(no subject)

[the_reapers]

He forgets, often, that Gabe can't read texts. He takes for granted that Gabe can get them read to him by an app or an onlooker.

So it's late at night, beyond midnight, when he texts, "I'm about to be arrested you down to pick me up? I got cash to bail me out at my apartment."

Comments

[minuteofangle]

“Like it fine. It’s not the same as being out in the field again, but…”

Gabe sighs.

“Figure it’s as close as I’ll get. And Pope’s good people. Doesn’t fuck with me or anybody else.”

[the_reapers]

"...Can I try out or sign up or, how's it work?" He fidgets. "Because I haven't been able to hold down a job."

[minuteofangle]

Gabe just smiles and trails his fingers over Austin’s stomach. Quietly, secretly, he’d been hoping Austin would ask. That it wouldn’t seem like charity then if Gabe said yes.

“Come train with us tomorrow. Pope signs off, you’re with us.”

Gabe hums a little.

“How long you paid up for this room?”

[the_reapers]

"Yes," he says, delighted, like he's just won a winning goal.

"I'm paid up till Friday. I could probably pay for the weekend too but then I couldn't get food and I can only live on ramen so long you know?"

[minuteofangle]

Okay, Gabe thinks, nodding slowly. “I’ll pay up for another week or two. Think you can bunk with somebody? We’re working on housing but we gotta be creative about it.”

[the_reapers]

"Everyone I know is already set. I'm okay though man, I still got a tent and everything." If it comes to that. "I only started sleeping indoors 'cause I wanted Rochelle and the baby to stay with me."

[minuteofangle]

“You’re not sleeping in a tent,” Gabe replies firmly. “Shaw would bite my head off. You good to bunk with Powell?”

[the_reapers]

"Yeah I can do that! You mean it?" He just has to wow Pope tomorrow. He can do that. He's all but vibrating with excitement for it now. "Powell's good. Get my ass kicked if I don't make my bed right in the morning, that'll be good."

[minuteofangle]

"I mean it."

He flicks Austin in the ribs. There's not enough room at Mancea's place right now and it'll do Austin some good to have supervision. Powell's solemn and serious in the field, but he knows how to relax out of it. Knows how to keep Austin on track and probably how to make sure he eats a vegetable occasionally, too.

"You pass, Shaw'll get you all set up. We take care of our own."

[the_reapers]

The thing is, his girl will never bring the baby back to him if he does this. If he joins a private firm that goes out killing people.

But that thought only floats in his mind, obscured as always by his impulses and his excitement. "How many of the old crew are in this thing?"

[minuteofangle]

"Carver, Shaw, Bossie, and Turner. Wash's been making noise about coming back, too, and we're waiting on Delaney to finish out her contract." He ticks them off his fingers one by one. "And Powell just showed up a few days ago. Didn't say where he'd been."

None of them asked. It'd just be another variation on the same story.

[the_reapers]

It'll be like a family reunion, he thinks, only better. No half-cousins or long lost aunties; no this is a reunion of all the people you would kill and die for. The people you would be happy to stay alive for.

"No kidding! I wondered what Turner's been up to." He's glad, now, that he told Gabe the story about the cock ring. It's fun to share but you have to have the right audience. He gets up, pacing eagerly. "Man we gotta get everyone together! Make it just like in Afghanistan."

[minuteofangle]

"Maybe," Gabe allows. Though quietly he wonders if it won't end up like that one of these days. He didn't know all of Pope's people but he remembers the ones he ran with over in the Valley. A lot of them are struggling now, a number high enough that it hurts him a little to think about. "The others will like having you around. You got a talent for lightening the mood."

[the_reapers]

He grins and flops back down on the bed, making Gabe bounce with it. "That's me, man. Every class needs a clown." Pope's got more than one, but Austin is the one most notorious for it.

"How long does Delaney got left?"

[minuteofangle]

Goddamn, Austin’s got energy for days. Gabe huffs at him, prodding his hip. “Two months, give or take. Carver’s over the moon. You’d think those two were fucking, I swear.”

[the_reapers]

"He's too smart for her," Austin laughs. "Have you ever met the rednecks she picks up?" Never a braincell in any of them.

He lays his head on Gabe's shoulder and thinks how glad he is that he won't be alone tonight. "I think I'm starting to come down." He doesn't have the need to pet anything now.

[minuteofangle]

“Nah, but I heard the stories.”

Everyone’s got a type, Gabe supposes. Even if it’s the laughable kind. Quietly, he reaches up to run his fingers through Austin’s hair.

“Good E,” Gabe agrees. “Remember to drink water.”

[the_reapers]

"You won't tell Pope I've been dealing again right?" Don't tell anyone, he hopes. It doesn't need to get back to Rochelle. It doesn't need to get back to anyone.

[minuteofangle]

That’s probably something he should run by Shaw and Mancea before answering, Gabe thinks. He puffs out a breath. “Don’t get caught,” he murmurs. “And don’t come to training high. Yeah?”

[the_reapers]

He'd planned to top the morning off with coffee and an edible but Gabe's right. He wants to do this right; he needs to wow Pope.

"I'll be a stone sober badass," he promises.

[minuteofangle]

“Good.” He sighs and rubs Austin’s head. “I know you will.”

Maybe they all need this. Something like family. Enough structure to keep them from going off the rails. None of them, it seems, are doing so hot out there on their own. And Gabe realizes with a quieter sort of sadness that he hasn’t been on his own since he was a kid, not really. There was always someone telling him what to do.

At least Mancea and the others actually care about him. The Wolves never did.

“Wake me up when the food’s here,” he murmurs, setting back against the pillows.

[the_reapers]

Gabe gets a good half hour of sleep before dinner gets there, and Austin wakes him. He eats, brushes his teeth, and then curls up beside Gabe, determined to sleep before training. With the warm weight of someone else in the bed, he sleeps well, for once. When the alarm goes off he'll be ready.