(no subject)

[nottheboss]

It's late at night. The corridors aren't quiet; they're full of men and women restlessly trying to sleep in their quarters. Bossie should be one of them. But instead he slips barefoot down the hallway to Carver's room, where he knocks.

"Hey, man, you up?"

Comments

[minuteofangle]

"You're not the weak link, man, we don't run with bitches."

But he's soft in a way that Pope disdains, and there's no denying that. Gabe sighs and runs his fingers through Bossie's hair. Wondering what the hell he's gotten himself into, again.

"But we can get you to talk the talk," he continues. "It'll be good for the whole crew. Give you some more responsibility. Everybody wins."

It's a dodge. It doesn't really answer Bossie's question. But what other choice is there? They have to take care of their own.

[nottheboss]

He hears the thing Gabe isn't saying and he holds him a little tighter. "If I start dragging you down...cut me loose. Okay?" He won't be responsible for hurting Gabe, even if it's just by adding more stress onto a man who has become the glue for so many troubled soldiers in their group.

[minuteofangle]

Aw, shit. Gabe hums a little and rests his hand on the top of Bossie's head. Then he flicks Bossie's ear.

"We don't cut people loose, man. Ya'll took me in when I was nothing but a fuckup stranger and I still can't do paperwork without somebody helping me. We're Reapers, we take care of our own. Don't ever doubt that, don't ever forget it - not for a second."

[nottheboss]

"Yeah I just... I know Austin needs you a lot right now. Carver, too." Men who were tortured by demons. Real problems.

[minuteofangle]

"I know."

Gabe breathes out slow. Goddamn, does he know. Austin needs him because Austin's brittle as glass right now. Carver needs them, too, all of them, and they've gotta be so goddamn careful about it because Carver could kill somebody without meaning to if he startles wrong. Nobody's sleeping right, or enough, everyone's on edge.

But this is the job. This is the work.

"So, I'm gonna need your help. I'm gonna need you to watch Carver's back. Think you can do that for me? And when Austin's ready, I'm gonna need you to do that for him, too."

[nottheboss]

"Yeah." A definitive nod. "I've got Carver. And when Austin's okay--you just tell me when and I've got him, too."

They're Reapers. They don't cut each other loose.

"You gonna let me watch your back too, though, right?"

[minuteofangle]

"Good man," Gabe murmurs, and he kisses the top of Bossie's head again. Gentle. "And I will. Promise. So you gotta come kick my ass if I'm being an idiot, okay?"

[nottheboss]

He is, somehow, so relaxed now, despite everything. Despite the threat they're all constantly under. He is boneless against Gabe, trusting him as utterly as the kittens do.

"I will," he says, his voice a little drowsy. "Starting with how much sleep you getting these days, Fifty?"

[minuteofangle]

"Ooh. Going right for the throat, huh?"

But this is part of it. They take care of each other. They promised. Gabe cycles his tech, feeling Bossie relax against him. Some of that tension bleeding out.

"Not much," he admits. "But I'm working on it. I bunk with Mancea and that helps."

[nottheboss]

No one's sleeping much these days. It's bad, he thinks. It can't go on forever like this but there's no end in sight to it all either.

"Yeah? He takes good care of you?" He hopes so. Gabe deserves it, for everything he does for the others.

[minuteofangle]

"He does," Gabe admits. "And it's funny, I know. Me and him. You'd hardly think it'd work, right? But it does. We balance each other out. And he holds me, kid..."

There's a quiet sort of wonder in Gabe's voice then.

"He holds me when I'm scared. And I hold him."

[nottheboss]

"Before you came along I thought he was a monk or something," he says with a little grin. "We'd have parties and we could bring a plus one, and he never did. I'd bring a girl, you know, as a beard--he never did that either. I had no idea he was into anyone, especially men, until you came along."

And as for who he would have thought Gabe's type was? Well, Mancea wasn't anywhere on that list. But they do work. He can hear it in Gabe's voice the good way they work together.

[minuteofangle]

"I've been told I'm a force of nature," Gabe teases gently. "What's your type, kid? Mhmm?"

Carver, clearly.

[nottheboss]

He's blushing but Gabe can't see it so maybe it doesn't matter.

"I like 'em tall and dark," he admits, thinking of Carver. Thinking of Turner. "I'd like a guy I could take to that club... maybe play around there. You know the one?"

[minuteofangle]

Gabe nods slowly, settling back against the headboard. He strokes Bossie's hair, gentle and steady. Listening to their breathing and Cosita's snoring. Wondering when any of them will get a break.

Soon, he prays. Please, God.

"I do," he agrees. "What's your poison?"

[nottheboss]

He hesitates. It's Gabe; he trusts Gabe. But.

"You won't tell Pope?" If Pope ever found out about the club, God help them all.

[minuteofangle]

"Never," he promises gently. "You have my word."

[nottheboss]

"I haven't really tried it, haven't found anyone I could try it with, I get- you know how we all get." Violently reactive in the wrong moments. "But I want to play with like, whips and paddles...And I want to be the one taking it."

[minuteofangle]

Ah, Gabe thinks, and he sits with that for a moment, stroking Bossie's hair. "I know how we all get," he echoes softly. "And I know how good it feels to let go. I get that, Bossie. You think you need it?"

[nottheboss]

Need? That is how it feels sometimes. A need he can't fill.

"Yeah," he mumbles, a little ashamed. "So maybe it's good I haven't found anyone to try it out with."

[minuteofangle]

Gabe just keeps stroking Bossie's hair. Trying to settle him, soothe him. "You want me to pick someone for you?" he asks gently. "We can't go now, I'm sorry. But one day. I could come with you."

[nottheboss]

It hadn't occurred to him before that it could work that way. That Gabe could vet someone for him.

"Yeah," he says, startled to realize that, "That's kind of hot."

[minuteofangle]

That gets a faint, fond huff. He rests his hand on the back of Bossie's neck, gentle. Steadying.

"Then we will," he says, easy as that. "I got your back, kid."

[nottheboss]

He tucks his face in against Gabe's shoulder, smiling quietly. "What's your big fantasy, huh? What gets you going to that club?"

[minuteofangle]

"Mhmm. A whole lot. But right now..."

Gabe shifts closer, holding Bossie to him.

"I like being worked over. I like it when men think they can control me and then they break against me."