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.