CYOA – Life And Death Situations – Chapter 24

 Genji presses the button...

---

“Uhhh…”

The sound is a bit hesitant and not as loud as it could be. He can see Genji’s finger’s pass over the little nub and travelling away before pausing and actually rounding back toward it to finger it curiously.

Jesse feels a foreboding sensation prickling through his body; strong enough to make even Hanzo pause for a second and pull his head away, squinting at Jesse with a weird expression. He follows Jesse’s gaze, calmly watching as his brother tries to get the robot to grind into his lap.

He doesn’t see the button underneath Genji’s slowly circling finger; he only sees his brother trying to teach a computer some new hot tricks.

Jesse can feel Hanzo’s annoyance mounting even before he turns back to him to show him that epic bitch face that’s kind of really, really hot but also kind of makes his balls want to crawl back up into his body.

“Don’t look at him,” Hanzo tells him, grabbing his chin and forcefully turning his head forward. “Look at me.”

“Uh… yeah, I mean-” Jesse’s rolling his eyes as he speaks, trying to see what Genji is doing. He grins distractedly up at Hanzo, grabbing his wrist and gently but insistently pulling the hand away from his face.

He can feel a burst of surprise and… respect? washing over him from Hanzo’s direction but can’t focus on it.

“Hey Genji, buddy, maybe you shouldn’t-”

It’s too late.

Jesse can see Genji pressing the little button at the base of Zenyatta’s neck. Jesse jerks upright, almost toppling Hanzo out of his lap if it weren’t for his hands blindly gripping his hips.

Zenyatta has completely stilled, a sound of something decompressing filling the room.

“What is that?” Hanzo is taut, now staring at Zenyatta’s back as well while Genji slightly leans back to look the robot up and down.

For a couple seconds it is impossible to tell what happened – until the metal collar around the base of the fishbowl snaps open and lets a small deluge of water out from the inside of the glass.

Jesse groans softly. He really liked that chair.

“Zenyatta? What is happening?” Genji’s hands are now slip sliding all over the wet metal, searching for an injury that is not there.

Zenyatta is touching his chest, his neck, fingers crawling up over the now empty fish bowl.

“I am not quite sure,” he admits softly. “I am not completely aware of all of my functions.”

“Does it hurt?”

Jesse is not sure whether a robot can feel pain, but Genji looks honestly upset now. He wonders what the two seadragons even think Zenyatta is.

Hanzo has stopped his advances on Jesse to just watch the goings on. He is so taut he could just be vibrating on Jesse’s thighs. It feels like he is ready to strike fast like a snake if Zenyatta showed to be a danger to his brother.

Zenyatta grasps the fishbowl with both hands on either side and moves it slightly. His posture seems to minimally… relax, somehow, though Jesse could not say how he figured that. Maybe a micro motion in the metal limbs.

“Ah,” the robot says softly. “I see. I had wondered where the release mechanism was.” He starts to gently lift the bowl, a bit of rest water sluicing down his body. “I had been unable to find anything in my programming, so it had to be something more manual…”

Jesse has his arms around Hanzo’s waist, hugging him like a teddy bear as he watches Zenyatta gently lift the fish bowl off. The octopus that had been inside is hanging its chubby little limbs weakly now that there’s no water flowing around it anymore.

Genji’s hands are nervously fluttering about Zenyatta’s small waist, his eyes huge as he stares at the fish bowl and then the dead looking octopus that is the robot’s face. Jesse thinks Zenyatta could have casually beheaded himself; it would have had the same reaction. It had to be a horrible sight for the brothers.

“Zen…?” Genji whispers, voice cracking a bit on the end. He is curling his hands more tightly around the slim waist, fingers easily touching each other around it. “Zenyatta? Are you alright?”

Zenyatta has twisted to the side, gently putting the fishbowl up-side-down on a side table. He pauses when he hears the panic in the seadragon’s voice. He turns back to him, long fingered hands cupping Genji’s cheeks.

“I am well,” he assures him, then reaches up once more and gently grasps the octopus. Jesse’s belly lurches when he pulls it upward. He does not know what to think about it – but within seconds Zenyatta has shed the chubby armed contraption and gently put it into the fish bowl where it lies like a rubber Halloween mask.

It occurs to Jesse, when he looks back to the robot and sees the side of its face – its true face – that it had been exactly that. Just a mask. Nothing more – nothing less.

Maybe to fit in better with the ocean life? To not scare the brothers that are bristling like cats and staring at him in horrified shock? Jesse could only guess.

Zenyatta pauses in his motions briefly, then lowers his arms, hands coming to a rest in his lap. Or Genji’s.

“I am… sorry. I did not mean to upset you by shedding the device so easily.”

Hanzo is shifting on Jesse’s lap, suddenly reminding him of his existence. It feels like he is about to slip off and maybe stalk over to the couple, so Jesse grips him to keep him from moving.

Hanzo’s sharp gaze immediately snaps back to him. He lifts one side of his lip to show off his sharp teeth. His eyes look… different. Feral. Jesse can feel the aggressive need to protect ricochet through his own body and taking his breath away. He blindly curls his arms around Hanzo’s hips and crushes him to himself, holding on as if trying to keep a grip on a squirming cat.

“He’s not in danger,” he grits out, trying to see through his own sudden irrationality. “Calm down, damn you!”

He can feel the rage suddenly being directed at him. The whole thing is so disorienting that he almost lets go of the seadragon. It feels like he got thrust into the ocean and has completely lost his orientation. Where is up? Where is down? He needs to find it before he drowns.

He tries to push against the feelings swamping him, and suddenly it… works. They retreat, leaving him alone and reeling as Hanzo marginally relaxes in his crushing grip. Jesse feels like his ears should be ringing after the turmoil that had washed through and over him like a tidal wave, but all he hears is the gentle humming voice of Zenyatta as he talks to Genji, bend over him, metal palms framing his face.

Jesse turns his head and looks over to them, blinking slowly. Genji looks calmer now but still a bit weirded out as he looks up at the robot basically curled around him now. He then looks back up at Hanzo who slowly sits back down on Jesse’s knees, his face once more the neutral mask he usually wears.

Jesse slowly releases the grip he has on him.

“Alright? We good?”

Hanzo’s eyes narrow somewhat, mouth pulling down.

“He does not seem inclined to attack my brother,” he allows finally with a derisive sniff. “However. We are not… ‘good’.”

Jesse blinks slowly. He sits back with a long exhale, spearing his fingers into his hair and pulling on it lightly.

“What do ya mean?”

Interacting with Hanzo feels like having to navigate through a minefield. The seadragon looks down on him, making Jesse feel small as a fly.

“Your attention keeps swerving. Away from me.”

Jesse pulls a bit harder on his hair. His gaze wants to flick back to Genji and Zenyatta, but he feels like if he does that now, Hanzo will be seriously pissed.

He does not really find out what that would entail.

Of course now that Hanzo has made it abundantly clear that he wants to be Jesse’s sole focus, not looking over at Genji and Zenyatta becomes an almost impossible feat. Jesse can feel his eyes starting to water as he stares up into Hanzo’s unimpressed face.

Hanzo moves. There’s no keeping him from doing so this time: he gets up and grabs the front of Jesse’s shirt, hauling him up like he’s not a heavy, grown man.

“Come,” he says, dragging him past his brother and the robot, and towards Jesse’s bedroom. Jesse follows a few stumbling steps before his brain finally kicks back in and he drags his heels, hands gently clasping Hanzo’s wrist.

“Hey… hey now. Slow down a sec, will ya?”

He steps closer until they’re basically chest to chest, and he can smell the salty ocean scent coming off of Hanzo.

“You sure you wanna leave ‘em alone?” he asks in a low rumble, glancing behind him towards Genji and Zenyatta. Genji’s hands are now on Zenyatta’s face, fingertips lightly sliding along the smooth metal surface.

Like this, Jesse can now properly see the robot’s features, too. In that there aren’t many. His chin is glinting in a vaguely golden color, modeled to make it almost look like the thing has a mouth. It’s eye slits are angled at a gentle slope, slowly strobing green and yellow. It occurs to Jesse that those were some of the colors the fake octopus head had displayed at times.

When he glances back again as no reaction is forthcoming, he can see Hanzo’s face unguarded for a moment. It is a precious second only, really. Hanzo looks… soft in that instance. And sorrowful.

However, the reprieve only lasts for a moment before Hanzo realizes he is being watched. His face closes off again, fist tightening in the front of Jesse’s shirt and jerking him forward.

“My brother will manage without my input.”

He pulls. Jesse has no other option but to stumble after him, throwing one last glance behind to watch Zenyatta, still framing Genji’s face in his hands, leaning down to press their mouths together. Or where his mouth would be, at the very least.

It is a sweet picture, but something prickles along Jesse’s spine.