Love Sick

Chapter Twenty: Dark Clouds On The Horizon.

"It'll be nice to go on jobs again" Laxus said trying to lighten the mood. Freed had been acting kind of strangely since that morning. But the blond could just be imagining it. He had never seen Freed in a relationship so maybe this was how he acted or because had never been in a relationship he was feeling a little awkward. 

Laxus could understand that, being in a relationship with his best friend was a bit strange too. And he had experience with these things.

He resigned himself to just sit on the sidelines and wait for Freed to catch up. Let him figure everything out.

...

The rune mage knew what the other meant by that. Of course he wanted to work again but that's not what he was asking for. Laxus was asking for normalcy. For things to go back to the way they were.

"Are you planning on doing something solo or would you like to do one with the team?" He asked calmly. There was no wrong answer. The Thunder Legion would always love to have him on a mission but they would understand otherwise. And the dragon slayer deserved to take a solo job, his  independence had essentially beem ripped away from him after all.

"Team. We should go somewhere nice so we can lounge around on a beach afterward" Laxus said as he stretched out like a cat. "You're thinking about a vacation?" Freed asked with a pointedly raised eyebrow. The blond shrugged and rolled his eyes. "I'm not thinking of a vacation. I'm thinking about rewarding ourselves for a job well done. I need some more sun anyways" he said. 

It was true, he had grown incredibly pale from his illness and even through the limited time he had been spending outside he hadn't seemed to regain much colour. Magnolia wasn't the best place to sunbathe after all. And that didn't even factor in the Fairy Tail factor of Laxus and Juvia. 

"I'm sure that Bickslow and Evergreen wouldn't complain" Freed hummed. "And will you?" Laxus asked, his sole focus was on his soulmate. "I trust your judgement" the runemage admitted.

He would always trust his judgement. The blond while arrogant could be incredibly clever, he didn't become an S-class just because he was the grandson of the master after all. But that didn't mean that his judgement couldn't be altered. Things like drugs and alcohols, poisons. Freed knew that his judgement was being tampered with now, the instincts that the dragon slayer had.

The green-haired man thought back to the other dragon slayer couples he knew, Lucy and Natsu, Levy and Gajeel. Did those men actually love their partners or was it some force that no one could control that made them act like that? Were they even happy or were they putting up facades to stop the pain of seeing their soulmates unhappy? What happens when a soulmate dies?

Dragons must have been truly cruel creatures.

...

Levy sat on the edge of the stream, kicking her legs through the water playfully. Gajeel sat a couple steps behind her out of fear of rust. They were completely alone, shielded by the thick forest on the outskirts of town.

"You told him?" He asked. The blue-haired woman giggled, carding her hands through the yellow flowers that grew next to the water. "Yep. I imagine he's acted on it" she said. She was trying to not sound so cheerful. "And what exactly did you tell him?" Gajeel asked, staring up at the clear bright blue sky. "Just that he was Laxus's soulmate. What else should I have added?" It was meant as a rhetorical question. Levy didn't think there was anything more to it.

Gajeel squinted his eyes. There was a puzzle piece left missing. Something that the two men didn't know. But it was not his place to meddle in their lives. 

He wondered if it was something Levy knew.

...

Laxus was miserable. Sure he wasn't cooped up in the infirmary anymore but he was now cooped up in his house. He had Freed but Freed wanted some distance right now. And he hadn't had a single beer since this whole thing got started. If he had to take it easy then he wanted to actually enjoy taking it easy. 

He was brooding. The blond felt a wave of elecrity roll off of his shoulders. He had too much pent up energy.

"Alright!" Freed announced as he walked up to the lightning wizard. He was wearing a tight tank top and athletic leggings, his green hair in a high ponytail. The tank top was a dark brown, contrasting against ivory skin and snug enough that it showed an outline of his stomach muscles as well as exposing his toned arms. The leggings were black and looked not much different than his usual pants. He was stunning as he idly stretched.

This was an absolute treat, something the blond was sure he didn't deserve.

"What?" Laxus asked as his brain struggled with coming back online. "We're going on a jog before you fry the place. Go get changed and then we'll go. I know a good route" Freed said in his no nonsense way.

Laxus smiled. That was his Freed. His Captain. He was glad to see that he was still in there. 

"Yeah, I'll be one second" he said as he slowly stood up. 

His usual method of blowing off steam was sparring but he couldn't fight Freed, his heart would break if he hurt him. And as they were in pseudo-isolation there wasn't exactly a big line up of people after that. So jogging it was.