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Genji Shimada was something of a mystery to everyone that had heard of him. And Jesse had only ever heard of him, just like everyone else besides Angela and Gabe. The majority of the Blackwatch team talked about the kid that was brought in from Japan, apparently barely alive and screaming in agony. Jesse listened intently, though he didn’t much believe the stories that drifted around the mess hall. That was until he actually got to see Shimada.
He was a cyborg, is what Angela told him. She’d only been given the clearance to do what she could to save his life, and then further on to weaponize him. Jesse saw him with Gabe one day to start his training, and Shimada hadn’t said a word the entire time. He was broody, for sure, but Jesse could only imagine what he’d gone through to get to where he was. He probably had every right to be as dark and miserable as he was. And Jesse found out quickly that Shimada was constantly in pain, be in physical or mental, and nothing they were doing for him was helping. Not like they were trying very hard, in Jesse’s completely humble and unbiased opinion.
Shimada was messed up, but Jesse found himself being drawn to the man more and more with each training session, each little meeting, the eventual-though short-conversations he was able to drag out of the cyborg. It took months of effort and eternal patience on Jesse’s part, and he didn’t see much pay off until someone mentioned it at the mess hall one day.
“McCree! Shimada’s always training with you, what’s he like?”
Jesse glanced up from where he had been absently staring at his food, all the agents sitting with him turning to look.
“Why you askin’?”
“Got teamed up on a mission with him tomorrow, and I’ve barely even seen him besides at the mandatory group training. I don’t know how well he works with everyone.” Martinez asked casually, and Jesse shrugged.
“He doesn't really ‘work well’ with anyone. He’s more of a lone wolf kinda guy.”
“But he works with you all the time.”
“Yeah, but that’s just hand to hand, he has to pick a partner.”
“And he picks you, McCree. Every time.” Martinez told him pointedly. Jesse frowned, realizing she was right. He’d yet to see Shimada go to anyone else for partner combat training.
“Huh…Well, I guess you’re right. He mostly keeps to himself, obviously, and he’s pretty damn good at fightin’. You won’t have to worry about him too much. Just make sure he don’t go overboard, he has a tendency to do that…”
“He can work with a team, right?”
“Yeah, you’ve seen him.”
“Barely…” Martinez muttered under her breath, and Jesse smiled.
“Hey, gotta respect a man’s privacy. Shimada ain’t half bad, you’ll see.” He assured. The topic shifted after that, and Jesse zoned out of the rest of the conversations.
He supposed Shimada was around him more often than not anymore, and Jesse realized that he hadn’t even noticed it. Strange, he normally didn’t slide into constants like this, especially not in Blackwatch. Maybe it was a good thing that it was changing.
-
“Boss, I thought we had a deal.” Jesse huffed, arms crossed over his chest defiantly as Gabe shrugged and raised his brows.
“Well, we gotta put him somewhere. You have the only spare bunk.”
“So you think roomin’ me with the guy who steers clear of everyone is a good idea?! Listen, I know I’m hard to get along with at the best of times, so what makes you think this is a good idea?”
“Shimada needs somewhere else to stay other than the med bay. Dr. Ziegler told me things will only get worse if he doesn’t have a more normalized environment to fall back to when he needs it.”
“Gabe, there ain’t nothin’ we can do for him here that’ll really make him better and you know it.”
“But we can make it slightly better than he’s got it now. He’s a part of the team, Jesse. The least we could do is make him feel like it.” Gabe sighed. Jesse rubbed a hand over his face, shoulders sagging in defeat. He had a point there, and it struck close to home.
“Fine. But if I get stabbed in the middle of the night, I’m blaming it on you.”
“I think you’re the one person Shimada wouldn’t stab.”
“Ha-ha.” Jesse deadpanned, Gabe giving him a strange look.
“Shimada should be there now.” Was all he ended up saying, Jesse balking slightly.
“Wait, so what if I said ‘no way Boss, I ain’t doin’ it’?”
“I would have said ‘suck it up, buttercup.’ Just because you haven’t had a roommate for a while doesn’t mean you suddenly get the room to yourself for good.”
Jesse grumbled to himself, adjusting his hat and turning on his heel.
“When do I get to be commander of this joint, huh?”
“When you start doing the paperwork, cabrón.” Gabe shot back, Jesse smirking and letting the door shut behind him. He had no intentions of ever running anything, and from the looks of it, no one else had any either.
Jesse went back to his room, hesitating a moment before he sighed and typed in the passcode. And Shimada looked up at him from the opposite bed.
“Howdy.” Jesse greeted after silence prevailed for an uncomfortable amount of time. Shimada dipped his head in return, and Jesse deemed it safe to move inside and take off his boots.
He tossed his hat onto his bed and followed it down, head hitting the pillows and unmade sheets. He didn’t really have time for making his bed in the mornings, not when he was resting as much as possible before training, and especially when he couldn’t get sleep at night.
“How're you doing today, Shimada?” Jesse asked, closing his eyes and putting his hands behind his head.
“Fine.”
“Well, that’s good. You look good. Lil’ healthier, if you will.”
More silence. Jesse didn’t know whether or not he could handle this. It took another moment, but Shimada finally spoke up softly.
“…Thank you.”
The cowboy cracked an eye open at that, glancing at the cyborg sitting across from him. Shimada seemed just as uncomfortable as Jesse. Well, someone had to break the ice.
“You mind if I just call you Genji from now on? You can call me Jesse too. Just so we get a little less awkward about this whole thing, ‘cause it probably ain’t gonna change any time soon.”
“That is fine…Jesse.” Genji nodded, seemingly trying out the name on his tongue. Shimada, against all outwards appearances, had a soft and polite side to him. It had to be earned, of course, but he wasn’t a bad guy. Just troubled in more ways than Jesse could imagine.
“Alrighty then. I’m gonna go shower, and I think you should go find some more blankets for that bed. Gets a little bit chilly in here sometimes.” Jesse told him, frowning a bit as he took in the unusually spartan area around Shimada. Genji, he corrected himself.
Then again, Jesse supposed there wasn’t much to have when someone was taken away from their home on the brink of death. Material possessions became much less significant in comparison to a life. Genji didn’t say anything, and Jesse took his chance to leave. He really hoped every day wasn’t going to be like that.
-
The weeks passed, and Jesse got used to having Genji as a roommate. The ninja wasn’t often around-training or appointments with doctors Ziegler and O’Deorain taking up most of his time-but they were always together in the evenings. Things had gotten easier between them, Jesse able to coax Genji out of his shell more with each passing day.
He had a strange sense of dry humour, Jesse found out one time after training when the cyborg told him something with a completely serious tone, only to have his eyes scrunch up slightly and leave Jesse bewildered. He didn’t think someone like Genji was capable of cracking jokes, but he laughed quietly at his own until Jesse had caught on and joined in.
The days were good, but the nights were anything but that. Jesse didn’t know how many times he had woken up to Genji making whimpers and distressed sounds in his sleep, nightmares taking over his mind. Sometimes the cowboy would wake him carefully to try and calm him down, other times Genji couldn’t shake whatever demons were eating at him and Jesse would sit next to him until he was able to come back.
There was one night in particular where Jesse was the one who woke from a nightmare of his own, breathing heavily and hand reaching automatically for his gun. He groaned and closed his eyes when he realized where he was, resting his head in his hands and fighting to get his breathing back to normal. Jesse felt the bed dip after a minute, and he looked up just enough to see Genji settling next to him. He didn’t say anything, as per usual, but he didn’t have to. Genji knew, and so did Jesse.
“Thanks, partner…” Jesse mumbled when he felt like he wasn’t going to throw up. Genji stared straight ahead at his own bunk, sitting stock still before he twitched and slowly leaned into Jesse’s side.
Jesse blinked and looked down at Genji, the cyborg resting his head on his shoulder and closing his eyes. And it was all strangely peaceful, Jesse’s previous nightmare fading into the back of his mind with Genji against him. He cautiously placed his arm around Genji’s lower back, and he got a soft sigh in return. They hadn’t crossed this territory yet, but Jesse felt like it was inevitable.
There was something about Genji that Jesse was automatically drawn to, something he had tried to curb and keep hidden from everyone making him want to spend as much time as possible with the ninja. It wouldn’t do well to get too friendly with teammates. And yet, this felt so…Good. Jesse hadn’t had this kind of comfort in ages, and Genji sure as hell hadn’t had people touch him unless it was for an experiment since he came in to Blackwatch.
“You should try and get some more sleep.” Genji whispered, his hands still clasped together in his lap, but he made no move to shift away from the cowboy. Jesse huffed a quiet laugh, fingers absently rubbing over the synthetic and metal materials covering Genji’s sides. It was all warm, which he wasn’t expecting.
“Yeah…” He sighed, the ninja standing and taking a step forward at that. Jesse’s hand whipped out to take his arm before he could get too far, Genji tensing slightly but turning back to look at him.
He wasn’t wearing his faceplate, Jesse noticed. It was rare that the ninja didn’t have it on, but Jesse thought he should have taken it off more. The man wasn’t just scarred, he was beautiful. And Jesse wished he thought that about himself too.
“Stay…? Just for tonight…” The cowboy asked, not hoping for much, but he had to try. Genji’s expression didn’t change much, but a softness gathered in his eyes that Jesse hadn’t seen in a while.
“Okay. Just for tonight.” Genji agreed, the barest of smiles pulling his lips up as he stepped into Jesse’s space again. The single bed made it a tight fit, but Genji wasn’t very big and Jesse turned to his side, so they made it work.
“I could get used to this, yanno.” Jesse murmured into the little space between Genji’s shoulder and neck his nose was pressing up against, and he felt a hum more than he heard it.
“It is not a wholly bad arrangement, I must admit.”
Jesse chuckled and felt Genji’s human hand slowly, hesitantly, slide up to play with the ends of his hair after another moment of stillness.
“I’m surprised you’re letting me get away with this…”
“Who says you are the one getting away with it?” Genji asked, and Jesse had to smile. So the feeling was mutual.
“Get some sleep, Jesse.”
Jesse closed his eyes and took a steadying breath, listening to the gentle thump of Genji’s heartbeat. This was going to get him into trouble, but Jesse couldn’t find it in himself to mind when he felt so safe and warm.