Ficlet: Stingue - Still Screaming
A/N: FINALLY wrote this. Based on my friend’s present for her husband. Her story was a lot less cute and a lot more hilarious.
“It’s a luxury item, that’s all I’ll say,” Rogue said simply but then added, “A very famous brand too. I know you’ll love it.”
Sting stared at him with huge eyes, desperately trying to catalog what kind of present it could be given the hint. Rogue chuckled a bit at the childish expression, with the corner of his lip tucked beneath one canine and spiky hair fluffed up wildly, since he hadn’t bothered to comb it yet. Rogue, on the other hand, was a morning person, and he was completely dressed and ready for the day with a cup of black coffee in hand for him and some creamed coffee in the other for Sting.
Celebrating Christmas was a rather new tradition for both them and the guild as a whole, and Sting’s excitement at the holiday was infectious and cheering. And, for the first time ever, Rogue did not have to roll his partner out of bed with a hefty shove or wake him up with a bullhorn. His sleep crusted eyes were rubbed and his body out of the bed and in motion before he even full woke up, bouncing towards the living room.
“And you can’t do it alone,” Rogue dropped another hint, unable to help himself, hiding a smile behind his coffee cup rim. “You’ll need me to help.”
“Like hell I will,” Sting grunted back, zeroing in on said box and picking it up to shake it. The insides clattered around at the rough treatment, making Rogue glad it wasn’t a fragile luxury brand item like jewelry. “It’s my present.”
Sting abruptly dropped it, zooming to the other side of the tree and snatching up a familiar looking box. He thrust it unceremoniously at Rogue, forcing him to juggle the coffee before setting both mugs down to save his shirt. Slowly picking up the box, he wondered what Sting had gotten him. When asked, he’d said he didn’t need anything, because he didn’t. He could buy most anything he wanted – as little as that was – and just being in the presence of an overly excited Sting was entertaining and reward enough to make him want to participate in this holiday without anything extra.
He took it back. He had been expecting something at least a little more glamorous and heartfelt from the other man than socks.
“Yup. You said you needed some when you were doing the laundry the other day, remember?” Sting beamed. “They’re even plain and boring, just the way you like them.”
Rogue suddenly didn’t regret his teasing and hype of his gift.
“Annnnnddddd… I got you this! It’s really for Frosch, but since you’re such a stick in the mud and harder than hell to buy for, I got your Exceed the coolest present ever, for you! And for the little one too of course.”
Sting produced a gift basket crammed haphazardly with all of Frosch’s favorite things and bent down to set it at the little Exceed’s level. The happy cry was enough to melt Rogue’s heart and earn his forgiveness for the sock betrayal.
“Hey, what about me, Sting?”
“I didn’t forget you either, little buddy. Here!”
Sting, barely holding himself together at that point, didn’t even wait for Lector’s thank you before exploding back towards his present. Snatching it up, he proceeded to shred the wrapping paper, sending confetti of green, gold and red paper onto the floor carelessly.
“Y-yes, you like luxury SE cars and puzzles, so I got you a model for us to work on together. For your office.”
“Rogue, this has 1187 pieces…”
“And a 185 page instruction manual.”
“Awwww, if you wanted to spend time with me that badly, you could’ve just asked!” Sting yelled, grabbing him up in a crushing hug. Rogue sputtered, turning bright red at how transparent his present had been. He really thought it was being sneaky about it. Sometimes it was hard to get the guildmaster all to himself. Sting let go, ripping open the box and dumping all the pieces out on the table, “Let’s start now!”
“Sting! That’s not how you start a model!”
“Whatever. You grab two pieces and see if they fit together! Stop making it so damn hard!”
“No, look, there’s an instruction booklet.”
Sting zapped it, “Not anymore! Quit being a baby.”
“Sting! You better hope we can figure this out now! It’s was fucking expensive, and so help me, if you just destroyed the key to putting it together…”
The two were still yelling at each other, shoulder to shoulder, when the rest of the guild came to find them, wondering why they were two hours late to the morning celebration.
“This is not what I was expecting,” Minerva remarked calmly while Orga shrugged as if he saw no difference at all, “Still screamin’ though.”