Love Sick

Chapter Six: Cloudy Futures

Freed and the rest of the Thunder Legion rushed to the guild as soon as they had heard that something bad had happened. The rune mage beelined straight for the infirmary where he saw Porlyusica tending to a Laxus who had seemed to be having difficulties breathing.

He rushed to his side and unconciously reached for the other man's hand. "Laxus" he whispered in a quiet voice on the verge of tears. The lightning wizard seemed to be stabilizing. "What happened?" Freed asked the healer. 

"Fool collapsed earlier today and while I was treating him he had a seizure" the old woman admitted grimly. "But he's been doing so well" he said as he stared at his best friend. It had only been three days but Laxus seemed to have suffered ten years.  "I know, it is concerning. A need to have a word with Makarov. Can you stay with him for a moment?" She replied.

The green-haired man nodded. She gave him a sad smile before she exited the room. He turned to the sleeping man and lifted the hand that he was still holding up so he can place a kiss on his knuckle. 

"I know it's not just the two of us anymore but I still need you, okay?" He whispered. 

... Flashback...

"Freed!" Laxus exclaimed. They were still just teens. He cradled the smaller man's hand in his own. His blood had been running down his fingers from his knuckles which were baely bruised. "Why did you punch that guy? Seriously you've never been for violence like that" The blond asked.

"Why-. He insulted you and even tried to spit at you! As your personal body guard I couldn't let such a transgression go" the wizard argued. 

The lightning mage just laughed. He lifted the other man's hand to his face and gave a tender kiss to the bloody knuckles. "Don't do that again. It's just the two of us, I need you so don't get yourself hurt for me, okay?".

...End...

It was the memories of that sweet boy who just needed someone to stand by his side that kept him beside his Thunder God during his darkest moments. 

...

Porlyusica closed the door into the Master's office after her. "How is he?" He asked. "Stable for now. But, he shouldn't be this bad yet. I- something has changed" the healer informed.

"What do you mean?" Makarov asked. "His situation with his soulmate.  It seems like his soulmate has somehow given a half-acception. This is why he has seemed much healthier for seemingly no reason. Close proximity to his soulmate while given a potential yes. Kids these days not being able to be clear and direct. And it seems that being apart from his soulmate without a definite answer has caused his mate sickness to inrease in severity" she explained.

"So if we want to find his soulmate, we have to hurry" the master realized. "But that shouldn't be too hard. Someone who had to have been in close proximity to Laxus until recently where he went into a type of withdrawal" Porlyusica said.

"Well the Thunder Legion. And they do take him out a lot so it could be someone outside of the guild that they would see quite frequently" Makarov reasoned. "Freed's a good bet. He's very routine so they probably visit the same place often enough, shouldn't be hard to find a pretty shopkeep or tailor" He added.

Porlyusica nodded and the had a plan in place.

...

Freed was sitting in the uncomfortable little chair beside Laxus' bed watching as the man he had fallen in love with slept. And while he waited, he had a book in his lap. A photo album. 

It had been a gift from Evergreen. Documenting all of their adventures together. It was difficult having to come to terms with the fact that they were out of adventures with their blond. But at least he had these pictures to make him smile.

There was one photo from after Bickslow had gotten very sick after a mission. Freed had worked himself to the edge trying to take care of him and had eventually just passed out in the guild hall. The photo was of Laxus carrying him home. He had wrapped the rune mage in his large black coat, swaddled him like he was a baby, and had carried him all the way home like he weighed absolutely nothing.

And then there was another one of them all on a train. Laxus was experiencing some pretty bad motion sickness. Freed had been waiting hand and foot on his god, making sure he could be as comfortable as possible. Laxus had even been leaning into his touch slightly. Bickslow was laughing hysterically. And Ever was making herself as small as possible, preparing for the possibility of the dragon slayer throwing up. 

Then another photo. The group was celebrating together after Fairy Tail won Grand Magic Games. They were at a bar just the four of them. Laxus had Freed and Evergreen on each shoulder, lifting them both up in a display of strength. Bickslow was standing beside him and was cheering them on, they were all laughing and probably way too drunk.

The rune mage smiled softly to himself. He never had enough time to look through this before. Part of him felt guilty towards Ever for that. It's clear that she put a lot of effort into it. He wiped away a tear before it could soil the book. This all meant a lot to him.

But when he turned the next page he was surprised. In big bold lettering it read 'Photo's by Laxus'. He didn't know the S-class wizard had contributed to the album. Hurriedly he flipped the page again to see what Laxus had taken pictures of.

A picture from one of their resort trips greeted him. He was the subject matter. Do to the heat and his own attempt of being more relaxed on vacation he decided to leave his iconic red coat and instead took to wearing a white button up- he still had a habit of being overly formal- and a pair of black pants. Bickslow had decided to be funny and used his Babies to push the rune mage into the pool.

This photo was taken moments after that. Freed had climbed out of the pool and had tried to tie his hair up before it got soaked from his shirt, it would've become such a mess if it got wet. He had a hair-tie in his mouth as he stretched his arms up to secure his hair into a ponytail. His white shirt had stuck to his skin in odd places and became transparent as well, giving glimpses to alabaster skin.

An odd thing to take a photo of but he decided to overlook it. 

The next photo made him to turn scarlet. It was a memory he wished to forget and one he was sure that Bickslow loved being immortalised. Freed had lost a bet to Ever and as his punishment she dressed him up like a girl. She had curled his long green hair, put makeup on him and forced him into a tight and terrifying short red dress and even made him wear these horrendous heels. 

It made it even worse that they had plans to go out that night and Ever wouldn't let him change so he was forced to go to the club like that. Girls mocked him for not being pretty enough to hang off of Laxus and a couple men tried to hit on him whenever Laxus drifted too far. Apparently they were too scared of the dragon slayer to approach him while he was around. 

"What are you looking at?" Asked a raspy voice. Freed looked up from the photos to see that Laxus had actually woken up. "Just some old photographs. Reminiscing. I'm going to miss you, you know so you better save a spot for me" the rune mage said. "I don't think I'm going to heaven" Laxus said bitterly. 

"Then I'll just end up following you to hell".