Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Cassidy’s woke up to the radio turning on. 600 sharp. The channel was proudly advertising a deal of a century for automated trucks. Cole had no interest on shipping cargo or the business opportunity of a lifetime, but it was as good sound as any to slowly shift his thoughts from dreams to reality. To the sunrise and seagull screams and his messy quarters in watch point Gibraltar.

His joints protested every move, as Cole got up from the messy bed that had survived another night of Cole’s restless sleep. A relaxed summer hit started playing on the radio, reminding him of California. He groaned as he stomped in a rhythm to the song to his ‘compact’ impossibly tiny bathroom. He brushed his teeth with force that made the bristles of the brush permanently bend. He tidied his bed hair and scruffy beard and even added a tad of cologne. He had to tilt the bottle this way and other to get the last drops of the product to spray but it was worth it.

He grabbed the first set of clothes from his drawer to be out from the room in minutes. He had to pause for a second as he switched off the radio, and took the communicator from the table. The round familiar logo catching his eyes.

Overwatch.

He bit his lip smiling. The band was back together and it was like he had returned to the ‘good old days’. On his second round, he was sure to keep the band from splitting.

The halls of the watch point were still bit dusty. Just on his short walk from the quarters to the kitchen he noticed twelve spots the cleaning bots had missed. Maybe after couple of months the white and grey walls will be as spotless as they used to be, once the cleaning bots have had time to circle the halls couple of times.

The cafeteria was clean, but cold. Only the kitchen side was lit and the rows of tables in the echoing room were in the dark. Making the room look larger than it actually was. There was no reason for the whole room meant to cater for hundred men at once to be fully lit to accommodate dozen people.

In the kitchen, a sound of sizzling and boiling and chatter warmed the nook. Three people were enough to fill the space with morning chatter. Guiding Cole to the welcoming atmosphere.

“Ana, my dear. You can not deny me some salt on my eggs. I am healthy as ever. Little salt won’t be enough to knock me down! “ Rainhart was gesturing to his plate, were no less than seven boiled eggs were rolling around.

A entertained chuckle erupted from the older woman, flipping a row of sizzling bacon.

Brigette was leaning against a counter sitting on a stool that seemed out of space in the kitchen. “of course boiled eggs are bland.” She seemed far more effected by the early hour than the older pair. Her hair was in a messy half braid and she hadn’t yet applied her usual eye makeup, making her look oddly older. “morning Cass. “she nodded as greeting.

“mornin’ ” He nodded back.

Rainhard spun around to address the man. “Cole, old friend! Do you agree that I should not be denied the simple pleasure that tiny tiny bit of salt can bring me!? “

Ana sounded stern as he interrupted Cole’s reply with a cold look over her shoulder regarding the tall crusader. “The amount you pour is not that tiny. “

Brig snorted a bit. Clearly agreeing with the other woman.

Rain was mimicking shimmering imaginary salt with his fingers on the eggs on his plate. “I swear It’ll be a itty bitty bit! “ the man promised.

The argument lasted long enough that the eggs on the plate got cold and the rest of the mooring meal the large man planned to devour was piled on top. The four of them moved from the kitchen to the closest table in the cafeteria side and the subject of the chatter drifted from spices to weather reports to the plans for that day.

Brig swallowed a mouthful too quickly to comment; “wasn’t Genji’s brother coming today? “

The room got quiet for a long beat.

Ana nodded slowly, staring at her colorful breakfast. “Unfortunately yes. Hopefully Genji is right about him.”

Cole was staring at his black coffee nodding. “better keep an eye on him.”

When Orca docket on its landing platform, a small crowd had gathered to meet the new recruit. The crowd was small, but it was pretty much everyone from the base. The young recruits, who had joined the ranks only after the recall, were interested and exited. Where the older agents came with reservations. They knew that Hanzo was the one that caused Genji to have more synthetic flesh than real. They knew the hatred Genji had harbored not only to his clan, but especially to his brother.

Lucio was bouncing on his feet. Hana was leaning against the railing, trusting his weight on the thing. Mei was fiddling with the sleeves of her sweater seeming equally nervous and excited. Cole was standing next to pharah, sharing knowing looks with each other. The older agents had, by Genji’s request not told the new recruits what Hanzo had done. They only knew, that Hanzo was Genji’s brother, a mercenary and that he was a world class sniper with a bow of all things. None of them knew what to expect of the man who most of them had heard a lot about, nothing good, and the rest had only heard how effective he could potentially be on the field.

They all held an expecting breath, as the orca’s main hatch opened and revealed the slim pilot they all knew, the cyborg ninja looking more nervous than they had ever seen and a man in traditional Japanese hakama. Only the pants were fit to accommodate a set metallic leg guards that ended in detailed knee plates.

“a samurai? You are kidding me, now we have a gorilla, cowboy and a samurai.” Hana joked.

Rain tapped Hanas shoulder. “don’t forget me! The knight! “

Ana let out a little tirsk. It was a good attempt to alleviate the tension, until the new recruit looked up at them. Everyone froze under the cold stare. It was an short moment where greetings should take place, but nobody moved. Hanzo had stopped to face them and took it upon himself to greet everybody, with a low bow. It looked exaggerated, and even Genji seemed surprised by the gesture, before introducing everyone to him. Going through the agents in order, naming them. Hanzo gave curt awkward nods of acknowledge to each. Cole did not miss how Hanzo’s brow frowned for a beat, as he heard the cowboys name.

Hanzo quickly made it apparent, that he didn’t talk much. Mostly nodded or shrugged, as Genji awkwardly babbled. Genji was strange in the presence of his brother, and even the new recruits took notice of it. He was nervous and defensive. Like he wanted his brother to have a good impression. Lucio teased Genji off hand about it, saying that he sounded so much like his little brother. Genji reminded him that he is the little brother, despite being taller.

The agents planed to have a group meal together, to welcome Hanzo in the team. The term team was thrown around instead of pack, but everyone knew they were one. In the old days, small strike teams and small divisions of overwatch may have formed small packs half accidentally, but since everyone was expected to be on blockers, it was never intentional. With the small team of agents that were trying to be the heroes of the world once again, they had agreed to do things differently. One such deferens was to be more human and less of an icon, and that included the ABO genders.

Everyone had a secondary gender assigned at birth, but it was common for the extremes of the ABO spectrum to block their gender specific urges medically as much as possible. Betas would be the most common group in many other situations, but amongst the agents of Overwatch, it was mostly show run by alphas. A balanced pack should have all three genders, so calling the overwatch pack slightly imbalanced was an understatement. Lucky for them, they had a abnormal amount of omegas in their little band to help with the imbalance. Their lone physicians Angela Zeigler was a respected omega, and so was their support sniper, the experienced Ana Amari. It was crucial for the team, to keep the healers feeling safe, or the Alphas would feel the unshakeable need to fix things. That’s why inviting new blood into the pack had to be dealt with utmost care and efficiency. If the omegas felt threatened, the alphas of the pack would feel the need to act, and that meant pretty much everyone, save for Mei, the lone beta and everyone who weren’t in an ABO spectrum, such as the strike commander who was biologically a gorilla and the omics, Zenyata, Echo and Bastion.

Because Genji was an alpha, it was safe to assume, that Hanzo was one too. When a new alpha enters an already established pack, they take the role of the lowest. However Cole suspected that the ex Shimada-gumi was not going to like that position. Rising the rank in a pact usually meant physical altercations or shows of physical ability that exceeded others. So a fight would be inevitable, but the extent of it could be manageable.

The dinner was as rowdy as any shared meal amongst the Overwatch, despite the newcomer. Rainheart was sharing battle stories that got quick side notes and reality checks from Torbjörn, as Lucio and Hana loudly couldn’t believe the stories, but demanded to hear more. Hanzo was sitting between his brother and Mei who seemed to want a change to chat with the older Shimada, but was still gathering the courage to do so. Cole took a spot in front of Hanzo and Morrison sat against Genji. The two of them effectively keeping an eye on both the ninjas throughout the meal.

Cole was not surprised that Hanzo was quiet trough the meal as well as best he could manage. Mostly giving one word answers that came out sounding like growls to Cole. He decided not to make it into an issue just yet, and kept his own tone civil.

Morrison didn’t help much with that. He was the top alpha of their little group so Cole didn’t comment on the older man’s lack of social skills on the situation, as he abruptly commented. “You are on blockers? “ to Hanzo.

Hanzo simply nodded clearly not planning to explain his lack of scent any further. Cole had not picked on the fact but now frowned in the face of it.

It kind of made sense for an assassin for hire to not have easily detectable scent around him. Genji had due to his mostly cybernetic exterior, a scent that was easy to miss. When he was eating or without his mask for some other reason, it was easier to smell the alpha pheromones coming from him. On the field where stealth was his major, it made sense that his scent was not proudly announcing his presence with dominant pheromones. For that reason despite hating that he could not smell a telling peak of agression in the air before an attack or souerness if the alpa was upset, he allowed it.

Same could not be said for Morrison.

“I think it would be best if you weren’t on them for a while.”

Hanzo frowned and stared at the old soldier in the eyes. The whole table got uncharacteristically quiet.

“Why?” Hanzo asked in the low growl-like tone again.

Morrison met his stare with one equally stern. “So we learn your scent.”

Genji looked like Morrison had just cussed at a baby and was looking frantically between Hanzo and him. Mouth full but too distracted to chew.

“You do not need it.” Hanzo pretty much growled, and stood up. Cole jumped up at the same time, ready to defend or attack, but Hanzo simply picked up his half full plate, and walked out.

Everyones eyes followed the man leaving, expecting some more parting words, an explanation or an outbursts, but none came.

“what the hell was that about? “ Cole broke the silence in the room.

After that the sole subject in the room, was Hanzo. Everyone was speculating, what’s his issue, while Genji did his best to apologize in behalf of his brother. To say that Hanzo had given a bad first impression was an understatement.

Hanso was glued to Genji for the first day, but then he disappeared. It was rather unsettling, especially to the older agents. But despite not seeing the man, they found out from Athena easily enough, where he was throughout the day. The dinner seemed to be the last time most of the agents had seen Hanzo for a week. Only one who had a meeting with the archer, was Angela for a checkup and Cole took it upon himself to be there as support for her.

Everyone had a role in the overwatch and a role in the pack. Angela was the omega, who was the first to complain and take care of the members of the group. Ana was the omega that was more confontational, and put the alphas in check. Mei was the sole beta of the pack, who was a good listener, but not the best problem solver. The Alphas brought unique sets of skills to the group, and some were more emotionally approachable than others. Jack was the pack leader and pretty much the least cuddly of the punch, but his goals were the whole pack’s goals. Cole had an unique role as the secret keeper and problem solver. When a member of the pack had a baggage not appropriate to share with the whole group, he was the man to help. He was also the highest ranking cuddly person in the group. Genji was the one that never said no to a fun idea, but was often hard to find. Ranhart was the one to get everyone’s hopes up and give comfort, and the heavy lifter. Zarya was also a heavy lifter and a fierce cheerleader and motivator. Vivian was the one who had an odd ability to keep up with everyone’s doings and habits and had an eye for detail. Tracer was the blabber mouth, who usually was on top of petty drama. Pharah was the one who knew when to quit and often had the ability to see a situation from multiple perspectives. Torbjörn was the voice of reason and cynicism who was brutally honest. Brigette was supportive and knew the needs of the members of the pack sometimes better than they them selves. Hana was the one not to shy away from an issue just to save someone’s feelings and was the first to talk about the elephants in the room. Lucio was the inspiring happy go lucky guy who was the life of a party and the pack. Baptiste was the newest newcomer before Hanzo and was the biggest protective cuddle bear and really good at mixing drinks.

Cole took it upon himself, to talk to Angela, to offer to be in the room while she checked up Hanzo. He was not happy about the idea of their omega medic being stuck in the room with an alpha like Hanzo Shimada.

Angela took a wavering breath in defeat. “I have to do it alone, because of patient confidentiality. “ she frowned.

Cole laid a hand on her shoulder and the exhausted woman was quick to close the distance and enjoy an embrace from the cowboy. “I’ll be outside the room then. “ he promised.

Angela looked up at Cole with a surprisingly sour expression. “You reek of cigarette smoke!” She complained, and pushed away from Coles chest.

Cole was trying to smell his own shirt as Hanzo walked in on the two if them. They were in the med bay and he was clearly put off by Coles presence and the fact that due to him lifting his shirt to sniff at, his stomach was momentarily exposed.

Angela had her customer worker smile on when Hanzo paused at the door. “You are just in time agent Shimada. Cassidy was just about to leave.” she looked at Cole expectedly.

When Cole passed by Hanzo at the door, he made sure to say in a low tone nearing growl “I’ll be just outside.”

The med bay had a wide hallway, large enough to transport patients and have seats along the walls to act as a waiting area. Cole picked a seat close to the door, and leaned against the wall. He had hoped to be able to hear at least some noises trough the door, but the wall was too thick.

Hanzo stared coldly at Angela. “I do not wish to have my medical records public.”

That was the longest sentence Angela had yet to hear from Hanzo. “your records are confidential. They are on the need to know basis. I am the only doctor available, but if more will join, they should also have the ability access your records.” Angela explained. They were standing in the opposite sides of the room, examination table between them.

“what about the strike commander? “ Hanzo squinted his eyes in doubt.

Angela shook his head, high ponytail swaying from side to side. “Winston does not have access to the medical records”.

Hanzo nodded slowly. He took a minute to take in his surroundings. Angela was quietly waiting for him to walk over.

“You were the doctor to save my brother from death?“ Hanzo asked suddenly.

Angela nodded slowly, brows knit together in confusion. He tried not to think about all the second hand hatred he had harbored from Genji and all that he had formed on her own toward the older Shimada. She tried her best to control the hate and distrust that emitted from her, but since Hanzo was on blockers and couldn’t smell it, it hardly mattered.

Hanzo nodded slowly, then bowed formally. “Thank you.” he said it loud and clear, but did not give time for the doctor not to accept his gratitude. He walked up to the examination table. “And I’m sorry you have to do this then.” he added like a side note to the situation.

Angela swallowed hard and tried to soothe her nerves. She picked up a tablet and started to fill out Hanzo’s medical record.

She filled a lot of boxes without asking but some she ran by her patient.

“age?”

“38.”

“sex? ”

“male. “

“ABO gender? “

Hanzo swallowed and looked away.

Angela had already clicked on alpha, and was now just waiting for confirmation.

Hanzo opened his mouth but didn’t say anything.

“Alpha? “

“no”

“Beta?”

“no. “

Angela frowned and asked in half disbelief. “a Sigma? “

Hanzo looked up at him. “a what? “

Angela shook his head again. “it’s… a… never mind. Does that mean you are an omega?”

Hanzo was looking at Angela for a long beat like he was anticipating an attach. Angela was blinking in confusion. Until she finally gave up. She just had to figuratively look under the hood if Hanzo couldn’t say it out loud. He instructed Hanzo to lay on the examination table and ran multiple scans trough him. A simple organ heat map was enough to reveal that Hanzo was in fact a rare case of born male omega.

Angela didn’t even realize how easily the rest of the checkup went. It was easier to talk to Hanzo, guide Hanzo and examine him when she knew that Hanzo could not make demands of her in an alpha voice, or feel the need to be in control of her. The man was still plenty scary and unsettling in his icy expression, but Angela knew that he was not a threat to her or their pack.

When the examination was over, and Angela sent Hanzo away, she hoped that Cole could read minds. She could not say out loud, “don’t worry, turned out Hanzo is not an Alpha. “ . Instead she could only meet the cowboys worried look with her reassuring smile and positive emotions on her scent. Everything was okay.

Cole didn’t say a word as the archer walked away in a hurried but certain stride. He had an air of arrogance, that was hard for Cole not to try and diminish. The look Angela gave him was reassuring.

Two weeks after Hanzo had joined the merry band of Overwatch, he was assigned to a mission. Cole felt lucky to be on the same mission, but looking at the assemble of only alphas Winston and Jack had chosen for the simple escort mission, it was probably more of a trial for Hanzo than an actual mission.

The team had Morrison as the head operative, Cole and Hanzo as scouts and range aid. Rainhart, Baptiste and Brigette as the actual escorts and Pharah as eyes in the sky. It was an overkill for an ammunition shipment escort trough densely populated area in Mexico. Usually an escort mission would have a maximum of six agents.

Just the fact that they had double coverage for a lot of areas, screamed that they had death weight on their team. If Hanzo saw trough it during the mission briefing, he didn’t say anything. In fact it took a the whole Flight to Mexico, the disembarking trough the city to check for possible hotspots or bottlenecks and chokes
not clear on the maps and satellite images and a two hour march trough the city to the loading point for Cole to hear a full sentence spoken by Hanzo.

“the wind is in our favor. “

Cole halted in his step and stared at the shorter man. Hanzo too stopped and turned to see the shocked alpha. Hanzo frowned at the others antics.

“Say that again. “ Cole asked.

Hanzo looked around to see if he had missed something, before slowly repeating himself. “The wind… is in our favor. “ he said the sentence like he wasn’t sure if he was pronouncing it correctly.

Coles brows shoot up all the way to his hairline. “wait? That… you ah.. You actually sound like that?” he was grabbing his hat now in disbelief, like the wind could caught it from him.

Hanzo made an exaggerated eye roll and stomped to continue to walk. He was certain he was being made fun of and he rather concentrate on the objective.

“no wait! I didn’t mean it like that! This hole time I’ve been’ thinking you’ve been mad growling your words! “ Cole easily caught up to Hanzo. “like seriously, your voice is just deeper than I expected is all.” Cole tried to soothe the situation.

Cole Cassidy was a smooth talker. He was an excellent liar and a sharp shot, but he got far with his charm. He saw Hanzo as a risk to his pack, a one that he was doing his best to contain, and that meant being close. Keep your friends close and enemies closer and all that. Cole needed to get close to the assassin, and that meant not pissing him off.

But that seemed to be the exact result of their first conversation.

Cole was not surprised that Hanzo seized from talking to him for the rest of the day. He kept hearing Hanzo’s voice give affirmatives and one word replies in the comm line. He was always caught by just how much depth was in those single word answers. Hanzo’s voice was a grumble of emotions, prior Cole had only heard anger in the tone, but now he could detect something else. Impatience, frustration, stress. The frown and scowl he wore as his permanent emotion were ever present but not anger.

The mission was literally and figuratively like a walk on a park for them all. When the comm line started to fill with idle chatter and shared memories, Hanzo once advised them to focus. It didn’t take three minutes for the conversation pick up again. And either Hanzo didn’t want to repeat himself or he figured he was not in command, he didn’t comment on the teams focus anymore. When Morrison asked for reports on the situation, Cole could swear he heard a beat of anger in the frustrated answer Hanzo gave. Cole couldn’t help but smile in a small victory as he saw it as Hanzo learning his place.

Cole knew that Hanzo was born into the leader role. He had grown up knowing, that there was only one man above him, and that was his own father. Both Genji and Hanzo had born into the top of the hierarchy that most alphas had to work to earn. Cole wasn’t jealous of them, but it had been entertaining to see Genji learn a new place in a hierarchy and he was going to enjoy Hanzo’s decent to the fullest. He took secret pleasure in hearing it in his voice, the discomfort of submitting.

At the end of their delivery, there was no celebration of job well done like how most missions had. It felt like an end to a workday and they just transferred from idle chatter on the comm to idle chatter in Orcha on their way back to base. Cole picked a seat where he could keep an eye on Hanzo, who was in a corner jump seat alone deep in thought.

Cole could tell that the man was frustrated and anxious, but he didn’t do anything to elevate it. Hanzo was not part of the pack, he still was without scent and Cole was not going to meet the alpha half way. He wanted Hanzo to work for the packs approval. Something he hadn’t yet done.

After the first mission, Hanzo was recurring presence in a lot of missions. Due to his stealth, vertical movement and range, he was rarely physically amongst the team, but he was in the comms, and when they encountered hostiles, a large pile of them were taken down by his arrows.

At first it was hard to accept for Cole. Part of him was still expecting Hanzo to land an arrow on any one of them, hurting the team he was doing everything in his power to keep from harm. First he expected it just for the sake of Hanzo missing a shot. But once they had to take a member of congress in Washington alive, and Hanzo had followed the order and instead shot the detector sensor of a moving vehicle, to stop him from escaping, rather than do anything flashy. From that, Cole had learned to trust Hanzo’s aim, and know that the man knew the shots he could take and the ones he would miss from each other. The unwarranted fear that Hanzo could turn against the team, was still there. One night Cole woke up from a nightmare about it, and he had to seek out Genji the next day, to soothe his suspicion.

Genji was throwing shuriken to randomly dodging targets, like he was playing a carnival game. “why you doubt him? “ Genji asked with a tone, like he already knew the answer.

Cass was leaning against a railing and fiddling with a bolt on the side of it. “I don’t know him. He comes to missions and does his job fine, but other than that, he just avoids everyone. I know he’s not used to… “ Cole gestured to everything around him. “.. This and us, but something’s got to give. The man sneaks into the kitchen when no one’s around. Hard to trust a man like that. “ he rants at the cyborg.

Genji takes a deep resigning breath. “He would have been good in the old days. You know… when everyone used to be on blockers. “

Cole interrupted him. “s fine that he’s on blockers I don’t have n issue with that. But he is not around! He just sits all quiet like in his room, waiting for the next mission! “

Genji shrugged. “He does train.“

Cole is shouting his frustration then. “In four in the fuckin morning when for sure no one else is around! “

Cole catches up to himself then and groans, rubbing his face with both palms. He didn’t need to yell at Genji, but it did make him feel a bit better. “All I’m saying is, that it’s hard to trust a guy you never see. “

Genji nods in understanding. “but you do know where he is. He’s not hiding, as much as he is just… keeping his distance. He doesn’t really want to be part of… the pack, but he is part of the team.”

Cole hummed in agitated agreement. He missed the time when the two, team and pack, were one and a same, but as Overwatch grew, it was bound to break eventually.

The conversation had however given Cole an idea, and the next time he woke up from a nightmare in the early morning, he decided to confront the source of his unease. He took his gear, and marched to the training area. He didn’t plan to sneak, but he wasn’t going to announce his approach either, as he moved from the narrow hallways to the open area, where only the muted grunts and a banging of metal was echoing.

Hanzo stopped the moment Cole had him in the lign of sight. The cowboy didn’t get to see what Hanzo had been doing, but based on the close combat training bot he was facing and the exhausted but alarmed state of the sweaty archer, he had a pretty solid idea.

The cowboy leaned against a pillar and crossed his arms, keeping his expression blank. He wasn’t going to explain his sudden presence. He didn’t need to do that for the sake of Hanzo.

The atmosphere was heavy, as Cole just looked as Hanzo got over the confusion, and was again his determined usual self. And as Hanzo slowly gathered his belongings and walked away from the training bot, toward Cole, the alpha felt a surge of adrenaline prepare himself fore an altercation. His heart was working double time in his chest as the archer approached.

And without a word, the archer passed him and left the room.

Cole was still leaning against the pilar, arms crossed and feeling oddly victorious, like he had chased away the threat of an outsider alpha from his territory. But he knew it was unwarranted. He hadn’t asked Hanzo to leave. He hadn’t been threating or confrontational as far as he himself could tell, but the other had just abandoned his spot on the training room. And his still fast beating heart felt a bang of something new towards Hanzo. He felt bad for the man, but was fast to deny that from himself.

And the frustration toward Hanzos ever present absence in the base turned out to be just the top of the iceberg, of how frustrating the older Shimada could be. After the visit to the training area during night when Hanzo was usually training, he started working even earlier into the night, and the idea that the one alpha who wasn’t part of the pack was nocturnally awake when the others were asleep, messed up Coles sleeping schedule enough that he had a change of a repeat of the first time walking in on Hanzo’s training.

The result was some what same. Hanzo was on the shooting range, arranging arrows into the bulls eye fifty meters away, noticed the cowboy, gathered his things and left. Without a word from either, and the result repeated itself. Hanzo didn’t return to the training room.

Cole didn’t have time to find out Hanzo’s new training schedule, before they were in the next long mission. They had to try and rescue civilians from a Talon facility. The mission was a large operation, requiring all men on deck.

In the mission briefing, Winston took a long time introducing their potential opponents. Baptiste was echoing his introductions and adding his own perspectives to the bios. Talon was a large organization, with handful of extremely talented Individuals. Amongst them was the sniper Windowmaker, hacker Zombra and the heavy hitters wrecking ball and Sigma, not to forget the two ghostly agents Reaper and the ex Overwatch medical scientist Moira O’Deorain.

The plan was complicated, due to the number of game changers. If any of the mentionable Talon agents were present at the compound, the plans had to be altered. They had a list of different potential scenarios and obstacles that had to be accounted for.

Cole was part of the infiltration team with Genji, Baptiste and Tracer. They were assigned to run into the building in stealth and get to the prisoners. Baptiste had been to the compound before, but was understandably nervous about joining the faster teammates. Cole took it upon himself to keep the man in one piece.

Rest of the team would assign simultaneous attacks around the compound. Their goal was to make enough noise to keep Talons eyes on them. Hanzo and Ana were assigned to sniper duty. Hanzo had a extra task of keeping Widowmaker in check, if she was present.

If wrecking ball was present, Ana was advised to move closer to the team, but Hanzo was assured, that he would be able to defend against the rolling fireball of mecha if the need be. Zenyata, bastion, Pharah and Echo were advised to retreat, in case Zombra made an appearance, and Zarya was tasked to protect whoever Sigma decided to start throwing around with her bubbles.

The whole team was quiet in anticipation and preparation, when they approached the compound. The communication was ordered to be kept at minimum, since there were so many agents.

Genji was fussing after Zenyata the whole way. Having hard time accepting that he could not be there in case his master was singled out. Zenyata did his best to reassure the antsy alpha while keeping the conversation low. Pharah was doing a similar thing to Angela. Making sure that the medic wouldn’t leap high into the air out of cover just for her shake. Angela answered that with a low purr, only an omega could produce, to calm her nerves. And of course, it worked, Pharah was an alpha after all.

When they touched ground, it was instant rush to the battle formations. The infiltration team was announced to be inside of the building, at the same time as Hanzo’s grave shaking tone announced, that he had spotted the Widowmaker, and was unable to provide cover. Ana assured, that as long as Hanzo kept the talon sniper entertained, she could give cover. Hanzo had simply given an affirmative, and after that, despite hearing the haunting bang of sniper rifle being shot multiple times throughout the ensuing battle, they did not hear a beep from Hanzo.

The mission was messy. They had to be reactive and the role of a shot caller was sometimes shared between multiple individuals, so everyone was a bit on edge. When Cole announced in the line, that they were escorting the prisoners and they had seen the wrecking ball in the compound, everyone was mentally preparing for the finishing stretch of the mission.

After thirty minutes of radio silence Hanzo’s raspy and oddly wet voice came from the com. “Widow is untagged in west window, take cover.”

Cole and Baptiste decided on a fly to change their exit route to accommodate that. They announced the change of plans and everyone was shouting reactive changes to their position to accommodate that. Pharah took position on the land and Ana and Rain were trying to chase Widow away from the window. Rain shielding the petite sniper as she took shots at the only cracked window.

When the infiltration team was running to the orca with the dozen prisoners, everyone available trying to cover them, a huge mecha ball made its second appearance, lassoing itself around the open air and returning to the high roof where it appeared from. It was on fire and covered in arrows.

“Hanzo!! “ Genji yelled into the com. He kept running to get the prisoners to safety, but staring toward the building where the sound of a crashing mecha against the infrastructure was hard to miss even with the gunshots.

“Mission complete, retreat! “ Winston’s commanding tone was clear on the coms.

Cole and Genji looked back from the Orcha in time to see the round mecha leap through a wall of the building to a balcony on the next, pushing down a man in it’s wake. Hanzo’s rigid body didn’t fly all the way to the next balcony with the wrecking ball, but fell down the four story drop that followed. Zarya did his best to bubble the falling man before he hit the concreate, but with the distance, it was impossible to tell if she had been fast enough. Winston was quick to leap to shield the fallen archer and Angela leapt trough the field to follow him.

The speed in which the professional battle medic Mercy and the gorilla scientist moved the unconscious body to the Orcha was worth a record. Talon started shooting bionic grenades and upping their explosive ammunition to inspire their speed. The Orcas shield had to survive trough the rocking of a missle, as they were retreating, but despite the damage to the shields, the pod still managed to enter a stealth mode to take them safely to Gibraltar.

The rushed commands from Angela for Baptiste to fetch her this and that were the only sounds in the quiet pod. Some were more effected by the unfortunately public display of gore and were trying to look away. Cole and Genji had their eyes locked on the scene. It was impossible to tell how much of the damage came from going trough a building wall and how much could have potentially come from the fall. Just when Cole taught Angela to have listed more ribs than there is to be broken, he heard the omega announce. “the bullets went clean trough. “

Cole looked away then, burying his eyes into his palms. It was starting to sound like a hopeless scene.

“whe! Where am… widow… “ came a raspy wet voice as Hanzo jumped up like a zombie coming to life. Angela was fast to calm him down and instructed him not to move, and gave a simple depiction of the situation. ‘you’ve been shot. ‘ was amongst the info.

Everyone was breathing in a relieved sight, hearing Hanzo’s voice, but quickly the mood switched to shared confusion, when Angela demanded Zenyata to replace Baptiste as his assistant.

Hanzo didn’t say more, as he was hooked to breathing aid. Everyone in a room looking Baptiste for an explanation, why had he ben benched, but the man just shrugged and collapsed on the nearest empty chair. His exhaustion served as an explanation enough.

Cole realized at some point, that he was staring into the pool of blood near Angela’s feet, wondering if she might step on it, as loosened clothes around Hanzo was dripping to the floor. The rhythm of the droplets slowing and slowing, until none came.

Hours later, when Mercy and Zen came to the break room in the base that was turned into a general hangout spot for all of them, everyone started to feel lighter and more accomplished. It had been a rough day for all and when Angela flopped bonelessly on the large corner sofa between Cole and Pharah, she started instantly purring. Cole chuckled lightly at the omegas antics before carefully asking about the patient.

“Hanzo cannot take visitors, but he is okay. He will be on a sick leave for a while. “ she announced. Genji scooped closer to lean against Zenyatta sitting on pillows against a wall and talked with him in whispers.

Morrison asked from the other side of the room, where he was sitting at an end of a long table and holding a half empty mug with a ridiculous text about being a super dad. “what happened to him? “

Mercy leaned against Pharas shoulder and rubbed the bridge of her nose between her fingers. “He had taken a couple of shots from Widowmaker, but neither of the shots were vital. The bullets went clean trough and were an easy fix. However, the damage that presumably going trough a building and landing a three story drop was… excessive. He will fully recover, but it will take time. “

Mei exclaimed shook and repeated “he’s been shot? “ in worry.

Zenyata reassured her. “the shots were non vital. The first went through his cheek, while the other just scraped his upper trapezius muscle.” the omnic monk said it with an odd happy twinge on his voice, like he found humor in the statement.

Cole looked at Angela to ask. “when can we see him?”

“for what? A debriefing? “ Torbjörn barked with an annoyed tone. It was not the first time he found the concept of social Hanzo downright impossible out loud.

Angela ignored the Wilhelm. “it is up to him, he wished not to receive any visitors.”

Hana was laying on a Bag chair arranging stickers on her freshly painted nails next to Lucio who was sitting on the floor but using a similar bag chair as a table to hold his laptop. The young woman groaned. “Of course he did! We’re lucky he didn’t claim the kitchen yet, or else we’d be starving! “ she joked.

Cole frowned at that. “What? Hanzo ain’t claiming shit! The dude is ready to bolt on the moments notice. It’s a miracle he’s still here. “

Genji defended his brother way too fast for it not to be out of habit. “Hanzo is loyal to Overwatch! He’s not leaving! “

Zen laid a reassuring hand on Genji’s fisted one to calm him down. “He is simply recovering and wishes to rest without disturbances. I think we can accommodate that, who was wounded for the cause”

Zarya huffed in frustration. “Maybe he will accept visitors tomorrow? “

Torbjörn commented sourly “Wouldn’t count on it. “

Winston was sitting on a tractor tire like it was floating on a swimming pool, a tablet in his hand and classes low on his nose, like he just now decided to join into the conversation, despite being in the room the whole time. “It is bit alarming to notice how much hostility the pack formation causes. Perhaps allowing the ABO culture into an organization like Overwatch wasn’t the best idea.”

Everyone got thoughtful at that. It was not a secret, that the ABO gendered teammates preferred having the need for pack forming met in the stressful job that they had. Especially now that they couldn’t exactly have life’s outside the small organization.

Pharah lifted a hand over Angela’s shoulder to let the smaller woman cuddle up to her side. Cole managed to shoot her a dirty look for hogging the purring omega all to herself, but Pharah ignored it. “You know, he could be avoiding us for our sake. Maybe he just generally does not like the alpha drama, but he is still kind of making a favor to the established pack by sticking alone. Heck, if he were to join the pack, as Genjis older brother, wouldn’t that naturally make him the third in charge?”

Genji looked down on his hand that the monk was still calmingly holding.

Morrison grunted like he was disgusted with the idea. Cole shook his head in disbelieve. “More likely he would just start running his own lil pack. “ He argued.

Diva shook her head. “no way! No one’s gonna leave this pack! Lucy already wrote the lyrics of the theme song! “

Echo beamed in. “What if more agents join? They could join the Hanzo – pack and not alter the lyrics of the theme song. “

Hana smiled wide. “Oh yeah! We’d keep the cool new recruits like Bap and Lucy and Hanzo can get the rest!”

Genji seemed to calculate his words carefully, to get his message across as clearly as possible. His tone was un characteristically final as he exposed. “Hanzo would likely much rather die than be part of a pack again. “

Everyone looked at Genji, expecting him to elaborate on the statement, but he kept quiet.

Cole was now harboring a iceberg of frustration that just kept bobbing into the surface of his thoughts throughout the day. The little chase he had done with Hanzo now explained, but still so much as a mystery.

Even if Hanzo didn’t want to partake in the ABO culture, he could still train in the same room as someone else. Hanzo was on blockers after all, so he wasn’t effected by pheromones. Sure he could other vice figure out if someone was trying to assert dominance over him, but he could just choose to ignore it. Instead, he ran and hid, like a mere presence of an ABO could end his resolve.

Cole also realized, that he had never witnessed the man eat or wear anything other than his battle outfit. Just the curiosity about what the man looked like made him wander absent mindedly to the direction of the med bay.

He was however chased away by the realization, that he could smell an omega heat. He knew that Angela had her quarters separate from the rest of the team, so she could reach the med bay in the middle of a night faster, in case of emergency, but he didn’t know that the woman was not on heat blockers. He decided for the alpha part of him, not to think about it too much, as he made a quick 180 to his quarters to entertain his more feral side.

It was sort of extremely awkward trying not to think about the omegas at the base file masturbating off the urge that a mere whiff of heat had caused him. Ana was like his mother figure and Angela was someone he has to strip for more often than he’d like, and just entertaining the thought could bring him some awkward reactions in the future.

He’s not shameless enough to use Athena to search for porn, so he is left with his imagination, to try to fill in the hole, that is trying to take a shape of the omegas he knew. To counter that, he decided to think of a man, someone muscular and manly. He was somewhat picky in his imagination, and kept imagining body shapes from his past self pleasuring sessions to fill his hungry mind.

A man, with a ridiculously narrow hips, but broad shoulders and veiny strong forearm and bulging biceps. The pecks round and flush so they jiggle while the rest of to body rocks up and down. The row of muscles on a torso visible enough to see them twitch as he hits the good spots inside. A tight package, with an ass that makes all pants look too tight. Maybe some tattoos, something to crown the body shapes and try to hide the sensitiveness of the skin.

Kind of like Hanzo.

The thought makes Cole stop the stroking and open his eyes in realization. The sexy imaginary partner he was imagining was very Hanzo shaped and now his mind even filled in the face. The realization that was most shocking, was that he liked it. He liked the idea of burying his dick inside the other alpha, making his ridiculously built up pecks bounce as he fucked in and out of him. Hanzo would likely growl and try to change positions, take charge, but Cole wouldn’t let him. He had to try very hard to imagine what a growl in Hanzo’s tone would sound like, realizing he haven’t heard him growl yet he just imagined him grunting instead. Lost on the pleasure but trying to hide it. Trying to hide his face as his eyes rolled.

Cole increased the speed and let his imagination run wild. Hanzo was a good target, because he had never smelled the alpha side of Hanzo. In his mind Hanzo was whatever gender his libido wanted, a beta with a pretty pink dick with a smooth tip and underside, a pair of sensitive balls on display as he spread the strong thighs apart to gain access to the beta’s week point. Hanzo moaning about wanting to slow down to caugh his breath because Cassidy would be a lot for his tight ass to handle. He would deny not being able to do it but breathe shallow and in anticipating discomfort, only for Cole to hit the prostate and make Hanzo jolt in pleasure, back arching and wanting.

The image was enticing and Cole felt his knot take form. He took a moment to look at it, it honestly had been a lot of time since he last knotted in his self-servicing, usually running out of time to make it to the finish. His knot would not fit in the tight beta Hanzo of his dreams, so he closed his eyes and imagined what Hanzo would look like with a little omega cock and pussy. Hanzo would be embarrassed for the mess that his little needy pussy would produce, trying to hide it or asking Cole to take him from behind so neither of them could see, but both of them could hear and feel, how the wet folds suck on Cole thirsty for his cum. In his mind, Hanzo has his hair open, and he would be moaning, trying to hide just how much of a mess he is. Cole would pick the omega apart, fuck him ruff and hard all night until he would feel Hanzo’s hips shaking out of exhaustion. By then, Hanzo would be covered in evidence of Coles presence and claim, bite marks, semen maybe even some spit, hard to tell from the chaos that would be fucked out omega Hanzo. He would be on his stomach, ass perched high up, for Cole to enjoy, pussy leaking from both of their enjoyment and still hard cock pressed against his stomach.

In his imagination, Cole licked the puffy folds to taste them both, mixed together made him finally come. He was panting and feeling already a prickle of shame from the act as he took in the mess he had made of himself.

The hole ordeal did not ease the frustration he felt, whenever he thought about Hanzo the alpha.

When Hanzo was finally let out of the med bay, he looked exhausted. Cole caught him talking whit Mei, or Mei finally got the courage to approach Hanzo, Cole didn’t know, and he’d never seen the man so out of it.

Hanzo had a ponytail, instead of his usual bun, and it was near his neck, leaving some hair to be free to frame his face. He was wearing a gray hoodie, that Cole instantly recognized as a designer clothing just from the quality of the soft but firm fabric and a pair of matching pants. Hi eyes were sunken, and the amount he heard of his voice, was raspy, like he had just walked trough a sandstorm. It seemed to take a while for Hanzo to realize Cole was there, but once he did, he simply excused himself and disappeared again.

“what was that about? “ Cole asked Mei, who was tapping something on her communicator and not looking at the freshly out from shower and in clean clothes – cowboy.

“Oh I just asked him if he’d like to make dumplings whit me. It’s a lot of work for one, but I wanted to make some for everyone.” Mei explained, finally putting away her communicator.

Cole looked at the short woman who was wearing sickeningly cute pajama set whit fluffy slippers and a sweater whit mix match buttons. “What did he say?”

Mei fiddled whit her sweater sleeves in thought. “He was surprised that I asked him, he thought I’d rather do them whit someone else. It was sort of…. Weird. “

Cole shrugged. “well, you are a ball of sunshine, of course he’d expect you to rather cook whit the likes of ya. “ Cole chuckled, petting Mie’s shoulder quickly. “Why did you ask him? “

Mei got a bit flustered at that. “Oh… I just… wanted to talk whit him more. I rarely get on the same missions and… it’s… well… I noticed that from his file that he speaks mandarin… “ Mei was looking anywhere but Cole’s doubtful face.

Cole frowned. “You can speak mandarin whit Athena. And Echo and Zen, can you not?“ there was confusion and hurt behind the words as Cole listed omnics.

Mei smiled at Cole apologetically. “well… yeah. But they already have friends. “ Mei looked at the direction where the archer had disappeared. “Hanzo has not. “

Cole just then recalled the fact that Mei did not know who Hanzo was. Mei did not know that Hanzo is the reason Genji gets treated like an omnic. “that much is true. “ Cole frowned.

When Cole walked in on the scene in the kitchen of dumpling making, he was revealed to see Genji and Zenyata there too. They were leaning at the emptied serving isle between the cafeteria and the Kitchen, while Hanzo and Mei were preparing dumplings.

When he got close, to his disappointment Genji was reading a manga on a tablet and Zen was leaning in to him, like he too was reading the illustrated story and not at all alert on what was Hanzo doing at any given time.

Mei and Hanzo were both wearing black aprons and matching high hair buns. Cole had to guess that was a accidentally, since their outfits weren’t other vice coordinated. Hanzo was wearing a long sleeved t shirt whit loose pants, while Mei had a pair of pastel blue jeans and a lilac t shirt. Cole sat quietly next to Genji to watch the show that was a weather nerd and an ex yakuza boss making dumplings enough to feed fifty. Unfortunately for him, he didn’t understand a word the two shared, but he got the idea that they were talking about the recipe or the ingredients.

It took a while before Mei greeted him. “oh hi Cass! Didn’t notice you there!”

Cass smiled wide. “oh I expected there ta be a fire or two to put out, but apparently not. “ he joked.

He didn’t miss how Hanzo rolled his eyes and moved to a cutting board to chop veggies. To Cole’s concern, he was uncomfortably good. It looked like he was just beating the board whit the knife and the cabbage and onions just turned into small perfect cubes.

Mei clapped excitedly her hands together. “Hanzo surprised me! I thought it would take two hours to be ready, but we are already ready to cook them!” Mei hops a bit on her place like an exited child. Cole can’t quite conceal the happiness that seeing his beta so happy brings him.

“good! I’m starving. “ Cole smiles so wide that the corners of his eyes wrinkle.

Mei don’t have time to answer, when Hanzo says something in mandarin to her and Cole is ignored. He finds it peculiar, that while Hanzo sounds like Hanzo, both in English and Mandarin, Mei sounds like a totally different person. Maybe it is that he is not used to hearing the woman talk in her native language, but she sounds more confident and carefree, somehow younger.

Cole make the mistake of peeping into the tablet that has devoured both Genji and Zenyata, to see two characters yelling at each other from an opposite sides of the battlefield. Genji scrolls the pages bit too fast for him to read the Japanese, but he recognizes enough letters to tell that the characters are father and son. He too, gets sucked in the manga.

When the first set of dumplings are ready, Mei sets them for Genji and Cole to try out. Cole wasn’t expecting Hanzo to have poisoned the dumplings, but seeing from the corner of his eyes, how blatantly he was trying to cover his excitement, Cole became suspicious.

“Hanzo made the bigger ones.” he registered the woman explaining, and as he took one of the smaller dumplings that he had to even make an effort to reach for, he noticed that Hanzo did not miss it, as disappointment was clear in his sour look before he turned away to continue cooking.

When the dumplings were all prepared, and the first hungry agents started to flood into the cafeteria, Cole was not surprised to see Hanzo flee. Part of him was even content whit that, the part that wanted to keep everyone in his pack happy and safe. When he noticed how Mei was looking after him, like she had just sent her puppy to be put down by a vet, Cole changed his mind.

If he ran after the archer now, he could caught him.

He half heartedly tried to chase the ninja, but when he reach the hallway that led to most of their private quarters, he gave up.

He saw that Hanzos door was still closing, but he gave up.

“-yowai kanshō-tekina orokamonode—… “

‘weak sentimental idiot’ Cole understood

Cole heard Hanzo sniffle, like he was crying.

And then the door shut.

And the iceberg of frustration was growing. He had an odd feeling about Mei’s and Hanzo’s friendship, and he didn’t like it. But the idea that Hanzo would even want to make friends whit the woman strike as odd to him, and he saw the intent of it to be more than friendship. Maybe Hanzo had wanted for Mei to join him. Despite being on blockers the ABO gender specific needs are sill there. Just the fact that Hanzo wasn’t building friendships whit people who are more like him, like Cole himself, was suspicious.

Cole found out a week later, that Hanzo was in texting terms whit Mei and Zen now. He didn’t come out from hiding for communal events or gatherings, but he was sharp and present at mission briefings. He also found out that Hanzo was now training at 10:00 at the same time as Ana on the shooting range, but Ana had down right felt insulted, when Cole offered to be there for her.

“you are obsessed whit the man, let him be! “ had Ana said. Part of Cole could see where she was coming from.

He often found his eyes drifting to Hanzo, when he was in the same room. His gaze would also snap to him, whenever he moved or said something. It was starting to be less about the need to protect the pack from something unknown and more about his own curiosity. There was just a lot of things that did not add up.

When Cole got assigned to a three week mission to survey a medical laboratory in Germany to plan a raid to take place into there, Cole was beaming in excitement hearing that he would be whit Morrison and Hanzo. He decided on an orca that during the next three weeks, he’d find out what Hanzo’s growl would sound like, how much he sleeps and how often he works out and how he looks whiteout his eyeliner.

It was like Hanzo was onto him from the get go, keeping an eye on him and putting as much space between them. Cole could not blame him, he knew he was intimidating. Not only was he taller than Hanzo but also good at close range fighting. He’d had enough time to train against the cybernetically enhanced ninja, he was pretty certain he could win against the long range fighter. Only thing that could tip the favors of course would be a weapon.

“so, how many blades r you hidin’ on ya? “ Cole brawled. Letting the rounded words confuse the ninja for a minute.

“only the ones I use to climb.” Hanzo revealed whit a frown. Cole had still hard time getting over the fact of just how growly Hanzo’s voice was.

Cole frowned. “Genji has like five every given time, said it was a ninja thing. “

Hanzo looks away then. “I resigned from using a blade. “ he looks up at Cole then. “ten years ago. “he adds.

Cole gives a dark chuckle at that. “go figure. “

They establish a base on a safehouse, that is close to the target. The safehouse is just a regular apartment in the ground level, whit three exits and Reinforced walls. The house has one large living area, a small shower and an equally small toilet which had originally clearly been a one room split into two and a kitchen corner. The room had multiple foldable camping cots to use as bed and Cole felt right at home.

He was entertained by just how disgusted and bothered Hanzo looked by the space.

“Brings back memories! Doesn’t it? “ Cole exclaimed, dropping his duffle bag into a corner.

“oh don’t start. “ Morrison groaned. “If you two youngsters start living it up, I hope you are good at hiding it. “

“yeah, be sure to take the long way back after your shift so we have time to hide all the orgies!” Cole joked, claiming a cot and assembling it whit experience.

Hanzo frowned, but didn’t growl. “No outsider should set a foot in here. “

Cole sits on the Cot carefully testing its durability. “but Han, the two of us can’t have an orgy, that would be just plain ol’ sex! “ Cole was chuckling darkly at his own joke.

Morrison groaned so loudly that Hanzos irritated quip gets lost. “god help me if you reek this place up Cass! “

Cole laughed holding his belly. It was a good moment for him, that came at both of his companions expense. Also just the slight reddened face of embarrassed and maybe disturbed Hanzo was good food for his imagination for later. He had lately grown fond of his sexy imaginary Hanzo for his self pleasuring moment.

The first day went quickly on getting set up and getting the first looks at the target and setting a schedule. They had always one person looking at the establishment, and two at a ready and or resting. Morrison wanted the first night shift, and Hanzo volunteered for the morning.

Cole spent the first evening experiencing the older Shimada’s evening routine. He noticed him discreetly pop at least three pills throughout the night. Then he saw him eat like a normal person, brush is teeth in an equally mundane fare and brush his hair.

Cole got to see Hanzo whit his hair down and boy was he saving the sight for his imagination to toy whit later. Cole got ready to bed usually just as efficiently, but watching Hanzo made him stall a lot. Enough for him to notice.

“is there something you want to say? “ He demands, but again, without a growl.

Cole tilts his head, trying to quickly come up whit something. “you sleep whit your makeup on? “

Hanzo looks blankly at Cole. “It’s tattooed. Anything else? “

Cole’s eyes go wide in surprise. “wow… didn’t know that was a thing… you pack any longer pants, it gets pretty cold in here during nights. “

Hanzo actually doesn’t answer that. Just rolls his eyes and retreats to the bathroom. When the man came back from the toilet, sitting onto a cot he had set up for himself, Cole was only half pretending to play on his communicator while he watched the archer settle down and oh…

Cole had not realized the legs were not real.

While Hanzo pointedly kept his back turned toward Cole, he was opening and closing his mouth like a fish, trying to come up whit something to say. Maybe an apology, or an excuse, but he didn’t know what to say. He looked at how the man did not fill the whole length of his sleeping bag, as the half of both legs were neatly next to him on the floor, waiting like a pair of knee length boots.

Cole felt like shit and part of him really hoped that Hanzo wasn’t on blockers so he could just smell Coles remorse and guilt, without him having to say it out loud.

That night Cole had a restless sleep. He kept waking up to the smallest noises coming from the surrounding neighborhood. It was weekend in German, and there were a lot of life outside even well after midnight. around four in the morning however, he woke up to a voice that was coming from the inside.

Then something touched his leg.

Cole woke up quickly, but didn’t move, not wanting to make his company aware that he was in fact awake. The corridor had a light on, that was enough light for Cole to see the shape of the thing that disturbed him. And it was in fact a thing, not a person.

The creature was not threatening whit its approach. It was like a long skinny dog, whit large pointed ears and short legs. It was trying to smell at something on Coles feet, carefully leaning against the cot.

Cole breathed slow and took in the sight. It was a dragon. It was a lot like Genji’s dragon, that he’d only seen once, but bigger. Where Genji’s dragon was a size of a ferret or a iguana, this blue creature was a size of a large dog, but it was longer. When Cole traced his gaze along the long curvy body of the curious dragon, he saw another identical on its wake. That one was looking at Hanzo, like it was keeping watch.

Cole shook his leg once, to see what the dragon would do. Both of them instantly looking at the leg, and then at Coles face, meeting his eyes.

The one closer to him hopped of the cot and its back curved height into the air, like a cat trying to make itself look larger. Cole slowly reached for his arm, wanting to touch the dragon but not daring to do so whit his flesh arm.

He didn’t move much but it was enough to wake up Hanzo.

“Ryo! “ Hanzo whispered angrily.

The two dragons quickly skitted to him, like obedient dogs.

Cole watched in awe, as Hanzo made the dragons disappear into the ink in his arm whit a blue glow, that was there just long enough to notice.

“your dragons?” Cole asked, despite knowing the answer.

“I do apologize. “ Hanzo said in a tired voice.

Cole decided not to be an ass about it. Just this once, because he felt like ha had already gotten more out of the man than he dreamed of finding out in the whole of three weeks.

In a soft tone, more calming than questioning, Cole had to know. “does that happen often?”

Hanzo looked at Cole, and yawned. “never before… Doctor Ziegler gave me… something to help me sleep, I did not know that that would happen. “ Hanzo admitted.

Cole rose to lean against his elbow. “ I bet she didn’t know to expect that either. ”

There was a small laugh erupting from Hanzo that Cole for a second thought to be a growl. “most likely. “

Cole sat all the way up then. For some reason he wanted to walk up to Hanzo. Get closer to that laugh. “I have some melatonin. “ it was an odd thing to offer.

Hanzo laid back down but was rubbing his hand soothingly. It was the hand whit the tattoo. “good for you. “ the voice was small and tired.

Cole didn’t repeat his offer. He just looked at the dark shape of Hanzo that was visible to him.

“Morrison could have something stronger. I bet he has PTSD. most of us do. “

Hanzo groaned. Still not a growl. “I do not.. Ugh… I just have trouble sleeping in a shared room whit alphas…. Other alphas… or some. “ He babbled a bit, retracting.

Cole took that personally. “well… guess I’ll be seeing those darlin dragons of yours a lot then.” he laid back against the cot.

“do not entertain them. “ Hanzo warned.

Cole fell asleep again thinking about all the different ways he could entertain the dragons just to spite the other alpha.

Throughout the three weeks of the mission, Cole sees the dragons every time he is sleeping at the same time as Hanzo. To his surprise, Jack doesn’t have any idea what he is talking about when he tries to bring them up.

The second time he sees the dragons, one of them rolls against the back of his knee to rest, while the other runs around the small apartment. Cole pretends to sleep, when Hanzo wakes up to call the dragons back.

During the next presiding days, Hanzo is talkative. Commenting on the fashion of the civilians and the repeating top hit song on the radio. Cole feels like he’s talking whit someone older than him, having issue whit the youth. He’s expecting a “back in my day” – line to come out.

“having holes on your pockets… that seems unpractical… “ Hanzo comments a set that is on a display on a window, as they are returning to the safe house from a grocery run.

Cole agreed. “when I was a kid, used to get all my clothes full of holes. Nothing lasted long enough for me to outgrow. “ He chuckled and shook his head.

Hanzo nodded along. “Genji used to buy a lot of new clothes, already full of holes and tears.”

“what about you? What kind of clothes you bought? “ the question was innocent enough.

Hanzo looked ahead to the direction of the safe house already visible at the end of the street. “I did not do shopping much. “ he admitted after a pregnant pause.

“you’re not fun. “ Cole shrugged.

Hanzo’s eyes looked empty as he agreed. “I guess that’s true. “

The third time the dragons come to spectate his sleep, he wakes up to lap full of dragons, as both of them rolled to rest against his chest. He runs cautious palm against the ridged sides as the dragons nest relaxed against him.

The following day Hanzo return’s from grocery shopping, where he went without Cole, and empties the premade meals into the fridge.

“you went alone? “ Cole asks, peeking into the fridge. “You bought another pack of sausages?”

Hanzo didn’t look up from unloading the produce. “You said you liked it. “ he sounded pissed.

Cole frowned. “Well… yeah, but I don’t wanna eat the same thing again. “

Hanzo closed the fridge unnecessarily hard. “then I will eat them, and you can go buy whatever you want. “

Cole couldn’t help a small chuckle. Hanzo was surprisingly on edge. “why are you mad at me? You could have just asked! “

Hanzo takes a deep breath, digging trough his own bag. His shoulders drop slightly. “I don’t have a reason, I apologize. “

When he sees Hanzos face before going to sleep, he just looks defeated.

The fourth time Hanzo wakes up before the dragons get far, and gets up to walk up to the retreating dragons. Cole sees from his bed how the dragons are uncooperative, compared to the first time, and one even bites Hanzo in the palm.

Cole sees Hanzo slap the dragon that bit him and whisper angrily in Japanese. ‘he does not want you, stop being disgusting. ‘

Cole wants to ask what Hanzo has gotten that idea, but the scene reminds him too much of something dark and long forgotten from his childhood, that he’d rather not confront.

The next morning he sees the bandage on Hanzo’s hand, but doesn’t comment on it.

The fourth time Cole doesn’t let the dragons close. The two get the message quickly and just stare at him from a far. He doesn’t want a repeat of Hanzo getting bitten by his own dragons.

The raid is nearing and Hanzo is less relaxed my the day. He doesn’t hold idle talk at all whit Cole anymore.

The fifth time is the night before the raid. One of the dragons gets cocky and jumps to the bed, to take a spot behind Cole’s knees again.

The cowboy sees the challenge in the dragons eyes. It is tempting to let the dragon rest, but he tries to do the right thing, and slowly pushes the dragon off the cot.

The creature bares its fangs at him but doesn’t do more, looking at the legs that rudely pushed him away. Then it regroups quickly, like it wanted to apologize, moving to lean its head against the side of the bed, letting out slow hums.

Cole decides to turn to his other side, effectively looking away from the dragon. He had to get some rest for tomorrow.

The day of the raid, their team of three gets reinforced whit Lucio, Rainheart, Brigette and Angela. Angela stays behind, as the six enter the building trough a side door. Their mission is to extract data from the servers and see if there are questionable practices to report or human rights being ignored, as they suspect.

They get trough the building quickly, and Cole feels like he’s robbing a bank. Most of the people in the building are civilians. The server room is exactly where they expect it to be, and there is a long anxious break of silence, while they upload the data to a portable hard drive.

When they are exiting the building, they find out that they have been found out.

They exit the server room, only to find the doors on the hallway shut. They break open the first door, only for hazard door quickly shut down behind them splitting their group in two. Lucio, Rainheart and Brig try to get through the door, only to figure out that the opposite door is open, and is not as reinforced as the one Cole, Hanzo and Jack managed to walk trough.

“Let’s rendezvous at the street level. Don’t get yourselves killed! “ Jack commands. They walk past a lab, whit a lot of cages in the far end, but the cages are covered by tarp from view.

Jack gives a hand sign instructions for Hanzo and Cole to stay put. He enters the room, and slowly creeps to the far end, and rips the cover away. There’s a large cube shaped machine.

“I’ll get a picture of it.” Jack promised and Cole can hear Angela biting her nail on the com.

Just when Jack is leaving the room, he seams from the sealing start to push smoke into the room. Jack covers his face, and does his best to rush out, only to see that the gas is leaking into the hallway too.

All the three men try their best to cover their mouths, as they continue their escape.

“what is this stuff? “ Cole manages to ask, just before an uncontrollable alpha growl erupts from him. They try to run out from the hallway, but it takes too long for them to get out without inhaling the gas.

When they make it to staircase, Jack throws a first punch, aiming for Coles face. Bothe men are growling and staring each other in confusion.

“what’s going on? “ Angela whines into the com. “why are you guys growling? “

Jack and Cole are sizing each other up, as they run up the stairs. “there was some gas leaking from the ceiling!” Cole explains, keeping a close eye on Jack.

When they reach the door to the ground level, Hanzo exits first, so he does not realize when Cole makes his move. He turns around to slap the door on Jack’s face, leaving him to the stairs.

“what are you doing Cole? “ Jack’s voice can be heard from the com. He sounds angry, but as he goes, he starts to sound down right animalistic. “Open this fucking door this instant! Do you hear me you asshole! Come back and fight proper you bitch! I will fucking kill you! You hear me! I’ll shove my helix rockets right up your asshole! “

Hanzo and Cole stare between each other and the door. Cole still growling. “You’re slower than me old man, won’t stand a change on a shoot down against me! “

Hanzo frowned. “what is on whit you two? “

Angela answers trough the comm hesitantly. “It’s probably neuro toxin! I don’t know the details, since it is not something I’ve never seen before. It works too fast to bee a neuro stimulant… I need you to get out of there immediately! The symptoms might be building slowly! “

Lucio skates towards them Brigitte and Rainheart behind him. Before Lucio has time to react, Cole pulls out his peacekeeper to shoot at the young man. Hanzo reacts just in time to hit at the gun to get the shot to miss its mark and the gun to fly from Cole’s grasp.

Cole doesn’t seem bothered by the lack of an firearm, as he keeps growling and lounges at Lucio and Rainheart to tackle them.

“Cass! What’s gotten into you?! “ Rain yells.

Hanzo collects peacekeeper from the ground. “We have to get him to Ziegler as soon as possible! “

Cole picks the wrong fight as Rainheart slams him to the ground whit sheer power difference. Even when Cole passes out from the hit, the growl keeps going.

Angela’s voice comes trough the comm. “Is Cole okay? I need to get a look to know what is going on! Can you bring him here? “ the doctor commands and asks frantically.

Rain announces that him and Lucio will speed up back to Angela, while Brig and Hanzo stich behind to stay whit Jack, who was still yelling curses in the comm.

Just when Angela leaves the comm line, Winston joins the call. Having been alarmed by the issue. He quickly get on top of things while Lucio and Rain arrive to the Orca whit Cole.

“so Jack is threatening to shoot who ever, and is currently locked in a staircase.”

After a quick affirmative from Rain, Angela beams into the voice call.

“I do not know how it works, but it seems to be messing up a neuro links that tells the brain when they are being threatened. The block seems to targeting the ABO specific hormones. “ Angela explains super quicky. “Hanzo, did you inhale the neurotoxin? “

Brig looks at him in shock for a second, as Hanzo gives an affirmative.

“And Cole did not see you as dangerous, it must be then that the brain is simply receiving the threat signals that only a certain type of pheromones close by will cause.”

Winston barks into the comm, as the building full of medical scientist and developers start to evacuate. “how can we get Morrison?! “

Angela prepares a syringe. “we need someone who can approach him whiteout being attached by him! We could neutralize him whit a sleep dart, but we can’t get close whiteout him being alarmed by a dominant pheromones!”

Winston sounded worried. “what? “

Mercy took a deep determined breath. “I’ll go in whit a sleep dart.”

As Mercy quickly explains, that omegas don’t naturally build up aggression when faced whit it like the other ABO genders, she should be fine, and Jack should not see her as a threat. While he goes trough his reasonings, Brig yelps at the com as an interruption, as they notice the gas from the floor bellow seep into the ground level.

“we do not have time! “ Brig yells. “The gas is coming up! “

Winston yells into the com for then to evacuate immediately.

Hanzo asks in the com, hesitantly. “doctor… do I have… can I?“

Winston interrupted him. “Agent Shimada get out from the building! “ while Angela was yelling yes on top of him.

Hanzo ripped the com off his ear then. Not wanting to hear any of the questions, or reactions, as he turned towards the door to the staircase.

Jack was still yelling, when Hanzo stepped in. The narrow staircase filled whit powdery white smoke. Jack looks puzzled by Hanzo’s approach, as he stops to stand in front of the growling super solder.
“It has been honor serving whit you. “ Hanzo bows, and karate chops the side of Jack’s neck hard enough to render him unconscious on the spot.

When Cole wakes up, he has an odd sense of Déjà vu. He is in Gibraltar med bay, he recognized that immediately, and there is a man sitting by his side, waiting for him to wake up. Only the man is not Gabe like in the memory.

“Hanzo? “

The man looks back at him, and yes it is Hanzo. He looks tired and puffy eyed. “good. You are awake. “ he comments.

Cole stares at him, memories rushing in, but then they abruptly stop. “what happened after the smoke? “

Hanzo walked up closer. “What’s the last thing you remember?”

Cole frowns in taught. “Running up the stairs… and then… Did Jack punch me? “ He vaguely recalls.

Hanzo simply nodded and pushed the call button for Cole. “It was neuro toxin, you… neither of you weren’t yourselves.”

Cole looks at the hands and notices the slightest of tremors on the retreating hand. “I wanted to thank you. “ Hanzo continues.

Cole looked up at Hanzo in confusion. “for what? “

Hanzo’s Adams apple bobs as he swallows, and steps further away, like it’s something he needs to fight to do. “You have been a good friend to my brother. You have done right by everyone and kept them safe. You were the only one who pushed me to leave, and without you… it would have been worse. “ Hanzo says the words like he’d practiced them for hours, only now to forget the exact lines.

Cole frowns in confusion. “What are you on about?”

“I’m leaving.”

“Overwatch?”

“no. Just.. Just the base.”

Cole looks at Hanzo frowning. “Why? “

Hanzo steps away, as hurried approaching steps echo from the hallway, Hanzo takes his leave. “I’m sure the others will tell you. “

Cole catches Angela’s sad look that he gives after Hanzo as their paths cross, before the omega comes smiling to his side.

In the evening the common room is uncharacteristically quiet. Everyone has gotten used to the absence of the Archer, but somehow everyone is still put off by the added distance. earlier that day orca had flown Hanzo to India, far away from the rest of the team. Earlier while Cole had been eating with his teammates, he found out what had happened. the team had found out that Hanzo was an Omega, and that's alone was enough to drive him away. He had demanded to not have to live in the base anymore, but was still reachable and very much loyal to overwatch.

Genji was Sulking. it was understandable after all the time he had spent defending his brother, which didn’t make the picture any prettier. The whole situation was so weird for Cole and the longer he thought about it the more he came to the same confusing thought, that's why the fuck did it matter. No one was really sad about the fact that Hanzo had been hiding his ABO gender, some of the older members understood it especially well by seeing the first hand treatment of omega peers in their past, but the current Overwatch team wasn’t like that.

even after hearing Genji explain that Hanzo was never comfortable being an Omega, it just didn’t make sense. Hanzo could still be on blockers like he had apparently always been. Despite being an omega since he was born, Hanzo was still expected to be the leader of the Shimada clan, he was still expected to be a deadly weapon and he was still harboring the power of the Dragons. That was something any alpha would dream of. Just because he was biologically an omega didn’t mean that he hadn’t lived like he was an alpha. Especially if he was not interested in being part of the pack. His natural spot in the pack hierarchy didn’t matter, even if it existed, not in any meaningful way. Cole understood from that that Hanzo was simply too proud to be underneath anyone.

“It is about the dependency. I have a feeling that Hanzo finds it to be a weakness, at least that’s what our father taught us.” Genji offered as an explanation when it was just him and Cole talking.

“How did your father feel about Hanzo being in Omega?” Cole was leaning against the railing outside. he had dragged Genji outside to join him for his smoke break. Genji appreciated the break in the questioning from the other agents, but had groaned when he heard more question instead of a welcome silence.

“I only know that Hanzo was meant to be marrying an alpha to strengthen the Shimada Clan due to it. And he often brought it up, but more to remind Hanzo. ”

“Arranged marriage?” Cole was surprised. He was aware that the Shimada clan was on the more traditional side of things, but arranged marriages were on somewhat extreme side.

“Yeah though Hanzo never wanted to talk about it, so I don’t know much.” Genji Explained.

“you have said that you used to be close?”

Genji tapped the railing with his metallic finger making an echoing sound. “Well yeah we were close. Hanzo never really left the castle much so every time I was home we hanged out. but he never talked much about his own issues I don’t think. He always asked me about the things I’ve been doing, tricking me into telling him just to turn it into a lecture.”

Cole started to have a sneaking suspicion, that Genji wasn’t really a reliable source.

Life carried on in the base normally too quickly for Coles liking. For some reason the other agents cheery laughs in the following breakfast felt eerie and wrong. He was still digesting the loss of the distant agent.

“Agent Cassidy, would you like to contact Agent Shimada? “ Athena asked in an emotionless tone.

Cole was thinking for a long while, staring at his sock drawer trying to gather enough brain cells to pick, which pair to wear. “yeah. “ Cole answered finally, closing the drawer and continuing barefoot. “can I text him? “

His communicator opened on its own, to an empty chat, whit the contact information changing from a long string of numbers Into the word “Hanzo Shimada” and Cole picked up the communicator. “ Sure thing, agent Cassidy! The connection has been secured. There may be varying delays while the messages go trough.” Athena said in a much more cheery tone.

Cole started instantly typing a greeting and introduction while thanking the AI.

Cole - Hi! It’s me, Cole. 🤠 Hope you found a safe space to stay! How’s the weather?

Hanzo Shimada – Greetings. Yes I did and it is hot.

Cole – Do tell! It’s getting quite chilly in here. Brig was knitting a beanie for Winston 😂😂 I haven’t been to India much, but I’ve heard they are the best at spicy food.

Hanzo Shimada – m.

Cole – what?

Cole waited for hours for a reply. Later in the cafeteria, he messaged Hanzo again.

Cole – The line is secure btw. Athena made sure of it.

Cole – you good?

Hanzo Shimada – for now, yes. I did not mean to send the last message.

Cole – what happened?

Hanzo – I was thought to be a street musician. I had to flee the city.

Cole – a street musician? How come?

Hanzo – I store storm bow in a cello case.

Cole – ooo that’s smart! What did you do whit the cello when you bought it?

Hanzo – I did not buy a cello, just the case. They do sell them separately.

Cole – of course. 😅

“Who you texting whit? “ Lena asked from the opposite side of the table. “you keep grinning at your phone funny. You seeing someone? “

Cole pocketed the communicator. They were eating after a team training session, and Cole had thought that he had been discreet whit his messages. “just coughing up whit Hanzo. “he assured.

Genji was not wearing his mask, while eating. His usually hidden face frowning up the instant he hard that. “Dude, you’ve gotta be kidding me. The moment you hear he’s an omega you-“

Cole interrupted him “’s not like that! He had some trouble and I was just checking up on him. He’s fine! Btw. “ Cole added when people turned at him looking worried.

Genji looked doubtful. “he’s fine huh? “

Lucio groaned. “Genji please! Cass is not hitting on your brother! You don’t gotta act like a big bro, dude. “

Genji frowned at the man in a eye hurting bright yellow hoodie squinting possibly partly of the said hoodie. “What’s that supposed to mean? “

Lucio is rearranging the food of on his plate into a smiley face. “You are acting like a big bro whit a hot sister all of a sudden. Just cos your bro is an omega, doesn’t mean every alpha is interested in him! Right? “ Lucio looked up at Cole.

Cole nodded. “Right! It’s just that now that we do know, his behavior in the past makes a bit more sense ‘s all.”

Lucio was excitedly nodding in agreement. Genji was just glaring daggers at both, slowly chewing on a ham sandwich.

Ana butted in from behind Rain. “You think he can’t defend himself against a few curious alphas? “there was a clear accusation in her tone.

Genji rolled his eyes. “Oh c’mon! He’s not like most omegas! When we were kids, I wasn’t allowed to have friends over, because Hanzo didn’t want Alphas around. Back then he could be straight about it, but not now. I know that he hates being around alphas, but is just trying to be polite to you guys!”

Cole frowned doubtful at that. “so he’s hated alphas since he was a kid, while never been around any. Cheese, I wonder what could change that!“

Morrison growled at the end of the table. “stop yelling you two. “ at Genji and Cole, who were glaring at each other.

Genji pointed a finger challenging Cole. “stop pestering him, just because you feel quilt. “

Cole leaned back on the chair to cross his arms. “Quilt? And where on earth did you get that impression from? “

Genji scoffed. “Oh like you weren’t the one chasing him away, up until you find out he was an omega the whole time, now all of a sudden he has a spot in the pack and you start calling after him to make sure he’s fine. A week ago, you would have been happy to see him leave and you know it! “ Genji was putting a lot of effort into keeping his voice from rising.

Cole couldn’t help his lips curling, but he muted the snarl. “the way I see it, he was looking for a way out the whole time. Had nothing to do with me. “

Ana clicked his tongue at that. Rain looked between the fighting pair and the older omega, like most of the table. Not daring to interrupt. “Cole you did have somewhat of an obsession whit the guy. I doubt he didn’t notice. We all did. “

Genji looked smug, having the omega on his side. But then she continued. “All tough I doubt that alone would be enough to chase him away, he didn’t leave for months after all. Clearly, having alphas around wasn’t his issue. “

Brig nearly whispered, after a long silence, Ana let hang in the air. “Then what was? “

Ana took a slow sip from his tea, having the attention of the whole room on her. “I suspect. “ Ana started, locking eyes whit the younger Shimada. “That Hanzo was brought up like a royal omega. “

Genji frowned. “a what?“ he shook his head quickly. “Maybe we were a bit spoiled sure, but not like – “

Ana interrupted. “Did Hanzo go to school? “

Genji looked around the table, looking for agreeing faces, but only found confusion. “No, but neither did I, we were home schooled?”

Ana stirred her warm drink. “Where did you make friends then, the once you weren’t allowed to bring over? “

Genji frowned thoughtful. “outside. You know, neighbors and other local kids. We hung out after school.“

Ana looked up at Genji then, like she was about to show a winning hand in a game of poker. “And Hanzo? Was he allowed to leave the castle? “

Genji rolled his eyes. “The dude has the same ninja training! Wasn’t that hard to sneak out. He just never did.“

Ana leaned against the table then. “So he was not allowed. ”

Genji shrugged then and leaned back, seemingly deflating. “Well no… but he was a stickler to the rules. I don’t know any other omega that didn’t go out to play as a kid. “

Ana rolled his eyes. “Maybe because they are allowed to.“

Genji frowned. “well… perhaps, but Hanzo also has a super strong sent. He was allowed to leave the castle once he was on blockers.”

Ana frowned. “Strong sent? All omegas have a detectable sent. ”

Genji looked at Angela then, who looked like she desperately didn’t wanna be there. “Angela has smelled it! It’s super strong right!”

The whole table is looking at the blonde, who looks at Genji. “I… that is confidential information. Patient confidentiality. But… “ the woman looks at Ana then, as the whole group is sitting at the edge of their seats. “There’s a popular practice in… bringing up high status omegas to have a higher pheromone production by extending medically their first heats to over develop the omega’s glands. He looked at her empty plate thinking. “I’m not saying anything on regard to Hanzo, but considering Ana’s theory… “

Genji looks dumbfounded then. “Hanzo had a very long hirst heat. “ he remembers. “Like he was bed ridden for three months.” his voice turned into a whisper when he started to doubt his own understanding of his brother.

Ana looked down on her cup looking mournful. “I doubt anyone could have an open attitude towards their secondary gender, after it controlling so many aspects of their early life. “ she concludes.

Cole looks at Genji, whose expressions change every second, as he rearranges his thoughts. He feels bad for the revelation, but not surprised at all. Genji’s version of their childhood left a lot of plot holes after all.

Later that day, Cole was sitting whit the communicator on his hands, rereading the short exchange of messages over and over again. He wanted to kick up a new chat, but found it hard to come up with anything casual enough. His mind was fully consumed by the omega. all the things he’d said and done. All the little things he hadn’t done or said. The time he had gotten upset because Cole didn’t try his dumplings was now a bitter memory of the omega trying to feed the pack only to be absolutely rejected. The time he had on their first mission, asked people to pay attention, only to be ignored. The time Hanzo was on sniper duty whit Ana, but had been separated from the group unlike her, and ended up being piledriven trough a building by wrecking ball. The time in Germany, when Hanzo had bought him the sausages, and Cole laughing at his face for getting mad, when Cole didn’t accept them. The time Cole had called him boring, for not shopping his clothes. The time Cole had joked about his short pants. The dragons that wanted to be near Cole, while Hanzo called them disgusting for doing so.

Cole noticed the logo in the bottom appear. Hanzo was typing something. Cole sat up to stare at the appearing and disappearing logo, until it didn’t reappear again. Now new messages came trough either.

Cole smiled at the phone. Hanzo had at least thought of writing something. Thqt was enough for Cole to press trough his doubt that Hanzo wanted him to message. He wrote a long message, that he reframed a couple of times, before sending.

Cole – hope I don’t wake you up, it’s quite early in there, but wanted to message you, before I fall asleep. Winston mentioned about a possible arms exchange happening in China, so if you are travelling, I recommend preemptively going North. Though if need be, we can always fly you, where you need to be. Lucio is saying, that we need to keep an eye on Vishkar, but they own the cities where they operate and are rather difficult to spy on. But if you hear gossip about them or meet past employees, record your conversations. It’s not currently a high priority task, but every bit can help.

I wanted to apologize for the way that I’ve been acting. You’re a great asset to the team, and I’m sorry for being a dense idiot who couldn’t see it. And about what you said, I feel bad for making it easier for you to leave. Hell, I feel bad about a lot of thing’s I’ve done. Thinking I was protecting the team, when I was just thinking about the pack. You are part of the team after all, so my job is to keep you safe too. I’ve failed so far.

To Coles surprise, Hanzo answered near instantly.

Hanzo Shimada – Good nigh.

And there was a picture attached. And when Cole opened it, his jaw fell. The image of a starry sky was breathtaking. Cole couldn’t even recognize any constellations, due to there being so many visible stars. He thought that he could see the whole milk way in the picture.

Cole – wow that is a sight! 🤩 Where on earth does one witness a sky so pretty!

Hanzo Shimada – There was a blackout. ✨⭐~ヾ(´︶`♡)ﾉ

Cole couldn’t help grinning at the emote. his hands started to write a message, calling Hanzo cute, but he erased it. He even frowned at himself, for thinking that.

Cole – good that something great came out of it! Hope you are alright.

Hanzo didn’t answer for a while, but the logo letting Cole know was there for a long while. Oddly, the message that came out was still short.

Hanzo Shimada – Yes. I’m alright.

Cole couldn’t help sending a smiley face just not to answer something to the message, before falling onto bed to pass out.

To Cole’s delight, the image of the starry sky was not the only image he sent. Hanzo must have been traveling a lot, because throughout the next couple of weeks, every evening Cole would ask Hanzo for a status report on a friendly manner, and Hanzo would send him pictures. The pictures themselves didn’t show Hanzo, bot a hand or a leg was sometimes visible. He took pictures of funny and beautiful things he saw. Animals, scenery, sunsets and fauna. Sometimes there was a car in an odd spot or a funny graffiti. Always bringing smile to Cole’s face. When Cole commented once, that Hanzo was taking a lot of pictures, his answer pissed Cole of surprisingly.

Hanzo Shimada – Agent Mei asked me to.

Cole confused himself. He was rarely angry, and never for such a small reason. He had to really reevaluate why the images meant so much to him. He didn’t think he was angry at Hanzo following an order or a request by Mei. Maybe the idea that the beautiful images were first sent to the woman irritated him. Maybe he was only receiving a fraction of the pictures and chatter from Hanzo, where Mei was getting long conversations and maybe even pictures where Hanzo was present. The idea pissed him off.

Cole – oh! Well that’s nice of you to then. Please don’t over exert yourself for it. Your main priority is to stay safe and in touch.

Cole reread the message after sending, and hoped it didn’t read as too bossy. Hanzo’s answer however, proved his fears to be true.

Hanzo Shimada. – Affirmative. I’ll done it down.

Cole rubbed his face. He wanted to retract his own message, but thought against it. If Hanzo was taking the pictures just for Mei’s sake, he would not feel so inclined to do so in the future.

Cole found out three days later that he had miscalculated. Hanzo had not send him any more images, but quick chat whit Mei revealed, that she had been receiving just the usual amount of daily pictures. The one pic Mei showed him was even a selfie. Hanzo’s face was not the focus of the picture, but a small bird sitting on his shoulder. Cole had to work hard to keep a smile on, seeing that image. He wanted to demand Hanzo then and there to send him the same pictures that Mei was getting, but to the woman he just smiled and agreed that the picture was nice.

That evening he was thinking how to get more images out of Hanzo. After a careful consideration, he decided to send a picture of his own. He had a couple of days old picture of Genji whit a post it note on his visor, shaped like a mustache. Genji was not aware of the said post it note, and in the image Tracer’s face was in the background half covered whit her hands to stop herself from laughing out loud while Zenyata was also whit a two pieces of post it note on his face, only he had two eyebrows tilted in, making the usually stoic monk look angry.

Cole – It’s getting boring in here. Hopefully we’ll have a mission soon, maybe somewhere sunny. 🙏

Hanzo Shimada - 😂 I had an unfortunate day, as I stepped on cow droppings. I’m on my way to China now, and have to travel on a bus. My fellow passengers found out the smell was coming from me, so I traveled most of the way on the roof.

The attached picture of Hanzo’s feet, dangling off a side of a bus, that must have been driving on a mountain ledge, because the scenery was vast and the drop after Hanzo’s feet made Coles stomach drop whit anxiety. There must have been hundred meters to the nearest three top.

In the image it was also very clear, that Hanzo’s prosthetics were dirty. The metallic sheen matted by dirt and bents.

Cole – oh no! 😱I take it cleaning those is not that easy. Would you like to come back to get them looked at? Torb works miracles on limbs!

Hanzo Shimada – No need. I’m already on my way to China to get them checked. I know a guy there.

Cole – okay, but if you change your mind, just say the word! We are here for you.

Cole wanted to single himself out, but ‘I’m here for you’ would have sounded overly friendly or down right pushy and Cole didn’t want to gander which.

Hanzo Shimada – Thank you, but I do not think my presence on the base is any longer vice. It is easier to avoid than titer around the temptation.

Cole frowned. He would be laying to himself and Hanzo, if he claimed no one was tempted, since he knew exactly where his own thoughts flew the moment he tried to get rid of some tension in his privacy. But he was pretty certain it was something manageable.

Cole – There’s been good looking omegas before you, and no attempts. You don’t need to worry about the alphas here, we run a tight ship and no omega is getting harassed!

Hanzo Shimada – I do not doubt that. It is myself who I do not trust.

Cole’s heart skipped a bit at reading that. The idea of Hanzo avoiding temptation brought forth some primal feeling in himself. He wanted to invite the omega closer, to test how strong of an influence he himself was for the other man. He knew how much power Hanzo held, but idea of the pull being mutual was addicting.

Cole – As I said, we run a tight ship. That’s including you, so do not worry.

Cole was biting his lip, waiting on the answer. He was mildly disappointed.

Hanzo Shimada – I'll keep that in mind. Thank you.

When Cole was going to sleep, being musing after the same events and questions from the past, for the first time his curiosity met a boiling point, and he pulled out his tablet to search for answers.

Ana’s theory about Hanzo being groomed into a certain type of omega had been bothering him. He had no idea what that entails, and apparently neither did Genji exactly. None of then knew how Yakuza dealt whit male omega heirs.

Quick search and a online purchase later, Cole was fifty pages deep on an book on the tablet. The book was about historical male omegas, and how the rarest gender was treated throughout the history. Cole learned quite a few interesting tidbits that he did not know before, like the fact that male omegas only gave birth to twins, and that their hips being too narrow to give birth trough the birth canal, meaning that in middle century, when a male omega was pregnant, it meant two new lives in exchange for one. A lot of aspects on male omegas were nearly myth like telling’s at the beginning, only to have a bloody resolve.

When the evening changed to early morning, Cole got to the meaty part of the book, the high class omegas. In the western culture, male omegas were gifted to royalties, regardless of origin. It also was pretty clear, that the omegas weren’t allowed to do much, since a sign of a good omega was pale and scar free skin. There was a section of brutal methods of hair removal and even bleaching skin that Cole had hard time reading trough. Even blinding a male omega in an effort to give them blue eyes wasn’t that uncommon.

When Cole made it to the section of twentieth century male omegas, he felt revealed. There was less torturous methods of grooming a male omega, into being pretty much a stay at home wife for the wealthy. There was mention of the cent clad modification, by extending the first heat.

The book didn’t have yakuza mentioned specifically, but there was a section of the male omegas for shogun. And Cole had to reread sections, because there was a lot of terms, that were not even attempted to translate.

It was expected for Male omegas to have to train, to have a physically strong body. That was the first clear difference between most other cultures. A male omega had to be masculine, but soft to the touch, so there were extensive skin treatments and methods to keep the skin youthful, from bathing in milk and removing all body hair to avoiding sun at any cost. There was a long section about developing the privates of a high class male omega, but Cole decided to skip then for his sanity. He was lucky there were no images.

The section about the behavior and mentality of The male omega of a ruler made Cole disgusted. The omega had to be strong and follow the rules, as an omega that didn’t was believed to invite misdeeds on themselves, lowering their value. The idea that only the omega’s alpha was allowed to touch or sent them meant, that they would be casted as a public means to an end if a trace of another sent was found from the omega. A shame bringing omega would mean punishment not only to the omega, but whoever failed to bring them up correctly. Punishment could have meant banishment, mutilation or death, both to the omega and their family.

There was also section about interesting facts regarding male omegas, such as them being seen as a blessing to broaden the family three. Since male omega’s could birth twice as fast as a female, they were seen as god’s warning to the family to make as much as possible. They were also expected to keep their family name, despite belonging to a new family, as keeping the name would link the omegas original family to the high ranking family and be seen as a good fortune to the original family. There was also a section about Omega’s having to have long enough hair for it to hold a hairpin of the family crest and be able to cook and dance in a way that would be complimentary to their region.

Cole re read the pages and the curiosity got the better of him, as he had to read trough the editing of the private parts. He had expected it to be gruesome, but it was surprisingly timid, compared to the earlier sections of body modification. The male omega was expected to have a strong sent, and that meant extending the first heat as long as possible by not letting the omega touch himself. The omega was even after that not allowed to use their penis for pleasure, so the vagina of a male omega would be more responsive. They were expected to also stretch out there anal at a disturbingly young age, so there would be enough skin for it not to tear when used. The vaginal canal had to stay untouched, and when a family gifted a male omega to the shogun, the purity would be checked.

The sun was already rising when Cole but down the book. Mind razing on comparing the things he read to the things he’d wondered about Hanzo. The idea of Hanzo fearing other alpha’s touching him for the fear of dishonoring his partner alpha was unlikely. Also fearing for punishment for things like not being a virgin or knowing how to dance felt unreasonable. But those might have been what he grew up whit.

Cole managed to get a couple of hours of Hanzo full dreams. He saw Hanzo shooting arrows, bathing in milk and serving tea. When he woke up, he felt bit of shame for the whole ordeal as he regretted buying the book.

The missions came and went, and Cole couldn’t help but notice, that a lot of then could have used the archer. A lot of times they didn’t have time to get him, or it would have put on an extra time to a mission, to get Hanzo first. He felt a bit bad for telling Hanzo about the missions that were going on. Feeling like letting Hanzo know about all the things that were happening without him was just deepening the gap between Hanzo and rest of the team. However, hanzo needed to know and he’d decided himself not to stay on the watch point, despite him being welcome to do so.

When Hanzo requested some leave, most likely to get his prosthetics looked at, Cole had expected him to keep in touch. When he didn’t, Cole instantly asked Mei at an opportune moment, weather she had talked whit Hanzo during his sick leave. To his delight, she had not been messaging either. Cole however did send Hanzo a message, just a usual, ‘it must be pretty late there, I hope you had a good day, mine has been boring. ‘ type of message.

What he did not expect was for Hanzo to call him.

Cole answered the phone call instantly, and greeted Hanzo. He was confused to be met whit silence, before a soft huff of breath close to the microphone, and Hanzo’s muttering voice saying “Is it a bad time? “

Cole shook his head, as he assured that of course not. He had just been eating and reading some inventory documents trough. When after that, Hanzo didn’t say anything after that, so Cole had to ask, if the man was okay.

There was little rustling, like Hanzo was changing a sitting position. “Yeah… just… thought it’s faster to call, than make you text. How is everyone? “

Cole frowned to himself. Hanzo sounded okay, just extremely stressed. Hanzo rarely asked about the others. Cole suspected that he texted to Genji, Zenyata and Mei more about those things. It was as if Hanzo just wanted to stay on a phone. Cole started to list everyone’s doings, mostly mundane stuff, concentrating more on the rustling and huffing sounds on the other end than coming up whit actually interesting things to tell. When he was running out of tidbits to tell, he started telling how his own day was going. He might have boredly listed every hour from the clock, of what he had been doing and fixing and finding around the base, but Hanzo was still listening. Cole expected that to be enough, but when he was quiet for a while, Hanzo asked him, how’s his training going, and Cole realized what was going on. Hanzo undoubtedly couldn’t care less, as Cole started listing his sim scores and accuracy averages, he just wanted to hear him talk. Cole literally had not much else to do, so he ended up just babbling about nothing on the phone for an hour.

After the hour mark, Hanzo shuffled around and Cole heard the man yawn. “Oh it’s already been an hour… “ the tired man on the line muttered.

Cole smiled, so it must have been clear in his voice. “’s okay. I’ m not in a hurry ta nowhere. You can call me anytime, you hear me. I like the sound of my voice. “ he joked.

There was a little huff of breath. “Thank you, but I should let you focus. Thank you for… “

Cole interrupted Hanzo then. “Was my pleasure. Try to get some sleep and I’ll talk to you again soon, okay. “

“okay. “

Cole was not certain, weather his ‘good night’ was fast enough, before the call ended. He had to assume Hanzo was currently without his legs, so it was no wonder, if the man was anxious. He knew Genji was a nerve wreck whenever he didn’t have his bottom limbs for a while. And that was while Genji was whit people he trusted. Cole didn’t know where Hanzo was, but he assumed it was not as safe of a place as Gibraltar. He mused over whether he should set an alarm to call Hanzo when it was morning for him or not. In the end he decided to set his volume loud and be sure to answer quickly if Hanzo called.

When Hanzo called, he still sounded tired. Cole assumed he hadn’t slept well, but didn’t have time to ask.

“Hi, Cole… I realized I haven’t… I mean after my sick leave, is there something you would want from China? Or someone else on the base? I know you probably don’t but it would be rude of me not to ask.”

Cole hummed along Hanzo’s explanation. He was so used to the sharp and determined tone, he knew something was wrong. “Hanzo, it’s nice of you to offer, but you don’t need to worry about us. Are you okay?”

“you’re right. How would I even get anything to you. Sorry about that. I should leave you to it. “

Cole nearly yelled at the phone. “No I’m not doing nothing! I have time to chat. I meant that you don’t have to but of course you can bring something when you come back. Like a souvenir.”

Hanzo was quiet for a long while. Cole made out a sound of a muffled yawn from the other side. “you think… people would like that? I mean… ‘m not that great at giving gifts… and the gifts would be traveling whit me for a good while.”

Cole hummed in the phone along the rambling. Hanzo sounded like he was thinking out loud. “Candy could be good. Or tea, the kind you don’t get in trouble for.“ Cole spoke purposefully soft and slow. “How long do you plan on traveling?”

Hanzo spoke fast. “I can’t come back. I have to stay far from you. I’ll do my best to be an asset to the team from here. “

Cole tried to sound as calm as possible to hopefully get Hanzo to calm down too. “I’d like you back. You are part of the team and you belong in here. Hell, you’d be a far more usable asset here too, the missions we have been getting recently haven’t left us whit time to pick you up, but you would have been useful. You know you have a place in here.”

Cole had to look at the screen quickly, to make sure the call was still connected, because the line went so quiet. He heard eventually very quiet shifting of sheets and a yawn.

Cole smiled at the idea of Hanzo struggling to stay awake to call him for something as meaningless as souvenirs. “Look, how about after your sick leave, you come back to the base? Even for a little while, to break in the new legs and maybe update your sim records. That would be far better souvenir than any candy.”

The line was quiet again for a long while, before Hanzo finally gave in. “If you think that would be for the best.”

Cole smiled. “I think so, yes. I’ll come pick you up when you are ready. Call me if you need anything, okay? “

Hanzo gave a more in character. “Yes sir. “at that, giving Cole a chuckle.

“Try to rest on the meanwhile.”

Chapter Text

Hanzo was feeling more paranoid than usual. He was resting against a headboard of his bed, staring at the front door. The apartment was in a third floor, but he was still also keeping an eye on the balcony. Like someone would go into the effort of climbing there just to possibly surprise Hanzo. He had been in this dimly lit apartment for a week now, waiting for his legs to be fixed. The time had felt like entirety, and like a blink of an eye at the same time. He hadn’t rested much, unable to shut is eyes for long. Still he had so many moments, when the time just seemed to skip forward, without him noticing.

First Hanzo thought it had been just him falling into a shallow dream and sleeping whit his eyes open, but he still felt tired after. When he started to mark the moments he didn’t have recollection of, he noticed a pattern. He kept blacking out on an near perfectly timed intervals. In the morning, it was short periods, but toward the evening, he’d easily skipped an hour without noticing. This did not soothe his paranoia, and he had started to skip meals in fear of there being something wrong whit the cans he had bought. He wasn’t certain if an ambush would snap him out of a blackout, he wasn’t even sure if his eyes were open during one. Only thing keeping him sane was the calls he had with Cole.

Cole had made it somewhat of a habit to report daily details to Hanzo. He had tried to sound less invested as to not pressure Cole into calling, but the longer he had sat in the same sheets staring at the clock skipping forward, the more he needed the talks. He called Cole first thing in the morning, which was late evening for Cole, and Cole often called him in his morning, when Hanzo was experiencing the longest time skips. He hadn’t heard Cole complain about him not picking up the phone, so Hanzo assumed, Cole was non the wiser about the blackouts. He wanted to keep it that way, the lees people knew his whereabouts and weaknesses, the less likely anyone was to take advantage of them.

He kept hearing his neighbors pass his door in the staircase. Always trying to hear an off beat sound or a extra pair of footsteps whit them. If someone was aware of his whereabouts, they’d likely ambush whit a lot of brute force and men trough the front door. He had storm bow next to him, and his best defense was to hit first whit the dragons, but the longer he sat and the more meals he skipped, the less convinced he became of being able to call their spirits.

When his communicator rang, he realized he had skipped twenty or so minutes. It was a good sign, that perhaps his blackouts could be interrupted. He however was horrified to find out, that he had already missed a few calls, all from Cole.

“Sorry, I couldn’t get to the phone so fast.” Hanzo opened whit a lie.

Cole made a revealed ooh sound. “That’s okay, sorry I’m calling a bit earlier than usual, but we have a mission later.”

Hanzo frowned. That must mean Cole doesn’t have much time on the phone. “What’s the mission?” Hanzo asked trying to sound allert.

There was rustling at Coles end, but Hanzo couldn’t tell what he was doing. “an old base had its alarms go off. We are just gonna go check, what animal triggered it. It’s a miracle the alarm system even works. Although Winston made it sound like it would survive anything.”

The line went silent for a while, as Hanzo tried to come up whit something to say. Anything to ask, other than Cole to simply stay. He needed some practical question, something that would not sound like he was just stalling Cole, but his brain felt like it was dragging five minutes behind. He frowned and tried to come up whit something, but couldn’t. There was no reason really for the phone call to last longer than it already had, and Hanzo’s anxiety spiked when he couldn’t deny that. He knew one shorter phone call could easily mean an end to their little tradition. Cole was busy man after all. And he could just as well talk whit his friends at the base rather than Hanzo. “Good luck.” Hanzo finally said. His gut dropped when he could tell the conversation was ending.

Cole cleared his throat. “Thanks.”

The silence dragged again. Hanzo closed his eyes, trying to come up whit something positive to say. Something good to part whit, to hopefully make Cole call him again.

“so… “ Cole begun. “How long do you have left of your sick leave?”

Hanzo swallowed. The answer was one weekend for the legs, but he seriously needed to do something about the blackouts before he could go back to missions. Not that he had gotten any assignments since leaving Gibraltar, but still. He couldn’t give Overwatch the false image, that he was available. Not before he figured out the blackouts. “I don’t know.” he admitted.

Cole cleared his throat again. “I mean, take all the time you need to get better of course, but we sure could use our sniper.”

Hanzo answered instantly. “Luckily you have Ana. She is a great sniper.” Hanzo knew he was not useful for Overwach in his current condition. In fact, he had a feeling his presence in the organization was going to be more short term than what he had originally imagined while joining. He had imagined that he’d join a ranks of military unit, until his eventual demise, but it seemed he was less fit to serve than he imagined. He wasn’t in an organization, that employed shoulders, he was integrated into a well oiled machine of a team. Butt as a cog in the machine, he didn’t do much and as a member of the team, he wasn’t really needed. Just his short exile had proven his suspicions, that he had mostly been dragged along to be an extra pair of eyes. Not once was his skillset so detrimental to a mission, that they’d go to the effort of fetching him. There were members on the team who here better than him, and as long as those members were available, his presence was more of a distraction.

Cole’s phone calls were a proof of that.

Cole hummed in agreement. “She is good, but she is a support. She doesn’t really take targets out like you, you know.” the rustling was back again, but this time it was more clear. “Call me in the morning okay, and if you can figure out your schedule, that would be great, but no pressure tough, take all the time you need to recover.”

Hanzo knew that it was time to end the call. He wanted to try and drag it out, but he knew it would be wrong of him to keep Cole from more important things, so whit a quick, “Yes sir”, he ended the phone call.

When he looked at the call history on his phone, it showed that the conversation whit Cole had lasted two minutes, and happened half an hour ago. Hanzo rubbed his face groaning. The blackouts were becoming ridiculous and distorting. It felt like time itself was playing a trick on him. He knew he should tell doctor Ziegler about the blackouts, but he feared where that would lead. Part of him still harbored the idea that he could do this. That he could be an asset to Overwatch and keep serving, even while bit by bit, the reality was showing its ugly face and making it harder and harder for Hanzo to keep up the charade.

He got a message in the morning, that he could come try the legs, and get a first nerve calibration done. Hanzo had not told even his mechanic, where he was staying, so the message was filled whit ‘if you can make it’ mentality. Hanzo knew he had to make it. He had a good chance of not having blackouts at all or only having minor ones, while he travelled on his borrowed wheelchair he had checked multiple tines for any bugs or trackers to the office. He decided to only text Cole instead of calling him, despite knowing that that would likely declare their daily calls as over, replaced by the quick text messages. Hanzo would have liked to keep calling, keep talking whit Cole, but that would just make his inability to keep up whit overwatch on his own that much more apparent. No other agent needed a daily hour long talks from the cowboy to do their job. Hanzo would be delusional to expect it to be the new norm. He had to figure out a way to make it on his own.

As he was travelling to the street level on an elevator, a woman asked him if he was alright.

“Of course I am.” Hanzo had bitterly retorted in mandarin.

The woman looked at the open elevator door. “Sorry, I thought you were leaving.” the woman apologized, and pressed a button on the elevator. The elevator started to move up again. Hanzo had blacked out and missed his exit.

On the second attempt to leave the elevator, Hanzo succeeded. It was a shameful victory and a bitter remainder for Hanzo that he was not only physically limited without his legs, his mind wasn’t all there either. He had to start coming up whit good excuses for his blackouts if he was going to make it. He knew he was making an easy target of himself as is, he didn’t need the word that he was not all there to get out.

The meeting whit the doctor and a mechanic went well. Hanzo managed to only black out during the nerve scans, which did not need his vigilance. The legs felt pretty much the same, just less coordinated, but that he knew to expect. The legs still needed time to calibrate.

While on his way back to the apartment, he circled around a bit, and did some shopping, trying to figure out if he was being followed. After multiple extra loops around the busy streets and quiet alleys, he felt secure enough to return to the apartment.

Returning to the room felt numbing. During his time on the streets, he hadn’t noticed any time skips. Hanzo hoped that meant that they were partly due to the boredom of sitting still for so long, and the blackouts would just naturally disappear from his list of issues as he gets his legs back. But as if to prove him wrong, the blackouts were more severe during the evening. He kept blinking and seeing half an hour time periods just disappear.

To Hanzo’s delight, Cole called him in the evening. Hanzo had to concentrate on his breathing to not sound odd or over enthusiastic, as he tried to contain his excitement. He felt his shoulders relax and pulse calm down as he listened to the brawling American. He didn’t really pay attention to the words. Solely enjoying the relaxing break the conversation gave his frizzed out nerves. He heard some questions here and there, the usual, are you okay and what nots, and Hanzo answered them all as reassuring as he could. If he let Cole know how bad off he was, he would certainly be kicked off the team in a heartbeat. He just had to pretend till he would eventually hit his breaking point, hopefully during a job, where no one would never find out how ill fitted he really was. He didn’t want Cole to realize that who he was talking to was not the asset to the team needed. Perhaps Hanzo never was, but as the call ended, and Hanzo again experienced a half an hour blackout immediately after, he felt tempted to just break the communicator in his frustration.

Hanzo didn’t sleep well during the night. He had eaten well for the longest time, but sleep still didn’t come. He kept listening to the sound of night traffic and the odd pipe flushing from the walls here and there. When the clock hit five in the morning, he didn’t have time to reason himself out of calling Cole, despite it being a weekend.

The communicator spend a long time connecting, but Cole didn’t answer. Eventually, Hanzo gave up, and sunk to the bed. He was a fool for feeling disappointed. He was weak for losing his resolve and feeling defeated, just because of one missed call. He was way too old to cry over it, but he just felt so frustrated and weak. He was tired, feeling like shit and he felt like he was just getting worse. In a small rush of emotions he considered weather it was even worth it to try. He was never going to feel like he was part of overwatch. Overwatch would never become what Shimada clan used to be, even if his brother was there. Whatever were the expectations he had had for joining were just wishful thinking.

When he looked at the communicator, it showed that he had resaved a message ten minutes ago. It was from the doctor, saying that everything was going smoothly, and he would get his legs back tomorrow.

Hanzo rubbed his face, to soothe his frown. He should come up whit a plan, how to decline the invitation to come back to Gibraltar and how to hide his blackouts.

The task was made that much harder by the presence of Cole. Hanzo hated to admit it, but he had grown fond of the man. His thought often drifted to the simple gestures he would make and the sound of his voice. It was like his mental happy place was whit him, and only whit him. He had never really experienced attachment as strongly, and he knew it was his omega side’s doings. Cole was also very protective and lately he has been so kind, that it had made it easy for Hanzo to imagine Cole liking him.

Hanzo knew if Cole was in fact interested in Hanzo, it would be only sexually. If Cole got ever asked, whether he likes him, Hanzo would be certain he’d strongly deny it. Cole was just naturally very protective of his pack and omegas, even when the omega didn’t deserve it. Hanzo had been sort of manipulative for letting Cole take care of him and taking advantage of his willingness to spend time whit Hanzo. He knew that Cole would eventually go back to his earlier behavior, being wary and disgusted by Hanzo, but for this short time when they hadn’t seen face to face, Hanzo had nearly managed to forget who he was talking to.

Hanzo picked up his communicator, and quickly searched for the closest brothel. He should get his need for physical contact filled in near future, perhaps that could help. If he tricked his body into thinking he was being cared by someone, maybe that could soothe his nerves too. He’d just need one night whit a alpha to get the loneliness out of his system. He had done it often before, going to a shady establishment, pretending to change his mind during the procedure, and ask for simply being held. It was rare for anyone to be disappointed by it. Hanzo was saving them really from the horrible sight that he was. There was a reason no one enjoyed porn whit male omegas in them, there was just too much going on, and it was off putting.

Hanzo also knew that he no longer held the standards of a male omega. The time on Overwatch hadn’t given him enough time to recover from his time on the run. He was all hard muscle and sharp edges, and his skin was dry and full of scars. Hanzo didn’t really care about those things, but he knew others did. As the beauty standards for the weirdest gender combination were set very high. Somehow Hanzo had always figured it was for making up for all the neediness and weakness.

The last days on the apartment, Hanzo spent mapping out his travel path. He decided to head east and try to caught a train to go south. He could say he needed new equipment, which wasn’t really true, but he could get some more from the capital regardless. Perhaps he’d even find some souvenirs.

Hanzo knew he at least needed something to give Genji, as an apology. He had failed to keep his secondary gender as a secret and stay whit overwatch. Genji had talked everyone over, to take someone like Hanzo in, only for Hanzo to prove their doubts right and fuck it up. He needed something simple to make the gesture, possibly something that would break easy, so Genji could get the satisfaction of smashing the gesture into pieces. He couldn’t imagine Genji accepting his apology, after all he had went trough. But he had ben wrong on that regard before.

When Hanzo finally got his legs back, and was preparing to head for the road, he considered calling Cole. He should apologize to him too, for wasting so much of his time lately. But a phone call would just end up wasting more of his time. Instead, he sent a quick report, of having his legs back and heading west to get some gear.

Hanzo wasn’t surprised by a fast reply. “What gear? You sure you can find it there? We can always bring you gear from here if you need. Arrows and what not.”

Hanzo took a deep breath, trying not to image Cole sitting at the communal area surrounded by all the other Overwatch members laughing and conversing while he was trying to discreetly text Hanzo. It took some effort to try and distance himself from the odd feeling of belonging, while he knew he didn’t. Hanzo had to stop getting emotional whiplash every time Cole offered help or care. It had nothing to do whit Hanzo, it was not because of Hanzo and it was never for him. It was Cole’s job. Plain and simple, and Hanzo should stop getting sentimental over it.

“No need.” He simply texted, before quickly pocketing his communicator, and hurrying to the morning crowd. The new legs felt stiff and slow, and a day of walking on them would be frustrating but necessary.
He had plans to go spend a night at a brothel, before leaving the city. He knew it was risky to stay at one location for too long, but the city was small and quiet enough, that it felt more safe to go to a sexworker there than in a bigger city. During the day time, he circled around doing some shopping for the road ahead and trying to figure out how often he blacked out.

The blackouts weren’t gone, but while Hanzo was on his feet and moving, they became more rare. While he was resting or eating, he skipped some odd minutes, but it was not as bad as it was while being cooped in a house. When evening came, and he headed to the brothel he’d made an appointment on anonymously, he was feeling hyper allert in fear of more severe blackouts. The building was like most apartment buildings. The entrance to the establishment could just as well been an entrance to someone’s home, if it wasn’t for the neon signs. There was a automated reception, that after Hanzo had punched his code into, gave him a room number and a warm welcome, before opening the elevator door for him. Hanzo was wearing a mask and a hood, to cover his identity from automated facial recognition. He knew it wouldn’t come as suspicious in establishment like this. He tried to keep his eyes away from any cameras, but he knew that wouldn’t be enough without some cover.

The hallway was quiet. Hanzo wondered if he wasn’t on blockers, how many distinctive scents he could recognize. There were four rooms, so the establishment was on a larger scale for a city that size. He took a deep calming breath and rang the doorbell.

The door was slowly opened by a bearded man. He was taller than Hanzo, and it took a moment for Hanzo to recognize that the man was the same as the beardless man pictured on the brothels app. “Well hello cutie.” The man greeted, before opening the door further. Hanzo knew the man could not tell from Hanzo’s getup, what he looked like, so the compliment was solely out of habit. Hanzo gave a small nod as a greeting, before stepping in.

The man was wearing loose pants and a tight shirt. He looked like he was freshly out of shower and very at home. Hanzo had to wonder if he’d just finished whit another customer. If he wasn’t on blockers, he could tell. The room was bare but clean. There was a large bed and a large sofa facing the said bed. Hanzo carried his luggage all the way inside the room, before dropping them against the back of the sofa. The man was more height than muscle, and Hanzo wasn’t worried over him overpowering himself, but he wanted to keep storm bow in reach in case someone ambushed the room.

“You on a road? That’s quite a lot of luggage for one night.” the man commented.

Hanzo could tell the tone had a bit of mockery in it. Just enough to be recognized but not enough to get worked up over. Something very telling and yet easy to miss. Even on blockers Hanzo could recognize from that one sentence, that the man was an alpha.

“yes, it most certainly is.” he said whit a soft tone. He didn’t want to seem suspicious or alarm the man. He removed his mask and hood closely monitoring the reactions he got. He knew in these parts of the county he would not likely be recognized. But he liked to play it safe. The man however just had a bit more rise to his eyebrows and other vice stable expression, void of any positive reactions or horrified, that would initial he knew Hanzo. The man just seemed a bit disappointed. “I’m traveling to a family meeting. My little sister is getting married.” He lied.

The man fetched a water bottle from the fridge and sat on the sofa. “well, Congratulations! It’s not the first time someone books the whole night just to have a place for the night.” he admitted. “But I take it you were also interested in some of my services?”

The way the man framed his words were ridiculous. Hanzo simply nodded. He didn’t plan on actually doing anything sexually stimulating. That would require him to reveal his secondary gender, but the man didn’t need to know that just yet. Hanzo didn’t want to seem suspicious, and he couldn’t come up whit any non suspicious reason to book a brothel just to cuddle.

“Yes, I booked the whole night, since I like to go slow.” Hanzo lied. He sat opposite to the man on the edge of the bed. The sheet was water resistant, which didn’t surprise Hanzo.

The man gave a fake smile and nodded. “That is okay, is there anything you are especially looking forward to? Or anything that is a turn off for you?” The man asked.

Hanzo felt like he was being interrogated. He didn’t want to give the answers, but he needed to give something as of to not seem suspiciously secretive. He didn’t need the man trying to figure him out. Something very typical of alphas, to want to be on top of things.

Hanzo pretended to be shy and embarrassed about it. He had a plan to appear nervous, and later claim he didn’t feel it or couldn’t get it up and would rather just cuddle. “I like riding, like… being like in control a bit. I don’t really like any surprises.” he fiddled whit his sleeves a bit. “Also I don’t really like dirty talk, its just a bit distracting.” He came up whit. If he had the man have to stay quiet and void of any surprises, he’d most likely not try to do anything.

The man simply nodded, and started to recite the rules for the night. No unprotected contact, even oral. Then he gave couple of files for Hanzo to sign. Covering the arrangement legally. The transition from the official talk to casual one was rocky. Hanzo recognized the inexperience when he saw it. He used to have access to high end prostitution in Japan after all. This small town alpha gigolo was either new to the field, or his revenue came mostly from quick fucks. It was bit bothersome, but Hanzo tried not to think about it.

Hanzo got to undress the man. He went deliberately slow, sitting on his lab and feeling his upper body and beard. If he didn’t concentrate on the others non interested and bored expression, it was sort of nice. Feeling warm flesh under his palms and getting to slowly peel of the layers to get closer. He didn’t kiss the man on the lips, only around his neck and shoulders. The only sound in the quiet room being the sliding of skin against skin. Hanzo didn’t hurry to take his own clothes off. The man started to be impatient after a half an hour, stating “You really like to take your time! “ and trying to say it to encourage Hanzo to speed things up.

Hanzo knew the man would not say that, if he knew where the night was leading. He tried not to feel bad for him. He’d likely get to tell his coworkers later, how he had the worst night, whit a very boring client. The man was not even hard. He was probably mentally somewhere far trying to entertain his mind whit memories and thought.

Hanzo felt the warmth in his chest bloom. It was nice. Having someone there. Physically getting to touch, getting the warmth. If he wasn’t aware that he was likely the grossest patron the man had to ever tolerate, he’d probably purr against him. He pressed his neck against the others, chests flushed against each other. If he wasn’t on blockers, his sent would eat up the alpha in front of him and the alpha would leave his presence on him. He only rubbed against his neck momentarily, to not seem like he was doing it on purpose, but it made him melt into the other man.

The man moved underneath him to lay down. His legs likely going numb. Hanzo stayed on top of him, rubbing against his chest and forearms. He slowly took off his hoodie to get closer. He was spending a good amount of his budget here, he better take good advantage of it.

“Wow you’re ripped!” the man breath out in surprise. Hanzo couldn’t help but roll his eyes at that. He had spend a good amount rubbing against him, it was quite telling how checked out he had been to not notice Hanzo’s body type during it. “That’s impressive! What do you use?” He asked.

Hanzo ignored him, and leaned down to suck and nib on his nipples. Of course he’d think the muscles were the result of substance use. Hanzo rather not level to a bro talk whit a prostitute about his workout regime. They were already struggling to have the moment have any heat in it.

“Oh my god… “ the man moaned in English as Hanzo sucked on his nipple.

Hanzo froze.

He nearly purred. He was so close to react to the first positive reaction whit… what exactly? Was he proud? Satisfied perhaps. All he knew was that he liked the sound of that and nearly scrapped his plans not to go all the way whit the man. That was all he apparently required to get all hot and bothered. He cursed the omega side of himself that was so easily pleased and pathetic. Just because the prostitute had sensitive nipples, didn’t mean he actually wanted anything to do whit Hanzo. Hanzo literally had to pay money to get this close. He had to remind himself of the reality just enough to stop himself from getting too exited. But he let his omega side have the little moment of happiness of being wanted. He was unlikely to experience it in the future after all.

The man chuckled. “Oh you like when I talk in English? “

Hanzo let the man think that was the case. Might as well. He took his shirt off too, to really press against the other. To soak up the heat and comfort of muscles tensing and relaxing underneath him. He was slightly surprised that the man started to stiffen up a bit. It was probably that he had the false impression that something was going to happen soon.

“And here I thought you said you don’t like dirty talk.” he said whit a bit of an accent. Hanzo wondered if he should suck off the man for his troubles, before dropping the bomb. But then again, he wasn’t very good at it and would most likely just disappoint the man more than just letting the man sleep. Perhaps he could stroke the man off, but then again, if the man learned later on, what and who Hanzo was, he’d probably be better off never getting touched by him.

The man rubbed Hanzos arms. Hanzo soaked in the contact and enjoyed every bit of it. He was feeling drunk on it. Leaning his forehead against the hairy chest, feeling the arms on him and the reassuring heartbeat underneath him.

The man reached a plastic mask from the nightstand cabinet, and put it on. Hanzo looked up at the man’s beard pressing oddly against the see trough plastic. He knew he shouldn’t, for the sake of the other mans self preservation, but it was too tempting. When the man pulled Hanzo closer for a protected kiss, Hanzo let him.

Hanzo melted against the kiss. It was like his stomach turned into hot liquid and his heart nearly tripped over in its excitement. It had been years, since he’d feel a press of lips against his own, being wrapped into a hot embrace and held. His own trailing fingers stopped as the surrounding world, the worries, looming constant threat following him and his own shortcomings and failings seized to exist. In that moment Hanzo Shimada momentarily disappeared and he was someone else. Someone who deserved this.

The kiss lasted a long while. Hanzo couldn’t tell if he blacked out during it, but somewhere between the kiss staring and Hanzo ending the kiss to rest his head against the chest to listen to the steady heartbeat again, the man had figured out that his job was pretty much done. Hanzo played whit the image in his mind, that the man was simply tired and too comfortable to try and make something happen. He knew there was no universe, where the man would do anything but the bare minimum for Hanzo. He was most likely glad that he dodged a bullet.

Hanzo knew for sure he was blacking out a bit, but he was fairly certain, that the man wouldn’t notice. Probably just thinking that Hanzo had fallen asleep resting against him. In his clear moments, he tried to keep up the skin to skin contact to get as much of his touch starvation fed as possible. Hoping for that to end the blackouts. But after just couple of blinks, it was already morning.

Despite not being sure weather he actually slept during the night or simply kept blacking out, Hanzo felt well rested in the morning. He was still plastered by the tall alphas side when a little ringtone sounded, letting both them know that time was up.

To Hanzo’s delight and surprise, the man didn’t hurry to get up. He reached to close the alarm from his phone, but didn’t attempt to peel off Hanzo from his side. In contrary he was just grunting at the light from his phone screen, before discarding it in favor of petting Hanzo. Like he was trying to postpone the inevitable. Hanzo couldn’t remember the last time he had the luxury of slowly waking up to the morning from the safety of a shared cover. His mind wasn’t yet fully awake, but he was awake enough to prevent himself from purring, despite feeling like it.

The two of them didn’t talk much in the morning. After Hanzo felt like he was overstaying his welcome, he got up rather swiftly and was out the door without much more than a simple bye. It would probably felt more awkward, if they couldn’t blame the lack of socializing on the early hour. Hanzo was already in a train before nine in the morning, travelling to east coast. In the surprisingly hard train seats Hanzo could still remember the feeling of warm touch lingering on his skin.

After reminiscing on the feeling for couple of blackouts and then some, Hanzo remembered to shoot his daily message to Cole. The fact that he nearly forgot was a welcome surprise. At least there were moments when his omega brain wasn’t thinking about the cowboy.

Hanzo Shimada. – on a train heading east right now. I’ll keep you updated when I know my schedule.

Hanzo let out a long breath after hitting sent. He was feeling anxious over the fact that he was making empty promises. He had no intention of making a schedule or returning to Gibraltar any time soon.

Cole Cassidy – Okay, stay safe. Angela thinks you too may have long term side effects to the neuro toxins. If you experience anything out of ordinary, report it to her.

Cole Cassidy – Actually, just ask her to explain it. I didn’t quite understand it to be honest.

Hanzo frowned. That could explain the blackouts he was experiencing, but he wasn’t going to expose his disability just like that in case the two weren’t related. After all, just being on blockers could cause a selection of different side effects. When Hanzo re-read the message he caught the sense, that someone was experiencing long term effects.

Hanzo Shimada – I’ll contact Angela later then. Are you saying someone is experiencing side effects?

Hanzo watched as the symbol indicating that Cole was typing kept appearing and disappearing for a long while. He wondered if he was going to get an answer at all when five minutes passed, but then was hit whit a wall of text. The message was so long he had to scroll up a bit to start from the beginning.

Cole Cassidy – Well, Mercy is better at explaining the why’s and how’s, but it kind of messed up the alphas neuro somethings that were in the building. Mercy is currently working whit some German medical lab to test solutions. It’s not the one we raided by the way. Anyway, long story short Me and Jack can’t stand close to one another without cowling for no reason. And Brig and Rain are constantly fighting now and Lucio is… well, He’s a lot and its driving Ana crazy. So it’s like all the alphas that were exposed to the neuro toxin are acting like teenagers and its messing up the synergy. Vivian, Phareha and Bap are on blockers and others are considering it too because of it. It’s bit embarrassing to admit really but I’m also on sick leave and not allowed to carry due to braking a toaster. I’ve been under Zarya’s training regime to ‘burn off the extra energy” and its brutal. Yesterday I was in the gym for four hours! Also Rain literally cried because it was raining outside, so I don’t know which of us has it worse! He’ also glued to Ana but that surprises no one. Lucio keeps stealing Hana’s hoodies, so there’s a rumor going that the frog likes the bunny if you know what I mean. Although Lucio managed to make it weird by saying Hana smelled like his cat so they are kind of fighting but not really. It’s weird. Brig is also a bit weird and going trough stuff mostly just arguing whit his dad constantly and breaking his turrets to ‘test them’. I don’t know. It probably sounds way worse than it is but I don’t understand Swedish.

Hanzo Shimada – That sounds like a lot. I hope they figure a cure for it soon. How are the others handling it?

Cole Cassidy – The omnics find it fascinating mostly. Winston calls us ‘the effected’ but he does like a weird hand gesture when he says it and it’s super annoying. Genji is avoiding me. I may have chased him a bit around trying to get him to arm wrestle whit me, but he’s been avoiding me for days now. Mei says that Genji is whit Zen all the time but I see Zen around sometimes but not Genji. Speaking of Mei, she has made some discovery and is just at the lab all the time. He was Lucio’s patient listener for a long while, but Winston doesn’t allow Lucio into the Lab due to multiple noise complaints. Fareha hates it but I think he mostly hates that she sees her mom constantly cuddling and hanging out whit Rain and Jack, so I don’t blame her. She is currently on a mission whit Echo and Lena. Also calling Jack, Ana and Rain trio a cuddle hub would be exaggerating. It’s more like Rain keeping Jack in a headlock than cuddling. Tho Jack is not complaining, but to be fair, I kind of avoid him to not stir up anything. I think Athena is acting like a baby monitor for me and Zarya is the babysitter. Whenever I as much as pas by Jack, She just spans in there immediately.

Hanzo Shimada – why are you not on blockers yet?

Cole Cassidy – Angela is better to explain it, but blocking the natural hormone cycle when it’s imbalanced and messed up might just cause more severe health issues than irritation or aggression. You should contact her right away actually, She just finished eating.

Hanzo frowned at the communicator. He didn’t feel like contacting Angela just jet, since he didn’t know how to respond to ‘how are you doing’ that would inevitably come. He didn’t want to lie to Angela, in case she’d figure it out. But he didn’t want to admit that he was having blackouts.

He however didn’t have much choice on the matter now did he. And he was phrasing his message to be as official as possible, he felt his anxiety kicking in. This may be the message exchange that would end his career as an overwatch agent.

Hanzo Shimada – Hello. This is Hanzo Shimada. Agent Cassidy instructed me to contact you in regard to the incident in Germany. Is there symptoms I should look out for?

Hanzo didn’t expect for Angela’s answer to be immediate, but it took her surprisingly long to answer. His message came whit multiple attachments.

Angela Zeigler – Hi Hanzo. I hope you are doing alright. In regard to the incident, there are still new symptoms being documented as the time goes. In the building there were mostly beta cases, so for that pool, we believe blockers to lower the symptoms significantly. I would recommend reporting all possible irregular effects or symptoms that you may encounter. There are some who have experienced dissociative episodes and memory loss, so in your case those would be the most dangerous to look out for. I’ll attach a list of known symptoms, for all sub gender types, but the document is still being worked on. I’ll also attach a written report of the cause description and how the neuro toxin effects the brain.

stay safe out there, and contact me immediately if any of the symptoms listed ‘severe’ occur. At some point you do need to be momentarily off blockers again to assets the damage.

Hanzo felt his stomach drop when he read the message. All color left his face when he read the symptoms list, despite already knowing what the list would tell him.

Under the list of severe symptoms, were memory loss, blackouts and time blindness.

From the second document Hanzo found a simplified explanation of the cause. The neuro toxin affected the connections between different parts of the brain by disturbing the natural abo specific hormone production. For all genders it caused difficulty assisting threat levels and situational awareness. In alphas it caused elevated need for action or reaction. In Betas it caused confusion and elevated levels of fear and in omegas, it caused low awareness and sleepiness.

Hanzo frowned. He didn’t recall himself feeling sleepy for no reason or suddenly falling asleep. To his knowledge, he was awake during the blackouts, but that would actually be a bit of a relief if it was just him being unable to stay awake rather than freezing up.

After going thought the waves of fear, defeat, shock, denial and relief, he ended up sort of coming clean to the doctor in a sort message.

Hanzo Shimada – I have experienced time blindness during my long bedrest. Afterwards too I have experienced some periodic loss in my focus. I will monitor the symptoms closer from now on.

He teetered around the subject and was happy whit his answer. He didn’t tell the whole grim reality of his situation, since he wasn’t planning on returning any time soon.

His plans however, got rewritten by a short message from the doctor.

Angela Ziegler – I need to do a neuro scan on you. I’ll ask Lena to pick you up after their mission, they are in Numbani. Send her your coordinates.

Hanzo reread the message multiple times, hoping he had read it wrong the first or the second time. He couldn’t help but feel his shoulders slump in defeat. The thing he didn’t plan to do anytime soon was happening sooner than he realized. He was returning to Giblartar.

Later that night, Hanzo had taken shelter in a gas station diner that was open around the clock. He was studying the symptom list as he got messaged a time and location from Lena to get picked up. He had to hike a bit to get to the meeting point, but it was more of a relaxing moment of silence before the storm, rather than a chore. They were at a unkept field by a forest line. Orca became visible only just before dissenting to the tree level. Hanzo shielded his eyes whit the hand as grass and lose leaves started to fly everywhere, before Orca silently landed on the muddy ground. When the doors opened, Hanzo was not expecting to see a new face. Or rather, new faceplate.

The yellow and green omnic looked different than the last time Hanzo saw it, but he still instantly recognized it from all the posters and positive news. The protector of Numbani, Orisa.

Hanzo greeted mutely whit a bow and climbed on board, as Fareha was making a joke about car pooling. Hanzo greeted Orisa too, not certain if the omnic would recognize him. They did meet in passing, when he was assassinating a corrupt military leader during the same time Doomfist was reeking havoc in Numbani. He had bought intel and half accidentally found out about Efi and a plan to ambush her while Orisa was on patrol. He did do a risky detour then in favor of stopping the ambush despite it significantly effecting his original mission. However, seeing Efi later happily greeting the people by the side if her creation, Orisa, made it all feel worth it.

Orisa gave a robotic wave. “Greetings Archer. It has been a while.”

Hanzo was momentarily stunned but not as stunned as Phareha. “You know each other?” She sounded like she didn’t believe it.

Hanzo simply nodded. “We have not formally met.” He explained. He momentarily contemplated, whether he should shake Orisas hand, but decided against it. “How is Efi? ”

Orisa smiled whit her eyes. “She couldn’t come along but she is doing great. Perhaps you could visit her one day?”

Hanzo didn’t down right deny the invitation, but he bet his visit would cause more harm than good. Hanzo had later found out that the goal of the ambush was not to kill Efi, but to strike a deal whit the young genius. If Hanzo didn’t intervene that night, perhaps no one would have died.

Lena instructed everyone to take a seat while they take of. Hanzo took one in a furthest corner, trying to seem unsocial. Despite his effort, Orisa sat down at the edge of the table Hanzo was partly hiding behind, and instead of attaching a seatbelt, she simply took a firm grip of the wall. To Hanzo’s delight however, Orisa didn’t seem to mind the silence.

When they were safely in the air, Hanzo saw Phareha take a laying position in the sofas, and Lena never came down from the pilot cot. Hanzo had to assume that was where Echo also was. At first, Orisa sat quietly, but soon enough even she started to appear as if she was nodding off. Hanzo found it peculiar, since it didn’t make much sense for an omnic to go to rest mode like that. Hanzo took that as a sigh however, that he didn’t need to worry about a possible social interaction for a while.

The flight to Giblartar lasted longer than Hanzo expected. Perhaps he just expected it to go in couple of blinks like most of his travelling had been, but the stress was perhaps overpowering his blackouts. He took that as a good sign in midst of stressing about the following. He had bought some hard candy and fresh matcha tea as a souvenir, and a tank top for Genji. He hadn’t found anything breakable and found it hard to shop for him since he had somewhat of a more simple and minimalist lifestyle nowadays. The tank top would be good as a gym shirt. It said ‘I speak English’ in Chinese, and was a neon green. The text was in white so it was bit hard to read against the bright fabric but the shirt despite its ironic text, was of high quality. The brand logo was a kanji for Human, and it was printed around the hem, which Hanzo hoped wouldn’t bother Genji too much. Luckily, he could always burn the shirt which would be nearly as satisfying as breaking something fragile.

It was early hours of the morning when they left China, and it was early hours of the morning, when they reached Gibraltar. Hana and Phareha pretty much disappeared the moment they touched ground to sleep the hours that were left of the night. Hanzo felt sorry for them and partly responsible. Winston was greeting them in what could only be described as gorilla bed hair. As his fur was poking in a clear patterns and stuck at the side of his face.

“Welcome to the watchpoint Agent Orisa! And Welcome back agent Shimada. Athena has instructions for you and your bunk is as you left it. Most of the agents are currently asleep, so we gotta keep quiet around the residential area. I’ll give you a tour of the facilities and we’ll get straight to recording your stats agent Orisa. Follow me. “ the scientist waved for the omnic to follow, and they headed to the lab. Hanzo greeted whit a simple thank you, and took his opportunity to disappear into the room he had left behind.

Once the door was locked, Hanzo got jumped by the sound of the AI. “Welcome back agent Shimada. I have instructions from Doctor Ziegler. Would you like to hear them now”

Hanzo rubbed his face, evening his breath. “Sure. “ he groaned.

“First, Angela instructed you to try and get some rest without supplements. Then, She instructed to drink only water in the morning, and come for the neuro scan at eight am. It will first be a two hour scan awake, the two hours asleep, and then an hour awake. You will be alone in the room during the scanning process. She also instructed to take a break on using suppressants. The first scan is going to be simply first look, but once the suppressants are out of your system, a longer scan will be conducted. Do you have any questions?”

Hanzo frowned. “So no breakfast?” He made sure.

Athena repeated. “Only water Agent Shimada.”

Hanzo huffed a long breath. The idea of being of suppressants was daunting. Last time he was without for only a day, he instantly went into a heat. It was only a month or so ago, but he was still worried it might happen again. To say his sleep was restless would be and understatement. He kept jumping awake and feeling hot. Technically he hadn’t even skipped any doses of suppressants yet, but he still felt like something was wrong, because something was about to be. He just hoped he didn’t need to see much of the alphas during his hopefully short stay.

In the morning, when he sneaked to the med bay avoiding all end every human interaction, he felt jumpy. He had skipped only one dose, and it would be a while till the residue of the previous doze would wear off, but it made him anxious regardless. Angela looked tired and old whit a collection of coffee mugs in her office. She greeted Hanzo politely and welcomed him back.

“So, you described experiencing time blindness, and lack of awareness. Could you describe some instances of that?” Angela went straight to the point.

Hanzo kept tightening his grip into a fist and relaxing it. Searching for words that wouldn’t be too revealing. “I…” he wanted to lie, play it down. “I just sometimes realize more tine has passed than I thought.” he explained.

“Could you give an example?”

Hanzo blinked. He didn’t want to, but he didn’t have much options. “well, once I ended a phone call. And when I looked to see what time it was, right after, I realized that the phone call happened a while ago, but it felt like a instance. “

“How long ago did the phone call happen”

Hanzo shrugged, hoping to seem carefree, like he wasn’t tense as a board. “it was thirty minutes.” Hanzo recalled.

Angela looked up from his screen, at hanzo. “A half an hour time period felt like an instance?”

Hanzo simply nodded.

Angela simply nodded, writing something down. “What is the longest time during the day, that you have felt like happened in an instance?”

Hanzo deadpan admitted. “A few hours.”

“Do you feel tired after or as if you are sore or your vision is not adjusted to the lights?”

Hanzo shook his head a bit frowning. “No nothing like that.”

“Dy you have difficulty sleeping? “

Hanzo shook his head again. “Nothing out of the ordinary.”

Angela looked unimpressed. “So you have some difficulty falling asleep like normal?”

Hanzo bobbed his head a bit, averting eye contact. It was as if he’d been caught on a lie. “yes.”

Angela took in a deep breath. “Hanzo, in the building that day, there were only two other omegas. One was pregnant and the other was amongst the first to exit the building. Both of them were born women, so in honesty we don’t know the neurotoxin’s effects on you, so I need you to be honest whit me. We’ve noticed, that men appear to have more of the severe type symptoms. And the effects on people on blockers might me misleading, since we only have short term reports. All we know, is that your brain is reconstructing itself under the influence, so I need you to take this seriously.”

Hanzo swallowed feeling his heckles rise. He didn’t like being getting talked to like that, but it was painfully clear, that Angela was tired and on his side, so he bit his tongue and simply nodded.

He kept his eyes at the floor, and felt like confessing to a crime as he mater of flatly listed his symptoms, hating the sound the keyboard made as Angela wrote everything down. “I would describe them as blackouts. I can stare into the clock and the clock arms just jump as it happens. While at bedrest, I got them in even intervals of around two hours, and they got longer throughout the day. Whilst out and walking in the city, I don’t think I get them at all, but I do get longer ones after the fact. I have missed phone calls during a blackout and for an example missed my exit in an elevator. In both instances I was sitting while it happened.”

There was a long pause, while Angela was still writing on the computer but Hanzo didn’t have more to say.

“Anything else?”

Hanzo frowned thinking, but eventually shook his head. That was all. His shameful weakness.

Angela simply nodded and got up. “Okay, so if you experience them during your neuro scan, I need you to mark it for me. Just say out loud how long it was when you realize it happened. Okay?”

Hanzo nodded and followed Angela by his gesture to a next room over. It was a smaller space, or filled up to the brim whit mechanical tools, it was hard to tell. Angela instructed Hanzo to lay down and maneuvered a large machine over his head. Whit experienced moves Angela quickly hooked Hanzo up to multiple different machines, and eventually retreated after repeating the instructions.

Then Hanzo was left in the room alone whit a clock.

He tried to school his thought into something mundane, like a running cycle of a wolf or traffic rules. In a nook of his mind he wondered if there existed a machine that could read his mind, and how well would it do it. Then his thoughts travelled to training practices and scores. And soon enough he was calculating functions to pass time.

After being hooked on the machine for forty minutes, he noticed the first time skip.

“Five minutes.” he said whit a hoarse voice before clearing his throat and repeating himself.

The second time skip happened only an hour later. “Five minutes.”

After two hours were up, Angela came into the room whit a knock. “How are you feeling?”

Hanze felt award, unable to lift his head due to all the machines. “Fine.”

Angela nodded. “Are you okay to continue for the in sleep section, or do you need a break?”

“I can continue.”

Angela nodded. “I will play white noise for you. Try to fall asleep, but it’s okay if you don’t.” Angela declared.

Hanzo was revealed by the news and simply okayed the information. Before leaving, Angela handed him a blanket, that he could use, and then swiftly left again.

He in a million years, wouldn’t expected white noise to knock him out as fast as it did. He didn’t even recall wrapping the blanket around himself, when he slowly woke up to a knocking on the door. Angela was speaking in low tone, asking how he was doing again. Hanzo attempted to get up, forgetting about all the machines. The last hour of the scan was a good time for Hanzo to wake up properly. When the scan was over, Hanzo felt extremely hungry and restless.

Angela stayed behind, as Hanzo left the med bay to the kitchen, hoping no one would be there.

He was positively surprised by seeing Genji there.

“Brother! Perfect timing! What do you want in your sushi?”

Hanzo was confused but the scene in the kitchen was very telling. Zen was hovering by the cutting board, wet knife ready, while Genji was facing an open nori covered from corner to corner whit rice and multiple different options for fillings around him.

Hanzo had a genuine smile for the longest time, and since he knew Zen understood Japanese, he subtly switched the language without fear of being rude. “Since when do you cook? Wow that’s a lot of rice!” He was shocked by the amount once he was close enough.

Genji was wearing one of the black aprons and plastic cloves. “Since now! Think it’s too much rice?”

Hanzo frowned and nodded. “I think it’s gonna be one big roll” he admitted.

Hanzo joined his brothers efforts, and it took them exactly three minutes, before they were throwing food at each other. Both of them were laughing however, so it didn’t count as fighting just yet. Zen did attempt to calm them down so food doesn’t get wasted. There were few salmon pieces and a whole cup of kale that were non salvageable and decorating the floor and their shoulders. Zen was happy to get to cut the rolls and made a display pile out of then only a omnic would do to sushi. Piling them sideways into a little pyramid.

When they were eating, Genji was scrolling trough all the pictures Hanzo had taken, while Hanzo told him about his route.

“oh, brother. I’m so glad you are not weird like the others.” Genji admitted in delight.

Hanzo was positively surprised how well Genji had seasoned the rice and spend more time whit mouth full than speaking. “weird?”

Genji was nodding looking at Zenyata. “Yeah, we’ve been lucky we were not assigned to missions while all of them weren’t yet on sick leave. Can’t even imagine what being trapped into an orca whit them would be like! Cole is the worst, he’s insufferable!”

Hanzo chuckled. He didn’t get that impression on a phone whit him. In fact, Cole had been very pleasant to talk to.

The thought caught Hanzo of guard. Cole had been nice to him while being neurotically declared as unstable. That would explain why he was all of a sudden so accepting of Hanzo. He was simply overthrown by alpha hormones. Hanzo couldn’t help but feel a bit disappointed by the realization. At least part of him did.

“Hanzo! Wake up!”

Genji was next to him yelling. Hanzo jumped in shock.

“the hell?”

Genji was holding his face looking him straight in the eyes. There was fear in his. “can you hear me?”

Hanzo swatted the hands off of him. “Yes! I’m alright. Sorry I should have warned you.” Hanzo muttered. This was the first time someone had first hand witnessed him blacking out and of course it was his brother.

Hanzo rubbed his face and tried to ignore the hovering healing orb above himself. Genji sat down next to him, not going far. “What happened?”

Hanzo took a deep breath and gave a very short but reassuring smile. “At least I’m not weird right.” he tried to joke. But it didn’t really land. “That’s why I’m here. I have these moments, that I’m not really alert. It’s nothing dangerous.” Hanzo lied. In reality he didn’t know.

Genji frowned but seemed miles calmer than before. “Does it hurt?”

Hanzo shook his head. At least that was true. “No. It’s like… skipping forward in time. I don’t really feel anything changed. Was I like that for long?”

Genji looked at Zen for answers. “Three and a half minutes.” Zen provided. Genji continued. “You just closed your eyes and froze mid blink!” Genji explained.

Hanzo nodded. “Well that’s good to know, that my eyes don’t dry up.” he smiled again trying to be reassuring. “it happens more often the longer I’m awake.” Hanzo explained. “I should probably go get some rest. Zeagler instructed me off blockers.” he grunted in aspiration. The healing orb was still hovering above him.

Genji jumped up. “I’ll walk you.” Genji announced.

Hanzo rolled his eyes. “You really don’t need to. I’m honestly fine, it’s just annoying is all.” He tried to explain, but Genji was adamant.

In the end they cleared the kitchen together, and then walked trough the corridors to the bunkers. Before Hanzo could hide in his room for the rest of this embarrassing nightmare, they of course run into Cole.

Fresh out of shower, clearly been working at the gym, without a shirt, hair dropping wet, smelling divine, Cole. Hanzo, Genji and Zen are surprised but not as of guard as Cole appears to be. He has hard time choosing how to stand as his eyes dart between the three before zeroing in on Hanzo. Hanzo’s eyes, Hanzo’s lips, Hanzo’s neck and back to Hanzo’s eyes again. “Oh welcome back! How you’all doin’?”

Hanzo was doing all in his power to not look away from Coles eyes, but that exposed neck was right at his eye level. “thanks.” he simply nodded.

Genji physically stepped between the two. “Why are you naked Cole?”

Hanzo hadn’t even taught of questioning Cole’s getup.

Cole flashed bright red. “I, ran out of clean clothes, I did laundry this morning, and forgot to get them before getting in a shower.” he admitted. “Didn’t expect to run into you all.”

Hanzo couldn’t help but smile a bit. It was mostly pity. Cole seemed genuinely embarrassed. And whatever workout regime Zarya had cooked up for him was very showing noticeable progress. Not that Cole wasn’t fit before, but now his shoulders and chest were very defined. And he hadn’t before noticed how small his waist actually was. Perhaps his chest armor just hid it.

Cole caught Hanzo staring. “Like what you see?”

Ganji butted in then saving Hanzo from having to respond. “Why are you like this?! Get well soon!” He yelled, and dragged Hanzo whit him, to walk past Cole. Both Hanzo and Cole were laughing.

When Hanzo got to his room, he remembered to give Cole his souvenir. He was delighted by it, but said five times that Hanzo didn’t have to. Hanzo strongly disagreed but wouldn’t fight about it. When he was finally alone in his room, he pretty much dropped on the bed still smiling. He was feeling light somehow. He’d had fun whit Genji, despite the sour ending, and he hadn’t had that many blackouts all things considered. If the blackouts were as regular as it seemed, he probably could workout during mornings just fine. The protecting gear in the lifting equipment were so heavy duty, that even if he blacked out during a rep, he’d unlikely injure himself.

When he was planning his short term future during his stay in Giblartar, he felt a light pinch by his neck. A telltale sign that his suppressants effect was wearing off. He had purchased himself sent patches. He knew they would only dampen his sent but any little bit would help. He didn’t want to overtake the whole base whit his hormones. He knew his sent was more than double in strength to a regular omega, and there were not patches strong enough to hide all that. He also had quite a few high neck polo shirts he planed to primarily wear. His situation was far from ideal, but he tried to make work.

He was contemplating on dampening some urges in shower quickly when the cause of those urges messaged him.

Cole Cassidy – I’m honesty very sorry for my earlier appearance! I didn’t mean to welcome you back like that! I’ll make it up to you somehow.

Hanzo bit his lip reading the message. It was painfully apparent that Cole just wanted to please an omega. Not Hanzo, just an omega. Hanzo probably already gave off some sent and Cole had ben described as not being himself. It was so tempting for Hanzo to use that against him. Take what he can get from the man and hopefully disappear somewhere in China again before he figures it out. It was one lesson Hanzo had taken to heart and found out as positive about his gender. He had some resemblance of power, before he revealed his full hand. Before the alpha learns how underwhelming male omegas really were, they feel like he is something they need in their life. Something good.

In memory of all the times Cole had made fun of him and chased him away, he sent a message he knew Cole would come to hate him for in the future.

Hanzo Shimada – Blackmail material is always welcome. Shirtless will do.

It took disturbingly little time for him to receive what he wanted. Cole had not had enough time to think it over and take the image. The image was quite simple but luckily well lit. He was in front of a full body mirror, still only in towel. The camera was blocking his face but not much else was out of view. Hanzo replied a quick.

Hanzo Shimada – Thank you. I’ll forgive you.

And then he enjoyed the image whole heartedly. He prepped a spot on the bed for himself whit a hand towel as a seat and leaned against a pillow where the image was propped in front of him, so he had both of his hands to use.

His cent glad was starting to feel sensitive and rubbing against the pillows helped him relax. He knew the door was locked and he was not needed for a long while. He had all the time in the world to enjoy the picture he had to manipulate his way into getting. It was on a first glance, quite boring image, but Hanzo still remembered the smell, the touch of another a night ago and the words.

“You like what you see?”

Hanzo bit a soft moan as he mumbled yes into the pillow. He was way more hot and bothered to have just begun but it didn’t matter. He’d make it fast and get it over whit.

He palmed himself trough his underwear and quickly found the exact spots where to press, as he massaged himself with minimal friction. Tensing up and back arching as he imagined Cole watching. Cole holding him and touching him instead of his own fingers. He bit his lip and found out that he can zoom into the image.

He brought the man as close to the screen as he could. He could still just see some individual drops of water falling from his uncut hair. He had to take his pants of to spread his thighs for faster access. It always felt weird to touch himself, as he knew there should be hair down there and he was just more bare than necessary. He knew it was simultaneously unnecessary naked and cluttered down there but it just felt so satisfying to touch. Like a long lasting itch getting scratched, or a chronically tense shoulders finally getting massaged to relax. He felt how he started to become wet and he slowly spread himself and worked his sensitive spots.

As his eyes trailed the round shoulders, flat stomach and wide chest. He knew Cole thinks he wants Hanzo, and that was doing things to Hanzo. Like finally being accepted and desired beyond his dragon spirits. He slowly pushed in one finger. It didn’t reach deep but the initial, there’s something going in feeling bade him relax his hips and spread his legs. It felt so good. He added another finger soon after the other to get to feel just a bit more stretch but not too much. He didn’t need to move his wide fingers much because he knew where to press. He massaged his insides slowly jaw lax and eyes rolling. He didn’t know where to put his legs. He wanted to curl them, cross them and spread them all at once.

He started to feel the build of tension low on his stomach. Like a rope that kept winding tighter and tighter until it all so satisfyingly loosened up and formed a loose pile of thread. He moaned and looked at the image as he started to work toward a second one. He was on a good track. It didn’t take him long for his other hand to find a good spot to stroke. He was moving both of his hands on rhythm. He had pretty much memorized the image, but was still not done staring at it.

As he moved around the image, momentarily letting go of himself, he noticed a small icon. Indicating there were two people viewing the image. Hanzo ceased then. It felt frustrating, but also sort of nice to elongate the good feeling. However, a sneaking suspicion and slight mortification was taking over, when he realized what was happening. He closed the picture, and noticed an icon instantly pop up, indicating that Cole was writing something.

Cole Cassidy – Got enough already?

Hanzo frowned at his phone. Did Cole seriously just stay on his own half nude just to see how long Hanzo spent viewing it. He was pissed but mostly disappointed that he didn’t even think of that as a possibility, despite knowing the feature existing in the gallery feature of the communication application. He slowly freed his fingers, whit a small promise to himself, to continue this soon, as he was bitterly writing a reply to the nosy man probably still half naked in the laundry room.

Hanzo Shimada – There’s not much to see in the picture.

He prayed that Cole wouldn’t point out that his comment was obvious sarcasm and call him out for getting caught. Hanzo was the one whit the compromising material after all, Cole had no proof. He wondered if the Communicator could be used to search for porn, and how many sees his online activity on the thing. He knew one way to figure it out. “Athena.”

The voice beeped in. “Yes, agent shimada?”

“Who can view my online activity on the Communicator?”

“Yes agent Shimada. Your online activity is recorded and some sites are not accessible if they use tracking cookies. Current agents whit access to the records are, Torbjörn, Amari, Morrison, the Captain, Zie-“

“Thank you Athena, that would be enough.” Hanzo interrupted the AI. It was clear that his search history would be widely accessible, but that didn’t exactly stop him. He’d just have to keep in mind, that his search history would not be private. As he was thinking of his next move, Cole sent him a new message whit an Video attached.

Cole Cassidy – Sorry to disappoint.

Hanzo did not know what to expect, but in the still image of the first frame, it was clear that Cole was still wearing a towel around his hips and standing in front of the same mirror at the laundry room. Hanzo wondered if he wanted to give Cole the satisfaction of viewing it, but Videos didn’t have the icon showing when the image was actively being viewed. So in the end he decided to view it,a fter clamign he didn’t, just to spite the other.

Hanzo Shimada – I’ll watch it later.

Coel Cassidy – Don’t show it to anyone, okay.

Hanzo smiled. Was Cole asking or begging, he couldn’t tell, but he imagined it was the later.

Hanzo Shimada – That’s not how blackmail works. (¬‿¬)

Hanzo chuckled darkly as a small “Please!” Message was sent to him by Cole. He didn’t reply to that, ha had a video to watch.

The video was only twenty seconds long, but it was good quality. Cole was Posing in front of the mirror, in a motion that was either swaying or dancing, Hanzo couldn’t tell, but he was obviously trying to flex his muscles during the movement. He even turned around to show his back while shaking his hips. Hanzo couldn’t decide if he was trying to be funny or sexy. When the video was nearing it’s end, he started to unwrap the towel. He tried to keep swaying his hips while holding onto the towel whit one hand, which looked to be difficult, then just before the video ended, he ripped the towel from his waist as a grand finish, showing that he was wearing shorts underneath.

Hanzo didn’t know what to think. It was sort of cute video, whit clear sexy undertones. He knew he would easily get himself unwind to the video. On the second viewing, he lets his hand travel back to his clit and starts slowly working whit the video. He can’t zoom on the video, so he kept it fairly close to his face, enjoying how the shadows played on his shin. It was much more efficient at getting Hanzo to warm up than the single picture was, but the picture certainly was a good appetizer.

He let the video paly on repeat, and when he was starting to lose focus from it, his gaze travelled to Cole’s face, In the image it was covered, but in the video it was visible in multiple instances. As he started his new viewing concentrating on the face, he noticed that Cole’s lips were moving. Hanzo unmuted his communicator, to get the audio sounding, and for the rest of his self pleasuring session, he only listened to the audio.

Cole was talking so close to the camera, that despite him clearly talking low, his voice picked up well. Hen Hanzo had the phone next to his ear it was as if Cole was whispering in it. He was mostly chuckling along his attempts at dance moves, and humming a tine Hanzo didn’t’ recognize, but there were few whispered words. “It’s just lil ol’ me, waiting for my clothes to dry. I hope no one walks in on me.”, “I have something I want to show you. Are you ready for this? “, “Tadaah, ha ha ha”

It was downright inappropriate how low his voice was and how deep Hanzo felt it. While his Third Orgasm was building, he knew it was going to be the big one and good to end on. He paused the video on a freeze frame to get a final good look at the physique, before closing his eyes again and repeating the memory in his mind while listening to the audio. In his fantasy Cole was fucking him on a washing machine. Holding him underneath him while the machine shook his whole body. Cole was whispering the words to his ear and warning him that someone could walk in on them.

When he came for the third time, he knew he blacked out after. It felt good regardless. As he was cleaning he heard the notification sound of the communicator for the first time. It was a soft little bing, that was easily ignored. Hanzo however checked the message, when he notised who it was from.

Cole Cassidy – I’m serious Hanzo.

Chapter Text

For Hanzo, the rest of the evening was depressing. After getting the horniness out of his system that the blockers effect dissipating caused, Hanzo kept blacking out and feeling irritated and sensitive. He didn’t plan on leaving his room for the whole evening, even when people started messaging him. But things never seem to go the way Hanzo wants.

First it was just Genji asking if he wanted something from the kitchen. It was thoughtful and quite surprising. Hanzo wouldn’t expect his brother to message such a thing. Maybe Cole or Mei, but not Genji. When he declined, however, the messages got a bit weird.

源氏 – if you become hungry, you let me know! There’s a lot of people in the watch point. Also not everyone knows you’r back, so try not to sneak around.

源氏 – ok now everyone knows, but I still don’t recommend sneaking around. There are some tense characters here.

源氏 – Y wouldn’t be interested in a movie night right? I kind of already told no, but if you want, I can say you changed your mind.

The texts came way too rapidly for it to be a result of a flow of natural conversation. Hanzo did not have any plans to leave the room until he was forced to. But he wondered if a movie night was something that regularly happened, or if it was some sort of pack bonding exercise to mend the gaps in relations.

半蔵 – what movie are you watching?

Hanzo was curious, but not exactly interested. He was struggling to keep himself from scratching at his itchy neck and laying still. By asking what the movie was, he didn’t think he was implying that he was being interested. Despite that, he got a new allert on his communicator. But this time it was not Genji or the cowboy.

It was everyone.

Over-WatchParty groupchat [/]

Tracer – Wait you added him?

Lucio – Lol

Dva – No way!

🤠 – Hey Hanzo, welcome to the group chat! We are just figuring out what we are gonna watch

Brigette – Wait is he really here?

Babby – No way dude! You did not! XD

Mei – Hi Hanzo! Welcome back to the Watch point.

Winston – I think the second movie is better and does in fact work well as a stand alone since the story starts from a totally new point of view. But it is not one of those feel good movies like the Indiana Jones franchise, despite the similar theme. So I understand if you want to see something else, but I recommend checking it out.

Winston – also, Hello agent Shimada

Dva – lol Which one!

Lucio – yeah! We have two Shimadas now!

Rainheart – Agent Shimada and Agent Shimada

🤠 – I still don’t get how you do that!

Mei – He uses HTML code to edit the color. Most other applications use CSS to overwrite those color changes

Genji – Just call me Genji. You know. Like you’ve always done. (- __ - ‘ )

Winston – Sure thing

Ana – @Genji you seriously added him?

Genji – He asked what movie! I was not gonna copy paste the whole convo! And I don’t see why not.

Hanzo looked how the fast conversation was running. From the communicator app, he found the list of all members in the group chat, and it in fact, was everyone. Even Bastion was on the list. He felt a new wave of irritation and nausea from it. He should greet everyone, or pretend he hadn’t noticed the dozens of messages. It would be rude to just hop off the chat, but he still considered it.

Babby – I don’t mind, it’s still funny

Tracer – absurd!

76 – this used to be a serious group chat.

Ana – no it didn’t! ههههه

Dva – Let’s watch just the latest blockbuster rom com! Preferably a Korean one. The american ones are so predictable and rely too much on toilet humor

76 – If you put on something sappy, I’m out.

🤠 – You scared you gonna cry?

🤠 – again

Ana – ههههه

76 – Actually, whatever you put on, I’m out. I have work to do.

Rainheart – may I suggest a classic blast from the past?

Genji – we are not gonna watch Magic mike. Stop suggesting it!

Rainheart – I had a different movie in mind, a musical! A Highschool musical!

Lucio – I’ve heart the tracks, 0/5 didn’t age well.

Rainheart – >:( I don’t hear you coming up whit suggestions!

Ana – we could watch the train movie.

Dva – we already watched it!

Lucio – I’m not gonna go trough that again! Couldn’t stay awake for the whole thing even whit coffee!

Ana – none of you did, so none of you have seen it!

Dva – oh c’mon! Literally the cat was the most interesting thing in it!

Lucio – did the cat survive by the way?

Ana – There’s one way to find out.

Lucio – ok, I decided, I don’t care.

Genji – Let’s watch the Gundam movie! It came in close second last time!

Dva – yes!

Rainheart -  I want to watch a musical

Genji – go to a theater.

🤠 – but we agreed not to watch multiple cartoons in a row. Anime is a cartoon.

Lucio – true

Genji – It incorporates CGI and is from the director of the fourth pacific rim! Cole you loved that movie!

🤠 – I don’t make the rules

76 – you just break them.

🤠 – didn’t you claim you had something to do?

Ana – Behave you two.

Mei – If we have a new watch party member, maybe he should get to have a say on the movie.

Hanzo frowned at his phone. He didn’t want to get dragged into the conversation.

Genji – Gundam it is!

Mei – Hanzo can speak for himself.

Genji – Gundam it is!

Mei – Did Hanzo say that?

Rainheart – we are gonna have a vote right?

Brigette – Hanzo haven’t said anything.

Lucio – Is he still in the chat?

🤠 – yes.

Hanzo took in a deep breath as he was writing his first message. He wanted to have a short, concise message, but however he worded it, it felt too long. In the end he just hit sent and hoped that was good enough. The message board did seem casual in nature, and his message was going to stand out regardless.

Agent Hanzo Shimada – I apologize. I thought that you had already made a decision on a movie and was just curious. I do not have plans to join you. Thank you for the invite.

🤠 – s okay! At least now you in the group chat! Let us know if you change your mind.

Genji – @Agent Hanzo Shimada you can change your name from the settings.

Dva – I’m downloading the Gundam movie RN

Mercy – but it IS a cartoon.

Genji – It’s anime! It’s different!

[user Agent Hanzo Shimada changed to name Hanzo]

Genji - @Hanzo you agree right! Anime is not a cartoon.

Lucio – Well it is animated movie still.

Hanzo - @Genji Anime is not a cartoon, but I don’t think that argument applies here.

Tracer – Spoken like an engineer!

Torb – seriously?

Tracer – what?

Torb – Taking my lines again!

Tracer - 😅 You do say it better luv!

Torb – Thanks.

Lucio – How about horror? The third blare witch project could be fun!

Winston – does it work as a stand alone movie?

Mei – I would prefer something less scary. I gotta work on the lab alone next week.

Dva – you scared?

Mei – yes.

🤠 – Don’t be.

Mei – it doesn’t exactly work like that.

Brigette – I’l protect you.

Mei - 💕 I know but still. If you want to watch horror, I’ll just do something else.

Dva - *Zarya

Lucio – lmao

Fareha – Dude

Lucio – Okay, no horror or Animation, then what

Ana – no Magic mike

Rainheart - 

Zenyata – May I suggest we watch a family friendly action movie whit light comedy. ‘the Neighbor’

Rainheart – What’s it about?

Zenyata – ‘Haile is a omega librarian who is roommates whit his alpha childhood friend Mike. Mike is a cop and has literally the worst taste in women as he falls in love whit another alpha from a block, who just happens to run a criminal organization.”

Lucio – sounds good.

Rainheart – are they singing?

Zenyata – no. They do not sing

Rainheart - 

Dva – I just finished downloading the Gundam movie.

Echo – we can watch it next time.

Dva - òwó

🤠 - @Hanzo you sure you don’t want to join us?

Genji – He already said no.

🤠 – just making sure.

Hanzo stared at the chat. It felt like he was seeing something he wasn’t supposed to. It seemed as people didn’t have their guard up, dispite him being there. He wondered if everyone had stopped taking him seriously, since finding out he was an omega. No longer seeing him as a threat. Or perhaps they were so used to communicating on the chat a certain way that they didn’t realize how much they were revealing. Like that Rainheart wanted to watch a movie about male strippers for some reason and Mei was going to work alone in the lab next week. He couldn’t help but wonder if they would have fact like that slip if he was an alpha.

The idea that the team trusted the information to him was a two way street. It was sort of reassuring that they had lowered their guard, since Hanzo was forced in a situation where he had to. He was no longer on blockers, separating him from the rest of the pack. Now he’d be able to sense the mood in the air and smell all the changes in it. As well as they would be able to smell changes in his mood. He didn’t plan on letting that happen much, but it eventually would.

He was stuck now in giblartar, forced to live whit his weaknesses out in a public. By tomorrow, anyone could smell how weak he was. Everyone could tell when he was scared or confused, before he himself even realized it. He had joined overwatch ready to sacrifice his life for the cause, but the first thing he had lost was his credibility. It had always been a lie, a front, to act like he was a born leader while he knew he was never fit to be one. From the perspective of overwatch, he had been a weapon now dulled and destroyed to the point that it was no longer useful. He knew this visit to the giblartar was likely his last. He had not gotten invited to missions after his true nature had been revealed. It was his own fault. He had to do his best to serve overwatch whit everything he had left to give. He was already lost cause. Next time he would be let out, he will be forgotten somewhere. New agents more fit for the job were joining every day after all.

Hanzo – by doctor Zieglers prescription, I’m currently coming off blockers and unable to attend.

He read the message multiple times, before sending it. It was more revealing than he was comfortable, but the rest of them were coming to the conclusion eventually anyway. He bit his lip and held the communicator tighter than necessary. He didn’t enjoy admitting defeat, but it was time. This way he was making it clear that there was no change that he was joining them, and it had nothing to do whit the movie choice. The group chat had an uncomfortably long silence after his message. He had been on the chat only for a brief moment, but it was the longest silence in the steady stream of comments so far.

Brigette – Oh that explains the smell… I thought someone was baking in their room.

Hanzo cringed. He had hoped for the soundproofing on the door to seal his scent too. Probably it was, but the ventilation system might be the culprit.

Winston – Good to know! Perhaps we can do something about the air distribution in your room.

Brigette – I didn’t mean I mind the smell. I just noticed it.

Hanzo - @Winston if it’s not too much trouble.

Winston - @Torb I’ll delicate the task to you.

Torb – I’ll have to check the blueprint. Can it wait till tomorrow?

Winston – @Hanzo?

Hanzo - @Torb yes. It can wait.

Hanzo decided to take a shower and put the patches on his neck to minimize the damage on the meanwhile. While he was in the shower, he kept hearing the communicator Bing for every message, as the conversation in the group chat went on.

There were some quiet moments when no messages came. Particularly long silence made his anxiety spike up. What if they kicked him from the group chat?

Hanzo rubbed his face under the stream. He was being ridiculous. The whole group chat was most likely a momentary privilege. If he was kicked out, it just made it easier for him socially. He didn’t have to come up whit a reason himself to leave, when the conversation inevitably would take an awkward turn. He was still convinced that he wasn’t as welcome as he was made to feel. He had to keep in mind, that just because the most honest member wasn’t hostile toward him due to the effects of neuro toxin, didn’t mean he was welcome. The other members just hid their feelings well. In the shower when he tought about it, only the newer members greeted and welcomed him. Possibly unaware of the extent of his past deeds. He was here to do his job as a member of overwatch, not to find acceptance. That he’d have to beg for after his demise. Most likely he’d keep feeling lost even long after his death.

When he exited the shower and put on the patches, he was feeling a bit better. He kept hearing bings on the communicator that could only come from the group chat.

The messages were just nearly 20 people trying to plan a movie night. There were few messages that caught his attention.

Fareha – I don’t need snacks

Tracer – You already have a snack dontchu 😘

Tracer – no face sucking during the movie!

Fareha – Face sucking?

Rainheart – oh the young love

The implication was that Fareha had someone special within the team. He frowned trying to remember any relationships mentioned on her file, but only thing he recalled was that Ana was her mother. Hanzo wondered who they were talking about.

Winston – seconded! No making out during the movie.

Fareha – you all just jealous!

Ana – no, it’s just awkward

Phareha – you are one to speak!

Rainheart – We are discreet! Classy, one would say.

Ana – indeed.

Hanzo re read the short interaction. Were agent Rainheart and Captain Amari in a relationship? They did share a lot of history. Either that, or both of them had significant others within the team. Hanzo tried to wrap his head around the idea.

Tracer – but think about the single people! The poor souls.

Babby – do I count as one of the poor single people?

Lucio – lol

Dva – yes, you are one of us! One of us!

Tracer – you are repeatedly single, it’s worse!

Babby – unu

Lucio – you are the least single of the singles.

Echo – that implies that there is the most single of the single people

Lucio – are you implying something?

Echo – but of course.

Lucio – T___T

Babby – Wait, Lucio cannot be the most single!

Phareha – Hana is close second.

Dva – No way!

Babby – you are for sure forgetting someone!

Dva – yeah! How do we determine the most single? Least action or most attempts?

Winston – please do not publicly discuss your sex lifes. This chat was created to keep the team spirit up, not to gossip.

Echo – Single is someone who does not have a romantic relationship. Taking into account that some people are single by choice, the most single is someone who is single against their choice.

Dva – Hahaa! Cole is the most single one then!

Lucio – omg we keep winning Hana

Dva – GG!

🤠 – Hey whoah whoah! Do we not take past relationships into account? The most amount of time being single!

Echo – Cole, do you really think your past relationships make you less single?

🤠 – damn it.

Genji – relationships_

Genji – relationship_

🤠 – point taken.

Dva – That means, the least single to most single in order is, Babtiste, me, Lucy, brig and Cole!

Echo – That is not all the single people.

Dva – Yeah, I didn’t count the single by choice

🤠 – How’d you know they are single by choice?

Brigette – I’m single by choice! I had a guy come hit on me and I declined. It was my choice.

Babtiste – by that logic, everyone’s single by choice.

Dva – expect Cole

🤠 – you are so funny.

Ana – Stop bullying him, he’s in charge of the popcornn.

Dva – oh shit

76 – language

Hanzo frowned, as he would have expected most people to be single on the base. Perhaps they would be just counted as single by choice, but something about it felt wrong. He was grateful and happy that he wasn’t part of the list, or he was assumed to be one of the single by choice – people, but also Genji wasn’t present in the list. Just the thought that genji was counted automatically out due to his physical appearance made him feel sick. It was his fault after all. Genji used to be such a playboy, not exactly into romance Hanzo would conclude, but very keen on human contact. Was that one of the things Hanzo had rid from Genji? At what point would death be better than staying alive.

During the spiraling of his dark toughts he blacked out for a good while, but when he snapped out of it, he felt oddly relaxed. Like he had just woken from a good nap, instead of having his brain stuck on a blackout. It was his first blackout while off blockers. Everything else about being off blockers was horrible so it was nice that at least the blackout had felt nicer.

There were over fifty new messages in the group chat, and he wondered if it was always that active. He didn’t plan on reading all the messages, it feeling more like eavesdropping than communicating fairly, but then he noticed his own name within the text. He scrolled up a bit to get the context.

Tracer – I’m not the only one smelling that right?

🤠 – no.

🤠 – I’ll go check on him real quick.

Genji – Oh no you will not!

Winston – What is this about?

Torb – They can smell Hanzo is upset about something. I’d say get used to it.

Lucio – Wow that’s a strong smell tho! He’s not suicidal is he?

Genji – Of course not!

Winston – How bad is it?

🤠 – bad enough, I’ll go.

Genji – No you will not.

Winston – Cole, don’t bother him. @Hanzo, are you okay?

Zarya – I have the Cowboy. All good.

Mei – what happened?

Zarya – he got knocked out by the omnic’s orb. Looks like it’s gonna bruise the eye.

Mei – Oh my…

Tracer – It was a fast fight. Now to the actual issue, it smells even worse on the hallway . What we gonna do about it?

Winston – Leave the wing for now, if it upsets you too much.

Lucio – Seriously, I’ve been amongst some unhappy people, and I’ve never smelled anything like that.

Torb – I’ll see what I can do about it. I agree, the smell is not normal. I’ve smelled grieving widows who smell like roses compared to this.

Genji – He’s just upset, let him be, I’ll talk to him.

Mei – let us know!

Hanzo wrote a quick message to apologize. Hoping he could just disappear from existence. He came up whit a white lie, hopefully getting everyone to forget about it.

Hanzo – I apologize for the incident. I fell asleep and saw a nightmare. I’ll se what I can do to avoid it in the future.

He was tempted to hop off the group chat then. But it had proven much more valuable as a source of insight to just throw away. He wouldn’t have even known of the whole incident until he next time saw Cole possibly whit a black eye.

Genji – I tried to tell you all!

Mei – good to know! And don’t worry, it’s okay.

Tracer – you seriously have a crazy strong scent tho! Could smell it all the way to the kitchen.

Hanzo rubbed his face. He didn’t ever want to leave the room again. Or perhaps he could set up a tent outside and stay the hell away from everyone. He had to start looking up ways to cover his scent better or figure out a way to hide in the walls. The idea that people could smell his weakness made him want to jump into the ocean.

🤠 – Hope you are feeling better. If you want to talk about it, just message me.

Genji – Or literally anyone else in the base -.-

Hanzo frowned he did not want to talk about anything whit anyone. He wanted to get back on blockers and back on roof tops sniping bad people. The night ahead and the sleep it hopefully included could not come fast enough.

Torb – if you have a moment, I can block the one went that leads from your room to the internal cycling. I’ll have to rearrange some airflow pathing in the future, but it’s a short term fix. You wont notice the difference.

Hanzo fixed up his sheets and pushed his luggage into a cabinet to hide all his personal belongings, before answering. Not that he had claimed the room as his space, he was prepared to pack and disappear in a moments notice, but he didn’t want someone come in and notice it. Whatever fixes the engineer could do to make his scent distribution smaller couldn’t happen soon enough.

Hanzo – @Torb yes. Thank you.

Torbjörn quickly answered that he’ll be around in ten minutes. Despite that, Hanzo heard a knock on his door almost instantly. He could immediately tell just from the sound on the door and the height the knock was coming from, that it was not Torbjörn, but someone else whit a metallic hand.

Hanzo shook his shoulders trying to relax, hopefully get some neutral mood and scent in the air, before opening the door. He was not entirely surprised, that it was Genji. But for some reason a small part of him was disappointed. He didn’t want to talk whit Genji. He didn’t want to talk whit anyone.

Genji was wearing a grey hoodie and some fluffy slippers. Hanzo could tell that he was worried. Hanzo could smell it and it worried him what Genji could smell. He wasn’t used to controlling his scent or self monitoring it. Being able to so clearly tell Genji’s mood, made Hanzo tempted to just slam the door shut and keep the communication purely on the communicator.

Genji crossed his arms, not having anywhere better to put them. “Hey, just wanted to check on you.”

Hanzo frowned. There was a bit of guilt in Genji’s scent that did not make sense. Genji had done nothing and was not responsible for anything. If he felt guilt due to the discomfort Hanzo was feeling in overwatch, Hanzo had to do a better job at hiding it. “You could have texted. I’m fine.” He grunted. Unnecessarily angry.

Genji tilted his head a bit. “Is it because I added you to the group chat?”

Hanzo frowned. Was that what Genji felt guilty about? He must regret adding Hanzo there. But it made sense. Propably everyone in the base felt resentment toward Genji for inviting Hanzo in the first place, and now Hanzo was evading their communal space too.

Hanzo didn’t speak up fast enough, when Genji hurriedly rushed. “No one’s mad about that! They don’t mind! Honestly! I toght you might not want to be there, but you are more than welcome to stay!”

Hanzo’s mouth just fell open as he was blinking away the confusion. Was he that transparent? He took a deep breath closing his eyes momentarily trying to center himself. Of course Genji can smell his feelings. He only could come up whit lies and excuses to hopefully deceive his brother. “I don’t really care. My emotions probably smell stronger than they are. So please don’t assume how I feel on the basis of my scent. ” He tried to reason.

Genji nodded along. “Of course, of course, but I can’t just ignore it. But honestly no one minds! I swear once you chat whit everybody you’ll see for yourself!” Genji shrugged. “Anyway, I just came to check that you are okay. I don’t know what happened, but you seriously smelled like someone just died.”

Hanzo nodded also a bit. Trying to avoid looking at the visor. “Yeah, I’ll cheer up a bit. I just don’t like this situation.” He admitted.

Genji rubbed the back of his neck. “I get that… hopefully this passes soon.” he clapped his hands together whit a surprisingly soft thud and totally changed the subject. “Anyway! Now that you are on the group chat, I thought it’s good for you to know… well, I think it’s good for you to hear it from me… the subject today has been quite… well its not usually like that, so… well actually I don’t know, we haven’t used the group chat for long…” Genji rambled fiddling whit his hands circling around the subject. “So the thing is, there are few people who are romantically involved in the base. Everyone knows it, but people mostly only talk about it while drunk or in the group chat… And since we all spend so much time together, the amount we know about each other is quite more than would be considered normal.”

Hanzo listened to Ganji, but started to get nervous about the conclusion. As genji went on. “So since everyone else kind of knows, but no one talks about it, I never talk about it out loud, and I never told you because I didn’t know how to bring it up. It’s not the most common of circumstances but it’s not like I’m ashamed or something, or didn’t want you to know.”

Hanzo couldn’t listen to the rambling any longer. “You want me to know about what?”

If Genji could shrink in size, he would have. Slouching a bit more, rubbing his head like he was trying to cover it from an incoming rock that was about to squash him. Hanzo could smell a sweet sheepish scent that he hadn’t smelled on Genji in years. “So you know my and Zenyata’s rooms are next to one another.”

Hanzo frowned. He did not know what to expect at all. “Yes.”

Genji nodded still fiddling whit his fingers but now straightening his back. “the thing is, there’s actually no wall… between the rooms…” Genji stared at Hanzo expecting a reaction.

Hanzo simply frowned confused. He knew already that Genji had lived in Nepal whit Zenyata. The two were practically inseparable, and Genji had always been the type to have a clique around him and an active social life. “okay, you are roommates. Do others think that’s weird?” he was feeling irritated. He didn’t know how he’d take it if he heard others tease Genji over something that genuinely made him happy. Genji seemed unnecessarily anxious for such an ordinary situation and it made Hanzo’s skin boil to think the others made him feel that way.

Ganji took a deep breath, before practically yelling it out loud the way it came out like the cap of a Champagne bottle. “we are not just roommates!”

Hanzo jumped a bit from the volume of the confession. Perhaps he had been a bit on edge, but smelling the anticipation, stress and worry on Genji hadn’t certainly helped. As Hanzo stared at Genji, thinking of the appropriate words, the scent of worry only grew stronger.

“okay.” he finally managed to say. He was genuinely glad to hear that Genji had someone. But the idea from earlier popped up. Was he whit an omnic because he couldn’t be whit a human? Genji used to be popular, often surrounded by multiple women who found him charming and fun. And Genji loved all the attention. To compare that to the stoic monk just felt off. It didn’t feel like something the Genji he knew would enjoy.

Genji swallowed audibly. “okay?”

Hanzo nodded. “Is it… is it good?” the worry was still present now along whit confusion. Everything about Genji’s demeanor implied that he was ashamed, or embarrassed. To think that they used to share everything and be so close when they were young. Now he was staring at the visor wondering what Genji was thinking, despite also being able to smell it in the air. Was Genji really happy or was he just making due.

Genji tilted his head. “What do you mean?”

Hanzo didn’t feel like elaborating. Torbjörn could stomp there any second now, and he did not want to continue this conversation in his presence. “As in, are you happy?”

Genji stepped forward a dit. “Yes. I’m very happy, clearly. But that is not what’s bothering you is it?”

Hanzo frowned trying to figure out what Genji was detecting from his scent. He couldn’t lie when he didn’t know his current standing and how transparent he was. Luckily it was Genji, and if there was one person on planet he could be honest to, it was Genji. He owed his life to the man. “I was just wondering, if he’s enough. You used to be literally surrounded by suitors after all.”

Genji laid a hand on Hanzo’s sholder. “He is more than enough.” He chuckled. “He is the best thing that has ever happened to me.”

Hanzo bit his lip, nodding. Genji smelled relaxed and happy so he believed him. The moment was cut sort by the sound of approaching footsteps. And from the sound and hurriness it was easy to deduct that the person approaching was Torbjörn. While he was most likely already in the earshot, Hanzo spoke to Genji in a tad lower tone. “I’m very happy to hear that.”

When Hanzo saw the approaching engineer, he saw him for the first time whit his beard out of the usual large braids. It was impressive really, how he didn’t stumble on his own beard. He also smelled him for the first time, and it was surprisingly mild experience. Torbjörn was one of the original agents of overwatch. He fought during the omnic crisis and had many years of experience to humble him. He was also very straight on whit his opinions. Openly distrusting Hanzo, which felt refreshing at times and like a whiplash at other times. However he smelled surprisingly approachable. He was tired, irritated and a tiny bit worried, but mostly he just smelled certain and content. Like this was just one of many days that wasn’t that bad. Dispite the pleasant suprize, Hanzo couldn’t shake the feeling of distrust. Torbjörn was an alpha after all. And even while he had treated Hanzo as an equal, Hanzo would never measure up to one.

Torbjörn was carrying a little foam square, screwdriver, couple of metal plates and a belt whit large pouches on. Other than that, his outfit was very casual. “I’ll be off your hair in a minute.” he promised.

Hanzo moved aside whit genji. “Take your time.” Hanzo mumbled. He did notice that Torbjörn was discreetly but very obviously smelling the air. Hanzo wanted to hide in the small shower and wrap his neck whit a ductape. It felt like mockery. It was embarrassing enough that Torbjörn knew he was a male omega, but to witness it too.

Genji was sort of hovering there. Seeming like he still had something to say after Torbjörn was done, but Hanzo seriously doubted it. “So… Are you cleared for training?”

Hanzo nodded whit a grunt. “Yes, but not for missions.”

Genji just nodded, keeping his eyes on the engineer, who didn’t seem to be in a hurry at all. Genji’s scent was fluctuating between impatience and annoyance, but compared to Torbjörns scent it was very hard to notice. Neither of them expected Torbjörn to join the conversation. “Can’t go sneaking on people if they smell you mile away.” he chuckled.

Hanzo wanted to seriously just walk out. He was not good whit feelings like embarrassment and knowing that everyone in the room could smell it clear as burned bread. Torbjörn even peeked over his soulder entertained undoubtable detecting the little detail. Hanzo knew there was no future in which Torbjörn would ever see him as worthy teamate. His cover was blown, his credibility was lost and his years of training went down the drain. He could shoot thousand bulls eyes in a row, but he’d still be an omega, not fit for battle.

Genji acted like he didn’t hear Torbjörns commet. “What time do you plan to train?”

Hanzo deadpan answered. “Early morning. Hopefully when it’s less crowded.”

Genji frowbed. “The gym or the shooting range?”

“Both. First the gym.”

Torbjörn piped in. “I think Cole and Zarya start around nine.”

Genji hummed in agreement. “Yeah, Tho Cole is not allowed on the shooting range.”

Hanzo simply nodded. He sort of knew this already, but it was good to have a clear schedule. He hoped to avoid Cole during his workout at least. He hoped to avoid everyone during his workout.

Torbjörn hopped when he got away from the vent, now only holding a screwdriver. “All done! The ventilation is bit weaker, but this time of the year, you won’t notice it.” He assured. As he was leaving the room, he off handedly waved goodbye as Hanzo was thanking him. “those Patches don’t do much do they.” He commented whit an airy chuckle. As he walked off.

Hanzo moved to close the door as soon as it was possible, and was seriously surprised, when Genji moved inside his room and didn’t leave. He had the idea that Genji was just there to keep an eye or something.

Hanzo checked his communicator. There were dozen of messages in the group chat. “Is it always this lively?”

Genji shook his head. “we only started using it couple of days ago, so I think people are just exited. Back in the day it used to get busy only during parties and boring evenings or if something happened.” he also took a peek on his communicator.

There was commentary on how the hallway smelled better now, and Lucio and Lena were trying to describe Hanzo’s scent to Mei, who had been in the lab the whole evening.

Lucio – It’s earthy and airy but like sweet. I don’t know what it’s called.

Mei – So it’s a nature scent?

Tracer – it could be a food item. Isn’t that the most common type of scent? It’s really sweet.

Lucio – I think that’s a omega thing. Idk

Hanzo frowned at his communicator. It was an odd feeling to see people openly discussing his greatest secret and shame. He felt like ghost watching beyond the grave as people were peeing on his stone. Genji wrote a message to the chat while Hanzo was trying to come up whit one reason why he should still bare witness to the group chat.

Genji – We actually have the same scent.

Hanzo rolled his eyes when he read it. “We smell totally different.” He said out loud.

Genji agreed. “Yeah, but they are talking about the given names of scents. We are both storm scented right?”

Hanzo grunted. “Technically.” they did smell a lot alike as children, but after presenting, Genji smelled more like the wind part of the storm and Hanzo smelled more like the rain. Everyone gets a name for their scent when they are little, but some scents have multiple names and its arguable whether the same scent is even in there after presenting. Just because they both had the scent of the storm named when they were little, didn’t mean they smell the same. In fact their family doctor might have put the storm down just because of family tradition.

Genji sat down on the small table in the room. “So… Blackouts and suicidal thoughts?”

Hanzo frowned. “What?”

“That’s what you smelled like.” Genji accused.

Hanzo took in a deep breath, and sat down on his bed. “You know if I had plans like that, I would have done it years ago.”

Genji leaned against his palm, tilting his head like a puppy. “Then what were you thinking?”

“I don’t recall.” He lied. He didn’t want to talk about it. But Genji wasn’t happy whit that answer.

“You know you are safe in here.”

Hanzo nodded. In theory he was, but it didn’t mean he was going to let his guard down. He didn’t know the people, and frankly, the people had a good motive to hate him. They were Genji’s friends after all. But objectively, this was one of the safest spaces on earth for him. He didn’t have much room to feel safe after all. After everyone found out he was an omega, it felt somehow less safe.

Hanzo woke up from a fetal position on top of his covers. Looked at Genji sitting on the floor. It was unnaturally fast transition and on and instant Hanzo realized he had experienced a blackout. But it was different. He felt like he was waking up from a nap. He did not expect to see Genji petting his dragon on the floor. “Another blackout?” Genji asked.

“Obviously.” he mumbled feeling irritated. He checket his communicator again. There was again, more chat messages, but he was more interested in the time. He had been out for nearly twenty minutes. “A long one it seems.”

Genji stood up and his dragon disappeared seemingly to the seams of his plating. “yeah. Long enough that your dragons got bored and slipped out! It was nice seeing them, but I gotta go.”

“the dragons? ”

Genji just chuckled. “Yeah, I think they were guarding you.”

Hanzo frowned. The dragons were keeping their usual chatter and buzz under his skin, like nothing had happened. Hanzo was tempted to not believe his brother. “Good to know.”

Genji nodded. “Well, I gotta go now, but if you need anything from the kitchen, let me know. I take it you want to hide in here.”

Hanzo frowned. Technically it could be called hiding, but he liked to think it more as being considerate and not stinking up the whole watchpoint. His frown was enough to get the message across, as Genji started laughing while exiting the room whit a cheery ‘chiao’.

When he was left alone in the room, he locked the door and crawled back under the duvet. He wasn’t feeling tired exactly but the bed did feel amazing now. The fabric felt somehow softer and the two pillows he had felt bigger. He absent mindedly arranged the pillows into an upside v-shape around his shoulders actively convincing himself that it was not a nest. Two pillows don’t make a nest, so he was not nesting even if he rearranged then a bit. After he had a perfectly shaped spot for himself to lay on, he pulled out the communicator. He could still vaguely smell Torbjörn and most noticeably Genji in the room. And he would never admit it out loud, but it was nice to smell his brother. He hadn’t been off blockers for ages. Last time he smelled his brother was when he was still a teenager. Somehow the fact that Genji was alive felt more believable, when his familiar scent was still hanging onto the room. The group chat felt like a cheat code to know what everyone was doing. He used to have to ask Athena anything she could tell. Now he could just listen into the public chatter as if he was part of it.

Babby – The scent naming is not like official or anything is it?

Lucio – I think it doesn’t apply that well to alphas or omegas.

Mei – but I still want to know the name of it.

Mei – Not that it matters. I’m just curious.

Babby – mei, what’s your scent called?

Mei – guess 😎

Zarya – Gotta be a flower.

Babby – Jasmine?

Mei – close! It’s Lavender.

Zarya – I knew it!

Mei - 💕

🤠 – c’mon, Genji and Hanzo smell totally different.

Tracer – Obviously

Babby – they might have smelled the same as kids.

Lucio – what’s the scent called?

Tracer - @Genji

Genji – guess 😎

Lucio – autumn?

🤠 – ocean but without the salt?

Mei – a lake?

🤠 – Why didn’t I think of that…

Babby – Concussion?

Lucio – tf does that smell like?

Babby – I was talking to Cole

Lucio – aaaa lol

Mei - 😂

Genji – LMAO

🤠 – But honestly I’d say Genji smells like forest and Hanzo like wind. As in totally different.

Genji – Wind is close!

Lucio – the natural phenomenon scents are hard to quess.

Babby – A storm?

Genji – Bingo!

🤠 – wait really? How can one smell a storm?

Genji – How does one smell sand?

🤠 – Sun roasted sand 😎🌞

Lucio – who smells like sun roasted sand?

🤠 – me

Lucio – No you don’t lol

🤠 – TF you smell like then?

Lucio – Guess

🤠 – A frog

Lucio – very funny.

Babby – It’s a fruit isn’t it? Citrus?

Lucio – You are scary good at this.

Zarya – Try Guess mine!

Babby – Pine

Zarya – You are good.

Lucio- To be fair, I would have guessed that too.

Dva – Wait what’s Luci’s scent?

Lucio – Orange

Dva – Fruity

Genji – Lol

🤠 - @Genji you whit Hanzo rn?

Genji – yeah

Mei – He already said that he was alright.

🤠 – I know. I was just curious

Echo – I wonder what I would smell like if I was on the ABO spectrum.

🤠 – You’d smell good. That’s for sure.

Echo – Thank you Cole.

Hanzo chuckled along some of the comments. Part of him was curios of how the other smelled like. But much greater part of him didn’t want to be smelled in return although according to the messages, most had already gotten his scent from the hallway. He was hoping to get to know how strong his scent on the hallway now was, but the chatter was circulating around everyone’s given scents. From amongst the chatter, Hanzo learned that agent Rainheart smelled like Coffee of all things and Morrison smelled like ash. He had never heard someone smelling like ash, and he wasn’t certain if it was meant as a joke or if it was serious. He knew he was prone to spot the undertones of scents abnormally well, so it was hard for him to tell what someone’s scent boiled down to. He’d be able to recognize the source well and spot familiar scents from a far. When Torbjörn let out that his scent had been named vanilla, he wouldn’t have guessed that in a million years, but he could detect from the scent alone how well rested he was.

The chatter in the group chat died down when rest of the crew started watching the movie. Only thing that was posted was an image taken by Dva, where Lucio was standing on five bag chairs piled on top of one another. Hanzo however spotted pair of hands supporting Lucio from behind the bag chair pile, making the feat arguably less impressive. From the image Hanzo got a first look of the so called living room. It used to be a break room, equipped whit a kitchen corner and multiple fridges and coffee makers. The room had few long tables on the kitchen side and on the other side surrounding a wide display screen was multiple sofas and piles upon piles of bag beans and floor pillows. From the picture Hanzo learned that the room was bigger than he had assumed. But then again, the watch point was supposed to be used by hundreds, not by dozens at a time. He was not surprised to spot a few posters and scrapes along the painted wall.

When there had been thirty minutes of dead silence in the group chat, Hanzo decided to make a kitchen run. He had some rations left on his luggage that he originally planed on tapping into. However, he didn’t know a better time to go to the kitchen than when literally everyone else was occupied in the same room. His rations wouldn’t last forever anyway and in case he got kicked out for smelling too strong, he needed the bit he had to survive trough the thick surrounding forest to the nearest town. Hanzo played it safe, and decided to go trough a longer route, staying as far away from the living room as architecturally possible. Genji had mentioned something about not sneaking, but stomping around felt counterproductive to his mission, so he ended up rushing in his usual silent demeanor.

The moment he left his room, he hit an invisible wall of unrecognizable scents. It was tad overwhelming, how much of it was Alpha scented, but that shouldn’t surprise Hanzo too much. Mostly he was surprised how pleasant the scents were. He tried to concentrate on Genji’s scent whenever he spotted it on the hallways but there was much more stonger scent that he felt like he had smelled before, but couldn’t place. Only scents he had properly smelled before were Genjis, Torbjörns and Zieglers during his heat in the inpharmy. He walked along the unlit hallways in hurried but mute steps. He didn’t know for certain that the movie enjoyers wouldn’t have a break at some point, so he tried to hurry.

When he reached the cafeteria, his brain was spinning from the amount of new scents he was smelling and his reaction to another person occupying the space came a tad delayed. When he smelled him however, the whole ash scent started to make sense. Morrison’s scent had an odd profile. Like it was decaying or being filtered. It was still plenty strong, and clearly alpha by character, but it was like the outline of the scent had been blurred by something. When their eyes met, Hanzo simply gave a small nod as a greeting, that Morrison didn’t return. He was eating a sandwich and seemingly reading three documents while writing on a third, looking busy and occupied.

Hanzo made a light speed decision to still go trough whit his plan, as to not seem laughably pathetic. Morrison kept his eyes on the documents so Hanzo took that as a sign that he didn’t need to worry about having to socialize whit the captain. He hoped his internal monologue of ‘I can do this’, ‘I’ve done this before’, ‘I know what I’m doing’ would overpower all the negative feelings the moment gave him. He knew Morrison was able to smell him for the first time, but it wasn’t like he was actually holding onto the belief that he’d ever be part of a mission in the future. The fact that he was an omega was already apparent to the captain, had he smelled it for himself or not. He propably smelled it already so the ship had long sailed, now he had to just concentrate on small steps, like getting food from the kitchen before dying of embarrassment.

He marched into the kitchen and hurriedly gathered some food to last him a few days so he didn’t have to do this trip in a near future again. Originally he had planned on hoarding as much as he can carry, but he felt awkward walking past Morrison like that. He could smell clearly signs of irritation and worry in the older soldier. There were many bubbling feelings that he had trouble naming due to the weird quality of Morrisons scent.

“you have a problem?”

Hanzo heard Morrison clearly despite being in the kitchen side. There was surprisingly little spite in his scent despite the tone. Hanzo opted to stay official whit a clear. “No sir.” as he sped up his haul.

Hanzo heard the chair being pushed away from the table as Morrison stood up. He understood that it was his sign to get lost. He could only imagine how distracting his stench was in the kitchen. The faster he left the less he would stain the air. He had gathered few jars of pickled items and cans whit high protein content. He had tried to pic the flavors that didn’t seem to be in high demand. Things like liver based stew and beans.

“If you are THAT hungry, sit down and freaking eat.” Morrison nearly growled.

Hanzo felt like deer on a headlights. He had evidently taken too much. He kept his eyes on the grumpy man standing in the doorway to the kitchen hands crossed, while putting few cans discreetly back. Morrison smelled more irritated and impatient now, but not angry or hostile. Perhaps Hanzo’s omega scent was tricking Morrison to think he was not a threat.

Morrison grunted whit an exaggerated eyeroll. “There’s leftover enchelladas in the fridge. EAT.”

Hanzo frowned. That was a command and the tone implied Morrison was using his alpha voice. Hanzo had not expected it, but perhaps he should have. It was the easiest way to control an omega by an alpha. Unlucky for Morrison, it didn’t really work on Hanzo. It was the first trait beaten out of him as a kid. He wasn’t even certain if that had been an alpha command but it still pissed him off. “I’m good.” he mumbled whit a frown. And he could smell clearly that Morrison did not like that answer. That didn’t really bother Hanzo, he knew to expect it. Granted he was surprised how long it took for him to smell the hate coming from Morrison.

There was a dark laugh erupting from the old sholder who was still wearing his usual battle suit. “Oh I wasn’t asking if it pleases your highness!” he stated marching to the kitchen and pulling out a tray covered with foil. Whit moves that looked similar to the way Hanzo had seen Morrison angrily reload his gun on the field as he grabbed a plate, put two enchelladas on it and slammed it to a microwave. “Get a fork and sit down! “

Hanzo fought the urge to come up whit a made up allergy or simply make a run for it. He doubted Morrison would go as far as to tackle him in the cafeteria, but then again, he didn’t want to test the mans patience. He smelled irritated to a degree that was seriously worrying to Hanzo. Even in his wobbly weird scent it rang clear and it was obviously Hanzo’s doing. He simply glared at his commanding officer as a protest, but followed the order. Grapping a fork and a knife, and derudgedly stomping into the kitchen. For some weird reason he felt like a moody kid doing all he could to signal his displeasure only to get ignored by his elders. Morrison was still his commanding officer for the time being, since technically he was still a part of overwatch. Useless part but still.

He chose a seat far away from Morrison but close to the door, and thanked for the warm plate Morrison handed him out of curtesy but whit a tone that could cut. He tried to eat as fast as he could, but for some reason Morrison had piled a meal for two on his plate.

Hanzo was preoccupied by the task of eating fast and quiet, so when the scent surrounding him shifted, he nearly let the shock show on his face. Morrison was happy. Hanzo tried to discreetly peek at the man sitting far away from him. The irritation was still there like a residue, but it was overshadowed whit calm and content. Hanzo had to wonder if he’d just swallowed poison after all. He could have never guessed that the mood had shifted from expression alone. Morrison was still occupied by the multiple screens of paperwork and his sandwich, nothing indicating that the man was happy, but it was clear as day in his blurry scent. It took way too long for Hanzo to remember that Morrison was also under the long term effects of the neuro toxin. The whole ‘feeding Hanzo’ action was probably in his mind registered as ‘feeding an omega’. Hanzo wondered if Morrison would come to regret in the future wasting some good encelladas on a useless male omega.

Hanzo probably broke some personal record by the amount he ate in the speed he did it, but the enchelladas did taste good. He avoided eye contact and without a word he cleaned after himself and fled the cafeteria. He decided to monitor his heartrate in near future and prepare to puke and seek for antidote in case it was an assassination attempt, but nothing in Morrison’s scent had indicated maliciousness. Then again, his scent was clearly altered by something, so Hanzo couldn’t know for sure. He didn’t think there was a reason for Morrison to kill him, but then again, there wasn’t a reason for him to keep him alive let alone feed him either. He did manage to grab some cans and jars on his way out, but not nearly as much as he had planned. When Hanzo made it to the hallway, he tried his best to not straight out sprint to his room. He knew he was probably going to have a blackout soon, and he didn’t want to wake up from the hallway floor. He got slightly startled by a bing from his communicator, but it only reminded him to mute it. Or at least mute the group chat.

Once he was in his room, he felt like a sack of rocks as he fell to his bed. He couldn’t remember the last time he felt so uncomfortably stuffed. Usually taking his time to eat heavy meals to avoid lapses in his defense.

🤠 – pic or it didn’t happen.

An another image was posted on the group chat from the living room. It was grainy but clear enough to recognize the people in it. In the picture doctor Ziegler had clearly fallen asleep against Phareha. Phareha had a thick handmade sweater jacket, that was baggy enough to wrap around the sleeping Ziegler too. Phareha was grinning at the camera like he’d just managed to trick someone to sit on a whoopee cushion.

76- Let her sleep you weirdo

🤠 – feeling lonely?

76- I’ve had company

🤠 – Athena doesn’t count.

🤠 – No offence.

76 – hey brainiac, if I say I was whit someone and it’s not Athena or anyone watching a movie…

🤠 – you are stupid and lonely

Ana – Athena, ban Cole from group chat please.

[🤠 is MUTEED for 00:00:00:00:10:00 - Athena]

[Hanzo has LEFT the chat]

Hanzo didn’t want to read the rest. He left the group chat, knowing that he should have done it long before. If he hung onto the group it would just feel worse once he had to leave. This way he didn’t need to figure out how to mute it either. He pulled the covers up to his ears, hoping it would block his scent from the world, knowing how bitter it must be. But it was what he deserved for clinging onto something not meant for someone like him for so long. He wasn’t someone like Torbjörn, who worked hard to build things, he only knew how to destroy. He wasn’t someone like Morrison who everyone trusted, he was a kin slayer. He wasn’t someone like Winston who has created an army to make world a better place, he had destroyed an imperium that had thrived for generations. He wondered why he had agreed to even return to the watch point in the first place. No matter if his blackouts got cured, he’d still be an omega. He had been on blockers for so long, at some point he had managed to forget that about himself.

Hanzo spend the whole night staring at the sealing, hoping that when he woke up, he’d feel better.

Hanzo woke up to a message on his communicator. It was from Ziegler, so he picked it up before his eyes were adjusted to the light. He had to squint to be able to read the text.

Angela Ziegler – Do you have time today for a second round of tests? Sorry I forgot to message you earlier. If you have eaten already, we’ll have to start later in the evening, other vice, come to the medbay right away.

Hanzo frowned re reading the message and then checking the time. It was eight in the morning. He could have sworn he had set an alarm for six to get to the gym but apparently not. He grunted and stretched to get his blood flowing, accidentally kicking something under the duvet. Hanzo recognized the scaled skin against his feet, and slowly lifted the sheet to glare at the culprit. “Ryo… “ He scolded. The dragon didn’t seem sorry at all, as it rubbed its sleepy face against the sheet. After lifting his sheet more, he spotted the other one too, rolled partly in between the mattress and the wall. “What are you doing?” He wondered out loud.

The dragons moved slowly, as if they didn’t want to return to Hanzo and he couldn’t really blame them. It had been so long since he could sleep in such piece as to let the dragons rest too. He wasn’t in safety exactly anymore, but he wasn’t in danger either. No one in the watch point was taking him seriously after all. He was a joke that would soon become stale and then forgotten.

He rubbed his eyes quickly, hoping for a speedy wakeup, but he never got up as fast when he was off his blockers. He was the easiest target known to man kind. He answered to Ziegler a simple quick text.

Hanzo – I can come right away.

And then dragging himself off the bed. The dragons protested, and he was tempted to leave then behind. He quickly changed his patches despite knowing that it won’t do much, and pulled on a new long neck polo shirt. When he was leaving, the Dragons cried and hurried to not be left behind. Hanzo looked the pathetic display feeling responsible, but allowed the dragons to return to him. Seeing how the mighty dragons had become reliant on someone like him never ceased to bother him. He wondered how the twin dragons would behave if they got bound to an alpha Shimada. Someone like Genji.

In the Hallway, he was hit whit a strong scent of a close by alpha. If it was any scent other than the partly familiar that was stealing his attention amongst all the other scents, he would have made a b line in hopes of avoiding the source. There was a catchy summer tune coming from a room close to the exit. The door was open, and Hanzo tried to rack his brain to remember who’s room was that.

“I have twenty four bullets to my name“ Cole sang along the radio in half mumble, before the beat picked up.

Hanzo fought the urge to peek, when he passed the room, but at least now he knew what sun roasted sand smelled like, and that Cole was a morning person.

He momentarily forgot that he himself smelled like a beacon, so of course Cole noticed him. “Oi! Hanzo, good morning.”

Hanzo stopped by the door and nodded towards Cole. “Good morning.” he had expected to see a black eye, but Cole looked fine.

Cole was fiddling whit his communicator. “Hey why’d you leave the group chat? It wasn’t because of something I said was it?” He looked like he was showing a broken toy in his hands feeling responsible.

Hanzo didn’t expect Cole to feel upset about it. But then again, Cole was in sick leave for a reason. “I overstayed my welcome. It had nothing to do whit your argument whit Captain Morrison.” Hanzo assured.

Cole wasn’t happy whit that answer. His scent was filled whit displeasure and failure. “You are still welcome! I can add you back to the group chat. It’s not a ‘group chat for everyone’ if everyone’s not in there.” he reasoned.

Hanzo shook his head. “Please don’t. I need to go, doctor is expecting me.” he excused himself and walked off. He heard Cole yell after him how he’d like to chat more, when Hanzo had time, but Hanzo didn’t stop to answer him.

Hanzo felt lucky that he didn’t stumble into anyone else on his way to the med bay, but then again, he would not be surprised if he was being avoided. He was easy enough to spot after all.

When he made it to med bay Ziegler was already in the room whit the neuro scans and whit minimal fanfare, she hooked Hanzo up to the scanners. Hanzo didn’t complain about the lack of social interaction between them. Angela promised to talk more after the scans, which Hanzo was not exactly exited about. It was a bit distracting how clearly the doctor smelled sexually satisfied. Something Hanzo would hate others smelling on him. Hanzo made an educated guess that Angela had spend the night whit Phareha since according to Cole, she was on blockers and unable to leave a scent behind. Angela smelled well rested too.

“Same thing as before, when you experience a blackout, say out loud how long it was and try to stay awake. I’ll check on you in two hours.”

And then Hanzo was left alone whit the clock again. He was hoping after this scan he’d be done and could go back on blockers, but it wasn’t really realistic. Unless a miracle cure suddenly appeared.

When he experienced his first blackout during the scan, he instantly noticed the difference. When he was on blockers, time would just skip forward in a blink. Now he woke up after a time skip. Like he’d just fallen asleep suddenly. His dragons also had a habit of jumping out of his skin when it happened now. It was sort of reasuring and stressful at the same time. On the test room the slab he was laying on was not big enough for the dragons to fit, so they were circling the space, looking and sniffing at all the machinery.

While Hanzo used the dragon spirits as weapons, the dragons themselves could be compared to intelligent dogs. Like something out of kids films. They clearly understood multiple languages whit no issue, but couldn’t speak in any. Instead retorting to growling, whining or huffing as a means of communication. The dragons themselves also weren’t floaty but earth bound, unlike their summoned spirits. Hanzo also had less control over them. In their ghostly spirit form, Hanzo could control how much space they occupied and how they moved. The dragons on their selves were the size of a extra long wolf and stubborn and unpredictable like one. Sure they sometimes followed commands well, but never when it mattered. They took up a lot of space, but they maneuvered their long bodies well. Still Hanzo never let them out on purpose. The dragon spirits could not take damage, the dragons themselves could and whatever damage Hanzo took, never transferred to the dragons. So it was dangerous to have them out.

Hanzo tried to wave his hand to get the dragons attention. He knew the audio in the room was recorded, so he tried to call the dragons back without leaving evidence. The dragons either ignored him or couldn’t see him, so he decided to use his one allowed non suspicious voice line to get their attention. “Five minutes.” He said whit a stern voice, that did alarm the dragons. Looking embarrassed of being caught they hurried back to Hanzo.

After next blackout, he wasn’t as fortunate. Even after saying the time twice, the dragons were skitting around the room like misbehaving kids. Hanzo was boiling with anger and frustration. He couldn’t really just jump up and get the dragons himself like he’d usually do. He had a suspicion that the dragons knew Hanzo couldn’t move much. He was starting to feel hungry too, and there wasn’t much time left till the test period would end. Just when he was looking for something to throw at the dragons, he heart Zieglers voice in the speakers.

“There’s nothing in the room for the dragons to hurt themselves whit. Just relax.”

Hanzo froze. He hadn’t considered there being a camera in the room. He tried to look calm, despite not feeling like it. The doctor could see the dragons and they were acting like idiots. Tracing seams on the panels whit their tongues and blinking along some flashing buttons entertaining themselves.

When the test period was over he heard Ziegler speak over the speaker again. “Okay, feel free to take of the attachments, but please don’t move the machine. Sorry it’s not very professional of me to make you do it yourself. How are your dragons so big by the way? Like… Soba can fit in my lap, what have you been feeding to yours?” By her tone, it was apparent that she was joking, but Hanzo didn’t fail to notice that Ziegler had revealed not only that he had seen Genji’s dragon, but that she knew its name.

Hanzo did not answer the comments. He got up from the table, grabbed the dragons tad unnecessarily hard and forced then to return to him. Despite his ruff handling, the dragons didn’t whine. It was as if they knew they deserved it. After it was just Hanzo in the room, Ziegler entered whit a tablet in hand and a blanket. “Thank you. Do you need a break or can you continue to the sleeping section?”

“I’m good.” Hanzo assured while returning back to the slab, but Ziegler stopped him.

“Let me quickly just…” She started, and whit few button presses, the slab got extended to twice the with it was. “Okay, hop on.” She said whit an unnecessary cheery tone.

Hanzo wanted the ground to swallow him. He knew on the battlefield when he called upon the dragon spirits it was a impressive showcase of strength. The dragons themselves however were embarrassing. Like a magician being caught to be using some simple tool instead of skill and fast fingers. He hated it.

Ziegler attached Hanzo back onto the machines. “Wait are you embarrassed?” She whispered whit a scandalous tone.

Hanzo frowned and perhaps said unnecessarily angrily: “can’t you smell it?” since it was Hanzo’s own fault. He didn’t have a right to be angry at Ziegler but his temper got the better of him.

The doctor looked surprised. “No, I can Just smell that you are upset.” She admitted. “I don’t think it’s possible to smell embarrassment… but anyway, there’s no reason to feel embarrassed! ”

Hanzo frowned. That was a weird thing for the doctor to lie about. Hanzo didn’t like that. If Ziegler wanted to make a fool out of someone, it wasn’t Hanzo. Hanzo was doing a fine job of that on his own. “Don’t try to patronize me. I have a nose.” He growled, trying to remind himself that the doctor hadn’t really done anything wrong.

Ziegler swept a stray hair off her face behind her ear. “Are you telling me you can tell from scent when someone’s embarrassed?”

Hanzo rolled his eyes. “Everyone can.” he crossed his arms, feeling silly on the extra wide slab.

Ziegler just blinked like he had heard something stupid. “Okay… so… the same thing as last time. I’ll play some white noise, try to relax, and it’s okay if you can’t fall asleep”

Hanzo did the most he could to soothe his frustration by angrily unfolding the blanket over him and giving an affirmative as the doctor was leaving the room. She switched off the lights before shutting the door behind her. Hanzo’s frustration lingered a while, not letting him fall asleep as fast as the last time. But eventually he had sub come to it, because he woke up to the lights switching on in the room. He was sleepy and groggy and enwrapped by two dragons. He expected to hear Ziegler’s voice in the stereo again, but instead he heard the door slowly opening and the blonde doctor peek in.

“can I come in?” She whispered, keeping her eyes clearly on the two dragons wrapped along Hanzo’s sides under the blanket. She smelled exited and scared at the same time.

The dragons reacted by sliding away from the door, but staying on Hanzo’s side. They were putting Hanzo between them and the new scary thing. It was a pathetic display and Hanzo didn’t have any excuses for it. His dragons were shy wimps. “They are more scared of you than you are of them.” he grunted. First he had lost his own credibility and now the dragons too. He must be a laughing stock on the group chat now.

Angela slowly walked to the bedside. The dragons were simultaneously wrapping themselves into tighter and tighter roll and one of them started to growl in low tone when Ziegler was close enough to touch Hanzo. “I did some research while you were asleep. Apparently it’s possible to differentiate between embarrassment and some other emotions. It’s not really part of my field of study, but exiting to learn regardless. I didn’t know the Emotion Potency meter was based on human anatomy!”

Hanzo looked up at Ziegler frowning. “Are you saying you can’t?” He was feeling like he was being pranked.

Ziegler shook his head. “I don’t know anyone who can. It’s apparently omega only thing, but most omegas can’t do it either.” She explained.

The dragons calmed down and were simply monitoring the doctor from an arms reach. They were clearly prepared to string up and attack, if need be, but they were calm so it was mostly just to appear scary. Ziegler obviously didn’t realize it. She slowly reached to detach the sensors from Hanzo and move the machine. If she wasn’t moving extremely slow, Hanzo would have grabbed the dragons just to be sure they wouldn’t hurt the doctor.

Ziegler continued. “Like all omegas can smell more than the others in abo spectrum, but it doesn’t include being able to differebsiate between feelings. May I ask, How much can you smell?”

Hanzo frowned but by now it could be just called his regular expression. Nothing in Zieglers demeanor or scent indicated that he was lying, yet what she was saying didn’t make any sense. “I don’t know.” Hanzo decided to answer. He didn’t know how to measure smell so it was kind of true.

Ziegler leaned her hip against the side of the table and crossed her arms. “Well what do I smell like? “

It took Hanzo a long while to realize Ziegler actually wanted an answer. He sat up but was still not at head level whit the doctor. “Well… “ He wondered how much would be appropriate to reveal, but then again he was talking to a doctor who he wasn’t supposed to lie to and who knew more about Hanzo’s anatomy than Hanzo would ever learn. “I can smell you are exited about the dragons, and also scared of them. You are a bit hungry and stressed but you are having a good day and you had a… very good last night.” He looked away to face the dragons. “And now you are flustered and embarrassed.” he noticed. Then he smelled Ziegler getting a bit freaked out by Hanzo’s comment but he decided not to say that out loud. He had made his point already

When Hanzo looked up at Ziegler, She was staring back whit round eyes. “Would you be open to going against an EP-meter? I’d be curious to compare the results.”

Hanzo called the dragons back, and faced Ziegler properly again. “I think I have enough tests as is.” he mumbled. He knew what an EP-meter was. He used to have one when he was younger to help him name the feelings he smelled, but the equipment he had probably would not measure to the modern meters used by medical professionals. The simple EP-meters that were cheap and easy to come by were toys and only gave few top emotions and they didn’t really work if there was multiple people in the room.

“Oh yeah, I need to talk whit you about your results. I’m gonna have a meeting with all abo members on base today to go trough some ground rules, but I can go over some of it whit you. Your tests have proven very useful for recognizing, how the toxin works. Our prior understanding was, that it blocks messages from going trough, but it actually just makes messages in the brain skip steps thus making the brain react to stimuli in new ways. So instead of long term chemical imbalance of the brain, it’s more like classic rewiring, where the brain learns to behave in a new way.”

Hanzo nodded in understanding. “So will staying off blockers still be required?”

“Yes. It’s like how you have to stay off blockers a few months after presenting, same applies here. But on top of that you who have been affected by the neuro toxin need to re teach your brain by being in the situations where a faulty reaction happens. In your case, you need to get into those situations, where your brain shuts down and figure out to teach it to not do that.”

Hanzo frowned. “How?”

“Well we need to look into possible methods, but on paper your sleepiness is the result of your brain reacting to natural dopamine production cycle by making you fall asleep. It also effects your serotonin distribution but dopamine plays a much larger part. We need to start testing what triggers your brain into putting you asleep, and from there we can create practices for you to rewire your brain. It sounds complicated, but it’s simple once we narrow the causes down.” the doctor explained. “I’ll send these test results to a specialist on the field. Don’t worry your name or other info will not be included.”

Hanzo didn’t like the sound of that regardless. “You can’t analyze the results?”

Angela half sat on the slab and crossed her arms. Hanzo was bit bothered by the casual closeness. In his mind, the doctor would never take a seat by his side if he was an alpha, or even a beta. “If you have a brain aneurism or internal bleeding in your brain, I’m your girl, but for analyzing neuro chemicals from the perspective of abo gender specific normalcy, you need Doctor Fen. He’s actually a male omega too.”

Hanzo felt insulted. “So my tests can only be read by another male omega?”

Angela rolled her eyes oddly good naturedly. “Well when the Male omega also happens to be the leading professor on ABO neurocalculus, then yes?”

Hanzo had never heard the term before. “Neurocalculus?”

Angela nodded. “The study of ABO synched neurochemistry. They study changes in brain chemistry caused by external triggers. Like, Social phenomenon’s. ” Ziegler shrugged.

Hanzo had never heard of such a field but it sounded niche. He hopped off the slab, before remembering that he last time had a hour of testing after the sleep test. “I see. “ He said under his breath.

Ziegler collapsed the bed back to the smaller size. “We’ll do this again tomorrow. On the meantime, try to be normally. I can’t yet tell you what will help, but I do know that avoiding social situations is counterproductive.”

Hanzo answered instantly in defense. “I’m not avoiding anyone.” If he was actively avoiding people, He would be camping in some windy corner instead of staying inside the watch point.

Ziegler squinted now. “So why’d you leave the group chat?”

Hanzo avoided eye contact till he reached the door, but then seaced when he heard the comment. “it was just…” Hanzo was racking his brain trying to come up whit a noble reason. A way to seem more considerate than just avoidant. “It was distracting.” He lied.

Angela hummed, clearly not believing him. He could smell it in the air too. “You know you can mute the chat. For me, it only bings when someone mentions me.”

Hanzo held the cold stare. “I didn’t know that.” he lied.

“I’ll show you!” Ziegler said all cheery, and pulled out her communicator from the deep white coat pocket. Hanzo opened his mouth to disagree or come clean, but ended up just mutely view the demonstration Ziegler gave her. And whiteout asking, she added Hanzo back to the group chat, so he can try mute it himself. Hanzo easily muted the chat himself and could have done it without the demonstration. When Hanzo left the med bay, he was already racking his brains for a good new reason to leave the group chat.

Over-WatchParty groupchat [/]

Winston – Good now I can just @everyone to reach you all again!

Tracer – really? You just binged us all to say that?

Babby – ok

Lucio – and I got banned from useg the everyone for misusing it!?

Winston – Oh sorry, I didn’t mean to… well might as well now say that we have a meeting about the effected later this evening.

🤠 – mandatory?

Winston – for everyone on the abo spectrum, yes.

Phareha – what’s happening?

Winston – we’ll have a meeting today.

Ana – when?

Winston - @everyone sorry the previous ping was accident. This is not. A meeting at 16:00 in the living room. Everyone is welcome, but it’s mandatory for everyone in the abo spectrum. The topic of the meeting is overview of the situation whit ‘the effected’ and the future regarding it. See you then.

🤠 - @zarya can we skip the evening workout?

Zarya – no. We’ll start at 13

🤠 – : c

Phareha – rip Cole

Hanzo decided to have a quick workout too before the meeting. But first he needed to fact check something the doctor said. He hurried to his room to do some web searching. He had always believed that anyone can read his mood without issue due to his strong scent. Even if someone couldn’t detect all emotions, Hanzo’s scent was strong enough to detect a lot more than from a regular person after all.

In his room, he experienced a blackout after sitting down on his bed. It was only five minutes, but as a result his dragons were hanging out again. Hanzo didn’t bother to call them back, since they were wrapped around him quite comfortably. He pulled out the tablet again, and continued his searches. The Dragons hors proved to be a quite nifty tablet holder too.

His searches resulted in a down spiral of his whole world being turned upside down, so the added comfort from the cuddly dragons didn’t go to waste. The more he found out about typical limitations of emotion detection made him wonder how he hadn’t realized it on his own. Then again he was not on blockers only during his childhood and some odd teenage years when he spend the days studying and training and not exactly socializing except whit Genji. It turned out that most could only tell if someone was feeling very good, very bad, very bregnant or in heat. Hanzo had always assumed people would be able to tell when someone was smelling horny or aggressive, but those were apparently something only omegas could detect. And even those only in their extremes. The fact that some could detect more emotions, was mostly mentioned only as a side note as it was so rare. One paper even called it a rumor that some can tell more emotions from scent or recognize multiple.

Hanzo put the tablet down after reading the sentence “It would be intrusive if someone could tell apart different levels of affection for an example.” He had never considered himself as intrusive, but that hit the nail in the head. His scent was strong enough to take over any space and on top of that, he abused his ability to smell emotions. He couldn’t wait to get back on blockers again and return back to some sense of normalcy. Just when he thought he couldn’t find more parts of him that needed to change, he was hit whit a new revelation.

Then again, it could be useful. He had to start planning his next move after getting kicked out of Overwatch, and if he just figured out to dampen his own scent, he could use his robust smell to his advantage. Now he just had to figure out whether it was something he had to reveal while on overwatch. In general, he thought it was better the less features and flaws were known about himself, but since Ziegler now knew, it would come off as manipulative and intrusive to not tell. He was trying to think how to handle it, when he remembered Mei. She could make the decision for him.

Mei was the lone beta of the team, so she was the sole point of middle ground. On top of that Mei was adamant on being kind to Hanzo, giving the illusion of being friends whit him. Hanzo knew that wouldn’t be the case if she knew about his past, but as it stood, he could get the packs option and feeling on the matter from Mei, without revealing it to everyone. Other option would be Cole, but he already knew his opinions were skewed to accommodate due to the effects of the neuro toxin.

He tabbed into his own food source for a quick meal, while crafting a message to Mei. He knew Mei was busier now, they hadn’t even messaged much or shared pictures in weeks due to her schedule. He hadn’t even given the hard candies he bought as souvenirs to her yet.

Hanzo – Hi. I know you are busy, so don’t feel inclined to entertain me, but I was hoping to get a second opinion on a quite personal matter. I’ve recently found out something about myself and I’m not sure how private I should be about it. Let me know if you have time.

Hanzo dropped the communicator on the bed, where the dragons were still curled to just monitor Hanzo as he started to prep for a workout. He switched his patches and switched into a technical undershirt whit a high collar. He put a baggy t shirt on top of it since it was unnecessarily skintight and not really made of much material. He was certain in bright lighting the undershirt would be see trough. Then he put on his usual high waist altered hakama pants that accommodated for his legs or lack there of. When he was filling his water bottle in the tad too narrow bathroom, he heard a bing on his communicator. To his delight it was Mei.

Mei – absolutely! I have some calculations running now so if you can come to lab right now, I can make some tea.

Hanzo – okay. I’ll be there in a minute.

He pulled a hoodie over his training getup and it appeared the dragons were aware of the situation, since they hurriedly returned to him without him even needing to say anything. If only they had been so considerate in the med bay.

Hanzo had seen the lab only during his first tour, but it was easy to locate in the base, since it was in a separate building. There were routes to get to the lab from inside too, but the outside route was faster. Hanzo was mentally preparing himself for Winston to be there too, since that often was the case according to Athena, but when he reached the lab, it was only Mei in the space. The lab had a very high ceiling and a balcony style second floor. There was two super computers in the far corner and all sort of equipment Hanzo couldn’t even guess what they were used for. Mei had safety goggles lifted to rest on her messy hair and she was wearing a comfy outfit topped whit a stained lab coat. The stains appeared to be coffee stains. Hanzo could smell that the woman was tired, feeling accomplished and stressed and slightly nervous. Overall she was happy and happy to see Hanzo but surprised by his scent. Hanzo couldn’t blame her. He talked in mandarin, knowing that Mei liked to talk in it whenever she got the change. “I’m not sure if I got the right candy.” He admitted, while handing the box to Mei who was delighted by it.

“You remembered!” She grabbed the box and her scent bloomed whit happiness and nostalgia. “Thank you! How have you been?”

Hanzo sat down on a saddle stool Mei pointed for him to sit on. She poured hot water on a mug whit some science pun on it and handed him a box of different tea options. She already had a cup of tea for herself. Hanzo decided to tell Mei about the blackouts to avoid giving her a heart attack if Hanzo experienced one in her presence. Although if they continued to be as regular, it was unlikely. “I’ve been dealing whit narcolepsy like symptoms from the neuro toxin and am not cleared for missions. Other than that, I’m fine. Don’t feel alarmed, if I suddenly fall asleep.” He explained.

Mei looked and smelled worried. “That’s horrible! I’ve been working here for the past… eight days, fueled by caffeine.”

Hanzo smiled sympathetic. “Well if you suddenly fall asleep too, I won’t freak out.”

Mei laughed. “We’d have a spontaneous nap together!”

Hanzo laughed too. The mental image cracking him up while he picked a lemon tea option from the selection. “Hope it doesn’t come to that. This room doesn’t seem like an ideal resting place.”

Mei smiled. “You’d be surprised.” She giggled. “But you had something you wanted to talk about.”

Hanzo took a testing sip of the hot water soon to taste like tea to give himself a little pause. “Yes. In fact. I just found out that I have a much more keen sense of smell than would be considered normal.” he jumped straight to the point.

Mei was blinking confused and she smelled mildly disappointed. “Sense of smell?”

Hanzo nodded, putting the cup back down on the table carefully. “Yes. My whole life I’ve been thinking everyone can smell emotions in scents, only to learn today, that that’s not the case.” He explained.

Mei smelled more disappointed by the minute but now also confused. “Oh.”

Hanzo bit his lip. “You were expecting something else…”

Mei blushed and in his scent too, it was apparent she was embarrassed and nervous. “Well! Your message was so wage… I didn’t know what to think.” she lied.

Hanzo took another sip, that now had a pleasant lemon taste. “Like what?” he was curious.

Mei looked at Hanzo from behind a lifted tea cup. “I thought you might have a crush on someone.” She admitted in whispered.

Hanzo rolled his eyes. “Preposterous. ”he scoffed. “If I had a crush on someone, I wouldn’t tell anyone.” he put emphasis on the last word and chuckled a bit to keep the spirit positive. He didn’t wish to insult Mei after all.

Mei pouted. “Damn… Soo you were just wondering if you should make it public knowledge that you have a good sense of smell? I don’t see why not.” She wondered. There was accents of confusion in her scent.

Hanzo shrugged. “Well I think some would find it invasive. Wanting to keep their feelings private.”

Mei frowned. “Well, everyone can smell some of it, so it’s not exactly private. Just because you can smell a little more shouldn’t be that invasive. More like… attentive, right. I mean, don’t get me wrong, but isn’t it like common knowledge that omegas have a better sense on the matter anyway?”

Hanzo took a deep breath. Mei was clearly not grasping the whole picture, and Hanzo was beginning to regret bringing it up. “Well, I think when people for an example, have sex, they don’t want others knowing about it without their… I don’t know… awareness… permission… “

Mei blinked looking puzzled. “You can smell if someone had sex?”

He decided to rip the whole band aid at once. “When they last ate, how well rested they are, if they are feeling embarrassed, accomplished, nervous, scared or jealous, yes.” He listed. “Until today, I tought that was the case for everyone. “ He admitted.

Mei’s jaw dropped. “Wait, hold on a minute, do you have like a internal EP meter? Is that what you’re saying?”

Hanzo nodded. “apparently the tool is based on human anatomy.” He knew to tell. “It’s quite rare. I just don’t know if it’s something I need to be open about or if it would just make for an awkward air.”

Mei lifted a hand to her chin, thinking. Her gaze looked out the window to the ocean surrounding the watch point. “I think…” He began. “I think it would be polite to let people know that you can smell their emotions. Although it might result in some more private people to feel awkward around you, I think they’d agree that they rather know about it.”

Hanzo nodded along. It made sense. In the best case scenario, people would avoid him if he told about it. And if he didn’t tell, it was always possible that they’d figure it out and feel betrayed. He took a long sip of his tea thinking. Mei looked at him clearly mind running a mile a minute.

“Hanzo… “

“huh? “

“Would you… would you be able to tell if someone had a crush on you?”

Hanzo simply nodded.

“wait, what, really?!!”

Hanzo chuckled. “I can also tell when they start crushing on someone else.” He chuckled. “I’m starting to suspect you are what they call a romantic, Mei-Ling.”

Mei blushed whit a cheery giggle. “Perhaps.” She admitted. “Boy, that must be nice! Knowing how people feel about you.”

Mei looked oddly saddened, but she smelled jealous. Hanzo had not expected it, but it made sense in retrospect. Mei wasn’t the most confident person in the team, although she had reason to be. Hanzo scoffed. “Trust me, it's not like that. I can’t wait to get back on blockers. “

Mei looked at Hanzo considering. “Wait, so till today, you have thought everyone can do that?”

“yes”

Her eyebrows rose. “Well… that explains.”

Hanzo quirked a brow.

Mei shrugged. “Well, I got the feeling you don’t like people commenting on your scent on the group chat.”

Hanzo nodded. It was true, he did not enjoy it when his flaws were openly discussed.

“Were you thinking they were discussing your feelings?”

Hanzo frowned. He didn’t really follow the train of thought there.

Mei put down her mug to gesture whit her hands while explaining. “Like… you don’t like people smelling you, because you think they can smell your emotions. But now that you know it’s not the case, would it bother you as much, if someone was to comment on your scent”

Hanzo thought about it, but he found it unlikely. He didn’t really like people talking about his secondary gender, the scent was a big part of it. He’d die of embarrassment if someone asked about his genitals or heat cycles. “Perhaps that was part of it, but I won’t enjoy it from now on either.”

Mei nodded understanding. “I try to keep that in mind. Sorry I insisted on staying on the topic on the group chat. I was just curious.”

She felt sincerely sorry about it and Hanzo felt bad for her. He was never blaming Mei per say. Hanzo wanted to make her feel better, so despite how he felt about it, he brought his own scent up. “It’s okay. Curiosity is a good feature on a scientist. Not that my scent being strong is anything groundbreaking, it is sure a popular topic. I think people like pointing out weird things.”

Mei smiled. “I don’t think it’s weird. Actually, you smell much nicer than I expected.” she smiled.

Hanzo huffed a laugh. “What, really? The climatologist likes the smell of storm.” He joked.

Mei covered her mouth while laughing. “I personally would characterize it as expensive air freshener, to be honest.”

Hanzo’s jaw in turn dropped, but he was more humored than shocked. “An expensive air freshener…” He repeated slowly like it had been a ballsy statement on Mei’s part. “If that’s not flattering, I don’t know what is. ‘You smell like up scale toilet’” He mimicked, failing to keep his poker face during it.

They both laughed for a short moment. Mei even wiped the corners of her eyes, as if she had been laughing so hard that she was tearing up. “Those do smell nice.” She argued, giggling. “So… How are you going to break the news to everyone?”

Hanzo shrugged. “Official way would be to ask the trait to be added to my file. There must be an official term for it.” He thought.

Mei pulled out her communicator, which had some cute colorful stickers on it. “You could just use the group chat.” She opened it up to check what was going on. “The topic of salad dressings seems to have come to an end.”

Hanzo frowned. He didn’t know what Mei was referring to, but he didn’t really care either. He had not been pinged, so it wasn’t anything that required his opinion. “I don’t know how to word it. ‘Hi, I don’t talk here much, but just an FWY, I can smell your emotions in the air’.” He joked.

Mei gave a pained smile. “Or that you just now found out that you have this awesome ability, that no one else has.”

Hanzo rolled his eyes. “Someone has it too, otherwise there would not be EM-meters.” He argued. He also took the communicator out of his pocket and opened the group chat.

A computer on the far end made a little beeping sound, alarming Mei. “Oh, I gotta get back to work now.” She gestured toward the sound.

Hanzo nodded in understanding and drank the rest of his tea. “I’ll get off your hair. Thank you for the tea.”

Mei shrugged it of whit a little wave. “Anytime! Thank you for the candy box!”

He left the building soon after. He was trying to think of a way to word his announcement. He considered not leaving proof of it and instead get it done in the meeting today, but getting in front of everyone to do it sounded way less appealing than making an awkward text message. He was swiftly making his way to the gym trough the outside route when he smelled Cole. He also smelled another alpha, and before he even spotted the pink haired woman on the yard, he’d already suspected the person to be Zarya. He decided to simply walk past them. whit a simple nod as a greeting. He expected Cole to greet him or throw some conversation starter, but instead Zarya piped up.

“Where are you coming from?”

Hanzo pointed behind his back. “The lab.”

Zarya was not happy whit that answer. To confirm Hanzo’s suspicion, she smelled jealous and worried. Hanzo had suspected from the talk on the group chat that Mei and Zarya had something going on between them. Hanzo realized this would be an excellent time to make an enemy out of the woman, but he wouldn’t really gain much from it. She walked unnecessarily close to Hanzo, so he had to look up at her. “What were you doing in there?” she asked.

Hanzo had to crane his neck up to meet the cold stare. He squinted challenging. “not much.”

Cole walked awkwardly up to them, not exacly trying to break them apart, but clearly there to put himself in between if something were to happen. “How about we keep going… “

Zarya kept her yes on Hanzo, while clearly talking to Cole. “You go ahead. Warm up. I just have a little talk with Hanzo. ”

Hanzo crossed his arms. “I have nothing to talk about. Now if you’ll… “

When Hanzo woke up, he was being held upright by his shoulders and hips. Soon after the first wave of confusion was over, he realized he had just blacked out while standing. On top of that he was waking up while being still face to face to a very stern and unimpressed giant woman. Against his back, he could feel and smell a very worried Cole who had grabbed him by the hips to keep him steady while on a call on the communicator.

“So we just wait for him to wake up? Wait I think he’s coming to… “ Cole talked to the phone.

Hanzo had to blink a lot, trying to readjust to the brightness. “Sorry about that, you can let go of me now. ” he tried to sound more alarmed and awake than he felt but from the way he was still being held upright like a doll, he didn’t convince either of them.

Cole was still holding the communicator to his ear. “Yes, he woke up just now. Thank you Angela.” he put the communicator away. “Hanzo why don’t you sit down for a minute?” he gestured toward the gym doors.

Hanzo was trying to blink less, despite the light hurting his retinas. “I’m fine, you can put me down now.” He demanded. He was still feeling a bit out of it, but he was able to stand. Zarya let go at once, but Coles hand was still lingering around his hip. Hanzo pushed away from between them and stomped to the gym. He was originally heading there for a workout anyway. It was large enough that he could easily avoid the two even while they were all there. He tried to keep his knees from shaking, but his legs felt like they’d fallen asleep too.

Cole hurried after him but kept a respectful distance. “How long have you experienced these… blackouts?”

Hanzo oddly smelled from Cole that he was feeling hurt. He hadn’t considered Cole to take it personally, that Hanzo hadn’t revealed his weakness to him, but apparently it was something Cole cared about. Hanzo momentarily thought of lying, but realized he’d likely be caught, so he didn’t answer at all. He just marched to the furthest end to get a yoga mat and do some stretching.

Zarya didn’t need to yell, but he might have just as well. “The little American asked you a question!”

Hanzo sat down on the mat, trying to do it in a way that looked slow and controlled, but failing. He slowly unzipped the hoodie and peeled it of himself, hoping that the chill temperature would wake him up faster. “That is none of your concern.” He announced. He tried to keep his tone from angry, but he felt too frustrated.

Cole took off a jacket by the door and then to Hanzo’s horror, walked over to him and set a yoga mat by Hanzo’s side. Clearly not realizing that Hanzo was not in the mood for a chat. “You were unconscious for nearly ten minutes. I was mighty worried. Angie said it’s related to the neuro toxin. Does that happen often?”

Zarya too came over and set up a yoga mat, in a way that the three of them created a little circle. Hanzo considered turning his back at the two or moving his mat away, but he didn’t trust his legs quite yet. He started stretching his arms pouting. Thinking of excuses or topics to end the conversation.

“So, what were you doing whit Mei?” Zarya asked clearly forcing a softer tone despite reeking of bitter jealousy and suspicion.

“Talk. Drink tea.” Hanzo listed. He hoped he could growl. Let the two know that he was not in a talking mood.

To Hanzo’s surprise, Cole also started to smell jealous. He couldn’t help but look at the man when he noticed it. Cole was doing similar stretches to Hanzo and frowning. Hanzo wondered if it had something to do whit Mei’s limited time or if Cole too fancied the Chinese doctor. Whit a long sigh he decided to reveal the topic of their conversation to the two. They were going to find out eventually anyway, and he wanted to wash his hands of the love triangle going on. “I learned today, that my sense of smell and ability to detect emotions whit it is much stronger than most have. I wanted her opinion on whether I should tell people about it.” He explained, avoiding eye contact.

Cole looked and smelled confused. “What did she say?”

Hanzo looked up at Cole being stunned by the stupidity of the question. “I wouldn’t be telling you about it if she thought I shouldn’t. “ He hissed whit a tad too much anger, but his tolerance to stupid questions was quite low.

Cole made an exaggerated Oh-face and smelled embarrassed. Hanzo simply rolled his eyes and continued. “So, now you know. My nose works like an EP-meter.”

Zarya scoffed. “That’s not possible. Ep-meters recognize multiple emotions. Nose can only smell one.”

Cole looked puzzled and Hanzo couldn’t blame him. “So tell me, what am I feeling right now?” He sounded doubtful and Hanzo wanted to pull the rug under him.

“You are confused, jealous of me and Mei talking, worried and quite tired, also You’ve just recently eaten and you are experiencing mild physical pain.” Hanzo enjoyed how both Cole and Zarya looked like kids being caught whit their hand in a cookie jar. Cole was opening and closing his mouth like he wanted to say something, but ended up just looking like a fish out of water. Hanzo hoped that was the end of the conversation.

Zarya looked at Cole looking confused but smelling surprisingly angry. “Is that true?” She asked Cole, who slowly just nodded. “Why didn’t you tell me you were feeling pain?”

Cole blushed. “Oh it’s not from the workout! I’m fine, you heard the man, it’s just mild pain.” He excused.

Hanzo was feeling more steady now and moved onto stretching his legs. He listened on as Zarya was demanding to know what part was hurting, while Cole didn’t give an answer. Hanzo felt sorry for the man but he had asked for it. The two were still arguing, as Hanzo moved to put his yoga mat back on a hook on the wall and go on about his workout. As he was starting his first leg press set, he decided to never reveal anyone’s emotions in front of an audience. He had not expected it to stir such an argument.

“It’s a private matter Zarya! In no way is it gonna effect my workout! It’s more impressive that Hanzo can tell, since it’s so MILD!” Cole’s accent got a bit stronger.

Zarya yelled. “I do not care! As I am responsible for your regime, it is my responsimility to make sure you don’t get hurt!”

Hanzo wasn’t sure what set he was on, but he felt like he was waking up from a dream again. When he looked at the wall mounted clock, It didn’t appear to have skipped much. He rubbed his face trying to wake himself up faster. He wasn’t entirely sure if he had fallen asleep or if he was about to, but the two hundred kilograms he was pressing started to feel like five hundred and staying awake felt impossible. He was trying to look at the lights on the wall and press his hands into fists to stay awake, but despite his efforts Zarya’s and Coles background yelling started to sound more and more distant and the clock arms started to skip forward again.

He woke up to loud metallic clangs from the gym equipment. Realizing what had happened he quickly shook his head to wake up, before anyone noticed, but evidently he had slept too long to succeed. Squinting at the too bright clock on the wall he could tell he had been out for fifteen minutes and during that time, someone had put his own hoodie over him. It was just thrown over him but the indication was clear. His spontaneous nap hadn’t gone unnoticed. After smelling the air for a second, he could tell that there was three people whit him in the gym. Cole, Zarya and some younger alpha woman who smelled very very tired.

He tried to get up quickly to redo his warmup, contemplating whether running on a dread mill would be safe for him, when his eyes met whit Coles. He was red faced and a bit sweaty already but looked generally happy. He quickly looked away and decided to go further away from Cole to the rowing machines. He spotted Hana Song on an exercise bike. She had headphones on and was concentrating on his tablet. Hanzo felt lucky that no one made a comment about his second blackout or attempted to start a conversation. Everyone in the gym concentrating on their own workout.

After successfully finishing a warmup on the rowing machine, Hanzo went to do a core workout. He had planned to do a leg workout, but since he wasn’t feeling certain that he won’t just suddenly black out again, he decided to play it safe. He also was able to do the workout in the quiet corner of the gym were he could be alone. He included some pushups onto his regime and after one and a half hour, he felt like he’d had a good workout. He wiped the equipment he had used and left the gym without a word. Cole yelled after him a little ‘see you later’ that Hanzo pretended not to hear. He wouldn’t mind if his sole precense in the gym was forgotten.

When he was safely in the privacy of his room again, he took a quick shower, changed his patches and ate a protein heavy meal. The fact that his blackouts seemed to not be regular anymore worried him. While he was eating, he decided to check on the group chat. To his horror, Hana had shared a picture of him sleeping on the cursed leg press machine covered whit his own hoodie. He was facing away from the camera, but he was still easily recognizable in the picture.

Dva - These Gym rats don’t know when to quit.

🤠 – Let him be

Genji – Don’t touch him, you might lose your other arm.

🤠 – Yeah, wasn’t planning to.

Hanzo chuckled. It was sort of annoying that Genji had decided that Hanzo needed his protection. But then again, he would not in a normal circumstance ever sleep while off suppressants in a presence of alphas. It was weird that even while waking up and realizing what was going on, he didn’t feel threatened. Perhaps being able to smell people’s feelings around him was sort of useful in that way. He didn’t of course enjoy the experience, he was already trying to cook up a schedule where he could do his practices alone. It was annoying that while he tried his best to avoid living up to the lazy omega stereotype, he was inadvertently doing it. If he was still living in the Shimada castle, he’d be punished severely if he was found sleeping in the gym like a toddler, even back when he was one.

‘You need to sleep the extra rest you need during nights. Never let anyone see you so defenseless and weak. You are inviting misdeeds upon yourself.’ Was what his sensei used to tell him when he was dozing off during lectures. If Genji fell asleep, it was only seen as rude or Genji’s priorities were brought to question.

Hanzo rubbed his face. There was no use in comparing. They were different, of course that would mean what was expected of them also was. He had to return to the present and figure out how to word a message on the group chat about his sense of smell. It could be an effective way to switch the topic of the conversation. He took a deep breath and started crafting his long awkward message.

Hanzo – I’ve been told today, that being able to tell peoples emotions and mood from scent is not something everyone can do. I have thought till this day that that is something everyone can do. From now on, I will try to ignore what I smell and won’t bring anyone’s scent up. I hope to be back on blockers soon, but until then, feel free to stay away from me.

Hanzo was happy whit the message. It was cold and to the point. He was not surprised that the chat room got filled whit questions.

Genji – You can what now?

🤠 – He’s scary accurate too! No secrets around Hanzo lol

Mei – I’m glad you desided to tell everyone!

76 – Can you smell my emotions too?

Phareha – Can you smell people who are on blockers?

Torb – That’s ridiculous

Ana – Why I only learn about this now?

Mercy – I can vouch that it’s true. It works the same way as EP-meter : )
Mercy – Actually the EP-Meter technology is based on how Hanzo’s scent works. It’s fascinating!

Torb – Is this a prank?

Genji – Wait @Hanzo nani the fuck?

76 – Language.
76 - @Hanzo could you smell me too? EP-Meters can’t so I’m curious

Hanzo frowned. He didn’t plan on talking about anyone’s scent. He regretted not talking about it privately whit Genji before making the announcement. He hadn’t really even thought about it. He decided to publicly apologize.

Hanzo – I do apologize, @Genji , I should have talked to you before everyone. And as I said, I do not plan on discussing anyone’s scent, as it is not my place.

76 – I need to know!

Ana – You stink Jack, let it go. I’ve heard of people who can smell emotions. Is it true you can smell also if someone is hungry or in pain?

Hanzo - @Ana Yes. But it is not my place to point it out.

Lucio – Hold on a minute, you are saying, if you can tell someone is in a lot of pain, you’d just ignore it?

Hanzo – yes.

Lucio – Dude!

🤠 – I think it’s nice. It’s not Hanzo’s job. If someone doesn’t want everyone to know they have trouble sleeping for an example

Lucio – You having trouble sleeping?

Dva – Hanzo doesn’t!

Lucio – Not even in front of starving children!

Genji - @Lucio , I doubt he meant it like that.

Ana – Can you smell if someone has had sex?

Hanzo – Yes

Genji – OMG no!

Dva – Awkward!

Rainheart – That is good to know.

Vivian – You better be good at keeping secrets.

Winston – I think everyone can then agree, that it’s good that Hanzo has decided to not talk about anyone’s scent. But this is fascinating to learn.

Torb – Wait are you really just believing this? Why have I NEVER heard of anyone being able to do that?

Mercy – It’s very rare! And it’s only possible for omegas. Like… Having an extra toe is more common!

Lucio – Okay @Hanzo, If you were giving away a bread in the cafeteria, and there were two people, other saying, he wants the bread, but he’s not hungry, and the other being very hungry, but too shy to say anything, Who’d you give the bread to?

Dva – Is this like the train track moral dilemma thing?

🤠 Cup half full or half empty

Lucio – no

Hanzo – @Lucio I’d give the bread to the one who asked for it. They are in a cafeteria, neither will be hungry for long.

Lucio – Okay, what if this was in a deserted island?

Hanzo – I’d still give the bread to the one who wants it.

Lucio – I’m glad you are not our healer

Dva – Seconded

76 – But that’s like a superpower, why would you want to be on blockers?

Hanzo rolled his eyes. He was not going to even answer that. The question was so stupid. He’d rather be on blockers and pass as a beta if need be, than always be looked down on. Someone like Morrison would never understand that. “Athena, is there anyone at the shooting range?” he asked out loud from the AI. He needed to get to shoot something.

“Hello, Agent Shimada. No, there’s no one occupying the shooting range. Captain Ana Amari was there a moment ago.”

Hanzo rubbed his bearded chin thinking. There was still an hour left before the meeting. It was unlikely someone would go there for a quick shooting practice, so it was an ideal moment to go. He wouldn’t be able to have a long training session, but it was better than nothing. He grabbed his bow and quiver and chose an outside route again to get to the shooting range. There were technically two shooting ranges. The other was called the practice range, were there were multiple different types of target setups and platforms to simulate different scenarios, but near the watch tower, there was a small shooting range whit three slots, where one could only stand still and shoot at the targets. There was also door from outside leading directly to the room.

When Hanzo opened the large slowly sliding doors, he spotted Winston’s tesla cannon and a can of peanut butter. Momentarily he suspected that Athena had lied, but upon closer inspection, the weapon was similar to Winston’s tesla canon, but looked like an older model. It didn’t have the wear and scrapes the scientists chosen weapon had. He took the middle spot and set a long distance training sequence to run from a control panel. He was just about to pull the first arrow out of his quiver, when Athenas clear sound startled him. “Doctor Ziegler has made a request for you to not be alone during physical exercise.”

Hanzo rolled his shoulders. And set the arrow on his bow. “I am not alone, when I can talk whit you.” He riddled. “And the dragon spirits are always there to accompany me.” He shot the first arrow that just slightly missed a randomly dodging target.

Athena was long enough quiet that Hanzo managed to get four targets down, then her voice rang in again. “By the doctors orders, I am required to alert someone to monitor your practice. Do you have a preference, who’d you like to be asked?”

Hanzo shook some tension off his shoulders. “I think people have better things to do than babysit. If I black out, I rather do it in private.” He said in bitter tone.

The AI answered as if it had not heard Hanzo’s request. “There are multiple Agents idle. Alphabetically, Ana Amari, Phahera Amari, Lucio Correia dos Santos, Brigette Lindholm, Jack Morrison, Lena Oxton and Reinhardt Wilhelm. Do you have a preference who I should ask first?”

Hanzo racked his brain for a reason why none should accompany him, but came up empty. The AI was very conversational but not easy to manipulate. From the list, he knew instantly that Lucio and Lena would likely both prove to be a distraction. So would likely Morrison, if the dialog in the group chat was any indication. Out of the list only Phareha was on blockers, so he named her.

Athena came back to him quickly. “Phareha Amari said she is available and is on her way.”

Hanzo just grunted and continued his practice. He felt sorry to bother the younger Amari.

Phareha came in wearing jeans and a hoodie, holding a tall smoothie and a magazine about tanks. “Sup sleepy head!” She greeted whit her boisterous arrogant tone that Hanzo thought he had gotten used to.

Hanzo just nodded as a greeting. “I apologize to bother you for nothing. The AI insisted.” He shifted the blame.

Phareha didn’t seem bothered at all. “I don’t mind! I was doing nothing anyway, and you never answered my question!”

Hanzo managed to shoot one arrow that hit the target, before he looked at the tall woman again. He had no idea what Phareha was referring to.

She sat on one of the wheel supported shelfs for ammunition and gear and kicked speed of the wall to roll closer. “Can you smell people who are on blockers?”

Hanzo just then remembered. “No I cannot.” He grunted and took aim again.

“But You can smell when someone who is not on blockers has sex…”

Hanzo grunted an affirmative, and tried to concentrate on the targets, that were effectively dodging his shots.

“But you are not gonna tell even if you know someone had sex? Like let’s say, to their parents?” Phareha asked whit a snort of a laughter. Hanzo didn’t have to smell it to tell that the woman was nervous over the topic.

Hanzo froze to think about it. He looked at Phareha then knowing what the woman meant and shook his head. “It is not my place.” He argued.

Phareha nodded looking happy. “I like you.” She smiled and opened her magazine.

Hanzo missed an arrow by a lot from a shock the confession gave him, but luckily Phareha didn’t seem to notice it. He’d understand if the comment came from one of the newer agents, since they didn’t know his past, but to his knowledge, Phareha had bee around during the old overwatch. She should know about Hanzo’s past. Then again, the comment might have just been about the current topic.

To Hanzo’s delight, Phareha simply read his magazine and drank her smoothie. Hanzo practiced a bit of sniping and hitting scatter arrows. When the meeting in the living room was fifteen minutes away, he thought it to be polite to free Phareha of her babysitting duties. He switched off the training session and hopped over the railing to get his arrows. Some might be still useable.

When Hanzo returned to the shooting area, Phareha was typing on her communicator. Hanzo thanked her for her time and was heading out, when Phareha stopped him whit a question. “Do you know what the meeting will be about”

Hanzo just shook his head and left without a word. He heard Phareha snort behind him. “Figures… “ but he ignored it.

Hanzo had just enough time to switch his patches, change his clothes and do a few stretches in his room, before he had to hurry to the meeting. He hoped to get there late enough so he didn’t have to take part in idle chit chat. When he reached door to the living room, he could hear the buzz of everyone talking. He heard his own name mentioned in multiple different voices and he could smell the dozens of new scents. He took a deep breath and stepped in when the clock hit exacly 16:00.

The living room was much larger than he had imagined even after seeing the pictures. The ceiling felt a tad low, but it obviously had a layer of some sort of noise cancellation foam. The room was littered whit pillows, bag chairs and blankets and it smelled noisy. He spotted Genji close to the screen where The Doctor was standing, facing the rest of the room. Hanzo quietly walked over to Genji and sat down in seiza by his side. Genji was sitting crosslegged, as was Zenyata beside him.

Genji nodded toward Hanzo, leaning in so he didn’t have to rase his voice. “Glad you could make it.”

Hanzo scoffed. Of course he could, it was mandatory for him to make it. Doctor Ziegler asked for everyone to take a seat and listen. The room didn’t get instantly quiet, as everyone hurried to find a place to sit. Whiteout turning his head, from the sound of spurs he could tell that Cole sat behind him. Hanzo regretted siting beside his brother, since they were in the front row. He would rather sit somewhere on the back, possibly by a wall or close to the door.

“Okay, let’s begin. I gathered you all, since we have come to figure out a possible cure against the long term effects of the neuro toxin, but it requires everyone’s help.” She began. Hanzo didn’t like the sound of that and by the scent everyone was emitting in the room, the rest weren’t exited about it either. “The long term effects appear to be the cause of rewiring the brain, not chemical imbalance. That means that instead of medication, the cure would be to again rewire the brain. I’ll go over the theory in a bit, but first I’d like to clarify to everyone what that means in case of behavior.”

Ziegler opened a dia presentation, where a holographic brain was displayed. “The brain receives messages, and different parts of it redistribute it forward, to be analyzed in different parts of the brain. For an example, if someone gives you a compliment, your brain first recognizes it as a compliment and then reacts to it by feeling good.”

Cole whispered from behind Hanzo but he wasn’t certain to who. “This is not the theory part?”

“Before the reaction, the brain goes trough steps to recognize the message it’s receiving. The neuro toxin made the brain skip the recognition part and thus teaching the brain to react in a new way. That means, that after the fact, the brain no longer skips the recognition step. So the long term symptoms are not the case of the persons opinion changing, just the reaction. Under the effect of the neuro toxin, that was not the case however, but now you should rest assured that there’s no permanent changes to your mind from it. ”

There was a state of shared confusion in the room, before Angela simplified what he meant even more. “Just because the toxin made Cole attack Jack, doesn’t mean Cole does not like him. Under the influence, Cole didn’t register in his mind, that who it was he was growling at. After the fact, even while he is now able to recognize Jack as an ally, his brain has learned to growl and have an aggressive reaction. To battle the effects it has in the group, we need to recognize which reactions are unreasonable. The toxin didn’t change how you feel about each other, just how you react to it. Ok? “

A multiple oh – sounds rang around the room, but it was clear that most still didn’t get it. Angela took the next dia, which had a picture of Captain Morrison from his personnel file. “For an example, the toxin made Jack react to the presence of other alphas whit elevated adrenaline levels. The fact that those were friendly alphas, didn’t register in his brain, so his brain reacted, by preparing Jack to attack. However, now that Jack has been spending time whit other alphas, his brain has relearned to have a neutral reaction to some alphas. At no point did Jacks views or opinion on his fellow alphas change.”

Jack piped up from the back of the crowd. “So I don’t hate Cole?”

Angela laughed. “Not more than you did before the neuro toxin incident.” She clicked the next dia, which had a picture of Rainheart. “we still don’t know how to recognize the triggers to the new reactions. As it stands that not all of you alphas simply started to have aggressive reactions. Rain for an example had the same reaction to alphas as one has from seeing something cute, as his reaction was to hold and squeeze other alphas.”

Vivian spoke from one of the sofas. “Was?”

Ziegler nodded. “Yes. As it turns out some of the effected appear to have naturally rewired their brain back to normal. We are going to test different scenarios, but I suspect Rain, Lucio and Jack to have already overcome most of the long-term effects by simply being around people who triggered the new responses and ignoring the reactions.”

Cole biped in. “What about us rest?”

Ziegler clicked the next dia, which was a diagram of how learning works in a brain. “The rest of you still have to work on re teaching your brain in the social situations where faulty reaction happens. That means… “

Cole said whit a mirthy tone. “I have to hang out whit Jack.” and the tone alone earned some giggles from the crowd.

Ziegler gave a pained smile and simply nodded.

Cole wasn’t happy about that. “But how come Jack is cured whiles avoiding me? I have not been avoiding other alphas either!”

Ziegler made a guess that it had something to do whit the character of Jack scent being so different from most alphas, but Hanzo started to have hard time following the explanation. He kept his eyes on the doctors lips feeling puzzled when the words started to sound like gibberish and way too late he recognized what was happening, when his eyelids started to weight unbearably. As a last stitch effort to try and stay awake, he bit his cheek, but his chin started to feel like a pillow and all strength from his jaw dissipated. He felt like he was falling and he could feel someone folding him upright again. He was trying his best to wake up, to toss and turn or to snap out of it whit cheer will power, but he couldn’t.

When he was waking up, he could hear Genji yelling and Cole mumbling something close to him. Something about time. He tried to shake his head to wake up faster and rub his eyes, but something was weighting on his arm. He tried to take a hold of it and lift it away, only to realize it had scales.

“Everyone just stay calm! They only attack to protect. Ryo ochitsuke!” Genji said in a loud voice. He could hear his dragons growling. And the smell of shock and fear was heavy in the room.

Hanzo felt a cold metal against his check and that was helping him to get his eyes open. He saw Cole’s face upside down smiling at him. “Wakey wakey.” He sang song.

Hanzo tried to spring up, but the Dragon was still partly wrapped around him. He had never heard the dragons growl so loud. They were clearly more than warning the crowd around them. Cole had one hand wrapped around the others torso, to keep it from springing its long body at the people moving away from them. “Rise and shine!” He grunted, clearly needing to put on an effort to keep the dragons still.

Hanzo was still having trouble moving his hands exacly how he needed, but whit great effort, he managed to call back the dragons. After they returned to his skin whit glow and some grunts, he slumped lax against the soft warm lap supporting him. He rubbed his eyes trying to wake up as the room made a collective sight.

“That could have ended horribly!” Vivian barked.

“How come those things just spring up like that! And they looked so different!” Morrison was angry.

Angela was waving his arms in the ar. “Let’s calm down! We don’t want a repeat of that! We still don’t know what triggers that reaction from Hanzo.” She said in a trained soft tone but his scent was layered whit fear.

“Why didn’t they attack you?” Genji asked from Cole suspecting an answer he wouldn’t like.

Cole just hissed, still getting away whit petting Hanzo’s cheek in his lap. “Not now.”

Hanzo didn’t want to get up. He felt his eyes burn from frustration and a lump formed in his throat that he tried to calmly breath away. He didn’t trust his voice to talk. He just wanted to get swallowed by a hole and disappear. The moment he could rely on his own voice again he wanted to excuse himself and hike trough the forest and leave. Not only did he just fall asleep in front of literally everyone, he nearly got his dragons hurt or his teammates. He didn’t know which was worse.

Cole patted his check. “Hey, don’t you fall asleep on me again.” He smiled but was deadly serious.

Hanzo swallowed trying to get the lump down when he spotted Genji also by his side. He was poking at his bicep. “Ryo really put on a show! Ain’t it nice that you have mythical bodyguards.” Hanzo recognized the tone. Genji was attempting to cheer him up.

Hanzo just glared at Genji. And looked back on the presentation, but as it was, Ziegler was keeping a little break.

“I think Cole was speaking when he fell asleep.” Phareha commented. “Could he be the trigger?”

Ziegler shrugged. “I think it’s more likely something he said or how he said it.”

Brigette piped in. “He was yelling. Could it be aggression that triggers it?”

Angela held her chin thinking. “It’s possible.” she shrugged again. “although it happens far too often to be the only cause.”

Hanzo felt the pull of sleepiness again and realized laying against someone warm was not the best move. In his mind he sprung up quickly, but in reality it was more of a slow crawl. His brain was still lagging behind and he felt two people still supporting him. When he was sitting up again, his head was spinning and he could feel the dragons running nervous circles under his skin. “I should go.” He grunted. And he heard no objections, so whit similar speed, he got to his feet, and started to walk toward the exit on wobbly feet, avoiding eye contact. He was trying to blink away the sleepiness and he knew he looked pathetic. When he was out the door he allowed himself to use the wall for support. He got startled by someone grapping him by his forearm.

He hadn’t heard any footsteps or smelled anything so he got seriously startled, but seeing the hovering monk by his side, it all made sense. “would you let me help? ” Zenyata asked.

Hanzo kept his eyes on the floor and allowed the omnic to assist him. The walk back to his room felt like forever. When he finally got to his room, he thanked and apologized and closed the door. When he was finally in his room, he hardly got to his bed before he was out again.

Hanzo woke up an hour later. He was not at all surprisingly wrapped by two happily humming dragons. In his sleepy state he thought that his leg fad fallen asleep from the weight of the other dragon over it, before he woke up enough to realize that was impossible. It took him a long time to get up from the tangle and it was only partly because how comfortable it was. It was like a Hanzo shaped mold made of warm scaled pillows. It really shouldn’t be as comfortable as it was.

He fought the urge to just fall back to bed once he sat up by slapping his checks. He knew he was losing daylight over all the blackouts. He wanted to get something more done today, but then he remembered that Ziegler had requested him to have a babysitter whenever doing physical exercise. He really didn’t need to be around anyone. Preferably for until he could go back on blockers. He noticed his communicator having multiple alerts for him.

Cole – Hey, Let me know when you have time to hang out. We can play cards or something. Winston has banned gambling, but he doesn’t need to know.

Mei – I recorded the rest of the meeting for you. Sorry it’s in few parts. Hope you are feeling better.

There where three video files attached.

Genji – Let me know when you want to work out, we can synch our schedules.

Angela Ziegler – Hi, due to todays incident, I don’t think it’s safe for you to be in the public areas while your dragons are still as unpredictable. At the same time you need to be in social situations, to treat the long term effects of the neurotoxin. I don’t know how the dragons work, so you’ll have to come up whit a solution. Genji and Cole have offered to spend time whit you, since the dragons didn’t seem to be hostile towards them. Come see me in the morning at 8:00

Hanzo was quite awake by the time he started watching the videos Mei sent him. He sat against the small coffee table that was in each room, while the dragons were comfortably curling in the bed. The videos were of the meeting how it continued after Hanzo left. Mei was filming from further away from the front where doctor Ziegler was giving the presentation. In the view there were multiple rows of peoples heads visible. Despite that the audio in the video was quite clear. After Hanzo had departed, Ziegler continued to explain in theory, how brains work, and how the neuro toxin caused the people’s who breath it to relearn new behavioral patterns. She gave some stats of the effected, and what sort of symptoms had been common. He used some examples, but mostly betas, to describe why they had mixed the causes to the symptoms at first. She didn’t fail to mention that it was from Hanzo’s brain scans that they’d realized their mistake. While Hanzo was starting to play the second video, he was tempted to join the dragons and lay down to a more comfortable position, but he chose against it. The second video was shorter, and was mostly about alphas and the people asking questions. Ziegler had to explain again, why being on blockers was counter productive and possibly harmful, and that not all alphas reacted whit aggression. Cole’s ban from shooting range got lifted, but he was still not allowed to store his own weapons. Vivian was set as responsible of storing Cole’s weapon, the piece keeper.

Hanzo re watched some parts as he pulled a can of soup from his little food stash. He’d easily last two days whit his reservoir. He was slowly working trough the potent liver soup as he started the last video. Not surprisingly, it was mostly about him.

Ziegler started whit opening a dia whit Hanzo’s picture and stating that it’s unfortunate that he was not present. She described Hanzo’s blackouts in their rudimentary neurological way. Explaining how his brain creates chemical imbalance as a reaction to what appears to be regular serotonin cycle. She also brought up that there were other possible causes, that they’d be working on to narrow down. And unlike the others, Hanzo will be treated also medically to dampen the reaction, since the brain doesn’t really learn while it’s asleep. Angela also brought up the fact that Hanzo might be more sensitive to have a broad set of causes, due to his strong and detailed sense of smell.

When Hanzo’s ability to smell emotions was brought up, Hanzo felt lucky that he hadn’t been in the room, since Ziegler managed to answer all the questions about it scientifically and without bias. He didn’t want to answer how it’s possible or how rare it is, since he wouldn’t have known the answers.

Ziegler eventually brought the topic back to the neuro toxin and how the treatment for Hanzo’s predicament needed him to be in social situations that trigger the wrong action and him to avoid the wrong action in those scenarios. Ziegler admitted that it won’t be easy. Vivian pointed out that it would be dangerous to have Hanzo blacking out if that meant the dragons will spring out like they had. Ziegler agreed, and proposed to leave the solving of that issue, to those whit more expertise on the dragons. Genji suggested that Hanzo could let the dragons get to know everybody so they wouldn’t feel threatened, but Ziegler pointed out that Hanzo was unlikely to be on board whit a plan like that. The video stopped abruptly as Ziegler asked if there were any more questions.

The ending was both nice and bothersome. On one hand, Hanzo didn’t get to know some of the things the others did, on the other, he didn’t have to hear what people were saying about him. He drank the rest of the liquid from the deep can, accidentally cutting his lip a bit. He didn’t really feel like answering, or meeting whit anyone. The roofs of the watchpoint were the most agreeable option, and whit swift moves, he changed into a warm outfit. He could do some meditation and enjoy the cold west winds. It had been a cloudy day, but Hanzo didn’t bother to prepare for rain. When he was about to leave the room, the dragons lazily got up and jogged after him to return to him.

When he opened the door to the hallway, he got bombarded whit the scent of Cole, but the man himself was not there. He peeked around and tried to hear a pair of spurs, but nothing. It was clear that just recently, Cole had spend a lot of time in the hallway.

Hanzo took the shortest route out and was wondering whether his normal walk would be considered sneaking as he didn’t really make loud footsteps even on concreate. Genji was the same, so it can’t be that surprising or bad. Any louder method of walking would feel like stomping around the watchpoint. The door out was heavy, and it rolled away slowly, making a loud sound. As the outside light nearly blinded Hanzo, letting him know that the cloudy weather had somewhat cleared, he smelled smoke. And a very recognizable silhouette was behind the smell. Cole must have stepped outside for a cigarette break. Which was something Hanzo should have considered. If he had chosen another rout to the roof tops, he could have avoided the alpha all together.

“Oh Hanzo!?” Cole was surprised. He nearly dropped the cigar he was smoking out of curtesy or habit but managed to hold onto it.

Hanzo gave a curt nod as a greeting whit a grunt. He wasn’t in a talking mood. But he felt like he should thank or apologize to Cole. He wasn’t sure which.

“You going for a walk? Can’t blame you, the weather cleared out so nice….” Cole brawled, looking at the sea peeking between the buildings. Hanzo just grunted in agreement. And swallowed to prepare himself to thank Cole for earlier, but Cole spoke first. “If you planning to go some place to hide, I know a good spot. I can show you.” He smiled.

Hanzo’s lips tightened into a thin line as he thought. He looked at his metallic feet, looking for a good response. If Cole knew about the hiding spot, it can’t be that good. Then again, Hanzo would learn what Cole was as a hiding spot and could count that out once he started looking for a hiding spot in the watchpoint. So far he had just been inside his own room when he needed to hide. Hiding while he wasn’t on blockers wasn’t that effective anyway. “sure.”

Cole chuckled, and started to lead the way. Hanzo was not surprised that Cole took the opportunity to talk. Cole was the type of person that could not be quiet unless it literally killed him to make a sound. He told about how in the past, they’d have to run laps around the watchpoint, and what small paths he had used as a shortcut. He also told about some minor vandalisms that had happened along the path they took. To Hanzo’s disappointment, they were walking toward the watch tower. It was the northest point of the watchpoint, and there was only ocean surrounding it. The platforming for that part of watchpoint was mostly man made. When Cole started to walk toward the watchtower itself, Hanzo felt scammed.

“The watch tower?” Hanzo Frowned.

Cole’s smile didn’t waver. “Yep. The watch tower.”

Hanzo’s shoulders slugged in disappointment, as Cole walked toward it. It had two elevators going up around that were surrounded by metallic industrial support frame. The watchtower itself was a small cot, comparable to the top of a lighthouse. It was just full of sensors and receivers. There wasn’t really much room for humans to hang out on the top. There was also simple metallic escape ladder leading to the windy top, in case the elevators were out. The base was a concreate square that was two stories high, having room for the sturdy elevator machinery, but not much else. To Hanzo’s surprise, Cole gestured toward the ladder. “You go first, in case… you know. I’ll catch you.” He promised.

Hanzo glared at Cole. “Or, you know, use the elevator.” He suggested. Not that he didn’t trust Cole, but the watch tower was high. If Hanzo had to guess, he’d say it was at least 60 meters. Cole shook his head and pointed at the top of the concreate slab. “We are gonna climb on that, not to the tower.” He explained.

Hanzo took a deep breath, already having lost all hope on the spot, but decided to see it trough. He had to jump to get to the ladder, but it was still easy for him to reach. Cole also had to jump, but he made it look much more difficult. When Hanzo reached the top of the concreate slab, he found a slim bath that lead around. Cole told him to just walk around, so he did. When he reached the other side, he held tightly to the railing, as there was at least 50 meter drop to the rocks underneath and crashing waves. On the other side, the slab was wider however. There was some evidence of someone being there before. Mainly some empty bear bottles and cigarette buds. The view was nice, it was just the repeating waves. The island was not visible on either side, so it was just the sky and the ocean.

Cole sat down instantly when he came around. “Don’t tell anyone about this spot okay. Altho Genji was the one who originally found it.” Cole said in a low voice.

Hanzo simply nodded and also sat down, leaving some space between them. As he was looking around, taking in the spot, the metal railing acting as a roof to the spot so even during rain it was likely dry and the elevator parts behind them acting as a great visual cover. Cole lit another cigar and offered one to Hanzo that he declined. Cole put the pack back to his pocket and only after he had a lit cigar again between his lips, he spoke again. “Ain’t no one gonna smell you from here.”

Hanzo doubted that and it was as if Cole could sense it. “it’s the wind direction. Back in the day, when we had to take part on training camps whit Genji, while being in Blackwartch… Well it was like us versus them. The Blackwatch crew was seen as a special ops. The other trainees were jealous of us, and since there was more of em than us, you can imagine what those training camps were like…” Cole began explaining. “Anyway, Genji finds this spot, and that was back when everyone was on blockers, mind you. We realize, that the cameras don’t see here, so we can do whatever. I smuggled liquor here, the cheap type that smells bad but is strong, and Genji smuggled weed. Back then, we’d put our clothes in a waterproof tactical back, and smoke in our underwear, so the smell doesn’t get stuck to the fabric. Then We’d go to the briefings whit blown out irises giggling like kids. No one ever suspected a thing…” He smiled looking at the distance.

Hanzo took glances at Cole while he was telling the story. Genji in the story sounded much more like the Genji he used to know.

“Well… Except for Ana, but as long as we didn’t do it while she was on duty, we were fine.” He chuckled. “Altho even she doesn’t know where we did it. She looked the other way only on the condition that we promised to never date Phareha.” He chuckled.

Hanzo sat in seiza, realizing that only if no one else knew about the place, this would have made a create meditation spot. Ana came off as responsible and serious, but her true nature slipped sometimes. She was childish at times, probably a trope related to the omega part of her. “She is a good mother.” Hanzo complemented, without knowing.

Cole snorted a laugh. “Not if you ask Phareha. But I don’t doubt she did what she thought was right.” Cole took a long drag of his cigar and Hanzo didn’t feel like asking what that meant. But as he thought about it, on the base, the two didn’t really seem to share a familial bond, but they did get along just fine.

A long silence fell between them, as both of them were just observing the small clouds passing by and the waves repeating themselves. Hanzo didn’t know if it was a good thing that Cole was so quiet, but he enjoyed it regardless. He even managed to relax his shoulders a bit and get centered. The long silence only died when Hanzo’s communicator binged. He reluctantly took it out of his pocket to check who it was. He also noticed that they had somehow already spent over an hour there. If his blackouts were still regular, he had to start worrying where he was about to pass out. He hadn’t realized the time going so fast, mostly due to not believing Cole to be capable of such a long silence. The message was just a request from Genji to talk. A simple emote was sufficient answer to that.

Cole suddenly spoke up. “Angie thinks it’s alpha pheromones.”

Hanzo quirked a brow.

“What makes you black out.”

Hanzo frowned. That would be unlikely, he was literally surrounded by alpha pheromones on base and he had had moments when he wasn’t blacking out. As Hanzo didn’t answer, Cole turned to look at him.

“I’ve been meaning to ask you…” He began. “Back when you were in sick leave getting your legs worked on, what were the phone calls about?”

Hanzo stared angrily at the sea. He had sort of forgotten the whole phone call habit. For him, it was a stress reliever, and he had assumed for Cole it was just time wasted or a way to pass time, either or. If he had to label it, he’d say it was his selfishness. From Cole, he didn’t know why he ever entertained him. To be frank, at the time he had just taken it as Cole wanting to treat him as an omega. Seeing him as one. After the fact he thought it was due to the neuro toxin. But now he knew that the neuro toxin didn’t really change someone’s behavior, only their reaction. It wouldn’t explain why Cole would pick up the phone, never the less why he would stay on it. He hummed in thought rubbing his chin thinking.

Cole sounded nervous beside him “You do remember them right?” Only then did Hanzo realize that outside, he hadn’t gotten a good scent off Cole. Perhaps he had previously just managed to ignore it, but only now did he smell that the topic made him somewhat nervous. Unnecessarily so.

Hanzo side eyed Cole and shrugged. Looking down into the rocky mountainside underneath them. Some stubborn weeds were growing even in the least appealing looking cliffs. “I remember.” He admitted.

Coles nervousness didn’t dissipate from the admission. If anything, it only made it stronger. Hanzo had made an internal promise to not get the habit of smelling people, but he couldn’t help himself. Cole smelled worried, nervous, caring and wanting. Hanzo knew the scent of it way too well, when alpha was fancying him. It was because he smelled so strongly. That had been the whole point of modifying his scent. It was a great manipulation tactic to make Hanzo seem desirable to Alphas, but it was just smoke and mirrors. The magic trick eventually revealed itself to be just hocus, leaving the alpha disappointed. Originally, Hanzo was supposed to trick an alpha only long enough to get married to strengthen the family. To add a powerful alpha to Shimada lineage. Now his scent had no use, other than a sure tactic to make someone feel disappointed.

Hanzo frowned in his thoughts. That would be a sure way to get the alpha to avoid him. It would be risky, since it would put Hanzo in a vulnerable position whit an alpha who he was certain would learn to despise him and was known to be good at killing and to do it quickly. Hanzo had spent the last ten years, avoiding all sorts of assassination attempts by his clan, but he was currently in his weakest point. If Cole wanted to off him, there would be no shortage of opportunities. Then again, it would be a sure way to get some distance between them.

He tried to rack his brain, painfully aware, that there was a strong bias. He knew his mind would be leaning towards the spontaneous plan, since his omega side wanted nothing more than to jump at Cole and never let go. It was pathetic part of him that only knew how to co-exist with someone stronger and wanted to get attention and adoration. Why was he even here whit Cole when he could be meditating somewhere alone. He just hadn’t found the strength to say no to Cole. He couldn’t wait to be on blockers again and stop being so quick to agree whit every handsome alpha that just happened to smile at him.

“You didn’t stop me.” Hanzo finally spoke. “So I did as I pleased.”

Cole looked at Hanzo looking flabbergasted “I would never stop you.” he paused realized what he was saying. “I mean… I enjoyed our talks.” He smiled so wide the corners of his eyes got wrinkled and his upper lip disappeared into his moustache.

Hanzo shrugged. “I am not entitled to your time.” He could tell from smell alone, that Cole was enjoying the direction their talk was taking. Hanzo had to wonder at what point had Cole decided to forgive him, or if he had simply forgotten. Perhaps to Cole, since he had found out his secondary gender, the ruthless man who tried to kill his own brother Hanzo Shimada had turned into just an omega. The name linked to the omega loosing all the meaning and the history behind the name seizing to exist. Cole probably saw Hanzo just as something soft to shove his dick into.

Cole grabbed one of the empty bear cans and looked at the sun damaged label. “Perhaps I have too much time to begin whit.” He said thoughtfully, his scent turning momentarily sour.

Hanzo looked at Cole. He was wearing his signature cowboy hat and looking photogenic as always. “I should get going.” He declared.

Cole looked up at him whit puppy eyes. “Are.. Is everything okay? I didn’t mean to get all moody”

Hanzo rolled his eyes.

“Wait, are you gonna black out soon? How often does it happen?”

“way too often.” Hanzo mumbled, and as he was about to get up, the repeating waves started to look laggy and he started to recognize human faces amongst them. “Way too often.” He said. Not certain if he said it already.

Cole grabbed his shoulder, effectively stopping him from getting up. “Wait, you might fall.” Cole warned.

Hanzo tried to shove the hand away off his shoulder, but it was the metallic one, which was so unfair. He thought he might make it to his room in time if he left now, but then Cole’s lips moved but the sound thqt came out didn’t make any sense to Hanzo. “What?”

Cole patted his check, which in normal circumstances, Hanzo would break his fingers for, but now he was grateful for it, since it helped him understand what Cole was saying. “Angie said you need to try and stay awake during it.”

Hanzo blinked shaking his head. “Easier said than done.” He mumbled. He only now noticed that Coles serape had little shapes in the seams, or he was imagining it. The color red was hurting his eyes. He wasn’t sure if he was still trying to push Cole away, or if he was pulling him, but it was harder and harder to keep his eyes open. In the back of his head, he was still somewhat aware that he could hear Cole talk and another part of him was planning to still just walk back to his room. He felt himself lean closer and closer to the soft fabric and the warm lap next to him. In his mind he blamed it all on gravity.

Then he felt an open palmed slap on his face. He could only apologize, knowing it was a sign he had done something wrong. He wasn’t sure if he was awake still or dreaming, as the scenery started to change. Him as a child, a blank slate that could learn better than any version of him, he earned punishment after punishment. He was trying his best and still failing, because his best wasn’t enough. He had to try harder to change, even while it was painfully apparent that he could never be what was expected of him. Even when he thought he had figured something finally out, he was proven other vice. He’d manage to kill for the first time, and done it well, only to start his first heat the following night. He could shoot five thousand bulls eyes and kill fifty families, but he’d still yarn to be held like a baby.

Hanzo was just about to walk to the garden in the Shimada castle in Hanamura, when he heard Cole talk again. This time it was louder. “Oh shit, sorry. I shouldn’t have hit you… it’s okay, just wake up.”

Hanzo opened the door to the garden, opening his eyes the outside lights blinding him. Only thing saving his eyes from the direct sunlight was the rim of a cowboy hat. “Good, good, open your eyes. There you go.”

Hanzo found himself drawn to the smile looking at him. It took embarrassingly long for him to recall the name of that handsome face, but once he did, the realization came crashing to him. Cole was holding his face against the serape and his legs were tangled to hold him down by the waist. He felt momentarily sad to be woken up from a dream that felt so real. He missed Hanamura.

Cole brushed some loose hairs off Hanzo’s face. “You awake Hanzo? No more nightmares.” He smelled worried and adoring. Hanzo had to replay the words in his mind a few times before he understood them.

“Soon…” He promised. He was staring at the pained smile on Cole and wondering why it took him so long to feel alive after passing out. His brain made the switch to other direction so suddenly, why couldn’t it wake him up in a similar manner. “Give me a minute.” He mumbled, trying to figure out where his hands were. He was holding onto something, but he couldn’t see his hands. By the texture of the material, it was probably Cole’s serape.

Cole smiled more genuinely. “oh, I only have time!” he joked. “And what better way to spend it than holding a handsome face.”

Hanzo huffed feeling groggy. The concreate under his hip felt cold and hard compared to the Cole shaped mattress he was blessed to use. He felt like closing his eyes and rubbing his face into the soft textile that had pretty much soaked in Coles scent and some very nice smelling cologne that made Hanzo’s mouth water. He was just about to close his eyes again and do just that, when Cole’s voice alarmed him awake again. “Can I do something to help?”

Hanzo blinked to try and be more conscious. “stop being so comfortable.” He mumbled. Trying to sound angry, but only earning an aww-sound from Cole.

Cole started to lightly bounce his hands, shaking Hanzo’s brain for him. “You were only out for a minute. That’s good right”

After hearing that Hanzo momentarily felt angry that he had been woken up. Usually he got a half an hour break from existence when he blacked out. Having to be pulled back into his deadly embarrassing reality so soon felt unfair. The bouncing made his head hurt and his ears ring. He wanted to curl to another direction and hide his face from the lights. Cole still holding him was an effective way to keep him from doing that.

“Hanzo, what happened to your lip?”

He instinctively bit the little cut to hide it. “Nothing.” He lied.

“uhu, sure… “ Cole smiled. He clearly didn’t believe him but didn’t mind his antics either. “looks like someone landed a hit on you.” his tone grew darker and accusing. It was easy to find him protective, but Hanzo tried to hear it as something else. He didn’t want to fall for it.

Hanzo cleared his throat to speak up. He squinted at Cole, but the sunlight was too bright to look anywhere else. “no one hit on me.” he mumbled, instantly realizing he said it wrong. “hit me.” he corrected.

Cole chuckled. “I bet you wouldn’t know even if someone did.”

Hanzo tried to blink harder to get a better look of Coles expression. He wished he could growl to warn the man. “Are you threatening me?” he asked in a bitter tone. Instantly feeling a chill run his spine as he realized how defenseless he currently was.

Cole smiled wide, brushing his thumb along Hanzo’s jawline and check. “Would you mind if I did? ”

“huh?! ” Hanzo felt like he had skipped something in the dialogue. He wondered if he had fallen asleep or was Cole just trying to confuse him on purpose. He was still brushing his check in a soothing manner and he didn’t smell aggressive or threatening either.

“I mean… would you mind if you got hit on? Would that be something you’d notice? Or care for?... “ Cole was talking very slow. Like he had to think twice longer than normal before every sentence. Hanzo was grateful for it, since it gave him more time to understand him.

“I can smell it you know.” He grunted. He wanted to ask Cole to stop shaking his head so much, but it was actually helping him stay awake, even while he did momentarily close his eyes. “It’s just your inner alpha. I won’t take it personally.” He declared.

Cole looked momentarily horrified whit the realization, but soon calmed down. “oh..” He had seemingly forgotten, just like he had forgotten to stop petting Hanzo’s face. His eyes were jumping between Hanzo’s eyes staring back at him and Hanzo’s lips as if either might jump at him. “Does it bother you?”

Hanzo attempted to sit up, but failed . He didn’t try extremely hard, but still. He wanted to shrug and scoff it off, but it was somewhat bothersome. It always made him feel like he was more welcome and more liked than he really was. “I don’t mind it.” He admitted.

Cole bit his lip, nodding and he finally stopped bouncing Hanzo’s head in his hands. “so… would you mind if I kissed you?”

Hanzo stared at Cole’s expression, looking for it to waver. His checks and the tip of his ears were flushed, his jaw was tight and his brows were knit together in worry. It was odd to smell how nervous Cole was over the simple question, as if there were stakes. Whatever Hanzo answered, neither of them would lose much. Hanzo hadn’t been taken seriously for a long while. Even if the two of them were found out and it was against some policy, which Hanzo didn’t think was the case, Hanzo would just leave overwatch sooner than planned and more alive than he had hoped. Whereas if he said no, Cole would just lose on one bad kiss. Hanzo himself however was selfish, and he knew a kiss would feel like a more lot to him in his solitude and lonely life, than saying no and saving some face would. “I don’t mind..” he eventually answered, hoping for Cole to lean down so he didn’t have to get up quite yet.

Cole simply looked surprised. He smelled exited and happy, like he had just heard good news. Hanzo hated it. The idea of the kiss making Cole miles happier than the actual kiss would. Before he had too much time to dwell on it, Hanzo decided to show him how wrong he was and push up himself. Maybe it was partly his impatience and fear that Cole would change his mind.

Cole didn’t let him jump up from his hold. “Stay still!” He laughed, and slowly leaned down for the kiss. It was quick and Hanzo didn’t have much time to enjoy it. He was concentrating on his own chest, trying to keep a purr from erupting. He didn’t even have time to kiss back, before Cole was already leaning back. He smelled horrified and full of shame and Hanzo felt like shit for knowing that would happen but still feeling disappointed when it did.

“Oh shit… sorry I shouldn’t have done that!” Cole looked mortified. Hanzo couldn’t do much else than glare at him. He was awake now enough to get up, and he decided for the both, that they were done. He didn’t want to stick around and hear more. He didn’t want to stay and smell the horror and shame and feeling of failure Cole was emitting, knowing it was his fault. Without a word, he walked off, knowing he probably smelled horrible. Without looking back, he speed walked all the way back to his room. Trying to not think about it while walking across the base.

Once he made it back to his room, he made sure the door was locked, and in light speed he stripped and rushed to the shower. He hoped that the water would take his scent into the drain as he couldn’t no longer stop himself from feeling. He was such an idiot for expecting any other outcome. He couldn’t help himself from trying to figure out what he did wrong. Was it the liver soup he ate, was it his dry lips. Should he have licked trough his lips before, would Cole like him if he used chap stick. Was it the way he kissed; he should have done more. If he was more enthusiastic during the kiss, maybe it would have lasted longer.

Hanzo hit the tiling on the shower wall, letting the stream deafen him. He knew it was nothing he did, yet his mind raised to try and figure out how to fix it. It was nothing he did, it was who he was. He could not be fixed. Cole would need to be black out drunk to enjoy a kiss whit him and Hanzo was an idiot for expecting anything else. It was his scent that had tricked Cole into thinking it was worth it. If Hanzo was a better person, he would have spared Cole the disappointment. But Hanzo had been too shellfish and naïve.

Hanzo bit his bruised lip in an attempt to calm down. He was not going to cry over it. If anything, Cole should be the one crying. Hanzo got exacly what he wanted. The consequences matched one to one what Hanzo had been preached to expect. He wasn’t something desirable or valuable, his scent just tricked alphas to think he was.

Chapter Text

Cole felt horrible. He wasn’t really in a mood for a chat but Genji had some type of a sixth sense that just let him know every time Cole had majorly fucked up. The cafeteria was quiet as Cole was poking at his mashed potatoes. Everyone was waiting for a response, a clarification on how angry Genji should be.

All the people in the room had known him for ages. Ana, Rainheart, Genji, Torbjörn and Brigette, all had spent countless hours on battle fields whit him and travelling to those battle fields. They probably knew Cole better than he himself. So it was especially heart breaking to admit, that whatever happened, was actually way worse than they were thinking. Genji was patiently sitting opposite to him, waiting for the ball to drop. It was clear even he didn’t expect Cole to do something hurtful to Hanzo. He still saw his older brother as something indestructible, despite acting like a protective alpha brother. But even Genji could tell that something had happened, since both Hanzo and Cole were sulking in silence, being avoiding everyone for the whole evening.

Genji had his mask off as he was eating. He was chewing on a tad too large piece of beef and looking at Cole waiting. The whole table was holding a collective breath, giving room for Cole to tell, what happened.

Cole took a deep breath running his fingers trough his hair. He knew he fucked up but admitting it to others was difficult. Especially when those people trusted him and expected better of him. Cole usually had a pretty good handle on social situations. He rarely revealed too much or appeared too intense. He had confidence in himself and that was his charm. Somehow around Hanzo he lost that. When the omega was around, Cole second guessed himself endlessly. He was terrified of making a mistake and in his uncertainty, he had managed to make the biggest mistake he could. He had hoped to make Hanzo feel welcome, he wanted him to feel safe and accepted. In his mind he wanted to make sure Hanzo would stay forever. Stay in the watch point and stay whit the pack. He wanted to make Hanzo realize, that he had nothing to worry about, but all he had done was give Hanzo a reason to run.

“I fucked up… okay!” He finally barked. “I didn’t mean to, It was only for a second and then I realized it” He dropped the fork to hide his face into his arms.

Genji was clearly confused, and still not really grasping the depth of Coles sin. “Did you say something to him?”

Ana leaned back on his chair humming in thought to get Cole’s attention. “You are obsessed whit him, we know. But you forget that you are hardly the first idiot Hanzo has had to deal whit. March in there, apologize and accept the consequences.” Ana listed matter of factly.

Cole groaned. “I don’t think he wants to see my face for a while.“

Rainhart was confused and whispered. “What did Cole do?” to Ana beside him. The tall man got an answer from the shortest one in the room, as Torbjörn answered for Ana in a less discreet whisper; “Probably proposed to the boy.“.

Genji frowned in thought, swallowing the mouthful of ham he had been chewing on the whole time. “Did you call him an omega, because yeah, he is one, but he doesn’t like being called that. It’s likely just a misunderstanding.” he said in a calm tone. The time he had spent around Zenyata really showing.

Brig was the only one not eating mashed potatoes, instead enjoying boiled potatoes whit her stake. “He might be a bit more sensitive now that he’s off blockers, but it’s still Hanzo. He’ll come around.”

Cole looked at the ceiling. Feeling frustrated surrounded by his understanding friends, while they shouldn’t be so understanding. “No, It’s seriously bad! I didn’t mean to, it just kind of slipped, but I…” He made the mistake of meeting Genjis eyes. He looked curious, whit raised brows and a small pout. Cole looked away as he finished his confession. “ …I commanded him.”

Genji’s jaw audibly dropped. “You what?!”

Ana sounded confused as she asked for clarification. “You used an alpha command on him? What did you say?”

Torbjörn swore quietly as Brigette also barked in. “How do you accidentally command someone?!”

Cole was mouthing words, stuttering trying to answer all the questions. He wanted to deflect, make excuses and belittle the situation, since he had no real defenses for his action. “I just told him to stay still. I didn’t realize I had done it, before I noticed he was like… extra still! I didn’t mean to command him! Hell, I don’t think I’ve ever used an alpha command before! Didn’t even know I can do it!”

Cole met Genji’s furious gaze. All the peacefulness he preached was hidden behind something that reminded Cole of their time in Blackwatch. Cole was glad the table was wide enough that Genji couldn’t reach him. “You hardly ever use alpha commands, so why’d you need to use one on Hanzo? ” was the only thing he asked, but it was more like a lifeline. Genji gave Cole only one change to explain and defend himself.

And Cole knew he was guilty. “I don’t know… I just wanted to be the one to kiss him, not the other way around.. “

“You kissed him?! “ Genji yelled in anger, his accent coming strong. Cole had earlier tought Genji was angry, but now Genji really was angry.

“What the fuck Cole!? “ Brig gasped as his father was face palming by his side. Ana and rain looked stunned and mortified.

Disappointed.

Cole lifted his hands in surrender. “It wasn’t like spontaneous! We talked, I asked for permission, and He said it was okay! I just got so exited, I didn’t realize I had forced him to stay still till I noticed he didn’t…. You know… move! It was only for a second and I instantly apologized! It was an honest mistake!” Cole was yelling.

Genji continued yelling too. “You cannot be that stupid! You are lucky it was just a kiss!”

“Just a kiss?!” Brig yelled. “it’s not JUST a kiss! It’s a fucking kiss!”

Ana didn’t yell, but her voice was loud enough to demand attention. “Are you telling me that alpha commands work on Hanzo?”

Rain interrupted Cole’s and Genji’s answer whit a confused “Doesn’t alpha commands work on both omegas and betas?”

To which Ana answered patiently. “Yes, it’s especially effective on omegas. But it’s possible to learn to disable that need to follow orders, especially from alphas that are not in the same pack.” Ana explained to Rain. “So I don’t see why Hanzo wouldn’t be trained to ignore such an effective manipulation tactic.” Ana concluded to Genji and Rainheart.

Genji shook his head. “Hanzo has always followed orders to the t! Also he’s like always been on blockers, and commands don’t work on blocked!” Genji argued.

Torbjörn joined the yelling too to repeat his daughters question. “How on earth do you accidentally use an alpha command? “

Cole pushed his plate away, appetite gone. “I don’t know! All I know, is that he freaking froze! Like on the spot he didn’t kiss back!”

Ana frowned. “Maybe he was just shocked. Are you sure he reacted to the command? I mean… I’m not sure if he is even a part of the pack yet.”

Cole rolled his head, feeling frustrated. “Yes! He got so pissed he just walked off! And I know, that I don’t kiss that bad! I could even smell how bad he felt!”

Rainheart looked at Cole feeling puzzled. “So he gave you permission to kiss him, but got angry when you did?”

Ana shook her head. “No, Cole commanded him to stay still, and then went in for the kiss. Kinda beats the point of asking permission.” She said sounding accusing.

Brig crossed her arms. “Poor Hanzo…” Torbjörn looked shocked hearing the words. But didn’t comment on it.

Genji also put his utensils down and crossed his arms. “I will talk to Hanzo, hear his side of the story. So if there’s anything else, you better spit it out.” Genji was furious, but the patience he was showing made him even more terrifying.

Cole crossed his fingers like he was praying. “Please just know I didn’t mean to, and let Hanzo know I’m sorry!”

Genji stood up, leaving his meal behind, and marched off. Cole let his face drop into his palms. As the silence in the cafeteria returned. Not much had been eaten, but somehow the appetite in most was gone.

When Genji knocked on his door, Hanzo was tempted to pretend to sleep. He wasn’t in a talking mood, and despite trying to think of other things and be positive, he knew his suffering stained the air. He however opened the door, to make sure Genji wasn’t worried and to find out if his scent was still leaking to the hall.

He didn’t expect Genji to be angry, but he was. To further Hanzo’s confusion, he was not angry at him, but Cole of all people. Hanzo felt like he was being babied. That Genji was treating him like a child or a defenseless damsel. They started an all too familiar shouting match, when Hanzo demanded to be given some responsibility. It wasn’t up to Genji to look after Hanzo. If anything, that task was supposed to be on the older brother. Genji was flailing his arms yelling how Hanzo was unreasonable and that it can’t be on Hanzo, only making Hanzo angrier. How dare Genji come to him like his actions didn’t have weight.

Hanzo usually was quite quick-witted, especially during a confrontation, but a sentence so stupid stunned him so blatantly, that he lost his words.

“I don’t care how you feel about it, it’s not your fault! You cannot do anything against an alpha when they can command you!”

Hanzo was dumbfounded shaking his head. It took a few tongue clicks for him to come up whit an answer that wouldn’t cause physical damage to his idiot brother. “You take commands from alphas! How is that any different to when I follow orders?! And what has that have to do whit anything?!”

“I heard what Cole did! You are not supposed to be okay with that!”

Hanzo felt his whole face wrinkle in anger. Of course the Cowboy would be the type to kiss and tell. He had hoped he’d feel enough shame to not mention the details of the event since it was so unpleasant to Cole. It was embarrassing enough that it even occurred. For Cole to tell his own brother how disgusted Hanzo had made him was a whole other thing. Hanzo wanted to cut and shoot Cole for it. And on top of that, Genji couldn’t fathom that Hanzo really deserved it. Genji had likely also fallen for the ruse. The scent the bells and whistles, morphing his views. He took no pleasure in revealing the ugly truth, but it was about time. “You or Cole don’t get to decide that! Cole is doing a favor, letting everyone know, it’s not worth it! Let all of them know I’m not worth the attention! It’s time you get it too! Male omegas, the whole strong scent, twin bearing bullshit is just to make us seem appealing! It’s not real!”

Genji yelled over him. “I know your scent is altered Hanzo! It does not mean Cole gets away whit using alpha commands to get whit you!”

Hanzo had to but his hands in fists as he was concealing his anger. “He didn’t command me! Fuck… the alpha commands don’t even work on me! Never has! It’s not Cole’s fault that he regrets it if I tricked him into it!”

Genji straightened up looking stunned. “really? You can’t be alpha commanded?”

Hanzo was stunned by the stupidity. “No! Why would such a weakness… Of course not! It was thought out of me before you were born! What would be the reason to leave such a weakness?!”

Ganji was visibly confused. “Wait so… what” he tilted his head like a confused puppy, a thing he had started doing after his face was concealed behind expressionless mask. “then what happened? Cole thinks you got angry because he commanded you.”

Hanzo shrugged. “he obviously was tricked and after feeling disgusted by something he thought he liked, he blamed himself. I left the situation to spare him from the shame, but apparently he has been sharing it around.“ Hanzo pointed at the door. “Now if you have other things to be angry at me about, you can share it in the group chat, since nothings seems to be private in here!” Hanzo declared whit clear sarcasm in his tone.

Genji swayed on his feet groaning. “No! Hanzo c’mon. It was not like that! Cole wasn’t disgusted, he thought he was forcing himself on you!” Genji explained. “I’m not angry at you! I was angry at him!”

Hanzo rolled his eyes. “If an alpha commanded me and came onto me, you really think I’d just walk off, even if it was one of your friends?”

Genji shrugged. “Well for a just a kiss… I mean…” He stared at Hanzo for a beet as the older brother slowly crossed his arms, expecting honesty. Finally the younger brother cave. “Okay, I didn’t consider that… but to be fair, you have not been your… usual self as of late.”

Hanzo scoffed. “Yeah, figures how constant blackouts can change a person.” but there was no longer anger in his tone.

Genji nodded, calming down too. “Angela mentioned that you will be medicated for that… that’s good, right.”

“We’ll see.” Hanzo wasn’t feeling overly positive.

Genji rubbed the back of his head. He was clearly thinking of saying something and Hanzo was hoping he’d just leave him alone already. He had a warm bed to get to. But Genji unfortunately came up whit his question. “So… you like Cole?…”

Hanzo frowned. He didn’t really enjoy gossip or talking about feelings. Those were a weakness easy to use against you and usually just a cause for gossip. Especially relationships were a topic that had so many moving parts and uncertainties, that it was better to hide all forms of inconclusive affection. But since Cole was so transparent and Genji had got it in his head, that Hanzo required protection from it, he decided to admit to some flaws to relieve Genji of his alpha brotherly duties as a cock blocker. He didn’t want to put words to it so he just nodded grunting.

Genji’s scent bloomed whit a mixture of feelings. Perhaps it was the overpowering scent of anger dispersing, but too many feelings took its place to draw conclusions from. He clapped his hands together and seemed delighted. “That… To be honest, I did not see coming! But if that’s the case, I’m happy for you, since obviously, the feeling is mutual.” He laughed in a cybernetic tingle.

Hanzo rolled his eyes. It was not that obvius. Only thing that was obvius was that Cole was horny, that much was for certain. But weather he was even the type of man to get emotionally invested was uncertain. If anything, Hanzo had to be more on guard to protect his own libido from breaking his heart by getting too deeply invested into something shallow. Although Hanzo would be lying to himself if he claimed to hate the attention and transparency. At least now he knew there was at least the shallow option, for now. He might want to take that opportunity before the next interesting character gets drafted and wins over the cowboy from him. He knew in the dating market, Hanzo wouldn’t be catching someone like Coles attention, if it wasn’t for the rare circumstances they were in. Small part of Hanzo still felt like the kiss had shown true emotions and what Cole was telling his friends didn’t add up. Next time he saw Cole, if the undertones of interest were still present in his scent, Hanzo would know for sure that the kiss didn’t break the magic spell and he potentially could push it further. But he knew there would be a breaking point, either a time limit from Cole’s attention span and interest or the eventual better option would come across. Hanzo was not the type to get picked first after all.

When Genji eventually left after failing to get more gossip out of Hanzo, Hanzo locked the door and fell like a bag of rocks to his bed. He let out the dragons, to get comfortable for the night. He had admitted defeat against the notion that he was not nesting. At least he hasn’t gone as far to gather other people’s belongings to scent mark his safe space. That usually was a behavior that required a pack, and Hanzo was still against the idea of being part of the overwatch pack. If anything, he was visiting his brothers pack and been provided a quest room to use during his stay. If he fell asleep especially appreciating the lingering scent Genji left behind and placing the hoodie that had some residue scent from rubbing against Cole’s serape into his nest, those were just happy accidents. He fell asleep looking at his prostatic legs neatly by his bed trying to recall the last time he felt so safe without them on.

Cole knew that alpha command is a powerful weapon, but in his life, he’d rarely used them. He was thought as a child, that he should always ask, not command. Alpha commands usually being seen as immoral. Not that Cole had done decisions in his youth based on the social morale, but to Cole’s experience a pointed gun was much more effective way to get a message a cross in a pinch or during a robbery than using some specific tone of voice while off blockers. To be honest, since alpha commands don’t work on alphas, and he has been mostly surrounded by alphas, he wasn’t even sure how his alpha command even sounded. Now he was thinking back on moments on his life, where he might have used it. Was he really that socially inept, he hadn’t realized when people around him were following his orders against their own will?

He spends the night, grafting an apology message to Hanzo. He kept making all his messages unnecessarily long and revealing. Something short and concise just didn’t feel right, as Cole wanted to talk trough the night to Hanzo. Let him know who he was, what he was about and what he cared about. He wanted to get a change to show Hanzo, what type of alpha he was. But the idea that Hanzo most likely won’t even read his message crossed his mind. He wanted to wear his heart on his sleeve and beg for forgiveness and ask for an other change. Make promises that he’d never do the mistake again. But that was a promise he couldn’t make. Not if he didn’t have control over his alpha voice.

At midnight, after dozens of failed attempts on poetry and apologizes, it hit him. It was always better to show than tell. He had to show Hanzo, that he was being serious. He had to fix his mistake, and do better. So as the watch point was lit for the night as the moon did not provide enough light during the night, Cole bought an online course on alpha voice.

He started the video on introduction around midnight, and by the time the sky was lighting in different shades from the rising sun, he was repeating after an instructor the same senentenses, first in his fond alpha voice, then his stern alpha voice, and finally, without the alpha muscles in his chest.

He practiced the two different alpha voices. The fond alpha voice was softer, and more effective on children and the elderly. It was used for suggestive orders, that were usually agreed upon in the whole pack. “You should go to sleep.” or “You should eat your vegetables” were commands, that once fulfilled, made the commanded feel good, but didn’t necessarily force to the action. Demanding stern alpha voice got faster results but loosed its effectiveness over repeated or excessive use. Things like “sit down” and “be quiet” were usually said in stern alpha voice. He had not expected the difference to be as physical as it was, but it was good for him. Since he was much better at learning practical skills than theory.

Cole had to wondered, why he hadn’t been thought about the fond alpha voice before, since there really wasn’t down sides on using it. He’d only heard of the stern one. As a fun fact, the course taught him that omegas too actually have the muscle and are capable of mimicking the alpha voice, but it does not work to motivate or control anyone. It just sounds similar.

When his alarm sounded, he considered pressing the noose button to do a few more practices, instead of starting the day. But he was already repeating the course material and doing advanced tasks, so he switched off the alarm instead. He had missed a night of sleep but regretted none of it.

That was, until he was at the gym with Zarya. Cole was feeling like he won’t make it. In his youth, he used to often have sleepless nights and all nighters, but the extra physical schedule he was still on was feeling extra intense in his sleep deprived state. On top of that, his tired mind was still trying to come up whit a proper way to communicate his sincerest apology to Hanzo. He was running scripts to speeches in his head whenever he wasn’t dry heaving at the gym. Unfortunately they had cross fit training scheduled for the day. He was glad he had a light breakfast that morning.

Zarya was also more absent minded than Cole. Perhaps he sensed that Cole was not having the best day, and cut him some slack. Then again, knowing the woman, it was unlikely. Cole had gotten to know the mountain of a woman better, during his shared time at the gym. His clear resolve and go getter attitude had hopefully rubbed on him a bit. On the other hand, it seemed that Coles listlessness and daydreaming tendencies had rubbed on her.

As they were having a break between rotating sets, Cole tried to form a question to ask about it. Part of him hoped that they could skip their last rotation on their little cross fit day and instead just play therapist to each other. While Zarya was rolling the cap of his water bottle absent mindedly between her fingers in a very out of character fashion, Cole finally figured something out. “Do ya miss going on missions?” he brawled.

Zarya looked thoughtful for a moment. “Perhaps. But routine is also good.” She pondered in heavy accent.

Cole nodded. “Sure is..” He tapped his fingers on the hollow step board he was using as a bench. “Speaking of routine, how about we end up a bit early today?”

It took a while for Zarya to visibly hear the question, or perhaps he had given Cole some time to retract his question. “That is not routine. That is skipping.”

Cole shrugged. “It would just be one time.” He excused.

“Would you ever do more to make up for it? No. It is easy to skip in the future, if you lower your goal. That is not a way to improve.”

Cole couldn’t help but yawn. He had been yawning a lot and at first he had been trying to hide it. “Right… “

Suddenly Zarya looked up at Cole in a way that made him flinch. “You speak Japanese? Correct?”

“Yeah, but I’m not that good at it.” Cole admitted. “Had to learn some for a long gig during Blackwatch days.”

“How did you study the letters?”

“I didn’t really. Mostly just the spoken language. “ Zarya’s shoulders slugged after hearing that, but Cole continued. “And I had Genji teach me a bit, and some lectures from Athena. Why?”

Zarya returned her attention to the water bottle. “Figures.” She scoffed sounding disappointed.

Cole frowned. “Why? You want to learn Japane-… “ Then it hit him. Zarya was a day earlier bothered by the fact that Mei spend time whit Hanzo, and what they had in common was the language, mandarin. Zarya was jealous, and wanted to learn mandarin. It all made sense! Cole wanted to yell heureka from figuring it out despite feeling like half his brain was asleep.

“Nah, Not Japanese.” Zarya clarified, confirming Cole’s suspicion.

Cole smiled. “You know, you could just ask her to teach you Mandarin.”

Zarya slowly shook his head. “She is far too busy..” then he frowned and looked up at Cole. “How did you know?”

Cole gave his dark coy smile. He hoped he had his hat on, to really nail the mysterious and all too well knowing look. “I ain’t just a hat rack.” he smugly announced.

Zarya laughed a bit. “Is that so!” She shook her head softly. “Well… neither am I but the bird nest looking lettering… those scare me.” She admitted.

Cole hummed in agreement. “It does look intimidating.” he leaned backwards a bit, not expecting his back to make a soft pop. He grunted a bit. “But so does 512 kilograms.” He laughed trough some mild pain referring to Zaria’s death lift record which was still the current world record.

The woman chuckled. “To become strong, you simply train. To learn a new language, I do not know where to start.” She admitted. “And I don’t know if it is something I should do.” She became oddly serious and thoughtful.

“You start small.” Cole reminded. “And see how she feels.” Cole knew the feeling way too well. Not knowing if your advances would be welcome and how to advance. The target of the attention easily feeling defensive, if you try to drag then to the deep end too fast.

Cole gasped when it hit him. He had this whole time, been thinking too far ahead. He had thought the goal of his apology was to get to convince Hanzo that kissing him again would be safe, when he should be thinking it as a set back. He had gone too far, too fast. He had put Hanzo in a position, where he had to jump to the deep end whit Cole and Cole had accidentally nearly drowned him. Cole didn’t need to convince Hanzo to jump again. First he needed to get Hanzo to just approach the pool.

He ignored Zarya for a minute, to write up a message for Hanzo. Zarya sounded to first be confused by it but later appeared simply entertained.

Cole Cassidy – I am honestly very sorry about what I said yesterday! I have in the past not studied enough on my own anatomy, and how to control my voice. I have since yesterday studied on the subject and learned self control. I’ll make sure it won’t happen again!

The message didn’t include any requests, any offerings, just a simple promise. He had been trying to avoid implying he won’t kiss Hanzo again, but after what had happened, he had to seriously step back. Next time, the needed to aproach Hanzo from the perspective of, ‘I betrayed your trust, please let me earn it back’. Not the way he had been thinking it; ‘Let me do whatever it takes to get to kiss you again’.

Cole didn’t get to skip the last rotation, but Zarya was merciful enough to let Cole keep a little bit longer break after nearly puking between pushup sets. Cole had thought of himself as more of a sprinter than a marathon runner. Then he had thought of himself as a agile person, rather than heavy lifter. After training whit Zarya, he had realized he was simply athletic but out of shape.

As he showered in the communal space, he remembered that they had still endurance training in the evening. He might seriously fall asleep on his feet during it. When he was thinking of all the possible excuses to avoid the practice, he nearly didn’t register that his communicator pinged. Whit a little late response, Cole speed washed himself to run out of the shower, hair dripping and nearly slipping on the wet floor in his hurry. He was the only one in the changing room but he still had the decency to wrap a towel around his hips.

Hanzo Shimada – I heard from Genji that there may have been a misunderstanding, as alpha commands don’t have an effect on me.

Cole instantly typed up a message, that if he had spent some time rethinking he might have worded better or not sent at all.

Cole Cassidy – Then why didn’t you move?

Cole took constant peeks at his communicator as he made it trough lunch and was preparing to enter the shooting range after his long hiatus. He feared he just missed the sound of his communicator, but in fact, no answers came.

Hanzo woke up feeling great. He didn’t oversleep, or find the shift from dreams to the reality as difficult as the prior mornings. The dragons were tangled in the sheets with him, making the nest feel that much warmer. He had to really concentrate to smell Genji or Cole, but even that didn’t bother him. He was having a good morning. He even managed to do some light yoga moves along his morning meditation, something he hadn’t felt like he had time for the longest time. He ate breakfast and trimmed his beard and was ready in time to head for the medbay.

On his way to the medbay, he spotted Genji. Without knowing it, his little brother managed to seriously test his good mood. Hanzo had to hide any disgust or awkwardness during their short interaction. Genji was on his way to the kitchen and they walked a bit together. Hanzo couldn’t help but wrinkle his nose in few occasions, but he was fairly certain Genji hadn’t noticed it. As he was left alone, he had to rub his nose and wrinkle his whole face to cope whit the strong scent. He didn’t recall ever smelling Genji’s sex life so vividly. He physically cringed at the notion of even knowing that for some freaking reason walnuts were a part of the deal and he refused his brain from trying to piece how that worked. He didn’t need to know and by gods he didn’t want to know. All he knew is that he won’t be eating walnuts for a while. If he ever had doubted that his brother wouldn’t be getting intimacy in his new body, he was proven other vice.

When he got to the med bay, Vivian was sitting on one of the chairs aligned along the hallway walls as makeshift waiting area. She was reading something on her communicator and bobbing her feet in an impatient manner. On the field, she was called Sojourn or a captain on some missions. The woman had an odd aura around her that Hanzo hadn’t gotten used to. She had decided on her own to replace her limbs whit cybernetic ones. Even her face was full of small mechanical seams and her eyes were unnervingly sharp. She was very serious, but much more approachable than Morrison. Hanzo had never held a casual conversation whit the woman, but he had overheard some she held whit the other members. She was an alpha, but true to what Cole had told him, she was currently on blockers.

Hanzo sat down, far from the woman and also pulled out his communicator. Hoping to keep their limited amount of casual interactions to a minimum. He didn’t have much else to read than the group chat, which seemed to be lively but not as fast phased as before. There was discourse about pizza ordering and if that would be possible in variety of scenarios. Winston was answering the questions very seriously, while the people asking them were most certainly just joking in some sitsutions. Like when Lucio asked if they were allowed to order pizza if they had a mission on the moon or Lena asking if they are allowed to order pizza during a mission if where they were using time travel to stay anonymous. Then there was the typical ‘Does Banana belong on pizza’ and ‘can you leave the crust uneaten’ debates. Hanzo was not surprised that Torbjörn and Brigitte were the loudest banana on pizza enthusiasts, since the whole fad originated from Sweden.

Hanzo smelled doctor Ziegler approaching before he heard the footsteps. He pocketed his communicator at the same time as Vivian did. To Hanzo’s mild surprise, she seemed to be surprised when she spotted Hanzo, visibly jumping a bit. Hanzo had not even thought about the fact that Vivian was unable to smell him and most likely didn’t hear his approach. Not that Hanzo had tried to be sneaky.

Vivian didn’t have time to say anything, when Angela was already greeting them. She was holding a tablet and a large cup of coffee. She smelled well rested. She was surprised to see Vivian there so early, but the woman quickly explained that she just needed something small to be tuned. Angela didn’t really need to ask Hanzo, if he was fine wating a bit, but she did. Hanzo knew it was just out of politeness, but it welt ridiculous. Of course a member of overmatch had priority status, however small the issue was.

Hanzo waited alone in the hallway for half an hour, before Vivian left the med bay. She only greeted Hanzo whit a small nod, which Hanzo returned, before walking into the test room behind the apologetic doctor.

Angela set up the test slab again to accommodate for the dragons too, and strapped Hanzo onto the machine. The test was for two hours and Hanzo blacked out couple of times during it. They were short blackouts, but enough to bring the dragons out again.

After the test, Angela gave him a pill bottle. She had hand written parts of the lable making the orange bottle look very unnofical, but she admitted it to be due to themedication being typically for different purposes. The effect was an inability to fall asleep. He got a second bottel whit offical label that would allow him to sleep during night. One pill every morning and evening for three moths.

Three months Hanzo had to stay off blockers and rewire his brain.

As Cole was going to the living room to get Vivian to clear him for weapon handling, he spotted Hanzo’s scent. He didn’t intent to follow it, search the source, but it just happened to lead to the direction he was walking toward. It was midday, when living room was usually quite empty. Usually just Jack, Vivian and Angela were there during the daytime hours for coffee breaks turned meetings. But now there were along the typical three, also both Shimadas and Zenyata, making the large space much more crowded than usual.

When Cole made a mock knock by the door before stepping in, he heard Jack comment. “Speak of the devil…” Which Cole dignified whit a fake smile as the nowadays all too often heard growl erupted from himself. He pretended that he didn’t even notice it. As it was just how he reacted to Jack now.

He opted to act as if he didn’t come for the sweet scent, but for his gun, which was true but felt like a lie, even as he said it. “Hey Vivian, I was thinking of hitting the shooting range, could you spare a moment?” He pointed over his shoulder whit his thumb.

He tried to avoid looking at the direction of the Shimadas behind the sofas. They were whit Zen on the floor. From a quick glance, he assumed the three were meditating. Cole kept his eyes on the end of the long coffee table, where Jack, Vivian and Angela were on their usual spots. Jack whit his ridiculous dad mug and Angela whit a ridiculously large one. Jack was in his battle suit which managed to piss Cole off. He was cleared for missions, which Cole was not, and wasn’t that just annoyingly unfair, since the reason was Jack’s stupid altered scent. He failed avoiding to look at Hanzo’s direction, as he saw movement in the corner of his eyes. A quick side glance turned into a stare and delighted grin, as two all too familiar looking dragons shyly approached him, behind the sofas. They were clearly trying to stay as far away from the coffee drinkers as possible. “Well I’ll be damned..” He gasped. Part of him wanted to boast about his status as a dragons friend as the three agents on the table were visibly jealous, including Jack, as the Dragons came to touching distance to greet Cole.

Angela asked. “do YOU have time to spare?” Her eyes were glued to the blue dragons and their twitching whiskers.

Cole bend down to give his hand for the dragon to sniff at. He wasn’t sure if petting a dragon would be weird, but he was tempted. “Sure thing, what do you need?” He smiled. One of the dragons growled at Cole, clearly confused, why he was growling, but not exactly looking angry. Although he had no way learned how to read the dragons mood, he was going of instinct that the dragons were just confused.

Angela opened his mouth to say something, when Hanzo said something in Japanese sounding very angry. He talked fast, but Cole recognized something about a lack of fairness. He finally got a good look at the three and nearly broke into laughter. By the looks of it, Genji and Zenyata were ganging on Hanzo in a game of UNO. Hanzo was practically holding the whole deck which was in a way kind of impressive as he was still gathering more cards into his hand. Genji had what Cole knew to be his ‘I’m innocent’ -look on as Zenyata looked as apologetic as possible.

Angela gave a forced smile, like he felt sorry for Hanzo but turned back to Cole. “Yeah, we need some angry alpha pheromones to test a theory, and Jack has some free time right now.”

The old soldier managed to look like a kid, that was told by his mom, to hang out whit the neighbor’s kid. Clearly he was equally as annoyed by having to hang out whit Cole as Cole was, and that made oddly Cole feel a bit better about it. Cole simply nodded whit an amplified grin on his face. “Okay. Sure, I can babysit Jack for you.” He mocked.

Jack crossed his arms and if he was standing, Cole wanted to imagine him cocking his hip to the side too to finish the mean girl pose. “If anything, I’m the one babysitting you two!” He clarified.

Cole quirked a brow. “Two?” Before instantly realized who Jack was talking about. He made a quick glance at Hanzo, who had finally finished gathering cards, and was trying to pile a card combo from the fan of cards he was holding. One of the dragons decided that to be a great time to try and jump to sniff at Cole’s hat. It used Cole as a leverage and nearly made him topple over. The dragon easily reached Cole’s head when it was standing on its hind legs. Instinctively Cole grabbed a hold of the long creature, but luckily it didn’t mind. It was much more interested in the rim of Cole’s hat.

Angela looked like he wanted nothing more than take a picture of Cole whit the dragons. He was momentarily distracted, just saying “aww…” quietly, before Jacks quick grunt of “yeah” brought her attention back. She straightened her back a bit like she was starting to recite a prescription. “Yes, Hanzo needs around the clock supervision right now, and he still needs to be in a triggering situations. We think aggressiveness from Alpha’s may be a trigger. And you need to hang out whit Jack.” He added the last bit like it was Coles sentence.

Cole looked over at the three who arguably were in a hearing distance, but either acted like they didn’t hear them, or they were too indulged on the UNO -game. “So… Why are they playing uno?”

Jack grunted. “Genji was supposed to hate it or something… Seems like Hanzo hates it more.” He mused.

As to prove Jack’s point, on queue Hanzo yelled in Japanese, how there was no way Genji could still have more black cards. He honestly sounded slightly scary, since Hanzo rarely sounded so emotional, even while angry. Or maybe Cole just wasn’t used to it, and it kind of reminded him of what the omega was capable of. Genji seemed to be entertained by it. The brother’s true nature shining trough.

“I see…” Cole nodded. The other dragon also hopped to it’s hind legs, to try and get the hat. Cole Gave up on trying to keep his balance, against the dragons and just gave the hat to them to sniff at. The other instantly took the opportunity, and grabbed it and way faster than was strictly necessary, it made a run for it, making Cole regret his decision. The other dragon too bolted after it and together they brought their haul to Hanzo. At first he was still concentrating on the cards, but suddenly he realized what the dragons were holding and turned to look at Cole, still standing by the door. Cole gave an awkward wave at the man. Hanzo answered the wave whit a small nod.

Angela went on to explain to Cole why Hanzo needed supervision, while Hanzo visibly shrunk into himself. Cole wouldn’t blame the man for feeling embarrassed, and that was what he assumed it to be. To soothe the situation, after Angela had went on and on how important the social interactive treatment was, Cole brought up his own circumstance to compare. His treatment however didn’t require the medication Hanzo was on, and quickly Cole realized just how intense the medication really was. When before, Hanzo would fall asleep, the medication prevented his brain from entering rest state, even while the brain was pumping hormones that made him previously pass out. Now instead of falling asleep, Hanzo got a severe headache and lost control over some of his motor functions momentarily. Angela compared it to dream paralyze. And like before, when it happened Hanzo’s dragons tended to jump out.

Instead of Angela, Vivian piped in to explain why the dragons were out. As he compared it to a safety measure to get the dragons to trust their surroundings and possibly not attack the people around Hanzo when the blackout hits. However, it was clear that the dragons were not interested in getting to know the people in the base. Much more interested in keeping certain people away from Hanzo, Vivian pointed to Jack by nodding to his direction while explaining. But the dragons were kept free, since it was safer to know where they were than them suddenly appearing.

Cole didn’t know what he expected his participation to include, but when it came apparent that he was just expected to literally hang out on the sofas and growl at Jack while the dragons kept running in the living room and playing whit the pillows was perhaps the most fun task he could have imagined.

Viviana and Angela left them to it, which left Jack and Cole in an awkward place. Cole took a nice comfortable pose on the sofa, sitting sideways, so he didn’t turn his back on Jack, but could still watch the UNO game evolve. A steady rumbling growl from Cole kept Jack in a respectable distance and made casual conversation somewhat impossible. Jack just could not stop pointing out how Cole should calm down and quit growling, while Cole felt the opposite every time Jack brought it up. Luckily the twin dragons and the UNO game acted as a good entertainment to distract them.

They learned that the dragons actually understood English and Japanese, but simply often deciding to ignore orders. From watching them, Cole had previously been under the impression, that intellectually they were at a level of an animal, like a dog. But after hearing a dragon laugh at a dark humor and helping Hanzo cheat in a meaningless game of UNO, Cole learned they were much more intelligent.

After only half an hour of hanging out and watching the Shimadas and Zenyata try to finish the extended game of UNO, Jack came out whit a suspicious recollection of “Oh I have a very important thing I need to do”. They had went over how bad Jack is at aiming and how old shoes are too old, before he excused himself. While Cole had been growling in a low tone the whole time Jack was there, he didn’t exactly feel like he wanted to jump his guts or punch the man, so some progress may have been made.

While Jack had been still in the room, the dragons were like energetic animals, running laps and building a what looked like a barrier around Hanzo. Just carrying random blankets and pillows to him. The moment Jack left however, they calmed down, the other finding a resting place by wrapping itself around Hanzo, and the other happily jogging to Cole and hopped to rest on his lap. The whole dragon didn’t fit there, but it made due. Cole was practically one whit the sofa, letting his body melt into the fabric covered cushions. He didn’t even want to think how many hours he had been up and how many he still had to go, while his body was taking the nap his mind couldn’t.

The dragon on his lap was a good excuse to stay laying on the sofa and just watch the uno game continue endlessly from a far. As one by one the three players were saying Uno, only to be bombarded whit cards that ordered them to pick more cards extending the game. Cole was just about to fail at keeping his eyes open, when he witnessed Hanzo having a blackout while on medication for the first time.

It happened suddenly. The air was thick whit the sweet and content smell of omega, and suddenly it turned sour. Hanzo slowly fell to his side, being caught by the dragon and the pillows and blankets gathered around him. Without any noise or a word, Hanzo laid there like he had just been fataly shot. Cole was reasonably shocked, instantly rushing to approach Hanzo and help, till he realized that neither Genji or Zenyata moved to touch him. Zenyata even asked Cole to calm down, whilst letting one of his glowing yellow orbs hover over to Hanzo. Upon closer inspection, Cole also realized that Hanzo had his eyes open, and was glaring at Cole. Clearly upset, but over what, Cole didn’t know.

After the mild panic and awkwardness of it lasting nearly ten minutes, Hanzo slowly got up whit a bit of shakiness and whit great effort, he managed to say. “I’m alright.” Whit a pained grunt.

Despite Hanzo claiming that, Cole couldn’t leave the Uno circle by Hanzo’s side. “That’s good to hear.” He tried to sound sincere as he awkwardly sat down on a floor pillow, nearly kicking the stack of cards in the middle whit his lanky legs.

“That was a longer one.” Genji whispered too, sounding a tad accusing.

Hanzo shook his head whit force and cleared his throat. “they tend to get longer troughtout the day.” He said whit a raspy voice.

Cole was tempted to grab Hanzo’s shoulder, he looked like he might fall over again at any moment. His scent however shifted back to something neutral, soothing Cole’s worry. It took a while for Cole’s pulse to settle back to normal after the scare. Genji, Hanzo and Zenyata were all making an effort to act like it wasn’t a big deal, so Cole did his best to try and move past it too.

Slowly, the Uno card game ensued again. It felt like an endless battle, and now that Cole was close, he could tell why. The three were playing whit the rule, that the last card cannot be a special one, whilst allowing stacking for the specials, making winning nearly impossible. He soon found himself as a dragon holder, as Hanzo’s dragons used their length to wrap around both of them. Cole didn’t mind being in close proximity whit Hanzo, if anything, he wanted to thank the dragons for the opportunity. But Hanzo soon started to suspect Cole was feeding information about his cards to Genji.

Cole tried to first calmly remind Hanzo that he didn’t have a motive to help Genji, Hanzo yelled at him how opportunity might make a criminal. Cole may have went a bit far whit his arguing, even bringing up how little he cared who won, but it all resulted in him simply covering his eyes. Last thing Cole witnessed before closing his eyes was how Genji was clearly laughing behind his mask, that much was blatantly obvious by how his shoulders were shaking. That only pissed off Hanzo more and Cole couldn’t blame him. If he wasn’t holding a lap full of mythical snakes he propably wounld have jumped at his brother, that’s how venomous his order to ‘stop laughing’ was.

As Cole sat there eyes closed, listening to the sound of shuffling cards and enjoying Hanzo’s over bearing scent, he realized how much the thing made him salivate. He was constantly swallowing and finding his tongue to feel extra thick. It was all just interesting and entertaining until a certain thought plagued his mind. Is that the reaction Hanzo’s scent gives to all alphas? He knew Hanzo was very much his type and he had a thing for muscles and the assertive natured but was Hanzo that appealing to everyone?

If he was laying he would have likely fallen asleep as his thoughts started to merge whit memories and weird imaginations. He was trying to figure out why he liked Hanzo so much. If anything, Hanzo should be scary and dangerous to him, but there was just something that made it more appealing than challenging. He would be lying if he claimed not to have the alpha urge to challenge Hanzo and come on top. Of course he wanted to have control and be safe. He was not searching trouble, but something about Hanzo just felt very clear and predictable. Cole felt like he already knew the man, even while it was not true. Like he knew if he pulled on his hair, he’d get a broken hand. And he knew if he joked about Hanzo’s past, it would not make him laugh. Perhaps there was an odd sense of familiarity that came along the predictability.

Then again, perhaps it was the power and danger in Hanzo that was so appealing. He had seen the dragons devour fleets of fighters and grind trough flesh, bone and armor whit their long rows of teeth. But he could only see them as something fascinating and adorable as he was holding one. Perhaps it was the contrast of seeing the vurbelable side of someone so powerful that exited him. Or perhaps he just had a thing for bossy beautiful rich people.

Midst the thoughts, Cole peeked at Hanzo. He was focused as always and put together. It was still sort of hard to believe Hanzo could smell as much as he claimed. It was a detail Cole routinely forgot. He’d only known about it for a while, but he still constantly found his thoughts wandering while around the omega. Cole was partially glad that Hanzo hid his reactions so well, but it made it just easier to forget. Cole had to keep in mind to rein in his intrusive thoughts about the omega.

But Cole was a simple human, whit a simple mind. He got a good look at Hanzo, up close while smelling him filling the room whit the sweet scent. Before he knew it, he was imagining a longer kiss whit Hanzo, intertwining his fingers to his hair and letting his other hand roam. He realized his mistake and tried to think of something else, hoping Hanzo wouldn’t sense his relapse. The side eye he got from Hanzo sadly proved him that Hanzo was very aware. And if Cole wasn’t sitting so close, he would have definitely missed the slight blush that colored Hanzo’s features. And that did not help Cole’s mind from derailing.

“Stop peeking!” Hanzo ordered, but there was no snarl or anger in his sentence.

Cole bit his lip grinning. “Yes sir.” He joked, earning a giggle from Genji.

“Ha! UNO!” Hanzo celebrated, slapping a card down hard. Cole didn’t see the card but instantly, Hanzo slapped the stack again. “Check mate!”

Genji blew a raspberry in disbelief. “Finally its over!” He mumbeld, but his tone was obviously jealous of Hanzo’s victory.

“you want to continue? “ Zenyata asked.

“NO!” Genji nearly interrupted Zen whit his fast reply, as he dropped his cards.

Cole assumed it was safe to peek. Hanzo had managed to end the round whit a double block and a simple yellow seven. Cole gave a lazy clap and congratulated Hanzo. “Whit the rules you play whit, it’s a miracle it ever ended.” Cole laughed.

Three confused faces stared at him, two expressionless and one very puzzled.

Genji was the first to talk. “What do you mean? It’s UNO! The rules are pretty clear.”

Cole had to force his laugh to continue, as he searched for sympathy. “Yeah, but you can have different rules…” Hanzo gave him a confused frown. “I mean, You could have ended the round whit a special card..”

Hanzo scoffed and rolled his eyes. “That would make the game far too easy!”

Genji simply nodded agreeing. “That wouldn’t make sense!”

Cole picked up the box. “Ymmm…” He pointed at the estamated time marked on the box, reading 20-40 minutes. “Funny how the box states that… you all suck at UNO!” he joked.

Genji crossed his arms angry. “You play the exact same way!”

Cole rolled his eyes. “Yeah! But I don’t claim that that’s the only way to play UNO!”

Hanzo grabbed the box. “There must be rules!” He mumbled, and pulled a paper sheet from the box.

Genji pointed at the cards animatedly. “It’s fucking UNO man! The fuck you on about?” having a nervous laugh in his voice clearly trying to cover for his annoyance.

Zen looked calmly at Genji. “You tought me the rules. I never doupted you.” he calmly admitted.

Cole laughed. Genji looked at Zenyata so fast Cole could only hope to see his either mortified or happy expression. “I’ve played a bit online, there are different rules.” Cole shrugged.

Genji started piling the cards fast and rushed. “We are not talking about net casinos Cole! UNO is UNO!”

Hanzo cleared his throat, gaining everyone’s attention. He looked coldly at Genji, one had slowly running trough the hair of a sleeping dragon on his lap reminding Cole of an established movie villan. “There are official rules.” he announced. Capturing everyones attebtion. “We have not been playing by the official rules.” He said whit a frown. A hint of accusation on his tone, as he stared at Genji.

Genji was defensive. “Everyone plays by these rules! What do you mean they are not the “official” ones?!” Genji mocked the term whit exaggerated hand gestures.

Hanzo read the short rules from the package. Terms that he put extra weight to, were “No stacking cards” and “Lift one card, and you may instantly play it if you can, then your turn ends.” there was a moment of silence after he had read trough the rules just long enough for Genji to audibly swallow, before Hanzo started yelling. “Why on earth are we lifting half the pack if we don’t have a fitting card, and why are we stacking the specials? No were in the rules were it stated that the last card couldn’t be a special one! Oh and a little thing… “ He pointed at a line on the small paper. “You are only supposed to play one card at a time!”

Cole was unclear why Hanzo was so angry at Genji over the realization, but he had to assume Genji had thought him how to play. What he did not expect was to Genji suddenly switch to Japanese, and blow up. It could have been a rap song Genji was singing all Cole could tell, it was far too fast for him to even tell the words apart. Cole had to assume Genji was much better at arguing over his mother tongue or he had some certain things not fit for Cole to hear.

As Genji was by the sound of it, getting to the root of the issue by a biblical proportions of speech cramped in a one breath, the aggression clearly hit Hanzo. He fell to the flow slowly passing out, keeping his eyes on Genji but unable to hold his frown. Cole ligted his hands like he was surrendering, as Hanzo’s head hit his lap. Practically Hanzo was using the dragon in Cole’s lap as a pillow, but it was close to Cole having Hanzo fall on his lap, and Cole had not prepared for it. His spine shot straight in shock, like an alligator had just fallen on his lap, instead of the sweeter smelling Shimada. Genji didn’t seem to mind that his dear brother was practically paralyzed, as he didn’t break from his rant. Zen let one of his orbs to float to hover over Hanzo again, but beyond that, he didn’t intervene.

Cole felt an adrenaline spike. It was like something cold took over his nerves and he was suddenly allert. He felt like bracing himself, but oddly, he felt like the danger was the younger brother in front of him and not the older on top of him. It was an oddly sobering moment, like standing up during a bender only to recognize how drunk he actually was. In that moment Cole realized that he was braced to protect Hanzo, even when that was not expected of him, and even against someone Cole should arguably be protecting from Hanzo instead. He looked at the softly huffing and shaking omega on his lap smelling like if he could, he would gladly strangle something. And Cole felt the irrational feel to protect him.

Cole wouldn’t have preferred to have self control in that moment. “THAT’S ENOUG!” He barked at Genji, who instantly shut up.

Hanzo looked up at him void of expression. Unable to tilt his head, it looked like the man was peeking.

The silence was deafening and whit great effort and a long breath, Cole re established himself, and covered up his sudden aggression. “You should wait till the guy can answer.” He explained whit a tad too calm tone.

Genji huffed in annoyance, crossing his arms but not arguing against him. The long silence was much more awkward than any previous ones had been. The only thing in the room making a sound was Genji’s nervous foot tapping and the clock on the wall. That was, untill Cole heart an unfamiliar soft and quiet sound from the dragon under him. At lest that was what he first thought when the sound that could be only compared to a small engine being ignited or a lion attempting to purr started. Whit a slow realization of where the sound was actually coming from, Cole realized it was a real omega purr. He had never heard a man purr before but the sound was hard to mistake for anything else as it instantly brought a smile to Cole’s face and calmed his nerves.

Hanzo felt oddly calm. All around him he felt the steady pressure of scaled dragons pressing against him, and above him, the brim a brunette man was casting a pleasant shadow over him protecting him from the bright indoor lights. Genji was rocking impatiently from side to side, waiting for Hanzo to get up and continue the argument. Hanzo had hard time remembering the whole issue. It didn’t matter to him anymore.

The medication made the blackouts oddly painful. It was like his mind was trying to tear itself to multiple directions. It gave him a headache and a tinnitus but it was pleasantly numbing at the same time. Hanzo had no idea what was going on around him, yet he was aware of it all. It was like he had been put to a glass bottle for safe keeping, and got to view the world as a fly on the wall. As long as he didn’t worry about the fact of how defenseless he was or his inability to move, it was oddly relaxing. It wasn’t like a high or a pleasant trip, since he was solely still in the present an unable to form creative thoughts or formulate ideas. He simply was and couldn’t do anything about it.

The first blackout was terrifying. He had vague idea that people he hardly knew were hovering above him. Every once of his being was begging to move and get away from them, to the point of sheading a tear. It had only lasted a few minutes, but it felt like an extended nightmare.

Falling on the little pillow fortress the dragons had discreetly build around him, cuddled against the said dragons and in presence of people he felt safe around was different. He wasn’t in a hurry to crawl away and hide. If anything, he was happy he was no longer arguing whit Genji and the thought of returning to that was unappealing. He rather just keep smelling the sunshine and fresh wind in the room keeping him company as his mind slowly cycled back to a state of full awareness.

He sat back up before the ringing in his ears was fully gone. He knew he probably looked drunk but he felt like he had just woken up from a restless dream. He was glad he didn’t fall straight back down whit how much effort it was. The dragons shifted a bit and Hanzo could have sworn he sat further from Cole a minute ago, but he wasn’t really in a state of mind to be certain about it.

“So we’ve been playing whit made up rules the whole time… we should try the game the way it was intended to be played.” He had to clear his throat multiple times to get his thoughts fully out. Genji smelled still annoyed, but mostly confused and adoring for some reason. “What?”

Cole was grinning from ear to ear by his side. “Yeah, we could try the game, altho it is a lot easier version. What do you think?” Cole looked at Genji.

Genji looked quickly at Cole like they were conspiring something. Only Genji failed to keep it from Hanzo. “Yeah sure.” He said whit soft laughter.

Hanzo frowned. There was a joke he missed and considering he had just practically passed out, that meant he was most likely the joke. “You have something to say?” he frowned. He was usually glad in his blissful ignorance when the members of Overwatch shared their inside jokes around him, but rarely was he so obviously the butt of the joke.

Genji shook his head a bit, clearly contemplating but unable to contain his giddiness. “Sorry Anija! But you know I can’t take your purr seriously! It sounds like my first dirt bike!” He giggled.

Hanzo frowned, until the realization dawned on him.”I did not…” He began in disbelief.

Zenyata piped in whit an oddly up beat tone. “You are not in control of your purr during the blackout?”

Hanzo looked between his brother and Zenyata. He didn’t even dare to look at Cole’s direction for the sake of self preservation as he felt his face burn hot whit shame. Not only was his purr a very ruff sounding one, he had hard time imagining anything more embarrassing. He rather wet himself or puke than purr in other people’s presence. He hoped it was just a joke, a prank pulled by his brother, but as everyone in the room let the silence stretch so Hanzo had time to realize what had happened, it became painfully real.

Cole smelled adoring and caring. A combination his mother would have while tending to his battle wounds as a child. It was a pleasant smell but Hanzo hated what had caused it. And he didn’t want to enjoy being the target of Coles infatuation. He heard Cole softly clear his throat. “ I think-“

Hanzo didn’t want to hear it. “I don’t want to talk about it.” he raised his voice. He knew he sounded angry and his face was red. He wanted to walk out of the situation. Without a word, Zenyata dealt a new set of UNO cards to them, but the game wasn’t enough of a distraction from the elephant in the room. Even when the game ended and another one started, it was very obvious that everyone wanted to make comments about his purr.

It took a total of three fast rounds of proper Uno, before Cole piped up. “I mean… I think it was the most terrifying purr I’ve ever heard.” he admitted whit a humored bounce in his tone.

“Shut the fuck up!” Hanzo barked. He couldn’t remember the last time he was so furious. Even the dragons jumped awake and their hairs stood up in a menacing manner as they stared between Hanzo and Cole, ready to attack or run, whichever the situation demanded.

Cole however, either was too dence to get the message or was too brave for his own good. “I mean it as a compliment! So what, you purr a bit? It’s totally normal!”

Hanzo looked at Cole with burning rage in his eyes. He was just about to let the man know how stupid he was when he heard both the dragons growl. The were siding with Cole and Hanzo couldn’t blame them. The mythical beasts probably didn’t want anything to do whit him after the pathetic display. If they could jump out of his skin for good, they’d certainly had done that ages ago.

Hanzo bit his tongue and looked away. He was frustrated and blinded by his anger, but even he knew what Cole was saying to be true. The purr he made was a gross mix of weakness and neediness. It was the sound of an omega, and it was only natural he made it. His anger and frustration was targeted toward himself, not Cole but he couldn’t just stop from feeling angry in that moment.

The dragons didn’t growl for long, which was a pity, since the silence that followed was far worse. Hanzo knew he should say something, and he knew that was expected of him, but he was too angry to think.

Zenyata finished shuffling the deck. And looked at Cole. “Those who think they are all-knowing know nothing of what they do not.” He calmly begun to deal the cards again. Once everyone had a pile of cards in front of them, he lifted his cards. “Shall we?”

Hanzo glared at the dragons and Cole, before lifting the cards dealt for him. His mind was still racing trying to think of something to say but it was frustratingly difficult, as all he could think of was how wrong the whole situation was. How upside down and ridiculous it was for Cole to try and normalize his purr.

It took nearly the full round for casual conversation to pick up after the ordeal. It felt forced and Hanzo didn’t indulge in it, but he was happy for it. He got something else to think about, as Cole and Genji were talking about dinner plans and rations and trying to figure out if it’s going to rain.

When they were starting a new game, Hana popped by the door, to let them know that dinner’s starting early, due to a mission plan. Cole and Genji were instantly all questions about it, but Hanzo tried to ignore it. It didn’t really concern him. Although he couldn’t hide how he failed to ignore the conversation when he heard Hana say.

“Apparently some Japanese Yakuza in Kanezaka”

Cole wanted nothing more than to be cleared for missions, and by the looks of it Hanzo was feeling the same. They ate a rushed meal, as everyone was too impatient to enjoy their meal before the briefing for the mission. Cole was sitting whit Hanzo a bit further away from the others as the dragons were nervously circling by their feet. Unlike how Cole had expected them to behave according to the last time when they were out in the same room as most of the team. The dragons were surprisingly reserved. They stayed far from the other people and seemed to actively try and ignore them. Hanzo looked once during the meal like he was about to black out, but it may have just been Coles imagination, since he didn’t. He wasn’t surprised when Winston let them know that the debriefing was happening in the ‘living room’ since they wanted Hanzo’s insight and they thought that was the best location to have the meeting while accommodating for Hanzo’s ‘situation’ as Winston called it. Cole got allowed into the meeting as a dragon guard, despite not taking part in the mission.

In the livingroom, the outline of the mission was instantly blurted out. “there’s reason to believe, that a Japanese gang aka Yakuza run by a man named Hashimoto, known for decorating their ranks whit oni masks and imaginary, are planning an all-out attack on another group who believe if a fight was to happen, a lot of civilians would be caught in a crossfire. The group had been in direct contact with Winston and had informed a possible emp bomb attack and coordinated attacks on infrastructure to deny escape for effectively both the other group and civilians.”

They didn’t have a clear estimate of the timing, but since the leak of info was so unavoidable in such a large scale attack, they assumed it to happen sooner rather than later to avoid counter measures. As everyone took seating in the living room feeling oddly more comfortable than usually during a high stakes mission briefing, everyone was quick to get over the fact that Hanzo had his dragons circling him like sharks dividing him from the rest of the group. Winston quickly hooked up the display to show mission info and started to introduce the premise.

“Overwatch needs to locate the bombs, which our contact assures she has seen whit her own eyes, and mitigate the situation. There is reason to believe, that Hashimoto may have contact whit Talon, but that is not certain. The area is densely populated and known to have long history whit gang activity and we believe that some of these gangs may have been joining forces. I believe agent Shimada can fill us in on the important characters, since we might need to infiltrate to get the intel. The local government welcomes us to help, but will not grant permission or resource to aid us. Hanzo, what can you tell of the Hashimoto?”

Hanzo looked at Genji as a quick glance and cleared his throat. “well… he is quite young for a yakuza boss and doesn’t really keep his word. His followers are also equally young and mostly adopted from other fallen or dismantled Yakuza gangs. So they have a lot of varying skillsets in their ranks.” Hanzo started talking clearly surprised that he was asked.

Souljern lifted his hand to get a turn to speak, but spoke as soon as Hanzo finished his sentence. ”What do you mean by keeping his word?”

“As in he lies and is well known to do so.”

Winston pulled out a map of Kanezaka, with differently colored areas. The areas had some names attached to them and Cole instantly recognized it as the area of effect between the local Yakuza Genji had provided them years ago. “We only have this map from over ten years ago. Does it look correct? Hashimoto is the blue little area near the harbor.

Hanzo looked at the map frowning. “It’s simplified, and outdated, but I don’t have the lates info on the area myself. For ten years ago, there are few houses missing and neutral zones but other than that it looks accur… “

Winston interrupted him. “neutral zones?”

Hanzo looked at Winston and then Genji. “Yeah, there are some neutral areas for meetings and such. For an example, the whole block between Hanko and Irido is mutual zone. It’s only looked after by Harada. But I don’t think that’s relevant in Hashimito’s case, since his group is not really seen as a family.”

The whole room was quiet, waiting for Hanzo to elaborate. Hanzo didn’t seem to get what prompted the silence, until Winston brought up. “The members call themselves ‘Hashimoto’s sons’.” his tone was clearly asking a question he didn’t know how to word.

Hanzo made a bit of oh face, realizing where the confusion was. “Most of the established houses don’t see them as one of the yakuzas, that are called families, or houses, but they use the tactic of talking of themselves as family to keep the low rank members motivated and discouraged from leaving.”

Jack piped in then. “Most? Do they have allies?”

Hanzo nodded hands crossed over his chest as he elaborated. “A lot of families have worked with Hashimoto, due to his unaligned nature. Also since no one trusts them to tell the truth, no one is really worried about their intel leaking from there. There’s a lot of history, and a lot of parties get involved in conspiracies so it’s hard to tell what’s the current status of their alliances. “

Winston looked at the map. “So the different houses conspire against one another and Hanshimoto is more of a side character? Could you give an example of these… conspiracies?”

Hanzo stood up to walk to the map to point at the areas, he was talking about. “well… for an example Hashimoto helped Hiro pay to hire assassins from Shimada to kill his father, granting him a seat at the houses meeting when the ownership of a new mall in jiro area was decided upon, where according to the Shimada houses wishes, Hiro gave the mall to Sato who uses it to launder money for both Sato and Hiro family. The Hashimoto got some land from the harbor in the deal, because there was an ongoing bid over the land against Kurosaka and King Boss, which Kurosaka gave up on due to having a daughter In their family from Hiro’s house and they saw the mourning period as not good time to take their only external revenue source and King Boss was using the whole buy in as an opportunity to assassinate one of Kurosakas sons to begin whit so they low balled the price to get out of the deal. Later that same year however Tanjo and MariMari helped Hashimoto to burn one of Hiro’s buildings so it was clear he wasn’t a loyal business partner.”

Hanzo clearly did not expect for Genji to pipe in to ask. “Wait why did we want Sato to have the mall?”

“So we could have the new University buildings.” he answered in a half whisper, like he was used to keeping his brother discreetly in the loop.

Genji made an elongated ‘ooh’ sound as Winston was trying to follow along on the map and draw some links and notes. He was clearly struggling, just writing ‘school’ over Shimada area, like it was a location in the map, but the word was in a wrong spot. “So we can assume that all the families in the cost line have dealings whit Hashimoto?”

Hanzo shook his head. “MariMari and King Boss are both deceased. Hashimoto shares the cost line with Tanjo is the latest I’ve heard. And Tanjo didn’t have a Heir the last I knew and he was suffering from lung cancer so I doubt they are still active either.”

Lucio biped in to ask. “So it’s just Hiro? Or has he been caught for killing his father?”

Hanzo stared at Lucio looking puzzeld. “Why would he… no. To my knowledge Hiro is still around, but they’ve always been more into selling software and malware rather than physical goods, so they likely wouldn’t put much of a fight to keep land.”

Winston wrote ‘cyber’ over the Hiro’s area on the map. “Could they work without any land?”

Hanzo chuckled. “of course not.” but no one else seemed as certain of it.

Diva even biped in. “Are you sure?” which made Hanzo just nod. But that wasn’t enough to convince the crowd. Even Genji whispered a little ‘are you really sure? ’.

Hanzo lifted three fingers. “capital, land and a strong leader. Those are the things you need to run a successful empire. Capital, to run the business , strong leader to keep workers in your business and land, to keep outsiders from meddling in your business. Even if your business is online, there’s still physical servers you need to protect, and you still need a business to wash your money trough. And if you don’t have established land, you need to worry about every law enforcer in the country where as if you work on a prefecture, you only need to worry about the local law enforcement.” he explained. He managed to sound like a teacher and a disappointed parent having to repeat themselves at the same time.

Winston wrote the three things down nodding along. “makes sense. So Hashimoto, we have to assume, is a strong leader.”

Hanzo shook his head. “no, he’s not, but he has more than enough capital to make up for it. He has men in his inner circle who play the role of a strong leader for him. And what he can’t achieve trough threats he achieves trough incentives. If he wasn’t in a such strong status monetarily or land vice, he wouldn’t be a threat at all. He rose to power trough human and omnic trafficking. But unlike most traffickers, he had a brand of selling quality over quantity. He also made a lot of revenue trough ransoms by kidnapping and is the cause of a lot of deaths within the public sector due to that practice, so his threats are taken seriously.”

The tapping of the eclectic pen against the board was the only sound for a while, until Winston had made a total mess of the board by writing everything messily down. “So there’s reason to believe he’d go for his plan to bomb the city?”

Hanzo frowned. “Yes, but I don’t think he’d do that solely for a reason of wanting more land, unless he has gone crazy with power. By the sound of it he has most of Kanezaka now. ”

Winston fixed his classes to rest higher on his nose, as he searched on his tablet trough the mission memos. “Our informant believes that Hashimoto is acting hastily due to the fear of the Shimada elders starting to react, since they have been forced into picking fights at their territory.”

Hanzo frowned. “None of the elders are alive anymore.”

“What?!” Genji exclaimed in shock.

Hanzo side eyed Genji but decided to ignore him. “But if your informant doesn’t know it, the same may be for Hashimoto.”

Jack biped in sounding unimpressed. “by the looks of it the Hashimoto has far more land than the Shimada, why would our informant believe Hashimoto to fear the Shimada elders so much?”

Hana ghasped in realization. “Is it because of the dragons?!”

Hanzo shook his head. “The Shimada elders didn’t have dragons, but they had capital and influence. Not to forget that the Shimada clan still has the most skilled army of assassins in the area. Hashimoto knows that well sharpened blade can cut down hundreds of hired gun-“

Hanzo abruptly stopped and Cole knew from the smell what was about to happen, and sprung up in time to caught the tilting man before the rest of the room even realized that something was wrong. He easily eased Hanzo to sit on one of the floor pillows and rested his upper torso against the sofa Hanzo had earlier been sitting on. The dragons were standing bodies curled into the air like cats trying to seem threatening but they weren’t moving far from Hanzo. Cole gave a reassuring smile to Hanzo when he noitised the man’s eyes following him. His face was expressionless.

Winston continued the briefing, time clearly being limited. He went over the initial team he was planning to deploy, including three squads. The infiltration and bomb search team Genji, Tracer, Echo, and Lucio, the bomb squad Torbjörn, Rainheart, and Brigette and the encounter squad, Dva, Jack, Souljern and Baptiste. Fareha would be the acting pilot for the mission and Winston would be a commander on site and Hanzo and Doctor Ziegler would be the remote support operatives. As Winston was going over the schedule, Hanzo managed to get up in time for Winston to ask him. “What do you think would be likely bomb planting spots?”

Hanzo got up on a tad wobbly feet that no one commented on. He pointed a few parts on the map. “The Houses Council meeting for Spring season is likely happening soon, that would be a likely target for the emp to have an upper hand if they decide to fight the other clans, since they have mostly omnic shoulders. The infrastructure bombings are either the metro, the bullet train tracks or the bridges. They would be spotted trying to plant on a train track or a road on a street level.”

Winston showed a schedule board that was clearly cleaned to be readable thanks to Athena and declared there to be fifteen minutes for questions before they had to start prepping and packing.

Everyone was quietly thinking if they need to know more beyond the info that popped to everyones communicator who was part of the mission. The tone changed as Winston offered that they could also ask questions from Hanzo. Then everyone took the change to get to know what was it like to run a yakuza and how they think.

Cole wanted to disagree on many occasions from the view of a past gang member, that not all gangs thought the same Hanzo described. Part of him didn’t want to believe it, but as he listen the small tidbits, he got weirdly nostalgic for the way Genji used to be. Calling himself a weapon and describing his skills as something that can be purchased. The idea of honor was the building block around it all, but it ran with capital. The man in the organization was valued by the image they depicted, and everyone was plotting against each other. You didn’t have friends you could trust not to kill you if you gave them the change. It was uninspiring and depressing life.

“Whats the difference between assassination and killing.” Echo asked after a while.

Hanzo nodded. “If they see it coming or know afterwards who did it, it’s a killing. There’s some room for debate, as sometimes even if the culprit is known, if the kill comes when the target does not expect it, it is an assassination. ”

Echo looked puzzeld. “But when does assassination like that become a murder?”

“it’s a murder if it’s solely personal and there’s no business reasons, but in most cases there’s financial benefit to the killer in these circles, so no one calls it murder. If you say you’ve murdered someone, no one will trust you or want to work with you.”

Winston piped in. “Oh, that’s good to know. If we decide to infiltrate trough getting recruited, how would one go about getting recruited?”

Hanzo shrugged. “if the Hashimoto makes his people still wear the stupid masks, you can just steal one and try to blend in. They cycle trough a lot of recruits. Also it’s not unheard of to recruit lost and hopeless people from plaices of despair, such as graveyards, rooftops and close to prisons.”

Winston looked confused at the rooftops, until his whole face morphed into horror when the realization dawned on him.

Souljern asked. “Could we get in by skill based hiring? Say we for an example use your status as a way in instead of working from ground up? We do have the know how of fighting already.”

Hanzo looked confused. “they would likely not trust you even if you do get haired. “

“They don’t trust Shimadas? But they have hiered from a lot of dismantled clans. You don’t think they’d hire you or Genji knowing you were Shimada? “

Hanzo made an oh face, realizing what Souljern meant. “Genji they’de likely hire, but I doubt they’d believe Genji is… you know… Genji. You could claim to be an ex Shimada but there’s the risk that they’d fact check that.”

Shoulder Sighed loudly. “Why is it that every time there’s an infiltration mission the best man is on a sick leave?”

Hanzo shrugged. “it is likely that the info on my secondary gender may have reached Hashimoto, so Genji is still the best man for the job. And Echo, since they do hire omnics.”

Souljern scoffed. “You don’t think they’d hire an assassin of your skill just because you are an omega?”

Hanzo frowned and barked in a bitter tone. “Of course not. They sell and buy male omegas, they don’t hire them. A woman omega, perhaps. But never a male omega.”

Cole barked in. “And that’s wrong. A male omega can do the job just as well as anyone-“

Hanzo interrupted him. “But a male omega is much more valuable as a wife than he is as a henchman. It would be stupid to put a male omega on a field. Hell, you could hire more men with the money you get by selling the male omega.”

Cole scoffed. “You think the Shimadas should have just sold you?” earning an audiable gasp from the room. And Winston was just about to bud in to interrupt them, but Hanzo answered before he had time.

“You think I wasn’t on sale? Of course I was” he hissed. “That’s why Hashimoto might know! I don’t know if he was amongst the bidders.”

Winston spoke in a low soft voice. “I think that’s enough questions.”

And after a beat of hesitation, the room started to clear out in silence. Hanzo, Cole and Winston were the only ones not making a move to leave. Hanzo faced the scientist expecting something. His cent was sour and Cole knew he was to blame for it. He wanted a word whit Hanzo, and by the looks of it, he was probably tasked now to watch after Hanzo so he just had to wait for everyone else to leave.

Winston side eyed Cole but didn’t ask him to leave, as he talked to Hanzo in a low tone. “I know you are on sick leave, but I got permission to sign you as a remote support operative for this mission. Sorry I brought this on you so suddenly, but time is of the essence.”

Hanzo nodded, avoiding eye contact. “Of course, I’ll help in any way I can.”

Winston smiled. “I don’t doubt that.” and gave a little awkward bow to Hanzo which he hesitantly returned. “here’s an earpiece.” he handed the small object like it was an afterthought, before hurrying off.

Hanzo stood there whit the earpiece in his hand like he had never seen it before, which Cole knew not to be the case. His cent got sweeter, as he after a beat of hesitance, put it into his ear, before the dragons got a change to get a good look of it. Not for the lack of trying from the dragons part, they were instantly rushing to try and reach the object when Winston was no longer in the wiev.

Cole smiled at Hanzo. It was as if Hanzo was finally accepting that he was welcome and that made Cole feel oddly proud. He had at least partially fixed what he had managed to break by pushing Hanzo away. He instantly schooled his expression when Hanzo finally snapped out of his thoughts to look at him. “You don’t need to defend me against myself.” he declared looking determined.

Cole rose a confused brow. “huh? “ he tried to play back exacly what he said to understand what prompted this.

Hanzo rolled his eyes like he didn’t believe that Cole didn’t understand. “When I say that male omegas are better for bearing children than for battlefield. Or when I don’t like my purr. You don’t need to disagree whit me for my sake. ”

He couldn’t help but smile. It was so stupid. “Okay first of all.” he said grinning ear to ear and lifting his hands trying to show his innocence. “I don’t do it for you Han. I think your purr is fucking adorable and my new favorite sound and I don’t just say that to make you feel better about it, okay.” hanzo glared at him, looking disappointed by the direction the conversation took. “second of all, I’ve seen you fight, you can’t fool me. Ain’t no way just coz you smell sweet you suddenly can’t aim the way I’ve seen you do.”

As Hanzo was shaking his head, stepping to face away from Cole, he took a step forward to boldly stop Hanzo from not listening. “Are you telling me that back as a young Yakuza omega male, you didn’t ever manage to finish a kill? Is that the reality?”.

Hanzo scoffed. “I was never suspected… “ then his expression got darker as he hesitated to say what was on his mind, but after a deep breath, he admitted. “…Nor was I expected to succeed against…” He couldn’t finish the sentence.

Cole tilted his head, waiting for Hanzo to finish his thought. He had no idea was Hanzo was referring to, and he wanted to blame his sleep deprivation, as he usually was quite proficient at filling In blanks. “succeed against who?”

Hanzo looked up at Cole, but only momentarily. He bit his lip and his scent started to sour again, but he did finally whisper. “I wasn’t supposed to win… against Genji… but I … it was too late when I realized it.”

Cole was way too tired to get into the mental gymnastics or the emotion of it all. He lightened the mood whit a chuckle and a pat to Hanzo’s shoulder. “And boy were they wrong! Or technically right, since you know… Genji is alive and all.” He smiled.

Hanzo looked taken a back by Coles reaction. Clearly he had expected something else. An outburst of anger or shock and horror by the admission. Instead he got a grinning cowboy joking how his greatest regret was ironic.

Hanzo shook his head looking disappointed, but to Coles surprise he smiled when he looked up at him again. Cole was so mesmerized by it nearly not registering it when Hanzo said; “Perhaps you should take a nap”. Cole just laughed but then Hanzo reminded him that he still had training whit Zarya today which he was certain he was not gonna survive. His only saving grace was that he had a perfect excuse to hang out with Hanzo. And as they sat on the sofa, talking about the mission and likelihoods of certain scenarios, he managed to forget how he was going to absolutely suffer in the gym later. Even while Hanzo was blacking out, Cole simply entertained them by reading the fast paced group chat. He read it out loud so Hanzo also heard, and tried to do the voices of his fellow agents. When Hanzo came to again, he admitted that Cole made everyone sound like they are from Texas. The group chat conversation was mostly just stress about what to pack for such a mission and how were they going to survive in a city whit very little English street signs.

When Hanzo pulled out his own communicator, to also simply read the group chat, a silence fell between them. Cole was one whit the sofa again, lap full of dragon and Hanzo by his side close enough that Cole could feel the warm and taste the scent. As the only sound in the room was the soft tapping of fingers against the touch screen of the communicator, it was only a matter of minutes before Cole had fallen for the pull of sleep.

He saw multiple short and hectic dreams in his short nap. They were more like scenes from a music video without a sound than a movie. When he woke up, he didn’t exacly feel better, but he knew the nap was a good thing. He saw Hanzo by his side giving him a timid smile before returning to read the group chat.

Cole opened his mouth to talk, but it took him a while to really say it out loud. “I’m sorry you were on sale.”

Hanzo looked at him whit a confused frown. “Thank you? ”

Cole sat up a bit from the sofa, making one of the dragons need to change position which it protested whit an annoyed glare. “I can’t even imagine what that must be like… or how would you even price that…”

Hanzo gave a little side smile Cole did not expect. “well… “ he begun. ”It wasn’t cheap since I WAS bundled whit a castle. “ he joked whit an odd grin.

Cole chuckled at that. It was ridiculous. “Well it’s a nice building I give you that. Does it come furnished?”

Hanzo nodded. ”And armed. “ he joked laughing in a deep note. Cole couldn’t help but match the laugh as it was so contagious.

“I remember seeing it for the first time. It felt so out of place, and the blossoming cherry threes at autumn really freaked me out at first. “ he admitted.

Hanzo hummed. “The trees are the part everyone remembers.” He mused. He looked at Cole for a long beat. Cole couldn’t tear his eyes from the little cut still visible on Hanzo’s lip as he saw the lips move as Hanzo asked him. “Why were you up all night? “

“Tought I had used a command on ya, without meaning to. So I studied how to control that. Did you know that omegas can do the same sound as alphavoice?”

“No way.”

“yeah! You have the same vocal muscles! It doesn’t really have the same effect but it sounds the same.” cole explained.

Hanzo didn’t look impressed. “Then it’s not the same. It’s just a cheap imitation.”

Cole shrugged. “Well the sound is same.” Hanzo hummed at that, keeping his eyes on the communicator. Cole expected Hanzo to answer, but the communicator was hogging his attention. From the icons he recognized the group chat, and decided to check what was so captivating for Hanzo.

Lena – So they are not a yakuza family, they are like a group of local superheroes?

Lucio – Neat!

Winston – they go by the name yōkai, which means a sort of mythical spirit. The only members we have been communicating whit is the leader Kitsune and their tech expert who goes by the name Kappa.

Jack – Kappa? Seriously? As in the emote?

Rain – :Kappa::Kappa:

Rain – oh it doesn’t work.

Winston – I’m not sure.

Genji – I bet it’s the kappa the turtle thing, not kappa the emote.

Lucio – I hope so!

Winston – I don’t think it’s relevant, but if it comes up, I’ll let you know.

Souljern – Do we know who they really are?

Winston – No, but the Kitsune, the leader has offered to meet in person. By the sound of it, the Yokai group is not active on the case. That’s why they need our help.

Jack – why are they not active?

Winston – I do not know the details of it, but from the sound of it their ranks are motivated but unable to work this case. I do have a suspicion that they might see us as a risky ally, since they do walk the thin line between vigilante and local hero, since they do mostly property damage to Hashimoto and rob their men.

Genji – Sounds dope! Can’t wait to meet them!

Winston – Her. To my understanding the Kitsune is the only one willing to meet us.

Genji – What do we know about her?

Winston – Not much. To be honest, the communication has happened trough the Kappa, so I haven’t been in direct contact with Kitsune herself. We are meeting right when we get there which is 9 hours from now. 8 am in japan. The meetup team will be me, Genji, Echo and Tracer, but I’ll run by the details on the way.

Genji – Oh, should I take the Oni masked visor? The one whit the red horns?

Bappy – Thewhatnow?

Lucio – You can change that???

Hana – You can change your visor? 😲

Genji - 👹

Winston - @genji good idea!

Hana – Why haven’t you worn it before??

Genji – It’s scary looking.

Hana – that’s a good thing?!!

Lucio – Just when I thought I got you figured out dude…

Zenyata – I quite like your usual mask, the one whit the ears.

Ganji - 🐱

Hana – Zen I blame you… we could literally have a cyber demon in our team.

Lena – We talking about the creepy mask??

Phareha – yep

Hana – you Have seen it?!

Lena - yeah! It’s reoccurring star in my nightmares!

Genji – [img attatched]

Jack – Why on earth do you have that?

Lucio - 💀

Hana – omg

Lena – Thanks, I hate it.

Bappy – I’m so confused! Is it supposed to be angry? Confused? What is that expression?

Lena – Imagine that to be the last thing you see. Ewww…

Genji – I will be sure to prank you whit it.

Lena – If I open a box and that thing is there, I will pulse bomb it and burn it! YOU HAVE MY WORD!

Hana - @Lucio did you put a bumber sticker on Tokki??

Lucio – you like it?

Hana – NO! Omg It says ‘Baby on board’ 🤣🤣 I hate it!

Lucio – I’ll help you peel it off.

Hana – You better! I wanna be taken seriously by those cool yōkais!

Mei – I want a picture of it!

Hana – gothu ~ [img attatced]

Mei – oh you are already in orca! That was fast!

Hana - 😎 fast as frog boiii

Lucio - 🐸

Winston – I found a picture of the Kitsune. It’s from a surveillance camera. [Img attracted]

Hana – Omg she has glowy eyes on the mask! That’s so cool!

Genji – wait is she holding an ofuda???

Souljern – Looks like a paper. Maybe a note?

Genji – omg! It is! A Recovery ofuda from Kanezaka Shinto Shrine! It says so in the paper!

Souljern – So… a lucky charm?

Genji – kind of, yes.

Cole looked at Hanzo frowning at his phone, zooming into the image of the kitsune girl. “You’ve seen something like that before?”

Hanzo grunted an affirmative. “When I was young, I saw an old woman use one once to help her granddaughter whit sprained ankle. It was a long time ago, and I don’t think I believed what I saw back then. I was told not to. Her methods were… dated.” he zoomed out from the image, to look at the masked woman. “She looks younger than I expected.” He admits.

Cole shrugged. “That’s not a very clear photo.” He mused. “I bet even Jack could look young whit a pair of fresh sneakers and a monster mask.”

Hanzo made a little thoughtful pout at that. “Fresh sneakers huh…” as he zoomed on the shoes the kitsune woman was wearing. He was quiet for a bit before sighing deeply. “To be honest, I hoped I could have recognized them. The Yokai, since usually the people tied to Yakuza have history in the families, but ten years ago… she must have been a child. I doubt I’d even recognize someone that young.”

Cole couldn’t peel his eyes from that soft toughtful pout and that small cut on the lip. “and that bothers you?”

Hanzo looked at Cole like he expected the other to laugh at any moment. “Well… I hoped to be of more use…”

Cole opened his mouth to speak but stopped to smile instead as it hit him, that Hanzo was being sincere. He really wanted to help, and wasn’t that just adorable. So Cole had to think twice how to say what he had in mind, so he wouldn’t accidentally embarrass or undermine Hanzo. “You know…” He begun, coughing Hanzo’s attention.” There’s a reason why you are the consulted expert, and not Genji on this case. There’s no questions about it.”

Hanzo looked at his communicator as if he was fact checking the statement, but Cole knew it to be true. The omega was visibly conflicted about it. As if he wasn’t sure if it was a reason to feel pride or shame, so Cole added a bit of encouragement whit a smile and ‘we are counting on you’, which sadly had the opposite effect. As Hanzo was quick to shrink and sigh, “I hardly recognize Kanezaka anymore.”

They sat in silence for a long while, listening in as they could hear the docking panels moving as Orca was prepared to depart. They decided to go wave goodbye at the sight, where they were met whit Zarya, Mei, Zenyata and doctor Ziegler. The goodbyes were quick as they knew they would stay in contact during the whole mission. Most people were just using the opportunity to comment on Genjis mask, which Cole had seen before and had chosen to forget about. Seeing it again was not pleasant but to Cole’s surprise Hanzo didn’t seem that effected by it.

Cole knew Hanzo didn’t think of himself as part of the pack, but during the quick goodbyes, it was clear to everyone who wasn’t on blockers, that Hanzo was already biologically part of the pack. They held their goodbyes outside so the scent didn’t come as strong as it did indoors, but it was still undoubtably reassuring and calming scent. Perhaps that was also partly the reason the quick goodbye didn’t feel bad or stressful. Everyone had literally the natures strongest stress levered at hand. Even Ziegler didn’t mother the departing young agents like she usually did. Only person seeming stressed was Winston and Shouljern.

It would have been a perfect goodbye if Jack hadn’t stepped a bit too close to Hanzo prompting Coles growl to go off, which did do some damage to the mood and definitely was something Cole would soon pay for in the gym. Luckily most people just shrugged it off as Cole being Cole. Lucio playfully called him a guard dog they’d leave behind to guard the base, which Souljern found a bit too hilarious.

When the Orca had disappeared from view, things got really quiet for a while. There wasn’t many people left on base, and most of them were the quiet types. Mei was still practically living in the lab, Bastion had his hands full keeping the workshop drones from bumping into each other and tending the little garden they had at base, plus he didn’t really talk. Zarya was practicing Mandarin and working in the inventory with Athena. Angela was in the med bay working on being the lone doctor for Overwatch and the little free time Zenyata had from meditating, he seemingly spent on phone with Genji. Hanzo was not the talkative type but due to needing supervision during all pysical activities and during meal times, Cole had a good reason to think he’d get a lot of time to chat whit the omega.

At first, it was like an extended holiday. Smelling, watching and talking whit Hanzo was a great distraction from the fact that he was missing on the action himself, cooped up in the base. It took only two days for Cole to realize that Hanzo had the serious case of workaholism and the little opportunity he had to focus on an actual task, he was not wasting. Hanzo turned the living room into an make shift office space, where he used the smart board to caught up on local news in Kanezaka for the past ten years. On top of that he was constantly in call whit the members on the field, translating street signs for them, navigating for them and feeding lines to them. Just when Cole managed to get Hanzo’s attention and strike up a casual conversation, someone suddenly needed him or he blacked out. And if something was more frustrating than watching from a sidelines how other people are doing the work, being so close to someone like Hanzo attentively focusing on task Cole desperately wanted to be a part of was way worse.

Cole was sitting in different sofas troughout the day, changing positions, fiddling whit an assortment of items he could get his hands on and chewing trough pens and anything cigar shaped as he was finding it impossible to sit still. His only moment of feeling productive was when he was watching after Hanzo during his blackouts, but even those lost the magic as they became very predictable. Even Athena was able to start warning when Hanzo would soon have a blackout. Only times he wasn’t cooped up in the Living room, staring at Hanzos dragons, his ass and the pages after pages of japanese newspapers, he was in the gym whit Zarya while Zen was watching Hanzo.

When on the fourth day, the detailed schedule on the bombings was found and the bomb locations were found to be exacly where Hanzo had predicted them to be in, Cole was cheering in hopes that it would be soon over . The gang would return to the base, he could get to hog all of Hanzo’s attention to pass time. But of course Cole wasn’t as lucky. After the bomb threat was dismantled, a small team stayed in Kanezaka, to destroy Hashimoto’s revenue sources to put an end to his regime, and of course Hanzo was assigned to stay as the remote lead operative. Cole was actively trying not to hear the details of it, but apparently one of the Yokais, the Kitsune, had promised to join overwatch if they help her finish what she started to help the people in Kanezaka or something noble. Cole had listened in on one call Hanzo had had directly whit the Kitsune, and from the sound of it he gathered that the Kitsune woman was someone Hanzo knew after all. Cole didn’t even try to hide how jealous that made him, since Hanzo could smell it, but Hanzo still ignored it.

His biggest highlight was when they got an all clear on the bombs and Hanzo celebrated the victory by letting out an absolute wave of happy scents which was so strong that Cole got actually high from it. He was giggling in the sofa like he had been back in the training camp days baked off his brain. From the looks of it, Hanzo didn’t even realize he was the cause of it, but it was and will be a moment Cole will never forget. Perhaps it was a high Cole would love to die chasing for the rest of his life, but it was not enough to make up for the days of waiting.

When most of the team returned from Japan, Cole felt like he had not become any closer with Hanzo, despite now knowing his bodily cycles by heart and he had in craved the shape of his ass into his long term memory for the lack of anything else to look at. To add insult to the injury, Cole growled at Jack just for hearing him talk on the phone, setting his recovery back. So while everyone else was celebrating the job well done, Cole felt like he was the only one who had not done his job.

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Chapter Text

Hanzo was feeling disturbingly good. He found small things more irritating than his general existence, and he couldn’t remember the last time he got more upset over an uncooperative yogurt lid than his inability to stay upright for two hours. It was all going suspiciously well, especially considering his work.  

The fact that Winston had assigned him the task of being the remote consultant felt first like a pity task. Sure, he could explain the inner workings and logic behind old-school organized crime families in the Kanezaka region, but once you knew one gang, you kind of knew them all. The task of being a navigator made even less sense with the AI and all, and Hanzo seriously doubted that the team was unable to memorize street patterns even if they couldn’t rely on the signs. It was very peculiar, but sure, Hanzo saw himself as useful to a point in those cases.  

The moment Winston started to delegate action plans and team coordination to Hanzo, he started to feel like something didn’t add up. He wasn’t the highest-ranking member; he was hardy an overwatch member anymore. Even if Winston trusted Hanzo to have a good plan, it didn’t make sense why anyone would listen to him.  

But they did.  

When the team met with Kitsune for the first time, she made an effort to conceal her identity. Hanzo had no reason to think he’d recognize the girl, but then she said something that Hanzo couldn’t pass as insignificant. When Hana commented on her kunai wielding abilities, she said, “I had the champion teacher!”  

It wasn’t just an odd choice of words; it was a title. The best of the best. Asai sensei was the longest-standing champion in the region, and when she retired, she was the first champion in Kanezaka history to renounce the title on her own accord and become a teacher. She was a local legend, and only the most fortunate got to study under her. Some small rut wouldn’t get to study a blade under her strict regime, unless she was related. Hanzo gathered some more evidence before letting the team know that he had figured out the kitsune’s identity. But to his surprise, no one questioned him. He had gathered proof to defend his theory, but everyone, even Torbjörn, believed him without question.  

Hanzo got to hear Kiriko’s shocked reaction when he realized Genji was Genji. Genji was alive and looked like an omnic. Hanzo recognized from her voice that she was not comfortable with Genji, but they did share some fond memories over unfortunate haircuts.  

Hanzo recalled how their childhood hangouts often resulted in them getting into trouble. They were a duo that brought the worst out of one another, but they were having fun. While Genji used to leave the castle in the evenings to go get in trouble somewhere else, Kiriko often stayed late to train with Hanzo. No one else wanted to spar with an omega unless they absolutely had to. At one point in his life, he considered Kiriko to be his secret little sister. She used to share everything with him, from secrets to crushes and insecurities. They hid how close they were from his parents and the clan; since Kiriko’s parents served the Shimadas, it would have been improper for a young master to befriend a servant's child. Maybe the power imbalance had played a part in their dynamic since while Genji grew to become an incredibly annoying little teenager, Kiriko was still sweet and didn’t argue over every little thing. Hanzo hadn’t spared much thought to what kind of woman she turned out to become, but somehow he’d always known that Kiriko would become someone great.  

He didn’t know Kiriko to have a fox spirit, but luckily the rest of the team didn’t witness his shock when he saw it on a video for the first time. He tried to be prepared for anything, knowing every name and alias of the notable characters in the region. So he didn’t want the team to see him be caught off guard. He wanted to keep the impression he’d managed to create of his abilities as a leader.  

His blackouts started to feel manageable, but they didn’t make the task any easier for sure. He had to plan important actions to take place right after a blackout, and setbacks on schedule stressed him to no end due to the increased risk of an off-timed blackout. Cole’s presence was easily ignored, but it started to annoy him how his scent bloomed with excitement every time the time was nearing on a scheduled blackout. He did his best to ignore the man, but it was hard to do while lying against him bonelessly, unable to do anything but spectate. Cole just came a tad too close each time that every time Hanzo’s mind cleared, he had to gather himself nonchalantly and make sure any purring didn’t occur. The constant closeness started to affect his sleep, as he woke up at times missing the sunshine-smelling presence. The whole situation was a bit frustrating but mostly embarrassingly enjoyable to Hanzo.  

As if the universe saw Hanzo to have it too easy, he started to feel increasingly awkward around Zenyata. Something just clicked when he heard him comment on a pair of expensive socks that “Genji has a pair of socks like those,” and being around the omnic hasn’t felt casual ever since. It just dawned on him that this robo munk fucks his little brother and knows his socks by heart.  

Hanzo didn’t know more than what his file said about him, and he hadn’t cared before. Now he wasn’t sure if he even wanted to know. Part of him even resents Zenyata. How dare he take his brother like that? But the sane part of him remembered that it was thanks to Zenyata that Genji ever contacted him again. So technically, it was Zenyata who gave him back his brother.  

Whenever Cole was working out and Hanzo was stuck being taken care of by the omnic, he tried to ignore his company even harder. And Hanzo was quite certain that the omnic had figured it out, as he was constantly asking for a chat or literally saying, “I can sense something bothering you.”  

Hanzo didn’t hate Zen per se, and seeing him play with his dragons was sort of cute, but it just felt weird. The omnic had often just the right words when the situation became difficult but kept quiet through most of it. He clearly liked his brother, but he seemed to like everyone.  

If Zen was a human, Hanzo would get him drunk to see what he was actually like, but he didn’t know how to test an omnic future inlaws loyalty and love. He wasn’t sure if he was even allowed to have an opinion on the matter.  

Hanzo kept it bottled up, but it had been in his mind since hearing about the relationship. Trying to keep his thoughts on a mission helped a little.  

When the bombs were disposed of and the initial mission was successfully accomplished, Hanzo felt relieved. He felt happy and excited to get the people from the mission back to the base so he could ignore the monk easier. A small task force stayed in Japan, namely Ana, Echo, Tracer, Genji, and Hana, while the rest returned. Ana led the little task force in location, but Hanzo did a lot of directing remotely.  

Kiriko was not happy with the size of the task force. Apparently she had really hit it off with Brigette and Rainheart of all people, and she was really yarning to meet the rest of the Overwatch team.  

“Like I haven’t seen Hanzo in years! And this'master’ you keep mentioning sounds like an interesting character!” Kiriko mused. Hanzo could hear Genji’s robotic laugh through his earpiece.  

Genji was certain Kiriko would get along with Zen well, and Hanzo couldn’t help but frown at the thought. Why was it so normalized that everyone seemed to like Zenyata?  

Of course Hanzo was also excited to meet Kiriko, but he wasn’t exactly looking forward to it. He kind of liked his current position, and once the Kanezaka mission was finished, his consultation would no longer be needed. On top of that, Kiriko was just as sound of a fighter as he was. She would without issue fill the position of a vertically mobile assassin that can work from a distance. And with all the top-of-the line training bots around, Kiriko would have no reason to indulge Hanzo for practice. And with all the different agents with all their charming personalities, Kiriko would certainly have no time to gossip with Hanzo like they used to when she had little choice on the matter. She was an adult now, and there was much Hanzo didn’t know, like how was his family? Not that Hanzo had cared before, but he probably should have.  

When the Orca returned with most of the team, Hanzo was hiding in the garden. He was technically not alone, as Bastion was there. So it was a perfect spot to seek solitude. During the mission, he felt important and needed. He just had to keep his mind on the task force left and give the mission all he got. By not greeting the rest of the team to the celebration of “job well done,” maybe he won’t realize how close it is to an end.  

The mission had lasted only a week. It had felt short, but it had been long enough for Hanzo to get used to walking around the watchpoint without worrying if he may bump into someone. Namely, he had forgotten that he might walk into someone who does not hear or smell him coming.  

When it started to rain, Hanzo hurried to find a new spot to occupy in the filling watchpoint. He was allowed to roam around the base, but he didn’t want to be caught somewhere where he didn’t really have a reason to be, so he automatically started to head towards the kitchen. He’d B-line to his own quarters if there were people there. He was passing the living room when he heard Vivian and Baptiste talking about springs or something to that note by the door. Baptiste was leaning against the doorframe. He proceeded to walk past them, hoping they would just ignore him, when Baptiste, at the worst moment, turned around, when Hanzo was right by him. Vivian audiably “Oi!"  in surprise as Baptiste, in a reflex to suddenly hitting another person, grabbed with his hands so they both would stay upright, but let go just as quickly when he realized who it was.  

It all happened very fast. Babtiste stepped back, turned around, and lost his balance. Vivian yelled. Hanzo tried to dodge but was too close. As Babtiste went down, so did Hanzo, despite their efforts to sidestep to keep balance. They managed to both fumble a bit before they hit the ground. They hadn’t even fallen hard; it was like a slow motion fall where their legs just got tangled up, but they tried not to touch each other, so down they went. Vivian was laughing before they even touched the ground.  

Baptiste started laughing too and didn’t attempt to get up, while Hanzo tried to scramble to his feet instantly when he got his bearings and was certain he wouldn’t accidentally kick the other man as he got up. He instantly apologized in a hurry. He knew it was his fault; he should have stepped more audibly, walked closer to the wall, or greeted the agent. He offered his hand to help Baptiste up, but he couldn’t while he was having a laughing fit, holding to his stomach. To Hanzo’s confusion, even Vivian squatted down in laughter, unable to contain herself.  

When Babtiste finally spoke, he had trouble saying everything in one breath as he giggled. “I had my life flash before my eyes there, not gonna lie! The moments I realized who it was, I swear I had a heart attack! Woaah, that was scary!”  

Vivian was also laughing. “Oh god, I thought we lost you! I’ve feared the day something like that happens since no one can hear you coming, but boy did I not expect whatever that was!” She giggled. "Like, don’t get me wrong, I don’t think you are a threat, but reflexes and all that... I’ve been fearing the worst.” She admitted. Wiping a tear away.  

Hanzo looked between the two, not sure how he should feel about that. In the end, he did apologize and receive forgiveness from Baptiste as he helped the still laughing man up. What he didn’t expect was a friendly pat on the soldier from the black alpha as he reassured Hanzo that they were good.  

It wasn’t the best way to welcome the agents back, but Hanzo oddly didn’t feel horrible after that encounter. It was as if he had passed some sort of test, as he didn’t recall seeing Baptiste around much, but after the little incident he saw him around more often. And Vivian started to greet him and, on occasions, even strike a somewhat casual tone with him. Once she was at the living room coffee table, showing pictures of his dog, and she showed it to Hanzo too. It was a small gesture, but Hanzo appreciated it.  

When the orca and the agents returbed, Hanzo was still working as a remote operator from the living room, but it became quickly less optimal location for Hanzo to work. He didn’t want to take away the communal space, as sitting at the cafeteria wasn’t the same as at the living room sofas, so he asked Winston if he could find some other spot. Winston instantly had a great idea of making an office space for Hanzo and was excited with tons of ideas for it. Hanzo was grateful, but once he actually set foot in the space Winston had made specifically for Hanzo with help from Athena and Bastion, he felt deflated. He appreciated the effort to accommodate his situation, but the ideas Winston was so excited about made the space look like a nursery to Hanzo.  

The floor was covered with soft tatami flooring that Hanzo recognized to be the same flooring as one of the close combat training rooms had. In the center of the room was a low table, that obviously was a regular table, that had the legs cut short, and multiple floor pillows, one bagbean, and a laptop linked to a holo screen from the living room. The room was small, which in itself didn’t bother Hanzo, but the cut-down table and all the cushiony items just made the space look like a kids room. He, however, thanked Winston for the space and tried to sound sincere.  

“The floor is soft, in case you have an episode.” Winston explained. Hanzo bit his lip and forced a smile. It’s good enough, and the bag bean by one corner he assumed was just to fill the space with soft things. Since omegas are known to like soft things.  

Winston saw where Hanzo was looking and boasted. “That’s a seat for whoever is on watch duty for you. Most likely Cole, so I got a red one since, you know. His serape.” Winston explained.  

Hanzo couldn’t stop his face from cringing. Winston rubbed his neck sheepishly. “An armchair may fit here too if he prefers,” he admitted to himself.  

Hanzo thanked the scientist regardless. He would rather have a proper armchair than a bagbean in the little playroom-looking office space of his, but he didn’t want to complain to the gorilla.  

Chapter Text

Hanzo hated his new "office." He simply hated it. He felt ridiculous huntching over the cut-down table. At first he thought that it only looked ridiculous. But the room didn’t even look as ridiculous as it felt. In Japan, tatami flooring was common in living areas and bedrooms, but his office was a bouncy castle in disguise. Sure, it was nice when he had an episode and fell with a little dojoing to the floor like a rubber ball, but any other time it just made all movement feel unstable. The first day he had coped with the tough that he’d get used to it, but no. Not only was it like working in a bed, he had to share the small space with an alpha who had his mind in the sheets! He didn’t want to snap at Cole for it, or else he’d figure out how down bad Hanzo also was. He was tempted throughout the day to just hipity-hop on the cowboy cock, but people were in danger on the other side of the world, and he had to stay professional. 

Despite the distractions, Hanzo maintained his focus on action plans and strategies. However, when he found himself stuck due to a lack of information or while waiting for the team on location to prepare and rest, inappropriate scenarios began to cross his mind.

His blackouts weren’t really blackouts at all anymore. His episodes were just him laying for a few minutes before getting up like nothing happened. When they switched from the living room to the little soft office, Hanzo’s dragons stopped appearing. He sometimes still called them out when they went to communal areas, but it was more of a precaution in case of an episode. In the little office where he had most of the episodes, he just laid alone in the room with Cole, staring at the ceiling and smelling the ever-present sunshine and sexual tension in the room. 

The tiny office started to smell like sex without them even doing anything in there, so Hanzo had to stay strong. He had to keep his mind on the mission and ignore the good-looking bad boy in the corner. He had days when he had to take extra bathroom breaks to make sure that his spot in front of the computer didn’t turn into a little buddle. And every evening he made sure to ease tension with the shower handle before taking his sleeping pills. 

The awful awful agent even wore the softest-looking flanel one day that he stripped off mid-sentence like a goddamn entertainer. Hanzo wanted to throw a stack of sticky notes at him hard to make him regret it. But he knew the slick Alpha would just pretend not to know why he deserved it. 

In fact, Cole was acting way too innocent. First it was cute, but by the fifth day in the bouncy office it was just annoying. Sure, he gets the curtesy of not getting asked twice to get up when he was sitting in his stupid red bag chair with a boner, but Hanzo had to come up with excuses to not join the cowboy when he was hiding one. It was so unfair. 

Hanzo made sure to hide Cole's flannel as revenge. He hid it well in a place where Cole would never find it. It was folded neatly on his fifth pillow on the edge of his 'okay, it kind of looks like a nest, but that’s just because of the extra pillows’ bed. The flannel helped Hanzo get full nights of sleep, so he had no plans to return it. 

Luckily for Hanzo, by the second week the mission started to pick up. Cole also started to pick up casual conversation with Hanzo. First, it was a bit difficult. Cole having the habit of asking questions and follow-up questions, and Hanzo having the habit of keeping all details to himself and avoiding sharing too much. They ended up talking about nature, camping, and survival stuff a lot. Sharing experiences and encounters with wilderness and tips on how they got through them. 

It was clear as day to him that something got to give at some point. He mentally rooted himself to hold on till the end of this mission. After this mission, they could jump each other and get it over with, but for now they had to stay professional. It was simultaneously fun and painful to talk about things they actually cared about during the slow moments, getting to know each other. The more they talked, the more things they found in common, and the more Hanzo really hated the idea that Cole would eventually sober up. 

He tried to remember to enjoy the cowboy while he still had him around. But it was hard to enjoy someone who was making him so horny when he really, really needed to hold on just a little longer. He knew the moment they’d falter would be the beginning of an end to their little thing. 

Cole loved their little room. Their little soft home was where only the two of them sat in the soundproofed little nook. He got to bathe in the sweet positive cents and ogle at the wide back hunched over the computer all day. One day Hanzo had one small stray chunk of hair in the back of his neck that hadn’t been tied to the ponytail. That little bit of hair was driving Cole up the wall and making him grin throughout the day. He would have liked to blame it on neurotoxin side effects or a strong cent of omega making him druk. He was like a little kid with a crush just daydreaming about a future together when they hadn’t even held hands yet. It was lovely; the only thing slowing their relationship down was Hanzo showing no interest at all. 

Training with Zarya got easier when Jack returned. They’d agreed to play a card game every evening until Cole stopped growling, and it worked wonders. By the fifth night, Cole could sit in a room with no murmurs. They weren’t allowed to gamble, but the loser of the last night always brought the drinks, so there was a little on the line. 

When Cole saw Hanzo idling by the computer, having nothing to do, he got excited to share a little chat with him. Casual conversations about this and that. Nothing serious, but just tough to pass the time. Hanzo had a hard time opening up, and Cole was endlessly surprised by the points where Hanzo drew the line. He never told names unless he was talking about Genji. He kept the stories vague and avoided all detectable details, even the season of when events took place. He was a great storyteller, so it just struck Cole as odd and perhaps a bit funny in an endearing way. 

Hanzo also told stories that first reminded Cole of kids stories. A tale about a hungry tiger cub or a tale about a farmer who lied about a wolf in the forest. But as the stories continued, Cole wasn’t always sure if they were genuine real events or made up, and the themes were rarely appropriate for children. The hungry tiger cub was actually guarded by its mother, and whoever attempted to rescue it would become dinner for the two, and the farmer who lied about a wolf in the forest wasn’t like the boy who cried wolf, but a man who had lied about a wolf so no one else would dare to visit a beautiful forest he wanted to keep to himself. Cole wasn’t sure if he liked the stories or just the storyteller, but they sure were memorable. 

When the agents at Kanezaka were on the move or in action, Hanzo had less time for the little chats. Cole tried to not bother the busy Omega, but sometimes Hanzo would suddenly ask Cole to ‘get your mind out of the gutter.’ or ‘Think of boats or something.’ proving that Cole could in fact be a bother. The small space with just the two of them just made Cole’s imagination run wild. 

Whenever someone else took Cole’s space, he felt sorry for them. Especially the Alphas. The space was small to begin with, and all the soft items soaking up the cent left very little room to breathe. And of course the one time it was Rainheart, who simply is so large that he makes all spaces feel small. Hanzo pretended to be busy on the computer or writing down notes whenever he wasn’t there. Cole could tell from the awkward air he always returned to. Luckily, as Cole started to make progress thanks to Jack’s presence on the base, his workout regime got eased a bit, and he was with Hanzo more often than not. 

One time when Phareha was on duty to monitor Hanzo, she managed to start an argument with him. When Cole came to the room, Phareha was betting Hanzo that she had better aim than the archer, and the air was full of negative emotions. Later, Cole would get two versions of the conversation presiding over the fight. One where Hanzo claimed that Phareha had insulted his arrows since he didn’t have exploding ones, and one where Phareha was convinced Hanzo thought he used rockets due to lack of aim. 

They ended up settling it with a basketball challenge that Cole was certain Phareha came up with. It was a surprise to none that the Egyptian baller won the challenge, but it was admittedly closer than anyone expected. They were throwing from the three-point line, and whoever missed first would lose. 

Phareha had started the challenge and won with three consecutive hoops. Everyone witnessing the battle stood up in anticipation during the third throw. Hanzo managed to get two straight in, but the third bounced off the rim. Hanzo admitted defeat, but the two didn’t talk to one another after that. Genji would later reveal in the group chat that Hanzo used to play volleyball in college, which Hana and Lucio found hilarious. 

Genji – I mean, I never saw him play, but it’s a similar sport.  

Hana - The Volleyball and the Basketball players got beef! They can’t share the gym!  

Lucio- They’ll have to compete against each other to recruit the tall players to their teams! Good thing I’m safe! 

Phareha – Overwatch Olympics when?  

Lucio – How we divide the teams? You can’t play Basketball alone.  

Phareha – teams of three.  

Lucio – Dips on Rein!  

Hana -??? Dude!  

Lucio – It’s only fair that the tallest one is with the shortest one!  

Phareha – you forget Torb.  

Lucio – oh frog I did.  
Lucio – frog  
Lucio – what the frog 

Hana – did Jack put autocorrect on your communicator for swearing? That’s not cool, freedom of speech!  

Lucio – yeah! What the frog @Jack 

Jack – Wasn’t me!  
Jack – t (òw ó  t ) 

Winston – oh I forgot to mention that I’ve set some moderation filters to this channel to promote civil conversation.  

Mei – Frog shoe ass puppy  
Mei – oh ass still works 

Winston – Mei please 

Ana - ᵦᵢₜʗⲏ 

Winston – Ana?!  

Ana – I was just testing 

Jack – very civil. Thanks Winston.  

Winston – okay, if you guys can keep this channel civil, I’ll consider accommodating a basketball tournament. 

Torbjörn - ₣Ʉ₵₭ that!  

Winston – Lindholm…  
Winston – Are you trying to make me angry? 

The time in the small room with Hanzo felt like a time capsule. The longer they were there, the shorter the days became. During the second week, Cole didn’t even remember to take cigarette breaks. In the comfortable silence or in a casual chat, it felt like it was just the two of them in the world. They had even started to have little inside jokes about living in a cabin in the middle of nowhere. They referred to this hypothetical place as an ironic solution whenever something was just slightly annoying. Like when Cole mentioned how he hated how the showers at the gym always burst first with freezing water from the pipes before the warm water started to run, Hanzo would joke how at the cabin, there would not be a shower, just a bucket to pore water from so the temperature would never be a surprise. Or when there was a line to the coffee machine, how that would never happen in the cabin since not only would there be anyone to line up with, there would be no coffee. They both found it very amusing, to the point it was sometimes hard for outsiders to tell if the two were joking. 

Some, like Winston and Echo, were even under the impression that this hypothetical cabin was where the two would live together, and neither of them corrected them. It wasn’t like your typical inside joke that only a few people knew the punchline off; it was their little inside joke because no one else found it funny. 

Cole didn’t want to leave the little makeshift soft office or their little hypothetical cabin anytime soon, but great things never last. When the Kanezaka team managed to raid the last Hashimoto stronghold on a Friday, Winston officially welcomed Kiriko to join overwatch and come to the base at Gibraltar. 

Cole couldn’t wait to chat with this childhood friend of Hanzo’s. But he hoped to return to the room with Hanzo soon. As they were waiting for Lena to fly to Japan and get the team back from their long mission, Cole got horrible news. He had waited to hear the scientist say, “I have a mission for you,” ever since he was put on sick leave, but now that he was staring at the gorilla hearing him say those words, he felt his posture slump in disappointment. 

Cole fixed his posture quickly. It wasn’t the end of the world; he could have to leave the cabin for hunting trips every now and then. 

“It’s a secret mission. Pack for a long time retreat; you’re going to guard an underwater laboratory! ” Winston said excitedly. 

Cole frowned. “For how long?” 

Winston seemed confused. “Its… undecided. We have a new member who has to stay discreet about their membership for the time being, but I would like for us to have a clear way of communicating.” 

Cole shook his head. “Yeah, okay, I get it, but why me? It’s not like I’m not already doing something important.” Cole wasn’t sure what he was saying; all he knew was that he wasn’t ready to leave the cabin for good. 

Winston ruffled the hairs on his head, looking confused. “You enjoy your current mission, right?” 

The question was rhetorical, but Cole answered with an exaggerated nod and a long yes. 

The gorilla smiled, looking relieved. "Well, good, because this is a similar mission. You’ll be looking after an omega. I’ve chosen you because I have seen how well you adapted to your last mission to stay put, and I don’t think the other currently available agents have your patience. This mission is very secretive; even I don’t know the exact location where you’ll be going, but I trust our friend to quide you remotely. You’ll be leaving tomorrow morning. Keep this mission to yourself.” Winston handed a communicator to the stunned cowboy. “Please take only this as you leave. All the appropriate information is in the device files. Even Athena can’t access them.” 

Cole took the communicator that was identical to his own. “Only this?” 

Winston nodded. “No other electronic devices.” 

Cole nodded curtly and accepted the mission with a frown. He hadn’t expected to be kicked from the time capsule so soon. In hindsight, he had realized that he hadn’t really made much headway with Hanzo. He had stayed so focused to let the man work that now it felt like too late to start flirting again. He had given Hanzo as much time as he needed to feel safe around himself again, hoping that he would be the one to make a move. The little soft soundproofed room with just the two of us was on paper, a perfect spot to have a workplace romance blossom. 

But Hanzo had only snapped at him and kept it casual, so Cole patiently waited. Now that show of patience was sending him into the bottom of the ocean. He couldn’t help but swear and thrash around as he was angrily packing. Nothing could make the day worse. The only thing maybe giving him some hope was that he’d get to meet the Kiriko woman. Maybe having one more friend on the base would make Hanzo happy. Maybe the new face could bring Hanzo out of his shell a little more and encourage him to be more open. Cole nearly missed the welcoming party as he was furiously trying to find his blue flannel. He really wanted to take the blue to the ocean since the color reminded him of Hanzo’s dragons. 

Chapter Text

Hanzo tried to smile like the rest of the base members, who'd soon get to see their teammates again. But while he was taking down his notes off the wall of his little, made-up office, he couldn’t help but stall.  

He knew he would miss this assignment. It ended way too soon. Not only the assignment but his time in overwatch too. He had two months of sick leave left, but then what? He knew that while he had been staying busy with the Kanezaka case, there were other jobs already brewing, none of which he had gotten any intel on. By pure change, he’d heard about a mission in Peru and a raid that was going to happen in India in the near future, but he got briefed on neither. Cole had asked his thoughts on ‘the new agent’ and Hanzo had thought that he had meant Kiriko, but there was someone else Hanzo had not heard before about. Some archeologist.  

He tried to focus on only the thought of getting to meet Kiriko again to dampen the sourness from his cent. To Hanzo, Cole didn’t seem to be able to hide his displeasure that the mission to hang out in a small room with an omega was about to be over.  

Every time someone mentioned the agents returning or the time they’ll arrive and meet Kiriko, Cole’s frown deepened, and he got really short with his answers. When Orca came to view and the welcoming party braced for the wind the hovercraft made while it landed, Cole made it last minute there with his hat and serape looking presentable, but somehow more closed off than usual.  

Brig had made a little banner that read “Welcome to Overwatch!” in Japanese that she had asked Hanzo to translate. Hana had already chosen which bunk Kiriko would choose, and it was right next to hers. They were excited to welcome the small Kanezaka team back to the base. Only one more excited than the young agents was Reinheart and Zen. Reinheart smelled like longing and pent-up attraction, while Zen had a green sweater on that apparently Genji liked or something. Hanzo really didn’t want to think about it.  

When the doors to the aircraft opened, Lena zipped out first to welcome Kiriko to the base, as Winston hurried to greet her. She was soon joined with the rest of the little Kanezaka task force, and they were all warmly welcomed.  

Ana dramatically fell to Reinharts lap like a damsel, showering him with little peck-like kisses. The tall crusader chuckled and acted casual but was beetroot red by the time he softly let Ana down back to her feet. Hanzo tried his best to ignore Ganji greeting Zenyata. From the corner of his eye, he saw them leaning into each other’s space, but he didn’t want to see more; he was more interested in the young woman who he used to know like a little sister ten years ago.  

When Kiriko’s eyes landed on Hanzo, his mouth dropped. “You smell!” She yelled in Japanese. The bystander got a good idea of what was said without knowing the language because she waved a hand in front of her nose for emphasis.  

Hanzo frowned and put a hand on Kiriko's head to see how tall she was. “Oi, were you not thought to respect your elders?” he teased. He couldn’t however stop smiling. It was as if there were no ten years of absence, no awkward air, no grudges for abandonment.  

Kiriko blew a raspberry. “Sure, old guy.” She teased, spreading her hands ready to hug. “Do I get an old man hug from the old man?”  

Hanzo looked around to see the other agents staring. Cole looked comedically shocked, and that made him extra self-conscious, but he did want to show that he considered Kiriko a close friend despite not thinking about her or her family for years. “If you must.” Hanzo agreed.  

Kiriko practically jumped to the hug and held onto the older Shimada for a good while squeezing hard just to make sure he was really there. “I missed you,” she admitted in a whisper. “You big dope.” She added to eliviate the mood. It didn’t go unnoticed to Hanzo that she left out a little sniffle.  

Hanzo scoffed but he was not the one to end the hug. When Kiriko went around greeting people, he got a short “welcome to Overwatch Kid.” from Cole that made her roll her eyes.  

“I’m twenty-five!” She boasted.  

Rainheart butted in in his typical, well, boisterous fashion. “Only kids consider donuts an acceptable dinner! I've prepared proper wursts for us to celebrate!”  

Ana had a mischievous grin that made Reinheart stutter about the vegan options and potatoes, and this and that face turned bright red again as Ana admitted wanting to try out his sausage anytime. Which Hanzo knew to be an innuendo since Ana was vegan. Kiriko wasn’t excited about the food until Hana revealed that she had gotten Bungeoppangs for them, which genuinely made Kiriko shriek with excitement.  

Hanzo knew Kiriko to share his taste in sugary sweets and deserts, but he didn’t recall her being so extroverted. At first he assumed it was just excitement for the first day or something, but she didn’t slow down. She was soon as active on the group chat as Hana and Lucio, and she seemed to be everywhere and friends with everyone. She made an effort to drag Hanzo along at first, but Hanzo opted out more often after the first day, using his episodes as a good excuse. He didn’t have the energy to be constantly surrounded by people, so having to be under supervision during the episodes was the worst part of his current side effects. And he didn’t want to make his issues Kiriko’s issues; he had done that enough in the past. He’d just have to find someone else to keep an eye on him for his blackouts.  

He wasn’t worried about it until the morning after Kiriko had arrived; he couldn’t help but notice a lack of a sunshine smell in the air. Cole left the base without even a word. It hurt, but Hanzo knew it wasn’t personal. Hanzo wasn’t entitled to goodbyes or last words; Cole had been ordered to spend time with him after all. He found it hard trying to find somewhere to pass out at where he'd feel safe for the duration of his episodes. Genji was so hard to find at most times, and he was often bundled with Zenyata, whom Hanzo actively still avoided. He really wished Cole hadn’t left for a mission so suddenly, but he couldn’t blame him for wanting to get out there again. He recalled Cole being oddly distant for the evening leading to his departure. Ever since Kiriko came. He propably had lost interest in him. Or maybe he had realized that it was the smell that was tricking him into feeling affectionate, and the best cure for that is some added distance. Hanzo tried to respect that decision, but sometimes he felt anger bubble up when he momentarily felt relieved in his room to get a wiff off sunshine. His heart always jumped joyfully to have the cowboy in the corner again, but his brain soon reasoned that it was just the shirt that he stole. The man was god knows where, and it was time for Hanzo to pivot his attention elsewhere towards other connections. Like Kiriko, who was a breath of fresh air wrapped in nostalgia that Hanzo couldn’t get enough of.  

During her tests, Hanzo was shocked to realize that she was very fast, only coming in third in the whole base after Lena and Lucio. Hanzo knew she was good, but that made him doubt whether he'd be needed even more. Not only could Kiriko scale buildings like him and Genji, she would do it faster too.  

Hanzo had been so shocked by the speed he didn’t even realize that when Kiriko’s speed to secure a takedown score came up, it was one of the below average, until Vivian pointed it out. “She could use more firepower,” she had said.  

Hanzo had grunted, and Vivian correctly recognized that he had disagreed with that statement. When the woman locked her piercing eyes on the ex-yakuza to challenge him to explain, Hanzo felt the pressure but acted nonchalant. “She has trained with assassins, but she is not a killer,” Hanzo had explained.  

Vivian frowned. “Because she’s a beta?”  

Hanzo shook his head. That would be only part of the reason. “She is a miko,” Hanzo explained.  

Vivian oohed at that. “So what is a miko example?”  

The frowning omega deadpan just answered, “Shrine made." Knowing fully well that that doesn’t really tell much.  

When Kiriko started to train with the team on base, her ability to teleport to allies became a source of contention. There were few members who didn’t want to get jump-scared during battle. Also, her little bell pouch that could teleport others to the spirit realm momentarily freaked most of the members out. In the end, her kit was hard to enable during practices.  

It took three days of the life in base until Hanzo heard a knock on his door and was delighted to see Kiriko. She came with a box of frozen mochi cakes and a head full of worries. Hanzo welcomed her, and they talked for hours about how difficult it was to work in an already established team and how they felt about the other agents.  

Kiriko had gotten an explanation to why Hanzo wasn’t on blockers, but she was the first who actually felt bad that Hanzo had to reveal his secondary gender. It was refreshing as everyone else treated it like a natural thing that Hanzo had no reason to be upset over. Some were even glad that Hanzo wasn’t on blockers, despite his strong scent. Kiriko understood him and what being an omega meant for him. She had firsthand seen why Hanzo had been on blockers practically his whole life. It felt sobering to talk with her, and Hanzo knew what it felt like for her to try and fit in with Overwatch, where his skills weren’t fully appreciated.  

They were lounging on the bed since there was no sofa; they made due. The pile of extra pillows made it a little sofa-like after all.  

“Ana was such a chill mission leader. I wish she was the leader in all missions. Jack just sounds mean. And Souljern is scary.” Kiriko admitted it with a shiver.  

Hanzo nodded. “I haven’t been on a mission where Ana led. But Cole is also more on the chill side as a leader,” he said out loud. “You might like him.”  

Kiriko grinned. “Not as much as you do.” Which earned her an eye roll. Genji or Hana had, of course, filled her in with gossip during their time in Japan. ”And besides, I think he’s the most likely to accidentally shoot me when I teleport to him! Have you seen his SIM scores? He has like the highest damage rate while reloading after every six bullets!”  

Hanzo couldn’t deny that. Cole had fast reflexes and an even faster trigger finger, but he could also pack a punch. “I think you should have a bell on you. Like the ones that cats have, that does a little jingle,” he suggested.  

She was very amused by the idea. “Perhaps, but I’ve heard the same thing about you. I heard that you bumped into Baptist,” she squinted. “He’s cute.” She added, with a bit of an accusing tone.  

Hanzo clarified. “Not on purpose! I’m so used to being smelled from a mile away, I didn’t realize that he is still on blockers.” he excused.   

She didn’t seem to believe that. “Sure. You are so known to bump into people by accident. I heard you two even fall.”  

Hanzo grunted like he was feeling physical pain from the accusation. “Cut that out! It was an accident. I have only had these legs for a month! And I know nothing more about Baptiste than what his file says; we are not close.”  

Kiriko squinted. “He’s nice.” Hanzo didn’t argue with that. So Kiriko pressed on, “I’ve heard that he’s bi.”  

Now Hanzo side-eyed Kiriko. “It sounds like you may have a thing for him. If I recall correctly, you have a thing for'mama’s boy energy’,“ he quoted.  

Kiriko giggled. “He has no mama’s boy energy! He totally has the heartthrob who’s actually the stepfather that stepped up—energy!“  

Hanzo scoffed. “You and your energies! What energy does Cole give out? You only saw him for one evening; is that enough time for you to get ‘the read’?” he said in a teasing tone.  

Kiriko grinned, “Oh, you don’t want to hear! It’s not good.” She giggled but didn’t withhold the information for long. “He has the ‘I taught my dog to get me a bear from the fridge’ – energy!”  

Hanzo frowned. “That’s not bad. I like dogs,” he mused.  

Kirko shook his head. “nuhuh! That’s the energy your man puts out; you might become the dog.” Kiriko explained with a scandalous tone.  

Hanzo laughed out loud at that. “Oh yeah, you said I have a ‘lone wolf` energy,” he chuckled darkly. “Bad match then, huh?” he laughed.  

Kiriko just then realized it too and started laughing in her bubbly tone. Hanzo smiled genuinely. He has missed that sound.  

He listened to it for a while before admitting. “Good thing that ship has sailed then,” he waved a dismissive hand. “Seems like I need a new hunter to prey on,” he scoffed.  

Kiriko gave a soft smile. “You belonged to a pack of ones, lone wolf.” He casually grabbed a seemingly random piece of blue plaid fabric from amongst the bedding, but Hanzo snatched it from her so fast that its importance was crystal clear. “You could be part of a pack again, you know.”  

Hanzo placed the shirt away from Kiriko’s reach in a dramatically careful fashion. She was still on blockers, so she couldn’t know for sure who’s sent was in the shirt, but the pattern and the flanel fabric made it obvious. “Overwatch is a military organization, not a charity. They don’t need an omega on the frontline.”  

Kiriko hummed at that. “But you are not on the front line? You are a sniper nowadays, right? Like Ana. ”  

Hanzo frowned. He wanted to disagree. “When Ana goes on a mission, she is never left alone. We are not the same.” He explained. “You could just as well do what I do and propably do it faster too.” Hanzo sourly admitted.  

Kiriko got a new fit of giggles. “Oh Hanzo, you are so silly.” She snorted. “Overwats needs all the help it can get. I don’t think they’ll kick you out as long as you are ready to help them,” she pointed at the flanel Hanzo had caredully folded. “And what I’ve heard, unless you say no to the cowboy, he’s not the type to give up either.”  

Hanzo mused about that information, wondering if he believed her because he wanted her words to be true. He wanted to be needed. He wanted to be wanted. He didn’t have time to make up his mind when Kiriko added, “I’ve heard he has a thing for, and I quote, ‘Stuck up, bitches.'" Or so Jack said during practice. I have no idea what he meant by that, and neither did Hana.” She admitted.  

Hanzo gasped in shock. “Stuck up what?” He had heard her the first time but couldn’t believe she had said it; in contrast, he could imagine Jack choosing those exact words. Kiriko didn’t repeat herself. “You know, long time ago in the group chat, Genji implied that Cole has a one-past relationship.” Hanzo suddenly recalled.  

Kiriko was excited by the prospect. “You think it’s someone in Overwatch?”  

Hanzo frowned. He had not thought of that, and he did not want to start thinking about it now. “I doubt it.” He grunted.  

Kiriko didn’t look convinced. “He and Phareha have history, I hear. I wonder what that is about.”  

Hanzo scoffed. “Please, He also has a long history with Genji; I don’t think it means anything.”  

Kiriko sank to the pillow pile with a long exhale. She was quiet for only a second before jumping back up. “Genji is a little bitch! You don’t think it’s him?”  

Hanzo frowned. “No, that’s impossible,” he grunted.  

Hanzo deep down believed it was no one in the current overwatch. He was certain that there was no one else Cole was currently interested in in the organization, or he would have long gone and moved on from Hanzo. He wasn’t the first choice after all.  

They talked about possible future missions. Hanzo was fairly certain there were no missions calling for his help, while Kiriko was certain that the team was not ready to include her in a mission formation.  

It only took a week for Kiriko to be invited on a mission.  

Kiriko and Genji left on missions at the same time, leaving the watchpoint very lonely for Hanzo. Mei was also on a mission with Winston to answer an approaching shuttle or something, and he found out that Phareha was already in Peru with Jack to meet a new recruit.  

Hanzo realized one day as he was walking through the watchpoint to the hiding place behind the watch tower that Cole had shown him that he was no longer the new recruit. In total, at least three different members were about to join from different parts of the earth.  

While preparing for the new members, the whole organization started to feel different. The group chat got rules—a lot of them. ‘not talking about missions’ and ‘not commenting negative things’ being amongst them. It started to feel more coffee room talk than the actual feelings of the whole group. There was a rumor of a ‘new'team'—group chat that was more casual, but Hanzo wasn’t sure if it was true. As new agent files started to pop into the database, Hanzo read them throughout not to feel left out. Part of him feared that he might lose access to the database at any moment. He had over two months of sick leave left, but he may be seen as a security risk.  

The new members had impressive and clean backgrounds, and he couldn’t help but wonder if they would even know that he existed when they arrived. The agent files were stored in a list that extended to a second page when an agent named Venture joined. And it just happened to be Hanzo’s file that got knocked to the second page.  

Everyone was busy working, except for Hanzo. He was the last one out of the affected who still was on sick leave. After talking with Winston, Angela, and then Winston again, Hanzo got cleared to be alone as long as he was lying before a blackout hit, but they were more like moments of being mostly immobile now. He could scratch his nose during one. All the blackouts were now moments to think about what ifs. What if he hadn’t turned to help Jack? What if he wasn’t on the mission at all? What if, to this day, everyone thought of him as an alpha? What if he had been unprofessional in the little room? What if Cole hadn’t lost interest? What if he could stay after his sick leave?  

While others were running from mission to mission and recruiting new agents, Hanzo was planning a roadmap to travel once he was free to leave again. Part of him thought that staying on watch point was not such a bad idea; what if he was needed? But then he’d remember Kiriko. They’d be better off with her in any team formation than him.  

When the first new recruit came to the base, Hanzo didn’t bother to go greet her. Maybe part of him was just bitter, but she sounded like a perfect Overwatch agent. Trained to be a warrior and channeling the powers of the sun. And of course she was an alpha too.  

She introduced herself on the group chat with. “Greetings everyone. My name is Illiari, and you can read the rest from my file. ☀ “  

She was intimidating, but due to the next agent joining literally the next day, she didn’t get much attention on the base. Hanzo saw Iliari once in passing, and from the look of it, she was the type to rather keep to herself. Hanzo didn’t blame her or get angry when her first words to him were “You have a strong scent!" Hanzo had just nodded and left the room.  

The next new member got recruited from Mexico, but she wasn’t from there. She wasn’t from anywhere on earth; she was actually born on Mars. She had a bubbly personality, quite young but resourceful. She came to earth looking for Mei of all people, and when she joined Overwatch, she instantly started a mission to save her colony that was located on Mars. Mei and Winston were supporting her.  

Hanzo spent four days in total in his room, just reading the data that he could access and avoiding people. He could read from group chat how everyone was loving Juno, but no one talked about the missions. He tried not to think about the missions, or more importantly, the mission. The one mission that had no info, the one agent that was missing, the one man that still hadn’t found his flannel.  

Chapter Text

On the fifth day of isolation, Hanzo was feeling numb yet ticklish, tired yet restless at the same time, and he had a feeling he may be going into heat. He wasn’t entirely sure, since it might just be the cabin fever getting him, the solitude driving him mad, but the arrangement of his bedding felt unorganized and clothes felt more restricting than usual. Around 1400, he admitted to Doctor Ziegler of his heat as he found himself laying naked in a peculiarly organized undeniable nest in his bed.

He got startled as Athena informed him that he was in lockdown until further notice before the doctor's message reached him.

Angela Ziegler – Let me know if you need anything outside your hab. I’ll lock you on quarantine protocol for now for your own safety. I’ll call you in the evening to remind you to take your medication, but until then, I wish you a pleasant Heat and don’t hesitate to message if there’s anything you need.

Hanzo threw the communicator somewhere in his nest instead of answering the message. He also let out his dragons so he didn’t have to hear them in his skin. He didn’t care what they did in the room, as long as they didn’t leave or bother him.

Hanzo didn’t remember anything of his last heat. He had been badly injured and passed out for most of it. It would have been weird to go to heat in that condition, if it weren’t for the fact that his blocker chip got destroyed during the fight. The chip had served him well for over ten years. So when it snapped in half inside him, his years of prevented heats bit back at him. He hadn’t spend heats since he was a teenager, but from the time he had a system for them that he meticulously followed.

The first few hours he laid like a starfish on his nest, just meditating and breathing. He usually used the time to breathe and calm his nerves. It was stressful enough for his body to just go to heat, but having an anxiety or panic attack alongside it was something Hanzo, from experience, preferred to avoid.

This time was different. He found his pulse easy to keep steady and calm, and he didn’t hyperfocus on possible sounds coming from outside or plan escape routes. In his mind, he wondered if the medication caused it, but as he was absent mindedly breathing through a blue flannel fabric, he should have known better.

The first phase slowly turns to the second, as his body temperature rises and his gut starts to coil with pressure while his private parts become sensitive enough to feel air. He avoided touching himself to extend the first phase and prolong the start of the worst part. With effort, the second phase of heat usually lasted for four hours for him. This time, however, he was humping and grinding against his sheets by the second hour mark. Mind in a blissful state of ignorance towards his surroundings as he was burying his face in the flannel shirt while teasingly running tentative fingers around his heating body. He was very sensitive, so every touch. Feeling ticklish as he kept jolting himself under the sensation.

After the hypersensitive stage of heat started the longest phase, the orgasm chasing. It typically took hours of building to an orgasm after another, only to feel very little satisfaction from them. Usually during his heat he forced himself to drink after every orgasm and tried to be mindful of switching positions to not tire his hips or arms, but this time he couldn’t. He had three fingers in the front, two in the back, and stars in his vision as he didn’t dare to take breaks. He felt so good; he didn’t recall any heat feeling so intoxicating.

When he came for the first time that day, it was a little scary how good it felt. It was all consuming and making his whole body curl and twitch all the way to his toes. He tried to bite and grip the sheets and the flannel to ground himself as his being was drowning in the pleasure.

He was sweaty, and the sheets felt awful if he switched positions, so he kept his legs spread against the pillows barricading his little nest and didn’t move from there. As his fingers got sore, he realized his mistake and was forced to have a break till he got his blood flow back. As he was waiting, he was trying to think of an item that could be a fitting object to use yet unnecessary enough that he wouldn’t feel bad disposing of it after.

He had lost count on how many times he had come, but he wasn’t finished. Then he remembered the shower handle and was very tempted. He contemplated whether it was a smart or stupid idea, only to be surprised by the sound of ringing coming from his communicator.

The doctor was calling him. He thought of his options before begrudgingly answering the phone call.

Angela yawned right after greeting Hanzo. “I promised to call and remind you to take your prescription.”

Hanzo frowned. Most of his brain activity was still buzzing around the shower handle, and he didn’t realize how late it was, so his mouth spoke before he could think. “no.”

There was a pause on the phone, but before Hanzo ended the call too early, Angela spoke again. “Hanzo, you have the medication that helps you sleep.” She reminded.

Hanzo frowned. “You gave me those.”

On the other end, the Omega woman sounded humored. It was typical of omegas to have difficulty concentrating or recalling things in heat. Especially during a peaceful heat, the brain just takes a back seat and enjoys the dopamine shuffle. It was generally believed that omegas had a lower IQ during heat, but it was really just a lack of recalling memories rather than a lack of intelligence. “Yes, you need to take them or you won’t be able to fall asleep.” She reminded him.

To her delight, Hanzo got up from his nest, while on the phone on a mission to find the pills. She patiently waited, listening to the shuffling of a naked omega trying to find his sleeping pills in the dimly lit room. While Angela waited, a soft knock on the doorframe of her office let her know that her date was there. She hadn’t planned on spending long on a phone with Hanzo. The doctor signed for Phareha to wait by the door until she finished the phone call. To her disappointment, Hanzo must have forgotten his mission, as he suddenly asked. “So what is it that you need?”

Angela grinned apologetically at Phareha while talking with Hanzo. “I called to remind you to take your medication tonight. Do you need more? I can bring some for you.” She offered, thinking that would be the fastest way to get it done.

Hanzo grunted. “Oh, no need. I should still have some.” he answered.

Only after hearing Hanzo read the title of the medication on the bottle and hearing him take them, did she end the call. “Sorry about that.” She said to Phareha, but she didn’t really feel sorry for doing her job. “Did you have something planned for us?”

The pilot smiled with a little twinkle in her eye. “Yes, but it requires us to sneak to the hovercraft. Is that alright?”

Angela walked up to her and wrapped her hands around Phareha, quirking a brow. “We are going to fly somewhere?”

The smile got a little mischievous edge as Phareha leaned to her ear to whisper. “I want to join the mile high club with you some day, and I thought we could first figure out, which plane is the best for it.” she put emphasis on the last word.

Meanwhile, Hanzo was rolling in his sweaty sheets, still not calm from the heat. He was frustrated that his hands were too tired to continue, but the rest of him wanted to keep going. He was humping the sheets, drooling on the flannel, getting teary eyed from the frustration.

He had never wanted to be seen in heat or have someone know that he even had heat. He had never shared his heat with someone. The idea had never been appealing to him. The only moment it had ever even crossed his mind was during his first heat ever, when he experienced an extended version of the fifth and final phase of the heat. The moment when the heat calms down and the damp sheets and the nest, along with everything around it feel cold and lonely. The need to wrap something to cover and keep warm as the exhaustion takes over and the omega can finally curl into a deep sleep. Most omegas called it the most painful phase, if one spent their heat alone. Hanzo had always strongly disagreed, but now in his late thirties he was tearing up in frustration and dread that his cowboy was not there. He was tired and in the end angry at the man. The consuming anger made him swear to get Cole for his next heat.

When Hanzo woke up in the early morning, the anger still lingered, but the direction had changed. He was angry at himself for not realizing sooner just how tight of a grip Cole had on his nature. It was annoying and embarrassing to be so obsessed with someone, but he had to admit that it was true. He really wanted the cowboy. Probably just for his body, but never the less, he wasn’t the type of man to give up. He had to work harder to keep Cole to himself. Keep his attention.

With new resolve, he prepared to start the day with a workout and a shower. He would have a busy day making an action plan to woo Cole for good.

Hanzo had left his hab for the first time in nearly a week to fetch some canned goods and post-it-notes for his personal mission board, when Winston messaged him to ask for help. Hanzo practically ran to the briefing room, hoping to be of service. What he did not expect was to meet the new recruit, Juno, there, along with Mei, Vivian, Jack and Ana. Hanzo realized that this may be bad for him. But Winston had asked him for help, so he schooled his expression, and took an offered seat.

Hanzo knew that Juno was bubbly, but he did not expect her to literally float around like she was still in zero gravity. Mei introduced Hanzo to Juno as ‘the older ninja brother’ so he had been mentioned to her before. He started to fear he may be put on babysitting duty when Winston opened with. “I know this is not what you joined the organization for. But since your sick leave prevents you from joining missions, I was wondering if you could help with a different skill you have than archery. “

Hanzo frowned and looked around the room. Mei was crossing her fingers and smiling while the older agents were reading databads, not even looking at him. He cleared his throat once, before asking, “How can I help. ”Already knowing this must be one of those moments that he would have avoided if he just wasn’t on the mission back in Germany, if he hadn’t helped Jack, if he hadn’t breathed in the neurotoxins, if he hadn’t revealed his secondary gender.

Winston nodded. “We need someone to handle the finances for this mission. It’s a large scale rescue operation, and we currently don’t have the funds for it.”

Hanzo blinked, not believing his ears, his face must have morphed into fifteen different expressions in a short succession as he tried to understand if he was hearing this right.

Before he had time to answer, Mei started to speak, and by the way he spoke, Hanzo suspected this whole thing was her idea. “I read your theses on risk management in stock funding, and I know you went to school for business, and I thought you could at least help calculate funding requirements.”

Hanzo stared, mouth open, blinking, until he just nodded. “I can keep book if that is what you need.”

Jack looked up from his paper grunting. “We have Athena for that.”

Hanzo frowned. He wasn’t exactly sure what was asked of him.

Winston spoke up. “We don’t need a bookkeeper; we need a... financial advisor.” he declared with his inspiring tone. “See, we need to launch a large scale rescue operation, and to propose the plan to governments, we need a sound financial proposal to go with it. To save the Red Promise colony, we need to get a large enough space shuttle to Mars and transport them all safely home. We don’t only need someone to make the plan, but to present it too.”

Hanzo frowned. “I never finished my degree.” he pointed out.

Vivian piped up. “So can you even do it?”

Hanzo racked his brain. He wanted to say yes, stay, and be useful to the organization, but he knew he was far from optimal to present anything official. His credentials were only useful in the criminal circles. “I don’t know.” he admitted. “I don’t think I’m suited to present as a financial advisor with my… past.” he admitted. Perhaps the room full of alphas had forgotten that he used to be more than just an omega. He used to be a Shimada.

Winston waved a hand. “It won’t be up to your credentials, in fact, your name doesn’t even need to be on the report, we just need a sound and reasonable proposal. Is that something you could do? We really would rather have someone from the inside do it than outsource it.” Winston explained. Ana was nodding and visibly agreeing, while Vivian tensed.

Hanzo thought about it for only a moment before straightening his posture and announcing, “I can do it.”

Mei grinned happily after hearing that, and Winston let out a long happy sight. Only one person in the room who looked skeptical was Soldier and Souljern. Soldier even pointed out, “The report can not include tax evasion or other illegalities.” Hanzo pretended not to hear him.

Winston cleared his throat before happily ordering Hanzo to the task. “Great, you may work in the lab so you are close to Mei and Juno and me while we work. This is a team effort!” he explained. Then after a bit of pause, he remembered. “Oh, and Niran too. He works remotely and is yet to be publically made an overwatch member due to his special circumstances, so don’t tell anyone outside this room about him. Only ones who know are us and Cassidy.” He explained.

Hanzo blinked in confusion. Niran name sounded familiar but not from overwatch reports. He remembered the name of a terrorist who used to study in a Vishkar funded university. He made an educated quess that it’s not a consequence. “Niran PruksaManee?” he asked.

The agents made cautious looks at Hanzo. He felt like he had said the wrong thing, until Jack asked angrily “How’d you know?” Despite his tone, he smelled happy, mostly just tired, but not angry.

Hanzo shrugged. “Had to be someone notorious to have'special circumstances’ to be a secret overwatch agent.” he reasoned.

Winston took a step forward and sounded oddly apologetic. “He is an official member of Overwatch. What they say about him is not true. Niran is not a terrorist. The organization Vishkar has branded him as such due to their own self interests. He is not dangerous, but due to a powerful organization like Vishkar Technologies having an interest in him and his creations, he is in  danger and that’s why he is secretly part of Overwatch,” he explained.

Hanzo didn’t have any reason to doubt that, but Ana still felt like adding, “We have someone like you openly part of Overwatch.”

Juno seemed to be confused by the comment, but Mei just gave her a reassuring smile.

After that, Winston announced their little meeting to be over and Mei and Juno started to lead Hanzo to the lab as Winston stayed with the older agents to discuss something further. The lab was on the separate building, and it was raining, so they ended up using the inside tunnels to get to the lab. All three of them were very quiet during the trip, but Hanzo could smell that Mei was tempted to say something, and Juno was nervous, very nervous about Hanzo. Only Mei’s footsteps were echoing in the tunnel as the hovering Marsian and the mutely stepping ninja followed her.

In the lab, Hanzo first saw the hologram of the shuttle that they were planning. He looked in awe at the size of the miniature as Mei asked him if he wanted tea.

“Yes please.” He bowed a bit, appreciating the thought. Juno hovered to the second balcony style floor, but he was looking down at Hanzo.

After a long while that Hanzo spent getting a good first look at the hologram blueprint, Mei handed him a cup with the macha tea she knew he enjoyed. Just when Hanzo thought that it was time to get to the business, Juno asked loudly but nervously from the second-floor balcony. “Sir, why did Captain Amari compare you to a terrorist?” She was clearly nervous with her very polite question.

Mei looked between Juno and stunned Hanzo and started to stutter to calm the situation. "Oh, you don’t need to worry about that! Hanzo is one of the good guys now, and he’ll be a big help in saving your colony.”

Juno didn’t look relieved by that. “What did he do?”

Hanzo looked at the tea cup in his hands, he didn’t know what to say. He knew that the truth would not ease the young agents anxiety, but he didn’t know a good lie to replace the ugly truth.

“You have access to my file, you are welcome to read it if you really want to know.”

The large lab felt cold as the silence stretched. Mei was fiddling with her hoodie sleeves while Juno partially hiding behind the railing. She looked conflicted.

Hanzo sipped on the tea and took in the hologram of the shuttel. Winston hadn’t overexaggerated the scale of the project.

From a zipper opening and some finger tapping, Hanzo knew without looking that Juno had chosen to read the file. Mei looked at Hanzo worried, but quietly started to break down and explain the hologram blueprint. Hanzo’s file wasn’t the longest, (They knew exactly who had the longest file, because a certain duo had turned it into a competition after learning who had the biggest bounty. Ana had a slightly longer file, but Cole reasoned that his file had the most retracted parts, which was true, so they agreed on a tie.) but it still took a while to read Hanzo’s file. He could only guess at which parts Juno was at any current time from her soft little whimpers and gasps.

While Mei was turning the hologram to show Hanzo the engine plan, they were shocked by a scream. “Your ultimate attack is a dragon?!”

Hanzo was dumbfounded and only nodded as an answer. He hadn’t watched Juno read earlier, but as he kept staring at the girl while she continued reading, Hanzo realized that there was no horror in her face. She looked like she was enjoying a novel, not a tragic tail of his past.

Hanzo knew for a fact that his file didn’t mention Genji. He was still fairly certain that Mei, amongst some other agents, didn’t know about that, but regardless he had expected the bubbly teenager to be horrified by his past and the resume of the Shimada clan as a whole.

“You speak six languages! “ she suddenly exclaimed. “Do you like linguistics too or why?”

Hanzo looked at Mei who was smiling, clearly relaxed now. He cleared his throat before answering. “It was for work.” he admitted.

Juno was quiet for only a moment before yelling again. “You have two dragons!?”

It was a conflicted feeling, being glad that Juno wasn’t terrified but also fairly certain that she just didn’t understand what she was reading. Perhaps he still had a hard time trusting that people who didn’t share a incriminating past like him would ever understand him. They lived in such different worlds, where one was thought not to do crime and to report theft. As he was, from a young age, taught to fear the government and their army instead and deal with thieves personally. To someone like Juno and Mei, crime was inherently bad. And to Hanzo, his inheritance was something to be proud of and treasure. He was in his town, the pillar that kept people safe from evil. In Juno’s and Mei’s world, criminal was a synonym for evil and danger.

He had paid attention to the hologram, and the room was so full of screens that when one unassuming turned on, it didn’t alarm Hanzo. Only when an audio piped up along it, did Hanzo turn to face the picture. A live video feed of a dark room that was illuminated with glowing plants and the sheen of glass covered water tubes that extended from the ground to the high ceiling. In the wide laboratory like room was a silhouette of a mysterious figure, who became instantly recognizable with a tip of a hat and a southern accent. “Good evenin’ ta ya smart ones, I’m glad to see we have a new member in the mission!”

Hanzo couldn’t suppress a smile. It was Cole, video calling them. “I was wondering where you disappeared so suddenly.” He admitted. Assuming Cole could hear them.

The cowboy walked closer to the camera and became more visible. His beard was wilder than how Hanzo had last seen it, but he looked well rested. “You know, duty called. My supervision was needed elsewhere.” he vaguely waved at the lab behind him. He was talking with a smile until he asked somewhat of an odd question that fed Hanzo’s hopeful little heart. “Who’s watching you now, by the way? Are the folks taking turns or…”

Hanzo bit his bottom lip with a small smile. This was his chance to keep the cowboy on the hook. “I can watch after myself now. Don’t you worry.” He lowered his tone a tad, maybe hoping that the others in the room wouldn’t catch the last part. But to Hanzo’s dread and disappointment, someone was listening to their conversation on the other end.

A tall man with blonde hair and a soft tone appeared in the view, leaving way too little room between himself and Cole. “Oh hello new friend! Can you repeat the last part so my handsome little bodyguard can finally cease his phasing! This little piece of work is driving me mad!” He said, wrapping an arm around Cole’s soldier. He was taller than Cole, but not by much, and speaking in an airy, joking tone that just tittered on the side of flirtatious.

Hanzo’s smile dropped instantly. He was part embarrassed of being overheard by a relative stranger, but mostly shocked by the closeness displayed. To his further shock, Niran seemed to react to his expression quicker than Cole, practically jumping away from him holding hands in the air in mock surrender. "Oh, forgive me, where are my manners! I’m Niran Pruksamanee, and I’m very professional with your handsome agent!” He assured. “Altho If I may make an assumption, you are Hanzo Shimada, and a fellow omega, so you know how it is.” he smiled wide, sideeyeing Cole.

Hanzo was seeing red. He became very cold as he watched this simultaneously beautiful and handsome man keep casually touching Coles soldier. Hanzo didn’t recall anyone mentioning Niran being an omega. It changed everything. Just when Hanzo had made his decision to pursue Cole with all he got, he got sent away. And now to find out Cole was with, not just a revolutionary genius, but also a gorgeous omega at that. What did Hanzo have to challenge that but an unfinished masters degree and a scarred body with half the limbs.

He snapped back to present when he saw Mei turn around worried, asking if everything’s okay. Hanzo instantly realized he must have let his scent sour and tried to snap out of the bad thoughts. The game was not lost, for what it sounded like the omega on the other end of the call was promising to stay professional. And Cole had sounded rather jealous, asking who was watching over Hanzo now. So Hanzo hadn’t lost yet.

Hanzo squinted. Psychological warfare was second nature to him, but he had never in a million years thought he would use his past experience as a crime lord negotiating weapon deals to now convince an innocent omega to pack off from an Alpha he had taken liking to. “Sir Pruksamanee, we finally officially meet. I have been informed of your unusual living situations, so I will overlook it, but I warn you against drawing assumptions. As a frog in the well knows nothing of the sea.” His tutor would have been proud of him, being professional, vaguely implying that you know a lot and reminding them of danger and risks that exist with a proverb to go with it.

Both Cole and Niran looked puzzled by the statement. So before they had time to change the subject or the tone, Hanzo made sure to be in control of the shift. “Agent Ling was just introducing the blueprint to me. The plan is impressive! I am looking forward to working together.” he gave the smallest nod of acknowledgement. Finishing strong with using the official title of your peers to elevate then, a small compliment and a pleasantry to finish.

The smile returned to the blonde man’s face. “Thank you!”

Hanzo didn’t smile but took a long sip off his tea while holding eye contact. He had managed to make Niran express gratitude toward him. With just one conversation, Hanzo knew his challenger was not one for the politics.

On the side, however, he could practically read the words ‘What the fuck was that?’ on Cole’s face. He knew something was up, but it didn’t matter. The moment Niran was looking away, Hanzo made sure to give his best angle to Cole, a little smile, and a casual wave as a sign of private greeting. Cole smiled back at him with a bit of disbelief still lingering on his gaze

Chapter Text

Cole had hated the mission when it was introduced to him. Going to the bottom of the ocean sounded more like a threat than a fun mission. The main objective of the trip was made clear to him later. The genius inventor didn’t need a bodyguard from Overwatch specifically but the hardware he carried with him. The unassuming communicator held an encrypted link to connect the video feed. It was the internet, technology, and algorithms—three things combined that even individually didn’t make sense to Cole. So he didn’t bother thinking much about it, just enjoyed the trip as much as he could. He traveled through multiple harbors and sailed on an assortment of boats. He had always been more fond of roads and vast deserts than boats and the ocean, but variety is refreshing. On top of the change of scenery, the salty sea wind and the sunshine did wonders for his mind and spirit after being stuck in a stuffy room with Hanzo only being able to think about one thing. The days didn’t feel as short outside the base.  

When he arrived to the Atlantic Arcology in the middle of the night, he was greeted with multiple searches. He got scanned and propped for far too long to his liking by two omnics on a job, until Pruksamanee came to his rescue.  

When he saw the omega for the first time, he was surprised by the outfit he wore. He had gotten the impression that all the super smart ones were either shy and a bit awkward like Mei or Winston, or assholes full of themselves, like Mora O'Deorain. So when a tall, gorgeous man with long hair and his chest bare walked in wearing baggy shorts and a see-through cardigan, he knew that Pruksamanee was not shy. When the man opened his mouth to greet him with a perfect smile, confident charisma and a level of casualness that made Cole feel right at home, he knew Pruksamanee wasn’t awkward either. When they walked through the underwater city and he witnessed the handfull of recidents greeting and thanking Pruksamanee for all sorts of small deeds, Cole knew he couldn’t be a total asshole. After seeing the lab Pruksamanee worked at and hearing a list of all the people who deserved credit for the tools and inventions being worked on in there, he didn’t sense any selfishness in his statements. The Omega was somewhat of an enigma that kept him on his toes.  

After two days underwater, he woke up to a room that started to feel familiar. It was a simple bedroom, which had a typical hotel-style decoration with the bare minimum when it came to furniture. One of everything: a bed, a table, a chair, a mirror, a coat rack, a mat, a lone picture of a red flower field, a nightstand, and a little reading lamp. There were no windows, but instead of a ceiling light, there was a massive square shaped fake window light that lit the room with fake sunlight. The switch by the side of the window made the fake sun move on the fake window view from sunset to sunrise until a fake moon would replace it. On the first evening Cole was entertained by it for far too long for his age, feeling like he could control time by playing with the switch. It had been fun then, but by the second morning, he hated the fake sunrise that burned through his eyelids waking him up. It was always way too early to wake up, as he never managed to spend much time during the night actually asleep.  

When Niran Pruksamanee explained to Cole why the Atlantic Arcology makes the sounds it does, he made sure to explain it like he was talking to a five-year-old. The real reason was probably something more complex than “It’s making sounds because it’s strong." The eerie hollow whine and creaking that echoed everywhere was the only sound during the night, and it kept waking Cole up. Not only was it loud, but it was also completely random and it was echoing from everywhere. He could only hope that at some point he would get used to the sound, but he doubted it.  

He threw on the red flannel shirt he had to pack instead of the blue one. He combed his hair with a hand comb as he hurried to get caffeine into his system. He didn’t bother to look in the mirror, as he needed his morning coffee stat if he wanted to be alert. The hallways in the laboratory building were spacious but full of corners and turns to slow down water flow in case of an emergency. It Zigzagged a lot and led to multiple quest rooms similar to where Cole was staying and connected then to the residential area, the communal showers and kitchen, and the entrance to the laboratory area itself. The whole Atlantic Arcology was full of buildings with practically every door working as a in case of emergency airlock hatch. Opening the door to the kitchen doubled as doing morning stretches and workout. The kitchen was well stocked and smelled of flour. The coffee machine was sturdy and temperamental, but after some encouraging words and swears, it spurted out a cup full of grimly dark brew. It was like the Holy Grail to Cole but instead of youth, it granted him more life. He was halfway through his portion when the other resident in the laboratory building joined him, wearing scandalously little.  

When Cole had seen the gossiped terrorist Niran Pruksamanees outfit choice the first day, he had thought it to be a revealing one, but ever since that time, the man had managed to reveal a little more every outfit. Now he was in a short tunic and hopefully some underwear. The Alpha tried not to look but caught a glimpse of burgundy fabric under the orange tunic. That made him let out a breath he didn’t intend to hold.  

The sweet scientist yawned, holding a bowl-sized tea cup. The smell of the tea filled the room with a berry aroma that must be as efficient as a wake-up drink as the black soup Cole was drinking. “Good morning, my friend! I have good news. I checked the switch for the video link and it is done installing the path. We should be able to connect to the Gibraltar lab today.” He smiled sweetly. “Winston mentioned there’s a group of scientists and experts working on a space rescue program. Would you happen to know who these special people may be?”  

Cole had been told to treat Niran like an overwatch agent, but it was difficult. His demeanor was casual, his expressions and behavior could only be described as cozy, and he smelled like raspberries and flowers. It was hard to take Niran seriously and he feared if he bantered with the omega like he did with the other agents, the man might hit him back with a flirt. For some reason that made him behave overly professionally and conduct himself in the best possible manner to avoid any misinterpretation of his actions. He couldn’t tell Niran that he was taken, because he wasn’t and he couldn’t cause a sentence slip that could be interpreted as flirting in any possible way because flirting with the smart and gorgeous omega would only make sense. If the flirt led to something, he should feel lucky. But he didn’t want to be put in a spot where he had to decline the other’s advances because he might learn to regret it.  

His body and mind to some extent wanted to be close to an omega. He was starved in a way after he had spent so long facing and fighting the temptation, because it was somewhat easy with Hanzo. Hanzo had never flirted back after all. But with Niran, he would not have a reason to deny both of them if their physical interests aligned.  

But he wanted to have a reason.  

Cole wanted to be able to call Hanzo his reason to keep denying himself. He wanted to tell Niran that he had a boyfriend waiting at the base. He wanted to say that he was unavailable, but it wasn’t true. And if Cole got the option to choose between Niran and Hanzo, he would choose Hanzo, but it wasn’t his choice. He didn’t know if Hanzo was or would ever be an option, but Niran might be. And he wasn’t ready to choose or give up on Hanzo.  

Cole looked around the kitchen, thinking. There were colorful fabrics decorating it, making the room feel low and echoless. "Winston, for sure, he has a finger on a bit of everything, and he has to know a thing or two about space after spending so much time up there. But other than that, I don’t know who in the base is a space expert.” Cole admitted.  

Niran laughed a little. “Up there...“ he repeated with humor. He took a sip of his tea that made him cringe a bit. “Space is everywhere around us. Technically, we are in space right now.”  

Cole scoffed. It was a tease and a start for a banter, but before joking that everyone then was a space expert, he conducted himself in a more professional manner, cracking no jokes. “Well, what I mean is that Winston has been in outer space. If my memory serves me right, he was trained on a space station located on the Moon.”  

Niran leaned against his palm, looking bored. “The lunar colony, I assume.”  

Cole simply nodded and took a long sip. He didn’t mean to be a bore, but he really needed to keep the blonde omega at arm's length at all times.  

Niran had earlier attempted to find out more about Cole himself. He had asked all sorts of simple questions like favorite band, color, and food that Cole had managed to dodge. “I don’t listen to much music anymore, except for Lucio’s when he is on a mission, of course." ”I have never put much thought into it. I don’t especially like or hate any color I quess.” and “I eat a bit of everything. We have rotating cooking turns at the base, but during missions we live on MRI’s.” and so on. Always answering his question like he was an Overwatch recruiter. Niran got the cue quickly and stopped asking.  

“I hope that they are all nice.” Niran admitted. Cole made sure to assure the Omega that everyone at base was nice, even when he couldn’t be sure of one person in particular. The one male omega that seemed to hate everything that had to do with that combination of genders.  

There were a lot of similarities between Niran and Hanzo, but just as much they were the opposite of each other. Both drank tea, both were poetic in their way of speaking, both had long hair with a loose piece framing the side of their faces, and both smelled sweet as they were both omega. Also, both were in great shape and oozed self-confidence, but they did that in the opposite way. Where Niran was so confident he welcomed everyone around him to feel confident alongside him, Hanzo’s confidence had a way of making others avoid him. While Hanzo smelled sweet, it was more of a wet forest kind of sweet rather than a teeth-rotting sugary sweet like Niran. The biggest difference was obviously how they behaved when it came to their secondary gender. Niran seemed to be thriving as an omega, while Hanzo seemed to be embarrassed to be one.  

Cole must have thought too visibly, as Niran read him like an open book. “You mean most of them are nice. I take it there is a wide range of personalities in a group like Overwatch,” he leaned forward, fluttering his long lashes at the pondering alpha.  

Cole shrugged. He didn’t want to lie to Niran and say that everyone got along like pots and pans, but there wasn’t exactly any hostility within the team. Sure, there was an unwritten rule to avoid putting Hanzo and Genji, Ana and Phareha, or Bastion and Zarya in the same team, but that was mostly to avoid unnecessary drama. He wondered if Hanzo and Niran would be added to the list. There was also an unwritten rule to never but couples, current or separated on a stakeout or duo mission together for a similar reason. “Some folk have a lot of history, is all,” he explained, managing to sound as tired as he felt. He didn’t feel responsible to warn Niran about Hanzo, because who knows, maybe he has nothing against him. Maybe they would even get along well.  

It took them a few hours of organizing the bigger machinery around the lab before they got a good setup for video calling. Most of the objects in the lab glowed with bio light, which messed up the camera gamma setting. Cole felt good after getting a proper workout from moving the machines around according to Niran’s orders. When the video feed was finally visible and they could connect to Winston’s lab, Mei greeted them, introducing Juno to the men in the underwater lab.  

It was nice to see Mei and meet the new member, but he was slightly disappointed that the team was not bigger. He knew who he was hoping to see, and Mei might have assumed as much too.  

“There are a few roles that haven’t been filled yet, as we try to figure out the best candidates. But for now, it’s just us and the strike commander.” Mei explained, sounding apologetic.  

Niran smiled wide. “And us, of course! Me and Agent Cassidy will do our best from here to assist and troubleshoot the planning,” he assured.  

Cole gave a pained smile that luckily wasn’t as visible due to the dim lighting in the camera view. He wanted to ask more about the other possible recruits for the mission, but he didn’t know how to casually ask about it.  

They did some preliminary lists for requirements, and Cole tuned the tech jargon and numbers out. He was happy to be the muscle, but when it came to the approximate amounts of hydrogen necessary to exit the atmosphere of Earth and later Mars and how many tons of oxygen would be needed, Cole was just hearing blah blah.  

Then a name caught his ear and snapped him to attention like it had been his own name.  

Mei was reading through the list. “….It would be good to at least test some cheaper alternatives for the interior material. We don’t have a budget yet, nor a budget manager, only one who would have somewhat of a credential to do that would be Hanzo, but he’s on sick leave, so it’s still uncertain. There are third-party solutions that we are looking into.”  

Cole had been quiet until then, but he couldn’t help himself. “Hanzo has what now?!” His suddenly questioned, startling Niran too.  

Mei smiled, like she had forgotten Cole was there. “Oh yeah, Hanzo went to university for business and majored in mathematics. It’s not on his file since he technically didn’t finish. The only thing he lacked was an internship." Mei explained to Cole before filling in Niran out of consideration. “Hanzo is still on sick leave, but he was on a previous mission despite that, thanks to Cole’s supervision. He’s one of the newer members and usually a sniper in the team. He’s not a scientist or anything, but he does do math. And we should use all the help we can get.” Mei explained.  

It was Juno’s turn to be confused. “Wait, who is Hanzo again?”  

Mei looked thoughtful until he realized something. "Actually, Juno, I don’t think you’ve met him yet.” She turned towards Cole suddenly then. “He’s not the most outgoing, but he’s nice; you’ll like him for sure. Cole likes him too, right Cole?”  

The sleep-deprived alpha opened his mouth and started to speak before his brain knew what to say. “Oh yeah, even if you don’t see him, he’s a part of the team. I mean that he’s good, or like capable, as a member of Overwatch. I mean, everyone likes—I mean, not exactly, but you’ll definitely like him like I do.” He stuttered. After a quiet second, he couldn’t help but fluster and add. “Or maybe not… like I do, but you’ll like him.“  

Niran looked humored by something Cole said for the first time since meeting the cowboy. And Cole was correct to assume that the subject of him liking Hanzo would be brought up later. “He sounds like a promising individual! You said he has been on a mission while on sick leave? Is it even possible to have his help then?”  

Mei nodded. “Yeah, he’s unable to take part in physical activities. It’s a long story… Anyway, we were going to ask him today if he wanted to help, but he’s in quarantine, unrelated to the sick leave.” She explained, looking down on her data bad, ready to continue and move past the subject of Hanzo, but she should have known that was not happening.  

“Han is in quarantine?! For what? Is he okay? Is Genji there?” Cole barked questions in rabbit fire. Niran was just as taken aback as Mei of how demanding Cole was with his tone. Cole needed to know what was going on.  

Mei pinched her lips together thinking. She didn’t want to gossip and they didn’t know exactly what was going on. “We were just informed to not bother him. He has been in his room for days, but not on official quarantine until today. Angela estimated that we should be able to talk with him about joining this team tomorrow, so it’s nothing serious.” Mei explained.  

Cole frowned in confusion only for a second until the dots connected. Hanzo was not on blockers, he was on quarantine for a single day, it must be because he’s on heat. “Who’s with him?” Cole practically growled at the question. Niran took a small step away, but more out of consideration than that fear. Cole asked the question in a way that likely any answer would upset him. And a male omega instantly knew that when someone is on quarantine for a day, it’s for heat. There’s very few other reasons and Coles, an alpha close to said person, having such a strong reaction to finding out only proved his theory.  

Mei shrugged. “I got the impression that he’s alone.” Mei answered in an uncertain tone that Cole didn’t like. She decided to find out on the spot for Cole because she knew whether good or bad news, Cole was not going to let them continue working until he had his answer. “Athena, who is in Hanzo’s hab suite right now?”  

The AI answered near instantly loudly enough for the two men to hear through the video call. “Hanzo is in his hab suite, along with two nonhumans. There are no other agents with him.”  

Cole opened his mouth to ask about the two extra characters in the room with him until he instantly imagined Hanzo in his hab in a heat nest cuddling his two wolf-sized dragons. He snapped his mouth shut fast and stepped a bit away from the camera. “’kay, thanks.” he mumbled.  

The rest of the day was a struggle for Cole. His mind was in the imagined version of Hanzo’s hab and calculating the timing of his next heat whenever he had a moment to let his mind wander. During meal times, Niran attempted to ask about Hanzo, figuring out that was the only subject, Cole didn’t keep his composure on perfectly but managed to learn very little.  

Out of the questions, however, Cole learned that Niran had figured out that Hanzo was an omega and that Cole was interested in him. And with that revelation, Niran became more shameless with his approach. He made it very clear that he found Cole attractive. And even started to approach Cole’s personal space. He gave a reasoning of “Now that I know that it’s not you being unused to male omegas, I too find myself able to relax around you.”  

During the next night, Cole managed to sleep well for the first time, and during breakfast, Niran’s baggy high-waisted pants and bra-sized tank top did not bother him, as he was hopeful to see Hanzo again. He was unable to stay still as he waited for the secure connection to get through.  

When he saw the lab, Hanzo was there, facing away from the camera, but being the first in the room to notice them calling. They talked like they used to for only a moment, until something changed. Or more like someone jumped in the frame and reformed their whole dynamic.  

The first time Hanzo spoke directly to Niran, Cole heard someone else. It wasn’t the way Hanzo usually spoke—clear and deliberate. It was calculated, cunning, and leaving all sorts of impressions on Niran, and none of it was good. He could sense the manipulating language from the outside perspective and knowing Hanzo, but Niran was non-the-wiser.  

At first.  

On the third day, Niran was complaining to Cole about how he didn’t think Hanzo liked him and how he didn’t trust Hanzo. Cole couldn’t blame him, Hanzo was like a different person when Niran was in the picture. He suspected part of it being Hanzo's internalized hatred toward male omegas, but he hoped at least part of it was jealousy over him. Perhaps even a bit of rivalry. It would have sounded like wishful thinking if Hanzo wasn’t trying so hard.  

First it was the posing. Cole had an eye for detail and he could call himself somewhat of an expert in Hanzo’s body language after staring at him for so long. So when he saw the muscular back flexing casually for the camera, Cole knew that to be on purpose. He witnessed the stoic man casually stretch with a yawn, letting his shirt roll up just a tiny bit. He casually leaned against a table corner instead of a chair to show how much his ass was nerfed with his loose hakama pants he usually wore. It was small things and most wouldn’t even notice, but Cole noticed, and Cole also noticed Hanzo noticing him noticing. With small glances and soft side smiles, it was as if they shared a secret between themselves.  

The second was his sudden change in clothing choices. After a day when Niran was just straight up shirtless for a day, Cole found out that there was at least a bit of rivalry between them. The day after having to try to keep his eyes on Niran’s face and not his nipples while talking to him, Hanzo came to work in a white shirt.  

Sure, it was the typical polo Hanzo always wore, covering his heat patches and all the ink and skin, but unlike his usual black ones, the white one made shadows. To Cole, Hanzo could as well be shirtless, that’s how much more he got to see of the shapes the man had built by training. And it was obvious Hanzo knew how much Cole stared.  

“Is that shirt new?” he had asked while Niran was meddling with some machine and hopefully out of hearing distance.  

Hanzo had the gall to pinch the shirt off his skin to point at it. “This? No, I just rarely use it. I got it for when I have to work in the sun,” he explained.  

Cole saw the logic, heard the words, but didn’t listen. “You look good in white.”  

Hanzo smiled. Cole realized what he had just said and felt embarrassed just in time for Hanzo to sweetly thank him. “Thank you, but I find black to be easier to blend in crowds with.”  

Cole scoffed. “I get that, hard to be sneaky when people can’t get their eyes off of ya.” he brawled.  

Hanzo crossed his arms. It would have looked defensive if Cole didn’t know Hanzo did that when he was thinking, rather than angry. If anything, he was likely doing that because it put the biggest shapes on his torso in a neat row for display. “In the snow it could work.” Hanzo reasoned.  

Cole snapped back at that instantly. “In the mountains maybe, but not on a flat field.” To his delight, Hanzo found it funny. Just as he was quietly laughing, Niran came back in the picture asking what was so funny.  

That time Niran didn’t get an answer, but he soon learned that whenever Cole and Hanzo talked, just the two of them were cracking jokes. He managed to overhear a few, and never did he find the jokes especially funny.  

Hanzo’s attire would change a couple more times, but mostly it was small details. One day he was wearing his piercings, which Cole had seen before, but before he had only paid attention to the one on his face. Then he wore a little chain around his neck, then a small scarf on his hair. It would have looked normal if one didn’t know Hanzo that well.  

Then he started to wear layers. In his defense, everyone in Winston's lab was complaining about the chilling weather and how they didn’t expect it to be so cold. But regardless of the extra layers Hanzo chose were telling. A designer hoodie Cole had seen before most of the time, but sometimes it was a somewhat casual-looking long montsuki, and one time it was a flannel.  

Cole was not helpful when it was the flannel. He was so happy to find the lost clothing piece but not ready to have it returned. When Mei casually asked about the origin of the shirt, Hanzo had claimed that he steals clothes from his brother. Cole knew that was not true; for one, Genji would never wear a flannel, but also because it was clearly too big on Hanzo, so how would it be his brother’s, who is like an inch taller but smaller? Most of the time Hanzo had the sleeves rolled to fit, but he unrolled them a few times, so Cole saw just how big his sleeves were on Hanzo.  

Cole was in a weird heaven, where he saw Hanzo every day, smelled another omega, and spent every waking moment practically with the said other omega. Cole felt a bit bad for Niran, but the man managed to stay positive, even when it was crystal clear that Cole had all his defenses up against him but was a brainless goofball just from seeing the other omega in a new shirt. Perhaps Niran even enjoyed the risk-free flirting opportunities, as the man was obviously very comfortable in his own skin and very flirty. It was charming, but Cole had to stay strong. His durability was tested and his mind was showing the effects of the long-term temptations with the most rewarding and confusing sexual dreams.  

First it was the usual; Cole woke up after realizing he was having sex with someone, only to wake up confused on who exactly was it. Then he had a delicious dream about Hanzo in heat smoking in his nest. His nicotine withdrawals might have something to do with the details of that one. But nothing prepared him for a wet dream in his thirties. It felt like a full-length movie, and Cole remembered it vividly. He was having a threesome with Hanzo and Niran, both omegas were pushing and fighting each other while getting to Cole, and Cole just laid there looking up at the two. In the final moments of the dream, Niran was riding him, reverse cowgirl style, but leaning so far back he was leaning against Cole’s chest, and Cole could see everything from over his shoulder, and Hanzo was balls deep fucking his ass moaning and whispering little phrases.  

When he woke up to a messy bed, he felt enlightened. He didn’t expect the idea of Hanzo being on top to excite him as much, but by that point he would have taken anything Hanzo had to offer. As long as it was Hanzo, it was fine.  

Cole had a lot of sex in his dreams. It was as if it was a guaranteed result of trying to sleep. The weirdest dream by far was one where Cole and Hanzo were having regular sex, but it happened in the gym, and Zarya was above them yelling to keep pushing and going and counting reps. It luckily didn’t affect the quality of his sleep, and he stayed sane despite the dreams and his situation. Perhaps because of his dreams, Niran's casual closeness was easier to handle and take without extra heat. As he learned that Niran was a classic cuddly and cozy type of omega. As a self-acclaimed highest-ranking cuddy alpha in Overwatch, it was his responsibility to soothe the new omegas need for casual physical contact.  

When Cole had been in the Atlantic Arcology for three weeks, he had gotten used to the life in there. He even managed to relax a bit around Niran and get used to banter and joke with Hanzo while Niran was using his other knee as an office chair. What he hadn’t paid much attention to was Niran changing his attire. He was wearing most days baggy half-length pants with a high waist and a detailed-looking shirt that was open all the way in the front. He of course looked gorgeous, but also more serious. That was his first cue that something was off.  

There was something going on in the Atlantic Arcology. Niran sometimes woke him up in the middle of the night to come with him to investigate an odd sound. At first he thought it was paranoia, but Niran let Cole in on a little secret: that one of the members of the community had an identical twin that had disappeared. They were under investigation, but they had realized too late that it was possibly the lost twin pretending to be the castaway. They knew something was conspiring but they didn’t know the culprits. The tension that was building in the underwater city had nothing to do with the tons of water surrounding the hollow dome. Cole knew he was likely one of the suspects in the city, despite Niran trusting him, but when the secret heaven for the cast-aways was breached, Cole felt betrayed as he was the last to find out. Regardless, his job stayed the same: protect Niran and his inventions.  

Niran was hastily collecting server data disks and small gadgets into a hover create while Cole set up some flash grenade traps to the entrance. He didn’t have a lot of ammunition, but whichever army attacked would not have an easy time getting to them. The city was in full evacuation mode, and Niran and Cole were preparing to evacuate with the equipment creates through a secret backdoor hatch directly from the laboratory wing. It made only sense for such an exit to exist, as the underwater laboratory was massive enough to take a third of the whole Atlantic Arcology.  

Just when Cole was considering them in a clear, the door to the lab blew up. Niran was by the hatch in the back, while Cole had hurried to grab his communicator-looking contact link he had come to the city with. He shielded his eyes just in time to not get flashed and blinded himself. He flipped a table over to use as a cover but stalled when he heard a familiar yet weird and grimm voice.  

“You need to learn new moves, Jesse. You can’t catch me with my own tricks.”  

It was his boss from Blackwatch days, Gabriel freaking Rayes. He stayed docked behind cover to taunt the man. “It’s actually Cole Cassidy. Jesse McCree was a cover name.”  

The man better known as a Reaper laughed in a dark note. "Bullshit,” he barked. He had been the one to recruit Cassidy all those years ago as a scroungy teenager with a trigger-happy attitude and short life expectancy. Of course, he assumed to know everything about the delinquent he practically raised.  

Cole jumped up to shoot at the startled foe but was instead surprised himself. “Hola!” Greeted the air just before taking his left hand out. Cole tried to shoot in the direction but evidently missed. He knew he would struggle to fight with Reaper, as he could turn into a smoke cloud and bullets didn’t seem to bother him in that form, but add the notorious hacker Sombra to the mix and he was out of his league fighting alone. His best chance was to neutralize Sombra fast, hopefully dodge a fatal shot from Rayes, and run away. The good thing for him was that both of them suffered from the same weakness, so he threw another flashbang.  

He heard a young woman yelp, and knew which direction to ram. The Cole took her down hard, resulting in a knockdown. He didn’t have time to finish the kill when he suddenly couldn’t move his finger. He felt like he was being forcibly calmed as energy left his body. The feeling was familiar, and he knew it could be fought against, as he redirected peacekeeper towards the monster sucking his life force. Moira O'Deorain, the ex-medic of Overwatch, the woman who used to keep him up during missions in Blackwatch, was not going to take him down.  

“Doctor, here to sightsee?” he greeted after shooting her left arm. He knew which was doing the sucking. He also knew Moira had permanent healing nanites merged in her body so a bullet wound wouldn’t stick. What he didn’t see coming was Moira casually spraying something yellow on them both, returning Zombra to the fight. “No, you don’t!” he yelled, taking a few new shots on the doctor-shaped smoke cloud now in front of him.  

He attempted to then kick at the downed Sombra, but the woman was not there anymore. "Fuck,” he swore, hating fighting against invisible enemies. He jumped over the cover and reloaded Peacekeeper during a break-fall. He had to go for the big gun, Reaper. He was correct to suspect that the bastard was on a mission, and entertaining Cole’s bloodlust wasn’t part of the mission plan. He saw the long-coated figure feverishly searching for something.  

Whatever he was looking at, Cole put a bullet in it. He got the attention on him and soon would regret not aiming for the head instead. “This ain’t the gift shop!”  

Three things happened at the same time. Reaper took a shot from afar at him, shotgun pellets hitting him in multiple spots. Sombra threw a virus at him that made his arm and the phone in his pocket sap him hard, frying him from the inside, and a pink three appeared from nowhere between him and the shotgun wielder.  

“The Biolight user is here!” Sombra yelled, pointing in the direction of the blonde man. Cole didn’t feel the pain from the shot pellets or the virus, but with pure rage, he dashed to silence Sombra. Another body slam and she was down again. This time Cole managed to hit his own head pretty hard too, but a few stars on his vision wouldn't distract his aim.  

Cole got just up in time to see Reaper shoot at the tree a final time, making it disappear. “Biolight is weaker than expected,” he mocked.  

Cole took a shot at his face, only making the skull-shaped mask split off his face. Behind it was a familiar face that Cole sometimes missed. “It's not like you to have high expectations.” Cole grunted, taking another shot, but this time Rayes dodged into a smoke cloud again and retreated behind cover.  

Rayes yelled “You should know!” in a rage, but stayed hidden. Behind the same cover came Moira’s voice in a contrasting calm manner. “Hard light is stronger in comparison, but look, Cassidy’s wounds seem to have healed.”  

Cole frowned and looked over himself. He was still bloodied all over from the shotgun pellets that missed his armor, but true to the doctors' words, he didn’t feel wounded. Just as he was letting his guard down, he saw a hovering purple ball of smoke come his way. He knew that was usually just a distraction by Moira and wouldn’t be deadly, but he tried to avoid being in its path.  

“Isn’t Biolight awesome? It could be used to heal the whole world if it wasn’t for people like you who want to harness it for a weapon!” Niran yelled. Cole saw from the corner of his eye that he was doing something with his hand.  

From behind the cover, Moira scoffed. “Hard light makes a much superior weapon.”  

Cole knew that while they couldn’t see them, that didn’t mean they would when they made their move. He really hated fighting against invisible enemies, so he steadied and stilled his heart and prepared to aim for heads. “It’s HIGH time you leave.” He said in an even tone that made getting into the state of focus easier. He also knew that both Moira and Reaper knew the tone far too well and knew the massacre that used to follow it. Unfortunately, they would also know that the time he could keep the intense focus and slowed down heart rate was very limited. 

Niran appeared next to Cole, hand glowing. “And I agree with you. Hard light is better suited to hurt. That’s why it’s good to have both.” He made a pattern with his hands, and a light blue glowing dome appeared. “Try getting through that thing!” he laughed while taking the augmented hand off. It was still glowing blue, and as Cole got a better look at it, it wasn’t Niran’s usual arm.  

They could hear the shotgun shots, but the dome didn’t seem to mind them. Cole didn’t need to know how long it would take for them to get through it, as he would rather evacuate safely than risk having to fight them again.  

The trip to surface was devastating. They saw during their ascent how the Strong Dome of the Atlantic Arcology was filling with smoke and all sorts of different-sized creates and objects were floating in the water outside it. They were hanging onto a motorized diving board that resembled a flat paraglider as similar vehicles were traveling in the same direction to the surface. They knew the real hell would be on the surface, where all sorts of vehicles and ocean craft would come to investigate the sudden pile of creates and people emerging from the ocean.  

To Cole’s delight and Niran’s horror, it seemed only a single commercial fishing vehicle the size of a three-story building. Niran looked at the small group of fellow members of his underwater city community and then at the grinning wet alpha by his side. The fishers were throwing life rings into the water and helping the stragglers on board. Cole sat on the floating create they were stranded on and turned his back to the boat so the fishers wouldn’t see him reload his gun. “It’s been a while since I had to steal a boat.” He chuckled. “What do you want me to call you onboard? Can’t use your real name.”  

Niran looked at his people, looking worried. He shook the anxiety away and got a new, more determined look. “Lifewiever. Call me Lifewiever.”  

Cole looked at the empty horizon as he replayed that in his head. “As in... Wife-Leaver?”  

Niran chuckled at that, all the worry gone from his brow. “Yes, but we are not leaving anyone behind!” 

Chapter Text

Everyone in the base at Gibraltar knew something was wrong. Even the ones who weren’t on the ABO spectrum could tell. It was obvious every alpha was on edge and couldn’t stay still. And the fact that they couldn’t just ask the distressed omega to tell them what was wrong made things even worse.

“Can’t we like do something?! Get him a burger or new hat! Something to get his mind off of it? “ Hana cried. She was in the living room with a handful of agents who had just finished formation practice called diving. In the spacious room were Angela, Phareha, Lucio, Genji, Winston, and Echo.

Lucio was literally phasing in the room, just moving pillows from one sofa to another. “We gotta do something, man! I cannot stand this… This!” he waved the pillow in the air. Everyone knew what he meant, and as a very empathetic alpha, Lucio was taking the situation pretty hard.

Genji had started to wipe the dust from the top of the window stills and was doing a horrible job at it while Angela was doing her best, purring, soothing, and trying to get Phareha to calm down, who was reorganizing the kitchen cabinets with a dangerous amount of force. The whole living room was getting cleaned but looked worse by the minute. Winston wasn’t sure what to do about it. “Perhaps it would be the best for everyone to be on blockers for the time being. I don’t recall the distress on other omegas causing this many issues in the past.”

Angela shrugged. The doctor looked tired as usual, but also very annoyed by every alphas fussing. “Hanzo has a strong scent, and since the cause of his worry is something he has to keep a secret, it adds to the tension. This wouldn’t be an issue if Hanzo wasn’t part of the pack or in blockers himself.”

The tall pilot organizing forks added in a mumble. “Or if he could just tell what it is, we could deal with it.”

It bothered the scientist. The practice had gone horribly, as everyone was on edge and rushing the timings. Whatever happened at the Atlantic Arcology was supposed to be kept a secret. And so was Niran’s presence in the organization, but it was difficult to keep the whole team in the dark after what happened. He had agreed on a meeting with the senior high-ranking members of Overwatch to discuss their options, but the meeting couldn’t be held before noon. “Without going into detail, I have asked Hanzo to keep the matter on a need-to-know basis. So don’t hold it against him,” the gorilla admitted.

The loud footsteps of an approaching crusader prepared everyone for the earthquake of an alpha to swoop and worsen the situation. He didn’t even greet the agents in the room, just yelled. “We need to do something! “

Lucio, as the second loudest one in the room, yelled back at him. “We can’t! We don’t even know what is wrong!”

Compared to Rainheart's footsteps, the smaller ones of Ana that followed weren’t even audible in comparison as she suddenly just appeared in the doorway. She was visibly tired of the alphas antics and seemed disappointed to find all the alphas unable to sit still.

Echo dodged from Lucio’s way as he went but was clearly struggling to stay out of everyone’s way. “Since only one agent, Cassidy, is currently on a secret mission, could it be linked?” Echo seemed to be directing the question to the elder Amari in the room, who in turn held a poker face.

Genji piped in. “We talked about it already, and we can’t be sure it’s Cass, for one, why would he know about Cassidy’s mission or how it’s going when none of us do?” He pointed at the nodding room full of people. “and besides, this is not the ‘oh, I’m Hanzo, and I’m sad’ – upset. This is the ‘I need my pack to do something!’—upset. So it has to be something… something we could actually do!” Genji did his best Hanzo impressions, but it was mostly just lowering his voice and crossing his arms.

“Not necessarily.” Hana growled.” It could be something only one alpha can do, right? Could he just miss Cole? I mean, we all do, but they were literally like a married couple for a month.”

Rainheart yelled suddenly at Genji, “When is his birthday?!” startling the room full of alphas already on edge.

Genji thought about it for suspiciously long before snapping his fingers. “November! Like the second or something. It’s at the very beginning of the month.”

Rain gasped. “That was three months ago… Is there any other anniversaries he could want us to acknowledge?”

Genji shook his head. “No way. He would keep that private. It has to be something Overwatch-related! I just know it!” He explained.

“We gotta do something!” Lucio slammed a pillow on the sofa, moving the said pillow from one sofa to another now for the fifth time.

Phareha slammed the cabinet close, possibly undoing the organizing she had just done. “Wait a second… Since when has Hanzo become part of the pack?”

Angela answered in a matter-of-factly. “Since he got off blockers, I think, and no one bit his head off. We’ve shared meals together. For Omegas, it happens quite easily.”

That answer didn’t please the alpha. “Well isn’t that nifty…” She crossed her hands and didn’t return to organizing. Even on blockers, she could feel the anxiety from the fellow alphas of the team, but she did her best to resist it now. “Something about it just feels wrong.”

Genji got offended by that. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Phareha didn’t need to think about the answer for long, but she did scoff a few times at all the stunned staring faces around her, preparing to word it appropriately. “Well, you know how Ana and Angie are like… nice to everyone and helpful. So it feels normal to call them ‘our omega,’ but I don’t think anyone in this room would call Hanzo ‘our omega’ – you know. Like, would you ever call your brother ‘our omega’? Hell no! You’d say ‘our Sniper’ or… ‘our archer.’” She explained. “He’s not really an omega to the team.”

Hana giggled. “You’re kinda spitting! But I would totally want to see his face when someone does that! Can you imagine?”

Genji stared mutely but didn’t disagree. Hanzo would die of rage and embarrassment if someone called him that, but at the same time, the thought of it felt nostalgic somehow. He recalled their father referring to Hanzo in a somewhat similar manner: ’our Omega heir’. Hanzo had hated it and later got drunk on cheap sake while venting about it to Genji. At the time he hadn’t realized why, but he felt tempted to call Hanzo that too. Not to his face nor to mock him, but the idea of Hanzo filling that role in their family had made him happy. Perhaps it was a telltale sign that he would present as alpha.

Ana disagreed but was clearly tentative to do so out loud, as she was disagreeing with her own daughter. “He is certainly different but not any less of an omega. To be fair, I think he is still finding his role in the pack as well.“

Lucio groaned. “I can feel it in my core that my omega needs me! Needs us!” he dramatically flopped on the sofa next to Hana. “If he wasn’t in the laboratory wing the whole day, we could pester him to tell us what the issue is!”

Hana wrapped a hand around Lucio’s shoulder, nudging him to lean against her. “We could still blow his phone up.” It probably was supposed to be a whisper, but everyone in the room literally heard.

Winston cleared his throat and got up to leave. As parting words, he tried to soothe all the alphas in the room. “If you need something to do, I can tell you to keep your go bags ready for a mission at all times. Also to train as normal and rest as normal. You will be swiftly informed when there’s anything else, so just try and relax.”

The agents yelled as a choir, “Bye,” to Winston as he left; the room was only quiet until the tapping of Winston’s hands and feet against the floor wasn’t at a hearing distance anymore. The moment the space was clear, Genji jumped down with an unnecessary flip and huddled closer to Hana and Lucio for an action plan. Rain, Ana, Angela, Phareha, and Echo leaned closer to eavesdrop.

“He must know that we can tell something is bothering him, so I’ll just directly ask ‘what’s up.’” He suggested.

Hana shook her head. “Na-ah! He’ll just follow orders and not tell! Ask him what we should do instead.”

Lucio was the worst of the trio to keep his voice down. “I need something to do! The only thing on my schedule today was the dive practice!” He groaned.

Hana squeezed the short alpha into a tight hug as Genji tapped on the communicator. “I’ll ask, ‘Hey bro, we are out of tasks for the day; any suggestions?” He showed the phone, but from the confused frowns he got, he realized that, of course, they wouldn’t be able to read the Japanese.

“Winston told us to keep go bags ready. Perhaps there’s a possible mission incoming?” Phareha suggested. Casting a long glance at her mother, trying to read her expression.

The plotting trio nodded in agreement while Ana stayed stone-faced. The air between the two Amaris was tense. Rain tried to alleviate the tension by rubbing small circles on Ana’s back.

Suddenly, Genji snapped his fingers. “I know what will distract him, in case he doesn’t answer!” The room became all ears until Genji revealed. “We’ll get him a cake!”

Hanzo was frustrated. He did his best to keep at the numbers and work on the task assigned to him, but it was difficult. Once they had lost connection with the underwater laboratory, he was expecting a resourceful organization like Overwatch to be able to help, but it had been made clear to him that they still did not have the exact location of the Atlantic Arcology, so it was impossible to send help.

Winston had whipped out some program with Athena that was analyzing satellite images of the ocean in hopes of finding something, but not all areas of the ocean were covered, and there were all kinds of things in the ocean that satellites captured that were not the underwater city but still pinged the machines as noteworthy, making the program stall figuring out what it was looking at.

Hanzo was staring at the numbers on his screen; the tables that he had to set up for overhead calculations were unaware of the death glare they were receiving, but his fellow teammates in the Winston’s laboratory were not as lucky. They were walking on eggshells. They were keenly aware that Hanzo was very upset but was doing his best to hide it.

To the ex-yakuza, the worried looks he got behind his back didn’t go unnoticed, but he ignored it to the best of his ability. He didn’t need pity; he needed action. He needed the team to know that one of their teammates was in the dark and could be in serious danger.

By the sound of it, the underwater city was massive, so how come their intelligence and military contacts couldn’t figure out where it was? Hanzo didn’t believe it. He was certain that Winston just didn’t want to ask for help from outside sources, and it annoyed the hell out of Hanzo, even when it made sense.

“Agent Hanzo, you should lie down. “ Rang the way too familiar alert by Athena before Hanzo got his Blackout. He usually was on top of the schedule on those, but today was different. And despite the alert annoying him, he was grateful for it as he simply tilted the backrest of his chair back as much as it went and leaned. It wasn’t exactly horizontal, but it was good enough to keep Hanzo in his limp state from falling. He was trying to avoid eye contact with everyone and instead stare daggers at the high ceiling. The blackouts weren’t as bad anymore and didn’t last that long, but he didn’t want to fall and make a scene. He considered them quick chances at meditation, but nothing was going to bring him serenity until he knew what happened in the underwater city.

He hadn’t felt rage in years, but he was getting close. He had worked a lot on himself since his youth, once he realized how bad it could get for him. His father had always twisted it to be a good weapon, to be blinded by rage. But the first time he saw his mother's shocked expression after he had beaten his knuckles bloody on a rock in a fit of rage, he realized how wrong his father was. Anger was useful only when one was in control of it. Hanzo thought he had it figured out, but maybe he had simply lost the reasons to be angry. He tried to keep calm and think positive thoughts so he wouldn’t lose it, but as hour after hour went on, it became increasingly difficult. When he continued work, he time to time had to remind himself to relax his grip on the mouse and open his balled fist. All sounds were annoying, but especially the soft buzzing of his vibrating communicator traveling short distances on the table as it rang for a row of messages.

源氏 —Anija, we ran out of tasks for today; do you have any suggestions?

源氏 —We all got go bags ready. The moment we get more intel, we are on it!

源氏 —But until then, I mean, is there something you would like done?

源氏 —is strawberry cake still your favorite?

源氏 — What time do you plan to have lunch at the cafeteria?

Hanzo had seen each message displayed on the screen as they came. He didn’t need to touch the communicator unless he was to answer, but he didn’t plan to do that.

He tried to ignore the sound and the wide touch screen. But when the communicator showed Genji calling him, he nearly slammed his balled fist against the screen instead of simply pressing the option to hang up. He managed to not hit the communicator but the table it was on. The sound made Mei yelp and look at Hanzo in horror, so he felt inclined to apologize and step outside to answer his stupid brother.

“Nandayo, omae?!” he yelled at the phone. He was angry, and in case someone heard him yell, he didn’t want them to know exactly how he wanted to yell at his brother. He instantly regretted it, as it was very immature and not really Genji’s fault that they were in the situation they were in.

“Oh, sorry brother if it’s bad timing, but we have a surprise for you in the cafeteria.” Genji answered in a quickly paced, hurried way while speaking in an oddly soft tone.

His brother's answer was near something sweet, and it made Hanzo roll his eyes. “Is it a cake?” he asked, pinching his brow.

The line was quiet for long enough that Hanzo knew the answer. “Maybe… would you like some?”

“Yes.” Hanzo answered despite himself. He was not going to say no to cake; his brother knew him too well, but he didn’t feel like joining a gathering for it. “Can you save me a slice?” He asked in a more calm tone.

“Sure thing, brother! We’ll leave it in the fridge.”

“We?” Hanzo wondered out loud on the call. It wasn’t a job for multiple people to cut a slice and leave it in the fridge.

Genji laughed. “Well, I would not put you through having to eat a cake by me! Lucio, Brig, Hana, Rain, and Ana made it. Well, Brig, Ana, and Lucio made it, rain whipped the cream, and Hana decorated it.” There was a small pause, and Genji added, “Okay, Hana also cut some fruits, and Baptiste apparently did something to it… to moisten it… and it has alcohol.” There was another short pause. “Okay, so Phareha asked Baptiste for a wine that was put into the cake. Anyway, Bap wanted you to know that he did not spike the cake.”

Hanzo scoffed at that, feeling humored. “Why are you all baking cake? Is it someone’s birthday?”

The pause that ensued was awkward, and the call became even more awkward when Genji revealed. “No, we just needed to do something, and baking a cake to hopefully distract you felt like a good option.”

The older brother didn’t know what to say. He wanted to scold them for wasting time while thanking them. In the end he did thank, but also he added. “I can pay for it.” to make it a transactional affair and hopefully that way make it something normal and familiar to him. He didn’t know how he felt about it if they really did it just for him.

As a group.

“Pfft. Don’t worry about it,” his brother insisted.

Hanzo didn’t like that, but he didn’t want to make it into an issue, so he just grunted an affirmative. When he returned to the lab to ask his teammates if it was okay for him to go for a little break, he got a bit too enthusiastic yeses from everyone. Winston even added that there was no rush for him to return.

When he reached the cafeteria, it was conveniently and a bit suspiciously empty. A small part of him wondered if the cake would be laced with sedatives. He was going to eat the cake regardless. When he saw it in the fridge, he had to check with his brother to make sure that the whole cake was in fact for him, and he got a thumbs-up emote as an answer, so he grabbed the whole cake and a fork. He was going to enjoy every bit of it.

He tried to ignore the small echoing pulse on his chest that he first thought was related to the unhealthy amount of cake he was consuming. But the echoing beat got louder and felt oddly pleasant. Like he had just reached a warm current in a cold ocean, and he was tempted to stay with the current. He liked cake, but this one was special, and Hanzo felt simultaneously bad for eating it and right for having it. The fact that his teammates had made it for him in hopes to distract him felt like a friend sharing the same guilty pleasure. For once, he felt like he was allowed to indulge his hunger for sweet things. The cake did well distracting him for a minute from his frustrations towards the organization.

In his state of euphoria and getting to be satisfyingly stuffed by fluffy, sweet, and well-moisturized cake, he realized that it wasn’t the members that were in control of the situation. The people who were stalling the plans for action and a rescue mission were Winston and the senior staff, Ana, Jack, and Vivian. The members who had made him cake would likely already rush to hover around the ocean blindly to search for Cole! And Niran, of course, assuming he was also missing.

As Hanzo started to work on the final quarter of the desert, he felt frustrated, but no longer was it directed to the whole of Overwatch. He was more annoyed that no more safety measures were made to manage the risk of sending one of their own to be the safety measure to the blonde omega scientist in hiding. He was still angry and disappointed by the situation, but he didn’t know who to blame.

He had the luxury of having the whole cafeteria hall for himself until he was nearly finished with his cake and was slowly savoring the last pieces. That’s when the ex-strike commander and the leader of the ABO pack walked in, decked out in full battle gear.

“Oh good, you are still here; I have to talk with you,” he said in his annoyingly authorial tone. Hanzo simply nodded as a greeting and felt lucky to still have enough cake to have a good excuse to stay quiet.

When Jack reached Hanzo by the window of the cafeteria, he didn’t pull the chair out to sit down opposite him; he just leaned against it. Making it clear that this was about to be a short conversation. “What’s your issue?” he demanded to know.

Hanzo frowned, mouth full of cake. He thought Jack would know. As he was slowly chewing on the fluffy cake, Jack got too impatient, or he was in too much of a hurry to wait for an answer. “Because if it’s Cassidy you are worried about, you’re just wasting brain cells worrying,” he added.

Hanzo swallowed his mouthful to scoff at that. “You know something I don’t?” he tried to stay calm as he asked through gritted teeth.

The alpha was looking down at the seated omega but seemed oddly to relax a bit as he had managed to guess the issue bothering Hanzo on the first try. “Look, I don’t like the guy, but out of everyone on this base, me included, I know he’s the best equipped to get out of there scot-free. His mission reports from Black Watch days are non-existent not only because the things they did were not good for their image but also because they sound made up. And he is not alone. So stop worrying until you have a real reason to! “ Jack commanded.

Hanzo was keeping eye contact despite the awkwardness and tension until Jack brought up Niran. From that, the old soldier jumped to a conclusion. “Unless you are worried because of him. Whatever, just quit making it everyone’s issue!” He barked.

Hanzo couldn’t help his tone coming out poisonous. “You don’t think one of your teammates going dark on an unknown location underwater is an issue?”

Jack squinted, clearly holding back as he answered. “There's always some issues; get used to it. Agents go dark during missions all the time, and we just have to wait for intel. We can’t start anything until we know what needs to be done.” Jack crossed his arms, looking done with the conversation. “Or what is it you think we should do?”

Hanzo knew the answer instantly. “Find the Atlantic Arcology.”

Jack chuckled at that, seeming humored. “Will do. Anything else?”

Hanzo frowned. It made him instantly feel better to hear Jack say so out loud, but he didn’t want to think why. “Find him too.” He added.

Jack nodded and straightened himself up to leave. “Will do, kid.” He promised and left without saying more.

Hanzo was left a bit stunned in the cafeteria alone. He even repeated the last word out loud to himself, as he wasn’t sure if he had just heard Jack correctly. “Kid?” He wondered if that was meant as an insult but couldn’t help but feel that it wasn’t. Jack had just been sort of nice to him, out loud. He didn’t think the alpha was capable of making him feel so much better. He was frustrated by the situation, but knowing that Jack also wanted to find the underwater city and Cassidy made him feel much better than hearing the current strike commander explain the computer algorithm doing the searching.

Hanzo was just about to put the last bit of cake in his mouth when he was struck with the embarrassing realization. It all clicked together, the cake feeling special, the ex-strike commander's words holding more weight than the current one's, and the rage he felt for having to keep the situation a secret from the rest of the team, all things meant that he really cared for the pack's opinion.

He paled at the thought. Did that mean he wanted to be part of the pack? Was that something he wanted, or was he simply conditioned by his surroundings to try and appease the Alphas around him? He knew he would not be of use for the pack; he wasn’t good as an emotional support or for other omega tasks. But the way omegas join packs is more of a quiet affair, as they don’t really take anyone else’s spot on the hierarchy. So he might actually already be part of the pack.

He stared at the last bit of cake on his fork, waiting to be enjoyed, staring back at him in mockery. He had snuck his way into a balanced pack of talented agents capable of saving the world from harm, and he had made them bake a cake for him. He knew he should feel shame, but at that moment he felt more powerful than he had in years. And in that sobering moment, he was forced to accept the fact that he was not worthy of the things handed to him. He was undeserving of his spot in the pack and the cake.

He slowly took the last mouthful and tried to enjoy it. He had eaten the whole thing; throwing away the last bite was not going to change that. As he felt the dessert melt on his tongue, he made a promise to himself to enjoy it while it lasted. Being part of a pack was an experience he would likely not experience for a second time. The experience would likely last only until he was allowed to get back on blockers again. And no amount of togetherness or sense of belonging was going to replace the security he felt when he knew his emotions and location could not be smelled. 

Chapter Text

When he left the cafeteria to return to the numbers, he felt significantly better. And was feeling less tempted to start punching holes into the walls. To his further delight and relief, Winston alerted them close to the end of his shift, that they had figured out the location of the Arcology, and a small team was sent to get Cole, and their soon to be new member to Giblartar. He promised to properly introduce everyone first thing in the following morning to the new member, who wasn’t even being named yet.

Hanzo did the sensible thing, and tried to stay out of the way and away from anyone’s smelling range. He kept checking on his communicator for news on the rescue mission, but every time there were no update, he felt air thin around himself and his breaths coming too short. He didn’t want to over analyze it, so instead he started to plan ahead again. He sat in seiza gazing at the sea in the hiding spot behind the watch tower. He breathed in the salty ocean wind and let the sound of crushing waves lull him to inward focus.

There were up to four outcomes from the rescue mission. Worst case scenario was, they would find only Pruksemane. Hanzo hated that thought since it would mean a loss of a good agent and a reliable ally for an exchange of a untrustworthy one. Of course it would also mean that all the changes to indulge his temptations with the cowboy would never come to be. It would also mean that a new member that Hanzo could and would never trust, would join the pack. The second option that was only slightly better, was if they didn’t find either. Hanzo hated that option too. The third option that Hanzo didn’t like, would be if both were found alive and well. That was the outcome the organization of course hoped for, but Hanzo wouldn’t have minded the fourth option, where the suspicious omega got lost on the way and only the Cowboy returned.

The idea of having a new omega join the pack, one who was on the paper a perfect Overwatch agent, smart, charming, rich, friendly, noble and caring, made Hanzo resent his own position in the organization. As the only two male omegas, he didn’t want to get compared to some genius who created a new physical matter. He was out of commission, useless, didn’t get along with people and was hardly even an asset. The people he was working with on the Mars rescue mission didn’t want him in the lab. Hanzo was certain that if the organization wasn’t low on resources and people, he wouldn’t be on the mission at all. Pruksemane would be welcomed with open arms and would be recognized as a viable member to the mission no doubt.

Hanzo was not viable. He was not necessary or required. He was simply there to be of some help. He leaned back to rest his head against the hard concreate behind him and slowly bounced his head against it. Not hard enough to leave a mark or really hurt, just to shake his racing mind inside his hard scull. He knew he was stubborn for staying. If he really had made himself a part of the pack, he was a nuisance and effectively terrorizing the organization from within. He should try and remedy that by making an effort to leave the pack, but his thought were building up plans to use his position, rather than try and rid of it. His brother had made a huge show of trust, forgiving him for his past deeds and welcoming him to the organization he was so fond of. If Hanzo had any respect for his brother’s sacrifice, he wouldn’t try and scheme to cease control of it.

With one last thud he stopped bouncing his head against the concreate and closed his eyes. This was one of those moments where he’d have to make a choice for who he wanted to be. Was he going to trust himself to not contort the people around him to his will, or was he going to be someone better than himself, and not try to take something that didn’t belong to him. He knew which he wanted to do. He was already doing it, just staying on course, blaming his secondary gender for his situation, blaming what happened and accusing bad luck for his status in the organization and try to make the best of it. Unfortunately he also knew that he was wrong for doing so.

He had to be someone better. He had to stop being himself and start being the person the organization and his brother deserved. He took a slow and deep breath and straightened himself. He had to stop thinking like himself, feeling like himself, acting like himself. He had to start thinking like the organization and hope that they found both, Cole and Pruksemane. He had to start feeling like he was part of the team, not the pack. And trust his supervisors, his leaders. He had to start acting like a reliable member and try and be as helpful as possible.

With a bang to his ego he realized that his worry for Cole was self serving in the end. He wanted him for himself, and the thought of him with another omega had made him resent the omega. He didn’t have a good reason to hate and suspect Pruksemane. If Cole and Pruksemane had found common ground and become close allies, It would be great for the organization, and Cole. If the Cowboy had feelings for the omega, it was only a loss in Hanzo’s book. For everyone else, it would be a huge win. If Hanzo was a good person, he should hope that the two would be found holding hands.

With effort, Hanzo tried to empty his mind, empty his self and soul. Get rid of his senses, his feelings and urges. Try and reach some sort of reset and start over. He had to forget about Cole, forget the pain and promises he made to himself during his heat and give up on hopes and the images of best case scenarios and happy endings. He tried to set himself back on line, throw himself back to the bottom of the pit and give up on his sense of belonging. He didn’t stand with the members of overwatch, side by side with the agents, he was far bellow them. He didn’t deserve a spot on the pack, he needed to give it up.

The only way for an omega to leave a pack, was either with time and distance, or by joining another pack, and scenting himself with another pack alphas scent. Hanzo didn’t give himself time to rethink what he was about to do, as while hurrying back to his room, he made a detour to an old storage room. He grabbed the first unwashed uniform with a clear alpha smell on it, and with a gritted teeth, he rubbed the harsh inner seams of the uniform against his sensitive glands. He scraped hard enough to feel pain instead of iching and his legs felt momentarily wobbly and unsteady as his body was revolting against the painful sensation that was supposed to feel tender and good. He had to abruptly stop as he nearly gagged, but shortly after he repeated the rubbing action on the other side.

He had read about the scent marking and the feelings it gave. It was a moment of celebration and the first time was a high that many omegas claimed to never forget. Hanzo hoped he would be one who forgets, as his first was a mixture of pain, confusion and regret, mixed with pleasure and shame as his energy was being devoured by the forgotten piece of fabric in the dark storage room, until he couldn’t stand anymore.

The storage room was spinning around him as the pull of gravity was swaying. Like on a pendulum Hanzo felt like he was thrown back and forth against nothing concreate, alone and empty. He found himself hands wrapped around his sore glands by the sides of his neck, jaw slack and eyes unable to focus on the blurry dark room around himself.

Technically he just scent marked a stranger against their will, but given that the person was possibly dead and unlikely to ever find out, Hanzo didn’t feel too worried or bad about it. He did have the sense to check for tags on the uniform, only to find all of them ripped out. He spend way longer in the storage room than what he originally planned, before he could walk on his cybernetic feet again, and get back to his room for a hot shower, to hide all the evidence of his resignation from the pack.

Hanzo in theory knew, that his body, his hormones and omega senses, were under the impression now that he was with an alpha. He knew that the presence of alphas, other than his chosen or the members of his chosen alphas pack would put him on edge. He also knew that he would not be able to eat or sleep in front of other alphas. What he did not know, was that the feeling would be mutual.

When Hanzo late that night went to sneak some cans from the kitchen, Reinhart, Thorbjörn, Brigette and Ana were there, all Alphas stopped their meal the moment Hanzo entered the room, and didn’t continue until he left. The chatter kept going, and Hanzo felt a piercing gaze of a one eyed sniper on his back, as he gathered a few canned goods. He didn’t look back as he left the room, still feeling Ana’s eye on him.

When he ate in the solitude of his own room, he got a small stroke of longing. It wasn’t as bad as the longing he felt in heat, but it was close enough that Hanzo had to physically shake himself to rid himself of the feeling. He still didn’t regret his choice to leave the pack. The pack was better off without him.

The next morning, Hanzo woke up feeling hot. His body was longing for someone that didn’t know Hanzo even existed. He felt like he had let someone down as he washed the cravings away with cold shower and avoided looking in the mirror. He made an effort to not appear jumpy as he met the crowd of the agents at the hangar, ready to welcome Orca back with their lost member and a new addition to the organization.

Ana attempted small talk with him, but Hanzo politely dodged it by stepping aside just enough for the person next to him, Baptiste, to think the question was for him. Ana didn’t correct him, and Hanzo managed to fade into the crowd of people who made him nervous. He felt compelled to back away and gravitate toward tge betas Mei and Juno and the other omegas, but he willed his feet to stay still. When orca appeared as a small dot in the horizon, Winston started to brief the agents of what’s to come, and finally revealed who was aboard the shuttle with Cassidy and the agents assigned to the rescue mission.

When the Orca finally landed and the shuttle opened to show a group of agents, happy to be home, everyone was focusing on the new face among the old ones. Niran Pruksemane greeted everyone with a bright perfect smile, and made an effort to say his greetings to everyone individually. Hanzo witnessed as he fell into phase with the group near instantly, joking with Rainheart, exiting Brigete, saluting to Jack, understanding Bastion’s speech, hugging Mei and fist bumping Vivian unnecessarily hard with the metallic clang. When he made his round and reached Hanzo, Hanzo made a small bow gesture and welcomed him with ‘Nice to finally talk face to face.’ something happened that Hanzo didn’t know how to read.

The tall blonde and visibly exhausted omega was holding his chin in thought, looking down at the shorter male omega in front of him. “I’m happy to meet you, don’t get me wrong, but I’m surprised you didn’t hurry to greet agent Cassidy.” he pointed at the equally exhausted looking man in a cowboy hat standing ten feet behind himself. “Don’t hold back for my sake, go kiss your boyfriend” He encouraged in a teasing tone.

Hanzo frowned but tried to stay professional. If this was a test, he was going to pass with flying colors by acting confused. If Pruksemane was under the impression, that Cole was taken, by Hanzo, Hanzo had to correct that for Cole’s sake, for the organizations sake. “Eh?”

Prukemane also frowned and looked around the agents standing behind Hanzo. “Oh sorry, I was under the impression the feeling was mutual.”

Hanzo knew he was great liar, but something about his delivery or something else made his words and claims fall to deaf ears. It was actually quite frustrating, as he said “I don’t know what you are talking about, but anyway. I’m glad you made it. Overwatch is lucky to have you.” Pruksemane and Cole behind him, looked like he had just admitted to a non existent relationship. Cole was looking sheepish with a very aggravatingly noticeable and handsome blush coloring his cheeks and ears, while Pruksemany was grinning wolfishly, like he read Hanzo’s mind.

“Pleasure’s all mine.” Pruksemane smiled, and looked behind himself at the blushing cowboy, who was attempting to hide is heated face behind the rim of his hat by tipping it down.

Hanzo decided to not try and read into that exchange, and just assume it was an inside joke he was not privy to. If Pruksemane was interested in Cole, he should do his best to not stand in his way, and the best place for him to do that was inside the lab, huddled over the spreadsheets of finances.

Cole was exhausted. It was as if all the hours of restless sleep and constant alarm and exhaustion just hit him at once as the adrenaline left his aching body. He was taking minute naps like a dog during the drive back to the Gibralta base. They had managed to make it two days in a fishing boat, without anyone dying, while everyone onboard was holding weapons raised. Cole had learned to respect Niran on a new level, as the omega had been visibly shaken and terrified on an hourly rate, yet he kept cracking jokes and assuring Cole he was alright. Coke could tell it was just words, meant to negate conflict, but Cole appreciated the effort. The open hostility towards the sole male omega not on blockers forced Cole to play possessive alpha to keep the others at arms length with promise of violent retaliation to approaches. At nights, he knew the omega was unable to sleep, and he didn’t blame him, also finding it difficult if not impossible.

When the fishing boat was a blip in the distance from the shuttle window, Cole felt like he could finally breath, and by the looks of it, so did Niran. The omega was still seeking safety from Cole’s side, but he was visibly more relaxed. When they reached Gibraltar, Angela was chatting with Niran to prep him for the unavoidable welcoming party, but Niran didn’t seem worried. Phareha pulled Cole to the side to demand details.

“So you and Pruksemane are… ?”

Cole finished the sentence. “Fine. We are fine.”

The tall woman squinted before dragging out the single word. “Right… “ she peeked towards the two blonde omegas chatting before crossing his hands. “And are you two… going to stay together?”

Cole’s eyebrows shot up as he repeated the question in his mind. His reaction was hopefully telling enough, but he spelled it out. “We were not together like that.”

As to simply puzzle Cole, Phareha seemed gladdened by the news. She gave a strong tap on Cole’s sholder. “Great! So you exited to get back to base, back to you know who?”

Cole bit his lip grinning. He didn’t answer the question out loud before Echo announced that they were ready to land, so everyone should get seated. The small team of members stayed on the seat for the landing only the bare minimum amount of time. The moment they could hover impatiently waiting by the doors to be let outside, they were there.

As the shuttle doors slowly opened to reveal the whole assemble of overwatch members welcoming them, Pruksemane instantly running across every new friendly face like a labrador. Cole hanged around to witness the first impressions and gauge the reactions. He was especially attentive when the blonde long haired omega with a single strand framing his face stood to face the omega with long black hair and a single strand of loose hair framing his face. He was expecting layered hostility and manipulation, but instead he met a reserved welcome by a deflated man. Cole was worried and confused, regretting not asking anyone on orca on how Hanzo had been doing in favor to not seem too nosey and love sick.

“Don’t hold back for my sake, go kiss your boyfriend” Niran encouraged Hanzo, and Cole felt his stomach do a flip in anticipation. He was equally worried that Hanzo might straight out punch Niran for the comment, or follow the instructions. To his relief and disappointment, neither happened. Instead Hanzo seemed honestly confused, and Cole wondered if he was suffering from amnesia or something.

“Eh?”

“Oh sorry, I was under the impression the feeling was mutual.” Niran pressed. Cole was holding his breath, until the oddest thing happened. Every agent behind Hanzo was enthusiastically nodding yes to him behind Hanzo’s back.

Something had clearly happened during his absence, but Cole didn’t worry about it. If everyone was so certain that Hanzo was faining ignorance, and feeling confident to out him, it must mean that Hanzo hadn’t forgotten about Cole during his absence.

 “I don’t know what you are talking about, but anyway. I’m glad you made it. Overwatch is lucky to have you.”

Even Niran turned to look at him, as the other members behind Hanzo were rolling their eyes. Cole felt a tiny bit bad for Hanzo, but his heartbeat was too strong against his chest to feel too bad.

After the crowd broke up, he rushed to his room to hit the hay. He needed to have a talk with Hanzo but he wanted to do that with a fully rested set of brains.

Hanzo had made a promise to ignore the feelings and needs he could detect from others scents. He himself thought that he had done a pretty good job at it, only faltering when needing Cassidy to stop daydreaming about baby making. But after watching for five hours how the new addition to the Mars rescue mission was grinning wide and acting unbothered, Hanzo had hard time not calling out loud his bullshit. Niran was exhausted, hungry and terrified. When he declined an invitation from Mei to join Juno and her for lunch in the cafeteria, Hanzo finally hit his limit. Niran claimed to be busy, and join them later, but Hanzo could smell the relief when the two left the lab and knew Niran had lied about joining them.

Hanzo was glaring at the other omega, who mutely arranged data bads on a table next to him. His disapproving stare was enough to get the man talking. “Don’t feel like eating with strangers.” He shrugged. “I rather hang out with my new fellow male omega pal!” He said with the ever present easy going and charming smile while taking a seat next to Hanzo.

It earned a disapproving scoff from Hanzo. He pretended to get back to the numbers, but it was hard while feeling the ever present stare reading his every move. “Wouldn’t you rather take a nap or something?” He finally barked.

He got another smile, this time smaller and more honest, showing off the exhaustion. “Yeah, but I wanted to ask… Who are the safe alphas? You know… like Cassidy.” Hanzo didn’t have time to say anything as Niran rambled onward. “Like for casual contact, hugs, cuddles and all that… I don’t expect everyone to be used to male Omegas and some might think of it as more than it is, so I don’t want to ruffle any feathers.” He explained.

“You are asking the wrong person.” Hanzo admitted, not looking away from the screen. Niran attempted to touch his hand in a comforting manner, but without even looking, Hanzo snatched his hand away from it.

The other omega didn’t seem to mind that. Simply musing how that’s unfortunate, before wrapping his arms to cushion his head against the table top, and letting his eyelids close. Hanzo could tell that Niran was asleep instantly. He welcomed the lack of chatter and noise in the laboratory. He got a lot done, before Niran stirred awake again and the two betas returned from lunch break.

He himself thought he had made it pretty clear where he stood with the Niran. He didn’t trust him, but he respected him enough to act cordial. Even if Niran was seeking company from fellow omegas, it made no sense why it was Hanzo and not Angela or Ana. But it was. Niran excused himself for the day at the same time as Hanzo. He trailed Hanzo to the cafeteria, which was quiet but not empty. Illiari was there reading and leisurely drinking coffee. Niran didn’t even attempt to make a new friend from her, instead following Hanzo to grab canned foods and leaving the cafeteria.

Hanzo was wondering if Niran planned to follow him all the way to his room, and how to respectfully say no, but to his relief, Niran kept walking the hallway, to his own hab suite, with a wave and promise to see Hanzo tomorrow.

When Hanzo heard knock on his door, he prepared to tell Niran to just calm down and leave him alone, since no one in their right mind would do an assassination plot on a recruit as vital as Niran, but he didn’t get a greeting out as the cracked door revealed a Cowboy in jeans holding a tablet.

“Evenin’.” He brawled.

Hanzo slowly opened the door further, assessing the man before him. He had trimmed his beard and gotten some sleep during the day, but there was worry souring his scent and tensing his shoulders. He let the awkward silence hang in the air between them before answering. “Hi.” it was casual and short. Short enough that Hanzo managed to keep his own nerves hidden. Something was off with Cole, but he couldn’t put his finger on it.

“May I come in?”

“what for?”

“A chat. Cough up.”

Hanzo let his eyes drop down to the tablet in Cassidy’s hands. “If it’s about a mission, there are better rooms than mine.”

“Is not…” Cassidy stopped himself, and looked over his shoulders to make sure no one was walking in on them. “It’s personal matter. Private” Cole whispered while leaning towards the opened door.

Hanzo took an unintentional deep breath as Cole leaned in and licked trough his lips in thought. The movement did not go unnoticed by Cole, and feeling lucky, he leaned against the doorframe. Hanzo spent as long as he could contemplating, weather to let the alpha in, but the mere idea of His scent coloring his room was enough to convince Hanzo. He stepped away from the door, and without word, made room for the alpha to sit in his bed beside him. There was a little tea table with a small chair, but Hanzo was happy that Cole didn’t go for the chair.

 Hanzo left the silence stretch as he didn’t know how to break it. Simply holding eye contact with the other man in the room. Cole scooted a bit closer too, but it took a long while before he finally looked away and whispered. “I missed you.” Like he was embarrassed to admit it. He looked up again waiting for a reply.

“Good.” Hanzo thought to himself, but didn’t say it out loud. Instead he slowly leaned back and relaxed into a more comfortable pose on the bed. Cole attentively following the movement with his eyes. Hanzo couldn’t help but feel a small tug at his nerves, laying back and cornering himself against the alpha. He smelled familiar but it made Hanzo’s skin itch with tension. His body was telling him to not let an alpha from another pack near, but Hanzo was used to ignoring it.

“I know it’s none of my bussiness, and I don’t mean this in an anyway hostile manner, okay…” Cole spoke so softly and quietly that Hanzo had a odd feeling like he was hearing him wrong. The tone didn’t match the words. He sounded worried, hurt and smelled bitter and angry, yet he spoke in an almost apologetic tone. It made no sense until Cole elaborated. “Why did you scent mark someone? You could have just hit Jack or something if you didn’t want to be involved with the pack right? Is it because you like them? “

Hanzo managed to school his face fairly quickly after the initial shock, but the situation was making him giddy. He was bubbling with glee from Cole’s jealousy and anger. He was happy to provoke that reaction and that should have tampered his mood into self reflection and shame, but it didn’t. He was happy that Cole was utterly devastated by the idea but self aware enough to know that taunting the alpha wasn’t appropriate.

Hanzo opened his mouth to answer, but stopped himself. The answer was simple ‘To leave the pack’, but it wasn’t what Cole wanted to know. Cole knew that already, it was the goal of the action, but not the core reason behind it. With a small smile Hanzo decided to give the answer Cole asked for, not the one he wanted. “I rubbed a random leftover uniform from the storage. I just wanted to get out.”

That didn’t take away the edge of anger from Cole’s scent, but a hint of disappointment got added. Hanzo did his best to ignore it and shifted his tone to something lighter. “Did you hear they made me a cake?” Hanzo asked, without waiting for an answer, as he deflated against the pillow pile and admitted, “It was embarrassing. Every alpha was running in circles, just because I had a bad day. I couldn’t stand it.”

It took a while for Cole to digest the information. He followed Hanzo’s example and leaned properly against the pillows. His scent slowly switching from anger and confusion to something more neutral until it tipped to a more positive notes. “You feeling better now?” the agent asked with a sweet and caring tone.

It was a simple question, that Habzo had no difficulty answering “Yes.” to. But with a simple eyebrow rise the cowboy complicated the question. Hanzo gave a round about answer, as to not inflate the others ego too much. “I was worried, but I no longer have a reason to be.” he explained.

Cole was quick to deciphering that answer. With a easy going smile he leaned against his palm. “Worried huh.” he theatrically looked up while thinking out loud. “Now what on earth would cause you a cake worth of worry”

Hanzo scoffed and with spoiled mood mumbled. “Please don’t speak of the cake.” he took a deep breath in hops to steady his heartbeat, before asking. “What do you feel about Purksemane?”

Cole gave a long calculating look to his company before even thinking of his answer. “Niran… “ He began, mulling the thought over. “He is one tough cookie.” he began, gauging Hanzo’s reaction. The omega seemed to be agreeing so far. “It was definitely bit hard at first, to get a read on him. He’s the kind that likes and needs physical contact, but is very mindful of boundaries. He makes light hearted jokes and flirts, half of which I don’t think he means. But as a teammate, I think he can be trusted.”

The omega didn’t seem that appreciative of the answer, but it seemed to be just Cole misunderstanding his question, as he rephrased it in a new way. “Do you like him?”

With a soft smile Cole answered an easy “Yeah.” but added casually. “But I do like you more.” managing to not sound that cheesy by adding that like a side note while stretching a bit.

With a scoff Hanzo took the good news with humor, before leaning closer. He was feeling rather lucky, liking the direction Cole was taking. But he couldn’t help the nagging feeling of ridding Cole of something great with Niran, by pursuing him.

As if Cole knew he was not getting an answer or reading Hanzo’s mind, he proceeded to throw Hanzo a question of his own. “Do you have someone you like?”

The air flared with nervous scents, but Cole didn’t let his feelings outward show. Still radiating confidence and seeming relaxed. Hanzo bit his lip while avoiding eye contact. He knew Cole was bold, but he hadn’t expected such a direct question. Hanzo had to keep some defenses up, not able to open up so directly, so he phrased his answer in a way he felt was appropriate yet honest and brutal. “There is much I do not like about you, but I cannot deny that I feel drawn…” Hanzo lost his train of thought as he made eye contact with the widely smiling alpha but quickly recovered. “But I do not wish to abuse my influence over you.”

That threw off Cole for a hot minute. While the cowboy was wearing question marks of different sizes on his frown, Hanzo explained. “Your opinion of me radically changed once you learned the truth of my secondary gender.”

That Cole couldn’t fully deny, but he did sum it up to. “I was always interested in you. Some would even say obsessed.”

That did not make Hanzo feel much better, but he did conclude. “So if we say, ended up doing something carnal together, you would not regret it?”

Cole smiled “Never.”

Hanzo gave a timid smile back. Hanzo wanted to take Cole’s word for it. His next scheduled blackout break was coming soon, so he laid back. “Feel free to let yourself out. I’m about to have a blackout.”

Cole jumped forward closing the distance in a hurry. “Do you mind if I stay?”

Hanzo didn’t have time to think for long. “Suit your self, but I won’t be of much company.”

The omega didn’t fight or say anything, as Cole laid down by his side. Cornering him into his nest and simply watching him, as Hanzo lost his ability to move or stop himself from purring. The scent mark from the random ex Overwarch agent long forgotten to his mind and body.