#mcreyesweek

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Jesse moaned as Gabe bit down hard on his neck, making the heavy length pressed into the crook of his hip jump. Gabe let out a breathy moan of his own at the resistance it met, soft and warm.

“Don’t ignore me, Jesse.” he growled as he nipped Jesse’s throat to get his attention.

Jesse couldn’t help the small chuckle that escaped him. Gabe could be quite the possessive man at times, sometimes bordering too much. He would scowl or growl warningly at other people giving Jesse too much attention, at touches that lingered too long, but Gabe would never be mean, and that calmed Jesse enough to let him continue his little territorial dance.

“I’m here, Gabriel.” He soothed. “I’m right here.”

Jesse’s hand came up to grip Gabe’s neck, anchoring him at the same time. He knew well what the other man feared the most, but his worries had alway been a tad pessimistic.

“I’ll never leave you.” he whispered into the mop of Gabriel’s curls, tightening the hold on the bigger man. A small whine came from the crook of his neck, shortly followed by a bite, and Jesse couldn’t help the sad smile that pushed it’s way forward.

“It’s ancient history, pumpkin…” he added reassuringly.

*

The days that followed their argument had been nothing short of a nightmare. Reyes was grumpy and short tempered 24/7. Even the Strike Commander walked on eggshells around him.

Jesse sighed as he hid from the Blackwatch Commander for what seemed like the umpteenth time that very same afternoon. He hated seeing him troubled like this and wished more than anything that he could make the older man’s day just a little bit better.

But Jesse had promised himself to stay away from Gabriel. His heart couldn’t take the pain that followed every day when dinner was over and everyone went off to do whatever they did at the end of the day. Reyes would always go to his office in the Blackwatch part of the base, winking and giving Jesse that smug smile of his as he passed him by.

He’d stopped doing that now. Well….to be honest, Jesse didn’t actually know if he had, he just never stuck around long enough for the older man to finish his meal. Jesse couldn’t stand to look at the other man anymore, the longing to touch, to smell and hold him, too much for Jesse’s poor heart to bear.

Instead he lashed out. Hiding his slowly crumbling heart behind sneers, anger and mean comments. After training he’d pull back, tucking his tail between his legs and crawl back to his room. Back to being lonely, back to being a nobody no one cared for. This wasn’t where he belonged anyway.

Everything changed when Reyes stopped showing up at training, instead leaving the responsibility to Captain Amari. Jesse thought it would be easier not seeing Reyes at all, but his absence burned stronger and stronger every passing day. He’d never realised how much he depended on the other man, how much just his presence guided him. And without him, Jesse was lost.

-

Gabriel stared at the recruits training from the window of Jack’s office. The constant gloomy veil rustling around him as a constant reminder of what he couldn’t have.

“Just go to him, Gabe. The worst that could happen is him rejecting you, which by the way he won’t, and things would be awkward for a week or so before going back to what they used to be.” Jack commented as he twirled around on his chair, behind his desk.

Gabe’s brain short-circuited so fast he never registered what hit him.

“E-excuse you?” he asked bewildered, panic making itself known by sweating in his hands.

“Jesse. Go to him.” Jack stopped spinning and looked at him, offering a soft smile.

Gabe could feel all color drain from his face. His heart was going to beat out of his chest, he was sure of it. He’d never told anyone. Especially not his best friend. He was so caught off guard that he completely forgot to play his part as a grump.

“Wh-wha…I don..- Jack? Gabe didn’t know how to proceed.

“Listen, you’re as transparent as this glass of water, Gabe. We’ve known for a while. “ Jack held up his hand as Gabriel opened his mouth to protest.

“It’s alright, Gabriel.” he smiled and Gabe felt a chill run down his spine. Jack never referred to him by his name, unless he needed Gabe to listen.

“You’ve watched that welp grow into a wonderful young man and I have to agree, he does clean up nicely. But this moping around, pulling away from your friends, pulling away from me! That can’t go on much longer, Gabe. I need my Commander, my best friend to make this whole organisation run smoothly. Rein is exhausted, Ana has her arms full with your agents and barely got any time to see little Fareeha.”

Gabe flinched at the mention of his goddaughter. He hadn’t for a moment stopped to think about how his moping would affect others around him. “But most of all, Jesse isn’t doing too good without you. He landed his ass in one of Angela’s beds again.” Jack said with a sad smile.

“Again?” Gabe asked gruffly, trying his best to seem uninterested.

“Again, Gabe. He’s been to Angela’s seven times in the last four months. That’s six more than the other thirteen months he’s been here. The kid’s lost everything even close to resembling concentration since you left him.” Jack’s face scrunched up as he leaned back in his chair.

“Now ho..-” Gabe started, but Jack shot up from chair, hands smacking down on his desk, making it and it’s content move.

“He’s lost thirteen pounds, Gabriel! Hell, the kid didn’t have thirteen pounds to loose to begin with. He’s suffering while you mope around like a coward.” The veins in Jack’s face had popped, meaning the other man was infuriated with him.

Gabriel’s scowl would have made any other man crumble to the far corner of the room in fear, but for a second, he forgot who it was he was talking with. This was Jack, his best friend. Hell, who was he trying to kidd, Jack was as good as family at this point, had been for a long time.

But Gabe couldn’t do what Jack wanted him to. He didn’t know if he would be strong enough to survive the heartache when Jesse would reject him. So Gabe turned around and left Jack’s office instead, making sure to violently shut the door behind him with enough impact to rival the great earthquake of San Francisco in 1906.

“You’re a fucking coward, Gabriel!” Jack shouted after his retreating form shortly after. But Gabe ignored him as he kept walking away, pulling the hood on his sweater tightly over his head, shielding the world from his sight. He’d go to bed and try to sleep, maybe he’d get lucky tonight and actually accomplish that easy task.

-

Jesse watched Gabriel’s hunching form as the older man retreated back to the Blackwatch section of the base and felt a sting in his chest. He didn’t know how long he could do this for. This was the first time in over a week that Jesse had spotted the other man, apparently he was just as disgusted by the prospect of Jesse’s love for him as Jesse was.

His suspicion only got confirmed when Gabriel had lifted his head and looked straight at Jesse and sneered, before retreating more hastily. Jesse couldn’t suppress the broken gasp that left his mouth as the pain of that realization set in full force. Tears ran down his face as he came to the conclusion that he’d had enough.