Genji took the awkwardness away himself, when he chose to spy on you outside your home. He knew he shouldn’t. He really did. But he had to see what he hadn’t in years.
The next time you met, it was inside a local cafe/diner. He covered himself in sweats, a hoodie, even a baseball cap under the hoodie to shade his face. He put gloves over his inhuman hands. The area you lived in happened to not be welcoming to omnics, so all Genji could present was his bare skin. Very uncomfortable, he sunk into a short meditation while waiting for you and barely said a word to the waitress when she asked him if he wanted coffee. You nearly tripped over the fake, laminate tile when you saw Genji’s bare face, a face you hadn’t seen in ten years. The state of it. It was definitely him under all the imperfections. You calmed yourself by the time you made it to his table. After awkward greetings, Genji immediately asked about the little boy.
“What is his name?”
You blushed deeply. “I thought you were dead.”
“You still do not believe me?”
Genji thought you stilled doubted who he was.
“No,” you said. “That’s not it.”
“Then tell me.”
You didn’t appreciate the way he phrased that, like an order. But he wasn’t your obedient husband anymore, and that fact was a painful lump in your stomach.
“Okay.” You paused. “His name is Genji.”
“Oh.”
“Yup.”
“You thought I was dead, so you…”
“Named him after you, yes.”
“I see,” Genji said, distantly. “You had more respect for me than I previously thought.”
You considered your words carefully, not ready to be fully honest.
“I didn’t mind being married to you,” was all you would give him for now.
“I did not mind, either,” he replied.
His words made their home in your heart, as much as that made you nervous.
“If it is alright with you, I would like to meet him. My son.”
So he figured it out.
“I forgot you’re smart,” you sighed.
“He looks the age our child would be if you were pregnant when I left.”
“‘Left’ is an interesting way to describe it. Although,” you mused, “he likes mechas and robots, so he’s probably going to find you cool.”
Genji leaned over the table, with the first bright smile of the night.
“Really?!”
You held up a hand. “Don’t get too excited. I’ll decide when you’re ready to meet Genji, Jr.”
You didn’t tell him, but seeing his smile settled it. He looked so much like the old Genji, and some of the old feelings came rushing back. He had to meet his son. He wanted to, which you were not expecting. Not if he was the old Genji, but it was too obvious that he wasn’t. Your son needed a second parent that wasn’t his aunt, uncle, or grandparent. Provided that they got along. If Genji bailed on his son, well, then you had those other family members to help. And someone to never let into your life again.
Genji watched you with an unnamed emotion in his gaze.
Over the years, he had kept you in his mind. Slowly raised you on a pedestal, if he were honest with himself. Sorely missing the comfort of your authority, he had constantly been on the verge of losing control in Blackwatch. After he left Overwatch, he wandered the world searching for what he was not comfortable having with anyone else. Genji wanted, needed, a master (not the kind that Zenyatta was, but it certainly helped), but he was wary of getting too close to anyone. You may not be the same image of the beauty he had been carrying in his mind all these years, but you were a different kind of beautiful, he found. A quietly confident, devoted mother. Sacrificing a large chunk of her life for who he just learned was his son. His heart sang quietly to him of love. It wasn’t going to be easy, but he wanted to try. To return the effort you put in ten years ago, fivefold.
“Do you remember when we first met? When I was sober?”
“Mhmm.”
“I laid eyes on you. You were perfect, and I was so angry. Because I thought you were too good to be true. But you turned out be someone who wanted to try in the marriage.”
“And you were a good boy,” you added.
“I was. That surprised me. I was too busy enjoying it to express it, though.” Genji wasn’t finished. “Do you remember the pet names I had for you?”
You made a face.
“Do you know what I was trying to say every time I said one…?” he asked.
“No,” you said humourlessly. “You’re talking pretty romantic for a man who just walked back into my life after ten years.”
“Fair enough,” he conceded. He had forgotten about the time you needed.
You got creative with that time and asked Genji to search for a perfect present for little Genji. His father was up to the challenge. You could get used to the idea of him being back in your life in the meantime.
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