Work Text:
Commander Gabriel Reyes was fidgeting.
It had been first noticed by the aids that came by to deliver datapads. The normally stoic Reyes was tapping his stylus on the desk, shifting in his seat and bouncing one leg as he sat scrutinizing the tablets before him.
The aids had scampered out of the room as soon as he dismissed them. The moment the pneumatic doors closed, the whispers began.
Did something happen? Was there a mission ? I don’t know
Maybe someone died? I bet it has something to do with the UN.
Gabriel had to resist rolling his eyes, his unusually exceptional hearing picked up on the whispers. Aides were gossips, plain and simple. It made sense, with overwatch being so big, its mission and reach of influence brining them into contact with more than just omnics. Some of the rumors were clearly wild fantasies. If he had to listen to one more cadet ask if he had really captured a yeti . . .
Wandering eyes flickered over to the clock on the pad he held. He still had quite some time to wait out.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Working in a hanger was HARD.
That’s what you had miserably thought to yourself as you lugged yet another box from one end of the hanger to the other.
When you had joined overwatch, you had thought maybe you’d be on missions or something right? Something exciting! Something that would make a difference!
But that had been before you had failed the fitness test.
To be fair, many many people had failed the test so it wasn’t like you were alone in it or something, you had actually made it to being one of the last 50 people to collapse mid-course.
You distinctly remembered on that day one guy had tripped and fallen at the start line. He had stayed on the ground, faceplanted, while everyone stared. He had slowly gotten up ,dusted himself off, and promptly left the field without another word, but the look of abject horror on his face said everything.
So, as it turns out, cadets who have no outstanding skills in any particular STEM field get randomly assigned to on base jobs across the globe. Least it was free travel, right?
Although you did sleep on a bunk with only a footlocker to keep your personal items, Gibraltar was definitely worth it. The scenery was breathtaking, and practically every shift you were taking selfies with the backdrop of the tremulous ocean behind you.
The only thing you could really complain about (besides the food) was the fact you had been assigned to the hanger only to fill a mandatory human to omnic quota.
Embarrassing? Yes. But at least the omnics had been very polite about it, well, as polite as they could be in the circumstance.
As it turned out having (1) real human permanently assigned to the hanger had been a blessing. As much as people believed (or hoped) that human omnic relations were improving, that didn’t stop a few unscrupulous humans from giving their fellow omnic coworkers an exceptionally hard time.
They had (with great relief) turned over dealing with these individuals to you, which you were more than happy to oblige. Because of how limited you were in your carrying capacity, or you know, all around strength, sometimes there was very little for you to do.
And all of that had led to you helping the pilots with light maintenance and restocking the drop ships. The were a very chatty and interesting bunch. Over lunch they would tell you about various missions they had been on, and what had happened, who’s fault various accidents were.
Maybe you could be a pilot? That seemed pretty cool.
Of course, it was when you had been restocking a dropship, you had met the Blackwatch Commander. The particular dropship was dedicated for the spec ops group, so an unknown walking on board after everyone had left ,raised his interest, and his ire.
“What are you doing here?”
Nearly jumping out of your skin you had turned around to face him, your reaction making him furrow his brows even deeper.
Stuttering and stammering you meekly gave out an explanation, and after he had verified with the hanger foreman, he had actually sought you out.
“I wanted to apologize for startling you” He said, his face much friendlier now. The scowl he had worn before was enough to make anyone stop in their tracks.
“its fine, really”
He was like day and night. The memory of seeing him before, a veritable stormcloud, had put the fear of meeting him again in your head. Seeing him now, honestly apologising, his face lit up, he was. . .
He was ridiculously handsome.
You had inadvertently stared at his face the whole time he explained how he didn’t usually scare cadets that weren’t his the first time they met. To say the man was well built, was an understatement. You had never seen someone so buff before. He was literally triangle shaped.
“ well I better be off” He finished, and he had turned to leave, when you had suddenly blurt out
“uh yeah! see you later!”
He looked over his shoulder briefly.
“Nice to see someone’s eager to see me again” he said with a smile
You really wish you could look back at this moment and be satisfied you had said something cool or alluring, but what did come out of your mouth was a kind of choking sound that Gabriel graciously took as a good bye.
Obviously there had to be some higher power cursing you.
Over the next few weeks you had begun to see Commander Reyes much more frequently. Often, he’d be coming back from some clandestine mission, looking tired, with some rag-tag group of soldiers. One of them in a ridiculous cowboy hat had tried to hit on you when you were assisting refueling the jet. A very indignant and apologetic Commander had dragged him away after that.
It was late one night, as you worked the in the semi-dark of the hanger, that you had thought you had heard something. You had dearly hoped it was not a rodent of any sort, not that you were squeamish or anything but the thought of a small animal suddenly lunging out of the dark to scurry away was enough to make you jump and yell. Two things you were expressly not wanting to do.
Inching around some boxes, you peeked over one side to see . . .
Commander Reyes.
He was sitting out on some stairs that were adjacent to one of the choicer views Gibraltar had to offer, but he wasn’t looking out at it at all. His gaze was somewhere around his feet, his head in his hands. He seemed like a man with the world on his shoulders.
His wonderful giant shoulders
Trying to move as quietly as possible, you took a step back to give him some privacy. As soon as you moved he had immediately looked up.
“ oh,uh”
An awkward silence fell between the two of you. He did not seem to be in the mood to explain what he was doing, and you were too nervous to give any excuses.
“I was just about to- “
“don’t let me bother”
There was a pause.
“go ahead” he said
“no no” you had implored “ I interrupted you “
The ghost of a smile had edged around his mouth as he glanced over at you and then at the view, his mind clearly still on other things.
“Are . . you alright? . . . “
Looking up at your question, he thought about it for a moment before speaking.
“ No, I’m really not, to be frank about it.”
“oh”
More silence
Slowly and carefully, you crossed the distance between you and the commander and sat down next to him. The quiet seemed so loud to your ears, the rushing water over the rocks the only sounds to be heard in the twilight.
“ I can’t really talk about it.”
“I figured.”
Glancing down at your feet as you shuffled them in place, you spoke again.
“we don’t have to talk about it, I could just . . .sit here and keep you company. . . “
To this day, Gabriel Reyes didn’t know why he did it. There were a thousand reasons not to, but in an instant, he had made up his mind and he was sticking with it.
“I wouldn’t mind that at all... thanks.”
And the two of you had sat there, as the orange and red tones of twilight gave way to the dark and the stars, unmoving on the stairs as Gabriel silently wrestled with his mind and you sat next to him, as closely as politeness would allow, feeling the warmth of his body on your side.
Over time, the two of you shared many evenings like this. Sometimes in silence, sometimes he would ask about what happened in your day and you would fill the silence with many many words about what this person did, or what happened with that order, or so and so said that. You had gotten worried that maybe your nattering would annoy him at some point, but he seemed thankful for the distraction, for the simplicity that an average job offered and the mundane going on’s. It seemed to keep whatever it was on his mind at bay.
One evening he had startled you when he took your hand in his and examine it.
“What happened here?”
“oh uh” you nervously said “ I kind of burned myself with one of the machines today when it overheated and I accidently touched one of the pipes.”
Saying nothing he traced the burn on your hand, seeing it but not really seeing it, you wondered what he was remembering.
“You should try to be more careful.” He said, his voice impossibly gentle.
Turning your hand, you had clasped it together in his.
“ I Will.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
He thought back to the day you had first encountered him. It had been, a very very bad day, with a very bad mission in which everything that could possibly wrong, did.
The weight of everything that had happened, and the thought of its future consequences had hung heavy in his mind, distracting him to the point where he nearly didn’t hear feet approach him.
When he looked up, it took him a moment to realize who it was.
(y/n).
He didn’t know why he enjoyed your company so much, feeling you next to him as he brooded on the day. You inching closer to him to stay warm, and him pretending not to notice. It was wrong to take solace from a common cadet, but feeling you next to him did ease his mind just a bit.
And he took it. The shred of comfort that you brought, the momentary fleeting and welcome distraction of hearing about your day. Especially on days where everything seemed especially dark, he would look forward to sitting with you, hearing about your day and hearing your voice.
He tried not to think about how much you had grown on him. The way your face moved as you talked. Even seeing you in the halls made his mood momentarily spark up at your sight.
This would either end very poorly, or very well. Regardless, he was choosing to gamble on the slim hope it would end well.
Which led to this. The last few minutes of his shift ticking down. He had never been a clock-watcher but today was different.
Slowly, and inconspicuously, he gathered up the days documents and put them away, the picture of a man clearly not in a hurry.
He was an excellent actor after all.
Had any eagle-eyed cadets been in the office at the time, they perhaps would’ve caught sight of the commander slip something into his pocket from the desk drawer before he left the office and made his way down the hall. His feet already knew the path, so he allowed his mind to focus on other things for a time.
His feet stopped.
He looked around to find himself at the hanger. He knew you would be here somewhere. He had not been here for a few days, as to not raise suspicion among your coworkers.
Last Wednesday it had been valentine’s day. He had been out most of the week on a quieter mission to Numbani and missed the occasion completely. He had tried, and failed, once again to not think of you on the mission. But the sight of young couples in love walking past as he has stridden to the consulate had broken through his resistance.
He’d never be able to take you outside like that, like an average person would. No outward signs of affection or acknowledgement. Sometimes, when he was sitting next to you, he felt regret at this. You deserved someone who could show you how much you meant to them every day, without fear of repercussions.
That was something he could not give.
But this, he could.
Seated once again at your shared meeting place, he had taken your hand and pressed something gently into it.
“I’m sorry .... it’s not much . . . but I hope you like it.”
Opening your hand, you found a Wooden Turquoise Beaded Bracelet sitting on your palm. Silently you had traced the edges of it, as if unsure or studying it.
Ordinarily, the bracelet would’ve have Catholic Saints of some sort on it, similar to the one his abuela had given him before he had with much regret, broken it in this youth. He had opted to get one with small oval polished pieces of shell in place for the images of the saints.
When you had said nothing, a very old but familiar feeling of anxiety bubbled up in his chest. Perhaps (y/n) had expected something else? He should’ve gotten something more extravagant.
As these thoughts crossed his mind, you turned to face him. He was surprised and taken aback to see your eyes glassy, on the verge of tears.
“ I love it.”
And you fully embraced him, hugging as tightly as you could muster as tears began to roll down your cheeks, pressing your head into his chest and feeling his body under your arms.
With only a moments hesitation, he had returned the embraced, his hug much tighter. Comparatively, you felt so small to him, he dwarfed you in every physical aspect. And though he knew better, thought he knew the thought was undue, sometimes he was worried you might break. He saw and experienced so many things in his work, he was worried that one day it might follow you.
But for now, he selfishly took this moment for himself. He ran his hand in your hair, feeling you cry into his shirt, your hair smelling wonderful.
Briefly he wondered if he should say something else, something to let you know what you meant to him.
But,
Neither of you said anything, you didn’t have to. He knew exactly how you felt, you wore your heart on your sleeve, and you knew how he felt in the small, modest acts of affection he gave you.
The both of you stole and hoarded these quiet secret moments, perhaps selfishly. But maybe,
Maybe the world wouldn’t mind, if the two of you were selfish.
Just this once.