First steps
Freed woke up with a slight headache. It could have been worse for him given how much he had drunk the day before. He yawned and got dressed noticing that it was now lunchtime. The night before he and Laxus had come home at four in the morning. After writing to all the people that had worried, Freed had gone to sleep with a mixed feeling of adrenaline and relief in his body. The chat with Laxus had definitely changed his perspective, but he still didn't know how to approach the blonde.
During the journey home they had decided to take things calmly so as not to repeat the mistake they had made years ago. Go out, see what it was like to be together after years and, if necessary, make things serious. It was the best he could hope for. They had also decided not to say anything to the others, merely saying that they had solved their problems.
Freed left his room and entered the kitchen, where the three roommates were already there. Evergreen was having tea while she read the news on the phone, Bickslow ate breakfast even though it was late now, and Laxus was making a coffee.
"Morning," Freed greeted as he opened the fridge.
"Coffee?" Laxus asked. Freed smiled at him.
"Yes, thank you," he replied, pleased to finally be able to have a normal conversation.
Evergreen and Bickslow looked up in surprise from the table at them.
"Have you solved your problems?" Bickslow asked.
"Yes, I'm still sorry about yesterday. I didn't mean to worry you," Freed said taking the jar of jam and putting it on the table.
"I really hope for you two that you're done driving me crazy," Evergreen commented in annoyance.
"Yes," Freed replied. Evergreen was obviously curious now. Rightly so, since she had had to endure all their squabbles.
"So what was the problem?" she asked. Freed just kept quiet, not sure what he could say. They had decided not to give news around, mainly because they had just solved, they didn't know how things were going to go between them.
"We had some misunderstandings and last night we solved" he just said after a while, since Laxus didn't speak. Evergreen arched an eyebrow, not at all pleased with the answer.
"Misunderstanding?" she asked skeptically. She was about to ask for more but luckily Bickslow intervened.
"Well, as long as you don't leave home anymore. Honestly, I'm tired of running after you too," he said calmer than the girl.
"I'll try not to," Freed replied. Laxus set the cup of coffee in front of him and Freed took it with a slight smile on his face.
"How about going to billiards?" Laxus asked.
"Do you mean all together?" Evergreen asked that she still wanted to know more and she was scrutinizing them openly, looking for every little information. Laxus and Freed nodded.
"Great!" Bickslow exclaimed "Just like the old days."
"You softened up in Germany," Laxus smiled as he walked out of the bar with Freed for a moment to smoke. They were with Bickslow and Evergreen in the club they always went where they were teenagers and had decided to play a couple of games of pool. They both thought that going out with the two friends would make things less embarrassing, moreover, they both wanted to be forgiven by the two for behaving like assholes and that was the ideal opportunity.
"I wouldn't say, if it wasn't for Evergreen you would have already lost" Freed retorted closing the door behind him and then leaning against the wall.
"I don't think so," the blond objected, lighting a cigarette.
"You haven't given up yet," Freed commented and Laxus made a small grimace.
"I tried, and for a few months I even managed to quit, but then I started again," Laxus replied taking a puff and avoiding saying that since Freed returned, he had increased the number of cigarettes he smoked per day. "So, what's Germany like?" he asked.
"Everything is much better organized and people are not chaotic and rude like here. Just look at the streets and see how clean they are compared to ours," Freed replied.
"The perfect place for you," Laxus commented, glancing at him. In fact, there was also that problem to think about. When Freed finished his two years of university, would he go back to his father, or would he stay in Italy to live with his mother? Laxus hoped that he would choose the latter option, despite the fact that he knew that finding a job there would be more difficult. Also, perhaps Freed lived better in Germany.
"Maybe" said Freed "But I still prefer Italy, maybe just because I was born there," he added with a slight frown. Then he began to tell some anecdotes and Laxus listened curiously.
The blond found himself staring at his friend -if he could define him that way again- thinking it was really nice to be able to talk to him again. Freed hadn't changed then so much, and even if there had been some embarrassing moments during the evening, the conversation had been easier than he had thought. Thinking that they were screwing everything up for nothing still made him weird, and knowing that Freed still had an interest in him excited him.
The temptation to behave like a teenager was so great, being physical, putting an arm around his shoulders, trying to make contact with him, it was something that came normal to them when they were high school. Now, however, he avoided doing it, partly because he didn't know how Freed would react, partly because in the end they had solved only a few days before.
He finished his cigarette and continued to listen to Freed talking about a weekend in Berlin.
"So far I've only spoken, you haven't told me anything new," Freed said after a while.
"I don't have much to say," Laxus said with a shrug. "My life is always the same, the grandfather is getting older and more emotional. He also got a little dog. He always complains about it, I told him to get a goldfish if he really wanted an animal". Freed laughed lightly at the joke and Laxus smiled.
"You always wanted a dog as a kid," Freed recalled with a smile.
"Yes, and he never took it from me. Now that I'm gone, he takes it. I think he does it to piss me off," the blond commented. "However, he'd like to see you again. If you want, we can go to him in the next few weeks," he added hopefully. He didn't want to rush too much, but it was true that Makarov had asked him about Freed. Laxus had heard him on the phone and told him that he had talked to Freed, briefly telling him what had happened between the two of them. Freed nodded.
"Gladly," he said and Laxus smiled in relief.
"Good".
Freed looked down for a moment. "I'm really sorry I left without telling you anything." Laxus looked at him in surprise. "I didn't say goodbye to anyone, even though my mother told me to".
"Hey, we were both stupid. We should have clarified that time, but better late than never," Laxus reassured him.
"Yes but… I left it all behind. I acted like an idiot, and the worst is that I was doing it up until a few weeks ago," he snorted. "If you hadn't come to me, I wouldn't have talked to you."
"I didn't make it easy for you," Laxus objected.
"This isn't the time when everyone takes the blame, is it?" Freed smiled slightly, perhaps to defuse the situation.
"Of course not, fault's seventy percent yours," Laxus replied. Freed looked up in surprise and the blond grinned. "But I'm good and I forgive you".
"I'm talking seriously," Freed said but then he smiled and shook his head. "It doesn't matter, let's go back and play," he said. Laxus nodded and the two boys entered the club, joining Evergreen and Bickslow. The rest of the evening they spent with the two friends, joking like in the old days, almost as if not even a day had passed.
A few nights later the four boys decided to go to a bar together by joining the Strauss brothers. Freed had nothing to complain about, he knew that Elfman and Evergreen were together, and personally he liked Mirajane and Lisanna.
And spending time with Laxus was getting easier. After some initial awkwardness, it had been oddly easy to get back into a relationship similar to the one they had in high school. They weren't as close as they were back then, but they were working on it. And it was nice to know the blond liked him, even though they hadn't spoken since that evening. And Freed honestly didn't know how to move. Even if all instinct told him to throw himself on Laxus and kiss him, he tried to keep him in check with rationality. If Laxus wanted to take it slow, he was fine. And indeed, perhaps it was for the best.
"Guys, are you here too?" asked a voice behind them. Freed and Bickslow turned and saw Rufus. If the second smiled broadly, Freed instantly tensed. Rufus smiled at them and cast an interested look at Laxus. He was in the company of Minerva, Orga, Sting and Rogue.
"Hey! Do you want to join?" Bickslow asked. Freed hoped they would say no, but unfortunately the boys agreed. And unfortunately, Rufus sat right next to Laxus. He had to expect it, the presumptuous blond was obviously attracted to Laxus.
Actually Freed still hadn't figured out what was between them. He hadn't asked, but now he was actually morbidly curious. Were they engaged? Or had they just been dating for a short time? And how long? And why did Laxus go out with that blond? What the fuck did he like about Rufus? Hell, he was thinking like a jealous boy.
But with good reason, Rufus was clearly flirting with him and even though Laxus didn't respond to his flirtations and tried to make him understand that whatever had been between them was now over, Rufus continued. Freed just bit his tongue so as not to spoil the evening. In reality, however, all he wanted to do was achieve the two and take those damned hands of Rufus off Laxus' shoulder.
"Well, it's funny to think that just a few years ago we all hated each other," Sting commented suddenly.
"Yeah, Ever and Elfman didn't get along at all and look at them now," Mirajane said with her eyes sparkling with joy. The two boys blushed slightly.
"Well, you and Minerva didn't get along quite well either," Evergreen commented to get out of the situation.
"Yeah, you nearly bitten each other in the school corridors. You were two beasts, almost worse than men," Sting commented cheerfully.
"Not to mention you and Natsu," Rogue muttered.
"True. Hey, you two didn't get along very well either," Sting commented, glancing from Freed to Rufus.
"Yeah, we were always competing for everything," Rufus smiled. "But things change, by now we've put those disagreements behind us, right?". Freed would have had a lot to say about that last statement. The last time they met Freed had yelled at him and was one step away from punching him and kicking him out of the apartment. And even at that moment Freed just felt the urge to insult him and remove that presumptuous attitude.
Instead, he just drank his drink. "Yeah. You and Laxus were always competing too," he changed the subject. Orga laughed loudly and nodded. Fortunately, the discussion changed and no one paid him more attention.
Freed, however, continued to observe Rufus and how he spoke next to Laxus, approaching him and telling him who knows what. At that moment he regretted not sitting next to him. He had done it so as not to risk leaning on him and doing who knows what, but at that moment he just wanted to be in Rufus's place.
He honestly hoped that evening would be over quickly, because watching Rufus and Laxus so close was starting to get on his nerves. He tried to be rational, and told himself he had no reason to worry. Laxus had told him he wanted to go out with him, not with Rufus.
It didn't work at all.
The annoyance remained there and the fact of not knowing what had been there between those two was driving Freed out of his mind.
He tried to ignore that sense of annoyance and started talking to Rogue, while still glancing at the two boys. At one point the two stood up and Freed couldn't help but follow them with his eyes. Laxus put a hand on his shoulder and Freed looked at him in surprise.
"I'm going to smoke, are you coming?" he asked. Freed nodded and stood up, a little relieved that he had asked him. Imagining those two alone would have been too difficult. Sting and Rogue also joined.
"Do you smoke?" Rufus asked.
"No," Freed said. "But I want to get some fresh air," he explained. Rufus didn't reply and the three boys left the room.
While Laxus lit a cigarette and handed the lighter to Rogue who did the same, Rufus turned to Freed and asked him what it was like to be in Germany. Freed already had a malicious response on his tongue, but once again he decided to keep it to himself and began to tell something.
"So now you can speak German really well," Rufus commented after a while.
I already knew how to speak well, Freed thought irritably, but he nodded. "You instead? What have you done in these years?" he asked actually not very interested.
"Since you left, Laxus and I have been going out often. Remember all the disagreements we had in high school? They disappeared into thin air," Rufus began. Freed looked at him now pissed. He had thought that Rufus was starting to talk about his university, how he was still the best in the class and other bullshit like that. Instead he had begun, of everything, to talk about Laxus. He was doing it on purpose, it was clear.
"We found that we got along very well. By the way, I wanted to apologize for the last time we met. I didn't really want to wake you up, but we were so caught up in the situation that we didn't realize we were noisy".
Freed's irritation grew even more. Fucking asshole. He just wanted to answer him badly and get that smile off his face. But there were also Sting and Rogue, and he didn't want to ruin the evening.
"Old story," he said coldly. Pretending indifferent was best.
"A bit like Rogue and I do, when passion takes over..." Sting intervened cheerfully.
"Nobody wants to know anything," Rogue growled irritated silencing the blonde.
"However it seems that you've solved your problems. Everyone was wondering why you never talked to each other again and why you disappeared without anyone knowing," Rufus began again. Now Freed was really going to tell him to fuck off.
"An old fight," Laxus interjected, perhaps foreseeing Freed's wrath. "It doesn't matter anymore."
"I understand," Rufus said and stared at them for a moment. "So you're friends again like you used to be," he commented.
"Yes," Laxus replied hastily. "I saw Yukino the other day, I learned that she takes the same course as you" he changed the subject.
Freed remained silent with pursed lips and nervousness that it went up more and more. They were friends. Right. Laxus apparently didn't want to talk about their relationship. Not that there was much to say, obviously for the moment they were just dating, it was obvious that he didn't want to talk about it. But with Rufus he didn't have much trouble making out in front of other people.
All the good times spent with Laxus in the last few days were covered by that new news and the bad mood grew more and more. Rufus's presence didn't help, because the blond really seemed to have some confidence with Laxus. He leaned on him, smiled clearly flirtatiously and chatted animatedly.
Either Laxus didn't notice because he was an idiot, or he wanted to make him nervous about something. Something Freed honestly didn't understand. Maybe he just wanted to show him what he had been missing in those three years? Or maybe he wanted to piss him off? Or maybe he was more interested in Rufus than he was.
Freed didn't say much all evening, and he chatted more with Rogue than the others until they finally left. Freed didn't miss the 'See you these days' that Rufus said to Laxus, but he didn't comment on it and pretended not to have heard it as he headed towards the car.