#an au where sombras not a bitch?? WHAT??

[roxiewritesstuff]

Mon Coeur

Hi guys! As always, don’t be shy about leaving feedback!

English is not my first language so feel free to correct any mistakes!

Warnings: kidnapping of characters, presumed dead, mentions of torture, guns and battles, nothing too bad I think, all very brief and light (does this make sense?), I don’t like Gérard very much (tell me if I missed any).

Okay, so I might have to explaina few things. This is kind of an AU where Widow was part of Overwatch along with Gérard, and all of Blackwatch didn’t betray Overwatch and were just taken away by Talon. Most of this is not canon!

Hope you enjoy :)

Widowmaker (Amélie LaCroix) x Fem! Reader

The gym is dark, not a light in the room. The only gleam of light comes from the hallway and the only sounds in the whole base are my groans of effort and frustration that slip from my mouth every time I hit the punching bag.

Everyone is asleep and yet, here I am, fully awake. I woke up from a nightmare not too long ago. It's probably 03:30 am by now. I can't tell how long I've been here.

Now, you might be wondering what triggered all this. Exactly 9 months ago Talon captured three Overwatch members: Gabriel Reyes, Olivia Colomar and Amélie LaCroix. All members of Blackwatch and the people I care about the most.

Gabe and Sombra were my best friends, but Amélie... oh Amélie. We met in my first years in Overwatch. We fell in love. You might be thinking 'wasn't she married to Gérard LaCroix?' and the answer is yes. But their marriage was already over long before we met. In fact, when we met she was already putting the divorce papers on the table.

We dated for over a year, and by then they were still trying to make the divorce happen. Turns out getting a divorce is a lot of paperwork, paperwork that Gérard didn't want to sign. He was a good Overwatch agent, I'm not going to deny that, but he was also a narcissistic son of a bitch who thought he was above everybody else. Even his own wife.

After me and Amélie made one year of dating she didn't want to keep the act about Gérard anymore, and told everyone about us and who Gérard truly was. Everyone was very supportive of our relationship and it looked like finally we could have a life together.

And then Talon took her. Along with Olivia and Gabe. I was the only member of Blackwatch left. There was also Moira, but by her own words, she was a double agent who went willingly.

We looked everywhere for the three of them. Started the deepest of investigations to find them as soon as possible.

Two weeks later they found Amélie. There was still no sign of Gabriel and Olivia and Amélie was too traumatized to talk.

I realized something was wrong when she refused to be near me. The only person she wanted near her was Gérard and she was constantly begging for him. Everyone could tell that it affected me. She was the one to tell everyone about us and now she couldn't even look at me. My friends tried to help me but there was nothing to be done.

And then, two weeks after that, Amélie killed him in his sleep. He was found in the morning and she was nowhere in sight. She disappeared again.

Debates and arguments were thrown by all Overwatch agents. Some said that she was a double agent, some believed that Gérard was killed by a Talon agent and they took Amélie again. My closest friends tried to reason that she would never do something like that, but I've always known the truth.

She killed him.

Of one thing I was certain: that was not my Amélie. Obviously, it was her body, but something about her behavior told me that she was not the same.

After thinking about this so much, both my mind and my body get tired. I punch the punching bag one last time before leaning against it to catch my breath.

When I think I'm done, I turn to the bench where my things are. Then I see the ring.

Right... on our one year anniversary, Amélie gave me a ring along with a very beautiful speech about how she thought we were made for each other. That was also the moment we said 'I love you' for the first time. I still wear it till today. I think it gives me a feeling of safety. Almost like a part of her is still with me. It also gives me a little hope of seeing my Amélie one day.

I gather my things from the bench and make my way to my room.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-

It's been a week since my late night workout in the gym.

Now I'm on a bus with five other Overwatch agents. Many other Overwatch buses ahead and behind us. We've been called by an agent of ours who was carrying an important load to our base. He alerted the base that Talon was trying to steal the load and he needed back up. And so, here we are.

As soon as we get in the location we sprint to protect the truck. The agent is surrounded by Talon operatives, only with a gun in his hand which I notice is shaking.

Overwatch agents start gaining ground to dispel the enemies away from the load. We are able to round the truck, making a sort of barricade to defend it. Their reaction is to back away.

In the corner of my eye I see one of our agents limp away to the back of the load where Talon agents can't reach. I follow him and take notice of the bullet in his leg while he sits down, leaning against the truck. I take my scarf off my arm and wrap it around the wound. He grunts because of the pain and mumbles something incomprehensible.

"What?" I ask loudly because of the sound of bullets flying everywhere.

He pulls me down towards him and mumbles in my ear faintly.

"S-Sniper."

My eyes get two times bigger as I examine his leg again. Indeed, the entrance wound is consistent with a sniper shot.

I turn around and start searching the top of every roof visible.

My eyes are drawn to the scope of a rifle. Its handler is wearing some kind of visor that doesn't allow me to see their face.

When the rifle lands on me I am expecting a sharp pain of a bullet entering my flesh. It didn't happen. In fact, it looks like the person on the other end completely freezes.

I am confused. Does the person know me?

The sniper takes their head away from the rifle's aim. The visor opens and now I'm the one who's frozen.

I could recognize those gold eyes anywhere. It's her. Amélie.

Both of us are frozen in place. Not moving a muscle. Wondering if we are hallucinating the vision of each other. Her whole face bathed in shock.

After a few seconds I examine her further. Her skin... is... blue? It's a baby blue color. Almost looks... cold.

Her prior orange, grey and white uniform is now mainly purple and gray, and much more revealing. Her eyes are still the same. Besides her face full of shock, I could see sorrow in her eyes. It gives me a heartache.

"Y/N!" My head snaps to Jack, who is screaming at me to get in the trunk of the truck with the load.

I whip my head to observe the battle situation. Talon operatives are backing down and I can hear some of them saying 'recall.'

I look to the roof again. Amélie is now standing up but still hesitant to leave. Her brain can't decide between looking at me or at the terrorist organization she was with.

When I don't move from my place behind the truck several Overwatch agents come to see if I am in trouble, Jack included. When they realize I am moving my eyes somewhere else they follow them, seeing Amélie. Everyone's mouths hang open except Jack's.

Realizing what is happening to me, he stands right in front of me, blocking my view to the roof. He crouches and puts a hand on my shoulder.

"Y/N." He calls softly in that sweet fatherly voice only he can manage. Honestly, he is like a father to me.

He puts his thumb on my cheek and makes a wipe motion. Am I crying? I realize my vision is blurred. Yes, I am crying.

Finally my brain gets that this is not the time or place to be emotional. This is a battlefield, goddammit. There is an agent bleeding right by my side.

I wipe my tears away and stand up. Jack helps me place the agent on the trunk with the load and I climb after him. I recharge my gun with ammo if needed.

The truck starts moving, going to the base. The agent with the bleeding leg passed out by my side but I know he will be alright.

Amélie is alive. No one at Overwatch knew what Talon had done with her, Sombra and Gabe. There is still a chance. They are still out there.

The whole ride to the base I caress the ring in my finger.

Amélie is alive.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-

It's been five days. Five days of trying to track them down without pause. Jack and Ana assured me they are using every resource they can.

Fareeha stops me while I am walking to the kitchen. She asks me if I am taking care of myself properly since she likes to think of herself as my older sister.

"I promise, Fareeha. Today I even slept 8 hours." She gives me a suspicious look.

"I don't believe you."

Just when I was going to answer her, I see a troop of Overwatch agents running past us to what I assume is the armory.

We look at each other curiously.

I see Angela past Fareeha's shoulder and step in front of her. She backs away with a glow in her eyes when she notices me.

"Angela, what is going on?" She was walking so hurriedly that her change of attitude threw me off a little.

"Jack and Ana found them! They found Sombra, Gabe and Amélie." She says with a brilliant smile and shining eyes.

My mouth hangs open for a second before my face changes in happiness. I cover my mouth and close my eyes for a little, absorbing the news.

"Where are they?" I ask swiftly, my impatience growing every second.

Finally the days without sleep paid off.

"Operations." And then she runs to the armory again.

I don't even say goodbye to Fareeha as I run to Operations like my life depends on it.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-

I burst through the operations' door. Jack and Ana stop talking abruptly when they see me.

"Is it true?" The smile is still very present in my face.

"Yes." Ana answers with a little smile of her own.

"Oh my God." My body is gleaming with happiness at this point.

"Okay, I'm just gonna grab my gear and I'll meet you in the hangar." I say accelerated. I try to make my way to the armory but Jack's hand grabbing my arm stops me.

"Y/N," Ana starts, her smile completely vanished. "We don't think it's a good idea for you to come with us."

I look at Jack and I can immediately tell he agrees. I pull my arm from his grasp and back away.

"What?" I don't scream. I don't shout. My voice is low and distressing.

"You are too emotionally attached to the mission." Jack tries to explain.

And I snap.

"Of course I'm too emotionally attached to the mission! My girlfriend, my best friends have been missing for more than 9 months! No one did a damn thing about it! You all just sat in your fancy chairs instead of looking for them! I was the only one who had hope of finding them! Now, all of a sudden, everybody cares! WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU 9 MONTHS AGO?!"

Finishing my outburst I feel my chest moving up and down at an alarming rate. My face and neck feel hot as hell. My hands are flexing with need to punch something.

"Ana, can you leave us alone, please?" Jack requests, his eyes never leaving mine. He is calm, his voice is calm and that just angers me more.

Captain Amari leaves the room, leaving me and Jack to stare at each other wordlessly. I cross my arms trying to control my emotions.

I am mad. I am enraged. But still, a little voice in the back of my head reminds me that Jack is like a father to me, and I just yelled at him.

"You're questioning my methods." His voice is still a little soft, but mostly stern.

"I'm not questioning them, I'm saying it's stupid." I argue. My voice is much more gentle.

He lets out a deep breath conditioning me to do the same.

"Why?" My tone drops alarmingly.

"I'm too afraid you're going to do anything to get them back."

Then I realize, he is not punishing me. He is protecting me.

"Amélie needs someone to come home to." He finishes.

I'm at a loss for words. Jack is just making sure everyone gets a happy ending.

Without a word, I embrace him in a tight hug. He hugs me back, resting his head on top of mine.

"Thank you." I mutter.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-

Since I wasn't allowed to go on the mission, I asked Winston to send me Sombra, Gabriel and Amélie's files from Talon.

They arrived an hour ago and I still can't believe them.

Looking at my computer in my room, I'm curled in a ball in my chair, covering my mouth with glossy eyes. Everything around me is dark, the only light being the screen of the computer.

All the horrors they did to them. It is all here. All the experiments. All the trauma they put them through.

Sombra was forced to hack for them. They would threaten to kill her if she didn't want to do it. They made her steal information from a lot of people for blackmail.

Gabriel was experimented on, made into a shadow. The procedures were painful and he screamed for hours during the night. The report says they would just tranquilize him.

And then Amélie.

Amélie was... she... Amélie was brainwashed. They broke her will, slowed her heart, messed up her brain until she became the perfect weapon: emotionless. I can't read half of the reports about her. Just imagining what she's been through. What if... What if she isn't Amélie anymore? What if Amélie is gone?

There is one thing still bothering me. All the files and papers say that she is emotionless. That was Talon's primary objective with her. But if she is emotionless... Why was she shocked when we saw each other? Supposedly, she doesn't have any memories after Gérard and Overwatch. So... how did she recognize me? Maybe... just maybe... Amélie isn't completely gone.

My phone beeps, pulling me out of my head. I reach for it and see a message from Angela. 'They are in the med bay. Whenever you're ready.' it reads.

I don't respond. What can I say, after all?

Even if Amélie is still in there, does she blame me for not looking for her? Is she angry with me? Does she want to have a life with me again?

A knock on my door nearly makes me jump from my chair.

"It's open." I try to say. The crack in my voice makes me flinch.

The person enters and just after a few seconds I turn my head away from the screen.

Amélie. It's her. In bone and flesh. Right in front of me.

I don't know what to say. What to think. What to do. And by the looks of it, neither does she. So we just stare at each other in the darkness.

A few minutes of this and my throat feels strong enough to mumble some words.

"Do you know who I am?" My tone seems sufficiently steady.

Amélie takes some time of her own. I can't even begin to wonder what is going on in her head.

"Mon coeur."

And I lose it. I start crying without stopping. Not a sound escaping my lips, just silent tears blurring my vision.

"I..." Amélie starts, I look at her wiping my tears away. When she understands she has my full attention she goes on. "Talon brainwashed me. They experimented on me. Broke me in every way possible. They tried to wipe my memories away and make me emotionless. The perfect weapon."

I lower my head, not wanting to hear more. Her voice is even but I know deep down she is suffering so much. I don't want her to revive that. Nonetheless, she keeps going.

"For a few months it worked. I couldn't feel any emotion. I was numb. But my memories were starting to come back in pieces, I started remembering my life again. My first memories, my childhood at Chateau Guillard, my ballet recitals, Gérard, and you. Eventually, I remembered everything, but I just kept hiding my feelings so no one would suspect and take me back to the lab."

Realizing she is over, I lift my head again. When I look at her I take in her teary eyes. They are glossy, but no tears fall.

"Amélie..." I try.

Her lower lip trembles and the tears she was holding are finally set free. I'm a little shocked at her reaction. Then it clicks. She probably hasn't been called Amélie for so long.

I get up from my chair and practically lunge at her. She catches me without an effort and just holds me close. I take notice of how cold her skin actually is. I read about it in the reports but it's not as bad as I expected. Almost feels... welcoming. I breathe in the scent on her neck. She still smells like my Amélie.

She copies me and breathes in my perfume. When she recognizes the smell as the same I've always used around her because she told me it was her favourite, I feel hot tears wetting my shirt.

I pull back a little to wipe away her tears with both my hands. She catches my hand after noting something.

I only stare at her trying to get why she grabbed my hand.

"You kept it." Her voice shows a little more emotion this time. Almost hopeful.

The ring.

"Of course I kept it." A little smile creeps to my lips. "I never stopped loving you, Amélie." Now a little smile tugged at her lips. "It also gave me hope when I thought I'd never see you again."

Amélie moves her lips to kiss the ring on my finger, then she looks at me intensely. I know what she wants and I also know she is too fragile to ask for it.

I lean in to kiss her but stop. Just a millimetre separating our lips. I look in her eyes again, just to be sure. She nods and I finally close the gap.

The kiss isn't hurried, feverish or hot. It's calm, full of promises, regrets and assurances. It is an affirmation of our love.

When the kiss is over, we don't pull away too much. We lean our foreheads together and just stare at each other's eyes. The last thing either of us wants is to be apart again.

Talking about eyes... "I've always loved your eyes but blue really pops them out." I giggle a little.

I see the inside of her eyebrows lift in concern. I can see she is getting insecure about her new skin tone.

"Hey." I say, making her look at me again. "I like it, it suits you."

And we kiss again. The second of so many yet to come.

[facks-stories]

I started thinking of a alternate universe of the milans

Anyway this au isn’t canon at all

Run down: ‘fake’ milan, Sombra, Capa, and Tocada/Tocado are in the real world now, [the other 3 are still invisible to everyone but milan]

To not seem suspicious the milan’s say they are twins [real Milan is private so the lie is believed by everyone else] but obviously real Milan’s brother finds out

Eventually stupid shit starts to happen and they have to get the four back into the book

Anyway I wrote some scenes and drew drawings where the proportions and shit and the hair is very wrong

Color key:

Real milan

Fake milan [fake name len]

Milans gf [no name yet, fake name quin]

Adrian [milan’s brother]

Sombra

Capa

Tocada/Tocado

“Hey can I talk to you?”

*imitating milan* “yeah sure,”

They walk into a empty classroom, once the door is closed quin trys kissing len, to which len pulls away from her before she does

“I think you are mixing me up with milan”

“No, I know you’re len, I wanna kiss you”

‘What’s wrong with this bitch?’ “Sorry, i’ll think about it later”

Len holds quins shoulder while moving around her, she leaves and gets in the car and stops imitating milan

“What took you so long?”

“Milan’s girlfriend tried kissing me”

She said casually while pulling the seal belt on, both milan and Adrian said “what?!” but after a few seconds adrian started driving and said:

“Hmm.. shit I’m honestly surprised she did try with me”

“Jesus- she likes you too?”

“No offense but if people didn’t have decency quin would be a slut”

“Adrian?!”

“Why not break up with her?”

“Milan?! Len?! Fuck I don’t even know what to call you, and you know why I don’t”

“And she likes you?”

“Yeahhhh…”

“She didn’t try kissing me but she tried flirting,”

Flash back i guess?

“You know alot, i’m sure you know how to be a good kisser too”

“I AM A 21 YEAR OLD MAN AND YOU ARE A CHILD THAT DATES MY SISTER- NO?!?”

End of flash back

“I told her the answer to a math problem-”

The car goes silent and the milans share a concerned glance 

“I should tell her not to do that..”

“Good to know you’re not a pedo or a asshole, but why did you reject her?”

Milan said to len, who didn’t get the opportunity to reply before Adrian did

“Wait I thought you guys were the same, are you not gay?”

“I don’t feel love, or any emotion really, because of milan”

“I’m sorry I forgot to think past your abilities, because your love life is more important”

“Jesus, wait til we get home to explain this too me and stop staring knives at eachother-“

[a little time skip to the house and the milans are auguring]

*yelling at each-other in the shed*

“DAMN IT JUST BREAK UP WITH HER, THERE ISN’T A USE” *starts crying*

Both freeze, len touches the tears and stares at her hand, adrian walks in and they look at him

“What happened I could hear you from the house, and why are you crying?”

…

“Oh shit, thats not supposed to happen is it?”

“Well, kinda no,”

“What?��

“I accidentally thought about you crying, not now or anything but what if you did have more emotion, I didn’t think it would effect you”

“I didn’t think she could cry,”

Milan just stares at him in shock, before len cried she couldn’t see those 3 but now she could

“Uh.”

Len notices she’s looking at them but Adrian is confused still

“What?

“Milan stop fucking things up and undo this,”

“Fine, fine..”

The tears go away and they all sit on the floor

“Did I make you insecure?”

“No I’d rather you not subconsciously give me emotions, then give me love,”

…

“What the fuck is going on??”

“Len is a character I made with no emotions just power, and apparently I can change that character just by thinking,”

“So you thought of her having more emotion?”

“Yes, and if she accidentally makes me fall in love with someone or worse with her girlfriend I’d kill her”

“I wish that was a joke but it probably isn’t-”

“So what happened at school?”

“She asked to talk to me, we went into a room and she tried kissing me and I told her I’d think about it”

“Why did you say you’d think about it?”

“I was imitating you, I’m going to tell her no but if a said it right then she would have interrogated me,”

“Yeah she was asking a shit ton a questions after I told her no, I think your girlfriend doesn’t like you”

“Wow I feel great after you said that”

“My bad, but you do need a new girlfriend”

End

The end because I’m tired 😔

In conclusion, milan needs a new gf 

Also as all my storys are written, I’m sleep deprived 😎

[weather-story]

I started thinking of a alternate universe of the milans

Anyway this au isn’t canon at all

Run down: ‘fake’ milan, Sombra, Capa, and Tocada/Tocado are in the real world now, [the other 3 are still invisible to everyone but milan]

To not seem suspicious the milan’s say they are twins [real Milan is private so the lie is believed by everyone else] but obviously real Milan’s brother finds out

Eventually stupid shit starts to happen and they have to get the four back into the book

Anyway I wrote some scenes and drew drawings where the proportions and shit and the hair is very wrong

Color key:

Real milan

Fake milan [fake name len]

Milans gf [no name yet, fake name quin]

Adrian [milan’s brother]

Sombra

Capa

Tocada/Tocado

“Hey can I talk to you?”

*imitating milan* “yeah sure,”

They walk into a empty classroom, once the door is closed quin trys kissing len, to which len pulls away from her before she does

“I think you are mixing me up with milan”

“No, I know you’re len, I wanna kiss you”

‘What’s wrong with this bitch?’ “Sorry, i’ll think about it later”

Len holds quins shoulder while moving around her, she leaves and gets in the car and stops imitating milan

“What took you so long?”

“Milan’s girlfriend tried kissing me”

She said casually while pulling the seal belt on, both milan and Adrian said “what?!” but after a few seconds adrian started driving and said:

“Hmm.. shit I’m honestly surprised she did try with me”

“Jesus- she likes you too?”

“No offense but if people didn’t have decency quin would be a slut”

“Adrian?!”

“Why not break up with her?”

“Milan?! Len?! Fuck I don’t even know what to call you, and you know why I don’t”

“And she likes you?”

“Yeahhhh…”

“She didn’t try kissing me but she tried flirting,”

Flash back i guess?

“You know alot, i’m sure you know how to be a good kisser too”

“I AM A 21 YEAR OLD MAN AND YOU ARE A CHILD THAT DATES MY SISTER- NO?!?”

End of flash back

“I told her the answer to a math problem-”

The car goes silent and the milans share a concerned glance

“I should tell her not to do that..”

“Good to know you’re not a pedo or a asshole, but why did you reject her?”

Milan said to len, who didn’t get the opportunity to reply before Adrian did

“Wait I thought you guys were the same, are you not gay?”

“I don’t feel love, or any emotion really, because of milan”

“I’m sorry I forgot to think past your abilities, because your love life is more important”

“Jesus, wait til we get home to explain this too me and stop staring knives at eachother-“

[a little time skip to the house and the milans are auguring]

*yelling at each-other in the shed*

“DAMN IT JUST BREAK UP WITH HER, THERE ISN’T A USE” *starts crying*

Both freeze, len touches the tears and stares at her hand, adrian walks in and they look at him

“What happened I could hear you from the house, and why are you crying?”

…

“Oh shit, thats not supposed to happen is it?”

“Well, kinda no,”

“What?”

“I accidentally thought about you crying, not now or anything but what if you did have more emotion, I didn’t think it would effect you”

“I didn’t think she could cry,”

Milan just stares at him in shock, before len cried she couldn’t see those 3 but now she could

“Uh.”

Len notices she’s looking at them but Adrian is confused still

“What?

“Milan stop fucking things up and undo this,”

“Fine, fine..”

The tears go away and they all sit on the floor

“Did I make you insecure?”

“No I’d rather you not subconsciously give me emotions, then give me love,”

…

“What the fuck is going on??”

“Len is a character I made with no emotions just power, and apparently I can change that character just by thinking,”

“So you thought of her having more emotion?”

“Yes, and if she accidentally makes me fall in love with someone or worse with her girlfriend I’d kill her”

“I wish that was a joke but it probably isn’t-”

“So what happened at school?”

“She asked to talk to me, we went into a room and she tried kissing me and I told her I’d think about it”

“Why did you say you’d think about it?”

“I was imitating you, I’m going to tell her no but if a said it right then she would have interrogated me,”

“Yeah she was asking a shit ton a questions after I told her no, I think your girlfriend doesn’t like you”

“Wow I feel great after you said that”

“My bad, but you do need a new girlfriend”

End

The end because I’m tired 😔

In conclusion, milan needs a new gf

Also as all my storys are written, I’m sleep deprived 😎

[infectedpaul]

tell me

are you the ghost of jealousy?

[bunbun206]

okay so you said you'd like to hear about my mlp au so here it goes lmao. its less of an au and more of a series of self indulgent wishes (in no chronological order) that im trying to put together in a timeline, but because some very major things change it kinda counts as an au??? going through the voltron fandom made me learn the absolute power of going "the canon is as fake as the headcanons i make up in my head and therefore just as real" so now whenever a show leaves me unsatisfied i've taken on the habit of just. imagining the things i would have wanted to see and basically adopting that as MY version of the events. so thats whats going on here (though i enjoyed most of mlp, i sort of just wanna play around with ideas that i think could have been fun and changing the more major things i dislike. its just me having fun and imagining things.)

so today was a sombra brainrot day and ive had some time to think of what i wanna do with him? kinda? theres some loose ends here and there but here's my silly little idea (which is very self indulgent) for him specifically.

his return goes practically the same with the key difference that he doesnt die because discord doesnt let him. this makes more sense to me because he and sombra agreed that if sombra failed, he'd simply do as grogar asked, so the fact that discord kinda just let him die is 🙄 stick to your promises, bitch.

but this is MY headcanon au and so he actually keeps his word <3

sombra is fucking humiliated obviously because thats a major punch to his ego and he clearly isnt used to dealing with those feelings so hes just kinda being pathetic and whiny and kind of in denial about what went down lol. i've always enjoyed the idea of sombra and cozy interacting with each other and forming a father/daughter dynamic of sorts so thats what i like to think happens next. im not entirely sure abt what my headcanon backstory for cozy is, but i do know she probably didnt have good parents, and i see this as the reason for why she clings to tirek so strongly, shes looking for a replacement for that. sadly for her, tirek doesnt actually give a shit about her and while he grows to tolerate her (as we see on the show, all the villains do kinda learn to get along to some extent) he is definitely not interested in fulfilling the parental role she has projected on him.

im a little unsure on what i wanna do with cozy's dynamic with tirek? i think its fun to see her annoying him, so i would like to keep it there, but i dont know how to make it make sense considering some of the changes i wanna make. thats just a sidenote though, i'll tell you more about it later.

the point is, cozy is this lost little kid who is very unhinged and in desperate need of a parental figure, and the one character she seems to want this from is just not giving it to her, which frustrates her.

enter sombra! dude isnt that different from tirek, he doesnt like children at all and isnt interested in cozy's little dilemma. hes mostly just stuck feeling sorry for himself because he is now in a situation where he has NO control and being the guy he is, hes not really coping with it well enough. he has kinda isolated himself even more than the others because he is a manchild incapable of dealing with those feelings. cozy kinda notices that, and being eager to make friends, attempts to approach him. initially hes very annoyed and tries to scare her off but it doesnt work because cozy is a fucked up kid who is not afraid of even god. so she continues in her little mission of "befriending him" and in the process they actually start to grow genuinely fond of each other.

sombra is kinda just stuck in this pit of self pity so he isnt even as firm as he could be. he doesnt care enough to push her away and so he kinda just lets her be, not thinking much of it initially. but the more they start to talk the more he starts to resonate with this child. shes entertaining, and reminds him a little bit of himself when he was a foal, so he cant help but feel some level of endearment for her. and cozy is just glad someone is finally paying her attention.

eventually they'd kinda just stick with each other. sombra would sort of just unofficially adopt this kid and neither of them would really think of it much, theyre just at a point where they kinda wanna be around each other. sombra especially isnt used to really caring about anyone other than himself, but cozy is slowly becoming more and more important to him.

stuff goes the way it does in canon, they fail and get turned into stone. except they actually let cozy stay as she is because here they actually realize that doing that to a child is probably incredibly cruel.

but cozy is being a bitch. theyre trying to find a way to reach her and connect with her but shes a very problematic kid and they just dont know what to do with her. eventually discord mentions that while he was disguised as grogar he did notice her and sombra being together a lot. they try to ask her about it and even though she doesnt give any details, based on how she acts it isnt hard for them to deduce that she specifically really misses sombra.

shes a trouble child, and they need to handle that, but on top of that shes also grieving the loss of someone she seemed to care about and thats not making it any easier. starlight is the one to suggest that maybe they can try freeing sombra, working on reforming him kind of like with discord and then using that as a way to help reach cozy's softer side. she points out that they've done this before, so theres a big chance they will succeed. everyone is against the idea for obvious reasons, but starlight is very insistent and offers to be the one to reform him. eventually, twilight reluctantly agrees. they find a way to significantly reduce his magic so no one gets hurt. and so the edgy guy's reformation arc shall commence <3

Oh this is a really great idea. Seeing a king sombra reformation arc would be interesting especially under these circumstances

[yourdeepestfathoms]

Sorry for no story today- have these WIPs I will probably never finish instead

Kitty get punched

“Where is Joan?” A crew member hissed, looking frantically around the stage and wings. “She should be here by now! The show starts in five minutes!”

“I saw her earlier,” Maggie said. “So she’s here, at least.”

“But WHERE?” The crew member said, exasperated. Maggie shrugged helplessly.

“Maybe she’s getting changed?” Parr offered.

“She should have done that a long time ago,” Aragon reprimanded.

“And when does Joan ever get ready late?” Anne added, tittering slightly.

“I’ll go find her!” Katherine piped up, “Don’t worry!”

With that, she bounds off to find the music director.

—

Joan was paler than the moon, a somewhat sickly color painting her skin. Her checks were kissed with a slightly pink flush, spreading to her forehead as well. Underneath her eyes and against her pale skin, were dark rings. They hung under her eyes like curtains, pulling her eyelids so they could close. The color contrasted with her skin, making it more vibrant and more noticeable. Anyone could have guessed it; Joan Meutas did not sleep well last night. Now that, was an understatement.

Joan had not slept well in the past week. She was constantly up late at night working on this damned show that was wringing her dry. She was completely exhausted. She felt like a dead fish. Her entire body ached from her head to her toes. The only thing that seemed to keep her going was coffee, and it’s now come to the point that she’ll feel sick if she doesn’t drink any.

The show only increased Joan’s stress level. Everyone always seemed to need her; the queens, the techies, the costume crew, the managers- the demands for her aid or work was never ending. By the time she finished whatever was asked of her, it was time to perform, meaning she had to do her own music director work later in the evening, usually well into the night.

It was just hell. Literal hell.

At that moment, she could feel a headache starting to become apparent. It burned her vision, floating around and flashing like a neon light, tormenting Joan. It only grew worse at the loud clamor of the crew getting ready. And through the blurred and temporary blinding aura, she saw her coffee. It looked revolting to her.

Just the sight churned Joan’s stomach. She closed her eyes, trying to steady her breathing. She was so tired, and her headache was so bad. The chance of getting a sensory overload became more and more likely, which wouldn't be completely crazy, especially since she was so tired she could hardly think practically.

Approaching footsteps sounded like drumbeats pounding in Joan’s ears and the creak of the door nearly imploded her eardrums.

“Joan?”

Great. It was Katherine Howard.

Joan, too tired to reply, huffed in annoyance and buried her face further into her arms. She’s hunched over the desk in her dressing room with only half of her costume on, since she had given up trying to put it on. As Katherine stepped into the room and approached, she tried to ignore the throbbing in her head head, and the dizziness and nausea settling in, as well as the queen.

“Joan,” Katherine nudged Joan’s shoulder, earning a low hiss of warning. “What are you doing? We got a show.”

“I’m not going out today.” Joan grumbled, not lifting her head.

“You have to,” Katherine continued.

“Oh, but that one time you had a panic attack and didn’t go on was fine?” Joan snapped, getting angry. She lifted her head and glared at the young queen.

“There was an alt here,” Katherine defended herself, “Plus, a panic attack is different than...whatever is making you refuse to go on.”

Joan is grinding her teeth, now. Katherine is either too stupid to notice or ignores the warning sign and continues on anyway.

“I’m not going on.” Joan said again.

“Your dep isn’t here.” Katherine reprimanded.

“I’m not going on, Katherine!” Joan yelled, finally rearing up with a slam of her hands against the desk. The way Katherine flinches back a little is satisfying. “Get out.”

“Joan-“

“I said get out!”

A horrible crunch filled the room, followed by a sharp yelp. Katherine’s hands fly up to her face, while Joan’s fist returns to her side. Blood is pouring out in between the queen’s fingers.

“Leave me alone.” Joan whispered, taking deep breaths to quell her anger.

Katherine doesn’t budge, too shocked to move.

That only fuels Joan’s rage, which she gives up on taming.

“Leave me alone, you bitch!” Joan yelled, shoving the queen. Blood drops splatter to the ground, but she could care less. She just keeps pushing and kicking until Katherine stumbles out the door, to which she promptly slams shut. She can head soft crying coming from the hallway, but she just rolls her eyes and slumped back at her desk.

———

Tour!Howard is Tour!Bessie’s biological mom AU

The day started out perfect- Silver rays of morning sun were slipping through soft pink curtains, bathing the bedroom with warm beams. They hit Howard’s face, which has a smile painted on it, even in her rest. The grin only grows once she woke up- she was beaming. And for good reason, too.

She leapt out of bed, but quickly quieted her steps so she wouldn’t make too much noise. She greets the two cats in her room- Sombra and Hermès. She had a hunch where the third feline, Turtle, was.

On sock-padded feet, Howard made her way across the flat and to the second bedroom. She peeked inside and smiled brightly.

There, laying in the bed, was a young girl, barely thirteen, with bleached white hair.

It had been Howard’s idea to do DNA testing. Bessie agreed. Howard had been sipping her coffee, checking through her mail, when she found the document that stated the results came back positive. Tears dripped down onto the paper. Her mug shatters against the floor.

She found her daughter.

Bessie was equally shocked when the news was given to her. She had went very still, eyes bulging, mouth slightly ajar. Just as Howard started to worry that she was repulsed by the turnabout, she leapt right into the woman’s arms, sobbing in bliss.

———

i don’t even know, something with Joan being jealous

February was Kitty’s month. Like how (whenever she died) was Aragon’s month and (whenever she died) was Jane’s month. Whatever month a queen died in was their month, apparently. That unspoken rule didn’t go to the ladies in waiting, even if they could remember the exact month they died in. They weren’t deemed as “important” as the queens to get such a thing. Maybe they could get a week, or a week at the very least, but nothing more.

So, yes, February was Kitty’s month. The different thing about her month than the others was that EVERYONE doted on her. She got tons of gifts, tons of sweet words, tons of hugs and affection and attention. Tons of attention from Jane.

Before you start griping, yes, Joan knew why it was this way. Henry made a law just to chop her head off- yes she KNOWS, she hears about it almost every day, she KNOW SHE KNOWS. You don’t have to bring it up because she’s well aware. Everyone knows about poor, poor Kitty and her horrible life.

And, yes, it was horrible. Joan knows that she will never be able to relate her pain to Kitty’s pain, but, damnit all, is it so bad to want a fraction of what she gets from it?

Kitty got everything. Every-fucking-thing. And whatever may be left were mere scraps upon the ground, fragments of what Joan used to have.

———

Courtney!Anne comforts Joan

Stagedoor was an unpredictable thing. It wasn’t all hugs and compliments and pictures- sometimes there’s a fickle critic or an angry historian that’s mad about the portrayal in the show. Other times there’s the slightly weird, but charming fans who recite facts about the queens, hoping to impress them. But a slushy being thrown into someone’s face? That was new.

Anne only caught a glimpse of it- one moment all was normal; she had just finished taking a picture with a beaming young fan, and then there was an uproar of mocking laughter and several gasps, accompanied by loud splattering sounds. Anne looked to the side and was shocked to see SIX’s music director soaked in a coating of red, blue, and purple slush.

Joan was stiff and still, as if the cold beverage had frozen her. The colorful residue slides into the creases of her horrified expression, which slowly become more and more humiliated as seconds ticked by. Then, her wide eyes glance around wildly for a moment and she sprints back into the theater.

———

Wings of Fire AU

The worst part of Parr’s day was approaching- closing the library. She always hated leaving the peaceful, serene cavern at the end of each evening, but Aragon insisted she slept in an actual cave. Arguing against this proved to be fruitless- the queen just had an aura to her that was impossible to beat in a bickering match, so she retired to her room each night.

Sighing, Parr rolled up the current scroll she was working on, cleaned the ink from her talons, and swooped down from her writing ledge. She walked down the aisle of polished mahogany shelves, observing each one to make sure everything was in place and not burnt (there were some younger dragonets weaving in and out earlier that day- she never trusted them with the scrolls).

———

Zombie Apocalypse AU

You get used to the smell. Rot, decay, organs, blood, death- you get used to the scent of the end of the world real fast. If you don’t, it may just drive you insane. More insane than seeing the actual cause of the odor, maybe. Some people react to things differently. But one thing everybody has in common is that nobody gets used to killing. Nobody gets used to sacrificing others, nobody gets used to putting their loved ones or even strangers down.

Nobody gets used to the damn Walkers.

But it’s the way it is. The apocalypse doesn’t seem like it’ll be having curtain call anytime soon, so you have to make do. Learn how to shoot, find a group, get shelter, don’t go hungry- those are the basics. Or just put a bullet in your brain and don’t even bother with survival. In the end, it’s your choice.

Sometimes Joan considers shooting herself in the head. The will to live is still kicking within her, but it gets hard. Being alone doesn’t help, either.

Well-

Scratch that. She wasn’t alone. She had some company.

“Hey, will you cool it?” Joan snapped, tugging on the rope that was around her newest Walker’s neck. She found this one wandering on its own in the woods and decided it would have to do- one quick slash of her knife removed the rotting bottom jaw and rendered the thing useless. At least when it came to infecting others. Its scent will keep away lurkers. Hopefully.

[gyromitra-esculenta]

‘Jack the Stag, and Other Works Penned by the Esteemed Songstress Sombra’. It’s an inside joke, probably. Kind of Part 3. Unedited. Personally, I’m liking this story more and more.

Otherwise: a bad Witcher AU but not because of the TV series (rest is somewhere here either under totally not witcher au or murder-deer tag)..

Warnings: blood, animal death (implied but not really), Jack has a thing against dryads only he does not, discussions of the price. Bad puns. (also, we are nearing towards one of the resolutions \o/)

*

Gabriel broods foregoing any further attempts at having a conversation and this time he's thankful for Jack ignoring him - until the brief vibration of the medallion when they pass through the boundary of the dryad grove brings him out of the dark reverie.

The air Gabriel inhales is rich with the smell of berries and coniferous trees, the light comes from no obvious source, and in front of him Jack suddenly whips back as an arrow flies past him.

"Oi! You stupid bitches," he screams in retaliation, "at least hit or miss proper!"

True to his words, some blood trickles down from the gash on his arm, and Jack almost dives forward to evade the other arrows fired at him while still shouting profanities, at least until a sort of a reverent whisper carries on the breeze as dryads emerge from their hiding spots.

"Wasn't that hard, was it now? I want to speak to your tree-mother." Jack strides forward, ignoring the way the dryads congregate around and try to touch him in passing - which absolutely has nothing to do with the patch of blooming flowers springing up from the bloodied stone.

Only it does have everything to do with it, and Gabriel pauses on the way to pick two of the cornflowers not sure what he intends them for. When he catches up, Jack sits in the grass surrounded by a circle of the adoring dryads responding to his every question.

He finds a spot away from them but close enough to hear the indistinct chatter, some of Jack's words carrying over the murmur of the other voices.

Gabriel turns the flowers in his hand, a gesture to keep himself busy paying only the nominal attention to his surroundings.

The touch sliding over his shoulder and fingers wedging below the hardened leather comes as a surprise. He glances at the dryad tilting her head now at him, her eyes half-lidded and parted lips stretching in a little smile. Gabriel just raises his eyebrows as she moves closer.

Soon, her arms circle his neck and she almost sits on his legs.

"Hands off and where I can see them, you tree harlot," Jack almost snarls from where he stands above her and the dryad shies away with haste, coy and supplicant, stealing glances and them both. "Scram! Now!"

"Fucking tree whores thinking they can touch anything they want only because they want to!"

Gabriel slips the flowers behind the pack as Jack sinks to the ground next to him, still ranting, keeping his eyes steady on the visibly pouting dryad slinking back to her sisters.

"The pond is there, you need to clean yourself so I can dress your back properly."

This grabs Jack's attention and he tries for the same sultry expression the offending dryad wore on her face. It's ridiculous, even without the dried insect viscera in his hair.

"I remember someone offering to wash my back in exchange for his sword?"

"Not like this. I'm serious," Gabriel adds seeing Jack bat his eyes, adding whole layers of absurdity to his attempt to act seductive. "Stop it, you look about as captivating as Sombra put in a gown."

"There's really no making you happy, is there?"

"I'll be happy when your back is taken care of." He nudges Jack's arm with his hand. "C'mon. You can tell me all in the meantime."

"All?" There's a flicker of darkness swiping over the blue and white of his eyes and Jack smiles.

Gabriel doesn't deign to answer and points in the direction of the pond, watching Jack get up with a groan and plod to the bank where he proceeds to make a spectacle out of losing his boots and pants. Several of the dryads hiding in the reeds are certainly appreciative of it.

"Get into the water, no stalling," Gabriel mutters gutting the bag to find everything he needs. Truth be told, he could use a bath too but he's not going to risk it, especially not with the same dryad slowly inching closer. "Vatt'ghern. Infertile," he tells her in low voice.

Any pretense of interest she might have carried is immediately extinguished by an expression bordering on offended. The scoff coming from her is drowned by the sound of water splashing and a scream.

"Melitele's tits, it stings!"

"And if you don't do it, it will get worse!"

"I'd rather sleep in an ant nest!" Jack sputters between dunking himself under surface and vigorously rubbing his hair to get the crusted remnants of the centipede out of it. "Or have my mouth stung by a bee!"

"Do I want to know?"

"No. It was embarrassing, the honey didn't help."

The image of Jack with his lips all swollen and puffy is enough to elicit a snort out of him. When he looks up, Jack's staring back at him from the water with an amused tilt to his head.

"Made you laugh, little cub."

"Are you done?"

"Oh, I don't know about that."

"You're crazy if you think I'm going to look." Gabriel turns his head back down to the preparations, mixing the crushed herbs with the lard.

"Fine, be this way," Jack huffs, splashing some more before he decides it's enough, and he marches out of the pond.

Without any additional prodding he sits in front of Gabriel with his back turned to him. Droplets of water and some duckweed stick to his skin and Gabriel brushes them off with the cloth before he starts applying the ointment.

"So why did they let the bugs run off the leash?"

"Tree-mother's been asleep for generations, and now she's dying, so their control over the grove is slipping."

"They're not true, are they?"

"Mixed. They have a cozy agreement with the men in the village, once a year they get a kid or three out of it, some other in-between."

"You'd think there would be more of them." Gabriel puts finishing touches to the burn and moves to the graze on the arm.

"Do you see any boys here, cub?"

"This much, I've guessed. They're not going to keep this place for much longer."

Jack turns around and shifts to his knees.

"I could give them time. A lot of it, to last for generations more."

"Could, not would," Gabriel notes while slicking back blond hair from Jack's face to inspect the wound on his cheek, reddened and hot but bleeding no more.

"They have nothing to offer in return that I'd want."

"You could ask some to lie with you, they'd probably fight one another for it."

"The key is want. But," Jack looks at him expectantly, and his palm covers Gabriel's fingers resting on his cheek, "I could do it for you, little cub. Do you call upon the Covenant and pay the price?"

"I do," Gabriel answers after a moment of hesitation, remembering the last time Jack had asked him the same. "Wait."

He reaches for the cornflowers and fits them behind Jack's ear - making sure the stems hold in place. The smile he is given in return is full of unspoken words.

"You'll make me think you care, cub," Jack drawls in content tones. He moves closer and splays his fingers on Gabriel's thighs, their noses almost touching.

"Pants."

"Do I have..."

"Yes, you do," Gabriel cuts short the petulant whine by thrusting the bundle of cloth in his face.

"Since when do you always have a spare pair?" Jack grumbles under his breath - backing off and getting his feet into the pant legs.

"Since you insist on promenading buck naked all the time."

Jack freezes with the trousers around his knees and stumbles a bit.

"Was that a pun?"

"Maybe."

"Commit to it, then, so I can hate you proper for it."

"No." Gabriel raises his eyebrows.

"Careful, cub, you're like a spring's fawn on November’s ice." Jack pulls up the pants, ties the strap, and stretches before turning on his heel. "Coming?"

"Wait," Gabriel calls out after him, following closely behind, "you didn't name the price."

"And you had not asked before agreeing," Jack flashes him a wry smile over his shoulder. "I'm trusting you to keep the word given and pay back what is owed, little cub."

"I can't do that if..."

"Hush, little cub."

Jack leans down and picks up a broken stone barely breaking his stride. The dryads flock to the sides but keep their distance as he stops in front of a wilted tree, looking at it attentively with his head tilted back.

The gnarled branches spread in canopy above the clearing, the aged roots pierce the ground around the massive trunk except for the path free of any growth on which Jack stands with his bare feet braced on dirt and stones. His left palm smooths over the cracked bark.

The impression Gabriel has that Jack in his vindictiveness aims to teach him a lesson evaporates when he begins to speak.

"You're so old that you remember the time before them. You've earned your peaceful sleep, many times over. But you left the children alone without guidance."

He grips the stone in his left hand and with a wince cuts the inside of his right palm with it, slow and deep.

"So sleep longer and dream, and from those dreams let the seed come that will grow a sapling to continue in your stead so the children are taken care of."

Fingers smear the blood on the trunk before Jack presses his hand to it. Into it.

Gabriel's medallion jumps violently straining against the cloth of his shirt and the chain - trying to break free before it falls slack as suddenly as it had started to react to the magic.

Gabriel finds himself moving even before the bloodied stone slipping loose from the grip Jack had on it registers fully in his mind. He almost slides, ending in a crouch with his arms outstretched and catching Jack's full weight before he hits the ground in a dead faint.

He's cold, so cold, wracked by shivers, and his breath burns Gabriel's cheek.

"I need something to warm him up," Gabriel barks an order at the surrounding dryads, undoing the buckles of his armor with one hand while he cradles Jack to himself with his other arm.

He throws the chestpiece awkwardly to the side and strips his shirt - hands are holding out furs and worn out blankets. Gabriel grabs as many as he can and wraps them around himself and Jack, pulling him closer, tangling their legs together before he lies back on the ground.

Jack, with his face cradled in the nook of his neck, is still running hot and cold, skin frigid to the touch and each exhale scorching, trembling with no respite in sight.

"Fuck." Gabriel purses his lips unsure if anything he does, and could do, is even helping.

Above them, the dead branches sprout green leaves and flowers bloom filling the air with sweet aroma but he can only think about running his hands over the hair on the neck of a great old stag gasping painfully for its breath, of curling his fingers around the arrow shafts.

He remembers the weight of the knife he had plunged into its flesh, no, not the swiftest of deaths, and the blood pooling beneath them - seeping into the ground to give birth to a miracle - and it is the knife he feels between his fingers twined into blond locks.

Where he sat at the edge of the river, Jack had laid with his head in Gabriel's lap unaware of the attentions of rusalkas and nymphs focused on him as he trembled with the same kind of chill clinging to his skin, lips blue at the edges and warmed on the inside by his breath.

Gabriel had asked then, bound by the curiosity, and the one with the crown of water lilies in her damp hair almost laughed at his question.

"Silly man," she whispered with the shimmer of a stream spilling over the rocks, her dark eyes glinting, "it is no fun when he sleeps."

As enigmatic answer as ever, and no less he came to expect from creatures of her ilk - speaking in riddles unless they want something - but one that explained enough. He had spent the rest of the night with fingers tracing the jagged grey scar under which a steady pulse ran.

And in the same fashion Jack's skin slowly warms as his breath cools and shiver subside. Soon, the hand resting on his chest shifts slowly to touch the leather pouch on the string.

"Never take it off," the voice in which Jack speaks is barely audible. "Never tell anyone."

"I won't. I wouldn't." Gabriel looks at his face where under the lashes only a sliver of blue glimmers. "What did you take for it?"

"I wanted you to catch me," Jack murmurs against his skin.

"You couldn't have..."

"I trusted you to catch me, little cub. And you did."

"That's fucking ridiculous, you twat," Gabriel laughs - it's strained and leaves his throat raw and hurting. "And I was asking about the flower. What was the price for the flower?"

"A kiss."

"A kiss," Gabriel repeats after him because it is even more preposterous than anticipated

"Now," Jack puts a finger against Gabriel's lips, stopping whatever he might say, "a kiss had been asked, and a kiss had been given. It is not for you to decide what makes a kiss."

"A kiss. Was it worth all of that?"

Jack shifts and moves so that his elbows rest on the sides of Gabriel's head, and he looks down at him.

"Why do you want me to tell you it was not?"

"Because when you get what you want..." Gabriel swallows past the dryness in his throat. "You will leave, won't you?"

Jack chuckles with his lashes lowered and his head inclined curiously to the side, lips pushed forward almost in a pout.

"My foolish little Gabriel, why, oh, why would I leave if the only thing I want is you? Have I not made myself known?"

[adoraisagoddamnfurry]

College Au

I've been seeing lots of college AU where Adora is a dumb jock and Catra is feisty lesbian

so here's my headcannon :

The Horde are all math majors (cause we all know that business people have THAT kind of personality base on experience)

Catra is a marketing major too dumb for math but loves art and money

Entrapatra is a Data analyst major specifically with an elective of Quantative Statistics(The hardest fucking course next to accountancy here you need a 4. 5 QCPA in one semester) (Bonus: ex-engineering major got offered a scholarship by Hordak)

Scorpia is a Human Resource Major she's good at math and has a likeable personality.

Kyle is a finance major no question ask (Similar with accounting but more on stocks and bonds)

Rogelio is in accountancy meets, he meets Kyle in one of his Taxation analysis classes since their both similar curriculum standards they see each other a lot (Bonus : Secretly dating Kyle )

Lonnie is an Entrepreneurship major she's a badass bitch but also wants to make her own empire ( Bonus : Kyle's sister and Rogelio's best friend)

Shadow Weaver is probably the Chairperson who all students hate and are scared off, she teaches Quantative Statistics ( the highest grade you'll probably get is a 2 QCPA standards)

Hordak the Dean probably teaches Strategic management (cause his personality is all about planning and being a smartsss )

Catra, Scorpia and Entraptra met at a Digital Marketing class the two noticed how Catra is so good at advertising and promotion quickly become friends due to their same feeling of isolation from their mutual friends (Bonus : They won the best thesis award in their department)

Extracurricular : Business majors hate having tons of extracurricular but is force to have one by policy. The Horde kids have their home organization but that's not counted on their clearance requirements, mandatory organizations is different from non-mandatory ones.

Angella Dean of the College of Arts and Science teaches film and interior design, she's got her hands full with the college and the studio.

Glimmer majors in communication arts, helps running Brightmoon studio ( she couldn't decide on what course she really wanted so she took the one that's "easy")

Bow majors in architecture, his family owns a printing press which is a relief since Adora and Glimmer both suck at printing their papers in time, he wanted to be an engineering student but decided that its too much "work" his reason is basically how math kills his creative spirit

Adora is International studies the subject is only available for scholars you need at least a 4 QCPA standards to get in (Bonus: ex-business student who majored marketing so she still knows shit about the curriculum)

Mermista is a Marine Biology Major, owns a huge ass aquarium and an ocean theme park, currently dating Sea hawk

Sea hawk works as a part time dolphin trainer and boat captain at Mermista's domain (Bonus : He wears a dolphin mascot from time to time)

Perfuma is an Environmental Science Major, she owns a flower shop and a vape store. The local weed dealer and yes she promotes vaping as an alternative to smoking. (Bonus : Mermista's best friend)

Frosta is a Digital Arts major the freshman whose in the Dean's list but doesn't bother to apply for a special curriculum like Adora. The child prodigy who is more mature than everyone (Bonus: Likes going to Mermista's theme park and holding hands with the dolphin mascot and eating ice cream)

Spinnerella and Netossa are the married graduates that have too much free time, they own a franchise of Starbucks also they both have a part time job as a professor in film classes (Bonus: Catra is banned from Starbucks)

Extracurricular : Arts and Science majors have the same mandatory home organization policy but the students there are more active mostly Mermista, Pefuma's and Frosta Environmental Organization combating the Business Campaigns of Lonnie, Rogelio and Kyle.

Adora and Catra are in the mixed martial arts club

Entraptra and Glimmer are in the technological and development club

Bow and Scorpia are in the cooking club

Facts:

Catra is banned from Starbucks after accidentally burning an area due to smoking

Adora is banned from Pizza Hut after accidentally putting weed on all the company's pizza

Adora tried vaping milk resulting to the gadget exploding, Catra did cocaine resulting to her robbing a fuckton of paper clips ( until today the paper clip burglar is yet to be found)

Catra got drunk on Adora's party, slip on the bathroom floor and went to sleep right then and there.

Adora and Catra puts vodka on sprite bottles they call it "power up juice"

Don't let Catra and Adora get drunk they will destroy your apartment and make out at your bed.

Adora's first name is "Princess"

Catra's first name is "Queenie"

They both hate it and the only time they would use their first name is if someone fucked up really bad (I.e. Starbucks and Pizza hut incident) "Shut Up, Princess" "Fuck you, Queenie"

Adora drinks monster energy drink

Catra drinks Red bull

The 6 plays competitive overwatch and smash brawl

Adora mains Tracer (You cannot argue me on this)

Bow mains Mercy

Catra mains Genji/Hanzo

Glimmer mains DVA

Entrapratra mains Sombra

Scorpia mains Zarya

Facts 2.0

Bow still plays club penguin

Bow is short for Bownathan

Bow and Perfuma are trans

Adora and Catra jokingly flirt with each other in public.

Adora: Its cool, Me and Catra had sex and make out as friends

Glimmer : " Adora, how many times did you do two done it?

Adora : *counts fingertips*

Glimmer : *slamming her fist on a table* I don't think that qualify as friendship anymore.

Facts ver 3.0

Scorpia has a fanfiction.net and Ao3 account

Entraptra has a deviant art account

They both make fanfiction of their friends and Glimmer and Bow are subscribe to them

Adora owns a rainbow dash onesie

[triforceangel13]

Just a Phone Call Away Ch. 2 (A McHanzo Au)

Chapter 2: Keeping Secrets

Water ran down Hanzo's face to drip into the sink below him as he stood in the bathroom. His heart was still racing, his stomach still sick.

This had to be a bad dream. There was no way that his brother was still friends with the woman that broke his heart.

But this was very real. This was his reality and he wasn't able to escape from it no matter how hard he tried.

“Get a hold of yourself Hanzo,” he said to his reflection in the mirror before him. It was just Ashe. This meant nothing.

Despite that she had broken his heart.

Who was he to say who his brother and wife to be could be friends with? His brother and him weren't that close so it really wasn't his place.

It was a slap to the face for what she had done, only to come back into his life as if nothing had happened, but he couldn't control what happened around him. He would have to grin and bare it for now. It was only a little while he had to endure this.

And he had left Jesse by himself. That wasn't smart on his part. What if they tried asking questions that he didn't know the answers to?

Sure the man was suave but they had to think of things together.

With this in mind he quickly dried his face with a paper towel and slipped out from the bathroom, nearly crashing into someone.

“Hey, watch it there,” came the voice of the one he desperately didn't want to run into again. Though unfortunately it was bound to happen at some point over the time that he had to spend with this wedding.

Ashe.

“Well I'll be, Hanzo Shimada. Been a while,” she practically purred. Back then this voice had him at her mercy. But now...well now it was just a painful reminder that this wasn't a seductive nature to get him to her, it was a sadistic way to get what she wanted.

“Yes it has,” Hanzo agreed, forcing a smile on his face. Even though he had wanted to get in her face and ask why she had called off their wedding, though he had been told several times by her why it didn't work, he knew he had to be civil here. It was still a surprise that his brother had asked him to be in his wedding. He was not about to ruin it by picking a fight.

The tough attitude seemed to drop as she approached him, slowly wrapping her arms around Hanzo's neck, much like she used to when they were together.

He tensed but then slowly wrapped his arms around her waist, shutting his eyes tightly as he fought the emotions rising in his chest.

Anger, relief, and a whole mix of others.

Relief for having missed this but angry because he had missed this. It wasn't like she as going to magically change her mind about it.

But oh how much he had missed this. How much he had missed holding her like this. He had to break from this!

She pulled away, giving him a sweet smile. “I've missed you Hanzo.”

That was like a kick to his privates. If she had missed him so much why was it that she had broke off their relationship? Why hadn't she stayed?

Parting his lips he readied himself to tell her off when he suddenly heard a string of rushed excited words.

“OhmygodHanzoisthatyou?!”

He was quickly enveloped in another set of arms but someone new this time, recognizing the half shaved head of his childhood friend.

Olivia, or as everyone called her: Sombra.

“Idiot where have you been? I've got ex boyfriends who call more often than you,” she sighed as she let go.

“How many exes have you had?” Hanzo asked with a small laugh and a grin. She never ceased to make him laugh. He could always rely on her to do that. Though of course he knew he should have called her more often than he did.

“Ah you dummy, I'm just messing with you,” she said, turning towards Ashe where the smile left Sombra's face. “What the hell you doing here bitch?”

Ashe scowled, ready to reply when Sombra interjected quickly.

“Haven't you done enough trouble? Now if you don't mind, Hanzo and I have some catching up to do,” Sombra said with a roll of her eyes.

She quickly grabbed hold of Hanzo's hand and dragged him away from the woman that was nothing but trouble.

“I am not going to let you do that to yourself Hanzo,” Sombra chastised him once they were far away enough. “She's a manipulator and will just use you again like she did before. I don't want to see that happen again.”

“I knew what I was doing,” Hanzo sighed though that was indeed a lie. He was falling into her trap and if Sombra hadn't come by she would have succeeded.

“Well let's not talk about that horse's ass,” Sombra said, pulling a stool out at the bar in the central party room and sat down next to him. “I want you to tell me about that piece of eye candy that you brought with you.”

“You mean Jesse?” Hanzo asked with a small laugh, looking around the room for his partner. To his surprise, and a little dismay, he found him speaking with a group of guests as if he had been part of the family for years.

As if he knew that there were eyes on him Jesse turned around a bit, spotting Hanzo and giving him small grin and a knee quivering wink.

“You are one lucky man Hanzo. To have a man like that,” Sombra sighed, pushing a glass of something alcoholic into his hand. “Where'd you meet him?”

“At the bar I work at. He was one of my usuals and just one day he asked me out on a date. Been together with him for some time now.”

“A usual? He a drunk?” Sombra asked.

“Of course not. He told me that after the first day I met him he would come in just to see me,” Hanzo sighed, grinning when Jesse excused himself from the group to come towards him. He did feel a little better with Jesse next to him and it gave him a good opportunity to ask him what had happened with that group.

Perhaps it was because he was someone who wouldn't judge him.

“Hey pumpkin, I was wondering when you would be back,” Jesse said as he rest an arm around his shoulders. “You alright?”

“Yes, I'm fine,” Hanzo fibbed a bit. He really wasn't that fine. He was still a buzz from what had happened outside of the bathroom. He just hoped that the whole weekend wasn't going to end up being like this.

“You must be the Jesse that I keep hearing about,” Sombra said, holding out a hand to Jesse who took it and gave a quick kiss on the back of her hand.. “I'm Sombra, a friend of Hanzo's. My friend here has been hiding you in his pocket.”

“Now I wouldn't say that,” Jesse said with a laugh at the bit of fluster she became. “After what's happened I don't blame him for not bringing me sooner.”

Sombra rose a brow at him but then shrugged, thinking nothing of it. Neither of them knew that there was a secret that everyone knew.

“I'll leave you two love birds alone,” Sombra said with a wink, slipping off the stool she sat on and offering to to Jesse.

Jesse took a seat down next to Hanzo, ordering himself a drink.

“Everything alright?” he asked him again. Hanzo nodded his head a little, raising the glass to his lips. Perhaps some alcohol would help the situation.

As the glass touched his lips he saw his brother out of the corner of his eye, a grin on his face as he looked at him.

“Yes Genji?” he asked with a sigh as he set the glass down.

“Can I have that? I'm thirsty and they cut me off,” Genij asked, parking on the stool on the other side of his brother.

Hanzo sighed, pushing the glass towards his brother. Well so much for having some alcohol to ease his nerves.

Another glass was pushed into his hand to his surprise. Jesse smiled, ordering himself another thing for himself.

“You know what Hanzo....want to know what I love about this whole thing?” Genji asked after he downed the small glass.

“That we are all together again and one big happy family?” Hanzo asked sarcastically with a smile. Genji laughed at that, louder than he was sure was necessary.

“Well that and that it's finally my turn.”

Hanzo forced a grin, watching as Genji beamed from ear to ear when Angela, his fiance, came up to him. She wrapped her arms around him, giving his cheek a tender kiss.

“Oh there's my drunk boy...you really should stop the drinking,” Angela cooed to him,  leaning into him as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

Hanzo felt a warm hand run up his back and settle around his shoulders as well. The now familiar scent of Jesse's cologne wafted to his nose, reaching up for the hand and letting his fingers lace with the other man's.

���I'm just about the luckiest girl in the world to be marrying into such a wonderful family,” Angela said sweetly, reaching out and patting Hanzo's other hand.

“Well we are lucky to have you,” Hanzo declared. Angela was a wonderful girl and even without the drama that followed him and his brother, he knew that there was no one better than the blonde woman hanging on him.

They had known Angela since they were young, though her as well as Ashe. They were all practically family and over the years each boy fell in love with one of them. Hanzo had been in love with Ashe and Genji in love with Angela.

“You know this little one is having me take dance lessons for the wedding,” Genji sighed, squeezing her to him. “Can you imagine that? Me dancing? And who ever heard of taking lessons for a wedding. I can dance like I want.”

“Well in all honesty it's pretty normal to take dancing lessons for a wedding,” Jesse pointed out to the drunk man. “Hanzo and I will go with you to make it easier.”

Genji sobered up a little at that. “Really?”

“Thank you. I'm glad someone else can prove my point,” Angela laughed softly.

Hanzo tensed a little but smiled, nodding his head. He wouldn't mind taking some lessons. It would get him away from some stress and it would be a fun day.

*

Jesse stepped out onto the balcony nearby, having left Hanzo with Genji and Angela to be able to catch up together.

Though that wasn't really the reason he had left. A particular white haired woman sat by herself. He wanted to know what this woman had to do with Hanzo.

“Hey there,” he said, leaning against the railing. Ashe jumped a bit, seeming to have broken from a deep set of thoughts.

“Hi, Jesse was it?” Ashe said, taking a swig of the alcohol in her hand. A silence fell between them and it took Jesse to break it.

“You know weddings are usually pushed to be something of a celebration and some what magical. All I honestly see is that its a big party to drink to your heart's content,” Jesse chuckled. Though of course he didn't believe that. But from what he had caught on about Ashe she really didn't seem like to be the one to like marriage.

Maybe this would get her to talk.

“Heh...I suppose,” she said with a laugh, sitting up. “If that's how you want to think about it. Others would think differently.”

She rose from the balcony, looking into the room. Her red eyes laid on the trio still at the bar. A look of sadness crossing her face and she forced herself back to leaning on the balcony.

“Oh for the love of....” she sighed heavily.

“Something wrong?” he asked her.

Ashe was hesitant but turned towards him. “I'm...in love with this guy, but...as my luck would have it he is here with someone else.”

Jesse went to answer but paused when Hanzo came out onto the balcony.

“Hey,” Hanzo,” said, his cheeks slightly flushed as he stepped closer and kissed Jesse. The man was a little surprised but kissed him back.

“Oh um...hey,...hello?” Ashe said to the kissing couple. Hanzo broke away, glancing at Ashe and giving a friendly smile.

“Hey Ashe, Jesse, I see you've met my ex,” Hanzo stated.

“Right,” Jesse said. “I was just telling her how we met.”

“...you look happy Hanzo,” Ashe said quietly, seeming a little out of place.

“I am. I really am,” Hanzo fibbed, turning to look at Jesse and felt the warmth run through him as he gazed into his eyes.

“I should...go,” Ashe said, stepping way from the two of them quickly even before they could answer her.

The two watched her go where Hanzo relaxed his shoulders. “Well she looks just about miserable, don't you think?”

“Well she is pretty drunk right now. She could rival your bother,” Jesse commented. “Though quite frankly it seems like the isn't over you yet.”

Could he get through this day without anymore surprises?

I can no longer link previous chapters with the new “updates” from tumblr.

I’m open for written commissions

want to support? my patreon and kofi (just search triforceangel)

my a03 (triforceangel) as another place to read my fics

[mercurytail]

Waster World AU a Mchanzo fanfic brainstorm

A gift for @metmarfil 

A thanks for being awesome and getting my creativity flowing <3

Here’s a fic idea, that Metmar implied to me and I just took off with it! Feel free to comment or add in any idea’s you may have too!

Waster World Au - Mchanzo fanfiction brainstorm!

Inspired by :D motorcycle post and Water World/borderlands

dystopian/ post-apocalyptic world ridden with war, slavery, death and famine. 

“ain’t fit for livin’ but i’m already here so imma make the best of it” - McCree

The only way to survive is to sign yourself away to Gangs. Gang wars run the hierarchy or the world!

Overwatch is a group of organized gangs that have decided to follow a truce, in order to keep some semblance of peace/order.

Main Bigshots

Hanzo: is an ex-gang leader, exiled from his waste land. He refused to battle his brother (to the death) for the head spot and the gang wasn't having it. So after making a fake show he left under the cover of night fall. Made his own bike. Has mad ninja skills yo

Jesse: ex-member of the Deadlockers gang, was picked up after they tried to kill him by Gabe while he was leader of  Blackwatchers gang. (a allied gang of the Overwatch troop) In current time; he’s the leader of a allied gang: The Tumbleweeds (short, sweet, and swift) :D all of them wear serapes! Cause why the fuck now.

> Jesse, Torb, Rein, Brig all like to build bikes together….when they have the free time :3

Supporting Characters v

The Trio

Trob, Brig, Rein: have their own mini-gang D.va visits :P to spend time with her gf

The Solo’s

D.va: :D leader of a foreign gang new to the area. They actually drive hybrid mech bikes.

Lucio: Rare, does not use bikes! His gang uses Skates! Friends with D.va

Pharah: Leader of Helix gang

Gabe: Thought dead after incident with his previous gang….(do i want magic? idk) went “bad”

(possible redemption arch? Purified gabe?)

The Duo’s

Widow: no gang, just her and sombra (gf) has past business with overwatch and Gabriel.

Sombra: in it for the fun :3 loves to mess with other gangs.

Genji: After being betrayed by his gang/clan and his own brother he set out alone for many years, till he met Gabriel. Took him under his wing,  met Jesse. After Gabriel’s gang….(idk blew up? Something happened) He set out alone again. Where he later met  Zenyatta a traveling monk, still holding onto the lost art of religion. He learned a new sense of peace and now partners with Zen.

Zenyatta: A traveling monk :D (more detail needed)

‘Overwatch’ poster member gang

Jack: leader of gang

Members: Mercy, Winston, Tracer, Ana

~~~~~~~~~~~

Weapons :D

Weaponized War Bikes! Everyone has specialized weapons/bikes/skills

Hanzo - use a futuristic bow while riding. Bike has sonic locators and dual plasma rocket launchers (dragon strike) and he’s a ninja :P

Jesse - uses Peacekeeper, a 6 shot pistol. Bike has flashbang a blast that temporarily causes malfunctions in other bikes/mobiles, bike can also roll >u< idk fuck physics

(also, if anyone asks: no his hat doesn't come off while he rides. Cause yes, fuck physics)

Lucio - his skates double as blades, also uses sounds wave disruptors/repairers “sound barrier”

D.va - Mechs. Duh.

Rein - uses a massive claymore/ battle axe while riding...in one hand..cause ya know he's badass. His bikes name is Hammerdown, it uses electricity sent through the group to knock enemies off their bikes (earth shatter)

Widow - sniper? Bike uses grapples to immobilize enemies

Sombra - :3 hacks of course, bike can cloak and :3 is clear and purple like plexiglass

Jack - guns mounted on bike, automatics. Glass wind guard doubles as “visor” for heavy accuracy.

Ana - rifle, bike has sleeper darts equipped and grenades.

Gabe - double heavy duties shot guns mounted on bike. Smoke bomb launchers (he plays dirty) Very efficient as dodging with back arms that allow for bike sliding. (slippery fella)

Genji - Wears a dragon blade (sword) on his back, wields while riding, nitro fuel =dash :D He’s a ninja too. Bike sends out shurikens.

Any ideas for Zen? Or others?

~~~~~~~~~~~

PLOT?

Genji seeks Hanzo out to join up with him and overwatch to find the SPARK! woooo Let’s go save the world~

What's this world like? Food/water is scarce. Overwatch truce gangs convene at a worn down, rusty abandoned theme park. Complete with Ferris wheel and old baseball throwing booth. Jesse quite likes the place.

Revitalize a dying world trope? Genji finds Hanzo, convincing him to Help him and Overwatch locate the “SPARK”. - “Ain’t that a fool's tale? Told to calm kids at night and fester mischief?”

> SPARK - turns out to be a Vast lust underground cave system, complete with farm-able land and fresh water.

Symmetra: possible villain > turn ally? Crafty bitch that as knowledge of the “SPARK”.  They seek her out. She uses Teleportals to travel :D making her a bitch to find. Is a villain til Hanzo befriends her….and she takes quite the shining to Pharah.

The Junk Slayers: Junkrat, RoadHog, Wreckingball (Hammond), And Queen; our hero’s meet this troublesome group and Hanzo, Jesse, and Ana get taken as hostage of War. Til, Ana, befriends Hammond and he helps them escape. Hammond joins Overwatch gang with Winston :D

Any idea’s for other obsticals? villains?

Please comment your ideas! <3 keep the creative train going! Idk if i plan to write anything on this story since i already have so much on my plate, but maybe, and maybe if lots of ppl like it.

[sombrasdatabase]

All's Fair in Love and War (Chapter 1)

Content/TW: Overwatch, Gangster AU, Pharah, Sombra, McCree, Domestic Abuse, Violence, Character Death.

The car slowed to a crawl as it turned down the dead end street just as the rain started to pick up. Houses were boarded up and broken down on either side of the pot hole ridden road. The driver's side window rolled down as the car parked outside a rundown looking house that was really no different from the others aside from the shouting coming from inside its walls. The red glow of a cherry lit up the woman's face as she pulled another drag from her cigarette. It was a nasty habit. She reached into the glove box and pulled her gun out, checking to make sure it was still loaded before she opened the door and stepped out of her car. She flicked the cigarette into the middle of the road before slipping her gun into the waistband of her jeans and pulling her jacket over it.

She made her way over the cracked sidewalk and up the walkway to the door. The street was relatively quiet except for the sounds of cars passing by in the distance, the pitter-patter of the rain, and the yelling of a man she once considered a friend until he'd started to short her on money for the product she'd given him to deal. She was trying to get her foot in the door here in Mexico, and he seemed like the kind of person she could trust given their history. She leaned her head against the door listening hard to what was going on inside. Whatever was going on in there certainly didn't sound like anything good.

Fareeha took a couple steps back before kicking the door in. There was a pause in the banging as they sound of the front door slamming back against the wall seemed to catch their attention. She walked in and slowly looked around. There was a trail of green glass shards leading out of the kitchen towards the steps with drops of crimson staining the steps. She reached for her gun before carefully making her way up the stairs. Judging by the hat and the poncho sitting on the back of the couch and the dirt crusted boots laying on the floor Jesse had to be home.

Her eyes followed the trail until she reached a broken door that was barely hanging on its hinges after someone had kicked it in. She glanced up when she heard a gruff grunt.

"Howdy kiddo." Jesse grinned running his fingers through his blood caked hair before holding his hands out in surrender when he noticed her gun. "You caught me at a bad time."

"What's going on Jesse? The house looks like a wreck." Fareeha questioned as she lowered her weapon.

"Oh don't worry about all that." He said with a shrug as he started to walk towards her. "Why don't you tell me why you're here? Aren't you supposed to be in Egypt with your mother?"

"I'm here on business. You still haven't coughed up the money yet." She stated watching him closely. He seemed a little under the influence, or maybe it was just the gash on his hairline making him act this way.

"Oh right. Well sorry to say kiddo, but I don't have it. The feds got a hold of it while my boys were out selling it." Her eyes narrowed at him when he called her by that nickname again. Too many people still saw her as nothing more than Ana Amari's daughter even now that she was running the family business.

"I'm not a kid anymore Jesse. I'm your boss, and you need to hand over the money or the product. You and I both know you wouldn't be pulling this shit if my mother was standing here."

"Relax Reeha-" He started, but a soft whimper caught their attention and her gaze shifted to the bathroom door he'd clearly been banging on judging by the bloody prints on the white wood before she'd interrupted him.

"Who's there?" Fareeha called out. She didn't need any of Jesse's one night stands overhearing their business. 

“It’s no one. Let’s go.” Jesse said taking Fareeha by arm starting to pull her out of the room, but she stood her ground as the bathroom door creaked open slowly. Her almond gaze fell on a the form of a short woman who was holding onto the door for support. There was a pool of blood smeared at her feet as she stared back at her with eyes that were practically begging her for help.

The sight shocked Fareeha to say the least. She never imagined that Jesse was the kind of man to get violent with his women, but the angered look that crossed his face when he saw the young woman was all the convincing she needed. She shrugged him off before making her way over to the bathroom door. It looked like she was getting more than she bargained for by coming here tonight, but she was a sucker for women in need. When McCree stepped to follow she held up her gun in his direction once more.

"Don't move Jesse." She ordered before turning her gaze back to the girl. "Did he do this to you?"

She nodded quickly. She seemed scared, and Fareeha didn't like how frail she looked. Whatever was going on it had clearly been going on for a while.

"You lying little bitch! You attacked me!" McCree bit out from where he stood by the door. Fareeha turned to shoot him a glare that instantly shut him up.

"Do you want to leave him? I can take you with me." She told her. She wanted to help her. Even if she had taken over her mother's empire, she still had a sense of justice instilled in her. She never hurt women or children when it came down to taking care of business.

"Si. I would like to leave." The smaller woman said. Her voice was hoarse from crying, but Fareeha could see the fire burning in her violet eyes.

"Then you'll come with me tonight until we can figure something out for you." Fareeha assured her before holding out her hand for her to take. “You’re not taking her anywhere Fareeha. She belongs to me. I bought her off her pimp.” McCree argued, taking another step towards them. “Then she will be my compensation for the drugs that you haven’t paid me back for. Unless of course you’d rather I take your life Jesse.” “You wouldn’t kill me. We have history. I’m practically family.” “You know my mother wouldn’t stand for this incompetence. She might not be here to deal with you herself, but I am and if you don’t step aside and let me take the girl I will do what I came here to do in the first place.” Fareeha stated with a glare. She needed men to respect her like they did her mother, and if she gave McCree any slack she knew he would take it a mile. “Now move.” The smaller woman was practically clinging to her free arm as they made their way past McCree. Fareeha could feel the trembles through the hold she had on her. She would have picked her up given the state of her feet, but she needed to keep McCree at bay with the threat of her gun.  Just as they were about to turn the corner of the door she felt the pressure on her arm disappear as Jesse yanked the woman back into the room. He was on her like a rabid dog, his hands tight around her throat. It was a split second decision before the sound of gunfire filled the room, and the woman’s eyes were wide with horror as she was covered in his blood when his body went limp on top of her. Fareeha pushed his body off of her before kneeling down to pick her up. She was light as a feather in her arms as she carried her down the blood stained stairs and out to her car. She handed her a blanket from her trunk after getting her settled into the back seat. She would have to get the interior detailed to get the blood from her clothes off the seat. “Before we go is there anything you need from the house?” “ Arturito. He’s on the bed.” She said softly. She seemed to be in a state of shock after what she’d experienced and Fareeha couldn’t really blame her. “I’ll be right back. Don’t move.” She told her before walking back up to the house while pulling her phone out to have her men clean up the mess, and dispose of McCree’s body. Her mother would be furious with her if she knew how much of a messy job she’d done tonight, but there were more pressing concerns. She shook her head as she stepped over McCree’s body. It was a shame she’d had to resort to killing him, but what other option did she have. He was more of a violent drunk than she’d expected and it wouldn’t surprise her if he’d been the one shooting up the drugs she’d given him to sell.  She lifted the pillows before finding a teddy bear stuffed beneath them. It looked old and worn. There were small stitches along the seams where someone had clearly repaired it over the years. She pocketed her phone before taking the bear back out to the car. She was a bit surprised to see that the woman hadn’t ran off at the first chance she had, but she was relieved to say the least. That woman didn’t look like she could survive a night on the streets. She handed her the bear before walking around the car and getting into the driver’s seat just as her men pulled up behind them to clean up the mess she’d made.  “Let’s get you home. I’ll have the cooks whip up something to eat for you and the maids will run you a bath.” Fareeha told her before starting up the car and driving off.

[owfemslashexchange]

I Like You a Latte

From @paintedpchydrm

For @becquerel.

(Prompt was Symbra but normal AU where Satya is a proper architect and Sombra is IT support and they meet when Satya spills her coffee on Sombra and offers her sweater as an apology and Sombra asks for her number instead.)

Satya held her coffee carefully in both hands. The warmth helped her feel grounded as she navigated through the bustling offices of Vishkar Corporation. Her headphones helped block out most of the overwhelming noises, making it easier for her to focus on getting to her destination; her office on the opposite side of the floor. She hoped that once she got a little more sway with the company, she’d be able to move into an office closer to the elevator. But for now, this would have to do.

Path plotted out in her head, Satya hurried forward. But she was stopped abruptly by a slightly shorter woman. Her attire made her stand out strikingly from the rest of the employees, with a graphic tee promoting some popular video game and ripped jeans tucked into knee high boots. Her brunette and purple hair was shaved on one side. Satya realized that she had actually seen her around before. She worked in IT, and she stood out like a sore thumb whenever she came upstairs to help people with their computers. Suddenly she realized that the woman had been speaking to her. She quickly pulled her headphones out and said, “My apologies. What were you saying?”

Her mouth opened in a small oh of surprise. “Headphones,” she muttered, “I hadn’t expected that.” Satya quirked her head in question at that, but received no answer in response. The woman continued, “I was just asking if now was a good time for me to come update your computer? I’ve been making the rounds on this floor, making sure everyone’s security is up to date. You’re next.” She grinned.

Satya frowned and replied, “I suppose now’s probably alright. I just got here, so I’m not in the middle of anything important or time sensitive.” She held out her hand politely, “I’m Satya, and you are?”

The woman frowned. “Sombra, but we’ve met before. Remember? At the holiday party?” She grasped Satya’s hand firmly.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Satya replied, “I don’t-” Suddenly she fell forward into Sombra, shoved from behind. Her hands squeezed instinctively and the coffee in her left popped open and sloshed all down the front of Sombra’s shirt. The liquid spread, quickly covering more than half of the shirt. Sombra jumped and threw her hands up in surprise. They both looked behind Satya to see one of the security guards, Gabriel, stalking away after bumping into Satya and causing the mess. He didn’t look particularly apologetic, and Sombra had a few words about that.

“Hey! Asshole! Buen trabajo! Más tarde puedo ayudarte a conectar con esa rubia caliente!” Sombra shook her fist at him angrily for good measure.

He replied while flipping her off, “Con un culo como el mío, no necesito ayuda perra!”

Sombra muttered under her breath while pulling the damp shirt away from her skin slightly. The coffee hadn’t been burning hot, but it still wasn’t a comfortable sensation.

Satya’s eyes were wide as she asked, “Oh my, are you alright? Did it burn you?”

“Nah, just uncomfortably sticky. You like a syrupy coffee, don’t you?” Sombra lightly teased.

“Here, come with me,” Satya turned and started walking towards her office, indicated to Sombra that she should follow. Seeing Sombra trail awkwardly behind her, she nodded and set a brisk pace past all the curious eyes around them. Once inside the safety of her office, she closed the door and shut all the blinds. Then she finally turned and spoke to Sombra again. “Take off your shirt.”

Sombra looked momentarily surprised, before a coy look came across her face. “Wow, you’re much more forward than I expected, Ms Satya. At least buy a girl a drink first. Or does throwing one on me count instead?”

Satya looked up from pulling something out of her desk, and quirked an eyebrow. “Well I was going to offer my sweater in compensation, but if you’d prefer a date I’m sure we could arrange something,” she replied as she leaned against the front of her desk. She held out the sweater with a smirk, as if daring Sombra to decide what she wanted more.

Sombra blushed. She knew that Satya a confident woman, but she hadn’t expected her flirtations to be received THAT well. Collecting herself quickly, she formulated her response. “Oh, I have to choose? I don’t see why not both. You lend me the sweater, and to repay you, I take you out on the best date you’ve ever had.”

“Best date ever? Isn’t that a rather high claim? You don’t know what dates I’ve been on in the past, or what dates I may go on in the future?” Satya crossed her arms and smirked, the sweater hanging off to her side from one hand.

Sombra grinned widely and took off her shirt. Satya’s bravado started to crack slightly. Sombra used her shirt to wipe the rest of the coffee off, before slowly sauntering forward. “Darling, after a night with me, all other dates will pale in comparison. I guarantee.” She stopped in front of Satya, just barely not touching her. Satya finally looked visibly flustered, her face red. She hitched in a breath when Sombra reached over to take the sweater, her hand grazing over Satya’s slightly as she grasped the soft material.

“I…suppose I do need to meet with you again to get the sweater back,” Satya managed to say. She was glad her voice didn’t shake, but the blush on her face still gave away her feelings.

Sombra seemed satisfied with that response, stepping back to pull the sweater on over her head. “Excellent! Trust me, you will not be disappointed. I’ll text you soon with the details. Oh, and thanks for the sweater,” the last part accentuated with a light boop of her index finger to Satya’s nose. She then turned and started to walk towards the door.

“Wait! Don’t you need my number in order to text me?” Satya asked.

“Oh, I have my ways.” Sombra winked as she left, leaving Satya to ponder what on earth she meant by that.

[AN: I used google translate for the Spanish, so I apologize if it’s incredibly wrong. Sombra said “Good job! Later I can help you hook up with that hot blonde!” and Gabe replied "With an ass like mine, I don’t need help bitch!“ It’s my way of hinting at Reaper76, my OTP lol. Also hinting that Sombra planned the whole incident as a way to get into Satya’s pants. Hope you enojy! I’m posting this to AO3 under the same username. Also I’m sorry it’s so short, I got my deadlines mixed up with another project :( ]

[the-art-of-trash]

Au/ Crossover

Hear me out.

A R76 Heathers (the movie) crossover

Jason Dean: Gabe

Veronica: Jack

Heather Chandler: Sombra

Heather Duke: Amelie

Heather McNamara: Symertta

Martha Dunstock: Mei

Ram: Junkrat

Kurt Kelly: Roadhog

Betty Finn: Mercy

Fleming: Zenyatta

Imagine in Jack's voice "Dear Diary: My teen angst bullshit now has a body count.” "What’s the up-chuck factor on that?" “Lick it up, baby. Lick it up.” "why can’t you just be a friend? Why do you have to be such a mega-bitch?”

Gabe's "Chaos is great! Chaos is what killed the dinosaurs, darling.” "Greetings and Salutations." "Our love is God let's go get a slushie." “I can’t believe you did it. I was teasing. I loved you. Of course, I was coming up here to kill you.” " knew that loose was too noose... uh... noose too loose.."

Sombra: "Is this a weak turnout or what? I had at least 70 more people at my funeral.” "Did you have a brain tumor for breakfast" "God, Jack. My afterlife is so boring. I have to sing Kumbaya one more time..." "Well, fuck me gently with a chainsaw. Do I look like Mother Teresa?"

Amelie: "why are you pulling my dick?" I prayed for the death of Sombra many times and I felt bad everytime I did it but I kept doing it anyway. Now I know you understood everything. Praise Jesus, Hallelujah." "These don't look that fake, do they? "

Symertta: "Sucide is a private thing" "Do they even have a thanksgiving in Africa?" "God has cursed me, I think. The last guy I had sex with killed himself the next day. I'm failing math. I was supposed to be cheerleading captain..."

Zenyatta: "Whether to kill yourself or not is one of the most important decisions a teenager can make."

And I can just imagine the discriptions and liberties that can be written to more of the personalities of the overwatch characters . Like a possible expert.

'Gabe had believed a God he supposed once upon a time back when his mother had told him fairy tale stories and filled his head with happy lies and deceit, but maybe they weren't all lies. He brought himself to the now; the present and right now his little Jackie seemed like all he wanted to do was throw himself off the bridge. "Our love is God, lets go get a slushie." That brought a smile to Jack's face and he all but raced to where Gabe was.'

Or Gabe's slow decline to madness. Or Amelie's rise to highschool power.

Also junkrat in a leatherman, Jack, Sombra, Amelie and Symertta in fitted blazers.

Imagine Zenyatta trying to get everyone to hold hands in the cafeteria. Jack and Symertta having a talk in the girl's bathroom about sucicide.

[overdrivels]

OMG a fire emblem au!!! Can u tell us who you'd hc in what classes omg

I’m jumping over a few requests for this because I’m excite. /shhh I just love Fire Emblem, okay? I just really, really like it. A lot of these are just pure silliness. 

Ana : Falcon Knight

Look, it’s just badass. Ridiculously badass. Healing from the skies and just stabbing enemies to death. This woman takes no prisoners and probably dodges snipers and archers like a boss. Also likes to yell from above at Soldier and Reaper. 

Bastion : Ballista (or Ballistician)

Bastion is literally a ballista. Not even the Ballistician class. Just literally the Ballista. Added ‘ballistician’ just in case ‘ballista’ doesn’t count.

D.VA : Dark Flier

Two words: Nerf THIS (gale force). 

Genji : Myrmidon or Assassin or Manakete

My favorite class, myrmidons. I really liked Guy from Fire Emblem (7). But then again, when Matthew showed his face, I was like ‘HOLY SHIT IMMA RECLASS YOU RIGHT AWAY, JUST YOU WAIT!’ So yeah, Genji has my bias classes. I also toyed with the idea of him being a Manakete, because…dragons. 

Hanzo : Archer or Bow Knight or Manakete

Bow Knight because a horse. He deserves a horse. Or something to love him unconditionally and kick some sense into him. He loves his horse. Archer because…well, no enlightenment.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Also, dragons. 

Junkrat : (I don’t know)

Lúcio : Bard

THE BEST CLASS FOR THE BEST BOY. I’m so upset about this class never coming back, it died with Nils. They had an opportunity to bring it back in Fire Emblem: Awakening, but just didn’t. I’m still real salty about it. 

McCree : (I don’t know)

Don’t you dare suggest Laguz. Don’t–no, don’t–hands off the keyb–HEY! I didn’t play that one! Or it’s sequel.

Mei : Mage

‘nuff said. 

Mercy : Troubadour or War Cleric

Everyone gets horses. Or a giant battle axe to show off just how superior you are. I want to see Mercy smack people around like a boss.  

Orisa : Great Knight

Also, self-explanatory. Will wreck you twenty ways to Sunday. 

Pharah : Wyvern Knight

Badass class. Kind of like her mother, except she went for the more dangerous looking one and can wield axes. BAD. ASS. 

Reaper : Druid or Necromancer

The necromancer class doesn’t actually fit him, despite the name. Only because I associate this class with the one and only Necromancer class person: Lyon. But then again, if I think about the story, it fits, so here we go. Druid because NOSFERATU. My fondest spell. 

Reinhardt : General

This, too, is self-explanatory. I fondly remember when I got my first General class unit and placed them at a chokepoint and just watched everyone run into that unit and die from the mages behind them. It was beautiful. 

Roadhog : (I don’t know)

I originally thought ‘pirate’, but I have really crappy memories of pirates because of those reinforcements that came running up to me on shore in Fire Emblem (7) on that map where we find Serra and Erk. I think I lost a couple of people and had to restart the game. 

Soldier : Hero

I really liked their animation, to be honest. Especially with the shield swinging. I’d like to see Solider doing that. Also, extreme beasts in the arena. Please win me big money. 

Sombra : Thief

She disappears, steals data, I don’t know, it seems pretty fitting to me. 

Symmetra : Tactician

She will wreck you mathematically and lead the team to victory with or without resources. SHE IS A ONE MAN WRECKING MACHINE. (So no, not the tactician from Fire Emblem (7).)

Torbjörn : (I don’t know)

Tracer : Thief

Other than myrmidons, I believe thief class is the fastest. I feel that it’s appropriate for her. Besides, I like thieves. They get me my hidden treasures. 

Widowmaker : Sniper

Again, self-explanatory. My favorite sniper has to be Innis. He’s a jerk, but he was a loveable jerk. Oh, Jeorge was great, too. TOO BAD IN HIS GAME, I COULDN’T S RANK WITH HIM. 

Winston : Anima Mage

‘nuff said. LIGHTNING, THE CHEAPEST OF SPELL BOOKS. 

Zarya : Hero

I…I don’t know what to say about it. It just seems really fitting. 

Zenyatta : War Monk or Sage

Also want to see this guy smack a person or two with something real heavy. ENLIGHTEN THIS, BITCH!

Thanks for the ask and indulging in my interests, Anon! ♥

[botslayer]

Random Overwatch fan theory:

The Legendary skins are actually how the characters look in alternate dimensions. T. Racer is her taking the test piloting to an extreme and going into a NASCAR analogue, plague doctor is Reaper suffering from some sort of immortality curse, the list goes on. Theories for skins as they stand:

Punk Tracer and Cybergoth Zarya are part of some sort of Elctro punk band, what else, along with Azukar Sombra. Los Muertos Sombra is her in a timeline where she stuck with the gang. Augnebted and Cyberspace are perhaps her from an AU where she was injured horribly in the Omnic Crisis, But she decided to not mope about it, and instead made herself into her own version of Genji. Hand me a legendary that isn’t confirmed to be them from the past and I will craft a story around that bitch. 

[shotgunsandstars]

And Then he Fell In 1/?

pairings: Jack/Gabrial tags: modern AU, not canon, Jesse is Gabe’s adoped son, teacher!Jack, cop!Gabe, flirting, first date, dad!Gabe Summary: Jack has a crush on one of his students' dad and while he really does feel bad that Jesse fell down a flight of stairs he does see it as the perfect opportunity to get to know Gabriel a little better.

So this is for the r76 valentines thing for ‘family’. Turned from a one shot into a fucking monster cause I lack self control. ‘Gabby’ is Sombra, but for obvious reasons, her actual name isn’t Sombra because who would actually name their kid Sombra. AO3 link will be added when AO3 stops acting like a lil bitch.

Title is a really lame joke about being so thirsty you just fell into the giant glass of water you were trying to drink IF YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN *eyebrow waggle*

The morning was always the hardest part of the day for Gabe. At least when he had both his kids. When it was just Jesse it was fine, he could deal with sullen going-through-puberty teenage boy and get him out the door to the bus stop easily. Just throw a pop tart at him, make sure he wasn’t wearing the same clothes as yesterday, and he had his homework and kick him out the door he was fine. Gabby was an entirely different issue because you just didn’t tell a three year old to do anything. You had to wrestle them for it. Most of the time Gabe won but it was still a struggle to get her into some goddamn clothes and to daycare.

He was struggling to get Gabby to eat her fucking breakfast when Jesse came up to him and very quietly slipped a folded up paper on the table and walked off while he was distracted. Or he thought Gabe was distracted. Gabe saw him, he just let Jesse get away with it because the kid thought he was slick. Once he got another spoonful of cereal into Gabby’s mouth he opened up the paper. He could hear Jesse, very loudly, getting himself ready for school in his bedroom, like he was making a point about it. He side eyed the kid even though Jesse wasn’t in sight and looked at the paper.

“Jesse!” he yelled, smacking the paper down on the table.

“Jesse!” Gabby yelled as well. Far happier than her father.

Jesse peered out from his room. “Yeah?”

“Get out here.”

“I’m getting ready for school-

“Well I’ll drive you if you miss the bus. Get your punk ass out here.”

“Oooo, papí you said a bad word,” Gabby said and pointed at him.

Jesse shuffled out from his bedroom back to the table, dragging his feet the entire way. Gabe was fuming more than a little bit. “So, why were you sent to detention this time?”

Jesse made a face. “Some kids were making fun of me,” he said, folding his arms, looking away.

“Jess, we’ve talking about this. You can’t go picking fights in school.”

“They were saying I was adopted-

“Jesse you are adopted. I fucking adopted you for a reason. Which is more than probably half those kids you go to school with could say since they just happened because a condom broke.” Jesse flushed a little because he was a teenager and any mention of sex got him flustered. “It’s not bad that you’re adopted.”

“I know,” Jesse sighed. “It still makes me feel bad when they make fun of me for it. Or ask me if my ‘real’ parents wanted me.”

“Well fuck them. They didn’t. I did.”

“Papí you said a bad word again,” Gabby chimed in but Gabe barely heard her.

“Now tell me this is the only bad thing I’m going to hear at this parent-teacher meeting,” Gabe said, looking Jesse in the eye. Jesse nodded. “Are you telling me the truth?”

“I’m not failing,” Jesse said, knowing that was what he meant.

“Good,” Gabe said. Then he stood up and gave Jesse a hug. “I adopted you because I care about you. Don’t forget that.” Jesse just nodded into his chest. “Now don’t miss the bus,” he let go and Jesse went to grab his bag. Gabe watched him leave and then turned back to Gabby who’d spilled half the milk out of her cereal bowl. He sighed. Why were his children both complete disasters? He cleaned Gabby up, made her eat a bit more of her breakfast. Then he picked her up out of her highchair with a grunt. “Come on mi sombrita,” he said and put her in his room so she could play with some of her toys there while he got dressed for work.

—

Jack checked the time again. His last meeting had ended about fifteen minutes ago and his next one was ten minutes late. He’d never met Jesse’s father before. Jesse was a good student so he couldn’t imagine his father was as disastrous as some of the other parents he’d met the past week. Ones that obviously had no interest in their children’s education or who let their children do whatever they wanted and didn’t like how strict was on them in homeroom. He’d heard all the complaints and had a few of his own. For Jesse he didn’t have many really. Just that he could be provoked by kids to get into fist fights with them and seemed unmotivated.

While he waited he worked but it was still so weird that Mr. Reyes was so late. Jesse had assured him his father would be coming. He was still waiting almost half an hour before his door opened. Jack looked up and was not expecting a cop. Even though it was totally unreasonable he was still horrified and thought they were here for him for something he’d done. They were a tall black guy with a perfectly pressed, blue, uniform that seemed almost too small for them and literally had arms the size of watermelons. It didn’t help they were wearing mirrored aviators which made the entire thing more threatening than it needed to be. Who the hell was this? Jack didn’t wilt but he did shift back a little in concern. “Are you Jack Morrison?” they asked.

“Yes?” Jack said slowly, unsure of himself. Why was a cop in his classroom and asking who he was?

“So sorry I’m late,” they said removing their aviators which helped humanize them. “I was… well, fighting crime.”

“Who are you?” he asked but god that line was so cheesy.

“Gabriel Reyes, Jesse’s father. Nice to meet you,” he said and had crossed the classroom by now to offer his hand to Jack.

Jack stared a little even as he shook Mr. Reyes’ hand. Holy shit. Totally an inappropriate thought but Jesse’s dad was hot as fuck. Should really not be thinking like that of a married man. Mr. Reyes was married right? Shit he couldn’t remember. He had to assume he was married because he had a kid. Even though Jesse looked nothing like Mr. Reyes. It took Jack a moment to remember Jesse was adopted. Right. So maybe he wasn’t married. That was good or something right?

“Nice to meet you too,” Jack said and Mr. Reyes let go of his hand.

“Again, sorry about being late. Jesse didn’t tell me till literally this morning and I had to work something out with my boss and had to pick up my daughter from daycare- ah sorry. Not important. Just unprofessional.” Jack felt his hopes sink a little. He had a daughter too? So maybe he was married. Why were all the hot ones married?

“It’s alright. I was staying late anyway to get some work done,” Jack lied. He’d been getting some work done because he’d been made to stay late but the order wasn’t really that important. “Please have a seat.” Mr. Reyes looked behind him, saw only desks and sat on the desk. At this angle Jack was basically looking at his chest and this was really distracting and incredibly unprofessional. At the very least he kept the meeting professional and kept his eyes on Mr. Reyes’ face about ninety-five percent of the time. The other five percent he’d glance down at his chest or legs then back up because good god Jack get it the fuck together. They talked about Jesse’s grades and his work ethic and his temperament, especially how he got into fights with other kids. Mr. Reyes listened attentively to everything Jack said and asked questions about how Jesse was doing and what he could do to help him improve.

By the end of the meeting Jack was completely smitten. But he also knew it was inappropriate to flirt with one of his students’ parents, not to mention what if Mr. Reyes was married? Jack would be horrified if he flirted with a married man. He’d done that before once. Had accidentally ruined a marriage. Didn’t want to do that again. He also knew he couldn’t ask any probing questions without looking like he was fishing. So he just had to sit there, in agony, with a weird instant crush on his student’s father.

Mr. Reyes shook his hand again when the meeting was over and thanked him for his time with a smile. Jack didn’t show any exterior change but inside he completely melted. God he was even more handsome when he smiled. This was just unfair. Jack heard himself say, ‘have a nice night’ but hardly remembered it because as Mr. Reyes walked out he was staring at his ass in tight police pants. When he was gone Jack leaned back in his chair having a minor existential crisis. Holy shit he was so gay this was an issue. He whined a little to himself. He’d probably never have a reason to see Mr. Reyes again outside of another parent-teacher meeting either. This was torture.

Muttering under his breath Jack closed out of his computer and packed up his things. Mr. Reyes had been the last meeting he had tonight and he wanted to go home, order Chinese food, and watch TV while grading papers. Then maybe cry a little because Jesse’s dad was so hot it was so unfair.

—

Gabe was in his patrol car when his phone rang. His partner, who was driving, eyed him even as he checked it. Why was Jesse calling him? He knew better than to call him at work. At least unless it was an emergency. That made him answer it right away. “Hello?”

“Dad,” Jesse said and that got all sorts of warning bells going. Jesse was still awkward about calling him ‘dad’ and only did when he was especially upset.

“Hey, Jess, what’s up?” he kept a calm voice so whatever it was Jesse would be calling him about at work wouldn’t seem quite as bad.

“I uh… fell down a flight of stairs at school.”

“What? Are you okay? Are you hurt?” Great, just what he fucking needed, a hurt kid. He immediately checked out of where they were driving to focus on what Jesse was saying.

“Yeah and… yeah,” he said softly. “I hurt my leg and arm. Mr. Morrison said I didn’t break anything but I should probably go home. Can you come pick me up?”

Gabriel looked at the clock and swore in his head. Unfortunately his boss was a real hard ass and wouldn’t let him off the beat to go get his son. He hated having to tell Jesse but he did say, “I’m sorry, Jess, I can’t come get you till after my shift. Can you tough it out in the nurse’s office until I can come get you?”

“I guess,” Jesse said, sounding defeated.

“I’ll be there as soon as I can, alright?” No answer. “Jesse I can’t hear you if you just nod your head.”

“Okay,” he said weakly.

“Alight. As soon as I’m done,” he promised.

“Okay.”

Gabe hung up and rubbed his face. “Everything all right?” Amélie asked cooly, snapping her bubblegum.

“My kid fell down a fucking flight of stairs at school,” Gabe groaned and slouched a bit.

Amélie said nothing for a second. “Are you sure he’s adopted? Because that seems a lot like you,” she teased him.

“Shut the fuck up Lacroix,” Gabe grumbled and Amélie just snickered at him.

Gabe watched the clock his entire patrol. Then, just when it got to the last half hour there was an issue. There had been a shooting and dispatch had called in extra cars to deal with the situation. Half an hour after his shift was over, while he was basically standing around closing off the crime scene, Gabe got a call from Jesse again. He couldn’t pick up and just sent a ‘text me’ in response.

‘Where are you?’

Gabe’s heart broke a little. Shit shit shit. He’d told Jesse he’d come get him but here he was, still at work. ‘I’m working a scene. I’ll be there as soon as I can’ he promised.

Another fifteen minutes went by and Gabe was still there and Jesse’s school had let out over an hour ago. He got another text from his son, ‘my teacher wants to talk to you’. Well shit. This was just fucking great. Great. He was about to get chewed out by one of Jesse’s teachers for being a shitty parent because he couldn’t come get him son after he’d fallen down a flight of stairs. Wonderful.

‘Alright’ and he stepped away from the crime scene. Really he was just there to keep some order, the detectives, EMTs, and forensics were doing some actual work. Jesse called him and he picked up. “Hello?”

“Hey, dad, Mr. Morrison wanted to talk to you.”

Gabe held back a sigh. “Alright.”

He steeled himself for something bad. “Hello? Mr. Reyes, it’s Jack Morrison, Jesse’s home room teacher. He’s been in my room since the end of school and said you were going to come pick him up but I’m about to leave for the day.” Shit shiiiiiit. “I was wondering if you’d be alright with me taking Jesse home since you’re in the middle of something?”

Gabe was very glad Mr. Morrison couldn’t see the look of surprise on his face. “Uh… really?” he asked. He’d never heard of such a thing and hated himself for being a little suspicious. Why would Mr. Morrison offer that?

“Yes. With your permission of course. I hate seeing him just sitting around pathetically waiting for you to come get him.” In the background he heard Jesse yell something.

“Let me talk to my son,” Gabe said. He heard a distant, ‘He wants to talk to you’ as the phone was handed from Mr. Morrison to Jesse.

“Yeah?”

“El señor Morrison se ofreció a llevarte a casa por mi. ¿Te sientes cómodo con eso?” he asked.

“Yeah. Es amable. No da miedo..”

Gabe had a minor sense of recognition. “¿Fue él que conocí el mes pasado en la junta de padres?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh. Bueno, si estás cómodo con él entonces me parece bien.”

“Sí, es un verdadero nerd,” Jesse said sarcastically. “Do you want to talk to him again?”

“Tell him he has my permission and if he needs more than that you can put him back on,” Gabe said.

He heard Jesse repeat what he’d said and then into the mic he said, “He said alright. ¿Estás cómodo con él sabiendo dónde vivimos?”

“He’s a white nerd, you really think I’m intimidated?” Gabe asked and Jesse laughed a little. “When you get home just hang out I’ll be there as soon as I pick up your sister.”

“Okay,” Jesse said.

They said goodbye and Gabe went back to what he was doing. He got released twenty minutes later thank God and he and Amélie went back to the station. Gabe didn’t even bother changing out of his uniform and just got in his car and drove to Gabby’s daycare where she was one of the last ones waiting to get picked up because fuck Gabe’s work like seriously. Once he had his little shadow he drove home, avoiding as much LA traffic as humanly possible. There was a car in front of his house. Was Mr. Morrison still here? He unbuckled Gabby from her car seat and carried her inside.

Jesse was inside, laid out on the couch and, of all fucking things, his teacher was in the kitchen looking for something. When Gabe opened the door Jesse sat up, “Dad,” he said, smiling.

“Hey. I’m so sorry it took so long,” he said as he set Gabby down. She immediately tried to take off her pants and Gabe gave her ear a slightly less then gentle tug. Not hard, just a ‘stop that’. “Esperate a que se vaya la visita,” he told her sternly. She pursed her lips at him but did stop and went to sit in front of the TV which Jesse had on.

“It’s alright. I know,” Jesse said.

Gabe was torn between checking on him and the stranger in his kitchen who’d stopped rummaging around in the cabinets when Gabe had come in. Jesse could wait a second. What the hell was this guy doing in there? He went over to the kitchen to investigate and found Mr. Morrison with a pill bottle in his hand. “Hi,” he said awkwardly.

Gabe didn’t get any creepy or threatening vibes for him. It was still fucking weird. “What are you doing?”

“Looking for some Tylenol to help with Jesse’s hurt leg.”

That seemed reasonable. He held his hand out and Mr. Morrison put the pill bottle in it. “Thanks for bringing my son home,” he said.

“Of course,” Mr. Morrison said. “I suggest taking him to see an actual doctor tomorrow since the nurse wasn’t really allowed to do much for him.”

“Thanks.”

“Can I have one of those?” Jesse called from the couch.

Gabe looked over and went over to the couch. Someone had wrapped Jesse’s foot up in pressure binding, and there were band-aids and gauze wrapped around his hand a wrist. He recognized the cartoon band-aids he’d bought because Gabby was prone to running into things and giving herself little scrapes. Somehow bandaids with cartoons on them fixed hurts better and faster than normal bandaids. But still, Jesus, what the hell had happened?

“Well, since you’re here I should get going,” Mr. Morrison said.

“Thanks, again,” Gabe said.

“No problem,” Mr. Morrison said. “Honestly he was depressing hanging out in my classroom. I’ve never seen someone so sullenly do science homework in my life. So I’m glad I brought him here so he could be depressing somewhere else.” That made Gabe laugh a little.

At the very least he shook Mr. Morrison’s hand before he left and then turned back to his battered son. “So how did you manage to fall down a flight of stairs?” Gabe asked as he opened the pill bottle and handed Jesse one. He swallowed it with some water. Jesse just shrugged. “C’mon, tell me. Someone didn’t push you did they?”

“No,” he admitted. “I was trying to slide down the handrail,” and as he said it he blushed.

“You almost broke your leg because you were trying to show off to a girl?” Gabe asked, blank faced. He was glad Amélie wasn’t here because he could just imagine her ‘yeah, I don’t believe he’s actually adopted when he pulls the same shit you do, Reyes’.

“Not exactly?” Jesse squeaked. “There’s… this cute Japanese boy in my class,” he said shyly. Gabe mentally waved away Amélie’s obnoxious laughter at the irony.

Gabe just sighed like the most put-upon father in the entire world. “Jesse. You don’t need to do stupid shit to get boys to notice you. Just be nice to them. Trust me they’ll be so caught off guard with the flirting they won’t be able to help it. Don’t go sliding down railings in your school to impress them that’s just so dumb- Sombrita I don’t want these,” he said looking down at his daughter who as standing in front of him, offering him her pants. “They won’t fit.”

“No?” she asked and looked absolutely shocked that her tiny pants wouldn’t fit her six foot two father.

“No.” He turned his attention back to Jesse, “Did the nurse bandage you up?”

“No-

“No?” Gabe was a hair away from outraged.

“Mr. Morrison found me and went and got his first aid kit. After he wrapped up my leg and hand he helped me to the nurse’s office.”

“He did?” Gabe looked over the wrapping again.

“Yeah. Said he used to be an army medic so he just keeps a full first aid kit around. More helpful than the school nurse,” he huffed.

“Did you thank him?”

“Uh-huh. A bunch of time,” Jesse assured him.

“Good,” Gabe sat next to him on the couch. “And nothing’s broke?”

“Mr. Morrison and the nurse both said nothing was broken. But I might have pulled something pretty bad. I can’t really walk on my own. I used some crutches to go hang out at Mr. Morrison’s room but had to give them back when he left the school.”

“Alright. That’s good.” Then he sighed. “I need to get someone to cover for me tomorrow so I can take you to the doctor.”

“Sorry,” Jesse said weakly.

“I’m not mad,” Gabe assured him. “I’m honestly surprised it took you this long to almost break a bone.” Jesse just grinned sheepishly. “After I get someone to cover how about we order pizza for dinner?”

“Yeah! Shit- ow-

“Ooo, Jesse said a bad word papí,” Gabby pointed at Jesse accusingly.

“It’s fine, Gabby. He just hurt himself,” Gabe said and gave Jesse a fond hair ruffle as he morosely laid out on the couch. He took out his phone as he went to go change into some normal clothes and make some calls to get someone to work his shift tomorrow. As he did Gabby followed after him like the little shadow he called her.

—

Jack was only sort of daydreaming during his off period in the middle of the day. He was also working on his lesson plan but he was mostly day dreaming. He really should be trying to get some more work done. Like finish grading papers or getting things ready for his next class. Instead, he was thinking about probably about the worst thing ever and lusting after one of his students’ fathers. It was so stupid too because he’d only met Mr. Reyes twice. But both times he’d been in his super well-fitted officer uniform he swore was a little too small because that was the only reason he could think of why it was so tight across the chest and arms. Also how the hell did he manage to pull off a figure with that utility belt that added twenty pounds? Maybe it was his thighs.

Jack groaned and covered his face. He shouldn’t be thinking about Jesse’s dad. It was so weird and inappropriate. He focused on his lesson plan and eating his lunch. Before he knew it the bell for next class was ringing and he had to get his act together. No more daydreaming about Mr. Reyes.

He managed to deal with the rest of the day without his mind wandering and then his last class left for the day but he stayed to do some more work before he went home. He had a test to grade and wanted to get at least two periods graded before he went home where he had to grade yesterday’s homework. It was times like these he was glad he taught science and not English. He could get away with basically nothing but multiple choice or fill in the blank worksheets which made grading easier with only one or two assignments a week out of the book that required actual written responses. The English teachers always sighed about the essays they had to grade because this was middle school and middle schoolers wrote like garbage.

He worked diligently for about half an hour when there was a knock on his door. Why would someone knock? That was weird. It wasn’t the janitors. They didn’t come through the classrooms on this side of the school later and they wouldn’t have knocked. They just came in, changed the garbage and spot cleaned the floor if there was anything truly disgusting on it. “Yes?” he called hesitantly.

The door opened and Jack nearly had a heart attack. It was Mr. Reyes. He wasn’t in his work uniform and Jack almost didn’t recognize him if it wasn’t for the facial hair or the fact that Jack didn’t know anyone else who had shoulders as big as him. He was wearing a hoodie, beanie, and a pair of jeans like a normal human being and held a little girl on one arm like she weighed nothing. What was he doing here? Had he changed his mind that Jack had been at his house? He stayed calm despite that. “Mr. Reyes… what can I do for you?”

Mr. Reyes put the girl down and said something to her in Spanish before coming over to his desk. Jack did his best not to look flustered and mostly succeeded. “Sorry for interrupting you, I just felt like I didn’t properly convey my thanks yesterday with Jesse.”

“Oh— it’s no problem at all,” Jack said. Just be cool Jack. Just be cool and everything would work out fine.

“I hope you didn’t take it the wrong way yesterday. Coming home to Jesse all messed up did a number on me so I’m sorry if I appeared rude.”

“I can only imagine it must have been stressful knowing you couldn’t come get him all day on top of what you do every day,” Jack said. This was going surprisingly well.

“You really helped me out so I feel like I owe you one.” Please just let me suck your dick and we’ll be even, Jack thought totally out of nowhere. His face didn’t change from pleasant but he was shocked he’d just thought that. “Or I should make it up to you for going so out of your way for Jesse when you didn’t have to.”

“Oh, it really wasn’t any trouble at all,” Jack assured him.

“I insist. Maybe just coffee so you don’t fall asleep on all those papers?” he nodded at the five stacks of papers from his five classes neatly organized on Jack’s desk. Jack hardly noticed. All he heard was that Mr. Reyes wanted to take him out for coffee. “Least I could do.”

“I- uh—!!! Sure. Sure,” Jack stammered. “Just uh- give me a minute to pack up my stuff.”

“Of course, no rush,” Mr. Reyes said and left his desk to go look for his daughter. “¿Mi sombrita, where did you go?” he called in a sing-song voice and across the classroom came a maniacal giggle. Jack quickly threw his things into their folders to keep things organized and threw all of those into his bag along with his personal tablet and the rest of his stuff. He heard more giggling but only glanced up a little briefly to catch Mr. Reyes stalking through the rows of desk chairs looking for his daughter. He double checked everything was in his satchel before getting out of his chair. “Gotcha!” Mr. Reyes said and he picked his daughter up and gave her a fond shake, making her laugh. Only then did he turn to see if Jack was ready and Jack was just standing there wondering if he had actual hearts in his eyes or if he just felt like they were there. “Ready?” he asked Jack.

“Yeah,” Jack said.

“Great.”

Jack and Mr. Reyes walked out and since this was LA there was a coffee shop down the block so they didn’t have to go far. “Is Jesse alright?” he asked as they made it out of the school. “He wasn’t at school today.”

“I had to take him to the doctor. They said he needed to keep off his feet for the next week or so because of a badly pulled tendon.”

“Oh dear. That seems really serious.”

“He’ll be fine,” Gabe said. “Just needs some rest and the doctor said he’d be fine.”

“So he’s at home with his mother?” Jack was totally fishing but he didn’t care. Please don’t be married. Please don’t be married.

“Huh? Oh, no. He’s home alone. I asked him if he wanted to come but he was more interested in being a slug,” Mr. Reyes shrugged and rolled his eyes a little.

“Right,” Jack said slowly. “Well, I’m just glad he’s alright. Got quite a scare when Genji showed up in my class and told me he’d fallen.”

“Genji… he’s not Japanese is he?”

“He is. Why?”

Mr. Reyes chuckled. “No reason. My son is just an idiot. Did Genji tell you why Jesse fell down a flight of stairs?”

Jack didn’t see how that was relevant or humorous. The kid had been hurt. “No.”

“Well let me assure you he just made a real dumb mistake and now has to spend the next week in bed, which is going to be torture for him.” Now Jack wanted to know but didn’t pry. They’d arrived at the Starbucks by now. Mr. Reyes pulled out a sticky note and read off an order Jack assumed was for Jesse then Mr. Reyes ordered for himself and his daughter. “And whatever he’s having,” he nodded at Jack. “Get whatever, my treat.”

Thankfully Jack didn’t have a very complicated drink order. Mr. Reyes paid and they waited over at the pickup window. Jack was quiet for a second before asking, “So, what’s her name?” he asked, meaning the little girl who was very intently watching the barista.

“This is Gabby, my youngest,” Mr. Reyes said.

“I don’t mean to be rude but I just know about Jesse… she yours?”

Mr. Reyes got a very hard look in his eyes and Jack did his best not to wilt. “They’re both mine.” Okay, touchy topic.

“Of course,” Jack said. “I just didn’t know Jesse had a sister.”

“Neither did Jesse,” Mr. Reyes said.

“Papí,” and that was all Jack got from the Spanish. He knew a little Spanish but kid Spanish was like kid English and sort of hard to decode unless you knew all the working parts.

“I got you hot chocolate. Did you not want hot chocolate?” More Spanish from Gabby. Mr. Reyes leaned on the bar. “Hey, I’m sorry. Could we possibly swap that hot chocolate for an apple juice instead? Apparently, I didn’t ask before I ordered.”

“Oh— sure.”

“Papí, papí-“ she tugged on his beard.

“What?” He listened. “No, you aren’t getting apple juice and hot chocolate. Now, do you want the apple juice or the hot chocolate?”

She pouted at him, folding her arms crossly. “Apple juice,” she said.

“Alright then. You’re getting apple juice.”

Jack was just standing there wondering if he was dreaming. He pinched himself on the sly. Nope, didn’t wake up. He’d really just watched the cutest thing in existence for real. Then the drinks were being put out on the bar. Jack picked up his. “Thanks for the coffee,” he said as Mr. Reyes got a cup and straw so Gabby didn’t get the apple juice all over herself.

“No problem,” Mr. Reyes had to put Gabby down to deal with a drink tray and she immediately started complaining until he shoved the small cup of juice into her hands.

“Jesse’s going to be out for the next week?” he asked as they left the Starbucks.

“At least,” Mr. Reyes said as they headed back to the school. “They said after a week to bring him back so they could check up on him.”

Jack felt awkward even as he said, “If you wanted I could bring him some of his school work so he doesn’t fall behind. I figure you’re too busy to come by and get the school work.”

“Really? That’s real nice of you,” Mr. Reyes said.

“Only if you don’t mind me coming by your house to drop them off, Mr. Reyes.”

“Please, call me Gabriel. Mr. Reyes makes me feel old.” Jack’s heart jumped right up into his throat. This was good. This was really good. Now just stay cool Jack. Stay cool. “And I can’t say I mind. It’ll give Jesse something to do other than mope around and complain about not being able to go play soccer with his friends.”

“I assume he’ll be by himself tomorrow?”

“I have off tomorrow during the day so I’ll be there.”

“Alright,” Jack said. “I’ll stop by after school with his work.”

“I’m sure he’ll be thrilled,” Mr. Reyes said sarcastically. Even though he said he'd call him Gabriel Jack was attempting to keep a professional distance at least in his head. “Who doesn’t like doing school work when you’re sick?” That made Jack laugh. “You don’t have any homework I could give him now, do you?”

“Uh…” Jack thought. He tried not to assign homework every day both for his students and his own sanity. Had he assigned homework to his homeroom today? “He actually doesn’t have any from me today.”

“Really? Or are you just saying because you feel bad for him?”

Jack laughed a little. “No. He really doesn’t have any homework today. I’m benevolent sometimes.”

They’d made it back to the school by now and were in the parking lot. Mr. Reyes had parked in the visitor parking area. “Alright, I’ll let him know he’s off the hook tonight then.” They turned out to be at Mr. Reyes’ car too because he put the drink tray on top of the car, opened the door and put Gabby into the car seat.

“Thanks for the coffee, again,” Jack said.

Mr. Reyes turned over his shoulder with a smile and Jack wondered if his heart had stopped for a second. Holy shit. Holy shit. “No problem. Was my pleasure.” That didn’t have to be the only thing that was his pleasure. Jack mentally slapped himself. Get it the fuck together. Thankfully he had a few seconds to compose himself while Mr. Reyes buckled Gabby into her car seat properly. Then he stood up, closed the door and turned back to him. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Mr. Morrison, or do you prefer Jack?”

“Ah-uh— Jack’s fine,” Jack stammered. For a second he couldn’t remember why he’d be seeing Mr. Reyes tomorrow but then he remembered, right, bringing Jesse his school work. Focus. Nothing weird about bringing Jesse his school work while he was injured.

“Can I see your phone?” Jack didn’t even think to ask why. Honestly, Mr. Reyes could have asked him anything and he would have done it. He was still sort of getting over that smile of his. He unlocked his phone and handed it to Mr. Reyes and he did something with it then handed it back. “Text me if you get lost.”

“Oh. Sure,” Jack nodded.

“Have fun with that,” Mr. Reyes nodded at his satchel full of work and then got into his car. Jack waved a little as he pulled away.

Only once he was out of sight did Jack slump against the car next to him. “Holy fuck,” he said to himself. Then he realized he had Mr. Reyes’ phone number on his phone. His personal phone number. He looked around a little wondering if he was being punk’d or something because this was some Disney movie shit right here. It didn’t look like it. Meaning that this was real and happening. He swore this only happened in those trashy fanfictions he used to read as a kid. But here it was, happening in real life.

After a minute he pulled himself together and checked the number Mr. Reyes had put in. It was just under Gabriel which was easy to spot because he didn’t know any other Gabriels. Feeling like a dumbass but who cared because no one else would see it he added ‘dilf’ after it so he wouldn’t forget that Mr. Reyes was the hot dad he was lusting after. How Jack could fucking forget he had no idea but it amused him regardless. With that, he went to his car to head home to grade his papers and try very hard not to just randomly text Mr. Reyes even though he really wanted to.

—

The next morning Jack sent an email out to the appropriate teachers about what he was doing to help Jesse and they said they’d have work sent over to him before the end of the day. Between having to actually work Jack pretended to be working very seriously on his tablet but was really thinking about the fact that he was going over to the Reyes’ again so soon. By the end of the day all the homework had made its way to him and after he’d stayed a while after class was over to do some work and grading he decided he’d spent enough time at work and packed up his things. He put Jesse’s work in its own folder and went down to his car.

He sort of remembered the way to the Reyes’ but not entirely. He wasn’t sure if he’d made himself forget it to have an excuse to text Mr. Reyes or he’d actually forgotten but he couldn’t remember it now. So he texted Mr. Reyes and then waited on the side of the road for a response. ‘Sorry!’ and then the full address. Why was he sorry? For making Jack wait? Well, that was nice.

But he had the address now so the GPS in his car could tell him exactly where to go. He parked out front of the house, rung the doorbell and waited. Nothing happened. He rang it again. “Just a second!” he heard Mr. Reyes yell from inside. So Jack waited and then the door opened.

“Uh… Mr. Reyes— you have something on your head,” he said, pointing a little at Gabby who had somehow climbed all over her father’s head and shoulders like an Alien face hugger.

“Yeah, I know,” he said. “And I said, call me Gabriel, or I’m going to call you Mr. Morrison.”

Jack winced a little. “Okay, point taken. Do you want some help with that?” Mr. Reyes just looked like he’d given up on having his three-year-old on his face and accepted his fate. He looked like a broken man. He didn’t really answer but Jack pried Gabby off her father anyway. She stared at him like she couldn’t believe he’d just done that and was struck still in confusion. She looked at Mr. Reyes to make sure this was really happening, then at Jack, then back at her father.

Then, still looking at her father she pointed at Jack and said, “Gringo.”

Mr. Reyes was mortified. He grabbed her out of Jack’s hands and scolded her. “I’m so sorry,” he apologized. “She really does know better than that,” he assured Jack.

“It’s alright. I’ve literally been called worse than white by a three-year-old,” Jack said with an easy shrug.

“I’m sorry,” Mr. Reyes said again. “Right, you’re here to give Jesse his school work, come in,” he stood aside so Jack could come in.

“Where is he?” Jack expected him to be laid out on the couch like he had when he’d left him the day before.

“In his room.”

Jack saw Mr. Reyes starting to have to struggle with his daughter again as she tried to climb out of his arms. “Uh… I can go give it to him if you want. Just tell me which room is his.”

Mr. Reyes just pointed before peeling Gabby off his face. Jack left him to that and went to Jesse’s room. He knocked. “Yeah?” Jesse called from inside. Jack opened the door slowly. “Mr. Morrison? What are you doing here?”

“Your dad didn’t tell you I’d be bringing your school work?”

“What?” Jesse sat up. “I have to do school work too like this?” He groaned and thumped back down on the bed dramatically.

“Don’t blame me, blame your dad. He agreed to it.” Jack stepped further into the room and put the thin folder on his desk.

Jesse just sighed. “Thanks, I guess,” he grumbled.

“Don’t feel pressured to do it all. You’re resting after all,” Jack said and when Jesse looked at him from his sullen position Jack winked at him. Jesse smirked. “Feel better. I’ll see you tomorrow when I bring tomorrow’s work.”

“Sure. Bye, Mr. Morrison.”

Jack retreated from Jesse’s room and found that Mr. Reyes had succeeded in fully prying Gabby off his face by putting her in front of cartoons. He seemed absolutely haggard and his curly hair was a mess from Gabby grabbing at it. “Well, delivery accomplished,” Jack said.

“Great. Now he’ll have something to do tomorrow instead of moping around. Thanks for bringing it over.”

“He did not feel the same way,” Jack said and headed for the door. “Should I wait until you come home tomorrow to bring Jesse’s work?”

“I’m actually working tomorrow night. There’ll be a baby sister most likely.”

“Oh. Then I’ll try and come early so I don’t show up as a random guy who wants to see Jesse.”

That amused Mr. Reyes and he opened the door for Jack. “Fair enough. Just let me know when you’re coming over. If I’m not here I’ll tell the babysitter.”

“Have a nice night miste- Gabriel,” he corrected himself.

“Goodbye, Jack,” he said with something like a smile and Jack walked out. He didn’t skip exactly but there was a spring in his step on the way back to his car.

—

Gabe was napping on the couch before work. He’d be up all night tonight so needed to get some extra sleep in before he went on shift. He wasn’t looking forward to it since it’d mean leaving Jesse alone and the kid was more accident prone than ever. And he’d had to hire a babysitter which was always nerve wracking. He’d gotten Jesse when he was old enough to not need a babysitter and usually he’d just make Jesse watch Gabby when he went out but with Jesse laid out in bed he actually needed someone to watch his daughter. So he’d had to hire someone. Hopefully, it’d work out.

He woke at some point when Gabby came and laid on him but went right back to sleep. His phone would wake him up when he needed to get ready for work and he was expecting it. He was not expecting the doorbell. He groaned in annoyance and opened one eye. Who the fuck was that? It was too early for the babysitter. With a sigh Gabe sat up, catching Gabby as she slid down into his lap and left her on the couch to finish her nap.

He opened the door squinting in the late afternoon light and then blinked himself awake. Oh. Right. Jack said he was bringing over Jesse’s school work. Gabe hoped he didn’t look like he just dragged himself out of bed and resisted the urge to pat his hair but realized he was wearing his hat. Oh good, crisis adverted. Bad enough Jack had had to witness Gabby turning it into a rat’s nest yesterday and he wasn’t sure he hadn’t gotten all the three-year-old drool out of it despite the shower. “Sorry, did I come at a bad time?” Jack asked. “I did text and say I was coming.”

“No worries,” Gabe said. He’d slept right through the alerts. Then he noticed Jack was holding a drink tray. “What’s that for?”

“Oh… I just thought if you were doing the night shift you could use some caffeine before you started,” Jack said and looked really self-conscious about it.

A smile pulled at one side of Gabe’s mouth. “Thanks. That’s really considerate of you. Come in.” He opened the door the rest of the way so Jack could come in. “I assume one of those is for Jesse?”

“To keep away the doldrums of having to do his school work at home,” Jack said.

Gabe wondered if Jack knew how transparent he was. Not that Gabe was complaining. It was rather endearing and cute and since Gabe had adopted Jesse he’d come to appreciate ‘cute’ like he hadn’t before. It helped that he was good looking and just genuinely a nice guy. Didn’t know how to be subtle to save his life but that was okay. “If you aren’t Jesse’s favorite teacher after this we’re going to have to have a talk.” Jack just laughed and put the tray on the kitchen counter. “I’ll take it to him,” he said and picked out the smaller cup he figured was for Jesse. Jack handed him the work and he went into his son’s room where Jesse was playing on his phone.

“Hey, dad,” he said distractedly. Gabe came and sat on his bed so he looked over the screen. “What’s that?”

“Your stupid Starbucks order,” he put it on his nightstand.

“You got me Starbucks again? Wow, you must be in a good mood,” Jesse said.

“No. Your teacher brought it when he brought over your school work-“ Jesse groaned in annoyance as Gabe showed him the folder.

“Can we just pretend I do all this work?”

“Afraid not, kiddo,” Gabe said. “You need to keep up with your schooling.”

Jesse sighed. “Can one of my friends come over after dinner?”

“Depends. Which one?”

“Genji.”

Gabe had to think about that. “That depends.” Jesse wrinkled his brow at him in confusion. “You going to do something stupid if he’s over here?”

“What? Pfft, no,” Jesse scoffed.

“Cause the last time you hung out this happened,” he patted Jesse’s leg making him wince a little but Gabe knew it wasn’t so much painful as just very sore.

“What? No? That-

“Oh, so you weren’t showing off to Genji when you fell down a flight of stairs?” Gabe gave him a look.

Jesse’s face turned a little pink. “Well-

“He can come over. Two rules,” he held up two fingers. “One. Door stays open if he does-

“Daaaad. What the hell do you think we’re gonna do?”

Gabe gave him a look, “I know you think I’m old but I know what fifteen-year-olds are like, I was one.”

“Gabe!” he yelled and slapped his hands over his face. “Why did you have to say that? That’s so gross.”

Gabe just chuckled. “And two. You absolutely must use your crutches if you want to get out of bed. Sound fair?”

“Uuuuuhg, I guess,” Jesse groaned, face still hidden behind his hands.

“I’ll tell Mr. Morrison you said thank you for the drink,” Gabe said, patted Jesse’s non-hurt knee and got up. “And do some of your homework while I’m gone.”

“Alright,” Jesse was still acting like he was dying because Gabe had even eluded to sexual things.

Gabe left Jesse to his internal torment and went back out to the living room. There he found Jack crouched in front of his daughter. “I don’t think you’ll like it. Are you sure you want to try it?” he was asking her. He was holding his own coffee.

“Sí,” she said, nodding.

“It just smells like chocolate.”

“I want to try,” she said sternly.

“Alright, chica. Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” and he pulled off the top of his coffee and put a little in the underside of the lid for her to sip. Gabe didn’t even need to see her face when she tasted it and then immediately threw the lid down in disgust. Gabe laughed.

“Bad chocolate!” she cried.

“I did tell you it’d taste bad,” Jack said as he picked up the lid for his coffee and stood.

“Papí, esto sabe feo,” Gabby said and pointed at Jack accusatory.

“He told you it’d taste gross and you still drank it. That’s on you,” he said.

“¿Por qué bebería algo que sabe tan feo?”

“Because adults have no taste.”

“That’s for sure,” she grimaced one more time and went back to her cartoons.

Jack was rinsing his lid off in the sink. “Jesse says thanks for the Starbucks. You really didn’t have to,” Gabe said even as he picked up his own. It was the biggest size they had and he tasted it. It was literally exactly what he’d ordered the other day when he’d taken Jack out to get a drink only bigger.

“It wasn’t a bother.”

“Uh-huh,” Gabe said, taking a real sip of his coffee. Gabe knew what he was doing. He wasn’t sure if he was actually interested or not but he appreciated it. Sometimes he really felt like an old guy with a fifteen year old son and a three year old who could run him absolutely ragged. It was nice to be reminded he wasn’t that old yet.

“Well, I know you have to get ready for work. Fighting crime and all that,” Jack said and snorted. “I don’t want to take up more of your time.”

Gabe followed Jack to the door. “Thanks again, Jack,” he said and leaned against the door frame as Jack opened the door.

“No problem.”

Honestly, Gabe just wanted to see what would happen. “I’ll buy next time,” and winked at him.

To his credit of trying to remain professional around his student’s parent Jack face didn’t change at all. “I’ll hold you to that,” he said and closed the door. Gabe waited a second and then peered out from behind the curtain. He couldn’t see Jack, meaning he was standing just on the other side of the door. He stood there a good thirty seconds and he snorted when he positively strutted down to the sidewalk. Yeah, okay. He was pretty cute.

Gabe made himself something to eat and helped Jesse to his desk so he could do some work before getting dressed for work. Fifteen minutes before they were supposed to show the babysitter came to get acquainted with the place like the sitting service said they would. They were very intimidated by him in his uniform, even without his belt on, but Gabe didn’t it let it affect him. He showed them around the house and the emergency numbers list and where things were and Jesse who was useless and pissy about needing a babysitter. Gabe just told them to ignore Jesse’s whining. Then he introduced them to Gabby who’d been ignoring them the entire time. Gabe was a bit worried about the look of absolute evil in her eyes when Gabe said this was her babysitter but the babysitter assured him that kids usually got upset when their parents left for the first time but kids loved them in the end. Gabe wanted to believe that so he did.

He managed to leave on time despite Gabby following him around everywhere. As he was leaving a kid was walking up his driveway. He knew most of Jesse’s friends including Genji, even if his son’s crush on him was a recent development. Who the fuck was this green haired kid? “Hey, Mr. Reyes,” they said when they saw him.

Gabe looked down at them. “Who’re you?”

“Uh… Genji Shimada?” he said with uncertainty.

Gabe just rose a brow at him. “Nice hair. Don’t let Jesse do anything stupid again,“ and he gave Genji a look. Genji at least had the wherewithal to flush. “And go home at an appropriate hour. I know Jesse doesn’t have to go to school tomorrow but you do and I don’t need your father’s angry phone call when you get home at eleven. Got it?”

“Yes, sir,” he nodded and Gabe let him into the house before heading for his car.

Later he got a phone call from an unknown number. He and Amélie were just driving on the highway being dickhead cops looking for people speeding or out of date plates. “Gabriel Reyes speaking,” he said when he answered.

“Mr. Reyes, it’s Angela.” Oh god. Why was the babysitter calling? Someone better not have died or gone to the hospital. He’d been on the job for only four hours and still had about six ahead of him. “I’m just calling to tell you, I quit.”

Gabe blinked. “What? You quit?”

“Yeah. I quit. Your daughter is a nightmare.”

“I’m paying you to stay there,” Gabe said.

“I’d rather not get paid than keep dealing with this. So. I quit,” and then she hung up.

“Now what?” Amélie asked as they drove and Gabe stared at his phone.

“My babysitter just walked out on the job,” Gabe said.

“Wow. Really? Tough luck.”

“Amélie I have a god damn three-year-old at home with two useless teenagers. Now is not the time for your unsympathetic bullshit,” Gabe groused as a text came in.

“Do you want to stop off there for a few minutes. Make sure everything alright?” she asked.

Gabe groaned and ran his hand through his hair. “I… guess,” he said, feeling helpless. Not like he could just leave then there alone. But he couldn’t stay. He wondered how much trouble he’d get into if he put his daughter in the back seat while on patrol. Amélie put on the lights but not the siren and made an otherwise illegal turn to go back the way they’d come. What the hell was he going to do? It was almost nine. He couldn’t find a babysitter at nine. He glanced at his phone again feeling very tired. His lips twitched despite himself. Seemed he’d finally worked up the courage to text him other than to ask where he lived. ‘Coffee still helping?’

Knowing they were pretty far from Gabe’s house because he didn’t work in the same district he lived and they could only get there so fast and he really didn’t want to think about this Gabe humored him with an answer. ‘I could honestly use a shot at this point’

‘??’ ‘Something bad happen?’

‘My babysitter quit on me’

They had to sit at a red light because police car or not there was still a steady flow of traffic across the road. ‘That’s terrible!’

“You seem pretty easy going about this,” Amélie said as the light turned green.

“I’m just dead inside,” he sighed. Amélie snickered.

‘What are you going to do?’ Jack asked.

‘Going back home to make sure everything’s alright. It’ll be awhile. Traffic’s terrible’. As he sent that he sighed. Amélie turned the siren on but it only helped so much. It was nine on a Thursday. What weren’t people going out were taxis, or ride shares and the already busy LA roads were even busier because it was ‘date night’.

His brows went up when Jack replied, ‘I could check on them if you wanted’ ‘if that’s not too weird I mean’.

“Amélie,” he said as they waited for cars to move out of their way so they could drive through. Every now and then she’d make the siren whirl for a second or so to remind people to get the fuck out of the way.

“Yeah?”

“We don’t need to rush.”

“Really? Everything alright?”

“Someone’s going to go check on them for me.”

“Well let’s get through this intersection first,” she said, bullying past the rest of traffic.

‘I’d really appreciate it and would owe you one if you went and checked on them,’ Gabe told Jack. Then he sighed and pressed his hand over his eyes. “I can’t believe Gabby drove the babysitter away. "Si no la amara tanto la mataría” He checked his phone again. No messages.

“Sounds like your spawn,” was all Amélie said. He glared at her from the passenger seat and she just shrugged. They made it through the light and she turned off the flasher.

Took them over half an hour to get back to Gabe’s house. “I’ll be right back.” Amélie sat back and opened her phone. He caught her smiling at it as he walked to the house and braced himself for some disaster. So he was very pleasantly surprised that the place didn’t look destroyed and he didn’t hear any screaming. He remembered taking Gabby to daycare the first day. There had been a lot of screaming and crying. Instead he just saw Jesse and Genji sitting on the couch watching TV.

“Hey dad,” Jesse said, raising his hand in hello.

“Hey, Mr. Reyes.”

“What happened here? What did Gabby do?”

“I dunno. I was in my bedroom. Then we just heard some yelling in Spanish. Also, she was cursing out the babysitter in Spanish.”

Gabe sighed. “Did Jack show up?” he asked. Why was this happening tonight?

“Yeah, like twenty minutes ago. And before you ask, yes I did use my crutches to get the door.”

“Good. Genji, I’m sure you didn’t cause any issues tonight but I’m going to ask you to go home for the night.”

“Oh. Sure thing Mr. Reyes,” Genji said. Gabe still couldn’t get over his green hair.

Gabe walked past them to the bedrooms. The house was only a two bedroom but Gabe had converted the big walk in closet in his room into a mini bedroom after Gabby had been ‘dumped on him’. He found Gabby in there with Jack. It was really kinda funny. Jack did not look at all like a guy who got along good with kids. He looked like your mean junior high teacher who drank hard on the weekends and assigned homework every day. The scar on his face didn’t help with his image. At least most of the time. He smiled nice at least. Gabe leaned against the door frame, wondering when one of them would notice him first. Gabby was totally zoned out and looked about to pass out while Jack kept her engaged with some of her dolls.

Gabe stood there a few minutes before Gabby just flopped over to her side, asleep. “About time,” he heard Jack mutter. Gabe chuckled and his head shot up. “Oh- Mr. Reyes-

“Jack. I really don’t like repeating myself. Call me Gabriel.”

Well that completely shorted out his brain. It took Jack a second too long to go, “Right. Sorry, Gabriel,” he said.

Gabe walked into his room and picked his daughter up like you would a cat so her arms and legs hung down. “Thanks for coming by,” Gabe said as Jack pushed himself to his feet. “She didn’t act nightmarish to you did she?”

“No. She was fine,” Jack said. “I can’t believe your babysitter quit on you just like that. So unprofessional.”

“I’m saying,” Gabe said and went over to the gutted closet which was big enough for a crib, a little bit of walking room, and about four boxes of toys because Gabe was an absolute pushover. It used to have a changing table in it too but thankfully Gabe didn’t need that anymore. He just put Gabby into the crib fully clothed. He’d deal with getting her into some pajamas when he got off shift later that night.

Jack was still standing in his bedroom when he closed the door. “I think that’s it, really,” Gabe sighed. “Thankfully nothing caught on fire. Right?”

“Well…

“Was something on fire?” he asked, horrified.

“Not exactly. Jesse let me in and between the sitter quitting and be showing up she’d somehow managed to open the fridge.” Gabe pressed his hand to his eyes preemptively. “I literally found her in the fridge.”

“¿Por qué es así?” he groaned. “Jesse and Genji didn’t notice?”

“Apparently not. She’d managed to knock some stuff out of the fridge. It was pretty messy.”

Gabe needed a few seconds to process that. Jack had found Gabby making a mess and had not only dealt with her he’d cleaned up the fucking mess. He deflated a little. “Thank you, so much,” he said. “I really owe you one.”

“I’m sure you’ll figure out a way to make it up to me,” Jack said. Gabe would worry about that later. At the very least now that Gabby was asleep she’d stay asleep all night so he didn’t have to worry about it.

“I need to get back to work.”

“Right. Same. I thought it’d take you longer to get here.”

“Perks of being in a cop car; people get the hell out of your way,” Gabe said as they left his bedroom.

“In this city that must be an amazing perk.”

“Yeah it- Genji! I told you to go home. You can make out with my son later,” he said, spotting his tuft of green hair from behind the couch.

Jesse’s head appeared over the back of the couch. “Gabe, what the fuck-

“And watch your language.”

“We weren’t doing anything,” and based on the fact that Genji was now leaned over his knees, hands over his face Gabe believed them.

“Regardless. Go home.”

“Bye Jesse,” and Genji was out of his house in record time.

“Uhg, you’re so embarrassing,” Jesse groaned, sitting the right way on the couch.

Gabe went over and grabbed the top of his fondly. “I’m your dad. That’s my job.” He gave Jesse’s hair a ruffle. “Now your sister’s asleep. So try to keep it down. Go to bed at a reasonable hour and I’ll see you in the morning. Alright?”

“I guess,” Jesse wasn’t having it this time.

“Don’t be up when I get home.”

“Alrighhht already,” Jesse groused.

Gabe left him alone and he and Jack left the house. Gabe locked the door behind him just to be safe. “Thanks again,” Gabe said. “I can’t imagine how much worse it would have been if you hadn’t come over.”

“It’s fine,” Jack said. “You just owe me one.”

“Right. We’ll figure that out later. I need to get back to work before my lovely partner snitches on me.”

Jack frowned a little. “Why would they do that?”

Gabe did not want to get into it. “I’ll call you,” was what he said instead and got to watch every other worry in Jack’s head just totally not matter. Okay. That was pretty cute. He half jogged back to the cruiser and got in.

“Who’s that?” Amélie asked as he closed the door. Jack was only now halfway to his car. “He’s cute.”

“Shut up Amélie,” Gabe said.

She looked over at him with an annoying side eye. “He yours too?”

“Shut up Amélie.” This was what he meant about his partner snitching. Amélie loved know others personal lives. Helped her feel alive since her husband was away in Europe. She’d also tell everyone in the precinct. Not that anyone but Gabe knew that she was how all the rumors started. As it was she’d broken up three marriages so Gabe jokingly called her widowmaker for it because it was the only nickname that could pierce her icy heart without her husband around.

“What’s his name? You haven’t mentioned him before-

“Lacroix just fucking drive!” Gabe yelled.

She snickered and put the car into drive, pulling away from the curb. They were about four blocks away when she said, “I didn’t know you liked white guys, Gabe.”

“Woman!” he cried and she laughed at that.

At the very least the rest of the night was uneventful.

—

Jack tempered his expectations a bit after Friday. Gabriel had said he’d call him and he hadn’t on Friday and Jack had had to talk himself into not thinking Gabriel had changed his mind. He was probably sleeping late and then had work and the time he was available Jack was at work. So it was just a scheduling conflict. He’d been out of the house when Jack had gone to drop off Jesse’s school work, so Jesse ha answered the door and said his dad he was at the store to replace some of the things Gabby had destroyed the night before. Jack had gone home and sulked into a box of middle eastern food while grading papers and watching TV.

But Saturday. Saturday morning he lay in his bed, awake, staring at the ceiling while his radio played. If Gabriel didn’t call today he was calling because fuck this. There was no way Gabriel wasn’t interested in him with all this shit that had happened the past few days. Jack didn’t think he was that obvious but Gabriel had made a very obviously made a pass at him. It was exhilarating, and also stressful. Was this against any sort of school rule? He didn’t think so. He couldn’t remember honestly but he was pretty sure there was nothing saying he couldn’t have a relationship with the parent of one of the kids’ at school, just the kids themselves which was fucking gross.

He didn’t let himself build it up too much in his head so he couldn’t be disappointed. Around nine he rolled out of bed and tried to be productive. He went to his building’s gym and when he came back he showered and ate something like a breakfast. Then he spent the time between then and lunch grading papers. He had an endless supply of papers to grade. Sometimes he wanted to just make them completion assignments where he didn’t actually have to look at the answers, just see if they’d made any sort of attempt, and give it a ‘c’. But that felt cheap for both him and the kids and he staggered his assignments for a reason as it was.

Jack was about to get up and make lunch when his phone rang. He answered it without looking as he checked off several wrong answers on someone’s test. “Hello, Morrison speaking.”

“Jack? Hey, it’s Gabriel.”

Jack almost stabbed himself in the leg with his pen. “Gabriel. Hi,” he did his best not to sound too excited and he was pretty sure his voice didn’t crack. Shit had it cracked? He would have died on the spot if it had so he didn’t think so.

“Hey. I hope I’m not interrupting anything,” Gabriel said.

“No. I was just doing some grading. Pretty boring, standard stuff.”

“Sounds boring,” Gabriel agreed. There was a moment of silence before he said, “So, I said I’d owe you one. I was thinking maybe you wanted to go out to dinner?”

Be cool Jack. Fucking. Be cool. “And what makes you think that?”

“So you don’t?”

Well shit. He had him there. “I didn’t say that.”

“Good. You available tonight?”

“You find another babysitter?”

“You let me worry about that,” and the way he said it just gave Jack goosebumps. Kinda like Thursday when he’d told Jack he didn’t like repeating himself. Sort of threatening, and very fucking sexy. “Are you?”

“Uh-huh,” Jack said dumbly. “I mean, yeah. I’m available.”

“Alright. Since I owe you one, you get to pick where we’re going.”

“Nothing comes to mind off the top of my head. I don’t really eat out.” He usually had food delivered because going out to eat by yourself to dinner was sad and he wasn’t that fucking lonely.

“Then get back to me on it, and if I need to wear a nice shirt.”

Jack’s instant thought was did Gabriel own normal shirts as tight as his uniform? God he hoped so. “Okay. I’ll text you the address when I find somewhere.”

“Sounds good. See you there.” Then Gabriel hung up.

Jack melted into the couch for a few seconds. Then he sat bolt upright with a yell. Holy shit. Holy shit! He was actually going on a date. Holy shit. He hadn’t gone on an actual date in almost five years. He hadn’t gone on a date since he’d gotten this teaching gig. And before that he’d only dated a little while in service. Holy shit. How did he date? How did dates work again? Shit he told Gabriel he’d find a place for them to go. He checked the time and saw it was around one. He needed to relax and not stress out or he’d make himself sick. He had time to figure out a place to go. He put his grading work away and dragged his tablet over so he could do some Googling for restaurants. The trouble was that this was LA there were literally amazing restaurants within spitting distance of each other.

He spent about half an hour looking for places that were supposedly good date places until he found one that wasn’t too fancy, wasn’t too expensive, and wasn’t too casual or cheap either. ‘How’s Norah in West Hollywood sound?’ he texted Gabriel. Best to ask since they weren’t exactly super close to West Hollywood.

‘That’s fine. Send me the address’

Before Jack did that he called to make reservations. He didn’t want to make them too late because he knew Gabriel had to get home to his kids even though it was a Saturday. Not to mention the threat of Gabby making another babysitter quit was very real. He ended up making the reservation for five forty-five so they could be home relatively early. Once the reservations were done he sent Gabriel the address and time of their reservation and that yes, Gabriel should wear a nice shirt.

That done Jack just laid down for about twenty minutes wondering how great and weird his life had gone that he was going on a date with a hot police officer who was also one of his students dad. Once he’d wondered at it enough to sat back up and returned to grading papers for another two hours while being distracted by the TV and notifications on his tablet. Then he went and showered very thoroughly. He wanted to at least smell nice. He shaved and styled his hair, probably taking way too long to get his hair gel to capture that perfect ‘spent no time on my hair’ look he usually half-assed when he went to work. He took ten minutes deciding on a color shirt to wear once he finally made it into his bedroom to get dressed. Then once he’d decided on a shirt he had to decide on the pants. Did he goes slacks or jeans and if he went jeans should they be dark wash or light wash? Lastly he had to worry about underwear. He didn’t think anything would happen but just in case he wanted to wear some nice ones. He picked out some that made his ass look good and decided he looked good.

He looked at himself in the mirror. “You’re a fucking disaster is what you are,” he told his reflection.

He did wish there was something he could do about the facial scarring but that wasn’t going to happen unless he wanted to go full makeup concealer like he had when he’d applied for the teaching job and had worked it a few months. He’d been really self conscious about it then. Then one day he’d just forgot about it because he was running late. He’d been really uncomfortable about teaching until one of his kids went, ‘Dang Mr. Morrison, you look fucking sick.’ After Jack had reminded him not to swear in his classroom everyone had agreed Mr. Morrison looked ‘dope’. Gabriel had only known him with the scars so if he covered it up it’d just look weird to him. Still. He rubbed the bridge of his nose self-consciously across the old shrapnel scar and wished he didn’t have them. Nothing he could do about that now. Just had to deal with it.

Satisfied he looked as good as he could possibly get he gathered up his things making sure he had his phone, keys, and wallet and headed out the door. He took one step outside and realized he hadn’t put on shoes. Cursing himself he went back inside to put on socks and shoes. He doubled checked that he was now actually ready and made sure he was wearing all his clothes and a belt and had all his things. The second time he tried to leave he did so without hassle and went down to the parking lot to get his car.

The drive to the restaurant was uneventful and at every red light he wondered what Gabriel was going to be wearing and if he actually owned a shirt that fit him properly or if he just owned shirts that were too tight. Really he wouldn’t mind either way. He got to the restaurant a few minutes early and got out to check on his the reservation. It was ready and Jack texted Gabriel to say he was sitting down and just tell the host when he got there. He got a text back of, ‘Sorry. Stuck in some traffic. I’m like 10 mins out’. Jack frowned at that but did understand. LA traffic was the worst. While he waited he ordered a drink and even though Gabriel said ten minutes he couldn’t help but feel nervous. Wouldn’t be the first time he’d been stood up on a date. Self-consciously he rubbed the tip of his finger against the scar on his cheek and managed to drink his entire drink. Shit. Guess it was water the rest of the night so he could drive home.

But true to form, about ten minutes later Gabriel was being shown to the table. “Hey, I’m so sorry I’m late,” he said as he sat down.

Jack suddenly felt very underdressed. He was wearing a jacket. Like a very nice dinner jacket but not quite a blazer and it didn’t have any buttons. It also fit him perfectly and wasn’t black but wine red and holy shit. Gabriel also apparently didn’t own any shirts that weren’t tight across the chest because his button down was a bit tight. Not enough to pull at the darts but tight enough. It took him a second to remember how talking worked because holy shit he looked so hot out of his uniform. “It’s fine. I know how traffic is,” he said. Had he gotten a hair cut that day? He swore Gabriel had a full head of hair two days ago but now it was shaved high and tight along the sides so there was just a bit of a curly fohawk on top. Jack wanted to touch it really bad because it looked so soft but he knew well enough to just not bother asking to touch black people’s hair unless you knew them really well. Now Jack hoped he got lucky because it’d be a great excuse to see if Gabriel’s hair was as soft as it looked.

“You ever been here before?” Gabriel asked him.

“Hmm? No. First time. It’s supposed to be really good, though.”

Gabriel looked at the menu. Jack had already decided and he sensed Gabriel wanted to pick something first before talking because he’d made Jack waiting ten minutes. When their waiter came around to ask if they were ready Gabriel ordered without hesitation and ordered a drink too. Jack ordered an iced tea which was about as ‘adult’ as the non-alcoholic drinks at Norah came. The waiter left with their menus and it was just them.

At least it was a little awkward. Like they were both aware that Jack was Jesse’s teacher but then Gabriel asked about what he actually taught at school and things were easier. Better than just ignoring the elephant in the room. Really the conversation wasn’t about anything, just themselves. Like Jack learned about Gabriel’s partner Amélie and what he did on the force which really sounded rather boring the way Gabriel described it. He didn’t share anything Jack didn’t ask about so Jack didn’t pry and Gabriel seemed more comfortable asking Jack about himself anyway. By the time their food had arrived Jack did have to ask if he was talking too much because he felt like it. “No, you’re fine. I like hearing what you have to say.” Jack had almost melted at that.

They ended up staying at their table a while even after their dinner was done when Gabriel’s phone started vibrating. “Sorry,” he said and opened it. He frowned.

“Everything alright?” Jack asked him.

“S.O.S.” he said.

“Uh-oh.” Gabriel had already paid for dinner so they just got up and headed out. “I take it it’s Gabby?”

“That or someone did something stupid,” Gabriel sighed. “Sorry I have to cut it off early.”

“It’s okay. I honestly thought you’d want an early night so you didn’t have to worry about another babysitter quitting on you,” Jack said.

“Heh… yeah. Not using that service again,” Gabriel sighed.

“Maybe we could try lunch next time?” Jack ventured and hoped he wasn’t reaching. The look Gabriel gave him gave him so much hope to he didn’t think he’d misspoken.

“Next time, huh?” he asked, a look that Jack could only describe as sly on his face. Jack nodded a little, hopeful. “Dinner was nice and you picked a nice place. Yeah, I think that’d be alright.”

Jack refrained from doing a fist pump, even though he really wanted to. “Sounds good. Obviously I work during the day but I’m free on the weekends. Just let me know when you’re available.”

“I’ll call, that sound alright?” Gabriel asked. Jack nodded. “Alright then. Goodnight, Jack, I enjoyed tonight.”

Then to Jack’s immense surprise and delight Gabriel leaned over and pressed a closed mouth kiss to his lips. It lasted about two seconds and then he walked away and Jack was just standing there, staring after him for a few seconds. Then his brain actually processed what had just happened and now he fist pumped. Thankfully there was no one else outside the restaurant to see him. Jack wouldn’t admit he skipped later but he definitely skipped a little back to his care. First date in five years and it had ended so good. What a great fucking date.

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Oh yeah and the Spanish->English translations for fellow weak ass monolinguals and other people who don’t speak Spanish.