Chapter Text
He's organizing his notes for about the third time and trying to find the common thread, the hook that's going to make this paper an actual analysis and not a collection of fun facts, when something thuds against the door.
He hears two voices giggling outside, a soft moan, and prays it's someone from down the hall, that they just accidentally stopped at his door-- but the universe forsakes him. The door-handle clunks and then there's the jingle of keys, interupted with a wet sound another moan.
"Fuck's sake, I'll get it," he yells, and storms across the room to open the deadbolt.
They don't hear him over the noise of their own bumping and writhing against the wood, and he really should say something--
He doesn't.
Carl and Johann spill through the door, limbs tangled together, and he steps aside and lets them both fall on the floor.
"Sorry, I told you I was getting it," Han says sweetly. "Guess you didn't hear me?"
"Fuck, Han," Carl spits. "You're such an asshole."
"It's not his fault," Johann soothes. He seems to have a well of Benefit of the Doubt that doesn't run dry, despite Han's best efforts. He stands and hoists Han's roommate to his feet. "Come on, babe, I've got you."
"I'd have cleared out if you told me you were having Johann over," Han says, not-very-subtly pissed off that Carl never seems to remember to warn him, barely seems to acknowledge that he has a roommate at all.
Carl doesn't notice that he's being passive aggressive, too busy trying to pull his massive boyfriend over to the bed, but Johann does, and gives him a chagrined look over Carl's head.
"We should have, I'm sorry. You don't have to leave, we can... hmm-" the blond looks apologetic. "Actually, there's a house party at my place, we can't go back there."
There's the sound of a zipper opening, and Johann bites his lip. Carl's one track mind isn't about to deviate on account of something as insignificant as another body in the room, obviously.
"It's fine, I'll hit the library or something," Han sighs.
"Thank god," Carl mutters.
He gathers his notes quickly, deliberately not looking over at the two of them, and slams the door spitefully behind him.
Maybe he needs a change of scene for this damn paper anyway.
Jin used to warn him when she had dates. And bribe him with pringles to leave.
It's hard to admit how much he misses being Jin's roommate sometimes. It's so tied up in so much bullshit-- the university registering him for an all-female dorm in the first place, the months of jumping through paperwork hoops before some bright spark at the res office realized oh gosh, oh golly, I guess he is legally male after all and we've been dancing on the edge of a lawsuit all this time.
And it'd been a goddamn victory, but -- then it meant leaving Jin. The one person in this university he sort of got along with. Most of his floormates had been good about the thing, but Jin had been special. She'd just accepted that she had a male roommate and made adjustments and set boundaries as if they'd known each other all their lives. Even with people who meant well there were false starts-- and Han isn't good at forgiving false starts, so they turn into awkward resentment pretty fast.
Not with Jin, though. Jin had been... good. He could have talked about this with her. They could have watched old movies together and binged on pizza. She's gotten busy with some club or another these days, though. He hardly even sees her. He should probably try to make other friends, maybe.
He's not good at that. Friends.
Wrapped up in thought he hurries down the stairs and bangs open the stairwell door just as a group of girls reaches it. He actually knocks the smallest one backward, and grabs for her, horrified, catching her wrist before she overbalances and falls .
She looks up through a spill of neon-green bangs and he's so surprised that he almost drops her anyway. It's Jin.
"Excuse us," says one of her friends sharply. Tall, blond, white -- he doesn't know this one. The other girl with them is Jin's girlfriend Zoe, who's already one one knee gathering Han's dropped notes and Jin's dropped bag.
"Ohmygod Han!" Jin squeaks, and lunges into his arms for a hug. "Angie, this is Han! I told you about him."
"Nice to meet you," says Angie, tone absolutely implying the opposite.
"What have you done to your hair?" he demands, arms up awkwardly as she squeezes him.
She pulls back and gives him a shy smile. "...well. Zoe and I are..."
"You don't owe him an explanation." Angie puts in.
"He's our friend, Ange. He's just making conversation," Zoe soothes. "Hey, Han, these look important." She offers his notes.
"Thanks. I'm just heading out to Rotherford. Johann's over."
Jin nods knowingly. He may have complained to her about Carl's failings as a roommate once or twice. Or more.
"I could sneak you some pringles," she offers, winking. "Just in case you wind up accidentally pulling an allnighter, again."
"Don't bring me into your life of library crime," Han scolds. "I like not being banned from the libraries."
"I'm only on probation!"
"Mm-hmm." He rolls his eyes at her. "Hey, do you want to grab a pizza tonight?"
Her eyes light up-- and then her face falls. "We actually-- we have a thing tonight."
"Your nerd club, huh?" It comes out more bitter than he means it to, and he's already wincing internally as he watches the hurt bloom across Jin's face.
"Maybe tomorrow?" she suggests, instead of taking it out on him.
"Maybe. Whatever," he says, instead of what he wants to which is 'yes, I miss you so much'.
Zoe frowns at him.
"I guess text me," Jin says, and screws on another bright smile before zipping away and up the stairs.
Angie's voice fades out as the door shuts behind the three women-- "What a dick."
So that went well.
He goes to the library.
He's sorting out his notes for the fourth time when he finds it; there's an unfamiliar folder mixed in with his study materials. It must be Jin's, accidentally gathered up in the mess when they'd both dropped their things. It's labeled in her surprisingly need handwriting-- O V W.
It must be for one of her classes; he hopes she didn't need it tonight. He flips it open to see if he can recognize the subject matter, and then stares.
It's a character for some kind of ... roleplaying game? Not any of the D&Ds-- shamefully, he would recognize any of those. There's a distinctly homebrewed look to the formatting, clip art of a star logo in the upper corner, the word 'OVERWATCH'. The sheet's full of stats and tightly-written text spilling out of the box marked 'backstory'. He flips it to the back; there's a picture of some kind of robot doodled in. Back to the front.
Character name Zenyatta
Race Omnic
Gender N/A
Player name Zoe M.
The backstory is almost unreadable-- not that Zoe's handwriting is bad, just that it's referencing a history that he doesn't know, the words 'omnic crisis' popping up more than once. Omnic is obviously some flavor of robot, but not in any fandom he knows of.
There's another character sheet.
Character name Angela Ziegler 'Mercy'
Race Human
Gender F
Player name Angie L.
Then there's a carefully inked sketch of another robot-- or maybe a cyborg? It has hair and a human face. He'd recognize Jin's art style anywhere, he knows all the animes she cribs from. It's black and white, except she's taken a green highlighter to the hair.
It almost exactly matches her shocking new haircolor.
...she's not just in a roleplaying group, he realizes, in a flash of inspiration. She's LARPing.
This is the club she's been so cagey about?
He doesn't admit to anyone-- not even Jin-- about his shameful, shameful history with DnD 4e in highschool. In fact, he's always been... well, kind of a dick about the whole subject. He might... possibly... be overcompensating. Maybe. Slightly.
He groans quietly, sagging back in his hard library chair. No wonder Jin's been avoiding him. He should probably apologize. And get her her reference stuff back, too. And probably stop going through it.
Although...
There's a stapled, photo-copied booklet on the other side of the folder that looks to have some campaign player notes in it, and he has to admit from what he's read he's pretty interested. And under the sketch is a third character sheet--
Character name Genji Shimada
Race Human (cyb)
Gender M
Player name Jin A.
And he's already reading the 'backstory' section before he can talk himself out of it.
A few minutes later he's so engrossed in the campaign pamphlet that he doesn't notice his phone vibrate; he flips the page to a new heading -- 'Blackwatch'-- and realizes that his thigh is buzzing and actually has been for a little while.
He pulls it out; the notification screen is a series of texts-- another comes in even as he watches, and another. They're all from Jin.
From Jin: hey i think you got some of my stuff
From Jin: not a big deal just bio
From Jin: dont look at it
From Jin: blu folder with OVW on front
From Jin: need it for study group tonite
From Jin: sorry to bother you
From Jin: but i really need those notes back
From Jin: r u even getting these
She's already typing again when he unlocks the phone and flips to the messaging app, an ellipsis that pulses, then goes static as she stops typing, then vanishes as she deletes whatever she typed, then pulses again
To Jin: I found your bio notes
From Jin: cool u didnt look at them right
To Jin: I would never trespass upon the property of the Shimada clan lest my life be forfeit
From Jin: omg you asshole
From Jin: rip me
From Jin: orz ;_;
To Jin: It's okay. I'm just messing with you.
From Jin: too late
From Jin: im dead and im in hell
To Jin: Look if i tell you a thing I haven't told anyone in this entire state will you forgive me?
The response is immediate.
From Jin: YESS :O :O :O
Han sighs. Well, too late to turn back.
To Jin: Name: Solithar
To Jin: Class: Ranger
To Jin: Race: High elf
From Jin: :3c
To Jin: Weapon: Elemental bow
To Jin: Player name: Han O. ages 13-17
From Jin: thank u solithar for this gift ;u;
To Jin: I shall ever be your ally, Shimada-chan
From Jin: <3
From Jin: u want to meet everyone
From Jin: were at the indoor track in Foster
His eyebrows jump. Foster's the nice indoor track.
To Jin: How even? Did you break in?
From Jin: O: no
From Jin: coach amari is our official fac advisor
From Jin: were an official club
From Jin: she even has a char
For a day that started out the same as any other, he's having so many revelations. Coach Amari is a nerd. Jin is playing a cyborg that's dating a robot that's played by her girlfriend. There's an entire homebrewed scifi campaign being LARPed on this very campus.
He's never LARPed, he's sort of dubious about the whole thing, but there's a part of him that really wants to be in a campaign again. He misses arguing about rolls and updating character sheets and sharing dumb jokes and a whole story with a group of other people.
...it'd end so badly, though, he always gets too serious, there are always hurt feelings.
But wow, he really misses it.
He sweeps his actual homework into a stack, puts the Overwatch folder on top of it. He still has a week before the paper is due, anyway, it's not even a particularly hard assignment. Besides, the walk to Foster might jar his brain a little, provide inspiration.
But he's not thinking the paper as he sets off into the quad; he's thinking about a rebellious Yakuza heir named Genji, and his dark past.
Han's never actually been in Foster when there wasn't a basketball game or something happening; with the double doors shut and most of the lights off, it's downright forbidding. He hovers on the doorstep, wondering if he should text Jin and doublecheck that he's at the right building.
"It's unlocked," someone says behind him, making him jump. Then: "Oh, hey, Han!"
He turns. Johann's jogging up; he's out of breath. He and Carl must have finished up quickly, either that or he ran here all the way from the dorm. Or a combination of the two. The white boy has a huge duffelbag over his shoulder. "Are you here, for, uhhhhh-"
"Overwatch?"
Johann sags in relief. "I didn't want to say it."
"I'm not really-- I accidentally got some of Jin's reference sheets." And some character sheets that weren't hers as collateral, but he doesn't much care about Angie's feelings and nothing bothers Zoe.
"Aw. Well. You know, if you're ever looking for group, we could use another sniper. Coach Amari can't always come, and ever since Julia wrote up a Talon character..." he shakes his head ruefully. "Sorry, nerd stuff."
"No, I get it. Party composition. It's important." Han tries the door, hesitant and hating that he's hesitant. But like Johann said, it's unlocked, and he swings it wide.
Johann ducks past him gratefully, flopping down his duffelbag inside the door and pulling out ... a massive foam rubber warhammer? And then what might actually be an SCA regulation helmet, with foam detailing spraypainted silver.
"I thought this was a Sci-fi campaign," Han says with a frown.
"Well, there's robots and nanites and supersoldiers, but..." Johann gives a sheepish smile. "It all got a little freeform. And I love knights."
"Apparently," Han agrees, bemused, watching him pull out pieces of foam rubber armor and start strapping them on. "How does that work out mechanic-wise? What system do you use?"
"We don't do a lot of actual combat with the story," Johann tells him, between velcroing on his greaves. "We had this one climactic battle that killed everyone and then we all decided to retcon that because we got attached to our characters. So the story happens face to face, the battles aren't canonical... but man, they're fun."
"I've only-" Han rolls a pair of invisible dice. "Tabletop. I'm not sure how that would even work."
"It's great! We build backstories, we do small campaigns and missions online, and every week we get together to murder each other in the gym. Sort of in character. Like training exercises, I guess. Then we don't have to worry about continuity."
"...huh," Han says, dubiously. Maybe this is a little too chaotic for him. That's a disappointing thought, though; he hadn't realized he'd gotten so attached to the character he was musing over on the way, but ... well, it's a moot point, Jin probably wouldn't have gone for it anyway.
He trails along after a now-armored Johann, following him up the central stairs towards the gym.
"Anyway. though. Everyone's probably in the gym, I can go in and get Jin's attention. It's going to be hectic in there."
Han can already hear shouts, laughter, the squeak of tennis shoes on polished wood.
"Technically the whole second floor is combat eligible but mostly-" Johann is saying, and that's when the bag of black glitter smacks into his face. Both of them turn on their heels, seeing the shadow lurking in the empty doorway too late.
"Death comes to the tardy, Reinhardt," the shadow growls.
"Aw," Johann sighs. "I didn't even get in the door."
"And you, foolish mortal, should be working on your Econ paper."
Han's mouth falls open.
"Professor Reyes?"
"I am Reaper!" But the professor is already pulling off his halloween mask, grinning. "Hey, you're not joining up, are you? Do you have a character concept yet? Can I sell you on Talon? Villains get to have much more fun."
"I'm not even sure I'm joining yet." Han holds up a hand. "I just -- I have something of Jin's I need to-"
"Yeah, of course. Hey, Johann, if you don't want to get murdered again you might want to go in OOC." Reyes flashes a quick handsign to remind him.
"I was going to! I didn't think anyone was going to be lurking in the hall, prof," Johann says indignantly.
"Well, that just goes to show you that you should expect an attack at any-"
There's the sound of pounding feet suddenly, and the soft pop of compressed air, and a nerf dart smacks square into professor Reyes' chest.
Han blinks again. The day... somehow just keeps getting weirder. His Econ professor was just assassinated by Jin's bio advisor.
"Dammit, Morrison, really?" Reyes sighs.
"You weren't OOC," Professor Morrison says with a grin, and takes off down the hall back toward another gym entrance.
"I'll get you, my pretty!" Reyes shouts after him.
"Let's go," Johann mutters, and Han does, gratefully.
The battle is wrapping up when they get into the gym proper; two ragtag teams in bizarre costumes tallying up kills and laughing with each other. Johann trudges over to admit that he got murdered, leading to a round of good-natured razzing.
Han sees Jin in the middle of what must be the overwatch team, wearing a few pieces of foam armor that's sleeker and more cybernetic than Johann's faux-dark ages pieces, and Zoe's in a silver outfit and some cool robotic facepaint. Angie has fabric wings. Of course she does. The costumes are all different, but all thorough.
Everyone here made an effort.
They didn't all make the same effort, which is actually kind of hilarious and amazing, they look like they came out of six different roleplaying systems let alone different campaigns, there's a player from the women's rugby team in classic box-robot armor, that's the center of the men's basketball team in candypunk drag holding a miniature mech, and is that guy wearing a halloween gorilla mask and a storm trooper outfit? What?
Han catches himself grinning and stop instantly. He reminds himself that he doesn't have time for this. Even if he did, Jin might not even want him here. She's being nice about it, but he really was a dick about her 'nerd club' and ... it could be weird.
Jin catches his eye, and she gives him a hesitant smile.
He holds out her folder like a peace offering, and the hesitant smile blooms into a sunny grin. She's glowing with exertion, sweating into her foam rubber, and she's so happy she almost skips over to him to grab it.
"Hey, I'm glad you came."
"Thanks for sharing. I'm sorry about-"
"It's okay, let's just forget it," she says, too fast. "Han, do you, uh-"
"I was wondering if-"
"I mean no pressure but-"
"I wanted to ask you about Genji's backstory."
Jin gasps, looking like all her christmases have come at once. "Oh my god. Yes. I have spent SO much time working on his backstory."
"It's about his brother."
"Yes. I never get to talk about his brother. I have a whole thing, I want to do a redemption arc, I want them to reunite, but I can't do it obviously because I can't run my own NPC and nobody else is into it. But oh man I can't stop thinking about them back to back, swords drawn-"
"Does it have to be a sword?" spills out of his mouth, and he shuts it with a snap. He's an idiot.
"I... guess it doesn't have to be," Jin says, blinking. "What are you thinking?"
"I was thinking maybe a bow. Overwatch needs a sniper, right?"
"Oh, that's awesome. No, I love it."
"I was thinking--" He makes himself go on. "I miss you, Jin."
"Me too, buddy."
"I -- I was thinking I could join the game."
Her mouth forms a perfect o.
"IwasthinkingIcouldplayGenji'sbrother." He lets out a breath. "Maybe just try it. For a game or two."
Jin inhales and for a second he's worried that he's fucked absolutely everything up, if it wasn't awkward already it sure is now, he's so bad at making friends, he's not going to fit in, Jin's upset and she's trying not to make him feel bad-
"eeeeEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" She hurls herself at him for the second time that day and he grabs her back this time, careful not to mess up any of her armor.
"Hey, darlin', try to keep it a register humans can hear," someone laughs from beside them.
"Shut UP Joel. Han's joining the game. He's going to be part of Genji's backstory! Oh, oh, Han, this is Joel, he plays Jesse McCree, he's-"
"Genji's best friend in blackwatch," Han finishes.
Jin grins up at him, with that pure rper joy he's only experienced once or twice himself-- it's that 'someone actually read my backstory' happiness.
Han gives Joel a long look. He hadn't expected full on Vacquero cowboy in a scifi campaign, but then again... well, look at everyone else. His freaking econ professor is out in the hall dressed like Scream and professor Morrison is letter-jacket bladerunner. Sure. Why not a cowboy. At least nobody can give him shit for playing a samurai.
"Pleased to meet you," says Joel, his twang diminishing but not quite vanishing. He sticks out a hand. "I'm looking forward to it. It'll be good for Genji to have a friend who isn't his dirtbag brother."
"Hey, slap a band-aid on that character bleed," Jin scolds, but Joel ignores her.
"I almost wish someone would play the guy so that I could give him a few rounds in the head, but I can't imagine what kind of creep would want to try him on for size," the cowboy scoffs. "So, who're you playing?"
It's a short sharp jolt of reality to bring him down from the weird giddiness of getting into a sprawling campaign. This is a lot more like it. This is Han's life.
Han doesn't have friends. Han doesn't get invited to things.
No. Han meets the most beautiful man he's ever seen in his life, and the guy's already decided he's a creep.
Fuck him and his thriftstore cowboy hat and his goofy red poncho.
The last doubts have burned away. Han's not just going to play, he's going to play well. They want a sniper? They're getting the best sniper, and if they don't like it too bad. He's going to rub his kill count in Joel's gorgeous face.
"Hanzo Shimada."
Joel's eyes widen. Han pulls his shoulders back and lifts his chin like the cold-blooded Yakuza assassin he is, and grips Joel's hand, hard.
"Pleased to make your acquaintance... cowboy."