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Disclaimer: Plot is mine. Characters are borrowed.
Author’s Note: Fourth Part and the sequel to “Revelations”. Warnings include hurt/comfort elements and implied and heavily hinted at Fraxus. There will be one more part after this to round out this short series. I hope you’ve enjoyed this as much as I’ve enjoyed being able to write it.
~*~*~*~*~*
There are no words spoken as Laxus follows Freed. Neither seemed to either want to or know where to start. It’s only once they are inside and the door is shut that any interactions occur. Freed heads for the kitchen but has his arm snagged. “Come join me.”
Several things occur to him to say at the moment as he was still quite up in the air on whether he was pleased or angry that the other was back. Fingers tighten into fists for a moment before he manages, “I don’t think that’s a wise idea.”
“Freed…”
His name makes him flinch. “Just…just go and shower, Laxus.”
There’d be a stubborn set to the others jaw before he’d repeat, “Come and join me.”
It was a tempting thought, Freed couldn’t deny that. However, he tugs his arm out of his grasp. “I said go and shower, Laxus.” Pushing his emotions down, he squares his shoulders and continues into the kitchen proud of himself for not giving in when every part of him ached to.
Focusing instead on making lunch and cleaning as he went along, he tries to ignore the faint sounds of water running and the images that are brought to mind with that. It has him swallowing a few times to get his thoughts and libido in order. Not trusting himself, he sets a plate for the other and slips back into the kitchen to eat his own.
It was probably not the correct way of handling this and Freed knew it but he wasn’t sure if he could trust that the other was really back and perhaps he needed to hear the other say it to him himself before he’d not feel so unsure and nervous.
It would follow into him just trying to avoid the other. Having become comfortable on the couch, he tells the blond to just take the bed and that, no, he was fine with where he was. Curling up with the blanket over his head, he silently condemns himself for being unable to bridge the gap between them. He had Laxus back like he wanted and yet here he was hiding in the living room on his couch. What was wrong with him?!
*~*~*~*~*
The others avoidance continues for a week before Laxus finally has had enough. He knew that Freed had gone through a lot in the months he’d been gone but this was ridiculous. He finally traps the other in the kitchen. Freed’s instant wary expression bothers him as it had been a long time since they’d ever had to feel uncomfortable or awkward around each other. “We need to talk.”
“Do we? I thought you said everything that you needed to.”
“Freed, that wasn’t…”
“Wasn’t what? What did you expect me to think, Laxus?! You couldn’t trust me enough to be honest! How do you think that makes me feel?!”
“If I told you the truth then you would have just tried to involve yourself and I could not have it! Be angry all you want but the simple truth is that I was doing my damnedest to protect you!” comes his snapped response. Honestly, the younger male could be exasperating sometimes.
His words have the other throwing the towel onto the counter. “I’m supposed to help you, Laxus! What is the point of a relationship if you don’t help each other bear the others burden?”
“This wasn’t something I wanted you to have any part in. My sins do not ever need to be yours,” he replies.
“That wasn’t your choice to make.”
Freed was still too hurt and angry to listen even a week later. Laxus had been warned to give it and the other time to process things as he’d had a hell of a time holding himself together with Laxus gone. And as much as this was hurting not being able to interact with him like he used to, he forces himself to try and be patient. But it was not an easy state to achieve considering his particular territorial personality.
“Well, it was the one I could live with,” he finally says, “You can blame me all you want for this and think what you will but there was never a moment that I didn’t think about you, didn’t miss you. This has been hell, Freed, but I would make the same choices all over again.” And this time, it would be him that would walk away even though every part of him wanted to push him against the counter and kiss him senseless until he no longer wanted to fight with him about this.
Instead, he goes to the guild hall and slides into a seat at the bar. “Things are not going the way you want them to are they?” Mira asks setting down a mug by him.
“He’s angry with me and I can’t say that I blame him,” he responds, “I just don’t know how to get him to calm down enough to see reason.”
“I’m sure you’ve been told to give him time.”
“Yeah, I have. Problem is that the entire place smells like him and it’s making me crazy.”
Mira glances at him a moment. “Maybe you should ask if one of you can change living spaces until things are more…stable between you?”
“That will end up with him at Bixlow’s and as much as I am fond of Bix, I don’t think I’d be able to take him smelling like Freed for whatever reason.”
“You might just have to suck it up then.”
Laxus sighs. “It wouldn’t be so bad if I wasn’t the one stuck in the bed while he huddles on the couch.”
“Did you really expect him to want to sleep in a bed he was used to sharing with you? Honestly, Laxus, you two lived together for a year and six months of that involved a ring and the promise of forever. He’s understandably hurt and angry over all of this. Though if you want my advice? Do things for him around the house when he’s not there. Make things easier for him and you just might get a better reaction.”
Somehow, Laxus doubted that any amount of household chores would get him in the others good graces but it was a start. Hell, anything at this point would be preferable to this limbo the two of them were in. Anything.
*~*~*~*~*~*
“Still not willin’ to forgive ‘im?” Bixlow’s voice has him sighing.
“Do we really need to discuss this?”
“Well, it’s obvious that ya still unhappy. I would have thought that this was what ya wanted.”
“It is,” comes his answer, “So I don’t know why I just…I can’t handle him right now. We’re in closed quarters and I’m hyper-aware of him and yet I just can’t cross whatever issue it is to get us back where we were.”
“Suppose this is what comes from what happened.”
Freed looks away. “I just…I want it to be like it was before. I just don’t know how to get to that place.”
Bixlow watches him before a slow smile appears as a thought takes root. “Don’t ya worry, baby,” he murmurs hiding his expression before the other notices, “Things always have a way of workin’ out.”
“I suppose you are right, Bixlow. Do you mind looking after him while I take a job for a few days?”
“Sure thin’, baby. Don’t ya worry, I’ll make sure the apartment is still standin’ when ya get back.”
“Thank you, Bix.”
He watches the other vanish from sight before tapping his chin thoughtfully. A couple of days would be more than enough for what he had in mind. With that thought, he heads for Freed’s apartment. Brisk knocking would bring Laxus there. “Can I come in?”
“Yeah, sure,” comes the response before the other would step aside.
“Freed’s gone on a job,” he states as he enters and pushes the door closed, “So, I was thinkin’ that this gives some time to make preparations.”
“Preparations?”
He can’t help grinning at him. “Yeah, Lax, preparations. If ya wanna get Freed back then ya gonna have to trust me on this.”
He could see that he had the others attention immediately. Good. If they played this right then perhaps things could go back to the way they were because Freed deserved to be happy. And that he wasn’t with the man he loved in the house was not something Bixlow felt was at all tolerable. “So, what is it that I hafta do?”
“Tell me about the first night ya two were together and what set the mood,” Bixlow answers.
Watching the others expression soften speaks a lot of how much he enjoyed the thought. “He’d gone to lunch with Evergreen so I could set up. I’d lit candles in the bathroom after filling the tub and adding this lavender fragrance that he loves.”
“Heh, a candlit bath to set the mood, how utterly charming there, Lax.”
“Don’t judge.”
“I’m not, that suits Freed for as much as he doesn’t relax easily. So from the bath to the bed?”
“Actually spent almost an hour brushing his hair out,” Laxus admits before chuckling, “I have never found that to be a sensual thing to do but the noises he makes are pornographic.”
“And after that?”
“I spent a while just teasing him. He might have eaten but I hadn’t so I perhaps took a few more liberties with some fruit and whipped cream.”
That has Bixlow chuckling. “Alright, fair enough. So here’s what I’m gonna do; I’ll get ya what ya need to recreate this when he comes home. Something familiar, something that sparks good memories should be enough to invoke a better reaction from him. But if ya want my advice? Don’t let the chance he may grant ya end without puttin’ that ring back on his finger.”
“I didn’t plan on it.”
“Good man.” With a little luck this would go the way it was needed. Both of them deserved to be happy again. And Bixlow doesn’t intend to stop until that’s what happens.
*~*~*~*~*~*
The job is simple enough that Freed could do it in his sleep and the client makes him want to scrub his skin raw but he’d needed out too badly to be picky. Leaning against the window staring into the distance, he finds himself wondering if things would ever be the same. A soft sigh escapes him as he decides that he was being too hard on both him and Laxus but it was just taking that first step wasn’t easy and it scared him.
But pinpointing exactly what it was that scared him was the problem. He still had no good answer for it and that stressed him even further. So he’d taken a job that he particularly didn’t care for in order to perhaps get some insight without the constant presence. All it had gotten him was a client whose gaze made him most uncomfortable and the realization that he was getting used to having Laxus around again and missed his presence.
The train pulls into the station and he shifts the strap of his satchel before heading for his apartment. He still had no easy answers and no idea what to do with the man inside. He pauses by the apartment and stares up at the second floor where he stayed and lets out another sigh between his lips. He’d envisioned things being so much easier if Laxus came back not this distance, this fear in him that he couldn’t seem to relax from.
Slowly, feeling like the butt of some universal joke; he walks to the apartment deciding to take the stairs rather than the elevator. Dawdling had never been his way of dealing with things but to be honest, he just wasn’t sure he wanted to hurry home. And that wasn’t something he was used to. And wasn’t sure who that made the stranger; Laxus or himself.
However, as he pushes open the door, a familiar scent has his eyes closing as he’d inhale deeply. Lavender? Was that… “Welcome back,” comes Laxus’ voice. Slowly, he’d open his eyes and gaze at the other who was leaning in the doorway from the bedroom.
“Thank you,” he says sounding far more careful than he is sure he should. “Do I smell Lavender?” he asks as he removes his sword, coat, and boots.
“Mmhmm, just ran a bath. Figured you could use it after your job.”
A bath. With Lavender. The last time he’d had one…His eyes would close but this time it was for the memory that scent invoked; the memory involving a bath, candles, and so much passion. Slowly, he’d open them and glance up at the other before finally nodding. “I…think I will.” He’d stop and ask how Laxus knew he was back but he had a feeling that he could guess as he could guess who played a part in this.
Choosing not to focus on that too far, he moves for the bedroom and finds that Laxus shifts out of his way allowing him his space. He vanishes from view into the bathroom to strip out of the remaining clothing. The sight of the hot water is enough to elicit a low sound and the scent was certainly inviting. Padding across, he’d step in before slowly sinking into the floral scented heat. His eyes go half-lidded as a sigh of pleasure escapes him while his muscles relax.
However, the more that scent foods his senses the more that he finds himself thinking how empty the tub was. Biting his lip a moment, he glances at the closed door contemplating the situation before finally calling, “Laxus?!”
After a moment of no response, he sighs softly inwardly chastising himself for the attempt in the first place. And then there is a light rap on the door before it’s opened a crack. “You called?”
Swallowing, Freed finds his fingers ringing the rag in his lap. “I…Would you join me? My hair is difficult to manage and…”
It would be as far as he would get before the other would slip in and shut the door before his own clothing would be removed and the sight of all that skin has Freed swallowing audibly as he gazes at him. It was a really bad idea to ask this of him, he realizes. A very, very bad idea.
And yet he can’t bring himself to regret that.
TBC