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It had been two months since he started dating Mei and he still had no idea what to do on dates. Thankfully for him Mei was sweet, and Mei was kind. She understood that he had difficulty with being close to people after what had conspired with his brother, so she never pressured him to do anything that made him uncomfortable. For someone who had spent so long in the ice, she was the warmest person he knew.
Today; however, he was still anxious about the date they had planned. It was going to be simple, they were just going to go walk through one of the parks in Nepal near where they were stationed, maybe grab some sweets from a nearby vendor, and overall just enjoy each other's company. “I shouldn't be anxious about this,” he thought, “we've spent a lot of time together, even before we were dating.” Another part of him graciously reminded him that, although they may have spent quite some time together before they made anything official, he was never the best of company, but today he was determined to change that.
He walked from his bed to his closet and grabbed a white button-up shirt and tan cardigan then laid them on his bed to change into. He began pulling off the shirt he had slept in he began buttoning up the thin white material. “She deserves a better me, like the man I was before I killed my brother,” he thought, sighing as he pulled the cardigan over his head, “at least he was more sociable.” But he knew he could never go back to that Hanzo, nor would he want to, because that Hanzo killed Genji, and that was someone Hanzo could never reconcile with again.
He brushed a comb through his hair, pulling his freshly washed hair back into a ponytail behind him. He gently tugged at his tufts of graying hair, someone below forty shouldn't have gray hair in his opinion, and he hoped Mei didn't come to despise him for his apparent age. They weren't drastically apart in age, only a few years, but while she had been encapsulated in ice, he had taken on the stress no one in their twenties should be enduring. He dropped his hands to his side, defeatedly taking a last look at his face before moving on to toe on his shoes.
With one last look in the mirror he headed from his room, though still anxious about the upcoming date. Even though their meeting time was relatively soon Hanzo still wanted some advice on how to be less “well, Hanzo” on a date for once. Sadly the only other person still around in the building was Soldier: 76, and he was rarely talkative at two in the afternoon. Today Hanzo found him at the front desk watching what Hanzo thought of as a historical documentary about Middle Eastern conflicts from the early 2000s, but he realized that Jack might actually remember them, and momentarily got caught up in what to call a historical documentary over something you experienced.
“Somethin’ you want Shimada?” Jack grumbled, not taking his eyes (visor?) off the screen.
Taking a deep breath Hanzo spoke, “I was wondering if you had any advice on…” he froze, fear overtaking his ability to speak.
“Women?” Jack grumbled again.
“Mm, yes… sir.” Hanzo replied, eyes uncharacteristically wide.
“Welp I don't know what people nowadays do with this sort of thing but this is pretty straight forward: don't be a dick.”
Hanzo stared blankly at the wall beyond 76, his eyes contrastingly normal and unamused. But the elder showed no sign of continuing on, so Hanzo politely bowed with a short “thank you” and left the base.
The cold autumn air hit his face but thankfully for him there wasn't any wind to cut through his cardigan. He began heading towards the park where they had arranged to meet up. “What should I say when I see her,” he wondered, his face scrunching up in thought.
He hadn't realized he had reached the park when he heard a sweet voice say, “if you keep your face scowling like that it's going to get stuck that way!”
Hanzo’s eyes widened, “congrats, you missed it and you were scowling. Good job. Great boyfriend.” He meant to respond with maybe a laugh or a “sorry” but instead he just blurted out “DoYouLikeHotChocolate or coffee or something umm…” His eyes widened again with absolute personal hatred.
Thankfully Mei just laughed with the sweetest smile that warmed him as much as any drink. “Of course I like hot chocolate silly. That's how you survive in the South Pole.”
Her relaxed response calmed him somewhat, giving him the courage to say, “well I know that there's a good coffee shop a couple blocks away that supposedly has the best hot chocolate on the planet. Want to go there?” He was standing in front of her now, close enough to smell her perfume which reminded him faintly of cherry blossoms, making him smile just a bit.
“Of course, I'd love to go,” she giggled, “although between you and me,” she continued with a whisper, “you look much better when you smile.” With that she turned to begin walking down the road back towards town where the coffee shop was, leaving Hanzo stunned and blushing.
He walked quickly to catch up with the cute brunette and began walking along side her. Mei glanced up at Hanzo, “which coffee shop are we going to anyway? I just started walking towards town,” she concluded with a giggle.
“Oh I think it's called like Himalayan java or something like that.”
“Oh I keep passing it sometimes but I haven't gone in yet because I always already have a drink when I pass,” she remarked.
“Well I guess it'll be new for both of us then,” he smiled lightly, “and if it's bad at least we'll suffer together.”
Mei burst out laughing, “suffering is my favorite date activity!”
Hanzo stopped in his tracks, walked over to the nearest light pole, and leaned his head on it whispering, “I am a terrible boyfriend.”
Mei walked over and took one of his hands into hers. “You're not a terrible boyfriend Hanzo. You put effort into choosing this date and we're going on a date so that seems like a pretty good boyfriend to me.”
Her thumbs were rubbing circles into Hanzo’s calloused hands, making a blush run across his face due to the new, yet welcome contact. Standing up straight once more Hanzo decided to be a little more brave and a little more romantic, shifting his hand til it was entwined with one of hers. Mei looked up at him with pure joy in her eyes, for unbeknownst to Hanzo, she was very proud of him for being so brave. What Hanzo did know was that he had made her happy, and she squeezed his hand to confirm that, so Hanzo let his feelings take him over and a legitimate smile spread across his face.
“I don't think it's much farther now,” Hanzo remarked, leading Mei forward.
Within a few blocks they had arrived at the shop, and luckily for them they had arrived at a quiet time for the shop so there was only one person in line.
With the person in front of them done Hanzo stepped up to order first, “I would like a medium regular hot chocolate please.”
“May I have a name on that?” The omnic with the name tag of ‘Nev seagull’ asked.
“Oh yes, Hanzo, thank you,” he replied curtly.
“Anything else?” Nev continued.
Mei stepped forward, face still warped in concentration (which Hanzo wanted to admit as adorable but couldn't find the words to express so), “I would like a medium gingerbread hot chocolate. Oh my name is Mei and thank you!”
“Very welcome Mei, is there anything else you would like today?” The synthetic voice asked once again.
“No that will be it for today,” Hanzo replied, and continued on to pay for the drinks.
“Thank you for your patronage your drinks will be out in a moment,” the omnic bowed with its perpetual slight smile and moved on to begin making drinks.
“I found a good table Hanzo!” Mei called, motioning to the table she was standing next to. The table was cutely situated against the window looking out onto the autumn run road, reds and yellows lacing the street and sky with the multitudes of leaves fall moved. The table itself was a nice warm brown, the chairs were the same color but with floral seat covers. If any place were to make Hanzo think of Mei it would be that scene right there, the thought causing him to smile once again.
“Hanzo come on sit down! You don't need stand there star struck all day,” Mei giggled, “what's got you so dazed all of a sudden?”
Hanzo sat down and hid his mouth in his hands not looking Mei in the eye, “you.”
“What?”
He looked up at Mei and took a deep breath, “you're really pretty.”
“Oh my,” Mei breathed in shock, a blush spreading across her face. “See, I told you you're not a bad boyfriend.”
A few moments later the omnic behind the counter called their names and Hanzo quickly stood up and went to the counter to hide his blush. “Why is she so good at doing that??” He internally screamed as he brought the hot drinks back to their table.
When he returned he thought that Mei looked a little too excited just for the arrival of her hot chocolate. Her eyes were shining, her teeth had caught a small part of her bottom lip, and she couldn't seem to keep her hands from fidgeting.
“What are you so excited about all of a sudden?” He asked as he set her gingerbread hot chocolate in front of her.
She seemed as if she could barely contain herself from laughing, “We’re wearing matching sweaters!”
Hanzo looked at her then down at himself and realized that they were both wearing tan colored sweaters. He gave a short laugh, “yeah I guess we are.”
Mei’s smile widened, “ we have to take a picture!”
“Oh. No I'm not very good at taking pictures…”
“Oh come on you're fine I bet you just don't take many. You need to learn to love yourself more,” she proclaimed in a mockingly curt way.
Hanzo sighed, “How can I when-”
“Ah ah,” she interrupted, “no angsty Japanese assassin man on dates.”
“Right sorry.”
“Now come on and please take a picture with me! The lighting in here is so nice and the coffee shop will make a great background.”
She shuffled over to Hanzo because his seat had the best view of the scenery out the window. She opened the camera on her phone and positioned herself to get a good angle of her and Hanzo plus the fall colored outdoors. She smiled, signaling Hanzo to do the same, but as she snapped the picture Hanzo sneezed, causing her to fall to the floor in fright.
“Oh my god I'm so sorry,” Hanzo panickedly exclaimed, offering his hand to help her up.
“Oh no you're fine,” she said taking his hand, “I'm sorry I fell! You're sneeze just surprised me so much since we were so still for the picture. I wonder how it turned out.”
She pulled up her photo gallery and clicked their most recent picture. It had caught Hanzo right as he was about to sneeze. His eyes were crossed in the middle, his nose was scrunched up, and his mouth was funnily open and contorted. Hanzo buried his face in his arms on the table. “That is so embarrassing.”
“No no it's funny! I'm making it my lock screen,” she proclaimed, promptly setting the photo where it was the quickest to see.
“Mei please,” Hanzo drawled.
“I love it and you can't stop me from having a picture of my boyfriend as my lock screen.”
“But I look stupid.”
“You look human. Not like the heartless dragon you try so often to be.”
Hanzo would have made an attempt to argue once again but the look in her eyes and tone of her voice was no longer that of a joke.
“Hey,” Mei said in a sweeter tone of voice, placing her hand on top of his, “how about we take our drinks and walk through the park.”
Hanzo looked up, grabbing his drink and grunting in agreement. Mei smoothed off her sweater grabbing her drink as well, and together the couple headed out the door.
They decided to take the populated path to the park, passing by vendors and shops selling an incredible variety of things. There were multitudes of restaurants and small food vendors, clothing stores for any kind style one could want, plus antique and trinket shops containing everything under the sun. While Mei was ecstatic in ooing and awing over the different stores, (Hanzo eventually caving and buying her one of the small glass cat statues one had in their window), Hanzo was happiest just watching Mei. Her eyes lit up every time a toy shop had a Rue-Goldberg machine looping some overly complicated scheme, or “the cutest” plush polar bear in their window. The light in her eyes was made of pure joy and it warmed Hanzo’s heart to see it, watching her just be her made a smile bloom across his face and his expression soften.
Mei’s eyes were glued to an antique shop's window, admiring the swirling designs of vines around roses and peonies on intricately gilded china. She was talking aimlessly about everything she loved about the design, the color, the formation of the lip of the cup, and how they all fit together when Hanzo reached down and entwined her fingers with his own.
A blush bloomed across Mei’s face as sweetly as the petals on the china. She glanced up at Hanzo from the corner of her eyes, a smile gracing the corners of her mouth, and Hanzo looked down at her smiling the most genuine smile she had seen from him. It was unadulterated by self hatred, instead it showed only affection and Mei could feel her heart flutter at the sight.
“Hey, we're almost to the park why don't we just go ahead?” Mei asked, her voice admittedly a little shaky from the surprise at the sudden affection.
“Hmm okay,” Hanzo replied somewhat softly as well.
Hand in hand the turned into the park. The stone laid path was lined with fallen leaves in every color of fall, red, yellow, orange, and brown. The air was crisp and the atmosphere was peacefully quiet. It was everything Mei had wanted in a date with Hanzo, and even more when he had taken her hand in his.
Together they walked through the park, neither of them talked, but neither of them felt like they needed to. The sounds of trees and the breathing of the other was all the noise they needed.
Finally Mei brought them over to a stone bench just off the path, surrounded by still green grass and redding trees with just enough leaves fallen for a little sunlight to filter through. They sat facing each other and their kneesfitting between each other like a puzzle. Mei took Hanzo’s other and and spoke quietly. “So,” she began, “I asked Jack before I left what the best thing to do on a date with you would be. And he said that I should ask you to tell me the story of the two dragons.”
She could feel Hanzo stiffen within her hands. “Why… would he want me to tell that?” Hanzo spoke curtly.
“He said that when you tell it it's one of the most beautiful things in the world to watch.”
“He said it was beautiful?” Hanzo asked with considerable concern.
“Well he said it in a much more… Jack way I suppose, I just translated it to my way of speech,” Mei nervously responded. She wanted to hear this story and see the emotion Jack had spoken of several months ago before she and Hanzo had even started dating. He may not have told her directly that this was something she should do on a date with this guarded assassin, but it was something she had longed to see for some time. Of course she would never force him to tell her as it was such a significant part of his life, but she felt that if he could open up to her through this story, then she would finally begin to see the depths of the heart of the man she had begun to love.
As silence from Hanzo had nearly given Mei reason to give up he took in a deep breath and sighed, “alright.”
“What, really!” Mei exclaimed I shock.
Hanzo laughed, “Yes really. Now as a warning I tend to get a bit emotive with my hands when I tell it.”
“Oh here,” Mei moved to the ground in front of him and sat on her knees, “now you have plenty of room!”
“Are you sure you're okay down there?”
“I was in the ice for a long time. I think I'll be fine on the ground.”
Taking a deep breath Hanzo began, “My family tells of an ancient legend about two great dragon brothers. The dragon of the North Wind. And The Dragon of the South Wind. Together they upheld balance and harmony in the heavens…”
While he spoke Mei watched as his hands seemed to paint the story. His hands swirled as if leading the dragons through their toils, falling with their sorrow and shame. His eyes no longer seemed to see the red and orange trees ahead of him, instead they saw another world with a mourning dragon, ancient and lost. Through his words she could smell the burning ash of the dragons home and the tears that made another sea, mixing and churning with the fallen fire til it made a solid reminder of the dragons loss. Though he never spoke it once, Mei could smell the incense Hanzo burned every year on the day he killed his brother, and though he never said it, she could feel the sorrow and shame that had led him to flee. While his tattoos were covered in the sleeve of his sweater she could see the dragons rippling off them and into the air, animated in agony and confusion.
“The stranger replied, ‘you have inflicted wounds upon yourself, now you must heal,’” and Mei wanted desperately to hold Hanzo's hand once again as she could see the pain of healing course through his eyes, but she knew that now he was not to be touched. Now he was healing and she must let the pain move its course. When his brother revealed himself and controlled the dragons she felt his confusion and fear. When he showed his eyes she felt his pain and regret. And even though he lashed out in anger she knew it was at himself and not his brother. He needed to heal, the dragon had become human and stood with the stranger as his brother, but someone needed to teach the dragon to see. She would heal his heart. She would never be able fix what he had broken with Genji but at least she could add a piece of her own that would make it hurt less.
“I have accepted what I am and I have forgiven you. Now you must forgive yourself.” Hanzo's hands fell from where they were, suspended in the air, down to his laps where tears fell upon them like a gentle spring rain. His story was finished, and his heart was left raw, sitting in his palms, so Mei took his hands in hers.
“Thank you,” she whispered and moved up to sit next to him. She leaned her head on his shoulder and spoke quietly, “I'm glad you told me that story.”
“I feel better for telling it,” Hanzo replied, laying his head on top of hers.
---
They had stayed in the park til the sky began to darken, choosing them to head back to the base. When they walked in the metal doors Hanzo jokingly said, “I'll walk you to your room,” as pseudo-romantically as possible, eliciting a small giggle from Mei.
When they passed the desk where Jack was still watching old history documentaries they heard his gruff voice speak up, “I don't want to hear any funny business from you kids.”
Hanzo was stunned into silence from embarrassment but Mei just laughed and responded, “I promise they'll be no funny business sir.”
“Hmph,” was all the reply they got.
When they arrived at Mei’s quarters she entered her pin and the door swooshed open. She stepped onto the threshold and turned around to say goodnight but Hanzo beat her to it.
“So there's a way I think most people say good night at the end of dates…”
“Yeah?”
“Well,” he paused, taking a moment before looking her in the eyes again, “can I kiss you goodnight?”
Mei's eyes lit up, “Of course silly.”
Hanzo tilted her chin up with his thumb and leaned down, pressing his lips against hers. Her lips were soft and his were very chapped but in that moment neither of them cared, because in that moment their hearts had been replaced with butterflies that never ceased to flutter even after they broke apart and whispered goodnight to one another, the ghosting feel of each other's lips making them lean in once more before turning away for the night. Each of them hoped however, that they might feel those butterflies once again in the morning.