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Jagged
having rough, sharp points protruding
Gray, from the beginning, was all sharp words and jagged edges. Every time Natsu got close, he found himself sliced open on Gray's teeth. And so, eventually, he hit back.
Natsu was not a prickly person by nature, not really. Sure, he might burn a little bright. If he wasn't careful, he could singe fingers or set a blaze with his temper. But for the most part, he was optimistic, cheerful, open to making friends. No matter how hot his temper burned, he found it nearly impossible to hold grudges.
Which was why he had such a hard time with Gray. Gray, from the beginning, was all sharp words and jagged edges. His anger burned different than Natsu's, and it simmered continuously. Natsu tried to make friends the best way he knew how, and was soundly rebuffed. Every time he got close, he found himself sliced open on Gray's teeth. And so, eventually, he hit back. If he was going to get hurt on Gray's sharp edges, he would hurt Gray right back.
Over time, Gray's rough edges smoothed out. His anger died and dulled, his words lost much of their edge, and he learned how to make friends. The problem was that he was…too smooth. Every once in a while his fangs would peek out or a sharp word and dark look would remind Natsu that his edges were still buried somewhere underneath, but the rest of the time Natsu couldn't read him at all. Gray's features were schooled, his eyes polished like slippery glass, and his thoughts carefully hidden away behind a mask. Natsu had no idea what he was thinking or feeling, and sometimes he poked just to make Gray unsheathe his claws. This he understood a little better.
And so they learned how to be friends. They still fought, they didn't usually talk, but they were a team and fought at each other's side. Sometimes Natsu was still afraid to get too close, despite the trust they had built. He remembered slicing his fingers open as a child. But then, sometimes he could forget.
At least until the day he went looking for his friend and found him curled in a corner in the dark, huddled in on himself and clutching his arms to his chest as if trying to hold himself together. Ice crept up the walls and lay scattered across the floor in glittering heaps of broken glass. The sharp tang of blood hung heavy in the air, twining tight around Gray's arm in a thick crimson band and puddling on the ground.
Natsu stared in disbelief. For the first time, he realized that maybe Gray was still broken after all. That maybe he had always cut himself on his own jagged edges too.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Gray rasped. He looked positively feral, fangs and all. No trace of his polish lingered. Nothing remained of his walls but the crumbling rubble at his feet. He breathed hard and fast, eyes shiny with tears and sharp with fear and anger. "Go away."
Natsu took a step forward.
"I don't want you here. I don't even like you. We aren't friends. Just… Go away. Leave me alone. Leave me…"
This time, Natsu reached out. Even with his hands slicked with blood and the points of Gray's words needling his skin, he held on. He stayed because Gray was crying, because Gray's pain was somehow even worse, because maybe Gray was worth enduring the pain for.
And so this time, Natsu held on.
emmahoshi: Lol I would not normally call Natsu insightful. It's really hard to write such a dense character, though :) Fair enough. People with sharp edges are hard to be friends with, but sometimes they're the ones who need friends the most. It's just a matter of making sure you look out for yourself, too.
