#im crying!!!!!!!!!!

lads on the run!!!!!! onward to antiva!!!

Submitted by @clockpunkgamelover

(Hello! I know it’s been a while since I submitted anything. But I still want to show you this. I hope you enjoy it. :) )

“What are you brooding about, Jack?”

Jack snapped out of his reverie. “Excuse me?”

“You’re brooding. It doesn’t suit you. I should be the only one brooding around here.”

Jack looked away. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Jack,” Gabriel put his hand on Jack’s shoulder. “I can tell that this is eating at you. Talk to me, we’re long overdue for this conversation.”

“…Why do you love me?”

Gabriel was taken aback. “What?”

“How could you love me? I’m a thing, made to hurt people. It’s the only thing I can do. Hell, I killed you!” he clasped his hands over his head. “I’m not a real person. I’m just…nothing…”

Gabriel stared at Jack. Black smoke suddenly billowed out from him, and when it dissipated, several albums were on the table. Jack’s eyes widened in recognition. “My scrapbooks. You kept them?”

“Sure did.” Gabriel opened one. “You used to hound everyone around base trying to show them off. I considered making you our new interrogator, after seeing the results of being subjected to your rambling.”

Jack lightly punched Gabriel’s arm, then looked down at the album. He traced the edge of a photo of Gabriel playing the guitar, singing into a microphone. “I remember this. Open mike night at the base. You were the best act. Jesse’s lassoing act was pretty impressive too.”

Gabriel pointed at another photo, this one showing Jack sheepishly holding a burnt pot of stew. “And there’s your first attempt at cooking where we didn’t have to grab the fire extinguisher.”

“Hey, I did get better with more lessons.” Jack retorted. He turned the page, and his eyes landed on a photo of the entire Blackwatch team. They were holding up baseball bats, all making faces at the camera. Jack had written “Overwatch’s Reject Sluggers” below the photo, alongside a doodle of a baseball. “This is from the time we headed to the batting cages,” Jack remembered. “Hey, were they ever able to find the home run I hit?”

“Not to my knowledge.” Gabriel flipped the page, and his face softened. He was looking at the photo Jack had taken of him and his family, back when they had gone to California. “Have you contacted them at all?” Jack asked.

“No. I send them money when I can, but…I don’t want them to see me like this.”

They continued to go through the scrapbooks, and Jack’s eyes passed over preserved pieces from the past; ticket stubs for a movie they once saw, postcards, stamps, maps…His heart ached at the sight of them. They were fragments of another life, one that was now forever beyond his grasp. “Why show me this? I don’t understand.”

Gabriel facepalmed. “Pendejo…You really can be an oblivious dipshit sometimes, Jack. I was trying to be subtle about it, but I’ll say it outright now,” he cupped Jack’s face. “You are a person, Jack. The proof is right here.”

“I made them back when I thought I was human. They don’t count, they’re part of a lie!”

“No! Regardless of whether or not you knew that you were a robot, you always were and are someone. An thing wouldn’t think these moments were worth remembering. A thing wouldn’t feel what you do at all, Jack.”

Jack felt like crying, and Gabriel continued. “You are Jack Morrison, and you are talented. You can mix up a mean drink, and you’re great at a lot of sports.

“You are Jack Morrison, and you like stupid little jokes, but that’s part of why you’re so endearing.

“You are Jack Morrison, you were able learn so much in so little time.

“You are Jack Morrison, and you are a kind, nurturing, loyal, caring person.

Gabriel gently kissed Jack, which Jack gratefully returned.

“You are Jack Morrison, and you are the man I love.”

Jack looked back at the scrapbooks, and noticed something off. “This one is new.” he said, picking it up and opening to a blank page.

Gabriel smiled, and pulled something out of his cloak. Upon seeing it, Jack had to smile at the audacity of it.