CONTROL - Ver. 2

XXIX

The sunlight had begun filtering through the lush curtains along the tall, luxury windows of Sting's hotel room. He and Rin were tangled up beneath the sheets of his bed, still slumbering peacefully after the exhausting events of the last week. They held each other impossibly close; Rin was freezing cold, and Sting was a lovesick puppy. The blonde lay on his back with his arms circling the brunette who clung tightly to his side and pressed her cheek into the top of his chest. She was practically on top of him with her leg slung across his waist.

A faint groan escaped her lips as she snuggled even closer to him in order to escape the rays of light. However, she was more than awake at this point and simply revelled in the moment.

Sting's gloveless grip suddenly got stronger, his body twisting ever-so-slightly to be closer to her. She felt a kiss on the crown of her head before he nuzzled his nose into her hair. Rin tilted her head up, pushing her nose into his to garner his attention.

"Mornin'." The girl shivered at the sound of his morning voice, smiling at the sensation. She didn't respond, but instead swiftly pressed her lips to his. Sting froze for a moment before ducking back in before she could fully pull away. The girl easily gave in, returning his kiss immediately.

Their liplock was slow and focused, pulling the brunette into a trance. In fact, she didn't even notice when her mate's hand traced up the side of her leg and landed on her hip until he dragged her closer and pressed her hips into him. Rin pushed his shoulders down and flipped them over so she was straddling his hips.

Sting's hands found their way to the small of her back, keeping her pinned to him. The blonde even made it a point to push himself to sit up so that not a single point of contact was missed. Feeling the way his hands slid under the shirt she had borrowed from him set her skin ablaze. Rin broke their kiss, sitting up and removing the article of clothing, leaving her in just her bra and underwear.

The two continued the heat of their moment with Sting's lips making their way down the column of her neck to her collarbone until the male's hands came too far up her skin.

Just as Sting began to mess with the clasp of Rin's bra, his wrists were grabbed tightly and thrown into the pillows by the girl above him. He immediately opened his palms in surrender, hoping she'd ease up her grip on him. Instead, she simply looked down at him and shook her head, nodding over to the two Exceeds beginning to rise from their slumber in the chair in the corner.

The blonde sighed as the one good thing that had happened to him this week was abruptly stopped. He laid his head back and watched as the female returned his shirt to her torso, albeit slowly. She knew he was watching her every move with hungry eyes, especially since she was still sat innocently across his hips. "Fuckin' tease," he grumbled almost silently.

Rin snickered and leaned forward on her knees, caging him against the mattress.

"I think you should go shower," she began tracing the edge of her nail down his abdomen, slightly catching at his waistband before pulling away. "You need to cool off." With that, she hopped out of bed and walked over to where Leese was yawning as she awakened from her slumber, leaving her mate to pull the covers back up over his groin in disdain.

竜

It was a little past noon and a lot of mages were scrambling to gather attire for the ball tonight. Some even had to go purchase new suits and dresses as the ball was unexpectedly thrown at them at such short notice. Others, like Rin, sat in Sabertooth's hotel lobby and watched the endeavor with Leese by her side.

"What's the big deal? It's just a ball."

"It's a ball at the palace Mercurius held by the King of Fiore, Rin. It's kind of a big deal," Leese deadpanned at her best friend, thinking even they should be rushing to get ready.

"And not everyone has requip magic," entered a new voice. Sting and Rogue approached the table, cuing the brunette to set her cup of tea back on the table. "Speaking of which, are you sure you don't want to go dress shopping with the others?"

"I have enough control over my magic to make an outfit change, thank you very much." She looked at the suit Sting held across his forearm; white, of course. "And I already know what dress I wanna wear."

The girl stood up, still havnig to tilt her head up to look at the blonde.

"You gonna match with me?" She just about wanted to punch the grin off his lips.

"Absolutely not." The Twin Dragons both furrowed their brows. "I don't wear white," she winked. "Come on, Leese."

Before she could walk away, Sting gently grabbed her wrist and pulled her back to him.

"I know you want to go and make an appearance," he said quietly, "but if you're still not feeling well, just leave early, okay?"

"I'll be fine, Sting." Rin pulled away from him and turned back to the main doors. "Plus, you didn't seem that worried this morning." The way Leese gagged immediately made the girl snicker, but not as much as when she realized that Rogue was there too.

"U-Uh... W-What are you...?" Sting couldn't even speak, completely at a loss for words. His face had turned cherry red and his partner's face nearly matched.

竜

Rin sat alone with Leese, putting on a small amount of makeup. She didn't really feel like she needed it, but she wanted to make sure she was presentable for the night. She already knew exactly what dress she planned to wear to. It laid on her bed, glimmering in the light, waiting to be worn. She had owned it for a little over a year now but had never worn it out, so this was the perfect occasion. And she had already pulled it out of her requip just in case something happened and she ran out of magic later.

Also, even though this week hadn't panned out as nicely as she had wanted, she wanted to look good for Sting. They'd had a lot of ups and downs this week, so she wanted him to know that she really was worth his time. That and she was kind of disappointed with how things ended this morning.

There was a sudden knock on her door, causing her to set her brush down on the bathroom counter and answer the door in just a sports bra and shorts. There to visit her was Natsu and Happy, devious grins on their faces.

"What's up?" She smiled and let them in the room where they flopped onto her nice bed.

"Get dressed! We're going to have some fun before teh ball tonight." Rin crossed her arms over her chest. What Natsu considered fun was typically delinquent activity and she wasn't sure if she was immature enough to participate like she used to.

"What kind of fun?"

"We wanna go check out the castle," Happy informed.

"You idiots want to break into the castle before we're actually allowed in there?" Everyone looked at Leese who had her arms crossed. For someone that also used to participate in their antics, she was acting a lot like Carla. "Remember what happened last time you infiltrated the castle?"

"It'll be fine! We'll have Rin, after all."

"And Rin doesn't have magic," Leese shot back.

"I'm down." Everyone turned to look at the brunette, finding a small, excited smile on her face. "Come on, Leese. When was the last time we caused some trouble just because?"

"You were, like, twelve. You're almost twenty now!"

"So? Natsu was gone for seven years! I say we make up for lost time."

"Now we're talking," he smiled, a fire burning in his eyes. "Grab your dress and let's go!"