Evergreen placed her head into her palm and sighed heavily. Here she was again sitting at her dining room table with Elfman beside her and Bickslow sitting across from her. This time, they were accompanied by her soon-to-be sister-in-law, Lisanna. "You do realize how grave this is." Evergreen slowly started. "When Mira and Laxus find out about this, there's no telling what could happen." Evergreen stopped for a second, sucked in another breath, and calmed herself. "There's only so much more I can do to protect you." Bickslow faced Evergreen head-on. If he looked anywhere else, he'd probably realize how ludicrous this all was and back out. This was something Lisanna wanted; he promised her he'd do this for her, and he planned on sticking to that. However, he knew of the consciences. In fact, he'd been thinking about them a lot. But whenever he remembered their time in college, Lisanna's health, and how much she meant to him, he knew he had to take the risk. Meanwhile, Evergreen was still trying to wrap her head around what they had just declared in front of her. "And what about my wedding?"
Lisanna spoke up then, having been quiet most of the time. "I…I don't graduate until late spring, and your wedding is in early March, right?" Evergreen groaned again, hearing as they tried to actually work around this crazy scheme. "It's before May; We won't miss it."
"Sis," Elfman narrowed a firm glance down onto his baby sister, "Are you really sure about this? Once Mira and Laxus find out, there's really no telling what could happen." He looked down into the palms of his hands. The same hands that shielded Bickslow from blows a long time ago. Fingers that wiped tears from Lisanna's eyes many times. He loved his siblings dearly, but these problems were beyond him. He could only shield Lisanna and Bickslow from so much before actually taking the blows himself. There was only so much that Evergreen could talk her way through when it came to conflicts between Mira, Laxus, and Bickslow.
But Lisanna was firm in her decision with Bickslow. She placed her hand on Bickslow's and gave Elfman a smile. "We already talked about what we'd do if things were to go wrong."
"Please." Evergreen started again, "Don't do this. What about Freed?" Lisanna turned to Bickslow sitting beside her with his head hung low. The truth was, Bickslow hadn't figured out how to talk about this with Freed. He'd be up and leaving him alone, and they still hadn't even made up yet. There was also the fact that Freed knew nothing about Lisanna. What would he think when Bickslow randomly confesses he was leaving and getting married?
This was an absolute mess to Evergreen. Once again, Freed would be left alone due to Bickslow's selfish reasoning. This time not only would he be left out of the group, but he'd be living alone, eating alone, completely and utterly alone . That terrified her. Bickslow had been Freed's source of comfort for so long, truly beside her, his only family. What would he do if Bickslow just up and left? Ever knew she couldn't depend on Bickslow to stay with Freed forever, and she had said a few days prior to allow him to be free, but this wasn't what she meant. Freed needed time. Bickslow was going to spring this onto him right after their argument; Freed would definitely think it was all his fault.
There too much going on in Evergreen's head. She couldn't deal with this right now. Before Bickslow could say anything, she held up a hand, stopping him. "Have you two even made up yet?" Bickslow dropped his head again, confirming what Ever already knew. "Just what I thought. Since you won't fix this, I will." Bickslow immediately slapped his hands onto her kitchen table.
"That's unnecessary, Ever. I'll talk to him."
"When!?" Evergreen leveled a low glare onto her best friend, someone she considered a brother. "It's going on a week, and you haven't even tried to make things right with him. And now you're telling me you're going to run off and elope in May!? What are you thinking, Bickslow? By all means, don't revolve your life around Freed, but at least let him know what's going on! He's going to have to pay the rent by himself. He's going to have to learn how to live alone! He will need time to digest this bullshit with you and Laxus! Did you forget this also affects him!? Not just what happened between you and Laxus, but the fact that you're leaving!?"
The room clouded with silence as Bickslow leaned back into his seat, and Lisanna pressed a hand onto his thigh for comfort. Evergreen stared at him. Why wasn't he saying anything? Why wasn't he trying to fix this? Was Freed not important to him anymore? Were things going to go back to the way they were now that Lisanna was back in his life? What was happening?
"Please, just give me time to think." Evergreen said lowly. With that, she stood and walked out of the room, leaving Elfman to deal with the two. When she left, he sighed.
"I'll try and talk to her in a little while." Elfman started slowly, "But what she said was right. Freed deserves to know what happened back then, and he will need time to understand. This does deal with him too. We've kept it from him for so long out of fear it would crush him, but now with Laxus in the picture, it's making things more complicated. If he and Laxus were to-"
"That won't happen," Bickslow quickly said. "Laxus couldn't possibly be taking Freed seriously."
Elfman narrowed his eyes. "We don't know that for sure. We have no idea what their relationship is like right now." Lisanna bit her lip. In a way, she played a part in this, helping Mira edge them together. Which was strange now that she thought about it. She had been so preoccupied with seeing Bickslow that she never took the time to analyze her sister's motives. Why would she want to push Freed and Laxus together? She knew her sister and the blonde had a very…complex relationship, but it was more than obvious Mira was in love with him. It was so perplexing trying to figure out why she wanted to see him with someone else. And now that Lisanna was learning how close Bickslow and Freed were, it was impossible that Mira wouldn't know of this. Lisanna sucked in a breath realizing now something was wrong. Were Mira and Laxus scheming something again?
"Um…" Lisanna cut in. The two men turned and looked at her. "I…" No…she can't say anything. What if Bickslow got upset that she had a part in this. That she could have a play in possibly hurting his best friend. She couldn't say anything to him. But she had to tell someone. She glanced over to her brother and took a deep breath, hoping he'd take the hint.
"We can talk later, sis, but for now, I should go check on Ever." Lisanna smiled, glad he was able to pick up on her fumble. She gently tugged her boyfriend out of his seat and guided him to Elfman's front door.
"Thank you for hearing us out." She said as they rounded the corner. "I'll be waiting on a phone call from you." Elfman gave her one firm not, and she sent him a small smile back before waving goodbye and talking Bickslow home.
Lucy looked around the small quiet coffee shop she and Laxus were sitting in. Laxus had driven them to a secluded part of the business center, more towards the shopping district. There were a lot of small eating areas people could walk into while out shopping. This was the home of many small family-owned restaurants; the one they're in now is a friend of Laxus, apparently. Lucy had to admit, it was awfully adorable with its bright and sunny feel enough with the thunderstorm rolling outside. It had a very gentle and cozy feeling and a far more delicious latte than the coffee truck. She had to give it to Laxus. He knew what he was talking about sometimes.
"Are you enjoying your latte, Ms. Heartfilia?" Lucy turned to Laxus with a soft smile, pulling herself out of her thoughts. She put down her mug and nodded.
"Actually, It's pretty good. You weren't kidding when you said the coffee would be better." Laxus gave her a smile back. "So, what did you want to talk about?"
Laxus shifted slightly in his seat and gave Lucy his full attention. "I wanted to update you on the new housing analyst taking Sherry's place while she's on maternity leave."
"Right, I heard from Freed we would be getting another social worker." She paused, remembering her real reason for accepting Laxus's offer. She had to somehow pry information out of him about Freed.
Laxus narrowed his eyes at the mention of Freed. "Yes, his name is Mest Gryder. He has little property management experience, so I would be assuming this is his first job in this field. I would hope that you, Vastia, and Fullbuster would take on the task of mentoring him." Lucy slowly nodded.
"Cana and Lyon are the team leaders, though; why me and Gray?" Laxus's mouth itched to let her know it was to keep them both preoccupied, but he merely folded his hands over his lap.
"I've only been with FHA for a week now, but I've noticed how diligent you and Fullbuster are with clients even in such a short timeframe." Gray literally ignored his clients, but okay. Lucy sat back in her seat and raised an eyebrow. "I found it fitting for our most capable and responsible for leading the new employees."
"Thank you, but Cana is still the team leader; shouldn't she be the one to train. She trained Freed." Once again, Lucy brought up Freed, and it made Laxus itch.
"Cana will have her hands full with a month of recertifications."
"We all will have a month full of recertifications."
"Do you not want to train Mr. Gryder, Heartfilia?" Lucy got quiet, analyzing her next move.
"No," She said with a sigh, "I didn't mean it that way, I'm just surprised Gray, and I were the ones chosen, that's all. I'll gladly accept if you're tasking us with this." She grabbed her mug and brought it to her lips. "However odd it may be."
Laxus was losing her. He leaned forward, pressing his full body onto the table. "Let me be quite frank with you, Ms. Heartfilia."
Lucy didn't look his way, "I'm listening."
"Cana may be a team leader, but she is far from responsible enough to train someone within a two-month timeframe. Not only are you and Fullbuster two of our earliest caseworkers, but you two have the bulk of the caseloads. If anything, Mr. Gryder would be getting a consistent demonstration of the workload of an analyst. Your jobs aren't easy, and with hundreds of clients, it is imperative that you have clear organizational skills and a sense of time management to meet and uphold company regulations. I wouldn't want Mr. Gryder to believe this job is easy." Lucy finally turned and made eye contact with the COO. Laxus continued. "With Cana having only a fraction of the caseloads you three have, it's a no-brainer I'd have you train someone in such a short timeframe. Someone, might I reiterate, that has no property management experience." Lucy eyed Laxus closely for a long moment. It was hard to ignore he had a point. If he needed someone to be trained in two months, a job that typically required a six-month training period, Laxus would need to appoint trustworthy people.
"That just leaves me with one question, though," Lucy said slowly, "If he is needed so soon, why would we hire someone with no experience. Wouldn't it have been easier to hire someone who already knew the ropes?" Laxus shrugged his shoulders.
"Scarlet and Aguria conducted the interview. Why Gryder was chosen is a mystery to me as well; however, I'm only trying to be resourceful with what I have. And what I have are three very dependable social workers" Lucy took this in. With all the suspicion in her head, she had forgotten that Laxus wasn't the hiring manager. That was up to Yukino and Erza, who got hired for the housing department.
"Okay," Lucy said with another sigh. "Sorry I grilled you like that." She gave Laxus a smile and relaxed. "That must of annoyed you." Laxus only waved away her apology.
"Not at all, Ms. Heartfilia. I understand why you'd be wary of taking orders from a new COO." Laxus internally sighed, relieved he finally calmed Lucy's apparent suspicion.
Lucy took another sip from her coffee, "No, It's actually refreshing to work with someone as driven as Makarov again." Laxus visibly flinched at the mention of his grandfather. That perked her interest. "How is he, by the way?"
Laxus smiled, knowing Lucy only asked because it was obvious he was uncomfortable talking about his grandfather. It would appear his work with Lucy would be far more intricate than he had thought. Obviously, Lucy was clever and caught on to things rather quickly. He would have to get her to warm up first and then formulate a plan on how to…dispose of her.
"Makarov is doing well. As well as an old man who should be retired but insists on running for mayor could be." Lucy giggled at this.
"He was always antsy, never really able to sit still. It's in his blood to get things done and remain busy." Lucy gave Laxus a knowing smirk, "I can see those same qualities in you, Laxus."
Laxus politely smiled back. "Of course, Ms. Heartfilia. Dreyers only strive for excellence."
"I'm actually glad he has someone that looks after him. No matter how well he may get around, he is still an elderly man now. He should still be looked after." Laxus couldn't find the appropriate response to Lucy's remark. What Lucy didn't know but was prying for was that Laxus's relationship with his grandfather was estranged. He hadn't spoken with his grandfather for years before Makarov had offered him a position at FHA. Lucy continued even with Laxus now in a dazed state. "I was surprised his own son didn't take the position as CEO after he retired. I remember him mentioning he had a son. We all figured it would continue on to him, but Gildarts was appointed CEO. It shocked us all."
"Understandable." Laxus clenched his hand into a fist. His father, Ivan, could not take the position as CEO from his current residence in county jail. It was almost comical that the old fart even mentioned he had a son after the things Ivan had done. It was no surprise that Makarov had failed to mention his son was incarcerated, given his spotless reputation would be tarnished. It was only a matter of time before his fellow candidates dug into his past and found out the tragedy surrounding the Dreyar name. It was times like this that Laxus had to remember that day, that pain, the trauma that his father had inflicted on him. And it dawned on him then that people like Lucy could always do the same with his name. All it took was a few taps across a keyboard in a google search engine, and his history would be revealed. That was what truly terrified him in the way Lucy was watching him. Lucy was definitely a threat to him, not only with Freed but also with his personal life.
But it wasn't all about Laxus's history for Lucy. She only pried at his past to see if it would loosen him up a bit and get him to talk more about his personal life. It seems it was counteractive and more so just offending him than anything. So she pulled back and decided she'd just approach things head-on dealing with Freed.
"I heard from Freed you two share the same stylist," Lucy tried. Laxus fought back a glare. So Freed was comfortable enough with Lucy to talk about his personal life. Something he made very clear he wanted private and separated from his work life. Was Lucy trying to intimidate him? If she wanted Freed all for herself, of course, she'd try and ward Laxus off by making it seem like she knew more about Freed than he did. Laxus almost scoffed at her blatant attempt to try and sway him away.
"I'm close friends with his stylist, yes." Lucy smiled at that.
"I'm just so surprised Freed even has a stylist! I could totally see it with you, but Freed's so shy I would have never guessed he'd be into going to salons and such." Lucy quickly bit her tongue. She wasn't sure the extent of Laxus and Freed's relationship. Freed was clear in telling her he wanted to keep his interest in makeup a secret. She shouldn't say anything too revealing, just in case.
Laxus was brewing, but he had to hold himself together. "With me, you say?" Lucy slowly nodded.
"Well, you dress really nice. Like you're a model, honestly. You can kind of tell you either had like a background in fashion or had someone's expertise."
"Mira would be delighted to hear someone compliment how I dressed like that. She's dressed me for so long, I think I'd be lost if she didn't constantly update my wardrobe." Lucy grinned dreamingly.
"She sounds so amazing from how Freed described her. I would have loved to meet her, maybe get a few pointers on my style myself." A light bulb went off in Laxus's head then. Maybe the key to Lucy wasn't he, himself, but another woman.
"Would you like to?" Lucy's face immediately lit up, and she frantically shook her head. For the first time that afternoon, Laxus genuinely grinned. Only this time, with malicious intent.
The next morning, Cana had followed Freed around all day as if she didn't have anything to do. Lucy was running late today, and Cana offered to help Freed with the boxes until she made it in, but the brunette was more so talking her ass off than helping. She was excitedly describing how they would plan this year's Christmas party (a task Freed reluctantly agreed to), flapping her hands about as she went. Apparently, last year's party was a complete disaster. Freed listened and offered a bit of input here and there but, for the most part, tuned his friend out.
"And that leads me back to Friday. You are going, right?" Freed cut back a bit later in the conversation and missed the first half of what she said.
"Um, yes…?" Cana sent him a frown.
"Are you really going, or are you just saying that to get me off your back?" Freed only blinked back at her, unsure how to respond, considering he didn't know what he was agreeing to. "Come on, Freed. You went to last Friday's dinner party. You had a good time, right?"
Freed instantly perked up, now knowing what she was referring to. "Oh! I did… I'll go. Wait, why are we having another dinner party?"
Cana groaned dramatically, "Mest."
"Who?"
"The new analyst." Freed slowly nodded. "How could you forget? You're literally clearing out a space for his office now." Freed chuckled and set a box down in the storage room, and scribbled a label on the side.
"My workload seems to cross sometimes. I often just work to get the day over with."
"Or you just have short-term memory loss or something." Freed raised an eyebrow, "Or you're just ditsy." A snort and another box dropped into the storage room. Cana leaned in, hugging one of Freed's arms. "That just makes you even cuter!"
A head peeked in from the side of the storage room as Lucy leaned in. "I'm here now! Sorry I was running late. I completely overslept!" Cana let Freed go and gave the blonde a grin.
"Up late? Maybe you had a certain pink-haired boy over?" Cana even wiggled her eyebrows with a silly smile. Lucy waved her off and immediately started helping Freed with the boxes. Freed peered down to her attire, taking in the tennis shoes strapped on her feet rather than her usual heels. It made him smile.
"Har, har. No, I drank coffee at like six o'clock, and the caffeine had me deep cleaning my entire apartment until sunrise." Freed looked over to the blonde with an inquisitive glance.
"Why would you drink coffee so late?"
"Long story. Either way," Lucy quickly said to divert the conversation, "I'm here now, and we need to seriously get these boxes moved. Has anyone met the new guy yet?"
As if on cue, Erza rounded the corner with Mest at her hip. "Good morning, guys." She called out brightly. She turned to the man standing beside her and leveled a hand at him. "I'm sure you all know now we have hired a new analyst to take Sherry's caseload once she leaves on maternity. This is Mest Gryder. The plan is to train him with Lyon, Lucy, and Gray for the time being, and once he becomes permanent, we'll keep him as an additional analyst." Cana blinked a few times in confusion. Lucy and Gray were training him? That was out of the ordinary. Typically, it would be her, and in a way, she was looking forward to it, considering how good-looking Mest was. But this was a surprise.
Mest gave the three a smile and a quick bow. "Good morning. I look forward to working with you all." His eyes danced over from Freed and then over to Cana. Cana's breath hitched in her throat at his glaze, finding that her cheeks instantly heated up.
Erza went down the line introducing everyone. "This is Lucy Heartfilia; she'll be one of the three training you."
Mest gave her a smile and a slight nod of his head. "Nice to meet you, Ms. Heartfilia."
"You can call me Lucy," The blonde said with a slight chuckle. "God knows I prefer that over Ms. Heartfilia. Don't make me feel old." Mest chuckled.
"Alright then, Lucy."
Erza continued on to Freed. "Freed Justine, he's our front desk secretary, he does a little be of everything around the office. Truly a gift to us." Freed blushed at Erza's description and bowed to Mest.
"H-hello. Nice to meet you!" Mest focused on the green-haired secretary. So this was who Mira was talking about? Didn't seem like much of a threat to him and honestly wasn't the most charming initially. Mest took in his Khaki pants, button-up white shirt, and forest green cardigan. He supposed he was easier on the eyes once you got to his face. With delicate features, clear skin complexion, and beautiful bright blue eyes, Freed could have easily been more attractive if he had dressed more appealing. So what was so threatening about him? It seemed a bit strange, especially with this innocent, shy cat personality he was picking up on. Why had Mira gone as far as asking him to work here just to keep an eye on him?
Mest smiled, despite completely ripping Freed apart with his eyes. "Nice to meet you, Mr. Justine."
"And lastly," Erza said, "Cana Alberona. She's the team leader in the housing department. So if you have any questions, please feel free to ask her if I am not available." Mest finally ripped his eyesight from Freed and down to Cana. They locked eye contact. Mest couldn't help but sweep his eyes up and down her body, amused to find her doing the same.
"I hope you will take care of me in the future, Ms. Alberona."
Cana stuck out her neck and extended her hand to shake his. Mest smiled and took it. "Likewise." They shook once, be for retreating back.
"Alright," Erza said with a smile, "Thank you, everyone." With that, the two left, walking back down the path towards the main building.
"Oh my god," Lucy mumbled. "If they hire one more good-looking man, I'm seriously going to combust." Freed rolled his eyes, prompting Lucy to focus back on moving the boxes. Cana stood there for a second longer, watching his retreating figure.
To say that Freed was nervous about his appointment with Mira this afternoon was, to say the least. Freed was looking forward to his third makeup transformation with Mira, but not so much what would be following afterward. Thinking back to the night he'd shared his first kiss with Laxus, he remembered Laxus saying that his "appointment" would follow Mira's. As he approached the front doors of Mira's salon, his breath quickened. What would he and Laxus do? What were these appointments with the COO going to consist of? Surly, Laxus had something planned?
Freed tried to calm his nerves as the chime of the front door signaled to Mirajane his arrival. He wasn't expecting Mira to fly at him in excitement and throw her long slender arms around his neck.
"Freed!" She yelled out in excitement. "I'm so happy to see you today! I have some great news for you!" Freed smiled warmly to the stylist as she pulled back.
"I'm happy to see you as well, Mira." Mira pulled him down the hallway to her makeup studio with a skip in her step.
"I have two amazing surprises I think you'd absolutely love." She sat the green-hair man down into her salon chair and excitedly gripped his shoulders. Freed's anxiety melted away once he realized Laxus wasn't waiting for them in the room. He finally relaxed into Mira's touch.
"I'm excited to hear what's gotten you all flustered," Freed said with a slight chuckle. Mira took a deep breath to steady herself and handed Freed her phone. Freed glanced down at an image from a text conversation between Mira and another party. Freed clicked on the image when prompted by Mira and was blown away. In the photo was a woman seated in a stylish chair. Freed immediately recognized the backdrop in the photograph.
"This," Mira said with pure glee, "is none other than a makeup look created by Bob! Not only did they create it, but they created this look specifically for you, Freed!"
"What!?" Freed was absolutely dumbfounded. "Hh-how did you…."
Mira's grin only widened, "I may have a connection or two to other makeup artists in the area." Freed could not believe his ears nor what his eyes were showing him. Not only had Mira gone out of her way to get in contact with his favorite makeup artist, but she also convinced them to create a look purely based on him. It was a literal dream. "The only two pictures I had of you were the two selfies we took, but Bob said that would have been more than enough for them to create a look for you." Freed was in utter shock.
Staring down at the image with a newer meaning, Freed could now make out the tiny details that made this personalized look just for him. From the long dramatic lower and bottom lashes to the smoky undertones on the bottom lid to the mixture of pinks and browns in the eyes, making the model's blue eyes enhanced. "How were they able to create the two tones on top of each other like that?" Freed gushed in wonder.
"They made a cut crease. You start with the brown shadow, and when you're finished, you cut the lid with concealer to create a newer blank canvas underneath the brown. Then they used the shimmery pink on top. The concealer also enhances the color of the shadow."
"Amazing," Freed mumbled breathily. Freed could remember Mira expressing that pink and browns complimented his eye color. Still, the fact that Bob considered his green hair by making the model wear a similar colored wig and even filled in her eyebrows the same shade blew him away. They even diluted the brown slightly so the effect wouldn't take away from the green hair. Even the lip was subtle, so the main focus would be his eyes and hair, two of Freed's more prominent features.
"Not only that, but Bob has a show next weekend, and they invited us to attend!" Freed couldn't believe what he was hearing.
"A-a s-show?"
"Yep! For their fashion line that's coming out in the fall next year. They're previewing the main pieces from their collection. We have two tickets!" Freed's heart felt as if it was being shaken and stirred inside his chest like a blender.
"I-i can't even express how amazing this is. I can't believe Bob not only created a look just for me but also invited me to a show." Mira couldn't stop the beam on her bright face.
She leaned in, draping her body over his shoulder. "It's happening, and you absolutely deserve it, Freed. I hope this brings you some joy after all you've gone through with your parents." Freed's eyes began to well up with tears. To believe that Mira did all of this for him was unbelievable. To think she went through so much trouble and even got him tickets to see his favorite artist made him very emotional. No one had ever been so kind to him. No one had ever done something like this just for him. "Oh, Freed." Mira cooed. She gently spun his chair around and pulled him into a hug. "If you cry, you're eyes will be all puffy for when we do your makeup!" Freed tried to compose himself, but it was utterly useless whenever Mira's hands rubbed circles into his back.
The gesture was loving, supportive, and full of compassion from Mira. If only Freed could see the slight glare she shielded over his shoulder.