Gabriel never thought much of Jack's dislike of Gérard Lacroix. Ana liked to joke that he was jealous but Jack wasn't the jealous type. Instead he thought it was most likely Gérard's personality, the man had a habit of acting overly familiar and Jack's no nonsense attitude would most likely take it as ass-kissing. He didn't get why Jack allowed Ana to tell everyone he was jealous though. Gabriel had his own reasons for disliking Gérard and he did his damndest to hide it.

Gérard hadn't been Gabriel's proudest moment. The relationship had maybe started out as a little bit of a personal middle finger to Jack after the promotion incident had resulted in them "going on a break" after a few too many nasty things were said from both sides. In his defense Gérard was never supposed to be anything more than a colleague, things just happened and Gabriel didn't do anything to stop them once he saw where they were headed. His mistake.

Gérard shamelessly flirted with anyone and everyone, Gabriel knew this but let himself get charmed anyway; shame one. Mutual flirting turned into mutual attraction and with a smugness of trying to stick it to Jack, turned into a casual relationship; shame two. He now knew he couldn't do casual relationships but now didn't change then. It wasn't Gérard's fault Gabriel caught feelings from the most mundane of things. Being asked to move in shouldn't have made him weak in the knees and any Goddamn affection - be it some cheap gift Gérard picked up for him or just any type of public intimacy - shouldn't have sent his heart racing. He was a fucking war tactician and he'd dived right in without any thought, the signs were there and he ignored them; shame three. By the end Gabriel wouldn't quite say he was in love, but it was pretty damn close in some respects. When he was called back to Gibraltar and offered the position of Blackwatch, Gérard had mailed his stuff (and his heart) back in a box and left him crawling back to Jack.

Jack. There wasn't much he could say about Jack mainly because everything he felt for his partner couldn't be expressed in words. They'd met back in SEP and by the time Overwatch came around he and Jack were all but platonically married; bonded from sleeping pressed together in the cold to keep warm, carrying each other off the battlefield, and talking each other down from PTSD episodes. They knew each other on what felt like a spiritual level, each movement and decision they made was made together as one. It was almost a step back to define themselves as a couple.

Then Overwatch was picked up by the UN and Jack had been named new Strike Commander which led to well… Gérard. Jack had rightfully been pissed when he found the lyrics of Gérard's favorite love song "Hymne A L'Amour" written as a final farewell delivered with Gabriel's belongings and threw quite the hissy fit over it. Gabriel would've laughed alongside Ana if he hadn't been on the verge of having a breakdown. Thankfully Jack got over it quickly and they pretended like nothing happened.

After that Overwatch and Blackwatch dominated their lives, leaving little personal time for each other. Gabriel was either on a special ops mission or Jack was held up at an international meeting. Any romantic attempts on either end were interrupted or canceled by important phone calls, sudden meetings, or emergency missions. Eventually they both stopped trying.

Gabriel could never bring himself to get rid of the song lyrics though, it was the last romantic gesture given to him and it showed he and Gérard hadn't ended on bad terms (that Gérard knew of). He shouldn't have but he kept it framed next to a picture of him and Jack at a gala, the photographer had found them both embarrassingly plastered and unabashedly holding onto each other in their drunken stupor (their heightened metabolism form the SEP kept them from getting hungover and the next morning they helped the staff clean up the mess). In hindsight it was only under Gérard on his list of worst mistakes. Jesse found out which led to Ana finding out meaning then everyone else on base was told and inevitably it reached Jack.

Gabriel buried his face in his hands. He shouldn't have guilted Jack at lunch. It wasn't intentional but he knew how Jack would work things up inside his mind and find a way to blame himself. It's not like Gabriel ever complained about the lack of romance in their lives, there were more important things to attend to and Jack would've stopped the rotation of the earth to give Gabriel a proper date and that wasn't worth the fallout from the UN. Besides, Gabriel didn't need romantic gestures. The passing looks they gave each other in the hallways, the handholding under cafeteria tables, he would gladly take those over a candlelit dinner.

Jesse knocked on his door, probably to beg his way out of punishment, except it wasn't Jesse it was- Jack? And he was apologizing? "...I'm sorry," Jack said looking ashamed. "I shouldn't have snapped at you during lunch. You're right, it's not hurting anything and I don't have the right to dictate how you care about past relationships."

Gabriel's eyes impulsively went to Gérard's fancy calligraphy which was now staring back at him with reproach. "I don't really care about Gérard," he admitted, not looking Jack in the eyes, "well not that way I just… I didn't have anything to replace it with."

"I'm sorry we're- I'm not more romantic," he could hear the guilt in Jack's voice.

"I don't care that we're not romantic Jack, because if we were, well we wouldn't be us." Gabriel got up and stood in front of Jack and wrapped his arms loosely around his boyfriend's neck, Jack pulled him closer by the waist. "Gérard- he… he ended up meaning more to me than I did to him… he acted so romantic I guess it led me to misread the situation. But his romance led to something that didn't last. We're more than romance Jack." He needed Jack to know he wasn't mad or upset.

"Is that why you just pretend to like him?" Jack's question caught him off guard.

"You noticed that?" Gabriel asked weakly.

"'Course I did, I know you Gabe, I know when something's off."

Gabriel sighed, he'd tried so hard to hide it but apparently Jack had been observant enough to notice. Of course Jack noticed, they knew everything about each other, Gabriel would be able to tell the same for Jack. "Yeah it's why. I didn't want things to be weird, it's not his fault I took something the wrong way."

"Well it's not your fault either," Jack kissed him.

"Is that why you kept us separated? And here you let Ana tell everyone you were jealous." Gabriel grinned giddily against his partner's lips.

"Well I couldn't very well tell Gérard you didn't like him, could I?" Jack teased, his blue eyes pinched with happiness.

"And you say you're not romantic, but you sacrificed your own public image for me. Sounds pretty romantic if I do say so myself." He kissed Jack back, the gesture had been so thoughtful and sincere, it meant a million times more to him than any date ever could.

Jack chuckled and pulled a folded piece of paper out of his pocket. "But um… speaking of not being romantic. Well I- I thought I'd try." He said, offering it sheepishly.

Jack's dog tags fell out when Gabriel opened it. "Jack your dog tags-" he began before catching the words- song lyrics written on the paper. ""New Year's Day?" How did you- what is this?"

"Well I- I thought I'd give you something of my own to frame. I know you love the song, always had a thing for blonde hair and blue eyes. And the dog tags- well…" Jack's whole face went red and he scratched the back of his neck the way he did when he was nervous.

Of course Jack would know what song to write. Of course Jack would know to present his dog tags and officially propose. Because only Jack knew Gabriel well enough to know about his stupid teenage crush and his favorite song off of a less susscesful album. Only Jack knew Gabriel wouldn't want a ring but Jack's dog tags around his neck (a stupid reference to another song by the same artist).

Gabriel practically ripped his own dog tags off to put them on Jack who was now laughing at him. "Te amo mi amor. Te amo Jackie, te amo." He muttered breathlessly in between kisses, Jack's dog tags now proudly hanging from his neck. "Mi alma, mi vida, mi corazón, . Te amo, te amo, te amo."

That evening before returning to their room, Gabriel removed Gérard's "Hymne A L'Amour" from the picture frame and replaced it with Jack's "New Year's Day." He'd have to remind himself no to constantly point it out to everyone in the 'pictures in the wallet' kind of way but he was that deliriously happy about it. Gabriel clutched Jack's dog tags tightly in his hand to remind himself that they were there and they were real. He'd at least have to show Ana the next time she was in his office, or maybe he'd have Jesse or Genji do it for him.