Gajeel is deeply emotional, he just doesn’t necessarily express it in a way that can really convey that. He has anger issues, but anger is his safety blanket. Anger is rigid & sharp, and it doesn’t leave room for pain, because you can think your way around pain and find reasons to make you angry instead. And it overrides it.
Re: his anger - it stems from childhood almost entirely. We’ll gloss over the fact that he lost both of his fathers, one not too far apart from the other. His step-dad died soon after Gajeel & Ryosuke were given up as child-soldiers to slay Acnologia ( for the greater good ). And Gajeel had wanted to be angry at Farrin for dying on them now; now that they needed him to stay and care for their mother, and for Aveline. Needed him to be their pillar. But after that, they lost the rest of them, too. And all he had left was Ryosuke. He lost everything too soon, along with his choices, because the world needed to be saved so damn badly. Gajeel wasn’t sure if he ever finished processing everything over his training, but he didn’t dare to ponder too deeply. He was afraid to trigger the tears. And what was he supposed to say to Ryosuke? Did he even understand what had happened? Could he comprehend the concept of death? He hadn’t known what to do other than to be there, and not die on Ryosuke, too.
He had been young when those things happened, and he couldn’t possibly process one thing after the other. He had not wanted to leave his family behind to secure a future, he had wanted to stay and do whatever he wanted. Losing them meant there was nothing keeping him tied to the present, but he was still so angry that he hadn’t had the choice. They couldn’t put some damn grownups up to this? So yeah - he’s angry, about a lot of shit that he doesn’t even recall. He just remembers knowing to stay steely, and unflinching. And that it’s better to be angry than to cry for some reason that he cannot remember anymore, so he can only assume that it’s because it’s weak.
( it’s better to be angry than it is to cry, because he’s the big brother. And he has to be strong, so that his brother can grieve until he’s emptied out ).
