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Mistletoe

day three - mistletoe

takes place a year after day two

[more works by me]

-----

They arrive at Los Angeles almost at night in the 23. Gabriel could still have gone to quickly visit his family, but he gave Jesse the excuse that he was tired, but Jesse knew better. He didn’t want to leave his agent alone so quickly, in a town unknown to him. They watched movies and ordered pizza to relax before bed, though Jesse had trouble falling asleep. He kept wondering about the next day, when they will go to Gabriel’s old home and spend the 24 together. They would return on the 25 to spend more time and open presents. Gabriel had brought two bags full of them that rested on a corner.

He turns on his other side, to have a look at Gabe, and his heart flutters when he sees him asleep, facing Jesse on the bed beside his. The cowboy’s gaze traces the curve of his commander’s body, from his shoulder down to his narrowed waits and up his thigh. He focuses on his face, on the little details he can see in the low light. His eyelids look softly closed, and his mouth parted. He breathes with his commander, focuses on how soothing he looks. He can feel his brain relaxing, letting go of the anxiety and his body going numb with every breath until his eyelids feel too heavy to keep open and he drifts asleep.

Jesse regrets coming when they walk around the house, open the fence and Gabriel shouts ‘I’m home!’ Next thing he knows, a stampede of people come over to hug him. First comes an older woman with dark gray hair, wearing a colorful blouse and skirt. Then come a trio of girls, two twins and an older one, Gabriel’s sisters. Suddenly, Jesse feels small and like a burden, someone who’s only there to carry one bag of presents for all these people. He looks back, they won’t even notice if he slips out. He could afford a nice motel for the holidays—

“This must be Jesse!” The older woman says and places her hands on his shoulders. She’s smaller than him, and her eyes hold wisdom, along with a lot of joy that the years brought to her. “Gabriel has talked a lot about you. I’m Clarisa, his mother.”

“Oh, hi,” Jesse responds, a little taken back. “Yes, I’m Jesse McCree. Nice to finally meet ya. Gabriel speaks a lot about you as well.”

“He better,” Clarisa laughs as he kisses Jesse on the cheek. “Girls, this is Gabe’s friend, Jesse!” The three sisters have turned their attention to him and Jesse feels his breath escaping. They’re beautiful, same brown eyes—the oldest has them lighter—and curly dark hair. The twins are wearing long sweaters, one red wine and another aqua blue, and black leggings. The oldest has jeans and an ugly Christmas sweater.

“Nice to meet you, I’m Delilah,” the oldest says.

“Liliana,” the twin with the red sweater says.

“Mariana,” says the other. They’re younger than Gabriel and it shows on their faces. “You must see Gabe’s baby pictures!”

“Forget his baby pictures, we have his teen pictures!” Liliana adds.

“Wasn’t plannin’ on leavin’ without seeing those gems,” Jesse says and looks over at Gabriel, who’s too busy picking up a child to listen. “Is there always this many of ya?”

The girls laugh before Delilah says, “it’s only two; wait until our older cousin comes gets off work. I heard his bringing his husband and ex-wife.”

Jesse raises an eyebrow, “Isn’t that bad?”

“Nah, she’s great! And their son’s adorable! Speaking off—Jordan! Leo!” A man looks over, he’s wearing a matching ugly sweater, and a boy about fifteen years follows, also wearing an ugly sweater. “This is my husband, Jordan, and my son, Leonardo.”

Jesse tips his hat before extending his free hand, “Nice to meet ya. I’m Jesse.”

“Likewise,” the man responds and the nods while he chews on something. “I was about to grab more coquito, would you like some?”

“If it’s not too much trouble,” Jesse answers.

“Not at all, with alcohol?”

Jesse scoffs, “Is there any other way to drink coquito?”

The man sends him a light laugh before leaving, Leo follows and Delilah takes the bag of presents so she can place them under the tree inside the house. Liliana and Mariana grab each of his arms and take him away to meet people. Jesse looks over his shoulder and Gabriel laughs at him as he finger guns him. The twins introduce him to Leliana’s boyfriend and Mariana’s girlfriend, along with their parents. They introduce him to cousins, uncles, aunts and close friends, always as Gabriel’s friend. It’s only when they introduce him to their partners and close friends that they add the ‘special friend’ with a tone that stirs Jesse’s insides.

Halfway, Jordan hands him his cup of coquito and do a quick toast before he’s dragged again when the twins take him to the new people that arrive. He thought he would get to spend this time by Gabriel’s side, but so far they always seem to be at opposite sides of the big backyard, which takes him a while to actually notice every decoration. The trees and bushes are adorned with lights and a few ornaments and ribbons. There are colorful paper lanterns hanging across that will look beautiful in the night, no doubt. Music is always blasting through the speakers and someone always seems to be dancing, as well as eating. There's always food on the tables set out and drinks ready to grab. When he finally can be with Gabriel, the man looks younger, more alive than he has ever seen. He’s always smiling and his eyes twinkling. His laugh reaches Jesse’s ears as loud and clear as the songs playing, and if he could save it in a bottle and drink it later until he was delirious enough, he would ask for nothing more for the rest of his life.

At first, Jesse worries about taking too much food, until Clarisa comes after noticing his shyness and fills a plate for him, he loses the worry and feels comfortable enough to grab something every time he passes by. The twins ask him to dance and he follows gladly, not afraid to show up his moves. After that, he spots Clarisa picking up the empty plates and he hurries to help.

“You don’t have to, cariño,” she says.

“Please, I like to help.”

She smiles, “well, would you mind following me inside? There’s more to bring out.”

“More? Isn’t everyone full yet?”

She laughs and pats his shoulder, “wait until we pull out the pork. These people will look like they haven’t eaten a day in their life.”

Once in the kitchen, she asks him to clean up the plates while she grabs more food to refill them. Once that’s done, he can see more clearly what they’re having: small sandwiches, meatballs, gingerbread cookies, chicken and beef quesadillas, chicken flautas, guacamole with pita chips, chips with spinach dip, chicken wings and blue cheese, mozzarella sticks and bread rolls. Even if he didn’t want to get too full for dinner, his mouth was watering and his hands twitched to grab something.

Clarissa’s laugh brings him back, “See? Go ahead! Call first dibs!” She hands him a plate and he believes denying it will be rude, so he grabs a bit of almost everything and keeps it on a corner of the kitchen island. “Why the cowboy get-up?” She asks while refilling the guacamole bowl and handing him a bag of chips, “Put a few around, please.”

“Will do,” he answers as he pours the chips on plate around the guacamole. “My ma and I used to watch western movies late at night, when she came off work. They were always on at that hour and it stuck with me.”

“She was a doctor, right?” She looks at him and Jesse’s a little surprise. Just how much has Gabe talked about him?

“Y-yeah! One of the best. I use to go to seminars she gave, she was wonderful up on stage.”

“Did you ever wanted to follow in her footsteps?” Clarisa asks as she looks for the quesadillas she kept warm in the oven.

“At some point in my life, then…” He trails off, not really knowing how to follow. Clarisa finishes up placing the quesadillas neatly in a plate and then look at him. Her face changes to worry.

“Perdón, mijo [Sorry, boy], if I asked anything too personal.” She, and her daughters, must also know Jesse speaks Spanish. They’ve said a few lines in the language without worry Jesse might not understand, as if he was someone they talk to everyday.

“Nah, nah, it’s just that after what happened, after the doctors told me they couldn’t save her, I didn’t believe in them anymore.” Her gentle hand touches his arm, and even through the long sleeve shirt, he can feel her energy, almost as if it was his own mother’s touch.

“You let me know if ever ask about a touchy subject, besides, no sad faces today, alright?” She lifts his chin so he can look at her and he can’t help the genuine laugh that escapes him. “Also, you look handsome, never forget the hat!”

“Thanks, ma’am. Yer son helps me keep it, ya know?” He steps away from the counter and lifts one pant leg to show her the beautiful boots he only wears on special occasion so their color remains. “Got me these boots last year.”

“Oh, they’re beautiful!” She leans down to have a better look. “He has good taste in many things.” Jesse raises his leg when she’s about to touch to feel the leather and the carver design before she straightens up. “Including men.” Her smile is wicked before she turns to get the chicken flautas and Jesse’s there with a blank expression before he continues helping out.

“Already got him a slave for you, mamá?” Gabriel’s voice almost startles him, as if he had known they had been talking about him and sneaked past their senses. He approaches his mother and kisses the top of her head.

“It was about time you talked to your mamá,” she says as she rolls her eyes.

“You know how it is. I miss a year of pictures and stories, everyone wants to tell it first.” He looks over at Jesse, “you should be out there, having a good time.”

“What’d ya mean? The real party’s here,” Jesse says.

“He knows who matters in this place, who works hard to make this happen,” Clarisa says in strict voice, but it covers a lot of years of teasing.

Gabriel sighs playfully, “¿Quieres estar afuera y disfrutarte la fiesta? Yo me puedo encargar de esto. [You want to be outside and enjoy the party? I can take care of this.]”

“¡Ay, mi hijo tan bueno! Ya tú sabes como a mí me gusta acomodar todo. ¡Estaré afuera si me necesitan! [Oh, my good son! You already know how I like to prepare everything. I’ll be outside if you need me!]” She pets Jesse’s cheek before she leaves. Jesse watches her leave and laughs before Gabriel joins in and starts preparing the other dishes.

“She loves attending people, but she also deserves the time off.”

“Agree. She’s wonderful, sir.”

Gabriel elbows him, “You know you can call me Gabriel here.”

Jesse nods because he knows, and he has called Gabriel in other moments, moments he shouldn’t because he’s surrounded by other agents or Jack or Ana. Hell, even ‘Gabe’ has escaped his mouth and the older man hasn’t corrected him yet. But here, it feels too intimate, too private even to call him by those names, at least not naturally. It all feels official to something they haven’t even had yet.

“She knew about my ma,” Jesse says after a few seconds of bags, plates and soft noises. “Does she know about my pa, too?”

“Yeah, and she would send a chancla flying to his face if she ever met him,” Gabriel says, either not realizing what Jesse means by pointing it out, or brushing it off.

Jesse decides to act directly, “does she know about other agents’ parents?”

Gabriel remains quiet as he places gingerbread cookies on a plate, but didn’t even flinch when Jesse asked. Maybe he knew what Jesse was implying. ”You’ve grown so much since you joined, Jesse. In many way. You’ve become an important asset to Blackwatch, so yeah, I talk about you to her. About how good you are at taking care of your teammates, how you’ve saved my ass in the last six years even after I yell at you for it.” There’s a glint of gratitude in Gabriel’s eyes and Jesse chuckles. “How you didn’t let your past determine your future and you chose the right side—even if the other was prison—you accepted Blackwatch after you joined. And you let us accept you. You grew from that and became someone you can be proud of in the future, someone I’m happy to bring here.”

“Chucks, Gabe,” Jesse looks down, hiding his blush. “Didn’t expect that.”

“Hey,” Gabriel says and lifts Jesse’s chin, like his mother did, but this touch makes Jesse shiver, makes him follow every moment like a puppet under Gabriel’s control. “It’s time you start expecting good things, Jesse.”

Jesse smiles, and tries to control the warmth running through his body. He looks at Gabriel and thinks it’s the best thing in the world to be on the edge of his fingertips, and by his side on such special occasions that means a lot to him.

“Seems like you guys need help,” Jordan steps into the kitchen, and Gabriel’s hand falls from Jesse’s chin.

“I can take these ahead,” Gabriel says, grabbing one plate on each hand. “Can you help with the rest?”

“Sure,” the man says before Gabriel walks away. When he passes behind Jesse, he teases the cowboy’s hat and laughs before taking two plates. Jesse follows with two more and Gabriel returns until the tables are full again.

That’s when things change. When Jesse places the last plate on the table, and turns around, the twins are there, giggling. He’s about to ask what’s funny when both kiss him at the same time on his cheeks and Liliana asks him to dance again. When the song ends, Mariana’s girlfriend, Mariela, asks to take the next one, but not before also kissing him in the cheek. When they’re done, he retreats to get some water, where a little girl is trying to grab a cookie.

“Let me get that for you, lil lady,” Jesse says and grabs the treat for her. The quiet girl smiles at him before her eyes focus on his hat, which is not new to Jesse, but then she curls her little finger so he leans down. He follows and he thin lips press quickly to his cheek before she hurries off. He takes it as a thank you, before grabbing his cup and continuing mingling with the rest. He’s about to walk towards Gabe when he’s stopped by Clarisa, who wants him to meet the neighbors that just arrive. They’re daughter, who seems to be about Jesse’s age isn’t shy about giving him flirty eyes and he’s sure her lips linger too much on his cheek.

It goes on like this. Two other twins, who he can’t remember who they belong to, kiss his cheeks too. As well as a few other women and younger girls. Even Clarisa does it, one for each cheek. He doesn’t get much time to think it over since they usually dive into conversation after that, or it happens when he doesn’t expect it. If Gabe’s family was this affectionate, why hasn’t it shown through Gabriel? At least in kisses, because they have hugged and grabbed each other’s wrists, along with miscellaneous touches like the one Gabe did earlier, or when he brushed Jesse’s hair after the cowboy got hit in the head—though that happened again one time when Gabriel thought his hair was too long. Yet his hand brushed it with longing, as if he never wanted to let go.

When he sees two plates of food become empty again, he decides to go place them in the kitchen and see if there’s more food to put out. He finds Gabriel in the kitchen, who had the same idea and was filling up the flautas plate again. Though eating them was more like it.

“Don’t let yer ma catch ya,” Jesse jokes as he looks for the guacamole. “Man, yer family is great. They’re like black holes.”

“You’d fit right in,” Gabriel comments and Jesse turns to him. His sees his eyes briefly shift to his hat then back to his eyes.

“When’s dinner?”

“In about an hour, tio’s coming with the pork. We always let him cook it there since there’s less hassle.”

“Need any help?”

“I could use it. I’m usually in charge of setting up the table and getting the sides and the rest of the meal ready.” Gabriel steps closer to him, steady, as if Jesse will run.

“I’m yer guy,” Jesse comments, shifting on his feet when Gabriel steps closer. “It’ll be like last year.”

Gabriel scoffs, and he’s close enough for his breath to brush Jesse’s face. For their chest to almost touch if Jesse breathes too hard, which he’s trying not to do as he keeps his breathing steady, even if he’s lungs are gasping for air and his brain’s spiraling as it starts feeling light. Jesse steps back, knowing the kitchen counter is right there, just to feel trap, just to have an excuse as to why he didn’t stepped away. And he’s glad Gabriel steps closer, his smile growing to something wicked.

Gabriel’s hand goes to Jesse’s hat and pulls something off. When Jesse looks up, he’s holding a mistletoe with a strip of tape. “Do you remember that story I told you about last year?”

Jesse laughs, almost chokes with the knot in his throat. “There was so much happening, but I was stupid not to realize why everyone’s kissin’ me all of a sudden.”

Gabriel chuckles, “Like you need a mistletoe for people to kiss you.”

Jesse’s cocky smile drops, his heart thumps against his bones and his blood runs hot. He swallows hard, and notices clearly how Gabe’s eyes follow the motion, and go up to his lips. Jesse can’t help it, there’s still a devil in him that tells him to lick his lips, and he sees how Gabriel licks his own, before he gazes up at Jesse’s eyes. Jesse takes the dive and wraps his hands around Gabriel’s neck, pulling him to meet him in a kiss. Gabriel breathes deep before he responds and wraps his strong arms around Jesse’s middle. He still pushes Jesse closer to the counter, keeping him there for himself, to devour and drink his breath.

“Seems like you needed it,” Jesse says, almost breathless against Gabe’s mouth.

“Just waiting for the right moment,” Gabriel responds, one of his thumbs drawing circles over Jesse’ shirt. “I think this one’s pretty perfect.”

“Not. Yet,” Jesse says, in a dreamy, almost delirious voice, before he leans forward and kisses Gabriel again. This time, he pushes Gabriel, until the older man’s waits hits the other counter, pushing a plate close at the edge against bottles of species and making them knock against each other. He laughs in the kiss while Gabriel smiles and bites the cowboy’s bottom lip lightly. The action causes a soft moan from Jesse and makes him pull Gabriel towards him, as a sign to do it again, but Gabriel doesn’t, and Jesse knows he does it because he wants to hear Jesse say it, but this isn’t the place to beg.

--

When everyone’s fed and tired, when everyone but Gabe, Jesse, his mother and the twins leave, and the dishes are cleaned by Gabriel and Jesse, the five of them sit on the couch, after some delicate steps between all the presents pile and littered around the three. It isn’t big, which makes the amount of gifts underneath it look massive. Jesse bets he could build a wall and cover the whole three. The little kid in him wants to read all the names, find how many are for who. He’s sure he can expect one from Gabe since he hadn’t given anything so far. His stomach flips when he thinks about sitting by himself the next day, with one present on his lap while the others keep opening and create an ocean of wrapping paper on the floor. He looks at Gabriel, highlighted by the Christmas lights and colors, and he thinks it’ll be best to worry about that when the time comes.

Jesse was close to Gabriel’s side, hoping it would be enough for the ladies to not notice something was different. He tried to keep everything normal after the kiss, hoping no one could tell they almost made a mess in the kitchen after Gabriel got carried away and lifted him on the counter for a minute or two.

“I never saw you bring up your bags, Gabe,” Clarisa points out, while the twins look almost asleep by her side.

“They’re in a motel close by,” Gabriel responds and his mother gives him a stern look. “I wasn’t going to leave Jesse there by himself.”

“Of course not! Both of you can stay here. The bed in your old room is big enough for both of you.”

Jesse’s eyes widen and he eyes Gabriel quickly, but the man doesn’t look bothered.

“Oh, no! One bed!” Mariana says.

Liliana laughs and adds, “whatever shall they do?!”

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