Cowboy and Angel
Chapter One: When We Were Young
AN: Well here's another one.
This story has a switching POV and I hope it's easy enough to follow along with.
This story has no editor, so all mistakes are, sadly, mine.
Disclaimer: I do not own Overwatch or any of its characters, I'm just writing my story in their world.
As he collapsed in a pool of his own sweat with a bit of blood dripping down his lip, he once again asked himself if it would have been better to just die with the rest of his gang. As his vision darkened another time his memories of that day fluttered to the surface.
8 8 8
It would have been easy to just miss for once, his body surely ached to just not move again, but his pride kept him on his feet. His gun clicked empty and his body fell forward into a roll, and the last of his flash bangs came flying out when he was back on his feet. His mind was running on fumes and instinct, his body had more holes than God intended and he was certain he was going to die. Still he fought on. Ashe had ran, and he called her a coward, both in his mind and out loud, but as he sunk down to one knee, he called her smart. She knew it was a losing battle but Jesse never did stop to think why the attractive woman was on the train to begin with. It was all a damn trap, and he fell right into it. He laughed as his gun clicked empty and he tried to roll only to find himself prone on his back, his guts burning as his gun flew out of his hand.
The woman was standing over him, her rifle pointed at his chest, the same rifle that had blown a hole in his stomach. She really was pretty, pretty damn dangerous, and that caused him to laugh again, the burning hadn't stopped even as his eyes struggled to stay open.
Her face was twisted in a confused frown.
The blackness had overcome his left eye, and the vision in his right was quickly fading but he pulled his arm up, finger and thumb sticking out as the familiar burning in his chest bubbled out.
He pointed at what he thought was the woman.
"Bang."
His vision fully left him as his hand fell to the floor, still in the shape of a gun.
8 8 8
He was in the hospital wing again, the beeping of machines a familiar tune to his ears. The dream was a common one, sometimes quick, others slow, but the pain always radiated from the small circular scar on his stomach. The sheets were as itchy as always and he had to fight his instinct to throw them off. The last time he had done that he had given a nurse an eyeful and he had gotten an earful. Instead he took in a deep breath through his nose and opened his eyes, and was met with the damningly familiar white tile.
Jesse turned his head and let his gaze lazily drift across the room until he found the one good thing in the hospital wing. Blonde hair framed a face so beautiful he first thought it belonged to an angel. He smiled at that memory, for he wasn't far off the mark. Angela, Codename: Mercy. She was the same age as he was and was a doctor, and he would admit to no one how maybe his pride and ego had been bruised. All he could do was shoot, and he wasn't even the best shooter he knew now. Blue eyes were peering into his brown ones from a distance that was much closer than it should have been. The face was pulled into a frown, and Jesse McCree found out he did not like that type of frown. The one of concern. Disdain he could handle, and the young doctor had plenty of that to give him. But he would not take her pity. She wasn't better than him. He pulled his head away from hers.
"Howdy Doc." his voice was lower than usual, signalling he had been out of it for longer than was probably expected, and he now realized how thirsty he was.
"Do not 'howdy doc' me, Jesse McCree. You gave us all quite a scare when you collapsed out there."
Jesse felt the confusion show on his face. Out there? He had been training, hadn't he? The last thing he remembered was being alone on the practice range, trying desperately to pull out the burning he had once had in his chest. He guessed he had failed at it, but 'Out There' was usually kept for recalling missions. Luckily the small woman gave him no time to question his seemingly failed memory.
"You were lucky Ana found you. God only knows just how long you were baking on the ground. What were you even doing shooting out there?"
He relaxed only slightly when it seemed he indeed remembered correctly as to his last known whereabouts.
"I was practicin', it's how the best stay that way." Jesse interrupted her when her face turned red from the long winded reprimand.
That was the wrong step to take in calming Angela down, as her eyes narrowed. Jesse let out a yelp as a finger connected with his forehead as Angela, Mercy, the child prodigy, flicked him.
"You are not the best shooter here."
Her tone was something he couldn't place, even if in that moment he cared too. All he heard was his own fears and insecurities being voiced by a woman who he was pretty sure hated him. His chest burned in anger as his own finger came forward pointed outward like a knife, the IV in his arm ripping out, it hurt but he was past the point of caring. His body moved in a flurry as he stood, finger still pointed out, and he would be glad he still had his underwear on.
"Don't you dare talk to me like that, prodigy." and Jesse McCree reveled in the way she flinched from his insult.
No one stopped him as he stormed from the medical wing, and he didn't stop his march until his knees collided with his own bed, where he fell into it's unjudging embrace. He hated Reyes, He hated Ana, he hated Jack, he hated Overwatch, he hated his former gang for leaving him to die, he hated himself, but he didn't hate Angela Ziegler, and that bothered him just as much as her words had.
8 8 8
He kept the brim of his hat pulled low, keeping his face from being seen easily. The sun was dropping lower and lower in the sky, the peacekeeper on his hip a comforting familiar weight. He had been chewed out and grounded for his actions involving a certain blue eyed lady. So he took his frustrations out by trying again to pull the feeling from within him. He hadn't missed a shot in the entire evening, but it just wasn't enough to satisfy him. He wanted to be better than them. He wanted to prove Reyes, Ana, Jack, and especially Angela wrong. He was the best, and he just needed to prove it.
He had just emptied his gun into the targets again, and they had all hit as he had intended, but his chest was still cool, no burning building to a crescendo until it threatened to bubble over. He wanted to yell in frustration. He wasn't a perfectionist about anything, but he knew he was better. He may have lost when he battled Overwatch but he held losing odds off. Ever since then he had lost his ability, the one thing that had saved his life in that interrogation cell was the fact he had apparently shot Reyes in the fire fight and had impressed him.
"You will end up in my office again if you keep this up." the words were spoken softly as a cloth was pressed under his nose.
Jesse looked down the few inches that separated their heights and looked into the eyes of one Angela Ziegler. He fought the scowl, and instead reached up to take the white cloth that was slowly turning red. He gave a small tip of his hat in thanks, but she wasn't finished and his other hand was forced to take hold of a bottle of water, and the dryness in his mouth suddenly became much more apparent.
"Thank ya kindly Doc'." and Jesse meant it.
"It's part of being a prodigy." Her words did hold an edge this time and perhaps rightfully so, but Jesse wasn't about to get another verbal beat down by his bosses for fighting with their golden child.
"I reckon I deserved that one, doc'."
"You did, but I should not have insulted your obvious skill with a gun." Her hand gestured to the targets that he had hit with his shots.
"Apology accepted then doc."
He watched her eyeing the targets with a curious gleam and Jesse McCree may have been swayed by the fact that Angela was pretty and he was kind of helpless when it came to pretty women that he even offered the olive branch to begin with.
"You want to try shooting doc?"
Her cheeks turned red as her head whipped around so their eyes met.
"I don't think I want to embarrass myself in front of one of our best shooters."
Jesse smiled, he understood that, more than she probably realized. Not even he was good the first time he picked up a gun. Having missed every shot he had attempted that day. He told her as much, and her eyes widened with this new information, and a small smile appeared as she decided to give it a try.
Jesse smiled and put the cloth away, after Angela checked to see if he had indeed stopped bleeding. He stepped behind her, and started his teachings.
"You want to hold it firmly, but not as tight as you can. Keep your finger off the trigger until you're certain you're ready to fire."
He ticked off the rules he had learned years ago, and helped her steady herself for her first shot. She took a half breath and squeezed the trigger of his pacemaker.
Even Jesse couldn't stop her flinch, and her first shot went wide. He didn't berate her or make her feel inferior, instead he loaded another bullet into the chamber before helping her again.
They continued on like that for the next two hours, and only stopped their fun when the sun sank to low to see. They talked and laughed all the while, and when Angela finally hit the target on the last shot of the evening, they embraced and Jesse spun her around.
If they separated quickly and had red faces due to the display, they had an unspoken agreement that no one needed to know about that.
AN: Well there it is, hope you enjoyed it! Please review, constructive criticisms are also welcomed as are just general comments. As usual, thank y'all for reading.
This is part of a new series called "Cowboy And…" and it's a place for me to put stories about one of my favorite cowboy characters. It's similar to NSDB and I think it's a good thing. Thanks for stopping by!
I hope I did Jesse and Angela justice. I don't play or follow Overwatch anymore, so maybe some of my knowledge is old, but if y'all are avid readers of my content then you know I don't really care for canon!
IN this story we look inside a rougher than ideal start at the friendship between Jesse and Angela, and even dive a little into Jesse having anxiety problems from not being the best anymore. As well as a little fluff at the end.
I hope y'all enjoyed this short little story.
I might write a part 2 if y'all would be interested in it. I might do it anyway.
This story is coming about because I got a request for Young McMercy on Tumblr. I only do the requests I want to, and I always wanted to write about McMercy anyway. If y'all want to follow my tumblr, for some ungodly reason here's a link.
Off I go, back into seclusion until something else makes me want to write again!
-TDT
