Chapter Text
It was rare for so large a meeting of dragons in human-shape to happen outside of either a wedding or a funeral. Certainly, Hanzo and Genji had not attended a gathering like this since being estranged from their clan and falling from the heights of nobility. To decline would have only further driven them from reputable society -- it was an absolute necessary that they go. Hanzo did not, however, enjoy being the target of so much ridicule and gossip as he knew was happening just out of earshot.
He was already surly, and then unsurprised to see his peers, some of whom he might have hesitated only a little to call friends, shun them. Those that might have been brave enough to approach the disgraced Shimada brothers were warded off by the thunderous look on the elder’s face. Genj, being younger and more sociable, was disappointed to miss out on the dancing but was otherwise happy to help prop up the wall and join in on lamenting the ugliness of this year’s fashions.
Satya did eventually glide over to grace them with the first bit of conversation they’d had all evening, and just from seeing the look in her burning yellow eyes, Hanzo knows he is unlikely to be disappointed. “Good evening,” she says.
“It is an evening.”
“Are you enjoying your pariahdom?”
“Very much,” Hanzo says. “I do not have to endure wearing such an ugly brocade.”
Satya hums but does not disagree. “The lake to the west is your home now, yes? Beside the mountains?”
“You know it is.”
“Are you also aware that you are not the only newcomers to that neighbourhood?” Her sharp eyes immediately pick up Hanzo’s confusion, if not his interest. She moves to stand beside them and gestures out towards the party. “The gentleman in red, with the harpy.”
The dragon she singles out looks almost as uncomfortable in his surroundings as Hanzo does. He is tall with a handsome red serape draped over his broad shoulders -- he might have drawn other dragons to him like moths to a flame if not for the deeply unhappy look on his face, how his thick hair has obviously only been tamed for the evening and is even now threatening to fall into his face, and how he clings stubbornly to his companion. The harpy looks equally unhappy and while he is not the only one in attendance, they watch as another tries to approach him and all his feathers bristle until the intruder moves away again.
They make a strange pair, and Hanzo immediately wonders how he had not seen them before.
“They’re our neighbours? The both of them?” Genji asks loudly. Hanzo cringes and glances around to make sure nobody heard, but there is a wide area around them free of people even in the crowded room.
“The dragon is Jesse McCree and the harpy his guardian. No lands, no titles, no manners, I’m told,” Satya says evenly. “They possess a small fortune, however, which makes them of some interest.”
Hanzo narrows his eyes at her. “How small?”
“McCree is said to possess a hoard of over two hundred thousand.” Satya doesn’t react as Genji lets out a squawk of amazement that makes his brother wince again. “An inheritance from a distant relative. They took a lair in the mountains some two months ago. This is the first outing they have made in society -- look how well it goes.”
Hanzo grunts and looks away from the stranger. He pretends for a moment to survey the party around them, but its incredible dullness send his eyes darting back to the tall dragon currently being accosted by a small but very enthusiastic crowd. The dragon gives them all a smile that doesn’t look like it reaches his eyes and reaches up as though to tip a hat he doesn’t have. Luckily his harpy guardian shepherds the crowd away, leaving the dragon looking forlorn in a sea of partygoers who make no secret of how they watch this newcomer. McCree looks out across the room, and for the briefest of moments locks eyes with Hanzo.
Hanzo looks away again. “How is it that you know so much about him?” he asks Satya, who is regarding him steadily.
A little ball of purple light darts across the room and manifests into a purple-eyed sprite at Satya’s shoulder. She whispers into her ear hurriedly and kisses Satya quickly, leaving a violet smudge on her cheek before throwing a wink towards the dragons. Satya doesn’t so much a flinch as her partner zips off again. “I like to stay informed,” she says dryly. “Excuse me.” She strides away, probably to whatever disaster in the making Sombra had warned her about.
“He’s very handsome,” Genji says. Hanzo doesn’t waste his breath asking who he means. “Do you think we could have someone introduce us? A little company to break the tedium.”
“You can do as you wish, Genji,” Hanzo says much harsher than he meant to. “I have no desire to meet him.”
“None at all?” he asks. Hanzo glares at his brother who only grins back. “Your eyes betray you, anija.”
“They do not. It is only that he is... very tall. And strange looking, with stranger company.”
Genji’s smirk grew only more self-satisfied. “And was it his height you liked or those strange looks?”
“There are others here that have looked at him for far longer.”
“Maybe, though none with such interest.” Genji laughs at the sour look on Hanzo’s face. “C’mon, let’s see where Satya went before we miss out on all the fun.”
***
The sound of his brother’s voice is distant and distorted. Hanzo snorts, sending a stream of bubbles to the surface of the lake he’s currently sulking at the bottom of. Genji will not leave until he’s seen him, however, so Hanzo lets himself slowly drift upward. A couple of curious fish swim over and Hanzo snarls at them until they flit away again. He misses home, where at least the local fauna treated him with respect, but home is a long way away.
Hanzo surfaces, blinking the water from his third eyelid to see his brother sat at the shoreline in human-shape with a shit-eating grin. “What is it, Genji?” he asks churlishly.
“Don’t act like I was interrupting anything, anija. We both know you were only brooding,” Genji says, uncrossing his legs to dip his toes in the cool water.
Hanzo snorts again. “If you have only come to harrass me-”
“I went to visit our neighbour,” Genji sing-songs. Without meaning to Hanzo’s long ears tilt forwards, betraying his interest. “C’mon, I’ll tell you all about it.”
Hanzo gives Genji a flat look but he’s already swimming towards him. He steps out of the lake, shedding his scales as easily as slipping off a silk robe, and sits down heavily in the grass beside his brother in human-shape. “You are a gossip,” he says without heat.
“Technically, I’m a busybody. You’re the gossip since you listen to everything.” Genji rubs at his chest, a brief look flickering across his face that piques Hanzo’s interest far more than word of their neighbour. He wrenches away Genji’s hand to get a proper look, ignoring his startled response to see a long scratch across his chest, red and still bleeding a little at the deepest part.
Hanzo is on his feet in a moment. “Did he do this?” he demands. “Was it Jesse McCree who injured you?”
Genji takes a long moment to answer. “Hanzo,” he starts to say but Hanzo doesn’t wait to hear the rest. He is already running for the river that flows into his lake after snaking through the mountains. Hanzo dives in with a sharp snap of his tail, flicking out his claws as he races up the river.
***
Genji had not found anyone to introduce him to their neighbour, but he was still a gentleman and his manners were impeccable when any failing could result in being eaten by the slighted creature. He had left a lock of his fur, so that McCree could recognise him, and a few coins, as a gesture of goodwill, at the entrance to his cave before attempting to speak with him.
Hanzo did not waste time with coins or fur. He seeks out the stranger’s lair and finds it, easily distinguishable from the forest around it by the scorched earth at its entrance. The cave itself is very handsome, large and light with comfortable rugs on the floor -- and a harpy sat on a cushion staring at Hanzo in astonishment as he strides right in. “Who the hell are you?” the harpy asks, flying up to squawk in Hanzo’s face.
Hanzo does not look at him as he moves past. “Where is Jesse McCree?”
“Hey! You think you can just walk in and start making demands, cabrón? The fuck do you think you are?”
The harpy only squawks louder as Hanzo pins him to the floor, and he doesn’t even have to use his claws. The noise echoes all the way to the back of the cave and is answered by a growing rumble. “Gabe, you OK out there?” a deep voice asks.
The harpy answers in harsh Spanish and the rumbling grows louder.
Eventually a massive head comes snaking out, with curving horns that almost scrape the ceiling and glowing red eyes that narrow angrily at Hanzo. “If ya value yer life, you’ll let him go,” Jesse McCree growls. Hanzo lifts his paw and the harpy scurries away. McCree doesn’t take his eyes from him as he moves out into his cave, revealing more thick scarlet scales and strong wings folded at his back. “Now, who the fuck are you?”
Hanzo straightens, looking down his snout at the other dragon. “I am Shimada Hanzo,” he says gravely. They were eye level with each other but Hanzo lacked anything like the red dragon’s bulk, possessing a slighter frame with thin and flexible scales. Compared to him, Jesse McCree was built like the side of a mountain but Hanzo refused to be cowed. “And you have injured my brother.”
“Don’t know what the hell yer talking about,” the red dragon rumbles.
“You met with Genji.”
“The little green noodle-y fella?” he asks, heavy brows drawing down. “Don’t see much resemblance. Firstly, he had a lick of manners to him, didn’t go chargin’ into another dragon’s home and attack people.”
Hanzo’s scales bristle, his fur standing on end and his tail lashing wildly. “You think I will stand this insult? That I will not defend our honour from attack?”
“I don’t give a good goddamn about yer honour,” Jesse says, advancing on Hanzo until he’s breathing sulphur into his face, “but if yer wantin’ a fight yer goin’ about it the right way.”
“It was not my intention to be subtle,” Hanzo bites out before trying to bite him.
McCree ducks his jaws and crouches low as his throat begins to glow. Hanzo darts out of the way of his fire but stays close, not letting McCree take advantage of his superior size in the close quarters of his cave. He has to dodge McCree’s thrashing tail and flailing wings but Hanzo manages to get a hold of the scales of his flank and dig his scales in. McCree’s growl threatens to bring the cave down around them but his claws bring up no blood -- Hanzo twists, raking them down the delicate membrane of his wings. McCree roars and his fire scorches a line across Hanzo’s back, burning his fur and making him howl.
The fight is brief but brutal. Hanzo pries scales loose on McCree’s neck until he can sink his claws into the gap in his armour while the red dragon crushes his tail beneath his massive paws. Their roars shake the mountainside but they soon reach a stalemate with Hanzo’s teeth in his throat and McCree’s claws in his belly.
“Alright,” McCree growls, his claws flexing as Hanzo tightens his hold. “This can end one of two ways. Yer either satisfied with what ya got, a nice little duel n’ some blood, or we keep goin’ until one of us is killed. Yer choice, partner.”
There’s a part of Hanzo that wishes to rip the flesh between his teeth and taste McCree’s lifeblood. He knows, however, that continuing is a deadly choice and the ruling part of him balks at leaving Genji. Hanzo releases his jaws -- and true to his word, McCree removes his claws from the soft scales of his underbelly.
The moment they have untangled themselves from each other, they hit the ground with identical heavy thuds and pained groans from human-shape throats. The harpy Gabe is at McCree’s side instantly and presses bandages to the ragged mess of his throat and shoulder. “Hold still,” he says sharply. McCree chuckles and tries to fend him off, but in human-shape and bleeding copiously he’s easy enough for his guardian to ignore.
Hanzo has to cradle his own cracked bones. It’s nothing a little convalescing at the bottom of the lake will not fix, but getting there will be a painful. For now he sits and tries to get his breath back. Hanzo tries not to listen as the other dragon and his guardian speak in soft voices but doesn’t look away when Gabe turns a venomous expression on him.
McCree reaches under his serape, and Hanzo looks over to see the other dragon regarding him with a cigarillo in hand. He lights it with a little flame that curls between his lips and bites down on the end when Gabe presses harder on the bandages. “So,” McCree grit out. “Ya mind tellin’ me what all that was about?”
“I told you,” Hanzo snaps. “You injured my brother.”
“So ya did.” McCree blows out a thick cloud, his eyes glowing red for a moment. “So what’d I do that got you so riled up? Did I make him cry or somethin’?”
Hanzo is quiet for a moment. “He came to me with a cut across his chest.”
“And he said I did it?” McCree arches a brow and waits, but Hanzo does not answer. “When he left here he was in one piece, I promise. For whatever my word’s worth to ya, Shimada Hanzo.”
“I- forgive me, I have acted rashly.” Hanzo ducks his head low and stumbles to his feet. He sways heavily but finds his balance quickly enough. “Forgive me, I thought- I will take my leave of you now.”
They let him go, though Hanzo cannot guess at their thoughts. He can only feel his own shame as he limps to the river and gratefully slips down the bank and lets the gentle current carry him back to his lake.