#shadowlightweek2k19

He hated to see how Rogue's expression turned sad at moments like this, although he enjoyed the extra cuddles he got as a result. He loved Rogue with all his heart and wanted nothing more but to see him happy. Humans were so complicated, why couldn't Rogue just walk up to Sting and tell him how he felt? What was he so afraid of?

Sting and Rogue finished saying their pathetic goodbyes, and Rogue went back into the guild, already focused on the paperwork that was waiting for him in Sting's office. Frosch knew that Rogue hated paperwork, it was yet another way to show his affection for the Sabertooth guild master, one that Frosch knew Sting definitely appreciated. The White Dragon Slayer was in a bit over his head as Master, he'd definitely be lost without Rogue's help.

The truth was the two of them made a fantastic team, together there was very little they couldn't defeat, except perhaps their fear of exposing their feelings for the other. Frosch watched for a few minutes as Rogue buried his feelings in bureaucracy and promptly fell asleep.

“Frosch”

Frosch opened his eyes groggily as he heard his name be called gently. He blinked a few times until he was able to focus on his partner. He could tell that something was up by the way Rogue looked vaguely annoyed.

“Is something wrong, Rogue?”

“I just got a call from the Magic Council, they need my help with something since Sting isn’t here,” Rogue told him.

“Fro help too!”

"I'm sorry, Frosch. It might get dangerous, and I can't be worrying about you."

“Oh, Fro will stay with Yukino,” He cheered internally, he loved Yukino because she would spoil him rotten.

“Everyone I would trust to take care of you is already gone on a job. Rufus is here, but I need him to stay in charge of the guild while I’m gone. Besides, for someone with such a good memory, he isn’t very good at remembering to do basic things like eating,” Rogue chuckled good-naturedly.

Rogue tapped his temple with his finger as he thought and then with a defeated sigh he got out the lacrima and made a call.

“This is the Fairy Tail Guild,” Rogue could hear Mirajane Strauss’s voice clearly, “How can I help you? Oh, hello Rogue!”

“Hello, Mira. By any chance are Natsu or Gajeel around?”

Natsu, lacrima for you!

Frosch could see Rogue grimace, but he managed to put himself back together before Natsu arrived.

“Hey Rogue, what’s up? You and Sting okay?”

Frosch saw Rogue tense up at hearing Natsu say Sting’s name and giggled to himself.

Jealous much?

"We're fine. I'm sorry to do this, but can you do me a favor? I was called away by the Magic Council, and I have no one to leave Frosch with, could you watch him for me? It shouldn't take more than a day or two."

"Sure, Lucy has enough money for rent, so we weren't planning on taking a job for a few days. Bring him down, Happy will be excited!"

“Thanks, I owe you one!”

They talked for a few more minutes before Rogue said, “I’ll drop him off tomorrow morning.” He put the lacrima away and turned to Frosch.

“I’m sorry Frosch, I know Fairy Tail is noisier than you’re used to…”

"Frosch thinks so too!" He was inwardly happy to be able to spend some time with the other Exceeds. He hoped that maybe they could help him with his problem. He followed Rogue to their quarters, and after watching the Shadow Dragon Slayer pack for his trip, he settled in for a night of cuddling with his partner.

“Rogue, are you ever lonely?”

Rogue looked surprised by the question but answered with a smile, “Of course not, I have you, and Sting and Lector. How could I ever be lonely?”

The words sounded good, but Frosch had already seen the sadness that had flitted across Rogue's features briefly before he'd answered. He snuggled into his slayer's arms as both fell asleep.

o-o

Frosch watched as Rogue looked around the guild impatiently, there was no sign of Natsu.

“Hello Rogue,” Wendy Marvel smiled at the Shadow Dragon Slayer. She kneeled down, “Hello there, Frosch!”

“Wendy,” Rogue answered warmly, “Have you seen Natsu around?”

"He waited for a while, but now he's out back training with Gray," Wendy replied pointing to the guild's back door. "Would you like me to get him?"

"No, I have to get going, or I'll miss the train, can you please make sure he looks after Frosch?"

Wendy giggled, “There’s nothing to worry about, Frosch will have a great time.”

Rogue didn't look particularly convinced, but he had to go, so he gave Frosch one last hug and left, heading towards the Magnolia train station.

"Frosch, would you like to go find Happy and Carla?" Wendy asked, and Frosch nodded eagerly. It had been a while since he’d seen his friends. He followed Wendy outside and was shocked to see Natsu and Gray kissing in the field. Happy and Carla were sitting on a tree stump, watching the two mages in a bored manner.

Natsu and Gray were kissing? But Natsu and Gray had been just like Sting and Rogue the last time he’d seen them. All of the Exceeds had joked about how clueless Slayers were when it came to love.

Frosch walked towards the tree stump slowly, trying to slow down his thoughts. He continued to watch the two mages kiss with yearning. Why couldn't that be Sting and Rogue? Frosch knew that would make Rogue happy, and more than anything he wanted his partner to be happy.

He sat down and Happy, and Carla greeted him warmly, but he was still too dazed to respond.

“It took them long enough, huh?” Happy giggled, “They’re in looooooooooooove!”

“But how?” Frosch asked eagerly.

“It’s all thanks to Happy,” Carla smiled at the blue Exceed proudly, as he basked in her praise.

“You did this?” Frosch’s eyes widened even more than usual at the news.

Happy blushed, and looked a bit uncomfortable.

“Come on Happy, don’t be shy. Tell him!” Carla giggled into her hand.

“Please Happy? If it worked on those two, it might work on Sting and Rogue.”

“I’ll leave you two tomcats to discuss it, Wendy and I are going out on a job.” Carla waved and flew over to Wendy.

Happy remained quiet, and Frosch waited patiently. He watched Natsu for a moment, seeing the bright smile and the way Gray leaned forward to touch their foreheads together before going back to training.

“They look so happy together,” Frosch commented wistfully.

Happy sighed, kneading his temple with his fingers, "Ok, I'll tell you, but you have to promise you won't tell Lector, he'll never let me live it down."

Frosch frowned at Happy, he wasn’t used to having to keep secrets from his friend but if it could help…

“I’m serious, Frosch. I’ve already had to deal with enough teasing here.”

“Frosch promises,” He made the motion of crossing his heart to prove his point.

“I pretended I was in love with Lily so I could talk to Natsu about it,” Happy said quickly.

Frosch blinked slowly, “What?”

Happy sighed before launching into an explanation, "Natsu and Gray were really getting out of hand, they were fighting all the time. We all knew what was wrong but they were oblivious, and their fights were getting really destructive, so the Master wanted us to talk to them."

Happy watched Natsu and Gray spar before continuing, smiling as Natsu got in a good hit. Frosch imagined he looked much the same when he watched Rogue The fact that Happy had accomplished what Frosch could only dream of at the moment made him feel warm inside. He was sure Happy loved Natsu just as much as he loved Rogue. He listened intently to every word.

"No one trusted Erza to do it without bashing their heads in, and Lucy argued that the only time she tried to talk to Natsu about it, he ran off cause he thought she was going to confess to him. So that left me."

Frosch nodded, not really understanding the words but wanting Happy to continue.

"I asked Natsu whether it was alright that I liked a boy and he didn't answer right away, but after a few minutes he said that it shouldn't matter who I liked as long as I really liked them and anyone who said different could deal with him."

“You said that?” Frosch and Happy both jumped as they heard Gray speak right next to them.

Natsu's face could not get any redder but he nodded, and Gray smiled at him, grabbing Natsu's hand and kissing his knuckles. Frosch watched them, enraptured by how much their behavior towards each other had changed and daring to hope that the same could happen for Rogue.

“That was pretty smart, you know, for you,” Gray added, teasing Natsu as he normally would but this time there was a wink at the end to let Natsu know he meant nothing by it.

“Hang on, is that why you and Lily were all over each other for a few days?” Natsu asked as pieces of a puzzle that had been bothering him began to snap together.

Gray looked at Happy admiringly, having already figured out what Natsu was still putting together, he whispered something about fish to Happy, causing the blue Exceed to grin greedily.

“You did all that for me? Thanks, buddy!” Natsu grabbed Happy into a big hug before going back inside the guild with Gray.

“So all you did was ask Natsu if it was okay to like boys and then pretend to be with Lily for a few days?” Frosch asked to make sure he understood everything.

"Yep, I knew once he accepted that it was okay he would realize his feelings for Gray," Happy said with a smug look, "Natsu doesn't distinguish between races. If he believed it was okay for Exceeds, then the same would go for humans."

Frosch couldn't stop thinking about what Happy had told him. Could it really be that simple? It might be uncomfortable for a few days, but he would gladly endure it if it would get Sting and Rogue to act like Natsu and Gray. Frosch smiled dreamily as he imagined what that might be like.

He couldn’t wait to get back to Sabertooth and put his plan into action. Even though he spent the rest of his time at Fairy Tail playing and hanging out with Natsu, Happy and Gray he couldn’t wait for Rogue to return so he could put Operation: Gay Exceed as he liked to call it into play.

O-o

Rogue looked Frosch over to make sure he was okay before thanking Natsu and heading back to the train station to catch the next train to Sabertooth. He looked tired and even though Frosch was impatient to put his plan into action he knew he’d have to wait.

Rogue would be motion sick the whole way home, and he'd need some time to recover after taking two trains in one day. Frosch spent the time trying to decide what he was going to say.

They arrived at the guild and Frosch could see Rogue sniffing the air hopefully, only to shrug his shoulders. “Sting and Lector aren’t home yet,” Rogue informed Frosch.

Rogue was soon surrounded by his guildmates who greeted him enthusiastically before reporting on the various jobs they'd taken. He was then given a comprehensive report by Rufus who could not wait to hand over the Guild Master reins back to Rogue.

Not really interested in watching Rogue deal with more paperwork for hours Frosch decided to go over to Yukino who was soon feeding him sweets.

A few hours later they were finally settling into bed when Frosch couldn't contain himself any longer. He'd rehearsed the words in his mind so many times but instead of the clear, concise words he'd practiced he blurted out, "Fro likes Happy!"

Oh no! That’s not what I meant to say at all.

He tensed up waiting for Rogue’s reaction but instead of understanding what he’d meant Rogue just responded absently, “Yeah, Happy’s nice enough. Did you have a good time at Fairy Tail?”

“Fro did!”, Frosch thought hard about how to make Rogue understand, “Fro really likes Happy!”

Yeah, that should do it! Frosch thought proudly.

“So you said,” Rogue chuckled petting Frosch on his head before hugging him to his chest.

“No, you’re not listening!” Frosch became so upset that things were not going as Happy had said that tears were already forming and he’d begun to tremble in frustration.

“Frosch? I don’t understand what you’re upset about,” Rogue studied Frosch, clearly at a loss as to how to respond to Frosch’s outburst, “Now calm down, and start over. Is this about Happy? Do you miss him?”

"Frosch likes boys," Frosch finally got out, and from his position on Rogue's chest, he could feel the mages heartbeat speed up.

"I see," Rogue replied slowly, "And you want to know how I feel about it?"

Frosch nodded, now they were getting somewhere.

"I don't think there's anything wrong with you, if that's what you mean," Rogue was quick to reassure him, and Frosch smiled happily until he heard Rogue's next words. "But you need to understand, it's not something you should be so free with. If you’re not careful you might lose the one who’s most important to you."

That's when Frosch realized his mistake, Natsu had never considered he might have feelings for Gray which is why Happy's plan had worked so smoothly. Rogue had known his feelings for Sting all along. Crap!

With nothing to lose and a relationship on the line, Frosch opened his mouth and praying that Happy would both forgive him and agree to play along he jumped mouth first into phase two. “But Happy is already Frosch’s boyfriend!”

Frosch and Rogue had been too focused on their conversation to hear the knock on the door, but that didn’t stop the knockers from entering the room.

“Way to score Frosch!” Sting burst into the room and gave the Exceed a high five while Lector stared at Frosch in shock, giving him a look that clearly said they would be discussing the situation later.

“Sting, you’re back,” Rogue greeted a tad stiffly, probably wondering how much the dragon slayer had heard, “How was your mission?”

“It was a piece of cake, sorry I took so long. Did everything go okay while I was gone?” Sting inquired cheerfully.

“Yeah, I had to help the Council with a small matter,” Rogue sat up and smiled at Sting.

“Fro went to Fairy Tail!” Frosch informed Sting and Lector.

"And scored yourself a boyfriend," Sting grinned playfully, "Nice! We should visit Fairy Tail soon so you can see Happy."

“And to see Natsu?” Rogue added drily.

“Sure, that’d be fun too, I guess,” Sting shrugged, not giving it much thought.

“Well I’m tired, so I guess I’ll see you tomorrow,” Rogue dismissed his guests and lay on his side to sleep, failing to see Sting’s disappointed expression at his dismissal.

“Come on Frosch, let’s let Rogue get some rest, I wanna hear all about your visit!” Lector grabbed Frosch by the arm and dragged him out of the room.

They followed Sting to the guild’s kitchen and watched him prepare an impossibly large sandwich. “Lector, you coming to bed?”

“Nah, I’ll be up later.”

“Ok, suit yourself,” Sting waved at them, already eating as he walked, “Tell me later, I wanna hear too!”

Lector and Frosch waited until they heard the familiar sound of Sting's bedroom door closing, so they knew he was far enough away to not listen to them.

“Spill,” Lector demanded, “What are you up to? There’s no way you like Happy, and he would never do anything that got in the way of Carla.”

A/N: This was a lot of fun to write and is probably the closest I've gotten to writing a crackfic. I hope you enjoy! On an exciting note (for me at least), this marks my 50th story on AO3! 

Chapter 2

It was then that two slim but muscular arms slid by his sides, wrapping him in a loose hug. A chin dropped on his shoulder, followed by a soft humming sound.

“What are you doing up so early?” Sting asked, his voice low.

“Could ask… hmm… the same,” Came the answer, a bit slurred by sleep.

“You know what I am doing. I need to go to work.”

“Don't go.” It made Sting smile and sigh.

“I can't not go.”

“You can. There's nothing to do.”

“There's always something to do.”

“Not today.” Rogue gave him a short kiss on the neck before hugging him closer. “Stay.”

And as much as Sting might feel guilty later, it was true that there was nothing urgent waiting for him at the guild, and he was nothing but weak for his boyfriend, so the answer came easily to his lips.

“Okay.” He let himself be dragged back into bed. “Just a few hours.”

“Good,” Rogue mumbled before curling at his side, his arm and head over Sting’s chest.

“What's up? You are cuddly today.”

“Nothing. I love you. Sleep.”