Chapter Text
“Dear god what am I doing?” my mind is screaming at me as I sit outside on the green patch watching the sun touch the snow-tipped mountains in the distance. My leather-gloved hands bundle the edges of my scarf over my shoulders and spring dress despite no presence of a breeze in the atmosphere. The boots I am wearing reach to my knees to provide some kind of warmth with the seasons changing in the middle of spring. My eyes are cast forward, watching the sun continue its setting in the horizon.
“Ask her out,” they said. “It will be nice for both of you,” she said. “It will be a great learning experience,” another said. Yes this is exactly what I wanted but it doesn’t help the little butterflies fluttering in my stomach or the elevation of my heart rate, as well as the warmth coursing across my cheeks that feels like they might burn. Small beads of sweat cause the back of my dress to stick behind my thighs, making me shift my legs till I was sitting criss-crossed. Crushes are great and all, but why did I have to develop one for HER of all people? I am no fighter or tank in the field, just a medic that works with support for the task-force Overwatch. Not only have I been crushing on her for a while now, but after a year of harboring these feelings I have come to realize I also really like her. We have been teamed up many times before that led to a great friendship, unfortunately to the point I found myself falling for her hard. The feelings have gone from simmering to a boiling point whenever I am around in her presence.
Now how did I get myself sitting outside waiting for my date to arrive? Oh that’s right, this happened!
Mei and Hana were standing behind me gently ushering me to walk over to the Ominic training on her own while testing out her javelin. My hands are close to my chest with my fingers curled inwards and my head tilted down in shyness. Orisa is a tank fighter and very well known for her great feats; a powerful Ominic unlike any other machine. She is like what, 2 to 3 times my height? I can be confident in anything whether it’s standing up to an enemy or performing a dissection assignment since I practically work as a surgeon with the support team. Asking someone out on a date is just out of my league and as scary as fighting against a grizzly bear without weapons.
“Come on Y/N you can do it! Do it quick enough, you can be done and over it within five seconds,” Mei explains as she tweaks her ice gun. Hana bumps my hip with her own before she chimes in, “We know your eyes were ogling on more than just your food every lunch.” I shoved the gamer’s shoulder beside me with a scoff, “My eyes do not ogle anywhere. Your eyes are probably making things up from all the gaming you do.” Hana just folds her arms across her chest shaking her head. “Now girls we are getting off topic here,” Mei finally intervenes between the two of us, “Y/N, I- we know you have been liking Orisa for a while now and we can see it has been eating at you from the inside out. Why not ask her out today and see where you two go from here?”
Of course little did I know that this is all actually a setup just to get us together. Aside from Efi, Mei, Lucio, Hana, Bastion, and Cassidy are the only people I know that speak with Orisa occasionally more than anyone else. I highly doubt she’d ever like anyone or feel any form of emotion that correlates to attraction. I shake my head in frustration and take a heavy step forward before turning towards the two girls. “Listen! She’s too real and this is too real. I am not risking my confidence by asking a single crush out only to be rejected and put down in a spiral of depression in the end,” I lecture to Hana and Mei, unaware of the ice gun now hidden behind the scientist’s back. “Not only will I know I’ve been right all along, but I can spend my day slouching in my safe space with a pint of ice cream while rewatching cheesy romance films that I can laugh at.”
I close my eyes and pinch the bridge of my nose with two fingers after spilling out my biggest fear. Within seconds, my eyes shoot open when I hear the sound of Mei’s gun go off to find out she has iced my feet to the ground. “Mei what the hell!”I whine at her attempting to pull my feet free. These high heel boots were new too! “Orisa! Y/N needs help!” Hana shouts before she and Mei run off. Mei quickly turns back to give me a thumbs up before disappearing off into the training room’s exit. Hot blush spreads across my cheeks as I internally groan at myself with my head falling forward, my hair hanging out in a heavy curtain. My knees give out and I am left squatting due to my feet being practically glued to the metal floor.
“Miss Y/N! What is the trouble?” the familiar robotic voice I’ve come to know so well frets in front of me. A heavy sigh leaves my lips, my eyes refusing to look up and remain closed, “Nothing. I am okay.” I hear the Ominic’s gears shift as she moves to kneel beside me. “It appears you are in a sticky situation, Miss Y/N.” A quiet giggle leaves me, of course she makes a pun of it. Cool, metal fingers gently hold my cheeks to tilt my head up. I can feel my eyes widen when they finally make contact with Orisa's glowing golden irises. “I feel temperature rising across your cheeks. Are you sick?” The Ominic calmly observes. My head quickly turns away from her hold with my hands gently scratching my scalp, “Oh! I am okay! But umm…” Slowly looking back, a small smile curls upon my lips as my hands gently fall on my knees, “Can you help me get out of the ice?”
“Why of course dear!” Orisa perks up and is quick to immediately start picking the ice with the tip of her augmented fusion driver gun on her right hand. I stand up from my spot with my arms crossed over my chest, unaware of my wandering eyes as they take in the Ominic’s build of green, gold, and brown. Her golden eyes are her only expressing trait that helps her show her true emotions. Thick, twin dreads connect to a small bun tied behind her head with two curved horns that protrude from the sides of her faceplates. Her left hand is the only thing made with five digits, similar to a human hand. The Ominic moves on four legs and has a kind of green, pattern fabric tied over her hips. For so long I can’t help but admire Orisa as unique…and beautiful.
My train of thought is quickly interrupted when I realize she is waving her hand in front of my face after picking the ice off. “Miss Y/N, can you hear me?” Orisa inquiries confused at my blank expression. My dumbass mind dozed off again. With my hands waving in front of me I smile shyly with a bashful giggle. “Oh! Yes! My ears aren’t hot- I mean bad! I can hear you…”
My eyes avert to the ground with my arms sagging back to my sides in embarrassment. God other days I am in control when I am around this powerful being of a tank so why am I getting all flustered right now? As much as I like to tell Orisa my true feelings for her, I am not anyone special. I’ve had crushes but they all have either found me unappealing or just wanted me to get them together with my sisters. Orisa smiles with her eyes blinking into a happy expression, “Well, that is great to hear then. Is there anything else I can assist you with?”
All I can do is stand there and contemplate on who I should listen to. My heart or my head? My mind wants to play it safe by telling her I am okay and go on with my day like nothing happened; a win for me. But my heart is anxiously throbbing within its ribcage to finally ask my crush out to see through this date and where it will go, that is if she says yes. “Well…” I lick my lips in anticipation and turn my eyes to my feet, my fingers locking together with sweat building up in between my palms. A shaky breath leaves me to calm my nerves and I look back up. “Go out with me!” I half shout and slap a hand over my mouth. Why the hell did I shout that? “I-I mean! No sorry um…Orisa, what I was trying to say is ‘would you like to go out with me?’As friends if you want that is…” My eyes quickly shut with my shoulders tense and locked, waiting for Orisa’s answer.
“Go out? Like a date?” I open my eyes at her question to find Orisa’s head tilting in thought. “Well, it can be more like a hang out than a date if that is what you want. I don’t want to make you do something you aren’t comfortable with.” Orisa can’t help but struggle to keep her internal gears cool from becoming overheated in joy. Y/N, the support hero she has been teamed up with for so many missions, one of the agency’s greatest healers, is asking her to go out on a date with her? What is this feeling she is experiencing within her chest? Here she thought the woman would never be interested in her for who she is. Orisa knows nothing about dates or any of that couple stuff. Wait, aren’t dates meant for couples? She will need to ask Efi about that after her training. Maybe ask Lucio and Hana as well.
I don’t know what she could be thinking and that did not help my nerves the slightest. Just when I am about to tell her it's okay to forget about it and walk away, she turns back at me with the same enthusiasm as I had before, “I’d love to! Pardon me, I meant yes. I’d like to accompany you on this “date” you called.”
I can’t help but smile at the answer. Orisa loves that smile on her, as bright as the sun. “It’s a date then! Erm, hangout. Oh you get what I mean,” I quickly turn away in embarrassment and speed walk away. Before I can grab the door, cool metal wraps around my fingers and I turn to find Orisa holding my hand to stop me in my tracks. I can feel my cheeks warm into a light pink at the action. “Wait,” light steam leaves the omnic’s shoulders as she looks from my hand and back to my eyes. “What is a date?”
Of course, that was only last week. Orisa has assured me to leave all the planning to her once she has a better idea on what a date is. Today is the day and she has told me to meet her at the park with the most beautiful view of the mountains when the sun is touching the peaks. So here I am, waiting for Orisa to show up. Half an hour passes by and I am growing worried that she may have forgotten or pulled into a mission. It has happened before with almost everyone who works for Overwatch. Whether on lunch break, day off, or out with friends, a hero will be called into a mission when it desperately requires their assistance. Maybe that is what happened?
Feeling my heart deflate a little in sadness, I stand up and turn to walk away from the park. Things like this always happen. I get asked out and end up either stood up or led on. Tears threaten to fall from my eyes and I try to ignore it by swallowing an uncomfortable lump in my throat. “Y/N! Miss Y/N!” someone shouts in the distance. I quickly wipe my eyes and look back to see Orisa sprinting towards me. She skids to a halt with a fog of dirt flying around me. “I am so sorry I kept you waiting,” I watch the Omnic make quick hand gestures, throwing apology after apology with her gaze away from mine, “I was on a mission in the Arctic and had very little time to go back to Efi to get my gun replaced. I don’t believe such a weapon is suitable to carry around for a date.” Orisa holds up both of her hands to show their human-like structure with digits and everything. “When I looked at the sun, I was horrified to find out I was going to be late and keep you waiting. Everyone has told me it is rude and-”
“Orisa,” I hold her hand in between my gloved-palms and she immediately stops her rambling to look at me. Despite knowing each other for a long time now, I am always surprised to see that her whole hand is barely covered by my own, even when I am using both of my hands to hold hers. “It’s okay. You are okay. Thank you for remembering your promise and showing up here anyways. That’s the sweetest thing anyone can ever do for me,” I smile and gently rub my thumb over her knuckles.
Orisa remembers something Mei had mentioned to her during their mission in the Arctic. Something to do with Y/N’s dating history not being the best. “Y/N is the middle child out of three in her family with the other two being her sisters. Let’s just say guys were more interested in her siblings than her. So make this date memorable for her, she is gonna need it. Do something to break that girl’s little heart, you are getting the blizzard,” Mei explained before running off to do her duty. Orisa wants this date to be great not just for herself, but for Y/N. She deserves it more than anything. Orisa lifts her free hand and moves a strand of Y/N’s hair behind her ear, “Y/N, do you mind closing your eyes?”
I am taken back by her question. “Oh umm, okay…,” I blush and oblige anyway. Cool, metal fingers move my front hair back. A soft fabric tickles my cheeks and I almost giggle at the feeling. I can feel the same fabric lace through my hair and pull my hair back, keeping the strands out from my face. “Okay, now you can open them,” I hear Orisa step back and I open my eyes. My gloved-hand hesitantly touches my hair and feels the soft fabric is tied in a way similar to a headband scarf. Pulling my phone out to look at my reflection on the glass, I see that is exactly what it is. The color of it matches with my dress perfectly and really shows off my facial features. One of my biggest insecurities is my face and I try really hard to find every reason why I should never be ashamed of something that is a part of me. Everyone is different and unique in their own way. I gently touch my gloved fingertips to my cheeks, happy to see this beautiful woman in my reflection is me. The scarf is beautiful and perfect.
Orisa watches Y/N’s smile grow with an adorable shade of pink covering her cheeks. She looks absolutely beautiful with that smile and wishes to see it more often. Before she could run off to meet Y/N, Efi stopped her to give her that same scarf Y/N is wearing. “ It is very important to bring gifts on a date,” Efi explained after placing the hair scarf into her large hand, “But remember, gifts are not all about buying the big, expensive things to win over someone’s heart. It’s about giving them something to someone that comes from the heart because that is what makes it real and true. Tie this in Y/N’s hair and watch for her reaction. You can learn a lot about who your date is as a person by observing their response to a gift.”
Putting my phone away, I look up at Orisa with a smile, fighting to keep the tears of joy from spilling. “It is beautiful. Thank you,” I bashfully look at her, to the ground, and back at her. Orisa can’t help but shift on her feet at the adorable reaction. “Why of course. Now, shall we?” The Omnic holds her hand out to let Y/N take it and she happily accepts, her fingers far too small to envelop her metal palm. “So, where are we going first?” I ask as the two of us begin walking out of the park. “Why, that is a surprise,” Orisa answers. Another thing I am not aware of is that Orisa does indeed have a series of dates planned for us, but they were organized by Mei, Hana, Lucio, Bastion, and Cassidy, who are also following the two lovebirds as we leave the park.