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“He always had a habit of hoarding”
Gabriel smiles through the fit of tears, coughing a bit. Something to make him smile at least. That’s all you need at a time like this.
Gabe felt like it was too soon. All of this. Not just the funeral and the division of his stuff, but Jack's life. It was too soon for him to be gone. He’s lost plenty before, those of his that died in the war. Those he had lost when he was running as a child. Those losses hurt him, but none could hurt like this.
“Do you think this is all trash? I mean it all seems very memorable on my end.” Angela didn’t think it was right to throw any of this out, but she knew the greaving process all too well.
“Not all of it, no. Some of it, deffinatly” he wasn’t too up for most of this. Any of this actually. It had been days since Jack was put into the ground. Days since he saw him last.. Days since-
“Gabe I am so sorry but I didn’t look at the time, I really have to go”
“Okay”
“Are you going to be okay by yourself? Im sure Ana or Amelia would come by if-”
“Just go”
Tears had already formed back into his eyes. He didn’t want to be alone, but if she had to go she had to go. The only way he knew how to show he cared was to be firm. That’s something Jack always said he had liked about Gabe. One of the reasons he had fallen in love with him.
Sitting on the bedroom floor, now completely alone, is something he hadn’t experenced in years. It’s something he honestly never wanted to experence again. He thought he might have been able to spend the rest of his life with Jack. He had been hopeful of it. Continuing his fold of Jacks pressed button up, something stopped him.
That’s when he finally lost it.
Gabe didn’t even cry at the funeral. He couldn’t. He didn’t believe it was real. How could he? All of it wasn’t real. He could close his eyes right now and see Jack's smiling face right in front of him, breakfast on the bedside table and Jack muttering the words “you had another nightmare”.
Gripping the shirt tight, the silk pressed in between his knuckles, he shifts his fingers a little, back and forth to feel the threads. Pushing his nose against it. Taking the breath in was a mistake. The sound his tears made hitting the shirt.
The solid sound of silence aside from his sniffling now.
Back moving to hit the edge of the bed frame, which admittedly hurt, he could hear something out of place. He knew every sound this bed frame could make. Especially from the headboard, which seems to be the location for the new sound.
Debating with himself on which to check or not, he moved for it. Rocking the loose bed back and forth a bit to pinpoint the exact place the noise came from. It sounded small, it sounded.. Light.
Gabe without hesitation shoved his hand down between the bed and headboard. It squeezed, and it was tight, but it gave him some comfort. His fingers could feel something softly textured. It wasn’t anything familiar to his touch. His fingers shied away at the touch, but he pushed forward. Sliding what was seemingly a small box between his pointer and index finger, he slowly brought it up.
Curling it into his palm he repositioned himself to his spot. Buried in various things of jacks. From his shirts to his books. Now it was all just memories.
Gabe could tell. He knew what it was, and now it was burning in his hand. One finger at a time, uncurling, left a small black box in his hand.
His right hand moved to glide the top, really feeling it once more. Taking a breath in he pried it open.
He never really liked diamonds. Jack knew that.
But What else is an engagement ring made of typically?