A/N: For @dva76week - Day 1- Snow. Can be read on AO3.
The snow crunches under her boots as she makes her way over to him. She has to admit, she’s starting to get worried. She can’t remember when exactly he collapsed into the snow, but he’s been there for awhile, unbudging.
She plops down and curls into him. As if on instinct, his right arm moves to hold her close.
She shivers from the chill of the snow, the cold seeping through the fabric of her clothes. She wonders how he’s been able to stand this.
“Jack,” she whispers, gently rubbing at his chest. “Jack, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
“Jack.” There’s a warning in her voice, and her nails are digging into his jacket, but it doesn’t matter. She knows he can’t feel it.
“It’s nothing, Hana.”
She stares up at his face, obscured by the mask, for a few seconds. She’s learned to read him by tone of voice, curve of brows, crinkle of forehead, the way he holds himself.
“You’re thinking of the past, again. It won’t do you any good. That game’s ended. You’re onto a different one now.” She strokes his chest comfortingly, and still he does not move. “Learn from your mistakes. But if you focus too much on them, you’re going to lose this one, too.”
“I know.” He bends his head, pressing the mask plate to the top of her head in a pseudo-kiss. “I know.”
They lay in silence for several seconds, and Hana tries to control the slight quiver that’s invading her muscles. She doesn’t want him to worry.
“Up.” She blinks as she’s nudged. She sits upright and watches him sit up. “We should go back.”
She nods and rises, innerly relieved at the suggestion, holding out her hand once she’s up. He takes it gently, but it’s obvious that he’s using his own strength to pull himself up.
White flakes fall from his form as he lets out a deep sigh. She can hear the exhaustion in it, the weariness.
He moves stiffly. And she falls in at his side, leaning into him. He puts an arm around her, and together they walk back to base.
When they get back, she’ll grab some hot chocolate and a blanket. She’ll show him another of her video games. She’ll distract.
So the week ended a while ago but I totally forgot to write a ending message to everyone. My bad. Been very busy at home entertaining.
In any case, thank you all so much to everyone who participated. I think I liked and reblogged everything, but if I missed something of yours please let me know with a link so that I may add it to this page.
For now, enjoy the other Overwatch art and I’ll see you next year!
Hana was sure that most people her age probably loved winter. It was, after all, a very fun time of year. People her age were often out playing, building snowmen or throwing themselves around in the fluffy ground, pelting others with snowballs or making forts to hide behind in their little wars. It was the last little bit of childhood some clung to, memories recalled from a time when teenagers were much younger and didn't have so much to worry about.
It wasn't like she hated the snow. The weather was nice in its own way. She could appreciate the look of the first snowfall when everything was fresh and white, rounded out and pretty, even glistening in the sun. She certainly liked the feel of the cold nipping at your skin and the simple pleasure of warmth one got by sipping at a hot drink to chase it away. One never appreciated coffee quite so much as when it was chilly outside. There was even a small part of her that still liked to wait around a corner with snowball in hand and chuck it at someone. Well, okay a large part of her still liked that.
Yet she still didn't like winter much. Besides the novelty, it wore on her pretty quickly. The joy of it never lasted long and in the end it felt more like just trying to cling to the good things about the weather while ignoring the huge pile of things that were awful about it.
Sadly, when it came to a list of pros and cons, the cons on snow and winter far outweighed the previous. The first look of snow was pretty but then it turned into ugly slush, and ice you could slip on and fall. She always had to bundle up in bulky clothing to keep warm when she was outside and the second she came back in she started to sweat immediately, feeling gross before she could even get all the stupid layers off. It led to having to shovel excess out of the way and wait for it to melt away, hopefully before another wave of snow came and restarted the whole painful process. Worst of all, it always, always, always messed up the internet connection.
Right now snow was piling up pretty badly outside, clinging to just about every satellite on the base. It had been pretty annoying all day, cutting off communications and signals for a while. Russia was not exactly her idea of a prime candidate for a vacation spot, and she would have been raging if not for the fact she was there for work. A recent break in by Talon had gotten the government all up in arms, and Overwatch was currently offering help in the investigation as well as in security details.
However, it was her off day for now and she'd planned to relax by getting on a computer and grinding some levels out on one of her games only to realize she was pretty much screwed in that regard. Even her phone was being a pain about it, only on one bar of signal. It had left her with nothing to do and so she'd ended up sitting out in the large living area and sulking.
“Buck up, soldier. It could be worse,” a gruff voice on the opposite couch said to her. She looked up at Jack Morrison, codename Soldier 76. A criminal to some, vigilante to others. News had painted him as dangerous and violent, someone to be avoided at all cost.
He didn't look too dangerous right now though, currently relaxing on a couch with a cup of hot coffee in one hand and a news paper in the other. His visor was off, set aside so he could enjoy his drink in peace though the rest of his uniform, for lack of a better word, was still there. Jacket, combat boots, even his weapon close by. To anyone else this would probably seem tense. In just a couple seconds he could slap his visor into place, grab his gun and throw himself into the thick of combat. However, she knew him better. For him, this was relaxed. To take any layer off, even a little, was great strides for him. To even be anything short of one hundred percent combat readiness was a big deal to him so she knew that even this little show was something monumental for the professional soldier.
“Oh, worse?” she asked him teasingly as she pushed her foot out and rested it on his knee. He raised an eyebrow at her, but did nothing to make her move it off of him. “How so?”
“You have shelter, and are warm. The storm isn't providing any danger to us and we have plenty of supplies to weather it out if we get-”
“Ugh!” she groaned, her head flopping back. If teenagers looked back on snow trying to recapture childhood she couldn't even imagine how a guy like Jack looked at it. Here for a second she'd almost thought he would mention something nice about the weather and here he was practically listing off survival tips. “God, you are such a downer sometimes.”
“Says the girl who is sulking just because she can't play her games,” he remarked. She gave him a little glare, and could swear he was smirking at her just behind his coffee cup. Only he'd tease her so casually he didn't even give a reaction that he was enjoying it.
“It's boring,” she muttered. “There's nothing to do.”
“If you need something to do that badly there's always joining today's security detail,” he informed her.
“If I take my mech out in this it's going to end up with rust,” she replied. Back in Korea she'd had a whole crew to clean it up after missions but right now it was just her responsibility to keep it maintained. She didn't want to have to get snow and water out of all of the joints if she didn't have to. Besides, working on her day off seemed kind of foolish. Who would even attack in this kind of weather anyway?
He only made a noncommittal noise back at her and shrugged. It seemed to be the end of the conversation, but even just talking was better than nothing at all.
“What are you reading?” she asked him curiously.
“Opinion articles on the reforming of Overwatch,” he replied. “It seems… mixed.”
“That's a polite way to phrase it,” she snorted. Some places had been reacting like it was the end of the world, while others were singing their praises like it was the second coming. Ask anyone on the street how they felt about it and you could get anything from a curse filled rant or endless stories about how it was about time someone stepped up to save the world again. “We're here because we're needed. Why pay attention to that kind of stuff?”
“It's always important to know where you stand with the people,” he replied, his tone sounding distant, even forlorn. She could tell he was getting sentimental all of a sudden. Probably thinking about something in his past, and for him that wasn't a good thing. He never had anything good to say about that subject anymore.
“Okay, that's it,” she said as she stood up suddenly and snatched the paper out of his hand. She held it out of reach when he went to grab it, poking her tongue out at him.
“Hana,” he said warningly, but she only crumpled it up into a ball and tossed it over her shoulder.
“If anyone needs a distraction, it's you,” she said with a tone of finality and a soft giggle. “Come on.”
It must have said something about their relationship that he didn't argue with her, instead simply followed along as she lead him up to the front door. She grabbed a couple things along the way, a blanket to wrap up in along with a thermos she filled up with more coffee. The snow was thick outside, but tucked away under an alcove with the blanket wrapped around her, she had to admit it looked kind of nice.
There was nothing but white as far as the eye could see, pristine and pretty. It was also cold, but she only used it as an excuse to hold the blanket open to him, a silent invitation for him to join her. To his credit, he only hesitated a moment before he huddled with her and took the other end of the blanket and wrapped it around the two of them.
“So tell me what the difference is between us waiting for the storm to end inside and waiting for the storm to end outside?” he asked her as she pressed close to him to share body warmth. It was still freezing outside after all and she didn't want to ruin the moment by the little niggling facts like hypothermia.
“Well, this way we can appreciate the beauty of the snow,” she replied.
“When's the last time you honestly just let yourself enjoy anything?”
“Hmm, when did I meet you?” he asked, to which she felt her cheeks heat up. Hardly romantic, but from him it was said so honestly that it felt like a love sonnet.
They were still navigating their relationship together. Cuddling and hand holding was about as far as they'd gotten after she'd admitted her crush on him, how much she admired him. She'd wanted to be a hero all her life because of Overwatch, and there was certainly a bit of hero worship in her towards people like him. Meeting him face to face, being by his side to fight the bad guys, it had only sent her feelings into overdrive. She'd just confessed because she'd known he couldn't possibly feel the same for her and had figured she needed to get over it in order to focus on her job of protecting the people.
To this day she didn't know why he'd agreed to date her, but it had made her feel like one of the most special girls on the planet. It was very tame between them so far, but honestly speaking she was in no rush, just enjoying little moments like this as best she could.
Everything between them was still fresh and new, like the fallen snow. Maybe it would change over time. Maybe it would be stomped on, walked over and ruined, turning to a messy and ugly slush that just had to be cleared away… or maybe new snow would fall and keep it pretty. She honestly didn't know.
For now though, holding him like this and sharing sips of their warm beverage instead of being inside to keep warm like reasonable people, well… maybe their own snow storm would last a nice long time too.
“You always said you played to win, right?” Jack says to Hana, with an obvious crack in his voice as he applies pressure to the hole in her chest, trying to stop the bleeding as much as he could. “You are not going to lose on me now!”
Alt preview: Sean hears of a particular ship week, and uses it as an excuse to write more Overwatch angst. Neither of them deserve this. ;-;
