Chapter Text
"Sting get up we have a mission today."
"Lemme sleep it was a long night last night."
"That was your fault, it was your idea. Now get up and get ready we are leaving in 10 minutes and I mean it." Rogue ripped the sheets off his partner and pulled the pillow from under the bush of blond hair and Sting groaned in annoyance and curled up into a ball trying to conserve his warmth. Rogue let out a sigh and attempted to leave the room to go get packed for today's mission when a hand suddenly shot up and grabbed his arm, pulling him back towards the lump of a White Dragon Slayer on the bed. Rogue sent Sting a backwards glance, questioning as to why he was being latched onto.
"We never signed up for a mission today. You're just trying to ruin my beauty sleep because you're jealous of my stunning good looks." Sting rolled over and sent a glare at his best friend, his blue eyes looking quite serious but Rogue could see the flickering of amusement. However Rogue himself didn't find his partner to be very amusing at the moment. He was not in the mood for the White Dragon Slayer's humor today for it was Sting who had ruined his good night's sleep with his mumbling and clinging to Rogue desperately in his sleep that Rogue barely got any sleep at all before the sun started trickling through the window and casting light upon the two friends.
Looking at the well-practiced unamused face that Rogue gave him Sting sighed and released him, hardly believing this was the same Rogue that was a blushing mess last night. He wouldn't have believed it himself if he wasn't the one to witness the faint pink dust Rogue's cheeks. Rogue walked towards the door of the room before looking back over his shoulder at Sting who was in the process of getting clothed.
"I took the mission this morning, since it's one of my rewards for skinny dipping with you last night." The words lingered as Rogue disappeared from the room and Sting groaned, leaning his head against the wall. Rogue wasn't usually this clipped and short in the morning which meant something was bothering him, but now with this mystery mission Rogue took he probably wasn't going to be able to talk it over with his partner as Sting guessed this mission wouldn't include long walks through no man's land like their usual missions.
"Yo Sting what's wrong? You seem down." Sting smiled at his Exceed as Lector strutted in. The little cat only need to take one look at Sting to know something was up, the blonde had his fists and head against the wall with a frustrated look on his face.
"Rogue's upset about something, I don't know what it is and now we have to take a mission that he picked out." Sting complained, moving away from the wall, giving his Exceed a high five before heading out of the room with Lector at his side.
"What did you do to upset him this time?" Lector asked as if Sting upsetting Rogue was a regular occurrence.
"I don't know." Sting grumbled impatiently throwing his hands up in exasperation. As soon as he said it though, Sting's mind started replaying last night and he now thought, could one of his advances disturbed Rogue? Lector noticed Sting fall silent and how his face dropped in thought.
A floor down, Rogue was grumpy as he chomped at his breakfast where he was normally a very deliberate and delicate eater, today he was ravenous. His little Exceed friend, Frosch, sat next to him studying Rogue's unusual behavior with big eyes.
"Rogue?" The little cat in the frog suit squeaked.
"Hmm?" Rogue hummed with a mouth full of food, his eyes didn't stay from where they glared in irritation at the counter.
"Are you ok?" The little Exceed asked timidly, not used to this behavior from Rogue and it worried and frightened the little creature slightly.
"Tired and have a lot on my mind." Rogue responded gruffly, sounding like he really didn't want to talk about it but the little Exceed knew better than that. Frosch knew that something was on Rogue's mind and that he wanted to talk about it but didn't know how or he didn't know how to express how he was feeling.
"Do you want to talk about it?" It was the same timid tone and normally that tone that hinted at fear would bother Rogue because Frosch should never be afraid of him, but in his current state of irritation and sleep deprivation he didn't care and pretended not to notice.
"No I'm sorry Frosch." Rogue gentled his tone slightly as his gaze finally turned to his furry friend. Rogue put a soft smile on his face and patted his friend reassuringly on the head, the thoughts plaguing his mind quieted for a little as his mood lifted slightly by just being with the little Exceed. They stayed in silence for a few minutes just enjoying each other's company until Frosch spoke again, this time without the timid tone.
"Did Sting do something?" Rogue flinched but shook his head no even though Frosch knew that he was lying.
"No, I'm just over thinking things. Speaking of Sting we need to get moving." Rogue stood up and strode away to go get his partner and Frosch watched him leave with big sad eyes, feeling bad for his partner but not knowing how to help him.
"Oh good you're up and ready, here's the mission." Rogue's voice ripped Sting out of his thoughts and he blinked and saw his partner handing him the mission, looking as he did every day: calm, slightly indifferent and with a frog suit wearing Exceed at his side. Sting took the mission and looked it over before looking up at Rogue with unamused eyes.
"These are all normal jobs! We don't even need magic for these, what the heck?" He burst out and Rogue shrugged casually.
"The people of this town need to know they can come to us for their problems, not just magical disturbances. Plus this way we get to stay in town and since these jobs probably won't take long we can have time to relax at the end of the day." Rogue explained and while it made sense to Sting, he wasn't happy about it. He wanted to blow something up and fight something because that way Rogue would be forced to work and put up with him long enough for him to figure out what was wrong with his best friend.
"Let's go, I know there's a bad infestation of mice in a few of the bars down the street. We'll start there." Rogue commanded and turned and started walking towards the main doors, not leaving any room for argument from his partner and Sting growled in frustration at Rogue's coolness and the mission he picked.
The Twin Dragon Slayers walked down the street in silence, both ignoring the odd looks they got from the citizens. Sting kept glancing at his partner who remained silent, not that it was usual for Rogue to be quiet but this silence was almost awkward between them, though Rogue showed no indication of feeling it.
Unbeknownst to Sting, Rogue was feeling the awkward tension as well but was too deep, almost drowning in his own thoughts that swarmed around the events of last night and the closeness that Sting and himself had shared. It took Rogue off guard and left him a complete confusing mess. He was used to thinking of Sting as his best friend. A painfully attractive best friend with his sharp blue eyes, muscular build and feral smile that could turn into that cheery smile that made even Rogue want to smile and laugh. However, last night had changed things and things like romance and dating invaded Rogue's mind. He didn't know what to do with these new thoughts and emotions as they were eating them alive.
Once they arrived at the bar and explained to the startled bar owner that the Twin Dragons of Sabertooth were here to solve his mouse problem he quickly agreed to their terms, left them the keys and fled with perhaps a little too much enthusiasm as if he feared within any second he and his place were going to be blown up because of course the two Dragon Slayers were known to be quite destructive.
"Alright let's get this over with." Sting sighed and started moving chairs so they were on the tables while Rogue looked at him in confusion.
"Sting what are you doing?" He asked and Sting shot him an impatient look. Rogue wasn't the only grumpy Dragon Slayer now as his unusual mood rubbed off on Sting who was starting to get sick with worry over his best friend while being frustrated at the ruby eyed mage wouldn't tell him what was wrong even though they were best friends. What was even more frustrating is that he knew Rogue liked his space and often kept things to himself. Sting hated when he did that, he wanted to know everything about his friend and wanted his thoughts out in the open so Sting could obliterate any darkness left in the Shadow Dragon Slayer.
"Getting all this out of the way so we can look for the mice." He answered shortly and Lector blinked at the harshness of Sting's tone as he was normally very cheerful and easy going, but today Rogue's coldness had hardened his mood and temperament. Rogue blinked in surprise as well but brushed it off quickly.
"I was thinking that I could use my shadows to draw them out and then you just blast them." Rogue explained and suddenly Sting felt like a complete idiot.
"Ya that works too, good thinking." Sting grumbled and Rogue just nodded before activating his powers. Not even a few minutes later the frantic squeaks of mice are heard and seconds later they pour out of their hiding places chased by cat looking shadows. Sting glances at Rogue who looks faintly amused at his own doing and Sting smiles, glad to see some of the coldness melt away from his best friend.
"Oh man look at all of them! I kinda want to play with one, can I Sting?" Lector's eyes are wide and he swishes his tail in excitement and Sting laughs and gives him permission for a little while and Lector's cat insticts kick in as he plays with the mice, batting them around and nudging them here and there. Even Frosh got a little excited as his wide eyes watched his fellow Exceed play with the mice.
"You can play with them too if you want Frosch." Rogue told him with a gentle affection in voice and Frosch let out a little yelp of joy and quickly joined Lector. For the next couple of minutes the two Dragon Slayers watched in amusement as their Exceeds play, both of their minds put at the rest for just a little while and Rogue smiled when Frosch was able to pick up a mouse in its clothed paw and stare at it with big eyes.
"Alright I think they've had enough." Sting laughed, his cheerful mood returning as all frostiness between him and Rogue seemed to evaporate while watching their Exceeds play. Lector let out a disappointed 'awe' before he and Frosch stepped away from the mice, leaving Rogue's shadows to corral them into a cluster of panicked fur and squeaks.
Sting felt a little bad for them as he gathered his magic and blasted them with it, but the little nod of approval from Rogue was more than enough of a reward.
"Good now that that's done, we can inform the owner that he is now mouse free and move on to the next bar before the other locations." Sting smiled slightly at how in control Rogue was. Rogue noticed the small smile on Sting's face and sent him a questioning look which Sting just shrugged off with a wide grin and in spite of himself Rogue allowed a small smile to grace his lips as well.