Warmth (Sting x Reader)

Chapter 7 - Midnight

Apparently midnight was an appropriate time to wake up, at least your brain though so. Though more than slightly disoriented, you managed to figure out that the warm "pillow" surrounding you, as you had first thought, was actually Sting. You also managed to figure out from the way he was hugging you, that in this situation, he was using you as a teddy bear. Fantastic.

Slowly but carefully, you attempted to escape without waking the sleeping dragon slayer who was spooning you. Unfortunately, this did not go as planned. You heard a waking groan beside you and knew all hope was lost.

"Well, I could get used to waking up with you in my bed all the time." Sting muttered thoughtfully. "However, you might want to work on what time you wake up, before dawn doesn't really work for most people, and I don't think its healthy." He added.

"I didn't exactly plan on waking up. I'm not exactly used to sleeping with other people. I don't understand the hype." You spoke quietly, while trying to pry his arms off you.

"Are you insinuating that I'm not good in bed?" He teased, pulling you back and positioning himself on top of you. Fantastic.

"First of all, I didn't know you could use words like "Insinuating." And secondly, I wouldn't know, nor will I ever." You assured. He chuckled slightly and leaned down, until his chest was pressing against yours, and his face was just millimetres away. You could feel his warm breath on your face, and the heat radiating from him all over you.

"Are you certain about that?" He cooed. "If I kissed you, right now, are you certain that you'd hate it? That there isn't a tiny part of you that would enjoy yourself." He whispered, breathing out the words like they were a secret.

"W-what?" You stuttered, completely at a loss for words. You wanted to say yes, you would hate it, but you couldn't, you were too flustered to get more than a few syllables out. And you weren't exactly sure you'd be telling the truth.

"Y-yes, I'm s-sure." You whispered. Lies. You were certain of nothing.

"Really, (y/n)? Because I don't believe you." He almost purred. As you were about to defend yourself, you felt a warm sensation on your lips. He was kissing you. He was actually kissing you. Your brain told you to throw him off, yet you didn't. You closed your eyes, slowly, and melted into him. It felt natural, his lips moving against yours, like you had done it a thousand times, even though you didn't exactly do this often.

You finally pulled yourself away, gasping for breath, and pressing down into the bed, as if trying to escape the situation you had just created. You didn't know whether it would be more or less awkward had you pushed him away. He was staring at you, though you had buried your face in the pillow long ago, you could feel his gaze, you could imagine the piercing blue eyes.

"I told you so." He whispered, right in your ear, sending chills down your spine. You denied him an answer to his childish remark, instead choosing to further bury your face into the pillow. He obviously saw this as an opportunity, choosing to grab your waist and fling you around until you were sitting on top of him, his arms holding you in place so you couldn't escape.

"What? Aren't going to talk to me now, are you? That's no fun. But remember, I didn't make you kiss back." He teased, a smirk enveloping his features.

"I didn't – I mean – you cant – but I.." You stuttered, trying desperately to come up with a response. Why the actual hell did you let him kiss you?! You didn't know, you didn't want to know. He chuckled from underneath you.

"I think I like you best when you're flustered. I'll have to make sure we do this more often." He smirked, pulling you down, wrapping his arms around your back to keep you in place. Your faces were once again, centimetres apart. You gasped, attempting to pull away, but he held you firmly in place.

"Look I-I don't know how that just happened, but I'm going to pretend it never did. And I'm going beck to bed, and I'm never going to mention it again. Do you understand?" You asked.

"Oh I understand; you can ignore it as much as you want. But I'm never going to stop bringing it up. Not the first kiss, or this one." And he leaned up to kiss you, just a small one this time, a butterfly kiss. Yet for some reason this one made you blush bright red.

"Why do you have to do this? Do you act this this around every female in a 5 kilometre radius? If so, why me? Why couldn't you just pick some other girl to bother, I'm sure someone out there would be happy to kiss you." You asked, not very calmly.

"Because the other females in a 5 kilometre radius are nowhere near as interesting as you, (y/n). You've secluded yourself from opening up to anyone except the people in your guild. I saw a glimpse of what you looked like when you opened up, now I want to see more of that. More of you, when you're not so, guarded." He spoke, reaching up to play with your hair. You seized the opportunity to roll away from him, to the other side of the bed. Substituting blankets for his missing body heat.

"Like you can talk, you and Rogue both have two personalities. One for in public, and another for when its just you and your exceeds. Who does that?" You practically whisper shouted.

"You're right, we do. But that's only because our guild master expects Sabertooth to act a certain way, we don't choose it ourselves. We only stay for the reputation anyway, so we don't mind pretending to be different, well I don't, anyway. You're a whole different matter, you choose not to open up." He was prodding at a creature he really didn't want to wake. And you were about to snap, about to pour out everything that you wished you hadn't been holding in, to him of all people. But you couldn't stop it.

"Maybe in afraid! Maybe I'm desperately afraid of opening up to someone, of having someone care about me, because they always get hurt." You began, sitting up on your knees and trying to calm down. But it wasn't working.

"Even my own mother, she hated me the moment I was born, my existence was a plague to her. So much so she felt the need to throw my newborn body over the side of a ship." You were in hysterics now, tears leaving your eyes. You didn't even want to look at Sting.

"Hell, even the dragon that raised me ended up dead! She got sick, she was dying, she asked me to put her out of her misery! And I did! And I hate myself for it, but I did. Because no matter what, if somebody lets themselves care for me, or if I care for them, they get hurt, they get miserable, they die." You were sobbing, mumbling meaningless words over and over. It was getting hard to breathe, and all you could think about was how you looked right now, sitting on a bed, sobbing over things that no one really understands.

You continued to cry, breath ragged and gasping for air. Until two arms pulled you to a now clothed chest, rubbing your back in circles, whispering that it was going to be alright.

"I get it, you know. I told you about what happened between my dragon and I, right? I know what it feels like when you hurt someone close to you. It's one of the reasons I prefer you over 'every other female in a 5 kilometre radius' as you put it, you actually understand." He chuckled dryly at the memory. You knew this was true, but logic wasn't working for you right now.

"I-I shouldn't even be anywhere near you, much less spilling you my life story. We're supposed to be enemies here, I'm supposed to hate you, you're supposed to think I'm weak and good for nothing. This shouldn't be happening." You sobbed into his chest.

"Our guilds may be enemies in this competition, but I'm not going to leave you alone, not here, not in public, nowhere. Because I don't particularly care about whether we're supposed to be associated with each other, at this point, being seen with a fairy won't damage my reputation. So I guess you'll have to get used to me. And when Sabertooth wins the games, your fairies will have to pry you from my arms. Because if I have it my way, you won't be going back to them."