Rori's Corner: Third chap's here! A lot more timely compared to the second, aha - ahahahah... And you might have noticed that it's also a lot longer. There's just a lot of content this chapter. I'm just going with the flow and hoping things turn out okay, and I had fun with this one. Hehe. Anyway, without further ado, here we go!

You're My

Chapter 3: Partner in Crime

The sky is so blue. Like Happy. But thinking of Happy makes him feel homesick. He closes his eyes, recalling the blue cat back in his remote hometown. He's probably playing with Wendy's cat Carla right now. Thinking of Happy and Carla makes him miss Wendy. And then thinking of Wendy makes him think of Gramps. Gramps...he made a promise to him. A promise of a lifetime. He's on his way to fulfilling it now.

He smiles, sprawled out on the grassy hilltop, feeling the cool breeze sweep over him, ruffling his hair, white scarf, and clothes as it goes. Reaching out his right arm, he forms the figure L with his index and thumb. The sun hidden behind the marshmallow clouds peeks out and casts down scattered rays of gold light, illuminating his fingers and amplifying the presence of the sign. The shadows shrouding his face cannot hope to hold back the happy grin stretching across his lips.

"I'm almost there, Gramps. And I'll see you guys soon, Wendy, Happy, and Carla," he promises, brown eyes serious and intent. He lowers his arm after the echoes of his declaration disappear, swept by the wind. Content, he rests his head on his crossed arms and looks back up at the blue sky.

Only to see a pair of blue eyes and a very familiar face peering down at him instead.

Surprised, he shoots up and out of his position and collides into the intruder's face, painfully bumping their foreheads together and causing both of them to topple onto the grass, groaning in pain.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow," Natsu whimpers, grabbing his poor head, wincing at the throbbing pain.

"What the hell...was that for? Fuck."

"It's all your damn fault, Laxus. Why did you appear all suddenly and shit? You never come here," the pink-haired teen groans, rubbing at the bruise and figure bowed in a fetal position. His forehead is definitely sporting a bright purple bruise.

"What you just call me?"

"Did I knock you into amnesia or what?"

"No, seriously, how in the flying fuck did you just mistake me for Laxus?"

"Look, man, I'm not exactly in the mood for jokes. My head's 'bout to split like a tumor, damn."

"Dude, you're the stupid fucker that got us in this situation. And stop calling me Laxus. I'm Sting Eucliffe. Sting-muthafuckin'-Eucliffe. Retard."

"Hahaha, you're being real funny, Laxus. I think I got you pretty hard this time." Natsu looks over at the blonde with a wry smirk. Laxus has to be pretty damn bored to be messing with him like this. Then, his nose catches a whiff of unfamiliar scent, and his eyes widen in surprise. Hey! The guy-that-really-looks-like-Laxus might not be Laxus, after all! He squints at the man. The Laxus look-a-like glares back.

"What," the look-a-like deadpans.

Natsu blinks. "You're not Laxus," he states, sniffing again to double-check. Laxus has a much stronger scent, usually mixed with some girl's perfume, his signature Acqua di Giò cologne, and the unique musky smell of his skin. This guy, in comparison, lacks that musky scent, although he does smell of something akin to the expensive Armani cologne.

A nasty smirk falls over the stranger's face. "No shit," he replies.

"So if you're not Laxus...who are you?"

The blonde raises a shocked eyebrow, the bruise in the center of his forehead swelling purple. "Are you fucking retarded, for real?"

"I ain't retarded! But you really look like that bastard Laxus," Natsu defends himself.

"Tch." The look-a-like sits up and crosses his legs Indian style, glowering down at the flamingo haired university student. "I'm Sting. Get that shit recorded." He continues to glower until Natsu nods to show he 'got that shit recorded," and then adds a little begrudgingly, "And I'm Laxus's cousin. I'm actually supposed to visit him today on behalf of his dad."

Natsu looks up at him in surprise. "You're Laxus's cousin?" he asks, curious.

Sting nods briefly. "Since you apparently know him, tell me where his dorm is."

Natsu hums in interest. This guy String - uh, Sting? - is that asshole's cousin. No wonder they look so alike. Except this guy's a little smaller. Like a mini Laxus. He snickers to himself. String - uh, Sting, notices the noise and glares at him instantly. Before he can say anything, Natsu declares, "Okay, I'll show you to the dorm. On one condition, though."

Sting leans forward, annoyed but interested at the same time.

Natsu grins, and then whispers to him his condition.

At first, a surprised look dashes across Sting's irate expression. Then, the words sink in, and, quite surprisingly, he throws his head back and laughs boyishly, Natsu joining in not long after.

Natsu decides he rather likes this Sting guy. Definitely a lot more than he likes Laxus.

"Got Lifesavers?" Sting asks loudly from the bathroom.

"Yeah, in my backpack!" Natsu answers, body flat on the carpet as he crawls under Laxus's king-sized bed. He bumps into boxes of a couple something and leans back to read the label.

MAGNUM™ Lubricated Condoms.

He smirks.

"Found them!" he relays to his partner in crime.

"I'm done over here," Sting replies. He steps out of the bathroom with his gym sweats rolled up to his knees and walks over to Laxus's bedroom, leaning on the door to see Natsu, crouched low on the carpet floor, with his pink head poking around under the massive bed. "You set the eggs?" he asks.

"Yeah," Natsu grunts, rising to his feet and holding two boxes of Magnum. "That pervert bastard has way too many packs of condoms," he complains.

Sting wolf whistles. "He's got a rep." He hands a plastic wrap filled with squirming, red veined and translucent skinned worms to Natsu. The latter takes it with a mischievous smirk, rubbing his palms together with anticipation.

"Fufufu! Time to get him back for all those times he messed with me! I'm getting fired up!" He grins and puts on the latex gloves.

"These condoms are rolled. How are we going to get them in and keep them in there without Laxus noticing?" Sting asks, watching as Natsu grabs a wiggling worm from the plastic bag.

"We just stuff them in."

"You know, that doesn't help."

"It doesn't matter. This is major payback time!"

Realizing that the idiot pink-haired guy isn't paying any attention on top of being the dimmest diamond in the rough, Sting merely snorts in disbelief. A devious smirk hangs on his almost scowling lips. He can't deny that this idiot pink-head is quite entertaining, however. He's got to be one of the very, very few willing to risk his life to place not just one, but several, pranks on the infamously ruthless and hot-tempered Laxus Dreyer, the son of the current CEO of the powerful, multinational consulting firm, Dreyer LLP. He's one brave man. Or an incredibly stupid one. Either way, he's one great source for entertainment.

"Got three in so far," Natsu announces, focusing intently on not letting the squirmy worm escape from his hand. "Can you check the time?"

Sting presses home on his iPhone. "Four-fifteen," he replies, just as the thumps of heavy footsteps sound from the outside of the dorm room. Both of their ears perk up, and Sting growls, "Quick, hide it!"

"I know! Don't hafta tell me!" Natsu scrambles to stuff the wriggling worm back into the plastic bag while Sting drops down and deftly pushes the boxes of condoms back under the bed. A faint conversation flows in front of the door as the two pranksters leap out of the doomed bedroom. Unfortunately for the two of them, Natsu's trouble with returning the worm into the wrap has him stumbling into Sting's back, causing them to fall, for the second time today, haphazardly onto the floor.

Thump!

"Ow, what the fuck is it this time?!" groans Sting, his face meeting the hard floor joylessly. He feels a heavy weight fall on top of him, and gasps, his whole body pressing into the wood as the wind gets knocked out of his throat. Damn that pink idiot...!

"Dude!" Natsu cries, landing on top of the blonde, his hand holding onto the plastic wrap filled with intestine-like worms tightly. "Why'd you just trip us?!"

"Are you...serious?!"

The opening of the door drowns out Natsu's annoyed reply, and Laxus walks into the dorm, stopping a few steps just short of reaching the living room. His winter fur coat draped over his broad shoulders reaches down to his knees, cowboy boots wet with inklings of snow leave watery footprints on the oak floor, and his expression - unamused. His stony brown eyes scroll from Natsu's awkward perch on the figure below him to the surprised and pained figure being pinned down by his obnoxious roommate. "Sting," he finally says after a moment of silence. "What are you doing here?"

The aforementioned surprised and pained figure croaks out an unintelligible sentence.

"Oi, Laxus, bastard!" Natsu shouts in his stead. He slaps his palm down, momentarily forgetting that he's made his partner in crime a makeshift horse-slash-floor underneath him, causing the latter to grunt in pain, and exclaims, "I'm going to make you pay - ow!"

Sting successfully heaves the idiot pink-head off of him through a very unceremonious force that consists of two punches and three kicks. Scowling, he gets up and fixes his ruffled shirt. "I'm here 'cause Mr. Ivan wants me to get you," he replies. "There's a family gathering at six sharp. He wants everyone to attend."

"Not interested." Laxus throws his coat on the hanger and strides across to his bedroom, nudging his idiot roommate with the tip of his shoe as he walks past. Natsu groans in response, clutching his stomach where Sting punched him earlier.

Hearing the lackluster response, Sting grins deviously, canines jutting out and blue eyes smiling with mirth. As expected of Laxus. "Even though you'll get to see her again?" he inquires. His older cousin glances at him, stoically and all. But the glance says it all. Seems that girl is a trap card, indeed; Mr. Ivan knows his son best, after all.

Natsu looks back and forth between the two blondes, curious at the mysterious conversation. Who's her? Someone Laxus knows? She sounds important. Even he has an idea of Laxus's bad relationship with his family, especially with his own father. It's why he decided to become an entrepreneur, to make his own path and separate himself from his parents. Throughout the two years of rooming together, Natsu has gained an understanding of Laxus's family situation, and even though he never told his cranky roommate, he's always admired his independence. Unlike him, Laxus has easy access to financial stability, and yet, he threw that out when he left his home and decided to gamble on a living through his own business. He had never attended any of those family gatherings that Natsu knows of, in the years they've been dorming together.

In conclusion, whoever this her is, she has to be pretty important to Laxus.

Natsu frowns. He's feeling a little uncomfortable. He has no idea why, but there's some sort of an empty feeling gnawing away on the inside of his body. Must be him getting hungry. It's way past lunch time, after all. Shaking his head, he waits for the new and irritating feeling to go away as the tense silence in the air reigns.

Sting stands in the doorway, awaiting the desired response. It's only a matter of time now. Truth be told, Laxus's figure breezes past him to the exit two seconds later, long legs easily carrying him out of the dorm and to the hallways. The sleeve of his dangling fur coat brushes against Sting's arm during his exit, and Sting lets a small, knowing smile adorn his lips. Three years have passed since the last time he's seen Laxus, but the older man hasn't changed one bit.

"Don't let me find out you trashed the room, brat," Laxus orders, the back of his coat facing said brat in the dorm.

Natsu stands up in surprise. Laxus is actually going. Laxus is actually going to a family gathering. Why is he so shocked? Is it to see 'her?' Too stunned to react, it's too late for him to retort a normally angry reply, as Laxus's tall figure turns the bend and disappears down the hallway. "H-hey, I'm still pissed, you know!" he calls after him, but the usual annoyance in his tone is missing. Even he can sense it. Laxus is long gone.

"You don't have to look so heartbroken."

Natsu snaps his attention to the grinning blonde at the doorway. "I ain't heartbroken!" he denounces with a flare of anger. A heat travels from his trembling fists to his cheeks.

"I'm just saying; you can take revenge on him after he returns. 'S not like he'll be staying overnight. Just make sure you don't use the shower before he does," Sting says, laughing."Peace out, Natsu! You're an interesting guy. I'll come visit you when I need a laugh." He waves, throwing the enraged pink-head a conniving smirk before shutting the door.

Argh! So frustrating! Each and every one of them! Natsu huffs and scowls angrily, now the only one left in his dorm.

Well, he sure ain't gonna be waiting around until Laxus returns. Screw him. The hidden cameras are already set up! A dark, satisfied smirk dawns over his irate lips. So after he comes back to the dorm after an evening of enjoyment with whoever this 'her' is, Natsu will finally have his revenge!

"...And like, dude, the weirdo kept giving me this nasty ass look like he's gonna burn through my window and bust my face in my wheel. I mean, dude, all I did was cut in your damn lane cause you drive like a grandma with blindfolds on, listening to some crap 60's shit that ain't even cold. Acting like I shoved a stick up his ass just cause I did some sick twists and turns like a damn pro in GTA. For real, man, traffic in the morning is full of bullshit."

Natsu grabs a handful of spicy jalameno chips and stuffs them in his mouth, his other hand flipping through the channels lazily. Tonight's one of those occasional hangouts at Gray's dorm with his favorite people, the guys he's known since middle school, and the ones whom he'll be debuting with next week. There's been so much going on in his life lately that he knows his friends are feeling the reciprocal pressure, stress, and excitement.

Gray, his childhood friend, frequent rival, and drummer, has been unusually tense for months now. Although Natsu's used to the brunet's temperamental need to let off steam and go on mindless rants about humanity and hell (which are interchangeable, according to Gray Fullbuster), his friend's been so irritable and ticked off lately that he's started to realize that there may be an underlying reason for his recent episodes.

Sprawled on the floor with his back leaning on the couch Natsu's sitting on, Gray sighs irritatedly and picks up his ranting, "Man, I wish the producer would stop being an ass and let me do my thing. Seriously, all the editing on the percussion and drums, the toning and shit, is fucking unnecessary. You'd think he'd trust us, because we've been his trainees for five freakin' years, but the damn geezer is like a damn boulder! We're musicians, not kids, for crap's sake."

"Well, look on the bright side. We'll finally get paid," Loke pipes up on the other end of the couch.

Natsu snickers.

"And you can finally quit that waitering-slash-free-grope-service-slash-bartending part-time jobs you hate so much," the sunset haired, self-proclaimed womanizer adds uselessly.

Gray's skin reddens slightly. He turns and flips the bird at Loke, who smirks at him knowingly.

"Maaan, there's nothing on tv!" Natsu complains, flinging the remote across to Loke, who catches it deftly, accustomed to the pink-haired ball of fury's response to the lack of qualified entertainment. "Where's Gajeel?" he asks.

"Went to grab the drinks," comes Gray's unenthusiastic answer.

"You okay, man?" Natsu looks down at his friend, who shakes his head, sighing. "Oh, I know! I should call Juvia! She always cheers you up real fast." He grins.

Gray chokes on an onion ring.

"You mean, she always scares the crap out of him," Loke supplies, smiling with sympathy at the shirtless and near-death brunet.

"Natsu, you fucker!" Gray yells after he regains his breath - and his throat.

"What? Ya wanna brawl?!"

Loke ignores the two bantering frenemies, maneuvering the channels and landing on the E network. In just seven days, their band name will be all over this channel. There's something amazing about that statement. He smiles at the thought and presses on the network. Immediately, the anchor's voice floats out of the television.

"Movie star and supermodel Lyon Vastia looks dashing, tall, cool, handsome, and downright amazing on the Red Carpet tonight at Magnolia's Oscars award ceremony. He's chosen to adorn a classic, all white tux for this grand evening, snatching the hearts of many gushing fans and girls lining up to take a picture with their Prince Charming. Lyon takes the best supporting role award..."

"Give me the remote," Gray suddenly growls, standing up.

"You're blocking the view, ice freezer-obsessed," Natsu groans, annoyed. "Oh, hey, it's Lyon! Haven't seen that guy in forever," he remarks, scooting over to see the screen.

"Change this shit," the cobalt-eyed drummer demands, a warning tone lacing his words.

Loke raises a brow, refusing to budge, curiosity eating away at him.

"I said - "

"Ow, what the hell, man," Natsu cries out when Gray topples on him with a painful thump, caught in his friends' struggle for the remote.

"Gray, chill!" comes Loke's strangled voice as his head is caught under the fierce headlock of the furious brunet.

Gray grins icily at Loke's pained face. "I told you to change - "

"...The actor will appear on Mirajane's talk show tonight to talk about his recent decision to take a break from acting and return to school," the E news reporter chirps, smiling. "It seems that top notch Magnolia University will be receiving yet another star from the A-list very soon! That's all on Lyon! We'll see you after the commercial break and talk about the blockbuster Mystogan III!"

A stoned silence ensues. Loke frees himself from Gray's lax grip and turns to share a look with Natsu, who glances at Gray's tense form. If not for the droning commercial noises from the tv, the silence in the stagnant air would have suffocated all of them.

Bzz. Bzz. Bzz.

Natsu looks down at his touchphone. Feeling unnaturally relieved by the vibrations of the incoming call from his mobile, he answers it quickly in a refreshed, saved-by-the-bell-esque manner, "'Sup! Natsu speaking."

And then his blood freezes.

"Just WHAT exactly did you fucking DO to the dorm, the fucking SHOWER, and my fucking BED? You better get your ass back here ASAP or there will be helluva lot to pay tonight. You got me, BRAT?"

Sweat forms a little too quickly all over his nervous skin. He kinda..uh, for a lack of a better word, forgot about Laxus and his funny little jokes - cough - pranks.

"I'm waiting."

He can hear water running in the background. Laxus must have activated the Lifesaver Blast in the shower after the Pillow Eggslosion in his bed. "O-okay, chill, relax, I'm on my way," he stutters out, smiling unconvincingly at Loke's and Gray's surprised faces as he backtracks to the door. It's a bit sad. All of a sudden, he feels like he would give everything just to stay in Gray's dorm, where it's safe, and there's no maniac-pervert-asshole blonde threatening to beat him up. He ends the call and looks at his friends, tears welling up in his wide brown eyes.

"What'd you do?" Loke and Gray utter in unison.

"You'll find out if I'm still alive by tomorrow." With a last sniffle, Natsu turns around and shuffles out the door in a dejected manner, heading soullessly back to his dorm.

"Was that his roommate?" Loke looks at Gray.

"Probably Natsu's fault for being a stupid ass," is Gray's automatic reply.

"Most likely." Loke adjusts his blue glasses.

"I just saw a flamingo running down the stairs," Gajeel states his observation, entering the dorm with two bags of beer cans. His long spiky dark mane has a strange yellow star clipped to it. Gray sees it and instantly doubles over with laughter, while Loke chuckles. The iron lover stares at them both with a blank expression. "What."

"Did you have a date with your favorite convenience clerk in the back where the alcohol is again?" Loke comments.

Gajeel turns pink and hurls a Coors Lite can at the womanizer. Loke sports a red circle bruise on his nose the next day. Gajeel's aim is a little too accurate.

Natsu can stand there forever, just staring at the steel door. Forever is a little too short, because one moment he's looking at steel, and the next, his face is implanted into the maroon wall of the living room. He hisses in pain, the expectation of the bruising feeling still not enough to prepare him for the throbbing impact. Damn that brute with his monstrous strength. "Laxus...!" he shouts, and a large, calloused hand covers over his mouth, almost suffocating his nose in the process. He struggles, biting into the rough skin, but knowing Laxus, his bites aren't enough to make an indent, no matter how hard he tries to dig in with his canines.

Glaring vehemently at the maroon wall, he attempts to kick the larger man. Before he even so far as move his leg, Laxus pins him to the wall with his much stronger one. Grunting in frustration against the hand singlehandedly gagging him, he tries with his other leg. Unable to twist his body much in his bound position, the action is like a gaping fish trying to survive on dry land.

"So, you like to play rough," a heated voice whispers into his ear.

He shivers involuntarily. No, he does not. He can't say anything, so he tries to shake his head. He should've thought farther ahead when he planned on pranking his devil roommate. Nervous sweat starts to form all over his skin, just as cold droplets of water dribble down his scarfed neck, sinking into the material like a sponge. Cold droplets of water..?

Must be from Laxus's shower just now. He wants to ask him whether the Lifesaver Blast from the shower head felt good, but realizes he can't against the hand on his mouth. Scowling at nothing but the maroon wall, he tries to burn a hole through it when his scarf is deliberately unfolded from his neck and tossed somewhere behind him. He struggles hard, this time, yelling muffled curses. How dare Laxus do that to his precious scarf!

"Thanks to you, I couldn't get a break after that ridiculous gathering. Egg pellets under my pillow, huh? Candy stuffed into the shower head, huh?" Laxus breathes into his ear, hot breath tingling the hypersensitive cells. He sounds on the verge of tearing through something. That something being him.

Natsu trembles, his body warming up at the husky, throaty whispers. Cold, wet fingers play with the hem of his navy shirt, briefly touching his skin. He winces as jagged teeth nibble along the outer shell of his ear and then a warm tongue circles over the light bites.

"Yer uhm pervmmrt," he manages to utter. The statement is rather hard to decipher, however.

Laxus leans his entire body into him this time, and undissipated warmth seeps throughout his body in a rebelliously good way. Natsu tries to elbow the man, but his endeavor is much ignored. He twists his neck, scowling and glaring up at the bigger male with all the defiance he can muster. He won't admit that the way he's pressing up against him feels nice. That's totally not even in his definition. The way that Laxus is pinning him to the wall with that angry, kind of scary and forced smirk is definitely, he repeats, mentally, definitely NOT sexy.

Fuck.

He's shirtless. He only has a towel on. He's dripping wet all over. His short blonde hair's matted down with water. He smells like aftershave, expensive shampoo and conditioner - probably his favorite scent, peppermint -, and very faintly of fruity Lifesaver candies. The scar on the left side of his face is making his dark scowl look more pronounced.

"So how are you going to make it up to me, Natsu?"

Why is he making that low, guttural sound with his name and making him feel a little weak-kneed? That is so not okay.

"Umphmmm," Natsu grumbles against the stupid hand on his mouth. Allow his inner self to translate: get your nasty hand off me.

Laxus grins. It's not an innocent one, either. It's a rather painfully obvious lewd grin that promises many things that Natsu really doesn't want happening to his body.

"You're not going to be celibate tonight."

And Laxus tends to misunderstand him far too many times.

Rori's Corner: Who's 'her?' What's her relationship with Laxus? What's going to happen next chap? What's with Gray and Lyon? What's with Gajeel and that convenience clerk? What about Sting? Who's the sexiest so far? Gehee. Gimme all your thoughts in the 'underpanty section below' (quoting Peter Chao).

Thanks for reading! Keep reviewing, faving, alerting, all that good shet and make me not want to go on hiatus, cause I can sense one coming on real soon. X_X Oh, guess 'her' correctly and I'll blast your name in pretty italics and bold and underline next chap! Haha. Until then, loves! Oh, if you want me to add anything specific to the story, don't hesitate to pen me your desires. *wink*