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Jesse walked down a second-story hall of the base that Overwatch had recently set up. There wasn’t much use for the upper floor yet with the ground floor being so expansive. But he had headed up to see Hanzo, who had quickly claimed one of the few suitable areas for a bedroom up there. His habit of distancing himself from people displayed in where he slept, too. But Jesse wasn’t the sort to be deterred by hints to back off, especially with Hanzo.
He hadn’t seen him since breakfast, when he had hardly gotten any conversation out of him. Granted, that wasn’t necessarily out of the ordinary, but after not running into him at all after that, looking around for him seemed appropriate. There was talk about Overwatch agents being in the area, so everyone was laying low for a while in the base. Despite not having Overwatch history, Hanzo was included in that, so he must have been around somewhere. Jack had delivered the news that he had seen him heading to his room earlier, looking sick. But Angela had overheard and quickly cut in that he had caught a virus and needed to be alone in case it spread easily.
But it was already past dinner time and Hanzo hadn’t even come down for that. So Jesse headed up to see if he could get him anything or help him out in any other way. Plus, a sick, needy Hanzo sounded really cute and he didn’t want to miss this golden opportunity to see it. He reached his door near the end of the hall and knocked. After a long, silent pause, he tried again.
“Hanzo? It’s me. How ya doin’ in there?” he called. Hanzo’s room was one of the larger ones in the facility, actually being a couple of connected storage rooms. But it wasn’t so big that he wouldn’t be able to hear Jesse, so he was probably asleep. Jesse tried the door handle, finding it locked. It didn’t take much to unlock it with his skill set, however, and soon he was easing the door open. But with a push from the other side and a loud BAM, it shut back up.
“Wha-hey, I’m just checking up on you! Doc says you’re sick, I’m droppin' in.”
An awkward silence stretched on.
Hanzo could definitely lack politeness when he got in one of his moods, but this was ridiculous. Yes, Jesse had tried to barge in on him when he locked himself away from everyone, but there was no need to be rude in response, surely? Jesse was starting to realize that him doting on a sick Hanzo might not earn him points in Hanzo’s eyes and might be a big chore instead. He steadied himself and heaved the door open. On the other side, a large flash of fur and teeth jumped and growled and pushed against the door.
“What the sh-!” Jesse exclaimed, jumping back and letting the door slam shut again. That was a dog. A dog in Hanzo’s room. Why was there a dog in Hanzo’s room? Jesse took a moment to collect his thoughts, but there weren’t many to collect. He was just confused. He got down and tried to peek through the door crack. There were big paws and a furry butt sitting on the ground just behind the door. Peeking in hadn’t told him anything he didn’t already witness, but it seemed to solidify the situation.
“Hanzo?! Hey Hanzo!” Jesse called again loudly, not that the dog was making much noise that Hanzo would have to hear over. But he still got no response.
“Dang it,” he muttered. He quietly put a hand on the door handle again. He let out a friendly whistle trying to see if the dog could be reasoned with. All he got was a huffy low growl in response. He thought about it and gave shoving the door open one last try, to no avail, before starting back down the hall. There were a couple of things that might’ve been going on, but he wasn’t going to find out which it was until he got that door open. Maybe there was something in the kitchen he could bribe the canine away from the door with.
He turned the corner to head down the stairs when he met up with Dr. Ziegler carrying up a food tray. She had stepped so quietly he hadn’t heard her coming up. She was very surprised to see him there, as evident by the shocked expression and obvious pause as she assessed the situation.
“Hey,” he started.
“You really shouldn’t be up here you know; you don’t want to get sick. Not before a mission!” she reasoned.
“Uh-huh,” he said slowly, watching her. She pursed her lips a little and gave him a determined stare, but there was a nervousness about her look that said there was more going on than she was admitting. Jesse had known Angela for a long time now. She was very good with her job, and very good at dealing with patients. Hardly anything seemed to sway her when it came to her work. But right now she seemed…swayed.
“There’s a big dog in there,” Jesse tried. Angela watched him carefully back.
“I like dogs,” she replied. That was a stupid response, and Jesse could practically see Angela kicking herself in her mind for not coming up with something better. Jesse reached out and held onto the tray, which he’d noticed upon first seeing it only had a large rare steak on it.
“What kinda dogs do you like?” Jesse dug. Angela sighed and glanced in the direction of the door anxiously. At that point there wasn’t any playing pretend that Jesse didn’t have an idea of what was going on. “I have experience with werewolves, Miss Angela,” he explained gently. She looked back at him, surprised to hear that. “I can help out,” he added, trying to take the tray from her.
“No, no,” she reasoned in a quiet but sure tone, pulling back on the tray, “It was hard enough getting him to tell me what was going on, he doesn’t want people knowing and being involved.”
“I can just say I brought it up myself anyway. Besides, we’re dealing with an unpredictable wolf right now, not a man. It’s probably safer if I deal with him than someone he knows less.”
It might’ve been a little mean to play off Angela’s fear of werewolves, but it was also very true, and it’s what got her to give up the tray and head downstairs. Jesse went back to the door and set the food down right in front of it. He knelt down for a minute, letting the smell permeate. The great paws started pacing on the other side of the door after the smell started getting to Hanzo. After Jesse heard a small whine and pawing at the door, he went ahead and nudged the door open. A nose poked through the crack. He steeled himself up holding the handle tightly, and in a quick motion shoved the door open enough to kick the tray in and yanked the barrier between him and the hungry werewolf back shut. A raucous scene broke out behind the door of hungry snarls and meat tearing and excited yips. It only lasted a few minutes, but Hanzo made the most out of the meat, at one point sounding like he’d flung it partway across the room before attacking it again. Jesse smiled and wondered how annoyed Hanzo was going to be tomorrow when he rediscovered the mess.
Jesse was leaning back against the door, listening carefully. It sounded like Hanzo had finished eating a couple minutes ago, but he was still worked up. He paced around the room panting and made a quick dash or two in between the room with his bed and the one that led out.
Jesse wanted to try something. It wasn’t a smart idea, but he wasn’t known for being smart, he was known for being daring. His experiences with the only other werewolf he’d known, one of the men in Deadlock, told him to stay away from Hanzo when the full moon was out. He was an absolute menace when he transformed. He had to skip town every full moon, so it’d gotten out pretty fast in the group what was up with him. In one mission that got out of control, he had stayed around and ended up causing a blood bath, luckily mostly made up of who they were taking on.
But Jesse also knew from the little he’d been explained about werewolves that they weren’t all that out of control. And considering Hanzo had apparently considered his bedroom in the base a suitable place to transform, which had only a normal door keeping him from everyone, he seemed to have a much less aggressive mood than Jesse had known the other werewolf to.
So he wanted to go inside. Hanzo hadn’t wanted him to for fear of him finding out his secret, but it didn’t matter if Jesse had figured it out anyway. Hanzo would surely give him an earful tomorrow, whatever was about to happen, but curiosity had the better of Jesse.
He readied himself at the door. Hanzo was racing around inside again, meaning the door wasn’t guarded. Getting to eat must have pulled the wolf side more out of Hanzo considering how worked up he had gotten. But he wasn’t growling anymore, if anything he sounded like he was playing. Still not back to his normal self, but luckily not in a mood to maim everything he sees. Hopefully.
He steeled himself, and opened the door. Hanzo bound into the room and froze when he saw Jesse. Jesse watched back and took a small step forward, closing the door behind him. A long pause passed by. Hanzo was big. How big were normal wolves? He certainly didn’t seem like a normal-sized canine. His ears were alert and his stare didn’t break. If the lycanthropy took hold too much, Jesse was pretty sure he was about to get his throat ripped out.
“It’s alright,” he said in a low voice, trying to calm Hanzo. After another moment, Hanzo leaned back and pawed at the air, letting out an annoyed chuff. Jesse cracked a grin and took a step forward.
“You doin’ alright, darlin’?” he asked. Hanzo acted antsy. “It’s just me.”
He stepped forward again. Hanzo bent forward and bared his teeth and growled.
“Hey, hey, none of that now. We’re all safe here, I’m here for ya.”
Jesse knelt down and slowly reached out. Hanzo growled again. It was really unclear whether it was the wolf taking control or if Hanzo was trying to berate Jesse.
“Hanzo, you gotta work with me here, bud. Lemme know I’m safe right now.”
The werewolf before him stared at him, but seemed to mull it over, drooping his head down with his eyes still fixated on Jesse.
He didn’t come closer, but he let out another breathy chuff. That seemed to be some sort of confirmation.
Jesse inched closer.
“So when were ya planning on telling me about yer little secret, hon? It’s somethin’ I’d have to find out about at some point.”
Hanzo didn’t answer, but he sat down.
Jesse sat down too and rested his elbows on his knees.
“Your secret’s safe with me, Hanzo,” he whispered. He’d never thought of a werewolf being able to be cute before. It wasn’t likely that Hanzo would let him pet him, but he was very fluffy. A minute or so passed by in comfortable silence. Hanzo settled down and looked more comfortable with Jesse’s presence.
Jesse glanced around at the messy floor. There was a leftover steak bone near him. It wasn’t the most considerate idea, but he went ahead and quietly reached out and picked it up. He kept an eye on Hanzo, who was relaxed in front of him still, and with a quick flick sent the bone flying into the adjacent room. Hanzo’s head jerked up and followed the bone’s direction. Jesse grinned, only to be met with Hanzo turning back and his eyelids lowering into an offended glare. That was a very Hanzo expression. He stood up and paced into the other room, clearly unamused by Jesse’s playing.
“Aww, Darlin’,” Jesse followed after him, still smiling, “I was just teasing~.”
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Jesse gently came out of a dream that he felt slipping away from him already. He lay on the makeshift bed in Hanzo’s room, a mattress resting on storage crates. Some of the crates weren’t the same size and caused the bed to tilt to one side slightly. The sheets and blankets had a familiar scent.
It must have been morning by now. Jesse didn’t feel the unrest in his muscles from a bad night’s sleep. He looked over at Hanzo, who had changed back sometime after they’d drifted off. He was facing away, mostly uncovered during his sleep for once. Especially considering the nudity involved in transformation. His dark hair spread out under him, looking soft and inviting even in the mediocre room lighting. Jesse ran a hand down his spine lightly, careful not to wake him. Hanzo was a light sleeper, but he wanted to let him rest for a while longer.