Work Text:
“My feet are gonna be covered in blisters, Zen.”
Zenyatta heaved a long-suffering sigh, or at least the robotic equivalent. “You don’t have feet.”
“Yes I do! And they hurt!” Though Genji was wearing his visor, his voice still made it clear that he was pouting behind it. “Just because I’m mostly metal doesn’t mean I’m not still soft and sensitive.”
“Certainly. On the inside.”
While Genji groaned like a child being dragged out of a candy store, Jesse adjusted his daypack and took a long draught from his water bottle. “We’re three miles in, Genji. You’re usually the lightest on those feet outta anyone I know.”
“I don’t think he’s every genuinely ‘roughed it,’ as you say,” Hanzo muttered from beside him.
“I have,” sputtered Genji. “What did you think I did post-Blackwatch? Floated around on luxury cruises?”
Jesse snorted, glanced at Hanzo, and both of them answered in unison, “Yes.”
Though he deflated even more at his friends’ teasing, Zenyatta’s cool hand on his shoulder perked Genji up again. He turned to look at his teacher, quizzical, and then smiled at the reassuring tilt of the omnic’s head.
They’d been growing close to Jesse’s ideal campsite for a few minutes, and as they crested a ridge and started down into a more sparsely vegetated area, the cowboy put his hands on his hips and proclaimed himself ready to settle down. Hanzo didn’t stop walking until he ran into Jesse’s elbow, which looked entirely purposeful from Genji’s angle. “So. Who’s ready to help me with this tent?” Jesse chirped.
“Just the one…?” grumbled Genji, already glaring between his brother and his best friend. He was not mentally prepared to sleep in the same space as the two of them, even with his own… love interest to distract him.
“Satya and Fareeha have another one. They’ll set it up once they get here.” The two women had come home from a mission the day before, so they decided to sleep in before joining the camping expedition. “Besides, I got a tarp and some blankets, and my friendly local space-heatin’ dragon man, so I’m good out under the stars.”
Genji crinkled his nose and tried to walk slower so that he couldn’t hear his best friend’s sappiness. “Well, that’s. Good for you, Jesse. Please don’t refer to my brother as a space heater in front of me.”
“Agreed,” Hanzo muttered.
They were halfway through assembling the tent by the time Genji realized that he was going to end up alone in a tent with Zenyatta, which left him flustered and blushing under his mask as he struggled to hide his nervous energy. It had been a month since Genji’s genuine feelings toward his mentor had come bubbling out of his mouth, and since Zenyatta had returned those feelings in kind. They weren’t dating, per se, even though most of their teammates considered that to be the case. Even before the mutual confession, they had spent most of their time together, usually touching or at least in close proximity, and that hadn’t changed. As he agonized over the possibility of ticks or mosquitoes making their way into the flesh parts of his body (virtually impossible as it was), Genji worried just as much over being alone—sleeping alone—with his… boyfriend. That was okay. They’d decided on that word. When Genji had been fighting to heal in Nepal, they’d spent nights together, usually just so that the soft glow of Zenyatta’s forehead array could keep him grounded and prevent him from rampaging, but this would be the first night they’d spent together now that they were, well, together.
He wasn’t surprised when Hanzo caught onto his apprehension and pulled him aside, while Jesse and Zenyatta struggled with the longest of the tentpoles and nearly stabbed each other with it. “If you’re not comfortable sleeping with Zenyatta when the rest of us are here, you do not have to. I don’t think he would mind staying outside.”
“I—sleeping with? I hope you’re not—”
“No, Genji, that’s not what I meant,” Hanzo interrupted, shaking his head with wide eyes. “I meant that I could trade places with Zenyatta. If you’d like. As much as I love Jesse, I also love sleeping with a roof over my head.”
For a moment, Genji almost considered it, and then felt a strange flux of emotions in response. First of all, he was delighted that he was able to trust his brother enough that sharing a tent, just the two of them, felt safe. Then, he realized that he did very much want to sleep with Zenyatta, at least in the more literal sense. In his early post-Blackwatch days, he remembered feeling like Zenyatta, while unfamiliar and even scary at times, was the only true source of safety in his life. Every touch was jarring and miraculous at the same time. It had taken years for Genji to get to the point where anyone could touch him without making him jump, but his body had acclimated perfectly well to the feeling of metal fingertips gracing his shoulders, his back, sometimes his face. While Genji didn’t miss his dependence on Zenyatta at that time, he did occasionally miss the feeling that every touch was a revolution between himself and his experiences. And with the way their relationship had turned, that feeling was coming back.
Most of all, however, Genji was filled with mischief as Hanzo shuffled in front of him. “Oh, Hanzo,” he laughed, “a night in the open air will do you some good, yes? Plus, how else will you and Jesse prove you’re tougher than me?”
“I don’t know, Genji. Did I not already prove it to be true when a slug crawled up your ankle and you screamed, or…?”
Genji sighed and stomped away before Hanzo could continue his teasing. Of course, that wasn’t the end of his misery. Every detail of camping was miserable, as far as the cyborg was concerned—his armor overheating in the sun, insects buzzing too close to his auditory receptors, eating Jesse’s refried beans and stale rice around a fire that put out too much smoke for his taste. Fareeha and Satya were two of Genji’s favorite people, but even they could get irritating once they decided to invent campfire songs about how their teammates irritated them on missions. Thankfully, they went to bed before they could harass Genji too much, leaving him and Zenyatta alone in their tent.
Despite his paranoid instincts telling him to be ready for battle at any time, Genji removed the outer plating of his armor and bundled himself in a massive sleeping bag before laying on the floor of the tent, facing Zenyatta. Moments passed in silence before Zenyatta floated gently to the ground to nestle in next to Genji.
“Camping is the actual worst,” mumbled Genji, shuffling closer to rest his head in Zenyatta’s lap. His visor was already off, and Zenyatta didn’t waste a second before running his smooth, cool fingers through his boyfriend’s hair. “And I’m—I’m sorry I’ve been kinda awkward about this. About us.”
“Your actions have all been understandable, Genji. I’m only glad that you feel comfortable now.”
Genji sighed into Zenyatta’s knee. “I spent years training myself to believe that love was out of the question for me. Not even just ‘I’m gonna die alone’ and all that, but that it wasn’t even a possibility. So wh-when our friends expect us to act all romantic and lovey like they do, it’s like they’re pulling me back into this weird world where I’m actually… like them.”
Blue light pulsed in a slow rhythm from Zenyatta’s forehead and illuminated the conflict on Genji’s face. “It took you years to reconcile and understand your own humanity. Smaller facets such as this must be difficult as well.”
“Hm.”
“Besides,” whispered Zenyatta, “humanity is not very important in terms of love. I can assure you that the feeling is just as strong for omnics.”
A shiver wracked Genji’s spine, and he buried his face in Zenyatta’s pants to hide how he blushed at the quiet admission. As he started to get comfortable at last, however, his brother’s voice floated into the tent, followed by a sound from McCree that was… less than desirable to Genji’s ears.
“I take back everything I said earlier,” moaned Genji. “Camping can get worse, because those two can’t keep their fucking mouths shut.”
Zenyatta’s laugh made up for the awkwardness.