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When the Overwatch recall alarm had sounded around the world, the old members of the team gathered at Gibraltar, welcoming each other in warm hugs as a general chatter enveloped the room where everyone entered. Genji had come alone, he was soon regretting that choice as more and more people came, his master had taught him how to control his own uncomfort being in public, but he was already shaking slightly. The light on his visor dimmed subtly as he moved towards the emptier part of the room, hoping to sink anonymously into the gathering.
Suddenly, the room erupted into a happy hello, Genji saw McCree enter the room with his hat on his chest, blushing from the top of his ears down from the attention of the crowd.
“My goodness, y’all must have missed me quite a bit!” McCree smiled as he spoke.
Tracer stepped out of the group and sprinted to hug McCree, giggling “Maybe I was just happy to finally get rid of you!”
“Hey now -” McCree started, but was laughing to hard to finish his sentence.
Soon enough, the room scattered back into its relaxed state. Genji retreated a bit further from everyone else still, but his eyes followed McCree around the room, watching as he said hello to everyone in the room, even the old staff that had helped keep Overwatch secure during the years it was active. Genji noticed his same bravado, the same serape now covered with new holes near its seams. He also noticed the new beard that covered his face, and his new hat - darker than the old one.
Genji wanted to go up to him, wanted to say sorry, wanted to explain his own situation, wanted to make sure McCree was okay, that he was safe. He stayed back.
Genji had gone over his last conversation with McCree with Zenyatta several times, meditating over the different ways he could have handled it, despite Zenyatta telling him he could not have done anything being the man he was. Genji gave himself a small sigh, it truly was an awful thing to say to him.
In retrospect, he hadn’t truly meant it - his own trauma had been defining his relationships since Dr. Ziegler had rebuilt his body. It was a damned night, it was the day before he left for good. He hadn’t told McCree yet, and he wasn’t planning too. Instead he wanted to forget about him, forget about any ties he had to this place. He shouldn’t have - he should have -
“Well, howdy!” McCree, very suddenly, appeared in front of Genji - startling him from his thoughts.
Despite his anxiety, Genji smiled under his mask, and as if he was transported ten years ago, McCree’s presence soothed him, and gave him more confidence. He looked up towards McCree’s face.
“It’s good to see you again.” Genji noted that not only the beard was new, he had grown. His dark skin seemed to weather at the corners of his eyes, and where his lips met into a smile. Genji also noticed his left arm which had been replaced in the years that he missed.
McCree beamed, and without warning, pulled Genji into a huge hug, wrapping his arms around him snuggly and tucking his head into Genji’s neck.
“It is so good to see you too.” McCree sounded like he was smiling again, Genji smiled again even harder, McCree’s smile was always contagious.
“You look very handsome with your new beard, Jesse” Genji spoke softly , angling his head so he could speak directly into his ear.
McCree’s face got very warm, very quickly - and he let go of Genji and looked down at the ground, at least some things about the cowboy hadn’t changed at all.
“Oh- oh lord’ve mercy, you sure still know how to get me every time.”
Genji knew this routine well, he didn’t even skip a beat, “ And I would have you, every time.”
McCree started to stutter, scuffed his shoes on the floor, and mumbled under his breath, “if you find yourself in a hole, it’s best to stop digging.”
Genji quietly laughed, feeling all the tension he held leave his shoulders. McCree watched him wide-eyed and a little breathless.
“Haven’t heard you laugh in a while, don’t even think I’ve heard you like this before ever in fact.”
Genji laughed again, shaking his head.
“I’m serious,” McCree continued. “You look a lot better - I mean - I reckon, I - you look happier, if I do say so myself.”
Genji hummed contently, “I spent most of my time in Nepal after…” Genji trailed off but swallowed and continued, his voice steadier. “I have found myself, I am happy, I’m a new man from before.”
Shuffling his feet, Genji took a deep breath, “I.. I looked for you when I visited America last.”
McCree let out a short-winded chortle, “I looked for you too, but in the wrong place apparently.”
Genji smiled while his visor brightened, “Oh no! I hope you were careful in Hanamura, you didn’t disturb the balance of good and evil?”
“Oh now don’t you start that! I am a gentleman, I was as careful as a naked man climbin’ a barbed fence!”
“And I’m sure you climbed lots of fences naked”
“Sure did! But you’re not one to talk, where’s your clothes?”
Laughing louder this time, Genji put his hands on his hips, “Perhaps I am just, flaunting my own body”
McCree laughed, then saw an opening, “Well, that's a mighty fine body you got there”
Genji, who has spent years with Zenyatta learning how to turn away from temptation, could not stop his own, and in all honesty, didn’t want to. “It’s a fine body that would like to be close to yours.”
“Well - well - I - uhm…” McCree sputtered and rubbed a hand behind his neck, “I wouldn’t, uh.” He coughed, cleared his throat, and took off his hat, “I’d reckon I’d like that quite a bit.”
With a flash of blue, Tracer interrupted the moment and crashed into Genji’s arm, gripping him with excitement, “Genji! I didn’t see you arrive, we haven’t spoken in so long, love! I had to learn from Winston where you’ve been hiding!”
Taken aback, Genji stumbled slightly with the new weight pressing into his side. “Lena, I thought you would be angry with me for leaving.”
Tracer grinned, “I could never be mad at you, love! Even at your grumpiest.”
“He was grumpy a lot wasn’t he,” Jack Morrison joined the small group forming.
“Oh now now, don’t pick on him! You interrupted such a nice conversation,” Mercy walked over to Genji and gave him a small smile, then turned back to Tracer and Jack, “you two seem all to happy to be meddling, and besides you're doing it wrong.”
McCree laughed, “and you would know, Doctor?”
Mercy pretended put her hand to her chest in fake offense, “Of course! A doctor knows best!”
McCree smirked and crossed his arms, “and how would you know all about the proper meddlin’ technique?”
Mercy opened her mouth, closed it, and shifted her eyes next to her, trying to catch Genji’s expression.
“It is no matter to you!” Mercy smiled, “Come on, let's have these two talk - I think they need it after all.”
McCree started to speak, but the three who had joined them left to speak to another newcomer, who judging from his height, was someone who he hadn’t spoken to in quite a long time. Genji shook his head in amusement.
“I didn’t consider how much I missed this,” Genji’s voice sounded almost nostalgic as he watched them walk away, but he quickly looked back towards McCree, giving him his undivided attention.
“I… think Dr. Ziegler is right, we should find somewhere to talk.”
McCree nodded, and looked around the room, suddenly remembering the entrance of their favorite quiet (and secluded) location.
They both seemed to have similar thoughts, as Genji motioned for the stairs which lead to the rafters of the building. The farther up they walked, the less noise could be heard. When they reached the tunnel that hung above the party, McCree began to pick at his serape, pulling at the holes and strings that stuck out.
“What are you worried about?” Genji asked gently.
“You ain’t mad?” McCree’s usual bluster seemed dimmed by his own tension.
“Mad?” Genji seemed surprised, “I thought you would be angry with me.”
McCree let out a small huff, “I could never get angry with you darlin’, I just thought, after our spat, I thought -”
Genji winced, “I regret that night very much.”
“I missed you.” McCree spoke without hesitation, not even giving Genji a chance to respond, “every time I woke up with another nightmare, or I just couldn’t sleep - I never stopped thinkin’ of you. You and me? We worked like milk and honey, without you it didn’t seem right, nothing seemed right.”
McCree took a deep breath, “I missed you.”
“You still have nightmares?” Genji asked.
“They got better after I thought about you.”
McCree leaned against the walls, and took a shaky breath, “getting sweet on you made whole bunch of things a hell of a lot better.”
He looked down at the ground, and closed his eyes harshly. He felt Genji’s hands hover over his cheeks, then heard a soft hiss.
“Jesse,” Genji’s voice no longer had a metallic edge, “you handsome fool, I missed you too.”
McCree opened his eyes suddenly, and jerked his head up.
Genji’s face was so close, his eyes scanning the creases he had yet to learn, he recognized a freckle near the corner of his right eye. He smoothly pulled McCree towards him, and gave a light peck to his forehead, he continued and tenderly kissed his nose, then moved his way down.
“I missed you more than anything.” Genji whispered against his mouth, letting his breath tickle McCree’s skin.
McCree shifted closer to Genji, pressing their lips together, and it felt as if a sigh that had been held for years finally let go. They melted into each other, Genji tilted his head and deepened the kiss, opening his mouth to breath. Leaning his back against the wall, McCree smiled into the next kiss, letting the moment take him for as long as it wanted to. Genji started to smile with him, and they giggled against the other’s cheeks.
After several minutes, Genji’s vents started to whirr and overheat, and he took a step back to let steam out of his shoulders, McCree stood silent, dazed and entirely filled with enough joy to last the rest of his life. As short as that would be, with Genji looking completely wrecked: his cheeks blushed, and his lips swollen, his eyes darkly downcast. McCree could accept this moment as the last thing he would ever see.
“Lord, you gave me one brick in my hat.” McCree swayed as he pushed himself up.
Genji grinned, “I will take that as a compliment”
“You should darlin’ I don’t think I can walk back downstairs knowing what I know.”
“Oh? And what do you know now?”
“That you look really good post-buss.”
Genji quickly stepped closer again, wrapped his arms around McCree , and gave him a pleasant kiss, one far less powerful, but all the more delicate and loving. He pulled back and gave a devilish smirk.
“I think you look far better.”
McCree leaned his head against Genji’s.
“I missed you.”
Genji laughed, “I know you said that already.”
“Because it’s truer than sunrise.”
“That was awfully poetic.”
“Maybe I’m just a poetic guy.”
Closing his eyes, Genji sighed and rubbed his head into McCree’s affectionately. “I’m sorry we could not have ended better. I was too wrapped up in my own body to learn yours, I should not have said those things. When I was struggling to learn myself in Nepal, I only thought of you.”
McCree gave a smug smile. “Now who's the poetic one?”
“Is it poetic if it’s true?”
“Now you’re just trying to make me blush, spark.”
Genji didn’t respond, he just tightened his arms around McCree’s body, and he got the hint. The party continued below, but this was always where they were both most comfortable. Together and alive.
Genji chuckled, “I see you’re quick on the draw.”
“Sweetheart, I think that’s my line.”