Work Text:
Laughter
There were many reasons that could explain the fact that Hanzo was in love with Jesse McCree. He could've made an entire book and even threatened to do so after being teased so many times by Genji. However, one of the reasons that he loved him was the sound of his laugh. Jesse was a man of many faces. He could be threatening and cold, warm and empathetic, or contemplative and thoughtful. His laughter took on many different tones depending on who he was with and what he was doing.
It was infectious, enough to make the entire dinner table burst into laughter and chuckles long after he started it. A chain reaction of twinkling eyes and dimpled cheeks, his grin bright enough to rival the sun and even softening the sharpened edges of Hanzo's resolve.
Hanzo remembered the first time he'd seen Jesse laugh. Reinhardt had just finished telling another story, far more embellished than it was when he told it the night before. The others hadn't noticed Hanzo walking into the kitchen and making strides to gather his food and leave. However, he noticed them or more importantly he noticed Jesse. The table shook as the man laughed, a deep rumbling sound like an earthquake or an avalanche, but it was so warm and him that it was hard to look away.
It was then that he noticed Jesse tended to laugh with his eyes closed. Because when they opened, those amber-brown irises were trained on him with a little incline of the head. The universal gesture for 'come closer' and Hanzo couldn't help but comply. He'd grown closer to the other members, there was no need to isolate himself, but they allowed him to take his time and come on his own. To be asked, to be wanted, was a whole new feeling.
Sometimes, he thinks that Jesse's laughter at that moment started it all but he couldn't be more wrong. Falling in love with Jesse wasn't something that happened in one sitting. It was the moments they spent on rooftops, drinking quietly and watching the stars, or talking to one another about anything and nothing at all. It was the way that his shoulders would shake when Hanzo said something he presumed was funny. Or when he'd wrap his arm around his shoulders and Hanzo enjoyed the feeling of his body shaking, racked with laughter and joy, rather then the pain that came with dredged up memories.
The vibrations when Jesse's face was against the back of his neck when those rooftop moments became intimate. When his laughter would soon die down into quiet sobs, hands clenching fistfuls of Hanzo's clothes and thanking him for the momentary reprieve from thought. Or maybe it was the moments where they'd lay in nothing at all, wrapped in blankets, talking quietly into the morning. Jesse chuckling softly as he brushed away Hanzo's hair and pressed kisses to his forehead, leaning away to look him in the eyes and grin.
Hanzo had to ask himself.
Was it his laughter that made him love Jesse McCree or the moments seared into his memory by his laughter?
"Hanzo! Help me!"
Hanzo glanced up from his place in the kitchen just as the microwave sounded. Opening it up, he took the bowl of popcorn and shut it afterwards, going to lean against the kitchen doorway as the sight in front of him unfolded. Jesse McCree was being held down by a eight year old child with a hat too big for their head. The man held his hands up and looked aghast as the child's finger guns was pointed directly at him.
"Oh darlin', I'm glad you're here," Jesse cried. "Give 'im what he wants or else he's gonna shoot!"
Resisting the urge to roll his eyes, the child in question turned his sights on Hanzo and pointed his finger guns. Hanzo glanced down at the popcorn in his hands then shifted the bowl to one and held up the other, feigning surprise. The child seemed appeased and grinned, a crooked smile that made the corners of Hanzo's mouth twitch upwards. He set the popcorn in the boy's open hands and watched as he ran off to plop down on the couch, leaving enough space for the two of them. Jesse slowly sat up and gave Hanzo a grin.
"Good thinkin' darlin, thought I was a goner."
"Seems you were outdrawn, cowboy."
Jesse stared at him for a second and then after a beat, he laughed.
He laughed for an entire minute and Hanzo felt himself falling in love all over again.