No matter how much they practised it seemed impossible for Freed to learn how to ice skate. In the end he had so many bruises he absolutely refused to go back on the ice anymore, and was just sitting on a bench.
"I give up, you really suck at ice skating", Laxus huffed and sat down beside his boyfriend while Bickslow returned their skates back to the booth. "It's probably for the best if you never try it again."
"I agree", Freed groaned. "Never again."
"It's really weird, you know? You usually do even a decent job no matter what and it seems like you are somekind of a superhuman. This reminds that even you can't do everything", Laxus smirked, making Freed pout.
"I hope you're not going to make fun of me about this for the rest of my life", the rune mage grumbled.
"It depends", blond laughed. "If you're going to bitch me about something ridiculous I just might bring this topic up."
"I guess in some way that would be fair", Freed said with small smile.
"Okay babies, where should we head next?" Bickslow grinned. "My show will start in two hours so let's just waste our time somewhere before that."
"Where do you perform?" Freed asked as they stood up and started walking towards the park's entrace.
"At the beach, that's definitely the best place for it now", the seith mage grinned.
"Why not go there then?" Laxus said. "Ever is probably there too sunbathing."
They left the borrowed clothes on the table and Laxus took off his big coat when they stepped on the streets that were filled with colourful leaves.
"Laxus, there is one thing I have been wondering", Freed finally decided to ask.
"Yeah? What is it?"
"When we came back from our mission and were about to leave, Master wanted to talk with you about something. What was it?"
Laxus said nothing just staring ahead as they kept walking.
"Being mysterious here, are we?" Bicks said. "Come on, baby. Tell us."
"There is no need to talk about that now", Laxus just said. "We can do it later. Let's just enjoy this festival now."
"Then is it something that could ruin it for us?" Freed asked.
"I said we can talk about it later", Laxus snarled and Freed raised his eyebrows. Obviously it was something important, it had something to do with Laxus and his Thunder God was not going to share that information with them at least now. "Sorry", Laxus muttered. "I promise I will tell later, okay?"
"Okay", Freed nodded. It was better not to push the topic when Laxus was that irritated about it.
They arrived at the beach and looked around.
"Baby!" Bickslow howled and grabbed his arms around Cana who was sitting at the outside bar.
"There you guys are", Cana laughed her cheeks burning red because of alcohol.
"And she's already smashed", Laxus chuckled to Freed who nodded.
"Cana, maybe you should slow down a little?" greenette advised. "Of course you can do whatever you want, but you might pass out before Bicks' show."
"What? No I won't!" Cana giggled waving her hand and leaned against Bickslow heavily. "Don't you come to tell me what to do, you... you... You Freed!" she burped right in front of Freed's face and almost made the swordsman throw up.
"How many barrels have you already devoured?" he asked and stepped away from their drunken guild mate.
"Who counts? One, eleven, two, twelve..."
"That's my girlfriend", Bickslow grinned hugging Cana. "When the fireworks are over, let's go get totally hammered in the evening. You guys should join us."
"I'll pass", Freed said immediately. "I haven't forgotten our vacation hangover yet."
"Aww, you are no fun, baby. Laxus?" the seith mage asked looking at the dragon slayer. Laxus looked at Freed who smiled.
"You know, you don't need my permission to that", he chuckled. "You can always do what you want."
"I know. But I'm going to pass this time too", Laxus said shaking his head. He had other plans in mind already. "And we also need to clean this all when the Autumn Festival is over. And I don't like doing that with a headache."
"I'm sure Master has some plan how it could be done quickly", Freed assured.
"Gramps? You wish! I'm sure he haven't given a shit about how we are going to clean this hell. He just wants to watch chicks on the beach", Laxus snorted and Freed rolled his eyes. "Cana, have you seen Evergreen?"
"Oh? She isn't here anymore?" Cana realised looking around. "She was right here a moment ago! We were having such a great time", she said with a sigh.
"She absolutely shouldn't drink anything if she is going to have a show later at the evening", Freed huffed.
"Like you can tell me what to do, sweetie", Ever chuckled, standing behind Laxus and Freed. "Don't you worry, I can handle one or two drinks", she convinced and took a sip from her red drink. "I'm not lightweight like you."
"I guess I can't stop you", Freed sighed shaking his head.
"You're right, you can't", Ever just hummed happily and sat down on the stool next to Cana. "So did you guys get everything ready?"
"My labyrinth is on it's place and Laxus has done his own job in the town", Freed said.
"So what did Laxus do?" Bickslow asked curiously. "Can you finally tell us?"
"It's nothing really interesting", Laxus muttered. "Just something for the kids."
"Maybe you should make one here too so they could see?" Freed suggested.
Laxus muttered something and stepped farther from the bar. He dropped on his knee and drew some simple runes on the sand.
"I hope that's not all of it", Bicks chuckled when rune barriers hoisted up and formed a narrow cylinder that was about Freed's height. "I mean, it is a really nice trap and all, you're getting better at rune magic but even I know those runes can't even hold a mouse inside them."
"Just wait", Freed smiled.
Laxus put his hand at the surface of the barrier. They waited for a while and then they could see little sparks starting to emerge inside the trap. First they were tiny, crackling around but slowly they grew bigger. They all combined together at the middle until there were one big lightning ball hovering in the middle.
"That does look interesting", Ever admitted. "What does it do?"
"Try touching it", Freed said nodding at the rune cylinder.
They all stepped next to the cylinder and Cana – as she was drunk enough not to be scared – was first one to put her hand at the surface of the cylinder. Her hair puffed and lifted up.
"Ooh! That's actually very clever", Bickslow said excitedly and put his hand at the rune barrier. His helmet's crest fluffed. "Kids must love this."
"Who knows", Laxus shrugged.
"We must try this", Ever grinned, opened Freed's hair, grabbed his hand and put it on the barrier.
They all stepped farther when his long hair fluffed around.
"Har har", Freed muttered. "You have no idea how much of a pain it's going to be to brush this bush", he said. But this felt really good. It felt like something warm moved around his body, in his veins. Was it Laxus' magic?
"Your mark is glowing", Laxus purred stepping beside him.
"It is? Must be because it is responding to your magic inside this trap", Freed smiled.
"That's cool", Bickslow grinned. "Not just your mark, it's like there are tiny lightning bolts all around your skin. You're like a lightbulb", he laughed and was about to put his hand on Freed's shoulder, but the air crackled loudly and the seith mage quickly backed out hissing and shaking his hand. "That hurt, Laxus!" he said.
"I didn't do it", Laxus said. "Must be because of the mark", he pondered and Freed put his hand down. His green hair settled again and glowing started to vanish slowly.
"Well, next time we have to walk in the dark forest we know we can use Freed as a lamp as long as Laxus provides the electricity", Bickslow snorted.
"Well well, looks like you brats are having fun", they heard a chuckle.
"Gramps", Laxus said looking at the tiny old man.
"That is really clever use for your magic, Laxus", Makarov said looking at the trap. "I guess it was Freed who came up with this idea?"
"Yeah", Laxus nodded.
"Well, the important thing is that everyone is enjoying it", Makarov smiled. "Well done, my boy. Bickslow."
"Yeah, Master?" Bicks asked.
"They have assembled all the things at the stage that you said you will need in your show."
"Awesome! You guys are gonna drop your jaws", Bicks cackled. "This will be the best show you're gonna see in the whole festival!"
"We'll see about that", Ever chuckled waving her fan. "Don't get too cocky."
They followed Bickslow near the stage that had been build for that day so some of them could make their shows on it.
"Instruments?" Freed asked confused looking at the drums and other instruments. There were total six of them.
"Yeah, I told you guys before that in my show there will be music", Bickslow grinned and he lifted his cape. "Come on, babies, time to wake up", he said and five little tiki dolls appeared full of energy.
"Show! Show!" they chanted.
"Yes, this is going to be the best show ever, right babies?"
"Right, daddy!" dolls giggled.
"Daddy?" Laxus asked. That was new.
They sat down on one of the benches and people started to gather when they noticed someone was moving on the stage. Most of the Fairy Tail members arrived also to see their fellow guild mate's show.
"This is really exiting", Ever smiled. "Will it be a good show?" she asked from Cana who laughed.
"You bet", she grinned with a tiny hiccup. "Just you wait."
Finally it seemed like Bickslow had assembled everything like he wanted and they looked with curiosity how his dolls chose one instrument each, hovering above it. Bickslow himself sat behind the drums.
"Alright babies, just like we practised it", the seith mage smiled encouragingly. "You can do it."
"We're good!" 'babies' snickered.
Bickslow raised the drumsticks above his head and started to hit them together. Green magic patterns appeared at the surface of the dolls and it spread all around until they were completely covered by it. Bickslow grinned and he hit the drums with force and green light filled the stage.
When they could open their eyes, most of the Fairy Tail members did not know how to react.
"Oh my god", Freed said eyes widened.
"There are six of them now", Ever gasped.
All the five dolls had taken a human form, playing their instruments. They looked like teenagers who had wild hair styles with different colour each and their clothes matched with Bickslow's clothes more or less. They moved on their own just like any other humans but their form were slightly transparent.
"He must have trained for this like a maniac", Laxus said impressed.
"Yeah, he really put everything in this", Cana smiled proudly. "Pappa, Pippi, Puppu, Peppe and Poppo also."
"So that's how their souls look like, it is actually really fascinating", Freed chuckled.
"No wonder they wanted to stay with Bicks, they kinda look good together like that", Ever smiled. "Don't get me wrong, this is going to be a hell if they can transform whenever they want but it is still kinda nice."
"Right now they can only do this three times a day", Cana explained. "And around half an hour at a time. Boys can transform when they want one time but other times they need Bicks' magic since they don't have it that much themselves yet."
"So can they speak more and do what they want?" Laxus asked.
"Yes. But they are still pretty eager to do what Bicks asks and they follow his orders. But they are getting more and more independent the more they practice."
"This is exactly what we needed, Bickslow to have kids who are probably just as bad as he is", Ever sighed.
They enjoyed the show, Bicks and his 'babies' were actually a really good little band. When the show was over they were rewarded with big applauds. Everyone was impressed and surprised. As the people finally started to scatter, Laxus, Freed, Evergreen and Cana could approach the stage.
"Freeeed!" they heard shout from five mouths and Freed was knocked down because of the young teenagers who hugged him tightly.
"And as usual they like you very much", Ever chuckled. "You guys look cute together."
"They get bored when they can't torment Freed", Bickslow grinned when he walked over to them.
"Get off of me", Freed commanded when he finally was able to stood up.
"We don't want to", Pappa smiled.
"We wanna play with Freed!" Pippi grinned.
"You should go play with Asuka", Freed sighed as Puppu ruffled his hair. "Stop that immediately", he said.
"Fluffy", Puppu just giggled hugging Freed's hair.
"Laxus!" Peppe shouted and hopped to hang on Laxus' shoulders. "Can you play with us, pretty please?"
"No", Laxus said. "Leave Freed alone you brats!" he roared and that made the kids back off quickly.
"Laxus is scary!" they said hugging Bickslow and Cana.
"Laxus just doesn't want to share his toys", Bickslow smirked.
"Mean Laxus!" Poppo said pointing at Laxus. "Laxus is a lightning chicken!"
"Keep talking and I will -" Laxus snarled but Freed stopped him:
"They are just teasing you", he said. "They look like teenagers but act like little kids."
"Uh oh", Pippi said suddenly and they started to glow again. With a little 'poof' the Tiki dolls returned back to normal.
"We need to train more so we can extend their time in their other form", Bickslow said as the dolls giggled and twirled around them.
"Can they fight?" Ever asked patting one of the dolls who snuggled against her arm.
"Yes, they can use their attacks and -"
"Bickslow!" they heard a familiar shout and Natsu stormed over out of nowhere. "That was amazing! Please fight with me! Right here right now!" he demanded. "I wanna see how strong those dolls are now!"
"Sorry, baby", Bicks grinned. "Can't do that now. I already promised Asuka that she could play with 'babies' after the show."
"Then we can fight after that", Natsu suggested immediately.
"Not today, but I will kick your ass tomorrow first thing in the morning", Bickslow promised with a confident laugh.
"I'm gonna hit you so hard you don't know how many dolls are dancing around you!" Natsu grinned. "Laxus, you -"
"No", Laxus declined immediately.
"Come on! Freed then?"
"No thank you", Freed smiled.
"Ever? Cana?" Natsu asked.
"No", Ever chuckled.
"Too drunk", Cana slurred and she slumped on Bickslow's arms.
"But you should definitely go find Gray", Ever said with a small, slightly evil smirk. "I overheard how he said that you can't do even a decent job here to warm the beach because he can still wear his pants."
With that Natsu sprung across the beach trying to find the ice mage.
"Always full of energy", Freed huffed. "But now you're stuck with a fight tomorrow", he said to Bickslow.
"It could be fun", the seith mage grinned.
"You know he will be in front of our house at six o'clock in the morning, pounding the door and shouting."
"If he does that then it will be me who is going to kick his ass", Ever muttered.