Some OW Fankids domestic fic? Just the gang hanging around and stuff at the watchpoint? Like the halloween fic with the fankids you did before!! :DDD
I never did any fics surrounding Jaime joining the watchpoint. I should fix that.
Oof this one ended up long.
In Loco Parentis
------
The mid-morning sunlight streamed through the slats of the watchpoint boardroom.
“We’re not a homeless shelter,” Jack’s arms were folded, “Or an orphanage.”
“You know the situation is more complicated than that,” said McCree, “If he’s fleeing Vishkar---”
“There are thousands of people displaced by Talon, Null Sector, and the Siberian Omnium,” said Jack, “We barely have the resources to sustain ourselves. If we start taking on civilians...”
“Even at the peak of Overwatch’s power, there wasn’t a whole lot they could do about 30 million crisis orphans,” said Sombra.
“But with Marti--” McCree looked over at Sombra, who had several screens open around her head.
“I’m Marti’s legal guardian,” said Sombra, scrolling through one of her screens with a flick of her wrist, “It’s different.”
“So what, we just throw him out?” said McCree.
“Not ‘throw him out,’” said Winston. He cleared his throat and set several pamphlets on the table in front of McCree, “His associating with us also potentially makes him even more of a target for Talon. While I do believe Overwatch is meant to help everyone, we have to be able to delegate what that help looks like.”
McCree picked up one of the pamphlets and his mouth thinned. There was a picture of a handful of kids of varying backgrounds in front of an idyllic suburban house. “...Foster care,” said McCree, “You’re talking about foster care.”
“I can cover his tracks,” said Sombra, “Keep Vishkar from scooping him back up.”
McCree opened up the pamphlet and his eyes glazed over it. Clean. Homey. Normal. He deserved normal. All kids deserved normal.
He’ll be clawing at that pretty flowery wallpaper within two weeks, run off again within a month, thought McCree, He’s too angry. Too scared. Too hungry. He’s seen too much to think he can--No. Shut up. Shut up. You’re projecting. You’re projecting. You’re projecting.
“It’s best if you talk to him,” said Winston, “From his perspective, you’re the closest thing he has to ‘In Loco Parentis.’”
“In local what now?”
“It’s a legal term meaning--” Winston caught himself, “Er--”
“‘In place of a parent,’” said Sombra, she gave McCree a slightly pitying look, “McCree, we all know your story. We know what you’re thinking.”
“What? What am I thinking? That it’s wrong to give him back into a system that just tossed him into Vishkar’s jaws before?” McCree folded his arms. “I’m just saying, even if we put him in completely anonymously, you know Talon and Vishkar comb through the poorest and most desperate for...their ranks.”
“We have to demonstrate some cooperation with the proper channels,” said Winston.
“Look, we get your concerns but try to see it from our perspective. He’s only a few years younger than you were when Reyes picked you up,” said Sombra, folding her arms, “This is personal for you, we get it---”
“You think I’m emotionally compromised,” said McCree with a scoff.
“Yes,” said Sombra, flatly, “But, it’s because of that compromise that we also trust you to do what’s best for him.” Sombra insistently tapped a finger on the end of the pamphlet McCree was holding for emphasis as she said ‘do what’s best.’
McCree looked down at the pamphlet.
“He’s at a stage you were at once, and I get wanting to help him through that,” Sombra went on, “But we’re fighting against a global corporate-backed terrorist collective and a robot invasion. The best thing we can do for him is get him as far away from it as we can.”
McCree looked at a photo of several children around a table with plates of pancakes as a human and omnic pair of foster parents proudly beamed at the camera. Normal. He deserved normal.
“I’ll... I’ll talk to the kid,” said McCree, itching at the brim of his hat, “I guess... all that matters is getting a roof over his head, right?”
He looked at Jack and found no sympathy in that visor. All that matters is stopping Talon, he could almost hear Jack’s voice.
“Of course,” said Winston, “We have complete faith in you.”
“I mean, unless he’s already stolen everything he could and dipped already,” said Sombra with a slight chuckle.
McCree shot her a dirty look.
“Crisis Orphan mentality,” said Sombra with a shrug, “It’s what I would have done in his place.”
“We ain’t treatin’ him like a criminal!” said McCree.
“He’s literally here because he stole Rei’s backpack,” said Jack, flatly.
“Hanzo’s been keeping an eye on him,” said McCree, “Last I checked he was still asleep. It’ll be fine.”
----
“You lost him!?” McCree was pacing back and forth in front of Hanzo as they stood in an empty watchpoint dormitory, “How do you lose a whole-ass 14-year-old?!”
“I wasn’t going to have him wake up with me staring at him, I thought it prudent to fix something for him to eat for a late breakfast!” said Hanzo. He was holding a now-cold plate of a neatly folded omelette flecked with chives.
“...of all the times for you to switch gears from ninja to Uncle Hanzo...” McCree huffed but Hanzo just furrowed his brows at him. “Sorry--” McCree caught himself, “Sorry. We gotta go find him. Athena?” McCree called and looked around the dorm room. There was no response.
“Did he disable Athena in here?” said Hanzo, shocked.
“If he could run away from a Vishkar orphanage...” McCree pulled out his comm, “Athena, you there? I need Watchpoint surveillance feeds on my comm.”
“If we don’t want him to feel like a criminal, perhaps activating all Watchpoint security isn’t the best way to go about this,” said Hanzo, “We’ll look around for him first. Give him time to come back.”
“In that time he could hop another freighter or--or get hurt! He’s cleared with Satya’s turrets, right?” said McCree.
“Of course he’s cleared with Satya’s turrets, we aren’t savages!” Hanzo retorted, “Every moment we spend arguing is a moment we should be spending making sure he’s all right. Come,” said Hanzo, already briskly walking out
“You gotta be kidding me,” muttered McCree, following behind him.
----
“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” Jaime was hunched over a pried-open panel to see nothing but empty black space. The scent of his own new clothes threw him off, distracted him. The fact that he couldn’t really smell himself anymore was definitely an improvement, but he was wondering how much the stress of getting out of here would undo that. He rooted around in the space, trying to feel for wires, but then huffed.
“The whole watchpoint’s been cannibalized several times over. Any copper or palladium in the walls here has probably been stripped for Mei’s or Athena’s servers,” a voice that seemed to be trying to jam too many syllables in at once while hitting its consonants a little too hard spoke up from behind Jaime, and Jaime glanced over his shoulder to see a familiar girl with thick eyebrows and wild dark hair tied half-back in a yellow ribbon. “There’s no way you can try to get them without getting caught, though,” she added.
“...Psycho,” said Jaime.
“Thief,” said Rei.
“I already said sorry about your stupid backpack,” said Jaime, pushing himself up from his knees and dusting himself off, already walking away.
“And you’re already trying to steal again!” said Rei, huffily pacing after him.
“You know most people don’t steal because they have anything against whoever they’re stealing from, right?” said Jaime, “It’s not about you, or your watch...thing.”
“Watchpoint,” said Rei.
“It’s about survival,” said Jaime.
“So ask!” said Rei, “They’re Overwatch! You think we don’t care about people’s survival?!”
“I really don’t care about your weird army cult thing,” said Jaime, continuing to walk.
“Cult?!” Rei blustered.
“Yeah. Big compound, lots of guns...weird kids who were born here and don’t question the giant weird compound or the guns---”
“Overwatch is trying to save the world from Talon and Null Sector! Trying to save the world isn’t a cult!” said Rei.
Jaime just gave her a semi-pitying look that made her blood boil.
“Well fine! If you want to go back to being a scuzzy little thief, be my guest!” she said, throwing her hands up.
“That’s the plan,” said Jaime, continuing to walk away, “Not like I’m dumb enough to wait for them to hand me off to the police or another orphanage.”
“Fine!” Rei said again, folding her arms, before suddenly catching herself, “Wait---”
Jaime stopped and looked over his shoulder at her.
“If you need things before you go, we can give them to you. No stealing,” said Rei, “I mean, obviously you can’t strip Athena or any of the tech, but... clothes and soap and food...” she trailed off.
Jaime’s stomach audibly growled at the word ‘food.’
“...Have you eaten yet today?” said Rei, suddenly alarmed.
“What are you, my mom?” said Jaime with a scoff before his stomach growled again.
“Come with me,” said Rei, briskly stepping up alongside him. She looked to his wrist, fully healed from the sprain thanks to biotics, and took his elbow, “Come on.”
“Is this the cult love-bombing?” said Jaime, being half-dragged behind her, “I’m not going if it’s the cult love-bombing.”
“Oh my god, it’s not love-bombing, I’m just taking you to the garden so you can grab some fruit,” said Rei continuing to drag him along, “It’s closer than the mess hall. You’re less likely to run into the adults there.”
“You have guns, a compound, and a little mini-farm, and you want me to believe you’re not a cult,” said Jaime, flatly. They rounded a corner and walked a narrow path between the hangar and the seaside cliffs.
“I don’t have guns. And Bastion actually does most of the gardening,” said Rei, as they walked.
“Who?” said Jaime, but he blinked several times as the ground opened up to a wide grassy area bordered by Gibraltar’s rocks and the hangar. There was a line of orange trees up against the hangar, and a significant section of the grass had been carved out to form a small victory garden growing tomatoes, strawberries, lettuce, carrots, and corn. Opposite the orange trees were several thrumming beehive boxes, and at the far end of the garden was an apparently well-loved old greenhouse that had gone through several patch-ups over the years, and a knobby little olive tree twisting up next to it, canvas laid out at its roots.
“Thwuh-wheet?” an inquisitive beep came from behind them and both Rei and Jaime quickly turned on their heels to see Bastion looming over them, . Jaime’s breath caught in his throat and he stumbled back. Bastion tilted its boxy head at him.
“...that’s a Bastion unit,” said Jaime, his voice tense in his throat as he took several steps back.
“Bastion doesn’t like to fight,” said Rei, as several birds fluttered around Bastion’s head. Bastion gestured at Jaime with its hand.
“Oh um--he’s.... from school!” said Rei, “He’s just visiting.”
“Right,” Jaime repeated hesitantly, “From... the school.” But then Jaime jumped about a foot in the air as a bright blue teleporter opened at the end of the line of orange trees. Rei stepped in front of Jaime, half-expecting an adult to step out of it, but instead it was only Samir, looking more rumpled than usual in a baggy tank top, basketball shorts, and sandals. The only thing that kept Jaime from breaking out into a dead sprint out of that garden at the slightest sight of hard-light was both Rei and Bastion’s complete non-reaction to the appearance of a teleporter. Samir didn’t seem really aware of them as he materialized a large basket and a hard-light telescoping fruit picker.
“I thought you said Overwatch was against Vishkar!” Jaime hissed from behind Rei as Samir hummed and picked oranges.
“We are,” said Rei, “Samir’s mom--I mean, one of Samir’s moms---well, long story short, you’re not the first person to leave Vishkar.”
Jaime blinked several times, “I’m... I’m not?”
“Rei?” Samir’s head turned toward her as an orange thudded to the ground at his feet, “Who are you talking to?”
Jaime leaned out slightly from behind Bastion and Samir squinted a little.
“Uh...Hi. Jaime. I’m Jaime, from... from school. The school. That I go to. With her,” said Jaime.
“Rei,” Rei said quietly under her breath.
“The school with Rei,” said Jaime, nodding.
Samir gave them both a skeptical look before resuming picking oranges, “You’re hiding,” he said matter-of-factly.
“What? No!” Rei and Jaime’s voices were overlapping each other as they stumbled over several half-thought out excuses.
Samir gave them an impatient ‘Don’t assume I’m dumb’ look and Rei’s shoulders slumped. “Look, it’s complicated,” said Rei, “Okay?”
“Is he a secret boyfriend? You aren’t cheating on Jaz, are you?” said Samir, squinting at her.
“Oh gross! Barf! Like I would cheat on Jaz with Backpack Thief McPubertystache over here!” Rei blurted out, but then she caught herself and looked at Jaime, “I mean.... uh... no.”
“...real flattering,” said Jaime.
“Wait--You stole Rei’s backpack?!” Samir’s face lit up.
“Uh...” Jaime itched at the back of his neck.
“So you outran a ninja and Marti?” said Samir.
“He didn’t outrun me!” said Rei, indignantly.
“I out parkour’d her,” said Jaime, folding his arms smugly.
“Did not! You caught me on an off-day!” said Rei.
“I out parkour’d her,” Jaime whisper-spoke to Samir and Samir snorted slightly.
“So... you’re still here?” said Samir tilting his head, “I thought Overwatch would have just sent you to your parents or....”
Jaime glanced off and his lips thinned.
“...Oh,” said Samir and he looked to Rei, “Did they say what they were going to do with him or...?”
“I can take care of myself,” said Jaime, firmly, “Rei’s just helping me grab some stuff before I go.”
“...oh,” said Samir, his shoulders slumping slightly, “So you’re going.”
“I’m a wanderer,” said Jaime, putting his hands on his hips, “Erromes.”
“Erro...what?” Samir started.
“A pilgrim,” said Jaime.
“...you’re fourteen,” said Rei, flatly.
“Better than being in a cult,” said Jaime with a shrug.
“We’re not in a---!” Rei huffed before looking at Samir, “We’re just grabbing some food, that’s it.”
Samir shrugged, “Fine by me,” he pulled an orange from his basket and materialized a hard light knife, cutting the orange into neat sections. He held the cut orange out to Jaime. Jaime gave a wary glance to Rei before stepping over to Samir and taking the cut orange.
“Rei said you escaped Vishkar?” said Samir.
“...yeah,” said Jaime, trying to eat the orange slices as casually as possible despite how hungry he was.
“What was it like?” said Samir.
Jaime just paled slightly and Samir caught himself, “Sorry just... Mom hates them too, but she’s never talks about it, you know?”
“They always try and leave us out of that kind of stuff,” muttered Rei, interlacing her fingers behind her head.
“What’s the cowboy’s deal?” said Jaime, in-between bites of orange.
“Uncle Jesse?” said Rei,
“Like... why is he a cowboy?” said Jaime.
“Why are you a pilgrim if you keep freaking out and calling us a cult?” said Rei, arching an eyebrow.
“Pilgrims understand there are no easy answers,” said Jaime, airily.
“The way we live isn’t an easy answer,” said Rei with a scoff, “I’m scared of my parents dying, or my uncles dying, or anyone else on this Watchpoint dying. Like, all the time. And I’m scared of losing my home. All the time.”
“...oh,” said Jaime.
“You thought this was easy?” said Rei.
“...you go to school, and you have lunches and...” Jaime trailed off. Rei was glancing off, too.
An awkward pause passed between the three of them. Bastion at this point seemed to occupy itself with weeding the garden.
“No one knows why McCree’s a cowboy,” said Samir, at last, “That’s just how he is.” Another long pause passed and Samir cleared his throat. “You know, you’re probably going to want food with a longer shelf-life so..”
“Mess hall!” Rei blurted out.
“Right,” said Samir, spinning another teleporter into existence.
Jaime visibly tensed at the sight of another teleporter and Samir quickly waved it off into sparkling oblivion with a flick of his wrist. “Or we could walk! Walking is good!”
“‘We?’” said Rei.
“Well it’s not like we get a lot of visitors,” said Samir, hefting up his basket of oranges and stepping up next to them. Samir and Rei gave a wave to Bastion, who only briefly glanced up from a butterfly resting on a tomato flower to wave back at them as they left the garden.
“...so you live on the Watchpoint too?” said Jaime, walking with Rei and Samir. The three of them walked another cliffside path to a road that needed some re-paving ribboning through the watchpoint. Jaime was periodically grabbing oranges out of Samir’s basket, peeling and eating them as they walked.
“There’s just four of us,” said Samir, “There’s Rei, Marti, me, and my brother, Rajeev. We actually all go to the same school, but Rajeev and I are in lower grades.”
“Ah...” said Jaime, now feeling a little foolish for trying to keep up the ‘I’m Rei’s classmate’ lie, “...and your parents just... teach you being about being a ninja or using hard-light?”
“It took forever to convince Dad and Uncle to let me start training,” said Rei with a huff, “Dad was okay with me learning Kendo, but he and Mom were so weird about me learning any actual ninja stuff. But I was climbing everything on the Watchpoint anyway so Uncle started teaching me stuff ‘so I wouldn’t hurt myself.’”
“For me, my Mom just uses hard-light for everything,” said Samir with a shrug, “It’s just kind of how we do everything. Cooking, cleaning, exercise---”
“Basketball,” said Rei as the road opened up to the watchpoint tarmac.
“That falls under exer--oh,” Samir was cut off by the pang pang pang of a basketball on blacktop glanced up to see a large hard-light basketball hoop set up in front of the watchpoint mess hall. Marti was guarding the hoop, in a tense cat-like position while Rajeev was furiously dribbling the ball in front of her, trying to get past her. Marti glanced over her shoulder at them.
“Rei?” Marti blinked a few times and looked at Jaime, “Isn’t that the--”
She was cut off as Rajeev dipped to the side of her and jumped up to make a slam-dunk, only to have the entire basketball hoop dematerialize with the impact of his weight. He stumbled to the ground and the basketball smacked against the pavement and went flying. Jaime caught it out of the air.
“Boom!” Rajeev threw his arms up into the air, “Dunked it too hard! Too powerful!”
“I’m pretty sure the basket only dissolved because you need to dial up the shock absorption,” said Samir, with a huff.
“Details,” said Rajeev with a hand wave.
“What’s going on?” said Marti, looking between Rei and Jaime, “What’s he doing here?”
“I’m just helping him grab some stuff before he takes off,” said Rei with a shrug.
“...he’s taking off?” said Marti, “What did McCree say?”
“Well...” Rei trailed off.
“Rei,” Marti folded her arms.
“I mean he’s going to run off anyway!” said Rei.
“It’s true,” said Jaime with a shrug, still holding the basketball.
“And go back to stealing and dumpster-diving?” said Marti.
“What do you care?” said Jaime.
“You’re just a kid,” said Marti.
“So?” said Jaime a bit more stiffly.
“And you ran away from Vishkar,” Samir piped up.
“You ran away from Vishkar!?” Rajeev’s face lit up.
“And he outran Rei and Marti for like, 3 hours,” said Samir.
“He didn’t outrun me, he cheated,” said Rei.
“He outran us,” Marti confirmed.
“Woah...” Rajeev looked back at Jaime. He pointed at the basketball still in Jaime’s hand, “Wanna play a round?”
“What, just like that?” said Jaime.
Rajeev shrugged. “It’s just basketball. We don’t get a lot of visitors to the Watchpoint.”
“...I don’t know if that’s a good idea...” Jaime said quietly, bounce-passing the ball to Marti.
“It’s a good idea,” said Marti, bounce-passing the ball back to him.
Jaime looked at her.
“I get what it feels like to not feel safe anywhere,” said Marti, “But...this place...”
“This place is about as safe from Vishkar as you can get,” said Samir, finishing her thought.
Jaime looked down at the ball and then his eyes flicked to Rei. “You don’t actually want to play with me,” he said, bouncing the ball to her.
“I don’t know about ‘play,’” said Rei, dribbling the ball thoughtfully, “But I gotta show the twins that you outrunning me was just a fluke somehow.” She chest-passed it so hard to him he rocked back on his heels.
“Oh it’s like that?” said Jaime, passing the ball back to her.
“It’s like that,” said Rei, bouncing the ball back.
“We can play guys vs. girls!” said Rajeev.
“That’s three on two,” said Samir.
“Two on two, each team gets a twin,” said Marti, “Rei and Rajeev vs Jaime and Samir. Sound fair?”
“What about you?” said Rei.
“I’ll be sneaking stuff out of the mess hall,” said Marti with a slight smile at Jaime, “Just for good faith.”
“How is it good faith if we’re still stea--” Rajeev started but Samir elbowed him.
“I shouldn’t stay that long,” Jaime said,
“First to five?” said Samir, as he and Rajeev materialized a new hard-light hoop.
“...I’ve got time for first to five,” said Jaime.
----
“I meant to ask,” said Hanzo as the two of them briskly walked out of the hangar, “Did you and the others come to a consensus about what should be done?” McCree fished the foster home pamphlet out of his back pocket and held it out to Hanzo. “...Ah,” said Hanzo.
“I mean, it’s obvious, ain’t it?” said McCree glancing off, “It’s not like he actually wants to be here...”
Hanzo studied McCree’s profile for a few seconds. “You’re not okay with this,” Hanzo said quietly.
“What?” said McCree, “I mean, I’ll be okay about it. I just gotta...” he trailed off, “Y’know.”
“He’s a lot like you,” said Hanzo, as they walked through one of the watchpoint’s cannibalized server rooms.
“You know, this would be easier if people stopped sayin’ that,” said McCree, pausing to examine a panel which had been removed from the wall.
Hanzo glanced off, “Do you remember when we would look after Rei when Genji and Angela were busy?”
“Oh don’t start---” McCree pressed the brim of his hat down.
“You loved it. You loved her. You listened to her babbling like it was the most important and interesting thing in the world.”
“That’s---”
“You even volunteered us for helping out with the twins when they were born. And when Marti came to the Watchpoint you were constantly checking in to make sure she was settling in all right.”
“That’s babysitting! That’s kids you can walk away from!” said McCree, as they both walked out of the server room.
“But none of the children on this Watchpoint forgot that. They go to you when they feel like they can’t talk to their parents about something, you haven’t noticed that?”
“Well, maybe that’s because they don’t see me as an authority figure like everyone else--not a good ‘In local parentals’ factor,” said McCree.
“In loco parentis,” said Hanzo.
“See? I don’t know shit!”
“It’s not a matter of them not respecting you, it’s a matter of them seeing you as someone who respects them,” said Hanzo, “You’re coming from a childhood where you were largely relying on yourself... the adult figure you are to these children is the one you wish you had in your life. And it’s why Jaime was able to trust you enough to get his wrist looked at rather than just run off.”
“Hanzo, what are you gettin’ at, here?”
“You want to be a father--You’ve probably wanted to be a father ever since Rei was born. Possibly even earlier.”
“Well yeah, but there’s wanting something, and then knowing you’ll be shit at it,” said McCree, “I’m not like you, all... together.”
“You think I would be a good father?” a laugh rippled Hanzo’s voice and he noted the apparent hurt in McCree’s expression, “Oh... you actually...”
“You were a got-dang wizard with Rei! She still idolizes you! You’re always... prepared!” McCree furrowed his brow and thought for a second, “Did you ever want kids?”
“...In a sense, but...” Hanzo glanced down, “I didn’t think it would be fair to them. My father spent my childhood molding me into another, well, him. And as Genji can probably tell you, he wasn’t a good person. I don’t... I don’t want to inflict that on a child.”
“You would never,” said McCree on reflex, “Me on the other hand...” he shuddered, “If I became another kid’s Reyes...” he trailed off, “...we never really talked about this, did we?” he said at last.
“Well, given the fact that Overwatch is throwing us into near-constant danger and we never had to worry about pregnancy...” Hanzo trailed off, “Let’s just focus on finding him.”
“I hear that,” said McCree, “It ain’t about us. It’s about him.” McCree’s boot hit an odd texture and he glanced down.
“Orange peel,” said Hanzo, plucking up a bit of the waxy rind from the blacktop. They looked at the small trail of bits of orange peel like breadcrumbs through the watchpoint.
“Could be another macaque,” said McCree.
“Too clean,” said Hanzo.
“Welp, it’s a lead,” said McCree, following the trail. It lead them on a meandering path through the watchpoint, a fairly straight line towards the mess hall.
The trail of orange peel tapered off to nothingness and McCree frowned, but then his head jerked up at the sound of Rei shouting. He gave a glance back to Hanzo and both of them picked up their pace, rounding the corner to see Jaime, Rei, and the twins all involved in an intense game of basketball around one hard-light hoop. Rei was passing to Rajeev, getting intercepted by Jaime who would shoot for the basket, only to be intercepted by Rajeev. They didn’t even notice McCree and Hanzo coming out from behind a building’s corner, but McCree hung back. He fished the foster home brochure out of the back of his pocket, he glanced down at the photo of the smiling family at the table laden with pancakes, then glanced back up at the four kids laughing and shouting at each other as they scrambled around the basketball hoop.
The sensible voice in his head spoke up, saying, Do what’s best for him. He deserves normal, but then an angrier voice spoke, What the hell is normal anyway? There hasn’t been a normal ever since the goddamn Omnic Crisis. It’s not about ‘normal’ it’s about ‘home.’ And when the hell has ‘home’ ever been normal for anyone?
“Jesse?” Hanzo’s voice cut through McCree’s train of thought and McCree glanced over at him, “Do you think we should...?” He looked back at Jaime intercepting a shot from Rei and then laughing about it.
“...I mean, he doesn’t have to go right away, does he?” said McCree, watching as Jaime managed to snatch the ball back from Rajeev and get an assist from Samir.
“Not... right away,” said Hanzo.
I never did any fics surrounding Jaime joining the watchpoint. I should fix that.
Oof this one ended up long.
In Loco Parentis
------
The mid-morning sunlight streamed through the slats of the watchpoint boardroom.
“We’re not a homeless shelter,” Jack’s arms were folded, “Or an orphanage.”
“You know the situation is more complicated than that,” said McCree, “If he’s fleeing Vishkar---”
“There are thousands of people displaced by Talon, Null Sector, and the Siberian Omnium,” said Jack, “We barely have the resources to sustain ourselves. If we start taking on civilians...”
“Even at the peak of Overwatch’s power, there wasn’t a whole lot they could do about 30 million crisis orphans,” said Sombra.
“But with Marti--” McCree looked over at Sombra, who had several screens open around her head.
“I’m Marti’s legal guardian,” said Sombra, scrolling through one of her screens with a flick of her wrist, “It’s different.”
“So what, we just throw him out?” said McCree.
“Not ‘throw him out,’” said Winston. He cleared his throat and set several pamphlets on the table in front of McCree, “His associating with us also potentially makes him even more of a target for Talon. While I do believe Overwatch is meant to help everyone, we have to be able to delegate what that help looks like.”
McCree picked up one of the pamphlets and his mouth thinned. There was a picture of a handful of kids of varying backgrounds in front of an idyllic suburban house. “...Foster care,” said McCree, “You’re talking about foster care.”
“I can cover his tracks,” said Sombra, “Keep Vishkar from scooping him back up.”
McCree opened up the pamphlet and his eyes glazed over it. Clean. Homey. Normal. He deserved normal. All kids deserved normal.
He’ll be clawing at that pretty flowery wallpaper within two weeks, run off again within a month, thought McCree, He’s too angry. Too scared. Too hungry. He’s seen too much to think he can--No. Shut up. Shut up. You’re projecting. You’re projecting. You’re projecting.
“It’s best if you talk to him,” said Winston, “From his perspective, you’re the closest thing he has to ‘In Loco Parentis.’”
“In local what now?”
“It’s a legal term meaning--” Winston caught himself, “Er--”
“‘In place of a parent,’” said Sombra, she gave McCree a slightly pitying look, “McCree, we all know your story. We know what you’re thinking.”
“What? What am I thinking? That it’s wrong to shove him back into a system that just tossed him into Vishkar’s jaws before?” McCree folded his arms. “I’m just saying, even if we put him in completely anonymously, you know Talon and Vishkar comb through the poorest and most desperate for...their ranks.”
“We have to demonstrate some cooperation with the proper channels,” said Winston.
“Look, we get your concerns but try to see it from our perspective. He’s only a few years younger than you were when Reyes picked you up,” said Sombra, folding her arms, “This is personal for you, we get it---”
“You think I’m emotionally compromised,” said McCree with a scoff.
“Yes,” said Sombra, flatly, “But, it’s because of that compromise that we also trust you to do what’s best for him.” Sombra insistently tapped a finger on the end of the pamphlet McCree was holding for emphasis as she said ‘do what’s best.’
McCree looked down at the pamphlet.
“He’s at a stage you were at once, and I get wanting to help him through that,” Sombra went on, “But we’re fighting against a global corporate-backed terrorist collective and a robot invasion. The best thing we can do for him is get him as far away from it as we can.”
McCree looked at a photo of several children around a table with plates of pancakes as a human and omnic pair of foster parents proudly beamed at the camera. Normal. He deserved normal.
“I’ll... I’ll talk to the kid,” said McCree, itching at the brim of his hat, “I guess... all that matters is getting a roof over his head, right?”
He looked at Jack and found no sympathy in that visor. All that matters is stopping Talon, he could almost hear Jack’s voice.
“Of course,” said Winston, “We have complete faith in you.”
“I mean, unless he’s already stolen everything he could and dipped already,” said Sombra with a slight chuckle.
McCree shot her a dirty look.
“Crisis Orphan mentality,” said Sombra with a shrug, “It’s what I would have done in his place.”
“We ain’t treatin’ him like a criminal!” said McCree.
“He’s literally here because he stole Rei’s backpack,” said Jack, flatly.
“Hanzo’s been keeping an eye on him,” said McCree, “Last I checked he was still asleep. It’ll be fine.”
----
“You lost him!?” McCree was pacing back and forth in front of Hanzo as they stood in an empty watchpoint dormitory, “How do you lose a whole-ass 14-year-old?!”
“I wasn’t going to have him wake up with me staring at him, I thought it prudent to fix something for him to eat for a late breakfast!” said Hanzo. He was holding a now-cold plate of a neatly folded omelette flecked with chives.
“...of all the times for you to switch gears from ninja to Uncle Hanzo...” McCree huffed but Hanzo just furrowed his brows at him. “Sorry--” McCree caught himself, “Sorry. We gotta go find him. Athena?” McCree called and looked around the dorm room. There was no response.
“Did he disable Athena in here?” said Hanzo, shocked.
“If he could run away from a Vishkar orphanage...” McCree pulled out his comm, “Athena, you there? I need Watchpoint surveillance feeds on my comm.”
“If we don’t want him to feel like a criminal, perhaps activating all Watchpoint security isn’t the best way to go about this,” said Hanzo, “We’ll look around for him first. Give him time to come back.”
“In that time he could hop another freighter or--or get hurt! He’s cleared with Satya’s turrets, right?” said McCree.
“Of course he’s cleared with Satya’s turrets, we aren’t savages!” Hanzo retorted, “Every moment we spend arguing is a moment we should be spending making sure he’s all right. Come,” said Hanzo, already briskly walking out
“You gotta be kidding me,” muttered McCree, following behind him.
----
“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” Jaime was hunched over a pried-open panel to see nothing but empty black space. The scent of his own new clothes threw him off, distracted him. The fact that he couldn’t really smell himself anymore was definitely an improvement, but he was wondering how much the stress of getting out of here would undo that. He rooted around in the space, trying to feel for wires, but then huffed.
“The whole watchpoint’s been cannibalized several times over. Any copper or palladium in the walls here has probably been stripped for Mei’s or Athena’s servers,” a voice that seemed to be trying to jam too many syllables in at once while hitting its consonants a little too hard spoke up from behind Jaime, and Jaime glanced over his shoulder to see a familiar girl with thick eyebrows and wild dark hair tied half-back in a yellow ribbon. “There’s no way you can try to get them without getting caught, though,” she added.
“...Psycho,” said Jaime.
“Thief,” said Rei.
“I already said sorry about your stupid backpack,” said Jaime, pushing himself up from his knees and dusting himself off, already walking away.
“And you’re already trying to steal again!” said Rei, huffily pacing after him.
“You know most people don’t steal because they have anything against whoever they’re stealing from, right?” said Jaime, “It’s not about you, or your watch...thing.”
“Watchpoint,” said Rei.
“It’s about survival,” said Jaime.
“So ask!” said Rei, “They’re Overwatch! You think we don’t care about people’s survival?!”
“I really don’t care about your weird army cult thing,” said Jaime, continuing to walk.
“Cult?!” Rei blustered.
“Yeah. Big compound, lots of guns...weird kids who were born here and don’t question the giant weird compound or the guns---”
“Overwatch is trying to save the world from Talon and Null Sector! Trying to save the world isn’t a cult!” said Rei.
Jaime just gave her a semi-pitying look that made her blood boil.
“Well fine! If you want to go back to being a scuzzy little thief, be my guest!” she said, throwing her hands up.
“That’s the plan,” said Jaime, continuing to walk away, “Not like I’m dumb enough to wait for them to hand me off to the police or another orphanage.”
“Fine!” Rei said again, folding her arms, before suddenly catching herself, “Wait---”
Jaime stopped and looked over his shoulder at her.
“If you need things before you go, we can give them to you. No stealing,” said Rei, “I mean, obviously you can’t strip Athena or any of the tech, but... clothes and soap and food...” she trailed off.
Jaime’s stomach audibly growled at the word ‘food.’
“...Have you eaten yet today?” said Rei, suddenly alarmed.
“What are you, my mom?” said Jaime with a scoff before his stomach growled again.
“Come with me,” said Rei, briskly stepping up alongside him. She looked to his wrist, fully healed from the sprain thanks to biotics, and took his elbow, “Come on.”
“Is this the cult love-bombing?” said Jaime, being half-dragged behind her, “I’m not going if it’s the cult love-bombing.”
“Oh my god, it’s not love-bombing, I’m just taking you to the garden so you can grab some fruit,” said Rei continuing to drag him along, “It’s closer than the mess hall. You’re less likely to run into the adults there.”
“You have guns, a compound, and a little mini-farm, and you want me to believe you’re not a cult,” said Jaime, flatly. They rounded a corner and walked a narrow path between the hangar and the seaside cliffs.
“I don’t have guns. And Bastion actually does most of the gardening,” said Rei, as they walked.
“Who?” said Jaime, but he blinked several times as the ground opened up to a wide grassy area bordered by Gibraltar’s rocks and the hangar. There was a line of orange trees up against the hangar, and a significant section of the grass had been carved out to form a small victory garden growing tomatoes, strawberries, lettuce, carrots, and corn. Opposite the orange trees were several thrumming beehive boxes, and at the far end of the garden was an apparently well-loved old greenhouse that had gone through several patch-ups over the years, and a knobby little olive tree twisting up next to it, canvas laid out at its roots.
“Thwuh-wheet?” an inquisitive beep came from behind them and both Rei and Jaime quickly turned on their heels to see Bastion looming over them, . Jaime’s breath caught in his throat and he stumbled back. Bastion tilted its boxy head at him.
“...that’s a Bastion unit,” said Jaime, his voice tense in his throat as he took several steps back.
“Bastion doesn’t like to fight,” said Rei, as several birds fluttered around Bastion’s head. Bastion gestured at Jaime with its hand.
“Oh um--he’s.... from school!” said Rei, “He’s just visiting.”
“Right,” Jaime repeated hesitantly, “From... the school.” But then Jaime jumped about a foot in the air as a bright blue teleporter opened at the end of the line of orange trees. Rei stepped in front of Jaime, half-expecting an adult to step out of it, but instead it was only Samir, looking more rumpled than usual in a baggy tank top, basketball shorts, and sandals. The only thing that kept Jaime from breaking out into a dead sprint out of that garden at the slightest sight of hard-light was both Rei and Bastion’s complete non-reaction to the appearance of a teleporter. Samir didn’t seem really aware of them as he materialized a large basket and a hard-light telescoping fruit picker.
“I thought you said Overwatch was against Vishkar!” Jaime hissed from behind Rei as Samir hummed and picked oranges.
“We are,” said Rei, “Samir’s mom--I mean, one of Samir’s moms---well, long story short, you’re not the first person to leave Vishkar.”
Jaime blinked several times, “I’m... I’m not?”
“Rei?” Samir’s head turned toward her as an orange thudded to the ground at his feet, “Who are you talking to?”
Jaime leaned out slightly from behind Bastion and Samir squinted a little.
“Uh...Hi. Jaime. I’m Jaime, from... from school. The school. That I go to. With her,” said Jaime.
“Rei,” Rei said quietly under her breath.
“The school with Rei,” said Jaime, nodding.
Samir gave them both a skeptical look before resuming picking oranges, “You’re hiding,” he said matter-of-factly.
“What? No!” Rei and Jaime’s voices were overlapping each other as they stumbled over several half-thought out excuses.
Samir gave them an impatient ‘Don’t assume I’m dumb’ look and Rei’s shoulders slumped. “Look, it’s complicated,” said Rei, “Okay?”
“Is he a secret boyfriend? You aren’t cheating on Jaz, are you?” said Samir, squinting at her.
“Oh gross! Barf! Like I would cheat on Jaz with Backpack Thief McPubertystache over here!” Rei blurted out, but then she caught herself and looked at Jaime, “I mean.... uh... no.”
“...real flattering,” said Jaime.
“Wait--You stole Rei’s backpack?!” Samir’s face lit up.
“Uh...” Jaime itched at the back of his neck.
“So you outran a ninja and Marti?” said Samir.
“He didn’t outrun me!” said Rei, indignantly.
“I out parkour’d her,” said Jaime, folding his arms smugly.
“Did not! You caught me on an off-day!” said Rei.
“I out parkour’d her,” Jaime whisper-spoke to Samir and Samir snorted slightly.
“So... you’re still here?” said Samir tilting his head, “I thought Overwatch would have just sent you to your parents or....”
Jaime glanced off and his lips thinned.
“...Oh,” said Samir and he looked to Rei, “Did they say what they were going to do with him or...?”
“I can take care of myself,” said Jaime, firmly, “Rei’s just helping me grab some stuff before I go.”
“...oh,” said Samir, his shoulders slumping slightly, “So you’re going.”
“I’m a wanderer,” said Jaime, putting his hands on his hips, “Erromes.”
“Erro...what?” Samir started.
“A pilgrim,” said Jaime.
“...you’re fourteen,” said Rei, flatly.
“Better than being in a cult,” said Jaime with a shrug.
“We’re not in a---!” Rei huffed before looking at Samir, “We’re just grabbing some food, that’s it.”
Samir shrugged, “Fine by me,” he pulled an orange from his basket and materialized a hard light knife, cutting the orange into neat sections. He held the cut orange out to Jaime. Jaime gave a wary glance to Rei before stepping over to Samir and taking the cut orange.
“Rei said you escaped Vishkar?” said Samir.
“...yeah,” said Jaime, trying to eat the orange slices as casually as possible despite how hungry he was.
“What was it like?” said Samir.
Jaime just paled slightly and Samir caught himself, “Sorry just... Mom hates them too, but she’s never talks about it, you know?”
“They always try and leave us out of that kind of stuff,” muttered Rei, interlacing her fingers behind her head.
“What’s the cowboy’s deal?” said Jaime, in-between bites of orange.
“Uncle Jesse?” said Rei,
“Like... why is he a cowboy?” said Jaime.
“Why are you a pilgrim if you keep freaking out and calling us a cult?” said Rei, arching an eyebrow.
“Pilgrims understand there are no easy answers,” said Jaime, airily.
“The way we live isn’t an easy answer,” said Rei with a scoff, “I’m scared of my parents dying, or my uncles dying, or anyone else on this Watchpoint dying. Like, all the time. And I’m scared of losing my home. All the time.”
“...oh,” said Jaime.
“You thought this was easy?” said Rei.
“...you go to school, and you have lunches and...” Jaime trailed off. Rei was glancing off, too.
An awkward pause passed between the three of them. Bastion at this point seemed to occupy itself with weeding the garden.
“No one knows why McCree’s a cowboy,” said Samir, at last, “That’s just how he is.” Another long pause passed and Samir cleared his throat. “You know, you’re probably going to want food with a longer shelf-life so..”
“Mess hall!” Rei blurted out.
“Right,” said Samir, spinning another teleporter into existence.
Jaime visibly tensed at the sight of another teleporter and Samir quickly waved it off into sparkling oblivion with a flick of his wrist. “Or we could walk! Walking is good!”
“‘We?’” said Rei.
“Well it’s not like we get a lot of visitors,” said Samir, hefting up his basket of oranges and stepping up next to them. Samir and Rei gave a wave to Bastion, who only briefly glanced up from a butterfly resting on a tomato flower to wave back at them as they left the garden.
“...so you live on the Watchpoint too?” said Jaime, walking with Rei and Samir. The three of them walked another cliffside path to a road that needed some re-paving ribboning through the watchpoint. Jaime was periodically grabbing oranges out of Samir’s basket, peeling and eating them as they walked.
“There’s just four of us,” said Samir, “There’s Rei, Marti, me, and my brother, Rajeev. We actually all go to the same school, but Rajeev and I are in lower grades.”
“Ah...” said Jaime, now feeling a little foolish for trying to keep up the ‘I’m Rei’s classmate’ lie, “...and your parents just... teach you being about being a ninja or using hard-light?”
“It took forever to convince Dad and Uncle to let me start training,” said Rei with a huff, “Dad was okay with me learning Kendo, but he and Mom were so weird about me learning any actual ninja stuff. But I was climbing everything on the Watchpoint anyway so Uncle started teaching me stuff ‘so I wouldn’t hurt myself.’”
“For me, my Mom just uses hard-light for everything,” said Samir with a shrug, “It’s just kind of how we do everything. Cooking, cleaning, exercise---”
“Basketball,” said Rei as the road opened up to the watchpoint tarmac.
“That falls under exer--oh,” Samir was cut off by the pang pang pang of a basketball on blacktop glanced up to see a large hard-light basketball hoop set up in front of the watchpoint mess hall. Marti was guarding the hoop, in a tense cat-like position while Rajeev was furiously dribbling the ball in front of her, trying to get past her. Marti glanced over her shoulder at them.
“Rei?” Marti blinked a few times and looked at Jaime, “Isn’t that the--”
She was cut off as Rajeev dipped to the side of her and jumped up to make a slam-dunk, only to have the entire basketball hoop dematerialize with the impact of his weight. He stumbled to the ground and the basketball smacked against the pavement and went flying. Jaime caught it out of the air.
“Boom!” Rajeev threw his arms up into the air, “Dunked it too hard! Too powerful!”
“I’m pretty sure the basket only dissolved because you need to dial up the shock absorption,” said Samir, with a huff.
“Details,” said Rajeev with a hand wave.
“What’s going on?” said Marti, looking between Rei and Jaime, “What’s he doing here?”
“I’m just helping him grab some stuff before he takes off,” said Rei with a shrug.
“...he’s taking off?” said Marti, “What did McCree say?”
“Well...” Rei trailed off.
“Rei,” Marti folded her arms.
“I mean he’s going to run off anyway!” said Rei.
“It’s true,” said Jaime with a shrug, still holding the basketball.
“And go back to stealing and dumpster-diving?” said Marti.
“What do you care?” said Jaime.
“You’re just a kid,” said Marti.
“So?” said Jaime a bit more stiffly.
“And you ran away from Vishkar,” Samir piped up.
“You ran away from Vishkar!?” Rajeev’s face lit up.
“And he outran Rei and Marti for like, 3 hours,” said Samir.
“He didn’t outrun me, he cheated,” said Rei.
“He outran us,” Marti confirmed.
“Woah...” Rajeev looked back at Jaime. He pointed at the basketball still in Jaime’s hand, “Wanna play a round?”
“What, just like that?” said Jaime.
Rajeev shrugged. “It’s just basketball. We don’t get a lot of visitors to the Watchpoint.”
“...I don’t know if that’s a good idea...” Jaime said quietly, bounce-passing the ball to Marti.
“It’s a good idea,” said Marti, bounce-passing the ball back to him.
Jaime looked at her.
“I get what it feels like to not feel safe anywhere,” said Marti, “But...this place...”
“This place is about as safe from Vishkar as you can get,” said Samir, finishing her thought.
Jaime looked down at the ball and then his eyes flicked to Rei. “You don’t actually want to play with me,” he said, bouncing the ball to her.
“I don’t know about ‘play,’” said Rei, dribbling the ball thoughtfully, “But I gotta show the twins that you outrunning me was just a fluke somehow.” She chest-passed it so hard to him he rocked back on his heels.
“Oh it’s like that?” said Jaime, passing the ball back to her.
“It’s like that,” said Rei, bouncing the ball back.
“We can play guys vs. girls!” said Rajeev.
“That’s three on two,” said Samir.
“Two on two, each team gets a twin,” said Marti, “Rei and Rajeev vs Jaime and Samir. Sound fair?”
“What about you?” said Rei.
“I’ll be sneaking stuff out of the mess hall,” said Marti with a slight smile at Jaime, “Just for good faith.”
“How is it good faith if we’re still stea--” Rajeev started but Samir elbowed him.
“I shouldn’t stay that long,” Jaime said,
“First to five?” said Samir, as he and Rajeev materialized a new hard-light hoop.
“...I’ve got time for first to five,” said Jaime.
----
“I meant to ask,” said Hanzo as the two of them briskly walked out of the hangar, “Did you and the others come to a consensus about what should be done?” McCree fished the foster home pamphlet out of his back pocket and held it out to Hanzo. “...Ah,” said Hanzo.
“I mean, it’s obvious, ain’t it?” said McCree glancing off, “It’s not like he actually wants to be here...”
Hanzo studied McCree’s profile for a few seconds. “You’re not okay with this,” Hanzo said quietly.
“What?” said McCree, “I mean, I’ll be okay about it. I just gotta...” he trailed off, “Y’know.”
“He’s a lot like you,” said Hanzo, as they walked through one of the watchpoint’s cannibalized server rooms.
“You know, this would be easier if people stopped sayin’ that,” said McCree, pausing to examine a panel which had been removed from the wall.
Hanzo glanced off, “Do you remember when we would look after Rei when Genji and Angela were busy?”
“Oh don’t start---” McCree pressed the brim of his hat down.
“You loved it. You loved her. You listened to her babbling like it was the most important and interesting thing in the world.”
“That’s---”
“You even volunteered us for helping out with the twins when they were born. And when Marti came to the Watchpoint you were constantly checking in to make sure she was settling in all right.”
“That’s babysitting! That’s kids you can walk away from!” said McCree, as they both walked out of the server room.
“But none of the children on this Watchpoint forgot that. They go to you when they feel like they can’t talk to their parents about something, you haven’t noticed that?”
“Well, maybe that’s because they don’t see me as an authority figure like everyone else--not a good ‘In local parentals’ factor,” said McCree.
“In loco parentis,” said Hanzo.
“See? I don’t know shit!”
“It’s not a matter of them not respecting you, it’s a matter of them seeing you as someone who respects them,” said Hanzo, “You’re coming from a childhood where you were largely relying on yourself... the adult figure you are to these children is the one you wish you had in your life. And it’s why Jaime was able to trust you enough to get his wrist looked at rather than just run off.”
“Hanzo, what are you gettin’ at, here?”
“You want to be a father--You’ve probably wanted to be a father ever since Rei was born. Possibly even earlier.”
“Well yeah, but there’s wanting something, and then knowing you’ll be shit at it,” said McCree, “I’m not like you, all... together.”
“You think I would be a good father?” a laugh rippled Hanzo’s voice and he noted the apparent hurt in McCree’s expression, “Oh... you actually...”
“You were a got-dang wizard with Rei! She still idolizes you! You’re always... prepared!” McCree furrowed his brow and thought for a second, “Did you ever want kids?”
“...In a sense, but...” Hanzo glanced down, “I didn’t think it would be fair to them. My father spent my childhood molding me into another, well, him. And as Genji can probably tell you, he wasn’t a good person. I don’t... I don’t want to inflict that on a child.”
“You would never,” said McCree on reflex, “Me on the other hand...” he shuddered, “If I became another kid’s Reyes...” he trailed off, “...we never really talked about this, did we?” he said at last.
“Well, given the fact that Overwatch is throwing us into near-constant danger and we never had to worry about pregnancy...” Hanzo trailed off, “Let’s just focus on finding him.”
“I hear that,” said McCree, “It ain’t about us. It’s about him.” McCree’s boot hit an odd texture and he glanced down.
“Orange peel,” said Hanzo, plucking up a bit of the waxy rind from the blacktop. They looked at the small trail of bits of orange peel like breadcrumbs through the watchpoint.
“Could be another macaque,” said McCree.
“Too clean,” said Hanzo.
“Welp, it’s a lead,” said McCree, following the trail. It lead them on a meandering path through the watchpoint, a fairly straight line towards the mess hall.
The trail of orange peel tapered off to nothingness and McCree frowned, but then his head jerked up at the sound of Rei shouting. He gave a glance back to Hanzo and both of them picked up their pace, rounding the corner to see Jaime, Rei, and the twins all involved in an intense game of basketball around one hard-light hoop. Rei was passing to Rajeev, getting intercepted by Jaime who would shoot for the basket, only to be intercepted by Rajeev. They didn’t even notice McCree and Hanzo coming out from behind a building’s corner, but McCree hung back. He fished the foster home brochure out of the back of his pocket, he glanced down at the photo of the smiling family at the table laden with pancakes, then glanced back up at the four kids laughing and shouting at each other as they scrambled around the basketball hoop.
The sensible voice in his head spoke up, saying, Do what’s best for him. He deserves normal, but then an angrier voice spoke, What the hell is normal anyway? There hasn’t been a normal ever since the goddamn Omnic Crisis. It’s not about ‘normal’ it’s about ‘home.’ And when the hell has ‘home’ ever been normal for anyone?
“Jesse?” Hanzo’s voice cut through McCree’s train of thought and McCree glanced over at him, “Do you think we should...?” He looked back at Jaime intercepting a shot from Rei and then laughing about it.
“...I mean, he doesn’t have to go right away, does he?” said McCree, watching as Jaime managed to snatch the ball back from Rajeev and get an assist from Samir.
“Not... right away,” said Hanzo.
48 notes
·
View notes