And Therefore Is Wing'd Cupid Painted Blind

Age 24

The next morning Rogue feels a weight pressing down against his hips. He tries to turn still in his sleepy daze figuring it’s just Sting’s stupid arm invading his side of the bed again and he can just shake it off. This doesn’t happen. In fact the weight begins to become heavier as it starts spreading to Rogue’s chest. “Rogue,” He hears a soft voice calling through the thick haze in his mind. The voice is actually rather soothing. He feels himself drifting off again until, “Rogue,” He wishes the voice would go away now as it was beginning to become irritating.
Rogue suddenly feels a tapping against his cheek, light at first and then increasing in rhythm, until a quick slap sends vibrations through Rogue’s skull.
“Wha-, fuck, stop would you,” Rouge mumbles, still half asleep trying to push the hand away from him.

“Come on get up, I made coffee,” Sting says, knowing the promise of coffee will get Rogue out of bed quicker.

Rogue opens his eyes noticing Sting is already dressed in black skinny jeans and a dark blue sweater, as he sits straddling him on the bed. “How are you already up?”

“Today’s a big day.” Is all he says before pushing himself off Rogue and flinging the covers off of the man previously underneath him. Rogue reaches for the blanket quickly in order to cover his half naked body in vain as Sting pulls it further away. “Come on, Roguie just get up. I’ve got something planned for today.”

Rogue mumbles a, “fine,” as he moves to sit on the edge of the bed. “Where’s my coffee?”

Sting smiles at him, chucking the blanket back onto the bed. “In the kitchen.”

Rogue sighs, reluctantly getting off of the bed and chucking on the first thing he sees, which happens to be one of Sting’s shirts. He turns around to tell Sting to stop leaving his clothes on the floor, but the blonde is nowhere to be seen. He lets out another heavier sigh and walks out of his bedroom down to the kitchen. Sting already has a cup of coffee made for Rogue just the way he likes it sitting on the table when he enters, Rogue rubs the sleep from his eyes.

“Aren’t you a delight this morning,” Sting says smirking as he leans against the kitchen bench, and takes a sip of his own coffee.

Rogue looks at him through tired eyes, “There’s a better way to wake people up, you know?”

Sting lets out a laugh, “Yeah, but you’re always the one waking me up, so I didn’t know which way would be the most effective. But here you are, up and ready for the day.”

Rogue just shoots him a glare.

Sting’s expression turns serious, “Though seriously, we will have to be leaving in about ten minutes.”

Rogue laughs, figuring Sting’s just joking, but when Sting’s expression doesn’t change he asks, “What seriously? What could we possibly be doing at eight in the morning?”

Sting finally grins, finishes off his coffee and places the mug in the sink. “It’s a secret.”



They’re strolling down the city streets hand in hand fifteen minutes later, Rogue insisted that he required a shower, Sting didn’t like that it made them late. Through Rogue’s consistent questions of ‘where are they going?’ and ‘what are you planning?’, Sting leads him to a small, hole in the wall café, and chooses a table in the back for them to sit at.

“Order whatever you want,” He says, handing the café’s menu over to Rogue.

Rogue’s not entirely sure what Sting is planning but he decides to go along with it, cause hey they never have the time to go out for breakfast.

The waitress comes over shortly afterwards, Sting orders a black coffee and the French toast, Rogue orders the pancakes and another coffee, mumbling something under his breath about how Sting didn’t allow him to enjoy his first one.
Sting only grins at him.

When the waitress leaves Rogue gives the blonde a pointed look.

“What’s up?” The blonde asks, feigning innocence.

Rogue sighs, he feels like he’s sighing too much this morning, “What are we doing?”

“I told you, it’s a surprise,” Sting says, it seems to Rogue like he’s taking enjoyment in tormenting him.

“Why can’t you just tell me? You know I hate surprises,” He’s not opposed to begging.

“Not going to happen,” He replies, much to Rogue’s disappointment.

The waitress returns then with their coffees, and Sting immediately becomes more interested in the dark liquid.

Rogue sits there staring at Sting over the top of his coffee mug, going over all the possibilities for this sudden occurrence. Of course Sting could just be doing this because he wants to, but he’s being too secretive for it to be as simple as that. Rogue contemplates asking the man again, but knowing that he’ll only become even more tightly lipped, Rogue decides to keep his mouth shut.

They sit in silence for a while until their breakfast comes out. Sting is trying his best to ignore Rogue’s stares, the guy shouldn’t be so distrusting. There’s been a few times when that pointed dark stare of Rogue’s almost made Sting blurt out the surprise, but he can’t do that, it would ruin everything. For now he just looks over at Rogue with a smile.

“Cheer up, Roguie. I promise you’ll love this surprise.”

Rogue mumbles out, “It better be worth it.”

Sting only grins again at Rogue’s attitude.



They leave the café sometime later. Rogue vaguely notices Sting taking them further into the centre of the city, but decides not to comment on it, instead taking Sting’s cue to just shut up and enjoy whatever is actually happening. He tries his best.

Rogue stares at his surroundings as they walk, more focused on that than anything else. He looks forward and notices that Sting has come to a stop in front of a black wooden door nestled between a window coffee shop and an abandoned store. The door has a metal number nailed into the middle of it that reads ninety three. Rogue stares at the blonde confused. Sting doesn’t say anything; instead he pulls a small key out of his pocket and walks to the door, opening it. He looks back at Rogue, his face giving nothing away.

“Well, after you,” He says, gesturing Rogue inside.

Rogue gives him one last confused look before he passes Sting and walks inside. He’s immediately met with cement stairs leading up to god knows where. He looks back at Sting unsure; the blonde gives him an encouraging smile, so Rogue begins making his way up the stairs. Once at the top of the stairs Rogue is stopped by yet another door, Sting pulls the same key out and opens it allowing Rogue to see inside.

He looks around the space in front of him. It’s open, with multiple doors leading off somewhere else, from what Rogue can see now is a small kitchen set into the corner of the far wall, a small table with two chairs are set up just in front of it, on the other side is an old leather couch sitting in front of a television with a small wooden coffee table. The entire floor is covered in dark wood and all but one wall are made of exposed brick, the odd one out has been rendered over and left blank. Rogue walks around the room, looking at every little feature. He walks over to a door near the kitchen, it reveals a small bathroom complete with a huge tub; he closes the door again and moves onto the next one on the other side of the room. He pushes the door open and immediately sees a king sized bed sitting proudly in the middle of the room, all the walls are also brick.

He looks over his shoulder at Sting who is standing by the last door Rogue has to look through, the blonde motions him over. Rogue confused as he’s ever been pushes the last door open and his jaw almost hits the floor. He’s met with an almost completely empty room; the floor is decked out in the same wood as the rest of the apartment, the bricks once again exposed, and sunlight steams into the room from all directions through the wide windows that line the walls. Rogue’s eyes drift over to the two bits of furniture in the room, an easel and Rogue’s old wooden stool.

He looks over at Sting, “What is this?”

“You’re new art studio,” Sting beams down at Rogue.

“W-what?” He stutters.

“What do you think of the place, Rogue?” Sting asks, holding his arms out to gesture to the whole apartment.

“I love it,” Rogue answers, not missing a beat.

“That’s certainly a relief,” Sting says, letting out a breath.

“But that doesn’t matter Sting, we can’t afford a place right now,” He sadly recalls their financial situation.

“We don’t have to worry about that,” Sting says, looking right at Rogue.

“What do you mean?”

“This place is ours,” Why is Sting grinning?

“What?” Rogue almost shouts, astonished.

“I brought it.” His tone of voice makes Rogue go silent, any thought that may have been forming in his head has now vanished as he stands staring at the blonde, wide eyed.

The only word that is able to force it’s self out of his agape mouth is another shocked, “What?”

“I brought it,” Sting says slower, looking Rogue right in the eye so he doesn’t misunderstand.

“But you don’t have any money,” Rogue’s not liking this sick joke Sting is playing on him.

Sting only shrugs, “Granted I had a bit of help from my parents, but I’m actually quite a good saver, believe it or not.”

“I just, I don’t-. What did you-? How did-?” His words trample over each other as he tries to make sense of this.

“I know it’s not some grand place, but when I saw it I knew it was for us. This place has character, and you’ll no longer have to pay extra each month to rent out that warehouse you use as your studio, now you’ll have a studio right next to your bedroom,” He moves closer to Rogue. “Don’t think about it too much, Roguie, this place is ours now.”

“I just can’t believe you did this, Sting,” Rogue can feel his eyes begin to prick with tears, and he wipes his arm vigorously against his face to get rid of them.

Sting takes another step forward and envelops Rogue within his arms, holding him tightly against his chest. “Don’t cry Rogue.”

“I-I’m not,” He sniffles against Sting’s shirt, “I just can’t believe you did this.”

“Are you happy?” Sting pushes Rouge back slightly so he can look into his eyes. His crimson eyes are still shining and his cheeks are wet from the tears that managed to escape.

“I just can’t believe I have someone as amazing as you, I’m so happy Sting,” He replies, smiling up at the blonde.

“Well good, because you’re stuck with me.”

Sting pulls Rogue back against his chest again feeling like they hadn’t done this is so long. It was in this moment that Sting was thankful for everything they had been through, even the years they spent apart due to his own stupidity, because it got them to this point.

Rogue wraps his arms tightly around Sting’s waist bringing them even closer. And in this moment he’s thankful for everything too.