Jack nodded along as Gabe spoke, somehow managing to keep his eyes on Gabe’s face while he stretched his whole body out. For once, what the object of Jack’s attraction was saying outweighed the attraction himself, if only because the picture Gabe painted in so few strokes was a pretty familiar one.
Between Clint’s experience with the Avengers and Jack’s with Camelot, they knew Gabe’s type. Everyone in Camelot had to believe in the cause to join so Jack had no doubt about Gabe’s motivations there, but it took a certain kind of person to be in Combat – and to stay in Combat after a loved one died doing the very same thing you did. Sometimes that took the fight right out of people, other times it made them all the more dedicated. Which sometimes also translated to living for the fight instead of fighting to live.
In the Avengers (New, Mighty, Young, Basic, or otherwise), that made for a handful of heroes who were broken inside. In Camelot, apparently it made for people like Gabe. There was a hell of a lot inside that “not much to stick around for” which made Jack curious, because once upon a time he’d thought that himself. His own family was a bad joke right from the start, full of everything from the mentally ill to the downright murderous. The only one worth keeping was Holly, but back when Jack joined Camelot, her asshole dad was still alive and more than willing to fulfill his lethal promises if Jack ever tried to contact her. Jack had nothing to lose by joining Camelot except his borderline worthless life, and that didn’t seem like a terribly high price back then.
Things were different now, thank god. Holly wasn’t just the only good person in his family but his only family period; all the others were dead or in the wind. Between her and the fact that he was getting older and recovering from his stupid, reckless injuries took futzing forever now, he was actively starting to consider maybe trying a little harder not to get hurt so often. Weird how that happened.
Jack didn’t know who Gabe might or might not have in his life (though “not much to stick around for” definitely also meant “not married,” which was a plus). Either way, Jack felt for the guy. Like, real, actual feelings of sympathy and not those other things that were driving him to distraction. Yeah, he knew Gabe’s type. Wasn’t so long ago that he’d been in a similar spot.
But it just wasn’t until Gabe brought Matt back into the conversation that Gabe’s whole deal clicked fully into place.
“Oh, I get it,” Jack piped up with a bright smile. “You’re his Natasha. Or my Lucas,” he added as an afterthought, then quickly blew past the mention of his former (and current, technically) partner for fear of giving the wrong impression, “but you wouldn’t know him so I’ll stick with Nat. You know, best friend-slash-partner type, except you’re the silent but deadly one who’s always cleaning up after the devilishly-handsome-but-also-kind-of-dumb one’s messes.”
Jack smiled, not a little proudly, and gave Gabe a wave. “Hi, I’m the dumb one.”