Gabriel Knows Too Much (part 5)
Mar. 21st, 2013 11:53 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
"So these women you interrupted," Jack said over breakfast. "What did they look like?"
Gabriel swallowed a mouthful of waffles. "Uh. Short, Asian, kinda chubby and tall, Russian, could crush my head between her thighs."
"Descriptive," Jack said blandly. "But it sounds like the first one could be Mei. I think dropping by to introduce yourself properly and apologize is a good idea. We should bring food and vodka."
"Excited to be social again?" Gabriel teased, laughing when Jack's cheeks turned red. "I'll take that as a yes. When do you want to go?"
"If we're bringing food, waiting until lunchtime would probably be good," Jack deadpanned. "Any idea where they live?"
Gabriel ransacked his future memories. Spending the night on the couch, driving back with Liao from- "Santa Barbara," he announced. "But I'm not sure where in the city...I could teleport directly into the apartment, I'm sure, but that would be rude. And dangerous."
"Teleport in and sneak out?" Jack suggested.
"I may have a solution," Gabriel said slowly, remembering how he made the Thing trick work. "But we probably want to get the vodka first just in case."
After breakfast, they teleported (with the help of a map, for aiming) to...somewhere in Russia. Gabriel was able to use his Sight to locate a transhuman who didn't seem terrified of him, a burly brawler-type with a raven on one shoulder and a dog at his heels. Both animals kept watching Gabriel intently as the brawler gave him directions to a good place to buy vodka, and suggestions for what brand to buy. Jack stayed strangely quiet during the conversation, keeping his head slightly down and not looking directly at the guy or his weird pets. Gabriel wasn't certain why, because the guy seemed friendly enough even if the animals were creepy.
Only after they'd concluded their conversation and gone their separate ways did Jack wrap possessive arms around one of Gabriel's and hiss, "That was a dragon!"
Oh. "He seemed nice enough."
"He was ready to fight you."
"That explains why he was so happy to give me directions, I guess." Gabriel nuzzled the griffin's neck. "You okay?"
Jack kissed him briefly. "Yeah. Just a little shaken. I'll have to have Angela lecture you on dragons."
Gabriel whined and pouted for a minute before laughing. "Probably wouldn't be a bad idea," he conceded. "To keep from giving you a heart attack, if nothing else."
The liquor store turned out to be run by vampire who kept flinching away from Gabriel, and the suggested brand of vodka required the supernatural credit card.
"I'm not going to kill you," Gabriel tried to reassure him. "I know past Reapers have been terrifying, but you can spread the word that the new Reaper would rather buy the next round than start a bar fight. Doesn't mean I won't defend myself," he added, "but I'm not gonna kill you for looking at me the wrong way."
It didn't seem to reassure the vampire much. Gabriel paid for his purchase, took his mate's arm, and teleported out.
He spent the late morning learning about Chinese yetis at Jack's suggestion, and then at about 11:30 he and Jack collected the vodka and mentally crossed their fingers. Gabriel focused on the memory of talking to Liao just outside the apartment and reached slowly, focusing on that moment of strange omniscience before he rematerialized to be sure he was where he wanted to be.
Jack looked at the apartment door, looked at his mate, and beamed. "Nicely done, Gabe!" He reached out to knock, and-
"Who is there?" demanded an angry Russian voice.
The two men exchanged a look of what the hell, why not and Gabriel called out, "Gabriel Reyes and Jack Morrison." A pause, and then he added, "We brought vodka."
The door opened and there was Zarya, just as massive and terrifying as Gabriel remembered, and she was...ignoring him to stare at Jack.
"You are Jack Morrison, the Overwatch leader, the undefeated griffin?"
"Retired," Jack demurred, trying to hide how flattered he was. "But yes."
"It is an honor. Come in! Tell me what brings you here!"
Gabriel stood back and let Jack do the talking, grinning as his mate traded bits of story with the werebear and presented her with the vodka.
"This is from Russia," she said in awe.
"I can teleport," Gabriel pointed out. "You might remember that from the first time we met, which was me accidentally teleporting into your apartment and then back out."
"You are the Reaper," Zarya said warily. Gabriel nodded. "But you are also..."
"He's my mate," Jack said firmly. "He's a good man. It was his idea to bring a sorry-for-teleporting-in-on-you gift."
"Lunch is on me, too," Gabriel interjected. "What and where is up for negotiation."
Zarya nodded. "We will have pizza, delivered, but not until Mei gets back from shopping." She turned the vodka bottle around in her hands, almost nervously, before setting it on a shelf. "Reaper, is it true the djinn have brought a case against Overwatch?"
Slowly, Gabriel nodded.
"Might I ask which way you lean?"
"It's complicated," Gabriel told her. "Right now, I want more information."
"May I offer some?"
He spread his hands. "Please. Be my guest."
Hesitantly, she told him about the second uprising. Jack's brows furrowed as they listened, but neither of them said anything until she was finished.
"This is why I have supported Liao, and why I wish to join Overwatch," Zarya said. "She has promised me that she will kill the djinn in my homeland."
Gabriel caught and held her gaze. "No matter which way I rule," he promised, "I will make sure that gets the attention it deserves. But from what you described, they're being controlled rather than rebelling of their own free will. I'd rather free them than just slaughter them, if that's the case, and bring the ones responsible to justice."
Zarya looked uncomfortable, but nodded. "If I may ask...Overwatch does not normally work with the Reaper..."
Again, Gabriel let Jack do the talking as he explained how the previous Mantle had taken the Reaper in order to enact petty revenge, and how he'd retired after the deaths of close friends and lived in isolation until one day he rescued a human who the Reaper had picked for its new host, and how he'd befriended the man and promised to stand by him and not let him go through that horror alone.
"You were right," she told Jack when he was finished his story. "He is a good man. He went to Russia to obtain good vodka as a gift."
Footsteps on the stairs made them all pause, and Zarya smiled. "My little snowflake returns," she told them.
Gabriel grinned. "Let me get the door."
As soon as the footsteps stopped, he turned one arm into a whip and reached out to open the door.
"Thank you," Mei said, her arms full of paper grocery bags that blocked her view.
"You're welcome," Gabriel said as Zarya plucked the groceries from her arms.
"Zarya?" Mei asked uncertainly.
The werebear beamed. "Mei, what do you want on your pizza? The Reaper is buying."
===
Over pizza and soda, they all swapped stories of how they met and became couples. There was some friendly argument about whether a giant bear or a griffin gave better cuddles, but in the end Jack won purely because the Reaper's room was big enough to allow him to change forms. After lunch, sucking on the popsicles Gabriel remembered Mei buying, they talked a little about the situation in Russia. Finding the ones responsible rather than killing the constructs was accepted as the best idea, given scale and manpower. He sure hoped Mondatta found something, because his other self hadn't learned shit.
After that discouraging talk, they played a board game called Sorry! that involved getting pieces around the board from 'start' to 'home', and Mei was brutal at sending everyone else's pieces back to 'start'. No matter how earnestly she apologized for doing it, Gabriel didn't think she was sorry at all. Unsurprisingly, she won the game.
To celebrate her girlfriend's victory, Zarya broke into the vodka and poured them all a shot. Gabriel wasn't sure if vodka was really to his taste, but at least he didn't cough, so...reputation maintained. Then Zarya suggested playing Never Have I Ever, and he remember way too clearly how that had ended up.
"I'm the designated driver," he protested, hands up in disavowal. "Drunken teleporting is a bad idea. I'll drink double or triple shots of water, but..."
Jack put his hands on Gabriel's shoulders and fixed his mate with a serious look. "Gabe," he said solemnly, "will you still love me if I get completely hammered without you?"
"Even if you puke on me and shit the bed," Gabriel replied, equally solemn.
Jack looked at him a moment longer. "Please don't let me do that," he said quietly.
Gabriel laughed.
The game went mostly as expected - left fur in the bed, shot anyone, killed anyone, joined Overwatch, been the Reaper, been to the zoo, left California without teleporting, dated a human who's not the Reaper, been a man, gone skinny dipping, and others. Gabriel knocked back half a glass of water instead of a shot of vodka for every time he had to drink, and made Jack do a shot of water for each shot of alcohol. His stomach and bladder were groaning by the time Mei passed out and Zarya called it quits, and he poured Jack a glass of water to drink while he went to the bathroom to relieve himself.
When he came out, Jack slurred that their hosts had gone to bed. He scrawled a note on the pad on the fridge, thanking them for a fun evening and leaving his phone number. Then he wrapped a tendril around his swaying mate and took them home.
Jack was a more cuddly drunk than Gabriel remembered. Granted, he had been pretty drunk in those memories. They spent a pleasant ten or twenty minutes lounging on the couch, kissing and mock-preening, until Gabriel's stomach outsourced enough of its contents to his bladder to make him need the bathroom again. While he was relieving himself, Jack apparently decided he could cuddle better as a griffin because Gabriel was greeted by a giant lion tongue scraping up the side of his face as soon as he left the bathroom. Over his (admittedly weak) protests, he found himself pinned gently to the floor and nuzzled by half a ton of purring fur.
"I love you too, Jack," he laughed as whiskers tickled his stomach, "but the floor isn't exactly comfortable."
The griffin heaved himself to his feet, only to grab the blanket from their bed and pull it down onto the floor.
"Jack, that's not what-"
A big paw urging him gently over interrupted his protest, and with a sigh Gabriel stripped to his boxers. The next twenty minutes were spent cuddling up to fur and feathers and being licked on just about every patch of exposed skin. When he had to pee for what he hoped would be the last time before bed, he distracted Jack by kissing the center of his feline nose. (Jack had protested once that his nose wasn't ticklish, it was just Gabriel's facial hair that made it tickle so much.) When he got back, he found his mate had finally passed out. With a mental shrug, he wormed his way under one foreleg and used the other as his pillow.
===
Gabriel woke up first, unsurprisingly, with a desperate need to pee. At least it was better than being hung over, which Jack probably was. On a whim, he woke the laptop he'd gotten from Torbjörn and went to the supernatural equivalent of google. Griffin hangover cure, he typed, and promptly clapped both hands over his mouth to keep from giggling out loud. A quick glance with the Sight located the nearest golem, and he misted silently from the room to intercept it and place a breakfast order.
When the food arrived, he took the covered platters one at a time to the coffee table by the couch, then the pitchers of water, juice, and coffee. Finally, carefully, he carried the soup tureen full of milk - he didn't ask what kind - over to where Jack was making low moaning sounds. The griffin's nose flared as Gabriel set the tureen down, and cautiously he opened one eye.
"Mmuh," he said as he shifted his weight and got his legs under him. Then, to Gabriel's delight, he crouched like a cat over a saucer and started lapping the milk up.
"Can I pet you?" Gabriel asked quietly.
Jack made a whining sort of noise that sounded like I guess so, and Gabriel knelt beside him. Gently, he worked both hands into the griffin's mane and started scratching at the tender spots behind his ears. It wasn't long before Jack was purring, and not long after that he was licking the last bits of what had to have been close to a gallon of milk out of the tureen. When he was empty, he pushed it gently aside and turned towards Gabriel, who immediately began stroking the long, broad path from forehead to nose. Watching a griffin melt was always a treat, and Gabriel kept up his ministrations until Jack drew in a deep breath and shrank down to a human again.
"And you're worried I'm to good for you," he sighed, sitting slowly up.
Gabriel hugged him to his chest and finger-preened his hair. "Feeling up to real food?"
"You didn't."
"I did."
"I fucking love you, Gabe."
Gabriel kissed Jack's forehead. "Good, because I love you. Can you stand?"
Jack grumbled into his chest. "Probably, but I don't want to."
Shadow tendrils - and a lot of them, the Reaper was helping him out, and boy was that a surprise - carried the coffee table across the room and lifted the lids covering the two platters. Waffles with maple syrup, bacon, ham, potatoes, scrambled eggs with cheese, biscuits with butter, toast with jam, and sausage - an entire breakfast buffet just for them, with mugs and service for the coffee and glasses for the juice and water.
"You are the best mate ever," Jack breathed as he took in the tantalizing aromas of breakfast.
"Shut up and eat," Gabriel said, trying to sound threatening instead of flustered. "Unless you want me to feed you."
For a long moment, Jack buried his face in Gabriel's shoulder. "Serve yourself whatever you're going to want," he murmured, "because I'm going to eat everything else."
Laughing, Gabriel kissed him. "Not if I eat it first."
"You're on."
===
The two weeks until Ana and her crew got back were a bizarre combination of the usual routine and frantic planning. Obtaining blood for Hanzo turned out to be easier that expected, although Sombra warned him to not ask how she acquired it. Angela helped him siphon a small amount of his blood into the sort of sealed tube used for blood tests, and he kept that in the magical fridge along with the blood bags. Ashton stepped up to offer his domain, as Gabriel hoped he would, and privately he vowed to find some way to thank the nerdy god. The actual planning for that meeting got bogged down in discussing his impending death with Angela and Jack.
"There's two important parts to this plan," he told them. "Well, I guess technically three, but the last one is tied to the first one. The first part is me actually killing myself. I want something quick so Liao can't stop me, and I'll eat lead if I have to but I'd really, really rather not," he said, wincing at the memory of his own brain tissue on his tongue, ew, ew, ew.
"I'd rather you didn't, too," Jack said, hugging him tightly.
Gabriel ducked his head and let his mate mock-preen his hair. "You're the second part. I need you to bring my body to Angela so she can resurrect me, so you get a say in how I die because I want to make this as easy on you as I can. And the third part, Angela, is...what factors add to how long it takes to resurrect someone, and what's the best way to die so you can bring me back as quick as possible?"
They discussed poison, gunshot wounds, and blunt-force trauma. Gabriel mentioned that he could easily decapitate himself, but that was vetoed by Jack for being incredibly traumatizing and by Angela for complete blood loss making resurrection more difficult. Luckily, that discussion led to confirmation that intent counted more than the instrument, and thus Gabriel killing himself with a Reaper power counted as 'by his own hand'. In the end, they settled on using arm-whips or shadow tendrils to snap his own neck as being the fastest, least-traumatizing, and easiest to recover from. That left Gabriel with two tasks: learning on cadavers how to completely break the neck in one swift motion, and explaining to the Reaper why this was necessary.
Mei, Zarya, and Lena called a few times to chat with either him or Jack. None of them mentioned anything about the case, which made Gabriel nervous. He asked Zarya where she had learned about the case, and she admitted to having heard it from a contact in Russia and bringing it to Liao's attention but not telling Mei. She didn't want her girlfriend to think she'd only approached her to get Overwatch's ear. He assured the werebear that he wouldn't mention it, but asked her to tell him if Liao brought it up to Overwatch.
Finally, one morning, his phone rang and it was Ana.
The conversation was short - time and date for Easter, confirmation that blood would be a welcome gift/side dish for Hanzo, and a warning that Genji would be present but Zenyatta would not. One hand over his face, Gabriel warned her that if Genji made any ill-advised comments about his and Jack's personal lives, there would be yelling and possibly violence.
"Should I ask?" Jack asked when Gabriel hung up and flopped over onto him.
"Sex-obsessed vampire with no concept of when he should shut up," he sighed. "He came on to me when I first crashed at Ana's, and seemed pretty ticked when I told him my anaconda don't want none in general."
"I can see where that could be awkward," Jack said dryly.
Gabriel groaned. "It gets worse. You know how the Reaper will kick in if something gets its attention? I think it likes you."
Jack froze. "Likes...how?"
"It helped me move the table the morning after Mei's.I'm pretty sure it's not gonna be happy if Genji says something rude about the fact that we're not fucking."
Silence made Gabriel glance up to see Jack staring in astonishment. Then, slowly, it thawed into a sort of unholy glee. "Who's a good embodiment of murder," the griffin cooed in the tone of voice old ladies used on small dogs and babies. "Who's the best soul-eating mass of shadows ever to be ripped out of a human?"
"Jack, stop, that's creepy!" The fact that the Reaper seemed to be paying attention made him groan. Then a shadow tendril rose up from somewhere. "Noooo..."
"It's you!" Jack declared brightly, reaching out to poke, pet, and play with the tendril. "It is! Yes it is!"
Gabriel couldn't help it; he covered his eyes and laughed.
===
Easter morning, Gabriel misted out of bed to pull a basket full of fake grass and candy out of its hiding place and set it on the coffee table. He took a moment to admire the giant chocolate bunny with Peeps, Cadbury
eggs, jelly beans, little chocolate eggs, and other candy arranged around it. Then he misted back into bed like nothing had happened. Jack guessed, when he woke up, that it had been his mate and expressed his appreciation with kisses.
Since Ana was doing Easter dinner as a brunch, with food comas and grazing to follow the rest of the day, neither of them bothered eating breakfast. Jack grabbed the magical cooler filled with almost a dozen bags of human blood and fished through them until he had the extra bags of O positive and A positive. Using medical tape, he secured one to his belly and the other to Gabriel's, and then they both wrapped strips of insulating cloth around their waists and went for a healthy run around the mansion. A hot shower followed, and then they dressed and checked each other over to see if their surprises were showing.
They weren't.
Gabriel grabbed the cooler and the wooden box, Jack grabbed the even more impressive Easter basket Gabriel had secretly prepared, and off they went.
As they formed on Ana's front porch, he remembered the first time (times?) he'd been there. How scared and angry he'd been, fighting his destiny and then eager to meet it. Easter had passed without him noticing it, in his future memories. He'd gone three months without keeping in touch with anyone, and now he felt like he was visiting family. A bit smug at how much better he was doing now that he had...not cheat codes exactly, but more like a previous playthrough to reference. In any case, he felt smug enough to show off and used a shadow tendril to knock on the door.
Reinhardt flung the door open, arms wide to hug, but stopped at the sight of the gifts Jack and his mate had some bearing. "Come in," he boomed happily. "Set your burdens down so that I can greet you properly!"
"How about we set them down one at a time out here, and then bring them inside after you greet us?" Jack countered teasingly.
Gabriel's eyes widened. "No no no wait!" He set the cooler down and lifted his shirt enough for Reinhardt to see the bag of now-warm blood taped to his belly.
"Ahhh. Hugging will have to wait." The half-giant nodded sagely. "Come in!"
They followed Reinhardt inside and to the living room, where Hanzo and Jesse were cuddling on one couch with Ana, Fareeha, and Genji in a couple of chairs. A very solid wooden chair meant to support Reinhardt's bulk had been added to the room, Gabriel thought, but then he realized that he had seen it before, it had just been covered in potted plants.
"Reyes-san!" Genji exclaimed in delight. "You look...different."
No. Please no. "I'm a fully-fledged Reaper," he said, but Genji interrupted him.
"That's not it. You smell different, too. Oh!"
Oh no, please-
"You've been having sex!"
The overlapping outbursts that got mostly consisted of the vampire's name being called sharply, or incredulous exclamations.
"I told you," Gabriel seethed, trying to keep the shadow tendrils to a minimum, "I'm asexual."
"But there's real manly pheromones all over you! His," he added, jerking a thumb at Jack. "Snagged yourself a real alpha male, nice!"
Jack held out one hand and then thought better of it, letting his humanity slip enough for fangs and a mane. "Jack Morrison. Former Strike-Commander of Overwatch," he introduced himself. "Gabriel is my mate, and what does or does not happen in our bed is none of your business."
"But your scent's all over him!"
Absently, Jack passed the basket to Reinhardt and stood behind Gabriel, who had his eyes closed as he silently pled with the Reaper to behave. "Because he's my mate," the griffin growled with more than a hint of lion in his voice.
"I'm not interested in him anymore, you can let me in on your sexploits-"
The Reaper surged inside Gabriel, despite his efforts, and his eyes snapped open glowing a brilliant, bloody red. Genji had been bound in shadow tendrils like a snake squeezing its prey, a thick tendril between his teeth acting like a gag. "Genji," Gabriel hissed in a low, ominous voice, "don't piss off the Reaper."
The only motion in the room was the panicked flare of Genji's nostrils. Even Jesse was frozen, eyes wide, waiting to see what would happen.
"Let him go, love," Jack murmured softly, wrapping his arms around Gabriel's chest and mock-preening his hair. "It's okay. He's learned his lesson. Haven't you?" he added sharply in the vampire's direction.
Genji nodded frantically.
"You defended me." Jack's voice was a soothing rumble, almost like his purr. "He won't do it again. Let him go."
The glow faded from Gabriel's eyes, leaving them red-brown as the shadow bindings fell away. He sucked in a deep breath, silently thanking the Reaper for not going for the kill and backing down. "So," he said in a tone of that sure happened but let's never speak of it again, "I hear congratulations are in order!"
"Yup!" Jesse looked like he wanted to wag the tail he didn't have. "Me'n Hanzo tied the knot!"
"I'm happy for you," Gabriel said honestly. "We brought presents..."
He handed Jesse the box and passed the cooler to Hanzo.
"A full assortment," the elder vampire said, eyebrows arching as he checked the contents. "Reyes-san, this is an incredible gift, thank you."
Beside him, the werewolf was fairly squealing in delight at the brush and comb set. "I can't wait to have you use these on me," he told his husband, leaning in to kiss his neck.
"And they have brought CANDY!" Reinhardt announced, holding the basket up for all to admire.
Ana smiled. "Don't eat too much," she warned the room as a whole. "We're having dinner in a few hours."
Gabriel and Jack settled on the other couch and conversation resumed, stories and jokes and discussions of who was living where. Jack and Fareeha traded gossip on Overwatch members they'd been in touch with while Gabriel and Hanzo compared their experiences being involved with shifters. Gabriel floated the idea of them all being there to support him for his first case as the Reaper, and they all seemed amenable to it, which was a relief. Ana and Reinhardt excused themselves to the kitchen to take dishes out and prepare them, and soon enough Reinhardt was calling everyone in to the dining room where a veritable feast had been laid out. Genji and Hanzo looked slightly wistful, and Gabriel remembered the elder brother sucking juice out of a chicken nugget in a Burger King.
"Brought something for you," he told Hanzo, reaching under his shirt and wincing as he pulled at the tape. It was worth it to see the startled pleasure on the vampire's face as he was handed a bag of blood.
"It's warm," he breathed in awe. "Reyes-san, I am honored!"
Jack pulled his own bag off and offered it to Genji. "Happy Easter?"
Genji smiled slyly, as if he were about to make an inappropriate comment, and then glanced at Gabriel and changed his mind. "Domo arigato," he said instead, bowing deeply.
While everyone was serving themselves, Ana collected bits of everything onto a tiny plate and left for what Gabriel assumed was Jamison's room. When she came back, he caught her eye.
"Pixie okay?" he asked.
Ana laughed. "He unwisely taunted some of the nymphs, and suffered some humiliating injuries. He refuses to come out until the stains fade."
The meal was worlds better than Christmas, as far as Gabriel was concerned, purely because of the company. The food was still foreign, using ingredients and spices he wasn't familiar with, but instead of potentially-hostile griffins bragging and treating him like a pet, he was surrounded by friends. Most of whom were being just as sickeningly cute with their spouses as he was, what with him and Jack feeding each other bites and sitting so close they may as well have been sharing a chair. Jesse periodically held the pouch of blood for Hanzo to drink from, while Hanzo fed his husband tidbits, and Reinhardt kept murmuring things that made Ana giggle and blush. Fareeha seemed to approve of the half-giant flirting with her mother, and Gabriel wondered briefly when exactly the two had gotten together since he was pretty sure a quarter-giant should be visually identifiable in some way, and Fareeha looked...normal.
After everyone not drinking blood had eaten their fill, Jesse suggested going outside to nap in the shade, and Jack seconded the motion. Ana declined, claiming the dishes had to be done and volunteering Genji and Fareeha to help her. Werewolf and vampire leading the way, griffin and Mantle following, the four of them trooped outside to one of the trees surrounding the yard. Jack shifted to griffin on the way, while Jesse slipped behind the tree to strip and shift. Gabriel felt the tiniest bit superior as he got settled against Jack's bulk and watched Hanzo lean against the tree with Jesse's head and forequarters in his lap. His mate, he thought smugly, was big enough to provide full-body cuddles. He threaded one hand up into Jack's mane, scratching until the griffin started purring, and fell asleep with a smile on his lips.
===
There was more casual hanging out when they woke up, a surprisingly competitive game of ultimate Frisbee wherein shadow tendrils and whatever levitation magic Fareeha used were ruled to be cheating, and a round of snacking on candy and leftovers. Gabriel slipped into Jamison's room to talk to the pixie, only to discover him sulking under a handkerchief. Turns out that Satya's revenge for the stinkbomb was to bombard the pixie with berries and temporarily stain him in varying shades of pink.
"I can't let my boyfriend see me like this!" Jamison wailed, giving Gabriel an opening to ask about Roadhog and express a desire to meet him. That was surprising enough that the pixie stuck his head out from under the cloth. "You wanna meet Hoggy?"
"He sounds like a good guy. And I consider you a friend, so yeah, I want to meet him."
"I'm friends with the Reaper?"
Gabriel manifested a tiny tendril for the pixie to high-five. "You sure are. Don't count on me to finish any fight you start, though," he added as it occurred to him that Jamison would probably do just that. "And yeah, I do want to meet your boyfriend."
"I'll get Ana to call you when he comes," Jamison promised. "He's gonna come get me and we're gonna rob everyone!"
The maniacal laughter would have sounded more impressive coming from someone who wasn't six inches tall, but the pink and magenta stains on his face and hair made it more unnerving.
"Oh, brought you something," Gabriel said, fishing a single tiny chocolate egg and a small box of Jelly Bellies out of his pocket. "Most of the Easter candy is too big for you to carry, so..."
Two berry-stained arms emerged to pull his prizes out of sight under the handkerchief. "You're alright," Jamison said from under the cloth. "I'll tell Hoggy he needs to meet you."
"Thanks, Jamison," Gabriel said with a little smile. "Happy Easter."
===
With three weeks until the mediation, Angela sent messages to both Overwatch and the Shambali with the time, date, and location. Gabriel did his best to bury his nervousness under lifting weights, but he still found himself going over his future memories obsessively, trying to make sure he had everything planned out. He mastered snapping cadaver necks with his whip arms, and woke up one morning to a herd of cows in the courtyard.
"So you can practice on something living," Amelie told him, her yellow eyes hard and glittering.
Gabriel ignored the implied slight - that he needed practice killing living things - and waded into the herd. It took having to behead five crippled cows before he learned how much force was required to kill the cows instantly. I have to do this, he thought at the entity in his head. I have to kill myself so Liao can take you back because that's the only way we can make sure she never gets you again. She can't die until she gets you back. I won't let her keep you, I promise. I'm not abandoning you. God, I hope you understand this.
When the last cow was dead, Gabriel stalked past Amelie without a word. Cow or not, those were still living things and he'd killed them with something almost more intimate than his bare hands, he was covered in blood, and he was fairly sure the Reaper was just as rattled as he was. He kept his eyes straight ahead and didn't answer Jack, every bit of him intent on the hot bath that awaited him in the Reaper's bathroom. Jack watched, concerned, as his mate stripped and climbed into the shower while the giant tub filled, scrubbing himself all over and washing his hair twice. Only after Gabriel had slipped into the hot water did he join him.
"Gabe?" he asked softly, almost but not quite reaching out, afraid of startling his mate.
Gabriel turned and hugged Jack desperately, head on his chest, shivering despite the heat of the water.
"I'm scared, Jack," he whispered, eyes shut tight. "I just killed a herd of cows. I'm going to kill myself. I'm scared something will go wrong. I don't want to die, Jack. I don't want to leave you alone."
"I don't want you to die, either," Jack murmured, finger-preening Gabriel's hair. "But I would rather you die under controlled circumstances and come back to me than Liao put one between your eyes and lose you forever."
"That's not very comforting," Gabriel complained.
Jack kissed his hair. "I'm sorry. I'm a horrible mate. You're having an existential crisis and a good three-fourths of my brain is focused on all those perfectly good cows and how I haven't had fresh beef in forever."
That was unexpected enough that Gabriel laughed weakly. "I've never seen you eat as a griffin."
"That's because it's messy as hell."
"Mm. And you with all that white fur."
"And feathers. It's not easy to preen with a lion's head."
Gabriel sat up. "How do eagle-headed griffins bathe their lion halves?" he asked, curiously.
Jack snorted. "Badly. Grooming tools are a very good gift idea for most transhumans."
"That's why preening is such a big thing, huh? I should have asked that sphinx about something to groom your feathered butt."
"Fingers are better," Jack said, blushing to the tips of his ears.
Gabriel stood up. "You know what? I don't want to sit around being depressed and anxious. Let's go get you some fresh beef and I'll take a shot at helping you clean up."
"You'd do that?" Jack asked slowly, standing up as well.
"I'd be a shitty mate if I didn't, considering all the times you helped clean me up."
Jack hugged him, both of them shivering slightly as the cooler air hit their wet skin. "Should we get you some burgers or something?"
"I'm not sure I can eat yet."
"Okay." Jack kissed his mate gently. "Thank you for this."
=
Watching Jack go to town on a hind quarter of fresh beef, still wearing its skin, was less Animal Planet than Gabriel had been afraid of. Seeing his mate so happy helped. Watching those big blue eyes widen as he teleported his right hand into his closet and brought it back holding the griffin-mane comb made Gabriel feel warm and happy, and spending an hour combing blood out of griffin mane and preening it off of griffin feathers while his mate purred in contentment was a lot more satisfying than he thought it would be. They napped in the sun for a while, and Gabriel woke up famished.
Fortunately, he was also settled enough to enjoy a generous slab of steak without being weirded out by the fact that he'd literally killed that cow just a few hours ago. He did compliment the chef golem, which made the construct chirp in flustered pleasure at the praise. Jack was still full from his own serving of cow, of course, but he ordered a dark chocolate mousse with raspberries and took quite a bit of pleasure in feeding it to Gabriel and tasting it on his mate's lips.
"Just like you," he murmured between kisses. "Dark, intense, and sweeter than you look."
"You're a sap, Jack," Gabriel murmured back, but he didn't protest the attention or the dessert.
Naturally, that's when his phone rang.
"Zarya," he muttered at seeing who was calling. He was tempted to not answer it, but she'd promised to let him know if Liao brought the case up, and they had just sent notice of the formal mediation. "Talk to me, big mama," he said, putting the call on speakerphone so Jack could hear.
"Flattery will get you nowhere, little man," the werebear teased. "How would you like to join us tomorrow for exciting party?"
Gabriel arched an eyebrow at Jack. "Party?"
"Da. You, me, Jack, Mei, Tracer, Fareeha, and Liao. She has announced the Shambali have brought their case to you and is going to explain it to us, see who wants to come along."
"Why invite us?" Jack asked, exchanging a look with Gabriel.
"Because to me, she said it is about the case. But to my little snowflake, she said it is a party. The more, the merrier." The growl in Zarya's voice sent a chill of glad it's not me down Gabriel's spine. "So. Is party. You will come?"
"We'll be there," Gabriel promised. "Just tell us when."
"Fun starts at one," Zarya said cheerfully. "You are welcome anytime past nine."
Jack said, "See you at ten, then."
They looked at each other as the line went dead.
"You ready for this, Gabe?"
The Mantle let out a shaky laugh. "Fuck no. But I don't have a choice. Where's Amelie and Angela? I think we need to talk strategy today."
===
At ten in the morning, arms laden with take-out containers full of appetizers from the East coast and cases of soda and bottled water, Jack and Gabriel appeared outside Mei's apartment and a shadow tendril knocked on the door.
"I'll get it!" called Lena's voice from the other side, and then she was blinking at the two newcomers. "Jack! Gabriel! Come in, I wasn't expecting you!"
"I was," Zarya announced from further in. "Mei said is party, I invited friends."
"And we brought food," Jack announced, letting the bubbly woman relieve him of the soda and water. "And drinks."
"Brr, already cold." In a flash, Lena had deposited them in the fridge and come back. "Whatcha got there, Gabriel?"
The Mantle was unloading containers on the coffee table. "Mozzarella sticks, mild buffalo wings, some curly fries, garlic knots, onion rings, chicken tenders, and..." He opened the last box with a flourish, displaying little plastic tubs filled with a variety of colored substances. "...dipping sauces."
Mei and Fareeha, who had been standing clear of Lena's path, surged into the kitchen to come back with plates and forks and cans and bottles.
"We got an assortment of bagels and cream cheese and coffee earlier," Mei said as she handed out bottles of water and cans of soda, "But this smells delicious. Thank you."
"We weren't expecting you," Fareeha told Jack. "Looking forward to seeing Liao again?"
Jack tried not to wince. "It's definitely going to be interesting. Oh. Thanks, love," he added as Gabriel handed him a plate of nibbles.
"You're on your own for the sauces," Gabriel teased, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek. "I refuse to do that to perfectly good onion rings."
"Hey, there's nothing wrong with honey mustard instead of horseradish sauce!" Despite his mock-outrage, he leaned in to give his mate a proper kiss on the lips.
Lena draped her arms around Mei and Fareeha. "Aren't they adorable? The last person I heard of Jack getting sweet on was...oof, a long time ago!"
"He was married to his work," Fareeha said with a grin. "That's what the stories say."
Gabriel grabbed a can of Coke, popped it open, and said, "Well...yeah. Overwatch was his pride."
"And joy?" Fareeha quipped.
"Like a lion," Mei interjected. "Griffin social groups are called prides."
"And the previous Reaper killed many Overwatch members," Zarya said solemnly. "Your family. No wonder you retired."
This time, Jack did wince.
Fareeha picked up a mozzarella stick, sighed, and put it back down. "That's why I left, too."
Gabriel set his can down and crossed his arms. "Well, I promise I won't kill any of you. Unless it's by making jokes so funny that you're like Oh no, Gabriel, you're killing me, this is too funny!"
Mei was the first to laugh, just a little snorting giggle that slipped out. Lena was next, then Zarya. A moment later, they were all laughing while Gabriel smiled at his mate looking tentatively relieved.
Not hung over: check. Good first impressions on Lena and Fareeha, check. Being the confident friend who shows up with goodies instead of the insecure wreck who crashes in the spare bedroom without warning: check. Not having had a fight with his mate over his own dumb insecurities in front of everyone: check. Not blabbing his accusations before the perp can incriminate herself: working on it.
So far, Gabriel thought, things were going pretty good.
=
"I'll get it," Jack said as someone knocked on the door, but Gabriel was faster.
One arm lashed out as a whip and turned the doorknob, tugging the door open before snapping back into an arm. He got three appreciative Oooohs and applause from Fareeha, who'd seen his trick already.
From the doorway, Liao said, "What did I miss?"
Lena waved cheerfully. "Hey, Liao! This is Gabriel, he's Jack's mate and he's the Reaper but he's a really good guy!"
"I've known her for ten years," Gabriel pointed out dryly. "She knows who I am."
"Oh. Well, I didn't know that." Lena tuck her tongue out and laughed. "Can I get you something to drink, Liao? Gabriel and Jack brought soda and bottled water..."
Liao closed the door and crossed the room to stand in front of the couch Jack and Gabriel had claimed. "Gabe," she said warily, "What's five plus two?"
Oh, right, this bullshit. 'Testing' him to see if the Reaper had made him a psycho lunatic, when she knew very well that-
Oh. Oh. She was trying to discredit him in front of everyone.
"Enough to get one of those really good burritos from the truck," he said lightly. "Why, you forget how much they are?"
Laughter from the other couch, where Zarya and Mei were. Liao scowled.
"Can you tell me a childhood memory?" she asked.
"Not without you getting me drunk. You have much blackmail information on me already."
More laughter.
"How do you take your coffee?" she pressed.
Jack grinned. "The way I like my men: dark but sweet."
"I wasn't asking you, Jack," Liao said over Lena and Fareeha making cooing sounds. "Gabriel. How old are you? Who's the president of the United States?"
Gabriel sat up solemnly. "Liao, have you been hit on the head or traveled through time? Do you come bearing a message from the future?" He used his Talking Down To The Suspect voice, and was pleased to see her flush with anger.
"Stop fucking around," she hissed. "Some Mantles get badly affected by the Reaper. Madness. Irritability. Confusion. I'm trying to make sure you're not a danger."
"Only when he's had cabbage before bed," Jack said with a grin.
"Hey! Griffin farts are ten times worse than anything that comes out of my ass!"
"You only have a human sense of smell," Jack insisted. "You literally can't smell how vile your cabbage gas is."
That was an opportunity, Gabriel realized. He cocked his head to his mate. "Do you ever miss my human smell?"
Jack blinked. "Your..."
"What I smelled like before I became the Reaper. I know it changed my scent. Do you ever miss the way I used to smell?"
"It's still there," Jack said, pulling him closer. "Under the Reaper's death-scent. I can still smell you. And the Reaper's scent is milder when you're not using its power, like the way your eyes aren't so red."
Behind Liao, Zarya was making a face and sniffing the air.
"What do I smell like?" Gabriel asked, genuinely curious.
"Dark chocolate, asphalt, cloves and cumin, coffee that's been sitting in the pot too long."
Gabriel looked at the werebear. "Zarya? Is that what I smell like to you, too?"
"Your scent is muddled," she declared, standing up. "Come, step away from the others and do not be offended."
Obediently, he stood and tried not to look as she took a not-very-discrete sniff in Liao's direction before waving him out into the guest room.
"Why does Liao smell like the Reaper?" she hissed once the door had closed behind them. "It is quiet underneath her own scent, but part of it, like it is a part of her."
"You just answered your own question," Gabriel said just as quietly.
Zarya crossed her arms. "And you did not tell me why?"
"I'm not going to tell you how to feel about her. That's your decision to make." Gabriel stuck one arm out. "Here, you better actually sniff me before we go back."
She gave him a cursory sniff and then shooed him back out into the living room. "Jack is correct," she announced.
Mei squeaked, "What do I smell like?"
That set off a round of werebear and griffin being asked to smell women's arms and describe their scent. When Mei, Lena, and Fareeha had all been sniffed and described, the chirpy Brit asked, "What does Liao smell like?"
A tense silence filled the room. Reluctantly, Liao extended one arm and stiffly, Zarya sniffed it.
"Smoke. Old sandalwood. Crushed chrysanthemums. Dried blood. Death."
"You're smelling the Reaper," Liao protested.
"Yes. I am." Zarya crossed her arms. "The question is: why?"
"Because Gabriel's sitting right there," she countered acidly.
Quietly, Jack said, "That's the way you've always smelled, Liao."
The silence this time was horrified as Mei, Lena, and Fareeha realized what was being implied.
Gabriel clapped his hands together. "Right! Liao, I think this is where Jack and I fuck off so you can tell them about the case without us here to offer any conflicting information. It was nice getting together with you all. I hope to see you all in the Overwatch delegation on the twenty-fifth. Jack, you ready to go?"
"Ready when you are, Gabe," he said, wrapping one arm around the Mantle's waist.
Right before the disappeared, Gabriel brought one hand to his head in a 'call me' gesture, his eyes sweeping over the three uncertain women and Zarya.
===
"That could have gone better," Jack said once they'd joined the harpies in their makeshift war room.
Gabriel leaned back in his chair, arms behind his head. "It could have gone a lot worse," he assured the griffin. "I think that went pretty well, all things considered."
Angela frowned at both of them. "Perhaps you should tell us what happened."
They'd just gotten to the point where they teleported out when Gabriel's phone rang.
"Oh look," he said smugly. "It's Zarya. Quiet, everyone..." He picked up the call and put it on speaker. "Hey, how'd it go?"
"Liao just left," Fareeha's subdued voice said. "Is Jack there?"
"Here," the griffin said.
"Is it true? Liao's a former Reaper?"
Jack sighed. "Nearest we've been able to figure out, Liao was the first Reaper, and she's immortal because that's what happens to a human whose magic gets ripped out."
Lena's voice said shakily, "But she told us about the horrible things the djinn did in the Construct War, and Zarya said-"
"I said they seemed controlled." the werebear interrupted. "And knowing that Liao tried to pass her scent off as being Gabriel's, I do not trust her motives in offering to slaughter the djinn in my country."
"She didn't tell us she wanted to talk about the case." That was Mei's voice. "She told Zarya, but not us."
"Jack." Fareeha again. "If we get everyone together and hold a vote of no confidence, will you come back?"
The griffin shook his head, one hand tight around Gabriel's. "I can't. I'm personally involved with the Reaper, it would make his decision look biased." He paused. "But if Liao were to do something unadvised during the mediation, the Overwatch guidelines do allow for field conscriptions and promotions."
Amelie and Angela gave Jack admiring and confused looks, respectively.
"I understand," Fareeha said firmly.
Gabriel cleared his throat. "I do want to remind everyone that the mediation will be held in a god's domain, and violence will not be permitted within it. If Liao or anyone else does do something unadvised, I'm going to ask you all to follow Jack's example with regards to when, where, and how to participate."
There was a small babbling of agreement, and then Lena's voice asked, "What if Liao doesn't do something unadvised?"
The four sitting in the Reaper's mansion looked at each other. That was the one scenario they hadn't planned for.
Gabriel did his best Godfather impression. "I'm gonna make her an offer she can't refuse."
Surprised laughter.
"Seriously though, I can't make a fair ruling until she's separated from Overwatch. She's already expressed intent to murder the djinn's leader and commit genocide on the rest of them."
"But if she's immortal," Mei said, still sounding shaken.
"I have a plan," he assured them, making eye contact with the other three at the table. "Trust me, and follow Jack's example. Okay?"
The four clustered around Zarya's phone voiced agreement, and he ended the call.
"You have a Chinese yeti and a werebear, along with two of Overwatch's finest humans," Amelie spat at him, her yellow eyes harder than usual. "Why do you need me?"
Without breaking eye contact, Gabriel summoned shadow tendrils that grabbed one of the unused chairs and hurled it behind him, where other tendrils leaped up to catch it and wrench it apart with all the strength he'd used to snap the necks of the cows. Then the tendrils flung two of the pieces back and he lashed out with both scythe-arms to slice them mid-air, still without looking.
"Liao was the first Reaper," he said quietly as the pieces clattered to the floor. "This was her magic, and she used it to kill countless constructs. I don't want anyone getting close enough for her to do that to. A single sniper has more chance of killing her than a squadron of the strongest fighters and magic users, if they have to get close to her to do it. If things go the way I hope, you won't be needed at all. No one will, aside from Jack and Angela. But if they don't..."
His glowing red eyes reflected in hers, giving them the illusion of holding flames in their depths.
"...I'm counting on you to take any shot you see, and don't stop until you see the Reaper leave her mouth."
Amelie swallowed. "Understood."
===
The call from Ana came the next day, bemusedly informing him that Jamison's boyfriend had arrived and would Gabriel be so kind as to come over? Gabriel grabbed Jack and they teleported to Ana's porch, where Roadhog was waiting with Jamison flitting around him excitedly. Jack clearly had questions, but he kept his reaction to one skeptical look in Gabriel's direction.
"You're the Reaper," Roadhog grunted. "Harpy got you, then."
"She did. It's been interesting." Gabriel opened his Sight, confirming that Roadhog had that dusty sense about him.
"You have the Sight."
Gabriel closed it with a shrug. "It happens."
Behind the leather mask, barely-visible eyes squinted. "Who trained you?"
Fuck. "Uh...this is liable to get boring," Gabriel said to Jack and Jamison. "Feel free to go say hi to Ana if you want."
Jack nodded and gave his mate a brief kiss before ushering the pixie inside.
"Mated to the griffin?"
Gabriel nodded. "Listen, can we go away from the house a bit?"
That got him another suspicious look, but Roadhog turned and followed what had to be his own path out through the tall grass for several yards. "Now," he said firmly. "Who trained you?"
"You did," Gabriel said, meeting the mask's eyeholes evenly. "In a different timeline, where I got away from the harpy and you were hired to kidnap me. You found me in a Burger King, in the company of a vampire, a Chinese yeti..." He took a deep breath. "...and Liao, the woman who was left immortal when the Reaper was ripped out of her thousands of years ago. I started Sighting in the middle of the fight, and you hauled me off to teach me to open and close it before bringing me back and leaving me there instead of delivering me to Angela because I was Jamison's friend."
Roadhug grunted. "Sounds like me."
"I think the djinn's goddess gave me the knowledge of how things would have gone so that I can make sure they don't go that way again."
"Why tell me?"
Gabriel shrugged. "Because you still helped me, even though that never happened. And I'm sort of planning a dramatic reveal at the mediation, but I'm going with a different plan for the fight and I don't need to hire you to keep Jack from making sure I die because I'm keeping him in the loop this time."
"Good," the big man said shortly. "Better to be honest with people you care about."
"So, uh...thanks for teaching me how to use my Sight and...if you're going to blow up a building full of rich people...um...remember to rob them first."
Roadhog let out a quiet chuckle. "You're welcome. JAMISON!"
The pixie shot out of Ana's house like a bullet with an Australian accent, babbling greetings and farewells and bragging in Gabriel's direction and orbiting the masked head of his - Gabriel refused to think about it too hard - partner in crime. Hopefully only in crime. They started walking away from the house; Gabriel tossed them a final wave and walked back towards the house...and his tolerantly-amused mate waiting on the porch.
"Got through saying the things you didn't want me to hear?" the griffin asked dryly.
Gabriel hugged him tightly, face pressed against Jack's shoulder. "I'm sorry. I'll tell you later, I promise." His voice shook slightly as a memory surged up: the griffin's heartwrenching grief when he realized his lover was dead.
"Gabe..." Jack stroked his hair gently. "It's okay. I trust you."
You shouldn't. I lied to you. I'm a horrible mate.
"Jack? Thanks for being there for a complete stranger and supporting me through my transition. I know I've said it before but..."
"You haven't done anything to apologize for," Jack said firmly. "And yes, Gabe, I know you were trying to apologize for being an asshole. But you haven't been."
Not to you, not this time, and only because I can see how shitty that was for me to have done the first time.
"Gabe?"
Something in the griffin's tone was off enough that Gabriel opened his eyes. "What?"
"Uh..."
Shadow tendrils, thick ones, were wrapped gently around the griffin like boneless arms. A thought from Gabriel, and one of them reached up to envelop a chunk of Jack's hair and tug gently. Jack's eyes slipped momentarily shut, and the Mantle grinned.
"You like that, Jack?"
"Mmm. I'll believe the Reaper likes me. Also, whatever you're feeling guilty enough about that the Reaper hugged me, you promised you'd tell me later so that's good enough for me. Now," he teased, "are you going to say hi to Ana, or are you going to be rude?"
Good job, Gabriel thought at the Reaper as he dismissed the tendrils. "Let's go say hi."
Gabriel swallowed a mouthful of waffles. "Uh. Short, Asian, kinda chubby and tall, Russian, could crush my head between her thighs."
"Descriptive," Jack said blandly. "But it sounds like the first one could be Mei. I think dropping by to introduce yourself properly and apologize is a good idea. We should bring food and vodka."
"Excited to be social again?" Gabriel teased, laughing when Jack's cheeks turned red. "I'll take that as a yes. When do you want to go?"
"If we're bringing food, waiting until lunchtime would probably be good," Jack deadpanned. "Any idea where they live?"
Gabriel ransacked his future memories. Spending the night on the couch, driving back with Liao from- "Santa Barbara," he announced. "But I'm not sure where in the city...I could teleport directly into the apartment, I'm sure, but that would be rude. And dangerous."
"Teleport in and sneak out?" Jack suggested.
"I may have a solution," Gabriel said slowly, remembering how he made the Thing trick work. "But we probably want to get the vodka first just in case."
After breakfast, they teleported (with the help of a map, for aiming) to...somewhere in Russia. Gabriel was able to use his Sight to locate a transhuman who didn't seem terrified of him, a burly brawler-type with a raven on one shoulder and a dog at his heels. Both animals kept watching Gabriel intently as the brawler gave him directions to a good place to buy vodka, and suggestions for what brand to buy. Jack stayed strangely quiet during the conversation, keeping his head slightly down and not looking directly at the guy or his weird pets. Gabriel wasn't certain why, because the guy seemed friendly enough even if the animals were creepy.
Only after they'd concluded their conversation and gone their separate ways did Jack wrap possessive arms around one of Gabriel's and hiss, "That was a dragon!"
Oh. "He seemed nice enough."
"He was ready to fight you."
"That explains why he was so happy to give me directions, I guess." Gabriel nuzzled the griffin's neck. "You okay?"
Jack kissed him briefly. "Yeah. Just a little shaken. I'll have to have Angela lecture you on dragons."
Gabriel whined and pouted for a minute before laughing. "Probably wouldn't be a bad idea," he conceded. "To keep from giving you a heart attack, if nothing else."
The liquor store turned out to be run by vampire who kept flinching away from Gabriel, and the suggested brand of vodka required the supernatural credit card.
"I'm not going to kill you," Gabriel tried to reassure him. "I know past Reapers have been terrifying, but you can spread the word that the new Reaper would rather buy the next round than start a bar fight. Doesn't mean I won't defend myself," he added, "but I'm not gonna kill you for looking at me the wrong way."
It didn't seem to reassure the vampire much. Gabriel paid for his purchase, took his mate's arm, and teleported out.
He spent the late morning learning about Chinese yetis at Jack's suggestion, and then at about 11:30 he and Jack collected the vodka and mentally crossed their fingers. Gabriel focused on the memory of talking to Liao just outside the apartment and reached slowly, focusing on that moment of strange omniscience before he rematerialized to be sure he was where he wanted to be.
Jack looked at the apartment door, looked at his mate, and beamed. "Nicely done, Gabe!" He reached out to knock, and-
"Who is there?" demanded an angry Russian voice.
The two men exchanged a look of what the hell, why not and Gabriel called out, "Gabriel Reyes and Jack Morrison." A pause, and then he added, "We brought vodka."
The door opened and there was Zarya, just as massive and terrifying as Gabriel remembered, and she was...ignoring him to stare at Jack.
"You are Jack Morrison, the Overwatch leader, the undefeated griffin?"
"Retired," Jack demurred, trying to hide how flattered he was. "But yes."
"It is an honor. Come in! Tell me what brings you here!"
Gabriel stood back and let Jack do the talking, grinning as his mate traded bits of story with the werebear and presented her with the vodka.
"This is from Russia," she said in awe.
"I can teleport," Gabriel pointed out. "You might remember that from the first time we met, which was me accidentally teleporting into your apartment and then back out."
"You are the Reaper," Zarya said warily. Gabriel nodded. "But you are also..."
"He's my mate," Jack said firmly. "He's a good man. It was his idea to bring a sorry-for-teleporting-in-on-you gift."
"Lunch is on me, too," Gabriel interjected. "What and where is up for negotiation."
Zarya nodded. "We will have pizza, delivered, but not until Mei gets back from shopping." She turned the vodka bottle around in her hands, almost nervously, before setting it on a shelf. "Reaper, is it true the djinn have brought a case against Overwatch?"
Slowly, Gabriel nodded.
"Might I ask which way you lean?"
"It's complicated," Gabriel told her. "Right now, I want more information."
"May I offer some?"
He spread his hands. "Please. Be my guest."
Hesitantly, she told him about the second uprising. Jack's brows furrowed as they listened, but neither of them said anything until she was finished.
"This is why I have supported Liao, and why I wish to join Overwatch," Zarya said. "She has promised me that she will kill the djinn in my homeland."
Gabriel caught and held her gaze. "No matter which way I rule," he promised, "I will make sure that gets the attention it deserves. But from what you described, they're being controlled rather than rebelling of their own free will. I'd rather free them than just slaughter them, if that's the case, and bring the ones responsible to justice."
Zarya looked uncomfortable, but nodded. "If I may ask...Overwatch does not normally work with the Reaper..."
Again, Gabriel let Jack do the talking as he explained how the previous Mantle had taken the Reaper in order to enact petty revenge, and how he'd retired after the deaths of close friends and lived in isolation until one day he rescued a human who the Reaper had picked for its new host, and how he'd befriended the man and promised to stand by him and not let him go through that horror alone.
"You were right," she told Jack when he was finished his story. "He is a good man. He went to Russia to obtain good vodka as a gift."
Footsteps on the stairs made them all pause, and Zarya smiled. "My little snowflake returns," she told them.
Gabriel grinned. "Let me get the door."
As soon as the footsteps stopped, he turned one arm into a whip and reached out to open the door.
"Thank you," Mei said, her arms full of paper grocery bags that blocked her view.
"You're welcome," Gabriel said as Zarya plucked the groceries from her arms.
"Zarya?" Mei asked uncertainly.
The werebear beamed. "Mei, what do you want on your pizza? The Reaper is buying."
===
Over pizza and soda, they all swapped stories of how they met and became couples. There was some friendly argument about whether a giant bear or a griffin gave better cuddles, but in the end Jack won purely because the Reaper's room was big enough to allow him to change forms. After lunch, sucking on the popsicles Gabriel remembered Mei buying, they talked a little about the situation in Russia. Finding the ones responsible rather than killing the constructs was accepted as the best idea, given scale and manpower. He sure hoped Mondatta found something, because his other self hadn't learned shit.
After that discouraging talk, they played a board game called Sorry! that involved getting pieces around the board from 'start' to 'home', and Mei was brutal at sending everyone else's pieces back to 'start'. No matter how earnestly she apologized for doing it, Gabriel didn't think she was sorry at all. Unsurprisingly, she won the game.
To celebrate her girlfriend's victory, Zarya broke into the vodka and poured them all a shot. Gabriel wasn't sure if vodka was really to his taste, but at least he didn't cough, so...reputation maintained. Then Zarya suggested playing Never Have I Ever, and he remember way too clearly how that had ended up.
"I'm the designated driver," he protested, hands up in disavowal. "Drunken teleporting is a bad idea. I'll drink double or triple shots of water, but..."
Jack put his hands on Gabriel's shoulders and fixed his mate with a serious look. "Gabe," he said solemnly, "will you still love me if I get completely hammered without you?"
"Even if you puke on me and shit the bed," Gabriel replied, equally solemn.
Jack looked at him a moment longer. "Please don't let me do that," he said quietly.
Gabriel laughed.
The game went mostly as expected - left fur in the bed, shot anyone, killed anyone, joined Overwatch, been the Reaper, been to the zoo, left California without teleporting, dated a human who's not the Reaper, been a man, gone skinny dipping, and others. Gabriel knocked back half a glass of water instead of a shot of vodka for every time he had to drink, and made Jack do a shot of water for each shot of alcohol. His stomach and bladder were groaning by the time Mei passed out and Zarya called it quits, and he poured Jack a glass of water to drink while he went to the bathroom to relieve himself.
When he came out, Jack slurred that their hosts had gone to bed. He scrawled a note on the pad on the fridge, thanking them for a fun evening and leaving his phone number. Then he wrapped a tendril around his swaying mate and took them home.
Jack was a more cuddly drunk than Gabriel remembered. Granted, he had been pretty drunk in those memories. They spent a pleasant ten or twenty minutes lounging on the couch, kissing and mock-preening, until Gabriel's stomach outsourced enough of its contents to his bladder to make him need the bathroom again. While he was relieving himself, Jack apparently decided he could cuddle better as a griffin because Gabriel was greeted by a giant lion tongue scraping up the side of his face as soon as he left the bathroom. Over his (admittedly weak) protests, he found himself pinned gently to the floor and nuzzled by half a ton of purring fur.
"I love you too, Jack," he laughed as whiskers tickled his stomach, "but the floor isn't exactly comfortable."
The griffin heaved himself to his feet, only to grab the blanket from their bed and pull it down onto the floor.
"Jack, that's not what-"
A big paw urging him gently over interrupted his protest, and with a sigh Gabriel stripped to his boxers. The next twenty minutes were spent cuddling up to fur and feathers and being licked on just about every patch of exposed skin. When he had to pee for what he hoped would be the last time before bed, he distracted Jack by kissing the center of his feline nose. (Jack had protested once that his nose wasn't ticklish, it was just Gabriel's facial hair that made it tickle so much.) When he got back, he found his mate had finally passed out. With a mental shrug, he wormed his way under one foreleg and used the other as his pillow.
===
Gabriel woke up first, unsurprisingly, with a desperate need to pee. At least it was better than being hung over, which Jack probably was. On a whim, he woke the laptop he'd gotten from Torbjörn and went to the supernatural equivalent of google. Griffin hangover cure, he typed, and promptly clapped both hands over his mouth to keep from giggling out loud. A quick glance with the Sight located the nearest golem, and he misted silently from the room to intercept it and place a breakfast order.
When the food arrived, he took the covered platters one at a time to the coffee table by the couch, then the pitchers of water, juice, and coffee. Finally, carefully, he carried the soup tureen full of milk - he didn't ask what kind - over to where Jack was making low moaning sounds. The griffin's nose flared as Gabriel set the tureen down, and cautiously he opened one eye.
"Mmuh," he said as he shifted his weight and got his legs under him. Then, to Gabriel's delight, he crouched like a cat over a saucer and started lapping the milk up.
"Can I pet you?" Gabriel asked quietly.
Jack made a whining sort of noise that sounded like I guess so, and Gabriel knelt beside him. Gently, he worked both hands into the griffin's mane and started scratching at the tender spots behind his ears. It wasn't long before Jack was purring, and not long after that he was licking the last bits of what had to have been close to a gallon of milk out of the tureen. When he was empty, he pushed it gently aside and turned towards Gabriel, who immediately began stroking the long, broad path from forehead to nose. Watching a griffin melt was always a treat, and Gabriel kept up his ministrations until Jack drew in a deep breath and shrank down to a human again.
"And you're worried I'm to good for you," he sighed, sitting slowly up.
Gabriel hugged him to his chest and finger-preened his hair. "Feeling up to real food?"
"You didn't."
"I did."
"I fucking love you, Gabe."
Gabriel kissed Jack's forehead. "Good, because I love you. Can you stand?"
Jack grumbled into his chest. "Probably, but I don't want to."
Shadow tendrils - and a lot of them, the Reaper was helping him out, and boy was that a surprise - carried the coffee table across the room and lifted the lids covering the two platters. Waffles with maple syrup, bacon, ham, potatoes, scrambled eggs with cheese, biscuits with butter, toast with jam, and sausage - an entire breakfast buffet just for them, with mugs and service for the coffee and glasses for the juice and water.
"You are the best mate ever," Jack breathed as he took in the tantalizing aromas of breakfast.
"Shut up and eat," Gabriel said, trying to sound threatening instead of flustered. "Unless you want me to feed you."
For a long moment, Jack buried his face in Gabriel's shoulder. "Serve yourself whatever you're going to want," he murmured, "because I'm going to eat everything else."
Laughing, Gabriel kissed him. "Not if I eat it first."
"You're on."
===
The two weeks until Ana and her crew got back were a bizarre combination of the usual routine and frantic planning. Obtaining blood for Hanzo turned out to be easier that expected, although Sombra warned him to not ask how she acquired it. Angela helped him siphon a small amount of his blood into the sort of sealed tube used for blood tests, and he kept that in the magical fridge along with the blood bags. Ashton stepped up to offer his domain, as Gabriel hoped he would, and privately he vowed to find some way to thank the nerdy god. The actual planning for that meeting got bogged down in discussing his impending death with Angela and Jack.
"There's two important parts to this plan," he told them. "Well, I guess technically three, but the last one is tied to the first one. The first part is me actually killing myself. I want something quick so Liao can't stop me, and I'll eat lead if I have to but I'd really, really rather not," he said, wincing at the memory of his own brain tissue on his tongue, ew, ew, ew.
"I'd rather you didn't, too," Jack said, hugging him tightly.
Gabriel ducked his head and let his mate mock-preen his hair. "You're the second part. I need you to bring my body to Angela so she can resurrect me, so you get a say in how I die because I want to make this as easy on you as I can. And the third part, Angela, is...what factors add to how long it takes to resurrect someone, and what's the best way to die so you can bring me back as quick as possible?"
They discussed poison, gunshot wounds, and blunt-force trauma. Gabriel mentioned that he could easily decapitate himself, but that was vetoed by Jack for being incredibly traumatizing and by Angela for complete blood loss making resurrection more difficult. Luckily, that discussion led to confirmation that intent counted more than the instrument, and thus Gabriel killing himself with a Reaper power counted as 'by his own hand'. In the end, they settled on using arm-whips or shadow tendrils to snap his own neck as being the fastest, least-traumatizing, and easiest to recover from. That left Gabriel with two tasks: learning on cadavers how to completely break the neck in one swift motion, and explaining to the Reaper why this was necessary.
Mei, Zarya, and Lena called a few times to chat with either him or Jack. None of them mentioned anything about the case, which made Gabriel nervous. He asked Zarya where she had learned about the case, and she admitted to having heard it from a contact in Russia and bringing it to Liao's attention but not telling Mei. She didn't want her girlfriend to think she'd only approached her to get Overwatch's ear. He assured the werebear that he wouldn't mention it, but asked her to tell him if Liao brought it up to Overwatch.
Finally, one morning, his phone rang and it was Ana.
The conversation was short - time and date for Easter, confirmation that blood would be a welcome gift/side dish for Hanzo, and a warning that Genji would be present but Zenyatta would not. One hand over his face, Gabriel warned her that if Genji made any ill-advised comments about his and Jack's personal lives, there would be yelling and possibly violence.
"Should I ask?" Jack asked when Gabriel hung up and flopped over onto him.
"Sex-obsessed vampire with no concept of when he should shut up," he sighed. "He came on to me when I first crashed at Ana's, and seemed pretty ticked when I told him my anaconda don't want none in general."
"I can see where that could be awkward," Jack said dryly.
Gabriel groaned. "It gets worse. You know how the Reaper will kick in if something gets its attention? I think it likes you."
Jack froze. "Likes...how?"
"It helped me move the table the morning after Mei's.I'm pretty sure it's not gonna be happy if Genji says something rude about the fact that we're not fucking."
Silence made Gabriel glance up to see Jack staring in astonishment. Then, slowly, it thawed into a sort of unholy glee. "Who's a good embodiment of murder," the griffin cooed in the tone of voice old ladies used on small dogs and babies. "Who's the best soul-eating mass of shadows ever to be ripped out of a human?"
"Jack, stop, that's creepy!" The fact that the Reaper seemed to be paying attention made him groan. Then a shadow tendril rose up from somewhere. "Noooo..."
"It's you!" Jack declared brightly, reaching out to poke, pet, and play with the tendril. "It is! Yes it is!"
Gabriel couldn't help it; he covered his eyes and laughed.
===
Easter morning, Gabriel misted out of bed to pull a basket full of fake grass and candy out of its hiding place and set it on the coffee table. He took a moment to admire the giant chocolate bunny with Peeps, Cadbury
eggs, jelly beans, little chocolate eggs, and other candy arranged around it. Then he misted back into bed like nothing had happened. Jack guessed, when he woke up, that it had been his mate and expressed his appreciation with kisses.
Since Ana was doing Easter dinner as a brunch, with food comas and grazing to follow the rest of the day, neither of them bothered eating breakfast. Jack grabbed the magical cooler filled with almost a dozen bags of human blood and fished through them until he had the extra bags of O positive and A positive. Using medical tape, he secured one to his belly and the other to Gabriel's, and then they both wrapped strips of insulating cloth around their waists and went for a healthy run around the mansion. A hot shower followed, and then they dressed and checked each other over to see if their surprises were showing.
They weren't.
Gabriel grabbed the cooler and the wooden box, Jack grabbed the even more impressive Easter basket Gabriel had secretly prepared, and off they went.
As they formed on Ana's front porch, he remembered the first time (times?) he'd been there. How scared and angry he'd been, fighting his destiny and then eager to meet it. Easter had passed without him noticing it, in his future memories. He'd gone three months without keeping in touch with anyone, and now he felt like he was visiting family. A bit smug at how much better he was doing now that he had...not cheat codes exactly, but more like a previous playthrough to reference. In any case, he felt smug enough to show off and used a shadow tendril to knock on the door.
Reinhardt flung the door open, arms wide to hug, but stopped at the sight of the gifts Jack and his mate had some bearing. "Come in," he boomed happily. "Set your burdens down so that I can greet you properly!"
"How about we set them down one at a time out here, and then bring them inside after you greet us?" Jack countered teasingly.
Gabriel's eyes widened. "No no no wait!" He set the cooler down and lifted his shirt enough for Reinhardt to see the bag of now-warm blood taped to his belly.
"Ahhh. Hugging will have to wait." The half-giant nodded sagely. "Come in!"
They followed Reinhardt inside and to the living room, where Hanzo and Jesse were cuddling on one couch with Ana, Fareeha, and Genji in a couple of chairs. A very solid wooden chair meant to support Reinhardt's bulk had been added to the room, Gabriel thought, but then he realized that he had seen it before, it had just been covered in potted plants.
"Reyes-san!" Genji exclaimed in delight. "You look...different."
No. Please no. "I'm a fully-fledged Reaper," he said, but Genji interrupted him.
"That's not it. You smell different, too. Oh!"
Oh no, please-
"You've been having sex!"
The overlapping outbursts that got mostly consisted of the vampire's name being called sharply, or incredulous exclamations.
"I told you," Gabriel seethed, trying to keep the shadow tendrils to a minimum, "I'm asexual."
"But there's real manly pheromones all over you! His," he added, jerking a thumb at Jack. "Snagged yourself a real alpha male, nice!"
Jack held out one hand and then thought better of it, letting his humanity slip enough for fangs and a mane. "Jack Morrison. Former Strike-Commander of Overwatch," he introduced himself. "Gabriel is my mate, and what does or does not happen in our bed is none of your business."
"But your scent's all over him!"
Absently, Jack passed the basket to Reinhardt and stood behind Gabriel, who had his eyes closed as he silently pled with the Reaper to behave. "Because he's my mate," the griffin growled with more than a hint of lion in his voice.
"I'm not interested in him anymore, you can let me in on your sexploits-"
The Reaper surged inside Gabriel, despite his efforts, and his eyes snapped open glowing a brilliant, bloody red. Genji had been bound in shadow tendrils like a snake squeezing its prey, a thick tendril between his teeth acting like a gag. "Genji," Gabriel hissed in a low, ominous voice, "don't piss off the Reaper."
The only motion in the room was the panicked flare of Genji's nostrils. Even Jesse was frozen, eyes wide, waiting to see what would happen.
"Let him go, love," Jack murmured softly, wrapping his arms around Gabriel's chest and mock-preening his hair. "It's okay. He's learned his lesson. Haven't you?" he added sharply in the vampire's direction.
Genji nodded frantically.
"You defended me." Jack's voice was a soothing rumble, almost like his purr. "He won't do it again. Let him go."
The glow faded from Gabriel's eyes, leaving them red-brown as the shadow bindings fell away. He sucked in a deep breath, silently thanking the Reaper for not going for the kill and backing down. "So," he said in a tone of that sure happened but let's never speak of it again, "I hear congratulations are in order!"
"Yup!" Jesse looked like he wanted to wag the tail he didn't have. "Me'n Hanzo tied the knot!"
"I'm happy for you," Gabriel said honestly. "We brought presents..."
He handed Jesse the box and passed the cooler to Hanzo.
"A full assortment," the elder vampire said, eyebrows arching as he checked the contents. "Reyes-san, this is an incredible gift, thank you."
Beside him, the werewolf was fairly squealing in delight at the brush and comb set. "I can't wait to have you use these on me," he told his husband, leaning in to kiss his neck.
"And they have brought CANDY!" Reinhardt announced, holding the basket up for all to admire.
Ana smiled. "Don't eat too much," she warned the room as a whole. "We're having dinner in a few hours."
Gabriel and Jack settled on the other couch and conversation resumed, stories and jokes and discussions of who was living where. Jack and Fareeha traded gossip on Overwatch members they'd been in touch with while Gabriel and Hanzo compared their experiences being involved with shifters. Gabriel floated the idea of them all being there to support him for his first case as the Reaper, and they all seemed amenable to it, which was a relief. Ana and Reinhardt excused themselves to the kitchen to take dishes out and prepare them, and soon enough Reinhardt was calling everyone in to the dining room where a veritable feast had been laid out. Genji and Hanzo looked slightly wistful, and Gabriel remembered the elder brother sucking juice out of a chicken nugget in a Burger King.
"Brought something for you," he told Hanzo, reaching under his shirt and wincing as he pulled at the tape. It was worth it to see the startled pleasure on the vampire's face as he was handed a bag of blood.
"It's warm," he breathed in awe. "Reyes-san, I am honored!"
Jack pulled his own bag off and offered it to Genji. "Happy Easter?"
Genji smiled slyly, as if he were about to make an inappropriate comment, and then glanced at Gabriel and changed his mind. "Domo arigato," he said instead, bowing deeply.
While everyone was serving themselves, Ana collected bits of everything onto a tiny plate and left for what Gabriel assumed was Jamison's room. When she came back, he caught her eye.
"Pixie okay?" he asked.
Ana laughed. "He unwisely taunted some of the nymphs, and suffered some humiliating injuries. He refuses to come out until the stains fade."
The meal was worlds better than Christmas, as far as Gabriel was concerned, purely because of the company. The food was still foreign, using ingredients and spices he wasn't familiar with, but instead of potentially-hostile griffins bragging and treating him like a pet, he was surrounded by friends. Most of whom were being just as sickeningly cute with their spouses as he was, what with him and Jack feeding each other bites and sitting so close they may as well have been sharing a chair. Jesse periodically held the pouch of blood for Hanzo to drink from, while Hanzo fed his husband tidbits, and Reinhardt kept murmuring things that made Ana giggle and blush. Fareeha seemed to approve of the half-giant flirting with her mother, and Gabriel wondered briefly when exactly the two had gotten together since he was pretty sure a quarter-giant should be visually identifiable in some way, and Fareeha looked...normal.
After everyone not drinking blood had eaten their fill, Jesse suggested going outside to nap in the shade, and Jack seconded the motion. Ana declined, claiming the dishes had to be done and volunteering Genji and Fareeha to help her. Werewolf and vampire leading the way, griffin and Mantle following, the four of them trooped outside to one of the trees surrounding the yard. Jack shifted to griffin on the way, while Jesse slipped behind the tree to strip and shift. Gabriel felt the tiniest bit superior as he got settled against Jack's bulk and watched Hanzo lean against the tree with Jesse's head and forequarters in his lap. His mate, he thought smugly, was big enough to provide full-body cuddles. He threaded one hand up into Jack's mane, scratching until the griffin started purring, and fell asleep with a smile on his lips.
===
There was more casual hanging out when they woke up, a surprisingly competitive game of ultimate Frisbee wherein shadow tendrils and whatever levitation magic Fareeha used were ruled to be cheating, and a round of snacking on candy and leftovers. Gabriel slipped into Jamison's room to talk to the pixie, only to discover him sulking under a handkerchief. Turns out that Satya's revenge for the stinkbomb was to bombard the pixie with berries and temporarily stain him in varying shades of pink.
"I can't let my boyfriend see me like this!" Jamison wailed, giving Gabriel an opening to ask about Roadhog and express a desire to meet him. That was surprising enough that the pixie stuck his head out from under the cloth. "You wanna meet Hoggy?"
"He sounds like a good guy. And I consider you a friend, so yeah, I want to meet him."
"I'm friends with the Reaper?"
Gabriel manifested a tiny tendril for the pixie to high-five. "You sure are. Don't count on me to finish any fight you start, though," he added as it occurred to him that Jamison would probably do just that. "And yeah, I do want to meet your boyfriend."
"I'll get Ana to call you when he comes," Jamison promised. "He's gonna come get me and we're gonna rob everyone!"
The maniacal laughter would have sounded more impressive coming from someone who wasn't six inches tall, but the pink and magenta stains on his face and hair made it more unnerving.
"Oh, brought you something," Gabriel said, fishing a single tiny chocolate egg and a small box of Jelly Bellies out of his pocket. "Most of the Easter candy is too big for you to carry, so..."
Two berry-stained arms emerged to pull his prizes out of sight under the handkerchief. "You're alright," Jamison said from under the cloth. "I'll tell Hoggy he needs to meet you."
"Thanks, Jamison," Gabriel said with a little smile. "Happy Easter."
===
With three weeks until the mediation, Angela sent messages to both Overwatch and the Shambali with the time, date, and location. Gabriel did his best to bury his nervousness under lifting weights, but he still found himself going over his future memories obsessively, trying to make sure he had everything planned out. He mastered snapping cadaver necks with his whip arms, and woke up one morning to a herd of cows in the courtyard.
"So you can practice on something living," Amelie told him, her yellow eyes hard and glittering.
Gabriel ignored the implied slight - that he needed practice killing living things - and waded into the herd. It took having to behead five crippled cows before he learned how much force was required to kill the cows instantly. I have to do this, he thought at the entity in his head. I have to kill myself so Liao can take you back because that's the only way we can make sure she never gets you again. She can't die until she gets you back. I won't let her keep you, I promise. I'm not abandoning you. God, I hope you understand this.
When the last cow was dead, Gabriel stalked past Amelie without a word. Cow or not, those were still living things and he'd killed them with something almost more intimate than his bare hands, he was covered in blood, and he was fairly sure the Reaper was just as rattled as he was. He kept his eyes straight ahead and didn't answer Jack, every bit of him intent on the hot bath that awaited him in the Reaper's bathroom. Jack watched, concerned, as his mate stripped and climbed into the shower while the giant tub filled, scrubbing himself all over and washing his hair twice. Only after Gabriel had slipped into the hot water did he join him.
"Gabe?" he asked softly, almost but not quite reaching out, afraid of startling his mate.
Gabriel turned and hugged Jack desperately, head on his chest, shivering despite the heat of the water.
"I'm scared, Jack," he whispered, eyes shut tight. "I just killed a herd of cows. I'm going to kill myself. I'm scared something will go wrong. I don't want to die, Jack. I don't want to leave you alone."
"I don't want you to die, either," Jack murmured, finger-preening Gabriel's hair. "But I would rather you die under controlled circumstances and come back to me than Liao put one between your eyes and lose you forever."
"That's not very comforting," Gabriel complained.
Jack kissed his hair. "I'm sorry. I'm a horrible mate. You're having an existential crisis and a good three-fourths of my brain is focused on all those perfectly good cows and how I haven't had fresh beef in forever."
That was unexpected enough that Gabriel laughed weakly. "I've never seen you eat as a griffin."
"That's because it's messy as hell."
"Mm. And you with all that white fur."
"And feathers. It's not easy to preen with a lion's head."
Gabriel sat up. "How do eagle-headed griffins bathe their lion halves?" he asked, curiously.
Jack snorted. "Badly. Grooming tools are a very good gift idea for most transhumans."
"That's why preening is such a big thing, huh? I should have asked that sphinx about something to groom your feathered butt."
"Fingers are better," Jack said, blushing to the tips of his ears.
Gabriel stood up. "You know what? I don't want to sit around being depressed and anxious. Let's go get you some fresh beef and I'll take a shot at helping you clean up."
"You'd do that?" Jack asked slowly, standing up as well.
"I'd be a shitty mate if I didn't, considering all the times you helped clean me up."
Jack hugged him, both of them shivering slightly as the cooler air hit their wet skin. "Should we get you some burgers or something?"
"I'm not sure I can eat yet."
"Okay." Jack kissed his mate gently. "Thank you for this."
=
Watching Jack go to town on a hind quarter of fresh beef, still wearing its skin, was less Animal Planet than Gabriel had been afraid of. Seeing his mate so happy helped. Watching those big blue eyes widen as he teleported his right hand into his closet and brought it back holding the griffin-mane comb made Gabriel feel warm and happy, and spending an hour combing blood out of griffin mane and preening it off of griffin feathers while his mate purred in contentment was a lot more satisfying than he thought it would be. They napped in the sun for a while, and Gabriel woke up famished.
Fortunately, he was also settled enough to enjoy a generous slab of steak without being weirded out by the fact that he'd literally killed that cow just a few hours ago. He did compliment the chef golem, which made the construct chirp in flustered pleasure at the praise. Jack was still full from his own serving of cow, of course, but he ordered a dark chocolate mousse with raspberries and took quite a bit of pleasure in feeding it to Gabriel and tasting it on his mate's lips.
"Just like you," he murmured between kisses. "Dark, intense, and sweeter than you look."
"You're a sap, Jack," Gabriel murmured back, but he didn't protest the attention or the dessert.
Naturally, that's when his phone rang.
"Zarya," he muttered at seeing who was calling. He was tempted to not answer it, but she'd promised to let him know if Liao brought the case up, and they had just sent notice of the formal mediation. "Talk to me, big mama," he said, putting the call on speakerphone so Jack could hear.
"Flattery will get you nowhere, little man," the werebear teased. "How would you like to join us tomorrow for exciting party?"
Gabriel arched an eyebrow at Jack. "Party?"
"Da. You, me, Jack, Mei, Tracer, Fareeha, and Liao. She has announced the Shambali have brought their case to you and is going to explain it to us, see who wants to come along."
"Why invite us?" Jack asked, exchanging a look with Gabriel.
"Because to me, she said it is about the case. But to my little snowflake, she said it is a party. The more, the merrier." The growl in Zarya's voice sent a chill of glad it's not me down Gabriel's spine. "So. Is party. You will come?"
"We'll be there," Gabriel promised. "Just tell us when."
"Fun starts at one," Zarya said cheerfully. "You are welcome anytime past nine."
Jack said, "See you at ten, then."
They looked at each other as the line went dead.
"You ready for this, Gabe?"
The Mantle let out a shaky laugh. "Fuck no. But I don't have a choice. Where's Amelie and Angela? I think we need to talk strategy today."
===
At ten in the morning, arms laden with take-out containers full of appetizers from the East coast and cases of soda and bottled water, Jack and Gabriel appeared outside Mei's apartment and a shadow tendril knocked on the door.
"I'll get it!" called Lena's voice from the other side, and then she was blinking at the two newcomers. "Jack! Gabriel! Come in, I wasn't expecting you!"
"I was," Zarya announced from further in. "Mei said is party, I invited friends."
"And we brought food," Jack announced, letting the bubbly woman relieve him of the soda and water. "And drinks."
"Brr, already cold." In a flash, Lena had deposited them in the fridge and come back. "Whatcha got there, Gabriel?"
The Mantle was unloading containers on the coffee table. "Mozzarella sticks, mild buffalo wings, some curly fries, garlic knots, onion rings, chicken tenders, and..." He opened the last box with a flourish, displaying little plastic tubs filled with a variety of colored substances. "...dipping sauces."
Mei and Fareeha, who had been standing clear of Lena's path, surged into the kitchen to come back with plates and forks and cans and bottles.
"We got an assortment of bagels and cream cheese and coffee earlier," Mei said as she handed out bottles of water and cans of soda, "But this smells delicious. Thank you."
"We weren't expecting you," Fareeha told Jack. "Looking forward to seeing Liao again?"
Jack tried not to wince. "It's definitely going to be interesting. Oh. Thanks, love," he added as Gabriel handed him a plate of nibbles.
"You're on your own for the sauces," Gabriel teased, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek. "I refuse to do that to perfectly good onion rings."
"Hey, there's nothing wrong with honey mustard instead of horseradish sauce!" Despite his mock-outrage, he leaned in to give his mate a proper kiss on the lips.
Lena draped her arms around Mei and Fareeha. "Aren't they adorable? The last person I heard of Jack getting sweet on was...oof, a long time ago!"
"He was married to his work," Fareeha said with a grin. "That's what the stories say."
Gabriel grabbed a can of Coke, popped it open, and said, "Well...yeah. Overwatch was his pride."
"And joy?" Fareeha quipped.
"Like a lion," Mei interjected. "Griffin social groups are called prides."
"And the previous Reaper killed many Overwatch members," Zarya said solemnly. "Your family. No wonder you retired."
This time, Jack did wince.
Fareeha picked up a mozzarella stick, sighed, and put it back down. "That's why I left, too."
Gabriel set his can down and crossed his arms. "Well, I promise I won't kill any of you. Unless it's by making jokes so funny that you're like Oh no, Gabriel, you're killing me, this is too funny!"
Mei was the first to laugh, just a little snorting giggle that slipped out. Lena was next, then Zarya. A moment later, they were all laughing while Gabriel smiled at his mate looking tentatively relieved.
Not hung over: check. Good first impressions on Lena and Fareeha, check. Being the confident friend who shows up with goodies instead of the insecure wreck who crashes in the spare bedroom without warning: check. Not having had a fight with his mate over his own dumb insecurities in front of everyone: check. Not blabbing his accusations before the perp can incriminate herself: working on it.
So far, Gabriel thought, things were going pretty good.
=
"I'll get it," Jack said as someone knocked on the door, but Gabriel was faster.
One arm lashed out as a whip and turned the doorknob, tugging the door open before snapping back into an arm. He got three appreciative Oooohs and applause from Fareeha, who'd seen his trick already.
From the doorway, Liao said, "What did I miss?"
Lena waved cheerfully. "Hey, Liao! This is Gabriel, he's Jack's mate and he's the Reaper but he's a really good guy!"
"I've known her for ten years," Gabriel pointed out dryly. "She knows who I am."
"Oh. Well, I didn't know that." Lena tuck her tongue out and laughed. "Can I get you something to drink, Liao? Gabriel and Jack brought soda and bottled water..."
Liao closed the door and crossed the room to stand in front of the couch Jack and Gabriel had claimed. "Gabe," she said warily, "What's five plus two?"
Oh, right, this bullshit. 'Testing' him to see if the Reaper had made him a psycho lunatic, when she knew very well that-
Oh. Oh. She was trying to discredit him in front of everyone.
"Enough to get one of those really good burritos from the truck," he said lightly. "Why, you forget how much they are?"
Laughter from the other couch, where Zarya and Mei were. Liao scowled.
"Can you tell me a childhood memory?" she asked.
"Not without you getting me drunk. You have much blackmail information on me already."
More laughter.
"How do you take your coffee?" she pressed.
Jack grinned. "The way I like my men: dark but sweet."
"I wasn't asking you, Jack," Liao said over Lena and Fareeha making cooing sounds. "Gabriel. How old are you? Who's the president of the United States?"
Gabriel sat up solemnly. "Liao, have you been hit on the head or traveled through time? Do you come bearing a message from the future?" He used his Talking Down To The Suspect voice, and was pleased to see her flush with anger.
"Stop fucking around," she hissed. "Some Mantles get badly affected by the Reaper. Madness. Irritability. Confusion. I'm trying to make sure you're not a danger."
"Only when he's had cabbage before bed," Jack said with a grin.
"Hey! Griffin farts are ten times worse than anything that comes out of my ass!"
"You only have a human sense of smell," Jack insisted. "You literally can't smell how vile your cabbage gas is."
That was an opportunity, Gabriel realized. He cocked his head to his mate. "Do you ever miss my human smell?"
Jack blinked. "Your..."
"What I smelled like before I became the Reaper. I know it changed my scent. Do you ever miss the way I used to smell?"
"It's still there," Jack said, pulling him closer. "Under the Reaper's death-scent. I can still smell you. And the Reaper's scent is milder when you're not using its power, like the way your eyes aren't so red."
Behind Liao, Zarya was making a face and sniffing the air.
"What do I smell like?" Gabriel asked, genuinely curious.
"Dark chocolate, asphalt, cloves and cumin, coffee that's been sitting in the pot too long."
Gabriel looked at the werebear. "Zarya? Is that what I smell like to you, too?"
"Your scent is muddled," she declared, standing up. "Come, step away from the others and do not be offended."
Obediently, he stood and tried not to look as she took a not-very-discrete sniff in Liao's direction before waving him out into the guest room.
"Why does Liao smell like the Reaper?" she hissed once the door had closed behind them. "It is quiet underneath her own scent, but part of it, like it is a part of her."
"You just answered your own question," Gabriel said just as quietly.
Zarya crossed her arms. "And you did not tell me why?"
"I'm not going to tell you how to feel about her. That's your decision to make." Gabriel stuck one arm out. "Here, you better actually sniff me before we go back."
She gave him a cursory sniff and then shooed him back out into the living room. "Jack is correct," she announced.
Mei squeaked, "What do I smell like?"
That set off a round of werebear and griffin being asked to smell women's arms and describe their scent. When Mei, Lena, and Fareeha had all been sniffed and described, the chirpy Brit asked, "What does Liao smell like?"
A tense silence filled the room. Reluctantly, Liao extended one arm and stiffly, Zarya sniffed it.
"Smoke. Old sandalwood. Crushed chrysanthemums. Dried blood. Death."
"You're smelling the Reaper," Liao protested.
"Yes. I am." Zarya crossed her arms. "The question is: why?"
"Because Gabriel's sitting right there," she countered acidly.
Quietly, Jack said, "That's the way you've always smelled, Liao."
The silence this time was horrified as Mei, Lena, and Fareeha realized what was being implied.
Gabriel clapped his hands together. "Right! Liao, I think this is where Jack and I fuck off so you can tell them about the case without us here to offer any conflicting information. It was nice getting together with you all. I hope to see you all in the Overwatch delegation on the twenty-fifth. Jack, you ready to go?"
"Ready when you are, Gabe," he said, wrapping one arm around the Mantle's waist.
Right before the disappeared, Gabriel brought one hand to his head in a 'call me' gesture, his eyes sweeping over the three uncertain women and Zarya.
===
"That could have gone better," Jack said once they'd joined the harpies in their makeshift war room.
Gabriel leaned back in his chair, arms behind his head. "It could have gone a lot worse," he assured the griffin. "I think that went pretty well, all things considered."
Angela frowned at both of them. "Perhaps you should tell us what happened."
They'd just gotten to the point where they teleported out when Gabriel's phone rang.
"Oh look," he said smugly. "It's Zarya. Quiet, everyone..." He picked up the call and put it on speaker. "Hey, how'd it go?"
"Liao just left," Fareeha's subdued voice said. "Is Jack there?"
"Here," the griffin said.
"Is it true? Liao's a former Reaper?"
Jack sighed. "Nearest we've been able to figure out, Liao was the first Reaper, and she's immortal because that's what happens to a human whose magic gets ripped out."
Lena's voice said shakily, "But she told us about the horrible things the djinn did in the Construct War, and Zarya said-"
"I said they seemed controlled." the werebear interrupted. "And knowing that Liao tried to pass her scent off as being Gabriel's, I do not trust her motives in offering to slaughter the djinn in my country."
"She didn't tell us she wanted to talk about the case." That was Mei's voice. "She told Zarya, but not us."
"Jack." Fareeha again. "If we get everyone together and hold a vote of no confidence, will you come back?"
The griffin shook his head, one hand tight around Gabriel's. "I can't. I'm personally involved with the Reaper, it would make his decision look biased." He paused. "But if Liao were to do something unadvised during the mediation, the Overwatch guidelines do allow for field conscriptions and promotions."
Amelie and Angela gave Jack admiring and confused looks, respectively.
"I understand," Fareeha said firmly.
Gabriel cleared his throat. "I do want to remind everyone that the mediation will be held in a god's domain, and violence will not be permitted within it. If Liao or anyone else does do something unadvised, I'm going to ask you all to follow Jack's example with regards to when, where, and how to participate."
There was a small babbling of agreement, and then Lena's voice asked, "What if Liao doesn't do something unadvised?"
The four sitting in the Reaper's mansion looked at each other. That was the one scenario they hadn't planned for.
Gabriel did his best Godfather impression. "I'm gonna make her an offer she can't refuse."
Surprised laughter.
"Seriously though, I can't make a fair ruling until she's separated from Overwatch. She's already expressed intent to murder the djinn's leader and commit genocide on the rest of them."
"But if she's immortal," Mei said, still sounding shaken.
"I have a plan," he assured them, making eye contact with the other three at the table. "Trust me, and follow Jack's example. Okay?"
The four clustered around Zarya's phone voiced agreement, and he ended the call.
"You have a Chinese yeti and a werebear, along with two of Overwatch's finest humans," Amelie spat at him, her yellow eyes harder than usual. "Why do you need me?"
Without breaking eye contact, Gabriel summoned shadow tendrils that grabbed one of the unused chairs and hurled it behind him, where other tendrils leaped up to catch it and wrench it apart with all the strength he'd used to snap the necks of the cows. Then the tendrils flung two of the pieces back and he lashed out with both scythe-arms to slice them mid-air, still without looking.
"Liao was the first Reaper," he said quietly as the pieces clattered to the floor. "This was her magic, and she used it to kill countless constructs. I don't want anyone getting close enough for her to do that to. A single sniper has more chance of killing her than a squadron of the strongest fighters and magic users, if they have to get close to her to do it. If things go the way I hope, you won't be needed at all. No one will, aside from Jack and Angela. But if they don't..."
His glowing red eyes reflected in hers, giving them the illusion of holding flames in their depths.
"...I'm counting on you to take any shot you see, and don't stop until you see the Reaper leave her mouth."
Amelie swallowed. "Understood."
===
The call from Ana came the next day, bemusedly informing him that Jamison's boyfriend had arrived and would Gabriel be so kind as to come over? Gabriel grabbed Jack and they teleported to Ana's porch, where Roadhog was waiting with Jamison flitting around him excitedly. Jack clearly had questions, but he kept his reaction to one skeptical look in Gabriel's direction.
"You're the Reaper," Roadhog grunted. "Harpy got you, then."
"She did. It's been interesting." Gabriel opened his Sight, confirming that Roadhog had that dusty sense about him.
"You have the Sight."
Gabriel closed it with a shrug. "It happens."
Behind the leather mask, barely-visible eyes squinted. "Who trained you?"
Fuck. "Uh...this is liable to get boring," Gabriel said to Jack and Jamison. "Feel free to go say hi to Ana if you want."
Jack nodded and gave his mate a brief kiss before ushering the pixie inside.
"Mated to the griffin?"
Gabriel nodded. "Listen, can we go away from the house a bit?"
That got him another suspicious look, but Roadhog turned and followed what had to be his own path out through the tall grass for several yards. "Now," he said firmly. "Who trained you?"
"You did," Gabriel said, meeting the mask's eyeholes evenly. "In a different timeline, where I got away from the harpy and you were hired to kidnap me. You found me in a Burger King, in the company of a vampire, a Chinese yeti..." He took a deep breath. "...and Liao, the woman who was left immortal when the Reaper was ripped out of her thousands of years ago. I started Sighting in the middle of the fight, and you hauled me off to teach me to open and close it before bringing me back and leaving me there instead of delivering me to Angela because I was Jamison's friend."
Roadhug grunted. "Sounds like me."
"I think the djinn's goddess gave me the knowledge of how things would have gone so that I can make sure they don't go that way again."
"Why tell me?"
Gabriel shrugged. "Because you still helped me, even though that never happened. And I'm sort of planning a dramatic reveal at the mediation, but I'm going with a different plan for the fight and I don't need to hire you to keep Jack from making sure I die because I'm keeping him in the loop this time."
"Good," the big man said shortly. "Better to be honest with people you care about."
"So, uh...thanks for teaching me how to use my Sight and...if you're going to blow up a building full of rich people...um...remember to rob them first."
Roadhog let out a quiet chuckle. "You're welcome. JAMISON!"
The pixie shot out of Ana's house like a bullet with an Australian accent, babbling greetings and farewells and bragging in Gabriel's direction and orbiting the masked head of his - Gabriel refused to think about it too hard - partner in crime. Hopefully only in crime. They started walking away from the house; Gabriel tossed them a final wave and walked back towards the house...and his tolerantly-amused mate waiting on the porch.
"Got through saying the things you didn't want me to hear?" the griffin asked dryly.
Gabriel hugged him tightly, face pressed against Jack's shoulder. "I'm sorry. I'll tell you later, I promise." His voice shook slightly as a memory surged up: the griffin's heartwrenching grief when he realized his lover was dead.
"Gabe..." Jack stroked his hair gently. "It's okay. I trust you."
You shouldn't. I lied to you. I'm a horrible mate.
"Jack? Thanks for being there for a complete stranger and supporting me through my transition. I know I've said it before but..."
"You haven't done anything to apologize for," Jack said firmly. "And yes, Gabe, I know you were trying to apologize for being an asshole. But you haven't been."
Not to you, not this time, and only because I can see how shitty that was for me to have done the first time.
"Gabe?"
Something in the griffin's tone was off enough that Gabriel opened his eyes. "What?"
"Uh..."
Shadow tendrils, thick ones, were wrapped gently around the griffin like boneless arms. A thought from Gabriel, and one of them reached up to envelop a chunk of Jack's hair and tug gently. Jack's eyes slipped momentarily shut, and the Mantle grinned.
"You like that, Jack?"
"Mmm. I'll believe the Reaper likes me. Also, whatever you're feeling guilty enough about that the Reaper hugged me, you promised you'd tell me later so that's good enough for me. Now," he teased, "are you going to say hi to Ana, or are you going to be rude?"
Good job, Gabriel thought at the Reaper as he dismissed the tendrils. "Let's go say hi."