Catch the Thunder

Opera Date

Laxus felt awkward as hell standing outside the Magnolia Opera House. He had on the nicest clothes he owned, a red button-up dress shirt and black slacks he used rarely, but with faded and scuffed black riding boots that he knew were a horrible mismatch. He had tried to tame down his hair, but the gel broke free and the blond strands stuck out even wilder than usual. Patrons arriving stared warily at him, and he knew it was because of the scar running down his eye.

"Where the hell are you, Greenie?" he grumbled and checked his watch again.

After their night in a hotel, they had curled together in bed and talked about their upcoming date. Laxus began to realize that Freed saw this as a first "real" date, whereas he counted their two hotel nights as dates. He supposed their interpretations of what a date was were different.

Laxus had to be honest with himself: he had not been on a proper "date" since high school when he took a girl to Prom. He had to look up online for advice on what to do. He hated going into a situation unprepared.

"You're here!"

He jolted. He had been looking south, where most of the people were arriving, but Freed appeared out of nowhere from the north, surprising him. The green-haired man had a bright smile. Although he always dressed nice, this was the first time Laxus had seen him properly in full daylight. Both times in the hotels, Laxus slipped away in the early morning, not wanting their time together to be ruined by an awkward goodbye.

Now, he saw just how much that green hair gleamed in the sunlight. Freed's face nearly glowed with radiant joy. For a moment, Laxus could not speak.

"You're late." He realized he said it gruffly, but he was struggling not to exclaim something stupid, like 'Wow, you look amazing!'

"Sorry. I hate the south parking lot. It's crowded and takes forever to get back out with all the cars exiting. The north lot costs slightly more, but it's better, more spaces, easier to exit."

Laxus was reminded that Freed had gone to this opera house—a place Laxus used to dream about visiting some day—enough times to even know where the good parking spots were. It was intimidating to get into a situation where he was the inexperienced one and his partner was the one who knew all the tricks.

"You look really great," Freed said quietly, discreetly eyeing him up and down.

"You too," Laxus said softly.

"Should we go inside?"

Laxus nodded and followed Freed, joining the flow of patrons entering the opera house.

Since it was a matinée, most of the people around him were older, gray-haired retired couples who were free in the middle of a weekday. That made Laxus feel like they stuck out even more.

"The seats are upstairs," said Freed.

Laxus realized he was gazing around at the architecture like an idiot. Maybe Freed was used to the building, but Laxus had never been inside a structure quite like it. The ceiling soared, with a crystal chandelier lighting the grand foyer, frescoes painted on the walls, marble columns evoking a Roman feel, and gilded filigree on the doors of every entryway. He really saw the difference between their two worlds in the opulence of this building.

Freed watched how Laxus gazed around. "Um ... we still have some time. Do you want to walk around the foyer first?"

Laxus jolted, caught gawking. "N-Nah, it's fine."

Freed shrugged. "It's your first time here. Let's look around. Oh, I know! Gift shop, this way. I want to look through it. You can wait for me outside, look around while I browse."