#a shorter chapter

Evelyn had been humming and tending to the flower arrangements in town square when Beth decided to finally ask what was going on. 

“Oh, the Flower Dance is coming up, dear. Lewis always has me making the arrangements for the event.” Evelyn smiled at her. “I guess they’re wondering if you’ll be there.” 

“Okay… what’s the Flower Dance?” 

“It’s an old celebration, dear. All the young people looking for love dance in pairs and we crown a Flower Queen.” She chuckled to herself as she watered the flowers. “Back when I was a young woman, George and I danced at the celebration. I was crowned Flowed Queen a couple of times myself before we tied the knot.” 

“So it’s a dating thing.” 

“Not necessarily. Just those looking for love. You can dance with a friend if you wish.” She finished patting down the dirt and picked up her watering can and little box of tiny potted flowers. “If there’s someone you got your mind on asking to dance, you better act quick before he’s taken. I know Haley’s already making my grandbaby dance with her, and poor Alex is so hopeless when it comes to women. He wouldn’t know what to do with one if she fell in his lap.” 

“Oh… I’ll think about it. Thanks, Evelyn.” 

“Please, call me Granny. I don’t mind.” 

---

Now that Beth was informed of the Flower Dance, she was seeing signs of it everywhere. 

Haley was practically glued to Alex, and any time they weren’t doing anything, she was making him practice dancing with her. She’d heard Haley scolding him about dropping her one year during their ‘big lift,’ and she seemed insistent it would never happen again. Alex didn’t seem that interested, talking to Beth for a few good long minutes about how he’d rather dance with “a giant babe like her”, but Haley asked him to dance way back at the Egg Festival. 

The crazy part was Haley didn’t seem to mind the fact Alex wanted to dance with Beth. She even glanced Beth up and down and shrugged. “I need him to win flower queen. I don’t trust the other boys in town to not drop me, and no offence, but you don’t look that coordinated.” 

Same old Haley. Beth had to roll her eyes and move on.

When Beth had gone to the Stardrop Saloon, everyone seemed to be talking about the Flower Dance and wanted to know what she was going to do for it. When Emily brought her drinks, she leaned against the table with a big grin. 

“Have you asked anyone to dance with you?”

“Uhm.” Beth rubbed the back of her neck. “No. I didn’t know about the dance until this morning… Are you going to dance with anyone?”

“I’m dancing with Shane.” She jerked her head over to where Shane was moping in a booth. “He could use a little sunshine and connecting to nature. I want to make sure he just doesn’t sit around and drink on the day off.” 

“That’s nice of you.” Beth glanced over at Shane. He didn’t seem to care they were talking about him. “So, I don’t know much about the dance. What goes on? Is it just dancing?”

“There’s also food. And the Flower Queen pageant.” She chuckled. “Haley is the only girl in town that I think takes the Flower Queen pageant seriously. I’ve been working on her dress to make sure that it’s just perfect.” 

“Oh.” Beth hummed softly. “Does she always dance with Alex? I saw them practicing outside today.”

“She’s danced with him ever since he started getting muscles.” Emily waved her hand a bit. “She goes above and beyond for the dance, and Alex being able to lift her in the air is such a big part of how she shows off for everyone.”

“Hm… are they… dating?”

“Oh. No they aren’t.” Emily smiled softly. “Why? Have one of them caught your eye?”

Beth flushed. “No! No. I was just curious. She seemed to be really… attached to him.”

“As her sister,” Emily leaned in and lowered her voice, “Haley isn’t interested in him beyond his looks. She’s waiting for the perfect guy to fall in her lap before committing to any relationship. But you haven’t heard a word of it from me.”

“Okay.” Beth made a mental note. Before she could figure out how to carry on the conversation, the door opened with a chime. Sam, Abigail, and Sebastian came inside, talking loudly to each other. 

“Ah. More customers. I have to go.” Emily hopped off the step stool and strode over to the bar to take their orders. 

When the three of them had put in drinks, Sam saw Beth sitting at the table and he perked up. He bounded over to her table and scrambled up in the tall, human-sized chairs around her table. “Hey, Beth! Do you have a partner for the Flower Dance?” 

She blinked softly. “No. I do not.”

Sebastian sighed loudly and grabbed Sam by the arm, pulling him out of the chair and into the floor. “Ignore him, Beth.” He turned to Sam. “Didn’t you already promise Penny you’d dance with her?”

“Well, yeah, but I forgot there was another chick available when I said yes!” Sam gave Beth a big smile and wiggled his eyebrows a little. “What do you say?” 

“I say… you should dance with Penny since you already promised you’d dance with her.” 

“Darn.” Sam sighed loudly. “Sebby, are you sure you don’t want to switch dance partners with me?” 

“I dance with Abigail so her mom doesn’t kill her.” Sebastian crosses his arms. “And she is right here.”

Abigail snickered into her hand. “You have two left feet. At least Sebastian doesn’t step on my toes. You got Penny’s hopes up, you gotta dance with her.”

“The world is so cruel to me.” Sam groaned. “Well. Next year I’ll remember to ask the giant babe before Penny asks me to dance with her.” 

Beth wasn’t sure if she was flustered or embarrassed or if she was being made fun of as Abigail grabbed both boys by their arms and dragged them into the side room where the pool table was. 

---

The next morning, Beth had been in Cindersap fishing in the lake, when she spotted Leah walking nearby with a bag in her hand. “Hello, Beth!” 

“Hey.” Beth waved back, but turned her attention back to the water. She could have sworn that she bobber dipped, but it was floating right on the surface. 

“Would it disturb the fish if I stepped on the dock?” Leah sounded behind Beth. 

“Eh, they don’t mind me walking on it.” Beth patted the empty spot of the pier beside her. “You should be fine to come sit.” 

“Wonderful.” Leah joined Beth on the edge of the pier over the lake. “I just got back picking something up at Emily’s. I had been looking for my Flower dance dress, and apparently I had torn it! I dunno how it got torn in my closet, but sure enough, I take it out of my closet and there’s a massive tear up the side! Luckily Emily is the sweetest lady ever and it’s good as new.”

“That’s good.” Beth rolled one of her shoulders. “So… who are you dancing with?” 

“Are you asking me to dance with you?” Leah tilted her head slightly. 

Beth’s face flushed red. “No! No. I’m not… I don’t want to dance with you.” She cleared her throat and suddenly the bobber dipped under. Beth’s eyes widened and she began to reel it in. “I’m just - damn it - I’m just asking.” 

“Well, because you asked. I’m dancing with Elliott.” 

Beth yanked her rod up in the air, and a massive clump of algae flew out of the water, landing in Beth’s lap with a wet ‘splat.’ 

“Ugh, the algae blooms are getting worse and worse with every year.” Leah made a face when Beth picked up the algae clump and dropped it in the bucket next to her. “So, would you like to dance with Elliott?” 

Beth cleared her throat. “Not really. We’re strangers.” She cast her line back out, trying to ignore the massive, uncomfortably wet spot on the front of her pants. “I’m glad you two are happy with each other.” 

“Oh, we aren’t dating.” 

Beth blinked. “Ah.” 

“I’m not… what’s a way to put this… i’m not… attracted to men that way. And Elliott is respectful of that. We just dance together because we want to.” She shrugged her shoulders. “I like going to the flower dance, and it’s always awkward if you’re a young woman without someone to dance with.”  

“Oh.” Beth just started reeling her line back in without a fish on it. It was starting to get late, she needed to do all her farm chores before she ran out of energy. And Pants needed attention. “Well, I hope you guys have fun.” 

“It’s always a blast. I hope you come around.” Leah stood up with her bag. “I’ll see you around.” 

“See you.” 

Not too much later, Beth herself stood up, gathered up her things, and left the pier in the woods. Her farm chores awaited her. 

When she returned to her farm, she smelled that someone had been there, touched her mailbox, and had left. It wasn’t the strange scent of the mysterious mail person, it was the smell of Mayor Lewis. That old man and leather smell that clung to him. 

Beth trudged up to her mailbox and groaned out loud at the handwritten letter that certainly was not there when she had left to go fishing. Of course, it was from Mayor Lewis. And there was an ad from Pierre stuffed in the mailbox next to it. She sighed and decided to see what it said. 

‘Dear Beth, 

Tomorrow we’re all getting together for the Flower Dance. 

If you can find a partner, you might even want to participate in the dance yourself! There’s a little clearing in the forest west of town where we hold the dance. Arrive between 9AM and 12PM if you’re interested. The ceremonial dancing starts as soon as everyone arrives and is ready.

-Mayor Lewis.’ 

She groaned out loud and went inside her house to decompress for a few minutes. How was it possible for her to find a dance partner literally less than a day before the dance was going to start!? 

[18/04/02 4:52PM]

Taeyong rushed into the apartment after Seulgi called him to inform him to “calm down your fucking crazy girlfriend”. The girl was curled up against her couch sobbing, a knife close to her feet.  He took slow steps towards her, using his foot to push the knife away from them both. “Hey Sooya, I’m here baby,” his voice was gentle and so were his actions to bring her body closer to his, “I’m here now baby. It’s okay.”

Her body stopped shaking, in the next hour or so of Taeyong holding her, and fell into a slumber. He stayed in the apartment to finish cooking whatever Sooya started and to make sure she was alright when she woke up. Her phone, however, had no rest and was constantly buzzing. The most recent message being Johnny, the captain of the football team.

[Johnny 18/04/02 5:02PM] Wanna have another session soon? I loved seeing you like that.

He was a photography student and Sooya was a pretty popular model within the department. Surely he was talking about that. Taeyong snapped back and remembered to give Sooya privacy, it was none of his business anyway and he didn’t want another argument. He trusted his girlfriend a lot. She helped him with school work and other problems he sometimes had, so no matter how much bad and believable stuff his best friend said about Sooya, he was only going to believe her.

previous // part 2 // next

    “Hanzo? Did you want one?” The muscular women asked, staring with some concern in her eyes. He shook his head a small bit before he looked at her, not even hearing her question. “Want What?” He asked, finally being brought back to reality. Fareeha held a stack of blankets, one being offered to him. “Blanket. You looked cold,” She said before moving it towards him a bit, as if she were asking again. He nodded, taking the blanket and wrapping it around him quickly. It wasn’t incredibly dense or warm, but it was dry. His hoodie had been strung up to dry just leaving him with a wet t-shirt and jeans. “You alright? You seemed a bit distracted,” She mentioned, giving another blanket to Satya. She even glanced towards him. His hand moved to the scarf that held his hair up and he pulled it away, his wet hair drooping down. “I’m fine. I just desire to be alone,” He stated, tying the ribbon around his wrist to distract himself. “Alright. Just ask if you need anything,” Fareeha offered as she gave the rest of the blankets out.

        Ana had finished with Jesse, but he didn’t move from his spot. No one really did. Ana and Fareeha drifted off to a somewhat light sleep while Lucio was distracted by Satya’s playing (to which Hanzo overheard was called ‘Stimming’). Hanzo’s head rested back and he breathed deep, the constant looming of his thoughts just barely at bay. He tugged the blanket around him a little tighter to keep warm, his hands clutching the fabric just over his chest. His eyes closed, exhaustion taking over for the remaining hours of the flight, just wanting to do nothing more than escaping this crowded setting.

    They landed, Fareeha having to wake Hanzo up with a gentle shake. The blanket still hung around his shoulders as he helped take the bomb encased orbs out of the ship and into a large, blast resistant box that Winston had brought to the hanger to safely transport them to his lab. “Might be a great idea to tell local authorities about what we found, in case we missed some,” Jesse said, stretching his back from hours in one not very comfortable seat. “Of course! First order of business. Second is making sure these aren't armed,” Winston hummed, closing the lid of the container and securing the lock on it. A few people were waiting in the hanger for the groups return, one being Genji, who rushed to his brother side the moment they were done with business. He had his mask off.

    “Welcome back! How’d it go? Was it boring? Did you die?” He asked, a joking smile on his face. His hand went to rest on his siblings arm, to which Hanzo jerked back a bit. The younger’s face went from mischievous to confused, his hands just hovering a bit unsure what to do. “You alright? Did something happen?” He asked, his voice full of concern. “I’m fine. I just...want to go to sleep,” Hanzo almost barked back, lying through his teeth. He started to walk away, avoiding as many people as possible. Genji watched his brother leave, just standing there as he spoke to Jesse. “Did something happen?” He repeated the question to him, raising a his eyebrow in his direction. “No idea,” McCree responded, lighting a cigarillo as he too started to leave the hanger. Everyone went their own directions, to the kitchen, to the rec room, or straight to their respective bunks. Genji was left with wonderment, hoping that his brother was actually alright.

    He wasn’t. Hanzo locked himself in his room, all the terrible thoughts flooding his head. Genji’s face was the only thing he saw when he closed his eyes and it hurt. Why did the that cowboy have to be right? Why did Hanzo care? He thought he was over this, he thought that after all the weeks, months that he was over this, that he had improved. And in a few sentences, it seemed to come undone. He didn’t sleep that night, afraid of the all too familiar dreams to come cascading back to him.

    This went on for weeks. Missions with or without Jesse, Hanzo turned cold to his team. Talks like the one with Ana a rarity in the coming assignments. Even outside of work, Genji began to notice that Hanzo didn’t attend their usual afternoon chats like he used to. And when he did, it wasn’t much of a chat at all. Whenever Genji brought up what was troubling his sibling, he’d deny or change the topic instantly. Not to mention Hanzo didn’t even train with his brother anymore, favouring for training at odd hours and alone. Something was wrong and Genji was dead set on finding out what. He interviewed everyone on his team, determined to get to the bottom of this. And everyone said the same thing, that they’d been nothing but nice to him. Lena, on the other hand, said she last saw him with Jesse before he started acting like this.

    At first, Genji just asked Jesse if he was doing or saying anything, to which he denied fully. But all that changed when Genji was helping Winston sort through some recordings from a decently tough mission. Straight into a warzone, Hanzo and Lucio had been brought in as backup to the Offense team. Fareeha taking heavy damage, Reinhardt’s jet on his armour completely destroyed, and Brigette was out cold. Lucio rushed to where everyone was, ducked in a little corner for as much cover as possible while Hanzo covered him with constant arrow fire. Since only four agents had their cameras, but it was enough for Genji to catch glimpses of actions that proved Jesse was lying. No sound was needed to show Jesse almost shouting Hanzo, his brother retorting back. It was made worse when Hanzo dared to rush to Reinhardt’s aid just to be shot at by Talon agents. He retreated and Genji could almost imagine what he said, making his brother slink to the back of the group so McCree could instead assist Rein. These little exchanges made the remaining blood in Genji’s body boil. He couldn’t believe he’d let this gone on since July. It was September.

    Before he could say anything, Genji darted out of Winston’s lab to find Jesse and hopefully put an end to this.

    Jesse was in the training area, like usual, firing round after round at oncoming targets without missing a shot. Genji watched for a few short minutes for the doorway behind him, thinking he wasn’t scene.

    “Ya know, you ain’t as sneaky as you think you are,” Jesse said, turning his body to face the younger shimada. “Neither are you, McCree,” He replied, walking over to Jesse slowly. He made sure no one else was in the room with them, even in the hall, before he started to talk.

    “I thought you said you weren’t bothering Hanzo,” He accused, and McCree’s face instantly dropped to a more defensive expression. “And I haven’t been,” He replied. Genji removed his face plate and his face only held annoyance and hatred. Something McCree hasn’t seen in years. “That’s bull shit and we both know it! Now Confess,” He demanded, his hand grabbing McCree’s shirt and holding him firm in place. Jesse grumbled, Genji having to strike his hand against his chest before he spoke directly.

“Fine! Fine, yes, I've been giving him shit but he deserves it!,” He defended himself. The other down right slammed him into the wall and pinned him, his arm holding his throat in one place. Jesse may have been bigger, but no one could escape this ninja’s death grip. Jesse choked a bit, his trachea being pushed against, even if just a little. How!? How does my brother deserve it!?”

“I don’t know where you’ve been for the past decade, I mean, look at you! Look what he did to you! I was there, and i saw how terrible it was. That man ain’t right!” Jesse choked out, earning another press on his throat. “That ‘man’ is still my brother!” He shouted, staring the other down. His eyes turned a deep red, slightly glowing.

“He’s a Murderer!”

“We All Are!”

They stood there, silence falling between the two. Genji’s grip let up on the other, but not enough for Jesse to make his escape. Neither said a word for minutes, not really wanting too. Jesse made an attempt to move, just to be shoved back to his original position. That was when Genji spoke.

“Listen, Jesse. He may have destroyed my body, and part of my mind, but in turn, he did the same. It took years to even find him, more to talk to him again. I fought tooth and nail for him to be back in my life, and I’m not about to let him walk back out of it just because of your relentless comments.” Jesse looked at Genji surprised, not seeing the side of Genji ever in his life. He remained silent while receiving his lecture. “I ask of you to either Apologize for your delinquent like actions, or just completely step out of our lives. I’m not asking you to like him, I’m asking you to let him recover.” He hissed, finally letting the other go. Jesse’s hand went to his throat, rubbing were Genji had held him for so long. The cyborg walked towards the door, leaving Jesse to his thoughts before saying one final piece.

“Of all the people here, I expected you to give Hanzo a second chance more than anyone. After all, you got one after all you did.” His hand pulled his face plate back on, his visor illuminating a neon red that shifted to green. He left after that, and Jesse couldn’t have felt worse.

It wasn’t hard to find Hanzo. Everyone basically knew where he had been going at night to drink. McCree knew it especially since it’s where he used to go back in the day. Just a little ledge above the cliffs where one could be alone for hours and not be bothered by anyone. The night had fallen over the base, a gentle and cold breeze chilling the air. Hanzo was leaning against a few boxes, drinking straight from a Sake bottle. Jesse walked up the stairs behind the ledge he sat on, his spurs jingling as he walked. He didn’t need to say anything to alert Hanzo to his presence.

“What?” He hissed, his head turning just to see the other out of the corner of his eye. Hat in his hand, Jesse took a few more steps before speaking. “Wanted to talk,” He drawled, fixing his jacket a bit. It really wasn’t summer anymore. “Talk? Or insult?” Hanzo let out. Jesse took in a breath, debating on completely leaving. But he didn’t, Genji’s talk striking guilt into him more powerful than any snarky comment that could be thrown at him.

“More like...Apologizing,” He said finally. Hanzo’s head turned and he gave Jesse his full attention. He took this as his queue to speak. “I’ve been...Less than reasonable. Said things i had no place in saying. I gave it some thought, and...I shouldn’t be judging you. We’ve all got shit to sort through. I ain’t any better than you,” He said, putting his hat back onto his head. Hanzo looked him up and down, his eyes squinting a bit. “Did Genji put you up to this?” he asked, making Jesse nod a bit. “That obvious?” He replied.

    Hanzo turned his gaze back to the waves that crashed against the rocks below, taking a long sip from his bottle. He barely noticed when Jesse took a seat on a couple boxes just to his left. He just did the same, looking out onto the dark sky, stars, and almost calm ocean. He heard the slightest twist of metal before just quickly looking at McCree, taking out a flask and taking a sip from it. “He may have sat me down and talked to me about this, but i really am sorry,” He said, offering his flask to the other. Hanzo just looked at him suspiciously. “He brought up some good points, and i remembered that I’m in the shit as much as you are. I had no right. Hell, i might’ve lost the ones i had from the way i was acting,” he admitted, taking another, much longer sip from his flask this time.

    “That’s a good apology. I’m not sure if I'll accept it, though,” Hanzo stated coldly, taking a sip from his own bottle. “Didn’t expect you too. Just thought it’d put your mind at ease, knowing I ain’t gonna be harping on ya anymore,” He responded, standing from his spot. Hanzo watched him as he fixed his hat and then his jacket, shaking a bit in an attempt to warm himself. “You’ve been making progress, Hanzo. I’m sorry I went and just about ruined it all for ya,” He apologized one more time, patting Hanzo on his shoulder before he began to walk back to rejoin the others. “Just hope to make things right.” And like that, Hanzo was alone again, to his thoughts and the others words. He’d be lying to himself if he said he didn’t accept the apology. But he decided to keep that to himself. He closed his bottle and gathered himself, before leaving the perch.