Sting Eucliffe x Reader Book 3

Chapter 3 - The Physicality of Boys

Sting's body wasn't a sculpture, per se. His body was like different pieces of happiness all brought together by veins and creases. He was different than first-year Sting Eucliffe, who was slim and had muscle. This Sting had scars; emotional and physical scars that defined his entire being. He had a lot more muscle and it felt like he grew a whole inch since you met him. His hair grew, but he got it cut every time it got too long.

Compare that to Rogue, whose hair has grown so much that its almost gone to his shoulders.

And Rufus who could practically be labeled as a modern Rapunzel.

Orga who has only gotten bigger.

Natsu who still looked the same and acted the same.

And every other boy in your life — grown and changed but still the same in some way.

Out of everyone, Sting has changed the most and that wasn't a bad thing at all. You've both changed and accepted one another's new strengths and weaknesses.

It still felt weird looking over his body and seeing something entirely different from months ago, even weeks ago. You wondered if Sting saw you differently too. Saw a different person when he went to sleep. Did you still look the same from the start of high school? You weren't entirely sure.

In a strange fit of insomnia, you carefully scooted out of the covers next to Sting and rummaged in your dresser drawer for your hidden scarf work.

You began the process of knitting again as Sting slept and made sure you did it across the room so if he woke up, you would have time to hide your tools. You did this almost every night. Sleep was escaping you more and more and you weren't sure why.

Listening to Sting breath when he slept was relaxing. The only sounds in the apartment were your knitting sticks clacking and his and Lector's breathing; heavy with occasional snores. He was an entirely different piece of art that only some higher deity could create.

You wanted to follow in his footsteps and better yourself in some way. You've been so busy, you've hardly had time to eat decent meals and exercise. You told Sting that if you ever had a free morning with him, you wanted to go jogging together. However, jogging with him and his crazy gang of gym freaks would be terrifying. Therefore, you made him promise that only the two of you could jog together. No way in Hell were you ever going to jog with Natsu and his Class 2-B gang.

A slight shuffle of the blankets caused you to drop your knitting and hide the tools in two seconds tops. Thank god, because Sting got up and with cowlicks and drooping eyelids, he searched around the room for you.

"What are you doing over there?" He groaned. A yawn broke out and he rubbed his eyes so hard you were sure he'd shove his eyeballs in his skull.

You crawl over and whisper, "Couldn't sleep."

You were going to crawl back into bed with him, but he caught your wrist and pulled you to sit on his lap instead. He smiled up at you and wiggled his fingers in the back of your pajama shirt. "Can I help?"

"Are you going to help," You brush his chapped bottom lip with your fingertips. "or are you going to keep me up?"

His eyes were barely open. He was half asleep but still flirting like it didn't cost him a moment of sleep. "Depends."

"On?"

"Whether or not you accept my help." He was definitely half asleep. An awake Sting would've come up with something wittier.

You kiss him, giving him enough passion to temporarily rejuvenate his lips and go back to bed. "Go to sleep. I'll be okay." You said pushing his shoulders so he'd laid back down.