Chapter Text
You groan as you wake, stretching stiffly. Cat whines and moves away from you, curling up on your abandoned pillow. You laugh and stand, rubbing your back. You move to the bathroom and wash your face carefully. It hadn't occurred to you last night, but a doctor would not go amiss right now. You dress and pick up Cat, draping him over your shoulders as you move to the door.
Reaper is there when you open it, hand up to knock. You both look surprised, then you smile. “Come to check up on me?” You ask, pushing past him. “Then you can lead me to a healer.”
“Ah..yeah. A good idea,” he says, but you can hear something half hidden under his voice. You're both quiet as you walk. You wonder what he's thinking, always so impassive. Your mind keeps going back to the painting, to the tower. You didn't know how to bring it up, so you simply stay silent.
Reaper leads you to the med bay. Standing with her back to the door, is undeniably Moira O'Deorain.
“Oh. You're here,” Reaper says, distaste evident in his voice. Moira turns and smiles at the both of you. Everything about her is condescending, to the point that it's slightly comforting; at least you'll always know where you stand with her.
“I see you require my aid,” she says to you, motioning for you to sit. You do, stifling a yawn. She comes over to you and, after a pause to scratch Cat's head, begins to work on your face. Your eyes are still a little watery and you imagine that your face will hurt for quite a while, but at least you can breathe through your nose again. She takes a moment to bandage Cat's tail, too.
As you recall, you read an article many years ago about languages that used to be outlawed or dying, and you hazard a guess.
“Go raibh maith agat,” you say, pronouncing it carefully, and she smiles in surprise.
“Go nádúrtha,” she replies, touching your shoulder. You could tell that she was reevaluating her initial opinion of you. “It is not often I meet another with any knowledge of Gaeilge,” she says thoughtfully. “A welcome surprise.”
“Oh, I'm quite aware of what it's like to have the English tell you that you can't speak your own language, and the ensuing spiteful hoarding of the knowledge of the language,” you say, making her chuckle softly.
“I see,” she says, patting your shoulder gently and turning away. You stand and rub your face experimentally. A little pain but nothing excruciating.
You turn back to Reaper. He's looking at you both, and something about him seems quizzical. You make a shooing motion at him and both of you leave the med bay.
“How do you feel?” He asks. You sigh softly then smile.
“A little shitty. Better. I'll feel better once Sombra and I scrub my identity,” you reply. “I'm used to being no one.”
He nods a little, walking with you towards Sombra's work room. “I don't know if she's awake yet,” he says, and you laugh.
“She's awake. Awake and already working, I'll bet,” you say, smirking sidelong at him. He chuckles softly.
“Speaking from experience?” He teases, making you stick your tongue out at him. He's right, though.
“She's been tracking Lumerico. You saw what happened last time. We'll make sure we give them more than they can handle,” you say, shrugging. The cold, casual confidence in your voice is that of a true professional, and it makes Reaper grin under his mask.
“I'm sure you will,” he says, and you're a little surprised to hear honesty in his voice. You smile up at him sidelong, blushing a little.
He leaves you at Sombra's door, saying something about training missions. You only shrug and pound on the door a moment before shoving it open. As you expected, Sombra is up and working. She grins up at you when you enter.
“Come look what I found, then we'll make you a ghost again,” she says, sounding a little strung out. The large mug at her side looks well used, and you wonder how much rest she got. You walk over, feeling at home.
The day passes in a blur. You barely register the passage of time except that at one point someone comes in and brings the two of you bagels. You don't even taste it as you eat. Through the frustration, the work, and the past, codes are still what you understand. Numbers are simple. Computers make sense. Programming, hacking, code of any kind really, is fucking frustrating, but this is what you know in your soul that you were meant to do. You know that it's the same for Sombra, in some ways, can see it in her eyes.
Finally, finally , you stop. Your eyes feel grainy and everything is stiff, but the feelings of both relief and a job well done overwhelm whatever discomfort. You don't exist anymore. You have the only physical copy of your birth certificate- stolen when you were first forced to flee- and now you were as good as dead. Better, in fact.
You let out a long breath and stand stiffly. Sombra stands as well, stretching to crack her back. She grins over at you and you lean over to her.
“Thanks,” you say to her after a moment. Her grin softens into a smile and she shoves at you lightly.
“I mean, you got me a papertrail of Lumerico hiring someone to kidnap a civilian and arson. The least I can do is help with this,” she says. You smile and rub a hand over your hair.
“Alright. I’m gonna go feed my cat and find something to eat,” you say, awkwardly slinging an arm around her shoulders in a quick hug.
“There’s a cafeteria. I can show you, but it’s pretty easy to find. Down the stairs from here and to the left,” she says, leaning into your hug with an arm around your waist.
“I think I can manage,” you chuckle, letting go to head towards the door. She chuckles and sits back down, stretching her legs out in front of her.
“I figured. I’ll see you later,” she adds, waving at you as you leave. You close the door behind you.
You let out a long sigh as you head back to the room you’ve been lent. Cat is sprawled across the chair and he looks up at you mournfully when you enter. You can’t help but snort at his shamelessness. You find the cat food and put the open can down for him. He jumps up onto the counter and you refill the bowl of water on the floor.
Cat meows at you pitifully when you head towards the door again. You sigh at him and pick him up. Being alone in the room today had helped him get used to the new area, but you suppose there’s nothing wrong with a little exploring. You hold the door open for him and he prances past you smugly.
You head down the hall to the stairs, Cat following at your heels. He twines between your ankles occasionally, but at this point you’ve gotten used to him being in the way, so it doesn’t catch you off balance. When the two of you reach the entrance to the cafeteria, you reach down to grab him and put him up on your shoulders.
You peer into the cafeteria. It..looks like any college or corporate cafeteria, maybe most like a hospital cafeteria. It’s not particularly busy. You scratch your arm a little uncomfortably as the few people in the area look up at you. You hesitate a moment until you see Akande, sitting alone in a corner with a book. He glances up and smiles at you. Cat jumps off of your shoulders, kicking you in the throat on the way down, and gallops over to him. Akande lets Cat jump into his lap, going back to his book.
You buy what you want to eat. When Akande had smiled at you, everyone had turned back to their food. You suppose any strangeness can be forgiven when you’re on smiling terms with one of the scariest and most powerful men in the world. You head into the sitting area with your food, hesitating a little before going towards Akande.
“Cat, you little traitor, leave him alone,” you call quietly. Cat looks up at you from his place curled up in Akande’s lap. He flicks his tail lazily. “I’ll strangle you with my bare hands,” you grumble, making Akande laugh as you sit across the table from him.
You eat in silence. Normally you would assume that sitting quietly with a man you’ve barely met would be awkward, but something about it is so normal. It’s incredible, you think, being around all the high powered people. Everyone is still just..a person. And Akande likes cats.
“I hear that you and Sombra have done what you intended to today,” he says suddenly, looking up from his book. You pause with a can of soda halfway to your mouth, then set the can down.
“Yeah. I don’t exist anymore,” you say, nodding a little. He hums thoughtfully.
“As simple as that? A little anticlimactic,” he comments, glancing up at you. You can’t help but laugh, taking that drink of your soda you’d postponed before.
“We like to think that one stubborn bitch with a bit of hacking knowledge can’t destroy the world, but they can. We can. We rely so much on computers. If you really want to cause a panic, want to destroy a country, you don’t need to kill people. They’ll do that themselves,” you say, your smile fading as you get more serious. “So. Yeah. As simple as that, I don’t exist. No one, nowhere.”
“I suppose you’ll simply have to stay here, then,” he says after a moment. You look up at him in surprise, studying his face. His expression is as impassive as ever. You simply shrug.
“I suppose so,” you agree, looking back down at the last of your dinner. You finish eating in silence. Akande watches you as much as his book. Eventually you stand, collecting your trash. “Thanks,” you say awkwardly. He looks up at you, considering you, then nods.
“It’ll be a pleasure to have you here,” he says before going back to his book. Cat jumps off his lap and follows you out of the cafeteria. You drop your trash into the bin and pause once you’ve left the cafeteria. You sigh and smile. This wasn’t how you’d anticipated making friends, but it appeared to be working well enough.
“You good?” Reaper asks, appearing beside you. You jump a little and look over at him, nodding.
“More than I’d thought. It seems I’ll be staying here for a while. Sombra and I will make a new identity for me. Not now though. It can wait a week. I need to rest and she’s got the taste of Lumerico blood,” you say, pushing away from the wall. He nods, walking beside you as you move towards the stairs. You get all the way to the door of your room before you can’t stand it anymore.
“How?” You whisper finally, pressing a hand to the door. He looks at you for a long moment before answering.
“I was..in the building,” he says, and there’s something in his voice. You punch in the code to the door, moving past him into the room. He follows you hesitantly.
“Checking..on security?” You venture, looking up at him sidelong. He nods, and while you can’t see the little blush across his cheeks you know it’s there. You move to the closet that held your painting, pulling it out to lean it against a wall. “Well, thank you, I suppose.”
“I..didn’t want anything to happen to you. A little too late, I suppose,” he says, sounding both defensive and thoughtful. You stop, standing with your back to him. You can hear it in his voice.
You turn suddenly, moving to him in a few long strides until you’re only a breath away from him, practically chest to chest. He looks down at you in surprise. You reach up carefully with both hands, setting your fingers on the cheeks of his mask gently. You watch his throat bob as he swallows, waiting until he nods just barely to pull off his mask gently.
He’s..not human anymore, you think, not really, but fuck if that doesn’t matter to you when you finally see his smile. You set the mask aside on the counter, pushing his hood back to slip your arms around his neck. He hesitates a long moment before curling his arms around your waist. You shift and lean up slightly, pressing a soft kiss against his lips. He stiffens for a moment, then pulls you closer, kissing you back almost roughly.
“Thank you for caring about me,” you say quietly. He smiles and kisses you again. You could get very used to kissing him.