Chapter Text
It wasn't everyday that a new hero joins the Overwatch roster, but today was one of those days, and everyone was pretty excited about it. Kiriko had been raving on about the new hero for at least a month, apparently she had known them for a while, and finally convinced them to join Overwatch to help the cause, the fights with Talon had been wearing down the group recently, so an extra pair of hands was always welcome. Kiriko had given everyone a fair warning of what the new guy was like, ''pretentious'', ''full of himself'', but she said it with such a way that everyone knew it must've been some form of tough love.
The day of the recruit arriving was just like any other, but just with that hint more of excitement, eagerness. Wuyang was sat next to Anran at the kitchen bar, of course Anran was giving him an earful about everything he could be doing better, Wuyang knew she meant well, but it was starting to ring in his ears. Her voice started to blur out, and another entered, Wuyang was grateful for the interruption. ''Hello Wuyang, hello Anran.'' A familiar, sweet voice spoke, Juno. She took a seat across from them, humming. ''I am very excited to meet the new recruit! I wonder if we will be friends... I hope so, it will be nice to have more friends on our adventures!'' Juno rambled on, Wuyang shrugged, but he had a reassuring look on his face. ''I'm sure you'll get along great, just be yourself!''
Anran suddenly spoke up. ''I'm not sure, the way Kiriko described him makes him sound a little stuck-up.'' She shrugged, Wuyang tried to stay optimistic, despite the reminder of Kiriko's words. ''Maybe he's just shy? I guess we won't know until we meet him.'' The three chatted about idle matters for a while, more or less of the conversation insisted of Anran spilling all of Wuyang's childhood secrets and embarrassing moments to Juno, Wuyang quickly interchanged the direction of that conversation though. Wuyang suddenly felt his phone buzz, he picked it up with a tilted head, reading the message he had just received.
''What is it?'' Anran poked her head over to his phone nosily, raising a brow. Wuyang let out a small huff, turning his phone away, Anran seemed to think that everyone deserved their privacy... apart from her little brother, of course. ''It's Sojourn, she wants me in her office.'' Wuyang answered, seeming a little nervous, Anran hummed with a taunting tone. ''Someone's in trouble.'' The water wielder shot her an annoyed glare, sighing before slipping off of the barstool he was perched on. ''I'm gonna go see what she needs.'' Wuyang walked out of the room, ignoring Anran's teasing comments as he walked off.
A million thoughts raced through his mind at once, could he have been in trouble? No... he hadn't even gone on any missions in at least two weeks, they had been saving all their resources for Talon's next strike. Maybe she was gonna give him some sort of promotion, or reward, for being such a good worker! Wuyang couldn't help the small, smug smile that appeared on his face as he walked, feeding his own ego. His thoughts took over as he walked, not noticing the taller figure approaching him, and before he knew it, he was on the ground, his ass hurting more than he'd like to admit. He held back a groan as he looked up, the figure above him speaking before he could stutter out any form of apology.
''You okay, kid?'' He held out a hand, the man had a deep, American accent, and a cowboy hat on top of his head, if Wuyang couldn't feel the pain in his backside, he would've thought he was dreaming and got teleported to the wild west. Wuyang took his hand, standing up straight, giving a small nod. ''Yeah, thank you, I wasn't looking where I was going, sorry.'' Wuyang apologized immediately, he had met the cowboy a few times before, Cassidy, that was his name, from all he had heard about him, he seemed to have a strong past with the Deadlock gang, and nowadays, they didn't seem too fond of him.
''It's fine, I was in my own little world too.'' Cassidy gave him a nod of reassurance, taking the cigar out of his mouth to speak again. ''Something on your mind?'' He asked, genuinely curious. Wuyang sighed, rubbing his neck in a nervous manner. ''Sojourn called me up to her office, I'm a little worried that I did something wrong without realizing it.'' Cassidy laughed lightly, patting his shoulder with a heavy hand. ''I'm sure it's nothing, and if it is.. the worst that'll happen is Sojourn'll give you a firm talkin' to.'' Wuyang nodded, that wasn't entirely true, Anran would probably give him a hard time about it too. ''Thanks, Cassidy, sir...'' Cassidy huffed, but there was no sign of annoyance. ''Just Cassidy is fine.''
Wuyang sputtered out an awkward goodbye, making his way back down the hall, much more aware of his surroundings now, that was embarrassing enough for him as is. He pressed a button on the lift, waiting for it to the descend, leaning against the wall nervously, he was still a little confused on what this could've been, he had ruled out every possibility of him doing something wrong, and nothing seemed to add up. That time he was 20 minutes late to the aircraft, that was too long ago for Sojourn to bring it up now, the time he accidently hurled a water orb at one of Overwatch's robot guards, Sojourn only seemed to humour him, reassuring him the robots were waterproof, and built for a lot more than that. The lift made a quiet ''ding'', the doors sliding open, he stepped inside and pressed the top button, Sojourn's office, he could only pray it was nothing bad.
Wuyang's thoughts tracked back to the new guy, he wished he asked Kiriko more about him in the moment, now she was in Kanezaka, and he didn't feel like disturbing her with a useless text while she was on what he presumed was an important mission. Maybe he was just a people pleaser, maybe he should stop worrying about it so much, but he couldn't help but feel the need to give a good first impression, it was just instinct for him. The lift came to a slow stop, the doors opening with a small squeaking sound, he stepped out, staring at Sojourn's office, the door seemed to loom ten times taller than it originally was. He took a deep breath, giving himself a firm affirmation in his head, ''What could possibly go wrong?'', then gave two knocks.
Sojourn's voice spoke clearly from the inside, ''Come in!'' to which Wuyang obeyed, grabbing the handle with a slight firm grip, stepping in. ''Um... you said you wanted to speak to me?'' Wuyang asked, shutting the door behind him, the first thing he noticed was a man he didn't recognize at all, and if he did, it was covered by a large, stylized kasa hat, not like one he had seen before, and a mechanical, beaked mask. His eyes lingered on the uninterested man sat at Sojourn's desk for a while, then he shook his head, focusing his attention back onto the reason why he was up in here in the first place. Sojourn beckoned him over, he walked over to Sojourn's desk, trying his best to keep his posture somewhat relaxed, trying to hide his nervous demeanour.
''You're not in trouble, to get that thought out of your head off of the bat.'' Sojourn had her arms crossed, but she didn't look angry, this put Wuyang at immediate ease. ''Thank God... not that I was worried about that or anything...! It's just.. nice to know.'' Wuyang internally slapped himself for being so awkward, he could practically feel Sojourn's eyes on him. ''I called you up here for a reason, this is Mizuki, the new recruit.'' Sojourn announced, Wuyang's eyes widened a little, so this was the new guy... and he had already made a fool out of himself, great. ''Nice to meet you, Mizuki.'' Wuyang offered a small smile, Mizuki shot him a look, it was hard to read what he was feeling under the many items that concealed his face. ''Sup.'' He said, his voice monotone and cool, he didn't seem to hate Wuyang yet, thankfully.
Sojourn cleared her throat to redirect attention. ''I would have asked Kiriko to show Mizuki around, but she's at Kanezaka, as you already know.'' She glanced over him. ''I'm sure you'll do just as good a job at showing him the basics, yes? You're especially good for the job, Mizuki's room is right next to yours, so you can show him to that right after.'' It wasn't so much of a request, as it was an order. ''Got it ma'am, I'll show him everything I know.'' Wuyang gave a confident, but somewhat lacking smile, but he tried his best to seem like he had his nerves under control. Sojourn gave an approving nod, gesturing to the door. ''I already gave Mizuki his key, you two are free to go.'' Mizuki stood up, seeming a little tired, maybe just on the brink of annoyed, but Wuyang didn't comment.
The two made their way into the lift, there was an awkward silence looming over them, Wuyang hoped it wasn't obvious how nervous he was. Should he say something? Mizuki didn't really look like he wanted to talk, but he'd have to say something eventually, right? Wuyang cleared his throat, glancing over to him. ''So, why did you decide to join Overwatch?'' Wuyang spoke in the most relaxed voice he could utter, Mizuki uncrossed his arms, hands shoved into his pockets now. ''Heard about all the stuff with Talon, figured Overwatch could use some help.'' He answered casually, Wuyang smiled slightly, though it was mostly from relief, thank God he had managed to escape the awkwardness... for now at least. ''Ah, that's cool, we've definitely been struggling over here, it feels like Talon is breaking us down more and more everyday.'' He mumbled, Wuyang didn't really love talking about the topic, but it was better than silence.
Mizuki glanced at him. ''Yeah? Sounds like Talon gets more advanced every time I hear about them.'' He seemed casual talking about it, maybe too casual, but Wuyang couldn't be one to judge, he barely knew him. The lift soon came to a stop, allowing them out onto the bottom floor. ''Okay, this is the floor where most of our training gets done, y'know.. sparring, target practise, the usual stuff that you're probably used to.'' Wuyang led him around the floor, Mizuki eyed the area, taking in all the locations. ''I see.'' The taller man nodded, he seemed interested enough, which made Wuyang more at ease. Wuyang showed him the outside yard, the kitchen, the common room, the gym, basically every inch of the HQ, Mizuki gave short responses, but kept his attention on what Wuyang was showing him. Eventually, after about an hour show around, they arrived at Wuyang's door, which as Sojourn mentioned, was now the neighbouring door of Mizuki's.
''I hope you know where most of the stuff is now, hopefully I didn't ramble on too much, haha...'' Wuyang laughed awkwardly, glancing away before looking back up at him, Mizuki's expression was still unreadable, but he nodded slowly. ''It's fine, the show around was good, nice to know the place.'' Wuyang smiled, relief flooding him, looks like his first impression on the new guy wasn't too bad after all. ''I'm glad... oh-! And this is your room,'' Wuyang gestured to the room next to his. ''right next to mine, so.. if you ever need anything, I'm always in.'' Wuyang crooned happily, a lot more relaxed than when they first met. ''Yeah- sure, thanks.'' Mizuki answered flatly, giving him a small tip of his hat before moving to unlock his door, stepping inside and closing it behind him.
Wuyang went back into his own room, flopping on his bed before breathing in, letting out a loud exhale through his nose, that went well... better than he expected, Mizuki seemed to find the tour helpful, and Sojourn wasn't mad, it couldn't have gone better... there was only one thing that was bugging Wuyang. He rolled onto his back, staring at his ceiling as he pondered, Mizuki was taking a strange notice in the windows, the emergency exits, escape doors, like he was taking notice of them for something in particular. Maybe he was just a careful person, and Wuyang had never really been that great at reading people anyway, but something inside him was telling him otherwise. He ignored it.
He yawned as he cleared his thoughts, it was only 7pm, falling asleep now would probably mean him waking up a few hours before he needed to, so he pushed up from his blankets, leaving his room and heading for the common room. He spotted many familiar faces, Soldier 76 and Cassidy chatting in the connected kitchen, D.va and Lúcio sat next to each other on bean bags, chatting about the DJ's upcoming concert, along with Anran and Brigitte, very obviously flirting next to the TV. Wuyang zoned out while glancing over the room, he didn't even notice Venture calling him over until the third, louder yell, that snapped him out his thoughts and he quickly shuffled over, giving a small smile. ''Sorry! I was zoning out again.'' He apologized quickly, the archaeologist didn't seem to mind. ''No sweat! Just wanted to see what's up! Juno said you got called to the big boss's office earlier.'' Venture questioned, glancing to Juno besides them. ''Oh- yeah, it was nothing bad in the end, she just wanted me to be the one to show the new recruit around, no big deal.'' He smiled politely. Venture seemed interested, they leaned in closer, a brow raised. ''What's he like?! Is he cool? Kiriko told me his hat was made by Kiriko's father himself... seems interesting!'' Venture rambled on, Wuyang nodded. ''He's cool, a little more on the quiet side, but other than that...'' Wuyang trailed off, he was tempted to mention the slight suspicions he had at Mizuki's interest in finding all possible escape routes, but he decided against it, not wanting to cloud anyone's view on the new recruit. ''Sorry- no, other than that he seems like a cool guy!'' Venture didn't seem to question Wuyang's hesitance, neither did the Martian besides them, which put him at ease.
Today had been a lot for Wuyang, sure, it was nothing compared to what he and the rest went through when battling against Talon, but... the mental weight of everything he had to do today was becoming uncomfortable. He had chatted with Juno and Venture for just over an hour and a half, Anran joined in on the conversation at some point, but he was too tired to really take knowledge of what they were all talking about. Anran gave Wuyang a small look, tilting her head, her expression softer than usual. ''Y'know, you can just go to bed if you're tired.'' She said, trying not to seem like she cared too much. Wuyang sighed, nodding. ''Yeah, I think I will.'' He stood up, excusing himself quietly before walking back to his room. On his way back, just as his hand made contact with his handle, he spotted Mizuki out on the balcony, he was tempted to say something... but his tiredness was getting the better of him. He entered his room, closing the door behind him slowly, taking in a deep breath, for once... he was glad to be alone. Getting ready for bed didn't take long, showering, changing only took around 30 minutes all together, he then slumped onto his bed, digging himself under the covers and turning off his lamp, it didn't take long for his breathing to even out, and his eyes to slowly flutter shut, maybe tomorrow he'd get to know the new guy more.