Love Sick

Chapter Fifteen: The Crackle Between Our Fingertips

The house was incredibly large and had multiple extra bedrooms. Laxus planned to stay in this house for the rest of his life after all and he wanted to have children later in life. Freed felt bad for getting in the way of that dream.

They had joked during the designing process of the house that one of the bedrooms would belong to Freed with how often the two men would crash at the other's home.

It was looking less like a joke now. 

Would Laxus want him to move in?

...

"How long until you can move in?" Freed asked. He realized that he had been silent perhaps a little too long. "I'm still in this place for another six months but the house should be finished before that" the S-class wizard explained. 

"You know... Gramps made me add a library" Laxus started nervously. Freed was oblivious to how flustered the other man was due to his inability to read people and how much he focused on his current task.

"Really? That doesn't seem like a necessity for you. You tend to only keep a small selection of books and anything else you could want is held by the guild's library" Freed said. He held a confused expression. 

"Yeah, you're right" the dragon slayer agreed. He was trying to prompt the shorter man into a realization of what he was suggesting.

"But you still agreed?" Freed asked. Clearly he was still being too oblivious. "Yeah, I did. But uh because I don't really want to waste it maybe you could find some use for it going forward?" Laxus said. He was absolutely flushed, not used to small innocent acts of affection. 

"Wouldn't you get tired of me coming in and out of your house to use it though?" The rune mage asked. He was sure he heard Laxus sigh at that. "No, I don't think I will." 

He could imagine a lot of things involving Freed in his home.

 Coming home from a late night at the guild to see his soulmate curled up on a large sofa reading a book and lost to the world, Laxus would greet him with a kiss to the hair and then sit next to him as Freed unwound from himself and cuddled up to him.

Freed popping in just to grab a book and coming over to where he was and grabbing him for a kiss before teasingly scampering off. Giggling the entire way.

"Maybe eventually you'll move in with me" 

...

Laxus words rang in the back of his mind for a couple of days. Freed just tried his best to ignore it despite how it was burned into his skull at this point.

"You're thinking too hard" Laxus said. He had just sat down on the couch next to Freed as he did. "I'm sorry" the rune mage mumbled. "Don't be" Laxus said. He tilted Freed's chin upwards so that he would look him in the eye. "L-laxus" he stuttered. The green-haired man could feel the blush overtaking his face.

Their faces were only a few inches apart. 

"What are you thinking about?" The blond asked. Freed didn't know how to respond. He didn't know if he even could respond. He was lost just watching his Thunder God. 

Laxus just smirked at the silence. "Is it a secret?" He teased. Freed nodded dumbly. He didn't know why but he felt compelled to agree to whatever the blond asked him in that moment. That made the dragon slayer's smirk get larger. "You're so cute" Laxus breathed out. The smaller man had no idea how to respond to that. The lightning mage' expression softened out and he leaned in kiss Freed on the cheek. "I'm struggling with this, I'll admit" he said.

What Laxus meant by that was that he was struggling to not rush into their relationship. They had only became a thing for less than a week so it wasn't as if they were trying to take it slow, they were trying to take it at a normal pace. But this was difficult for Laxus because he finally had his soulmate in his arms.

But Freed didn't take it that way. No, he imagined Laxus was struggling because he was stuck in a relationship he didn't want. That he was struggling with trying to make himself fall in love so that he could be as happy as he could in such an unlucky situation. This made him a little sad. He didn't need to be reminded that the man he loved didn't love him, that this was only the illusion of a relationship. 

...

"You can't possibly enjoy this" Freed said.

They had been laying in the couch together. Or Laxus was lying on the couch and he had Freed lie against his chest while the green-haired man quietly read his book. 

Laxus rolled his eyes. "I disagree" he said. "I'm quite comfortable like this" he added. He brushed a hand through Freed's hair. "But why?". The blond shook his head fondly. "You don't need to question  and investigate everything" he said, his tone still just as fond as his expressiom. 

"Do you think they'll be back soon? Bickslow and Evergreen?" Freed asked. Laxus looked like he would shrug if he could in his position. "Not sure. I don't know what kind of job they took to be honest so they could be back tomorrow or in a month. 

"I don't think they would have taken a very long job. Not with the condition you were in when they left" Freed said. "They might not have selected a long job but sometimes things are harder than the request says or something that couldn't have been predicted happens and it prolongs things" the S-class wizard said insightfully.