#lastoneleft

“The writing looks like-”

“I’m red-yellow colour blind,” Sting lies.

Gray stares a second more before he seems to decide he believes him. “I’m sorry I got annoyed, babe. You didn’t mean to.”

Sting giggles uneasily. “‘Course not.”

Natsu heaves a sigh of relief when Gray shuts the apartment door behind himself.

“Red-yellow colour blind,” Rogue laughs. “I can’t believe he bought that. How does that possibly explain you picking up a blue marker instead of a yellow one?”

Sting shrugs. “I don’t think he did.” He lays his head in Natsu’s lap. “Maybe he just wasn’t in the mood.”

“Please.” Natsu yawns, setting the controller down and running his fingers through Sting’s hair. “I could feel him glaring at the side of my head. He just believes you because you’re the sweet one.” Sting hums, turning his head to press a kiss against Natsu’s palm. “Thanks for taking the fall for that one. I dropped my dumb marker and it rolled under the fridge. I forgot to ask Gray for another one.”

“It’s okay.” Sting knows Natsu’s been exhausted lately, picking up extra shifts at work to buy something special for Gray’s birthday. Today is his first day off in ten days. “I do feel bad for lying.”

Natsu shrugs. “It’s not a huge thing. He’s just so picky about his colour coding.”

“You can both apologize when Gray finds the toy Natsu brings home from the dentist,” Rogue says, picking up the N64 controller and kissing Natsu’s cheek. “He’ll be over it by then.”

Gray, it turns out, is not over it by then. It’s Monday evening, and he still squints suspiciously at the calendar when he walks past it.

Natsu’s just settling in for a movie on the couch when Sting gets in. “Hey,” Natsu says brightly, leaning forward to kiss him. “Wanna watch Beary Tales with me?”

Sting laughs. “Sure. Just lemme get changed.”

Gray’s putting clothes away when Sting walks into the bedroom. He drops the laundry basket onto the chair to pull Sting in close. “Hey,” Sting says softly.

Gray kisses him. “Whatcha doin’?” He slips his fingers under the hem of Sting’s shirt and Sting almost forgets for a minute.

“Babe, can you grab a blanket, too?” Natsu calls.

“Movie.” Sting giggles when Gray kisses him again. “Just getting changed.”

Gray pops the button on Sting’s jeans. “Don’t let me stop you, then.”

Sting is just stepping out of his pants when Gray says, “You should wear my red shirt. It looks good on you. It’s in the basket there.”

Sting grins and starts thumbing through the piles. There are two near the top. “Which one?” Sting asks.

“…The darker one. It brings out your eyes.”

Sting picks it out of the basket and turns, face dropping when he sees the expression Gray’s wearing. “You can tell which pen is red. I knew- Natsu, you little shit!”

“Oh, no.” Sting drops the shirt. “Natsu, run!”

Gray starts for the door. “Oh, I’m gonna-”

Sting panics and does the first thing that comes to mind. He kisses Gray, fingers carding roughly through his hair as Natsu stumbles around the foyer pulling his shoes on.

The door slams shut and Gray seems to remember why he was about to charge into the living room. “There isn’t even such a thing as red-yellow colour blind, is there?”

Sting grins sheepishly. “There’s red-green, but I kinda just said the first thing I could think of.”

“Natsu’s the one who fucked up my calendar, isn’t he?”

“…Fucked up is a harsh term-”

“I’m gonna kill him.”

Sting presses against him again, kissing him until he’s panting. When Sting tugs at Gray’s shirt, Gray pulls back again. “Stop distracting me,” he says halfheartedly.

Sting slips a hand under Gray’s shirt, fingers running up and down his back. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He squeezes Gray’s hand, kissing along his jaw until Gray’s grabbing at his hips.

Gray hums, voice low, “You think you’re so cute.” Sting smiles, looking at him through his lashes. He kisses Gray, nipping at his bottom lip. “Oh, you think you’re so cute.”

Sting gets on his knees, thumb tracing over Gray’s belt buckle. “You don’t think I’m cute?” he asks sweetly.

Gray blinks, breath catching in his throat when Sting’s smile gets bigger. “You’re beautiful.”