"You must have a death wish leaving me out there like that. And I bought you food?" Freed couldn't help himself from goggling at the man before him, slowly stalking his way inside the room, carrying a massive takeout bag. He set it in the salon chair Freed had just gotten out of and frowned over to Mira, still standing by the door with a silly grin on her face.
"I'm sorry, Laxus." Mira finally said. "You know when I'm with a client, I normally meet you outside."
"I called three times and texted you. You never responded, and I've got other things to do than wait outside for you." The man named Laxus grumbled. Only then did he acknowledge Freed standing in pure shock and horror beside him. When their eyes connected, Freed almost thought Laxus dragged his eyes up and down his body, staring a bit longer than what was acceptable for a first meeting. Surely he was imagining things.
Mira took a step forward and wrapped her arms around one of Laxus's arms. "Aww, Laxus! I'm so sorry. I've been with Freed, here, all morning. But thank you so much for getting me lunch!" Freed blinked in confusion as Mira leaned upon the tip of her toes and pressed a swift kiss to Laxus's cheek. It was even more shocking when Laxus showed absolutely no emotion as her lips pressed to his cheek.
"Next time, at least give me instructions on where you want me to drop your food off. I would have left it with Lisanna, but the look in her eyes told me she would have just eaten it." Mira giggled and turned Laxus's body towards a stunned Freed beside them.
"Yes, yes. Now Laxus, tell me did I do a great job today on my client?" Freed gulped hard as Laxus's smokey-teal eyes racked up and down his body again. Then they met back up to his much brighter blue eyes and settled there. It took all the air out of his lungs when Laxus smirked down at the other man and crossed his large, buff arms over his chest.
"Yeah." He said, "looks good." Mira beamed and squealed in delight at the blush lighting Freed's face up.
"This is Freed's first time as my client. I liked him so much that I'm going to be his personal stylist!" Laxus hummed at this.
"Must be something special if you wanted to become his stylist."
"He is! Freed?" Freed finally snapped out of the trance Laxus's eyes put him in and diverted his gaze over to Mira. "This is my best friend, Laxus. We've known each other since we were practically in diapers. You'll see him around a lot when you visit." Mira explained, "Sometimes, he likes to come over and just hang out. I guess you can say I'm also his personal stylist." Freed could tell there was a touch of Mira in his style. Laxus was dressed in dark-washed jeans, a black T-shirt clinging on to every rippling muscle of his, and a gray trench coat over the top. His wrist was decorated with a silver watch, and his opposite hand had a few black rings for decoration. He looked well put together, very handsome. If Mira had never explained their relationship, Freed would have automatically assumed he was her significant other.
Freed nodded his head, not trusting the sound of his voice at the moment and too timid to even speak. He was starting to feel mortified by his appearance. He wouldn't even allow Bickslow to see himself like this, and a complete stranger was getting to see such a sensitive side of himself. He felt horrified he was even standing there.
"Freed probably feels really shy about his appearance right now." Mira narrates to Laxus. "This is all new to him. If you could give him encouraging words, I just know it'll go a long way for him." Freed winced and dropped his head down. Running and hiding would help him, not whatever Laxus had to say.
Laxus uncrossed his arms and paddled over to the loveseat on the other side of the room. "I don't see the reason to feel shy." Freed wanted to retort back but couldn't find the strength to move his lips. Laxus had no idea about how he felt, none of the things he went through when he was younger. Laxus knew none of it. Freed's gently burning anger dissolved as Laxus added, "When you have a face like that, shouldn't you want to show it off."
…
What?
Freed's breathing quickened as he snapped his head up to Laxus. "What?"
Laxus shrugged. "I'm saying most people who look attractive normally flaunt it off." Attractive? Laxus thought he looked attractive? "Well, I guess not everyone good-looking is conceded."
Mira walked over and put a hand gently on Freed's forearm. "Freed? Did you want to remove your makeup before you leave, or were you thinking of wearing it out?" Freed didn't even have to think it over. As much as he wanted to wear his new look out and try it with one of his outfits, he couldn't bear walking past all of the women in the lobby and their deprecating eyes.
"No," Freed said to her, "I would want it removed." Mira nodded and motioned for him to sit back in the styling chair. She grabbed the food Laxus bought her and sent it off to the side. Freed took a seat and looked at himself one last time in the mirror as Mira prepped small white pads with makeup remover.
Laxus raised an eyebrow over to them. "You're going to just wipe it off?" he spoke up. Mira stopped what she was doing and turned to look at him.
"Well." Mira says slowly, "Freed isn't ready to show his friend yet. That's why we're in here today instead of the main salon."
"I meant without taking a picture."
Mira's face lit up, and she clapped her hands together. "What a wonderful idea, Laxus! If you take a picture and look at it, Freed, it could help you build up more confidence as you continue working on yourself. Then maybe next time you can show Bickslow!" Freed cringed at the idea of snapping a selfie right in front of them.
"Uh- I don't know." Freed wasn't really a picture person. He could never take a good picture, even with filters. He always looked awkward and out of place, so he used his college student ID photo for everything, even his Facebook profile picture. "I don't really take pictures."
"Nonsense!" Mira said, taking her phone out of her apron pocket. "We can take one together! To commemorate your first transformation." Freed went to reject the idea, but Mira was already throwing her arms around him in a tight hug and pulling the camera up to their faces. "Say pretty!"
Evergreen burst into laughter as Freed explained his morning to her. "Wait, so you mean to tell me she threw you in a chokehold and snapped a picture with you. Oh my god, I have to see this." Freed pushed out a groan and grabbed his glass, bringing it up to his lips. He, Evergreen, and Bickslow were sitting on the boys' living room floor, crowed around a bowl of popcorn, chips, and a pitcher of beer. This was a typical Sunday afternoon for them. Evergreen came over when she wasn't preoccupied with her boyfriend and wanted to spend time with her two closest friends, and the boys enjoyed her company.
"I'm not showing you anything," Freed grumbled. "I refuse to look at that picture anyway." Bickslow sat beside him, his back reclined into their couch behind him. He popped a piece of popcorn in his mouth and rolled his head towards Freed.
"I'm just angry some prick named, Laxus got to see you all dolled up, and I didn't," he huffed. Evergreen snorted.
"I'm surprised he even got dolled up in the first place. This is literally the definition of a blue moon. I'm waiting on a pig to fly in through the window." Freed groaned again, listening to his friends.
"Please, can we change the subject? I don't even want to think about Mira nor Laxus right now."
"Well, are you going to go back?" Evergreen asked. Freed sighed and looked away from the two and up to the TV. A rerun of Family Guy was playing, going through one of their infamous satirical bits and controversial gags. Freed shrugged his shoulders in response. He didn't know if he wanted to return now, knowing that Laxus would be a prominent figure he would bump into at the salon.
"Mira offered to be my personal stylist, but I don't even know what that entails."
"Like for this Freed, or the new Freed?" Bickslow asked.
"I don't know." Freed looked down at his hand. His nails were the only thing Mira couldn't magically wipe away with her little white cotton pad. She even straightened his hair back, so the waves were gone, but his nails remained perfectly manicured and glassy from a clear topcoat. In a way, he was happy she couldn't erase that part of him. He wanted to keep a piece of his transformation with him, something he could easily hide, and so far, no one really noticed his nails. No one would really bat an eyelash at having clean and trimmed fingernails, even if they did. It was just enough change that would feel comfortable to Freed, and in a way, it helped him look at his makeover more positively.
"Well, I just want you to be happy," Evergreen said. She dumped more beer into her glass from the pitcher and drank some of the contents. "I don't want anyone pressuring you to change. That goes for Mira, Laxus, and even you, Bickslow." Bickslow raised his hands up in surrender and stuffed his mouth with cool ranch Doritos. "You do things at a pace you're comfortable at, not what everyone else wants."
Freed gave his friend a warm smile. "Thank you, Ever. Though I was quite uncomfortable today, I did have fun, and I did like the results." Evergreen smiled back.
"Well, good." Freed hugged his knees to his chest and smiled. He was so grateful to have such comforting friends. "Did you have work tomorrow?" Freed's mood immediately shifted at the mention of his job.
"Unfortunately," He grumbled.
"Well then, we shouldn't stay up too late. Don't want you to be exhausted in the morning."
Bickslow rolled his eyes and threw a piece of popcorn at her forehead. "You're just trying to find an excuse to go climb in Elfman's bed." Evergreen glared at him and threw a piece back, catching him in the eye.
"Oh shut up! I'm concerned about Freed. I want to make sure he gets enough rest. Unlike you who'd keep him up until the asscrack of dawn with your pestering games." Freed laughed as his friends started one of their pretty little arguments. This was why he could be content with the way things were. He didn't want this to disappear. He never wanted his friends to change the way they were now and how they interacted with him. He wished he could just stay like this forever.
But time moved on, and Freed was a working-class citizen, so he had to get up in the morning and go to work. Monday was his favorite day of the week, and only because it was everyone else's least favorite. That meant he wouldn't have to be bothered with many visitors at his front desk or be pestered by hovering co-workers who wanted a break and stopped at his desk for a chat. Everyone was still trying to revert back from the weekend, and Freed loved the quietness. Freed worked for a small housing company as a secretary. His workload was a minimum, and he mainly did odd errands around the office for the most part. Like this morning when he found his supervisor, Erza, frantically running around. She seemed stressed out, and she was directly over him, so the least he could do was offer her his assistance if needed.
"Actually," Erza said with a sigh of relief, "It would be very helpful if you helped me find some of these files." She shuffled through a couple of papers she had clamped to a clipboard and handed over a single sheet. "We have an audit next week, and we need to get last year's caseload into the board room. The only problem is," She turned to the first filing room she was in and sighed heavily, a look of pure irritation now written across her face. "The damn painting company put all of our filing cabinets back out of order!" Freed laughed politely and scanned over the paper she gave him.
"Easy enough, I wouldn't mind helping out." Erza gave Freed a smile and clamped a hand to his shoulder.
"You're a huge help, Mr. Justine. If you need anything, pretty much everyone is running around this morning, so just ask one of us." By one of us, she meant the executive team. Freed nodded and watched Erza scurry down the hallway to another filing room. He peered over the list of names and decided he'd go ahead and get to work. At least he wouldn't be annoyed by random people coming to his desk.
As he shuffled through legal folders, compiling all the folders on the list, he thought back over to Laxus and Mira. Every time he thought of his time in her salon, he felt like a fever dream. There's no way he really had a feminine makeover in real life. He would have really thought it were all a dream without the picture. Even the previous night after Evergreen left, Freed lay in his bed, staring at the picture she snapped of them. Her thin arm wrapped around his neck, his surprised expression, and pink painted lips opened to stop her from taking the picture. Then there was Laxus, barely visible in the background. He thought back to his words, him saying that Freed was attractive. Then Freed thought back to his gray-blue eyes scanning over his body, how stripped he felt under those eyes. Freed shivered at the memory. There was no way he could see Laxus again. He would be too embarrassed to face him.
Freed turned a corner of the filing room and caught sight of a small group by the door to the executive office. Freed lingered a bit longer to see if he could make out what was going on when he made out spikey blonde hair and smokey-teal eyes. What!? No way. Freed quickly dropped to his knees just as Laxus turned his head towards the filing room. What was Laxus doing at his office!? What was going on? Freed crawled out of the way, hoping Laxus hadn't seen him bumping straight into a leg on the other side of the corner.
"What the- Freed?" Freed glanced up into the confused expression of his co-worker Cana, her long arms half stuffed into a drawer in a filing cabinet. Freed stood and readjusted his clothes.
"Sorry," He said, "I got tired of bending over for the low drawers," he lied. Cana laughed and patted his shoulder.
"No worries! I was just a little confused." Of everyone Freed worked with, Cana was the only person in the office he actually enjoyed talking to, which said a lot about her character. Someone as reserved and introverted as Freed shouldn't have found someone as outgoing and bubbly as Cana relaxing to be around, but the brunette was considerably the only person at his job that Freed could call a friend. "They have you filing in here too?"
Freed brushed a bit of dirt off his black pants leg and shook his head. "No, I'm helping Ms. Scarlet pull files for an audit this week. She looked like she was just about ready to combust out of stress."
"That's Scarlet for you. Knowing her, she's probably doing every caseload by herself." Cana went back to dealing through files as Freed glanced back down to the paper in his hand.
"If she is, then there's no wonder she looked stressed out. I guess I'm glad I offered to help."
"You're angel if you offered to pull files." Cana peered up as the group of men from before started down the hall laughing and calling out goodbyes. "Oh my." She whispered fondly, "Look at the stud over there."
Freed knew exactly who Cana was referring to but looked over anyway. When he did, his eyes connected with Laxus, standing with the director, talking lowly amongst each other. Laxus was in a more professional attire today. He had fitted khaki slacks and a black turtle neck, the same silver watch from yesterday still on his wrist. Freed would be lying if he said that he didn't find Laxus attractive. Laxus was obviously handsome and carried himself well. He could understand the appeal to Cana. Freed was expecting Laxus to wave, throw his head back, something, but instead, he looked away and focused back on who he was talking to.
"I hope he's gonna be working here." Cana purred from beside Freed, "I could come to work on time knowing someone as sexy as him would be waiting for me." Freed ignored her and walked around to the opposite filing cabinet from Cana.
"Maybe he's just a partner or works for the inspection's department." Cana shrugged her shoulders.
"I don't know, but I'll definitely find out." Freed sure hoped she did because he needed answers.
At lunch, Cana flew into the break room and flopped into the seat next to Freed with a grin. Freed was right in the middle of biting into his sandwich when Cana came scrambling in to see him. "Laxus Dreyer!" She nearly screamed. Freed sucked in a breath and chewed slowly so he wouldn't have to say anything. His prayers of it just being Laxus's twin were shot when Cana blurted his name. "He's gonna be replacing Macao!"
"Who?" Freed asked in between bites.
"Macao, the COO. He retired, remember?" Freed blinked a little at her, and Cana sighed. "I can't believe you didn't know who the COO was."
Freed swallowed and took a sip of his drink, "Well, considering I'm on the opposite side of the office, we didn't bump into each other at all."
"But you're the admin. You should know who everyone is."
"Secretary," Freed corrected. They recently changed his position name, and he quite liked the sound of a secretary rather than an administrative assistant.
"Well," Cana said with a roll of her eyes. "Laxus is the new COO."
"How are you finding all of this out?" Freed asked with a lift of his eyebrow. Cana nearly kicked him.
"Freed! My dad is literally the CEO. Are you kidding me?" Freed snapped his fingers and slowly nodded his head as the memory returned to him. Cana sighed heavily and collapsed into the table. "I have no idea how you've been working here for almost a year now, and you still don't know everyone." It was because he had no interest in knowing everyone.
"I know you and Erza Scarlet. That's enough for me." Freed took another bite out of his sandwich and reflected on the news. If Laxus was the COO, then thankfully, he wouldn't have to cross paths with him much. Freed mostly worked with the social workers actually housing people rather than the executive office. He very rarely had to go over there, and if he did, it was for the accounting office next door.
"Anyway." Cana said quickly, "My dad said the only reason why he got hired was that he's Makarov's grandson." Cana looked over to a clueless Freed and dramatically sighed again. "The CEO before my dad." She grumbled, "The man who's running for mayor now." Freed shrugged. These people were just names to him, not a face to accompany them. "Anyway," Cana said again, this time with a hint of annoyance, "Now that I know his name, I'm definitely going to try and bag him."
"What if he's gay." Freed deadpanned. It was a possibility. He did say that Freed was attractive. He could have also been being nice, but the way his eyes lingered on him, it was enough to doubt any straightness.
Cana snorted though beside him, "I wouldn't know. I'm not good at judging people." She turned to him, spinning her body directly towards him. "You coming with everyone Friday?"
Finishing his sandwich, Freed gave her a questioning look. "What's going on Friday?"
"Everyone is going out for drinks. You know, when a new employee gets hired, everyone wants to go out and celebrate. So Laxy poo is gonna be the main person there." Then Freed wasn't going.
"I'll have to pass," Freed said as he stood, he threw his trash away and grabbed his drink. Cana got up and followed after him as he walked out of the break room and out onto the front lobby.
"What!? Freed, you have to go. You're like the only person I talk to at this place."
"You talk to Lucy, Juvia, even Levy. You don't need me to be there."
"Yes, I do. Why are you being like that?" Freed stopped next to the mailboxes and took out the mail he had to distribute. He fumbled through the stack hoping Cana would see he wouldn't answer and give up, but she stood firmly beside him.
"I don't like large groups," Freed told her. "And I'm a lightweight, so I'd be drunk in seconds. I'll probably do something stupid." Cana seemed to take this as a decent reason because she didn't immediately retort back. When Freed finished going through the mail, he looked over to her. "It's not personal," He clarified. Cana crossed her arms over her chest.
"Well, if you don't go, I'm gonna bug you until you agree on going. I need my right-hand man. If he does turn out gay, I need moral support to get over him." Freed chuckled and gave her a smile.
"If you put it like that, I'm going to feel obligated to come now." Cana grinned back at him.
"Do you?"
"Yes."
"So great! You'll come?" Freed fought back the urge to tell the brunette woman no, but instead, he let his shoulders drop, and he let out a sigh.
"I guess I will."
Freed found himself bumping into Laxus a lot for the next few days. Every time he found himself running an errand, he crossed paths with the new COO. And yet, every time, Laxus pretended like he didn't exist. Freed was okay with that, given how they met was somewhat awkward, but they did know of each other, and now they were co-workers. The least he could do was acknowledge he was there.
He hoped Laxus wouldn't be present at the salon that Wednesday afternoon, but much to his dismay, Laxus was seated comfortably on the plush sofa in Mira's makeup room. Just like last time. As Freed and Mira entered the room, Laxus looked up from his phone and nodded back in greeting.
"Oh my!" Mira said in excitement. "Laxus will be joining us today for another transformation." Freed wished he'd disappear. Freed couldn't figure out why Laxus's presence annoyed him. Maybe it was his smug face, aloof attitude, or the fact that he completely ignored him. Freed walked over to the salon chair and prayed, Laxus would get a random, urgent call and have to leave.
Mira threw the black apron around Freed's neck and looked at him through the mirror. "Did you do your homework ?" She asked with a grin. "homework" was googling makeup looks and finding one he wanted to try out. She tasked him with finding a look he thought would give him an instant confidence boost. He even looked through with Bickslow but only found one he particularly favored.
"Oh-" Freed dug in his pocket and pulled out his phone. "I did." Freed flashed her a picture, and Mira took it, studying the makeup look in her hands. "They're a non-binary makeup artist and post looks online all the time. This one was really nice, and I wanted to know what I'd look like with it on me."
"Bob!" Mira says with delight, "I follow them on Outergram! You want to do a smokey eye? How bold and fierce!" Mira looks to Freed in the mirror again and gives him a comforting smile. "This would look so good on you! I can't wait to get started." In a quick and swift motion, she skips over to Laxus, watching with a bored expression, and flashes him the picture. "What do you think, Laxus? Won't this look good on Freed?"
Even though Freed could see Laxus's face in the reflection of the mirror, he turned away so he couldn't. The last thing he needed was to see Laxus fitting the image onto his face and looking him up and down again. He was already extremely nervous to try such a bold look only on his second time with makeup, but this was really the only makeup look he liked.
"Let me see," Laxus's voice bellowed over the happy pop music clouding the room. Mira grinned and handed Laxus the phone as he stood up next to her. "Can't tell. Turn around Freed so I can see your face." Freed coward into the salon chair at the mention of his name and purposefully turned more away from Laxus's gaze. Laxus chuckled, finding his bashfulness quite endearing. He sauntered up to the other male and leaned onto the back of the chair. The sudden jolt from the chair tipping back from Laxus's weight made Freed peer up and nearly crash into Laxus's face.
Laxus was gorgeous. Freed knew that Laxus knew that he was attractive. Laxus had the kind of demeanor that screamed playboy like he was used to toying around with other people. That's why Laxus let his eyes linger whenever he looked at him but ignored him at work. Freed almost scoffed at Laxus's smirk smeared over his lips like he'd caught Freed in a trance. Like his alluring curved jaw, radiant beryl eyes, or sunny blonde hair were what made him nervous. That's why he couldn't allow himself to blush or turn away from Laxus's eye contact. He held it back and firmly pushed Laxus back a little with his hand.
"You're a bit close." Freed could hear himself saying softly.
"I'm trying to get a close look," Laxus quickly retorted. He leveled Freed's cell phone up next to his face and compared the picture to Freed. "I think it'd suit you well." He purred. That was enough to send fireworks throughout Freed's body.
"I knew it!" Mira cheered from behind the two, breaking their moment. Laxus pulled away, handing Freed his phone back. Freed retch up and shakenly took the phone out of his hands, noting how their fingers brushed against each other. Mira tip-toed up to them with her usual sunny-side-up smile and placed a hand on Freed's shoulder. "I have the perfect makeup pallet with those shades on it. It's by Lisanna's station, so I'll be right back. I may have to grab a couple more supplies. I'll be back quickly!" Freed nodded, earning a comforting pat from Mira's hand, and then the woman spun around and started out of the room.
Then it was just him and Laxus. Laxus crossed his arms over his chest, peering down to the other man with a quirk of his eyebrow. "So," his resonant voice started, "Fiore Housing Authority." Freed snapped his eyes to the blonde and frowned.
"Just as I thought," Freed said with a slight sneer, "You knew full, and well I worked with you."
"Of course, I knew. We see each other all the time."
"Well," Freed tucked his phone into his pocket and crossed his own arms over his chest, mimicking Laxus's stance. "I was being ignored so, I thought I was invisible."
Laxus's face flushed with confusion. "I don't recall ever making it a point to ignore you." Freed rolled his eyes.
"As many times as we crossed paths, and you didn't even as much spare a second glance my way, anyone would have thought you were ignoring them." Freed didn't even care if Laxus ignored him, so why was he making it a point to argue with the blonde. Everything about Laxus raised red flags in Freed's head. He knew he should have ignored the other man, but part of Freed wanted to make it understood to Laxus he didn't care. Yet, all that did was make him look like he was guilty of caring.
Laxus grinned. "Ah. I see now. Sorry if I sent you mixed signals. Really, I was only looking out for you." Freed's suppressed a snort. Laxus sighed before stalking back to the loveseat and taking a seat. "For one, we'd just met; I honestly didn't even know if you were comfortable being friendly. Also, given how we met, I was under the impression you wanted to keep this part of your life separate from your work life."
Freed skewed him a calculated look, trying to figure Laxus out. Why did Laxus seem kind of decent now all of a sudden? God, he couldn't understand him at all. "Yes," Freed started slowly, "I do indeed want to keep this private." Laxus nodded in agreement. "Are you insinuating that you are a part of this half of my life?" Laxus shrugged his shoulders in response.
"You didn't even want the friend that brought you here to see you with makeup on. Of course, I'd feel like I was a little special for getting to see something so private."
"You came out of nowhere," Freed quickly pointed out, "I would have hid this from anyone."
"And here I am getting a front-row seat to watch it happen again." Laxus pointed out with a shit-eating smirk. "And judging by that bag you came in with today," Laxus nodded over to a bag propped up on a coffee table in the middle of the room. Freed visibly flinched, only validating what Laxus had figured. "Makeup wasn't the only thing you were going to put on today. I can't wait."
Freed's cheeks tented cherry red as the door to the makeup room opened. Mira stepped in, carrying various makeup items in her hands, and placed them on the vanity behind Freed. "Okay!" She chirped happily, "let's get started."