AS PETALS BURST FORTH. ❀ stingue

creases

in which the mistress knows and sting gets unwanted attention (atleast rogue thinks so).

His name was like sugar on his lips, like sunshine inside his head and a river inside his wilting soul, and Sting realizes he's completely screwed.

"Sting-kun... we know who you love, hai," comes Lector's voice, and the blond stares at him tiredly. It was too obvious, wasn't it? Sting was never really discreet with his affections. It was obvious how Sting always tagged along with Rogue on jobs (more so than usual), how he always shot glares at the men and women who even stared at Rogue funny, how he always looked at Rogue as if the stars and the moon and the whole fucking universe were in his eyes. Too obvious.

"It's Yukino-kun, right?" The Exceed continued. Frosch says nothing, and continued to play with the hem of their pink frog onesie, staying quite still on the plastic chair where the two sat.

Sting's blue eyes widened and his mouth parted slightly in shock. Lector, bless his innocent, oblivious mind, seemed to take this as a sign that he was right. He inched closer to the Light Slayer's hospital mattress. "I knew it," he says almost triumphantly.

Sting stays silent, giving the two a feeble smile. "Sure, Lector-"

"S-Sting-kun doesn't like Yukino!"

Frosch finally decides to speak, and the words that come out of their trembling mouth are unexpected, and Sting turns to look.

"What-"

"Sting-kun doesn't like Yukino!" Frosch repeats before Sting could say another word. The blond sits up and raised a questioning eyebrow, waving his hand in circles to gesture the green cat to keep speaking.

Frosch trembles. "F-Fro sees the way Sting-kun looks at-" but the cat's words die as they leave their lips.

Sting looks at them, frozen in his mattress, and he smiles and shakes his head. Frosch was too... innocent, to know--to understand.

Sting is thankful when the door opens and the Mistress walks in accompanied by Yukino, destroying the awkward silence between the blond and the Exceeds. He raises a hand in a feeble attempt to greet the couple.

"Hey," Sting says, flashing them a bright, toothy smile. Yukino returns it shyly, reaching over to grab Minerva's hand as the latter squeezes it affectionately.

Minerva smiles at Lector and Frosch. "You two can go out now, go find Rogue," and as she said those words, the two cats hop off the chair and out the open door. Yukino closes it and goes to sit on the couch next to Sting's bed, and Minerva follows. Their hands never leave each other's loving and supporting grasp.

Sting finds himself thinking how stupid he was a few hours before for removing Rogue's hand from his, when the Mistress clears her throat. "Sting," she says, and her words have the air of a stern lecture.

Sting looks at her questioningly, and the ravenette continues. "Stop bullshitting those cats, everyone knows who the hell you want."

Sting is not surprised--that was exactly what he expected from Minerva; however, that did not stop him from looking away. "Whatever," he mutters bitterly. "I can't do anything, can I?"

"You're going to die, Sting. Don't take that tone with me, and stop playing stupid. Yukino and I heard everything from the door," Minerva continues, and Sting flushes a bright pink.

"I don't love Yukino," he replies matter-of-factly. Minerva snorts.

"We know that, dumbass. Now shut up," and so Sting does, as Minerva continues to talk. It was going to be a long day.

<○~●>

Rogue is walking to the hallway to Sting's room, when he hears giggles and voices from the inside. He had just passed Minerva and Yukino, who had given him suspiciously knowing looks that gave him the feeling of being left out of something.

He approaches the door cautiously and knocks. The door opens and Rogue finds himself face to face with the nurse from the counter a day before. Her cheeks are flushed bright red and her smile is wide. Rogue cranes his neck to look behind her, and finds two other nurses attending to Sting, who was looking mildly amused and annoyed.

"Yes?" The nurse's high-pitched voice, and Rogue notices that her air of authority and professionalism from before were gone, being replaced by the voice of a flirty schoolgirl.

"I'm here for Sting," Rogue replies stiffly, raising the full eco bags of food, clothes, and basic necessities up for extra effects. The nurse looks at him in slight annoyance and steps aside. Her two companions eye him with interest.

Rogue sets the bags down in a brown cabinet in the far corner of the room and sits down on the couch. He fishes his pockets for his communications lacrima phone, trying and failing to ignore the flirty conversation happening beside him.

"So, Mr. Eucliffe," another nurse, who had red hair and blue eyes, leans towards Sting a little bit too close. "Who is this mystery woman of yours?"

Rogue is internally screaming. Don't these idiots know the meaning of personal space?

Sting laughs anyway, and it is lighthearted and teasing. "Oh, that's confidential," he smirks. Rogue breaths a sigh of relief, it looked like Sting was getting back some of his energy.

The nurses whine and Rogue scrolls through his phone much faster, ignoring the urge to punch them in the face. Sting looks at him from the corner of his sapphire eyes.

"Look, ladies, I need some sleep. Come back tomorrow if you want," the blond says, yawning fakely for extra effects. It seems only Rogue noticed it as the nurses giggled and one of them sends a quick wink to the Light Slayer's way, and finally shuffle out of the room.

The door shuts behind them, and Sting still looks fully awake. Rogue sighs.

"You didn't have to entertain them, you know," he states, putting down his phone and looking at his blond companion. Sting smiles kindly and shakes his head.

"They're rather funny, and I don't mind the company," Sting explains. "But I could tell them to stop if it makes you uncomfortable," he adds, looking at Rogue concernedly.

Rogue says nothing and shifts his gaze away from the blond. "How are you doing?" He chooses to ask instead.

Sting gives no answer for a few seconds, it seemed as if he was choosing his words rather carefully. Then, finally, he speaks, "I'm fine. You?"

Rogue snorts, and the words leave his mouth before he could think about them. "Really? Fine, as if you didn't just get rushed to the hospital a few days before."

Sting laughs, but it's empty, and Rogue freezes. He wonders, when was the last time Sting laughed so carelessly, so cheerfully, that it even made the corners of Rogue's own lips twitch upwards? Sting's laugh was beautiful. It reminded you of the first day of summer, of random walks in the park, of the swiftly falling auburn leaves in autumn. Sting's laugh wasn't like this, like all his emotions had escaped him and he was left an empty shell full of sorrow with the weight of the whole world bringing him down.

None of them say another word after that. They spend the rest of the night in silence, but it wasn't the comfortable kind. It was the kind of silence that made you want to break and say something, but you couldn't bring yourself to, and you were forced to be content with the uncomfortable sense of foreboding.

As Rogue lay on the couch, he can only hope that Sting didn't hear his silent sobs that were muffled by his blanket.

But the lack of snores and Sting's unusual stillness told Rogue that none of them would get much sleep that night.