Work Text:
It had been Angela's idea to have an 'overwatch valentines party.' Jack, of course, thought it was a waste of time. Though he was sure it would prove good for morale. Valentine's day always struck him as one of those waste-of-time holidays made to make money.
Of course, he had been single for what felt like forever. Maybe if he were still in his 20s, he would have fancied it as much as the younger members.
Angela had truly gone all out. The staff lounge was blindingly pink, covered head to toe in themed decor. The sight was enough to make Jack feel out of place, still in his uniform and clutching a tablet he planned to use as a means to finish some overdue work. He was painfully aware, as all eyes turned to him, that he was 'late to the party'. Angela, Ana, Reinhardt, Torbjorn, and-ugh- Gabriel all stared at him as he shuffled to take an empty seat.
"Jack! I'm so glad you could make it. That's... not a work tablet, is it?" She had a polite chirp edged with razors. He cleared his throat and slipped it into his pocket.
"Of course not." He protested. "Just ah..."
"Of course Jack brought one, he never turns it off." Ana teased, taking a sip of wine. Angela poured one for Jack, which he begrudgingly accepted despite reservations. "Torbjorn was just telling us how he met his wife. Quite the romantic affair."
Torbjorn waved his hand. "Well, you don't woe a woman like that without putting romance into every step. Jack, do you have anyone yet?"
Jack knew it was a half-assed attempt to change the focus of attention, but his ears burnt anyway. "Just because it's a Valentine's Day party doesn't mean you get to pry into my personal life. Nice try, though." He huffed, downing his wine in one drink. Angela topped him off politely but shifted uncomfortably.
"That's a no," Gabriel muttered, gaining snickers around the table. He caught his eyes, mirroring an equally aggravated glare.
"Hush, now. I believe most here are single, are we not? We shouldn't single Jack out." Angela said, leaning forward and putting down the wine bottle. "I brought some party games and baked cookies!" She was talking fast, and Jack was able to distinguish the fluster in her voice. She was always saving the day from awkward social situations, but he wondered if she didn't expect this if she invited both him and Reyes.
Gabriel and Jack used to be so close. But their only interactions in and out of Overwatch business were filled with dagger-sharp coldness. He couldn't remember the last time they had spoken pleasantly. But they certainly used to. Jack couldn't get exactly how pleasant they had been together in the past out of his head. Yet it was an unspoken taboo neither of them would break.
Jack hid his face in his wine glass, Ana eyeing him suspiciously for a moment as he poured another drink.
Gabriel would just love it if Jack dropped off the face of the earth, he was sure. He didn't think it was hyperbolic, either-Jack represented Reyes's shortcomings as a soldier, and as a friend, among other things. Somewhere along the lines, between staring so intensely into each other and resisting the temptation to touch and the constant headbutting, something in Reyes had changed. He had a sneaking suspicion it had to do with his new pet recruit-one he had protested join in the first place-the biologist. Or the coincidence was simply that. And Gabriel had simply been this way for a while, his guilt and shame and hate for Jack beginning to build a tower between the two.
Before Jack knew it, the wine bottle had disappeared and was replaced with a second. He wasn't even listening to the room anymore, sitting silently and staring at the ceiling. He wondered if Gabriel ever missed him. They were always around each other, sure, but did he miss his touch, his attention, the lengths he would go to defend him? Dedication despite never a promise of anything. It wasn't Gabriel's fault. It was Jack, youth's stupidity that still sometimes strangled him. That, and Jack refused to be a home wrecker. A nobility that, he could only admit to himself with the help of alcohol, he regretted. What kind of person was he?
Would this have ever been different? even going back as far as his appointment to command, and Gabriel's infamous demotion, the formation of Blackwatch? It didn't matter at this point, and Jack was tired of asking himself the same questions in circles. He had bigger issues.
"Jack." Ana's voice cut through the room sharply as he went for another refill. "Don't you think you've had enough?"
The room was silent. Jack let out a shakey exhale. "I need to go, I think." He stood, retreating from the awkward situation. cowering away like a dog getting smacked. He could feel Gabriel's eyes burning holes in the back of his head, even over Angela's suggestion to drink water that she shouted desperately at him as he exited.
He rushed to the staff bathrooms, relieving himself of the six cups of wine running through his system. Turning on the water to wash his hands, he instead splashed an assault of cold water on his face. He stared at the man in the mirror, droplets running down his cheeks, jaw, and forehead. He noticed, for the first time in detail, the crow's eyes. His slightly receded hairline. The stain of age on his features.
He hung his head, with a pained sigh. He jumped when the door opened, the last man on earth he wanted to see entering.
"What the hell do you want, Reyes?" He furrowed his brow, voice low. It was a struggle to keep it steady. "Can you give a guy some privacy?"
"It's not a private bathroom." He pointed out. He crossed his arms, stepping closer before changing his mind and retreating. "Amari pulled me aside and dug into me. Said I should go and apologize. I don't even know what I did, but here I am."
Damn it, Amari. Jack cursed Ana under his breath. So tuned into the subtlety of human interaction, yet somehow here she managed to be tone-deaf. "I don't need anything from you, Gabriel. I'm tired."
Gabriel's eyes darted over him. Something in his body language was different. Less aggressive, but not relaxed. Like a cat's ears laying on the back of its head, cautiously approaching a situation it might have to make a quick retreat from. Something socially submissive, but not receptive. "Jack, if this is about-"
"Oh, it's always about you." Jack snapped, throwing his hands up in the air. "Get this, Reyes. I've been playing these games with you for years now. I'm getting pretty sick of it." He found that a lid on his anger had been loosened, and now was tipped over, spilling out his lips like the wine he had drank so fervently to forget it. "Every single thing with you is like a damned puzzle! You can't keep pretending to be coy!"
"Jack, I don't-"
"You don't what, Reyes? Don't understand what I'm talking about? " Jack found himself pushing Gabriel into a corner as he stalked up on him, ready to clock him in that painfully strong jaw. "You're an ass, Reyes. You hate me because of the promotion from Years ago, then you can't stand being without me, then leave me stranded because you're guilty-guilty I made you a failure of a husband."
The last sentence finally broke whatever patience Gabriel had for his beratement. Jack couldn't care less when he was grabbed and aggressively pinned up onto the wall as Gabriel resisted what Jack assumed was the urge to strangle him alive. The furious snarl satisfied something inside him. He opened his mouth to taunt him more, to hurl more insults to rub salt into his wounds, before Gabriel crashed his mouth against Jack's.
Jack froze, unable to process what was transpiring over the sudden intense flutter in his chest. a rush of blood pumped through his veins, making him dizzy as he involuntarily memorized the feeling. His rough lips, his hot and equally inebriated-breath, and the hand that let go of his shoulder and grabbed his face in a caress that felt more uncouth than gentle. And, for fuck sake, he just had to kiss back.
Gabriel's tongue slipped into his mouth as his hand mirrored doing so up his uniform. Jack tried to keep up, grasping Gabriel by the collar of his shirt to stay steady.
"And here's the thing about you, Jack." he had pulled away much to Jack's annoyance, now whispering in his ear and beginning to kiss the exposed skin on his neck. "You are just pathetic. "-his hands undid Jack's belt-"So damned whiney,"-he had a calloused hand pawing at his embarrassingly hard cock-"I cannot stand it." Stroking him, slowly, sucking on his skin to leave a mark that would be seen by everyone. "You got everything, and you can't be satisfied. You have to cry about me because you can't stand not having what you want." Jack rutted into his hand, biting his lip as soft mewls poured from him. More marks on his neck. More friction. "I just hate it. I wish you would just shut the hell up."
And then, nothing. Gabriel let go, slapping Jack's hands away from him. "Are you satisfied yet, Jack? " He growled, shaking his head before leaving Jack alone to slide down to the floor.
And finally, in a grand final to every other feeling, he felt used.
So the tears finally fell.