"you're a damn fool, cowboy." ana said after jesse explained what had happened yesterday in their dorm.
"what'da mean, fool!?" jesse whined, hanging his head back. "am i reading this wrong?"
"no, you aren't. you're a fool because you're in love and you won't even accept that." amari responded firmly, picking her nails with a small pocket knife.
"in love?" jesse asked, genuinely confused. "i ain't never been in love before, and i'm not gonna start now."
ana huffed. "you're hopeless, mcree." she declared, standing up from where she sat at the bar. she clasped jesse's shoulder as she walked away. "you're in love with that boy, and you know it."
jesse watched her leave the common room, leaving her 12 year-old daughter, fareeha, sitting in a chair near the conference table. she glanced over the back of the armchair before jumping up and taking a seat next to mcree.
"what was mom talking to you about?" she asked curiously, shuffling closer to jesse.
jesse smiled. "ah, nothin', kid. grown-up stuff." he waved off.
fareeha stared at him. "mom taught me how to tell when people are lying."
jesse glanced over to her, curious. "is that so?"
"uh-huh," she said nodding. "you're a very bad liar, jesse."
mcree blinked, unsure how to respond. that certainly caught him off guard.
before he could answer, genji entered the common room, looking lost. jesse turned around smiling and waved at him, standing up off his stool. genji slowly walked towards him, conscious of the child.
"genji! have you meet fareeha?" jesse asked cheerfully, walking genji over to where fareeha sat. "this is ana's little one."
fareeha slid off the stool she was sitting on and walked up to genji, looking up at him. jesse silently prayed that she wouldn't say anything about his scars or his body, as he had his visor off and the large slashes on his face were notable.
"i like your hair." was all she had to say before sticking out her hand. jesse watched genji nervously in the same fashion.
genji smiled for the first time since he'd landed on base. "thank you." he said, meeting her much smaller hand and shaking it.
the contact with genji's hand made fareeha's eyes light up at she grabbed it and inspected his palm. "you have paws!" she exclaimed, running her fingers over the small red pads on his hand. "does this make it easier to grab things? what kind of weapon do you use? have you-"
"alright fareeha, that's enough." jesse butted in, noticing how nervous genji had grown. "i'm sure genji would love to tell you about it sometime." he said, batting her away. she skipped out of the common room in the direction of her mother's dorm.
jesse looked to genji. "sorry," he apologized, laughing. "she can be a bit much."
genji's eyes met the cowboys. "i don't mind children." he said softly, still smiling.
a pink blush formed on jesse's cheekbones. he huffed, muttering a 'yeah...' as he silently wished it away.
as they walked back towards their dorm together, jesse thought about what ana said at the bar.
maybe she wasn't so wrong.
