Mostly out of habit Angela knocked at the door even as she was already pushing it open. "Hana, are you there?"
"Hey, doc." The answer came out of the girl's bedroom, and Angela made her way over, finding Hana lying on her bed with her laptop. "'Sup?"
"I finally did it. I found a way to neutralize Talon's newest poison while it's still in the air." Creating a treatment for the poisoning hadn't even been that hard, but given its rapid onset and lethality, Angela hadn't been able to stop until she could prevent the poison from acting in the first place – and made sure that substance itself wasn't dangerous either. "And it's all thanks to you."
Hana shook her head. "You're the medical genius. I didn't even do anything."
"You did. You made sure I got at least some rest. And once more I apologize for the way I acted then."
"Again, it's okay. And besides, I said some ugly stuff too."
"...But you were justified. I was being foolish."
"Will you stop beating yourself up about this? It's in the past now. And you did find the antidote you were looking for, right, so cheer up."
Angela sighed. "And again you're perfectly right. I'm sorry."
Hana frowned as she closed her laptop and sat up. "Just quit it with the 'sorry', will you? And besides, you didn't only come here to tell me about this one thing and be mopey some more, did you? What's up?"
Astute as ever. "Well, I was... encouraged by all of Winston, Jack and Athena to take a day off once I was done with this task. So I was thinking of visiting the town tomorrow, maybe do some shopping, enjoy the nice weather, the sort of thing you do on a 'day off'. And I... was wondering if... if you would want to come along. I-if you don't have anything else to do, that is."
"So..." Hana tilted her head, "like a date? ...Just kidding." She quickly added with a laugh. "But I totally got time tomorrow, I'm in."
"Great. Then let's say we meet at the entrance at ten?"
"Got it, I'll be there."
"And as usual you're early." Hana greeted Angela, who was waiting in the shade at the entrance of the building.
"I was perfectly on time; you're late."
"I like my version better. You look good, that dress suits you." Angela was wearing a plain white sleeveless summer dress, about knee-length and showing the slightest bit of cleavage, as well as a straw hat with a white ribbon running around it, filigreed-looking sandals consisting of a whole lot of thin leather straps, and a cream-colored handbag slung over her shoulder. The whole outfit was very simple, almost understated, yet Angela was giving off a certain poise, if not elegance, that made Hana almost feel like she was the one under-dressed.
"Thank you, so do you. Is that an actual school uniform?" Hana had indeed gone for that look, with low shoes, black stockings, a plaid skirt, white t-shirt and a light blue bow, coupled with her pink handbag and no markings on her cheeks, for a change.
"Sort of. The jacket's missing. But the bow and skirt were actually part of my uniform back at school."
"I see. It does look good on you. Now, shall we get going?"
"Yeah, let's go. Do you have anything specific in mind?"
"Not particularly, I was simply going to go wherever and see what I find on the way."
"Then follow me, there's this one place I wanna show you."
"Are you sure you know the way? You haven't been here this long-"
"Puh-lease, who do you think you're talking to? I totally know where I'm going."
...
"Truly, you totally know where you're going."
"Did you just do that thing where you hold off the snarky comment until just the right moment just to make a point?"
Hana's pout, complete with her hands placed on her hips, was actually quite endearing and Angela chuckled before answering. "...Yes."
"I don't get it. According to the map, it should be around here somewhere."
"Yet we're clearly in a residential area and not the inner city. Hana, it's no big deal to admit you're lost."
"Yes, it is."
"No, it's not."
"Is too."
"Fine." Angela let out a small sigh. "Then you're totally not lost, but how about you ask that person over there for directions anyways, purely to... double-check?"
"...Well, okay. Hey, mister! Excuse me..."
"PLAYER TWO WINS! FATALITY! PERFECT VICTORY!"
"That was... needlessly brutal." Angela dryly commented at the bloody mess on the screen in front of them as Hana grinned at her.
"Well, that's like the point of the game."
"The point is brutally beating up your opponent and then dismembering her?"
"Dismember, decapitate, burn, freeze, melt with acid... the works. Be thankful this is one of the older games, the newer ones are even more realistic – and gory. The most recent one legit got a police investigation started to make sure no people got actually maimed or killed in the making. They weren't, by the way."
"How very comforting." Angela was still not sure how she felt about these excessively violent video games. On one hand Hana clearly was perfectly well-adjusted individual, playing this sort of games for fun, sport, or at worst the occasional stress relief. On top of that, DVa was an actual soldier fighting an actual war, and as both she and Mercy could attest, no amount of games could ever compare to, nor even prepare one for, an actual battle.
On the other hand, even if the old misconception that video games automatically led to violence in children or even turned them into killers had long since been debunked and discredited, some of the kids at the arcade – a lot of them without supervision too – struck Angela as a little young and still very impressionable. Especially since an alarming number of games still featured 'evil' Omnics as the antagonists, 'bad guys' to be fought and killed en masse; there were still far too much tension and strife between humans and Omnics, so game producers shouldn't-
"Hey." Hana nudged Angela's arm "Are we gonna play another round or no? There's people waiting."
"Right. Sorry." Angela hurried to the side and Hana followed her, clearing the cabinet for a pair of teenagers, then immediately started looking around for the next game to play, but paused when she noticed Angela's expression. "What's wrong? You're not enjoying yourself, are you?" Her face fell "I should have known the arcade was a stupid idea. I- We can-"
"That's not it." Angela quickly interrupted her. "I was just thinking. ...Do you think by using Omnics as the antagonists so readily, the producers are sending the wrong message? Especially with how young some of the children playing here are."
That question actually gave Hana pause for a few seconds before she slowly nodded. "Guess so, yeah. They really should stick to zombies, aliens and Nazis. Or zombie alien Nazis. You know, the classics."
"On second thought," She continued after looking around them once more "it kinda figures 'Mercy' wouldn't be into fighting games and stuff. But I think I just thought of something better. Come on!"
Hana took off and Angela hurried after her, and they entered another section of the arcade that seemed to be decorated more brightly than the part they'd been, with cheerful '8-bit' sounds filling the air. Judging from the people here, which included some adults, more girls and ostensibly families, Angela reckoned this would be the more 'casual' kind of games, and Hana was only even putting up with it for her sake – which of course didn't stop the girl from becoming almost aggressively competitive as soon as they began another game.
They ended up playing a variety of games, and though it didn't go quite as one-sided as that fighting game, Hana still won the majority, with one notable exception a trivia game where – not too surprisingly – Angela's knowledge proved much more diverse, and another a classical strategy game where, applying something Hana had told her about and instead of making the apparent 'best' move, predicting her opponent's course of action and basing her move off of that, Angela won by a few points.
That second one caused Hana to launch into a spiel how 'her career was over' if she kept getting beat by 'old people like that', yet Angela couldn't help but feel like Hana had let her have the win, some of her moves had been very obvious. But as long as Hana didn't say anything, neither would she, though she did appreciate the thought, especially for someone as competitive as Hana; it was kind of cute.
...
"And DVa wins again!"
"Don't even act surprised." Angela smiled. "It stands to expect you would beat me in most of these games. 'Gg. Well played.' Isn't that what they say?"
"Winning isn't nearly as fun when you're being such a good sport about it."
"Right... 'Oh no, I have been beaten by the mighty DVa, my career is ruined. I shall never play a video game again.' Better?"
"Ahahaha!" Angela's attempt at an overly dramatic voice succeeded in making Hana laugh out. "'Mighty DVa', I like the sound of that. You wanna rematch?"
"Would it make a difference? There is no need."
"Guess so. Let's get going, then, we can't spend the whole day playing games – I mean, I can, but you probably want to see some more of the city, don't you?"
"Yes, let's go."
…
"Oh, hey, a claw game!" Just as they were about to exit the arcade, one of the strategically-placed machines caught Hana's attention. "This is only gonna take a moment." Eyeing the prices inside the device, Hana inserted a coin, only for the claw to drop the prize as soon as she picked it up. "Oh come on! That was just a practice run!"
However after the second try proved equally fruitless, Hana glared at the machine as if it had personally insulted her, rummaging through her purse for some more coins. "Oh, it is on!" Heedless of Angela's – admittedly half-hearted – attempts to discourage her, Hana kept trying, taking almost another ten tries to win a small yellow plush, which she promptly presented to Angela with a wide smile. "Here, for you."
"For me? How sweet of you." Angela accepted the the plush, taking a closer look at it. The mostly yellow and black creature resembled a highly stylized and slightly anthropomorphized mouse with pointy ears, a jagged tail and a cheerful expression. "But, what is it?"
"It's a Pokémon." Hana answered in a tone as if it were perfectly self-evident. "The Pokémon, in a way. Even with the fifteen hundred-something 'mons they got nowadays, this little guy is still the number one mascot. Too bad he's kinda weak in-game, but what can you do as an NFE? Not like in the anime where he's all kinds of OP."
"I'm afraid I don't entirely follow." Though by this point Angela at least knew what 'OP' meant in this context – which was somewhat funny because before getting to know Hana, it never would have meant anything other than 'operation' to her.
"It wasn't really important anyways." Hana shrugged. "But he's totally cute, isn't he?"
Well, yes. Probably very carefully designed to be appealing to a wide demographic- ...Sei doch nicht so. Just take it for what it is, a cute little ...creature. A gift from Hana. "Yes. You know, I think I'll put him on my desk, as a reminder to take a break every now and then."
"Heh." Hana grinned, then paused, inspecting the plush's tail. "Actually, that's not a he, but a she. You can tell from the tip of the tail, it's got this dent in the middle so it kinda looks like a heart, the males don't have that. There's a fancy word for that too. Di- dino..."
"Sexual dimorphism." Angela finished. "I see. Then I suppose I will give her a spot on my desk. Anyways, shall be going then?"
"Yeah, let's move."
"Oh hey, ice cream!" Barely out of the door of 'Flynn's Arcade', Hana nigh immediately found the next distraction, this time in the shape of an ice cream cart that had set up right across the street from them, and while the late summer day's heat was far from unbearable – especially for Angela who had worked in the Middle East and Africa before – it was still easily warm enough to enjoy ice cream. "Come one, let's go get some!"
"...Ah, damn." While they were standing in line Hana rifled through her bag one more time before turning to Angela. "I used up all my cash, can you borrow me some until we find an ATM?"
"You know what? Don't worry about it, I'll treat you."
"Really? Thanks a bunch!"
Angela returned Hana's wide grin with a smile. "It's nothing, really. You're welcome."
The ice cream was surprisingly affordable, though Angela had to stop herself from reflexively reminding Hana that the full four scoops the girl got – two strawberry, one watermelon, and one awfully artificial-looking bubblegum – were in no way healthy, with all that sugar and what-not; but even if she herself had only gotten two scoops – vanilla, as she always did, and walnut – Angela wasn't really in a position to talk.
They leisurely wandered along eating their ice cream in relative silence, Hana seeming rather engrossed in her frozen treat. The way she ate somehow had something almost sensual to it, and Angela found herself paying an undue amount of attention, ignoring her own ice cream as in the back of her mind she wondered if right now the girl's lips would taste like strawberry too and had she really just thought that? Hör auf damit.
Suddenly Hana looked up, right at Angela, and the medic quickly turned to the side, wondering if she had been that obvious, but instead, "Hey, you've got some ice cream on your face." Dodged a bullet there.
"Oh? Where?" However instead of an answer, Angela felt Hana's finger brush against the corner of her mouth as the teen wiped away the speck of ice cream that had been there – and then proceeded to lick it off her finger. When Angela registered what Hana had just done, she felt the heat rise in her cheeks and quickly turned away, bringing her ice cream to her mouth in a – probably failed – attempt to hide her blush.
"What's wrong?" Hana grinned at her, and Angela quickly shook her head and cleared her throat, trying to regain her composure.
"It's nothing, don't worry."
"If you say so." Hana put on a faux innocent expression. She had to be doing this on purpose. That was- "Let's go check out that store over there! I need to get a new headset." Again Hana was swiftly sidetracked, this time by the front of a large electronics store, but for once Angela was perfectly fine with the distraction interrupting this particular train of thought, so she simply followed the girl towards the store.
"You know, Hana, I just noticed something." Angela said as they were slowly making their way through the inner city. "You're an international celebrity, yet the whole day not a single person noticed you, isn't that a little odd at least?"
Hana simply shrugged. "Well, you're just as famous, aren't you? And I'm not in my usual outfit, I don't even have the war paint on. If anyone, of the two of us, you're the one who's getting all the looks right now."
"Am I?" Angela briefly looked around to find that, yes, several passers-by – mostly men, but a pair of women too – had been casting glances in their direction only to quickly look away when they noticed her attention. "I didn't realize. But are you sure it's me and not you?"
"Um, reality check, you're looking amazing right now." It took Hana a moment to register what she'd just said and she quickly backpedaled. "I- I mean, you're totally more dressed up than anyone else too."
"I suppose I am. I don't really go out all that often, so given the opportunity I couldn't help but indulge a little."
"A little." Hana echoed. "If that's 'a little', I'd love to see how you look if you wanna be really fancy. I bet you'd be totally gorgeous. Uh, even more gorgeous, I mean."
"Why, thank you." Angela let out a small laugh, and she could have sworn for a moment there was the faint hint of a blush on Hana's face, but maybe that had only been her imagination. "Though I think you're looking lovely too."
"Um, thanks." Definitely a blush; cute. "Whatever." Hana hurried on "Back on topic, it's like... I'm not going out as DVa right now, but as Hana. If that makes any sense."
"I think it does. The same could be said of me, last I checked there weren't any wings on my back, and the Caduceus is safe and sound back at the armory." Clearly her two most defining features as Mercy.
"Oh, I know!" Hana perked up. "Do you wanna see her?" Without even waiting for an answer, she all but transformed: She brushed a hand through her hair and oh-so slightly changed her step, her warm smile replaced by a more confident, if not cocky, grin.
The effect was almost instantaneous; Angela could almost physically feel the increased attention of the crowd around her, as multiple people stopped and stared, whispering to each other and a few taking pictures with their phones.
"Heh." DVa giggled at Angela's clearly visible surprise. "Pretty neat, huh? People don't actually pay a lot of attention, it only takes a few small things. Check this out." She nudged Angela towards the entrance of a nearby café, and right as they passed the door, Hana shifted once more, falling half a step behind Angela, her body language returned to normal, and as they stood in line, nobody noticed, or at least recognized, them.
"That was quite impressive." Angela said in between bites of cake, the two having occupied a small table somewhat near the corner of the room, and Hana returned a grin, at least halfway swallowing before she answered.
"It'f pwetty funny. ...You said it yourself, I'm a celebrity. Back in Korea I'd get swarmed if I as much as stepped out of the door, so I had to come up with something. People are looking for DVa, the Number One, not the ordinary girl Song-Hana; that bit of posture is seriously all it takes sometimes. Though it's even better if I was wearing full makeup and stuff before; one time at a convention, after my panel was over, I simply changed my outfit and then stood right in the middle of the cheering fans waiting for autographs, and legit no one recognized me." Hana giggled. "The Clark Kent must have been strong in me there."
"I'm sure there's a lesson about human psychology somewhere in there." For her part, Angela of course knew some of the basics, but it was mostly practice-oriented, things to help her deal with patients and the like, she was a surgeon first and foremost – or now, whatever she was with Overwatch. ...A kind of super-EMT, perhaps?
"Probably. I mean, everyone does that, though."
"Really?"
"Yeah. People always act a bit differently, depending on the others around them and stuff. Or if they're at work or private. You could probably get a rabid bear to sit still and let you take his vitals if you're in full 'doctor' mode." The mental image of a brown bear docilely sitting on her examination table made Angela smile, as Hana continued after a brief pause. "...Or at least most people do. Tracer is kinda always acting the same though, isn't she?"
Aside from a scant number of times where she had seen Lena truly sad or crushed, most notably after the murder of Gérard Lacroix, where not a hint of Tracer's trademark exuberance had been to be found, Angela had to agree, and she nodded. "Or Reinhardt."
"Grandpa? Yeah, he doesn't even use a code name. ...Then again, why would he? With a name like Reinhardt Wilhelm!" Hana somehow managed to imitate the knight's manner of speaking surprisingly well, but her pronunciation made Angela chuckle.
"I'm afraid you butchered that one a little. Listen." Angela slowly and clearly enunciated Reinhardt's name once more, and this time Hana managed to repeat it much closer, if still not perfect.
"Close enough." Hana decided, returning her attention to her cake. "And if he complains, I'll just start calling him 'grandpa'."
By the time Hana had finished her cake so had Angela, and she was just about to get ready to go when she noticed there was a small crumb of cake stuck to Hana's upper lip, and before she could stop it, a thought jumped to the front of Angela's mind. ...Could she really? This was highly inappropriate, wasn't it? Then again, Hana had done just the same, and turnabout was fair play, right?
"Hana, Liebes, you have some cake on your face." "Hm?" Angela swiftly reached over the table to swipe the crumb off Hana's face, trying her best to remain nonchalant as she brought the finger to her lips, even if she could feel herself slightly blushing too. But that did nothing to diminish Hana's reaction, who blankly stared at her for a split second before suddenly seeming to find something very interesting outside the window as she looked away, covering her mouth with one hand.
"Oh my, what's wrong?" Angela asked in a mischievous tone, hiding her smile behind a hand, and once Hana had caught herself a few moments later and turned back to Angela, she seemed to finally make the connection as she grinned at her. "Touché." The competitive glint in Hana's eyes made Angela question if this had truly been a wise decision. Apart from the obvious reasons, if Hana had taken this as a challenge and an invitation to escalate the... the teasing, that would be... Denk nicht mal dran. Nothing good would ever come out of that.
However any potential immediate retaliation from Hana was pre-empted by a young voice addressing her. "Um, excuse me, miss?" A girl was standing at their table, looking at Hana with wide eyes. She had red hair in twintails, green eyes, and looked about 11 years old, at most. "You're DVa, aren't you?"
"Yeah, that's me!" If not as pronounced as before, now that Angela was paying attention to it, the shift in Hana's demeanor was still noticeable as she gave the girl a wide smile.
"I knew it!" The girl beamed back at her. "Mommy told me I was being silly and I shouldn't bother strangers, but in the end she let me go." Angela looked around the room to see a similarly redhead woman observing them, and gave her a wave and a smile to show everything was alright.
"I see." DVa answered the girl. "But could you keep it down a little, I'm here kinda privately."
"Oh, sorry." She immediately lowered her voice to little above a whisper, but since the room was relatively crowded and loud, DVa still hadn't really been noticed. "I'm a huge fan of yours, and I was wondering if you could give me an autograph?"
"Of course. I think I got a pen, but do you have something for me to sign?"
"Um... The only thing I have is this article about you in a magazine, it's got a large picture, would that work?"
"I've already signed shoes, arms and one time a motorbike, so this is gonna do fine." As the girl flipped through the magazine, DVa produced a fancy pink pen from her handbag, and Angela briefly wondered if she always carried one with her just on the off chance of being asked for an autograph. She probably did. "Ah, that one." DVa seemed to recognize the article. "The interviewer was really nice and chill, and he even invited me to dinner."
"He did what?!" Both Hana and the girl briefly looked over to Angela, and she realized her reaction had to have been a little out of proportion, as was the irritation suddenly bubbling in her chest.
But thankfully DVa didn't dwell on it and continued. "Yeah, he invited me into a pretty fancy restaurant, I think he was asking me out on a date." She shrugged. "Probably would have been kinda nice, but I didn't go; there simply wasn't the time, plus I suppose that also could have been seen as unprofessional or whatever. And he wasn't my type, like, at all."
Angela breathed a small sigh of relief, but at least DVa missed that one, as she was telling the girl an anecdote how apparently during that same interview a piece of studio equipment had spontaneously caught on fire. ...Just what was wrong? Why had this even ...bothered Angela? Normally this kind of reaction would have been... Auf keinen Fall. Clearly she'd just been appalled at that lack of professionalism, that had to have been it.
"So, what's your name?" DVa asked the girl, readying her pen.
"Eleanor."
"'For Eleanor. Love, DVa.'" She finished her signature with a heart next to it, returning the magazine to Eleanor. "Here you go."
"Yay!" Her entire face practically shining, Eleanor threw her arms around DVa, which she returned after a split second of surprise. "Thank you so much!"
Angela couldn't help but smile at the utterly genuine joy radiating from the smaller girl, and she noticed so did Hana. "You're welcome. Anything for a fan."
After a few moments Eleanor let go of DVa, then, to her surprise, turned to Angela, only now seeming to fully notice her. "I know you too! You're Mercy from Overwatch!"
"Ex-Overwatch." Angela automatically corrected her. "We were disbanded years ago."
"I know..." Eleanor's face briefly fell before lighting up right again. "But you're still going around all over the world helping people. You're my hero, even without Overwatch!"
"Oh. Thank you." Angela was much less used to receiving these kinds of compliments, to having fans, than DVa and probably some other members of Overwatch new and old. Even back then she had preferred to stay out of the public eye, and as a medic her task had never been as glamorous or 'cool' to the public eye as the combat personnel, who got to shoot a lot of 'baddies' and pose dramatically with saved children and the like.
But Angela wasn't doing what she was doing for the glory or the thanks, but because it was the right thing to do; Angela could, so she all but had to. "I'm just doing what I can." Even though it was still nice to be appreciated every now and then.
"You're helping lots and lots of people." Eleanor gave Angela a wide smile. "You're a real hero. And when I grow up, I want to become a doctor too!"
"My, are you sure about this? Becoming a doctor is a lot of work." In order to finish her degree as fast as possible, Angela had all but sacrificed her private life and free time for several years. Yet in the end she couldn't help but feel it had been worth it. But still "That line of work is not for everyone."
"I know." Eleanor answered with an adorable pout of indignation. "That's what Mommy says too. But I want to help others when I grow up, just like you."
"Well, if you're sure about this, I can only wish you the best of luck. I'm sure you'll make a great doctor some day." And to a point, Angela really meant it; of course she had no way of knowing for sure, but to her Eleanor seemed earnestly determined, which would be something she would need; willpower and hard work could achieve almost everything.
"You really think so?" If that was possible, the girl's smile grew even bigger as she drew Angela into a hug too. "That's so nice of you!" After a moment Eleanor let go "Say, can I have your autograph too?"
"Of course. Though I'm afraid I don't have anything to sign."
"You should totally sign that article I did too." Hana threw in "Then it's gonna have two autographs on it and be twice as awesome."
"You'll do that?" Eleanor beamed "That'd be so great! Can you write your catchphrase too? Heroes never die!" Smiling at the girl's imitation, Angela took a pen, which she – along with a small notebook – always carried, if for distinctly different reasons than Hana, out of her bag.
Heroes never die. Unlike some others' like Reinhardt, Tracer or DVa, Mercy's 'catchphrase' as it were, had originally been something she'd said only a few times, but for some reason or the other, some viral video, followed shortly by Overwatch PR, had latched on to it and simply made it into the medic's signature line. Then again, it wasn't like she took any real issue with that, if anything, it was occasionally convenient; Angela knew very well there was more to healing than physical wounds, and by now this line had become something of a symbol, and she would gladly embrace 'her' catchphrase if it meant the mere mention of the words could be enough to return hope.
Or bring joy as the case might be. "'Helden sterben nicht. Angela Ziegler a.k.a. Mercy.' There you are." Angela had long since noticed her signature would be somewhat fancified and with more flourish than usual, but that was probably what put a 'signature' apart from merely writing your name, wasn't it?
"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Eleanor looked like she was about to cry from joy, and Angela patted her head with a warm smile.
"There, there. You're welcome, sweetie. …But don't you think it's time you returned to your mommy? She keeps looking over here, and I think she's worried you might be getting on our nerves."
"But I'm not!"
"You're not. But she has no way to tell that from over there. And besides, don't you have some cake left too?"
"Right, my cake. I guess I should go. Both of you, thank you sooo much! Bye!" With another huge smile and a wave Eleanor turned around, and Angela watched the girl hurry back to her mother, clutching the magazine the two of them had signed to her chest. When she returned her gaze to Hana, she found the teen looking at her with an amused grin.
"What is it?"
"You're way smiling right now. Like, more than usual."
"So are you." Angela returned. "I suppose it's just nice be able to do something good for someone, especially a child."
Hana conceded the point with a shrug, then got up and motioned for Angela to follow her, continuing their conversation as they left the café. "Heh. I bet you totally made her day just now."
"We did. She asked you for an autograph first, and it was your picture too."
"Nah. This one's on you. I do stuff like this all the time, it's kinda part of my job. Not really yours, though." Hana continued as she led the two of them towards the very center of the city. "But you, you inspired her today."
"Aren't you being a little overdramatic right now?"
"Not really. Did you see her eyes? That girl idolized you anyways, and then you went and told her she's gonna become a great doctor."
"And I meant it, she seemed very determined, that alone can mean a lot."
"Well, if you say so. I stand my point. Wouldn't even surprise me if we just witnessed the birth of one of the next generation of Over- Hey, watch it!" Suddenly a passerby came at them at a sharp pace, forcing Hana to jump to the side – and crash straight into Angela. "Jerk!" Hana glared daggers after the man before turning back to Angela. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine."
"Still, what an ass. I thought we'd be okay, but there's like way too many people here."
"What were you looking for right in the town center anyways?"
"Dunno. Something interesting. Eh, whatever. Come on!" Without as much as waiting for an answer, Hana reached out, grabbing Angela's arm to pull the medic after her as she took off, weaving through the crowds of people and only slowing down once they'd left the inner city, stopping in a somewhat smaller street with only a handful of scattered passers-by. "There we go, much better."
Suddenly Hana paused, looking down, and when Angela followed her gaze, she noticed how along the way the girl's hand had to have slipped from her arm to her wrist in a bid not to let them get separated, then yet further down, so that by this point they were proper holding hands, their fingers locked with each other.
"Hehe, oops." Hana let go, rubbing the back of her head with a sheepish grin and a very noticeable blush as Angela coughed and quickly turned away to hide her own. However a moment later she got an idea, and in order to gloss over her embarrassment, after getting her bearings, she just started moving, Hana quickly following.
"We've been out pretty much the entire day." Angela explained "I think we should slowly be heading back to base."
"Yeah, guess so."
"Although there is one more place I'd like to go first."
"Hm? Sure, lead the way."
The slowly increasing taste of salt in the air, and the growing sound of the waves told Angela they were on the right track even before their goal came into sight, and a short while later they stepped out between the buildings onto the mostly empty street running along the beach.
Angela took the general direction of the watchpoint, but without any real hurry, and for a few minutes they just leisurely walked along in silence until Hana spoke up. "You know, it feels kinda strange to see a beach like this for a change; it's nice though."
"Like how?"
"Like, well, this. ...Calm, I guess."
"I agree, there's hardly any people out anymore, it's beautiful, isn't it?"
"That's not it. I- ...Don't know if I ever mentioned it, but I grew up kind of a ways inland," Until now, Hana in fact hadn't. "and with the kaiju Omnic swimming around, we'd hardly ever actually go to the beach, even in the summer. And MEKA headquarters are situated a bit away from the coasts too, obviously."
"So?"
"So... almost all I'd get to see of the beach would be during sorties with MEKA. At best, if they got everyone to evacuate in time, it'd just be desolate and empty, kinda eerie. At worst, if we were too slow, well... Total destruction and everything littered with bodies, some pretty bad..."
Hana trailed off and Angela noticed how even now it – understandably – seemed to be difficult for her to talk about these experiences, and she paused in her tracks, briefly wrapping both arms around Hana to just hold the smaller girl close to her. "It's alright, Liebling. I'm here."
For a split second Hana made a face, but then returned a soft smile and a low sigh. "Thanks, Angela. ...And sorry." She gently pulled back, but not before Angela had caught a hint of the girl's perfume, some light and sweet, fruity, fragrance.
"That's nothing to be sorry about." Angela was briefly tempted to reach for Hana's hand, but she opted to leave her her personal space as the teen turned to the side with a small frown and continued walking.
"So you say." Angela didn't think any of this what might have been perceived as rudeness, though, she knew how much Hana hated showing anything the girl considered 'weakness', as if a single moment would somehow change everyone's opinion of her.
Then again, Angela realized how Hana had still shown her more of this, and more of herself, period, than she had anyone else. Compared to around the rest of Overwatch, when she was alone with Angela the pilot appeared far more open, and not as focused on permanently keeping up appearances.
...In a way, this was just like what they'd talked about earlier today; Hana always seemed to feel like she had to act like DVa, but with Angela, sometimes, she would actually be just Hana. And while Angela didn't quite make this degree of distinction, she would freely admit that, even though they'd only known each other for a relatively short time, she truly enjoyed Hana's company and felt quite at ease around the younger girl.
"Hey, Angela," There was a barely perceptible hint of an apologetic tone to Hana's voice. "Let's go and sit there for a moment, okay?"
"Sure." Angela followed Hana to the lone bench right at the edge of the beach she had indicated, and they sat down, to see a truly stunning sunset. The sun was just starting to sink below the horizon, dyeing both the sky and the sea in various shades of deep orange and red, the few small clouds in the sky seeming to glow from within.
Admiring the view before her and enjoying the warmth of the last sunrays of the day on her face, Angela didn't notice Hana slowly inching closer to her until the girl spoke up in a soft voice. "You know... thank you."
That one caught Angela a little by surprise. "Hm? For what?"
"For asking me along today, for being there that one time I had a nightmare and felt like shit, for bothering to get to know me closer, take your pick."
Hana sounded unusually heartfelt and perfectly sincere, and so when she gently placed her hand on top of Angela's, their fingers lightly intertwined, the medic stopped her first reflex of pulling away and just let her. Hana's soft touch was warm on Angela's skin against the slowly cooling air and had something almost reassuring to it; it felt nice. "Thank you too, Hana."
"Hm?"
"Several things. For accompanying me today, for doing your best to stop me from overworking myself – against my fierce resistance –, for expanding my horizons in ways I never even would have imagined," for just being you, "choose whichever."
"Heheh." Hana giggled "Aren't we two a bunch of softies. But... I really had a ton of fun today."
"So did I." They both just sat there, silently enjoying the moment and each other's company as they watched the sun slowly sink beneath the horizon, until finally it had all but vanished, and a sudden gust of wind made Angela shiver. *"It is getting a bit cold. What do you say we return to the base?"
"Yeah." Hana got up, taking Angela's hand to help her up too, then giving it a gentle squeeze before pulling away. "Let's go home."
AN: This chapter (in fact the longest yet by a decent margin) featuring: Embarrassment, cute children, Angie being in denial, sweet moments, and a bunch of references, more or less obvious (there's a really obscure one I wonder anyone will catch; hint: it's a line and surrounding scene of Hana's mirroring a story about a real life celebrity of the 20th century). Also a lot of artistic license, since I've never been to Gibraltar, nor an arcade (I don't think my country ever had a lot of those). And again with a shoutout to /u/ for (parts of) the inspiration for this one, as well as collective proofreading (one anon in particular, by the name of 'bruhxism').
Surprise, I'm still alive. This chapter took an inordinately long time for a bunch of reasons, including real life (who needs that stuff, am I right?), various video games coming out (in order: Destiny Rise of Iron, Pokémon Sun/Moon, Tales of Berseria, me actually getting Overwatch in a sale, Nier: Automata (which I can only recommend, even if you haven't played the first one, it's an incredible game) and now Mass Effect Andromeda and Destiny's Age of Triumph), and writer's block/lack of inspiration, sorry for the long wait. But also a thank you for the continued faves and reviews, those are what kept me motivated, and they really mean a lot to me.
Anyways. The usual, give me some feedback/criticism, as well as any suggestions/ideas for stuff you'd like to see in the future, preferably somewhat elaborate ones (on the caliber, or in the shape of, a typical /u/ greentext), since I seem to be better at writing than coming up with ideas of my own. Something something, thank you for reading, hope you enjoyed.
Peace out
