"I'm so fucking done with this shit-
"Gray, wait-" Freed's sentence was cut off with Laxus stepping closer, muscles tightened in a threat.
Gray saw the sudden dawn of fear on the face of the man he was fucking a few minutes ago, and something stirred a strange kind of anger in him. Something that belonged in an animal, not him. He felt a quick snap inside his whole system.
Oh god he fucking hated this bastard.
Shaking his head in disbelief, Gray moved forward in return, looking straight into Laxus' eyes. He didn't care about the state he was in. Let the whole fucking world see his cock, he didn't give a fuck.
"You know what," his voice came out in a calm drone, as if beneath the surface there was a tsunami and Gray was holding it in his hands, "you don't fucking deserve Freed." Or his softness. Or his understanding.
"Gray!" Was a soft gasp past Freed's lips, who seemed frozen in motion.
The younger man remained unfazed. Laxus' fists were clenched too tightly, and Gray could feel the thickness of fear and anger in the room. The dim light in Freed's house must have been intentional, then, because one really needed to live in the dark to be so stupidly in love with a brainless brute like the blonde singer.
"You may want to behave yourself, kid." Laxus said, eyes fixed at Gray's face with an overwhelming dominance.
The 'kid' responded with a sarcastic chuckle. "The person who just barged in uninvited in a private space is asking me to behave myself? Rich."
"You little-
But before the punch could hit Gray's face, Freed had grabbed the other man's hand.
A silent minute dragged on. They all heard Freed's shaky release of breath.
"Gray, please..." Freed said, eyes cast downward.
The implication was not lost on Gray.
He scoffed in disbelief, at the same time Laxus seemed to relax a little. He waited for a minute again, looking at the two older men expectantly. Surely Freed wasn't just asking him to leave?
Nothing.
"Freed?" He prompted gently. Freed looked up, and sighed. "I'll call you tomorrow, Gray. Please, you need to leave."
Gray couldn't stop the laughter that bubbled out of his mouth. "You're all fucking sick."
"Sick!" He said, and strode out of the place, slamming the doors shut.
Natsu had been calling him for the past forty minutes.
In his head, he knew. He knew he should pick up the call, and talk, and let somebody know where he was.
Except that his head refused to co-operate with him any longer, and he wasn't in the mood of forcing himself.
The world didn't give a fuck about him, so why should he?
The ocean roared violently. Well, good. At least somebody -some thing -in the whole of fucking Magnolia could get him.
Gray knew he was wasting time. That sitting around like this wouldn't bag him anything. He should get up like a young, dignified man and head home, get to studying, and not let his life turn into a complete bag of shit.
He fished out his phone, and scrolled down in the contact list.
Staring straight ahead at the water, he spoke into the phone, "I'm at the beach. Can you pick me up?"
He kept the phone by his side. The display dimmed and the battery died.
And then Gray just broke. Like there had been glaciers of pain inside him, and seeing the water just pushed all of it out -as if keeping quiet for even a minute more would absolutely kill him.
Gray shivered, hiding his face in his knees, body curled up against the city of Magnolia, facing the expanse of water. The clothes that he had picked up while leaving Freed's house still lay next to him, wrinkled in the sand.
So when Siegrain came, and didn't ask anything -why are you not wearing clothes? why are you sitting alone like this? why are your eyes so swollen? -as if he already understood -he stood up and followed him to his car.
Tired, Gray slumped against the seat. He sighed, but that simple breath seemed to sap him of his remaining energy.
The blue haired youth noticed this. "Coffee?" Siegrain asked, his voice different. Different from Freed, from Laxus, from fucking Natsu.
Oh god, Natsu.
Gray shrugged, looking out the window at the night sky. It didn't really matter to him anymore.
"Whatever." Said Gray in an unfamiliar, toneless voice.
a/n: I just wanted to say that I love Gray. And also all the support that I've received from this place.
And also that in the last chapter I did not mean to come off as a homophobe by pointing out how Freed was generally perceived as a 'bottom' and actually liked to bottom. In this story, I wanted his character to struggle with that -which I think is a job I'm not doing well -because things like this happen in real life, when we stop ourselves from doing something because we don't want to fit into another person's perspective, no matter how much we like it. That being said, thank you so much for pointing it out.
I have written stuff here in my initial years in the fandom which is very, very problematic and downright shameful. Please, if you see me going that way again, do point me out.
Also thank you all so much for the reviews. I know this story isn't much, and even my effort is half-hearted. And yet. You all have supported me and this means so, so much to me.
Thank you.
I love you. Please love yourself. Right now I'm at a bad state mentally, but I'm trying to come out stronger with more positivity, and I hope you do the same for yourself if you are in a similar situation.
Please review!