CYOA 2 – To The Victor Go The Spoils – Chapter 12: Riding Lessons

Previously: Hanzo earned his next Pokémon, Kikuri the female Salandit. He's also started continuing his journey, meeting an old acquaintance by pure chance...

Content/warning: Jesse wanting really desperately into Hanzo's pants lol. Sexual tension mmmh

Disclaimer: This is the last CYOA chapter that has the name Jesse McCree. Starting with the next chapter, he will be called Cole Cassidy! I will go back at a later date to change the mentions in previous chapters accordingly.

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“So ya found two of my li’l critters? That’s a funny coincidence, ain’t it?”

Hanzo stares at Jesse, his face scrunched up in distaste, fingers wrapped around the cup of tea the other has placed in front of him just a moment ago.

He doesn’t want to think of Jesse’s home as comfortable, but there really isn’t a different description for it. It looks all bright and old in a well-lived kind of way. And very large. Did Jesse live here all alone? Hanzo doesn’t know if the current Champion has any family to speak of; there is little known about him as far as he knows.

He’s sure it would have been of great public interest if it had been known that he has a little Skiddo farm on Route 12.

“I don’t think that it’s particularly, funny. No.” He nods toward the Rockruff currently eating a big helping of Pokémon food from a bowl. “I found him completely alone in Mt. Moon. He ate the supplies of my travel companion who now has to stock up on everything.”

Jesse lifts his big hands in a show of surrender.

“I’ll pay him back, don’tcha worry that pretty li’l head of your’s.” His gaze moves to the Rockruff. He scratches his unkempt beard in thought. “Mt. Moon, though? Damn, Maddox… I wouldn’t’ve thought of lookin’ fer you there, of all places…”

Hanzo can feel a vein at his temple starting to swell. He takes a swift sip of his tea to calm himself down, but feels his temper only rise because it is delicious tea and for some reason that annoys him even more.

He puts the cup down a bit too hard on the saucer, causing Jesse to just look at him blankly.

“Would you please explain to me how you can lose not only one but two of your Pokémon and apparently not be worried enough about them to come and look?”

Jesse clicks his tongue.

“Hey now. Easy there, buddy. I’ll explain. Don’t worry, alright?” He squints his eyes a little to look Hanzo up and down. “You sure you an’ Genji are brothers? Never seen siblings more unalike than… yeah, yeah, I get it. You’re kinda lucky you’re pretty, babydoll. Don’t think many people can stomach a fire cracker like you, huh? But you’re in luck. I love spicy foods.”

Hanzo is sucking on his teeth, unsure whether Jesse is just fucking with him at this point and whether he should grab his stuff and go.

Sensing that he is obviously treading on very thin ice, Jesse finally gets to the point.

“I did search for Maddox, here. He’s one of several Rockruff I got on the farm. Never really got the hang for herding, though, unfortunately. Still a cute li’l critter, so I keep ‘im. You mighta noticed that he’s a bit of a… rotund guy. Food motivated, one would say…”

Jesse looks over to the Rockruff currently licking an empty food bowl.

“He went off in search for some grub and got lost. I presume. Ya might remember our first meetin’ in Viridian Forest? I was actually lookin’ for him there.”

Hanzo looks away, pretending like he couldn’t be bothered to remember. It’s not like he’s been thinking of that encounter on and off again since it happened. About the cowboy with the deep drawling voice sitting on that huge Mudsdale.

He clears his throat.

“You should keep better track of your Pokémon.”

“They just are in a habit of strayin’,” Jesse replies with all too much charm. “An’ I don’t mind. I like ‘em a bit more on the… wild side.”

Hanzo clicks his tongue at that, taking another sip of his tea and drumming his fingers.

“In any case. I will be off on my way now. All is well that ends well, I suppose.”

“What, you’re not stayin’? Wanna leave poor Maddox here all alone?” Jesse’s bushy brows lift in dismay as he almost lunges over the table to grasp Hanzo’s wrist. His hands are veritable paws, dirty and rough and… nicely warm.

Hanzo flexes his fingers slowly but does not pull his hand away from the grip.

“What do you mean? He is back at home. And so is your Gogoat, if I might add.”

“Sure. But haven’t you fallen in love with him even a little bit? Kinda cruel to just leave him here, don’t’cha think? Also…” Jesse’s thumb has begun a slow back and forth motion, swiping along the back of Hanzo’s hand. “I did promise ya to show ya how to ride that Ponyta of yours, didn’t I?”

He smiles at Hanzo with slightly crooked teeth. It feels like it shouldn’t be as charming as it is. Hanzo leans back in his chair a little to get more distance between them – but Jesse is still grasping his wrist, fingers pressing against his pulse point.

His eyelids lower some. As does his voice.

“I can tell that the two of ya have grown a lot closer together. An’ it’s grown quite a bit too. So why don’t we give it a try? Makes journeyin’ a lot more enjoyable, wouldn’t ya say so?”

Hanzo blinks slowly. Has Ponyta grown so much? It is true that he has just noticed it the other day, but… well. He supposes it is difficult for him to see, since he is with it the whole time.

Eventually he nods.

“We can… try it.” He tries to sound reluctant but he probably doesn’t quite manage it. In fact, the thought makes him pretty excited.

Jesse looks pleased as pie at that.

.oOo.

“Oh buddy, you won your second badge? That’s great! Why didn’t you say so earlier, the Hell?”

Hanzo is lying in yet another bed tonight. His room at Jesse’s ranch looks a lot more… rustic than the one he had when staying with Rutledge, but the bed is nice and cozy. At Lúcio’s reprimand he blinks slowly into the camera.

Accepting the video call has been a last second decision. He doesn’t really do… that, but Lúcio had called through a few times until he finally accepted it. From the looks of it, the other trainer is in a forest tonight.

“I… had not thought of it. Apologies.”

Lúcio shakes his head. “Damn, dude. Next time tell me when something like that happens! I could’ve bought something in the last town… You know, to celebrate. But I got something else in Saffron for you, so let’s just say that it’s your present for winning the badge.”

The grin he directs at the camera is… pretty cheeky. Hanzo feels warm all over but tries not to show it. He doesn’t quite know whether it is in reaction to Lúcio having bought something naughty for him, or him being honestly upset that Hanzo did not immediately tell him about his success.

Maybe they really are friends… he’s never had one before, as pathetic as that sounds.

“So where are you right now? Not still with Rutledge, right?”

“I’m on Route 12 at the moment. There is a Skiddo farm here…”

“Oh, yeah I heard about that. Big hit with the kiddos. I think the dude has started to train them to run back to the farm eventually, so it might take off with travellers as well?”

Hanzo inhales deeply. He turns onto his side and whatever his face shows has Lúcio pausing for a moment.

“Yo. Everything alright?”

“I… don’t know.” He pauses for but a moment, gathering his thoughts, then begins to tell Lúcio of the discoveries he’s made… like the owner of Maddox – and just who that owner has turned out to be.

Lúcio is quiet as he listens, staring off camera into the fire that is throwing irregular shadows over his face.

Over his shoulder, Hanzo can see Politoed dancing around just inside the circle of light that the fire throws. Following it in a waddling kind of dance is the Whismur that Lúcio had caught in Mt. Moon. It looks a lot happier than it had when they had met it.

“Dude, that’s crazy. So the guy that’s been getting your dick wet is actually the current Champion? What are the freaking odds of that?”

Hanzo flushes. He sits up and shakes his head emphatically but Lúcio just ignores that and goes on, looking thoughtful while rubbing his chin.

“You know… I didn’t originally plan to go near Route 12, but I’ll be making a detour now. Gather you up so we can continue travelling together, if that’s alright with you? I’d like to see the Champion anyway. Never seen a picture of him. Everyone just said he’s kind of a recluse.”

Hanzo pulls a face.

“He’s a damn pervert and an idiot. I can’t believe he just loses his Pokémon.”

Lúcio shrugs his shoulders.

“We all have our flaws, I guess. Can’t say that the Rockruff had been abused or neglected. In fact, he looked pretty well-loved last time I saw him. So… you want me to come over so we can keep travelling together after your ‘riding lessons’?” Lúcio puts up air quotes with his free hand.

Hanzo wants to immediately deny the insinuation but he can feel himself flushing and thinks it is probably better to just… ignore it. Lúcio will just drop it, then. Hopefully.

He pauses for a moment. Does he want some company on his journey? He can very vividly remember his relief when his and Genji’s ways had parted just in front of Viridian Forest, but now…

“...Yes, I would enjoy that.”

“Great! I’ll be there in a few days, then. You just go and have fun… learn riding and all that.”

.oOo.

“So you got two options. Ride Ponyta with proper tack or… not. I tell ya the difference between the two.” Jesse is standing next to Ponyta in a small enclosure with dirt ground. He’s got his hand on Ponyta’s back and is rubbing along his spine, not worried about the greyish-blue flames flickering around his fingers.

Ponyta looks relaxed, his neck stretched down and breath puffing up little clouds of dust from the ground.

On the other side of the wooden ring is the Mudsdale that Jesse had ridden in Viridian Forest. It looks on with droopy, docile eyes, slowly grinding some juicy blades of grass between its teeth. It looks not very bright… but still like a great companion, in Hanzo’s opinion.

“For one, you got some comfort sittin’ on a saddle… and some added space to put your belongings, though you’d hafta wait for it to grow a bit bigger before ya can burden it too much.” At that, Ponyta looks very sceptical. Hanzo can see in his large, dark eyes as he peers at him, looking him up and down, that he won’t be made into some kind of pack mule.

Where does he get his attitude from, anyway?

“Downside bein’ that if ya don’t have a place to come back to at the end of every day, you gotta lug the stuff around with ya. Ponyta won’t take it into the ball and you will wanna take it off for any fights for safety reasons.

No tack at all would mean ya don’t have to drag it around with ya but you’ll also be more prone to fallin’ off and breaking that pretty li’l neck of yours.”

Jesse shrugs one shoulder. “You’ll also be more flexible, though. Can jump on and off without much delay.”

He gives Ponyta’s rump one last pat before stepping away to some gear that he’s put out over the fence beforehand. Hanzo watches him quietly as he wanders over to his Pokémon and slowly drags a hand over Ponyta’s nose.

He is… honestly surprised at how professional Jesse is about this lesson of his. He would have thought him to be a lot more lewd.

When Jesse turns around with a saddle on his arm, Hanzo is about to step away to give him room, but Jesse starts to grin lazily and jerks his scruffy chin toward Ponyta.

“No, c’mere, babydoll… I’ll show ya how to tack up properly so ya won’t forget any time soon.”

Hanzo steps closer again but within moments finds himself encircled in Jesse’s arms while the other swings the saddle onto Ponyta’s back. He’s… really close. Close enough that Hanzo can feel his hot breath puffing against his cheeks, the two of them all but pressed together by the front. Jesse is so warm all over… he can feel the heat of his body through his clothes.

“Turn around,” Jesse instructs with a low rumble. Hanzo can feel the vibration of his voice going through his chest and that… makes him a lot more flustered than he would have thought possible. Heat swamps his body as he tries to turn around and finds himself being hard pressed to move any which way with how close Jesse stands, and how tightly he holds his arms around him.

“There you go… now… if ya stretch a little and lean over here…”

Jesse’s voice has dropped so low, rumbling at Hanzo’s back, almost too deep to even perceive his words if they weren’t being crooned right into his ear.

So much for Jesse being a professional… not that Hanzo could do anything about it. He is frozen like a bunny in the headlights of an oncoming car, his body feeling tight and sensitive and ready.

Ready for what, though?

Jesse is tapping the other side of the saddle and Hanzo does lean over obediently, almost thinking that Jesse actually wants to show him something… though he is not surprised in the least when instead, Jesse presses himself against his back, his hips grinding nice and not-so-subtle against Hanzo’s ass.

He can feel the warm bulge of his cock… not quite an erection but nice and firm nonetheless. It has his breath hitch in his throat.

“Yeah… you’re doin’ just fine,” Jesse breathes. It’s almost a pant, his hands gripping the front and the back of the saddle as he keeps Hanzo trapped between his arms and his body and starts to slowly hump his ass, breath coming in harsh little huffs…

That is, until Hanzo snaps out of the daze he must have fallen into, having gotten so easily overwhelmed by McCree’s general… presence. There is just something about his heat and the animal stink of his body that seems to short-circuit Hanzo’s brain.

However, he does not let him get too far before Ponyta’s angrily folded-back ears and the stomp of his hoof has him jerk upright again and nearly give Jesse a concussion via the back of his head.

Jesse just about moves out of range and Hanzo can smoothly slip out between him and his Pokémon. He can tell that his cheeks are red… but he pretends like they aren’t as he steps in front of Ponyta and rubs his hand along his face to calm him back down after being so rudely used as a prop.

“How… ungraceful, McCree.” He looks him up and down, gaze briefly pausing at the bulge he can see at the front of McCree’s jeans. “I hope your future methods are not quite so ungainly. Otherwise I might have to break camp early and leave.”

McCree looks like a kicked puppy for a moment. His dark eyes just a bit more glassy than usual. How close had he been just now? Has he truly been about to… no. Certainly not. But he does look a tad scatterbrained as he clears his throat and hooks his thumbs into his belt loops, pulling on them until the bulge is not that obvious anymore.

“Aw darlin’. You’re tough nut to crack, ain’t ya? Hope those li’l hands of your’s will be a lot more gentle on the reins, or Ponyta might just buck ya off.” He grabs his hat and tips his head at Hanzo. It feels as if he is conceding a point to him.

Like this is just a game. Is it? Hmm… maybe it is. A game. Games can be… fun.

Hanzo huffs and turns his head away, looking into Ponyta’s dark, intelligent eyes.

“I think one can’t be compared with the other. I’m sure I’ll do just fine, thank you very much.”

He’s not quite as sure as he likes to pretend, but he just hopes that Ponyta won’t make a fool out of him the second he sits down in saddle.

Jesse takes it on the chin and steps back toward the Pokémon to finish showing Hanzo how to tack up.

Doesn’t mean Hanzo doesn’t feel prickly and warm for the rest of the lesson, hyper aware of where Jesse’s big, warm body is at all times. Goddamn.

.o.

Ponyta surprises him a lot during that first lesson.

Hanzo had braced himself to be immediately bucked off once he had used Jesse’s hands as a foot stool to get as carefully into the saddle as possible… but while he had lifted his head high enough to nearly hit Hanzo in the nose with it, he had stood ramrod still and hadn’t done a thing.

It makes him wonder what is going on in that head of his. He would have bet money that Ponyta would be too proud to let him sit on his back. It truly is a shame that they can’t speak each other’s language… he would just love to talk to Ponyta and figure him out. While they had been together for pretty much all of Ponyta’s life, he still knows very little of him, it seems.

He watches him out in the pasture, bouncing after Skiddo and Gogoat’s alike, though a lot more playful than wanting to fight, this time around. He has leaned on the fence, watching everything to make sure nobody gets hurt while Jesse, apparently unconcerned with anything going on on his own damn farm, has wandered off to… somewhere.

Hanzo still can’t believe that this neglectful idiot should be the current champion. Maybe he just lied to him?

“Hey there, babydoll… Got a pizza in the oven as we speak. Wanna come in?”

Speak of the devil. Hanzo’s back stiffens as Jesse is behind him for the second time today, his large hands crawling their way onto his hips to lightly hold on, though he refrains from the heavy-handed approach he tried for earlier.

Still, Hanzo waits to feel the heat of his body against his back, the tickle of his breath against his ear… He swallows hard, stubbornly staring ahead.

“In a moment,” he mutters.

Jesse hums and steps next to him, leaning his forearms on the fence much like Hanzo. He’s still so damn close, their shoulders are near bumping.

Hanzo is hyper aware of everything this man does.

“What’s goin’ on in yer head? Lookin’ pretty gloomy, not gonna lie… that’ll put wrinkles on yer gorgeous li’l face. Your ridin’ lesson went well so I don’t know what’s up with that frown.” Jesse rummages around in his pocket but doesn’t find whatever he’s looking for, so instead he bends down and rips a long blade of grass from the ground to put it between his lips.

Hanzo scoffs, turning away and staring at Ponyta with a dark expression.

“Why don’t you go back inside and take care of that little problem of yours instead so you will stop humping my leg every time we see.”

Jesse grunts and puts a hand on his chest.

“Damn, that hurt. I hope ya know that it’s anythin’ but little. But I can get a hint. I’ll get outta your hair and let you mope around all you want out here. Just know that inside’s a tasty, handmade pizza waitin’ for ya.”

He turns away after that, thankfully, but before he moves completely, he pauses one last time and drawls: “Ya know… I haven’t seen Ponyta and you in a while but in my opinion, it’s grown pretty fond of ya. You two might be a lot more alike than you realize. Not wantin’ to show just how much ya like someone…”

With these words, he leaves Hanzo standing at the fence, stalking back to the main building with a few Rockruff racing around the corner to start jumping around his legs and yapping at him.

He lumbers off to get them their dinner and Hanzo turns back to stare out to Ponyta who is now standing with one of the Gogoats, surprisingly enough grooming it while getting groomed in turn.

It’s definitely a far cry from how he treated the other Gogoat, chasing it around with fire and having a – as Jesse would put it – ‘grand ol’ time of it’.

He learns so fast… how have I not noticed before?

Of course Ponyta’s learning curve would be different than that of other Pokémon. He had started training him just a scant few weeks ago when he still had been a baby. With maturity comes the eagerness to learn new skills and adaptability. It might just be as well that he is starting to train Ponyta now in letting him accept Hanzo on his back.

If what Jesse said is true (though he is reluctant to put any weight on whatever this oaf has to say), then Ponyta’s nature would mean that had they waited maybe a month longer, he might not have been anywhere near as accepting to letting Hanzo mount him like earlier.

Having a headstrong Pokémon like that definitely came with its advantages… but there also were detriments that he would have to keep in mind from now on. It rankles that he would have learned such a lesson from Jesse, but… well. He would accept it just the same and move on from there. No use fighting against it just because he did not like the source it came from.

Hanzo turns and peers over to where Jesse is still crouched down, giving the Rockruff pets and then unfolding his long legs to stalk into the house. Hanzo’s insides quiver. He can feel his breath catching in his throat.

Well maybe he did not not like Jesse. But he sure as Hell wouldn’t roll belly up just because he kept showering him in compliments while invading his personal space.

He’d teach the mutt some manners.

Next time: Hanzo might be charmed by Jesse, but he is not going to go along with just anything. Jesse is moved to tears…?