Tired Jack - Blossoming
Mar. 10th, 2013 01:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
moonshadowsThe day after Valentine's Day, Jack woke up nearly as happy as he'd been when he went to sleep. The warm, tentative affection of the 13th had been more than enough to make him content with the way his life had turned out, but yesterday...
Jack had been awakened by Gabriel kissing him - slowly, tenderly - and upon seeing Jack's eyes flutter open, he'd pulled away with the biggest, happiest smile Jack had ever seen on his face and said, Good morning, sunshine. Welcome to the first day of the rest of our lives and Jack had pulled him back down for more kissing. Good morning, love, he'd said shyly when they broke apart, and when Gabriel blushed, he didn't think either of them would ever stop smiling.
He rolled over, admiring Gabriel's sleeping face before leaning in to leave a trail of gentle kisses up his jaw. Gabriel grumbled sleepily at him.
"Morning, love," Jack murmured. "What would you like for breakfast?"
Gabe froze, eyes opening slowly as if he couldn't really believe that yesterday had happened. Then he smiled shyly. "Biscuits and ham and cheesy eggs and all-the-sins cake."
"It's seven sins cake," Jack corrected with a light kiss.
"It's the best cake ever and thank you for not letting me eat it all yesterday so I can enjoy it again today."
Jack chuckled. "You're adorable," he said, just because he could.
Gabriel pulled the blanket up over his head. "Am not."
"Well, I adore you, so that makes you adorable."
"You're a sap, Jack."
Jack grinned. "But you love me."
The blanket came back down and Gabriel leaned over for a longer kiss. "Yes, I do."
Breakfast was delayed.
=
The usual rhythm of preparing breakfast was thrown off by coffee-flavored kisses and gentle touches, hugs from behind that turned into hugs facing each other and tender murmurs of 'I love you' and 'I love you, too'. Neither of them minded.
"Remember that thing that was eating at me that I never told you about?" Jack asked as he spread jam on his biscuits.
"I remember you not telling me what it was," Gabriel teased back.
"I couldn't exactly go to my CO for help on the subject of having feelings for my CO." Jack looked at Gabriel, wanting to see the expression of stunned delight and not being disappointed.
Gabriel shook his head. "Yeah. One or both of us would have gotten kicked out for sure because I don't think I would have been able to resist kissing you." He picked up his fork, thought better of it, and put it back down. "Jack...I'm sorry I led you on."
Panic nearly closed Jack's throat. "Led..."
"Not like- remember the time I kissed you?" Gabriel nodded as understanding calmed Jack down. "Yeah. That wasn't me pranking you. That was me getting lost in how much I wanted to kiss you, and then forcing myself to walk away, laughing like it had been a prank, because I knew I was being a dick but I was terrified of what you would do if I confessed that I'd lied."
Jack put his fork down as well. "It did hurt," he admitted reluctantly. "I took you at your word and told myself I was wrong, that I hadn't seen what I'd thought I had."
Gabriel moved his chair closer, close enough for Jack to lean on him, which he did. "God, Jack, I'm sorry. I'm an asshole, making you suffer because I couldn't man up. I'm no good at this 'feelings' crap."
"You don't have to be," Jack said quietly, reveling in Gabriel's arm around him. "Everyone has something they're not good at."
The arm tightened around him. "Still, you deserve better."
Every date - blind or otherwise - Gabriel had set him up with over the years, since the day he'd leaned against the doorframe to Jack's office and casually asked if he was into men only, or if he was flexible, flashed before Jack's eyes. Every comment that had started with 'you deserve...' clamored in his ears, making him sit up and scowl.
"Better than the man who's been my best friend for more than half my life?" he asked sharply. Gabriel blinked in surprise, his mouth opened, but nothing came out. Had it been coincidence that those dates had only started after Gabriel said no when he meant yes? "You know you can't find anyone better for me," Jack continued more gently. "Even if you did find someone your ego admitted was better, you'd sabotage it somehow. Keep us from meeting, trip him, anything to keep it from working. You don't want me with anyone 'better'. And that's fine with me," he said after a brief pause. "Spares me the trouble of turning them gently down."
Gabriel shook his head, laughing weakly.
Jack smiled. "So, since neither of us wants to see me with anyone that's not you, you wanna knock it off with the 'you deserve better' bullshit?"
"Consider it done," Gabriel said loftily.
"Thanks," Jack said, resting his head on Gabriel's shoulder again. He got a kiss on the temple.
"I'm still a dick who led you on, " he murmured, "but I'll make it up to you."
"You already are," Jack murmured back.
"You're too easy on me, Jack."
Jack smiled into Gabriel's shoulder. "It's easy to forgive when you've settled for the best, which I have."
Gabriel laughed. "Okay, I give up. You win. Your breakfast's getting cold. Either sit up and eat it, or I'll have to feed it to you."
"Fine," Jack sighed as he sat up. "But only because I can't feed you if you're feeding me."
"After breakfast," Gabriel said in a mock-threat as he moved his chair back over, "you're in for it."
Jack smirked. "Promise?"
"Oh, I promise."
===
"I really am going to marry you for your pizza," Gabe said lazily, head in Jack's lap, eyes closed as Jack ran fingers through his short hair.
Jack grinned. "Only for my pizza? The biscuits will get jealous."
Gabriel laughed.
"I missed that," Jack said quietly. "I broke our pattern. I'm sorry."
Eyes still closed, Gabriel reached up and laid a finger on Jack's lips. "I pushed too fast and made you panic. You panicked because I was an asshole and made you second-guess yourself. It's my fault, Jack."
He didn't have an argument to counter that, but he didn't want to agree, either. Jack kissed the fingers against his lips until Gabriel let them fall again.
"Angela keeps asking me about protecting her first-responders," Gabriel sighed. "I'm this close to telling her to fuck off in those words exactly."
"Why is she..." Jack trailed off, frowning.
"She keeps needling me to bring you back in for an evaluation."
"But she cleared me after the first week."
"A psychological evaluation," Gabriel clarified unhappily, looking apologetically up at Jack.
Jack's fingers slowed to a stop. "And you don't think I need one?"
"I think I'm more qualified than any over-educated hack when it comes to judging how healthy your head is. And that's if you'd even talk to one in the first place. I may not have six years of education," he said gently, "but I've been watching over you since you were a dead-eyed recruit and I think I'm pretty okay at keeping you stable."
He thought of some psychologist with no direct authority over him asking about his childhood, and shuddered. "So what have you been telling her?"
"That you're fine. She tried to feed me some bullshit about overcoming trauma and I told her she didn't know jack about you."
"Gabe...you didn't..."
"Of course I did," Gabriel said smugly. "Come on, you expect me to pass up an opportunity to say you don't know jack about Jack?"
Jack laughed.
"Seriously though, Jack, don't worry about it. You're as stable and healthy as I've ever seen you. And that makes me happy," he added in a soft voice, bringing his hand back up to cup Jack's cheek.
"I do like making you happy," Jack murmured, kissing Gabriel's palm.
"I like seeing you happy," Gabriel said.
"And you don't think doing something constructive with my life again will make me happy?"
Gabriel sat up and turned to face Jack. "Think about it," he said. "Really think about it. Going into war zones. Protecting medics. Shooting enemy combatants with sleep darts. Field rations. Chain of command. Being ordered to leave and leave the healthy survivors to starve or die of a lack of clean water."
Jack thought about it, and felt himself start to wall pieces of himself away. Shuddering, he turned and leaned into Gabriel's ready embrace, head on Gabriel's chest and legs pulled up tight. The arms around him and lips on the top of his head were very comforting.
"No," Gabe said dryly. "I don't think it will make you happy. I think you've been conditioned to think you have to spend your life being useful in some way to someone else, only your dad was an asswipe and taught you that useful meant you have to be a slave and you can't ever do anything for yourself."
He opened his mouth to protest, but there were no words. Gabriel was right.
"It's been what, a month and a half?" Gabriel murmured. "How do you feel? Are you bored or unfulfilled in any way? Would you be happy spending the rest of your life doing what you've been doing over the past few weeks?"
Jack thought about that. The anxious walls came down, and he relaxed into Gabriel's embrace. "I'd like to get more involved with the community," he said hesitantly. "Maybe read to kids at the library or work with troubled teens or something. Be the kind of person I wished I'd had in my life, growing up. But more than that...no. You're right."
Gabriel kissed his hair. "Then what's bothering you, sunshine?"
The nickname made him squirm slightly in delight, and then the rest of the question registered and he quieted again. "We did our part, right?" he asked hesitantly. "We served our country and the world. We deserve some time to ourselves to just relax, don't we?"
"Absolutely."
"It's been almost forty years, but I finally have you and..." Jack swallowed. "You're the most important thing in my life and I want to be able to finally treat you like it. I know I never exactly ignored you, but you've always been there for me and I want to make sure you get as much of my attention as you deserve, with no distractions."
The arms around him went limp.
Alarmed, Jack sat up and saw Gabriel staring, open-mouthed. Then he was being kissed in a delightfully insistent way and he allowed Gabriel to push him slowly onto his back. One hand groped for the front of Gabriel's pants; the other went for the small bottle he'd stashed just under the couch a week or two back. Neither of them were really keen on stopping for anything once they'd gotten started, and Gabriel tended to default to oral if there was no lube available. That wouldn't be so bad, but he also tended to stroke himself off while tending to Jack, too worked up or too impatient to wait and let Jack tend to him in turn.
"Does this mean you don't mind living with a retired old man?" Jack teased as Gabriel broke the kiss to free him from his pants.
"Shut up. I love you," he added as Jack offered him the bottle.
"I love you, too," Jack said, getting into a more comfortable position.
Then there was no more talking.
===
Being retired took surprisingly little getting used to. It was the same lifestyle he'd been living with Gabriel, only without the nagging feeling that he should be doing something. He was doing something - he was lavishing attention on his lover, and enjoying every second of it. In a way, it was like coming home again: taking care of someone he loved. Only he didn't have to worry about schoolwork, paperwork, his father's questionable temper and even more questionable commentary, or his reputation. Also, Gabriel did at least half of the cleaning. So it was all the things he'd loved, plus time to relax or pursue his own interests.
Basically, it was heaven.
Gabriel made a point of taking him out to eat at least once a week, always to fancy places. ("Nothing less could compete with your cooking," he'd said as he'd helped Jack out of the car, kissing his hand and then his lips.) Jack wondered uneasily about their finances, but the one time he brought it up, Gabriel told him firmly to not worry about it, so he didn't. Whether it was misappropriated Overwatch funds, skillful manipulation of the stock market, or something more sinister...Gabriel had given everything else up to play happy husbands with Jack, so Jack would continue to trust him.
With the weather getting warmer, they sometimes packed a picnic lunch and spent time in the park, joking about camping and moose, going hunting and staying at a little cabin in the woods, picking berries and skinny-dipping. Jack mentioned places that would let you pick your own strawberries, and how he would come back with baskets loaded as full and heavy as he could and just feast on them for days; Gabriel promised that once strawberry season started, they'd go and pick strawberries together. (Gabriel also joked about buying a little cabin in the woods somewhere, solar power and well water and a little garden where Jack could plant strawberries, but as much as Jack liked the idea, he was fairly certain it was only a joke.)
The library was happy to have "Michael" and "Daniel" read to the children sometimes, particularly since "Daniel" was equally comfortable with French and Italian. Jack gave his contact information to a few places that provided cooked food to the needy, and when they were short-handed, he came in to cook with Gabriel as his assistant. Once, someone suggested he work for them full-time or open a restaurant. "I'm retired," he answered with an apologetic smile. "I don't mind helping, but my days of working are behind me."
"I'm proud of you," Gabriel said as they drove home - and it made Jack feel warm inside that their apartment was home. "You actually said no to a request for your time."
Jack blushed. "It's not my time," he protested. "I retired to be with you. My time is your time. Anything that takes time away from being with you..."
Gabriel pulled abruptly over into the nearest open parking spot and parked the car.
"Gabe?"
"I need to kiss you right now," he answered, leaning over to do just that. "You're a fucking sap, Morrison," he breathed into Jack's mouth. "But god I love you."
"Well, good," Jack breathed back, his fingers in Gabriel's hair. "Because I love you and it would be awkward if I took you up on one of your proposals only to find out you hadn't meant it after all."
"I don't make offers I'm not prepared to follow through on," Gabriel replied loftily, his lips on Jack's neck.
That stole Jack's breath as he remembered the joking offer to buy a cabin, and then again as it sank in that Gabriel wanted to marry him, and that gave him the strength to grin and say, "I knew that applied to offers of violence. I didn't know it applied to everything."
"Now you know." Gabriel sat back, flushed but pleased. "Forget dinner. We're going out someplace fancy tonight."
Jack leaned in for one last light kiss. "Whatever you say, love."
===
The first time the personalized commercials hawked Bisquick at Jack, he shouted in indignation and turned the TV off to glare at it while Gabriel laughed until he couldn't breathe. When the Bisquick commercials followed him to his phone, he had been double-checking a recipe and left it in the freezer while he stalked off to sulk in the bathroom until he'd calmed down. He knew it wasn't a glitch in the algorithm, it was because Gabriel had been altering his data habits specifically towards this end.
A lifetime of habit was too hard to break, especially when love was on the line. Jack brushed off Gabriel's wary concern and steeled himself to ignore the Bisquick haunting him digitally. Although he couldn't bring himself to say that the commercials were stepping on his metaphoric foot, Gabriel caught on that he was unhappy and that night he made a very earnest apology involving a bouquet of chocolate-covered strawberries and the creative use of his tongue. Jack forgave him, but April Fool's was coming up and he knew just what prank to play on Gabriel.
=
Jack smirked as he took the tray of biscuits out of the oven, turned it to low, slid half of them into a bowl, covered the bowl with a towel, and quickly hid the real biscuits in the oven again. The other half, abominations made with Bisquick (and that had almost physically hurt to do), were treated like Jack's normal biscuits. He split two and spread them with butter, putting them on Gabe's plate just as he stumbled blindly out. Half a mug of coffee later, the rest of breakfast was done and they sat down to eat.
He was anticipating a reaction as amusing as his had been - indignant anger, maybe some ranting - and he filled his mouth with eggs and ham to hide his smile. A little bit of laughing at Gabe, an apologetic kiss or two, and he'd pull out the real biscuits while they laughed at Jack's little prank. Gabriel picked up a biscuit half.
Took a bite.
Chewed once, twice, and a look of dawning horror spread across his face as he realized the abomination he'd put in his mouth.
Jack was prepared to laugh, but then tears formed in Gabriel's eyes and he looked like he was struggling to chew and swallow a mouthful of pure grief. Amusement turned to concern and remorse, and Jack nearly choked in his rush to free his mouth.
"Gabe!" he cried out as his work husband lifted the Bisquick monstrosity to his mouth to take another bite. "No, no-no-no-" Jack launched himself out of his seat so fast that it clattered to the floor, grabbing Gabriel's wrist and prying the crumbly thing out of his hand. "You don't have to- I made real ones! I'm sorry, please don't-"
Too late; tears trailed down Gabriel's cheeks as the first shaky breath turned into a sob. Jack hugged Gabriel's head to his chest, stroking his hair and feeling like the biggest douchebag in history because he'd known his work husband for nearly four decades and never seen him cry, not even when they lost good men, not even when Jack came back from rescuing hostages and Ana wasn't with him.
"I'm sorry," Jack babbled frantically. "I'm sorry, please don't cry. I love you. It was just a prank, I'd never actually make you eat that." Gabriel was clinging to him, arms tight around Jack's waist as he cried. "Oh god, Gabe, I'm sorry..."
"...I'm so sorry..."
Jack's heart broke. "No, Gabe, it was my fault, why are you apologizing?"
He didn't get an answer; Gabriel was crying too hard. Jack went down on one knee, forcing Gabriel to transfer his hold from waist to neck, and picked his work husband up bridal-style to carry him to the couch. Once they were both sitting Jack cuddled Gabriel close, his head on Jack's chest so he could kiss Gabriel's hair and murmur apologies and reassurance.
"I'm sorry, Gabe. It was just supposed to be a dumb prank, ha ha I got you, revenge for the Bisquick ads. If you like Bisquick so much why don't I make some for you, you know? But I made you cry and I never intended to hurt you. I'm the worst work husband ever. I'm so sorry, Gabe. I'll never do it again, I swear. I love you."
The worst of the crying seemed to be over; Gabriel shifted to lay his head on Jack's shoulder. Between shaky breaths and heartbreaking sounds he choked out, "I'm sorry that I made you take the love away and fucked this up again."
As much as that felt like a dagger in Jack's heart, it was equally confusing. "What?"
Gabriel drew in a deep, shuddering breath. "Your biscuits are made of love and your pizza is pure bliss and I'm an asshole who doesn't deserve any of it."
The look of awe on Gabriel's face that first morning as he bit into a hot biscuit. Confusion as he stood and crossed the campsite to Jack, took Jack's head in both hands, and licked his forehead. "There, I licked you, you're mine now."
If his biscuits were made of love, does that mean he'd loved Jack since that first wilderness mission?
If his biscuits were love, did Bisquick mean he thought Jack-
"Gabe, no! I still love you," he soothed, trying to fight back tears of his own. "I still love you. I made real ones, you weren't supposed to actually eat that shit. I was angry about the ads. I'm sorry. Please forgive me."
The only response he got was Gabriel clinging tighter, crying harder, but with relief this time. Jack held him close, kissing his head and rubbing his back. He was crying, too, but he couldn't bring himself to care.
"I'm so sorry, love. This is my fault. I should have known better. This is what happens when I act on anger; this is why I don't. This is what happens when I dare object to something instead of just accepting it - I end up hurting someone I love. I'm sorry. I won't do it anymore. You can step on my feet as much as you want."
"Jack, no." Gabriel lifted his head to give Jack a look of teary remorse. "I don't want to hurt you. I was an asshole with the ads, and now I know that made you angry and I won't joke about Bisquick anymore. I was the asshole. It's my fault. I pushed you to do it." He sniffled, expression shifting to vulnerable pleading. "You made real ones?"
"Of course I made real ones," Jack protested. Then it was his turn to give a vulnerable look. "You really think my cooking is that good?"
"Your cooking is perfection," Gabe insisted. "Your cooking could have stopped the first and second world wars."
Jack blushed. Gabriel gave him a fond smile and kissed him slowly, tenderly, apology and forgiveness all in one. Jack returned the kiss, apology and forgiveness of his own.
"Go back to bed, love," he breathed when the kiss ended. "Get comfortable. I'll bring the biscuits to you. Breakfast in bed."
"You don't have to-"
Jack growled and interrupted the protest with a kiss. "Shut up, Reyes, I want to. I want to fuss over you, so shut up and enjoy it."
Gabriel gave him a look of guarded hope and surrender, and it finally clicked that he liked Jack being In Charge, only he couldn't bring himself to ask for it.
I'm your CO, you're supposed to be able to lean on me.
He was the only one Jack could lean on. But who did Gabriel have to lean on? No one but Jack, and Jack was too thick-headed to see what his work husband needed.
He took Gabriel's head between his hands and kissed him with as much authority as he could manage. A small sound, high and pleading, slipped out of Gabe's throat and made Jack's heart beat faster with the knowledge that he was right.
"Go back to bed, love," he repeated in a gentle command. "Get comfortable. I'll be there in a minute."
Jerkily, Gabriel nodded and stumbled out of the room. Jack went to the kitchen, retrieved the real biscuits from the oven, and split four. Two got spread with butter and strawberry jam; he ate those while spreading the other two with butter and then drizzling honey on each half. With that treat on a plate, he shucked off his pajama top and followed Gabriel into the bedroom.
He found his work husband leaning against a pile composed of both pillows and the blanket, looking like an ageless and handsome - but vulnerable - god lounging on a divan. Those deep brown eyes, still wide, roved over the uncovered planes of Jack's chest in a manner somehow greedy and hesitant at the same time. Jack crawled carefully across the surface of the bed to join Gabriel in leaning against the cushy pile, distracting him with a kiss before breaking it to offer him a biscuit half to bite.
Gabriel's expression as he chewed and swallowed was pure bliss.
Bite by bite, lavishing kisses on every exposed inch of Gabriel's skin, Jack fed his work husband and reveled in the combination of adoration and arousal his actions were eliciting. When the biscuits were gone, he straddled Gabriel and kissed him fiercely, being as physically dominating as he could. They were both groaning when Jack broke the kiss and grabbed for the waistband of Gabriel's pajama bottoms. He took a moment to admire the scarred perfection of Gabriel's body before crouching over his legs and lowering his head to kiss a line up one thigh.
Hands fisted on the sheet, Gabriel moaned in anticipation as Jack reached his goal and continued kissing up the side of Gabriel's shaft. This wasn't the first time he'd gone down on Gabe, but Jack was still uncertain enough that initiating something like this was a rare occurrence. That was going to change, Jack thought with a smirk as he took Gabriel into his mouth. He wasn't the only one who had waited decades for their relationship to reach this point, and he was going to make up for lost time by spoiling the fuck out of his work husband.
Maybe... The twelfth was coming up. Maybe he could take the work out of that designation. That thought made him hum around Gabriel's shaft, pleased with the timing of things. Gabriel was murmuring a stream of babble - oh, Jack, oh, Jack, yes, yes, oh god Jack - and Jack kept going until the words dried up and Gabriel came in his mouth.
He had a limited window, he thought muzzily through his own now-painful arousal. As he swallowed, he threw himself towards the bedside table and pulled out the bottle of lube. His pajama bottoms got tossed to the floor with Gabe's, and he grabbed the ass pillow from the shelf under the table. Gabriel was still out of it enough that Jack had the pillow under his ass and was lubed up before his eyes fluttered open to focus on Jack in confusion.
"If you don't want a nice bone in your body," Jack teased, positioning himself for entry, "then say Iron Man is sexier."
"Team Cap for life," Gabriel breathed, eyes wide.
Jack pushed slowly, gently, teasing them both and trying not to orgasm as Gabriel gasped and flung his head back as though inviting Jack to kiss the exposed skin of his neck. Naturally, Jack did just that, still easing his way slowly in and holding onto is self-control with both metaphoric hands. Gabriel wrapped his arms around Jack, urging him closer, kissing haphazardly at whatever was in reach.
"How am I doing?" Jack murmured.
Gabriel groaned. "More," he panted. "Harder."
"If I go harder, I won't be able to hold it," Jack warned him.
"I don't care. Take me with you. Oh, god, Jack!"
That was the last straw; Jack began thrusting wildly, praying he'd set Gabe off before his orgasm caught him and then it was over - he buried himself as deep as he could, trembling as bliss crashed over him and his arms gave out, feeling Gabriel holding him tight as he laid his head on his lover's shoulder and sighed in contented relief.
It felt like a small eternity before Jack could bring himself to move, even just enough to cuddle up next to his husband - future husband - instead of sprawling on top of him.
"I popped your cherry," he murmured, kissing Gabe's shoulder.
"Mmmmm. Yes, you did."
"We never finished breakfast."
"We had biscuits. That's the important part."
Jack chuckled, but he could feel himself blushing at the same time. "Are they really that good?"
A warm, wet swipe across his forehead, followed by Gabriel's chuckle, answered that. "I licked you. You're mine."
"Yes," Jack agreed, "I am."
"I really am going to marry you for your pizza, you know."
"Not if I marry you first."
Gabriel froze. Jack looked up and saw him wearing an expression similar to the guarded hope he'd seen before, only less guarded and more disbelieving. He wanted Jack to ask. He didn't just want to marry Jack, he wanted Jack to ask. Well, he could work with that. It wasn't like he didn't have a plan, but he wanted it to be as complete a surprise as possible.
Smiling, Jack lifted his head and kissed the look off of Gabriel's face.
===
"I have a box," Jack announced to the conservatively professional woman behind the desk.
Without a word, she presented him with a biometric scanner. He pressed his thumb to it; the frame lit up green.
"Please wait in room three," she said in an impersonally polite tone. "We will bring the box to you momentarily."
Jack nodded and turned away, eyes roving over the doors until he located the correct private room. It was warmly finished, albeit sparsely: a single table topped with polished marble and a single chair, wood and red upholstery. He sat and waited. A minute or two later, a blank-faced man in a crisp uniform entered through the opposite door. The stainless steel safe-deposit box was held carefully in white-gloved hands, and he laid it on the table before bowing to Jack and leaving the way he'd come.
Once he was alone again, Jack stood and pressed his thumb to the biometric lock on the box. The frame lit up green, and the top popped open. He skimmed the contents - the brightly-colored kid's coin purse that held little Maddie's baby teeth, the jewelry box with the locket from his mother, the moose hoof - before reaching out with one trembling hand and picking up the red plaid cloth folded into a small bundle. Slowly, reverently, he unfolded it until its precious contents glittered in the artificial light. Then, equally reverently, he folded the cloth back up and slid the bundle into his pocket.
With one last look at his most prized possessions, Jack pressed the lid back into place on the box and watched the lock turn red and then go dark. He left the private room, nodding to the woman behind the desk, and walked out without a word.
=
Of course, getting the package was the easy part. What kept Jack distracted over the next few days was figuring out how to give it. The traditional approach - down on one knee in a fancy or romantic venue - wasn't really his style or Gabriel's. The oh-ha-ha-how-did-that-get-there sly proposal was equally out. He tried to think of something witty to say while simply presenting it, but he kept coming back to "Congratulations, you've won a lifetime supply of pizza!" and that really wasn't the sort of tone he wanted to take.
He carried the bundle with him everywhere, in case inspiration struck, but nothing did - and time was running out.
"Jack," Gabriel said gently, knocking him back to the present.
The present was standing in the living room, staring off into space with his hand in his pocket and his future husband giving him a concerned look.
"Root beer float?" Gabe asked hesitantly.
He hadn't needed that ritual in weeks and he didn't need it now. But when he opened his mouth, his brain threw its metaphoric hands in the air and left him gaping like an idiot, unable to even think of two words much less string them together. Very concerned now, Gabriel held his arms out, inviting Jack to step into a hug.
Jack thrust the cloth bundle at him instead.
Eyebrows raised, Gabriel accepted it and slowly unwrapped the cloth while Jack felt like his heart was going to climb up his throat and choke him. When the last fold of cloth fell away, revealing two shiny dog tags on a chain, Gabriel looked at Jack as if asking silently if he was serious. Nervously, Jack nodded.
"Hell. Yes." Each word was enunciated, emphasized, as if Gabriel knew that his future husband was consumed by second-guessing himself.
All of Jack's anxiety evaporated in a rush of euphoria and he found himself hugging and being hugged so tightly that it was a wonder either of them could breathe, lips pressed frantically to any exposed skin they could get to, and if there were tears, neither of them was going to mention it.
"You kept them," Gabriel murmured as their mutual giddiness wound down to more gentle cuddling.
"Of course I did," Jack murmured back. "You think I'd throw them out, particularly when I was wearing the other half?"
Gabriel stepped back and held the chain out to Jack. "Would you do the honors?" he asked with something trying to be a smirk but looking more like a shy smile.
Jack smiled back. "Of course."
He draped the chain carefully over Gabriel's head, kissing the back of his neck and sliding his arms around in a hug. One hand played with the tags now resting against Gabe's chest the way Gabriel had played with his so many times.
A shaky laugh, and Gabriel said, "So...should we keep our own names, or do you want to hyphenate?"
"I'm still working on the fact that someone will know I'm alive," Jack answered dryly. "How fast can we get the documentation together?"
Gabriel coughed.
"...you didn't."
"I didn't want to waste any time," he said with a complete lack of shame, turning in Jack's embrace to wrap his arms around his shoulders and smirk. "We can get married today, if you want to."
Jack kissed the tip of Gabriel's nose. "How about on the twelfth, I actually give you my hand?"
"Done. And how about we get Indian and something to drink and discuss our honeymoon options tonight?"
"I'd love to," Jack said softly. "I love you."
"I love you too, Jack."
They kissed.
Jack had been awakened by Gabriel kissing him - slowly, tenderly - and upon seeing Jack's eyes flutter open, he'd pulled away with the biggest, happiest smile Jack had ever seen on his face and said, Good morning, sunshine. Welcome to the first day of the rest of our lives and Jack had pulled him back down for more kissing. Good morning, love, he'd said shyly when they broke apart, and when Gabriel blushed, he didn't think either of them would ever stop smiling.
He rolled over, admiring Gabriel's sleeping face before leaning in to leave a trail of gentle kisses up his jaw. Gabriel grumbled sleepily at him.
"Morning, love," Jack murmured. "What would you like for breakfast?"
Gabe froze, eyes opening slowly as if he couldn't really believe that yesterday had happened. Then he smiled shyly. "Biscuits and ham and cheesy eggs and all-the-sins cake."
"It's seven sins cake," Jack corrected with a light kiss.
"It's the best cake ever and thank you for not letting me eat it all yesterday so I can enjoy it again today."
Jack chuckled. "You're adorable," he said, just because he could.
Gabriel pulled the blanket up over his head. "Am not."
"Well, I adore you, so that makes you adorable."
"You're a sap, Jack."
Jack grinned. "But you love me."
The blanket came back down and Gabriel leaned over for a longer kiss. "Yes, I do."
Breakfast was delayed.
=
The usual rhythm of preparing breakfast was thrown off by coffee-flavored kisses and gentle touches, hugs from behind that turned into hugs facing each other and tender murmurs of 'I love you' and 'I love you, too'. Neither of them minded.
"Remember that thing that was eating at me that I never told you about?" Jack asked as he spread jam on his biscuits.
"I remember you not telling me what it was," Gabriel teased back.
"I couldn't exactly go to my CO for help on the subject of having feelings for my CO." Jack looked at Gabriel, wanting to see the expression of stunned delight and not being disappointed.
Gabriel shook his head. "Yeah. One or both of us would have gotten kicked out for sure because I don't think I would have been able to resist kissing you." He picked up his fork, thought better of it, and put it back down. "Jack...I'm sorry I led you on."
Panic nearly closed Jack's throat. "Led..."
"Not like- remember the time I kissed you?" Gabriel nodded as understanding calmed Jack down. "Yeah. That wasn't me pranking you. That was me getting lost in how much I wanted to kiss you, and then forcing myself to walk away, laughing like it had been a prank, because I knew I was being a dick but I was terrified of what you would do if I confessed that I'd lied."
Jack put his fork down as well. "It did hurt," he admitted reluctantly. "I took you at your word and told myself I was wrong, that I hadn't seen what I'd thought I had."
Gabriel moved his chair closer, close enough for Jack to lean on him, which he did. "God, Jack, I'm sorry. I'm an asshole, making you suffer because I couldn't man up. I'm no good at this 'feelings' crap."
"You don't have to be," Jack said quietly, reveling in Gabriel's arm around him. "Everyone has something they're not good at."
The arm tightened around him. "Still, you deserve better."
Every date - blind or otherwise - Gabriel had set him up with over the years, since the day he'd leaned against the doorframe to Jack's office and casually asked if he was into men only, or if he was flexible, flashed before Jack's eyes. Every comment that had started with 'you deserve...' clamored in his ears, making him sit up and scowl.
"Better than the man who's been my best friend for more than half my life?" he asked sharply. Gabriel blinked in surprise, his mouth opened, but nothing came out. Had it been coincidence that those dates had only started after Gabriel said no when he meant yes? "You know you can't find anyone better for me," Jack continued more gently. "Even if you did find someone your ego admitted was better, you'd sabotage it somehow. Keep us from meeting, trip him, anything to keep it from working. You don't want me with anyone 'better'. And that's fine with me," he said after a brief pause. "Spares me the trouble of turning them gently down."
Gabriel shook his head, laughing weakly.
Jack smiled. "So, since neither of us wants to see me with anyone that's not you, you wanna knock it off with the 'you deserve better' bullshit?"
"Consider it done," Gabriel said loftily.
"Thanks," Jack said, resting his head on Gabriel's shoulder again. He got a kiss on the temple.
"I'm still a dick who led you on, " he murmured, "but I'll make it up to you."
"You already are," Jack murmured back.
"You're too easy on me, Jack."
Jack smiled into Gabriel's shoulder. "It's easy to forgive when you've settled for the best, which I have."
Gabriel laughed. "Okay, I give up. You win. Your breakfast's getting cold. Either sit up and eat it, or I'll have to feed it to you."
"Fine," Jack sighed as he sat up. "But only because I can't feed you if you're feeding me."
"After breakfast," Gabriel said in a mock-threat as he moved his chair back over, "you're in for it."
Jack smirked. "Promise?"
"Oh, I promise."
===
"I really am going to marry you for your pizza," Gabe said lazily, head in Jack's lap, eyes closed as Jack ran fingers through his short hair.
Jack grinned. "Only for my pizza? The biscuits will get jealous."
Gabriel laughed.
"I missed that," Jack said quietly. "I broke our pattern. I'm sorry."
Eyes still closed, Gabriel reached up and laid a finger on Jack's lips. "I pushed too fast and made you panic. You panicked because I was an asshole and made you second-guess yourself. It's my fault, Jack."
He didn't have an argument to counter that, but he didn't want to agree, either. Jack kissed the fingers against his lips until Gabriel let them fall again.
"Angela keeps asking me about protecting her first-responders," Gabriel sighed. "I'm this close to telling her to fuck off in those words exactly."
"Why is she..." Jack trailed off, frowning.
"She keeps needling me to bring you back in for an evaluation."
"But she cleared me after the first week."
"A psychological evaluation," Gabriel clarified unhappily, looking apologetically up at Jack.
Jack's fingers slowed to a stop. "And you don't think I need one?"
"I think I'm more qualified than any over-educated hack when it comes to judging how healthy your head is. And that's if you'd even talk to one in the first place. I may not have six years of education," he said gently, "but I've been watching over you since you were a dead-eyed recruit and I think I'm pretty okay at keeping you stable."
He thought of some psychologist with no direct authority over him asking about his childhood, and shuddered. "So what have you been telling her?"
"That you're fine. She tried to feed me some bullshit about overcoming trauma and I told her she didn't know jack about you."
"Gabe...you didn't..."
"Of course I did," Gabriel said smugly. "Come on, you expect me to pass up an opportunity to say you don't know jack about Jack?"
Jack laughed.
"Seriously though, Jack, don't worry about it. You're as stable and healthy as I've ever seen you. And that makes me happy," he added in a soft voice, bringing his hand back up to cup Jack's cheek.
"I do like making you happy," Jack murmured, kissing Gabriel's palm.
"I like seeing you happy," Gabriel said.
"And you don't think doing something constructive with my life again will make me happy?"
Gabriel sat up and turned to face Jack. "Think about it," he said. "Really think about it. Going into war zones. Protecting medics. Shooting enemy combatants with sleep darts. Field rations. Chain of command. Being ordered to leave and leave the healthy survivors to starve or die of a lack of clean water."
Jack thought about it, and felt himself start to wall pieces of himself away. Shuddering, he turned and leaned into Gabriel's ready embrace, head on Gabriel's chest and legs pulled up tight. The arms around him and lips on the top of his head were very comforting.
"No," Gabe said dryly. "I don't think it will make you happy. I think you've been conditioned to think you have to spend your life being useful in some way to someone else, only your dad was an asswipe and taught you that useful meant you have to be a slave and you can't ever do anything for yourself."
He opened his mouth to protest, but there were no words. Gabriel was right.
"It's been what, a month and a half?" Gabriel murmured. "How do you feel? Are you bored or unfulfilled in any way? Would you be happy spending the rest of your life doing what you've been doing over the past few weeks?"
Jack thought about that. The anxious walls came down, and he relaxed into Gabriel's embrace. "I'd like to get more involved with the community," he said hesitantly. "Maybe read to kids at the library or work with troubled teens or something. Be the kind of person I wished I'd had in my life, growing up. But more than that...no. You're right."
Gabriel kissed his hair. "Then what's bothering you, sunshine?"
The nickname made him squirm slightly in delight, and then the rest of the question registered and he quieted again. "We did our part, right?" he asked hesitantly. "We served our country and the world. We deserve some time to ourselves to just relax, don't we?"
"Absolutely."
"It's been almost forty years, but I finally have you and..." Jack swallowed. "You're the most important thing in my life and I want to be able to finally treat you like it. I know I never exactly ignored you, but you've always been there for me and I want to make sure you get as much of my attention as you deserve, with no distractions."
The arms around him went limp.
Alarmed, Jack sat up and saw Gabriel staring, open-mouthed. Then he was being kissed in a delightfully insistent way and he allowed Gabriel to push him slowly onto his back. One hand groped for the front of Gabriel's pants; the other went for the small bottle he'd stashed just under the couch a week or two back. Neither of them were really keen on stopping for anything once they'd gotten started, and Gabriel tended to default to oral if there was no lube available. That wouldn't be so bad, but he also tended to stroke himself off while tending to Jack, too worked up or too impatient to wait and let Jack tend to him in turn.
"Does this mean you don't mind living with a retired old man?" Jack teased as Gabriel broke the kiss to free him from his pants.
"Shut up. I love you," he added as Jack offered him the bottle.
"I love you, too," Jack said, getting into a more comfortable position.
Then there was no more talking.
===
Being retired took surprisingly little getting used to. It was the same lifestyle he'd been living with Gabriel, only without the nagging feeling that he should be doing something. He was doing something - he was lavishing attention on his lover, and enjoying every second of it. In a way, it was like coming home again: taking care of someone he loved. Only he didn't have to worry about schoolwork, paperwork, his father's questionable temper and even more questionable commentary, or his reputation. Also, Gabriel did at least half of the cleaning. So it was all the things he'd loved, plus time to relax or pursue his own interests.
Basically, it was heaven.
Gabriel made a point of taking him out to eat at least once a week, always to fancy places. ("Nothing less could compete with your cooking," he'd said as he'd helped Jack out of the car, kissing his hand and then his lips.) Jack wondered uneasily about their finances, but the one time he brought it up, Gabriel told him firmly to not worry about it, so he didn't. Whether it was misappropriated Overwatch funds, skillful manipulation of the stock market, or something more sinister...Gabriel had given everything else up to play happy husbands with Jack, so Jack would continue to trust him.
With the weather getting warmer, they sometimes packed a picnic lunch and spent time in the park, joking about camping and moose, going hunting and staying at a little cabin in the woods, picking berries and skinny-dipping. Jack mentioned places that would let you pick your own strawberries, and how he would come back with baskets loaded as full and heavy as he could and just feast on them for days; Gabriel promised that once strawberry season started, they'd go and pick strawberries together. (Gabriel also joked about buying a little cabin in the woods somewhere, solar power and well water and a little garden where Jack could plant strawberries, but as much as Jack liked the idea, he was fairly certain it was only a joke.)
The library was happy to have "Michael" and "Daniel" read to the children sometimes, particularly since "Daniel" was equally comfortable with French and Italian. Jack gave his contact information to a few places that provided cooked food to the needy, and when they were short-handed, he came in to cook with Gabriel as his assistant. Once, someone suggested he work for them full-time or open a restaurant. "I'm retired," he answered with an apologetic smile. "I don't mind helping, but my days of working are behind me."
"I'm proud of you," Gabriel said as they drove home - and it made Jack feel warm inside that their apartment was home. "You actually said no to a request for your time."
Jack blushed. "It's not my time," he protested. "I retired to be with you. My time is your time. Anything that takes time away from being with you..."
Gabriel pulled abruptly over into the nearest open parking spot and parked the car.
"Gabe?"
"I need to kiss you right now," he answered, leaning over to do just that. "You're a fucking sap, Morrison," he breathed into Jack's mouth. "But god I love you."
"Well, good," Jack breathed back, his fingers in Gabriel's hair. "Because I love you and it would be awkward if I took you up on one of your proposals only to find out you hadn't meant it after all."
"I don't make offers I'm not prepared to follow through on," Gabriel replied loftily, his lips on Jack's neck.
That stole Jack's breath as he remembered the joking offer to buy a cabin, and then again as it sank in that Gabriel wanted to marry him, and that gave him the strength to grin and say, "I knew that applied to offers of violence. I didn't know it applied to everything."
"Now you know." Gabriel sat back, flushed but pleased. "Forget dinner. We're going out someplace fancy tonight."
Jack leaned in for one last light kiss. "Whatever you say, love."
===
The first time the personalized commercials hawked Bisquick at Jack, he shouted in indignation and turned the TV off to glare at it while Gabriel laughed until he couldn't breathe. When the Bisquick commercials followed him to his phone, he had been double-checking a recipe and left it in the freezer while he stalked off to sulk in the bathroom until he'd calmed down. He knew it wasn't a glitch in the algorithm, it was because Gabriel had been altering his data habits specifically towards this end.
A lifetime of habit was too hard to break, especially when love was on the line. Jack brushed off Gabriel's wary concern and steeled himself to ignore the Bisquick haunting him digitally. Although he couldn't bring himself to say that the commercials were stepping on his metaphoric foot, Gabriel caught on that he was unhappy and that night he made a very earnest apology involving a bouquet of chocolate-covered strawberries and the creative use of his tongue. Jack forgave him, but April Fool's was coming up and he knew just what prank to play on Gabriel.
=
Jack smirked as he took the tray of biscuits out of the oven, turned it to low, slid half of them into a bowl, covered the bowl with a towel, and quickly hid the real biscuits in the oven again. The other half, abominations made with Bisquick (and that had almost physically hurt to do), were treated like Jack's normal biscuits. He split two and spread them with butter, putting them on Gabe's plate just as he stumbled blindly out. Half a mug of coffee later, the rest of breakfast was done and they sat down to eat.
He was anticipating a reaction as amusing as his had been - indignant anger, maybe some ranting - and he filled his mouth with eggs and ham to hide his smile. A little bit of laughing at Gabe, an apologetic kiss or two, and he'd pull out the real biscuits while they laughed at Jack's little prank. Gabriel picked up a biscuit half.
Took a bite.
Chewed once, twice, and a look of dawning horror spread across his face as he realized the abomination he'd put in his mouth.
Jack was prepared to laugh, but then tears formed in Gabriel's eyes and he looked like he was struggling to chew and swallow a mouthful of pure grief. Amusement turned to concern and remorse, and Jack nearly choked in his rush to free his mouth.
"Gabe!" he cried out as his work husband lifted the Bisquick monstrosity to his mouth to take another bite. "No, no-no-no-" Jack launched himself out of his seat so fast that it clattered to the floor, grabbing Gabriel's wrist and prying the crumbly thing out of his hand. "You don't have to- I made real ones! I'm sorry, please don't-"
Too late; tears trailed down Gabriel's cheeks as the first shaky breath turned into a sob. Jack hugged Gabriel's head to his chest, stroking his hair and feeling like the biggest douchebag in history because he'd known his work husband for nearly four decades and never seen him cry, not even when they lost good men, not even when Jack came back from rescuing hostages and Ana wasn't with him.
"I'm sorry," Jack babbled frantically. "I'm sorry, please don't cry. I love you. It was just a prank, I'd never actually make you eat that." Gabriel was clinging to him, arms tight around Jack's waist as he cried. "Oh god, Gabe, I'm sorry..."
"...I'm so sorry..."
Jack's heart broke. "No, Gabe, it was my fault, why are you apologizing?"
He didn't get an answer; Gabriel was crying too hard. Jack went down on one knee, forcing Gabriel to transfer his hold from waist to neck, and picked his work husband up bridal-style to carry him to the couch. Once they were both sitting Jack cuddled Gabriel close, his head on Jack's chest so he could kiss Gabriel's hair and murmur apologies and reassurance.
"I'm sorry, Gabe. It was just supposed to be a dumb prank, ha ha I got you, revenge for the Bisquick ads. If you like Bisquick so much why don't I make some for you, you know? But I made you cry and I never intended to hurt you. I'm the worst work husband ever. I'm so sorry, Gabe. I'll never do it again, I swear. I love you."
The worst of the crying seemed to be over; Gabriel shifted to lay his head on Jack's shoulder. Between shaky breaths and heartbreaking sounds he choked out, "I'm sorry that I made you take the love away and fucked this up again."
As much as that felt like a dagger in Jack's heart, it was equally confusing. "What?"
Gabriel drew in a deep, shuddering breath. "Your biscuits are made of love and your pizza is pure bliss and I'm an asshole who doesn't deserve any of it."
The look of awe on Gabriel's face that first morning as he bit into a hot biscuit. Confusion as he stood and crossed the campsite to Jack, took Jack's head in both hands, and licked his forehead. "There, I licked you, you're mine now."
If his biscuits were made of love, does that mean he'd loved Jack since that first wilderness mission?
If his biscuits were love, did Bisquick mean he thought Jack-
"Gabe, no! I still love you," he soothed, trying to fight back tears of his own. "I still love you. I made real ones, you weren't supposed to actually eat that shit. I was angry about the ads. I'm sorry. Please forgive me."
The only response he got was Gabriel clinging tighter, crying harder, but with relief this time. Jack held him close, kissing his head and rubbing his back. He was crying, too, but he couldn't bring himself to care.
"I'm so sorry, love. This is my fault. I should have known better. This is what happens when I act on anger; this is why I don't. This is what happens when I dare object to something instead of just accepting it - I end up hurting someone I love. I'm sorry. I won't do it anymore. You can step on my feet as much as you want."
"Jack, no." Gabriel lifted his head to give Jack a look of teary remorse. "I don't want to hurt you. I was an asshole with the ads, and now I know that made you angry and I won't joke about Bisquick anymore. I was the asshole. It's my fault. I pushed you to do it." He sniffled, expression shifting to vulnerable pleading. "You made real ones?"
"Of course I made real ones," Jack protested. Then it was his turn to give a vulnerable look. "You really think my cooking is that good?"
"Your cooking is perfection," Gabe insisted. "Your cooking could have stopped the first and second world wars."
Jack blushed. Gabriel gave him a fond smile and kissed him slowly, tenderly, apology and forgiveness all in one. Jack returned the kiss, apology and forgiveness of his own.
"Go back to bed, love," he breathed when the kiss ended. "Get comfortable. I'll bring the biscuits to you. Breakfast in bed."
"You don't have to-"
Jack growled and interrupted the protest with a kiss. "Shut up, Reyes, I want to. I want to fuss over you, so shut up and enjoy it."
Gabriel gave him a look of guarded hope and surrender, and it finally clicked that he liked Jack being In Charge, only he couldn't bring himself to ask for it.
I'm your CO, you're supposed to be able to lean on me.
He was the only one Jack could lean on. But who did Gabriel have to lean on? No one but Jack, and Jack was too thick-headed to see what his work husband needed.
He took Gabriel's head between his hands and kissed him with as much authority as he could manage. A small sound, high and pleading, slipped out of Gabe's throat and made Jack's heart beat faster with the knowledge that he was right.
"Go back to bed, love," he repeated in a gentle command. "Get comfortable. I'll be there in a minute."
Jerkily, Gabriel nodded and stumbled out of the room. Jack went to the kitchen, retrieved the real biscuits from the oven, and split four. Two got spread with butter and strawberry jam; he ate those while spreading the other two with butter and then drizzling honey on each half. With that treat on a plate, he shucked off his pajama top and followed Gabriel into the bedroom.
He found his work husband leaning against a pile composed of both pillows and the blanket, looking like an ageless and handsome - but vulnerable - god lounging on a divan. Those deep brown eyes, still wide, roved over the uncovered planes of Jack's chest in a manner somehow greedy and hesitant at the same time. Jack crawled carefully across the surface of the bed to join Gabriel in leaning against the cushy pile, distracting him with a kiss before breaking it to offer him a biscuit half to bite.
Gabriel's expression as he chewed and swallowed was pure bliss.
Bite by bite, lavishing kisses on every exposed inch of Gabriel's skin, Jack fed his work husband and reveled in the combination of adoration and arousal his actions were eliciting. When the biscuits were gone, he straddled Gabriel and kissed him fiercely, being as physically dominating as he could. They were both groaning when Jack broke the kiss and grabbed for the waistband of Gabriel's pajama bottoms. He took a moment to admire the scarred perfection of Gabriel's body before crouching over his legs and lowering his head to kiss a line up one thigh.
Hands fisted on the sheet, Gabriel moaned in anticipation as Jack reached his goal and continued kissing up the side of Gabriel's shaft. This wasn't the first time he'd gone down on Gabe, but Jack was still uncertain enough that initiating something like this was a rare occurrence. That was going to change, Jack thought with a smirk as he took Gabriel into his mouth. He wasn't the only one who had waited decades for their relationship to reach this point, and he was going to make up for lost time by spoiling the fuck out of his work husband.
Maybe... The twelfth was coming up. Maybe he could take the work out of that designation. That thought made him hum around Gabriel's shaft, pleased with the timing of things. Gabriel was murmuring a stream of babble - oh, Jack, oh, Jack, yes, yes, oh god Jack - and Jack kept going until the words dried up and Gabriel came in his mouth.
He had a limited window, he thought muzzily through his own now-painful arousal. As he swallowed, he threw himself towards the bedside table and pulled out the bottle of lube. His pajama bottoms got tossed to the floor with Gabe's, and he grabbed the ass pillow from the shelf under the table. Gabriel was still out of it enough that Jack had the pillow under his ass and was lubed up before his eyes fluttered open to focus on Jack in confusion.
"If you don't want a nice bone in your body," Jack teased, positioning himself for entry, "then say Iron Man is sexier."
"Team Cap for life," Gabriel breathed, eyes wide.
Jack pushed slowly, gently, teasing them both and trying not to orgasm as Gabriel gasped and flung his head back as though inviting Jack to kiss the exposed skin of his neck. Naturally, Jack did just that, still easing his way slowly in and holding onto is self-control with both metaphoric hands. Gabriel wrapped his arms around Jack, urging him closer, kissing haphazardly at whatever was in reach.
"How am I doing?" Jack murmured.
Gabriel groaned. "More," he panted. "Harder."
"If I go harder, I won't be able to hold it," Jack warned him.
"I don't care. Take me with you. Oh, god, Jack!"
That was the last straw; Jack began thrusting wildly, praying he'd set Gabe off before his orgasm caught him and then it was over - he buried himself as deep as he could, trembling as bliss crashed over him and his arms gave out, feeling Gabriel holding him tight as he laid his head on his lover's shoulder and sighed in contented relief.
It felt like a small eternity before Jack could bring himself to move, even just enough to cuddle up next to his husband - future husband - instead of sprawling on top of him.
"I popped your cherry," he murmured, kissing Gabe's shoulder.
"Mmmmm. Yes, you did."
"We never finished breakfast."
"We had biscuits. That's the important part."
Jack chuckled, but he could feel himself blushing at the same time. "Are they really that good?"
A warm, wet swipe across his forehead, followed by Gabriel's chuckle, answered that. "I licked you. You're mine."
"Yes," Jack agreed, "I am."
"I really am going to marry you for your pizza, you know."
"Not if I marry you first."
Gabriel froze. Jack looked up and saw him wearing an expression similar to the guarded hope he'd seen before, only less guarded and more disbelieving. He wanted Jack to ask. He didn't just want to marry Jack, he wanted Jack to ask. Well, he could work with that. It wasn't like he didn't have a plan, but he wanted it to be as complete a surprise as possible.
Smiling, Jack lifted his head and kissed the look off of Gabriel's face.
===
"I have a box," Jack announced to the conservatively professional woman behind the desk.
Without a word, she presented him with a biometric scanner. He pressed his thumb to it; the frame lit up green.
"Please wait in room three," she said in an impersonally polite tone. "We will bring the box to you momentarily."
Jack nodded and turned away, eyes roving over the doors until he located the correct private room. It was warmly finished, albeit sparsely: a single table topped with polished marble and a single chair, wood and red upholstery. He sat and waited. A minute or two later, a blank-faced man in a crisp uniform entered through the opposite door. The stainless steel safe-deposit box was held carefully in white-gloved hands, and he laid it on the table before bowing to Jack and leaving the way he'd come.
Once he was alone again, Jack stood and pressed his thumb to the biometric lock on the box. The frame lit up green, and the top popped open. He skimmed the contents - the brightly-colored kid's coin purse that held little Maddie's baby teeth, the jewelry box with the locket from his mother, the moose hoof - before reaching out with one trembling hand and picking up the red plaid cloth folded into a small bundle. Slowly, reverently, he unfolded it until its precious contents glittered in the artificial light. Then, equally reverently, he folded the cloth back up and slid the bundle into his pocket.
With one last look at his most prized possessions, Jack pressed the lid back into place on the box and watched the lock turn red and then go dark. He left the private room, nodding to the woman behind the desk, and walked out without a word.
=
Of course, getting the package was the easy part. What kept Jack distracted over the next few days was figuring out how to give it. The traditional approach - down on one knee in a fancy or romantic venue - wasn't really his style or Gabriel's. The oh-ha-ha-how-did-that-get-there sly proposal was equally out. He tried to think of something witty to say while simply presenting it, but he kept coming back to "Congratulations, you've won a lifetime supply of pizza!" and that really wasn't the sort of tone he wanted to take.
He carried the bundle with him everywhere, in case inspiration struck, but nothing did - and time was running out.
"Jack," Gabriel said gently, knocking him back to the present.
The present was standing in the living room, staring off into space with his hand in his pocket and his future husband giving him a concerned look.
"Root beer float?" Gabe asked hesitantly.
He hadn't needed that ritual in weeks and he didn't need it now. But when he opened his mouth, his brain threw its metaphoric hands in the air and left him gaping like an idiot, unable to even think of two words much less string them together. Very concerned now, Gabriel held his arms out, inviting Jack to step into a hug.
Jack thrust the cloth bundle at him instead.
Eyebrows raised, Gabriel accepted it and slowly unwrapped the cloth while Jack felt like his heart was going to climb up his throat and choke him. When the last fold of cloth fell away, revealing two shiny dog tags on a chain, Gabriel looked at Jack as if asking silently if he was serious. Nervously, Jack nodded.
"Hell. Yes." Each word was enunciated, emphasized, as if Gabriel knew that his future husband was consumed by second-guessing himself.
All of Jack's anxiety evaporated in a rush of euphoria and he found himself hugging and being hugged so tightly that it was a wonder either of them could breathe, lips pressed frantically to any exposed skin they could get to, and if there were tears, neither of them was going to mention it.
"You kept them," Gabriel murmured as their mutual giddiness wound down to more gentle cuddling.
"Of course I did," Jack murmured back. "You think I'd throw them out, particularly when I was wearing the other half?"
Gabriel stepped back and held the chain out to Jack. "Would you do the honors?" he asked with something trying to be a smirk but looking more like a shy smile.
Jack smiled back. "Of course."
He draped the chain carefully over Gabriel's head, kissing the back of his neck and sliding his arms around in a hug. One hand played with the tags now resting against Gabe's chest the way Gabriel had played with his so many times.
A shaky laugh, and Gabriel said, "So...should we keep our own names, or do you want to hyphenate?"
"I'm still working on the fact that someone will know I'm alive," Jack answered dryly. "How fast can we get the documentation together?"
Gabriel coughed.
"...you didn't."
"I didn't want to waste any time," he said with a complete lack of shame, turning in Jack's embrace to wrap his arms around his shoulders and smirk. "We can get married today, if you want to."
Jack kissed the tip of Gabriel's nose. "How about on the twelfth, I actually give you my hand?"
"Done. And how about we get Indian and something to drink and discuss our honeymoon options tonight?"
"I'd love to," Jack said softly. "I love you."
"I love you too, Jack."
They kissed.