A/N: I had this idea and decided to fill it with all my favorite nonbinary headcanons. ALL OF THEM fufufu. Full roster in the endnotes. (Pronouns include: they, she, he, and ze.)
Gift for mdelpin, who is so good at bringing people together, which is what Fairy Tail is all about. xo
A Guild Party
Freed sighed. Waving their hands and shouting was getting nowhere. Shaking their head, they stepped up onto the nearest table and bellowed, "Listen up for Master's sake!"
Finally, some semblance of quiet fell. (Natsu quietly punched Gray in the background.)
"Thank you," Freed said. "We only have a couple months to get this all done. As you were saying, Mira?"
As Mira's soft voice caused even greater silence to fall, Freed felt a tug on their belt loops and looked down. Laxus stood beside the table, staring up and grinning. Flushing, they smiled back.
"You look good yelling at everyone," Laxus whispered.
Snorting, Freed allowed themself to be drawn down off the table and into an embrace.
"This is a good plan," Laxus said as Freed rubbed his back. "I like it. It'll surprise him so hard he might just have a heart attack."
"I hope not," Freed said reproachfully.
Laxus chuckled and fingered Freed's hair.
"Anyway, I like this plan," Laxus said.
"Good. Because you have a key part."
"You need me to do what?" Kagura asked in surprise.
"Just pose it to your master, please. We really need Master to not suspect," Erza said, running her hands up and down her girlfriend's arms.
"What are you going to do while he's out of the way?"
"Levy and Freed have drawn up plans. Levy is the one who gave me my orders: they're a much more organized person than me."
"In other words, you don't know yet," Kagura chuckled.
Erza nodded ruefully.
Beside them, Kagura's teapot whistled and she took it off the stove.
"You at least know there's construction involved. Will this be a project that involves my girlfriend showing off her six-pack and amazing arms?" she asked as she took down two cups.
"Possibly." Erza blushed.
"Then I might have to help out." Kagura grinned at her. "So I can enjoy the view."
"You can always do that," Erza murmured. "You're one of the few people who gets to see me."
It didn't make total sense, but Kagura knew what she meant. Nodding in understanding, Kagura kissed her softly. "Have I told you lately how much I love you, beautiful?"
Flipping through the book in front of them, Levy let out a heavy sigh. It wasn't right. Nothing was right. The pages flipped past their gaze, unheeded. Tears pressed against their eyes and they swallowed them down yet again.
"Levy?" Freed's head popped out between the stacks of the guild's cramped library. "Are you okay?"
"Yes," Levy said thickly.
The word betrayed them: the tight control they had over their throat slipped. Their next sigh came out a hiccough.
"Levy," Freed soothed, hurrying over and squeezing beside them on the bench, her arm sliding loosely around Levy's shoulders.
Her green hair had cobwebs in it and Levy flicked one away to distract themself from the tear pooling at the corner of their eye.
"We really need to clean in here," Levy sniffed.
"We can assign that to Laki. She's still injured and won't be able to help with building." Freed eyed them. "Do you want to talk?"
"I just don't feel right," Levy whispered, wiping their face. "I couldn't figure out what was wrong today. H-How do you know? How did you know you're a woman now? How can you feel that?"
"I don't know. I just do. But…I had to learn how to feel my body. I had to learn to trust myself and accept the entropy of my existence. Laxus asks—back then it was sometimes every hour, whenever I felt wrong; and I'd have to think about my reply, because I never lie to him. If I changed my answer, he was okay with that. It helped me be okay with it. And I love all of myself, Levy. All the sides. All the gendered bits. That helps tremendously."
Levy felt those words dive down into the core of their being—not stabbing or painful, but nevertheless pointed. Freed knew they weren't at the same point as her, taking each new day in stride. They were still fighting against it, strangling themselves on the question of who am I? I need to know.
"You don't have to know," Freed murmured, leaning her head against theirs. "Nobody expects you to have an answer but you."
"I know," Levy stammered. "I know I shouldn't expect it of myself. But I want an answer. I want it to be over."
"That's not how identity works—"
"How's it going down here?" Gray's voice came from the stairs. "Natsu sent me to check on you since zir memory is abysmal and ze's about to leave—oh."
Their chipper voice died, replaced with concern as they saw Levy and Freed curled together at the table.
"What happened?"
"Just a bad day," Freed answered.
"Sorry," Gray said, sincere, eying Levy with understanding. "I know about those."
Levy sighed. They were drained, uncertainty dragging at their shoulders like a sodden coat.
"So Natsu's about to leave? Elfman too?" Levy asked, wiping up their tears. They wouldn't pretend they weren't distraught, but they needed to talk about something else.
"Yeah," Gray said. "Natsu wanted me to check the date with you since ze'll inevitably forget—I was going to write it on zir hand in permanent ink."
Freed let out a startled laugh, in the act of extracting more cobwebs from her hair.
"Elfman might need that too," she said. "He's well-meaning but absent-minded."
"Natsu is just absent-minded," Gray grumbled, but their voice held affection and the edge of a grin.
Levy confirmed the date for them and Gray headed toward the exit.
"Levy." Gray stopped at the foot of the stairs, looking back over their shoulder but not quite meeting Levy's eye. "You know you can always talk or ask or cry if you need to."
"Yeah." They smiled. Their tears didn't feel like a burden this time. "I do. Thank you."
Gray and Freed both smiled.
"We support you," Freed said, and Gray nodded.
Sting growled in frustration.
"Is it feeling off again?" Rogue's cool voice came beside him.
"What?" Sting looked up and realized he was twisting his binder in his hands. "Oops, no—I was getting dressed. I just don't know how to pull this off without arousing suspicion. Natsu-san is impossible! Ze didn't even give me any good ideas. I swear ze does nothing but kiss zir partner."
"I rather like kissing my partner," Rogue said reproachfully, coming more fully into the bathroom.
"Yes, but that's because your partner is a genius," Sting grinned.
"Genius? Hm. Incredibly sexy, at least," they said, looking him up and down. "Are you going to actually get dressed?"
"Not interested in another round?"
They snorted and gave him a look. "Of course I am. But we're on a time limit and we just lost half an hour."
"I wouldn't say it was lost…"
"You know what I mean, Sting."
Rolling their eyes, Rogue turned away, Sting pinching their ass as they left the bathroom. There was an undignified squeak.
Sting had just enough time to laugh when he registered his shadow moving. Suddenly his partner stood behind him, dark eyes burning into his in the mirror.
"Get dressed, Sting." They kissed his neck, nibbling and sucking and startling Sting into a whine. "Please. We have a conference to run."
Another kiss, and Sting turned around to wrap his hands around their waist—
Rogue turned to shadows again, chuckle receding. Sting pouted as he pulled the binder on. Sometimes Rogue could be irritatingly responsible.
Erza Scarlet was considerably stronger than most people. Especially other women, which had embarrassed her until she began dating a ciswoman who was also stronger than most women. When she got to put her strength to good use, that was when she felt particularly good about it.
Today she felt very, very good.
She and Kagura were holding up a wall for Lucy and Juvia to nail struts when Minerva Orland warped into being.
"My." They blinked around at the chaos. "This is more serious than I expected."
"We did get several guilds' help on pulling this off," Erza pointed out.
"That's why I'm here: Makarov is just leaving and will arrive in two hours."
Erza swore. "Good thing we're almost done. You couldn't keep him any longer?"
"Believe me, Sting and the other masters did their best. They actually had a very lively and productive discussion. I think my guildmaster may have forgotten the whole conference was a ruse."
"Hah. That sounds typical." Finally able to set down the wall, Erza wiped her face and walked over. "You're looking good, Min. How are you?"
"Well enough." Unconsciously, they smoothed their hands over their trousers, a gesture Erza was all too familiar with. Even when one became comfortable in one's clothes, there was always that nervousness about others—what they saw, how they saw. It took years to move beyond that.
"You two should come over for tea so I can dignify that question with a real answer," Min said, nodding a hello at Kagura. "I have to get back to Yukino—she's making those floaty cookies and last time she ended up high."
Kagura let out a surprised snort. "High as in…?"
"Up in the rafters and incredibly slap-happy."
"I never would've expected your girlfriend to get into trouble," Kagura chuckled.
Min laughed.
"Thank you for delivering the message," Erza said. "I…know you don't like crowds."
Min shrugged and looked around. "I'll get over it."
Erza followed their gaze across the wide open space (which would, once the roof was on again, be the main hall of Fairy Tail) to several smaller rooms with open piping.
"Gender-neutral toilets," she explained. "Why it took us this long… Natsu and Gray complained for years. Freed goes in whichever one matches their gender at the time, but Levy actually boycotted the toilets until they got Master's attention a few months ago and he finally promised to do something about it. To be honest, I don't think he noticed we didn't have neutral facilities."
Her voice was longsuffering.
"You're good people," Min said. "I hope you know that, Fairy Tail. Well, good luck. May you finish in time."
"Let's hope. If Natsu knocks one more thing over…"
Cana was halfway through sorting the alcohol back into its places—even with Gajeel's help, it was a huge job—and her hair kept getting in her face. It was plastered to her neck and forehead from sweat, and every time she bent over to rearrange a cabinet, it got caught on something.
"Got anything to tie hair back with?" she grunted finally.
"Um. Just this."
Gajeel pointed to the sweaty kerchief on his head.
"Thanks, but no." She looked around. Levy and Freed were at the nearby windowsill, muttering and writing things on the glass. "Oi, Levy! Got a hair tie?"
They stared at her blankly.
"I do," Freed laughed, shooting an elastic at her. "There. You have to ask the people who actually have hair, Cana."
"Levy has hair…on half their head." As she said it, her brain noted that Levy's blank look was one of discomfort; that Freed was subtly letting her know she'd assumed gendered things. Guilt crept into Cana's chest: she hadn't thought that through…
"I still think you should've gone with a full mohawk, Levy," Gajeel said. "It would've looked so cool."
"Maybe I will. Who knows." Levy stuck their nose in the air. "I'm experimenting. I only felt like shaving one side."
"Well, it looks great," Cana said honestly. She grinned. "If you weren't dating Lucy…"
Levy rolled their eyes, but Gajeel growled.
"Respect their boundaries."
"Who said I wasn't?" Cana protested. "I was just saying they look amazing."
Gajeel hmphed.
Freed laughed. "You two act like siblings sometimes."
"Us?"
Cana and Gajeel looked at each other.
"Oh goddess, they do," Levy said. "I can't believe I never noticed."
"I guess drinking buddies equals siblings now," Cana said.
"In that case, you have a lot of siblings," Gajeel smiled. "I mean, we do know your dad got busy…"
"Hey!" she laughed. "My dad is gay!"
When all their snickering had died down, she turned back to Levy.
"Kidding aside, your hair does look great. Please don't let me or anyone tell you what to do," Cana said, sincere, and Levy gave her a smile. "Doing your own thing is the best. Remember that summer when I buzzed mine and shaved patterns into it?"
"And then dyed it rainbow colors?" Freed snorted. "That was an interesting time in your life."
"I think you mean glamorous time."
She smiled at Cana. "That too."
As the four of them returned to their respective jobs, Cana saw Levy blushing and pushing their bangs behind their ear. Good. They deserved to feel good about themself.
They'd gotten three guilds in on it: Sabertooth, Mermaid Heel, and Quatro Cerberus.
Three was enough to make the conference seem legitimate, but not so many the secret was in danger. When Laxus posed the plan to him, Goldmine was eager to surprise Makarov, both as a friend who cared and a friend who wanted to see Makarov get one pulled over on him for once. Sabertooth agreed because they were always in when it came to Fairy Tail, and Mermaid Heel helped because anything Kagura Mikazuchi wanted was law.
In his grandfather's office, Laxus leaned forward in the chair and shifted several of the items on the desk. There, that was more how Jijii liked it. Max and Mira, in charge of the cleanup crew, had done their best, but most people weren't in here enough to know how it was set up.
"Oi, Laxus," Natsu called, poking zir head in the open door, "things ready in here?"
"Yes." Laxus looked around the room, smelling the fresh magic oozing from the walls. Shiny, homey, and a little spicy. So many spells on every centimeter of the place, keeping it intact, protecting it from all the usual damage—fire, ice, human bodies flying through the air—and then some: possession magic, infiltration via elemental mages like shadow and sand, and even malicious intent. (That last was Freed's handiwork: Laxus was supremely impressed.)
Doranbolt had suggested some runes which he claimed would misdirect and vaguely confuse any Council knights who came looking to arrest a guildmember. From the disapproving look on his boyfriend Lahar's face, Laxus believed him. Come to think of it, Laxus hadn't seen Lahar near the building since then.
"He's going to like it," Natsu beamed. "A lot."
"He will," Laxus agreed. He smiled. Jijii deserved something big this year.
Leaning on the doorframe, Natsu scratched errantly at zir chest. Laxus gave a sympathetic grimace.
"Yeah, binder," ze said. "Sting recommended this kind, but I'm finding it itchy."
"Sorry."
Ze looked surprised. "Not your fault."
"It doesn't have to be my fault to be fucking frustrating," Laxus teased, and Natsu laughed. "I get it. Ergo, I'm sorry."
He did get it. Freed had similar issues tucking. Laxus had observed firsthand how deep-rooted his partner's love-hate relationship with tape was.
"Thanks." Natsu smiled sunnily. "Anyway, Jiichan will be back soon. Wanted to let you know. We tested the hall and everything seems good."
Laxus gave zem a suspicious look. "What do you mean 'tested'?"
Ze grinned.
"I punched my partner in the face."
"Ah, shit. What broke?"
"No, it's all good! Gray iced the whole bottom floor trying to get me and there isn't any damage or sign they did anything. Plus then they threw me into a pillar and it didn't crack. We did good work."
Laxus just groaned. He supposed it was a good test: Natsu and Gray were generally the most destructive forces indoors.
"Oh!" Natsu snapped zir fingers. "I forgot to tell you why I came up here in the first place: Freed wants you."
Laxus rose quickly.
"I'll be right down."
They decided not to darken the lights: that would look suspicious from outside. But they were all sitting quiet and still, guildmembers spilling across benches and packing the hall.
Lucy looked to the single open window as Happy darted inside.
"He's just down the street!" he called in a carrying whisper.
There was an excited murmur, quickly hushed. Lucy squeezed her datefriend's hand. Levy's calloused fingers squeezed back, warm and solid.
They were at a table nearest the door and clearly heard their Master muttering up the walk.
"…still intact, gods, I must be dreaming. Either that or Natsu is on a job…"
Lucy had to shove a hand over her mouth to keep from laughing. Oh, he had no idea.
The doors swung open and for a moment Makarov was framed in the lighted doorway, striding in oblivious to all of them—and then he saw every eye on him. He stopped dead.
"Surprise!"
The old man took a step back, mouth hanging open as people began shouting happy-birthdays from every corner.
"What—?" He looked bewildered, settling on Erza. "What's going on?"
"Happy birthday, Master," she beamed.
"What did you lot do?" Makarov asked, coming in further and sniffing. He ran a finger along an invisible surface, sparks flying in the air. "There's new magic here. Alright, what in hell—"
"It's a new and improved guildhall," Freed said excitedly. "We've charmed it against damage."
"And reinforced the structure," Levy piped up at Lucy's side.
"Levy got an engineering degree to be sure," Freed added, to Levy's blushing mortification.
It took them seven weeks of near-endless reading with their speed-reading glasses, but they'd gotten the degree—their fifth—just to make sure they constructed everything right. Lucy had helped with general research while Freed buried themself in spellbooks. It was a miracle none of them suffered eye strain.
The rest of their guildmates followed their directions, aside from Laxus, who'd taken it upon himself to make sure the three planners in the library ate real food, slept real sleep, and took real breaks where they were not staring at anything made of paper.
These announcements, meanwhile, had affected their guildmaster. As more people piped up with specifics—"Gray's ice doesn't hurt it!" Natsu shouted, while Gray added, "Neither does zir fire"—Makarov just stood there, hands at his sides, staring around.
"Jijii," Laxus's low voice cut through the chatter. "Are you okay?"
Makarov inhaled and giant, fat tears slithered down his cheeks.
"You all…are the best idiots…" he sniffed, letting his guildlings surround him with hugs and laughter.
He paused by their table and looked at Freed and Levy.
"I can feel the scripts and jutsu shiki, you two. Complicated stuff. I don't know what to say."
"Happy birthday, Master," Freed beamed, her cheeks lighting up.
"Here's to another ninety years!" Natsu added happily, bouncing into the conversation. "Jiichan, this isn't all. There's also a giant cake. C'mon. C'mon!"
While Natsu hurried him toward food, Lucy took the opportunity to turn and stare into Levy's wide, eager eyes.
"You did good, love."
Levy looked at her slowly, flushed, mouth working through protests but settling on, "Th-Thanks."
Touching their cheek, Lucy leaned in and kissed them softly, lingering a moment. When she pulled back, she felt their breath over her lips, and kissed them again.
"You're one of the smartest mages on the continent, Levy." She looked over at Freed, who had drawn Laxus onto the bench beside her. "You too, Freed. You both deserve extra cake."
"I wouldn't say no to that," Levy said.
As if on cue, Gray appeared, half a dozen plates in their hands. They looked good today, in something tunic-like which, Lucy was surprised to see, remained on their body.
"Master insisted you two get third and fourth slices," they said, passing plates to Levy and Freed, and then the rest of the table.
"Third and fourth?"
"Master got first, and Erza got second."
Laxus nodded sagely. "Wise."
Makarov made it around the whole room, buoyed by his guildlings' joy, feeling and seeing the changes they'd made and growing prouder by the moment. They'd done a really good job.
He voiced this aloud.
"Happy birthday," Bickslow grinned. "To be honest, we just followed directions."
"Who told everyone it was my birthday today?" he asked, pretending crossness.
"Laxus, of course."
"That child."
Smiling, he made his way to the last table, where the three brainiacs plus Erza were having an animated discussion. If their voices were anything to go by, they'd stumbled upon an exciting scholarly subject and wouldn't be emerging for hours. At the end of the table, Laxus was watching them as if it were a sporting match.
"You brat," Makarov said, sitting beside him.
"What did I do?"
"Whose idea was this originally?"
"Levy's." Laxus looked away. "Okay, mine too. They said we should make the guild stronger so we don't have to keep reconstructing it; I mentioned your birthday…"
"It's very practical," Makarov said.
Laxus nodded. "Natsu and Gray had a fight to test it out. And we haven't seen Doranbolt's grumpy captain around."
"Did he use those repellant runes…?"
"He and Freed, yeah."
Makarov grinned in appreciation. "Very useful magic."
Freed, who had perked up at their name, turned around.
"What is?"
Makarov rubbed his mustaches. "Could you hide us from the whole Council, I wonder?"
"It won't work on people with that powerful of magic," Freed explained, their—no, her?—face falling into teacher mode. "When it comes to something as tricky as human perception, even my runes have limits."
"I suppose," he sighed. "It would be nice, though."
"When you turn one hundred, I'll see what I can do."
He cackled—the mug in front of him was his fourt—and thumped the nearest arm, which belonged to Laxus. Laxus looked unimpressed.
"Don't use her," he grumbled.
"I'm perfectly fine being used in this way," Freed said.
Makarov raised his eyebrows at his grandson as if to say, Hah, see? Not that he had any intention of using Freed, of course.
Laxus turned to her and drew his fingers slowly through the ends of her hair. Laxus tended to zone in—tuning out the world and focusing on one thing. He'd been that way as a child, when Makarov could keep him happily occupied for hours simply by pointing out a caterpillar; and he was this way with Freed too. She seemed to know he needed this, and would let him fixate: on the wrinkles of her sleeve, a strand of her hair; drawing her hand into his lap and tracing her fingers.
Makarov always felt a swell of contentment seeing them together, in part because it was a relief to see Laxus finally happy, and also because he took responsibility for their relationship. Mirajane could claim she'd set them up, but Makarov had prodded Laxus for months with little comments like, "I like the new jacket; isn't that Freed's favorite color?" and "I hear Freed's been cooking for you lately. They do an awful lot for you…"
Nothing would've happened without those nudges.
Not to mention the far more serious conversation after a particularly dangerous mission, when Makarov had to point out that there were healthy and unhealthy ways of showing affection, and that maybe instead of the pair getting hurt for each other, Laxus should tell Freed how he felt.
Laxus had been furious at him for his audacity at thinking he knew anything about Laxus's feelings.
A week later, he'd asked Freed out.
Makarov had to frequently restrain himself from asking questions about the future, reminding himself they were young and nothing was certain and they had to live their own lives, but…he was getting old and there were certain things he wanted to witness before he went. His damn grandson was going to force him to hang on until he was one hundred and twenty just to see Laxus start a family.
"—Why do you need to turn everything into a competition?" Erza boomed from across the hall.
There were indignant splutters from Natsu and Gray.
"I don't want to hear it!" Before either could react, she had picked Gray up and pitched them at a window.
Makarov winced instinctively, waiting for the shatter, but the window flew open of its own accord and Gray sailed through.
"It works!" Levy squealed.
"Oo, now me! Do me!" Natsu shouted gleefully as Erza grabbed zem by the scruff and tossed zem out too. Natsu cheered as ze flew through the air, there was the sound of impact outside, and Gray cursed.
"What do you need an icepack for?" Natsu could be heard. "Just make your own, droopy-eyes."
Dusting her hands off, Erza returned to the table and her half-eaten seconds.
"Stupid idiots. I could just murder them some days."
"What were they competing about?" Lucy asked.
"Who could take a dump first in the new toilets."
Lucy made a face.
"Thank you for throwing them out," Levy said.
"Plus this way," Erza said, carefully composing a perfect bite of cake on her fork, "they'll spend the afternoon making out instead. Far more productive."
Lucy rolled her eyes. "Oh my god, Erza."
But Laxus and Freed were both laughing, and Levy joined in. Grinning, Makarov took another drink. His guild was the best in the world.
Outside, Natsu patted Gray's shoulder comfortingly as Gray applied a block of ice to their bloody nose.
"I hope you didn't break it again," Gray grumbled nasally.
"I didn't slam into you on purpose."
"I know, but still."
Turning, Natsu inspected them more seriously and shook zir head.
"Looks okay." Ze kissed their forehead. "Then again, you always do."
Still grumbling, Gray leaned into zir arm.
"We are pretty amazing," ze sighed, surveying the guildhall with rare appreciation.
"How long do you think before anyone comes out those doors?" Gray asked.
"Ages. The party only just started. You should've seen how much food Mira had prepared."
"A lot less after you saw it, I imagine."
Ze snorted.
With a hand still to their face, Gray's mouth was not accessible, so ze went instead for the more vulnerable target along their throat. Gray shifted, head tilting away from zem, breath picking up. Natsu always loved hearing that: got a little jolt every time ze heard their pulse increasing from something ze did. Ze placed long, slow kisses of enjoyment down their neck.
A voice inside caught zir ear and ze laughed suddenly.
"What?" Gray panted.
"Erza knows us too well," ze chuckled. Ze kissed their confused brow, trailing down toward their ear. "Let's have fun out here for a little while."
A/N: In order of appearance: genderfluid!Freed, trans!Erza, nonbinary!Levy, intersex/genderqueer!Gray, genderqueer!Natsu, trans!Sting, enbie!Rogue, nonbinary!Minerva. There is no such thing as too much. xoxo