This isn't now I intended for this to end. It may not seem like it, but this is actually my 3rd rewrite. I wasn't happy with any of them. Anyway, here you go! *tosses online and runs away*

Hat: Part 10

Hanzo decided that he would never show his face around the base again. That would be fine. He could easily get a mercenary job—something a little more freelance—and move into a place of his own. A nice, quiet apartment. Upper floor. No one he knew within a hundred miles. He could quietly go about his day and quietly return home where he could quietly meditate. And he would never have to see or think about the cowboy again.

Yet when he told Symmetra his plan, she laughed in his face. "You are more of a coward than I thought," the architect told him. "And it's all because you don't want to say those three little words. Go ahead and say it. You need the practice."

He was being laughed at once again. What kind of friend was she? "I will not say something like that. Especially to him."

"Not even if it is true? Because it is," Symmetra said. "I'm having a hard time understanding what the problem is, Shimada. The difficult part is already over. You know that he likes you."

"That's not the point," Hanzo told her with a frown. "I am not sure how to explain it... I have never..." He struggled to find what he wanted to say.

"Never what? Been in love? Well, get over it because you are now."

"I would not say that I am in love."

"Then you admit that you DO like him?" Vaswani asked.

Hanzo knew he was blushing, so he turned away from her. "We had a very disturbing interaction recently. I cannot face him ever again."

"Your definition of 'disturbing interaction' is questionable. You have claimed that every interaction you have with McCree is disturbing in one way or another," Vaswani reminded him.

He should have known better than to talk to her about this. She had no idea how complicated his situation was. During a purely innocent question and answer session, Hanzo had asked McCree a very personal question that was sexual in nature.

The cowboy had said before that he held Hanzo to a higher standard than others, but did he feel the same way after he'd asked that question?

"I can no longer face him. I have shamed myself," Hanzo maintained.

"You are overreacting," the architect said. "And you would not be overreacting like this if you didn't like him."

Hanzo frowned. He'd been considering that he might actually like the cowboy for a while, but that one little statement from Symmetra really opened his eyes. He wouldn't be putting so much thought into it if he didn't have feelings for the man. Hanzo wouldn't feel as if his whole world were collapsing around him if he weren't at least a little interested in him. The archer did have feelings for the gunman and those feelings went beyond friendship. But if it was so obvious to Vaswani, who else was able to see it?

Well, his main concern wasn't other people. Hanzo wondered if McCree himself could see it.

Hanzo spotted McCree sitting outside writing in his notebook. The archer thought about turning around and walking away. He was still a little nervous about facing the cowboy after making a fool of himself the other day. He never should have asked if McCree had been with men before. But it was already done and now he had to live with the consequences.

The bowman hadn't seen or spoken to McCree since the day the cowboy decided to hug him. Hanzo thought about calling out his name to get his attention, but instead, he just stood there and watched the cowboy write. It was as if McCree were in his own little world. Well, in a way he was. But just watching him concentrate like that on something he only did for fun was pretty fascinating. Maybe this was his form of meditation. Maybe this was another way for him to keep his mind preoccupied. If so, it was a pretty good way to do it.

Hanzo finally called out McCree's name and he watched as that look of concentration transformed into what could only be described as joy. The smile on the gunman's face made Hanzo smile a little. But it was short-lived, however. The archer had interrupted McCree, but he didn't really remember why.

"Hey, Shimada," McCree said, a little more enthusiastically than Hanzo expected.

The cowboy waved him over and Hanzo wordlessly sat across from him.

"There's this thing I'd like ya to read. I was just puttin' some finishin' touches on it," McCree told him.

Hanzo noticed that McCree had the brim of his hat pulled down to cover his face. The gunslinger pushed the notebook toward him and Hanzo started flipping through it.

"It's the last one that'll go in that notebook. I hope ya like it."

"Before I read it, there is something I would like to ask," Hanzo said, fingering the pages of the notebook.

McCree finally looked at him from beneath the brim of his hat. "What is it?"

Hanzo only looked at him for a moment before he went back to staring blankly at the notebook and fiddling with its pages. "You said that the way you write my character in your poems... Well, you said that you don't see me that way."

"I see what yer gettin' at," McCree said. "The Hanzo I write is kinda cold and he doesn't put a whole lot of thought into the stuff he does. He just kinda does what he does, no questions asked. Things are either one way or another. Right or wrong. Good or bad. Ain't much of a gray area with him." He tipped the brim of his hat back down to cover his face once again. "Yer different. Ya seem to think things over a lot. When we're out on a mission, I can see ya weighin' yer options even in the middle of a firefight. It's amazin' to watch."

Hanzo looked confused. That only meant that the cowboy could see him hesitating. That wasn't a good thing.

"Besides, that Hanzo never misses. I've seen you miss a couple of times," McCree said, a little bit of a laugh on his voice. "You should see yer face when that happens."

So, the Hanzo McCree wrote about was basically perfect while the real life Hanzo had flaws. Of course he had flaws, but he wished that McCree didn't have to point them out. His bow accuracy was well above even those who called themselves professionals. There was no shame in missing a shot here and there.

"Not to mention that he's not shy, but you are," the gunman added.

"I am not shy," Hanzo told him yet again.

"Ya are compared to him. Just read that last poem," McCree said.

There was no need for further argument. Hanzo decided that he should just read the poem. As he was reading, he would glance up every now and then to see if McCree was watching him but he couldn't see anything under the brim of that cowboy hat.

And Hanzo found out why McCree made the claim that he was shy and the Hanzo in his poems was not. The poem was less of a western than the ones that came before it. It was actually kind of a romance and it also featured McCree. It basically replayed the few days up until McCree told Hanzo that he liked him, but with one major difference. Once McCree told Hanzo that he liked him, the Hanzo in the poem had kissed him.

Hanzo quickly closed the notebook, his face tinted pink with embarrassment. He couldn't bring himself to look at the gunslinger. Did McCree think that was what should have happened? Did he think that was what Hanzo wanted to do?

"Yeah, yer too shy to do somethin' like that," McCree said, his hat still pulled low.

The archer knew that McCree was just goading him. To be honest, he hadn't really thought much about kissing the cowboy. Then again, after his chat with Symmetra, he found out that he must have felt something more than friendship for the gunman. And if that were the case, then kissing would surely follow.

He glanced at McCree and found that he was finally looking at him.

"There's that thoughtful look. Weighin' those—" McCree began with a chuckle.

The cowboy wasn't able to finish his statement before Hanzo quickly leaned across the table and kissed him on the lips. It wasn't for long and he'd almost missed, but Hanzo was pretty sure that he'd gotten his point across. "I am not shy," he said quietly as he sat back down.

McCree licked his lips and grinned. "Well, I guess ya ain't."

They sat there quietly for a while and Hanzo wondered if he'd done the right thing.

Suddenly McCree stood and walked over to take a seat right beside Hanzo. "Alright. Ya convinced me. I'll let ya make out with me." He leaned in close and puckered up for another kiss.

Hanzo thought about going along with it, but instead he put notebook between their faces. "Why did I have to be the one to kiss you? Why did you not kiss me?"

McCree moved the notebook out of the way. "Cause I already told ya how I felt. You seem to have trouble with yer words, so I thought this would be easier fer ya."

The archer narrowed his eyes at McCree.

"Besides, I'm shy. I couldn't do somethin' so embarrassin'," McCree added with a grin.

epilogue—three weeks later...

"I hope ya don't expect me to remember the names of all this stuff. They all got the same title," McCree said as they listened to their third piece of classical music. "What's this one again?"

"Canon in D major. It is a piece by Johann Pachelbel," Hanzo told him. "Surely you have heard it before."

McCree nodded. "Never knew the name of it, though." He moved closer to Hanzo and grinned. "Seems I remember folks used this song at weddin's." He wriggled his eyebrows suggestively and put his arms around the shorter man. "Somethin' ya wanna ask me?"

Hanzo sighed and rolled his eyes. "It was also played for funerals."

"Hm," the cowboy said, sounding a little disappointed. He kept his arms around the archer anyway. "Yer not plannin' some elaborate proposal, then."

Hanzo chuckled to himself. "Perhaps I am planning an elaborate funeral. I am taking you boating tomorrow, after all."

"Not funny."