Gencio week day 1 prompt: learning languages
Note: Iâve decided to use this as an opportunity to develop my archaeology AU a bit. You donât need to know much besides several of the characters are archaeologists, and theyâre working on a large excavation over the summer. I may later decide to string everything together into a proper fic, but these are all going to be gencio-related drabbles. @gencioweek because they said the tag wasnât working.
Jesse has been sending him the same gif of that nerd from Atlantis tripping over himself trying to flirt with that princess all day. Â Heâd be less annoyed by it if it wasnât so, uh, topical, at the moment.
Hanzo was nodding along to flux collapse and excitation voltage like it was anything other than word salad. Â Despite having crouched behind the shed for five minutes frantically googling fluxgate magnetometer and how the damn thing worked, Genji was still just sort of nodding along and hoping the conversation drifted to a topic he knew anything about.
It really didnât help that the tech was really very attractive. Â Genji hadnât been paying much attention. Â He and Jesse were putting the finishing touches on the grid after spending three days cutting the grass, raking up the clippings and tossing it into Anaâs pickup to use in her compost box. Â Theyâd drifted over while Winston um-ed and uh-ed his way through a meeting with Gabe and Ana, who he hadnât seen standing anywhere near each other in close to a decade, leaving his employee to sort out the gear and field questions.
âSo yeah, now that we know the fort is for sure here, weâre really excited to see if we can detect the village, any of the pioneer camps, maybe even the â what did you guys call it? Iâm not really up on the terminology.â This might have been Genjiâs moment to jump in, he had been neck deep in the preliminary research for this excavation for months, but he had just noticed the tech had little frogs etched on the frames of his glasses and that was taking up most of his attention.
Hanzo was side-eyeing him in the short silence, but jumped in before it became too awkward. Â âA factory â essentially a trading post.â
âThatâs really cool,â the tech said, smiling. Â âWorking with you guys is amazing, I never learned any of this stuff in school. Itâs a lot more high-tech than Indiana Jones.â Â He mimed cracking a whip, and Genji could almost sense Hanzo tense up beside him, and that finally drove him to action.
âWe are accepting volunteers!â he said, a little louder than he meant to be. Â âJust so people can get a feel for the glamorous archaeology lifestyle.â
âFor real?â Â The techâs eyes lit up at the suggestion, animated and vital and Genji could feel the blush creeping up his neck. Â âMan, that would be so cool. Â Iâll have to check in with the big guy and see what our schedules will be like, but I would love to check it out.â
âLucio, letâs get started.â Winston was an absolute gorilla of a man and that he had managed to sneak up on Genji was almost more startling than suddenly hearing his deep baritone behind him. Â Neither Winston nor Lucio seemed to notice, but Hanzo was giving him a weird look.
âYou want to come check out the machine?â Lucio asked, turning to Genji.
Genji absolutely wanted to do whatever it was Lucio wanted, but Hanzo stepped in. Â Still super weird about physical contact, he reached out like he was going to grab Genjiâs shoulder, but instead only tapped him before pulling back. Â âWe need to fix the screens before the rest of the techs arrive. Â McCree has already started.â
Genji managed a half-smile and shrugged. Â âAnother time, then.â
âDefinitely, weâll be around.â Â Hanzo had to not-quite-grab-his-shoulder again to get him to stop gawking and move.