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They walked along the base (which, was more like a bunker for the record) in comfortable silence, the jingle of Jesse's spurs echoing down the empty halls. The scuffing of Hanzo's metallic soles was virtually silent compared to Jesse's tinkling lope. Thankfully, they stole pass the bases defences easily, and it wasn't long before they were wandering among the rocky canyon walls.
Hanzo practically ran up the steep rocky wall, made such a feat look easy, and from the top he looked down on Jesse. He was silhouetted from there, and his raised a hand to wave down at the cowboy.
Jesse laughed.
He leisurely strolled along the trail to the top of the rock Hanzo had scaled, whistling softly. This place, in the middle of the South, was one of the only places that hadn't been touched by the pollution of the cities.
It wasn't Jesse's hometown, but it'd do. Plus, he wasn't sure when he'd have a chance to go back to his hometown. He wasn't sure he wanted to.
The "base" had been a pitstop. A small team — Hanzo, Jesse, Lena, Reinhardt, Lúcio and Genji — had just successfully completed mission, but had decided to lay low after Lena had injured a leg after using one of her sticky bombs. Their rendezvous would be here tomorrow, so this was Jesse's only chance to impress Hanzo.
"Jesse, it will be morning by the time you reach the top," Hanzo jested.
"Aw hush. It's only been — what? Five minutes?" Jesse laughed between pants. He certainly was not a climber like Hanzo.
"Thirty," Hanzo said, wearing a light smirk. Jesse flapped his hand at him when he hoisted himself to the top of the rock. It was cool, the breeze gentle, and no clouds to obscure their view.
"And, for the record, you could've hiked up with me," Jesse pointed out. Hanzo hummed when the gunslinger joined him at the edge of the rock, overlooking the old and dusty road.
Jesse laid down his serape (Hanzo had bugged him about why he had brought it) as a makeshift blanket. He patted the empty space beside him for Hanzo and laid down propped up on his elbows.
And they sat, in comfortable silence at first, just like they did in Hanamura. That felt like eons ago, Jesse noted. And, sadly, Jesse hadn't made any advances.
He tried, damn it, but whenever he would try to confess or ask Hanzo out on a date, the words got caught in his throat. Worst part was, Jesse was sure the entire team was aware of his feelings for Hanzo, except for Hanzo himself.
"Jesse?"
"Hm? Yes? Sorry, I was zonin' out," Jesse blinked when Hanzo waved a hand in front of his face. His face suddenly felt warm, and Jesse wanted to slap himself. C'mon Jesse.
"I was commenting on how beautiful the stars are," Hanzo said, settling back to his kneeling position. The stars were indeed beautiful. Jesse had missed this breath taking view, he thought with a nostalgic pang, the stars had comforted him to a brief sleep on his worst days. They hadn't changed, the gunslinger noted with relief.
Of course they wouldn't.
"I've never seen the stars like this," Hanzo murmured. At the sound of the archer's voice, Jesse turned to him. Wow, the moonlight illuminated Hanzo so beautifully. Jesse sucked in a breath. The silvery light caught his chiseled and sharp features so elegantly and splendidly it was surreal.
He failed to realize Hanzo was also returning his gaze. Jesse whipped his head around, pulling the brim of his hat down slightly.
"Yeah!" he said. Nice cover up, Jesse. "This was the best part of bein' on my own. Do you know any constellations?"
Hanzo shook his head. "It was never something I studied in my youth."
Jesse pointed some out to him, and started telling their stories. He found Cassiopeia quickly, and told Hanzo the story of the vain queen and how her punishment was to be banned to the sky for everyone to gawk at. There was Cygnus, or the Northern Cross, who's story tied into Castor and Pollux's, even if he couldn't see them at this time of year. Another recognizable constellation was the Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, and Hanzo said those were the only constellations he recognized.
The archer politely listened through all of Jesse's ramblings, his hands gently folded in his lap the whole time. He'd nod his head, and after Jesse wrapped up his brief lesson, asked where he learned about the constellations.
"My mama," Jesse took a deep breath at the memory of her. "She loved Greek mythology. Ate it right up. Said her father taught her about the constellations, and that'd she teach me about the constellations." Jesse was silent for a bit before quietly adding, "never knew my daddy."
Hanzo's eyes fell. After a few minutes of quietude, he said, "will you ever take me to your hometown?"
"I.. I don't know. Maybe after this is all said and done and we're still kickin'. If ya would like to stick around me even then!" Jesse barked a laugh. Hanzo chuckled despite himself.
"Of course. You mean a lot to me Jesse."
Jesse's heart nearly hammered out of his chest at that comment. He must've looked shocked, he hadn't expected that coming out of the archer. Fuck.
"Would you...?" Jesse weakly rasped. Do it, Jesse, just do it.
"W - would — perhaps — maybe you would like t - to," Jesse knew a blush was creeping across his cheeks, but doubted it'd be visible under the moonlight.
Fuck!
Hanzo was giving him an incredulous look, and Jesse moved to a kneeling position to mirror Hanzo. He held both of Hanzo's hands in his, ghosting his cybernetic thumb across Hanzo's knuckles.
"Jesse, please —"
Jesse opened his mouth to continue trying to figure out how to ask Hanzo out, but the archer raised his fingers to Jesse's lips, effectively shushing the gunslinger.
"Maybe I should take the lead here," Hanzo said calmly. "Jesse."
The gunslinger nodded. He felt time freeze when Hanzo's steady, piercing, alluring eyes held his. God damn, Hanzo was so handsome, Jesse felt miles out of his league with him.
"Will you go out with me?"
It was a punch to the gut, and Jesse felt all the air escape his lungs. He wheezed, sucking in air as if he was drowning. Somehow, he nodded, and Hanzo smiled gently, taking Jesse's hands in each of his own.
"Oh — yes, of course —" Jesse gasped. Hanzo looked on in an amusement, letting him collect his bearings. "You just surprised me s'all darlin'. Darlin'. Can I call you that?"
"Yes," Hanzo said.
"Wow. I can't believe —" noticing Jesse was probably gonna go off on a tangent, Hanzo gently took off his hat and cupped his cheeks, and with the most tender care, pressed his lips into Jesse's.
It took a second for Jesse to even think about kissing back, but before long he was. Hanzo ran his nails through Jesse's shaggy hair, making the man shiver.
"Darlin' —"
"Mmf. Jesse, you talk too much," Hanzo said, his lips brushing against Jesse's before going back to kissing him. And Jesse was happy enough to be quiet for him, as long as he kept saying Jesse's name like that.
Hanzo pulled away, both his hands on Jesse's broad shoulders. Jesse still must've looked bewildered, because Hanzo chuckled, and gave him a kiss on the cheek.
"Gosh," Jesse breathed, his wide eyes taking Hanzo in. The archer was still kneeling, but he had scooted forward so sit between Jesse's spread knees. He looked happy, and Jesse noticed the corners of his eyes wrinkling up when he looked happy for long enough. "Gosh. I must be dreamin' darlin'."
"This most certainly isn't a dream," Hanzo said lightly. They kissed some more, never going very far with it, just keen to sit and breath each other in. Eventually, Jesse ended up on his back with Hanzo draped aslant over Jesse's chest. Jesse discovered he could probably kiss Hanzo for years, and it'd still shake him to his core.
"Mm. I - I think we ought to return to the bunker now. Before everyone's awake," Jesse was loathe to part from Hanzo's warm embrace, but it had to be done. Hanzo nodded, and helped Jesse up. (Jesse's serape had become quite dusty on one side after all that.)
Together, they made their way down the trail in content silence. A few times, Jesse thought Hanzo's fingers brushed against his cybernetic ones. He grinned each time.
Nothing had changed in the makeshift base when they returned; how long they were gone, Jesse couldn't say. Probably a few hours, even though it felt like they had only been gone for a few minutes. God damn.
"We will have to do this again, once we get the chance," Hanzo stated.
"When we get the time darlin', I'll take you anywhere you want," Jesse nodded. Hanzo's mouth twisted into a brief smile.
"Agreed." Jesse's heart soared at that. Hanzo leaned up to peck him on the cheek. "Good night Jesse."
The archer turned to go back to his cot, and Jesse pulled him back by the hand, and landed a well aimed kiss to Hanzo's lips. Bulls eye.
"Good night, Hanzo," Jesse murmured.