Chapter Text
The house needed a lot of work.
The curb appeal was non-existent, with the flowerbeds overgrown with shrubs and weeds. The driveway was cracked, the front sidewalk was barely visible under the grass growing between the cracks, and the siding was ten years past its expiration date.
Hanzo could feel a tick forming along his brow as he scrutinized the place, noting that the gutters were in disrepair and would need replacing as well, adding to the growing list of fixes and replacements that was getting quite large before even stepping one foot into the house.
Genji, on the other hand, saw none of that. Instead he was cooing over the old craftsmanship along the undersides of the roof and how “adorably rustic” the front door was with its peeling yellow paint.
“Isn’t this house adorable?” the younger brother stated with a wide grin on his marred lips, continuously playing the poor realtor along in that he knew no English at all and speaking the entire time in Japanese. Hanzo wanted to criticize his brother’s choices, but seeing the first smile on Genji’s face since the incident that left him scarred and refusing to put down the hood of his jacket so that his ruined face was hidden in shadow most of the time, Hanzo could only relent with an unimpressed hum.
The realtor- a painted-up woman whose smile was false but professional all the same, happily went to unlock the front door, talking pointedly to Hanzo as the two brothers followed her up the creaking steps.
“The cheapest house in the area by far!” she exclaimed cheerfully, despite having to give the bottom of the door a quick shove with her foot to unstick it. “A beautiful old home indeed! Just needs a little TLC and it’ll be good as new!”
The hardwood floors were scratched. Hanzo suppressed the urge to wrinkle his nose at the stale air that filled the place. Empty and abandoned for some time. That brought on its own slew of problems. Possible leaks in the roof, old plumbing and electrical. The windows needed to be upgraded for efficiency, who knew what the boiler and furnace were like. Was there even AC in this place?
“Oh god,” the words slipped out of Hanzo as he froze in place, finally taking in with growing horror of the kitchen.
The tiles on the floor were the ugliest shade of yellow-green he had ever seen. The walls were covered in peeling wallpaper full of tacky Tuscan grapes and vines. The cupboards were painted a near burgundy in some false attempt to match the color of the grapes and had a whole plethora of different sizes as if it were a growth cycle from baby cabinets to adult and ready to harvest cabinets, and the counters were entirely non-existent.
“Look at these cupboards!” Genji immediately jumped on with great fascination, opening up a peculiar tiny door counter-level.
“This entire room needs to be gutted.”
Genji let out an overly-dramatic gasp, eyes wide with horror as he tried to block the tiny cabinet with his body as if Hanzo was going to physically go in and start tearing them down right then and there- much to the relator’s bemusement. “No it doesn’t! It just need a little paint-“
“The floor tiles are chartreuse, Genji!”
“A little sanding-“
“These cabinets are older than the two of us put together-“
“And look at this silly chandelier!”
Hanzo sighed in defeat as Genji immediately drew himself to the most obnoxious crystal and brass light fixture in the section that would be a conjoined dining space. At least the space was big, and there was room for replacement appliances- Hanzo eyed the gas stove as if it were going to explode at any second.
The living room was spaceous enough, a small half-bath just to the left of the kitchen along the way which had carpet of all things, and Hanzo knew instantly that he lost Genji in any attempt to convince him that this house wasn’t worth it, because his fool of a brother all but ran to the siding door, nearly slamming it open as he stepped out onto the pool deck.
The pool was green, but the realtor who was nattering in his ear explained that the lining was in perfect condition. The rest of the backyard was a bramble of overgrown bushes and some sort of vines that overgrew the fence line that separated their hard and their two neighbors on either side.
The chicken, on the other hand, was definitely not part of the house.
Hanzo couldn’t stop himself as he pulled a face, looking down his nose as this walking ball of feathers as it pecked along the grassy edges. It let out a series of low bwauk bwauk bwauk’s before it disappeared into the hedges along the fence- possibly back into its own yard where it belonged.
Another repair necessary. At this rate, the cost of fixing the place will exceed the price of the house itself. Hanzo put his head down low enough to pinch the bridge of his nose as Genji came trapezing back, positively delighted.
“We can have a pool, Hanzo!”
“Hm.”
“And chickens!”
“The chickens are not ours,” Hanzo reminded plainly, but Genji was not listening as he turned to the realtor.
“We’re taking it!” he exclaimed in perfect English, nearly startling the relator into dropping her clipboard.
Hanzo was forever regretting letting Genji have the last say in purchasing their first home away from Japan. And they hadn’t even seen the rest of the house yet.