PoVs/Protagonists/Couples:
Hanzo (character belongs to Blizzard) x Ýri (OC)
Genji (character belongs to Blizzard) x Shizuka (OC)

WARNING:
This story will be a very long one, full of dialogs, drama and violence as well as grammar mistakes because none of the authors is a native English speaker. Some parts are for mature audiences only.

A big thank you to all, who favored and followed this story so far. ^^

Chapter 41: Damn those nerves

»Another shuttle? Wasn't the one with the Nepalese tourists enough?«, Hanzo groaned from his place on top of one of the countless metal bunkers.

»Stop calling master Zenyatta a tourist!«, Genji growled.

»He and his monk friends floated around the base with cameras. Cameras! Old-fashioned retro cameras!«, his brother retorted.

Now Genji looked sheepish. »Well … they don't get around that much.«

Hanzo smirked. »Which makes them tourists in all sense of the word.«

Genji huffed. »They mean well. They are just excited to look around the base and attend my wedding.«

From the look on Hanzo's face, his elder brother still wasn't quite able to wrap his head around the thought. Even though it had been several months since they announced their engagement.

»They are still annoying«, Hanzo grunted, »And have no sense of privacy.«

Genji chuckled. »That last one is indeed true.«

»They're here because of you, so find a way to get them under control again«, Hanzo continued in the same gruff tone.

Genji rolled his eyes. His brother's mood grew worse with each passing day though it wasn't because of trouble with Ýri. Genji knew for sure as he got yelled at for even suggesting that. Several times.

»They are harmless«, Genji went on. »Just let them have their fun. You got to admit it's kind of cute.«

Hanzo glared again. »Cute?! They are creeping me out! And stalking me!«

He shrugged. »They find you interesting. Be lucky you aren't Winston, the poor guy got crowded at least five times by now.«

The following silence indicated that the younger Shimada won their argument for now. Genji was sure his brother would find something else to complain about soon enough.

»So who is in the shuttle this time?«, Hanzos question ripped him out of his musings.

»Oh, it's just Emily. You know, Lena's girlfriend?« At Hanzo's nod, Genji continued: »She is a good friend of Shizuka too. And obviously Lena would never attend a wedding without her other half.«

»It's strange that the two of them did not get married yet«, Hanzo thought aloud.

»I think that is because Emily wants to wait a little longer. At least until the situation here calms down again or gets more clear at least«, Genji answered.

»A point well made«, Hanzo replied.

»I will leave you to your brooding, brother. I have still a lot of preparations to look after.« Genji got to his feet.

»Aren't you nervous? After all, the wedding is tomorrow«, Hanzo suddenly spoke up just as he was about to leave.

»Why should I?«, Genji replied.

»I don't know … It just seems like you should be?«

Genji smiled for a moment at the thought. »I am saving that for tomorrow morning. Tonight I will get too drunk to care.«

»Is that because Lena forbid you of sharing a bed with Shizuka even to just sleep in?«, Hanzo said with a blank face.

Grumbling at the unpleasant reminder, Genji nodded. »Partly. The other is that Jesse insisted. And as my best man he said he felt obliged to throw me a proper bachelor party.«

Hanzo raised his eyebrow. »I didn't know Shizuka approved of strippers.«

Genji burst out laughing. »There will be no strippers tonight. Although I would have loved to see your reaction to them. No it will be just a normal evening with good company and drinks.«

»I am no expert on this, but isn't it bad to show up to one's own wedding with a hangover? What if you mess up your lines because of the headache? Or throw up during the ceremony?«

Genji paused. » … Thank you. Now I can't drink anything and will not be able to sleep at all tonight.«

Genji swore he could see a smirk on his brother's face. It was there for just a moment, but it was definitely the smug kind of smirk.

»You're welcome, little brother. Enjoy your evening.« With that Hanzo stood and left. His direction indicated the practice range for another training session. He seemed to have those a lot lately.

With a headshake and a groan, Genji left as well.

Count on my brother to mess up my plans even now … damn dragon.

Well, maybe Shizuka wouldn't mind some company in the med bay …

Genji fiddled with the edges of his kimono for the 10th time as he inspected his mirror image.

»Are you sure it's supposed to look like that?«, he asked Jesse, who leaned against the doorframe.

The cowboy groaned. »Stop asking me that, it looks fine.«

Genji glared at his friend's reflection. »Fine is not good enough.«

Jesse rolled his eyes. »There is nothing wrong.«

»But the metal-«, he continued, now tugging at his shoulder where he could faintly see the outline of his metal muscles.

McCree rolled his eyes. »Won't be a problem. We checked with Torbjörn. Three times.«

Genji nodded hesitantly. »Right.«

His friend smirked. »Now the only problem you have is overheating.«

Turning around to glare at him, Genji stammered with red cheeks. »That is not- How could you- … I will not-!«

Chuckling, Jesse came over and patted him on the shoulder. »Relax, it was just a joke. You have no reason to be nervous.«

»Easier said than done«, Genji countered. »What if she … you know … «, he continued visibly subdued at the image.

»Genji, the little sweety waited almost ten years for you to get your shit together. She will not say no now.«

He stared at his friend for a long time. »You have a strange way of helping me.«

A grin answered him. »I know. And you wouldn't have it any other way«, the cowboy told him.

Genji smiled. »True. Thanks Jesse.«

»Always, pal. Now are you finally satisfied with how you look?«

Genji'S gaze returned to the mirror. »No.«

Another groan from the cowboy. »Too bad. Cause we are going.«

»What? Hey!« Genji found himself being dragged towards the door.

Jesse didn't care and proceeded to drag him through the hallway. Not for the first time Genji cursed the cybernetics for making him way lighter than he was supposed to be. It made it much too easy to be dragged around or lifted up and carried around. And he wasn't even allowed to use his strength to ram his feet into the ground. Winston and Mercy had nagged him enough times about it for it to get stick.

»I can walk by myself, you know?«, Genji said miffed.

»I know. But this way I can prevent you from getting cold feet and running off«, Jesse replied nonchalantly.

Genji had to admit that his friend had a point. His nerves were already eating away at him again.

Suddenly they stopped. Genji strained his neck to see what caused their delay. Unsurprisingly it was his brother.

Hanzo stared at them, raising one eyebrow. »What is that supposed to be?«

»None of your business«, Genji snapped back.

Hanzo huffed. »And here I thought you matured with getting married and all.«

»What do you want, Shimada?«, Jesse joined the conversation.

»I am on my way to the ceremony at the cliff. Just as you are, I presume«, was the rather disinterested answer.

Genji took a closer look when Jesse finally released him from his hold. »Oh no! You will not attend my wedding looking like that!«

Hanzo looked down at his tuxedo, confused. »I don't see your problem.«

Genji gestured wildly. »I don't mean your clothes, I meant your face!«

Jesse sniggered. »I don't think he is able to fix that ugly mug.«

Hanzo growled at him. »How dare you-«

He found it prudent to interrupt the fight edging to break out before it got out of hand. »Not that. The beard and the hair! It looks like you haven't shaved in weeks!«

Now Hanzo was the one smirking. »Yri likes me rough.«

»Why you-«, Jesse started.

Genji summoned his dragon who roared at both of them.

»You will NOT ruin this day for me with one of your silly fights. Hanzo, go shave or stay at your quarters, I don't care. Jesse, come on. We need to check with master Zenyatta if everything is ready.«

The twin grumbles of »fine« that followed were very satisfying for Genji to hear indeed.

So they left his brother to his own devises and continued towards where they planned for the ceremony to commence.

Since they could not go back to Japan for obvious reasons, Genji and Shizuka had decided that they were going to marry at a small meadow on a cliff near the HQ here in Gibraltar. It was secluded and overlooked the ocean so they could watch the dawn out of the water. It was one of the reasons they were up before sunrise.

The other being the Hikari-Clan traditions. Genji didn't understand everything, but Shizukas clan valued weddings very much since they only happened once for each individual. Hikari stayed together with their chosen mate until death. So they turned the weddings into grand ceremonies to celebrate that bond. Genji rued that he could not grand her a magnificent festival like her people used to hold them. But they tried to implement as many traditions as they could. Personally he looked forwards to the dancing one the most. And of course exchanging their vows as the first light of the morning illuminated the sky (Shizuka's words and not his).

Too bad that meant traipsing through the darkness for now. From Jesse's cursing he fared worse than him. One of the perks of night vision being part of my design.

Now they only had to find Zenyatta and the other monks.

A sudden yelp and the sound of something hitting the ground told him that Jesse had spotted them first. Helping his friend up again with a chuckle, Genji spoke to the glowing dots floating in the midst of the darkness.

»Good morning, master Zenyatta.«

»Greetings, my student. You arrived just in time. I was just about to send brother Soljatta to go look for you«, his master replied.

»That means everything is ready?«, Jesse asked, having regained his bearings again.

»Yes. Although the young Lady Oxton keeps finding things not to her liking yet.«

Genji snorted. »That was to be expected. We can ignore her.«

The glowing eye-dots bobbed up and down in a nod. »As you wish.«

»Is everyone already here?«, Jesse asked next. »Besides Shizuka and Angela of course«, he added as an afterthought.

»All of them expect the young lady Ragnarfír and her escort and brother of the groom, Hanzo Shimada. «

Genji didn't need to activate his night vision to see the scowl on his friend's face.

»We can do well without the latter one«, Jesse growled.

»Despite the fact we have our differences I would actually like for my brother to attend my wedding«, he spoke up and continued, »depending of course if the two of you can keep yourselves from fighting with each other until Shizuka and I retire for the night.«

Jesse sighed. »I will try. I know how much this day means to you. But I can't say anything about your brother having the same opinion.«

»Hopefully Ýri will keep him properly leashed- hey!« Genji got dragged away without warning.

»Come on, come on, come on!«, Lena's voice came from in front of him. »You need to get into position, so we don't get the timing wrong!«

Only his reflexes allowed him to keep up with her and not land in the dirt. Imagine the disaster …

»You too, Jesse!« Lena shouted as she arranged Genji to where she wanted him to be.

»Right behind you, darling«, Jesse's amused voice spoke up.

Using his night vision Genji was able to see all of his friends from Overwatch and the Nepalese monks that had become his family over the last years in their places. They were talking in hushed but happy whispers, some even waved to him and grinned. But he was far too nervous to wave back as he looked around the lovely decorated place. Genji allowed Lena to place him in front of the altar.

A few moments later Jesse took his place by his side and master Zenyatta floated behind the altar. He would be their priest for the wedding, since Shizuka could hardly hold the ceremony herself. On top of that Athena had graciously agreed to record the ceremony for them so they could watch the scenes that would take place before the first light of dawn while Echo readily agreed to provide her views as well. Between the omnic and the AI they would present the final footage as their joined wedding gift to them. Both he and Shizuka were touched by their gesture.

With nothing left to do but wait, his nerves returned full force.

»Calm down. Take a deep breath and let it back out«, Jesse said almost automatically.

Dutifully he did so. Only to end up coughing.

»What's wrong?« Now his friend sounded concerned.

»Too deep breathing«, Genji wheezed out.

Jesse burst out laughing, causing him to smile and relax a little as well.

»It will be fine, pal«, Jesse spoke again as soon as his laughter subsided.

»Right … Oh hey, look who decided to finally show up«, he called out to his brother – combed and at least a little shaved - and Ýri. The two of them just came into his vision range, looking slightly ruffled and Ýri's elegant dark green dress already showed a few wrinkles. A fact Lena was all too happy to point out and try to correct again, much to Ýri's chagrin.

Meanwhile Hanzo took his seat in the front row. For Genji's own sake he didn't comment on what must have obviously happened. He didn't want to spoil his own day after all.

Although he couldn't stop Jesse and Hanzo from exchanging death glares. Thankfully they both refrained from verbally voicing their displeasure with each other.

»It's time! Everybody get into position!«, Lena's shout made everyone look up.

Genji tensed up even more, his eyes searching past the rows of guests for his love. When he finally spotted her, a silent gasp escaped him.

She walked towards him with a shy smile on her face. Their eyes found each other through the white strands framing her face. The rest of her long white hair was pulled upwards in an ornate style that still left much of it flowing over her back. Unbidden his eyes fell on her wedding dress. Or in this case: kimono. Even though there was almost no light, he knew it was a creamy white with artfully crafted floral designs in all the colors of water and ice elegantly twisting upwards from the bottom. The obi was a deep blue with the same designs adorning it as well. The whole assemble was handmade on his order from a skilled tailor in Japan.

Seeing her approaching him now, her smile never wavering and her steps sure, every pain they went through to get here was worth it.

A tug at his own kimono, a black one with green patterns, stopped him from meeting her halfway.

»Easy, big boy. You will be able to hold her in your arms shortly«, Jesse's words were barely registered by Genji's mind.

It took what felt to him like eternity before she finally reached his side and he noticed Angela standing right next to her.

For a moment, none of them moved. Then Angela did something he never would have thought possible for her: she handed over the woman she thought of like her own daughter over to him on her own.

»Take care of her. And don't make me regret it«, she whispered before she too, stepped aside.

Carefully Genji took Shizuka's hands in his, only half listening. Everything else but his future wife was unimportant at this moment.

»Hey«, she spoke softly, her words barely audible.

»Hey«, he answered just as quietly.

Zenyatta's voice rose over the meadow as he began the ceremony and when it was time for them to exchange the rings, the sun rose over the ocean, bringing with it the first light of dawn.

Genji never thought the words »I do« easier to say than right at this moment. Especially when the words were echoed with the same love and devotion from his love a few moments later.

[Next chapter on 15th August.]