Saber's Delights

2. Shopping!

"Hello, welcome to JCPenny!" The cashier greeted, the three smiled at her.

"So, you guys can go anywhere you want," Minerva told them. "Just don't get into any trouble."

Sting turned towards her, "Oh, what are you, our mom?" he said.

"Yes, now don't tear down this mall while I'm not looking." She replied calming, going off to look for some new dresses and casual clothing.

Sting and Rogue looked at each other, "So, Rue 21? Starbucks?" Sting listed.

Rogue though for a while, "Ugh, we're such white girls." he said, before agreeing and going to Rue 21 with Sting.

All the three looked around for clothing, for both themselves and for the fashion trainwreck called 'Sting'.

"Rogue can... Can we go look for clothes over there?" Sting asked, pointed towards a section of clothes where little to no one was looking. Rogue's eyes glanced around, seeing some people whispering and looking at them. "Of course." He said as he began walking to that section.

Sting's hands shuffled through all the clothing and so did Rogue's. "Oh, I think this would look nice on you, Sting." He pulled out a white crop top that said 'Loser' in pastel pink letters. Sting narrowed his eyes at the raven.

"Great." He replied sarcastically, making Rogue chuckle a little before putting the crop top back.

"Hey!" A voice called out, the two spun around to see a pink haired person. "Long no see, guys!" They said with a toothy smile. Sting's face immediately lit up.

"Natsu!" He hugged them, they laughed. Natsu is a new worker at a Japanese Restuarant, they're a peppy genderfluid whose pansexual; they have known Sting and Rogue for a long time. But he moved away with two of his friends, it wasn't until now that Sting and Rogue had actually seen Natsu in person after their move. 

"What are you doing here?" Rogue asked Natsu, they looked over at their raven-haired friend. 

"Oh, only for a few days, but this time I'm stayin'." Natsu reassured the two with a smile. 

Sting clapped his hands together, "Wait, does that mean—"

"Salamander! Finally, ya bastard!" A person with messy long hair ran in along with a small girl and punched Natsu in the face.

"The hell man!" They yelled as they held their cheek that had been punched.

"We told you not to run off like that, we had no idea where you were!" The little girl told him angrily, surprisingly, this girl seemed more mature than Natsu.

"Wendy!" Sting smiled and leaned down to hug the small girl. "H-Hello, Sting!"

Rogue simply stared at the long-haired man who did the same. "Well, well, well look who's here. How have you been, Pretty Boy." 

"Tch, fine, nice to see you again Gajeel."

These two are also old friends of Sting and Rogue. Gajeel is a gay cis man and Wendy is a tiny, lesbian trans girl. Gajeel is a tattoo artist and Wendy is just a young elementary student. Wendy being so young, hasn't been able to surgery, but Gajeel and Natsu support her wholeheartedly.

"Wait, how'd ya know we'd be here, Natsu?" Sting asked, turning back towards Natsu.

"Oh, well ya see, I met yer friend... Minny or somethin'? Well, she told me where t' find you guys." Natsu told them, "And that girl told us where t' find Salamander." Gajeel added.

"Her name is Minerva," Rogue said, only for the two to totally ignore him. "Or don't listen to me that's fine." He mumbled.

"Gihi, don't get yer panties in a wad, Raios—or is it Rogue now?" He smirked, Rogue only turned away from him, "Tch."

The five continued talking, but then Wendy's eyes saw all the other people staring at her and the others. "I... Think we should go somewhere else." She said, tugging at Natsu's skirt. "Hm? Why?" He looked up, seeing all the eyes on them.

"Hm, I think that would be a good idea." Rogue agree and off they went to Starbucks.

🕒 

The five sat at a table, coffees in their hands (except for Wendy, she had a Double Chocolate Chip Frappuccino). "I wonder why all those people were starin' at us." Natsu said, leaning his head on his hand as he sipped his coffee.

"A few years after you all left, this place started becoming rather judgemental." Rogue told them, sipping his coffee.

"Yeah, it's like we're aliens sometimes man! Like, people won't even order somethin' from our cafe simply cause we're trans! Can you believe it?" Sting said, speaking with his hands as he finished his cake pop.

"That's totally crazy man!" Natsu replied shocked people would even do that. Wendy started messing with her straw when she realized how judgemental people were here, what if the people at her school judged her? What if they bullied her? And, oh my, how would the teachers react?

Gajeel patted her on the head once he saw how worried she was getting, "Don't worry, Wendy, if anyone messes with you, they'll have us t' deal with. Gihi." Gajeel told her.

"Yeah!" Sting and Natsu cheered with a smile.

"Don't worry, Wendy, we'll support you and whoever doesn't... Will have hell to deal with." He told her, it was almost like shadows were coming off of him. It sent chills down all of their spines, but they could see how much he cared about Wendy.

"There you all are."

They all turned towards the voice, Minerva was standing right in front of their table. They hadn't even noticed her come in, hell, they didn't notice her buy a black coffee and even walk over to the table.

"Oh, yer Minny!" Natsu said with a grin, "It's Minerva, Pinky." she told her angrily. Sting then scooted over to make room for Minerva, but she didn't sit down.

"Eh, somethin' wrong?" He asked.

"Yes, it's 9 o'clock pm." She told them with a straight face.

"EH!?" They all shouted, they quickly turned their heads towards the window.

It was already pitch dark.

"Tch, you all were talking for so long that you didn't even notice the hours going by." Minerva said with a sigh.

"I have work tomorrow!" Sting said quickly standing up and dashing out the door, "It was nice seeing you again, Natsu! Gajeel! And you too, Wendy!" he shouted.

"Hey, wait up!" Rogue called after and he rushed after him, Minerva sighed and ran after the two men.

"Uh... Bye?"