Archive of Our Own ^beta

Gabriel was tired. Being a soul hungry wraith and an old man absolutely wrecked him on certain days. But unlike in the past, Gabriel had an eager partner to help him through the days where he could barely hold himself together, limbs missing and black smoke pouring out of the gaping holes. Jesse McCree was here for him.

“The tub is ready for ya, Gabe.” Jesse smiled as he walked over to Gabriel who was resting on the bed with only a thick blanket covering his naked body. He wore a plaid red shirt and jeans with that stetson on his head like always.

They lived together now. Retired. On a ranch Jesse’s ancestors used until it was all but forgotten by the McCrees and the world. It was just them in the ancient house out in Nevada that was in constant state of disrepair, falling apart, and no one around for miles to disturb them; the perfect place to set up shop. The land was a punch of rolling hill with tall grass that came up to your arm pits, you couldn’t even see the gravel driveway from the equally neglected road miles off the interstate. Gabe was half ready to bulldoze the place and set the dried grass on fire for how much effort it would be to fix the the place up from neglect if it wasn’t such a pain in the ass to contain a fire and get said-bulldozer out there discretely.

Jesse was fond of the place, mold and all, and promised to get it into a decent state by the end of the week comparable to the abandoned apartments they squatted in on their way here; Barely liveable. Gabriel sighed and helped Jesse out where he could since the trip took a lot out of him since he wasn’t eating souls of humans anymore. Animal souls were about half effective as human ones but it wasn’t hard to find a fresh human corpse in the more ugly parts of the cities and towns they traveled through. Gabriel had to sleep more often than not to conserve energy when they finally got to the ranch, much to his own annoyance for being a burden on the cowboy now that they were back together and finally honest about their feelings for each other.

Gabe’s red eyes opened slowly as Jesse walked over to him, the floorboards freshly replaced in the master bedroom, one of the first projects Jesse prioritized after getting the water pipes back up and working along with dropping plastic sheets over the holes in the roof. Jesse had to be aching all over from the work he was putting into fixing up a few key components of the ranch home before the end of the week, like he promised so Gabe raised a hand and waved him off weakly.

“Go first, Jesse. You’ve earned it.”

“I didn’t say that i was going to let you get in alone, Gabe.” Jesse smirked playfully as he walked over and gently pulled the blankets off of Gabriel’s body. Gabe shuddered at the sudden loss of warmth but didn’t object to the forty year-old cowboy scoping him up in his arms and carrying him to the bathroom. Fluorescent lights brightened up the small room that was barely bigger than a closed, an old fashioned brass tub laid against the wall with a toilet squashed right beneath a plastic-covered window against the wall and steam drifting up appealing from the tub. Gabriel was missing his left arm from below the elbow and both of his legs cut off from the knee down, probably making him lighter to hold as Jesse let him look over the place with pride in his eyes.

Decades of taking quick showers made him forget how nice it was to be lowered into hot water as Jesse carefully slipped him in before walking out to throw his clothing off while Gabriel sighed in contentment while leaning against the side of the tub. The brass was as warm as the water to lean against and he felt his eyes flutter shut since he was very tempted to fall asleep right there until he heard that pattering of Jesse’s bare feet on the tile floor.

“Seriously, Gabe? Fallin’ asleep in the tub ain’t exactly safe.”

“Says the one having us live in a two century old home and woke up with drywall hitting him in the face.” Gabriel huffed softly as he scooted forward in the tub, allowing Jesse to slip in behind him as he felt the water level rise from the added weight of the cowboy.

Jesse pushed his legs to either side of Gabriel’s before Gabe felt arms wrap around his torso and pull him back so he was laying back against Jesse’ hairy chest. His arms remained around him as Gabe rested his head back against Jesse’s chest, his eyes still closed as he felt at ease in his embrace. He was exhausted and the steam rising off the water along with the warmth made his aches melt away as he relaxed. Jesse chuckled in amusement, and brought a hand up from Gabe’s waist to feel it gently stroke through his short hair. He was in the process of regrowing his beard and hair since he no longer needed to wear a mask or hunted from the shadows.

They had plans to eventually get Gabriel treatment from Angela to see if they could at least get rid of his need to feed on souls or get an alternative source like actual food doing more than just filling his stomach for no other purpose. Of course that plan was to be put off for as long as possible since Overwatch wasn’t too fond of Jesse’s sudden resignation but seemed to be leaving them alone since they took Reaper of their backs. Talon wasn’t too happy either but Gabriel was just a highly skilled merc that occasionally worked for them, nothing to send assassins after, for now. It was a ‘stay off our radar and we’ll stay off yours’ kind of silent deal which made finding alternative ‘soul’ sources that much more important since you never know if you’re killing an undercover agent to a big organization or a hobo these days.

“What you want for dinner tonight, Gabe? I still got fresh deer in the freezer along with frozen veggies. Maybe you want deer soup instead of grilled deer?” Jesse chuckled in amusement as he laid his head back against the rim of the brass tub, probably enjoying the warmth on his tired body like Gabe was.

“You think you can operate that old stove without blowing up the house, McCree?” Gabe smirked as he let his head roll to the side lightly.

“The hell is that suppose to mean, Gabe? I watched plenty of ‘do-it-yourself’ holo vids on these old gas-powered machines to get the furnace to work again!”

Okay. He had a point there that he DID manage to get that hunk of scrap metal in the basement to work again but honestly Jesse lucked out that the DIY vid happened to be the exact match to what they had down there. It was really stupid, to be honest, but it wouldn’t be the first time he died in an explosion, he would probably shrug it off and Jesse’s dumb luck would just get him trapped in the basement for the two days it would take for Gabe to dig him out.

“We’re still scrapping that old car in the barn, no ‘ands’, ‘ifs’, or ‘buts’ about it, Jesse McCree-Reyes.” He spoke firmly, drawing a huff from his partner like he was a seventeen year-old brat again. It would be too expensive to get a car from the 1940’s modernized with a rusted out everything anyways, regardless of Jesse’s adoration of the the vehicle's aesthetics.

Gabriel had plans on getting him a modern version anyways for their wedding anniversary coming up in a few months; all paid for and ready to deliver on the drop of a dime with the contacts he had still. Jesse would love the shit out of it and put it to good use while they try to make a farm for themselves out here. Their actual car was parked a decent distance between the house and farm, covered with a camouflage covering to make it undetectable from any drones flying by since you can never be too careful considering Jesse’s bounty was still very much active. Though it won't help much is someone actively watches them transform the property to a decent state while they lived there but that’s what their weapon’s cabinet was for and Gabriel could still create his shotguns, if necessary.

“Anything you make I’ll be happy to eat, Jesse.” Gabriel grumbled lightly as he felt his legs and arm starting to weave themselves back together under the water. It wasn’t painful to regrow his limbs, even under water it cause him no complications, like phantom limbs suddenly becoming physically once more and functioning as usual. He moaned softly as the reform appendages felt the warmth of the tub and he gently shifted against Jesse from how good it felt.

Jesse’s hands reached for his shoulders and gently massaged them, drawing more muffled moans from the exhausted wraith laying against him. “Looks like we’ll have to take a bath together everyday if the tub is working it’s magic on both of our old bodies. Maybe we won’t be tired enough to actually have sex for once instead of passing out before we can get our shorts off.” He chuckled before pressing a kiss to Gabriel’s head affectionately.

“Yeah. Not happening anytime soon, Jesse.” Gabriel chuckled softly. “Maybe someday I’ll be able to hold myself together long enough for it to not be awkward when my leg suddenly decides to not exist or some other shit and mess us up.”

Jesse nodded his in agreement. “It was kind of funny watching you slip out from under me all of a sudden though.”

“No, it wasn’t.” Gabriel grumbled quickly, embarrassed by his body’s inability to listen to him on some days.
“Either way, we could always have some fun in the tub if that helps keep you together, Gabe. I ain’t picky.”

“Yes, McCree. I’m very aware of your low standards.” Gabriel sighed.

“Now, hold on a minute, that ain’t a bad thing at all, Gabe.”

“I can’t believe you’re getting worked up over the ability to hold an erection in a literal dumpster, Jesse. Jesus Christ.”

“You had your mask on, Gabe, it’s not like you had to smell anything through the filters.”

Gabriel pulled away from Jesse and faced him with pure disgust. “Can we please not every talk about it like you originally promised, McCree? I feel like I’m going to vomit.”

Jesse held his hands up defensively with an amused smile on his grin. “Alright, alright, Gabe. I’ll stop talkin’ bout it if you swing on back over here.”

Gabriel rolled his eyes and sighed as he begrudgingly dragged himself back over to resume his place on Jesse but this time laying on him, chest to chest, to rest the side of his face under Jesse’s chin.

Jesse kept his promise to not talk about their dumpster diving experience ever again.