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McCree didn't consider himself a particularly romantic man. Sure, he did the little things like sneaking up behind Hanzo on the mornings that they spent together and slipping his arms around him, he'd buy him silly little souvenirs during their time apart and present them to the other man when they reunited along with a bottle of his favourite sake. Heck, at one point he'd kissed Hanzo's hand in front of all the other Overwatch agents just to see that tiny hint of red on the other man's cheeks; it was worth it in the end, because even though Hanzo had practically been spitting fire at first, he'd softened considerably when Jesse had gone on to profess just how much he meant to him. It was just proper to treat your sweetheart right, was all; he could practically feel the sharp sting of his Ma's wooden spoon across his behind at the very thought of being rude (and maybe the sting of Hanzo's glare at being called his 'sweetheart' too, but at least that wouldn't leave a mark).
He'd known early on that he wanted to spent the rest of his damned life with Hanzo Shimada, whether that time was ten minutes or a hundred years. It took longer for Hanzo to express that he felt the same, but the last time they were together had pretty much sealed it. Hanzo lying in his arms, smiling and half-asleep beside him on the motel's cheap mattress, the grey in his hair turning silver in the moonlight as he'd leaned in and whispered Stay by my side, Jesse had been the final straw.
The memory of that night was perhaps why he was currently making a complete ass of himself in front of one Genji Shimada, who was staring at him with his head tilted to one side in deep confusion.
"Let me get this straight."
"Go ahead, partner."
"You, Jesse McCree, intend to propose marriage to my brother."
McCree swallowed around the lump forming in his throat. "That's right."
"And you have come to me for… advice on how to do this."
"That's the long and short of it, yeah."
Genji's cybernetics masked his facial expression from view, but McCree suspected that it would be as blank as his faceplate if it were visible. A stretch of silence ensued, only ending several seconds later as Genji's heat vents hissed with escaping air. He buried his head in his hands shortly afterwards, as if worried that he hadn't expressed how awkward he felt well enough for McCree to understand.
"You have got to be kidding me."
"Nope. I pick up the rings next week."
"… That is not what I was talking about."
McCree chuckled weakly."I know. Figured I'd try to lighten the mood."
"Jesse…" Genji started, and McCree thought he sounded too much like he was trying to placate him, "I'm not sure I can help you. Although my brother and I have improved our relationship in the last few years, I would hesitate to say we are close. You probably know more about him than I do now. Perhaps more than I ever did."
McCree felt his chest twinge painfully at Genji's words; not just for Genji, but for Hanzo as well.
"That's part of the reason why I came to you, now that you mention it," McCree said slowly, leaning back in his chair in a way that he hoped was casual-looking. "Even if I did know him better, you've known him longer. I've been tryin' to think of ways to pop the question, so to speak. None of the ideas I've had seem right, so I thought maybe somethin' traditional might work. Your brother isn't exactly the most laid-back person, so is there anything formal I could do to impress him?"
Genji paused at that, his body going through motions that made it obvious that he was sighing.
"Did my brother ever tell you that he was engaged to be married once before?"
That definitely got McCree's attention. "Must've slipped his mind."
Genji laughed at that. McCree immediately felt like an idiot for wearing his heart so plainly on his sleeve.
"I didn't take you for the jealous type, but don't worry about it. It wasn't a match made out of love."
"Arranged marriage, then?" McCree asked. He didn't know much about how yakuza families in Japan operated and stayed relevant and powerful, but it stood to reason that alliances and unions were part of it. Marriage was just another way of forging partnerships.
"Not exactly," Genji muttered, pausing for a moment to think. "It was less formal than that, but the expectation was there. Father would introduce the two of us to women he considered suitable partners... usually daughters of friends or allies. My brother eventually met one that he found agreeable, I suppose. It was more important to the Shimada family for the eldest son to marry and father an heir than it was for any other children, so Father and the elders pressured Hanzo about it more than they pressured me. I never actually met the woman he was engaged to. Brother could not have met her more than once or twice before..."
Genji trailed off, but the obvious implication was there. McCree nodded slowly, chewing roughly on the end of his cigar before stubbing the remains of it out on the table. He didn't particularly like talking about the argument and ensuing battle between the Shimada brothers with either of them.
"Anyway, you said you wanted something traditional," Genji continued, breaking the silence. "Well, you already know and like each other, there's no need for a miai to try and arrange a suitable match. And there is no parent to ask for permission for his hand, or any other family to be formally introduced to at an engagement ceremony. You could always propose to him in an indirect way, such as 'Do you want to lie in the same grave as me when we die?' That is considered to be loving, in an old-fashioned way."
McCree's mouth gradually dropped open as Genji talked, and he shut it with an uncomfortably loud click of his teeth once the cyborg had stopped talking.
"Ain't that a little morbid?"
"Of course not. It implies that his remains would be interred with yours as your spouse and a member of your family. It's very romantic."
Another silence stretched between them; this time it was Genji who broke it with a soft chuckle that almost sounded like a purr through the mechanical filter of his cybernetics.
"I'm sorry, I couldn't keep a straight face any longer."
McCree felt every ounce of air in his lungs pass through his lips as he sighed in relief. "In any other case I'd be mad that you were pullin' my leg, but to be honest I'm mighty relieved."
"Those were all traditions that the Shimada family would have followed when it was time for my brother and I to marry," Genji said, then added as an afterthought, "except for that last one. Then a traditional marriage ceremony would be performed after all of that. It was a show of the power and wealth of the family, courtesy of my father and the elders. We would have had no part in it aside from perhaps being able to choose our brides from the women the family had already decided were suitable."
The distaste in the other man's voice was obvious, and McCree couldn't help but wonder if Genji had been so polite about voicing his opinions on his family's traditions before the collapse of their empire. Somehow he doubted it, thinking back to what Genji and Hanzo both had told him about their youths.
"In fact," Genji continued, "maybe that is the best advice I can give."
McCree tried not to look too desperate for help, and he only realised that he'd started to lean over the table that separated then when he felt the edge digging into his gut. He quickly leaned back again and fumbled in his pocket for a fresh cigar.
"For my brother and I, it was ingrained into our minds from an early age that we had little choice in our destinies. I always wondered how my brother could just… accept it, as he seemed to do. But maybe it was not acceptance so much as it was resignation. I do not think he ever dreamed of having choices like this in life. But he is happy to have them now, that much is certain."
Genji let out a soft sigh, linking his fingers together on the table in front of him.
"So perhaps something that relates more to the life he has now, rather than the life he had before, would be best."
McCree sat in silence, his unlit cigar still hanging from the corner of his mouth.
"Well… it makes sense when you say it like that, partner."
"I am glad I could help," Genji responded, voice warm. "It will be interesting to see what idea you come up with. And how my brother will react."
Genji stood up then, leaving McCree to stare at the table with a look of deep concentration on his face. As he was about to leave the room, he suddenly turned back to McCree, coughing softly to draw the other man's attention.
"If it makes you feel better, I doubt he will say no."
McCree was positive that Genji was smiling at him from beneath his cybernetics, and it made him feel even more confident that he was making the right choice.