Archive of Our Own

Gabriel liked going to large, expensive parties. He liked the large variety of food in sizes small enough to try everything. He liked the gowns and tuxes. He liked giving his tailor something else to work with besides his usual fair. He liked the sophisticated confidence people put on for the night, which was particularly interesting because Gabriel being a man in the position he was in knew how earned that confidence was for most everyone in the room.

Gabriel was still settling in his new role as Commander of Overwatch’s covert-ops division. As such, he’d taken the time to memorize a dossier of all the expected guests in attendance. There were a few he’d seen that he hadn't recognized, but he’d look into them later. He wasn’t at this gala for business anyway. This had been a rare personal invite.

Gabe pretended to look around but he knew exactly where Jack Morrison was. He’d seen him not even a minute after he’d stepped into the room, eyes immediately looking for the blue suit he’d inevitably be wearing. Not dress blues. Overwatch was trying to move away from its military image, even though that was still a sizable portion of the “peace keeping” force. However, Overwatch’s members were identifiable by their blue uniforms so Strike Commander Morrison would predictably be wearing the color.

The navy jacket fit just right on his wide shoulders and muscular arms, and on one of said arms was Yuan Xu, a Chinese diplomat to Switzerland and Jack’s girlfriend of 11 months.

She looked sleek in her white dress with modern navy accents to match Jack’s suit and a short, practical haircut, not a hair out of place.

Gabriel felt a familiar twinge of disappointment looking at them, but quickly pushed it aside. They were the ones who had invited him as a plus one since they’d both received an invitation. It was unexpected, but Jack had insisted that he needed to socialize with people who didn't have kill counts. To which Gabriel had given him an unamused look but had said yes because he was in the mood for canapé.

He walked up to the happy couple. Jack noticed him first and eyes lit up when he smiled at him. Gabe felt the sides of his lips lift further up, drawn to that smile.

“Gabe! You made it man, and look at you all dressed up like a grown up.” Jack’s eyes swept from his freshly cut hair down to his leather shoes and Gabriel felt himself preen at the attention.

“Says the man who had to put on his tie three times to get it the correct length,” Yuan spoke up from his side, rubbing a hand up his bicep. Gabe raised his eyebrows at Jack. Even though Gabe didn't regularly wear one, he could tie a passable half Windsor with his eyes closed, in the rain with no sleep and knew that Jack could do the same. Had seen him literally do it in Manila when the battle had been done and so many laid dead and there had been time, for once, to honor them.

“Hey now,” Jack chuckled lightly though red had crept up his neck as he turned to his date, “maybe I was distracted imagining you in this dress tonight.”

He pulled Yuan away to give her a look over much like he’d done to Gabe, but with an leering smile on this time. She giggled and hit him lightly on the arm, giving him a knowing look.

“Real smooth there Jackie-boy,” Gabe grumbled, turning a smile to Yuan to greet her, “but you do look beautiful tonight Yuan.”

“Thank you Gabriel. You look handsome tonight. I don't think I’ve ever seen you without your hat.” She pointed to her head as she says it. It was kind of adorable and he tried not to feel annoyed by it when Jack gave her that fond look.

“How are you doing, Gabriel? Are you busy with work?” She asked while also gesturing for one of the staff toward her. He waited for her to finish before he answered, noting that she’d correctly ordered him a gin and tonic.

“I keep myself busy. I get so many contracts with Overwatch it's almost as if I never left.” Gabe gave Jack a placating look to which Jack looked smug, both of them keeping cover.

The story to the public was this: At the end of the Omnic Crisis during the start of phase two of Overwatch, Jack was promoted to Strike Commander over Gabriel who had been the Commander of Overwatch during the Crisis. Gabriel had not taken that well, had a falling out with Morrison, and left Overwatch to work as a contractor in private security. All of that was true except instead of leaving Overwatch, a bag had been thrown over his head and he’d ended up zip tied to a pipe in a dirty basement in Munich. One week later he was in Overwatch’s Berlin base with a job offer and a room full of concerned friends.

“You know, you could just cut the middleman and join up again. I know a guy who could get you an interview.” Jack joked and Gabe huffed.

“You need a secretary, Morrison?”

“They're called administrative assistants, and yes, I could use one. You offering your services?” Jack smirked slyly and Gabe glared at him.

“I gave enough of my ‘services’ to Overwatch and they still gave my job to you,” Jack stiffened like he always did when Gabe brought the promotion up to antagonize him, much to the pleasure of Gabe’s sense of schadenfreude, “No, I’m fine just collecting a paycheck from your organization.”

Something fiery lit over the quick sadness in Jack’s eyes which Gabriel met with cool indifference just to piss him off. Jack took a step forward and Gabriel squared up his shoulders, but whatever was about to happen was stopped by the arrival of their drinks.

“Danke,” Yuan said to the server, handing Jack and him the brown and clear filled tumblers respectively before picking up the flute of champagne for herself.

“Enough about work, boys. We have more important things to talk about. Gabriel,” she eyed him slyly and it made him want to look down and see if he’d spilled mustard on his shirt that nobody had bothered to tell him about, “You’ve been staying in Switzerland for an awfully long time. Certainly that means a man has caught your eye.”

“I-uh, no.” His instinct was to look at Jack, but he kept himself from doing so, “No, just work.”

“Oh, pity,” she replied, sounding far too distracted to be genuine. Her eyes looked past him and gestured for someone to come over. “Gabriel, there’s someone I’d like you to meet.”

A man walked up from behind him, brushing Gabriel’s shoulder as he passed by before going to greet Yuan with a kiss on the cheek.

“You look beautiful tonight, my dear Yuan,” the man said as she smiled brightly at him, “the most beautiful woman here, yes?”

The stranger looked at Jack at the end of his question and Gabe couldn't help turning to see how his friend reacted to this man flirting with his girlfriend. Jack wasn't a possessive kind of guy, but he couldn't stand losing people he cared about or seeing them hurt which gave him a protective streak a mile wide. That he’d only given the man a dopey smile told Gabriel that this man wasn't a threat to Yuan or Jack’s relationship.

“You got that right,” Jack replied, turning that dopey smile to Yuan and she beamed back at him. All at once Gabriel had somehow become a third wheel with four people. Fantastic.

The man turned to face Gabriel.

The man was only a couple inches shorter than Gabe. He had slightly unruly, curly brown hair, hazel eyes, and an infectiously easy grin. Gabe found himself blinking at him, a little overwhelmed at suddenly having the full attention of this exuberant man.

Yuan stepped up to save him.

“Gabriel, this is Xavier Reina, a liaison for the Cuban government and a close personal friend.”

Gabriel looked from Yuan to Xavier, curious about the man as he stuck out his hand to shake. Gabriel had never heard that name. The man hadn't been in any of his dossiers. He was a riddle waiting to be solved which only peaked Gabriel’s interest.

“Xavi, this is-”

“-I know who this is. It's a pleasure to meet you, Commander.”

Xavier took his offered hand and twisted it gently so that Gabriel’s knuckles met his lips.

Gabriel’s eyebrows rose quicker than he had time to notice he'd done it. For one terrifying moment his mind seemed to just stop before panic set in for two reasons 1) Getting hit on by a charming stranger at a fancy party was the last thing he expected but also a teenage fantasy come to life and 2) Only a select few people knew he still held his rank as Commander.

“I’m,” Gabe cleared his throat, mouth suddenly dry. He took a sip of his drink. “I’m not a Commander anymore Mr. Reina.”

“Maybe not, but it wasn't that long ago, right? You've got quite the reputation. We’ve healed enough of your men in the Crisis to know that. And please, call me Xavier.”

Xavier’s words mixed in his head and formed together into a more comprehensive picture.

“You're from the Ministerio de Salud Pública.” Gabriel’s eyebrows rose again but he felt himself relax. It made sense that Xavier would know him from his previous life if he’d worked for the Cuban Ministry of Health. Xavier nodded his head in the affirmative and Gabriel smiled at him. “Then I insist you call me Gabriel. Your country’s advancement in biotic field technology saved a lot of our asses.”

“We can all be grateful for that, Gabriel.” He gleefully, if subtly checked Gabriel out, the attention making Gabe’s skin feel hot. “But you can thank me with a dance.”

Gabriel...didn't know how to handle this. This whole scenario caught him off guard, as things rarely did. He'd come to this party expecting to stuff his face, eavesdrop on conversations, and pine pathetically after Jack. Being hit on by a charming stranger wasn't part of his plan, and Gabriel liked going by his plan. Not that he couldn't go off book, but he’d never run into a scenario like this before. A weaponized vending machine shooting cans of soda at people in a nursing home, sure. This, not so much.

Gabriel looked quickly from Xavier still holding his hand (why hadn’t he noticed that he’d never let go of his hand?) to Jack on pure instinct. The useless idiot had his eyes closed, the hand Yuan was rubbing on his arm soothing some unknown thing in him. Gabriel kept his eyes on Jack, mentally willing his former Second in Command to look his way and it seemed to work when Jack turned a confused look at him. Yes, welcome back from happy couple island jackass, a conversation is happening.

Gabriel let his annoyance show as he asked Jack what to do using only his eyes. Jack fucking Morrison rolled all two of his goddamn eyes at him and tilted his head away to indicate that Gabe should go with Xavier. Gabriel lingered on him for half a second, long enough to see Jack’s reassuring smile before turning back to Xavier. The exchange took all of six seconds, but it was obvious that he, a grown man, had just asked his best friend if he should accept an offer to dance right in front of the man who’d asked. This was getting more embarrassing by the second.

Gabriel looked at Xavier’s expression to see if he’d changed his mind about asking him to dance, but all he saw was the same cocksure expression that said that Xavier was just waiting for him to say yes. It was astonishing. Gabriel took a deep breath to calm himself before he spoke.

“I’d love to,” he breathed out, an awkward smile following. Gabriel immediately wanted to do a tactical retreat, but instead Xavier lead him to the dancefloor with the hand he was still holding. Gabe barely had the frame of mind to set his mostly full gin and tonic on an empty table.

When they stopped on the dance floor, Gabriel felt a hand slid to the small of his back, their combined hands moved up as Xavier anchored him in. From some dark corner of his mind, Gabriel remembered to put his hand on his dancing partner’s shoulder.

When they moved Gabe felt like he was ten again, trying to learn the dances for his cousin’s quinceañera, but the strength in Xavier’s arms and the assured balance in his steps made Gabriel’s body move to Xavier’s more experienced movements. The man was a great lead and was definitely making the both of them look good. The connection made a thrill of fondness spread through Gabe’s body that he could only equate to being on the battlefield and knowing that somebody had your back. It felt freeing. It felt powerful.

He hadn't realized how widely he was smiling until his dancing partner commented on it.

“Como la salida del sol. You have a beautiful smile Gabriel Reyes. How is it that no one has swept you off your feet?”

The question was so ridiculous that Gabriel had to laugh at it, just a short string of chuckles that petered off awkwardly when Xavier didn’t join him and instead continued to look at him with curiosity. It made Gabriel pause. Xavier’s feet bumped into his as Gabriel misstepped before getting back into the rhythm at his partner’s insistence.

“Either you’re giddy off my charm or I’m not doing enough for you to take me seriously.” He closed in the space between him and Gabriel so that Xavier could speak softly next to his ear. The proximity sent a thrill through Gabriel. His mind was too distracted to properly think about why he’d laughed, to examine it from every angle and analyze it from a distance like he’d like, but he knew Xavier’s reasoning wasn’t correct and far be it from Gabe to not correct him.

“No that’s not it,” he said too quickly, “either of them. It’s just-”

He wished he could properly think, so he reached for the most surface idea in his head.

“This is not something I expected to happen?” was what came out much to Gabe’s exasperation, but he continued, hoping that whatever word vomit came after would make his response more dignified, “I mean, there hasn’t exactly been a lot of opportunities for romance while fighting a war and I’ve been doing that or training to do that since I was 18. Believe me, not a single Bastion Unit offered me a dance while we exchanged fire.”

Xavier hmmed as he turned them around and moved them across the dance floor.

“If you’ll excuse my boldness, I can’t help but notice that your friend Jack was in a similar situation, and still managed to get the interest of Yuan who, believe me, is not an easy lady to hold the attention of.”

At the mention of his friend’s name, Gabriel’s eyes went searching for him, still able to find him even after he’d been moving every which way on the dance floor. Surprisingly when his eyes found Jack, he was already looking back. Jack flinched at being caught staring but didn’t look away, even though Gabriel knew he wanted to. Instead his mouth set in a serious line and his chin went down just so, a protective stare that said that he was watching and ready to do whatever needed to be done to help Gabe should a situation go south. It was surreal seeing it away from the battlefield and Gabriel felt like laughing again.

Since the announcement that the Omnic Crisis had ended, the present had been bleeding steadily into the past, creating something almost surrealy recognizable at times. Those moments always brought into sharp focus that the world he'd lived in his entire adulthood had irrevocably changed.

Gabriel moved his eyes over to Yuan, a silent signal for Jack to stand down and turn his attention to something else that required his attention more than Gabe did. He felt like a rock was sitting on top of his chest as Jack gave him an uneasy smile and turned to his girlfriend. Gabe turned his full attention back to his dancing partner.

“Jack is different,” he spoke softly, trying not to increase the pressure in his chest and reply to his dance partner at the same time.

“I don’t see how, except of course that you are far more handsome,” he said and Gabe could feel the stretch of skin against his own cheek as Xavier smiled what Gabe was certain was the same flirtatious smile he’d been giving Gabriel since he’d met him. Gabriel felt himself chuckle again, but his smile lingered as some of the weight had been lifted.

“Jack,” he paused for a moment, “he was always going to have someone like Yuan. I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone more eager to be in a relationship than him. The war ended and he wasted no time. He’s loyal and devoted and one of the best guys I know. He deserves to have someone like her.”

“Hmm, and what do you deserve Gabriel?” he asked, stopping their dance as the song ended, clapping for the band playing and looking up at Gabriel with patient eyes. The empty space that was now between the two men felt too conspicuous and Gabriel found himself missing the surety of Xavier’s movement, the respectful closeness of his body. The music started again, but instead of answering his question, Gabriel held out his hand for Xavier to take.

He stared into Gabriel’s asking expression quiety. A blink of his hazel eyes and he had taken Gabe’s hand, spinning him around once before pulling them back in their dancing stance and began to move him once again. Gabriel relaxed into it.

He felt eyes on him again, thinking that it was Jack so he looked back at him, but Jack’s attention wasn’t on Gabe but on an older couple (The Numbani Minister of Energy, Mobolaji Taiwo, and his wife, the brilliant omnic technician Korede Taiwo). Jack was blowing his cheeks out and stretching out his finger in a gesture that obviously meant explosion. Yuan was moving her hands like she was doggie paddling. Jack put an excited arm around her waist as they told the story together, and for the first time in a long time Gabe felt a keen want for that. He wanted someone to anchor him into this new world of peace, to have something he hadn’t dared hoped he’d live long enough to have. Not the pipe dream that Jack presented, but something real.

“You never answered my question,” Xavier spoke, the deep murmur in his ear pulling Gabe’s attention yet again to the man. Suddenly this dance felt more dire, like Gabe actually had something immense to gain from it and therefore something to lose. It made Gabe’s nerves stand at attention. When he didn’t answer, Xavier spun him around and pulled him close again.

“Nevermind. You don’t have have to answer. I will just have to find out how to give you exactly what you deserve,” he spoke clearly and Gabe pulled back a little so he could look at him, sparkling challenge in his hazel eyes and a flirty smile that Gabe was just noticing made the sides of his mouth dimple. He looked pleased at what must have been an astounded look on Gabriel’s face and Gabe let out a relieve chuckle. Maybe he was giddy.

“You are too much Xavier. If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were trying to get into my pants.” Gabe grinned.

“I will be more than happy to dance with you all night, but if you keep smiling at me like that I may try harder to, as you say, ‘get into your pants’.”

“Maybe I’ll let you,” Gabe responded feeling nervousness seize him as soon as the words came out, “after the dancing and after I try all the food you pulled me away from.”

Gabe furrowed his brow and looked to the side, annoyed at how much worse he was at being even a fraction as charming as his dance partner.

Xavier spun him two time this time before pulling him close again.

“Then you must try the strawberry and beet consume,” he murmured in Gabe’s ear, “It’s at the table near the British Consulate General, who after a few more drinks will surely spill all the details of the affair he had with his Hungarian maid and give away his mother’s oatmeal cookie recipe.”

Gabe laughed out loud at that, making sure that he was facing away from his dance partner so as not to yell in his ear. It stopped their dance and a few heads turned their way, but Xavier didn’t seem to mind so Gabe couldn’t be bothered to care. He grinned at Xavier, a more reckless thing than before.

“You really know how to tempt a man,” Gabe said, putting his left hand back on Xavier’s shoulder and slotting the fingers of his other hand into Xavier’s. Xavier wasted no time putting his hand on the small of Gabriel’s back and moving them back into his steady rhythm.

“I am well motivated,” Xavier replied with an excited grin instead of his normally flirtatious smile. Gabe met it equally, somehow more excited for the future.

----

One late night and one long morning in a hotel room, an entire day of asking Torbjorn every five minutes when it was normal to get a call back for a date, a full week of seeing every romantic spot in Zurich, a doctor’s visit to get treated for mono, a month of long talks on the phone, and one requisition later and Gabriel had moved to Cuba.

Every cliche and ashamed story he’d heard growing up in Los Angeles didn’t matter. Gabriel had uprooted his life for a man, but he couldn’t bring himself to care as long as he got to hear Xavi talk excitedly about all the medical science Gabriel didn’t understand and see the pleased look that came to his face when Gabe wrapped his arms around him.

Of course Gabriel wasn’t there all the time. The nature of his job required him to travel quite a bit. He’d been given an office in the small Overwatch office in Cuba and he worked from there when he was home, everything he worked on leaps and bounds more encrypted than anything else in the building.

Since he was back in North America he’d gotten a visit from Ana and Fareeha, who lived in Canada with her father during the school year. It had been funny to see tiny little Ana stare down Gabriel’s boyfriend upon meeting him. It had been downright adorable when Fareeha had done the same, more bluntly saying that “she hadn’t decided if he was good enough for her Gabriel.” All it took was an in depth conversation about medical munitions and a piggy back ride to get ice cream for them to warm up to him. Gabe shouldn’t have felt so content with his arm going numb as Fareeha clung to it in her sleep and watching Xavi get frustrated as he lost at dominos to a smug Ana who scrunched her nose every time she took a sip of the coffee that was served to her.

Xavier was the first guy Gabriel had ever had a real relationship with and he could see the appeal so much clearer now that he was on the other side of it. He was also Gabe’s first sexual relationship, not to say he’d never had a sexual experiences before. He’d gotten the occasional blowie or handjob during the Crisis in the few moments of downtime he’d been allowed, made out with countless dudes, and he’d had a deal with Schwartz in the SEP to exchange blowjobs in the showers now and then. He’d lost his virginity to his short term high school girlfriend who honestly deserved a better first time than with Gabe’s clumsy, gay ass.

It was an embarrassing string of inexperience for someone his age. He’d never even attempted penetrative sex before Xavier, but his lover had been patient with him. Gabriel had, of course, researched thoroughly as many methods of homosexual intercourse that he could get his hands on, but that hadn’t eased the hollow, nauseous feeling in his stomach when he was under the judgement of his lover. It turned out that all the research in the world couldn’t compare to Xavi’s light kisses on his skin or him calmly explaining where to put his hands and responding with a pleased hum when he’d done something to make him feel good. It couldn’t compare to unsure fingers twisting and Xavi gasping “yes, there” or the way he’d said his name and God’s in the same tone when they were both so close.

Xavi was his first lover, his first boyfriend, and for eight months Gabriel had never been happier.

Gabriel should have known something was off. He should have known a lot of things.

-----

The office Gabe had been given in the Cuban Overwatch offices looked like nothing different than the ones the staff of contractors and liaisons in the building had. It had a ceiling fan and a wooden desk made sturdy enough to outlive several generations of office decor stylings. The holo-monitors made the white walls glow blue even in the daylight. A small thread in the window’s curtain was sticking out and it annoyed the hell out of Gabriel as the call’s dial echoed in the room.

What was less known about the room was that it had been soundproofed within hours of Gabriel announcing his move, was swept for bugs daily, and had two computers, one of which could only be accessed after a fingerprint and DNA scan. It was the most secure place in the building, which was why here was there.

A bing sounded and a video connection showed a frowning Jack Morrison sitting at his desk in Zurich.

“What the hell is this, Gabe?” Jack asked, holding up a familiar drive.

“That would be a mission request, Strike Commander,” Gabriel answered smoothly, keeping his expression impassive.

“You know what I mean Reyes.”

“Just following the chain of command, sir. A formal mission request must be filed in order for fund allocations to be distributed. I’m doing the work. I want 70% of the proceeds to go to Backwatch funding. I think it’s generous seeing as so much has already not reached our budget.”

“This isn’t a joke Gabe.”

“No it’s not.” Gabe lifted his chin stubbornly as he stared coolly at Jack. Jack sighed, rubbed his eyes with two fingers, and pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Look, I get that you’re angry, but you can’t turn a lover’s spat into a mission.”

“Lover’s spat!” he raised his voice but pulled back immediately into a professional calm.

“Yes Gabe, a lover’s spat. You have every right to be angry, and we can talk about it later through unofficial channels,” he said with a pointed look that promised that was less of a suggestion than he’d phrased it as and it just made Gabriel more angry, “but I can’t approve this ‘mission’.”

“Oh, so you can whore out your agents, but you can’t allow them proper compensation! I’m a commanding officer Morrison. I think I deserve better than that!”

“You are out of line Reyes,” Jack warned dangerously. Boy did Jack just know the exact wrong thing to say.

“I’m out of line?” Gabriel’s voice pitched up incredulously, “Me, Morrison? I’m not the one who brought his friend to a party to sleep with a donor to increase his donation. 30% Morrison! 76,000 euros is a pretty penny. Glad that I fetch such a good price.”

“Reyes, that is the most ridiculous thing I’ve heard. Sure, Yuan had told me that she had a friend she’d wanted to try setting you up with and that was why I invited you to that party, but I didn’t even know if you’d like Xavier, much less that you’d sleep with him that night! I won’t take responsibility for your actions. Why would you even think I would do something like that?”

Jack sounded hurt under his anger and if Gabriel wasn’t so angry he may have been more understanding about it. Jack was well versed in the sex trade, had to be to stop the trafficking rings that increased tenfold after the Crisis. He knew how easily one could be sold into sex slavery, how insidious and well hidden it all was. Jack knew the signs, but so did Gabriel.

Gabriel squared up his shoulders and spoke evenly.

“November 30: first sexual encounter - 30% increase donation.
January 10: the day I moved in with him - Access to Alessandra Gomez’s posthumous notes granted to Overwatch instead of going to auction.
January 12: The first time I’d fucked him - Additional notes on a new prototype Alessandra was working on before her death.
February 14: when he’d convinced me to not use a condom - Two of the best doctors in Havana leave their practices behind for a subordinate position at Overwatch.
March 1: The day I told him I loved him - “

“Gabriel, stop,” Jack’s voice was gentle and Gabriel had every intention of continuing, but his voice had gotten choked up without him noticing, “Gabriel, I had no idea about that.”

“That’s a pattern Jack. Those are transactions and there are so many more. How could you do that to me?” He was being unfair and hated the trimmer in his own voice, but he was feeling too much as he finally said what had been running in his head for days. “Was this always the plan, to be held ransom by how many people Overwatch saves with the Ministry’s resources? Christ, Overwatch’s version of prostitution would be that altruistic.”

“No! No Gabe. Stop being so over- this is nuts!” Jack looked supremely irritated that he couldn’t climb through a projection. “You know I would never put you in that kind of position. Never. I know it looks suspicious, and I know how you latch onto things like this and how well that’s served you, but you know me.”

He did. He had always been able to rely on Jack to look out for him. He knew that Jack would rather chew dirty glass than sell another human being, would do worse before allowing it to happen to a friend, but Gabe was too heartbroken to assure him and the pattern was too damning. Gabriel fell back in his chair and crossed his arms over his eyes.

“Shit Jack. Everything was good. Better than good. But he asked for something in bed that I’m just not into and he mentioned how much I must still love Overwatch and how much progress it could make if a few of the Ministry’s engineers could join the bio-engineering division. Then he offered an exchange and dammit, I couldn’t let that go. I couldn’t-”

A sob stopped Gabe and if it hadn’t been Jack on the other line he may have been too embarrassed to continue, but instead he moved his arms down and spoke quietly.

“And the fucked up thing is that I still love him. I can’t wait to go home and see him.” He looked over at Jack to see a conflicted look on his face. Gabe ran both hands over his face.

“I should have known after Miami,” he breathed out, trying to get his bearings. He focused, for a few moments, on the inflation of his lungs and the air rushing out of his nose.

“What happened in Miami?”

“Hmmm?” Gabe looked back at Jack, not having expected him to speak.

“You said something happened in Miami. I remember you mentioning that you were going a while back, but you never did tell me how it went. What happened?” Jack’s voice was gentle, the blue of his eyes glowing unnaturally in the holo-screen, patiently asking for answers.

Gabriel squirmed in his seat. Why hadn’t he told Jack about Miami?

“It was nothing, just-” he stopped to look at Jack to see if he’d let this go. He was still looking directly at him, waiting. “Xavi rented a beach house for the weekend, right on the beach, not just the style. I’d gone for my normal morning swim and when I came back Xavi wasn’t the only one at the house.”

He paused, remembering the confusion he’d felt seeing Xavier in a suit when he’d greeted him at the door with a kiss, one hand unzipping Gabriel’s hoodie and the other on Gabe’s lower back, guiding him to the living room where strangers sat on the couch.

“There were four men in suits, business representatives from bioengineering companies. Xavi didn’t- I wasn’t wearing anything but my swim trunks in a damn business meeting. He introduced me by rank Jack, sat me down on a chair just so he could sit on me while he conducted his meeting. I know a power play when I see one, but I just felt so humiliated Jack. He’d played it off like it wasn’t a big deal and I let him, I let him-”

Gabe trailed off, the barest hint of regret in his voice, but only because a large part of him wasn’t sorry. It was so much nicer to just hold on to Xavier and fuck into him as he said just how perfect Gabriel was for him. It was so much nicer to dismiss it.

“What the hell Gabriel?” Jack’s outraged voice broke his thoughts, and he looked pissed, not bothering to contain it. “It’s not like you to just...take that!”

Jack’s face turned red with his anger, but then reeled it in, pinching his nose.“Sorry, sorry. I’m just having a hard time understanding why you’re still with him after he used you like a piece of furniture, and this whole misguided thing with doing Overwatch favors obviously makes you uneasy. I get that you care about him a lot, but that isn’t healthy Gabriel.”

“Can it Morrison,” he said with a watery laugh looking at his hands, “you know why.”

“I really don’t Gabe.” His voice was sincere. Gabriel could tell without even looking at him. Gabriel clenched and unclenched his hands distractedly.

“The Crisis is over, Jack. I can barely remember a world where the best I could hope for wasn’t for bad aim when I heard a spray of bullets. Xavier was my chance, my connection to the new, peaceful world. I had a place in it, finally.”

There was a pause of quiet, but Gabe didn’t bother to look up and see Jack’s reaction. Things had been so good.

“Gabe,” Jack said gently, “you’re talking in past tense. Have you- are you planning on leaving him?”

Gabriel straightened at that. He hadn’t noticed he’d been doing that. It was the smart thing to do, he knew that and if he was honest with himself, he had already decided that was where this was going when he wrote that report, but actually going through with it?

“I don’t know,” was all the answer he could give. Jack didn’t say anything about that which prompted Gabriel to turn his head to see his reaction. Jack’s mouth was held in a frustrated snarl, but his eyes were looking off to the side, a look that said that Jack was working something out in his mind. After a few beats he stiffened.

“Gabe, after Miami, did Xavier’s business deal go through?”

Gabe ran a hand over his goatee and thought for a moment, glad to be distracted by the task, but the pause was only for Gabe’s benefit. He knew the answer.

“Yeah it did.”

“Do you know what it was for?”

“It was a joint venture to combine their resources to create a field biotic emitter, one that works quicker and with a wider range than the older models used in the Crisis. They would share ownership of the patent and would coordinate for development and collude for market sales. Why? What is this about Jack?”

“Were they the only ones who were included in the deal? No one outside that room and their companies would know, right?”

“As far as I know. What’s this about Jack?”

Gabe put more focus on Jack, studying his old friend. He was holding himself nervously, stiff like there was something he wanted to say but was holding back.

“Gabe…” he said cautiously, “when exactly did you go to Miami?”

“Jack…” Gabe warned, wanting Jack to spit out what he had to say already. Jack licked his lips and interlocked his finger, a sure sign of nerves.

“I- listen,” he started shakily, but pulled himself together, his hands clenching tightly against each other, “A couple months back, maybe two or three, I was talking to Yuan about you and Xavi and she mentioned how Xavi had a new venture that was going to set you two up for life. She’d said that she couldn’t say what it was, but that she was going to get 20% of production done in China if it went through, but that can’t be right unless the manufacturing for some of the companies is in China.”

The hopeful rise in Jack’s voice set Gabriel on edge

“No, none of the companies are Chinese. They risk losing proprietary information by outsourcing manufacturing to China. I don’t know what-”

“Gabe,” Jack cut him off stiffly, “did Overwatch receive anything from the Ministry after Miami?”

Gabriel stared at Jack’s stiff features, still waiting for some sort of explanation as he let his mind wander to the ‘transactions’ he’d found and he blinked in surprise.

“No, Overwatch hadn’t received anything after that,” Gabriel said wonderingly as a small feeling of hope was suddenly in his grasp. A corner of his mouth lifted up. That only confused him more when Jack nodded solemnly, deliberately not looking at Gabriel. He took a deep breath.

“When you were looking into correlations with Xavier’s ‘generosity’, did you only look for connections to Overwatch. You didn’t look for any other organization?”

“I didn’t think to look anywhere else,” he admitted, feeling a twinge of familiar irritation that he hadn't examined something as thorough as he could have.

“Right…” Jack trailed off like he'd moved on from their conversation to planning his lunches for the week or something.

“Jack just tell me what’s going on, okay dude? I’m losing too much of my shit right now to be nice.”

Jack’s eyes moved up to meet his and he looked so pained that Gabriel just sighed at his response.

“I’m sorry Gabe, but there’s something I need to do. I need to go now. I think there’s more to this than you thought. I’ll need your help sorting things if what I find has any ground.”

Jack was blessed with that deep, grounded voice but it did nothing to hide the tremor in his words. Gabe closed his eyes for a second and breathed out through his nose once.

“So what does that mean for my mission request?” Gabe asked, already knowing the answer but needing to ask for formality’s sake.

“Denied,” Jack answered with the smallest of smirks, only a fraction of its normal smugness present in it.

“Right.” Gabriel conceded. Gabriel and Jack both reached forward at the same time to end the conversation.

“I’ll call you later.”

“Talk to you later.”

Then the connection was ended.

Gabe leaned back in his chair heavily, let both hands fall onto his face, and groaned. He wanted nothing more than to go home and listen to Xavi complain about that mouthy new lab tech and pretend that it didn't grate on his nerves that he'd talk so much about that and nothing about what was driving Gabriel up the wall.

He sat in that chair listening to the whooshing of the ceiling fan, trying to turn off his brain. He settled for a memory of dragging his team post-op to get horchata lattes while still in their tactical armor. Reinhardt had not been pleased, but Torbjorn very much enjoyed the espresso he insisted on getting instead of “that sugary garbage”. He smiled thinking of taping cups with his engineer teammate, ignoring Reinhardt’s grumbles as he precariously balanced his weight so his fully armored body wouldn’t crack the chair beneath him. Jack’s expression had clearly indicated that they should leave, and Ana had gone to the bathroom and hadn’t come back. They’d found out very noisily that she’d fallen asleep in there when an angry line of customers got the staff involved. Simpler times.

Gabriel sat up quickly, using his better mood as motivation to move while he still had it. He’d figure this all out tomorrow and give Jack a call on his private line to see what the hell that had all been about.

The words Jack had spoken early in their conversation, “Yuan had told me that she had a friend she’d wanted to try setting you up with and that was why I invited you to that party”, suddenly went through his mind as if trying to tell him something, but he ignored it, thinking instead of the smell of sweet coffee and his friends’ non-death related misery.

------

Gabe doesn’t like weddings. He doesn’t like the contrived speeches. He doesn’t like the lovey dovey couple. He doesn’t like the amount of floral dresses, only topped in number by high school graduations and holiday brunches. He doesn’t like talking to drunk relatives, his or otherwise, that he’d never see again but would insist on staying in touch.

But he loved Ana and so there he was, at her wedding, invite sitting in the inside pocket of his jacket. The whole shindig wasn’t as bad as it could have been considering that it was held in a hotel just three minutes from Overwatch Headquarters. With the entirety of Overwatch command in one place and unarmed, it was the only option security-wise short of having it in the headquarters which Ana would never let happen.

Gabriel spun Fareeha around, the young girl squealing with a giant grin on her face, holding her arms out in the “airplane mode” she’d favored when he used to lift her like this when she had been smaller. He set her back on the ground after pulling her into a quick hug and grabbed hold of her hands, swinging her arms to the song.

“So what kind of plane are you today Little Bomber?” he asked, feeling a little unsure about the old nickname. Was she even still into planes?

“A Stuka! It’s German!” she said smugly, having come to the conclusion a few years back that anything German was cool, “They were a dive bomber. Dove right to the target they were shooting at!”

“Is that so?” he asked, knowing well what a dive bomber was and feeling the tiniest bit of worry at her exalting a Luftwaffe plane, “So it was something like this?”

Gabriel dipped her down far enough that the tips of her hair almost touched the ground. She squealed and started shaking her arms to let her up. When she was fully vertical again, a bit of unease lingered in her eyes. Gabriel made note not to do that again and grinned at her.

“Sorry, didn't mean to scare you. Don't worry, I won't do it again. I guess a dive bomber doesn’t suit you,” he teased and she pursed her lips to try and hide her embarrassment, but her roaming eyes gave her away, “But a plane belongs in the air, right?”

He picked her up one more time and swung her around, watching her stubborn look fade into glee. Her limbs following the billow of her skirt. She was already a sneeze away from being too big for this, would probably already be there without super soldiers and a certain Crusader in her life.

The song ended and he set her down. She curtsied at him and he bowed, arm across his stomach, bending low enough to kiss the top of her head. She scrunched her nose at him and he laughed at how indignant she looked.

“Gabriel, are you trying to hit on my daughter? Isn't she a little too young for you?” a teasing voice came from behind and Gabriel grinned wider. He stood up straight, turned around, and put an indelicate arm around Ana Amari’s shoulders.

“Wouldn’t dream of it, Captain,” he said at the same time Fareeha whined out “Eww Mama, no!”

Gabriel gaped at the child in faux shock, but she just put her hands on her hips and raised a skeptical eyebrow at him. Gabriel held up his hands in surrender and turned his attention fully on the bride.

“Look at you, an honest woman at last,” he teased slyly. He looked around for the groom and saw that he was awkwardly dancing with one of Ana’s aunts. Ana and her baby’s daddy had been on and off again forever it had seemed, but without a the Omnic Crisis to give them distance their priorities had changed.

“Yes who would have thought.”

Gabriel watched Ana watch at her brand new husband, the soft fondness in her face making her features even lovelier. The look lingered as she turned to look up at Gabriel and he couldn’t help the warm feeling he got from it. He really was so happy for her.

“Well?” she asked, lifting an eyebrow.

“Well what?”

“Aren’t you going to comment on my dress?”

Her look was completely serious and he scoffed at it.

“And why would I have anything to say about your dress, Amari?” he said, already moving his eyes over the details now that she’d brought it to his attention. She scoffed back at him, letting him examine her. The long sleeved, all white dress was simple with flower detailing in the top half. The same detailing was in her hijab, folded up high like an updo with a fake, white flower in it. She was a vision.

“Lace is so old fashioned,” he criticized instead and she laughed, punching him in the arm.

“Always the charmer Gabriel.”

“Gabriel, look!” Fareeha interrupted, grabbing her mother’s hand and trying to move it up for Gabriel to see. Reddish brown stained the tips of Ana’s fingers and created intricate patterns around her hand. Prominently in the center of her hand was an asymmetrical flower, the difference in style starkly different than the rest of her hand.

“Aunt Zahra did most of it, but I did the big one,” she said, puffing out her chest and holding her chin high. Ana ran her free hand through Fareeha’s hair giving her a fond look. Reyes had heard Ana say “I’m fighting to save humanity and my sister becomes a makeup artist” more times than her drunken mind ever bothered to keep count, a more complicated history obviously buried under her petty words. Ana and her sister had started reconciling after Zahra had offered to do the makeup for the wedding, including the henna. With Fareeha being raised in Canada most of the year and with Ana having little to pass down to her daughter other than martial skills, being able to pass along peaceful, bonding traditions to her daughter in their shared culture was important to her.

“That is definitely the biggest one. Good work. When did you become an artist Little Bomber?”

“I’m a natural,” she said, preening even more.

“Planning on becoming a makeup artist like your aunt?”

Fareeha’s pride-filled posture hunched as she placed her hand under her chin and pursed her mouth. She unfolded herself and looked back up at Gabriel.

“Nope. I still want to be a hero like you and my mum!”

Ana sighed and tugged gently on her daughter’s hair.

“Speaking of heroes,” Ana said, moving closer to Gabriel and speaking lower while simultaneously pointing her daughter toward her grandparents. Gabriel automatically put his hand to her side and began to sway because they were both still on the dancefloor and her discreet tone made him instinctly want to blend in. “I need to ask you a favor.”

“Ask” was basically a euphemism and they both knew that, but it was in her nature to be selectively polite.

“What can I do for you Mrs. Amari?” he said twirling her once. She smiled brightly at him.

“You know, you really are a charmer sometimes Gabriel,” she said with her smile just as bright but her eyes turning a bit concerned. She touched his tie and pretended to adjust it, “you’ll find someone who deserves you one day.”

That stopped Gabriel and he frowned. He’d been trying to not think about his ex the entire wedding, really as a courtesy to Ana so that he didn’t bring it down with his sour attitude. His irritation rose as he glared at her.

“The favor Ana,” he demanded and Ana frowned at him disapprovingly but tilted her head over in a direction she wanted him to look. He looked over to the mostly empty bar area. Most people who were drinking had moved to sit at their assigned table. The only people sitting at the bar were a woman in a sparkly red dress, who Gabriel identified as Jack’s personal assistant, and the Strike Commander himself who seemed to be talking the miserable looking woman’s ear off. Gabriel was momentarily surprised that he hadn’t noticed that Jack was there. When had he stopped automatically seeking him out first?

“Please make sure he doesn’t get too embarrassingly drunk at my wedding. I’m sure Charity could use the break as well.”

Ana gave him a small smile and he pushed aside his feelings with a sigh. He moved his head down to kiss her on the cheek and she put a hand on his cheek affectionately before he pulled away. He looked his friend up and down one more time at arms length, taking in the lovely sophistication of her dress, and said “fire your tailor” before heading off to Jack. He heard her scoff behind him and that made him smile.

The closer he got to Jack the more he felt that familiar tug that he wanted to be closer. Jack looked so handsome with his jacket unbuttoned and his tie loose and with that elated smile that so rarely graced his face these days. Gabriel was too damn single for how good he looked.

Charity was the first one to notice him approach, the forced smile on her face turning to him for desperate help even before she could clearly see who she was addressing.

“Oh, hello Gabriel,” she said a little too loudly to direct Jack’s attention away from whatever he was talking about. A whine actually came out of Jack’s mouth as he was forced to turn around and look at Gabriel.

“Of course,” Jack murmured the moment his eyes fell on Gabe and took a drink from his glass. Gabriel raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms at him.

“You got a problem, Morrison?”

Jack snorted into his drink and gestured vaguely to his person.

“Look at you,” he said incredulously, “you’re so…”

He made another vague gesture with his hand, opting to take another sip of his drink instead of elaborating.

“Devilishly handsome,” Gabe finished for him with a teasing smirk. Jack glared at him and Gabe laughed, moving closer between Jack and his assistant.

“I’m here to save Charity. She’s got to look at your ugly mug every other day of the year. Give her a break.”

Charity’s expression turned hopeful but Jack refused to look at either of them.

“Charity likes my company,” he murmured into his glass.

“I’m sure she does. Can’t imagine why,” Gabriel fully stepped between the two, leaning against the bar top. It was a tight fit.

He looked at Charity and tilted his head away, silently telling her that this was her out. She gave him a grateful smile and stood up from her seat.

“I’m a fuckin’ delight, Reyes.”

Gabriel raised an eyebrow at that but it was directed at Charity. Jack didn’t curse in front of women he hadn’t almost died with. She just smiled back at him, clearly unaware that anything unusual had happened.

“I’ll see you bright and early Jack,” Charity said in that even, calm voice of hers, giving Jack a smile and nod before making herself scarce before Jack could say another word to her. Gabriel sat down on the chair she’d left open and asked the bartender for a gin and tonic. Jack watched Charity go and turned to Gabriel when she was out of their immediate area.

“I met the King of Spain on Friday,” Jack boasted just loud enough to confirm that he’d been drinking for a while, undeterred by his assistant leaving.

“No shit?” Gabe asked distractedly, thanking the bartender for his drink. Open bars were a beautiful thing.

“No shit,” Jack replied, eyes widening for emphasis, “and he said that I was a respectable leader and a charming man. He also thanked me for my leadership during the Omnic Crisis, which I graciously took full credit for. Everyone knows SIC does the real work, but since I’m so nice I’ll pass it along to you, Commander.”

Jack raised up his glass to him, an amused smirk on his lips and mirth in his eyes. Gabe paused for a moment to just take in how happy Jack looked. It wasn’t a look he’d had much since he’d broken things off with Yuan. Gabriel laughed to cover up the pause.

“Commander,” Gabe replied back, swirling his hand and ducking his head in a pretentious bow before clinking his glass against Jack’s. They both took a gulp from their drink. Gabe grinned as he lowered his glass.

“Actually I-” Gabriel paused, grin disappearing as he realized that he couldn’t continue their game of one-upmanship. No one but him and the UN handlers that gave him the orders could know about where he’d been for the 72 hours prior to the wedding. Damn it was a good one too. “-I was working.”

There was a beat of silence that Gabriel filled with by taking another swallow of his drink.

“I hate that,” Jack broke the silence, scrunching up his nose like he smelled something bad.

“What?

“That thing where you have to stop talking like you're the human version of those redacted reports that come across my desk.”

“I am the human version of those reports, Jack. Did you think my reports were written by Keebler elves?”

“‘Was gonna ask you if I could borrow them actually,” Jack snarked back which made Gabriel grin.

“This redacted shit is my life now. At least the SEP got me used to an ungodly number of clearances, except now I'm the shadowy puppet master and not the guinea pig.” Gabriel wiggled the fingers of his free hand up and down and said “oooh” like a cartoon ghost.

“As tempted as I'm sure you are, don't put ‘shadowy puppet master’ on your business cards.” Jack tried to give him a level look, but his self satisfied smirk ruined the effect.

“I'd like to see you stop me.”

Jack grumbled and knocked back the rest of his drink. He began to ask for another when Gabriel put his hand over Jack’s empty glass, intercepting the waiter.

“He’ll have water. Bride’s orders,” he said with a knowing look at the bartender. The bartender, to their credit, just nodded, filled a glass with water, and set it in front of Jack. The look of outrage on Jack’s face was hilarious.

“Sorry Jack, but Ana outranks you here,” Gabriel shrugged and Jack put both hands over his heart.

“Betrayed,” he said, but with a little smirk that softened all his ill feelings. Gabe shook his head at his antics, gulped down more of his drink, and turned so that he was facing the wedding. Jack grabbed his water and mirrored Gabriel’s movement.

Reinhardt's loud laughter drew their attention, like it always did. It was surrounded by the less booming but still loud laughter of Ana’s male relatives who had paused in their smoking so as not to choke. Their hands moved frantically as they told stories in a mix of German and Arabic too far away for Gabriel to make out proper words in the languages he only had a passing knowledge in.

“Can you make out anything they're saying?”

“Nope,” Jack replied a little distantly. Gabe turned to look at him, taking in the ever present smirk, the pale discoloration on his skin refreshed with primping for the wedding and lingered too long on the spot Jack constantly misses when he shaves. His eyes were focused on Ana laughing too loudly at something her new husband had whispered in her ear, his hands constantly moving on her body like he couldn’t decide which part of her he liked to touch the most. Ana finally took his hands and set them on her hips just above the point of indecency, grinning at him with a smile much softer than Gabriel expected.

“Who knew Ana would be the one to settle down first?” Jack said, clearly aware that Gabe was watching him.

Gabriel refrained from saying the first thing to come to mind which was “We all expected it to be you”. Instead he said “I half expected her to not go through with it when she told me she’d gotten engaged” which was also true.

Jack gave an amused chuckle at that.

“Gee, I wonder where you got that idea, genius.” Jack’s grin was edging on full asshole as he turned amused eyes on Gabriel, “Was it her constantly breaking up with her baby’s daddy or that time she stole the guy you were trying to pick up in Dubai because, and I quote, ‘I deserve it’”.

Gabriel elbowed him. “You’re such an asshole, Morrison.”

He took a spitefully long sip of his gin and tonic as Jack’s smirk stretched to the point where he was almost showing teeth. Jack took a mockingly long sip of his water to mimic him. Gabriel made sure he didn’t smirk.

“Besides, Ana did me a favor. That guy was trying really hard to get me into a threesome with you.” The choke Gabriel heard was satisfying. “Yeah, awkward. Think he tried the same with Ana. Guess you owe her too since she managed to take his full attention.”

Jack glared at him as his coughs petered off. Gabriel hoped his grin hid the embarrassment that came from bringing up the memory.

“I can’t tell if that was a testament to Ana’s skill or your severe lack of game,” Jack muttered spitefully.

“You’re just jealous that I’m the attractive one.”

Jack scoffed at him and Gabriel put a faux affronted hand on his chest as he polished off his drink. He set his glass on the counter and ordered another one.

“Okay, first of all: please.” Jack said cockilly, leaning back and gesturing a hand from his face and down his body. Gabe followed that hand indulgently if quickly before hiding behind his new drink. “And second of all, it seems to me that it was me that guy was interested in having a threesome with and if I recall correctly, I left that night with that lawyer with those gorgeous eyes, unlike you who went back to base with your tail between your legs.”

Gabriel mumbled a “his eyes weren't that pretty” into his glass which made Jack snort.

“You have zero game man. Just accept it. I’ve never seen you put any effort into making anyone like you.”

‘Except for Xavier’ went unsaid.

“Except for Xavi,” Gabe said. He could tell that the words didn’t compute to Jack at first but when they did he stiffened almost immediately.

“Don’t be like that Jack. Just wanted to remind you that I had a live-in boyfriend for nearly a year. How’s that for game? Though I guess I was the live-in boyfriend,” Gabe tried to say indifferently, but every word came out more bitter and spiteful than the next.

“Gabe…” Jack trailed off, concern radiating off him, prepared to be whatever Gabriel needed at the first signal, just like always. Gabe closed his eyes for a second, getting his emotions in order. Gabriel knew about the secret meetings Jack had with Yuan and Xavi after both of their messy breakups, conveniently done when Gabriel wasn’t in the same country. He knew that Jack had probably threatened to curbstomp Xavi’s whole life if he even thought of being in the same room as Gabriel ever again. Gabriel was more grateful for that than he'd ever admit.

“I’m okay,” Gabe reassured, but the bitterness still sat cloyingly in him and the lie only made it worse.

“No, I take it back. I got my heart broken and it sucks. This sucks.”

Gabriel gestured to the wedding. Jack blinked bewilderedly at him, concern not having gone away. Though it slowly eased away with Jack’s slow smile.

“Ha! Yeah it does! This royally sucks. I usually love weddings.”

“Right?” Gabe agreed.

“I even helped plan it and it’s Ana’s wedding! I should be so happy for her, but I’m miserable and God Gabe, it should have been me.”

A sob escaped Jack and his eyes watered. Gabe wrapped an arm around his shoulders, but looked away from him, offering comfort but with a distance that Jack would be comfortable with. One day Jack would recognize that he and Yuan were never going to work out. He had seen many people like her after the Crisis. People who fled the slaughter of the omnics only to end up with the cruelest of humanity, who did what they had to because they owed nothing to an indifferent world. Yuan couldn’t understand. The losses she and Jack had faced from the Omnic Crisis had shaped their uncompromising ambitions differently. It could never be them against the world when Jack would always be on the world’s side.

Jack’s sudden show of emotion lasted only a few seconds before he blinked rapidly. He ran his hands over his eyes and down his cheeks letting out a nervous “Ah” sound.

He smiled at Gabe in reassurance, but his eyes looked away from his after a few seconds, his shoulders tensing with guilty stiffness. They’d talked about this, so Jack knew that he didn’t blame him for the deal Yuan and Xavi had made. They’d both been stupid and naive about the political game Jack had entered himself into. Gabe hadn’t thought he’d had anything left to be stupid and naive about, but here they were, and despite knowing how Gabe felt, Jack’s protective nature made guilt linger longer than was rational. But hell, who was rational these days?

Gabriel stood up and stepped in front of Jack, grabbing Jack’s right hand in his and tugging.

“Come on.”

Jack stood up and looked curiously at him, a little off balance from standing after his long stint at the bar. Gabe inclined his head to the dance floor and smiled widely at his friend. Jack’s expression didn't change.

“At least one good thing came out of my relationship. Ready to be swept off your feet Morrison?” he challenged. As expected, Jack responded to it like he physically wasn’t able not to. He smirked and stepped forward.

“Lead the way,” he said low and mocking and ridiculously attractive. It just figured that he’d get into a serious relationship, cause an international incident by getting out of that serious relationship, and still be stuck on Jack Morrison, recently heartbroken over the woman he’d planned on marrying and not at all interested in Gabe past their frankly superior friendship. Gabe rolled with it, too used to life’s disappointments.

Gabriel walked him to the dance floor, twirling him into a dip to the upbeat music as soon as their feet were on the wooden square where the main group of dancers congregated. Gabe grinned cockilly as Jack’s expression apeared disoriented and moved him back up slowly so Jack could fully appreciate Gabriel’s victory. When he was vertical again Gabe pulled him in close by the grip he’d had on his back so that there was only a couple of inches between their noses. Gabriel’s grin stayed on as he drank in Jack’s delayed reaction, doing nothing but staring at him with wide, blue eyes. Gabriel raised his eyebrows up and down suggestively and Jack finally came back to himself. He snorted and barked with laughter, shoving Gabriel away. Gabe opened his arms as a peaceful gesture, ready for this reaction.

“That good, eh?” Gabe joked. Jack was still laughing, slightly bent over. It lasted a touch too long, like he'd forgotten how good it felt and was milking it while he still remembered how to do it.

Gabriel gently put a hand on his shoulder, knowing the grounding effect it had on his longtime friend. Jack’s laugh petered off as he straightened his posture. He looked directly at Gabriel, lips pressed tight and curling at the ends, his eyes creased downward and shined in the ambient lighting. The joy radiating off that face dropped happiness in Gabriel’s chest, filling him with an eagerness to keep it there.

“Come here,” he said softer than he had intended, clearing his throat to give his voice volume again. He gripped Jack’s right hand in his left and put his other hand on his left shoulder blade. He moved Jack’s free hand to rest on his own shoulder. The music was some Arabic pop song that he was too out of touch to know and he made a mental note to find out who they were later, but its rhythm would suffice even if the music wasn't traditional.

“Follow my steps,” Gabe said before moving into a basic salsa step. He knew that due to the never ending fundraising galas Jack frequented, Jack knew how to dance many different partner dances, but looking at the top of Jack’s head while he stared at their feet, it was clear that this wasn’t one of them. Gabriel wasn’t accustomed to leading, but to thoroughly understand every dance Xavi taught him he’d learned both ways despite Xavi insisting that it was unnecessary because he’d “always be there to guide him” or “he felt too good moving against him to ever give him up to another partner.”

Gabe focused on the bitterness of those broken promises instead of the painfully gentle reminder of how light Xavi’s words made him feel. He turned his attention fully on Jack steadily getting more natural with the movement.

“Hey, not half bad,” He complimented. Jack glared at him, looked down at his feet, and glared at him again. Gabriel chuckled.

“Don't worry, every invitation to this shindig came with an NDA. No one can legally talk about how you tripped over your own feet at the water cooler tomorrow.”

Jack looked squarely at him, face unimpressed, but he refrained from speaking. His feet were still moving to the steps though, and that was as good a sign as any that the real fun could begin. He leaned in close to Jack's ear, pitching his voice low and quiet like he would on the battlefield when they couldn't afford to be heard and they needed to rely on their shared experience to follow through.

“Follow my lead,” was all Gabriel had said before he anchored his grip on Jack’s hand and really began to move.

Jack stumbled a bit as he was turned and moved across the floor, but Jack was able to return to the step he'd been taught without prompting from Gabriel. He looked as determined as he did when he’d been given orders, and Gabriel had to shake off that feeling of displacement he got whenever his old reality overlapped the new.

Jack’s turn when Gabriel twirled him around was sloppy but he fell back in rhythm anyway. He looked unsure. Jack’s desire to impress every person he’d ever came in contact with had served him well, but he was too novice at this to at least pretend to be great at it. That's okay though. A good lead could make any novice look good.

Gabriel kept Jack anchored, guiding him but allowing him to come to the logical conclusion on where to step on his own. Some of it was awkward but enough of it worked that it really didn't matter, and it was fun. It was so much fun, and Gabriel was grateful that something Xavi had given to him hadn’t been lost in the fire of their breakup.

The music was coming to a conclusion so Gabriel spun Jack three time and dipped him down just like he had when he started, but to the last beat of the song this time. He pulled Jack back up and his partner looked at him with a bright smile instead of the dazed look he’d given him before.

“Hell. Yes. No wonder you-” Jack paused for a moment, obviously redirecting what he was about to say, “-like it so much.”

“Smooth Jack,” Gabe replied, always willing to point out Jack’s mistakes. Jack scoffed.

Suddenly a blast of horns were playing over the sound system. The music was a stark contrast to the clear electronic beats of the previous few songs. The music sounded like it was being played both too far away and too loud to compensate for it, an underlay of white noise beneath bright, muted horns.

Gabriel looked first at Jack since he was standing in front of him, raising his eyebrows at him in regards to the music. Jack scrunched up his eyebrows in turn and tilted his head slightly as if that would help him listen to the music better. Well Jack was no help.

Gabe began looking for Ana and found her smirking vindictively at them. He raised an eyebrow at her, but she just shook her head and let her smirk widen into shit eating grin territory. Jack groaned and thumped his head on Gabriel's shoulder, pulling Gabe’s attention back to him.

“This is because of the dress,” Jack murmured.

“The dress?”

“The dress for Ana’s engagement party,” Jack lifted his head and gave him a dismayed look, “I’d offered to pay for the rental fee as a gift when her sister told me she’d be needing one. Turns out Ana hadn’t wanted a dress and her sister guilted her into wearing it after she found out I’d paid for it.”

Amusement and offense simultaneously rose in Gabriel at the story that had not been relayed to him and the pictures that had not been disclosed to him. He vowed to get more information from Ana’s family before the end of the night.

“How bad was it?” Gabriel asked a trite bit too eagerly.

“It was big and fluffy,” Jack groaned mournfully, putting both hands over his face, “Zahra said it was traditional.”

“So this song…” Gabriel left that for Jack to finish, still not sure how these connected. Jack gave him a stern look like he was a moron.

“Seriously?” His look turned smug as it was want to do, especially on the extremely super rare occasion he knew something Gabriel didn’t. “Have you never seen an old World War II movie? This is pure USO, last dance with my sweetheart type shit.”

That did jog Gabriel’s memory. He could imagine the uniforms, the duffle bags and dogtags, the women in dresses with coiled hair with longing eyes.

“She’s making fun of you,” Gabriel concluded. Gabe turned to look around and found that some of the party guests were looking at them expectantly. Both men moved their heads at the same time to look at Ana who just shrugged at them with a cool smirk and mouthed “It’s traditional” to them, letting the last word curl slowly out of her mouth like she was savoring it. They looked back at each other, Jack dismayed at having had his theory proven correct.

“She didn’t have to drag me into this,” Gabriel murmured, glaring at Jack. Jack tilted his head and gave him an incredulous look.

“Really Gabe, you’re going to pretend you’ve done nothing to piss her off?”

“Okay, fair,” Gabriel replied, knowing that sometimes his lane was unrepentant asshole. The song ended and a new one started, in the same style as the last. Gabriel groaned.

“So that’s how it’s going to be.”

“Looks like,” Jack replied. An easy smile spread across his face and all of a sudden his hand was on the small of Gabe’s back and Gabe was putting his responding hand on Jack’s shoulder out of habit as Jack took his other hand in his.

“Now follow my lead,” Jack challenged and began moving them in a simple box step. Gabriel stumbled in the first few step, his surprise at Jack’s sudden move still lingering, but he caught up quickly since he was already familiar with box steps. Then Jack started waltzing in earnest and Gabe was suddenly a cloud moving across the dance floor. That giddy feeling of relying on someone and having that rewarded made Gabe smile with a breathless chuckle.

It reminded Gabe of mirthful hazel eyes and being told that his smile was like the sunrise.

An uncomfortable feeling itched under his skin. Jack was too big and his hair too straight and smile too subdued. Gabriel was surprised at how strongly the feeling of disappointment lingered. For so many years Jack had been the dream, a great friend and an attractively challenging partner. Jack had never felt wrong before. Gabriel tried focusing on his current dance partner and not his old one, the one who’d lead him so pathetically easily into following his steps. He tried to focus of Jack who he used to find in a room first, who always pushed back, who was not only there for him but wanted to be there for him. As his body remembered a different set of hands anchoring his into their rhythm, he focused on Jack and his blue eyed, blonde haired entirety.

It worked and as soon as he got out of his own head he noticed that Jack’s eyes seemed distant, like he wasn’t really there in that moment and Gabriel understood.

Gabriel was all wrong too.

“Hey,” Gabe croaked out, watching Jack’s eyes refocus to him, “Can we stop?”

Jack tilted his head curiously at him and slowed down their steps until they were stopped.

“Is something wrong?”

Gabe looked away from Jack’s eyes for a second, willing the words to come.

“I miss him,” was as concise as he could make it, murmured softly enough that only Jack could hear him. He raised his eyes to Jack’s, giving him a knowing look. Jack looked chagrined like he’d been caught doing something he shouldn’t have. Gabriel could relate.

“I miss her too.” He had no problem meeting Gabe’s eyes when he said it, and Gabe felt a fond admiration for everything Jack was that he was not. They could talk about this and maybe they would. Maybe there would be late night phone calls and going to nicer places for lunch and catching a game together and gossiping about their recruits and making bets on how long until Ana’s next fight with her husband and all the things to inadequately fill the suddenly vacant space in their lives.

But this wasn’t that time. At that moment people were watching them stand in front of each other on the suspiciously empty dance floor.

Jack’s hands moved to rest on Gabriel’s hips and began to sway back and forth on the ones and twos. Gabe gave him a questioning look and Jack just shrugged.

“School dance?” was the only explanation. A surprised laugh shot out Gabe, dissolving the tension clouding his thoughts. Well at least there were no memories attached to his ex relating to that. Gabriel wrapped his arms around Jack’s neck and flipped his head back and forth, imitating a hair flip with his military regulation shaved head.

“When are you heading out, soldier?” he cooed in a sweet tenor. Jack chuckled as the lady singing the song sang about delightful pale moons and being near her sweetheart.

“Not for a while yet,” he chuckled.

“Where are they sending you?”

“Switzerland,” Jack replied with a fond smirk, “Where are they sending you on the warfront, soldier?”

Gabriel gasped in mock surprise.

“Well wouldn’t you know it, Switzerland as well.”

“You don’t say?” Jack said in equally feigned surprise, “Well I’ll be. That’s real groovy.”

Gabriel opened his mouth to continue but stopped himself to break his act just to make sure that his expression conveyed how dumbfounded he was that those words had dared to leave the confines of Jack’s mind much less had the gall to pass Jack’s lips.

“I’m pretty certain no one was saying ‘groovy’ during the second World War. It's from the 1960’s or 70’s I think.”

“No, I’m pretty sure I saw a movie where they were saying ‘groovy’ during that era.”

“Well you’re wrong.”

“Agree to disagree.”

“I mean, it’s fact, but if you want to be wrong your entire life then why not?” Gabe smirked and Jack smiled back. Gabe leaned a little closer into Jack’s space, savoring the lightheartedness his presence gave him in stark contrast to just a minute ago. Instead Jack’s hand was shoved into his chest.

“Hey,” Jack said, barely keeping a straight face, “save enough room for Jesus.”

Gabriel took a moment to just stare at him as he processed what the grown ass man who he’d fought in a war next to had just said to him.

“You’re joking,” he deadpanned, clearly disgusted.

“Nope,” he replied sarcastically, “When I said school dance, I meant school dance. Did you not have that rule?”

Gabe leveled him with a condescending look.

“Of course I had that rule. I went to Catholic school.” Gabe waited for Jack’s involuntary and inevitable chortle that happened anytime he mentioned what kind of schooling he’d had and only when it came and went did he continue. “We just ignored it. And why is it so funny to you that I went to Catholic School?”

“Gabe you’re a gay man and I know what you do for a living. It’s a little funny.”

Gabe rolled his eyes.

“Boy do I have a thing to teach you about the Crusades.’

“I’m familiar enough with the Crusades, thank you.”

“They didn’t say ‘groovy’ then either.”

“Now that would just be silly.”

The song ended with an elongated ‘You’, achingly lovely. It’s the point in the movie where the two protagonists would kiss and part ways, one going off to war and one staying behind, both longing to return to each other. At Ana’s wedding, the music switched to a shaabi song and Ana’s family swarmed the dance floor with Torbjorn, surrounding the two with cheerful noise.

“So when’s Jesus taking this spot? I’m down to awkwardly grind up on him if he’s offering.”

“Ha!” Jack laughed and punched him in the arm.