Gabe/Jack
Jack Strange was good at a lot of things, but ideas wasn't one of them.
When Jack had an idea he would categorize as “objectively brilliant,” it was usually anything but. In theory was one thing. In theory, everything was a good idea, but in practice? Not so much. Jack’s problem was that between two brains he still didn’t have much of a voice of reason, so those “objectively brilliant” ideas had a tendency to become reality, especially when he was alone. On a good day, Holly or Lucas would be around and they’d put a stop to Jack’s nonsense before it went too far.
On a not-so-good day, bear suits happened.
It all started when one of his Combat buddies texted him to ask if he was coming to Camelot’s annual Midsummer party. Jack’s response was, Hold on, it’s JUNE????? Understandably, his relationship with time was practically nonexistent thanks to his extended recovery time, but the fact that it was the summer solstice already did a number on his brain. For one, that meant he was passing the six-month mark of his scheduled recovery – a huge bummer, but at least that meant he was close to the finish line. For another, if he’d known the party was literally three days after he met Gabe Martinez, he would’ve tried to ask if the guy would be there. You know. For reasons.
In any case, he followed up with an affirmative, and then again with a Hey, wouldn’t it be funny if I showed up in a bear suit like that shitty dude in Midsommar? And that was pretty much that. People in Combat tended to enable each other into ridiculous shit before the booze was even involved, and Jack knew plenty of weirdos in LA who owed him a favor and could get him a bear suit within the hour. What could possibly go wrong?
All of which explained why he’d shown up to the party in a bear suit, but not why he stayed in it so long. At first it was funny and everybody got a good laugh out of welcoming him back in classic Jack fashion, but then it was kind of weird, and then, Jack realized way too late, it was hot. Even outside where the breeze off the lake was keeping things fairly cool, Jack was sweating buckets.
Deciding that it probably wasn’t such a good idea to get himself drunk and dehydrated on the same night, Jack finally headed back inside the castle to the out-of-the-way hall where he’d stashed his real clothes behind a suit of armor. (Jack was, fundamentally, a very lazy person.) Wearing only a white tank top and boxers, he was in the process of hopping out of the suit’s legs when he heard a familiar voice behind him and stopped mid-thigh.
So Gabe did come to the party. How ‘bout that.
Resisting the urge to grin, Jack adopted a sheepish expression as he straightened and turned to face the very attractive man who somehow managed to look even more attractive now that he wasn’t half out of his gourd. The grin on Gabe’s face made his dark eyes brighter, somehow, and it wiped away some of the heaviness Jack had seen Gabe carrying after the ignominious end to his and Matt’s mission. It also temporarily made Jack forget how ridiculous he probably looked, because if Gabe could look at him like that while Jack looked like this? He could only imagine he’d get in other, much more agreeable situations.
Jack didn’t want to imagine, though. He wanted to know. As soon as possible, preferably, but the bear suit wasn’t doing him any favors.
“Okay, so this looks bad,” Jack admitted with a laugh. “Would you believe that I lost a bet? …. With myself?” Letting the top of the suit fall from his hands to the floor, he held up his arms in the most dignified display of near-innocence that he could muster – which, all things considered, was far from innocent. His legs were still stuck inside the suit, but for the moment Jack didn’t care. He knew exactly what kind of picture this was, and he was making the most of it.
“Hey.” He pointed at Gabe suddenly as something occurred to him, his smile turning a little puckish. “Isn’t this the second time in three days you’ve seen me in my underwear?"