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Requested by: @PhoebePhoenixine
Jack Morrison: Soldier 76
Jesse McCree: McCree
<~> Jack Morrison <~>
Jack checked around the corner of one of the many skyscrapers, prepared to fire his gun if needed, but he couldn't see any hostiles, so he turned and waved the rest of the Overwatch agents forwards. They crept along the side of the building and Jack noticed that all of them were tensed and ready for battle; this area was dangerous. In fact, it was only safe for the most skilled of agents, which is why only a select few had been assigned to go, including Ana, Jesse, Genji, and Y/N, who always made Jack's heart flutter when he saw her.
Suddenly, there was a noise, and Jack immediately held up his hand to bring everyone to a stop. He listened intently, and the silence was like a heavy blanket over him, pressing in on his ears and making him crave something loud. Then another sound, a clattering noise, could be heard up ahead. Jack crept forwards, still holding his hand up to keep the others in place. He raised his gun, and as he abruptly turned around the corner, he could see where the noise was coming from; a group of Talon agents patrolling the streets and not bothering to stay quiet.
He pulled the trigger on his weapon, sending a burst of three bright blue helix rockets at the agents. They barely turned around in time to see them approaching, and then the street erupted in an explosions of flame and flying debris. Jack knew that this would attract attention from all enemies in the city, but he was prepared for a fight and he hoped that the rest of the team was as well. They had run to him when he'd fired the rockets, and were all crowded together.
"They'll be here soon. We need to spread out and prepare." He commanded.
The agents nodded, and all dispersed in different directions, with Genji scaling the wall of the nearest building and vaulting onto the roof to get a better vantage point. Everyone stood in silence for a few moments, waiting and listening for any signs of oncoming hostiles.
Suddenly, there was a shout from above, coming from Genji, followed by the sounds of gunfire. A group of Talon soldiers clad in black rounded the corner of a nearby building, and immediately opened fire on the Overwatch agents. Jack leapt into action, downing enemies as he fired his gun, reloading it constantly and then shooting again. The fight seemed to be going well, and Jack turned around just for a moment to see how his team was doing. When he saw what was happening though, his heart began to pound with fear.
Y/N was frozen in place, her breath coming in ragged gasps, and her eyes terrified as she looked around, her hands over her ears and her body shaking slightly. Jack immediately ran to her, not knowing exactly what was going on, but he had to make sure that she was alright. None of the other Overwatch agents seemed to be witnessing this, as they were all locked in combat with the oncoming waves of Talon soldiers.
"Y/N!" Jack said, putting his hand on her shoulder and understanding that being rough with her most likely wouldn't help in this situation. Then he realized what this could be, this was most likely a PTSD attack. But he had never known that she had that. "It's alright."
He guessed that this had been triggered by the gunshots, and wanted to do anything that he could to comfort her, even if it meant putting himself in danger.
"It's alright." He said one more time, even though they were still in the middle of a raging battle. "I'll get you out of here." He promised, aware that she couldn't hear him at all, but still feeling the need to say it.
He made a split second decision, noticing that the Overwatch agents who were fighting were beginning to lose the battle with the Talon operatives and were being pushed together into a tight clump. "Retreat!" He shouted. "Get back to the ship!"
The Overwatch members turned back to back, defending the group from all angles and slowly began to make their way down the street in the direction of the ship. Jack looked up, an idea forming in his head and saw Genji shooting down shurikens into the crowd of enemies.
"Genji!" He shouted, Y/N's safety still his primary concern. "Come get Y/N! Bring her to safety!"
Genji jumped down from the roof, doing a flip before he landed. He scooped up Y/N in his arms, looking confused as to why she wasn't doing anything, but then ran away from the group, kicking off the wall and jumping over the heads of the Talon agents and sprinting straight to the ship. Jack felt a twinge of envy as he saw Genji carrying Y/N bridal style, even though he was fairly certain that she didn't return his feelings, but he couldn't block out his jealousy.
<~><~>
Jack wandered through the Overwatch base, simply observing the agents as they either talked or headed towards the training grounds. He didn't have anything to do right now, so settled to go and train with the rest of them. With his gun in hand, he headed out to the grounds, listening to the bang of guns and clanking of steel as several people trained. He walked over to one of the basic shooting ranges, and took aim before unloading round after round of bullets into one of the training dummies.
As he shot, his thoughts drifted away from his current activity and back to Y/N. He'd never experienced a PTSD attack himself, but he'd heard plenty about them, and he could hardly bring himself to think about how much fear she must've been going through at that moment. He couldn't let that happen again.
I will protect her. He swore to himself. I can't let anything terrible happen to her. No... I won't let anything terrible happen to her her.
With this, he lowered his gun, and swiftly left the training grounds and headed towards the hospital. He needed to see Y/N, to make sure that she was okay and that she'd recovered. It had only been a few hours since the battle, and no one had suffered any severe injuries, so it had ended up alright, even though they had lost. Normally that would've bothered him greatly, he didn't like to lose to Talon, but he knew that he'd called the retreat because he needed to protect Y/N.
Soon, he reached the hospital and entered, only seeing one person in a hospital bed, and at the sight of her, sleeping soundly, his heart jumped slightly. He didn't think that she needed to be in the hospital for a PTSD attack, but guessed that it was just a precaution because it had occurred in the middle of battle.
Sitting there, watching her, he realized that he hadn't found someone that he truly cared about in this way in many, many years.
He walked over to her bed, and stood next to it, unsure of what exactly to do. "Y/N." He murmured, touching her arm softly.
Her eyes fluttered open, and a small smile spread across her face. "Jack." She said quietly.
"Are you alright?" He asked, his rough voice sounding soft somehow.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Then she seemed to recall what exactly had happened in the battle. "Wait... Did you call a retreat? For me? Did we lose because of me?"
Jack hesitated over his answer, unsure of what exactly to tell her, but decided to go with the truth. "Yes, I did call a retreat, but not just because of you. We were being pushed back anyways."
"I'm so sorry, Jack." She said, closing her eyes and sighing. "I caused us to lose."
"No." He insisted, but couldn't resist asking her another question. "Why didn't you tell me that you had PTSD?"
"B-Because, um, I, uh, I don't know." She stumbled over her words. "I didn't want to worry anyone, I guess."
"You could've gotten hurt." Jack said, a hint of anger in his voice, even though he didn't really have a reason to be mad. "I'm your Strike-Commander, I'm in charge of keeping everyone safe, and that includes you. If you'd had an attack in a fight and I didn't see, you could've gotten killed."
Jack sighed, deciding that he needed some time to think about it, then touched her arm softly before leaving the hospital without another word.
<~><~>
It had been three days since the battle with Talon, and Jack had gone about his days as he would normally; training and planning on how to strike back at Talon, while also speaking with several of the Overwatch agents individually. Yet he still hadn't talked to Y/N again, and only saw her when she was walking around the headquarters. He supposed that this was alright, because he got the sense that she was a little angry at him, most likely because he'd gotten mad about her not telling him about her PTSD.
He was wandering around in the main area of the base today, observing those around him and watching the screens in the control room that were flashing up images of events occurring around the world. Some of the agents were talking to each other inside the room, pointing to the computer screens and looking slightly alarmed, Jack considered going in there but figured that they would contact him if they needed help.
Then he was distracted by a certain someone walking through the room. "Y/N!" He called to her, swiftly walking in her direction and coming up beside her as she stopped, looking at him with sad eyes. "I'm sorry, I didn't intend to get mad at you, I just... I just want to keep you safe."
She opened her mouth to respond, but then her face paled and her eyes focused on something behind Jack. He turned around, immediately on guard, and saw that Jesse had pulled out his revolver and was aiming it at Genji, a smirk on his face. Jack automatically knew that he was just messing around, but this wasn't good. He turned back to Y/N, who seemed like she might be having another attack, but a more mild one.
She was very pale, and frozen in place once more, with her eyes wide and hands quivering slightly. "Hey. I'm here." Jack tried to reassure her. "It's alright, nothings wrong. They're just messing around. I'm here. I'll keep you safe."
He stepped forwards and embraced her, hoping that his strong form would be enough to calm her down. He wrapped his arms around her, and just held her, while the shaking slowly stopped and she seemed to regain her composure. She still clung to him though, burying her face in his shoulder. He stroked her hair comfortingly, liking the physical contact.
"You alright?" He asked again, and she nodded breathlessly, and he thought that he might've seen a single tear slide down her cheek. Feeling anger surge through him, he stepped away from her and whirled on Jesse. "What do you think you're doing?" He growled. "You shouldn't have that out in here."
"All fun and games." Jesse said with a shrug, putting his revolver back in its holster anyways.
"Maybe for you, but not for others." Jack said, stepping towards the cowboy.
"Jack, it's alright." He heard Y/N's voice behind him, but he couldn't forgive Jesse for putting her through that pain and fear. At least not yet. "Jack."
"You. Cannot. Do. That." He said to Jesse, his voice raising slightly in anger. "What would've happened if you ha-"
"Jack! Please!" Y/N pleaded. "It's alright. It really is."
"But what if something worse had happened." He responded, not turning around. "I won't let him put you through any more pain and fear, just because he's a damn fool!"
Then he turned around and found Y/N storming away, her footsteps echoing throughout the room. Deciding to go after her, he shot one last glare at Jesse, before following. Unsure of why exactly she'd left, he guessed that it was because she was upset about him yelling at Jesse, but he deserved it. That was unsafe for others, not to mention it scared Y/N.
She walked through the hallways for a little bit, before Jack caught up to her and put a hand on her shoulder. She whirled around and looked at him through narrowed eyes.
"What?" She demanded.
"Please don't be mad at me." He pleaded, it wasn't often that he begged like this. "Please."
"You yelled at him for no reason."
"I was only trying to protect you." He insisted. "I can't let people get away with causing you pain like that."
"But I told you to stop!"
"I was trying to keep you safe! I wanted to make sure that he got what he deserved for doing that to you!"
"But you didn't need to!"
"Yes, I did! I'm trying to protect you! I can't watch that happen to you, I care for you way too much, and I haven't liked anyone like that in a while! I can't help but want to keep you safe!" He said in the heat of the moment, and then he realized his mistake. He'd just admitted that he'd liked her. What if that ruined their friendship?
She looked down, also realizing what he'd said, and blushed a bright shade of red. "Jack." She said, obviously a little bit flustered at his comment. "I-I don't know what to say."
He ran his hands through his hair, cursing himself for saying something so foolish. He was absolutely certain that this would break them apart. But he couldn't take back his words now.
Slowly, he reached up and took off his red visor, setting it down on the ground near his feet. For some reason, he believed that showing her his real face would make his apology seem more sincere, and that it might be able to establish some sort of trust and friendship between them once again.
"Y/N." He said with a sigh. "I didn't mean to fluster you. I'm sorry."
"Jack..." She trailed off, searching for the right words to say as she just watched him.
All of the sudden, he felt a sudden urge, and although he was scared, he acted upon this desire. Pulling her closer, he captured her lips with his, not quite knowing what would happen, but doing it anyways. She was tense at first, surprised and unsure what to do, but slowly she relaxed and returned the kiss, much to Jack's delight. He pulled away from her.
"Jack... I don't know what to say." She said, and for a moment he was scared again, but she didn't look bothered at all by what had just happened, just slightly surprised and even joyful. "I-I..."
He cut her off with another kiss which lasted for a few blissful seconds.
I'll always protect you, Y/N. He promised himself. I'll always be there for you.
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