"Are you sure he doesn't have a thing for you?" Lucy says after Freed recounts how things went that morning.
"Yes, Lucy, I'm sure. We aren't gay. We've known this for years."
"Can I see your neck?"
"Sure." He takes off his jacket and cravat before unbuttoning a handful of buttons and pulling the shirt aside.
He watches her eyes go round. "Holy..."
"Yeah, I was surprised too. I didn't even see what you did before."
"This is way bigger." Her fingers lightly brush his neck, as if any more pressure would make it worse.
"Well, it's good to know Ever exaggerated when she first saw me. Not like I worried about it before, but now if someone sees me without this on that knows about it, it would draw attention," he laughs a bit.
She motions that he can cover up again. "And he's with you on this plan?"
"Yes. He said no more than two months though, but I'm sure that's long enough."
"I'm surprised he just walked away from your keeper remark."
"I was shocked as well. Well, not literally, but that's what surprised me. He looked angry as hell and it was silent as I walked by the two chatter birds on the way out. I still haven't talked to Gray." Freed shrugs on his jacket again.
"Loke went over there to have him meet here after a little bit, maybe a half hour from now. Told him to bring Natsu."
"Bix already put forth the assumption that Loke was involved with Gray and myself when Loke showed up, so apparently we had a three way in his eyes, and Loke didn't say anything that would dissuade that idea."
Lucy's nose scrunches up. "Is that even possible with guys?"
"Sure it is. It can be sort of a chain reaction type thing or man in the middle kind of thing." Freed watches her trying to picture it and can tell when something clicks in her mind when her eyes get really big and she starts turning red. "It gets to be a real party when it gets mixed with different toys," he says, giving her a grin.
She picks up a throw pillow and chucks it at him, but he easily catches it out of the air before it hits the lamp. "You need to stop that!"
"But you're fun to tease," he says.
"Yeah, but when you continue on like that, it's hard to believe you're not actually into him. Or that stuff."
"As you've learned your little tricks from books, so have I. Although, I do prefer more of the intellectual reads. But that last reference was real. I told you, I know for a fact I'm not gay."
"Ugh! You're going to poison my mind more than Cana!" She cries and covers her ears with her palms.
"That definitely is impossible. Have you heard her stories after she met her first lesbian couple and was able to ask all she wanted? I think even they got embarrassed. Until she dips through all her stories, I can do no harm. But those hardly come up since there aren't really any in the guild."
"Well, you never kn-" There's a knock at the door. "You answer it," she says, getting up and easing to the kitchen. "I've got to get these other images out of my head."
He chuckles softly at her displeasure and opens the door to find Laxus there. "I thought you stayed behind."
"I didn't. Obviously." He steps forward and before he can cross the threshold, he runs into an invisible wall. "What the hell, Freed."
"It looks like you're blocked."
"Yeah, no shit. What's going on?"
"House rules," Freed says, pointing as the purple letters appear, reading 'Laxus Dreyar: Entry Prohibited'.
"Freed," he growls, getting ticked.
"Sorry." He leaves the door open and walks to the kitchen, silently casting the Silence spell as he enters it. "It's Laxus at the door and he seems mad."
"Do you think he's going to hurt anything?"
"He may want to throttle me," Freed points out. "For the keeper thing and the fact that it's my runes keeping him outside."
"Your runes keep him out?"
"I made them to keep out anyone you don't personally invite in every time with a few exceptions."
"Exceptions?"
"Your landlady, emergency services, your spirits only if they are summoned inside of the barrier, and me."
"You?"
"Well I am the caster. I fundamentally shouldn't be prohibited."
"Can you add something?"
"If needed, yes."
"Now?"
"I do have my sword, so yes."
"Could you add a dampener for strong magic? That way people can have their magic, but can't smite people down in my house?" She smiles brightly.
"I think that's good." He takes out his sword and starts adding.
"He's a dragon slayer!" She gasps. "Shouldn't he be able to hear us?"
"I casted Silence before I reached the kitchen."
"Good. Wait. Would the dampener mess with their senses?"
"No. Their senses are so ingrained in them it is a part of them. It doesn't take that much magic at all and wouldn't reach the Threshold limit I'm setting. Now, if you take away their invitation while they are inside, they will be in some pain with the compulsion to leave. But the runes will only hear the truth, so you can't be held against your will to let someone in. Oh, and you, and anyone connected with you, like your spirits, will be able to use their full powers. I'm only dampening others."
"Aside from yourself."
"Correct, or this whole process would be pointless." He finishes up and sheathes his sword. "I have pretty much the same runes around my room, but harsher if one tries to enter or tamper with them."
"Wow. Okay." She sets the tea she had made on a tray and snatches cookies from the top shelf to snack on. "Let's face the music."