Overwatch One Shots

Flowers - Reaper x Soldier 76

Jack sighed as he pulled himself out of bed on this dreary morning. It was dull and dark in here seen as the curtains were still closed, but Jack would just have to make do with the darkness. He couldn't exactly open the curtains and risk being spotted out of the window - he couldn't give away his location seen as he was the infamous Soldier: 76 now, and no longer the loved hero Jack Morrison. 

He sighed as he grabbed his dressing gown, not bothering to brush dust off the old thing before pulling it on and tying it shut. He sighed and stretched a little to try and stop his back from giving out or aching. He let out a soft grunt and then slipped his cold feet into his fluffy pink slippers with relative ease before making his way out of his bedroom. He trudged down the stairs with a sigh, and made his way into the kitchen to make breakfast without paying much attention to his surroundings. As he began to rummage through the cupboards to find some sort of cereal or any sort of food that would be sufficient for breakfast, he couldn't help but feel like something was out of place. He paused, stopped and pulled his hands out of the cupboard. He turned around, swiveling on his heels, and looked around. It didn't take him long to notice the dusty old vase that once stood empty on the windowsill was now perched on the kitchen side, close to the sink, filled with black roses. He eyed it suspiciously and walked closer to see if he could find a card or anything to accompany the flowers as a hint as to who they were off. It was only now that he was close that he could see the one singular white rose in the middle of all the black ones. Jack picked it up between his thumb and forefinger gently, bringing it closer to his face. 

White roses. A strange sight to see on a battlefield, I suppose. The buildings around this area had all been damaged or blown to pieces, but stood to one side, beside a short wall, had been a bush of white roses. It was the strangeness of the location of such a beautiful plant that made it memorable. Jack had to drag his eyes of the bush as he heard yelling down his headset. He couldn't make out the words, having been distracted at the time, but when he face back towards the battle, it was easy to see they were inching closer and closer towards a defeat. A slight smirk played on his lips as he activated his tactical visor, spraying round after round into the oncoming enemies, thinning their ranks by a considerable amount. 
"Nice one, Morrison." Gabriel muttered into the headset from where he was stood. Gabriel rarely ventured out on the same missions as Jack did, seen as he was from Overwatch and Gabe was from Blackwatch, but on this one, they had decided they would need the help. It had been Jack's orders to bring him along, despite Ana advising him otherwise. 

After a few more moments, Jack realised that they were getting nowhere fast. 
"Reyes, Wilhelm, advance." He ordered into the headset, at which Reyes nodded a little and advanced forward, closer to the enemy ranks, firing shotgun shells into the enemy. Reinhardt was smashing his way through a bunch of them, causing a gap in their ranks, which was actually a great help. Jack was pleased with himself, until he heard the cry from Gabe. His eyes darted over to where Reyes was, watching as an enemy tore through him with his semi auto rifle. Reyes' blood splattered backwards, his body being torn to pieces by the rounds until Ana finally intervened and fired a well aimed round into the enemy's skull. Gabe fell backwards to the floor, quickly falling unconscious and despite needing to fight still, Jack couldn't tear his eyes away. Tears quickly began to fall, and although he should've ran over, shock had held him in his place. It was now that he noticed the once white roses dripping with the dark red substance that was Gabe's blood. What were once majestic and beautiful, were now just a reminder of the pain that had come about because of Jack's orders. 

Jack dropped the white rose as he exited his flashback, his whole being beginning to shake. He stared at the white rose that lay on the floor, trying to hold back any tears. His shaking failed to cease, and his blinking couldn't hold back all his tears and one or two managed to fall. He felt awful, terrible, and that sense of longing, of wishing he could see Gabe again, came creeping back after all these years. He thought that he had finally gotten over the lose of his friend, and crush, in the explosion in Switzerland; thought that becoming the infamous 76 had toughened him up; thought that all this was behind him. He was wrong. 

The thing that tore him away from his feelings just before he broke into the sobbing was the sound of footsteps in his living room. 

Jack looked up, wiping his eyes. Despite his emotional state, he couldn't allow any intruders in his house. He grabbed the only weapon he had in the kitchen, which happened to only be a small pistol, and made his was quickly into the living room despite probably looking dreadful in his tatty dressing gown with bloodshot eyes from crying. Being faced with a tall cloaked man in a mask was not what he had expected. He wondered if this was the terrorist, Reaper, whom he had tried so hard to find. He kept his gun pointed at him, although could see that Reaper himself was not armed. 
"What are you doing here?!" Jack demanded, his grip on the small pistol tightening. 
"Jack..." Reaper muttered, taking a step or two forward, only to regret it as Jack fired a round into his shoulder. 
"How do you know my name?! Who are you?" Jack demanded. He wasn't in the mood for being messed around, and didn't even feel bad, for the moment, at the fact he had just shot an unarmed intruder. He heard Reaper sigh, and watched as he lifted his hands to push his hood down, before pulling off the cracked, white mask, before going back to clutching at the bullet wound in his shoulder. Jack immediately dropped the pistol as soon as he saw who was stood before him. 
"Gabe?" He uttered almost inaudibly. He could tell it was Gabe, but his face was scarred to all hell and he barely looked like himself anymore. Gabe managed a nod, looking over at Jack. 
"Who else would've left you flowers, idiot?" He muttered, laughing a little despite the pain from his bullet wound. Jack laughed a little too, which was enough to make him burst into tears. He ran over and quickly wrapped his arms around Gabe in tight hug, holding him close as the tears ran down his face. 
"I missed you..." Gabe sighed, lifting his free hand and beginning to run it through Jack's grey hair gently in an attempt to calm him, a gentle smile spreading across his face from just being in Jack's presence. He didn't mind that Jack didn't answer him due to his crying. He was just glad he was here and that he could share some more time with him like he had wanted to do from the moment he had lost him.