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There was a glorious tension in the air in the moments before a battle was to start, an electricity you could feel on your skin. Reinhardt knew it well. He adored the feeling, it filled him with a fire that rivaled his crusader suit's engine and bore him into the fray eager and ready. Danger was a dizzying elixir to the warrior and he rushed toward it with great haste, anxious to taste that riveting feeling once more.
Why, then, was this brave titan of a man - a crusader who had charged into hordes of omnics without the slightest hint of fear - suddenly paralyzed at the sight of long, dark hair under a blue beret where Ana Amari stood humming to herself, reading the morning's briefings while she waited for her tea to cool?
Reinhardt was rarely able to forget just how large a man he was - the narrow doors in the Overwatch facility were always quick to remind him - yet at this particular moment he felt strangely small, unable to find his voice or the strength to step into the break room and present Ana with the gift he'd brought back from the Morocco mission.
The pretty marble falcon statue had been a surprising find, one he hoped would be appropriate given her former codename. He had already been warned against giving flowers, which suited him just fine. To him, Ana deserved something beautiful but also solid, strong. Enduring. The marble statue seemed much more worthy of her.
Of course none of that mattered if he couldn't get up the courage to offer it to her.
Luckily, he soon got his chance. Sampling her tea to test the temperature, Ana nodded approvingly on her way out of the break room, smiling warmly when she spotted the tall blond man shifting awkwardly with his hands behind his back. "Good morning, Reinhardt."
"Hello, Ana!" Reinhardt bellowed, forcing a broad smile to his face in hopes it might be big enough to hide his nervousness behind. He nodded toward the briefing file. "Off on another adventure so soon?"
Ana chuckled into her tea. "Something like that," she mused. "And you? More honor and glory to be had?"
"Always!" Reinhardt laughed, his voice easily filling the small room. "Er, but first, some breakfast, I think."
"Of course," Ana said, "no glory on an empty stomach." She chuckled again, tucking the briefing file under one arm and patting his middle teasingly as she walked past.
Reinhardt felt his cheeks flush and found himself immediately grateful Ana was too busy focusing on her tea to notice. He felt a momentary wave of relief that the conversation had gone so well, only to realize he was still holding the gift behind his back. "Er, wait, Ana!"
He hurried out into the hall after her, stopping short when he spotted the blue-white glow of the hologram projector in her hand. A handsome man with long, dark hair was talking about preparing for her visit, going on and on about how instrumental she'd been in protecting their facility. "Let's hope I won't be asked to give you a repeat performance," Ana added.
"Yes," the man said, "it would be nice to get a chance to talk to you when we're not being shot at for a change."
Ana laughed, and Reinhardt couldn't help but notice how warm a laugh it was - not the usual teasing chuckle they so often shared. "I should be there by morning," she said, still aglow.
"I can't wait," the man said, just as warmly.
The small falcon statue suddenly felt very heavy in Reinhardt's strong hands, and he looked down at the chipped marble of it, feeling the tiniest pang of loss. But then Ana laughed again, and the sound of it was so welcome nothing else much mattered for a moment. Tucking the statue behind him as Ana put the projector away and continued on down the hall, humming to herself and walking with a new sway in her step, Reinhardt instead turned to head in the opposite direction, toward the hangar.
An hour later, as Ana strapped in for her flight and the pilot warmed up the engines, she spotted a tiny statue resting on the empty seat next to her. Curious, she picked it up gingerly and examined the craftsmanship. It wasn't terribly ornate, just simple, solid, and a little worn around the edges.
Naturally, she loved it at once, delicately bundling it with her gear and settling back with a smile for the long flight to Vancouver.