bakerstreet | ( picture prompt meme )

[If he's being forward, he doesn't realize it. He's being confident in his place with her, he definitely gets that and maybe its pushing his luck. But hugs are something he shares with family and close friends and coming back from a long mission away they're the standard response to seeing someone you care about again. If he's held her in his arms while she braved a thunderstorm, holding her in his arms to be welcomed back doesn't seem like any jump of intimacy. So her posture and her defiant challenge has his smile spreading and going crooked. His hand reaches up to touch the white tuft of hair against his forehead.]

Are you saying I'm not fluffy?

[ Hana typically doesn't shy away from things like hugs, either. But--Shiro is different, in a way that she has absolutely no idea how to describe. For now, he's a friend. Definitely a friend. God, what's gotten into her? Why is this even a thing.

At length, she narrows her eyes at him and pouts. ]

Dude, you're wearing space armor. You're so not fluffy.

[He falls for the pout, even as he realizes he's doing it and - there's something vulnerable about her suddenly. Something he can't explain but it tugs at the protective side of him. His smile softens and so does his voice and he reaches out to touch the side of the screen again, fingertips lingering.]

What if I promise to take it off for you? Will you give me a hug then?

[ Gosh, why is he giving her that look. It's all at once comforting but confusing. ]

... If you say please, I will.

You should get a teddy bear in space, you know, if you want hugs so much.

[He'd have a hard time telling her no over anything she asked him for so this isn't hard at all.]

I'll say please. [It's not as if its a hard promise to make. And then his smile goes sideways and he shoots her a look.]

Look, I already saw the D.Va name brand teddy bears and no, I am not buying one the next time I'm on Earth. It's not the same at all.

[ Man, those teddy bears. D.Va had to wonder why they made D.Va teddy bears when bunnies are so obviously her animal of choice. Of course, they do sell bunny plush toys in the likeness of her bunny logo now, but -- ]

Oh. I forgot about the teddy bears. They're still selling those...?

[ She shakes her head. Of course they are. Somewhere online she's also found body pillows with her on it but she will wisely neglect to mention that. In any case, there's something more important in what Shiro's said that she needs to follow up on-- ]

Anyway, when do you think you'll be back, Shiro?

[Shiro's actually been very careful about what he'd let himself find online while he was back on earth in regards to her. He's not exactly up on celebrity and gamer culture but he's pretty sure there's plenty he doesn't want to see or stumble over that was fan-made. The teddy bear he knows about because there's an official store and he'd been too fascinated to not go inside and look around.

The body spray they sell doesn't smell anything like her at all.

Her question pulls him back to the moment though

and he exhales. When his eyes lift back to the screen - ]

I don't know. Not for a while. I won't be able to do this often either. [In all his time as an astronaut before the Galra he's never felt so far from home and aware of the time passing without him.] Things are still a mess everywhere. We've got to keep the Galra empire from consolidating again under someone new. I don't know when we'll be able to get back to Earth.

[ Hana tends to be an open book. There's no question about the disappointment on her face as her expression falters, her lips falling into a slight frown, gaze dropping from his, and the disappointment in her voice when she says, ]

Oh.

[ But she had expected as much, hadn't she? She knew that once Shiro went back to space that he probably wouldn't be back for a long time. Space travel takes for-freaking-ever. It took him a year to come back before, and that was only because he had escaped from the Galra. There's no escaping being a galactic defender or paladin or whatever. There's no escaping responsibilities. She knows that very well. But to hear it confirmed and certain with no room for doubt kind of sucks all the same. After a while of thick silence, she manages: ]

Well...

[ and slowly, she wills, tempers her expression back into something less sad, more... resolute. Lion-hearted, even. Because while she doesn't know when or if she'll ever see him in person again, she knows that what he's doing is right and courageous and that he's going to be great at it. This time her voice has some of its usual brightness in it. ]

No problem. You have to defend everyone in the galaxy from the Galra. Show them who's boss! Don't even worry about Earth, Shiro.

[ Then, with a smile, even as small as it is as it's all she can manage at the moment, she holds up a hand for a peace sign. ] I've got Earth covered!

[It kills him, watching her face fall like that. He doesn't delude himself. They both knew this was going to happen, that whatever they were starting to develop together was going to have to make way for his position but that doesn't make it any easier or easier to deal with. The look on her face twists at his chest and more than anything he wishes he could be there to touch her. Just... put his arms around her.

But he can't. And if they want each other, this is one of the prices they have to pay.

Probably often.

It's really not fair to her.

But he watches her pull herself back and he feels - proud. She's got steel in her bones, a lion heart in her chest and watching her accept and deal with things...

He falls in love with her in that moment. He doesn't realize it, but his heart twists and lifts at the same time and getting back home, getting to see her again, is suddenly something core to him. Her encouragement has him smiling a little. He can't give up. Not when she's not about to.]

I know. My family couldn't be in better hands.

Right, so...

[ She trails off, back into silence. Hana is trying really, really hard to keep this up. She's lost many friends to the second Omnic Crisis here on Earth. Some of them she lost under her watch. She wasn't quick enough, or strong enough, what have you--but she never would have thought that she might lose someone in space. In a moment she feels so helpless all of a sudden, wondering how it's possible that while she's fighting and risking her life here on this planet she's got someone lightyears and lightyears away fighting and risking his life for the galaxy. Shiro feels so, so far away, and she can't do anything about it but wait and hope that he'll come back.

She's a warrior. It runs through her veins and courses through her body and it carries her through the thick of battle to see another day. It's also why it's so vexing for her to not be able to do anything. The train of thought carries her away for a second but she'll try and keep her smile up, anyway. ]

So don't do anything dumb, okay? For your family.

[ And for her, although it's left unsaid. ]

[He watches her fight her way through it and his heart twists in his chest.

He'd give almost anything to be able to hold her just then - except if he could they wouldn't be having this conversation in the first place.

And its not as if this is an only one time thing either. This is his future. For as long as he lives. Light years from his planet...

He doesn't like her being so far away. He doesn't like it because he can't touch her, hear her whenever he wants. And he doesn't like it because she's fighting a war of her. Her own life is a risk. And he can't stand at her side for it.

If anything happens to her, he won't even know it, maybe for months. And he won't be able to do anything about it if he does find out.

So he fills his eyes with her face, wanting it for all the dark, hard times ahead. And his fingers reach out again to touch the screen, right where her cheek is.]

Hey [his voice is low and gravel.] I'll be careful. I've got too much to stick around for to let anything happen. Promise me the same.

[ The way he reaches for the screen once more tells her what he wants; she lifts her hand, too, although hers balls into a fist, and she holds it up, mirroring Shiro's gesture. Another fist bump, evidently. ]

Heck, yeah. I play to win, Shiro. Don't forget it.

[ And--well, that's D.Va. Thinking of war and battle like it's a game not because she thinks lightly of it, but because it's easier for her that way. And, maybe, it'll be easier for her to deal with the fact that Shiro is so far away and in so much danger, so she goes on, ]

So when [ not if ] you come back and I find out you did something silly, you owe me another meal. And I'll owe you one if I mess up. Which, you know, I won't.

[His smile goes a little crooked and he gives her the fist bump she wants. but only for a tick so neither of their hands obscure the screen. The timer's counting down on how much longer the message can broadcast.

When. Not if.]

Good. Hopefully neither of us will be out a meal. [He pauses.] I haven't got much time left on this. About a minute. I don't know when I'll be able to do this again.

Okay, got it.

[ She nods, says it dutifully, like a soldier receiving orders, and pulls her fist away from the screen to fold her arms across her chest. If this really is the last minute that they'll have to speak to each other for a long, long time, Hana wants to make sure she goes out of the transmission on a strong note. She leans forward, the corner of her lips curl, smirking, and her eyes light up with the fire of someone who's fierce and determined-- a warrior.

In Korean Hana's last name, Song, means succeed. And that's what she's going to do. What she wants Shiro to do. ]

I wanna hear all the stories about how you owned the evil aliens when you get back, Shiro. So you and your team better go and kick some major ass!

[He thinks its impossible to think about disappointing her when she's the way she is and he smiles even as he straightens up a bit in his seat, physically responding without really thinking about it to her projected attitude.]

I will. I'll have plenty of stories for you when I get back. I expect them from you too. We've got a lot of time we'll need to make up for. [He pauses, makes the decision.] Can you swing by my family ever now and then? I'd like to know someone's checking up on them while I'm not there.

[ Hana nods again, humming in the affirmative; she has no doubts that she'll have lots to tell Shiro whenever he comes back. She would've had lots to tell him now, too, but there's no time, and a part of her isn't really up for talking about it anyway. Not when she could already use a break.

His request, though, catches her by surprise, and it's visible on her face. He must-- trust her a lot, to charge her with such a task, but she realizes that even in the short time that they've known each other they'd already been through a lot. Been vulnerable, worked together through a crisis, and everything else. So while she wears a thoughtful look for a moment, it doesn't take long for her to consider. She raises a hand, and gives him a salute and a smile. ]

Roger! I get sent to Japan now and then [ mostly to the city where Hanamura is, something something the Shimada clan and Genji's past. The details are a little blurry to her. But she's gone there for public events, too. ] so I'll make a detour sometime!

[ She realizes by now that they're probably running out of time, so she poses one last important question: ]

What kinda dessert does your family like? I'll bring some.

You can't go wrong with mochi of any kind. But if you want grandmother on your side, sneak her some cheesecake.

[He's never brought anyone home. He knows his mother in particular despaired over that fact, worried he'd let his career steal his personal life away from him. Now? ...now they probably expect even less. Sending Hana to them -

he just - wants them to have Hana. So that, if anything happens, to her or to him -

he just wants Hana to have them.

The timer over the screen is in its last twenty ticks and he focuses on her face, hand almost moving to return the salute from simple training before he breaks into a grin.]

Keep this line open for me, Hana. I don't know when I'll be able to use it again - but I will. [He keeps his hands on his knees so he won't be tempted to reach for her again and ruin the mood they're both determined to leave each other on.] And keep streaming. Sometimes I can catch fragments of those. I'll see you soon.

[ Later, Hana will likely be implored to think on the significance of Shiro asking her to visit his family. It's also likely that her doing so would cause a bit of a media stir, not that she'd really care, but they might. Shiro seems like he comes from a family of serene people who'd probably rather not be on gossip blogs. And-- what would she even do there?

But she doesn't worry about that right now. Right now--

She doesn't know why her heart is racing at what he says--because it's clear that their time is running down to its last few seconds, the way he's talking. She has no explanation for why there's a twisting, aching feeling in her chest and for why all of a sudden she... doesn't want this. Doesn't want this to end. But it has to. It has to end because he's got to get back to defending the galaxy and she's got to finish her work so she can be up for whatever's next when the morning comes. She manages to keep her wits about her, still, and she gives an acknowledging hum, and finishes off her salute. ]

Good luck, Shiro. Take care of yourself. Go and be awesome.

[He doesn't answer her verbally. There's no time for a sentence that wouldn't be cut off. But he grins and then his smile and eyes soften for her and he has one last moment of filling himself with her presence

and the screen goes black and silence fills the cockpit.

With a shaky exhale he tips his head back against the seat and closes his eyes.

After a long minute, one of his hands lifts to pat the side of the seat. Almost as if he's answering words that aren't there. Then he exhales again and straightens, opening his eyes and sitting forward. He opens a different channel.]

Thanks, Pidge. It worked great. Why don't you come on up? I've got something D.Va wanted to make sure you saw.

[ Hana had known it was coming, but surprise still flashes across her face when the feed cuts off. Suddenly she remembers she had been listening to music quietly in the hangar and the tool running diagnostics on her MEKA is beeping and flashing with a message saying it had finished its task. She spends only a moment or two in the silence of her mech before she sighs, and slips out of the cockpit. It's with a more tired manner that she carries herself now to look over the results of the diagnostics for a few minutes until another beep rings at her mech. She tosses a glance over her shoulder and by the looks of what's flashing on her mech's screen, she already knows what it is.

MEKA summons. D.Va's going to have to report to the base early in the morning. She heaves another sigh, but after that, her hands lift to scrub at her face, and she mutters to herself: ]

Okay, game face on! Time to get back to work, Hana. Shiro's counting on you.

( picture prompt meme )

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tmw a tag just kills you

ik! shrivel my little heart

it huuurtsss

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you want to wrap us up?

sure thing!