Chapter Text
"C’mon Rogue, it’ll be fun."
"I’m not interested." Rogue’s voice was flat, seemingly emotionless but Sting could hear the faint annoyance that was delicately laced in his partner’s voice.
"That’s a lie, don’t try to act like you don’t care around me Rogue." Rogue glanced at his partner, his red eyes hard and unyielding and seemingly blank. Blank to everyone that is, except for Sting. Sting was always the exception as he knew the Shadow Dragon Slayer almost as well as he knew himself. Sting was the only one who was able to see the shadow of amusement that flickered in the hard red eyes for the fleeting second that it appeared. A massive grin appeared on Sting’s face before sliding into a smirk and he casually threw an arm around his best friend’s shoulder as they stood on the balcony of their room, looking down at the new pool as it rippled peacefully in the night. Shadows and moonlight cast themselves over the water, creating a soft contrast that reminded Rogue of himself and Sting. As the shadows, he liked to stay on the edges of things and watch as Sting and the light were the main thing to be seen.
"We'll disturb the others." Sting barely contained the urge to roll his eyes at his best friend.
"Rufus and Orga are both on missions that will take them a few days, Dobengal is on a mission as well and Yukino is somewhere in town, but not in the guild. Told me she was searching for something that could take awhile. Plus both Lector and Frosch are out cold and you know as well as I do that the end of the world couldn’t wake those two up when they’re knocked out like this." Rogue glared at Sting who apparently had everything figured out. The arm that was around his shoulder nudged him closer to the White Dragon Slayer. The glare intensified as Rogue took in the smug look on Sting’s face.
"What about the other guild members? Plus Yukino could come back." He pointed out and shrugged off Sting’s arm and readjusted his clothes. Sting’s piercing eyes followed his every movement with an almost frightening intensity.
"You would look so much better with your clothes off." Sting’s whisper was both dark and compelling and Rogue found it was very appealing to a part of himself that he tried his best to bury under his usual calm indifference. Rogue stiffened where he stood and turned away from the moonlit pool and his fellow Dragon Slayer, making it clear he was heading back into the room. He was stopped when Sting appeared in front of him, eyes dark and focused completely on Rogue. Rogue looked at him calmly, but inside he felt a slight warmth buzz through him as he stared at the White Dragon Slayer before him, bathed in the soft silver moonlight, dark eyes almost glowing as Sting peered down at him.
"Skinny dipping won’t hurt you." The White Dragon Slayer informed him casually, as if he was talking about the weather while Rogue was trying to smother the growing warmth bubbling inside him.
"Won’t do me any good either." Rogue replied easily as he regained his control and moved to get past his friend, but Sting wasn’t going to let him go that easily.
"Skinny dip with me this one time and you can pick the next job." That caught Rogue’s attention. Unlike Sting, he wasn’t thrilled by long, dangerous and often destructive jobs and for awhile has been harboring the desire to take an easy, short day job so he could spend the rest of the time relaxing instead of running around barren hillsides and blowing them up, looking for their target.
His eyes narrowed thoughtfully at Sting’s proposal and the White Dragon Slayer continued to pin him with that intense look that made him shiver on the inside. It was something only Sting could do to him and it got under his skin.
He pinned Sting with another hard stare, while Sting continued to look back at him with those piercing eyes.
"Fine, but I chose the next two jobs." Rogue's voice whispered through the darkness.
"I only offered one." Sting replied, narrowing his eyes, not liking where this was headed.
"Two or nothing." Rogue responded and looked at his partner with a blank look on his face, waiting for Sting to make up his mind. Blue eyes bore into red before a sigh ghosted between them.
"Fine." The tone implied Sting wasn't pleased, but Rogue smirked slightly as he got his way. He started to head to the bathroom to change but once again Sting stopped him. He turned to glare at him, but this time Sting's eyes danced with mischievousness and the grin he had plastered on his face allowed the moonlight to dance off of his sharpened teeth, making him look almost feral.
"Strip here with me and then we're going to jump off the balcony and into the pool." Rogue blinked, his mind trying to process if Sting was serious. Judging by the way his eyes were glowing and the pointed grin, Sting was completely serious and that terrified Rogue.