Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Jesse McCree had never been a fan of the rain. A resentment that had long, deep roots. One that time on the farm and with the family had not really helped him with. Things were normally fine though, as long as he could sit inside, warm and dry. That was not the case at the moment unfortunately. He was out this late securing everything for the coming storm because he had been late getting back from town and he had promised to do it. The rain had already picked up significantly and the cold night air assaulted him harshly as he moved about the farm.

It was no surprise when he found that it had already been done by the time he got to it. He knew that Jack would have taken no chances, but he was a man of his word and so he made sure that every last bit of preparation was finished before he would go inside, because he had promised to do it. He was irritated, wet and cold when he had finally finished and was ready to head back in. He turned for the main house and all but ran in his hurry to get inside.

He caught movement out of the corner of his eye just as he neared his goal, the barn door. Someone had just closed it. That was a problem because Jesse had already made sure it was closed and secured it. They had heard that some thieves were reportedly in the area and Jesse was glad that he had noticed it at all in the pouring rain, another reason to dislike the weather, it provided cover for thieves. His hand swiftly found its way to the revolver on his hip as he approached the building, he was certain that he could handle whoever it was in there.

The wind held the door closed tight, Jesse had to actually strain himself in order to force his way inside. He drew his gun and pulled out his flashlight quickly as the door slammed shut behind him, the wind forcing more drama into his entrance than he had intended. The barn seemed immediately empty of anything that did not belong in there, but McCree knew better than to let his guard down because things seemed okay.

“Now I know yer in here,” He called out to whoever was here. “Come on out with your hands where I can see them!” There was no immediate response to his demand. “I ain't playin around!” A loud shot rang out as he emptied a round into the soft ground to emphasize his point. “I'm givin ya to the count of ten to avoid things gettin nasty!” He barely made it to three before a heavily accented voice called out.

“Please do not shoot,” Jesse turned to face where the voice was coming from. Standing across from him was a kid, well a teenager really, his hands held up in surrender. Couldn't be older than Jesse himself. He was absolutely drenched, his hair was disheveled and he looked both frightened and tired. The kid’s clothes were in rough shape and were completely soaked through. “I apologize for the intrusion. Me and my brother were simply looking for somewhere to get out of the rain. We did not mean to disturb anyone,”

Jesse slowly lowered his gun. Gabriel always told him that he was too trusting, but no one could fake the desperation in the eyes that stared back at him. He was clearly not a thief and was apparently here with his brother. Jesse wasn't about to shoot two kids escaping the rain.

“Where's your brother?” At the question a second form quickly scurried to the first man’s side. He was shorter and clearly younger, twelve years old maybe. He looked at least as disheveled as his older brother and equally soaked. More than anything though, the kid looked exhausted.

“Please, I beg you to let us stay here. Just until the rain has stopped. We won't cause any trouble,” The larger of the two called out to him desperately, eyes pleading. There was no way Jesse could leave them out here like this. It was freezing and the barn would not help given that they were already soaking wet.

“You can’t stay out here,” He informed them. The elder’s face fell and he glanced at his younger brother, worry in his eyes.

“We will leave then,” He decided, clearly not wanting to fight. He whispered something to his brother and they moved to leave when Jesse spoke again.

“Nah I meant here in the barn. This ol’ thing won't provide much shelter, especially given how wet y'all are. Ain't no way I'm throwin you two out in the freezing rain,” The elder of the two looked at McCree, confusion written on his face. “Follow me to the house proper. Y'all can take my room for the night,”

“We would prefer to stay out here,” They were clearly nervous around strangers. They didn't trust Jesse, which was entirely normal, but he could not simply leave them out here like this. He was not going to allow them to stay out here and freeze to death in this storm.

“You'll freeze out here. It's nice and warm in the house. You can dry your clothes and warm up while waitin’ out the rain,” Jesse recognized the mistrust in the older brother’s eyes, the fear of danger. He worried that the young man would say no and they would run off into the storm.

Luckily for Jesse the younger brother began talking softly in a language Jesse didn't understand. They began to argue, presumably about whether or not to go with him. From the sounds of it it seemed like the younger kid wanted to go in the house with Jesse and the older one did not.

“You will let us leave in the morning?” He asked, eyes glancing at the door, nervous.

“If’n that's what ya want of course. Wouldn't be neighborly to let ya freeze out here or to make ya stay against yer will,”

“Okay,” He agreed. “Just until the rain lets up,” Jesse was not going to mention at the moment that the storm was supposed to last for the next three days or so. If they wanted to wait out the rain they were going to be here longer than just the night. He didn't want to scare them off when he had just gotten them to agree to stay, so he kept his mouth shut about it.

“Great,” Jesse replied instead, with a smile. “Names Jesse, Jesse McCree” He extended his hand politely. The elder sibling hesitated for a moment before taking the proffered hand and shaking it.

“Hanzo,” He murmured softly. “This is Genji,” They didn't give him a last name. Made sense if they didn't trust him. They probably intended to disappear the moment the rain cleared up.

“Pleasure to meet’cha Hanzo and Genji. I'll show you where you'll be sleepin,” the barn door was easier to open with Hanzo’s help and the two brothers followed closely behind Jesse as he made his way to the large farmhouse where he lived. “One of the younguns might be up and about right now for some reason or another. Don't worry about ‘em, just follow me,” Jesse instructed as they crossed the threshold into the house proper.

The chill from the air outside vanished the moment they set foot in the building's interior. It was instead replaced with a comforting warmth that Jesse was very familiar with, but his two guests seemed to be startled by. Hanzo followed inches behind McCree while Genji clung to his brother like a lifeline. There was definitely something going on with these two, runaways from something if Jesse had to guess. He wasn't here to judge them though, he would never judge people for running away.

Luckily everyone else seemed to be asleep. The last thing they needed was to be assaulted by curious youngsters on the way to their room. They climbed a flight of stairs to the second floor and he showed them to his room. A large closet sat at one end, a desk with a computer and TV at another. A large dresser that could fit more clothes than Jesse ever bothered with at any one time dominated one of the walls. Posters from westerns old and new decorated the walls and some of his gear was deposited haphazardly on the floor.

“Sorry for the mess. Y’all can stay in here tonight,” He gestured to the room, motioning for them to enter it. “Use any o’ my clothes you'd like if ya need something dry. They're big, but warm and it ain't no trouble to wash ‘em after you're done,” Hanzo nodded as he spoke while Jesse grabbed himself a dry outfit. “There's a bunch o’ snacks in the closet there. I think there's some o’ Jack’s cookies in there, they're delicious. Help yourselves to however much ya want, ain't no trouble getting more. TV works if ya wanna watch somethin’ and the door locks from the inside so no one bothers ya. I'll tell my folks about ya, don't worry they won't mind ya stayin,”

“Okay,” Hanzo replied softly as he quickly scanned his new surroundings. Jesse recognized what he was doing, looking for ways out and anything he could use if trouble arose.

“It's easy to climb out the window if ya need to,” He did his best to allay Hanzo’s fears of being trapped. “We'll have a nice big breakfast for y’all if’n ya want to stick around a bit in the mornin’. More faces are always welcome ‘round here,”

“Thank you,” His voice was polite, but tight.

“Ain't no big deal. Restroom’s next door. I'll be on the couch downstairs if ya need me for anything,” Jesse heard the door lock practically the moment that it had closed behind him, a familiar act. He made his way across the hall to his parents room. They were probably asleep, but they needed to know what was going on so they weren't surprised and didn't scare Genji and Hanzo in the morning.

He knocked softly on their bedroom door. The lack of immediate response forced him to knock louder. Eventually he was softly banging on the door before he finally received a grunt from the other side of the door. He continued knocking until someone actually spoke.

“It's open,” A tired voice called from within. Jesse walked in to find his two dads, half awake in their bed. “Is something wrong Jessito?” Gabriel asked as his eyes began to focus on Jesse’s face. He was never good at hiding his worry from his dads.

“Well I was jus’ outside and I saw someone going into the barn and,” The moment the words left his mouth both of his dad's were jumping to their feet, suddenly completely awake. They could always manage that at the first sign of trouble, must've been all that time in the military.

“Okay, we'll handle it Jesse,” They replied in near unison, moving to get dressed. He had to all but shout to get their attention back.

“Nah, jus’ listen!” Jesse called out. “I already checked it out,” He avoided their twin glares as best he could before continuing. He didn't need a lecture about being reckless right now. “I thought it might be thieves, but it wasn't. It was jus’ a couple o’ kids,”

“Kids?” Jack asked, clearly concerned.

“One o’ them looks about my age, the other can't be older than Lena,” Jesse explained. “They was soaked, cold and scared. They jus’ wanted outta the rain. I think they're runaways,” He hesitated briefly as he spoke. He knew that they would welcome in anyone with open arms, but McCree worried that he shouldn't have invited them in before talking to his parents.

“What did you do Jesse?” Jack asked, though he was pretty sure they all knew the answer.

“I couldn't rightly leave them out there in the cold. They're in my room right now, at least for the night,”

“Oh Jesse,” Gabe moved to hug him tightly.

“You sure it's safe Jesse?” Jack asked, clearly worried.

“Oh come on Jack. You and I would have done the exact same thing he did without a second thought,” Gabe admonished lightly, still hugging their son.

“Yes, but I'm allowed to be a worrywart Gabe. I'm a father,” Jack shot back lightly.

“I'm sorry. I should have talked to y’all first, but ya shoulda seen them. They was miserable, cold, prolly hungry, but most of all they was scared, scared in a way I still remember sometimes,” Jesse felt the tears forming in his eyes as the memories resurfaced. In an instant Jack was at his side and joined in on the hug. His fathers held him tightly.

“It's okay Jesse. We've got you,” Jack whispered soothingly.

“You'll never be alone like that again Jessito,” Gabe reminded him softly. “We'll always be here for you,”

“I know pa. It's just sometimes I remember ‘bout before all this,” Jesse forced away the tears as he spoke. “It hurts, but the memories don't hurt as much anymore, cause they always lead me to the good ones. Like the day I found my way here to you,”

______________________________________

Jesse let out a deep sigh as the car turned onto a dirt road towards a rather large house in the distance. This was the third time Adawe had brought him to a family to look after him and it sure as hell wouldn't be the last, no matter what she said about his new foster parents. This would be the sixth group of people he was forced to be with. Adawe was the third person who had been assigned to bring him to someone or another. They would get sick of him, or he them before long and he would run before they could kick him out.

He did not know why they kept bothering to go through with all of this. He could take care of himself. He survived just fine on his own, sure it could get cold and he would be really hungry sometimes, but he was perfectly fine with that. No one told him what to do and he was happy out there, but they always had to pick him up and send him somewhere he hated.

The car slowed to a stop as it neared the house proper. It really was big, much larger than any house McCree had ever been inside. It looked like it was at least three stories tall. He was wondering how many people lived in such a huge place when a large man with blonde hair and pale skin opened the door made his way out of the house with a smile and a wave. He was carrying another child, a girl younger than Jesse. He wondered how many people he would have to share a room with.

“Alejandra could you find Gabriel and tell him that Jesse’s here?” He asked the little girl as he set her feet back on the ground. She squealed in delight at the task assigned to her and all but flew into the house behind him.

“Ms. Adawe,” The blonde man greeted her with a soft smile.

“Mr Morrison,” She replied in kind. “Sorry about being late. Traffic was worse than usual,”

“It's no problem,” He waved off her concern before he turned his attention to Jesse. “You must be Jesse. I'm Jack, it's nice to meet you,” He held his hand out with a blinding smile as he introduced himself.

Jesse mumbled something that the large man seemed to accept in lieu of a handshake when the door to the house opened again. The second man was darker skinned, but no smaller than Jack was. His face was scarred, but he approached with a soft smile that made him look kind and gentle more than scary. The problem was that when they stood together they towered over the kid and he could not help but shake a little.

“Hello Jesse,” The new giant greeted him. “I'm Gabriel, me and Jack are going to be taking care of you now,” Gabriel’s voice was much softer than he had expected from someone who looked like he had gotten into a lot of fights in his life. They seemed nice and in his experience that was never a good sign.

“Would you like to come in for a bit before you head back Gabrielle? I am almost finished with a batch of cookies,” Jack asked politely as Gabriel took Jesse’s attention.

“That would be lovely,” She replied as Jack led her away into the house. “How is everyone?” Their voices grew indistinct as they passed through the doorway leaving Jesse alone with Gabriel.

“Would you like me to show you around the house?” His new foster father asked softly. He shook his head, he just wanted to be alone. “Okay, another time. I'll take you to your room. How about that?” Jesse nodded numbly at that. Gabriel's hand tapped lightly on his back urging the kid forward gently.

McCree could not help but flinch at the contact. The man’s hand backed away immediately.

“Sorry,” They both apologized at the same time. Jesse watched the older man, confusion written all across his face.

“My fault. Shouldn't have touched you without permission,” Gabriel explained softly holding his hands up in an attempt to appear as non threatening as possible. “C’mon let's go see your room.” He simply gestured for Jesse to follow him this time.

He followed the much older man dumbly, into the house and up a flight of stairs. He was not used to adults apologizing to him, at least not sincerely. It didn't matter though, they all pretended to be nice at first. This was just a new way for them to pretend.

“This is your new room,” Gabriel told him as he looked around. It was much larger than Jesse had expected. A large closet sat at one end, a desk with a computer and TV at another. A large dresser that could fit more clothes than the eleven year old had ever owned dominated one of the walls. But the thing that caught his attention, the thing he was fixated on was the bed in the room. A single rather large bed tucked in the corner such that he could lie down facing the tv in the room.

“This room is all mine?” He asked uncertainly. He had never had his own room before. In the past he had always had to share, usually with a few other people at once.

“Yep,” Gabriel confirmed. “The younger ones share, but we thought you would want some privacy,” He gawked at the large man like he had two heads. “Would you like some cookies? Jack should be done baking them by now,”

“No thanks. ‘M not hungry,” It was a blatant lie, but he couldn't imagine what they were going to expect from him in exchange for having his own room. He was not going to owe them even more. “ ‘m just tired,”

“Alright,” He replied with a slight frown. “I'll save you some in case you change your mind,” Moving to leave, he stopped briefly before closing the door behind him. “Come find me or Jack if you need anything,” Jesse nodded quickly hoping to get the man to leave him alone faster. “There's a lock on the door If you need it and the bathroom is next door,” Gabriel informed him just as the door shut.

The kid all but leapt across the room as his new foster father left, locking the door mere seconds after it closed. He did not want them to walk in on him and that made it much easier. He had never had his own room before, let alone one that he could lock. He felt safer in this room than he had in awhile, but he had work to do.

There was very little food he had managed to bring with him, his backpack was mostly full of clothing. Inside his bag he also smuggled a paper almanac, it showed him where he could go to get away from here. Most importantly, hidden in his jacket sat his most prized possession. An antique revolver still in working condition. He didn't have any ammo for it, but it was the one thing he would never part with, no matter what.

He needed food and to find out where he was so that he could find his way to the nearest city. So he would wait in his room until that night when everyone went to sleep. It was a nicer wait than he was used to. They had given him a tv in his room, so he watched cartoons about magical teenagers fighting evil demons until nightfall. He heard a soft knock at his door that evening.

“Jesse, I brought you dinner,” Gabriel’s voice called through his door.

McCree considered ignoring him, but the man knocked softly again and he realized that he probably didn't want to make them angry with him right now. So, he unlocked the door and returned to his spot on the bed watching tv.

“You hungry?” Gabriel asked holding a plate of what smelled like enchiladas and a glass of water. It reminded him of home, back before everything sucked. It smelled delicious.

“No thank you. ‘M not hungry,” A terrible lie. He was starving, but he would feed himself as best he could. He did not need to owe these people anymore than he already did. The giant of a man frowned at Jesse’s answer and the kid froze, suddenly worried that he had made the man mad. He was trying to figure out how to run past the giant when the frown disappeared, replaced by that same soft smile.

“Okay, I'm going to leave it here for when you get hungry. Is that okay?” McCree nodded quickly, not wanting to upset the man anymore than he already had. “Let me know if you need anything else,”

Jesse locked the door the moment Gabriel left the room again. He managed to make it about five minutes watching the tv absentmindedly before he gave in and grabbed the plate he was given. It was as delicious as it smelled and now that his belly was full he realized that it shouldn't be a big deal. He would just have to get out of here before they could make him regret accepting things from them.

It was even easier to wait with a bellyful of good food. He enjoyed watching people fight evil demons that were trying to destroy the world. It would be great to be a hero like that. A few hours passed quickly, it grew dark outside when there was another soft knock on his door.

“Good night Jesse. We'll see you in the morning for breakfast,” Gabriel called softly through the door before he heard the man’s footsteps disappear into the house.

He waited a few minutes before he unlocked his door and sneaked his way down to the first floor. He found the kitchen with no problem and was surprised to find that there were no locks on any of the cabinets or the fridge. That was strange, but it made it easier to search for things.

The big score was a large box of granola bars. He could keep them for a long time and they also tasted pretty good. He piled them into his backpack along with some bottles of water and cans of soda that he had found. There was even an unopened bag of chips in one of the cupboards that he snagged triumphantly. It all went to the same place, hidden under his clothes in the dresser in his new room, safe until he needed it.

The bed was soft when he finally got around to actually lying down on it. The covers were freshly cleaned and smelled slightly like oranges. Wrapped in a thick comforter, warm and cozy, with the tv on, behind a locked door, with a cache of food in the room, Jesse felt more comfortable than he had in years. It should have made him feel great, but the last time he had felt safe had not ended well.

The next morning came quicker than Jesse felt like it should have. He still felt tired as he crawled his way out of bed. A familiar knock tapped against the door.

“Jesse, would you prefer waffles or pancakes for breakfast?” He grumbled something groggily that was apparently not a good enough answer because Gabriel knocked again, a little louder the second time. The sleepy kid opened the door instead of trying to grumble something else.

He was met with the same soft smile that man seemed to always be wearing. Jesse did not know how anyone could be happy early in the morning, no one he had ever met seemed to manage it and he was always miserable.

“Good morning,”

“Mernin’” Jesse mumbled back.

“Would you prefer pancakes or waffles for breakfast?” He asked again.

“Uh, waffles,”

“Okay, how do you like your eggs?” McCree stared at him unsure of how to answer the question. “We'll try scrambled if you're unsure,”

“Okay,” He replied dumbly.

“Sausage or bacon?”

“Uh, whichever,”

“Let's go with both then. You like hash browns?”

“I dunno,”

“You'll have to try Jack’s then. They're really good,” Jesse just nodded along as the man spoke. “You should take a shower, get dressed and come meet us for breakfast,” Gabriel told him.

“Okay,” Jesse did not want to do either of those things, but neither of his foster parents had looked like the kind of people he wanted to be angry at him.

“Towels are in the closet next to the bathroom. Breakfast is in about half an hour,” He heard the man walk off down the stairs before he slowly made his way out of his room and over to the bathroom.

The towels were huge and fluffy, taller than he was even. The shower itself was also huge, a white tub that was in pristine condition. The hot water did feel good as it washed the dirt and soreness in his limbs away. Time flew by as he relaxed in the shower, broken out of his reverie by a knocking at the door.

“Breakfast is ready Jesse!”

He dried off quickly as best he could with one arm. He stared at the stump of his left arm for a while, putting on clothes always forced him to face his situation when he would rather pretend everything was fine.

He made his way down the stairs in a relatively clean set of clothes. A plain white shirt and slightly ripped, worn down jeans. He heard a lot of noise from the room below and he hesitated at the bottom of the stairs. Steeling himself, Jesse walked into the dining room to meet six other faces. Jack and Gabriel sat at a table surrounded by four other children, all much younger than McCree. None of them could be more than five or six.

“Good morning Jesse,” Jack called out as he walked in. “Have a seat and I'll grab your breakfast,” Jack stood and headed into the kitchen as McCree slowly moved to take a seat at the table on the opposite side as the other children.

“I'd like you all to meet Jesse, he's going to be staying with us like all of you,” A chorus of excited hellos came from the assortment of children. “Jesse this is Alejandra,” He points to the excitable little Latina he had seen Jack carrying the other day. “These are the twins, Miles and Linda,” A boy and a girl, who did not look like they were twins at all. Weren't twins supposed to be identical? “And this is Rashid,” the youngest of the group looked like he was barely four years old, though he smiled at the mention of his name.

“Nice to meet y’all,” Jesse grumbled avoiding eye contact as best he could. Luckily for him Jack arrived with his food before anything more could be said and he distracted himself eating. He put syrup on his waffles at Jack’s suggestion and a bit of ketchup in his scrambled eggs and hash browns. The bacon and sausage were amazing. The whole meal was really. It tasted better than anything Jesse remembered eating for breakfast.

“Enjoying the food?”

“It's delicious,” Jesse told him, eyes never leaving his plate. He was suddenly glad that he could eat everything with only one hand easily. There was no way in hell he was going to ask for help just to eat.

“Glad you like it,”

Gabriel spent the majority of the meal helping the younger kids eat, trying to keep them from making a mess. Jack, on the other hand, seemed to be hovering around Jesse, keeping an eye on him. The attention made him nervous. He mostly just wanted to finish eating and be allowed to go back to his room. To his great relief, Jack pushed no further as they ate, seemingly content with him just enjoying the food. The blonde even took the plate from him when he had finished.

“I was thinking you might like a bit of a tour since you're going to be staying here for at least a little while,” Gabriel said as Jesse finished his breakfast.

“What's there to see? It's just a house,” Jesse mumbled, eyes avoiding the man talking to him.

“Oh there's a lot to see around here: the chicken coop, the corn field, the barn, the tomatoes,”

“That sounds like a farm,” Jesse interrupted.

“It is a farm,” Gabriel replied with a laugh. “Theres also the game room and the library if those are more your speed,”

“So what do you want me to do on the farm?” Jesse asked. He just wanted to find out what they wanted from him in exchange for everything they were giving him. Gabriel gave him a confused look.

“Nothing, unless you really wanted to help out. Jack handles most of it. He loves the work. I’m sure he would teach you what to do if you really wanted to help. I just thought you might like to see it is all. It was cool for me the first time I saw it all up and running,”

“Not interested in farming,”

“I wasn't either. Born and raised city boy. There is something nice about it all though and it makes Jack happy. You ever seen a room full of baby chickens Jesse?”

“No,”

“It's the cutest thing I've ever seen. Would you like to see it?”

“Okay,” it would probably be easier to go along with whatever the giant of a man wanted until Jesse could escape back to his new room.

“Great. We should wash our hands first,” Gabriel directed him to the sink in the kitchen where they washed their hands. “Hey Jack, I'm gonna show Jesse all your babies okay?”

“Just be careful with them Gabe,”

“Don't worry. I'll take care of them,” They exited the house from a door in the side and walked a short distance to the building Gabriel referred to as the chicken’s coop. “We just got the little gals, ten of ‘em for now,”

“Why d’ya get ‘em?”

“One: They're adorable and two: they'll provide us with fresh eggs when they grow big and strong,”

The inside of the building smelled funny. Though Jesse could not really put his finger on what it was, it wasn't a familiar smell. Gabriel took him over to meet ten little balls of yellow fluff, which is apparently what baby chickens look like. They were definitely adorable.

“Do they have names?”

“Half of them do. Me and Jack are still arguing over the rest of the names,” Gabriel begins pointing to them in an order and naming them. “That's Laurhen, Hennifer, Elizachick, Mrs Hensworth, And Tyrannosaurus Pecks,” Jesse giggled at the last name.

“That one's mine. Jack hated all my other ones, but I got T. Pecks,” Gabriel sounded very proud of the name. “He vetoed Reaper and Death Blossom,” The man frowned at the thought.

“What about Pecksicca?”

“That's a pretty good one. I'll have to tell Jack about it,” Jesse smiled slightly at the praise.

“How do you tell them apart?”

“Good eyesight and Jack forced me to stare until I could. He says it will be easier when they grow up,” Jesse is allowed to pet the chicks as long as he's careful. They are indeed very cute.

“What do I have to do around here?” Jesse asked again as he sat amongst the chicks. Whatever they wanted from him, Jesse just wanted to get it over with. Playing pretend was irritating. It would tell him how long they were probably going to put up with him before they kicked him out.

“Right now nothing,” Gabriel responded slowly. “After a while we need to send you to school so you’ll have to do that and I would like it if you kept your room clean,”

“That's it?”

“Yeah,” Gabriel assured him. “I mean you'll have to deal with the other kids and they can be quite a handful, but Jack handles the farm because he enjoys it, I handle the kids because I love it. It is our job to take care of you, not the other way around,”

“Okay,” Jesse responded unconvinced. Everyone pretended to want to take care of him and it was always a lie. They always kick him out when they can't use him anymore.

“You like corn?”

“Sure, I guess,” Jesse shrugged.

“That's how I felt before I tried freshly picked corn. It's different, very sweet. I think you'll like it,”

“Maybe,”

“We'll have some very soon. It's real nice having fresh ingredients,” Jesse was clearly done being involved as Gabriel tried to engage him about corn. Eventually the man figured out Jesse’s distance and took him back to the house.

He sequestered himself back inside his own room, locked away from the rest of the house. His foster fathers didn't bother him as he sat back down and watched more TV. Whatever he could find that seemed interesting he watched. It was an easy way to pass the time. He rarely ever got to watch anything like this before. Now, at least, he could do so without anyone yelling at him. He would take advantage of it for as long as they let him.

He ate lunch alone in his room. Like the other meals he has had since he arrived it was delicious. It made him worry. The others stopped being nice almost immediately once the agent assigned to him had left, Jack and Gabriel were still pretending. They didn't have to. Ms Adawe wouldn't be back for a while and they would know when she was coming so they could prepare their lies.

After a while he pulled himself away from what was on the screen to study his maps a little. He could not find where he was on them, which was going to be a problem. He needed to find the nearest road so he could find his way to the nearest town. He knew how to survive once he got into town, but not knowing where this farm was made doing that difficult.

He didn't know the address or the name of the closest roads or anything. He tried to ask, but no one wanted to tell him. They probably didn't want to make it easier for someone like him to run away again. He hadn't tried asking his foster parents yet, because he didn't want them to know what he was planning. He could try to check the mail when everyone went to sleep. He could probably find himself on the map with that.

Jack brought him dinner and allowed him to eat in his room. He had expected the night to simply end there. He could simply wait for everyone to go to sleep again and see what he could find in his own. But a knock on his door not too long after he finished eating grabbed his attention.

“Hey Jesse can I come in?” Jack’s voice called through the door. He sighed and moved to unlock the door and let him in. “Hey, the rest of the kids are in bed and me and Gabe wanted to know if you wanted to watch a movie with us,” His hesitation must have been obvious because the blonde continued talking. “We've got popcorn and I think you might like the movie. I picked it tonight. It's a bit violent, but I saw it when I was eleven. I'm sure you can handle it,”

“Course I can. I ain't scared,” Jesse was offended at the implication that he would not be able to handle the movie.

“You're welcome to join us,”

“Okay,” He acquiesced, not wanting to let them think him scared. He was not scared of a stupid movie.

“Great, I've got it on a physical disc, so we're going to watch it in the game room. Come on,” Jack motioned for Jesse to follow him and they walked slowly down the stairs. “Would you prefer buttery popcorn or sweet kettle corn?”

“I dunno, never had popcorn,”

“Oh then you're in for a treat. Nothin’ quite like popcorn and a movie,” He remarked as they made their way to the big TV in the game room. Gabriel sat on a couch in the room already waiting for them when they entered. A big bowl of puffy yellow stuff in his lap. “The movie’s called Tombstone.”

“Like the grave thingies?”

“Yep,” Gabriel confirmed.

“That sounds cool,” Jesse replied.

“Just wait til you see it. It's the original, not the 2035 remake. It's one of my favorites and I finally got Gabe to agree to watch it with me tonight and we wanted to share it with you,”

Jack sat down to Gabriel’s right and the two of them curled into each other. Jesse, on the other hand sat to Gabriel’s left and maintained a short distance between the two of them. It was awkward, but the movie started and stole his attention. Jesse wouldn't be able to tell someone who was more excited by the action on screen, him or the blonde who was at least three times his age who had apparently seen the movie enough to quote every line. The fact that he knew what was going to happen before it did didn't seem to dampen Jack’s enjoyment in the slightest.

Gabriel listened politely as Jack and Jesse talked endlessly, after the movie ended, about the film they had just watched. It was late by the time the movie finished and eventually Gabriel insisted that they should go to bed. Jesse was surprised when Jack whined about it before he could, but Gabriel would not be deterred. Jack actually pouted as he acquiesced to his husband’s demands.

“You really enjoyed the movie didn't you Jesse?” Gabe asked rhetorically with a smile.

“It was awesome!” Jesse cried out excitedly as they walked back upstairs.

“Jack's got a ton more movies like that if you’d like to watch more later,” Jesse’s eyes lit up at the thought and he nodded excitedly.

“I'll have to pick out the best ones to start with,” Jack was almost as excited as Jesse was at the prospect. “I'll look through my collection tomorrow,” He promised as they reached Jesse’s room.

His two foster fathers bid him good night as they continued to their room and Jesse locked the door behind himself. He should have been working on his escape plan at the moment, now that everyone was in bed. But, he was tired. The movie was exciting, but exhausting and he was in too good of a mood to be deterred from a nice night's sleep. Waiting an extra day wasn't going to kill him or anything.

__________________________________________________________________

Hanzo sighed as his brother excitedly tore his way through what appeared to be a variety of packaged junk food. The man who had brought them into this room seemed to have a lot of assorted packaged snack in his closet for some reason. Genji seemed perfectly happy wearing oversized clothes stuck in some stranger’s house.

While his younger brother munched away happily, Hanzo worried. Trusting these strangers here was a very dangerous choice to make. The only reason they are even in this room is because Genji was cold and tired. He would rather keep his brother from getting sick outside. These people did not know who they were and the two of them would be far away before they will ever learn if all goes well. Having to trust some random farmer’s son was a recipe for disaster. He tried to focus on the positives instead of all of his worries at the moment. None of that was helping Genji deal with all of this right now and he needed to keep Genji in high spirits where he could.

The clothes they had borrowed were way too big, but they were also warm and dry. Genji had elected to simply wear a shirt, it was large enough to cover him entirely by itself. Hanzo would have foregone borrowing clothes entirely if he was not sure that Genji would have whined until he put some on. This man had a peculiar sense of fashion, though he supposed it fit the stereotypes he was used to for Americans on farms.

“Genji,” He called out to his brother. The younger kid turned around, mouth stuffed with what appeared to be cookies. “You should get some sleep,”

“I'm not tired brother,” He whined, clearly excited to be eating some sugary snacks.

“They will be there in the morning. You need to sleep,” His voice was weaker than he would have liked, he was also tired. But, he needed to make sure Genji was okay before he could worry about himself. He was sure that Genji was going to argue with him.

“Okay,” He was shocked that his brother agreed so easily. “Let's go to bed,” Hanzo was dragged over to the bed as his brother tried to force him into it as well.

“I'll go to bed soon,” He promised softly, extricating himself from Genji’s grasp. He was too worried to go to sleep. He had to figure out what they were going to do in the morning. More than anything, they needed him to have a plan.

“Big brother. You need sleep too,” Sometimes he wished his little brother was less perceptive, but he was also trained to notice little details since birth. He could not hide his exhaustion from him for long.

“I'm fine,” He lied pointlessly.

“I won't go to sleep without you,” There was the petulant and argumentative little brother that he knew and loved. Genji was pouting and no amount of reasoning was going to get through to him when he was being like this. “You can't protect me if you don't take care of yourself,” They stared eachother down for what must have been a few minutes before Hanzo sighed in resignation.

“Okay, you win,” He announced in defeat. “Let's go to bed,” He would simply have to plan how they were going to handle this while lying down. Genji pulled him into the bed excitedly and they settled in under the warm covers.

The bed was comfortable and warm. Genji was actually smiling, trying to melt into the bed while holding onto Hanzo tightly. It was nice to see his little brother’s happy face, even if it was only for a short moment. All he wanted was to keep,Genji safe and happy. He would find a way to allow his brother to be like this all the time.

He had not meant to do it, there was too much for him to do at the moment. He should not allow himself to relax for even a second, but in the comfort of a stranger’s bed, nice and warm for once in quite some time, Hanzo surrendered to the sounds of the pouring rain and his brother’s soft snoring. None of this was what he expected, but He could always figure things out tomorrow.

Chapter Text

Hanzo awoke slowly, more well rested than he had been in several months at least. He was used to waking up in unfamiliar surroundings by now and quickly calmed himself down and focused on where they were. They were in a farmhouse somewhere in Indiana, exactly where he was not sure. The son of the farmers had let them sleep in his room to escape the rain and he and Genji were warm and hopefully safe for the moment..

He repeated that last part to himself, trying to calm the ever present worry. It seemed unlikely that they had meant he and his brother any harm if they had let them sleep undisturbed all night. It was about six in the morning according to the clock. So, he had slept a solid seven hours apparently. It looked like he might be able to trust them long enough to get him and his brother somewhere else, without freezing in the pouring rain.

Speaking of which, the rain was still pouring hard outside, seven hours later. Hanzo could hear it and he sighed. He had wanted to simply slip out in the morning with his brother, grab their stuff they hid in the barn and be gone before anyone noticed them, but now he had to reconsider. He had promised Genji that they would wait out the rain here as long as it seemed safe enough and he did not want to lie to his brother. Genji stirred next to him as he was considering what they should be doing.

“ Good morning brother, ” Genji greeted him with a smile. He knew at that moment that he could not take him back out into the pouring rain, no matter how uncomfortable he was staying put here. This was all about Genji after all.

“ Good morning. Did you sleep well? ” He replied, trying to return the smile with his own.

“ Yeah, the bed’s nice,” Genji replied slowly, smile slowly fading as he seemed to consider what was going on. “ We should grab some snacks, then we can sneak out the window and get away from here,” Genji moved to grab his own clothes and take some snacks from the closet before Hanzo stopped him.

“ It is still raining Genji,” His brother remained silent, stoic. Genji was trying so hard to be tough like Hanzo, but that's not what he wanted. He wanted his brother to be happy, normal. If he had a chance to do that for a little while he should take it, for his brother’s sake if nothing else. “ He agreed to let us stay until the rain stopped,”

“ Isn't it dangerous to stay here?”  Genji mimicked Hanzo’s words, though it was clear that he did not wish to leave. He was merely trying to be helpful and supportive, even if it did not make him happy.

“ It is dangerous and cold out there in the rain as well,” Hanzo tried to smile reassuringly. “ We can stay for the moment,” He turned the tv on and found some cartoon he did not recognize that they could watch together, trying to keep a smile on his brother’s face for as long as he can.

A soft knock on the door startled Hanzo, drawing his attention away from the silly cartoon on the screen. There was a long pause, as if whoever was on the other side was hesitating, before there was a second set of knocks, louder than the first.

“Y’all awake in there?” The voice from last night called through the door. Hanzo was considering how to respond when Genji bounded to the door and opened it.

“Good morning,” The shocked look on the farmer’s face was comical. He must not have expected Genji to be able to speak English.

“Mornin’ Genji. How’re y’all feelin?” He replied, recovering quickly, a big smile on his face as he turned towards Hanzo.

Hanzo was surprised that the man was still wearing his cowboy hat indoors and this early in the morning. But, those thoughts dissipated when he laid his eyes on the man’s right arm. He had not noticed the night before, too distracted, but Jesse was wearing a very impressive looking metal prosthetic arm there. He was so irritated with himself for missing something so obvious that he did not immediately respond to the man.

“Your bed is very comfortable,” Genji replied with a smile on his face.

“Yeah I love that ol’ thing,” McCree replied easily, mirroring his brother’s smile. “I wanted to check on yall since the rain wasn't letting up, t’see if y'all were still here and wanted to come down for some breakfast. Jack is cookin’ up a storm down there,”

“You should not trouble yourselves more than you already have,” Hanzo replied quickly. He did not want to be more of a burden, or to owe these people anymore than he already did for allowing them to sleep here.

“Nonsense,” Jesse dismissed his worries out of hand. “Couldn't stop Jack if I tried. He always goes all out when we have new faces around here,”

“I do not…”

“What are you making?” Genji interrupted before Hanzo could continue.

“Usually Jack makes some of everything, so: waffles, pancakes, French toast, hash browns, eggs however you want ‘em, toast, bacon, sausage, ham, biscuits ‘n gravy,”

“That sounds like a lot of food,” Hanzo replied.

“Yeah, Jack always cooks for an army,” Jesse laughed as he replied. “It ain't no trouble. As I said, new faces are always welcome here,”

“That is not...” Hanzo tried, before Genji interrupted him yet again..

“We would love to join you for breakfast,” He replied with that smile still on his face, ignoring the look Hanzo shot him. “I'm starving,” He added meaningfully.

“ Genji,” Hanzo began, trying to avoid sounding as irritated as he was.

“ You are being a rude guest Hanzo,” Genji replied simply.

“If you really are taking egg requests,” Genji began, switching back to English to address McCree. “I like,” He paused thoughtfully mid sentence. “Argh, how do you say onsen tamago?” Genji was clearly growing irritated at his inability to articulate what he wanted.

“I believe the rough equivalent here would be poached eggs Genji,” Hanzo interjected quickly. “I don't believe they are exactly identical though,”

“I'll ask Jack about it. Never had an egg poached before,” Jesse replied. “What would you like Hanzo?”

“ Don't be rude,” Genji added quickly, cutting off his response. Being lectured about propriety, by his younger brother of all people, was ridiculous, even if it was good advice.

Jesse did not seem bothered by them speaking in Japanese, or at the very least was not showing any annoyance at it. Hanzo sighed, he was being showed up, in terms of manners, by his brother and some farmer’s son. He really needed to calm down.

“Over easy,”

“Alright, I'll let Jack know,” Jesse replied, wearing a large smile. “Food will be ready fairly shortly. Y’all are welcome to use the shower if ya want,” That was an invitation that Hanzo was interested in. He had not had a nice shower in way too long. “Towels are in the closet right next to the bathroom door,”

“ Go ahead and take a shower,” Genji knew him well enough to know how much he would want to take some time to clean himself properly. “ I'll be fine by myself for a little bit,” he even anticipated Hanzo arguing with him before he had managed to do so.

“ Very well. Please stay here and don't let anyone in but me, okay?” Genji nodded his head in agreement.

“ Take as long as you need. We're safe here right now,”

Logically Hanzo knew that what his brother had said was possibly true. If they could trust the intent of the young cowboy than they would be safer here than anywhere they have found themselves in quite some time. As horrible and inconvenient as this storm was, it also made following them much more difficult. He had to believe that they would be okay here long enough to move on safely.

The shower was larger than he had expected and he was pleasantly surprised when he found that they actually had hot water. He would have taken a nice hot bath if he was not afraid of leaving Genji alone for too long. Even if things were relatively safe here, he did not want to leave Genji out of his sight for very long. He would have to settle for a quick shower.

Said quick shower turned out longer than he had intended. The water soothed his aching muscles, but more importantly it washed away the dirt, the filth that clung to his skin. Genji had always told him that his obsession with cleanliness was strange, but it did nothing to discourage his habits. Shedding the filth was a ritual. With it he could imagine the stress and worries he had held dropping away allowing his body and mind to relax, if only briefly.

Every part of him but his rational mind protested as he forced himself to finish quickly, lingering only a minute or so longer than strictly necessary. If he were weaker willed he almost certainly would have given in, but he had been taught better than that. A Shimada’s will is unbreakable. The siren calls of soothing comfort would not distract him from what he was there to do.

Genji sat on the bed watching TV as he entered. He was quietly relieved that his little brother had not gone downstairs without him. Genji turned to face him as he entered, a small frown on his face.

“ Quick shower?” He asked, turning his attention back to whatever colorful thing he was watching.

“ You should take one as well,” Hanzo replied by way of answer.

“ Maybe after food, ” Genji waved him off.

“ Okay,” He agreed just to avoid a confrontation right now. His attention was now on the fact that he had nothing to wear that was not absolutely filthy. He sighed heavily at the thought, so much for being clean for a little bit. Though, the cowboy did offer to let him use his clothes. They were large and probably wouldn’t be very comfortable, but they beat his filthy clothes.

He hated that he ended up looking like a poor farm hand, but on the other hand he did not look anything like their past and he could take some small solace in that fact. He could also take some in the fact that he would be clean for at least a little while. He should ask Jesse if they would be able to wash their clothes before they left, it would be nice.

“Breakfast is ready,” McCree called through the door. Genji practically leaped off the bed and towards the door, throwing it open. “Hiya,” He greeted them again. “I’ve gotta warn ya that there are a few other people downstairs and they can be a bit energetic. They don’t mean nothin’ by it, they’re prolly just excited to meet y’all.”

Following McCree downstairs and into the dining room, Hanzo was not exactly sure what to expect. Whatever expectations he would have managed would not likely have prepared him for the sheer amount of people that were sitting around the two kitchen tables.

“Everyone,” McCree called out, gathering the table’s attention. “These are my friends Genji-” He gestured to the younger brother. “-and Hanzo,” A chorus of hellos followed the introduction. Genji excitedly waved back to the sea of faces, while Hanzo bowed politely. Jesse guided them to a pair of seats before he started the other side of the introductions.

“Well, to start, the somewhat blonde man over at the stove is Jack. He’s my dad. The man trying to wrangle a bunch of really little ones is Gabriel, my other dad,” Hanzo nodded, paying attention to memorize all of them and their names. “That’s Fareeha,” He pointed to a dark haired young woman who was almost as tall as the cowboy who waved with a short greeting. “She’s my godsister. The little hyper one there, round Genji’s age I reckon, is Lena.” Lena nearly shouted hello. “The slightly younger one with her face in some game is Hana,” The one in questioned waved without moving her gaze from the screen in her hands. “The three really little ones are Melissa, Joaquin, and Mika,”

“You have quite a few brothers and sisters,” Hanzo commented as the introductions finished.

“Missing a few more,” Jesse remarked as he scanned the room. “Angela’s not here, she’s over in Bloomington for an internship right now. Jamie is probably still sleeping, Mako is prolly wherever Jamie is or with the little piglets, and Satya is not always up to big groups, so we might not see her around,” Hanzo’s curiosity must have shown on his face because the cowboy turned to him to explain. “My folks foster kids who ain’t got no family ‘til we can find them good homes,” Jesse replied with a smile. “We ain’t never turned away anyone who was in need round here,”

“That is very kind of you,” Hanzo replied, unsure of what to make of the information.

He was rescued from having to continue the conversation when the blonde that Jesse had said was named Jack made his way over to the two of them with plates stacked high with food. He placed one down in front of each of them. Hanzo gawked slightly at the sheer amount of calories in front of him, while Genji seemed excited.

“Enjoy,” The man told them with a bright smile on his face. He left them to their food, returning to the stove presumably to finish what everyone else was eating. Hanzo was keenly aware of the fact that they had been served first. Genji moved to eat.

“ Genji, do not be rude!” Hanzo hissed. Genji frowned in response, but did not argue with him. He sulked silently, but sat back in his seat and waited. Hanzo noticed Jesse look at him than his brother, but he did not say anything about the exchange. Jack returned shortly to place some food in front of the cowboy. He also received an unreasonable amount of food. The man paused to look at the two brothers sitting politely and waiting before speaking.

“ Please go ahead,” The older man instructed politely. Genji took the permission gratefully and shoved food into his face before Hanzo could even react. Hanzo, instead, found himself staring at the blonde in surprise at the man’s use of Japanese. That had been unexpected.

In his distracted state it took several moments for him to realize that not only had Genji started eating, he was shoveling food into his mouth. Before he could tell his brother to stop acting like a barbarian,  the cowboy seated on the other side of him began shoveling his own food into his mouth as well.

Hanzo sighed. It would take more energy than it was worth to try and argue with his brother right now. Besides, it did not appear that anyone at the table was offended by the way he was acting, if their non reactions were anything to go by. Instead of struggling against everything going on, he merely grabbed his knife and fork and began to eat with proper etiquette, making sure to offer appreciation for the food before beginning.

The food was like something out of the movies that he would see on occasion, or some of the old ridiculous TV shows that his mother seemed to enjoy occasionally. He was at somewhat of a loss as to how he was supposed to eat some of it. So he took his time and observed the people around him as the table quickly filled up with more and more food.  Hanzo quietly gathered necessary information while Genji loudly asked what some of these things were and Jesse or Jack would tell him what it was and how he was supposed to eat it.

Hanzo was silently grateful that throughout the entire ordeal his brother had at least refrained from speaking with food in his mouth. He took the time to swallow before asking questions or rambling on with the people around him. Genji had always taken to people much better than Hanzo had and the paranoia was making him worse. He still could not bring himself to trust these people, but it was nice seeing Genji smile and enjoy himself for once.

Somehow, between the inhaling of his food, Genji found the time, energy and physical alacrity to talk, a lot. It worried him for a moment, but his younger brother seemed to manage fine, avoiding any specifics about their past and what brought them here, sidestepping sensitive questions and giving vague half answers at times. They could not afford to give away anything, even if these people meant well.

Everyone else seemed to finish before Hanzo, they had all eaten like it was their first meal in weeks. Which he found humorous because it really was the best meal he and Genji had eaten in quite some time, while from the look of things this was entirely normal here.

“Thank you for the food,” Hanzo as he finally finished his own meal, the last person at the table to do so. Multiple sets of eyes turned to him as he stood, moving to pick up the dishes that he had dirtied and take them into the kitchen.

“We can take care o’ that for ya,” Jesse spoke quickly,

“Nonsense,” Hanzo replied back quickly. “The least I can do is help clean up after all of this,” A brief staredown commenced, both of them determined to have things play out to their satisfaction.

“Now y’all are guests…” Another voice interrupted before Hanzo could reply.

“I’d be delighted to have someone help me with the dishes for once,”  It was clear that the remark was aimed at the cowboy who’s face twisted rapidly between ashamed, annoyed and angry.

“Excuse me for wanting to be polite,” He grumbled, but seemingly dropped the argument, allowing Hanzo to move without comment.

He helped the graying blonde gather the dirty dishes from everyone, while the crowd around the tables dispersed. Fighting down the urge to protest, or lash out, as the one called Lena dragged Genji away, he followed Jack to the sink. He kept his brother in the corner of his vision as best he could while he began rinsing plates.

“I appreciate the help,” Jack began whilst they worked. Standing next to him really let it sink in just how large this man was, maybe a foot taller than Hanzo and twice as wide. It was okay, however. As long as he remained calm and attentive he could take down any threat, regardless of their mass. “No one around here ever bothers to do dishes,” The man was clearly attempting conversation and suddenly he realized that he needed to respond.

“I have never minded cleaning,” Hanzo replied simply.

“Me neither,” The large man responded, keeping a conversation flowing by himself. “Wouldn't have worked. I had animals to take care of and cleaning after them was a big part of it,”

“Couldn't be worse than Genji,” The words slipped out before he even knew that he was talking. Jack laughed.

“Younger siblings are basically animals you have to share a house with,” The blonde replied, chuckling to himself. Hanzo suppressed his own laughter. “The storm is supposed to stick around for another 3 or 4 days at least, maybe a little longer depending,”

“I see…”

“You and your brother are more than welcome here,” The man replied, as if reading his thoughts.

“We do not wish to cause so much trouble,”

“It's no trouble at all,” Hanzo was unconvinced. “Honestly if you left in the middle of this storm you would have us worried half to death,”

“I apologize,”

“No need, but I think Jesse in particular would appreciate if you waited out the storm before continuing on your way,”

“We do not wish to take his room,”

“Oh, don’t worry about that. We set up a guest room that Jess would be happy to use for a few days.”

“I would not impose so much on him,” Jack laughed at that.

“You’re on your own trying to convince him of that,” The man was smiling fondly.

“I was hoping you would grant me permission to clean our clothes before we leave regardless,” It would be nice to be back in his own clothes and clean if only for a little while.  

“Of course. Give whatever you have to Jess and we can clean them or he can show you the laundry room later if you’d prefer to handle it yourselves.”

“Thank you,”

“No problem. I really do appreciate the help here,” He repeated the expression of gratitude.

“You have already done a lot for me and my brother, this is the least I could do,”

“It's really no trouble at all,” The man continued to insist. Before he could argue back, a terrible feeling came over him.

Realizing that he hadn't heard his brother’s loud voice in a short while, Hanzo turned around quickly. There was no sight of Genji in the kitchen. He took a deep breath, steeling himself from panic. Though before he could do much of anything the man next to him spoke.

“They went to the game room,” He explained.

“Game room?”

“Yeah. Big family room. It's got board games, computer’s with games, various video game consoles and a mini theatre system for watching movies,”

“Where is it?”

“Near the entrance. Some of the kids are very excitable and love showing off their favorite things whenever we have new people staying here,” Hanzo tried to relax and return to finishing his task. He must have been less successful than he thought, because Jack spoke up again. “I can finish up here. Why don’t you go check it out yourself?”

“Okay,”

He tried to control his own panic, walking instead of rushing to the front of the house. He could not show such weakness to anyone, let alone strangers whose mercy he was at. Walking took far longer than he would like, though it was easy to follow a large amount of noise to his destination.

Oddly enough, the first thought that crossed his mind, was that this game room was incredibly large, at least a dozen and a half feet tall. The ceiling’s position was actually important, when he looked up to see his brother riding atop the shoulders of Jesse’s other father. He stared for several moments, while his brother appeared to be playing whatever colorful flashing game was on the screen. Eventually, Genji turned to face him, several other sets of eyes following him.

“Hey anija,” He waved from his perch several feet off the ground. “I beat everyone so now Gabe has to carry me around all day,” His brother was smiling, in a way that he has not seen in way too long, which was nice, but he had to actively hold back his reflex to attack the man. It looked way more dangerous than Hanzo was comfortable with.

“Genji,” As if he understood what was going on, Gabriel reached up to grab the kid on his shoulders.

“Okay, down you go,” He called out, gently grabbing ahold of Genji and lifting him over his head and back to the ground. “I’m going to check on Jamie and Mako. Jesse, keep an eye on everyone for a few for me,”

“Got it pops,” Jesse replied with a smirk. Gabriel frowned, while Jesse pretended to shoot him with a pair of finger guns.

While the elder man shook his head softly and walked out of the room, his attention turned back to his brother. Hanzo had expected Genji to be disappointed or upset at being set on the ground, instead he covered the short distance between them quickly and hugged him, starting speaking in rapidfire Japanese.

“ You should have seen me. I was so good. They didn’t know what hit them and then I won and I got a prize and so I got to be like ten feet tall and it was great,” The words cascaded out of his mouth quickly, his excitement practically palpable.

“ Everything is fine?” He asked in return, stomach still a bit tense.

“ Yeah everyone is great and nice brother,”

“ Good,” He sighed in relief, the tension lessening at the very least. “ Don’t let me get in the way of your game Genji. Just wanted to see that you were okay,”

There were three kids playing whatever game that had caught their fancy. Genji, Lena and Fareeha, all of whom seemed to be awed by Genji’s skill at these thing. It was nice that such a simple vacuous thing could make people, especially his brother, happy. Instead of joining in, he moved off to the side when he spotted Jesse.

“Somebody mentioned that there were many books in this house,”

“Yeah. The study’s got a bunch of ‘em. Lotsa classics, but also an assortment of other stuff.” Jesse points him to the other end of the house.

With a deep breath and a quick glance at Genji happily playing to reassure himself that he would be okay for a few minutes, he made his briskly across the building until he found the room in question. The room contained several pieces of furniture, but what truly caught his attention was an impressive assortment of books. The walls were lined with large bookcases, each filled to the brim with books of various shapes and sizes.

He had come here determined to quickly grab something and return to the game room, but the sheer amount of options truly surprised him. It took him longer than it should have to quickly glance through the offerings. There appeared to be a system where books with similar contents were grouped together.

The section that eventually drew his attention was one that seemed to be dedicated to instructional material. Amongst the wide variety of books, he found a few that seemed to be about wilderness survival. Choosing one and looking through it momentarily showed him that it was indeed a survival manual of some kind. For extra utility it appeared to be focused on the climates that they were likely to encounter on this continent.

Satisfied with his choice, Hanzo quickly returned to the other room, book in tow. Gabriel had returned by the time that he made it back, while Jesse had disappeared. He made his way to a couch near the sidewall of the room and sat. Several long minutes passed before the cowboy returned, slowly making his way over to Hanzo.

“Don’t need to worry so much,” The cowboy sat down next to him while he read, watching Genji in the periphery. “Gabe takes great care o’ the kids. Won’t let anything happen to your brother. We won't let anything hurt him,”

__________________________

“Again!” The sharp voice of his instructor shouted as Genji bent down to grab the practice sword he dropped. Hanzo watched from the sidelines as the instructor grew more and more irritated at his younger brother’s apparent lack of progress. Genji’s stance was wrong, his movements slow and imprecise. The instructor insisted that a Shimada needed to be better than this, that he needed to make his father proud. Genji was clearly miserable and annoyed to even have to be there.

“We will keep doing this every day until you have mastered these basics,” It was an admonishment and a threat. Genji would not be given time to relax and do what he wanted until he could perform adequately.

It was also an unnecessary threat. Genji was better than this. He was a natural with a sword in fact; Hanzo knew from first hand experience. On the rare occasion he could coax his brother into training with him and it was amazing how well the youngest Shimada took to the sword. His archery was less than impressive, but with a blade in his hand he was a very dangerous seven year old, just not in the way their sensei wanted.  

“Genji!” Hanzo called out finally, having had enough of watching his training. He walked onto the field as they turned to stare at the newcomer. “I apologize, but I must speak with my brother,”

“Very well young master, it is getting late anyway. We will continue his lessons tomorrow,” The man was much less irritated when he spoke to Hanzo.

“Of course,” He replied with a bow. One of the very few perks of being the perfect heir to the family, he could break a rule on rare occasion, without repercussion, so long as he was sufficiently apologetic and did not abuse it too often. Barging in on his brother’s training like this was a breach of etiquette and his father would likely hear about it, but it should not be a big deal.

“Genji,” Hanzo spoke lowly, crowding around his younger brother so no one else would be able to hear them, even as the only other person here walked away. “ You are much better than this,” He tried not to sound admonishing, his brother did not respond well to being treated like that. Genji merely shrugged noncommittally. “You can keep up with me when you want to. Why are you pretending?” There was a short pause before Genji replied.

“Sensei is an asshole,” Hanzo chuckled nervously, glad the man in question could not hear his brother speaking like this.

“If you do not do better you will be stuck with him forever,” Hanzo supplied softly.

“Nah, he’ll give up and somebody else will take over eventually. It always happens,” Genji shrugged.

“I have an idea,” Hanzo supplied. “If you show him how good you really are I believe I will be able to convince father to let us train together.” Genji’s face lit up at the suggestion.

“Really?”

“Yes. You are very talented when you put your mind to it and I do not wish you to waste that talent because you do not like the man teaching you,” Genji pouted as he spoke. “And I care about you obviously,” He added to Genji’s apparent approval.

“Okay, but you have to keep your promise,”

He had expected that to be more or less the end of that. He would talk to their father soon about it and they would train together so Hanzo make sure he had the opportunity to actually meet his potential and not be held back by people who could not teach him. The next morning, Hanzo saw how wrong he had been.

Entering the training area to check in on his brother, he had hoped to see Genji applying himself, surprising the idiot in charge. The actual scene unfolding in front of him had him pause for a single moment.

Genji’s instructor stood over his little brother, red faced, shouting words that Hanzo could not process. His attention was focused on the bloody gash across Genji’s face and the same blood dripping from the blade in the much older man’s hand. That hand reared back threateningly and he acted without even taking a second to think things through.

Hanzo had been trained since he was younger than Genji. He was trained to fight, both for traditions sake and to kill to defend the family. Those years of training took over, propelling him forward silently. There was blood, more than there should have been. His first kill and it was very messy, though at the very least the bastard had died silently, any shout of protest or shock getting caught in his throat, same as the blade that suddenly protruded from it.

As soon as the body hit the floor, with a loud thud, Hanzo fell to his knees, wrapping his arms tightly around his brother. It took him a moment to realize how violently Genji was shaking. He had not considered how his brother would react to such violence in front of him. His family’s reaction, which would not be good, had not even occurred to him. He had simply felt the need to protect him above all else.

It surprised Hanzo how little the actual act seemed to affect him. He had been led to believe that it would be difficult, learning to kill. However, when Genji was in trouble, it turned out to be incredibly easy. The blood, the body, none of it really bothered him, even as his little brother shivered and began to cry. In the future he would need to be more careful, to shield Genji from having to deal with anything like this again.

“It’s okay Genji, ” He tried to calm his brother, holding him tighter. Genji hesitated for a moment before wrapping his arms around Hanzo tightly, crying into his chest. “I am here and I won’t let anyone hurt you,” The words were more than simple assurance, they were a promise. Consequences be damned, he would protect his brother no matter what.

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Jesse knew almost instantly that he had hit a nerve of some kind. He could see in the man's eyes that he was somewhere very far away at the moment. So, he sat next to the other man patiently, watching the rest of the kids in the room having fun and Gabe trying to keep up with them.

“I will keep him safe,” The words felt like equal parts declaration and threat as Hanzo slowly rejoined the present, likely not even aware that he had spoken those words aloud.

“Well, y'all are perfectly safe here,” Jesse ignored the threatening tone. He could understand that Hanzo had not aimed it at him, nor anyone here. No one on the farm would try to hurt either of them and that threat was meant for those who would. He hoped that the other man would come to see that and relax a little. He would not be able to watch over his brother at every waking moment for the rest of his life. For the moment though, he seemed content to sit back and watch his younger brother have fun.