Work Text:
Come up to meet you.
You lift your foot onto the wooden plank and haul yourself up on the fence, slowly balancing and adjusting so that you could sit comfortably. You smile widely as you watch Allomere, your beautiful black Arabian horse, as he canters around the rather huge pasture you gave him. He slows down drastically to eye the apple in your hand, and you swear you can hear him snort.
You chuckle and wave the big fat red fruit in the air, teasing your horse. Allomere shakes his head, tosses his mane and trots over like the noble he thinks he is. You love him so much.
"There, there," you coo, stretching your hand out for him.
The breeze starts to come at you, almost blowing your brown hat off your head and unraveling your scarf. You hold your hat down with the other hand, willing for your horse to come faster in fear of losing your scarf and your balance.
The cold bites you in the skin, and you shiver. You recognise this.
Allomere is within 3 metres of you, and another few steps would earn him his apple but he stops halfway, ears standing at attention. Your horse lets out a sharp whine in warning and stomps at the ground. You jump off the fence towards him, waving your apple to catch his attention again, "hush."
Allomere blows through his nose, and bites at your blouse, trying to pull you backwards. You laugh at lightly tap his neck, "boy, it's alright. It's a friend. It's alright."
"A friend?" the guest rumbles behind you, "I'm honoured."
Smoke billows from the man standing behind you, black wisps stretching into the air and surrounding the entire being. Your guest hides in the shadows of the oak tree behind the fence, hood up and face obscured.
You glance at the man before turning around to stuff the apple into Allomere's mouth. Startled, your horse hastily bites into it and chews. You tap the side of your horse, "go."
Allomere takes the hint and canters off to the other side of the field, partly in fear.
You turn back around and hop over the fence, your form a reminder of the old days. The stranger, not so actually, stands to his full height and drifts towards you, black smoke swirling around him.
"You don't fear me," he rumbles again. A small smile graces your features, "there is nothing to fear."
Reaper hums, slightly annoyed he doesn't have the upper hold on someone this time. You take the moment to fully observe his appearance. Black trench coat, black accessories, black gloves with silver talons and the famous bone white mask. What a beautiful shape.
Reaper growls and you realise your hand is inches away from his mask. You quickly draw it back. What were you doing?
"Come to visit me again?" you ask, walking past him to the oak tree. Something cold presses against the back of your head and you stop.
"So you know."
"How could I not?" you reply, "you don't even try to stay discreet."
You turn around, the barrel of the monstrous black shotgun now pressed against your forehead. Reaper looks insulted, and you don't know why. He was never a sneaky one in the first place.
"I might be here to kill you this time," Reaper tries to threaten you. His attempt makes you laugh and it startles him. "You wouldn't kill me," you say softly.
The gun drops to his side and disappears in a cloud of smoke. You gesture to your house, "come. I'll make you tea, it's getting cold."
Reaper is stunned but follows you inside anyway, your demeanor towards him making him extremely curious.
You turn the stove on and fill the kettle with water and set it on the stove. Reaper settles rather awkwardly on your sofa, the cushion sinking in rather considerably from all his weight and gear.
The sight makes you want to cry. You sniff it up, trying to make it natural. You feel the man's gaze on you but he asks nothing. You are thankful.
Fifteen minutes later, you pour enough hot water into each mug and then throw the teabags in. You swirl it a little before grabbing both and heading back into the living room.
Reaper watches you like an owl as you settle down beside him rather comfortably, placing the mugs on to the coffee table.
"You're smart," he remarks. You raise a brow. "Making me take my mask off," he continues. You blink and the realisation dawns on you. Oh.
You aren't ready.
"I came here for a reason," Reaper says. You gulp. "To kill me?" you joke, trying to put off the topic of his coming.
His gloved hand rises and a finger hooks onto the side of his mask. Reaper is about to pull it off when you grip his forearm tightly, mumbling frantically, "don't. Don't. Don't."
Reaper stares at you and you shake under his gaze, the hand on his forearm trembling. "What-"
"I know!" you yell suddenly, retracting your hand, "I know why you're here. I know...I know who you are."
Tell you I'm sorry.
Reaper freezes and watches you panic.
You aren't ready for this. You probably will never be. You accepted his death and yet here he is? You had thought you were dreaming when you first caught a glimpse of him in Reaper's form. But you would never not recognise him.
You watch as Reaper raise his hand again to slip his mask off.
The bone white mask falls and disintegrates into black dust and wisps just before it hits the ground. You let out a strangled cry when you see his face.
"Gabriel," you choke, hands reaching out for him. Too long, it's been too long. Too long since you felt his skin against yours, the heat from his body, the comfort he'd provide, the nights the both of you huddled together under the blankets and traced invisible lines on each other's skin.
Gabriel sighs, black wisps escaping from his mouth, and gently grabs the back of your head, pushing you close to him. You sob and whine against his chest, also enjoying the comforting way he's stroking your hair.
"I'm sorry," he starts. You cough, wiping away your tears to sit up and stare at him, "it took you six years!" You punch him weakly in the chest, "six years for you to come out to me on your own! Six years for you to come tell me. And all this while I've been suffering at the idea that you were dead!"
Gabriel watches you with his cloudy brown eyes, as you cry and hit him in the chest. It barely affects him, and he knows you need it to let all the pain out. His claws dig into the sides of the sofa, his own heart in pain watching you break. "I thought you were dead, you asshole!" you continue, "I buried you on my own!"
Gabriel removes his gloves while you catch your breath, tears again running down your cheeks like a waterfall. His hand comes, and caresses your face, reveling in the familiar soft skin. You let out another strangled cry at the familiar touch, fully closing your eyes and weeping.
"I'm sorry," Gabriel says again.
You don't know how lovely you are.
I had to find you.
Tell you I need you.
Gabriel's back rests on the armrest of the sofa, legs sprawled out across and you're in his arms that's wrapped around you. The mugs with the tea has run cold and completely untouched by the both of you. You feel Gabriel's breaths on the top of your head, and you smile slightly knowing that he was real and this isn't some dream. Outside, Allomere neighs at your absence.
"What took you so long?" you finally speak, fingers nervously fidgeting. Gabriel then and Gabriel now seemed to be quite different, and it scares you. The man you know and love, is he still there? Gabriel draws circles on the skin of your hand, calming you, "I was...thinking."
You stay silent, using the time to breathe in his scent, no more of the cologne but at least you still had something to hold on to if he...left again. You also don't exactly know what he is right now, or who turned him to this state. Is he alive? Or dead? Undead?
"I'm sorry I stayed away so long," he continues, "I wanted to hold you again the minute I knew I could but..."
Gabriel trails off and kisses the top of your head, "stuff happened. I had to deal with it first." You shifted, pushing his arms away and sitting up to face him, "and I wasn't your first priority?".
Gabriel growls, and grabs your arm, "you are always at the top of my list, mi reina. That's exactly why I dealt with the rest first. They would have killed you if they knew you were alive."
"Who is 'they'?" you ask cautiously.
He scowls, "Talon. I'm under them."
You snatch your arm back, "Talon? The ones who took Amelie? Who destroyed us?". Of all organisations to involve himself with! Gabriel sits up now, face hardened with seriousness, "they threatened me. I didn't have a choice. Besides," he pauses, "I've got other plans."
"So this took you six years?"
Gabriel stares, "no I was...I was reflecting."
You descend into silence again, looking away. Gabriel reaches out again, to bring your gaze back to him. "I...I pushed you away back then. I was greedy, blinded by my ambitions and work. I thought everything would be fine. I didn't...didn't expect this to happen."
You swallow thickly, recalling the mornings when you found yourself arguing viciously with him, about something you can't even remember now, something so trivial. It had hurt you when he was constantly throwing you aside to do more work and sucking up to the UN's ass.
"So I'm here," Gabriel takes your hand, "to say that I need you. I always did, I just...I wasn't thinking back then."
You shut him up with an aggressive kiss, the urge too great to throw aside now. Gabriel's lips are cold, in fact his whole body is, but you didn't care. He's alive and that is all that matters. Gabriel pulls you closer, ravishing you and your familiar taste.
"Now what's this?" he breaks the kiss to ask, staring down at your left metal arm. You stare down at it too, and you feel like you can still feel the pain.
"The...the Swiss explosion," you swallow, "I was trying to get to you but there was still debris and it fell. Chopped off my arm," you smile slightly. Gabriel looks horrified and equal parts guilty, running his hand up and down your metal one, feeling the cold surface of the prosthetic.
"It's a shame, but it might be good for use later."
"Later?"
Gabriel grins at you. You spluttered, face turning warm, "g-get the fuck out." Gabriel laughs, hearty and warm, and despite the changes to his voice, you still enjoy the sound, it warms you on the inside. He grabs you by the waist and pulls you close again, breathing in your scent. You rest your arms on his shoulders and pat his head softly, taking the moment to feel his mess of longer curls.
"I'm sorry," he mumbles again and you lightly slap his face, earning a yelp from him. "Enough, you're here now. That's all I need," you say softly, pressing a kiss on his forehead. His skin was so abnormally cold, and it angers you to know that someone did this possibly against his will. But he's alive, could you complain?
Tell me your secrets
and ask me your questions.
"So what have you been up to?".
You hum, reflecting about your life so far, six years after the Swiss explosion. You had moved to the UK countryside to hide from the rest of the world and because you'd always wanted to live on a horse farm.
"Well, I moved here, bought over Allomere and a couple other horses, ride out into the forest whenever I'm bored, not too bad to be honest." Gabriel nods, looking a little lost in his own thinking. You sit down beside him again, taking his ice cold hand to stroke his skin. You hear the soft rumble of appreciation and you smile.
"Did you ever...ever see...someone else? Like..." Gabriel trails off, the thought too horrible for him to say or bear.
You look away from him, guilty. His hand trembles in your hold. "I did...once," you admit, "it was at the local bar. But nothing happened." You face him, eye to eye, "nothing happened. I've never let go of you, not once."
Gabriel squeezes your hand in acknowledgement and you sigh in relief. He leans back, finally, and smiles at you, "now your turn. Any questions?"
You have a lot.
"Who did this to you?" you almost hiss.
Gabriel already looks like he's in pain. "The doc. Angela. She brought me back but clearly something went wrong halfway."
You don't know whether to get mad or be grateful. You don't know whether you rather want Gabriel properly dead in a coffin or alive but a little dysfunctional.
"Does it hurt?" you ask softly. Gabriel chuckles, his black wisps oozing from his mouth and parts of his skin. "Yea, it does."
You stick your finger in the middle of one of the black wisps, and it feels cold, like a breeze is constantly blowing at your finger. The wisp curls and twinds around your finger and then your hand, and you swear it feels exactly like Gabriel holding your hand.
"So what does Talon get you to do? What about Amelie? How...how is she?"
"If you'd watched the news, they put me up to stealing some dude's gauntlet. And Amelie is well...she um," Gabriel pauses, a little unsure. You nudged him on. "She's completely different. She's killed many. You know that Omnic monk at King's Row?"
Your eyes widen and Gabriel nods. "She's gone," he says rather coldly.
You finally pick up your mug of tea, deep in thought. The lovely family you'd made at Overwatch through Gabriel had turned out like this, broken and gone. Ana is dead, so is Jack and Amelie is a goner.
You sip your tea, and Gabriel decides to pick his up as well. The both of you sit in silence.
No one ever said it would be this hard.
Oh take me back to the start.
Gabriel spends the night with you, and unlike what most would expect after such a long reunion, the two of you skip the sex and went straight to lying in bed facing each other, just...appreciating each other's presence.
"I miss this," he says, "I barely touched the bed these past few years. This body doesn't need sleep apparently." You nod, acknowledging his words, shifting under the blanket in an attempt to find a new comfortable spot.
"Mine is open anytime," you joke. Gabriel chuckles, a deep rumble that sounds ridiculously sexy. You decide you like his new voice better.
Gabriel grabs your waist under the blanket, dragging you close to him, your hands huddled to your body at his chest and your forehead touching his collarbone. This time he's warm, from the hot shower he had said he wanted to take just before he climbed into bed with you. You understand why he likes showers now.
"Sleep, mi reina," he whispers.
Panic floods you suddenly, and Gabriel stares down at you in curiosity. You swallow, trying to find your voice, "you won't leave, right?"
His eyes widen ever so slightly, but he shakes his head after a while. You let out a sigh of relief, then you snuggle in and sleep, Gabriel's hand stroking your head as you doze off.
...
You wake to an empty bed.
Your heart pounding with panic, you push back the covers and rub to the door, slamming it open.
There's a faint smell of coffee and eggs, and you walk briskly to the kitchen.
Gabriel had stolen one of your oversized dark blue sweater, pushing the sleeves up to his elbow to show off his forearms, and is wearing one of your jogger pants. He looks good, and especially so when he is currently fighting a losing war with the egg.
He is here. He hasn't left.
You weren't dreaming the whole of yesterday.
You breathe in and out deeply.
He turns then, spotting you in the doorway with your hair sticking up in all directions and eyes still a little frantic.
"Buenos días, mi sol," he greets. You stalk towards him, a frown on your face, "you told me you weren't going to leave."
Gabriel's eyebrows go up, "I didn't." You smack yourself in your head. Why are you bringing this up? "You weren't there when I woke up. I thought...I thought you..."
Your paranoia has to be understandable. He can't expect you not to freak the fuck out when you don't see his face in front of you first thing when you wake.
Gabriel doesn't react the way you thought he would, instead just looking a little sorry and giving a sheepish smile. You breathe out again and walk over, snatching the pan from his hands, "let the lady handle this."
He cracks another smile at you, proceeds to hug you around the waist and settle his chin on your shoulder as you wiggle your way around, trying to salvage his egg.
You figure out later he was trying to make the classic American breakfast. Both of you end up with mayo egg sandwich in the end. Gabriel is disappointed.
"So, um," you start. Gabriel looks up at you and waits. Your voice is stuck in your throat again. "What...what happens now?" you ask.
Gabriel pauses mid-chew, before starting again and quickly swallowing to speak. "I...I don't know," he scratches his head, "I didn't think much about what's going to happen after I appear in front of you actually."
You decide to take a firm stance. Because your heart cannot take another huge blow and prevention is better than cure. "You're in Talon. No one just leaves Talon. What are you going to do? Are you going to stay? Or...or, or leave?"
Gabriel is stumped. You put your sandwich down, "don't do this to me. Don't...come here, show up in my face, make me so happy that you're alive and then promptly proceed to leave."
The bell chimes, and you frown and search for the clock. Just a little past ten in the morning. You stand, leaving Gabriel at the table and head out of the house through the back door in the kitchen. The wind blows strongly at you as you cross the small distance to the stables. Allomere's head is hanging out of his stall, and he grunts at the sight of you. He must be angry about his breakfast.
You get their food ready, and pour it all into a bucket. You drag the heavy thing out and pour a quarter into Allomere's feed box. The black horse digs in immediately. You head over to Neus and pour another quarter in. You do the same for Silla and Regis.
You feel the abnormal cold breeze blow at you from behind. The horses shift and shuffle from hoof to hoof in fear and the unknown, but you hush them all down, reassuring them.
"You scare them," you say absentmindedly, stroking Regis' neck as he munches on his breakfast, eyes darting back and forth between his food and the ghostly stranger. Gabriel lets his wisps settle back into his body and watches you as you walk around the stables, mumbling things to your horses. Your eyes settle on the black saddles and bridles that you have hung up on the walls. You turn to face Gabriel, "do you know how to ride?"
Gabriel looks frightened. You decide to take that answer as a 'no' and a 'but I want to try'. You beckon him to follow you. You lift one black saddle and dump it in his hands before you pick one up yourself, before grabbing the bridles.
You show him how to saddle up a horse, using Allomere as an example. Gabriel grimaces when you slide your finger into Allomere's mouth to get the bridle on.
You lead him to Regis' stall and watch as he tentatively slides the saddle on. You chuckle, because Gabriel is more afraid than he should be. When it came to the bridle, Gabriel mumbles a curse before he slides his finger into the horse's mouth, slipping the bridle in. Regis grunts.
"You got it," you say. Gabriel nods weakly.
You lead the horses out of the stables, and pause just outside the tree stump. You help Gabriel up on Regis before skillfully climbing up on Allomere. On your own. You flash a rather cheeky arrogant smile at Gabriel.
"It's like driving a car, Gabriel. Squeeze with your legs to get him walking. Pull on the reins to make him stop. Pull your left hand to make him turn left. You get the idea. Just not too rough, please. They're my babies." Gabriel nods, and squeezes slightly. Regis starts to move and Gabriel tenses immediately.
You laugh, urging Allomere to catch up and then slapping Gabriel on the back, "ease up! Regis is gonna have a hard time moving like that."
Gabriel visibly tries to relax, and Regis snorts. You trot up ahead of Gabriel, and pull on his reins to direct Regis for the moment. You had created a path in the forest after you've been going down the same area for 6 years, and you decide that it'd be easier for Gabriel to relax.
"Go with the flow, Gabriel. Feel him move, let yourself settle in with the rhythm," you say.
You let go of his reins and Gabriel doesn't react. The path comes into view, and the trees are branching away, welcoming you two. Allomere turns, and you look back to see if Gabriel can follow. He pulls his right hand back with the reins, and Regis follows his lead. A smile blooms onto his face.
After that, he levels up to a trot. The both of you make your way through the trees on the dirt paths, passing by beautiful clearings of green grass and sometimes, a single willow tree in the middle. But these were not your favourite.
"Where are we going?" Gabriel asks, getting a little sore from all the bouncing around. "Soon," you say.
You can see the end of the trees now, and you urge Allomere to canter over. Gabriel says something in protest of your speed but you hear nothing of it. Allomere breaks through the last of the trees and stops.
You wait for Gabriel to reach. The look on his face mirrored yours when you first found this place. His posture is relaxed, and you smile knowing that he's at peace, even if it's for a while.
This clearing didn't just have fresh natural green grass and a willow tree. This clearing had a waterfall.
The water shines like diamonds to you, crystal clear and inviting. The water is cold, but refreshing, always managing to make you feel more alive on the days where you felt like death and despair.
You slid off Allomere, quickly taking off the saddle and bridle so the black horse could splash around.
Regis grunts behind you, getting a little impatient as well, the lure of the water teasing him. You teach and direct Gabriel on how to get off Regis, and he does so with more confidence than half an hour ago. Regis almost bolts off the minute Gabriel touches the ground, but you manage to grab the reins, almost getting trampled to the ground in the process.
"They get like this all the time," you laugh, holding the saddle and reins in your arms as you watch Regis and Allomere splash about. Gabriel shifts to stand beside you and you can feel the cold from his body seep into your skin. "Silla, Regis and Neus get a little unhappy with me sometimes because I always take Allomere here way more times."
"It's not like you to have favorites."
You scoff and then say quietly, "I always had a thing for the colour black."
Gabriel stays silent at your remark.
You walk towards the water, pausing at the edge to slide out of your boots and fold up your white jeans. You step into the water without hesitation, a smile blooming onto your face at the rush of cold water.
The next thing you know, you feel the cold water on your face. On your whole body, in fact. You swim to the surface and breach, glaring fiercely at Gabriel, who's laughing his ass off.
"Asshole!" you yell at him.
He laughs again, pulling off his borrowed sweater and pants, leaving him in boxers. He dives straight in to the water, resurfacing in front of you.
"You could have asked y'know? If you wanted to swim with me that is," you huffed. Gabriel chuckles, "wet is a good look on you."
You hope the cold water is enough to stop the blood from rushing to your face. But obviously not. Gabriel leans in for a kiss, and you momentarily want to forget about everything including the pressing issue of 'what happens now?'.
When Gabriel starts to nibble on your neck, you decide to stop him. "You haven't answered my question from earlier."
Gabriel rolls his eyes, "you're asking this right now? Here? When I'm-"
You splash cold water at him, "yes. I am. Because this is the best place to do so without me throwing you out."
He sighs, releasing your waist and drifting on his back. "I can't leave Talon, that's a fact. The only other option is...like, being...normal? I can just come home to you after a day of work or something."
"You almost made me forget Talon is a terrorist organisation."
"I'll be putting you at risk but...I'll be with you. I can start over. We can start over," Gabriel turns his head to look at you, losing his balance at the same time and sinking into the water.
You meet his hopeful gaze when he resurfaces. You sigh and look elsewhere, trying to think.
On the surface, it looked as if you two had been together for more than a decade. But in reality, it feels less than two years, or one even. Gabriel had been so caught up with his ambitions and goals, and while you were happy that he had something in life to work for, you were always getting neglected and pushed to the side as another option.
So you're being selfish right now, wanting him to come back full time because he did say 'start over'. And by starting over, you thought he'd mean being with you much more than the last time.
Talon is...Talon. It's a terrorist organisation that has no real goals. Gabriel's bound to not make it back home for maybe at most a week sometimes. Even if he did make it back, you suspect he would be injured 90% of the time.
You breathe in. Occupational hazard, you try and tell yourself. Why the fuck did he even agree to join Talon in the first place?
"Mi sol," Gabriel calls. You look back at him and you can't speak. You don't know what to say to him, to his suggestion. You want it but you don't. You reckon you look like a gaping fish above water.
"Gabriel, I..." you start, "I don't know. I really don't. It's just...This is looking like history is going to repeat itself. And what if Talon uses me to threaten you? There's no way we can go on without them knowing about me. You're definitely not going to be jolly when they start pointing a gun to my head to get you to do stuff."
"You could always join Talon."
You gawk at him, "are you mad?"
"I am dead," Gabriel jokes. You grab his arm in an attempt to make this serious, "you joining Talon is already akin to treason considering you were once part of Overwatch. Now you want to invite me? What would Jack think of us? Or Ana? Or all the people that died for Overwatch?"
Gabriel's eyes darken, "is this not about us?"
"What?"
"Is this not about us?" he repeats, "why do we have to care about what others think? I want you with me and vice versa. We can just got for the easiest option. We don't need to care."
"Gabriel!" you yell, "they're a terrorist organisation!"
"We don't need to think about it."
You glare viciously at him. "They killed you, Gabriel. They killed you. Killed you, Ana, Jack, Amelie...countless others! They killed our friends! How can you go to them? How can you expect me to go to them?" you hiss.
Gabriel meets your stare, "Ana and Jack are alive."
You stare. "Don't fuc-"
"They're alive. I met them."
Again, you didn't know whether to be happy.
"What if we come across them during missions?" you try again.
"You don't need to be on frontlines."
"Then where do I go?"
Gabriel looks frustrated at this point, "I don't know! Let the higher-ups decide when you get there!"
"What if they decide to get me brainwashed like Amelie?". That stops Gabriel. "And you'll refuse, of course. Then they'll point a gun to my head and threaten you with my life. Something like 'she'll die if you don't be a good boy, Reaper.' Then what will you do?"
You swim past him to the shallow regions, muscles tired of helping you stay above water. You step out of the water, completely soaked to the skin. Wet jeans isn't a good feeling. Gabriel climbs out after you, and you're momentarily stunned by his body, the muscles and curves.
"I don't know, then what do you want me to do? What do you suggest?" he argues.
You throw your hands up in the air, "that's why I said, I don't know! Gabriel, god," you pause, turning to look at him, "I only ever wanted you to be with me, so we can live together in peace. Peace!"
"Then maybe you shouldn't have invested so much into this relationship," he retorts. You freeze at his remark, anger and pain flaring. "Don't," you warned.
Gabriel carries on, words pouring from his mouth with no control, "maybe I should have never let you in. Maybe I should have let you go when all I could focus on was work. Maybe you should have left a long time ago. Maybe you should have stopped hanging on to me. Maybe you should have let go when I died! Maybe you should have just gone home with that guy at the bar!"
You are stock still, hair and clothes dripping wet into the emerald green grass. The bright colours of the region and the weather are mocking you. You should be furious, if not, heartbroken. But you should be giving Gabriel a tight slap to the face. In fact, you need to. Because the last time this happened, he disappeared for days. And you can't have that now.
Gabriel's face softens into pure horror at what he'd said. You raise your hands, trying to tell him not to go. Not to leave. That you can talk this out. Like adults.
But Gabriel is never one to deal with this kind of thing the proper way. So he runs and hides.
"Gabriel, please," you beg him.
But he's gone in a cloud of black smoke and wisps.
Tell me you love me.
Come back and haunt me.
The kettle whistles and you rise from the sofa, hurrying to turn the noisy thing off. You grab a cream coloured mug and pour the boiling hot water in. You take out your stash of Lipton tea and dunk one teabag in, stirring a little. Lipton tea never fails you.
You bring the mug to your living room, setting it down on the coffee table and settling back into the sofa. You have the holo TV on the first channel, showing old movies from the distant past. You can't believe that this was considered high definition back then. It makes you laugh.
You switch to the news channel. The news reporters are going crazy. You turn the volume up. Apparently there were multiple explosions all over the world. Mountainous regions, underground, in the cities. Huh. You find it sad that you don't find such news shocking anymore.
You drink half of your tea before you stand, grabbing an apple from the fruit basket in the kitchen and heading outside to the pasture. Allomere and the rest are frolicking around, digging holes in the ground and whatnot. You sigh, all the trouble you have to go through to fill them up again.
You wave your apple in the air, and catch the attention of Allomere and Silla. They are the only two who fancy apples. Neus and Regis avoids them like the plague. It's funny.
The roan and black horses race each other to you, and you laugh heartily, joy in your heart at watching your babies having fun. It also pains you to know that they won't be around forever.
Silla reaches you first, mouth open and teeth ready to bite down on the red fruit in your hand when a cold breeze rushes at you. The cold breeze. You haven't felt it in three years.
You throw the apple to the ground, making Silla and Allomere fight for the bloody thing because your first priority now is something else.
Gabriel shifts into form under the oak tree, quickly taking off that bone-white mask of his off in an attempt to say something when you gave him the best slap across the face you can. Gabriel chokes at the impact and you swear you hear your horses whinny.
"How dare you!" you scream at him.
He rubs his face before raising his hands in genuine surrender, "I know I-"
"You don't, you son of a bitch!" you raise another hand to punch him but he dodges. "How could you just fucking ghost off like a coward after that? How could you leave me after you literally just came back?"
Gabriel watches you fume at him. "And yea! I'm a fucking idiot for still hanging on to you, okay? And I don't know, maybe it's because I can't look at anyone else without seeing your stupid face?"
"Mi sol," he tries to stop you. But you raise both hands, flashing him the finger. Times two. "Fuck you," you spit at him.
He laughs loudly at that one, and you want to punch him for doing so. You're about to say something again when he grabs your hands, squeezing them. '"I can stay," he grins.
That has you stopping, confused by his words, "what?"
"I can stay. With you. Full time."
You frown, "I don't suppose you...you just, asked them?"
"Well, I blew them up."
What the fuck.
You gape at him, "excuse me?"
"The media is a little late but the explosions were Talon bases. I got together with Jack and the rest. Did you know they recalled all Overwatch agents? Winston has this thing going-"
You grab the collar of his black trench coat, "you are not joining."
"I know!"
"You're staying with me."
"I know! I know!"
"I fucking hate you."
"Bah," Gabriel chuckles, his voice rumbling the way you like it, "you love me."
I'm going back to the start.