Gabe didn't get much sleep that night, as he was rather fearful of being sniped by some elite military soldier. He'd never really quarreled with the government, as it usually did not end well with those who did. There was so minor resentment he felt for it however, as reports of police brutality and corruption rose. He'd never been one for rules, and he openly admitted that. There'd been plenty of times in which he'd broken the law, yet he'd never been caught, hence why there'd never been a direct conflict between Gabe and the government/authorities.

But leave it to golden boy Jack Morrison to get him involved with the authorities. There was clearly more to him than just being an aggravating, but kind farmer, yet he wouldn't admit to it. First the phone call, then the sighting of Jack being escorted by some Men In Black kind of guys, and it was all topped off with a cherry of a direct threat from the Men In Black.

The few hours he'd drifted off for were riddled with nightmares of being shot at, and seeing Jack die in front of his eyes. He'd often woken up with goosebumps on his skin, tangled in his blankets and sheets as sweat dripped down his skin. Seeing those blue eyes go from bright to nothing at all haunted him when he closed his eyes, and soon he resorted to opening his laptop for something to do.

Yet despite all his concentration on Tumblr and Reddit couldn't distract him from the nagging voice in the back of his head, whispering threats and revealing his fears. Even the music he pumped into his ears couldn't silence his conscience, and soon he was pulling up a website in which he could run license plates through. He wasn't sure if running the authorities' license plates was a good idea, and if it would alert them, but with some deep breaths he reminded himself he was fucking Gabriel Reyes, not some little boy afraid of possibly breaking the law. He'd spray painted walls, stolen things from the store, and so on. There was no reason as to why he should be frightened.

Because of Jack, that nagging voice reminded him, and Gabe sighed, hitting enter and watching the search filter and buffer. The moments in which Gabe waited to see if it would work were agonizing as red, hot anxiety rushed through his veins, heart thundering in his ears. You could get him killed for this, YOU could be killed for this, his thoughts hissed.

With another deep breath to try and steady himself, Gabe ran his hands through his hair and pulled, trying to focus on the stinging instead of the voice. He was already anxious enough not heading the text message's threat. His own head didn't need to be more of a dick to him.

There was a small ding from his laptop, and Gabe eagerly focused back on the task at hand, narrowing his eyes as he read over the results. It was definitely military, yet he couldn't find out where it belonged to. There was no information provided as to where it frequently visited, or what toll booths it passed through.

Gabe groaned loudly, dropping his head into his hands in defeat. There was the ring of his phone receiving a text before he could start cursing under his breath, and the anxiety returned, making the hairs on his neck stand up straight. This was it. This was when Gabe received a text counting down the seconds he had before a bullet was put square in his head. He slowly reached for it, memories of his life flashing before his eyes as he read over the number, one he didn't recognize.

With a swift swipe of his finger, the text revealed itself on his screen, and Gabe began to pray in rapid Spanish. Yet, there was no countdown, and Gabe frowned, his prayer trailing off into surprised silence.

If you're gonna masturbate can you please quiet down? I don't need more nightmares :P

Gabe ignored the heat in his cheeks as he typed a quick, Who is this?

Who do you think ?

There were a few emojis that consisted of a cow, coffee and...an eggplant?

Dios Bueno, Gabe thought, squeezing his eyes shut as he rubbed at his temples. He contemplated sending a text back to Jack "Troll" Morrison but settled on confronting the man in person. Gabe was like that, after all.

He got to his feet and shuffled out of his room, turning on the hallway light as he grumbled and knocked on Jack's door just once before opening it. Jack sat propped up against the wall, smirking at his phone before looking up at him with mischievous eyes. Gabe opened his mouth to make a snarky comment but found no words when he realized his housemate was shirtless, revealing a rather attractive body and...scars and bruises? The attraction Gabe felt faltered at the sight of the bruises, and if Jack noticed he didn't show it.

There was a ring from his phone and he looked down at it in his hand, seeing another text from his shitstorm of a housemate. Didn't take you as the gay type, Reyes, the text read, quickly followed by another text of eggplants and water droplets.

Reyes glared at him before slamming his door shut with a loud groan. Loud laughter echoed in the room he'd just exited, and Gabe ignored the way his heart fluttered with the butterflies in his stomach. Despite the humor of the situation, he couldn't smile or join the laughter Jack emitted.

Even the cold water that pelted his body and skin couldn't distract him from the situation, which was far from funny. What the hell was with all those bruises? Was it normal to get so many scars from being a fucking farmer? Last time he checked, getting scars from harvesting corn wasn't that dangerous. But then again, Gabe was just an urban troublemaker, glued to his bike and desperately trying to make money. He was used to spray paint stains and drug wars, not waking up at 6 every morning to feed the chickens and milk the cows.

What could the authorities want with Jack? His eyes were too bright to be darkened by a gun being pointed at his head with each passing day, making the man do their bidding. Was the government conducting some form of tests on Jack, or something more dangerous, something so evil that it had to be hidden from the public? It bothered Gabe more than it bothered Jack, clearly, and he wondered if it was because he lived with Jack and would be in danger if Jack went AWOL, making Gabe the last person who saw him.

But even if he didn't admit it, Gabe cared about the bruises and scars on Jack's body not because of his own health and safety, but because of his housemate's.

There was a soft knock on the bathroom door before it opened, jarring Reyes from his thoughts. "What the fuck, Morrison? I'm kind of naked here!" he hissed, wrapping the shower+ curtain around his frame as he peered out at his housemate. Jack clearly didn't care as he looked over at the angry, naked man.

"What? I have to brush my teeth! Busy day today," he told Gabe, feigning innocence that only blonde boys with bright blue eyes could get away with. Reyes narrowed his eyes, ignoring the way the smirk on Jack's face made him feel.

"Couldn't you...oh, I don't know, wait five fucking minutes?"

Jack continued to brush his teeth, looking up in thought before making eye contact with Reyes through the mirror. He spit out his toothpaste, an act that should've been repulsive but oddly wasn't, and simply said, "Nope! Now hurry out of the shower before it's cold or else I'll kill you!" Gabe rolled his eyes at the horrible impersonation of himself, sighing as he turned off the water, reaching for the towel on the nearby hanger. "Mmm, thanks!" Jack said as he snatched it from his hands, rubbing the excess of toothpaste of his face as he exited the room.

With a low growl, Gabe pulled on his boxers and opened the door, yelling a swift, "Fuck you Jack! I'm gonna-"

"Commit homicide? Commit a mass murder? Hmm, in what? Plaid boxers?" Jack said, looking over his shoulder with that cocky grin of his before entering his own room.

Reyes sighed loudly, rubbing at his eyes in exasperation.

What did he do to deserve this?

Gabriel Reyes was not a chit chatty person. In fact, he favored avoiding all human contact, but for some reason, God hated him, and that resulted in him ending up working at the front desk from 8 until 12:30, which was his break. After that, he did inventory and helped Angela make cakes and whatever else dumb coffee shops sold to try and convince their customers they were fancy. Which meant that their hipster customers would watch him make their drinks during rush hour.

Either God hated him, or he was correct in his theories that Amelie was the spawn of satan herself. He was leaning towards the latter, but the former was rather convincing as well considering his morning with Jack.

By the time his break was nearing, Gabe was falling asleep on the glass display of all their fancy, overpriced shit. His feet begged for relief, but if Amelie caught him slacking off she would surely do some satantic ritual to punish him. And it didn't take a genius to figure that a satantic ritual usually ended poorly. Which meant that he had to be sneaky and precise as to when to doze off. Satya was a dear as she usually stepped on his ankle to jar him awake, making it look like he'd just been hurt instead of waking up.

Just as he began to take off his apron so he could run over to Subway to get a nice sandwich, the door opened and the annoying bell began to ring. He groaned silently, rubbing at his temples to relieve the anger and headache he began to experience. There was a snicker from Satya, which he presumed was due to his expression until he saw who was ordering.

Jack "Satan's-right-hand-man" Morrison was looking at him with wide, expectant eyes, lips twisted into that goddamn irritating cocky smile. Gabe's stomach churned on the sight, and he was tempted to bend over and puke so he could be dismissed, which wouldn't be too hard to do as he noticed the Men in Black outside the shop. His heart stuttered, eyes widening noticeably when he noticed their presence.

One man was pressing his finger to his ear, mouth moving as he looked over his shoulder, making eye contact with Gabe through his sunglasses. In fact, a little bit of vomit did rise in his throat at the sight, and Satya looked at him with a worried expression, placing a hand on his shoulder with a soft, "Gabe? You look rather-"

Said man grabbed the trashcan on both ends and emptied the pathetic contents of his stomach into the trash, eliciting a soft "ewww" from behind him and a loud laughter of "Dude! Somebody's got a crush on Morrison~!"

If only they knew, he told himself as he continued retching. A hand returned to his shoulder, and Gabe weakly looked over, expecting Angela but instead finding Jack, concern painted openly on his face. He opened his mouth to make a witty remark about how Jack must be disappointed this was how he first had Gabe bent over for him, but he continued to puke.

There was a sound of French-infused disgust to his side and he knew he'd been busted by Satan herself. Jack's hand disappeared and Gabe was pulled to his feet by the scrawny witch who looked at him with unconcerned eyes. "Go to the backroom, now," she hissed, and Angela and Satya hooked their arms underneath him, dragging him away from the front desk.

"Who knew Satan would be French," he groaned as he finally sat down, stomach still turning viciously. A bucket was thrust into his hands and he began to dry heave, wondering what a pathetic sight he must be to Jack, who was standing a few feet in front him, arms crossed.

Angela rolled her eyes at the comment before tucking some of his loose hair behind his ear affectionately, and he looked up at her with questioning eyes. "You're not my mom," he groaned, and she looked over at Jack who stepped forward.

"Go help Amelie," Jack sighed, taking Angela's place as she rose to do what Morrison said. Satya looked between the two of them, noticing Angela's pointed looks and her clearing her throat very audibly. Satya picked up on the hint, getting to her feet while explaining she'd get him a glass of water to help ease his stomach.

And so that left Gabe alone with Jack, who had his hand awkwardly on his shoulder, clearly trying to show his support. "Ya know, if I made you this nervous you could have just told me," Jack offered to break the silence, and Gabe gave him a nice side eye. Morrison chuckled under his breath, a sound that made Gabe start dry heaving from how nervous and anxious he was. "But seriously, are you okay, Reyes?"

No, Gabe thought, but he knew he couldn't openly admit that. That would be destroying his tough guy persona, which he'd taken plenty of pride in. So he went for the obvious excuse, "Yeah, I just didn't get a lot of sleep last night. Ya know, new job and all," he lamely excused, and based on Jack's expression he clearly didn't buy it. But oh well, Morrison didn't need to buy it, he just needed to hop off and let Gabe try to figure this out.

"Are you sure? You don't see like yourself," Jack pushed, and Gabe resisted the urge to dry heave again, instead swallowing roughly and closing his eyes. His heart was beating hard and irregularly in his throat, and there was a sudden surge of anger, of worry, of fear and-

"What? In the three days we've known each other you suddenly know me," Gabe spat, moving his shoulder to remove Jack's hand, which hung limply at his side now. The air turned bitter and tense as Gabe frowned down at the trash can, guilt and regret churning his stomach even more.

"Fine, be an asshole. Why the hell did I even think this could work," Jack hissed, getting to his feet and adjusting his coat. He stormed out of the room, stopping in the doorway to cast one more look over his shoulder Gabe, who pathetically removed his eyes from Jack's back to focus on the trash. "Hold it in, because it will come back out," Jack spat before swiftly leaving the store.

Gabe saw Angela look over at him with wide eyes, worry evident on her face as he slowly got his feet, dragging the trash can with him. His hands gripped the doorway to keep him from collapsing and spilling his guts out on the floor...again, but his grip did nothing when he saw Jack get in a car with the same license plate and same men closing the doors. One man touched his ear, saying words he couldn't hear or make out before looking at Gabe.

Said man dropped to his knees, spilling his stomach out again, eliciting more angry French and more of Angela's worry.

Angela drove Gabe home around 10:30 after he somehow pushed himself through the rest of his shift, only puking a few more times before become somewhat stable. She insisted on bringing him to a doctor but he refused, eventually snapping at her. He'd expected her to shut up and leave it like Jack did, but instead she bit back, telling him to stop being an asshole and let her help.

That resulted in him slamming the door outside of the apartment, pressing a nice set of two middle fingers against the window before wrapping his jacket around him tightly to suppress the cold wind. She honked at him, but he didn't turn, instead entering the apartment and slamming the door shut in obvious anger.

However, once he entered the apartment, he noticed none of the lights on, yet there was flashing from the living room. Gabriel kicked off his shoes, leaving his coat in its usual spot as he slowly walked into the living room. To his surprise, Jack had fallen asleep in Gabe's usual spot, remote in hand while he snored loudly.

"Asshole," Gabe snorted light-heartedly, turning to rummage the fridge for more of his yogurt. Yet to his surprise and anger, the last yogurt he'd been saving for tonight was missing and he narrowed his eyes, looking back to Jack. His homicidal intentions returned when he noticed the empty carton knocked over on the table. "Oh, you…" He trailed off, throwing his hands up in the air as he stalked over towards farmer boy.

He flicked on the light, prepared to chew the fuck out of his housemate when he stopped, noticing something...red and long on his face. Gabe slowly approached him, turning his head to get a better look at his left cheekbone. A long, bloody gash was disrupting his otherwise perfect skin, and bruises surrounded it. "What...the fuck?" he whispered to himself, prepared to wake up Jack and demand to know what happened when there was a ring from his housemate's phone.

Now, Gabe wasn't the snoopy type. In fact, he liked to mind his own damn business and just focus on himself. But after the past few days filled with anxiety and threats from fucking Barack Obama's squad, he'd lost all respect for his morals and grabbed Jack's phone. He swiped left, encountered with a lock code. With a quick glance to Jack, he typed in 0000, and gained access.

"Dude, you are so living up to the blonde stereotype right now," he said as he pulled up messages, opening the text from the unknown number. There were a series of messages exchanged between Mr Hick and the Men in Black, but the most recent one caught his attention.

Remember your mission. Any inconvenience will be removed. Anything, or anyone.

Gabe's stomach churned again as he looked from the phone to Jack, and he was surprised to see yet another text pop up from the unknown number.

Including you, Mr Reyes.