Mei: you did kabuki?! Have you ever tried Chinese theatre?!
Hanzo: I did once, I thought my neck was going to snap under the weight of the hair ornaments. Though to be fair I felt like I was being suffocated by the multi layered kimonos I wore for female roles. Don’t even get me started on the sandals, it’s a miracle I never tripped and cracked my head open.
Mei: *grabs his face suddenly and pulls him in* I need to see you in a hanfu.
Author’s Note: Phew, okay, I am SO SORRY this took so long. I was working on this request for basically the whole week, and it started getting really long, so I had to figure out how to better compress the story. But you know, this piece was really fun to write! I might have to make a part two at some point.
With that said, I hope you enjoy your rare pair content!
---
His arrival to the Watchpoint had been met with hostility. Hanzo expected this, but it didn’t make the process any less tedious. After surrendering his weapons, he’d been moved from room to room. Behind closed doors, Genji and his comrades held discussions he was not allowed to partake in, but he could feel a clash of personalities debating what to do with him. He could not always hear what Genji said, but Hanzo had a correct feeling that his naive brother wanted him to stay. To join them. Why? Hanzo could not answer. He finally managed to eavesdrop on one of their heated meetings the second night, in small part due to the rooms being close together, but also thanks to a sonic arrowhead he may have been able to smuggle in and easily toss under the doorway.
Despite coming of his own free will, Hanzo couldn’t help but side with the agents who wanted him gone.
A short man with some sort of mechanical gear installed in a prosthetic arm suggested sending him away, saying, “We could turn him over to the International Police. He’d never be our problem again.”
“Now hold on!” exclaimed a young woman with a strange, glowing device attached to her chest, “He’s Genji’s brother. He should get a say in this!”
“Thank you, Lena,” said a clearly exhausted Genji.
The base’s medic, who Hanzo now knew both as Angela Ziegler and Genji’s lifesaver all those years ago, pinched the bridge of her nose and wearily said, “I don’t like having him here either. But Genji is right, we can’t simply toss him back out to the world.” She gestured towards a hologram that he couldn’t see from his view, “We went through his phone, you all saw those messages. Talon has their eyes on him. Doomfist has his eyes on him.”
A man in cowboy attire agreed, “Doc’s right. Even if we turn him over to the U.N., there’s no guarantee he won’t break out. Y’all know what Talon did to that Helix prison to get Ogundimu out. Same thing with Sigma. If Talon wants someone, they get them, no matter what. And frankly, I’d rather not see the bastard sniping at us across the battlefield.”
“Hanzo would never join Talon,” Genji sharply retorted. “He knows there is nothing but destruction and pointless death in their methods.”
“No offense Genji, but I’ve never seen someone so quick to defend an attempted murderer,” a young man in headphones folded his arms and gave Genji a concerned expression. “I know he’s your brother, but you’ve got to admit that’s kind of messed up.”
“It’s more complicated than that—” Genji let out a frustrated sigh before continuing, “Please, Lúcio, everyone, do not be angry towards Hanzo for my sake. I only wish for us to move forward.”
“Genji, it’s not just for your sake,” a firm, yet calm woman with traces of built-in cybernetics spoke up. When she spoke, all eyes went to her and all murmurs and whispers went silent. “I’m sorry. He’s your family, and I know how important this is to you. But the fact is, he tried to kill you. And he’s been killing others as an assassin for years. We can’t ignore the possible threat he poses to everyone on the Watchpoint.”
“But Sojourn—”
She held up her hand, “Relax. We’re not going to throw him out. Mercy and McCree brought up a good point. It’s also too dangerous to let him go. We’ll figure this out. I promise.”
That was all Hanzo could stand to hear. The rest of that meeting dissolved into muffled arguments that ended when all the agents agreed that it was getting late. They all needed sleep and time to process the best compromise.
The morning would come with that compromise.
---
Hanzo was allowed to stay. But with conditions. He was placed on what they called a “probation” period. (At least, that’s what the less pessimistic agents called it.) He would have access to the Watchpoint’s facilities and be a part of residential duties, such as cleaning and cooking, as long as he was escorted by one of the agents. He was not allowed to leave the Watchpoint grounds, and he would not be placed on any sort of combat mission until Sojourn and Winston, were sure he was trustworthy. How long this probation period would last, nobody knew.
There was a rotation of where he would go and who would be with him every day. The other agents’ attitudes towards him varied. Some couldn’t stand being in the same room with him. Others attempted to be friendly, but their hesitance at treating him too kindly was always looming. Very few actually made an effort to hold a conversation with him that didn’t involve his work or Genji.
Genji was given a daily time slot to be his brother’s guard, which he agonizedly spent trying to connect with the ever-distant Hanzo. On the good days, their conversations were shallow and awkward. On the bad days, their conversations spiraled into verbal duels of confrontation.
If only Genji wasn’t so stubborn on reforging what was already broken. If only he would stop talking about forgiveness and a future where they could be family again. If only Genji didn’t remember all of these small details, such as Hanzo’s favorite type of tea or how long he liked his meat cooked from, from their younger days.
If only Genji could just hate him, Hanzo thought every night.
Things would be so much easier.
---
Two weeks pass. Another day becomes an evening.
Hanzo waits for his next guard in the dorm they provided for him. It’s the standard room set-up for residents of Watchpoint: Gibraltar. A single twin-sized bed set up in the corner, a dresser with three large drawers, a desk with a lamp, and a small bathroom off to the side equipped with a sink and toilet.
Unlike the rooms of other residents, however, his room is barren. Hanzo has gotten small glimpses of their rooms in the time he’s been here. With every space, one can easily distinguish who it belongs to. Each room he’s seen has a burst of life and the tiniest details that tell so much about its inhabitant. Genji’s room, though minimalist, has traces of his time with the Shambali, tiny gifts given to him by the monks and villagers.
He only got a brief glance of Dr. Ziegler’s room, but from what he saw, it perfectly reflected her dedicated and firm nature. He’d spotted a bookshelf filled with writings on cell biology, as well as a file cabinet, which he assumed was likely where she kept detailed notes on the medical history of each resident. But that was all she would ever permit him to see. She was never going to let him step inside, in more ways than one.
Tracer, the young woman who had sided with Genji during that first meeting, had shown Hanzo around her brightly lit room covered wall to wall in photos and posters. She had sunny yellow covers on a bed that she happily bounced on whenever she sat down. It’s too bright for Hanzo, overwhelming even, much like Tracer herself. She was trying too hard for Genji. It was painfully obvious.
Aside from a few belongings from his travels, most of which were mere survival tools, strung about, there’s hardly any sort of personal touch in Hanzo’s room. Nothing to make it his own, and nothing to indicate he ever inhabited it. Maybe this is for the best.
It’s past dinner and almost seven o’clock. His previous guard, a young woman named Brigitte Lindholm, left only moments ago. Hanzo sits on his bed and grimaces as he realizes who his next guard will be. His last guard for the night before lights out. It’s Genji’s shift next.
The door to his bedroom clicks and slowly slides open. Hanzo mentally prepares himself for utter monotony or a draining argument.
“Hi!” comes a voice that is definitely not Genji’s.
Hanzo turns. A woman, likely a few years younger than him, steps into the room. He recognizes her thick glasses, dark hair tied in a ponytail, and general happy demeanor from around the Watchpoint, but they’ve never spoken before. In her arms, she’s carrying a tray with a small tea kettle and two cups.
He cautiously replies, “Hello.”
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to surprise you,” she says, making her way over to the desk and placing the tray down. “Genji got pulled away, so I’ll be handling his shift tonight. Do you want some tea?”
“Pulled away?” Hanzo questions.
She raises the kettle and begins pouring steaming tea into the cups, “Winston needed him for a last minute briefing. I hope you don’t mind.”
He pauses, then sighs, “No. That is fine. I do not believe we have been introduced.”
“Dr. Mei-Ling Zhou,” she says, walking over and handing him the second cup.
He takes it, “Hanzo Shimada.”
“Nice to meet you, Hanzo.”
They drink their tea and engage in a brief conversation. Hanzo learns the basics about her. She’s a scientist, a specialty in climatology to be exact. Her main work with Overwatch is focused on re-establishing the abandoned Ecopoints across the planet for the sake of studying a supposed anomaly in the atmosphere. Despite this, she’s also apparently a combatant on regular strike missions. Though she admits she’s still rather new to fighting, having to rely more on her weapon. According to her, her friends simply call her Mei.
“So, Overwatch allows civilians to fight now?” Hanzo says with a raised eyebrow. “That seems careless.”
Mei sips her tea and replies, “I’m not a civilian. I’m just a scientist.”
She leaves soon after the kettle is empty. Before scooping up the tray and heading to the door, Mei gives him another smile and wishes him goodnight.
It’s a strange meeting. But Hanzo supposes it’s far more preferable than another evening with Genji.
---
The next day comes around. At one point in the afternoon, Hanzo dreads another shift with his brother, but once again finds himself surprised with Mei entering the room instead. She brings more tea. They sit in the center of the room, using a foldable table she brought from one of the old offices, along with an extra stool from her lab and the desk chair.
“Your room is a bit empty,” She points out in the middle of their conversation.
“I was not carrying much when I arrived here,” He says. “And your colleagues still have possession of my weapons.”
She nods, “True. But you know, you are living here now, you might as well make the space yours.”
“Am I living here, Dr. Zhou?” Hanzo scoffs. “Most people would describe this arrangement as imprisonment.”
“Probation,” Mei swiftly corrects him. “The whole point of it is that you’re going to live here at some point.”
“You sound so sure.”
“I’m not,” she shrugs, “I’m only going by what I observe.”
Hanzo folds his arms and leans back in the chair, “It doesn't matter anyway. The room has the basic necessities. I do not need frivolous decorations.”
“If you say so, then that’s fine. It’s your room after all.”
---
A few days later, Genji disappears once more. Another last minute obligation, according to Mei. This time however, she doesn’t bring tea. Instead, she’s carrying along a shopping bag with something heavy inside.
“I want to show you something,” she says, placing the bag on the ground and shuffling through it. Eventually, she locates her prize and presents to him. “Ta-da!”
Hanzo tilts his head, “You bought a camera?”
“An instant camera,” Mei explains, turning the device around in her hands. “Lena’s girlfriend, Emily? She’s a photographer. We were in London a few days ago to visit her, and she was telling me all about the different cameras she uses. This kind is really old, but they were popular a century ago since they—”
“I know what an instant camera is,” He coldly interrupts. “What I would like to know is why you thought I would be interested in such a thing?”
Mei frowns and sharply replies, “I was getting to that. Don’t be rude.”
“Fine,” he reluctantly gives, “my apologies. Please continue, Dr. Zhou.”
“See? Was that so hard?” Mei mutters with an eye roll before continuing, “Anyway, I know you said you didn’t want any decorations for your room. But your walls are so blank. So, I thought, what if we made a photo wall?”
“A photo wall?” He repeats in a deadpan tone.
She grins, “Come on, it’ll be fun! We’ll take a bunch of pictures, put them on a bulletin board with some other stuff, and we can hang it in here. That should liven this place up a bit.”
“No,” He says flatly.
“You don’t even want to try it?”
Hanzo shakes his head, “What happened to ‘It’s your room after all’?”
“You don’t have to,” Mei says, “it’s just an idea. Fine, suit yourself. But if you change your mind, I’ll let you borrow this.”
She turns the camera back around, the lens face Hanzo’s direction as a smirk grows on her face.
“But you’re still going to be my first subject.”
He starts, “What are you—”
“Smile!”
Hanzo barely has a moment to register what’s happening before he’s blinded by the camera’s flash and groans loudly while rubbing his eyes. He hears the sound of the polaroid being printed out. When he can see again, Mei is observing the picture in her hands with a smile.
“An excellent shot,” She says with a laugh. Mei then hands the polaroid to him. “Don’t worry, you can keep this one.”
It’s not a flattering photo. His eyes are wide, and his arm is blurred across the frame as he had been attempting to shield his eyes.
“Please,” says Hanzo with a huff, “do not do that again.”
Her amused expression slowly falls to one of embarrassment as Mei admits, “I’m sorry, that was a bit mean of me. I’ll ask you next time. And you can throw that out if you want.”
She places the camera back in the bag then turns to the door, “I’ll make it up to you with some tea, how about that? Be right back.”
She leaves the room. Hanzo is left alone with only the messy photo. He moves to toss it to the waste bin.
But he stops. And he places it in his pocket instead.
---
After an unbearable shift with Jesse McCree, the cowboy with a sharp eye who Hanzo makes a mental note not to be careless around, he is escorted to the Watchpoint’s main laboratory. He spots Winston in the office above and Dr. Ziegler can be seen in the back of the room, writing equations down on one of the holographic boards. Mei is standing at one of the lab tables. She’s equipped with a lab coat, gloves, and a microscope that she peers into before looking up and spotting the two.
“Hi McCree, Hanzo.” She politely greets them.
“Howdy Snowflake,” McCree says with a tip of his hat. He gestures towards Hanzo, “He’s all yours.”
“Perfect timing! I could use a lab assistant.”
McCree adds on, “Make sure he doesn’t blow anything up.”
Mei laughs, “We won’t be working with any dangerous chemicals today.”
“And don’t let him near the Bunsen burners.”
“Got it, McCree.”
“Or any sharp objects.”
“Thank you, McCree,” Mei says in a drawn-out, subtle indication that he could leave now. McCree takes the response with a chuckle and waves as he exits.
Hanzo makes his way over to her. She hands him a spare lab coat and directs him over to a hologram screen and clipboard.
“Like I said, no dangerous chemicals or anything like that today,” she tells him. “I’m looking over some of my soil samples from Ecopoint: Siberia. But I also have the computer sorting through the temperature readings as well. Just keep an eye on the screen and write down the numbers that pop up on the clipboard. Easy!”
Hanzo nods and does what he’s told. It’s simple enough to the point of boredom. Eventually, he swiftly finishes his task and alerts Mei, who tells him he can take a breather while she finishes up her work at the microscope.
To occupy himself, Hanzo takes a moment to soak in the contents of Mei’s workspace. It’s here that he notices the familiar instant camera sitting off on the corner of one of the counters. Scattered around the camera in a messy pile are several polaroids. He takes a look at their contents. The first few are selfies and group shots with several of the other agents. In one, Tracer and Mei are hugging each other with big smiles on their faces. Winston peeks over them in the background. Another photo is one of Lúcio and Mei. Lúcio holds the camera up with one arm while the other is wrapped around a laughing Mei, who gives a peace sign with her fingers. One photo has McCree and another agent he knows as Fareeha Amari standing together in the kitchen. They’re both holding coffee mugs and smiling at the camera, though it appears Amari had used her free hand to make bunny ears behind an unsuspecting McCree’s head. A different picture is of Dr. Ziegler, sitting at her desk, wearing reading glasses, and waving at the camera.
The next few batches of polaroids are location shots. Some he recognizes as sections of the Watchpoint, but others aren’t as familiar. The one that truly catches his eye, though, is a picture of a sakura tree. The photo appears to have been taken right underneath the branches, as small pockets of sunlight blur in-between sections of bright pink petals.
“Where did you take this?” The words fall out of Hanzo’s mouth, and it’s too late to shut himself up.
Mei looks over her shoulder, “Oh, are you looking at my photos? Which one?”
He turns and shows it to her.
Mei spins her whole body around with an excited gleam in her eyes, “Oh that one! We had a mission in Okinawa a few weeks ago. It wasn’t a combat one, so after we escorted our payload, I thought I could be a bit of a tourist and take some pictures. Turns out we’d come right around the time those cherry blossom trees start to bloom. Do you like it?”
He stares at it a bit longer before he answers. There’s a strange feeling that overcomes him with this photo. A feeling that seems lost to him. Something he hasn’t felt in a long time. Memories whisper in his mind. The calm, soothing voice of his mother runs along in his mind. Those long-forgotten, peaceful days where she would bundle Hanzo and Genji up in sweaters and take them to the castle’s gardens and watch the sakura trees bloom for spring. He remembers the times where she would prepare a picnic for them under that same tree. Genji would always try to steal an extra snack from Hanzo’s plate, and the two would bicker and hit each other until their mother, gentle but strict, broke them up.
“Hanzo?”
One late spring day, their mother came home from a doctor’s appointment with grave news. Hanzo sat under that tree for most of the afternoon. His mother came looking for him, and when she found him, long, black hair already tangled with pink petals, she didn’t say a word. She simply sat next to him under the sakura tree and held him close.
The picture trembles in his shaking hand.
“Yes,” he says, forcing his voice to stabilize. “It’s a good shot.”
Mei slowly walks closer to him. Her face is unreadable.
“You can keep that one too, if you want,” she says.
---
Hanzo returns to his room that day with the polaroid and a thumbtack in his pocket. He pins the picture to the wall above his bed.
---
During their next probation meeting and tea session, Hanzo gives Mei a request.
“A bulletin board?” She repeats.
He nods, “To keep track of important papers. And...” He trails off. Then he sighs in defeat. “Perhaps, a few photos as well.”
“So, basically,” Mei says, there’s a hint of smugness in her smile that she’s trying desperately to hide. She rests her chin in her hands and leans forward in her chair ever so slightly. “You want to make a photo wall?”
Hanzo shuts his eyes and represses the urge to raise his voice.
“If I say yes, will you speak about this to no one?” He says through grit teeth.
Mei giggles and makes a lock-the-lips-and-throw-away-the-key motion.
“Your secret is safe with me,” she says with a wink.
---
They spend another one of their probation meetings outside of the communications tower. It’s the golden hour for photographs, and the view of Gibraltar’s rocky coast and the sunset are too good to pass up.
Mei, from a safe distance as to not scare the nearby creatures, snaps a photo of a group of seagulls lounging around on a rock. She manages to capture them right before the sound of the camera scares off the birds into a scuttled flight. She proudly removes the polaroid and places face down on a nearby crate to protect it from the sunlight.
“Okay, your turn, what next?” She turns and asks Hanzo, handing him the camera. “We only have a few slides of film left. Let’s make them count.”
Hanzo moves the camera to a suitable position in his hands and scans his surroundings. As he’s been learning since they started this project, aiming a camera is not so different from aiming his arrows. It’s all about finding the perfect angle, and knowing the exact moment to make your move. There is a precision to it. One that does not carry the same heaviness that his arrows do. He captures a moment, instead of killing a target.
There isn’t much in the area that they haven’t photographed already. They’re running out of subjects. Hanzo didn’t wish to waste the film on another blurry shot of plants or a rusted former Overwatch vehicle left about on the mothballed launch facility. He also has to be careful with the lighting of whatever he wishes to capture. Polaroids can be quite sensitive to light. The number one rule with an instant camera, according to what Mei heard from this Emily she mentioned, is to have your light source behind you.
There is one area he keeps his eye on as a possible subject. An old building marked “Radar Array WP-G” has a few points of interest that could look well in a photo. There’s the old, stained blue Overwatch flag that still hauntingly flies overhead. Time and weather conditions have taken its toll on the fabric. The stairwell to the building’s left, however, comes with the bonus of getting the ocean in the background if angled right. But what is really drawing Hanzo in is a grey metal panel attached to the front of the building. An Overwatch insignia is sprayed-painted on it. Pieces of the paint are chipping off, and the colors contrast so well against the blue backdrop of the rest of the building.
He frowns. The panel is a good start, but something is lacking. The way the light reflects off of the metal will definitely blur the edges, but as long as he can have a clear subject in the middle of the frame, it might still come out as something decent.
But what to place there?
Hanzo ponders for a moment.
Maybe the better question is who to place there.
“Mei-Ling,” he turns to her.
“Find something?” she excitedly asks.
Hanzo nods, “Would you mind standing next to that panel?”
She seems a bit surprised by this question, “You want to take a picture of me?”
“Only if that is fine by you. I do not wish to make you uncomfortable.”
“Oh no, no, I’m okay with it,” Mei replies. She makes her way over and stands next to the panel, moving her hands behind her back and leaning against the blue wall. “How’s this?”
“Good, stay right there, I need to find a better angle.”
He shifts around, moving his eyes from the lens to Mei until he feels satisfied with the position.
“This should work.”
Mei then asks, “What kind of tone are we doing? Should I smile? Or look sad? Or maybe you want to do one of those looking off into the distance sort of shots.”
“Just smile and look at the camera. Wait.” He peeks from the lens one last time to tell her, “On second thought, turn your head slightly to the left. The flash might reflect in your glasses if you are looking straight at me.”
“Spoken like a true photographer,” says Mei, following his suggestion. “You and Emily should collaborate sometime.”
Hanzo can’t help but let out the smallest laugh, “I am no professional, Mei-Ling. But I do enjoy our sessions together. Are you ready?”
“Ready!” She calls back.
“Stay still.”
Click.
---
They pin the photos onto the bulletin board of Hanzo’s room. At the moment, Hanzo has the photos arranged in a checkerboard-like pattern across the board. The empty spaces between the polaroids are filled with a blue ribbon where he pins other items to hang off of, such as a feather he found one day while cleaning outside, dried up flower petals sealed in plastic wrap, or a Pachimari keychain given to him as a souvenir by Mei.
He pins the photo of her he took today diagonal from the photo of the sakura tree.
“It’s really coming together,” Mei says. She steps up next to him and uses his shoulder as an armrest. She’s shorter than Hanzo by a foot or two, yet somehow she finds this position absolutely comfortable. He’d questioned it before, but that doesn’t mean he minds all that much.
Hanzo says, “I suppose I should thank you for the suggestion to make it.”
“Oh Hanzo, there’s no need—”
“No, please, let me say this?” He cuts her off and shifts away from her so that he can make direct eye contact.
She doesn’t say anything back. Instead, she waits for his next move.
“Thank you, Mei-Ling,” Hanzo tells her with a respectful bow of his head.
Mei gently reaches her hand out and pats his shoulder, “You’re welcome.” She lets out one of her signature giggles before she adds on, “All in all, this has been really fun.”
He looks back up to meet yet another one of her genuine smiles. Though small, he is finally willing to smile back. Maybe it’s simply his mind playing tricks on him, but he swears he can see the faintest shade of red beginning to spread on her face...
“Well,” she cuts any more conversation short, quickly moving to pack up the instant camera and scoop up the polaroids she picked to keep for herself earlier, “my shift is almost up. I should get going and tell Lúcio to head over here. I’ll see you around.”
His smile drops. He doesn’t know why. This is normal, it's routine. She always has to leave in the end. But it’s not as if he will never see her again. She’s in the rotation. Another day will come where he can see her again. And they live on the same base. He will see her in passing, during meals, and perhaps eventually they will even be together on combat assignments.
So why is it that today he feels a heaviness as she heads towards the door? Why does he feel an urge to reach out and grab her hand to stop her? Hanzo feels his left hand grip onto his wrist, as if that urge were about to become a reality.
“Mei-Ling,” He suddenly calls to her, right as she presses the panel and the door slides open.
But thankfully, his voice reaches her. She turns around.
“Yes, Hanzo?”
He is quiet for a brief moment.
Words.
He’s forgotten what to say.
Words.
“Um, Hanzo?”
Use your words, damn it!
He shakes his head, “It is nothing. Have a good evening.”
“You too,” She waves and cheerfully exits. “Zài jiàn!”
The door closes behind her. Hanzo is left alone. He slowly trudges over to the bed and lets himself fall flat onto the soft surface. The sound of a muffled groan is absorbed by his pillow. Eventually, he pulls himself up into a sitting position and looks over his shoulder to the bulletin board across the room.
His eyes focus on the photo of her. It’s finally adjusted to the light, and the image is perfectly visible now. Her smile is frozen in his direction. A moment of Mei-Ling Zhou is forever captured in an image.
Hanzo brings his hands up to his face.
And he feels a warmth he hasn’t felt in a long time.
Good lord my drawings have improved. I've only posted one of my drawings on my blog so far but I'm going to start posting more. :) Also, I LOVE THEM WITH ALL MY HEART
My brain: Bro if you think about it, Mei and Hanzo are perfect personifications of Light and Darkness. They need each other and balance each other out. Mei is a positive and outgoing woman, who always has an optimistic mindset, but her light, that positivity, can bring her to her ruin without her even realizing it. Maybe one day, she comes up with highly illogical theories and think that it can work and be highly optimistic, even though it will not work no matter what. That’s when Hanzo’s darkness comes in. He brings her down to earth. He scraps down her illogical theories, keeping her optimism at bay and helps her realize and remember reality.
And Hanzo. He’s been in the dark for too long. He is the dark. He has committed great sin. He sees the dark side of society. And he basks in it. And again, for far too long. That darkness has consumed him and he blames himself in most of if not all the situations he’s involved in. But that is when Mei comes in. Her light, in that soft gentle touch, helps Hanzo see that there is hope for him. Hope that he is not a lost cause. Hope for him to become a better man. A hope of redemption.
Light and Darkness balance each other out. There can’t be one without the other. Hanzo and Mei are what they both need. What they both represent. Light and Dark.