Work Text:
There were a lot of perks to being a pro-gamer in Hana’s opinion, and not just the obvious of being able to play the games you loved for a living. There were the endless sponsorship deals, the chance to travel to so many amazing countries, as well as the fact that the average person on the street wasn’t going to recognize you by sheer sight alone, which meant you could still go out and eat a burger in peace.
But there were drawbacks as well, and those were things that Hana was more familiar with the more time went on. On bad days you couldn’t even fall back on video games to get you through, it felt like you were always working. All too often the fans seemingly had no concept of what personal boundaries were, something her teammates weren’t always wary of either. But most of all, the thing that ate at her the most with the travel and the schedule she was upholding, was the persistent feeling of being lonely. It had been so long since she’d just sat down for a real conversation with someone that didn’t have anything to do with advertising or strategy, just to get a milkshake and shoot the shit for a while until they were too tired to do anything except lean on each other and sleep.
She’d only been lucky enough to have that with one person, and it had been months since she’d seen them. Maybe with the call from Overwatch she’d have a chance to meet some more people who were interested in something other than what they did for a day job, but from the old holotapes she’d watched of them in their heyday she wasn’t holding her breath.
So here Hana was, in a half empty arcade in the middle of Hanamura next to what looked suspiciously like a crime syndicate slotting handfuls of tokens into fighting game after fighting game until it was time to go and convince some bartender to sell her some sake for later. It was a better plan than hanging out at the hotel and listening to Jae-Hwa’s clumsy pick up lines.
Or at least it would be, if she could pick a machine that wasn’t continuously glitching out and deleting her high scores off the face of the earth. The next time it happened she was liable to put her fist through the screen, and she would, she had the money to pay for it.
All she really needed was just one game to go by without a hitch, it had been a bad week and she was tired of having to constantly smile and pretend that everything was alright, just one game where she could see her name pop up on that number one spot, where she could finally feel better and walk away with a sense of pride…
“Or maybe you could just crash again like every other piece of shit in this arcade!” She yelled, the screen filling with static and the entire machine rebooting. “You motherfucker! Sshib-saeg-gi! Jot gat-eon ssi-bal-nom-a!”
She punctuated each curse with a savage kick to the middle of the machine, foot denting the aluminum panelling and echoing through the arcade. She’d rented out the entire fourth floor so she wouldn’t be disturbed, but with the volume and savagery of her kicks she would be just as likely to get a visit from the manager just to make sure she wasn’t murdering someone up there.
Finally, after putting a sizable dent in the machine and gaining an ache in her toes, Hana fell back against the wall and slid down to the ground.
“Fuck sake,” She sighed, “Can’t something go right?”
“Uhh…” Hana threw her head up in alarm at the voice, looking around frantically before something shimmered in front of the machine she’d just finished kicking. “I thought it was gonna be a fun prank, I didn’t think you’d be this mad.”
The shimmer got larger, distorting the environment around it before flashing bright white. Hana blinked harshly in surprise, taking a second to clear her vision before staring up at the newly revealed woman in front of her.
“ Hola,” Sombra greeted, a small grimace on her face and a hand held up in greeting. “You’re not pissed at me are you?”
“You!” Hana yelled furiously, on her feet in a second and advancing on Sombra. She tried to back away but found herself thumping into the very machine she’d been manipulating in the first place, giving her just enough time to recognize the irony before Hana bounced her fist off her chest.
“You giant! Prick! Asshole!” She grunted, hitting her with each word. “You just leave without a word for months! You said you would call!”
“I know I- ow, I know,” Sombra replied, trying her best to grab the fists that were still bouncing so lightly off her chest. “I got held up you know, things came up! But I’m here now, right?”
Hana stopped her assault, looking up at her and narrowing her eyes. “What kind of things came up?”
“The kind that it’s better that we don’t talk about?” She answered, the evasion completely transparent to them both but the reason why was understood easily. “Come on Han, I’m here, I’m queer, let’s play some games huh? Forget about everything else for a while.”
Hana stepped back, looking around at the last dozen machines that had all glitched up and prevented her from playing. “You promise you won’t screw with me anymore? We’re on the fourth floor and you don’t weigh that much, I could probably throw you over…”
“I promise, I promise,” Sombra said, raising her hands in surrender, “I’m just gonna beat you with pure skill.”
“Oh please,” Hana said, rolling her eyes and picking out a fresh machine, “If you can manage to beat me I’ll buy the drinks tonight.”
“Oh? I’m getting a drink with you tonight?”
“Well yeah,” She said, “Now that you’re back in town you think I’m gonna go back to the hotel and sit around while some dude ogles my ass?”
“No, of course not,” Sombra snorted, “You’re gonna go get drunk with me and sit around while I ogle it.”
Hana winked, taking her seat on her side of the machine. “That’s right. Now shut up and get playing.”
The first rounds went by in a flash, Sombra clearly out of practice from whatever mission it was that she’d been on doing whatever illegal thing required her to hide her face wherever she went. Hana considered taking it easy on her for a while, then she looked over at the dent in the machine she’d kicked and resolved to go even harder, her opponent barely able to get a single move in before the games were over.
“ Ay this is bullshit!” Sombra yelled, slapping her hand on the console. “Let’s do something else, this game is fucking rigged!”
“It’s not rigged, I’m just better than you.” Hana smirked, leaning her chin on her palms. “What’s the matter? You getting grumpy?”
Sombra stood with a huff, moving over towards an ancient Time Crisis booth and pouting. “You’re lucky that you’re cute...”
“Aww I am aren’t I?” Hana jumped up, linking their arms together and leaning her head against Sombra’s shoulder. “Offer still stands, if you beat me I pay for your drinks.”
“Pff, you say that like you think I’m going to.”
“Hmm? What happened to that confidence you always have?” She asked, “Finally admitting that you think I’m way more skilled than you?”
“Maybe I’m just trying to get you to let your guard down…” Sombra smirked, reaching her hand down Hana’s back and smacking it against her cheek, making her jump in shock. “Guess you won’t know which one till it’s too late.”
Unfortunately for Sombra, even with her guard adequately down Hana was no slouch when it came to shooting things, her time in the military giving her more skills than she showed off in her everyday life. Even Sombra, who made a dedicated living shooting at things that both moved and did not was taken aback, not doing poorly by any means but still trailing noticeably behind in terms of score. By the time their third map was finished Hana still had the lead at 470,000 points, with Sombra trailing behind at 450,000 much to her chagrin.
“Woo!” Hana shouted, hands above her head, “Told you I was the best, I guess you’re paying for the drinks then.”
“Hmm, I dunno about that conejita,” She said, tapping the tips of her fingers against the surface of the machine by her leg. “Looks like I have the bigger score?”
“You wha-” Hana stared at the screen with an open mouth, fighting to make sure that what she was seeing was actually real.
Final Score:
Han - 470,000
Som - 470,001
“Oops.” She brushed Hana’s arm as she passed her by, throwing a wink over her shoulder. “Good thing that you’re so much more successful than me huh? You’ve got cash to spare.”
Hana looked between the screen and her with a scowl, following soon after and huffing, “Fine, I’ll buy you a stupid drink. Well played.”
Unfortunately the owner of the bar across the street recognized Hana, even having a feed of her latest match playing behind the counter. Fortunately however all it took was an autograph and a coy wink for a bottle of sake and a closed sign on the door, leaving Sombra and herself as the only patrons for the foreseeable future. Not exactly an ideal journey, but the outcome was good enough she supposed.
She took a sip of her sake, slipping her head against the counter and sighing to herself, “I just want to go somewhere I won’t be recognized on sight for once…”
Sombra was quiet at first, slowly drinking from her own glass before leaning closer. “You’re joining Overwatch aren’t you?”
“I… what?” Hana said, turning to her with surprise written across her face. “How did you know that?”
She shrugged. “You talk in your sleep Han, especially when you’re worried about something. You got the call what, four months ago or something?”
“Yeah… they said that I could finish up what I was doing with this trip then come join them on whatever it was they were doing.” She ran a finger around the rim of her glass, frowning at her reflection. “Just a few more days then I’m gonna be finished with all this. Guess it’s back to fighting after that.”
“And is that what you want to do?”
“What?” She looked back up at Sombra, easy grin gone from her face and replaced with utter seriousness. “Why wouldn’t it be? I’ve looked up to them since I was a kid.”
“Just because they’re your heroes doesn’t mean you have to fight with them. You just got finished fighting someone’s war, don’t think that you have to get dragged into someone else’s.” Sombra gulped the rest of her drink, not waiting for Hana to pour her next cup. “You’ve still got other things open to you, don’t forget that.”
“Is that why you do what you do?” She asked, leaning closer, “You think you don’t have anything else going for you?”
The tension that had been building was burst as soon as the first giggle pushed through Sombra’s lips. “Please, we don’t have nearly enough time to go into why I do what I do, I just don’t want anything to happen to you.”
“You’re worried about what might happen to us you mean.” Hana tilted her head at her, searching her eyes for the answer she was keeping from her. “When you disappear… you’re not doing the sorts of things they would ignore, are you?”
She blew a breath through her nose, raising her hands in surrender and smirking. “You got me, when I leave on the weekends I go out and dismantle world powers, it’s real taxing work. Maybe you should try it with me sometime?”
Hana rolled her eyes, bumping her shoulder against Sombra’s and laughing into her drink, “Fine, whatever dumbass. If we run into each other I guess you won’t mind if I shoot you then...”
“Well, I’d mind a
little
bit…” She scooted closer, hanging her arm over Hana’s shoulders and pressing their cheeks together. “It’s nice to be worried about, but I guess you don’t need to be worried about huh?”
“Oh I need to be worried about alright, I just don’t need to be worried
for.”
Hana stuck her tongue out, dragging it up Sombra’s cheek and laughing at her disgusted grimace, “See? You were too busy worrying I was gonna be hurt that you forgot how much of a threat I am!”
“Yeah conejita, I guess I did. I keep forgetting just how dangerous you really are…” She turned Hana to face her, eyes still crinkled with laughter and her cheeks bright red. Her hair was messy, outfit a cross between what you wear when you don’t want someone to see your face and the pair of pajamas that you wore to bed the previous night. If one of her more obsessive fans was to see her right now all their delicate ideas of what Hana was and should be like would be destroyed, but Sombra wasn’t one of Hana’s fans.
She was a mess, the fun, exciting mess that you make when you’re cooking with someone you love and one of you starts throwing food, or when you end the perfect date by shoving them into a fountain, but a mess nonetheless. But deep down, under all the facades that Hana wore, the a-league professional gamer, the tired ex-soldier, the mysterious, sometimes vulgar civilian that she passed herself off as on her offtime, under all of that she was just as much of a mess as she was.
Maybe that was why they fit together so well. Maybe that was why she cared so much about her. Whatever the reason, with those big, beautiful eyes staring back at her and those lips that were curled in a smile that was so shy yet oozed so much confidence, how could she do anything other than kiss her?
Though to her surprise, Hana wasn’t waiting around for her to sort her feelings out. With a hand fisted in Sombra’s hair, she pulled her head towards her, their lips pressing together gently and their eyes closing, the whole world falling silent around them and leaving them in their own little bubble. They both still had sake on their lips, their noses wrinkling at the taste, but it wasn’t long before they noticed other things.
Hana tasted like blueberries, every lip balm she ever wore tasted like some form of berry but this was the one she liked the most, the taste always bringing a smile to her face whenever she popped her lips together. But her favorite flavor might have been what she tasted on Sombra’s tongue, the familiar bite of lime bringing her back to the days they’d spent enjoying the sunlight, beaches in America and bars in Europe, wherever Hana had ended up going on tour Sombra was somehow always there to see her, dragging her off to some unseen corner of the country to drink tequila and laugh at each other’s terrible jokes.
It was incredible to them just how much memory you could pack into a single moment, one single kiss feeling like it had the weight of the world resting on it, but by now, with the strange lives that both of them led, it was almost something approaching normal. Sombra, with the life that she was always surprised lasted one more day, and Hana, who since she was born had never really had a moment to be normal.
“I think we fit together,” Sombra said, separating their lips and running her fingers through Hana’s hair.
Hana giggled, letting her forehead rest against Sombra’s and sighing contently, “Yeah, I guess we do.”
They became dimly aware that they weren’t actually in private, their eyes going wide and their heads shooting around before they realized that the owner had stepped into the backroom, the muffled thrum of applause telling them that he was still watching the game from the previous day. Sombra let out a sigh of relief, she didn’t really care if she was seen making out with someone in public, but to someone like Hana that could be a career ending scandal. Sure she was going to be leaving soon anyway, but that didn’t mean her name should be dragged through the mud either.
It wasn’t like she couldn’t do something about it if that happened, but she didn’t want to have to put Hana in that position in the first place.
“Sorry,” She said, “Guess I should’ve… is that a bullet hole?”
Hana looked over her shoulder, running her fingers along the wall and dipping them into the ruined sheet of wood where something very heavy and very fast had punched clean through. “Yeah, this place got shot up a while ago. Apparently it was some Clint Eastwood cosplayer, I dunno.”
“Right yeah I forgot, the Shimada’s are pretty much right across the road, I forgot why I was being careful today.” She finished off her glass, squeezing her arm tighter around Hana and smiling as widely as she could. “So where are you staying?”
“Ugh, with the rest of the team.” Hana stuck her tongue out in disgust. “One of them doesn’t shower and he can’t eat without making a mess, it sucks.”
“Well… I’m not too far away,” She said, tapping her fingers lightly, “Why don’t you stay with me tonight?”
“Hmm... “ Hana hummed, “You know there’s rules about that sort of thing, being that I have to sleep where they tell me to sleep and when they say to do it.”
“Oh? And you always follow those rules huh?”
“Pssh, yeah right!” She laughed, “I’m leaving in a few weeks and I’m the best player on the team, what are they gonna do? Fire me?”
“Well, glad that’s settled. Come on then, drinking’s got me tired and my bed is comfortable.”
Hana grabbed her hand, following her out the door and towards whatever hotel it was that Sombra was staying at. With someone to join her the walk felt so much brighter, each step she took not so heavy and the air clearer in her lungs. It didn’t take a genius to figure out exactly why Sombra made her feel this way, but it was still something that filled her with an incredible amount of terror.
“Hey Som…” She said, squeezing Sombra’s hand, “I… thanks for showing up.”
Sombra smiled at her, all warmth and no sarcasm, a rare sight that was more often than not exclusive for her eyes only. “Don’t worry about it conejita, being around you… makes me happy.”
Hana blushed, hiding her face. “You care about me huh?”
“No shit, I don’t exactly roll out the welcome mat for anyone but… yeah, I care about you.”
“Even if I end up shooting you one day?”
“Yeah Han,” She chuckled, “Even if you end up shooting me one day.”
There were still so many questions that Hana needed the answers to, so many things that she didn’t know about this woman who had flown into her life and torn everything up in such a short time, but for now this moment, in this place, with this woman was good enough for her. And in her eyes, there was only one thing that she could say that would do it all justice.
“I care about you too.”