Hana couldn't sleep. That in itself was nothing new; even after she'd started spending some of her free time with Angela and it kept getting better, sometimes her sleep would still be uneasy. So now she was shifting between restlessly turning and lying still staring at the ceiling, that was slowly starting to just slightly seem like something resembling 'home', maybe, as she waited for sleep to return to her.

But it didn't. Instead Hana's thoughts began drifting, as usual skipping all over the place, before returning to the same subject they were wont to the last few days. Mercy ...Angela. In particular the night Hana had been roused by her nightmares and the medic had found and comforted her. Hugged her...

What of it? Hana got plenty- ...Actually, no. The last time she'd had any meaningful physical contact had been when her parents had hugged her goodbye at the airport. Until Angela... Was that it? That was probably it. Loath to admit as she was, Hana was at least a little homesick, which of course would show itself at night more than any other time; and apparently that was why her subconscious was latching on to the one person that had made any effort to care for her since she'd gotten here.

Seriously? What was she expecting? Angela to keep babysitting her? No way. Get a grip, Song-Hana. DVa didn't need anyone, don't be silly.

...Just too bad that figuring out where those thoughts were coming from didn't actually do anything about them, so Hana was left awake, her thoughts trailing off and on and off and on and always running in circles returning to Angela.

Looked like she wasn't getting any sleep any time soon. With a sigh Hana got out of bed, briefly considering some video game, but she wasn't really awake enough for that, so she left her room, maybe a midnight – or more like 3 AM – snack would help.

Hana was still learning the exact layout of the base, so she had stop and check the signs a few times, but other than that she silently made her way to the kitchen, lost in thought- until the sound of a familiar voice called her out of her reverie. "Haha, did she really do that? Just what did that girl think was going to happen?"

"That's what I told her. One of these days Tracer will seriously get herself hurt, Rewind or no."

That was Soldier:76 talking to Angela. Yet instead of just walking past the two, something made Hana pause before sliding into the next corridor, doing her best Metal Gear impression as she pressed herself against the wall.

"Have a little faith, Jack. Despite how she sometimes acts, Lena does know what she's doing. And besides, in our line of work, you can never be certain, there is always the risk of ...something happening, going wrong. You and I both know that well enough."

Just then the two walked past Hana without either taking notice of her, the former Strike Commander even now wearing his visor and mask, while Angela was in more casual clothes, without her labcoat for a change. And where Soldier was keeping his usual gruff demeanour, Angela was smiling, looking perfectly at ease; well, she would, after all Angela and the Commander were colleagues from the time of the original Overwatch way back.

...Yet something about the scene rubbed Hana the wrong way. Like Soldier's body language, or how he was walking entirely too close to Angela, almost brushing against her shoulder with every other step.

"Just all too well. That's why we're so fortunate to have you with us again, Angela." As he put a hand on Angela's shoulder, something flared up inside Hana and she barely bit back the angry sound that had been forming in the back of her throat.

...The hell? What was that for? Fortunately neither of the two noticed anything, leaving her sight just moments later and Hana turned around, swiftly but silently rushing off in the other direction.

She wasn't really paying attention where she was going, or if she was even still headed for the kitchen – until, rounding a corner, she walked right into someone else, sending Hana to the floor amidst a bunch of fluttering papers. "Ow!"

"Oh! Sorry, sorry. So sorry." Hana looked up to find Mei standing in front of her with a concerned expression, clutching a stack of books and folders as she held out her other hand to help Hana up. "Are you alright? I'm sorry."

"I'm fine." Hana briefly rubbed her backside before starting to quickly gather the scattered papers, some data or research most likely, judging from the glimpses of tables and diagrams she caught. "And that was my bad, I wasn't paying attention."

"Thank you." Mei accepted the papers, storing them in one of the folders, then paused, eyeing Hana. "DVa, are you okay?"

"Just Hana." The girl half-automatically corrected her, noticing how she'd gradually stopped being so insistent on her callsign outside of missions, she could probably blame that on Angela's influence too. "And I'm fine. I just fell on my butt, no big deal."

"That's not what I meant. You seem... upset, is something bothering you?"

"No- ye- maybe... I don't know." Hana finally conceded with a frown.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Mei instantly offered, but Hana shook her head.

"Nah. It's... something personal." That wasn't even quite untrue; and while Hana did appreciate Mei just wanting to help, the two of them weren't that close that she'd be willing to confide ...whatever it was to the climatologist either.

"Oh, I see. ...Well, I need to-" Mei briefly interrupted herself with a rather adorable yawn "-go and look at this data before I fall asleep completely, so... But, you know what always helps me when I'm feeling down? A bit of chocolate." Hana unconsciously nodded, something sweet did sound like just the thing right now. "I still have a bunch left in my drawer in the fridge in the kitchen." Mei continued "You can take some if you'd like to."

"I can?" Hana returned Mei's friendly smile with a grin. "Sounds like a plan, maybe it's gonna help. Thanks, Mei."

"You're welcome."

Hana took a moment to regain the direction to the kitchen, then turned to leave. "So, uh, have fun with your research."

Mei giggled. "I will. Good night, Hana."

...

There it was, as evidenced not only by the name, but also the hearts and stylized snowflakes drawn on the sign; Hana opened the drawer to find like half a dozen bars of various kinds of chocolate, some labelled in Chinese. And not to sound mean or anything, but this probably did explain Mei's figure a bit – though it was a nice figure, if one was into that.

Mei hadn't specified how much Hana could take, but she didn't want to seem too greedy, so she only took some of the ones that looked locally bought, a bit of light, dark and one with nuts each, tearing a bit off a wrapper to hold it without getting her fingers all sticky.

Turning off the lights and leaving the kitchen, Hana continued slowly wandering the silent base, eating the chocolate, and though it did make her feel a little better, she still couldn't figure out just what had annoyed her in the first place, which in turn was just as annoying. Not paying too much mind to her steps, Hana finished the chocolate, stuffing the wrapper in her pocket, then paused when she noticed she'd ended up atop a staircase in front of a door outside. ...Why not? With a shrug she pushed the door open, stepping out onto a small rooftop holding some antenna array.

Quietly closing the door behind her, Hana was suddenly engulfed by darkness, her eyes taking several moments to adjust to only the pale light of a crescent moon, the outside of the base being surprisingly sparsely illuminated – probably for good reason, though.

To Hana's left and behind her was the majority of the base, both open and inside the rock, in front of her, some part of the outside installations, but to her right the rooftop immediately lead into a cliff falling straight into the sea, the water mostly calm and reflecting the moon and numerous stars visible through the wisps of clouds drifting past. It was kinda pretty, though at the same time felt just a little too pale and... sterile for Hana's liking.

And cold; Hana shivered, clearly under-dressed in just a flimsy t-shirt and shorts, and hugged her arms around her chest. However the cold and the silence broken only by the waves' regular sound also had something calming to them and Hana felt herself wind down a little, probably aided by her tiredness catching up with her.

But it did allow her to try and figure out just what had ticked her off so much from a slightly more detached perspective. Okay, so maybe she'd felt a little homesick for a moment, but that didn't explain...

Angela. Or more like how Soldier:76 had been kinda touchy-feely with her just now. But how was that Hana's concern? Angela was an adult woman – far more adult than her, as Hana had to admit with a smirk – and could fully well decide herself who she flirted with. ...Except she hadn't actually; at best Morrison had, but even that might have been totally innocuous. From what Hana had heard, several of the core members of the old Overwatch had been as close as family. Then knowing all this, why the heck had this little scene ...angered her so much?

Hana could only really think of one thing that might warrant this kind of reaction, but it wasn't like she- ...But what if she was? If she'd been jealous? Of course that didn't change that she'd pointlessly overreacted, but, for Hana to even be jealous, to have a reason, didn't that mean she had to- to...

Well, crap. But as with any good revelation, once Hana had realized, she just couldn't ignore it, this whole night suddenly set in a new light: Her thinking of Angela hadn't been born of homesickness at all, and while that made her moment of jealousy no less stupid, it had clearly been because... Hana so had a crush on Angela.

...What was she thinking? A woman – barely – old enough to be her mother, and so much more experienced and mature than her, and while that mostly didn't matter to either of them, there were moments when that difference would show. Like this one. There probably was no way that Angela would go for someone that much younger.

Or was she? But even if Angela actually didn't mind such an age gap, and she wasn't dating anyone right now – which she'd never given any indication of that Hana knew, but that didn't have to mean anything either –, who was to say she even was into girls? Sure she'd reacted quite nicely to some of the teasing Hana did from time to time, just for fun or to play over her own, in retrospect more justified, embarrassment, but maybe the medic just was someone who easily got flustered, perhaps precisely because she wasn't interested in girls that way.

A sudden gust of wind made Hana flinch and shiver, interrupting her train of thought. She probably should go back inside to continue her brooding, lest she catch a cold; and she still was dead tired, so right now a warm bed was looking more attractive than ever.

As Hana silently returned inside and made her way back to her room, her thoughts just as quickly returned, but just started running in circles, listing all the things that might not work out, and how this just couldn't going to end well.

This is stupid, get it together. Hana was starting to grow annoyed with herself again, and briefly thought of looking for Mei to come back to her earlier offer and ask her for advice, but changed her mind just as quickly. The one person Hana even would have considered talking to about this was Lúcio, the two having quickly become good friends after the DJ joined Overwatch, their relatively close age, status as celebrities, and – funnily enough – being huge fans of each other's work making it very easy for the two to relate. But he currently was on an away mission, and Hana didn't feel like having this conversation on the phone, and besides she could pretty much imagine Lúcio's answer too, telling her to be true to her feelings and just go for it. But there was no way it was that easy...

...Or was it? Somehow the mere thought of the DJ managed to have something a little uplifting and encouraging to it – a fact that he'd just love, no doubt –; it wasn't really like DVa to give up so easily, now was it? Just because there were so many ways it could not work out, that was no reason not to try. Never tell me the odds.

Because Hana knew she had… she was in love with Angela, and she wanted to keep spending time with her. Well, she wanted, wished for, more than that, but she didn't have to rush it either. Worst case, she'd just be stuck with an unrequited crush until she finally managed to move on, hopefully preserving her and Angela's friendship, but even then wasn't it better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all? Lúcio would probably say so too, though Hana had the feeling he'd taken that quote from somewhere else.

And besides, it absolutely wouldn't hurt to try and check her chances before admitting defeat, because if she had a shot at all, Hana was gonna win this. As they said: Challenge accepted.

The next morning Hana stayed in bed a bit longer than usual – even factoring in her nightly walk –, because even if she wasn't gonna brood or doubt herself or her feelings anymore, she still had to think. She'd had been in a few – okay, precisely two – relationships before, but both had been far less complicated, though neither had lasted very long for different reasons. And while those reasons really wouldn't apply here, it still wasn't as easy as just walking up to Angela and confessing to her, no matter what Lúcio might claim to the contrary.

This was gonna take a little more work and subtlety, but if there was one thing Hana was good at, it was strategy, she wasn't the Starcraft world champion for no reason. Even if this would be closer to a dating sim than an RTS, the principle was not so different.

Hana could always figure out the little details like if Angela was dating someone later down the line, she just had to find the right opportunity to ask without being too obvious. In the meantime she could just... amp up the teasing a bit, keep dropping some more hints, Angela was a brilliant scientist after all, surely she'd catch on in time.

Still it felt like something was missing. Hm... what would it take for Hana to notice someone? How would she want to be ...'courted'? The most obvious answer, video games, were right out, even if Angela was showing legit interest in learning about them, they very clearly were Hana's domain still. Ask her out? That wouldn't quite work either; their day off in the city last week had been a ton of fun, but it hadn't quite felt like a 'date' either, and Hana wasn't sure how to she'd go about making it feel that way without spelling it out with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer. A present? Flowers? Either too unsubtle or easy to misconstrue, not to mention cliché.

Come on, be a bit more creative. Hana was a famous gamer and mech pilot, Angela a world-class surgeon and combat medic, and they were both members of the reformed Overwatch; neither of them was quite 'ordinary', were they, so why should ordinary dating stuff work?

Then what... "Winston speaking." the intercom suddenly announced. "There is a new mission. All Agents cleared for active duty please be at meeting room B for assignment and briefing in ten minutes sharp. Winston out." That actually suited Hana perfectly, she hadn't really gotten to stretch her legs in almost two weeks, and even test flights and target practice in MEKA never quite reached up to the real thing. And even better, this actually gave her an idea about Angela too...

Getting dressed and freshened up at record speed, Hana just barely got to the meeting room in time. There would be time to grab some breakfast on the go, the mission couldn't be that urgent, or they would've been called straight to the hangar.

Truth be told, Hana didn't pay too much attention to the briefing, something about an old Overwatch prototype that apparently had to be recovered right away since Talon had somehow gotten wind of it. Morrison wanted to lead the mission, because he considered like everything related to the old Overwatch his personal problem somehow. Hana volunteered practically right after, arguing that she hadn't been on a mission for far too long, and that the team needed some heavy support, so with Reinhardt still benched after an injury, she was the best option. Always bring a tank, that was like team comp 101.

After the team was filled up by Tracer and McCree – none of which Hana minded, they were both perfectly capable and rather entertaining during boring flights – Winston dismissed everyone, and Hana quickly took off with a grin and a cheerful wave to Angela, an idea slowly taking shape.

As Hana threw on her pilot suit, stopped by the kitchen to grab an apple, a sandwich and some chocolate, along with a bottle of energy drink, for breakfast, then quickly ran MEKA through diagnostics, she couldn't entirely suppress an excited grin, though this time her normal pre-mission giddiness was supplemented by some more excitement about her plan.

And it was a pretty simple plan too. Obviously she was gonna stream the mission, and even though Angela tended not to watch her live because the medic always had something to keep her busy, Hana usually managed to get her to take an evening off and watch the recording together. So all she had to do was make this one especially impressive, maybe do some fancy flying, then close the stream with a special dedication to Angela that made her intent rather clear, while maintaining just enough deniability that she could play it off if she had to, though that more so to keep her fans off her back.

Although... given Angela's stance on combat, it probably would be wise to not just go for bodycount, but instead try and protect the others and play the objective like a good little teamplayer. Not quite her style, DVa always was more of a solo act, but nothing she couldn't handle either.

"DVa, are you ready? We leave in two minutes."

"Yeah, just a sec." Ignoring Morrison's grumble about 'that's 'just a sec, sir'', Hana finished the final check, and after – of course – all diagnostics came back green, jumped into MEKA, balancing her lunchbox on one of its arms as she walked the mech into the loading bay of the Orca. "Good to go, let's do this."


"Doktor Ziegler, there is a medical emergency." Athena's computerized voice was almost completely measured and factual, yet the words made Angela all but jump up from her desk, the papers she'd been working on forgotten in a heartbeat.

"What happened?" Even though her voice was still calm, it was just as urgent as Angela immediately fell into doctor mode.

"The away team just called in, they're on their way back, but there has been a severe injury." Angela recalled the mission briefing from this morning: Suspected Talon activity near an abandoned Watchpoint; recon and possibly combat, but no major enemy firepower expected; Jack leading the small strike team consisting of Lena, Jesse, and Hana volunteering as the heavy support.

"...Who is it?" Obviously she didn't want to consider any of her companions being seriously hurt; yet Athena's answer was the one part of her had secretly been dreading the most and it made Angela feel as if suddenly there was a massive block of ice forming in her stomach.

"It's DVa."


Oh no, it's a cliffhanger. But don't worry, I'm well aware of my ...spotty productivity (by which I mean glacial), so the next chapter is already completely written and in beta right now (on that note, once more a shoutout to bruhxism for proofreading); I'm aiming to post it one week from now, if it's done, so check back then for the stunning continuation! (or something)

The premise of this chapter was inspired by a comment on /u/ ages ago, and the title (which is supposed to have a slash in it, not a hyphen, but the site's silly formatting wouldn't let me) is a Shakespeare reference (that means I'm educated, right? ...right?) along with another one that might become more apparent with the next one. Also featuring more references to a bunch of stuff (but if I list them all, it'd be to easy).

This chapter feels pretty introspective, with little dialogue, but I hope I managed the flow well enough. It also marks the first personal appearance of any other character (yes, Winston showed up in chapter 4, but he was just a narrative device at that moment, I could have done without him), if anyone keeps returning I might tag them properly.

Also, all that stuff about feedback/criticism, thank you for reading, hope you enjoyed (I should just start copy-pasting one of these). See you in the next one.

Peace out