“You call that music?” The scorn was palatable, and Larcade looked up in surprise. Sting rarely spoke in such a way.

“...yes... I believe it would be called music...?” Larcade offered, perplexed. Perhaps it was too loud? Although that seemed unlikely since the chimes and woodwind instruments were set at a volume to promote background noise for his exercises. Besides, he’d heard Sting’s version of... music, if it could be called that and not screaming, and the walls had been vibrating then. “Why?”

“Because you have no taste! It makes me cry, man. And that is why I brought you...” there was scuffling and fumbling with a bit of curse before he produced his gift, “THIS!”

“What is it?”

“A mixed tape.”

Larcade frowned, vaguely recalling the term, and he asked, “Are you offering me a form of musical flirting?”

“W-what!”

Sensing weakness, a devious smirk crossed his lips and he snatched up the lacrima, leering, “There better be some moans and dirty lyrics in here to make it worth my while.”

“P-perv!” the guildmaster shrieked, the epitome of maturity, red-faced and stomping as he left. It was too easy to rile him up, Larcade found. Secretly, he found it charming, although he’d never say it to Sting’s face.

Larcade: I am not comfortable with cuffs.

Sting: Oh yeah? why?

Larcade: It's kinky and I am not ready for that step in our relationship yet.

♦: Slow dancing

Minerva tugged on the lapel in a less than friendly manner and more in a lowkey threatening manner, her brows knit with irritation and lips pursed. Larcade had been with the guild long enough to know better than to pull the tiger’s tail, no matter how tempting it was.

“Behave yourself,” she hissed, gesturing to the room filled with bright lights, music and people behind them. Glossy fingernails that matched her bright lipstick ghosted across the suit as she dropped her hands, she looked ruffled as Yukino brushed past to greet a woman Larcade vaguely remembered.

Oh.

“That’s Kagura,” Minerva informed him, as if he cared, the woman looking past the Celestial Wizard to give them both a hard glare. Or maybe just Larcade… no, there was a bit of animosity mixed in there for the woman next to him too, just better hidden. Some sort of bad past? “You should apologize at some point. Don’t let Yukino do it for you.”

Larcade choose not to answer. 

Why the queen of Sabertooth had decided to become his teacher and guide in the human world was anyone’s guess let alone why she advocated for him after what he did to her and Yukino.

She snapped fingers in front of him to gain his wandering attention, “Remember, the Council is watching. Behave. In fact, go over there.” She pointed to Sting, “And keep him from drinking too much this time.”

Before he could answer, she was swept up into greetings with two of the Fairy Tail mages, and he took the opportunity to sneak away back towards his guild master. It was where he wanted to be anyway, feeling distinctly uncomfortable and out of place.

Of course, he’d attended balls and banquets before. This… was different. And Minerva hadn’t been joking about keeping Sting out of the liquor. The few cups he managed to quaff were more than sufficient to hammer him.

It was difficult to break Larcade’s composure, but Sting threatening to strip in the middle of the room left him in a bad way. There was only one way to stop this outrage.

Unfortunately, the fast and energetic songs had mellowed over the course of the evening, leaving swaying couples and slow tunes on the dance floor. But it was the only option, and he couldn’t be that picky.

“Sting, come with me.” He clapped his hand over the man’s mouth before he could retort and physically pulled him out. It wasn’t an odd thing in the Empire, for two men to dance together, but judging by the looks they were receiving it wasn’t common here. Larcade didn’t much care.

Stumbling a bit, Sting leaned on him, chin digging into his shoulder and arms looped sloppily over him for balance. He smelled of booze and aftershave and hairgel, making Larcade’s nose crinkle at the clashing smells, but he took the opportunity to pull Sting closer.

This almost felt… right.

Almost.

They swayed together for the song. And then the next song and the next. Actual dancing was beyond the guild master’s capacity but he still had rhythm enough if Larcade lead to follow. 

♘: Cuddling in a blanket fort

The indignant gasp was enough to draw the attention of several fellow guild members, although curiously enough neither Minerva nor Rogue batted an eye.

“Never?” Scandal saturated his tone, fists balled up on the table and confusion was splashed across his face. Sting fell silent, contemplating the new tasty tidbit of information, savoring it seriously, before nodding, “There’s only one thing to do. Guys, we’ll be back later!”

In hindsight, Larcade probably shouldn’t let the Dragon Slayer drag him anywhere without witnesses, but he’d been too weak and dazed to resist. Plus, again, there were looks of startlement, but neither of the two level-headed members reacted. Other than Rogue flicking the newspaper page and grabbing Lector’s tail.

And that was how they ended up buried in all the pillows and blankets scrounged from their combined abodes, along with Yukino and Rogue’s (Sting refused to raid Minerva’s closets for some reason; he grinned and explained there’d be a previous bad experience with that and Larcade wanted to know why this was something he’d done more than one before...). 

“So you’ve never built a pillow fort before, huh? Well, lucky you, having a master to teach you the ropes.” Sting settled into his own plush palace of faux fur, cotton and feather down like a god, hand propping his head up, blue eyes sparkling with mischief, “Now we can continue playing Have You Ever in here!”

“Yes.” 

What other answer was there? Sabertooth’s guildmaster had gone above and beyond in every way possible to make him at home. After the war had ended, it feel to the Light guilds to clean up the mess, most of the Spriggan being taken into some sort of custody. And for some reason, Sting had specifically requested Larcade.

“Have you ever... been victim of a cuddle attack?” Sting didn’t even wait.

Before Larcade could respond, he found himself wedged firmly between glorious rock-hard abs and a pillow pit. Relaxing into the hug, he gave a weak chuckle, “And how long does this cuddle attack last?”

His rambunctious fort-mate paused then, suddenly serious, freeing a hand to scrub his hair nervously, “I dunno. Depends.”

“On?”

Rehking: B: Larcade needs love, Sting can provide it. Ship liked. (Also all those damn fan fictions…you monster)

Jacerene: C+: I have no idea how their dynamic could work but you gave some pretty interesting points in last night’s discussion so yes, I will consider with more content. 

Serene: B- : Dragon X Dragon, Fab X Cray Cray, SIGN ME UP 

Brandaria: B: CANON DOESN’T EXIST!!!!! THEY COULD WORK SOMETHING OUT THEY JUST NEED A PUSH! I repeat: CANON DOESN’T EXIST

Larj: B-: I need more content to decide 

Ajvel: A- : Invel the stiff brick X Ajeel the mess. HELL YES! I love their dynamic! The content I have is amazing! I. Just. Love. It.