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There was a time when Jesse and Hanzo did not like each other. It made sense really, one was loud and could be obnoxious, the other preferred quiet and gave off an aura of strictness. When they met formally, they seemed to square each other up, Jesse thinking that there was no way this man could play the kind of guitar that his roommate said he could, and Hanzo thought that the other man couldn’t have the discipline to keep the beat and become the backbone of their set.
In other words, Jesse was too much a free spirit, while Hanzo had a stick up his ass.
The two were civil though, they were both there for Genji and attempting to create this pipe dream they collective talked about from when they were all children.
One day, it was just Jesse and Hanzo that were waiting for the others to arrive. Jesse was there first, as it was his parents’ garage, but Hanzo was second: always punctual and on time. Genji was gathering the others and both knew that the trio probably got distracted by food, especially if Hana was coming from one of her streams.
The two were quiet, passing general pleasantries while waiting, before things fell into an awkward silence. Well, it wouldn’t be awkward, however Jesse pointed it out, and made it infinitely moreso.
So Hanzo did what he normally did when waiting for Genji: he started playing.
It surprised Jesse at first, as he was half expecting the other to be focused on scales and strict beats, but the more he played, the more it seemed like he didn’t know where he was going, he just wanted to play.
At some point, Jesse felt like it needed something, that and he didn’t want to get left behind, so he too started playing. This didn’t startle Hanzo, per say, but the other did jump a bit in place but kept playing.
Before long, Hanzo had a smirk on his face, while Jesse chuckled. They kept going and going, trying to out play each other, impress the other, but most times created almost something that could pass for a song. They were so focused on trying to impress the other that they didn’t notice when Genji, Hana, and Lucio arrived.
Lucio immediately took out his phone and began recording, getting a good minute or so before Genji leaned on the side of the garage and made a sound. Both Hanzo and Jesse stopped immediately, surprised out of their almost game. The two saw the phone as Lucio wheeled forward and would have flushed if they weren’t already a little red from playing so enthusiastically.
The track would eventually become the first song on their album as a sort of prelude.
---
Time passed and they each developed a different relationship with each other. Hana reminded Hanzo so much of Genji when they were a child, it was easy for him to continue that role. Even though there was much more teasing, he knew that his relationship with his sibling was infinitely better than before and they talked more than they did when they were home. His relationship with Lucio was at first awkward, but he found the man was great at working with numbers and music and they both became the person the other would turn to if they were stuck.
Then there was Jesse.
With Jesse, he felt like he could let go around him. Tell him what was on his mind, and he’d be able to understand his meaning. He’d taken to speaking to him when the others were asleep and when it was found out that he had a love for not just old samurai movies, but westerns of all kinds, the two started watching as many as they could find when it was late and insomnia struck.
This discovery happened though, because of a misunderstanding. One they both laughed about later but at the time, was incredibly embarrassing.
Jesse had finally worked up the guts to ask Hanzo out. He had a great respect for the man, and after getting to know him, found him attractive both in body and personality.
“Yah know, spring break is comin’ up an’ we got a little time off for the band too, what say you and me go someplace special, just the two of us?” he asked.
“The two of us?” Hanzo smiled softly, looking away. “How do you know the kids won’t follow and join us somehow under the pretense of they owe us food or something.”
Jesse laughed and played along. While the two weren’t that much older than Hana, Genji, and Lucio, they saw them as a second family. And with that, it became a running, but loving joke, that the two of them were their parents. “Aw shucks, darlin’ I bet I could convince my parents to keep ‘em busy! Yah know they love fuckin’ with everyone.”
“I had wondered where you got your tendency for dramatics from but we spent one holiday there,” snorted Hanzo. “Genji is still not sure if your father, Gabriel, is actually real.”
“They’re only like that with y’all! I swear they ain’t that weird!” a pause. “Normally.”
Hanzo laughed and the two settled into silence again. Though Jesse began to squirm, Hanzo hadn’t actually answered him.
“Uh, darlin’?” he asked.
“Hm?”
“You uh, gonna answer my first question?”
Hanzo’s face was blank before he realized and flushed, “Oh! I apologize, I would like that, but I would like to know your intentions? Is this just a friendly outing or...uhm...well...a date?”
Jesse spluttered, “A-a friendly outing? No, Han, sweetheart, honeybee.” He sighed and leaned into Hanzo just a little. When the man didn’t pull away, he continued.
“I ain’t sure if I haven’t been that obvious or anythin’ but I’ve been pinin’ for yah somethin’ awful since we played together that first time,” he paused. “I wanna take yah on a date, be somethin’ more, be your huckleberry or somethin’.”
Hanzo smiles and leaned into Jesse a bit more but stopped, confused.
“‘Be your huckleberry’, why would you choose that idiom of all things?”
“Yah know, be your man, that sorta thing.”
“That’s...not what that means.”
“What? ‘Course that’s what it means!”
“No I mean, the meaning you are aiming for. It means that you are the man I am looking to challenge. Unless you still wish to verse me somehow? I thought I had proven superior with our last competition.”
Jesse sat up and jokingly glared, “Now hold on. We both agreed it was a tie. Plus, yah can’t go around sayin’ guitar is superior or drums are superior it’s apples an’ oranges! An’ I ain’t lookin’ for another challenge!”
“I had figured that much out, Jesse,” Hanzo replied, a small smile forming on his face. “But normally the phrase means that ‘I am the man you are looking for’, and usually in response to a threat.”
“What?! No I didn’t mean-” Jesse stopped and glanced at Hanzo curiously.
“How’d’ya know that?” he asked.
Hanzo floundered a little and muttered, “I-it was in a movie I saw.”
“...a movie.”
“Yes a movie that I may have watched a year or two ago it’s no big deal.”
“No big deal?” Jesse had a small grin on his face.
“I...okay I,” Hanzo refused to look up at Jesse’s face. “I watched one western. And it was pretty good, so I watched more westerns and more and I found I kind of like watching westerns. They are incredibly informative when it comes to western culture and they somewhat help me understand what you’re saying most of the time.”
Jesse didn’t respond.
Hanzo’s hands shot up and started to wave around in some sort of explanation.
“There was also one based on my favorite samurai movie, and I enjoyed it quite a bit, though more the remake and there were more in a similar vein that I was curious and before I knew it I’d spent an entire weekend watching nothing but westerns and gotten none of the work I meant to get done and I couldn’t stop even though some of them were absolutely terrible but--why are you looking at me like that?!”
Hanzo had finally chanced a glance at McCree’s face and saw that he had the biggest grin, with his cheeks puffed out like he was trying to hold back a laugh. His face flushed a deeper red in both anger and embarrassment.
“Don’t laugh at me! I swear I--”
Before Hanzo could continue, Jesse grabbed his hands gently and shook his head.
“Nah, sweetheart I wasn’t laughing at you, more’a...I ain’t sure really,” he chuckled. “It’s just kinda cute that you’re flustered, but I’m actually really excited yer into that kinda thing.”
“Do not make fun of me,” Hanzo glared.
“It ain’t that!” Jesse let go of his hands to raise them in a placating manner. “I just don’t meet a lotta people that’re interested in the shit I like, an’ I already like bein’ around yah and it kinda makes me like yah more than I already did and I--and hah, whoops didn’t mean to say that. I mean I do. Like yah a lot that is but--Hanzo please, I’m ramblin’ too now!”
Hanzo was staring at Jesse before he snorted indelicately and began laughing. Jesse joined in a second later. Hanzo fell backwards in his laughter and Jesse fell back on top of him, still laughing and unable to stop. One of them would calm down enough and breath before the other snorted again and they fell back into a cycle of giggles.
Eventually though their chuckles did die down enough for them to keep talking.
“A huckleberry though?” Hanzo said breathily, trying to catch his breath.
“Worked before,” the other responded, still chuckling a little. “No one I asked out really watched a lotta westerns and I know I got all my ‘-isms’ that no one recognizes from there. Plus, huckleberries taste pretty good an’ I don’t know, people usually assume it’s romantic.”
Hanzo sighed, “I admit that I feared that you would either look down on me for my interests or perhaps...think me creepy for them, seeing as you are as you are.”
“Shoot sug’, just cause I act the rough an’ tumble cowboy, don’t mean I’d judge yah for what you liked,” he replied, his eyes falling close. “I was worried yah hated me at first on’a count of how I dress.”
“Hated...no,” there was a pause. “Underestimated, yes. Which I should have not done, and for that I apologize.”
“Damn Han, ain’t got nothin’ to apologize for!”
“Hm.”
“I mean it, hell, I thought yah were a real stick in the mud when Genji introduced us.”
“That isn’t entirely wrong.”
“Nah but you’re more’n that. Don’t think I don’t notice,” he said. He rolled away so he could try to catch Hanzo’s eyes and saw him shake his head in disbelief. “But you take care of all of us all quiet-like. I look out for the people I care about, and I see yah doin’ the same thing. Hell, you’ve done things for me I never thought’a doin’ ‘cause I didn’t think to. An’ yah really only nag when we get too rowdy or put ourselves in danger or somethin’.”
Hanzo was flushed a bright red.
“You make sure to get Hana back to bed when she passes out after long gaming sessions. You check on Lucio when the nights are too quiet and listen when he talks about his hopes an’ encourage his dreams. An’ you stand up for Genji no matter the situation. You’ve got a sixth sense for bullshit an’ I see you get real angry when people try to pull shit.”
Jesse stopped, unsure if he should continue. Silence fell between the two and he felt maybe he made things awkward.
“I...do not do it for people to notice, just because it is right,” Hanzo finally said. “I...it has been a sort of problem since I was a child, but I act more than I say.”
Jesse smiled and nodded, already having noticed this.
“It...is the easiest way for me to show that I care. I am not as physically affectionate as Genji, nor am I as vocal as you or Hana, and I do not give off an ‘aura’ of care as Lucio does. So I do things instead, I suppose.”
“An’ all of us appreciate everythin’ you do, Hanzo,” Jesse replied. “At least I know I’m pretty appreciative of everythin’ you do, sweetheart.”
Hanzo was still a bright red but had a small smile on his face.
“Now, I’ll try this again,” Jesse began and Hanzo gave him a curious look.
“Do yah wanna go on a date with me? I wanna be your man.”