gabriel didn’t think that jack would be able to change vincent, but he kept that to himself. telling him that it wouldn’t work would do nothing, after all - jack was too stubborn to let this go. all gabriel could do at this point was hope that he could stop vincent from hurting jack again. “jack. he literally just stabbed you. repeatedly.” he sighed. he didn’t understand how jack could always be so optimistic. it was both an attractive trait, and an annoying one. it depended on the circumstances.
“i know, but even the stuff i did was enough to make me glad i was born in a city.” gabriel smiled at jack. “but if you were born in the city, i think i’d miss your corn-fed ass.” he loved jack just the way he was. “aren’t there machines or omnics for that? i mean, i get not using them during the crisis, but stuff. by hand?” ouch. “yeehaw? please tell that to mccree.” his two idiot country boys, one a cowboy and one a corn-fed farmer boy. how did he get mixed up with them?
smiling at jack as he took his hand again, gabriel tried to get comfortable. “always, jackie.” he kissed jack’s hand just as a nurse walked in with a syringe and made their way over to the iv attached to jack. gabriel didn’t watch as the drug was administered, he turned his attention to jack. “i’ll be right here when you wake up again.”
Gabriel’s words got Jack to understand it was probably useless to try to hide it. But god, he was going to try because if Vincent knew Gabriel was aware, he was going to get more hurt than he could even think about. “I didn’t tell you that.” He only murmured, swallowing hardly. Shaking his head finally, he looked away from it. “I don’t remember what happened.” He said lowly. Fucking lie. He remembered every second of it, and it was probably what hurt the most. “I just.. Know he brought me here. That’s all.” And fuck, it was hurting more than anything else to have to hide the truth from him.
Chuckling at his words, Jack shook his head. “Tsk, lightweight.” He teased, biting his lips. “Nah, we used to do everything by hand. My dad didn’t like to use machines, that’s why we were a bit on the slow side. But there’s also something calming into doing all of this by hand you know.” He said with a smile. “You get to understand what you’re doing more than if you use machines since you do it yourself. I could build you a farm anywhere and be able to do this all over again now. As long as, you know, there’s some land where I can actually do farming stuff.” He shrugged. “Please don’t say that to Jesse. He’s gonna tease me with it forever. I was twelve and I was stupid.” He raised his eyebrows, before smiling slightly. “But to be fair, he’s thirteen now and I remember I used to ride him. In the other farms, they went around riding horses, and I was riding a fucking bull. That’s why they weren’t annoying me.”
Jack squeezed Gabriel’s hand gently, looking at him. He didn’t want to ever let go of him, that’s just what he was starting to think. He knew he couldn’t do anything without this man by his side. Looking at the nurse as he saw her leave afterward, he just mouthed a thank you, before he turned back his attention to Gabriel. “I know.. You’re always there.” He spoke slowly, moving his other hand up on Gabriel’s cheek. “I love you so much.” He added, tilting his head slightly before he pulled Gabriel’s hand to him to kiss the back of it slowly. “I don’t feel like I deserve you.” He murmured.