meant to kiss for. About a minute later, he looked back to see that Rogue and Yukino were gone. He shrugged, “I guess they had places to be. Wanna kiss again?”

“Ugh!” Sorano exclaimed, “I gotta go home now, can’t believe I was dragged on the most boring date ever…” she said, storming off. Sting shrugged and headed home for the day.

The next day, Sting woke up to his Ifiorne 16xs vibrating. He sat up and looked to see that he had a text message from Yukino.

“Hay Sting. Rogue iz sick so he totes won’t be in schööl today.”

“Why are you texting like that?”

“Idk, thought it would be funny. Gtg to class, cya.”

He also had about 30 messages from Sorano, but he didn’t bother with them. Then he realised that Rogue was probably alone and in desperate need of his help! So he quickly got his gear on, looked around for Doug and got him onto his shoulder before heading out to Rogue’s house. Eventually, he got there and tried to open the door. It was locked. Of course it was. Then Doug spoke up

“Kid, kid, don’t embarrass yourself. I got this.” He said, before sliding down Sting’s arm and landing on the door handle, suddenly pulling out some keys?! He slid the first key into the door, and what do you know, it was unlocked. “The rest is up to you now, I’m off to visit Minerva for a couple of pints.” He gave a little salute and strutted off.

Sting shrugged, full of questions, like how did Doug have the keys to Rogue’s house? Why did he seem so casual with Minerva? Since when did he drink? Those may be answered another day. Rogue needed saving for now. He headed into his house and up the stairs, eventually finding himself in Rogue’s room, where he lay asleep and evidently ill. It was strange. Rogue was normally a healthy guy, why was he so ill so suddenly? Whatever, SuperSting was here to save the day. He crouched down on the bed and spoke to him,

“Hey Rogue… I’m here to help out. Do you need anything?”

He slowly opened his eyes and looked over at Sting, “Soooupp…”

Sting nodded and stood up, “Soup, soup, I can make soup.” He told himself, giving Rogue a little finger gun and heading out of the bedroom, sliding down the bannister and making his way to the kitchen. One problem, Sting couldn’t cook for the life of him… so he decided to improvise. He got out a bowl and filled it with water. Next, he added 2 carrots, a banana and an apple. Then he put it in the microwave and left it cooking for about 10 minutes. As it slowly spun around in the microwave, Sting looked on in horror as he realised... he had completely forgotten to take the label off the apple. The soup was doomed, and it was definitely too late to take it off, he'd burn his hand off if he opened the microwave so early on! Afterwards he took it out. It looked… very black. And the water was all gone, so he filled it up with water again, removed the little piece of black that he assumed was the label and headed up to Rogue’s bedroom.

“Hey buddy, I got your soup… All your favourite ingredients…” Sting says, kneeling and getting a spoonful of the disgusting liquid.

“S- sting, I, I know you have a girlfriend and I’m sure you're really happy about it, but-“ the spoon was pushed into his mouth and his eyes widened, his cheeks went red. Sting raised the bowl for Rogue to begin lapping from it. “Sting, what did you put in this?”

“A-ah, that’s a family secret… keep eating, you’ll be better in no time.”

Rogue devoured the soup in 30 seconds flat. He began to feel better pretty quickly, and after 3 more bowls, he was back to good health. He sat up in his bed, “Wait… F- Fresh left earlier to get medicine, where is he..?”

Meanwhile in a local pub

Fresh lay across the bar, unconscious but with a smile on their face, with a half drank glass of beer behind him. Next to him was Doug, who had 3 empty glasses around him and began drinking Fresh’s glass. Meanwhile Minerva was laughing heartily, “You guys are a great time! Didn’t think a cat could handle any alcohol, nevermind 3 glasses!” She said, with 8 empty glasses piled up next to her. She let out a loud burp, waking fresh. They sat up, “That was so fun! I love it! I should probably go back to Cheney, though. Bye, guys!” Fresh waved, hopping off the bar and heading out of the pub.

Chapter Text

Rogue wonders what he did wrong to deserve this. Not only was his perfect attendance ruined, but Sting was also downstairs, in his house, talking to his dad. A large snowstorm hit Fiore throughout the day, and Sting’s own father got snowed in at work (All the airport runways got closed, so he couldn’t fly home either). Sting, in such a rush to aid Rogue in his moment of need, forgot to take his house keys with him. Locking himself out.

So, Rogue was pacing in his room, listening to Sting ask if he could stay the night. Rogue blushed. This was too forward, Sting has a girlfriend! A girlfriend whom he abandoned to take care of him… Rogue shook his head. Sting only took care of him because he’s a walking angel. He probably only did it because he thought Rogue was pathetic. Imagine getting sick on a school night. Rogue usually holds out until mid-term break.

Sting slid into the room, finger guns blazing. “Your dad’s cool with me staying the night.” He smiled.

Looking at Sting’s smile almost made Rogue’s worries melt away. Until he realised something.

There was only one bed!

Blushing, Rogue covered his face with his hands. This was a disaster! Rogue could handle holding Lucy’s hand in public, but sharing a bed with Sting was a different dragon ball game altogether. What if Rogue accidentally cuddled him in his sleep? Sting would be disgusted, since he has a girlfriend. Rogue will be sharing a bed with a committed man! With his good dragon bed cover on, too!

“Are you alright, Rogue?” Sting asked. “Do you feel sick again? Your face is flushed.” He began to reach over to feel Rogue’s forehead, but Rogue skilfully backflipped out of the way. To prove that he was healthy and to avoid the interaction.

Rogue’s dragon dad poked his head through the door, “I’m up to the attic to bring the air mattress down.” Rogue completely forgot they had one of those, since he never had any friends round anymore, let alone staying over. Bed sharing crisis averted.

“This reminds me of when you two used to have sleepovers all the time as kids,” Skiadrum sighed wistfully, “time just flies by.”

“Oh yeah, I remember that, and the barbeques too!” Sting beamed.

Rogue could never forget them. They lived in each other’s pockets, inseparable. The smell of the barbecue, the illegal fireworks Weisslogia always brought. The one time they tried to camp out underneath the stars, but got scared by a dog barking, so they ran inside and hid under the covers for hours. It all changed one year when Sting went to dragon camp.

He came back with new friends and an earring. Much too cool for Rogue to hang out with. Rogue was sure spending time with him would make Sting realise how weird he is, especially because he was friends with the likes of Bickslow. So Rogue hid in the shadows, claiming to be busy when Sting wanted to hang out. Spending his newfound free time on dragons, all alone until he found Fresh. Sting never stopped saying hello to him.

Rogue briefly wonders if his own insecurities made him sabotage his relationship with Sting… No, Rogue thought, shaking his head. That would be ridiculous. Bickslow alone was horrible to him. He is sure all the others would’ve been the same. Although Rogue can’t help but wish they had reconnected sooner.

“Now you just make yourself at home, Sting. Rogue knows where the extra blankets are if they’re necessary.” Skiadrum assured.

“Will do Skiadrum!” Sting gave a double thumbs up as Rogue nodded. Watching Skiadrum awkwardly make his way, bumping his head on the door frame.

Sting sat himself down on Rogue’s bed, swinging his legs a bit before turning to Rogue. “So… what do you want to do?” He asked.

Rogue blushed. This was too much pressure! Especially when the genuine answer was to cuddle up to Sting and watch dragon videos, or maybe. If feeling cheeky, introduce Sting to every single dragon plush and action figure he has. Each one has its own name and in-depth lore. However, Rogue did not want Sting to judge him, so he went with a neutral response.

“We could watch DragonTube?” Nailed it.

“Sounds good.”

Turning the TV on, Rogue quickly logged out of his personal account. Lest Sting see his embarrassing DragonTube Recommendations, containing dragons, snakes (Lucy), cats and god forbid the catboys. Rogue scrolled through the recommendations, trying to find something Sting would like to watch.

“Wait,” Sting cut in, “Go back two.” Rogue complied, squinting at the familiar face on the thumbnail.

“Is that?”

“Yes.”

“Why does Mr Dragneel have a dating podcast?!” Rogue sputtered.

“Don’t know, don’t care. Let’s watch it, for a laugh.” Sting grinned as Rogue warily pressed play.

As the video ended, Sting and Rogue sat in shock. Both silently vowing to never speak of this experience again.

Small scratching noises came from Rogue’s window. Impossible to see out of it, due to the frost, Rogue opened the window. Wincing as icy air entered the room.

Fresh popped their head through the window, then stumbled into the room headfirst. Rogue smiled, scooping them into his arms. “I was wondering where you went,” he cooed.

Fresh let out a “Ribbit” before immediately passing out in Rogue’s arms, still drunk.

Sting laughed, “We should follow suit, it’s getting late.” Glancing at the time, Rogue agreed. He couldn’t afford to miss two school days in a row, particularly from something as petty as sleep deprivation.

Sting stood up, stretched, and audibly cracked his back. Before starting to take his top off.

“What are you doing?!” Rogue asked panicked, blushing furiously. Did Sting have no shame? This is too soon! Sting also had a girlfriend! Rogue wasn’t that type of guy, even with Sting, he wouldn’t partake in cheating... Probably.

“Taking my top off? It’ll be too warm to sleep with it on.” It’s -4 degrees Celsius outside. “Oh, actually Rogue. Do you have any pyjama bottoms I can borrow? These are uncomfortable to sleep in.” Sting added, pointing to the trousers he had on.

Rogue is convinced Sting will be the death of him. When one crisis ended, another started. Sting didn’t mean anything by it; the request makes sense. They’re similar sizes after all, in fact, their legs aren't majorly different in length. However, this felt more intimate than the thought of sharing a bed, than that one-time Rogue thought Sting was going to propose or holding hands with Lucy.

Blushing furiously, Rogue stuttered, “Y-yes, I-I-I’ll go get you a pair. Can you go set up the air bed?”

Giving a thumbs up, Sting bounced into action, still shirtless. Which was fine, Rogue survived the Dragon Ball game. Sting wasn’t going to wear his clothes back then, but it’ll be fine. Rogue could feel Doug smirking at him, despite him being drunk in a bar

After placing Fresh on down on his bed. Rogue began the quest to find the fanciest dragon-themed pyjama bottoms he has. Sting only deserves the best, of course.

In the time it took Rogue to decide on pyjamas. Sting had set up the air bed and was now chillaxing in it. Pointedly ignored every new notification as he scrolled on his phone. Rogue wished he had that problem, but the only person who regularly texts him is his dad.

Looking at the floor and blushing, Rogue handed the pyjama bottoms to Sting.

“Thanks, dude!” Sting praised. As he started to put them on, Rogue took off his glasses.

Avoiding looking at Sting’s general direction, Rogue got into bed. Gently manoeuvring Fresh, to not wake them up.

“Right, night night, Rogue.” Sting adjusted his head against the pillow, looking up at Rogue and giving him his winning smile.

“Night,” Rogue muttered. Reaching over to turn the lamp off.

Looking up at the ceiling, Rogue briefly ponders if this is what life would be like if he and Sting were married. Minus the air bed, hopefully. Unless Sting kicks in his sleep or something. Of course, Rogue knew these thoughts were silly. Sting was dating Sorano, and they’ll probably get married, with Rogue being Sting’s best man if he were lucky. He’s being selfish, thinking of such things.

Wait, he still hasn’t told Sting he’s not dating Lucy.

Sitting up, Rogue looked over to Sting, who had already started snoring. It makes sense that Sting could fall asleep easily; he’s great at everything.

Sighing, Rogue lay back. He can explain the Lucy situation to him tomorrow.

Chapter Text

The next morning, Rogue wakes up to a bright light. He opens his eyes and sighs with relief; it was just the sunlight reflecting off Sting’s teeth. He was grinning brightly, looking down at Rogue. Disappointingly to Rogue, Sting had woken up early and put all his clothes back on, it seemed. His dragon-ball toughened abs were hidden away yet again. 

“Hey buddy, it’s time to get up now… snows all gone…” he giggles as he speaks, like he had been scheming. Rogue, on the other hand, was blushing and embarrassed. Sting’s laughter was beautiful, like a choir of heavenly dragons had descended from heaven, singing praise for all of Rogue’s efforts. He sat up and rubbed his eyes, Sting still giggling away next to him.

“Yaaay,” Rogue managed to muster through his tiredness. He got up from the bed and headed to his dragon-shaped mirror. Sting followed behind, giving him finger guns. “Looking good, man…” he said, still giggling. Rogue looked in the mirror, and what he saw was shocking. He was wearing his cat ears… he hadn’t been wearing them when he went to bed… “D- did you?” he choked.

“Haha, yeah! I put them on you while you were asleep. You looked like a silly, cute kitty cat. If I heard correctly, I think you might have purred a bit too…” Sting teased with a huge grin on his face, like one that Doug might make, like pet like owner.

As he saw his cat-eared reflection in the mirror, Rogue’s mind went into overdrive as he heard Sting’s words. What did this mean? Did this mean that Sting officially thought that Rogue looked cute?!? Were his previous thoughts of Sting correct in Sting wanting to give him a collar and leash while he strutted around the school with his cat ears on? How could Rogue respond to this? Obviously, he would accept if Sting offered, but what would Rogue say now? He just barely managed to say “M-meow?” without falling unconscious, causing Sting to laugh uncontrollably.

“Aw man, you are hilarious sometimes Rogue,” Sting added, before heading to the bathroom. All Rogue could do was stare as he walked out of the bedroom. His thoughts were interrupted though, as his flipfiorne started ringing. he managed to answer it quickly; it was a call from Lucy. “Rogue! Get to the hospital immediately, the old man’s in the middle of kicking the bucket, be quick!”

“So… gramps… this is Rogue Cheney, my lovely boyfriend. He likes boy- I mean dragons! Yes, he very much likes dragons.” Lucy tells her grandmother, holding Rogue’s hand tightly in hopes of appearing more romantic.

“That’s nice, dear, I’m glad I could truly see you in love before I finally pass on. I-“

Rogue suddenly got a phone call. He took out his phone casually. It was his dad; his grandmother was dying too! Rogue whispered in Lucy’s ear, “We need to wrap this up, my gran’s dying too, y’know.” He said. Mid-conversation, the two of them left Lucy’s grandmother on the deathbed and walked down the corridor to Rogue’s dying grandmother.

“So… gran… this is Lucy Heart... heartfil..., this is my lovely girlfriend, Lucy. She likes snakes- I mean snakes and ladders! Yes, he very much likes snakes and ladders.” Rogue’s grandmother hated snakes. He held tightly to Lucy’s hand as they had rehearsed.

“That’s nice, dear. I’m glad I could truly see you in love before I finally pass on. I-“

She then died mid-sentence. The two of them headed out of the hospital, standing outside. They both let out a sigh of relief. Lucy spoke first, “You did well in there, I think she really believed us.”

“You too, just glad it’s all over now. Acting like your boyfriend in front of your grandfather was probably the most eventful thing to happen today.”

“Same here. Break up?”

“Break up.”

The two let go of each other's hands and broke up with each other, ending this frankly bizarre saga.

The next day, during lunch, Rogue was at the Saber Tooth club, everyone was chatting like normal when Yukino asked him, “So how are things between you and Lucy? My boyfriend and I are doing wonderfully. You guys should really make sure your star signs are compatible, otherwise it’s doomed to failure.”

Rogue nodded, blushing slightly before admitting, “We aren’t really together anymore…” Everyone around them gasped, before Rogue tried to assure them, “G- guys! It’s alright, we were…” he gulps, “We were faking being in a relationship for some dying relatives…” They all gasped louder. Sting looked most shocked of all. Sorano was the least shocked, but she wasn’t really paying attention. She looked like a mess lately, her hair seemed to be in a permanent bad hair day state, her outfits seemed to grow more and more grey in colour, and she had bags under her eyes constantly. Minerva had some competition for who was in the worst state on any given day in the Saber Tooth Club now. As well as that, any time someone other than Yukino spoke to her, she seemed to clench her teeth, like she was one bad moment away from killing everyone.

Yukino grinned, “That’s such a Sagittarius thing to do…”

Everyone else nodded in agreement, such wise words from Yukino. Sting then places his arm on Sorano’s shoulder, “Sorano, I think we should break up. I just feel like we’re never communicating that much, and it barely even feels like we’re in a relationship. Hope-“

That did it, Sorano pulled away and shot to her feet, “STING EUCLIFFE, I HAVE HAD IT WITH YOU! EVER SINCE THE RELATIONSHIP STARTED, NOTHING GOOD HAS CAME OF IT! EVERY SINGLE TIME YOU MEET ME IN SCHOOL IT’S BEEN TO DRAG ME AROUND AND KISS ME IN FRONT OF PEOPLE YOU’RE JEALOUS OF! I WAS FINE WITH IT AT FIRST, BUT IT BEGAN DRIVING ME CRAZY WHEN YOU GAVE ME EMERGENCY CALLS JUST TO KISS ME IN FRONT OF SOME KID WITH A TRIPLE SCOOP VANILLA ICE CREAM!!” she was practically screaming at this point, “I’VE SENT YOU DOZENS OF MESSAGES OVER THE PAST FEW DAYS TRYING TO COMMUNICATE WITH YOU AND THE ONLY RESPONSE  I’VE RECEIVED IS “K, love u, bye”. THAT DOESN’T EVEN RELATE TO WHAT I ASKED HALF THE TIME. AND ANOTHER THING. YOU DON’T BREAK UP WITH ME! I BREAK UP WITH YOU!” she points her finger accusingly at Sting, “YOU HAVE MADE MY LIFE A LIVING HELL, DO YOU HEAR ME?!”

Yukino whispers to Rogue, “I knew this would happen, Sting’s a cancer and Sorano’s an aquarius, completely incompatible”.

Sorano suddenly picked up the plastic chair she was sat on throughout the meeting and launched it at Sting. Thankfully, Doug was there and caught it with one paw, preventing what could have been a terrible injury. She then stormed out of the classroom, screaming incoherent nonsense. Yukino then stood up, “You should really apologise to her, Sting.”

“What did I do?” Sting asked, not really paying much attention to what happened

“Ugh, she’s right about you.” Yukino responded, “I need to rant to my boyfriend about this.” She growled, before storming out of the classroom too, leaving just Minerva, Rogue, and Sting there.

“Well, that just happened…” Rogue stated iconically.

“I have a bad feeling about this,” Sting responded (cue the laugh track).

“I really can’t be bothered with this club anymore, it’s bumming me out,” Minerva said, heading out of the classroom with a can of beer in one hand and Doug in the other.

“I guess the guild really has broken up…” Sting said with a frown, “We need to fix this somehow…”

Rogue simply nodded, while admiring how cute Sting looked while sad.

Chapter Text

As a way of thanking everyone for coming back to the guild and forgiving him, he had set up a beach day for all of them, where they could visit the coast and play in the sand a bit for some quality bonding time. This excited Rogue immensely; he could barely sleep the night before at the idea of Sting practically being naked and covered in ocean water. Oh yeah, and the fun stuff too. When the next morning arrived, Rogue shot out of the bed and began preparing. He got his backpack and packed it with: Sun cream, a book about dragons, Fresh, another book about dragons, 2 pairs of swimming trunks, etc.

BZZT! His flipfiorne vibrated from a message in the newly formed Sabertooth club group chat. Several more vibrations followed.

Sting: “Does 2 pm suit every1?”

Yukino: “Totes, can my bf come? 😊”

Sting: “K. @Minerva, I got a 6 pack 4 u like u asked”

Minerva: “Gud, won’t come otherwise”

Rogue: “Who’s gonna mind da car’s while we play :P?”

Sting: “Doug can mind ur catto (thumbs up emoji)”

Rogue: “Ok… :3”

Rogue really didn’t trust Doug, not with how Fresh had been acting lately. It felt as though once every few days, Rogue would catch Fresh with a can of beer, pretending to act drunk, while staring at Rogue and grinning tauntingly, just like Doug does; it worried him. But that didn’t matter; today was for him and Sting to have some fun. His phone vibrated, and he was very surprised to see Lilac was online for once.

Lilac: “2 pm suits me”

Everyone gave their own shocked reactions to her presence, but it didn’t affect Rogue quite as much, though, since he had joined for the least amount of time, so he turned his phone off and put it in his backpack. He waited for 3 hours before finally leaving since he got ready really early. When he arrived at the beach, he headed to a public bathroom and got out of his clothes, slipping on both pairs of swimming trunks (you never know what might happen).

He stepped out to see that everyone was having fun. Fresh had somehow escaped his backpack and was making sandcastles with Doug and Minerva. Sting was setting up a volleyball net with help from who he assumed was Lilac. Off to the side was Sorano, Yukino, and her boyfriend, all on a blanket. Yukino’s boyfriend was sitting behind her putting some sun cream on her as they chatted casually. Rogue was a tad confused; he always thought that Sorano absolutely hated Yukino’s boyfriend. He decided before he talked to Sting, he’d warm his socialising skills up a bit by investigating whatever was going on, so he headed over and sat down on the remaining space of the blanket.

“Hi Rogue!” Yukino greeted Rogue cheerily

“Hey,” Sorano said, smiling slightly

“I thought you hated Yukino’s boyfriend. Did something change?” Rogue asks Sorano, she frowns slightly and begins to explain, “After breaking up with Sting, I wondered for quite a while why the relationship couldn’t be like Yukino’s. Eventually, I realised that maybe they were just perfect for each other, and anyone who can make Yukino this happy is good in my books. No matter how annoyingly loud they are.”

The two lovers blush slightly at Sorano's words but focus on talking to each other instead. Rogue nods along, “Wow…” he wonders what it would be like if it were he and Sting in Yukino and her boyfriend’s place; he would get to feel Sting’s muscular body under his hands as he rubbed in the sun cream. He shook his head and left his daydreaming state, standing up, “Well, have fun, I guess…”

He headed over to Sting, who was playing beach volleyball with Lilac now. After their current game, Sting looked over to Rogue and grinned, waving, “Hey Rogue! Glad you could make it! Now that everyone’s here, we can start the beach volleyball tournament!” So everyone gathered round to sort themselves into teams. Then Minerva piped up, “Sting, since you’re the sports nerd out of us, you need a bad teammate to balance it out.” Sting thought for a moment, then nodded in agreement, putting his strong, firm, large hands on Rogue’s shoulder. “I’ll team up with Rogue since he doesn’t do many sports.”

Rogue blushed like the red dragons in the books he left in his backpack. Did Sting really say he thought Rogue was worthy of being THE legendary Sting’s teammate in beach volleyball, one of the most competitive games of all time? Was Rogue truly a worthy adversary to the legendary Sting Eucliffe? Could he do him proud? His thoughts were interrupted by Lilac speaking, “Hey wait, where’s Yukino and her boyfriend?”

Sorano shrugged with a grin on her face, “They went off on their own to explore the sand dunes on their own, can't blame them, last time Yukino played beach volleyball it didn’t go so well for her face.”

“Fair enough,” Sting responded as he began to put the others into teams. Lilac and Sorano would be in a team together, and since Doug and Fresh were both cats, they would both be on a team with the incredibly drunk Minerva.

And so, the games began. First, it was Lilac and Sorano up against Rogue and Sting. Rogue made sure to keep a good distance from Sting so he didn’t faint mid-game. Sting started by serving, and Lilac returned it with little difficulty. Sting followed by hitting it towards Sorano, who didn’t react in time, giving Sting and Rogue the point. The games continued until it was 4-4. Sting had been carrying the team, but Lilac and Sorano played well, too. Rogue had yet to touch the ball. Until it hit him square in the face. During a crucial moment, Sorano hit the ball towards Rogue to catch him off guard and did, but when the ball collided with his face, it was launched high into the air, giving Sting a chance to spike it into the sand and get them the victory. Rogue lay on the floor in surprise as Fresh came over.

“Well done, Rogue! Ribbit!” They celebrated. Rogue smiled and reached his hand up, stroking the back of the cat's head before standing up and moving away as Fresh, Doug, and Minerva got on to play against Sorano and Lilac. Meanwhile, Rogue sat in the sand, chatting with Sting.

“That was really good what you did there, Rogue, totally came in clutch at the last second, dude. High five!” Sting cheered, holding up his hand for Rogue. Unfortunately, Rogue hadn’t been paying attention; he was too busy gazing into Sting’s majestic eyes, which made him wonder, what was Sting doing? Was his hand up because he wanted them to hold hands? Was this some cool, popular kid romance thing that he didn’t know of yet? Reluctantly, he reached his hand over and put it up against Sting’s, simply holding it there. Sting began to look a tad confused and pulled his hand away after a few sweet, memorable seconds. Rogue blushed to himself and looked down at the sand as he zoned out. He was snapped out of his haze as there was a sudden cheering, and Rogue looked to see Sting grabbing hold of the two cats, hugging them tightly… too tightly. Fresh looked like they were struggling to breathe. Beneath that smile, Rogue could sense fear, he assumed at least.

Rogue took no time jumping into action. He didn’t see Sting anymore; he just saw red. He shot up and charged at Sting, bashing into him at full force, knocking the two cats out of his arms in surprise (though not really out of pain since Rogue wasn’t all that physically strong. Sting turned suddenly and exclaimed, “Dude, what the hell?!” but Rogue had already wound up a full force punch to his face. Unfortunately for Rogue, Sting had already locked in and caught his fist in midair, still rather surprised at the sudden anger. In reality, being around Sting for so long while he was shirtless had a big effect on Rogue; it was messing with his mind, he was practically drunk with nervousness and it turned quickly into rage over the smallest things. Sting reluctantly defended himself, throwing a punch of his own, which Rogue managed to block.

The fighting continued and continued, now they were charging at each other, like a dragon ball scrimmage, when Doug, the quick thinker, pulled down both of their swimming trunks. He knew that it would be the one way to distract them, showing off their naked bodies to the world in an act of pure fan service. Well, Sting’s, since Rogue was wearing 2 pairs of swimming trunks, but he was frozen in place, stunned by Sting’s body now fully revealed, I won't go into detail about what he was staring at and what it made him imagine, but I'm sure you get the picture. Sting was embarrassed, blushing a lot as he covered up, “Doug! I told you to stop doing that!”

Doug responded coolly, “Kid, sometimes you gotta do what's right instead of what you're told, no matter who stops you,” he quips, while Fresh looked in awe at Doug's confidence. Doug then walked over to the stunned Rogue and leapt up, pulling his second pair of swimming trunks down as he fell. Rogue yelped and moaned and blushed, looking down at himself, then at Sting. They were both completely naked, and everyone was laughing, and then Rogue fainted.

He woke up, surrounded by the cats, Sting, Sorano, and Lilac. But he only saw Sting, it made him feel something, activated something in it he thought he was over. So he reached out and put his hand on Sting’s face and said “…bap…” To Rogue’s surprise, Sting himself blushed, THE sting eucliffe. Rogue no longer remembered what had just happened, but he was happy; he felt good. Even if the blush was probably just a trick of light, because Sting would never blush for someone like Rogue, would he? “What happened?” Rogue finally asked, taking his hand away with reluctance.

The others looked at each other, then back at Rogue. Sting decided to speak first, “A monster got one of your cats, and you fought it off singlehandedly, you got hurt in the process, and fainted…” Rogue was surprised; he had never killed a monster before, so this was all very new to him. Sting interrupted his thoughts, “We should get packed up now, it’s nearly 6 pm.” Rogue nodded and blushed, just barely standing with Sting’s strong arms to help him.

Once they were all packed up, they headed out of the beach, surprised to see Yukino and her boyfriend. They had ice cream. Sting decided to ask with a grin, “What have you two lovebirds been up to?”

Yukino looked to her boyfriend, then back to the other Saber tooth club members, “Oh, just stuff. Exploring the beaches, chatting, then afterwards we got ice cream to… get back our lost energy.” Her boyfriend nodded, and everyone else seemed to accept that reason. Not long after, everyone headed home, with Rogue looking back on all that had happened with a blush on his cheeks. He would never forget this.

Chapter Text

The next day at the academy, a surprise assembly was held, with the headmaster speaking at the front. Everyone was wondering what it was about.

“As you all may know, the school is planning on buying excessive amounts of saliva repellent for the teachers' supplies, due to a certain student licking them as a form of bullying…” The headmaster shuddered at the thought of another incident involving Bickslow, “But we lack the funding-“

Mr Dragneel interrupted, “How about we-“

“No, Lacarde, we are not having a sponsored strip; we’ve talked about this.”

“That’s not what I was gonna say, I was gonna say-“

“We will not be holding your podcast in front of a live studio audience. Stop asking.”

Mr Dragneel frowned and walked out of the assembly hall, head looking to the floor and arms drooping like a zombie. Sting could barely hold back his laughter, and even Rogue grinned a bit at the sight, considering it a sort of karma for the incident during Biology class. The headmaster continued to speak, “Anyway, the staff and I have come up with a little competition… Whichever guild club can raise the most funds over the next week will win a mysterious prize…” Rogue was already imagining what the prize could be: a set of dragon books? An actual dragon? A brand new cat ear headband?! Rogue’s current headband was wearing out from being used so often; some of the fabric was missing, and the wire frame was showing through in certain parts. It was a sorry sight seeing him in them. Then the students were dismissed to their classes.

During lunch break, Sting had gathered all the members of the Saber Tooth club to discuss fundraising ideas. “So, we’re obviously the best guild, so we need to come up with an idea to match that. Does anyone have any ideas?”

Rogue had already come up with the best idea he could think of and with more confidence than he ever had said, “We could start a dragon club where we all talk about our favourite dragons and you would have to pay to get in…” he quickly realised what a failure he was and how stupid his idea was at everyone else's disappointed faces. Nobody would want to go to that, never mind pay to go to that. Rogue realised that now.

“Any other ideas?” Sting asked, smiling apologetically at Rogue, who was already over it at the sight of Sting’s shiny teeth staring right at him.

Minerva spoke up, letting out a burp before talking, “How about a beer drinking contest? We could… gambling…” she muttered, her speech getting harder and harder to understand.

“We don’t have the money for all that beer, Milady…” Sting said, before looking to Sorano, “Any ideas?”

Sorano was filing her nails and not paying much attention to what was going on, but gave her 2 cents anyway. “How about a fashion show?”

Sting was surprised by the good idea but then realised a major flaw, “We only really have one person other than me attractive enough to pass as a model, need a better low-budget idea.”

Yukino spoke up, “How about a horoscope read-“

Sting interrupted her, “Nobody here knows a thing about astronomy, Yukino. Alright, keep brainstorming, everyone. Write your ideas down and put them in this hat I found. We can choose an idea at random by the end,” he said, taking a fedora out from under the table and setting it down. The next 30 minutes were spent adding ideas into the hat. There were quite a lot of ideas, Rogue questioned how good they might be, though. Then Mr Dragneel came in. He began cleaning up when he noticed what the Saber Tooth gang was doing.

“Whoa, let me see those ideas!” Mr Dragneel said, plucking the hat from the table and taking out slips of paper.

“Bad idea, bad idea, worse idea, this one just says “dragons”, Ooh, that one's not bad…” He commented, looking through each idea, secretly slipping a few slips of paper of his own into the hat before setting it back on the table. Rogue could tell how annoyed Sting was, but he didn’t speak up; he knew what would happen if he did. Nobody wants to get on the bad side of the man who had been dubbed the "Sex man."

After Mr Dragneel left, Sting clasped his strong, abnormally large hands together, “Alright, everyone, that should be enough ideas. Doug, would you like to do the honors?”

Doug nodded and, with a frontflip, he landed on the table, reaching into the hat. He pulled out a slip of paper at random and read it, before smirking widely and smirking widely at Rogue. “Kiddo, you’re never gonna believe this… the idea that’s been chosen is… A maid café!”

Everyone blushed like a really red dragon. Sting chuckled nervously, “Well, I guess if that’s the idea that was picked out… Maid café it is.” He said, even if he was reluctant to the idea. Everyone else went along with it, too, for fan service reasons.

Sting began to plan things out, “Alright, so we have 5 people. At least 3 will need to wear maid dresses to be waiters and waitresses. Minerva, Sorano, and I can wait tables. I won’t like wearing a maid dress, but I must if it’s for a noble cause… so be it.” Rogue and fresh both looked in awe at Sting and his bravery. “Doug and Fresh, you two can stand at the door and greet people coming in. Rogue… do you still remember that recipe for dragon cakes that you used to make a ton when you were younger?” he asked, giving Rogue the spotlight and causing him to blush an unnatural shade of red. He could barely speak, but simply nodded; his mind was filled with pictures of Sting’s muscular body in a tight maid's dress.

“Perfect. You and Yukino can bake the goods then, that’s that sorted. I’ll work out the rest of the details on my own time. Your homework for today is practising lines in the mirror and getting your hands on a maid's dress.”

Chapter Text

the day of the maid café fundraising came QUICKLY and Rogue felt completely unprepared. He had only prepared enough dragon cakes the night before for about 80 customers (if each customer bought a minimum of 3 or a maximum of 5), so if it were particularly popular, thanks to Sting being in a maid dress, it would be a complete disaster.

On the journey to the academy, Rogue carried 6 of the cases (though he struggled) while Fresh walked alongside him, carrying the remaining 10. As he reached the academy gates, he tripped over something and stumbled forward, dropping all the cases (thankfully, they were securely shut and the dragoncakes were made with durability taken into consideration). He adjusted his glasses and began to pile them all up again, then he heard a heavenly choir call his name from the side. “Hey Rogue! Let me help with those.” Sting called as he rushed over and began helping him pick up the remaining cases, but as Sting reached for the case, so did Rogue, resulting in both of their hands meeting atop the case. The two looked up at each other and blushed before Sting spoke up, “I’ll take it, you're weak.” He commented as he tried to regain his composure before taking the case. The four of them headed into the school, Rogue carried 2 cases, Sting 4, and Fresh carried the remaining 10 still, while Doug sat atop Fresh’s stack to provide “Moral support” and “Motivation”.

Once they arrived at the storage room they’d borrowed from Mr Dragneel (In exchange for letting him get some free dragon cakes when he came), Rogue was shocked by just how many goods Yukino baked up for the occasion, a lot of them were astrology themed too, but she seemed extra excited about this. It seemed Sting could tell Rogue’s confusion and filled him in, “Her boyfriend’s coming to get some goods to support her. It’s fine, though, there’s no work left for her anyway now that she’s finished baking.” Rogue was convinced by that answer and put the cases of dragoncakes on the table.

Minerva entered the storage room with surprising elegance. It seemed she put a lot of effort into this event; her maid dress didn’t have a ribbon out of place, and she seemed to have perfected the act of looking proper, something Rogue didn’t think he’d see before the release of Dragon Theft Auto 6. She walked over to Sting and did a neat curtsey and stood up, looking up at Sting, “Ready for work, Sting-sama. Simply give orders, and I will follow them.”

Sting was caught off guard by this and smiled, “Perfect. This should go just great. Excuse me while I go and get my own dress on. I didn’t want people to see me in it that I might know.” Sting reasoned, before leaving. Rogue wondered what difference it would make, given that he was literally going to be serving fellow students as customers, but then he realised that Sting was miles more intelligent than Rogue, and he shouldn’t question his reasoning, as it’s clearly flawless. Then Yukino spoke up, “I’ll head into the classroom to make sure everything looks perfect.” She offered, letting herself out. It took one glance to see she was excitedly texting her boyfriend the moment she had left, but Rogue couldn’t blame her. If he ever got into a relationship with someone so perfect for him, like Sting, he would text them just as often.

Rogue suddenly felt himself lifted in the air by the neck and slammed into the wall by Minerva. She seemed to be seething with rage now that nobody else was here. She spoke through gritted teeth, “Listen here, Cheney, this is my last chance to get Sting to fall in love with me. This is the most Sober I’ve been since Sting invited me to the Saber Tooth club, so you won’t ruin this for me, Cheney. Got it?”

“Yes-“

“That’s yes, MILADY to you, Cheney. Only Sting gets to call me Minerva. Even if he doesn’t.”

“Yes, Milady…” Rogue whimpered breathlessly. He let out an exhale as he fell to the floor and took some time to catch his breath. Watching as Minerva- I mean Milady left the room. The moment she was gone, Fresh came over and patted Rogue reassuringly on the leg. After he had recovered, he stood up when he was interrupted by the door opening. Sorano walked in, looking as annoyed as ever.

“Why on FIORE did I agree to this?! This dress is so uncomfortable, Dragon Gods, how does Yukino manage?” She grumbles, looking around to see that nobody is there except Rogue. She looks over at Rogue, “Oh, Hey, Rogue.” Before leaving. With a sigh of relief, Rogue followed her out of the storage room and into the classroom.

When he got there, he was surprised at how well made up it was, given that it was done using only school tables, chairs, and table cloths (which one of the teachers seemed to have a suspiciously high amount of). The two cats had positioned themselves outside, and it seemed that Fresh had gotten themself a little maid dress for them to wear as they greeted people at the front. And oh boy, there was quite the queue. Rogue began to worry and panic until he saw Sting in his maid's dress, looking absolutely stunning. It was like Sting was the result of an angel coming down and giving a virgin birth, because Sting looked so unbelievably beautiful to Rogue. The way the fabric of the dress was too tight meant that his broad shoulders stretched it over his chest, making him look so strong and masculine. The white and black of the dress really complemented the colours of his eyes; it was a match made in heaven. The way the dress looked on him made it seem as though the fabric was stitched together by gods and dragons using the sharpest of blades as a needle and the finest of threads to match, truly creating an image of sophistication and elegance. The slightly chewed white apron with bite marks on it made thoughts flash through his head of making dinner for Sting every day, using only the whitest of ingredients, and the black bow on top added to the pure style that was exuded from the ensemble. Rogue had never seen Sting so beautiful, and it motivated him more than ever to work hard. And it would be needed, because there was a loooong queue of people waiting to enter.

Business started fast and hard when the customers were finally let in. Rogue’s job was to deal with the money and keep it safe in a jar, where nothing could get at it, except maybe a really powerful dragon. The money was coming in fast, and Rogue was getting tired quickly. With time, things got busier, but the money was coming in slower. Rogue looked around and was shocked to see that Sorano was nowhere to be found, and Minerva was incredibly drunk while she served the customers. Sting was doing well, but he seemed concerned; he had to work extra hard to make up for the other 2, and it was so hot. Rogue could see him sweating from all the work, and it led to a lot of thoughts that made him blush. He could see it now, Sting was walking over to Rogue, ready to ask him to be his husband forever. Then he snapped out of his dazed state, with Sting looking down at him, exhausted.

“Rogue… Yukino has… spare dress… You two are probably close enough sizes… please help…” he said. Rogue’s cheeks went bright red, and he read Sting’s words loud and clear. But he had one concern, asking, “W-w-why don’t you get Yukino to do it if the dress is her size?”

Sting looked over at Yukino, who was sat at one of the tables with her boyfriend while he ate, before looking back at rogue, “The last time I tried to get her to do something while she was spending time with her boyfriend…” he shuddered, “You weren’t in the club for it so I don’t blame you for not knowing about it… lets just say that I had to miss the next few seasons playing for the dragon ball team…”. Rogue glanced past him at Yukino, dreading to think what she did to Sting. Before nodding, “O-o-okay…”

5 minutes later, there stood Rogue in his maid dress, humiliated, tired, and a little bit excited. He began to serve as best as he could, that was until he saw his next customer. Mirajane Strauss. He reluctantly approached the table she was sitting at and spoke nervously, “H- hello, master, how can I serve you today?”

She smirked and tipped her fedora, “Good morn, m’lord. I would like your sweetest of dragon cakes served by your most beta of males. Otherwise, I may just wake my inner demon, and you wouldn’t want that. You wouldn’t want to get further on my bad side after the last incident.”

Rogue blushed from nervousness and admiration of how cool she was, "Y- yes master!", before swiftly walking away and fetching a dragon cake. He returned and took the money Mirajane had left and set the dragoncake down before her, “Does this please thee, master?” Rogue asked, trying desperately hard to keep up the maid act. He watched as she lifted her katana sheath and pulled the blade out, using it to cut the dragoncake in half, before sheathing the sword and eating half of the dragoncake. She then set the remainder down.

“Splendid, M’lord. The wolves will hear about this, alpha, beta and sigma. Before you go, do tell me how you feel about my new t-shirt.” She said, pulling open her black leather trench coat, revealing the best t-shirt Rogue had ever seen. It was plain black and had the text “Eat, SIGMA, sleep, repeat” plastered on it. It was beautiful. Rogue could only dream of being so cool. He stuttered and blushed, muttering “Good t-shirt…” before moving to the next customer. He managed to get a little break from the chaotic customers with Lucy, and he decided to keep the maid act to a minimum since he could trust her. “Hi Lucy, w- what can I get you?” he asked, very worried about Plue, who was wrapped around her neck loosely.

“H- hi Rogue, nice dress… it suits you. I’ll have 2 muffins” She said, blushing slightly at the sight of him in a maid dress, he blushed too, it was very embarrassing and if someone were playing a drinking game based on the number of blushes, they’d probably need to find a different bar to get drinks at, but they wouldn’t be able to walk more then a few steps so they’d be stuck reading the fanfiction without alcohol in a bar that has no drinks left. Anyway, Rogue got the muffins and gave them to Lucy, who affectionately fed one to her snake, before eating one herself. Rogue smiled as he left them behind. That wasn’t so bad. On his way to the next table, Sting came up to him, “Hey, you're doing well, keep it up and we might just manage to get them all served.” Rogue blushed brighter than the red dragon, a dragon in his encyclopedia known for being red. Its namesake comes from it being red. Not dissimilar to Rogue’s cheeks.

He walked on to the next table and his happiness disappeared into worry as he saw Laki was his next customer… He did a little curtsy (as best as he could) and put on his best maid voice, “H- hello master, how can I serve you today?”. He got worried at her huge smirk; it reminded him of Doug.

“Be a good boy and get me a dragoncake, darling, give your master the best one he can find in this establishment, won’t you?” She asked, her voice going low and her tone sultry. Rogue didn’t know how to feel about this. He still felt incredibly attracted to Sting, but once again, this was awakening something in him. He tried to stutter something out but couldn’t speak, so he went and got a dragon cake, only choosing the second best as a little act of defiance, as if to say he still loves Sting. Once he arrived at the table, he set the dragon cake down and managed to say, “t- two dragon dollars please… nya…~”

Laki took the dragon cake in her hand and looked directly into Rogue’s eyes, “Sure, I’ll pay… if you beg…” she says, putting the dragon cake in her mouth and swallowing it in one go. "On your knees, like a good boy-"

Suddenly, Doug dived onto the table and reached into Laki’s mouth and pulled out the saliva-covered dragon cake somehow, before bapping her in the face with his paw, knocking her out instantly. He handed Rogue the disgusting dragon cake and pulled Laki out of her seat, dragging her out of the classroom. That was bizarre, and Rogue could still feel his cheeks going red at the thought of it. Rogue was about to do the next table when he felt an arm go around his shoulder. He blushed as he felt an arm go around him and a drink offered. He couldn’t see who it was, but he accepted the drink and took a swig, surprised as he felt the alcohol go down his throat. Then he realised. He had just drunk alcohol. Rogue took alcohol horribly; he might as well have drunk a full bottle of cyanide. The results would be equally bad for everyone else. The rest was a blur as the drunkness began to kick in instantly.

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

It was time. Time for Rogue to make his appearance on Mr Dragneel’s podcast.

The green screen was set up behind them. Mr Dragneel, or Sex Man as he’s called on camera, was sitting cross-legged in an armchair. Reading the latest copy of Saucier Weekly. A tabloid magazine that gets more X-rated as the year goes on. Considering it’s only January, Rogue’s not too concerned about the content in it.

Rogue was in a matching armchair, sitting up straight. With his hair in a clean bun and wearing the best dragon-themed apparel he owns. Unfortunately, he forgot to consider the green screen, so the super cool green dragon on his shirt will be edited out. The public would be devastated. Fresh lay contently in his lap as moral support.

Rogue has spent the past 24 hours blushing non-stop; he’s so embarrassed. He can’t believe he agreed to this. Sex Man sighed, looking longingly at the magazine, “Do you ever just look at a man and want to get him pregnant?”

Rogue did not. Maybe that’s where he’s going wrong in life.

Unsure whether Sex Man expected a response or not, Rogue settled with meowing at him. Still unable to make eye contact after the maid café incident.

The cameraman entered the room soon after and began setting up the camera, making small talk with Sex Man. Rogue supposed that they were quite close. This left Rogue sitting there awkwardly as Fresh made biscuits on his leg.

Looking at Sex Man now, Rogue questioned whether he needs to get his glasses prescription checked. Drunk or not, he should know that Sting and Sex Man look completely different. After all, Sting is much better looking.

“We’re ready to start recording now.” Sex Man said, opening the top buttons of his shirt. Rogue nodded and looked straight towards the camera. He could do this. It can’t get any worse than what happened at the maid café.

The cameraman gave a quick countdown before Sex Man launched into the intro.

“Hello, my little meow meows! Welcome back to another episode of ‘The Sex Man: Uncensored’. Where I, Sex Man, your tantalising host, give you the hottest dating advice around.” A jingle played before he continued. “We have a special guest today, wave to the camera, Roguey!” he giggled.

Rogue awkwardly waved, blushing bright red.

“This is Rogue; he will be talking about his lucky experience with me later in the podcast.” Rogue wouldn’t describe it as that. If Sex Man was Sting on the other hand… “I’m sure he has great things to say about me.” Sex Man stage whispered to the camera.

“Before we get started, all my socials are linked in the description below. Including my Patreon, which will give you access to some extra special videos each month. This month, we have a bit of a role play where I’m a powerful demon with very intriguing magic.”

Sex Man stared at Rogue expectantly. Rogue blinked a few times before he remembered he was supposed to finish the Patreon plug. Trying not to make it obvious that he’s reading from a script, Rogue alternated between looking at the script and the camera.

“Er… Tier 1 Patrons get access to extra videos every month and content early, tier 2 patrons get their name said aloud at the end of each episode. Um, finally, tier 3 patrons get to DM Sex Man personally for dating advice.” All delivered in a mono-tone voice. Sex Man glared at him; they talked about that during the rehearsal!

“Anyways,” Sex Man cleared his throat. “I’m sure our viewers are familiar with the video going around with us.” He pulled out his phone, showing a video that recorded what happened at the maid café.

Rogue blushed at the footage. He wasn’t even aware that it was recorded. To think not so long ago he was embarrassed to hold Lucy’s hand in public, now he’s staring at himself making out with Sex Man. Like proper, proper making out. He quickly shielded Fresh’s eyes.

Switching tabs, Sex Man brought up a tier list. “Returning viewers will know that I like to rank how good a kisser each of my partners is. You Roguey, I would rank as a solid C+.” He said, dragging a photo of Rogue up to the C tier.

Sting would’ve been an SS tier…

“You’re not all that bad, but I feel like you could do with some tips on technique. This is why I am advising you to watch my ‘Become a master at kissing’ video.”

Rogue nodded. He would never want to watch that video, but he’d feel bad for lying. So he will watch it later. After crying under his dragon bed covers for at least an hour.

“Speaking of being a master at something, you can become a master at hygiene thanks to the sponsor of this podcast,” dramatic pause. “Manscaped.” Flawless segway.

Thankfully, Sex Man will record the sponsorship segment separately and add it in post-production.

“Now, Rogue. I’m sure you have some questions to ask the big Sex Man himself?”

“Not really, no…” Rogue replied, looking down at Fresh asleep in his lap. Wishing the podcast finishes up soon. He had dragon books calling his name.

“What!?” Sex Man sputtered, “There are people who would kill to ask me for advice!”

“W-well uh… why do you work as a janitor when your podcast is clearly doing well?”

“Because I have to.” Sex Man’s face hardened. “Despite my adoring fans, this podcast barely covers my child support. I continue to work as a janitor to pay for the mortgage and groceries.”

He got up from his chair and punched a hole through the wall. “I’m sick and tired of it. If I have to clean up any more slobber from that bastard ONE MORE TIME, I’m going to kill someone.” He collapsed back onto the chair and put his head in his hands.

“I wanted to open a spa and extend my branding. But my father stopped giving me pocket money. So I can no longer afford it!” Sex Man sobbed. “When my uncle died, I thought maybe father would finally give me the spotlight I deserved. But no. He instead became obsessed with trying to bring my uncle back to life. Spending all the money he used to give ME on his morally questionable experiments instead. Especially when I am amazing at creating life, with my undetermined number of kids!”

The cameraman came over and rubbed Sex Man’s shoulder reassuringly. Rogue clearly opened a can of worms he did not want to open. Deciding to change the subject, Rogue asked, “Do you like dragons?”

Sex Man looked up at him. “…I just told you my father crushed my dreams, and you’re asking me if I like dragons?” Rogue nodded.

“My dead uncle Natsu loved dragons, so I despise everything about them.” He started sobbing again, “W-why would you even ask me that?”

Rogue could live with everything else this podcast has thrown at him, even his kissing abilities being ranked at a C+, but he drew the line at dragons being insulted.

Grabbing Fresh by the ear, Rogue stood up and walked out the door. Ignoring Sex Man’s confused wailing.

After this experience, Rogue needed a drink. A non-alcoholic one, of course, alcohol is how he got in this situation in the first place. Plus, maybe look at the video of Sting in a maid's dress again, as a little treat.

Chapter Text

The guild clubs were all grouped in the assembly hall as the headmaster stood up at the front. Today was pretty exciting for the rest of the guild. In truth, Rogue barely had time to process it after the incidents with the maid café and the podcast, so he had completely forgotten that they were announcing the results of the fundraising campaign that started this all.

“Alright, everyone, I’m proud to announce that we managed to raise a grand total of…” She opened the envelope and took out a slip of paper, “3000 dragon dollars!”

Everyone clapped upon hearing this, but the headmaster silenced them all, “But now for the grand reveal of which guild club earned the most money…”

“With a grand total of 1200 dragon dollars earned, the winners were… The Fairy Tail club! With their erm…” she leans over to another member of staff and asks something to them before clearing her throat and saying, “Their pyramid scheme! Now, let's have the leaders come up, let's see here, what's their names again… oh yes! Juvia Lockser and Greg Phillipbuster!” She smiled and stood aside as the leaders of Fairy Tail walked onto the stage. It seemed as though a lot of side characters that the author wasn’t aware were in the guild went onto the stage, so it was rather crowded by the time they were all up.

Greg, whom Rogue only recognised because of the bullying he received (he had been nicknamed “Gay” after it was revealed that he had been happy for all of his life, hence being referred to as gay). Rogue didn’t really understand the bullying, but he was glad it wasn’t him who received it. Gray began to speak, “I’m so glad we could repay our debts after a particular member of our guild caused this issue in the first place… and I’ll gladly hand this over to the co-leader, Juvia,” He said, moving to the side so that Juvia, who was clinging to Gray’s arm, could speak into the microphone.

“Thank you all for your praise, my Gray really worked hard to help with this, and without him, this school would be in the ground.”

Gray decided to interrupt her, “Thank you, Juvia, let's hand this over to… Lucy, she’s smart, let her do the talking.”

Juvia death glared at Lucy after Gray complimented her. Juvia was known around the school for being obsessed with Gray. To an extreme extent. It worried Rogue sometimes. Lucy, who had her snake carried uncomfortably in her arms, dangling there, went to the microphone and began to talk, bringing up snakes every once in a while.

After the talk, the headmaster began talking again, “The leaderboard will be posted on the bulletin board outside the hall tomorrow. Now… for the big reveal. I may have been somewhat dishonest about the reasoning behind the fundraising,” she glared over at Bickslow.

Rogue gasped at the shocking (and somewhat traumatising) sight. Bickslow was receiving headpats from Laki. SINCE WHEN WERE THEY TOGETHER?! I mean, he hasn’t appeared in like 5 chapters, but still! He felt like he could be sick at the sight; it was as disgusting as Mr Dragneel in a maid's dress. Alright maybe not that disgusting. The headmaster shuddered at the sight before continuing to speak, “The reason for this fundraising was not for preventing supplies getting licked, but instead, for funding the academy’s very first… Prom!”

“NYAAAAA~~~~!!!!!!” Rogue exclaimed in high-pitched surprise, excitement, and shock all at once. Rogue had heard of proms before, and everyone was looking at him. He wanted to curl up into a ball and hide forever. Why did he do that? Was it really that exciting? He looked over at Sting, who was blushing like crazy, but Rogue was too embarrassed to even care. Rogue himself was blushing far more; his entire face was red. But then… “Scram, kiddos. Never heard a cat meow before?” Doug spoke with an attitude, stretching while sitting atop Sting’s head and letting out an equally high-pitched meow, that seemed to convince them for the most part. But Sting knew. Sting knew. Rogue stood up and regained his composure, seeing Doug in a whole new light. Did he really stick up for him like that? This all baffled Rogue; he needed more non alcoholic drinks after this. He could barely think.

“Anyway… The prom will be held at the end of the month in this very hall; attendance is optional but not advised. You're all dismissed before this godforsaken school falls any lower…” the headmaster sighed before leaving, seeming suddenly exhausted.

Later, everyone was gathered in the classroom used for Saber Tooth club meetings, and it was unnaturally quiet. Sting seemed quieter than usual, too. This scared Rogue; Sting was rarely this quiet. Then he spoke.

“So… guys, prom, right? Guess we’ll all have to find a date to find to go on it with… heheh…”

Minerva was blushing more than usual, Rogue already knew she was feeling a bit Sting crazy, and frankly, so was Rogue. “S- sting… maybe you and I could-“

But she was interrupted by Sorano slamming her Ifiorne onto the table, “I almost forgot, over the weekend, Rogue got a little bit… busy, with Mr Dragneel…” She smirked, looking over at Rogue with a smirk. His cheeks went bright red. He didn’t think anyone would find out about the podcast, and now it was going to bite him; he really wasn’t getting a break from the embarrassment today. He looked at Sting, who almost seemed… hurt by this. Rogue should have told Sting about it; with his infinite wisdom, sting could definitely reassure him and fix all this.

Sorano continued speaking, “It seems after the event during the maid café, Rogue went onto Lacarde’s podcast… and it’s reeeaally good.” She says, putting on the released version of the podcast. Rogue couldn’t bare watching… every bit of laughter hurt him slightly more inside until he couldn’t take it anymore. So instead of making a fuss, he got up and left the classroom. He walked through the hall, holding back the tears as he stumbled through the corridors, when he felt a firm, strong, large hand grab his shoulder, he could recognise those hands and their vice-like grip anywhere…

“Hey, uh, rogue… before you go home… I was wondering… Since neither of us has any prom dates, maybe we could just go there together..? Just as bros?”

Chapter Text

“Oh my stars, this is perfect! If you like Sting, then this is your perfect chance to woo him and get him to like you back. I’m so glad you came to me about this. I’m a romance expert!” Yukino exclaimed to Rogue as he sat down on a chair in her room. It was very dark, quite frankly. The walls were painted black with yellow dots to represent stars. He had no idea how she could manage living like this. The walls were covered with posters relating to astrology, and one that he assumed was her boyfriend, but it was changed so much that it barely looked like how Rogue remembered, like a reverse caricature. Perhaps this was how Yukino saw him. Rogue really didn’t understand people who saw things as way more beautiful than they really were; it was just bizarre to him.

“R- really? What should I do?” he asks, kind of excited to learn how he could finally become worthy of Sting’s attention… He subconsciously squeezed Fresh closer to him, causing the cat to let out a strangled ribbit. Rogue eased his grip slightly and looked at Yukino.

“Well, it’s simple really, just be yourself, but more confident. Give it a shot,” she said, briefly glancing at her Ifiorne in hopes she might receive a message from her boyfriend.

“Right here?”

“Yeah, show me your confident side, Rogue.”

Rogue blushed slightly and stood up, chucking fresh onto Yukino's bed and clearing his throat, mustering up all the confidence he could before letting out an assertive “Nya! Let me be your good boy Sting senpai!” he exclaimed whilst looking at one of the posters and imagining it was Sting. He walked over to the wall, rubbing his head against it, and dragging his nails down it affectionately (?). Yukino was incredibly disturbed at the sight, “Perhaps you should avoid the catboy talk…” she said, almost sympathetically, of how much of a loser he was.

Rogue’s cheeks went bright red. He had gotten too immersed in the flirting and stepped back, “C- could I go out and get some air?”

Yukino nodded, letting him leave on his own.

Once he left the house, he let out some breaths, trying to regain his composure as he thought through what he might be able to do to improve his “rizz,” as Fresh might say. But as he was taking breaths, he saw Gray outside, it was quite the surprise and a good shock to see him without Juvia clinging onto his arm. He also seemed a bit nervous about something, Rogue realised why upon looking up the street and seeing… Mirajane Strauss. Rogue felt like yelping and sneaking back into the house, but he wanted to see how this would play out.

Gray approached Mirajane, who had a hand on her katana, with reluctance at the following conversation. He walked over and said, “Thanks for meeting me here… Mirajane, will you…” he cleared his throat and fell to one knee, “Mirajane Strauss, ever since I first laid my eyes upon your super cool, sword-wielding self, you’ve never left my mind. Will you be my date to the prom?”

Mirajane spat out the fake cigarette in her mouth and tipped her fedora before unsheathing her katana. She gently placed it on each shoulder, as though she were knighting him. “I accept… You’d definitely be the perfect beta male for my sigma alpha femaleness.”

Rogue left before the jealousy of the true love before him sent him spiralling, and he continued the confidence training. It lasted another hour, and the only progress that was made was that he stopped saying ‘Nya’ in every sentence, trying to be confident, though for Rogue, that was brilliant progress. Only time would tell what would come next, but he did have a lingering feeling that Juvia was going to be in a sour mood throughout the prom.

Chapter Text

Rogue couldn’t believe it, it was finally the day of the prom, it felt like it had been 2 weeks since the meeting with Yukino asking for advice; he wasn’t sure why. He got up out of bed and began to prepare. He wore his dad's old suit, which surprisingly fitted him, probably because of dragon slayer magic, and he stood waiting at the door for the time to arrive as the clock hit 11 am. The prom started at 9 pm.

Rogue proceeded to wait there, shaking with excitement until it was time to go. He picked up Fresh by the paw and slung them over his back as he opened the door and left for the prom. He walked down the dark street in his dad's navy suit, feeling awesome. The world was his catwalk, and he sure as hell was gonna be the catboy of it.

“Hey Rogue! Looking sharp,” a voice behind him said. This was it, Rogue was going to finally see what Sting would look like in a suit, his handsome body and charming smile in formal wear. He turned around and… oh, it was gajeel. “Glad to see we can get people from all corners of the school to attend. I think you’ll really like what we have in store.” Rogue had completely forgotten that Gajeel was the host of the prom, though it never really occurred to Rogue to see who was involved since it didn’t matter all that much. Not nearly as much as Sting. Gajeel looked pretty good in his own Gajeel way. He wore a black and white suit that had the sleeves ripped off. Gajeel seemed to notice his gaze upon his arms. “So, whose your date for the dance, Cheney? Come on, you can tell me,” Gajeel teased, placing a hand on his shoulder with an almost painful grip. It was with a similar strength to Sting's, but far less soothing than Sting's, he found.

Rogue blushed, “O-oh, I don’t have a date for the dance, I’m going with Sting platonically though… I don’t think he has a date either, though…”

“Really? Sting Eucliffe, of all people, not having a date? I remember seeing girls ask him out to be their prom partner several times the other day, but he turned them all down…” he playfully bumped Rogue with his shoulder, almost knocking him onto the road and ending the fanfiction right there. “Maybe you got a chance then.”

Rogue blushed and stuttered and stammered, HOW DID GAJEEL KNOW?!??! “I- I- You- I- nya- How- G- gajeel?”

“Come on, as if it wasn’t incredibly obvious that you like Sting. Well, I should get going, I gotta be there early for preparations. Good luck, mate!” he called, before leaping onto a building roof and parkouring his way to the school, like the parkour dragon from Rogue’s book. That was all very embarrassing, and Rogue was still tense after it, but he continued walking anyway, for Sting. Eventually, he arrived at the academy, and there really wasn’t much to see; they only really decorated the inside, so it was basically the same on the outside except for the light coming from the hall, and the unfamiliarity of being there when it was dark. With that, he went in. It surprised him how many people were there, and he was even more surprised that he recognised a lot of them, but he couldn’t find Sting anywhere.

Rogue began to panic, but eventually concluded that Sting would be, as usual, fashionably late. So he decided to try talking to the people he recognised. He started by approaching Lucy, who he saw talking to Minerva, who was drunk and crying. Lucy was taking it well, acting polite and showing no sympathy whatsoever for her tears, simply talking to her like she was acting normal.

“H- hi Lucy, how are you finding the prom?”

Lucy jumped in surprise and turned to face her ex (?) with a blush on her cheeks, “H- hi Rogue! I’m having fun, Gajeel didn’t like the idea of making it snake themed though, so I’m a bit disappointed about that, but it turned out well… How about you, do you want a date- I- I mean, have you got a date for the dance?”

Rogue blushed and looked down, adjusting his glasses and playing with his hair, “No, not really… but I’m gonna be hanging out with Sting for most of it, I think… Have you seen him anywhere?”

Lucy looked down in slight disappointment, “Oh, Sting… No, I don’t think so.” She perked up, “Oh yeah! Maybe he’s at the petminding area. To make life easier for the pet owners attending, Gray thought it would be a good idea to have someone volunteer to mind all the pets while the prom happens. You could go by and leave your cat… frog… Fresh thing over there, and maybe you’ll see Sting there.”

“Oh! G- good idea, thanks… Lucy…” he stammered out as she took his hand and brought him through the hall. The act of intimacy caught him off guard immensely. Despite having practised holding hands with Lucy many times, he had been expecting it each time; this felt completely different; his cheeks were as red as the even redder dragon from the newer dragon book Rogue had back at home. He almost dropped Fresh out of surprise, but instead gripped them harder, causing them to let out a strangled ribbit. Soon enough, they got to the area and Rogue launched Fresh into the sandpit that was available for cats, right next to Doug, who was high on catnip.

“Bye Fresh!” Rogue called out to the very dizzy cat. Beside him, Lucy was blushing a bit as Rogue left, wishing she had said something more before he left. Meanwhile, Rogue was disappointed that Sting wasn’t there, and his worries began to pile up. He wandered through the hall of chatting students and decided to try to find someone to talk to, someone who would understand him, someone with similar interests… He couldn’t find anyone (despite Lucy’s efforts) and was about to leave when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

“Milord, such a pleasure to meet a beta male like you at such a prestigious event.”

Rogue turned around and was very surprised to see Mirajane Strauss standing before him, with a smitten Gary Fullbuster clinging to her arm. Mirajane was wearing quite a similar outfit to her usual wear, but a bit more formal, in that it now included a tie. She had an extra shiny fedora on, and under her ankle-length trench coat was a shirt and tie. Admittedly, it looked pretty good, not as good as Sting, not even close, but it was nice. Gray was wearing a cheap 3-piece suit- never mind, 2-piece now, the jacket had strangely disappeared. Rogue realised he was monologuing in his head too much and spoke up “T- thanks… you two look great together…” he faced Gray. Who was nuzzling his head into Mirajanes shoulder like an affectionate cat. “I thought you and Juvia were in a relationship…”

Gray let out a little growl and held Mirajane's arm tighter, “No… we’re just friends…” he sounded the word ‘friends’ like it was a slur that nobody should ever say. “Mira is the only one for me…”

Mirajane rolled her eyes with a smile and patted his head, “Calm down, be a good boy and let go of your alpha female's arm, My Lord.”

Gray immediately let go of Mirajane's arm, looking down at the floor with cheeks as red as something really red. Rogue's mind was too boggled to even think of a type of dragon that fit the description of being red, so you’ll just have to imagine something really red. Oh, and now Gray’s suit only had one piece, the trousers. Rogue decided that was enough of that conversation and was about to leave as he heard the door to the hall slam open, and Rogue turned around right away to see the dragon god in human form himself, Sting Eucliffe.

“WWOOOOOOH HELLO EVERYBODY! THE INCREDIBLY CONFIDENT STING EUCLIFFE IS IN THE HOUSE! AGAIN!” Sting called out. There was silence, then applause, then cheering. It was a standing ovation, probably because nobody was sitting, because it was a prom.

Rogue nervously walked over to Sting, who strode over with an aura of pure awesomeness and put an arm around his shoulder, “Ready for the night of your life? These dating fools don’t measure up at all to the 2 legendary bachelors like us!” Rogue blushed, Sting blushed; Sting's confident façade was falling apart at the first sign of Rogue’s cuteness. Rogue wondered why Doug was at the petminding area before Sting had arrived, but then he chalked it up to Sting being fashionably late and awesome. Once the crowd had settled down, the pair began to chat for a bit when Gajeel approached the two.

“Hey, hey, Sting! so glad you could show up again, dude!” exclaimed Gajeel as he patted Sting on the back. His confidence was matched by Sting, who patted him on the back even harder, “Ah, Gajeel, my man, Gajeel ‘Ladies man’ Redfox, I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

Rogue felt a sudden pull as he was squeezed up against Sting. It felt like heaven, the softness of the fabric on Sting’s suit and the warmth of his body being so close, his cheeks went so incredibly red. Would he feel this every day if Sting and Rogue got married? If Sting’s body felt like this, what would his lips feel like? His mind whirred with thoughts and fantasies, while on the outside, he was simply letting out little Meows, which was driving Sting crazy on the inside.

Sting knew he had to keep his composure around Rogue, so he pulled him along to a group of people, most of whom were in the Saber Tooth club and a few friends outside the guild. Rogue was snapped out of his haze as he saw the people they were approaching: Bickslow, Laki, Sorano, and Minerva. Minerva was more drunk than he had ever seen her; she could barely stand, she had an arm around Laki to keep her up, and Laki was, of course, wearing stiletto heels and was inwardly struggling to keep hold of her.

“Hey Laki, glad to see you and Bickslow are doing well,” Sting said to her with a friendly grin, which sparked some jealousy in Rogue.

“Oh yes, he’s such a good boy and was the first in my harem, so he gets a bit of special treatment,” Laki holds up the leash she had that was attached to a collar around Bickslow's neck. Rogue… Rogue didn’t like this sight; it made him want to be sick, but one word stuck out to him, and it seemed Sting felt the same way…

“Harem..?”

“Oh yes, Sorano was incredibly desperate for a partner that I let her join, she’s very low maintenance, I barely even need to interact with her and she’ll be content. Minerva followed not long after and she’s inseparable from me… though her opinion on me is very different if I have no alcohol on me…”

“Right…” Sting said, feeling very uncomfortable, he turned to Sorano, who was on her phone texting someone, “Hey, Sora! Did Yukino not come with her boyfriend to the prom?”

“Nah…” she seemed very focussed on texting, about 80% focussed on her phone, 20% on the conversation, though it seemed that was enough for her to hear what Sting was saying, “Her boyfriend doesn’t go to the academy so he wasn’t allowed to attend, so naturally she didn’t come either, they’re having a little date night back home.”

With a shrug, he seemed to understand the logic. Following the simple gesture, he whispered in Rogue’s ear, “Wanna go to the dance floor for a little platonic dancing? It’ll be fuuun”

Rogue gasped and nodded, “Nyah!” he agreed.

The dance floor was packed as the music slowed down. Sting put his strong right arm and large hand around Rogue’s waist, and Rogue looked up at him with a gaze of pure awe. Sting then gracefully placed his foot atop Rogue’s as they attempted to dance, causing pain to shoot up his leg, but Rogue didn’t care; this was so romantic, this was as close as they’d ever be, Rogue knew. Nothing could ruin this night; it was all so perfect.

“Rogue… how do you like my confidence? Or how well I am at being myself?”

“S- So much… Your so cool Sting…”

“Yeah… I know” Sting pulled his other hand out of Rogue’s and gave him a little finger gun while making a clicking sound with his mouth, and it was like he had been shot right through the heart by Cupid's very own finger guns. As the totally platonic bro dance continued, the two talked and talked and it was so intimate, so heartwarming. That is, until DJ Erza changed the song to the Cha Cha slide.

Gajeel then announced to the hall, “Alright, lovebirds, it’s time to announce the very first PROM KING AND QUEEN!”

Everyone gathered around. Rogue was so nervous, he knew he wouldn’t be picked for Prom King or Queen, but there was still that hope.

“This prom has been a huge success, and I think that they’ll only get better from here. Tonight will mark the start of a new Academy annual tradition!” Everyone cheered at Gajeel's enthusiasm. “Now, for the part you’ve all been waiting for… we’ll start with the prom queen, as you all know the saying, Ladies first, so the very first prom queen for the dragon slaying academy is… Lucy Heartfilia!”

Lucy gasped as she stepped onto the stage in her snake-themed dress. She gracefully moved to the middle of the stage and had the Prom Tiara placed on her head (??? I have no idea, I haven’t been to a prom before). She had a wide grin on her face, despite not actually having a date for the dance.

“And the prom king is…” Gajeel paused for suspense, “ROGUE CHENEY! ...We really need to tweak the rules for prom king and queen, we were way too vague with who it could be…” Everyone applauded as Rogue went up and stood next to Lucy, grinning with tears in his eyes and a meow caught in his throat as he felt the heavy crown lowered onto his head. He glanced over at Lucy; both were blushing. Gajeel looked over to Erza and whispered, “What now?”

Erza shrugged, “I don’t know, maybe make them walk down the middle of the crowd?”

Gajeel shrugged, “Sounds good to me. Alright! Everybody make way for the King and Queen of Prom!”

Everyone awkwardly made space for the two of them to walk down the middle as some romantic piano music played. Rogue was very confused as to why it couldn’t have been Sting who was prom king with him, 2 kings walking hand in hand, sex with a man, etc. But he walked with Lucy, who linked arms with him, just like they had practised together. He actually kinda enjoyed her company, if it weren’t for Sting, she might even be a good partner for him-

“GAJEEL LOOK OUT!”  Erza called out, Everyone turned to face the stage and Gajeel lay on the floor, face down with a knife in his back. Gajeel was dead. Things had changed.

Chapter Text

Overall, Sting's had a pretty good life; he's always been well-liked, had the best dragon dad a guy could ever ask for, and he was amazing at Dragon Ball. The only major mishap is his grades, but with Rogue's tutoring, he's made massive improvements.

However, lately things have changed… he feels as if he's all over the place. He's gone up three glove sizes, and last week, he cost the Dragon Ball team the match, something he never thought was possible. All because he stayed up the night before, rewatching Mr Dragneel's podcast (more specifically, the video of him and Rogue making out) over and over again. The video made him irrationally angry. Rogue deserved so much better than kissing that man.

Most of his thoughts came back to Rogue in some way. It made sense to Sting because he was his best friend, but apparently, others found it strange when every other conversation had Rogue mentioned. Even the Sabertooth club's Dragoncord server banned the word Rogue. Leaving Sting to come up with increasingly creative spellings of Rogue, such as Rouge, Rogu3, and Rug. All of which quickly got banned, too. When offered to join the server, Rogue declined, saying his Drakia phone couldn't run Dragoncord. Seven more spellings of Rogue were banned that day.

The upcoming prom further exasperated this issue; he was so nervous (HIM? BEING NERVOUS?), asking Rogue to be his platonic date. He had rehearsed it in the mirror for hours and had even asked Rogue's dad for his blessing beforehand. After Rogue agreed, Sting realised he had forgotten to plan ahead and now had to scramble to ensure the night would be perfect.

He begged Gajeel for details on the prom theme, and by beg, Sting definitely meant blackmail. he just hasn't figured out what the blackmail is yet. After finding the best suit for the occasion, Yukino kindly offered to read Sting's star chart and reassured him that all his stars were aligned… or something. Whatever it was, it was a good sign.

Even with all this preparation, Sting still felt like he was missing something. Leaving him with his last resort. A last resort so dangerous that even Doug refuses to get too close, as he allegedly owes someone a lot of money. So Doug has left him alone in his hour of need to go get the good catnip to tie him over during prom.

Sting knocked on the door, adjusting his hair in the window while he waited.

As the door opened, Sting blurted, "I need help."

No response.

Looking down revealed that the door was opened by a seal. "Uh…" Sting glanced into the hallway, only to see more seals. "Is… is Lilac here?" He asked.

The seal barked in response before galumphing away, since it didn't close the door, Sting assumed he had permission to come in. Besides, he could feel it in his heart that the seal invited him in, especially with that cute little face.

If there are no Fiore laws restricting the amount of seals a person could own, Sting thinks they should invest in some. There were seals everywhere. Making traversing Lilac's house difficult, he'd hear movement in a room and just be greeted with even more seals. So much so that Sting begins to question if he is even human, or if he, too, is a seal. Eventually, he reached the last room in the house, the bedroom. If Lilac is not in here, he might decide to become one with the seals. Rogue would surely understand.

On top of the king-sized bed resided a seal smoking a fish pipe, counting money. On the nearest wall was a photo of Doug with a red X covering his face and with multiple darts stuck in it. Sting could guess who Doug owes money to; hopefully, the seal is unaware of who he is. The seal took a look at him, as Sting gave a reassuring 'I don't know Doug' pair of finger guns. Causing the seal to slap its belly in response. That's probably bad, right? Shit shit shit.

Sting began to slowly back away, life flashing before his eyes; his last thought would be Rogue meowing at him. Maybe not a bad way to go…

"Is something wrong, Alfredo? Oh, I didn't realise you were here, Sting." The seal called Alfredo apparently, stopped slapping its belly and took one look at Lilac, huffed, then continued counting its money. Leaving Sting to deal with the fact that he would've been content with Rogue meowing at him as his last thought. With the cat ears he bought him. Normal friendship stuff.

"Sting?" Right, he is a man on a mission.

Getting down on his knees, Sting began his plea, "I need help. How do I make this prom night the best night of Rogue's life?/p" tone indicator included.

"Why are you asking me? I don't know Rogue all that well."

"Because you're my last resort! No one else's advice has been helpful!"

"Right… uh, why don't you take a seat next to Alfredo?" Sting would rather not do that; he's convinced Alfredo can smell Doug's scent on him, but he has to. For Rogue.

"Well, what does Rogue like to do?" Lilac asked, turning her back to Sting and beginning to play The Sims 2. With Sims that, in his opinion, looked like Keanu Reeves and blond Tintin. From past experience, Sting knows not to trust girls with the Sims; he knows what kind of mods Yukino has.

"Rogue likes a lot of things, like dragons, dragon books, Fresh, dragon action figures, burnt food, dragon-themed clothes, dragon video games…" This went on for a while.

"Oh, he also likes meowing! He looks really cute when he meows-"

"Okay, I think I get the idea." Lilac interrupted, "If he likes dragons, maybe get him some snapdragons, assuming he likes flowers."

Sting thought about this for a while, "nah, I'd eat them before I'd give them to him. Getting him flowers would make it feel like a date anyway, we're just going to be two dudes hanging out."

"Really? I thought you two were…? Never mind."

"Were?"

"It doesn't matter," she said, trying to change the subject, "do you have plans to go to an afterparty, or have a sleepover?" Lilac asked, pausing The Sims.

That's what he forgot. Sting had been so focused on the main event that he didn't even consider what they would do after. Should he go and ask Rogue what he wants to do? No. That would make him seem like an inconsiderate friend. Imagine asking him out to prom and not having plans for after it.

Maybe it was from the pitiful, wide-eyed look on Sting's face, but Alfredo began sympathetically slapping his thigh. "Well, I think Minerva has plans with Yukino and her boyfriend to grab breakfast the morning after. They probably won't mind you joining them." Lilac suggested. They would mind, they just wouldn't voice it.

Feeling like an awful best bro prom date, Sting got up and meandered to the door. "Thanks for the help, I need to go and update my plan for the 'best' bachelor prom date ever."

"Bye?" Lilac waved, watching as Sting almost tripped over a seal.

As he reached the front door, he was greeted by the same seal that let him in. It looked up to him with its shiny little eyes. Imparting its endless wisdom. Making Sting realise how stupid he's been. He just needs to be his confident self, Rogue wouldn't want him to stress over making everything perfect because spending time with his best friend is more than enough.

With a spring in his step, Sting left Lilac's house. Ready for prom… After he cancels the three Michelin-starred restaurant reservation he booked whilst trying to avoid stepping over seals.

Chapter Text

“GAJEEL LOOK OUT!”  Erza called out. Everyone turned to face the stage, and Gajeel lay on the floor, face down with a knife in his back. Gajeel was dead. Things had changed. A hand pulled the knife out of his back. Rogue’s heart stopped for a second at the sight. Juvia.

She looked down at the body of Gajeel and spoke with so much anger behind her voice, “That’s what you get for not making MY GRAY the prom king…” Rogue let out a terrified high-pitched scream, and he wasn’t the only one. He looked around, and everyone had backed off; some had tried to get out of the building, but the doors were locked. Sting looked concerned but not necessarily afraid, though that might have just been hidden under that flawless stoic expression. Gray was hiding behind Mirajane, who had a hand out protectively for him to hold. She said something quietly to him, but Rogue couldn’t hear over the panic. Whatever it was, it seemed to calm Gray down. The knife-wielding psycho was scanning the crowd for the next victim when Erza let out some sort of war cry and tried to lunge at Juvia with her sword. That didn’t go well, and with one stab to the gut, she was on the ground next to Gajeel, presumably dead. 

Juvia cleaned the blood from her knife and looked up, making direct eye contact with Rogue, who stood frozen in fear in the middle of the hall as she whispered, with enough conviction that he still heard her say, “You… you stole my Gray’s CROWN!” her eyes seemed to be a shade of red that signified the pure evil and obsession inside her soul. The girl stood down from the stage and slowly approached Rogue, who was frozen in fear, so scared in fact that he couldn’t even meow at this point. “I’m going to make you pay for your sins.” She stated, about halfway to Rogue.

Suddenly, a voice behind her exclaimed, “Don’t hurt my boyfr- Bachelor friend!” Sting exclaimed, throwing a flying punch towards her in hopes of ending this quickly. A sharp pain shot through his arm as his fist met the flat edge of her knife, blocking the strike and knocking him back a bit. “You alone cannot stop my wrath.”

“Ohohoh, I’m just getting started…” he took a bite out of his white shirt sleeve, causing an aura of white energy to surround him as he powered up he was getting serious. Rogue had never seen such power coming from anyone before, and seeing it come from Sting of all people was… hot. Sting lunged towards Juvia and threw another punch, which she easily blocked, countering with a slash to his arm, causing blood to shoot out. Reflexively, Sting clutched his arm, allowing Juvia to land several lighter slashes on him. Sting leapt back and knew that he was at a disadvantage here; he had to use all his power if he wanted to survive this. He put his hands together and summoned the remaining energy from his power up and created a ball of energy, which shot at Juvia at blinding speeds, but Juvia was quicker, easily maneuvering away from the orb, which followed her every movement.

She was fast, too fast; she dodged each attempt the orb made to hit her, getting smaller each time it missed, until she strategically dodged in a way that left her in front of the vulnerable Sting. With a move that seemed like it was taken straight out of a gymnastics show, she slashed Sting across the head while doing a backflip, the sudden movement making the white orb hit sting too, leaving him damaged. He fell to his knees. Could he fight anymore? Rogue was too invested in the fight to think of intervening, but he was terrified all the same. Juvia approached Sting, ready to give the killing blow.

“You utter fool, nobody can get in the way of my love for Gray Fullbuster…”

“Your love is… *cough, choke* unhealthy…”

She violently grabbed his luscious locks and pulled his head up to face her by force, “LIAR!” she screamed, bringing the blade to his throat and…

“Keep your eyes on the prize, kid…” the voice behind her said, as a blade was unsheathed.

Juvia whipped around and managed to block the coming katana strike with the flat of her knife, using her free hand to take the extra pressure from the strike, “YOU WORTHLESS VULTURE! STEALING MY MAN AND NOW STOPPING ME FROM HAVING MY WAY!”

Mirajane Strauss chuckled under her stylish fedora. “Problem, m’lady?” She pulled her sword away and went for another strike, which she barely managed to avoid. Sting, who was behind her, grinned to himself at the backup; out of all people, Mirajane wasn’t the one he would have initially expected. He flipped up onto his feet again, ready to fight the now even battle. While Juvia was focused on blocking and avoiding Mirajane’s attacks, Sting wound up and hit Juvia with as strong a punch as he could muster, his large, firm fist launching her across the room and into a pillar, which hurt her slightly. Meanwhile, Gray had made his way over to Rogue; both were now on their knees watching and cheering on their loves as they fought. Gray got up to help, but Mirajane put a hand out, “Not now, my discord kitten, your favourite discord moderator has this covered…”

Juvia pulled herself free of the destroyed pillar and brushed off the debris, but otherwise, she was only slightly hurt. The fight continued, with their combined speeds, Juvia struggled a lot with keeping back their attacks, and they managed to block all of her attacks, preventing further damage. Juvia sprinted towards Sting,  catching him offguard and forcing him to go on the defense, she was getting good damage on his muscular, powerful arms and things looked bad, but Mirajane backed him up, slashing behind her knee, allowing Sting to counter with a powerful uppercut, knocking Juvia into the air, while Mirajane leapt up and slashed across her back and bicycle kicked her further into the air. Mirajane landed and sheathed her blade, gripping the handle as she awesomely said, “Nothing personal, kid. We're not in dragon camp anymore...” and she transformed; she was no longer human, she was something more, a demon. Rogue had to do everything he could to stop Gray from standing up and hugging her on the spot, because she was preparing her ultimate attack. She dashed forward, unsheathing her katana faster than light, and as Juvia reached the ground, Juvia was on the other side of the room. The katana returned to its sheath, and Juvia was covered in wounds. She stood up, covered in blood, a bit dazed but still alive. All the wounds were skin deep. Either Juvia was incredibly durable, or Mirajane only intended to deem her unable to fight further; either way, it wasn’t over yet.

Juvia stood up, her vision went blurry, she looked around, her hair was closer to black than blue now, this wasn’t good, if she lost this fight she might as well be asking Gray to marry this woman who truly didn’t deserve him… Gray… She looked over at Gray, who was being comforted by Rogue, and her vision sharpened so much that she could see every movement in her eyeline, every fly, every twitch, everything. She had been powered up just by seeing Gray’s smile, completely unaware that his smile was caused by thinking she was defeated, but she was definitely not down for the count. She then brought her attention to Sting and took a step towards him.

She immediately collapsed to the floor from intense blood loss, and the two went over to her, standing over her. Mirajane tipped her fedora, “Hoo, you’re pretty good milady… I’m just a little better…” she taunted, transforming back into her human form. Sting didn’t say anything; he simply looked down at her, struggling to stay up from his wounds. Mirajane was posing while Gray came over and hugged her tightly. Rogue warily stood up, though something didn’t seem right. Juvia…

“MIRAJANE LOOK OUT!” Sting tried to reach out to her, but his legs were swept from beneath him and he was knocked to the floor. In the same movement, Juvia launched to her feet and grabbed Mirajane by the back of the neck and slamming her to the ground, knocking her out for the count. She spat on Mirajane's trench coat and said, “I’d kill you if you didn’t make my Gray so happy…” before turning to Rogue, who was holding Sting in his weak arms, cradling him and making sure he was okay.

Rogue’s arms felt heavy, so he changed the position so Sting’s head was on his lap. He looked so kissable like this, barely conscious, sweaty, and covered in wounds… No, Rogue had to snap out of this, “H- hey, Sting… are you okay? Please don’t die… I don’t think I could make it through life without you…”

Sting gave a weak thumbs up and then fell unconscious.

“Oh, how depressing, losing your one true love, YOU AND STING DIDN’T HAVE HALF OF WHAT I HAVE FOR GRAY!” Juvia cried out to him, tears in her scarlet red eyes, she fell to her knees, “J- just give the crown to Gray and I’ll only kill Sting and not you… You were nice to him while I fought… Sting deserves his death, though…”

This was a tough dilemma; on one hand, Rogue wanted to live, but would it truly be living if Sting weren’t there to live by his side? He couldn’t return to his life as a shut-in before Sting became close friends with him. Dragons were great and all, but… but… Rogue preferred Sting… no amount of books about dragons could change that. So he stood up, proud and strong, facing down the murderer before him, and said “No…”

“FINE,” she screamed, “I’LL KILL YOU, AND YOUR BOYFRIEND, AND YOUR GUILD CLUB, and then… then I’ll kill your STUPID SPECIES DYSPHORIC, ALCOHOLIC CAT!”

The sun shone brightly at Rogue, and his eyes turned to dots as he stared at the thing that stood before him, the thing that threatened to kill his cat, his precious Fresh. Nobody could harm fresh but him. Whatever stood before him was a total blur, not human in his eyes anymore, so he could do whatever he pleased to it. But then a voice inside him spoke and said, “Kill her…” and Rogue felt control in his body slipping as he sprinted at unheard of speeds towards the one who wished harm upon his cat. He raised his fist for the hardest punch he had ever thrown and…

“OOOOOW!” Rogue said as the knife went through his stomach and he collapsed to the floor, That didn’t work out as well as he hoped. “Well, that just happened…” he joked weakly, “Nyah…” He could only watch as Juvia took the crown from his head and began to walk over to Sting. Every step she took towards Sting hurt Rogue more, knowing that he could do nothing to stop her. She stopped and began to speak of her undying love for Gray, meaning she wasn’t going to reach Sting anytime soon, bringing slight peace of mind to Rogue. He felt himself get pulled up to sit against the wall. He managed to look up to see Laki and her Harem, as well as the crying Gray, cradling an unconscious but wounded Mirajane, who was trying to calm him down. He looked up to Laki, who was stroking Bickslow’s hair to keep him from getting too afraid. It was weird to see this, his once terrifying bully, now a whimpering mess who couldn’t keep his composure if his life depended on it. On her other side was Minerva, who slept hungover against her shoulder, with Sorano on Minerva's shoulder, she was posting about what was happening on social media.

Rogue managed to speak, but it sounded warped and different from the damage, so it sounded more like he said, “Frosch…”

Laki looked down at him and smiled reassuringly, leaning back and revealing that both Doug and Fresh lay asleep next to each other in Bickslow's arms, with Lucy’s snake coiled protectively around the two of them. “Bickslow panicked when the violence broke out and went to the petsitting area in panic. I managed to find him holding these 3 out of fear, and brought them back up here… I probably shouldn’t have done that, but there are more good boys and good girls that need saving and recruiting to the harem…”

Rogue wanted to shrug, but he felt too weak to move. He simply looked on. Juvia was still monologuing, which gave the author plenty of time to write about the remaining characters.  As Rogue watched on, he felt someone hold onto his arm. He looked as best as he could without turning his head and causing more pain, and saw Lucy, huddling up to him out of fear. It was… reassuring, she was warm, and though it hurt his arm more, the gesture made him feel better inside. She was a good friend.

“I- If we don’t make it out of this alive… I- I need to tell you… I- I love…”

Rogue froze up. Love, Sting, without Sting’s presence, what point was there to love anything at all? Sting meant more to him than anything in the world, and he couldn’t let that go so easily. He was determined to do as much as he could to prevent that.

“…And that’s why I’m so attached to Gray.” Juvia finished her monologue, “Any last words, Stupid Eucliffe…”

Sting was finally conscious (barely) and was about to stand and say something iconic and charismatic and awesome, when Rogue appeared in front of him, bleeding out, standing between him and the one who wanted to murder him. “D- don’t kill him… please…”

Juvia looked at him with disgust, “Looks like Cheney still has some fight in him…” She leaned down and looked at the stab wound in his gut, “I can practically see Sting through that hole in your stomach. But I’m feeling generous today, I’m a really nice person, so I’ll give you a deal. Let me kill Sting, and I won’t kill you… If you decline, I’ll kill him anyway…”

Rogue didn’t budge.

“Fine… I won’t kill you, or your cat.”

Rogue was immediately on his knees beside Sting, holding his hand and using his remaining strength to bring his head onto his lap. “It’s gonna be over soon… it’ll all be slow and painless, don’t worry, sting…”

Sting choked up blood as Juvia approached to kill him, “Yeah… before I die… I need to tell you… I love y-“

Suddenly, a beam of light appeared behind Juvia, and when it disappeared, what remained was a very strange figure. They wore a red cloak and had the hood up, obscuring their face. But when Rogue heard their voice, a surge of familiarity shot through him, but he couldn’t put a finger on it…

“Stop, Juvia…” the soothing, powerful but familiar voice said

“Who in Fiore are you…” Juvia asked in shock, turning to the figure, who pulled his hood down and… IT WAS ROGUE!??!? There were some major differences though, most notably his hair; instead of it being all black and in a messy bun, it was long and partly grey, except for his bangs, which were still black (Rogue wouldn’t have recognised him otherwise). How was this possible? Time travel didn’t exist; it wasn’t possible without a time travel dragon. As well as that, why did the new Rogue look so much stronger than he did? The figure grabbed his cloak and flung it off dramatically. On a sheath in his hip was a katana, but he didn’t take it out; no, he clearly seemed more powerful than that. Juvia’s eyes filled with rage, and she blindly charged at the future of Rogue. Sting looked very confused, then back up at Rogue. Rogue shrugged and blushed in response. Sting did the same, and they watched the fight with anticipation.

When Juvia reached Rogue, she was suddenly pulled off her feet by the scruff of her coat. The determined future Rogue smirked at her, before whispering in a deep, sultry voice, “Be a good girl and… Stay away from Sting…” He used his unnatural strength and launched her into the wall of the hall, which surprisingly managed to stay up despite the sheer force of the throw. Though Rogue chalked that up to the fact that the academy was made during the Dragon wars, so they would have been reinforced several times over in case a dragon crashed into it. But his internal monologue digresses.

Juvia collapsed to the floor in pain, lying there. She wasn’t dead, but she probably only had about a plastic cup's worth of blood left in her body after all that. Future Rogue looked to Sting and Rogue, and he kneeled next to Sting on the other side, taking his hand, “It’s okay now, Sting… I finally saved you…” as Rogue (future) took Sting’s hand, Rogue felt a bit jealous of... himself? His future self was much cooler, to be fair. But he also noticed something coming from his head… Future Rogue noticed this and smiled at Rogue, “Oh yeah, I’m also a cat boy. Nyah!” The things coming from his head were cat ears. Rogue was starting to realise just how cringy he sounded when he made Nyah sounds. But Rogue was too tired to react to it, “...just what else am I in the future?”

Future Rogue simply chuckled to himself and began to count off on his fingers, “An ASMR  roleplay voice actor…” That explains the soothing voice and calling Juvia a good girl… strangely, when Sting heard that, he perked up a bit; there was still a lot Rogue had to learn about Sting… “An Assassin… An incubu- wait, nevermind I think that was only for the summer… a time traveller- Nah, never mind, doesn’t really count if you’ve only done it once… I can’t remember, if I can remember any more, I’ll tell you.”

“THIS IS NOT OVER!!”

Juvia charges to try give one last attack to take Future Rogue down with her, he casually stands up and takes a gun from his coat, shooting her in the head and knocking her to the ground, he looks back to Rogue, “Oh yeah, sorta a mafia boss/gang leader too, it’s a really long story.” He crouches down again before Sting, “But it was all worth it…” he takes sting’s cheek in his hand, “To save you…” he leans in and kisses Sting on the lips, causing Rogue to blush profusely, he REALLY didn’t know how to feel about this, it should have been HIM kissing Sting… but… it was technically him? Thinking about it made his head hurt, so he decided to just be angry anyway, so he grabbed Rogue (future) by the grey part of his hair and KISSED HIM AS REVENGE. Rogue only realised what he was doing after he had done it, and he quickly backed up to the wall. The room went quiet, with only the sound of Lucy crying. Why was she crying? It was all over; Juvia was defeated.

“Wow, self-cest… was not expecting that to be added to the list…” Future Rogue shook his head, possibly breaking the fourth wall as the perspective moved to some other characters to avoid focusing further on this embarrassing moment.

Juvia lay on the floor. That gunshot to the head hurt a lot. She probably only had a few drops of blood still in her body after that. She groaned in pain, but it slowly went silent as Gray came over to see her. He sat on his knees, next to her, tears in his eyes. The sight of Gray feeling sad about her pain gave her the will to keep living somehow, even though he was more worried about Mirajane and the nosebleed she got from having her face slammed into the floor.

“Gray… my sweet gray… I did this all for you… you… the one who's always been there for me… Tell me, do you know why I love you so much?” She coughed up some blood

He shook his head, looking down at her, “Why…”

“Well… you see, it was a long time ago…” She said, before beginning to weakly explain, “Whenever we were just kids… when you didn’t know me… during dragon camp… I had gotten lost in the woods, I had fallen and hurt my ankle, left crying and hurt… I thought nobody would save me, until you came by and saved me… You saw me and… do you remember what you did?”

Gray shook his head.

“You cried… just like you are now, but much louder… when one of the camp chaperone heard our cries, they came to help you, and noticed me in the process… saving me from what surely would have killed me… I’ve loved you ever since…”

A tear rolled down his cheek. He didn’t really remember the event she was talking about but it felt right to be there for her while she was dying. “I… I… I think you're pretty alright yourself…” he smiled slightly.

Juvia shot up, sitting up and hugging Gray, “T- thank you… That’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me… I- I can die happy now…” As he reluctantly hugged her blood-covered body back, she began to slowly fade away into nothing, until all that was left was Gray. Mirajane placed a hand on his shoulder and said, “It’s okay, my discord kitten… these things happen… the sky daddy has her now…”

Gray hugged her leg, “I love you so much, Miraj- I mean, m- my most alpha female girlfriend mommy…”

Meanwhile, Sting carefully sat up, with the help of both of the Rogues, he managed to speak, “W- why did you come here… Rogue from the future?”

Future Rogue's cat ears twitched and got on all fours, doing a catboy pose while cutely saying, “Deus ex machi-nyah!”

Sting pulled back, getting to his feet and said, “I should head home now… see you at school?”

Rogue and future rogue both nodded, both sat opposite each other as Sting stood up, got Doug, and left. The school was practically empty now, fresh sat in the corner asleep and recovering from all the catnip. He looked forward to Future rogue and decided to ask, “So… how do you- I mean- I end up like you..?”

Future Rogue sighed dramatically and looked up from his bangs at Rogue. “It’s… a long story… it all started on this very day… all was the same, except Sting was killed… then Juvia went back on her word and killed Fresh… that was the biggest regret of my life… So I knew that I had to become the perfect man…”

Present Rogue’s eyes sparkled in admiration at the future before him; it made him purr in appreciation.

“So I went to Sting’s house and went through his belongings and found that he really liked ASMR… lots of different kinds, roleplays about vampires, roleplays about catboys, roleplays about mafia boyfriends and roleplays about demons… so I began to train in the art of ASMR roleplay… I had Lucy write the scripts and give feedback until my voice was perfect… I built quite the following, you know, but it wasn’t enough… I was still a loser to anyone that saw me, uwu… so I went under the tutelage of a known crime boss in the area, who went under the name Alfredo… he taught me all I knew about acting like a mafia character, interrogation, the Italian accent, slapping people correctly, everything. But I knew after a while that it wasn’t enough… so I did some things, they were quite boring, I won’t go into the details, and I became half catboy, one fifth vampire… I’m not sure… Anyway, it was then that I discovered how to do time travel (it’s pretty easy, but it takes a while to explain) and… here I am. I figured that after this saving ended, I would disappear because my timeline won’t happen now, but if that isn’t the case, then I suppose I’ll stay here… I’ll keep out of your way, though. I had my Sting and it was my fault that I lost him…”

Rogue hadn’t blinked once during that monologue; he was so invested. His eyes were all dried up and gross, and his purring had stopped because it hurt his throat. “You're so cool, Rogue- I mean me… Wanna stay at my place while we work this all out?”

Future Rogue nodded, and the two left the academy. Future Rogue offered to take Fresh, and the two walked into the sunrise together as this chapter finally came to an end

Chapter Text

“So you’re telling me… I have to take care of 2 of you now?” Skiadrum asked, displeased. He didn’t seem at all shocked by the whole time-travelling catboy business, more so the cost of an extra family member, and the fact that he had to leave his bed at 2 am to let them in.

“I-I can get a job, I have plenty of skills, I swear! I’ll help out around the house in the meantime, too!”

Present Rogue nodded quickly, “He can stay in my room! He can take the air mattress sting slept on, it’ll not be a problem.”

Letting out a resigned sigh, Skiadrum stood aside, “Fine… just try to be quiet.”

Future and present Rogue looked so excited to be living together as they went in and tiptoed up to Rogue’s bedroom. In under 1 minute, they had the air mattress out and Future Rogue was ready for bed (Rogue had been practising getting the air mattress out in case Sting had to stay over again, as a way to impress him. 2 People with that level of practise made it an even faster process)

The lights were out, everyone was cozy and tired in their respective beds, and Rogue decided to say

“Goodnight… me? Can we have nicknames or something to make it less confusing?”

“Sure, how about you be Progue for past Rogue and I be Frogue for future Rogue?”

“…Can I be present rogue instead?”

Frogue let out a soothing chuckle and said, “Sure, then we’ll call you Progue, short for present Rogue. Now be a good boy and get some rest…”

The next morning, Frogue was shaken awake by Progue, who shot up, “What is it? Are the FBI here?!”

Progue didn’t stop shaking Frogue and shook his head, showing his fiorne, STING HAD SENT HIM A PM. Frogue gasped, and the two jumped about like young girls at a sleepover talking about boys. But then Future Rogue stopped, “You need to send him something back.”

“I-I can’t! What if he just sent the message to make sure I was okay without expecting a response? I don’t want to anger him…”

“Hmm, good point… the message only does say ‘Hi Rogue’ which doesn’t necessarily mean he wants to initiate a conversation… so… how about we send him a photo of you with the cat ears on? We know he likes that, so even if he didn’t want to start a conversation, it’ll make him happy anyway, Nyah!”

“GE-NYAH-S!” (Genius) Progue exclaimed, running and fetching the cat ears from his wardrobe and putting them on, he looks up at Frogue with the best doe eyes he can put on, which is less cute by the fact that his cat ears have no fabric left on one ear and were just a wire frame, but it would work on Sting because he really liked cat boys it seemed. Progue got ready, getting into his best cat boy pose (with some guidance from Frogue, the professional catboy, and Fresh, the professional cat), and Frogue snapped the photo. Everyone gathered around to watch the big reveal and… he looked ADORABLE. It was perfect.

“He’s gonna be so flustered when he sees this,” Frogue stated, with enough confidence that Progue knew he was right. The fiorne was handed back to him, and he wrote the most interesting, attractive, stunning message he could: “Gm Sting, how are you doing today?”

“And… sent.” Frogue and Fresh both applauded his effort, letting out sighs of relief all round as they awaited his response.

Chapter Text

The next week was very boring, mostly just Progue sitting about in his bedroom reading books about dragons, waiting for Sting to text. Frogue, on the other hand, was spending his time trying to get a job so he could stay at the Cheney residence. It wasn’t going well, turns out having “calling people a good girl” and “advanced interrogation techniques” as your top skills doesn’t tend to bode well with interviewers. Really shows how much society needs to change.

One day, Progue was sitting alone next to his phone, waiting for a message, when one arrived! It was on the group chat (which had been dead for weeks, probably because of the dragoncord server. It was from Yukino, pinging Rogue directly. It said

“@RogueUWU1 the Fiore royal family is funding the repairs for the school personally! We’ll be starting school again next week, and you’re never going to believe it, rumour has it that the princess of Fiore herself is going to be transferring to our class, isn’t that amazing?!”

Rogue gasped as he read the message. The princess of Fiore? She was powerful; she could legally make Sting Rogue’s husband by royal decree, and Sting couldn’t do anything about it… This was worth considering. But there were so many things that the princess of Fiore could do for him… he could get so many books about dragons out of this, she could maybe even get him a pet dragon! So Rogue decided that he should do research online about her, so that whenever he would get a chance to speak with her, she would see how much he knew about her and would give him a red dragon for free as a pet.

Rogue began researching the Fiore royal family until he got distracted by a social media post from Sting. Though Rogue’s phone wasn’t capable of using social media, Sting was always so thoughtful as to send screenshots of his posts to Rogue so he wouldn’t have to miss out. This distraction lasted until 1 am Rogue needed sleep, but seeing Sting’s divine words was too much for Rogue; it left him in a state of pure bliss where all thoughts are inferior to whatever he may say. The post in question was a picture of a burnt (probably intentionally done so for humbling purposes, knowing Sting) dinner, with the caption “I made din dins :)”. Rogue fell asleep fantasising about Sting making him din dins while kissing him and loving him and sleeping with him.

Monday arrived faster than the iconic speed dragon, known for its speed. Rogue was ready, he knew so much about the princess of Fiore that she would just have to buy him a pet dragon and marry him to Sting, he knew both her first name and… her last name. He was going to be fine. The school seemed so full with all the people crowding in the hallways, it seemed they were all waiting for the princess to arrive. Eventually, Rogue found Sting among the crowd and made his way over to him. He didn’t seem very happy.

“Hey, dude, you hear the news?”

“Y-yeah, the princess of Fiore is joining our class” Rogue blushed

“I know… It’s annoying, I’m meant to be the popular one, but with her around, she’s going to be the centre of attention. Come on, let's just get to class quickly before we end up like a lion in a buffalo stampede.” Rogue nodded in agreement, and the two made their way back to class. Despite being closer than ever, they still felt so far apart, perhaps because Rogue still sat in the back corner alone and Sting at the front because the teacher loves him. It’s not fair. Why can’t Rogue have that power?

Once the clock reached 9 am, people began to pour into the room, the seats were filled with the usual faces, though a seat was missing where Erza used to sit in front of Lucy, it was a sorry sight but Rogue was more focused on the two people standing at the front in the middle of the room, Gajeel was in a different class so there was no seat missing for him. Rogue recognised one of them immediately; it was Hisui… he forgot her last name, and it seemed as though the person next to her was her bodyguard? He had a snake around his neck. Rogue felt like he was getting déjà vu at the sight, but he couldn’t quite put a finger on why. The teacher stood up, cup of coffee in hand and began to speak.

“Alright, class, settle down, it’s a Monday morning, there’s no reason for you to be this excited. Anyway, we have 2 new students in our class today… Let's see their names here,” he glances at the register, takes a sip of his coffee and says, “Princess Hisui Fiore, and… Erik. Any questions?” Rogue was fuming; he lost all the advantages he gained from his research in only 5 seconds.

Sting stuck his hand up and didn’t wait to be called upon, “Why is she here?”

Professor Strauss sighed and explained, “Her family funded the repairs to the hall after some kid tripped or something. They want to get their money's worth, so instead of being homeschooled, they sent their own kid here for some reason. Alright, that’s enough questions.”

Professor Strauss glanced around the room to see where they’d sit, then turned to Erik, “You, kid, go sit in front of Heartfilia.” He says, pointing to the empty seat, then turned to the princess who smiled in an attempt to be nice, “You can go sit at the back, Cheney has an eye like a hawk, so no getting into trouble or you're outta here.” He chuckles at his own humour. Hisui nods and gracefully makes her way to the back, ignoring the gawking of other students and making her way to the one student who wasn’t looking anywhere near her, Rogue. Rogue’s mind had wandered back to not being able to sit beside Sting, so he wasn’t really paying attention to what was going on.

She sat down with Rogue and smiled at him, saying, “Hi there, I’m Hisui, would you like to be friends?” she asked, offering to shake his hand. Rogue jumped at the sudden speaking beside him and turned to face her. He hadn’t heard what she said, but saw the hand before him. Having been in a similar situation before, Rogue knew not to fall for the trap that was before him. last time he was embarrassed when touching Sting's hand while on the beach when he actually wanted a high five, so Rogue high-fived her hand, catching her off guard.

“Heheh… ow… apologies, what might your name be?” She asks, trying to still be friendly.

“I-I’m Rogue… wanna be friends?”

“Erm… sure…”

The teacher didn’t seem to really care that they were talking; he was busy talking about unimportant things. Rogue looked over to Sting, who was looking back, longingly. Rogue blushed and decided to use his newfound royal influence to ask Hisui. “H- hey… do you think you could legally make Sting popular again?”

“Erm… I don’t think I can do that…” she looked back over at Sting, “Him? Are you two friends?” she asked before looking at Rogue.

Rogue blushed; he had been completely called out on his subtle manipulation attempt. She was sharp, too sharp. He would definitely need to consult his future self when he gets back from school. He decided that it was best to admit the truth. “I-I really like him…” Rogue answered, keeping it ambiguous through his use of language. Rogue may have been defeated in the first battle of wits, but it wasn’t over yet.

Hisui gasped and clapped her hands together, “That’s amazing! I… don’t really like that many people in the castle… except erik, he’s my bodyguard. He’s nice but he talks about work too much… and snakes…” she lets out a sigh, “I bet you’d really love to be sitting with him right now, wouldn’t you… Oh! I have an idea!”  she sticks her hand up, Rogue desperately attempts to stop her, she’s going to tell the entire class that he has feelings for Sting, he just knows it.

“Teacher! Teacher! I can’t hear what you're saying! Can I sit in the front row?” she asks. Professor Strauss lets out a long, drawn-out sigh, “Fine. Orga, you can move to the back. I’m sick of hearing your voice.”

Orga lets out a sound that seemed to be very reminiscent of a killer whale, hence his mocking nickname, “Orca.” He was in the singing club; nobody knew why. Hisui spoke up again, “U-umm, maybe I could sit in front of you, teacher? In case I need help?”

Professor Strauss let out a drawn-out groan. “Fiiiine. Eucliffe, get out of my sight and sit next to Cheney.”

“Yessssss”, Rogue celebrated to himself as Sting came over and sat next to him with a grin. Hisui was in his good books now. Today was a good day.

Later.

“It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out. I left the academy before all this business happened to become the perfect man…” Frogue said, “If I could give you any advice? Get close with her, she could help you legally get married to Sting”

Progue gasped, hugging the pillow closer to his chest, “I know, right! That’s what I was thinking! I’ll try my best… how's the job hunt going?”

Frogue sighed, “I had another interview today… No luck. My old recruiter doesn’t remember me, of course, so he isn’t an option. But on a more positive note, I discovered the bounty board, where I can put my skills to good use and hunt people for a couple of pennies.”

“Wooah… your so cool Frogue…”

“I know, I’m really cool… by the way, do you want me to bring Fresh with me like I had been today? It’s not a problem (uwu).”

Progue shrugged, “I don’t see why not, he’ll be in good hands.”

Chapter Text

Lucy was ECSTATIC today, she had been in a slump about seeing Rogue kiss that mysterious stranger, but that was no longer the priority of her thoughts when she laid her eyes upon one of the new transfer students. He was perfect, he had a scar like Rogue's, he had hair (Rogue had hair too, so they were basically twins), and, best of all, HE HAD A SNAKE! It was as if a goddess of snakes and Rogue Cheney worked together to create a Magnum Opus. His name? Erik. This detail was burned into Lucy’s memory; she would never forget it.

Throughout class, Lucy had been trying her very hardest to get his attention. He sat right in front of her so she tried whispering questions into his ear during class, but his focus was stone cold. He was a great student, too, another dashing feature of the man before her. No matter what she tried, he didn’t acknowledge her, but she wouldn’t give up quite so easily. Lucy wasn’t the sort; she was going to find a way to get in his good books no matter how long it took. But for now, trying during this class would be of no use, so she would have to wait until after. 

After a long, suspenseful wait, the long hand of the clock hit the hour, and everyone left the classroom, despite Professor Strauss not being finished with the lesson, but he didn’t dismiss classes; the bell did.

It was a struggle to find Erik amidst the crowds of students, but she found him eventually, writing in some notebook of sorts while walking alongside Princess Hisui, so mysterious! He really was a dream boy, and as one does when they see dream boys, they trail them. After not long, Erik broke free from following Hisui. This was Lucy’s chance to find a way to chat with him. She followed closer and closer behind him. Lucy immediately recognised the scent of his snake; she could tell exactly what its breed, species, and its mother's maiden name were just from the smell. But then the worst possible thing happened, he approached SORANO AG(u)RIA. Lucy knew one thing about Sorano: she always needed to have a partner to make posts online for her social media followers. As far as Lucy currently knew, Sorano wasn’t a fan of the arrangement with Laki, so she would most definitely take the opportunity to flirt with an innocent, snake-loving stud like Erik.

The interaction was brief, before Erik left again. Lucy didn’t really hear what they talked about, but she got the general idea from their body language. Soranos remained largely the same, but Erik seemed so charismatic and friendly with her. That was bad news. Was he hiding a secret? Did her one (of two) true love have a secret relationship already with another woman?! No, this was impossible. How could Lucy have this ripped away from her so soon? Erik should be with her, not some random girl like Sorano, who's already had a boyfriend AND been in a harem during this fanfiction alone.

Lucy wouldn’t allow it, no, she kept trailing Erik, discreetly moving down corridors and into gaps, it was a struggle to keep track of him, but she would, she had all the motivation in the world to follow this person she had only seen for the first time an hour ago and hasn’t had a single 2 way conversation with before.

Eventually, she was standing outside the school, and the mystery man was nowhere to be seen. She looked around desperately for him, but he seemed to disappear… until she  heard his voice behind her, “Why were you following me?” Erik asked with an accusatory tone.

Lucy gasped at how sharp he was. He knew somehow that she was following him and was able to outsmart her with ease. She had to come up with an excuse for this and fast. “I-I wasn’t following you…” Smart, she was using plausible deniability; he wouldn’t be able to say anything in response to that! Then he began to step towards her, backing her up against a different wall, eyes narrowing before asking in a way that Lucy thought was romantic but really wasn’t, “Who are you with…”

Lucy went bright red. Was this it? Had her unbeatable plan worked? He was trying to seduce her after her efforts; it was all worth it. For once, rogue was not in the background of her mind, she was only focused on the man before her…

“I said…” From out of Erik’s backpack slithered his snake, it stared at her with a hypnotic glare (of course, Lucy knew snakes couldn’t hypnotise people, and that the notion was ridiculous), but it was mesmerising how cool a snake it was. And Plue could sense this, slithering out of Lucy’s own school bag and facing off with the snake. Erik gasped and hissed, “You have a snake too… Just tell me: Who. Are. You. With?”

Lucy stuttered and stammered; she could barely speak. Erik's snake moved closer to Lucy’s snake. She managed to say, “I-I was- Rogue was-“

“So you went rogue… Who did you-“

Erik's snake seemed to be trying to mate with Lucy’s. It seemed to Lucy like fate wanted them to be together, and it wouldn’t be long before Lucy, Erik, Plue, and Erik's snake would be going on the most romantic snake-themed double dates. Erik let out a grunt and pulled his snake away surprisingly gently, before laying it back in his bag and storming off, “This is not over!” Erik exclaimed as he left the school grounds. Lucy decided to settle for today's victory. It wasn't over between them, so she had a chance. With that, she went back into the school building for her next class… Her heart dropped as she remembered, the school was going to be trying to give another attempt at reproductive biology. After hearing about what happened in the last one, she dreaded to think what might happen to Rogue or Erik in this one, given how close Rogue was to being the subject of a practical demonstration with Mr Dragneel…

Chapter Text

Everyone was lined up outside the classroom, dreading what was to come next. At least, the boys were. The girls knew that they would just be sent out moments into the class anyway, so they were less scared. Hisui, for some bizarre reason, seemed rather disappointed at this. Rogue could overhear the conversation.

“I don’t know, I just think it would be funny, we don’t have very many funny people back at the palace, they’re all dull and so focused on their duties… Oh, hi Rogue! What's your take on all this?”

Rogue blushed; he had been spotted, and he had to interact. He could feel Sting glaring at them both during the conversation. He decided to keep it brief, “I don’t want to be here…” Everyone laughed and patted his back; he didn’t even say anything funny, he thought, he was just being honest. Perhaps he should be more honest. Hisui was laughing too, “And why’s that?”

Another student answered before Rogue could ignore the question, “Mr Dragneel tried to get him and Sting to demonstrate how to have sex in front of the class!”

Hisui blushed with embarrassment at even asking, “Oh my… How unfortunate…”

The classroom door opened and everyone walked in,  and were immediately caught off guard by the fact that Mr Dragneel wasn’t the one at the front of the room, it was instead someone else, a younger man with short brown hair who seemed to be a bit wary. Everyone let out a sigh of relief; it was a substitute teacher. Still, Rogue moved to the back corner of the classroom; he didn’t want to risk being involved in another incident. Surprisingly enough, Sting followed. Rogue had poor memory and didn’t remember that all classrooms had an identical seating plan, but he was happy, maybe Sting would protect him from any surprise attacks and get married to him.

“Alright, class, settle down. The normal teacher is still very ill from the poison attack that got them last time, so the academy hired me to take their place temporarily…” The man began to write a name on the board, “My name is Professor… Dobengal. And I will be giving you your education on sex.”

He wrote sex onto the board in letters so cursive they could compete with the average female Fairy Tail character. “Alright, can you all tell me what you know about sex?”

The class seemed a bit uncomfortable, perhaps because of the sensitive topic, or perhaps because they had no idea; the last lesson on it really didn’t teach them much. Rogue decided with the newfound confidence of sitting with Sting that he’d answer the question. He stuck his hand up, and the teacher smiled slightly and pointed to him, “Yes, you with the messy bun.”

“I don’t know anything about sex,” Rogue answered with a helpful smile, before immediately realising how useless he is and sitting himself back down. At least he could hear Sting snicker. This honesty thing really was causing people to laugh. His cheeks were bright red as he looked upon the substitute teacher’s disappointment, who said with an exasperated tone, “Anyone else…”

Hisui eagerly put her hand up, and so did Yukino. Dobengal chose Hisui first, because we’ve had an abundance of author service already. “Yes, My Lady?”

Hisui stood up and eagerly began to speak, “Oh, sex is when 2 people who love each other very much get into bed together and make love! I… don’t know much else heheh…”

Everyone clapped, and Dobengal's frown disappeared. “Close enough. Anyway, in terms of the curriculum and what we’ll be learning, sex in this scenario will be in reference to intercourse between a man and a woman, not that 2 men and 2 women can’t have sex, that is called being homosexual, like I am. But enough about me, let's continue.”

Dobengal then began to draw up a somewhat inaccurate diagram of a vagina and began to explain each part and its function. Eventually, he got to the uterus. “Now for the uterus… when the sperm cell and egg cell meet, they form an embryo, which grows inside the Uterus, this is called pregnancy, which can only occur for a woman when-“

Sting shot his hand up and interrupted, speaking with a smirk, “But siiiiiir, Mr Dragneel said that men can get-“

“NO THEY CANNOT!” Dobengal snapped with a raised voice, his breathing now much faster than before, “A MAN CANNOT AND MUST NOT GET PREGNANT AT ALL COSTS.”

Sting sat down next to Rogue; both were confused.

“Apologies… me and… Lacarde, we go back… but I’d rather not-”

Then the door burst open, “DID SOMEONE SAY MY NAME?!” Lacarde stood triumphantly before the class while everyone let out a collective groan. Rogue tried his best to hide from Lacarde’s view. It seemed he had been coincidentally cleaning outside the classroom whenever he was brought up. It seemed that Dobengal was a bit shaken, and Lacarde was just shocked.

“DOBENGAL?! WHAT ARE YOU DOING, TEACHING THE CLASS I SHOULD BE TEACHING?!”

“G- get out… just get out… I’m subbing- I mean substituting for the class…”

Lacarde instantly seemed more casual, stepping over and sitting on one of the desks, giving the poor student a view that only Lacarde's Patreon subscribers should have to see. “Come oooon, you can spare a few minutes, no? So, how have you been? Found a new partner yet?”

“Please go… go on, go… walk out the door. Turn around now, you’re not welcome anymore…”

Lacarde grinned and clapped quickly, “He’s gonna sing a song, he’s gonna sing!” he squealed to the poor student whose desk he sat upon.

“You're the one who tried to hurt me with goodbye
Think I'd crumble?
You think I'd lay down and die?

No, not I, I will survive
Long as I know how to love, I know I'll stay alive
I've got my life to live
And all my love to give and
I will survive
I, I, I will survive

It took all my strength not to fall apart
Trying with all my might to mend my broken heart
I spent so many nights feeling sorry for myself
How I cried
But now I hold my head up high

And you see me, somebody new
I'm not that lonely little person
Still in love with you
Now you come droppin' in
Expectin' me to be free
Now I'm saving my lovin'
For someone who's loving me

Go on and go, walk out the door
Turn around now
You're not welcome anymore
You're the one who tried to hurt me with goodbye
Thinkin' I'd crumble
Did you think I'd lay down and die?

No, not I, I will survive
Long as I know how to love, I know I'll stay alive
I've got my life to live, and all my love to give
And I will survive
I, I will survive

Go on, go, walk out the door
Turn around now
You're not welcome anymore
You're the one who tried to hurt me with goodbye
Think I'd crumble?
You think I'd lay down and die?

No, not I, I will survive
Long as I know how to love
I know I'll stay alive
I've got my life to live
And all my love to give and
I will survive
I, I, I will survive”

Everyone applauded, and Sting leaned over, whispering to Rogue, “I swear I’ve heard those lines somewhere before…”

Rogue blushed at the whispering and didn’t have time to reply as Lacarde began to clap slowly, “Bravo… you almost convinced me.”

Lacarde hopped off the desk and walked up close to Dobengal, “But I know the truth… You still want me.”

“NO! GET OUT OF MY SIGHT! I DON’T WANT YOU ANYMORE!”

Lacarde began to get annoyed, but in a way that he’s still blushing, stepping closer to him, “I forgot how cute you were when you’re angry. Deep down, you're still my uwu smol twink goth bf.”

Dobengal shoved him away, “NO! I told you! Get out of this classroom! I have a class to teach!”

But Lacarde thought he was close to cracking him, but it was getting frustrating, so he stepped closer, “Come on… remember the happy memories…”

Dobengal was getting more and more angry and tried to tackle Lacarde, so they were left fighting in front of the class, most of which were recording on their Ifiornes. Hisui, ever the pure-hearted royal, stood up and tried to pry them apart. Erik didn’t show up today, so she was on her own for this. “Guys, stop fighting. We can all talk it out.”

Lacarde, angered at the attempted mediator, barked at her, “YOUR FATHER WATCHES MY PODCAST!”

Hisui, hurt, moved back to her seat and thought about what she had done.

Tensions being high, the two keep at it, Dobengal keeps trying to push him away, while Lacarde takes a more… psychological approach. It doesn’t work until he says something that really confuses everyone and angers Dobengal immensely.

“Remember our nicknames for each other? I used to call you Dobby, and you used to call me master… what was it you would say in the mornings? ‘Master has given Dobby a sock!' And then you would-”

Lacarde was suddenly blasted out the door by a ball of rainbow energy, “GAY BLAST!!!” Dobengal shouted, the door slamming behind Lacarde. It seemed that he had struck a nerve. Dobengal tried to regain his composure…

“Anyway, where were we… oh yes, pregnancy. Y- yes… No man should ever get pregnant, speaking from personal experience, it’s very unpleasant… Now, onto the intercourse it's-”

The bell rang, and everyone ran out of the room, trampling Lacarde in the process. Rogue and Sting left the room, uncomfortable but relieved that they weren’t called up for anything. Hisui left in silence, taking out her Fiorne to make an important phone call.

Chapter Text

The next day, school was a bit more upbeat. Everyone in Rogue’s class was very thankful that they didn’t have to go through another biology class, so they were somewhat more attentive in homeroom. Except Rogue and Sting. Those two were whispering to each other in the back of the class, knowing that Professor Strauss couldn’t hear them. That was until he had finished all the boring announcements…

“Alright… today we’ve got some slightly more interesting news, and no, before anyone asks, we aren’t getting a coffee machine in the classroom… sorry to disappoint.” Nobody wanted a coffee machine in the classroom except him. “Anyway, this month we’re going to be having our…” he does an unenthusiastic drumroll with his fingers on the table, “Class president elections.”

Sting put his large, firm right hand on Rogue’s face to shut him up. It smelt burnt, Rogue let out a little happy meow at the feeling and act of dominance from the one he loved so much. The idea of running for class president appealed greatly to Sting. The idea of having such influence across the entire class, being able to change school rules and kick out teachers on a whim, Sting could get used to that… Ooohohoh, and the popularity. He could have Princess Hisui bowing before him, apologising profusely for ever stepping anywhere that could bring her attention. Maybe he could even legally make it a class rule that only the teachers had to do homework… But then the worst thing happened.

“I would like to run for class president! It only feels fitting,” Hisui offered, standing politely and holding her hand up. Sting would have to compete with someone else for the throne… Uh, presidential status. Sting knew very little about democracy, just that he should be in control of it. Sting shot up, ignoring whatever Rogue was cutely blushing about, knocking his own chair over in the process and catching everyone’s attention. “I WOULD LIKE TO RUN FOR PRESIDENT OF FIORE!” The teacher spat out their coffee.

“It’ll be a dark, coffeeless day in dragon hell when I let you run for class president, Eucliffffe.” Every time Sting failed a test in his class, Professor Strauss would add an extra F to Sting’s name. This is reset monthly. He said through gritted teeth. He looked around the class and let out a yawn, sipping his coffee mug for more coffee. “No? I suppose that means-“

“Um… teacher…” Hisui piped up nervously, “I think you should let Sting participate in the election… For democracy. It’s only fair since it’s not fair if there's only one candidate in this class. Who would people vote for if they didn’t want me to be president after all?”

She made a good point, which made Rogue happy. She wanted to help Sting. Sting didn’t see it that way. He saw this as a sick attempt at humiliation. He thought she wanted him to run for class president just so she could brutally beat him in the coronation… democracy thingy. Sting was incorrect. But he did want to run for president, so he helped out by saying, “Um, yeah… what she said…”

Professor Strauss let out an elongated sigh. “Fine. You’ll each need to choose a VP, and we can have a debate or whatever next Tuesday… Class dismissed.”

After everyone left, Rogue caught up to Sting. He decided to ask, “So… who are you going to make your VP?” Rogue didn’t really know what a VP was, but anything to make small talk with Sting. Knowing Sting, Rogue figured Sting would catch him out immediately and know instantly that Rogue was clueless.

Sting stuttered a bit as he hadn’t really thought about that. He didn’t really know what a VP was, but knowing how amazing he was, Sting knew that Rogue probably didn’t know either, since they were definitely intellectual equals. “Umm… well, I’ve had lots of offers” (a lie) “But I was thinking… maybe you could be my VP? Yes… I declare you, Rogue Cheney, my…” he tried to think of what VP might stand for, but thankfully Doug helped him out and whispered the answer in his ear. “You will be my … Venemous Pirate!” Doug was laughing, probably knowing how reliable he was.

Rogue looked up at Sting with a twinkle in his eye and a blush on his cheek, “R- really? Thanks… I’ll do my best!” he exclaimed, before the end of the school day inevitably arrived, and Rogue went home, excited about his new position by Sting's side.

That evening, he was at home, having an evening chat with Frogue.

“So… Sting has decided to make me his VP while running for Class president!”

Frogue let out a squeal of joy, “That’s so cool! You’ll be amazing… what's a VP?”

Progue shrugged, “Beats me. Something about pirates…” he blushed, “Maybe I’ll be like his right-hand man…”

Frogue gasped, “Nyah! We need to get you an eyepatch. Don’t worry, I’ve got this. I finally got that job as a bounty hunter, so now I have the money for it, you’ll be perfect.”

Progue smiled and blushed, “Thanks, frogue…”

Chapter Text

The mission was in jeopardy, and things had already gone awry so soon. Amazing. Things were worse than Cobra had thought, and he rarely got things like this wrong. Already had a rogue agent found out about his mission and began to trail him; they even seemed immune to his advanced interrogation tactics. Even worse than that, they too had a snake, which had its eyes set on his own snake, Boa. His only trusted companion.

To outsiders, Cobra seemed to be Hisui’s bodyguard; even the princess herself thought that was the case. In reality, he was a spy on a mission, ordered directly from the top. This particular academy had something that the King of Fiore desperately needed: The ultimate Dragon Tome. Cobra didn’t know what it could possibly do or how it could shift the tides of Fiore’s political climate, but he knew that this mission was his most important, by a long shot. So as a guise to get close to the tome, he was acting as the princess's bodyguard as she attended the establishment, taking on the name he had given up when he left the orphanage, Erik.

Currently, Agent Cobra had only one lead, that most tomes were kept in the library, the lead was earned from Cobra's natural swagger and charisma, tricking a fellow student into revealing the information to him. He would have had the mission done by now if it weren’t for the rogue agent who attempted to follow him, causing him to leave the scene for the remainder of the week. During that time, many things happened and were exposed relating to his royal highness, but none of which were part of his mission, so he tuned out Hisui’s ramblings as she gave him the rundown on what had happened.

The following Monday, Hisui was talking to one of her new friends, a girl with short blue hair and an abnormal interest in stars and her allegedly cute romantic partner. Something Cobra knew he could never truly have in this line of work, well, not unless the perfect girl suddenly showed up one day. Cobra took his chance to proceed with his mission and find the library. To avoid bringing attention to himself, he decided to keep his plan simple; he would get up and leave, hoping nobody would notice. Except for the rogue agent, but that was unavoidable. The plan was almost successful; he had managed to get to the door, but then all the students went silent as the teacher spoke up, “Erik, back to your seat.”

“Sir, this is incredibly important.”

Professor Strauss let out a sigh, “Can it wait until lunch? It’s starting in 5 minutes anyway.”

Agent Cobra knew he was beat. He had no excuse for this. He would fail his mission at this rate. He had a walk of shame back to his seat. Once he made it back, he heard a sad hiss from Boa inside his bag. “I know Boa, but it’s not over yet.” Agent Cobra had one last plan: he would run at the speed of light and leave the classroom before anyone had perceived his departure. It was the perfect plan.

“Erik, that’s an after-school detention, you're almost as bad as Eucliffffe,” Professor Strauss said the moment Cobra had stood up, his tone slightly raised. Maybe it would be best to wait the extra 3 minutes until the lunch break instead. Though it would put him at the disadvantage of having the rogue agent following him, he could already feel her burning a hole into his back with her gaze.

Lunch arrived approximately 3 minutes later, and Agent Cobra was already out of the classroom. He began searching the school up and down for clues as to the whereabouts of the library, but had no luck. Eventually, he arrived at a crossroads. To the left was the locker area, to the right were the stairs to the next floor, and straight ahead led him to the sports hall, where the dragon ball team was practising. Then he felt it, the cold hand of death on his shoulder; his time was up, he was finished. The mission was down the drain; his main goal now was to survive the clutches of the rogue agent…

“Hi Erik!” Lucy greeted him, releasing his shoulder and standing awkwardly close to him. The unexpected behaviour threw Agent Cobra in a loop; perhaps she was acting natural to keep her cover, even from him. Damn, she was good. But Cobra could play the same game.

“Hi… you,” Cobra responded. Nailed it. She was so caught off guard by his response that she was blushing with embarrassment, but the game had only begun.

“So… I’m Lucy… sorry about what happened last week… I was wondering if maybe… Could I be your friend?” she asked, holding his arm with her hands, essentially trapping him in place and forcing an answer. Cobra had done research; however, he had read many novels and watched many movies about life in high school, so he was the best agent suited for this role.

“Hmm… I will if you tell me where the library is…” Genius maneuver, Cobra. Now she had to reveal this information.

“Sure! Come with me!” she responded, taking his hand in hers and running through the hallways, leading him to his destination. He didn’t like that she held his hand; it meant his escape options all required breaking it before he could leave, which was certainly within his capabilities, but it would waste precious time. He had to slow his pace dramatically so Lucy could stay caught up to him, but it was still within his capabilities. Eventually, they reached the library.

“Sooooo, why are you here? Getting books about snakes? Or… maybe something else? Maybe romance novels? I won’t judge…” Lucy said, giggling slightly, whatever was going on in her mind was unreadable to Agent Cobra, too many snakes in there and too much rogue. He came up with the best response he could.

“That’s classified.” She giggled in response, but Cobra knew he was winning here. Upon entering the library, he quickly noticed that it was empty on the inside, except for a sleeping librarian. Without wasting a second, he began searching the shelves for the ultimate dragon tome, but to no avail. The only problem? The Rogue agent, claiming to be called ‘Lucy’, was clinging to his arm. Escape would be impossible, but his mission came first, his life came second. So the search continued

“Ultimate dragon tome… ultimate dragon tome… where are you…”

Lucy looked up at Cobra, “Erik… are you looking for the ultimate dragon tome?”

A rookie error from Agent Cobra, but lying now would be pointless, so would showing his shock. “Yes.”

“It’s not here… The headmaster keeps it in his office. Why would you need it anyway?”

“Classified.”

Drat. The mission continues. He was about to leave when the bell rang, signalling the end of lunch. So Agent Cobra headed to his next class, dragging his captor along with him.

Chapter Text

The saber-tooth club was together again, hanging out for another one of their meetings. It seemed to Rogue that everyone thought Sting was going to win.

“So! As the soon-to-be president of Fiore, I need to obtain votes. So can I count on the rest of you to vote for me?”

Sorano paused a moment, but then nodded. She didn’t care at all about politics, she always blocked it out on her social media feeds; it wasn’t that interesting to her, so it didn’t cause her any harm to vote for him. Minerva wasn’t listening, being very drunk while venting to Sorano about alcohol prices, so she just guessed what Sting said.

“Oh, yeah, sure, whatever…”

Yukino was looking at her phone, presumably texting her boyfriend, and didn’t even bother answering. Sting took that as a yes, of course. While all this was going down, Rogue was panicking. He wanted to be the best VP that he could for Sting; he could already imagine the results now if he won and did well…

“Oh Rogue, you were such a good VP,” Sting would whisper seductively, “I couldn’t ask for a better right hand… maybe… You could be my VP… in love… let's get married, right now.”

Rogue blushed at the thought. Sting was so dreamy all the time, Rogue couldn't help it that his mind wandered. Suddenly, Rogue’s thoughts were interrupted by Sting grabbing him by the arm and pulling him up from his seat.

“Alright! Me and Rogue are off to get votes now, don’t cause too much trouble while I’m gone,” and with a wink, Sting had left, with Rogue being dragged behind him. Upon regaining his composure and figuring out how to walk again, Rogue walked beside Sting as he spoke. 

“We need votes, and what better way to do that than to go out into the public and convince the people. Let's start with that guy over there,” Sting said, pointing out a large figure in the corner, holding his books close to his chest. Immediately recognising him, Rogue hid. Laxus Dreyar. After the maid café incident, Rogue couldn’t show his face anywhere near Laxus; he’d surely be pummelled if he even tried to apologise… Sting, however, swaggered up to Laxus like it was nobody's business.

“Hey, you there! Big guy!” It seemed Sting didn’t know Laxus personally like Rogue did… “I’m running for president of Fiore and I want your vote. Tell me, what's your name?”

“My name is Laxus Dreyar and I'm a pretty normal guy. The only thing that stands out about me is that I'm insanely powerful. But I'm too anxious to talk to my crushes. Uwu~. They're so cool and confident. I can never measure up. I'm such an airhead-“

Sting stuck a finger in Laxus’ mouth to shut him up, “Yeah, yeah, no one asked. So will you vote for me? Your weird crushes will probably like you more if you do.”

Laxus reluctantly nodded, and Sting removed his finger with a grin, while Rogue jealously watched on. Rogue wished Sting would put his large, veiny, inhuman fingers into his mouth. In fact, Rogue would enjoy it so much more if Sting just put both of his hands in Rogue's mouth and left them there; it would be so hot. To Rogue.

Moments later, Rogue was shocked as Sting yanked him out of his hiding spot and dragged him onto the next voter. To Rogue’s surprise, Sting talked to him. “This time, you’re going to do the talking, and I’m going to go find someone else to vote for me. You can go and get that person to vote for me.”

Sting’s finger pointed to an unfamiliar face in the crowd. Perhaps a transfer student? Rogue wasn’t sure what to do. Worst of all, they were pretty cute… he awkwardly stepped over and tapped their shoulder. He watched as they turned around to face him and spoke with a friendly tone.

“Hi! Nice to meet you! What's your name?”

“R- rogue… what's yours?”

“Oh, right, I’m new here, a transfer student from a different school. My name is (Y/N).”

“That- that’s a pretty cool name…”

“I know! My parents chose it for me. So… why did you come over to me?”

“O-oh, well, I was wondering if you’d vote for Sting… for class president… I’m his VP…”

“Oh, well… what are his values?”

His values? Rogue had absolutely no idea what to say for this, but he managed to stutter out: “H- he has shiny teeth and… big hands…”

“Oh, I’m definitely voting for him then,” (Y/N) responded, “It was nice meeting you, Rogue.”

“Yeah… you too, (Y/N)…”

Rogue left, feeling a mixture of embarrassment and happiness that he succeeded with his mission. Not long after, he regrouped with Sting and decided to ask, “How’d it go?”

Sting responded with his signature grin, with the sun reflecting off his teeth just right to light up the room, “Swimmingly. You should have seen me go, I really convinced them well… How about you? How’d it go?”

Rogue simply shrugs, and that seems to tell Sting everything he needed to know.

“Huh, so their name was (Y/N) and they’re a new transfer student. Got it. Anyway, it’s a slow process gathering individual votes, so I reckon we'll go to the different school clubs to get votes!”

Rogue blushed. He had never been to the school clubs before; he was always too nervous, and he just wanted to stay at home and read his dragon books, but now would be his chance to see the clubs in action. Unfortunately, Sting never told Rogue what club they were at.

Upon arriving outside the room, the only clue Rogue had for what club they were at was what sounded like an airhorn coming from inside the classroom. Sting opened the door and went in. Rogue reluctantly followed soon after. Turns out, it wasn’t an air horn or a foghorn, it was just Orga practising his singing. They were at the singing club. Sting stepped up in front of the group, shoving Orga onto the floor and shutting him up.

“Everyone! I have an announcement!” 

Everyone death glared at him and Sting realised his mistake, and cleared his throat, before singing…

“Your odds are slim,

The walls are thin, cavin’ in

But there is still a way, you see -

In just 1 mere percent of chance there’s possibility

I won’t sit back, and accept the hand we are dealt,

A fate that’s thrown out by someone else

There is a future I can see

Where I’m president, yes, me

Bring it on ‘cause I’m just gonna grow up in the battle EY

Pushin’ (past) the limit – I’m still burnin’ with fire

An’ for our future, I am fightin’

I gotta beat this nightmare

And ain’t nobody gonna stop me

Forget the past – ‘cause we’re livin’ in the pres(id)ent 

I ain’t scared of my past – and now in fact,

Forever I’m screaming out for my pride!

Now I never wanna see you cry

I will be screaming till you find the way 

I’m never backing down,

I will be soaring straight on through my presidency!

Now I gotta keep my smile bright

I’ll give my everything to find a way

I gotta burn off the pain, to get these votes

So now the rest of me can rest in peace

Now I’ll Strike Back

Inside my mind,

I pound the wall one more time

With all of the bitter pain I feel 

I don’t care what my chances are,

I will never kneel

Today the rain will continue on

And it’s all I know but never will wear me down

When there’s still a future I can see

There’s still future I can see

One I hope you’ll vote for me!

Yeah we’re head-to-toe in daybreak

Singers, vote for me now!

Don’t you ever stop, we vote it back in spades right

In a flash, (in a flash) we wanna hit that presidency

This is the time, to keep on living through the misery

Struggle – Sorrow

They’ll disappear like bubbles

But no one can extinguish my own eternal candle 

I’m running for president!

This fire burnin’ in my heart

It will keep lightin’ up to part the way

Nobody can blow out my fire – It’s destiny

I’ll rise above it, all eyes on me

There is no time to hesitate

I won’t lose sight of it – I’ll win the day

Don’t blind your eyes, if you’re lost on the way!

Not gonna lie, I’m gonna be your light

So vote for me! Sting!

 Ey, what are we living for? 

I live – for – this – Democracy

Uhhh… that’s all I can come up with so…

VOTE FOR STING EUCLIFFE!”

Everyone applauded, especially Rogue. They had most certainly gotten the message loud and clear. Sting bowed and pulled Rogue out of the room and said to him, “We can definitely count on their vote…”

Rogue had one question that plagued his mind, though. “S- sting… do you know any other songs?”

“I- Uhm… you- yeah, totally!” Sting blushed through his lie, but Rogue was none the wiser. Their thoughts were interrupted by Sting’s bag shaking. Sting opened it up, and Doug popped his head out.

“I’m outta here, all this singing is getting boring…” So Doug hopped out of the bag and wandered off, leaving the two of them to keep walking down the hall to the next club.

On the way, Sting passed by Jelial and said, “Buddy, Jelial, can I count on your vote?”

Jelial pointed finger guns back at him, “Hell yeah, you can.”

Before the two walked on to the next club, Sting then spoke to Rogue, “You… you can wait outside for this one… I don’t think you’re going to want to see what happens next…” before bursting through the door. Rogue could only imagine what was happening as he heard the sound of fabric tearing and wild, manic shouts from Sting and the rest of the class. Rogue could tell… Sting was tearing off his clothes, showing off his abs to whatever club this was to convince them to vote for him…

Moments later, Sting was shoved out of the classroom, holding his coat shut tight, grumbling to himself, “The name was too misleading, how was I meant to know chess was a board game…”

Rogue blushed as he saw in an inch of Sting's chest… he was shirtless underneath. Rogue was right for once. He felt blood running down his nose, but he just rubbed it with his sleeve, smearing blood over his mouth and around his lips accidentally, “What did you think the club was for?”

Sting rolled his eyes at this. Wasn’t it obvious? “Well, it's in the name, the chest club, obviously, where people could show off their chests and work out routines to make them bigger.”

Right, that actually made a lot of sense. Rogue stayed quiet as an apology for even speaking up, letting the two of them walk on to the final club at the library.

On the way, Sting passed by Jelial and said, “Buddy, Jelial, can I count on your vote?”

Jelial pointed finger guns back at him, “Hell yeah, you can.”

As that happened, Rogue felt some déjà vu, but shrugged it off and walked on. Eventually, they arrived at the library for the book club; hopefully, things would work out better here. Sting immediately kicked open the door and stepped in, letting go of his jacket and revealing his chest and abs to the potential voters…

Rogue was very surprised at who was there. Yukino, Lucy, and… Hisui.

Yukino averted her eyes from Sting, while Lucy was staring right at Rogue, and Hisui was, too. It took him a moment too long to realise the blood from earlier had dried on his face, and it looked like he had some disgusting blood goatee.

Sting knew when they had lost. Hisui had beaten them to it. “Heheh… sorry ladies… didn’t mean to intrude…” he put one of his extra-large, firm yaoi hands on Rogue’s shoulder and pulled him out. That was perhaps enough vote collecting for one day…

Later

“Wow, that sounds really embarrassing…” Frogue responded after Progue told him about what happened. As he spoke, he reached over to the desk to get the glass of water, but his catboy instincts kicked in at the worst time and he just slowly nudged the glass off the edge of the table, spilling It on the carpet and letting out a little surprised “Nyah!” at the sudden sound.

“Y-yeah… but I think we did well… how are things going with you?”

Frogue nodded, “Not bad, not bad… Fresh and I have quite a good routine going, where I fight the monsters we have as bounties and they carry the body, splitting the work 50/50! We’re getting paid well, so Dad will let me stay at the house for longer… I was also thinking about starting an ASMR channel again in this bedroom for some extra cash…”

Progue nodded, “That’s fine with me… maybe you could… teach me? You know… how to do… asmring?”

Frogue’s eyes lit up at the sound of that, nodding faster than Progue could comprehend. “Definitely! I’ll teach you everything I know!”

Chapter Text

Pizza. Tv. Sports recordings. Could life get any better? Sting was absolutely living the dream. He watched as Christiano Dragonaldo dribbled the ball past the dragon, body slammed the opposing defense, and absolutely slam dunked the hell out of the goal posts.

“HOLE IN ONE BABY!!!! CHRISTIANO DRAGONALDO NEVER LOSES!” Sting cheered as he sat up in his seat and pumped his fist in the air. Doug, who was already 6 cold ones deep, did the same but ended up falling off the sofa and falling asleep. Sting ignored that because the game was more important. Never taking his eyes from the screen, Sting continued to watch the TV when a strange buzzing came from under him, Sting had thought the worst, until he realised it was just his ifiorne, he had a text, he saw that it wasn’t from Rogue and was about to turn it off, when he briefly looked over the word ‘Debate’. It intrigued him. He opened the dragoncord to see the message, which read as follows:

DaColdestOne (Status: Drunk probably): “Hi Stng, god lck for the debate tomrowo”

Debate…debate…debate. Sting had completely forgotten about the presidential debate for tomorrow. He wasn’t prepared at all. He needed to prepare quickly, so he immediately shot up from his seat and… how does one even prepare for a debate? He remembered hearing about them from lawyer shows that he had watched (purely for the action); all he remembered was that they involved arguing about stuff in fancy suits. So, Sting ran up the stairs and fetched his most convenient suit! Last time he had to wear it was a distant relative of Bickslow’s wedding… boy, was that eventful. Anyway, he put the suit on, it was itchy, it was uncomfortable, it was tight. That was half the research done in Sting’s mind, so he went back downstairs to begin the next phase of the research: watching experts in action.

He started with one of the classics, world-renowned lawyer PHOENIX DRAGON from the hit series and video game adaptation, Case Attorney. Arguing with such ferocity, it was impossible for Sting not to be engaged with what was happening on screen. Phoenix slammed his hands on the desk and shouted his point at his arch rival, who stood with a smirk on his face and his arms out.

“You’re so close to being right about this, Phoenix, but you’re forgetting one thing… only certified dentists can give proper molar checks,” KM Edgeworth responded with a smirk on his face.

Phoenix, the expert in the art of debate that he is, slammed his hands on the table and flipped it over, tearing off his shirt and pumping his fists together, “Why don’t you try arguing like that between my LAWYER KNUCKLE SANDWICH!”

Sting changed the channel; he had understood enough from that small interaction to get the gist of the show, so he moved on to the next series, a classic lawyer series, Better Call Gooddragon. The master Lawyer Saul Gooddragon stood in front of the victim and asked, “Are you sure that this man is the person who committed this crime against you?” he asked, pointing to the man at his table.

“Yes.” The victim responded, sounding relatively confidenct, “That’s him.”

“Well, would you be surprised to know that the person you just pointed to is not the defendant? Mr Smith, please stand up.”

And what do you know, a man identical to whom Sting and the accuser thought was the defendant stood up from the jury stand.

“Saul Gooddragon is such an amazing debater…” Sting mumbled while eating a slice of pizza.

The crowd burst into shouts and arguments, the judge slammed their gavel on the table, and the guards surrounding them shot their guns into the air to keep the crowd quiet. “Ugh… mr gooddragon…”

“Objection, your honourless, because Mr Smith over there isn’t the one who perpetrated this crime either…” he says, stepping up onto the stand, walking up behind the judge and tearing off a mask from the judge's face, revealing that THEY WERE THE CRIMINAL THIS WHOLE TIME!!!

Sting changed the channel again, just as Saul Gooddragon was putting the criminal judge into a headlock. Sting was mentally taking so many notes on how to be a lawyer. Next, he was watching a debate show he wasn’t quite familiar with. The intro was colourful and it displayed the name, “JORDRAGON PETERSBOY VS 20 LEFTISTS” before the scene began.

“Well, before we start this argument, I think we really need to consider the anarcho-capitalistic definition in the lexicon of the word ‘Left’ and the socio-economic implications of that word's usage in this Marxist authoritarian society.” Jordragon Petersboy spoke so eloquently, Sting didn’t understand many of the words, but Sting could tell the man knew his stuff from how fancy he sounded. His opposition spoke with a cluster of voices; they were all speaking over each other, and Sting couldn’t hear what they were saying. He couldn’t wait to see Jordragon’s rebuttal.

“Well, have you perhaps considered that you’re wrong? In this hydroelectric ever-changing climate, judeochristian capitalist ideals might just abolish the establishment of you right-handed left atheist discriminationists for trying to dilute the ever-changing millennial system of communal socialist ideals. How about that?”

This was getting intense, and Sting was sweating like hell, so he took off his trousers for the sake of preserving warmth. He already got the hang of wearing a suit anyway; it didn’t matter that much. The crowd on TV continued shouting arguments, getting angrier and angrier as Jordragon kept his composure, giving the cool response, “Why don’t you try arguing your leftist beliefs against my FACTS AND LOGIC!” he held his fists out, on either hand, the words “facts” and “Logic” were tattooed on. Jordragon promptly tore off his tuxedo and shirt. That was when things got really intense, violence erupted in the crowd as the 21-person brawl began, with Jordragon clearly DESTROYING these liberals with facts and logic.

With the sounds of intense violence and battle in the background, Sting was beginning to fall asleep for the night, now perfectly prepared for the debate.

Chapter Text

Today was a day that would go down in history, Rogue was sure of it. He had stayed up all night preparing and waiting. Frogue also volunteered to stay up with him to help and practise. Why? Today was the day of the presidential debate, where Sting would let his knowledge shine and destroy his opposition on the stage. Rogue had written out hundreds of pages of notes in preparation, even though he wasn’t even going to be the one debating; he just really wanted to do his part to impress Sting and show him that he was a worthy partner. If he proved reliable enough to sting, Sting would maybe consider marrying him, which Rogue would definitely accept, without any hesitation.

Frogue was just starting to wake up, stretching like a cat boy vampire would, his cat ears twitching in the process. He glanced over to Progue and let out a “Nyahhh~. Ready for the debate?”

Progue nodded in response.

“Great. I need to turn your bedroom into an audio recording studio while you’re gone if that’s alright. I’m gonna be starting to upload ASMR videos again, and I need somewhere to record.”

Blushing at the thought, Progue let his mind wander to the scenario, Frogue talking sensually into the microphone, talking about how good a boy/girl the reader was. I mean, listener. “H- h- have fun…” Progue left the room not long after to keep his composure; he needed it for the debate. Rogue glanced at the time and froze. He was behind schedule; he would have to leave RIGHT NOW if he wanted to be completely sure he wouldn’t be late to the debate. He swept Fresh’s legs out from under them before kicking them into the air, letting them land perfectly into his open school bag, letting out a little dazed “Ribbit…”. On the way out, he picks up a piece of pre-toasted toast (they sell that in Fiore) and carries it with him in his mouth as he rushes to the door.

SLAM! Now on the floor, Rogue looked up to see what he had crashed into, expecting it to be the door. To his surprise, it was actually his father, Skiadrum, who helped him up. He cleared his throat.

“Hey Rogue, before you go, I just wanted to tell you, I really think that you- the other you, I mean, is doing really well. He was telling me about all the jobs he had had in his time, and I was thinking that maybe you could get a job… wouldn’t that be good? You could buy dragon books with your own money instead of taking money from my account to buy them. I-I just really care about you, and I think it would be a good way to give you some independence. I really love you, Rogue, and I think this would be good for you…”

Progue wasn’t really paying attention to what his dad was saying and shoved past him, rushing out the door. “Can’t talk, dragon dad, I gotta go impress Sting!” he called out, while rushing out the door. With a shake of his head, Skiadrum closed the door behind Rogue. “Ah, Sting… of course.”

Progue rushed through the streets, ignoring the incoming traffic and jumping over the cars. He was on track to get to school when he suddenly crashed into another person. Two in one day, how unlucky. This time, Rogue was rather surprised to see a face he had only seen once before, a face he could never forget. That really cute transfer, (Y/N). “O-oh, hi (Y/N), sorry, I didn’t mean to bump into you…”

(Y/N) shakes their head and gives a friendly smile, “It’s no problem, Rogue, it was my fault too… good luck for the debate today, I hope you win…”

Rogue blushed INTENSELY and merely responded, “Thanks…” before running off. He heard (Y/N) cheer behind him, “GO TEAM STINGUE”. He couldn’t quite hear how she pronounced ‘Stingue’, but he assumed it was similar to how it was spelled. Then he heard (Y/N) call out to him,

“ROGUE! YOU FORGOT YOUR TOAST!”

But it was too late, Rogue was already too far away by now. School mattered more than breakfast anyway. He kept on running and running, almost bumping into several more people but thankfully avoiding them. Eventually, he got there, and with a glance at the time, he smiled, 7:00 am. He was on schedule and still had 4 hours before the debate started. Close call.

Chapter Text

Rogue began pacing over the front entrance of the school, thinking and worrying about what might come out of this debate. On one hand, they could end up married after this, on the other hand? Sting might never want to speak to him again because of how poorly prepared Rogue was for this. These thoughts swirled through his head like 2 hamsters trying to run around on the same wheel. This lasted a total of 4 hours, where his thoughts moved to his newest worry: that Sting hated Rogue so much that he decided not to show up. There were now holes burnt into the carpet from how extreme he had been pacing.

It seemed as though perpetual motion had finally been achieved until Rogue’s pacing was interrupted by Yukino, who stood in front of him, “Hi Rogue! Good luck with the debate today! I’m sure you’ll do great.”

“Oh, Hi Yukino, thanks…” he responded, blushing, compliments were still something unfamiliar to him enough that he blushed no matter who said them.

“You know, my boyfriend and I sorta debate quite a bit, like who loves the other more, whose the better kisser, who gives the best-“

Yukino's dull, boring, uninteresting ramblings were interrupted by the door slamming open, and Sting, in ALL HIS GLORY, stepped into the foyer.

“…cuddles.” Yukino irrelevantly finished before looking at a text message on her phone.

Before him lay what looked like the embodiment of pure, unadulterated beauty. His hair was messy and disheveled in just the perfect way that highlighted his humbleness and modesty; his face was just perfect, like he had just woken up like that. If Rogue could wake up next to a face as absolutely handsome as Sting's for the rest of his life, he’d always wake up on time, and he’d get out of bed excited. The suit he had chosen to adorn was perfect, just small enough that it really hugged against his chest, like Rogue wishes he could.

As his gaze kept going down, he was met with a surprise… Sting had made the BOLD and DARING fashion choice of not wearing any trousers… the way his heart boxers looked on his-

“Uhh, sting? Why aren’t you wearing any trousers?” Yukino asked, interrupting Rogue’s inner monologue so very rudely.

Sting's eyes widened and then dropped to his lower half, “O- Oh, crap, I- I- I must’ve forgot them… this is what my nightmares warned me about…” he looked to Rogue and quickly looked away, cheeks going red. Rogue did the same out of respect for Sting’s awesomeness, even if he did take a little peek around that area when he was sure Sting wasn't looking. “L- Let's just head backstage and prepare…”

And so they headed onwards to the hall. Rogue needed Yukino to keep him up because he could barely walk at this point; Sting's underwear had that effect on him. Eventually, though, they made it backstage without injury. Sting seemed somewhat concerned and decided to ask, “Hey, are you alright? Your eyes seem a bit…”

“Fine! F- fine! It’s just… just… an eye infection! Yes, very bad…”

Sting pondered for a moment, then pointed in the air like he had an idea. He pulled a piece of cloth aside and wrapped it around Rogue’s head, rendering him unable to see at all. Sting was so smart, such a problem solver. Why hadn't Rogue thought of that sooner?

“Ah…. Thanks, sting…”

Sting presumably gave Rogue a thumbs-up, but he couldn’t really tell.

“Alright, I’m going to head onto the stage for the debate now, wish me luck…”

Rogue let out a little nyah as he heard sting leave, he almost wanted to reach out to keep him here with him to reassure him, but he knew that undoubtedly, he would probably accidentally end up grabbing a random woman’s boob, it was a very common issue in Fiore so people had to be extra careful when blindfolded and reaching out for things.

Sting sauntered onto the stage in his suit and underwear, ignoring the audience's reactions and moving straight to the lectern. Opposite him stood the princess of Fiore, Princess Hisui E. Fiore. The principal decided to ignore Sting's state of undress and spoke. “Alright, everyone! Thank you all for showing up today for the debate for the position of Student President for class 2A. Due to alphabetical order, we’ll let Hisui begin with her opening statement. Hisui, please take it away.”

Hisui nodded, holding several sheets of paper. She stepped forward and began to speak. “This school is in an absolute state of ruin, and if I become the president, I will make sure that it can become what it's reputation implies it should be. We have serious issues relating to students covering school equipment with their saliva, ex-partners arguing when they should be teaching, pregnancy podcasts in school grounds, and LIVE DEMONSTRATIONS ALMOST OCCURRING IN SEX ED. This needs to stop, and if you vote for me as student president, I will change that. I deeply respect my opponent and think he could be perfectly qualified for this position too… mostly,” she briefly glances at his underwear.

“But I believe that if you want to guarantee change, you should vote for me. My father does run this country after all.”

Lacarde storms out of the room, really annoyed at this attempt to cancel him. The podcast would hear about this. The principal cleared their throat, then narrowed their eyes with contempt. “Thank you, Princess Hisui, and now… sting… let's hear your opening statement.” Many bad memories of stings and troublemaking flashed through the principal's mind at just the sight of his name.

Looking out onto the stage, Sting knew he had their full support, all eyes were on him, probably not because of him not wearing any trousers, just because he’s that cool. He opens his mouth to begin talking, when from the back a voice chants.

“S T I N G, HE’S THE PRESIDENT FOR ME, S T I N G, HE’S THE BEST AND NOW YOU’LL SEE!”

In the back of the hall, Bickslow stood wearing a cheerleader's outfit, dancing around with pompoms and repeating his chant. Clearly, Sting had already secured his vote. Not far from Bickslow were the rest of the harem watching him proudly. Surely, after this effort, nobody could outdo him. Sting was filled with determination.

Yet again, he opened his mouth and…

“Hello everyone, glad to see you’re all here,” he looks at Professor Strauss and gives him the finger guns, “Big S, glad to see you’re here to support me.”

Professor Strauss averted their gaze from Sting. Sting ignored this and continued his opening statement.

“In our current state of rulership, this school is an authoritarian capitalist dystopia. The Marxist members of staff in this establishment force us to sit still and work and work and work our butts off when we could all be out there doing things that actually benefit us in the future, like playing Dragon Ball! Anyway, with me as the president of this universe, you millennial leftists who never lived one DAY under draconic threat can now reflect upon your woke sky. Hisui here made quite the non-binary fuss to save the school from intercontinental non-issues, but I’m here to make the real changes. Vote for me and I’ll OVERTHROW THE SYSTEM! NO MORE HOMEWORK! NO MORE SCHOOL WORK! NO MORE LEARNING!” Sting pumped his fist in the air; despite not wearing any trousers, he really got (like 3 members of) the crowd going.

Rogue felt as though his ears had been blessed by the gods to hear divine scripture being written as it was being thought of. He would set this as his ringtone on his flipfiorne, it was just so inspirational. He took off the cloth and watched with a sparkle in his eye. Looking over at Yukino, he asked, “D- did you hear what Sting just said? He’s so cool…”

“Yeah, pretty cool…” Yukino muttered, looking at her phone the whole time. It seemed she hadn’t been paying attention, but it was fine since Rogue was.

The principal cleared her throat and spoke out, “Alright, thank you, Sting, for that… productive opening statement. Now that we’re done with that part, let's move on to the first topic of discussion! With the times we are in right now, how can the school earn more money for its budget? Eucliffe, you may start first this time.”

Walking away from his lectern, Sting moved to the front of the stage, prying the principal's microphone from her hand. He opened his mouth again and-

“S T I N G, HE’S THE PRESIDENT FOR ME, S T I N G, HE’S THE BEST AND NOW YOU’LL SEE!”

He looked over to see not just Bickslow chanting it, but Lacarde as well… shirtless, with a crude drawing of Sting's face painted across his chest, where Lacarde’s nipples were meant to be Sting’s eyes. It looked very bizarre, but Sting ignored them and continued.

“We’ve been looking at this problem all wrong, you see, school finances are just like an important match of Dragon Ball. The ball in this scenario is the school's earnings, the goals are…” he struggles to think of something to fit this analogy, but quickly comes up with something, “More money! We need to get the money, to more money, then we don’t have financial issues, those issues being the dragon. If you look at it like this, if you vote for me, it would be like Christiano dragonaldo carrying the ball to victory, that would be our school. If you voted for hisui and she won, it would be like if natsu was the one with the ball, carrying it straight to failure and a lost match.”

Hisui was frantic and outraged after hearing Sting's analogy. The crowd seemed to have liked it quite a lot. She quickly flipped through her notes, throwing away the page that said ‘Dragon ball analogy’ on it. She didn’t have very long to come up with her own point, when she was about to speak, Sting’s cheerleading squad piped up again.

“H I S U I, WORSE THAN STING FOR YOU AND I, H I S U I, SHE’S SO BAD I WANT TO DIE!”

she managed to spit out when it was her turn and the cheerleading squad calmed down, “W- we’ll ask our parents for money… that works for me…”

“BOOOOOOOO,” a very determined sting jeered, giving a thumbs down to Hisui. It takes a moment to regain his composure, but when he does, he presses a button which makes a pre-recorded “OBJECTION!” sound in Sting’s voice. Hisui really wishes Erik wasn’t too busy to show up for this…

Sting gave his rebuttal, “Typical liberals like you don’t understand the socio-economic tariffs that plague our monarcho-capitalistic society, which result in plenty of fundamental losses in the market due to a lack of parents to provide the necessary funding to do this. And by the way.” Sting confusingly ended the point.

“And by the way…” Hisui responded, urging him to continue.

“You heard me.” Sting barked back. Sting 2. Hisui: 1.

“Alright… that’s time up for the first topic, let's get started on the next! Let's see here… How do you, as a candidate for the Class president of this school year, plan to make the school a better place? As we had Sting starting last time, let's have Hisui begin with her point.”

Now she was a little motivated. This was Hisui's time to shine. She lost the first round, but the second round was where all the great Fiore's won. Her great-great-grandmother won a war by doing the daring maneuver of going double or nothing with the opposition, that great great grandmother's grandfather managed to kill a dragon on his second attempt, and hisui would win this debate starting on the second round…

“Well, I certainly believe that if we want to improve this school and make it more approachable and friendly to others, it is by funding the arts program. Arts are a fundamental part of learning, and frankly, the Dragon Slaying Academy could be a lot better when it comes to teaching them. For dragon's sake, there hasn’t been a SINGLE chapter even mentioning one of the arts besides through after-school clubs.”

Rogue was furious listening to this; he wanted to rush on all fours and knock her out cold for trying to oppose Sting like this. The audacity of her to even try to stop him was disgusting. Sting started speaking, and Rogue’s attention was immediately drawn to him, all anger leaving his body.

“Let’s see, if I wanted to improve this school, I… would have coffee machines built into every classroom, yes, all the students and teachers would have all the energy to learn to play Dragon Ball, and the school would be way better. Isn’t that right, Professor Strauss?” Sting gave Professor Strauss the finger guns, and purely because of Sting’s sheer charisma, Professor Strauss was beaming up at him, giving him the finger guns in return. Letting Sting compete in this might have been the professor’s best decision, and Sting had another vote now.

“OBJECTION!” The pre-recorded audio of hisui saying objection played. She slammed her hands down on the desk and shouted, “Coffee machines AREN’T a good idea, actually, because think of how much that would cost.” She then took out an empty pamphlet of paper and tapped at it like it had important science in it, “AS WELL as the fatigue that would come after consuming so much coffee.” Another pre-recorded audio played her saying, “TAKE THAT!”

• Dead even. 2-2. The next round would evidently be the decider.

“Alright, everyone, settle down, it’s time for the final round of the debate. The topic for this is… why should you be president? Hisui, you may start this one.”

With a clear throat, she began her speech. It was long, beautiful, logical, her voice was so soothing that half of the auditorium was asleep by the end of it. The other half had left because it was just so good. Sting would truly need to step up his game if he wanted to outdo this.

“Alright everyone, enough of that SNOOZEFEST from liberal hisui over there, time for some real action.” Sting takes the microphone and shoves the principal away, “I would be an amazing president, and it’s really clear to see, do you truly want hisui here ruling over you? Her dad already runs the country; why should we let her rule the school? When her pop pop keels over, she’s going to rule the country anyway. Sting Eucliffe is the guy you want. Anything you want from the school? I got you, coffee machines, six packs, and six packs.”

Hisui immediately clapped back without mercy, “Giving school students beer is incredibly responsible! A bunch of students getting drunk during lessons will only end in catastrophe. If you vote for me, I, Hisui of Fiore, will HAVE STING EUCLIFFE EXPELLED!”

Rogue was SEETHING with rage. Nobody can just get rid of sting, it’s inhumane. He wanted to strangle Hisui so much right now, but right before he ran onto the stage, a hand gently touched his shoulder, completely holding back. The voice behind him spoke.

“Hi Rogue! How’s the debate going? I was just gone because Cobra managed to get lost without telling me where he was, I-I mean Erik, sorry…”

“Oh, hey Lucy…” he said with a slight blush. She was a good friend, really grounding him. “yeah, it’s pretty close… I think Sting's winning, though.”

Lucy smiled slightly, “Oh, well, I think you’ll be a great VP, so that’s good… good luck for later.” She says, before walking off. Later? What was later? Rogue decided to ignore that. The debate was intense; it seemed like it would never come to an end at this rate, but Sting’s charisma made him the obvious candidate in Rogue’s eyes. It was then that Sting made the ultimate gambit.

“Alright, that’s enough out of you, why I ought to…” he rolled his sleeves up and cracked his knuckles, “Give you a knuckle sandwich, of facts and logic!” before storming towards Hisui and throwing a punch at her. Unfortunately, Rogue was unable to see what happened next, for an inconvenient cloud of dust appeared around them as they stumbled around the stage. Whatever happened, Sting came out worse, being thrown backstage, as Hisui brushed the dust off her outfit and walked off stage. Rogue quickly made his way to check on Sting and make sure he was okay.

The principal went back on stage and took the microphone back from wherever it landed on the floor. “Alright, that was… quite an eventful debate, as usual. Votes will be starting from tomorrow. May the best candidate win!” Rogue was just about to help Sting up when the principal spoke again, “And now it’s time for the VP debate, let's have the 2 VP candidates brought up to the stage now, that’s…” she looked at her page, “Roger Cheney and Lucky Heartfilia, come on up!”

HUUUH?!?!?! Surprise, shock, fear, flusteredness, and any other emotion beginning with S or F surged through his body as he heard his name. He had prepared things for Sting but he was so focused on Sting and the potential marriage to come out of this whole debacle. Reluctantly, he made his way up onto the stage and took his place at the lectern. Lucy did the same. Both were very flustered, and frankly, the principal was relieved, knowing that this wouldn’t be nearly as intense as the previous debate.

“Alright, after that, how about we start with you, rogue. Why do you think you and Sting should be the VP?”

“Well… well… I- I really like sting… I think he’d do a good job… it would really make me happy if he managed to get this, and I want him to be happy with me…”

Lucy let out a little “aww” in adoration, then, blushing, began to respond, “W-well… I think… Rogue makes a really good point… if he’s going to be happy if Sting’s president then… let Sting be president… right?”

The principal crossed her arms and pinched the bridge of her nose; somehow, this would be an even worse debate than the previous one.

Rogue nods, “Yeah… and… if Sting becomes president, maybe I could finally read books about dragons during assembly to teach the students…”

Lucy’s eyes sparkled with excitement at the idea, “I’d love that… we should make Sting president… like, right now… I think Sting should be president because… with Rogue’s help, they could really make the school a better place!”

The remainder of the hall fell asleep, and even Sting’s cheerleading squad had left. STING had even gotten bored with all the agreeing and left to go get a celebratory drink, but Rogue thought he was doing well, and that’s what matters.

Suddenly, Frosch ran onto the stage and hopped onto the lectern and into Rogue’s arms, “You’re doing so well, Rogue-meister!”

He was on a roll right now. Rogue was unstoppable in this debate, he was like a stoppable force versus a slowly moving object. He just had to keep this up, and Sting would marry him. “I… I think that Sting could make this school way better, and if hisui gets rid of him, it would mean… it would mean…” he didn’t think far enough into the sentence, so he just said what came to his mind, “I-I would cry a lot… nyah… and be sad...”

Lucy fell to her knees and begged the principal, tears in her eyes. “Please! Please don’t make hisui president! We can’t get rid of the sting from the school!”

The principal let out a resigned sigh and walked on stage. The debate continued for the next 3 hours, to an audience of none.

Chapter Text

“It was so intense, I-I didn’t think I’d be able to survive, but I used all my courage to make sting proud, and debated my heart out, I got so worked up and angry over it, but I think I won…” Rogue explained to his future self, “Then whenever I went to see how sting felt about my performance, he was singing with all the others, and I’m pretty sure he called me his sweet Caroline! Whatever that means…”

Frogue’s cat ears perked up, letting out a little squeal, “Aaagh!!!! I think he likes you! You did so well…”

​

The two of them glanced aside and blushed; the only sound filling the room was the rather loud purring that seemed to be coming from Frogue. Fresh entered the room, feeling sleepy and wanting to sleep on someone's lap, they looked to the two Rogues. Who was Fresh supposed to choose? their owner or, well, their other owner? Frogue picked up on this in his moment of glancing aside and looked to Progue, “I have something I need to tell you, but first, we should probably sit a bit closer so Fresh can sit on both our laps at once…”

Progue blushed so intensely at this, he looked to fresh, then to Frogue, then to Fresh, then to Frogue. In his flustered mess of a mood, he just curled up into a ball on his seat and didn’t say anything. He wasn't ready to sit so close to Frogue; it was so close and intimate, no, that closeness was reserved for if Sting maybe somehow wanted to marry him. Frogue took this chance and placed fresh on his lap anyway, “Well, if you’re sure… Anyway, what I wanted to talk with you about, you know how I talked with you about maybe teaching you about being an ASMRtist…”

A loud crash was heard throughout the room as Progue fell off his chair in shock.

“Great!” Frogue, in his strength of being part catboy part vampire, easily lifted Progue back onto his seat, before promptly taking out a laptop Progue was completely unaware of. The question lingered in the back of Rogue's mind: what sort of pictures and files did he have stored there?

“This is the ASMR section of Dragontube, where all good ASMRtists upload their public content…” Frogue clicked a few buttons, moving to his profile. “And this is my channel… Frog ASMR, short for Frogue ASMR. It’s not very popular yet since it's new, I only have 1 subscriber, but my videos still get lots of views and comments from them, so I’m happy for them… How about I show you some of the videos?”

Progue nodded excitedly, though nervous at how his mental state might be affected by it as a result. Progue scrolled through the videos that were released so far. His most popular video was “[ASMR ROLEPLAY] Your catboyfriend from the future comes back in time to save you [M4M]” With 30 views. He scrolled on past that one, “It’s an art form, you know, all of these are based on personal experiences… well, maybe some of them were just dreams, but that counts too.”

The mouse stops on a particular video and plays it. The title of said video was enough to fluster Progue, “[ASMR ROLEPLAY] Your adopted catboy falls in a cardboard box and can’t get out [M4M] [PURRING] [EMOTIONAL]” Thankfully, it was a short 5-minute video.

A soothing voice faded in from the low-quality laptop speaker that serenaded Progue’s ears, a quiet, soft voice, “Today I get to stay at home all day, so I wonder what I’m going to- (Gasp) whoa, is that a box? It’s so big… Maybe my brother got some new books I could read..." the speaker let out little grunts of concentration that left Progue swooning. It was so masterfully done, the dialogue was amazing, the voice was stunning, then, a tactful pause left the room in silence, before a slightly high-pitched, muffled voice called, “Daaaaaad…” followed by the sound of claws scratching against cardboard. Absolute cinema. The rest of the story followed this poor catboy character trying their best to get out of the evil cardboard box, getting so close to getting out, only to tip it over and end up trapped with the box on top of him instead of how it was. This tragic tale ends with the protagonist beginning to purr, as they get used to their prison and find comfort in its isolation.

Progue was nearly in tears by the end of it. Frogue put a reassuring arm around his past self, “It’s okay, it isn’t real… don’t worry…” Frogue let go to avoid getting flustered; he’s meant to be the professional teacher here, getting flustered simply wouldn’t do. With a clear of his throat, he closed out of the video, “Sadly, the industry isn’t all catboys and rainbows… It’s a cruel industry where the famous get all the views… here’s my number one rival…” Progue let out a gasp, and with unexpected speed, Frogue typed the name of the rival into the search bar and clicked on the first result.

“Scarlet ASMR…” he hisses, “She has 1 million subs and lots of viewers…” scrolling through the videos, Progue could see why she was popular, ‘[ASMR ROLEPLAY] Your sexy maid berates you for failing your exams [F4A]’, ‘[ASMR ROLEPLAY] A Barista flirts with you for tips [F4A]’, ‘[ASMR ROLEPLAY] MILF Step-mom refuses to pay child support [F4A]’, ‘[ASMR ROLEPLAY] Your girlfriend reads dragon lore to help you sleep [F4A]’ . It really seemed she covered everything, maybe Frogue also did one about reading dragon lore to him, that would be nice…

“Anyway…” Frogue said, continuing, “Now that you understand the industry, lets get to the best part, recording the ASMR itself. I have a list of ideas here, and I’ll choose the one I think is best suited for you. Who knows, maybe if you become as good as me at this, we could open a Patragon account and make real money from this! Now, let's see what ideas we have…” Frogue took out a comically large whiteboard, holding it out before him and looking at the ideas from an angle that meant Progue couldn’t see what it said.

“Here! Perfect! Nyah!” Frogue exclaimed, before taking out a microphone and setting it before Progue. Before he knew it, he was already being recorded. Stuttering into the mic, he glanced at the idea underlined… ‘[ASMR ROLEPLAY] Your human boyfriend gives you an ear inspection while you drive [M4A][NEKO LISTENER][Ear Licking]’

Progue was clueless; he didn’t know what to do, he didn’t like being put on the spot like this, it made him blush and nyah. He needed guidance here, and guidance he got, as Frogue began to make surprisingly realistic traffic sounds with his mouth. Wasn't Progue meant to get a script or something for this? Was this all freestyle? No, a real professional would have to make the ASMR themself, like Frogue. Progue began to speak his mind, “U-um, hello, my wonderful sti- boyfri- romantic relationship haver… This car sure is nice… Oh, oh no, your ear, you have a little something in your ear… let me just take off my seatbelt and lean over and…” This was too embarrassing, but too invigorating; the shock and uniqueness of the situation left him feeling exhilarated. Is this what adrenaline felt like? Rogue didn't know a thing about sports, but he was pretty sure any professional would consider this an extreme sport. He leaned closer to the mic and-

BONK!

It was too much for him; he fainted and headbutted the mic, falling very unconscious.

“P- progue? Are you okay? I- I got good news…”

Opening his eyes, he saw a familiar face, his own, but cooler, and from a different future. He rubbed his head and sat up. “Nyow… what is it?”

“Well… I uploaded your recording and… it got 2 views! Look at the comment they left…”

The comment was amazing… all of Progue’s worries about it being received poorly blew away as he read the comment. 'Slept so quickly to this that I had 2 wake up and listen to it again. Great vid’ from a mysterious user named ‘StingDaMan5’

Progue shot to his feet, and the adrenaline got to him again, immediately collapsing onto the bed and falling asleep, but at least he fell asleep happy.

Meanwhile, Sting Eucliffe lay in his bed, sleeping like a rock as he listened to his favourite underrated ASMR channel’s newest video on loop.

Chapter Text

If Agent Cobra didn’t complete this mission successfully, he would surely be a complete failure as an agent. He had been through his most gruelling mission so far, comparable to none… His area of infiltration? A school. His goal? To obtain the ultimate dragon tome for his king. All was mostly fine until he received new intel… the king has fallen ill and is thought to be close to death, so Cobra had to finish this mission quickly. Fortunately, he had the perfect opportunity today, the day of the school's presidential debate. No Hisui. No students. No distractions (Fingers crossed). He had a clear plan of action in mind.

1. Escape the hall unnoticed
2. Locate and arrive at the principal's office
3. Obtain the ultimate dragon tome
4. Escape unnoticed and wait for the other agent to collect the tome

These 4 steps were well within Agent Cobra's capabilities, which was perfect, as this mission needed to be done flawlessly.

Currently, Agent Cobra was backstage with Hisui, she was practising her lines and argument, something about Dragon Ball and Christiano dragonaldo, some political nonsense he didn’t bother to learn about. After all, Agent Cobra didn’t do his missions because of his country or beliefs; he did them because they were his job. Quickly, he began looking for an escape route, a way to get out of the hall and through the rest of the school. Then it came to him, he had brought just the contraption necessary to act as the perfect decoy… that his current budget could afford. This technology was a state-of-the-art, cheap, ergonomic pillow with a budget-friendly printing of Agent Cobra's body sensually attached to it. With the grace of a snake and the speed of a different snake, he made the swap, getting up from his seat and putting the body pillow in place. He slipped out the door unnoticed, step one of the mission, success.

Now in the school corridors, Agent Cobra carefully snuck through the school, being careful to avoid any suspicion or chances of being caught, by walking flat along the walls. Nobody noticed him, pretty sure. He roamed through the halls carefully. He could tell there was nobody he could sense nearby because he couldn’t read any of their minds, so he kept walking, still along the side wall just to be safe. Moments later, he came to an important realisation… he had no idea where he was going. AGAIN. Was this the end of Agent Cobra? Was this the one mission he would fail? Would the King of Fiore die sad because Agent Cobra was unable to complete his mission? Maybe the lieutenant was right in saying that Erik would never amount to anything…

But then, his snake, his one true companion, his best friend, coiled reassuringly around the Agent's neck. A negative emotion suppression technique that the two had learnt about back when they were training in the academy for situations that required high emotional strength. Cobra took one deep breath, then another, slowly letting the sad feelings leave him. A spy that couldn’t complete a mission with emotional integrity was-

“Cobra! Fancy seeing you here! I-I was just passing by and I saw you in the corridor, so I thought I’d say hi… how's your mission going? Have you got the ultimate dragon tome from the principal's office?”

“Shhhh, that’s classified. Must you resort to such dirty tactics in the field?” Agent Cobra had used a special technique in his arsenal known as instant composure, where, in half a second, he could go from a negative emotional state to one of complete composure using a special type of breathing, preventing any suspicion from being aroused. “I… may have struggled to triangulate the location of the principal's office… I was just about to find it, but then you interrupted my train of thought.”

“Oh… I’m so sorry. Well, how about as an apology, I bring you to the principal's office? Come on!” She hugs one of his arms and begins to pull him in the direction of the principal's office, another deadly maneuver from Heartfilia, leaving Agent Cobra with no escape routes.

Within minutes, they had arrived outside the principal's office. Carefully, Agent Cobra grasped the door handle, jiggling it a bit, before trying to open the door. Curses, the door was locked, and there was no sign of a key in the vicinity, it seemed that the principal had tactfully decided to keep the key with them when going to the debate… what solutions did they have here? Breaking a window? It would be incredibly loud and would likely alert security or another student… maybe they could find another entrance? No, of course not, it was an office, what office had 2 doors going into it?

“Got it!” Lucy exclaimed, opening the office door after picking the lock. Cobra's jaw dropped. She was clearly an expert in the field; he hadn’t even heard her doing it amidst his train of thought.

“How- how did you know to-“

“Oh, I uhh... well, there was this guy I... never mind!” She brushed off whatever had just happened, simply grinning. “Come on! Let's go!”

The two headed into the office, and Agent Cobra immediately began searching, but to no avail. Luckily, his trusty partner came to the rescue, his snake, who hissed in the direction of a locked drawer behind the desk. Of course, it only made sense that the principal would put something so important behind lock and key. He looked to Lucy, hoping she’d do her thing.

“I… only had one hair clip.”

Agent Cobra frowns, but his determination is unwavering. He quickly pokes around in his backpack and soon finds just what he needed, his box of hair clips, perfect for situations like these. He carefully took one out and used his own expert skills to easily open the lock on the drawer, pulling it out. He should have thought to use this earlier, it was too perfect an option.

“There it is… the ultimate dragon tome hard copy…” He takes out the tome carefully and slots it into his backpack. “Great, now let's get out of here before- “

Footsteps could be heard approaching the office as the voice of the principal was heard saying, “Ugh… what a waste of time…”

Quickly thinking, Agent Cobra looked to Lucy, keeping his composure. He quickly and quietly shut the drawer, and the idea instantly came to him. He grabbed hold of Lucy by the arm, thankfully missing the boobs (it happens more often than one might think), before pulling her into the cabinet and shutting the door behind them just as the principal entered…

They could be in big trouble, but thankfully, Agent Cobra had been trained to remain extremely quiet, back in the academy, of course. He was also used to being in cramped spaces with others, which was a major part of his training. It seemed the same couldn’t be said for Lucy Heartfilia, who appeared to be hyperventilating and… whimpering? Thinking on his feet, Agent Cobra pulled her into one of the most useful holds in the academy, pulling her up against him and covering up her mouth, his other hand wrapped around her waist to keep her close against him, preventing any sneakattacks she may attempt. His snake let out a quiet hiss of approval, though Agent Cobra saw something different in her eyes; she looked like she had just watched him dropkick her snake across the building. It was almost… disarming? Agent Cobra snapped out of it immediately; he wouldn’t fall for such tricks of an enemy spy. He kept hold of her and paid attention to what the principal was doing instead.

“So glad to be getting this break from all the debating…” The principal moved to their desk and sat down, pulling open the drawer and… their mood dropped even further… “…I know exactly who did this…”  Her eyes narrowed, and she briefly looked to the cabinet and shook her head. Lucy calmed down slightly at that after tensing up. The principal shot out of their seat and stormed out the door, “LACARDE!!!!” slamming the door behind them.

The two promptly left the cabinet, letting out a sigh of relief. Lucy was panting, catching her breath, probably from fear and the intensity of it. "Did I just hit second base..." she asked herself as she steadied herself against the desk.

 It was clear that she wasn’t the perfect rogue agent, it seemed… then she turned to him and grinned. “Say… since we have a bit of free time, how about we see what's inside the dragon tome anyway… I’ve always been curious.”

“I- No- We shouldn’t…” Though, despite it all… Agent Cobra was feeling like trying something different for a change and reluctantly says, “Sure… we should probably be quick though, the king will need this soon.” He made sure to phrase it in a way that he didn’t give away the fact that the king was near death. Reaching into his bag, he carefully set the book on the principal's desk and flicked open to a random page.

Lucy began reading: “'Woohoo! Go Saber Tooth Tigers! Nya! I- I mean meow…’ he said, blushing as he sat back down on his seat. Sting reached over and patted Rogue’s back.” She raised an eyebrow, but completely understood the point of the mission now. “This dialogue is so good, and... Rogue and Sting? Why are they…” she shrugs and brushes it off as a coincidence of names. She flicks to another chapter.

“Sting’s laughter was beautiful, like a choir of heavenly dragons had descended from heaven, singing praise for all of Rogue’s efforts. He sat up and rubbed his eyes, Sting still giggling away next to him.” This was getting bizarre. She tried one last page as Agent Cobra watched on with a concentrated gaze on the contents. Her eyes went wide as she read out the next part, “5 minutes later, there stood Rogue in his maid dress, humiliated, tired, and a little bit excited. He began to serve as best as he could.” Her excited reading was interrupted as Agent Cobra slammed the book shut. Lucy knew what she was dreaming about tonight...

“That’s enough, we should probably get out of here now so I can leave this with my employer…” he picks up the book, hesitating slightly as Lucy lets out a little disappointed noise. Agent Cobra looks to his trusted companion, who simply nods to him, reassuring him that it was the right decision. They didn’t take their time in leaving the Office and headed towards the school's exit. Then Lucy gasped.

“The VP debate! I- I haven’t planned any arguments. I need to get there in time or Rogue will be disappointed! Sorry Erik, Bye Erik!!!!” She said, rushing away. Agent Cobra let out a sigh of relief. “Mission complete…”

That evening, the king of Fiore sat in his bed, coughing as he opened his ultimate dragon tome, “Ah… finally… now I can authentically read the Romance in Dragon Slaying Academy… I’ll be able to die in peace.” He says, flipping open the book, flicking it open to the part he had left off on. “Accidentally donating this to the academy was the worst mistake of my life… now, where was I…”

He flicked through the pages, chuckling as he skimmed past certain jokes, before stopping at Chapter 24 and grinning, “Ah… that means that I’ll soon be onto chapter 25: A new season…”

Chapter Text

It was expected that today would be an ordinary day of school in the month of June for the Dragon Slaying Academy, but when all the students were called to the assembly hall for a special assembly, everyone was worried. They poured into the hall and took their seats. The saber tooth club members (with the exception of Yukino, who seemed to be absent for some reason) sat up in the front row, with Rogue sneakily asking Sting if he could sit beside him, to which he accepted. All of them regretted their choices when they saw what was plastered on the wall up front. In big, rainbow letters were the words GAY, and next to it was the word MEN in camouflage textured letters. Sting appeared to be unbothered.

“Gay? Why does it say gay on the wall?”

“Stingggg…. It says gay MEN… not just gay,” Minerva slurred, her voice barely understandable from all the alcohol she had consumed. In response, Sting rolled his eyes, “Yeah, you're seeing things, it's just the alcohol.”

Rogue, daring to pipe up, tried to speak, “Sting she’s righ-“

“Oh god, Lacarde looks like he just got a man pregnant…” Sting moved protectively in front of Rogue so neither would see each other. Lacarde simply looked over at them and did a teasing growl with an animalistic hand gesture. Sting looked furious and growled back aggressively. He didn’t like Lacarde one bit after the podcast, the maid café incident, and the biology classes, which was honestly understandable. Rogue didn’t try to stop him; he was flattered, flustered, and a secret third thing.

The growling match ended when the principal stepped onto the stage, wearing a tiny pin that was pink, white, blue, and black, not in that order. “Alright, everyone… as it is June, we have come to the decision that a Pride assembly is necessary. It is with great disappointment that I must announce our notably gay substitute teacher Dobengal, has unfortunately taken a 2-week-long holiday from being the substitute teacher so he could join a local group to do a pride parade across the entire coast of Fiore… It’s safe to say we won’t see him for the next few months after that.” She let out a sigh and continued explaining, the lack of enthusiasm in her tone was apparent, “So we had to get the next best thing… the very generous, very famous, Lacarde, has offered to take the assembly for us. Please welcome, Mr Dragneel, the janitor, to the stage.” The principal sprinted off stage and out of the hall for reasons Rogue didn’t want to know about but knew he’d have to experience soon enough.

Lacarde shot up from his seat enthusiastically and trotted onto the stage, “Hello, everyone! Thank you for having me! The principal wasn’t quite right about one thing, though, which you might have realised. This isn’t just a Pride month assembly, it’s also an assembly for Men's Mental Health Month! Now, all the single and ready to mingle men in the hall, put your hands in the air like you just don’t care!!”

Sting, despite his hatred for Lacarde, couldn’t resist putting his hand up when he was a part of something; he liked putting his hands in the air. Rogue followed suit, and so did quite a lot of the hall.

Lacarde let out a cheer, “You go, guys! You're doing the Lord's work here. Everyone else in the hall, give a round of applause for our yet to be impregnated soldiers here, they deserve it!”

A quiet, reluctant applause ensued as the people with their hands up, slowly took them down, not wanting to be impregnated by Lacarde. Well, except for one hand in the back, but that didn't matter. After the applause died even further down, Lacarde pulled over a plastic chair and sat down on it backwards, taking a microphone in hand, his voice lowering to something more serious, “Alright, for all the gay people, gay boys, and yet-to-be gay boys, I have a story for you… let's quiet down, because this is a serious story, one of something I have never talked about on my podcast before (Lacardecast on Dragontube by the way), it’s one of… my very own past…”

Rogue was actually rather curious about this himself; most people didn’t truly know anything about Lacarde besides the podcast, the fascination with male pregnancy, and the allegations, so this would be interesting, surely…

“I… was a much different boy when I was younger, I had yet to dye my hair blonde, and I hadn’t earned my impregnable confidence… I was…” A tear welled up in his eye as he took a pregnant pause. After the pregnant pause, he spoke very quietly into the microphone, “A nerd… I had only a small friend group, I had a weird fascination with certain reptiles…  and I had my first crush… Yuri Dreyar… he was so tall, strong and blonde… he loved sports too…” he cleared his throat to get his emotions in check, “Anyway, there was only one man who I could trust… the schools janitor… He was the one who introduced me to male pregnancy through his column in the school paper about his experiences with it. It was him that I learnt everything I knew, and he was the one who changed my life… if this assembly is dedicated to anyone, it’s to him!” he stood up, crying as he cheered for his old janitor, “If you can find someone in your school whose like that, you should let him be your mentor, and maybe… just maybe, you’ll end up like me…”

Rogue was traumatised.

Was he going to end up like Lacarde?

He worried a lot… Sting looked at him, almost worried for him. Mentally, he made a vow that day.

“Now… now that the emotional part is over, it’s time for something more fun, to keep you all engaged… the poor janitor Lacarde’s sob stories wouldn’t interest you. So I prepared something special for today… a dance. But I need 2 volunteers… I know just who I’m picking.”

Rogue let out a whimper as Lacarde’s pointed finger made its way towards him and Sting.

“You two! My favourite students and podcast fans! Oh, and Sting. Come on up to the stage! Don’t be shy, it’s easy, you’re going to learn how to do the big gay dance! Isn’t that fun?”

The two reluctantly made their way onto the stage and stood next to Lacarde. Sting stood between rogue and Lacarde, for both of their sakes. They were slipped 2 sheets of paper, each with 20 fiorebucks clipped on. Rogue wasn’t gay (he was bi), but 20 fiorebucks was 20 fiorebucks. He looked through the different actions; they were generally simple, it was fine, this was all going to be over soon enough…

The music began to play while Sting, Lacarde, and Rogue began to dance along to the music, but Rogue didn’t care at all about the music played; he only truly cared about how Sting’s body looked while he danced… he moved with such a unique grace, like an angel falling out of the sky and into his arms. Nobody else was in the room, just the two of them, that’s how Rogue felt…

By the end of the song, the 3 were left panting, trying to catch their breath. Lacarde rose to his feet again and bowed, “Now that we have the first part of the dance done, let's get started with the second part…”

Second… part…

A second piece of paper was slipped into his hand, and he looked it up and down… these were just positions for 3-way makeout sessions…

“Alright! Let's begin, I’ll lead…” Before the two protagonists could react, Lacarde had a hand on both of their heads, slowly pulling them in as the music flared, pulling them in for a bizarre 3 person kiss…

The bell went off…

“LACARDE DRAGNEEL! THAT’S ENOUGH!” the principal yelled, “LET GO OF THOSE POOR BOYS, YOU HAVE RAN OUT OF TIME FOR YOUR ASSEMBLY… you're lucky I haven’t fired you…” The principal pinched the bridge of her nose as she pointed for him to exit; the crowd collectively sighed with relief. Sting and Rogue were left alone in the hall together by the end of it, trying to wrap their heads around what just happened and trying their best to recover. Rogue thought it would be best to get what plagued his mind sorted now… so he turned to Sting and asked, “S- sting? Do you think I’m going to end up like Lacarde? His story sounded a bit like mine…”

He pauses and crosses his arms, thinking back to the story, come to think of it, he did think it sounded familiar, “Well… you do have a small friend group, and you are a bit of a nerd, in a good way… so maybe- No, what am I talking about, you aren’t going to be like Lacarde, Rogue, don’t worry, you’re not like him… If you ever feel like you’ll end up like Lacarde again, tell me… I’ll make sure you don’t become like him…”

Sting could see the twinkle of admiration in Rogue's eye… he knew he did something good today with this. He placed a large, strong, muscular, firm, assertive hand on Rogue’s shoulder, and the two of them blushed, “Don’t worry… You aren’t like him. Just look at your future self, he’s nothing like Lacarde.”

Ba-dum ba-dum ba-dum ba-dum ba-dum

Rogue’s heart was beating incredibly fast, Sting was touching him and saying nice things… just like what he had only dreamt of… maybe he was going to kneel down and propose next- No, that wasn’t important right now, that’s too far, rogue just had to savour the moment.

He looked up at Sting in adoration and exclaimed, “That’s right! As long as he’s here, I’ll be alright! Should I become stained with evil, the light would surely kill me.” He uttered it like he was talking about future rogue, but deep down, he knew he was referring to Sting in this…

Sting patted Rogue on the back, “That’s the spirit! Now come on, let's get out of here…”

And the two left the school, standing close to each other.

Chapter Text

The rays of light shot through the window, the clock said 7:46 am and Frogue’s alarm clock was the soft purring in his ear from Fresh, who lay curled up asleep on his chest. His eyes slowly peeled open, and he smiled, beginning to purr. Life was good.
“Fresh…”
“Nya…”
And that was the decision settled. Progue was busy at school, and it was far too early to get up, so the two closed their eyes and fell back to sleep. Work wasn’t until the afternoon today, so they had the time to spare. As Fresh and Frogue settled in, Skiadrum peered into the bedroom and smiled. He still needed to have a certain discussion with Frogue, but for now, he’d let the boy sleep. He had a lot going on, and he deserved it. Skiadrum walked over and closed the curtains for them and approached Frogue and Fresh, giving each a little scaly dragon kiss on the head before leaving the bedroom to let them sleep.
Later, Frogue woke up again for round 2, letting out a little silent yawn as he stretched (like a cat more than a human) in unison with fresh. Afterwards, he headed to the bathroom and brushed his hair. Sting would have wanted him to look his best; he missed his sting. He could try to get with this timeline's sting, but that would be cruel; he didn’t want to put this timeline's rogue through what he was put through, only more cruel, which meant his love life was on pause for the time being. His depressing reminiscence was interrupted by Skiadrum, who knocked on the bathroom door.
“Hey, Rogue? Sorry, Frogue? Are you busy? I think it's best we talked about what happened last night… with you and Progue and the… audio stuff I’m too old to understand. It’s… important.”
Frogue glanced back at the door as he brushed his hair, his cat ears twitching in curiosity “Sure thing, Dad, just give me a few minutes to finish up in here.”
He finished brushing his hair and teeth before leaving the bathroom, smiling at his father and letting out a little happy "nyah" as he awaited Skiadrums' discussion.
“So… uhm… You and Rogue did your… ASM-whatever lesson last night… do you think he’d be good enough to make a career out of it? I’m… worried for him. You seem to have your act together with both this and the monster hunting, but he… well… his passions… aren’t exactly the type of thing to get him employed. Most people already know dragon studies is a kind of useless subject… there’s no legitimate jobs in that industry, so… tell it to me straight… could this be a potential career option for my son?”
Frogue felt himself getting nervous, looking aside and tapping his fingers together, thinking how it would be best to break it to him, “Well… very few people could become an ASMRtist full time, not even I could, it’s just a hobby on the side… You already know I hunt monsters as my main job… I don’t think he could safely get a fulfilling career as an ASMRtist, but that’s not against him or anything; he did very well for his first time, I just don’t think it’s an option for him. Nyah, even I couldn’t get a career as an ASMRtist full time… (though, if Scarlet ASMR wasn’t in the picture, maybe I could, but that’s besides the point)”
Skiadrum pinched the bridge of his nose with a sigh, “I see… well, I’ll have to call in a favour with an old friend then. Thank you for the help Frogue, I’m proud of what you’ve become…” with a weak smile, he patted that spot between Frogue’s cat ears, his smile growing genuine when Frogue begins purring. Their moment is interrupted when Frogue notices the time and leaps, “Nyah! I should get going now, I need to be at work soon”, he calls, scooping up Fresh and rushing out the door, “Bye, Dad!!” And with that, Frogue left for work.
The journey was just the same as usual, a peaceful walk in the sun as he made his way to the monster-hunting reception building. Eventually, he arrived, with plenty of time to spare, “Hi Janet!” he said, waving eagerly to the receptionist, who simply rolled her eyes and kept reading her magazine. Upon arriving at the bounty board, Frogue saw quite a variety of missions to choose from; they all seemed so interesting, but he couldn’t choose.
“Hey Fresh, what do you think?” He asked, Fresh, unzipping the backpack and letting them out to see the options. Fresh liked the colours on the poster in the 2nd row down, 3rd from the left, pointing to it with a meow. “That one, huh? Good choice…” Now that the decision had been made, Frogue swiped the poster off the board and scanned through it.
- Difficulty: A-class
- Species: Vulcan
- Crime: Moving too close to the town
- Reward: 120 fiorebucks
- Status: MUST be brought back ALIVE
With that information, they were almost set, Frogue’s claws unsheathed, and he scratched up the poster and headed to the barracks. Frogue didn’t really have access to a weapon of his own since he was only so good at this, so he had to borrow some from the organisation. He walked in to see a construction guy repairing the coffee machine, but decided to ignore him. Coffee wasn’t a big priority for Frogue anyway; he looked at the weapons before him, then noticed a bag full of more… unique weapons. Poking through, he found some very interesting options: a wrench, a bag of screws, a drill, and the perfect weapon of all… a hammer. He took the hammer in hand and passed the bag of screws to fresh, just to be on the safe side, and they were on their way.
After about an hour of walking, talking and planning, they arrived at the provided location. On the way, Fresh felt tired from all the walking, so Frogue let them ride his shoulders, cutely holding onto his cat ears as they walked along. Now that they were in the forest, Frogue went onto all fours; it only felt natural to hunt this way for him…
Eventually, the Vulcan's location was made clear with its clear, memorable screech. Jackpot. Frogue prowled around the area and peered at the creature through the bushes. it’s green and pink appearance made it incredibly easy to spot; it almost reminded Frogue of Fresh with its vibrant colours. Now it was a matter of coming up with a plan of action. Unfortunately, Frogue’s thought process was interrupted by Fresh, whose chattering teeth gave away their fear. Frogue quickly grabbed hold of fresh before they could eat one of their screws out of stress, stroking their head and whispering, “Shhh, shhh, it’s okay…” In his hypnotic ASMR voice, this seemed to do the trick just right.
Once fresh had calmed down, Frogue worked up a plan in his mind. This creature was brutish and strong, so it would be unwise to attempt to out-brute it. Frogue was strong, very strong, but not that strong… so he worked his way through the bushes until he was behind the creature, who seemed to be very focused on a particularly interesting butterfly. Since the beast was so large, Frogue climbed up into the tree and watched, prowling, hammer grasped in his hand. He was about to leap from the tree to strike, but old memories began to bubble up… Sting… back in the day when he was still in the academy… learning about dragons… when this whole saga began, it all seemed to start with Sting falling out of that tree with Doug… Frogue could be sure that his sting would be so proud of him for getting so far, perhaps he’d find some new meaning to his life soon, but for now, he had work to do.
His train of depressing thoughts was interrupted when Fresh bapped the side of his cheek, snapping his concentration back into place. Frogue mouthed the word ‘thanks…’ to Fresh, before getting ready to pounce… instinctively, he wiggled his butt a bit to prepare his legs for pouncing, then he struck.
Frogue landed on the beasts shoulder and wrapped his arms around its neck to hold onto it, his feet rapidly kicking at it but to no avail, it thrashed about and he almost got flung off, when he realised how the situation was, he climbed up onto its shoulders and took out its hammer, slamming it down on the Vulcans head spike as hard as he could, caving it in and causing its gross Vulcan blood and pus to spray out everywhere, including over him. It was gross and bubbly and he felt so very unpleasant “I guess that Vulcano just erupted… heheheh…” Being part vampire, Frogue did get a bit curious and started licking the back of his hand to taste some of the blood on it. He quickly pulled away and swallowed the blood. It was good sustenance, but it tasted like mud. Even catboy vampires had standards.
Letting out a sigh of relief, Frogue let out a happy little “Nyah!” signalling for Fresh to come down and carry the body with them. The journey back was a bit quieter, but overall still generally happy. Yet, that lingering thought of sting didn’t leave his mind, and Frogue’s smile left his face. Eventually, they returned to the reception building with the body of the Vulcan, now very dirty and covered in its own blood. He met the receptionist with an eager wave, still covered in blood and looking… disturbing. “Hi Janet!” he slid the bounty poster shreddings to the receptionist, and Fresh carried the body over, panting for their life.
Janet looks down at the body, unimpressed… “You were meant to bring it back alive…”
Frogue’s smile fell, and he sighed, knowing he’d only get paid half for this job now. He accepted the payment and headed home for the day after leaving the hammer and bag of nails back in the barracks.

On the way back, he decided to stop in a nearby fast-food place, McDragons, for some lunch. He headed in and ordered some fish nuggets and dragonfruit fries, as well as a can of beer to keep Fresh content for the day. He knew his past self wouldn’t want this, but it was so adorable seeing Fresh drunk and happy; it made Frogue feel better about himself. On the search for a table, Frogue almost dropped his food in shock at who was at a table alone, so he decided to approach, “Is this seat taken?” he asked, gesturing to the one opposite them.
“Nah, go ahead… say, you look familiar.” The person narrowed their eyes in thought, as Frogue sat down before them. He set Fresh on his lap, who also let out a gasp.
“What’s wrong, you look like you just saw a ghost…” Erza grinned, taking a bite out of one of her dragon wings, “You know, you kinda remind me of that nerdy guy in the Sabertooth club…”
“You're… aren’t you dead?”
Erza laughed out heartily, “That b#### Juvia wasn’t going to keep me down with one stab wound, the doctors stitched me right up and now I’m better already," she glanced aside and grumbled, "Even if it's thanks to my useless mom's money and connections... I still gotta go to the academy in a week or twos time too so what's even the point...” She took a swig of her beer and slammed it on the table, “What business of yours is it anyway? Who even are you?”
Frogue chuckled awkwardly, “It’s… complicated…” Before beginning to explain the whole debacle of why he’s here, he was munching away at his dragonfruit fries and fish nuggets. “…and now I’m just living my own life separate from his, so now I’m here.”
“Tch, alright, ‘Frogue’, well, I suppose it was nice chatting with you. See you around, maybe.”
And with that, he was on his way back home. Once he arrived, he unlocked the door and stepped through. Skiadrum was working, so he was home alone for a while, but the first thing that caught his attention was the letter at the doorstep addressed to ‘Frog’. He wasn’t sure whether it was a misspelling of Frogue or a reference to Fresh, but he headed to the Progue’s bedroom to open it up anyway. With a retractable claw, he scratched open the envelope and read the large red text at the top of the paper.
“YOU’RE FIRED” with a red underline, as well as a list of all the different rules he broke… Frogue teared up slightly reading through it, though he calmed down as Fresh nuzzled against him and purred in his ear. He would just have to find a new job in a different industry, it seems
1. Repeatedly going against the bounty poster's orders
2. Stealing construction tools and returning them covered in blood
3. Scratching up the wallpaper and chairs
4. Licking blood off other members' outfits when you think they aren’t looking
…
The list covered the full page, and the font was incredibly small. After reading the first 10 reasons, he decided to create an ASMR video of the situation to cheer himself up.

Chapter Text

It felt like it had been ages since the sabertooth club had all met for the actual club meetings, but today was the exception it seemed. Rogue opened the classroom door and headed in, seeing everyone (except Lilac) seated there. Sting was looking over a sheet of paper, practising his speech with Doug, for when the results were announced on who won the election later today, it sounded so incredibly inspiring. After what happened at Lacarde’s assembly, Rogue could only blush when he saw Sting; this was no exception to that.

Meanwhile, at 2 of the other seats, Sorano and Minerva were sitting quite close next to each other, looking at something on Sorano’s phone. It seemed the two had grown quite close with their time in Laki’s harem, and it seemed Minerva was just a bit more sober than usual, still intoxicated, but more functional. Rogue was feeling somewhat curious and decided to peer over their shoulders to see what they were looking at, being quite surprised at the sight, which was simply the two of them scrolling through pictures of beers online on Sorano’s phone, using the number one search engine in Fiore, Firedragon.

Rogue’s peeping was interrupted by a finger tapping his shoulder. He turned and was surprised to see Yukino behind him. He jumped slightly in surprise. Something was different about her… she looked far happier than usual. “Hi Rogue! It’s an amazing day today, isn’t it?” She asked, positively beaming. She was chatting with him, though her mind was clearly elsewhere, given how often she was looking off into the distance.

“Oh, Hi Yukino… where have you been?” He was putting his small talk skills to use, hoping he could improve his social skills so that he could talk with Sting better. It was probably best to start with someone he could talk to, mostly.

“Oh, well, I was hoping you would ask… You see, just yesterday, it was the best. Day. Ever. It was the anniversary of my relationship!!!” She let out a squeal just at the thought, “He got me this hoodie! Isn’t it the most amazing thing ever!?” She twirled around, “See, it’s got stars on it since I love astrology! Ahh… he knows me so well.”

The topic interested him, though not because of Yukino’s relationship, more so because of the jealousy coursing through him at the sight of such a healthy relationship. He could only imagine the idea of being in such a relationship with Sting; it seemed like such a nice idea…

“Do you want to see what I got him? It’s really good, trust me…” She whipped out her phone and quickly opened up a photo; it was a selfie that he took, standing side by side with the two of them. On one side, Yukino wore her starry hoodie, looking lovingly at her boyfriend, hugging him from the side, while he held the phone, smiling at the camera, “See that t-shirt? It was my idea! Isn’t it so fitting for us?!”

Rogue had barely even been paying attention to the t-shirt until he saw it. It was a plain white t-shirt with a red arrow pointing to his side (where Yukino stood) with the word ‘WIFE’ in big red text… it was so amazing… Rogue mentally took a note; he would have to get one for Sting that also said wife that could point to him, whenever they inevitably get married. “Wow… It’s amazing… such a good gift.” Rogue muttered.

Yukino let out another squeal, earning her a glare from Sting, who was trying to focus, and she moved back to her seat, presumably texting her boyfriend. Taking his chance, Rogue decided to see what Sting was up to, nervously stepping over to him, “How’s the speech going?”

Grinning, Sting seemed to be in a better mood as he responded, “It’s gonna be perfect. Can I read it out to you? I need a second opinion besides Doug’s.”

Rogue nodded a bit too eagerly and pulled a seat over, sitting down and looking up in awe at Sting before he had even started.

Sting cleared his throat and began his speech with a sexy, confident tone.

“Students of Dragon Slaying Academy, it is my pleasure to be here with you all today. Just know that as the president of this world,  I promise to make your lives better, more fun, and never boring. As easy as this victory was to achieve, I would firstly like to thank Professor Strauss (gesture to Strauss), without his support, his coffee, and his giving me a chance, I could never have achieved this without him, and I’ll be sure to follow through with my promises of coffee for all students. Next, I would like to thank my very own VP, Rogue Cheney. He may not be the brightest in the school, he may not be the best Dragon Ball player, but he was here, and I am thankful for that. Next, I would like to thank the very famous, absolutely amazing, CHRISTIANO DRAGONALD-“

The speech was interrupted by Rogue falling off his chair from fainting, purely out of shock, joy and flusteredness. He was truly getting so much more credit than he deserved, he was being praised by STING EUCLIFFE! It was too good, he couldn’t handle it and wasn’t able to stay conscious any longer.

He woke not long after to the harsh ringing of the bell, signifying that class would be starting soon, but felt he was back in dreamland when Sting put a strong, athletic arm around him and helped him up. Rogue looked up at Sting and squinted. It was like looking into the face of an angel, emitting the light of a thousand suns from their teeth and wide grin alone, it was blindingly beautiful. “Don’t worry, I get it, my speech was just that amazing. I know I haven’t technically won yet, but we both already know the winner here…”

Rogue could barely muster a smile as he got to his feet and steadied himself, “W- w- we should probably go now… get to class… don’t wanna be late on the big day…”

And it was settled, the others had already left earlier, so the two of them headed to class alone, walking side by side in silence down the hallways, past all the other students, all was fine, everything would be okay. The two turned the corner and were caught off guard when both of them bumped into another group. It didn’t hurt too much. Rogue stepped back with a “Sorry…” and rubbed his head, opening his eyes to see Hisui, Sting’s opponent, along with her bodyguard, Erik. The tensions seemed high in Sting; Rogue could feel it.

“Oh! Sting, just the person I wanted to see, good luck today! May the best candidate win.” She smiled, Sting wasn’t buying it, but he wasn’t lashing out, just a testament to Sting’s amazing self-control. She continued, “I… just want to say, I hope this doesn’t come in the way of us potentially becoming friends, it's all just  a bit of fun at the end of the day and doesn’t really matter.” She says, smile growing wider and friendlier.

Sting shook his head with an Iconic smirk, closing his eyes and crossing his arms, “Hisui, Hisui, Hisui… I see right through your façade. You aren’t truly being friendly, you're just being… a sore loser. You know that I’ve beaten you in every single part of this election, so you're trying to soften the blow by becoming ‘friends’ with me… I’m right, aren’t I?” he asked rhetorically

Hisui gasped in response, stepping slightly back, shocked, trying desperately to talk and reason about how she just wanted to be friends. Meanwhile, Erik was looking into Rogue’s eyes scarily. Rogue, not being one to enjoy such confrontations, put his small talk skills to use, “Hi… I’m Rogue…”

Erik twitched slightly at the sound of the name, “…” he responded, not saying anything but also saying so much, all of what he’s saying spelling out that Rogue should shut up, the man looked like he had so much going through his mind and Rogue didn’t want to find out what would happen if he ended up on the man’s bad side.

Thankfully for Rogue, the ‘interaction’ was interrupted by Sting grabbing his arm and pulling him through between the two, “Come on, Rogue, we have to get to class, can't let these losers stop us.” He said, sounding particularly angry.

Behind him, Rogue heard hisui call out to him, “Rogue!! Please! Tell Sting that we’re friends!”

“Don’t listen to Hisui, never trust her, she’s evil…” he said, pushing the door to the classroom and dragging Rogue all the way to his seat, sitting down next to him aggressively.

Once Rogue had managed to get ahold of himself, it became immediately clear that Professor Strauss was not there; the telltale sign was the lack of slurping sounds and depressed groans. He looked up and was surprised to see a different man there, tall, with blonde hair, an air of charisma, he reminded him of Sting, but with more of a maturity to him… Rogue’s expression dropped as he came to a realisation that only made sense. If future rogue was able to come back in time to save Sting, did that mean that this was…

…future sting?!

Rogue looked back and forth between Sting and the new teacher. He wasn’t entirely sure if he was right in his conclusion, but he didn’t seem to have any idea what else it could be…

“Alright! Hello everyone, your old teacher professor Strauss decided to take the day off as a… ‘mental health break’ as he claimed, which means I am taking his place today, don’t worry, I’ll make sure to be nice, I know it’s a very big day for some of you…” the mysterious figure said, before casually walking over to the board, “I… am…” he began to write his name onto the board.

“Mr Yuri Dreyar. Now, you all may recognise that name, because my great-grandson goes to this school. I am very proud of him, but he isn’t in this class, so he gets to avoid the embarrassment of it for now.” Rogue had heard that name before… but where? Now he knew it wasn’t future sting, but it had to be someone… but who? His thoughts were quickly interrupted by a bang against the door; all eyes moved to it, and Rogue's question was answered. There stood Lacarde, pressed against the door window, panting and breathing heavily against the door like Dreyar was the world's best slice of bacon.

For some bizarre reason, Yuri was unfazed by this, simply tilting his head with a smile and waving at him, “Hi Lacarde, so nice to see you again!” He gave a little wave, Lacarde’s breathing grew heavier, so heavy in fact, that the window he was peering through had fogged up entirely. “I used to teach him here back in the day; He was a good kid.” This man was clearly insane... and a lot older than he looked.

“Anyway, I expect we’ll be called to the assembly hall soon enough for the class president results, so just talk amongst yourselves until then.” Yuri sauntered out of the classroom, closing the door behind him. Did he even know what Lacarde was like now?

Anywho, his attention was brought from that as Sting decided to add his say, “Heh, poor guy has no idea what's coming… either he’ll leave school today traumatised, pregnant, or both.” he joked, smirking as he glanced out the window at them.

Rogue couldn’t help but laugh and whispered, “You're so funny…”

“What?”

“What? I didn’t say anything.” Rogue felt like his lifespan had been cut in half after lying to Sting, but it had to be done.

Sting shrugged and went on to ask something, but the PA cut him off.

“Attention all students, please come to the assembly hall for an important Assembly immediately.”

Rogue silently cursed the pa for such bad timing, knowing it had probably just lost him a marriage opportunity, but he reluctantly got out of his seat with everyone else and left the classroom, heading on for the assembly hall next to Sting, who was glancing over his speech one last time. They approached the assembly hall and took a turn (Well, Rogue did, he had to pull Sting along, as he had forgotten that they weren’t going to be watching from the front because of the election results). They got up to the back of the stage and sat down on some of the seats that were set out. The other 2 candidates sat on seats next to them, and Rogue looked out into the crowd. It became immediately clear that this had the potential to be incredibly embarrassing, looking out at all the people in the hall.

Chapter Text

Arms crossed, feet tapping impatiently against the floor, Sting waited for the principal to arrive. He was feeling impatient. This was his big day, even if he didn’t win, he couldn’t bare another moment of not hearing the result, it was killing him inside. His mind began to wander as he waited, if he lost, it would be pretty sad, but a good part of that could be that if Hisui expelled him, he wouldn’t have to go to school anymore… but then he wouldn’t be able to see rogue and the rest of the saber tooth club. On the other hand, if he won, he would probably go down in the academy’s history as a legend, he would make it into the history books and everyone would remember the name Sting Eucliffe, even Christiano dragonaldo himself would have no choice but to respect him… and Rogue… winning this would probably get Sting a lifetime of admiration and adoration, he would spend all his time with him, do everything together… love eachother? It was a strange possibility to think about, but a possibility, nonetheless.

“Victory shall be mine… at any and all costs.” He muttered under his breath.

His train of thought was interrupted as the principal tapped the microphone and began to speak. Something was off about her tone…

“Students… it is with regret that I must be the one to tell you all about this…” she looks to Hisui and chokes up slightly, “You especially… you hisui…”

Jackpot. Sting must have won. There’s no other reason why she’d say that.

The principal wiped a tear from her eye and continued, “It is with regret that I inform you… the king of fiore has sadly passed on…”

Hundreds of gasps moved through the room,  some people cried even. Rogue could see how Hisui was shaking in her seat, and ever the good person, looked next to him at Hisui and spoke softly, “I’m so sorry you have to go through this… I’m sure your very sad about this… I can’t imagine how it feels.”

The king… was dead? Like… gone forever? Rogue was being so nice to hisui about it, it filled her heart with warmth, and something akin to appreciation. He was such a nice person, she knew she was lucky to have him as a friend… but on a more important note, that meant… she was going to rule fiore soon… this might just be the best day ever for her.

She cleared her throat and realised she should probably appear more sad for the public. She wiped her eyes of imaginary tears and looked to the principal and asked in her saddest voice, “M- may I go outside for a bit to… t- to get my feelings together?”

The principal nodded and let her leave.

“So… what does this mean for the election?” Sting piped up, the principal responded with a sharp glare at his disrespect and spoke into the microphone for the crowd, “The election results will be left for the end of the assembly, and the remainder will be spent commemorating the kings passing.”

Meanwhile, outside the school, hisui took a deep breath, then let out a squeal when she was sure nobody was near, “Yes yes yes!!!! I’m gonna be ruler of fiore! This is perfect!! Aagh! I’m so happy I could burst out into song!!”

(cue Hisui singing “I just cant wait to be king” from the lion king)

…

[HISUI]
“Everybody, look left
Everybody, look right
Everywhere you look, I'm
Standin' in the spotlight

[RANDOM CROWD]
Let every creature go for broke and sing
Let's hear it in the herd and on the wing
It's gonna be King Hisui's finest fling

[HISUI AND RANDOM CROWD]
Oh, I just can't wait to be king
Oh, I just can't wait to be king
Oh, I just can't wait
To be king”

Hisui breathed heavily as she got herself back together and the miscellaneous crowd dispersed, “Right… I should get back to the school…” she brushed her dress off, adjusted her tiara, and returned to the hall. She gracefully took her seat and looked to Rogue, “Thank you for your concern… I’ll… I’ll work through it.”

The principal nodded sympathetically to hisui and began to give a speech about the king.

“Our king of Fiore was a wonderful ruler… second to none. The man has done so much for this school… during the prom incident, it was his generosity that fixed up this very hall we stand in today… I couldn’t imagine a world with him, honestly… I still can’t. What he’s done for fiore has done unimaginable good…”

Meanwhile, Sting leans in and whispers to Rogue, “Hey… look at lacarde…”

Rogue, now blushing at the whispers of his beloved in his ear, looked over in lacardes direction (reluctantly). He barely seemed to have noticed the news about the king, he was too busy ogling Yuri and trying desperately to make small talk to him… Rogue’s heart dropped at the sight… Rogue had been trying to practise his small talk for sting… now lacarde was too… yet another similarity between the two.

Sting barely seemed to notice though, he was almost laughing. “He’s probably not even realised the kings died, it’s hilarious…” Rogue giggled in response and smiled, a slight blush on his cheeks. Sting disliked Lacarde as much as the next guy, and he didn’t want to see him in a loving relationship with someone, but if he was away from rogue, then Sting was fine with it.

The speech continued and sting almost fell asleep 3 separate times, on the third time, the only thing that stopped him from drifting off entirely was the principals next, exasperated announcement.

“And now, we will hear lacarde’s speech on the king and his impact on our very own janitor’s life… Lacarde, please take the stage” they stepped aside as lacarde stopped his flirting and went up to give his speech, the entire hall let out a collective groan as he stepped up and blew his nose loudly on a tissue, beginning to speak.

“H- hi everyone… the king was a very good person. He was a regular viewer of the lacardecast… I’ll always miss feeling his presence watching over us while I was talking about the podcast. I’m sure he would want me to do this next part in his honour… so in the name of the king… I will be launching a BRAND NEW LINE OF CARDECAST MERCHANDISE!”

He pulls out a tshirt from seemingly nowhere, “First off, we have the first tshirt of this collection, unisex, though preferably worn by male fans only, it’ll look stylish in anywhere with it’s slogan ‘Pregnant mode Activated’. There is also a hoodie, cap, and beanie with the same slogan.”

Sting stifled a grin until the tshirt was tossed to him, “Hey, what?”

“Be a good model, the king would have wanted this.” Lacarde responded as Sting reluctantly pulled the tshirt on. It made his abs feel too invisible. He purely did it because he didn’t want to be shamed in front of the hall for being disrespectful to the king.

“Alright, next on the list, we have the hoodie, for all our modest kings and women out there! Lets have Roguey bear put this one on.” He announced, tossing the hoodie to Rogue, who caught it, looking at the text, which showed a checklist that said ‘EAT ✓ PLAP ✓ PREGNANT ✓ REPEAT ✓’. Rogue’s cheeks went a deep shade of red, putting the hoodie on, making sure to be careful over his messy bun, before stepping up next to sting in the hoodie, holding back the tears. The crowd was giving a mix of sympathetic gazes and trying desperately to hold back their laughter.

“Don’t they look drop-dead gorgeous? Now, I need one more volunteer for my third, most fabulous piece of merchandise… lets see… who should I pick?” Rogue looked desperately at the principal, who was reluctantly letting it play out, because deep down, they knew that the king would be enjoying this if he were here.

After pretending to look around at potential victims, his gaze soon landed on yuri dreyar. Poor guy. “You! You handsome devil in the crowd there, come on up!” Yuri smiled and rolled his eyes, before climbing up onto the stage.

“You really haven’t changed, have you lacarde? Come on, lets see what it is…”

Sting didn’t even think it was possible for someone to be used to lacarde, he simply snorted as lacarde took out the next merch item… it was immediately clear that he had been saving the worst product for last…

“And here we have the ergonomic, state of the art, Lacardecast brand luxury belled choker!!!” he held up the choker for all to see, it was black with cheap white text that said “LACARDES” on it, as well as having a little bell attached to the bottom. It was obvious to everyone that it was meant to mimic a dog collar.

“Oh hahah… interesting…” Yuri said, reluctantly putting it around his neck.

“Perfect, now, all of you gather together for a selfie- in remembrance for the king, of course, now, gather round!” Lacarde took out his personalised ifiorne and pulled the 3 into a selfie, sting made sure that he was between lacarde and Rogue at all costs, and the photo was taken… an embarrassing moment immortalised, Sting and Rogue couldn’t rush to their seats faster, trying their best to ignore hisui and Lucy’s giggling. Yuri removed his collar and headed back to the side, Lacarde followed not long after, as thankfully, his portion was over.

The principal made their way back on stage and with a sigh of relief, announced, “Alright, everyone, I’m sure the king feels very remembered in the afterlife, so let's move on to the next portion of the assembly. The presidential election results. Let's have both candidates and their VPs standing, please.”

Sting stood proudly, moving to one side of the principal, while Hisui moved to the other side, Rogue stood with sting, looking adorably at him, he couldn’t help but blush. This was it. This was the most important day of Rogue’s life. There were only two ways this could end: either his life would be ruined, or he would get married and have a perfect life. But Rogue was confident that Sting would win.

“Both candidates have done extremely well during this election, and I would like to hear a big round of applause for them and their respective VPs.” The principal said in a somewhat monotone voice, they didn’t seem to care that much for this election, but sting did, Rogue did, that’s what mattered.

“And now to see who won this election…” She pulled out an envelope and opened it up, reading the name inside, “And the winner of this year's student president election is… Hisui E Fiore…”

“YES! YES! YES! I DID IT! I WON! I AM THE RIGHTFUL RULER OF THE SCHOOL! TAKE THAT-“She realises she broke character and clears her throat, “I- I am very fortunate for this opportunity, but the death of my father has overshadowed this victory, so I shall remain mostly quiet.” She stepped to the front and took a microphone In hand to give her speech. Lucy seemed just as surprised as rogue and sting, she really thought that after that VP debate there was no chance hisui could win, it seemed like an impossibility, yet here they were.

So many thoughts were running through Rogue’s head, this couldn’t be happening, no, she couldn’t have won, shouldn’t. This was sting’s position, he had done so unbelievably well yet he lost, while hisui’s campaign was mediocre at best. This must’ve been rigged. He looked to Sting to see his reaction, but he seemed to be reasonably calm about this… perhaps rogue should be more like sting in this regard, he’s taking this very well, he’s being emotionally mature about it… yes, he needed to calm down.

“Students of Dragon Slaying Academy, it is my pleasure to be here with you all today. Just know, that as the president of this world,  I promise to make your lives better, more fun, and never boring. As easy as this victory was to achieve, I would firstly like to thank Professor Strauss (gesture to Strauss), without his support, I could never have achieved this  without him, and I’ll be sure to follow through with my promises. Next, I would like to thank my very own VP, as well as Rogue Cheney. He may be the brightest in the school, he may not be particularly sporty, but he was my first friend here, and I am eternally grateful for that. Next, I would like to get to my first order of business…” she turned to face Sting and spoke with a surprising calmness, “Sting Eucliffe, I am a woman of my word, and though you were an exceptional candidate, you have been hereby expelled from the dragon slaying academy-“

The principal interrupted, “The student president doesn’t have the power to do that, hisui.”

Hisui’s eyes widened in surprise, but then she simply chuckled, “Sting Eucliffe, as the Queen of Fiore, I hereby expel you from the dragon slaying academy.”

The principal interrupted again, “You can’t just do that on a whim, and you haven’t even had a coronation.”

Hisui huffed and stomped her foot on the ground, “Ugh, fine, you win this time Eucliffe, I’ll eventually expel you though, I promise you that.” She finishes, before storming out of the hall.

The principal sighed, “Alright you horrible lot, just get back to class.”

And that was it settled, the students left the hall wondering what the hell was going on with the election.

Rogue, overwhelmed with joy knowing that he would still be able to hang out with sting, did what he thought was impossible, he hugged sting in victory. “I’m so happy you won’t be expelled…”

Sting was incredibly caught off guard by this, he felt his cheeks going as red as… as… as… a dragon? I don’t know, some sort of dragon that’s really red, point is, he was surprised, blushing, he really hadn’t expected this… but it felt good. “I- you- I-“ he sighed, barely able to say a full word nevermind a sentence, so he simply responded by putting his arms around Rogue and hugging him back. Eventually, he said, “I won’t be out of this school for a long time… don’t you worry.”

Chapter Text

“You know, my podcast is actually super popular, about 15 regular viewers, so I’m a pretty big deal.

“So… maybe since the kiddos are going on break now, I could maybe show you my podcast setup?” Lacarde asked, his confidence wavering in the presence of Yuri, but still, he didn’t stop clinging to his arm.

“Um, sure! Sounds cool, lets see it.” Yuri responded politely, not wanting to come across as rude.

“Great!” Lacarde said, dragging Yuri through the school halls, soon enough they reached the studio itself (spare storage room).

“So where is your… studio- woah!” Yuri was cut off as Lacarde pulled him through the door, showing him around the ‘studio’

“Here it is! The studio of the lacarde cast itself! You should feel honoured to be here, heh… last time someone came here was a good few months ago when I had rogue on as a guest star… heh, you wouldn’t believe how hard it is to podcast without someone to talk to during it…”

Yuri walked around, looking at the different pieces of ‘equipment’, averting his gaze upon spotting a copy of ‘saucier weekly’ scattered around on the floor. “I’m sure, you’ve got a nice setup for what you were working with…” Yuri froze as he realise what Lacarde was trying to imply… “You want me to join your podcast for an episode?”

“I mean… You said it, not me… If you really want to I’m sure we could get something worked out…” Lacarde was horrible at hiding his excitement, he was practically vibrating on the spot. He zoomed around the room preparing things, before stopping behind Yuri and forcing him to sit, before moving to sit opposite him.

“Alright, let’s get this started.” He clicks a button on his camera, “5… 4…”

“W- wait isn’t there more preparation?! Is there something I should know before we start?! Where’s the camera guy?!”

“Ooohohh, darling, he had… conflicting opinions and had to be let go, 3… 2…” and he turned to the camera, beginning his iconic intros.

“Hello, my little meow meows! Welcome back to another episode of ‘The Sex Man: Uncensored’. Where I, Sex Man your tantalising host give you the hottest dating advice around.” He smiled and shook his head, gesturing to yuri, “I know all of you have been waiting for a special guest appearance after how wonderfully the last one went, so today I thought it would be a perfect idea to get my old academy bestie Yuri Dreyar! H- heheh… isn’t he cute?! Now, is there anything you’d like to say to the viewers before we get started, future h-” he caught himself, “Future Hollywood star of the ‘cardecast?”

Yuri chuckled nervously, “Hahah… well, I used to know Lacarde when he was younger, and it’s nice to see he’s a good,” Lacarde’s eyes lit up, if yuri called lacarde a good boy, he’d just have to marry him on the spot and go straight to the honeymoon phase, “Functioning member of society…” Lacarde was happy with that too, it was good, “I haven’t personally watched his podcast before, but knowing him, I’m sure it’s very interesting…”

Lacarde couldn’t hold back his grin, “Oh it really is, lets see what the live chat thinks of your presence here…” Lacarde quickly takes out his phone and pretends to scroll to the live chat, “Ohohoh, LacardeFan69 says that your hot, good taste mr lacardefan.”

Yuri chuckled awkwardly and smiled, scratching the back of his head, “Hahah, thanks… not sure my wife would like that though. Thanks anyway LacardeFan69! I’m glad someone appreciates the effort I put into my looks.”

Lacarde ignores the wife comment and keeps reading, his smirk growing bigger, “Ohohoh, we have a feisty one here with MpregJpeg saying we should kiss… what do you say yuri, should we give the people what they want?”

“Heheh… I don’t think my wife would like that Lacarde. Come on, you don’t have to do what they say…”

But Lacarde was already crawling across the table, putting his hands on the sides of yuri’s face and leaning in…

Closer…

Closer…

SLAP!

Yuri’s hand shot across Lacarde’s face, knocking him off the table, “Lacarde, No. I don’t want to kiss you. You really started to become a bit weird early on, but I gave you a chance in the academy, but this is too far. I am happily married Carde, and I will stay that way. Now get yourself together, I have hope for you, y- you just… your not right in the head Lacarde… I’ll be reporting you to the principal and then leaving. I’d say it was nice seeing you again but…” Yuri sighs, deciding against finishing that. He walked to the door to leave, when Lacarde stood up.

“HOW COULD YOU?!” Lacarde shouted, tears in his eyes, what Yuri had said had cut deep, he was clearly hurt. “I- I LOVED YOU. I WANTED TO SETTLE DOWN WITH YOU. I DIED MY HAIR BLONDE FOR YOU! I… I… I couldn’t bring myself to confess my feelings though… it ate away at me, I couldn’t take you not knowing, but I would have been even worse off having been rejected by you...” he fell to his knees, crying into his hands. “You know that I want you… and you know that I need you… I want it bad… Your bad romance…

I want your love
And I want your revenge
I want your love
I don't wanna be friends
Je veux ton enfant
Et je veux ta revanche
Je veux ton amour
I don't wanna be friends (oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh)
No, I don't wanna be friends (caught in a bad romance)
I don't wanna be friends (oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh)
Want your bad romance
(Caught in a bad romance)
Want your bad romance

I want your love, and I want your revenge
You and me could write a bad romance
(Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh)
I want your love, and all your lover's revenge
You and me could write a bad romance
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
(Want your bad romance)
Caught in a bad romance
(Want your bad romance)
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
(Want your bad romance)
Caught in a bad romance

Ra-ra-ah-ah-ah
Roma-roma-ma
Gaga, ooh la-la
Want your bad romance

“That doesn’t excuse sexual assault Lacarde. Goodbye.”  And with that, Yuri left.

Lacarde leaned against the wall beside the door, tears running down his face, he sat down, “I’m horrible… I don’t deserve his love… he’s right…”

But then there was a knock on the door… “Y- yuri?”

It wasn’t yuri.

A voice spoke out, “M- Mr dragneel? Are you alright?”

To be continued

Chapter Text

Each Pride Month, Doug tries to make amends for his homophobic past. He started the month strong by 'buying' Sting a bisexual pride flag. He looked confused, claiming not to be very good at geography, then immediately handed it to Rogue. The pride flag has not been seen since, God only knows what he's done to it.

His next plan included swallowing his pride. Alfredo is a proud member of the LGBTQ Mafia, as a pride month present, Doug will finally pay back his dept.

The illegal bar underneath Lilac's house was as busy as ever, Minerva was slumped over on the floor, barely conscious but still downing a pint. Other members of Laki's harem were losing to a seal at Blackjack. Rookie mistake, a sign they weren't here often.

Doug slid into a bar stool, "give me the regular."

The seal bartender immediately nudged the drink into his hand, having pre-made the drink anticipating Doug's arrival.

"Just, put it on my tab," Doug waved, hopping off the stool and making his way to the bottom floor, where he was scheduled to meet with the big man himself.

As he meandered down the stairs he noticed voices getting louder, Doug paused, straining to hear what was being said. This was unusual, in their normal meetings Alfredo sat in silence, smoking a fish pipe as he awaited Doug's arrival. What if a rival mafia group launched an attack? No. That couldn't happen. Doug necked his drink and crept down the remaining stairs.

Now right up against the door, Doug swears he recognises one voice but he can't place it. Psyching himself up he kicked the door open and gasped in disbelief.

Alfredo and his goons were in the middle of waterboarding Bickslow (who has cat ears on).

Dropping his pint glass, everyone stared at him, except Bickslow who was making dramatic drowning noises. The glass shattering on the floor knocked Doug out of his stupor.

"Alfredo how could you do this to me!" Doug took a step forward, feeling the glass dig into his paw but the pain was nothing compared to the mental anguish flowing through him.

With a smack of his flipper, Alfredo's goons swiftly removed Bickslow from the area, shutting the door behind them. Alfredo pathetically barked in an attempt to explain that it isn't what it looks like.

"You were waterboarding another man Alfredo, I thought what we had was special! Was my hatred not good enough for you?"

Alfredo slapped his belly in response.

"Don't give me that and stop calling him Bickslow the cat. I'M the cat. He's just some furry pretending to be a cat." Doug tilted his hat down, covering his eyes, "I see who you really are now Alfredo."

Frantically Alfredo began pointing to all of the photos of Doug he had up, each in various states of disrepair and many containing rude graffiti, to prove the hatred he feels for Doug is real.

"It's over Alfredo," Doug sighed making his way to the door, dropping the money he brought with him, "I came to pay off my tab, never contact me again."

Behind the door he could hear Alfredo's anguished barks, a lone tear slid down Doug's cheek as he left without turning back.

Chapter Text

Today was another day in school. But better. Last week was the election, so it completely overshadowed what Rogue had been so excited for for the past month. Why? Because today, the class was going on a school trip to the National Fioran museum of history, home to so many important artifacts, and most importantly of all… a skeleton of a powerful dragon from hundreds of years ago, Rogue wasn’t sure how he’d be able to cope being in the presence of such true, magnificent awesomeness (Then again, he had a lot of practise for that by hanging out with sting all the time). Undoubtedly, this would be the second most important day of his life. First if he didn’t end up getting married to sting.

This day couldn’t get any better, because as well as the fact that he’d be hanging out with sting while seeing the second coolest thing ever, Bickslow wouldn’t be there to ruin it, because for once, he was absent from school today. The reason they hadn’t had school trips very often was specifically because of bickslow, as he had a history of ruining them. One time, they went to an art gallery, but by the time they’d left, Bickslow had licked most of the paintings and the security guards that tried to stop him, hence why every art gallery has a restraining order on him.

Rogue was practically vibrating on his seat from the excitement, he looked up to sting like a puppy about to get a treat, “Aren’t you excited?” He asked enthusiastically.

Though, Sting wasn’t particularly excited about the trip, he didn’t care much for the past, dragons weren’t that interesting to him, they were just a small aspect of his favourite sport. But the sight of Rogue looking so enthusiastic about it, did change his mind a little bit. If Rogue liked this so much, then Sting could put on an excited face and go along with him, besides, Rogue was pretty cute when he was rambling about silly nonsense. Those silly ramblings were the only reason he passed his exams after all, this bit of enthusiasm was the least he could do.

Sting grinned and pumped his fist in the air, “Yeah!”

Rogue’s eyes twinkled at the sight of Sting being just as excited as he was, it made him so happy, he really didn’t deserve such a good best friend.

Sting’s loudness was met with a glare from Professor Strauss, who was back to hating Sting again, constantly mumbling about how sting should have won and how much he needed that coffee. Sting rolled his eyes and pointed a thumb at him while looking to Rogue, “Wonder what his deal is.”

Rogue simply shrugged, he was too busy focussing on sting and the dragon museum that he wasn’t paying any attention to the teacher. His attention was then diverted yet again by the kicking and screaming going on outside the classroom. The entire class was looking at the door as President Hisui was dragged into the classroom by Cobra.

“I DON’T WANT TO KEEP GOING TO SCHOOL! I’M GONNA BE THE KING OF FIORE WHATS THE POINT!! I WANNA GO HOME!” She shouted, as Cobra dragged her.

“ROYAL REGULATION REQUIRES YOU STAY IN SCHOOL UNTIL YOUR OF AGE! AND YOU CANT BE KING UNTIL YOU GRADUATE!!!” Cobra responded, being uncharacteristically loud. Though, if he had to deal with this the entire morning, then perhaps it was in character for anyone to react that way. Professor Strauss took one look at Hisui and started crying into his coffee. He really wanted that coffee machine.

Seeing the state Hisui was in as she sat arms crossed, pouting in her chair, Sting could barely hold back his laughter, after all that, president Hisui still lost in this situation, he bit onto his arm to stifle his giggles. Rogue, on the other hand, saw her in this state and decided to see if he could help. After all, class hadn’t technically started yet, and they weren’t leaving for the trip for another 10 minutes. He stood up and nervously made his way over to her, she sat there, head on the table, and he placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Hisui… Don’t be sad please… we’re going to the museum, remember? There’s gonna be so many cool dragons there!”

Hisui frankly didn’t care that much for dragons, but she could feel his intentions, she looked up, tears in her eyes and smiled, “Thanks rogue, your such a good friend…”

Rogue smiled and blushed slightly, before moving back to his desk, Sting didn’t seem particularly pleased, “What was all that about?” he asked, not sure if he was mad just yet, he was at least going to hear what he should be mad about first.

“Oh, well… Hisui seemed sad and I thought she might have forgotten about the museum trip so I decided to remind her to see if it would make her happy… I think it worked.”

Sting was kinda mad at this, Hisui had tried to do everything in her power to get rid of him, yet rogue was just chatting with her like it never happened… but, Sting had dealt with Monday Blues on too many different occasions, and this was Rogue. As much as he wanted Rogue’s attention to himself, he knew that stopping the rest of the world from receiving his kindness would make the world just a bit worse off. So he grinned and gave him a finger gun, “That was nice of you, keep it up.”

Before Rogue could even blush, the classroom door burst open, “GUESS WHOSE BACK B######!!!!” Erza shouted.

The class collectively gasped, even rogue, who already knew (Frogue had told him about meeting her before). He was just gasping because the loud noise made him jump.

Professor Strauss looked like he was about to throw someone out the window (probably sting), he stood up and drank an entire mug of coffee, “SIT DOWN SCARLET, BEFORE I I- BEFORE I… BEFORE I SEND YOU TO THE PRINCIPAL'S OFFICE!” He was aware she would return, but did it really have to be so loud? He lowered himself back into his seat, almost snapping again at the sound of Erik falling off his seat. Whatever, he couldn’t deal with this right now. He poured himself another cup of coffee and drank it. The one thing keeping him from going insane. Coffee.

“Erzas back, huh? Really thought she was dead there.” Sting said casually, “Whatever it is about her being back, it seems Erik’s the most affected.”

As Erza walked past Cobra's desk, Cobra was staring at her, with a faint redness on his cheeks. He seemed to be rethinking his entire life just from seeing her. He was only snapped out of his trance by Lucy, who had snapped her pencil in half out of sheer rage, though it quickly turned to sadness, and she let out a sigh, looking off into the distance, perhaps love wasn’t for her after all… First Rogue, who barely even paid any mind to her, clearly didn’t like her back. Now, Cobra, the cool action hero of her dreams, the one she thought she would be the one to crack the walls of and find his heart, but Erza effortlessly beat her to it. Love was a dish best served burnt when it came to Lucy Heartfilia it seemed to her. Of course, Rogue hadn’t noticed the mental turmoil going on in Lucy, he was simply casually speaking with Sting, waiting in excitement for them to leave for the trip. Then… the door opened, a fourth visitor arrived, Lucy could only guess at this point that it was a dragon god coming personally to beat her with a stick, because that’s just how today felt.

“Prior to his firing, Lacarde, sorry, Mr Dragneel, was originally intended to be a Chaperone at the school trip, We have had to quickly get a replacement. Fortunately, we’ve found one…” The principal beckoned the chaperone in.

Sting, Rogue, and a lot of the class were all rather shocked to see who stepped through.

“Hi guys… don’t be too hard on me, I don’t really have much experience chaperoning…” Future Rogue said with an awkward giggle.

Chapter Text

“Prior to his firing, Lacarde, sorry, Mr Dragneel, was originally intended to be a Chaperone at the school trip, We have had to quickly get a replacement. Fortunately, we’ve found one…” The principal beckoned the chaperone in.

Sting, Rogue, and a lot of the class were all rather shocked to see who stepped through.

Hi guys… don’t be too hard on me, I don’t really have much experience chaperoning…” Future Rogue said with an awkward giggle. “I’ll try to make this trip as fun as I can as a-“

His speech was interrupted by the bell ringing, that was their cue to head to the bus. Rogue (I probably don’t need to keep calling him progue, its an easy enough distinction) really did like Frogue, but this was a dragon museum, priorities. Professor strauss got to his feet with a sigh, “Lets go.” He said simply, with the enthusiasm of a very unenthusiastic dragon, before heading out of the classroom. The class began to follow, and despite his eagerness, Rogue couldn’t overpower his way to the front of the class, so he walked with sting at the back of the crowd, where Frogue joined them. Sting seemed happy to see him.

“Hey Frogue! It’s been ages hasn’t it? Thanks for saving me during the prom, I’m not really sure if I got a chance to say… I’ll be honest I don’t remember much of that night, it was a bit of a blur. I’m all better now though!”

Frogue was practically vibrating on the spot from his excitement as they walked through the school hallways. Today was the best day ever, A. He got to go on the museum trip he never got to in his timeline, B. He got to do it with Sting, C. He had a (temporary) job! “Y- yeah, don’t worry about it… no big deal…” Frogue’s sudden purring completely gave him away. Sometimes he hated being ¼ cat.

Sting glances to Frogue’s head and grins, looking to Progue, “Dude, isn’t it kinda funny? Like, he’s got a cat ear headband built in, doesn’t he? I only realised that now dude!”

Rogue giggled. Frogue giggled. Both of them simultaneously thought ‘Sting’s so funny…’

“What even happened to that headband anyway?” Sting asked Rogue, who gasped and began poking around in his bag.

Meanwhile, something had caught Frogue’s eye. Lucy seemed different… he couldnt quite figure out what it was, but she seemed to be in a reeeaally bad mood. Maybe he should check on her sometime, he was the chaperone after all, and he wanted people to enjoy this trip just as much as he did.

“Here it is!” Rogue exclaimed, pulling the cat ear headband from the depths of his schoolbag, holding it in the air like a trophy. The poor thing was in a horrible state, there was no more fabric attached to it, it was just wire at this point. Whenever Rogue was thinking hard about something, he would typically chew on the edges of its fabric, and he’s been doing that for a good while now, so it was at the point he was just chewing on the metal, which meant it was a bit mangled at certain parts, even being somewhat bent from where Rogue had been thinking especially hard about important things, like Sting, or dragons, and things like that. “Good as new! It… I- I suppose since its an important day for this trip, it would only make sense to wear it…” so he put the uncomfortable metal thingy on his head, eyes twinkling as he looked to Sting for approval.

Sting couldn’t keep back his blush. Frankly, the cat ear headband looked very ugly, but the gesture meant a lot. But why did it? Bickslow had been doing similar things for years now, hell, even more desperate things than that, but rogue’s made him feel weird things inside. Did Sting have feelings for Rogue? Whatever. this was a problem for later, he would have to ignore it for now. right now? Dragons were the focus. “Lookin sharp dude… heheh…” he said, a hint of nervousness in his tone and incredibly shaky finger guns in his hands, but Frogue and Rogue were completely oblivious to it.

They made it to the bus and finally got in, Sting was the most eager, climbing over the chairs just to reserve the back row for the gang. The rest walked down the middle like normal (mostly) people, sitting down with sting. Yukino sat at the end near the window, Sting sat next to her, with Rogue on his other side. At the other window was Frogue, and between Frogue and Rogue was Fresh, who was apparently necessary for chaperoning. That morning, Frogue had felt like Fresh needed a proper uniform, but settled for writing the word Chaperone on their onesie, there wasn’t enough room, so he settled for “CHAP” instead.

“See Rogue, the back seat is for all the legends, the cooler you are, the further back on the bus you are. Those are the rules of school trips, got it?”

Rogue blushed like a red dragon. Did Sting truly think he was… cool? Was he truly viewed as an equal in stings eyes? No, Surely not, that was impossible, he probably just wanted Rogue to sit with him since they were in the same club and since Sorano and Minerva hadn’t bothered coming in for whatever reason. Though rogue knew there was a solution to this as he sat down next to Sting. He could try being forward and honest for once.

“S- sting?” Rogue asked, looking up at Sting like a puppy dog, completely unintentionally, as he continued, “Do you… do you think I’m a cool dude? L- like you?”

This completely caught sting off guard, his cheeks went red, he looked every direction then back at the adorable creature sitting next to him, his large hand rubbed the back of his head and chuckled awkwardly, “Yeah, of course dude, super cool… I’m gonna listen to music for the bus journey though, so don’t… don’t expect me to hear you if you ask me something.” He said. Yeah, sting definitely had feelings for Rogue. Quickly putting his earfiornes on, he opened Fairify (the most popular overpriced music provider on the Fiore market) and on the perfect song for the occasion, after the ads of course.

Meanwhile Rogue’s day had just went from amazing, to super amazing. He looked to Frogue and squealed, “He thinks I’m cool!”

Frogue squealed back and spoke, “That’s so amazing!!! Progue! Progue… I don’t say this lightly, but…” he leaned in and whispered so he couldn’t hear, “I think you’ve got a chance with him.”

Rogue, still on his high, looked to Frogue, not all that surprised, “Oh, cool- Hey, what do you think he’s listening to? I bet he’s listening to some really cool sting music." (He did not comprehend what frogue said)

Frogue perked up a bit, turning his attention back to Sting who was humming along and mumbling lyrics, “I bet it’s Sabaton, he seems like a sabaton guy… No, he’s too extraverted for that, maybe green day or imagine dragons?”

Rogue nodded along, “Yeeah that sounds right.”

Sting continued to hum along, mumbling the lyrics to himself quiet enough that nobody would be able to make them out, “The wheels on the bus go round and round… round and round…”

And the bus journey continued, though a few rows forward, nothing good was happening. Lucy watched on with a depressed expression, seeing Erik sitting with Erza and her friends, barely able to keep his composure as he tried to make conversation, it was bad enough seeing Erik fall for someone else, but it hurt all the more that it happened so quickly, and so desperately. Did Lucy and Cobra really have nothing between them? Seeing Cobra try to talk to her reminded her of something, she couldn’t put her finger on what though. She simply stayed there alone by herself, and leaned on the window, not caring anymore about the mild pain that came with the bumping of the glass as the bus moved along the road. She closed her eyes and wallowed in her sadness. Until she could feel a presence sitting down next to her.

“Hey kiddo, you okay?” Professor strauss asked, holding his flask in his hands between his legs as he looked at her, his gaze showed an odd sincerity that she hadn’t really expected him to be capable of. She looked up from the window and paused, unsure how to answer. She settled on shaking her head.

“Wanna tell me whats buggin you?”

Lucy lets out a sigh, “Just… stuff… you know?”

“Ah to be a teenager… technically. You’re under 20, right? Whatever. I don’t miss being a teenager, It kinda sucks… nowhere near as much coffee as being an adult… expectations are high and the world decides your hormone addled brain is its best for making lifelong decisions…”

Lucy looked at Professor Strauss, not sure what to get out of that.

“I’m rambling, sorry… point is, you’re a good kid Heartfilia- no, Lucy. You're friendly, you’re a high achiever in all your classes and you’re one of the few students that I actually don’t mind. My best advice for you is to relax a bit more, it can’t be healthy getting that many A’s… whatever it is that’s on your mind, just know that there’ll always be extra chances, even if it doesn’t seem like it, so enjoy yourself while you still can.”

He laughs a bit and continues, “Being my age sure isn’t what its hyped up to be… no more life changing decisions sure, but when your mental health depends on a coffee machine being added to school… well, that’s when you know your getting old…”

Lucy managed to smile slightly, some of the things he said were a bit bonkers, but she took away some good things from it, “Thanks professor Strauss, that really helped…”

Strauss playfully ruffled her hair, “Still doing my job well then, try enjoy yourself a bit, school trips are fun and we’re nearly at the museum.” He said, getting up and heading back to his own seat.

Lucy felt a lot better.

Chapter Text

After a journey of staring longingly either out the window, or at sting, Rogue’s excitement reached a whole other level once they arrived. He grasped Sting’s shoulder (Something he would never dare do without the confident excitement of this school trip) and shook him, “We’re here!!!!” he squealed, “Come on come on come on! We need to go to the museum!” he practically screeched.

Still cool as a cucumber, Sting stood up, “Relax, the dragons aren’t going anywhere.” He made his way out of the bus. It seemed he was more eager to get the backseat of the bus than to see the museum itself. Rogue though, Rogue could barely contain himself, he had genuinely considered crawling under the legs of everyone ahead of him to get to the front, but he didn’t want to scare Sting like that so he decided against it.

Lucy on the other hand, was pretty excited, the museum looked nice. Dragons were pretty similar to snakes after all. She stepped out of the bus and looked around with a smile, she was in a better mood… until her gaze lay upon Erza and Erik, who were chatting so casually, none of that spy business, he was just happy and relaxed, then she was depressed again. Next to her stood Hisui, who was equally depressed, but for many different reasons. She didn’t want to be back at school, she was meant to be the king of fiore. This wasn’t fair. And now her bodyguard had wandered off with some girl, what on earth was she meant to do now?

Frogue had been sticking to the back, he couldn’t help but feel excited for this. He wasn’t quite as excited as rogue, he hadn’t read much about dragons as of late so it wasn’t something he had thought about very much. He still did always want to go here before his sting had died. Still, he was here to chaperone, and he began his work by heading over to see Hisui and Lucy. His own Lucy had been incredibly useful in his journey to ASMR fame, though he never did end up meeting Hisui in his world. He walked over to the two of them.

“Hey guys, are you alright?”

“No.” they both responded in unison, arms crossed and pouting.

“that’s… bad. Hey! What if you both stroked my cat ears? They’re really soft.” He said, with a :3 type expression, he leaned down for them. Both seemed skeptical at first, until he pulled their hands up onto his cat ears and he began purring. It was surprisingly therapeutic, and Frogue was liking it too, which was another plus!

“Hey, Hisui! Wanna come watch me text my boyfriend? I might let you text him if your lucky!” Yukino called to hisui, who was snapped out of the catboy trance. Hisui still had friends, if she couldn’t rule fiore, at least she had some people to help her get through the hellhole that is called dragon slaying academy. So she headed over to Yukino to see what all the boyfriend hubbub was about, leaving Lucy and Frogue to enjoy eachothers company.

“So, why are you sad anyway?”

“Oh, it’s a long story…” she sighed, “Thanks again for saving us all from Juvia that time…”

Frogue blinked then chuckled, “Oh, no problem… You wanna talk about it with me?”

“I guess I don’t have much better to do…”

Meanwhile, Rogue was dragging Sting (the most skin to skin contact Rogue’s probably had with sting thus far) around the front of the museum spewing random facts and trivia about the place.

“Did you know, this museum was once used as a meeting point during the great dragon wars? Did you know that the writer of the ultimate dragon tome actually visited this place in his travels? Did you know? Did you?!” There was a good reason as to why Rogue was never brought here with his dad.

“Heheh… I didn’t, that’s pretty cool Rogue…” Sting responded, scratching the back of his head. With Rogue by his side telling him all this, his grades were sure to skyrocket. Even if he barely understood what Rogue was saying with how fast he spoke.

“I know!!!! EEEEK!!” Rogue squealed.

Professor strauss gathered all the students (and chaperones) together so that they could begin the tour of the museum, and perhaps the second most exhausted and depressed person came out of the museum, second only to Strauss. Rogue really didn’t understand how anyone could possibly come out of the museum with anything other than a huge smile on their face.

“Hello everyone, welcome to the National Fiore Museum of Dragons and Dragon history, or for short, NFMDD. Today I will be your tour guide, my name is…” the tour guide took off their name badge and pocketed it, “None of your business. Let's get this over with.” He said, heading into the museum, Rogue forced him and stings way to the front of the pack, and when he finally entered the building, Rogue knew he would die happy. They were only in the reception area, but it was like he was in heaven, dragon memorabilia everywhere, paintings, statues, gift shops?!?! Rogue knew that he would never leave this place. He clung to Stings arm like a cat, nails digging painfully into his arm. Sting, was blushing through the pain, this feeling was… nice, being held like this. It was different from Sorano since this time… he sort of wanted it, maybe a bit less rough though. Trying to keep Rogue from going crazy, Sting helped pull him through the reception area so they could follow the tour guide.

The first room they entered was dominated by a HUGE dragon skeleton, which Rogue recognised immediately. The tour guide began to speak.

“So everyone, you might have heard of this dragon, because of the horrors it caused about 400 years ago, it’s name is-“

Rogue interrupted him, shouting “SCISSOR RUNNER! I- I KNOW SO MUCH ABOUT IT! IT- IT KILLED 800 PEOPLE IN ONE NIGHT AND ITS ROAR COULD TOPPLE BUILDINGS! BUT IT WAS KILLED IN THE END BY-“ Rogue shortcircuited, realising an association that had never occurred to him before.

The tour guide let out a resigned sigh, “Sting eucliffe the first, when he hit it with a powerful blast of magic in its weakspot, created by an unknown third party.”

Sting also shortcircuited, looked aside while pondering, looking away from Rogues adoring gaze, as it was too distracting. Then he points up in realisation, “Ooooh! That makes so much sense!” he says as the tour guide continues talking.

“What makes sense?” Rogue asked, not wanting to waste a second more not knowing what he was about to say.

Sting pulled out his birth certificate (which he had on him for some reason???), “It makes sense now why I’m named Sting Eucliffe the 14^th on my birth certificate.”  He showed the birth certificate to Rogue, and it was true. First name: Sting, Middle name: Eucliffe, last name: The 14^th. It made perfect sense logically.

“Hang on how come my dads a dragon then?” he shrugged, “Who cares, look at the dragon rogue, it’s cool.” He says. Turning rogue back to the tour guide who was in the middle of telling the story rogue had read hundreds of times before.

The tour continued and they kept moving through the different rooms. Sting hadn’t really been paying attentions to the words being said, but he sure felt like he was getting smarter. By the end of this, Professor Strauss would have no choice but to start calling sting ‘Sting Euclie” because there would be no F’s in his test papers for dragon studies. After a while, they were at a smaller dragon, this one wasn’t a skeleton, it was just stuffed. Only issue was that it was overstuffed so it just looked silly, so it did get a few laughs out of the class.

“This dragon was known for its attacks on various places in Fiore, such as Gazania, Magnolia, some also rumoured that it was also a part of the storming of the beaches of Akane.” The tour guide droned on, until he was interrupted by Rogue.

“Erm, actually,” Rogue started, poking his glasses further up his nose, “The storming of Akane beach occurred after the dragons death, and it was actually the dragon known as Lavabreath who was rumoured to have been involved in the storming of Akane beach.”

“I- that’s not-“

Professor Strauss let out a chuckle, “The kid’s right, I wrote my thesis on that battle, it was Lavabreath.”

The tour guide narrows his eyes and mutters under his breath, “Dragon nerd… anyway-”

“WHAT WAS THAT?!” Sting stormed to the front of the pack and grasping the scruff of the tour guide's uniform, “Say that again and I’ll punch you in the face, your just mad that Rogue is smarter than you, faster than you, more handsome than you, better than you.”

“I- I hardly think that-“

Sting punched him in the face and threw him away to the floor, he turned back to reassure rogue, “Rogue?” But he was already running out of the room in tears, Sting sprinted after him, “ROGUE!”

Rogue had taken far worse from the likes of Bickslow, and many others, names like that weren’t new to him, but this trip was meant to be perfect, he had loved every second of it. He just wanted to prove himself to be worthy of being here by showing his knowledge, but he was shot down by the tour guide like he was just getting bullied by bickslow from back in the day. That hurt a lot.

Frogue, who had only really been paying attention to his conversation with Lucy, perked up at Sting shouting for Rogue, he looked to Lucy and took her hand, “I’m sorry, but I cant keep chatting with you, Rogue needs my help, and as chaperone, I cant let Professor Strauss down.” He went sprinting after his past self, leaving Lucy to watch in awe, and professor Strauss with a hint of a smile on his face. maybe there was hope for Lucy with love after all. Then it finally clicked and she snapped out of her Frogue induced haze, Rogue was in danger, she could still help, so she chased after them.

Professor strauss sighed and looked to the tour guide, “The kids life has been building up to this moment, I might get fired for saying this but you deserved that, true as what you said may be.” He chugged the rest of his coffee and looked to the others, “Alright kids, I cant just have 3 students and one chaperone running off like that, I’ll go find them and sort this out. Fiore, your in charge while I’m gone.” He says, before walking off, he was still taking his time. He would need a lot more coffee if he were going to run. And better knees.

Hisui looked up from Yukino's phone and around at the students, all eyes were on her. She hadn’t been paying much attention, “Huh?”

Meanwhile, Sting had found himself to be at a crossroads, he was in a larger room with lots of doors and he had no idea where Rogue had ran off to, all hope seemed lost until 2 sets of footsteps caught up with him.

“Where did he go?” Frogue asked, looking quite worried for Progue.

Sting shook his head, “I don’t know, he must have went through one of these doors, but there’s too many…”

Lucy paused then looked up at Sting, “What if we split up?” She didn’t particularly hold Sting in high regards because of how Rogue felt about him, but this wasn’t about Lucy and Sting, nor Sting and Rogue, this was just about Rogue.

Frogue and Sting nodded, “Good idea.” They said in unison, Frogue blushed, and they each split up, taking a certain area of the museum (It was a huge museum).

Lucy had focussed on the reception, gift shop and attached restaurant, in case he decided to surround himself in dragon plushies and keyrings. Sting decided to focus on the areas they had already been to in the museum, and Frogue headed to the exhibit where he thought would be Progue’s favourite.

The search was pretty long, but Sting had a feeling he knew where Rogue might be. And he was right. He entered the exhibit and looked up, atop the scissor runner skeleton, there sat Rogue, sitting on the back of the dragon.

“Rogue, It’s not safe up there! You should come down, before you get hurt!” He called up to Rogue, who peeked down from the dragon, and shook his head. Tears were still lingering around his eyed, he wasn’t ready to come down.

Making his way towards the skeleton, through the barriers, Sting leaned up on one of the dragons paws, accidentally causing one of the claws to break off from the sudden force. He ignores it, not the time for that.

“Is this about the tour guide guy calling you a nerd?” he asks sincerely, looking up at Rogue with sympathy, something he rarely showed for anyone.

Rogue nodded.

“Well… your not a nerd Rogue… if you asked me this a year ago, I would have probably said you were but…” He lets out a sigh, unable to bring himself to look at Rogue as he speaks, setting his backpack down on the ground beside him, “You’re so much more than something only one label can cover. Your smart Rogue, really smart… I don’t know anyone smarter. If anyone ever tries to tell you that that’s a bad thing, then… I’ll punch them, really hard, just like I did to that tour guide.”

Rogue’s eyes were sparkling, he looked down at Sting, cheeks a similar colour to how Scissor Runner looked, before he was just bones in a museum.

“And… And Rogue, I want you to know…” Sting began, “I… I think… I think I l-“

The doors burst open and Professor Strauss and Frogue stepped through, followed by a squad of museum guards, “There he is, let’s get him down.” Strauss let a sigh of relief and made his way to the velvet barrier between them and the exhibit. He called up to Rogue, “Kid it’s alright, these guys are coming to help you down!”

The guards brought their ladder over and set it up, allowing Rogue to climb down to safety, before he, Sting and the others were whisked away from the scene. Outside the museum, Strauss let out a sigh, “I understand why you both did what you did, but the higher ups at the museum probably won’t, so to avoid charges being pressed against you, we’re going to have to cut your time at the trip a bit short. Frogue will bring you both back on the bus a bit early and you can call your parents or whoever afterwards to take you home early. Is that clear?”

The two nodded, both could barely contain their grins for differing reasons.

“Good, now head on to the bus, and enjoy the rest of your day. I’ll have to head back to see the others, they probably haven’t managed all that well with Hisui leading them. Oh, and… Rogue, Sting, you probably won’t be able to come back here without security stopping you… sorry about that.”

The two headed on to the bus, Frogue followed a bit behind, and they got onto the bus. The 3 of them sat at the back row, with an empty bus all to themselves, Rogue was sad again, Sting didn’t care as much for himself but he knew Rogue would be gutted, so...

“Hey, Rogue…” he grinned and put a hand on his shoulder, holding his bag out, “I got you a little something while nobody was looking…” he set his schoolbag on Rogue’s lap, it smelled so good, just like Sting… “Open it up.”

Reluctantly, Rogue unzipped the bag, and… there in the bag lay… the dragon claw from earlier. Frogue peered over Rogue’s shoulder and giggled at the sight of it, looking to sting, “Oh my goodness, your horrible…” he said playfully, “That could get you arrested.”

Sting shrugged smugly, “Well if my great great great great grandad killed the beast that owned it, I’d say that it’s mine more than it is the museums. Which means it’s now yours.”

Neither of them could argue with his logic, Rogue could barely contain his excitement, he threw his arms around Sting in a tight hug, he couldn’t keep it to himself after such an act of kindness.

Just at that moment, Lucy had got onto the bus, making her way to the back, sitting next to Frogue. It hurt a bit, seeing Sting get what Lucy so desperately wanted, but Frogue was still there for her. She sat down next to him and he placed a hand on her shoulder to reassure her, giving her a little nod. Then she held out a plastic bag, “I figured you would be quite sad after what happened, so while I was in the gift shop, I got you this…” she sets the bag next to him.

Rogue lets out a gasp and takes the bag, peeking inside, he takes out the gift and holds it up in delight. A plushie version of Scissor Runner. He hugged it close against him, “Thank you so much… This is amazing… You guys are the best…”

Despite all the bad things that happened today, the ride home from the museum was a happy one.

Later, back at the Cheney household.

“So you both enjoyed your trip then?” Skiadrum asked with a smile.

The two Rogue’s nodded happily.

“That’s good, I know how excited both of you were to go to it…” the two headed off to their room, but Skiadrum put a hand on Rogue’s shoulder, “Rogue… there’s something I’d like to talk to you about.” He gently guided Rogue to the Living room and sat him down on the sofa, pulling a chair over and sitting opposite him.

“What is it Dad?” Rogue asked, tilting his head, holding his bag on his lap as he leaned in.

“Rogue… I’ve had a chat with an old friend and… we’ve arranged for you to get a job, working for him. To get yourself a bit of cash… Heh, I won’t be able to pay for your dragon books forever you know…”

Rogue gasped. A job? Rogue had never even considered getting a job until now, it seemed so unnecessary, too much effort. But… maybe it was best for him.

“Now, don’t worry, you should be in your element, you’ll be starting this weekend and you’ll be working in… a cat café…”

Chapter Text

It was a sunny morning, and Rogue was woken up by the curtains being pulled up, “Progue! Wakey wakey! Today’s your first day of work, so you need to be there with plenty of time to spare, come on!” Frogue said enthusiastically as he and Fresh pulled Rogue out of bed so he was standing. Barely able to open his eyes, Rogue did a big stretch, like he had seen fresh do sometimes. It helped.

Before he knew it, he was dragged to the bathroom and was having his teeth brushed by Frogue, it felt kinda sensual admittedly, and Progue leaned into it a bit, mostly from the tiredness. Rogue could get used to being pampered like this.

After his teeth were brush and his breakfast was spoonfed into him, he headed to his room and got the skeleton of what used to be hid cat ear headband, if you put them in a box of metal coathangers, it would take at least an hour to find them. Rogue knew this from experience, that was a very stressful day he was glad to put behind him. Once he reached the front door, Fresh, Frogue and his dad stood there ready to wave him off.

“I’m so proud of you son, you’re doing so well for yourself…” Skiadrum said, wiping a tear away.

Frogue nodded, “Your going to be amazing! Here, have some coffee before you go, It will help, trust me.” He passed the cup to Progue, who reluctantly sipped it.

He now knew why Professor Strauss drank coffee so originally, he was thinking at 100 miles per hour and could see even the slightest movements. The concept of sleep no longer existed to him. His eyes were in a permanent state of openness.

Skiadrum let out a chuckle, “Alright, lets get going now, I’ll give you a lift.”

He opened the door up and looked back. Rogue was gone. He looked to Frogue for answers, who in turn pointed outside, where his past self was simply a blur of motion that kept getting faster.

“He’s going the wrong way” Skiadrum said quietly, before calling out, “THE CAFÉ ISN’T THAT DIRECTION! He’ll find his way there probably”

After about 5 minutes of running around the entirety of fiore, he found his way to the café. Most of the coffee from before had wore off, but he had enough in his system to keep him excited for work and ready for action. He headed into the café, it was a dream, scratching posts, catnip, people who liked cats?! It was perfect. He began to prowl around and found a table, he didn’t see who was sat there but he dropped onto all fours anyway, rubbing up against the man’s legs under the table, nuzzling his head against it and making fake purring sounds with his mouth, he loved it, the mans hand even went down to stroke him, but froze when it met his back, he looked under the table, Rogue looked up at who he was stroking. Both of their faces turned to sheer horror at the other person stroking them. Rogue had been acting like a cat around… Rogue had made a fool of himself in front of… Professor Strauss…

Rogue scurried out from under the table on all fours. Why was Professor Strauss here?! What was happening, he was never going to let this down. Way to make a good first impression on his employer. He quickly got to his feet and called out to everyone, “Nothing to see here everyone… heheh…” Only a few people had noticed him, but now everyone in the café had their eyes on him, before they turned back to their food.

His rushing thoughts and anxiety ended up being interrupted by a not very painful, but quick and repeated smacking to the back of his head, it almost felt like he was being bapped, like how Doug used to sometimes. Either way, it snapped him out of whatever was going on in his mind.

“So you’re skiadrums boy, eh? I suppose I can work with this…” A voice behind him said casually.

Slowly, he turned, and was surprised to see… a catboy, just like Frogue! This one looked a lot more serious though, wearing a suit and tie, as well as some stylish sunglasses.

“I’m Loke, I’m going to be you’re manager. I have high hopes for you if you’re anything like your father.” He gave a friendly business smile and offered a handshake.

Weakly, Rogue gave him a handshake in return. Loke gave him a disapproving look, though he turned around before he could catch it. “Come, let me show you around.” Loke deflected, leading our protagonist through the staff door, bringing him into the kitchen. It was filled with cats, there were no humans in there. There were cats, and they were making pastries. One of them wore a little chefs hat and worked the oven, another adorably kneaded dough with their little paws, and one was washing dishes (though they were very careful not to make contact with the water, being cats and that).

“You will be working as a waiter and cashier before your break, and you will receive training to work in the kitchen after your break. Your break will be at 1:30pm, you will get 15 minutes, and you will be happy about that.”

“Yes sir!” Rogue said with a salute, undeterred by the long hours and high workload. Sting would surely be proud of him by the end of this, he was the first one Rogue told about this first after all.

“That’s the spirit, now put on your uniform, get to work, and for the dragon gods sake, take off that piece of wire from your head.”

Rogue nodded, ready to make Loke proud. He headed to the bathroom and changed into the uniform he was given. It was uncomfortable, and lacked cat ears, but it was seemingly all he was going to get, and that was fine. Suffering was necessary to make a living, right?

Before he knew it, he was on the shop floor, watching with jealousy as the cats got to be  without uniforms, fluffy, purring and happy. They didn’t have to wait tables, didn’t have to earn money, didn’t have responsibilities. He just wanted to curl up in some random customers lap and sleep as they dote on him. At the very least, Strauss seemed to have left, so he was safe of that embarrassment for now

The first order came in and Rogue took it, a plate of delicious food, that he had to give to someone else instead of eating himself. He headed to the table and gave them their food.

“I hope you have a nyanderful day at Loke’s cat café. Enjoy your food.” Rogue said dully, before leaving to get the next plate. As he continued, he began to notice something, something so unfair… there was Loke, doing EXACTLY what Rogue wanted to do, he got to be all cute, going up to the customers, rubbing against them and receiving their praise, it wasn’t fair. This job was torture for Rogue.

The shift continued, Rogue was still waiting tables, he felt like the only human employee there given all the work load, all while the cat employees harassed him by rubbing his leg while he walked, trying to trip him up, or by purring smugly at him while he was working. He would rather do 5 more maid café events than this for one more hour.

As if things couldn’t get any worse, he was heading to a table of two to get their order. The two at this table just so happened to be the two WORST PEOPLE EVER!

“Oh! Well if it isn’t my second favourite merchandise model! What a surprise seeing you here! Me and bicky here have been going on sooo many dates, we couldn’t help but come to the best cat café in town…”

“How can I take your order” Rogue asked through his teeth. He was getting seriously stressed out right now, heart beating, barely able to keep still, it was horrible.

“Oh, well I think me and my boyfriend here would like your finest kitty muffins. Isn’t that right Bick bick?” he said, pressing a sloppy kiss to the side of Bickslows face. The sight made Rogue want to throw up, the sight of the drool stain below bickslows tongue almost made that come to be.

“2 kitty muffins coming right up…” he scowled, heading to give the order to the chefs after leaving. He takes a moment to go to the bathroom, an excuse to calm himself down.

Meanwhile, just outside the cafe.

Sting finally managed to find this place after an hour of searching. Doug refused to come for some reason, so that did make things harder. But this for Rogue, that was what mattered. He had this all planned out, he would go in, make a mess, be a Karen, shout for the manager, shout at the manager, then Rogue would come in and use his amazing charisma and charm, to which Sting would back down and leave. Rogue would look like a hero for everyone, and he’d be surely promoted. Maybe telling Rogue about this plan beforehand would be a smart idea, but it was too late for that.

He burst through the café door and put on his best angry customer voice. “THIS PLACE IS OUTRAGEOUS! The food is disgusting, the area is dirty, It’s horrible here! I will be sure to leave a poor review unless I can see the manager RIGHT THIS INSTANT!”

A suited catboy got up from one of the booths and calmly made their way over, “Is something wrong, sir?”

“Something wrong? SOMETHING WRONG?!?! I DON’T THINK I CAN NAME A SINGLE THING THAT’S RIGHT HERE!”

“Sir, if you would just relax I’m sure we can-“

“NO! You relax, this place is horrible, nobody should go here, I bet it has rats all over the grounds!”

Some of the customers began to look a bit uncomfortable with the confrontation going on, cats left laps, customers left seats, Rogue was still nowhere to be seen.

“I’m going to have to ask you to leave then, if you are going to cause further issues.”

The manager was too calm, Sting needed to anger him somehow. Then he got an idea.

“And what are these anyway, a cat ear headband? It looks so stupid and unrealistic.” He grasps hold of both Loke’s cat ears and tugs on them. They do not come off. He’s met in return with a hiss and a bap to the arm, removing his hands instantly.

“DON’T TOUCH MY EARS YOU SLIMY SON OF A-“

“Hi Sting!” Bickslow enthusiastically called out to Sting, though he still clung to Lacarde’s arm.

Sting needed to make more of a nuisance, so he marches over to Bickslow and Lacarde’s table, grasps it, and flips it over, “HOWS THAT FOR TOUCHING?!!” he shot back at Loke.

The arguing didn’t seem to come to an end… Then Rogue returned, he felt even worse than before. Every single sound was too loud,  no matter where he went he didn’t feel better, he just wanted to curl into a ball and cry. He looked around, it was too much for him… then he saw the source of the most noise… and his heart broke. Sting… how could sting do this? He was already stressed enough, he couldn’t take this anymore. With tears in his eyes, Rogue marched over to the conflict and…

CRACK!

Sting stood there, shocked, hurt, surprised… he almost felt tears welling in his own eyes after what just happened, he was only able to speak quietly, “Y- you… you slapped me… Rogue..?” he sounded so betrayed.

All of Rogue’s tears came out at once and he ran off, thankfully it was time for his break, so he headed behind the building and cried into his arms, leaned against the hard brick wall. He couldn’t take this anymore, he just wanted to go home and be unemployed and live in his bedroom. Sting probably hated him now, he wasn’t even half way through his work… it was too much for him.

The back door opened. “please just leave me alone…” Rogue asked, though it sounded more like a  whimper

“Maybe I’ve been too tough on you... Maybe I wasn’t… maybe you just need time.” Loke spoke, ignoring Rogue. Rogue didn’t respond, so he continued.

“I’m used to treating people harshly because of my roots… we rarely take in new blood in the café… typically those we do hire require the rough treatment to do what we say though… all of us came from the same place. A gang… some of us were ninja, samurai, assassins… we robbed people for a living, it wasn’t much and it was dishonest work… but it made us tough. Those days were good, but we weren’t… the gang life wasn’t all I had known, really it was back in high school when your father bullied me that I resorted to gang work… but one day, one of our members betrayed us to protect some full human… I don’t remember the guys face or general appearance, but I remember that day, for all the comrades that were lost. Many of which I had known as family… those of us that survived decided to turn a new leaf, we started this business and took in any gang members who wanted to start a new life… it was successful, it was good…haven’t seen that traitor in a long time… but it was his actions that led to us getting better lives.”

“Wow…” Rogue could only respond, wiping his tears away.

Loke gave him a pat to the shoulder. “I’ll let you have 10 minutes extra of break, then you can get some lessons in the kitchen… I’m sure you’ll like it more, your father tells me you make good dragon cakes, you’ll fit right in with the others.”

With a sigh of relief, Rogue finally began to calm down. He could feel his phone vibrating in his pocket, surely texts from sting, he ignored them for now, he couldn’t bring himself to face Sting so soon.

After his 25 minutes break was up, he took a deep breath and headed to the kitchen. Loke stood there, expression back to seriousness as he looked to Rogue, “Great, you made it. This is the kitchen, you’ll need to learn many skills to grasp an understanding of how to work there, but you have plenty of time and you’ll be working in capable hands, rush hour and lunch have passed any way so the work will be easy to handle. The one leading you today will be Sous chef Lily.”

A black and white cat, barely bigger than Doug or Fresh, hops onto the counter, wearing a chef’s Toque and apron. He doesn’t speak, he simply gives Loke a nod.

“Panther, this is the new guy, show him the ropes, but be gentle with him, he’s still quite green.”

Sous chef Lily gives another nod and headed along the counter, beckoning Rogue to follow, and so his lessons begin.

The sous chef shows him the ropes, how to properly whisk, the best way to measure ingredients quickly and efficiently, how not to burn yourself on the oven. Rogue made many mistakes, but Panther Lily was a patient cat and he was thankful for that. He actually started to enjoy it after a while, even if the cat wasn’t much of a talker. Before he knew it, his shift was already over, and Loke had came over to see how they were doing.

“Panther, how has he been so far?”

Panther Lily gave 2 nods, and Loke gave what appeared to be a genuine smile, “Well done Rogue, I trust you’ll stay with us a bit longer?”

Rogue gave a determined nod, something he had learnt to do from his time with Panther Lily.

“Very good. Run along now, I saw Skiadrum’s car outside waiting for you.”

Excitedly, Rogue headed on out, and he could have swore he heard a near silent purr coming from Loke as he passed by.

“Soooo, how was it Progue?” Frogue asked from the front seat as Rogue climbed into the car. He leaned over the seat looking back at him with an excited smile. Skiadrum looked back too, expectantly.

“It was horrible…” Rogue responded, scratching the back of his neck, the others faces dropped, but then, “But… after a while it was pretty good, and I’d like to keep working there.”

The two cheered, “That’s great son!” he reached over and put a hand on Frogue’s shoulder, “Sting is going to be so proud of you, just wait ‘til he hears about this.”

Oh yeah. Sting.

Chapter Text

“A- and then to stop him from being like that, I… I slapped him.”

“Oh no, that’s horrible! Why would he do that?” Frogue asked, sounding worried.

“I don’t know…”

Frogue was… skeptical. It was completely unlike Sting and how he had been, even during the museum trip the worst he had done to break the rules was crossing the barrier to talk to Rogue, this was so strange. Frogue thought there was something more to this that needed investigated, but for now he should probably prioritise consoling his best friend.

“Well, whatever it was… I think you did the right thing slapping him… it might have hurt him but… he was being a total jerk to you and your boss!”

Rogue nods, “Yeah… thanks for saying that… I don’t know if I can believe its true for myself though…”

The car begins to pull up to the driveway and they head back in. That was when Rogue remembered the texts.

“O- Oh yeah, after I went on my break, he sent me a bunch of texts, I haven’t read them yet though… maybe, maybe you could read it with me? You know… two minds are better than one…”

Frogue nods quickly, “Definitely, I’ll do my best to help, wanna head to your room to deal with it now?”

Rogue gave the same kind of nod he learnt from Panther lily, he was ready for this, if really nervous still…

A few minutes later and they were on the bed, lying on their stomachs next to eachother, a bowl of ice cream in front of each of them. “Ready Progue?” Frogue asks.

“Yes.”

Rogue reluctantly turns on his phone and opens dragoncord. He’s immediately met by a  wall of messages.

Sting (13:36): Hey, Dude, u there?

       I just want to talk about what happened dude

Sting (13:37): Hey, Bro? You there?

                               Rogue?

Sting(13:40): I realise what I did was wrong, and kinda stupid

                             I just wanted to make you seem like a really good employee by giving you a chance to save the day, but it didn’t work

Sting(13:44): And I deserved to be slapped there, so… I forgive you.

Sting(13:47): Fine, you’ve forced it out of me, I’m sorry! I shouldn’t have done all that.

Sting(14:05): Please talk to me

Sting(14:07): [message deleted]

Sting(14:08): O rite, prob workin rn.

Sting(16:43): Pls text me as soon as u get a chance…

The two let a sigh of relief, Sting was sorry, that made things so much easier. Rogue took a big scoop of his Ice cream, before Frogue turned to him, “How will you respond?”

Rogue shrugged, “Can you help?” he asked, though his voice was muffled by the ice cream in his mouth.

A bit later:

Rogue(18:25): I forgive u, srry for slapping u.

Message read: 18:25

Back at stings place, he let out a big sigh of relief, texting back quickly.

Sting(18:25): Yay! Tysm tysm thank you!!!

                             I mean, thanks, I’m happy you forgive me.

Sting(18:26): Anyway… I may have 2 tickets to dragon con if you’d like to come with me… I didn’t buy them on purpose or anything

Rogue(18:27):LOIOSJAEFSKJCFLFMKLDRCJRSCTKRJK>GSKLRSEMVRYKELJSERLJCYSEKLCY

Sting(18:27): I just found them… on the ground, yeah! They were just on the ground there when I was walking around…

Rogue(18:28): I thought dragon con only did digital ticket purchases

Sting(18:28): Yes! Your right, yes, it was a memory pen… yeah, someone left a memory pen on the ground, that was it. Anyway, I’ll send you them now.

Sting(18:30): 2 Files attached

Frogue and Rogue squealed so loudly that the glass on the floor shattered

Chapter Text

Despite being an incredibly excited day for him, Rogue managed to sleep without preparing 7 hours early. A ticklish feeling against his cheeks and head slowly woke him up, he opened his eyes to see a whole lot of Frogue, who was on top of him to a point where his hair touched his face. “Hey Prooogue, guess what day it is… Mrrrrppp” Frogue’s tail was swishing side to side as he leaned in and rubbed his head against Rogue’s cheek.

Rogue was too tired to comprehend what was going on, as he felt another head rubbing against the other side of his face. He slowly turned his head, hoping it was Sting. It wasn’t.

“I’m fresh!” Fresh exclaimed.

Then it clicked.

Rogue grabbed Frogue by the tail and YANKED him off him as he shot up into a sitting position, “DRAGON CON!!!!!” he squealed, before launching himself out of bed, reaching top speeds to get ready. He was half way through eating breakfast and brushing his teeth at the same time (for speed and efficiency), his phone vibrated. Frogue, who was still recovering, picked up the phone and weakly called out, “Rooogue… Sting text…”

Frogue slowly got to his feet, he expected this would happen, and he was super excited too, so he woke up early and prepared early, some behaviours Frogue never managed to get over in his timeline. “Come ooon, don’t leave sting-“ he looked back to his phone to see that phone was gone from his hand, Progue was too fast whenever he was excited, it was unnatural. Frogue slowly made his way out of the bedroom and down the stairs, by the time he reached the door, Progue was there also, backpack on his back and wire frame cat ears on his head.

That reminded Frogue of something, “Oh! I forgot to give you this…” he reached into one of the drawers and pulled out… a wearable cat tail!

Progue let out a sqeal and hugged his counterpart tightly, “Thank you so much, you’re the… youre one of the best!!!” he took the cat tail and stepped back, trying to put it on.

Frogue let out a chuckle, “Well, no cat boy is complete without a tail. Come on, let’s go.” He handed Progue a mug of coffee and took his own, downing it all, “Last one there is a smelly dragon!” with a flash, he was gone.

Progue drank his mug of coffee and followed close behind, within 4 minutes, they made it to the convention centre.

It was truly beautiful, overflowing with enough people to fit inside the convention centre with a small amount of elbow room around them, the building was adorned with dragons, all of which Progue and Frogue could both recognise immediately, including the iconic red dragon itself. Had he went to the convention last year, he would definitely have prepared himself a costume to wear to the convention, but alas he didn’t have the time. Either way, he was happy to wear sting’s gift of cat ears, and Frogue’s gift of a cat tail, like a badge of honour.

“It’s just so cooool” Frogue said, watching over the area. For some reason he was wearing a large puffy coat, perhaps that was why he lost the race, either way Progue did feel quite bad for him.

“Yeah… sorry you don’t get to come with us, maybe next year you could come!”

Frogue chuckled awkwardly and nodded, scratching one of his cat ears. “Nyaaaah… It’s fine, this is for you and Sting. Enjoy yourselves, get plenty of souvenirs.”

Just as Progue was about to respond, his phone vibrated.

Sting (10:08 am): “Hey dude! I think we have a problem…”

Progue and Frogue’s hearts dropped.

Chapter Text

Sting(10:09am): “Accidentally went to the wrong place lol, srry…”

[image attached]

Progue and Frogue looked at eachother, then the image…

“He looks so good…”

“Yeah… the look suits him.” Frogue agreed, except he could barely hold back his laughter, as the image was a selfie of Sting doing a peace sign in a dragon onesie, a tutu, and with a bucket full of makeup on, surrounded by similarly dressed guys. A pink sign with big letters behind them says ‘DRAG-CON’

“Drag Con? Why would they name it so similarly?! This isn’t good,” Progue clenches Frogue’s puffy coat, “P-please… PLEASE tell me, that Drag-con isn’t far from here…” he pressed his head into the puff of the coat, crying into it’s softness, though it did little to hold back the tears. That cannot be said for the reassuring hand Frogue placed on his head.

“Relax Progue, it’s not far at all.” He gently turned his head by the hair to look slightly to the left of dragon con. To Rogue’s surprise, there it was, drag-con, right next door. Marching towards them was a very annoyed Sting, kicking the tutu off him, letting out an exasperated sigh as he reached them, then he smirked and gestured to his face.

“I mean come on, I don’t think anyone else could pull the look of a handsome guy in a red dragon onesie and a butt load of makeup.” He gave a double finger gun to the 2 of them. Progue clenched his heart like he might die of a heart attack from sheer handsomeness, Frogue politely clapped with a smile on his face, giving a little joking fox whistle.

After Progue recovered, Frogue spoke up, “I think I’ll walk you guys in, just to make sure you know where you’re both going…”

Sting shrugged, “Sure!”

Progue nodded in agreement, and that was it settled. The 3 of them walked into the convention together, side by side by side, with Progue getting the middle spot of course (He’s the main character, no matter what sting thinks of himself). As they stood in line for ticket admissions, Frogue cleared his throat and began, “Heheh… sorry guys, I might have tricked you a little bit…” before grasping either side of his puffy coat and ripping it open with a roar, sending insulation absolutely everywhere, revealing a green dragon onesie, “I’M GOING TO THE CONVENTION TOO!” he glanced down at the insulation on the floor, “Didn’t mean for that to happen…”

Sting wasn’t even paying attention, he was just picking up pieces of insulation off the floor as a snack for later.

Progue on the other hand, let out a surprised gasp and grasped Sting’s shoulder, “D- Did you hear that?! Frogue gets to come with us!!” Progue grasped the insulation in Stings hand and threw it up into the air, Sting didn’t respond, he was too mesmerised by the insulation, plucking it out of the air, even catching bits of it with his mouth, he looked so cute with the bits of white dusting his blonde hair.

Frogue let out an awkward laugh, “Yeah… so I might have bought a ticket from a shady dealer online for the rest of my chaperoning money… but it’s going to be worth it!”

“Yeah!” Progue responded, lifting his tail behind him up, like he’s an excited cat.

“Huh? Whatd you say?” Sting asked, looking back up from his coat insulation, now stuffed inside his pockets.

After about 20 minutes and a few minutes getting admitted, they finally made it into the convention… when they saw the area, Rogue went absolutely ballistic, he was moving at incredible speeds, weaving through the small crowds, taking pictures of everything on his low quality Ifiorne camera, he even got a dirty look from one of the security guards for harassing a dragon cosplayer.

Meanwhile, Frogue and Sting chuckled at the sight, watching. Frogue decided to try a little something, to confirm his suspicions…

“You know how he is with dragons, it’s like he has all the energy in the world. He’s so cute when he’s like that, isn’t he?”

“Oh, yeah, definitely.” Sting responded before he realised what he was saying, his cheeks went red upon realising what he had just said, he looked to Frogue, who had the most devious grin on his face as he looked at him. Sting turned away and nibbled on insulation in a desperate attempt to recover quickly.

Frogue however, was feeling daring. He had gotten over his feelings for past sting in the past while, partly thanks to how well he was getting along with Lucy, and that was a dangerous thing for sting now…

“Stiiiiing!” Frogue says in a sing-songy tone, “Do you have feelings for-“

“YOU GOTTA SEE THIS! THEY’VE GOT A GREEN SCREEN SET UP SO YOU CAN GET PHOTOS TAKEN WITH DRAGONS!!!” Progue shouts to them, saving Sting the embarrassment he was about to go through, letting out a dramatic sigh of relief.

The two were about to walk alongside him, when instead Rogue grasped both of them by the onesie sleeves and were dragged around the convention by Progue. All the while, Frogue was still smirking at Sting, oh how the roles had reversed, because Frogue knew what Sting was.

They arrived at the unenthusiastic photographer, who let them in in front of the green screen.

“Please remain within the view of the camera…” they droned

Frogue, ever the strategist, stood on the right side, an arm all the way around Progue and Sting, pulling them extra close to give them both a moment of closeness. Frogue had a grin and thumbs up, while the other two were looking at eachother with blushes on their cheeks as they tried to deal with the closeness respectively, Frogue’s grin was fuelled permanently by the knowledge that this moment was going to be immortalised in photo form…

The photo was taken and the moment was captured, Frogue handed over the money to the photographer for 2 printed photos, before passing them to Sting and Rogue respectively, “Now, where to next?”

Progue, leaping on the spot repeatedly, “Oh! Oh! Oh! I- I think I heard there was going to be a special section for ASMR! We could all go there! You’d be like a celebrity!”

Frogue’s eyes lit up at this idea, “There is? I could get so many new fans going there…”

Pointing dramatically, Frogue had made his decision, “Onward!” and now he was the one dragging the two of them, straight to the ASMR section, not even giving Progue a chance to tell him the directions. After 5 minutes of dragging (Not unlike stings activities before he found dragon con), they arrived at the ASMR section, which was surprisingly crowded compared to the rest of the dragon convention. It was also very quiet, everybody was whispering for some reason. There seemed to be quite a long queue in the middle of the area, and Sting spotted a familiar face.

“Is that Yukino, and her boyfriend?” Sting asked, squinting, he was about 60% sure it was, which was enough for him to confidently walk over. “Yukino! Eh… you! What are you two doing here?”

Progue and Frogue walked over shortly behind them as Yukino turned and waved, a big toothy grin on her face, “Oh! Hi guys! We’re here for a date! My boyfriend also  really likes someone who does ASMR that was apparently going to be here too! We would sometimes listen to their ASMR together for bonding!”

Progue gasped and shook Frogue slightly.

Frogue’s cat ears perked up under his onesie hood at the sound of this, and he stepped out, looking to Yukino’s boyfriend, “That artist wouldn’t happen to be frog ASMR, would it?”

Sting wasn’t paying much attention to the conversation, he was just eating some of his insulation stockpile, he was about halfway through it already.

Yukino’s boyfriend stepped next to Yukino and into view, he was wearing the wife tshirt again, it’s arrow pointing to Yukino. He was looking at Frogue like his head was on backwards.

“Oh no, it’s an artist called Scarlet ASMR, we’re in queue for a meet and greet.”

Frogue was seething with undying rage, “The queue goes that way, right?” he let out a little hiss.

“Umm, yes… but you’ll have to start from the-“ Frogue ran off in the direction of the front of the Queue.

“Back…” Yukino finished with a sigh, before pulling her boyfriend close and looking to Rogue. “Look! I got him to wear the Tshirt I got him for our anniversary, the one I showed you earlier! He thought it might have been a bad idea to wear it for whatever reason, but I made him wear it anyway!”

Yukino’s boyfriend was just about to open his mouth to speak, but Sting and Rogue had left already, not really interested in the conversation anymore, it was just yukino rambling again after all.

And so their dragon convention date continued, with one less member… now Sting and Rogue were alone. Frogue’s wingman game was put on pause, but maybe the most progression in their relationship was best made with the two of them being alone…

Chapter Text

Sting looked up from his insulation, what Frogue had said only reached his mind now, “Hang on why was your Frogue talking about frogs?”

The gears in his mind were turning… frog… frogue… in the asmr section of the dragon convention… frogue… asmr? Probably just a coincidence, Sting came to the conclusion, until Rogue responded.

“Y- yeah… It’s what Frogue calls his ASMR channel, because Frogue shortened could be Frog… One time he let me-“

“FROGUE IS FROG ASMR?!?!?!” Sting exclaimed, drawing the glares of every whispering asmr fan in the room. Sting fell to his knees, his whole world crumbling beneath him at this news… so many thoughts rushed through his mind… his breathing was quick, heartbeat like a drum… so did that mean that Frogue was the genius behind [ASMR ROLEPLAY] Your catboyfriend from the future comes back in time to save you [M4M]… who would ever think of such an amazing plot if not Sting himself or some variation of Rogue…

It made so much sense too, since Frogue had lots of experience as a catboy, of course he would make ASMR about it… which explained the masterpiece that was “[ASMR ROLEPLAY] Your adopted catboy falls in a cardboard box and can’t get out [M4M] [PURRING] [EMOTIONAL]”, the video he had listened to so many times on repeat, he could recite the entire script of it off by heart… It was so masterfully done, the dialogue was amazing, the voice was stunning, the emotion… did that mean that Frogue also created the emotional magnum opus that was ‘[ASMR ROLEPLAY] Your human boyfriend gives you an ear inspection while you drive [M4A][NEKO LISTENER]’? He knew the voice sounded familiar… he woke up crying by the end of that one, it was too good that he had to leave a comment on it (though he wasn’t completely honest about his reaction). He also had to keep himself anonymous so he used his alt ‘StingDaMan5’, because everyone knew him for being called ‘StingDaMan’.

Then it clicked to Sting, he was making a fool of himself in front of past frog asmr, he had to regain his composure, so he gathered his insulation, stopped hyperventilating and locked in. He got to his feet and brushed himself off, “Heheh… cool beans Rogue…” he gave a weak finger gun, “wanna go check out the Raffle? I hear they had some pretty cool rewards… sorry, I think I just caught something in my throat back there…”

“Yeah!” Rogue responded cheerily, suspecting absolutely nothing… almost. But dragon con came first, so he grabbed hold of Sting’s arm and began running with him to the next area.

They arrived at the desk selling the raffle tickets, Rogue looked at the prizes, admiring them. Some of the lesser prizes were keychains, Dragon sunglasses and caps, dragon notebooks, dragon encyclopaedias that Rogue already had, other common dragon memorabilia. Higher up were some of the real good prizes, like Dragon hoodies, dragon themed weaponry, detailed models of dragons, dragon themed lighters. One step up we had the REALLY good prizes, dragon eggs, even ethically sourced dragon skulls. The top prize was what truly caught Rogue’s eye… an absolutely amaing looking dragonscale cloak, said to have been adorned by Sting Eucliffe the first, using the scales of 7 different invader dragons that Sting solely slain.

“Yeeah, eyes on the prize kitty.” Sting said with a smirk. They reached the front of the queue and sting spoke, “We’re here to claim the 2 free raffle tickets that come with our tickets.” Sting took out his phone and showed it to the employee, who nodded and took out 2 tickets from the roll of them, passing them to the two of them. Sting

Meanwhile, Frogue had finally reached the front of the queue after 5 minutes of sprinting. Why on earth was it so long? Frogue didn’t know why, but he had the agility of a cat, or at least, ¼ of one, and like the stamina of someone who is barely a vampire. Even then, he was exhausted when he got there, practically dragging himself to Scarlet ASMR’s table… he leaned against the table, partly for intimidation, partly out of exhaustion and pointed at Scarlet ASMR.

“Eheheh, hi there… are you alright? The queue starts quite far back…” Scarlet asmr said softly

“You… You…” he panted, “You are a worse asmr artist than me…”

“Are you alright? Did I say something wrong?” the artist asked, still maintaining that perfect ASMR tone even in a tense, bizarre moment like this.

“Who am I? Who am I?!?!?! I’M FROG ASMR IRENE! I’M BETTER THAN YOU AT ASMR, BUT YOUR MORE POPULAR AND IT’S NOT FAIR!!!” he shouted, pointing accusingly.

“That’s Belserion to you, or Scarlet ASMR…” she whispered, before sneakily pressing a button under the table to activate a microphone, to which she whispered into, “We’ve got a Queue cutter, security, please escort this kind young catboy to the back of the line, thank you.” Before turning off the microphone.

Frogue was a quick thinker though, and he quickly spotted an exit, so he let go of the table and began running… only to collapse on the carpeted floor in exhaustion a few metres from the table, where security dragged him through the convention centre ASMR section to the very back of the queue, it would be at least 3 hours before he reached the front, as thankfully Belserion didn’t spend long with her fans in meet and greets.

Meanwhile, Progue was struggling to pick out a tshirt to buy from the dragon merch stall, Sting was watching on from the back, arms crossed, a smile on his face, he was so cool. He would never be this patient with anyone else. Rogue had so far narrowed it down to 4 choices:

1. Plain white tshirt that says “It’s a dragon thing, you wouldn’t understand.” In black text, which was a nice clean tshirt that would go well hidden under a jacket.
2. Plain black tshirt that said in a large box of text “I’m a DRAGON FAN bisexual twink who lives with his dragon dad and catboy vampire alternate self and might be desperately in love with his childhood friend/classmate/blonde person.”, which was perfect for Rogue because of how relatable it was, and the white text did go well with the plain black background
3. A pink tshirt with black text that says “DRAG” on the front and “ON” on the back, which did show how much Progue liked drag ons.
4. A plain black tshirt that says “I <3 CANADA” in the middle. It wasn’t a very good choice, too nerdy, but he needed a 4^th

Rogue had been staring at the options for 15 minutes now, so he turned back to Sting, “Sting, can you choose which shirt I buy? They’re all mostly amazing.”

Sting sauntered over, finally calmed down from the earlier incident, he looked at his options. Sting had to admit, the tshirts were all horrible, but then he imagined how they would look on Rogue… he quickly stopped doing that so the drool wouldn’t be noticeable. “Uhhmm… how about the first one? Can’t go wrong with it? You know what, don’t choose, I- Doug let me bring some money to spend.” Before Rogue knew It, Sting had stepped forward and slammed a 20 dragon dollar note on the table of the shirt seller, “those 4 shirts please.” He said, pointing to the shirts in question.

“S- sting you really don’t have to do that…”

“TOO LATE!” he responded a tad too loudly as he grabbed the tshirts and passed them to Progue, it was at that moment that his post purchase clarity kicked in, his expression dropped a tad, he pinched his chin with his large hands and after a minute, spoke up “Probably shouldn’t have got all those… wanna go get some lunch at the cafe?” He asked Rogue, who was trying his best to put all of the tshirts on, it was rather restricting. Once he got the last tshirt on, he nodded, “Lunch is good…” and that was it settled.

Lunch was… awkward, to say the least. Despite himself, Sting could barely bring himself to speak nevermind to come up with something to talk about, and Progue was facing his own battles, he was practically on a REAL date with Sting. This was different from all else, they were together, that was normal, but they weren’t with everything else. Prom was fine since it was the 2 of them and they agreed it was strictly platonic beforehand, but no such confirmations were made now, should he ask? Was Sting disappointed in Rogue? Why wasn’t he talking, Sting always talked, he hated how the 4 different shirts looked on Rogue didn’t he. Rogue was taking advantage of sting like this, Sting’s generocity was too much and Rogue peer pressured him into buying him 4 different tshirts! 1 of which he didn’t even like, it was very ugly.

The thoughts rushed through his head, and before he could stop himself, he opened his mouth and let out a “Mrooooow!”, it wasn’t like the usual nyahs, this one wasn’t out of happiness, it was out of fear, worry. And it certainly drew attention, even worse, and Doug wasn’t even there to cover him… he grasped hold of his cat tail and cuddled it close to him.

Finally, after ages of trying to calm down in front of stings unreadable gaze, he took hold of his burger and bit into it… it was a pretty good burger. It did well to calm him down, he looked up to Sting, “I- I like this burger…”

Sting blushed at the sheer cuteness he saw in Rogue (a cuteness only sting could see), he picked up his own burger and set it on Rogue’s plate, “Here… you can have mine too… I’m not hungry, I ate some insulation earlier.” Sting was always hungry.

“A-are you sure? That’s nice of you but… I don’t think I’ll be able to eat both of them…” he picks up the burger and sets it back on Sting’s plate, then he looks back to his own… he built up the courage and looked to sting again, “Why are you being so nice to me today? Like… nicer than you usually are…”

The words barely registered for a few seconds, before Sting realised, it startled him somewhat that he was being asked about this. It took him a moment to regain his composure, but then he took a deep breath and explained, “W- well… after the museum, I suppose I wanted you to have one good day without any… any of the bad stuff, you know? So… I thought I might spoil you a bit. You’re the nicest guy I know and you’re always there for me… so I want to be here for you too today, to say thanks… I suppose.”

The rest of the burgers were finished without a word spoken between them, but a consistent blush on their cheeks.

Frogue, at the other end of the convention centre, was incredibly bored. Here he was, halfway through the queue, with nothing to do, anger boiling deep down inside him. Moments later, he remembered something he could do, so he took out his fiorne and sent Lucy a text.

Frogue(12:46pm): “Hiiiii Lucy, U there? I’m bored and seething rn :3”

Lucy, meanwhile, was reading a book about snakes at her desk, with Plue wrapped comfortably around her neck, head resting atop her head as he slept… until she leapt from her spot as her phone vibrated, she picked up her phone and leapt onto the bed, “Pluee!!!!! It’s Frogue!!!” she squealed, kicking her legs as she lay on her stomach, looking at the text with the excitement of a snake inside a barrel of mice. Speak of snakes, Plue slithered up onto the bed and curled up on her back, a tad more reluctantly. Head poking out beside her shoulder to see the texts.

Lucy responded as fast as she could.

Lucy(12:47pm): “Hiiii Frogue!!!! Nope! Not doing anything important rn, Y u seethin?”

Frogue(12:50pm): “Ughhhhh, don’t get me started. So anyway, it all started when…”

Progue and Sting were walking through the convention centre in silence, until they heard a quiet high pitch sound, it reminded Rogue of Fresh, so he- wait, where even is fresh? Irrelevant, anyway, Progue looked to Sting and the two decided to investigate the sound, and were completely shocked to see Yukino through one of the door windows, sitting alone on the floor, in tears, mascara running down her face. Despite all the lack of care they had shown for Yukino, she was still a part of the Saber Tooth club, so they went over without hesitation, sitting down at the other side of the corridor, she looked at them, tears running down her cheeks, phone held loosely in her hand as her knees were bunched up at her chest.

“Yukino, is everything alright?” Rogue asked, looking at her with concern. Maybe she would like if he rubbed his head against her like a cat… maybe not.

But Yukino gave them both one look, then began to cry into her arms again. Rogue was lost, he didn’t know what to do at this point. Sting on the other hand, noticed her phone in her hand, it was still turned on, so he reached over and looked to see what it was on her phone, perhaps it would give them both a hint as to whats got her feeling so abnormally down.

She was too sad to resist having her phone taken from her and let them see it as she cried away, the two looked at the photo and it was pretty clear why she was so sad. On the screen was a photo at Scarlet ASMR’s booth, the photo of the ASMRtist herself, with an arm around Yukino’s boyfriend, who appeared to be a tad nervous.

“Oh… well, I’m sure if you wanted to be in a photo with them as well it wouldn’t be that big of a deal, one of us could hold the camera instead,” Rogue tried to offer. He was quickly interrupted.

“No! You- that’s not it…” she cried, “L- look at the shirt, look at where the arrows pointing!”

“Ahh…” Sting and Rogue both said in unison, looking back to the photo. The arrow on Yukino’s boyfriend’s t-shirt was pointing towards Belserion, and it seemed Belserion was aware of that, given the smirk on her face and the casual touchiness with the taken man.

“That bitch Belserion took my boyfriend from me… if I ever see her again I swear… I- I swear I’ll… it’s my fault! I shouldn’t have gave him that shirt, I hate it…” she begins to cry into her arms again. “I- I practically gave away my boyfriend, now he’s probably getting his ears whispered off in some private room…”

Sting gives her a moment and decides to ask, “Well… what happened after you took the photo?”

Yukino sniffed, “W- well that’s when I realised what had happened and I ran off…”

The two protagonists looked to eachother and gave a nod of mutual understanding, like they could read eachothers minds. There was still a chance to save this relationship. “You try cheer her up while I’m gone,” and with that, Rogue got to his feet and left the corridor, knowing his mission.

After a few minutes, he managed to get 2 birds with one stone, finding Frogue chatting with Yukino’s boyfriend outside the ASMR section of the convention, talking to one another. Progue walked over and looked at Yukino’s boyfriend. He seemed to be in a bit of a state, not as outwardly noticeable as his girlfriend was, but he seemed pretty bad, clothes a bit more of a mess than before, closed off body language, and his eyes looked red, as though he had been crying recently.

Frogue seemed to have helped though, given the situation. Frogue turned to Progue and began to explain what happened. “Did you hear about what happened?”

Progue nodded, “Yukino told me and sting…”

“Oh! Good!” Frogue exclaimed, “That means we don’t have to go through the trouble of finding her… Well, Yukino’s boyfriend explained everything to me, from his side at least. Apparently, it was a big misunderstanding, and he really wants to apologise to her, as does… that woman. He was devastated when I found him, you should have seen him before I used my ASMR videos to cheer him up… well, maybe you shouldn’t have seen him. Anyway, tell me everything you know,”

And so Progue began to recount the things he had remembered seeing and hearing from yukino. Afterward, Frogue nodded, “Alright, hopefully Sting’s done well at cheering her up. Let’s go.”

The other two nodded, and it was settled, though before Progue and Yukino’s boyfriend could scamper off, Frogue stopped the two, grabbing their shoulders. “Wait… the tshirt, you said she hated it now, he probably shouldn’t wear it, it would just be a reminder about what happened…”

Progue nodded in agreement, then paused, “Hmm, what other options do we- Oh!” he looked down at his own 4 tshirts, taking off the one at the top. The I <3 Canada t-shirt. And passed it to him.

Yukino’s boyfriend frowned at the sight, such an ugly, horrible shirt might just make her feel worse, it gave off horrible vibes. Then he came to a realisation, and simply put it on inside out, giving them both a thumbs up of approval. It was too big on him, mostly because it had been wore atop 3 other shirts and an entirely different outfit, but it did the job. With that they were off. It wasn’t long before they all arrived near the corridor, sting stood outside, looking a tad embarrassed. He approached the others.

“Well?” Frogue asked.

Sting let out a sigh, “I think I might have made things worse…” he patted Yukino’s boyfriend’s shoulder, “Good luck in there.”

Yukino’s boyfriend nodded in response and headed on, to the heart of the storm. Before he entered, he turned to the others, speaking for the first time in dialogue within this fanfic “You guys go on, I should do this alone…” he spoke, stunning all of them, except Frogue, who had been talking to him earlier. And so, he headed in.

The others stand in silence, before Progue broke it, “How about we go and see the raffle? I think they’re going to be announcing the results soon.”

Frogue’s cat ears perked up at the sound, “Raffle?”

Sting laughed, “Oh yeah! I was too distracted by all this to remember.” He takes out his ticket, “Let’s head there now.”

The 3 of them made their way through the convention centre yet again, but the worst possible thing happened (for sting) as they were walking. Frogue’s pupils were dilating, a lot. Having a cat back home meant that he knew there was only one possible reason… Frogue was going stupid mode.

“Hey Proooooogueeee! Guess what Sting Sting said about you whenever you were busy earlieeeerrrr!” He spoke in a singsongy voice.

Progue turned to him, a slight blush on his cheeks, almost but not quite like that of a red dragon “What did he say?”

Sting put his large hand over Frogue’s face to shut him up, “Nothing! Nothing! He said nOOOOthing!” he shot a glare at Frogue, “STOP LICKING MY HAND!” he shouted, pulling his hand away. After a brief pause, they all burst out laughing and kept walking for the raffle. It had quite the medium sized crowd, and the 3 of them stood at the back. The ticket saleswoman stands at the front with a microphone.

“Originally, Miss Belserion had agreed to announce the winner to this competition, but unfortunately she appears to be preoccupied, apologies everyone! Maybe next time.”

Members the crowd let out a sigh of disappointment, while Frogue was practically climbing on sting, yelling, “Ha!” before Sting pushed him off, forcing a yelp out of Frogue.

“Let’s get started, for the… yellow dragon notebook, we have number…” She reached into the hat of tickets and shuffled them, before plucking a number out, “12! Can number 12 come and collect their prize.”

Progue watched on in embarrassment and looked at his ticket. Number 151. Hopefully this would be his lucky number, he looked at Sting’s ticket. Number 258. The two of them had twice as high a chance as anyone in the crowd, that meant they had a good chance, right?

Time went on and they were getting a tad impatient, Sting got his hands on a dragon themed phone case, which he was happy enough with. they kept going through names until- “That’s number 151, number 151 for the red dragon model figure. Come and collect your prize, please come and collect your prize…” the announcer sounded so bored. Progue’s eyes lit up and he went to the front and thanked the woman, before taking the bubble wrap covered model, bringing it to the back with the others, beaming as he stood next to them.

They were about to leave, when Yukino pranced over, stopping in front of Frogue, “Hi guys! My boyfriend said you were really nice to him and talked with him earlier after what had happened between us, so he wanted me to give you this ticket someone gave him, he said it was as thanks.” She dropped something in the surprised Frogue’s hand, a raffle ticket. Number 301. Frogue turned to thank Yukino, but she had already ran off, they were glad to know that things were all well again with the happy couple.

Something caught his eye though, on the back of the ticket lay a red S. How peculiar.

“And for the… I’m not reading all that, for the fancy cloak, the winner for that goes to the special ticket owner.” She took out the envelope and opened it up, reading the number inside…

“Number 301.”

Frogue practically hit the roof with how he jumped at that news, he rushed on all fours through the crowd, around people, between legs, he truly didn’t care. He simply grabbed hold of the cloak, rushed back to the others and began to knead into the cloak. The other two clapped, happy for his victory.

“Geez, lucky guy.” Sting noted

But Frogue was already  wrapping himself in the cloak like it were a soft blanket, purring away.

“Is he…”

Progue let out a sigh with a smile, “He’ll be fast asleep when we finally get home. It’s getting dark out, maybe we should finish up on a high note…” he said, cuddling the bubble-wrapped dragon.

Sting nodded in agreement, and the three of them headed out of the convention centre.

Once they were all out of the centre, they each took a breath of fresh air. Frogue, still showing that he has the crazies, took many breaths. Frogue noticed 3 figures out of the corner of his eye, he recognised 2 of them and the third seemed somewhat familiar. There was Yukino and her boyfriend, but there was also another woman, red hair, dressed very similarly to Belserion, but what set this stranger apart was that she was wearing a dragon cap and sunglasses, so it definitely wasn’t Belserion. Whoever she was, she seemed to be getting on pretty well with the other two.

On Frogue’s other side, Progue turned to face Sting, “Hey… Sting?”

“Yeah?”

“w- well…” He blushed, unable to bring his gaze to meet Sting, with his free hand he grasped his cat tail and gathered the courage, “C- could we maybe… d- do this again sometime? I- I mean it doesn’t have to be this specifically… maybe we could do something like this sometime?”

“Sure, if it’s half as fun as this then-“

“L- like a date… just you and me…” Progue couldn’t believe he was saying this. Sting couldn’t believe it either. Frogue was on his back on the floor next to them, purring.

Sting was the one blushing now, unable to look at Progue, he was being asked on a date by rogue cheney, he was wearing a silly dragon onesie, he looked ridiculous  and Progue still wanted to go on a date with him, “I- Well- You- we- Heheheh…” he decided to settle for nodding

“Yesssssss” Progue whispered under his breath in celebration, he turned to Progue and grinned, Sting followed, crouching down with Progue as he began to rub Frogue’s dragon-onesie clad belly. Big mistake. Progue went home with Frogue with a bite shaped mark on his hand.

Chapter Text

After all that had happened the weekend prior, Rogue didn’t want to go back to school on Monday. But alas, the dragons called to him and at the very least, he’d be with Sting in school. Maybe they could plan their date, yes, that would be so exciting for him. With that motivation, he rose from his bed and prepared for school. Over time, the fact that he and sting were going to be going on a date soon slowly began to mix with his mood more and more, the man who he used to think was so far above him, was now accepting dates with him… that was special.

As Progue began to get ready for school, Frogue was still fast asleep, curled up on the air mattress, now on top of his new dragon cloak as well, purring in his sleep. Before he left for school, he crouched beside the air mattress and stroked that sweet spot between his cat ears, earning him a slightly louder purr. With that, he headed to school with a bit more of a spring in his step, a much faster spring In his step when he saw sting. He skipped on over to Sting and walked next to him.

“Hi Sting!” He smiled widely, feeling himself to be closer to Sting already as a friend… as something more special than that.

“Hey Rogue,” Sting responded with a bit less of a wide smile, but a smile nonetheless, “Dude, how are you so cheery on a Monday?”

Rogue wasn’t entirely sure if he should be honest about this. The answer was of course, the date. But he didn’t want to appear too desperate…

“Oh… you know, dragons…” he responded nonchalantly.

Sting shrugged, that answer did make sense with him. The walk to school continued, though it was filled with that awkward silence of not being able to come up with something to talk about because of the underlying topic that both couldn’t get rid of from their mind… the coming date. At least once they were in school, Sting could talk to his friends, and as usual, Rogue could enjoy being there too. Though recently it felt like Sting was trying to get Rogue more involved, he couldn’t help but blush at that.

Once they reached class, they were surprised to see Hisui up at the front, holding some papers, Lucy stood at the side. Both seemed to be dressed in track suits for some bizarre reason. The two took their seat, late to class, and watched as Hisui began.

“Greetings, my loyal subjects. Since becoming king- Sorry, president.” She gave a poorly hidden wink to Strauss, before turning to the class. “As the one in charge here, I have decided that some of us require more physical activities in our lives, so once a week every class will now have a 1 and a half hour long Phys Ed class in place of dragon studies for that day. This- “

Sting shot out of his seat and pumped his fist in the air; one foot placed on his desk “WOOHOOO!!! GO KING HISUI!!” he pulled off his jacket and swung it around over his head, “WE LOVE THE PRESIDENT!”

He notices Professor Strauss’ glare and sits back down reluctantly.

Hisui cleared her throat and continued, “These will be starting from today, and each class will have their lesson on a different day. You will be expected to wear appropriate clothing for the lesson, but for today and today only, you may take some of the schools own provided kits. You may all make your way to the locker rooms, the lesson will begin out in the hall, so meet up there. You are dismissed.”

Rogue really didn’t like the sound of this. He wasn’t a physical guy, couldn’t he just stay back and read dragon books? This was the worst day ever, he had now lost an hour and a half of weekly dragon studies, and he had to go outside and exercise and be active! This was a nightmare.

Sting really liked the sound of this. He was a physical guy, he couldn’t just stay inside and read dragon books. This was the best day ever! he had now lost an hour and a half of weekly dragon studies, and he got to outside and exercise and be active instead! This was a dream!

Sting was the first out of the classroom, Rogue was second, as sting in his eagerness, dragged Rogue out with him, almost knocking his glasses off in the process as he ran out. Once out of the classroom, Rogue struggled a bit and said, “S- slow down! I can’t keep up!”

Realising this, Sting slowed down to a walk alongside Rogue, “Heheh, sorry dude…” the two made their way down the corridor, until Rogue froze…

“Hey guys!” Frogue beamed as he walked over to them

“Frog? I- I mean, Frogue? W- what… I mean, what are you doing here dude? Hehe... Not that I’m disappointed… or anything…” Sting asked, seeming a tad nervous now in Frogue’s presence. It was fine before when he was crazy, since Frogue was being a bit of a lunatic, but this was different, he wasn’t just a silly catboy in his eyes. Progue was equally confused.

“Hi Frogue, yeah, why are you here?” Progue asked, noticing the plastic bag he was holding.

“Oh! I just came in because Professor Strauss really wanted to see the cloak I got at the convention! He seems really interested in it and if it’s real or not, so I got to come in to show It to him!” he held up the plastic bag with the cloak inside it, “I really shouldn’t keep him waiting though, have fun doing whatever!” he exclaimed, before strolling away. What Progue was left wondering was how Professor Strauss might react to all the hairs that have probably clung to the cloak by now.

But now Progue had other problems. The boys locker rooms. Rogue had heard the rumours of what the dragon ball team got up to when changing in there, he had heard that whenever anyone set foot in those locker rooms, they lost all sense of self control in seconds and immediately devolved into beasts driven on primal instincts and violent intent. Other rumours claimed that it was incredibly homoerotic, but if he remembered right, that was from juvia, when she was in the school. He wasn’t sure he could trust that rumour, which both relieved and disappointed him.

He turned to sting, deciding that if there were one reliable source for this, it would be the head of the dragon ball team himself, Sting Eucliffe. “S- sting?” he asked, unable to hide the nervousness in his tone.

“Whats up?”

“I- Is the boys locker room really as bad as they say?”

Sting let out a bellowing laugh, “HAHAHAHAH! Dude! You’ll love it, it’s absolutely awesome. Like a frat party and a bar fight mixed into one, but with more belts.”

Gulp.

Rogue didn’t like either of those things, and that dispelled neither of the rumours if frat parties were like what he’d heard from rumours and speculation.

“Come on! Let’s go dude!” Sting took hold of rogue’s arm with his strong, powerful hands, dragging him into the boys locker rooms…

Frogue let out an evil laughter when he knew the corridor was empty. Everything was falling into place, and Frogue wished to be the puppet master. Now he could move to the next stage of his plan. Part A was to get close to Sting and Rogue in school, though so much thought was put into that part that he hadn’t any plans for the next part. For now though, he’d show Professor strauss the cloak. It was his excuse to come to the school, but it wasn’t a lie. Maybe Strauss would see how good a blanket it truly was.

“Welcome back kid, let’s see if this thing is the real deal…” Professor Strauss said as Frogue walked in, sounding a bit less droney then usual, the closest thing he’d shown to excitement since the promise of coffee machines in the classrooms.

Frogue nodded and stood in front of the desk. An old memory flashing through his mind, a memory of a different time, when his timelines sting and him were staying after class to get the news that he had to tutor Sting to make sure he passed the exam…

“So… are you gonna show it to me?” Strauss asked with a raised eyebrow

Frogue snapped out of his nostalgia-filled daze and nodded, setting the plastic bag on the teacher's desk and pulling the cloak out, to which Professor Strauss began to inspect it.

“It’s definitely made from dragon scales all right… so it is one of a kind. But that doesn’t prove it was owned by Sting Eucliffe the first… the sprinkle of hairs inside the cloak imply it might have been owned by someone else, a demi-human, known for shedding… the different colours in hairs imply it could have had multiple owners… perhaps it was a family heirloom. I see green, black and white fur…”

Frogue pointed his finger up again and awkwardly spoke, “Ah, well… those are my hairs… and Fresh, the cat’s hairs. It’s very comfy, so me and them have been using it as a blanket to nap on…”

Professor Strauss doesn’t even look all that surprised. He had been teaching for at least 5 years, he heard more dumbfounding things from Sting on a weekly basis, including but not limited to:

• “I was late to class because my cat was playing fetch with me.”
• “I didn’t answer any questions, so I didn’t get any wrong. How did I fail?”
• “My cat spilled alcohol on my homework so I couldn’t do it.”
• “I’m busy tonight so I’ll need you to do the homework for me.” While giving finger guns.

So he simply let out a sigh, “Right, thank you for telling me. Lets see if there’s any other signs we can find…”

After all that happened in the boys locker rooms, Rogue Cheney was a changed man. He walked alongside sting, both were now wearing tshirts and shorts of varying sizes, where sting’s was unfortunately too big for him by several sizes, while Rogue’s was a size too small.

“See? That was pretty awesome. After they got the dragontooth speaker out, things really went up a notch, it was so fun.” Sting spoke, he seemed very passionate about what had happened

Rogue on the other hand, was still trying to wrap his head around what happened after he had that bucket put over his head, “Heheh, yeah…” he agreed, simply because sting was talking.

“Oh! Oh! One of the guys said he was going to get the barbeque set up for whenever we’re getting changed back into our clothes, it’s going to be a blast dude.”

Rogue didn’t even understand the logistics of that, all that had happened to him was too much.

“Oh, and don’t worry about all the trouble the guys were giving you. The upper years did the same to me when I first joined the dragon ball team, they’re just breaking you into the locker room life.”

Rogue still felt the pain of all those bruises over his body, he didn’t even know people could use belts like that. So many unimaginable things happened in that room, he just hoped whatever they were doing for Phys Ed would be less brutal. On the other side of things, the girls seemed completely fine, maybe their locker rooms weren’t as chaotic, he envied that. The 2 sets of students moved to stand in front of Hisui and Lucy.

“Alright everyone! Time to get physical!!!!” Lucy exclaimed, pumping her fist in the air. “Today, we’re first going to be playing… dodgeball! Now, gather in a line and we can get the teams sorted out.”

Everybody lined up in a rather messy line, but it would work for choosing teams. Rogue made sure to stay right next to Sting so he’d be in the same team as him.

Lucy stepped forward and began to give everyone a number of either 1 or 2. That would be how they determined the teams… Rogue had no idea what was coming until Lucy reached them.

“Rogue, you’re on team 1, and Sting, you’re on team 2…” before continuing.

Dread rushed through him, Rogue couldn’t face sting, he couldn’t! He loved sting, he didn’t want to accidentally hurt him, what if sting got mad and started crying? Never did the idea occur to him that he might be the one on the losing side. After a while, the teams were sorted out and captains were chosen.

Team 1:

• Captain: Erik
• Erza
• Rogue
• Minerva
• 3 unimportant nameless students

Team 2

• Captain: Sting
• Bickslow
• Sorano
• Yukino
• Orga
• 2 other nameless students (insignificant)

While the teams were discussing strategies, Hisui noticed Yukino was distracted, so she walked over and plucked her phone out of her hand. “Focus on the games and physical exercise yukino!” before walking back to her spot, ‘accidentally’ peeking at the messages that had been sent. She was tempted to take soranos phone too, but it wasn’t as interesting and she wouldn’t dare to think what

On Rogue’s side of things, Erik was making a very militaristic plan.

“We have 7 team members and so do they. I’ll remain at the back and provide support to the others by passing stray dodgeballs forward, Rogue, you can help me with that. You…” he looked at Minerva, who was facing the wrong way. She was very drunk. “You can stay at the middle area with you, and you.” He points to 2 of the other students. “The front lines will be taken by you, and… as she volunteered, Erza.” He looked to erza, hoping for approval.

“Hell yeah I am! Those guys won’t stand a chance!” she responded with confidence.

Meanwhile, Sting was coming up with his own strategy.

“Alright, Orga, and whatever you 2 students are called, you guys go at the front lines, you’ll be the most help in the way of the fire- I mean, protecting the backlines. I’ll remain right behind you guys and take out as many as I can with bickslow covering me. Yukino and sorano, ehh… you guys can stay at the back and I don’t know, provide emotional support? Do whatever. Alright, winners on 3.” He put his hand in the middle, the others followed (except sorano)

“1 2 3 WINNERS!” they said in unison as they raised their hands.

The games began. It was immediately clear that strategy wasn’t working out for either team, most of the team members abandoned all sense of planning and went wild. Many members were being lost on both sides, but the biggest cause of losses was by far on Erik’s team, especially from Erza. In just a few seconds, she had taken out 1 of the nameless students as well as orga, everybody heard it when orga was eliminated because of the loud wailing that filled the hall. Erza almost caught sting in the crossfire if it weren’t for bickslow who warned him in advance. Sting, on the other hand, had taken out 2 nameless students himself before realising he had to deal with erza somehow, she was clearly their strongest fighter. With both Cobra and Erza on the same team, Sting would need to do something to level the playing field.

The game for Rogue had become a desperate attempt at survival, he stuck to the back and avoided any danger… he would have tried to catch other people's balls if it weren’t for the fact they weren’t playing by rules that meant that mattered. He was useless… well, until a ball rolled over to him. This was his chance to take someone out, he scanned the other team for who could be a good target. Sorano was his first thought as she was still looking at her phone, but on closer inspection it seemed that despite that she was still doing well to dodge incoming dodgeballs, so instead he turned his gaze to the next best victim. Yukino. She seemed to be in a similar situation to him, only she didn’t have a ball of her own. He raised his ball, wound back, and threw the ball… he let go too late and it bounced onto the floor, right back into his hands again. Round 2. He raised the ball and threw it at her, it wasn’t going very fast but she hadn’t noticed it and it was on route to hit her… soaring through the air, Rogue imagined there was a whistling sound as it flew.

but a hand caught it inches before it hit her face… A seething sorano stood before Yukino in protection, she was angry, furious even. Phone abandoned, because the one thing she cared more about it was her sister. Rogue had made a big mistake. Sorano raised her leg high in the air as she got in position to launch it, before throwing it with the force of a meteor. “DON’T HIT MY SISTER YOU #######!”

the ball soared towards him, until he felt a hand grasp his shirt sleeve and pull him out of the way, where Rogue suddenly found himself behind…

“L- lucy? Your not meant to be playing,” Rogue stated in confusion.

“Gotta level the playing fields somehow… stay behind me, this is my battle to fight…” she picks up a ball of her own and stands ready… The two were throwing with such power and ferocity, it shocked Rogue, but it seemed the other was just barely too fast for their opponents throw when suddenly-

“SORANO!” Yukino called out, as a soft red ball collided with her face and sent her stumbling out of the ring. She went sadly to hisui to steal her phone back and text her boyfriend.

Sorano saw what happened, head turned, she clenched her ball with even more rage and looked around for who did it, her eyes locked onto erza, but before she could do anything she felt a ball hit her leg and a laughter coming from the other team.

“HAHAHAHAHH! SHOULDA BEEN PAYING MORE ATTENTION SORA!!” The drunken Minerva called out, pointing and laughing.

“MINERVA I SWEAR TO THE DRAGON GODS I WILL KILL YOU!” She screamed

The two of them left the field to have a shouting match off the pitch.

After having the one thing to keep her occupied taken from her, Hisui stood up and made her way to the pitch, deciding to join their team. Lucy did join Eriks team after all.

Sting was surviving, it wasn’t too big an issue, he had 2 balls in his hand and used them to block the throws of other players. With all his experience in dragon ball, dodging was second nature to him, so thankfully erza didn’t turn her attention to him, that meant she had already lost. Sting had finally spotted a moment, so he threw his first ball right at her. She caught it with ease, but sting just smirked, that was the second ball he’d thrown at her, the first was high in the air and…

“ERZA LOOK OUT!” Erik called desperately to his one true love.

“Huh?” erza looked over to erik in confusion

Bonk!

The soft red ball hit erza over the top of her red head, she seemed dumbfounded by what had just happened, then burst out laughing in realisation, taking herself off the pitch with a grin on her face at what had just happened. Erik hadn’t taken it so well, he let out a shout of anger, “AAAAAAAAAAAARGGGHHHH ERZA NOOOOOO!!!!!!” he looked at sting with red in his eyes, the man had nothing to lose anymore, so he was going to win. For Erza.

Erza was gone, and sting was laughing. Not paying attention. All of Agent Cobra’s training led to this moment. With tactical precision, he locked onto the distracted sting and launched the ball at him, sending it through the air like a bullet.

It hit…

Someone else.

Sting let out a gasp as he saw Bickslow, lying on the ground before him… he sacrificed himself for Sting. Sting kneeled, “You did well Bickslow, rest. You deserve it- WOAH!” another ball came flying straight for his face, so sting reflexively grabbed Bickslows arm and pulled him in the way of the hit like a human shield, before rolling to his feet again. Lucy being there was a big issue, she was feeding cobra a constant supply of balls so it lowered the window for Sting to land a hit. now standing alongside his enemy, he didn’t look away from Cobra, narrowly avoiding his next throw as he spoke to Hisui, side by side.

“Never thought I’d die fighting side by side with a princess…” he spoke, panting, he was getting tired.

“What about fighting side by side with a friend?” she responded, still full of energy and ready. She passed a ball to him and the battle began, “Focus on Erik…”

Sting nodded in agreement, too distracted by staying alive against Erik to notice rogue was still there. Hisui felt very conflicted doing this, Rogue was so nice, but he wasn’t looking, too busy reaching to pick up a ball, and he was an obstacle in the way of victory… so she reluctantly threw the ball, aiming for his chest, where she hoped it would hurt the least. She had to do this, but she wasn’t doing it happily, she was filled with guilt.

Rogue was standing up and turned to see the ball making its way to him, thankfully Lucy managed to catch it again, moving away from backing up Cobra to protect Rogue from Hisui. “Sorry boss, I cant let you take out Rogue…”

The crowd was mildly interested in what was going on as they watched the match.

Lucy and Hisui exchanged throws, but it was quickly clear Lucy wasn’t going to win this. She was tired already and her specialty required energy, that being dodging. She also prioritised Rogue over herself in protection, for the sake of Frogue, so she ended up being hit as hisui threw a ball at Rogue, and she stumbled on the way to catching it. Taking her out. With a direct hit to the gut.

“Good luck rogue, you can do this…” Lucy panted, taking herself out of the field and getting herself some desperately needed water.

Hisui decided for now, she should back up Sting, who was also running out of energy, so she stood between him and Cobra. “Stay behind me Eucliffe, Erik wouldn’t dare hit me…”

Now it was on for Sting, Cobra lost his backup now so he was slower to the throw, and he wasn’t going to throw as easily with Sting’s second human shield.

“Lets give them hell dude- Girl- Hisui- Whatever, lets just get this over with.” Sting grabbed hold of one of the balls and so did Hisui, their assault began. They threw a flurry of dodgeballs at Erik, but he was fast and his training had paid off, he flipped and slid and dodged each throw, until he leapt in the air and sting threw a ball towards him, which he plucked out of the air and in his spin, used the momentum to launch it. “This is for you Erza…” he launched the ball directly at his own boss. He failed as a bodyguard, but maybe he wouldn’t fail as a lover. The ball collided with her head and with a sigh, Hisui took herself off the pitch.

Cobra vs Sting had began, and there were no signs of them slowing down this endless battle.

“This cloak was definitely his alright…” Strauss nodded, surprised that they would really just give this to a random person at the raffle.

“How can you tell?” Frogue asked, cat ears twitching in curiosity as he tilted his head, looking at the cloak.

“It’s got a label on it, has his name written on it.” He unfolds the label to reveal in quill was the words written ‘Property of: Sting ‘awesome’ Eucliffe (number 1).’

“He’s definitely related to our sting.” Frogue can’t help his chuckle, “So what now?”

“Well… I’d like to keep hold of this for an hour or two to look into it a bit more, if that would be alright. In the meantime, you can go and do some more chaperone work with the others outside, they’re doing Phys Ed, I’m sure you can handle that.” He gives a little smile and sends Frogue off.

As Frogue leaves the classroom, he lets out a little Squeal. Everything was coming together! And the perfect plan was coming to him…

The battle continued, Cobra was fighting with all he could do avoid Sting’s firing. He was powerful, a harder throw than Erik, he was fast too. At this rate, he was going to lose, he was going to be a failure in the eyes of…

“Come on Erik! You can do this!” Erza cheered from the sidelines, that was the motivator Erik needed, his eyes travelled momentarily to Erza, sealing victory.

“Jackpot!” Sting had threw the perfect shot, using another ball as misdirection as he hit Erik square in the thigh mid jump. It was very similar to dragon ball, so on an even playing field, Sting Eucliffe was at the advantage. Erik fell to his knees and punched into the ground.

“DAMN YOU!” Erik shouted, though he was really just saying it to himself.

“Stand proud Erik, you were strong.” But Sting had run out of adrenaline to play through, and collapsed to the ground on his stomach. That game was long; Sting had been active in most of it. It was too much for him… but at least he had won now. He could rest.

Bonk.

Sting’s head was met with a gentle hit from the red foam ball… what had happened?! Had he miscalculated?! He looked up to see…

Rogue mother####ing Cheney.

Everyone cheered at the match finally being over, and Rogue… he smiled, he had done well and brought his team to victory. Sting couldn’t be mad at him, he just grinned as he got to his feet, putting an arm around Rogue, “Heh, well done dude, you caught me off guard there!” he brought rogue to sit with him on the bench with the others. A familiar face moved before them and stood in front of them while Hisui was looking over Yukino’s shoulder at her phone and Lucy was lying exhausted in the grass.

“Alright guys! For the next game, we’ll be playing Dragonless Dragon Ball! Now, before we get started, I’ll need 2 volunteers to help me gather the supplies!” Frogue spoke cheerily, “How about Sting and Rogue, you guys go fetch the dragon ball supplies from the storage room.”

Sting was still somewhat tired, but he had enough energy for dragon ball, he was too excited not to, so he grabbed Rogue by the arm and they made their way to the storage room. Once they were inside, Sting quickly got to work, picking up balls, cones, etc. He passed the equipment to Rogue, and once they had everything, Sting headed to the door to open it for him. He pulled the door handle and…

It wouldn’t open…

He tried again, with a bit more force… it wouldn’t budge… they were trapped.

Chapter Text

Sting slowly turned to Rogue, “Dude… I think we’re trapped…”

Frozen in place, Rogue’s eyes were like dots, mouth stuck open as he tried to comprehend this news…

Moments later, he’s sprinting around the room on all fours, letting out distressed “MEOOOWWWWWW”’s in hopes of someone hearing. Taking a different approach, Sting picked up a bat and tried to break the door down, hitting the door repeatedly in hopes of breaking it down, but it was no use. Nobody was near by to hear them, and the door wouldn’t budge.

After a solid 2 minutes of this, they both sat down, Sting from giving up, and Rogue from exhaustion. Rogue was shaking, panicking, he didn’t know what to do. They could be there forever and nobody would realise it until they were just skeletons. Sting seemed… largely fine, he wasn’t too panicked, he even found a little foam ball, which he began tossing in the air and catching.

“You gotta calm down, dude,” Sting spoke with a casual tone, not even looking away from the ball as it landed back in his hand, “Think about something that makes you happy or something, I don’t know…”

Rogue nodded, happy, happy, he could think of something happy… dragons! Dragons made him happy, maybe he could think about the blue dragon for a change… no, given the blue dragons nature he wouldn’t want to be stuck in a room with a blue dragon… no, he wouldn’t want to be stuck in a room with anyone at all unless it was…

His eyes wandered to Sting, and that was when it came to him… he could think about, from his shining teeth that lit up the room, to his abs… all the way to his hands…

“Oh, hah, dude! Remember that time when you almost drowned in the pool when we were having that barbeque that one time? That was hilarious! I had to jump in and fish you out, that was so fun…” Sting chuckled with a smile.

Despite the circumstances, Rogue couldn’t help but chuckle as well, he looked back to Sting, he would treasure that smile, “Y- yeah… that was the summer before you went to dragon camp… dragon camp was the best. It’s a shame you didn’t come with us, you would have loved it.”

Letting out a sigh, Rogue glanced aside, a solemn smile on his face. He wasn’t sure if he regretted dragon camp or was happy that he didn’t go. After all, it was that summer that Rogue took in Fresh, he couldn’t bring himself to imagine what would have happened to Fresh if he didn’t take him in that day… but all that time apart tore away at his bond with Sting, and when Sting returned their friendship had drifted too far apart.

“What… what was dragon camp like?”

“It was… amazing…” Sting looked at the ball, which he was trading between his hands, while his mind wandered to those days. “It was all… fun in the sun… games… and making friends. To be honest… I wasn’t even sure if I wanted to be there at the time since you weren’t there to enjoy it with me… but in the end I had a lot of fun.”

Rogue’s mouth opened involuntarily, and he quickly looked away, a blush on his cheeks as he focussed on a particularly interesting spec of dust on the ground. He was so flattered by the idea… he wished he went to dragon camp now… he mumbled into his arm, “Tell me more about dragon camp…”

Sting couldn’t help but grin. Rogue was so cute sometimes. So he continued, “Me and Natsu caused all sorts of trouble together those days… he was fun back then… until the dragon ball tournament. We were the opposite team captains and from there… our friendship broke off and we turned into arch rivals… well, until he died.” Sting chuckled slightly, “One night, all the boys snuck out of the cabin to go to the pool. Well, except for Gray… he started crying at the idea of breaking the rules and stayed back… it’s a shame you didn’t want to come. You would have loved it.”

Rogue let out a sigh, “Yeah… I would have…”

Silence.

“Wanna play a game to pass the time?” Sting asked with a smile, turning to face Rogue.

Rogue’s mind was wandering elsewhere though…

“How about Truth or Dare?”

“Sure, You start…” Rogue responded, a blush on his cheeks.

“Alright Rogue… truth or dare? Choose carefully…”

After a lot of thinking, Rogue decided it would be best not to be a chicken.

“Dare…”

“Hmm… alright, I dare you… to make out with the person to your left…”

Rogue’s cheeks went bright red and he looked to his left, “B- but there is nobody to my left?”

With a blush on his cheeks, Sting scooched around to sit on Rogue’s left, tilting his chin to come face to face with Rogue, his eyes heavy as he leaned in and pressed his lips into his beloved’s and pushed him onto his back to kiss him harder and-

Rogue shook his head and wiped the drool off his mouth, gathering his composure again, almost, “H- how about truth or dare?”

Sting blinked with surprise, a blush appearing on his face slightly, “Sure… truth or dare, rogue…”

Rogue’s cheeks went even more red, as red as a dragon he could barely think about right now, now was his chance to make his dreams come true, “I- I- You- I-…” he took a deep breath, “I dare you to make-“

The door burst open and Lucy Heartfilia stepped into the room, “OH MY GOODNESS YOU GUYS ARE OKAY! THANK GOODNESS.”

She pulled Rogue up into a tight hug, before releasing him. Sting got to his feet, couldn’t help but ask, “How did you get in here?”

Lucy shrugged with a grin, revealing a ring of keys in her hand, “Oh, you know, celestial keys. Come on guys, let’s get you out of here.”

The two left the room, both a bit sad that they couldn’t see the game through. They were evidently there for a long time, as the bell signifying the end of school went off when they made their way to the building, letting them end the day with the traumatic sight of Bickslow being carried away from the school grounds bridal style by his night in shining armour, Lacarde himself.

Chapter Text

The café got closer and closer with every step, Rogue’s nerves increased at a very similar rate as he approached. Too many thoughts were going through his mind right now, what would Sting think when he inevitably ruined it? Did Sting really know this was a romantic date? Of course he didn’t, why would he accept if he knew that? But all his thoughts were washed away as he saw Sting waiting for him, looking like a model, casually stood leaning against the café wall, but still a sense of tenseness because Sting was just so tough, his hair and clothes blowing slightly in the wind, just enough to make him look all the more handsome, because that’s what the world seemed to want for him. Rogue didn’t blame the world though; he wanted the same.

Sting jumped slightly as he noticed Rogue approaching, there he was, approaching him for a date, that nervous, quiet smile on his face even now, his black and red dragon sweater making him stand out from the crowd, he approached so unassumingly like he wasn’t the most attractive person in a 50 foot radius right now.

“Hey Rogue!” Sting gave a toothy grin and a friendly wave, regretting it instantly. He should make a better impression. Hands went in pockets and his gaze moved elsewhere, “Hey Rogue, surprised to see you here…” Sting attempted to say in his most nonchalant tone.

“Hey Sting… ready for the date?” Rogue asked, trying desperately to remember the advice he’d been given by Frogue…

‘If you really want to make a good impression on him, you should tell him he looks nice, even if he doesn’t. But he always does.’ Frogue had told him before he went, while adjusting his collar.

“Yea-“

“You look really nice Sting…” Rogue interrupted, then blushing intensely as he realised what he did

Sting practically copied his blush thinking he was the one speaking too soon, he waited a moment then spoke again, “S- shall we go in?”

Rogue nodded, and the two blushing losers made their way into the coffee shop.

Sting went first and held the door open for Rogue, who spent an uncomfortable amount of time in the doorway, unsure whether he should accept the politeness or tell sting that he should go first. In the end, they both just went in and to their table. The next problem quickly arose.

Both of them wanted to impress the other but neither had decided what to order… the waiter came up to them and asked with the least enthusiastic tone, “What will you both be having today?”

It was at that moment that it came to Rogue. He wanted to look sophisticated in Sting’s eyes, and there was one drink that would surely do that. Hopefully they had it, otherwise Rogue would be lost.

“O- One tea please…”

Rogue had never tasted tea before, but surely with all the dragon books he read he would be sophisticated enough to drink it.

Sting, had the same issue. He had no idea what he wanted, he only drank energy drinks and anything else that would make him perform better at dragon ball. Thinking back, he remembered what Doug always drank when he wasn’t drunk. Black coffee. Problem, Sting didn’t like the taste of it, it was disgusting, he’d had it before but only a sip, but he knew then that he wasn’t having it again… Rogue was so confident and sophisticated, there was barely any hesitation in his response, Sting needed some of that.

“And how about you Sting?” the employee droned

Sting’s gaze remained on the table as he spoke, asking for something he assumed existed “I- I’ll have… one white coffee please…”

The employee blinks in confusion. What the hell was a white coffee? The author sure as hell didn’t know if it did exist. But, it was a part of customer service, the customer is aways right and stuff, he just wanted to get paid, so he made his way back to get their drinks ready. One tea and one white coffee.

“H- hey, Sting, I think I recognised that guy from school…” Rogue spoke quietly, even though the employee was out of sight.

Sting sat up, no longer wallowing in his embarrassment, he did recognise their voice vaguely. “What did they look like?” he asked

Rogue paused then began to describe them, “Sad… quiet… long black hair… with green highlights… I think he had a tattoo…”

Sting snapped his fingers, “Oh! That’s Freed, of course he would work here, that makes total sense.”

Rogue’s eyebrows raised as he looked to Sting, wondering how he knew him, but he brushed it off. Sting knew everyone, that was common knowledge by now.

After that though, Sting reached a deadend, he had no idea what to talk about. With Sorano all he had to do was let her talk and say a few key phrases, as well as the occasional kiss, but here Rogue was not talking, he was so stuck, he needed Doug to save him… he only really had one other option. Asking Rogue to kiss. Sting wanted to use this card for a good while now, but he didn’t have good reason to, but now they were on a date. Surely that was the best place to ask.

He tried to speak but his words came out broken, his cheeks an intense shade of red, “H- Hey, Sorano- ROGUE! Sorry, Hey Rogue… y- you wouldn’t want to… you know, while we wait… do… you know… please… k- k- k-“

“Your tea and your ‘white coffee’.” Freed drones, setting the two drinks down beside them. “Laxus- I mean, our barista gives you his thanks for challenging him with something new. He told me he hoped you would like the drink.” Before walking off.

Rogue looks into his drink, absolutely worried for himself. He slowly raised the mug to his lips and sipped it. Absolutely disgusting. He winced as it went down his throat and he set the cup down.

Sting, however, looked absolutely amazed at the drink. It looked exactly like the milk he used to drink when he was younger, but when he tasted it… Oooooh it was just too good. It had that hint of something more than just milk that made it all the better. He was drinking away eagerly at his drink. That was the good stuff… he ought to come here more often this stuff rocked. No more attention was poured into his nerves, it was just him and this drink, and rogue was there too probably. He only set the cup down when it was empty and let out a burp after drinkin. His confidence was rejuvenated. Rogue was so desperately in love with that.

He shot to his feet and let out a “WOOH!” before looking down to rogue with that confident grin, “Come on, lets get outta here, I know a park nearby we can hang out at, bring your tea if you want.”

Rogue didn’t particularly know why Sting wanted him to bring his tea, but he picked it up anyway and took it along with him as Sting marched out of the coffee shop. Sting was absolutely doing amazing for this date, Rogue had to make up for it. He thought back to what Frogue had said a few days ago…

‘If Sting really likes ASMR from me, then maybe you could whisper to him to really impress him? O- Oh no, hairball, Augh, Hyeeeuughhh, Eeeeuuuuuhhhgggghhhh.’

So he leaned in close and whispered into his ear, “The park sounds really fun Stiiinggg… Nyaaahh…”

Sting shivered and regained his composure. “That’s the spirit!”

He shivered.

Rogue made Sting shiver.

Now he had no idea what the best day of his life was anymore, but this was definitely up there now.

The walk to the park was all smiles and happiness.

Chapter Text

In the months following his confrontation with Alfredo, Doug was a husk of himself. He sat on Weisslogia's setee, in a dressing gown, eating ice cream as Phineas and Ferb reruns played on their flat screen TV.

Without your schemes my life, it seems, is empty

I spent all my time keeping you from doing wrong

You were my only nemesis

I'd foil your plans, but still I miss

The moments when we didn't get along

So search your heart, please, Doctor D

And I am sure that you will see

That you were always meant to be

My only lifelong enemy

But now you're doing battle with a panda from Seattle

I miss the moments when we didn't get along

Ooh...

Tears ran down Doug's face, "he's just like me for real." Throughout all his years of existence Doug never understood the concept of kinning, until something about this fedora wearing semi-aquatic mammal touched his soul.

Opening up Dragblr Doug began to reblog multiple Perry the Platypus edits, always sure to add tags such as #so real, #i want to be him and #he's the coolest, to keep the fandom thriving. Doug joined Dragblr almost two months ago, at his lowest, quickly becoming a popular member of the Perry the Platypus fandom with unique and interesting interpretations of the character as seen in his many character anaylsis essays. The only boundary he has is Doofenshmirtz kins DNI.

Unfortunately, such a lenient DNI criteria has downsides as Doug some how managed to become mutuals with Lacarde's mpreg fetish blog... Too late to change his DNI now.

Doug has not touched grass in weeks.

Suddenly, the doorbell rang.

Weisslogia was at work, Sting was at school, Doug was the only one available to answer it. After leaving a quick thumbs up underneath Lacarde's latest post, Doug stood up, popped his joints and brushed off the Cheeto crumbs. Doug stumbled past the mirror in the hall before turning back to look at himself, grumbling at his appearance he took his fedora off the hat rack, smirking as he adjusted it to look presentable.

Doug opened the door... to nothing. Taking a few steps out the door he looked left and right to see if someone left a package. Still nothing. Assuming he misheard, Doug turned around to go back inside—

His head hurts. His ears are ringing. This doesn't feel real. There might be rope tied around his wrists? What was he doing again? Is he dead? Who knew hell smelt like fish...

Wait fish?

Doug opened his eyes. Which did fuck all, his vision was too blurry to make heads or tails of anything and the pain in his head was amplified. Doug closed his eyes again but an image flashed in his mind, Perry the Platypus... Perry wouldn't close his eyes because of a little pain.

Fighting through it Doug could see a grey blob waving about, a grey blob that smelled like fish. That is barking at him. Realistically this should narrow things down but god nothing came to mind. The blob abruptly placed something towards his mouth.

That smelt like alcohol?

Doug lapped up the bowl of alcohol, then it hit him like a ton of bricks. With his vision cleared (thanks to the alcohol) Doug could see he was in the underground bar, with Alfredo lying in front of him, "Alfredo..?"

Alfredo lit his fish pipe.

"I told you to never contact me again," Doug stated.

Alfredo huffed at him.

Doug rolled his eyes, "oh wow, because you're in the mafia? Real mature. You think kidnapping me will make me forget what you've done?"

Two of Alfredo's goons came in wheeling a large TV screen, with a third goon bringing in a guitar. Alfredo took the guitar as the goons turned on the TV.

Looking into his watery seal eyes, he knew he was in for an attempted apology. Whatever, Doug wouldn't fall for such tactics— holy shit is that Scarlet ASMR?

Irene breasted boobily down the stairs then leaned to whisper in his ear, "I've been told this is a very important performance tonight, you better be a good boy." This apology was looking up. Whilst Doug stared at Irene's personality, the goons had set up a DVD player, with one armed to hit play, the other goons were setting up a microphone that Irene was now standing at. Before her ASMR career took off, Irene took up the occasional singing gig, Doug has seen her perform many a time in the underground bar and it looked like he's going to see it again.

A strum of the guitar brought his attention back to Alfredo, a spotlight appeared, illuminating him. After one slap of his belly the DVD began to play.

'My Nemesis' waltzed onto the screen, in Comic Sans. Alfredo began to play his guitar as photographs of him and Doug were splashed across the screen.

(My neme, neme, oooo... my neme, neme, neme)
(My neme, neme, oooo... my neme, neme, neme)

Doug gasped as he recognized lyrics, Alfredo's goons took the part of the backup singers. A photo flashed on screen of Doug and Alfredo holding each other at knifepoint, shortly after they met, Doug feels as if it were only yesterday...

I used to sit alone doing evil all day,
But now I think that someone's gonna get in my way, yeah,
There's someone in my life that doesn't want me to exist,
(My neme, neme, oooo... my neme, neme, neme)

And I feel fine cause I've got a nemesis
(My neme, neme, oooo... my neme, neme, neme)
(My neme, neme, oooo... my neme, neme, neme)

Now I hate him, and he hates me,
What a wonderful animosity,
Besides his hat he wears no clothes,
Now I have someone to oppose...
Yes I have a nemesis!

(My neme, neme, oooo... my neme, neme, neme)
(My neme, neme, oooo... my neme, nemesis)

Irene's voice brought tears to his eyes, he never imagined he would hear her cover a song from his favourite show. Turning to Alfredo, he could see him wiping away tears of his own, as the final segment of the video began to play. It showed a box full of photos of Bickslow attached to a massive fire work. Alfredo began to bark in the video, explaining how he made a mistake and how he understands what he's done is unforgivable. A goon lit the end of the firework, the camera shakily turned to the sky. A crackled boom was heard, followed by red fireworks bursting across the sky, spelling out 'Doug, you're the only nemesis for me.'

"Alfredo..."

The screen turned to black, Alfredo's fins were shaking as he pulled out his gun. Eyes pleading. Seeing a nemesis behind his back was something that should be unforgivable... but, no one understands Doug in the way Alfredo does, even Sting, Doug feels like he can never show weakness in front of him, whereas Alfredo forces him to be weak. There has been a seal shaped hole in his heart for months, he could barely function knowing they weren't speaking, Alfredo makes him feel alive. Alfredo is the Doofenshmirtz to his Perry. The song choice alone proves that. Their hearts were in sync.

"Heh, Alfredo... you're a bastard," Doug chuckled, breaking his wrists out of the rope that bound him, "but, you're my bastard. I hate you with all my heart, even a fake catboy couldn't change that fact."

It was well past midnight when Doug came home, he smirked as he looked in the mirror, he was covered in blood and bruises but the other guy looks worse. He had won this round, as usual. That stinky seal's got nothing on him. Pulling out his iFiorne, Doug deleted his Tumblr account, he broke his own DNI, what kind of internet user was he if he did that?

After a cold shower (someone used up the hot water), Doug slipped into the room he shares with Sting, who was listening to his usual ASMR to fall asleep. Once in bed Sting looked over to him, "oh, there you are Doug!"

EEEEEEEEEEE HE'S JUST LIKE PERRY THE PLATYPUS FOR REAL!!!

Chapter Text

Class B of the second year students is often overlooked by the higher ups in dragonslayers academy, usually the  focus would be class A, given it’s size difference and the students within it. If you asked the principal for one word they would use to describe class B, it would likely be: “Who?” or perhaps on a lucky day, “Oooh, that class with Y/N in it.” Today was not one of those days however, as Y/N had to skip school after discovering an ancient, dormant sword in the woods behind their house. This meant that the dynamics were a lot similar to how they were before such an influential figure transferred into the class.

It was an ordinary morning, the students who were typically late hadn’t shown up yet, the students who were there on time were in their usual seats, and Mr Clive, their dragon studies teacher, had yet to arrive. The seat in the back left corner was occupied by Freed Justine, who always sat there brooding. His typical wardrobe consisted of band tshirts for bands nobody had ever heard of and jeans which were typically accessorised by chains in one way or another. The dark atmosphere brought on by his mood was typically clashed with the ever cheerful and easily flustered moods of his… childhood best friend, Laxus Dreyar.

Many of the other students wondered why the two would never confess to eachother, they obviously liked eachother. They shared foods at lunchtime, they always sat beside eachother in class, they worked in the same café, they copied homeworks for one got distracted staring at the other, and they constantly bought gifts for eachother. Hell, one valentines day, Freed gifted Laxus a ring with a skull on it to Laxus by getting down on his knees and offering it to him, for ‘being my best friend… or something like that…’

If Freed being in class without laxus yet wasn’t enough, on the other corner of the classroom sat Mirajane Strauss, cousin of Professor strauss of class 2A. She was just past a rough patch in her relationship with Gray fullbuster where they had came to the conclusion (Thanks to Y/N) that they should maybe take a break from eachother for a while. It was fine for the first few days but Mirajane has been on a downhill spiral. Now during most classes her fedora hides her expression and one hand is always either on her sword or in her trench coat pocket.

Gray himself would typically spend his time outside of class with a first year named Lyon who apparently was his friend in his last school. He had been taking the pause a lot better than his partner, and while in class his time would be spent with Y/N after his sigma female dommy mommy agreed to put their relationship on hold. He now sat right next to the middle front seat, where Y/N would typically sit. Speaking of dommy mommy’s, Laki too had been in a bit of a slump after her harem completely dissolved from 4 people to 1. It barely qualified as a harem now. Minerva and sorano broke off to be in some kind of loosely connected romantic partnership but then they broke up over dodgeball, and the adorable weirdo bickslow got stolen from them by Lacarde, which admittedly was for the best given the age issues. Now the only company she really had these days was Kinana, who was boring, and gave too much exposition.

The classroom door burst open and the Loverboy himself, stumbling into the classroom with bread held in his mouth and a messy binder in his arms. All eyes turned to him, he was 1 minute late, a new personal best for Laxus. He stumbled into his seat next to freed, who took the bread from his mouth and took a bite out of it himself, before passing it back. Their casual chatter filled the quietness of the classroom. Well, until another voice filled it. The teacher.

“What is up everyone! How were all your weekends? Whose ready to LEARN?” Mr clive cheered, stepping into the room with pure swagger. “Gray! My guy, hows things with you?” he drummed Grays desk with his fingers before spinning around and moving to the back rows, “The dynamic duo! Laxus and freed, Fraxus and leed, How was your weekend? Don’t forget, I plan to come by the café this weekend so make sure the place is looking awesome. I’m just joking, I wont judge.”

Laxus let out a nervous giggle and waved, “Hi Mr Clive…”

Shaking his head, Mr Clive tutted, “No no no, come on guys, we’ve talked about this! No more ‘Mr Clive’. I’m not your boss, I’m your teacher and friend.” He marched to the front and wrote on the whiteboard ‘GILDARTS’. “I go by Gildarts, no more, no less. We’re all friends here, so I think it’s only fair you name me like one.”

“Mr Clive- Sorry, Gildarts, is the dragon studies teacher for class 2B, and the best way to describe him is being the opposite of Mr Strauss. Where Mr Strauss is tired of life and can appear very apathetic, Gildarts is the complete opposite, always full of energy, the life of the party, and passionate. A lot of the times, he was a bit much for the students to handle, but they still enjoyed him being their teacher deep down. The only real issue with that was that Gildarts lessons didn’t end up teaching dragon studies, mostly getting on tangents.” Kinana explained to laki, “That and he’s a big of a mess, though that could be very easily gathered from how loosely tied his tie is, his lack of a jacket, and how unbuttoned his shirt is. At least he has the muscles to excuse it though.”

In response, laki smacked the back of her head, losing her sultry tone momentarily, “We’ve been his students for 2 years Kinana, you’d think we’d know this by now!”

“heheh… sorry Laki…”

“Alright!” Gildarts exclaimed, clapping his hands together and moving back to the front. Picking up his dragon studies textbook, he held it up like it was venomous, pinching it between two fingers, “This? This isn’t useful in the real world, I’m here to teach you kids how to do well in life, so today?” he threw the textbook like a frisbee, on his first try sending it flying out the slim upper window that was always open. “We are doing…” Writing loudly in big letters on the whiteboard before mic dropping the very squeaky marker, “Careers advice WOOP! WOOP! I’ll have each of you come up to my desk here and we’ll have a little discussion and I’ll give my final judgement.”

The class had mixed reactions, Laxus let out a squeal of excitement, Mirajane and Freed were both brooding, Gray’s heart leapt but he was a bit nervous about being too excited too soon, Laki let out a groan and Kinana’s expression didn’t change.

“Let’s see here… first on the list here we have… Laki! Ah, perfect, come on up! The rest of you, talk amongst yourselves, can’t have any of you listening in.”

Needless to say, the class did not chat amongst themselves, well, besides Jellial, sitting behind Gray and picking on him. “Don’t have Y/N or Mirajane to protect you now, do you?” he smirked, flicking the back of Gray’s ear. “Neeerd.”

At the back corner, Mirajane let out a scowl, but let them be for now. It took a lot of restraint, but she knew gray would get mad at her for being overprotective.

“Lakiiiii, lackster, The girl who never lacks. Go on and sit down there for me and we can get this show on the road!” Gildarts called to her. “Let’s make this quick, I’m sure you have places to be. Starting easy, I think you have a lot of potential, but what would you say your best skill is?”

Laki paused a moment, mentally scrolling through her skillset. Mental torment, use of bear traps, whips, seduction, Oh, perfect!

“Knot tying.” She responded with a sultry tone, even if she didn’t intend to do anything weird with the teacher, talking like that was just her default setting.

“Aaahhhh I see, I see, survivalist I the making here, are we? I can work with that…” Gildarts smirked and began to think, before holding his finger in the air, “I have just the thing… with your skillset, I think you have a lot of untapped potential working as a firefighter, wouldn’t you agree?”

Laki’s jaw dropped, “I- You- No?! But-“

“Dismissed. Next up we have… Gray Fullbuster, my guy, 50 shades of gray, Fullbuster jones, Come on over!” he exclaimed as Laki left the seat. Awkwardly and slowly, Gray sat down, rather nervous. Though, the cause of his nervousness was never Gildarts, Gildarts always seemed friendly, it was more the idea of… a career. He had been under the pretense that his life would amount to being mirajanes submissive slave boywife, but with the career advice he was quite clueless now.

“H- hi gildarts…” Gray stuttered, folding his hands in his lap nervously, looking at gildarts.

“Let’s hear it gray, what’s your best skill. Give it your best shot!” Gildarts leaned back on his seat and put his feet on the desk, arms crossed over his impressive chest as he waited patiently.

Meanwhile, gray was having a complete mental struggle. He looked through all his memories but all he was getting back was blankness, he was submissive? That’s not really a skill, neither was loyalty… Maybe friendliness? No, even if it were a skill he wasn’t friendly enough for that, he’d need to be closer to Rogue Cheney’s level if he wanted to say that…

“I- I don’t really know, mister- Sorry, gildarts…” he could barely speak, fearing he’d be pressed further, but Gildarts just let out a hearty laugh.

“Ah don’t worry, I gathered plenty from seeing you in class. I have the perfect career for you anyway graymeister. You have potential, you could be rich, powerful, great. You just need to put your mind to it and keep learning, which is why I think for your career you should be… an entrepreneur. Now go, back to your seat, I have other students to advise.”

“H- hang on, what about Y/N, are they going to get careers advice?” Gray asked, worried for his dear friend.

Gildarts let out a laugh and responded calmly, “I gave her some career advice before school ended on Thursday…” he thought back on the time.

‘You are so incredibly powerful, and you have so much potential. If I could give you career advice, I would say with certainty, that you could be whatever you want if you put your mind to it. I don’t think I need to say anything beyond that.’

Gray returned to his seat and to jellials pestering and the careers advice continued. Due to her sword skills, Mirajane was suggested to work as a chef. Laxus, being an expert at writing letters (typically the romantic kind), was suggested to work in human resources, his counterpart Freed got very accurate advice, being told to work in retail because of his proficiency in staring at people without emotion. Gildarts was going to suggest professional poker player but decided against it because the principal would be mad at him. None of this advice was particularly helpful as most of them intended to become dragon slayers, partly because they are in dragon slayers academy.

Before Gildarts could get to jellial, lunchtime came around and the class split up. The ones who belonged to the fairy tail club, and the others.

“The fairy tail club has been rather quiet with the departures of gajeel, juvia and bickslow with his constant absences, but everyone still enjoys themselves while there. The only problem is that the enjoyment is never as a club, mostly them keeping to themselves or their close friends. Gray was the exception though, he always tried to- OW!” Kinana was interrupted by the handle of Laki’s whip hitting the back of her head. Gray perked up from where he was chatting with Lucy, looking in Kinana’s direction in confusion. Meanwhile at the back, Laxus and freed ate packed lunches together.

“Want some of my chocolate?” Freed asked laxus emotionlessly, before tossing it to him. Laxus caught it in his mouth with a grin, before taking out a cheese stick.

“You want some of this?” Laxus asked in turn. Freed nodded and took a bite out of it, chewing and swallowing. “Yeah, I like cheese.”

Laxus nodded in agreement, taking a bite out of the cheese stick himself.

In the back corner, Mirajane remained unamused at their antics, so she distracted herself by taking one of the framed photos off the wall. Boy did it bring back memories… dragon camp, all those years ago. Memories long buried. Back when the Saber tooth club current members and the fairy tail club’s current members didn’t have such clubs to stick with, simply being friends with eachother. The photo was at the pool, in the middle, Natsu, the ex leader of the fairy tail club, was dunking Sting Eucliffe into the pool during the photo playfully while Minerva pulled natsu’s hair in retaliation. Those two got up to plenty of trouble in their time at dragon club. Sorano was shielding yukino from the splash created by the dunking and lucy was chatting with juvia, who wasn’t listening, more focussed on her yaoi manga she had brought with her. Those were the days, back before gray was the focus of it all. Mirajane looked over to him, a longingness hidden behind her stoic expression. There he was, getting along well with everyone, chatting with lucy heartfilia like he didn’t have a snake wrapped around his neck.

“Geez, you look so depressed over here” Erza laughed, leaning on Mirajanes desk. “Everyone can see it beneath that outdated fedora of yours.”

Mirajane rolled her eyes, “I’m just being a sigma female, you wouldn’t get it. Don’t need no moids, I’m still great on my own.” She tilts her fedora, “M’lady.”

“Yeah? Do sigma females pout?” Erza flicked her fedora up to show her face, she was indeed pouting. “You and my cobra aren’t much different, so I can see right through you.”

“The window’s right over there…” she spoke quietly, almost embarrassed.

“Yeah? Well Gray…” she moved quickly, snatching Mirajanes fedora off her head, tossing it in Gray’s direction, “Is over there. Go get him tiger, don’t want lucy stealing your territory, do you?”

“I- YOU- UUUGH!” she got out of her seat and marched over to the desk gray sat at to pick up her fedora, crouching down to pick it up, feeling as low as ever when Gray noticed her.

“Hi Mira!” he waved, smiling, “How are things with you?”

“Good…” she grumbled (lying), placing the fedora on her head, wishing it were big enough to hide the entirety of her as she stood up.

“Oh! That’s good, hey, I was wondering… maybe we could put an end to the break? I… I miss you… Please…” he moved down to her level, then bowed lower, “Please… please be my mommy sigma female anime girlfriend, I- I’ll kiss your feet, I’ll let you do that thing to me that you did when you-“

“Shh shh shh…” she shushed, putting a finger to his mouth, “I will… we can be girlboss and boywife again.”

And everybody clapped

Chapter Text

The park looked beautiful in the evenings, the grass was green, the sky was a blue, eventually fading to a slight orange near where the sun lay. Though it was a nice sight, the slither of sunset on the horizon only reminded Rogue that the date would be coming to an end soon. Thankfully for the both of them, the park was pretty much empty, so it would be really romantic…

“Wait, dude, is that erza over there?”

“H- huh? Yeah… I think it is…”

In the back entrance of the park, Erza appeared to be sneaking into the park with some sort of colourful box that Rogue couldn’t quite make out. Following her was a rather reluctant Cobra, who kept looking around nervously for some reason. They better not interrupt the date.

As he was looking over at them, he felt a large, firm hand grasp his shoulder, “Hey, relax, I can talk to them whenever I want dude, but right now, this is our date. Let’s walk a bit.”

Rogue remained silent and just blushed, that bit of reassurance meant the world to him, Sting was such an amazing person, he was lucky to be able to hang out with him. It was at that moment that Rogue vowed he would confess his feelings tonight, in this park… at least, he’d try. If he didn’t do it now, he was hopeless. All the things frogue had told him back home that made him think sting might like him were on his side (even if Rogue brushed most of them off as coincidences or misunderstandings), as well as the fact that they were along. With Sting Eucliffe, getting him alone like this was practically a privilege. For now though, his priority was to gather enough confidence to confess. The two continued walking through the park, mostly in silence, both with their own respective mental turmoil.

“I… I’ve really enjoyed this date with you… I’d really like to go on more… if that’s fine with you.”

Rogue could have swore he heard a gasp escaping Sting’s lips. Then he ran off. Why did Sting run? Was the concept so unimaginably bad for Sting that he had to leave as soon as possible? Rogue’s heart felt crushed as he saw him running, though not crushed too badly, the view was still nice. As suddenly as he started running, he stopped, kneeling down… Then he turned to Rogue with a smile full of shiny teeth and held something up. He rushed back and Rogue let out a sigh of relief as he came back.

“Oh dude, I knew I had forgotten this here… so glad to finally have it back.” He says, tossing the dragon ball between hands, though there seemed to be something more in his voice. “You… you wanna play catch for a bit? Could be fun… even if it isn’t… typical date activities.”

“Oh, Heh… I don’t know, I’m really bad at…” Rogue chuckled awkwardly, scratching his messy bun

“I’ll go easy on you dude, don’t worry.” He responded casually, running back a bit, before really lightly throwing the ball towards Rogue.

On his end, Rogue began to panic, the ball was flying towards him at high speeds, like a missile. He doubted even Christiano dragonaldo had been through such a situation before, he closed his eyes and held his hands up in the air like that could stop it. He might as well say goodbye to his arms right here and now because his situation was dire right now…

“Come on, you can do better than that! Keep your eyes open when your catching it!” Sting called to him as the ball bounced off his hands lightly and hit the dry grass before him.

Okay, maybe the ball wasn’t going that fast, but from Rogue’s perspective it felt pretty fast. He crouched down and picked up the ball, now it was his turn to return the favour. He held the ball back and with all his strength, he threw it forward…

BOINK!

Rogue fell back onto the grass with an “Oof!” as the ball hit him in the face. His plan was foolproof and his form seemed flawless, until he let go of the ball too late and it bounced off the floor and hit him smack in the face. Maybe Rogue wasn’t ready for catch just yet…

He heard a slight giggle and saw Sting standing over him with a grin, “You wanna take a break from catch? Catch is boring anyway, lets just lie here instead…” he placed himself quite close next to the groaning Rogue, his grin slowly turned a bit awkward, “Hey, Rogue?”

Rogue looked over to Sting, waiting for him to ask.

He scratched the back of his neck and looked over at Rogue, “W- why do you like me?” he asked, tears welling up a bit in his eyes.

Rogue felt himself shortcircuit mentally. Sting eucliffe? Why did Rogue like Sting Eucliffe? There were too many reasons to list, before he could answer, Sting continued, “I- I’m useless for anything that isn’t dragon ball, I’m horrible at school, I cant even beat hisui in a fight, I- I…”

He was shushed as Rogue put a finger to sting’s mouth, “Y- you’re not useless at all… your cool, your fun, your popular-“

“I- I’m not popular rogue… I just… I just met a bunch of people at dragon camp and they’re too polite to push me away… I cant even manage to keep a proper friend group together, my own club barely even cares that it’s there…”

“Y- you’re smart, you did really well on the exam…”

Sting shook his head, “I- I couldn’t even manage that, Minerva gave me the questions that would be on the exam the night before, and even then I couldn’t get any better than a pass… just face it… I’m…”

Rogue shot forward, wrapping his arms around Sting, hugging him tightly, “Don’t say that… your so cool sting… your awesome… I- I’ve never met anyone like you, I can’t find anything I don’t like about you… you can cheat on all the exams you want, I don’t care… I- I still… I…” Rogue couldn’t believe he was doing this, “I-“

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

BOOM!

Their heads turn to face the loud noise to the side. Fireworks… Sting wiped his eyes and looked to the source and chuckled, “Of course… Typical erza, lighting fireworks illegally in the park…” he looked back to Rogue with a smile on his face, “Thank you rogue… I don’t know what I would do without you in my life…”

Rogue still hadn’t let go of Sting, he might have even been clinging tighter after the surprise of the fireworks, “I- I’ve loved every minute of being your friend… If I could make days last forever, If words could make wishes come true. I'd save every day like a treasure and then again, I would spend them with you…” the tears really started flowing now as he cried into sting’s shoulder. The warmth of sting’s arms wrapping around him made it just a bit easier for Rogue to keep himself together. “I… if you… if you died… like what happened in Frogue’s timeline… I wouldn’t be cool like him, I wouldn’t become an ASMRtist… I wouldn’t even be a catboy… I think… I think I would just break… I wouldn’t be able to bring myself to go outside… I wouldn’t be able to read about dragons… I’d just… curl up somewhere and give up… life wouldn’t be the same without you…”

Rogue could feel a warmth press into his hair and the sound of Sting crying in return went right through his body as he cried into Rogue’s hair. “I- I’ll never die. Rogue, for you… I’ll make sure of it… don’t worry dude… I’m here…”

They cried in eachothers arms for a while before eventually pulling away. It should have been that day today, but Rogue couldn’t bring himself to say it yet… the battle was over, but Rogue couldn’t find any losses from this one. He would get another chance, he was sure of it.

The two went home from that date happy, both sure of their own feelings for the other, and both not wanting to lose the other for even a day. The past was behind them and something special formed from it. Neither had any regrets now.

Chapter Text

In all the hubbub with Sting, it had completely slipped Rogue’s mind that his birthday was only a few days after! He could barely sleep the night before from how excited he was. He woke up and got out of his bed with a smile on his face, because today was his day. He got out of bed and looked around, picking up Fresh and nuzzling his head into the cats belly, purely because he wanted to and he was in a good mood, “It’s my birthday fresh!!! Mmmmmh!!” he squealed

Fresh squealed too, “Birthday!”

Rogue flung Fresh across the room onto his bed as he rushed off to get ready to school, brushing his teeth quickly and checking to make sure his present for Frogue hadn’t been moved. He went downstairs afterwards and opened the fridge, looking inside at the dragon cake he had made the night prior, it hadn’t risen properly in some parts so it looked somewhat deformed, but Rogue knew it would be perfect once he had a slice… so tempting… his hand reached towards the cake but he quickly bapped it away with his other hand.

“No, not now… I’ll invite sting to come home with me to have some and then we can eat it together. I won’t eat any until he’s here to eat it with me.” He vowed to himself, before getting some breakfast in him and putting on his best outfit, his cat tail belt, his scissor runner hoodie, and jeans. With that, he was off, humming a tune as he made his way to school. Once he arrived, he quickly looked around, trying his best to find Sting, but to no avail. Sting had vanished. It took him a while but eventually he found a familiar face he could ask, hopefully she’d wish him a happy birthday.

“Hi Yukino, have you seen Sting anywhere? I’m trying to find him.”

“Oh, he’s not in today. Did he not tell you?” she showed her phone to him, revealing a selfie of Sting hanging out with Erza and Orga.

It mostly made sense to Rogue, Sting skipped school quite a lot, and with Erza, sure, nothing new there… but usually Sting would tell him, it kind of hurt… at the very least Rogue would have liked to get a happy birthday text from Sting… No, a birthday text might be a bit much to expect from Sting, he had so much to do in his life that one measly birthday would slip his mind faster than he’d slip away from school on a Monday. Well, maybe he’ll see him later after school, then he can ask him if he’d like to come have some cake with him.

He headed on to class, first of the day was dragon studies, he liked dragon studies, perfect for his birthday. Once he arrived at the classroom though, he was met with an… unpleasant surprise. Bickslow. He stood at Rogue’s table setting down something on his desk… something bad. He rushed over to his desk and lay his eyes on it… a stack of toilet seats and lids… and on top was the very one he bashed Rogue’s head into to the point of permanent scarring. He felt a drop of blood trail from his scar, as though it remembered his trauma. He wiped it off with his sleeve and moved to his desk, ignoring the bickslow in the room.

“Happy birthday dear rogue, happy birthday dear rogue! Happy birthday dear looooooseerrrrrrr, happy birthday to rogue!” Bickslow sang, with a horribly dry throat. He would rather listen to the song of the screaming dragon for 3 hours than have to go through that again. “Ooooh, Rogue, I forgot one last thing… the candle on your cake!” he took out an unlit candle and set it on the bloody toilet lid, the classmates around them giggling to themselves, before picking it up, “Here Roguey… have a sliice, come oooon!” he licked his lips and brought the seat closer to his face, Rogue moved away, this was his birthday, he shouldn’t be letting Bickslow do this to him, where on earth was professor strauss, and more importantly, what would sting do? Oh yes, now he remembered… strike back.

Rogue grabbed onto the bloody toilet seat and pushed back with all his birthday might, it was like a reverse tug of war, he could hear the song sing sung all those months ago in his head. He wasn’t the strongest, but today he was determined… with all his strength he managed to shove Bickslow back with the toilet seat of doom, knocking all the other toilet seats off the table in the process. If Rogue were to say something cool like sting, he’d probably say ‘Stay down, stupidslow!’ and Rogue fully knew everyone would clap when they heard that, but… the pain of what just happened was finally reaching him, his smile faded, how could bickslow do something like that? It was like he had saved all his bullying for his birthday… and the toilet seat? That was… that was horrible.

Either way, Rogue’s thoughts were interrupted as Professor Strauss entered the classroom and trudged over to his desk, coffee in one hand, stack of papers in the other, taking one glance at bickslow on the floor and the toilet seats before speaking, “Bickslow, this isn’t your class. We’ve talked about this. Rogue, don’t leave your toilet seats on the floor.” Before sitting down, causing a laugh to roar through the class. Bickslow smirked and licked Rogue before scampering out of the classroom like a wild animal.

Some birthday this was turning out to be… he was supposed to be happy today, to enjoy himself and hang out with sting. Yet it felt like the world was trying to beat him down before he could get up again. After those few days of pure happiness around the date with sting, perhaps it was just the world balancing things out… The homework’s were being handed out and Rogue was frantically getting his toilet seats in order, when Professor Strauss set his homework down before him…

“Come on Rogue, you’re better than this. Do better next time.” Before moving on to the next desk. Seeing the test before him, Rogue’s eyes laid on it in absolute horror… 95%... Rogue was a complete failure. He couldn’t believe it. Frantically, Rogue flipped through the pages on his homework, ignoring the coffee stain on the corner of it, until he found what he did wrong… STUPID. Rogue was so stupid. How on earth did he fail something so poorly, was he distracted? Was his lovestruck gazing into his phone while texting Sting distracting his studies? How on EARTH did he not remember that the blue dragon breathed hot steam at 131 degrees C instead of 128. There was little keeping Rogue together right now… it was all starting to get to him, a tear welled in his eyes but he wiped it away, he shouldn’t cry on his birthday. That familiar feeling of having a lump of something stuck In his throat began to return to him, his breaths came out somewhat shaky.

The remainder of dragon studies class went by as a blur, though perhaps that was the tears constantly welling in his eyes that he kept having to wipe away. If Frogue’s tail belt really did react to his feelings, it would be drooping right now. The cat ear headband on the other hand? It didn’t feel good anymore; he couldn’t feel the warmth of Sting’s presence that he normally felt when he wore it. After class, he made his way to the bathrooms to sort himself out. On his way there, however, Lucy caught up to him and walked alongside him.

“Hey Rogue, is everything alright?” She asked, leaning forward a bit as she looked at him with curiosity.

“Y- yeah… thanks for asking lucy…” he managed to respond. It was a lie, but he didn’t want to burden his friend with his own struggles. She probably had a lot on her plate right now.

“Oh, good, well… have you seen those videos of sting going around? You should really see them…”

Rogue perked up slightly… Sting… a video of sting… that would surely cheer him up. He shook his head and Lucy took out her phone, holding it in front of him and pressing play on the video. The main focus of the video was sorano, who was looking into her camera, doing faces into the camera out of boredom, it seemed to have been a while ago given how everyone looked, and how Yukino wasn’t wearing her space hoodie. but it was the conversation in the background that really interested him…

“So you’re really going to let some new guy join our club? Rogue you said?” Minerva asked, looking quite sober, though she usually was more sober in those days.

“Yeah, totally! It’ll be so funny, Rogue is such a loser, he won’t fit in here at all!” Sting himself laughed.

Rogue could feel his heart crack as he heard that… Sting knew of all his flaws… it didn’t matter to him… he thought that was a good thing, but maybe it didn’t matter to him because he just found him that hilariously pathetic. Rogue wanted to look away from the video, he knew he shouldn’t, but he was anyway, the laughter began all around him again, noises overwhelming but the only one that mattered was what sting was saying…

Minerva laughed in response at the video and probably responded with something snarky and mean.

Sting laughed in response in the video, “Good one! Just imagine though, he’ll come in here and think he’s one of us! But he’s not, he’s just a no-life antisocial failure that we’re taking pity on. I knew him back in our childhood, but I always got bored hanging around him, didn’t even know what a true friend was like til dragon camp! That’s why I never went back to him after it, why would I?”

He couldn’t watch any more of the video, he couldn’t keep his tears back. He rushed off to the bathrooms and slammed the door behind him, locking it immediately. He let out a whine in worry, he tried to let out a ‘nya’ but it couldn’t leave his throat, he was too sad, too frustrated. Why did he even want to meow anyway if sting wasn’t there to hear it? If sting would just mock him for it behind his back. The cat ear wireframe felt like it was biting into his head and he pulled it off with a grunt. Deep down, Rogue knew he should have accepted this was the case, Sting was just proving right his insecurities, he should have just been thankful to be there but… he didn’t just want to be a jester to the saber tooth club. He just wanted to be one of them, was that too much to ask? He took the cat ear wireframe, and in his rage, he took the symbol of his loser status and threw it into the toilet, slamming the toilet seat on it, before sitting down and crying.

Rogue had no friends…

No club…

No sting…

No hope…

No future…

No sting…

He lay down on his side, curled up in a ball and cried. He couldn’t bring himself to go to classes, no matter who was there, they’d surely only be there to put him down further.

He didn’t know how long he stayed there on the ground for, but it must have been hours, he did cry himself to sleep after a certain point, though that was past the throwing up. but as he could hear the bell ring and the departure of students, he knew it was his time to go home. He felt slightly better at that. He could talk to Frogue and his father about what had happened, and the 3 of them could eat cake together… sting… well, maybe sting didn’t deserve any cake, and maybe it was better that way. At least his stomach was emptied out, he didn’t think the catear wireframe could get in any worse condition until it was covered in his breakfast. Gross.

Getting up, he wiped himself off before heading out of the school. Still, he was able to hear the laughter around him and couldn’t help but feel like it was directed at him still... he made it out of the suffocating air of the school, finally. Rain. This felt like something taken out of some sort of book or fanfiction, pathetic fallacy, if Rogue remembered correctly. Though all he really knew was that he was the pathetic one between himself and the rain. It was windy too, leaves flying everywhere, so the walk was all the harder. He kept his eyes to the ground and kept moving.

On the journey back, he passed that fateful spot… he could tell because of that picture he just kept looking back at. The only difference today? The branch Sting had fallen from had broken off in the storm. It was overdue, the branch wasn’t very stable after holding both Sting and dougs weight. Still, a tear was shed for that branch and the times it signified in his mind…

Then it clicked.

He had seen this in his books from way back when, all would seem lost, he would open the door, and all of his friends would be there waiting for him with cake and presents and love. He would open the door and they would suddenly jump out and exclaim ‘Surprise!’ before the real party begun. That gave him the determination to run home, the wind couldn’t stop him from getting to this last slither of hope.

The front door stood before him, Rogue looked a mess, but that didn’t matter. He took a deep breath and opened the door…

“SURPRISE!”

That’s what he expected to hear… but all he was met with was silence… he hadn’t lost hope yet. He closed the door behind him as he headed in, he checked the living room, behind the sofa, “Surprise?” he asked as he checked each spot, behind the curtains, behind doors, in closets, under the kitchen table. Not even Frogue and Skiadrum were home waiting for him… he went to the fridge to check on the cake. Still there, untouched. Somehow even worse an outcome than if anyone had ate the entire thing, because now he knew he was completely alone. He closed the fridge door when he noticed a note… looking back he did remember seeing it out the corner of his eye when he was checking the cake the first time, but the excitement of the cake blinded him to it. He took the note off and began to read it…

“Dear Progue,
Rogue (not you) and I have gone on holiday for his birthday, we didn’t think to get you a ticket, Sorry. We’ll send pictures.

-Skiadrum”

“Oh…” Rogue said with shakey breath.

They had went on holiday… without him… maybe it would be best to have cake on his own then… all alone on his birthday… at least he still had fresh. Yeah, he could have birthday cake with them. He took out the cake from the fridge, it’s deformities when rising really shined through. It reminded him of himself… not the same as others… worse in every way.

He carried the cake up the stairs in shaky hands, hearing the many footsteps of fresh as they heard him coming.

“Birthday!” Fresh called out, rushing down the stairs to meet up, only to crash into his leg and cause him to stumble forward, landing face first in the cake… a sob left his throat as he got back up, Fresh began to cry in realisation at what happened. That hurt Rogue inside, so he quickly tried to sort it out.

“N- no, it’s alright fresh, it isn’t your fault! I- It was my fault for not looking where I was going, please don’t cry… come on, we can have a slice together…” he took the horrible looking cake and brought it to his room.

Once he was there, he set the ‘cake’ on his bed, and set the slightly less teary eyed fresh next to it, before fishing in his wardrobe. Surely it wouldn’t matter too much to Frogue if Progue borrowed his present, right? Rogue set the present down with fresh, trying his best to put on a smile as he gasped in surprise, “Oh Fresh, y- you really got me a present? You… you shouldn’t have… thank you so much…”

The confused fresh held up frogue’s wrapped present and held it out to Progue, who scooped them up and hugged them, crying into their frog onesie… he felt numb from all the sadness, at least he still had fresh though… right? Did that even matter with all he didn’t have right now? He didn’t even care if they didn’t have presents for him… he didn’t care if they hated him… he just wanted them back… sting… frogue… dad…

He felt a ticklish feeling on his neck, Fresh was licking the back of his neck… “S- stop… fresh, save it for the cake… stop…”

His eyes slowly opened and he felt a warmth on top of him, matching the licking he felt moments prior. he looked ahead and his heart leapt. Frogue sat up atop him and held his face, “HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROGUE!!!” he looked over to the side and there stood skiadrum with a smile on his face. Frogue nuzzled his head into Rogue’s neck as he tried to gather what was going on…

He hugged Frogue’s head close to him and cried into his hair, “Thank you so much… I love you guys… I missed you so much…”

Frogue looked up at Progue, “Missed us? We never left silly, you must be imagining things… come on! Let’s go open our presents!”

In seconds, the warmth atop him was gone, but he still felt warm inside from the happiness and relief at whatever was happening.

Imagining things…

Rogue Cheney looked at the time, overjoyed as he realised that it was all just a bad dream.

Chapter Text

Rogue’s eyes slowly opened and he felt a warmth on top of him, matching the licking he felt moments prior. he looked ahead and his heart leapt. Frogue sat up atop him and held his face, “HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROGUE!!!” he looked over to the side and there stood skiadrum with a smile on his face. Frogue nuzzled his head into Rogue’s neck as he tried to gather what was going on…

He hugged Frogue’s head close to him and cried into his hair, “Thank you so much… I love you guys… I missed you so much…”

Frogue looked up at Progue, “Missed us? We never left silly, you must be imagining things… come on! Let’s go open our presents!”

In seconds, the warmth atop him was gone, but he still felt warm inside from the happiness and relief at whatever was happening. His birthday had arrived, and he needed it after last night. Though lurking in the back of his mind still remained the worry that his nightmare was prophetic. But at least he had Frogue and his dad here to enjoy it with him. Without further ado, he fetched his present for Frogue and followed him down the stairs.

The two stopped inside the living room, where their presents lay on the couch. The two landed next to eachother. Progue took the chance and looked to Frogue, “H- hey… I got you a present… happy birthday frogue…” he handed him the gift with a slight blush.

Frogue let out a surprised, joyful gasp as he took the present, before pulling Frogue into a tight hug, “Thank you soo much!” before quickly pulling away, keeping his hands on Progue’s shoulders. “I got you a present too, hang on…” he reached into his pyjama pocket and passed him the present. It was quite poorly wrapped  even showing claw marks in some spots. He tore open the wrapper to reveal…

“WOAH!!! Thank you so much!!!” he hugged Frogue again while looking at the box of stick on cat whiskers… it was all coming together now.

“Go on now, open your presents from your father, both of you.” Skiadrum said with a chuckle as he leaned against the door frame, waiting for the two of them to open their presents.

Frogue, with help from his claws, opened his present first. He let out a little squeal as he held it up, “CATNIP, EEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!” he cuddled the rather large bag close to him. Seeing the gesture forced another grin out of Progue as he opened his own present…

It was a…

It was a…

It was the best thing Rogue could have asked for…

A limited edition collectors version of last years seasonal special for Dragon weekly’s special fioremas gift… a scissor runner pen. Rogue’s hands shook as he held it up in the light… it was so beautiful. It didn’t hold a candle to sting, but it was still the closest thing he had seen to sting’s handsomeness. Mental turmoil was forming in his mind about whether he should use it in school, or shouldn’t use it in school. On one hand, they (sting) would get to see how cool it was and by proxy, how cool Rogue was, but on the other, what if people got jealous from how cool it was and tried to take it from him? That settled it for Rogue, he would save it for special occasions only, like his wedding. He looked to his father and made his way over, hugging him tightly and leaning his head into Skiadrums shoulder.

“Thank you so much dad… I love you…”

Skiadrum chuckled and stroked his hair a bit, “I love you too, I’m proud of how far you’ve come Rogue…” he grabbed on to Frogue’s shoulder with a surprised “Eep!” and pulled him into the embrace, holding them there comfortably for a bit, it was a wonderful moment that both Rogue’s would cherish. After a bit of time, he released the two and looked to Progue, “Alright, you should get ready for school now, I’m sure Sting can’t wait to see you.” Skiadrum ruffled Rogue’s hair affectionately before sending him off.

“Right! T- Thanks dad!” Progue rushed off out of the room. Skiadrum closed the door behind him and looked to Frogue.

“Since you and your brother share a birthday, I imagine you’ll feel a bit overshadowed by him from your own friends, so I thought it might be nice… if we could spend the day together, father, son and fresh. I have plenty of things prepared- Oof!”

“T- thank you… you have no idea how much I need that…” Frogue clung to his father as he spoke quietly. He could hear the sound of Progue leaving the house as he hugged his father.

The walk to school was a happy one, he couldn’t help but feel overjoyed for today, life had only been going right for him it felt, and he savoured that all the more after that horrible dream. Perhaps he could ask Yukino about that later, her forte was astrology but surely that and interpreting dreams weren’t much different. That was for later though, for now he just had to get to school and survive the day. As he neared closer to the school building, he took out his phone to see, just in case, only to be caught completely off guard by a flurry of messages that had been sent to his phone the night prior. Mostly from the Saber Tooth groupchat. Most surprisingly, Lilac was the one who sent the first message.

Lilac (00:01): Happy birthday @Rogue, you’ll always be a little meow meow to me.

The message greatly confused him, ‘little meow meow’? Maybe it was because of the catboy things. Whatever it was, it sounded like a compliment, so he was grateful nonetheless, though he was most surprised by how early she sent the message. Next was Sorano, surprisingly enough, all the least expected messages coming first

Sorano (3:36) : @Rogue, Hbd.

It didn’t show much emotion, but it was clear she had noted his birthday down somewhere and that was enough for Rogue.

Minerva (7:12): @rphsr jspuy nirthbys ddue

She was probably hung over, but he could at least understand it enough to interpret what she was trying to say.

Yukino (7:15): Happy birthday @Rogue!!! I hope you enjoy it!!

Typical Yukino, she probably was the one that told the other two when his birthday was. She was nice, even if annoying with her ramblings in school.

Though, for some reason, there was no birthday message from Sting in the groupchat, so he checked his DM’s instead, where he met what he was really looking for…

Sting(00:06): HAPPY BIRTHDAY DUDE!! Can’t wait to wish you happy birthday in person later!

Sting(6:00): My bad dude, I’m gonna be a bit late 2 school today, I’ll see u later, Gonna make sure I’m there for it bro, no matter what.

Sting(8:24): Hey Rogue, can u go 2 the classroom we use for ST meetings? The others are having a very important meeting u need 2 be there 4.

After reading that, Rogue couldn’t hide his blush and smile, Sting always seemed to know what to say to make him feel good, though he was a bit disappointed that Sting wouldn’t be there to wish him happy birthday at school until later, but then again, good things came to those who wait. And Sting most certainly was a good thing. But what could the important meeting possibly be? Many possibilities rushed through his mind, but the best one was by far the idea that they were preparing him for his wedding when Sting arrived! He couldn’t help but let out a little squeal at the thought. Of course, his mind still settled him down, he wouldn’t be marrying Sting today, of course not, that was completely silly.

After about 15 minutes, he had made it to the saber tooth meeting room. He put his hand, now shaky with excitement, on the door handle and opened it up. The first emotion to go through his mind was disappointment. There were no wedding dresses or suits, that was mildly disappointment, but his disappointment was completely overshadowed by the joy he felt at what he saw.

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!” the remainder of the Saber Tooth Club stood in a semi-circle in the room. Each had a present in hand, with the exception being Minerva and Sorano, who only had the one present between them.

“A- ah! Thank you guys! You really didn’t have to…” he wiped his eyes and grinned at the sight… they had really done all of this for him, they truly cared about him. It made him feel special, all doubts of him not belonging had left his mind.

Sorano stepped forward with a half asleep Minerva draped over her shoulder, “Happy birthday, or whatever. Minerva picked it out.” She handed the gift to him, it was strangely bottle shaped, impressively wrapped, and surprisingly heavy. He stumbled slightly as it was handed to him and he quickly unwrapped it, the gift in question was…

A bottle of… beer?

“H- heheh, thanks sorano… and Minerva.” Rogue gently patted her head in thanks, hoping she got the message, before setting the bottle on one of the tables next to them, before Yukino handed her gift, it was long, thin and round. He quickly ripped it open, revealing it to be some sort of poster. He unrolled it to reveal a poster of the star dragon, the one thing Rogue knew about the stars, a mythical beast that travels through space and feeds off the energy of the stars. It was a beautiful interpretation of the myth… it would look so amazing on his wall. Rogue couldn’t help but stare at it for a few minutes, before looking to Yukino thankfully, “Thank you… I love it.”

Yukino grinned and let out a little squeal, before gently nudging Lilac forward with her gift. This one confused Rogue the most, it was very peculiarly shaped and very big for how little they interacted. He took the gift thankfully anyway and opened it up, there were 2 things and one of them was incredibly soft. It was a plush seal! Rogue had admittedly never seen a seal before, so he wasn’t sure how realistic it was, but it was cute and fluffy nonetheless.

“This is really nice, thank’s lilac…”

She nodded and smiled in response, before he took the next part of the gift… it was strange but kind of cool, a plastic bag of smoothed down coloured glass, “Ooooh it’s a decoration, I could probably put this somewhere…”

Lilac chuckled nervously, “Heheh, yeah… decoration…”

“Well… thank you all so much… I- I’m so glad to have you here with me. I-”

RINGRINGRINGRINGRINGRINGRINGRINGRINGRINGRINGRINGRING

“That’s our cue to leave.” Sorano said casually, not taking her eyes off her phone as she sauntered out of the room, followed by Minerva, lilac and yukino.

“Rogue is such a loser… in a good way.” Lilac noted on her way out.

Before she could leave, Rogue put a hand on Yukino’s shoulder to stop her. “H- hey, Yukino… there’s something I need to talk to you about, it’ll be quick… I hope.”

She turned in surprise and tilted her head curiously, “Sure, what is it?”

And so, Rogue began to explain the dream to her, or rather, what he remembered of it. There wasn’t really much commentary given from Yukino, besides the occasional nodding and gasping as she listened along, before finally giving her input:

“E- erm, well that’s horrible, I’m so sorry you had to go through all that…” she sympathised, “I’m no expert in dream reading, it doesn’t have much to do with the stars, but… I don’t really think I need to know about reading dreams to explain what this means… you might need therapy rogue… this isn’t a normal way of thinking, you need to work through these insecurities and realise… the people around you really like you.”

“E- even Sting?”

Yukino let out a nervous chuckle. She knew the truth. She knew that Sting liked Rogue romantically, it slipped out during the convention when she was crying, and it was already pretty obvious. But she couldn’t be the one to let that news out, surely Sting had something planned, surely…

“Yeah, sting likes you a lot… l- like in a… an ambiguous way that could be interpreted as platonic or romantic.”

“R-really?!” Rogue perked right up at that, grin on his face, “Yes! Thank you Yukino” he headed out of the classroom with a spring in his step.

“Huh…” Yukino shrugged, before her eyes widened in shock. She grasped Rogue’s wrist with surprising strength, “W- wait, if it’s may, does that mean… y- you aren’t a Sagittarius? B- but… how could I… how could be wrong?” she released his wrist and stumbled back to her desk as Rogue left the room… “so he’s a gemini… huh… my life is a lie…” her attention was diverted by a vibrating from the table her phone sat on. She perked up and snatched it up. “Ooooh, message from my boyfriend, don’t mind if I do.” her attention has completely changed focus.

As he pranced down the hallway, Rogue’s happiness had lowered a tad. PE today. Without Sting. His prance slowly converted from a prance to a mildly happy but leisurely walk, he was in no rush to get to his destination. At least he wasn’t, until Lucy stopped him in the hallway in her PE gear, snake around her neck. “Hey Rogue! Professor Strauss told me he wanted to talk with you about something and that it might last a while so you shouldn’t change for PE, bye!!!” she quickly speedwalked away before he could ask further questions, so he simply shrugged and changed course, making his way to Professor Strauss’ classroom. The doubt began to kick in, just like his dream… was he about to be lectured? Did he underperform in a recent test or homework? The thought filled him with fear as he opened the classroom door and headed in. Strauss seemed to be a little bit less perpetually tired this time, he also seemed to have a lot of interesting dragon books scattered on his desk amidst the coffee cups.

“Come on in, You’re not in trouble kid. take a seat.” Professor strauss asked calmly

Rogue pulled over a seat opposite Strauss’ desk and sat down, taking a glance at the books scattered all over the desks. In all his experience reading dragon books, he could recognise all of them, from The big book of dragons, encyclopedragon,  The small book of dragons, all the way to The properties of dragonbone.

As Rogue was busy admiring the books, Professor Strauss took a sip of his coffee, before he began to speak, “I’ve been getting in contact with a few of my colleagues from my school days, oh, of course, happy birthday Rogue, I hope you enjoy it.”

“T- Thank you Professor Strauss, but… I’m still not sure why you’ve called me here…” Still, he was quite grateful, he wasn’t sure he wanted to face the locker rooms or the storage closet again this week, he wasn’t ready for it.

“Right, I was getting to that…” The professor half droned, half spoke normally, it was evident he was trying to show a bit more emotion, but he wasn’t quite there yet. “I don’t say it much because it would get to your head, but I believe you could be a great contributor in the studies of dragons. I don’t say that lightly. So I’ve put your name out there, and there is one in particular you might be quite interested in… I’m sure you’ll know their name.”

Searching through the names of people in his head, not a lot were very well versed in dragon studies, except well…

“Y- you?”

Professor Strauss shook his head, “Definitely not, kid, I may be a teacher, but I’m not suited for one on one teaching. You wouldn’t get your moneys worth out of me. No, I’m thinking of someone else.“ he took a sip of his coffee

Oh, Now Rogue realised, he had spoken maybe once or twice to him but largely didn’t know much about him besides his positive reputation in the school.

“M- Mr Clive?” he could have swore he heard a voice in the back of his head shouting ‘Gildarts!’ angrily

Professor Strauss spat out his coffee and had a genuine grin on his face as he wiped the coffee away, “Funny, definitely not. Gildarts is much better with kids than I am and frankly Is better at teaching, but he doesn’t know the first thing about advanced dragon studies, he just works off the curriculum and nothing else, I think he might have said he dropped out when he went here too.”

“T- then who else could it be?” Rogue asked curiously

Professor strauss shook his head, “You know what, nevermind. That’s irrelevant, look, the main point of this is that I want to talk to you about your future, and frankly, if you have a specific scholar in mind, just give me a call and I’ll give them my full recommendation. Trust me kid, they’d be lucky to have you.”

Rogue could have swore he felt a purr coming on, and he wouldn’t hide his happiness now, so he let out a little happy “Mrrrrrrrpp” with a grin as he began purring against his will (He was completely choosing to do it, it only sounded somewhat purr-like). Then he realised he should show something to Strauss and fished in his pencil case, before pulling it out…

“L- Look what I got professor Strauss!” He set the pen on the desk between them, the scissor runner pen that came from the limited edition collectors version of last years seasonal special for Dragon weekly’s fioremas gift.

Strauss picked up the pen and inspected it for a bit, looking it up and down with a raised eyebrow and a slight smile, “Oh yeah… I remember these things. I’d have probably killed for one of these when I was you’re age…”

Rogue nodded quickly with a toothy grin, sparkles in his eyes at the approval.

The next hour or so barely felt like a minute, Rogue was disappointed to leave, but it was break time and professor Strauss had to get back to marking. As Rogue was walking through the corridors, looking for someone to hang out with, he noticed just how empty it was getting, there were less and less students roaming around, which was both good and bad. He enjoyed that it was a bit quieter, but didn’t enjoy how little company he had. Until Gray came by, “Hi Rogue! Have you seen what’s happening outside? Come on!” He grabbed onto Rogue’s sleeve and began running, Rogue stumbled along behind him out of the back school doors.

On leaving the building, he was met with an absolutely beautiful sight… in the sky, circling a point, was a prime age red dragon… the crowd wasn’t looking at that part though, because below where the dragon was circled lay a cardboard box, a bit smaller than Rogue was, with 4 latches, one on each corner, and ‘ROGUE’ in big words on the front. Standing at each corner was a frankly bizarre sight that Rogue couldn’t see until he made his way to the front of the crowd. When he saw it, he screamed, because standing at each corner of the cardboard box, were 4 half naked men in leather pants. Upon further inspection (on their faces), he recognised all of them, which made it infinitely worse…Laxus, Orga, Cobra, and… MR CLIVE?!

Rogue quickly rushed down the hill, standing in front of the box, he looked between them all. Laxus seemed embarrassed, despite playing dragon ball and wearing a very similar kit for it, a red blush painting his cheeks and his foot was making circles in the ground as he looked at it. Cobra had to look everywhere but forward, he had no idea how they convinced him to do this, well, whatever this was. Orga seemed proud of himself, and Mr Clive seemed more amused than embarrassed, he was loving this and Rogue was terrified of that. Especially because of how good he looked shirtless and in those leather pants.

“I- Umm… hi guys… whats going on h-“

The 4 began to chant in sync (Though Orga seemed to be moreso attempting a soprano)

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ROGUE. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ROGUE. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ROGUE. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ROGUE. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ROGUE. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ROGUE.”

The four then moved in rehearsed unison and unlatched the lid of the box. Whatever he was expecting to fly out of the box, it wasn’t oak fibre filled balloons. The balloons shot into the air, attached to a string as the dragon suddenly launched into action, chasing the balloons and burning them with it’s powerful red fire breath, bursting them with ease. Rogue wasn’t sure about the intention of the almost ritual like event going on until the dragon finished, and the lingering flames of the dragon spelled out the word “ROGUE” Everyone in the crowd was mesmerised, until someone shouted from the crowd, “LOOK! SOMEONE’S FALLING FROM THE SKY!”

Rogue’s gaze shot up further as he saw a figure in leather and a motorcycle helmet, diving through the O of Rogue, landing very quickly into the Rogue crate with an “ow…” before getting to their feet. Rogue could recognise them immediately, from the familiar muscles, the wearing of a tight leather cropped top and the unusually large hands. Sting pulled off the helmet and stepped forward with a grin, “Happy birthday Rogue…” he stood towards him.

By the dragon gods, Sting looked drop dead gorgeous in black leather. His hands looked so perfect in the pockets of the pants, his dragon ball playing chest almost looked too good in the leather cropped top, and the way his hair looked just a bit messy from being in that helmet for so long… Rogue couldn’t help the little bit of blood coming from his nose as he saw him, “H- hhhhh, hi sting…” he stumbled slightly and had to steady himself. But then… Gildarts passes him a microphone. The 4 behind him began to snap their fingers in perfect rhythm as he began to sing…

“You're just to good to be true,
Can't take my eyes off of you,
You'd be like heaven to touch,
I wanna hold you so much,
At long last love has arrived,
And I thank God I'm alive,
You're just to good to be true,
Can't take my eyes off of you..

Pardon the way that I stare,
There's nothing else to compare,
The sight of you leaves me weak,
There are no words left to speak,
But if you feel like I feel,
Please let me know that it's real,
You're just to good to be true,
Can't take my eyes off of you..

I love you baby,
And if it's quite alright,
I need you baby,
To warm the lonely nights,
I love you baby,
Trust in me when I say,
Oh pretty baby,
Don't bring me down I pray,
Oh pretty baby,
Now that I found you stay,
And let me love you,
Baby let me love you...

You're just to good to be true,
Can't take my eyes off of you,
You'd be like heaven to touch,
I wanna hold you so much,
At long last love has arrived,
And I thank dragon God I'm alive,
You're just to good to be true,
Can't take my eyes off of you..

I love you baby,
And if it's quite alright,
I need you baby,
To warm the lonely night,
I love you baby,
Trust in me when I say,
I love you baby,
And if it's quite alright,
I need you baby,
To warm the lonely night,
I love you baby,
Trust in me when I say...... I want you to be my boyfriend..,”

Rogue felt like he could faint… this was really happening… Sting had… Sting confessed his feelings for him… how was that even possible… He stumbled forward, head dizzy, but Sting caught him in his arms, his fall cushioned by Sting’s leather clad chest, he looked up at him… he could barely speak “I- I… Sting… you…”

But actions speak louder than words.

Without overthinking about it, Rogue used his remaining energy to push himself up, Kissing Sting square on the lips… the feeling was like kissing a cloud… some of the blood from his nosebleed got onto sting, but that wasn’t his focus… there was a blush on his cheeks… they were as red as, as something. He could barely believe it. Sting Eucliffe was now his boyfriend. At long last.

Later, the two sat in an empty classroom by themselves, Sting had changed into his ordinary clothes, Rogue had finally calmed himself down after a few hours, and finally pried himself off Sting’s arm as he spoke, “So… I get that gesture was great and all, boyfriend…” both of them couldn’t help but grin at that. The novelty would hopefully never wear off. “But… I still got you some presents, amazing as I am…” he passed Rogue a gift bag and he took it, hands still shaking.

Rogue took the first item out and gasped…

“You know, I saw the headband I got you for Christmas, and it seemed to be in… a poor state. So I got you a new one. Much better quality, at least that’s what the cashier said to explain the cost…” He grinned, “Take out the next one.”

Rogue took out the next item, though after that first one he wasn’t sure he could handle the happiness of another gift…

He reached in and pulled out… A plushie version of Sting Eucliffe. Of course. Rogue shook his head with a smile, and now knowing he could be honest about his inner thoughts, he added, “Y- you do know I’ll be sleeping with this every night…”

Sting raised an eyebrow, “At least make an exception for when I’m in it with you…”

“N- Next gift…” he reached in and pulled out an envelope, opening it up. He pulled out… a rather large amount of paper slips… It took him a moment to read them.

“For a first official date as boyfriend and cooler boyfriend, I thought we could bring everyone along… for karaoke night.”

Chapter Text

“EEEEEEEK! I’m still not over it, YOU, and STING, finally together! I couldn’t be happier!!” Frogue squealed as he walked beside Progue towards the bar. Skiadrum decided to tag along a bit, just until they arrived at the bar. Frogue was louder than the other two combined though, “Oooooh, when are you guys gonna get married? Is it soon? Can I be best man… cat… catboy?”

Skiadrum shut Frogue up a bit by putting a hand on his shoulder, he shakes his head with a smile. “Calm down a bit, you’re overwhelming your brother.”

“Well… maybe we’ll get married soon… I hope…” Progue chuckles awkwardly, a blush on his cheeks. Really, his attention was only half on what was happening right now, the other half was completely occupied by sting, and the fact that the two of them were in a relationship.

Skiadrum couldn’t help but grin, then looked to Frogue, “How about you and Lucy, hmm? When are you two getting married?”

Frogue’s composure shattered, “I- Um- You- I- Lucy- Um… Nyaaaaaah…” he whined.

Progue’s grin matched his fathers as he looked to Frogue. How the tables have turned. “Y- you know, Lucy asked me if you’d be coming when me and Sting were giving out the invites… Maybe you should ask her out when we’re there?”

Frogue tried his best to stay cool, “Cool… yeah…” but the way his tail was raised completely belied his excitement, and the other two laughed at the sight. He was so obviously down bad but he didn’t realise it himself.

The bar got closer and closer, thankfully it was rather quiet. Sting wanted the two to come about half an hour early just so Rogue could get used to the atmosphere, the other saber tooth club members were told the same. Rogue could handle that, he knew the saber tooth club. Right?

Once the 3 stepped in, Progue was really surprised by how many people there were. So far, there was sting, Minerva, sorano, yukino, her boyfriend, lilac and lucy. In the back, Weisslogia was watching over them. Progue could barely remember the last time he had this many people over for a birthday, he wasn’t really sure he had. Sting quickly noticed the 3 and pranced over,

“Hey guys!” he gave a friendly wave and a shine of his teeth, before looking to Skiadrum, “Heeyyy Skiadrum, Rogue’s Daddo, it’s been a while… who would have thought that you might end up my dad in law soon. Oh, My actual dad will probably want to chat with you for a bit, he’s just over in the back there.” He pointed back with his thumb

Skiadrum chuckled, “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves now, it’s nice to see you again too Sting.” He ruffled his hair before leaving the young ones to get up to trouble on their own.

“Hey boyfrieeeend, nice to see you again.” Sting grins and leans in closer to Rogue a bit, before he looked to Frogue too, a tad nervous now, “Heyy…. Frog… nice to see you again… Anyway, Minerva sorted us out with some drinks, but she’s not in too good a mood. Probably leave that for Sorano to deal with. Lucy is sorting out the karaoke machines, , don’t mind them. And Lilac… is already a few drinks in.”

Over in the corner sat lilac with a few empty glasses in front of her, she looked like part of her soul was sucked out of her.

“NYAH!” Frogue yelped, looking behind him.

“Doug! What are you doing?! Get off him!” Sting called. Doug seemed to be completely crazy, he had climbed halfway up Frogue’s leg for some reason. He released his clawed grip and hopped onto his shoulder, whispering something in his ear before running off, hopping across tables.

“H- heheh… that hurt… I’m just gonna…” he stumbled over to the bar, leaning against it. Meanwhile, Sting and Rogue left the scene, talking to the others, always referring to Rogue as ‘His boyfriend’, which was a label Rogue was proud to live by. ‘Sting’s boyfriend’. He wasn’t used to being referred to like that… he was going to enjoy this so much.

Frogue decided against looking at his leg, but he could feel the blood trickling down it. He knew why doug did this, it’s because he brought the catnip to the party. There was no other reason. He was saving it though, maybe he would share some with doug later, but for now-

“H- hey handsome…” Lucy spoke in an attempted sultry tone, leaning against the bar as well. “What brings you round these parts, partner? F- ####, no, that makes me sound like a cowboy…” she muttered to herself, before correcting, “You come here alone cutie?” She asked, smirking at him. She had practised this moment in the mirror so many times, she had to be cool, she had to seduce Frogue, if any more of her ex crushes got a partner before her, she would scream.

“O- Oh, Hi lucy…” he turned to face her, blushing slightly, “Yeah, hah… just here for the party, I suppose…” his tail was swishing from side to side, his ears twitched slightly to match

“Oh really? Well… I think…” she placed a hand on his arm, slowly sliding it up in an attempt to hide how shaky it felt. “It’s gotten a lot more interesting since you got here…”

Frogue could have swore he heard a cheesy love song playing in the back of his mind when her arm made contact with him…

“'Cause every time we touch, I get this feeling
And every time we kiss, I swear I could fly
Can't you feel my heart beat fast?
I want this to last
Need you by my side”

It took him a good moment to realise that that wasn’t in his head, but in fact Yukino and her boyfriend testing the karaoke machine together. Still, it fit the moment very well, as while his head was turned, Lucy’s hand moved from his arm to his chest, and boy did that do things to him. He let out a shiver at the feeling and felt a slight purr coming on. He was so embarrassed, but so in love.

Meanwhile, Progue was getting a bit worried. While talking with Minerva and sorano, Minerva kept getting quite touchy with sting, brushing her hand against his arm, touching shoulders when passing him, and worst of all, glaring when she saw sting holding him. He was already getting worried for their relationship.

“Heeyyyy Stingggg, can you give your girl one more chance and let her get the next sooong? It’s extra specialllll, come ooon, for old times sake.” She booped his nose, this angered Rogue quite a bit, but since Sting was such a loyal king, he could trust him not to fall for it.

“Uhh, yeah, sure. I think Yukino and her boyfriend are finished up now.” Sting responded, a tad uncomfortable by her behaviour, but he still knew how Minerva was when she was drunk. She stumbled up onto the mini stage and drunkenly chose the song she had in mind. The bass began to play as the song started. She began to sing very drunkenly, and very poorly. There were many voice cracks. They could barely make out the words until she reached the chorus:

“Well, good for you, you look happy and healthy
Not me, if you ever cared to ask
Good for you, you're doing great out there without me, baby
God, I wish that I could do that

I've lost my mind, I've spent the night
Crying on the floor of my bathroom
But you're so unaffected, I really don't get it
But I guess good for you”

It was clear the song was intended for Sting, evident by the fact she was looking directly at him as she sang. This pissed off Sorano, it was her ‘girlfriend’ singing this for Sting after all. She figured Minerva had finally gotten over that silly childhood crush, but nope. Deciding against sticking around and listening to her bad singing, Sorano decided to go hang out with yukino instead, and her boyfriend. At least it meant she wouldn’t have to be close to Sting’s creepy cat, who was staring daggers at Rogue’s cat/person clone for some reason.

As the song continued, the time reached the hour and people began pouring in. Strauss was first, he decided to see Skiadrum and Weisslogia, being the only responsible adults in the room, he didn’t need a headache from hanging around minervas alcoholism, he didn’t talk with his cousin Mirajane much, so that was off the table, or Frogue, who seemed to be getting moves made on him by Heartfilia.

“Is that a snake in your pants or are you just happy to see me?” Lucy asked Frogue as plue wound itself around his lower half. It was working, it was working, she would finally get a boyfriend. The poor bartender could only ignore them at this point, it was definitely one of the strangest things he had seen, but it was far from the worst.

As the action continued from all fronts, and the music blared at the back, the rest of Class A (the important ones) and some of class B had arrived.

It seemed like the girlboss army was approaching, with Erza was at the forefront, with a changed Erik by her side. He seemed a completely different guy after all this time with erza, he was less of a bodyguard and more like, well, different. He had clearly been through a lot of action with her, from illegal fireworks to god knows what, his comfort zone probably seemed more like a long lost memory at this point. Not far behind her was Mirajane and her boywife, except it seemed something had happened with their relationship, as now they were holding hands, instead of Gray clinging to her arm. Laxus and Freed are a bit behind them, Laxus seemed very nervous about being there, practically shaking on the spot. It didn’t help that he towered over the others, so he stuck out like a sore thumb. Hisui looked likes she didn’t want to be there almost  as much as Freed did, though she seemed more uncomfortable than anything, where Freed simply didn’t enjoy being there. It surely was a change of pace from the usual balls she would attend. At the very back was a face that couldn’t quite be made out, as their face was obscured by a hoodie and sunglasses. On the hoodie read the words “Born to ####, forced to pay child support”. (Word has been censored for the audience and author's sake).

Hisui quickly scanned the area, before making her way over to sorano, yukino and yukinos boyfriend. They were the few familiar faces she could trust not to force her to do horrible peasant bar things, like drinking urine out of dirty shoes, kissing strangers, or socialising (oh my!).

Minervas song finally reached it’s end, though mostly because she needed more alcohol that she couldn’t last the full song. She stumbled off the stage and made her way back to Sting and Rogue, only to get bumped out of the way by Erza, who was marching straight towards them, distracted slightly as she kept getting distracted, looking to the side briefly at Yukinos boyfriend, glaring daggers at him. Minerva had been sent straight in the direction of the bar from being bumped by Erza. Destiny had made its choice, it seemed. Minerva must keep drinking.

Meanwhile, also at the bar, Frogue was practically trapped there after Lucy had a drink and got more Frisky, with Lucy leaning over him, body pressing him against the bar as she began feeling his ears seductively, causing him to purr against his will from how good she was at it. “Go onn… admit it, tell me your true feelings…” Plue was helping with this matter, making sure Frogue couldn’t escape by wrapping around the two of them loosely.

Frogue’s mind was rushing through so many different thoughts, like how close lucy was to him, how pretty she looked tonight, and how embarrassed he felt right now. She had clearly gained the confidence to press further after Frogue didn’t resist her advances or stop her, he was barely able to speak at this point, he could barely do anything but look around for backup, but he found none. Except the glass next to him… He knew what he had to do.

Suddenly, he reached out and took the glass, drinking all the remaining liquid in one go, before speaking a bit too loudly, “NYAAH! Fine! I- I like you Lucy… Y- you’re so pretty and your so much fun to be around and text and I don’t know how I didn’t see it before…“

All eyes turned to the two of them, except for laxus, who was staring at freed longingly. The silence was deafening, only broken by the slight purring that could barely be heard from deep in Frogue’s chest. Until a certain someone piped up.

“WOOOOH! GO LUCY!” Erza cheered, clapping loudly.

“WOOP WOOP!” Sting whooped, pumping his fist in the air.

Lucy and frogue both  blushed, finally realising what they had been doing in public. Lucy tried to pull herself free of him but Plue hadn’t got the memo yet and was still wound around the two of them, so they were stuck and embarrassed in public, made even worse by how others began to join the applause. Frogue could barely handle it, so he took his drink again. His catboy genes allowed him to take alcohol better than he could have if he were Progue, because the cat part of his mind didn’t receive alcohol like humans did, but he could very much still get drunk, and he was thankful for that. After sipping his drink, he put a hand on the back of Lucy’s neck, and expressed his feelings in the one way he knew best, with a kiss, causing the applause to roar even louder around them.

“T- thanks… you’re… you’re pretty too…” Lucy spoke with a blush on her cheeks

On the other side of the bar, Gildarts approached Professor Strauss. Skiadrum and Weisslogia were chatting with eachother which meant Strauss was mostly enjoying the scene with a mug of coffee, until, joyful as ever, and still wearing the leather pants from earlier, just with a partly unbuttoned shirt to go with it, Gildarts entered the scene. He put an arm around Professor Strauss’ shoulders, before it was quickly brushed off, “Elfman! Isn’t it wonderful? Love’s in the air tonight. Remind’s me of myself back in my prime, could make a whole bar of ladies swoon with just a flip of my hair, even could get a few guys doing double takes too, heh. Hey, how about you four eyes, did you get much action in your younger days?” he asked, leaning against the wall.

Professor Strauss rolled his eyes, looking into his mug of coffee, “I never was the sort Gildarts, too focussed in my studies. Getting a girlfriend was always on the backburner In the University of Crocus, and now I don’t think I could find love if I tried. At least I have coffee…”

Gildarts’ smile faltered a bit as he heard his colleague’s confession. He could see the sorrow in the mans eyes, he had regrets. Then his confidence was reinforced with a new resolve. “Yeah? How about a wager then, if you don’t get laid tonight, I’ll let you teach me about dragons for 2 hours. Not including time that I fall asleep. If I manage to get you home with a girl, then you have to… Make me the best man at your wedding.”

Strauss couldn’t help but let out a chuckle at that last part. He hadn’t considered the idea of finally getting laid in a very long time, he didn’t care for it as much as he used to. But 2 hours of rambling about dragons to an active audience that was willing to be there… Now that appealed to him. “I’ll take you up on that… but only if you vouch for coffee machines in the staffroom too.”

“Deal! Now let’s not waste any time, time to get you some action!” Gildarts said as he dragged Strauss out of the bar, just missing as Lucy went up to the stage to sing the next karaoke song, this one was dedicated to her new love, Frogue.

“I've rejected affection
For years and years
Now I have it, and damn it
It's kind of weird”

Lucy sang quietly, not loudly and drunkly like Minerva did, not bold or desperate, just loving. Her words made their way straight to Frogue’s heart, who couldn’t take his eyes off her.

“He tells me I'm pretty
Don't know how to respond
I tell him that he's pretty too
Can I say that? Don't have a clue

As Frogue was distracted by the music, Doug got to work; he needed this. He hopped across the bar, knocking glasses off the bar, but stopping Doug was futile when he was focused, and boy was he focused.  With a leap and all the power he could muster, Doug leapt forth, and in one swift movement and the blink of an eye, the catnip was snatched from Frogue’s back pocket, before dashing to a back corner of the bar to tear it open and roll all over it.

Meanwhile, Erza was getting to work with the real fun of the party. She pointed to Sting. “Sting!” Then to Minerva, “Minerva!” Minerva didn’t respond, simply looking into her empty glass. “Rogue!” Rogue blushed at being included

“WE are going to see, who can chug a beer fastest. Got it?” Erza asked, looking between her contestants.

Minerva practically launched off her seat as she heard the word ‘drink’ in a sentence with her name. She stood as upright as she could as she made her way over, leaning on Sting’s shoulder. “Did you like my songggg stiiiiing?” she asked, but Sting’s attention was elsewhere, most notably, the napkins he had slowly been eating away at throughout the night.

Rogue though, Rogue was in a different space entirely, he was horribly worried about getting drunk so quickly with his new boyfriend, he was shaking slightly in Sting’s strong arm. Even Sting’s presence couldn’t fully ease him, because, well, he was part of the issue. “D- dad…” he whimpered, a distant cry for help.

Whatever caused it, Sting’s attention returned to Rogue and he quickly realised the issue, “Hang on, we should get someone else, Rogue takes alcohol like the sobriety dragon- there is a sobriety dragon, right Rogue?”

Rogue shook his head.

“Well, whatever, he gave us an even better suggestion anyway…” he pointed in the air, before bringing his veiny finger down to point in the direction of… Skiadrum, “Dad! Rogue’s dad, not mine, yet, Rogue’s dad. You’ll join us for this drinking competition, right?”

Skiadrum perked up and looked over to the others. He hadn’t drank anything in a good while, buuut, it would be fun. What the dragon-hell, he might as well. “Very well.” Skiadrum made his way over to join the others in their drinking competition.

Rogue leaned in and whispered to Sting, “T- thanks… if you win this I’ll kiss you again as thanks…”

Sting blushed at the thought, and boy did it motivate him. He slammed a glass on the bar, accidentally shattering it. “WINNER GETS TO KISS ROGUE!” he called out, completely misunderstanding his boyfriend.

“HELL YEAH!” Erza tried matching his energy, even if she didn’t care much about kissing Rogue, a prize was always good for this sort of thing. Minerva was too busy practising drinking instead of listening to whatever was going on. Skiadrum ignored the prize, that was completely off the table for him, he just wanted to have fun.

“Oh, someone should probably clean that broken glass up though, don’t want to hurt someone.” Erza added.

Lilac, who had barely been noticed by the others, made her way over with a broom and dustpan, gathering all the pieces of broken glass up quickly without a word.

“T- Thanks lilac…” Rogue said quietly, since it seemed nobody else planned to.

She snorted, “You’re such a loser Meow-meow, Rogue Cheney.” Before picking the dustpan up and wandering to find a bin, probably.

Minerva hiccuped and looked up from her drink at Lilac, “Heheheheheh, she’s gonna eat the glass, isn’t she.”

“I DON’T EAT GLASS YOU DICK!” She barked back, suddenly irritated, but not very seriously, as she quickly walked off, “I’ve never eaten glass omg.”

Meanwhile, at the front of the bar, Mirajane, gray, and the mysterious stranger, were all chatting with eachother.

“So… what’s your name?” Mirajane asked him, eying him suspiciously. He seemed strangely familiar, the little bit of blonde hair poking out from under his hood might have gave something away, but it was too hard to tell.

“U- umm, my name’s… sex… no… lac- no, Wa…. Wacard… Wacardo. Yes… Wacardo… hi…”

Mirajane shrugged, “Whatever, what brings you-“

“U- Uhm… Sigma dommy mommy boss girl? S- sorry, I mean, Mira?” Gray asked, a hint of nervousness in his voice

“What is it- Huh?” She turned her head to Gray and was very surprised to see some sort of apparition or ghost clinging to his arm… it took a moment for it to form, but it was clear who it was when she had formed.

“J- Juvia?! H- how are you-“ Gray asked, but was quickly interrupted as Juvia put a finger to his mouth

“Shhhh, I know, you miss me… Your arm must have been so cold without me…” She whispered, with a creepy smile on her face as she leaned in closer. “After confessing your love to me on prom night, I knew we couldn’t stay apart for long.”

Mirajane wasn’t all that worried, since Gray had been used to this sort of behaviour, she knew he wouldn’t be too bothered by it. While she was there, she decided to ask, “So… Juvia, how come you’re… well, here? This isn’t exactly normal, m’lady. Oh, and sorry about prom night, nothing personnel kid…” Wacardo seemed to have disappeared from the conversation to god knows where.

Juvia growled at Mirajane, before turning back to Gray to admire his face again. Looking to Gray for help, Mira decided to ask him instead, “Can you…”

“O- Oh, sure…” he turned to juvia instead of ignoring her and asked, “So… Juvia, nice to see you again… but… how are you here?”

“Oh Gray-sama… just some silly necromancer getting up to silly things that’ll get me back with my husband. I think I saw that transfer student there too… what was their name… Oh, Y/N. That slimy horse whose completely undeserving of your attention.”

Mirajane stepped forward, “So Y/N is saving the city again… here, M’lady, do you think-“

She was met with a glare

“Right.”

Mirajane whispered her question to Gray, who passed it on to Juvia, “W-was there anyone else brought back as a ghost too?”

“Oh… just that big monkeying brute who wronged you during prom, Gajeel… and our old fairy tail leader, Natsu. But they aren’t important, because now I’m with you… Oh, and could Gray-Sama do me a favour as thanks for all this talking I’ve been doing?”

Gray paused, looked to mirajane, before quickly having his face turned back to juvia, and nodded.

“Yay! I knew you loved me Gray, my one true husband! So… in the afterlife, they don’t have very much… content, that I’m interested in. So could you maybe burn some of the newest books in my favourite series’ so they reach me…”

“What on earth is she talking about?”

Gray nodded, “She wants me to burn the newest volumes of 50 shades of Gray (BL Edition).”

Juvia nodded eagerly.

The drinks were set up, everyone was sat in their stools with drinks before them. Skiadrum. Erza. Sting. And Minerva. Rogue stood at the side, having no idea how he got into this mess, and now he was just praying to the dragon gods in his mind that Sting won this. As he was the prize, he was going to be starting the competition, so he just tried to get started… what should he be counting down from? He didn’t know how drinking games worked, maybe it would be safer to just start high instead of making the mistake of starting too quickly, he didn’t want anyone to choke.

“20… 19… 18… 17… 16… 15… 14… 13… 12… 11…”

“GET ON WITH IT ALREADY!” Minerva and Erza shouted at him in sync.

“10987654321 GO!” He rushed in the end, and the drinking began. Sting tried his very hardest to down the alcohol quickly, but it was no use. In the end, Minerva cleaned her drink in half the time, and finished a second one too because she was thirsty. Though he was still impressively fast, tying with Erza, and the slowest was easily Skiadrum, partly demotivated by the prize, and partly because he rarely drank these days.

“I WIN!” Minerva shouted, banging her glass on the counter. In the background, Lilac frowned as she saw the glass didn’t shatter and give her an opportunity to be involved in the story.

Erza chuckled heartily, letting out a burp, “You win Minerva, fair and square… now go on, claim your prize, kiss Rogue.”

“What.” Minerva’s eyes turned to dots as her neck creaked round to Erza

“Yeah, the prize winner gets to kiss Rogue as the prize…”

Rogue wasn’t backing away though, he knew sting wanted this for him, so he accepted it gracefully… as gracefully as Rogue cheney was able to, so maybe not that gracefully.

Minerva huffed air out of her nose and got out of her stool, stumbling slightly towards Rogue, before lifting him up by the collar and kissing him RIGHT ON THE LIPS! Rogue felt sick from just the feeling of the alcohol on her lips, clinging to Sting as he was released. It wasn’t enough to quite get him unconscious drunk, but he was drunk alright.

On the other side of the room, Sorano had just saw what happened and her jaw dropped, before screaming, “WHAT THE F###?!”

“L- Language…” Hisui spoke, Yukino and her boyfriend tried desperately to get her to shut up, but it was too late, and Sorano had already slapped her across the face.

Rogue, meanwhile leaned into Sting, “S- Sting… beer is so gross…” he nuzzled into Sting’s neck.

The drunk Sting stood up, he failed Rogue once, he couldn’t fail him again. “Don’t worry boyfriend, I’ll get you the best drink they sell here.” He says, before guiding him through the crowd to the bar, where they met the exhausted bartender.

“One of your finest liquids for my Boyfriend here.”

Rogue shuddered slightly every time Sting referred to him that way. It made him feel slightly happier each time, it would never get old. Then again, he couldn’t wait until Sting came up with a new affectionate nickname for him, like honey, or baby, or kitten… kitten was good, kitten was very good, Rogue would be Sting’s kitten for the rest of his life if he could be. The happy thought momentarily distracted him from the disgusting feeling in his mouth… on his tongue… and in his brain, from the alcoholic kiss Minerva earned from him. Moments later, the feeling was brought back to his memory.

“Uhhh, he looks too young, I’m gonna need some ID.” The bartender said bluntly.

Rogue couldn’t help himself though, he flopped onto the bar and looked up at the bar, “Pleasssseeee, please!!! Nyaaahhhh! I need it!!!!”

Sting joined in, “Come on man, it’s not that big of a deal if he doesn’t have any ID, just give him the drink, come oooooonnnn. It’s his big day today, his dad’s right over there, see?” he pointed to skiadrum, unfortunately, the drunk skiadrum didn’t look anything like the drunk rogue.

“Yeah I’m not buying it.”

Rogue grabbed on to the bartenders uniform, kneading at the fabric, “Pleaassseeeee, I feel horrible, I just want some…”

“Come on man, let me treat my boyfriend for once, I’m getting impatient dude. It’s not that big a deal, we won’t tell your boss.” Sting was starting to get impatient.

The patient bartender let out a sigh, “Sorry sir but I’m afraid I can’t serve your friend-“

“Boyfriend.”

“Your boyfriend alcohol, unless he provides me with some ID. Company policy.”

As Sting began to get more and more angry, Rogue got more and more desperate, and the rest of the bar was tuned out, including the blue and red flashing lights from outside the bar, and the scream that occurred moments later.

“AAAAAAAAAH!” Juvia screamed cheerfully, “GRAY HAS HIS ICICLE OUT!!”

Everyone else turned to look. Perverts. It seemed that spur of the moment, Gray somehow ended up stripping until he was completely naked, and nobody saw it happened. His cheeks went as red as a red dragon that was blushing just as much as him and he quickly covered up as best as he could.

“Alright alright alright, what have we got going on here?” The police officer asked as she stepped into the bar, noticing gray, “Yeah sorry pal, this ain’t allowed kid. Indecent exposure… hang on.” She turned to the crowd and called out, “IS ANYONE HERE UNDER THE AGE OF 18?”

The crowd shook their head, but the bartender pointed straight at Rogue. Thankfully, from this angle it seemed like Rogue was unconscious, so the officer was under the impression that Rogue hadn’t seen.“Lucky b######, just indecent exposure this time. Your coming to the police station with me anyway, you're getting fined for this pal.”

Before cuffing up the naked gray and bringing him out of the bar. Somehow, in that time, juvia had fainted, which wasn’t meant to be possible for ghosts, but it meant she was out for the count.

“Please come back” The bartender whimpered in the direction of the leaving police officer, because at the bar, Sting was furious. Partly from the alcohol, partly from how sad and pathetic his boyfriend was right now, and partly from frustration at the bartender, so he took one of the wine bottles from behind the bartender and smashed it on the bar, taking the shattered top of the bottle and holding it to the bartender, “Listen DUDE, you’re going to give my boyfriend his amazing drink right now, and it’s going to be PERFECT. Or else I’m going to use this, and I’m going to leave it in there, and lilac will come by moments later to pull it out and do god knows what with that glass. So give my boyfriend his DRINK!”

Lilac could be heard screaming in the back room.

“F- fine… I’ll get your stupid drink…” The bartender was crying as he made it, and once the drink was out, Rogue sat up on the bar stool and sipped It, then drank some more

“T- this is better… thanks sting…” He muttered. Sting kissed him on the cheek, knowing that he was no longer a failure of a boyfriend, as Rogue set the glass down, still ¾ full. “Let’s go keep partying now… boyfriend.” And so their party continued.

But as they continued their night of fun, a new visitor arrived. Erza looked over and dropped her glass, before slowly stepping towards the entrance, Erik followed like an accessory “Gajeel…”

“In the flesh! You know damn well I wouldn’t miss the chance at one last night of drinking with the best drinking partner in fiore.” He gave a toothy grin and patted Erza’s back, “And whose this?”

Erza grinned, “My very own boyfriend! He’s a super cool guy, total daredevil. He even willingly went shirtless and in all but some tight leather pants for sting’s confession just because I thought it would be cool if he did! Guy’s willing to try anything.”

“Sting’s confession, hmm?” Gajeel raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms, before scanning the room, eyes landing on Sting and Rogue, who had joined yukino and her boyfriend, chatting about relationships and how amazing they were together, even drunk. A grin formed on gajeel’s face, “The guy really had a chance after all then…” before he turned to Erza again, “Say, I was sure you would have died at the prom, I get your tough, but what kept you kicking.”

“Tch” Erza rolled her eyes, “I suppose my deadbeat mom can be useful for some things, used some of her weird ass ASMR money to get some super fancy healer to get me stitched up.”

Gajeel let out a chuckle, “Her, huh? Hows she been these days anyway? The usual?”

“Worse. Much worse. And it’s all because of…” She turned around and pointed her finger directly at yukino and her boyfriend, “Those two. But mostly the guy. She won’t stop talking about him and it’s getting on my nerves, hell, she probably cares about him more than me!”

“Ah come on Erz, It’s probably not that bad.”

“No, no, it is that bad, she has a FRAMED PHOTO of him with her, in her bedroom! She hasn’t taken a photo with me in over 3 years, Gajeel. 3 years.”

Gajeel chuckled, “Yeah alright, that’s pretty bad…”

“Hey, hang on, what about Natsu, is he going to be here soon?”

“Well…” Gajeel’s chuckle quickly turned nervous, “He kinda… well, he kinda got hit by a ghost car on the way here, so he died like, twice. So unless there’s any ghost necromancers around, he’s not gonna be with us tonight, sorry mate. He’s like, dead squared now.”

Erza clutched her stomach as she let out a roar of laughter, “YOU MEAN- NATSU. NATSU. THE DRAGON BALL CAPTAIN. THE GUY WHO ONCE TOOK THE BRUNT OF A DIVING DRAGON. HIT BY A CAR. You’re killing me here gajeel, not as much as that car killed natsu, or that dragon, but you’re killing me. Come on, let’s go drink.”

The two laughing friends made their way to the bar, just like the good old days, arm in arm.

“Please don’t leave me.” Strauss begged Gildarts, holding his mug of coffee in hand as one of the girls got a bit touchy with him.

“No can do my scholarly friend!” Gildarts exclaimed, “I’ve done my part, now you just need to do your part. Besides, the kids need a responsible adult with them right now.”

Gildarts began to walk back to the bar, ignoring the unenthusiastic callings from professor Strauss to him as he muttered under his breath, “Besides, someone needs to supervise and manage their truth or dare game…”

His walk slowly turned into a run, that truth or dare would be so fun, the kids would love it, gildarts would love it, and it would make the night. Once he finally arrived, he walked into the bar like a model, making his way to the bar and climbing up onto it, clapping his hands together, “Alright everyone! It’s a party, and you know what every party needs? TRUTH OR DARE!!!!!!”

A few cheers came from the crowd, a few groans, but the reception was mostly positive. In the corner of the bar, conversation had died down a bit with sorano, yukino, her boyfriend, sting and rogue. They were just relaxing with eachother, except sorano, who was doomscrolling. Minerva was probably out for the count tonight, though nobody knew for sure as she was completely buried among all the glasses she had used, so most of her body wasn’t visible anymore. Doug had still only got through half the catnip, rolling around on top of it like a rich man in a pile of money without losing any steam. Juvia had dashed off at some point to go find Gray, and the 2 dads had left a while back, knowing the walk back would be long. Especially while drunk. Frogue and Lucy were still keeping conversation while drunk, but there was nothing insightful being said. It was as though the combination of alcohol and actually having a boyfriend had activated a far more flirty side of her, and it left Frogue as a pile of mush right next to her. However, he had been planning his revenge he would get on Rogue for what happened earlier, and how he humiliated him in front of skiadrum, and truth or dare was the perfect opportunity. One or two gets had yet to show up, but they probably wouldn’t be showing up at  this rate.

“Come on everyone! Gather in a circle! It’s truth or dare time!” Gildarts had more energy than everyone in the bar combined, well, except the very high doug, who was seeing stars right now.

Something like a circle slowly formed, Sting sat between Rogue and Frogue, Lucy sat on Frogue’s other side, with sorano next to her. Yukino and her boyfriend were very very close next to eachother, and at the very end, next to Rogue and Yukino’s boyfriend, was the weird stranger who was still wearing a hood and sunglasses, Wacardo. Who even invited him? Gildarts stood in the middle of the circle and erza stood nearby outside the circle, still playing but mostly just watching.

“Alright! Usual rules, truth or dare, if you don’t accept, you die! No, just joking, if  you don’t do the dare, you have to drink. Got it?” He asked, stepping over Rogue and sting to sit down on the bar. “As Rogue is the birthday boy, he can go first.” He reached down with his foot and ruffled Rogue’s hair, Rogue did not like that.

“O- Okay…” he ducked his head forwards, away from gildarts foot (Thank the dragon gods he was wearing shoes), “Hmm… Frogue… truth or dare?”

Lucy gasped and watched Frogue shift in the spot a bit, her hand still resting on his arm as he decided, “Dare.”

“I dare you… to… sing happy birthday! Uhm, no, that’s not enough… in your asmr voice. Sting, please get the microphone from the karaoke machine…”

Rogue knew his boyfriend too well, Sting could just kiss him right now, this was going to be absolutely beautiful. Sting practically started running, taking the microphone and throwing it right at Frogue a bit too eagerly. Thankfully, Lucy thought fast and caught it midair before it could smack Frogue right in the face.

“O- Okay, I’ll try…” Frogue says, lowering his voice and beginning to purr into the microphone as he whispered into the microphone, “Happy birthday to Rogue… happy birthday to Rogue… happy birthday dear rooogue… happy birthday to rogue. (I will get revenge for this)”

Sting let out a yawn before eagerly clapping as he realised the lullaby had ended, while Erza on the other hand rolled her eyes at the gesture. Reminded her of her deadbeat mother. She didn’t understand ASMR like one truly should. “Whatever, lets get to the next one, sting, dare someone.” She said, looking off to the side, seeming a tad annoyed

Sting’s expression quickly went from a content smile all the way to a devious smirk, before his head creaked towards sorano. “Sorano… sora… no… sorano… truth or dare?”

Sorano narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms, she knew sting was horrible and she wasn’t falling into a false sense of security, “Truth.”

His smirk grew even bigger.

“Alright… which app on your fiorne has the most daily screen time…”

Soranos composure shattered and she shuffled awkwardly in the spot, looking around for help, “H- heheh… it’s nothing serious…” she angrily took out her phone and went to her screen time app and showed her phone for a millisecond before pulling it back.

“Ah, ah, ah. You have to Tell us out loud, number one app on your screen time. Loud.”

“F- fine! T- the number one screen time for an app is… Dragblr…”

Sting roared with laughter, falling back, she got a mix of surprised and weirded out looks from the others

“THAT’S HILARIOUS! YOU’RE A DRAGBLR GIRL, WHO’D HAVE THUNK?!”

“I- It’s not that serious…” she grumbled as she went back on her phone, tuning out the game.

Gildarts had a smug grin on his face before looking to frogue, “I am so good with kids… Frogue! You’re next to ask, go ahead.”

On the other side of the circle, Frogue smirked, his cat teeth showing just above his bottom lip, “Progue… Truth or dare?”

Progue’s mind began to spiral, not helped by the fact he was drunk. Should he go safe with truth? No, then again, Frogue knew his most intimate secrets from living with him for so long, so he’d be able to ask the most horrible things. But then again, asking for a dare would be risky too, what if he was asked to do something humiliating again, what if Frogue made him kiss Minerva again? No, Frogue would never do that, Progue trusted him and made his choice.

He let out a little giggle, “Heheheheh, daaaare...”

“I dare you… to sit on Sting’s lap. Until his next turn.”

“Heheheheh…. Oookay, I wanted to do that anyway, so I’ll do it…” The drunken rogue crawled slightly and then stumbled, almost faceplanting against Sting’s crotch out of drunkness, before climbing up onto his lap and sitting there. Sting, who was much less drunk but still a bit, blushed and waved at Rogue slightly, “Hi…”

“Hiii boyfriend… heheheheheh” Rogue let out a hiccup as he sat comfortably on Sting’s lap, shuffling a bit to adjust himself.

“Hah, just like when I was young, kids really haven’t changed.” Gildarts seemed largely fine with what was going on.

“Okayy… next up is… Lucy! Queen of the fairy tail club! Let’s hear who you asked.”

Her gaze shot like a hawk straight next to her to frogue, “Froguetruthordare.”

“Uhh… da-“

“Idareyoutositonmylap F### NO I MEANT THE OTHER WAY ROUND S###!”

“Ah ah ah, no takebacks!” Gildarts shook his finger, a grin on his face, “Go on Frogue, get on her.”

Frogue, much more reluctantly, climbed on to Lucy’s lap, not wanting to crush her under his weight. She seemed to adapt to it rather well though, wrapping her arms around his waist like a seatbelt. It was even more embarrassing when he purred as she nuzzled into his neck.

“Awww, so sweet. Frogue’s just earned himself a wife.” Erza cooed smugly, sipping her beer.

“It’s my turn now, right?” Yukino asked timidly

Gildarts nodded, “Sure, go ahead.”

She turned immediately to her boyfriend, “Truth or-“

“Dare…” he didn’t even hesitate.

“I dare you to come home with me. Right now.”

Without a moments warning, the two got up and stumbled out of the bar, already getting a bit touchy as they were leaving. Sorano noticed this and quickly got up, “H- hey! Wait! You two! You- You need a chaperone… or something! You cant be trusted alone!” she chased them out, still half glancing at Dragblr as she left.

“…And in one fell swoop, we lose 3 of our players. You, kid, whoever you are, Wario, your turn.”

Wacardo started as footsteps could be heard at the entrance of the bar, “Alright…” before whipping his hand around and pointing to the newcomer, “D-dobengal…. W- why did you abandon m- no, sex- no, WHY DID YOU ABANDON MR DRAGNEEL LIKE THAT?!” Wacardo (?) cried.

Dobengal gasped in shock, why did he even bother coming to some kids birthday, he barely knew him, he shouldn’t have come here, “H- he… I- I…”

But Wacardo had already run off crying at the other side of the bar. What a weirdo.

Gildarts looked over to dobengal, “Hah, sorry, some of us  got a bit too excited during truth or dare, ignore him, make yourself at home.”

And so the game of truth or dare continued. Rogue dared frogue to let everyone stroke his cat ears while he sat on lucy’s lap, she didn’t give him the choice to leave. When sting’s turn arrived, Rogue was sure he’d kick him off his lap, but surprisingly he seemed to have forgot to do so (he didn’t), and instead opted for daring Erza to sing a song of his choosing.

“I'm a Barbie girl in a Barbie world
Life in plastic, it's fantastic
You can brush my hair, undress me everywhere
Imagination, life is your creation
Come on Barbie, let's go party…”

She didn’t sound enthusiastic at all, to her right now, life wasn’t fantastic. When the song came to an end, Erza dared Sting to feed Rogue more alcohol, which Rogue choked on from fluster and embarrassment, but deep down, he liked this… Frogue was about to dare lucy to finally release him, but they were interrupted as noise came from the karaoke stage.

“How DARE you not invite me and my NEW boyfriend to this party, darling!” Lacarde spoke into the microphone loudly, before looking to dobengal, “Even you were invited, you rat. Well guess what, this duet is for you DOBBY!” the music began, and Bickslow, who stood with him, began scatting and doing backing vocals in the background.

“ I was the knight in shining armor in your movie
Would put your lips on mine and love the aftertaste
Now I'm a ghost, I call your name, you look right through me
You're the reason I'm alone and masturbate

I (I, I)
I've been trying to fix my pride, but that s###'s broken
That s###'s broken
Lie (lie, lie)
Lie, la-lie, I try to hide, but now you know it

That I'm at an all-time
Low, low, lo-lo-low, low, low, low, low
Low, low, lo-lo-low, low, low, low, low
Low, low, lo-lo-low, low, low, low, low
Low, low, lo-lo-low, low, low, low, low
Low, low, lo-lo-low, low, low, low, low
Low, low, lo-lo-low, low, low, low, low
Low, low, lo-lo-low, low, low, low, low
Low, low, lo-lo-low, low, low, low, low…”

The lows kept going, and going, and going, as Lacarde forgot the rest of the song, before ending it by dropping the mic. They were surprisingly good at singing, and Rogue wasn’t having that… so he twisted around on Sting’s lap to face him and whispered, “I’m gonna go up and sing…”

Sting blinked in surprise, “A- are you sure? That feels kinda…”

But Rogue had already begun, shoving bickslow and lacarde off the stage, as he turned on the music.

“Wo-o-o-o-o-o-oah, wo-o-o-o-o-o-oah
Wo-o-o-o-o-o-oah, Wo-o-o-oah”

Sting could have swore he recognised this song from somewhere, but he didn’t quite know for sure, all he did know was that Rogue was a pretty good singer…

“Your odds are slim
The walls are thin, cavin' in
But there is still a way, you see -
In just one mere percent of chance there's possibility”

Sting realised… this was HIS song, the song that HE loved most. He had made his decision then and there, he wasn’t just going to be part of the crowd cheering him on, so he slowly made his way up to the stage as Rogue continued.

“I won't sit back, and accept the hand we are dealt
A fate that's thrown out by someone else
There is still a future I can see
One I hope you'll share with me”

Sting took the microphone and began to sing his part:

“Bring it on 'cause I'm just gonna grow up in the battle EY
Pushin' past the limit - I'm still burnin' with fire
For our future, I am fightin'
I gotta drown this nightmare
And ain't nobody gonna stop me
Forget the past - 'cause we're livin' in the present
I ain't scared of my past - and now in fact
Forever I'm screaming out for my pride!”

He was having the most fun he had had in a long time, singing alongside Rogue, his one love, there was no one he would rather be doing this with than him. He joined in as they both began to sing the chorus.

“Now I never wanna see you cry
I will be screaming till you find the way
I'm never falling down
I'll keep on soaring straight on through my destiny!
Now I gotta keep your smile bright
I'll give my everything to find the way
I gotta burn off the pain, for you and me
So now the rest of me can rest in peace
Now I'll Strike Back”

And they kept singing and singing, getting every lyric write despite it all, because this song wasn’t for the crowd, or proving they were better than Lacarde and dobengal, this song was for eachother. Sting and Rogue. Rogue and Sting. Frogue could feel himself crying with Lucy as he watched on, so proud of the man Rogue had become in all this time.

“Inside my mind
I pound the wall one more time
With all the bitter pain I feel
I don't care what my chances are
I will never run in fear

Today the rain will continue on
And it's all I know but it won't wear me down
Because there is still a future I can see
One I hope you'll share with me

Yeah we're head-to-toe in daybreak
Soldiers, follow me now!
Don't you ever stop, we pay it back in spades right
In a flash, (in a flash) we wanna hit that playback
This is the time, to keep on living through the misery
Struggle - Sorrow
They'll disappear like bubbles
But no one can extinguish my own eternal candle
I'm screaming out for your pride!

This fire burnin' in my heart
It will keep lightin' up to part the way
Nobody can blow out my fire - It's destiny
I'll rise above it, all eyes on me
There is no time to hesitate
I won't lose sight of it - I'll make a way
Don't blind your eyes, if you're lost on the way!
Not gonna lie, I'm gonna be your light
So take my hand!

Ey, what are we living for?
I live - for - this - stuff

We gotta stand up and go with the pride
It's like the sun rising way over the clouds
We gotta stand up and go with the pride
It's like the sun rising way over the clouds

Now I never wanna see you cry
I will be screaming till you find the way
I'm never falling down
I'll keep on soaring straight on through my destiny!
I gotta keep your smile bright
I'll give my everything to find the way
I gotta burn off the pain, for you and me
So now the rest of me can rest in peace

This fire burnin' in my heart
It will keep lightin' up to part the way
Nobody can blow out my fire - It's destiny
I'll rise above it, all eyes on me
There is no time to hesitate
I won't lose sight of it - I'll make a way
Don't blind your eyes, if you're lost on the way!
Not gonna lie, I'm gonna be your light
So take my hand!”

At that moment, Sting finally took Rogue’s hand, and as the music faded away, he pulled him in close and quick, kissing him long and hard. It seemed in this second year of in his school, for Rogue, what bloomed was a Romance in Dragon Slaying academy.