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After living with Gabriel and touring with Ana, Reinhardt, and Torbjorn for several years, he thought he'd seen everything. From the time Ana thought it'd be hilarious to borrow a monkey named Hammond from the zoo, to the time he saw Reinhardt drunkenly waltzing with a small hammer, and the time he saw Torbjorn get teary eyes as he flipped through some old photo book, only to discover it was filled with various pictures of guitars: he swore he'd seen everything.
What he didn't expect was to walk in to see his boyfriend grossly sobbing on their couch while listening intensely to...something.
Jack wasn't sure what to do. He’s seen Gabe cry quietly and attempting to be as out of sight as possible. Those were times where he either gave him space or asked quietly if he wanted him or someone else around. If he did, he'd sit close and let Gabe choose if he wanted physical comfort or just a physical presence.
This on the other hand, was something else entirely. While he had been thinking though, Gabriel finally noticed he was standing there. He grinned and waved him over, taking out his earbud and pointed to it.
“Jack. Jack! Married! They got married !” he sobbed out happily. He pulled Jack into a tight hug.
“Oh uh, congratulations on the happy couple,” responded Jack awkwardly. He patted Gabe’s back, “...who…? Got married?”
“Carlos and Cecil!” he exclaimed. “The episode has literally every single guest they've ever had, even Erika, toasting them and celebrating their marriage! This is the best thing since Carlos came back from the desert!”
Jack smiled softly at Gabriel. The man gave off such an ‘edgy’ vibe and people thought he was tough as nails. And with the way he acted around groups of new people, Jack could agree then.
But the man also was a huge nerd who loved telenovelas completely unironically, has to stop in the streets and attempt to lure out a cat he somehow spotted in the distance, and who cried over goofy scientists and radio show hosts. It was endearing, and Jack couldn't help but fall just a bit more in love as they sat together and finished the rest of the episode.
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When Jack thought he’d seen everything, he swore he'd seen everything. But he never expected to walk into his new house to see his son crying while...tearing at a handkerchief?
The teen was definitely listening to something, and it seemed like he just walked in on the tail end of him quoting something. Oh, now he’s humming.
He felt like he recognized it from something, but darn it all. What is it?
“Uh, Jess? What are you listening to?” he asked. “I swear I’ve heard it somewhere before.”
Jesse jumped a little out of his seat and quickly paused and hid his phone. He also wiped his face as best as he could.
“N-nothin’ no how, not listenin’ to anythin’!” he said quickly, his cheeks were flushing.
“Jesse, it’s okay, I was just curious because you’ve been listening intensely to something the last two weeks and I feel like this is one of those things I'd actually know.”
“I-it’s just a podcast, sir,” the boy replied stiffly.
Oh no, not the sir thing dammit, Jack thought. “Just call me Jack, kid, it's okay to be into these things. Gabe dragged me through Night Vale hell and he still loves it. He even got me into a few others, there was one about a ghost hunting power couple who were nearly always drunk…”
Wow, did that bring back memories.
“You listen to Beyond Belief , s--er, Jack?”
“That's the name of it!” he paused, realization hitting him. “ Sparks Nevada: Marshal on Mars ! That's what you've been listening to! Of course you'd like the cowboy western series.”
Jesse looked away and flushed, “It’s a good show.”
Jack chuckled and sat down next to him, “Damn straight it is, it's been ages since I’ve even listened to the theme. What part are you at?”
“Oh uh...I just got to the end of ‘Red Alert’ and well, yeah…”
Jack nodded solemnly. “That was a hard time, even worse because the audio was so bad,” he stopped and made a decision. “Hey, so since I’m making dinner tonight, how about we plug that into some speakers so we can both listen? It's been a too long since I've listened to any of the episodes and I know Gabo will want to listen too when he gets home.”
“Really?” Jesse asked. “Yah don't think it’s weird that I was crying over some fictional space alien?”
“Jesse, I’ve seen Reinhardt flex for a full minute in front of a group of paintball jerks that kept shooting at him while Ana just pointed and laughed for even longer. You getting emotional because Croach’s nah-noh-tech wasn't working is in fact, the most normal of things.”
Jesse smiled softly, and boy did Jack’s heart melt just a little further.
“Okay,” he said. He paused, “and uh, hey. Thanks.”
Jack choked and laughed. When Jesse glared at him a little he replied, “Okay, next show you're listening to is Welcome to Night Vale . Your d--er Gabe will be happy to introduce you to it.”
So Jack and Jesse listened to the next few episodes of Sparks Nevada and Gabriel walked in to the two of them singing at the top of their lungs. They didn't notice him, so he joined in to do the background chorus just as loudly. The other two burst into even louder laughter. When they had calmed a little, he walked over to Jesse to ruffle his hair and kissed Jack on the cheek.
Jack grinned, but shooed him off, they'd agreed to switching food duty every night because of their after school activities. Gabe laughed him off and went to sit next to Jesse at the dining table.
He saw the two exchange a few words and he could tell the boy had just asked him about his favorite show because of the way Gabriel’s eyes lit up.
Turning back to the stove he smiled to himself, it was tough at times with emotions and money, but each time small things like this happens, he could feel himself love his family that much more.