Jesse McCree. #23: Romance.

kumulonimbus:

Throwing in a little McSombra in this =)

Spending his childhood in a broken home was not easy – especially when the distorted version of romance you get is how your drunken father beats up your mother every night – but it’s enough for little Jesse to understand that, no matter what life decides to throw his way, he’s never going to end up like his dad. And every time he reaches that conclusion, he gets a little bit closer to the actual meaning of love – every time he worries about his mother, every time he wishes there was a real man by her side, loving her, and taking good care of his family.

But, eventually, this twisted nest is torn apart by tragedy and a young Jesse ends up shaking hands with the dangerous Deadlock gang. There’s nearly no room for love or romance during those years, as the suffocating sights of a violence he still remembers impregnates his every vision: he knows what type of man he doesn’t want to be but the other man, the one he knows he can be, is still struggling inside every time he pulls the trigger and the older members of the gang can see it. Some of them even perceive him as a soft man, perhaps softer than he should be – he’s still young, and pretty much inexperienced, but his deadly skills are more than enough for the gang to keep him around.

When Sombra comes his way, her own backstory threatens to jeopardize everything he thought he knew about love and romance: she, too, has lost it all and has been forced to embrace violence to survive. Theirs is a rocky start, that’s for sure, but the man is patient, and immensely thoughtful: they share more than they imagine, so his number one priority is to make her smile, to make feel his love is simple – things have always been complicated for them, this should be simple. His idea of romance is also rather simple: perhaps a walk in the rain, when everyone else stays safe inside or a night of complete silence after a tough day. Small gestures, like subtle touches and a never-ending longing for proximity are always there for her whenever she needs it.

It takes time, but the hacker finally opens up, and lowers her guard. What he has to offer is peaceful, it reminds her of all those lazy Sundays of her childhood, before losing everything, back then when she was still a child and there was nothing in the world that could harm her. So his arms quickly become safe harbor for her, and the man cherishes this warmth they’ve found in each other – it reminds him of his mother, in a way, in the love she never got to experience, in a pain that’s now long gone.