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Not many things surprised Cole Cassidy about Hanzo Shimada.
He wasn’t surprised when Hanzo had arrived by Genji’s side in Gibraltar. He wasn’t surprised when Hanzo avoided everyone, his brother included, and stayed in his room. He wasn’t surprised when Hanzo found his hiding place up on the roof. Wasn’t surprised when a little whiskey let the man’s guard down just enough to make a connection, albeit on thin ice, ready to crack below their feet. At the time he was surprised when they both got too drunk one night and Cole woke up being spooned by Hanzo, but in hindsight, it had been only a matter of time.
It hadn’t been a surprise when Hanzo refused to be in pictures. Back in Blackwatch, Genji had been the same. Cole chalked it up to them both being former yakuza heirs and wanting to hide their identity. Genji had alluded to that notion more than once back in the day, so it was easy enough to not look further into Hanzo’s reasoning.
No, the thing that ended up surprising Cole was far from anything else he could have imagined.
After three long months, Cole and Hanzo finally had a few weeks off, more than well deserved. They had both been out on their own respective missions; the Shimada brothers and Kiriko cleaning up more of the Hashimoto that had been terrorising Hanamura and Kanezaka, and Cole was sent to Rialto with Vivian and Lena to do some recon due to a heavy resurgence of Talon activity.
Hanzo had arrived at their room first by several hours, the two of them texting the entire time Cole was on his way home. They rejoiced in the news they would be given a month off, bar emergencies, and had begun planning what to do with all their newly gained free time.
By the time Cole landed, Hanzo had made them dinner and had prepared their bedroom for the glorious night ahead.
Come morning, Cole found himself stirring at first light. How Hanzo managed to stay in a deep sleep, he would never know, but this was one of the rare times Hanzo was on his side facing Cole instead of on his stomach. His face was peaceful, all the tension and aloofness he carried melted away in his sleep. The hard lines that pulled at his face were smoothed out, his brows relaxed, his lips looking to almost make a soft smile in his sleep.
It warmed Cole, he wanted to keep this moment in his memories forever. Surely, he thought, Hanzo wouldn’t mind his picture being taken in the privacy of their own room just this once. Cole would never show this photo to anyone, especially considering how sex-mused Hanzo’s hair was. It was something just for Cole, a small little memento from the love of his life.
Silently, he rolled himself over to grab his phone off the nightstand, turning back to find Hanzo still asleep. “Fuckin’ log,” he mumbled to himself, unable to keep the affection from his voice as a small smile tugged at his lips.
He unlocked his phone and navigated his way to the camera app, leaning back slightly to get just the perfect angle. His Hanzo deserved nothing less after all.
Silently, the camera clicked and the image was sent down to the camera roll. Cole saw something… blue in the small preview, eyebrows knitted together in confusion as he tapped on the camera roll.
The image he had taken revealed something terrifying, Cole nearly letting out an audible gasp as he scrambled to get up from the bed, his eyes darting around the room for what he had captured in the picture.
A large, blue head had been tucked between Hanzo’s head and shoulder, its long muzzle shielding most of Hanzo’s chest as it seemed to snarl at the camera. A large paw with long and sharp looking claws rested just above Hanzo’s belly button, a possessive gesture that made a chill run up Cole’s spine.
Cole brought his phone back up, looking through the camera. He stared at the screen for a handful of seconds, waiting for the creature to appear again, but the frame only held Hanzo asleep in their bed, blissfully unaware that a killing machine was sleeping on him.
He let out a quiet huff, scrunching up his nose as he quietly muttered ‘fuck it’, and snapped another picture. This time, two creatures—clearly Hanzo’s dragons now that he was paying attention—were in the frame, both up and off the bed, looking like they were moving to sneak up on either side of the cowboy. Their teeth were bared, eyes narrowed, and claws sinking into the carpet. They were both definitely bigger than the one that had been on the bed, now standing at what Cole guessed was at least seven feet.
The air chilling around Cole was the last straw, clutching his phone to his chest as he slammed his eyes shut. He knew what the beasts could do; had seen first hand the destruction they could cause.
“Hanzo!”
Within seconds, two hands were holding either side of his face, Cole’s eyes snapping open to see his groggy but concerned husband standing before him. “What’s wrong?” Hanzo asked, speech slurred as he tried to wake himself up.
Briefly, Cole felt bad for waking him, but instead he just shoved his phone into Hanzo’s chest. The guilt began to pile on thicker when he realised he broke the one rule Hanzo had laid down, his chest beginning to ache as his heart began to beat nervously in his chest.
The room sat in silence for a long moment, it wasn’t… awkward , per se, but it wasn’t far from it either. Cole kept his gaze to the floor, waiting for Hanzo to scold him, to berate him for taking his photo without permission.
Instead, a hand gently cupped his cheek, Cole instinctually leaning into the touch. “I apologise if they scared you. Usually, they will not leave my side.”
“Yer… yer not mad?”
Hanzo let out a little huff. “Miffed, but it will pass. Are you okay?” When Cole nodded, Hanzo leaned in and pressed a kiss to the space between Cole’s eyes. “When we were young, our mother told us that the only person who could see our dragons was a Shimada. Of course, with the exception of a handful, it was true. It has only been in my lifetime that the dragons were able to be captured in pictures.”
“Why?” Hanzo gave an easy shrug, moving back towards the bed.
“Mother said it was something to do with hard-light being incorporated into our technology.”
“Are they… are they dangerous?”
Hanzo took a seat, holding out his tattooed arm as it began to glow a soft blue. Two little dragons popped out, much smaller and significantly less terrifying than the two he had seen on the screen. “Since I was young, I can count on my fingers how many times my picture has been taken. These two are very camera shy and would hide out of shot.
“They were only acting aggressive since they were not able to move.” As if to prove his point, one of the dragons hide themselves away behind Hanzo, the other floating through the air towards Cole.
He reached out a finger to greet it, sharp but ultimately painless little teeth biting into his finger. “Ain’t you a cutie.” Hanzo chuckled at his words, the little dragon huffing at him before heading back to their master.
“Normally, for, uh,” Hanzo blushed lightly then, glancing away. “Our father was able to see our mother’s dragon without him being summoned once he had a tattoo of his own, since he was then considered a Shimada.” Cole’s eyes lit up in understanding, the cowboy quickly making his way over to take a seat beside the archer.
“You tellin’ me a ring ain’t good enough for ‘em?” He teased, the little spitfire rounding on him as they nipped at his hand again.
The two chuckled at the antics of the dragon, Hanzo seemingly relaxing as he kept his eyes on the small creature. “The rings have done wonders, but it is tradition to bind one’s self in ink to the family.”
They fell silent as the little spitfire suddenly turned on the shy dragon, nipping at them before the shy one gave chase. They chuckled at their antics, Cole warming up to the prospect of seeing them, knowing they were ever present anyways. “What’re their names?”
“Tetsuya is the shy boy,” at his name, the shy one stopped his playing and glanced over, head tipped in a dog-like manner. “And Yumiko is my overprotective girl.” At that, Yumiko bounded back over and lept up into Hanzo’s lap, stretching up high to bite his nose.
Both men let out loud laughs, Yumiko seeming to scowl before she bounded off and lept at Tetsuya.
For a while, they just sat there and watched the two dragons playing and chasing one another, the twins only vanishing when Hanzo recalled them. He looked more exhausted than when he first woke up, so it was easy for Cole to weasel them back into bed despite Hanzo complaining about a wasted day of their break.
But, being able to watch Hanzo sleep gave Cole enough time to think, to make a plan. Quietly, he wondered to himself if a dragon would look cooler on his right arm or one of his legs.