Brigitte is shielding her in an instant.

They’re in Route 66, trying to take care of the Deadlock gang by Morrison’s orders. The gang has recently been responsible for the deaths of several people by blowing up a train; those who didn’t perish in the explosion fell to their deaths when the train was blown open.

Now the entire area has been locked off while the government tries to figure out what to do. Morrison’s squad, comprised of him, Angela, Fareeha, Reinhardt, Genji and Torbjörn, is stuck in an empty diner right under the train wreckage, surrounded by Deadlock members currently firing at their general direction. Hana and Brigitte’s squad, formed by them, Jesse, Satya, Lena and Lúcio, is on the other end of the road, near the Mystery Caves, trying to distract the gang members as best they can.

Hana, despite being out of her mech and currently waiting for a new one to be deployed, makes the mistake of following a lone gangster into the caves intent on interrogating him, ignoring Brigitte and Lúcio’s cries of warning. She follows him deeper into the tunnels, only for him to turn, panicked, once he’s running out of breath, and throw a grenade right at her feet.

His intention is clear; he is not letting her take him alive, and is going to take her with him instead.

She instinctively – stupidly, why is she doing that – tries to run backwards into the tunnel behind her, only to trip and fall square on her back, the grenade only a few feet from her.

‘Well, this is it,’ she thinks, closing her eyes and doing her best to ignore the impulse to contact Morrison’s squad by comm to let them know she’s gonna die – she doesn’t want Angela to hear her lose her life, ‘I’m fucking dead.’

She tenses and waits for the feeling of the explosion blasting her into pieces, but that doesn’t happen. All she registers instead is a hulking, armored frame jumping right in front of her with a blue energy shield up, directed towards the grenade on the ground, with a cry of “D.Va!” before the thing goes off around them.

Still, Brigitte stays where she is, as close to Hana as possible, shielding her from the explosion. She feels the air shift, hears the Deadlock man’s brief terrified scream before he’s silenced, a sickening splat when he lands several feet back.

Brigitte once agains proves her reflexes to be lightning-fast when she, with barely any time to react, all but kneels over Hana, holding the shield above their bodies, when the ceiling starts to collapse as a result of the explosion. Hana barely has time to register the ensuing chaos as heavy rocks fall and thick dust rises around them, the sound of debris crashing against the shield making her close her eyes and cling to Brigitte’s free arm in her panic.

After what feels like several minutes – but Hana logically knows to be mere seconds – the chaos dies down and an oppressive, unnatural silence takes its place. Hana opens her eyes to be met with complete, pitch black darkness, and realizes she had been holding her breath when she tries to breathe in only to inhale a significant amount of dust, immediately making her cough. She hears Brigitte’s heavy breathing right on top of her, wondering how she’s not coughing too, and her hands instinctively try to reach around for her in the darkness.

“Hana?” She hears an accented, hoarse voice call in a tense murmur, finally letting out a small cough.

“I’m here,” Hana breathes out, really more to herself than Brigitte. “I’m here.”

“Are you okay?” Brigitte’s voice sounds strained, and Hana wonders how much weight she just had to block.

“Yeah. I think. Nothing hurts, but I heard adrenaline makes you numb to injuries,” She pauses, before letting out a shaky breath, “I can’t see anything.”

“Fan,” Brigitte curses and shifts a little. “Right, sorry. Damn darkness.”

She grunts a little, and the sound of something heavy being dropped nearby, as well as dirt shifting, echoes around the small space. “Lot of crap on top of us,” Brigitte explains. “Here,” and a light suddenly illuminates the small area they’re trapped in, a small flashlight in the Crusader’s hand; Hana is relieved to find out she’s not been blinded. Brigitte’s kneeling next to her, face full of worry and covered in dust as well as some small, bleeding cuts and scrapes. The redhead inspects Hana’s body with the flashlight for injuries, making a quick scan.

“Nothing looks broken. Mind if I check?”

Hana is flustered for a second to think of Brigitte touching her to check for fractures, but tries to push it aside; this is not the time for foolish lovey-dovey crap.

“Go ahead,” she motions with her head, and Brigitte carefully presses her hands around her arms, legs and on her ribs.

“Does anything hurt?” she asks, and Hana shakes her head no. “Can you move?”

Hana grunts in discomfort as she sits up, but she manages to do it just fine, and nothing hurts when she moves.

“Yeah, I think I’m okay.”

Relief instantly floods Brigitte’s face and she slumps back against the wall with a heavy sigh.

“Well, we have officially destroyed a tourist trap,” she says, leaning her head back, “that’s a first in my book.”

“I mean, it really was the Deadlock guy. But sure.”

“Speaking of which,” Brigitte’s gaze turns to her, reprimanding, and Hana blushes, involuntarily lowering her head, “what in the hell made you think chasing a lone guy into an obvious trap without your mech was a good idea?”

It’s Hana’s turn to sigh.

“I don’t know. I thought... I thought I could catch him. Interrogate him,” Hana’s mind flashes to Morrison and Widowmaker’s usage of the term “child” when referring to her, such a condescending tone. Hana hates it. “To show them... prove I’m more than a stupid kid who does nothing but play video games all day.”

She feels a single tear roll down her cheek. ‘Yeah, and look where that got you. Trapped in a cave-in, dragging another person down with you. Stupid kid.’

“I don’t know what came over me,” she chokes out, frantically wiping her cheek a second too late; she’s sure Brigitte’s seen it judging by the way her brow furrows in worry once again. “I’m sorry. This is all my fault.”

“Hey, no, come on” Brigitte scoots over to sit next to her. “Don’t say that.”

“It is, though!” Hana’s full out crying now. “I walked into an obvious trap just to make some stupid statement, and I got you trapped in this fucking cave with me and now we’re both gonna die!”

She slams her fists against the ground in rage with all her might, ignoring the pain the act causes and the blood that starts to seep through her white gloves at the knuckles. Brigitte stares at her in her outburst for a second before gently taking her hands in hers, looking her dead in the eyes.

“We’re not gonna die,” she says, dead serious and looking like she completely believes in what she’s saying. “You hear me?”

“Please, we’re trapped several meters into some stupid tourist trap cave, with no water, no food, no oxygen and both exits sealed off,” Hana scoffs through her tears. “We’re dying, and it’s my fault. I killed you because I was too fucking stupid to use my goddamn head for a second—”

“Hana.” Brigitte’s voice is still calm and controlled when she lets go of Hana’s hands and uses them to take both sides of her face instead, gently lifting her head to look at her in the eye. “We’re not gonna die,” she repeats, with such steely determination it makes Hana’s heart skip a beat. “Both Lena and Lúcio saw us come in here. They already probably contacted Morrison. Do you really think Angela would let you die? She’d dig through this cave with her bare hands if she had to. You’re like a daughter to her, you know that. And the others wouldn’t just leave us here either. Pa and Reinhardt would kill Morrison if he even thought about it.”

“But...” Hana tries to protest simply out of self-hatred; she wants Brigitte to be mad at her right now. But she simply can’t find any arguments against what the redhead is saying. “But how can we even get out of here? It’s not like Morrison and the others have a drill.”

“I can’t bash my way through, it’d risk another collapse. Then we’d be dead.” Brigitte lets go of her face (Hana immediately misses the contact) and crosses her arms, leaning her head against the wall again. “And even I or Reinhardt couldn’t move all these rocks out of the way. They’re too big, and stuck in place. Even though dad and Satya are brilliant, I don’t think they’d have the time or materials to build something to move them either.”

“So what, then?”

“I was thinking a controlled explosion from the outside, or something to cut the boulders with. I have a feeling my dad and Morrison will come to the same conclusion.”

“Wouldn’t that also make the cave collapse even more?”

“I don’t know. Definitely not more than me repeatedly slamming my shield or flail against the rocks from this side of the cave-in. It’s all we have, anyway. If... if they can’t get in, I’ll try to bash our way through, if I still have enough energy. As a last resort.”

Something in her tone and the way her voice slightly cracks makes Hana’s heart sink, but she says nothing. They’re both silent for what feels like several minutes.

“It’s fucking hot in here.” Hana complains, suddenly. “Out of all the places we could have gotten trapped in, it has to be a stupid low-ceiling cave in the middle of the fucking desert.”

Brigitte chuckles.

“Tell me about it.” She says. “I’m not used to this type of heat. Can’t say I like it much, either. I can’t even get out of my damn armor because there’s no space for me to remove it in here. Feels like an oven.”

Something suddenly dawns on Hana and she starts to feel a little worried.

“That’s not gonna hurt you, is it? The heat, I mean.”

Brigitte isn’t looking at her when she answers.

“Depends on how long we’re stuck here for.” Her tone is downright bleak. Hana decides it doesn’t suit her in the least.

“How... how long do you think it’s gonna take them to dig?”

“Dunno. Hours. Days. Weeks. Hopefully not. We won’t survive longer than thirteen hours, I’d reckon, considering the carbon dioxide inhalation.”

Hana’s heart sinks.

“Shibal, I am so, so sorry, Brigitte.” She buries her face in her hands. “This is all my fault. You shouldn’t have come for me. That way I’d be dead and you’d be fine.”

“Hana, seriously?” The only way to describe Brigitte’s expression is indignant. “I’d never just leave you to die, I...” She strangely cuts herself off and blushes, perceptible even in the poor lighting provided by the flashlight. “You’re my teammate. I told you, I’ll be your shield. Always.”

It’s Hana’s turn to blush. How someone can sound so completely sincere without even trying is beyond her.

She suddenly, for some inexplicable reason, remembers the Deadlock man who threw the grenade. Surely he must be dead; if not from the explosion, then from the tons of rocks and dirt burying his surely mangled body. Or maybe he’s still alive, conscious, aware of the slow, torturous death he’s about to have.

The reality of their situation finally hits her like a ton of bricks, and she finds herself admitting it out loud before she can stop herself.

“I’m scared.”

She mentally kicks herself and immediately wants to take the words back. She doesn’t look at Brigitte.

The girl’s response is the last thing she expects to hear.

“To tell you the truth,” her voice is somber, and she, too, keeps her gaze directed at the ground, “I am too.”

Hana doesn’t know what to say to that.

“Thank you for saving me.”

So she just says what feels right, and Brigitte finally lifts her head to look at her, meeting her eyes.

It’s like something between them snaps. Brown eyes meet hazel and don’t leave each other for several seconds, each pair barely blinking, before Hana unconsciously starts to lean towards her.

Brigitte doesn’t move, but she doesn’t back away either. Hana rests her forehead against the girl’s and her eyes automatically move to her slightly parted lips. They’re full, and despite being chapped, look soft and inviting. Hana’s eyes fall closed and she feels Brigitte’s shaky sigh against her lips. In any other circumstance, she’d be freaking out, but right now, Hana finds she doesn’t feel like she has time to waste on being flustered. They’re both trapped in a dark cave with only a flashlight and a dwindling supply of oxygen, and they’ll most likely die before they ever see the light of day again despite their team’s efforts, so why should Hana give a fuck?

In the end, it’s Brigitte who closes the gap between them, letting out another soft sigh when her lips meet Hana’s. They’re as soft and gentle as Hana’s always imagined they’d be, and the redhead doesn’t move a muscle until Hana reciprocates fully, slowly moving her own lips against hers. The gamer breathes in deeply through her nose and takes in Brigitte’s scent, a strange combination of cinnamon with a slight hint of machine oil, and Hana finds she likes it. She tastes good too, like mint, and Hana quickly gets overrun by all the sensations, snaking her arms around the girl’s neck and pulling her closer, deepening the kiss, hard metal armor pressing uncomfortably against her chest, though she finds it impossible to care. Brigitte lets out a soft groan that shakes Hana to the core and wraps her arms around the smaller girl in a tight, but comfortable embrace. She’s kissing her in earnest now, and her warmth, presence, strength, gentleness, it’s overwhelming. She’s overwhelming, but in a good way. Her hands are tangled in Hana’s hair and she’s holding onto her like she never wants to let go. In a strange moment of epiphany, Hana finally understands why Brigitte seemed to rethink her words at the last second a few minutes ago when she was telling Hana she’d never leave her to die, and it dawns on the Korean. How long has this girl been infatuated with her? How long has Hana been suffering for nothing, thinking her feelings unrequited? God, she feels like a fool.

When they finally break apart, both are breathless (which Hana vaguely registers as probably being very bad considering their limited supply of oxygen, but she finds it hard to care at the moment) and neither seems to be willing to part any more than breaking the kiss; they’re still embracing, once again touching foreheads, eyes still closed. They just stay like that for several seconds before Hana hears the redhead’s question:

“How long?”

Her voice is breathless and hoarse, and it stuns Hana so completely to hear it she takes a few seconds to compose herself enough to answer.

“What?”

What a dignified, intelligent answer.

“How long have you felt like this?”

Oh.

“Since I first met you.” Hana finds it impossible to not be completely honest. When she laid eyes on Brigitte for the first time, something sparked within her. She is very attractive, yes, but her heart is also so, so big, and she made that clear from the minute she introduced herself to the team. “I will be your shield,” she’d said, proudly, echoing her mentor, and it has always proven itself true. Most of all today.

How could Hana not fall for Brigitte Lindholm? How could anyone?

“I...” Brigitte seems genuinely surprised, looking completely flustered, and Hana decides it’s fucking adorable. The sight makes her smile a little. “Me too. I mean, I had a crush on you from watching your streams and your movies, but when I met you in person, I... just, the you on the screen doesn’t compare to the real deal.”

Now it’s Hana’s turn to be flustered. Brigitte lets out an incredulous chuckle.

“Wow. I just kissed Hana Song.” She says, lightly shaking her head. “I can’t believe this.”

“Consider yourself lucky.” Hana jokes and winks, and gives her a quick peck on the lips before she can say anything. “Trust me when I say most wouldn’t have the slightest chance of doing that.”

“Oh, I do.” Brigitte’s smile widens, and she responds by tightening her embrace and kissing her forehead softly. “Believe me, I do.”

They just stay there, cuddled against each other, without saying anything as time passes. As the minutes go by, Hana starts to feel a light headache. In any other circumstance this would probably be fine, but considering their situation...

“My head hurts.” She mutters, fully leaning against Brigitte. The redhead is immediately alarmed.

“Do you feel tired, or dizzy?” She asks, gently holding Hana’s face with both hands.

“No. Not yet. Just thought I’d let you know.”

Brigitte almost seems to hyperventilate before she forces her breathing back under control, and kisses Hana’s forehead again.

“You’ll be okay,” she says, hugging the gamer even more tightly. Hana allows herself to relax even more in her arms. “You’ll be okay, Hana.”

She caresses her head with the lightness of a feather, and before she knows it, Hana’s asleep.

She wakes up from a dreamless sleep what feels like seconds later, but judging by how suddenly hot and tired she feels, she knows at least several hours must have passed.

She looks up at Brigitte’s face, and the girl looks completely exhausted; there are dark circles under her eyes, she’s drenched in sweat, and her breathing is significantly faster. Hana tries to adjust her position, only to find her limbs feel heavy and fragile.

Her stirring seems to catch Brigitte’s attention, and she gently helps Hana move; the Korean doesn’t miss the way the girl’s arms are shaking, or how she says nothing as she pulls her into her arms and lets out a shaky breath into her hair.

Hana manages to look up and bring a hand to rest on her cheek.

“How long has it been?” She asks, scared of the answer, and scared of how hopeless Brigitte looks. It looks utterly wrong on her.

“Several hours at least. Nine, maybe? I don’t know.” Her gaze distractedly diverts to the blocked tunnel exit . “I can hear some noises occasionally. Don’t know what they’re doing. They’re here, though.”

Her voice is almost devoid of emotion, and if Hana weren’t feeling so physically and mentally exhausted, her heart would have probably broken right then and there. Still, the broken aura around the normally bright, optimistic person gets to her.

Hana doesn’t know what in the hell makes her say it, but she automatically says it without even thinking twice:

“I love you.”

Brigitte looks slightly shocked, but mostly scared.

“Hey, come on, why are you telling me this now out of the blue?” Her voice is shaking as much as her hand as she lightly caresses Hana’s face, getting a strand of hair away from her eyes.

“I feel weak. Can’t see right. Can’t hear right either.” Brigitte’s hand squeezes hers, and Hana catches the single tear running down her face, shining in the light of the flashlight. “We’re dying. I had to let you know.”

“No, no, no,” Brigitte’s borderline panicking now, despite the evident tiredness in her body and mind, “They’re right there. Come on, Hana, please, please don’t lose hope. We’ll be okay.”

“They won’t make it in time.”

“They have to. Please, Hana. Just...” She doesn’t finish her sentence, and one more tear rolls down her face to land directly on Hana’s cheek. The gamer soon notices she’s crying herself.

“God, my head.” Hana brings a hand to her forehead; her head feels like it’s going to explode. “I wish dying from carbon dioxide poisoning hurt less.”

“Fan, Hana, I’m sorry...” The tears are running freely on her face, now. “I said I would protect you...”

“You did. Even when you didn’t have to. This shit was my fault, Brigitte. Don’t blame yourself.”

Brigitte says nothing, but brings her even closer to her own body, pressing a light kiss against her forehead.

“I’m sorry. Your dad’s a nice guy. He doesn’t deserve this shit. Or old man Rein. Fuck, you don’t deserve this shit. You’re an angel and I’m... an idiot. A selfish idiot.”

“You’re not an idiot, Hana, let alone selfish.”

“I fucked you over because I felt like I had something to prove. I’m a selfish idiot.”

“Hana—"

“Angie doesn’t deserve this either.” Hana cuts her off and lets out a humorless chuckle. “She’s gonna be heartbroken.”

‘I’m sorry, umma,’ she thinks, Angela’s grief-ridden face immediately popping into her mind, ‘I let you down.’

“Hana, come on, we still have a few more hours. We’ll be fine.” Brigitte’s voice is bordering on desperate, “I promise, I’ll get Reinhardt to cook something for you when we get out, and then we can go watch that new ghost movie you’ve been going on about, just—please, please, don’t give in.”

“If by some miracle we live through this,” Hana chuckles again, this time with actual humor, although faint and fleeting, “I’ll take you up on that.” She brings her hand against Brigitte’s face and manages a weak smile, struggling to speak through her hyperventilation. “I’m sorry for not letting you know earlier. About how I felt, you know. If I had, we could have had more time together.”

“We will have more time, Hana.” The redhead says, breathing equally heavily. “I promise. You’ll get to see your silly movie, and we’ll laugh out loud at the bad scenes and bother everyone in the theater.”

Hana gives her a genuine smile, but decides against speaking to conserve what little oxygen they still have left. It feels like another nine hours go by as they stay exactly as they are, Brigitte with Hana’s body in her arms, looking into each other’s eyes, before the noise starts to sound louder and gets accompanied by a familiar humming noise as well as a strange slashing, sizzzling one she’s never heard before.

Both Hana and Brigitte immediately look at the sealed exit, expectantly, and they wait for what feels like several seconds before the center of the rock falls backwards like a frameless door. Brigitte only has the presence of mind to shield Hana with her arm as the small rocks and pebbles fly towards them, one catching the redhead’s brow and opening a cut that immediately starts to bleed. The blood impairing her sight should have bothered Brigitte, but Hana figures her sight must be at least as fucked as hers by now, so the girl barely reacts to the injury.

As soon as the rock is cut, Hana is filled with relief as she can finally breathe properly. She inhales so deeply, like a person who has held their breath underwater for too long would, that she ends up choking on air for a few seconds. Brigitte also starts to take longer, deeper breaths as she stares wide eyed at their savior, tears running down her face and leaving behind a clear trail on dust-covered cheeks.

Satya is standing right in front of the newly created passage, breathing slightly more heavily than she usually does, her hard light gun in her hand. Genji's to her right, looking into the cave with his sword drawn– although something bright red and sizzling has been attached to the blade. Something Torbjörn must have hurriedly built to get them out of there, she figures. Further to the back, she can see Reinhardt’s hulking frame, accompanied by...

“Hana!” Angela all but pushes her way into the room, voice dripping with worry, shaking with tears shed and unshed. “Brigitte! Oh mein Gott! Lieblings!”

She essentially tackles the two of them, embracing them comfortingly. In any other situation, Hana might have made some smartass joke, but right now, all she can do is close her eyes and cry into Angela’s shoulder.

Torbjörn rushes in right after her, and, without a word, runs up to them and hugs them along with Angela, squeezing Brigitte particularly tightly. He’s breathing heavily and sniffling, and Hana realizes he’s crying. It occurs to her she’s never seen Torbjörn cry, nor did she ever think she ever would.

Fareeha and Genji walk in as well, giving them brief, but tight and desperate, hugs, and help Angela and Torbjörn carry their still weak bodies out of the room where the rest of the agents wait.

Satya and Morrison look completely shaken. Lúcio looks like he’s been crying, and Lena and Jesse are both sniffling, their eyes red and watery. Reinhardt is openly weeping, and wraps them both up in a big hug as soon as they come into sight, having been too large to walk through the hole created in the rock.

As they all walk out of the caves and back to the shuttle, nobody says a thing; they just walk very close to each other.

Brigitte and Hana both fall asleep on the ride back to Gibraltar, Hana leaning comfortably against Brigitte, who has a protective arm wrapped around her.

They all see it, but once again, nobody says a thing, preferring to just smile in silence.



-----

They are greeted warmly by the agents back in Gibraltar. Hanzo makes them tea; Zenyatta, Ana and Winston help Angela with their recovery; Mei and Zarya give them big hugs and talk to them extensively once they are fully recovered; Bastion chirps happily once they see them; and Orisa, like Mei and Zarya, wraps them both in a warm hug. Hana even finds an anonymous email in her computer that simply says “Glad to know you’re well, chica. World would be terribly boring without ya.” Hana knows who it's from, of course, and the thought that even she is sending her a message regarding the recent events puts a smile on her face. She thinks of asking her how she found out, but decides against it; gathering information is what she does best, and she wouldn’t tell Hana if the gamer asked anyway.

Brigitte does keep her promise to get Reinhardt to cook for Hana. He makes her her favorite dish, addding a slight German cuisine touch to it. She thanks him profusely (as well as Brigitte.)

She also keeps her promise of going to the movies with Hana; she thought it would have been hard to convince Morrison to let them take the day off, but to their surprise, he agrees right away – presumably having been made temporarily softer by their recent near-death experience. As they sit side by side on the chairs in the room Hana rented for a private section, watching the trailers before the film, Brigitte turns to face her with a tender, yet slightly scared expression on her face.

“Did you mean what you said to me in the cave? Or were you like... not thinking straight because of the carbon dioxide?”

Hana furrows her brows.

“What exactly did I say?”

Brigitte’s breathing picks up a little, and her voice trembles.

“That you loved me.”

Hana’s expression softens, though she can feel herself becoming thoroughly flustered.

“Every word.”

Brigitte flashes her the widest, most genuine smile she’s ever seen in her life.

“Good,” she says, “because I love you too.”

She leans in to kiss Hana, and the gamer eagerly responds as the studio logos show up on the cinema screen in front of them.