Plot: Gabriel learns that McCree is your boyfriend.
Author note: I love protective gabe mmm. also sort of a mccree one-shot??
-----------------------
You stared between both the males with a worried gaze as they seemed to be holding a staring contest. You and your boyfriend, Jesse, just told the older male that you two were a pair. You could feel the tension surrounding Gabriel as he puffed his chest out more, making himself look taller than usual. McCree looked nervous, some sweat rolling down his forehead, but he spoke nonetheless, "I promise I won't hurt 'em, sir, if that's what you're worried about. I love 'em too much to do that, swear on my heart." His tone sounded sincere while he turned to look at you with a loving gaze. Gabriel stayed quiet for a moment, his dark eyes switching from the cowboy to you.
After a moment of analyzing you both he sighed. A crooked smile formed on his lips while he put a hand on Jesse's shoulder, "You take care of them, Jesse. I suppose I have to trust you." He said with a light tone. You and Jesse both let out breaths you didn't know you were holding before smiling as well. You turned yourself towards Gabe and walked up to him to offer him a hug, which he gladly accepted.
McCree adjusted his hat so he could show his eyes more but quickly froze when he noticed the hard gaze his commanding officer was giving him, along with the 'I-have-my-eyes-on-you' motion. Swallowing down a lump in his throat McCree just grinned anxiously and nodded his head. Gabriel might give him hell now but it was worth it as long as he had permission to be with you.
Plot: Gabriel breaks down in front of his Reapified(?) kid. Mostly angst on his side since reader doesn't know how to deal with their dad breaking down in front of them.
Author note: bring me the sad dad. this doesn't really follow any type of canon, btw, I just want Gabe to cry a lil.
-----------------------
You stood perfectly still as your dad, Gabriel Reyes, straightened your black leathered suit. He made sure your coat fitted perfectly against your shoulders and didn't drag along the ground. His movements hesitated as he went to reach for your mask. It was customly made. He asked for it himself since you didn't seem to care what he did. He picked up the mask from the small desk to the right of him and held it gently in his hands. His fingers glide across the flowery patterns that were painted around the eyes before rubbing his thumb across the spiderweb design that rested on the masks' forehead. Gabriel found himself lost in thought as he took in every detail of the mask; thin vertical lines that went across the teeth of the mask; nose painted black to look empty; two small hearts placed on the top of the cheekbones; simple dots that reached from the corner of the masks' eyes to the hearts in a curved manner. Everything. It was a simple mask, he thought, but he knew that you enjoyed the simple things in life.
You reached your smaller hand out and took ahold of your belonging, shaking Gabriel from his daze, and lifted it to your face. You put the mask on and adjusted it until it felt comfortable and secure enough to keep on for the hours to come. Your hidden gaze bore straight in his as you waited for him to make his move. Doing as predicted he forced himself to tear himself away from your face and occupy himself with making sure your belts, gloves, and things related to those, were tightly wrapped around you. "There." He said, taking a few steps away from you and taking in your whole outfit. Everything leather; hood; suits; gloves; boots; even your belts. The only thing that wasn't leather was the tanktop you wore underneath it all. It was plain but your mask brought everything together perfectly, he mused. He's seen it so many times after the accident that accured but a part of him wants to deny that this is the new you. He didn't want to face the fact that this person was the child he raised since the first day he found them.
Swallowing down the mournful feeling he felt for letting this happen to you he gave you a supportive hand-on-shoulder touch, his eyes locked to the sockets of your mask. His smile betrayed what he was trying to cover up and showed how sad and guilty he really felt. It was eating away at him, these feelings. He felt that he wasn't strong enough- wasn't protective enough to have prevented this from happening. If only he was more careful. If only he had sent someone with you, or gone himself. Anything to have changed this fate of yours.
Gabriel clenched his lower jaw as the grip on your shoulder tightened, signaling his inner anger at himself. Anyone would've flinched at the harsh contact but you barely made an effort to move. You could feel it, of course, but it didn't hurt you. Not as much as it should, anyways. It felt as if someone was barely putting force onto you. You silently watched as your parental figure mentally fought with himself, his nose and eyebrows scrunched up in dismay towards himself. He always blames himself for anything bad that happens to you, you recalled, even if it wasn't as bad as he thought.
As you watched the male beat himself up you took notice of the clear droplets of water that formed at the corner of his eyes before it slipped down his cheek, onto his chin, then onto the ground. He took no notice of this as the tears kept forming and repeating the same pattern as the others. Down his cheek, to his chin, then to the floor. One after the other they came until you finally reached your hand up to his face and poked at his cheekbone where a drop was rolling down. This seemed to shake Gabriel from his inner turmoil for he flinched lightly as your gloved hand touching him.
Quickly realizing what was going on he moved away from your touch and wiped away at his eye, "Uh, yeah." His throat was tight from choking down a cry, "Sorry about that, kid. I was just... arguing with myself." He tried to convince you. You retracted your hand, letting it fall limp to your side, as you waited for his next move. You could feel the conflict in his soul and remained still. You knew he was reaching his breaking point. How long as he kept this in, you wondered, was it since the day he first saw you hurt? As much as your body and mind argued against it you opened your mouth and spoke. It was a simple word but it was enough to break the man.
"Dad."
In an instant Gabriel pulled you into a hug and broke down into tears, the droplets of water gliding swiftly off of your coat like rain. "I'm sorry." His strained voice called out, "I'm so sorry I couldn't protect you. I was- I didn't do my job as a father. I didn't protect my child." His silent crying was quick to turn into a sob as he spilled his neglected feeling into this small bonding moment between you two. The feelings of uselessness, guilt, desperation to turn back time, and all things of the sort. He let them all out here with you but he knew. He knew that you didn't feel anything in this situation. You didn't feel sorrow nor pity for him. You couldn't. You were robbed of sympathy and became a shell. Still, he should at least be grateful that you're here even if you're this new person, he presumed.
You listened to him as he started to ramble on about being a bad father and bad person. You didn't do anything besides stand there as his hug tightened protectively over you, almost like he was afraid you'd disappear at any moment. You thought for a moment over what to do. Surely you'd let him cry until he was content but maybe, just maybe, you could show him that a piece of you is still there? Even if it's a little bit? With that idea you slowly and cautiously lifted both your arms to return his embrace. This seemed to help him a bit since he quieted down ever-so-slightly. Yes, you were a shell now, most of your past self gone, but he was still happy knowing that you were here with him. He could still try and protect you from the future dangers that are to come because he is your father and your his child, and he loves you too much to let you go again.
Reyes storming the Deadlock HQ and not finding a young man. He finds instead a little boy, no older than three, a torn and dirty horse stuffy clutched in his grubby hands. Gabriel's blood runs cold, trying not to think about what the gang had in store for the baby. The boy cries fat tears as Gabriel picks him up but quickly calms as the big man holds him tight to his chest. "Don't cry, mi hijo." He cooed, wiping snot and tears from the boy's face. "Let's get you out of here, yeah? Let's get you out of this hole." "I'll handle it." He shrugs as the others suggest finding his family. It hurt to think of, but if someone was looking for the baby, Blackwatch would've known about him. He finds a missing person report days later. "Jesse? Is that your name?" Gabe chuckles as Jesse plays with his new horse stuffy. The baby looks up and smiles. "All cleaned up, you're pretty cute." Gabriel adopts the boy, determined to protect him.
