you x everyone

You sighed, “You’re acting like I’ve never been down stairs in my life, Jack.”

At that, he just let out a grunt, “The last time you went down them, more than your feet met the floor and you ended up in the infirmary. That’s not gonna happen again.”

“I was in a hurry last time,” you muttered, the heat on your cheeks reminding you how embarrassing that whole venture was.

Finally, as you both came to the bottom of the stairs, Jack let out a small huff, his hands still hovering about you, “You need to slow down. If you’d be more careful your balance might improve.”

You scoffed, maybe a little offended at that as you stepped away from him, “Excuse you, Morrison, my balance is just fine.”

With a single brow raised, he watched you with incredulous and unbelieving eyes, his voice just as dubious, “Yeah? Not from what I’ve seen.”

A glare with pursed lips was the only response you had for the short moments following before an idea hit you. Looking to your side at the tiled floor of the shopping center, there was a decorative line following the curvature of the walking path. You pointed to it.

“I bet I can walk that line just fine without losing my balance,” you stubbornly challenged, a small smile playing at your lips. “All the way over to that potted plant, down there.”

Jack’s lips began to allow a smile, small and daring as his single eyebrow remained raised on his scarred face, “Walk the line to the potted plant. Without falling. You sure about that?”

His lack of confidence would be appalling if not for the fact that you knew he was probably just trying to give you shit. Either way, you wouldn’t take it.

Moving over to the line, you nodded firmly, words just as confident, “Oh, I’m more than sure. You’ll see.”

He sighed, giving in as he shrugged, both hands in the air, “Alright, fine. Let’s see what you can do.”

You took a deep breath in, then deep breath out, putting one foot in front of the other along the narrow line. This was simple. Nothing more simple than this. Both your arms extended to each of your sides for balance, your eyes looking down at where your feet laid. Then you began to walk the line.

One foot after the other, it seemed to be going relatively well. You didn’t feel like you were going to topple over at all and this would be a cake walk. Rather, a line walk, in this case. And you could feel the smugness beginning to radiate off of you as your gait was unhindered.

It took you a moment to realize but Jack was walking right alongside you, hovering just barely within arm’s reach and it occurred to you then: he didn’t trust you to do this all your own.

“Jack,” you groaned as you looked over to him, stopping for a moment. “What are you doing? Stop it.”

“Stop what?” he asked, sounding far too genuinely curious to be real.

You sighed roughly before continuing on, now moving a bit faster. You could still feel him lagging behind at your side but so far so good. You were just feet away from reaching the goal, from having some semblance of bragging rights. But then you decided to look to your side again to see if he was still there and that, right there, was your mistake.

One of your feet moved slightly off course and just that little variation away from focus was enough to trip you up. You began to falter to the side, away from where Jack was no doubt still lingering, and you knew the ground would probably be your new best friend again.

But the ground never came, only the familiar feeling of Jack’s strong hands holding you steady and keeping you from toppling over.

“Easy,” he uttered.

And before he could say anything else, you were turning to face him with frustration, “For the record, that was your fault! You messed me up. That shouldn’t count.”

“You trying to say you wouldn’t have fallen right now without me right by you, (Y/N)?”

You couldn’t really tell whether he was messing with you at this point or not. Surely he knew, right?

Sighing, you pulled away from him slightly to look at him with harder eyes, “Look, I get you’re trying to help me but my balance is just fine. Like you said, I just need to slow down. That’s all.”

“You could get seriously hurt and if I’m around, I’m not gonna let that happen,” he went on, voice like sandpaper. “Is that so bad of me? That I don’t want to see you get hurt?”

Slowly but surely, a small smile of resolve began to chip away at your features. In truth, it really was sweet and kind of him to be so mindful of your safety. And if you had to be honest, you were a bit of a klutz at times. A lot of times. Maybe you just weren’t completely used to the idea of him being so protective, even in something so little as tripping over your own two feet.

You took a careful breath before reaching forward and taking hold of his hand, to which he returned the hold firmly, “Okay, okay.. that’s fair. In that case, how about just sticking to holding hands? That way I can make sure you don’t fall too.”

A decently warm laughter radiated from his lungs as he smiled, “Something tells me that if I’m the one going down, we’d both be going down.”

You reached forward with your free hand to lightly pap his chest, “Then just don’t fall.”

For what it was worth, you were doing pretty well. You’d both gone on a few rides and you hadn’t emptied your stomach for one. And now you were going to try your hand at winning a prize for Angela. Festival games were never really your strong suit but hey, you certainly had to try. And if anything, maybe you’d do really amazing and get to show off in front of her, right? Right.

“It doesn’t look that difficult,” you shrugged as the two of you approached a blindingly colorful display of stacked tin cans, baseballs littering the floor beneath them all and stuffed animals and plushes galore hanging in every which direction.

Angela huffed a small laugh, “Only if your aim is good. Is your aim good?”

You quickly mustered the most confident grin you possibly could, flashing it the doctor’s way as you reassured her smoothly, “Only the best around. Prepare to be impressed.”

That got yet another giggle out of her. Man, now you really couldn’t afford to screw this up. Not after all the talking you’d just done. But you could do this. Win and get her the biggest and best prize possible. No biggie.

Taking a deep breath, you approached the tall omnic running the stand, reaching into your pocket to retrieve some money, “Three balls, please.”

The omnic took your money and nodded as he deposited the money into a slot at his side, “Three balls, up front!”

A human woman that you hadn’t noticed until now stepped in front of you, dropping three good sized baseballs into a bin on the table before you. She stepped to the side once more as you reached for one of the balls, clasping it firmly before rolling it between your hands.

You could feel Angela’s eyes on you as you focused in on the middle pillar of cans, biting the inside of your lower lip. All the sounds of the festival-goers seemed to drown out as you zoned in on the target.

Breath in, breath out, you brought your arm back, lined up your shot, and tossed the ball forward. It missed. Quite horribly, you might add. You swallowed roughly as you immediately reached for the next ball, determined to not let this deter you. Yet again, you focused intently, lined up your shot, brought back your arm, and let the ball fly. It was closer this time. Third time’s the charm.

“Final ball!” the omnic shouted your way. “Make it count!”

Focus. You could do this. Wind up, hone in on the target, and throw. The sound of metal clinking as it fell to the ground filled the air, all the cans of your target clattering to the floor.

“And we have a winner!!” the omnic cheerfully shouted, much to your elation.

A smile overtook your face as you turned to look back at Angela, a smile just as wide on her face as she clapped softly in amusement and approval.

“See!” you boasted, grinning proudly. “Nothing to worry about!”

“Choose your prize,” the human woman said, catching your attention once more.

Turning, you looked at the multitude of prizes. A brightly colored unicorn, a caterpillar, a pink ball with a cute face on it, and a cartoonish and stylized looking angel. That was the one. Reaching forward, you pointed to the adorable angel, “That one, the angel.”

As the woman retrieved it and handed it over, you turned to Angela as she continued to beam a smile your way, “You did well! I’m very impressed, (Y/N).”

You let a small laugh escape your lips as you offered the large plush out, the smile on your face genuine and warm, “Here, I won it for you.”

Her expression quickly turned to surprise, thin eyebrows raising as she blinked quickly, “For me? But you won it, you should keep it for yourself.”

Man, this was going to get embarrassing quick. You swallowed hard and pushed it closer to her as you shook your head, “I want you to have it. I figure it should be owned by someone that’s just as cute and angelic as it is.”

The hint of pink redness flooded onto her cheeks within moments as she brought up a hand to cover her mouth, giggles coming from her lungs.

“I’m sorry,” you huffed a nervous laughter as you looked off to the side, lowering the plush a bit. “That was– a little too much, right?”

Silence greeted your words before you suddenly felt the sensation of something very, very soft upon your cheek. You jumped just slightly before you realized Angela was giving you a kiss, pulling back as you looked to her, stunned and wide eyed and probably blushing like it was nobody’s business.

“You’re very sweet, Liebling,” she said softly and sweetly in that wonderful accent of hers, reaching forward to take the plush into her own arms. “I will be certain to cherish this and think of you whenever I look at it.”

It was all a little humiliating to have to lean on this guy you’d never met before today. But by the way he remained quiet and kept his eyes ahead, something about it told you he’d done this plenty of times. You wished you could just make the walk on your own (you already knew where the medical wing was, you’d studied the map quite religiously in the weeks following your official recruitment), but your ankle hurt something fierce and walking on your own would probably only make it worse.

What a shameful entrance to a dream recruitment. Nothing to write home about.

As you were escorted into the medical bay, there were several other people there, some sporting the blue uniforms of the organization and some in lab coats. Approaching the front desk, there was a woman with dark skin and even darker hair, to which the man accompanying you asked to see Dr. Ziegler.

There was that name again. It sounded familiar. What was their first name? Dr. What Ziegler? You swore you heard the name around before. It was on the tip of your tongue…

Before you could ponder it further, the woman behind the desk told you both to come on through to examination room fourteen where the doctor would come by soon to see you. So there you were left, ankle throbbing quite unpleasantly, settled on a clean and pristine white bed. It was surprisingly a lot more comfortable than you had judged.

Finally, you were left to yourself to wallow in your own regrets and shame for messing up that badly in front of your fellow recruits. Were they talking about you? Probably. But you couldn’t think about it too much otherwise it’d eat you alive. Unfortunately the blank room had nothing of much interest to keep your thoughts from wandering, not even a single poster of how to do basic things like wash your hands to keep the germs away or whatever.

You took a slow breath before letting it out, your fingers curling in on themselves as you pressed them against your knees. Seconds ticked by. Then minutes. Ten of them, to be exact. You were going to go crazy just sitting here, waiting, waiting, waiting. And you couldn’t even bounce your leg in impatience.

Just as you were about to risk harming your ankle more and march up to the front desk to demand the doctor already, the handle of the door flicked down and it was finally opening. You swallowed roughly as in stepped someone you absolutely weren’t expecting.

A woman, whom you could only assume was Dr. Ziegler, with blonde hair tied neatly into a high ponytail, the bluest eyes you’ve ever seen, and the sweetest and warmest smile this side of the world, was approaching you with a clipboard in hand. You quickly blinked once, twice, before you realized that wow, she was really, really gorgeous.

“Hello there, (Y/N),” she greeted warmly, her accent pleasant but slightly unidentifiable to your ears. She looked over the chart before her as she stood beside the bed. “I’ve been informed you’ve been hurt during training? Do you mind telling me what it is that hurts?”

It took you a moment before you could tear your eyes away from her to look down at your leg, “O-oh, uh, yeah my, uh.. My ankle. My right one. I don’t know if it’s broken or what, it just really hurts. You’re.. Dr. Ziegler, right?”

You looked up just in time to see her delicate eyebrows rise suddenly, “Oh! Yes, forgive me, I’ve forgotten my manners, it seems. I am Dr. Ziegler, yes. And I will be fixing you right up.”

And then she smiled again. It was wider than before, much more genial and soft. You were sure you felt your heart skip a beat.

In the next moment, she was placing the clipboard on the bed beside you, crouching down as she asked, “What happened, exactly? If you can remember?”

She was reaching forward, lightly drawing her fingers along your lower leg. You tried to focus on the question, clearing your throat as you did so, “I’m not really sure, we were doing.. Doing uh-- exercises. Training. One of the other recruits, she got a little too rough and I landed on my leg wrong and--”

Suddenly, a wince of pain slipped from your clenching teeth as the doctor moved your leg a bit.

“How would you rate the pain on a scale of one to ten? One being not at all, ten being the worst?” her voice retained its gentleness and warmth, but there was an air of professionalism and routine to it as well.

You exhaled as she put your leg back into a resting position, “When I move it? Maybe a six. When it’s resting, maybe.. Maybe a two.”

Dr. Ziegler nodded as she seemed to come to some sort of conclusion. She stood, moving over to a short cabinet beside to bed, reaching in and grabbing a small device. You weren’t entirely sure but it looked to be one of those small, portable x-ray machines.

“I have a feeling you’ve only sprained your ankle, but just to be on the safe side,” she went on, pleasant and assured in her early diagnosis, “we will double check to make sure you did not fracture anything as well.”

“What’s your first name?” you suddenly found yourself blurting as she began to run the device down the length of your leg.

The abruptness of the question made her stop, a small look of surprise on her face as she looked up to you. The surprise quickly wore off before she was smiling pleasantly once more and answering, “Angela.”

And before the sudden bold braveness within you could wear off, you prodded even more, “Your accent is so nice. I can’t place it though.”

That got a lovely and melodic giggle out of her as she continued to move the device along your leg, now scanning at the ankle, “Thank you, that’s very sweet of you. And it’s Swiss.”

Oh man. Now you felt awkward. Was that too much?

“Sorry,” you quickly blurted out, laughing a bit nervously as you looked away, brushing a strand of your hair back. “I hope that wasn’t too-- personal. Or anything. You just seem like a really, really-- interesting person. And you have a really pretty name.”

Finally, Angela was pulling back, yet another giggle playing at her lips. It was so warm and so genuine and sweet. Oh man.

Angela stood up once more, “My, my, it’s not every day I get a patient that pays me so many compliments. You are a very sweet girl.”

You returned your eyes back up to the doctor, unable to stop the smile and the pain of your leg fading as though it were a bad dream, “I’m just being honest. And I actually studied some German back in high school. Though it’d probably sound horrible to you.”

“Is that so? Try me,” Angela challenged, a daring smile now staining her lips.

Right away, you were digging into your high school memories of a German class you had almost failed, to try and find something at least slightly impressive to speak. You bit at your lip before taking a deep breath.

“Mein Deutsch ist schlecht,” you formed the words oddly, the accent so terrible it grated on even your ears. “Es tut mir Leid.”

Yet again, she was laughing, but it was much louder this time, much more amused. Angela brought up a hand to cover her mouth with slender and delicate fingers as she continued to giggle. You couldn’t help but laugh with her.

“That was good,” she finally found her words through the laughter, her deep blue eyes still filled with lasting amusement. “The accent could use some work, however.”

You laughed, “Well for the record, I did just tell you my German was bad. That includes the accent, y’know.”

It felt good to know you made such a beautiful woman laugh so genuinely, especially this woman. Seemed as though that time spent in that class had paid off after all. Because it all led to this moment.

“Anyhow,” Angela went on, putting the device down and grabbing the clipboard once more. “I will have to retrieve the results from our computers. Should only take a moment.”

You pursed your lips tightly, a little frustrated as you grumbled, “I was only trying to help. Everything was a mess anyway and you were gonna lose your head if I didn't do something sooner.”

He didn't respond right away as he pulled back the cloth, small amounts of blood lining the material. He sighed as he shook his head. You severely wished you could see past the mask on his face, just so you could read his expression. See what he was really thinking. Was that why some ninjas wore masks? To conceal their emotions from their enemies and everyone around them? Maybe so.

“No matter, I do not need you risking your life for mine,” he reaffirmed much more confidently. “I am more machine than you. You are far more-- squishy and vulnerable.”

You scoffed at that, offended almost, “I'll try not to take that as an insult, thanks.”

“You are only human is what I am trying to say,” he quickly amended, his tone firm but there was a small hint of backpedaling there that you somewhat appreciated. But it wasn't his tone that stood out most to you. It was the words within the voice.

You could feel your face pulling down into something like a confused frown, “You're human too, y’know. Why am I the exception here?”

He made small movements back, as though he was surprised by your response, “You think that I am human?”

“Well..” you began, sounding a bit uncertain. “Yeah? I mean, yeah, you've got some artificial parts here and there, but that doesn't mean you're any less human.”

Silence consumed the air around both of you as Genji took his hands back to himself. You hadn't realized he'd still been holding onto your arm until the presence of his grip was gone. Damn that stupid mask. In fact…

“Take your mask off,” you finally broke the silence, tilting your head slightly. You watched him carefully.

“Why?” He asked softly, his tone perhaps a bit guarded.

Your gaze didn't waver, “I want to see your eyes. Please.”

Still, Genji remained motionless, mechanical and flesh parts of his body alike remaining still. You saw the careful and calculated rise and fall of his chest, the only part of his body that even indicated movement. And just when you were about to give up on him complying, he began to shift.

You watched as he brought up his hands to reach at the back of his head. The sounds of sharp clicks filled the air as he undid the clasps. He reached forward, splaying fingers across the mask as he slowly, but with absolute uncertainty, began to remove the mask obstructing his face.

This wasn't the first time you had seen him without the mask. In fact, you’d seen him without most of his armor several times back at base. The two of you had been on a multitude of missions together at this point and, if you had to admit it, there was something special between the two of you. Whether it was a great friendship or more than friends, you couldn’t tell. And you were sure he couldn’t either. It was strange but you could easily say you would risk your life for his.

Finally, the mask was gone, his eyes were dark but held small hints of silvery shines as they lingered down at the ground between both your sitting bodies. Silence stretched on before he was looking up to you, your eyes meeting his and an unspoken conversation being shared.

You smiled, slow and gentle, your tone matching suit, “I don’t think anything other than a human could have such amazing eyes.”

Genji pursed his lips, his gaze turning down once more as a soft laughter escaped his lungs before he was shaking his head, “You are too kind, my friend. I am fortunate to not have lost them as well, then.”

Boldly, you allowed your free hand to reach forward but stopped yourself suddenly as you realized what you were doing. The desire to press your fingertips to the marred skin of his face was strong, but your sense of space was even stronger. You didn’t want to screw this up and do something too invasive.

“Can I..?” you asked tentatively, hand pulling back just slightly.

The hint of a smile was lingering on his lips as he looked back to you with those dark eyes, giving a small nod of approval. You could feel your heart jump up into your throat for a solid second before you swallowed it back down once more.

The sensation of his skin meeting your own filled your fingers as you brushed over the scarred flesh, the air around you feeling as still and steady as Genji’s breath.

“Wanna know what I think, Genji?” your words were quiet, as though you were afraid to shatter the moment.

He allowed a pause to settle in the air before he muttered, “What do you think?”

Your thumb swiped over his skin, a smile sweeping over your own lips.