Archive of Our Own

Hanzo had spent the past four days with Genji in Osaka, half to celebrate Christmas early together and half to make sure that the both of them managed to get sensible and unique presents for everybody by Christmas Day. Hanzo needed Genji's creative mind to help ensure that he didn't end up getting Angela Egyptian cotton bath towels for the second time in as many years, and Genji needed Hanzo's down-to-earth personality to prevent himself from getting Reinhardt a Twerk Pong set.

During those same four days, Jesse had gone back to New Mexico to spend some time with his family. The cowboy and his parents had managed to mend their relationship since Overwatch reformed, and Jesse was eternally grateful that his family had welcomed him back into their lives. 

Hanzo had eight hours before he was to meet Jesse. He picked up the pace as he made his way to the airport parking garage, the very embodiment of a man on a mission.

It was ten to seven PM by the time Hanzo made it back to the house. Jesse should be home by now, Hanzo thought to himself as he locked his car and started for the front door. Hanzo was in a dark green sweater and a plain pair of jeans tonight -- while wooly sweaters were not a regular inhabitant of his wardrobe, Hanzo had made an exception for today. He knew how much Jesse loved Christmas, and the last thing he wanted to do tonight was dampen Jesse's mood. His sweater sported a white geometric snowflake pattern on it, and Hanzo had his undercut tied up neatly in a bun. He carried their Christmas takeout dinner in one hand, two generous portions of Italian food nestled safely in a plastic bag.

Hanzo's heart thudded loudly in his chest as he turned the key in his own front door and pushed the door open. It never ceased to amaze him how even after all these years, the thought of getting to see Jesse again still made his heart race.

Jesse was in a horrendous woolly sweater for the occasion. It was red, fuzzy and had a round neckline, HO HO HO declared in large, bold text across the chest. Little illustrations of snowflakes, snowmen and candy canes littered the rest of the space around the text, and Hanzo couldn't help but feel that the sweater was so Jesse. It was bright, it was loud, it was energetic. Jesse wore a comfortable, well-worn pair of blue jeans with the sweater, forgoing his chaps and boots today and settling for being cosy in a pair of white woollen socks. But in place of his usual wide-brimmed hat, Jesse had on his head some sort of monstrosity--

"What is that on your head?" were the first words out of Hanzo's mouth, utter disbelief evident in his tone.

"Merry Christmas to you as well, darlin'," Jesse greeted Hanzo with a radiant grin, the tall cowboy sauntering over to him in the doorway and pulling him into a warm embrace. "Oops! Looks like yer stepped under the mistletoe," Jesse cheerfully informed Hanzo, pointing with a forefinger up at the thing on his head.

Jesse wore a plastic headband on this head, one that was plain except for the length of wire extending upwards from the middle of the band. The wire arched forward and bent back down, making Jesse look like some sort of strange half-man half-angler fish. Except -- instead of a light source attached to the end of the wire, there was a single mistletoe. A mistletoe that Hanzo was now standing under, since Jesse had closed the distance between them.

About half a dozen questions surfaced in Hanzo's mind immediately. Where did you get this? Did you really have to go through all this trouble just to kiss me? Has anyone ever told you how ridiculous you are?

Instead of saying any of those things, Hanzo got up onto the tips of his toes, leaned forward, and pressed his lips against Jesse's in a soft kiss. "Merry Christmas, Jesse," Hanzo said once the kiss was broken.

Something warm slipped onto Jesse's face, the lines around his eyes and lips crinkling as Jesse smiled even wider. Even after all these years, the familiar sight still caused Hanzo's heart to skip a beat.

Dinner was a quiet and enjoyable affair. Jesse and Hanzo both sat at the kotatsu in the living room in front of their plastic boxes of shrimp aglio olio and mushroom and beef pizza, Hanzo recounting his and Genji's chaotic Christmas shopping experience and Jesse sharing stories of his cousins' latest wacky adventures. By the end of it, Hanzo was pleasantly full and drowsy on good food and great company. He leaned against Jesse's solid frame, head nestled into the crook between the cowboy's neck and shoulder. His eyes were steadily falling shut when there was a sudden loud clatter from the general vicinity of their bedroom. The loud sound yanked Hanzo back to the land of the living and simultaneously reminded Hanzo that they still had yet to exchange their Christmas gifts. The festive Christmas evening was far from being over.

"What the fuck was that?" Jesse asked loudly, his entire body going from relaxed to rigid in an instant. Hanzo saw Jesse's hand instinctively move towards his belt, fingers trying to wrap around a Peacekeeper that wasn't there.

Hanzo pulled away from Jesse and calmly got onto his feet. "Come along," he called to Jesse, leaning down and plucking the ridiculous mistletoe headband off of Jesse's head. "I have something to show you." Jesse was even more confused and alarmed, seeing that Hanzo was unfazed by the source of that noise. Was their apartment haunted? Had Hanzo made friends with a ghost and offered his ghost friend a place to stay?

A nonplussed Jesse followed Hanzo to their bedroom. They crossed through their bedroom altogether and came to a halt outside their bathroom door. Jesse could see from the gap underneath the door that the light was on in there. He turned to Hanzo, raising a quizzical brow. "What's goin' on, baby?" he asked quietly. 

Hanzo just wordlessly turned the knob and pushed the bathroom door open. Jesse turned his gaze towards the bathroom interior, not knowing what to expect. Their entire bathroom floor was covered with little brown pellets. Kibble. An aluminium bowl lay upside down in the far end of the bathroom, right next to their toilet. And in the middle of their bathroom floor lay a furry black creature, two bright eyes staring up at them, a pink tongue lolling out of its mouth. "Merry Christmas, Jesse," Hanzo said evenly.

All the tension drained out of Jesse's body in one fluid movement. The cowboy gasped loudly and took a dramatic step backwards, staring down at the little puppy dog. He raised one hand and tightly gripped Hanzo's forearm, as if seeking support in case his knees gave out from beneath him. He wildly glanced to Hanzo, who was wearing a small self-satisfied smile on his face, and then looked back at the puppy.

"Is he... Is he for me?" Jesse whispered, as if afraid that this was all a dream and he'd wake up if he spoke too loudly.

Hanzo only gave a small, single nod.

Jesse immediately hunkered down onto his knees, his beefy arms wrapped around his new puppy as he tried his best not to let the moisture pooling behind his eyelids spill over. "Look at ya, ya sweet lil' thing," he cooed down at his puppy, the little puppy panting happily back up at him. "Yer so handsome and tiny, but yer gonna grow up t' be the fiercest and strongest dog, aren'tcha? Yer gonna be the best boy. M' gonna call ya Huckleberry."

Hanzo leaned against the door frame, watching Jesse get to know his new baby with a contented smile on his face. Every single time they drove past the animal shelter, Jesse would longingly talk about the one dog he'd grown up with on his parents' ranch. He'd talk about how he missed his dog, and how he had formed a strong bond with his furry best friend. Every time this happened, Hanzo would remind Jesse that he was a free man now. He had no debt to pay, they didn't have children they had to put through college, and their house, cars and belongings were all already paid for. They had a decent amount of savings in both their accounts, and Jesse could very well afford a pet if he really wanted one.

Every single time, Jesse would just vaguely turn his gaze away and claim that he wanted to save for a rainy day. Hanzo would probe and prod, but Jesse never budged. After a while, Hanzo just stopped asking about it altogether. If anyone understood a man's need for privacy, it was Hanzo.

"Where did ya get him?" Jesse asked, getting back up on his feet and cradling Huckleberry in his arms like a newborn child.

"The shelter," Hanzo replied. "I happened to meet Huckleberry this morning when I went in to look for a suitable dog for you. I remembered what you'd told me about black dog syndrome, and when I asked the shelter staff about him, they revealed that Huckleberry was scheduled to be put down tomorrow morning."

"No!" Jesse cried, clutching even more tightly at Huckleberry as if the shelter staff would suddenly swoop in from the ceiling and take his puppy away to be euthanised. "Why? Is it jus' cause he's got black fur?"

Hanzo met Jesse's gaze solemnly. "Yes, they think that it is partly because he has black fur and is not a pure-bred puppy. But, part of it may also be because he was born deaf."

Jesse's eyes flashed when he heard that, the cowboy immediately ducking his head and pressing the softest kiss to Huckleberry's forehead. "Well, I'm glad ya got him in time," Jesse declared fiercely, lifting his gaze back up to meet Hanzo's. "He's perfect fer us." 

They returned to the living room, Jesse gently setting Huckleberry back on the ground and letting him explore. Huckleberry took to his new home very well. Besides upsetting his food bowl, he seemed very well-mannered and conscientious of Jesse's and Hanzo's living space. He waddled around the house and sniffed at everything, Jesse and Hanzo following several steps behind the puppy like a pair of worried parents. It took all of twenty minutes for Huckleberry to tire himself out and decide that it was time to fall asleep on the rug next to the kotatsu. Soon, the puppy was snoring lightly, chest rising and falling steadily in his slumber. 

That was when Jesse pressed a kiss to Hanzo's temple, thanked him for the puppy, and waved for Hanzo to follow him. "C'mon, doll face. My turn t' present t' ya yer gift." 

Hanzo amicably followed Jesse out onto the balcony, the chilly night air washing over the both of them. Hanzo cast around the moment he was outside, wondering why his gift had to be given to him at such a specific location -- that was when he spotted the box sitting in the corner. It had been gift-wrapped in silver wrapping paper, a navy blue present bow stuck onto the top of the box. It sat innocently on the little coffee table they had out on their balcony, and Hanzo was instantly suspicious. There had to be a reason why this box was outside, not inside.

Hanzo turned and raised an eyebrow at Jesse, but his cowboy only mysteriously chuckled. "Go ham, sugar. It's fer you." 

So Hanzo obediently went over to the box, his nimble fingers methodically unwrapping his present. The wrapping paper hid an ordinary-looking brown shipping box, and Hanzo opened the brown box only to find that his gift was completely concealed from view by a few hundred styrofoam packing peanuts. Hanzo started digging through the styrofoam peanuts in search for his gift, growing increasingly bewildered as his hand met nothing but styrofoam peanuts. 

Finally, after a solid minute of digging, his fingers closed around something. Hanzo lifted the cylindrical object from the very bottom of the box, pulling out an expensive-looking bottle of cherry blossom sake. His eyes flickered over the label -- yes, it was his favourite brand. This must have been very difficult to procure.

It was testament to his and Jesse's long, intimate relationship that Hanzo barely even questioned the cowboy's reasoning for hiding his gift in a sea of packing peanuts. Perhaps Jesse had wanted to throw Hanzo for a loop, and prevent him from suspecting the identity of his gift till the very last moment. Perhaps it was just Jesse's idea of a novel way to present his gift. Hanzo was hardly concerned with all that. "Thank you, Jesse," Hanzo started, turning around to face his boyfriend. "This is very--"

Hanzo's thanks dried up in his throat the moment he fully turned around, just in time to catch the sight of Jesse lowering himself onto one knee. Jesse looked hopeful and excited and terrified all at the same time, the cowboy bravely holding up a little velvet box in his large hands.

"Hey, Han," Jesse said from where he knelt, the cowboy interrupting himself and clearing his throat in what Hanzo recognised as a clear sign of nerves. "Uh..." Jesse had thought long and hard about what he'd say when it came to this exact moment, but right now, his mind was blank.

Fuck it, he'd do it live. Jesse was good at that sort of thing. He took a deep breath, tried not to lose his nerve at the sight of Hanzo's wide, deer-in-the-headlight eyes, and barrelled on.

"It's been nine whole years since I first met ya. Been a little over six since we got together. We had our ups 'n downs, but I can't find the words to show ya how happy I am to be yer boyfriend." Jesse paused at this juncture, gulping audibly before he continued. 

"Yer make me so happy, Han. Sorry fer keepin' all this from ya. I didn't wanna get a pet earlier cause I wanted to save up for a proper ring for ya. Somethin' sophisticated, expensive and of the best quality, somethin' yer'll like and treasure. Cause ya ain't worth any less than the best.

"Yer strong and disciplined and got nerves of steel, ya do. Yer a beast out on the battlefield, and yer one o' the kindest souls I ever met. Yer seen all of me, the good and the bad, and yer accept me anyway. Yer don't care that I ain't got a college degree, that I don't speak that well and I can't do any geometry to save my life. Yer put up with my smokin' and puttin' my feet up on the coffee table, and yer let me drink milk outta the carton.

"What I'm tryna say is--" Jesse had to pause again here and force himself to remember to breathe, "-- Yer everythin' I'm not. Yer level-headed, and smart, and forward-lookin' and yer make good decisions. Most importantly, though, yer changed me into a better man. Yer shown me that a man can have made mistakes in the past and still be worthy of somethin' good."

Hanzo was still as a statue, face frozen in a look of astonishment. Jesse didn't give himself the time to read too much into that, charging onward.

"Yer made mistakes in yer past, and I've made mistakes in my past, but you've shown me that that don't define us. We're defined by how we learn from our mistakes and move forward into the future, whether we wanna do better or not. And we've done lotsa good things while we were with Overwatch. We tried to make amends. Now that we're retired, the only thing I'm concerned about in my future is you, and me, and Huckleberry. 

"Yer great, and ya sure as hell don't need me, but yer still choose to be with this scruffy, rugged cowboy, and I wanna be yours forever if you'll let me. I mean, I know we've already been livin' together for a while. But I kinda like the idea of us going even more official. So..." Jesse opened the box with clumsy fingers, revealing a plain black titanium ring nestled snugly in the groove within the white cushioning. It was simple and elegant, and Jesse prayed to every deity listening that Hanzo would like it. "Will ya marry me, Hanzo?"

Hanzo felt like his legs were going to give out from beneath him at any moment. He shakily deposited the bottle of sake on the table, having long since forgotten about it. Hanzo took the two steps forward that were needed to close the gap between himself and Jesse, reaching out with trembling hands and taking Jesse's hands in his.

"Yes, Jesse," Hanzo said quietly, his voice breaking slightly as he called out his boyfriend's -- now fiancee's -- name. "I would love to marry you." 

And then Hanzo yanked Jesse back up, the two of them wrapping their arms around each other and fiercely embracing. Hanzo buried his face into the column of Jesse's neck, not trusting himself to speak. And if a few tears slipped down his cheeks and into Jesse's sweater, who would know? Jesse was shaking with joy, the cowboy repeatedly pressing kisses to the side of Hanzo's head.

When the two of them finally parted after many long minutes, Jesse carefully pulled the ring out of the box he held and gently slipped it onto Hanzo's ring finger. Jesse grinned down at the sight of Hanzo wearing the ring he'd gotten for him, unable to resist the temptation to lean in and press a soft kiss to Hanzo's lips. "Let's head back in, Han," Jesse then said, the broad grin on his face even evident in his voice. "It's cold as a frosted frog out here." 

Ten minutes later, Hanzo and Jesse sat on their couch in front of the fire, Huckleberry asleep by their feet. Hanzo and Jesse lazily sipped from their respective glasses, the pale pink sake an absolute perfect ending to the day. "To spendin' the rest of our lives together?" Jesse suggested, raising his glass and peering down at Hanzo.

Hanzo looked up from where he was snuggled up next to Jesse, a fond smile spreading across his face. "To the rest of our lives," he agreed, his gaze wandering back to the dark band adorning his ring finger.