I didn't mean to continue with this AU but this prompt came up (btw, this is from a prompt not my own genius) and I couldn't stop thinking about it. And then a few more prompts came up and now, this has turned into a slow-burn multichapter Fraxus fluff fest. Is anyone as excited about that as I am?
It all started when Freed sat down with his book, a cup of tea and the peace of mind that comes with knowing you have no assignments due for at least a week and a half. There was lingering contentment as well from his latest cuddle session with Thor. Apparently Thor had a tendency to get anxious when left alone for extended periods of time so Laxus dropped him off that morning while he went to campus. Freed was more than happy to offer his flat as a safe haven of comfort and food whenever he could. Life was good, the world was in balance. And then his phone rang.
Freed stared at the lit up screen for a while, cursing whoever thought that now was the best time to call him. It was probably his parents or…
"Oh bollocks," Freed muttered, he leaned across the couch and flicked the screen to take the call.
"What is it?"
"Freedy-boy! Freed-meister! Free-Willy except you told me not to call you that anymore, I'm sorry man I know, I know, only one time. Your name is hard to make nicknames out of you know that? And I could use Justine but, it's a girl's name. And you've got the hair but you've also got that, hhaha, free Willy, sorry man. Chief? Nah I already know a chief, you should meet Chief, he's a doll. Hahaha, doll." Bixlow trailed off into mad cackling.
"Where are you?" Freed sighed, already getting up and tossing his coat over his arm. He hunted through the pile of stuff on the kitchen counter for his keys. This was not the first I'm-too-drunk-to-drive-so-now-you're-my-best-friend call he'd got from Bixlow and it certainly wouldn't be the last. From day one Bixlow took to the drunk side of college life like a fish to water. At least he tended to feel guilty about it the next day and would make an early morning coffee run, he had Freed's order down pat.
"I'm at Chief's!" Bixlow yelled happily then after a patch of static Freed heard him yelling 'My main man Freedy-Boy is coming!' to his party posse.
"Bixlow, I'm going to need an address." Freed sighed. Bixlow was hardly the most helpful and mature person sober, drunk Bixlow was impossible.
"Just follow the sound of my voice," Bixlow laughed to himself, "nah man, nah nah I got you, OK so I'm at 3/62 Straven Rd."
"I'll be there in 10." Freed hung up the call, he was going to get enough of Bixlow's rambling on the drive home he didn't need to listen to it as he drove there. He pressed the ground floor button in the elevator and took the time to slip into his coat and pull his hair back into a ponytail. His just-out-of-the-shower hair was a poofy mess that no one needed to be aware of. A part of him was definitely annoyed, he was set for a night in and instead he had to deal with all this. The other part of him though had long since accepted it was part of being friends with Bixlow and he cared about that more than his nights in. He could still be pissed though, he had to leave Master-chef for this.
After a couple of wrong turns and a poorly executed U-turn, Freed arrived. He was about to knock on the front door when two things happened, first of all he realised it was a raging house party and who the hell knocks when they arrive and secondly, someone yanked the door open, grinned at him and then stumbled down the front steps and off down the street.
"Should I be worried about him?" Freed asked one of the guys leaning by the doorway.
"He'll be fine," he shrugged. Freed mimicked the action, trying to ooze nonchalance when in reality this was so far out of his comfort zone. No matter how many times he picked Bixlow up from these things he still felt like someone was going to see him, see how out of place he was and kick him out. He stifled the anxiety and pushed through the crowd, hunting out Bixlow's familiar blue Mohawk.
Whoever this Chief was, he went all out for the occasion. Freed had seen his fair share of house parties, because of Bixlow rather than his own desire to go out and 'get rekt', but this was one of the most elaborate. There were enough speakers to shake the entire frame of the house, as loud as any night club with strobe lights and a smoke machine to complete the effect. Freed paused for a moment, awkwardly bobbing in the sweaty crowd waiting out the latest round of strobe lights. He found it disorientating enough trying to weave through the crowd, he had no chance of spotting Bixlow in the frozen frames of vision.
When the strobes stopped he was off, getting shoved around by an elbow here, someone's hip there, a girl crashing right up against him and giggling apologies. Freed brushed himself down as best he could, stepped in something unmentionable and finally, finally, saw a familiar flash of blue in the next room. Freed adjusted course, silently thanking the architect for open planning living/dining areas because he had been heading in the completely wrong direction. His sense of purpose seemed to speak volumes to those around him and they parted just enough for him to slip though before they crashed together again behind them. He was like Moses parting the Red Sea except, he was pretty sure Moses didn't have green hair and although there was an alarming amount of sweat in the room it wasn't quite an ocean amount.
He was nearly there, Bixlow was in sight, it was just a few steps more when suddenly a beast stepped out from the crowd and Freed walked right into him, falling to the ground with an inelegant grunt.
"Shit, sorry dude," the beast turned around and knelt to give him his hand. Freed took the hand gladly as he shook his head and blinked a few times trying to get his bearings back. More than anything he wanted to get out of the crowd of people and becoming a part of the dance floor beneath them didn't fit in with his plan.
"Nah it was my…Laxus?" Freed suddenly recognised the beast.
"Freed?" Laxus said, letting his hand drop. "What are you doing here? Sorry to sound so, surprised just doesn't seem like your scene."
Freed leaned closer to make out what Laxus was saying, with a combination of lip reading, fragments of the sentence and process of elimination he figured he pretty much had it.
"It's not, I'm the sober driver. My friend is smashed," Freed punctuated his explanation with enough hand gestures to make it look like a strange version of charades. Since he could work out what Laxus was saying he should probably assume Laxus could do the same but, he was gesturing before he really thought it through and once he started he just couldn't stop. Newton's first law of motion and all that.
"Same here," Laxus yelled. "Dickhead called me 10 minutes ago."
"Need a hand finding him?" Freed asked.
"I think he's pretty easy to spot." Laxus jerked his thumb over his shoulder and Freed looked past him and groaned at the sight before him.
Freed didn't know where this friend of Laxus' was but, he was currently watching Bixlow waving his shirt in the air, standing atop one of the speakers and he seemed to be yelling something but Freed couldn't make it out over the thud of the bass and the roar of the crowd.
"You've got to be kidding me," Freed yelled. Laxus looked at him puzzled but Freed had his eyes closed tight, taking deep soothing breaths and hoping he'd open his eyes and Bixlow was fully clothed and not highly likely to throw up in his car on the way home. He had done this too many times, he recognised the signs.
Laxus was startled by the intensity in Freed's eyes when he finally looked back at the scene. To his amusement, Freed rolled up the sleeves on his coat and rolled out his shoulders, looking more ready for a brawl than picking up a friend.
"Sorry," Freed apologised, "I'll be back!"
Grateful that he was close enough to prevent disaster, Freed was upon him in a three strides with dancers jumping out of the way as he stormed past them.
"Bixlow!" Freed yelled, reaching up and slapping Bixlow's calf. When he had his attention he pointed at Bixlow and then the ground repeatedly, it took far too long for the message to sink in but soon enough he was leaping onto the dance floor beside him and pulling him into a tight hug.
"You came!" Bixlow shouted right in his ear. "You sounded like, so, angry on the phone."
"Talk later, leave now." Freed shouted back, shifting so one of Bixlow's arms stayed over his shoulders while his own wrapped around Bixlow's waist. The position was in part to support Bixlow as he stumbled about and mostly to stop him from disappearing into the sea of people.
Freed made it a good way before when suddenly Laxus was there, supporting Bixlow's other side and sending him a lazy grin. Freed must've looked puzzled because Laxus just gestured towards the door which he took to mean 'I'll explain when I don't have to shout over the screaming denizens of hell'.
"Thanks for that," Freed said once they got outside. "Did you not find your friend?"
"Nah I did, just turns out he's a dumbass and asked two friends to give him a lift," Laxus sighed.
It took Freed a couple moments but he suddenly twigged. "You're here for Bixlow too?"
"Sadly."
"I'm going to kill him," Freed muttered, running his free hand through his hair and glaring at Bixlow.
"No you're not," Bixlow sang, "you're too much of a softy. Both of you are, you're both so soft even though you look so hard." Bixlow paused for a moment before bursting out laughing, tongue lolling to the side with his extra wide grin.
"So who's going to take him from here?" Laxus asked.
"I want to go with Fraxus," Bixlow piped up from in between them. Freed and Laxus looked at each other over his head, both looking as confused as the other. "Freed and Laxus, Fraxus, my two amigos. Three…French dudes with pointy things that Freed really likes."
"Musketeers?" Freed asked.
"Those!" Bixlow exclaimed, nearly twisting himself out of Laxus' grip as he turned ecstatically to face Freed. "You are so smart bro."
Freed rolled his eyes, although he was slowly being reminded that as annoying as he was, drunk Bixlow was also pretty endearing.
"You're going to have to pick someone," Laxus sighed.
"No," Bixlow whined. He poked his tongue out at Laxus. "Why are you always so boring, Freed is supposed to be the smart boring one. You have to be fun to balance him out like…magnets? Do magnets balance each other?"
Freed and Laxus ignored Bixlow's rambling and looked at each other over his head again.
"He'll probably end up crashing on my couch?" Freed said. "He likes my spare blankets."
"That's reason enough for me to drive him home, you've got to put up with him tonight and tomorrow morning."
"Nah it's not a biggie," Freed said, readjusting Bixlow as his starting sliding down.
"I feel like a dick leaving you with him," Laxus said, he rubbed his free hand through his hair, staring at Freed the whole time like he had the answers. The prolonged eye contact did strange things to Freed's heartbeat that he really didn't want to think about right now. Bigger things to deal with.
"How's this, follow me back to the apartments, you help me get him to bed and tomorrow morning you have to come over with coffee and some of those homemade cookies I know for a fact your grandfather sent you?" Freed suggested.
"It's a deal," Laxus said, "lead the way to your car."
Bixlow wanted to stop about five times on the brief trip to the car to chat with mates, climb a tree and catcall a girl ('Nope, no," Freed has said slapping a hand over his mouth, "you're better than that.") Once they finally arrived, Laxus let out a slow wolf whistle at Freed's car.
"Sweet ride dude."
Freed was pretty proud of his car, it was his life savings, a loan from his parents, a complete disregard for how much money he owed thanks to his student loan and it was a whole lot of time and energy to keep it looking and running so well.
"Freed's car is the best," Bixlow started, "we've gone everywhere in it. The places this car has seen, the adventures. It's the best car in the world."
"Sounds like it has story as epic as it looks, my favourite kind of car."
"Can we discuss this when I'm not holding up a lump of muscle and alcohol masquerading as my best friend?" Freed groaned. "Because I think I'm going to dislocate my shoulder."
"Oh shit sorry," Laxus said, taking most of Bixlow's weight leaving Freed free to find his keys.
It was easier than anyone expected to get Bixlow into the back seat of Freed's car. He was very complacent once he learned they were all heading to Freed's, he dubbed it 'the Fraxus and Bixlow sleepover of the century' and started listing what movies he wanted to watch. Freed was pleased to hear a few of his favourites listed in there, not that they'd be watching them but it was nice. Laxus offered again to be the one to take him but Freed insisted. So they waved each other off with Freed leading the drive home.
Back at Freed's apartment Laxus was trying to get Bixlow to settle down on the couch while Freed hunted out Bixlow's favourite blankets.
"Oh shit," Bixlow laughed suddenly from the couch, "I forgot to submit my essay."
Freed caught Laxus' eye from across the room and burst out laughing. It was such a surreal, although oddly coherent, sentence in the midst of drunken rambles and it seemed like everyone was now exhausted and there was just, nothing to do but laugh.
"Send your lecturer an e-mail in the morning Bix," Freed laughed, tossing blankets over him and tucking them into the edge of the couch.
"He's a good guy," Bixlow murmured into the blanket as he nestled himself deeper into the cushions. Within seconds he was snoring softly.
Laxus gestured towards the door and Freed tip-toed over to him. Even drunk, Bixlow was a notoriously light sleeper.
"I'd best get out of your hair," Laxus whispered.
"Don't forget the cookies tomorrow," Freed teased.
"Hey um," Laxus whispered and Freed could honestly say he'd never seen him look so nervous, he started to wonder if he'd crossed a line somehow. "This may seem kind of dumb but, since we're neighbours, you look after Thor for me, turns out we're both bros with Bixlow, I was just thinking we should hang out more. I'm not great at the whole friends gig so, I just thought I'd let you know I'm trying to be friends with you."
"I'd like that," Freed smiled, "start with coffee tomorrow?"
"Sweet." Laxus faux saluted him and then he was off down the hall.
Freed closed the door slowly, pulled his hair out of its ponytail and made his way to bed where he collapsed down and stared at his ceiling with a smile playing at his lips. He pushed his hair back then let his hand drop to his side before lifting it over his heart. Maybe it wasn't such a bad thing that Bixlow called him after all.
