Once they saw the town, Freed took a deep breath. He knew lots of people in this town knew Laxus and being a tall bulky man – with his own peculiar fashion sense – as he was, many of them would notice him walking by. And they would also notice the green little Exceed who was sitting on his shoulder, dressed in a scarf.

He still wished he could find something else to wear, but it was true there was nothing they could do right now. Unless…

"Wait, Laxus", Freed said and the blond haired man grunted, but stopped.

"What is it? Got scared of going in front of others?" he asked looking at Freed.

"It's not that", Freed frowned. "There is one place I've seen, I might find clothes from there."

Laxus lifted an eyebrow, but he wasn't going to question anything.

"Alright, which way?" he asked instead.

With Freed's guidance he walked for a while until they found the right shop and Laxus was a bit surprised when he saw it.

"A toy store?" he asked.

"Anything is better than wearing nothing but this scarf all the time", Freed said.

"So you want doll clothes?"

"I don't want them, I need them. There's a big difference."

"Okay", Laxus huffed and he stepped to the door opening it.

The little bell rang as they went inside and there were lots of toys all around them. Laxus felt really out of place around there, he definitely didn't fit in to this store's joyful atmosphere with all the colors, cute things and stuff like that. There were lots of noises too that made his ears hurt as the kids were looking around and trying whatever they could. It was funny how the toys with loudest noises seemed to always be most interesting.

"Over there", Freed said after looking around a while and he saw a big shelf full of dolls that seemed just about his size.

Carefully, trying not to knock anything down in the cramped shop, Laxus walked towards the shelf and he noticed how many of the kids quickly got away from him. He didn't blame them.

Freed hopped down on a table near the shelves and he looked at the clothes the stuffed animals were wearing. There were cats and dogs and all sorts of animals, all wearing cute outfits, mostly dresses and such and he huffed.

"So you want something with frills or without?" Laxus smirked.

"That's not even funny", Freed said. "Give me that one, the one with a white vest and black pants. On the top shelf", he said pointing at a tiger doll.

Laxus nodded and he took down the toy, giving it for Freed. At this point he noticed that some of the kids in the store were getting curious and coming closer, still scared of Laxus but very interested about Freed who was inspecting the clothes.

"I think these will do", the man decided with a nod. "At least they're good enough for now."

"You can talk", one of the kids said and Freed blinked, turning to look at them. "But you're a cat", the girl said.

"And you're all green", another girl said. "Cats aren't supposed to be green."

"I'm not a cat", Freed said.

"He's an Exceed, they're weird cats", Laxus snorted.

"I'm not an Exceed either."

"There are talking cats in the Fairy Tail guild", one of the boys said. "Are you one of them too?"

"I'm one of the Fairy Tail wizards", Freed nodded. "I'm sorry, but we're in a hurry so we don't have time to stay. Let's buy this one", he said giving the doll for Laxus.

Freed hopped down on the floor while Laxus went to buy the stuffed animal and he jolted when suddenly the kids came closer, surrounding him. Even they were bigger than he was!

"You're cute", one of the chuckled and Freed hold his tongue when all of a sudden there were so many hands touching his cheeks, his ears, petting his fur and touching his tail.

"No, no, don't touch me, I'm not a pet", he said a bit louder tone and he tried to shove the hands away. "Stop scratching me!"

"Don't all the cats like it when you scratch behind their ears?"

"For the last time, I'm not a cat!"

"You're soft", a young girl said and she grabbed a tight hold of Freed who sneered. "Good cat, no yelling", the girl smiled.

"I'm not… Oh god", Freed gasped when he got pulled closer for a kiss on his cheek. "Please let me go already."

"Hey, sorry to interrupt everything but we need to go", Laxus said amused as he came back. "I need to get my cat", he said to the little girl who sighed.

"I'll miss you", she said, letting go of Freed and patted his head.

"I'm sure he'll miss you too", Laxus snickered and he pulled Freed up. This time the rune mage was actually thankful because of that. "See you brats later", Laxus said and they heard lots of goodbyes before they got out and Freed sighed.

"I hope I never have to go through that again", the man said.

"Don't say that, there's still Asuka at the guild", Laxus smirked. "I bet she would love to give you a hug too."

"Well, if it's Asuka then I guess it might be alright…"

They went home, where Laxus put away Freed's clothes while Freed got the clothes from the doll and tried them on. They weren't that bad, really. They didn't fit perfectly, but they were better than wearing just a scarf.

"Having a tail is really impractical", Freed said when Laxus came back after unpacking Freed's backpack.

"I'm sure there's a reason why cats have them", the blond said.

"Of course there is, but I don't need it. I have no idea what to do with it."

"Want it or not, now you have it. Do you want to eat something before we go?"

"I obviously can't cook anything right now and last time you tried cooking you broke the stove."

"I could make sandwiches or something…"

"It's okay, we can eat at the guild", Freed decided and he tied a little ribbon as a tie around his neck to make his clothes look even just a little bit more decent. Yet he knew it didn't magically change the fact that they were doll clothes.

"If that's what you want", Laxus huffed and he picked Freed up once he was ready, taking his big dark coat.

It didn't take long to arrive at the Fairy Tail guild house and Laxus stepped through the big gates. Freed was getting nervous, but he tried to calm himself. He knew others would tease him and he didn't like it, even if he knew they were just having fun and didn't really mean to hurt his feelings or anything. They would help him. After making fun of him first.

Laxus looked at Freed and he chuckled a bit. Freed was so damn proud and unlike many might first think he did not like being the center of attention.

"You ready?" he asked when grabbing a hold of the handle and Freed took a deep breath.

"I have gone through worse", he nodded and the Thunder God opened the doors.

He walked in and at first no one hardly even noticed that he had came in. Nothing unusual was going on, some were having a brawl and breaking things, some were talking, some were drinking, some were doing all three of those. Laxus just headed right towards the big bar counter where Mirajane was making breakfast and drinks for those who wanted it.

Freed refused to look around. He was sitting on Laxus' shoulder and he kept his eyes locked ahead when one by one he could hear how people went silent. They had noticed.

"Laxus!"

Freed sighed rubbing his forehead. Of course it was Bickslow who would be first to approach.

Laxus looked at the seith mage who was grinning when coming towards them and Evergreen was following right after him. Freed still refused to look at anyone, his tiny arms crossed and his green tail was starting to twitch because of annoyance.

"Is that who we think it is?" Bickslow asked and he was smiling way too widely when looking at the green Exceed on Laxus' shoulder. "Please tell me it's him!"

"Don't make fun of him", Evergreen quickly said, but then she giggled. "Poor thing, he seems angry as hell."

"Leave him alone", Laxus said and Freed hopped down on the counter, now glaring at Bickslow and Evergreen.

"He's cute", Evergreen chuckled when coming closer. "You even found him little clothes!"

"I'm not in a mood to get ridiculed over", Freed warned.

"He'll scratch your eyes out", Bickslow laughed.

"What is going on?" Mirajane asked confused when she came closer and looked at Freed. "Freed? Is that really you?" she asked surprised.

"Sadly, yes", Freed muttered.

"Don't mind him, he's a bit cranky", Laxus huffed and he sat down on a stool.

"So what happened?" Bickslow asked and he and Evergreen quickly sat down too next to the lightning dragon slayer.

"Did something happen when you were on the mission?" the brunette asked from Freed who shook his head.

"He went to help Porlyusica and messed up", Laxus explained. "Last night. He thought it would be a good idea to finish the mission right away so he went to see Porlyusica, even though he was sick."

"So Porlyusica turned him into a cat, huh?" Bickslow asked. "I can imagine her doing that…"

"It wasn't her", Freed said and Mirajane brought over something to eat and drink. How she did it, he had no idea but she had actually found a tiny cup for him too. Now that he thought about it, she had probably gotten those because of Happy, Panther Lily and Carla. "It was an accident. I went in to her cellar to take away some jars and I fainted."

"He broke almost everything in there", Laxus said.

He had seen the mess, Porlyusica had been really mad and of course made sure Laxus knew she was mad because of what his husband did. It didn't matter if it helped or not, but she never really cared of something like that. If she was mad, she told it.

"Wow", Bickslow said. "I can only imagine how pissed off she must've been."

"It obviously wasn't Freed's fault", Evergreen said. "It was clearly an accident so she shouldn't get so angry."

"It's Porlyusica we're talking about. If she wants to get angry, she'll get angry", Laxus snorted. "Anyway, she said that this isn't permanent."

"But we can't be sure for how long it'll take before I'll be back to normal", Freed said, sipping some coffee from his tiny cup. "I was hoping I could ask for your help, Mira."

"Anything you need", Mirajane assured with a smile.

"I'll need more clothes."

"I'll do my best, but those you have look really cute."

"Don't say I look cute."

"He's so cute when he's acting like that", Evergreen giggled, patting Freed's head. "Your fur is so soft, I love it."

"I'll make you new clothes today", Mirajane promised to the rune mage who was clearly getting super annoyed because of this situation. He felt a bit sorry for him, but at the same time she couldn't stop admiring how adorable he looked.